Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
how are companies affected by a speculative bubble?	Say everyone is buying tulips. So you start a tulip business. Then the bubble bursts and everyone stops buying tulips. Now you're out of business.	[ "As with all types of economic bubbles, disagreement exists over whether or not a real estate bubble can be identified or predicted, then perhaps prevented. Speculative bubbles are persistent, systematic and increasing deviations of actual prices from their fundamental values. Bubbles can often be hard to identify,...
Curiosity question about interracial marriage	Marriage in the United States is largely governed by state laws. Miscegenation, or interracial marriage, was governed by a hodgepodge of laws from every state since the formation. During this time, different states had different races which could be barred from certain activities, and there were various tests to determ...	[ "The estimates based on the Blumstein and Schwartz study are slightly higher than estimates provided by other researchers. Hunt, based on interviews from a 1974 national study of sexual behavior, estimated that 2–4 percent of the married population is involved in open marriages. \n", "Consequently, many interraci...
exactly how do those nigerian scams work?	To answer your actual question and not just explain 409 scans like thomar did... (no offense thomar, I thought the same thing you did). Basically, say you're selling something on Ebay, like a car for $10,000. The scammer buys the car, but when he sends you a check for the car, he sends you a check for $15,000. As expl...	[ "In Nigeria, scammers use computers in Internet cafés to send mass emails promising potential victims riches or romance, and to trawl for replies. They refer to their targets as \"Maga(s)\", slang developed from a Yoruba word meaning \"fool\" and referring to gullible white people. Some scammers have accomplices in...
how come pet life expectancy hasn’t increased alongside human life expectancy?	It has, absolutely. However, pet medical tech has not progressed as much for a few reasons: * The mindset of "treating pets like family" is a pretty new cultural development, and only in certain parts of the world at that.. * There's not nearly as much money in the pet pharma industry as compared to human medicine,...	[ "One prominent and very popular theory states that lifespan can be lengthened by a tight budget for food energy called caloric restriction. Caloric restriction observed in many animals (most notably mice and rats) shows a near doubling of life span from a very limited calorific intake. Support for the theory has be...
When nationalism was developing in Early Modern Scandinavia, where did the Sami fit in?	I'm not quite sure what you mean here, since the Early Modern Period would in a Swedish context be defined as the period from the Reformation to 1809. But nationalism as we know it is often thought of as phenomenon that arose in the 19th century. (this is of course very simplistic but not entirely untrue) As far back ...	[ "In the 20th century, Norwegian authorities put the Sámi culture under pressure in order to make the Norwegian language and culture universal. A strong economical development of the north also took place, giving Norwegian culture and language status. On the Swedish and Finnish side, the authorities were much less m...
Did the inhabitants of a besieged city ever join the army and fight back?	Most walled cities had some sort of militia of all able-bodied men, in addition to a formal garrison, to defend their walls. In England they were called "trained bands" after 1572. More generally, in a siege, the defending commander would try to mobilise all able-bodied men to defend the walls - which was clearly in th...	[ "As a siege progressed, the surrounding army would build earthworks (a line of circumvallation) to completely encircle their target, preventing food, water, and other supplies from reaching the besieged city. If sufficiently desperate as the siege progressed, defenders and civilians might have been reduced to eatin...
During the Berlin Wall, what happened with trams/trains, etc?	There were three tracked transport services in Berlin: regular (longer distance) trains, the Berlin intra-city rail system (S-Bahn) and the Metro (U-Bahn). The S-Bahn was under East German management, and continued business in West Berlin with employees from West Berlin and East Berlin management. With the closing of ...	[ "With the conquest of Frankfurt by the US Army on March 25 1945, the tram traffic came to a complete halt. The demolition of all Mainbrücken by the Wehrmacht shortly before the end of the war had divided the network in two, the use of steel trams of types F and H as anti-tank devices, as it had happened in Berlin a...
Why does the human brain so easily extract faces out of otherwise random visual data?	Certainly there are advantages to it, but also disadvantages. If someone (human) is stalking you in the forest, and you're able to pick out their face from the surrounding foliage, then you've got an extra split second to fight/flight reaction. Likewise, if you can pick out the tiger/bear/etc's face just that much ea...	[ "In 2008 IBM applied for a patent on how to extract mental images of human faces from the human brain. It uses a feedback loop based on brain measurements of the fusiform gyrus area in the brain which activates proportionate with degree of facial recognition.\n", "In 2010, IBM applied for a patent on a method to ...
How long does the flu vaccine actually protect you against the strains in the vaccine?	It should protect indefinitely, since your body makes memory B cells after every new exposure to a pathogen, which stay in the body for life. This is why you can never get the chicken pox twice, even if exposed to it 50 years after the initial exposure. The reason we need to get a new flu shot every year is because th...	[ "The vaccine should be given in the muscle of the upper arm and be given in two doses for the best protection. The initial dose of the vaccine should be followed up by a booster six to twelve months later. Protection against hepatitis A begins approximately two to four weeks after the initial vaccination. Protectio...
why doesn't the same inflation-adjusted income buy the same amount of stuff it used to?	I strongly recommend the [Consumer Price Index official website](_URL_2_), which is pretty upfront and well written about how the CPI works. [The FAQ](_URL_0_) in particular is worth reading. (Yeah, I know that the message you quote is in Canada, but sorry, I don't know anything about the Canadian counterparts to thi...	[ "BULLET::::- Inflation creates a redistribution of income between debtor and creditor. Specifically, inflation sacrifices the interests of creditors to benefit the debtor. For example, A borrows 10,000 dollars from B and agrees to return it after one year. Assuming inflation occurs in the year and the price doubles...
why is gm cutting jobs and closing factories in north america?	Officially GM is trying to grow business ventures away from cars as part of a restructuring process. Unofficially they are increasing production in Mexico and China at the expense of US + Canada to lower production costs. IE someone put a tariff on Steel without understanding how the economy works to try to increase ...	[ "In April 2005 Wagoner took back personal control of GM's North American car division from GM North American chairman Bob Lutz and GM North American President Gary Cowger in light of its poor performance. In early June 2005 Wagoner announced that GM in the United States would close several plants and shed 25,000 em...
Do any particles other than protons, neutrons, and electrons form atom-like structures?	You can have oppositely charged particles other than those three get bound to each other by electrostatic force and form hydrogen-like atoms, and you can replace the electrons in an atom with muons or possibly with tau particles, but if you want an atomic nucleus with more than one particle, the only way for it to be s...	[ "Solids are made of only three kinds of particles: electrons, protons, and neutrons. Quasiparticles are none of these; instead, each of them is an \"emergent phenomenon\" that occurs inside the solid. Therefore, while it is quite possible to have a single particle (electron or proton or neutron) floating in space, ...
