Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
When was the last time a general was captured as a prisoner of war?	Definitely more recent than WW2 was the capture of US Major General William F. Dean in the Korean War. Saddam Hussein was officially the Commander in Chief of the Iraqi Mujahed Armed Forces. He was also treated as a prisoner of war by the United States when he was captured in 2003. [[1]](_URL_0_)	[ "Charles E. Shelton (born April 29, 1932) was a United States Air Force officer who was shot down during the Vietnam War over Laos during a reconnaissance mission on April 29, 1965, his 33rd birthday. His fate is unknown and he was classified as a prisoner of war until 1994, making him the last official U.S. prison...
Could the Romans have build a steam engine? The Byzantines or maybe the Chinese? What technologies are needed to build a steam engine and when was the earliest that one could have been built?	There are several critical inventions that are necessary for a useful steam engine that can do arbitrary work (as opposed to Hero's Engine, which is a toy and cannot do useful work, or pressure-differential pumps). First is accurate machine tools. Without lathes to turn parts accurately, you're not going to be able to...	[ "The first recorded rudimentary steam engine was the aeolipile described by Heron of Alexandria in 1st-century Roman Egypt. Several steam-powered devices were later experimented with or proposed, such as Taqi al-Din's steam jack, a steam turbine in 16th-century Ottoman Egypt, and Thomas Savery's steam pump in 17th-...
So, about Brazilian participation in WWII...	Militærhistorie, a Norwegian magazine on military history had a profile on Brazilian infantryman 1944-45 in issue 1-2012. Not much, so the relevant stuff: The soldiers were sent to Italy without equipment, but were given US equipment when they arrived. They were organized as a standard US infantry division. It was mad...	[ "During World War I, Brazil declared war on the Central Powers after the sinking and capturing of a several Brazilian merchant ships and was the only Latin American nation to actively be involved in the war by sending eight war ships to Europe and 100 paramedics to France. At the end of the war, both Brazil and Ita...
Why does shampoo become foamy when lathered, but conditioner remains lotion-like?	Shampoo is, at its core, a kind of soap. All soaps, at the [molecular level](_URL_0_), have a hydrophillic end and a hydrophobic end. The process of washing with soap creates "balls" of soap molecules that trap dirt particles inside them while repelling water, allowing them to be washed away. The simple truth of it i...	[ "One reason is concern about the effect of ingredients typically found in commercial hair care products. Shampoo typically contains chemical additives such as sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium laureth sulfate, which can irritate sensitive skin or if not thoroughly rinsed. Such chemical additives are also believed by...
why don't bookstores offer the same prices in-store as they do online?	Brick and mortar stores have more overhead that needs to be covered by the sale of books (rent, power, employee wages, insurance, etc.). Typically online warehouses have less overhead. Additionally, some states to not charge tax or charge a lower amount of tax for online sales.	[ "Online book buyers buy textbooks, and sometimes other types of books, with the aim of reselling them for a profit. Like online marketplaces, online book buyers operate year-round, giving students the opportunity to sell their books even when campus \"buyback\" periods are not in effect. Students enter the ISBN num...
What has, historically, lead to the unique development of a univeral welfare state seen in the Scandinavian countries?	It ain't unique, for starters. Australia has a universal welfare state. So do many other democratic capitalist countries. I think the better question is what led to the unique development of a universal anti-welfare state in the USA.	[ "Ian Allison in International Business Times writes that Scandinavian Unexceptionalism shows that “many desirable aspects of Scandinavian societies, such as low income inequality, low levels of poverty and high economic growth pre-dated the development of a generous welfare state”.\n", "According to Finnish socio...
What is the heaviest rainfall possible under natural conditions?	The first difficulty in answering this question is that rainfall is dependent on spatial and temporal resolution. Consider this: an intense thunderstorm may produce a very high rain rate but it has limited area coverage (typically several km). If you look at the small region of heavy rain, you'll get a higher rain rate...	[ "The maximum annual rainfall ever recorded was 1500 mm for every year. The highest rainfall recorded in a single day was 850 mm. The average total annual rainfall is 1500 mm. The average annual temperature is 32 °C, and the average maximum temperature is 35 °C, while the average minimum temperature is 28 °C. In the...
why scientists haven't been able to produce a drug that makes fat people skinny	They have. There have been all kinds of weight loss medications made. Remember Fen Phen? There was a big problem because the medicine caused cardiac issues. From what I remember though, it was really only dangerous to people who were taking it incorrectly such as taking more than prescribed to have it work faster o...	[ "It is very difficult to measure or estimate the actual human consumption of these substances. Highly unsaturated omega-3 rich oils such as fish oil are being sold in pill form so that the taste of oxidized or rancid fat is not apparent. The health food industry's dietary supplements are self-regulated and outside ...
how do world leaders (like at the g7 meeting right now) communicate during their roundtable dinners?	Most world leaders can all speak English.	[ "The platform is also active in various Peace Summits across the world, often in partnership with local organizations. Summits typically last four days and feature numerous guest speakers from the World Peace Initiative Foundation, as well as speakers from different like-minded organizations from the region. The to...
when and why did the notion (in fiction) that acute exposure to ionizing radiation causes drastic changes in an individuals (extra limb/super powers) arise?	Early on in the discovery and understanding of DNA, we believed that DNA could be manipulated in certain ways to achieve superhuman effects. Everything from increased strength and endurance to regeneration or even extremely increased intellect were believed to be encoded somewhere in our DNA. Then we discovered that c...	[ "Acute effects of ionizing radiation were first observed when Wilhelm Röntgen intentionally subjected his fingers to X-rays in 1895. He published his observations concerning the burns that developed, though he misattributed them to ozone, a free radical produced in air by X-rays. Other free radicals produced within...
How long did it take after the fall of Rome before the tech level was the same again?	Hi, this is a very common mistake that people got "stupider" after the fall of Rome or any significant amount of knowledge 'disappeared' after the fall. We have a pretty extensive FAQ which gathers some of the better answers to them. The first one I believe is the most comprehensive but I'll post another of my favorite...	[ "In summary, Rome contributed numerous advances in technology to the Ancient World. However, it is also viewed that \"the ancient world under the domination of Rome [in fact] reached a kind of climax in the technological field [as] many technologies had advanced as far as possible with the equipment then available\...
