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If the stereotypical European knight were to have a duel with the stereotypical samurai, what would they both bring to the fight equipment wise? (Not a who would win) | Your question is somewhat too broad to really be answered. Over the hundreds of years, throughout many different kingdoms in Europe and different periods in Japan the equipment would change drastically. Sometimes pole arms, sometimes swords, sometimes bows, even axes or hammers could be typical in certain areas or time... | [
"and mentions that on five separate occasions he was forced to fight duels for his honor against certain of these masters whom he described as envious because he refused to teach them his art; the duels were all fought with sharp longswords, unarmored except for gambesons and chamois gloves, and he stated that he w... |
economically speaking is there an optimum population level where almost all citizens have a high standard of living? | Modern socialist countries come close. Really, it's a matter of technology and infrastructure - Communism is practically impossible because of the massive administrative costs, bureaucracy, and logistics - all of which are aided significantly by modern information technology, which is why socialism is working, because ... | [
"Which particular nation an impoverished person lives in deeply affects health outcomes. This can be attributed to governmental, environmental, geographical, and cultural factors. Using life expectancy as a measure of health indicates a difference between countries in likeliness of living to a certain age. Where pe... |
During the cold war, did Britain play much of a part in the hostilities? | > Also, why was it called a War if no one actually died?
That's... probably not entirely accurate. | [
"By the end of the 1917 summer in the northern hemisphere, the political and the strategic interests of the British government and the EEF coincided. This was due in part to the failure on the Western Front of the French Republic's Nivelle offensive and the success of the German submarine campaign against British E... |
Since astronomers have found mega-stars that are millions of times larger than the Sun, is it possible to have mega-planets that are millions of times larger than the Earth? | There are planets bigger than earth and even larger than jupiter, but not that much larger like those hypergiant stars compared to our sun.
There is an equilibrium between different forces, that counteract each other. The graviatation for example pulls matter inwards, and shrinks the size of an object. Degeneracy pra... | [
"This object is currently the most massive star that can be studied in great detail, because of its location and size. Several other known stars may be more luminous and more massive, but data on them is far less robust. (Caveat: Since examples such as the Pistol Star have been demoted by improved data, one should ... |
What combinations of frequencies and harmonics do musical instruments create? | > When playing an A4 note
Are you playing it on an instrument? Or is it a perfect sine wave?
If it's not a perfect sine wave the shape of the wave will affect the harmonics. Take a look at the [Fourier series](_URL_0_)
Any wave can be made up by the infinite sum of simple sine waves. A square wave, for example, wi... | [
"Typically, the coil is connected to an amplifier through a network of switches, contacts, resistor banks, and transformers which can be used to mix the fluctuating current representing the note from one coil with similar currents from other coils representing other notes. A single fundamental frequency can thus be... |
Out of all the various religions in history, what made the major ones of today catch on? | There really is no answer to this question. However, it appears that changing technology, migrations and political realities made particular types of religions and particular governmental systems more common and seemingly more efficient and useful. For example, we see an almost universal shift to Monotheistic Absolute ... | [
"Religions were among the earliest cultural elements to globalize, being spread by force, migration, evangelists, imperialists, and traders. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and more recently sects such as Mormonism are among those religions which have taken root and influenced endemic cultures in places far from the... |
How do lifeforms without some kind of cognition perform what appears to be goal-oriented behavior? | You're hinting around two of my favorite topics when you talk about bacterial decision making and have forced me to open my dissertation =P.
I can't help you with the white blood cell thing, if I hazard a guess I'd say its a chemoattractant gradient but that's a total guess. But! I can help you with the bacterial ques... | [
"Evolutionarily shaped blind action may suffice to keep some animals alive. For some insects for example, the environment is not interpreted as a map, and they survive only with a triggered response. A slightly more elaborated navigation strategy dramatically enhances the capabilities of the robot. Cognitive maps e... |
If we were to find life on an alien planet, would it have DNA structured the same at all? | Life on Earth all has the same fundamental genetic machinery primarily because all life on Earth shares a common ancestor. Nevertheless, it stands to reason that during the early evolutionary history of life on Earth there were competing systems of life and there are some underlying advantages to the system that surviv... | [
"The majority of the species isolated are not well understood or characterized and cannot be cultured in labs, and are known only from DNA fragments obtained with swabs. On a contaminated planet, it might be difficult to distinguish the DNA of extraterrestrial life from the DNA of life brought to the planet by the ... |
how can stars like vy canis majoris, betelgeuse, and rho cassiopeiae be so large without collapsing upon their own gravity? | They are held at bay by the **cataclysmic** heat of nuclear fusion. When that runs out, when it starts fusing iron and can't keep generating heat at the fusing edge of the core it goes poof and forms a neutron star or black hole. The sudden collapse ejects an amount of energy that is difficult to imagine and you see a ... | [
"Although it is over ten times more massive than the Orion Nebula, which is easily seen with the naked eye, Cygnus OB2 is hidden behind a massive dust cloud known as the Cygnus Rift, which obscures many of the stars in it. This means that despite its large size, it is hard to determine its actual properties. The es... |
Did people ever believe that humans couldn't exceed a specific speed? | I'm having an impossible time finding a source for this, but when the train was first invented/becoming common, especially in the UK, there were urban legends that the speed of the train (even being inside of it) was too fast for humans to tolerate and could cause seizures, make it impossible to breathe, and even perma... | [
"The Apollo 10 crew (Thomas Stafford, John W. Young and Eugene Cernan) achieved the highest speed relative to Earth ever attained by humans: 39,897 kilometers per hour (11.082 kilometers per second or 24,791 miles per hour, approximately 32 times the speed of sound and 0.00037% of the speed of light). The record wa... |
why do i get billed a much higher amount for medical services/prescriptions than my insurance company? | Because people tend to go to medical facilities that accept their insurance provider (so they can actually *use* their insurance). The insurance companies negotiate discounts on services in exchange for allowing the facility to accept their insurance. It's in their best interest to make the deals with the insurance com... | [
"Providers typically charge more for services than what has been negotiated by the physician and the insurance company, so the expected payment from the insurance company for services is reduced. The amount that is paid by the insurance is known as an allowable amount. For example, although a psychiatrist may charg... |
Found this carved into my basement wall under an old layer of white wash. My house was constructed in 1861, anyone have any idea of its meaning? | Can you post another photo or two so the symbols are clearer? Alternately, highlight or draw them since you can see them better in person.
