question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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why was there a west berlin? why didn't east germany just have all of berlin as it was deeply within its boarders? | Originally, after Germany's defeat in World War II both Berlin and Germany as a whole were temporarily split between the four victorious Allies: France, Britain, the US, and the USSR. Since it was the capital and largest city in Germany, it seemed unfair at the time to give Berlin solely to Russia.
But when the Cold W... | [
"West Berlin was formally controlled by the Western Allies and was entirely surrounded by the Soviet-controlled East Berlin and East Germany. West Berlin had great symbolic significance during the Cold War, as it was widely considered by westerners as an \"island of freedom\". It was heavily subsidised by West Germ... |
Why don't we take a full breath when we inhale? | Breathing is about doing two things: Getting oxygen and getting rid of CO2. They are linked; every inhalation brings your oxygen, every exhalation dumps CO2. Oxygen is not rate-limiting here. Even if you take a breath and hold it, there is still quite a bit of oxygen in that exhaled air.
CO2 is a waste gas, but you ne... | [
"Inhalation of air, as part of the cycle of breathing, is a vital process for all human life. As such, it happens automatically (though there are exceptions in some disease states) and does not need conscious control or effort. However, breathing can be consciously controlled or interrupted (within limits).\n",
"... |
Why haven't scientists attempted to genetically alter our gut bacteria? | The bacteria present on our skin and through our whole body from the nasal cavities, our mouths, and throughout our digestive systems are unique to each individual and started growing shortly after birth. I have read articles referring to our on-board flora as a second set of DNA.
Given the enormous and not-truly-un... | [
"Bacteria were the first organisms to be genetically modified in the laboratory, due to the relative ease of modifying their chromosomes. This ease made them important tools for the creation of other GMOs. Genes and other genetic information from a wide range of organisms can be added to a plasmid and inserted into... |
how any human babies survived in early human history | If you look at primitive tribes today, you can see how they keep their babies alive with no modern technology.
Typically the baby is kept either inside the home, or on the mother's body using a kind of cloth hammock such as [this.](_URL_0_)
| [
"The estimate is more crucially affected by the estimate of infant mortalities vs. stillborn infants, due to the very high infant mortality throughout the pre-modern period. An estimate on the \"total number of people who have ever lived\" as of 1995 was calculated by Haub (1995) at \"about 105 billion births since... |
What type of fighting was characteristic of the Eastern Front in WWI? How was it different from the Western Front? | WW1 on the eastern front was completely different to fighting on the western front. Beginning with the Russian invasion of East Prussia in early 1915 the war was to feature constant flanking attempts and extremely mobile warfare. During the Russian invasion of East Prussia, an enormous number of almost 600,000 Russians... | [
"The Eastern Front or Eastern Theater of World War I (, , \"Vostochnıy front\") was a theater of operations that encompassed at its greatest extent the entire frontier between the Russian Empire and Romania on one side and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire on the other.... |
why do some farts feel hot coming out? are they actually a different temperature than normal farts? | I surprisingly know this. The warm farts are the gasses like hydrogen sulfide created by the decomposition of food in your stomach while the cool ones are just regular air and/or CO2 that happened to be swallowed or trapped in your digestive tract. The warm ones are actually warmer and tend to be much more smelly. | [
"The distinctive odor of feces is due to bacterial action. Gut flora produces compounds such as indole, skatole, and thiols (sulfur-containing compounds), as well as the inorganic gas hydrogen sulfide. These are the same compounds responsible for the odor of flatulence. Consumption of spicy foods may result in the ... |
alimony and child support payments. | The US Constitution requires that divorce law be sex-neutral. There's no advantage written into the law for women or special harsh treatment of men -- that would violate Equal Protection of the law. Instead, what you're seeing is the law *usually* benefiting ex-wives, and for good reason. Usually ex-wives are the ones ... | [
"Child support is considered a payment that a parent is making for the support of their offspring, and the parent who pays it pays the taxes. However, alimony is treated as taxable income, in most countries, to the receiving spouse, and, in most cases, deducted from the gross income of the paying spouse (the United... |
what were the components of the housing crisis? | You're going to want to do a lot more reading than a basic ELI5 if you actually want to understand it, but to put it in a relatively simple way:
1. Investors always want to maximize their return on their funds. There's always a push to find high yield yet 'safe' investments. Investors don't like sitting on their cash ... | [
"The housing bubble preceding the crisis was financed with mortgage-backed securities (MBSes) and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), which initially offered higher interest rates (i.e. better returns) than government securities, along with attractive risk ratings from rating agencies. While elements of the cri... |
Just how important was Gustavus Adolphus in military history? What were his major innovations in the art of war? | Oh boy, this is going to take some time, and some writing. I will need to post it several sections.
Gustav II Adolf (as he is called in Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus was his latin name) did bring several major innovations to the art of war.
**Organisation, equipment and recruitment.**
Gustav II Adolf's grandfather, Gust... | [
"Gustavus Adolphus was an extremely able military commander. His innovative tactical integration of infantry, cavalry, logistics and particularly his use of artillery, earned him the title of the \"Father of Modern Warfare\". Future commanders who studied and admired Gustav II Adolf include Napoleon I of France and... |
why do we have to exhale air when speaking? | Sound is just vibrations in the air. When we want to speak, we force air past our vocal folds, and this makes the vibrations we know as our voice.
There are three possible scenarios:
(1) If your vocal folds are completely open, you will inhale and exhale without vibrating them. This is normal breathing.
(2) If your... | [
"The main reason for exhalation is to rid the body of carbon dioxide, which is the waste product of gas exchange in humans. Air is brought in the body through inhalation. During this process air is taken in through the lungs. Diffusion in the alveoli allows for the exchange of O into the pulmonary capillaries and t... |
Why do I need to eat food when taking antibiotics but I don't need to when taking pain relief such as panadol? | Actually some antibiotics should be taken without food, some with food, and some at specific times of the day regardless. There are a lot of physiological changes in the gut after eating that can affect the amount of medicine absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream. The recommendation of when to take a drug, **so th... | [
"Ibuprofen helps decrease pain in children with migraines. Paracetamol does not appear to be effective in providing pain relief. Triptans are effective, though there is a risk of causing minor side effects like taste disturbance, nasal symptoms, dizziness, fatigue, low energy, nausea, or vomiting.\n",
"Pain medic... |
why do you have a deeper/raspier voice, after a night out drinking? is it just an extended morning voice that lasts all day? | Except that you usually have to shout at the places that we usually drink, alcohol is a muscle relaxant, and the more relaxed the voice cords are, the deeper they sound. | [
"Puberphonia is most often diagnosed in adolescent or adult male patients. These patients often seek referral to a voice professional because of the social consequences of speaking in the falsetto register. Because a high-pitched voice is not pathologized in women, women are less likely to be referred to clinicians... |
Hundred year war essay- recommendations? | [The Hundred Years War](_URL_0_)
[The Hundred Years War: Trial by Battle](_URL_1_)
First for overview, second for detail. | [
"\"The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337–1453\" (1978) was rated \"a well written narrative, beautifully illustrated, and which takes into account most recent research. It is also a good read.\" in the view of Richard Cobb writing in the \"New Statesman\". \"The New Yorker\" noted that \"Mr Seward shows... |
why were milkmen once a thing in america, and why did they stop being a thing? | Milkmen have been a thing since long before refrigeration existed. You can even see it in things like "Fiddler on the Roof" which is set in the early 1900s and it was a well established job for a long time before that point.
