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How did the public of other European nations and the US react to the attempts at a social revolution by woman (eg. Mujeres libres) during the Spanish Civil war? | This is a brilliant question (that was well worth asking twice!). Too brilliant, really, as it exposes a gap in historical literature. To my knowledge, while there is quite a bit that has been written on women, gender and the Spanish Civil War, little of it touches on how gender roles (and their subversion) was perceiv... | [
"In Latin America, the 19th century was a time of revolution with Nationalist movements and Independence Wars erupting throughout the Spanish colonies, many led by Simón Bolívar. Women were not simply spectators or support for men in the wars of Latin America, but took up arms, acted as spies and informants, organi... |
rain-sensing variable-periodicity windshield wipers - how? | It is a sensor in the windshield. It detects the amount of liquid and adjusts automatically.
I work for Mercedes and this question gets asked a lot haha. | [
"Rain sensors for automatic windscreen/windshield wipers have been implemented using the principle that total internal reflection will guide an infrared beam from a source to a detector if the outer surface of the windshield is dry, but any water drops on the surface will divert some of the light.\n",
"The most c... |
What would happen to Knights or Lords who were captured during battles during the Middle Ages? Were they ransomed off or were they executed? | This depended a lot on the time period and warring states.
Take, for example, the Battle of Flodden Fields in 1513. The Scots King, James IV, was killed on the field, as were the majority of the Scots nobility. Most of the Scots court was killed at Flodden, and it was England's greatest triumph over the Scots in a... | [
"The rest of the captured knights and soldiers were sold into slavery, and one was reportedly bought in Damascus in exchange for some sandals. The high ranking Frankish barons captured were held for ransom.\n",
"In Europe during the Middle Ages, ransom became an important custom of chivalric warfare. An important... |
why can we drink great amounts of beer (or alcohol in general) within a short period of time but not water or any other non alcoholic beverage? | It's solely because you're interested in achieving the effect of drunkenness. If you put your mind to it, you could drink the same amount of water, soda, coffee, tea, or whatever beverage in the same amount of time.
The diuretic effect takes hold after the first hour or so, though, in which consuming alcohol will cau... | [
"Alcohol is the main active ingredient of wine, beer and distilled spirits. Drinking small quantities of alcohol (less than one drink in women and two in men per day) is associated with a decreased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and early death. Drinking more than this amount, however, increases ... |
- the monsanto controversy | Worries about engineered foods aside, a lot of people have a huge problem with Monsanto's business model...
They use patent law to force farmers to buy seed from them every year. The farmers do not own the seeds that are created by the plants they are growing - Monsanto has the *patent* on the seed DNA. So they can't ... | [
"In 2009, Monsanto came under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice, which began investigating whether the company's activities in the soybean markets were breaking anti-trust rules. In 2010, the Department of Justice created a website through which comments on \"Agriculture and Antitrust Enforcement Issues ... |
How accurately did medieval monks copy down Greek and Roman texts? | The idea *usually* was to accurately reproduce the text in front of them (which almost certainly wasn't the original), but all kinds of things could and did go wrong. Just as an experiment, try copying out something in whatever your native language is by hand and see if, working in a language you operate in on a daily... | [
"In the Middle Ages, monasteries conserved and copied ancient manuscripts in their scriptoria. A prospective monk first learned grammar, logic, and oratory. Later, he would take up mathematics, astronomy, and music. The students would use a stylus on wax. Later, when their handwriting improved, they would be given ... |
Does taking the placebo pills in the birth control pack increase the effectiveness of the Pill? | Hi There,
As you noted the purpose of the seven inactive pills is to keep you in the habit of taking the pills, keeping track of the medication, and to allow the female body to bleed(Withdrawal Bleeding-thought to be comforting, as a physical confirmation of not being pregnant.).
Of course, you can go with the non p... | [
"The role of the placebo pills is two-fold: to allow the user to continue the routine of taking a pill every day and to simulate the average menstrual cycle. By continuing to take a pill everyday, users remain in the daily habit even during the week without hormones. Failure to take pills during the placebo week do... |
Why do certain materials retain heat better than others? For example: insulators, black vs. white clothing, leather seats in a car, etc. | Dark colors don't retain heat longer, they absorb light better. If something is being heated up by light (such as something out in the sun), then it will heat up more if it's dark, because dark colors absorb light, and light colors reflect light.
As for insulators, you're confusing two things: heat retention, and hea... | [
"The amount of thermal insulation worn by a person has a substantial impact on thermal comfort, because it influences the heat loss and consequently the thermal balance. Layers of insulating clothing prevent heat loss and can either help keep a person warm or lead to overheating. Generally, the thicker the garment ... |
why are eyewitness testimonies used and taken so seriously in court if people’s memories have been proven to be bad? | I strongly encourage you to read transcripts of a court case to get a real feel for what an eye witness testimony looks like.
It's more than just asking a person that they saw Jim shoot Bob. Most often they will use multiple people to build context on the crime.
When people testify, the lawyers are often referring ... | [
"Witnesses can be subject to memory distortions that can alter their account of events. It is of particular interest that the memory of an eyewitness can become compromised by other information, such that an individual's memory becomes biased. This can increase eyewitnesses sensitivity to the misinformation effect.... |
why aren’t dominant traits always more common than recessive traits? | Dominant traits aren't preferentially passed along between generations, they just express more strongly if they are passed down.
If a dominant gene is rare, it may continue to be rare unless there's some selective pressure killing off animals without it. | [
"Dominance does not determine whether an allele is deleterious, neutral or advantageous. However, selection must operate on genes indirectly through phenotypes, and dominance affects the exposure of alleles in phenotypes, and hence the rate of change in allele frequencies under selection. Deleterious recessive alle... |
How much of the Earth's water is floating around in the atmosphere? | [Only about 0.001% of all the Earth's water is in the atmosphere](_URL_0_).
> If all of the water in the atmosphere rained down at once, it would only cover the globe to a depth of 2.5 centimeters, about 1 inch. | [
"The total mass of the Earth's hydrosphere is about 1.4 × 10 tonnes, which is about 0.023% of Earth's total mass. At any given time, about 20 × 10 tonnes of this is in the form of water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere (for practical purposes, 1 cubic meter of water weighs one tonne). Approximately 71% of Earth's su... |
the reason people choose seats so close when you're eating out? | At a restaurant, I believe it's because waiters have determine seating area. | [
"Seaters has a two part solution to the empty seat problem, which has been found to occur at virtually all sold-out events, at a rate of 2-10% vacant seats. Both parts involve aggregating demand for unused tickets in advance of an event, so tickets can be distributed easily when they become available, even at the l... |
why do low pitch sounds carry farther than high pitched ones? | Think of the sound like a runner, this runner only has so much energy.
Think of the sound wave like the ground that is being ran on.
A high pitched sound wave has lots of peaks and valleys close together so our poor runner is going up very steep, tall mountains and back down over and over.
