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What do systems with maximum and minimum entropy look like?	Zero entropy: a quantum state at absolute zero (using the definition of entropy, S=-k_b * \sum_i{P_i ln P_i}, though this isn't physically possible) Non-zero minimum entropy (approximate minimum entropy of a feasible physical system): a perfect NaCl lattice, how I would like my desk to be Maximum entropy:...	[ "If system and system have different amounts of entropy, the smaller can only partially cancel the greater, and some entropy must be left over. Likewise, the right-hand inequality can be interpreted as saying that the entropy of a composite system is maximized when its components are uncorrelated, in which case the...
how is it warm enough to sleep in an ice hotel without it melting?	"The inside wall of the igloo blocks does melt, to some extent. But the outside air is so cold and the building blocks of snow so thick that the blocks continually refreeze." Source _URL_0_	[ "Ice hotels are promoted for adventurous travelers who are interested in novelties and unusual environments and are comfortable with the outdoors. Customers have to be prepared to sleep in beds made of snow or ice, but in the warmth of furs, blankets and sleeping bags designed to withstand extremely cold temperatur...
If an egg is dropped down to the deepest part of an ocean, at what depth would the egg implode?	Fracture stress of outer eggshell surface is 27.3N/mm^2, or 27.3MPa, according to this paper: _URL_0_. That pressure corresponds to an ocean depth of roughly 2.7km according to this tool: _URL_1_ I suspect you might have to drag the egg down that far. It would probably reach neutral buoyancy and stop sinking before im...	[ "On 23 January 1960, Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard were the first men to descend to the bottom of the Challenger Deep in the \"Trieste\" bathyscaphe. Though the initial report claimed the bathyscaphe had attained a depth of 37,800 feet, the maximum recorded depth was later calculated to be . At this depth, the wate...
what is so profound in lockheed's new fusion discovery?	They haven't quite told us that part. In specifics. The CEO of Lockheed was recently quoted stating they are looking for partners (investors) so it appears we've all gotten excited about a very uplifting commercial about a technology we could very possibly master in one decade or less, if we had more money because Lock...	[ "When Lockheed Martin announced a \"major breakthrough\" in fusion power in October 2014, Lincoln described the process of nuclear fusion for the Australian Science Media Centre. He expressed some reservations about the alleged break-through, noting that achieving an energy output greater than the required energy i...
Can someone explain to me what the No Boundary Proposal to the beginning of the universe is?	If the big bang is the beginning of time, then you would consider that point in time to be an 'edge' to the universe. Looking at the timeline of the universe, you would see a point where that line ends. If instead you think of time as the radius of a circle, then there is a point where you can't get any smaller (the c...	[ "Hartle and Hawking suggest that if we could travel backwards in time towards the beginning of the Universe, we would note that quite near what might otherwise have been the beginning, time gives way to space such that at first there is only space and no time. According to the Hartle–Hawking proposal, the Universe ...
Why is Buddha depicted in a rather....plump form in Chinese Buddhism despite it not being originally the case in the Asian subcontinent (India)?	Believe it or not, they are different people! The Indian buddha's name is Siddharta Gautama. He lived in 500BC roughly, near or in today's Nepal (depends on the sources). You can call him "buddha", but "buddha" just means "enlightened one". In other words, it's not his name. The Chinese "buddha" is a completely...	[ "The Great Buddha of Gifu is unique due to the method of its construction. First, a central pillar 1.8 meters in circumference was formed from ginkgo tree wood. The Buddha's shape was then formed using bamboo lattices. The bamboo was covered with clay to add shape and many Buddhist scriptures were then placed upon ...
why is bill cosby's deposition sealed and kept secret for now?	Because what the public knows or thinks has NOTHING to do with a trial. That's not how the legal system works, and the more the public is biased for or against him, the harder it will be to have a fair trial.	[ "The significance of the availability of Cosby's deposition from the Constand case is that plaintiffs in other cases vs. Cosby, such as the Tamara Green, et al. defamation suit, may be allowed by judges to use the contents of the transcript as evidence now that it is in the public domain.\n", "The significance of...
if my body wakes up naturally after only a few hours of sleep, is it still bad for me?	From what I've heard, you need less sleep as you get older. Teens need more sleep than adults (_URL_0_). Depression and other mental illnesses can also affect how long you sleep and how tired you feel. Sometimes they can cause oversleeping that is not restful, or mania that provides energy even with little/no sleep. T...	[ "It is common for patients who have difficulty falling asleep to also have nocturnal awakenings with difficulty returning to sleep. Two-thirds of these patients wake up in the middle of the night, with more than half having trouble falling back to sleep after a middle-of-the-night awakening.\n", "Diagnosing sleep...
What exactly causes vision loss in astronauts aboard the ISS?	Briefly reseaching shows that they think its due to high ICP caused by increased volume of csf. That causes optic nerve flattening and degeneration ( most likely at the cusp). _URL_0_	[ "The seventh case of visual changes associated with spaceflight is significant in that it was eventually treated postflight. Approximately 2 months into the ISS mission, the astronaut reported a progressive decrease in his near and far acuity in both eyes. The ISS cabin pressure, CO and O levels were reported to be...
what function do the ridges on the palm of your hand serve?	They serve to increase surface area of your hands and improve traction and friction when gripping. If your hands were completely smooth, things would slip through your fingers like they were coated in butter. The ridges provide points on your fingers, almost microscopic that double or even triple the surface area of th...	[ "By tucking the thumb into the palm, a striking surface called the ridge-hand, or reverse knife-hand is formed, extending a few inches along the inside of the hand below the first knuckle of the first finger. Ridge-hand strikes commonly are delivered with a hooking motion, or with a straight arm swinging sideways.\...
why do helicopters need to slowly discharge when touching power lines, but birds can land right on them?	Line workers are very safety conscious, they work with very dangerous levels of electricity. The fear isn't always for electrocuting the worker, it's also for upsetting the helicopter's electronics. A glitch could bump the helicopter into the wire, and that would be a huge problem.	[ "Unlike kites (which rely solely on the wind for power) and balloons (which require specialty lighter-than-air gases), helicopters are normally powered by aviation fuels. However, it is possible to run captive helicopters electrically by running a cable inside the tether line holding the helicopter.\n", "In norma...