The local dairy would deliver milk every day to people who could not raise their own cows (su... | [
"Milkmen appeared in Britain around 1860 when the first railroads allowed fresh milk to arrive in cities from the countryside, and by 1880, the milk was delivered in bottles. By 1975, 94% of milk was in glass bottles, but by 1990, supermarkets offered plastic and carton containers, reducing bottled milk to 3% by 20... |
why does popcorn that's popped from the bag taste stale a few hours later, while pre-popped popcorn will taste good for weeks or months at a time? | It's a combinations of factors. Firstly 'preservatives' such as Citric Acid which helps keep the oil from turning bad, it's the same thing that's in oranges which keeps those from going bad. Secondly the fat that's used in pre-popped popcorn is often trans-fat which doesn't spoil as easily but is unhealthier. And lastl... | [
"Air-popped popcorn is naturally high in dietary fiber and antioxidants, low in calories and fat, and free of sugar and sodium. This can make it an attractive snack to people with dietary restrictions on the intake of calories, fat or sodium. For the sake of flavor, however, large amounts of fat, sugar, and sodium ... |
If someone were to be forced into slavery what year and location would be the best for them? | Under the crumbling (around 900-1258) Abbasid caliphate there was a number of states which were essentially independent, even though they relied on the Caliph's nominal authority to justify their rule. Some of those states had rulers who were slaves.
This system originated because many Muslim rulers would create milit... | [
"One of the most heavily affliced areas was Aizu in what is now Fukushima Prefecture, where local farmers performed infanticide on all children below 7 years and lent older children as slaves, often to pimps. Due to high interest rates, this lending frequently turned into permanent slavery. Should the child slave e... |
What triggers Apoptosis in the human body? | I'll just quote the introduction of my thesis proposal.
Apoptosis is a highly conserved function by which individual cells can initiate and control the process of their own demise. An essential process throughout multi-cellular organisms everywhere, apoptosis is critical for the timely destruction of damaged cells bef... | [
"Apoptosis is a programmed form of cell death involving the degradation of cellular constituents by a group of cysteine proteases called caspases. The caspases can be activated through either the intrinsic (mitochondrial mediated) or extrinsic (death receptor mediated) apoptotic pathways.\n",
"Apoptosis is a cell... |
Is it possible that, in our universe, there are entire galaxies made out of anti-matter? | The space between the stars in a galaxy is filled with a very thin gas - the "interstellar medium". Even between galaxies there is the "intergalactic medium" too. This means stars and galaxies aren't completely isolated in space - there's gas everywhere. This means you'll have matter and antimatter annihilating each ot... | [
"There is considerable speculation both in science and science fiction as to why the observable universe is apparently almost entirely matter (in the sense of quarks and leptons but not antiquarks or antileptons), and whether other places are almost entirely antimatter (antiquarks and antileptons) instead. In the e... |
Could a planet be at the barycenter of two star of equal mass? | This is one of five points called [Lagrange points](_URL_0_) that can be defined for any two-body system. Although the attractive forces are balanced at these points, they are unstable; if an object located at a Lagrange point drifts even slightly out of position, it will tend to wander away. | [
"This system holds the current record for the widest range of masses in a single planetary system, and also shows a hierarchy reminiscent of the solar system, with the gas giants at large distances from the star while the smaller bodies are much closer-in.\n",
"On 10 May 2007, astronomers included Cochran from th... |
i understand that only around 35 percent of the populace votes, but what would actually change if 100 percent voted? | Turnouts above 90% are rare in countries without compulsory voting (or countries with a history of compulsory voting), but also tend to be accompanied by strong electoral infrastructure - making it easier to vote.
People (democrats especially) would complain less about disenfranchisement and voter ID laws.
Higher t... | [
"Over 25 million people registered to vote for the elections, in a country where the exact population is not known, but is likely in excess of 60 million. The Independent Electoral Commission (CEI or La Commission Electorale Indépendante) reported a voter turnout of 80 percent.\n",
"Another factor influencing sta... |
why can't planes have a streaming black box that is constantly uploaded so that it can be accessed immediately after an accident? | Because that would cost many millions of dollars to do, and as black boxes are rarely unrecoverable, the costs outweigh the benefits. | [
"Because at that time there were no black boxes, the investigators could only search for clues either at the crash scene or by reappearing the crash according to the eyewitnesses' accounts. Witnesses reported that the plane was flying dangerously lower than usual and was circling in the air seconds from the crash, ... |
Why can our eyes handle mixed lighting better than cameras? | Your brain does a huge amount of processing of the input it gets from your eyes. Basically, the same image is coming through to your eyes/retina, but your brain has seen that kind of lighting and scene many many times before and "corrects" your perception for consistency. Similar to how you have a blind spot in each ey... | [
"Not all two-lens cameras are used for taking stereoscopic photos. A twin-lens reflex camera uses one lens to image to a focusing/composition screen and the other to capture the image on film. These are usually in a vertical configuration. Examples include would be a vintage Rolleiflex or a modern twin lens like a ... |
What happened to Frankish identity in the Low Countries? | What exactly do you mean by Frankish identity? Do you mean French identity? Because if you look you'll find French actually is not descended from Old Frankish, but from Latin. You'd be better off asking what happened to Germanic identity in France (and I couldn't really answer you there).
If you're talking about (West... | [
"The general situation described above is applicable to most if not all modern European ethnic groups with origins among the Germanic tribes, such as the Frisians, Germans, English and the North-Germanic (Scandinavian) peoples. In the Low Countries, this phase began when the Franks, themselves a union of multiple s... |
What were the main reasons for the European revolutionists of 1848/49 to take actions? | I can speak a bit to the revolution in the Habsburg monarchy.
I think one reason is the extreme conservative leadership of the time. The ruler of the Empire was Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria. He was mentally deficient; so his adviser, hand picked by Ferdinand's father, Klemens von Metternich ruled in his name. Mette... | [
"The Revolutions of 1848 were a series of uncoordinated political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. They attempted to overthrow reactionary monarchies. This was the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history. It reached most of Europe, but much less so in the Americas, Britain and Belgium, where libe... |
How long would the oxygen in the atmosphere last without any more oxygen production? | Asked before
_URL_0_ | [
"There may have been a gap of up to 900 million years between the start of photosynthetic oxygen production and the geologically rapid increase in atmospheric oxygen about 2.5–2.4 billion years ago. Several hypotheses propose to explain this time lag.\n",
"The production of free oxygen by cyanobacterial photosynt... |
why do web pages for cancelling services load at a fraction of the speed of the rest of the page? | I feel like you should be able to work this one out on your own.