When will certain stars in constellations (such as the Big Dipper) disappear?	Dubhe is a red giant, so it has already evolved off the main sequence and will be the first star of the Big Dipper to die. It probably has millions of years left until it collapses into a white dwarf. Long before that happens though, the stars of the Big Dipper will drift apart and will no longer be together in a cons...	[ "Further in the future, Orion's stars will gradually move away from the constellation due to proper motion. However, Orion's brightest stars all lie at a large distance from the Earth on an astronomical scale—much farther away than Sirius, for example. Orion will still be recognizable long after most of the other c...
if caught. what would the ashley madison hacker(s) likely be charged with?	> I wonder if courts would likely go easy on them? Not likely. The courts are designed to take all emotional aspects out of a trial. In practice, sometimes it's shady. But generally the defendant's attorneys would emphasize the jury to focus on the strict legal definitions of the charges without moral issues. --- ...	[ "Hathaway's hack into the NSA does not go unnoticed and the U.S. government, NSA and FBI demand his return to prison. Dawai's superiors advise him to proceed the investigation without Hathaway. Outside, one of Kassar's men secretly plants a tracking device on Dawai's car. Dawai, Lien and Hathaway manage to elude th...
why do we have self esteem?	Everyone has thoughts and feelings about themselves, and "self esteem" is really just a fancy term for this. If you look at different people, you will see that people who feel pretty good about themselves, and feel like they can do well at some things, are generally more successful and less likely to suffer from depres...	[ "Self-esteem is important because it shows us how we view the way we are and the sense of our personal value. Thus, it affects the way we are and act in the world and the way we are related to everybody else.\n", "Self-esteem is an attractive psychological construct because it predicts certain outcomes, such as a...
why do cats always seem to run away from dogs instead of the other way around?	Cats are suited to ambushing; the attack pattern universal to most cats involves pouncing from behind and biting the back of the neck, and their physiology favors this with a body streamlined for speed and light footing. Despite the fact that cats hone their claws for maximum effect (even housecats are capable of kil...	[ "The signals and behaviors that cats and dogs use to communicate are different and can lead to signals of aggression, fear, dominance, friendship or territoriality being misinterpreted by the other species. Dogs have a natural instinct to chase smaller animals that flee, an instinct common among cats. Most cats fle...
why is losing your job called being "fired"?	According to [etymology online](_URL_0_) it has its roots in the concept of firing a gun. Being fired (from a job) is called being discharged, which again is another word for firing a gun. I guess "discharged" colloquially became "fired" over time. Also, you can drive something out by fire, which definitely seems conne...	[ "To be dismissed, as opposed to quitting voluntarily (or being laid off), is often perceived as being the employee's fault. Finding new employment may often be difficult after being fired, particularly if there is a history of being terminated from a previous job, if the reason for firing is for some serious infrac...
what is a "non-member observer state", and what does this mean for palestinians?	Its a half-way step to becoming a full-blown member of the UN. It is recognized as an official country (State), which means they get to send a representative to sit in and listen to the goings-on in the UN (Observer), but not cast any votes (Non-Member).	[ ", there are two permanent non-member observer states in the United Nations: the Holy See and Palestine. The Holy See uncontroversially obtained its non-member observer state status in 1964 and Palestine was so designated in 2012, following an application for full membership in 2011 which has not yet been put to a ...
If my 60 GB phone is full or empty, is there any difference in weight at the nano level?	Yes, if my understanding of this article is correct: _URL_0_ (I hope nytimes is an acceptable source, even if not academic) In the linked article, John D. Kubiatowicz, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley says that for a kindle with 4 Gigabyte memory, this would mean a rough incre...	[ "For example mobile phone batteries were originally large and bulky with only a few hours of charge. Over time we have come to expect 12+ hours of battery life on slim lightweight phones. The battery attributes have had to change to keep up with customer expectations.\n", "In addition, at 16 pounds (7.2 kilograms...
Why does it seem like the Spanish conquered most of the world except the USA?	By the world I assume you mean the Americas. Spain's voyages of exploration were the first to "discover" the new world (if you don't count the Viking who failed to establish successful colonies). While there were great empires in the Americas prior to Columbus's arrival, they were completely devastated by European di...	[ "By defeating Spain, the U.S. acquired a number of colonies, including the Philippine archipelago. The Filipinos, thinking the U.S. was freeing them from the Spanish, did not care to be ruled by yet another foreign power. They resisted U.S. control, and thus began the Philippine War (1899–1902), in which (now) Capt...
How do plants manage to attack each other without destroying themselves or offspring? e.g. oils that inhibit germination	We call the process of a plant pre-emptively fighting off other plants [negative allelopathy](_URL_1_). This is often done through the use of tertiary metabolites or secreted proteins. [Eucalyptus trees](_URL_2_) are a common example of this process. The tree dumps a compound from its roots into the surrounding soil, t...	[ "When plants are attacked they can manifest physical changes, such as strengthening their cell walls, depositing callose, or forming cork. They can also manifest biochemical changes, including the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or the up-regulation of genes producing other defensive enzymes, many o...
The technology to get humans to Mars and keep them alive there exists. The technology to bring humans from Mars back to Earth simply does not exist yet. Why is that?	Pretty much the fuel, yes. We'd need to both lift the return trip fuel out of Earth orbit and land it safely on Mars. To land it safely, we need to bring more fuel to slow it down when we get there - so we need to lift even more fuel into orbit. And every bit of extra fuel we add, we need to add extra fuel to lift it.....	[ "The Martians possess an organic, self-regenerating technology, which was used to construct Nyah's spacecraft. Against this technology, human weaponry proves ineffectual, as demonstrated when Nyah comes away unscathed by gunshots from a pistol. The alien technology is unreliable, however, and Nyah's people have not...
How accurate is pop culture's portrayal of Native Americans as "one with nature"	A bit of both. There was a lower permanent population density before white settlement which is an important factor. However, historians have shown that many tribes did not have the same consumption and land use beliefs and behaviors as Europeans. Each tribe had its own practices as well. Additionally, there is the my...	[ "The portrayal of Native Americans in popular culture has oscillated between the fascination with the noble savage who lives in harmony with nature, and the stereotype of the uncivilized \"bad guys\" in the traditional Western genre. The common depiction of Native Americans and the relationship between the white se...
Did the average peasant understand Shakespeare's plays?	Actually, you can argue that most of his plays were targeted at the lower classes. There's actually a term, [groundling](_URL_0_), for those too poor to afford the nicer seats at the Globe and had to sit in the cheaper, "penny" seats. For all the lords and ladies that attended, a lot of the revenue was generated by t...	[ "\". \"Hamlet\" is an outstanding example of \"groundlings\" quickness and response. Use of groundlings enhanced Shakespeare's work practically and artistically. He represented English people more concretely and not as puppets. His skills have found expression in chronicles, or history plays, and tragedies.\n", "...
what happens to the particles we smell?	After they interact with the receptors in your olfactory nerves they are washed out through mucus secretions and you either sneeze them out and pick at them with your finger when you're bored.	[ "Particles which precipitate in the vicinity of the mouth and eyes, and get into the organism, are defined as the inhalable fraction, that is total dust. Smaller fractions, penetrating into the non-cartilage respiratory tract, are defined as respirable dust. Dust emitted in the wood industry is characterized by the...
Can two wounds heal so they fuse together? For instance, if I had two cuts or burns, and they were kept in contact the entire healing process, would the skin between them fuse?	Harold Gillies invented a technique that was later developed by Archibald McIndoe (a dutch plastic surgeon who worked for the RAF in WWII) that may be relevant to your question. [walking-stalk skin graft](_URL_2_) [pic here](_URL_0_) In this technique one end of a graft is attached to the target area while the other...	[ "Primary intention is the healing of a clean wound without tissue loss. In this process, wound edges are brought together, so that they are adjacent to each other (re-approximated). Wound closure is performed with sutures (stitches), staples, or adhesive tape or glue.\n", "Since dermal fibroblasts play a critical...
