question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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Are stars in different locations than we perceive? | Usually, gravitational lensing is pretty weak. If two stars happen to line up, then the background star will be magnified, but only for the short period while the star passes in front.
Galaxies have stronger lensing, but this is usually still considered "weak lensing". They slightly twist the shape of background galax... | [
"Many stars may be referred to in fictional works for their metaphorical or mythological associations, or else as bright points of light in the sky of the Earth, but not as locations in space or the centers of planetary systems.\n",
"Many stars may be referred to in fictional works for their metaphorical or mytho... |
diabetes | Your pancreas is a very important organ, that creates a very important hormone called **insulin**. Insulin is critical in regulating the way the body uses sugar. Without insulin, the body cannot do a good job of taking sugar from the bloodstream and storing it in the muscles or liver. This results in an accumulation... | [
"Diabetes is a group of chronic metabolic diseases that affect the body's use of blood sugar. There are two main forms of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is characterized by insulin deficiency and requires daily administered doses of insulin. Causes of Type 1 diabetes are unknown and are currently, not... |
when someone is experiencing heart problems (like heart failure/heart attack) what is going on in the body that causes someone to feel short of breath? | ELI5: You need your heart to pump blood carrying carbon dioxide to your lungs in order for it to swap it for oxygen - people experience breathlessness/SOB because carbon dioxide builds up in your system in addition to blood building up/backing up in the heart-to-lung system (pulmonary arteries/veins). | [
"Shortness of breath and chest pain are the predominant symptoms. People experiencing a panic attack may incorrectly attribute them to a heart attack and thus seek treatment in an emergency room. Because chest pain and shortness of breath are hallmark symptoms of cardiovascular illnesses, including unstable angina ... |
"no approved therapeutic claims" on ads. | Their claim hasn't been verified in any scientific way. If I gave 10000 people a sugar pill and 1000 of them lost weight I could legally claim that the pill helps with weight loss. It wouldn't make the claim true, and the results might not be repeated in a larger sample population. The disclaimer would keep people from... | [
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) classifies a \"Product claim\" advertisement as one that identifies the name and trademark brand of the medication, and contains at least one approved indication for the drug, and claims surrounding its benefits.\n",
"Reminder and help-seeking ads are often used by dru... |
in theatre, why do so many people want to perform shakespeare? | A lot of Shakespeare's plays are considered classics - which means that they're respected, popular, and compelling. So for an actor looking for a good role, a prominent Shakespearean part like Romeo, King Lear, Lady MacBeth, Hamlet, Viola, etc. means several things.
First of all, it's often an interesting part that... | [
"BULLET::::- \"I don’t love naturalism. I think it’s so boring. I could sit in my living room and have a conversation... And I think our playwrights' wanting to bring television audiences into the theater is noble, because we need people to fill seats, but I think that’s undercutting what the theater can do. I love... |
How long would it take to travel to Alpha Centauri, both WRT an observer on the spaceship and an observer on earth? (Assuming constant acceleration of, say, 10m/s^2, and ignoring earth's gravity). What would be the effect of space time dilation for each of the observers? | The relevant equations can be found [here](_URL_0_), where I assume that the acceleration you refer to is what the spaceship feels ("proper acceleration") which is actually distinct from coordinate acceleration in any reference frame.
Plugging in for a 4.37 lightyear trip (and using the acceleration 1.03 lightyear/yea... | [
"The journey to Alpha Centauri B orbit would take about 100 years, at an average velocity of approximately 13,411 km/s (about 4.5% the speed of light) and another 4.39 years would be necessary for the data to reach Earth.\n",
"This imagined spaceship could offer round trips to Proxima Centauri lasting about 7.1 t... |
Is blushing uniquely human? | According to the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropology, yes. "Blushing is a uniquely human characteristic that does not appear in the great apes or other primates. In response to psychologic arousal, involuntary dilation in facial capillary beds produces a pronounced reddening in the cheeks that oft... | [
"Blushing is a physiological response unique to humans and is a hallmark physiological response associated with social anxiety. Blushing is the involuntary reddening of the face, neck, and chest in reaction to evaluation or social attention. Blushing occurs not only in response to feelings of embarrassment but also... |
How important was getting drunk to soldiers in pre-modern eras? | In the Vasa Museum in Sweden I remember seeing a set of instructions containing a list of rations each man would recieve, and this list included an alcohol beverage. Should fighing be expected, the rations were the same, but the amount of alcohol was doubled. | [
"At the start of World War II, alcohol consumption was widespread among members of the Wehrmacht. At first, high-ranking officials encouraged its use as a means of relaxation and a crude method of mitigating the psychological effects of combat, in the latter case through what later scientific developments would des... |
How do medievalists go about finding manuscripts? | Not certain that this post will stay up, as it's not really a question about the human past or a meta-question about the /r/AskHistorians. But here's a reply anyway, because it's worth talking about!
> I'll never find anything original
Not true! Here I'm assuming by 'original' you mean something which has received ... | [
"The task of copying manuscripts was generally done by scribes who were trained professionals in the arts of writing and bookmaking. Some manuscripts were also proofread, and scholars closely examining a text can sometimes find the original and corrections found in certain manuscripts. In the 6th century, a special... |
college admission essays. | To a Five-Year Old:
You don't need to worry about this yet. Things are hopefully going to be changing in the coming years.
If they continued to pressure me:
My experience comes mostly from applying to engineering schools, but I've talked to other people, and they said the experience and expectations were similar.
A... | [
"An admissions or application essay, sometimes also called a personal statement or a statement of purpose, is an essay or other written statement written by an applicant, often a prospective student applying to some college, university, or graduate school. The application essay is a common part of the university an... |
if an obese man lost a lot of weight and got in really good shape, if he had kids after getting in shape, would the kids be healthier than if he had the kids when he was obese? why or why not? | Look up something called Epigenetics. Epigenetics are the things that determine how your DNA is expressed. Epigenetics definitely changes on a generation by generation basis. We don't know a tremendous amount about it, but what studies we have done pretty strongly show that epigenetics can do things that normal DNA can... | [
"\"More than 80 percent of affected children become overweight adults, often with lifelong health problems.\" Children are not only highly at risk of diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure but obesity also takes a toll on the child's psychological development. Social problems can arise and have a snowba... |
Why does a 5 year old candle smell less than a brand new candle when lit? | Because the fragrant chemicals are constantly off-gassing from the candle into the air. (This is why unlit candles can still be smelled, up close.) After 5 years quite a lot of these chemicals are gone with the wind. | [
"From this point on, candles came to be marketed as more of a decorative item. Candles became available in a broad array of sizes, shapes and colors, and consumer interest in scented candles began to grow. During the 1990s, new types of candle waxes were being developed due to an unusually high demand for candles. ... |
why is the call of duty series generally hated? | To boil it down they took an innovative, groundbreaking game series that advanced the genre to a new level and turned it into a copy/paste release with new features each year instead of investing in a new gaming engine and play style.
The heated arguments start and are maintained between people who are passionately, a... | [
"The Call of Duty series was extremely popular during the 2000s, the diverse shooter franchise released multiple games throughout the 2000s that were positively critically reviewed and commercially successful.\n",
"A television advertisement for \"Call of Duty 2\" was the subject of some controversy in 2006. The ... |
today i accidently sniffed chlorine and it immediately made the back of my head hurt like when you get water up my nose, why? | I'm not sure about the back of your head, but it would have burned inside your nasal cavity. You've basically bleached the inside of your face.
& #x200B;
I know, cause I've done the same. | [
"Hydrogen chloride forms corrosive hydrochloric acid on contact with water found in body tissue. Inhalation of the fumes can cause coughing, choking, inflammation of the nose, throat, and upper respiratory tract, and in severe cases, pulmonary edema, circulatory system failure, and death. Skin contact can cause red... |
What was the North African Landscape like before desertification in antiquity? | You’ll probably get good answers in r/AskScience as well. | [
"Since Neolithic times, the climate of North Africa has become drier. A reminder of the desertification of the area is provided by megalithic remains, which occur in a great variety of forms and in vast numbers in presently arid and uninhabitable wastelands: cairns (\"kerkour\"), dolmens and circles like Stonehenge... |
How come domestic cats have so many coat differentiations compared to big cats? | Selective breeding. Every time an unusual cat pattern shows up we breed it like crazy to make it more pronounced.
A similar thing is seen with dogs, who exhibit even greater physiological distinctions due entirely to breeding.
If you get a darker cat, you breed it with other dark cats. Keep selecting the darkest on... | [
"Cat coat genetics determine the coloration, pattern, length, and texture of feline fur. Understanding how is challenging because many genes are involved. The variations among cat coats are physical properties and should not be confused with cat breeds. A cat may display the coat of a certain breed without actually... |
how do musicians come up with 'catchy' hooks? | As a musician... I'm also waiting for a response. | [
"The hooks of a song may be used in market research to assist in gauging the popularity of a song based on the listener's ability to recognize the song's hook. Often radio stations conduct \"call out\" either on the Internet, via telephone, or a music test (either online or in an in-person setting) to conduct surve... |
why can i tap my fingers from pinky to index faster and more fluid than index to pinky? | The muscles pulling your thumb from pinky to forefinger are relaxing. Your not exerting effort to move the thumb, so your energy goes into the fine movements along the way. Going the other way, you have contract the muscles to move it away from its resting place, and that makes it harder to do the fine motor movements ... | [
"Pure fingerspelling is usually indicated by hyphenation. Fingerspelled words that have been lexicalized (that is, fingerspelling sequences that have entered the sign language as linguistic units and that often have slight modifications) are indicated with a hash. For example, \"W-I-K-I\" indicates a simple fingers... |
What information can be attained from liquid/gas chromatography? | So in chromatography we have a mobile phase and a stationary phase. The stationary phase is whatever tube you are pushing the stuff you are interested through. The mobile phase is the stuff you are pushing. Your perfume would be the mobile phase.
You can choose all sorts of things to the stationary phase. Different st... | [
"To determine the concentration of archaeol present in a sample, chromatography technologies are commonly employed, including high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), with mass spectrometry (MS) often applied to aid the identification. \n"... |
What's the deal with Mein Kampf's copyright outside of Germany? | For the US that question is easy to answer:
The US government seized the copyright in 1942 under the Trading with the enemy act and sold in 1979 to Houghton Mifflin which is the current US publisher of Mein Kampf.
In the EU and other parts of the world the situation is a bit more difficult but in several countries th... | [
"Printing and public distribution of Hitler's book \"Mein Kampf\" was not allowed by the copyright holder, the state of Bavaria, which acquired the copyright after Hitler's death in 1945 since it was the location of his official residence. The copyright expired at the end of 2015. Private ownership and trade is all... |
The British army used to be famous the world over as "Red Coats". When and how did the uniform come about, and when and why did it disappear? | So, a couple things here: the red coats and the standardization of the military, which are not necessarily exclusive to each other.
With the widespread use of black powder on the battlefield it became important to avoid friendly fire and part of this was to wear easily identifiable colors. The British opted for madder... | [
"Red coat or redcoat is a historical item of military clothing used widely, though not exclusively worn, by most regiments of the British Army from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The scarlet tunic continues to be used into the 21st century, with several armed forces of the Commonwealth of Nations adopting them as ... |
if atoms and particles behave in probabilistic ways and our brains are made up of atoms and particles, how does free will exist? | There's not really a conclusive answer to that. Some people believe free will exists, some believe it doesn't.
The simplest explanation for it that I can think of is Brownian motion 'randomly' nudging atomic particles around in a way that it causes miniscule imbalances which can't be predicted. It really depends on w... | [
"BULLET::::- \"It seems to me immensely unlikely that mind is a mere by-product of matter. For if my mental processes are determined wholly by the motions of atoms in my brain I have no reason to suppose that my beliefs are true. They may be sound chemically, but that does not make them sound logically. And hence I... |
Why did Truman decide against using nuclear weapons in the Korean War? | As douglasmacarthur pointed out here already (and, of all people, he *should* know) Truman's explicit reason was the fear of retaliation from the USSR.
As soon as China entered the foray, the diplomatic situation changed immensely. It was assumed that, though without the presence of Soviet personnel on the field of ba... | [
"Both the Pentagon and the State Department were cautious about using nuclear weapons because of the risk of general war with China and the diplomatic ramifications. Truman and his senior advisors agreed, and never seriously considered using them in early December 1950 despite the poor military situation in Korea.\... |
Did monotheism in East African religion develop independently of influence from Christian Ethiopia or Muslim traders/settlers on the coast? How far back were East African tribal religions monotheistic? | You might have more luck in /r/askanthropology | [
"The nomadic Bantu were responsible for bringing the concept of monotheism to the traditional religions of Southern Africa. The first official recognition of Mwari was by the Kingdom of Zimbabwe, whose most notable ruler was Monomotapa of the Mutapa Kingdom. It is believed that this new addition to Shona religion w... |
Why are we attracted to the body odor of some people but not to others? | _URL_0_
This is the seminal paper on the topic. Although there are several huge problems with biases and loopholes in design here, the results are still interesting. Because of sexual reproduction, mating with a member of the opposite sex who is genetically different in terms of immunological defenses could impart adv... | [
"A person's odor can increase or decrease ratings of attractiveness because the olfactory receptors in the brain are directly linked with the limbic system, the part of the brain that is thought to be most involved with emotion. This link is important, because if an individual associates positive affect (elicited b... |
why does wounds turn white and jelly after being wet? | Wounds turn white and green due to infections especially if it's an open wound exposed to a lot of chlorine and the crust is basically just there to prevent the bleeding jelly turns white and crusty when wet? I didn't know this but if I had to guess it's likely just mold growing | [
"A mucous rectal discharge may be blood-streaked. With some conditions, the blood can be homogenously mixed with the mucus, creating a pink goo. An example of this could be the so-called \"red currant jelly\" stools in intussusception. This appearance refers to the mixture of sloughed mucosa, mucus, and blood.\n",
... |
after recently seeing an article about laser technology uncovering a lost african city, why can't we use that technology to map the paris catacombs? | [LIDAR] (_URL_1_) works by flying a plane over the area you want to map and bouncing a scanning laser off the ground. The laser light can get enough back scatter through vegetation to map what's underneath. But lasers can't see through dirt, pavement, stone, or buildings. Some type of [geophysical imaging](_URL_0_) mig... | [
"The 3D Encounters Project at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology aims to use 3D laser scanning to create a high quality 3D image library of artefacts and enable digital travelling exhibitions of fragile Egyptian artefacts, English Heritage has investigated the use of 3D laser scanning for a wide range of app... |
when we are looking at a very distant object in space, are we really seeing that object in distant past and how? | The easiest way to understand this is by an analogy. Remember that light doesn't travel instantly. It travels at a speed.
So, pretend for a second that you are blind. Light no longer enters into the picture for you. The only way to can get information about the night sky is when someone prints out a braille sheet th... | [
"...though we cannot know these objects as things in themselves, we must yet be in a position at least to think them as things in themselves; otherwise we should be landed in the absurd conclusion that there can be appearance without anything that appears.\n",
"The mere possible presence of another person causes ... |
A friend of mine got a speeding ticket. The cop was driving behind him, and used a laser speed gun. How does the detector calculate a speed while moving? | From Wikipedia:
> In so-called "moving radar", the gun receives reflected signals from both the target vehicle and stationary background objects such as the road surface, nearby road signs, guard rails and streetlight poles. Instead of comparing the frequency of the signal reflected from the target with the transmit... | [
"BULLET::::- Radar speed gun – A handheld Doppler radar used by traffic police to measure the speed of vehicles to determine if they are obeying the local speed limit. When the officer points the gun at a vehicle and presses a trigger, its speed appears on a numeric display. Speed guns use the X band or K band.\n",... |
why is npr ad-free? | Public radio is ad-free because they don't need to run ads. They receive funding from several levels of government as well as donations from businesses and individuals. They also make a lot of their own content, use content which is very cheap to license, or use content which is donated to them.
Edit: NPR outlines t... | [
"In 2011, NPR announced the roll-out of their own online advertising network, which allows member stations to run geographically targeted advertisement spots from national sponsors that may otherwise be unavailable to their local area, opening additional revenue streams to the broadcaster.\n",
"In contrast with c... |
how does the rearview mirror tab flip the mirror to face a different direction, yet you are still able to see what's behind you? | There are two reflective surfaces in the mirror. Mostly you use the back surface which is coated with shiny aluminium, like most mirrors you're familiar with. The front surface of the glass is also reflective, also like most mirrors, but the trick is that the front surface is at an angle to the back surface, i.e., in... | [
"On manual tilt versions, a tab is used to adjust the mirror between \"day\" and \"night\" positions. In the day view position, the front surface is tilted and the reflective back side gives a strong reflection. When the mirror is moved to the night view position, its reflecting rear surface is tilted out of line w... |
how do stocks work as a business owner. | All stock is is a percentage share of ownership in a given company. If a company has 100 shares of stock and you own 15 of them, then you own 15% of the company.
You don't need stock for ownership - you can just own 15% of the company outright - but codifying ownership into shares allows that ownership to be easily t... | [
"A stock market, equity market or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers (a loose network of economic transactions, not a physical facility or discrete entity) of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include \"securities\" listed on a public stock exc... |
In the winter when frogs are frozen, are they conscious or asleep? | That is a false dichotomy. Frozen frogs have no measurable brain activity, no breathing, no heartbeat, no movement. They'd neither be conscious nor asleep. The closest state we humans have would be death. That is the experience we had before we were conceived (none at all). The only difference between their frozen stat... | [
"During the winter months, the frog tends to be inactive, staying in one place, whereas it moves around during the warmer months to search for food and mating partners. During winter, the frog does become active for brief periods during warm or wet weather. In cold conditions, the frogs are thought to hibernate, ba... |
How did ancient civilisations (Ancient Greek, Romans for example) trade using different currencies? Was there a rate of exchange between their different currencies? | I’ll mainly be talking about the Greek world here as this is as far as my ancient numismatic knowledge extends.
We have to keep in mind that as many of these currencies were stamped gold and silver coins, there was nominally no particular exchange rate - instead of doing conversions all you needed to do was weigh the... | [
"Under the barter system that existed in early Iron Age Greece, goods and services were directly exchanged without the use of an exchange medium (money). However, such transactions were aided by conventionally accepted reference values. Certain commodities were often used as reference points for evaluating the rela... |
what is america’s problem with abortion? | Different countries have different moral values.
USA has a strong global conservative population where many believe in birth beginning at conception.
Though plenty of people maybe even a majority don't buy into that belief. | [
"One of the most controversial developments in American women's lives has been the legalization of abortion. In 1973, in the Supreme Court case Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that it is an illegal violation of privacy to outlaw or regulate any aspect of abortion performed during the first trimester of pregnanc... |
Why is the universe cooling down? | The universe is expanding so volume is increasing. | [
"Observations suggest that the expansion of the universe will continue forever. If so, then a popular theory is that the universe will cool as it expands, eventually becoming too cold to sustain life. For this reason, this future scenario once popularly called \"Heat Death\" is now known as the Big Chill or Big Fre... |
Who and when came up with marking the birth of jesus as the year 0 ? | Firstly, there is no year zero in the BC/AD year-numbering system. The year that Jesus was born (supposedly - more about that below) is the year 1 Anno Domini ("in the Year of the Lord"). The year before that is the year 1 Before Christ. There is no year 0.
Having gotten that out of the way... :)
It all started with ... | [
"Two main approaches have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus: one based on the accounts in the Gospels of his birth with reference to King Herod's reign, and the other by subtracting his stated age of \"about 30 years\" when he began preaching. Most scholars, on this basis, assume a date of birth ... |
What happened to Franz Ferdinand's driver? | There seem to be very few good sources on this (or maybe I just don't know where to look), but everything I've come across seems to agree on a few details.
1. His name was Leopold Loyka (or Lojka)
2. In the immediate aftermath, he was the one who had to telegraph Emperors Franz Joseph I and Wilhelm II, as well as t... | [
"Italian driver Elio de Angelis who had joined Brabham after six years with Lotus, was the first driver to die in a works Brabham when he was killed in an accident while testing at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France. The car survived the accident relatively intact and de Angelis had only minor injuries. However, the... |
What is the atomic radius of the element Francium (Fr)? | Well, atomic radius is not a well defined concept, as electrons exist as "probability clouds" that decay with radius but are never truly zero. It's similar to asking "what is the radius of the sun's gravity". The true answer is infinity.
However, 5 seconds of googling tells me that the "Covalent" radius is 260 pm an... | [
"For example, the atomic radius of the metal zirconium, Zr, (a period-5 transition element) is 159 pm and that of hafnium, Hf, (the corresponding period-6 element) is 156 pm. The ionic radius of Zr is 79 pm and that of Hf is 78 pm. The radii are very similar even though the number of electrons increases from 40 to ... |
FEATURE Round-Table | Psychology and History | Ultimately, psychological diagnosis is one of the ways modern societies make sense of particular sets of behavior, usually behaviors that are seen as problematic in some way. Although these sets of behaviors may have biological and neurological root-causes, the behavior may be interpreted in different ways depending on... | [
"History of Psychology is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Division 26 of the American Psychological Association. The journal was established in 1998 and covers research on the history of psychology. The current editor-in-chief is Nadine Weidman (Harvard University and Boston College).\n",
"BULLET:::... |
can exposure to extremely high levels of radiation cause immediate death? how? | "Yes, high enough acute doses can prevent neurons from firing correctly and lead to instant death. If you were to pull out a fuel assembly from a nuclear power plant and place it on the wall and run at it from 50 feet away. You will die before touching it."
_URL_0_ | [
"Death is highly likely and radiation poisoning is almost certain if one is caught in the open with no terrain or building masking effects within a radius of 0–3 km from a 1 megaton airburst, and the 50% chance of death from the blast extends out to ~8 km from the same 1 megaton atmospheric explosion.\n",
"Brief ... |
european debt problems and germany | When the Euro was created, the idea was to unify Europe and make the economy work better. However, they didn't want to create a single European government, so each country was still sovereign and made their own budgets.
Some countries like Swedn, Denmark and Germany went into debt, but are more than able to pay for th... | [
"Economist Thomas Piketty said in July 2015: \"We need a conference on all of Europe’s debts, just like after World War II. A restructuring of all debt, not just in Greece but in several European countries, is inevitable.\" This reflected the difficulties that Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland had faced (along wit... |
Did the cost of maintaining the Empire outweigh the economic gains made by the British overall? | As most of my usual sources are temporarily unreachable, I'll address the aspects of imperial wealth that I do have sources for.
**The City of London and Empire as Profit by Position**
Davis and Hutchback cite as one example of Empire's relative unimportance the fact that colonial finance did not dominate the capital... | [
"During the Industrial Revolution the empire became less important and less well-regarded. The British defeat in the American War of Independence (1775–1783) deprived it of its largest and most developed colonies. This loss brought a realisation that colonies were not particularly economically beneficial to the hom... |
Were there any atheistic societies or, at the very least, were there any societies that tolerated atheists before the English and Spanish began colonization of the New World? | Hi, while you are waiting for in depth answers you might check the FAQ. The general answer to your question "Were there any atheistic societies" seems to be no.
_URL_0_
| [
"An important factor was the 'religious' question. The radical liberals (\"progresistas\") after 1820 had grown more and more anticlerical, strongly opposing religious institutes. They were suspected of being adherents of Freemasonry. This policy alienated them from many sectors of the (mostly deeply Catholic) Span... |
how has it come to be that the president of the us can order attacks on countries we aren't at war with? what specific acts, laws, incidents led to the bypass of a congressional declaration of war? | The president is the supreme commander of the military. He can order the military however he wants. The president cannot declare war, but his actions can enable congress to declare war. | [
"The United States has formally declared war against foreign nations five separate times, each upon prior request by the President of the United States. Four of those five declarations came after hostilities had begun. James Madison reported that in the Federal Convention of 1787, the phrase \"make war\" was change... |
why are heinz ketchup bottles transparent in stores but solid red at restaurants? | Heinz wants you to be able to see that your ketchup is getting darker and a bit dried out and think "Maybe I should buy another bottle". On the other hand, the restaurant buys in bulk and fills the ketchup doodads themselves, and they'd rather your ketchup look full and fresh at all times. | [
"Heinz introduced its octagonal glass bottle for the first time in 1889; the bottle was patented in 1890. While other glass bottle designs have existed, the octagonal glass bottle is still in use and is considered an \"iconic\" example of package design. In the United States, the glass bottle commonly used by resta... |
has earth's polarity shifted at some point of history? what would happen if it did? | Yes, it seems to do so every so often (on a geologic time scale) and we may be due for one in the next... ohh.. 10k-100k years.
_URL_0_
That article doesn't seem too worried about it, and given how long it takes to happen they seem fairly confident that we'd be able to respond. | [
"Charles Hapgood is now perhaps the best remembered early proponent. In his books \"The Earth's Shifting Crust\" (1958) (which includes a foreword by Albert Einstein) and \"Path of the Pole\" (1970), Hapgood speculated that accumulated polar ice mass destabilizes the Earth's rotation, causing crustal displacement b... |
where does a vacuum cleaner 'suck' from? | The "vacuum" cleaner is just a complicated fan that moves air from one side to the other. In the middle, the air goes through a paper bag that catches the dirt. | [
"This is a list of vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaner manufacturers. A vacuum cleaner is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a rigid cartridge, which may be e... |
why are presidents who have gone through their terms still referred to as president? | it is a sign of respect for them. it's like a doctor being called doctor even though he's 75 and not practicing anymore. | [
"According to another legend, Muhlenberg also suggested that the title of the President of the United States should be \"Mr. President\" instead of \"His High Mightiness\" or \"His Elected Majesty\", as John Adams had suggested.\n",
"In the United States, the title \"Mr. President\" is used in a number of formal ... |
Where can I find a chronological database of WW2 newsreels? | You can find a large number of relevant British newsreels, searchable by year, here: _URL_0_ | [
"On This Day is the name of the BBC's news archive website. It contains an online digital library of news stories reported by the BBC on the Second World War and world events from the 1950s to 2005. There are entries for every day of the year, many including video or audio reports which can be viewed online. The st... |
Do different kinds of light travel it different speeds? | In a vacuum (that is, an area devoid of all matter), all electromagnetic waves, including light, travel at the same speed, c or 300 million meters per second.
When in a medium (materials such as air, water, glass), the speed does depend on the wavelength or 'type' of light. This is why we get rainbow effects from pri... | [
"Virtual photons in some calculations in quantum field theory may also travel at a different speed for short distances; however, this doesn't imply that anything can travel faster than light. While it has been claimed (see VSL criticism below) that no meaning can be ascribed to a dimensional quantity such as the sp... |
why do horses need shoes... but cows do not ? | Domesticated horses are not in their natural environment. In the wild, horses would move steadily for long distances every day while grazing, and lived in fairly dry climates. This results in the horses' hooves (which are made of keratin, and are similar to human toenails) becoming hardened and smoothly worn.
Howeve... | [
"Nonetheless, domestic horses do not always require shoes. When possible, a \"barefoot\" hoof, at least for part of every year, is a healthy option for most horses. However, horseshoes have their place and can help prevent excess or abnormal hoof wear and injury to the foot. Many horses go without shoes year-round,... |
what is going on with turkey's president erdogan? | I don't know about the old ELI5 and i don't really write posts in reddit. I'm just a reader but this time I wanted to say some things about this.
That demonstration in the stadium was congressional elections inside of AKP.
Not everyone hate Erdogan. He actually have the support of %40 of the country.
Erdogan is the... | [
"Erdoğan took over as President from Abdullah Gül on 28 August, while Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was elected leader of the AKP, succeeded Erdoğan as Prime Minister on the same date. It has been speculated that Erdoğan will continue to pursue his political agenda as president while Davutoğlu takes a docile approach as Pri... |
How can a colonial organism function as a single entity? | Portugese man-o-war are often misunderstood. They aren't made of multiple species. Instead, all the different parts are descended from buds off of one original unit. The buds grow into different looking polyps that do a variety of different things, but they all remain as a connected whole.
Here's a pretty good vi... | [
"Colonial organisms are clonal colonies composed of many physically connected, interdependent individuals. The subunits of colonial organisms can be unicellular, as in the alga \"Volvox\" (a coenobium), or multicellular, as in the phylum Bryozoa. The former type may have been the first step toward multicellular org... |
Can global warming and the next ice age cancel out? | It is useful to consider this within the context of how things usually work. During the latter half of the [Quaternary](_URL_4_) (the last 800,000 years to be precise), glacial and interglacial cycles have had a rough periodicity with glacial cycles occuring ever ~100,000 years (and lasting ~80-100,000 years) and inter... | [
"On 23 April 2008, Dr Chapman authored an op-ed in The Australian newspaper, noting a new ice age will eventually occur, that based on current low solar activity it might even be imminent, and \"It is time to put aside the global warming dogma, at least to begin contingency planning about what to do if we are movin... |
the differences between the tories and labour party | Their differences are more historical than ideological.
The Labour Party was originally formed in the early 20th Century as the "political wing" of the Trade Union movement. As such its ideology was generally to support legislation that improved the lives of working class people, and in keeping with the "broad church... | [
"The Conservative Party (also known as Tories) is the oldest political party in the United Kingdom and arguably the world. The current party was first organized in the 1830s and the name \"Conservative\" was officially adopted, but the party is still often referred to as the Tory party (not least because newspaper ... |
What would the speed of sound be through an incompressible object? | I don't think a compression wave (sound) could pass through an incompressable substance at all. | [
"As an object accelerates from subsonic toward supersonic speed in a gas, different types of wave phenomena occur. To illustrate these changes, the next figure shows a stationary point (M = 0) that emits symmetric sound waves. The speed of sound is the same in all directions in a uniform fluid, so these waves are s... |
how did florida become a national hotbed for the insane (see r/floridaman)? | Florida makes it's police records public.
That's it.
The other states have the same level of crazy, its just not part of the public record like it is in Florida.
So news reports what they can get there hands on, and they can get there hands on floridas police records easy. | [
"The Roaring Twenties ended early for Sarasota. Florida was the first area in the United States to be affected by the financial problems that led to the Great Depression. In 1926 development speculation began to collapse with bank failures on the eastern coast of Florida, much earlier than most parts of the country... |
why do you have to turn off your circuit breakers when starting electrical services? | You turn off the circuit breakers so that there is no current flowing when the meter is being installed. If the line is hot, the technician sent out will probably not do it. | [
"To protect one or more circuit breakers in an electrical panel, a lockout-tagout device called the Panel Lockout can be used. It keeps the panel door locked and prevents the panel cover from being removed. The circuit breakers remain in the off position while electrical work is done.\n",
"An open switching inter... |
How and why were the terms Hispanic/Latino created? | I had a professor who is Latino and she explained it like this. A Hispanic is literally a Spanish person not living in Spain but somewhere else. A Latino is someone of Spanish descent.
Most people use them interchangeably, but some people resent being called Hispanic when they are Latino. | [
"The term \"Latino\" was officially adopted in 1997 by the United States Government in the ethnonym \"Hispanic or Latino\", which replaced the single term \"Hispanic\": \"Because regional usage of the terms differs – Hispanic is commonly used in the eastern portion of the United States, whereas Latino is commonly u... |
classes and objects in programming | A class is essentially a description of *how* a thing should work. An object of a class is an actual working thing, that fits the description.
Example:
A car has four wheels, an engine and a chassis. Using the pedals, you can accelerate or stop the car. Using the steering wheel, you can turn the car. This is the *cl... | [
"Objects are accessed somewhat like variables with complex internal structure, and in many languages are effectively pointers, serving as actual references to a single instance of said object in memory within a heap or stack. They provide a layer of abstraction which can be used to separate internal from external c... |
why is graphite (unless erased) more permanent than ink? | Ultraviolet light fades (breaks down) the pigments in ink, but it doesn't fade the black in carbon. That would require alchemy. | [
"Because non-etching ink doesn't penetrate the surface of the film the way it penetrates paper, it is often possible to remove inked lines from drafting film when drawing on it by hand; an abrasive-free vinyl drafting eraser is the preferred tool for this, although a scalpel works too. For the same reason, graphite... |
Why is there no video recordings of planetary fly by instead of just photographs, like Pluto etc? | Here you go!
_URL_0_
This is manipulated image data however, the cameras on New Horizons are not video cameras—specifically LORRI and Ralph. It will takes some weeks for all of the data to be transferred and analyzed by NASA/APL. | [
"NASA has also applied the name to a 2012 series of images which cover the entire globe at relatively high resolution. These were created by looking through satellite pictures taken over time in order to find as many cloudless photographs as possible to use in the final images.\n",
"But since most celestial objec... |
What's the oldest instance we know of of business owners advertising -- as in posters, billboards, etc. not on their own place of business? | Pompeii, which was destroyed in 79CE, has thousands of ads written on the walls of the houses. Graffiti advertising the nearest brothel, candidates for elections, prices at the local baths, and upcoming games etc. Things like "Once you stay in Gabinius’ hotel you’ll stay there." And "The gladiatorial troop hired by Aul... | [
"N. W. Ayer & Son was a Philadelphia advertising agency founded in in 1869. It called itself the oldest advertising agency in the United States. Named after Francis Ayer's father N. W. Ayer, it ventured into advertising in 1884. It created a number of memorable slogans for firms such as De Beers, AT&T and the U.S. ... |
what is the difference between prosciutto, pancetta, capicolla, salami, etc.? | prosciutto is dry cured pig thigh (well, in Italian it's any meat from the pig thigh, but we call it "ham" when it's cooked). Capicolla is dry cured pig shoulder. Pancetta is cured pork belly. It's called Salami if you ground up the meat and stick it in a bag before curing it. | [
"Sliced \"prosciutto crudo\" in Italian cuisine is often served as an antipasto, wrapped around \"grissini\", or accompanied with melon. It is also eaten as accompaniment to cooked spring vegetables, such as asparagus or peas. It may be included in a simple pasta sauce made with cream, or a Tuscan dish of tagliatel... |
From the perspective of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is global warming inevitable? | One of the items typically missed with regards to the Second Law of Thermodynamics is that it refers specifically to a closed system. The earth is notably not a closed system, we receive most of our energy from an external source, being the sun.
Also the problem of global warming is not necessarily one of waste heat ... | [
"In the book, Plimer asserts that the current theory of human-induced global warming is not in accord with history, archaeology, geology or astronomy and must be rejected, that promotion of this theory as science is fraudulent, and that the current alarm over climate change is the result of bad science. He argues t... |
why a light bulb burns the brightest the moment before it dies. | It is a case of good guy lightbulb... Knows its going to die, so it gives you it's all before it goes dark. I jest, as in truth it is more sciencey.
When the filament made of tungsten in the lightbulb reaches the point where it cannot handle the current anymore, because too much of filament has vaporized off, it momen... | [
"While it might seem astonishing that so many longest-lasting light bulbs have been so infrequently turned off, this is the precise reason for their longevity. Most of the wear and tear that leads to burnouts in incandescent light bulbs is caused by turning them on and off, not by burning them. Each time the bulb i... |
how does water intoxication work? | Water inside the body is either:
1) inside cells, or
2) outside cells (such as in the blood and in the space between cells)
In your body's water there are many substances that must always be in the right concentration (how much of a substance there is for a given amount of water) for your body to function correctly. ... | [
"Balneology or sometimes referred to as \"taking in the waters\" is an ancient method of gaining the benefits of mineral water through immersion, ingestion and contact with the water over a period of time. It is believed that the mineral content within the water, especially magnesium, initiates a calming effect on ... |
Did Akhenaten succumb to Judaic pressure to conform to monotheism? | Short answer, no.
Longer answer, while it is very probable that a group of individuals, who had been held in slavery or sub par conditions in Egypt, later migrated to Palestine and helped form what would become the Israelites, the story in the Biblical account just isn’t accurate. There was most likely no mass slave... | [
"Akhenaten instigated the earliest verified expression of a form of monotheism, although the origins of a pure monotheism are the subject of continuing debate within the academic community. Some state that Akhenaten restored monotheism while others point out that he merely suppressed a dominant solar cult by the as... |
when jumping a car battery, why do you attach one clamp to the dead car, not the dead battery? | That may be the “ground cable” you’re referring to. The ground should be AWAY from the battery because the dead battery makes hydrogen gas (explosive) and you don’t want a spark to make a boom boom. | [
"A car with a \"dead\" (discharged) battery can be made to start by supplying it with power from an external source, such as the battery of another car. The cables used to make the necessary temporary connection are also commonly called \"jumper cables\". These usually are equipped at the ends with alligator clips.... |
At what point does compressed coal become non-
combustible? | To be absolutely clear about this - coal does not form diamonds.
Diamond is crystalline carbon - a mineral. Coal is a rock, composed *mostly* but not exclusively of carbon. Rather than being a solid carbon lattice, coal is an amalgam of many many various hydrocarbon chemicals [such as this](_URL_0_).
Diamonds are ... | [
"When this mixture of fuel and air is ignited, especially in a confined space such as a warehouse or silo, a significant increase in pressure is created, often more than sufficient to demolish the structure. Even materials that are traditionally thought of as nonflammable (such as aluminum), or slow burning (such a... |
Basic question on the spreading of matter during the big bang | > So matter spread from the big bang at a rate MUCH faster than the speed of light.
The big bang isn't 'an explosion in space', but a metric expansion
It's not matter moving *through* space, but *an expansion of space itself*. | [
"The Big Bang is not an explosion of matter moving outward to fill an empty universe. Instead, space itself expands with time everywhere and increases the physical distance between two comoving points. In other words, the Big Bang is not an explosion \"in space\", but rather an expansion \"of space\". Because the F... |
why is the bcs national championship on a monday? | I believe that it is because this weekend was the first weekend of the NFL playoffs. With Nfl playoff games on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon and evening that they didn't want to compete with that. Placing the game on a Monday night does not compete with the Nfl. Also many football fans are used to watching Mond... | [
"In the first eight seasons of the BCS contract, the championship game was rotated among the four bowls, with each bowl game hosting the national championship once every four years. Starting with the 2007 BCS, the National Championship Games became a separate game played on January 8 at the site of the BCS bowl gam... |
why don't we develop a new international language? | People have tried.
_URL_0_
Why it isn't popular is up for debate, but you identified two of the biggest reasons: laziness/stubbornness, and loss of culture. | [
"There has been no shortage of attempts to create a new and “better” universal language. An exhaustive account of these efforts can be found in the book “In the Land of Invented Languages” by Arika Okrent. According to Okrent, in the last thousand years, more than 900 languages have been invented, often by individu... |
Is there any historical evidence of organized Satanism before the 19th Century? | There was a book published a decade ago about Satanism in the French court in the 17th century that made for rather spine-chilling reading: "The Affair of the Poisons: Murder, Infanticide, and Satanism at the Court of Louis XIV".
The affair lead to the execution of dozens and, as I recall, the imprisonment of more st... | [
"Accusations that various groups have been practicing Satanism have been made throughout much of Christian history. During the Middle Ages, the Inquisition attached to the Roman Catholic Church alleged that various heretical Christian sects and groups, such as the Knights Templar and the Cathars, performed secret S... |
why does lemon juice turn brown when heated? | Heat causes the sugars in the dried juice to caramelize.
The brown color is due to the production of compounds called *melanoidins* which are a reaction with sugar breakdown products and traces of proteins in the juice.
This is the same process as heating sugar over the stove to caramelize it or indeed, browning bre... | [
"Lemon juice is also used as a short-term preservative on certain foods that tend to oxidize and turn brown after being sliced (enzymatic browning), such as apples, bananas, and avocados, where its acid denatures the enzymes.\n",
"Although not as juicy or tasty as the flesh, orange peel is edible and has signific... |
Does genetic variation differ between species of different taxa? | As u/gerzald points out, your comparison between humans "seeming" diverse while cats "looking" identical isn't very helpful for understanding genetic variation. Variation in outward appearance is one, very small, part of genetic diversity - it is possible to "look" diverse but actually have relatively low genetic diver... | [
"Because great genetic differences often occur between representatives of \"Trichoplax adhaerens\", differences that in other taxa would result in their being spread among different genera, it is currently unclear whether the single species based on morphological criteria does not actually correspond to a group of ... |
why is it called stainless steel if it can be stained? | Well, it doesn't stain as easily as regular steel. But more importantly it is resistant against rusting. Ordinary steel rusts very easily. | [
"Stainless steel is considered stainless because it has at least 11% chromium by mass. Chromium is a relatively inert metal and does not rust or react as easily as plain carbon steel. This is what makes it an exceptional material for cooking. It is also fairly inexpensive, but does not have a very high thermal cond... |
why do many african countries make it very difficult for western countries to visit? wouldn't it benefit them to give travel visas more easily to encourage the tourism industry? | The answers here so far are just plain wrong or are sensational bullshit.
The first issue is that the tourism industry is not big in all African countries and that affects how easy it is for you to visit them. Some countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Bostwana, South Africa, Namibia, Egypt, and Morocco, have very large tou... | [
"Not only does this deter tourists from visiting the affected countries, it may also deter prospective migrants who are considering migrating over to seek better living conditions and to take up future job opportunities. \n",
"Many developing countries have an under supply of university places to satisfy demand a... |
What are the ecologically equivalent large terrestrial scavengers that T-rex is compared to? | Actually they just found a T-rex tooth fused to a prey dinosaur's spine which allowed them to infer that if the T-rex was a scavenger, it was probably facultatively so. BUT...answering your question, most canines would be a good example of a predator who acts as a facultative scavenger. | [
"Large extant species of stork are typically scavengers of carrion and compete with carnivorous mammals. Pleistocene Liang Bua was highly endemic and there were no or very few large carnivorous mammals that \"L. robustus\" competed with for carrion. In the absence of such competition, food was more abundant. This a... |
what is the significance of canada signing the free trade agreement with the eu for canadian citizens? | Nothing obvious for most of us. It's a trade agreement, not a travel or residency or work permit agreement. As far as the average person goes, it won't mean anything immediately visible.
There will be industries that lose jobs over it, and probably some that gain. It won't be clear for a while though just how that sh... | [
"Since as early as June 2007, the Government of Canada led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper have been pressuring the EU and its member countries to negotiate a Canada-EU free trade agreement Former French prime minister Edouard Balladur has supported the idea, while former Canadian trade negotiator Michael Hart cal... |
what are the alternatives to austerity? | Okay, ELI5: there are two main schools of thought in macroeconomics. The Austrian school says the economy runs best when the government takes a hands-off approach. The Keynesian school says that the economy runs best when the government nudges it in the right direction (putting on the brakes when the economy is going t... | [
"Austerity is a political-economic term referring to policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. Austerity measures are used by governments that find it difficult to pay their debts. The measures are meant to reduce the budget deficit by bri... |
Is it always raining somewhere on the surface of the Earth? | It's not like it's a rule or anything, but probably. | [
"Weather is one of the fundamental processes that shape the Earth. The process of weathering breaks down the rocks and soils into smaller fragments and then into their constituent substances. During rains precipitation, the water droplets absorb and dissolve carbon dioxide from the surrounding air. This causes the ... |
what is the purpose of the red and yellow buttons on my blow dryer plug? | its a ground fault interrupter. required by law.
In simple terms, it detects if the hair dryer were to be dropped into water and would kill the power.
I cant remember which button is which, but one button simulates the short and trips it to confirm that the device is working, the other button then resets the breaker... | [
"Many of these dryers have \"normal mode\" buttons that turn off the heater and blow room-temperature air while the button is pressed. This function helps to maintain the hairstyle by setting it. The colder air reduces frizz and can help to promote shine in the hair.\n",
"Reed switches use a matched seal between ... |
how to flirt | > explain like I'm 5
um...ok.... Talking to girls is kind of like playing with Lego... there aren't any rules about what you should do and it can be a little scary when you first start. It's best if you don't have a fixed plan on what you want to build, just stick a few pieces together and see what it starts to look... | [
"Many people flirt as a courtship initiation method, with the aim of engaging in a sexual relationship with another person. In this sense, flirting plays a role in the mate-selection process. The person flirting will send out signals of sexual availability to another, and expects to see the interest returned in ord... |
how does facebook recommend family members despite me having no connection to them on facebook? | Your thread has been removed because it's a regularly addressed topic on this subreddit. Don't worry, that doesn't mean it's bad. If anything, that means it's a great topic that's already been addressed.
Please do a search for keywords based on your topic, limited to this subreddit, and if you haven't found your expl... | [
"Studying how family members communicate on Facebook revealed that the interaction on Facebook doesn't decrease with the distance, which means that in the U.S. Facebook is a very important tool for parents/grandparents to communicate with their children/grandchildren. The results of the paper are actually very impo... |
why do different sized planes fly at different altitudes (e.g. 747 at 30,000+ ft. versus a cessna at 10,000 ft.)? | It depends on the kind of plane. There are Cessnas which can fly at well over 30,000ft (e.g. Cessna Citation). You’re probably thinking of a single engine prop type plane versus an airliner. In that case, the airliner has the power to haul itself up to that altitude and the cabin is pressurised so that the crew and pas... | [
"At higher altitudes, the air density is lower than at sea level. Because of the progressive reduction in air density, as the aircraft's altitude increases its true airspeed is progressively greater than its indicated airspeed. For example, the indicated airspeed at which an aircraft stalls can be considered consta... |
How is it physically possible for Tardigrades to survive crushing pressures and complete vacuum? | Quite a bit of tardigrade survival comes not from any sort of resistance to temperature or pressure changes, i.e., no internal mechanism to defend against them, but through severe dehydration of the organism. There is very little water left in the cells of the creature, so there is almost no pressure gradient due to th... | [
"BULLET::::- Pressure – they can withstand the extremely low pressure of a vacuum and also very high pressures, more than 1,200 times atmospheric pressure. Tardigrades can survive the vacuum of open space and solar radiation combined for at least 10 days. Some species can also withstand pressure of 6,000 atmosphere... |
The Choctaw and the trail of tears... | The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma discuss [forced relocation](_URL_1_) on their website. [Here](_URL_2_)'s commentary about removal by Len Green in their tribal newpaper, *Bishinik*.
An interesting side note is that a few short years after their removal to Indian Territory, the Choctaw donated money, blankets, and corn t... | [
"The Choctaw Trail of Tears was the attempted ethnic cleansing and relocation of the Choctaw Nation from their country referred to now as the Deep South (Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana) to lands west of the Mississippi River in Indian Territory in the 1830s by the United States government. A Choctaw ... |
If I get fleas, lice, or other body-sticking bugs, can I get rid of them by keeping them underwater until they drown? | Sure if you stick it underwater long enough. We're talking many hours before they die though. I don't think the eggs will die very quickly though as eggs doesn't need to breathe. So it doesn't work very well on the creatures that reproduce on/in your body. | [
"Fleas can be drowned by immersion for about 24 hours; they may appear to be dead if immersed for shorter times, but can revive after some hours. Soaps and surfactants can facilitate the death of fleas in bathing. The process of washing the flea (and the pet) removes integumental waxes on the flea's body and it die... |
how do my indoor only pets know when to shed their winter fur | They don't know when to shed any more than you know how to make your hair grow longer. It's just something that happens.
That said, just because they're "indoors" doesn't mean the climate outside doesn't affect them unless you live in a completely underground hermetically sealed environment. I'm going to make an assu... | [
"Animals might have different coat quality for different seasons. Normally, animals with fur or hair body coats may develop a thicker and/or longer winter coat in colder times of the year, which will shed out to a shorter, sleeker, summer coat as the days lengthen into spring and summer. This process may not occur ... |
where does yeast come from? | Yeast is a kind of fungus, and like many other fungi its spores are all around us in the atmosphere, waiting for the opportunity to settle in a suitable environment where they can begin to grow and reproduce.
It just so happens that yeast has proved to be a very important fungus from a human perspective, but other tha... | [
"Nutritional yeast is produced by culturing a yeast in a nutrient medium for several days. The primary ingredient in the growth medium is glucose, often from either sugarcane or beet molasses. When the yeast is ready, it is deactivated with heat and then harvested, washed, dried and packaged. The species of yeast u... |
why can't we have long distance wifi? | The strength of radio signals gets weaker with the square of distance.
When you move from 5 to 10 feet away, they get 4 times weaker, 5 to 50, 100 times weaker.
In a lot of ways this is a good thing. There could easily be a million wireless signals in a city, if they were strong enough to have a much greater range, ... | [
"Despite a lack of commercial service providers, applications for long-range Wi-Fi have cropped up around the world. It has also been used in experimental trials in the developing world to link communities separated by difficult geography with few or no other connectivity options. Some benefits of using long-range ... |
why are cd/dvd duplicators foiled by copy protection instead of making a bit-for-bit clone? | It could be an inbuilt hardware limitation, if it sees this particular chunk of data, it wont read/burn it regardless of what you tell it via software.
Printers have had this kind of technology for a while. If you try to print currency to its actual size it will refuse or leave marks on it indicating its not legal ten... | [
"There are also DVD rippers which operate in a similar fashion. Unlike CDs, DVDs do contain data formatted in files for use in computers. However, commercial DVDs are often encrypted (for example, using Content Scramble System/ARccOS Protection), preventing access to the files without using the ripping software's d... |
Does the Leidenfrost effect, affect the speed in which an object travels through water? If it does, why? | Theoretically it could affect it in a couple of ways.
Because the heat of the object is causing the water around it to turn to steam, it could reduce the drag coefficient which would let it move faster.
On the other hand, since you are continually turning the water in front of the object into steam, (thus creating an... | [
"The effects of friction and viscosity in diminishing the velocity of running water were noticed in the \"Principia\" of Sir Isaac Newton, who threw much light upon several branches of hydromechanics. At a time when the Cartesian system of vortices universally prevailed, he found it necessary to investigate that hy... |
is the practice of "creative accounting" in hollywood different from accounting practices in other industries, and is it inherently unethical or illegal? | Oh, it's definitely unethical, but not illegal. If your neighborhood plumber charges you $500 to replace an old toilet, but your brother, who is also a licensed plumber, charges you $2000 to do the same job, that's not illegal to use your brother.
That's the basics of hollywood accounting. I'm not going to find the ... | [
"Hollywood accounting (also known as Hollywood bookkeeping) refers to the opaque or creative accounting methods used by the film, video, and television industry to budget and record profits for film projects. Expenditures can be inflated to reduce or eliminate the reported profit of the project, thereby reducing th... |
Why is it called a planetary nebula? | Herschel in the 1700s was observing the sky in very early model reflector telescopes, of his own making. The mirrors were made of solid metal, not very bright. Also, optics back then were overall not that great.
In 1781 he discovered what we now call planet Uranus. In a telescope, it appears as a faint blue disk, not ... | [
"The term \"planetary nebula\" is arguably a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets or exoplanets. The true origin of the term was likely derived from the planet-like round shape of these nebulae as observed by astronomers through early telescopes, and although the terminology is inaccurate, it is still use... |
In the xkcd comic about average yearly temperatures, how do we know what the temperatures were at like 2000 BC? | we are able to read the data from old rock formations, deep ice reserves etc ( pretty much anything underground, deeper the older ) and accordingly to the ratio of different elements in these minerals we can tell with accuracy how the climate was back in time. | [
"BULLET::::- The latest global analysis of temperature data from NOAA shows that the first half of 2015 was the hottest such period on record, at 0.85 °C (1.53 °F) above the 20th century average, surpassing the previous record set in 2010 by 0.09 °C (0.16 °F). The Earth also experienced its hottest ever June.\n",
... |
What sparked the worldwide explosion in popularity of ninjas in the early 1980s? | Japan's economic rise was a major factor since it looked like Japan would become the new global economic powerhouse. This produced a keen interest in Japanese culture with a lot of concepts being popularised in this west, either from Japan itself or immigrant populations.
Secondly the ninja concept was introduced to t... | [
"Following the chopsocky craze, ninja were especially popular; from 1983 to 1998, more than 150 novels were published. The first six issues featured Brett Wallace, the main protagonist of the 1981 \"Ninja Master\" series by Richard Meyers alias Wade Barker. The original seventh chapter may have been censored due to... |
Does the ocean compress itself? | Yes, the weight of the water above is what's causing the increase in pressure below. If you remove half the remaining half would expand slightly, but since liquids don't compress very well, it wouldn't expand much. | [
"Over the course of millions of years, the motion of tectonic plates reconfigures global land and ocean areas and generates topography. This can affect both global and local patterns of climate and atmosphere-ocean circulation. The position of the continents determines the geometry of the oceans and therefore influ... |
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