The company you're unsubscribing from probably doesn't like people canceling their subscription. | [
"Consider a web browser which attempts to load a page while the network is unavailable. The browser will receive an error code indicating the problem, and may display this error message to the user in place of the requested page. However, it is incorrect for the browser to place the error message in the page cache,... |
why is “no.” a common shorthand for “number” in english when there is no “o” in the word “number”? | It is for the same reason pound is abbreviated as lb (from Latin libra) and ounce as oz (from ltalian onza). English borrows a lot of words from other languages. In this case, the abbreviation "no." for the word "number" comes from the numero symbol, N° (also written as "No" or "no."), which is in turn derived from Lat... | [
"In some dialects, numbers are not always pronounced the way they are spelled. With the numbers (9), (10) and (20), the \"-o\" is often pronounced as -e, e.g. . In some northern dialects it is pronounced as a -u (), and in some middle dialects as an -i (). In spoken language, usually drops the final syllable when c... |
how do certain companies acquire/keep a monopoly over a market (without the use of patents)? what's stopping others from providing a similar service and equalling the market place? | Once a company gets bigger and well-known, it's hard for a new, little company convince the public that it's better, especially when most people are already using the first one (that means they would have to unsubscribe). Remember publicity costs a lot of money. | [
"It is then a further question about what circumstances allow a monopoly to arise. In some cases, monopolies can maintain themselves where there are \"barriers to entry\" that prevent other companies from effectively entering and competing in an industry or market. Or there could exist significant first-mover advan... |
What was our governments justifications for spying on Martin Luther King Jr? | J Edgar Hoover personally didn't like King, which was justification enough in Washington at the time to get a wiretap. Officially though, King was accused of being both a communist and a radical.
This link [explains](_URL_0_) it a bit more.
> The FBI's interest in King intensified after the March on Washington in ... | [
"In February 1962, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who had called Martin Luther King Jr. an \"enemy of the state\", presented RFK with allegations that some of King's close confidants and advisers were communists. He viewed King as a troublemaker. Kennedy gave written approval for limited wiretapping of King's phones... |
What makes some people have a better memory than others? | Everything here people said is right. The thing you have the most control over is the technique which you employ to memorize details. However, genetics can play a role in this. This [study](_URL_0_) suggests that hippocampus size, the part of your brain responsible for storing memory, can have a direct relationship wit... | [
"Memory for previous interactions is critical for successful long-term social relationships. This is largely due to a human expectation of reciprocity, which requires humans to have a better memory for favours or debts owed. These memories play an important role in deciding whether or not a human interacts with ano... |
How did a medieval European raid work? | A preparatory note before we begin. John Gillingham refers to the style of warfare practiced in high medieval England and France as Vegetian. The name comes from a late Roman military writer who was enormously influential on medieval Europe. The essence of Vegetian warfare is that large pitched battles are risky and be... | [
"In the early Middle Ages, Viking raiders from Scandinavia attacked the British Isles, France and Spain, attacking coastal and riverside targets. Much Viking raiding was carried out as a private initiative with a few ships, usually to gain loot, but much larger fleets were also involved, often as intent on extortin... |
how did original computers translate the input? | The first input did not need to be translated; people programmed directly in binary. For example, machines controlled by punch cards where each position may have a punched hole or not. | [
"In 1972, Stephen Bernard Dorsey, Founder and President of Canadian company Automatic Electronic Systems (AES), introduced the world’s first programmable word processor with a video screen. The real breakthrough by Dorsey’s AES team was that their machine stored the operator’s texts on magnetic disks. Texts could b... |
Is it actually feasible to "sow the soil with salt" to enough of a degree to impact agriculture? | Most plants can only survive with a low level of salt in the soil. So plant life on a seashore is very reduced with only a few specialist plants there.
It is interesting that an oasis is only possible if there is the ability for the water to leave the soil and go on to some lower level area where it can evaporate. ... | [
"Farming can destroy soil's rhiziobiome (microbial ecosystem) by using soil amendments such as fertilizer and pesticide without compensating for their effects. By contrast, healthy soil can increase fertility in multiple ways, including supplying nutrients such as nitrogen and protecting against pests and disease, ... |
Why are the equations for gravitational force, electrostatic force, and Gauss's Law all relatively the same? | because the surface area of a sphere grows with the square of the radius.
basically, the field lines are all spreading from the point throughout space....and at a given distance, you have a shell which is a sphere centered at the point. since the surface area grows with r^2, the intensity falls off with r^2. | [
"Being an inverse-square law, the law is analogous to Isaac Newton's inverse-square law of universal gravitation, but gravitational forces are always attractive, while electrostatic forces can be attractive or repulsive. Coulomb's law can be used to derive Gauss's law, and vice versa. The two laws are equivalent, e... |
why is it better to only pay off part of my monthly credit card statement instead of all of it? | That's wrong. Pay off the whole thing. Avoid the interest. Whoever told you that doesn't know what they are talking about. | [
"Most U.S. credit cards are quoted in terms of nominal annual percentage rate (APR) compounded daily, or sometimes (and especially formerly) monthly, which in either case is not the same as the effective annual rate (EAR). Despite the \"annual\" in APR, it is not necessarily a direct reference for the interest rate... |
how can sound "break" something solid? | Sound is vibration - motion. Imagine bending something back and forth for a while, it will eventually break. Sound waves will bend anything they hit thousands of times per second. Eventually objects give in to the stress and break. The louder the sound the stronger the bending and the quicker it breaks. | [
"The sound can be created when two rough surfaces in an organism's body come into contact—for example, in osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis when the cartilage around joints erodes and the surfaces in the joint grind against one another, or when the two fractured surfaces of the broken bones rub together. Crepi... |
why is that people with good singing voices (ariana grande, bruno mars, christina aguilera) can imitate other voices or singers so easily? | One of the reasons is that some people simply have better control over their voice. A lot of people can impersonate someone and recognize what they're ding that sounds wrong, but lack the ability to fix it. | [
"For her voice's qualities she has been compared to Whitney Houston and Mina, and has been defined \"\"fourth-best voice in the world\"\". \"Billboard\" magazine called her \"one of the most popular Italian singers\" and stated that \"she could have made it (a great success) in the USA too\".\n",
"Most of the per... |
how come when i slap a fly in mid-flight it can keep on going like nothing happened? how much force would it take to make it explode on impact and can i do it? | So picture this - a small boat floating in the ocean...little tiny two-seater boat. All a sudden this gigantic fucking oil tanker comes right at it...in front of the tanker there is a swell of water, so just before the tanker hits, the small boat will start deflecting on the swell before the actual ship hits, lessenin... | [
"The players fly in simulated jets around the screen, engaging in a dogfight and attempting to score hits on their opponent within a limited amount of time. When a player is hit, their plane spins around and an explosion is heard. After a few seconds, the plane recovers, pointing at a random direction.\n",
"A fly... |
Pre-20th Century was their any religious extremist groups? Or is this a current phenom? | Wouldn't you think that the Crusaders were extremists in questing across Europe and the Middle East to fight for their faith? | [
"Another movement which has grown up over the 20th century has been Christian anarchism which rejects the church, state or any power other than God. They usually also believe in absolute nonviolence. Leo Tolstoy's book \"The Kingdom of God is Within You\" published in 1894, is believed to be the catalyst for this m... |
satanic worship | "Satanists" dont even believe in satan, let alone worship him.