Why exactly do humans, and presumably other animals, perceive different wavelengths of light as different distinct colours?	One prominent theory for color perception is to recognize good food sources, for instance, young (greener) shoots and leaves, flowers. Better color discrimination improves the ability to recognize them. _URL_0_	[ "Research shows that animals sensitive to more than three color channels are likely to see the world in a very different way from humans. These animals are likely to experience different and more numerous unique hues, along with additional ways of mixing them.\n", "\"Colour vision is the faculty of the organism t...
Are there any good maps of bronze age Mesopotamian cities (e.g., Uruk, Lagash) based on archaeological reconstruction?	Here are some sources that look at a wide variety of Mesopotamian cites from the Bronze Age. "Cultutral Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East" by Michael Roaf (1994) This book is rather pricey, at $70 new on _URL_0_ and one person, who is obviously on drugs, is offering a used copy for $7,777.92. This book ha...	[ "By excavating the highest levels of the city's ruins, archaeologists can study various attributes of Ugaritic civilization just before their destruction, and compare artifacts with those of nearby cultures to help establish dates. Ugarit also contained many caches of cuneiform tablets, actual libraries that contai...
the historical background for american resistance to gun-control?	The reason guns are prevalent in the American culture is because they are a fundamental tenant of the free society invented by the Constitution. Before I go into further explanation just think about what gun control means; if you are in favor of gun control it means you have a fundamental lack of belief in a free socie...	[ "The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States, including proposals for making the background-check system universal, and for new federal and state legislation banning the sale and manufacture of certain types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines with m...
While racing, how do motorcycles keep enough traction to avoid crashing while they are practically on the side of the wheel? What is the physics behind the turns?	It's a combination of purpose built tires and heat. I won't get into the physics of how a bike starts its turn as that is outside the scope of this quesiton. As for how motogp and racing bikes get so much lean angle its due to the tires. Those are purpose built racing tires, made of very soft (relatively speaking) r...	[ "In addition to the road surface, vibrations in a motorcycle can be caused by the engine and wheels, if unbalanced. Manufacturers employ a variety of technologies to reduce or damp these vibrations, such as engine balance shafts, rubber engine mounts, and tire weights. The problems that vibration causes have also s...
why do cats never seem pull muscles when they make sudden movements?	I have always just assumed it's from them stretching every second, every minute, every day.	[ "When cats are calm, they tend to stand relaxed with a still tail. If they become aggressive, the hind legs stiffen, the rump elevates but the back stays flat, tail hairs are erected, the nose is pushed forward and the ears are pulled back slightly. Because cats have both claws and teeth, they can easily cause inju...
Why has Vienna, Austria been the home of so many historically significant persons?	Dumb question: Have there really been more historically significant people that made Vienna their home throughout history, than other comparable cities (Berlin, Paris, London, Rome)? Is there some sort of statistic you could give me a link to?	[ "Vienna – capital of Austria and one of its nine states. It is the country's largest city, with over 1.8 million residents within an area of 414.65 km (160.10 sq mi). Vienna has a rich heritage and is considered one of the most livable cities in the world. It is the cultural center of Austria and a popular tourist ...
What are the negative feedbacks as the earth warms?	This is a great question. A true negative feedback on CO2-induced global warming must consume the CO2 and bury it in sediment. Production of biomass from trees or blooms in the surface ocean are short term processes and have relatively rapid turnover (10s to 1000s of years). Carbon burial is a long-term geological proc...	[ "Forcings and feedbacks together determine how much and how fast the climate changes. The main positive feedback in global warming is the tendency of warming to increase the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, which in turn leads to further warming. The main negative feedback comes from the Stefan–Boltzmann la...
A Brief History of Romania?	Oh dear, I used to be incredibly good at Model UN in high school and I still have a drawer full of gavels at my parents' house from it. You don't need to know anything in particular about its history, however, but you do need to know where its policy comes from, which mostly involves learning about its recent, Ceaucesc...	[ "This is a timeline of Romanian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Romania and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Romania.\n", "His history textbook, the first Marxist synthesis of Romanian history, appeared in 1947...
Louis is the French translation of Clovis/Chlodowig so why does the numbering of the french kings go Clovis IV > Louis I?	Louis is indeed derived from Clovis, which itself is the francicized version of the Germanic name Hlodwig which is Ludwig in modern German. In France, the name Clovis changed to Ludovic, then Louis. Apart from the fact that Clovis and Louis look and sound different, what makes the separation in terms of numbering is ...	[ "Louis is the French form of the Old Frankish given name Chlodowig and one of two English forms, the other being Lewis (). The Frankish name is composed of the words for \"fame\" (\"hlōd\") and \"warrior\" (\"wīg\") which may be translated to \"famous warrior\" or \"famous in battle\".\n", "BULLET::::- Clovis I –...
What would an empty barrel cost in 1860's?	Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't "barrel" as used to measure petroleum simply a unit of measure and does not imply that there is a physical barrel involved?	[ "While the standard barrel length was 7\", many Schofields were purchased as surplus by distributors, and had the barrels shortened to 5\", and were refinished in nickel. After the Spanish–American War of 1898, the US Army sold off all their surplus Schofield revolvers. The surplus Schofield revolvers were recondit...
If all the salt in the oceans was removed and made into a single cube, how big would the cube be?	The oceans hold 97% of the Earth's water (see [this](_URL_1_) from NOAA), so we can safely just look at the oceans to consider how much saltwater there is. From [another](_URL_1_) NOAA page, we find there are 1.4x10^(21) liters of water. [Here](_URL_2_) we see there are about 35 grams of salt in each liter of ocean w...	[ "Developers said the cube originally contained around 69 billion cubelets. As of April 2013, there were approximately 50 layers remaining, consisting of 3.6 billion cubelets. The last layer was removed and the cube completed on 26 May 2013.\n", "A gelatinous cube is a fictional monster from the \"Dungeons & Drago...
Modern courts have faced the problem of the "CSI effect" (Where jurors expect incontrovertible scientific evidence like they uncover in the show). Was there a similar problem of high expectations in the late-Victorian age following the popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories?	In a way, yes. But not exactly in the way you describe. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes and other crime dramas led to more understanding of how to examine crimes. In some cases, it even improved the investigations of crime. Much as the Sherlock Holmes stories came to the public, so too did the public's investigat...	[ "The popularity of forensic crime television shows supposedly gives rise to many misconceptions about the nature of forensic science and investigation procedures among jury members. The CSI effect is hypothesized to affect verdicts in two main ways: first, that jurors expect more forensic evidence than is available...
If the chemical trypotran(can be found in milk, and banana's) has an effect on the production of dopamine in the brain, wouldn't that actually have the reverse effect on the body by not producing it's own natural level?	First off, you are talking about tryptophan, the amino acid? What is the exact question you are asking?	[ "Dopamine consumed in food cannot act on the brain, because it cannot cross the blood–brain barrier. However, there are also a variety of plants that contain L-DOPA, the metabolic precursor of dopamine. The highest concentrations are found in the leaves and bean pods of plants of the genus \"Mucuna\", especially in...
