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train · 226k rows

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how can there be a margin of error for something that is counted? you see this being said all the time during election season when votes are being reported. votes are counted right? it seems like this is the most simple type of math that should not have any error associated with it.	You mostly see margins of error in polls. The pollster calls 1000 people and extrapolates to the population of California. That's a statistical sampling activity, and there is always uncertainty. Votes are different, the answers are the answers, and winning by 1 vote counts.	[ "Note that the randomness of the random numbers can be investigated after the election because they are all published: The pre-generated dummy votes are either used, that is they appear on the ballots, or unused and published after the poll. All numbers generated in the booths during the poll are on the ballots.\n"...
why can we predict solar bodies' movements and eclipses a thousand years from now, but we have trouble predicting the weather tomorrow?	Because the motions of planets etc. are very steady and regular. Things happen almost like clockwork, unless you start talking about the small stuff like comets. Weather, on the other hand, is a very complex, interconnected, chaotic system. And even though we have very sophisticated computer models of it, we'd ...	[ "The atmosphere is a chaotic system. As a result, small changes to one part of the system can accumulate and magnify to cause large effects on the system as a whole. This atmospheric instability makes weather forecasting less predictable than tides or eclipses. Although it is difficult to accurately predict weather...
the european union. what was the point, and what are the perceived outcomes of this economic alliance?	It was founded in the 50s as a Coal and Steal trade partnership. Parts of the reasons for the First World War and thus WWII, were that there is a inherent inequality between European countries as far as natural resources are concerned. Back then, coal and steel were so important that war seemed like a adequate solution...	[ "The preliminary notion of the European Union was the European Coal and Steel Community. The union was between the nations of France, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and West Germany. Striving for the concept of European peace the nations sought to bind the nations through economic interdependence. Coming ...
How do computers share an encryption/decryption key?	There are a couple of ways to do it. One is for one computer to generate the key, encrypt it, and send it to the other. If the two computers already have private keys that both know, then that can be used to keep that new key secret. But often they don't already have a shared secret key to use. In that case, the...	[ "However, the key used for encryption is established using a Diffie–Hellman key exchange which only uses a 128 bit prime number as modulus, which is extremely insecure and can be broken within minutes on a standard PC.\n", "In the widely used public-key cryptography, creation of keys can be done on the local comp...
Could cancer spread to an identical twin?	I'm not sure about in humans, but something close to what you propose is happening in animals. Tasmanian Devils are currently suffering badly from a contagious cancer that is spreading throughout the population. It can do this because Devils have a low level of genetic diversity and all have a similar immune system. Pa...	[ "A very rare type of parasitic twinning is one where a single viable twin is endangered when the other zygote becomes cancerous, or \"molar\". This means that the molar zygote's cellular division continues unchecked, resulting in a cancerous growth that overtakes the viable fetus. Typically, this results when one t...
What are the critiques of Max Weber's 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'?	My answer would be that the foundation of capitalism was born in the Mediterranean several centuries before Protestantism, in the Commercial Revolution of mid 13th to late 14th centuries. EDIT: sorry. More. It also overlooks the fact that Spain owned half the world until the 1830's. EDIT EDIT: I'm an advanced PHD ...	[ "Weber's main intellectual concern was understanding the processes of rationalisation, secularisation, and \"disenchantment\" that he associated with the rise of capitalism and modernity. He saw these as the result of a new way of thinking about the world. Weber is best known for his thesis combining economic socio...
Does your body expend any more energy during rigorous, but stationary mental activity than when you are simply resting?	We do a fun demonstration for undergrads where we hook them up to a metabolic cart and have them lie still and relax then start doing sudoku and we see increases of 100-200 kcals an hour	[ "According to Dieter Breithecker at Germany's Federal Institute for Posture and Mobilization Support, brain activity slows down when the body becomes stationary, for example when sitting in a traditional classroom. Breithecker recommended flexible seating arrangements to remedy these dangers.\n", "Stanford Univer...
what causes things in the universe to just move on their own?	What do you mean? Move how?	[ "If it is certain that our ideas appear to us in succession, then they must move themselves because they are not moved by things that are not ideas. This proves that there is something in the world that moves itself. Ideas are also capable of moving things that are different from themselves. They move the body. The...
identical vs. fraternal twins/triplets/etc. which parent contributes to/causes which?	Identical twins do not run in families, but fraternal twins do. It appears that there is a gene that either a mother or father can pass on to their daughter that causes hyperovulation (meaning these women are more likely to release multiple eggs in a cycle). Twins born from this gene do not skip generations. The likely...	[ "This results in a set of twins with identical genes from the mother's side, but different genes from the father's side. Cells in each fetus carry genes from either sperm, resulting in chimeras. This form had been speculated until only recently being recorded in western medicine.\n", "Twin studies provide a way t...
Does modern psychology find any scientific validity to the notion of personality types?	Personality types are mostly useful because they have some sort of predictive power. If you are personality type P (encompassing traits A, B, and C), then this might help us to predict your behavior in situation S. So they're useful inasmuch as they have predictive validity over and above their constituent traits. O...	[ "The term \"type\" has not been used consistently in psychology and has become the source of some confusion. Furthermore, because personality test scores usually fall on a bell curve rather than in distinct categories, personality type theories have received considerable criticism among psychometric researchers. On...
During the 1800s-early 1900s in America, what "proof" was required to vote in America Presidential Elections ?	> Easy example : there were a great many Europeans in America during this time, including many who owned land in America. By law, they would not be eligible to vote in US Elections. With all due respect, I'm not sure where you're sourcing this information from. For some context, let's look at the three 'Naturalizatio...	[ "According to a 2001 study of state and federal elections in the United States between 1898 and 1992, \"one of every 100,000 votes cast in U.S. elections, and one of every 15,000 votes cast in state elections, \"mattered\" in the sense that they were cast for a candidate that officially tied or won by one vote.\"\n...
Mars life/water update?	Here's a summary of some of the latest findings and research on Mars: - The HiRISE instrument, which is basically a very high resolution camera orbiting Mars, has found hundreds of what are called 'reoccurring slope lineations (RSL)'. These are basically dark streaks that 'flow' down steep sun-facing cliffs over the c...	[ "Understanding the extent and situation of water on Mars is vital to assess the planet’s potential for harboring life and for providing usable resources for future human exploration. For this reason, \"Follow the Water\" was the science theme of NASA's Mars Exploration Program (MEP) in the first decade of the 21st ...
Where or how can I find marriage records from 18th century England?	From my father, who has done a detailed investigation of our family tree back through England to the 16th century Channel Islands: "The first census in England was, I think, in 1841. Prior to that the only official records were the Parish Registers, created by Henry VIII about 1538 in which were recorded all births, d...	[ "Pallot's Marriage Index covers all but two of the 103 Church of England parishes in the old City of London and Middlesex, and more than 2,500 parishes in 38 counties outside London. Compilation began in 1813 using handwritten slips of paper to record the names of the bride and groom, the date of marriage and the c...