It's basically a philosophy of denying religious principals like judgement, an afterlife, a soul etc etc.
Satanist have the belief of "If you want to do it, do it"
Imagine YOLO was an actual ethos | [
"The Satanic Temple is a nontheistic religious and political activist group based in Salem, Massachusetts. The Temple is recognized as a church for the purposes of tax exemption, with chapters in 13 states and Canada. The group uses Satanic imagery to promote egalitarianism, social justice, and the separation of ch... |
If an electron were the size of a blueberry, how far would you have to travel to reach the nucleus of an atom? | Electrons are, to the best of our knowledge, point particles. Therefore, there is no way to discuss what kind of scale factor would be needed to get it to the size of a blueberry; that scale factor would be infinite.
Now you could ask if an *atom* were the size of the blueberry, how far inside would the nucleus be. B... | [
"Holmberg 15A is a supergiant elliptical galaxy and the central dominant galaxy of the Abell 85 galaxy cluster in the constellation Cetus, about 700 million light-years from Earth. It was discovered c. 1937 by Erik Holmberg. It briefly shot to fame when it was reported to have the largest core ever observed in a ga... |
why do middle-eastern houses normally have flat roofs while other countries upside down v shaped? | Middle eastern homes don’t have to deal with the snowfall. The flat roof also helps with collecting rain water. In places that get snow they have V shapes so the snow slides off and doesn’t build up on the roof and cause it to collapse. Thirdly is material. A lot of middle eastern homes are made of brick, with timb... | [
"Such houses typically have a pitched roof with wide overhanging eaves due to the rainy tropical condition, and the high roof also allows for good ventilation that draws in cooling air. The ground floor is generally open and spacious, often tiled for coolness. The building may have large verandahs, and some have el... |
Did Hitler make any state visits outside of Europe? | No, as far as I am aware Adolf Hitler never left the continent. He did travel to occupied territories during the war and occasionally visited allied countries like Finland to meet with other leaders. Before the war Hitler was at least once invited to the US by Roosevelt but he declined. Hitler preferred to send envoys ... | [
"The day before the team left Europe the \"Völkischer Beobachter\" ran an article on the expedition, alerting British officials of its intentions. Schäfer and Himmler were both enraged: Schäfer complained to SS headquarters and Himmler in turn wrote to Admiral Barry Domvile. Domvile was a Nazi supporter and former ... |
What are the health risks (if any) of wifi? | If your dick falls off in a few years it has nothing to do with wifi. Wireless internet just works through radio waves. There are no known health risks to radio waves. You're surrounded by them all day every day everywhere you go. | [
"The position of the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency (HPA) is that “...radio frequency (RF) exposures from WiFi are likely to be lower than those from mobile phones.” It also saw “...no reason why schools and others should not use WiFi equipment.” In October 2007, the HPA launched a new “systematic” study... |
how to torrent and how to torrent safely. | > How to torrent:
Install a torrent client, and go to torrent sites, click the magnetic link and add to the torrent client's queue.
> How to torrent safely:
Depends on what you are worried is going to endanger you?
> Virus!
Check the comment section for the torrent, or get a virus scanner that lets you inspect ... | [
"A small torrent file is created to represent a file or folder to be shared. The torrent file acts as the key to initiating downloading of the actual content. Someone interested in receiving the shared file or folder first obtains the corresponding torrent file, either by directly downloading it, or by using a magn... |
What brought about the sudden switch from tricorn hats to the much taller ones in the militaries of the late 1700s? | Keep in mind that the American Revolution occurred in the 1770s while the Napoleonic period began about thirty years later. Fashion changes constantly and we don't expect it to be the same today as it was in 1985. It wasn't an abrupt change from the cocked hat, just a gradual heightening of the crown and a loss of widt... | [
"The wide-brimmed tricorne hats turned up on three sides were now turned up front and back or on the sides to form bicornes. Toward the end of the period, a tall, slightly conical hat with a narrower brim became fashionable (this would evolve into the top hat in the next period).\n",
"In the 1860s, men started we... |
why don't electric guitars need to be plugged on a power outlet? | The guitar is basically like a microphone, but instead of picking up vibrations in the air and producing electrical signals, the pickup detects the vibration of the strings. The amp, which is plugged in, then amplifies those small electrical signals. | [
"The vast majority of guitar amps can only be powered by AC mains power (plugging into a wall outlet); however, a small number of practice amps designed for buskers also have battery power so they can be used for street performances.\n",
"BULLET::::- Almost all electric guitars use a in mono jack (socket) as the... |
How did Portugal go from being a colonial empire to Western Europe's poorest country? | The French Invasion in 1807 during the Napoleonic Wars forced the Queen Maria I of Portugal and her court to the colony of Brazil. The empires eventually split, with Pedro I becoming Emperor of Brazil, and his father John VI returning to Portugal to rule. This is a good place to start if you're curious about the declin... | [
"By the late 19th century, the country's resources were exhausted by its overstretched empire, which was now facing unprecedented competition. Portugal had one of the highest illiteracy rates in Western Europe, a lack of industrialization, and underdeveloped transportation systems. The Industrial Revolution, which ... |
What built structures and natural formations would have been considered as 'wonders of the world' in the Renaissance era? | ...The pyramids at Giza, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the Colossus, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the lighthouse of Alexandria, the mausoleum, the Temple of Artemis.
No, really.
Western Europe first gained access to the tradition of lists of world wonders in the very early Renaissance. The known-at-the-time survi... | [
"The impressive size and architectural beauty sets it among the most impressive monuments of medieval art, with subsequent developments added Gothic and then Renaissance and Baroque. The building lies on a rock around which flows the Zlaști River. It has an impressive draw bridge, countless towers, a number of inte... |
When did writers begin to capitalize dialogue to portray shouting? | All-caps indicated emphasis for centuries, and were occasionally used to indicate shouting as far back as the 1940's (as evidenced in Philippa Schuyler's biography).