Also, have you spoken with your local historical society? They may be able to both assist in finding out the owners or heritage of the home itself, which could shed quite a bit of ... | [
"The house is constructed of whitewashed stone rubble with a tile roof. It has an extension dating from the 19th century. The interior contains traces of original floral wall paintings, now concealed under plaster. CADW describes them as \"unusually fine, (a) good and well preserved example of the brocaded style ty... |
Why is the globe always shown one way? (Hard to explain my question, more info inside) | It's just a convention that has persisted since antiquity. To quote [Wikipedia](_URL_0_):
> The convention that North is at the top (and East at the right) on most modern maps was established by the astronomer Ptolemy and was adopted by other cartographers. | [
"The name of the Globe supposedly alludes to the Latin tag \"totus mundus agit histrionem\", in turn derived from \"quod fere totus mundus exerceat histrionem\"—\"because all the world is a playground\"—from Petronius, which had wide circulation in England in the Burbages' time. \"Totus mundus agit histrionem\" was... |
why are carbs the largest part of the food pyramid when popular diets & new research says to cut them out? | I've read that the food pyramid was created in the Department of Agriculture by people who hadn't studied nutrition.
People in government who make policies are often ignorant, misguided, or cynical. | [
"The World Health Organization, in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization, published guidelines that can be effectively represented in a food pyramid relating to objectives in order to prevent obesity, improper nutrition, chronic diseases and dental caries based on meta-analysis though they represen... |
How did Abraham Lincoln become so politically popular in a time when many of the important things he is remember for today were considered radically liberal? | You may want to check your premises - there is little evidence to suggest that Lincoln was exceptionally popular as President, and indeed a fair case to be made for his unpopularity. While polling data is obviously unavailable, the Republican Party lost hugely in the midterm following his election. His re-election coul... | [
"James Randall is one of many who see Lincoln as holding 19th century liberal positions, while at the same time emphasizing Lincoln's tolerance and moderation \"in his preference for orderly progress, his distrust of dangerous agitation, and his reluctance toward ill digested schemes of reform.\" Randall concluded ... |
How does a Human compare in efficiency/output vs an Internal Combustion Engine? | I'm not exactly sure what the question is: is it which is more efficient at energy consumption or which is more efficient at turning energy into mechanical work? Humans are pretty good at consuming things and using that energy to survive (including converting it to some mechanical energy of course). However, much of ... | [
"Volumetric efficiency in an internal combustion engine design refers to the efficiency with which the engine can move the \"charge\" of fuel and air into and out of the cylinders. It also denotes the ratio of air volume drawn into the cylinder to the cylinder's swept volume.\n",
"When we compare the efficiency o... |
How did 19th century armies maintain cavalry units? | Yes, all nations that fielded a sizable cavalry force kept extensive stud farms. Not only enemy bullets, bayonets, sabers or lances killed horses - diseases and lack of fodder also did quite a bit.
It was not uncommon to see parts of the cavalry walking with their saddles on their shoulders during a campaign for a lac... | [
"In the early American Civil War the regular United States Army mounted rifle, dragoon, and two existing cavalry regiments were reorganized and renamed cavalry regiments, of which there were six. Over a hundred other federal and state cavalry regiments were organized, but the infantry played a much larger role in m... |
what happens in the body that causes a physical reaction to a funny joke? | Not an expert but id assume our brains processes something we find truly funny and cause involuntary movement in our face to express happiness and form a smile. Id also assume laughter was first used as communication when speaking wasn’t an option. | [
"This is a list of practical joke topics (also known as a prank, gag, jape or shenanigan) which are mischievous tricks or jokes played on someone, typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort. \n",
"Humor is a subject of debate in affect theory. In studies of humo... |
how are animals like felines able to jump and leap insane distances? what makes humans unable to do the same? | The design of the hind legs has a lot to do with it.
Animals like cats and deer walk on their rear toes. The "heel" is quite high off of the ground. So their rear legs have three major segments instead of two, giving them more power and range of motion. This leads to bigger jumps.
And you also have to be abl... | [
"Jumping (saltation) can be distinguished from running, galloping, and other gaits where the entire body is temporarily airborne by the relatively long duration of the aerial phase and high angle of initial launch. Many terrestrial animals use jumping (including hopping or leaping) to escape predators or catch prey... |
how does a car measure it's speed to show up in the speedometer? what happens if the car is replaced with wheels of different diameters? does it matter? | It measures its speed by sensing each time a wheel makes a full rotation. So yes changing to a wheel with a different diameter then stock will throw the measurement off. This can usually be fixed by a reprogramming tool (for newer vehicles)
Some vehicles use GPS based speedometers. But I don't believe this is a very c... | [
"Suppose it is desired to measure the position and speed of an object – for example a car going through a radar speed trap. It can be assumed that the car has a definite position and speed at a particular moment in time. How accurately these values can be measured depends on the quality of the measuring equipment. ... |
Can cats or dogs see what's on a TV or computer monitor? | Please avoid anecdote. The answer should not include the words "my cat" or "my dog". Instead please cite research. | [
"The viewer first experiences the group from a distance, the monitor screens providing the only source of light. Moving onto the platform and amongst the screens, visitors are made aware that each cat is moving, but barely perceptibly. From any position, only two or three of the cats' faces are visible. Each cat go... |
When did the use begin of such stylized symbols as the arrow (→) and heart (♡)? | I don't know about the arrow, but I heard that the heart symbol as a symbol of love originates in [silphium](_URL_0_), whose seeds had the exact same shape. | [
"Use of arrow symbols in mathematical notation originates in the early 20th century. David Hilbert in 1922 introduced the arrow symbol representing logical implication. The double-headed arrow representing logical equivalence was introduced by Albrecht Becker in \"Die Aristotelische Theorie der Möglichkeitsschlüsse... |
why is the water colder in the water bottle than the outside of the water bottle temperature | It isn't. It just *feels* that way.
When you feel something as hot or cold, you're not actually feeling temperature. You're feeling heat flowing either into or out of your body. Some materials conduct heat better than others, so heat will flow into you or out of you faster. This is why room temperature metal feels... | [
"Metal water bottles can be heavier than their plastic counterparts and readily transfer temperature of contents to external surfaces, which makes them unsuitable for use with unusually hot or cold liquids. Double-walled stainless steel bottles are insulated to keep cold liquids cold and hot liquids hot, without th... |
why can my aches and pains "reset" by doing more exercise? | By reset, I assume you mean a brief yet acute dulling of pain. This is due to something known as exercise-induced hypoalgesia. As the muscles start aching, they activate the pain related nerves in the body, known as A-delta and C fibres. This pain is alleviated by two main mechanisms, Gate Control Theory and Descending... | [
"Counterintuitively, continued exercise may temporarily suppress the soreness. Exercise increases pain thresholds and pain tolerance. This effect, called exercise-induced analgesia, is known to occur in endurance training (running, cycling, swimming), but little is known about whether it also occurs in resistance t... |
How is it people can remain hydrated when the majority of beverages they drink are diuretics, like coffee, beer and soda? | Coffee, Beer, and Soda contain a LOT of water, far outweighing any diuretic effect from it's ingredients.