In Columbus' time, what were the competing theories about the circumference of the Earth?	Part 1 / 4: Introduction Columbus was wrong. Very wrong. To be more specific he claimed Earth is 25% smaller than reality, and that to reach Cipango (Japan) one needs to travel 4x less the actual distance. Columbus mistake was twofold: 1. He thought the circumference of Earth is significantly smaller **2...	[ "A spherical Earth had been the general opinion of Ancient Greek science, and this view continued through the Middle Ages (for example, Bede mentions it in \"The Reckoning of Time\"). In fact Eratosthenes had measured the diameter of the Earth with good precision in the 2nd century BC. Where Columbus did differ fro...
how people are tracked on the computer	There are lots of ways to track people on the internet, it all depends on what position you are in. All web servers keep a log of everybody who visits the site, page, datetime, ip address and similar variables unless the website operator disables that. It is easy to look up where an ip address is located geographically...	[ "There are many ways in which online tracking has manifested itself. Historically, when companies wanted to track users’ online behavior, they simply had users sign in to their website. This is a form of deterministic cross-device tracking, in which the user’s devices are associated with their account credentials, ...
why does sugar-free chewing gum not stick to braces like bubble gum?	Sugar is sticky. Sugary gum is sticky. Sugar-free gum is not sticky. Ergo lack of sugar may be the answer.	[ "Gum bases for chewing gum are different from those for bubble gum. A bubble gum base is formulated with the ability to blow bubbles; it contains higher levels of elastomers or higher molecular weight polymers for this purpose. Gum bases for use calcium carbonate as a filler, while gum bases for acid flavored gum u...
can someone explain how charging by induction works?	Any time you have a conductive material with relative motion in a magnetic field, you get induced voltage and possibly the flow of electricity through that conductor. Charging by induction just places the conductive material within a moving electromagnetic field which allows current flow to charge the battery that is...	[ "Inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging) is a type of wireless charging that uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between two objects using electromagnetic induction, the production of electricity across a magnetic field. Inductive charging is usually done with a chargi...
How did missionaries succeed in transforming Africans’ view of themselves and the world?	Having trouble with a paper? o_O	[ "Although work in the field of health was conducted out of the conviction that western medicine was good for Africans, it was not an entirely altruistic programme. The missionaries were to reflect the emerging Victorian view of Africa and African peoples, that African thought and behaviour needed radical change if ...
i read that scientists managed to bring back an animal called the quagga. could they do the same with the northern white rhino?	I had to look this up. Apparently they aren't bringing back the actual quagga, they're just using selective breeding on zebras to make the resulting offspring look like a quagga. Suffice to say that they aren't the actual original species but just lookalikes.	[ "In 1999, WWF published a report called \"African Rhino: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan.\" This report recommended that all surviving specimens of the Western Black Rhino should be captured and placed in a specific region of modern Cameroon, in order to facilitate monitoring and reduce the attack rates ...
Are there any lost nuclear weapons from the Old Soviet Union?	not sure about the Russians but [the US is still missing 6](_URL_0_)	[ "Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of Soviet-era nuclear warheads remained on the territories of Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Under the terms of the Lisbon Protocol to the NPT, and following the 1995 Trilateral Agreement between Russia, Belarus, and the USA, these were transferred...
Two Part: 1st - Which produces more carbon - car or bicycle rider - and what is the difference in the carbon that is emitted and possible impact to global warming? 2nd - What has the highest impact of road stress/damage (weight, contact area, total force applied to road, points of contact, speeds)?	1. The CO2 emitted by a car is fossil carbon. It's carbon that was not already circulating in the environment. It represents a net increase in the amount of carbon. The CO2 emitted by a cyclist is not. It's carbon that's already circulating in the environment, and does not increase the amount of carbon in circulati...	[ "A report published in June 2011, prepared by Ricardo in collaboration with experts from the UK's Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, found that hybrid electric cars, plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars generate more carbon emissions during their production than current conventional vehicles, but still have a lower o...
medical records and doctor/patient confidentiality.	So it is a bit of a complicated issue, protected health information. Here is the crash course. With any law it is obviously more complicated than this makes it. In the United States health records are protected under what is called Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). What this law pro...	[ "In transcribing directly for a doctor or a group of physicians, there are specific formats and report types used, dependent on that doctor's speciality of practice, although history and physical exams or consults are mainly utilized. In most of the off-hospital sites, independent medical practices perform consulta...
how do we continue growing seedless watermelon?	From seedless watermelon seeds. Seedless watermelons are basically a sterile hybrid. You take two different watermelon plants that are perfectly capable of forming seeds on their own and cross pollinate them. The plants that grow form the result of this cross pollination don't make seeds.	[ "One of the fastest growing plants known, water hyacinth reproduces primarily by way of runners or stolons, which eventually form daughter plants. Each plant additionally can produce thousands of seeds each year, and these seeds can remain viable for more than 28 years. Some water hyacinths were found to grow betwe...
Why do psychedelic mushrooms produce psychoactive chemicals?	I'm sure you didn't intend this, but your question comes off a bit [teleological](_URL_4_). The only scientifically responsible answer to your question is that the existence of psychoactive chemicals in certain strains of fungi suggests that at some point these compounds conferred an evolutionary advantage to those or...	[ "North American specimens of \"P. cyanescens\" are among the most potent of psychedelic mushrooms. Its potency means that it is widely sought after by users of recreational drugs in those areas where it grows naturally.\n", "Psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin (the main ingredient in most hallucinogenic mushr...
what's happening in côte d'ivoire?	*HISTORICAL BACKGROUND* Around 1890 or so, the French established a colony in Ivory Coast, and proceeded to exploit it for its natural resources without preparing the natives for any kind of self-government. After World War 2, Ivory Coast gets its independence. The man who took over, Houphouet, ruled as a compet...	[ "Côte d'Ivoire faces serious political, social, and security challenges as it emerges from an outbreak of violence following the contested presidential election of November 28, 2010. This election was a part of the 2007 Ouagadougou Political Agreement, which outlined steps toward reunifying the country after its di...
why are some tumors are cancer and some are not?	So a tumor is any unregulated growth, basically. Your body is supposed to keep your organs and blood vessels at a certain size, as some cells of the organs die and are replaced by others. A tumor, however, is when that goes wrong. When the growth of a certain part of an organ or bone stops being regulated and grows t...	[ "A tumor is an abnormal growth of body tissue. In the beginning, tumors can be noncancerous, but if they become malignant, they are cancerous. In general, they appear when there is a problem with cellular division. Problems with the body's immune system can lead to tumors.\n", "This is a list of cancer types. Can...
