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atomic superposition. | In response to OP's clarification:
I'm going to assume you're familiar with the classical model where the atom is modeled as a nucleus with protons and neutrons at the center, and electrons as small particles orbiting the nucleus.
Well, later on, we came up with quantum mechanics, and importantly, the Heisenberg Unc... | [
"Superposition is the quantum phenomena wherein an entity can simultaneously exist in two states. The classic description is the though experiment of Schroedinger’s Cat. In this gedanken experiment, the cat can be both alive and dead until the state of the cat is actually observed. \n",
"Superposition works for v... |
Where does adaptation end, and evolution begin? | This actually is not an adaptation, but something called phenotypic plasticity. Adaptation is a process, not a trait. Adaptation is the gradual increase in frequency of a useful trait over many generations in response to environmental changes. In other words over many generations a trait becomes very common in the popu... | [
"Evolution – change in heritable traits of biological organisms over generations due to natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift. Also known as descent with modification. Over time these evolutionary processes lead to formation of new species (speciation), changes within lineages (anagenesis), and ... |
If you become Paraplegic, would it make sense to amputate the limbs you have no feeling? | Why would you do that? Besides the risk of surgery, what if a repair treatment or assistive device is developed why would enable use of those limbs? | [
"People with amputations have reported phantom limbs. This serves as evidence that the brain is hard-wired to perceive body image, making it notable that sensory input and proprioceptive feedback are not essential in its formation. Losing an anatomical part through amputation sets a person up for complex perceptual... |
What would happen if the Earth's rotation was slowed by 1% due an unknown phenomenon? | So, lets talk about ways that this can happen. In order to change earths rotation speed, you have to do something to the system.
One possibility is changing the geometry of earth such that the [moment of inertia](_URL_0_) of earth changes in a way that it slows the rotation, but keeping rotational energy constant. In... | [
"This scenario is unique because it doesn't happen overnight, but rather over a given period of time: The Earth revolves at 1,000 miles an hour, but is gradually slowing down, yet this slowing is too slow to be noticed on human timescales. But what if it significantly slowed and eventually stopped? (The reason for ... |
Books on Jewish American history | [How The Jews Invented Hollywood](_URL_0_) | [
"American Jewish History is an academic journal and the official publication of the American Jewish Historical Society. The journal was established in 1892 and focuses on all aspects of the history of Jews in the United States. The journal was formerly titled \"Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society... |
would two consenting minors having sex be considered rape? | Usually no, if they're of similar ages. What you're looking for are called "Romeo and Juliet laws", which are exceptions to statutory rape laws. | [
"In statutory rape, overt force or threat need not be present. The laws presume coercion, because a minor or mentally challenged adult is legally incapable of giving consent to the act. Statutory rape laws are based on the premise that until a person reaches a certain age, he or she is legally incapable of consenti... |
Does such a thing as a 3-D or Cubic matrix exist? | Yes, they're called Rank-3 tensors. An example is the [Levi-Civita tensor](_URL_0_). The highest-rank tensor I've seen is 6 dimensions, in a lecture about complex fluid dynamics. | [
"A \"hollow matrix\" may be a square matrix whose diagonal elements are all equal to zero. The most obvious example is the real skew-symmetric matrix. Other examples are the adjacency matrix of a finite simple graph; a distance matrix or Euclidean distance matrix.\n",
"In mathematics, a -matrix is a complex squar... |
How did San Francisco get the reputation as America's "gayest" city? | SF has a history of being very progressive on many fronts. As for the LGBT part I believe the most important factor that solidified SF as a community of LGBT acceptance was the election of Harvey Milk. Milk came to SF from NY during a time when many gay people were moving to the Castro district to set up a sanctuary co... | [
"San Francisco has long had an LGBT-friendly history. It was home to the first lesbian-rights organization in the United States, Daughters of Bilitis; the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States, José Sarria; the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, Harvey... |
why do musicians make those awkward facial expressions when they really get into the music? | I can't give much of a technical answer, but as an amateur musician I can say that certain passages/verses have a feel to it. Kind of like how scary movies elicit a frightened expression out of a person, or how those oddly satisfying videos draw out a blissful expression, the same goes for music. There are certain note... | [
"People are also known to show outward manifestations of their emotional states while listening to music. Studies using facial electromyography (EMG) have found that people react with subliminal facial expressions when listening to expressive music. In addition, music provides a stimulus for expressive behavior in ... |
how does a major motion picture (such as batman vs. superman) have enough footage for an "epic" trailer, but have nearly a year left before release? | Depends on how the were shot and what the editing process is
In modern films it takes almost as long to edit and add the CGI as it does to shoot the film so somebody would storyboard the trailer and they would finish the footage needed for this first
| [
"More films were also being released simultaneously to [[IMAX]] cinema, the first was in 2002's Disney animation \"[[Treasure Planet]]\"; and the first live action was in 2003's \"[[The Matrix Revolutions]]\" and a re-release of \"[[The Matrix Reloaded]]\". Later in the decade, \"[[The Dark Knight (film)|The Dark K... |
how do companies like apple and qualcomm continue to produce faster and more powerful chips year after year? are engineers still making new discoveries in the industry or have we had this technology all along and are controlling the rate at which our technology improves? | Apple and Qualcomm depend on the chip foundries like Intel and TSMC. They have engineers and physicists trying their best to fit more and faster transistors on to chips ASAP, while keeping power usage manageable. Then you have CPU designers like Intel and AMD trying to make the best use of those transistors to achiev... | [
"From 1993 to 1994, there was a glut of chips and companies lost incentive to build new leading-edge factories. When the new generations came out, there were not enough factories to produce the new chips.\n",
"Although many companies grew and profited well from a fabless business model, new hurdles still had to b... |
My parents have always put batteries in the fridge, is there any scientific data that says they'll stay longer while in the fridge? | Zn-C batts keep better at lower temps, but: "Alkaline cells have long shelf storage life. After one year of storage at room temperature, cells will provide 93 to 96 percent of initial capacity. When stored for four years at 70°F (21°C), service of about 85 percent is still attainable. Storage at high temperatures and h... | [
"Battery life can be extended by storing the batteries at a low temperature, as in a refrigerator or freezer, which slows the side reactions. Such storage can extend the life of alkaline batteries by about 5%; rechargeable batteries can hold their charge much longer, depending upon type. To reach their maximum volt... |
why aren’t languages becoming more like each other? | Yes. In fact TV is doing away with various local dialects, especially in England.
Also England used to say “zed” for z but the prevalence of American kid tv shows has them simply saying “z” more often.