The practice became widespread in Usenet newsgroups around 1984, when one user summed it up as:
> there seem to be some conventions developing in the ... | [
"In the 19th century, the French returned to the original application of dialogue. The inventions of \"Gyp\", of Henri Lavedan, and of others, which tell a mundane anecdote wittily and maliciously in conversation, would probably present a close analogy to the lost mimes of the early Sicilian poets. English writers ... |
how did hollywood become the center for the entertainment business? | According to Wikipedia, Thomas Edison's held the patent on the kinetiscope, and his company, located in New York, was relentless in shutting down unauthorized use, by lawsuit or seizure. To escape this, many producers moved out west, where his patent laws couldn't be enforced. They settled on Southern California beca... | [
"During the so-called Golden Age, eight companies constituted the major studios that promulgated the Hollywood studio system. Of these eight, five were fully integrated conglomerates, combining ownership of a production studio, distribution division, and substantial theater chain, and contracting with performers an... |
how does computer works ? how is it possible that we see stuff on your screen thanks to binary? why is it possible for us to write with letters when a computer is based on number? | A processor is comprised of transistors which make an off or on (0 or 1) state depending if there is a current flowing through it. It is able to do this because a transistor is made from silicone which is a semiconductor.
These gates can be arranged in various ways which make gates. You can have lots of different gate... | [
"Even assuming that recipients would recognize binary, the encoding of the numbers may not be immediately obvious because of the way they have been written. To read the first seven digits, ignore the bottom row, and read them as three binary digits from top to bottom, with the top digit being the most significant. ... |
how does a missile calculate it's deviation and where it shouldn't be? | Start small, understand 3D positioning:
_URL_0_
Then understand GPS, which is much more complex but essentially the same, 3D Geometry once you know points in space is trivial.
But there's a lot underlying GPS to get to this point.
Have fun! | [
"The parameters of the ellipse are iterated with the computer, establishing a best-fit ellipse constrained by a weighted least-squares criterion. Along this ellipse the target's track is computed -the history through time of latitude, longitude, altitude, and such velocity and angular parameters as may be of intere... |
sometimes when we yawn, why do certain ones cause us to stretch and reach toward the sky which feels like our soul is being sucked from our body...and results in a yell? | This is called *pandiculation*. It's thought to be a way for the body to realign and stretch the myofascial system (the soft tissue that surrounds and connects muscles and other organs). | [
"During a yawn, the tensor tympani muscle in the middle ear contracts, creating a rumbling noise from within the head. Yawning is sometimes accompanied, in humans and other animals, by an instinctive act of stretching several parts of the body, including arms, neck, shoulders and back.\n",
"Yawning is considered ... |
Why is the temperature so low in the atmosphere when you are in an airplane? | I'm surprised nothing has been said yet about thermodynamics.
For an ideal gas, there is a particular relation between the volume, pressure and temperature of a gas. As you rise in the atmosphere, the pressure of the gas drops. There are some funny equations to work out to find how the volume changes, but the net effe... | [
"Temperature has significant effects on the operational efficiency of an aircraft engine. This applies for combustion and electrical engines. Commercial pilots will account for the ambient temperature on the day of a flight in order to calculate takeoff angle of attack, ascent, range, descent, and landing angle of ... |
why do delivery truck drivers wear high visibility jackets? | I would assume it has to do with Health & Safety regulations and legislation, I'm not sure about South Africa but in the UK, Health & Safety dictates that employees working in certain professions need to take certain precautions in their job, one of which could be the need for protective or high visibility clothing... | [
"Many trucks are constructed with the driver sitting in the center of the cab for visibility. Most cabs are shielded with Lexan or comparable polycarbonate, which not only protects the driver from track debris, but also allows for increased visibility. Drivers are required to wear firesuits, safety harnesses, helme... |
why dont sperm banks keep sperm warm like our bodies do rather than freezing it? | Freezing it puts it into a sort of suspended animation and preserves it. If they kept it warm then they would live their natural very short life cycle as cells (about 5 days) and without testes resupply while in the bank it makes collecting it in the first place useless. Being stored warm also makes it more likely to b... | [
"However, the freezing process is still somewhat damaging. Therefore, men wishing to donate sperm or have it stored for future use must make six sperm deposits for every one child they wish to have, due to the 50% survival rate of the sperm in each deposit. The sperm is then put into straw shaped vials, and placed ... |
why do old movies have that signature soft glow around the actors when up close? | Back in the day, there was no HD, so it was easy to hide wrinkles by using a lot of light on close ups and smearing the camera lens with vaseline to blur the wrinkles out. | [
"The real-life surprise of the actors gave the scene an intense sense of realism and made it one of the film's most memorable moments. During preview screenings the crew noticed that some viewers would move towards the back of the theater so as not to be too close to the screen during the sequence. The scene has fr... |
Is it likely there were several species of humans living on earth at the same time? | Most definitely. In fact, there were periods when more than one *genus* of hominid were living in the same place at the same time. *Australopithecus africanus* and *Paranthropus robustus* both lived in Southern Africa roughly 2 million years ago. *Homo sapiens* also lived alongside Neanderthals and *Homo erectus*. (Tha... | [
"Extant human populations have historically been divided into subspecies, but since around the 1980s all extant groups have tended to be subsumed into a single species, \"H. sapiens\", avoiding division into subspecies altogether.\n",
"Humans are bipedal creatures from Earth, and the third most intelligent specie... |
a gun fires a bullet at the exact moment you drop a bullet from the same height. which bullet hits the ground first? | In a vacuum, both will land at essentially the same time, depending on local topography.
The reason is that vertical acceleration and horizontal velocity aren't necessarily linked.
Gravity is pulling both objects downward with the same force, regardless of their forward velocity.
In an atmosphere you may have air tu... | [
"BULLET::::- Drop Shot: Hitting the ball with an angle that makes the ball skim the wall (sometimes called waterfall). (Though \"Waterfall\" may also refer to a ball that hits so high/straight/parallel to the wall that it skims the wall twice before coming down.)\n",
"Targets may be placed at any distance between... |
Is the measure of a parsec actually useful for anything? | It's extremely useful for astronomers, who can measure an angle and instantly know for far something is. It's still used though mostly because of tradition/convention. | [
"The X-bar chart is always used in conjunction with a variation chart such as the formula_1 and R chart or formula_1 and s chart. The R-chart shows sample ranges (difference between the largest and the smallest values in the sample), while the s-chart shows the samples' standard deviation. The R-chart was preferred... |
how come we haven't run out of various resources | > yet this little planet
I think there is the flaw in your reasoning. Pretty much the sum total of human existence has scratched a little bit of the surface. The deepest mine we've ever made (A gold mine) is about 2.4miles deep. The Earth's crust, which itself is only about 1% of the Earth's volume, is 20 to 30 mile... | [
"Several other kinds of resources need to be introduced. If strategic and critical materials are the worst case for resources, unless mitigated by substitution and/or recycling, one of the best is an abundant resource. An abundant resource is one whose material has so far found little use, such as using high-alumin... |
How were the Pyramids of Giza viewed, interpreted, and/or treated before the 1900s? | I'm on mobile so a long answer is tough. But I have one tidbit you'll hopefully find interesting.