We can drink nothing but double-strong black coffee, while eating a few coffee beans for good measure, and still stay hydrated with ease. | [
"Drinks especially high in simple sugars, such as soft drinks and fruit juices, are not recommended as the main source of hydration, or for children under 5 years of age as they may \"increase\" diarrhea. Plain water may be used if more specific and effective ORT preparations of hydrational fluids are unavailable o... |
Do Emergen-C and similar products actually do anything? | The science behind this question is as follows: immune cells have high Vitamin C concentrations, and you use up Vitamin C faster when you're sick. However, this will only be a major health issue for you if you are already significantly Vitamin C deficient. Most humans in the developed world actually are getting well ov... | [
"Repligen is an American company devoted to the development and production of materials used in the manufacture of biological drugs. The company is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, and incorporated in Delaware in 1981. A public company, Repligen is listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol RGEN. , Repligen emp... |
How serious was ballroom dancing in the 18/19th century? | I'd like to apologize for my exuberance and outburst of writing in this thread. It's extremely rare that a question related to my specialty comes up.
In short:
I've written a considerable amount below. The basic summary is that no, dances of the era were not the precise, complex choreographies of ballet performances ... | [
"The first authoritative knowledge of the earliest ballroom dances was recorded toward the end of the 16th century, when Jehan Tabourot, under the pen name \"Thoinot-Arbeau\", published in 1588 his \"Orchésographie\", a study of late 16th-century French renaissance social dance. Among the dances described were the ... |
Why is it that the more viscous a liquid, the more sticky it is? More importantly, how does "sticky" work? | Viscosity is about flow, right? It flows more slowly. So it will drip off the object, just take more time to do it. There's a famous "[pitch drop experiment](_URL_0_)" that flows so slowly that it has had 8 drops since 1938. That's how slowly it flows.
Finally if you think about it from the standpoint of stickiness, ... | [
"Viscous liquids, such as glycerol, flow very slowly. Glycerol has high dynamic viscosity, and if a researcher aspirates a sample of glycerol too quickly with an air displacement pipette, It will draw up air bubble. When a researcher attempts to dispense the liquid, some of it will stick to the pipette tip wall, di... |
why (chemically/psychologically) does some music make me feel like an unstoppable badass? | It's to do with association, this is why different music evokes different emotions for people, you begin to associate yourself to a suspension of your own disbelief in a subconscious manner, thereby making you actually feel like you're about to take on a whole army just because you're listening to The Lord of the rings... | [
"Recent studies have found people who do not have any issue processing musical tones or beat, yet receive no pleasure from listening to music. Specific musical anhedonia is distinct from Melophobia, the fear of music.\n",
"All the things that happened were really inspiring, because it was frustrating ... But for ... |
History terminology word help! | I think you are referring to dialectic, possibly? Although dialectical reasoning is supposed to result in a reasoned, rational answer rather than a middle ground per se, as I understand the term. | [
"The \"present historical\" is named after the speech of the region, but it is often used in many working class dialects in the south of England too. Instead of saying \"I \"said\" to him\", users of the rule would say, \"I \"says\" to him\". Instead of saying, \"I \"went\" up there\", they would say, \"I \"goes\" ... |
Is it possible to overwork your brain? | In certain ways, [yes](_URL_0_). | [
"Some researchers believe that disadvantageous obsessive compulsive behaviors can be thought of as a normally beneficial process gone too far. Brüne (2006) suggests that change of various origin in striatal and frontal brain circuits, which play a role in predicting needs and threats that may arise in the future, m... |
Is it possible to ever hear a pure square wave? | To *hear* a purely square wave your eardrum would need to teleport backwards and forwards. If the ear was exposed to a pure square wave, the eardrum would wobble back and forth in tune with the wave, although the sound heard would indeed be rounded off. I'm not an expert, but no one's commented yet so take it with a gr... | [
"While a square wave is constructed from only odd harmonics, a sawtooth wave's sound is harsh and clear and its spectrum contains both even and odd harmonics of the fundamental frequency. Because it contains all the integer harmonics, it is one of the best waveforms to use for subtractive synthesis of musical sound... |
How do Scientists Make Protons? | You just buy a bottle of hydrogen gas, and heat up hydrogen molecules until they dissociate.
[Here’s](_URL_0_) some more detail about the LHC source. | [
"Protons may also be used in radiosurgery in a procedure called Proton Beam Therapy (PBT) or proton therapy. Protons are extracted from proton donor materials by a medical synchrotron or cyclotron, and accelerated in successive transits through a circular, evacuated conduit or cavity, using powerful magnets to shap... |
if food takes longer than 24 hours to digest, then why do i take a massive fiery dump within an hour or two every time i eat spicy asian food? | The spicy food can irritate your stomach and make your bowels react by clearing what ever is in the pipeline, so to speak. | [
"The human gastrointestinal tract is around 9 meters long. Food digestion physiology varies between individuals and upon other factors such as the characteristics of the food and size of the meal, and the process of digestion normally takes between 24 and 72 hours.\n",
"The residence time in a digester varies wit... |
why denying the holocaust is not protected under the freedom of expression? and why denying other genocides/mass killings is not criminalized in any countries? | In the US, denying the Holocaust IS protected under freedom of expression. In some other countries, even those with fairly liberal free speech policies, there is not the same blanket free speech protections as in the US, and specific forms of expression (like hate speech) can still be forbidden. | [
"Scholars have pointed out that countries that specifically ban Holocaust denial generally have legal systems that limit speech in other ways, such as banning \"hate speech\". According to D. D. Guttenplan, this is a split between the \"\"common law countries\" of the United States, Ireland and many British Commonw... |
Are there any theories on the future of evolution or is it pretty much wide open and impossible to predict? | At the scale you are interested in evolution is impossible to predict. The fundamental principle of evolution is that organisms change as a result of random changes.
