question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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Just what exactly happened to my drink tonight? | Dilution of absinthe with aqueous solutions causes relatively insoluble compounds to precipitate out, causing the cloudiness. This is known as the louche, according to Wiki. | [
"The second time was when the champagne that Gerrard left for them was poisoned. When they found out who it was from, Henry refused to accept it, leaving it on the table. Brad and his date congratulate them. Brad sees it and claims 'Booze is booze and free booze is even better' and drinks it straight from the bottl... |
why do we have stomach acid instead of stomach base/alkaline? | A lot of bases have real poor interactions with water compared to a lot of acids. I think if you rerolled life over and over you'd see things figuring out a way to digest things with lye or something but hydrochloric acid makes sense as a kind of chemical you could make and deal with in a living creature. | [
"The stomach's high acidity inhibits the breakdown of carbohydrates within it. This acidity confers two benefits: it denatures proteins for further digestion in the small intestines, and provides non-specific immunity, damaging or eliminating various pathogens.\n",
"The stomach produces gastric acid, a strongly a... |
Why is the formula for angular momentum different from the formula for linear momentum? | The conservation of angular momentum and linear momentum are two independent quantities.
You can prove their conservation by using the Noether theorem. The laws of nature are symmetric under rotation and translation. The former leeds to a conservation of angular omentum and the latter to the conservation of linear mom... | [
"Angular momentum is a vector quantity (more precisely, a pseudovector) that represents the product of a body's rotational inertia and rotational velocity (in radians/sec) about a particular axis. However, if the particle's trajectory lies in a single plane, it is sufficient to discard the vector nature of angular ... |
Have there been other examples of rogue states like North Korea? How were they dealt with if at all. | Obviously this was not a case of "Leave Them Alone" and it did devolve immediately into military intervention, but the Sacred Wars I feel are a good example that captures the same sentiment in Ancient Greece. I'm most familiar with the 3rd Sacred War, in which almost all of Greece, later led by Philip II of Macedon (Al... | [
"Unlike criminal syndicates, the extensive nature of these illegal endeavors, and the claim that they are directed and sanctioned by the highest levels of government, has led to the nature of the North Korean state being defined as a form of \"criminal sovereignty\" by Paul Rexton Kan and Bruce Bechtol.\n",
"In J... |
can we use ocean water for toilets, car washes, etc. and leave freshwater for drinking cause there is much more ocean water available to us? | Two problems, firstly you would need an awful lot of extra infrastructure to have two water pipes to every home, and the salt water would have quite a damaging effect on pipework, as the salt would crystallise out over time, would build up inside pipes,and dry and damage rubber seals. | [
"While noting costs are falling, and generally positive about the technology for affluent areas in proximity to oceans, a 2004 study argued, \"Desalinated water may be a solution for some water-stress regions, but not for places that are poor, deep in the interior of a continent, or at high elevation. Unfortunately... |
why do things float towards eachother in liquids? | Try to imagine it this way:
You have a piece of cloth stretched out. If you place a ball in the middle of this cloth, you're going to create a dip in the cloth. Place another ball at the edge of the cloth now, and it's going to be "attracted" to the first ball.
The same concept applies, but you have the milk's surfa... | [
"Floating liqueurs is based on buoyancy. Anything less dense than a fluid floats on top of that fluid. This holds for solids, like a piece of wood on top of water, as well as for other liquids, like of oil on top of water. Oil and water do not mix, but it also happens for fluids that do mix. Any two liquids which h... |
how does satellite television work? | Disclaimer: I'm not 100% sure, but this is my best guess as a techy...
Direct TV has approximately 19.2 million subscribers. It makes much more sense to broadcast each channel once, rather than 19.2 million separate transmissions. Most satellite dishes only listen, and do not send (imagine 19.2 million people sending ... | [
"Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commonly referred to as a satellite dish and a low-noise block downconvert... |
How did the Marian Reformations influence the transition of the Roman Republic into an Empire? | **Marian Reforms?**
The "Marian Reforms" aren't neccessarily considered to be that distinctive a change, nowadays. It used to be that historians gave Gaius Marius the credit for turning the Roman army from a militia of small-time landowners into a professional force of urban proletarians, thereby solving Rome's endemi... | [
"The Reformation began in 1517. In 1527, before the Holy Roman Empire fought the Protestants, troops loyal to Emperor Charles V brutally sacked Rome and imprisoned Pope Clement VII, as a side effect of battles over the Papal States. Thus Clement VII was forced to give up Parma, Modena, and several smaller territori... |
Loud sounds can cause ear damage. How about continuous low-tone sounds? | Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) can be caused by sudden high-decibel sounds, or continuous lower-volume (but still pretty objectively loud) sounds.
This [source] (_URL_1_) suggests that 85 dB, or the volume of "heavy city traffic", is probably about the threshold at which chronic noise exposure can lead to NIHL. Not... | [
"In a 2011 study, musicologists Michael Oehler and Christoph Reuter hypothesize that the unpleasantness of the sound is caused by acoustic resonance due to the shape of the human ear canal which amplifies certain frequencies, especially those in the range of 2000 to 4000 Hz (the median pitches mentioned above), at ... |
how do human nails grow back evenly when one chips or breaks them unevenly? | Nails grow from the base not the tip of your finger. Sometimes they do grow unevenly if they are damaged badly. | [
"Human nails grow at a rate which varies with many factors: age, and the finger or toe in question as well as nutrition. However, typically in healthy populations fingernails grow at about 0.1mm/day and toenails at about 0.05mm/day. With this in mind the date of the stress causing Beau's lines and other identifiabl... |
Why is the background of a map of the Cosmic Microwave Background always an ellipse? | Those are just maps of the whole sky. You could put it in any [map projection](_URL_0_) you wanted, but astronomers tend to prefer equal-area projections like the Mollweide.
You can also [find them](_URL_1_) in rectangular maps. | [
"The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation signature presents a direct large-scale view of the universe that can be used to identify whether our position or movement has any particular significance. There has been much publicity about analysis of results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) an... |
why are condoms more expensive to buy in bulk than they are to buy individually? | The gas station ones probably aren't as good quality, and having sat in that environment, probably haven't been stored according to the instructions on the box, especially when it comes to not letting them get too warm.