What were the long-term negative consequences of European colonialism in Africa and Asia?	Okay, where to begin. ‘European imperialism was at its most spectacular in Africa’^1 and subsequently it seems apt to focus exclusively on Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa especially, where the legacies of the European rule have made much more of a distinguishing mark on the independent nations that now exist, for thi...	[ "In trying to assess the legacy of colonization, some researchers have focused on the type of political and economic institutions that existed before the arrival of Europeans. Heldring and Robinson conclude that while colonization in Africa had overall negative consequences for political and economic development in...
why do ballpoint pens become unusable even though their see-through cartridges are shown with full ink?	If the ink can't flow, it doesn't matter how much there is. Ball point pens can become damaged, or clogged with crap far before they run out of ink.	[ "BULLET::::- Roller ball pens with liquid-ink are more likely to \"bleed\" through the paper. Liquid ink is more readily absorbed into the paper due to its lower viscosity. This viscosity also causes problems when leaving the tip on the paper (to pause for a thought for example). The bleed-through effect is greatly...
why england is always rainy	If it didn't rain all the time, there is a risk that English people might start being cheerful.	[ "The main cause for a long spell of dry weather in the United Kingdom is usually a blocking anticyclone (often the Azores high) system that forces other low pressure systems around it, usually to the northwest. This can happen any time of year, but brings hot sunny weather in summer and dry, cold and foggy weather ...
why does touching the contacts on a 9-volt battery not shock you, but something like putting your finger in an electrical outlet will?	If I remember correctly, it takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 17-20 volts of electrical potential to pass the poorly conductive barrier of dry skin. If you wet your finger you will feel it. Try connecting 4 of those batteries in parallel and close the loop with your dry finger. If you really want to science, tak...	[ "There is a risk of electric shock when touching the parts of the system under voltage by the body joint. As a countermeasure, so-called protective conductors and residual current circuit breakers are used in electrical engineering.\n", "In power transmission systems, one side of the circuit, known as the neutral...
Is it possible our star/solar system was formed out of the Orion Nebula?	Nope! These types of clouds only live for 10s of millions years. They live long enough for portions of the cloud to collapse into stars, but those stars soon heat up the gas and the cloud dissipates, and you end up with an "open" star cluster without much gas. After 5 billion years, the cloud that formed our solar syst...	[ "The young stars in H II regions show evidence for containing planetary systems. The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed hundreds of \"protoplanetary disks\" (proplyds) in the Orion Nebula. At least half the young stars in the Orion Nebula appear to be surrounded by disks of gas and dust, thought to contain many ti...
How was Hitler viewed in the united states before WII? Was he the crazy lunatic as which he's portayed today or did people see him as a usual politician maybe even thought of him as a kind of revolutionary force?	Most Americans had a fairly negative view of Hitler, as he was hostile to America's biggest ally, Britain, and his open hostility to democracy and individual liberties was pretty negative in most Americans' eyes. Also, while America was still a very racist society in the 1930s, many saw Hitler's treatment of Jews as be...	[ "Of all of Germany's potential enemies comprising the eventual Allies of World War II, Hitler ranked the U.S. as the most dangerous. By contrast, Hitler saw the United Kingdom as a fellow \"Aryan\" power that in exchange for Germany's renunciation of naval and colonial ambitions would ally itself with Germany. Fran...
How did Benjamin Franklin view slavery?	Benjamin Franklin was an interesting character when it came to slavery. While he was in favor of man's equality and even pushed an anti-slavery petition, he did own slaves for over 40 years. He once blamed this on the temptation presented by British merchants selling the slaves which in his mind could be viewed as hi...	[ "Benjamin's view that slavery should continue was based in his belief that citizens had a right to their property as guaranteed by the Constitution. As Butler put it, \"he could no more see that it was right for Northern people to rob him of his slave than it would be for him to connive at horse stealing\". He avoi...
What, if any, evidence is there to support the claim that Richard I was homo- or bisexual?	This is one of those topics that is subject to endless speculation because queer studies has been a "hot" academic topic for the past few decades. The two main stories surrounding Richard I are during his travels to the Holy Land, he and Philip Augustus stopped in Italy to confess. The two kings tried to one up themsel...	[ "In the historiography of the second half of the 20th century, much interest was shown in Richard's sexuality, in particular whether there was cogent evidence of homosexuality. The topic had not been raised by Victorian or Edwardian historians, a fact which was itself denounced as a \"conspiracy of silence\" by Joh...
how do large companies like microsoft & sony keep their projects secret for so many years?	They force their employees to sign(Non-disclosure agreements) NDA. Basically if you break that contract, you will be found out and prosecuted, you will also be used and a bunch of other crap. They have ways of figuring out whom is the one who blew the whistle.	[ "Some companies nevertheless avoid publicity in fields that are ordinarily not secretive. Among the reasons, a small, relatively unfunded company may wish to avoid giving companies with more resources time to develop competing technologies. The very announcement that a larger or better-known company is working on a...
why would vast methane plumes escaping from arctic seafloor be bad for us?	Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, many many times more potent than gases like CO2 (though the life of methane in our atmosphere is much shorter than other, less potent gases). Scientists are concerned that this could become a trend, something we certainly would not want to happen.	[ "Even with existing levels of warming and melting of the Arctic region, submarine methane releases linked to clathrate breakdown have been discovered, and demonstrated to be leaking into the atmosphere. A 2011 Russian survey off the East Siberian coast found plumes wider than one kilometer releasing methane directl...
why can't i use the stuff (drugs?) transgender men use to grow boobs instead of getting breast enhancement?	Hormone therapy only works if you lack the hormone in the first place. Your modest development is most likely due to other reasons than a lack of female hormones. Rejoice in your individuality, if you can. It would be a damn shame if everybody was identical.	[ "Medications used in hormone therapy for transgender men include androgens and anabolic steroids like testosterone (by injection and other routes) to produce masculinization, suppress estrogen and progesterone levels, and prevent/reverse feminization; GnRH agonists and antagonists to suppress estrogen and progester...
how can people be allergic to synthetic substances?	There's no reason one couldn't. Allergy is just an unnecessarily extreme reaction to something harmless. Doesn't matter if it's a medicine or an animal.	[ "An allergic reaction will not occur on the first exposure to a substance. The first exposure allows the body to create antibodies and memory lymphocyte cells for the antigen. However, drugs often contain many different substances, including dyes, which could cause allergic reactions. This can cause an allergic rea...