There is no means to forecast what mutations will occur. Even if you could forecast where and when a mutation would occur you have no way to know how th... | [
"While the future can never be predicted with absolute certainty, present understanding in various scientific fields allows for the prediction of some far-future events, if only in the broadest outline. These fields include astrophysics, which has revealed how planets and stars form, interact, and die; particle phy... |
why do cold sores sting? | Herpes actually infects the nerves themselves, so it's a combination of direct stimulation of the pain nerves and stimulation by swelling. | [
"If stung, the site will appear red and may remain itchy and swollen for many days. The best treatment of stings is to first wash the area with soap and water, then use an antiseptic, and if swelling remains apply an ice pack. Many people are allergic to wasp venom, and if this is the case, a sting can result in se... |
what causes the full body twitches during climax? | Are you guys getting full body twitches? | [
"In males, the beginning of the excitement phase is observed when the penis becomes partially or fully erect, often after only a few seconds of erotic stimulation. The erection may be partially lost and regained repeatedly during an extended excitement phase. Both testicles become drawn upward toward the perineum, ... |
How did people think magic was real? | Depends on the time frame and geographic location, but it's important to remember that for pretty much the entirety of human existence, people have believed in magic - even today, people have their luck rituals, check their horoscopes, or drink potions designed to make them healthier or more attractive (we might call i... | [
"Within the magical system of Austin Osman Spare, magic was thought to operate by using symbols to communicate \"desire\" to something Spare termed \"Kia\" (a sort of universal mind, of which individual human consciousnesses are aspects) via the \"passage\" of the unconscious – hence the need for complex systems of... |
Good sources on the Russo-Japanese Wars? | Had to dig back into my university reading lists to find exact titles, but here's a couple I remember being useful reading on Japanese imperialism in the late 19th/early 20th century:
* W.G. Beasley, *[Japanese Imperialism, 1894-194](_URL_0_)5* (1987)
* Myers & Peattie, eds., *[The Japanese Colonial Empire, 1895-19... | [
"The main historical novel dealing with the war from the Japanese side is Shiba Ryōtarō's \"Clouds Above the Hill\", published serially in several volumes between 1968 and 1972, and translated in English in 2013. The closely researched story spans the decade from the Sino-Japanese War to the Russo-Japanese War and ... |
How free was Venetian society? | John Julius Norwich opens his *History of Venice* by noting that more time separates the beginning and end of the Republic of Venice than separates Queen Elizabeth II of England from the Norman Conquest. The Republic of Venice was a polity which existed for ove a thousand years, outlasting two and a half polities calli... | [
"The Venetian \"Scuole\" were confraternities formed by ethnic or religious groups that lived in the city during the Renaissance. They provided an environment for the social, cultural and religious activities of their members. The Greek minority was present in Venice as early as the 13th century, but increased grea... |
Are Hitler and Wittgenstein in this photo? | I'm of the opinion that it is not. Wittgenstein and Hitler did attend the same school in Linz but the photo is dated to a time when Wittgenstein might not have been at the school. Also Hitler and Wittgenstein would have been two grades apart, which would make it odd for them to appear together in what appears to be a c... | [
"Cornish used a school photograph from the \"Realschule\" (lower secondary school) in Linz, Austria, on his book cover. That boy in the top-right corner is undisputedly Hitler (see above right). Cornish alleges that Wittgenstein is the boy on the bottom left; he says the Victoria Police photographic evidence unit i... |
Was Greece's successful defense against Italy really a crucial factor for the win of the Allied forces at World World II? | From an earlier [answer](_URL_0_)
This is a somewhat contentious issue and one that is clouded by numerous parties postwar who argued that the Greek theater was a vital delay for Barbarossa. Obviously, the notion of Greek resistance and a nationalist narrative fed into the delay hypothesis, but it also received suppo... | [
"Despite the country's numerically small and ill-equipped armed forces, Greece made a decisive contribution to the Allied efforts in World War II. At the start of the war, Greece sided with the Allies and refused to give in to Italian demands. Italy invaded Greece by way of Albania on 28 October 1940, but Greek tro... |
Is it coldest before dawn, or am I ... feeling things? | Typically the coldest part of the day is a short time *after* the sun has come up, because the temperature is still dropping but less quickly now that there is a solar energy source. So the bottoming-out usually occurs a bit lagged with respect to sunrise. Though it might not feel that way, since you can gain some ra... | [
"\"The Chill of an Early Fall\" is a song written by Green Daniel and Gretchen Peters and recorded by American country music artist George Strait. It was released in September 1991 as the third single from his album \"Chill of an Early Fall\". The song reached number 3 on the \"Billboard\" Hot Country Singles & Tra... |
why is the underlying algorithm used to calculate credit scores not in the public domain? | The United States has the rule of law, more or less.
We don't just arbitrarily confiscate people's property, including intellectual property, because some guy on the internet thinks that that would be more fair. | [
"BULLET::::- Credit scores are already artificially modified; that is, it is a made-up system. There is no difference between adding an authorized user tradeline and opening a new account; they both affect your credit score.\n",
"Credit agencies and data analysis firms such as FICO comply with this regulation by ... |
What philosophy/methodology is there to historical analysis? | I don't want to discourage other answers, but I think [this thread](_URL_0_) may be in the neighborhood of what you are looking for. Provided, of course, that I've understood your question correctly. Basically, the thread goes into some detail regarding Great Man Theory, Trends and Forces, and how historians going abou... | [
"By the 1930s, older historical analyses were challenged by a range of neo-positivist, Marxist and econometric approaches, supported by a widening body of documentary, archaeological and scientific evidence. Marxist and Neo-Marxist analyses continued to be popular in the post-war years, producing seminal works on e... |
What is the significance of the ~28 day menstrual cycle in humans? | I just watched the show QI, so I have this big echoing voice in my head that goes "Nobody knows! (knows ... knows ... knows ..)". There are a lot of theories out there, and a lot of passionate supporters of said theories, but we really don't know. One thing that can be said with reasonable confidence is that it is not ... | [
"While the normal menstrual cycle in the human typically lasts 4 weeks (28 days, range 24–35 days) and consists of a follicular phase, ovulation, and a luteal phase, followed by either menstruation or pregnancy, the anovulatory cycle has cycle\n",
"Menstruation is the most visible phase of the menstrual cycle and... |
are there nuclear reactions that give out hydrogen (proton or deuteron) as a product? | Hydrogen, or more specifically a proton, can be emitted during very rare nuclear decay events. It would be entirely impractical to use this, or any sort of radioactive element, to populate an entire planetary quantity of another element.
[Here](_URL_0_) | [
"Further evidence comes from RIKEN in Japan and JINR in Dubna, Russia, where beams of nuclei were directed at a cryogenic hydrogen target to produce . It was discovered that the nucleus can donate all four of its neutrons to the hydrogen. The two remaining protons could be simultaneously ejected from the target as ... |
Looking for information on "The Last Africans" (book). | I've found a review of *The Last Africans* by Gert Chesi in *Africa: Journal of the International African Institute*, Vol. 53, No. 3 (1983), pp. 99-104:
> *The Last Africans*, by Gert Chesi, is also a 'coffee-table' book, but very different from
Bamert's 'art-object'-oriented one. It is lavish in the extreme, the lay... | [
"The Old African is a 2005 book by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. It is based on an incident at Igbo Landing and is about Jaja, a slave who leads a group of plantation slaves back to Africa by walking into the ocean. \n",
"\"A History of the African-American People (proposed) by Strom Thurmond, a... |
Can gravity waves split a black hole? | Unfortunately it's impossible for black holes to split, as a direct result of Hawking's area theorem (i.e., the second law of black hole mechanics). The area of a black hole has to be a non-decreasing function of time, so a process which leaves the total black hole area less than it was before can't occur. Black hole b... | [
"In addition, the signal of several binary black holes merging into a single black hole and in so doing producing gravitational waves have been observed by the LIGO instrument. These are listed above in the section Black holes detected by gravitational wave signals.\n",
"BULLET::::- 2015 — LIGO Scientific Collabo... |
why do you have to fast before getting certain blood tests? | it depends on the blood tests, however, its typically to get rid of all the fats and sugars that are suspended in your blood following a meal.
