Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
I have well water, people say not to "waste water" (mean let the tap run) but is that even possible since the water will collect back in the aquifer?	It depends on how may people are using the aquifer and how quickly the aquifer recharges. The time it takes water to percolate down to an aquifer varies quite a lot, from 1 day to 10,000 years, all depends on the soil. Most of the big aquifers in the US recharge between 70 and 700 mm per year, but that's a different me...	[ "Strictly speaking, water that is discharged into the sewer, or directly to the environment is not wasted or lost. It remains within the hydrologic cycle and returns to the land surface and surface water bodies as precipitation. However, in many cases, the source of the water is at a significant distance from the r...
How were French colonial troops treated during their service in Charles De Gaulle's Free French Forces? Did any fight for Vichy France, in the colonies or in France?	When france was occupied and the goverment divided, the french executives in each colony declared what side they were with. For example the french troops in Lebanon and Syria at that time declared that they are loyal to Vichy France.	[ "In the autumn of 1944 after the Allied landings at Normandy, Senegalese soldiers are sent to help liberate France from German occupation. One of these soldiers is the young recruit Deme Cisse, who meets fellow soldier and older brother Idrissa upon arriving in France. However, Deme quickly experiences discriminati...
why do lcd displays slowly turn while cold?	LCD = Liquid Crystal Display.	[ "Contrary to popular belief, liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) do suffer from flickering problems. It is still necessary to avoid modifying graphics data except during the retrace phase to prevent tearing from an image that is rendered faster than the display operates (LCDs normally refresh at 60 Hz).\n", "Formerly,...
how do you get abs? why do you get abs when you do exercises like sit-ups and push-ups?	It's more fat loss than anything else. Everyone has abs, they're just usually under a layer of fat. The two most effective exercises for visible abs are fork put-downs and plate push-aways.	[ "Strength exercises such as sit-ups and crunches do not cause the spot reduction of fat. Achieving \"six pack abs\" requires both abdominal muscle hypertrophy training and fat loss over the abdomen—which can only be done by losing fat from the body as a whole.\n", "The bench press is an upper-body weight training...
How will the world look in a few years, in terms of climate?	depends where you live really. Some places will get warmer, some will get colder. Some places will have less rain, some places will have more rain. In general though (some) extreme weather events will be more common. _URL_0_	[ "Because the climate system has large thermal inertia, it can take centuries for the climate to fully adjust. While record-breaking years attract considerable public interest, individual years are less significant than the overall trend. Global surface temperature is subject to short-term fluctuations that overlay ...
Why was the Roman Empire and its predecessor state so successful in conquering and keeping territories? What did the empires of the 17th-20th century do differently compared to that of the Roman Empire, why couldn't they keep their lands as long as the Romans did?	I think one thing that does need to be said is that the modern colonial empires of the twentieth century were generally more constrained by international norms than Rome. The Dutch, for example, showed extreme brutality in their attempts to suppress Indonesia, and the scars from the British response to the Mau Mau upri...	[ "The Roman Empire had reached its greatest extent under the Emperor Trajan. However, before Trajan, the Emperor Augustus set about stabilizing the frontiers of the Empire. As a result, the Romans were more interested in simply defending their territory and consolidating the Empire rather than in attempting to conqu...
Is there any danger from being "overweight" with muscle.	It places extra stress on the heart. All those muscles require blood pumped through them, just like any other tissue, so the heart has to work a little more all the time - most doctors will say its bad, because it will make any existing heart condition progress more rapidly. Plus, to grow your muscles past some point, ...	[ "Underweight can also be a primary causative condition. Severely underweight individuals may have poor physical stamina and a weak immune system, leaving them open to infection. According to Robert E. Black of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (JHSPH), \"Underweight status ... and micronutrient deficiencies...
how do they make the single particle of a particular kind to send around the lhc? and how do they put it in?	The LHC doesn't send single particles around, they move clouds of particles in groups around. They source these particles from pure element samples; if you want cesium nuclei to be accelerated then they would get a very pure sample of cesium and heat it to a plasma, then draw the electrons away to leave bare cesium nuc...	[ "A beam crossing in a particle collider occurs when two packets of particles, going in opposite directions, reach the same point in space. Most of the particles in each packet cross each other, but a few may collide, producing other particles that may be observed in a particle detector. In a linear collider there i...
when dust is inhaled, it is stopped by nose hairs. if inhaled by mouth, how is the dust stopped from going into the lungs?	It’s not. Even the hairs in your nose don’t stop everything. The saliva along the throat helps limit the amount but if you inhale any fine sediment, it’ll get to your lungs	[ "When small silica dust particles are inhaled, they can embed themselves deeply into the tiny alveolar sacs and ducts in the lungs, where oxygen and carbon dioxide gases are exchanged. There, the lungs cannot clear out the dust by mucous or coughing.\n", "People further from the source of the dust are more often ...
At what point did the Vedic religion became an element of modern day Hinduism?	The Acharyas (Adi Shankara and later Madhavacharya and Visishtacharya) are considered the primary reasons for popularizing elements of the early Vedic Religion (worshipping the vedic deities via rituals while propounding philosophies around dualism and the Vedanta) around 700 AD. This was only the beginning of the Vedi...	[ "The late Vedic period (9th to 6th centuries BCE) marks the beginning of the Upanisadic or Vedantic period. This period heralded the beginning of much of what became classical Hinduism, with the composition of the Upanishads, later the Sanskrit epics, still later followed by the Puranas.\n", "The Vedic religion e...
How much data is transferred across the internet in one second?	This is old data, but 494 exabytes of data was transferred across the globe on June 15, 2009 according to the Digital Britain Report. That's 6.6 × 10^15 bytes, or 5 995 terabytes per second (Using binary prefixes rather than SI). Likely it's many times larger today.	[ "Data is transmitted in a set of 128 frames that takes 4 minutes to complete. Each frame contains a sync followed by 11 data blocks. The data blocks contain 256, 512 or 1024 bits for 1600, 3200 or 6400 bits per second respectively.\n", "In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitr...
how does me playing the game "play to cure: genes in space" help cancer research?	The description for the game does a fair bit, but I'll try to add more. So cancer research is all about data crunching. They need to identify small differences in order to find cures. Data crunching is all about raw power. 1 scientist can only punch through so much data. But if you get 1,000,000 gamers, give them ...	[ "\"Play to Cure: Genes in Space\" is a world first game in which players help to analyse genetic data by playing. The game is set 800 years in the future and places players in the employ of Bifrost Industries, a leading organisation in the processing of the fictional chemical resource, Element Alpha.\n", "Guerill...
why did apple change their standard charger, to the new ones offered with the iphone 5, and current products?	2 reasons. First, the new charger is smaller. This allows the Iphone 5 to be thinner and devote more space to other things. Second, money. Forcing you to replace chargers means more money for Apple.	[ "Apple designed the charger so that the batteries draw less energy from the national power grid than other comparable chargers; as a result, energy efficiency is improved. According to Apple, at 30 mW, the standard power usage of the charger is ten times better than the industry average.\n", "The first Charger wa...