I'd rather get them from the drugstore, thanks. | [
"It is recommended for condoms manufacturers to avoid very thick or very thin condoms, because they are both considered less effective. Some authors encourage users to choose thinner condoms \"for greater durability, sensation, and comfort\", but others warn that \"the thinner the condom, the smaller the force requ... |
why is it illegal to post a full movie online, but it isn't illegal to post a full video game online (like those "let's play"-style things on youtube)? | Fair Use, they're reviewing the material. That said, the bigger game companies don't like that much either. | [
"A video game can be banned in Germany if it has been confiscated by court order because it violates a section of the Strafgesetzbuch (criminal code). Private possession (and thus playing it) and acquisition (such as downloading a demo from the Internet) is still legal, but any dissemination is not. The seller woul... |
Origin of steel-cut oats? | I don't pay particular attention to oats in my research, generally skipping directly to wheat. That said, I have never come across mentions of steel-cut oats in historical documents. I've seen mentions of rolled oats, but never steel-cut oats outside the stuff the sell at Trader Joe's (an American grocery store)--and, ... | [
"Steel-cut oats (US), also called pinhead oats, coarse oatmeal (UK), or Irish oatmeal are groats (the inner kernel with the inedible hull removed) of whole oats which have been chopped into two or three pinhead-sized pieces (hence the names; \"steel-cut\" comes from the steel blades). The pieces can then be sold, o... |
what is the role of a ceo in a company? | CEOs have two main duties:
- to manage the direction of the company (basically, the boss of the executives, who do most of the decision-making legwork)
- to act as a liaison between the board of directors (who are elected by the shareholders of the company) and the other executives
the executives are the people in ch... | [
"The chief executive officer (CEO) or just chief executive (CE), is the most senior corporate, executive, or administrative officer in charge of managing an organization especially an independent legal entity such as a company or nonprofit institution. CEOs lead a range of organizations, including public and privat... |
how is life in really corrupt countries? and what are they? | These types of questions don't work in ELI5. It is impossible to explain to someone in simple and yeoman's language the intricacies of internal political makeup/culture of dozens of different countries, with descriptions of both this culture in practice and everyday life.
| [
"It has been noted that in a comparison of the most corrupt with the least corrupt countries, the former group contains nations with huge socio-economic inequalities, and the latter contains nations with a high degree of social and economic justice. \n",
"Owing to corruption, incompetence, and a lack of public re... |
why is the finale of dexter so universally hated? | Because at the end of it I felt like I just fucking *WASTED* 8 YEARS of my FUCKING LIFE just to watch him blow up a fucking boat and become a god damn lumberjack in the end! | [
"Phillips claimed the \"Dexter\" staff did not know how the finale would conclude until late in the season, but Phillips said Rita's death began to feel inevitable as the story evolved. However, Julie Benz said she had been told John Lithgow knew about it from the beginning of the season. Phillips said the staff fe... |
why do i get abnormally thirsty when i stay up late after midnight? | I'm guessing it has to do with what you had for dinner. Your body probably needs just as much water when you're sleeping but you don't notice it (but am guessing you wake up thirsty). If you eat dinner early and have lots of fluids during the day, I'm wondering if you won't see this? | [
"Some of the same factors that contribute to nighttime incontinence may act together with infrequent voiding to produce daytime incontinence. These factors include a small bladder capacity, constipation and food containing caffeine, chocolate or artificial coloring.\n",
"\"\"We are having a particularly hungry pe... |
are carbs or sugars in foods like bread or crackers “equal” to those in fruits? | Every type of carb provides the same amount of energy by weight but the speed they get converted to usable energy varies. This is known as the glycemic index. Simple sugars found in soda and simple starches in processed/fried foods quickly get converted to blood sugar. More complex starches like those in oatmeal take l... | [
"a. Fructose is not the only sugar found in fruits. Glucose and sucrose are also found in varying quantities in various fruits, and sometimes exceed the fructose present. For example, 32% of the edible portion of a date is glucose, compared with 24% fructose and 8% sucrose. However, peaches contain more sucrose (6.... |
How hard would it be for Slavs (Croats, Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians etc...) in Austrian/Habsburg imperial army to rise to high officer position, was it possible? | I recently answered a similar question [here](_URL_0_) that you may be interested in. I hope it helps! | [
"The government of the West Ukrainian People's Republic was well organized and was able to mobilize over 100,000 people by spring 1919, 40,000 of whom were battle-ready. Due to the Ukrainians' generally poor socioeconomic status, the army had a disproportionately low ratio of officers to other ranks. In the Austro-... |
how was reddit founded, and what are some major events that shaped reddit into what it is today? | Reddit was started by two guys out of college (Kn0thing and Spez, if you want to check their user pages) using seed money and guidance from a guy called [Paul Graham](_URL_1_), who made millions off of Yahoo! stock in the late 90's. Now he devotes his time to finding internet startups to micro-invest in, and training t... | [
"The idea and initial development of Reddit originated with then college roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian in 2005. Huffman and Ohanian attended a lecture by programmer-entrepreneur Paul Graham in Boston, Massachusetts, during their spring break from University of Virginia. After speaking with Huffman and ... |
why do psychological disorders, such as anxiety, cause physiological distress? | Well Generalized Anxiety Disorder is caused by too much adrenaline being produced.
Think of it like you are always faced with a life or death situation and your body produces adrenaline to help you fight for your life or to run for your life "Fight or Flight"...
To much of that is gonna be bad for you | [
"The biological basis for anxiety disorders is rooted in the consistent activation of the stress response. Fear, which is the defining emotion of an anxiety disorder, occurs when someone perceives a situation (a stressor) as threatening. This activates the stress response. If a person has difficulty regulating this... |
why are some people able to open their eyes in the ocean without any discomfort, while other people's eyes can be very irritated by the salt water? | Bitch grade or non bitch grade, Poseidon decides. | [
"There may also be a stringy discharge from the eyes. Although it may seem strange, dry eye can cause the eyes to water. This can happen because the eyes are irritated. One may experience excessive tearing in the same way as one would if something got into the eye. These reflex tears will not necessarily make the e... |
what are the effects of trauma causing genetic imprinting? | There's such a thing as epigenetics. Molecules can attach to specific parts of DNA, and activate, deactivate or modify the effect of the gene.
The specifucs are not well understood. Research is ongoing. | [
"Child abuse can leave tracks, not only physically and emotionally, but also in the form of \"epigenetic marks\" on a child's genes. Although these epigenetic marks do not cause mutations in the DNA itself, the chemical modifications-including DNA methylation-change gene expression by silencing (or activating) gene... |
Why is it bad that Zinn's 'People's History' is biased? Is it even possible to write history without bias? | FYI, you can catch up on some of the previous discussions, which touch on bias, in this section of the FAQ
[Historians' views of Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States"](_URL_0_) | [
"Conservative author Daniel J. Flynn likewise charges Zinn with presenting biased history. Michael Kazin, professor at Georgetown University, also faults Zinn, stating that \"\"A People's History\" is bad history, albeit gilded with virtuous intentions. Zinn reduces the past to a Manichean fable.\"\n",
"Although ... |
Since light takes time to travel how many stars in our night sky don't actually exist anymore? | The stars you can see in the night sky are all pretty close -- tens or hundreds or, in a few cases, thousands of light years. Stars have lifetimes of millions to billions of years. So probably they all still exist. | [
"When one looks out into the night sky, distances also correspond to time into the past. A galaxy measured at ten billion light years in distance appears to us as it was ten billion years ago, because the light has taken that long to travel to the observer. If one were to look at a galaxy ten billion light years aw... |
why you can instantly dislike someone? | There isn't a good scientific explanation for this, but I will offer some psychological insights.