I'm confused by 1) E = hf vs 2)E is proportional to Amplitude squared; for the Energy of a wave.	E = hf is the energy of a _photon_ of light. A _classical_ wave has an energy proportional to its amplitude squared. If you read about the [photoelectric effect](_URL_0_), it'll all become clear. This was what showed that light came in photons, rather than as a classical wave.	[ "where \"c\" is the phase speed and \"c\" is the group speed of the waves. Further \"E\" is the mean depth-integrated wave energy density (the sum of the kinetic and potential energy) per unit of horizontal area. From the results of Airy wave theory, to second order, the mean energy density \"E\" equals:\n", "whe...
how did news travel across the atlantic so fast during the late 18th century?	Do you have a reference to this happening? The US had been following the political situation/unrest in France for a long time before the French Revolution broke out. Perhaps there's some misinterpretation due to that.	[ "Mid-18th-century news between American colonies took days or longer; news from London took six weeks or longer. For instance, on 27 August 68, Massachusetts Governor Bernard wrote to Lord Barrington, \"the June Packet is not yet come in, tho' it is now 11 Weeks since it left London. It is become a most dilatory Co...
why is newspaper so different from regular paper?	Newspaper is cheap thin paper made from generally shorter pieces of fibre, in addition it has a large amount of printing ink per volume of paper. All these factors add up to paper which isn't really worth recycling and would be better burnt to generate electricity.	[ "Newspapers serve as the main medium of communication in town, both the morning and evening editions. Due to recent innovations such as the Associated Press, the papers are able to carry more news. Also, journalism tends to be more \"objective\", in contrast with the highly partisan papers of a few decades earlier....
how exactly does adding your phone number secure your account?	The other answers have missed out on one of the big points of this. If your phone number is added, you can use their "one time password" feature, if you're in a place like a hotel or coffee shop where the network may not be secure or any time you're worried about security, they can text you a temporary password, so tha...	[ "Number Default Accounts – If a phone number or range of phone numbers can often be related to a specific account among a firm's clients, some ECRS programs can automatically identify that account with the call to be then charged during the processing of call transactions into the billing system.\n", "The phonebo...
why are bulls so angry?	In my experience they typically aren't. Even if they fight/butt heads, it's to establish a hierarchy not out of anger. Even around humans they are very calm. I'm assuming you're asking after seeing something like the running with the bulls. I don't know for certain but my guess is those animals are out under a certain...	[ "Many opponents argue that bulls are mentally injured by the harassment and voicing of both participants and spectators, and some of animals may also die because of the stress, especially if they are roped or bring flares in their horns (bou embolat version). Despite all this, the festivities seem to have wide popu...
Why and how did (almost) all Earth creatures develop the need to breathe?	> Why and how did (almost) all Earth creatures develop the need to breathe? Approximately 1 billion years ago our atmosphere was nearly devoid of oxygen and life that existed did not consume oxygen. Then with the [Great Oxygenation Event](_URL_1_) oceanic cyanobacteria developed photosynthesis, a new and powerful met...	[ "The Devonian proliferation of land plants may help to explain why air-breathing would have been an advantage: leaves falling into streams and rivers would have encouraged the growth of aquatic vegetation; this would have attracted grazing invertebrates and small fish that preyed on them; they would have been attra...
What does "ripeness" of fruits and vegetables really mean?	It means different things depending on your context. If you're talking strictly from a biological sense, a fruit is 'ripe' when the embryos contained in the seeds are viable (i.e. you can plant the seeds and they will grow given the right conditions). From a food stand point, ripening makes the fruit more delicious. ...	[ "The terms \"ripe\" and \"mature\" are usually used synonymously, but they mean different things. A mature fruit is one that has completed its growth phase. Ripening is the changes that occur within the fruit after it is mature to the beginning of decay. These changes usually involve starches converting to sugars, ...
do we digest liquid foods such as soup or yogurt through urine or feces?	When you eat food, it goes into your stomach where you start digesting it. The food then moves into the small intestine where it continues to get digested. What's leftover finally moves into the large intestine where your body gets the last nutrients it can out of it and then gets it ready to poop out. During digestio...	[ "When sieved from the water, food is swallowed and travels through the esophagus where it enters a three-chambered-stomach. The first compartment is known as the fore-stomach; this is where food gets ground up into an acidic liquid, which is then squirted into the main stomach. Like in humans, the food is mixed wit...
why are different franchises allowed to use tolkien's lore (elves, orcs, etc)?	Tolkien didn't invent elves, goblins and dwarves. They already existed in Scandinavian myth and folklore, of which Tolkien was a scholar, and he used many themes from it. The games and other products that directly take from Tolkien's works are licensed - those who use them pay for the right to do so.	[ "BULLET::::- Guy Gavriel Kay's \"Fionavar Tapestry\" series includes both lios alfar (light elves) and swart alfar (dark elves), using variations on the original Norse or Icelandic terms. They play parts corresponding, respectively, to Tolkien's elves and to his goblins (different from orcs).\n", "Conversely, elv...
How was Avogadro's number derived?	Someone gave a good response that quoted from Wikipedia, but I'd like to share how Avogadro's constant (N\_0) came about. & #x200B; Avogadro coined this idea in 1811, when he first proposed that the volume of a gas is somehow proportional to the number of atoms/molecules in the gas. Jean Perrin defined it as the nu...	[ "The name \"Avogadro's number\" was coined in 1909 by the physicist Jean Perrin, who defined it as the number of molecules in exactly 32 grams of oxygen. The goal of this definition was to make the mass of a mole of a substance, in grams, be numerically equal to the mass of one molecule relative to the mass of the ...
why is a keyboard space bar so large?	It makes it easier for your thumbs, they meet up in one place and that takes up more space than the tip of any other finger when in traditional typing "finger stance" (idk what to call it)	[ "A typical space bar key is very large, enough so that a thumb from either hand can use it, and is almost always found on the bottom row of standard keyboard layouts. Over time space bars have become narrower on computers to make way for keys such as control key and alt key.\n", "A large space is used for a keybo...
What are some useful reports, articles, essays, dissertations, documents, etc., that I should download before losing access through my University?	[This thread from earlier in the month might be of use for you.](_URL_0_)	[ "Academic professionals (especially at the college and university level), including professors and researchers, are often given online space for creating and storing personal web documents, including personal web pages, CVs and a list of their books, academic papers and conference presentations, on the websites of ...
how do medical professionals determine whether cancer is terminal or not? how are the stages broken down? how does “normal” cancer and terminal differ?	Nobody in here is really explaining it like you're five. I'm an oncology research nurse and to explain it to medically ignorant people or children we would use the weed analogy. The original (primary) tumor is like a single weed in the yard. If you catch it before it goes to seed you can pluck it out (surgically ...	[ "The formal \"stage\" of a cancer does not change over time, even if the cancer progresses. A cancer that returns or spreads is still referred to by the stage it was given when it first diagnosed. Sometimes, after a period of remission (cancer being undetectable) for certain cancers, if more treatment is planned, a...