By many accounts, Napoleon (around the end of the 1700's) was very interested in the pyramids. Various stories say he went in the Great Pyramid himself, although these accounts are contradicted by at least one source. ... | [
"The pyramid was an essential sight for many who undertook the Grand Tour in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was much admired by architects, becoming the primary model for pyramids built in the West during this period. Percy Bysshe Shelley described it as \"one keen pyramid with wedge sublime\" in \"Adonaïs\", his ... |
How far back does calling decades 50's, 60's, 70's etc go ? Would people in the 18th century casually talk about the 50's like we do? | To all those entering this thread with the intent to post, let me remind you that we are not interested in your personal anecdotes, speculation, grammatical corrections, or half-remembered factoids. Our [rules for answers](_URL_0_) will still be enforced.
Thank you. | [
"The Fifties (1993) is a history book by David Halberstam centered on the decade of the 1950s in the United States. Rather than using a straightforward linear narrative, Halberstam separately profiles many of the notable trends and people of the post-World War II era, starting with Harry Truman's stunning President... |
how does one not become severely injured when jumping from extreme heights into a small amount of water? | As the saying goes, it's not the fall that hurts, but the sudden stop at the end.
The trick, then, is to make the stop *less sudden.* If you fall onto something soft, rather than coming to a stop suddenly, you stop more gradually as the thing you're landing on deforms or displaces under you.
But water isn't all that ... | [
"Some research suggests that the impact associated with high diving could have negative effects on the joints and muscles of athletes. To avoid injury to their arms upon impact with the water, divers from significant heights may enter the water feet first.\n",
"Submerged hazards such as trees can be struck by the... |
why do we do stupid things when we are young even though we have an idea that they are not right? | Curiosity. When you are young you may be aware of the thing but not the consequence. Also, when you are young your mind is set to not care about what will happen to your family if something happens and curiosity does the rest of the work. | [
"Young children have a reputation for credulity, or believing something without having any proof that it is true. Young children often trust what adults tell them, especially when they have no prior knowledge or expectations about the topic of the testimony. Because children tend to interact with adults who are mor... |
how is the b-2 spirit mostly undetectable by radar? | Imagine you're in a room with the floor walls and ceiling painted black.
Now turn the lights out and imagine you have to find a mirror somewhere in this room with nothing but a headlamp. You'd think it'd be easy, just shine the flashlight around the floor walls and ceiling until you see it, however you will soon disc... | [
"Primary radar operation is based on the principle of echolocation. Electromagnetic pulses of high power emitted by the radar antenna are converted into a narrow wavefront which propagates at the speed of light (300 000 000 m/s). This is reflected by the aircraft and then picked up again by the rotating antenna on ... |
Do i get more fluid from 1 straw or 2? | You would get more. Since Velocity is dependent on the dP (pressure difference), and the pressure difference in the two straws is the same, you will have the same fluid velocity in both straws. Volume flow is equal to fluid velocity*area of flow. So you will get double the flow. | [
"Internal water pulses from the straw (into the drop) and air movement around the suspended solution drop, can cause the rafts to spin swiftly around the drop surface. If there is almost no air movement around the suspended drop, then after approximately 12 minutes or more, the micro rafts may join up and form a la... |
Inspired by another question: why don't Martian explorer robots include wipers to wipe dust from the solar panels, thereby making the robot more reliable? | > "We looked at all sorts of ways to try to keep the panels clean: windshield wipers, transparent plastic that you could put on rollers and you could roll it off to bring new plastic into place. All of the different techniques that we looked at were big, complicated, heavy," Squyres says.
| [
"Technology to clean dust off the solar panels was considered for Mars Exploration Rover's development. In the 21st century there have been proposed ways of cleaning off solar panels on the surface Mars that are accumulating dust. The effects of Martian surface dust on solar cells was studied in the 1990s by the Ma... |
If all life on Earth evolved from a common ancestor, have we found separating links for completely different species? | People don't realise how limited our paleo-library is. Fossilisation is an extremely rare occurrence, so finding all the links in a phylogenetic tree is like trying to complete a huge jigsaw puzzle when you only have access to 1% of the pieces.
Genetically, we can see how similar species are to each other, and then i... | [
"Common ancestry between organisms of different species arises during speciation, in which new species are established from a single ancestral population. Organisms which share a more-recent common ancestor are more closely related. The most recent common ancestor of all currently living organisms is the last unive... |
can anyone explain to me what are those tubes for? | They are used to tighten the cable. It's not one cable, but two and they are linked by that thing that can screw closer and make sure it has the required structural integrity | [
"A tube, squeeze tube, or collapsible tube is a collapsible package which can be used for viscous liquids such as toothpaste, artist's paint, adhesive, caulk, ointments, and so on. Basically, a tube is a cylindrical, hollow piece with a round or oval profile, made of plastic, paperboard, aluminum, or other metal. I... |
Is the speed of light contingent upon the speed in which the universe is expanding at? | No, the speed of light in a vacuum is always the same. | [
"BULLET::::- The last verse of the song explains that the universe is expanding, and furthermore, that the speed of light is the \"fastest speed there is\". Idle's estimate of the speed of light is a relatively accurate one: 12 million miles per minute, versus the standard figure of about 11.16 million miles per mi... |
How frequent where attempts to overthrow the US government, throughout its history? | Can you be more specific here? How do you define "overthrow"? Do you mean attempts to *replace* the federal government in its entirety, or do you mean to simply replace the power of the federal government in a more limited fashion? Depending on your definition, something as small as a nullification movement could be co... | [
"Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq is a book published in 2006 by \"New York Times\" foreign correspondent and author Stephen Kinzer about the United States's involvement in the overthrow of foreign governments from the late 19th century to the present. According to Kinzer, the first... |
How do we measure the age of ice? | It's similar to how we know a tree is old by counting the number of rings. When you take a big core out of thick ice, you can see how each layer was deposited year by year, and use this to see how old it is. | [
"Ice ages can be further divided by location and time; for example, the names \"Riss\" (180,000–130,000 years bp) and \"Würm\" (70,000–10,000 years bp) refer specifically to glaciation in the Alpine region. The maximum extent of the ice is not maintained for the full interval. The scouring action of each glaciation... |
what allows humans to "think" intelligently while other animals cannot? could other lifeforms develop this intelligence like us? | Be careful with this label. To say other animals cannot think but that other humans can is a strong statement to make. I can not know with certainty that anyone but myself can think. Humans have developed the ability to verbally report "thinking" but that does not mean we all think the same.
