question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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what is existentialism? it seems like a lot of redditors believe in this philosophy. | ([This](_URL_0_) is a good answer, but I figured I'd try for a more 5-year-old explanation.)
You know that game you play, where you keep asking "Why?" until your parents get annoyed? That's basically what a lot of philosophy is. We say that it's important to get good grades. A philosopher asks, "Why?". Then we say tha... | [
"Existentialism () is the philosophical study that begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. It is associated mainly with certain 19th and 20th-century European philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief in that ... |
Hellenistic Feminist Revolution? | Female agency is a complex matter and I cannot even pretend to address all aspects here, nor will I pretend to be an expert on this question. I will focus mainly on money and general mobility as the factors I’d consider most important. I hope this helps.
First, it is important to note that our knowledge of Greek law i... | [
"The term \"Hellenistic\" refers to the expansion of Greek influence and dissemination of its ideas following the death of Alexander – the \"Hellenizing\" of the world, with Koine Greek as a common language. The term is a modern invention; the Hellenistic World not only included a huge area covering the whole of th... |
how are short daytime naps supposed to be beneficial when it takes you 1.5 hours to go through one full sleep cycle? | You don't need to go through a full sleep cycle to experience benefits from napping because your brain does different things at different stages of sleep. REM sleep (which takes about 1.5 hours) is important for making new connections in the brain and solving creative problems, but you don't need to do that in order to... | [
"The 20-minute nap increases alertness and motor skills. Various durations may be recommended for power naps, which are very short compared to regular sleep. The short duration prevents nappers from sleeping so long that they enter the slow wave portion of the normal sleep cycle without being able to complete the c... |
why do people go diving with a snorkel that is not hooked up to any oxygen tank? | With a snorkel you can swim with your face in the water, checking out all the fishies and coral and still being able to breathe just fine. This is when you're at the surface of course. Snorkelers sometimes dive deeper, and the snorkel fills with water and they hold their breath. Then they return to the surface and b... | [
"A snorkel can be useful when scuba diving as it is a safe way of swimming face down at the surface for extended periods to conserve the bottled air supply, or in an emergency situation when there is a problem with either air supply or regulator. Many dives do not require the use of a snorkel at all, and some scuba... |
Could anybody help me with good but easy written sources for the history of the United States from the end of WWI to present? | _URL_1_
PDF here: _URL_0_ | [
"The library has continued its special interest in Rutherford B. Hayes and concentrates on the history of the U.S. from 1850 to 1917, especially the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Spanish–American War, railroad, education, black history and Indian/government relations. Second, the history of Ohio and the Sandusky R... |
can solar storms permanently alter earth's magnetic field in some way? | Technically yes due to [Alfvens frozen flux theorem](_URL_0_). We know that the solar wind (and hence solar flares) interact and move the magnetic field lines. Due to Alfvens theorem field lines are "frozen" to the fluid flow. So if you move the field lines you move the flow and vice versa. So technically a solar flare... | [
"Data from THEMIS show that the magnetic field, which interacts with the solar wind, is reduced when the magnetic orientation is aligned between Sun and Earth – opposite to the previous hypothesis. During forthcoming solar storms, this could result in blackouts and disruptions in artificial satellites.\n",
"Henri... |
As modern medicine increases our longevity further and further, will different types of diseases emerge? | One has to assume yes on diseases never encountered before, but there isn't much of a detailed list at this time. A couple of things to think about.
1) Nuclear DNA damage
There is some debate over whether accumulated nuclear DNA damage is relevant to human aging beyond cancer risk over the present human life span. Bu... | [
"In critical situations, biological and social fields of adaptation converge, forming an integrated, bio-social adaptation system: confronted with new and spreading disease and risk factors, modern medicine made people live longer, healthier, more productive lives, and that, in turn, set the ground for further prog... |
What do historians specializing in Medieval history think of Peter Wilson's *Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire*? | I haven't read it, but I am inclined to do so. I'm nearly finished his *The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy* and I've been really impressed by it. While one good book doesn't guarantee the quality of the others, especially as *Heart of Europe* ventures a bit beyond his usual comfort zone, I'm willing to trust the qu... | [
"The book talks about the history of Italy in the period of the High Middle Ages. Montanelli used as sources the work of the historic Ferdinand Gregorovius, who deeply admired, while the history of the Popes was inspired by Ludwig von Pastor. At the beginning of work is narrated the decline and fall of the Western ... |
where do illegal drug chemists get the skills to make hard drugs such as meth or krokodil? | It doesn't really take skill; all you need is a "recipe" and the necessary equipment.
Discovering new compounds to get people high is where it takes skill. That's more the purview of designer drug manufacturers than meth cookers. | [
"Clandestine chemistry is not limited to drugs; it is also associated with explosives, and other illegal chemicals. Of the explosives manufactured illegally, nitroglycerin and acetone peroxide are easiest to produce due to the ease with which the precursors can be acquired.\n",
"AAS are frequently produced in pha... |
what would a free-trade agreement between the us and the eu mean to these countries and to the rest of the world? | The trade agreement would give tariff free access to the $1 billion wealthiest people on the planet. It would significantly lower the cost for businesses that are based in the USA and export to the EU and vice versa.
It is basically an attempt to compete with China both now and in the future, if EU and USA based firm... | [
"Free trade agreements were signed by many countries. The European nations broke down trade barriers with one another in the EU, and the United States, Canada, and Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Although free trade has helped businesses and consumers, it has had the unintended conseq... |
How is a full DNA transcribed and what is the end result? | There are actually many instances of errors when transcribing a genome. When you're looking at sequencing something larger than say, 1kb of DNA, a common method is shotgun sequencing. While this can sequence entire chromosomes, it has to break them up into smaller parts and reassemble them after. There can be many gaps... | [
"Transcription is carried out by a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase that copies the sequence of a DNA strand into RNA. To begin transcribing a gene, the RNA polymerase binds to a sequence of DNA called a promoter and separates the DNA strands. It then copies the gene sequence into a messenger RNA transcript until it re... |
why doesn't alcohol have the nutrition block? | Because alcohol is regulated by the ATF not the FDA. It looks like they're planning on requiring it soon though. | [
"The researchers noted that moderate alcohol consumption also reduces the risk of other inflammatory processes such as cardiovascualar disease. Some of the biological mechanisms by which ethanol reduces the risk of destructive arthritis and prevents the loss of bone mineral density (BMD), which is part of the disea... |
what is a thermoradiative cell and how/why does it work? | I don't know, on a physical level, how this system works. Frankly, I'm too tipsy to research it. However, I can answer some of this from a thermodynamics perspective:
Energy alone is not normally useful. It tends to become chaotically distributed everywhere. This is best demonstrated by heat, where the kinetic energy ... | [
"Thermogalvanic cells are a kind of heat engine. Ultimately the driving force behind them is the transport of entropy from the high temperature source to the low temperature sink. Therefore, these cells work thanks to a thermal gradient established between different parts of the cell. Because the rate and enthalpy ... |
how do computers know where to send a web request if they only know a web address? | There are databases of where to look called DNS servers. They translate the web address to an IP address; which the computer understands and uses to send messages to. | [
"The identifying information provided by the user's computer typically includes its IP address, the time the request was made, the type of web browser or email reader that made the request, and the existence of cookies previously sent by the host server. The host server can store all of this information, and associ... |
why do we praise the Templar Knights? | I haven't ever heard of someone praising them. I have heard people enthused by the mystery of the order, and the various myths that have sprung up around it.