Is it possible that time is the medium for light, which is why it has no "matter"?	Light has no mass if that's what you mean. Its lack of mass can be understood from the wave perspective of light -- think of a wave in the ocean. The wave itself doesn't have mass. Light is an oscillation of the electromagnetic field, and field oscillations have no mass.	[ "In Fig. 4‑3, the time interval between the events A (the \"cause\") and B (the \"effect\") is 'time-like'; i.e., there is a frame of reference in which events A and B occur at the \"same location in space\", separated only by occurring at different times. If A precedes B in that frame, then A precedes B in all fra...
Where did knights keep their misericorde daggers on them in battle?	A medieval soldier would generally have his dagger (of whatever variety) hanging from his belt, where it was easy to access. Often it seems to have hung from the opposite hip as the sword (presumably for reasons of balance and ease of drawing it), although some might also have carried it more towards the back. You can ...	[ "Daggers achieved public notoriety in the 20th century as ornamental uniform regalia during the Fascist dictatorships of Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. Dress daggers were used by several other countries as well, including Japan, but never to the same extent. As combat equipment they were carried by many in...
what are nootropics, and is there any evidence that they really work?	Nootropics are a class of drugs purported to be "cognitive enhancers" there are all kinds, natural herbs and tonics and things, and then synthesized chemicals that are meant to increase certain neurotransmitters in your brain. The simplest nootropic? Caffeine, very few side effects. Helps deal with mental fog. Do the...	[ "Nootropics ( ) (colloquial: smart drugs and cognitive enhancers) are drugs, supplements, and other substances that may improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation, in healthy individuals. While many substances are purported to improve cognition, research is at a ...
What does it mean exactly (but understandably) that the immune system "learns" how to fight a new type of virus? How does it do it?	What you're referring to is the development of a memory response. Don't know your background, so here it goes. When a virus infects cells in the body it doesn't go unnoticed. Natural killer cells patrol tissues looking for cells expressing abnormal markers. Some viruses decrease the expression of MHC molecules (a "sel...	[ "Antigenic escape occurs when the immune system is unable to respond to an infectious agent. This means that the response mechanisms a host's immune system normally utilizes to recognize and eliminate a virus or pathogen is no longer able to do so. This process can occur in a number of different mechanisms of both ...
why do trucks and buses use air brakes instead of hydraulic brakes?	It's a fail-safe system. Hydraulic brakes are fail-deadly, if they fail, the car is likely to crash, it loses its ability to brake. Air brakes actually use springs to clamp the brakes, the air pressure is always-on and forces the spring back, it is released when the driver presses the pedal. If the brakes fail and air ...	[ "Air brakes are used as an alternative to hydraulic brakes which are used on lighter vehicles such as automobiles. Hydraulic brakes use a liquid (hydraulic fluid) to transfer pressure from the brake pedal to the brake shoe to stop the vehicle. Air brakes are used in heavy commercial vehicles due to their reliabilit...
when we take a step back and look at the sun and the planets, how do we know which way is up and which way is down?	We don't. In space up and down are relative directions, like left and right. Up is towards your head and down towards your feet. You are free to orient yourself however you like. "The enemies gate is down."	[ "BULLET::::- The topmarks for east and west \"follow the Sun\"—the top cone points in the direction in which the Sun appears to move (rising for an east mark or setting for a west mark), while the bottom cone points in the direction in which its reflection on the ocean surface appears to move. That is, the Sun and ...
legally, if we have the right to bear arms, why can't we own bazookas, machine guns, anti aircraft guns etc?	In most states you can, it requires a Federal and State firearms license, and if you do enough selling or trading a business license. Most people who do own heavy weapons tend not to advertise much to avoid being ripped off or having a demonstration 24/7 on their lawn. But bazookas and many AA guns are considered antiq...	[ "Deutch believes that acceptable limitations can be placed on the Second Amendment right to bear arms, saying, \"the majority of people in this country now understand that there are limitations on the Second Amendment. You cannot own an automatic weapon. You cannot own a bazooka. And so there is no reason to contin...
A friend of mine eats very little, exercises adequately, but is quite fat. I eat far more (and worse) than him but can't put on weight to save my life. What evolutionary or biological reasoning is there to this disparity between individuals?	Are you sure that your friend eats very little? Is this what he self-reports? Then see this [How accurate is self-reported dietary energy intake?](_URL_0_). I thought I had the same problem -- I ate very responsibly during the day and exercised vigorously six times a week, but couldn't drop weight. When I started hones...	[ "Taubes states in the book that it's not about fat people eating too much and exercising too little or skinny people eating well and exercising a lot. In hunter-gather time periods, humans' lives were spent finding food so when they found a surplus the human body would go into storage mode. Today we don't have the ...
why can't we figure out the sex of a fetus at conception?	Pregnancy tests are designed to tell if your urine or blood contains the hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) which is released right after the fertilized egg attaches to the uterine wall. The only way to check the gender of the fetus before an ultrasound can detect it is to extract the DNA from one of the...	[ "Modern medical technology has allowed for the sex of a child to be determined while the child is still a fetus. Once these modern prenatal diagnostic techniques determine the sex of the fetus, families then are able to decide if they would like to abort based on sex. One study found that 7,997 of 8,000 abortions w...
what is credit and why is it necessary?	* I'd say yes but the better answer is it can be, because people with bad credit will be able to get (very high interest) options that people with no credit might not be able to. * You build credit by getting credit. You have to get a first card from someone, usually a $250 or $500 limit. If you, for whatever reason, ...	[ "Credit (from Latin \"credit\", \"\"(he/she/it)\" believes\") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), but promises either to repay or return those resources (or other mater...
After the fall of Saigon, how much longer did South Vietnam forces fight a retreating action? What did forces in the extreme south do when Saigon fell? Were there any evacuations in the south by the U.S. past the iconic helicopter event?	Operation Frequent Wind was the final evacuation of Americans in Vietnam as well as, those Vietnamese deemed dangerous/hostile to the communist regime and as many Vietnamese people we could evacuate as well. The South Vietnam Forces put up a hastily defense before being overrun and North Vietnam tanks crashing through ...	[ "The fighting had no sooner died down around Saigon than U.S. forces in Quảng Tín Province suffered a defeat when the 2nd PAVN Division attacked Kham Duc, the last Special Forces border surveillance camp in I Corps. 1,800 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops were isolated and under intense attack when MACV made the dec...