Looking for a WWII Army unit (my grandfathers). Only have a picture of the crest	That's the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia of the [80th Infantry Division](_URL_1_). The actual "crest" (known as a Distinctive Unit Insignia) of the 80th Division looks like [this](_URL_4_). The 80th Infantry Division, during World War I, was made up of draftees from New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Penns...	[ "BULLET::::- Crest:The design of the crest commemorates three of the unit's especially noteworthy actions in World War II; i.e., the amphibious assault at Maori, Italy, the glider assault into Normandy, and participation in the Battle of the Bulge. The two pairs of wings from the arms of the Province of Salerno, wh...
why do you smell burnt toast before having a stroke?	Generally speaking, you don't. It's from a Canadian Heritage Minute commercial about the first brain surgery for epilepsy.	[ "Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a burning sensation in the mouth with no underlying known dental or medical cause. No related signs of disease are found in the mouth. People with burning mouth syndrome may also have a subjective xerostomia (dry mouth sensation where no cause can be found such as reduced salivary f...
why do some song with spoken segments have them edited out on the radio?	I’m not 100% certain, but I think it has to do with length. If a song is too long, the least necessary parts will be edited out. That’s my general understanding but I could definitely be wrong.	[ "Songs are commonly edited for broadcast on radio and television to remove content that may be considered objectionable to an outlet's target audience—such as profanity, or references to subjects such as sex and drug usage. This is typically done to comply with any relevant broadcast law or codes of conduct, and to...
When slavery was legal in the US, if someone sexually assaulted another person's slave, would their be a criminal charge? What would it be?	There were some laws and instances of enforcement of those laws, related to abuse or killing of another person’s slave. [Georgia](_URL_1_) codified these in their slave codes. I am not aware of any laws specifically against the rape of a slave. There were many laws, including some requiring castration, for various off...	[ "As a matter of law, rape could be committed only against a citizen in good standing. The rape of a slave could be prosecuted only as damage to the owner's property. People who worked as prostitutes or entertainers, even if they were technically free, suffered \"infamia\", the loss of legal and social standing. A p...
pressure cooking	one of the things that affects how fast something cooks is the temperature. if cooking in water, without a pressure cooker, the highest temperature you can attain in 100 degrees C (or 212 degrees F). If you want to cook something in water at a higher temperature, you can raise the pressure, which allows the water to st...	[ "Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food at high pressure, employing water or a water-based cooking liquid, in a sealed vessel known as a \"pressure cooker\". High pressure limits boiling, and permits cooking temperatures well above to be reached.\n", "Pressure cookers are cooking pots with a pressure-pro...
how did a single cell, that replicates it's dna and is supposed to be the exact same, evolve into all the life we now have on earth?	Cells don't copy their DNA perfectly. Mistakes are made, either because the machinery that makes more DNA isn't flawless or because something in the environment causes damage to the cell. Some of the copies of that theoretical first cell likely got mutations that benefited them and started outcompeting the other cells....	[ "The single DNA molecule first replicates, then attaches each copy to a different part of the cell membrane. When the cell begins to pull apart, the replicated and original chromosomes are separated. The consequence of this asexual method of reproduction is that all the cells are genetically identical, meaning that...
why is radiation most commonly associated with the color green when in reality it is just invisible energy?	Early "glow in the dark" materials used radioactive materials mixed with phosphorus to provide that glow effect. It happened to be green. Since there's no real color associated with radiation, it just kinda stuck. [_URL_2_](_URL_2_) & #x200B; edit: Correction - Thanks Baud! Mixed with [a phosphor](_URL_1_). N...	[ "The green hue was a puzzle for astronomers in the early part of the 20th century because none of the known spectral lines at that time could explain it. There was some speculation that the lines were caused by a new element, and the name nebulium was coined for this mysterious material. With better understanding o...
Why was Winston Churchill against Indian independence?	After reading Manchester's biography, it seems the biggest reason was simply the Victorian idea that India was somehow "earned" by the British empire and he wasn't about to give it up. More realistically Churchill mentions that the British are the only thing keeping the Hindus and Muslims at peace. He also thought that...	[ "Although Churchill was no longer Prime Minister, he did not leave the public eye for many years; his image as a world leader and seasoned diplomat allowed him to remain a figurehead in British politics. He became the leader of the opposition, the Conservative Party. While acting as leader Churchill accomplished a ...
why do birds and squirrels walk away from you when you approach them?	They aren't curious about you like you are about them. To you, they're interesting. To them, you're huge and very likely murderous. Humans have the ability to ignore fear. Humans also have the mind-bendingly stupid habit of ignoring fear, but then again it hasn't driven us to extinction yet, so there's that. Animals ...	[ "Australian ravens generally walk when moving around on the ground, though do hop when hurrying. They preen themselves frequently, particularly when roosting in the middle of the day. They also engage in allopreening, where birds will preen each other's head and neck. This takes place particularly in autumn, winter...
What happens to a virus or infection after a host dies?	It really depends on the specific virus, bacteria, ect. Some survive years while others last seconds. Infections like anthrax form a really resilient structure called a spore where they can survive for centuries until they come in contact with a host through inhalation skin ect. Tuberculosis can only be spread thorough...	[ "Viruses can remain intact from apoptosis in particular in the latter stages of infection. They can be exported in the \"apoptotic bodies\" that pinch off from the surface of the dying cell, and the fact that they are engulfed by phagocytes prevents the initiation of a host response. This favours the spread of the ...
valves in engine	Engines have intake valves and exhaust valves. The intake valves open as the piston is traveling down during the "Intake stroke" to allow air (and fuel in some cases) to enter the combustion chamber, then the valves close. The piston then travels back up and compresses the air (and fuel in some cases) during the "Compr...	[ "Piston valves are one form of valve used to control the flow of steam within a steam engine or locomotive. They control the admission of steam into the cylinders and its subsequent exhausting, enabling a locomotive to move under its own power. The valve consists of two piston heads on a common spindle moving insid...