1. Imagine that only 7% of your communication is what this person actually says, the rest is body language and tone of voice etc. This isn't very well proven, but for simplicity that is the usual number. So when thinking ... | [
"BULLET::::- Attitude; It is a big mistake to think too little of others. One will make enemies if one is rude. There may be those who do not like you. But don't let them hate you. You will have peace of mind instantly if you are free from envy and jealousy.\n",
"BULLET::::- \"People are attracted by the results ... |
why is reddit so popular? | Other social media platforms are connected to your identity.
On places like Facebook people know who you really are, so you feel you have to fabricate to impress.
On Reddit, your identity remains hidden so there's a better chance for authenticity.
| [
"The website is known for its open nature and diverse user community that generate its content. Its demographics allows for wide-ranging subject areas, as well as the ability for smaller subreddits to serve more niche purposes. The possibilities that subreddits provide create new opportunities for raising attention... |
when a news story says something like "the fire caused $50 million in damage" how are they calculating the dollar amount? | Depending on the scope of the damage, they could get an estimate from the fire department. They know the extent of the damage, and can guestimate what it would cost to repair/rebuild.
When you talk about larger disasters, like the Fort McMurray fire, they also take into account a number of other factors like disruptio... | [
"During the ten and a half hours that it burned, the fire had destroyed buildings from Broad Street below Wall Street to Stone Street, up Whitehall Street to Bowling Green, and up Broadway to Exchange Place. Four firefighters and 26 civilians lost their lives, and buildings were reported destroyed on Broadway, New ... |
why does eating straight garlic cause a burning sensation in your mouth and throat? | There are defensive compounds in the garlic that turn into sulfuric acid when mixed with water. This is the second sentence. | [
"The phytochemicals responsible for the sharp flavor of garlic are produced when the plant's cells are damaged. When a cell is broken by chopping, chewing, or crushing, enzymes stored in cell vacuoles trigger the breakdown of several sulfur-containing compounds stored in the cell fluids (cytosol). The resultant com... |
why is the 1/4 mile stretch and 0 to 60 the benchmark cars are rated for? | The European standard for measuring acceleration is the time for 0-100 *kilometers* per hour. This is converts to about 0-62mph which was then rounded down, so both numbers are very similar and can be easily compared.
The quarter mile seems to come from quarter horse racing ([source](_URL_0_)), but I figure that this ... | [
"Maximum width of any vehicle is and a height of . In the past few years, allowance has been made by several states to allow certain designs of heavy vehicles up to high but they are also restricted to designated routes. In effect, a 4.6 meter high B-double will have to follow two sets of rules: they may access onl... |
why in this day and age are suppositories still prescribed? why would anyone choose a suppository over taking it orally? | I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on teevee, but the suppositories I occasionally take are for hemorrhoids. It kind of makes more sense than taking a tablet by mouth. | [
"There is an intravenous preparation available, but it is irritant to veins, causing phlebitis. Most people absorb the drug extremely well after taking it orally, so, if a patient can swallow, there is not much need to administer it intravenously, even if used to treat endocarditis (infection of the heart chambers)... |
If the Universe were to end in a 'Big Crunch' at this exact moment, what would happen? | Well, bear in mind three things: First, there is no evidence to suggest that a "Big Crunch" can ever happen, and evidence telling us it can't. Second, a "Big Crunch" isn't an *event* but rather a process that would play out over about 400,000 years, after (if we started at the present moment) about 10 billion years of ... | [
"The Big Crunch is a theoretical scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the expansion of the universe eventually reverses and the universe recollapses, ultimately causing the cosmic scale factor to reach zero, an event potentially followed by a reformation of the universe starting with another Big... |
why are they selling the ufc in the peak of its business booming? | It makes good business sense to sell while you're at the peak. If the current owners feel that the UFC will never get more valuable, selling now will net them the best profits. | [
"In July 2016, Zuffa, LLC and the brothers announced the sale of their shares in UFC for an estimated $4 billion to WME-IMG, a preeminent sports and entertainment talent representation firm led by Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell. Private equity firms Silver Lake Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) were als... |
the israeli election outcome, what it means to the rest of the world, and how it will affect future peace negotiations | There are four main blocs in Israeli politics: the right, the left, the Ultra-Orthodox parties, and the Arab parties. The Arab bloc is the easiest to understand: they usually have around 10% of the 120 seats, and they neither get invited nor seek to join a government coalition. They remained at 11 seats between the pre... | [
"Various Israelis and Palestinians who oppose a one-state solution have come to believe that it may come to pass. Israeli Prime Minister Olmert argued, in a 2007 interview with the Israeli daily \"Haaretz\", that without a two-state agreement Israel would face \"a South African-style struggle for equal voting right... |
why is it when our body experiences moments of stress, sicknesses in the body seem to momentarily disappear? | The symptoms are caused by your body, not the disease. Your body raises your temperature to kill whatever is causing you to be sick because that’s better than the damage that would otherwise be dealt. In times of stress, sickness is less important than your immediate survival and so the body focuses on getting tf out o... | [
"Chronic stress and a lack of coping resources available or used by an individual can often lead to the development of psychological issues such as depression and anxiety (see below for further information). This is particularly true regarding chronic stressors. These are stressors that may not be as intense as an ... |
if the space station is going 17,000mph, how does anyone get on or off it? also once off, how do they slow down and return to earth? | anything orbiting earth must be traveling that fast (the exact speed varies by orbiting height, lower you are, faster you need to go to orbit), infact reaching that speed is a substantial part of the rockets job. Its why we cant just float up on a balloon or plane and chill, once your at altitude, you still have to ge... | [
"Jim Darcy, the pilot of an X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft, and his wife, Linda, become trapped 10 seconds ahead of their time, enabling them to watch time unfold to catch up with them at the rate of about one second every 30 minutes. In the time left before returning to synch with normal time, they see that... |
portuguese man o' war life cycle | This is a fascinating question I have never thought about. After some googling, I have found an answer. A man-o-war is a siphonophore, which are “animals” composed of multiple colonies of these organisms called zooids. Each colony has a specific purpose in the whole “animal”, like our organ systems. One colony is calle... | [
"Nogueira retired at nearly 34, amassing Portuguese top division totals of 209 games and eight goals over the course of seven seasons. He earned seven caps for Portugal – his debut coming in 1991 – scoring twice.\n",
"He spent 11 years of his professional career in Portugal (21 in total in the country), amassing ... |
Elizabethan Sartorial Customs | There was a significant difference in sartorial elegance in the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
Armour is an extremely good example; Henry was a great sportsman as a young man, he jousted, he went to war, he wore and he used armour as a tool.