Why doesn't microwave energy escape through the holes in the screen of a microwave oven?	Correct. But you must remember that the high conductivity of the screen material shorts out the field and makes it go to zero - reflecting it in the process. The microwaves cannot match the zero field condition at both edges of a hole that is much smaller than its wavelength. Fundamental law of wave too: cannot form a ...	[ "The door of a microwave oven has a screen built into the window. From the perspective of microwaves (with wavelengths of 12 cm) this screen finishes a Faraday cage formed by the oven's metal housing. Visible light, with wavelengths ranging between 400 nm and 700 nm, passes easily through the screen holes.\n", "M...
why are ancient buildings (e.g. pyramids) build with such large stones? wouldn't it be way easier to use many small?	When these ancient civilizations were building megastructures, they didn't have anything in the way of mortar or glue. This meant they designed and built these amazing, massive structures to press into themselves, so the sheer weight of the objects would keep them together. When they used smaller stones for detail wo...	[ "The grandest buildings were constructed in stone, often from massive masonry blocks. The techniques used to move massive blocks used in pyramids and temples have been subject to extensive debate. Some authors have suggested that the larger may not be cut stone but fabricated with concrete.\n", "A pyramid's desig...
what exactly are they doing when a city's water department is just letting a fire hydrant run for no apparent reason?	Usually it is flushing the water line. All water carries a bit of sediment through the water mains. At the ends of the lines, the water flows slower or not at all, depending on the configuration, and the sediment accumulates. To get rid of the sediment, they open the last hydrant on the line and let it run.	[ "BULLET::::- A fire hydrant is an active fire protection measure, and a source of water provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal water service to enable firefighters to tap into the municipal water supply to assist in extinguishing a fire. Before the existence of fire hydrants, a primitive fi...
can we change the language of the voice in our head?	When I was learning a second language I would sometimes catch my self thinking in the second language. It was usually when I was more immersed in that second language and wasn’t using my native tongue much. Since then I can usually deliberately change the language of the voice in my head.	[ "Explanations for the physiological mechanisms behind the head voice can alter from voice teacher to voice teacher. This is because, according to Clippinger, \"\"In discussing the head voice it is the purpose to avoid as much as possible the mechanical construction of the instrument\"\".\n", "Voice analysis is th...
I have a Nazi trinket that my grandmother got from someone as a child (Southeast US) about 60 years ago. We're trying to figure out what it says and means.	Resembles the Reichsparteitagsgelände[1]. If you want to know more, you will have to get better pictures, preferably in daylight. The letters look look like Sütterlin[2] which means that you have to get a really good picture because the last one who could read this abomination fluently died in the last millenium. [1]...	[ "In September 1939, as a 12-year-old, Esther watched Nazi German soldiers arrive in her village of Mniszek, strategically located along the east bank of the Vistula River. Her grandfather was pulled from his home, beaten and had his beard publicly shaved off ( a sign of the Jewish faith, removed to demonstrate the ...
Why did certain religious folk just stop updating their fashion at a certain time? Hasidic Jews, The Pope, etc. When and why did their dress switch from contemporary to traditional?	I can speak to part of this (namely vestments in the Western Christian Church). In the early days of the Church, clerical dress was not noticeably different from what you might call upper-class streetwear. In The Early Church, Henry Chadwick relates that > ...in the West the clergy did not wear distinct dress, e...	[ "The custom of masquerading in costume and the wearing of masks probably originated among the Italian Jews at the end of the 15th century. The concept was possibly influenced by the Roman carnival and spread across Europe. The practice was only introduced into Middle Eastern countries much later during the 19th cen...
liver cirrhosis	Cirrhosis is pretty simple, the liver cells get damaged and are replaced by scar tissue. The scar tissue doesn't function as normal liver cells do, and so the liver function degrades. The damage to liver cells can be caused by alcohol, viruses, or a whole other range of issues. It's irreversible, but if the source o...	[ "BULLET::::- Cirrhosis is the formation of fibrous tissue (fibrosis) in the place of liver cells that have died due to a variety of causes, including viral hepatitis, alcohol overconsumption, and other forms of liver toxicity. Cirrhosis causes chronic liver failure.\n", "Cirrhosis is a late stage of serious liver...
Does gravity travel at the speed of light? If the sun suddenly disappeared, would we still orbit it for a while?	Here's the thing, the speed of light is not really just about light. The speed of light is the speed at which data propagates through space time. So yes, 'Gravity' or the progression of the forces of it travel at the speed of light. I.E. If you have a star sitting in space, and then 1 light year away another star rand...	[ "In December 2012, a research team in China announced that it had produced measurements of the phase lag of Earth tides during full and new moons which seem to prove that the speed of gravity is equal to the speed of light. This means that if the Sun suddenly disappeared, the Earth would keep orbiting it normally f...
What is the normal force? Can it be measured?	'Normal' in the situation described just means 'at right angles to'. It doesn't mean 'usual' or anything like that. For example, if you swing an object around your head on a string, the string exerts a force that is normal to the direction of the object's motion.	[ "Test units of force measurements are most commonly newtons or pounds. The peak force is the most common result in force testing applications, this can be used to determine if a part is good or not. Some examples of force measurements include door latch, quality of spring, wire testing, and strength. More complicat...
why are over easy eggs safe to eat if the yolk is still uncooked? wouldn't bacteria still live in it?	The typical bacteria to worry about with raw eggs is salmonella. It typically lives on the shell, infecting the egg whites once the shell is cracked open. The yolk is typically protected from infection by the egg whites. So by cooking the whites and thus killing any possible bacteria in them, the egg should still be sa...	[ "Eggs are susceptible to \"Salmonella\" contamination. Thorough cooking eliminates the direct threat (i.e. cooked egg whites that are solid and not runny), the threat of cross-contamination remains if people handle contaminated eggs and then touch other foods or items in the kitchen, thus spreading the bacteria. In...
Aristotle considered democracy to be an unjust form of rule by many compared to polity. Why have there been seemingly no governments that have aimed for polity rather than democracy? When did democracy become viewed as the preferred system that it is today in many countries?	Is democracy really the 'preferred system that it is today'? From Aristotle's perspective, no. 'For example, the appointment of magistrates by lot is thought to be democratical, and the election of them oligarchical; democratical again when there is no property qualification, oligarchical when there is.' 'By ...	[ "Since the middle of the 20th century, most countries have claimed to be a democracy, regardless of the actual makeup of its government. Yet, after the demise of Athenian democracy, few looked upon it as a good form of government. This was because no legitimation of that rule was formulated to counter the negative ...
do astronauts on the iss just not fap?	Why would you think that? They're up their for awhile, if they're not having sex with eachother, masturbation seems like an obvious thing that would happen	[ "The shuttle EMU was improved for use on the International Space Station (ISS). The suits for the ISS were modified to provide greater mobility, to afford better tactile capabilities of the glove, and to provide an increased operational life. As of Feb. 2011, a total of 104 EVAs on the ISS had occurred, for greater...
Would an exact atomic replica of me share my past memories?	Yes. Unless you are an adherent to the belief that humans have an invisible, immeasurable thing called a "soul" and believe that it harbors some memories (rather than your brain). But there is no scientific basis for such a belief.	[ "BULLET::::- \"Red Dwarf\" (1988–1999), where a person's memories and personality can be recorded in just a few seconds and, upon their death, they can be recreated as a holographic simulation. Arnold Rimmer is an example of such a person.\n", "John Sheridan and Delenn are discussing everything they have done, an...
