Split (2)

train · 226k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
why is integral of velocity equal to displacement?	An area under a function is the definition of an integral. Or think of it this way: you have a height of a function on a graph. The slope of the function indicates if the height is getting bigger or smaller. Ex: if your function is a line with positive (upwards) slope that means the height is getting bigger as you mov...	[ "Now remember that the velocity function is simply the derivative of the position function. So what we have really shown is that integrating the velocity simply recovers the original position function. This is the basic idea of the theorem: that \"integration\" and \"differentiation\" are closely related operations...
how exactly is a person's phenotype determined? does every gene in our dna influence our phenotype?	So to start, there are dominant and recessive genes. You have two sets of every gene (one from each parent), so when one is dominant and the other recessive, the recessive gene isn't contributing anything (in reality this can be a bit more complicated). Then there's "non-coding" DNA, sometimes called "junk DNA". Ther...	[ "A phenotype is the \"outward, physical manifestation\" of an organism.\" For humans, phenotypic differences are most readily seen via skin color, eye color, hair color, or height; however, any observable structure, function, or behavior can be considered part of a phenotype. A genotype is the \"internally coded, i...
how do laser range finders work? wouldn't the laser bounce away when it hits the target?	if there is a visible dot on the surface, than atleast some of that light is being reflected back at you. doesnt even need to be visible to you, as the device is going to be far more sensitive.	[ "The laser range finder only detects the distance of one point in its direction of view. Thus, the scanner scans its entire field of view one point at a time by changing the range finder's direction of view to scan different points. The view direction of the laser range finder can be changed either by rotating the ...
The Anglican Church: Ancient Institution or Created by Henry VIII?	Not to any greater a degree than in other regions of Europe. The church in England, in all its guises, has possessed national character, expressed through saints' lives, relics, and architecture. In terms of a church hierarchy the Pope was the official ruler of the English church right up until Henry VIII said he wasn'...	[ "Today, the Church of England is the established church in England. It regards itself as in continuity with the pre-Reformation state Catholic church (something the Roman Catholic Church does not accept) and has been a distinct Anglican church since the settlement under Elizabeth I of England (with some disruption ...
Whats stopping us from using H2O electrolysis as energy storage for solar arrays?	People have been talking about the "Hydrogen Economy" since the 70s, but there are some significant issues that have plagued it, although a lot of smart people are working on the problems. The first is how to store the hydrogen. First off, it is extremely flammable (think Hindenburg), and while the gas by weight is ve...	[ "Even with HTE, electrolysis is a fairly inefficient way to store energy. Significant conversion losses of energy occur both in the electrolysis process, and in the conversion of the resulting hydrogen back into power.\n", "This temporarily excess electric energy could alternatively be used in electrolysis of wat...
how did people who found other people who speak a previously unknown language translate it to the point of perfection?	The same way children who previously don't know any language learn it to perfection: someone learns the unknown language. As soon as you've got a few people that can translate, the accuracy of it snowballs.	[ "Zamenhof's goal to \"enable the learner to make direct use of his knowledge with persons of any nationality, whether the language be universally accepted or not\", as he wrote in 1887, has been achieved, as the language is currently spoken by people living in more than 100 countries.\n", "Kyle Brown, one of the ...
What happened to General Montgomery after Operation: Market Garden failed?	tl;dr - Almost nothing changed in Montgomery's situation, he continued in command of the 21st Army Group which included most (all?) of the Commonwealth combat divisions, and several US units, until the end of the war. For a while since the invasion of Normandy Montgomery had been pressing for Eisenhower to appoint a s...	[ "Montgomery's plan for Operation Market Garden (17–25 September 1944) was to outflank the Siegfried Line and cross the Rhine, setting the stage for later offensives into the Ruhr region. The 21st Army Group would attack north from Belgium, through the Netherlands, across the Rhine and consolidate north of Arnhem on...
Are there any good online sources on the Opium Wars?	It is difficult to prove a negative, but from my experience the answer is 'basically no, unless you count output on this subreddit.' While academic consensus on the Opium War has swung decisively in the revisionist direction, most online articles continue to exaggerate the impact of the war and fail to cover the Chines...	[ "Inglis wrote about war over the opium trade in his book \"The Opium War\" (1976). Donald Gould gave the book a positive review describing it as a fascinating account. However, the historian John Fairbank concluded the book offered nothing new and covered less detail than other writers on the subject such as Peter ...
How were the Persians able to field so vast armies? And what are the logistics behind such a monumental effort.	Hi! You might be interested in [this post](_URL_0_) I wrote recently about the Persian army numbers you find in sources like Herodotos and Xenophon. In short, these numbers are not reliable historic facts, but estimates that were meant to look plausible enough not to undermine Greek authors' credibility. They probably ...	[ "At the beginning of the invasion, it is clear that the Persians held most advantages. Regardless of its actual size, it is clear that the Persians had brought an overwhelming number of troops and ships to Greece. The Persians had a unified command system, and everyone was answerable to the king. They had a hugely ...
Is there a reason that the letters towards the end of the western alphabet (the last five in particular) are less frequently used than the others?	keep in mind that they are less frequently used in english. spanish uses y and z quite a bit. french uses x all the time. italian also uses z a lot. so while they might not be common letters in english, they are common in other languages	[ "By the 1920s and 1930s, letters were being rapidly constructed across the West. Although the pace has slowed since then, newly constructed letters continue to appear today. Meanwhile, many letters are fading due to lack of maintenance (especially in cases where the school that created the letter has closed), or ha...
what are the us voting for today?	Congress gets voted in more often. The House of Representatives(like your House of Commons) gets completely re-voted every two years, so they're all up for election, and the Senate(vaguely similar to an elected House of Lords) is on staggered 6-year terms, so 1/3 of them are up for election. Also, there's a lot of stat...	[ "BULLET::::- November 29 – In a statement, President Clinton says \"the United States House of Representatives cast an historic vote for American workers, farmers, and families\" that night demonstrating \"our confidence in America's ability to compete and win in the global economy.\"\n", "\"How to Vote in Every ...
expiration dates for painkillers (details inside)	You are looking at date Filled vs date expired. Not date manufactured vs date expired. These drugs are created in large quantities but that doesnt mean they all get distributed at the same time. So the ones you got in 2013 and the ones you got in 2015 could have all been made in 2013. Drugs do expire.	[ "If ricin is ingested, symptoms may be delayed by up to 36 hours but commonly begin within 2–4 hours. These include a burning sensation in mouth and throat, abdominal pain, purging and bloody diarrhea. Within several days there is severe dehydration, a drop in blood pressure and a decrease in urine. Unless treated,...