I have worked in an anima... | [
"However, there are many non-human entities, plenty of which are intelligent, and many of which can apprehend, memorise, compare and even approximately add numerical quantities. Several animals have also passed the mirror test of self-consciousness. But a few surprising examples of mathematical abstraction notwiths... |
how does accents work? shouldn't you be able to reproduce the sounds you hear? | You probably have a natural aptitude for this kind of thing, which most people don't. I'm British, but I speak German -- which I also only started learning at 12 -- with only a trace of an accent. However, when I started learning Russian at the age of 19, my teachers couldn't help laughing because I was speaking Russia... | [
"Accents are the distinctive variations in the pronunciation of a language. They can be native or foreign, local or national and can provide information about a person’s geographical locality, socio-economic status and ethnicity. The perception of accents is normal within any given group of language users and invol... |
What was the international drug trade like before the second world war? | Do you mean pharmaceuticals, illegals or both? I can't provide an answer for either, just thought it might be worth clarifying | [
"The drug trade in Latin America emerged in the early 1930s. It saw significant growth in the Andean countries, including Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. The underground market in the early half of the 20th century mainly had ties to Europe. After World War II, the Andean countries saw an exp... |
Given how important the Mediterranean and Atlantic campaigns were in WW2, why weren't aircraft carriers a big priority in the European theatre? | The logistics of land-based airpower was better in the European theater. They could build sizable bases near most major fronts, which allowed for the use of heavier aircraft than could be launched from carriers. As the fronts moved, air corps could be shuttled to forward bases and expect a reasonable amount of supply. ... | [
"The Mediterranean U-boat Campaign in the Mediterranean Sea was fought by Austria-Hungary and German Empire (with some support by the Ottoman Empire) against the Allies during World War I. It was characterised by the ability of the Central Powers to raid with near impunity during the first years of the war, causing... |
How is it the "tribal" peoples of the world seem so connected, yet are so far apart? | The real question is whether they are at all similar.
To start with I should point out that the groups you mentioned are not really similar in the ways you mentioned:
> Their skin color
Here's a [map of human skin colours](_URL_8_). As you can see it's mostly a function of latitude, with some traces of population ... | [
"Indigenous communities, peoples, and nations are those that, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present ... |
What would happen if you were to shoot a bullet through liquid nitrogen? | In the case of your standard round, it would create the same result as shooting normal water. A large reason bullets do so much damage is due to [cavitation](_URL_0_) which occurs when soft tissue or liquid is displaced by the drastic change in pressure that surrounds any high velocity object. In the case of liquid, th... | [
"As a cryogenic liquid, liquid nitrogen can be dangerous by causing cold burns on contact, although the Leidenfrost effect provides protection for very short exposure (about one second). Ingestion of liquid nitrogen can cause severe internal damage. For example, in 2012, a young woman in England had to have her sto... |
If most of the American Indians died from disease, is it fair to say that the Europeans are responsible for their genocide? | Hopefully someone can drop by with a direct answer for you, but meanwhile, there are a few things you can read up on. First, this FAQ section:
### Did the Europeans deliberately spread disease
* [Where smallpox blankets really a thing?](_URL_9_) by */u/Reedstilt*
* [Did Europeans intentionally spread diseases to Na... | [
"In the later context of the European colonization of the Americas, 95% of the indigenous populations are believed to have been killed off by diseases brought by the Europeans. Many were killed by infectious diseases such as smallpox and measles. Similar circumstances were observed in Australia and South Africa. Ab... |
as you grow from an infant to a teenager how do new teeth form in your gums? | Those teeth also develop during the embryonic stage. They erupt at a later date. This is why child skulls can be rather [spooky](_URL_0_) looking. Well, that and it's a child's skull. | [
"The deciduous maxillary central incisor begins to undergo mineralization 14 weeks in utero, and at birth 5/6ths of the enamel is formed. The crown of the tooth is completed 1.5 months after birth and erupts into the mouth at around 10 months of age, making these teeth usually the second type of teeth to appear. Th... |
what effect do north korea's missiles have on marine life? | Not much.
The ocean is very large, missiles, not so much. Oceans typically only suffer from pollution as the result of long-term human activity. Missile sized hazardous materials are quickly diluted to save levels. | [
"There have been a number of North Korean missile tests. North Korea has also fired a number of short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea), in what have been interpreted as political gestures.\n",
"Iran and North Korea have some of the largest numbers of missile boats in operation today. North... |
how come scientists haven't created a device that notices a heart attack and sends a distress signal to the authorties? | They have. It's a little bulky and uncomfortable so you wouldn't wear one if you're healthy. | [
"There are reports that medical tricorders may emerge from \"diagnostic medical apps\" via Tablet Computers and smartphones. Some existing smartphones have been used as medical devices in the sense that text reminders have been sent to a patient about prescription renewals, and downloadable apps allow cameras in ce... |
Does outside noises and other stimuli impact the dreams I have? | Yup.
In [this study](_URL_0_), they randomly spoke names as people were sleeping, which were then incorporated into those dreams.
Even other kinds of stimuli will work. [Dement and Wolpert](_URL_3_) were able to successfully incorporate water and light into people's dreams.
And then there's [this study](_URL_2_). Wh... | [
"During the night, many external stimuli may bombard the senses, but the brain often interprets the stimulus and makes it a part of a dream to ensure continued sleep. Dream incorporation is a phenomenon whereby an actual sensation, such as environmental sounds, is incorporated into dreams, such as hearing a phone r... |
Are there any societies (past or present) that practice funeral preparations other than burial or cremation? | [_URL_1_](_URL_1_)
Think cannibalism, burial at sea, there are plenty of variations on burial as well. I think the most interesting is the use of scavenger animals for disposal:
**Warning of somewhat graphic pictures @ bottom of page:**
[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)
| [
"Inhumation burial practices and the use of sarcophagi were not always the favored Roman funerary custom. The Etruscans and Greeks used sarcophagi for centuries before the Romans finally adopted the practice in the second century. Prior to that period, the dead were usually cremated and placed in marble ash chests ... |
What is, in your opinion, the best thing the CIA has done? What is the worst thing? | By best, do you mean the "most good" in the sense of moral, or the cleverest, most impressive? Because both lists are pretty short, the CIA has spent most of its history being remarkably inept, at least when it comes to sexy humint stuff. | [
"The CIA has been called into question for, at times, using torture, funding and training of groups and organizations that would later participate in killing of civilians and other non-combatants and would try or succeed in overthrowing democratically elected governments, human experimentation, and targeted killing... |
can someone explain to me what the spectrum is and how we are using it (4g wireless and stuff)? | Spectrum is “the range of electromagnetic radiation from the highest frequency to the lowest. It encompasses everything from X-rays and gamma rays to visible light and radio waves”
it is measured in hertz which is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon.