Who was the first individual to realize that light took time to get to a point, as opposed to being instantaneous?	In Sense and Sensibilia, Aristotle laid out arguments against some of his contemporaries in which he argued against the idea of a finite speed of light. He argued it was an infinite speed. So we can trace back some realization to the speed of light going back to ~300-400 BCE. Ole Rømer was the first recorded man...	[ "According to Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity, \"instantaneous action at a distance\" violates the relativistic upper limit on speed of propagation of information. If one of the interacting objects were to suddenly be displaced from its position, the other object would feel its influence instantaneou...
why is chicken the most common and usually the only kind of bird people eat?	They grow fast, are reasonably large, are very poor flyers, and live well in large groups. That makes them an easy bird to farm in large numbers. Turkeys, ducks, and geese are also farmed, but they're not as easy to handle and the meat is more expensive as a result. Pigeons and crows don't have any meat on them, it'...	[ "Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising them in comparison to animals such as cattle or hogs, chickens have become prevalent throughout the cuisine of cultures around the world, and their meat has been variously adapted to regional tastes.\n", "...
why do jewish people make up just 2% of the us population, yet they are very dominant in many industries (i.e. banking, hollywood, corporate, etc.)?	Connections, hard work and a cultural importance of a good education.	[ "Depending on religious definitions and varying population data, the United States currently has the second largest Jewish community in the world (after Israel). The American Jewish population was estimated to be approximately 5,128,000 (1.7%) of the total population in 2008 (304,060,000). However, it may be as hig...
the difference between exponential growth and sequential growth?	AFAIK this would just be called a linear growth. It always grows the same amount with every step (+1 action done for every +1 loop).	[ "Growth rates may also be faster than exponential. In the most extreme case, when growth increases without bound in finite time, it is called hyperbolic growth. In between exponential and hyperbolic growth lie more classes of growth behavior, like the hyperoperations beginning at tetration, and formula_20, the diag...
why couldn't sauron simply create another ring?	Well, as evidenced by the end of the story, Sauron seemed to tie some of his life force to the Ring. In his weakened state he didn't have enough strength left to create another one.	[ "Sauron's plan would have succeeded had the Elves not detected his influence when he put on the One Ring. It was then the Elves saw him for who he really was, removed their Rings, and did not use them for as long as Sauron retained the One Ring. Enraged, Sauron initiated a great war and conquered much of the land w...
why are metal shavings flammable?	Metals can oxidize- this is what happens when they rust or otherwise react with oxygen. Usually this happens slowly, since only the surface is exposed to air and rust/oxides on the surface actually block the air from touching fresh metal underneath. Rusting/oxidizing produces heat. A rusty nail is rusting very slowly...	[ "A rash at the time of shaving is usually a sign of lack of lubrication. Razor burn is a common problem, especially among those who shave coarse hairs on areas with sensitive skin like the bikini line, pubic hair, underarms, chest, and beard. The condition can be caused by shaving too closely, shaving with a blunt ...
Why is it that when I touch the end of an aux cord with the other end plugged into a speaker a loud buzzing occurs?	Your body acts as a circuit that picks up RF signals from your mains. The signals get transmitted to your speakers and amplified to cause the hum. Edit: You can test this by listening to a clip of a 50/60 Hz test tone and comparing it to the noise.	[ "Connections are made by pushing the cable's plug into the female jack on the device. The signal-carrying pin protrudes from the plug, and often comes into contact with the socket before the grounded rings meet, resulting in loud hum or buzz if the audio components do not share a common ground and are powered while...
Looking for academic sources on the Arab-Israeli 6 day war of 1967	The current Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, wrote a pretty comprehensive history of the Six-Day War, called [Six Days of War](_URL_0_). It's very readable and highly respected, so I'd very much recommend it.	[ "BULLET::::- Burrowes, Robert & Muzzio, Douglas. (1972). The Road to the Six Day War: Towards an Enumerative History of Four Arab States and Israel, 1965-67. \"The Journal of Conflict Resolution\", Vol. 16, No. 2, Research Perspectives on the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Symposium, pp. 211–226.\n", "BULLET::::- Burro...
As a fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain, how likely was it to outlive your plane?	There are plenty of statistics, though definitions and precision are always an issue. As a starting point there's [a BBC piece](_URL_2_) with Fighter Command aircraft and aircrew loss figures taken from The Battle of Britain: Then and Now; that gives a total of 1012 aircraft losses and 537 aircrew. Stephen Bungay giv...	[ "Whenever possible, the RAF tactic during the Battle of Britain was to use Hurricane squadrons to attack the bombers and Spitfires to counter German escort fighters. In total Hurricanes shot down more Luftwaffe aircraft of all types than the Spitfire, mainly due to the higher proportion of Hurricanes in the air. Se...
what was the point of the cold war	The main issue at play was sphere of influence in the world. From the side of the West (US, Canada, UK, and many other nations), it felt that communism was a threat to the way things are done here. That if it allowed the USSR to expand, the influence will expand into their own nations. For the East, it had the fear ...	[ "The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II led by the United States (and the Western Bloc) and the Soviet Union (and the Eastern Bloc). After World War II, the victory of the Soviet Union over Germany granted them considerable territorial spoils; the Soviet Union banded together ...
Western films often depict characters getting tied down to railroad tracks and run over as a means of execution. Are there any recorded instances of that actually happening?	Hi, you'll find additional responses in these threads * /u/leyebrow in [Do we know of anyone actually being tied up and left on the railroad tracks?](_URL_2_) * /u/AshkenazeeYankee in [Did criminals from the West in the 19th century actually tie women to train tracks or is this just a trope from tv shows and cartoon...	[ "A handbill posted on a burnt tree, dated 1862, announces that anyone interfering with bridges, railroads or tunnels will be summarily executed. Union troops prepare a civilian prisoner, Peyton Farquhar, for death by hanging from a rural railroad bridge. The soundtrack contains only bird noises and brief military o...
why we get lights in front of our eyes when we stand up too quickly, please.	I'm not entirely sure that the lights that you are referring to is what I refer to as "temporary blindness", but I'll explain what I mean, and then we'll see. When I stand up to quickly, I often get dark spots or blindness, where my vision will completely go, with very sudden throbbing headaches, along with dizziness a...	[ "These cause permanent obstruction of aqueous outflow. In some cases, pressure may rapidly build up in the eye, causing pain and redness (symptomatic, or so-called \"acute\" angle closure). In this situation, the vision may become blurred, and halos may be seen around bright lights. Accompanying symptoms may includ...
During the inter-war period fascism developed a strong following in the UK but ultimately failed as a political movement. Is there a general consensus on the factors which lead to the failure of the movement in the UK as compared to European countries in which it was successful?	While you're waiting for a fuller answer, you might find an [older post](_URL_1_) of mine useful (drawing in turn on [this answer](_URL_0_)), discussing the extent that anti-fascist activism should be credited with preventing fascism in Britain. As I concluded there, anti-fascism is at best one piece of the puzzle, wit...	[ "Although Fascism in the United Kingdom never reached the heights of many of its European counterparts, British politics after the First World War saw the emergence of a number of fascist movements, none of which ever came to power.\n", "Interwar Britain (1918–1939) was a period of peace and relative economic sta...
Pottery found Salar de Uyuni Bolivia	Dude, you really should be taking that to a museum, rather than posting it on reddit. Especially if you found it in a pile of human bones. Museum. Now.	[ "The earliest pottery ever found in the Western Hemisphere was excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil and radiocarbon dated to 8,000 years ago (6000 BC). The pottery was found near Santarém and provides evidence that the tropical forest region supported a complex prehistoric culture. The Marajoara culture flourish...