To what extent is modern US law derived from Roman law?	Louisiana has a system of civil law, unlike the common law in the rest of the United States. It's codes are derived from French and Spanish law as opposed to English law.	[ "Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the \"Corpus Juris Civilis\" (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I. Roman law forms the basic framework for civil law, the most wid...
why do we say "on the plane", "on the train", but "in the car"?	I thought it was because you can walk around ON a train and plane, but you can't really walk around IN your car. On is for platforms.	[ "It is called a train because the cars follow one another around the track, the same reason as for a railroad train. Individual cars vary in design and can carry from one to eight or more passengers each.\n", "In Japan, railway directions are referred to as and , and these terms are widely employed in timetables ...
Light splits in all colors, so is light just a ray of photons with different colors?	Yes. You can think of sunlight for example as a very large stream of photons of a variety of colors (wavelengths). For sunlight, the distribution looks like [this](_URL_0_).	[ "Light from many different sources contains various colors, each with its own brightness or intensity. A rainbow, or prism, sends these component colors in different directions, making them individually visible at different angles. A graph of the intensity plotted against the frequency (showing the brightness of ea...
How did the free peasant republic in Dithmarschen in the 15th and 16th centuries actually function?	I've basically covered this on a podcast, so let me start with that. Your answer is in this episode: _URL_0_ That show was actually about the region south of Dithmarschen. But the cause of their freedom was the same: It's swampy and tough economics there. There were NOT actually independent on paper. They were under...	[ "In 1653, peasants of territories subject to Lucerne, Bern, Solothurn, and Basel revolted because of currency devaluation. Although the authorities prevailed in this Swiss peasant war, they did pass some tax reforms and the incident in the long term prevented an absolutist development as would occur at some other c...
Catharism was a militant heresy that gained strong support in Southern France in the 13th century before being suppressed in the two decade Albigensian Crusade. Two or three centuries later, Southern France again became a bastion of militant religious heresy with French Huguenots. Any connection?	I've asked a few questions about Cathars on this sub, and it seems that a lot of historians question whether the Cathars even existed at all. You might want to look at this answer about Cathars from u/sunagainstgold _URL_0_	[ "12th-century France witnessed the growth of Catharism in Languedoc. It was in connection with the struggle against this heresy that the Inquisition originated. After the Cathars were accused of murdering a papal legate in 1208, Pope Innocent III declared the Albigensian Crusade. Abuses committed during the crusade...
why is the tachometer (rpm counter) so large in a car's dashboard (as large as the speed dial)? how is the information useful to the average driver?	Great if you drive a manual. Tells you if your revs are too high and you need to shift up, or too low and you need to shift down. No idea why you'd want one on an automatic.	[ "A tachometer (revolution-counter, tach, rev-counter, RPM gauge) is an instrument measuring the rotation speed of a shaft or disk, as in a motor or other machine. The device usually displays the revolutions per minute (RPM) on a calibrated analogue dial, but digital displays are increasingly common. \n", "The ele...
Would you hear an explosion in space from Earth/Endor?	You might hear a sonic boom from very large piece of it entering the atmosphere near your location - but the sound of the blast itself would not be heard as the vacuum of space prevents sound transmission	[ "Astronomer Philip Plait has described the explosion and resultant shock wave as \"the most dramatic effect ever filmed\", but states that in reality it would be more likely for the explosion seen in \"Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country\" to generate a spherical shock wave. He finds the effect to be more plausi...
Were there any universally agreed upon "rules of engagement" for hand-to-hand combat in pre-firearm era battles?	> I know some of the bloodiest combat happened after formations broke The bloodiest combat would happen after the formation of one side broke, and almost all of the blood would come from them. > but were there rules to how you fought with the enemy, i.e. one-on-one. Don't do it because it's stupid and suicidal...	[ "Duels were common in much of South America during the 20th century, although generally illegal. In Argentina, during the 18th and 19th century, it was common for \"gauchos\"—cowboys—to resolve their disputes in a fight using working knives called \"facones\". After the turn of the 19th century, when repeating hand...
how does the brain create brand new words?	Creativity. You could have merged together "rustles" with "cramp" or just added a c to the beginning because it was amusing to 8 year old you. Or you just randomly thought of it and it stuck. For an example not involving language, imagine a purple creature the size of a chihuahua with a handlebar mustache and monocle....	[ "In order to create a new word, the speaker first selects one or two physically and psychologically salient aspects. The search for the motivations (iconemes) is based on one or several cognitive-associative relations. These relations are:\n", "When a person produces a word, they are essentially turning their tho...
modern militia purposes?	The are a remnant of an earlier time. The truth is they aren't all that important, but many states feel strongly about maintaining their right to have one (Which is the true point of the 2nd Amendment). In theory, in the event of an invasion or the like they would join the fight. The thing is, that is also what the ...	[ "The idea of a militia, or body of citizen Soldiers as distinct from career soldiers, was borrowed from England and dates in this country from 1636, when three militia regiments were organized for the common defense in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Militia companies were eventually organized throughout colonial Ame...
In theory and practice, how did the fascism of Italy and Austria differ from the fascism of Nazi Germany?	Italian Fascism was a hybrid ideology in practice: it drew elements from socialism (state interventions in economy, an emphasis on welfare policies like public housing schemes, state sanctioned free time activities), liberalism (a tendency to favor industrial and financial interests), totalitarian measures (heavy hande...	[ "Italian Fascism was expansionist in its desires, looking to create a New Roman Empire. Nazi Germany was even more aggressive in expanding its borders in violation of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. The Nazis murdered the Austrofascist dictator Dollfuss, causing an uneasy relationship in Austria between fascism and ...
why and how do electronic devices draw only as much current from a power source as required in that very moment?	Everything draws only as much as it needs. Electricity flows a little like water, for ELI5. You open the radio a little when you need just a little, or all the way when you want a lot. Your television, to pick one, draws just a little power while it waits for you to turn it on. Then when it's on, it draws more to tur...	[ "Active devices of an electronic system (transistors, ICs, vacuum tubes, for example) are connected to their power supplies through conductors with finite resistance and inductance. If the current drawn by an active device changes, voltage drops from power supply to device will also change due to these impedances. ...
Is vaporizing really healthier than smoking?	"Less detrimental to health" is likely to be the best ruling you'll get on this, and Boston University Medical Center's study seems to support this position. Here is the relevant quote from the physorg article regarding the research: > "Few, if any, chemicals at levels detected in electronic cigarettes raise serious ...	[ "Repeated exposure over a long time to e-cigarette vapor poses substantial potential risk. Although companies state that e-cigarettes are safe, there is no scientific evidence to support this view. Long-term data showing that vaping is a \"healthier alternative\" than cigarette smoking does not exist. There is litt...