A low pitch is more like lo... | [
"Pitch depends to a lesser degree on the sound pressure level (loudness, volume) of the tone, especially at frequencies below 1,000 Hz and above 2,000 Hz. The pitch of lower tones gets lower as sound pressure increases. For instance, a tone of 200 Hz that is very loud seems one semitone lower in pitch than if it is... |
What is the difference between planets and asteroids? | Planets are big enough that their own gravity causes them to be round (hydrostatic equilibrium). The biggest asteroid, Ceres, is big enough, and it's considered a dwarf planet (like Pluto is now) because it shares its orbit with lots of asteroids. | [
"Asteroids are minor planets, especially of the inner Solar System. Larger asteroids have also been called planetoids. These terms have historically been applied to any astronomical object orbiting the Sun that did not resemble a planet-like disc and was not observed to have characteristics of an active comet such ... |
why can't you download a program and/or game with its updates/patches already included? | Generally speaking, you can. It's not impossible for the game developers to host a version of the game with the patched content already applied, nor is it really particularly difficult. Though, not wanting to put in the extra effort may be partly responsible for why you might not often see fully patched game downloads.... | [
"Most modern operating systems and many stand-alone programs offer the capability to download and apply fixes automatically. Instead of creating this feature from scratch, the developer may choose to use a proprietary (like RTPatch) or open-source (like StableUpdate and JUpdater) package that provides the needed li... |
what does each coach do on a football team? | From the bottom up, there are first the position coaches. These guys (and girl in the NFL) handle things like how to make a tackle at the lower levels, and at higher levels how to adjust the way a player does his job to compensate for the skill players on the upcoming teams they will be playing. For example a high scho... | [
"A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the \"manager\", as in association football and professional baseball. In other sports such ... |
In a random question of random number predictions (i.e. lottery drawing), is a set of consecutive numbers any less likely to occur than any other combination of numbers? | The set of possible outcomes in a choose k numbers from n possibilities lottery, is the set of subsets of size k from the set of n possibilities, i.e. n!/((n-k)!*k)!.
The set 1,2,3,4,5,6 is just as likely to be drawn as 12,32,33,40,49,52 for example.
However there are only a very small number of consecutive sets vers... | [
"In a random sequence of numbers, a number may be said to be cursed because it has come up less often in the past, and so it is thought that it will occur less often in the future. A number may be assumed to be blessed because it has occurred more often than others in the past, and so it is thought likely to come u... |
what are the things you see in the distance on the road on a sunny day that look like water? | Air currents make this shimmer, similar to a reflection of the sky on water, hence causing the illusion of wetness. Mirage is an optical phenomenon very common in sunny days. The sun light in the direction of the road gets refracted do to the temperature gradient (continuous change) of the layers of air. | [
"BULLET::::- Road markers or Cat's eyes – Almost exclusively blue, these are placed on one side or the other of the centre line of the road, to indicate on which side of the road the hydrant lies. They are visible for several hundred meters at night in heavy rain, further in clear conditions.\n",
"Air temperature... |
The evolution of the democrats/republicans | Maybe as a post script:
To clarify my perception of lincoln: Upon revision, he was actually a republican, which further muddies the idea of him being a democratic ideal (ie, freed the slaves, eloquent ((or *verbose*)) statesman.) | [
"The new constitution led to the gradual erosion of the Democratic majority. In 1854, the Republican Party was established and drew in many of the former Whigs. That year the General Assembly was split with no party attaining a majority. The Democrats held the largest number of seats, but the Whigs and Republicans ... |
What are the major challenges to Book of Mormon historicity? | Here are just a few of the reasons:
* It's riddled with [anachronisms](_URL_2_). This also includes life-altering technologies that were not known to the native people such as chariots or steel. (See the great documentary, Guns Germs and Steel for more on this point)
* It's plagued with [plagiarism of the King Jam... | [
"Discussion regarding the historicity of the Book of Mormon often focuses on archaeological issues, some of which relate to the large size and the long time span of the civilizations mentioned in the book. A contemporary Mormon view is that these civilizations rose and fell in Mesoamerica. Civilizations of their ma... |
how debt between countries works | Debt isn't between countries. Debt is held by investors who buy the debt in the form of bonds. So U.S. debt is held by whomever decides to invest in U.S Treasury bonds -- about 75% are held by Americans and American institutions. Other counties similarly sell bonds to fund their operations, selling their debt to invest... | [
"Through a debt-for-nature swap, a debtor country reduces its total outstanding external debt. The debtor country is able to buy back part of its debt in more favorable terms and pay for conservation initiatives rather than debt service. This leads to higher international purchasing power for the debtor country. Al... |
what technologies did we not have a hundred years ago that allows all these surreal skyscrapers and other grand buildings that are being built today? | We had skyscrapers a hundred years ago.
For one, steel is a bit better. We also have some new designs with foundations, etc .
There's also more of a push to expand upwards now that horizontal space is occupied. It's more economical. | [
"The high-tech buildings make persistent use of glass curtain walls and steel structure. It is greatly indebted to modern architecture for this and influenced by Mies van der Rohe's high-rise buildings. Bruce Graham's Willis Tower demonstrates that with glass walls and skeleton pipe structure of steel, a very tall ... |
do dogs actually feel "guilt"? i see photos of dogs looking ashamed to eaten/destroyed something, but is it a genuine emotion on their behalf? | Mostly they react [as expected](_URL_0_) because they take cues from their owner:
> Horowitz was able to show that the human tendency to attribute a “guilty look” to a dog was not due to whether the dog was indeed guilty. Instead, people see ‘guilt’ in a dog’s body language when they believe the dog has done somethin... | [
"Since the dogs are a symbol of friendship and inviolable loyalty, when their owners die the dogs feel their death; many of these dogs stop eating and do not to separate themselves from their owners' graves. But, with Berganza's life story, the dichotomy of preconceived ideas of friendship and loyalty fade away; th... |
So what do you think about James Clavell's Asia cycle? | I haven't read the rest, but I have a rather low opinion of Shogun's historical accuracy. First and foremost, the events and characters are drawn from history, but not actually historical. That aside, he did a lot of research, got much of the material culture right, and the events themselves are plausible (many charac... | [
"The Millennial Asia is a refereed academic journal the provides a platform for discussion on multifaceted, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research on Asia, in order to understand its fast changing context as a growth pole of global economy. \n",
"The Centre on Asia and Globalisation (CAG) was establishe... |
how do forensic investigators find new forensic evidence years after the crime? | Because technology is ever increasing, allowing us to pull DNA off of things that we couldn't before and to detect and trace other things that we could before. It's not the evidence is new, it's just that technology lets us discover more from it. | [
"During the analysis phase an investigator recovers evidence material using a number of different methodologies and tools. In 2002, an article in the \"International Journal of Digital Evidence\" referred to this step as \"an in-depth systematic search of evidence related to the suspected crime.\" In 2006, forensic... |
What did boat drivers do after landing in Normandy? Did they stay on the boats, or they helped on the beachs? And what about boat gunners? Did they dismount the machinegun, or left it on the boat? | In general, small boats, i.e. higgins boats, backed off from the beach and returned to the ships they launched from in order to bring in subsequent assault waves. Landing craft were a valuable asset for logistical support in the days after the landing and were preserved when possible.