Do tornadoes historically prefer flat terrain and avoid hills, or is that merely coincidence?	[Link](_URL_0_) Tornadoes can and do occur at high elevations. In fact, a tornado was recorded at 12,000 feet in California's Sequoia National Park in July 2004. The majority of tornadoes in the USA occur east of the Rockies, where atmospheric conditions are more favorable in the relatively flat Plains states. Part o...	[ "Squall lines, or solid bands of strong thunderstorms, can form ahead of cold fronts and lee troughs due to the presence of significant atmospheric moisture and strong upper level divergence, leading to hail and high winds. When significant directional wind shear exists in the atmosphere ahead of a cold front in th...
would farm animals (cows, pigs etc) be able to survive in their current state without human interaction?	no. Few at least. They might survive the summer but come winter they will most likely starve or fall pray to predators or animals better suited for their environment. Domesticated animals are really dependent on us.	[ "A 2018 report published in \"PNAS\" asserted that farmers in the United States could sustain more than twice as many people than they do currently if they abandoned rearing farm animals for human consumption and instead focused on growing plants.\n", "Some advocates of animal welfare have pointed out the ethical...
What was life like in Switzerland during WWII?	Judging from writings both created by war-time Swiss citizens and by historians after the fact, the idea of Swiss neutrality was one that tended to be ignored upon occasion. According to the BBC's collection of writings from survivors of World War 2, life in Switzerland was much like it was in England during the time,...	[ "Switzerland during World War II had the most complex relationship with Germany of all the neutral countries. Expecting hardship, the Swiss government spent heavily in the years prior to World War II on stockpiling food and buying armaments and, anticipating an invasion, kept its forces constantly mobilised. Follow...
[Biology] What is the maximum rate at which the human body can convert fat into energy?	The body is extremely adaptable to balancing energy deficits from inadequate energy intake, and this involves a complex cascade of hormones that signal a number of metabolic changes in the tissues involved in the provision of energy substrates (adipose, muslce, and liver). Adipose has a very high capacity to generate f...	[ "Thus the young adult human’s fat stores average between about 10–20 kg, but varies greatly depending on age, gender, and individual disposition. By contrast the human body stores only about 400 g of glycogen, of which 300 g is locked inside the skeletal muscles and is unavailable to the body as a whole. The 100 g ...
What was the first animal humans domesticated? Why did we domesticate that animals instead of some other?	Watched an episode of Cosmos that explained this. While Hunters and Gatherers would gather around the fire, wolves would come close trying to eat. They would throw food to the wolves and they would calmly take the food and leave them alone. For the wolves it was much easier to be domesticated and be given food on a dai...	[ "Domestication of many types of mammals by humans played a major role in the Neolithic revolution, and resulted in farming replacing hunting and gathering as the primary source of food for humans. This led to a major restructuring of human societies from nomadic to sedentary, with more co-operation among larger and...
what are the laws regarding salary change of us congressmen?	Because your post isn't asking a simplified conceptual explanation, but rather for an answer, its been removed. You should try /r/answers, /r/askreddit or even one of the more specialized answers subreddits like /r/askhistorians, /r/askscience or others too numerous and varied to mention. Rest assured this doesn'...	[ "BULLET::::6. Under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter, the United States Department of Justice determined that it did not matter when Congress passed legislation increasing the salary for an office, so long as the former member of Congress was nominated before the salary increase went into effect.\n", ...
If the moon were suddenly destroyed how soon would we feel the effects on Earth?	Gravitational effects travel at the speed of light, which is ~300,000 km/s. The moon is ~384,000 km from Earth. That means the effects would be noticeable 1.28 seconds after it was destroyed.	[ "Once the astronauts had returned to the CSM, the LM ascent stage was released and collided with the Moon. The LM hit the lunar surface at 6,048 km/h and created an estimated 9 meter wide crater. The shock waves from the impact were a surprise to the scientists, with the Moon vibrating for over 55 minutes. The seis...
what are the origins of male obsession/competition with/over penis size?	I don't fully agree with the "biological" explanations. Obsession over penis size is largely cultural. Take the Greeks during the ancient times, for instance. For them, the ideal male body had a small penis, while large genitals were used to depict Satyrs, which spent their time masturbating. A manly man was a good lov...	[ "Various perceptions of the vagina have existed throughout history, including the belief it is the center of sexual desire, a metaphor for life via birth, inferior to the penis, unappealing to sight or smell, or vulgar. These views can largely be attributed to sex differences, and how they are interpreted. David Bu...
is it feasible for homes to be fitted with bicycle powered generators to save on energy costs?	The problem may be that your nutritional costs would increase more than your power costs would decrease. To give a good comparison, you should consider how many calories are burned producing how much energy.	[ "Bicycles can reduce fossil fuel emissions by shortening or eliminating car trips, and by extending the reach of public transportation as part of a mixed-mode commute. Portable bicycles often can be used also by children and so can be kept for a lifetime.\n", "The company designed portable power stations and devi...
fight club	There's this guy, we'll call him Jack. Jack isn't the happiest of men. Jack is quiet, Jack is weak, and Jack feels as though he isn't a real man. Jack feels like his life is empty and has these dark clouds over him. This depression goes so deep that it affects his mind and just when things are getting out of control, ...	[ "Fight Club was a martial arts TV magazine program, created by Samuel Pagal and broadcast by the French based, pan-European broadcasting sports channel Eurosport. The program includes various events, bouts and special features of kickboxing throughout the world.\n", "The game follows the standard formula of fight...
What are the vertical streaks next to the mushroom cloud?	They are [smoke rockets](_URL_0_), which are launched to give a reference point for photographic analysis of the bomb's shock wave. Basically they make it easier to see exactly where the shock wave front is, since the shock wave is invisible but it causes the refractive index of air to change (similar to a mirage), ben...	[ "Mushroom clouds result from the sudden formation of a large volume of lower-density gases at any altitude, causing a Rayleigh–Taylor instability. The buoyant mass of gas rises rapidly, resulting in turbulent vortices curling downward around its edges, forming a temporary vortex ring that draws up a central column,...
how to 'happy tears' come about, and do they differ from 'sad tears'?	I was hoping there would be an answer on here, but there wasn't so I became curious and looked it up. Supposedly it has to do with different molecules that are in the tears. Happy and sad tears also look different under a microscope which I found very interesting. Here is the site I used incase anyone else wants to ...	[ "The question of the function or origin of emotional tears remains open. Theories range from the simple, such as response to inflicted pain, to the more complex, including nonverbal communication in order to elicit altruistic helping behavior from others. Some have also claimed that crying can serve several biochem...
why do we allow north korea to have internment camps similar to nazi germany?	Nazi Germany invaded other countries China does not want the US invading North Korea, because the refugee crisis will hit them directly and the US would gain North Korea as a base. North Korea has no desirable or strategic resources the US requires.	[ "South Korea's laws do not allow naturalized North Koreans to return. North Korea has accused South Korea of abducting and forcibly interning those who want to and has demanded that they are allowed to leave.\n", "When Japan lost control over Korea in 1945, those Koreans who remained in Japan received Chōsen-seki...
