Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
How long have there been factions within Islam that seek to destroy the Kaaba?	Your friendly redditor has engaged in a nice bit of "let's make stuff up and hope people don't actually question what I'm saying." He seems to think that the Kaaba was somehow seen as a symbol of Muhammad by the Arabs of his time. The Kaaba predated Muhammad by centuries and pagan Arabs in the area would have revered ...	[ "Hundreds of Islamic radicals led by Saudi preacher Juhayman al-Otaybi invaded the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Islam's holiest shrine, on Nov. 20, 1979. The intruders included men from all over the Muslim world and a handful of American converts. Tens of thousands of worshipers were trapped inside the compound. The b...
why does usa only have access to .gov, .edu, and .mil top-level domain names?	Because the Internet is a Department of Defence development and the US government and US businesses get first pick of top domains. Other countries make do with national subdomains such as ._URL_1_ or ._URL_0_	[ "The U.S. is the only country that has a government-specific top-level domain in addition to its country-code top-level domain. This is a result of the origins of the Internet as a U.S. federal government-sponsored research network. Other countries typically delegate a second-level domain for this purpose; for exam...
why does a square monitor not look square?	Probably because we are used to monitors being wide, and when this breaks the pattern, the brain goes "Whoa! That was a high monitor!". An illusions by expectations, in other words. Might I ask what the use for a square monitor is, which warrants such a high price?	[ "BULLET::::- Pixels on computer monitors are normally \"square\" (that is, have equal horizontal and vertical sampling pitch); pixels in other systems are often \"rectangular\" (that is, have unequal horizontal and vertical sampling pitch – oblong in shape), as are digital video formats with diverse aspect ratios, ...
why doesn't the one dollar us bill have no details to help determine if it's a counterfeit?	Because the on dollar bill isn't worth faking. If you are going to put the time and effort into making fakes, you want them to be valuable. Also, the one does have some small anti counterfeit measures. They have tiny drawings in certain areas and some other smaller designs.	[ "A series of counterfeit United States dollar bills have been traced to an unlikely source – the Reverend Joseph Shepherd, vicar at the rural St David's Church. WIN's suspicions are raised, and in the days leading up to Christmas Professor McClaine, Sam Loover and Joe 90 are dispatched to the neighbouring village t...
what would they do if an heir to the throne in the royal family was born retarded?	Historically, it's been dealt with in any way you can think of. This includes the heir having a convenient fatal accident (or "accident"), advisors and other administrators doing the actual ruling, someone else becoming the designated heir or simply suffering disastrous years of incompetent reign. If you mean the UK s...	[ "Depending on the rules of the monarchy the heir presumptive might be the daughter of a monarch (if males take priority over females and the monarch has no sons), or the senior member of a collateral line (if the monarch is childless); the birth of a legitimate child to the monarch will displace the former heir pre...
why does water come out of bottle like glu-glug-gl-gl-glu-glug-glug-glu-gl-glug-glu-glu-glu-gl-glug	Because in order for the water to come out air must fill the void left by the water so while water is exiting the bottle air is entering the bottle through the same opening. Hence: glug glug glug glug	[ "A water bottle is a container that is used to hold water, liquids or other beverages for consumption. The use of a water bottle allows an individual to drink and transport a beverage from one place to another.\n", "A sipper water bottle is a type of bottle used to dispense water for certain pets including rabbit...
Total number of living cells on Earth?	The current estimate is five million trillion trillion. Source: _URL_0_	[ "In biological terms, there are 7.2 billion humans on the planet, each having a genome of 6.2 billion nucleotides. Since one byte can encode four nucleotide pairs, the individual genomes of every human on the planet could be encoded by approximately 1x10^19 bytes. The digital realm stored 500 times more information...
During a woman's period, why is blood used as the medium to flush the system out rather than using a different fluid?	It's not actually blood. The women sheds the wall of the uterus which has been thickening for the previous 15-20ish days. It just so happens that the uteren wall has to be full of blood vessels in the case that a fertalized egg attaches to it. Lots of blood vessels means it will have a lot of blood in it, which give...	[ "In developing countries, makeshift pads are still used to collect menstrual blood as they are cheaper. Rags, soil, and mud are also reportedly used for collecting menstrual flow by women who cannot afford the more expensive disposable pads or tampons.\n", "About half of menstrual fluid is blood. This blood conta...
why doesn't the un flag include antarctica?	I would assume because Antarctica doesn't have a permanent population so it wouldn't count as a nation...	[ "Prior to 2002, Antarctica had no flag, as the condominium that governs the continent had not yet formally selected one (even though a particular design was in widespread use). The consultative members of the Antarctic Treaty System officially adopted a flag and emblem in 2002, which is now the official symbol of t...
When the Earth had only a singe continent, was its rotation off balance?	The rotatinal axis is indeed subject to variations. The shift of the crust influences the moment of inertia which affects the rotational axis. This effect is called [Polar Wander](_URL_0_). It is not dramatic though and it certainly doesn't throw the earth out of balance :)	[ "An early mention of a shifting of the Earth's axis can be found in an 1872 article entitled \"Chronologie historique des Mexicains\" by Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, a specialist in Mesoamerican codices who interpreted ancient Mexican myths as evidence for four periods of global cataclysms that had begun ...
why do hiring managers tag job postings as “entry level” when they require years of closely related experience? why not just be straightforward?	The job is going to pay an entry level wage, but managers selfishly want someone who is way overqualified and will be able to overperform for that low wage. They think those overqualified people won't need as much supervision. I hate this practice, but I had a manager that purposely put a wishlist of requirements in ...	[ "Besides these three rules, managers have their own ways to select entry modes. If the company could not generate a mature market research, the manager tend to choose the entry modes most suitable for the industry or make decisions by intuition.\n", "The reason why someone would be interested in doing online iden...
can someone please explain me the working of a dehumidifier?	Yes..Similiar. there are a few types...But the one that is similiar to an AC unit works by cooling the air. this reduces the airs capacity to hold moisture. The moisture condenses out.. the (drier) air is then heated back up to its original temperature...But now contains less moisture (Humidity)... It's just like...	[ "A desiccator is a heavy glass or plastic container, now somewhat antiquated, used in practical chemistry for drying or keeping small amounts of materials very dry. The material is placed on a shelf, and a drying agent or \"desiccant\", such as dry silica gel or anhydrous sodium hydroxide, is placed below the shelf...
the new youtube rules about adsense that has tubers leaving	I thought it was the new Google plus thing that made them mad ? Also I don't know of any you tubers leaving because of it	[ "The site contains advertisements only for itself: it sells merchandise, such as stickers and apparel, that bear phrases from its articles. Maddox chose to not use advertisements because he thought they could end up censoring him by dropping ads.\n", "TubeMogul claims that \"Google has made a conscious decision t...
Who was allowed to vote in 19th century Britain?	In the 1800s suffrage was expanded about every 2 or 3 decades. At the start of the 19th century, probably 5% of the British population could vote. This right was reserved to wealthy landowners. The Reform Act of 1832 changed this. Voting rights were now spread to bankers, merchants, etc. The Reform Act of 1867 was t...	[ "England was one of the first places in the world to grant voting rights to women citizens universally and regardless of marital status, which it did by passage of the 1918 Representation of the People Act that gave voting rights to women aged 30 years and over who met a property qualification (equal voting rights ...
how does an idea for an invention go through the process of becoming an actual product?	I used to work for a tech transfer company. We essentially were on offshoot of the local university. When a product or idea was generated at the university that the inventor thought there was an opportunity to monetize, then he would approach us, knowing that his invention was safe due to master non-disclosures we had ...	[ "In the process of developing an invention, the initial idea may change. The invention may become simpler, more practical, it may expand, or it may even \"morph\" into something totally different. Working on one invention can lead to others too.\n", "Invention is often a creative process. An open and curious mind...
fractional distillation	When you heat up a liquid it evaporates, and the more volatile stuff (lower boiling point) turns into gas. Fractional distillation uses the idea that the most volatile stuff vaporizes first, so by providing a lot of places for the gas to condense back into liquid along the path out of the distiller, the less volatil...	[ "Fractional distillation is the separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions. Chemical compounds are separated by heating them to a temperature at which one or more fractions of the mixture will vaporize. It uses distillation to fractionate. Generally the component parts have boiling points that d...
Did Mark Twain really say the following? "Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference"	I see what you're talking about. [This](_URL_0_) is the best site for Twain quotes, but it does seem to appear there. Other sites that I looked at, which give the quote do not give sources. And this makes it suspect. There are so many of these attributed to Twain, it is always difficult to chase them down. I would say ...	[ "Twain, in particular, was heavily influenced by the book, though he was not originally impressed. He once wrote to his wife Livy, \"I started to mark the Story of a Bad Boy, but for the life of me I could not admire the volume much.\" Scholar Andrew Levy suggests that Twain was downplaying his interest in the book...
if students are unable to repay loans and have no bankruptcy protection, what are the negative effects for students?	Off the top of my head the two big ones are wage garnishment (your creditor gets to collect part of your paycheck to pay towards your debt) and asset seizures (creditors can attach liens to your property, sell your property, and then use those proceeds to pay off your debt). Defaulting on your student loans can lead yo...	[ "Individuals who are worried that they are unable to service their student loan debt should receive advice and counseling. There are few options available for American students other than payment in full. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act makes discharging student loans through bankruptcy ...
what is the difference between an artist being featured on a song (feat.) and the artist simply being added to the "artist" section ( & )?	To add to what u/AcesOverPacific said, it'll likely impact royalties and profit sharing. For instance, two "equal" artists might split the profits from a song, whereas a feature might be only a proportion or honorarium.	[ "BULLET::::- All artists who are mentioned in song credits are listed here; this includes one-time pairings of otherwise solo artists and those appearing as \"featured\" (for example, for \"It's All Love!\", both Kumi Koda and Misono receive a mention each).\n", "Artists are listed alphabetically and separately i...
why do some things (like salt water or alcohol) cause open wounds to hurt very badly, but other things like milk or vaseline do not?	More importantly: why are you pouring milk in open wounds?	[ "Syrup, honey, brine, alcohol and concentrated sugar or salt solutions display an antibacterial action due to osmotic pressure. Syrup and honey have a long history of being used as a topical treatment for superficial and deep wounds.\n", "A home-made saline solution made from non-iodized sea salt and hot distille...
why do you feel more elated after sex than after masturbation even if you don't care about your sexual partner?	If you have sex with someone else you've achieved something more than you have with masturbating ie you went out, found a mate and managed to work your magic and got her to have sex with you. You fulfilled your role as a man. Masturbating doesn't do any of that. It's just you, your guilty conscience and a 2 minute Inte...	[ "Sometimes, desire discrepancy may arise when partner A feels repeatedly rejected after their attempts at initiating sex. This may be because partner B is simply not interested or not in the mood but may also be because partner B just happens to be more passive in nature and thus relies on partner A to do the initi...
how does arm processing / arm processors work? why is it so much more efficient?	There are two approaches to processors, RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computing) and CISC(Complex Instruction Set Computing). ARM uses RISC, this means the processors understand less instructions and the instructions are all constant size, this means it takes less transistors and thus the processor can be smaller and g...	[ "With over 100 billion ARM processors produced , ARM is the most widely used instruction set architecture and the instruction set architecture produced in the largest quantity. Currently, the widely used Cortex cores, older \"classic\" cores, and specialized SecurCore cores variants are available for each of these ...
If people send Ricin or any other poison via mail, why doesn't the mail handlers get poisoned?	Ricin is contained in a rather common ornamental plant, the castor-bean. Note that this does not equate with widespread airborne toxicity through exposure to ricin. That is because to be toxic, it must be injected intraveneously. In exceptionnal cases, the introduction of large amounts into the lungs can also introduce...	[ "Several terrorists and terrorist groups have experimented with ricin and caused several incidents of the poisons being mailed to U.S. politicians. For example, on May 29, 2013 two anonymous letters sent to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg contained traces of it. Another was sent to the offices of Mayors Again...
Why doesn't the sun have a metal core?	The sun indeed was born with some metals. Gravitational settling would tend to make the heavier elements "sink" (I am not saying that heavier things fall faster; that is not how gravitational settling works). There is a timescale associated with gravitational settling. I actually don't know what physical parameters co...	[ "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 does the way you experience time change depending on your location in the universe?	Time is relative. Gravity affects Spacetime, when you in an area of higher gravity and look at Earth, Earth time will be moving faster than your time, but both you and the people on Earth experience time and age the same rate in their respective area in space.	[ "In this chapter Hawking talks about why \"real time\" as humans observe and experience it (in contrast to the \"imaginary time\" in the laws of science) seems to have a certain direction, notably from the past towards the future. The things that give time this property are the arrows of time.\n", "Because of the...
Why is hemoglobin trapped in red blood cells?	Well free haemoglobin in the blood plasma is toxic, with free haemoglobin resulting in hypertension (as it removes NO, a regulator of vessel diameter and thus blood pressure) and is also toxic to the kidneys. This has sadly stopped it being used as an oxygen carrying blood substitute. _URL_0_ Further red blood cells ...	[ "Hemoglobin (Hb) is the primary vehicle for transporting oxygen in the blood. Oxygen is also carried dissolved in the blood's plasma, but to a much lesser degree. Hemoglobin is contained in red blood cells. Under certain conditions, oxygen bound to the hemoglobin is released into the blood's plasma and absorbed int...
How did Christianity develop differently in West and East Germany from 1945 until 1997?	There is an important distinction to be between religion (meaning the organized church administration and structures) and religiosity (religious belief and observance), and this distinction is quite important to understand the position of the church inside the GDR. Although religiosity did decline under the auspices of...	[ "After World War II, Germany was split in two states by the Western Allies, who formed West Germany, and the Soviets, who established East Germany. The former, the Federal Republic of Germany, adopted a constitution in 1949 which states that no one may be discriminated against due to their faith or religious opinio...
why is nationalism more prevalent in scotland than in wales or england?	England does not have its own government. It is directly controlled by the UK Parliament. That does not give much room for them to have an independent national spirit outside of the UK as a whole. Wales I do not have much of an answer for though.	[ "Contemporary English nationalist movements differ significantly from mainstream Scottish, Welsh and Cornish nationalist movements (whilst similar to some strands of Irish nationalism) insofar as they are often associated with support for right-of-centre economic and social policies. Nationalists elsewhere in the B...
Barbershop Quartets: Why "Barbershop? " Were There Any Other Types of Popular Singing Groups?	There is/was a long English tradition of the barbershop as a gathering place, and many English barbershops featured live music, albeit mostly instrumental. That tradition continued in the United States, especially in post-Civil War African American barbershops, where groups of men would improvise on popular folk songs,...	[ "BULLET::::- Barbershop quartets, originally from English-speaking North America, usually consist of four men or women who sing first tenor (called \"tenor\"), second tenor (called \"lead\"), baritone, and bass parts. A barbershop quartet typically emphasizes or exaggerates the harmonies in a piece of music, rather...
The length of objects near light speed contracts. Is that a "Point of view" thing, or does it actually make things shorter? Wouldn't an object disintegrate from this deformation?	> Let's say a spaceship accelerates to 99% of lightspeed, it's orginal hundreds of meters of length is now a mere fraction of that. Yes, but only as measured in Earth's frame. The passengers of the ship would still measure the same length of hundreds of meters. > Would the metal it's made of turn in to a molten b...	[ "For many years, the distinction between the two had not been generally appreciated, and it had generally been thought that a length contracted object passing by an observer would in fact actually be \"seen\" as length contracted. In 1959, James Terrell and Roger Penrose independently pointed out that differential ...
quantum theory of consciousness	You'd be hard pressed to ever come up with a theory of consciousness without quantum mechanics, but that does not mean you can just say QM therefore consciousness. That is basically what all of these quacks do. Quantum mechanics results in some weird concepts that are well understood by physicists, but not by everyon...	[ "The quantum mind or quantum consciousness is a group of hypotheses which proposes that classical mechanics cannot explain consciousness. It posits that quantum mechanical phenomena, such as quantum entanglement and superposition, may play an important part in the brain's function and could form the basis for an ex...
Why is the C.M.B. visible in every direction?	> If it is the case that the big bang was a local event This is not the case. The big bang happened everywhere simultaneously. It was not like an explosion with forces acting to drive matter outward into pre-existing empty space. It was more like the inflation of a half-inflated balloon -- if you were to draw a ...	[ "South of about the 20th parallel south, the LMC is circumpolar, meaning that it can be seen (at least in part) all night every night of the year, weather and light pollution permitting. In the Northern Hemisphere, it can be visible south of the 20th parallel north. This excludes North America (except southern Mexi...
What was the reaction of members of the British government and/or military leadership to the build up of the United States's navy in the early 20th century?	The Admiralty was much less concerned with the USN's build up than they were with (hypothetical) French or (actual) German naval expansion. There were several reasons for this. Firstly, a strong USN was much less of a direct threat to Britain than an equally strong European navy. A French or German navy that could chal...	[ "The Royal Navy never prepared a formal plan for war with the United States during the first half of the 20th century. The government of David Lloyd George in 1919 restricted the navy from doing so to prevent it from using American naval growth to justify building more ships. Like their American counterparts, most ...
Which national economies, if any, were not affected by the Great Depression of the 1930's? Did anyone actually grow during this period while the majority of developed nations were mired in recession/depression?	The Soviet Union is the obvious exception. The Great Depression had an impact, in that it reduced earnings from foreign trade, but this was relatively minor. The reduction in grain prices made the managing the balance of payments more difficult but, overall, the Soviet economy had few connections with the capitalist ...	[ "The Great Depression, despite the concentration of its impact on the industrialized world, was also exceptionally damaging in the rural colonies. Agricultural prices fell much harder and faster than those of industrial goods. From around 1925 until World War II, the colonies suffered. The colonial powers concentra...
Let's say there was a civilisation on Mars a billion years ago - is there anything that could survive on the surface for this long?	Well, any structure on the surface would certainly be eroded away, but bury something and will will tend to stay that way until something disturbs it, which in the case of mars would probably be until the end of mars. There are 3 billion year old fossils on earth: _URL_0_ There are many things from Human civilizatio...	[ "Various works of fiction put forward the idea of terraforming Mars to allow a wide variety of life forms, including humans, to survive unaided on Mars' surface. Some ideas of possible technologies that may be able to contribute to the actual terraforming of Mars have been conjectured, but none would be able to bri...
why is milk chocolate made in north america so vastly different from milk chocolate made in europe?	Money, and regulations. European chocolate, by and large has much stricter rules about what passes for chocolate, while American chocolate has had the cost of ingredients driven down by commercial interests.	[ "The Hershey Process milk chocolate in these bars uses fresh milk delivered directly from local farms. The process was developed by Milton Hershey and produced the first mass-produced chocolate in the United States. As a result, the Hershey flavor is widely recognized in the United States, but less so international...
why didn't all the heavier molecules, like gold and lead, sink to the center of the earth when it was in its molten state?	If the Earth was allowed to sit without cooling for long enough then yes, denser liquids would fall to the core. However, consider orange juice. If left long enough the solid will settle on the bottom, but will disperse in the juice if it is shaken, and doesn't separate quickly either. Also consider oil and water, the...	[ "In early stages of Earth's formation about 4.6 billion years ago, melting would have caused denser substances to sink toward the center in a process called planetary differentiation (see also the iron catastrophe), while less-dense materials would have migrated to the crust. The core is thus believed to largely be...
Infinite universe beginning with a finite big bang.	> Is this where the infinite flat universe begins? At t > 0? Yes. If the universe is currently infinite, then according to everything we know it has been infinite for all times after the initial singularity. That is, for any two spatially separated points, the spatial distance between those points tends to zero as ti...	[ "This scenario allows the Big Bang to occur immediately after the Big Crunch of a preceding universe. If this happens repeatedly, it creates a cyclic model, which is also known as an oscillatory universe. The universe could then consist of an infinite sequence of finite universes, with each finite universe ending w...
huckabee's "fair tax" model	Our current tax system is a progressive income tax. You pay nothing on the first bit of money you make, a small amount on the second bit of money you make, a larger amount on the next bit, and then all money over a certain amount gets paid at the highest rate. What Huckabee wants is a national sales tax. It would wor...	[ "Reese supported what is known as the \"fair tax\". Under the plan, of which there are several variations, all taxpayers would contribute the same percent of tax regardless of income, deductions, credits, exemptions, or other factors involving taxable income. Such a change in the tax code, maintains Reese, would en...
why is salt added to boiling vegetables?	I'm pretty sure salt is added to boiling vegetables just for flavour rather than for some reason like this. If you boil something it is going to lose flavour into the water (you'd be making very weak stock technically) so perhaps it's to improve the flavour a bit to counteract that. That's why I add salt to boiling t...	[ "High levels of both sugar and salt can preserve food by preventing micro-organisms from growing. Green beans can be salted by layering the pods with salt, but this method of preservation is unsuited to most vegetables. Marrows, beetroot, carrot, and some other vegetables can be boiled with sugar to create jams. Vi...
How common were inns in the ancient world, and how did they function?	Our evidence for this is rather limited, as identification of inns outside of the Vesuvian cities is rather limited. So discussing how inns focused outside of the immediate Mediterranean core is rather tricky. Even within the Vesuvian cities we can't really say much except that they seemed to function as restaurants, b...	[ "Inns in Europe were possibly first established when the Romans built their system of Roman roads two millennia ago. Many inns in Europe are several centuries old. In addition to providing for the needs of travelers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places.\n", "There is little evidence of a formal...
why are my parents so scared of jeremy corbyn's rise? (uk)	I am assuming that your parents come from a Conservative background, but they could be Labour supporters too. In the 70s, the UK had lots of problems with industrial action. There were frequent power cuts. Edward Heath's Conservative government introduced a three-day working week so that we wouldn't run out of coal w...	[ "In July, following a report in \"The Times\" in which two unnamed senior civil servants said the 70-year old Jeremy Corbyn may have to stand down due to health issues. The article drew an angry response from Labour, which denounced the comments as a \"scurrilous\" attempt to undermine the party's efforts to gain p...
why does limescale build up faster on the hot water side of the tap?	Heating water that is "hard", ie contains lots of soluble calcium and magnesium bicarbonates, causes them to be converted to insoluble carbonates. This is what causes limescale "fur" in kettles and, to a lesser extent, in hot water pipes where the heating is less. This is known as "temporary hardness" because the met...	[ "It is important to take note of the increased heat in the piping system, which in turn increases system pressure. Piping that is sensitive to the water condition (i.e., copper, and soft water) will be adversely affected by the continual flow. Although water is conserved, the parasitic heat loss through the piping ...
Would someone finally settle this... How the heck did people hold a shield?!	Comment I made from his post over at /r/wma "Although there is not alot of extant historical material from the "dark ages" about the use of the sword and shield, we can extrapolate on their use from Renaissance sources. The early historical martial arts manual is MSI.33 from the late 14th century which depicts the use...	[ "BULLET::::- During the time when the shield was lost in the Atlantic, Rogers tried using a pure adamantium shield, but was unable to get used to the balance. He also tried fighting without a shield but also found it awkward. While up against HYDRA agents in the Smithsonian, he picked up the triangular shield that ...
Has there ever been a peaceful and majority accepted transition from one form of government to another?	your title and comment are asking different questions. Which one do you want answered? historically republics have been under threat from victorious generals who were lifted to general acclaim to a kingly position and those can often be peaceful as old rulers either flee or realize the hopelessness of their cause. As...	[ "The transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional democracy began when King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) agreed to a codified constitution to resolve the bloodless coup of 1932. The king signed a temporary charter on 27 June 1932 at 17:00, which began by announcing that \"the highest power in the land belongs to a...
why are women in classical art so seldomly beautiful by today's standards?	Beauty is not as in flux throughout history as some would claim. So much of classical art was supported by patronage. While we like to believe the paintings seen in museums were the result of passionate artists so inspired by the Dukes and Duchesses of Shitshire and Upper Saxonbergen that they were compelled to paint t...	[ "Over the course of history, beauty ideals for women have changed drastically to represent societal views. Women with fair skin were idealized and segregated and used to justify the unfair treatment of dark-skinned women. In the early 1900s, the ideal female body was represented by a pale complexion and cinched-wai...
Why were Scandinavia and the Steppes so often producing major and disruptive tribes?	This is because that is the only place they could have come from. The Romans controlled the mediteranian. The Sahara made a great defense of the African provinces from the south. To the west was the Atlantic. In the east was the Sessonid empire. While they were a constant source of conflict, the two empires fought over...	[ "During the 6th millennium BC, southern Scandinavia was clad in lush forests of temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. In these forests roamed animals such as aurochs, wisent, moose and red deer. Now, the Kongemose culture lived off these animals. Like their predecessors, they also hunted seals and fished in the ri...
what is the advantage to a modern city of trams (if any)	1. Several cars can be strung together, so there's a higher seating capacity. 2. Tracks can, where necessary or desireable, be segregated from road traffic, either by the side of the road or in a central reservation. 3. Tracks can even be elevated above the roadway, or tunnel below. This means that, for example, a tram...	[ "Since 1980 trams have returned to favour in many places, partly because their tendency to dominate the roadway, formerly seen as a disadvantage, is now considered to be a merit since it raises the visibility of public transport (encouraging car users to change their mode of travel), and enables streets to be recon...
why do our gums hurt when we have a cold/flu?	I don't know about gums hurting but do know about teeth hurting. From what I know it's because your sinuses are full and it applies pressure to the nerves near your teeth.	[ "Viruses are common causes of the common cold. Less often, bacteria may also cause pharyngitis. Both of these organisms enter the body via the nose or mouth as aerosolized particles when someone sneezes or coughs. Because many germs are contagious, one can even acquire them from touching utensils, toys, personal ca...
why does fuel go bad or spoil? isin't it millions of years old	Oil has been but gasoline/fuel is a refined product which is chemically different than what it stated from. Also the oil probably isn’t exposed to oxygen the way fuel does which causes a chemical reaction and can degrade the fuel	[ "Almost everything on Earth contains elements of water; oil and fuel are no exceptions. While very small amounts exist in fuels to start with, stored fuel will become a breeding ground for the microbial bacteria and over time, the levels of damage change from dissolved to emulsified and finally free.\n", "Fossil ...
is there an estimate of how many species of animals that never got fossilized?	Well...I’m not a Paleontologist, I AM a Geologist however... Fossilization is a pretty rare occurrence all things considered, and some unique things need to all line up. Quick death, lack of decay and mineralization, so you need rapid burial, oxygen poor and mineral rich...Then there is also the bias of fossilization ...	[ "One famous example is the coelacanth, which was thought to have become extinct in the very late Cretaceous – until a live specimen was caught in 1938. The animals known as \"Burgess Shale type fauna\" are best known from rocks of the Early and Middle Cambrian periods. Since 2006, though, a few fossils of similar a...
Why is glass transparent to visible light, but opaque to ultraviolet and infrared light?	The answer isn't that enlightening, but it's straightforward. Electrons in different materials are bound in different ways. A metal has a plethora of free electrons in it's body. An insulator's electrons are all bound to a particular atom. Different insulators hold their electrons in with different strengths. These bin...	[ "Glass is in widespread use largely due to the production of glass compositions that are transparent to visible light. In contrast, polycrystalline materials do not generally transmit visible light. The individual crystallites may be transparent, but their facets (grain boundaries) reflect or scatter light resultin...
How did Henry VIII actually break with Rome?	The main document that lead to this split was the Statute in Restraint of Appeals, passed by Parliament in 1533. The idea went like this: The king of England, Henry VIII the only religious authority for all of England's possessions, so instead of going to the Pope for religious concerns, you would go to the King. This ...	[ "BULLET::::- The Break with Rome: Pope Clement VII's refusal to annul King Henry VIII's first marriage impeded the king's efforts to produce a male heir. Henry repudiated the Pope's ecclesiastical authority within England and required all officials to recognize him as Supreme Head of the Church of England.\n", "T...
flying upside down	What is important to understand is that two major geometrical factors influence the lift produced by the wings. The first one is the shape of the wing aka the aerodynamical profile. As you night know, the wings have a specific shape which causes air on the top of the wing to accelerate faster than the air at the b...	[ "Upside Down; or, the Human Flies is an 1899 British short silent drama film, directed by Walter R. Booth, featuring a conjuror sending his audience to the ceiling. The film, \"exploits a very simple illusion: that of filming with the camera turned upside-down so that the actors appear to be performing on the ceili...
why cocaine is considered to be "classy" while crack cocaine is thought of as a trashy, poor person's alternative	Crack isn't pure, as it is mixed with baking soda and/or other chemicals. Pure cocaine often is more expensive since it also gives a more intense high in most cases.	[ "Because of the drug's potential for addiction and overdose, cocaine is generally treated as a \"hard drug\", with severe penalties for possession and trafficking. Demand remains high, and consequently, black market cocaine is quite expensive. Unprocessed cocaine, such as coca leaves, are occasionally purchased and...
how does the body use insulin and glucose to regulate blood sugar?	This is very very complicated for ELI5. Basically, glucose is too big to enter your cells. Your body uses insulin to bring the glucose into your cells. Without enough insulin or with resistance to insulin, your body can't access the glucose in your blood and goes into crisis mode as glucose is the principal fuel for ...	[ "Insulin is a peptide hormone that is critical for managing the body's metabolism. Insulin is released by the pancreas when blood sugar levels rise, and it has many effects that broadly promote the absorption and storage of sugars, including lipogenesis.\n", "The body requires a relatively constant input of gluco...
- what is happening with the spanish economy?	There is a video ELI5! _URL_0_	[ "Though Spain was suffering with 27% unemployment and the economy was shrinking 1.4% in 2013, Mariano Rajoy's conservative government has pledged to speed up reforms, according to the \"Financial Times\" special report on the future of the European Union. \"Madrid is reviewing its labour market and pension reforms ...
what are city maintenance crews accomplishing by periodically letting a fire hydrant spew out water for hours at a time?	Flushing fire hydrants serves two major purposes. The first is to test the hydrant to ensure that it is working and has proper pressure. The second is maintenance on the water mains. Hydrants have very high flow rates which help flush sediment and other gunk out of the mains.	[ "In rural areas where municipal water systems are not available, dry hydrants are used to supply water for fighting fires. A dry hydrant is analogous to a standpipe. A dry hydrant is usually an unpressurized, permanently installed pipe that has one end below the water level of a lake or pond. This end usually has a...
Why it is said that people drank alcohol of the middle ages cause water was unsafe to drink since there are many clean natural springs of water even today?	More can always be said on this question. Both these answers come from the excellent [Askhistorians FAQ](_URL_0_) An answer to the question [is it true most people in medieval Europe drank](_URL_2_) by /u/sunagainstgold tells us that water was usually looked down upon since it was free and it has been documented th...	[ "At times and places of poor public sanitation (such as Medieval Europe), the consumption of alcoholic drinks was a way of avoiding water-borne diseases such as cholera. Small beer and faux wine in particular, were used for this purpose. Although alcohol kills bacteria, its low concentration in these beverages woul...
Why did the Nazis and German people keep fighting after the winning was no longer an option?	Ian Kershaw's The End: Hitler's Germany 1944–45 is perhaps the best recent book on the topic. It focuses almost exclusively on the mentality and the decisions made by both national and regional politicians in Nazi Germany as well as the ordinary German civilians in keeping on fighting and enduring during the last two...	[ "Although Germany had been defeated during the First World War, by 1933 fascism had given rise to Nazi Germany, which under the leadership of Adolf Hitler re-militarised in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. Once again tensions accumulated in European relations, and following Germany's invasion of Poland in Sept...
why are roads so much better/ why is there so little road construction in europe compared to usa?	Where were you in Europe? Any climate that doesn't freeze will have great roads, and climate that freezes will have bad roads, and anyone that has warn and cold snaps during the winter will have horrible roads.	[ "The United States' investment in infrastructure such as highways and bridges coincided with the increasing availability of cars more suited to the higher speeds that better roads made possible, allowing people to live beyond the confines of major cities, and instead commute to and from work.\n", "One possible re...
card against humanity rules	There's a black card, and everyone has a bunch of white cards. The white cards basically fill in the blank given by the black card. Funniest match wins	[ "\"Cards Against Humanity\" was created by a group of eight Highland Park High School alumni, including Ben Hantoot and Max Temkin. Heavily influenced by the popular \"Apples to Apples\" card game, it was initially named \"Cardenfreude\" (a pun on \"Schadenfreude\") and involved a group of players writing out the m...
Did Native Americans Have Forts or Fortified Villages?	Not to discourage further answers, but check out [this discussion of pre-Columbian warfare, sieges, and fortifications](_URL_0_) in North America written for a previous, similar question.	[ "Because there was safety in numbers, the settlers built a number of refuge forts, including one on the homestead of Jacob Prickett. Fairly simple in design, Prickett’s Fort was little more than a hundred-foot-square log palisade built around Prickett’s house. Native Americans tended to avoid such strong points, pr...
what explains the phenomena us being able to play songs flawlessly in our minds but fumble when we're trying to sing it out?	Imagine if someone told you "Hey dude, here is a sound, and sheet of paper, please write down all the muscles that have to contract, and by how much they have to contract, in intervalls of 0.05 seconds in order to make that sound" . "Oh and then act out these instructions". I would not call failure to do so instantly...	[ "Listening to music and general audio is commonly not a task directed activity. People enjoy music for various poorly understood reasons, which are commonly referred to the emotional effect of music due to creation of expectations and their realization or violation. Animals attend to signs of danger in sounds, whic...
why is it sometimes easier to use addition to solve subtraction problems?	Never heard of this method. Definitely odd. In my method I do everything by 10. 5-2 = 3, 9-4= 5. If the numbers lead to a negative (say, 5-8 = -3) I add a 1 (a ten) in front of the first. 15-8 = 7, and then I know when I get my final answer I have to take 10 away. Eg: 95-38 5-8 = -3, so 15-8 = 7 9-3 = 6, therefore...	[ "In grade schools, students are sometimes taught the method of complements as a shortcut useful in mental arithmetic. Subtraction is done by adding the ten's complement of the subtrahend, which is the nines' complement plus 1. The result of this addition used when it is clear that the difference will be positive, o...
Can you measure the temperature of a single atom? If not, what is the smallest amount of matter that you can measure the temperature of?	Great question! The answer is... well... "what's your definition of temperature". Feel free to read along with [the Wikipedia page](_URL_2_), which has these definitions. --- Temperature: a measure of the mean [kinetic energy](_URL_5_) (i.e. average energy of motion) of an ensemble of particles. This is a result ...	[ "The temperature of a sample of a substance reflects the average kinetic energy of its constituent particles (atoms or molecules) relative to its center of mass. Quantum mechanics predicts that, at room temperature and ordinary pressures, an isolated atom in a gas cannot store any significant amount of energy excep...
Wine glass vs Regular Glass?	From what I learned, the design of the glass permits airiation and heat transfer for when it's just sitting there (ie, champaign glasses promote bubbling). Then, the design of the glass, if used properly while drinking supposedly places the wine at more optimum locations on the tongue. But this isn't my area of any e...	[ "Wine glasses are a type of glass stemware that are used to drink and taste wine from. Selection of a particular wine glass for a wine style is important, as the glass shape can influence its perception.\n", "BULLET::::- Wine sold by the glass is often served in nearly full glasses. Wine served at home, or when b...
If both sound and temperature are both vibrations in a medium, why can't we hear heat or feel heat from sound? What separates the 2?	Sound is an oscillation of pressure in a medium (think of a ripple created from a pebble dropped in a pool), whereas heat is a vibration of molecules (think about playing with a paddle ball). We can't hear heat because the vibrations associated with heat are at the atomic level. There's no way those tiny atomic vibra...	[ "Second sound is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which heat transfer occurs by wave-like motion, rather than by the more usual mechanism of diffusion. Heat takes the place of pressure in normal sound waves. This leads to a very high thermal conductivity. It is known as \"second sound\" because the wave motion of...
Birth control pills basically prevents the release of an egg. Does that really mean that the eggs stay in the ovaries thus not changing the egg count?	Menopause doesn't begin when a woman "uses up" all her eggs. It begins when she stops releasing eggs. Women don't have a finite number of mature eggs they have a finite number immature eggs known as follicles. > Throughout her life, the vast majority of follicles will die through a process known as atresia. Atresia be...	[ "This accounts for around 10-15% of all cases of anovulation. The ovaries can stop working in about 5% of cases. This may be because the ovaries do not contain eggs. However, a complete blockage of the ovaries is rarely a cause of infertility. Blocked ovaries can start functioning again without a clear medical expl...
glasses	It's basically a measure of how much the lens bends light and in which direction. -2.2 is a correction for nearsightedness. In that lens, the center will be thinner than the edge.	[ "Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are devices consisting of glass or hard plastic lenses mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically using a bridge over the nose and arms which rest over the ears.\n", "Examples of such glasses have commercial significance, e.g. soda-l...
Why was Plutonium used instead of Uranium in the "Fat Man" atomic bomb?	To understand the Manhattan Project you have to understand the problems facing nuclear bomb production and how the project tackled them. There are two main issues in building a bomb, both with significant depth of details. One is materials, you need a fissile material suitable for use in an unmoderated fast-fission cha...	[ "Producing plutonium in useful quantities for the first time was a major part of the Manhattan Project during World War II that developed the first atomic bombs. The Fat Man bombs used in the Trinity nuclear test in July 1945, and in the bombing of Nagasaki in August 1945, had plutonium cores. Human radiation exper...
i read that the 2011 earthquake near japan increased the earth's rotation, causing a day to be decreased by 1.8 seconds. is this effect permanent? how? why? do all earthquakes slow the earth's rotation?	You misread. It was 1.8 microseconds or 0.000018 seconds. Yes, it's a lasting effect, as explained [here.](_URL_0_) The effect is not universal to all earthquakes. They may speed, slow, or have no effect on Earth's rotation. The issue is whether they rearrange Earth's mass. Consider a spinning figure skater: when sh...	[ "The shift of mass and the massive release of energy slightly altered the Earth's rotation. The exact amount is not yet known, but theoretical models suggest the earthquake shortened the length of a day by 2.68 microseconds, due to a decrease in the oblateness of the Earth. It also caused the Earth to minutely \"wo...
how do night vision goggles work?	There are several ways: * Infrared: There are electronics that can see "color" lower than red. As things and beings radiate those colors as heat, you can use it to see in the dark. Also, as infrared is invisible to the human eye those night vision devices can be enhanced with a "infrared flashlight". It works like wit...	[ "A specific type of NVD, the night vision goggle (NVG) is a night vision device with dual eyepieces. The device can utilize either one intensifier tube with the same image sent to both eyes, or a separate image intensifier tube for each eye. Night vision goggles combined with magnification lenses constitutes night ...
nude art	I'm a science geek, not an art person. However, I think the difference is that porn is designed with the sole intent of being titillating. Porn is supposed to illicit a sexual response and doesn't really have any other value (i.e. people don't watch porn for the intricate plots and complex characters). Art, on the o...	[ "The nude figure is a tradition in Western art, and has been used to express ideals of male and female beauty and other human qualities. It was a central preoccupation of Ancient Greek art, and after a semi-dormant period in the Middle Ages returned to a central position in Western art with the Renaissance. Athlete...
why does music, "work"?	Check out the book "This is your brain on music" by Daniel Levitan. It's not a ELI5 answer, but it's THE answer to this question. ELI5 version : Music tends to make different parts of the brain 'light up'. These parts are often times the same parts associated with pleasure/happiness. These are also the same parts of ...	[ "Music is an art form which combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamic in order to create sound. It can be performed using a variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres such as folk, jazz, hip hop, pop, and rock, etc. As an art form, music can occur in live or recorded formats, and can be planned or impro...
Need help with a question about lift.	These are both true statements: 'An airfoil produces lift because there is a pressure differential between the top and bottom of the wing'; 'An airfoil produces lift because it pushes air downward'. A lot of people try to draw a distinction between lift due to a pressure differential and lift due to pushing air downwa...	[ "While the common meaning of the word \"lift\" assumes that lift opposes weight, lift can be in any direction with respect to gravity, since it is defined with respect to the direction of flow rather than to the direction of gravity. When an aircraft is cruising in straight and level flight, most of the lift oppose...
Why are halos seen as "holy?" When were angels and such originally depicted with halos? And why do we automatically associate halos with divinity or goodness?	In the late Roman/early Byzantine world, a halo represented power rather than sanctity. See, for example, the Missorium of Theodosius, c. 388, a large silver plate on which the Emperor Theodosius is shown with a halo; he is also significantly larger than the other figures in order to show his power. _URL_2_ This tradi...	[ "The halo was incorporated into Early Christian art sometime in the 4th century with the earliest iconic images of Christ, initially the only figure shown with one (together with his symbol, the Lamb of God). Initially the halo was regarded by many as a representation of the \"Logos\" of Christ, his divine nature, ...
what is fuzzy logic and how is it that it's found in missiles and rice cookers?	Traditional logic only knows two states: True or False. Is the rice cooker hot enough? If yes, turn off the heating element, and if not, turn it on. Fuzzy logic can also express to what extent a statement is true on a sliding scale. Is the rice cooker hot enough? No, but it's close, so turn down the heating element a ...	[ "Basic fuzzy logic is the logic of continuous t-norms (binary operations on the real unit interval [0, 1]). Applications involving fuzzy logic include facial recognition systems, home appliances, anti-lock braking systems, automatic transmissions, controllers for rapid transit systems and unmanned aerial vehicles, ...
What was North America like before the English settlers	I’m away from my books for the weekend, so here are some older questions that I’ve answered that you’ll find interesting. Also, be sure to check out our [Mega-AMA on the Pre-Columbian Americas](_URL_20_) and the relevant section of our [FAQs](_URL_14_) * [Did Native Americans have accurate maps of North America? What ...	[ "English colonisation of North America began officially in 1607 with the settlement of Jamestown, the first successful permanent colony in Virginia (a term that was then applied generally to North America). Its offshoot, Bermuda, was settled inadvertently after the wrecking of the Virginia company's flagship there ...
why isn't internet as stable and reliable as telephone and cable yet?	I'm not sure where you get your internet from but I get mine from the cable company and it goes out much less often than the cable itself.	[ "Traditional communication companies that now carry telephone services, are moving closer to universal service. As a result, the new market improves the utilization of the existing infrastructure, making it more cost efficient. Further, many non-traditional infrastructures, including cable television and electricit...
is there a limit to how small we can see?	Atm, the smallest thing that we can track relatively accurately is an electron, hence electron microscopes. However, once quantum forces dominate, electrons stop behaving normally, so we can't reliably subatomic particles. Once we manage to track a smaller particle than an electron, we may be able to see more detail, b...	[ "Observing a nearby small object without a magnifying glass or a microscope, the size of the object depends on the viewing distance. Under normal lighting conditions (light source ~ 1000 lumens at height 600–700 mm, viewing angle ~ 35 degrees) the angular size recognized by naked eye will be round 1 arc minute = 1/...
what are taxes? what age do you start paying? how do you pay them? where do you send them after being paid?	Taxes is like having a Netflix Account. At the moment, you are under your parent’s account with child restrictions. Your parents pay the subscription regularly so they can enjoy it’s perks. Some of these perks include things you might take for granted. Being safe in the US costs money. Health care costs money. Buildi...	[ "The PAYE tax credit, which is also €1,650, is awarded to employees and others who pay tax under the Pay as you earn system (further details below), to compensate them for the time value of money effect; their tax is deducted from their incomes during the year, whereas the self-employed pay near the end of the year...
what is "dropshipping" and how do spammers exploit it?	Dropshipping is essentially where you go to an online retailer like Walmart Online, Target Online, Nordstrom Online, etc. And order from a 3rd party seller - a company that is not the retailer itself. The order is normally not actually processed by the retailer, and instead handled by the 3rd party seller, either direc...	[ "The basic idea is to make spamming less attractive to the spammer, by increasing the spammer's overhead. There are several ways to reach a spammer, but besides the caveats mentioned above, it may lead to retaliations by the spammer.\n", "Spammers abuse vulnerable resources such as open mail relays and open proxi...
Could you melt a salt in the microwave if it has trapped water as part of its crystal structure?	It's actually something of an overstatement that microwave ovens heat up just water. They're good at heating up water, but they're good at heating up other things as well. First, just about anything will heat up (liquid) water. It has a [very broad](_URL_0_) [absorption spectrum](_URL_1_), with a window around visib...	[ "Microwave heating can cause localized thermal runaways in some materials with low thermal conductivity which also have dielectric constants that increase with temperature. An example is glass, which can exhibit thermal runaway in a microwave to the point of melting if preheated. Additionally, microwaves can melt c...
why does the president appoint a scotus justice? it seems like a conflict on interest in regards to checks and balances of branches of gov.	The president appoints the justice with the advice and consent of the Senate, meaning that both the legislature and the executive sign off. This is supposed to ensure that only effective candidates that both of the other branches approved can hold positions on the court. The alternative---direct election to the cou...	[ "Appointments of judges and Judicial Commissioners (JCs) of the Supreme Court are made by the President, when, in his discretion, he concurs with the Prime Minister's advice on the matter. The Prime Minister thus possesses the primary power of appointment of judges of the Supreme Court. Although the Prime Minister ...
Was the average quality of life really worse during medieval than in ancient Greece/Roman Empire?	To answer this question you have to really first define who the average person in the Medieval period was, and who the average person in the Roman Empire was. It at first seems easy; the average person in the medieval period was a peasant, and the average person in the Roman Empire was living in a beautiful city with m...	[ "Although the Middle Ages is often portrayed as an era of deprivation and oppression of the farmer and other workers, there is evidence that the life of a medieval farmer was no more difficult—and possibly better—than that of the average citizen of the Roman Empire before the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period...
Why do whales grow so large/why don't other aquatic animals get that big?	Whale paleontologist here - It most likely has to do with the availability of prey, and also possibly with ocean temperature and migration distance. Filter feeding organisms through earth's history have grown to the most massive sizes: the extinct pachycormid fishes (~30 feet), basking sharks (~30 feet), whale sharks...	[ "The increase in size is likely due to shifts in climate that have resulted in seasonally shifting accumulations of plankton in various parts of the world, necessitating more efficiency traveling over long distances between widely distributed prey sources which also resulted in a lower metabolic rate, and feeding o...
In 387BC, Sparta successfully concluded the Corinthian War. 15 years later on the eve of Leuctra it was loosing the fight against the Second Delian League and for peace. Why?	The main point is that Sparta didn't really win the Corinthian War so much as pretended the bloody stalemate was in its favour. By 387/6 BC, both sides in the war were exhausted, and neither was anywhere close to winning. The Spartan overseas empire had been dismantled and its fleet destroyed by Kimon; costly fighting...	[ "Hostilities in the Corinthian War began in 395 BC with raiding in northwestern Greece, eventually leading to a clash between Sparta and Thebes at the Battle of Haliartus, a Theban victory. In the wake of this battle, Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Argos joined together to form an anti-Spartan alliance, with its forc...