To compare them to terrorists is fallacious in the extreme, as well as anachronistic. They were an international organization, authorized by the pope to guard p... | [
"The Knights Templar, full name The United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta, is a fraternal order affiliated with Freemasonry. Unlike the initial degrees conferred in a regular Masonic Lodge, which (in most Regular Masonic jurisdictions) o... |
I want to learn more about Syria during and just after the French mandate | Check out the recent book *A Line in the Sand* by James Barr. He's one of the first English-language writers to look at the British/French power games in the levant, and he also take advantage of recently de-classified French sources which have been ignored to date. It's also very readable.
| [
"France established its Mandate in Syria in 1920 following the Allied victory over the Ottoman Empire during World War I; from which France gained the territory of modern-day Syria. French authority over the area was finalized after their decisive victory over Emir Faisal's forces in the Battle of Maysalun on 24 Ju... |
wth is going on with r/all? | this isn't really the right forum,
1: _URL_1_
2: _URL_2_
3: _URL_0_
4: /r/outoftheloop
| [
"Triple H is a group of members working together to move the station forward. The station broadcasts a wide range of local programming, interspersed with programming from the Community Radio Network (CRN). The station provides the Aussie Music Weekly Program to the CRN. \n",
"WCPV (101.3 FM) is an English-languag... |
Did WWI fighter pilots carry extra magazines for their machine guns? If so, how much did they carry? | The [Lewis Gun](_URL_0_) had a 97 round pan magazine attached to the upper wing on a 'Foster Mounting' that allowed the pilot to pull the gun backwards and change the magazine. Bear in mind the rate of fire on the Lewis gun was around 500rpm and that gives the pilot around 12 seconds of firing time.
The SE.5a carried ... | [
"A mainstay fixed machine gun in German built aircraft (many of which were sold to other countries) well before World War II, by 1940 it was starting to be replaced with heavier caliber machine gun and cannons. By 1945 very few if any aircraft mounted the MG 17.\n",
"The aircraft variant equipped French aircraft ... |
Why is mercury a silver color at room temperature when other metals glow fire red at liquid temperature? | The color of glow is dependent on temperature, not state. The glow you see is the [blackbody radiation](_URL_0_) from the metal. Since liquid mercury or gallium are only 300^o K or so, they don't glow very much in the visual spectrum. Additionally, since the radiation emitted is a function of T^4 , things around room t... | [
"Silver does not react with air, even at red heat, and thus was considered by alchemists as a noble metal along with gold. Its reactivity is intermediate between that of copper (which forms copper(I) oxide when heated in air to red heat) and gold. Like copper, silver reacts with sulfur and its compounds; in their p... |
Did the USSR suffer from a reverse "Baby Boom", a slump in birth rates after World War II? | So while it isn't 100 percent focused on your question, you may find [this answer](_URL_2_) to be of interest, as it does touch heavily on the pro-natal policies of the Soviet Union during and following the war as they attempted to encourage procreation. Edit: I've gone and reposted it here with some small additions to... | [
"The birth rate of the USSR decreased from 44.0 per thousand in 1926 to 18.0 in 1974, largely due to increasing urbanization and the rising average age of marriages. The mortality rate demonstrated a gradual decrease as well – from 23.7 per thousand in 1926 to 8.7 in 1974. In general, the birth rates of the souther... |
why did kim jong il make so many trips to china and seemed to get along with its leaders when they have different ideologies? | They may have different idealogies, but from the perspective of global politics, they are on the same side. North Korea and China, and to an extent, Russia, all are not supporters of a world where the USA is a military leader/policing nation.
Put simply, North Korea provides a buffer between China's border and US mili... | [
"These events are said to have marked the beginning of Kim Jong-un's distrust of China, since they had failed to inform him of a plot against his rule, while China took a dislike to Kim for executing their trusted intermediary.\n",
"In March 2018, the Kim family's train was reportedly sighted in Beijing, which, a... |
why do dogs go berserk over squeaky toys. | Basically, to the dog it sounds like a wounded animal and so the dog gets a sort of "thrill of the hunt." | [
"Affenpinschers are somewhat territorial when it comes to their toys and food, so they are not recommended for homes with very small children. This dog is mostly quiet, but can become very excited if attacked or threatened, and shows no fear toward any aggressor.\n",
"Dog toys serve different purposes. Puppies, f... |
Before NMR and similar instrumentation, how would chemists characterize a molecule? | Chemistry goes way back.
Jons Jacob Berzelius was the man I consider the true father of chemistry. He had a thing for blowing air on hot rocks, and measured the weight changes very carefully. He figured out that things always happened in proportions... 2:1, 1:1; 1:4. With Dalton's concept of atoms, and Lavoisier's... | [
"Before chemistry became a science, alchemists had designed arcane symbols for both metals and common compounds. These were however used as abbreviations in diagrams or procedures; there was no concept of atoms combining to form molecules. With his advances in the atomic theory of matter, John Dalton devised his ow... |
what art deco and art nouveau is? | Art Nouveau is a pretty, delicate, girly, mostly interior style of decorating and art. Late 1800s. Think of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings, basically. If an elf would use it, it's probably Art Nouveau. Lots of whiplash curves. Alphonse Mucha posters.
Art Deco, on the other hand, is the kind of stuff you see on Ayn ... | [
"Art Nouveau is an international style of art, architecture and applied art, especially the decorative arts, that was most popular between 1893 and 1910. In Russian language it is called Modern (in cyrillic: Ар-нувó, Моде́рн). \n",
"In the 21st century, modern variants of Art Deco, called Neo Art Deco (or Neo-Art... |
Definition of War vs Conflict | I would argue that you're both wrong.
> it was actually only a military conflict since it was never declared a war by Congress.
That's a terribly American-centric view of the war and of war in general. Had North Vietnam declared war on the United States would it not have constituted a war if Congress had failed to ... | [
"War – organised and often prolonged armed conflict that is carried out by states and/or non-state actors – is characterised by extreme violence, social disruption, and economic destruction. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities, and therefore... |
What was the French attitude toward the white flag in the 17-19th centuries; wasn't it established by that time to be the flag for negotiation/surrender? | So the Bourbon kings' use of a white banner as their standard was quite controversial, even unpopular, during the 19th Century. But I can't speak to whether any of this was due to the white flag's association with surrender. In all my sources that discuss the white Bourbon flag, it was unpopular not for what it was, bu... | [
"During the period of the Ancien Régime, starting in the early 17th century, the royal standard of France became a plain white flag as a symbol of purity, sometimes covered in fleur-de-lis when in the presence of the king or bearing the ensigns of the Order of the Holy Spirit.\n",
"\"France Modern\" remained the ... |
if falsely imprisoned for a long period of time, do you receive any compensation? | In South Africa , you receive your freedom back. | [
"In the United Kingdom a jailed person, whose conviction is quashed, might be paid compensation for the time they were incarcerated. This is currently limited by statute to a maximum sum of £1,000,000 for those who have been incarcerated for more than ten years and £500,000 for any other cases, with deductions for ... |
how can people hold two opposing ideas at the same time? e.g. "doublethink" | I don't think it would be especially difficult, although I might be misunderstanding the nature of your question. The ability to hold two different opinions within your mind or consciousness is a ripe example of mental maturity, in my opinion. Ultimately all opinions are not true, simply on the basis of the fact that a... | [
"Doublethink is the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct, often in distinct social contexts. Doublethink is related to, but differs from, hypocrisy and neutrality. Also related is cognitive dissonance, in which contradictory beliefs cause conflict in one's mind. Doublethink ... |
if stars explode because they run out of fuel, what fuels the explosion? | A star is basically a massive continuous H-bomb in space. The thermonuclear reaction at the center is constantly trying to blow it apart. Gravity pushes back in the other direction. Forcing the star's mass towards the center.
As a star burns up its hydrogen fuel it starts to fuse heavier atoms. That seriously amps up ... | [
"A star with ≲ M ≲ explodes because of the energy consumption arising from an electron-positron pair-production instability during the static O-burning stage, and is referred to as a pair-instability supernova (PISN). Theoretical estimates of early chemical enrichment predict that the metallicity produced by the PI... |
What is the historical significance of Kiev to Russia? | Several nations claim to inheritance to the Kievan Rus. The Vikings did indeed sail down through Russia's many rivers and settle in several areas, Kievan Rus being the most well known. Although it is debated whether the founders were Slavs or Varangians (I imagine it was both). It was perhaps the first powerful stat... | [
"Kiev was the historic cultural centre of the East Slavic civilization and a major cradle for the Christianization of Kievan Rus'. Kiev retained through centuries its cultural importance and even at times of relative decay, it remained the centre of primary importance of Eastern Orthodox Christianity . Its sacred s... |
By the time the last Roman Emperor in the West came to power in 475, the "Empire" was really just Italy and some other small parts. But just 100 years previously, the Empire had dominated Europe and North Africa. How did the citizens feel about this decline? | There's parts of your question that I'll leave up to people far more educated than myself on the subject to answer, but I'll try to clear up some misconceptions.
Firstly, you state that "in 100 years it was all gone." That's not quite true: the entire eastern portion of the empire survived on the as the Byzantine Empi... | [
"After the death of Emperor Theodosius I (395), the Empire was divided into an Eastern and a Western Roman Empire. The Western part faced increasing economic and political crisis and frequent barbarian invasions, so the capital was moved from Mediolanum to Ravenna. In 476, the last Western Emperor Romulus Augustulu... |
How did the modern Chinese concept of nationhood and race develop? | This is quite similar to [a question asked recently](_URL_1_) by /u/michelecaravaggio that I began drafting an answer to, so helpfully I can kill two birds with one stone here! Admittedly, I'm only really capable of taking the narrative up to the early Republic, before the KMT came to power in 1927, so hopefully someon... | [
"Historian Frank Dikötter (1990:420) says the Chinese \"idea of 'race' (\"zhong\" [種], \"seed\", \"species\", \"race\") started to dominate the intellectual scene\" in the late 19th-century Qing dynasty and completed the \"transition from cultural exclusiveness to racial exclusiveness in modern China\" in the 1920s... |
How many times have 'the Jews' been expelled/exiled/ejected/etc? | Important note, the Babylonians did not expel the Jews from their [the Babylonians'] land as the Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English did. The Babylonians conquered Judea (the land of the Jews) and expelled them from there TO Babylonia, although it should be noted that mostly the Judean elite was expelled while the... | [
"Three times during the 6th century BC, the Jews (Hebrews) of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were exiled to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. These three separate occasions are mentioned in Jeremiah (52:28-30). The first exile was in the time of Jehoiachin in 597 BC, when the Temple of Jerusalem was partially despoiled and ... |
why is fascism conscidered right wing and communism conscidered left wing? | The wings are an incomplete portrait of political spectrum, since an accurate description also needs to include the vertical authoritarian/libertarian axis. Communism falls under authoritarian left while anarchism is libertarian left. Conversely, fascism would fall under authoritarian right while something like Objecti... | [
"Left-wing fascism and left fascism are sociological and philosophical terms used to categorize tendencies in left-wing politics otherwise commonly attributed to the ideology of fascism. Fascism has historically been considered a far-right ideology.\n",
"In \"Hate Crimes\", Vol. 5 (2009), Heidi Beirich said that ... |
What happened to the Carthaginian people after the fall of Carthage? | Many of them were killed, many of them were sold into slavery, and many of them undoubtedly lived out there lives scarred by the horror that they witnessed. The city of Carthage itself remained devoid of urban settlement, despite the fact that it is a really good spot for a city, until it was designated as a location f... | [
"Many Carthaginians died from starvation during the later part of the siege, while many others died in the final six days of fighting. When the war ended, the remaining 50,000 Carthaginians, a small part of the original pre-war population, were sold into slavery by the victors. Carthage was systematically burned fo... |
why are all the celeb naked pictures allowed on reddit but there was such a drama surrounding zoe quinn? | Well I think you could blame the Quinn thing on corrupt subreddits. Also the pictures are never related, we aren't on r/gonewild :-P | [
"While participating on the show, Barba came under media scrutiny when an anonymous source leaked semi-nude photos of her online. Images included her posing in a wet t-shirt at the National World War II Memorial and topless on a beach. She believed the photos had been stolen from her personal computer. Barba explai... |
Why did tank destroyers using the Sherman tank chassis have thinner hull armor. | The M10 was a unique vehicle, and wasn't converted from anything that was already produced.
The original prototype of what would become the M10, the [T35](_URL_0_), was just an M4A2 Sherman with a different, open-topped cast turret mounting a 3-inch gun. The armor on the upper hull was later changed to sloped plates, ... | [
"All the US tank destroyers were built without turret roofs. This was done to save weight but also allowed a wider field of view to spot enemy armor and quicker ammunition stowage. The drawbacks included vulnerability to small arms fire (especially from elevated positions), grenades, and splinters from air bursting... |
Will a leaf continue to carry out transpiration once removed from its plant? | As far as I know, there are no significant differences in the measurement. We did transpiration measurements on olive leafs with the LiCor 6400-XT and we always took the leafs and brought them to the device. Although I was just the 'picker' during these measurements, I was wondering too. My advisor claimed to have made... | [
"The last stage in the transpiration stream is the water moving into the leaves, and then the actual transpiration. First, the water moves into the mesophyll cells from the top of the xylem vessels. Then the water evaporates out of the cells into the spaces between the cells in the leaf. After this, the water leave... |
how can al qaeda both launch attacks against shia's yet also work with shia militants? | One reason is the strategic use of lesser enemies against greater enemies.
Another is that al-Qaeda is a gigantic organization with lots of franchises. Some groups start independently and then declare allegiance to al-Qaeda in an effort to secure prestige, expertise, funding, weapons, etc and while ideologically simi... | [
"The Sunni extremist groups allied to or inspired by al-Qaeda and the Taliban routinely attack government and civilian targets in north-west Pakistan. They also attack the religious minorities and other Muslim sects that they consider to be infidels. The Shias in Pakistan frequently complain that \" \"the Pakistani... |
We have Vampires and Werewolves, what did ancient people get scared by? | Your examples are things that ancient people did get scared by that we do not. Getting killed by wild beasts is a fluke nowadays, and while we are still afraid of twisted aristocrats, they take a different form in our imaginations than vampires and mummies. The monsters we're really afraid of are aliens, robots, serial... | [
"Calves were vulnerable to wolves and, to an extent, bears, while healthy adult aurochs probably did not have to fear these predators. In prehistoric Europe, North Africa, and Asia, big cats, such as lions and tigers, and hyenas were additional predators that probably preyed on aurochs.\n",
"These known incidents... |
SF₆ exists, so why are sulfur compounds with two triple bonds not a thing? | Because bonding isn't as simple as there being "free" bondable electrons.
Each electron populates an "orbital", or energy state, that has a particular "shape" and definition.
I don't know the exact orbital shell of Sulfur off the top of my head, but it's likely that the particular arrangement and geometry of its bon... | [
"Compounds that contain sulfur exhibit unique chemistry due to their ability to form more bonds than oxygen, their lighter analogue on the periodic table. Substitutive nomenclature (marked as prefix in table) is preferred over functional class nomenclature (marked as suffix in table) for sulfides, disulfides, sulfo... |
Why does lake ice sometimes crack in a spiral? | Your pics look like straight lines. What spirals? | [
"Scree formation is commonly attributed to the formation of ice within mountain rock slopes. During the day, water can flow into joints and discontinuities in the rock wall. If the temperature drops enough, for example in the evening, this water may freeze. Since water expands by 9% when it freezes, it can generate... |
when my computer freezes, why does the music hardly ever freeze or lag with it ? | It depends on how your computer freezes. I've had plenty of freezes where the sound gets frozen too and puts out a rather nasty stream of sound.
Typically though, unless it's the program MAKING the sound that's crashing, your computer is hung up on some other program, and all of its resources are frozen trying to reso... | [
"A computer may seem to hang when in fact it is simply processing very slowly. This can be caused by too many programs running at once, not enough memory (RAM), or memory fragmentation, slow hardware access (especially to remote devices), slow system APIs, etc. It can also be caused by hidden programs which were in... |
I'm looking for reading recommendations on labor history of Nazi Germany (in English) | Although it is long out of print, Robert Smelser's biography *Robert Ley: Hitler's Labor Leader* is a good introduction to the *Deutsche Arbeitsfront*, the state body that governed labor affairs and replaced trade unions. The ability of the NSDAP to recruit among certain segments of labor in the Weimar Republic is cove... | [
"The book examines to what extent German industry has part of the moral responsibility for the acts of the German state during the World War II. Krupp profited directly from requisitions of industrial capacities in occupied Europe. The Nazi war effort created a huge demand for workers in the armament industry; a mo... |
why are furry creatures who lick themselves clean not constantly gagging on hair? | They developed specific physiologies from their repeated lickings that prevent things like immediate gagging, but that doesn't exclude them.
For example, a cat will occasionally throw up a hairball. This is the exact hair that they licked off themselves. It's just stored in the digestive tract until a good time to hac... | [
"Grooming: Animals commonly clean themselves through licking. In mammals, licking helps keep the fur clean and untangled. The tongues of many mammals have a rough upper surface that acts like a brush when the animal licks its fur. Certain reptiles, such as geckos, clean their eyes by licking them.\n",
"The animal... |
how can insurance companies legally create terms for damages that are impossible to claim? | By the sound of it, if you had purchased the same flood insurance as the home owners, with the same terms, you would not have actually been covered. If the insurance company is saying, "You would have been covered if you had flood insurance", they are probably just taking your word for it that a flood occurred. They ha... | [
"If an insurance company violates that covenant, the insured person (or \"policyholder\") may sue the company on a tort claim in addition to a standard breach of contract claim. The contract-tort distinction is significant because as a matter of public policy, punitive or exemplary damages are unavailable for contr... |
How long does it take to test someone for ebola? | Hypothetically between about 2 and 6 hours for either an ELISA or for a genetic test via PCR under ideal conditions.
There may be some freaky kits to let you do it a bit faster but that is unlikely for ebola. | [
"The length of time between exposure to the virus and the development of symptoms (incubation period) is between 2 and 21 days, and usually between 4 and 10 days. However, recent estimates based on mathematical models predict that around 5% of cases may take greater than 21 days to develop.\n",
"The window period... |
why is white a brighter color? | White is a combination of all the colors of the visible spectrum. In screens, all colors are mixed using red, green and blue subpixels. So to get white, you have to turn on all three at the same intensity. Thus you get three times as much light as you would for a solid blue color. | [
"Black and white have long been known to combine \"well\" with almost any other colors; black decreases the apparent \"saturation\" or \"brightness\" of colors paired with it, and white shows off all hues to equal effect.\n",
"Black and white have long been known to combine well with almost any other colors; blac... |
Where does science draw the line on what is living and what is not? | From, the perspective of an origin of life researcher, life must be considered as a continuum. Some things are clearly living or not, rocks versus cats, but may things fall in between. Viruses are most certainly alive, they can't reproduce by themselves, but then again neither can a human (you need 2). My preferred dis... | [
"Life is a characteristic that distinguishes physical entities that have biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased (they have died), or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. Various forms ... |
why many bands/artists in the 60s/70s could release multiple albums each year, yet nowadays artists struggle to put out an album in a two year period. | Maybe because back then you could actually make money on records. These days releasing a record serves the purpose of getting your music out there and getting fans excited to see you live. Performing live is where the moneys at and when artists are on the road, they don't have the time to work on new records. | [
"John Lydon: “Most of the songs on the 'Album', for instance, were written at home and put onto demonstration tapes. But I didn't think the [1984/85 touring] band were good enough or experienced enough really to, like, record the song properly. And that's why I use session people. [By using session musicians] the s... |
Why does a feather fall at the same rate as a hammer when they are in a vacuum? Surely the one with greater mass (gravity) should attract the earth a bit more than the other? | You're only looking at the first piece of this question (although you're quite right about it).
The law of gravitation tells us that the force due to gravitational acceleration is equal to the gravitational constant x mass of the first object x mass of the second object / the distance between the objects squared. ... | [
"Gravity exerts a force on the hammer head. If hammering downwards, gravity increases the acceleration during the hammer stroke and increases the energy delivered with each blow. If hammering upwards, gravity reduces the acceleration during the hammer stroke and therefore reduces the energy delivered with each blow... |
the osi model | Are you talking about the OSI-Model as in the computer interconnection model?
Oh damn, it's been a while since school. As far as I remember, it is pretty much a (succesful) attempt to standardize how low-level stuff (your USB/Bluetooth/FireWire/DSL/T1 protocols, basically.) ends up interfacing with your applications, ... | [
"The OSI model (ISO/IEC 7498-1) is a conceptual model that characterizes and standardizes the internal functions of a communication system by partitioning it into abstraction layers. The model is a product of the Open Systems Interconnection project at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The m... |
why hasn't the us government closed down the deep web and or try to block it from users? | You're confusing deep and dark. Deep us anything unindexable. Settings pages, email inboxes, databases.
Dark is where shady, illegal, or exceedingly discreet or private stuff happens. | [
"Private Internet connections in the United States are not overtly subject to censorship imposed by the government, but there is evidence of search related restrictions being imposed through certain predominant search engines, along other intentionally narrowed parameters related to censorship as \"blocked access\"... |
Why does a flashlight only light up a short distance but you can see the light head on from far away? | If I understand you right, you are asking why at a large distances from a flashlight, you can't see the an object being illuminated by the flashlight beam, but if you turn and look directly into the flashlight from the same distance, you can see that it's on. The difference here is that to see the object under the flas... | [
"Long, cylindrical flashlights tend to be carried in a flashlight ring. Rings are simple and inexpensive, and are convenient for flashlights which are not regularly carried. However, the flashlight—which is often heavy—is permitted a great amount of vertical and horizontal freedom which can make the light insecure ... |
the setup and dismantling of cranes in construction. | So, for the big skyscraper cranes or "tower" crane, the center pillar the crane rests on can be jacked up - it grows "up" with the building. They'll use a smaller but somewhat portable (or assembled on site) boom crane to assemble the tower crane. Then the tower crane gets jacked up as the building grows.
Then, once... | [
"The main use of the crane has been in the removal and refitting of gun turrets. The crane comprises an asymmetric horizontal steel boom, radius , swiveling on a square section steel tower. The maximum lift is , although a subsidiary crane on the boom is able to lift up to . The crane has been decommissioned.\n",
... |
Why do European place names like "Southend-on-sea" or "Villes-sur-mere" explain their location but such names are uncommon or nonexistant in the New World? | Names that describe geographical location? Well in California I can think of many, there's Oceanside, Riverside, Long Beach, Seaside, Quartz Hill. And with the Spanish heritage, California is not limited to English names, there are some in Spanish too: Arroyo Grande (big spring), Morro Bay (bluff), Cerritos (little hil... | [
"Unlike the older English, French and Spanish place names given by mariners, which refer mainly to islands, rocks, bays, coves, and capes (points), the post-1833 Spanish names usually identify inland geographical locations and features, reflecting the new practical necessity for orientation, land delimitation and m... |
how are some people able to not only eat but enjoy sour candy? | It's just preference. I like the tingle sour candy or lemons give me. The flavor and tingly feelings are an experience. | [
"Even in a culture that eats sweets frequently, candy is not a significant source of nutrition or food energy for most people. The average American eats about 1.1 kg (2.5 pounds) of sugar or similar sweeteners each week, but almost 95% of that sugar—all but about 70 grams (2.5 ounces)—comes from non-candy sources, ... |
why does oil sound like it's boiling before it actually reaches a boil? | In most cases it is water in the oil boiling away. The oil itself would boil at a much higher temperature. | [
"Oils are \"blown\" through partial oxidation of the oil at elevated temperatures. A typical blowing process involves heating the oil to and passing air through the liquid. The modification causes the formation of C-O-C and C-C cross links, and hydroxyl and carboxyl functional groups.\n",
"Cooking oil is flammabl... |
Is it possible to jam the GPS signal? | Yes, GPS jamming is possible - as with any radio communications, you just need to fill the relevant frequencies with enough "junk" to drown out the actual signal.
It's also possible to spoof GPS signals, by creating a much more powerful signal that overrides the normal one. This can be used to convince a receiver that... | [
"Man-made EMI (electromagnetic interference) can also disrupt or jam GPS signals. In one well-documented case it was impossible to receive GPS signals in the entire harbor of Moss Landing, California due to unintentional jamming caused by malfunctioning TV antenna preamplifiers. Intentional jamming is also possible... |
Where did the fish in volcanic crater lakes come from? | Mostly from migratory Birds. A duck that goes from Lake to Lake will often carry eggs on its feet. All it takes is a few and with them traveling so much it's about the only way that you can have a species of fish that spans multiple areas. Otherwise every Lake would end up with a unique species due to a lack of genetic... | [
"There have been attempts to introduce species of fish in crater lakes that are isolated from the rivers of Ethiopia, successful at Babogaya just outside Debre Zeyit (Bishoftu) and unsuccessful at Burree Waqa near Meti.\n",
"The lake water is rich in minerals but the only signs of life are a rich abundance of com... |
why does the fanta in greece taste so much more "genuine" with it's lighter color and more natural taste than the fanta sold in america? | "Real" orange Fanta has sugar and orange juice in it. US orange Fanta has neither of those substances, to save money, and it's really orange, rather than yellower. Interestingly, in Mexico they use the same formula as in the EU, so it's really not a geographic thing. | [
"In north-eastern regions of Italy, especially Venice and surroundings, a \"spritz\" is a popular light cocktail, a mix of sparkling white wine (e.g., Prosecco), sparkling water, and Aperol, Bitter Campari, or other colored alcohols. Actually, Austrian spritzer likely gave origin to Venetian spritz: spritzer is sti... |
if a muslim is in space, how does he pray towards mecca? and how would the ramadan work? | Their religion has come up with special rules to adapt over time. Children, old people and the sick dont have to fast. People in special occupations or life threatening conditions are allowed to eat. And mecca is on earth. So just pray facing earth and youre good. If you can time your bows when you pass the middle east... | [
"At the end of the circling, Muslims go to the Station of Ibrahim to pray two rak'ahs of \"nafl\" prayer , and then drink water from the sacred Well of Zamzam, before proceeding to the next ritual of the Hajj, the Sa'yee.\n",
"Muslims believe that Muhammad was transported by the Buraq from the Sacred Mosque in Me... |
in hollywood, why are successful people in offices always portrayed in context while drinking some alcohol like scotch/whiskey etc? is that really even a thing anymore and if so where did it start? | it may be a sign of wealth to have some expensive whiskey around and to be able to enjoy an expensive lifestyle. I can't tell you if there are really people how have alcohol in their offices, but it is a move hollywood makes to show that a person is rich and successful. | [
"\"The funny thing about Hollywood is that they are interested in having you do one thing and do it well and do it ever after,\" said O'Brien. \"That's the sad thing about being a leading man – while the rewards may be great in fame and finances, it becomes monotonous for an actor. I think that's why some of the pe... |
how have the names for the six trigonometric functions originated? (sine, cosine, tangent, cotangent, secant and cosecant?) | It's pretty hard to give an ELI5 explanation, as you will see with the fairly elucidating Wikipedia explanation of the etymology.
The word sine derives from Latin sinus ("bend", "bay", "the hanging fold of the upper part of a toga", "the bosom of a garment"). The use of sinus originates in twelfth-century European tr... | [
"BULLET::::- Trigonometric functions : The trigonometric functions \"sine\" and \"versine\" originated in Indian astronomy, adapted from the full-chord Greek versions (to the modern half-chord versions). They were described in detail by Aryabhata in the late 5th century, but were likely developed earlier in the Sid... |
why is it so difficult to get bicycle grease off your hands? | This grease is designed to stay in place and keep your bicycle's gears well lubricated for a long time between reapplication.
This stickiness is a good thing and is a desirable product of modern chemistry.
Fun Fact: in the "old days" gears would have to be re-lubricated on a frequent basis. | [
"EP grease contains solid lubricants, usually graphite and/or molybdenum disulfide, to provide protection under heavy loadings. The solid lubricants bond to the surface of the metal, and prevent metal-to-metal contact and the resulting friction and wear when the lubricant film gets too thin.\n",
"BULLET::::- inve... |
what are vitamin supplements made out of? | In the example you cited, bacteria. There is a non-animal source for every vitamin we need. | [
"Vitamin C dietary supplements are available as tablets, capsules, drink mix packets, in multi-vitamin/mineral formulations, in antioxidant formulations, and as crystalline powder. Vitamin C is also added to some fruit juices and juice drinks. Tablet and capsule content ranges from 25 mg to 1500 mg per serving. The... |
Why does your computer screen look 'liquidy' when you apply pressure to it (i.e. pressing your fingernail against your pc monitor)? | Because it *is* liquidy. The screen uses something called a "liquid crystal", which is a layer of a special liquid sandwiched between two pieces of glass or plastic (or one piece of glass and one piece of plastic).
This liquid is what forms the image, by changing how it interacts with polarized light depending on t... | [
"A capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator, such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor, such as indium tin oxide (ITO). As the human body is also an electrical conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the screen's electrostatic field, measurable as a change in c... |
why are there no freshwater sharks? | Their called River Sharks and they exist.
_URL_1_
But basically the problem is that it is difficult for a species to live in both freshwater and salt water it requires really specific adaptation. This is called Euryhaline _URL_0_ and is relatively rare in nature. For large carnivorous it's especially difficult to hun... | [
"Sharks are one of the ocean's most threatened species because they are mistakenly caught by vessels searching for fish, and end up getting tossed back into the ocean dead or dying This disappearance of sharks has enabled prey animals like rays to multiply, which alters the ecological food chain.\n",
"With its sm... |
why do fake elections in many regimes end up with 99% and not a 100% of the votes for the candidate? (north korean elections, third reich,...) | Probably to make it seem at least a tiny bit legitimate. Like "see, we didn't even get 100% of the votes, we're totally a democracy." | [
"In some cases, show elections can backfire against the party in power, especially if the regime believes they are popular enough to win without coercion or fraud. The most famous example of this was the [[1990 Myanmar general election]].\n",
"In Vietnam, proxy voting was used to increase turnout. Presently, prox... |
those black rubber tubes that cross the road and appear to count cars. why are they counting and who puts them there? | They're very simple and cheap methods to gather traffic data for road and traffic planning. They're generally put down by local government and/or highways agencies, or companies working under contract to them. Potential questions they could be asking:
* There are planned road works on this road. How much traffic will ... | [
"Tall (1.15 meter/4 foot) slim (10 cm/4 inch) fluorescent red or orange plastic bollards with reflective tape and removable heavy rubber bases are frequently used in road traffic control where traffic cones would be inappropriate due to their width and ease of movement. Also referred to as \"delineators\", the base... |
why are drag queens so easily distinguishable from women in equal makeup? | **Yes, it's the face structure.**
Humans are quite good at recognising small details in faces. Our brains are "programmed" that way.
Men and women typically have different facial characteristics. To an alien or another animal we all look the same, but we can usually tell the difference. | [
"Drag queens are performance artists, almost always male, who dress in women's clothing and often act with exaggerated femininity and in feminine gender roles with a primarily entertaining purpose. They often exaggerate make-up such as eyelashes for dramatic, comedic or satirical effect. Drag queens are closely ass... |
normal form in databases? | So: Let's get the fundamental idea out of the way. In a database, you'd like to store data in one place, and one place only. You don't want to have it so that a single piece of information appears in multiple places in the database, nor do you want your database to be unable to process requests that "don't fit" in to t... | [
"A database model is a type of data model that determines the logical structure of a database and fundamentally determines in which manner data can be stored, organized and manipulated. The most popular example of a database model is the relational model, which uses a table-based format.\n",
"A database model is ... |
how do dan aykroyd and eddy murphy make mortimer and randolph go broke at the end of trading places.. how did they get rich? | Short selling.
At the beginning of the trading day, the Dukes have a fake, unreleased forecast report saying that there will be a shortage of oranges, and therefore the price of frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) will go up.
The Dukes' goal is to buy as much FCOJ as they can before the report is released and tak... | [
"Series 2, Mortimer's Mine, also twelve episodes, tells the story of an immense hole which appears under Rumbury Town, right in front of the Jones' house, which Mortimer decides to fill up with everything he can get his claws on...meanwhile an American millionaire is in town also trying to get his hands on everythi... |
How do we know quantum entanglement influences things at large distances disregarding the speed of light? | You're right that entanglement doesn't seem weird if you just assume that the outcome was determined at the point when the particles were entangled. This was once a major interpretation of quantum mechanics, which I'll call "local hidden variables." Unfortunately, it turns out that this interpretation leads to differen... | [
"An important aspect of quantum information theory is entanglement, which imposes statistical correlations between otherwise distinct physical systems. These correlations hold even when measurements are chosen and performed independently, out of causal contact from one another, as verified in Bell test experiments.... |
What's the evidence behind diet causing acne? | So this one is actually pretty well documented with Google Searches:
_URL_0_
**Foods that aid skin care:** These foods increase overall skin health
Vitamin A,E, & C rich foods
Zinc & Selenium
Proper Hydration
**Foods that may worsen acne**
Milk which comes from cows that have hormone supplements, there is sti... | [
"The relationship between diet and acne is unclear, as there is no high-quality evidence that establishes any definitive link between them. High-glycemic-load diets have been found to have different degrees of effect on acne severity. Multiple randomized controlled trials and nonrandomized studies have found a lowe... |
How do we know how intelligent Dinosaurs were? Also were there any that were on the same level as, say, dolphins or really smart dogs? | As a note, we don't generally measure against *absolute* brain size, but we note that most animals fall along a fit of brain size to body mass ratio. Some animals lying above or below this line (humans being reasonably well above it, if I recall correctly) seem to indicate more or less intelligence. Sorry on a mobile d... | [
"Dinosaur intelligence has been a point of contention for paleontologists. Non-avian dinosaurs were once regarded as being unintelligent animals but have largely been appraised more generously since the dinosaur renaissance. This new found optimism for dinosaur intelligence has led to highly exaggerated portrayals ... |
as a non-american, please explain to me what's all this "hobby lobby" hullabaloo. | The new Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) requires some private corporations to offer specific healthcare options to their employees. The required coverage includes prophylactics and birth control pills, some of which can be used to induce abortion (i.e. the "morning after" pill).
Hobby Lobby is a Christian-owned priv... | [
"Hobby Lobby is an arts and crafts company founded by self-made billionaire David Green and owned by the Evangelical Christian Green family with about 21,000 employees. It provided health insurance covering the contraceptives Plan-B and Ella until it dropped its coverage in 2012, the year it filed its lawsuit. The ... |
In theory, could our blood flow in a constant stream as opposed to at the rhythm the heart pumps it at? If it is possible what would be the advantages and disadvantages of this? | Continuous flow pumps are used routinely in any surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass - congenital heart defect repairs in children, valve replacement surgeries in adults, and so on. These pumps are quite large and are operated by a specialist with (in the United States) a specialized college degree. The longer-te... | [
"The final rhythm is Ventricular Standstill this rhythm will appear as a flat line, but may have a few non conducted p waves, the heart rate of this will be 0 and be supplying no blood through the body like ventricular fibrillation.\n",
"The idea of flow theory as first conceptualized by Csikszentmihalyi. Flow in... |
r/askscience, is it normal to see different hues of color in each eye? | This was asked last week … *twice.* [Here's the one that survived](_URL_0_), I think. | [
"The characteristic colors are, from long to short wavelengths (and, correspondingly, from low to high frequency), red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Sufficient differences in wavelength cause a difference in the perceived hue; the just-noticeable difference in wavelength varies from about 1 nm in the bl... |
Is every nerve ending in the hand connected to the brain? | I'm not entirely sure of your question. All sensory nerve endings do eventually end up in the CNS (even though each sense may go through different tracts/paths to get to where they end up), where sensory information is processed.
In the case of the hand in particular, you have the Ulnar nerve that innervates your han... | [
"BULLET::::- Many neurons connect to the brain on one end, with the other end connected to another neuron, with the outside (the brain) junction located within the spinal column. Other neurons bundles which are labeled cranial nerves, connect to the brain on one end, and to locations outside the brain on the other,... |
What factors cause the cake batter to change from liquid to solid? | Most baking is about the gelatinization of starch (from flour). This is what forms the crumb in bread and firms up the foam structure of cakes (the foam coming from the action of leavening agents like baking soda/powder). Each little piece of flour is basically a tiny starch granule. When it is heated sufficiently it w... | [
"The flour plays an important role in the texture, structure, and elasticity of an angel food cake. Minimal folding of the flour allows cell walls to form when it comes in contact with the egg protein foam and sugar mixture. If the batter is over-mixed, the egg white proteins may coagulate causing the bubbles to br... |
how come things like washing machines and cars always stay at high prices, meanwhile things like radios and tvs get cheaper and cheaper? | Cost of things are proportional to the cost of their base materials. Things like electronics become cheaper because they are used in technology that allows you to make NEW technology (like whats used in electronics) faster, smaller and cheaper.
So, the reason why a washing machine or car raises price with inflation i... | [
"Small appliances can be very inexpensive, such as an electric can opener, hot pot, toaster, or coffee maker which may cost only a few U.S. dollars, or very expensive, such as an elaborate espresso maker, which may cost several thousand U.S. dollars. Most homes in developed economies contain several cheaper home ap... |
Why did the US government refuse to support Chiang Kai-Shek after WW2, and was this a major cause of the victory of the Chinese Revolution? | The US government refused to support CSK after WW2? What? The US sent a whopping $4 billion to him within two years after the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The US gave him military hardware and trained his troops. The US airlifted Nationalists forces to liberated areas, including Manchuria, and also stationed US... | [
"During World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt had assumed that China, under Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership, would become a great power after the war, along with the U.S., the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. John Paton Davies Jr., was among the \"China Hands\" who were blamed for the loss of China. However, while ... |
How much water does it take to offset sodium intake? | A "normal" blood panel sodium level is ~140 mmol/L, sea water has a salt concentration of ~600 mol/L, so it has about 4.3 times as sodium as blood.
As I understand it, as your salt intake increases, the concentrations in your urine will rise without you needing to increase your water intake, until it hits the maximum ... | [
"While reduction of sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day is recommended by developed countries, one review recommended that sodium intake be reduced to at least 1,200 mg (contained in 3g of salt) per day, as a further reduction in salt intake the greater the fall in systolic blood pressure for all age groups... |
why do smoke detectors emit the same noise regardless wether they are out of battery or there is an actual fire? | It would cost more to produce a smoke alarm which emitted two different signals. The goal is an alarm which works for a low cost. So it is cheaper to produce one with one alarm sound. If it goes off, look around for a fire. If no fire, change the battery. | [
"Traditional smoke detectors are technically ionisation smoke detectors which create an electric current between two metal plates, which sound an alarm when disrupted by smoke entering the chamber. Ionisation smoke alarms can quickly detect the small amounts of smoke produced by fast-flaming fires, such as cooking ... |
how do people get drugs into prison? | Up the butt. | [
"Consuming any drug (personal use or not) is illegal and requires juridical process. Possessing, purchasing or receiving any illegal drug, including Cannabis, is punishable by 1–2 years in prison; there is also the option of treatment and/or probation for up to three years. If users refuse treatment or do not compl... |
Abolitionists vs Anti-Slavery? | You might start [at the American Memory collection](_URL_1_). The way to think about this is that Abolition=immediate end of slavery because slavery is bad (usually on moral grounds, ie Fredrick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison) while Anti-Slavery=ending slavery for the US. An antislavery person might think Africans... | [
"Abolitionists included those who joined the American Anti-Slavery Society or its auxiliary groups in the 1830s and 1840s as the movement fragmented. The fragmented anti-slavery movement included groups such as the Liberty Party; the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society; the American Missionary Association; an... |
What is the smallest animal that can hear? | Whether a longitudinal wave is a "sound" or a "vibration" is a matter of scale. We can't hear sound on the order of 10Hz (wavelength of about 30 meters) but we can feel it. Similarly, a 1cm insect couldn't "hear" sounds where the wavelength is much larger than their body, but could feel them. From the perspective of... | [
"Several animal species are able to hear frequencies well beyond the human hearing range. Some dolphins and bats, for example, can hear frequencies up to 100,000 Hz. Elephants can hear sounds at 14–16 Hz, while some whales can hear infrasonic sounds as low as 7 Hz (in water).\n",
"Toothed whales, including dolphi... |
faq on united kingdom vote to remain in the european union, or leave. aka brexit | Why is this vote happening and why should I care/not care as someone who doesn't live in UK? | [
"The British government led by David Cameron held a referendum on the issue in 2016; a majority voted to leave the European Union. On 29 March 2017, Theresa May's administration invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union in a letter to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk. The UK was due t... |
Did Ancient Israelites Write in Egyptian? Was Egyptian (or any form of it) known in Israel during biblical times and was it utilized in writing? | Am I correct in assuming that by written Egyptian you are referring to Egyptian hieroglyphics in particular? And not to later Egyptian adaptations of other scripts/languages?
[New Kingdom Egypt](_URL_1_) (c.1500-1000 BCE) was a garrison power in the Levant alongside their military rivals, the Hittites. Both Egyptian r... | [
"The first use of grapheme-based writing originated in the area, probably among Canaanite peoples resident in Egypt. All modern alphabets are descended from this writing. Written evidence of the use of Classical Hebrew exists from about 1000 BCE. It was written using the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet.\n",
"Egyptian hiero... |
Why do some people still believe that the South won the Civil War? | After reading your question and explanation, I can only come up with one plausible explanation.
The Civil War was a war fought (essentially) over the equality and humanity of African-Americans. The North argued that blacks shared certain common rights with whites, where the South disagreed (this is a *major* oversimp... | [
"During the Civil War, many in the North believed that fighting for the Union was a noble cause – for the preservation of the Union and the end of slavery. After the war ended, with the North victorious, the fear among Radicals was that President Johnson too quickly assumed that slavery and Confederate nationalism ... |
why are there lawsuits against google promoting its own services on search results? | When a company becomes big and powerful enough to exert control of all the elements of an industry, it will monopolize that industry unless stopped by the political system in which it operates. Monopolies destroy one of the essential facets of capitalism; competition. Competition is the best way yet discovered to cause... | [
"On 10 November 2010, the European Commission opened a formal investigation into Google's search algorithm, following a number of complaints issued by smaller web companies that Google was downgrading their placement in results returned in Google's search results, and that Google was preferentially favoring their o... |
How difficult is it to create an accurate text to speech from our own voices? | Very difficult.
I am a programmer and once tried to make my own text to speech program. Its difficult because for a text to speech software you need to either record a database of every word in the dictionary in every possible tone (which is really not efficient because it s very expensive and time consuming since ... | [
"One of the fundamental problems in the study of speech is how to deal with noise. This is shown by the difficulty in recognizing human speech that computer recognition systems have. While they can do well at recognizing speech if trained on a specific speaker's voice and under quiet conditions, these systems often... |
lake effect snow over 6 feet of snow across a wide region. do the great lakes actually measurably lose the volume of water? | Technically yes, but the difference would almost certainly be negligible.
Snow [according to here](_URL_1_) is about 5-20% of the density of water. So if you have 6 feet of snow, you will end up with 3.6-14.4 inches of water. Meanwhile, the [Great lakes have a tidal variation of less than 5cm or ~2 inches](_URL_0_) w... | [
"The first lake-effect snow event around the Great Lakes occurred as cold air swept through the region. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan saw up to a foot of snow, while up to of snow fell in northern Pennsylvania. Significant snow also fell in western New York in the typical snowbelt regions. Areas on the southern s... |
Did past civilizations have different attitudes to charity? | Sorry, we don't allow "throughout history" questions. It's not that your question was bad; it's that these kinds of questions tend to produce threads that are collections of disjointed, partial, inadequate responses. If you have a question about a specific historical event, period, or person, feel free to rewrite your ... | [
"Anthropologist David Graeber has argued that the great world religious traditions on charity and gift giving emerged almost simultaneously during the \"Axial age\" (the period between 800 and 200 BCE), which was the same period in which coinage was invented and market economies established on a continental basis. ... |
why can't use power bank or phone in airplane mode on plane? | Regarding the power banks it have become very popular with lithium ion batteries which can put out a lot of power. The disadvantage to this is that they may overheat and cause a fire. It may be that the battery is damaged and a heating it during normal operation might bring two internal wires too close together. The lo... | [
"ESCs designed for radio-control airplanes usually contain a few safety features. If the power coming from the battery is insufficient to continue running the electric motor the ESC will reduce or cut off power to the motor while allowing continued use of ailerons, rudder and elevator function. This allows the pilo... |
Can historians recommend any good books about medieval warfare and life in France in the early 15th century? | Right I was writing this on my phone, cobbling it together from a bibliography for late medieval kingship and nobility, last night so I've rewritten and reposted it.
Before continuing it should be said that any comprehensive study of warfare and 'life' in early fifteenth-century France requires an examination of Engl... | [
"BULLET::::- Le Bruesque, Georges. (2004). \"Chronicling the Hundred Years War in Burgundy and France in the Fifteenth Century\". in \"Writing War: Medieval Literary Responses to Warfare\". ed. Corinne Saunders, \"et al.\" Cambridge: D.S Brewer.\n",
"BULLET::::- Corinne Noirot-Maguire. \"Conjurer le mal: Jean de ... |
why certain applications *must* drop everything and shut down when they encounter certain kinds of errors. why can't they just muddle through, or revert to the most recent error-free state? | Some kinds of errors are relatively benign, kind of like you getting a papercut. You either grimace and continue what you're doing, or you take a few moments to put on a bandaid. Either way, it doesn't much impact your life.
Other kinds of errors are critical, sort of like a heart attack, or getting shot in the guts... | [
"If the program receiving the error does not handle it, the operating system performs a default action, typically involving the termination of the running process that caused the error condition, and notifying the user that the program has malfunctioned. Recent versions of Windows often report such problems by simp... |
how do warring countries share borders? | The borders in question were sites of cross border raids and shellings in both directions for years, until an uneasy peace settled in as a result of larger conflicts. Today the borders are constantly patrolled. The border between Jordan and Israel was mostly quiet after 1967, and no major flare-ups until the peace trea... | [
"The following is a list of border conflicts between two or more countries. The list includes only those fought because of border disputes. See List of territorial disputes for those that do not involve fighting.\n",
"Apart from the aforementioned wars, there have been skirmishes between the two nations from time... |
whenever i hear the same song twice from the same source in a short amount of time, it sometimes sounds like it's being played at a lower pitch or slower tempo. why does this happen? | I've never experienced this. Are you a drummer? | [
"Because when we sing a nenano melody, we don’t end on the tone, from which we started, but if you look at it closer, you will find that we come down to a somewhat lower pitch. The reason for this is the nenano interval; for it seems to be in some way halved, even if we are not aware of it; in other words, we perfo... |
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