how are borders that overlap with rivers determined?	I have seen three definitions in place. (1): the mean high tide line on one side or the other. (that is, the average location of the daily high tide on one side). (2): halfway between the two mean high tide lines. (3) the line directly above the deepest point in the channel.	[ "BULLET::::- Rivers: some political borders have been formalized along natural borders formed by rivers. Some examples are: the Niagara River (Canada–USA), the Rio Grande (Mexico–USA), the Rhine (France–Germany), and the Mekong (Thailand–Laos). If a precise line is desired, it is often drawn along the thalweg, the ...
why is there an assumption that if two nuclear powers go to war with each other they would necessarily use nuclear weapons?	The very act of war, I believe, belies the rationality of the actors. There is nothing that could not otherwise be accomplished without war, yet we have typically raced into it with abandon. And we've used those weapons before. Besides, MAD is not necessarily a rational strategy. It is a threat, not a necessary outcom...	[ "Nuclear weapons may also lessen a state's reliance on allies for security, thus preventing allies from dragging each other into wars (a phenomenon known as chain ganging, frequently said to be a major cause of World War I).\n", "Thus, no two nuclear powers have yet fought a conventional war directly, with the ex...
Why did people write sagas in 13th century Iceland?	Wow, that's a good question and a hard one. The short answer is we're not quite sure. For the long answer we have to look at several different factors: To get the last part of your question out of the way first: no, Iceland wasn't especially poor in the thirteenth century. That time marks the end of the so-called comm...	[ "The Icelanders' sagas ()—many of which are also known as family sagas—are prose histories describing mostly events that took place in Iceland in the 10th and early 11th centuries. They are the best known of specifically Icelandic literature from the early period. In late medieval times \"rímur\" became the most po...
Wikipedia suggests that the Xiongnu of Chinese records may in fact be the fabled Huns that swept into Europe - how credible is this theory?	It isn't crackpot on the order of Ancient Aliens or Gavin Menzies, it just doesn't have much to support it. Pretty much the entire argument rests on a phonetic link of their names, which are exogenous. Against that is a very large gap in time and space, and rather distinct cultures once you get past the "scary horseman...	[ "The chief piece of evidence linking the Xiongnu to the European and Iranian Huns is the similarity of their names. Supporting evidence is provided by historical records indicating that the term \"Xiongnu\" was used for the people referred to in Sogdian and Sanskrit texts as the \"Xwn\" and \"Huṇa\" respectively, t...
If I remember a song in my head, lyrics and all, does the brain use the equivalent amount of memory to store this as it would need in a device?	This is a difficult question to answer. And it's even quite difficult to explain why it is difficult. Let me put this question to you. Pick up whatever is to closest to your right hand, say, it's a pen. How many megabytes is that pen? Is that a reasonable question to even ask? Plainly, it currently is not represented ...	[ "\"Nowadays, you can take the best bits from digital and analogue. On certain projects – say, if I'm doing library music – where you need to have instant recall all the time, then it's obviously much more convenient to use the computer. When it comes to writing a new song, though, I still like to have the old analo...
Why can't we make large LED bulbs?	LED are grown on top from semiconductor wafers approx. 1mm thick, mostly [GaAs](_URL_1_). On top of the wafer a different semiconductors are grown in very thin layers (less than a 1 micron thick); it is these layers that emit light. The properties of additional layers are chosen such that electrons and holes (the absen...	[ "Bulbs are chosen based on the desired light output and battery life. Generally, high performance bulbs are used, such as xenon bulbs or high power LED lights. LEDs provide maximum battery life due to their energy efficiency, and 2000s technology has greatly increased the light output of LEDs. At one time, xenon bu...
Was US involvement in Pinochet's overthrow of Allende decisive?	My feeling is that Somoza's overthrow in Nicaragua in 1979 suggests that American power over things in Chile in 1973 is oft overstated. Could Pinochet have overthrown Allende without US approval? And if he could have done, would he have done?	[ "Regarding Pinochet's rise to power, the CIA concluded in a report issued in 2000 that: \"\"The CIA actively supported the military junta after the overthrow of Allende but did not assist Pinochet to assume the Presidency.\"\" However, the 2000 report also stated that: \"\"The major CIA effort against Allende came ...
the usa has a huge spanish-speaking population and a tiny french-speaking population. why do so many products have labels in english and french, instead of english and spanish?	Many products are sold in Canada where it's required by law in some provinces to have French on the label.	[ "Spanish-speaking Americans are the fastest growing linguistic group in the United States. Continual immigration and prevalent Spanish-language mass media (such as Univisión, Telemundo, and Azteca América) support the Spanish-speaking populations. Moreover, because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is ...
why do tightrope walkers balance better carrying a long dowel or with arms outstretched to the sides?	TLDR; It allows them to fine tune their balancing needs. Longer pole allows more subtle changes to their balance.	[ "Crocodilians use a \"high walk\", with a more erect limb posture that minimizes sideways flexing, to cross long distances. However, as they evolved from upright walkers with limited bipedality, this may simply be a remnant of past behavior rather than a specific adaptation to overcome this difficulty. Todd J. Urio...
Evidence of some Bible stories	One figure I can throw in is Pontius Pilate. In 1961, archeologists discovered the "Pilate Stone" which is a limestone block with an inscription praising the deified Augustus, inscribed with the name Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.	[ "Nonetheless, most secular scholars generally agree that the gospels contain large amounts of material that is not historically accurate and is better categorized as legend. In a discussion of genuinely legendary episodes from the gospels, theologian Bart Ehrman mentions the birth narratives in the Gospels of Matth...
Why did Vermont form the green mountain republic? What was stopping them from simply joining the us in 1777?	It was in large part due to competing land claims. In the 1700s, both NH and NY thought that the land between the Connecticut river and the Hudson/Lake Champlain was theirs, at least as far as handing out land grants - a pretty lucrative trade - was concerned. This was not helped, so to speak, by the British crown who...	[ "The Green Mountain Boys disbanded more than a year before Vermont declared its independence in 1777 from Great Britain \"as a separate, free and independent jurisdiction or state\". The Vermont Republic operated for 14 years, before being admitted in 1791 to the United States as the 14th state.\n", "The historia...
why do chains like eddie bauer and jos a banks open stores in airports? how do they possibly make any money?	The great thing about a retail store at an airport, for a retailer, is they have a pretty consistent number of people who will show up and need to be at the airport for a certain amount of time. For many retailers, high rents are normal (prime retail spaces downtown or in a thriving mall or other high traffic area is ...	[ "About half the airport operator's income is from retail revenue. There are twenty restaurants providing food or drink service, in addition to stores and other services including banks and post. In all, are used for restaurants, stores and non-aviation services. The departure duty-free shop is and the largest in Eu...
