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question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 26.1k	context list
Since humans can change time-zones, can we adapt to longer days/nights?	Perhaps. The body's native circadian rhythms have a natural period (that is, what the circadian cycle would be like if you had constant darkness or light) that is very close to 24 hours, but is not exactly. This rhythm is modulated by light- which is how rhythms can adapt to a 24 hour rhythm and change in response to n...	[ "The circadian rhythms of humans can be entrained to slightly shorter and longer periods than the Earth's 24 hours. Researchers at Harvard have shown that human subjects can at least be entrained to a 23.5-hour cycle and a 24.65-hour cycle (the latter being the natural solar day-night cycle on the planet Mars).\n",...
how we use hubble's law to measure distances.	You see, the Universe is expanding. Not just at the edges, but everywhere. The space between any two points is expanding whether it is the space between galaxies or the space between your hands. We know how fast space is expanding and we know how fast far away objects like galaxies SHOULD be moving. By comparing ho...	[ "Starting in 1924, Hubble painstakingly developed a series of distance indicators, the forerunner of the cosmic distance ladder, using the Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. This allowed him to estimate distances to galaxies whose redshifts had already been measured, mostly by Slipher. In 1929 Hubble dis...
Does alcohol settle out of solution over time?	No. Alcohol and water are 100% miscible, meaning they blend together perfectly. For something to settle out of solution, you would need it to precipitate.	[ "Typically, the solvent serves as the fuel; thus cost and solubility issues leads to use of ethanol or other \"low cost\" alcohols to dissolve the precursors. The oxygen/alcohol aerosol undergoes rapid combustion within milliseconds, oxidizing all the organic components at temperatures up to 2000 °C leaving only me...
how an empty pan left on a turned on stove burns?	Dont know about gas stoves but i do know that most pans/pots will melt before they catch fire (had a herion user as a roommate when we lived with my uncle as a kid)	[ "To use the stove, a small amount of fuel (preferably 2% salicylic acid in alcohol) is poured into the stove and ignited. The pot is then placed above the stove, on a windscreen or stand. The flame is small at first, only burning from the inner chamber. Once the fuel has warmed up (requiring about one minute) its v...
What makes something an acid and what makes something a base?	The concentration of H+ ions in an acqueous solution is what defines acids and bases. A strong acid such as HCl will dissociate and you'll have tons of H+ ions (and tons of Cl- ions) in the solution. A strong base will dissociate too and the calculation is the pH is slightly more complicated. For now it suffices to say...	[ "A substance can often be classified as an acid or a base. There are several different theories which explain acid-base behavior. The simplest is Arrhenius theory, which states that acid is a substance that produces hydronium ions when it is dissolved in water, and a base is one that produces hydroxide ions when di...
What made the Normandy invasion so significant compared to the other battles in WWII? Why is this the one most often talked about?	I assume you mean what is the significance from an american/western perspective yes? In the larger ww2 scheme the invasion is certainly siginificant although probably not as significant as it's often regarded in the west. But onward with the significance. Normandy is important because it finally opened the much wante...	[ "Victory in Normandy stemmed from several factors. German preparations along the Atlantic Wall were only partially finished; shortly before D-Day Rommel reported that construction was only 18 per cent complete in some areas as resources were diverted elsewhere. The deceptions undertaken in Operation Fortitude were ...
how did the us go from a budget surplus under clinton to a massive deficit now?	THE most expensive thing (by far) in the world is war.	[ "The Congressional Budget Office reported in October 2009 the reasons for the changes in the 2008 and 2009 deficits, which were approximately $460 billion and $1.41 trillion, respectively. The CBO estimated that ARRA increased the deficit by $200 billion for 2009, split evenly between tax cuts and additional spendi...
Does a phone get lighter as the battery drains?	Yes - charging the phone adds weight (all other things being equal). A really, really small amount. Your fingerprint on the phone makes significantly more difference. You probably scrape off more metal/plastic plugging in the charger than the mass equivalent in charging the battery. [See...](_URL_0_)	[ "Starting batteries are of lighter weight than deep cycle batteries of the same size, because the thinner and lighter cell plates do not extend all the way to the bottom of the battery case. This allows loose disintegrated material to fall off the plates and collect at the bottom of the cell, prolonging the service...
When did it become a common thing for employers to drug test their applicants? What events could be linked to the reason employers began doing it?	This is an interesting question without much historical background. This sub requires historical evidence prior to 1998 in its answers. There is not a lot from before 1998 on this topic. You may want to post somewhere else. With that being said, the answer is three fold. 1) The drug war. 2) Drug testing in the workpl...	[ "The Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 didn't come into effect until the late 1980s, when more employers began attempting to eliminate drugs in the workplace. Before the Drug Free Workplace Act, there really was not a federal regulation that employers could use to enforce regulations on employees using drugs. Even th...