How does the Pauli exclusion principle keep neutron stars from collapsing?	Neutrons are fermions, and fermions obey the Fermi-Dirac statistics. This means that no two fermions can be in the same quantum state. This is called the Pauli exclusion principle. Now if you take a starfull of neutrons and start squeezing them, Pauli exclusion principle requires you to excite the neutrons to higher an...	[ "An \"anti-glitch\", a sudden small decrease in rotational speed, or spin down, of a neutron star has also been reported. It occurred in a magnetar, that in one case produced an X-ray luminosity increase of a factor of 20, and a significant spin-down rate change. Current neutron star models do not predict this beha...
volcanic vs. man-made climate change	If the volcanic activity you're referring to is a supervolcano, like Yellowstone, then sure, that'll effect the climate on a global scale. But if you're talking about volcanoes like the ones around the Pacific rim erupting, it's not going to make that big of a difference to the entire planet's climate.	[ "It is known that volcanic eruptions alter worldwide climate by injecting ash and gases into the atmosphere, which reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth, often causing cold weather and crop failures. The Huaynaputina eruption decreased the amount on solar energy reaching Earth by about . The summer of 16...
Requesting aid from you history buffs.	Actually, if you are in the states you could look into the Lynchburg, Va experiments & eugenics. Probably at least a few people involved still around.	[ "\"Thank You for Your Service\" chronicles mental health amongst U.S. military veterans. The film interweaves the stories of four struggling Iraq War veterans with candid interviews of top military and civilian leaders. Among the interviewees are Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Generals David Petraeus and Loree ...
why does a head cold slow you down so much both mentally and physically?	Am not a doctor and have no physiological or medical background but at a guess I'd say the body is directing as much energy and resources to the core site of viral or bacterial infection. This can leave the rest of the body a little...logey.	[ "Another theory into the cause of cold-stimulus headaches is explained by increased blood flow to the brain through the anterior cerebral artery, which supplies oxygenated blood to most medial portions of the frontal lobes and superior medial parietal lobes. This increase in blood volume and resulting increase in s...
How did American Inner-City Gangs develop?	The main cause for most urban gangs is poverty and for as long as America has had cities it has had gangs. Since people arrived in the US as immigrants they have tended to stick together in their cultural groups, which makes a lot of sense. If you look at early Irish gangs like the [40 Theives](_URL_0_) that formed lit...	[ "The same large and politically connected gangs from New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Boston, Detroit, Chicago and New Orleans that controlled gambling, prostitution, extortion, thefts and narcotics since the early to mid-19th century, now controlled bootlegging operations across America in the 1920s. These recen...
What ends up harming you from coming into contact with an electrical current?	It's not really one or the other, it's both. It's a common misconception that "the amps kill you, not the volts," but it doesn't really make any sense. The current is caused by the voltage, and for a given voltage the current will flow through your body at whatever rate your electrical resistance will allow it to. Th...	[ "Electrical current can cause interference with nervous control, especially over the heart and lungs. Repeated or severe electric shock which does not lead to death has been shown to cause neuropathy at the site where the current entered the body. The neurologic symptoms of electrical injury may occur immediately, ...
if the courts usually consider anything "buried in fine print" to not be valid, why do we still have such long user agreements?	EULAs (I assume you mean EULAs) don't contain any "fine print". "Buried in the fine print" means that vital details that are critical to or change the context of a contract or understanding between the two parties (as is the case in advertising) are included at a different place than the main text and in such a way as...	[ "On 1 January 2011, there were a number of cases that were archived owing to their lengthy processes. In these cases, properties under assessment had taken three to four decades without a final decision being made, owing to a lack of staff to handle the processes. By archiving these process, this left many properti...
why does your body not fill up with water through any orifice when having a bath or taking a swim?	Well most orifices are sealed. The anus keeps itself closed, the vagina is a closed dead end system, ears have eardrums, people keep their mouth closed, and more often than not plug their noses.	[ "There is little doubt humans have been splashing each other with water for a long time, particularly during hot days, as it seems to be a virtually instinctive act. Small infants and little children all enjoy splashing about in shallow wading pools or in the bathtub. Adolescents and adults often play pranks involv...
What's a historical fiction novel that impressed you with its accuracy?	The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford It covers the race to reach the south pole between Sir Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen. Huntford created scenes and dialogues based on the journal entries kept by all parties (and references said entries in footnotes throughout). It blurs the lines between historical fiction ...	[ "The novel \"owes a lot to the wonderful adventure novels of writers like Rider Haggard, that were a staple of Victorian Britain\". It was a spy novel that \"established a formula that included a mass of verifiable detail, which gave authenticity to the story – the same ploy that would be used so well by John Bucha...
why are baseball/hockey fights considered normal, but basketball fights considered catastrophic?	Baseball fights are not normal anymore. They rarely actually fight in baseball nowadays. They just clear the benches and mingle. Maybe some shoving. Similar for NBA and NFL, there's harsh penalties for real fighting (punches), so it rarely happens. NHL... fighting is part of the game, so it's no big deal as long as i...	[ "There are many reasons for fights during a hockey game. Some reasons are related to game play, such as retaliation, momentum-building, intimidation, deterrence, attempting to draw \"reaction penalties\", and protecting star players. There are also some personal reasons such as retribution for past incidents, bad b...
Why do atoms need to fill up their orbitals?	Good question! Because they actually _don't_ create an unbalanced charge. What I mean is that if you were to (somehow) take a single NaCl molecule and pull the two atoms apart in a vacuum, you would _not_ end up with Na^+ and Cl^- but with two electrically neutral atoms; Na^* and Cl^* (asterisks here mark that they're ...	[ "In its simplest form the overlapping atomic orbitals are replaced by orbitals which are expanded as linear combinations of the atom-based basis functions, forming linear combinations of atomic orbitals (LCAO). This expansion is optimized to give the lowest energy. This procedure gives good energies without includi...
Have bare legs on women been a popular fashion in any part of western civilization before the 20th century?	Hemlines raise and lower constantly, but stockings are always worn. In the later half of the 18th century the fashionable length was anywhere from [3-8"](_URL_3_) off the ground. When in working attire it could be [mid-calf](_URL_1_). The popular length goes down to ankle length as the century turns, but raises up now ...	[ "Bare legs have gone in and out of fashion many times in different cultures around the world. Examples of this fashion can be found as far back as 1066 with the Norman peasant class commonly baring their legs.\n", "In Western societies, after the spread of Christianity, public exposure of a woman's bare skin betw...

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