A radio wa... | [
"Wireless Communications Service (WCS) is a set of frequency bands designated in the United States and Canada in the 2305–2320 and 2345–2360 MHz spectrum range. The most common use of WCS spectrum is mobile voice and data services, including cell phone, text messaging, and Internet.\n",
"In the United States, the... |
How do freshwater clams get to a man-made lake when there are no other larger bodies of water nearby? | I believe waterfowl (ducks, etc.) can transport all sorts of things on their feet and feathers.
Also, don't underestimate the ability of the wind to blow around propagules or adults of all sorts of living things - as the movie Magnolia taught us, rains of frogs are [a real thing that happens](_URL_0_). Clam larvae are... | [
"Saltwater is also an issue where a lock separates saltwater from freshwater (for example the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Washington). In this case a collection basin was built from which the saltwater can be pumped back to the sea. Some of the intruding saltwater is also pumped to the fish ladder to make it more ... |
why is the scotus chosen by the senate and president and not the american people? | Because the justices of the Supreme Court are the highest justices in the land. Once they decide something, it's *decided,* and that decision can only be modified or reversed by the justices themselves. That means their jobs have very high stakes. We insulate them from the political process by making them appointed rat... | [
"Madison believed the Senate should be a method of connecting state and national government. Therefore, he proposed that senators be voted in by the House of Representatives in order to keep the Senate exclusive to a well selected and qualified group of individuals while also effectively linking the two government ... |
the senate "nuclear option" today. what this mean? | You're 8 years old at a kids party with 99 other 8 yro children and a decision has to be made about what kinds of games, boy games or girl games, everyone must play. While parties usually have a near even mix of boys and girls, some parties have more boys than girls, while others have more girls than boys. This someti... | [
"This procedure effectively allows the Senate to decide any issue by simple majority vote, regardless of existing procedural rules such as Rule XXII which requires the consent of 60 senators (out of 100) to end a filibuster for legislation, and 67 for amending a Senate rule. The term \"nuclear option\" is an analog... |
what is the problem with marijuana? | in 1930, Harry J. Anslinger was named as the first director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He was in charge of the war on opiates and cocaine. He realized that he would have more power and a better career if he had more drugs to "fight". He popularized the idea that marijuana was dangerous and led to crazed behavi... | [
"Marijuana is the world's most commonly abused illicit drug. The effects of cannabis are associated with deficits in memory, learning, decision-making, and speed of processing. Montgomery et al. (2012) conducted a study on twenty cannabis-only users and 20 non-illicit drug users to test the effect of cannabis on pr... |
why is notre dame not in a conference? | Money - they are a 'national team' with a tremendous tradition - they cut their own deals and don't need to share with others - | [
"Notre Dame unsuccessfully attempted on three occasions to join an athletic conference in the early 20th century, including the Big Ten in 1926, but was turned down, reportedly due to anti-Catholicism. Notre Dame is now one of the most prominent programs in the country. Because of its national popularity built over... |
How proton - proton fusion doesn't violate law of conservation of mass? | > so deuterium is more massive than two protons
This is not true. The deuteron is a bound state, so there is some binding energy which contributes negatively to the total mass of the nucleus. | [
"The conversion of protons to neutrons is the result of another nuclear force, known as the weak (nuclear) force. The weak force, like the strong force, has a short range, but is much weaker than the strong force. The weak force tries to make the number of neutrons and protons into the most energetically stable con... |
Why are there so many more casualties in Ancient/Classical Chinese battles than in other cultures? | Asia, especially India and China, always had much higher population numbers than the rest of the world. Around the year zero, Asia is estimated to have 141mil. inhabitants compared to 28mil. in Europe. That might partially explain the difference in numbers.
Also the geography of China with its central loam plateau mi... | [
"China suffered enormous civilian losses in the war. Estimates vary wildly, though there is a general consensus that civilian deaths were in the 17 to 22 million range, mostly from war-related causes such as famine. A large number of deaths were caused directly by Japanese war crimes. For instance, 2.7 million Chin... |
if distracted driving is being cracked down upon more and more then how are car companies allowed to add big, distracting touch screen systems? | I think the difference between the touchscreens in cars and what people are doing to get in accidents is the amount of attention required. Those touchscreens are primarily used for gps (which has voice directions) and pandora, which requires at most a few swipes if you're switching songs, if you're good enough about i... | [
"Still, researchers are beginning to analyze the potential impact of distracted drivers on the roads. Charlie Klauer, a researcher at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, says that drivers who look at screens have a much higher risk of crashing. Furthermore, the risk of crashing rises exponentially the longe... |
how does paper chromatography work? | Because the different dyes have different affinity's for both the water (that would carry the dye with it) and the paper (that does not move the dye).
This makes it so that the dyes that like to be on the paper more than in the water (higher affinity for paper) will move slower across the paper. While dyes that like t... | [
"Paper chromatography is a technique that involves placing a small dot or line of sample solution onto a strip of \"chromatography paper\". The paper is placed in a container with a shallow layer of solvent and sealed. As the solvent rises through the paper, it meets the sample mixture, which starts to travel up th... |
how are leds brighter and more powerful, yet use so little energy? | You know a lot of light is invisible, right? Infrared, for example. You can't see it, but you can feel it on your skin with your eyes closed when you're standing near something really hot.
Take two lightbulbs that consume exactly the same amount of electric energy, but one produces only visible light, and the other pr... | [
"Compared to other sources of illumination, such as fluorescent and incandescent bulbs, LEDs are energy efficient and increasingly inexpensive. As hard-point light sources, however, LEDs have several significant limitations in edge-lit digital displays.\n",
"Lighting can be natural or via LEDs. As of 2018 commerc... |
Can you burn pure oxygen if no other atoms were around? | oxygen does not burn. combustion is the chemical reaction of a fuel, hydrocarbons, and oxygen. if oxygen has nothing to react with then there can be bo combustion. H20 and CO2 are the result of perfect hydrocarbon combustion. 1 molecule of HC plus 2 molecules of O2 produce H2O and CO2 | [
"Because of its cryogenic nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidizing agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further, if soaked in liquid oxygen, some materials such as coal briquettes, ... |
(Possible dumb question) If water boils at 100 degrees C, why do clothes dry on my radiators when they are nowhere near that temperature? | It boils at 100c at sea level just to be pedantic. But evaporation (the process making your clothes dry) is a factor of heat, atmospheric pressure (humidity) and air movement. You do not need to boil the water off for evaporation (if that was the case we'd have no rain). Your clothes dry on the radiator because;
- Te... | [
"BULLET::::- When clothes are hung on a laundry line, even though the ambient temperature is below the boiling point of water, water evaporates. This is accelerated by factors such as low humidity, heat (from the sun), and wind. In a clothes dryer, hot air is blown through the clothes, allowing water to evaporate v... |
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