why do we try to stop coughing by using medicine, isn't our body trying to get rid of the mucus in our lungs by coughing?	Pharmacist here: First thing we were taught about OTC treatments of cough were that you "never suppress a productive cough." If the patient is clearing their mucus with their cough then it is productive and is making them better and we don't need to suppress it. That being said, there are many times when a cough sup...	[ "Prevention is by not smoking and avoiding other lung irritants. Frequent hand washing and flu vaccination may also be protective. Treatment of acute bronchitis typically involves rest, paracetamol (acetaminophen), and NSAIDs to help with the fever. Cough medicine has little support for its use and is not recommend...
how nurses not get sick, when they're working long hours with sick people.	They often do get sick, although regular hand washing and simply not touching their faces goes a long way in minimizing the risk. Also, hospitals and clinics are pretty careful about keeping things super clean, so that it's difficult for infections to spread through contaminated surfaces.	[ "The International Council Of Nursing (ICN), the largest international health professional organization in the world, recognizes the shortage of nurses as a growing crisis in the world. This shortage impacts the healthcare of everyone worldwide. One of the many reasons is that nurses who pursue to become nurses do ...
Does the CMB dipole give us a hint about the center of the universe?	There's not a place in the universe, but there is a frame of reference in which it is isotropic, which you alluded to. However, this frame is not a universal rest frame; it's as valid as any other.	[ "The Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation signature presents a direct large-scale view of the universe that can be used to identify whether our position or movement has any particular significance. There has been much publicity about analysis of results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) an...
why aren't there patches or gum to help people with alcohol addictions like there are for those with nicotine addiction?	Benzodiazepines are the drug of choice for treating alcohol withdrawal because the act on GABA receptors in your central nervous system; the same receptors that are acted upon by alcohol. Health care providers will prescribe benzos (serax and klonopin are common) to someone detoxing from alcohol, then slowly wean them ...	[ "In 2006, Fleming wrote \"Preventing Addiction: What Parents Must Know to Immunize Their Kids Against Drug And Alcohol Addiction.\" In the book, Fleming argues that alcohol, among other addicting substances, can serve as a gateway for broader and more problematic drug use, and that the immature brain development of...
if i saw a cop and ran away from him for no reason, does he have the legal right to arrest me?	Cop here; In general, no. However based on [Illinois vs. Wardlow](_URL_0_) running may be considered reasonable suspicion (which is the legal standard for a detainment) depending on the circumstances- such as being in a high-drug area, the officer's knowledge of the suspect's past (we know a lot of the shitbags i...	[ "A person may not even know if he was charged. If he is really worried, he can contact an attorney to ascertain if he was charged with any crime. A police officer may also charge someone after they investigate the possible crime he committed.\n", "A person who has been arrested for any of the offences mentioned a...
what is that small download you have to do before installing something from the internet.	The 700 KB file is a little application that then connects to the GitHub servers and downloads the real installer. The main reason to do this is to prevent outdated installers from floating around. Say that you make version 1.0 of your program, and post a full installer for it online. Dozens of other sites (like _UR...	[ "Download Valley is a cluster of software companies in Israel, producing and delivering adware to be installed alongside downloads of other software. The primary purpose is to monetize shareware and downloads. These software items are commonly browser toolbars, adware, browser hijackers, spyware, and malware. Anoth...
Would eating rice a grain at a time require more energy than the rice itself?	This article has a single grain at around 0.021 cals per grain (88j): _URL_1_ By taking the weight of one grain, and dividing the weight of a cup by the cals in a cup appropriately. The 15j calculation is good, but assumes no inefficiencies in the work done. That's the work required, but not the actual work performed....	[ "Since sizable portions of sugarcane and maize crops are used for purposes other than human consumption, rice is the most important grain with regard to human nutrition and caloric intake, providing more than one-fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. There are many varieties of rice and culinary prefe...
why don't canada and the us adopt a common currency like much of europe has?	our economies are not as reliant on commerce between one another like the EU member countries are. also, the Euro is in crisis because the shared currency means that one nation's poor economic decision making has negative effects on the value of the money for everyone. the Euro ties the member countries to a common f...	[ "Because Canada’s primary foreign-trade relationship is with the United States, Canadian consumers, economists, and many businesses primarily define and value the Canadian dollar in terms of the United States dollar. Thus, by observing how the Canadian dollar floats in terms of the US dollar, foreign-exchange econo...
what does "after hours" trading mean? how can trades go through if the stock market is closed?	A stock is just a thing, if you want to buy it and I want to sell it to you we don't need a special market to do that. The stock market just makes it easier for you or I to find people who want to buy and sell.	[ "After-hours trading is the name for buying and selling of securities when the major markets are closed. Since 1985, the regular trading hours for major exchanges in the United States, such as the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market, have been from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). Pre-marke...
Did the German elite know that Danzig was going to be "the thing" that started the war? If the Poles gave in like the Czechs, what was the plan after?	First, Poland couldn't exactly "give in" in terms of Danzig, as the city wasn't part of Poland, but a "Free City" nominally under the control of the League of Nations. This in itself caused tension between all three parties (Poland, Germany, Danzig), as no one liked the arraignment, and it didn't really solve any of th...	[ "In 1939, Nazi Germany made another proposal regarding Danzig; the city was to be incorporated into the Reich while the Polish section of the population was to be \"evacuated\" and resettled elsewhere. Poland was to retain a permanent right to use the seaport and the route through the Polish Corridor was to be cons...
Did any of the first civilizations pop up somewhere besides near a river?	I am fairly certain the answer to this is no. I am not aware of any literate civilizations from the 2nd or 3rd millennium BC (or earlier) that began away from the water. The reason the locations are important is really because of the importance of food surplus. Early people were hunter-gatherers, and while some scho...	[ "Archaeologists speculate that a possible early civilization existed along the banks of the Zayandeh River, developing at the same time as other ancient civilizations appeared alongside rivers in the region, such as the Sumerian civilization in Iraq and the Indus Valley civilization in ancient India.\n", "The dif...
what makes "median" a relevant metric?	Median is more resistant to outliers than mean, so median is a better metric to use for measurement of a center or “average” value in cases where outliers (extreme values) are likely (such as income, some people make fucking huge amounts of money, which would highly raise the mean but barely move the median)	[ "The median is a commonly used measure of the properties of a data set in statistics and probability theory. The basic advantage of the median in describing data compared to the mean (often simply described as the \"average\") is that it is not skewed so much by a small proportion of extremely large or small values...
for cold prevention, why are disinfectants recommended for cleaning public surfaces but discouraged for washing hands?	Because completely disinfecting your skin causes other problems. Your skin is made to have bacteria on it and in it. If you remove them, you start to have problems like eczema. You just need to clean the foreign stuff off, the stuff that is on the surface of the skin. This is best done with soap and water. If you real...	[ "Hand sanitizer is a liquid generally used to decrease infectious agents on the hands. Formulations of the alcohol-based type are preferable to hand washing with soap and water in most situations in the healthcare setting. It is generally more effective at killing microorganisms and better tolerated than soap and w...
how does a dentist fix a hole in your tooth?	Drills all the bad things away then fills the hole with some stuff that hardens and protects that part.	[ "A root treated tooth may be eased from the occlusion as a measure to prevent tooth fracture prior to the cementation of a crown or similar restoration. Sometimes the dentist performs preliminary treatment of the tooth by removing all of the infected pulp of the tooth and applying a dressing and temporary filling t...
corporate & top 5% tax loopholes.	They're not loopholes. That's just a propaganda word people use to confuse things. There are basically two different things that people sometimes erroneously call loopholes: There are tax deductions, and then there are standard accounting practices. A tax deduction is anything that you can spend money on that *redu...	[ "In addition, the depreciation schedules imposed by tax departments may \"differ\" from the \"actual\" depreciation of business assets at market rates. Often, governments permit depreciation write-offs \"higher\" than true depreciation, to provide an incentive to enterprises for new investment. But this is not alwa...
Why were so many early books in dialogue format, with one character speaking to the other, usually in instructional format? Is there a history of this style? What are its effects?	> Is it a Greek thing? To be more precise, it is derived mainly from Plato's works which are all in dialogue form. It was rarely used in medieval times, the big exception being Nicolaus Cusanus (early 15th century). Erasmus of Rotterdam, one of the main thinkers of humanism (early 16th century) made it popular among ...	[ "Meanwhile, throughout the 1990s, popular children's stories in print were adapted into digital storybooks that encouraged interactive learning and play in the computer. Broderbund's \"Living Books\" series was perhaps the first example of this, or at least popularized the animated storybook format through hits suc...
Was Coca Cola originally popular due to taste or cocaine? And is cocaine the reason the original bottles or so much smaller?	You might find [this response to an earlier question about Coke](_URL_0_) and cocaine interesting-- it doesn't go specially to taste, but it does explain why the coca was removed.	[ "Mexican Coca-Cola is sold in a thick or glass bottle, which some have described in contrast to the more common plastic American Coca-Cola bottles as being \"more elegant, with a pleasingly nostalgic shape\". Formerly, Coca-Cola was widely available in refundable and non-refundable glass bottles of various sizes in...
We're there ever such things as Sufi monasteries in the Middle East?	Wayyy back in my reddit Dark Ages, I wrote about [Sufi lodges](_URL_0_) in comparison to medieval Christian monasteries. Don't know much about their specific relationship to coffee, although the drink became quite popular in the Muslim world more broadly at the end of the Middle Ages.	[ "The Chishti Order of Sufism was the first great Sufi order to take root in the capital of medieval Islamic India, Delhi. The shrine, along with the \"Chisti\" Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Nizamuddin Dargah, were the first to be established within Islamic India. The trio of shrines allowed local Muslims for the first ti...
how far is: 'as far as the eye can see'?	You can see the Andromeda galaxy with the unaided human eye, which is 2.5 million light years away. Standing on the planet Earth, the horizon is about 4.7 kilometers away, depending on elevation or obstruction, but you can also see clouds or mountains that are past the horizon.	[ "The absolute magnitude (apparent magnitude at 10 parsecs) is 3.05, which would translate to easy naked eye visibility, but its distance is ten times greater, so its apparent magnitude is 8.05 (100 times fainter than its absolute magnitude), it is not visible to the naked eye and binoculars are needed.\n", "Here,...
why do countries have large amounts of foreign currency on hand?	Because some people only want oranges. If you are buying something from china you need to pay in yuan, just as you need to use USD for the US. Having a stockpile of foreign currency allows nations to ensure their companies (and themselves) arent screwed over by third party money changers. You keep apples to trade with...	[ "Some small countries such as El Salvador, Ecuador and Montenegro have unilaterally adopted the use of a more stable foreign currency as a means of controlling inflation. The cost of this is generally very high, as the adopting country loses all control over monetary policy, and all the benefits of seignorage. A cu...
When did Axis/Allies (ww2) relationships start to re-establish? Mostly interested in Japan/USA and Germany/France+Britain?	Since Europe's already under discussion, I'll talk about Japan. After the war, Japan's trade relationships were destroyed. Japan's merchant marine was now artificial reef, its trade networks were based on a now-vanished empire, its factories were ruins and so were its ports and every other above-ground bit of infrast...	[ "In the 1930s, both countries adopted aggressive militaristic attitudes toward their respective regions. This led to a rapprochement and, eventually, a political and military alliance that included Italy: the \"Axis\". During the World War II, however, the alliance was limited by the great distances between the Axi...
Why does Christopher Columbus seem to have a different name for several different European languages?	hi! while there are a few linguists here, this question is a better fit for /r/Linguistics. In any case, both this sub and /r/Linguistics' have FAQ entries this phenomenon, which is asked not only about personal names, but also names of cities and countries * /r/Linguistics FAQ: [Why are our names for countries so dif...	[ "Historically, learned Europeans were often identified with Latinized versions of their names. Christopher Columbus was published as Christophorus Columbus. In Modern Italian, the same name is Cristoforo Colombo, in Portuguese as Cristóvão Colombo (formerly Christovam Colom), and in Spanish as Cristóbal Colón. Chri...
Would there be super heavy or exotic elements in the heart of Super massive stars ?	The answer is no to both your questions. (I just want a bit of an in depth explanation, apologies if you already know this stuff) To get something out of the way, these very high atomic number elements are very unstable, they last only tiny fractions of a second so if you did create some anywhere it would be gone alm...	[ "These Population III stars are also responsible for turning the few light elements that were formed in the Big Bang (hydrogen, helium and small amounts of lithium) into many heavier elements. They can be huge as well as perhaps small – and non-metallic (no elements except hydrogen and helium). The larger stars hav...
why is the snow burning?	It isn't. Those people are mentally ill, and water is surprisingly difficult to melt and will trap soot from incomplete combustion from a lighter. Try running a spoon through a candle flame and you will see how black it gets even though the spoon obviously isn't burning.	[ "BULLET::::- \"Snowman Burning\": Each March, on or near the first day of Spring, students, alumni and townsfolk gather around a 10 to snowman on campus and light it on fire. The snowman burning is derived from a German tradition in which the mayor of the town burns a snowman to declare an end to winter. The snowme...
how come multiple wireless providers can all claim they have the best speeds? isn’t wireless connectivity and accessibility something that can be objectively measured and ranked?	They use different metrics to determine what is "best", because "best" is a subjective term in marketing. They could be referring to "the best wireless speed compared to two other local service providers that haven't upgraded their equipment in twenty years", or "the best wireless speed available in Sedona, Arizona." ...	[ "To further reduce latency, new technologies are being employed. Wireless data transmission technology can offer speed advantages over the best cabling options, as signals can travel faster through air than fiber. Wireless transmission can also allow data to move in a straighter, more direct path than cabling route...
why are some muscles incapable of healing completely?	dunno man but I hear ya. I pulled mine too during a Kung fu class a few years back. it hurt in the same spot, where the bottom thigh and ass cheek meet. it took about 12 months before I couldn't feel it anymore, although it sounds like yours hurts more than mine did. very slow healing process and I definitely laid off ...	[ "Ligaments attach bone to bone or bone to tendon, and are vital in stabilizing joints as well as supporting structures. They are made up of fibrous material that is generally quite strong. Due to their relatively poor blood supply, ligament injuries generally take a long time to heal.\n", "Ligaments attach bone t...
when a lawyer "objects" to another lawyers statement, how is it handled.	Discussing things in the jury room that you have been instructed not to discuss is a good way to find yourself in contempt of court. If something is brought up in front of the jury that the judge feels is inadmissible but would be impossible for the jury to ignore he can declare a mistrial. Generally though there are...	[ "The attorney of record is the attorney who formally appears before the court, whether in person or by means of signed documents, on behalf of a party. However, the status is also an enforcement mechanism for a jurisdiction's applicable standards of legal ethics and professional responsibility (for example, the Ame...
Did the driver of Archduke Ferndinand of Austria detour ONTO the road of 3 assassins for a lunch break?	Not to discourage further posts which might help answer your question, but Top Quality Contributor /u/mikedash wrote an [excellent article in the Smithsonian magazine in 2011](_URL_0_) which suggested that the idea that Gavrilo Princip was eating a sandwich comes from a 2001 novel and/or a 2003 BBC documentary, and doe...	[ "Archduke Franz Ferdinand accepted an invitation from the 6th Duke of Portland to stay at Welbeck Abbey and arrived with his wife, Sophie von Hohenberg, by train at Worksop on 22 November 1913 ten months before his assassination, which triggered World War I. The Archduke narrowly avoided being killed in a hunting a...
Why do some gene mutations cause genetic diseases, while some do not?	There are several types of mutations, but let's consider the simplest ones only for this purpose - point mutations, where a single nucleotide is replaced by a different one. There are a lot of cases where a single change of this type won't affect the protein that the gene is coding for at all. As an example, the sequ...	[ "Disease-causing mutations in specific genes are usually severe in terms of gene function, and are fortunately rare, thus genetic disorders are similarly individually rare. However, since there are many genes that can vary to cause genetic disorders, in aggregate they constitute a significant component of known med...
How far back would we have to go in our own evolution to find a genetic predecessor who would not be able to integrate into our society?	Not an expert but there are plenty of people alive (humans) who cannot integrate into society right now. It would be interesting to know though how far back we need to go before we find a general population who could not learn language and be able to communicate.	[ "Genetic evidence has also been employed to resolve the question of whether there was any gene flow between early modern humans and Neanderthals, and to enhance our understanding of the early human migration patterns and splitting dates. By comparing the parts of the genome that are not under natural selection and ...
why do the best college football players often stay in school, while the best college basketball players are 'one and done'?	The rules are different for one, you have to be a junior before you can leave school for the draft versus basketball which is just 1 year. Also, football players benefit a lot more from extra years in college. They get bigger, get stronger, and they learn the game better. Basketball players can often transition more...	[ "Education can often be overlooked by professional athletes, once they have made it to their desired sports league. This is a major concern because many professional athletes have no funds or career options to fall back on. Without a college degree, higher education, or in some instances even a high school diploma;...
Are submarines vulnerable to storms on the sea?	The Los Angeles class 688 sub I was on, SSN-710 USS Augusta would rock slightly in heavy waves when at periscope depth or just slightly lower. Going further down and you could sail under a hurricane and never know it.	[ "Advanced navies, with access to surveillance satellites and large-scale submarine detection systems, can rarely be surprised at sea, but cannot be everywhere. Individual ships of advanced navies can be vulnerable at sea (e.g., the hit by an aircraft-delivered anti-ship missile while patrolling the Persian Gulf) or...
what is the real difference food wise between a 5 star restaurant and an average one?	Well generally when you think of 5 star high-end places you wouldn't be getting chicken parmesan you'd be getting a far more intricate mix of flavours. Recently, for example, I saw a dish that included charred leeks and eggplant. Specifically charred leeks because, in the chef's opinion, the difference in taste and t...	[ "Restaurant guides and reviewers often use stars in restaurant ratings. The Michelin system reserves stars for exceptional restaurants, and gives up to three; the vast majority of recommended restaurants have no star at all. Other guides now use up to four or five stars, with one-star being the lowest rating. The s...
WW2 Question - Katyusha Rocket Truch vs Heavy Tanks? [SFW]	Interesting question. I don't have any trials specifically about the anti-tank function of the Katyusha, but I do have some information that would allow us to extrapolate. Let's split this question up into two parts. Part 1 is: can a rocket salvo hit a Tiger tank? A brigade of launchers armed with M-31 rocket launcher...	[ "A small number of these vehicles had the 132mm rocket launcher system attached (BM-13-16). While not a common Soviet weapon system these variants of the STZ-5 were used at the battles around Moscow in 1941 and Stalingrad in 1942.\n", "The offensive used no tanks because of the terrain, therefore it was down to t...
why do crowds of people being led to mass executions seem to cooperate with their killers?	because if you run or fight back you are likely to be tortured before they ultimately decide to kill you anyways.	[ "Human rights groups said the killings have become an unwritten government policy to deal with crime, largely because of an ineffective criminal justice system and the tendency of the authorities to take shortcuts in the administration of justice. The execution-style killings are openly endorsed by local officials,...
Is it an overall positive or negative for an economy to have restrictions on labor immigration?	This would be a better question for [/r/AskSocialScience](_URL_0_).	[ "NPR reported in March 2006 that when the wages of lower-skilled workers go down, the rest of America benefits by paying lower prices for things like restaurant meals, agricultural produce and construction. The economic impact of unauthorized immigration is far smaller than other trends in the economy, such as the ...
how prices work in the stock market -- latest price.	The practical answer is that it wouldn't matter. With any liquid stock that is traded on an exchange, there are enough market participants to keep the value steady even in the face of an outrageous bid. Likewise, whenever you go to buy a stock, your brokerage firm isn't going to let you pay $2 for a $1 stock. They w...	[ "Market prices are the result of price discovery, in which each agent participating in the market makes use of its current knowledge and plans to decide on the prices and quantities at which it chooses to transact. The resulting prices and quantities of transactions may be said to reflect the current state of knowl...
What was the college admissions process like in Colonial America? If a young man in the early 1700s wished to further his education at say, Harvard or William & Mary, would there be a formal application process, or was it just a matter of having enough money/connections and knocking on the door?	While more information and a more thorough answer would be welcome, I am copy-pasting an [older answer of mine to pretty much the same question](_URL_11_) with one slight rewording: Harvard's earliest surviving entrance requirements: ***"When any Scholar is able to read Tully or such like classical Latin author...and...	[ "While the sons of wealthy Americans had received priority in college admissions throughout the nineteenth century, in the early twentieth century, frustrated by the poor academic performances of their students, elite colleges raised their admission standards. Immigrants—especially the children of Jewish immigrant ...
why do some drugs come in pill form and not liquid? why must in be ingested in this form and not broken down/dissolved?	There can be a few reasons. Some drugs taste very bad so are much more pleasant to take as a pill. Some drugs are more stable and last longer if they're in pill form because reactions that degrade them happen more rapidly in solution. Some pills are designed to release the drug in a specific part of the digestive tract...	[ "In a typical situation, a pill taken orally will pass through the oesophagus and into the stomach. As the stomach has an aqueous environment, it is the first place where the pill can dissolve. The rate of dissolution is a key element in controlling the duration of a drug's effect. For this reason, different forms ...
why is it that lyrics are never included on a song's wikipedia page?	The lyrics are copyrighted material.	[ "BULLET::::- \"Because Wikipedia is in written rather than audio format, the lyrics and music are usually the most relevant element of each song; so, when adding or editing a song, please list its lyricist(s) and composer(s) if known. When different artists perform what is substantially the same song, please see if...
Can someone explains the details on the mercenary armies of the Thirty Years War?	This is a somewhat common misconception about the Thirty Years War. While the bulk of the troops were what we would call mercenaries, this was not atypical for a early modern European state to have only a small standing army. The rudimentary administration of the early modern states meant that there was a certain logic...	[ "The Mercenary War (240 BC – 238 BC), also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War by Polybius, was an uprising of mercenary armies formerly employed by Carthage, backed by Libyan settlements revolting against Carthaginian control.\n", "BULLET::::- The Mercenary War (c. 240 BC) (also, Libyan War or Truceless ...
What role did Scotland play in the American Revolution and what was the general opinion like in Scotland of the war?	I wrote a Masters' thesis on almost this exact question, the second part of your inquiry at least. It is correct that, as a part of the United Kingdom since 1707, Scotland did not plan an independent role in the war. However, Scottish attitudes toward the Union were ambivalent at the time. Many still felt like a d...	[ "Scotland played a major role in the British effort in the First World War. It especially provided manpower, ships, machinery, food (particularly fish) and money, engaging with the conflict with some enthusiasm. With a population of 4.8 million in 1911, Scotland sent 690,000 men to the war, of whom 74,000 died in c...
what factors determine the order of posts on the reddit frontpage?	It's how many people like it ratio to how old the post is.	[ "Front-page rank—for both the general front page and for individual subreddits—is determined by a combination of factors, including the age of the submission, positive (\"upvoted\") to negative (\"downvoted\") feedback ratio, and the total vote-count.\n", "Printed tables of contents indicate page numbers where ea...
What did streets look like in England in 1572?	What sort of streets do you mean? Hamlet, village, town, city?	[ "The broad street connecting Pall Mall with Piccadilly is recorded in the Elizabethan era and, as the name suggests, was chiefly used as a street market for the sale of fodder and other farm produce. At that time, it was a rural spot, with the village of Charing the closest settlement. This practice continued to th...
how do the continents "break apart" after they've been pushed together to form a supercontinent like pangea?	The Earth has a solid crust floating on top of liquid mantle (melted rock). Imagine Cheerios floating on milk in your cereal bowl. Only the milk isn't cold like in your cereal bowl. It's boiling, like you've got it in a pot on your stove. So little temperature variations are causing currents through the milk, which pus...	[ "Between 425 and 370 million years ago, the two continents began to collide, forming Pangea. During this time, the Acadian orogeny, which marked the collision of the two continents, occurred. Around 200 million years ago, Pangea began to break apart. This caused rift valleys to form within the interior of the conti...
if the speed of light is a universal constant (~300,000 kms/s) then how did the universe expand so quickly after the big bang?" does this imply that "out there" there is "something" faster than the speed of light?	Matter can't move faster than or even equal to the speed of light but the expansion can be effectively faster than c (vacuum lightspeed). If you're driving on a street with a 50km/h limit and pass a car going the opposite direction at the same speed you would experience it as distancing itself from you at 100km...	[ "BULLET::::- The last verse of the song explains that the universe is expanding, and furthermore, that the speed of light is the \"fastest speed there is\". Idle's estimate of the speed of light is a relatively accurate one: 12 million miles per minute, versus the standard figure of about 11.16 million miles per mi...
what's the deal with intel 6-core and amd 8-core cpus?	AMD processors in general aren't nearly as fast. Don't compare clock speeds or cores, look at benchmarks. I will look and find you some. Edit: Some benchmarks may not be the most recent processors, but they will give you an idea because things haven't changed much when looking at AMD vs Intel _URL_2_ ...	[ "The Core i3 is Intel's budget line of processors in the Core i brand. The Core i3-5xx series is nearly identical to the Core i5-6xx series. The major difference is that the Core i3-5xx series lacks Turbo Boost and is clocked at lower clock speeds.\n", "Intel Core is a line of mid- to high-end consumer, workstati...
if the universe is expanding, how has the solar system remained stable for 4+ billion years?	It has continually expanded for 4+ billion years. What do you mean by stable? It is not known the final fate of the universe (3 possibilities: it will collapse on itself eventually; expansion will slow down and it will reach a constant size; expansion continues to speed up and will expand forever). But regardless ...	[ "with 100–150 times as much mass as the Sun, will have a lifespan of only several million years. Studies of the most massive open clusters suggests as an upper limit for stars in the current era of the universe. This\n", "In roughly 5 billion years, the Sun will cool and expand outward to many times its current d...
why are rubber ducks such a staple in our culture?	While the origin of the iconic rubber ducky is not entirely [clear](_URL_1_), I would say that in the United States, at least, they gained popularity since 1970 because of Sesame Street and Ernie's [Rubber Ducky Song](_URL_0_). The song became extremely popular and rose in the Billboard charts.	[ "The history of the rubber duck is linked to the emergence of rubber manufacturing in the late 19th century. The earliest rubber ducks were made from harder rubber when manufacturers began using Charles Goodyear's invention, vulcanized rubber. Consequently, these solid rubber ducks were not capable of floating and ...
When rams fight each other, why don't they both just die instantly on impact?	A ram's horn is a porous bone that is covered in keratin, which is a protein found in our hair and nails. Keratin is elastic, and this property of the material allows the horns to give a bit under impact. This helps distribute the force, once again by providing greater contact area. But also, the bending of the horns i...	[ "Rams battle to determine the dominant animal, which then gains possession of the ewes. Facing each other, rams charge head-on from distances of or more, crashing their massive horns together with tremendous impact, until one or the other ceases.\n", "Without human intervention, rams may fight during the rut to d...
why do pirated games and most other software not just install the crack for you?	If cracker team distributes only the "crack" or "patch" by itself, then it's not illegal. Since they wrote it, they own rights to it, and may distribute it all they want. Information itself is just 0 and 1, and the fact that it's meant to be used for something illegal, doesn't make it illegal by itself. So yes, they ac...	[ "There are a number of sites on the Internet that let users download cracks produced by warez groups for popular games and applications (although at the danger of acquiring malicious software that is sometimes distributed via such sites). Although these cracks are used by legal buyers of software, they can also be ...
If you were riding on a plane going, lets say 50 mph under the speed of sound, and you threw a baseball 51 mph, would the ball break the speed of sound?	On a plane, or in a plane? If you were somehow strapped on top of a plane going just under the speed of sound and tried to throw a baseball, the drag forces on the baseball would mean it would fly backwards as soon as it left your hand (if you could even hold your arm out straight at that speed). If you were inside of ...	[ "In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F), the speed of sound is 343 metres per second (about 767 mph, 1234 km/h or 1,125 ft/s). The term came into use during World War II when pilots of high-speed fighter aircraft experienced the effects of compressibility, a number of adverse aerodynamic effects that deterred further accelera...
Did the Native American peoples of North America know about the Inuits before the arrival of Columbus? If so, were there any major interactions between the two groups?	Yes! I work for an Aboriginal organization in the Northwest Territories (Canada) and have delved into much literature regarding the interaction of Inuits and First Nations/Metis. Now, I must first say this spiel prior to getting into the facts. A lot of the literature on the interaction between these groups comes fr...	[ "Archaeologists are certain that the predecessors of today's Inuit originated in the area of the Bering Strait, which separates Asia and North America. The first Inuit group, known as Paleo-Eskimos, crossed the Strait in 3000 BCE presumably on winter ice, which was long after earlier migrations by the ancestors to ...
what happens to your brain/body while put on anesthesia?	The short answer is, we don’t know. There are 3 main types of medication we use. Paralytic, to prevent you from moving, opioids to prevent pain, and hypnotics to keep you “asleep”. This accomplished the 3 A’s of anesthesia (akinesis, analgesia, and amnesia). We know how the paralytics and narcotics work, and we know...	[ "Brown’s research group has provided detailed insights into how anesthetics produce unconsciousness. The brain is not shut off under general anesthesia. Instead, anesthetics induce highly structured oscillations between key brain regions. These oscillations, which are readily visible in standard electroencephalogra...
what exactly is a tesseract?	OK, so a cube is a 3D shape where every face is a square. The short answer is that a tesseract is a 4D shape where every face is a cube. Take a regular cube and make each face -- currently a square -- into a cube, and boom! A tesseract. (It's important that that's not the same as just sticking a cube onto each flat fac...	[ "In Latin, \"tessella\" is a small cubical piece of clay, stone or glass used to make mosaics. The word \"tessella\" means \"small square\" (from \"tessera\", square, which in turn is from the Greek word τέσσερα for \"four\"). It corresponds to the everyday term \"tiling\", which refers to applications of tessellat...
church-turing thesis and tests	There were once some smart guys that realized that math problems that can be solved by humans can also be solved by machines if we can come up with some kind of sequence of steps to tell the machine what to do to carry out the computation. This set of instructions is called an algorithm. Church-Turing relates computabi...	[ "The history of the Church–Turing thesis (\"thesis\") involves the history of the development of the study of the nature of functions whose values are effectively calculable; or, in more modern terms, functions whose values are algorithmically computable. It is an important topic in modern mathematical theory and c...
how can any country realistically support universal basic income for everyone?	If you have some patience, there's an interesting analysis of the Canadian case here: _URL_0_ The abstract, the original tl;dr: Among the most common objections to providing everyone with an unconditional basic income is the cost objection. It states that the cost of providing everyone with a decent income floor, bene...	[ "Philippe Van Parijs has argued that basic income at the highest sustainable level is needed to support real freedom, or the freedom to do whatever one \"might want to do\". By this, Van Parijs means that all people should be free to use the resources of the Earth and the \"external assets\" people make out of them...
why do cross-country semi trucks constantly leapfrog / drive alongside each other on the highway thus impeding flow of traffic?	Well first off your comment is a bit of an over generalization considering the tens or hundreds of thousands of trucks and MILLIONS of cars on the roadways every day. Some trucks have limiters controlling their maximum speed, others don't, and not all limiters are set to the same speed, so some trucks go faster than ot...	[ "When vehicles enter the cross-over area, unless markings on the ground indicate two turning lanes in the cross-over, drivers form one lane. A cross-over with two lanes is designed at high-volume cross-overs, or when the right lane turns onto an intersecting street. In this case, the right lane is reserved for vehi...
why is it always so awkward to throw something with your 'other' hand? can i learn to do it?	Your body has a system known as [muscle memory](_URL_2_) that enables you to get very good at certain tasks you do all the time. You know how toddlers have to concentrate on walking but older kids can do it without even thinking? That's because when you practice walking you build muscle memory of how to do it. When...	[ "In Hands means that the ball will be thrown to any specific person, usually at the kicker's discretion. No In Hands means that the ball will be thrown in the general area of the team, but without a target. In Hands saves the receiving team the trouble of chasing a bobbling ball, and is preferred.\n", "A two-hand...
Why is USSR predominantly considered communist, even though USSR = Union of Soviet Socialist Republics?	In the beginning of 20th century, the terms 'socialism' and 'communism', although already denoting different political ideology, were often used interchangeably, especially among people not involved in the activism of either kind (much like 'anarchism' was sometimes used to describe any form of anti-monarchic sentiment...	[ "The communist party was at the center of the political system in the Eastern Bloc, with its leading role being absolute political rule with virtually no political discussion. Most of the parties in non-Soviet Eastern Bloc countries differed from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in that they were technically...
why aren't books published in a single, standard set of dimensions like dvds, blu rays, cds, or lps are?	[Relevant xkcd](_URL_0_) DVDs and Blu Rays come in Keep Cases originally created by Amaray. I imagine their popularity is due to particular companies favoring them for strength and cost and those companies being quite proliferate eventually leading to a standard. Books were initially a work of art in their own right...	[ "Publishers often use the same typesetting for the hardcover and trade paperback versions of a book. These books have different covers, the title page and copyright page may differ, and the page margin sizes may differ (same \"type area\", smaller \"trim\"), but to a bibliographer they are the same edition.\n", "...
what causes the ring in my coffee cup and why does it not color the whole cup?	It happens as the water in the coffee (or tea!) evaporates from the surface and leaves the coffee/tea particles in place. When the water's gone, they only have the sides of your mug to cling on to, thus a ring right where the surface evaporation was happening. _URL_0_	[ "In physics, a \"coffee ring\" is a pattern left by a puddle of particle-laden liquid after it evaporates. The phenomenon is named for the characteristic ring-like deposit along the perimeter of a spill of coffee. It is also commonly seen after spilling red wine. The mechanism behind the formation of these and simi...