His armour was the best (he was the King after all, who... | [
"A lady's companion was a woman of genteel birth who lived with a woman of rank or wealth as retainer. The term was in use in the United Kingdom from at least the 18th century to the mid-20th century but it is now archaic. The role was related to the position of lady-in-waiting, which by the 19th century was only a... |
how do electronic speakers/headphones make different "types" of sounds? | Think of the letter "A". Now say it out loud. Sounds like you sorta said "Aiee" right? What you just heard in your own voice is exactly what a speaker does. It has the data that tells it to vibrate at a specific frequency and intensity at a given time.
Compare a ventriliquist to a speaker. A good ventriliquist can spe... | [
"While only an approximation, the model is widely used in a number of applications because of its relative simplicity. To varying degrees, different phonemes can be distinguished by the properties of their source(s) and their spectral shape. Voiced sounds (e.g., vowels) have (at least) a source due to (mostly) peri... |
how do animals find water sources set by humans? | They don’t. What they do know is that this is a New Thing. New Things are worth investigating, because they might be food (or, conversely, might be a threat that needs to be dealt with.) When investigating, they discover that this New Thing contains water. Lucky day!
They find them in the first place because most anim... | [
"The section's title refers to the trails made by wild animals moving towards sources of water. The essay provides descriptions of the many animals that travel along the trails, including coyotes, rabbits, and quails. Their ability to find water where there seems to be none is extolled by Austin, a skill which she ... |
What was the per-enlightenment explanation of 'static electricity' and other elector-magnetic forces? | Check the FAQ before posting, my friend
_URL_0_ | [
"In the 19th century it had become clear that electricity and magnetism were related, and their theories were unified: wherever charges are in motion electric current results, and magnetism is due to electric current. The source for electric field is electric charge, whereas that for magnetic field is electric curr... |
why are school buses still built the same as the always have been? | Because there's very little need. Cars are updated because of many reasons, such as aerodynamics and current aesthetic design considerations.
School buses, on the other hand, don't have a need to be updated for their looks. We want them to stand out -- be big and bright and easy to identify.
It's as if we want them t... | [
"In the United States and Canada, numerous federal and state regulations require school buses to be manufactured as a purpose-built vehicle distinct from other buses. In contrast to buses in use for public transit, dedicated school buses used for student transport are all single-deck, two-axle design (multi-axle de... |
when you move the mouse cursor quickly across the computer screen and see multiple cursors simultaneously, is it your eyes that cause the effect or the display? | Its the refresh rate (Hz) of the screen causing this. Higher refresh rates gives a smoother image.
_URL_0_ | [
"BULLET::::- Some implementations of the on-screen keyboard may give visual feedback of the \"key\" clicked, e.g. by changing its colour briefly. This makes it much easier for an observer to read the data from the screen. In the worst case, the implementation may leave the focus on the most recently clicked \"key\"... |
apple pay | Credit cards have major security problems. Every time you use one in a store, you give your card number to the store. The card number can be stolen by hardware installed on the payment terminal, by malware installed in the POS or other merchant systems, or by hacking into merchant databases (which can contain tens of m... | [
"Apple has faced scrutiny for its tax practices, including using a Double Irish Arrangement to reduce the amount of taxes it pays. A 2013 US Senate report claimed that Apple hadn't paid corporate taxes for five years due to its deals with the Irish government. In 2016, the European Union ordered Apple to pay a fine... |
Why did France abandon its colony in North America (Quebec)? | Simply put, there wasn't any interest among the French elite in reclaiming the costly Quebec colonies. As Voltaire put it the loss of Canada was the loss of "a few acres of snow".
Far more important to the french was reclaiming Haiti, which revolted in 1791. Before the revolt the colony contributed a great deal of inc... | [
"France lost nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War to the British Empire. Britain's imperial government over a century later then ceded the land to Canadian control in 1867 after confederation. Since then, Canada's external borders have changed several times, and had grown f... |
why are lite beers so heavily advertised on american tv instead of full strength beer? | The big kick in the US is "healthy". Low-fat, low-carb, salad this, veggie-that, etc. Lite beer is just part of that because it's slightly lower calories, so it tends to sell more. | [
"Light beers may be chosen by drinkers who wish to manage their alcohol consumption or their calorie intake. However, these beers are sometimes criticized for being less flavorful than full-strength beers, being \"watered down\" (whether in perception or in fact), and thus advertising campaigns for light beers gene... |
Do three-star systems exist? | Our nearest stellar neighbor is Alpha Centauri, which is a binary star system with Proxima Centauri orbiting around them. So yes, it's technically a triple-star system, but more like a pair of stars with a red dwarf orbiting around them at a distance further than Pluto. Well, if Pluto were 300 times further away, that ... | [
"A multi-star system consists of two or more gravitationally bound stars that orbit each other. The simplest and most common multi-star system is a binary star, but systems of three or more stars are also found. For reasons of orbital stability, such multi-star systems are often organized into hierarchical sets of ... |
how does the change in legislature regarding marijuana use affect drug testing for major companies? | Yes a company can have a policy which the employees sign up to for not using either drugs or alcohol if they believe that it will harm the way they work. If employees then break the policy then they can face the sack or other action from the company. | [
"The report also recommended that the federal government conduct further research to monitor and evaluate changes in the extent and patterns of the use of cannabis and other drugs, and to explore possible consequences to health, and personal and social behaviour, resulting from the controlled legal distribution of ... |
why is random mating important for the hardy weinberg equilibrium? | Nonrandom mating is essentially a form of selection. | [
"The conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium include that there must be no mutations, immigration, or emigration, all of which can directly change allelic frequencies. Additionally, mating must be totally random, with all males (or females in some cases) being equally desirable mates. This ensures a true random m... |
if it is the duty of police to protect the rights of the citizens, why do they protect the government when citizens rights are being violated? | Because that isn't their job. The job of a police officer is to enforce the law, plain and simple. If the law says people can't mob city hall, then you will prevent people from mobbing city hall no matter what rights they are protesting for. And if you don't, you will be fired in short order.