How exactly does an ectopic pregnancy happen? Is it that the woman keeps passing the egg like a normal cycle before the body realizes it was fertilized?	I'm guessing that ectopic pregnancies occur due to the blastula not being properly propelled by peristalsis. Perhaps this leads to the blastula staying in the fallopian tube instead of embedding itself in the uterus. > The mechanism for how this works confuses me. If the body didn't think it was fertilized, why woul...	[ "Gestation, called \"pregnancy\" in humans, is the period of time during which the fetus develops, dividing via mitosis inside the female. During this time, the fetus receives all of its nutrition and oxygenated blood from the female, filtered through the placenta, which is attached to the fetus' abdomen via an umb...
Did Ronins lose their 'Ronin' status and become a Samurai if hired?	A ronin is simply an unemployed samurai (i.e., a samurai without a position as retainer to a lord). If they obtain a position as a retainer, they cease being ronin. If they lose their positions, they become ronin. Whether ronin or retainer, they were still samurai. In principle, being a ronin was a temporary state...	[ "Because the former samurai could not legally take up a new trade, or because of pride were loath to do so, many \"rōnin\" looked for other ways to make a living with their swords. Those \"rōnin\" who desired steady, legal employment became mercenaries that guarded trade caravans, or bodyguards for wealthy merchant...
what is happening mechanically different between a decent golfer and a world class competing professional golfer? why can they make their ball for so much further?	The faster you swing, the harder it is to hit the ball accurately. It takes practice and control to be able to hit the ball further and hit it where you want it to go. But distance is only part of the game. There is accuracy, there is knowing what club to use, and then there is the short game. Most holes are par 4 a...	[ "There are many types of golf balls on the market, and customers often face a difficult decision. Golf balls are divided into two categories: recreational and advanced balls. Recreational balls are oriented toward the ordinary golfer, who generally have low swing speeds ( or lower) and lose golf balls on the course...
How was the Soviet Union able to develop such a great spy network before WWII despite being a country less than 30 years old?	Spy networks don't really have much to do with the 'age' of a country. Britain's Secret Service MI6 was only officially founded in 1903, and until WWI it was mostly concerned with Irish rebels and Fenian terrorists. They way the USSR, the way almost any nation builds a spy ring, is recruiting within foreign nations. T...	[ "One of the biggest successes of Soviet foreign intelligence was the penetration of the American Manhattan Project, which was the code name for the effort during World War II to develop the first nuclear weapons of the United States with assistance from the United Kingdom and Canada. Information gathered in the Uni...
why does my stomach still hurt in the same place after my gallbladder's been removed?	this is kind of late but i hope you see this- it might be worth checking it out at the doctors and getting an ultrasound done, if you have the moneys for it. i've heard that you can actually form gallstones in your liver post-cholecystectomy, if you have a super-shitty diet.	[ "The gallbladder can be affected by gallstones, formed by material that cannot be dissolved – usually cholesterol or bilirubin, a product of haemoglobin breakdown. These may cause significant pain, particularly in the upper-right corner of the abdomen, and are often treated with removal of the gallbladder called a ...
hong kong and macau	> Are they censored like the rest of China? Not in a sense that there's a Chinese Great Firewall. People still have a freedom of speech, religion, and such. IIRC, Wall Street Journal still ranks Hong Kong as the world's freest economy for the pass 20+ years. > Do they have their own leaders? Technically yes, ...	[ "Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China. The governments of Hong Kong and Macau do not use the official PRC ethnic classification system, nor does the PRC's official classification system take ethnic groups in Hong Kong and Macau into account. As a result, minority ...
what is the science behind travel constipation?	sitting for long periods of time in a very low humidity atmosphere (in an airplane at least) drys out your whole body.	[ "She has published six books on health and wellbeing: \"Move, Nourish, Believe: The Fit Woman's Secret Revealed\" (2011), \"MORE of the Fit Woman's Secrets\" (2013), \"NOURISH - The Fit Woman's Cookbook\" (2014), \"INSPIRED\" (2015), \"Love You\" (2017), and \"Eat Good Food\" (2018).\n", "It has been considered a...
why do some comedy shows have canned laughter, or live audience laughter but most comedy movies don't? and why have the laughter anyway?	Lots of studies have shown that people tend to laugh more when other people are laughing. There's something very social about it. That isn't to say they will think the material is any funnier. So using laugh tracks works for television. It isn't used in movies because movies were designed to be viewed in theaters full...	[ "Contrary to common annoyance of canned laughter in television shows, television studios have discovered that they can increase the perceived \"funniness\" of a show by merely playing canned laughter at key \"funny\" moments. They have found that even though viewers find canned laughter highly annoying, they percei...
What factors determine the speed of sound? Are there different speeds of sound for each planet's atmosphere?	The speed of sound in an ideal gas is determined by: a = sqrt( ( rho * R * T ) / M ) - a = speed of sound (m/s) - sqrt() = square root - rho = specific heat ratio of the gas (dimensionless) - R = universal gas constant (8.3145 J/mol*K) - T = temperature (K) - M = molar mass of the gas (kg/mol) An interestin...	[ "In the Earth's atmosphere, the chief factor affecting the speed of sound is the temperature. For a given ideal gas with constant heat capacity and composition, the speed of sound is dependent \"solely\" upon temperature; see Details below. In such an ideal case, the effects of decreased density and decreased press...
billion gets b, million gets m, why does thousand get k???	It's derived from the Greek work khilioi, which meant thousand. The Greek didn't have a word for million. The largest number they had a name for was 10,000, which was a myriad. So we use more modern naming mechanisms for numbers larger than that.	[ "The letter \"K\" is commonly used to denote \"thousand\" (e.g., \"She earns $80K\"), even though this is inconsistent with the lowercase \"k\" in SI. This usage has largely replaced the letter \"G\" (for \"grand\", used almost exclusively for money) and the Roman numeral \"M\" that was commonly used for \"thousand...
how express shipping works, how hard would it be to make all packages arrive in 2 days opposed to 5-8?	Companies have a supply chain process that is optimized for low cost. For example, if a truck is half full, they'll wait until more orders come in before sending it out. But priority orders go into a special truck, and that truck leaves whether it is full or not. And that truck loads its cargo onto an airplane inste...	[ "Priority Mail Express is an accelerated domestic mail delivery service operated by the United States Postal Service. It is able to provide overnight delivery to most locations within the continental United States and guaranteed delivery within 2 days. Unlike most other USPS delivery options which provide only deli...
