Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
how come you can see through smoke so easily & it's basically transparent, yet it casts such a dark shadow?	Rather like an uncaring wife's lies, isn't it?	[ "Fog shadows may look odd to viewers who are not used to seeing shadows in three dimensions. A thin fog is just dense enough to be illuminated by the light that passes through the gaps in a structure or in a tree. As a result, the path of an object's shadow through the fog becomes visible as a darkened volume. In a...
why is it considered okay for auto companies to basically turn the dash of a car into a touch screen tablet but it's illegal (in most places) for a person to use their phone while driving?	That's a good question. There are some differences, of course. A touchscreen navigation system doesn't let you send texts. The one I have in my car blanks out certain buttons when the car begins to move. For example, when the car is in motion, you cannot enter a navigation query. Nor can you dial a phone number ma...	[ "BULLET::::- – As of January 1, 2017, it is illegal to hold and use an electronic device while driving. Using a mobile device at a stop light is considered a distraction and leads to a ticket. In addition, a Global Positioning System (GPS) device should not be the center of the dash board. Using a cell phone as a G...
How are submarines always balanced?	Submariner here; there are an equal amount of ballast tanks on both the port and starboard side of the submarine, usually found more forward and aft of the ship, these are carefully weighed and monitored on a regular basis, and depending on the weight of each individual tank, the ship has different trims and lists. Hop...	[ "The large size of these boats did negatively affect both surfaced and underwater maneuverability when compared to smaller submarines. There was no practical fix for this due to the limitations of the installed hydraulic systems that were used to move the rudder. Although a point of concern, the turning radius was ...
Why arent steering wheels in the middle of vehicles???	Passenger space, putting the driver's seat off-center lets you add a rear view mirror (and prior to that being a thing, the ability to look over your shoulder- placing the driver in the middle gave them a rather bad blind spot right behind them) which has a better view of what's immediately behind the car. You also hav...	[ "Four-wheel steering has begun to be used on road cars (Some WW II reconnaissance vehicles had it). It relieves the effect of angular inertia by starting the whole car moving before it rotates toward the desired direction. It can also be used, in the other direction, to reduce the turning radius. Some cars will do ...
Did black politicians elected to office during Reconstruction attempt to stop disenfranchisement efforts?	While there were a significant number of black politicians elected during the Reconstruction period, they really never had a chance of stopping the wave of sentiment in favor of Jim Crow and other "separate but equal" legislation. In addition, despite blacks accounting for 40-70% of a state's population in the south, ...	[ "Politics during the Reconstruction proved to be quite difficult. During the first elections, the voter registration board only allowed supporters of African American suffrage to vote. In 1872, Edmund J. Davis, then governor of Texas, ordered Henry Ervay, then mayor of Dallas, to be removed from office. He refused ...
why is the spotify "shuffle" feature still after all this time not random?	Since you haven't actually said what the problem with Spotify's shuffle feature it this is a hard question to answer specifically, so I'll answer for shuffling in general. Short answer: Random gives bad results when shuffling songs. Long answer: Shuffle isn't supposed to be random. Back in the day a shuffle i...	[ "Shuffle play is a mode of music playback in which songs are played in a randomized order that is decided upon for all tracks at once. It is commonly found on CD players, digital audio players and media player software. Shuffle playback prevents repeated tracks, which makes it distinct from random playback, in whic...
why does lemon juice "cook" fish when making ceviche?	It doesn't actually cook the fish. The acid just denatures the proteins in fish meat in a similar process to cooking. It won't, for instance, kill pathogens in the fish.	[ "Lemon juice is used to make lemonade, soft drinks, and cocktails. It is used in marinades for fish, where its acid neutralizes amines in fish by converting them into nonvolatile ammonium salts. In meat, the acid partially hydrolyzes tough collagen fibers, tenderizing the meat, but the low pH denatures the proteins...
when you get up too quick and get dizzy	Let me know, this happens to me as well. Are you tall? I'm 6' 4, I always thought that could be a part of it	[ "Other signs and symptoms vary. Accompanying dehydration can produce nausea, vomiting, headaches, and low blood pressure and the latter can lead to fainting or dizziness, especially if the standing position is assumed quickly.\n", "A loss of blood pressure may partially explain the reported incidence of dizziness...
why is it called rule 34?	Since time immemorial (i.e. at least the early ’90s), there have been various lists of “rules of the internet”. Different lists contained different rules in different orders. A witty observation could be phrased as a new “rule of the internet”. The number “34” is arbitrary; the idea that there is a single authoritative...	[ "According to researchers Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam, \"Today, Rule 34 thrives as sacred lore on blogs, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds and social networking sites. It's frequently used as a verb, as in 'I Rule 34'ed Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell on the judging table'.\" They propose the reason why the maxim resonated wi...
why did i lose 5.6 lbs of water after i went to the bathroom?	What are you weighing yourself with that is so accurate?	[ "Weight loss effects of water have been subject to some scientific research. Drinking water prior to each meal may help in appetite suppression. Consumption of 500 mL (approximately 17 fl oz) of water 30 minutes before meals has been correlated with modest weight loss (1–2 kg) in obese men and women over a period o...
how are the football turf logos personalized & changed each game?	Most stadiums do not ever change their logos. The team (professional, school, etc) own the field and the logo of that team is on it. Some artificial turfs have the ability to replace the logo section of the turf. It is expensive but can happen. For real grass fields they will let the grass grow then when they cut t...	[ "Beginning with the 2006 NFL season, the scoring banner was upgraded again. This time, real-time scores from around the league were included as a permanent fixture on the extreme right side of the bar, while the banner's coloring changed to the colors of the team currently in possession of the ball (this coloring s...
Can water from a dehumidifier be used for non-scientific applications that require distilled water ?	Well, i dunno what kind of basement you have, but generally there is some nasty stuff lookin for a moist spit to grow. Your dehumidifier is an ideal place for that. I wouldnt drink the water in my dehumidifier.	[ "Dehumidifiers are used in industrial climatic chambers, to reduce relative humidity and the dew point in many industrial applications from waste and fresh water treatment plants to indoor grow rooms where the control of moisture is essential.\n", "A dehumidifier is an electrical appliance which reduces and maint...
why does chocolate melt faster if it's been refrigerated?	Chocolate requires tempering, which is a processes that takes very specific high and low temperatures. When the chocolate has been melted it ruins this tempering. The tempering process evens out the fatty acids and ensures a uniform crystallisation. When this is consistent it requires more energy (heat) to disrupt it...	[ "Chocolate is very sensitive to temperature and humidity. Ideal storage temperatures are between , with a relative humidity of less than 50%. If refrigerated or frozen without containment, chocolate can absorb enough moisture to cause a whitish discoloration, the result of fat or sugar crystals rising to the surfac...