More importantly, I don'... | [
"In contrast, the police are entitled to protect private rights in some jurisdictions. To ensure that the police would not interfere in the regular competencies of the courts of law, some police acts require that the police may only interfere in such cases where protection from courts cannot be obtained in time, an... |
Has the "Deep South" ever really recovered from the destruction and economic upheaval of the Civil War? | This is a tough question, and I don't think we'll be able to answer it as solidly as we could others. However, I'd like to add a few thoughts:
You're correct on trying to make sense if the destruction from the Civil War affected the Southern economies. However, industrialization took hold fairly quick in most Southern... | [
"The war destroyed much of the wealth that had existed in the South. All accumulated investment Confederate bonds was forfeit; most banks and railroads were bankrupt. Income per person in the South dropped to less than 40 percent of that of the North, a condition that lasted until well into the 20th century. Southe... |
In feudal Europe and the Middle Ages, Jews were generally prohibited from owning weapons and armor. Where were the exceptions and when? | I can give you two examples of exceptions to this rule in Hungary:
1) Under the rule of Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490) "Jewish prefects" were allowed to own and wear swords in public. The most influential Jewish prefect, Jakab Mendel (or Mendel Jakab in Hungarian), and his son attended the wedding of Matthias Corvinus.... | [
"Jews were subject to a wide range of legal disabilities and restrictions throughout the Middle Ages, some of which lasted until the end of the 19th century. Even moneylending and peddling were at times forbidden to them. The number of Jews permitted to reside in different places was limited; they were concentrated... |
why your nose gets plugged up on one side, then you roll over and the clog slides to the other side, all while keeping just 1 nostril clogged at a time... | I was surprised when I learned that this wasn't just my nose being screwed up. There is a small bit of tissue in your sinuses that partially blocks one nostril at any given time (and changes from side to side). The working hypothesis is that this is to help us determine which directions smells are coming from. | [
"The upwards wiping of the nose and nostrils allows for running mucus to be wiped off quickly and easily. Also, as the nostrils are being pushed up the air passages through the nose become temporarily propped open. This is especially beneficial if the air passages are swollen and the nostrils are itchy due to irrit... |
rare genetic conditions. for example the odds of being born with an extra hand or leg is supposedly 1 in 1700, or the odds of having a 178+ iq is 1 in 10 million. with > 7 billion people why don’t we see these conditions very often | Where have you got the odds of an extra hand or legs as 1:1700?
I can't find any info that Polymelia that is an extra limb is that high.
Polydactyly that is extra fingers or toes can be as high as 13.5 per 1000 in some population group but we will not see it in adults in the west because it can be fixed with simple... | [
"A 50% chance exists for a person to share the same X chromosome as his maternal grandfather. Because women have two X chromosomes, they have two copies of the androgen receptor gene, while men only have one.\n",
"The probability that a condition would have occurred in the first place in an individual is approxim... |
the difference between the effects of a zero calorie, zero gram sugar soda and a regular soda | Zero calorie drinks have an artificial sweetener in it called Aspartame (or sometimes Saccharin). It's zero calorie because your body doesn't use the sweetener as energy, and it doesn't give you the effects of regular Sucrose (insulin response).
Aspartame is an aspartic acid/phenylalanine dipeptide. When you digest it... | [
"Research from Duke University and the National University of Singapore released in December 2010 tested larger taxes and determined that a 20 percent and 40 percent taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages would largely not affect calorie intake because people switch to untaxed, but equally caloric, beverages. Kelly Bro... |
how does google get the money to drive google map cars all around the world without getting anything in return? what do they get from doing all that work and from all those expenses? | You have to remember that although Google has its finger in many technological pies, the vast majority of its income still comes through selling advertising. And to be a world-class multi-billion-dollar online advertising broker requires you to hold as much data as possible on the people who will be viewing your advert... | [
"Some have criticized Google for using reCAPTCHA as a source of unpaid labor. They say Google is unfairly using people around the world to help it transcribe books, addresses, and newspapers, and label image data for its driverless car effort without any compensation. \n",
"With the rise of consumer connectivity,... |
why are 2 litre bottles of coke in australian supermarkets cheaper than 500 ml bottles of coke in australian supermarkets? (2$ vs 3$) | They're targeted at different customers. Serving size bottles are sold chilled for customers who want the convenience of a cold drink right now. They pay a large price per volume for that convenience.
Meanwhile customers who are OK with buying large bulk bottles, spending time doing any necessary chilling at home the... | [
"The popularity of canned drinks was slow to catch on, as the metallic taste was difficult to overcome with the interior liner not perfected, especially with more acidic sodas. Cans had two advantages over glass bottles. First for the distributors, flat-top cans were more compact for transportation and storage and ... |
why do competitive divers shave their body hair, yet not wear swim caps? | From what I've been told, swim caps are frowned upon by judges in competitive diving. My daughter dives. Some girls wear caps during practice, but only one wears a cap in competition and it's because she has a braid that goes to het butt. | [
"Many competitive swimmers remove nearly all of their body hair, including their underarm hair, believing it makes their bodies more streamlined during races. Many male bodybuilders and professional wrestlers also remove their body hair for cosmetic purposes.\n",
"When performing routines in competition and pract... |
Did TIME magazine suffer a backlash for naming Hitler "man of the year"? | Time's Man of the Year was historically awarded to the most prominent news-maker of the year. Naming Hitler man of the year was not intended or taken by most people to be an endorsement of Hitler or of Nazism. The tone of the article is ranges from neutral to critical, remarking on how much power Hitler had attained in... | [
"\"Olympia\" premiered for Hitler's 49th birthday in 1938. Its international debut led Riefenstahl to embark on an American publicity tour in an attempt to secure commercial release. In February 1937, Riefenstahl enthusiastically told a reporter for the \"Detroit News\", \"To me, Hitler is the greatest man who ever... |
Was the Battle of Vimy Ridge important for anything other then Canada's ego? | Its a bit of a subjective issue, how important is “really important”?
It was certainly a useful piece of territory to possess. From Vimy Ridge, the Germans had line of sight giving a clear overview at least as far as Mont St Eloi and on a fair day as far as Arras. This was important stuff and the Germans could monitor... | [
"The Battle of Vimy Ridge has considerable significance for Canada. Although the battle is not generally considered the greatest achievement of the Canadian Corps in strategic importance or results obtained, it was the first instance in which all four Canadian divisions, made up of troops drawn from all parts of th... |
how is it that some of us can eat a diet of junk food and look like a picture of good health and others of us end up with bad skin, digestion issues, poor sleep and other complaints? | Nobody is healthy eating junk food, there was a story a month or two ago about a kid who went blind from eating nothing but crisps and chocolate. | [
"It is well-established that the poor eat more junk food overall than the more affluent, but the reasons for this are not clear. Few studies have focused on variations in food perception according to socio-economic status (SES); some studies that have differentiated based on SES suggest that the economically challe... |
How does Confucius of Ancient China compare to Socrates of Ancient Greece? | Both of the philosophers you mentioned were somewhat secular in their philosophical theories. Confucius dealt with social structure and bringing stability to the Warring States Period of Chinese History by claiming that the stability of a nation and the Mandate of Heaven (the right to rule from ancestors) could be achi... | [
"A hallmark of the philosophy of Confucius is his emphasis on tradition and study. He disparages those who have faith in natural understanding or intuition and argues for long and careful study. Study, for Confucius, means finding a good teacher, who is familiar with the ways of the past and the practices of the an... |
During WWII, why did the Allies choose to invade Normandy and free France first instead of directly invading Germany? | Because the parts of Germany (ex. Bremerhaven) that are on the North Sea are much further from British ports than Normandy was. That creates a huge logistical problem and it meant the invasion forces was almost certainly going to be spotted at sea. It also would have been much more difficult to provide tactical air c... | [
"After the Allied landings in Normandy, British Special Air Service units and French Resistance groups in the surrounding region carried out a campaign of harassment and sabotage against the occupying Germans.\n",
"The Allies staged elaborate deceptions for D-Day (see Operation Fortitude), giving the impression t... |
Why was it acceptable for male masters to have sex with their slaves, but not for females in antebellum southern society? | Some research makes the argument that it was perhaps not as unheard of as we assume. Martha Hodes wrote a great book in the mid 1990s called *White Women, Black Men.* She argues that interracial relationships between white women and black men were far more common than is typically believed.