_URL_0_ | [
"However, languages differ from biological organisms in that they readily incorporate elements from other languages through the process of diffusion, as speakers of different languages come into contact. Humans also frequently speak more than one language, acquiring their first language or languages as children, or... |
how is nasa 100% sure microbes aren't attached to the rovers and similar probes? when 99.99% sure means we're possibly spreading our alien microbes to other worlds. | They aren't, and in fact, they're quite sure there _are_ microbes. They just get all of them they can. | [
"On 19 May 2014, scientists announced that numerous microbes, like \"Tersicoccus phoenicis\", may be resistant to methods usually used in spacecraft assembly clean rooms. It's not currently known if such resistant microbes could have withstood space travel and are present on the \"Curiosity\" rover now on the plane... |
if i boil a kettle does everything inside become sterile? if so how long does it stay sterile? | Actually sterilized? No. Boiling water and steam are damned effective at killing germs, but you generally need much higher temperatures than you'll achieve in a kettle to reach an effectiveness where you can call it sterile (99.9999999% of microbes killed). In particular, bacterial and fungal spores are generally ten... | [
"In modern designs, once the water has reached boiling point, the kettle automatically deactivates, preventing the water from boiling away and damaging the heating element. A more upright design, the \"jug\"-style electrical kettle, can be more economical to use, since even one cup of water will keep the element co... |
If happiness and sadness are reactionary and fleeting emotions, since we generally return back to neutral baselines- depression is the pathological deviation towards staying sadness. Is there a pathological condition where a person will consistently stay happy? | There is some speculation that such a condition exists.
Bi-polar - I disorder is characterized by alternating between episodes of major depression (extreme sadness) and episodes of mania (extreme elation). Bi-polar - II is characterized the same way, but they experience smaller "hypomanic" rather than full blown manic... | [
"The concept of the happiness set point (proposed by Sonja Lyubomirsky) can be applied in clinical psychology to help patients return to their hedonic set point when negative events happen. Determining when someone is mentally distant from their happiness set point and what events trigger those changes can be extre... |
why do hunters tend to kill game by aiming for the lungs or heart? wouldn't a head shot be quicker and more humane? | They aim for center mass because it's less likely to miss. | [
"Large-caliber ammunition is considered to be most effective in taking down large game effectively and humanely. Big-game hunting ethics require a clean, humane kill, and most hunters work diligently toward this end. Advances in ammunition and the guns to match have made longer-range kills of big game possible with... |
is it possible to have a minor stroke and not know it and not have any lasting health effects? | Yep. It's called a transient ischemic attack (TIA) and they often wont cause residual deficits, though the initial (transient) symptoms can mirror those of an actual stroke and can be quite concerning at first, or may be subclinical (i.e. undetectable). Having experienced a TIA does indicate increased risk of sufferin... | [
"The main risk factor for stroke is high blood pressure. Other risk factors include tobacco smoking, obesity, high blood cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, a previous TIA, and atrial fibrillation. An ischemic stroke is typically caused by blockage of a blood vessel, though there are also less common causes. A hemorrha... |
How exactly do appetite-suppressants work? | There is little evidence that caffeine is an effective appetite suppressant on its own. At least two recent studies have found no effect in a human sample. It is, nevertheless, possible some of the effects of caffeine (e.g. stimulation, anxiety) could indirectly lead to a decrease or increase in appetite.
Caffeine is... | [
"Mechanisms controlling appetite are a potential target for weight loss drugs. Appetite control mechanisms seem to strongly counteract undereating, whereas they appear weak to control overeating. Early anorectics (appetite suppressants) were fenfluramine and phentermine. A more recent addition is sibutramine which ... |
Victor Davis Hanson and the question of the middle-class infantrymen | Thanks for the follow-up! I'm glad to see people are still reading my older posts :)
Before I get down to answering your question, there's one thing I'd like to clear up:
> I noticed that VDH says that this shift in warfare happened during or after Salamis (480BC) which would put it a few centuries after when you s... | [
"Hanson was of Norwegian descent and had a brother, Alf, who also played for Liverpool as well as Chelsea. He served in the 53rd (Bolton) Field Regiment of the Royal Artillery during the Second World War.\n",
"Keeton played several good-standard matches during the Second World War, including appearing for a team ... |
time variations in different parts of the universe | Mainly parts of the universe that are close to really strong gravity sources -- near neutron stars, pulsars, or black holes.
As Einstein demonstrated, gravity bends space but also slows time. The closer you are to a source of gravity, the slower time passes -- in your frame of reference.
The reality of this theory wa... | [
"These nested levels (umwelts) represent qualitatively different temporalities, for both time and the perception of time have evolved. In one sense, time is physically different from what it was when the universe first came into being. As the universe continues to change, so too does time change. In the humanistic ... |
Is it a coincidence that the first four planets nearest to the sun are all much smaller then the four other planets? | No, it definitely isn't. The conventional explanation is as follows:
There are three main types of neutral materials in the universe, which (listed in decreasing order of abundance) are:
1. Gases (Hydrogen and Helium)
2. Ices (Water, Ammonia, Methane, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide)
3. Rocks and metals
Materials... | [
"The two planets are in a 4:3 resonance, meaning that every time the outer planet orbits the star three times, the inner planet orbits the star four times. The two planets are separated by only 0.35 AU (52 Gm). Because of the small separation between the two massive planets, the gravitational tugs between the two p... |
How popular was Uncle Tom's Cabin in the south? | Another question: Were there any contemporary reviews of the book published in Southern Newspapers that criticized it as a lie/slander?
I'm imagining something along the lines of how Pravda's review of Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" had the title "A vile slanderer seeking to earn filthy capitalist lucre by be... | [
"Even though \"Uncle Tom's Cabin\" was the best-selling novel of the 19th century, far more Americans of that time saw the story as a stage play or musical than read the book. Eric Lott, in his book \"Uncle Tomitudes: Racial Melodrama and Modes of Production\", estimates that at least three million people saw these... |
why is there such a demand in asia for rhino and elephant tusks? how did it start? | Traditional Chinese Medicine uses herbs and powders and other natural ingredients to cure various ailments. They believe it will cure things such as impotence or even cancer. So, there's high demand for these items. | [
"Asian elephants once roamed a large swath of China, but are now confined to the Xishuangbanna and Pu'er Prefectures of southern Yunnan. Xishuangbana means 12 elephants in the local Thai language. In recent years, Chinese demand for ivory has led to a sharp increase in elephant poaching around the world. Thanks to ... |
When designing Second World War era tanks how much consideration went into crew survival once the tank was hit? | Several pivotal design changes on the M4 Sherman tank were sparked by complaints about crew survivability, as well as general comfort for the crew.