Although it's widely condemned now, to what extent (if any) was the Chilean coup of 1973 justifiable? Specifically, is there any evidence that the country was sliding into a communist dictatorship, like for example Czechoslovakia after electing a communist minority government in 1946?	From the viewpoint of the United States, at least to the government officials and Kissinger, the coup was necessary. The US was arguing that Communism and Socialism was an aggressive form of political behavior that would not consent to the will of the people. Their Cold War argument pressed the impossibility of nonviol...	[ "The 1973 Chilean coup d'état was a watershed moment in both the history of Chile and the Cold War. Following an extended period of social unrest and political tension between the opposition-controlled Congress of Chile and the socialist President Salvador Allende, as well as economic warfare ordered by US Presiden...
why is poker the game that confers the largest advantage to experienced players in the casino?	You dont play against the house in Poker, you play against other people. You then pay the Casino for the right to play at their establishment in the form of a "rake" or a cut of the money in play. The most common form of rake is based on time. For example, every 30min, each player at the table may have to give the ...	[ "Poker can offer a long-term advantage to a skilled player because it is played against other players and not against the house. The casino usually takes a rake (commission) or a time charge. Whether a poker player can win enough from the game to cover the rake and make a profit depends not only on the player's ski...
what would happen to the population number if there were no births for an entire year?	I'm not sure what the number is but statistically speaking you would just need to subtract the number of deaths per year from the total population. Societally speaking I think shit would hit the fan after only a month. People would realize that no people were being born and religious groups would claim the apocalypse e...	[ "Following the present rate of birth, it is generally estimated that the world population will grow until it \"peaks\" in the middle of the present century, and then possibly begin to decline. How many people will be alive at this peak are estimated at between 8 billion and 20 billion people, depending upon what fa...
Why is argon the most abundant noble gas in Earth's atmosphere?	Ar-40 is a product of radioactive decay of potassium-40 (and K is one of the most abundant elements in the crust). Most of the Ar in our atmosphere is derived from radioactive decay.	[ "Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abundant as water vapor (which averages about 4000 ppmv, but varies greatl...
i know i shouldn’t do it at all, but why does q-tipping my ears feel so damn goooood?	Does anyone else lick them to make them wet first? I cant stand a dry swab.	[ "Itching ears is a term used in the Bible to describe individuals who seek out messages and doctrines that condone their own lifestyle, as opposed to adhering to the teachings of the apostles. The term is found only once in the Bible, in 2 Timothy 4.\n", "The q sound is made by raising the back of the tongue to t...
why does harmony, especially harmony by multiple human voices, sound so pleasurable to our ears?	Harmonies are created when multiple notes are played together and blend to make a sound. Certain notes blend better together due to differences in frequencies. There is a mathematical method to finding those notes. Notes that blend well together create they create a sound that is unified or consonant, while notes that ...	[ "In music, harmony is the process by which the composition of individual sounds, or superpositions of sounds, is analysed by hearing. Usually, this means simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches (tones, notes), or chords.\n", "In Harmony is a social and music education programme based on Venezuela's El Siste...
gymnastics question. how come men don't compete on the balance beam and uneven bars and women don't compete on the still rings, parallel bars and high bar?	Gymnastics has been around for a long time and goes back to the days when women and men had different roles in society and different appreciations of their athleticism. So the gymnastic sports that were associated with them have been segregated to reflect where the sexes are typically focused. The first two are focuse...	[ "Artistic Gymnastics is usually divided into Men's and Women's Gymnastics. Men compete on six events: Floor Exercise, Pommel Horse, Still Rings, Vault, Parallel Bars, and Horizontal Bar, while women compete on four: Vault, Uneven Bars, Balance Beam, and Floor Exercise. In some countries, women at one time competed ...
How did the world synchronize their calendars? (or... How did MTWRFSS take over the world?)	The calendar you're referring to is the [Gregorian calendar](_URL_0_). Several previous posts about calendars have been collected in the "popular questions" wiki: [Calendars and timekeeping](_URL_1_)	[ "Then in 1996, on the 150th anniversary of his manufacture, Rolf Schnyder and Ludwig Oechslin raised the curtain on the world's most purely functional perpetual calendar. This amazing timepiece has all calendar displays synchronized and adjustable through a single crown. Because of its reliance on special epicyclic...
what is a philosophical zombie?	Imagine someone who's like a person in every single way. They talk about their hopes and dreams, they laugh at jokes, they eat and sleep and poo, and their insides all work the same as ours. There's only one difference; this someone isn't conscious. There's no mind that has the hopes and dreams, or thinks the jokes...	[ "The philosophical zombie or p-zombie argument is a thought experiment in philosophy of mind and philosophy of perception that imagines a being that, if it existed, logically disproves the idea that physical stuff is all that is required to explain consciousness. Such a zombie would be indistinguishable from a norm...
La Navidad – What do we know about the first Spanish colony in Americas?	Is it against the rules to ask for book recommendations on this topic? if not I would like to do so.	[ "Miguel López de Legazpi (; c. 1502 – August 20, 1572), also known as El Adelantado and El Viejo (The Elder), was a Spanish navigator and governor who established the first Spanish settlement in the East Indies when his expedition crossed the Pacific Ocean from the Viceroyalty of New Spain in modern-day Mexico, arr...
my rights, or lack thereof, when encountering the tsa in an american airport.	You are required by law to comply with legal orders of border control agents, the TSA, and police. You are not obligated to incriminate yourself. So you do not have to answer any questions they ask you. If you have entered a border control facility (like customs at the airport) they have the right to open and inspec...	[ "The TSA develops broad policies to protect the U.S. transportation system, including highways, railroads, buses, mass transit systems, ports, and pipelines. It fulfills this mission in conjunction with other federal agencies and state partners. However, the TSA's primary focus is on airport security and the preven...
What year was the English Longbow invented and is there a specific person who takes credit for it?	As with many other weapons it was a product of evolution and it can be traced quite a long time back in time without having a specific year. As for how it was employed - large groups of people behind wooden stakes, ditches or whatever help the terrain provided shoot at the approaching enemies. When and if they get clo...	[ "The English longbow was a powerful medieval type of longbow (a tall bow for archery) about long used by the English and Welsh for hunting and as a weapon in medieval warfare. English use of longbows was effective against the French during the Hundred Years' War, particularly at the start of the war in the battles ...
how is my high school able to block cellular service in the school.	Lots of building have a facade on them that is made from, among other things, a layer of wire mesh. While not intended for this purpose, the wire mesh acts as what's called a [Faraday cage](_URL_0_). This will severely interrupt the kinds of electromagnetic waves that cell phones use to connect to a cell tower.	[ "To prevent distractions caused by mobile phones, some schools have implemented policies that restrict students from using their phones during school hours. Some administrators have attempted cell phone jamming, but this practice is illegal in certain jurisdictions. Software can be used in order to monitor and rest...
What is the optimal way to wrap a present for Christmas assuming you want to minimize the use of wrapping paper?	When the paper is aligned with the present (that is, the edges of the present are parallel to the edges of the paper), then the smallest, single, intact piece of rectangular paper you need would have the dimensions of 2L + 2H by W + H, where L, W, and H are the length, width, and height of the present. This produces mi...	[ "Gift wrapping is the act of enclosing a gift in some sort of material. Wrapping paper is a kind of paper designed for gift wrapping. An alternative to gift wrapping is using a gift box or bag. A wrapped or boxed gift may be held closed with ribbon and topped with a decorative bow (an ornamental knot made of ribbon...
how does speaker phone calls avoid feedback?	Don't know about cell phones, but they probably do the same thing as a speaker phone. At least, one of them. Speaker phones are generally designed to try to physically isolate the speaker from the microphone. This minimizes how much the output is coupled back to the input through vibrations in the speakerphone...	[ "Feedback is almost always considered undesirable when it occurs with a singer's or public speaker's microphone at an event using a sound reinforcement system or PA system. Audio engineers typically use directional microphones with cardioid pickup patterns and various electronic devices, such as equalizers and, sin...
If total nuclear war were to break out during the Cold War, what would get hit?	It really depends on what period of the Cold War you are talking about (it was long and the targeting strategies of the US and the USSR changed over its course, as well as their own arsenals and delivery capabilities), but one place to get an idea of this is to look at the targeting plans we have some access to, like S...	[ "These nuclear weapons are being fired at a rapid pace between two forces (presumably the Americans and the Russians). Without knowing it, World War III is breaking out in front of the player. All the major cities in the world end up getting catastrophically damaged; including Paris, New York City and Washington, D...
excise tax	Excise taxes (short for exercise taxes) are taxes paid when purchases are made on a specific good, such as gasoline. These are taxes the government puts in place to encourage its citizens to use other forms of transportation, like riding a bike or walking.	[ "An excise tax is a sales tax that applies to a specific class of goods, typically alcohol, tobacco, gasoline (petrol), or tourism. The tax rate varies according to the type of good and quantity purchased and is typically unaffected by the person who purchases it.\n", "For purposes of the U.S. Constitution, an ex...
why are ancient but still clearly real and historical people considered 'mythical'?	Romulous and Remus may have been real people, but most of the stories about them are almost certainly myths. (Suckling from a wolf?) As a comparison, there's two versions of Jesus. One is the historical Jesus, a real person and leader of a Jewish cult/sect who espoused certain philosophical and political ideas, and wa...	[ "Nowhere does the whole person of a figure from the ancient world lie more open to scrutiny than that of Aristides through the prism of the \"Sacred Tales\". If the voluminous and faithful record of dream world and waking life, which is the substance of that work, is correctly employed, for the first time unequaled...
Why did no complex Amazon River basin civilization emerge?	The Amazon basin is one (or two if you want to split the northern end / Orinoco Basin from the western end) of only a 8-10 epicenters for agriculture in the world. Beginning around 8000 BP, Amazonian peoples began domesticating such notable crops as sweet potatoes, cassava, cotton, yams, cacao, tobacco, pineapple, roc...	[ "There is ample evidence that the areas surrounding the Amazon River were home to complex and large-scale indigenous societies, mainly chiefdoms who developed towns and cities. Archaeologists estimate that by the time the Spanish conquistador De Orellana traveled across the Amazon in 1541, more than 3 million indig...
What would the night sky look like if the Milky Way wasn’t visible?	There are only three other galaxies visible with the naked eye. There is Andromeda (M31), which is a massive galaxy similar to the Milky Way. This is a small and long blob, most visible in the Northern Hemisphere, but it's quite faint I find, and hard to see except in really quite good conditions. There there are the...	[ "The Milky Way is visible from Earth as a hazy band of white light, some 30° wide, arching across the night sky. In night sky observing, although all the individual naked-eye stars in the entire sky are part of the Milky Way, the term \"Milky Way\" is limited to this band of light. The light originates from the acc...
what is a phonics sound or word fragment common to all languages?	I remember an article that said "Huh?" is pretty much universally recognized as a statement of confusion and/or a request to elaborate. Which I thought was quite funny. I'll try to find it. Edit: [Here's the New York Times] (_URL_1_) and [here's the Smithsonian] (_URL_0_).	[ "The lateness of the discovery of these sounds by Indo-Europeanists is largely because Hittite and the other Anatolian languages are the only Indo-European languages where at least some of them are attested directly and consistently as consonantal sounds. Otherwise, their presence is to be inferred mostly through t...
how do physicists use complex equations to explain black holes, etc. and understand their inner workings?	Imagine you have a box with two holes. You can't see inside of the box, so you're limited to interacting with it through the holes. But you want to learn about the box. You see that if you put a marble in one hole, half a marble comes out of the other. You notice that if you put eight marbles in one hole, four marbles...	[ "Kollmeier's research focuses on the formation of structure within the universe. She combines a use of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations with analytic theory to understand how galaxies and black holes formed from fluctuations in the density of the early universe. She studies everything from the Intergalactic me...
My jacket was producing static-electricity as I was listening to music. My head phones rubbed against my jacket as I took it off, and distortion to the music was heard. What causes this?	Does the distortion remain? If so, your device has been permanently damaged by electrostatic discharge. If you just heard some crackling, and it sounds fine now, then the electrostatic discharge did no permanent harm. The magnets didn't cause this, they just helped play the sound.	[ "Static electricity is usually caused when certain materials are rubbed against each other, like wool on plastic or the soles of shoes on carpet. The process causes electrons to be pulled from the surface of one material and relocated on the surface of the other material.\n", "Some users have noted that ambient n...
Were there witch panics in any of the other European countries' settlements in Northeast North America (Dutch, Swedish, French)?	###Speaking of witch panic, here below follows the story of how a little girl‘s lively imagination and her meeting with a village vicar ended up with the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives. --- SWEDEN. Gertrud Svensdotter’s lively imagination and evidently good ability to tell stories would become the cause...	[ "In early modern Europe, a massive moral panic regarding witchcraft swept across Europe and later the European colonies in North America. During this period, there were widespread claims that malevolent Satanic witches were operating as an organized threat to Christendom. As a result, tens of thousands of women wer...
how can aircraft dissapear from radars?	Because we don't use "Primary Radar" all the time. Primary radar sends out a signal, bounces off an object and comes back to the sensors displaying a location. Why don't we use this for everything? Because it requires insane amounts of power, has a somewhat limited range, and picks up LOTS OF STUFF. Meaning the retu...	[ "Primary radar operation is based on the principle of echolocation. Electromagnetic pulses of high power emitted by the radar antenna are converted into a narrow wavefront which propagates at the speed of light (300 000 000 m/s). This is reflected by the aircraft and then picked up again by the rotating antenna on ...
how would a spacecraft just bounce off the atmosphere into space?	The term "bounce" just refers to the fact that you will approach the planet, you will lose altitude, and then you will once again start gaining altitude. Contrary to the other posts in this thread, you don't "bounce" the way most people think of bouncing. You aren't skipping off the air like a stone off water or anyt...	[ "Once in orbit, their speed keeps them in orbit above the atmosphere. If e.g., an elliptical orbit dips into dense air, the object will lose speed and re-enter (i.e. fall). Occasionally a space craft will intentionally intercept the atmosphere, in an act commonly referred to as an aerobraking maneuver\n", "For sp...
what is a major key and a minor key?	When learning a song by ear, usually a good start is to ask "is this a major or a minor key?" If a song is "happy" sounding its in a major key. If its "sad" then its in a minor key... then from there you can figure out what exact key the song is in by playing a lead of sorts over it.	[ "A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only key where a Neapolitan sixth chord on formula_1 requires both a flat and a natur...
why do many people believe they've got nothing to hide? doesn't everyone have secrets?	I assume this is in relation to NSA type monitoring? Everyone has secrets but generally only on the personal life/gossip level, rather than the national security or illegal activities type level.	[ "Excessive secrecy is often cited as a source of much human conflict. One may have to lie in order to hold a secret, which might lead to psychological repercussions. The alternative, declining to answer when asked something, may suggest the answer and may therefore not always be suitable for keeping a secret. Also,...
if the united states wanted to join the british commonwealth would it be permitted to?	Yes it would. It used to be under British administration and it wouldn't have to adopt the Queen as the head of state anyway. That isn't required for membership. It would also have to agree with the Harare Principles: * We believe that international peace and order, global economic development and the rule of internat...	[ "The idea of admission to the United States was discussed among some netizens alongside proposals of becoming independent (within or outside the Commonwealth, as a republic or a Commonwealth realm), rejoining the Commonwealth, confederation with Canada as the eleventh province or the fourth territory (with referenc...
Given time to decompress slowly, could a human survive in a Martian summer with just a oxygen mask?	Short answer: No. Exposure to vacuum or near vacuum is not well understood because it hasn't happened to many people, and while we're fairly sure it will kill you no one really knows what will get you first... but we do have a few ideas. Long answer: You know how liquid water freezes at 0 C and boils at 100 C?...	[ "Current conditions in the Martian atmosphere, at less than of atmospheric pressure, are significantly below the Armstrong limit of where very low pressure causes exposed bodily liquids such as saliva, tears, and the liquids wetting the alveoli within the lungs to boil away. Without a pressure suit, no amount of br...
Why didn't the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms utilize cavalry?	As far as I've read, the Anglo-Saxons relied on a levy system and their nobility followed the Nordic route of using huscarls. Anglo-Saxon England was heavily influenced by the Danes and Norse and relied on the shield-wall instead of cavalry like the continent. As for the supposed disadvantage to Norman cavalry, accord...	[ "The combat strength of the Anglo-Saxon army is another issue that cannot be agreed upon by scholars. Some historians argue that the army was weak and only used infantry as a means of defense and attack, while cavalry were only used for scouting, whereas others believe that the army was more powerful, employing inf...
how and why does music sound good?	Short answer: Because you have been programmed with expectations that you enjoy being either fulfilled or subverted. Long answer: the only universal element in music is the perfect fifth, which is a ratio of frequencies of 3:2. Different cultures have developed different systems of tuning and organization of tones to ...	[ "In 2019, Viskontas authored the book \"How Music Can Make You Better\" - \"\", in which she talks about how music affects our brains, bodies and society at large. She mentions the different purposes of music including multi-sensory, visual, auditory and healing benefits. \n", "\"So, music does not attempt to imi...
Can sound waves affect the speed of other sound waves indirectly?	In almost all situations that we encounter, sound waves have no lasting effect on the mediums that they pass through and no effect on other sound waves that they may meet or may follow them through the same medium. This is because the pressure of an acoustic wave is insignificant compared to atmospheric pressure (the s...	[ "A sound wave propagates through a material as a localized pressure change. Increasing the pressure of a gas or fluid increases its local temperature. The local speed of sound in a compressible material increases with temperature; as a result, the wave travels faster during the high pressure phase of the oscillatio...
how is there such a large supply of aged cheeses?	Many 'aged' cheeses only need 12-18 months to be considered 'aged'. It's not hard for a manufacturer to just 'put away' a fixed amount of their production each year, and then only make it available for sale the following year. If we assume production is constant year on year, it just means that they have no 'aged' chee...	[ "The cheese is typically aged between 12 and 52 weeks in rectangular blocks of , coated with a bacterial culture. The culture is washed off at the end of the aging cycle, and the cheese is packaged for retail sales.\n", "Some cheeses have additional bacteria or molds intentionally introduced before or during agin...
Why did the eastern Roman empire suck so hard against the sassanids when compared to the Romans against the parthians and greeks against anachaemidians? Sorry for the spellings.	The military expansion under Justinian’s era, accompanied with the Plague of Justinian, lowered the population as well as stretching the Eastern Empire’s resources thinner with more territories to govern. Even then, Sassanid Persia was on shaky ground and was devastated by these wars. As a result, this created a per...	[ "Until the Sassanids came to power, the Romans were mostly the aggressors. However, the Sassanids, being Persians, were determined to reconquer lands that the Achaemenid dynasty had once held and now lost. Their nationalistic zeal made them much more aggressive foes of the Romans than the Parthians ever were. For m...
Was Ghengis Khan unique among people living in the 12th century in the number of children he fathered? Is there anyone else whose descendants are more numerous than his?	> Is there anyone else whose descendants are more numerous than his? Disregarding the number of children he had, you can generally assume that any person who lived that long ago, and who was survived by at least some grandchildren, is the ancestor of a very high percentage of people living today. Check out the l...	[ "The children of Börte were given more power than those of the other wives of Genghis Khan. However, Il-Alti was born to a concubine, whose name was not recorded in the history of the Mongols. She had nine half-brothers and five half-sisters. Four of her nine half-brothers died before reaching adulthood. The remain...
why do gallon jugs of drinking water cost $0.99, while bottled water costs $1.29 for a quart?	The short answer, you're willing to pay for it. Tap water is a few pennies a gallon. Fancy bottled water is more, because it's fancy bottled water. It's marketed differently, packaged in a nice bottle, stored in a store fridge ready to drink.	[ "The Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) states that in 2013, the average wholesale price per gallon of domestic non-sparkling bottled water was $1.21. BMC's research also shows that consumers actually tend to buy bottled water in bulk from supermarkets (25.3%) or large discount retailers (57.9%) because it costs ...
Critique of Calaban and the Witch?	I've commented on Federici in [this earlier answer.](_URL_0_) I'll copy it here: [1/2] The OP of the earlier thread already hit the crucial point: Federici isn't a historian writing history: she's not critically analyzing primary source evidence and then-recent secondary scholarship in light of each other to draw new...	[ "Critical reception for the book has been mostly positive. NPR gave \"Season of the Witch\" a mostly favorable review, criticizing it for leaving out some examples of the occult in music but also remarked that this was one of the book's strengths, stating \"that's where Bebergal's selectivity becomes as much of a s...
What did the greeks think about the roman religion and vice-versa?	See these threads for why the Greek and Roman religions were not just the same thing with different names: [How did Roman religion differ from Greek?](_URL_1_) by /u/skreczok [Apart from the name differences, were there other changes that made the Roman gods different from the Greek Gods?](_URL_0_) by /u/artfulorpheu...	[ "The study of Roman religion and myth is complicated by the early influence of Greek religion on the Italian peninsula during Rome's protohistory, and by the later artistic imitation of Greek literary models by Roman authors. In matters of theology, the Romans were curiously eager to identify their own gods with th...
cell division & growth	There are things smaller than atoms. Subatomic particles. It gets a bit hairy down there. Nuons and gluons, and some other stuff that rhymes. But they don't usually come in to play when discussing cell growth and division.	[ "The term cell growth is used in the contexts of biological cell development and cell division (reproduction). When used in the context of cell development, the term refers to increase in cytoplasmic and organelle volume (G1 phase), as well as increase in genetic material (G2 phase) following the replication during...
how is recording things to your dvr not piracy?	> But if you download the same television shows and movies onto your computer to watch whenever you want, and its piracy. Not really. No one is ever busted for downloading. It's uploading that lands people in hot water.	[ "A survey in 1993 of electronics repair people by a video magazine editor yielded the answer to \"What is the worst thing you can do to your VCR?\" as being regularly rewinding rented videotapes through it with the solution to use a tape rewinder to save VCR heads from \"junk\" on rental cassettes.\n", "Slysoft's...
What would happen were a person to be struck by several particles traveling through the LHC?	It could be quite dangerous, though survivable. An accident happened in 1978 when a Soviet physicist stuck his head in the beam of a particle accelerator. He survived, but was hospitalized for some time. You can read more about it here: _URL_0_	[ "The report ruled out any doomsday scenario at the LHC, noting that the physical conditions and collision events which exist in the LHC, RHIC and other experiments occur naturally and routinely in the universe without hazardous consequences, including ultra-high-energy cosmic rays observed to impact Earth with ener...
How were military campaigns in the middle ages organised	Certainly a complex subject, there is a good book titled "War in the Middle Ages" by P. Contamine. It goes extensively about the warfare organization of the time. As an example the different princes, counts etc in Central Europe would provide a number of Knights for a limited period every year to attend military busine...	[ "A battle or battaile was a medieval military formation. The word \"bataille\" is sometimes translated as \"battalion\", but Abels and Bachrach et al say this is not accurate because the bataille was a completely ad hoc formation. In late medieval warfare, field armies were often drawn up into three main battles, a...
why is colin kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem such a big deal?	Here is a probably helpful outsider perspective for you: In the US the anthem and the flag are a big deal. Across party lines, classes, races, etc. respect for these symbols is usually expected. They are usually also closely related to the respect for veterans who have fought for the US and it´s values. This is why t...	[ "In a pre season game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Diego 49ers, chose to kneel instead of standing in solidarity with his teammates for the National Anthem. He did this to raise awareness for victims of police brutality and oppression of minorities in America. Many p...
Rules Roundtable #16: There Is No Such Thing as a Stupid Question	> The reasons some people prefer to ask them are not really germane to this discussion, although I'm interested in hearing them nevertheless As someone who finds those questions exceptionally irritating (although I don't think we should ban them), I'll say why. One, they're inherently very tricky to answer for some ...	[ "The rule of three is a writing principle that suggests that a trio of events or characters is more humorous, satisfying, or effective than other numbers. The audience of this form of text is also thereby more likely to remember the information conveyed because having three entities combines both brevity and rhythm...
why do chargers, such as my macbook charger, get scalding hot while charging?	Because they are converting Alternating current to Direct Current, and also changing the voltage. These can't be done perfectly efficiently, and so the "waste" is given off as heat. Part of the reason for the inefficiency is that when electricity flows through wires, these wires "resist" the current flow some (resistan...	[ "Heated clothing designed for use on vehicles such as motorbikes or snowmobiling typically use a 12-volt electric current, the standard voltage on motorsport and powersport batteries. While a single heated garment, such as heated gloves, will not usually adversely affect the charge on the battery, riders have to be...
How are dogs (and other animals) able to grow such distinct patters in their fur?	i saw a lecture on this problem. he used zebras as an example, they know which cells excrete the pigment, white or black, but they just have not yet found anything that causes one line of cells to excrete a different pigment from the one next to it. sorry, it is something that puzzles many scientists	[ "Most dogs have a double coat, each hair follicle containing 1-2 primary hairs and several secondary hairs. The primary hairs are longer, thicker and stiffer, and called guard hairs or outer coat. Each follicle also holds a variety of silky- to wiry-textured secondary hairs (undercoat) all of which are wavy, and sm...
why is graphene not the highest priority in every country's budget ?	Great research in one area doesn't matter in the slightest if you aren't paying the bills to maintain your society. Even if you factor out the day-to-day sort of costs like infrastructure maintenance? Well two things: A lot of research is done privately, not publicly so the government has no say and also the majority...	[ "The Graphene Flagship is the European Union’s biggest scientific research initiative. With a budget of €1 billion, it represents a new form of joint, coordinated research initiative on an unprecedented scale. \n", "Graphene's two surfaces are single sheets of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb lattic...
Can we talk about Evaporation?	Your body is at a higher temperature than the water, therefore you have energy transfer in the form of heat moving from your body into the water on your face. This energy is enough to provide the water with the heat of evaporation it needs for a phase change from liquid to gas. The air moving over your face from the ...	[ "An evaporator is a device in a process used to turn the liquid form of a chemical substance such as water into its gaseous-form/vapor. The liquid is evaporated, or vaporized, into a gas form of the targeted substance in that process.\n", "Evaporation is a phase transition from the liquid phase to vapor (a state ...
what exactly happens to my thumbprint while working out that makes touch id not work?	Apple's Touch ID works by comparing a high resolution picture of your current finger to a stored version that you set up earlier. It compares whorls, ridges, and bumps, just like a finger print examiner might. That being said, it faces the same problems a finger print examiner does. Working out causes minor inflammati...	[ "Touch ID is a fingerprint scanner that is embedded in the home button and can be used to unlock the device, make purchases, and log into applications among other functions. When used, Touch ID only temporarily stores the fingerprint data in encrypted memory in the Secure Enclave, as described above. There is no wa...

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