After being liberated by the Allies in WWII, what did communities in France, Poland and other occupied countries treat women who fraternized with German Solidiers?	badly. here's a previous post on this: [There are pictures of women from France who after their liberation from the Nazi's were publicly shamed with their hair being shaved off and other similar acts for fraternizing with Nazi soldiers... but what happened to these women after the initial shaming act?](_URL_0_)	[ "It is estimated that a minimum of 34,140 women from occupied states were forced to work as prostitutes during the Third Reich. In occupied Europe, the local women were often forced into prostitution. On 3 May 1941 the Foreign Ministry of the Polish government-in-exile issued a document describing the mass Nazi rai...
why are car keys use different mechanisms (sliding pins?) then our normal house keys? what are the advantages/disadvantages?	Keys can only be inserted one way into pin locks. Wafer locks, for example, allows insertion two ways. That means less fiddling about trying to insert the key into a keyhole that can be hard to see and is sometimes obscured by the steering wheel.	[ "The first iteration, released in 2005, did not feature mechanical key switches, but in addition to the blank keycaps, it featured a Model-M-inspired design, and individually weighted keypresses, because some keys are pressed with less force than other keys.\n", "A switchblade key is basically the same as any oth...
Why was the Ottoman Empire unable to mass convert Christians in the Balkans like previous Caliphates in the middle east?	The current makeup of the Balkans is not quite reflective of its demographics during the Ottoman Empire. It's like asking, "Why was the Ottoman Empire unable to convert the Jews on the West Coast of Israel, but the West Bank of Palestine is almost entirely Muslim?" The reality is that a huge movement of people occurred...	[ "The pre-Islamic Middle East was dominated by the Byzantine and Sassanian empires. The Roman–Persian Wars between the two had devastated the region, making the empires unpopular amongst local tribes. Furthermore, in the lands that would be conquered by Muslims many Christians (Nestorians, Monophysites, Jacobites an...
why do many european countries have baby-naming laws?	It's a child protection thing. They don't want a child to have to live with a name that is inappropriate/offensive or that will cause the child trouble growing up.	[ "Nations other than the U.S., in modern times, may have laws with comparable intent or effect and that constrain employment of women or of other groups of adults defined by characteristics at birth, although the laws may not be called by the same name.\n", "Many culture groups, past and present, did not or do not...
how do generators turn mechanical energy into electrical energy?	There are ways to convert vibrations into electrical energy (every microphone does that), but typically generators are specifically using rotation. More specifically, rotation of a magnet. Faraday's law states that whenever a magnetic field changes, an electric field is produced. When you move a magnet, a point in spac...	[ "An electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. A generator forces electrons to flow through an external electrical circuit. It is somewhat analogous to a water pump, which creates a flow of water but does not create the water inside. The source of mechanical energy, the , m...
why isn't imgur integrated into reddit?	What do you mean integrated? With RES, imgur (and many other image-hosts) are pretty well "integrated" into the site, as far as being able to quickly view the images.	[ "The company was started in 2009 in Athens, Ohio as Alan Schaaf's side project while he attended Ohio University for computer science. Imgur was created as a response to the usability problems encountered in similar services. Designed to be a gift to the online community of Reddit, it took off almost instantly, jum...
how can oil wells drill horizontally?	Think of a straw that bends in the middle. Now connect a drill bit to one end and some hydraulics to bend the bendy joint. Bending the joint alters the aim of the drilling bit [enabling it to be steered](_URL_0_) to a horizontal position from a vertical one, eventually.	[ "The oil well is created by drilling a long hole into the earth with an oil rig. A steel pipe (casing) is placed in the hole, to provide structural integrity to the newly drilled well bore. Holes are then made in the base of the well to enable oil to pass into the bore. Finally a collection of valves called a \"Chr...
- older people always say their arms, legs, wrists, etc. hurt just before it starts raining. why is this?	Arthritis can make your joints more sensitive to changes in barometric pressure that occur just before it rains. The same an happen in younger folks who have broken bones that have later healed.	[ "In younger people, these fractures typically occur during sports or a motor vehicle collision. In older people, the most common cause is falling on an outstretched hand. Specific types include Colles, Smith, Barton, and Chauffeur's fractures. The diagnosis is generally suspected based on symptoms and confirmed wit...
why do we have over 18,000 unaffiliated police departments in the united states? why isn't there a single government agency that unites them?	Because there are lots of levels of legal authority in the US, and they are largely independent of each other (by Constitutional design). Federal laws are not the same as state laws, which are different from county or city ordinances. And sometimes they conflict. No single agency has the authority to enforce all those ...	[ "Larger agencies have the resources to have separate units for internal affairs, but smaller agencies - which do not have the luxury - are more common, with 87% of police departments in the United States employing 25 or fewer sworn officers. Smaller agencies that do not have sufficient resources may have the execut...
what is falun gong, and why does the chinese government hate them so much?	I probably wouldn't tell a five year old this, but here is the simple version. Falun Gong is a cult (they believe crazy things about aliens, and think scientists are evil), and the people who run it live in America and do things to upset the chinese government. They tell other people living in China to protest the gov...	[ "Falun Gong is a Chinese qigong discipline involving meditation and a moral philosophy rooted in Buddhist tradition. The practice rose to popularity in the 1990s in China, and by 1998, Chinese government sources estimated that as many as 70 million people had taken up the practice. Perceiving that Falun Gong was a ...
Why are the chances of War within the Developed world so low?	This is a huge debate in the international relations field known as the [democratic peace theory](_URL_0_). There are plenty of explanations for it but none so convincing to be completely accepted. It could be due to the structure of democracies themselves- leaders are used to negotiation and compromise and are held ac...	[ "On the supply side, it has been observed that wars sometimes have the effect of accelerating progress of technology to such an extent that an economy is greatly strengthened after the war, especially if it has avoided the war-related destruction. This was the case, for example, with the United States in World War ...
What is the history of the Irish Travellers? What writings are out there that pertain to them? Do we know how they came to live a nomadic lifestyle?	Traveller history is a highly contentious subject, because it is tied up with their identity and right to continue their itinerant lifestyle. The idea is that if Travellers are really just displaced or dispossessed people (as has been argued), the best "solution" is to re-settle them. This was the basic finding of the ...	[ "The historical origins of Irish Travellers as a distinct group is still unknown. It continues to be the subject of academic and popular debate. Research has been complicated by the fact that the group appears to have no written records of its own.\n", "Deeper documentation of Shelta and the Travellers dates to t...
what makes some people naturally better at sports than others, even as children who have had similar levels of sporting experience?	I always found that there wasn't much disparity at a young age but once testosterone starts kicking in men begin to have superior (on average) strength and other athletic abilities. But genes and mindset can sometimes overcome this. In high school I would say that I could destroy a girl at basketball but there was th...	[ "With regular participation in a variety of sports, children can develop and become more proficient at various sports skills (including, but not limited to, jumping, kicking, running, throwing, etc.) if the focus is on skill mastery and development. Young people participating in sports also develop agility, coordin...
how do spoilers to unreleased movies, games, and books get released?	Next time you watch a movie, watch the credits. Count the names and imagine how hard it is to have a project with that many people, keep the spoiler-y information away from all or most of them, and then hope that nobody who knows spills the beans. Same with games. Somewhat easier with books, but I do remember the (si...	[ "The Spoiler is a 2011 dark comedy novel written by British author Annalena McAfee. The novel was first published by Harvill Secker on 2 May 2011, with Knopf republishing the book in the United States on April 10, 2012.\n", "A spoiler is an element of a disseminated summary or description of any piece of fiction ...
what would happen if countries just stopped obeying the geneva convention?	The reason that countries obey the Geneva Conventions is so that other countries will. If Freedonia is at war with Oceania, then if Freedonia starts ignoring the Conventions, their own soldiers may no longer be protected by it if Oceania decides to ignore it as well.	[ "The Geneva Conventions are four related treaties adopted and continuously expanded from 1864 to 1949 that represent a legal basis and framework for the conduct of war under international law. Every single member state of the United Nations has currently ratified the conventions, which are universally accepted as c...