Why do humans 'enjoy' the musical notes that we do?	The intervals we enjoy are generally fairly simple ratios of frequencies. For example, an octave (C to C) is doubling the frequency. A "perfect fifth" (C to G) is multiplying by 3/2. A "perfect fourth" (C to F) is multiplying by 4/3. As for the notes in between, these actually differ between cultures, so it is somewh...	[ "\"Most people like music because it gives them certain emotions such as joy, grief, sadness, and image of nature, a subject for daydreams or – still better – oblivion from “everyday life”. They want a drug – dope -…. Music would not be worth much if it were reduced to such an end. When people have learned to love ...
If Humans were seperated on several continents, why are we not differently adapted?	We are different. African people for instance have a much higher rate of sickle cell anemia because if you have 50% sickle cell and 50% reg red cells you are immune to malaria, as well as many other blood born bacteria that are common in Africa. Similarly British people are really pale because there is not as much sun ...	[ "Humans may have an evolved set of psychological adaptations that predispose them to be more cooperative than otherwise would be expected with members of their tribal in-group, and, more nasty to members of tribal out groups. These adaptations may have been a consequence of tribal warfare. Humans may also have pred...
sleep walking and talking	Two things can occur, first is the body doesn't shut down response mechanisms when you sleep and your response functions continue functioning while you are asleep, when you sleep the brain doesn't normally send signals to the rest of the body so you don't injure yourself by flailing or kicking in your sleep, and you ra...	[ "Somniloquy or sleep-talking is a parasomnia that refers to talking aloud while asleep. It can be quite loud, ranging from simple mumbling sounds to loud shouts and long, frequently inarticulate speeches, and can occur many times during a sleep cycle. As with sleepwalking and night terrors, sleeptalking usually occ...
what vitamins and supplements i should take and why	Flintstones vitamins. 1 chewable tablet per day, unless you are significantly over/under the average weight for a five year old, in which case your parents should consult your pediatrician on your behalf. *spelling	[ "It may be taken as a dietary supplement, as it is a source of vitamin C, B vitamins, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, potassium (475 mg), calcium, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, copper, zinc, magnesium and lactic acid.\n", "Vitamin C dietary supplements are available as tablets, capsules, drink mix packets, in multi-vitamin/mi...
Which plant is the most effective at converting CO2 to Oxygen?	[Photosynthetic efficiency](_URL_0_) is the proper term for this and it's actually measured as sunlight to biomass. The reason is because the same amount of CO2 + (other stuff^1 ) = O2 + (other stuff^1 ), so efficient is always 1-to-1 ratio if you measure CO2 to O2 conversion. In any case, the most efficient plant is...	[ "BULLET::::6. Like plants, autotrophic microorganisms are capable to grow on CO. Some of them, such as bacteria with the Wood–Ljungdahl pathway or the reductive TCA can fix CO2 between 2-3, up to 10 times more efficiently than plants when also considering the effects of photoinhibition.\n", "Many photosynthetic o...
why don't cigarette packs in the us have gruesome pictures of lung cancer on them like in other countries?	Because tobacco companies have far more leverage over politicians in the United States than they do in other countries.	[ "In the United States, lung cancer incidence and mortality rates are particularly high among African American men. Lung cancer tends to be most common in developed countries, particularly in North America and Europe, and less common in developing countries, particularly in Africa and South America. Over 85% of all ...
how do information leaks happen?	That all depends on which "flavor" of leak you're talking about. There's the Edward Snowden type of leak where someone deliberately shares private and confidential information with the public because they felt the public needed to know. Conscious intent and action. Some leaks aren't intentional at all like the Po...	[ "Information leakage happens whenever a system that is designed to be closed to an eavesdropper reveals some information to unauthorized parties nonetheless. For example, when designing an encrypted instant messaging network, a network engineer without the capacity to crack encryption codes could see when messages ...
why is rand paul filibustering the patriot act and how does filibustering help?	The patriot act is a surveillance act that allows the NSA to spy on Americans to catch terrorism. Obviously, people are offended by the invasion of privacy. Now, filibustering is giving an incredibly long speech to cause the bill to run out of time to be passed. Senators are allowed to keep speaking for as long as the...	[ "The filibuster is an obstructionary tactic used to defeat bills and motions by prolonging debate indefinitely. A filibuster may entail, but does not actually require, long speeches, dilatory motions, and an extensive series of proposed amendments. The longest filibuster speech in the history of the Senate was deli...
A book about Hypatia of Alexandria	You're indeed in the right place. Fear not! I'm not sure if there is a recent comprehensive academic study of Hypatia of Alexandria out there, but [here's](_URL_3_) a very long list of books either on her life or incorporating her into the history of mathematics. I would caution, however, that a lot of the stuff wri...	[ "Sotion of Alexandria (, \"gen\".: Σωτίωνος; fl. c. 200 – 170 BC) was a Greek doxographer and biographer, and an important source for Diogenes Laërtius. None of his works survive; they are known only indirectly. His principal work, the Διαδοχή or Διαδοχαί (the \"Successions\"), was one of the first history books to...
How many watts does the human body run on?	Well, they say that the recommended daily intake of calories is 2200k. This is for an average woman, I believe, so me as a big, active guy probably need more like 3000kcal. The conversion rate from kcal to kilo Joule is 4.2. Over the course of 24h, that means that my body needs, on average, a supply of 4.2\*3000 kJ /(2...	[ "Human powered direct current generators are commercially available, and have been the project of some DIY enthusiasts. Typically operated by means of pedal power, a converted bicycle trainer, or a foot pump, such generators can be practically used to charge batteries, and in some cases are designed with an integra...
why the tv sometimes turns off or turns on by itself.	There are plenty of possible culprits: * Some prankster is sending remote control commands to the TV turning it off and on * The remote control is malfunctioning * The timer built into the TV is turning it on and off * The TV is picking up radio signals causing it to misbehave, are there any HAMs in the area? * The ma...	[ "Many televisions and monitors automatically degauss their picture tube when switched on, before an image is displayed. The high current surge that takes place during this automatic degauss is the cause of an audible \"thunk\" or loud hum, which can be heard (and felt) when televisions and CRT computer monitors are...
How would galactic internet work?	You can't. The only way to rapidly communicate over distances that long is to somehow overcome the limitation of the speed of light. But that is firmly in the realm of science fiction. A regular internet request from Proxima Centauri (and whatever orbits that star) will take more than 8 years. 4 years for the request...	[ "The first Internet link into low earth orbit was established on January 22, 2010 when astronaut T. J. Creamer posted the first unassisted update to his Twitter account from the International Space Station, marking the extension of the Internet into space. (Astronauts at the ISS had used email and Twitter before, b...
why we don't we use nitrogen for capital punishment?	Nitrogen doesn't kill people as quickly and flawlessly as lethal injection, and comes with some major safety issues which would tend to make it undesirable. Of course if someone is exposed to a pure nitrogen atmosphere indefinitely they will surely die, but how long exactly will that take? 10 minutes? 15 to be really s...	[ "Nitrogen asphyxiation has been suggested by a number of lawmakers and other advocates as a more humane way to carry out capital punishment. In April 2015, the Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a bill authorizing nitrogen asphyxiation as an alternative execution method in cases where the state's preferred method...
Was Marx racist?	The problem really is the time period, as there wasn't a concept of "racism" in the 19th century. [(Oxford dictionary cites "racialism" as the first use in the early 1900s.)](_URL_1_) Basically, from what I've read, Marx uses the word "nigger" as a descriptive term, and there is little concept for a kind of supremacy o...	[ "Weyl's 1979 book \"Karl Marx - Racist\" contains a summary and critique of Marx's views on race and the role of Jews in modern capitalism, and a discussion of later refutations of Marx's economic views. At the same time, Weyl himself supported white minority-rule regimes in southern Africa against \"communist terr...
With regards to the SCC aliens meme, what do you see if you're 65 million light years away from Earth, but are travelling towards it at a very high speed?	Yes. The light would also: _URL_0_	[ "BULLET::::- In the \"Stargate SG-1\" episode \"Sight Unseen\", an alien device is accidentally activated that allows members of SG-1 to see, but not interact with, strange insect-like creatures who inhabit a dimension parallel to our own. Though originally confined to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the phenomenon ...
why does light from the sun make the sky look blue, but light from the moon does not?	It does make the sky look blue, but our blue photoreceptors aren't sensitive to low light levels, so we can't see it. If you take a long exposure at night, the sky will look blue.	[ "In locations with little light pollution, the moonlit night sky is also blue, because moonlight is reflected sunlight, with a slightly lower color temperature due to the brownish color of the moon. The moonlit sky is not perceived as blue, however, because at low light levels human vision comes mainly from rod cel...
why would large successful companies that are not in need of money sell shares of their company?	You have to separate an offering from normal trading. Normal trading is where people (not the company) who own stock trade it on the private market. This has nothing to do with the company who's stock it is, though some of the private individuals selling might be employed by said company. Offerings are when the comp...	[ "This is a disadvantage to companies and the market at large because it allows profit to be made without any successful business practice being conducted. The ethics of firms are compromised in the interest of increasing share value.\n", "When a company wants to raise money for long-term investment, one of its fi...
if the big 3 religions and their denominations all worship the same god, how can there be so much violence and disagreement between them (and even within them between denominations)? considering that they have the biggest part in common (the deity), can't they agree to disagree on other stuff?	The Abrahamic religions only worship the same god insofar as they all believe in the Old Testament, but they have drastically different views on what was divinely revealed after that. The Christians believe Jesus came down and was the son of God and thus that God is a trinity and that you need to worship Jesus, while t...	[ "Wherever people of different religions live in close proximity to each other, religious sectarianism can often be found in varying forms and degrees. In some areas, religious sectarians (for example Protestant and Catholic Christians) exist peacefully side-by-side for the most part, although these differences have...
What happens to a currency when physical tender is destroyed while in circulation?	Different countries (central banks) have different ways of handling this. In most countries they have rules and regulations on how to deal with this issue. Some just write off an estimate of what is in circulation. I'd suggest that you simply contact the central bank that represents your market and ask them. They do a...	[ "A fiat-money currency greatly loses its value should the issuing government or central bank either lose the ability to, or refuse to, further guarantee its value. The usual consequence is hyperinflation. Some examples where this has occurred are the Zimbabwean dollar, China in 1945 and the mark in the Weimar Repub...
[Mathematics] If I roll a six-sided die 6 times, what is the probably that it will land on a particular face at least one time?	the trick is to flip the problem...instead of thinking "what is the probability it will land on this face" instead think, what is the probability it WON'T land on some face. so, what is the probability of NOT landing on some face (we'll say...2) for a single roll....obviously it's 5/6...because 5 out of 6 times, it wi...	[ "The player then rolls a 6-sided die. The numbers 1-4 correspond to the 4 pages of cards sleeves and the pages are turned to the corresponding number. A 5 or 6 result means that the page is not changed.\n", "The players take turns rolling a six-sided die and then moving the matching cube. If the matching cube is ...
how does a high profile trial such as george zimmerman's affect the personal lives of the jurors?	In some cases, their lives really are put on complete hold. They can be 'sequestered' by the judge, which basically puts them on lock-down, sometimes in a local hotel, to keep them away from ANY media coverage about the case, so as to remain as impartial as possible. For these big, high profile cases, it can be very ta...	[ "The first important paper on the findings of the CJP so far documents that jurors do not rely on expert testimony to evaluate the defendant's dangerousness but are influenced by expert testimony regarding the defendant's mental illness and mental instability. Jurors accept that mental health professionals have exp...
At any given moment in time, are there a finite number of planets in the universe?	Let me just try and address this more abstract part of your question, regarding "counting up" the planets: > I understand that the universe is infinite (sort of) and ever-expanding, but if we could magically freeze time and use GoogleGalaxy (tm) to fly around the universe, wouldn't we able to establish a finite numb...	[ "Two months later, Harvard University astronomy professor Harlow Shapley speculated on the number of inhabited planets in the universe, saying \"The universe has 10 million, million, million suns (10 followed by 18 zeros) similar to our own. One in a million has planets around it. Only one in a million million has ...
if the earth's rotation is 23 hours and 56 minutes long per cycle, how come we do not see days where the clock says it is nighttime or vice versa during the year?	The Earth moves roughly one degree per day around its orbit, so the Earth has to rotate 361 degrees for the same point on the surface to be pointing at the Sun again. That extra degree(ish) takes the extra 4 minutes.	[ "Earth makes one rotation around its axis in a sidereal day; during that time it moves a short distance (about 1°) along its orbit around the Sun. So after a sidereal day has passed, Earth still needs to rotate slightly more before the Sun reaches local noon according to solar time. A mean solar day is, therefore, ...
Was there ever any domestic opposition to imperialism in Europe?	Actually, New Zealand is an almost perfect example of this. Australia had been set up as a penal colony in 1787 when the "First Fleet" arrived, and much persecution of native Aborigines followed. At this time Britain had recently lost the American Colonies, and though there had been a lot of domestic support for the Am...	[ "Walter Rodney, in his 1972 classic How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, proposes the idea that imperialism is a phase of capitalism \"in which Western European capitalist countries, the US, and Japan established political, economic, military and cultural hegemony over other parts of the world which were initially at ...
How close is the measurement of horsepower to the power output of an actual horse?	[Stevenson and Wassersug](_URL_0_) state that the peak power output for a horse could reach 15hp, but that this was not sustainable (much like you could push a car uphill for a short amount of time, but doing it all day would be rather difficult). They then cite contemporary publications from the 19th/early 20th centur...	[ "BULLET::::- \"Nominal horse power\"– nhp is the typical way that traction engines are rated. However, it has long been accepted that nominal horse power greatly understates the actual power of the engine. There are many ways to estimate the actual horse power but none of them gives an accurate answer, for example,...
do all muslims follow sharia law or is it more comparable to all christians following the 10 commandments.	First, Sharia law is more like a set of rules and guidelines derived from multiple sources. It is less like the ten commandments and more like the Talmud or the collected decisions of the Catholic Church. Second, individual Muslims interpret and abide by the rules to different measures and degrees, just as is the ca...	[ "Muslims believe \"sharia\" is God's law, but they differ as to what exactly it entails. Modernists, traditionalists and fundamentalists all hold different views of sharia, as do adherents to different schools of Islamic thought and scholarship. Different countries, societies and cultures have varying interpretatio...
Do birds ping?	Sounds like contact calls to me! Though I am unsure if a species specific call has been studied or described for caiques in particular, I know for a fact that many other parrot species (parakeets, budgies, amazons) use contact calls regularly to maintain their pairs or groups. In fact, on a recent trip to Nicaragua my ...	[ "Their most distinctive behaviour is the beating and whistling sound their wings make when they take off. This is most likely to draw the attention of predators to birds on the wing, and away from any birds remaining on the ground, and as an alarm call to other pigeons. When the birds land, their tails tilt upwards...
what exactly does it mean when one country 'recognises' another country? conversely, what does it mean when one country refuses to recognise another country?	Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: What does it mean when one country refuses to acknowledge the existence of another country? ](_URL_0_) ^(_8 comments_) 1. [ELI5: How does international recognition of a country differ (e.g. South Sudan, Kosovo)? ](_URL_1_) ^(_8 comments_)	[ "Saying that a country \"does not recognize\" multiple citizenship is a confusing and ambiguous term. Often, it is simply a restatement of the Master Nationality Rule, whereby a country treats a person who is a citizen of both that country and another in the same way as one who is a citizen only of the country. In ...
How many different types of visible light are there?	There are an infinite number of frequencies of light. By themselves they don't group into colors, they're just a frequency (wavelength). We perceive colors because of the nature of our eyes. We have receptors that are differentially sensitives. Most people have three different types, corresponding to the three diff...	[ "Light is electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The word usually refers to visible light, which is the visible spectrum that is visible to the human eye and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400...
When, and why, did the US close its borders to Mexico.	Around Reagan's presidency, drug trafficking was popular. Pablo Escobar and the rest of the Medellín cartel were bringing 15 tons of cocaine to America a day. Many of their trade routes went through the Mexican-American border. This was a big factor to having heavy control over the border during Reagan's War on Drugs. ...	[ "On 12 January 1828, in Mexico City, Poinsett signed the first treaty between the United States and Mexico, the Treaty of Limits, a treaty that recognized the U.S.-Mexico border established by the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty between Spain and the U.S.\n", "BULLET::::2. Mexico severed diplomatic relations with the U.S....
why california hasn't embraced desalinization to deal with the water shortage?	It does if you're dying if thirst, but not if you just need people to not waste water on their silly lawns and 30 minute showers.	[ "In response to water shortages in the state, some water districts are looking to desalination as a way to provide water for residents. Supporters view seawater desalination as a safer water source, since it draws its water from the ocean and thus, is not affected by periods of drought like other sources of water a...
Why isn't cloud seeding more common?	For the most part, we don't know if it works. Would it have rained or snowed without the seeding? Who knows? While research is ongoing, seeding has been used for well over half a decade now, with no conclusively convincing evidence of its effectiveness. Weather is pretty complex, and it's really hard to determine if se...	[ "Cloud seeding is a common technique to enhance precipitation. Cloud seeding entails spraying small particles, such as silver iodide, onto clouds to affect their development, usually with the goal of increasing precipitation. Cloud seeding only works to the extent that there is already water vapor present in the ai...
why is increasing your heart rate through physical activity good and for anxiety reasons bad?	The main reason is that it's better to have relaxed artery walls. Increasing heart rate through physical activity causes arteries to relax. In anxiety, it causes them to constrict.	[ "Lifestyle factors including: stress management, stress reduction, relaxation, exercise, sleep hygiene, caffeine, and alcohol can influence the persistence of anxiety. Stress is a factor that can trigger anxiety. Therefore, keeping stress levels low through stress management, stress reduction, and relaxation may be...
if every household collected rainwater, would it hurt the environment? how does this work?	It depends on how they were going about doing it. If everyone covered all their lands with plastic tarps and took all the rain water than less of it would be flowing into streams and lakes. But this would require extreme amounts of collection. A more likely scenario is that all those collection of standing fresh ...	[ "While rainwater itself is a clean source of water, often better than groundwater or water from rivers or lakes, the process of collection and storage often leaves the water polluted and non-potable. Rainwater harvested from roofs can contain human, animal and bird feces, mosses and lichens, windblown dust, particu...
What is the effect of air pressure on melting point of water?	If you look at the [phase diagram of water](_URL_0_) you can see that the melting point decreases weakly as pressure is increased, reaching a minimum of about -20 C at extremely high pressure. [Here](_URL_1_) is a zoomed in version but I don't trust the scale.	[ "Physicist Lei Xu and coworkers at the University of Chicago discovered that the splash due to the impact of a small drop of ethanol onto a dry solid surface could be suppressed by reducing the pressure below a specific threshold. For drops of diameter 3.4 mm falling through air, this pressure was about 20 kilopasc...
why was "smells like teen spirit" considered such a revolutionary song? and what's so special about kurt cobain?	Nirvana gets a lot of the credit for starting the "grunge" movement. What makes smells like teen spirit so different is it's grunge sound and lyrical content. This was the first mainstream song to sort of glorify angsty, awkward teenagers and give them a coherent voice. It probably rings less with you because so much m...	[ "In the wake of Nirvana's success, Michael Azerrad wrote in a 1992 \"Rolling Stone\" article: \"'Smells Like Teen Spirit' is an anthem for (or is it against?) the 'Why Ask Why?' generation. Just don't call Cobain a spokesman for a generation.\" Nevertheless, the music press awarded the song an \"anthem-of-a-generat...
i've heard that roads tend to be safer without speed limits. why does the us still have them?	Because roads are safer with speed limits. There are many scientists who work in road safety, and they would be in 99% agreement over this. The European and Scandanavian countries that have the lowest fatality rates in the world also have the lowest speed limits (UK, Netherlands, Sweden).	[ "BULLET::::- A 1998 report in the \"Wall Street Journal\" titled \"Highways are safe at any speed\", stating when speed limits are set artificially low, tailgating, weaving and speed variance (the problem of some cars traveling significantly faster than others) make roads less safe.\n", "Worldwide, road traffic i...
If the universe is infinite in all directions, does that mean no matter where you move you will always be in the exact center?	If the universe is infinitely big (which is the go-to assumption nowadays, and at least somewhat supported by evidence, but it has not been proven yet), then there is no center. Talking about the center of the entire universe becomes pretty meaningless. You will always appear to be in the center of your observable uni...	[ "Simplicio now gives the greatest argument against the annual motion of the Earth that if it moves then it can no longer be the center of the zodiac, the world. Aristotle gives proofs that the universe is finite bounded and spherical. Salvatius points out that these disappear if he denies him the assumption that it...
if reddit only has user-driven content with highly upvoted posts receiving the most attention, why does it have mods removing posts and banned websites?	Reddit is not a democracy. Each subreddit is run by the mods according to their wishes. If a mod team thinks that links to certain sites are harming the discussion in their subreddit somehow (false information, biased source, etc.) then they ban it because they think it will make the sub better. The democratic part com...	[ "In accordance with the site's policies on free speech, Reddit's admins say that they do not ban communities solely for featuring controversial content. Reddit's general manager Erik Martin noted that \"having to stomach occasional troll [sub]reddits like r/picsofdeadkids or morally questionable [sub]reddits like r...
cars with a "sport mode" button and what exactly goes on inside them when you press it.	It's highly dependent on the car, but what can happen may include: * If your car has a dynamic suspension, the shock absorbers may become more ridged, or the car may be lowered * Your power steering may be adjusted to be more responsive, or shut off (it typically shuts off at higher speeds anyway) * The engine mappi...	[ "Controls are simple, with the A and B buttons controlling the player's gas and brakes respectively. The R and L buttons shift the car up or down a gear in manual control, and the D-Pad controls the car's steering. The game requires the player to master the powerslide technique to skid around corners and to reduce ...
According to the BBC, the average life expectancy for an Allied pilot in 1915 was just 11 days; how were they able to recruit pilots? Was it understood just how hazardous a posting it was? What major technical advances (if any) were made through the course of the war to make it safer?	Was that 11 days on which combat occurred or 11 days in a row? I ask because I once read something like the average life expectancy of American bomber crews in combat in WWII Europe was something like 35 seconds, but this was because of the strict definition of what constituted “combat” and the funny ways averages some...	[ "In April 1917, during a brief period of German aerial supremacy a British pilot's average life expectancy was 93 flying hours, or about three weeks of active service. More than 50,000 airmen from both sides died during the war.\n", "Reconnaissance flying, like all kinds, was a hazardous business. In April 1917, ...
If your skin temperature is lower than usual and you stick your hand/foot in hot water, does it do actual damage?	Sensory or neural adaptation is a change in time in responsiveness to a constant stimulus, for example, what your clothes feel like on your skin. When your feet are cold, the neurons that transmit a feeling of warmth are not firing. When you submerge them in warm water, these warm-sensing neurons begin firing rapidly...	[ "Fluid loss also can occur from the skin. In a hot and dry climate, skin fluid losses can be as high as 1 to 2 liters/hour. Patients with a skin barrier interrupted by burns or other skin lesions also can experience large fluid losses that lead to hypovolemic shock. \n", "Other risk factors include perspiring hea...
How common were fighting churchmen in Medieval Europe?	In Spring 1218, an Oeselian army, a pagan people of the Baltic, marched upon the Christian settlements in Metsepole, a region in Latvia. A parish priest, Godfrey, mounted his horse and rode to the surrounding villages, summoning help from the German bishop of Riga. The next day, the Christians faced the pagans in battl...	[ "Popular revolts in late-medieval Europe and civil wars between nobles within countries such as the Wars of the Roses were common—with France fighting internally nine times—and there were international conflicts between kings such as France and England in the Hundred Years' War. The unity of the Roman Catholic Chur...
Why is it that gravity slingshots work? Don't the violate conservation of energy?	No scientist here, but I'm pretty sure that the conservation of energy is true with planets as well. The amount Neptune slowed down is probably like 0.0000000000000000001% but that was enough to propel voyager further.	[ "In orbital mechanics and aerospace engineering, a gravitational slingshot, gravity assist maneuver, or swing-by is the use of the relative movement (e.g. orbit around the Sun) and gravity of a planet or other astronomical object to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft, typically to save propellant and reduce e...
who, or what, is citizens united, and why have they all of a sudden been in the news so much lately?	Citizens United refers to a court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Citizens United was making a movie that was critical of Hillary Clinton and wanted to advertise it before the 2008 democratic national convention. Before the ruling, it would have been illegal to do so within 80 days of an ele...	[ "Citizens United is known for its support of conservatives in politics. The group produced a television advertisement that reveals several legislative actions taken by John McCain, which aired on Fox News Channel. On October 2, 2006, in reaction to revelations of a cover-up of inappropriate communications between R...
how do monarch butterflies migrate through multiple generations, considering that one of them can only make it part of the way?	Genetically learned traits. Basically they've been doing it so long it's become ingrained in their core. They even fly around an obsticle (can't remeber if it was a mountain or lake) that's not even there any more! A million (or whatever) years ago this feature of the Earth went away, but the butterflies still circle w...	[ "Monarch butterflies are especially noted for their lengthy annual migration. In North America they make massive southward migrations starting in August until the first frost. A northward migration takes place in the spring. The monarch is the only butterfly that migrates both north and south as the birds do on a r...
in factory shows like how it's made, who plans those assembly machines that know how to perfectly do everything?	It's usually a mechanical engineer who designs the actual machine, or an engineer in the field of what it will be making. Very complex processes are researched by engineers with a master's degree or a PhD at a university or private research company. Once they show that whatever it is they're making can be profitable,...	[ "In \"Star Trek\" a replicator is a machine that can create (and recycle) things. Replicators were originally seen to simply synthesize meals on demand, but in later series much larger non-food items appear. The technical aspects of replicated vice \"real\" things is sometimes a plot element.\n", "Inside the Fact...
when a study says "n=979", what is the significance of the n?	Usually it's the amount of people that are being subjects in the study. If you're talking about the r/science article on teens and young adults and solitude, the n=979 means that 979 teens and young adults were looked at in the study.	[ "\"N\" is the Avogadro constant (the ratio of the number of particles, \"N\", which is unitless, to the amount of substance, \"n\", in units of moles), and \"e\" is the elementary charge or the magnitude of the charge of an electron. This relation holds because the amount of charge of a mole of electrons is equal t...
why does our brain tune out sound that we’re constantly exposed to?	That's what our brains are designed to do. If a constant sensory input is eventually regarded as something to be ignored, your brain will do just that. For some people, this mechanism doesn't work properly. In some cases of autism and schizophrenia for example, their brains have a hard time ignoring excess sensory in...	[ "Misophonia's mechanism is not known, but it appears that, like hyperacusis, it may be caused by a dysfunction of the central auditory system in the brain and not of the ears. The perceived origin and context of the sound appears to be essential to trigger a reaction.\n", "Auditory processing disorder is when a p...
why is tomato sauce (ketchup) so ubiquitous? what is it about the flavour of tomatoes in particular that makes it so universally used with such a range of other foods?	I don't think it's the flavour of tomatoes per se (because ketchup doesn't taste like tomato) so much as the availability and relative cheapness of ketchup's key ingredients that makes it so common. It's easy to produce in large quantities, it's inexpensive, and it has a long shelf life. You might also be able to se...	[ "Prior to Heinz (and his fellow innovators), commercial tomato ketchups of that time were watery and thin, in part due to the use of unripe tomatoes, which were low in pectin. They had less vinegar than modern ketchups; by pickling ripe tomatoes, the need for benzoate was eliminated without spoilage or degradation ...
how does money get printed and why isn't the technology used to do it commercialized?	If you want to be blunt, money printing technology IS commercialised. There are only a handful of companies around the world who manufacture the machinery for the production process, but they ARE companies. Selling to all the government customers who need their products. But, you know. One of the reasons that they are...	[ "Print-on-demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While other industries established the build to order business model, \"print-on-demand\" could only deve...
why are so many bombs that are dropped from planes duds?	No, we look for stable explosives. These things get shipped and stored (and reshipped, re-stored) possibly being handled dozens or hundreds of times before use or disposal. If just dropping things made them explode, we would have lost at least one of the Carolinas to dropped nukes. Nuclear weapons are triggered...	[ "In military parlance an aircraft-dropped 'dibber bomb' is an anti-runway penetration bomb which destroys runways by first penetrating below the tarmac before exploding, cratering, and displacing the surface, making repairs difficult and time consuming, during which conventional airplanes can neither land nor takeo...
In the middle ages, was romantic love between spouses encouraged or considered profane?	"Middle ages" covers a huge amount of time; could you be more specific? Also, where?	[ "Since at the time some marriages among nobility had little to do with modern perspectives of what constitutes love, courtly love was also a way for nobles to express the love not found in their marriage. \"Lovers\" in the context of courtly love need not refer to sex, but rather to the act of loving. These \"lover...
How were the relative abundances of chemical isotopes discovered (without sampling every atom on earth)?	Statistical Sampling. Take a bunch of randomly selected lumps of earth and see what they contain. The error between measured values and the true values will decease in proportion to the square root of the number of samples taken. This is the same reason that voter surveys don't have to ask every voter to come up with a...	[ "The relative abundances of different isotopes are then used to describe the chemical fractionation of different isotopes, travel in different reservoirs of non-radiogenic isotopes, and age or origins of solar system objects by the presence of radiogenic daughter isotopes.\n", "The tabulated atomic masses of elem...
how do air conditioners work? is the working of a window ac different from a split ac?	Both work in the same way, although a split system is obviously more aesthetic and flexible (although also more difficult to install). The basic concept is simple. When you compress a gas it gets hotter, when you decompress it it gets colder: this is doubly true if it transitions to liquid when compressed (gas does th...	[ "Air conditioners often use a fan to distribute the conditioned air to an occupied space such as a building or a car to improve thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Electric refrigerant-based AC units range from small units that can cool a small bedroom, which can be carried by a single adult, to massive units i...
how is a qubit in a quantum computer physically represented?	Well, first off, voltage actually can be analog. It is simply less efficient to do that. You can have 1 volt, 2 volts, or 1.26947298 volts. In quantum computers, the quibit is stored in a quantum state of a particle. I'll use photons as an example because I actually understand them: Photons can be polarized. Their po...	[ "In a quantum computer, the fundamental unit of information (called a quantum bit or qubit), is not binary but rather more quaternary in nature. This qubit property arises as a direct consequence of its adherence to the laws of quantum mechanics, which differ radically from the laws of classical physics. A qubit ca...
game of thrones plot.	The show is complex, which is why it's hard to understand. Most of the difficulty comes from backstory, names and the relevancy of the various side-stories. I tried to organize it with this in mind. Spoiler Warning: This post is nothing but one big spoiler, but there are no spoilers from the books that g...	[ "\"Game of Thrones\" is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. The series is based on George R. R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, \"A Song of Ice and Fire\". The series takes place on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, and chronicles the power struggle...
What Are The Long Term (Next 100 years) Implications For The Higgs Boson Discovery?	_URL_0_ You'll see that the question of future implication has been asked many times there as well. The problem with trying to predict future implication is that there are too many unknowns. If you ask about the implications of quantum mechanics 80 years ago, it is not immediately obvious that tunnelling electron mic...	[ "An initial focus of research was to investigate the possible existence of the Higgs boson, a key part of the Standard Model of physics which is predicted by theory but had not yet been observed before due to its high mass and elusive nature. CERN scientists estimated that, if the Standard Model were correct, the L...
why is evolution banned in some schools?	Okay, so there are a sub-group of Christians called "Fundamentalists". They believe that the Bible is literally true. And Genesis says that the Earth was created in 6 days, along with humans and all the animals. They were literally created, in six days. But Evolution specifically says that animals (and since humans...	[ "BULLET::::- 2004 - On January 30, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter released a statement condemning the suggestion that the word \"evolution\" be banned from textbooks used in schools in the state of Georgia.\n", "An objection is often made in the teaching of evolution that evolution is controversial or content...
Will we ever be able to reach The Core of the Earth?	It is impossible. Why? No material can survive the temperatures at the center of the Earth. Even the strongest therotical chemical bond degrades at about 4000 degrees C. Tungsten melts at 3400 degrees C. This means that even a craft build out of the strongest materials physically possible will melt before it reaches ...	[ "A novel method of exploring the uppermost few hundred kilometres of the Earth was proposed in 2005, consisting of a small, dense, heat-generating probe which melts its way down through the crust and mantle while its position and progress are tracked by acoustic signals generated in the rocks. The probe consists of...
Is Soviet-style command economy really a bad economic model or is the disparity a result of western sanctions?	Back in the 1920s the effectiveness of socialism (in the sense of a planned economy - "collective ownership of the means of production") was a topic of live debate, with Ludwig von Mises and later Frederick Hayek arguing that a command economy couldn't work out what goods and services needed to be produced due to the k...	[ "Aaron Friedberg of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation has also noted that authoritarian capitalist nations have utilised an exploitation of the Western world, the reshaping of the international order and exclusion of international actors in an attempt to establish their systems of governance. He has also stated that un...
Did the Nazis ever seriously consider invading Ireland?	I don't think so. Because the German Navy suffered such heavy losses to the Royal Navy in the Invasion of Norway in mid 1940, the Nazis never again had the power to contest the Allies at sea. To somewhat circumvent this, the Blitz was meant to gain air superiority over a potential invasion of England over the English...	[ "Discussions over the possible German invasion of Ireland had been ongoing in Britain since the beginning of 1939. In June 1940, Britain's political and military establishment had witnessed the seemingly invincible German Blitzkrieg which led to the defeat of Poland, the Low Countries, and France, and the retreat o...
how is baldness determined by our mothers?	It's a concept called sex-linkage. Females have two X sex chromosomes (so are known as homogametic) and males have and X and a Y sex chromosome. The Y chromosome has fewer genes than the X so some genes are only present on the X chromosome. Since women lack a Y chromosome all males get their Y chromosome from their fat...	[ "Balding's well-documented aristocratic lineage on her mother's side can be seen in records that TheGenealogist has identified in research. Researchers found Balding's maternal line reveals that she is the great-granddaughter of Sir Malcolm Bullock whose sexuality was investigated in her episode of the \"Who Do You...
Why did Pope Alexander II give approval to William's conquer of England	He didnt hate Harold, was probably barely aware of him. Simplistically put however there had been an ongoing dispute over who was Pope, Alexander II or Honorius II. The former elected by the Church, the latter elected by the German court of Henry IV, via his mother as he was still a kid. The Sicilian Normans, once in ...	[ "William of Poitiers states that William obtained Pope Alexander II's consent for the invasion, signified by a papal banner, along with diplomatic support from other European rulers. Although Alexander did give papal approval to the conquest after it succeeded, no other source claims papal support before the invasi...
How do we track our own stealth aircraft?	It's a transponder, the signal is encrypted. The transponder uses spread spectrum communications so it is difficult to see the signal if you do not know what your looking for. Spread spectrum signals use many parts of the spectrum and low power so the signal appears as background noise.	[ "However, as stealth technology grows, so does anti-stealth technology. Multiple transmitter radars such as those from bistatic radars and low-frequency radars are said to have the capabilities to detect stealth aircraft. Advanced forms of thermographic cameras such as those that incorporate QWIPs would be able to ...
Why is China considered the oldest continuous country when thorough it's history it's been shattered and conquered?	Because the Roman Empire wasn't just taken over wholesale by one barbarian tribe - then it probably wouldn't have been considered to have fallen completely. Instead, it splintered and the government and culture gradually faded away and ceased to exist. China, from the Qin dynasty to the end of the Qing, always had a mo...	[ "According to Jacques, China's history as a nation-state only dates back to around 120 years, perhaps with the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, paving the way for the Republic of China (1912–1949) and then the People's Republic of China. However China's history as a civilization is much longer, with many Chine...
why do tv shows now divide themselves into yearly "half seasons" instead of yearly seasons?	Fall spring is divided into two because usually there is more holiday programming, and in the case of the US football heads into the playoffs, which decreases viewership of competing shows. And by splitting it into two, they can potentially create more viewers through reruns between and hold onto viewers through cliff ...	[ "A full season is sometimes split into two separate units with a hiatus around the end of the calendar year, such as the first season of \"Jericho\" on CBS. When this split occurs, the last half of the episodes sometimes are referred to with the letter B as in \"The last nine episodes (of \"The Sopranos\") will be ...
why aren't foreign words originating from non-latin alphabets (e.g. yarmulke) spelled more phonetically?	The major reason for this is that many languages contain sounds that don't exist in English, and cannot be represented with the English alphabet. So the typical solution is to decide "these characters mean this sound, and these other characters mean this other sound", even when doing so isn't strictly phonetic to how ...	[ "Additionally, in languages for which the Latin alphabet has been adapted only recently, has been used for various sounds, in some cases inspired by European usage, but in others, for consonants uncommon in Europe. For these no Latin letter stands out as an obvious choice, and since most of the various European pro...
In the early 1900's ,Were there any religious or cultural resistance towards the use of flying machines such as Bi planes?	There was no widespread "flying is evil! down with planes!" movement in the early 1900s... but by then, humans had been flying for [more than 100 years](_URL_0_). The airplane had to have shown up in a few sermons in the first decades of the 20th century, but was generally treated more like a novelty - not so many hy...	[ "The aircraft has been popular with flying schools — especially from the pre-World War II existence of the Civilian Pilot Training Program using them in the United States — and remains so with private individuals, into the 21st century.\n", "After the Wright brothers first flight the opportunity of flight raced a...
where do nuns(roman chatolic) outfits originate from (design)?	since most religious habits were patterned on the garb for either unmarried women or widows in their own cultures, I imagine only religious orders that began in Middle Eastern countries have (or had) habits patterned on typical female garb in those countries, and what may still be traditional in those societies that ar...	[ "The traditional dress for women in religious communities consists of a tunic, which is tied around the waist with a cloth or leather belt. Over the tunic some nuns wear a scapular which is a garment of long wide piece of woolen cloth worn over the shoulders with an opening for the head. Some wear a white wimple an...
Why do they elevate bruised areas of the body to decrease blood flow? Why isn't the opposite more beneficial?	Elevating an injured limb is not to decrease blood flow. It's to decrease pooling and swelling. Recall that blood is pumped outward to your limbs in pressurized arteries, but it returns in veins, which aren't under much pressure and have less motive force to move the blood along. If the injured limb is allowed to han...	[ "Compression aims to reduce the edematous swelling that results from the inflammatory process. Although some swelling is inevitable, too much swelling results in significant loss of function, excessive pain and eventual slowing of blood flow through vessel restriction.\n", "Angiogenesis may be a target for combat...
who are some of the contenders in the 2016 u.s. presidential election that have a strong foothold in the door? how well do they reflect the values of their party?	Super, super early, but some of the strong possiblities: Hillary Clinton will almost certainly run in 2016. She did very well as Secretary of State, but a possible issue will be Benghazi. That's one of the reasons the GOP has been stretching out what seems to be a non issue for so long. She'll have strong challenge...	[ "During the U.S. presidential election of 2016 he was the only Arizona Republican to have held high office who endorsed the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton. Regarding the two presidential candidates, he wrote, \"Hillary Clinton is one of the most qualified nominees to ever run for president. Donald Trump is t...
can kings and queens be removed from power due to deteriorative illnesses of the brain and such?	That fully depends on the country and the rules that they have set up for succession. Virtually all have the ability for voluntary abdication which would be used for severe illness or anything that rendered them incapable of fulfilling their duty. Most would also have some method of forced abdication if they were not c...	[ "She was deposed twice, each time by her own husband, forcing her to stand up against him and quite possibly her own courtiers who conspired against her. She successfully deposed three Kings; her brother and two husbands. Despite successfully managing to assassinate three Kings, it is impressive how she managed to ...
How does the melt rate change based on the mass of ice and the temperature of the surrounding air?	There are definitely equations that can describe what is going on! Heat and mass transfer are an important part of physics and engineering. In order to melt, the ice must be raised to its melting point temperature, then given enough energy to melt into liquid. This energy needs to come from somewhere. Heat moves from...	[ "Estimates on future contribution to sea level rise from Greenland range from , for the year 2100. The contribution of the Greenland ice sheet on sea level over the next couple of centuries can be very high due to a self-reinforcing cycle (a so-called positive feedback). After an initial period of melting, the heig...
fps in film	The reason why 29.97 FPS has historically been such a common frame-rate in North America is quite complicated. Firstly, the reason why ~30 FPS has been the North American standard for TV (compared to the 25 FPS standard used in Europe) has to do with the electrical power system. Back in the old days, TV's relied on c...	[ "FP is a cubic-grain black-and-white film from Ilford Photo with a long history. It originated as Fine grain Panchromatic roll film in 1935. Like its faster partner product, HP film, it has gone through a number of versions since then, with the latest being FP4 plus (FP4+ for short).\n", "Upon its theatrical rele...
Is it possible to create diamond like crystals from other elements?	Yes. Diamond has a structure called [FCC(face centered cubic)](_URL_1_) with two atoms in the base. That means for each "spot" in an fcc, there are two atoms - one on the spot and one shifted along the diagonal of the unit cell (1/4, 1/4, 1/4). To answer your question: Yes. [To quote wikipedia:](_URL_0_) > While the...	[ "Solid foreign crystals are commonly present in diamond. They are mostly minerals, such as olivine, garnets, ruby, and many others. These and other inclusions, such as internal fractures or \"feathers\", can compromise the structural integrity of a diamond. Cut diamonds that have been enhanced to improve their clar...
After throwing out monarchy (and then dictators) in favor of the republic hundreds of years before, how did Roman contemporaries react to its fall and the institution of the empire?	I might be able to answer this one! Well at least give insight. But I'm no historian and merely an enthusiast of Roman history. If my answer is not within guidelines, please mod let me know! Short Answer: Most of the Roman people actually didn't mind or even cared. Continuous blood shed from civil wars and numero...	[ "The overthrow of the Roman monarchy, a political revolution in ancient Rome, took place around 509 BC and resulted in the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and the establishment of the Roman Republic.\n", "In 509 BC the Roman monarchy was overthrown as a result of general resentment...
why do the police follow me for a while before pulling me over?	They're looking up your plate to see if your car has any violations or if the registered owner has a warrant or had reported the car stolen.	[ "There have been cases where criminals have pulled over motorists while pretending to be driving unmarked police cars, a form of police impersonation. Some US police officers advise motorists that they do not have to pull over in a secluded location and instead can wait until they reach somewhere safer. In the UK, ...
why do many people see policing and military as necessary things to support with their tax dollars, but see a more subsidized healthcare system as a form of communism?	Because everyone needs the police and the military. The rich and the upper middle class dont need subsidized health care and dont want to help fund it.	[ "Other factors of spending are largely political in the sense that politicians who can effectively argue for more spending get the most spending for their states. Some trends of spending as of 1999 are as follows: defense spending in the South and the national capital, non-defense discretionary spending between the...
Why does the devil play the fiddle? Where did that idea come from?	Music's etherial power over the emotions has a long and storied history. Traceable as far back as the mythological story of Orpheus and the lyre that could hold the Gods in sway, or Pythagoras who could change the temperament of a raving man by playing songs in certain modes. The point is, music has a hold over our sou...	[ "The Devil plays his fiddle first, to a contemporary rock music theme with the backing of demon musicians. When the Devil's performance ends, Johnny compliments him and takes his own turn, making reference to four songs. Two are traditional songs of Appalachia -- \"Fire on the Mountain\" (also the name of Daniels' ...
why are streets and housing developments in residential areas across the us named so consistently and generically, often with no relation to geographic features? e.g., hillcrest, hillview, pinewood, oakwood, lakeview, fairview, etc.? does this happen in other countries?	The joke I heard is that streets and housing developments are named after whatever natural things were removed to make room for the streets and houses.	[ "Neighborhood names and boundaries vary in their formality some are well defined and long established, while others are more informal. Further names and boundaries have evolved over time due to development or changes in demographics. Woodward Avenue, a major a north-south thoroughfare, serves as a demarcation for n...
Art History question: Was 'modeling' a profession or was there a modeling industry pre-19th century in the Middle, Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo eras? Were there famous, sought after models who commanded higher prices? Were there agents and managers?	pauses This is actually a lot trickier than my initial "no". Mostly no. There were "allegorical" portraits. Elisabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, commissioned a few of these. One was to showcase the plight and what she saw as inevitable triumph of her dispossessed children. Agnes Sorel, one of the earliest known mist...	[ "During the 15th century portraiture became common, initially often formalised profile portraits but increasingly three-quarter face, bust-length portraits. Patrons of art works such as altarpieces and fresco cycles often were included in the scenes, a notable example being the inclusion of the Sassetti and Medici ...
In terms of physique, would real gladiators have been more similar to Andy Whitfield of TV's 'Spartacus' or to Russell Crowe of the film 'Gladiator'?	_URL_0_ Apparently, they wouldn't have looked beefy at all. > New evidence indicates gladiators may not quite match Hollywood's interpretation. > The researchers expected gladiators would need a protein-rich diet to build muscle - however their analysis of the bones in fact suggested a vegetarian diet... > P...	[ "Inspired by the success of \"Spartacus\", there were a number of Italian peplums that heavily emphasized the gladiatorial arena in their plots, with it becoming almost a peplum subgenre in itself; One group of supermen known as \"The Ten Gladiators\" appeared in a trilogy, all three films starring Dan Vadis in the...
why do sirens sound like they do? why do they vary by country?	They are designed to get your attention - simple as that. Why do they vary by country? Because there's more than one way of getting someone's attention! I know that here in the UK, they use a variety of sirens because they found that changing from one to another actually gets people's attention better than playing any...	[ "Today, signals are determined by state and local authorities and can vary from one region to another. The most common tones produced by sirens in the United States are \"alert\" (Steady) and \"attack\" (wail). Other tones include Westminster Chimes (commonly used for the testing of electronic sirens), Hi-Lo, Whoop...
How long did it take for the relations between England and America to recover after the revolutionary war? And what were some significant milestones in that process?	On a government level, we signed the Jay Treaty during the Washington administration which gave favorable trade terms to the British. Under John Quincy Adams, we drafted the Monroe doctrine (JQA doesn't get credit for it since he lost re-election soon after it was ratified) which told Europe to stay out of the western ...	[ "During the 1760s and 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's ability to tax American colonists without their consent. Disagreement turned to violence and in 1775 the American War of Independence began. The ...
If two people, A and B, ate the same amount of food in terms of caloric intake and quantity but A exercised and B didn't, would both defecate the same amount of feces in terms of weight?	Someone please answer this man, I'm incredibly interested	[ "Based on extrapolation from studies done on animals, the maximum tolerable daily intake of coumestrol for human beings has been estimated at 22 μg per kg of body mass. This was calculated by extrapolating from the lowest level at which adverse effects were seen in animals. Although, due to the variability of the h...
If there is a breach in a fusion reactor, what will happen?	If you remove a part of the wall but not the magnets the fusion reaction will heat the magnets until they stop being superconducting. The magnetic field breaks down, the reaction stops - essentially instantaneous, probably before you even managed to fully remove the wall segment. The energy stored in the plasma at any...	[ "Unlike nuclear fission, fusion requires extremely precise and controlled temperature, pressure and magnetic field parameters for any net energy to be produced. If a reactor suffers damage or loses even a small degree of required control, fusion reactions and heat generation would rapidly cease. Additionally, fusio...

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