Her work focuses more on l... | [
"On the large slave plantations, the popular male sports were wrestling, boxing, racing, hunting, and fishing. The most popular recreations for women were dancing and singing. David Wiggins says the masters typically tolerated the slaves' pastimes as long as they were ready to work when called upon. The slave child... |
why does the cold side of the pillow feel so good? | Your head has a lot of hot.
But it doesn't like to be so hot!
So your head gives the extra hot to the pillow. But the one side of pillow gets hot then too. It gets filled up with hot and then it can't take any more. So now your head is hot and the pillow is hot, and your head has nowhere to give it's extra hot and it... | [
"The bottom of a sleeping bag typically does not provide significant insulation, because body weight crushes the loft of the insulation material. It is therefore necessary to use a pad or other less crush-able insulation underneath the sleeper, especially in cold weather. Due to this, some sleeping bags do not incl... |
Why is everyone so worried about a measles outbreak of they're already vaccinated? | A range of reasons. First, not everyone is vaccinated yet.
In particular, infants. Who, you know, people tend to care about keeping healthy. Or people with certain allergies or medical conditions who can't receive immunizations.
Second, vaccines don't magically give 100% immunity. Think of it like a training system th... | [
"Vaccinations have prevented many cases of measles. The recent measles outbreak in the United States has stemmed from parents joining the “anti-vax” movement, and choosing not to vaccinate their children, in addition to this unvaccinated people are leaving the United States and bringing the disease back and transmi... |
how does nutrition affect healing? | Cancerous cells promote angiogenesis (meaning the growth of blood vessels). This causes cancerous tumors to be kind of like a parasite in that they're able to use whatever nutrients you gain from your diet to proliferate. I do not believe there are any methods at this moment that completely cut off blood supply and sub... | [
"BULLET::::- Nutrients – Malnutrition or nutritional deficiencies have a recognizable impact on wound healing post trauma or surgical intervention. Nutrients including proteins, carbohydrates, arginine, glutamine, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, copper, zinc and iron all pla... |
closed timelike curve | Hi a closed timelike curve is a path that an object can follow through spacetime such that it arrives back at the same spot, in both space and time.
Objects travel through both space and time. There are limits on how far something can travel in space in a given amount of time. Therefore there is only a specific set o... | [
"In mathematical physics, a closed timelike curve (CTC) is a world line in a Lorentzian manifold, of a material particle in spacetime that is \"closed\", returning to its starting point. This possibility was first discovered by Willem Jacob van Stockum in 1937 and later confirmed by Kurt Gödel in 1949, who discover... |
Who would John Wilkes Booth and his family be compared to today, in terms of popularity and celebrity status? | Sorry, but your submission has been removed because we [don't allow hypothetical questions](_URL_0_). If possible, please feel free to rephrase the question so that it does not call for such speculation, and resubmit. Otherwise, this sort of thing is better suited for /r/HistoryWhatIf. You can find a more in-depth disc... | [
"The Booth family was an American theatrical family of the 19th century. Its most famous and well known members were Edwin Booth, one of the leading actors of his day, and John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.\n",
"Junius Brutus Booth (May 1, 1796 – November 30, 1852) was an English stage actor. He... |
if the moon is 1000 miles across why will its shadow only cover 70 miles miles during the eclipse? | Take a quarter and hold it up at arms length between your eye and the sun. Move it closer to your eye until the entire sun is blocked by the shadow of the coin. When you find that point, the shadow of the coin is covering your whole eye.
During an eclipse, the moon does the same thing to a seventy mile wide swath ... | [
"It was 5% obscured in the middle of the peninsula up to 8.4% obscuration of the sun at the area of the greatest eclipse. The center of the moon's shadow was missed by over 2,500 km over the area (69.8 S) south of the Antarctic Circle.\n",
"A partial lunar eclipse took place on April 23, 1948. A tiny bite out of ... |
why do we have callus on our feet but not on our ass? | Mainly due to the amount of pressure being applied versus amount of friction. When you sit you rarely move around much. Compared to hands and feet that meet constant pressure and resistance when used.
*Edit, also the ass is quite big...(in the case of your mother..or my mother) and thus displaces most of the callus cr... | [
"Although calluses can occur anywhere on the body as a reaction to moderate, constant \"grinding\" pressure, they are most often found on the foot (where the most pressure and friction are applied). On the feet, arguably the source of the most problematic calluses, they typically form on the metatarsal-phalangeal j... |
sometimes whenever a game updates a mechanic is broken or some major bug might happen. why is this? | Everything in games work off each other, and changing one thing can change how different things work off of eachother.
Say a sword breaks when it contacts with an object with 5 hardness. It is purely based off collision, or in other words, if the sword animation touches another object. If the hardness is beneath 5, ... | [
"Since 2016 there has been a bug that removes most functionality from the game interface. Players are calling this the \"rollback bug\" since the only way to fix your game is to have EA support roll your game back to a previous date before you acquired the bug. As of April 2018 there is still no fix for this bug an... |
what is this central bank bubble that is being talked about a lot, and how it compares with previous market bubbles? | An economic bubble occurs when something is being traded at much higher price than it's real value. Best explained by an example:
In early 1620s Netherlands tulips became very popular very quickly, and were in high demand. They soon became a symbol of luxury and status, their price kept rising, people started "investi... | [
"Economic bubbles are also similar to a Ponzi scheme in that one participant gets paid by contributions from a subsequent participant until inevitable collapse. A bubble involves ever-rising prices in an open market (for example stock, housing, cryptocurrency, or tulip bulbs) where prices rise because buyers bid mo... |
the potential bayer-monsanto merger | Bayer and Monsanto are two of the world's five largest seed companies (most farmers don't save seeds from year to year, they buy seeds that are developed to maximize yield or minimize cost). Bayer appears to be concerned that the other seed companies have been increasing their own linkages (Dow and DuPont wish to merg... | [
"In September 2016, Monsanto agreed to be acquired by Bayer for US$66 billion. In an effort to receive regulatory clearance for the deal, Bayer announced the sale of significant portions of its current agriculture businesses, including its seed and herbicide businesses, to BASF.\n",
"In May 2016 Bayer offered to ... |
Does the refractive index of a medium change as pressure and/or density changes? | It depends whether you are comparing a density change in the same medium or a density difference between two different media.