Does sand exhibit surface tension?	What a great gif! I was reading last year about how to simulate fluids "realistically" in computer programs - things like water sloshing around in a beaker. You can get a reasonable first order approximation that shows waves and ripples with just elastic forces between spheres but the behavior when "pouring" or as dr...	[ "Surface tension describes how difficult it is to extend the area of a surface (by stretching or distorting it). If surface tension is high, there is a large free energy required to increase the surface area, so the surface will tend to contract and hold together like a rubber sheet.\n", "BULLET::::- Surface tens...
why do they need multiple medications for the same disorders?	Brain chemistry is not as simple as a bacterial infection, where a few pills can fight several different types of infections. A mood stabilizer that works for one person, may not work for another, so a different type of drug will need to be tried. There are drug classes with pros and cons, such as timing of release...	[ "There are three basic categories of drug treatment that can be used when a medication course is found to be ineffective. One option is to switch the patient to a different medication. Another option is to add a medication to the patient’s current treatment. This can include combination therapy: the combination of ...
how come all of our electricity is produced by turbines?	its a very efficient way of turning heat into mechanical energy, to drive the generator	[ "Almost all commercial electrical power on Earth is generated with a turbine, driven by wind, water, steam or burning gas. The turbine drives a generator, thus transforming its mechanical energy into electrical energy by electromagnetic induction. There are many different methods of developing mechanical energy, in...
Does every material have a solid, liquid, and gas state?	At least every element has (apart from many others) a solid, liquid, and gas state. [Although for some this might be very difficult to observe, e.g. Helium is liquid even at T=0 for normal pressure, one needs at least 100atm] As concerns "meterials": Probably there are many molecules which become unstable before you r...	[ "Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and plasma). In solids particles are closely packed. It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor d...
When did women in medieval Japan start to lose the rights they had in the Heian era?	Hey, I'm not much of an expert in Japanese history, although I'm doing a paper in it at the moment. I was just going to point you towards Karl Friday's Japan Emerging, particularly pages 267-277. I'll give a rudimentary breakdown: Up to the Kamakura period (1185–1333), women had property, taxation & military du...	[ "Through the collective efforts of Masako and a few political puppets, laws governing the shōgun's court in the early 13th century allowed women equal rights of inheritance with fraternal kin. Even though the primary role of women in ancient Japan continued to be the support to their family and their husbands, they...
why as are professional sports teams such as the nfl and nba owned by private individuals and not by the city they represent?	They don't represent a city. Sports teams start out as private entities, many of which incorporated and tried to make a profit. There's no requirement that they have any financial ties to a city. However, cities try to entice a team to come there because they hope the team being there will have economic benefits. So t...	[ "Professional teams in all major sports in the United States operate as franchises within a league, meaning that a team may move to a different city if the team's owners believe there would be a financial benefit, but franchise moves are usually subject to some form of league-level approval. All major sports league...
Why do some animals (like certain reptiles) grow until death while others stop growing fairly early in life?	This isn't my area, but here goes: Think of a housecat and a lion. Both require pretty much the same kind of diet, the lion just needs a lot more. Why? Because the lion is much bigger, it burns more energy just walking around and existing. This is referred to as the basal metabolic rate (BMR), and is literally the n...	[ "Small animals tend to grow fast, breed early, and die young. According to MTE, these patterns in life history traits are constrained by metabolism. An organism's metabolic rate determines its rate of food consumption, which in turn determines its rate of growth. This increased growth rate produces trade-offs that ...
Have scientists ever successfully changed an atom from one element to another element without it becoming radioactive?	Yeah, there's tons of examples. Typical fusion reactions produce vanilla Helium: _URL_0_	[ "These discoveries shed a light to the nature of radioactive decay and other forms of transmutation of elements, as well as of elements themselves. It appeared that atomic number is nothing else than (positive) electric charge of the atomic nucleus of a particular atom. Chemical transformations, governed by electro...
Did the average Roman know that Constantine was Christian?	Both of these are from his earlier days. The coin is from his time in Britain, still before his use of Christianity really took off. The inscription is on the Arch of Constantine, a much older arch that was "restored" by Constantine after the battle of the Milvian bridge. This is the early 310's AD. Constantine was sti...	[ "At the time of Constantine the Great (r. 306–337), barely 10% of the Roman Empire's population were Christians, with most of them being urban population and generally found in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The majority of people still honoured the old gods in the public Roman way of \"religio\". As Christi...
how are mice cloned?	There are two theoretical categories of cloned animals: cellular clone and genetic clone (not technical terms). A 'cellular' clone would be taking some cells from an animal and growing a new one from it. No one knows how to do that (stem cells seem like a good start), although we've been doing it with plants for centur...	[ "BULLET::::- Mice: (1986) A mouse was successfully cloned from an early embryonic cell. Soviet scientists Chaylakhyan, Veprencev, Sviridova, and Nikitin had the mouse \"Masha\" cloned. Research was published in the magazine \"Biofizika\" volume ХХХII, issue 5 of 1987.\n", "There are two basic technical approaches...
why don't we "miss" text messages when our phones are off?	Cell phones do not generally communicate directly with each other. In the case of SMS, the sending phone sends the message to the network once, and normally the network will send it to the recipient immediately. If the network does not know where to find the recipient, it will store the message and send it when it doe...	[ "These messages were seen as confusing by many, with the cost hard to decipher unless the call was made from a BT landline. Following research also found that phone users were sometimes confused by the charges of calling service numbers. This lack of confidence caused some people to avoid using service numbers wher...
why was it so hard to extinguish the notre dame fire?	Due to older building techniques, the roof was full of tar, which when ablaze, science refers to as a "big nope"	[ "While undergoing renovation and restoration, the roof of Notre-Dame caught fire on the evening of 15 April 2019. Burning for around 15 hours, the cathedral sustained serious damage, including the destruction of the flèche (the timber spire over the crossing) and most of the lead-covered wooden roof above the stone...
the difference between an illness and a disease.	An illness is when you feel bad. You have pain, soreness, dizziness, you might feel tired, etc. You are not sure why you fell bad, you just do. Basically, illnesses are feelings, a list of complaints. A disease is when there is something actually wrong with you physically or mentally, whether you feel it or not. T...	[ "A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of part or all of an organism, and that is not due to any external injury. Diseases are often construed as medical conditions that are associated with specific symptoms and signs. A disease may be caused by external fact...
Why is it that with things like video games, the user can't see the source code, but with html pages, the user can?	Video games are usually written in a language that makes use of something called a compiler. A compiler takes the source code of the software, analyzes it, and produces machine code that will perform the activities designated by the source code. This output will look nothing like the original source code, but it will...	[ "There are as well tools applying full-text search over source code stored in various repositories. If the source code is web-browsable, then classical search engines can be used. If the source is only available in the runtime environment, it gets more complicated and specialized tools may be of help.\n", "Source...