What factors led to and/or allowed some dinosaurs to be massive on a scale not seen by land animals in any other period in history?	As far as I am aware the answer is unknown. The correlation between home range and maximal body mass can be extrapolated for terrestrial mammals all the way up to the largest extinct land mammal. This is not particularly helpful in explaining the size of the largest dinosaurs, perhaps because of the many unknowns in r...	[ "Recent theories propose that theropod body size shrank continuously over a period of 50 million years, from an average of down to , eventually evolving into modern birds. This was based on evidence that theropods were the only dinosaurs to get continuously smaller, and that their skeletons changed four times as fa...
why is it so common for europeans to speak english as a second language?	English got spread around the world through British colonisation. In many former British colonies English is still an important language, or even an official language. One former British colony went on to be hugely influential in world politics and trade: the United States of America. The USA were major players setti...	[ "English is studied most often in the European Union, and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages among Europeans is 67 percent in favour of English ahead of 17 percent for German and 16 percent for French (). Among some of the non-English-speaking EU countries, the following percentages of the adult ...
why do satellites appear to be glowing like feint stars?	The sun shines on them, and they reflect some of that light back at us. Equally important, though, is the fact that Earth also reflects a lot of light from the sun back into space.	[ "The flares can be bright enough to be seen at night in big cities where light pollution usually prevents most stellar observation. When not flaring, the satellites are often visible crossing the night sky at a typical magnitude of 6, similar to a dim star.\n", "Shortly after sunset and before sunrise, artificial...
Was there a failed D-Day before the successful one?	Two incidents come to mind. The first is the landings at Dieppe, but I suspect this is not what he refers to, as only a handful of American commandos were involved. A mostly British-Canadian (with some French and American commandos) force landed at the resort town of Dieppe in France on August 19, 1942, and the operati...	[ "In a 2004 academic study, Robert Citino criticised the British on D-Day, at Villers-Bocage, Epsom and Goodwood, for failing to use mobile warfare tactics and in 2009, Antony Beevor wrote that the British had not been sufficiently ruthless. Buckley wrote that these critics concentrated on British failings; only a f...
what is with all the "am i being detained officer?" comments?	> Is this a bad thing to say to a cop? No; it's one of the few things one ought to say to a cop, ever. Others include: I do not consent to any searches. I am invoking my fifth amendment right to remain silent. I would like to speak to my attorney.	[ "\"Grounds of Detention and Representations:\" The relevant authorities are required, as soon as possible, to tell the detainee why he or she is being detained and the allegations of facts on which the detention was made, so long as the disclosure of such facts are not against national security. The detainee has th...
Do snow covered mountains still erode?	Yes, snow covered mountains still erode, sometimes in a spectacular fashion. You have to keep in mind that snow cover is not static, but represents a dynamic equilibrium between precipitation and slope stability. When that equilibrium is disrupted, say by a surfeit of fresh snow, mass wastage ensues and avalanches oc...	[ "The mountains are frequently covered in snow but can thaw very quickly in rain. Over the course of several decades, many permanent glaciers have shown signs of retreat, with some smaller ones having disappeared completely.\n", "The Snow Mountain area is composed of late Jurassic age undersea volcanoes which erup...
how did pixar create such amazing cgi (i.e. toy story, a bug's life) with early 90's technology?	Much of the software required had to be made from very elementary work into 3D modelling things that we now take for granted, like polygons and UV coordinates (systems for applying 2d textures to 3d objects). In the earliest days, like with the short Luxo Jr., polygon coordinates had to be manually plotted and programm...	[ "Computer graphics used in films and video games gradually began to be realistic to the point of entering the uncanny valley. CGI movies proliferated, with traditional animated cartoon films like Ice Age and Madagascar as well as numerous Pixar offerings like Finding Nemo dominating the box office in this field. Th...
what does post-modernism, and minamilism mean, in american literature?	Literary minimalism is a little difficult to explain, and I'd suggest googling if I make no sense. It has a lot to do with simply not being overly wordy and descriptive. The writing relies on context and other clues to help give weight to a scene or story, for instance. It might not give a ton of background informati...	[ "American modernism, much like the modernism movement in general, is a trend of philosophical thought arising from the widespread changes in culture and society in the age of modernity. American modernism is an artistic and cultural movement in the United States beginning at the turn of the 20th century, with a cor...
maps split down the atlantic not the pacific	The reason maps have the edges cutting through the Pacific has nothing to do with the oceans. Maps (most of them, at least) are made with Europe at the center. The current setup of the world map was created during a period of European dominance, so it features Europe in the middle! It is just coinsidence that the opp...	[ "The map (designed by Charlie Kibler) is made up of two 31\" × 22\" sheets with 1\" hexes and depicts the whole of the Pacific Ocean including parts of Australia, India, China, Russia & Japan. As in Europe the United States is represented by an off-map U.S. Box, although the Aleutian Islands (Alaska) and the Hawaii...
Was the Civil War Conscription Act Necessary for the Union army if they already had such an advantage of man power and industrial resources?	McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, covers United States conscription from near the start of chapter 16. Recruiting of volunteers and calling up of militias had served their needs for 1861. But after US failure in the Seven Days', morale plunged for a time. Recruiting went less well in the new call of July 1862. "T...	[ "Although both sides resorted to conscription, the system did not work effectively in either. The Confederate Congress on April 16, 1862, passed an act requiring military service for three years from all males aged 18 to 35 not legally exempt; it later extended the obligation. The U.S. Congress followed with the Mi...
what does cracking a videogame usually involve and why is denuvo so much harder for pirates to crack?	In the old days when the DRM was merely the program (exe) checking to see if the CDrom was good, you would use an assembly debugger to track to the point where it reports a success. You change it so the fail outcome also jumps to the success outcome. A more modern DRM scheme might have the program ask the developer's s...	[ "\"Plunder Pirates\" is a multiplayer game in which players build a base, train pirates, explore the sea, defend against players and attack other players to earn gold and grog, which can then be used to build defences and buildings. The player can complete quests while doing those activities. The game differs from ...
why did the hobbit frame rate matter and what does it mean for future movies?	The frame rate used for the Hobbit is only realistically possible with digital projectors. Mechanical projectors are all built to run film at the slower rate and upgrading them would be prohibitively expensive. So while high frame rate might be possible with analog tech, nobody will pay to make that tech. Digital pr...	[ "Peter Travers of \"Rolling Stone\" criticised the film's use of \"48 frames per second… Couple that with 3D and the movie looks so hyper-real that you see everything that's fake about it… The 169 minutes of screen time hurts, since the first 45 minutes of the film traps us in the hobbit home of the young Bilbo Bag...
what do the numbers in the cpu stand for? like i7-9700 vs the i7-8700 vs the i5-8600/9600?	It explains the generation and tier. So i5 is the intermediary 8600 means it's from the 8th generation, 600 means is the best from the i5s (you also have the i5 8400, same generation but a bit weaker). The 9600 is the next generation. i7 is high class (though there's also the i9), and the rest is the same, 9 is beca...	[ "AMD refers to it as Family 10h Processors, as it is the successor of the Family 0Fh Processors (codename K8). 10h and 0Fh refer to the main result of the CPUID x86 processor instruction. In hexadecimal numbering, 0Fh (h represents hexadecimal numbering) equals the decimal number 15, and 10h equals decimal 16. (The...