How is it possible that the planet Mercury gets so cold and so hot on opposite sides? Shouldn't heat conduction make the entire planet roughly the same temperature?	Think of the earth as a counter example. The average temperature of the earth is 3000-5000 degrees Celsius if you take the entire volume into account. Conduction through rock obviously isn’t sufficient to bring the temperature of the crust anywhere close to the average. If temperature isn’t homogenous on earth, why sho...	[ "BULLET::::- Mercury, despite being close to the Sun, is actually cold during its night, with a temperature of about −180 °C (−290 °F). Mercury is cold during its night because it has no atmosphere to trap in heat from the Sun.\n", "The internal heating within terrestrial planets powers tectonic and volcanic acti...
why, when we look at younger people, do we perceive them as looking younger than us than we did at the same age. (aka me at 16 looked much older than whoever is 16 right now)	That's an opinion based thing. If I look at pictures of when I was 16, I look like a little kid. Then again 16 year olds also look like kids to me. Your perception of how people look changes with your age.	[ "Ageism has significant effects on the elderly and young people. These effects might be seen within different levels: individual person, selected company, whole economy. The stereotypes and infantilization of older and younger people by patronizing language affects older and younger people's self-esteem and behavio...
why is our vision tinted blue after we face the sun with our eyes closed?	Detecting light requires chemical reactions inside the cells of your eye. The chemicals take a moment to reset/replenish before you can detect the light again. When you look at a bright light, it uses up these chemicals quickly, that's why you get momentarily blinded when looking at a bright light for a second. With...	[ "Looking directly at the photosphere of the Sun (the bright disk of the Sun itself), even for just a few seconds, can cause permanent damage to the retina of the eye, because of the intense visible and invisible radiation that the photosphere emits. This damage can result in impairment of vision, up to and includin...
on my home theater system why are action sequences so thunderously loud but people talking barely audible. is it my setup or the film audio track itself?	Try bumping up the gain on your center channel.	[ "The sound in the film was complex for its time; it included dialogue spoken over ambient noises such as crowds at the airport and gunfire during the hunt. Film director Jean Prat said the film's soundtrack was \"of a perfection never equaled by any French film.\" Characters often talk at once or talk over each oth...
How did the British view their Australian and New Zealander soldiers?	What time frame are you asking about?	[ "Before 1901, units of soldiers from all six Australian colonies had been active as part of British forces in the Boer War. When the British government asked for more troops from Australia in early 1902, the Australian government obliged with a national contingent. Some 16,500 men had volunteered for service by the...
why do we have war, and why do we go to war?	Resources. Without resources we die.	[ "War is fought as a means of resolving territorial and other conflicts, as war of aggression to conquer territory or loot resources, in national self-defence or liberation, or to suppress attempts of part of the nation to secede from it. There are also ideological, religious and revolutionary wars.\n", "War is of...
why do some (ebay) auctions have "reserve" prices?	Starting at 0 entices buyers to begin bidding and then once they've started they will keep bidding past a point when they may have begun bidding earlier.	[ "BULLET::::- No-reserve auction (NR), also known as an \"absolute auction\", is an auction in which the item for sale will be sold regardless of price. From the seller's perspective, advertising an auction as having no reserve price can be desirable because it potentially attracts a greater number of bidders due to...
How different are h.sapiens from today vs 1 mya?	Well, we only diverged from neanderthals around 500,000 years ago. So 1mya we would not be looking at h.sapiens exactly. That said I am interested in hearing more from someone who studies this and so knows more than me.	[ "The speciation of \"H. sapiens\" out of archaic human varieties derived from \"H. erectus\" is estimated as having taken place over 350,000 years ago, as the Khoisan split from other populations is dated between 260,000 and 350,000 years ago.\n", "\"H. sapiens\" soon after its first emergence spread throughout A...
Why does it take longer to get dark at night in some areas over others that are along the same or are close in latitudes?	Twilight lasts a longer time the further you get from the equator, because the Sun moves at an increasing angle to the horizon. The extreme case is the polar regions ( > 66 degrees from the equator), where the Sun never sets at all during summer, while at the equator it sets essentially perpendicular to the horizon, s...	[ "On a nightly basis they tend to be more active during the first portion of the night time (20:00-00:00); however, they don't seem to prefer bright or dark nights over the other. During adverse weather or if disturbed they will retreat to their burrow systems. They cover between per night; however, some studies hav...
how did humans develop such that a well balanced human diet consist of a wide variety of foods when throughout most of human history we only had access to a few foods?	Eating sub optimally does not mean a swift certain death. It means a slightly lower quality of life (think of how you feel from a week of eating fast food vs a week of eating healthy), deteriorating more quickly (your brain may slow down faster as you age), a slightly higher risk of developing disease, etc. Good nutri...	[ "The digestive abilities of anatomically modern humans, however, are different from those of pre-\"H. s. sapiens\" humans, which has been used to criticize the diet's core premise. During the 2.6 million year-long Paleolithic era, the highly variable climate and worldwide spread of human populations meant that huma...
Was Greek almost the official language of the United States?	tl;dr so essentially we had a vote to decide to print laws in German as well as English and it's possible utopians may have advocated making Greek Latin or French an official language (" considered in the late 18th century to be the languages of God, rationality, and democracy, respectively.") but there would have been...	[ "During antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world, West Asia and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire and develop into Medieval Greek. In its modern form, Greek is the official language in two countries, Greece and Cyprus, a...
how these modern tiny loudspeaker / amplifiers sound so good?	I know part of this, much stronger permanent magnets. Back then we didn't have neodymium magnets, utilising those in speakers allows for much more powerful motion of the speaker cone so you can get much louder and better sound from a smaller speaker with less power supplied to the coil. I'm 37 and I'm also really impr...	[ "Mainstream modern loudspeakers give good sound quality in a compact size, but are much less power-efficient than older designs and require powerful amplifiers to drive them. This makes them unsuitable for use with valve amplifiers, particularly lower-power single-ended designs. Valve hi-fi power amplifier designs ...