Question about Inflation (in cosmology) and the Big Bang	So very early in the universe there was a very brief period of very rapid accelerated expansion. This is called inflation. Then after inflation there was a period of radiation domination, then after the universe cooled some more there was a period of dark matter domination. During both of these periods the expansion of...	[ "Chapter 10, \"Deconstructing the Bang\", makes inflationary cosmology the main point. General relativity and the discovery of dark energy (repulsive gravity) are taken into account, as well as the cosmological constant. Certain problems that arise due to the standard Big Bang theory are addressed, and new answers ...
how does induced hypothermia extend the window of treatment for stroke and cardiac arrest?	All of the processes that a cell does require energy and that energy comes from oxygen. After you've had a cardiac arrest blood is no longer flowing around your body. And blood is what carries oxygen. So no oxygen means no energy. Cells at lower temperatures use energy more slowly. So by cooling down the body, you inc...	[ "Since the 1970s, induced hypothermia has been performed for some open-heart surgeries as an alternative to heart-lung machines. Hypothermia, however, provides only a limited amount of time in which to operate and there is a risk of tissue and brain damage for prolonged periods.\n", "The use of hypothermia caps h...
if i'm travelling at, say, 70% of light speed (0.7c) in one direction, and you're travelling at the same speed in the opposite direction, would the relative speed between us be 1.4c? how does this work relativistically?	A neutral observer would see one person traveling 0.7c in one direction and another person traveling 0.7c in the other direction, so in that reference frame the relative velocity between them would appear to be greater than c. This is fine, though, because the observer doesn't actually see either of them as moving fast...	[ "When the relative velocity is zero, formula_33 is simply equal to 1, and the relativistic mass is reduced to the rest mass as one can see in the next two equations below. As the velocity increases toward the speed of light \"c\", the denominator of the right side approaches zero, and consequently formula_33 approa...
What exactly are the conduction band, valence band, band gap and Fermi level? Can I visualize this?	No, it's not a physical gap. It's a gap in the allowed energy states of the electrons. In a single atom, you have a very rigid structure for the energy levels of electrons. Electrons can be excited to higher levels, and can drop back down, but there is basically a fixed list of quantized energy states a given electron...	[ "In solid-state physics, a band gap, also called an energy gap or bandgap, is an energy range in a solid where no electron states can exist. In graphs of the electronic band structure of solids, the band gap generally refers to the energy difference (in electron volts) between the top of the valence band and the bo...
how do people measure statistics of things like what state has the most human trafficking?	Very hard. In general, data on this and similar issues comes from multiple sources, some of which include official crime statistics countries report to various international organizations such as Europol, Interpol, UNOCD etc. Depending on the editor/user of data, some will be evaluated and supplemented by other sources...	[ "In the year of 2007 the sex trade generated $290 million in Atlanta. This number derives from the study \"Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities\" by the Urban Institute, with 18 interviews conducted in Atlanta, and includes \"prostitutes, massage parlo...
how can i run a speed test and get 70+mbps down, but can't even stream 360p videos on youtube without constantly buffering?	So essentially there can be different reasons (or a combination of them) for this: -A stream of video is a large block of data and possibly you can have multiple streams coming in at once for a long time, while when performing a speed test you only download a small portion of a data for a short time, due to various ne...	[ "Unlike analogue video streams in which only serial access is possible, digital video allows for random access to the media, which raises the possibility of alternative fast forwarding algorithms and visualizations. In video streaming formats, such as H.264, fast forward algorithms use the I-frames to sample the vi...
When the Niagara Falls froze, what happened to water upstream?	Niagara Falls never really freezes at the full flowrate. The surface will freeze but the water will continue to flow underneath. Sometimes there's ice jams upstream that can temporarily reduce flow or divert water from American falls. The only recorded complete freeze of Niagara came in 1848 (?) when the exit to l...	[ "The only recorded freeze-up of the river and falls was due to an ice jam on March 29, 1848. Although the falls commonly ice up most winters, the river and the falls do not freeze completely. The years 1885, 1902, 1906, 1911, 1932, 1936, 2014 and 2017 are noted for the falls icing up. In 1912, much of the water com...
why is coffee described as a drug?	It's a drug because it causes an effect in the body. The active ingredient in coffee is caffeine which has a stimulant effect on the central nervous system. Coffee is the most widely consumed drug on the planet.	[ "American species : the dried and roasted fruits have been occasionally used as a substitute for coffee; but they are chiefly valued for their medicinal properties, the roots having been used as an emetic and mild cathartic. The drug is sometimes called Tinker's root, after Dr. Tinker, who first brought it to notic...
If fire is a reaction limited to planets with oxygen in their atmosphere, what other reactions would you find on planets with different atmospheric composition?	Fire merely requires a sufficiently strong oxidizer, which doesn't necessarily have to be oxygen. Oxidizers are molecules that take electrons away from something, and tend to be toward the right of the periodic table. Fluorine is even stronger than oxygen and can react with water. Chlorine triflouride is powerful enou...	[ "However, carbon planets will probably be devoid of water, which cannot form because any oxygen delivered by comets or asteroids will react with the carbon on the surface. The atmosphere on a relatively cool carbon planet would consist primarily of carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide with a significant amount of carb...
Why was India the "Jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire?	To put it very simply, the British Raj supported the British Empire financially, and helped build up the industry and infrastructure across Britain. Words cannot describe how lucrative India was to the British, in terms of the cash crops that could be extracted at very cheap prices, without needing to buy it in gold bu...	[ "The British Raj was dominant in Asia after the Battle of Assaye; following the Battle of Waterloo, the British Empire became more influential. Its prestige was only briefly dented by setbacks in India, Afghanistan and South Africa. It was virtually unchallenged until 1914.\n", "The British had competed with Port...
When did being called a racist become considered pejorative by the majority of white US citizens?	Hi, whilst I bet there are some great historians here who specialise in the time period in the US you are looking at here. I think it might be a good idea to cross post this in /r/asksocialscience . This doesn't really seem like a question you can put any kind of historical date on. It's interesting though!	[ "In February 1930, an American teacher working in the Philippines, Mabel Brummitt, made racist insults toward several high school students, referring to them as \"a bunch of sweet potato eaters\" and \"monkeys\". In retaliation to the teacher's racist comments, the students staged high-profile walkout protests. Ben...
how do peolpe go missing when ending up in a sinkhole?	Some sinkholes are hundreds of feet deep and were formed when an underground cave collapsed or by the action of water underground carrying away supporting soil It’s flowing water that removes the bodies so people are not found	[ "BULLET::::- Doline, also sink or sinkhole, is a closed depression draining underground in karst areas. The name \"doline\" comes from \"dolina\", meaning \"valley\", and derives from South Slavic languages.\n", "In karst areas, a sinkhole, sink, or doline is a closed depression draining underground. It can be cy...
why do sugar puffs make your urine smell so strongly of sugar puffs when other cereals/food do not?	I've never heard of this being the case, but as an FYI if your urine is smelling sweet sugary that's a sign of diabetes.	[ "People eat puffed grains in many ways, but it can be as simple as puffed grain alone and with sugar or salt for taste. Commercial products such as corn flakes and Corn Pops mix many ingredients into a homogeneous batter. The batter is then formed into shapes then toasted and/or extruded. This causes them to rise, ...
why exactly do we need differential calculus?	It is no exaggeration to say that anything university level that requires mathematics will need calculus. In fact it is probably the basics of what you need. Things only get more complicated from there. Differentiation is basically calculating a rate of change. Turn that around and you get integration, which basic...	[ "However, the decline of differential calculus should not be exaggerated, because differential calculus has always been used in graduate training and in applications. Moreover, differential calculus has returned to the highest levels of mathematical economics, general equilibrium theory (GET), as practiced by the \...