Did the name "The United States" stem from The United Kingdom?	No, it did not -- while the Declaration of Independence (1776) is the "unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America," the term "United Kingdom" was not used for the political union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland until after the Acts of Union (1800) actually united them. The OED has a ref...	[ "The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be \"United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain\", and as such \"Great Britain\" was the official name of the state, as well as being used in titles such as \"Parliament of Great Britain\". Both the Acts and the ...
I am a sailor aboard a German U-Boat during WWII, What is my daily routine, what is my life like?	Well, all of those questions completely depend on the era of the war that you sailed in. In 1940, most patrols were extremely short (at most, two weeks). They were short for a variety of reasons, mainly that Uboats had next to free reign across the shipping routes; most were able to sail out, attack a convoy on the sur...	[ "The German sailors initially served in their Second World War uniforms, with the German Eagle and the Swastika removed, and under the same rules and regulations as were valid in the \"Kriegsmarine\". The sailors were paid a moderate wage and had the right to take local leave, unlike other German POWs, but service ...
why don't attics have proper floors?	They are just unfinished rooms - they keep the floors open so you have access to the ceiling of the house so you can make adjustments to wiring and other in-wall items. That said, you can get a finished attic.	[ "An attic (sometimes referred to as a \"loft\") is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a \"sky parlor\" or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the top floor of a building and the slanted roof, they are known for being awk...
How can gravity bend light if the speed of light is constant?	Light doesn't have a constant speed. In a curved spacetime, the coordinate speed of a distant light ray need not be c.	[ "In general relativity, light follows the curvature of spacetime, hence when light passes around a massive object, it is bent. This means that the light from an object on the other side will be bent towards an observer's eye, just like an ordinary lens. In General Relativity the speed of light depends on the gravit...
What is the earliest documented interaction between a foreign country, and Australian Aboriginals?	If by "documented" you mean refer only to surviving, contemporary written accounts, then the first documented encounter between Australians and non-Australians occurred on February 26, 1606. On that day, a Dutch expedition led by Willem Janszoon, made landfall near Weipa, Queensland, in Awngthim country. Hostilities w...	[ "According to a 2013 German study by a team of researchers on Indigenous Australian DNA genes reveal that a wave of migrants from India arrived in Australia about 4,230 years ago. It shows that the Indian migrants settled in Australia before Captain James Cook's first recorded contact with the Australian coastline....
if you have a miscarriage pretty far into pregnancy, what happens to the baby thats inside the body?	You give birth to it. In very very rare cases the body forms a cyst around it and the fetus becomes calcified and stays in the body	[ "Most clinically apparent miscarriages (two-thirds to three-quarters in various studies) occur during the first trimester. About 30% to 40% of all fertilized eggs miscarry, often before the pregnancy is known. The embryo typically dies before the pregnancy is expelled; bleeding into the decidua basalis and tissue n...
How different was the treatment and persecution of witches in areas controlled by the Spanish Inquisition in comparison to the rest of Europe?	Witch hunting was more of a Central-Northern European thing, so the scale of persecution in Spain (with the exception of Euskadi) was much lower than in, say, Germany. See this [map](_URL_0_). The Spanish inquisition main target was, after all, the conversos (muslims and jews, forced to convert to catholicism after t...	[ "The Spanish also brought with them the Inquisition as a social and political tool. Public hangings and even burnings, not unusual in Europe at the time, were also used in New Spain, especially in Mexico City, as demonstrations of the joint power of the Church and the State over individual actions and social status...
tone deafness: what is it exactly and how in the world can someone not hear how off-key they are?	It's when someone can't tell the difference between different pitches (notes) of sound correctly. There seems to be a part of the brain (the superior [arcuate fasciculus](_URL_0_)) which is broken or missing in tone deaf people. So in a way, asking how certain people can't hear how off-key they are is like asking why...	[ "Tone-deaf people seem to be disabled only when it comes to music as they can fully interpret the prosody or intonation of human speech. Tone deafness has a strong negative correlation with belonging to societies with tonal languages. This could be evidence that the ability to reproduce and distinguish between note...
Why didn't the Nazis use hollow point ammunition?	Germany abided the laws of war for the most part. There was a big difference between the Western and the Eastern front obviously. Like you pointed out this ammunition was banned since the Hague Convention and using this ammuntion would just make the enemy do the same and the advantages would negate each other and it w...	[ "Throughout World War II, the U.S bombings gradually degraded the Japanese munition manufacturing base. Manufacturers were soon forced to find new, inexpensive and creative ways to produce grenades. Contrary to the Russians or Germans, the heavy armor threat was not very present, thus explaining the late developmen...
Why are there drug effects in nature?	Some of the chemicals are toxins used by the plant to defend themselves. Those can have hallucigenic effects for a human, but might not for an animal that happens to eat the plant.	[ "The effects of a drug are a result of their binding selectivity with macromolecule properties of an organism, or the affinity with which different ligands bind to a substrate. More specifically, the specificity and selectivity of a ligand to its respective receptor provides researchers the opportunity to isolate a...
To what extent does our knowledge of the electrochemistry of our brain support or contradict the idea of free will?	This is both a scientific and philosophical problem, and we'll need a better understanding of both the question (the language and the meanings of words used to pose it), as well as neuroscience, in order to answer it. To begin with, you have to state your question much more precisely. "Free will" has too many meanings...	[ "Neuroscientists such as Bjoern Brembs and Christof Koch believe thermodynamically stochastic processes in the brain are the basis of free will, and that even very simple organisms such as flies have a form of free will. Similar ideas are put forward by some philosophers such as Robert Kane.\n", "The neuroscience...
What are the advantages of hair over feathers and scales?	Better insulation and less weight and air resistance. If you don't want to fly and have to keep your core temperature above the temperature of the environment, hair turned out to be your best choice ;)	[ "There's got to be a series of advantages all the way in the feather. If you can't think of one, then that's your problem not natural selection's problem... It's perfectly possible feathers began as fluffy extensions of reptilian scales to act as insulators... The earliest feathers might have been a different appro...