[Wet ammunition stowage](_URL_4_) reduced the risk of flash ammunition fires after a Sherman was hit from around 80 percent to 5-10 percent and in theory gave crews a cou... | [
"Tank crews who had read press reports depicting the new weapon driving through buildings and trees, and crossing wide rivers, were disappointed. Most World War I tanks could travel only at about a walking pace at best. Their steel armour could stop small arms fire and fragments from high-explosive artillery shells... |
Has a US President ever not been to one of the States at the time of his Presidency? | When Barack Obama recently visited South Dakota, it was widely reported that he is only fourth President to visit all 50 states. The other three [were](_URL_0_) Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. That means that Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, Carter and Reagan have not been to some states. But I don't remember ... | [
"Four men have become President of the United States after serving as Governor of New York: Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and six were Vice President of the United States. Van Buren and Theodore Roosevelt held both offices. Two governors have been Chief Justice o... |
Why is the king James version of the Bible considered by a lot of churches to be the best version? | We tend to call this "King James Version Only"-ism. The [wikipedia](_URL_0_) page is reasonably well-written, if you want an overview.
At its heart it's a view of both the textual tradition of Greek and Hebrew texts that undergird the KJV, usually coupled with a view of the process of translation that led to the KJV's... | [
"Some Christian fundamentalists believe that the King James Version is the only version of the Bible English speakers should use due to the conclusion that corruptions are present in the other translations. Some who follow this belief have formed a King James Only movement. Similarly some non-English speakers prefe... |
Does a brain have a gender? | "Sex" refers to the biological categories of male or female - this category relates to chromosomes and genitalia.
"Gender" refers to the social construct - the behaviors, traits, and characteristics assigned to the biological sexes.
What it means to be a man or a woman varies from culture to culture and from time per... | [
"According to Joel, the brain has no sex, and the differences between \"female\" and \"male\" brains, though they exist, are minor and unrelated to each other. She was the first to talk about correlation in the context of the brain: a particular area of the brain, such as a large amygdala, does not predict anything... |
Did Joseph Kennedy lobotomize his daughter, Rosemary Kennedy, to preserve the reputation of his family? | Short answer is yes. In his book, *An unfinished life*, Robert Dallek gives this explanation for the lobotomy.
''After years of effort that had produced small gains in her ability to deal with adult matters, Rosemary turned violent at the age of twenty-one, throwing tantrums and raging at caretakers who tried to contr... | [
"Kennedy was the only surviving male in the family after two outbreaks of cholera killed his father and brother. He started work at fourteen as a stevedore in the docks. Kennedy owned three saloons and a whisky import house, and eventually had major interests in coal and banking. He moved successfully into politics... |
How does the Brain know which nerve receptor is sending a message ? | The brain knows because the signal is conducted from the spot of sensation through a chain of neurons up to the brain, like dominoes. The more interesting part is something called "lateral inhibition", which causes a decrease in firing frequency for the neurons flanking a stimulated neuron. This helps us to localize ... | [
"In the brain, messages are passed from a nerve cell to another via a chemical synapse, a small gap between the cells. The presynaptic cell that sends the information releases neurotransmitters including serotonin into that gap. The neurotransmitters are then recognized by receptors on the surface of the recipient ... |
why are transgender issues suddenly all over the place? | Causes are fashion for many people. And transgender issues are currently the most fashionable. I say this as someone who fully believes that trans people deserve equality and freedom from persecution, but also as someone who recognises that people clearly bandwagon. | [
"Transgender people who are going through divorce, inheritance battles or custody disputes are vulnerable to legal challenges. This is because the validity of their marriages is often called into question due to inconsistent laws regulating transgender equality.\n",
"People's ignorance of and prejudice against LG... |
Why is it that we can recognize sarcasm in speech, but not through text? | According to older communication theory ([Ruesch & Bateson 1951](_URL_0_)), we recognize sarcasm through "metacommunicative" messages in other "channels". These include tone of voice, facial expressions, hand gestures, body postures, or an amalgamation of these. They function as "instructions" on how the message is t... | [
"In English, sarcasm is often telegraphed with kinesic/prosodic cues by speaking more slowly and with a lower pitch. Similarly, Dutch uses a lowered pitch; sometimes to such an extent that the expression is reduced to a mere mumble. But other research shows that there are many ways that real speakers signal sarcast... |
what is the painful tingly feeling in your feet when you jump down from something? | Typically when you jump, you adjust your feet unconsciously so that the force of landing is not applied only to your foot/ankle, but also parts of your legs. Sometimes when you take a wrong step or jump/fall in an unexpected way, you can land such that the force cannot be redistributed from your foot. This causes a lar... | [
"A sensation of falling occurs when the labyrinth or \"vestibular apparatus\", a system of fluid-filled passages in the inner ear, detects changes in acceleration. This sensation can occur when a person begins to fall, which in terms of mechanics amounts to a sudden acceleration increase from zero to roughly 9.8 m/... |
What's making these ice pieces slowly move onto land like this? So bizarre I can't explain it...VIDEO inside. | This is a lake shore property. The ice is coming off the lake, moved by the wind. Imagine a *huge* sheet of ice, several square kilometers, and blow a strong, steady wind across it. The force from all the wind adds up and can be enough to push the entire ice sheet slowly, but steadily onto land. This results in what yo... | [
"Shelf ice is a floating mat of ice, but unlike a pond or a small lake that freezes over, the shelf is not a uniform sheet of ice. Created by the wind and waves, the shelf ice is a jumble of ice chunks, pushed onto each other. It is as if you took a pile of rubble and pushed up against a wall. The more you push, th... |
If alien beings have a sense of sight, is it unlikely that they can see the same wavelengths as us? | There are a couple of reasons why the spectrum we see in is convenient. One, is that the atmosphere is [fairly transparent at those frequencies](_URL_0_) meaning that much of the light of the sun makes it to the surface. This is called the [optical window](_URL_2_). Second, visible light frequencies are high enough tha... | [
"An alien race almost exactly the same in appearance as humans, Miraluka differ in that they have no eyes or blank white sockets and cannot see through the focusing of light. Miraluka typically hide their lack of eyes by wearing a headband, a mask, or similar concealing headwear, because they are much less common t... |
What is the insignia on this cannon?? | a Cannon bearing a Crown symbol and the initials GR for Georgios Rex reference to the reigning monarch King George.
It's a British cannon, i think the actual fabric was in scotland. | [
"BULLET::::- Shield: The shield depicts three field cannons facing left and three cannonballs and forms part of the Coat of Arms granted to the Board of Ordnance in 1823. On all cap badges the cannon face to the left, with the exception of the first pattern NZAOC badge where the cannons face to the right.\n",
"Th... |
"pot odds," "pot equity," and the "independent chip model" in texas hold'em | * **Pot Odds** - How much you can win compared to how much it will cost you to win it.
* **Pot Equity** - The percentage of the pot you "own." You own an amount of the pot equal to your chance of winning it. (Disregarding Fold Equity).
* **ICM** - A far more advanced concept in tournament play. It's SUPPOSED to be... | [
"A common variant called \"Mississippi Stud\" removes the betting round between fourth and fifth streets, making only four betting rounds. This game also deals the final card face up. This makes the game more closely resemble Texas Hold'em by having the same betting structure and same number of down and up cards.\n... |
what are the actual statistics on what muslims believe? | _URL_0_ This should do. | [
"The U.S. Census Bureau does not collect data on religious identification. Various institutions and organizations have given widely varying estimates about how many Muslims live in the U.S. Tom W. Smith, author of \"Estimating the Muslim Population in the United States\", said that of twenty estimates he reviewed d... |
what was europe trying to do by instigating the euro? | The answer is that Germany, which didn't really exist as a country until the 19th Century, is too big to fit within the confines of the European power structure. So in the 20th Century, there were two world wars about containing Germany and lots of folks died.
In order to bring Europe closer together and solve "the G... | [
"European countries created the Euro to simplify trading between European Union countries. Adopting the Euro would remove currency risk and the cost of currency conversion, and provide a common monetary policy among members. Policy learning took places as more European countries learned that joining the Eurozone wo... |
what's the difference between emergency care and urgent care, and why is ec so much more expensive? | Emergency Care is part of a hospital and has the full resources of the hospital available to it. Urgent care is basically a doctor's office that is open around the clock. An emergency room will likely have surgeons that wait around just in case someone needs to go to surgery. They will have other specialists too. These... | [
"The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requires virtually all hospitals to accept all patients, regardless of the ability to pay, for emergency room care. The act does not provide access to non-emergency room care for patients who cannot afford to pay for health care, nor does it provide the benefit ... |
how are the transistors in a cpu/micro-controller controlled? | Transistors just work because physics. A waterwheel does the same thing; it's not configured, it's simply made such that physics will force it to do what we want.
As /u/LondonPilot said you make the logic gates or other useful circuits by combining it all together into interesting setups. You can then in turn chain t... | [
"The controller performs tasks, processes data and controls the functionality of other components in the sensor node. While the most common controller is a microcontroller, other alternatives that can be used as a controller are: a general purpose desktop microprocessor, digital signal processors, FPGAs and ASICs. ... |
If you move a wild bug far from its home but the same environment will it go back home or make a new life there? | It really depends on the insect.
Many insects, I believe including grasshoppers, typically do not have one nest or other type of "home" they can return to. Most insects also do not rely on being part of one society or group. They live where they happen to be at the moment, and if they can't find what they need in an a... | [
"Another notable insect resident of this ecoregion is the rain beetle (\"Pleocoma\" sp.) It spends up to several years living underground in a larval stage and emerges only during wet-season rains to mate.\n",
"Although Triatominae bugs feed on them, birds appear to be immune to infection and therefore are not co... |
There have been a dozen or so species in genus Homo; why did all but one sub-species disappear? | You've asked a good question, and the only real answer is that archaeologists and paleoanthropologists simply do not have enough data to fully support any hypotheses on the extinctions of pre-modern *Homo* species. Among the hypotheses that have been promoted are, of course, intraspecies violence, miscegenation, being... | [
"The genus Homo, which contains many extinct species, are grouped into sub-genera. The sub genus Homo contains species which are derived from each other within one million to 800 thousand years. Both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals are grouped within the Sub genus Homo, because of their ability to interbreed without ... |
alcohol and painkillers | The metabolism of acetaminophen produces a toxic intermediate (NAPQI) that is usually rapidly eliminated.
However, if the breakdown pathway is overwhelmed, such as in an acetaminophen overdose or by ethanol, that intermediate may not be rapidly eliminated, possibly causing liver damage. | [
"A Painkiller is a rum cocktail trademarked by Pusser's Rum Ltd, their signature drink. It is often associated with Tiki establishments. The Painkiller is a blend of Pusser's rum with 4 parts pineapple juice, 1 part cream of coconut and 1 part orange juice, well shaken and served over the rocks with a generous amou... |
how do they make intricate objects with glass (and other things)? | They take glass components that are melted to something called working and softening temperatures. These allow the melt to be soft enough to mold with a rod and yet viscous enough to resist flowing much like honey just a lot slower moving. Things like a rose can be made by using pliars to physically pull pedals from ... | [
"This technique is related to the origin of glass as a substitute for gemstones. By borrowing techniques for stone and carved gems, artisans were able to produce a variety of small containers from blocks of raw glass or thick moulded blanks, including cameo glass in two or more colours, and cage cups (still thought... |
what happened that resulted in canada going into a recession. | The main reason for the recession is the current crash in oil prices. For Canada to get out of the recession oil prices need to hit $70 a barrel, that is the sweet spot for companies to start spending money on drilling again. | [
"The recession brought on in the United States by the collapse of the dot-com bubble beginning in 2000, hurt the Toronto Stock Exchange but has affected Canada only mildly. It is one of the few times Canada has avoided following the United States into a recession.\n",
"BULLET::::- 1990–1992 – A major recession hi... |
how is wifi not damaging me but other kinds of radiation are? | Plenty of kinds of radiation isn't damaging. For example, there's the megahertz-range radiation being blasted at high levels by giant towers all over the place- they send out a signal referred to as an "FM radio station".
There's also tons of smaller devices peppering you with high levels of terahertz-range radiation... | [
"Radionuclides that find their way into the environment may cause harmful effects as radioactive contamination. They can also cause damage if they are excessively used during treatment or in other ways exposed to living beings, by radiation poisoning. Potential health damage from exposure to radionuclides depends o... |
How did apple pie become an icon of American culture, even inspiring the phrase 'as American as apple pie', when it's a popular pastry in several European countries. Especially when it's also an icon of Dutch culture, even appearing in a Dutch cookbook in 1514. | /r/AskFoodHistorians might be a good place to cross-post this | [
"Apple pie – New England was the first region to experience large-scale English colonization in the early 17th century, beginning in 1620, and it was dominated by East Anglian Calvinists, better known as the Puritans. Baking was a particular favorite of the New Englanders and was the origin of dishes seen today as ... |
What was life like in areas of France occupied by Germany in the First World War? | There wasn't actually that much of France under German occupation during the war. After the breakdown of the Schlieffen plan and the race to the sea, the front line more or less stabilised, although there would be shifts as various offensives took place. You can see on [this map](_URL_0_) that most of the occupied terr... | [
"France was occupied by Nazi Germany from 22 June 1940 until early May 1945. An occupying power endeavours to normalise life as far as is possible since this optimises the maintenance of order and minimises the costs of occupation. The Germans decreed that life, including artistic life should resume as before (the ... |
what is another solution to shootings, outside of gun control? | 1) Obviously, we need to take a closer look at mental health issues (this also pertains to suicides, which make up 2/3rds of all gun deaths in the US). A big part of this would be lowering the stigmas associated with depression and related problems, and encouraging people to get help, in addition to getting actual fund... | [
"Sociologist James D. Wright suggests that to convince inner-city youths not to carry guns \"requires convincing them that they can survive in their neighborhood without being armed, that they can come and go in peace, that being unarmed will not cause them to be victimized, intimidated, or slain.\" Intervention pr... |
how can games companies sell unfinished games and in some cases games that are unplayable (activision)? | Simply answer, because consumers keep buying them.
Longer answer, due to the new and easier channels of distribution, mainly pre-order, digital downloads, etc. games can be bought way before any serious reviews by game critics or consumers alike have been established.
So by the time the problems of a game are known, ... | [
"On November 29, 2007, GameTap announced that as of December 11, over 70 games would be removed from their catalog, many of them Electronic Arts or Interplay titles, likely due to expiration of the two-year licensing agreement with those companies.\n",
"Any video game company, notably independent video game devel... |
why do so many websites (mainly news sites) now have a "continue reading" button a few lines down the page? why not just show the whole article to begin with? | One large benefit to this is to measure if someone is actually engaging with your content on a page. When a person lands on your page, then leaves without interacting with anything, many analytics libraries will consider that a bounce, even if the user reads some or all of the content. However, if they click something... | [
"Singer found that the content which appears in online editions of newspapers mostly comes from content that appears in the print versions. However, editors were also very proud of the interactive tools on their websites that could not be in the paper. The goal of most editors was after all to inform the public. Fu... |
what is happening in bunkerville between the rancher cliven bundy and the feds? | Mexico lost territory in Western North America to the US during the Mexican American War, and so the land was transferred to the Federal Government. In effect, 80(ish)% of Nevada land is owned by the Feds. Ranchers can use this land to graze their cattle, but must pay a grazing fee in order to make use of it.
Bundy st... | [
"In the spring of 2014, Bunkerville was the scene of the Bundy standoff, an armed confrontation between protesters and law enforcement over the non-payment of the grazing fees by Cliven Bundy, a local rancher.\n",
"Some time later, a large herd of cattle is found in one of the outside communities. MacAllister ord... |
During the late Medieval and Renaisance period, when Kings derived their right to rule from divine mandates, how did people view republics & elective monarchies? Were they seen as less legitimate than herditary monarchies? | For most of the medieval period, in Italy at least, republican governments could only guarantee an uneasy peace between dynasties, and at best institutionalized warfare. I have a very specific example of fighting consequential to Republican government [here](_URL_0_). However, other republics were seen as just as legit... | [
"The Thirty Years' War and the subsequent Treaty of Westphalia heralded the birth of the sovereign states system. The Treaty endorsed states as territorially-based political units having sovereignty. As a result, the monarchs were able to exert domestic control by emasculating the feudal lords and to stop relying o... |
Is there dark antimatter? | One of the things we learn from the merger of special relativity and quantum mechanics is that each particle has a corresponding antiparticle.
However, for some particles (e.g., the Z^(0) and the photon), the antiparticle and the particle are the same, while for others (e.g., the electron or a quark), the particle and... | [
"In the unlikely event that dark stars have endured to the modern era, they could be detectable by their emissions of gamma rays, neutrinos, and antimatter and would be associated with clouds of cold molecular hydrogen gas that normally would not harbor such energetic particles.\n",
"A darker version of Energon c... |
why is e120 carmine (red dye made out of bugs) still being used instead of an artificial dye? | A dye is just a chemical that happens to be a certain color. In this case it is bright red. The chemical can often be produced in different ways but with different costs. It might be possible to make Carmine with organic chemistry but it would require a lot of expensive processes. Both in terms of time, resources and p... | [
"Because of public concerns about possible health risks associated with synthetic dyes, many companies have switched to using natural pigments such as carmine, made from crushing the tiny female cochineal insect. This insect, originating in Mexico and Central America, was used to make the brilliant scarlet dyes of ... |
why is chocolate milk cheaper than regular milk? | Milk is graded by quality at the dairy, similar to, for example, steaks' prime or triple A. High grade is used for direct consumption, other grades go through various processing according to the grade. A lower quality grade is less expensive as there is less market for it. Milk just below top grade is flavored with... | [
"Some nutritionists have criticized chocolate milk for its high sugar content and its relationship to childhood obesity. In New York City, school food officials report that nearly 60 percent of the 100 million cartons served each year contain fat-free chocolate milk. Because chocolate milk can contain twice as much... |
why have basements come to be considered "scary" places, such as in horror movies? | Basements are underground, poorly lit (in general), cold (in general), damp places that you do not generally go into all the time. Each of those things adds to it being uncomfortable and disconcerting, which in turn makes it "scary". | [
"The Basement is not a traditional linear walk through haunted attraction, rather it is an interactive and immersive experience that involves the actors speaking to and touching guests. The Basement is designed to provide boundary pushing, intense, thrilling, and emotional experiences in a safe environment. Scenes ... |
how to read this chart on google finance | [Here](_URL_0_) I provided a decently long explanation including how to read a similar chart. Read through my second comment and see if it makes sense.
Note: given that the market has been active for a week, the numbers and prices may be slightly off for the IBM options.
Let me know if that answers your question... | [
"Google launched a revamped version of their finance site on December 12, 2006, featuring a new homepage design which lets users see currency information, sector performance for the United States market and a listing of top market movers along with the relevant and important news of the day. A top movers section wa... |
how does a breathalyzer detect blood alcohol content by blowing into them? | When you have alcohol in your blood there will be some in your exhaled breath as well. The breathalyzer converts the ethanol in your breath into acetic acid and water. The byproduct of this reaction is a small amount of electricity. The breathalyzer measures how much electricity is produced and uses that to calculate h... | [
"The oldest breath analyzer models pass breath through a solution of potassium dichromate, which oxidizes ethanol into acetic acid, changing color in the process. A monochromatic light beam is passed through this sample, and a detector records the change in intensity and, hence, the change in color, which is used t... |
Was it ever a common military tactic to aim for the horses instead of the riders in medieval combat? | Yes. Many people aimed for the horses instead of the riders.
Roman writer Vegetius wrote this in his text on Roman warfare:
> The armed chariots used in war by Antiochus and Mithridates at first terrified the Romans, but they afterwards made a jest of them. As a chariot of this sort does not always meet with plain... | [
"The war horse was also seen in hastiludes – martial war games such as the joust, which began in the 11th century both as sport and to provide training for battle. Specialised destriers were bred for the purpose, although the expense of keeping, training, and outfitting them kept the majority of the population from... |
Along with rationing what strategies were used to address shortages of materials during wwI and wwII? | Germany heavily tried to synthesize rare materials with varying success. Stuff like rubber for example. | [
"In the summer of 1941, the British appealed to Americans to conserve food to provide more to go to Britain's fighting men in World War II. The Office of Price Administration warned Americans of potential gasoline, steel, aluminum, and electricity shortages. It believed that with factories converting to military pr... |
why are intelligence agencies allowed to break the law in foreign countries by spying on their citizens? | Black ops are, by definition, illegal. If they weren't, there'd be no need for them to be a secret.
Being a spook is basically being a criminal for the government. | [
"Espionage laws are also used to prosecute non-spies. In the United States, the Espionage Act of 1917 was used against socialist politician Eugene V. Debs (at that time the Act had much stricter guidelines and amongst other things banned speech against military recruiting). The law was later used to suppress public... |
Was there much tension between Dixiecrats and the rest of the Democratic party before the Southern Strategy, LBJ, Nixon, etc.? | There was a lot of tension between the Dixiecrats and the mainstream of the Democrat Party in the late 1940s. They walked out of the 1948 Democratic Party's National Convention and organized a third party. It is best known as the Dixiecrats today, but its official title wa... | [
"Democratic President Harry S. Truman's support of the civil rights movement, combined with the adoption of a civil rights plank in the 1948 Democratic platform, prompted many Southerners to walk out of the Democratic National Convention and form the Dixiecrat Party. This splinter party played a significant role in... |
why old phones had a rotating disk with holes in it, and you need to turn the disk to dial the numbers? | Old phones used pulse dialing and each digit was represented by a number of pulses. You would move the disc in one direction with your finger, and then when letting it go, a spring would move it back at the correct speed to create pulses. Each number position created 1 pulse. So if you moved the disc to 8 and let it go... | [
"Owing to the drive's non-use of the index hole, it was also possible to make \"flippy\" disks by inserting the diskette upside-down and formatting the other side, and it was commonplace and normal for commercial software to be distributed on such disks.\n",
"Two holes at the bottom left and right indicate whethe... |
upon reading about sandra bland, i have to ask: what civil rights do i have as a citizen when a cop pulls me over? (ex. cigarette) | You have the right to free speech. You have the right to be secure in your person and papers. You have the right to remain silent. These are given by the first, fourth, and fifth amendments to the constitution. In actuality you have a lot of rights beyond that, but it is going to depend on the jurisdiction you get pull... | [
"Protest organizer Charles Wade said about civil rights groups, \"We've all said that this is a horrible thing that shouldn't have happened. I say time and time again that I'm against police violence, and I'm not against police officers in general. I have an issue with improper policing, police violence and police ... |
whats going on in south africa? why are foreigners being targetted and what economic issues is it experiencing? | First I must say. I am not a South African and not a expert at all but I think I can show some insight. If I am wrong, please correct me.
South Africa is a ''broken'' nation. There still are big differences between White, Coloured and Black. Not only in terms of wealth, but also education, language and culture.
Be... | [
"In South Africa, there is a sentiment prevalent among a sizable portion of unemployed South Africans that immigrants and expatriates from other parts of Africa who reside in South Africa are responsible for the high unemployment rate that South Africa has. This sentiment sometimes results in such South Africans at... |
how both big mmo games & small online games are hosted | OK, there's a few levels:
1) Peer to peer: no central servers at all, except maybe one matching people up into games (not even that on some old games: having to connect via typing in the IP address of whoever was hosting was common on a lot of older games). Games are hosted on one of the players' computers. See lots o... | [
"Depending on the number of players and the system architecture, an MMORPG might actually be run on multiple separate servers, each representing an independent world, where players from one server cannot interact with those from another; \"World of Warcraft\" is a prominent example, with each separate server housin... |
Who lived in Britain before the Celts? | Although I'm not sure how far back you're looking, I'll start with the Bronze Age immigrants to Britain known as the Beaker People. Originally from Spain, these travelers ventured over in approximately 2500 BC, and flourished on the British Isles. They constructed elaborate gold and bronze jewelry, as well as detailed ... | [
"The Celts (, see pronunciation of \"Celt\" for different usages) are an Indo-European ethnolinguistic group of Europe identified by their use of Celtic languages and cultural similarities. The history of pre-Celtic Europe and the exact relationship between ethnic, linguistic and cultural factors in the Celtic worl... |
How does human muscle fiber compare to that of other animals? | I don't know of any specific studies to point you to, but I do remember that one group of scientists had done this study among primates. Turns out a female orangutan (in heat)is pound for pound the strongest primate. They tested using a one-arm pull test. Humans max out at around 200 lbs.-maybe 400 pounds if your a m... | [
"The muscles and nerves are much simpler than those of most other animals, although more specialised than in other cnidarians, such as corals. Cells in the outer layer (epidermis) and the inner layer (gastrodermis) have microfilaments that group into contractile fibers. These fibers are not true muscles because the... |
Why do sound waves not affect each other? | They do, in fact, interact with each other. In very much the same way that water does, actually.
A frequency (or pitch) of audio has a certain wavelength, or size. This is the distance it takes for the sound pressure in the air to complete a full cycle of compression and rarefaction. Square rooms often have what are k... | [
"Acoustic waves are longitudinal waves that exhibit phenomena like diffraction, reflection and interference. Sound waves however don't have any polarization since they oscillate along the same direction as they move.\n",
"Interference is the addition of two or more waves that results in a new wave pattern. Interf... |
why are feral children often incapable of adapting to civilization? are they permanently learning impaired? | Areas of the brain that typically used for various social behaviours are pruned if inactive. This is why for instance if you don't learn to speak by age ~12 or so you will never really learn to speak.
We've evolved to have these traits in our brains but they only work if exercised in a community. | [
"Feral children lack the basic social skills that are normally learned in the process of enculturation. For example, they may be unable to learn to use a toilet, have trouble learning to walk upright after walking on fours all their lives, or display a complete lack of interest in the human activity around them. Th... |
the origin of species | Darwin published the Origin of Species in 1859. It was based on a series of simple observations that he made, as he was a naturalist (which, at the time, meant mostly that he went about studying nature and cataloging what he learned about it).
He noticed the following:
**OBSERVATIONS**
* Given enough time and no co... | [
"All organisms on Earth are descended from a common ancestor or ancestral gene pool. Current species are a stage in the process of evolution, with their diversity the product of a long series of speciation and extinction events. The common descent of organisms was first deduced from four simple facts about organism... |
How common was casual sex throughout history? | Just ignore pretty much everything said in that thread. The idea that sex is a purely biological urge, and thus it occurs in the same frequency throughout time and space, is absurd. I can be sure of this because it [varies a great deal based on country today](_URL_0_). Sex is highly culturally specific, and I think the... | [
"The rise of hookups, a form of casual sex, has been described by evolutionary biologist Justin Garcia and others as a \"cultural revolution\" that had its beginnings in the 1920s. Historians D'Emilio and Freedman put the beginning of casual sex, including college hookups, further back in history, to the early 1800... |
[META] AskScience open house! | Thanks to all the mods as well, they help keep the discussions on topic and informative. With that said, I'm very satisfied with the subreddit. Here's to a goal of 1 million. | [
"Open House London is an event which promotes appreciation of architecture by the general public. It is a part of the organisation Open-City and is best known for its annual Open House Weekend which is a two-day event held on one weekend each September throughout London since 1992. The event forms a London version ... |
Have there been any conclusive studies done on sugar/calorie-free energy drinks? | I'm sure someone can go more in-depth on some of the ingredients but here's some information on two of them. Artificial sweeteners are always a topic for discussion. The linked drink uses acesulfame potassium and sucralose which according to [_URL_2_](_URL_4_) is not linked to increased cancer risks.
> Before approvi... | [
"Some studies report evidence of causality between high consumption of refined sugar and hyperactivity. One review of low-quality studies of children consuming high amounts of energy drinks showed association with higher rates of unhealthy behaviors, including smoking and alcohol abuse, and with hyperactivity and i... |
dogs and cats cry; why don't they perform a similar function to a human's laugh? | Actually, research suggests that they do laugh but it is on frequencies that we can't hear or discern. I know I've had a few dogs that have been ticklish between their paws, or at least seem like they
_URL_0_ | [
"In the 1999 documentary \"Why Dogs Smile and Chimpanzees Cry\", he is shown to comment on the research of joy in rats: the tickling of domesticated rats made them produce a high-pitch sound which was hypothetically identified as laughter.\n",
"Canines have been hypothesized to share empathic-like responding towa... |
how is a blood clot not a death sentence? | It's a question of where the blood is going. A blood clot is typically not big enough to block the central passage through the atrium and ventricle. It's when the blood clot passes through these central passages and is pumped into the artery that supplies oxygen to the heart muscle and gets lodged there that a heart at... | [
"Simultaneous death is a problem of inheritance which occurs when two people (sometimes referred to as commorientes) die at, or very near, the same time, and at least one of them is entitled to part or all of the other's estate on their death. This is usually the result of an un-natural death occurring from events ... |
Why do mammals give birth from their vaginas? | Mammals give birth through their vaginas because a vagina is, by definition, the tube leading from the uterus to the outside of the body, and that's the tube that has to be used.
Other vertebrates aren't any different, save that their vaginas open into a cloaca before going outside the body. In either case, whatever ... | [
"The vagina is a structure of animals in which the female is internally fertilized, rather than by traumatic insemination used by some invertebrates. The shape of the vagina varies among different animals. In placental mammals and marsupials, the vagina leads from the uterus to the exterior of the female body. Fema... |
free trade and fair trade. | They're two completely different things (I can see where it's confusing, though).
Free trade: trade between nations with very few or no restrictions at all.
Fair trade: a label given to certain products certifying that the people who made them (usually third-world farmers, etc.) were paid a fair price for the product... | [
"Fair trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Developin... |
Who were the local law enforcers in Medieval Germany? | Law enforcement was mostly organized on a local level, in towns or small villages. In the villages mostly by the "owners" of that villages, the lower nobility or the owners of the farms.
The Lower Law (niedere Gerichtsbarkeit, don't know if the translation is correct), also called *Thing* or patrimonial Law, was enfor... | [
"Germanic codes appeared over the 6th and 7th centuries to clearly delineate the law in force for Germanic privileged classes versus their Roman subjects and regulate those laws according to folk-right. Under feudal law, a number of private custumals were compiled, first under the Norman empire (\"Très ancien coutu... |
Can an adhesive stick to oxygen or other air molecules? | The problem I see with this is that gases don't have a "surface". I could certainly see gases dissolving and equilibrating in an adhesive, and possibly being physically absorbed to the surface of the adhesive (also at equilibrium). However, if you apply your adhesive to a gas, and then move the other surface away, you ... | [
"Applicators of different adhesives are designed according to the adhesive being used and the size of the area to which the adhesive will be applied. The adhesive is applied to either one or both of the materials being bonded. The pieces are aligned and pressure is added to aid in adhesion and rid the bond of air b... |
Why and how do drugs get you "high"? | As far as we can tell, mostly by acting like existing neurotransmitters, or by releasing those neurotransmitters, or by causing a buildup of those neurotransmitters. | [
"It's about how people take drugs to connect to God or to a higher level of consciousness. I keep saying, 'Plugging into the matrix'. If you get high, you can do that, which is why a lot of people drop acid or do drugs, because they want to get closer to God. But there's going to be a short circuit, and that's the ... |
minecraft | You can kind of think of it as computerized legos.
Minecraft has two main forms of play: Survival and creative. Creative is the easiest to explain-- you have unlimited block materials of all sorts of colors and textures, as well as electrical components (Wire, levers, push blocks), interactive pieces (Doors, railroad... | [
"\"Minecraft\" is a 3D sandbox game that has no specific goals to accomplish, allowing players a large amount of freedom in choosing how to play the game. However, there is an achievement system. Gameplay is in the first-person perspective by default, but players have the option for third-person perspective. The ga... |
During WW2, was there an Allied equivalent of doctors Josef Mengele or Shiro Ishii (of Japanese medical experimentation Unit 731?) | There was lots of human experimentation by the Americans during World War II, but most of it was much more consensual, less horrific. [Volunteer conscientious objectors were used for research on a starvation study at the University of Minnesota](_URL_0_), for example, as part of research funded by the Office for Scient... | [
"Little medicine was available to the internees from the Japanese: they provided small amounts of quinine and aspirins. Morris recounts how Yamamoto would quite often beat sick men until they fell down, especially if they approached him for drugs. Few Red Cross supplies were available and most medication was bought... |
Bounties and sniper combat during the Vietnam War | I think the fundamental question you need to ask yourself when considering the concept of bounties is the following: Was it actually a reality during the Vietnam War?
The truth of the matter is that there simply isn't much evidence supporting the existence of bounties beyond field reports and the testimonies of Ameri... | [
"During the Vietnam War, the United States Army found that they desperately needed snipers. They were losing troops to enemy snipers and had no capability of retaliating in kind. Their major problem was that the classic training of a sniper in range estimation, ballistics, compensation for weather or climate variab... |
why do some people black out from high levels of g-forces while other don't? | Everyone will black out if exposed to sufficient G-forces. But pilots are (1) in peak physical condition, (2) trained in techniques for resisting the effects of G-forces, and (3) usually wearing flight suits with equipment designed to counteract the effects of G-forces. They work by putting pressure on the limbs, parti... | [
"A G-suit is worn by aviators and astronauts who are subject to high levels of acceleration ('G'). It is designed to prevent a black-out and g-LOC (gravity-induced Loss Of Consciousness), due to the blood pooling in the lower part of the body when under G, thus depriving the brain of blood.\n",
"High-G training i... |
At r/TIL, there is a post trending with people in the comments section saying the FBI sent a letter telling Martin Luther King Jr. to kill himself and the FBI/CIA later killed him. Is this true? | While the letter is anonymous (in the sense that it's not signed and it's not on any letterhead), [a complete copy was found in J. Edgar Hoover's files](_URL_0_) and a congressional investigation verified that it was sourced from the FBI. Whether Hoover himself wrote it is apparently unclear, but he almost certainly kn... | [
"The FBI frequently investigated Martin Luther King, Jr. In the mid-1960s, King began publicly criticizing the Bureau for giving insufficient attention to the use of terrorism by white supremacists. Hoover responded by publicly calling King the most \"notorious liar\" in the United States. In his 1991 memoir, \"Was... |
How did the Mongols achieve crazy speed from their multiple horses? | There's a big difference between carrying a rider and following along unmounted; the steppe mares favored by the Mongols weigh in at about 600 lbs, so a 180 lb man with some basic provisions is going to be a third of their body weight. It's much more efficient to shift the weight between your string of horses; imagine... | [
"The main drawback to Mongol horses was their lack of speed. They would lose short-distance races under equal conditions with larger horses from other regions. However, since most other armies carried much heavier armor, the Mongols could still outrun most enemy horsemen in battle. In addition, Mongolian horses wer... |
why do people criticize findings from data in saying "it's just correlative/correlation does not mean causation"? isn't everything we know about everything just from correlation? | So what you're saying is that, as we increase funding for NASA, we're dooming more and more people to die at their own hand by hanging?
_URL_0_
Simply put, variables are eliminated in a well-done study until causation is clear. It's not just that the people that got the drug got well; it's also that the people who d... | [
"Much of scientific evidence is based upon a correlation of variables – they are observed to occur together. Scientists are careful to point out that correlation does not necessarily mean causation. The assumption that A causes B simply because A correlates with B is often not accepted as a legitimate form of argum... |
Why do temperatures fluctuate more when it is cold but stay more consistent when it is warm? | There's two main factors to this:
A) Humidity. In the winter, there's very low humidity (because it's cold and air holds less moisture the colder it gets)... so temperatures can rise and fall by a lot more than in the summer.
B) The temperature difference between the subarctic and subtropical air masses is much great... | [
"Clearly, the temperature gradient may change substantially in time, as a result of diurnal or seasonal heating and cooling for instance. This most likely happens during an inversion. For instance, during the day the temperature at ground level may be cold while it's warmer up in the atmosphere. As the day shifts o... |
why house of cards politics won't work in real life. | Because in the show, Frank Underwood is some sort of super-persuasive Machiavellian. In real life, I doubt the president would even be able to convince his own party to go through with America Works. | [
"The \"house of cards\" problem largely arises from the utility theory basis of the model specification. Broadly, utility theory assumes that (1) users and suppliers have perfect information about the market; (2) they have deterministic functions (faced with the same options, they will always make the same choices)... |
why would people get coal in their stocking for being naughty? | In the days when most people heated their homes using open coal fires, a lump of coal was considered a completely commonplace and worthless item. It's the sort of thing that a very naughty person might receive from Santa, so that they can see he's been and decided they're not worthy of any decent gifts. | [
"Rolling coal is a form of conspicuous air pollution, for entertainment or for protest. Some drivers intentionally trigger coal rolling in the presence of hybrid vehicles (when it is nicknamed \"Prius repellent\") to cause their drivers to lose sight of the road and inhale harmful air pollution. Coal rolling may al... |
When did the Arabs become known as "Arabs?" | Arabs were first mentioned in both Biblical and Assyrian texts of the ninth to the fifth centuries BC where they appear as nomadic pastoralists inhabiting the Syrian desert. The fact that the name begins to be used by both cultures during the same period suggests that "Arab" was how these pastoralists designated themse... | [
"The most popular Arab account holds that the word \"Arab\" came from an eponymous father called Ya'rub who was supposedly the first to speak Arabic. Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani had another view; he states that Arabs were called \"Gharab\" (\"West\") by Mesopotamians because Bedouins originally resided to the ... |
When a nuclear bomb goes off underwater. Does it create a giant air bubble? | It creates a massive steam bubble, it doesn't last too long (not sure on actual time it is there for) but something interesting happens when the "bubble" is there. The gas makes the bubble expand until it reaches the maximum size it can as the pressure forcing the bubble to expand becomes weaker the water pressure caus... | [
"Blast bubbles from deep nuclear explosions become mere hot water in about six seconds and leave no \"regular\" bubbles to float up to the surface. This is sooner than blast bubbles from conventional explosives.\n",
"When a nuclear bomb is exploded near ground level, the dense atmosphere interacts with many of th... |
Would a supercomputer (from a government, University, organisation like NASA, ...) be able to mine all the bitcoins at once? | No. For two main reasons.
First of all, Bitcoin mining started out using CPUs. They're in every computer and they can do pretty much any computational task reasonably effective, but they don't really excel in anything. Then people figured out that graphics cards (or specifically, GPUs) are very well suited to doing th... | [
"In June 2011, Symantec warned about the possibility that botnets could mine covertly for bitcoins. Malware used the parallel processing capabilities of GPUs built into many modern video cards. Although the average PC with an integrated graphics processor is virtually useless for bitcoin mining, tens of thousands o... |
What will happen to the planets that aren't destroyed when the sun supernovas? | [Here you go :3](_URL_0_) | [
"This is a relatively peaceful event, nothing akin to a supernova, which the Sun is too small to undergo as part of its evolution. Any observer present to witness this occurrence would see a massive increase in the speed of the solar wind, but not enough to destroy a planet completely. However, the star's loss of m... |
After Stalin died, were there any measures taken by the Soviet government to avoid someone amassing power on scale like his? | Although it is difficult to say whether there were distinct policies in place to prevent the future build-up of power in such a tyrannical fashion, the tone of the government definitely changed. Instead of the government of personality that had prevailed previously, the Soviet government was replaced by a troika of Ge... | [
"As this process unfolded, Stalin consolidated near-absolute power by destroying the potential opposition. In 1936-38 about three quarters of a million Soviets were executed, and more than a million others were sentenced to lengthy terms in very harsh labour camps. Stalin's Great Terror ravaged the ranks of factory... |
If childbirth is one of the most painful experiences one can go through, how come it does not render the person unconscious as when having other forms of pain inflicted? | Apart from folklore and cultural bias, what evidence is there to suggest that childbirth is actually 'one of the most painful experiences one can go through'? | [
"There is also a distinction between trauma induced by recent situations and long-term trauma which may have been buried in the unconscious from past situations such as childhood abuse. Trauma is sometimes overcome through healing; in some cases this can be achieved by recreating or revisiting the origin of the tra... |
what does it mean for a language to be recursive? | An example in English:
I rode the bus which almost ran out of gas with my friend who has never been to Europe which is a continent.
With brackets inserted to show recursive structure:
I rode the bus [ which almost ran out of gas ] with my friend [ who has never been to Europe [ which is a continent. ] ]
The recursi... | [
"A recursive grammar is a grammar that contains production rules that are recursive. For example, a grammar for a context-free language is left-recursive if there exists a non-terminal symbol \"A\" that can be put through the production rules to produce a string with \"A\" as the leftmost symbol.\n",
"Recursion p... |
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