How long has Chesty Puller been a legendary figure of the USMC? Was it like that when he was in, or has it only started recently?	Chesty Puller was already a decorated veteran with twenty years of service, but Guadalcanal was his first major combat command. At the time, he hadn't yet come to the attention of the general public, but he was gaining attention within the Corps as a commander who cared and thought carefully about his enlisted men. ...	[ "Earl Caddock (February 27, 1888 – August 25, 1950) was an American professional wrestler and World Heavyweight Champion who was active in the early portion of the twentieth century. As the first man to bill himself as \"The Man of 1,000 Holds\" (a nickname used many times since), Caddock was one of professional wr...
How long would we see a Super Nova in the visible spectrum ?	> How long would we see a Super Nova in the visible spectrum? That depends on the kind of supernova, but generally speaking it's visible over weeks and month. [Here](_URL_1_) is a comparison of the various types, including hypernovae. > Would we see something before hand... We can detect the neutrinos of the su...	[ "Supernovae reach their maximum brightness in only 20 days, and then take much longer to fade away. Researchers had initially conjectured that SCP 06F6 might be an extremely remote supernova; relativistic time dilation might have caused a 20-day event to stretch out over a period of 100 days. But this explanation n...
what does the term 'stoner' actually come from?	"stoned" used to describe someone under the influence. Stoned was first used in the 50s to describe someone drunk or high. In the late 70s, stoner came into being as a noun. Instead of saying he was stoned. one would call someone a stoner, implying that the person may or may not be stoned.	[ "The name consists of two elements; \"Culve\" and \"stan\", the second element being Old English for a stone (such as a boundary or standing stone). The meaning of the first element is much less certain, and may derive from a personal name, possibly \"Cuthwulf\". The stone presumably referred to the original folkmo...
why does it feel more mentally exhausting to read educational materials (e.g. lecture notes) as compared to comics?	Because it literally is more exhausting for your brain, linguistically speaking. It's an issue of amount of words and type of words: educational materials in school generally have a lot more words in them that comic books do, page by page; educational materials generally have more varied words than comic books, and are...	[ "On October 17, 2013 Howard Gardner visited the CH-CH campus. According to Dr. Gardner, \"when something is important, try to teach it lots of different ways... Textbooks are fine, but not everybody learns best from text books. iPads, hands-on, works of art, debate, humor, graphics, and video, the more different wa...
If the ovary has a finite number of eggs, and you don't ovulate during pregnancy, could you sequentially get a girl pregnant and push her menopause many years farther on?	Menopause is not caused by the woman running out of eggs, or by the number of ovulation cycles she has. It's caused by a change of hormone levels associated with age. So, to answer your question: No.	[ "An ovarian pregnancy is usually understood to begin when a mature egg cell is not expelled or picked up from its follicle and a sperm enters the follicle and fertilizes the egg, giving rise to an intrafollicular pregnancy. It has also been debated that an egg cell fertilized outside of the ovary could implant on t...
What were the exact words of the Dred Scott decision?	You can find Chief Justice Taney's opinion [here](_URL_0_).	[ "\"Dred Scott\" ... rested upon the concept of \"substantive due process\" that the Court praises and employs today. Indeed, \"Dred Scott\" was very possibly the first application of substantive due process in the Supreme Court, the original precedent for ... \"Roe v. Wade\".\n", "Lochner's appeal was based on th...
why does breaking a nail hurt so badly but cutting your nails is essentially painless?	Nails don't have nerves so they don't feel pain. When you break a nail the impact that broke it transfers to your nail bed which is very very sensitive under the nail.	[ "Trauma to the nail can cause the nail plate to be torn from the nail bed. Unlike other types of avulsion, when a nail is lost, it is not typically reattached. Following the loss of the nail, the nail bed forms a germinal layer which hardens as the cells acquire keratin and becomes a new nail. Until this layer has ...
why do schools buy macs but install windows on them?	I genuinely have never experienced this, but probably because windows is a more familiar platform for the general public, and all the school programs are probably windows formatted. Something along those lines, i’m explaining like you’re 10 and not 5, sorry.	[ "When using a PC as a host, only hardware certified for use with either Windows 7 or Windows 8 will work well with Windows To Go. Although Microsoft does not provide support for this feature on Windows RT or Macintosh computers, it is possible to boot Windows To Go on a Mac.\n", "Microsoft encourages original equ...
does anyone know what a dietary antigen is?	Just take it at face value. It basically means an antigen that is in the food you eat. Whatever antigen causes a peanut allergy would be an example. Technically, it's just a molecule that causes an immune response (an antigen) but you classify it as dietary because of the method in which it interacts with your body. ...	[ "Also, an antigen is a molecule that binds to Ag-specific receptors, but cannot necessarily induce an immune response in the body by itself. Antigens are usually proteins, peptides (amino acid chains) and polysaccharides (chains of monosaccharides/simple sugars) but lipids and nucleic acids become antigens only whe...
Charles V and his abdication	To put it simply, Charles V was tired. He'd overseen the expansion and consolidation of his families possessions to their peak. He'd formed the administrative and legal changes which would eventually lead to the creation of the nation state. He oversaw the expansion overseas. All that time, he moved between his lands c...	[ "Although it has widely been cited as an \"abdication\", the word itself was never used in either proclamation. Indeed, he deliberately avoided using the word \"abdication\" in the hope that the people of either Austria or Hungary would vote to recall him. Privately, Charles left no doubt that he believed himself t...
what are those strings and things we see inside our eyes that move as we look around	See the inside of the eye as a sort of ball filled with clear jelly. Over time (mostly when you get older) this jelly will get "contaminated" with debris or air pockets. Light passes through this clear jelly onto the nerve ending at the back of your eyes, which creates vision. When the light passes through a piece of...	[ "According to Euclid, the eye sees objects that are within its visual cone. The visual cone is made up of straight lines, or visual rays, extending outward from the eye. These visual rays are discrete, but we perceive a continuous image because our eyes, and thus our visual rays, move very quickly. Because visual r...