When comparing different media, higher density will usually also have a higher refractive index, but that is not always necessarily true. For example, olive oil has a higher index of refractio... | [
"The acousto-optic effect couples the optical refractive index of the medium with its density and pressure. Thus, spatial and temporal variations in pressure (e.g., due to ultrasound radiation) induces corresponding variations in refractive index. Optical wavelength and wavenumber in medium depend on refractive ind... |
why do almost all dogs show relatively the same amount of intelligence and behavior when the size of their brains' differs greatly? | Brain size and intelligence are not a one-to-one correlation. Whales have bigger brains than humans, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who thinks they're more intelligent than humans. Brain size isn't the main factor in intelligence, the complexity of the neural structure is. | [
"Humans have few olfactory receptor cells compared to dogs and few functional olfactory receptor genes compared to rats. This is in part due to a reduction of the size of the snout in order to achieve depth perception as well as other changes related to bipedalism. However, it has been argued that humans may have l... |
on older tvs/networks, why do blank channels have black and white rapidly moving images and make loud painful sounds [static]? is the occurence a factor of the older tv, or the way networks used to work? | The way TVs used to work (and mostly still do).
Since there is no signal at all on those channels the TV antena picks up random noise from the air and amplifies it so you get random noise (though this helps with weak channels where the amplification would let you see the channel even if drowned by noise).
A TV signa... | [
"Likewise, analog TV signals are transmitted with the black and white luminance part as the main signal, and the color chrominance as the subcarriers. A black and white TV simply ignores the extra information, as it has no decoder for it. To reduce the bandwidth of the color subcarriers, they are filtered to remove... |
i created a new facebook account with a completely fake name, and temporary email address. that is all the info i gave. how does facebook suggest people i actually know as 'friends'? | Reads your contacts, emails, text messages, emails, people in close proximity to you, fb groups you are in, freinds of friends | [
"The Facebook service can be accessed from devices with Internet connectivity, such as personal computers, tablets and smartphones. After registering, users can create a customized profile revealing information about themselves. They can post text, photos and multimedia which is shared with any other users that hav... |
How do people with brain tumors of large sizes function normally? | This is because the architecture of the brain is highly modular on the one hand, with different regions responsible for different functions, and on the other hand somewhat redundant, so that some regions can take over the function of others. Therefore, it depends very much on the precise location of a brain tumour if i... | [
"Tumors can be quite variable in size, ranging from as small as up to , although in general the tumors are about . The critical size threshold used to be , but supporting studies have lowered that threshold. Most tumors are seen in just one lobe of the thyroid gland (unifocal), but multicentric tumors (same lobe or... |
Is there a nice summary of the American Revolutionary War? | [Short video on it by John Green](_URL_0_) | [
"BULLET::::- American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the armed conflict between Great Britain and 13 of its North American colonies, which had declared themselves the independent United States of America\n",
"BULLET::::- \"The American Revolution: the Anglo-American relation, 1763-1794: interpretive articles and ... |
I'm not positive this belongs here, but I have a question regarding the practice of jury nullification in the United States legal system: | > Why would officers of the court be considered ethically prohibited from informing jurors of their legal right to nullify a trial or law that they consider wrong/unfair/etc?
Jurors have the *power* to nullify, but not the *right* to do so, because it means that the jury is willfully ignoring its oath to apply the la... | [
"Jury nullification in the United States has its origins in colonial America under British law. In the United States, jury nullification occurs when a jury in a criminal case reaches a verdict contrary to the weight of evidence, sometimes because of a disagreement with the relevant law. The American jury draws its ... |
corporate mergers | The process of merger or acquisition can vary greatly depending on the nature and structure of the two business.
But in a common situation, the merger will take place when one company buys all are most another company's stock. Often this is done by saying something like "Hello Company A, I'll give you X number of sha... | [
"Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred or consolidated with other entities. As an aspect of strategic management, M&A can allow enterprises to grow or downsize, and change the nature of their busine... |
Why do rockets turn when leaving the atmosphere? | To get into orbit, you need to do two things: Go fast upwards, and go *REALLY REALLY fast* sideways. If you fire your rocket straight up, you'll be directly fighting gravity the entire time, and while you're firing sideways you won't be pushing yourself upwards at all. By performing a gravity turn you can fire your eng... | [
"On rockets with a solid motor upper stage, spin stabilization is used to keep the motor from drifting off course as they don't have their own thrusters. Usually small rockets are used to spin up the spacecraft and rocket then fire the rocket and send the craft off.\n",
"One reason rockets are launched in Florida... |
How does a radio coherer work? | The effect isn't strictly limited to RF, but easier to reproduce with an alternating current signal. This same principle was used in early lightning protection. Carbon granules would not conduct electricity, but a strike would cohere and conduct the energy to ground. These were used in telegraph lines.
The cause of... | [
"The coherer was a primitive form of radio signal detector used in the first radio receivers during the wireless telegraphy era at the beginning of the 20th century. Its use in radio was based on the 1890 findings of French physicist Edouard Branly and adapted by other physicists and inventors over the next ten yea... |
how does china enforce its internet restrictions and how do they deal with people that try to circumvent those? | Lived in China for 4 years - at this point it's almost more of a symbolic thing. They don't *really* care if you use a VPN, the point is just that it's easier for you to use the Chinese alternatives (assuming you're Chinese).
The rest of the reason for the block is mostly economic.