There are exceptions to this,... | [
"During the Normandy invasion of 6 June 1944, a 60-cutter flotilla of wooden 83-foot (25 m) Coast Guard cutters, nicknamed the \"Matchbox Fleet\", cruised off all five landing beaches as combat search-and-rescue boats, saving 400 Allied airmen and sailors. Division O-1, including the Coast Guard-crewed , landed the... |
Why did the Bolsheviks not recapture the Baltic states and Finland? | The short answer is that they did, or in case of Finland, tried to, in 1939.
I cannot speak with authority about the events in the Baltic states, but it should be noted that the Baltic states and Finland were all battlegrounds for revolution. Indigenous revolutionaries were to some extent aided by the Soviet governme... | [
"After the Baltic states proclaimed independence following the signing of the Armistice, Bolshevik Russia invaded at the end of 1918. \"Izvestia\" said in its December 25, 1918, issue: \"Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are directly on the road from Russia to Western Europe and therefore a hindrance to our revolution... |
will there ever be a day we don't need isps anymore? i'm guessing the answer is "no", but why? | How long have telephone, power, water, gas, and etc... providers been around in most countries? That should give you an indication as to whether or not ISPs will be around for the extent of our lifetime. | [
"Consumers may switch to ISPs with better privacy protections. However this could be difficult for some as many Americans only have a choice of one or two broadband companies in their area according to federal statistics. Senator Ron Wyden states that thus their only choice may be between \"giving up their browsing... |
why don't some programs utilize multiple cores in a cpu if the resources are there to begin with? | It is a big step in programming, multithreading can be complicated depending on what kind of tasks the cores need to do.
Often times multithreading is overlooked because memory management can become a problem, if one core attempts to access something another core is working on it could crash the software. (Obviously t... | [
"CPU migration via the in-kernel switcher (IKS) involves pairing up a 'big' core with a 'LITTLE' core, with possibly many identical pairs in one chip. Each pair operates as one so-termed \"virtual core\", and only one real core is (fully) powered up and running at a time. The 'big' core is used when the demand is h... |
how are cured meats made? what makes them edible? | Curing is a process that involves using salt(normally) to kill organisms living in or on the meat. Smoking technically counts as a cure, I believe, because compounds in wood smoke are hostile to microorganisms as well.
The basic idea is that by inundating the meat with antimicrobial substances, you prevent rotting, m... | [
"Cured meats have been specifically produced to be edible for a long time. The curing process was used for generations to preserve pork before the invention of refrigeration. During the curing process the meat is dried in salt, which helps to prevent the build-up of harmful organisms, and then is hung to be exposed... |
why is it an issue when a prisoner goes on a hunger strike? | Because it generates attention to his cause. People generally don't go on hunger strikes for frivolous things, so it's probably something relatively important, and will have support from the general public. And if the prisoner dies, it looks really bad for your institution to allow someone to die. | [
"A hunger strike is a deliberate refusal to eat. Hunger strikes are often used in prisons as a form of political protest. Like student strikes, a hunger strike aims to worsen the public image of the target.\n",
"In addition, the food was scarce and non-nutritious. As it was the general understanding of the prison... |
Since there wasn't much clean water, what exactly did people in Medieval times drink? What was that cliché bubbling mug of "Ale" the peasant folk drank that is always so deliciously depicted in movies and shows? | Hello! This has been covered before on this sub.[ Here](_URL_0_) is the relevant section from the FAQ.
[This post](_URL_1_) in particular from /u/idjet covers the topic quite well. To sum it up, the idea that clean water wasn't available in the Middle Ages and that people used beer or ale as a"substitute" for water is... | [
"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... |
I know that the CIA and the AFL-CIO worked close together in order to destabilize the Guyanese government in the 1960s. Were similar tactics used in other Cold War conflicts in Central and South America? Did the CIA and the AFL-CIO both work together to spy on American citizens as well? | I don't know about other nations, but Tim Weiner's *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA* mentions that the Kennedy Administration had CIA cash funneled through the American Institute for Free Labor Development for use in Brazil. Weiner characterizes the Institute as
> an arm of the AFL-CIO (British diplomats in ... | [
"Regarded as a \"stronghold of US imperial power in Asia,\" the Philippines capital, Manila, has been the main station or regional headquarters for the United States CIA since the late-1940s. Due to American Filipinos heavily influenced by American culture, the CIA was able to recruit people willing to provide crit... |
how come in 1st world countries the poor tend to be more obese, yet in 3rd world countries the the wealthy are likely to be obese? | because unhealthy over-processed foods are cheap and readily available. | [
"The economic impact of these rising rates and dual burdens of disease looks to be tremendous. Disability, decreased quality of life, greater use of health care facilities, and increased absenteeism are strong associated with obesity. With inadequate resources, poorly construed health systems, and a general lack of... |
why is the u.s. so obsessed with aiding the middle east? | Because of China and oil.
The US and Chinese will soon, if not already are, competing for limited petroleum (oil) resources to power their economies. The middle east is a massive and cheap source of this resource. If the US is in power in the Middle East, they can limit China's access to this all important, economy ... | [
"Under rapidly changing geopolitical circumstances, US policy in the Middle East was generally geared toward supporting Arab states' independence; aiding the development of oil-producing countries; preventing Soviet influence from gaining a foothold in Greece, Turkey, and Iran; and preventing an arms race and maint... |
what is character development? | I looked back in your history, you know something about DC, so think about Vibe from the Flash. He's changed so much from the early episodes. It's not just the powers he's acquired, it's the way Experience has shaped him as a person. And yet he's still recognizably the same character. Your main characters should do thi... | [
"The term character development is, in some contexts, used interchangeably with \"character advancement\" (in a sense similar to \"professional development\" or \"Human Development\"), whereas elsewhere \"character development\" refers instead to the player’s indirect characterization of the character through role-... |
why does everyone use the ad and bc years even if they don't follow christianity? | IIRC, Christians were very influential (and still are) when a standard dating system was established. As such, non-christians had to choose between using the standard AD/BC system or inventing their own non-standard system and causing a lot of confusion. Some people tried the latter, but eventually pretty much everybod... | [
"Terminology that is viewed by some as being more neutral and inclusive of non-Christian people is to call this the Current or Common Era (abbreviated as CE), with the preceding years referred to as Before the Common or Current Era (BCE). Astronomical year numbering and ISO 8601 avoid words or abbreviations related... |
During the winter, humans are known to track animals via their footprints in the snow, as we do not posses the same olfactory capabilities as say a wolf. Are there any other animals which have been observed tracking animals by means of visual cues? | A Norwegian study found that kestrels at least seem to be able to track the paths of small animals. [They preferentially hunt over the established vole trails.](_URL_0_). Which if I'm reading your question right is what you're asking, basically using 'historical' sensory data to track prey as opposed to direct sight a... | [
"During one winter in the late 19th century, villagers woke to find mysterious footprints in the fresh snow. It soon became apparent that these had not been made by any human as they were hoofprints made by a creature who walked on two legs and not four. Villagers followed these hoofprints and found that the creatu... |
Is it fair to say that America caused the global (1930s) Great Depression? Were other countries' economic systems as responsible? | I would say America as such is not to blame, but the global economic system at the time, coupled to the circulation of debt.