If you fast, then your body will process those fats and sugars from your blood. Whats left over are the risiduals which are produced by your body (ie, chloresteral, insulin etc... | [
"Fasting is always practiced prior to surgery or other procedures that require general anesthesia because of the risk of pulmonary aspiration of gastric contents after induction of anesthesia (i.e., vomiting and inhaling the vomit, causing life-threatening aspiration pneumonia). Additionally, certain medical tests,... |
Did the US and the Allies seriously consider joining the Germans to set a counter offensive on the USSR closer towards the end of the War in 45? If so why didn't they take that route? | An annihilatory attack on the USSR was a seriously discussed in many parts of American society at the time. Some of the proponents were surprising - Bertrand Russell \[1] for instance. There was also a major movement to put atomic weapons under control of the United Nations e.g \[2]. I can't find any overall discussion... | [
"On 22 June 1941, contravening the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, about 3.8 million Axis troops attacked the Soviet Union. In addition to Hitler's stated purpose of acquiring \"Lebensraum\", this large-scale offensive—codenamed Operation Barbarossa—was intended to destroy the Soviet Union and seize its natural resources ... |
why can we not consciously feel organs working in our body if they are continuously at work? | Very few nerves in your internal organs, except for when they need to tell you that something hurts. Theres also very little movement, so you wouldnt feel it that way. But you do feel your stomach rumble or growl right? That would be one example. | [
"Healthy organs all work together cohesively and gaining a better understanding of how, helps to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Some functions cannot be accomplished only by one organ. That is why organs form complex systems. The system of organs is a collection of homogeneous organs, which have a common plan of str... |
why is there alot more hype and excitement for star wars episode vii than there was for episode i? | I think you are vastly mis-remembering the hype. Go look up some videos of lines for Phantom Menace. The toy thing was the same too, I remember getting Lego sets before the movie even came out. | [
"The series premiere, which consisted of the first two episodes, received generally mixed reviews from critics, earning a 53 out of 100 average rating as calculated by Metacritic. It was criticized for not being as \"fun\" as \"\" and \"\" (also produced by Robert Tapert and Sam Raimi), and not having enough excite... |
why do americans have 5k races when we use miles? | Running is an international sport, and the standard distances are in meters or kilometers.
Other sports, like tennis, traditionally have Imperial measurements, and those are used even in countries that use the metric system. | [
"The North American 5K Championships, also known as the North American 5 km Team Challenge, was an annual road running competition over 5 kilometres between three North American countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States.\n",
"As one of the shortest common road distances, many 10K races attract high levels o... |
why do restaurants' food taste so much better when the ingredients are relatively inexpensive? | More butter, more salt, better equipment. There isn't much more to say, restaurant food is intense, also lots of prepared ingredients that home cooks don't take the time to do (like sauces) | [
"Traditional food tends to be spicy and hearty. Many of the foods are imported due to an acquired taste for foreign foods. Local farmers grow fruits and vegetables along with the rearing of animals. Their goods are sold in local open-air markets, while supermarkets tend to carry only imported foods. Upscale restaur... |
is there a reason why people like to "get sun"? | Your body requires sunlight to synthesize vitamin D IIRC. | [
"Sunlight has been shown to be beneficial in some skin conditions and enables the body to make vitamin D, but with the increased awareness of skin cancer, wearing of sunscreen is now part of the culture. Sun exposure prompts the body to produce nitric oxide that helps support the cardiovascular system and the feelg... |
Why does body odor often smell like onions? | The smell of onions is caused by the breakdown of certain amino acids. The smell of sweat is also partly caused by this process as well. Both sweat and onion end up with similar amino acid derivatives when they undergo this process and you have similar smells caused by similar molecular structures of these compounds.
... | [
"Garlic is known to cause bad breath (halitosis) and body odor, described as a pungent \"garlicky\" smell to sweat. This is caused by allyl methyl sulfide (AMS). AMS is a volatile liquid which is absorbed into the blood during the metabolism of garlic-derived sulfur compounds; from the blood it travels to the lungs... |
Are all wavelengths of EM radiation, for which an optical lens is transparent, refracted by it? | Yes. Anytime there is a differnce in refractive index, there is refraction. There is no solid or liquid material that has the same index of refraction as air. Therefore, anytime light travels from air into a transparent liquid or solid, it refracts, no matter the wavelength of the light. For certain materials and certa... | [
"Optical radiation is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is subdivided into ultraviolet radiation (UV), the spectrum of light visible for man (VIS) and infrared radiation (IR). It ranges between wavelengths of 100 nm to 1 mm. Electromagnetic waves in this range obey the laws of optics--they can be focused and... |
mold spores affect on the human respiratory system. | Mold likes to grow in cool, wet areas. The danger of mold spores depends on their ability to tolerate the heat inside your body as well as their ability to avoid detection by your immune system.
There are fungal spores everywhere and it would be an unusual breath in which we inhaled none of them. These are generally ... | [
"Health problems associated with high levels of airborne mold spores include allergic reactions, asthma episodes, irritations of the eye, nose and throat, sinus congestion, and other respiratory problems, although mold spores won't actually cause asthma, just irritate existing conditions. For example, residents of ... |
What happened to the Irish Druids? | /u/depanneur and I double-teamed a similar question a little while ago. Since it was both of us, [I'll point you to the thread](_URL_0_) rather than copying the answer here. :) | [
"When druids are portrayed in early Irish sagas and saints' lives set in the pre-Christian past of the island, they are usually accorded high social status. The evidence of the law-texts, which were first written down in the 7th and 8th centuries, suggests that with the coming of Christianity the role of the druid ... |
why is it preferable to ask for someone's resignation rather than just fire them with cause? | It's less of a hassle, less paperwork, and less conflict. A person who *signs* a resignation letter even under pressure is less likely to stir up a shitstorm afterwards, because the administration / company could always say that *they* resigned and deny any pressure if necessary (arguably not in the Flint case, but in ... | [
"Sometimes an outgoing leader decides to resign immediately in order to ensure party unity, because they have accepted an appointment or chosen to stand as a candidate for (or been elected to) another position.\n",
"However, in practice, resignations rarely occur for a number of reasons. Although public opinion r... |
Why wasn't ocean acidification a problem millions of years ago when the dinosaurs were experiencing extremely high levels of CO2? | High atmospheric concentrations of CO2 that rise rapidly (like they are now) have most definitely been a problem for oceanic organisms in the geologic past. Specifically, ocean acidification caused by this phenomena is considered a contributing cause in the Permian-Triassic, the largest extinction event in Earth histor... | [
"BULLET::::- B. W. Oelofsen argued that kimberlite volcanoes were very common during the Late Cretaceous and emitted large quantities of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The coincidental drop in sea level at this time period led to a drop in the population of phytoplankton that would have otherwise ingested the ... |
why are advertisers suddenly demonetizing so many popular youtube creators' content? | They were more or less ignoring the Youtubers political/racist/sexist/controversial views until it became a national story and they were 'forced' to pay more attention and demand Google stop putting their ads on (insert politically incorrect flavor of the month) videos.