Is there a 200 year time discrepancy during the middle ages?	No. This is a ridiculous theory which, like the Phantom Time Hypothesis, would imply that no other place, like, say, China, in the world was capable of telling or keeping time. I am frankly shocked and appalled that anyone put in front of a class would spout such nonsense.	[ "This classification was not new, except for setting the Middle Ages between 476 and 1492, which he as well as his colleague and rival in Göttingen Johann Christoph Gatterer suggested roughly at the same time. These time borders for the Middle Ages are still accepted today.\n", "One Biblical periodization scheme ...
what keeps the oceans from flooding the earth?	Gravity. The gravity of the Earth pulls the oceans (and all liquids) to the lowest point they can go. That's why rivers flow downhill from mountains into the ocean. The same force that keeps water inside your glass keeps the water of the oceans in the ocean.	[ "Another result of the warming oceans are stronger hurricanes, which will wreak more havoc on land, and in the oceans, and create more opportunities for vectors to breed and infectious diseases to flourish. Extreme weather also means stronger winds. These winds can carry vectors tens of thousands of kilometers, res...
why are smartphone companies (especially apple) adding like 3 didfrent cameras on thier phone. is this really necesary, and does this increase the price by a lot? because if it does i dont understand why its not better to buy a camera then add three cameras to a phone	There is probably a demand from people who use their phone as everything and do not have a separate camera. Demand could also come from people using services like iCloud to back up their photos, and companies like Apple can see how much their camera is being used). Of course cost will increase, but we won't know the e...	[ "Many reviewers have criticized the device due to its outdated processor which results in a sluggish performance in some heavy apps. On the other hand, they praise the 3.15 MP rear camera of the device which they have found to be capable of taking clear pictures with adequate picture quality for its price range. Ov...
Do humans have any natural instincts? If so, what are they?	We have a bunch of natural instincts. You ever take a swig of sour milk and retch? You ever snap awake when water hits your face? These are instincts bred into us for our survival. Rotten food could kill you, get it out of your mouth! Water could drown you! Get up get up get up! Anytime you feel an unexplained r...	[ "Instinct is often misinterpreted as intuition and its reliability considered to be dependent on past knowledge and occurrences in a specific area. For example, someone who has had more experiences with children will tend to have a better instinct about what they should do in certain situations with them. This is n...
how does "declaring war" on a country work? and how does a country know who is attacking them? couldn't the us go bomb a country and say another country did it?	Yes, a country's leader could go attack another country and blame someone else. However, the complexities in chain of command and the number of people that would be required to know are so high that people would find out eventually. Even Russia, which Putin keeps on lockdown with state-controlled news and the like, cou...	[ "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...
In WW2, Why did Germany open a second front with the USSR? Why wouldn't they wait until defeating Britain?	Hitler cancelled Operation Sealion (the invasion of Britain) in 1940 because after the loss of the Battle of Britain he could never have had the air or naval superiority required to launch a successful invasion. On the other hand, Britain posed little threat to Hitler once he was master of the continent - the RAF and R...	[ "During the war, both sides disagreed on military strategy, especially the question of the opening of a second front against Germany in Western Europe. As early as July 1941, Stalin asked Britain to invade northern France, but Britain was in no position to carry out such a request. Stalin had also requested that th...
What was W. Europe and Britain like before the Romans arrived? Who lived there and how did it change as a result?	Well, in France, you had the Gauls, who were divided in multiple tribes, like the Arverni, the Aedui and the Belgii who were quite advanced. These tribes were Celtic. Spain had been taken over by Carthage, partially and the rest of it was inhabited by Spanish tribes. Those tribes were Spanish, but there were a few Celt...	[ "In Britain, the situation was somewhat different, as Rome had retreated from the island by about 400 AD, and the native inhabitants who remained were, for a time, left relatively free of foreign influence. When, in 597 AD, strong Roman influence again reached the island of Britain (by now in the hands of the Anglo...
Did Hitler genuinely hold Christian beliefs or were his Christian beliefs solely a political move?	More that can be said, but check out the [Hitler section of the FAQ for some related content.](_URL_0_)	[ "In 2003, two challenges appeared to this consensus view. One was from Richard Steigmann-Gall as part of his wider thesis that \"leading Nazis in fact considered themselves Christian\" or at least understood their movement \"within a Christian frame of reference\". He argues that several passages in the \"Table Tal...
Were Ethiopia's rulers Jewish before converting to Christianity? And if not, was there a large Jewish Ethiopian population that in anyway predisposed Ethiopia into becoming Christian?	Sorta. On the first bit, there was a [Jewish kingdom in the region](_URL_0_), but I wouldn't call them the leaders of Ethiopia. However, there was a large Jewish population in Ethiopia. They moved to Israel en masse in the early 1990s, but there was a significant population. And this population seems to have been l...	[ "For years, Ethiopian Jews were unable to own land and were often persecuted by the Christian majority of Ethiopia. Ethiopian Jews were afraid to touch non-Jews because they believed non-Jews were not pure, which also ostracized them from their Christian neighbors. For this reason, many Ethiopian Jews converted to ...
what's wrong with transfats?	They increase your chance of heart disease by a lot; if just 2% of your calories come from trans fats, your chance of heart disease doubles. There's also no good reason why they can't be replaced with "normal" fats, so many people have chosen to do so.	[ "TransJustice is an advocacy organization created by and for trans and gender non-conforming people of color. The group focuses on trans-related policies in jobs, housing and health care, including job training programs, resisting transphobic violence, HIV services and trans-sensitive medical services.\n", "Trans...
if an adult marries a minor aged, for arguments sake, 13 in a third world country, and moved to a country where the legal age of consent and marriage is higher, what happens?	Most likely the marriage would not be considered valid. And even if it was considered valid, unless there's a law stating that the age of consent does not apply to married couples, it would still be illegal for the couple to have sex.	[ "In England and Wales the general age at which a person may marry is 18, but 16- or 17-year-olds may get married with their parents' or guardians' consent. If they are unable to obtain this, they can gain consent from the courts, which may be granted by the Magistrates' Courts, or the County or High Court family di...
What maintains the amount of blood in your body?	[Erythropoiesis](_URL_0_) is the process by which your body regulates red blood cell production. If you are low on oxygen in your blood, your kidneys make more erythropoietin. This is the on switch to produce more red blood cells. There's a physical limit on how much you can make since you need to replace all the red...	[ "Blood accounts for 7% of the human body weight, with an average density around 1060 kg/m, very close to pure water's density of 1000 kg/m. The average adult has a blood volume of roughly , which is composed of plasma and several kinds of cells. These blood cells (which are also called corpuscles or \"formed elemen...
Why in the 19th,20th century or even today autocratic states always have military parade with all the stuffs(Tanks, missiles, choregraphic move) while in the western world its fairly rare and less impressive?	For the United States, I can shed some light. The United States Army and other Armed Forces of the U.S. are, at a federal level, heavily restricted from operating as a cohesive force for any purpose (including parades) domestically. One thing that's important to understand is how the U.S. Army is organized. While ther...	[ "Until 1875 the army was lined across the route of the royal procession from the palace to the church and back. In 1875 for the first time the army paraded in front of the palace, a practice starting from the middle of the century in public holidays in France and the German states. The next year, even though there ...