Debt circulation:
After the Versailles treaty Germany was bound to pay reparations to the victors (France and Great Britain mainly).
America loaned money to Germany, which they in turn used to p... | [
"The onset of the great depression in 1929 undoubtedly had an astronomical effect on the global economy during the latter years of the interwar period. American credit disappeared with the United States stock market crash in October 1929, severely hurting European businesses and causing a drastic rise in unemployme... |
if someone has amnesia and does something but doesn't remember doing it, would a lie detector be able to pick up that it's a lie? | Lie detectors don't detect lies. They detect reactions that can happen when you lie, like how much you sweat, your heart rate and so on.
So no. You can screw up a lie detector by meditating or having a cup of coffee. | [
"The researchers concluded that simply extracting the self-doubt before an event occurs helps eliminate the feelings of impostorism. It was recommended that the individuals struggling with this experience seek support from friends and family. Although impostor phenomenon is not a mental condition, it can still affe... |
Was Christianity responsible for our cultural aversion to nudity, or did it precede that? | What do you mean by “our”? America? Western Culture? Humanity? You can’t quite answer the question until you clarify who you are talking about. | [
"The primarily sexual meaning of the word \"sodomia\" for Christians did not evolve before the 6th century AD. Roman Emperor Justinian I, in his novels no. 77 (dating 538) and no. 141 (dating 559) amended to his Corpus iuris civilis, and declared that Sodom's sin had been specifically same-sex activities and desire... |
Why do your muscles feel "stiff" after (or when you're recovering) from a stab wound? | Probably a combination of the physical damage that has occurred to the muscle fibers interfering with the smooth contraction of the bundle along with the muscles' healing leading to anaerobic metabolism and the deposition of lactic acid. Just a guess...you get stabbed much? Because, this is an unusual question. | [
"Referred pain is created by ligamentous laxity around a joint, but is felt at some distance from the injury. (Pain will not only occur at the site of the injury and loose ligaments, but may also be referred to other parts of the body.) These painful points that refer pain elsewhere are called trigger points, and w... |
plane turbines | Turbine engine works by pulling in a lot of air, compressing it, burning it, and pushing it through a turbine to keep the other parts spinning. Then the air is ejected out the back. A turbofan is the huge fan on the front of a turbine that acts like a huge propeller that's in a casing if it were to fly off. Theoreti... | [
"The turbine is a high speed, high precision air motor that rotates the bell cup at speeds ranging from 10,000rpm to 70,000rpm, depending on the cup diameter, atomization desired, and physical properties of the paint. Typical turbines for this application use an air bearing, where the spinning shaft is suspended in... |
are all public schools in the united states funded by property taxes? is this why there is a disparity depending on the neighborhood a school is located in? | Schools are funded from a variety of sources (including state, federal, and private funds) but, yes, a substantial part of their funding comes from local taxes (usually property taxes).
Is this unethical? I guess so, in a sense. But keep in mind that public schools are (in most cases) run by municipal governments. The... | [
"In the United States, schools are funded by local property taxes. Because of this, the more affluent a neighborhood, the higher the funding for that school district. Although this situation seems favorable, the problem emerges when the equation is reversed. In neighborhoods inhabited by predominantly working and l... |
how and/or why do derivatives and integrals work? | Calculus is the mathematics of change, and thus integrals and derivatives measure and formalize change.
A simplified explanation of derivatives can be constructed as such: Imagine you have a line with slope 3. Obviously, if you move 1 unit on that line, your should move 3 units up/down. However, imagine you don't have... | [
"In finance, a derivative is a contract that \"derives\" its value from the performance of an underlying entity. This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, and is often simply called the \"underlying\". Derivatives can be used for a number of purposes, including insuring against price movement... |
what's with the theory that before the big bang everything was compressed to the size of a ping pong ball? | Basically, there are many pieces of evidence where, if you play them backwards, they suggests that at some previous point in time everything in the universe (including the fabric of the universe itself, not just the mass in it), was in the same place. This evidence includes things like "red-shift," where we can see bas... | [
"In the \"balloon model\" the flat sheet is replaced by a spherical balloon which is inflated from an initial size of zero (representing the big bang). A balloon has positive Gaussian curvature while observations suggest that the real universe is spatially flat, but this inconsistency can be eliminated by making th... |
why do wifi routers have multiple antennas? | Since WiFi has to operate in complicated environments, and the chances of signals reflecting off of surfaces before reaching a device is high, There's a real probability that for example, some of the signal could take a more direct route, some could take a less direct route, and they could arrive 1/2 a wavelength apart... | [
"Fixed wireless services typically use a directional radio antenna on each end of the signal (e.g., on each building). These antennas are generally larger than those seen in Wi-Fi setups and are designed for outdoor use. Several types of radio antennas are available that accommodate various weather conditions, sign... |
why does my microwave heat my chili unevenly? | Microwaves interact primarily with fats and water, so the more dense your intended meal is with those things the less the microwaves can penetrate into the center before being converted into vibrations(heat). Some foods will need to be heated slower or stirred until microwave technology is improved more. It is also imp... | [
"Uneven heating in microwaved food can be partly due to the uneven distribution of microwave energy inside the oven, and partly due to the different rates of energy absorption in different parts of the food. The first problem is reduced by a stirrer, a type of fan that reflects microwave energy to different parts o... |
Specific Holocaust denials - the elites were intact | First of all, [here is an older answer of mine](_URL_0_) dealing with direct, German-produced, undeniable evidence for the Holocaust and [here is the Monday Methods on Holocaust Denial](_URL_3_). Arguing with deniers is always a bit of a wasted effort I feel since it is my as well as other's experience that one hardly ... | [
"Scholarly response to Holocaust denial can be roughly divided into three categories. Some academics refuse to engage Holocaust deniers or their arguments at all, on grounds that doing so lends them unwarranted legitimacy. A second group of scholars, typified by the American historian Deborah Lipstadt, have tried t... |
Why do we use log when the exponent is a variable, but nth roots when its a constant? | It depends on the context, I guess. There is in general nothing wrong with using nth roots when the exponent is a variable. Here is a context where the two strategies are equivalent:
x = y^z solve for y
1) x^1/z = y (directly by taking the zth root of both sides)
2) ln(x) = z ln(y) (taking the log of both sides)
ln... | [
"Because base 10 logarithms were most useful for computations, engineers generally simply wrote \"log(\"x\")\" when they meant log(\"x\"). Mathematicians, on the other hand, wrote \"log(\"x\")\" when they meant log(\"x\") for the natural logarithm. Today, both notations are found. Since hand-held electronic calcula... |
how did we learn to enjoy singing? | This is actually a very interesting question. Because, as far as I know, it is part of an open question in aesthetics. Consider the book the neuroscience of creativity.