More generally you can no longer speak to differ... | [
"In March 2017, a number of major advertisers and prominent companies began to pull their advertising campaigns from YouTube, over concerns that their ads were appearing on objectionable and/or extremist content, in what the YouTube community began referring to as a 'boycott'. YouTube personality PewDiePie describe... |
How warm would the Earth be if it we were not in orbit around the Sun? | Disclaimer, I'm just going to work out how cold the Earth would eventually get here which is not what you asked. But I don't really know how to work out how long the Earth would take to cool down to this temperature.
First find the power output of the Earth's core (which I believe produces a little heat due to the dec... | [
"or 102 °C. (Above the atmosphere, the result is even higher: 394 K.) We can think of the earth's surface as \"trying\" to reach equilibrium temperature during the day, but being cooled by the atmosphere, and \"trying\" to reach equilibrium with starlight and possibly moonlight at night, but being warmed by the atm... |
if december 21st is called the winter solstice, then is it called the summer solstice in australia? | Yes. June 21 is our Winter Solstice. | [
"This day usually marks the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, which is the day of the year with the most hours of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere and the fewest hours of daylight in the Southern Hemisphere.\n",
"The summer solstice occurs during sum... |
what does it mean to be a psychopath? how can i spot one, and are they always dangerous? | Psychopath is a very broad and misused term nowadays, however as I'm not a specialist I won't try and pretend I know more than I do. But yeah people use that term for a bunch of things now. | [
"Psychopaths also have a markedly distorted sense of the potential consequences of their actions, not only for others, but also for themselves. They do not, for example, deeply recognize the risk of being caught, disbelieved or injured as a result of their behaviour.\n",
"The possibility of psychopathy has been a... |
How come stuff sticks to other stuff when wet, and stays after it dries? | Part of this is explained by the high surface tension of water. It wants to minimize the amount of surface area exposed to air. You put a drop of water on a surface that is non-polar (low surface energy) like wax and the drop minimizes its surface area by taking a spherical shape. The water on a blade of grass has l... | [
"Very fine powders, such as titanium dioxide pigments, and materials that have been spray dried may agglomerate or form lumps during transportation and storage. Starchy materials or those that form gels when exposed to solvent can form lumps that are wetted on the outside but dry on the inside. These types of mater... |
how do bugs like flies survive a drop from terminal velocity | In the same way as a human with a parachute survives falling from 10,000 feet at terminal velocity - their terminal velocity is much slower, so the landing is safer. If you scale an object up to double all its dimensions, its surface area is multiplied by four but its mass is multiplied by eight. This increases its ter... | [
"A hazard of flight for very small insects such as thrips is the possibility of being trapped by water. Thrips have non-wetting bodies and have the ability to ascend a meniscus by arching their bodies and working their way head-first and upwards along the water surface in order to escape.\n",
"Insects range in th... |
why does a simple app such as iheartradio need access to my photos and call information? | We have a detailed explanation of the Android permissions we need and why we need them on our help site which you can find here: _URL_0_. (Mods, hope linking to the answer is okay). | [
"The app has been described \"as being similar to the Nextel walkie talkie phones, except it lets users listen to messages at their convenience and talk one-to-one with other users.\" The app also allows users to send text messages and photos and has a location feature that allows users to see on a map where other ... |
Does passing electricity though water effectively sterilise it? | Effectively, yes! So as you should know, one of the major disinfection processes involve chlorine and hypochlorite as disinfectants. Recently, people have been trying to steer away from these expensive processes. Another way to disinfect water is through electrolytic processes. Some of these processes are being utilize... | [
"Electrocoagulation (\"electro\", meaning to apply an electrical charge to water, and \"coagulation\", meaning the process of changing the particle surface charge, allowing suspended matter to form an agglomeration) is an advanced and economical water treatment technology. It effectively removes suspended solids to... |
What were Soviet computers like during the Cold War? Were they clones of Western architectures or completely different? | Until someone gets to this, answers to similar questions can be found [here]( _URL_1_) and [here](_URL_0_)
edit: the first link answered by u/joshtothemaxx | [
"Soviet computer software and hardware designs were often on a par with Western ones, but the country's persistent inability to improve manufacturing quality meant that it could not make practical use of theoretical advances. Quality control, in particular, was a major weakness of the Soviet computing industry.\n",... |
why are apples grown from seed bitter, and only sweet if grown from a graft? | Apple genetics is really complex. A good fruit has to have exactly the right mix of genes...anything else just results in bad taste.
Every time you grow a fruit from seed you are getting a totally new mix of genes, and that means you are pretty unlikely to hit on a winner. Apple breeders grow thousands and thousan... | [
"Many apples grow readily from seeds. However, more than with most perennial fruits, apples must be propagated asexually by grafting to obtain the sweetness and other desirable characteristics of the parent. This is because seedling apples are an example of \"extreme heterozygotes\", in that rather than inheriting ... |
What would a super nova look like? | If you were close to it, it would just be exceedingly bright. I've read that a supernova at the sun's distance would appear brighter than a hydrogen bomb detonating on your eyeball.
If you were a bit farther away, you'd see a bright flash and an expanding cloud of hot gas.
_URL_0_ | [
"In \"Super Nova\" the screen is filled with asteroids, and the player uses explosive missiles to blow them into middle-sized chunks, and then split them into small hunks which can be blown out of existence.\n",
"The character of Supernova first appears during the eighth issue of the weekly comic series \"52\". H... |
When castration (in regards to opera) fell out of vogue, was it universal? Were there some notable holdout states or organizations? | Oh hello there! A flair question! Whee! :)
Their death was more or less universal in opera, but there's a little that needs unpacking in your question. The first -- the creation of castrati was more or less exclusive to Italy from its heyday to death. No one else castrated little boys and trained them to sing. (I've r... | [
"Historically, a strategy for avoiding the shift altogether was castration. \"Castrati\" are first documented in Italian church records from the 1550s. Mozart's \"Exultate Jubilate\", Allegri's \"Miserere\" and parts of Handel's \"Messiah\" were written for this voice, whose distinctive timbre was widely exploited ... |
I want to get a gift for a family friend that has a degree in Byzantine studies. Suggestions? | Do you know what kind of Byzantine things he studies? I'm not sure what he would have already read or not, and there's lots of aspects of Byzantine history (military, literary, political, etc...I had a professor who was an expert on Byzantine gardens!)