Is there a usage of quantum physics in our body?	Maybe. Known quantum effects in biology include long-range coherence during photosynthesis and [the magnetic field detection that birds use to navigate](_URL_0_). It's possible that [smell uses quantum effects](_URL_1_) to identify individual molecules, but from what I've read this is still a speculative hypothesis. Th...	[ "Main critique of Quantum theory and its application in the fields of neuroscience and cognitive and behavioural psychology is generally ascribed to the physiology of the brain's bio-environment and the discrepancy in the speed of the classical versus quantum processes in the brain dynamic. It has been argued by Te...
why don't they use metal detectors before an mri scan?	I think it may just be an unnecessary expenditure since you are assumed to know if you have metal in your body, or it would at least be present in any medical records or be in there for some plausible known reason.	[ "BULLET::::- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a powerful magnet to produce images of internal organs and their functions. Metal objects are attracted to the magnet and are normally not allowed near MRI machines. The magnet can interrupt the pacing and inhibit the output of pacemakers. If MRI must be done, the ...
Cold weather and lung disease - how are they linked?	This is pretty much asking for medical advice. You should go see a doctor. There is a reflex that makes you cough a bit upon moving from warm air to cold air, but it's not severe and it does not last days.	[ "Common symptoms of the flu such as fever, headaches, and fatigue are the result of the huge amounts of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines (such as interferon or tumor necrosis factor) produced from influenza-infected cells. In contrast to the rhinovirus that causes the common cold, influenza does cause tissu...
How did contemporary, mainstream western ideas about fashion and gender develop?	At first I thought to break this down as a study of the changes in mens, womens, and childrens fashion starting around 1700. But, though I think the way we dress children plays a huge role in this answer I'm not sure that's the best lens to view it through. Instead, we're going to explore Ornamentation. It seems the ea...	[ "The history of Western fashion is the story of the changing fashions in clothing for men and women in Europe and other countries under influence of the Western world, from the 12th century to the present.\n", "1850s fashion in Western and Western-influenced clothing is characterized by an increase in the width o...
why do people leave useless answers to amazon product questions?	You actually get an email from amazon, asking you if you can answer the questions (usually a product you recently bought). My best guess would be that they think they are directly asked by that person. Doesn't make much sense, but so doesn't answering the question with a bad answer.	[ "The Amazon Seller Central help section provides sellers on the Amazon Marketplace with guidelines and answers to frequently asked questions. Despite the existence of this help section, a recent study has shown that 50 percent of surveyed sellers incorrectly believe that you cannot directly ask buyers for a product...
Does the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy have any effects on the way our planet, star, or solar system behave?	The premise that the black hole is holding together the galaxy is wrong. Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole thought to be at the center of the Milky Way, is estimated to be the mass of about 4 million suns. To put that in context, the milky way is estimated to have between 100-400 billion stars with a mass...	[ "BULLET::::- It is not near the galactic center where once again star densities increase the likelihood of ionizing radiation (e.g., from magnetars and supernovae). A supermassive black hole is also believed to lie at the middle of the galaxy which might prove a danger to any nearby bodies.\n", "This nebula is se...
Why did German soldiers pay homage to Joan of Arc during WWII?	This is somewhat of a complex answer and she stretched far beyond German homage. 1. It wasn't as much an homage to Joan of Arc the person, but more so what she began to symbolize in the late 19th century. Following the Franco-Prussian War, Joan of Arc began to represent a hopeful pride in a weakened nation. From Rober...	[ "During World War I, it was common for French soldiers to carry an image of Joan of Arc when going into battle. Although she was not canonized a saint until 1920, Joan of Arc represented the devotion of the soldier who fought for France. The lyrics of the song portrays the French soldiers' calling out to Joan of Ar...
why is it that we typically make eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc. for breakfast & why does it seem so wrong in a sense if we eat anything other than those typical breakfast foods for breakfast?	Conditioning. If you were raised on pizza and soda for breakfast, milk and cocoa puffs would seem weird.	[ "Common breakfasts include fried eggs and tomatoes seasoned with various spices, and scrambled eggs mixed with vegetables. Soft-boiled eggs are often made when members of the household are sick as many believe it to be very healthy. Harissa, a traditional Assyrian porridge made of chicken, wheat, and a generous amo...
Why are sumo wrestlers able to maintain their athleticism while morbidly obese, but others of the same weight become bedridden and are at risk of sudden death?	sumos aren't morbidly obese. Turns out the bodyfat percentage on a lot of them is in the 15-30% range. Pair that wil the fact that they physically train, and you have, essentially, a power lifter body on a wrestler	[ "The negative health effects of the sumo lifestyle can become apparent later in life. Sumo wrestlers have a life expectancy between 60 and 65, more than 10 years shorter than the average Japanese male, as the diet and sport take a toll on the wrestler's body. Many develop type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure, and...
Meat and colon cancer	The best you can do is take a recommendation from a reputable source like the American Cancer Society. They have looked at all of the data as a whole and use that to make an informed recommendation. Most importantly, THEY HAVE NOTHING AT STAKE. They want to decrease cancer. You will find many studies (like the one ...	[ "On October 26, 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization reported that eating processed meat (e.g., bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausages) or red meat was linked to some cancers.\n", "BULLET::::- The International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organizatio...