Light travels so fast that, for all intents and purposes, it's either there or it's not. So what am I seeing when I turn a light off and slowly watch the bulb or housing dim and glow faintly in the dark?	If this is a lamp you "burn"; one with a filament or an arc-lamp. These work by heating an excitable gas inside the bulb, that gas releases light. That gas and filament are pretty hot, and don't cool instantly, just because you've turn the power off. I've seen this with CFLs and other Florescent lamps as w...	[ "Some witnesses describe the light as appearing to approach them several times before retreating. Others report that the lights were able to keep pace with them when they were in a moving motor vehicle.\n", "\"Where His Light Was\" comes from the perspective of when you're walking through a hard time, it feels da...
How does Gesture Recognition work? (Computing)	There's a lot of techniques for this, and it's an active research area in man-machine interaction and artificial intelligence. If all you have to do is write an introductory section, look up some survey or review papers on the field. [This](_URL_1_) ([PDF](_URL_2_)) is a good one, as is [this one](_URL_0_) ([PDF](_URL_...	[ "Gesture recognition is a topic in computer science and language technology with the goal of interpreting human gestures via mathematical algorithms. Gestures can originate from any bodily motion or state but commonly originate from the face or hand. Current focuses in the field include emotion recognition from fac...
how significant was finding the rosetta stone?	From an archaeological and histological perspective, massively significant. Before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone we were unable to decipher hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt. The Rosetta Stone had 3 blocks of characters on it, the top was Egyptian Hieroglyphics, the middle was Demotic script and the bottom was Anci...	[ "An 1803 article on the Rosetta Stone was amongst the earliest published research. The first detailed account of the medieval French Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum was published in one of the last papers, of 1904, by Sir Charles Hercules Read.\n", "Jean-François Champollion uses the Rosetta Stone to unlock ...
how were cameras allowed inside of concentration camps?	Well the Nazi's documented and kept thourough records of the concentration camps. plus the vast amounts of scientific literature garnered from the medical experiments performed on prisoners has proven very usefull in modern medicine	[ "\"Nuit et Brouillard\" (\"Night and Fog\", 1956) was one of the first documentaries about the Nazi concentration camps, but it deals more with the memory of the camps than with their actual past existence. Realising that standard documentary techniques would be incapable of confronting the enormity of the horror (...
how does the price of the dollar affect the economy of foreign countries?	If the price of the dollar (exchange rate) is low, it means that countries with a different currency can buy the same US products for less money. Example: company A sells 100 products for 100 USD to a foreign company B. Now the exchange rate falls and 100 products now cost 95 dollars. This might look not great for comp...	[ "The shift toward a more pluralistic distribution of economic power led to increasing dissatisfaction with the privileged role of the U.S. dollar as the international currency. As in effect the world's central banker, the U.S., through its deficit, determined the level of international liquidity. In an increasingly...
what stops the bones in your foot from ripping through your flesh and skin with all the pressure from walking and running?	The bones aren't that sharp and your skin isn't that weak. That's really the long and short of it.	[ "Arthritis-related problems include pain, stiffness, inflammation and damage to joint cartilage (the tissue that covers the ends of bones, enabling them to move against each another) and surrounding structures. This can result in joint weakness, instability and deformities that can interfere with the most basic dai...
on reddit, why are links to youtube, sometimes written as "_url_0_" (dot after u, before b), next to the title	Because that's what youtube gives you when you click the "link" option from the "share" box. It's designed to save a few extra letters for stuff like twitter where that matters.	[ "BULLET::::- Linking: Redlinks (Wikipedia links for which no article yet exists) link to the \"edit\" page, instead of the default \"Google search term\". By default, anonymous article creation is not allowed.\n", "Assume that an urn contains two red balls and one green ball. One ball was drawn yesterday, one bal...
Did the Persians really have massive casualties at the battle of Thermopylae?	They suffered heavy casualties but that's relative to the losses incurred by a winning side. The thing with ancient and medieval battles is that the majority of losses in a battle were suffered by losers when they routed - the winners could cut them down as they fled. The actual losses on the winners side (losses suf...	[ "During the second Persian invasion of Greece, after great losses at the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Artemisium, the Greeks once again brought the Persians to blows in the Battle of Salamis in the year 480 BC. The Greek fleet numbered 378 triremes while the Persian may have numbered more than four times...
physical nature of genes.	Genes are separated from each other by non-coding regions on chromosomes. In fact, the majority of the DNA in humans is never expressed as a protein product, and we're not entirely sure what a lot of it is for. I talked about the structure of DNA in the reply to the above poster, adding on to that, every three DNA n...	[ "Genes have other attributes beside biological function, chemical properties and cellular location. One can compose sets of genes based on proximity to other genes, association with a disease, and relationships with drugs or toxins. The Molecular Signatures Database and the Comparative Toxicogenomics Database are e...
Clothing in Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Greece	Clothes in ancient Greece are basically just a variety of rectangles. The most basic garment is a chiton and that is essentially piece of cloth folded around the body in a U shape. The opening fell on one side of the body, under the arm. The garment is then pinned on the shoulder and tied at the waist. If you're really...	[ "Clothing in ancient Greece primarily consisted of the chiton, peplos, himation, and chlamys. Ancient Greek men and women typically wore two pieces of clothing draped about the body: an undergarment (chiton or peplos) and a cloak (himation or chlamys). Ancient Greek clothing was mainly based on necessity, function,...
How did amber encapsulations happen?	It probably landed on this poor guy or he fell into it. The weight of the Amber is irrelevant, once it's encapsulated the antenna have plenty of time to spring back before the Amber hardens. Bugs die of oxygen deprevation relatively quickly. Amber is not this pretty in nature, this was almost definitely cut/polished to...	[ "Amber is heterogeneous in composition, but consists of several resinous bodies more or less soluble in alcohol, ether and chloroform, associated with an insoluble bituminous substance. Amber is a macromolecule by free radical polymerization of several precursors in the labdane family, e.g. communic acid, cummunol,...
if 52*7 is 364 where do we get our extra day to make a 365 day calendar year?	There are 52 FULL weeks in a year, and 365 FULL days. Those extra fractions make the extra day each year and the extra day every four years.	[ "There are 365.2422 solar days in the mean tropical year. Several solar calendars have a year containing 365 days. Related to this, in Ontario, the driver's license learner's permit used to be called \"365\" because it was valid for only 366 days. Financial and scientific calculations often use a 365-day calendar t...
Can something be genetically modified "on the fly" and see results in a (relatively) short period of time or is that something that has to be done before birth?	You can't just re-engineer a somatic cell (non-sex cell) and expect to see changes in the whole body just because of that one change (all of its daughter cells will be different, but only them). You can re-engineer somatic cells with a virus (a.... retrovirus?) which actually changes the DNA of a cell and then moves on...	[ "Opponents argue that the long-term effects of releasing millions of GM-flies are impossible to predict. Dead fly larvae could be left inside crops. Helen Wallace from Genewatch, an organisation that monitors the use of genetic technology, stated \"Fruit grown using Oxitec's GM flies will be contaminated with GM ma...
How can I make water boil faster?	If you aren't already doing this, putting a lid on the pot brings water to boil much more quickly. The salt question is addressed [here](_URL_0_), essentially it's equivalent to boiling a smaller quantity of water (so you might as well just make your noodles in a smaller amount of water, skipping the salt.)	[ "BULLET::::1. Boiling: Bringing water to its boiling point (about 100 °C or 212 F at sea level), is the oldest and most effective way since it eliminates most microbes causing intestine related diseases, but it cannot remove chemical toxins or impurities. For human health, complete sterilization of water is not req...
how to legitimately change your last name?	I just recently did this! I can't tell you about maybe something weird in your county, but you go to your county of residence. It was super easy. I filled out forms and showed up on the date and time that they have open for name changes. The judge asked why I wanted to change it, I just said I preferred my mother's mai...	[ "A woman who had changed her last name to one that was not her husband's original surname was trying to claim control over her inheritance. The court ruled in her favor, \"At common law a man may change his name, and he is bound by any contract into which he may enter in his adopted or reputed name, and by his know...
Would there ever be a way to dissolve plaque without damaging teeth?	Not quite, dental plaque is a biofilm formed by bacteria, not a crystal. Certainly not made of enamel. As for alternative methods to remove it, I'm not in the field, so I not sure what's available.	[ "Plaque is a soft yellow-grayish substance that adheres to the tooth surfaces including removable and fixed restorations. It is an organised biofilm that is primarily composed of bacteria in a matrix of glycoproteins and extracellular polysaccharides. This matrix makes it impossible to remove the plaque by rinsing ...
Did medieval armies have NCO's or something like a centurian to help lead troops into battle?	Yes. Here is an earlier [post I did specifically on the ranks of the Eastern Roman Empire (c. 1000).](_URL_0_) > Well obviously there is wide latitude in ranks as there are any number of Armies from that era. I'll use one that I have a book handy for as an example. > > For the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire cir...	[ "The Non-Combatant Corps (NCC) was a corps of the British Army composed of conscientious objectors as privates, with NCOs and officers seconded from other corps or regiments. Its members fulfilled various non-combatant roles in the army during the First World War, the Second World War and the period of conscription...
why do some radio stations (usually more popular or "mainstream ones) raise the pitch or speed up the songs they play?	Just so the song is shorter. Sometimes they will cut sections out of songs too. What comes to mind is when Metallica released death magnetic back in '08. [The shortest song is 5 minutes, and the next shortest is 6:25](_URL_0_) I forget which songs they were always playing exactly. "The day that never comes" was on...	[ "Radio has always had to balance listeners' desires with the need to deliver a predictable audience to advertisers. In the past, if listeners felt a song was too monotonous or repetitive, they could tune to a different station. Now, however, there is less choice available, and that song might be playing on a nearby...
"for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". is there anything in the universe where this isn't true?	Well, sure. There are all kinds of situations of one thing "acting" on another without getting "acted" on back, because "acting" is not a scientific word. That definition of Newton's Third Law is very vague and actually has no real meaning. A better definition is: "For every force there is an equal and opposite for...	[ "The use of the word reaction derives from Newton's third law, which essentially states that if a force, called \"action\", acts upon a body, then an equal and opposite force, called \"reaction\", must act upon another body. The force exerted by the ground is conventionally referred to as the reaction, although, si...
Why did the silk road and the other primary east-west trade routes cross through the desert instead of going north through the Eurasian steppes?	It's important to remember that very few (if any) traders travelled the entire length of the silk road- it was more like a relay of different traders. The central Asian deserts were already populated by nomadic people with a long tradition of trade, which facilitated the establishment of the greater trade routes in th...	[ "The general assumption that the Silk Roads connected east and west is an over-simplification. This southern Taklamakan route also connected with trans-Tibetan plateau routes linking Central and South Asia. In addition, the modern hydrology visible on Google Earth suggests a number of south to north courses through...
What obscure folk tale/s from your area of speciality might have rivalled Grimm's fairytales if they had been helped to spread among Western culture at the right time?	The tales of Hershele of Ostropol are quite entertaining. They're relatively well known amongst some Jews and Ukrainians.	[ "Grimm Tales is a play by British poet Carol Ann Duffy, based on the original fairy tales written down by the Brothers Grimm. The play was first published in 1996. In 1997 she published a sequel, More Grimm Tales. Not all of the stories that were produced by the Brothers Grimm were adapted in the play. The ones tha...
WW2 - U-boats vs the D-Day invasion fleet	It was infeasible because it was suicidal. The invasion convoys were escorted by several dozen destroyers, frigates or other escort ships with Anti Submarine weapons on board. The RAF coastal command flew numerous patrols over the English Chanel, Particularly the western approa...	[ "The use of these boats during the D-day invasions at Normandy is shown in \"Saving Private Ryan\". The boats were also used in a scene during the 1985 film \"Invasion USA\", in which communist guerrillas land on a Florida beach.\n", "The Higgins boat was used for many amphibious landings, including Operation Ove...
how /r/adviceanimals isn't a default sub even though it has more subscribers than /r/explainlikeimfive?	It used to be, and redditors got tired of the same misused full-of-shit memes clogging the page. I'm guessing reddit admins did as well.	[ "Recommender systems are information filtering systems which attempt to predict the rating or preference that a user would give, based on ratings that similar users gave and ratings that the user gave on previous occasions. These systems have become increasingly popular and are used for movies, music, news, books, ...
how much money is there in the world in total and how's it measured?	For a while counting is the simplest way to measure money. I say that because eventually it gets tricky. There is of course the cash money. Money in our pockets and in the cash drawers of registers. That is the smallest amount. It is counted as it is produced and banks count it as it comes in. Then there is money on ...	[ "\"All the Money in the World\" grossed $25.1 million in the United States and Canada and $31.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $56.9 million, against a production budget of $50 million.\n", "In 1990, total currency in circulation in the world passed one trillion United States dollars. Afte...
why you can get a heart attack if you're shocked or scared.	An increase in heart rate and/or blood pressure can dislodge fatty deposits in the arteries that feed the heart. If they break off they can block the supply of blood to parts of the heart. That's a heart attack. The heart muscle then begins to die.	[ "People with panic attacks often report a fear of dying or heart attack, flashing vision, faintness or nausea, numbness throughout the body, heavy breathing and hyperventilation, or loss of body control. Some people also suffer from tunnel vision, mostly due to blood flow leaving the head to more critical parts of ...
Why did French revolutionaries prefer an emperor to a king?	In 1799, the French Directory was a corrupt political machine that used war to divert attention away from problems within France (such as how corrupt they were) and using war to gain funds for both the government and themselves. The coup of 18 Brumaire would drive the corrupt Directory away and place Napoleon with two ...	[ "Initially, such rulers of Europe as Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor viewed the revolution in France as an event between the French king and his subjects, and not something in which they should interfere. As the rhetoric grew more strident, the monarchies started to view events with distrust. Leopold, who had succeed...