I would suggest Anthony Kaldellis, *Romanland: Ethnicity and Empir... | [
"The Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies (SPBS) is a scholarly society established in 1983 \"with the object of furthering study and knowledge of the history and culture, language and literature of the Byzantine Empire and its neighbours\".\n",
"Ruth Iouliani (Juliana) Macrides (1949 – 27 April 2019) w... |
When were actors and celebrities first called "stars"? Do we know who coined the phrase? | [Here](_URL_0_) is an example of the term being used to describe a theatre actor in The Gentleman's and London Magazine dated July 1765. I'm not certain this is the first time it was ever used. The phrase is used quite explicitly which, to me, suggests it wasn't a very common thing to say when this was written, meaning... | [
"The term \"Before They Were Stars\" has since become widely used by television shows and magazines when featuring segments and articles on famous actors in their lesser-known performances (and non-entertainment jobs).\n",
"The use of \"star\" for theatrical lead performers dates to 1824, giving rise to the conce... |
why do some animals evolve for slow movement (snails, sloths, ect.)? | First of all, it's important to remember that evolution doesn't select for what's best, it selects for what *works*. "Survival of the fittest" is misleading, it really should be "survival of the fit." Snails and other slow-moving animals seem to be doing perfectly fine the way they are, so there's no need to change.
S... | [
"Due to their tiny shell sizes, \"Zospeum\" species are extremely slow-moving snails. In a week's time, they may only move a few millimeters or centimeters while grazing, usually in small circles around a given point. Because of their proximity to bodies of water and their preference for habitats with a mud substra... |
How plausible is a laser gun? | It is important to distinguish between "having a laser that can melt through metal" and "having a laser gun".
In manufacturing, lasers are used to [weld](_URL_5_) or [cut](_URL_1_). These are certainly more powerful than your laser pointer, which is to say that they concentrate enough energy in a small space (and som... | [
"The laser has in most firearms applications been used as a tool to enhance the targeting of other weapon systems. For example, a \"laser sight\" is a small, usually visible-light laser placed on a handgun or a rifle and aligned to emit a beam parallel to the barrel. Since a laser beam has low divergence, the laser... |
how can journalist legally interview wanted criminals without having to disclose their location? | They most likely come to an agreement or there is some law. Kind of like how a lawyer can know all of the crimes you've commited but by law cannot tell anyone. | [
"Journalists' interaction with sources sometimes involves confidentiality, an extension of freedom of the press giving journalists a legal protection to keep the identity of a confidential informant private even when demanded by police or prosecutors; withholding their sources can land journalists in contempt of co... |
With our new ability to measure changes in gravity, could information from within the event horizon of a black hole be communicated by creating gravitational waves within the black hole? | Gravitational waves **cannot** escape a black hole.
On the subject of "the gravity escaping the black hole" [read here](_URL_0_) | [
"Measurement of the waveform and amplitude of the gravitational waves from a black hole merger event makes accurate determination of its distance possible. The accumulation of black hole merger data from cosmologically distant events may help to create more precise models of the history of the expansion of the univ... |
while eating, humming or anything to create a vibration in your head, why do digital clocks create a wave like pattern when looking at them? | The digital displays don't update instantly. There's motion in the display. Just so fast you don't normally see it. But if you're moving your eyes in sync, it shows up. Electric toothbrush does this best. | [
"BULLET::::- In electronic clocks this is an electronic oscillator circuit that gives the vibrating quartz crystal or tuning fork tiny 'pushes', and generates a series of electrical pulses, one for each vibration of the crystal, which is called the clock signal.\n",
"Used by the visually impaired and to tell the ... |
If you are connected to a rope and the rope goes around the world and ends at you and you pull the rope, what happens? | Okay, so let's throw some numbers at this: We want a good lightweight material like nylon that is stronger than steel.
We need to know the total weight of the rope, which is the volume multiplied by the density.
The density of Nylon 6,6 is 1.15g/cm^3
If we assume the rope is 25 cm^2 in cross section (i.e 5cm * 5cm)
The... | [
"Rope breaks are possible to pull off; like in professional wrestling. However, all matches end in a 10-count fall instead of pinning the opponent for a 3-count. There are a certain number of rounds with a pre-determined time limit (ranging from one-minute fights to endurance events).\n",
"To make the knot, pass ... |
Are there any known cases where a serial killer has targeted one of the main investigators in their case? | I've read hundreds of books on serial + mass murderers and this one is stumping me. I don't think there are any cases of a rather silly targeted "I'm coming for you Detective Biff McBifferson". Closest thing I can think of might be Eric Rudolph. He was hard core anti-gov't. He bombed an abortion clinic, but that wasn't... | [
"The search for the serial killer, called \"the Atlanta Ripper\" by the press, found six different suspects, but no convictions were ever made, nor was the crime ever solved. By the end of 1911, fifteen women, all black or dark-skinned, all in their early 20s, had been murdered in the same manner. The \"Ripper\" ma... |
every time someone brings up a major political issues (war, rising gas prices, housing market, medical costs, etc), people almost always point the finger at the president and blame him for everything. but really, which issues are out of his hands and which can he really take action on? | > war
The president has complete control over the US military. That's assuming you mean "war" in the contexts of the recent wars, even though technically they haven't really been wars - war can only be declared by Congress, and it hasn't done so since WWII.
> rising gas prices
Not a damn thing he can do about thos... | [
"On May 15, 2008, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), who at the time, along with Specter sat on the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, commented on Specter's initiative, saying: \"With the war in Iraq raging on, gasoline prices closing in on $4 a gallon, and Americans losing their homes at record rates to fo... |
how can everybody's internet go through the same fiber optic cable at the same time? | How do all the letters in the mailman's bag don't get mixed up?
They are each in an envelope with a sender and recipient address.
| [
"All cables presently in service use fiber optic technology. Many cables terminate in Newfoundland and Ireland, which lie on the great circle route (the shortest route) from London, UK to New York City, USA.\n",
"Fiber-optic Internet access is rolled out on regional scale, encompassing part of a province or a mun... |
how does vsync prevent screen tearing? | Screen tearing happens when your video card starts drawing a new frame while you're in the middle of refreshing the screen. Vsync forces the image on the screen to only refresh in sync with a new screen. | [
"Splitting partitions is an alternative to deleting the partitions and creating new ones using software such as fdisk, the advantage of which is that the data is not lost. The most common use is installing multiple operating systems on a single computer.\n",
"In order to use the entire screen area of a widescreen... |
how is it theoretically possible in the future to clone mammoths? | I'm not a scientist, but I can parrot Terry Pratchett's "Science of Discworld".
The idea is that a mammal's genome is like an incomplete recipy. It tells you what to put together to make the cake mix. But it already assumes that you know at what temperature you need to preheat your oven and how long to bake it.
Until... | [
"In March 2012, it was announced that Hwang would collaborate with Russian scientists in an attempt to clone a woolly mammoth from remains found in Siberia. He had previously successful cloned eight coyotes in March 2011 using domestic dogs as surrogate mothers and grey wolves. However finding a mammoth sample fit ... |
why are there so many blondes in sweden? | Having less melanin allows your body to take in more sunlight which can be used to create vitamin D which the human body needs. In warm places like Africa sunlight is abundant and you are far more likely to get skin cancer from exposure to sunlight unless your skin has some protection like melanin. In the far north lik... | [
"Swedes () are a North Germanic ethnic group native to Sweden. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, in particular Finland, with a substantial diaspora in other countries, especially the United States. Swedes are an officially recognized minority in Finland and Estonia.\n",
"Swedes settled ma... |
What was the first instance of photographic evidence being used in court? | This may not be the earliest but it's definitely an early example. The case is *Marcy vs. Barnes* in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, 82 Mass. 161, October 1860. It's basically a case where one of the parties claimed that his signature on a promissory note was forged. High resolution photographs were taken of the su... | [
"The earliest evidence of photographic documentation of prison inmates dates back to 1843-44 in Belgium and 1851 in Denmark. This, however, was solely experimental and was yet to be ruled by technical or legal regulations. The shots ranged from mug shot resemblances, to prisoners in their cells; and the purpose of ... |
how do animals (with bullying type personality) instinctively change their personality to protect their puppies, cubs, etc when they become parents? | Well view it in terms of evolutionary success. If an aggressive animal kept it's same demeanor and killed it's cubs/puppies out of aggression or simply pushed them out of its area due to territorial defense then that gene pool wouldn't be reproductively successful. Therefore those whom have the demeanor to protect thei... | [
"As of 2018, Leve is working on a study about the influences of genes and environment on child development, which is conducted by studying adopted children and their biological and adoptive families. Leve and other researchers' findings suggest that children may have different health issues than their biological an... |
At the atomic level, what determines the qualities of different metals? | The property of lead you're describing is due to its ductility and malleability (malleable being somewhat loosely defined). Hardness is also related to these two, per its normal definition as a material's resistance to local deformation. Several differences in materials can give rise to more or less ductility. [Crys... | [
"More advanced models of metal properties consider the effect of the positive ions cores on the delocalised electrons. As most metals have crystalline structure, those ions are usually arranged into a periodic lattice. Mathematically, the potential of the ion cores can be treated by various models, the simplest bei... |
What were insults like during battles in medieval Europe? | An interesting example of this can be found in the 1424 Battle of Verneuil, between the Duke of Bedford (with largely English and Norman forces, I believe) and forces of the Dauphin Charles, including, Spaniards, Lombard Cavalry and, notably, Scottish forces under Douglas.
Contemporaries noted that this was a particu... | [
"Conflict was inevitable in the medieval university towns, where two separately governed bodies with different priorities and loyalties shared the same restricted space. Moreover, violence was commonplace in medieval life, not only between scholars and townsmen, but also among ordinary citizens, as well as between ... |
Can someone explain the concepts of opioids and narcotics and their use in pain management? | In a nutshell, [opiates/opioids](_URL_1_) are any drugs that act on/bind to [opioid receptors](_URL_2_). Opioid receptors are protein molecules embedded in the membrane of many cells within the central and peripheral nervous system (CNS/PNS) - so-called because they bind opioids; of which there are multiple endogenous ... | [
"Psychoactive drugs are often prescribed to manage pain. The subjective experience of pain is primarily regulated by endogenous opioid peptides. Thus, pain can often be managed using psychoactives that operate on this neurotransmitter system, also known as opioid receptor agonists. This class of drugs can be highly... |
Why do we call the German Empire during the Inter-war period the Weimar Republic? | It was still officially referred to as Germany or the German state/realm by people in high office, no one to my knowledge called it Wiemar. It got that name because in the immediate aftermath of WW1 there was ongoing violence between the various radical political groups, so when it came time for the new national assemb... | [
"The Weimar Republic ( ), also known as 'Weimar Germany,' is an unofficial historical designation for the German state from 1918 to 1933. The name derives from the city of Weimar, where its constitutional assembly first took place. The official name of the republic remained \"Deutsches Reich\" unchanged from 1871, ... |
if you move can you take your homing pigeons with you, or do they always return to your old house? | If you don't let your homing pigeons out, they eventually identify where they currently are as their 'home'. | [
"BULLET::::- Exceptional pigeons may arrive home first on multiple occasions; knowing it is going to have the ring removed speedily, which may be uncomfortable, the pigeon could be reluctant to enter the loft for the trainer.\n",
"Trained domestic pigeons are able to return to the home loft if released at a locat... |
with apple making everything proprietary anyway, wouldn't they profit from adding a smaller headphone port, and sell proprietary headphones? | Sure. Except they already have that with the lighting connector. Why should they invent a second thing that does the exact same function as a thing they have already invented. Headphone makers can simply add a lighting connector to their headphones.
It does pose a challenge of charging while listening, but that ca... | [
"Prior to the iPhone, \"Handsets were viewed largely as cheap, disposable lures, massively subsidized to snare subscribers and lock them into using the carriers' proprietary services.\" However, according to \"Wired\", \"Apple retained complete control over the design, manufacturing, and marketing of the iPhone\", ... |
why do we hate killers and thieves but we love killing and stealing in videogames? | Bad things are more fun when we do them than when other people do them. And in a videogame, these actions are victimless so it removes the moral issues which makes it enjoyable for those of us that don't actually want to hurt other people. | [
"There are two main causes for kill stealing: the desire for the reward and the desire to cause other players grief. Kill stealing is predominantly done to gain the rewards from a kill. Griefers kill steal as only one of their tactics in annoying other players. However, there are side-reasons towards kill stealing,... |
why are benzos the go-to for a lot of mental issues? | They're a tranquilizer. So in any case where there's too much brain activity, or a patient is too agitated, you give them benzo. Quick fix for seizures, panic attacks, anxiety, etc. It's like turning down the volume on the brain. | [
"\"“Midazolam attaches to GABA receptors, inhibiting GABA… that's what generates the clinical effect or the pharmacological effect from midazolam and all the other benzodiazepine drugs” and further stated “GABA receptors are responsible for anxiety disorders. So when you basically inhibit GABA, you basically begin ... |
how come a wi-fi repeater uses the same channel as the router? | A WiFi repeater does exactly what it says in the name, it repeats. A repeater listens to every message and then rebroadcasts the exact same message with the exact same parameters. It has no smarts to it and just tries to pass the message. A basic repeater will cause message collisions and cut your effective WiFi ban... | [
"A router is connected to two or more data lines from different networks. When a data packet comes in on one of the lines, the router reads the network address information in the packet to determine the ultimate destination. Then, using information in its routing table or routing policy, it directs the packet to th... |
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