I'm a penniless, but free, peasant living in Italy at the beginning of the Renaissance. What can I do to start making money and rise into the bourgeoise class?	In Florence you would find things... difficult, to say the least, but perhaps easier the younger and more talented in whatever craft you knew. At the time of the Renaissance, all meaningful means of production in Florence was tightly controlled by their respective guild, called Arti. The largest and most powerful was...	[ "As a cultural movement, the Italian Renaissance affected only a small part of the population. Italy was the most urbanized region of Europe, but three quarters of the people were still rural peasants. For this section of the population, life remained essentially unchanged from the Middle Ages. Classic feudalism ha...
why do some runners/drivers get a head start in pro races?	If you're talking about racing around an oval track, the competitor on the outside has to cover a longer distance than the competitor on the very inside, which is unfair if they all started at the same time.	[ "Drivers ride across one of three courses in a three-lap race with power-ups and shortcuts to help lead them to their victory. To win, a driver must finish in first place out of 4 ranks. Drivers can drift to earn nitro boosts and do barrel rolls for shields, which prevent drivers from receiving damage and may ricoc...
Were there copies of the information in the library of Alexandria in other places around the world?	[This thread](_URL_0_) from /u/XenophonTheAthenian seems like it may answer your questions (or at least parts of them).	[ "The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (English: Library of Alexandria; \"\", ) is a major library and cultural center located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. It is both a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, and an attempt to rekindle something of t...
cellular respiration, why is it so important in maintaining animal health, growth and reproduction?	Cellular respiration isn't like, important in maintaining health. Its like saying a heartbeat is important in maintaining health. Cellular respiration for animals..i guess, is how every cell gets energy to carry out(most) chemical reactions. The Adenosine TriPhosphate molecule (ATP) that you see people typing out in ...	[ "The physiological definition of respiration differs from the biochemical definition, which refers to a metabolic process by which an organism obtains energy (in the form of ATP) by oxidizing nutrients and releasing waste products. Although physiologic respiration is necessary to sustain cellular respiration and th...
in what context would you decide between saying "muslim" or "islamic"?	Muslim and Islamic are interchangeable when used as an adjective. For example "Muslim architecture" and "Islamic architecture" are both correct. However "muslim" is also a noun that refers to a follower of islam and is not interchangeable in that context. For example you would say "John is a muslim" but not "John is an...	[ "The word “Islam” is derived from the Arabic word \"aslama\", which denotes the peace that comes from total surrender and acceptance. A Muslim may experientially behold that everything happening is meant to be, and stems from the ultimate wisdom of God; hence, being a Muslim can therefore be understood to mean that...
In a zero gravity environment if I were to punch forward would I move with the punch?	No, as your hand moves forward your body will go backwards, but after both are done moving you will be stationary relative to your initial position.	[ "Jon Fitch appeared on the November 5, 2008, episode of \"MythBusters\", \"Coffin Punch\". The MythBusters were attempting to determine if someone could punch their way out of a coffin. For his part, Jon Fitch laid on his back and punched up into a sensor, attached to a punching bag that was a few inches above Fitc...
Did the British Isles have their own variant of Vulgar Latin? What happened to it?	It's a difficult question, because evidence is scarce one way or another : the consensus is that Vulgar Latin might have been an urban language, especially in the south-eastern regions and place of active Roman institutions (such as York), which shared everyday use with British speeches, in a probable diglossic relatio...	[ "It is not known when Vulgar Latin ceased to be spoken in Britain, but it is likely that it continued to be widely spoken in various parts of Britain into the 5th century. In the lowland zone, Vulgar Latin was replaced by Old English during the course of the 5th and the 6th centuries, but in the highland zone, it g...
Why is there vapor that comes off really cold things?	It's the result of atmospheric water vapour condensing into droplets.	[ "Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air. Physically, it is an example of a dispersion. It is most commonly seen where warm, moist air meets sudden cooling, such as in exhaled air in the winter, or when throwing water onto the hot stove of a sauna. It can be created artificially with...
why do we fall asleep faster when the environment is being rocked/swung about (i.e. car, baby's bed, ship)?	Surprisingly, it looks like the science is still out on this. My two cents would be that it is a hypnotic effect though. Continuous rocking is also a soothing / coping habit for people experiencing anxiety. I would presume it gives the brain a predictable pattern to work with - and that predictability calms the mind. ...	[ "Many adults find rocking chairs soothing because of the gentle motion. Gentle rocking motion has been shown to provide faster onset of sleep than remaining stationary, mimicking the process of a parent rocking a child to sleep.\n", "This phenomenon implies that a sleeping driver often does not react and begin to...
what exactly does the little blue gel pad at the top and the rubber pad at the bottom of my razor do? is it just for style and we all assume it actually does something like add comfort or something but it actually does nothing?	They're lubricant. They both help the razor slide more smoothly across your skin but also leave moisture behind to prevent your skin from drying out. The one at the bottom would help with function as you don't want hair to catch on the blades. The one on top would be more for comfort. If you learn how to shave pro...	[ "The general design of a gel pen is similar to that of a regular ink based pen, with a barrel containing the writing mechanism and a cap, and a reservoir filled with ink. The barrels can be created in many different sizes and designs; some have finger grips of rubber or plastic. The size of the nib or pen tip range...