The evolutionary development of art and language, in general, may not have a good explanation (S. Pinker). While others think there may be some benefi... | [
"The incorporation of some music or singing training into general education from preschool to post secondary education is common in North America and Europe. Involvement in playing and singing music is thought to teach basic skills such as concentration, counting, listening, and cooperation while also promoting und... |
"You breath in a single atom of Julius Caesars final breath every breath you take." How far can this be extrapolated? | The extent of it depends on a thorough mixing of atoms, and is therefore limited by diffusion. Working out diffusion on a global scale is not easy at all, so it would become very difficult to pinpoint exactly where in the world at each point in history this holds for.
In terms of the question of other oxygen breathin... | [
"BULLET::::- The breath of life, vital air, principle of life (usually plural in this sense, there being five such vital airs generally assumed, but three, six, seven, nine, and even ten are also spoken of)\n",
"Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports 67% approval for \"Breath\", based on six critics. \"Breath\... |
why do power sockets have polarized terminals? isn't ac power non-polarized? | They are polarized to prevent the hot wire from being swapped with the neutral. The neutral is bonded to ground so it is basically at zero volts. Some devices only have a switch or fuse in the hot line so they need polarization to maintain safety. Light bulb sockets need to have the threads connected to neutral for saf... | [
"Where a \"neutral\" conductor exists in supply wiring, polarization of the plug can improve safety by preserving the distinction in the equipment. For example, appliances may ensure that switches interrupt the line side of the circuit, or can connect the shell of a screw-base lampholder to neutral to reduce electr... |
I’m watching a Netflix show on Julius Caesar and they are saying Caesar had one of his epilepsy episodes in front of the senate and that’s why he left Rome to invade Parthia. I read Caesa’rs biography and it never mentioned him having his seizure in front of the senate. Did that happen? | This does not sound very right at all; firstly, Caesar never invaded or (otherwise went to) Parthia. He was planning a campaign during the final months of his life, but he was assassinated in 15 March 44 BC, three days before his planned date of departure. The "historicity" of Caesar´s epilepsy is much debated and pret... | [
"In some medical literature, Caesarion is said to have suffered from epilepsy, a neurological condition apparently inherited from his father. This thesis has been disputed by paleopathologist Francesco M. Galassi and surgeon Hutan Ashrafian, who have argued that the first mention of potential epileptic attacks can ... |
why can tenured professors teach poorly and stay employed? | The whole point of tenure is so professors can concentrate on research.
The professors primary job isn't to teach, but to make advancements in his or her own field of study. Teaching is like a side gig for tenured professors. | [
"In North American universities and colleges, the tenure track has long been a defining feature of professorial employment, although it is less than universal. In North American universities, positions that carry tenure, or the opportunity to attain tenure, have grown more slowly than non-tenure-track positions, le... |
What is going on during a muscle cramp? More specifically, what is happening in this video of one occurring? (somewhat disturbing video) | ATP (energy) is actually needed in order to uncontract our muscles, what you are seeing is a muscle completely contracted/out of energy | [
"Prolonged muscular action causes sudden, powerful, and painful contractions of muscle groups, which is called \"tetany\". These episodes can cause fractures and muscle tears. Other symptoms include fever, headache, restlessness, irritability, feeding difficulties, breathing problems, burning sensation during urina... |
How were Soviet Factories Profitable? | It didn't work that way. The Soviet Union did not have a market economy with state owned enterprises. Its economy was a planned command economy which utilised the material balance planning system. You may read to last paragraph for tl;dr.
Briefly, the Soviet economy was administered by an agency called the State Plann... | [
"During the period of Stalinism, the Soviet Union attempted to achieve economic growth through increased industrial production. In 1927–1928, the sum total of Soviet production of capital goods amounted to 6 billion rubles, but by 1932, annual production increased to 23.1 billion rubles. Factories and industrial en... |
in football (soccer), when a player gets hurt, sometimes you see medics spray something on the area that is hurt. what is that stuff and how does it help? | Lidocaine? Local anesthetic. | [
"One sports injury that is becoming prevalent in contact sports, particularly in the sport of American football, is called a \"stinger.\" An athlete can incur this injury in a collision that can cause cervical axial compression, flexion, or extension of nerve roots or terminal branches of the brachial plexus. In a ... |
brownian motion | Molecules in a fluid are always moving around. They bounce off of each other, and they bounce off of anything solid that they hit.
At any given moment, a solid object will have more molecules bouncing off of one side than the other. For something big like a person, the difference is insignificant, but for something ti... | [
"In mathematics, Brownian motion is described by the Wiener process; a continuous-time stochastic process named in honor of Norbert Wiener. It is one of the best known Lévy processes (càdlàg stochastic processes with stationary independent increments) and occurs frequently in pure and applied mathematics, economics... |
Has a state ever been forced to "release nations" like in the game Europa Universalis 3? | Sure.
Duchy of Warsaw was created as a part of the Treaty of Tilsit following the Franco-Prussian war during the Napoleonic era.
In the 1870's, Bulgaria was created after a Russian-Turkish war.
| [
"\"Europa Universalis\" lets the player take control of one of seven European nations (others are available in different scenarios) from 1444 to 1821, expanding its power through military might, diplomacy, and colonial wealth. The game takes place on a map divided into 3,633 provinces, and proceeds in a pausable re... |
why can't some people develop rhythm or musical talent? | Anyone can learn, some people may have a more naturally disposition to music, but anyone who practices can learn music. I used to not be able to pick up songs by ear but after a while my ear developed. Listen to music and practice your instrument. | [
"A relationship between music and the strengthening of math, dance, reading, creative thinking and visual arts skills has also been reported in literature. (Winner, Hetland, Sanni, as reported in \"The Arts and Academic Achievement - What the Evidence Shows\", 2000) However recent findings by Dr. Levitin of McGill ... |
How does adding vinegar help coagulate poached eggs faster? | The acidity of the vinegar helps denature the proteins in the eggs, leading to coagulation. | [
"Tomato paste is a thick paste made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce the water content, straining out the seeds and skins, and cooking the liquid again to reduce the base to a thick, rich concentrate. By contrast, tomato purée is a liquid with a consistency between crushed tomatoes and tomato paste t... |
Why is the average height of people with Downs Syndrome much shorter than that of someone without? | All symptoms of Down syndrome (DS) are caused by [inheritance of a third copy of chromosome 21](_URL_1_) in some or all of the individual's cells (or, rarely by two particular chromosomes becoming fused at a particular point).