why is the keystone xl pipeline more controversial than other pipelines? i know that the oil is dirtier than other types if oil, but is there another reason? don't we have lots of other pipelines all over the u.s. carrying oil and natural gas. noone seems to be against those.	Mostly just politics. This particular one has come into the public eye so Politicians on both sides have taken very public vocal sides. I honestly don't know if it is a good idea or a bad idea, and I bet the politicians arguing it don't either.	[ "Contrary to oil industry claims, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has said that the Keystone XL pipeline will increase gas prices instead of lowering them. The NRDC's study also refutes the claim that the pipeline will lead to energy independence, because the pipeline will carry tar sands from Canada ...
can you explain the genetic process behind height, and why a tall parent with a short partner is more likely to produce average or marginally shorter off spring?	I believe there are many genes that influence your height. You get a combination from both parents, and sometimes you’ll get complimentary genes that produce children taller than their parents, and sometimes you’ll get a combination that produce children that do not grow as tall as the taller parent. These are genes th...	[ "Height, like other phenotypic traits, is determined by a combination of genetics and environmental factors. A child's height based on parental heights is subject to regression toward the mean, therefore extremely tall or short parents will likely have correspondingly taller or shorter offspring, but their offsprin...
Did European royal houses and Asian royal houses intermarry? If not, have such marriages ever been proposed or seriously considered?	I missed OP's clarification and this is about Mongols. You know how there are some stories that are just waiting for their soapy, bloody, sexy HBO miniseries? Byzantine emperor Michael VIII (r. 1259-1282) was, among other little things like reestablishing the Byzantine Empire, pretty much the champion of making a...	[ "Royal intermarriage was often practiced among European royal families, usually for interests of state. Over time, due to the relatively limited number of potential consorts, the gene pool of many ruling families grew progressively smaller, until all European royalty was related. This also resulted in many being de...
How do rashes target specific parts of the body?	I believe the answer is "we don't know" (though I'd love to hear what the answer is if we do know. Any dermatology buffs around?) Rashes from different disease processes can take stereotyped albeit different forms, I'm not sure why. H, F & M disease is an interesting example. There are many others which have stereoty...	[ "A rash may be localized in one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, chapped, dry, cracked or blistered, swell, and may be painful.\n", "The typical rash commonly appears on buttocks. This then resembles the colour of a baboon’s buttocks. O...
What's in old gold tooth fillings/crowns besides gold? Why aren't they pure?	Gold by itself is pretty malleable. Alloying it with other metals can increase it's hardness, which would be valuable to keep the crown from deforming while chewing. Poking around, it actually looks like standard practice. Many metal fillings today are made by alloying some noble metal (Gold or Platinum which have simi...	[ "Gold-filled jewelry is jewelry composed of a solid layer of gold (typically constituting at least 5% of the item's total weight) mechanically bonded to a base of either sterling silver or some base metal. The related terms \"rolled gold plate\" and \"gold overlay\" may legally be used in some contexts if the layer...
what does it mean when the rule of thirds is intentionally being subverted?	The "rule" is more of a convention but we are that used to it that it makes us feel uneasy when it's broken. So if it is being deliberately broken then the intention is to create feelings such as mystery, suspense, unease, tension etc.	[ "Intuitively, we can eliminate a PBE if there is a type of player who wants to deviate, assuming that other players are reasonable. What does it mean to be unreasonable? It is unreasonable to believe the deviating player is of a type for whom the deviating action is a bad idea (for that type, it is definitely worse...
Questions about extremophiles and xenobiology.	The surface of Venus (the upper clouds are a different story) is far beyond the tolerance of any type of extremophile. The CO2 and sulfuric acid and the pressure aren't insurmountable problems, but the lack of water is. All extremophiles need liquid water to function, even if they can survive without it in a dormant ...	[ "There are many classes of extremophiles that range all around the globe; each corresponding to the way its environmental niche differs from mesophilic conditions. These classifications are not exclusive. Many extremophiles fall under multiple categories and are classified as polyextremophiles. For example, organis...
If language is primarily localized to the left hemisphere, what does the right hemisphere of brain do when you are reading?	The cardinal rule of brain function is "the whole thing is always functioning." A person who's speaking will have RELATIVELY higher activation of certain areas in the left hemisphere. It takes a lot of complex math to make an image like this: _URL_0_ because there's constantly so much going on everywhere. Those brigh...	[ "In the left hemisphere, the PTO is involved in language recognition (reading, listening, and braille), but is not entirely responsible for these tasks. Language in all its modalities is covered using many different parts of the brain including Heschl's gyrus in the left hemisphere. In the right the PTO identifies ...
Why did Japan attack America - Why not the Netherlands/Britain and other countries in the Pacific on their own - More detailed explanation of my question within	> Or were they expecting America to attack them in response should they do that, and would have preferred to start the war on their own terms, so to speak? This is basically it. The problem for the Japanese war planners of the day was the Philippines. The Philippines was in American hands, and Japanese ships attemp...	[ "The United States and Britain had imposed an oil embargo on Japan, threatening to stop the Japanese war effort, but the European colonial powers were weakening and suffering early defeats in the war with Germany; only the US Pacific Fleet stood in the way of seizing the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. Because of this,...
Why does Ancient Greek art frequently depict soldiers wearing helmets halfway on? Is this authentic to how a soldier would wear it when he wasn't in immediate need, or is it a purely stylistic choice?	There are obvious artistic reasons to disregard or alter the head protection of a warrior so you can show his face. This is also why Trajan's Column gave generations of historians and costume designers the notion that the Roman legionary helmet's cheek plates were much smaller than they actually were. I wrote more abou...	[ "In Heroic times, a shield, helmet, or cuirass on a spearhead were the military insignias of the Greeks. Nevertheless, Homer records that at the Siege of Troy Agamemnon used a purple cloth to mark the meeting-point for his troops.\n", "It is known that these helmets were used for display because of accounts left ...
why are ‘highway kilometres’ better than ‘city kilometres’ for your car?	City driving involves a lot of starting and stopping with short trips. Motors tend to suffer the most wear when they are cold, and wear more when revs are constantly changing than when they are steady. In the city you're also using the brakes, steering, and transmission a whole lot more. Highway driving is long trips,...	[ "Reducing travel times relative to city or town streets, modern highways with limited access and grade separation create increased opportunities for people to travel for business, trade or pleasure and also provide trade routes for goods. Modern highways reduce commute and other travel time but additional road capa...
when the body is presented with an immune challenge that it has never experienced before, it seems to be able to produce a molecule to match. How does this happen?	There are two answers to your question, because there are two parts to the immune system. People spend careers studying small parts of this stuff, so it should go without saying that I am oversimplifying things to an almost obscene degree. 1) Innate - Let's say you've never seen a Southern purple footed warbler before...	[ "In autoimmunity the immune system wrongly recognizes certain native molecules in the body as foreign (\"self-antigen\"), and mounts an immune response against them. Since these native molecules, as normal parts of the body, will naturally always exist in the body, the attacks against them can get stronger over tim...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.