What is the most significant historical artifact that has been stolen or appropriated by a state after rediscovery?	I can't say that this was a re-discovery, but one of the more interesting examples of something like this was when Texas revolutionists attacked and killed General Santa Anna and his army. They stole his wooden leg, and it was held in a museum in what I believe was Illinois. Apparently, Mexico hates him, but the govern...	[ "The museum announced in July 2006, that 221 minor items, including jewelry, Orthodox icons, silverware and richly enameled objects, had been stolen. The value of the stolen items was estimated to be approximately $543,000 but by the end of 2006 several of the stolen items were recovered.\n", "One of the most val...
What makes gecko feet walk on whatever surface?	To answer, we first need to consider the gecko's feet on a larger scale. On the bottom of each foot is thousands of small hairs. At the tip of these hairs are thousands more microextensions. These hairs are the key to the foot's adhesive properties. On the molecular level, the hair interact via van der waals forces ...	[ "Gecko feet are the most famous reversible adhesion mechanism in nature. The anti-fouling ability of feet allows geckos to run on dusty ceilings and corners without the accumulation of dirt on their feet. In 2000, Autumn et al. revealed the origin of gecko’s strong adhesion by investigating the surface features of ...
5: why is it so hard to replace plastics with another material with similar properties?	Cost: plastic is extremely cheap to produce (also to recycle), currently nothing as cheap exists so companies will keep using what makes them the most money. Properties: there actually aren't many materials with similar properties: - recycled/compostable plastics aren't as maleable and mess up the recycling of norma...	[ "Recycling plastics presents the difficulty of handling mixed plastics, as unmixed plastics are usually necessary to maintain desirable properties. Mixing many plastics results in diminished material properties, with even just a few percent of polypropylene mixed with polyethylene producing a plastic with significa...
why farmers give their cows nose rings	It's to attach a leash to. It's very painful for a cow to pull against a lead when it's attached by the nose, so this allows humans to walk them around. If it were around their neck, there's no wah you'd get them to move unless they wanted to.	[ "A nose ring is a ring made of metal designed to be installed through the nasal septum of pigs (to prevent them from rooting) as well as domestic cattle, usually bulls. In pigs, nose rings are alternatively pierced through the rim of the nose. Nose rings are often required for bulls when exhibited at agricultural s...
how does mental illness start?	It's a large category, including different illnesses with several different causes. These can include: - Chemical imbalances - Traumatic experiences - Inadequate care during the first 3 years of life - Brain injury - Genetic abnormalities - Long-term stress	[ "A mental disorder, also called a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitting, or occur as a single episode. Many disorders have been described, with signs a...
Why doesn't the water from the river mix with the water from the sea?	It is mixing. Just slowly and in places you can't see. The different densities, salinities and turbidities are very large so it will always take a long time to mix. Furthermore both bodies of water are being replenished so the mixing is counterbalanced. It is likely you are seeing the top of a less dense plume here ove...	[ "If the river water has a higher density than the surface of the receiving water, the river water will plunge below the surface. The river water will then either form an underflow or an interflow within the lake. However, if the river water is lighter than the receiving water, as is typically the case when fresh ri...
I don't understand how a serf and a slave in Medieval Europe were different? Was serfdom just slavery with extra steps?	Serfs were a bit similar to slaves, but a slight bit more well off. While slaves were considered the property of their owners, serfs were not. And while they did not live the luxurious lifestyles of those they served, they still had their place, and had their limited rights (even if these rights may or may not have bee...	[ "Serfdom is the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage, which developed during the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century.\n", "In contrast to other Europ...
why does it mess up my counting when someone starts saying random numbers	It's not just counting which is effected by other people talking. A similar experience can be had when someone else talks to you about a similar topic at the same time as you try to speak (it's often used as a demonstration of what it's like to live auditory hallucinations). Sadly I can't find a video demonstrating the...	[ "In a random sequence of numbers, a number may be said to be cursed because it has come up less often in the past, and so it is thought that it will occur less often in the future. A number may be assumed to be blessed because it has occurred more often than others in the past, and so it is thought likely to come u...
How did the Romans communicate their laws to newly conquered, non-Latin speaking territories?	I'm going to speak in broad and general terms here, since you've asked a question that concerns a wide area both geographically, as well as temporally and in terms of existing, previous legal practices (conquered Greek or Hellenistic cities, f.e. would have their own extensive bodies of law, while Germans wouldn't, whi...	[ "Latin became the language of conquered areas because local people started speaking it, and not because the population was displaced by Latin-speakers. Latin was not imposed officially on peoples brought under Roman rule. Saint Augustine observed that Romans preferred for Latin to be adopted \"per pacem societatis\...
What were the most sought after professions in the Ancient and Classic era?	Could you please specify more exactly what you're interested in? Antiquity encompasses a period of several thousand years, with myriad peoples and cultures interacting with each other for every moment of that time. Depending on time and place there are vastly different cultural and social attitudes and approaches towar...	[ "According to the World Almanac website, nominations for the second-oldest profession include: actors, casino gambling, con men, Gangsters, counterfeiting, gigolos, glassmaking, interpreters, journalism, moving companies, pharmacists, pickpocketing, pimpery, piracy, press agents, prostitutes, spying, and quackery. ...
is there an actual quote from bible that condems homosexuality?	It depends on what you believe 1 Corinthians 6:9 says The Apostle Paul warns people against being "arsenokoitai" in the original Greek language text. Arsenokoitai were male shrine prostitutes that claimed to sell religious ritual sexual experiences. Some people believe the sin of the arsenokoitai was homosexuality, a...	[ "Cecil Gutzmore at the University of the West Indies has written that religious fundamentalists believe that the Bible variously declares homosexuality to be an \"abomination\", a \"vile affection\", \"unseemly\", \"not natural\", or a \"form of ungodliness\".\n", "The Bible refers to homosexuality numerous times...
how do you get four first degree murder charges from one death?	This is a case of 'throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks'. Or to put this another way - if you really piss the government or wrong person off they can really fuck up your life. Normally if you punch your girlfriend that's one count of domestic violence. But if the prosecutor really hates you that can...	[ "In the state of Washington, a person is found guilty of first degree murder when there is a premeditated intent to cause the death of another person. Murder in the first degree is a class A felony. If a person is convicted of first degree murder, he or she will receive a life sentence. If an aggravating circumstan...
why do foreign names get spelled and pronounced differently in english?	Because they have different origin languages. English is Germanic in origin, converts semi-ok to Romanic languages but not really. Nordic languages have different letter sets, and the Chinese has different inflections on syllables, makes its tough	[ "Other words (\"e.g.\" the French word \"née\", meaning \"born\", and used with maiden names) have been adopted more recently, and are still considered to be foreign, retaining their diacritics and often being written in italics to show their foreign status. However, they are usually pronounced in an English way (\...
What is the actual rarity of male calico cats?	It's a surprisingly complicated question as there's more than one way to get a calico/tortie male cat, including mutant coat patterns that look like calico but aren't produced by the same genes that produce a calico pattern in females. As such, there's no simple answer for "how rare". More in-depth information can be ...	[ "From among the above cats noted, the most popular cat breeds to be renowned for their hypoallergenic quality are the Siberian and Balinese. These cats produce much fewer protein allergens in comparison to regular domestic household cats or other cat breeds. Cats that have some Balinese ancestry might produce lower...
why does starting task manager when my computer is frozen seem to unfreeze it?	Task manager has top priority, so if any other program is hogging up the computer in an endless cycle you can force it to shut down.	[ "Because the window controls are being rendered by the application process, if the application freezes the controls will often become unresponsive too. This can make it more confusing when trying to close unresponsive applications as the display server has to detect this. \n", "In computing, a hang or freeze occu...
what's the deal with yellowstone?	Yellowstone sits over a massive hotspot and is a supervolcano. While it would be very bad if it erupted, the danger is rather hilariously overblown by Hollywood. Granted, Wyoming and parts of Idaho and Montana would be gone, and the states immediately east and southeast of Wyoming (so, Colorado, the Dakotas, Nebraska,...	[ "\"Yellowstone\" is an American television series created by Taylor Sheridan that is set to premiere on June 20, 2018 on the Paramount Network. Yellowstone follows \"the Dutton family, led by John Dutton played by Kevin Costner, who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States, under constant attack b...
why do people get diarrhea when they are dehydrated?	For the most part it's the other way around. People get dehydrated because they have diarrhea due to sickness, etc. When you have diarrhea you aren't absorbing the water from your digestive tract, which causes the dehydration.	[ "Diarrhea, also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements each day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration due to fluid loss. Signs of dehydration often begin with loss of the normal stretchiness of the skin and irritable behaviour. Th...
What is the best scientific paper you have read?	A message from the moderators: Please do not post a top-level reply to this thread unless you are contributing a paper from the peer-reviewed literature. If possible, please link to a PDF of the article that can be downloaded by everyone, not just those with journal subscriptions. Also, arXiv is not a peer reviewed s...	[ "Nebert has published more than 650 papers in numerous scientific fields. He was recognized by Eugene Garfield [Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)] as “among The 1,000 Contemporary Scientists Most-Cited, 1965-1978,” and “among the Top 0.1% Contemporary Scientists Most-Cited, 1981-1999” — from a compilation ...
why are other standards for data transfer used at all (hdmi, usb, sata, etc), when ethernet cables have higher bandwidth, are cheap, and can be 100s of meters long?	USB cabling and receptacle buses are cheaper than ethernet cables. USB has greater port density, and will fit cleanly into thinner form factor platforms. USB 3.0 has ~5 gbps transfer rate, whereas cat5e gets stable 1gbps. Getting 10Gbps typically requires cat6e ethernet cables or fiber, which are not exactly flexibl...	[ "UTP cable is also the most common cable used in computer networking. Modern Ethernet, the most common data networking standard, can use UTP cables. Twisted pair cabling is often used in data networks for short and medium length connections because of its relatively lower costs compared to optical fiber and coaxial...
how do the moon's phases work	The bright part of the moon is simply light reflecting off the sun. So the phase completely depends on the angle between the sun, earth, and moon. So you'll notice on a night with a full moon, the moon is approximately on the complete opposite side of the earth. During a new moon, it's approxmiately in the same area of...	[ "The lunar phase or phase of the Moon is the shape of the directly sunlit portion of the Moon as viewed from Earth. The lunar phases gradually and cyclically change over the period of a synodic month (about 29.53 days), as the orbital positions of the Moon around Earth and of Earth around the Sun shift.\n", "In w...
what is so special about the blu-ray format?	Blu Ray isn't a type of video. It is a type of data storage system. Blu-Ray just uses lower wavelength (bluer) light in the laser it uses to read the disk when compared to a DVD. This lets the system read smaller spots on the disk. The ability to read smaller spots means that a disk of a given size can have more disti...	[ "Blu-ray Disc specifies the use of Universal Disk Format (UDF) 2.50 as a convergent-friendly format for both PC and consumer electronics environments. It is used in the latest specifications of BD-ROM, BD-RE, and BD-R. In the first BD-RE specification (defined in 2002), the BDFS (Blu-ray Disc File System) was used....
I've always wondered: if I am in an airplane that is traveling JUST under the speed of sound, and I sprint down the aisle, would I break the sound barrier?	No because the air that you're in is moving as fast as you are so your person is never near the speed in its immediate surroundings to break the sound barrier. Now if you were on the wing or top of said aircraft somehow and could run against the wind, I hypothesize that you would break the sound barrier.	[ "In subsonic flight, the plane pushes the air ahead of it out of the way as it moves. When a plane is traveling faster than the speed of sound (i.e. faster than air molecules normally travel) the air ahead of it is not pushed out of the way: the air remains still until the plane has approached to within half an inc...
Can a beam of light bend if the source rotates or moves in the same way water does from a rotating sprinkler?	I am as far from an expert on this subject as you can get, but I'm pretty sure that once water or a laser beam, or any other sort of "stream" of particles or molecules leaves whatever source releases it, the source no longer has any effect on it. The water stream bends because gravity pulls it down, and it only seems t...	[ "Light reflected from the tilted beam splitter is made parallel using a lens and split by slits into two beams, which traverse a tube carrying water moving with velocity \"v\". Each beam travels a different leg of the tube, is reflected at the mirror at left, and returns through the opposite leg of the tube. Thus, ...
i'm 27 and i'm starting to notice something. are adults looking and acting younger? or is it my perspective on age that's changing?	I think it's the fact that you're aging. I'm in my early 40's and I see little kids driving cars and working, having spouses and even babies! Little kids I say. The "hot" young guys look like potentially hot men. I don't look at them and think, "Hmm, I could eat him up." Instead, I think he will be a good looking ma...	[ "BULLET::::- Depressed mood. According to Cox, Abramson, Devine, and Hollon (2012), old age is a risk factor for depression caused by prejudice (i.e., \"deprejudice\"). When people are prejudiced against the elderly and then become old themselves, their anti-elderly prejudice turns inward, causing depression. \"Peo...
how can margins of error be trusted?	The margin of error isn't "We know we're only possibly wrong by this much" it's "This is the known accuracy of our instrument under what we believe are operational conditions." You can still be wrong.	[ "The accuracy paradox is the paradoxical finding that accuracy is not a good metric for predictive models when classifying in predictive analytics. This is because a simple model may have a high level of accuracy but be too crude to be useful. For example, if the incidence of category A is dominant, being found in ...
in the u.s. why are female locker rooms (showers etc.) so private when male locker rooms are almost always wide open practically forcing young boys and men into group showering etc.?	As a guy who found the shower situation in highschool to be extremely awkward, I think men are just raised to be cool with it. I was never cool with it but my class mates had absolutely no problem with it. I was unaware the girls showers were different. We had a square room with shower heads lining the walls, I thought...	[ "Supporters of single-sex toilets point to the specific needs of women, such as menstrual hygiene, and argue that these require sex-segregation in public toilets, for reasons of personal comfort and privacy, and this is especially true for teenage girls.\n", "However, it is questionable whether the lower level of...
what will happen with opec planning to halt production? how does it affect oil prices? who is winning and losing?	No one is planning to halt production. Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze production at current levels. Considering Russia is already running 100% production and Saudi Arabia is damn near 100% and neither Iraq nor Iran will agree to the freeze it is unlikely to mean much of anything.	[ "OPEC claims to generate profits for oil firms by adjusting the petroleum supply and supporting prices. However, the strategy does not help it to substantially dominate the Megacorpstate in order to obtain gradual rise of income and revenues. If the organization decides to adjust supply to increase revenues, the na...
why aren't our pupils always dilated so that we see more all the time?	Stare into a bright light. How much can you see? When your pupils dilate it is to allow more light into your eyes. Letting in more light in dark situations helps you see better, but letting in more light in a bright situation makes it harder to see and can damage your eyes.	[ "BULLET::::- Pupil dilation - Pupil dilation may be harder to detect by most people. Sexual desire may be a cause of such dilation. It may also be an indication of attraction. Physiologically, eyes dilate when it is darker to let in more light.\n", "The \"latency\" of pupillary response (the time in which it take...
how can there be cameras with large resolutions like 42mp and be just a couple thousand dollars, yet a video camera of that resolution be $40-70,000? why does it seem to be so much more difficult to make?	Take your phone into a dim room and take a picture. Now take a video. The picture will be brighter and more detailed even though it's using the exact same sensor. It requires a lot more light sensitivity to take 30 pictures a second than one picture. It also takes a lot faster data transfer. (Even if you set your ph...	[ "Some photographic still cameras such as DSLRs can exceed 5K resolution when capturing still images, but not when capturing video. For example, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV announced in August 2016 has a maximum resolution of 67204480 pixels (around 30 megapixels in a 3:2 aspect ratio) which is used for high resolution...
How wide are rainbows if we consider all wavelengths?	This has been asked before: _URL_0_ The gist of it is that water absorbs most light below about 200nm and above perhaps 2000nm, so the edges of the rainbow beyond the visible spectrum start to get dimmer.	[ "Supernumerary rainbows cannot be explained using classical geometric optics. The alternating faint bands are caused by interference between rays of light following slightly different paths with slightly varying lengths within the raindrops. Some rays are in phase, reinforcing each other through constructive interf...
why dont car batteries need recharging?	The alternator uses engine power to charge it while you’re driving. So it is being recharged, but you don’t need to plug it in.	[ "The oldest form of rechargeable battery is the lead–acid battery, which are widely used in automotive and boating applications. This technology contains liquid electrolyte in an unsealed container, requiring that the battery be kept upright and the area be well ventilated to ensure safe dispersal of the hydrogen g...
AskScience AMA Series: I'm Andrew Revkin, the strategic advisor for environmental and science journalism at the National Geographic Society-AMA!	I feel like [this article](_URL_0_) from 2010 was a wake-up call to the poor state of science journalism. Do you think things have gotten better or worse since then?	[ "NOAA's research, conducted through the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), is the driving force behind NOAA environmental products and services that protect life and property and promote economic growth. Research, conducted in OAR laboratories and by extramural programs, focuses on enhancing our unde...
What kind of sounds does a human fetus hear in the womb?	Babies hear the lower end of the frequency spectrum when they're in the womb. They can get a lot out of that, though. Byers-Heinlein 2010 presents some compelling evidence that newborns of bilingual mothers actually come out of the womb with an ability to distinguish their mother's two languages. They can do that becau...	[ "Numerous studies have found evidence indicating a fetus's ability to respond to auditory stimuli. Research indicates that fetuses of 33–41 weeks gestational age can not only hear, but also distinguish their mothers' voices from others. See also a UK study on child's \"Hearing and listening in the womb\": and UK ma...
Concerning the SR-71 Blackbird: What did the USSR know about the plane? What did they think it was capable of? Did they attempt any similar designs of their own?	Finally something I can help answer! My senior thesis was done on the A-12 program. So firstly, I need to mention that the SR-71 was a variant of the A-12 Oxcart program developed by Lockheed for the CIA. Most of my information is coming from the development of the A-12. For your first question. The USSR was aware o...	[ "The Soviet Union refused to cooperate with international experts while they investigated the incident and did not provide any data from the plane's \"black box\". The airplane was dismantled and all equipment transferred by helicopter onto a barge in Kandalaksha Gulf. The deputy chief commanding officer of Soviet ...
Why is it impossible for objects weighing less than 0.02 milligrams to form a black hole?	A black hole of mass less than around .02 milligrams or so would have a Schwarzschild radius of around a Planck length or less. At this scale, general relativity cannot be trusted; we need a theory that incorporates general relativity and quantum field theory. Thus, at the very least, we can say that such a black hol...	[ "A small mass has an extremely small Schwarzschild radius. A mass similar to Mount Everest has a Schwarzschild radius much smaller than a nanometre. Its average density at that size would be so high that no known mechanism could form such extremely compact objects. Such black holes might possibly be formed in an ea...
why are humans and most other species dependant on water? is it just coincidence that 70% of earth is covered in it?	We need a liquid that can act as a medium for our bodies to do all the important things it does. Water is an easily accessible one that is made up of two commonly found atoms. It's electrically neutral, non corrosive/toxic/flammable and doesn't react with a lot of stuffs. It's melting and boiling temperature range is...	[ "Lawrence Smith, the president of the population institute, asserts that although an overwhelming majority of the planet's surface is composed of water, 97% of this water is constituted of saltwater; the fresh water used to sustain humans is only 3% of the total amount of water on Earth. Therefore, Smith believes t...
How well does the movie "Master and Commander" portray the life of 19th century British sailors?	Pretty well, actually. The costumes, props, sets, everything was pretty meticulously researched and they do a very good job of avoiding anachronisms or introducing stuff that's just flat out fiction. About the only thing that really made me raise my eyebrows was the fact that the Acheron was supposedly a "44 gun ...	[ "The film was a fictional account with Brian Donlevy's character being based on Major James P. S. Devereux, commander of the Wake Marine detachment. MacDonald Carey's was based on Major Henry T. Elrod and Captain Frank Cunningham. Walter Abel played the naval commander who in real life was Commander Winfield S. Cun...
Musketball vs. Bayonet	You may be interested in [this older answer](_URL_0_) from u/PartyMoses on bayonets and their (non)use in warfare, which posits that bayonets were never much actually used for stabbing, but for intimidation.	[ "A bayonet lug is a standard feature on most military muskets, rifles, and shotguns, and on some civilian longarms. It is intended for attaching a bayonet, which is typically a long spike or thrusting knife. The bayonet lug is the metal mount that either locks the bayonet onto the weapon or provides a base for the ...
why do middle/high schools start so early when students are going through growth spurts and need the most sleep?	I was once told that elementary, middle and high school start time were offset so they could use the same buses for all three. As to why the older students get the earliest start? I'd guess it's because older students can take care of themselves for the time between when they get off school and their parents get off ...	[ "Due to the fact that almost 70% of teens don't get enough sleep, there are increases in stimulant abuse, weight gain, risk of diabetes, immune disorders, mood swings, depression, and suicidal ideation, as well as reduced impulse control. In addition, early school start times have been associated with drowsy drivin...
how do you order complex numbers?	Only one-dimensional quantities have the property of 'order' you're talking about. As a result, if you want to 'order' a multi-dimensional value you first need to project it into a single dimension. The common ways to do this for complex numbers would be to either take the magnitude (distance away from the origin) or ...	[ "The complex numbers can be defined by introducing an abstract symbol which satisfies the usual rules of algebra and additionally the rule . This is sufficient to reproduce all of the rules of complex number arithmetic: for example:\n", "Complex numbers can be entered in either rectangular form (using the key) or...
what is groundhog day and why is it important? (i'm from the uk)	It's February 2nd. If the groundhog sees its shadow (i.e. if it's sunny), then there will be six more weeks of winter, otherwise spring will come early. It is not important whatsoever.	[ "Groundhog Day (Pennsylvania German: \"Grund'sau dåk\", \"Grundsaudaag\", \"Grundsow Dawg\", \"Murmeltiertag\"; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular tradition celebrated in Canada and the United States on 2 February. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog (\"Marmota monax\", also cal...
What is the current state of Japanese historical scholarship in Japan itself?	> how much access do Western (English-speaking, primarily) historians have to Japanese primary sources? Are you asking how easy is it for foreign historians to gain physical access to Japanese primary sources or are you asking to what extent have Japanese primary sources been translated into foreign languages?	[ "Scholarship on Japan is also within the purview of many organizations and publications dealing with the more general field of East Asian studies, such as the Association for Asian Studies or the Duke University publication \"\".\n", "The Cambridge History of Japan is a multi-volume survey of Japanese history pub...
In one my my professor's lectures, he mentioned that Japan tried to surrender before Hiroshima, and the US rejected the proposal. After Nagasaki, they accepted a nearly identical proposal to the one they rejected. Is this true?	Like most stuff that gets introduced in lecture courses, it's mostly right, but more complicated. Prior to the decision to drop the bomb, some members of the Japanese political leadership were working behind the scenes to try to negotiate a conditional surrender whose terms did (in many ways) closely resemble the unco...	[ "Ward Wilson wrote that \"after Nagasaki was bombed only four major cities remained which could readily have been hit with atomic weapons\", and that the Japanese Supreme Council did not bother to convene after the atomic bombings because they were barely more destructive than previous bombings. He wrote that inste...
why did it snow recently in the middle east and why does it happen so rarely?	Deserts aren't big on precipitation of any kind. They also play host to violent temperature extremes. Below zero temperatures in winter nights contrast with sun hot enough to kill. The cold is just as bad for snow as the heat, as you need water in the air to form the snow, before it can fall.	[ "Much of the Middle East usually have little or no snow during the winters due to much warmer conditions caused by the moderate sea effects from the Mediterranean Sea. However 3 feet (90 cm) of snow fell in a storm 2004, which was the worst since 1950.\n", "A major snowfall event affected portions of the Middle E...
if someone really did have multiple personalities and each personality had no idea what the others do, what would happen if one of the personalities murdered someone or committed another terrible crime?	Realistically, if we're assuming this is in the United States, this condition would be brought forward and evaluated by a designated mental health official. If it was determined that the crime was committed as a result of these personalities, the individual would likely get to plead insanity and be admitted to a mental...	[ "These personalities can then be transplanted (upon the person's actual death) to other people, \"living\" alongside the Host, providing him or her with a new insight on life, and on their field of expertise. As the possession of extra personalities can be a mark of prestige, it has become fashionable in high socie...
what is that pressure sensation we feel in our chest when we get a spike of anxiety?	I believe it is adrenaline, the fight or flight reflex. But modern man doesn’t necessarily have the same fight or flight reflex as our ancestors - it’s more fight, flight or freeze. Most people freeze but the body still release the adrenaline used from the original fight or flight.	[ "Anxiety and stress elevate the body's level of cortisol and adrenaline, which in turn can interfere with the normal functioning of the parasympathetic nervous system resulting in overstimulation of the vagus nerve. Vagus nerve induced palpitation is felt as a thud, a hollow fluttery sensation, or a skipped beat, d...
why are people so polarised?	In my opinion, that polarization has been there. The difference is that now everyone has an anonmomous voice and the more extreme elements are the ones that get all the attention. Not every Christian wants to kill abortion doctors. Not every Liberal is a Sociallist. Most people just want to live their lives.	[ "Popular polarization, or mass polarization, occurs when the electorate's attitudes towards political issues, policies, and people are starkly divided along partisan lines. Members of the electorate and general public typically become less moderate in cases of popular polarization. In the U.S., media accounts typic...
how does removing a storage device from a computer too soon damage the files on the storage device?	Imagine you are drinking water out of a cup through a straw and pull the straw out of the cup mid sip, you wont get all the water out. Now imagine you have different cups with different liquids. If you put the straw in the wrong cup, you might get koolaid instead of water. No big deal. However, you could also put it i...	[ "If an external data storage device is unexpectedly disengaged or accidentally removed while copying files onto it, the user is given the chance to retry the operation without restarting that file copy operation from the beginning; this gives the user the chance to reconnect that external data storage device involv...
Is there any evidence to suggest that biracial people are less susceptible to genetic diseases?	There are certain diseases that are more common in populations with more restricted gene pools--Tay-Sachs and Ashkenazi Jews, for example. However, keep in mind that what we think of as "race" is not a particularly useful concept in terms of genetics. [There's likely more genetic diversity within Sub-Saharan Africa]...	[ "Some diseases are more prevalent in some populations identified as races due to their common ancestry. Thus, people of African and Mediterranean descent are found to be more susceptible to sickle-cell disease while cystic fibrosis and hemochromatosis are more common among European populations. Some physicians clai...

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