When this happens, we have all the genes on chromosome 21 being expressed dysfunctionally, a... | [
"Growth in height is slower, resulting in adults who tend to have short stature—the average height for men is 154 cm (5 ft 1 in) and for women is 142 cm (4 ft 8 in). Individuals with Down syndrome are at increased risk for obesity as they age. Growth charts have been developed specifically for children with Down sy... |
Have there ever been two people that are genetically the exact same? | In the birthday problem, the probability of at least one birthday match among *n* people, assuming birthdays are uniformly distributed among *d* days of the year is
> P(n,d) =1 - d! / [d^(n) (d-n)!]
Since *d* and *n* are integers, this expression is rather clunky to work with directly. There are several ways to fin... | [
"No two humans—not even monozygotic twins—are genetically identical. Genes and environment influence human biological variation in visible characteristics, physiology, disease susceptibility and mental abilities. The exact influence of genes and environment on certain traits is not well understood.\n",
"No two hu... |
where do humans lose (exert) most of their body heat? | All creatures exert heat. It's why you can use infrared to find creatures.
Humans COOL OFF in a way different to other animals. We sweat from every inch of skin, which then evaporates and cools us off. Compared to dogs, which just vent hot hair and suck in cool air from their mouths, and sweat from their paws. We evol... | [
"The human body dissipates heat through perspiration and its evaporation. Heat convection, to the surrounding air, and thermal radiation are the primary modes of heat transport from the body. Under conditions of high humidity, the rate of evaporation of sweat from the skin decreases. Also, if the atmosphere is as w... |
why does soap become more watery when you reach the bottom of the dispenser? | Because your SO puts water in it to make sure you use every last bit before starting the next bottle. | [
"Sea, brackish and other waters that contain appreciable amount of sodium ions (Na) interfere with the normal behavior of soap because of common-ion effect. In the presence of excess Na, the solubility of soap salts is reduced, making the soap less effective.\n",
"With hard water, soap solutions form a white prec... |
why is it that as i grow older i find it harder to laugh at things, and don't laugh at certain things as much as i used to in the past? | Laughter and humor are thought of as an aborted defense mechanism: a situation where tension or surprises are found to be benign instead of a threat.
As you get older, you have greater experience, and it becomes harder to surprise you or to introduce false-tension into situations - you already know all of the kno... | [
"Laughter has proven beneficial effects on various other aspects of biochemistry. It has been shown to lead to reductions in stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine. When laughing the brain also releases endorphins that can relieve some physical pain. Laughter also boosts the number of antibody-producing c... |
Are prisoners of war counted as casualties? | Just to clarify, my understanding of the topic is that KIA/WIA are always counted as casualties, some militaries have counted those with battlefield illness (trench foot, etc.) as casualties, and POWs are typically categorized separately.
However, this is just my understanding gleaned from a layperson's reading of the... | [
"BULLET::::- Military casualties include deaths of regular military forces from combat as well as non-combat causes. Partisan and resistance fighter deaths are included with military losses. The deaths of prisoners of war in captivity and personnel missing in action are also included with military deaths. Whenever ... |
Does Proxima Centauri have it's own solar system? If so what might it look like? | A point that bears repeating as we continue to discover more planets is that ours is the only "[solar system](_URL_0_)" since our star is Sol. Other systems are called "[star systems](_URL_2_)" or "[planetary systems](_URL_1_)". | [
"Proxima Centauri is a small, low-mass star located away from the Sun in the southern constellation of Centaurus. Its Latin name means the \"nearest [star] of Centaurus\". This object was discovered in 1915 by Robert Innes and is the nearest-known star to the Sun. With a quiescent apparent magnitude of 11.13, it is... |
why are salaries at fast food places like mcdonald's so low, even though they're multi-billion dollar companies? | As long as they can find people willing to take the job for minimum wage, there's no reason to offer higher wages. In places where there's a shortage of workers willing to work for those wages, they have to pay more. | [
"Liberal think tank, the Roosevelt Institute, accuses some McDonald's restaurants of actually paying less than the minimum wage to entry positions due to 'rampant' wage theft. In South Korea, McDonald's pays part-time employees $5.50 an hour and is accused of paying less with arbitrary schedules adjustments and pay... |
lacanian psychoanalysis and its major concepts | What else is on your homework today? | [
"Jungian-based psychoanalysis is also deeply rooted in the ideas of liminality. The idea of a 'container' or 'vessel' as a key player in the ritual process of psychotherapy has been noted by many and Carl Jung's objective was to provide a space he called \"a temenos, a magic circle, a vessel, in which the transform... |
what is the maximum amount of calories that can be humanly burned in a day? | Calories are burned by cells. The more cells you have the more calories you can burn. Muscle cells burn the most calories (at least of cells you can have a lot of and work). So the bigger your muscles the more calories you can burn.
Ultramarathon runners burn up to 600 calories per hour and run for 24 hours with fe... | [
"Humans have a high capacity to expend energy for many hours during sustained exertion. For example, one individual cycling at a speed of through over 50 consecutive days expended a total of 1,145 MJ (273,850 kcal; 273,850 dieter calories) with an average power output of 182.5 W.\n",
"The total energy radiated in... |
why do car companies such as chevy or toyota dissolve their brands (saturn, pontiac, scion) but then keep making the cars under a new brand? how is this advantageous? (i.e. chevy captiva, toyota im, lexus ct200) | I can speak on behalf of the GM side. It is no Chevy that is split into different brands, but GM themselves.
GM (based on strictly USA / Canada) has Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac. When going overseas and into Europe, they have even more brands (Vauxhall, Opel, etc.)
I'll focus solely on the North America brands... | [
"As the U.S. entered into a recession, the Big Three automakers discontinued brand divisions as a cost-cutting measure. General Motors discontinued the Pontiac and Saturn models in 2010 (which was done earlier when the Oldsmobile brand disappeared in 2004), and Ford sold its Volvo division (which was previously a s... |
Does mass quantum tunnel out of black holes? | One derivation of Hawking radiation is by calculating the quantum tunneling from inside to outside the black hole. | [
"When a pair of virtual particles (such as an electron and positron) is created in the vicinity of the event horizon, random spatial positioning might result in one of them to appear on the exterior; this process is called quantum tunnelling. The gravitational potential of the black hole can then supply the energy ... |
why can't we just chew food for the taste and then spit it out to avoid the calories? | The reward pathways in our brain our wired in a way that certain things make us feel good. One of those things is pleasant taste, another is eating, and we can tell the difference.
We can enjoy food for its taste, but we don't get the positive feeling of *eating* until we actually swallow (and then we feel good when o... | [
"A study found that unchewed meat and vegetables were not digested, while tallow, cheese, fish, eggs, and grains did not need to be chewed. Chewing stimulates saliva production and increases sensory perception of the food being eaten, controlling when the food is swallowed. Avoiding chewing, by choice or due to med... |
Has the US military (including any branch such as the Navy, Marines, Army, etc.) ever been used in a military style parade in the United States? | Well we can start with the obvious basic fact, that the military has been a participant in a vast number of parades not directly linked to an ongoing conflict, or recently ended one, and that includes the 4th of July.