why does the us use a state system?	Because originally the USA were thirteen pseudo-independent colonies under the British crown. Contrary to common belief, the "united" states of America never got on with each other historically. Not all thirteen even rose up against the British to begin with, so when they eventually did unify they kept a federal system...	[ "States are the primary subdivisions of the United States. They possess all powers not granted to the federal government, nor prohibited to them by the United States Constitution. In general, state governments have the power to regulate issues of local concern, such as: regulating intrastate commerce, running elect...
how bugs (not referring to tiny ones) somehow get through screened windows with no noticeable entrances.	Info: are you talking like stuck between the screen and a closed window? If so, many screens, while sealed into the screen frame itself, are able to be open and closed. They can run on a little track in the side of the window frame and can actually leave a small gap at the top (between the screen frame and window fra...	[ "A window screen (also known as insect screen, bug screen, fly screen, wire mesh) is designed to cover the opening of a window. It is usually a mesh made of plastic wire, or other pieces of plastic and stretched in a frame of wood or metal. It serves to keep leaves, debris, spiders, insects, birds, and other animal...
What are the origins of the Roman Triarii, and why did they assume the role of "the 3rd Line of defense?"	Ok I'm going to take a stab at this. The Roman Army under the Etruscan kings was modeled after the Greek Phalanx with rounded shields (hoplon) and long spears. In 387 BC the Battle of Allia occurs and Rome is sacked. After the Gauls are driven back the phalanx is changed to the more recognizable legion with standar...	[ "Rorarii were soldiers who formed the final lines, or else provided a reserve thereby, in the ancient pre-Marian Roman army. They may have been used with the \"triarii\" in battle near the final stages of fighting, since they are recorded as being located at the rear of the main battle formation. (Note that the say...
How often were horse riding accidents when it was the primary form of transportation?	Did you have a specific time period or country in mind for your question? And are you interested in just horse-riding accidents or also accidents involving horse-drawn vehicles? I own an old history of the English courts in the 1860s that lists statistics for accidents involving both riders and passengers in horse-dra...	[ "In 1836, the company possessed 12 locomotives, 135 wagons and transported its passengers from end to end in six hours. Accidents were a regular occurrence as people would sometimes walk along the railway line. From 1844, the use of horse traction was terminated and the entire journey was done in only 2 and a half ...
why does the dish for my satellite tv have to face south to receive signal?	Because, if you live in the northern hemisphere, that's where the satellite is. They're in a geosynchronous orbit - which means they're above the equator and orbit the earth in 24-hours. So they stay in the same spot in the sky.	[ "The dishes worked by receiving a low-power C-Band (3.7–4.2 GHz) frequency-modulated analog signal directly from the original distribution satellite – the same signal received by cable television headends. Because analog channels took up an entire transponder on the satellite, and each satellite had a fixed number ...
why do some diseases tend to localize to specific areas while others remain more general? for example, hand, foot, and mouth disease, or genital herpes.	I suppose you're talking about communicable diseases. It all depends. But for viruses for instance, they can never infect a cell unless they bind to a receptor and get internalized. Not all cells express a receptor for a given virus, for example that's why you don't get the flu in your leg it binds to receptors in your...	[ "The route of transmission is important to epidemiologists because patterns of contact vary between different populations and different groups of populations depending on socio-economic, cultural and other features. For example, low personal and food hygiene due to the lack of a clean water supply may result in inc...
Potato Famine	Not to discourage further discussion, but you might be interested in this previous answer on the subject by u/mikedash: * [Was England's role in worsening the potato famine one of neglect or did they actually try to increase the suffering?](_URL_0_)	[ "The proximate cause of the famine was a natural event, a potato blight, which infected potato crops throughout Europe during the 1840s, precipitating some 100,000 deaths in total in the worst affected areas and among similar tenant farmers of Europe. The food crisis influenced much of the unrest in the more widesp...
Why does the ball in this gif go in the direction it does?	[Here's](_URL_0_) the video that gif came from. The Magnus Effect is what they're demonstrating. The video does a good job explaining what's happening, but here's a short version: the ball moves through air, but because it's spinning the interaction with the air is different depending whether the air is moving with t...	[ "The circular motion of the balls is commonly represented in cartoons as the archetypical juggling pattern, somewhat at odds with reality, where the cascade is more common. By constantly reversing the direction, the box pattern can be formed.\n", "The reason that spin on a football makes it curl is known as the M...
Assuming identical atmospheric and other planetary conditions, is a hotter sun always brighter?	Luminosity is a product of the surface area and temperature, so if you have two stars with equal surface temperatures and different radii, the one with the larger radius will have a greater luminosity. Likewise, a star with a temperature 2,500 K cooler than the Sun could be hundreds of thousands of times more luminous...	[ "BULLET::::- Coronal heating problem: Why is the Sun's corona (atmosphere layer) so much hotter than the Sun's surface? Why is the magnetic reconnection effect many orders of magnitude faster than predicted by standard models?\n", "BULLET::::- Coronal heating problem: Why is the Sun's corona (atmosphere layer) so...
why do cars that are not driven rust while cars that are regularly driven do not?	45 years working on cars and restoring them. I don't agree with your question, most cars that just sit do not rust worse than those that are driven, especially up north with all the salt on the roads. What data/experience are you deriving your question from?	[ "These vehicles are generally not rust-prone compared to contemporary vehicles of the time, however rust tends to occur in the usual places where moisture and mud tend to accumulate. Areas to check are below the windscreen on both sides of the car, the firewall where the heater is mounted, and the lower sills, espe...
Why did the Japanese never adapt with anti-submarine tactics in response to U.S. submarine warfare in World War 2 that devastated Japanese merchant fleets?	Part of the reason was an obsession on the part of the Japanese Naval General Staff on the idea of a decisive battle - in 1890, an American strategist called Alfred Thayer Mahan published an extremely influential book called The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. This espoused the idea a single, decisive naval batt...	[ "The Imperial Japanese Navy, obsessed with the \"decisive battle\" doctrine, ignored the vital need for defense against submarines. The German and American submarine campaigns against their opponents' merchant shipping demonstrated the need for anti-submarine warfare. While the Allies took extensive measures to com...
Why are particles in a superposition state 'forced' into a certain state due to observation/measurement?	This is an often asked question - and for good reason. While physicists agree on the basic ideas of measurement, they do not agree on the deeper (arguably philosophical) nature of it. > I've always just wondered how measurement or observation can have an effect on a particle without directly interfering. It cer...	[ "The non-classical nature of the superposition process is brought out clearly if we consider the superposition of two states, \"A\" and \"B\", such that there exists an observation which, when made on the system in state \"A\", is certain to lead to one particular result, \"a\" say, and when made on the system in s...
Is it theoretically possible to freeze photons?	The particles in a system do not "freeze" at absolute zero. A system at absolute zero should be defined to be in its quantum mechanical ground state. Because of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, this does not correspond to "no motion," since setting all particles to having zero motion will result in infinitely fluc...	[ "However, because this experiment would be difficult to arrange, a table-top version that uses optical cavities to trap the photons long enough for achieving the desired delay has been proposed instead.\n", "Sometimes this effect is interpreted as \"a system can't change while you are watching it\". One can \"fre...
how do animals, like squirrels & foxes, know what is food and what isn't, in urban environments, especially processed foods.	First they learn from parents by what is being presented to eat and what they see being eaten. Second they have some instincts to avoid or pursue certain smells or tastes. They learn by trying, if they puke up something that still looks and smells like that thing they ate, then they avoid it later. Particularly if it...	[ "Rodents have advanced cognitive abilities. They can quickly learn to avoid poisoned baits, which makes them difficult pests to deal with. Guinea pigs can learn and remember complex pathways to food. Squirrels and kangaroo rats are able to locate caches of food by spatial memory, rather than just by smell.\n", "F...
Does high pH water have a lower capacity as a solvent to dissolve more because of the electrolytes and minerals already in the water?	It depends on the ions that are already in the water. If the ions are also the same ions that are in the substance you are trying to dissolve, then the substance will dissolve less. If the ions can react with the ions in the substance you are trying to dissolve, then the substance will dissolve more. And if neither of ...	[ "The aqueous solubility of PH is slight; 0.22 mL of gas dissolve in 1 mL of water. Phosphine dissolves more readily in non-polar solvents than in water because of the non-polar P-H bonds. It is technically amphoteric in water, but acid and base activity is poor. Proton exchange proceeds via a phosphonium (PH) ion i...
how do some cars have a birds eye view of of the car when they’re parking?	The car has cameras in the front, rear, and in the two side mirrors. Those images are stitched together (kind of the same way that your phone creates a panorama) to give a kind of 360° view of the car's surroundings. That image is then displayed in such a way that it looks sort of like a bird's-eye view instead of li...	[ "In the bottom image the novice is busy estimating the distance between the left wall and the parked car, while the experienced driver can use his peripheral vision for that and still concentrate his view on the dangerous point of the curve: If a car appears there, he has to give way, i. e. stop to the right instea...
how did nicknames for names like richard and charles become dick and chuck and other ones like that when they are so different from their original form?	Some of my friends told me that Dick comes from Richard due to the original nickname of Richard being "Rick". After that, Dick came to be due to its rhyming with Rick.	[ "The Germanic first or given name Richard derives from the old Germanic words \"ric\" (ruler, leader, king, powerful) and \"hard\" (strong, brave, hardy), and it therefore means \"strong in rule\". Nicknames include \"Richy\", \"Dick\", \"Dickie\", \"Rich\", \"Richie\", \"Rick\", \"Ricky\", and others.\n", "An al...
why is it that light can travel for a billion years across the universe, but as soon as you flick off a light switch it disappears instantly?	The second part is your real question, you are wondering why the light disappears instead of bouncing around in the room. The answer is that it does bounce around in the room, it is just that it bounces around so fast that it is absorbed effectively instantaneously. Material absorbs light, the less light it absorbs the...	[ "They are said to appear from between ten and several hundred in a line, and just when one thinks that they have increased, they would suddenly disappear then multiply once again. In the Nagano Prefecture, a ton of lights like that of a paper lantern would appear in a line and flicker.\n", "Some parts of the univ...
How does lava stay hot until it hits the surface?	It's only the bits touching the air that seem to cool very rapidly at the surface. The more inner parts can take months to cool, as they become insulated by the solidified outer layers. Even in this case the convective cooling of the air is helping speed up the cooling of the lava. Deep below the ground, there are no ...	[ "Because the eruptions occur with the volcano underwater, the form of lava typically erupted is pillow lava. Pillow lava is rounded balls of lava that was given very little time to cool due to immediate exposure to water. Water pressure prevents the lava from exploding upon contact with the cold ocean water, forcin...
Why would the high pressure of Jupiter's atmosphere destroy a probe?	We actually send a probe to sample Jupiter's atmosphere called Galileo, it fell into a region without many clouds though and Nasa didn't get much useful data back if (I recall). Virtually any probe would eventually get crushed and melt as it fell deep into Jupiter's atmosphere because it gets really really hot and ver...	[ "A major problem in sending space probes to Jupiter is that the planet has no solid surface on which to land, as there is a smooth transition between the planet's atmosphere and its fluid interior. Any probes descending into the atmosphere are eventually crushed by the immense pressures within Jupiter.\n", "Over ...
what happens next since justice scalia passed away?	Obama is going to appoint a new justice and that Justice will need to be confirmed by Congress. This is a pretty huge deal since the old court was pretty evenly split on issues because about half the court was liberal and half was conservative with John Roberts being the swing vote. Now the majority is going to be libe...	[ "Scalia died in his sleep at age 79. His body was discovered on the morning of February 13, 2016 in his room at Cibolo Creek Ranch in Shafter, Texas. He had gone quail hunting the afternoon before, and then dined. The justice was pronounced dead of apparent natural causes. His physician, Rear Admiral Brian P. Monah...
what does obamas executive order on immigration do exactly?	From what I heard on Fox News, it shreds the constitution.	[ "OLC also approved as lawful President Trump's travel ban (\"Travel Ban 1\") on January 27, 2017. OLC put its imprimatur on an executive order that prohibited all refugees, immigrants, non-immigrants (travelers, students, patients coming for surgery, etc.), and green card holders from certain Muslim-majority countr...
Is good posture an indicator of good health?	Another anecdote: I teach a few yoga classes a week, and I run. Yoga focuses closely on alignment in legs and feet, as well as the spine. When running at the park, I notice that almost all the good runners have their feet pointed straight forward and use good form. The people huffing and puffing slowly down the tra...	[ "There is evidence that interventions that are successful in improving subjective well-being can have beneficial effects on aspects of health. For example, meditation and relaxation training have been found to increase positive affect and to reduce blood pressure. The effect of specific types of subjective well-bei...
How would saturn-like rings affect life on an earth-like planet?	Saturn's rings are actually not very dense. They don't really have an impact on Saturn's surface, so you could probably easily assume the same if they were around an Earth-like planet. Here are my thoughts: > how would they appear in the sky? Most likely, they would be planar around the equator. So, someone standin...	[ "Besides Epimetheus, instruments located another previously undiscovered small moon and an additional ring, charted Saturn's magnetosphere and magnetic field and found its planet-size moon, Titan, to be too cold for life. Hurtling underneath the ring plane, the probe sent back pictures of Saturn's rings. The rings,...
What determines the frequency of a photon?	Conservation of energy in the process that created the photon? I don't think I understand the question.	[ "The frequency of a photon is proportional to its energy. As a bound electron transitions between different energy levels of an atom, it absorbs or emits photons at characteristic frequencies. For instance, when atoms are irradiated by a source with a broad spectrum, distinct absorption lines appear in the spectrum...
why do lighters have smaller flames when cold and bigger flames when warm?	Butane gets thicker when cold so it doesn't come out as fast so it only produced a small Flame.	[ "In fires (particularly house fires), the cooler flames are often red and produce the most smoke. Here the red color compared to typical yellow color of the flames suggests that the temperature is lower. This is because there is a lack of oxygen in the room and therefore there is incomplete combustion and the flame...
how did charles manson influence his followers to do such drastic acts?	The same way that Hitler did. He had a very strong charismatic personality that was capable of getting people to trust him, believe and follow what he said. > I just can't imagine people being convinced so easily And that is where you are wrong. People are very easily convinced of things and history is full of cha...	[ "Charles Manson was a lifelong criminal who had been released from prison just in time for San Francisco's Summer of Love. With his long hair, charisma and the ability to charm a crowd with his guitar playing, his singing and rhetoric, Manson exhibited many of the outward manifestations of hippie identity. Yet he h...
what is final fantasy? what is the plot, and why is it so damn famous?	Every one of them are almost completely disconnected from the others, so trying to think of them as a whole will make it really hard to get it. They all take place in different worlds, with different characters and different mythologies. They do have a few common elements, but they're usually not very story-relevant...	[ "\"Final Fantasy\" is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games (RPGs). The eponymous first game in the series, published in 1987, was conceived by Sakaguchi as ...
Asian exploration of America	Asian cultures did expand into North America. Migrations from Sibera and Alaska were particularly notable. The Thule started colonizing Dorset lands as late as the 1200s: _URL_1_ There are no written records of any of this, so it has to be pieced together through archaeological evidence. No ones even really sure wh...	[ "The Museum of the Americas (\"Museo de América\") is a national museum that holds artistic, archaeological, and ethnographic collections from the Americas, ranging from the Paleolithic period to the present day. The permanent exhibit is divided into five major themed areas: an awareness of the Americas, the realit...
What happened to the French Foreign Legion during WWII? Was the legion divided, or did most of the legion go to either side? Were there ever any attempts by Petain's government to establish a foreign legion from Axis Powers?	I think this is a question that I can actually answer. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on the French Foreign Legion's demographics from 1914 to 2014. The French Foreign Legion was very fractured during the Second World War. There was no central command that organized all of the different garrisons and formations of t...	[ "The Foreign Legion played a smaller role in World War II in mainland Europe than in World War I, though there was involvement in many exterior theatres of operations, notably sea transport protection through to the Norwegian, Syria-Lebanon, and North African campaigns. The 13th Demi-Brigade, formed for service in ...
In Greek mythology does Hades ever actually do anything morally questionable?	The story that immediately pops into mind is the [Kidnapping of Persephone](_URL_0_). Hades takes Persephone, daughter of Zeus and Demeter (God of Agriculture), as his wife against the wills of Zeus and Demeter. Demeter falls into deep anger and brings famine across the world and will not relent until Persephone is ret...	[ "Hades suffers a degree of self-hatred, as his realm (and by extension, himself) is filled with suffering. Hades has difficulty appreciating and expressing his own values, even if he tries to flatter occasionally. This includes going so far as refusing to believe it is possible for a Lasso-ensnared Diana to be capa...
Why did agriculture develop independently all over the globe in the last 10000 years but not before?	Before that time period was [the last Ice Age](_URL_6_), which lasted for many thousands of years. The climate was so arid and difficult to survive in that it was not really possible for anyone to survive in one place long enough to discover & develop agriculture, since these groups of people were required to move ar...	[ "The development of agriculture enabled the human population to grow many times larger than could be sustained by hunting and gathering. Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa, in at least 11 separate centres of origin. Wild grains were collected and ea...
why do cultures who rely heavily on rice in their diet typically use white rice which has less nutritional value than other types of rice?	One of the reasons why Asians have used mainly white rice over the years is that white rice lasts longer in storage than brown rice. The essential fatty acids found in brown rice usually begin to go bad after approximately 6 to 12 months of storage, the exact amount of time depending on how much oxygen is available. Wh...	[ "Because many children in VAD-affected countries rely on rice as a staple food, genetic modification to make rice produce the vitamin A precursor beta-carotene was seen as a simple and less expensive alternative to ongoing vitamin supplements or an increase in the consumption of green vegetables or animal products....
how a gamma ray burst could kill us all at any moment	Gamma ray bursts occur when very dense stars die and go supernova - basically, they explode. If such a star were to explode close enough to our Solar System, dangerous gamma rays would bathe the Earth, killing us off - think a dangerous nuclear leak, but on a cosmic scale. The odds of a gamma ray burst affecting u...	[ "A gamma-ray burst is an extremely luminous event flash of gamma rays that occurs as the result of an explosion, and is thought to be associated with the formation of a black hole. The burst itself typically only lasts for a few seconds, but gamma-ray bursts frequently produce an \"afterglow\" at longer wavelengths...
Does losing sight in your right eye affect the functioning of the left side of the brain? and does this only impair your eyesight, or are there other implications ? [effectively you are reducing the input of visual information to the left side of the brain, thus reducing its functionality ]	It is a common misconception that the image from the left eye is processed in the right hemisphere of the brain, and vice versa. In fact, it is the left half of your visual field that is processed by the right hemisphere (i.e. everything to the left of the center of your gaze), and vice versa. So both hemispheres act...	[ "A homonymous hemianopsia is the loss of half of the visual field on the same side in both eyes. The visual images that we see to the right side travel from both eyes to the left side of the brain, while the visual images we see to the left side in each eye travel to the right side of the brain. Therefore, damage t...
Is it possible for a planet to be larger than the star that provides light for it, so that the sun revolved around the planet?	Actually, regardless of the relative sizes of the sun and the planet, both would orbit around their combined center of mass. It's just that when one is much bigger than the other, the combined center of mass is very close to the center of mass of the larger body. For simplicity and convenience, it is often said that th...	[ "Direct imaging can give only loose constraints of the planet's mass, which is derived from the age of the star and the temperature of the planet. Mass can vary considerably, as planets can form several million years after the star has formed. The cooler the planet is, the less the planet's mass needs to be. In som...
why do roads appear more curved as i drive on them compared to the way they appear on maps?	Scale. When driving if the road curves ten feet you will feel it. To a map maker that small curve doesn't matter when they draw the road. Same thing with hiking trails. I've been on some flat trails that simply just did small ups and down. if the turn isn't large the map won't record it.	[ "Such curves are more commonly found in a railway line of travel but are also used in roads. The characteristic U shape, or even slight balloon shape, of such a curve resembles a horseshoe, hence the name. On roadways such curves, if the hard curve is tight enough, are typically called hairpin turns.\n", "In curv...
what actually decides when i'm born if i'm a boy or a girl?	Your dad's sperm. Your DNA (the blueprints to build a complete human), is broken up into like little chapers, called chromosomes. Everyone has two copies of all 23 chapters. Or you have 23 chromosomes from mom (the egg) and 23 from dad (the sperm) for a total of 46 (you need all 46 for everything to work but thats ano...	[ "Many parents form gendered expectations for their child before it is even born, after determining the child's sex through technology such as ultrasound. The child thus is born to a gender-specific name, games, and even ambitions. