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Did the ancient Greeks argue over which of the gods was best, or did they have respect for them all? | Not exactly *argue* as such. It was more a matter of -- how shall I put it? -- regional support for different sports teams, while still adhering to federated rules.
Every region, city, and village had its own assortment of "favourite" gods who had cult-sites and were worshipped there. In any given spot the standard pa... | [
"The mainstream religion of the Greeks did not go unchallenged within Greece. As Greek philosophy developed its ideas about ethics, the Olympians were bound to be found wanting. Several notable philosophers criticised a belief in the gods. The earliest of these was Xenophanes, who chastised the human vices of the g... |
What caused the distinct split between the uses of pop/soda/coke in the US between different regions? | Answering what caused the split is what I want to do here, and that's why I'm commenting, but first I think I probably need to get into the origins of these words a little bit.
"Coke" is just a case of metonymy where a specific brand of an item becomes the go-to word for all of that item even if made by another brand.... | [
"An example of a dialectal difference, based on region, is the use of the words soda or pop and coke in different parts of the United States. As Thomas E. Murray states, \"coke is used generically by thousands of people, especially in the southern half of the country.\" On the other hand, pop is known to be a term ... |
The Oberth Effect (domonstrated in KSP) - Where does the energy come from? | In addition to what /u/DCarrier said, the Oberth effect can be understood in terms of what happens to the fuel after you eject it.
Assuming you are in orbit around some central body (such as a planet) the fuel will remain gravitationally bound to that object. Depending on the speed after ejection, it might remain in o... | [
"In astronautics, the Oberth effect is where the use of a rocket engine when travelling at high speed generates much more useful energy than one at low speed. Oberth effect occurs because the propellant has more usable energy (due to its kinetic energy on top of its chemical potential energy) and it turns out that ... |
do fat people have more skin or is it just stretched? | Both. Where the skin stretches, more skin will grow to alleviate the stress on the skin.
Think in the same way as when we grow from a kid to an adult.
| [
"As subcutaneous fat accumulates, dimpling, or cellulite, becomes more apparent on the thighs and buttocks. Stretch marks (striae distensae) may appear on the skin in these areas. Susceptibility to sunburn increases, possibly because the skin is thinner and less pigmented.\n",
"Most of the remaining nonvisceral f... |
u.s. what does this switch in power in the senate mean for america, what can we expect to see in the next two years? | The Democrats retain filibuster and veto power, so it's not like the Republicans can just ram things through.
I just find it really disheartening that the republicans have been rewarded by a strategy of hateful attacks, political brinkmanship, and fear mongering from the latest news (how absurd is it that republicans ... | [
"The One Hundred Fourteenth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2017, during the final two full year... |
How far back goes science fiction, or rather the idea of future technological breakthroughs playing a significant role in art? | there's a section on scifi in the FAQ*; I don't recall offhand whether there are answers focused on tech breakthroughs, but it'll get you started on the background:
[What was science fiction like in the past? How did ancient people imagine the future?](_URL_3_)
actually, I recall there being other posts asking about ... | [
"Science fiction has criticized developing and future technologies, but also inspires innovation and new technology. This topic has been more often discussed in literary and sociological than in scientific forums. Cinema and media theorist Vivian Sobchack examines the dialogue between science fiction films and tech... |
Are there any fusion reactions using plain hydrogen? | Sure, you can fuse anything with anything. Although only certain fusion reactions are exothermic, and only certain exothermic fusion reactions actually release a decent amount of energy. DD and DT are ideal for power generation. | [
"Hydrogen fusion may occur in a stable manner on the surface of the white dwarf for a narrow range of accretion rates, giving rise to a super soft X-ray source, but for most binary system parameters, the hydrogen burning is unstable thermally and rapidly converts a large amount of the hydrogen into other, heavier c... |
Why does ingesting certain poisons (such as alcohol) create sensations that many consider pleasant? | It's all in your neurotransmitter receptors. Recreational drugs are technically poisons, but this is what they do to produce a high. They just act on different receptors. | [
"BULLET::::- \"Coprinopsis atramentaria\" is edible without special preparation, however, consumption with alcohol is toxic due to the presence of coprine. Some other \"Coprinus\" spp. share this property.\n",
"All \"Impatiens\" taste bitter and seem to be slightly toxic upon ingestion, causing intestinal ailment... |
Why were the Assyrians so opposed to abortion? | Firstly, there's an argument that what you're seeing are not legal codes but literary devices. The reasoning behind this is that we have law codes (such as Hammurabi) but we also have actual law documents - and where we can tie the law code with the actual document, it's clear they're not following the law code when i... | [
"Abortion is generally regarded very negatively among ethnic Tibetan Buddhists. Prior to the emergence of the Tibetan diaspora in the 1950s, Tibetans do not seem to have been familiar with abortion for reasons of medical necessity, and, facing little population pressure, saw little reason to engage in what they saw... |
why does salsa get more spicy/hot when heated? | So Capsaicin activates certain receptors that are sensitive to heat and therefore creates a 'burning' sensation in your mouth. Since these receptors are already activated when you're eating spicy foods, you become extra sensitive to temperature increases, which is the receptor's primary purpose. Your brain has been tri... | [
"BULLET::::- Other ingredients - heat is also affected by other ingredients. Mustard oil and wasabi can be added to increase the sensation of heat but generally, more ingredients in a sauce dilute the effect of the chilis, resulting in a milder flavor. Many sauces contain tomatoes, carrots, onions, garlic or other ... |
why do you need to intake more carbs and fats to burn off the fat you already have? | I worked as a physical trainer for a couple years after I got out of the military.
Can you build muscle while losing fat? Outside of anabolic steroid use the answer is pretty much a no (you can but on a smaller scale, it's much more efficient to work on losing weight while retaining muscle than to work on losing fat w... | [
"Levels of 6 to 8% fat used in the extrusion process is not advised as it limits the products ability to expand. This is because fat causes poor pressure levels in the barrel due to more traction. If high fat ingredients are used, some free oil may be lost when product goes through the diet. Food processing can inc... |
why is medical knowledge not part of the standard educational curriculum? | Next you will want to teach them about budgets, savings, diets, exercise and sex. It is hard enough to get them to learn the basics like greek gods, cursive and algebra I am not sure we can squeeze in your pet projects. Sorry. | [
"Mainly as a result of reforms following the Flexner Report of 1910 medical education in established medical schools in the US has generally not included alternative medicine as a teaching topic. Typically, their teaching is based on current practice and scientific knowledge about: anatomy, physiology, histology, e... |
How did the Danes communicate with the English during the Norman conquest of England? | To clear up some confusion:
Normans were of norse descent, but had lived in Normandy for generations, they spoke a dialect of French.
The people living in England, spoke Old English (Anglo-Saxon) or heavily norse-influenced Old English.
The Norse of the Vikings were to a certain degree mutually intelligible with... | [
"When the Normans conquered England in 1066 (see Norman Conquest), they brought their Norman language with them. During the Anglo-Norman period, which united insular and continental territories, the ruling class spoke Anglo-Norman, while the peasants spoke the vernacular English of the time. Anglo-Norman was the co... |
if lightbulbs flicker from on to off very quickly, half the time on and half the time off, how come we humans see the light as on and not off? | Persistance of vision because your eyes sense light not the lack of it. | [
"They are said to appear from between ten and several hundred in a line, and just when one thinks that they have increased, they would suddenly disappear then multiply once again. In the Nagano Prefecture, a ton of lights like that of a paper lantern would appear in a line and flicker.\n",
"The exact refresh rate... |
Dear AskScience, What Is The Most Scientifically Effective Way To Give Grant Money To Medical Research? | I don't have time to give a detailed answer right now, but you might look into some of the ways that the Gates foundation has operated. Their attempts, along with details on successes and failures, have been pretty well documented in the press. | [
"In addition to receiving financial support for their research projects, grantees participate in the organization's Community for Progress, which consists of researchers working together to accelerate scientific and medical advances.\n",
"In early 1978, the question of who owns government-funded research and who ... |
why do travel sites allow you to search their competitors when performing a search? | A majority of the travel sites are owned by a few large companies. When these sites show their "competitors" they're often showing deals from sister sites, so the money still goes to them in the long run.
| [
"Once the user has searched for a destination, the map will cache along the intended route. Note that the application requires an Internet connection to search for the route, but once a route has been found, the user no longer requires an Internet connection as the route is temporarily saved onto the device.\n",
... |
why do websites push there mobile version when its usually inferior in functionality and usability ? | Load times, cleaner design and the perception is that if you're browsing on a mobile device, you want quick, easy access to the most common parts to that website. Not a complete experience, otherwise you would be on a desktop browser. Whether that is right or wrong varies from person to person but essentially, the webs... | [
"Mobile marketing automation is different from traditional marketing automation because mobile users often behave differently than web users. For example, the constraint of a smaller screen size causes differences in user behavior. However, the number of users who have adapted to mobiles has grown drastically over ... |
1 mL of Neutron Star material (marble size) is about 500 billion Kg (weight of all humans on Earth). In space and vacuum, how would the force of its gravity effect objects around it? | It's gravity would attract objects of mass towards it. I'm not really sure how else to answer that part of your question; the Newtonian theory of gravity is pretty straightforward.
What would happen to your "marble" of neutron star on Earth is more interesting, though. It's extreme density is a result of immense pre... | [
"Despite their small diameters—about 12.5 miles (20 kilometers)—neutron stars boast nearly 1.5 times the mass of our sun, and are thus incredibly dense. Just a sugar cube of neutron star matter would weigh about one hundred million tons on Earth.\n",
"Neutron stars that can be observed are very hot and typically ... |
What was the reasoning behind switching the title from "Sultan" to "King" in Morocco? | Traditionally, Muslim leaders avoided the word "king" (Malik) and reserved that title for God (it's one of the traditional mystical "99 names of God"). However, in the mid-20th century, this began to change. The Hashemites declared themselves Kings of Arabs in 1918 (by 1924, this was reduced to merely being King of the... | [
"Sultan (سلطان) is an Arabic word, that indicates \"authority\" or \"dominion\". starting from the 16th century, this title, was carried by both men and women of the Ottoman dynasty. Thus, replacing other titles by which prominent members of the imperial family had been known (notably \"hatun\" for women and \"bey\... |
How did Romans reckon time? | The Roman day was segmented into 24 hours with 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. There was particular emphasis placed on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th hours as these divided the sky (and path of the sun) into four distinct segments of daylight. This practice of splitting the day into two twelve hour halves is pres... | [
"Civilizations in the classic period and earlier created divisions of the calendar as well as arcs using a sexagesimal system of counting, so at that time the second was a sexagesimal subdivision of the day (ancient second=), not of the hour like the modern second (=). Sundials and water clocks were among the earli... |
why do mma fighters peak at an older age than sports like american football, baseball, and hockey? | Number of games. An NHL player comes in between 18 and 21 and plays 82 games a season, not counting post season. MLB is 162 games a season. Football is 16/season but is a high impact/high explosiveness sport and doesn't account for different positions. RBs are typically on the downhill by 30. Where multiple QBs have be... | [
"Starring different fighters in different points in their careers, Fight Life brings you a spectrum of different point of views in the fight game. From the 15 long minutes inside the cage to the countless hours in the gym, this profession of mixed-martial arts has finally flourished into mainstream America. The evo... |
Why wasn’t the Massacre of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war prevented by the UN even though the Dutch soldiers warned them they were being overwhelmed and couldn’t stop the Serbian army of Srpska? | Discussions of the UN's failure to defend Srebrenica remain hotly contested, and apportioning of blame for the catastrophe are ongoing. I've written a largely narrative discussion this subject in the past [here](_URL_0_) but there's more to be said. While my linked discussion is largely focused on the tactical situatio... | [
"On 12 July 1995 UNPROFOR failed to deter the Bosnian Serb attack on Srebrenica because they were not able to sufficiently reinforce the Dutch battalion in place, and the city was overrun. When the dual key practices effectively prevented any serious air support from materialising all the Dutch could do was evacuat... |
If birds have hollow bones, and bone marrow produces red blood cells, how do birds make red blood cells? | Birds have bone marrow it just doesn't intersperse through the central region of bones like in humans. Avian bones aren't hollow in the sense that they're like straws with absolutely nothing inside them. There are networks of structural fibers that help give their bones strength. Bone marrow is likewise interspersed... | [
"In birds, the main arteries taking blood away from the heart originate from the right aortic arch (or pharyngeal arch), unlike in the mammals where the left aortic arch forms this part of the aorta. The postcava receives blood from the limbs via the renal portal system. Unlike in mammals, the circulating red blood... |
Why does human can get a headache during a hot day? | Such headaches are actually caused by fluid-filled spaces in the brain called ventricles. On a hot day, we lose a lot of fluids as sweat and, as such, these ventricles can suffer from water loss. Baroreceptors in the ventricles detect the change in pressure and the brain registers this change as pain. This is also why ... | [
"It is possible to suffer from a cold-stimulus headache in both hot and cold weather, because the effect relies upon the temperature of the food being consumed rather than that of the environment. Other causes that may mimic the sensation of cold-stimulus headache include that produced when high speed drilling is p... |
why was the european union created? | ostensibly to prevent another war | [
"The history of the European Union between 1993 and 2004 was the period between its creation (replacing the European Economic Community) and the 2004 enlargement. The European Union was created at the dawn of the post–Cold War era and saw a series of successive treaties laying the ground for the euro, foreign polic... |
augmented reality/virtual reality | Virtual reality is looking into a computer generated world you interact with your digital avatar. So technologies like oculus rift, vive, samsung gearVR, Haptic gloves, Omni VR treadmill, etc.
Augmented reality is basically adding digital objects to our current real world. This can be superimposed onto physical objects... | [
"Augmented reality (AR) is a type of virtual reality technology that blends what the user sees in their real surroundings with digital content generated by computer software. The additional software-generated images with the virtual scene typically enhance how the real surroundings look in some way. AR systems laye... |
how come when the internet is really slow it makes websites look like they're from 1997? | this happens because the style sheet for that page hasn't loaded, yet. the style sheet contains all the information on a web page's look and layout. if your browser hasn't downloaded the style sheet yet, it doesn't know what the background color should be, or the text color, or how to position text and images on the pa... | [
"The Web is so large that crawling a significant portion of it takes a large number of technical resources. The Web is changing so fast that portions of a website may change before a crawler has even finished crawling it.\n",
"note: This method of correlation is \"inherently slow\" because one must guess which ph... |
why are insects so annoyingly good at avoiding my swat attempts? | The species & offspring whose nervous systems didn't emphasize maneuverability and fast reflexes were swatted into extinction long ago. | [
"Examples of predatory beneficial insects include minute pirate bugs, big-eyed bugs, and to a lesser extent ladybugs (which tend to fly away), all of which eat a wide range of pests. Lacewings are also effective, but tend to fly away. Praying mantis tend to move more slowly and eat less heavily. Parasitoid wasps te... |
Is there any any evidence for Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals living in mixed communities? What about other hominids? | As such evidence doesn't deal with written history you'll likely get better and more thorough answers at /r/AskAnthropology
Good luck! | [
"Whether Homo sapiens or Neanderthal are to be attributed to the Châtelperronian (also called Lower Périgordian) culture is debated among specialists. Nonetheless there are Châtelperronian remains (deposited between 33,000 and 29,000 BCE) that were found in the Basque Country in caves such as Santimamiñe (Biscay), ... |
Was there anyone who served in both WWII and Vietnam (and I'm assuming Korea as well) who has written about both experiences? | I personally knew Col. Charlie Forbes, a man who served in WW2 and Korea and wrote about his experiences. Unfortunately, [the book is only written in French](_URL_0_).
The man painted beautifully, played the violin with incredible skill, and took his heart medication with a shot of whisky every day until he died. | [
"The stories involved the adventures of three American Korean War veterans, pilot Captain Duke Larsen, Sergeant \"Cactus\" Kane of the U.S. Army Rangers (who wore an ARVN Ranger Beret), and \"G.I.\" Mike Williams (who wore a bush hat) that trained and fought with the Vietnamese Rangers. Each issue featured a non fi... |
why do doors close much easier if the window in the same room is open? | Because the room is full of air. If the windows are all closed, you're pushing against the air, and a subsequent increase in pressure. If the windows are open, the air has room to flow.
Imagine the room was full of pudding instead. What's easier, to pack all the pudding tighter, or to push some of the pudding out the... | [
"Whenever a door is opened outwards there is a risk that it could strike another person. In many cases this can be avoided by architectural design which favors doors which open inwards into rooms (from the perspective of a common area such as a corridor, the door opens outwards). In cases where this is infeasible, ... |
- i just read the titan, one of saturn's moons literally has massive quantities of hydrocarbons (methane, ethane) so wouldn't that help prove the theory of abiogenic petroleum origins or confirm that life does or once existed on titan of the origins of its hydrocarbons are "fossil fuels"? | No. Just because something is made in a biological process on Earth doesn't mean that's the only way for it to exist. Life is just series of complex chemical reactions. These same reactions can take place without life. Petroleum on Earth is a huge and varied mixture of both simple and complex hydrocarbons and organic m... | [
"Some hydrocarbons also are abundant in the solar system. Lakes of liquid methane and ethane have been found on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, confirmed by the Cassini-Huygens Mission. Hydrocarbons are also abundant in nebulae forming polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds.\n",
"Titan, the largest moon of... |
What awareness did Egyptians in the first century BC have of the northern Mediterranean? | Plenty of awareness, the Ptolemids were from the northern Mediterranean, they were Macedonians. The feuding between the successor states included plenty of northern Mediterranean states--the Ptolemids were allied with the Lysimachids and fought with the Antigonids for control over the Aegean. Depending on the period th... | [
"BULLET::::- The Mediterranean, developing from scattered Phoenician settlements to the emergence of Ancient Greece in the 7th century BCE and culminating in the Hellenistic civilization in the 4th century BCE, by the 3rd century BCE stretching its influence throughout the Mesopotamian and into the Indian sphere.\n... |
Given that the torture device known as the "iron maiden" is basically fictional, why and how did it get so swiftly accepted as being an actual thing? | There's a real device called a "[Schandmantel](_URL_1_)" (translation something like "Shame coat")
When Johann Philipp Siebenkees wrote about the Fehm courts ([also talked about in this subreddit](_URL_2_)) in 1793 he somehow misinterpreted a schandmantel as having nails in it because one existed that had nails added... | [
"The iron maiden is a torture and execution device, consisting of an iron cabinet with a hinged front and spike-covered interior, sufficiently tall to enclose a human being. The first stories citing the iron maiden were composed in the 19th century.\n",
"Despite its reputation as a medieval instrument of torture,... |
When did life in Italy stop being recognizably 'Roman' | You would have to pick a specific time and place which you see as the quintessence of *romanitas* before anyone could give you a straight answer. Every single citizen of the territory controlled by Rome from 700 BCE into the 9th century and those in territory controlled by Byzantium until 1453 could and *would* conside... | [
"Although the other peoples of Italy also possessed \"nomina\" (plural of \"nomen\"), the distinction between Romans and the non-Roman peoples of Italy disappeared as various communities were granted the Roman franchise, and following the Social War (91–88 BC), when this was extended to most of Italy. Once this occ... |
why do fingerprints not get ruined at crime scenes by outside sources? | I took a biotech class where we learned how to fingerprint. The print is ussually the residue from oil on your skin. When you wipe it, it smears the oil smudge which makes the tiny ridges unrecognizable or it just cleans it off entirely. To find them, you use dust that sticks to the oil, and then you can capture the pr... | [
"In earlier decades, investigators would dust for fingerprints only to find smears and smudges caused by gloves. Often in earlier decades these smudges were ignored because very little of their detail was retrievable. With the advent of latent fingerprint detection in the late 20th century, investigators started to... |
how do they remove large dead animals at zoos and aquariums? | I work for a Marine Science Centre, so I can't speak for Zoos, but whenever a large marine mammal passes away we either haul them out using fork lifts or cranes. Usually we'll notice a deterioration in their physical health months or even up to a year beforehand, and so would move them to a separate "quarantine" pool t... | [
"When an animal escapes, guests are immediately evacuated from the area and escorted to secured buildings on zoo grounds by the zoo’s emergency response team (veterinarians armed with tranquilizer equipment, zoo firearms team and animal management staff). The zoo’s perimeter is sealed off for safety and is usually ... |
if the usa strongly believes in the right to bear arms as well as strongly disbelieving in socialism, why do you bother with a publicly-funded police force and not a system based on vigilantism? | I'm an American citizen and I hope I can answer your question.
When the US drafted its Declaration of Independence in 1776, it claimed that all men are entitled to certain inalienable rights, and that among these are *life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.*
Later, as the constitution was being drafted, the foun... | [
"Right-wing antimilitarists in the United States generally believe that \"A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the best and most natural defense of a free country\", as stated by James Madison. To this end, there is much overlap between the Militia movement and right-win... |
Does healing from injuries (bruises,cuts, ect.) "burn" calories? | Yes, it does burn calories. Unless the injuries are VERY severe, it won't be a noticeable amount. For example, the calories burnt from healing a broken leg are probably less than the calories you would burn through walking/running/exercising with that leg.
In some cases, severe burns for example, caloric requirements ... | [
"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... |
why do medical people check for pupil dialation? | A lack of pupil dilation is one of the potential symptoms of a bad concussion, and it's one of the easiest and quickest checks that can be done in the field.
There's a lot more symptoms, but it not happening tends to be a bad sign. | [
"Traditionally, pupil measurements have been performed in a subjective manner by using a penlight or flashlight to manually evaluate pupil reactivity and using a pupil gauge to estimate pupil size. However, manual pupillary assessment is subject to significant inaccuracies and inconsistencies. Studies have shown in... |
why does reddit have 85,901,746 active users (last months stats) but the most upvoted thread only has 21k upvotes? | Simplest explanation? Not everyone participates in up or down voting. Also downvotes offset the upvote counter.
I may read or see like 10 threads before I upvote one | [
"As of July 2019, Reddit is ranking as the most visited website in U.S. and in the world, according to Alexa Internet, with 55% of its user base coming from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom at 7.4% and Canada at 5.8%.\n",
"Statistics from Google Ad Planner suggest that 74% of Reddit users are mal... |
if half of all usd in the world suddenly vanished evenly, would the usd then be valued at double its current value? why or why not? | Well, when you say that, what do you mean? Do you mean that half the *paper* money in the world vanished? Or is *everything* that has a dollar price attached it (real estate, stock, bonds, a, suddenly revalued to 50% its original cost? Which definition of the ['money supply'](_URL_0_) are we using here when we say half... | [
"Soon after its introduction, the real unexpectedly gained value against the U.S. dollar, due to large capital inflows in late 1994 and 1995. During that period it attained its maximum dollar value ever, about US$1.20. Between 1996 and 1998 the exchange rate was tightly controlled by the Central Bank of Brazil, so ... |
Is the term "flapper", as used to describe vibrant young women from the 20s, derogatory? | according to the oed, the term had been in use in the late 1800s as slang for a teen girl who kept her hair down (which would subsequently flap as she moved). the word must have been reappropriated in the twenties (when long hair wasn't in vogue). not sure where you arrived at 'flap your trap', I would have guessed it ... | [
"In the 1920s, the USA underwent an economic boom and widespread social change, leading to the appearance of the \"flapper\", a female subculture receiving a lot of media attention at the time. Flappers enjoyed partying, jazz music and free dating, and defied many of the social norms surrounding women at the time. ... |
Why is the earth's core molten, and other objects in the solar system with similar size can be more or less geologically dead? | The majority of the heat comes from the settling and differentiation processes. Imagine the heat generated when an asteroid impacts the surface. This same effect (gravitational potential energy converted to thermal energy) is significant on bodies the size of earth as the iron and siderophile elements sink to the core... | [
"Earth's core is believed to be mostly an alloy of iron and nickel. The density indicates that it also contains a significant amount of lighter elements. Elements such as hydrogen would be stable in the Earth's core, however the conditions at the formation of the core would not be suitable for its inclusion. Carbon... |
why do we find it easier to climb stairs than walk on an angle? surely we didn't evolve for stairs. | When you walk at an angle, your ankles have to do a lot of work. With stairs, you are still walking "flat" but lifting your legs higher. Ask Honda Robot engineers, it takes a lot of muscles just to walk at all, and you activate more while on an incline than "flat" | [
"Sliding backwards feet first is the safest approach to descending stairs due to the fact that the midline of the body is closer to the staircase providing an even weight distribution on all four limbs . This might explain why it is exceptionally difficult for older people to descend stairs, because their midline i... |
why is braille not just bumped out letters of the alphabet? | That was the old system, before braille.
Braille was specifically designed because the old system was near impossible to read for blind people. The similarities between letters like G Q O C were a massive annoyance, and placed a limit on how fast you could actually read.
In contrast, the easily distinguished indivi... | [
"American Braille was a popular braille alphabet used in the United States before the adoption of standardized English braille in 1918. It was the alphabet used by Helen Keller. Rather than ordering the letters numerically, as was done in French Braille and the (reordered) English Braille also used in the US at the... |
why is 'good night' strictly used as a closing statement, as opposed to an opening? | because people go to bed at night | [
"The cold open technique is sometimes used in movies. There, \"cold opening\" still refers to the opening moments or scenes, but not necessarily to the full duration before the title card, as the title card might appear well after the cold open has been achieved.\n",
"A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) i... |
if people look back on prohibition as a mistake, why is drug criminalisation still seen as the way forward for many? | hate. at this point these numbers are exaggerated severely by the shit voter turn out for young people and liberals | [
"There are numerous economic and social impacts of the criminalization of drugs. Prohibition increases crime (theft, violence, corruption) and drug price and increases potency. In many developing countries the production of drugs offers a way to escape poverty. Milton Friedman estimated that over 10,000 deaths a ye... |
If molecular movement dictates temperature, why aren't all solids really cold? | Molecular movement doesn't dictate temperature. Rigorously, all forms of energy in a system (or at least those which aren't isolated from the rest) contribute to the temperature. That includes the kinetic energy of the atoms and molecules (further subdivided into translational, vibrational and rotational motion), but a... | [
"Because of high crystal binding energies, the effects of vibrational mode freezing are observed in solids more often than liquids: for example the heat capacity of liquid water is twice that of ice at near the same temperature, and is again close to the 3 \"R\" per mole of atoms of the Dulong–Petit theoretical max... |
How fast could a car drive in a vacuum (such as on the moon)? | Technically 0 mph. The car runs off of combustion which requires O2. If you're dealing with an electrical car you can calculate a theoretical maximum by calculating the amount of potential energy in the fuel (we will call it PE (fuel)), and then setting that equal to the kinetic energy of the car after the fuel is sp... | [
"The Renault 447 22 CV four-cylinder 5881 cc petrol engine renders, according to the official French Army manual, a maximum speed of 55 km/h, making it the fastest French tank of its day. Renault brochures claimed the higher speed of 60 km/h and many sources mention the latter number. It has a peak output of 82 hp ... |
Why does air inside of a traveling car get 'vacuumed' out of an open window? | Bernoulli's law states that a fluid's pressure is proportional to its velocity (there's more to that equation but I simplified it)
When you are in a moving car, say at 60 mph, the air is moving at 60 mph relative to your car (assuming it is not a windy day)
This means that the velocity of the air relative to your car... | [
"Air doors are often used where doors are required to stay open for operational purposes, such as at loading docks and vehicle entrances. They can be used to help keep flying insects out by creating forceful turbulence, or help keep out outside air, thus reducing infiltration through the opening. Cold drafts can be... |
how do plants grow from a tiny seed using just water and sunlight? | Almost no plants work that way. It's water + sunlight + nutrients from the soil. The water is a solvent, making it easier to move chemicals around, the sunlight provides energy to drive reactions against their chemistry, but the soil provides the chemicals. | [
"The plants prefer gritty well-drained soil in partial sun to shade. Water regularly during the growing season, and rarely if at all during dormancy. Propagate from seed, divisions, or from individual scales which once removed, will eventually form numerous bulbils.\n",
"Propagate by cuttings of half-ripe shoots ... |
what would happen if every animal and human being on earth pissed into the ocean at the same time? | There would be urine in the ocean.
What kind of information are you looking to have explained? | [
"The ocean covers nearly two thirds of the Earth's surface, and is continuously threatened by human behaviors and practices. By taking so many fish from the seas, humans have managed to remove entire links from the aquatic food chain. This causes a chain effect, leading to an overall upset of the delicate balance o... |
the difference between the conservative and labour parties. (for people well versed in uk politics) | More or less the same as any centre left and centre right party in mainstream politics around the developed world.
& #x200B;
The Conservatives are relatively more pro big business, lower tax rates and corporation taxes, less regulations on the economy, resist expansion of the welfare state and social provisions + pr... | [
"The Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats (formerly as the Liberal Party) have, in modern times, been considered the UK's three major political parties, representing the British traditions of conservatism, socialism and liberalism, respectively. However, in both the 2015 and 2017 general e... |
Why did the battle of Crete go so bad for the German paratroopers? | There were several reasons why the German paratroopers took heavy casualties on Crete. These combined failures of German doctrine and planning with Allied successes.
The primary reason why the German paratroopers suffered heavy casualties was the inadequacy of German parachute doctrine. The German doctrine focused on... | [
"On 20 May 1941, German paratroopers were dropped over the airfields of northern Crete to occupy the island. They were met by heavy resistance from Allied forces and the local Cretan population but eventually the defenders were overwhelmed by the German forces. The British Government ordered an evacuation on 27 May... |
what exactly is copyright? | Copyright the the right for the original creator to control copies of their work. A work can be a movie, book, art, video game or any other creative work.
Lets take a book such as Harry Potter. If you want a copy of that book, you can get one by buying a printed copy of that work, the author has made it available to... | [
"Copyright is a type of intellectual property that allows the creator to own their original work in a way as something physical is owned. It refers to the right of the owner to prevent others from copying, reusing or reproducing their work. In simpler terms, copyright is a legal means of protecting a creator’s (aut... |
If the brain uses 20% of the body's energy, would increased levels of mental activity be an effective way of burning more calories and losing weight? | A very old paper from Sweden (1987, per Roland et al, Journal of neuroscience 7(8): 2373-2389) adressed this question.
Up until that time it was believed that the energy metabolism of your brain could be measured by the oxygen flow to the brain, because it was assumed that all energy in the brain was produced by oxid... | [
"Later, experiments by neurologist Marcus E. Raichle's lab at Washington University School of Medicine and other groups showed that the brain's energy consumption is increased by less than 5% of its baseline energy consumption while performing a focused mental task. These experiments showed that the brain is consta... |
how was the concept of money started? and how does one country have money worth more than the other (ex. the euro and the dollar) | > How was the concept of money started?
Well, it's not a thing we have a definitive answer to, but [there are some good theories out there](_URL_0_).
The argument that anthropologist makes is basically that, when we all lived in small villages, societies functioned on an informal debt based system which was police... | [
"The main objection to the Chartalist theory of the origins of money is that, for the largest part of recognizably human history, economic exchange in whatever form took place without using a sovereign currency, and that all kinds of physical goods (such as minerals, cattle, hides, shells and slaves) were used as a... |
what is the difference between a mayor and a city manager in the us? | A mayor is an elected position, and a city manager is an appointed one.
In a city manager type setup, the day to day activities are run by the city manager, while the mayor is more ceremonial in nature, presiding over city council sessions, and the like.
In smaller cities, you're much more likely to find a city manag... | [
"The mayor is the leader in most United States municipalities (such as cities, townships, etc.). In the United States, there are several distinct types of mayors, depending on the system of local government. Under council-manager government, the mayor is a first among equals on the city council, which acts as a leg... |
how can scotus get rid of roe v wade? | Even Supreme Court rulings are not permanent for all time, another Supreme Court ruling can overturn them and change the legal precedent. Someone could appeal such an issue up to SCOTUS and they could issue another ruling, in theory. | [
"In 2017, \"West Virginians for Life, said [it] still supports Capito, despite the abortion rights self-identification and support for Roe v. Wade, because of Capito's steadfast voting record restricting abortions and defunding Planned Parenthood\". In 2018, West Virginians for Life endorsed a ballot initiative to ... |
Why do substances become less effective as you increase usage? | Using caffeine as an example:
> "Caffeine is a competitive antagonist at adenosine receptors. Receptor up-regulation during chronic drug treatment has been proposed to be the mechanism of tolerance to the behavioral stimulant effects of caffeine."
From [this](_URL_0_) article.
In terms of drug tolerance, this mea... | [
"The illegality of many recreational drugs may be dissuading research into new, more effective and perhaps safer recreational drugs. For example, it has been proposed that a drug with many of the same desired effects as alcohol could be created with fewer adverse health effects.\n",
"Because of numerous adverse e... |
what exactly is the rationale behind taking pain killers for pain? the body is telling you something is wrong right? so by numbing that sense and to keep on using something like a fucked up back or joint pain-free wouldn't it be detrimental? | Sometimes the body sends pain signals when there isn't anything that can be done to fix something. And sometimes it does it for no reason at all. And taking pain killers to be more comfortable doesn't mean someone is going to ignore the damage. As someone living with chronic pain, sometimes you just need to get through... | [
"Such action extends the duration of enkephalin effect where the natural pain killers are released physiologically in response to specific potentially painful stimuli, in contrast with administration of narcotics, which floods the entire body and causes many undesirable adverse reactions, including addiction liabil... |
Media or books about Sonderweg, and general discussion | I'm not sure there's an objective (is any history objective?) or all-encompassing work on the _Sonderweg_, but rather there are series and traditions of scholarship that follow in this vein.
Hans Ulrich Weiler has an English-language essay in _Past and Present_ called "Bismarck's Imperialism 1862–1890" (1970) that's v... | [
"Kellner rarely wrote about his personal situation. He wrote primarily about Nazi policies and propaganda, and about the war. He noted the injustices in the court system, and recorded the inhumane deeds and genocidal intentions of the Nazis. In all of this he considered the German people as accomplices before and a... |
Magnetic Rings? | There is, but not with current technology.
The only way that this could *possibly* be done would be NFC/Bluetooth/some other connectivity constantly being transmitting in an attempt to pair with each other. When it's "mate" is in range (say 1") it could turn on an electromagnet.
In no way do we have the power storag... | [
"The ring is formed by 36 dipole magnets of 1.4 tesla magnetic field, combined in 12 groups of three (triple bend achromat, TBA) for achromatic deflection of the electron beam. 12 straight sections between the TBAs of different lengths (3×11.5 m, 3×7 m, 6×4 m) accommodate the undulator magnets to generate ultraviol... |
When you breath out underwater, why does it come in bubbles and not one long air stream? | Because a sphere is the smallest surface area that pressure can make with a given volume. Same reason the planets are round. As each blob of air is released its buoyancy causes it to rise quickly from its source, resulting in a stream of spheres. | [
"The gas in a bubble will equilibrate with the surrounding tissues and will therefore contain water vapor, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, as well as the inert gas. Vascular bubbles appear to form at the venous end of capillaries and pass through the veins to the right side of the heart, and thereafter are circulated t... |
What was America's biggest missed opportunity? | In my mind, as a science and technology oriented person, the answer is obvious: the deportation of [Qian Xuesen](_URL_2_) (aka Tsien Hsue-shen or H.S. Tsien).
It sounds a little unbelievable at times. A brilliant student comes from overseas on a scholarship, earns a masters at MIT and a doctorate at Caltech in one an... | [
"The United States economy had long been suffering from the Great Depression when these two combatants had their two fights. The economic problem affected the United States throughout the 1930s, and many Americans sought inspiration in the world of sports.\n",
"Varoufakis begins his analysis with the Great Crash ... |
how do we know that the middle of the earth is super hot | We know that the center is super hot by several ways.
1. The earths magnetosphere has a unique shape that changes slightly; which is due to the liquid iron in the earth’s core. Iron is only a liquid at extremely high temps.
2. We have dug very deep. The Kola Superdeep Borehole is about 40,000 feet deep and one of th... | [
"BULLET::::- Following laboratory tests of molten iron, European scientists determine that the Earth's core has a temperature of 6,000 degrees Celsius, 1,000 degrees hotter than previously thought. This discovery may help explain why the planet has such a strong geomagnetic field.\n",
"solar radius. It is the hot... |
How genetically "similar" are two most genetically different organisms? | As bacteria, *e. coli* are prokaryotes rather than eukaryotes - prokaryotes lack membrane-bound organelles such as nuclei, endoplasmic reticulum, and mitochondria. While you are correct that broadly, *e. coli* has the same genes for synthesis of protein from DNA by polymerase and ribosomes, the lack of organelles means... | [
"Every living organism (with the possible exception of RNA viruses) contains molecules of DNA, which carries genetic information. Genes are the pieces of DNA that carry this information, and they influence the properties of an organism. Genes determine an individual's general appearance and to some extent their beh... |
Were there terrorist organizations of any sort in ancient times? | There were the Zealots and Sicarii of Jesus-era Judea who used murder and violence to oppose the Roman rule of Palestine/Judea/Israel. (The Zealots being the inspiration for the modern usage of the word.) I would think that would be considered "terrorism" by any standard. | [
"One of the earliest groups to utilize modern terrorist techniques was arguably the Fenian Brotherhood and its offshoot the Irish Republican Brotherhood. They were both founded in 1858 as revolutionary, militant nationalist and Catholic groups, both in Ireland and amongst the emigre community in the United States.\... |
why do our eyelids not feel the movement of our eyeballs underneath when our eyes are closed? | The primary reason the sensation is reduced is that lubrication of the eyeball reduces noticeable friction between the two surfaces, which is why you also don’t feel your knee moving around inside your leg. However, the feeling is definitely still there albeit maybe quite muted for some. | [
"When the eyes are closed, the whole orbital opening is covered by the septum and tarsi. Medially it is thin, and, becoming separated from the medial palpebral ligament, attaches to the lacrimal bone at its posterior crest. The medial ligament and its much weaker lateral counterpart, attached to the septum and orbi... |
When did the perception that animations (cartoons) are mostly intended for children came about? When animation was in its infancy, did its early pioneers (i.e Walt Disney) intended their work mostly for children or to other people as well? | Animation became associated with kids once television took off as an entertainment medium. Networks wanted shows that would appeal to kids, and animated cartoons would often fit the bill perfectly. Some of the more business-minded animation producers like Paul Terry (Mighty Mouse amongst other cartoons) saw the profit ... | [
"By the late 1950s and 1960s, the perception of cartoons as children's entertainment was entrenched in the public consciousness. Animation began to disappear from movie theaters; while Disney continued to produce animated features after losing its founder, MGM and Warner Bros closed their studios, outsourced their ... |
polarizing filters for cameras and sunglasses | Light can be thought of as a wave. Imagine each tiny bit of light as a little sine wave squiggling through the air. Each one will have a direction, perpendicular to the direction it is traveling, which the wave is wiggling in. For example, you can wave up and down, or left and right (or any mixture of these directions)... | [
"Another kind of optical filter is a polarizer or polarization filter, which blocks or transmits light according to its polarization. They are often made of materials such as Polaroid and are used for sunglasses and photography. Reflections, especially from water and wet road surfaces, are partially polarized, and ... |
why tv shows like the walking dead can have extreme on screen violence but cannot air swear words? | In America, foul language (and nudity, for that matter) tends to be much more heavily censored than violence is; in other areas (say, Europe), the opposite is often true. E.g., In Germany, graphic violence is more or less taboo.
To put it another way, there's Kyle's mom from the South Park movie (I'm paraphrasing, her... | [
"This episode is rarely repeated on television because of its racial content, including two uses of \"coon\", one use of \"sambo\", and one use of \"nigger\". All three words are spoken in a scene by a Caucasian policeman in sunglasses unaware that his interlocutor is white until he removes them, satirising the sev... |
why voyager 1 launched in '77 is 11 billion miles away yet still transmits home... and my android can't get reception in the bathroom? | There are many reasons.
1. The physical antennas in use. Voyager has a really large dish pointed pretty precisely at Earth. There is a much much larger dish on Earth pointed at Voyager. It is part of the DSN, or Deep Space Network. These dishes act to focus the broadcast signal and to gather more of the received s... | [
"When \"Voyager 1\" is unable to communicate directly with the Earth, its digital tape recorder (DTR) can record about 64 kilobytes of data for transmission at another time. Signals from \"Voyager 1\" take over 20 hours to reach Earth.\n",
"And if undisturbed for 296,000 years, \"Voyager 2\" should pass by the st... |
why is nsa still allowed to do whatever they want, and how long will it continue? | This is going to be a bit more than ELI5, but stick with me.
In 1978, the USA set up the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC or FISA Court) to approve sensitive requests for surveillance by federal law enforcement (read: the NSA). Because this court deals with top secret ("classified") information, it op... | [
"As a result of the USA Freedom Act passed by Congress in June 2015, the NSA had to shut down its bulk phone surveillance program on November 29 of the same year. The USA Freedom Act forbids the NSA to collect metadata and content of phone calls unless it has a warrant for terrorism investigation. In that case the ... |
I had heard about an infamous serial killer from Colombia, and Wikipedia browsing eventually brought me to "serial killers by number of victims". Weirdly, the top four are all from South America. I don't mean to disparage, but is there a particular reason for this, or is it purely a coincidence? |
There's definitely more room for discussion here, and it's far outside my own expertise but you might find this recent discussion interesting (its Colombian focus also leaves out 1 out of the 4 serial killers): Especially this part by u/Yorambo on
[The top 3 serial killers with the most confirmed kill counts were a... | [
"Luis Gregorio Ramírez Maestre (born in Valledupar on September 30, 1980) is a Colombian serial killer. He is accused of murdering thirty people in various municipalities and cities in Colombia, including Tenerife, Sabanalarga, Aguachica, Santa Marta, Valledupar and Puerto Wilches.\n",
"Jack Mogale (born 1968/9),... |
if we can’t see atoms, electrons, quarks... how did we knew that matter is composed by those things and what it seemed like ? | Short answer: Math. Lots of math.
Long answer: We can't see them, but we can detect them. Our eyes (and by extension pretty much all image sensors) are particle detectors, where a photon hits something, energizes an electron, and sets off a chain reaction that results in us being aware of that piece of light. Add up a... | [
"In the late 19th century with the discovery of the electron, and in the early 20th century, with the discovery of the atomic nucleus, and the birth of particle physics, matter was seen as made up of electrons, protons and neutrons interacting to form atoms. Today, we know that even protons and neutrons are not ind... |
why are you expected to drive faster than the posted speed limit in the united states? | Many drivers know that absolute enforcement of speed limits is very difficult and sometimes dangerous, especially if every driver is slightly above the limit, and minor offenses are punishable by a small fine, if not just a verbal warning.
Instrumental tolerance and error is a very easy argument against a small traff... | [
"BULLET::::- Some law enforcement officials openly questioned the speed limit. In 1986, Jerry Baum, director of the South Dakota Highway Patrol, said \"Why must I have a trooper stationed on an interstate, at 10 in the morning, worried about a guy driving 60 mph (100 km/h) on a system designed to be traveled at 70?... |
How was the volcanic disaster at pompeii interpreted to the roman people? Did they think it was a gods wrath or did they know it was just a volcano explosian? | This might be a starting point at least.
Pliny the Younger wrote a letter about the event. His uncle was involved in the rescue effort at Herculaneum, another city destroyed by the same eruption. [Here's a link to a translation of that letter](_URL_3_).
Here's a relevant quote from the translation:
"Many besought th... | [
"The AD 79 eruption was preceded by a powerful earthquake in 62, which caused widespread destruction around the Bay of Naples, and particularly to Pompeii. Some of the damage had still not been repaired when the volcano erupted. The deaths of 600 sheep from \"tainted air\" in the vicinity of Pompeii indicates that ... |
why i can't use a mechanical pencil on the act/sat. | The pencils are restricted to make sure that the machine that grades the tests can read it. It's also possible to hide stuff inside a mechanical pencil, which they want to avoid.
The sections are timed so that the exam is standardized between students. Each student spends the same amount of time on each section. It... | [
"The wood pencil has been used for writing by NASA and Soviet space programs from the start. It is simple with no moving parts, except for the sharpener. The mechanical pencil has been used by NASA starting in the 1960s Gemini program. It can be made to be as wide as the width of astronauts' gloves, yet maintain it... |
How does our perception of sound relate to its volume in decibels? | As I recall, it does. That's why decibels are logarithmic, human ears are too. Amplitude actually doubles about once every 3dB. | [
"Sound is measured based on the amplitude and frequency of a sound wave. Amplitude measures how forceful the wave is. The energy in a sound wave is measured in decibels (dB), the measure of loudness, or intensity of a sound; this measurement describes the amplitude of a sound wave. Decibels (dB) are expressed in a ... |
if you kept setting off nuclear bombs in the same place would lava eventually erupt ? | Infinite? That's an awful lot.
There are small magma chambers which are close enough to the surface that a single nuclear explosion can expose them. These don't seem to be in the spirit of the question, however.
Magma occurs in great quantity many tens of kilometers below the Earth's surface. If by the 'same place' w... | [
"During the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched a secret operation against the United States, detonating a nuclear bomb on the ocean floor and creating a volcano that would take decades to rise to the surface.\n",
"Erupting volcanoes can pose many hazards, not only in the immediate vicinity of the eruption. One s... |
how did early humans give birth? | Midwives have existed since the Egyptians, but modern advances in medicine have made huge advances in preventing maternal & neonatal deaths & complications.
[This report about birth complications before 1935](_URL_0_) states that prior to 1880 when antiseptics were invented, around 85 of every 1000 births resulted... | [
"Biological motherhood for humans, as in other mammals, occurs when a pregnant female gestates a fertilized ovum (the \"egg\"). A female can become pregnant through sexual intercourse after she has begun to ovulate. In well-nourished girls, menarche (the first menstrual period) usually takes place around the age of... |
why does russia spy and have hostility towards sweden and other nordic countries? | Sweden, despite it's avowed neutrality, is very firmly tied to West/Central Europe and NATO (they're actually reconsidering joining because of Russian aggression). Russia is showing hostility towards them for the same reasons they are toward most other European countries. | [
"In 2013, documents provided to the media by Edward Snowden appeared to confirm Sweden had shared intelligence with foreign intelligence agencies, revealing Sweden had provided the NSA with a \"unique collection on high-priority Russian targets such as leadership, internal politics, and energy.\" In response, Minis... |
how can a psychiatrist who is diagnosing patients be sure they don't have any mental disorders themselves? | You think of mental illnesses like something special. Don't! A cardiologist can suffer from coronary heart disease and may or may not be able to diagnose himself based on the symptoms he is experiencing.
Only a minority of psychiatric patients is suffering from a disease that makes self reflection impossible. The m... | [
"Psychiatrists seek to provide a medical diagnosis of individuals by an assessment of symptoms, signs and impairment associated with particular types of mental disorder. Other mental health professionals, such as clinical psychologists, may or may not apply the same diagnostic categories to their clinical formulati... |
why does youtube have movies posted that then redirect you to another site? | They haven't removed the movie, they aren't legit. It's a scam, they're trying to steal your credit card information. Don't give it to them. | [
"YouTube API's also allow a tighter integration of the video service into a 3rd party website. This essentially means that the user does not need to click a link to go to the YouTube video. Instead, they are able to view the video in the same page that they are visiting.\n",
"YouTube, a video sharing website and ... |
How does evolving to a low energy state increase the entropy of the universe? | Entropy doesn't inexorably increase superseding anything else. The entropy of thermal systems tends to increase over time. They evolve in such a way that the Helmholtz free energy, the internal energy minus the product of temperature and entropy (U-TS) is minimized. This means that if decreasing the internal energy has... | [
"Thermal energy in equilibrium at a given temperature already represents the maximal evening-out of energy between all possible states. because it is not entirely convertible a \"useful\" form, i.e. one that can do more than just affect temperature. The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of a clos... |
Why did the Soviets not crush the 1989 revolutions, like they did with Hungary 56 and Czechoslovakia 68? | First off, they stopped movements within Latvia and Lithuania because they were both Soviet republics and constituent parts of the USSR (this ignores the debate that they, along with Estonia, were illegally annexed in 1940 and were never really part of the USSR; while there is merit to this, the Baltics were for all in... | [
"During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, a spontaneous nationwide anti-authoritarian revolt, the Soviet Union invaded Hungary to assert control. Similarly, in 1968, the USSR repressed the Prague Spring by organizing the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.\n",
"The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a major cha... |
why on old buildings they replace "u" with "v" in carved stones? | An allograph is a variation of a letter in another context. Uppercase and lowercase letters are allographs. Before the letter U was added to the Latin alphabet, the shape V was an allograph and stood for both the vowel U and the consonant V. It wasn’t until printing standardized letter shapes in the 1600s that the lett... | [
"This was originally carved as a cross shaft and until 1919 it was used as a lintel over the west door. The preservation of the stone is almost certainly as a result of the Norman masons reusing it when the church was built in 1150.\n",
"It was related to and probably derived from the Old English letter Wynn (Run... |
if there is no sound in space, how is that car broadcasting bowie up there? is it able to be heard if you were near? | Actually were there are molecules there will be sound. If the Tesla passes through a cloud of gas you could in theory hear it, until it passes out of the cloud.
The music will always be playing (until the power run's out) and if you place your head or for that matter your hand on the car you will feel / hear the music... | [
"The default version of \"Orbiter\" has no sound, however a popular add-on called \"XRSound\" is available. It provides engine noises, ambient sounds in the cabin, radio chatter and other sounds including playlists. Options enable the user to maintain a realistic silence when the craft is viewed externally during s... |
why are lots of movies released on the same day? | Box office worker here.
The answer to this is pretty simple. Ticket sales on weekdays are second to none compared to anything from Friday to Sunday. It's way more profitable to have a movie be released on Thursdays or Fridays so that they can make the most money with the initial hype. It's just ideal, and opening week... | [
"Hollywood won't know the impact of simultaneous release until a studio tries it with a big-budget movie, such as a Star Wars sequel. But those movies do very well in the current window system, so it is unlikely that Warner Bros. would take a chance with one of them. What is likely to be seen instead is a further n... |
why are we attracted to coloured lights? | Why have I never experienced this? | [
"Perceptual constancy gives evidence that high-level constructive processes occur during perception. As lighting conditions change, the color of objects, such as bananas or cherries, appear to remain constant. Even when there is not enough light to even stimulate cone cells and give the sensation of color, bananas ... |
Would crucifixion usually be done by its ropes or nails? | (Writing without notes here, but I can dig up my sources if necessary.)
There doesn't seem to be any, single well-defined method of crucifixion. At least, so far, no one has unearthed a Roman list of rules and regulations for the procedure.
The original punishment was for the criminal to have a wooden beam put on his... | [
"One tomb yielded the only physical evidence for the Roman custom of crucifixion found to date. These were the remains of a person called Jehohanan Ben Khagqol, and they included a heel bone with a nail driven through it from the side. The tip of the nail was bent, perhaps because of striking a knot in the upright ... |
Would the Yellowstone Super Volcano becoming more active affect earthquakes all the way around the world in Nepal or Japan? | Definitely not.
Any supervolcano is a huge feature within its local area of crust, but the plumbing system is at most about 100 km in diameter, running to the base of the crust from the surface (about 35km in most cases). Even within that volume, most material is largely unaffected by the volcano; the biggest feature ... | [
"Further research shows that very distant earthquakes reach and have effects upon the activities at Yellowstone, such as the 1992 7.3 magnitude Landers earthquake in California’s Mojave Desert that triggered a swarm of quakes from more than away, and the 2002 7.9 magnitude Denali fault earthquake away in Alaska tha... |
what is going on with youtube and the fine bros? | The Fine Bros are attempting to trademark "reaction" videos (those videos like "Kids React!" or "Old People React!) therefore giving them the power to file copyright claims against other YouTubers who upload videos in a similar format. This is making people angry because a big channel like The Fine Bros copyrighting co... | [
"In 2016, they announced React World, a program where people could use the Fine Bros.'s icons to make their own videos for free, but there were limitations that their content must be monetized on YouTube (with Google AdSense) and that the Fine Bros. would take some of the money that the creator made. That started t... |
Did the city of Rome have a large immigrant population during the period of the Five Good Emperors? | If you mean from outside the empire (like from Germany or Parthia) no, not so far as we can tell. But there was a great deal of neighborhood identification, seen in such things as separate rites and communal rituals. It is difficult to know whether this had any sort of "foreign" element or was simply a continuation (an... | [
"Conversely, the foreign population of Rome was very small. Scientific evidence has shown that non-locals were in the minority, and most came from other parts of Italy or nearby provinces in Southern/Central Europe. Biochemical analysis of 166 skeletons from three non-elite imperial-era cemeteries in the vicinity o... |
Was there ever a time when there was more than one species of the genus Homo living at one time? | I have a partial answer for you. The big problem with discrete names assigned to a continuous system is you need to set arbitrary boundaries. When you're shown the colors Red and Orange, the naming convention seems reasonable, but if I show you a continuous rainbow spectrum, you'd have trouble defining where Red stop... | [
"Even today, the genus \"Homo\" has not been properly defined. Since the early human fossil record began to slowly emerge from the earth, the boundaries and definitions of the genus \"Homo\" have been poorly defined and constantly in flux. Because there was no reason to think it would ever have any additional membe... |
why does time seem to slow down when i'm studying and passes by really quickly when i'm procrastinating? | You pay much more attention to the time when you're studying, probably something like "only 10 minutes left" or whatever, you probably don't do that when you procrastinate. | [
"Possibly related to the oddball effect, research suggests that time seems to slow down for a person during intense events—such as a car accident, a robbery, a chase, skydiving or bungee jumping, a potential predator threat or an intimacy with sexual partner (which would elicit sexual excitement, which in turn rele... |
International Sports - When did they begin, and were they always just about national pride? | Probably with the ancient Panhellenic Games in Greece.
The origin of the contemporary concept of "nation" is controversial, but it probably dates back to the French Revolution. Before the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, it is difficult to talk about nationhood.
The city states shared a common tongue, but they ... | [
"The roots of modern sports can be found in the mid-nineteenth century in Great Britain and the United States where first professional sports were organised in mining and industrial towns and cities. Back then, sport competition was conducted mostly on local and national level. First signs of globalization in that ... |
why is it so much easier/faster for us to boil water than freeze it, considering the freezing point is much closer to room temperature than the boiling point? | Your stove fire is like 2000 degree Fahrenheit, 212 is the temperature that water boils at. So you're heating up water to only about one tenth the hotness of the fire. If you had something that was -2000 degrees, it would freeze water just as fast. | [
"The boiling point is an important property because it determines the speed of evaporation. Small amounts of low-boiling-point solvents like diethyl ether, dichloromethane, or acetone will evaporate in seconds at room temperature, while high-boiling-point solvents like water or dimethyl sulfoxide need higher temper... |
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