It just usually takes the form of a ceremonial marching contingent, assorted bands, and maybe some m... | [
"Military parades in the American capital are held quadrennially by servicemen of the United States Armed Forces during the Presidential inaugural parade. These are not considered to be regular military parades however, as the parading formations are actually not entirely composed of armed servicemen. The first kno... |
Did the Soviets ever suggest the US faked the moon landings? | No, in fact Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were widely know in the population and praised for their "exceptional achievement" by Soviet newspapers.
Though it should be noted that it received way less attention than any development Soviet in space program.
It was recognised but not detailed reported about, to not make ... | [
"Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA, possibly with the aid of other organizations. The most notable claim is that the six crewed landings (1969–72) were faked and that 12 Apollo astronauts did not actuall... |
Could our universe be contained by a much larger system that obeys different laws of physics? And if so, could they interact? | There are quite a few possibilities here, I'll summarize some of the more well-known ones. Note that all of this amounts to speculation, and none of it is proven, but it's not my speculation, but rather that of physicists working in these areas:
* First, just from a mathematical perspective, if our universe is embedd... | [
"Because of the fundamental nonsimultaneity of universal structuring, a single, simultaneous, static model of Universe is inherently both nonexistent and conceptually impossible as well as unnecessary. Ergo, Universe does not have a shape. Do not waste your time, as man has been doing for ages, trying to think of a... |
what does video shot with 70mm film look like in comparison tonother types of film and why would quentin tarantino want to use it? | Hateful 8 was shot in a system called [Ultra Panavision 70](_URL_1_), which was probably most famously also used for [Ben Hur](_URL_0_), if you want a point of comparison.
The main advantage of the format is that a 70mm film negative is [much](_URL_3_) larger than the more typical Super 35mm negative, or virtually any... | [
"Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński shot the movie with high-speed film in Super 35 format to increase the overall grain, which Spielberg preferred to the then-emerging digital video format. The movie's camera work is very mobile, alternating between handheld and Steadicam shots, which are \"exaggerated by the use of ... |
why does a ship captain face prosecution for abandoning his or her sinking ship? | I thought he faced manslaughter charges for running the ship aground, which is different than abandoning the ship. I could be wrong though. | [
"In some cases the captain may choose to scuttle the ship and escape danger rather than die as it sinks. This choice is usually only available if the damage does not immediately imperil a vast portion of the ship's company and occupants. If a distress call was successful and the crew and occupants, the ship's cargo... |
electricity bills and how to keep them low? | 1. quit using air conditioning.
2. quit using your refrigerator.
3. live alone.
4. use a fan for cooling.
5. have gas water heater and heating.
Source: lived on my own for about 3 years. Electricity bill was about 6 dollars during that time for running a computer. (30ish total for garbage pickup as well) Gas bill came... | [
"There is strong basis for charging electricity consumption bill according to affordability of consumers (reasonable tariff for 300-500 units - this step will reduce electricity theft), incompetency of people because of resources can be noticed that even they had given no importance to a religious decree issued in ... |
why does the united states lack efficient public transportation? it's nearly impossible to go to places without renting a car. | It depends on where you are. In New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle, public transportation is a great way to get around. It's not viable for most of the country because the US is too spread out for public transit to be effective. Public transit is only effective if you can serve a lot of people with your bus s... | [
"As a result of the transportation systems in use, but not adequately meeting the needs of those who rely on them, they tend to generate low revenue. And with minimal revenue or funding the transportation systems are forced to decrease service and increase fares, which causes those in poverty to face more inequalit... |
why does the body randomly jolt? | Hi there ! These sound like hypnagogic jerks , a type of myoclonus. Myoclonus is a muscle reflex , which has lots of causes , but is most usually an involuntary benign spasm due to overexcitability of the areas of the brain that control movement or the ‘startle’ reflex (although nobody is really sure what exactly cause... | [
"Shock is the state of not enough blood flow to the tissues of the body as a result of problems with the circulatory system. Initial symptoms may include weakness, fast heart rate, fast breathing, sweating, anxiety, and increased thirst. This may be followed by confusion, unconsciousness, or cardiac arrest as compl... |
why do tatoos last for ever? | That isn't strictly true. Not all cells will be replaced by new cells. For instance, the neurons you're born with are the ones you're going to die with. The skin itself does replace itself very often, or at least the very top layer called the epidermis. The dermis, under the epidermis, is where tattoo ink goes. However... | [
"Airbrushes can also be used to apply temporary airbrush tattoos. An artist sprays ink onto the skin through a stencil. Often, the resulting design mirrors the look of a permanent tattoo, without any pain or discomfort. In the past, TATs might only last a week, but now, the best inks can last up to two weeks or lon... |
Does the body adapt hearing based on the environment? | My understanding is that your little hairy listening things in your ear are kind of hiding during the storm like turning down the listing capabilities of your ears and your brain thinks everything is less loud than it is. When there is less loud noise they will come back out of hiding and you will hear everything as lo... | [
"King discovered that the mammalian brain contains a spatial map of the auditory world and showed that its development is shaped by sensory experience. His work has also demonstrated that the adult brain represents sound features in a remarkably flexible way, continually adjusting to variations in the statistical d... |
Alphonse Capone experts: Could information provided in a reddit AMA have helped Capone if it had ever surfaced years ago? | I looked into this.
The infamous trial against Al Capone which convicted him of tax evasion took place in 1931. The woman in question said that she was born in 1914. In this particular quote: ["First, I changed my baptismal certificate so that I could start working at the age of 12 after my father was killed by a stre... | [
"Now the goal was to track down the bookkeepers to get them to testify that \"A\" and \"Al\" were references to Capone in the ledgers. For over three weeks Wilson evaluated handwriting from every single one of Capone's associates. He checked voter registers, bank deposits, bail bonds certificates, and other documen... |
Can a tidally locked planet have distinct lunar phases? | Yes, because lunar phases are caused by the moon orbiting orbiting the planet. You wouldn't have a day-night cycle in a tidally locked planet, but any moon will still have to be in orbit. Thus, the time between moonrise and moonrise in a specific location would take a month, during which the moon will show all phases (... | [
"Being tidally locked to a giant planet or sub-brown dwarf would allow for more moderate climates on a moon than there would be if the moon were a similar-sized planet orbiting in locked rotation in the habitable zone of the star. This is especially true of red dwarf systems, where comparatively high gravitational ... |
how did insects evolve to resemble plant life? | Insects with mutations that cause them to look like plants are eaten less often than insects that aren't. This causes the plant-mimicing-insects to have more offspring that themselves look like plants, whereas the non-plant-looking-insects do not, because they were eaten by birds, and are now dead and therefore can't h... | [
"The evolution of insects is closely related to the evolution of flowering plants. Insect adaptations include feeding on flowers and related structures, with some 20% of extant insects depending on flowers, nectar or pollen for their food source. This symbiotic relationship is even more paramount in evolution consi... |
why is a crash in house prices a bad thing? as a first time buyer, it would be a benefit to me if houses were cheaper, right? | It's a buyer's market now, so yes, if you have the money, it's a great time for you.
But, imagine that you had borrowed $100,000 for a house a few years ago. Now, the housing price has dropped, and your house is only worth $50,000, market price. You are paying off a $100,000 loan for an object worth $50,000. You see t... | [
"Banks offered 40-year mortgages and, more recently, 50-year mortgages. While some observers suggest that a soft landing will occur, others suggest that a crash in prices is probable. Lower home prices will allow low-income families and young people to enter the market; however, there is a strong perception that ho... |
if there’s no sound in space how do astronauts speak to mission control or each other? | TLDR: The have radios
Inside a space craft there's air so their is sound.
Outside the spacecraft they're in space suits that are filled with air so you can breath and so you can make sounds, and they have radios to communicate with the ship and ground. | [
"The default version of \"Orbiter\" has no sound, however a popular add-on called \"XRSound\" is available. It provides engine noises, ambient sounds in the cabin, radio chatter and other sounds including playlists. Options enable the user to maintain a realistic silence when the craft is viewed externally during s... |
Did the atomic bombs help end the war? I've always believed they did but current article claims they did not. | Kuznick is an advocate of what might be negatively called an extremely "revisionist" position on the atomic bombings. This argument is not a new one — the question of whether the atomic bombs ended the war or were necessary to end the war [has been debated since the 1940s](_URL_0_), but got more steam in the late and p... | [
"Even before the American pamphlets warning of the great power of atomic explosions, newspapers commenting on the atomic attacks reported that the bombs could not be taken lightly; \"The Nippon Times\" reported that it was clearly intended to kill many innocent people, to end the war quickly, and others proclaimed ... |
How much trade was there between the aboriginal people of Australia and surrounding areas (such as Indonesia or the Polynesians? | With Polynesia, none. But with Indonesia, the story is very different. Macassan traders and fishermen from Sulawesi had been sailing to Arnhem Land and the Kimberley since at least the 1700s, though there's disagreement over exactly how long they've been doing this. Rock art in Arnhem land depicting Macassan vessels ha... | [
"Before European settlement of Australia, Makassan trepangers from southwest Sulawesi established trading contact with Indigenous communities in northern Australia as early as 1640. They constructed outdoor factories to process trepang, a type of sea cucumber prized by Chinese traders, but did not establish permane... |
What is the main difference between Cold, Hot and Warm dark matter? | This isn't the entire story, but the main difference is the mass. Massive particles (*e.g.*, the postulated WIMPS) would be moving very slowly (nonrelativistically), and are called "cold". At the other extreme are neutrinos, which are still moving near the speed of light, and are called "hot" (although there aren't ... | [
"Warm dark matter (WDM) is a hypothesized form of dark matter that has properties intermediate between those of hot dark matter and cold dark matter, causing structure formation to occur bottom-up from above their free-streaming scale, and top-down below their free streaming scale. The most common WDM candidates ar... |
What would a grocery store in the early 1900s look like as far as selection of meat goes? | Modern "grocery stores" are actually what you would call "super markets" where you can find a wide variety of durable goods, preserved foods, as well as fresh produce, meat, baked goods, etc. This is a historically fairly modern invention, dating back to around the mid 20th century.
Historically, there would be a vari... | [
"The store incorporated shopping baskets, self-service branded products, and checkouts at the front. Removing unnecessary clerks, creating elaborate aisle displays, and rearranging the store to force customers to view all of the merchandise in a continuous path, were just some of the characteristics of the early Pi... |
How effective/powerful was the military of the british empire late 18th century-ww1? | You are right.
Throughout this period, Britain had the most powerful and probably the 'best' navy in the world.
Britain was also the richest country in the world through most of this period, which certainly helped.
Through most of this period, Britain, being blessed by being an island nation, with no land borders t... | [
"The history of the British Army spans over three and a half centuries since its founding in 1660 and involves numerous European wars, colonial wars and world wars. From the late 17th century until the mid-20th century, the United Kingdom was the greatest economic and imperial power in the world, and although this ... |
why does a change in pressure not affect the equilibrium constant in chemistry? | The equilibrium constant is the product of chemical activities of the products of a reaction, divided by the product of chemical activities of the reactants.
The thing is, with gasses, the activity is usually considered to be that gas's partial pressure. So if pressure was also included into the equilibrium constant..... | [
"If the pressure is increased by the addition of an inert gas, then neither the composition at equilibrium nor the equilibrium constant are appreciably affected (because the partial pressures remain constant, assuming an ideal-gas behaviour of all gases involved). However, the composition at equilibrium will depend... |
How harmful is it to stop urinating mid-stream? | No, it actually builds muscle control and can be helpful later in life when let's say your bladder control isn't as good. | [
"There existed a practical alternative where a public urinal is stopped in order to wait for it to fill. Then a person would enter it and submerge his penis into the urine of previous users. This was alternatively called dipping.\n",
"Urininary urgency has been described as being similar to a fight-or-flight resp... |
what is a cashless society? | A society where you don't carry cash. You pay with debit cards, credit cards, or services like Apple pay. I guess you could even pay with checks, but that's not really a primary method in today's cashless societies. | [
"A cashless society describes an economic state whereby financial transactions are not conducted with money in the form of physical banknotes or coins, but rather through the transfer of digital information (usually an electronic representation of money) between the transacting parties. Cashless societies have exis... |
Has there ever existed a true "hidden/sunken treasure map"? Or has anyone stumbled upon such treasure? | Yes! While I'm not aware of treasure maps, sunken treasure can be and has been found. In fact, in St. Augustine, FL it is not uncommon to see pieces of such treasure for sale in antique shops...obvious treasure such as gold coins, jewelry, and the like, as well as ornate cannons, sextants, compasses, and more. Imagi... | [
"Over the years many people have claimed to have discovered maps and other clues that led to pirate treasure, or claim that historical maps are actually treasure maps. These claims are not supported by scholars.\n",
"A treasure map is a variation of a map to mark the location of buried treasure, a lost mine, a va... |
Do we have any indication that the classic "Lincoln voice" that's used in almost all modern depictions of him is at all accurate to how he sounded? | Quite the opposite, in fact - his contemporaries commented on his thin, reedy-sounding voice. [This website](_URL_0_) collects some quotes about it:
> Lincoln's voice was, when he first began speaking, shrill, squeaking, piping, unpleasant; his general look, his form, his pose, the color of his flesh, wrinkled and ... | [
"Lincoln, let it be recorded, had a terrible singing voice. Sandburg wrote about the sixteenth United States president: \"His voice was tenor in pitch, and managed tunes in a reciting, singsong tone. A song titled 'Legacy' was a favorite with groups who heard him substitute his own words 'old gray' for the regular ... |
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