How do stimulants keep you awake?	Sleep is pretty complicated, and is regulated by a lot of different neurotransmitters/neuropeptides. Most people are familiar with caffeine, which blocks your ability to feel increasing levels of adenosine, which accumulate over time to make you tired. Most classical stimulants (i.e. the amphetamines) work by interfe...	[ "There are several stimulants approved by the FDA for treatment of excessive sleepiness due to narcolepsy. These include methylphenidate (e.g., Ritalin) and dextroamphetamine, among others. Selegiline may also be useful, as it is \"primarily a metabolic precursor of amphetamine and exerts most of its therapeutic ef...
What sort of behavior has been observed in cloned animals? Do their behaviors and temperaments stay the same?	There actually have been studies on the behavior of cloned animals, particularly livestock. According to studies, the behavior of both pigs ([link](_URL_3_)) and dairy cattle ([link](_URL_1_)) and ([link](_URL_2_)) is very similar to similar animals. One interesting note from the cattle studies is that the cloned c...	[ "Behaviour mutations have been studied in a variety of animals, but most commonly in \"Drosophila melanogaster\" due to being able to produce large numbers with short generation time as well as a rich diversity of behaviours. Many tests have been used in drosophila by specifying behavioural mutations to further und...
What did language education look like in Mesopotamia?	The genesis of a language, assuming its organic nature, is something that is still hotly debated among evolutionary biologists, cognitive psychologists, and linguists alike. Conlangs (constructed languages made by individuals or groups) did not really come about until much later in history (medieval times really, like ...	[ "Assyrian culture and literature came from Babylonia, but even here there was a difference between the two countries. There was little in Assyrian literature that was original, and education, general in Babylonia, was mostly restricted to a single class in the northern kingdom. In Babylonia, it was of very old stan...
psychologically, why does it seem more common that we highlight the negative aspects in our lives, rather than the positives?	It's called memory polarization- you'll find as time goes on we don't necessarily just remember the bad, it can go either way. Ex: one old man "when I was your age I had to walk 5 miles uphill both ways in the snow just to get to school" (this is a negative polarization/life was worse) but another old man might say "wh...	[ "In psychology there is a law of hedonic asymmetry that says evaluations of good and bad are important but not the same; negative experiences tend to dominate. In other words, people tend to dwell on the negative more than the positive. Responses to negative situations are automatic and require more attention to pr...
why do the people who impact/benefit society the most (teachers, non-doctor healthcare providers, relief aid organizations, etc.) get paid so little in comparison to those who benefit society relatively less (pro athletes, artists, etc.)?	People like being entertained, so much so that they're willing to pay lots of money in tickets and merchandise. That money has to go somewhere. Because these people develop a cult of personality and they actually DO impact society significantly through culture, it draws people. Because they can draw people to spend mon...	[ "Non-profit health care is available to help the poorest and most underserved people. Organizations currently active in the region include the Red Cross, World Vision, and Medecins Sans Frontieres. These non-profit organizations aim to develop the quantity of life of marginalized and disadvantaged individuals.\n", ...
how do magnets form, and why/ how do they do what they do?	All matter is made out of atoms. An atom can be thought of as a small nucleus of material around which orbit even smaller particles of matter called electrons. The electrons have an electrical charge, so when they orbit they form small loops of electrical current around each nucleus. Magnetic fields are formed by elect...	[ "A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets. \n", "The term \"magnet\" is typically reserved ...
if nasa isn't allowed to go near water, why are they gearing up to explore europa's ocean?	It isn't outlawed entirely, persay. NASA can go explore water if it designs the mission to focus entirely on sterilization of the probe. If they can ensure 100% disinfection, they can do it. Curiosity was never equipped with the right tools to fully disinfect itself in this way.	[ "After the fly-by of Saturn, the camera platform of \"Voyager 2\" locked up briefly, putting plans to officially extend the mission to Uranus and Neptune in jeopardy. The mission's engineers were able to fix the problem (caused by an overuse that temporarily depleted its lubricant), and the \"Voyager 2\" probe was ...
What is happening in the sky tonight	Still daylight where I'm at but I think you're describing a lunar halo. Google it, it's pretty interesting.	[ "Sky News Tonight is a weeknight news programme broadcast on Sky News from 7:00pm. It is presented by Dermot Murnaghan. First aired on 1 September 2014, it is Sky's flagship newscast, featuring special reports, in-depth analysis and interviews.\n", "Sky World News Tonight (also known on air as World News Tonight)...
now that weed is legal in some states, how will police be able to determine what levels of thc warrant a dui?	That's a big open question right now. We don't currently have a simple, cost-effective test that accurately determines how intoxicated a person is that's equivalent to an alcohol breathalyzer. For now, they're just playing it by ear & the existing legal standards all suck.	[ "Part V on \"driving under the influence of marijuana\" sets a per se DUI limit of \"delta-9\" THC levels at greater than or equal to 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood (5 ng/mL). Some medical cannabis advocates are concerned that this will lead to DUI convictions for medicinal cannabis users, who are driving with...
Are human sicknesses able to cause sickness in other animals, such as cats and dogs?	Some do. An illness that is transmitted from an animal to humans or vice versa is a zoonosis. Zoonoses do not have to cause the same symptoms in both parties to qualify as such, many zoonoses are asymptomatic in the animal carrier or vector. There are far too many to list them all, but some good examples might be lym...	[ "Some diseases and other health problems are common to both humans and dogs; others are unique to dogs and other animals. Dogs are susceptible to various diseases; similarly to humans, they can have diabetes, epilepsy, cancer, or arthritis.\n", "BULLET::::- Studies on models of naturally occurring disease and con...
Does magnetization of a piece of metal change its mechanical properties?	A little, but it is almost irrelevant because deforming the metal is going to rapidly demagnetize the metal. This is essentially due to entropy, at room temperature the magnetised state is either unstable and slowly decaying back to the demagnetised state or metastable. Either way, mechanical energy of even elastic def...	[ "Ferromagnetic materials (like iron) are composed of microscopic regions called magnetic domains, that act like tiny permanent magnets that can change their direction of magnetization. Before an external magnetic field is applied to the material, the domains' magnetic fields are oriented in random directions, effec...
why do minivans have pop-out third row windows?	I'd imagine it's due to some combination of cost reduction (car companies are incredibly stingy lol), improving airflow without causing the annoying buffeting effect inside the vehicle, and the simple fact that the rear wheels of a minivan are right under the third row windows, so those windows couldn't roll down all...	[ "The 4th generation LFS features a restyled rear end and interior. This model features electric cooling fans, as opposed to hydraulic ones. An option featuring no rear window was made available. Also, as of 2018, a new driver's side window, without the additional side pillar was added as an option. \n", "Window f...
why do hand warmers expire?	From what I've read, hand warmers work via a chemical reaction, caused by the exposure to air. So as long as they are exposed to air, they will give heat. At a certain moment, there is nothing left to react with air. While they are wrapped in plastic, there is less exposure to air. However, plastic wrapping isn't airt...	[ "Hand warmers are small (mostly disposable) packets which are held in the hand and produce heat on demand to warm cold hands. They are commonly used in outdoor activities. Other types of warmers are available to provide soothing heat for muscular or joint aches.\n", "It was also believed that cooling one's hands ...
Why are there so few remains of german culture and language in today's USA when german used to be the largest group in terms of ethnic heritage	(a re-statement of my earlier points without the unnecessary soapboxing--my apologies to the AskHistorians mods.) I'm not an Americanist, so this will remain a 'holding' point until the Americanists arrive, but: There were intensive efforts to eradicate German language and/or culture during and immediately after the F...	[ "According to the 2000 U.S. Census, people of German ancestry made up the largest single ethnic group in the United States, but German language ranked fifth. Italian, Polish, and French are still widely spoken among populations descending from immigrants from those countries in the early 20th century, but the use o...
Before the advent of photographs and film, who were the great female sex symbols and how did people find out about them?	Cleopatra was definitely a sex symbol going as far back as BCE times. In fact, I submit that she intersects exactly with the OP's example of Rita Hayworth as her myth progresses (being depicted by Vivien Leigh in 1945's 'Caesar and Cleopatra' after Hayworth rejected the role) Early accounts of Cleopatra set her up to...	[ "During the Second World War, pin-up girl photographs reached a wide audience. Unlike earlier erotic photographs, whose subjects were usually anonymous, a number of well-known film stars posed for pin-up photographs and they were promoted as sex symbols. The emphasis was initially on bare legs, short skirts or swim...
how are translucent things actually see through? like a translucent frog or fish.	Stating the obvious here, but the tissue they are made of doesn't absorb light in the visible wavelengths.	[ "By combining two types of recessive genes that cause frogs to become translucent, a breed of \"Rana japonica,\" popularly called \"see-through frogs\", were produced by Japanese scientists in 2007 to see the frog's organs, blood cells, and eggs without dissection. The skin is not clear, but translucent. Cancer gro...
global economics.	> How is it fair that my time is worth more than theirs? It has nothing to do with it being "fair" and you are thinking about this entirely wrong by involving ethics or morality. How much people's time is worth is almost entirely unrelated to this topic. The relative value of currency on the open market comes down ...	[ "International political economy (IPE), also known as global political economy (GPE), refers to either economics or an interdisciplinary academic discipline that analyzes economics and international relations. When it is used to refer to the latter, it usually focuses on political economy and economics, although it...
Today is Commonwealth Day. How did the newly independent nations in Africa and the Indian subcontinent view the Commonwealth at its inception? Didn't they see it as the vestiges of colonialism?	India saw heated debate on this topic of 'to be or not to be'. It was so heated that it even created a schism within the leading Indian Freedom Fighters party, the Indian National Congress. The British Raj had consistently maintained that it (through the British Parliament) reserved the rights to decide when and the e...	[ "During the twentieth century, the Commonwealth of Nations evolved from the British Empire. Prior to 1926, the British Crown reigned over the British Empire collectively; the Dominions and Crown Colonies were subordinate to the United Kingdom. The Balfour Declaration of 1926 gave complete self-government to the Dom...
Is there a definitive moment where you transition from "awake" to "asleep"? What happens at that time, if it exists?	There is not a precise moment when the transition occurs. In simple terms, this is because different parts of the brain can "fall asleep" at different times. The way the onset of sleep is usually defined is in terms of global brain activity, as measured using the electroencephalogram (EEG), i.e., electrodes on the s...	[ "Threshold consciousness (commonly called \"half-asleep\" or \"half-awake\", or \"mind awake body asleep\") describes the same mental state of someone who is moving towards sleep or wakefulness, but has not yet completed the transition. Such transitions are usually brief, but can be extended by sleep disturbance or...
How did Africans in the occupied part of North Africa react to WWII fighting between the Axis and the Allies?	Just popping in here to recommend a great Egyptian film called "Alexandria... Why?" ("Iskandariyah... lih?") (1979) that focuses on Egyptian responses to the threat of a Nazi invasion while living under a British occupation. The big question the movie asks (which I believe is a dominant narrative in much of the French ...	[ "During World War II, North Africa was the battle ground for much of the European-based war. With the invasion of France by Germany in 1940, the Allied forces were quick to take control of the colonies once controlled by the French. The Anglo-American occupation of North Africa began the start of modern-day Algeria...
How do we know the life expectancy of insects?	Insect life expectancy is generally based on lab studies. You can do it in the field, but you need the insect you're studying to be common so that you can find multiple individuals reliably and track their population's life cycle. Tracking and tagging insects is a pain in the butt and most insects are too small and d...	[ "From a life table we can calculate life expectancy as follows. Assume the stages formula_1 are uniformly spaced. The average proportion formula_2 of organisms alive at stage formula_1 between beginning and end is\n", "Unlike most insects, the adults continue to moult after reaching adulthood, and typically mate ...
Why is Chinese called Sino	It comes from the Latin word Sinae, Latin for Chinese. Precisely from this derivation: > The terms "sinology" and "sinologist" were coined around 1838,[2] and use "sino-", derived from Late Latin Sinae from the Greek Sinae, from the Arabic Sin which in turn may derive from Qin, as in the Qin Dynasty.	[ "English, most Indo-European languages, and many others use various forms of the name \"China\" and the prefix \"Sino-\" or \"Sin-\" from the Latin \"Sina\". Europeans had knowledge of a country known in Greek as \"Thina\" or \"Sina\" from the early period; the \"Periplus of the Erythraean Sea\" from perhaps the fi...
vmware - what is it? how do i set one up?	VMWare is a software which let's you set up a virtual machine. Virtual means that it doesn't really exist e.g. there is no real hardware you could touch. This software will use resources of your actual computer to create the virtual machine. This implies that it can be only a little less powerfull than your PC. (It...	[ "VMware Workstation is a hosted hypervisor that runs on x64 versions of Windows and Linux operating systems (an x86 version of earlier releases was available); it enables users to set up virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine, and use them simultaneously along with the actual machine. Each virtual mach...
How does a real life "warp drive" work, how can we provide the energy needed for it, and will it be possible to develop this technology with regards to space travel within our lifetime?	> How does a real life "warp drive" work, There's no reason to believe any such thing is physically possible in our universe. So-called "warp drives" are the sorts of things that you can force out of Einstein's equations (or, in more recent versions, our of certain speculative string models) if you work at it a bit. ...	[ "A warp drive is a theoretical superluminal spacecraft propulsion system in many science fiction works, most notably \"Star Trek\" and \"I, Robot\" by Isaac Asimov. A spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at speeds greater than that of light by many orders of magnitude. In contrast to some other fictitio...

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