By making Youtube/Google/FB/etc har... | [
"Internet censorship in China is the control and suppression of published or viewed material on the internet in the People's Republic of China. More than sixty online restrictions have been created by the Government of China, which have been implemented by provincial branches of state-owned ISPs, companies, and org... |
Would Aristotle be famous without Alexander the Great? | Absolutely. By the time Aristotle went to Macedon his reputation was already very much cemented as the leader of the Academy school of philosophy. His move to Macedon was at the end of his career and he had already visited several important cities to teach. His philosophical school had already spread well throughout th... | [
"Alexander of Hales (d. about 1245) was a Franciscan, while Albert the Great (d. 1280) was a Dominican. The \"Summa theologiæ\" of Alexander of Hales is the largest and most comprehensive work of its kind, flavoured with Platonism. Albert was an intellectual working not only in matters philosophical and theological... |
why is there a black dot in the center of the sun when trying to take a photo of it? | Basically what's happening is that when you point the camera directly into the sun, the sheer huge intensity of the light directly on the sun is overwhelming the little chip inside the camera that's responsible for taking the picture. What the camera does is pretty much turn off those parts of the sensor that are recei... | [
"One wraps a Lumière photographic plate with a bromide emulsion in two sheets of very thick black paper, such that the plate does not become clouded upon being exposed to the sun for a day. One places on the sheet of paper, on the outside, a slab of the phosphorescent substance, and one exposes the whole to the sun... |
Shouldn’t an aircraft body act like a faraday cage? How am I able to get a cellular signal inside an aircraft? | Those windows are more than big enough. An effective Faraday cage needs holes that are smaller than one half the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation you want to block. The typical cellular transmission has a wavelength of roughly 30cm, so airplane windows would have to be smaller than 15cm to be effective — and... | [
"BULLET::::- Elevators and other rooms with metallic conducting frames and walls simulate a Faraday cage effect, leading to a loss of signal and \"dead zones\" for users of cellular phones, radios, and other electronic devices that require external electromagnetic signals. During training, firefighters, and other f... |
how do doxxers find out personal info through platforms such as psn and xboxlive? | People are dumb and use the same screen names/email addresses for everything.
Google PSN name, find PSN account, see email, Google email, find other accounts, repeat as necessary till you find their Facebook page. | [
"An Online ID is one's username on the PlayStation Network. It can range from 3 to 16 characters in length and consist of letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores. A user's Online ID is central to your PSN profile and is displayed when playing online games and using other network features. In April 2019, Sony enab... |
how survivable is nuclear explosion if you are in a tank? | Tanks are astonishingly tough compared to any kind of normal building. In 1953 a British Centurion tank was placed 500m from a 10 kiloton blast and was still driveable afterwards. It was determined that the crew would have almost certainly died in the blast, but this was a tank developed in the 1940s.
For obvious rea... | [
"Parsons witnessed the first explosion, Able, from the deck of the task force flagship, the command ship . An airburst like the Hiroshima blast, it was unimpressive, and even Parsons thought that it must have been smaller than the Hiroshima bomb. It failed to sink the target ship, the battleship , mainly because it... |
what is the use of horizontally split doors (if they are real)? | In the UK they're called Stable Doors, and they're really handy if you have dogs or children - you can have the door open, talk to visitors etc without letting the livestock out. | [
"Sliding doors are a type of door that open by sliding horizontally or vertically, whereby the door is either mounted on, or suspended from a track. They are commonly used on the sides of minivans, leisure activity vehicles, light commercial vehicles, minibuses and some buses as this allows a large opening for equi... |
If the Higgs mechanism explains how things have the property of mass, are similar mechanism needed to explain properties like electric charge? | Just to clarify - the Higgs mechanism gives elementary particles mass but has little to do with the mass of everyday objects, which mainly comes from the energy of the bound states of QCD (~strong nuclear force).
Another thing to note is that the Higgs mechanism doesn't allow you to predict the masses of the fundament... | [
"It is worth noting that the Higgs field does not \"create\" mass out of nothing (which would violate the law of conservation of energy), nor is the Higgs field responsible for the mass of all particles. For example, approximately 99% of the mass of baryons (composite particles such as the proton and neutron), is d... |
lotr dwarves. where do they come from? why didn't the help out more during the events of the trilogy, what happens to them afterwards? | **Warning**: major "the Hobbit" spoilers down below.
> Where do they come from?
The first Dwarves were constructed by the smith god Aule. He wanted to make a new race of intelligent beings that would have the same technical inclinations as him, but he found he could only make automatons bound to his will, with no i... | [
"The Dwarves are one of the oldest races of Arcana. They live underground and have managed to avoid much of the conflict on the surface, though they lost most of their magic during the Elven Mage Wars.\n",
"The Dwarves are divided into different groups, called Enclaves. Unlike other humanoids on Onara, dwarves ar... |
are facial expressions genetic or do we learn them? | It's a little bit of both.
There are certain things we all instinctual just know of - Things like smiling when we're happy. Like grimacing when in pain.
Even people who are blind and have never seen another face smile, frown, grimace.
But there are definitely things we adapt to those around us as well.
| [
"While it has been widely recognized that many cognitive abilities, such as general intelligence, have genetic bases, evidence for the genetic basis of facial recognition abilities specifically is fairly recent. Some of the earliest published research on the relationship between facial recognition and genetics focu... |
Why is Arachnophobia so common? | Wait, *is* arachnophobia common? I know that most people don't like spiders or are startled by them, but actual diagnosed cases of arachnophobia are common? | [
"Arachnophobia is a specific phobia—it is the abnormal fear of spiders or anything reminiscent of spiders, such as webs or spider-like shapes. It is one of the most common specific phobias, and some statistics show that 50% of women and 10% of men show symptoms. It may be an exaggerated form of an instinctive respo... |
What part of arc welding is blinding? | Eye damage (blindness) is caused by UV radition (photokeratitis). The UV radiation is emmitted from the electric arc.
| [
"Arc welding in any form can be dangerous if proper precautions are not taken. Since GMAW employs an electric arc, weldors must wear suitable protective clothing, including heavy gloves and protective long sleeve jackets, to minimize exposure to the arc itself, as well as intense heat, sparks and hot metal. The int... |
why are carbonated beverages (coke,pepsi) called soft drinks? | In contrast to a "hard" drink, which contains alcohol. It first became popular during prohibition, so it was clear that the beverage being served did not contain alcohol. | [
"A soft drink is generally known in the American Midland as \"pop\", except for being \"soda\" around Greater St. Louis in Missouri and Illinois, and \"coke\" in central Indiana and central and western Oklahoma\n",
"While the term \"soft drink\" is commonly used in product labeling and on restaurant menus, in man... |
Do all animals/insects have stereo hearing? | As far as I'm aware, all vertebrates have two ears, though size, shape, structure and presence of external apparatus varies.
Insects have evolved their own hearing organs (several times, actually), called tympanal organs. As far as I can tell from searching for information on these, there are always two of them, or ze... | [
"Vertebrates aren't the only group of animals that have hearing. Some insects have hearing organs as well (e.g. the long-horned grasshopper, lubber grasshopper and the cicada); they use sound as a form of communication.\n",
"Only vertebrate animals have ears, though many invertebrates detect sound using other kin... |
Can you test positive on a drug test for eating poppyseeds? | Yes. I don't know the threshold, but opiates are made from the poppy flower/plant. Poppy seeds can in fact make your urine test positive for opiates. How many it takes, I'm not sure, but best bet is to just avoid them. | [
"Although poppy seeds cannot be used as a narcotic due to very low levels of opium alkaloids, they do have enough that drug tests are often fooled and give out false positives after an otherwise drug-free person consumes just a few poppyseed muffins. Because of this, all poppyseed pastries place the person who cons... |
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