When did the word "cult" start to have the negative connotations it has today?	The Oxford English Dictionary is a fantastic source for the etymology and history of words. The entry for "cult" provides examples of word usage from different times in history, and indicates that "cult" originally referred simply to: "A particular form or system of religious worship; esp. in reference to its external...	[ "In the 1970s, with the rise of secular anti-cult movements, scholars (but not the general public) began abandoning the term \"cult\". According to \"The Oxford Handbook of Religious Movements\", \"by the end of the decade, the term 'new religions' would virtually replace 'cult' to describe all of those leftover gr...
How did the Roman empire handle immigration? Were there certain groups who were prevented or at least discouraged from entering and if so, what groups were given preferential treatment?	It's important to preface this with the fact that the Romans didn't really have a concept of 'race' or 'nationality', and while there was prejudice against barbari (essentially, non-Latinate foreigners) 'racism' didn't exist. This is also somewhat the case for borders. The edges of the Empire were termed limes (li...	[ "Immigration was also a motivation for travel, particularly to large urban centers, including Rome itself. There were few restrictions (except in wartime) on the ability of individuals and families to migrate and subsequently settle in cities, and despite stratification, there was still some level of upward mobilit...
why does rent continue to rise even when there is an abundance of empty space?	> How is it in the best interest of the landlord Stop. The landlord is an hourly or salaried employee of the property owner. Also, much of the commercial space in the world is owned by major companies who only deal in commercial properties. So, knowing that, they can decide to keep rent high so that only the types...	[ "Many spaces are left empty by owners because they currently do not have plans with the space, no capital for its renovation or further building, or cannot sell or rent the space at the price they want. Instead of waiting with an empty space, which can often mean being additional taxed by the municipality, they can...
why do schools always assign dystopian novels as required reading for english classes?	Why not? It's a fairly expansive genre, and books like 1984, Brave New World, and Atlas Shrugged are some of the most widely referenced works in today's culture. Not only that, but they are fairly encompassing when it comes to human nature and society. There are fairly grand statements being made by most dystopia...	[ "Nowadays, nearly all EFL coursebooks compete to include the most up-to-date and interesting texts for the target age group, while on the other hand the fiction literature has a treasure of themes which, relate more to our everyday lives. All this goes against what most English language learners and many English te...
Are we capable of creating a super-intelligent chimp?	In terms of capability, yes, we could genetically modify an ape in the terms you suggested. Not, say, tomorrow, but it would only be a moderate amount of research necessary to figure out how to introduce the gene of interest into the genome. We have genetically modified all sorts of organisms in all sorts of ways; its ...	[ "Unlike other Artificially Intelligent supercomputers, Ceres was not made conscious by learning about humans directly through a central device, but instead through the growing complexity of her nanobots, creating a \"distributed intelligence\", akin to that of a beehive or anthill. In order to communicate with Lila...
why do fast-food chains in america (particularly mcdonald's) taste different to fast-food chains in australia?	The joke answer is because in America you aren't concerned that your McD's is a lure attached to some kind of massive meat-eating kangaroo. The serious answer is that they adapt their food to each location. Sometimes that's small things, like changing the spices used, or maybe the portion sizes, and sometimes it's com...	[ "McDonald's has been a leader in its industry as one of the first fast food firms to enter global markets and it is now a global business. It is always adapting to changes. For example, its product line or brand-name varies between countries. In Australia, McDonald's is known as Mocca because Australians tend to ab...
Is there a reason that Christian heaven is traditionally portrayed with Greek/Roman architecture?	Understanding representations of a Christian “heaven” is fairly complex. It is possible that the tradition which you mention is linked to the conflation of Roman imperial imagery with that of the “heavenly” Jerusalem beginning in, roughly speaking, the 4th and 5th centuries. I may be of some help in regard to “heavenly...	[ "Traditionally, Christianity has taught that heaven is the location of the throne of God as well as the holy angels, although this is in varying degrees considered metaphorical. In traditional Christianity, it is considered a state or condition of existence (rather than a particular place somewhere in the cosmos) o...
why does losing water pressure make your water susceptible to bacteria/viruses?	Positive pressure means, if there's a leak in the system, water will flow out through the leak so all the water in the pipe is still clean. Negative pressure, however, means that, if there's a leak, things from outside the pipe flow in, potentially contaminating your water source. Works with air too; sterile enviro...	[ "Existing evidence suggests that water fluoridation reduces tooth decay. Consistent evidence also suggests that it causes dental fluorosis, most of which is mild and not usually of aesthetic concern. No clear evidence of other adverse effects exists, though almost all research thereof has been of poor quality.\n", ...
how does off-brand products not get horribly sued?	There are three basic protections to keep in mind: Copyright = media, like books, movies, and such. Things that can be literally copied. Trademarks = logos, characters, brand recognition Patent = inventions, processes for doing things/making things. You can't copyright or trademark food. You can patent a food, but...	[ "Various jurisdictions have laws which are designed to prevent trademark owners from making wrongful threats of trademark infringement action against other parties. These laws are intended to prevent large or powerful companies from intimidating or harassing smaller companies.\n", "Unlike copyright law which prov...
why does light not travel at its maximum speed when it goes through a medium like air?	Light is really complicated. Although we've got a pretty good handle on it, we still don't completely understand it even now. Here's what you need to know: Light is a phenomenon that propagates through the electric field. Relax, I'm gonna explain all that. A field is a thing which fills all of space. The elect...	[ "When light propagates through a material, it travels slower than the vacuum speed, . This is a change in the phase velocity of the light and is manifested in physical effects such as refraction. This reduction in speed is quantified by the ratio between and the phase velocity. This ratio is called the refractive i...
Monday Methods \| Mind the Gap: Managing the “examination gap” between new and old historical methodologies	My field (post Roman Britain / Anglo-Saxon England) is undergoing a strange struggle with this problem. On the one hand, historians have reached a pretty good consensus that we can't trust Bede et al to tell us what happened in England in the 5th century (and maybe later). An invading army of pagans, sent by God to pu...	[ "A gap analysis can also be used to compare one process to others performed elsewhere, which are often identified through benchmarking. In this usage, one compares each process side-by-side and step-by-step and then notes the differences. One then analyzes each deviation to determine if there is any benefit to chan...
how do american phone contracts work?	I used to pay $200 for an iPhone with AT & T, then I would be stuck with AT & T for 2 years. If I wanted a new phone, or wanted to cancel my plan and go with someone else, I'd have to pay an early termination fee. Usually it was like $450, and it got lower the longer I waited. They did this because they wanted to ro...	[ "Common commercial contracts include employment letters, sales invoices, purchase orders, and utility contracts. Complex contracts are often necessary for construction projects, goods or services that are highly regulated, goods or services with detailed technical specifications, intellectual property (IP) agreemen...
Do we partially wake up when lucid dreaming?	Not an expert, but I've read that during REM phase your brain is awake. The part of your brain that is responsible for critical thinking is deactivated, though. This helps you to accept the reality created in dream as the proper one. You can suddenly observe purple flying dragons in your mouth and don't find it weird. ...	[ "Other researchers suggest that lucid dreaming is not a state of sleep, but of brief wakefulness, or \"micro-awakening\". Experiments by Stephen LaBerge used \"perception of the outside world\" as a criterion for wakefulness while studying lucid dreamers, and their sleep state was corroborated with physiological me...
– why is sex such a big deal in marriage?	With some exceptions sex is a healthy and integral part of any relationship. It’s kinda the whole point of seeking a mate, biologically speaking.	[ "There are multiple theories for why sex is a strong motivation, and many fall under the Theory of Evolution. On an evolutionary level, the motivation for sex likely has to do with a species’ ability to reproduce. Species that reproduce more, survive and pass on their genes. Therefore, species have sexual desire th...
if you need yogurt to make yogurt, how was the first ever yogurt made?	You don't actually need yogurt to make yogurt. The acidophilus bacteria needed to make it occur in the stomach linings of most young mammals. Cheese and yogurt could be made by accident if you carry milk in a bag made from a lamb, calf, or kid stomach and bump it around in the hot sun. Please don't try though!	[ "Yogurt is made by heating milk to a temperature that denaturates its proteins (scalding), essential for making yogurt, cooling it to a temperature that will not kill the live microorganisms that turn the milk into yogurt, inoculating certain bacteria (starter culture), usually \"Streptococcus thermophilus\" and \"...
Why did Iraq attack Iran right after its revolution?	Part I Although it is tempting to reduce the war's origins to an atavistic land grab by an opportunistic Saddam Hussein, and this certainly was an important factor, the Iran-Iraq War had multiple well-springs. Iran-Iraq relations were characterized by tensions from the establishment of Iraq in 1931 and these tensi...	[ "In the immediate aftermath of the revolution, the Islamic Republic went to war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq after the latter launched a military offensive in the 1980s. With most foreign aid going to Iraq, Iran was forced to accept a ceasefire by 1988. Tensions with Iraq remained long after the war; it was not un...
Why don't we just use water from the hot tap when making tea-coffee as it is faster to bring it to the boil?	A lot of times there is a larger amount of dissolved material (like Calcium, and maybe some metals) in the hot water that comes from the tap. Usually, the cold water is "cleaner"	[ "Coffee may be brewed by steeping in a device such as a French press (also known as a cafetière, coffee press or coffee plunger). Ground coffee and hot water are combined in a cylindrical vessel and left to brew for a few minutes. A circular filter which fits tightly in the cylinder fixed to a plunger is then pushe...
why we are in a "war" right now?	The invasion of Afghanistan occurred as a direct response to 9/11. The goal was to go after the terrorist organizations that planned the attacks and find the people responsible. Iraq is a bit harder to explain. Basically, the American people were told that the dictator Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (...	[ "War is often used as a last ditch effort to prevent deteriorating economic conditions or currency crises, particularly by expanding services and employment in the military, and by simultaneously depopulating segments of the population to free up resources and restore the economic and social order.\n", "During th...
AMA: Medieval Arms, Armor, and Military Equipment; 535-1453 CE	I have heard that small fighting axes along the line of the tomahawk were a uniquely North American phenomenon. Was there a medieval equivalent?	[ "Well-known armour types in European history include the lorica hamata, lorica squamata, and the lorica segmentata of the Roman legions, the mail hauberk of the early medieval age, and the full steel plate harness worn by later medieval and renaissance knights, and breast and back plates worn by heavy cavalry in se...
travelling salesman problem	ELI5: This is what we call an "optimization" problem. The concept of optimization sounds really complex and confusing at first, but really it is just a concise way of saying, "I want this goal (travel the least amount of miles) with the given constraint (that I have to travel to a certain number of cities...	[ "Travelling Salesman is a 2012 intellectual thriller film about four mathematicians solving the P versus NP problem, one of the most challenging mathematical problems in history. The title refers to the Travelling salesman problem, an optimization problem that acts like a key to solving other mathematical problems ...
whats with the meme/retarded/stereotype-comments on youtube videos that end up on /r/videos?	The comments get on the videos AFTER they are posted on Reddit. A bunch of trolls surf the subreddits for videos and post stupid comments once they find them. They have their own subreddit /r/RedditArmie and I guess they just haven't nothing better to do. There is some extension that you can download (I think) that b...	[ "Stereogum describes the video as \"quick, quirky, and unpredictable but not without a sense of humour about itself, so pretty much perfect for a band of Ivy Leaguers who aren't above self-satirizing their prepped up ways.\"\n", "Elsagate is a neologism referring to the controversy surrounding videos on YouTube a...
Does radiation stay close to the ground, rise, or go everywhere ? For example would it be "safe" to be inside a canyon or on top of a building ?	Please remember that most of the information you have received from popular culture about post war nuclear fallout dangers is complete rubbish. Fallout is not nuclear waste with a long half life, it is normal matter that is briefly radioactive for a short period of time, with a few important exceptions. The reality ...	[ "A human residing within, or simply shielded by, at least one concrete building with walls and ceilings thick, or alternatively of damp soil 24 inches thick, would receive a neutron radiation exposure reduced by a factor of 10. Even near ground zero, basement sheltering or buildings with similar radiation shielding...
How was Hinduiusm treated by Islam?	There was no uniform treatment, it varied by king and empire, it varied depending on whether they were in a conquering phase or a stabilizing phase. It depended on the personality of the ruler. There were relatively good times, such as under the rule of Akbar, and bad times, as under the rule of Aurangzeb, just to con...	[ "Hindus who converted to Islam however were not completely immune to persecution due to the caste system among Muslims in India established by Ziauddin al-Barani in the \"Fatawa-i Jahandari\", where they were regarded as an \"Ajlaf\" caste and subjected to discrimination by the \"Ashraf\" castes.\n", "Hinduism is...
why do we "feed" bad emotions?	To be honest, it's really hard to say from a scientific perspective There are a few theories, depending on how you tend to associate yourself in psychology. Some theorize that it's a catharsis effect, similar to Greek tragedy. You sit through the music for example, in all its sadness, and at the end, when the song is...	[ "According to a research paper done by Radboud University, creating positive emotions help to build motivation, relationships, and cope with failure. It also helps to monitor negative emotions such as anger, frustration or anxiety and control these emotions in order to achieve a goal (Isabela Granic, Adam Lobel, an...
How can a number be irrational when we can draw a line that is exactly that length?	Why would whether a number is rational or irrational have any bearing on our ability to draw a line segment of that length? It's still a finite distance. In fact, if we treat atoms as having "edges" so that the precise length of a line can be defined, any line you draw will have an irrational length in whatever unit...	[ "Like all irrational numbers, cannot be represented as a common fraction (also known as a simple or vulgar fraction), by the very definition of \"irrational number\" (that is, \"not a rational number\"). But every irrational number, including , can be represented by an infinite series of nested fractions, called a ...

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