Why do radio signals of the same frequency not mix, but rather, one overpowers the other?	This is called the capture effect, and only works with FM radios. An AM radio would actually work as you imagine. The FM capture effect isn't really a natural physical phenomenon, it's an engineered design feature. It can vary depending on how the signal chain is made. When a lower level signal and a higher level sig...	[ "The radio waves from many transmitters pass through the air simultaneously without interfering with each other because each transmitter's radio waves oscillate at a different rate, in other words each transmitter has a different frequency, measured in kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz). The receiv...
how are drugs and other illegal things gotten into prisons? is the security that bad?	Security isn't that bad, criminals are that good. These aren't kindergarten teachers, these are criminals, many of whom were involved with illegal transportation, smuggling, etc. Whether it's spotting a hole in security checks, creating situations where protocols are violated, bribing/corrupting guards, or even just ...	[ "Furthermore, as the prison population grew so did the consumer base for contraband items, not only drugs and weapons but also items that are legal outside of prison but are illegal to trade within prisons, such as money, alcohol, tattoos, etc. Several challenges arose that destabilized the socio-political system o...
how do ups and fedex delivery people get paid?	UPS drivers are hourly employees. FedEx uses a combination of hourly employees and private contractors.	[ "FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS) directly compete with USPS Express Mail and package delivery services, making nationwide deliveries of urgent letters and packages. Due to the postal monopoly, they are not allowed to deliver non-urgent letters and may not directly ship to U.S. Mail boxes at residential and co...
why do people tell me that lemonade, coffee, soft drinks, alcohol, etc. dehydrate me when those beverages are a very high percentage water?	Alcohol dehydrates you because it is a diuretic - it makes you pee. The rest don't dehydrate you, you're just better off drinking water because it doesn't contain all that sugar.	[ "Many functional drinks have high levels of sugar, even if they have other \"healthy\" ingredients. For example, a 20oz bottle of Glacéau's VitaminWater has been reported to contain approximately 33 g of sugar, which is similar to the sugar content of a can of Coca-Cola. This prompted The Coca-Cola Company to be su...
is there a difference in the signal my cable box receives vs. my cable modem receives? is watching cable tv essentially the same as watching netflix?	I think it’s the same “type” of signal as in digital, 0s and 1s, but they are broadcast, received, and decoded differently. I may be incorrect but someone correct me if I’m wrong but I think this is how it works...For now let’s ignore VOD and talk about regular hi def. cable with a qam tuner. Basically the cable comp...	[ "For example, a coaxial cable used by a cable television system can carry 500 television channels at the same time because each one is given a different frequency, so they don't interfere with one another. At the cable source or headend, electronic upconverters convert each incoming television channel to a new, hig...
Caring for old documents	UV light filtering glass is very expensive and not bulletproof light protection, unfortunately. We almost never use them in archives land, outside of very special situations where the originals need to be in constant display, like things in Washington DC. There is not a single thing in a UV frame at my archives, we do ...	[ "Preservation of documents, pictures, recordings, digital content, etc., is a major aspect of archival science. It is also an important consideration for people who are creating time capsules, family history, historical documents, scrapbooks and family trees. Common storage media are not permanent, and there are fe...
if bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics then why are rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide still the go to for cleaning wounds? is there something about these chemicals that prevents bacteria from developing resistance to them?	Because alcohol and antibiotics kill bacteria in two very different ways. Alcohol kills bacteria immediately then evaporates off. The alcohol doesn't stick around long enough for the bacteria to adapt to. Also, alcohol kills bacteria by destroying the whole bacterial cell. It's like a bomb; bacterium can't adapt to pur...	[ "In order to eliminate this problem, it is imperative to apply antiseptics at once. Hydrogen peroxide (a near-universal toxin) is not recommended for this task as it increases inflammation and impedes healing. Dressings with cadexomer iodine, silver, or honey have been shown to penetrate bacterial biofilms. Systemi...
Why the Baltic countries were forgotten between 1945 and 1991 ?	A better question might be to also ask about the fate of: * Yugoslavia * Czechoslovakia * Poland * Romania * Bulgaria * East Germany * Hungary ...the Baltic States had the great misfortune to be directly annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940 (as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact) while all of the nations me...	[ "This Baltic states were under Soviet rule from the end of World War II in 1945, from Sovietization onwards until independence was regained in 1991. The Baltic states were occupied and annexed, becoming the Soviet socialist republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. After their annexation by Nazi Germany, the USSR...
Is one grain of salt/sugar just one big molecule?	No. But you have to understand what a molecule really is in a crystal. Most of the time we think of molecules as individual bits of matter, separate and individual from each other. But That doesn't work in a crystal. Take table salt, sodium chloride (NaCl). In a salt crystal the Na and Cl are in a lattice. Think of the...	[ "Crystalline sugar candies are chemically described as having two phases, because the tiny, solid sugar crystals are suspended in a thick liquid solution. These are also called \"grained\" candies, because they can have a grainy texture. Amorphous sugar candies have only one phase, which is either solid or liquid, ...
What was Germany's plan after WW2?	Part 1 What life would be like in a hypothetical Nazi-invaded America I can't answer but I'll get to the issue of GB and the US towards the end of this post. A lot has been already linked, including my own [recent answer on plans for Western Europe](_URL_1_) (thank you /u/sunagainstgold ) or more specifically on ...	[ "In September 1936, Hitler launched the Four-Year Plan that called for a dramatic increase in military spending and to make Germany as autarkic as possible with the aim of having the \"Reich\" ready to fight a world war by 1940. The Four Year Plan required huge investments in the \"Reichswerke\" steel works, a prog...
why do most personality disorders develop when individuals finished puberty and not sooner?	Certain disorders ARE diagnosed prior to puberty (Conduct disorder, ODD, Separation Anxiety, Tourette for example). However, diagnosing a personality disorder is something you want to wait until after puberty for 2 different reasons. The first is that this is a permanent label. You would never want to diagnose a chil...	[ "Psychosexual development is influenced by many factors, including the timing, amount, and type of androgen exposure, receptor functionality, and environment, and is thus difficult to predict. Gender identity begins to develop before 3 years of age, although the earliest age at which it can be reliably assessed has...
How do we know when organisms evolved certain traits? (Further detail inside)	Not sure how they determine cannabis evolved the ability to produce THC 34 million years ago, but the statement that cannabinoid receptors originally evolved about 600 million years ago can be inferred from the range of different organisms that have cannabinoid receptors. When a new gene is sequenced in some organism, ...	[ "Evolution in organisms occurs through changes in heritable traits—the inherited characteristics of an organism. In humans, for example, eye colour is an inherited characteristic and an individual might inherit the \"brown-eye trait\" from one of their parents. Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the compl...
Statistically speaking, what's the difference between sensitivity and specificity?	If you want to use sensitivity to rule out you would be looking for negative results. "True Positive" doesn't necessarily mean "Disease Positive." With genes for example, things can be both upregulated or downregulated so it depends on the type of data you are looking at. Maybe a "positive" is saying you have a gene ...	[ "Sensitivity refers to the test's ability to correctly detect ill patients who do have the condition. In the example of a medical test used to identify a disease, the sensitivity (sometimes also named as detection rate in a clinical setting) of the test is the proportion of people who test positive for the disease ...
Is a typical mirror the most reliably accurate depiction of my true appearance?	Do the experiment! Take a picture of yourself in a mirror, and compare it to those two options. Whichever ones agree most closely are probably the most accurate.	[ "The mirror is a perfectly defined unbroken pale rectangle within a broad black rectangle. A clear geometric shape, like a lit face, draws the attention of the viewer more than a broken geometric shape such as the door, or a shadowed or oblique face such as that of the dwarf in the foreground or that of the man in ...
how did we arrive at a 40 hour work week?	Through constant struggles between workers (through unions) and employers, which currently sets it at a compromise at 40 hours. There is a pretty strong movement to reduce it further, usually 30, 32 or 35 hours, but we are not there quite yet. I suspect it will happen. Increasing automation means that we will have to ...	[ "Employees were given 14 minutes between each shift to punch the time clock, walk to their respective workbench and prepare for work. It took a minimum of eight minutes for all the employees to get by the time clock. The estimated walking time for employees ranged from 30 seconds to three minutes, but some workers ...
What causes an animals growth speed/life span?	Both of these are highly complex variables dependent on genetics and environmental influence such as nutrition. Specific species adopt specific patterns because of all kinds of selective pressures, such as predation, reproductive rate, resource availability, social factors and all sorts of other things which shape the ...	[ "This growth rate is much slower than the rate seen in large pterodactyloid pterosaurs, such as \"Pteranodon\", which attained near-adult size within the first year of life. Additionally, pterodactyloids had \"determinate growth\", meaning that the animals reached a fixed maximum adult size and stopped growing. Pre...
Has Christianity been "diluted" by prechristian European paganism? And to what extent?	This is a difficult question, for a number of reasons. First, the people involved (i.e. our sources) are actively interested in denying that this sort of thing is going on. Second, it's hard to prove dependence and imitation, rather than simply similarity. For example, cultures all over the world have harvest festiv...	[ "By the 3rd century, criticism of Christianity had mounted, partly as a defense against it. Wild rumors about Christians were widely circulated, claiming that they were atheists and that, as part of their rituals, they devoured human infants and engaged in incestuous orgies. The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry wr...
how is it that the top post in /r/funny has almost 40 thousand link karma, but the guy who posted it has under 5 thousand?	_URL_0_ > Karma also does not share a 1:1 ratio with upvotes. It is common for link karma to be lower than the total number of upvotes you receive on your links. This also applies to comment karma.	[ "I never even heard his name till last week when he made threats and rants. The guy is a fucking idiot, making threats to me, Clooney, Eli Roth, says he has a doctorate—but uses the word \"retard\" in his vocabulary, come on. When you look at his videos, what is interesting are the backgrounds. I guess his low rent...
what does being awarded "new-york times best seller" mean and why does every book have it?	There is one chosen each week, so there are 52 Best Seller's a year.	[ "Book (later retitled \"Barnes & Noble Presents Book\") was an American bi-monthly popular literary magazine founded in 1998 by Mark Gleason and Jerome Kramer and published by West Egg Communications. Described by its editor as \"the \"Rolling Stone\"—not the \"Billboard\"—of the book industry\", \"MediaBistro.com\...
What is the "limit" for how many pixels a screen can have before the human eye stops noticing any difference?	That depends on how large the screen is and how far away you are from it. It also depends on your visual acuity (i.e. 20/20 or 20/15 or 20/40). Here is a graph showing at what distance/size a higher resolution tv becomes worthwhile. _URL_0_ So if you sit 2 feet away from your monitor, your monitor has to be lar...	[ "The maximum angular resolution of the human eye is 28 arc seconds or 0.47 arc minutes, this gives an angular resolution of 0.008 degrees, and at a distance of 1 km corresponds to 136 mm. This is equal to 0.94 arc minutes per line pair (one white and one black line), or 0.016 degrees. For a pixel pair (one white an...
How are electrons generated from magnetism?	You aren't creating electrons, you are moving them around, just like when a river flows down a hill you aren't creating water, you are just moving it downhill. (And if you never move it uphill, you will eventually run out of high-energy water, and the flow will stop, just like if you never recharge your batter, you w...	[ "Instead, magnetism in ordinary matter comes from two sources. First, electric currents create magnetic fields according to Ampère's law. Second, many elementary particles have an \"intrinsic\" magnetic moment, the most important of which is the electron magnetic dipole moment. (This magnetism is related to quantum...
why does spring water taste so bad from a gallon bottle rather than a smaller one?	what does it taste if you pour it in a glass? is there still a difference?	[ "The water from the spring is not naturally carbonated; rather, gas is added prior to packaging. The water from this spring is only used for the natural product, and is not used for any of the flavored varieties.\n", "Today Poland Spring sells the majority of its water in portable 8, 12, and 20 oz bottles; 500 ml...
why is there so much hate towards fat people?	Probably because the fat people haters have very few spaces where they can express those types of views, so they do it here on reddit.	[ "The fat acceptance movement argues that fat people are targets of hatred and discrimination. In particular, that obese women are subjected to more social pressure than obese men. The movement argues that these attitudes comprise a fat phobic entrenched societal norm, evident in many social institutions, including ...
Why do water pipes which lay in the ground for decades not become infested with bacteria?	Well, in a municipal water system, the water is pretty clean by the time it leaves the treatment plant. The addition of chlorine kills off any remaining microbes that weren't filtered out. I believe mineral buildup is a problem over time, perhaps you could try /r/askengineers for more details. Here's a simple diagra...	[ "In one study, researchers found that \"P. oryzihabitans\" contaminated drinking water supply and questioned whether or not these bacteria are commonly found in naturally distributed water. The water supply systems were in contact with an object that is directly connected to sinkholes, which are known sites for the...
Civilization has existed in central and eastern Africa for longer than anywhere else on Earth. Why did they not manage to develop useful technology beyond stone age levels?	I have no idea what you are talking about; even a cursory look at Wikipedia would show that Sub-Saharan African communities have developed "beyond Stone Age levels". I don't think [this](_URL_0_), for example, is made by piling rocks and sticks.	[ "Technology in Africa has a history stretching to the beginning of the human species, stretching back to the first evidence of tool use by hominid ancestors in the areas of Africa where humans are believed to have evolved. Africa saw the advent of some of the earliest ironworking technology in the Aïr Mountains reg...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.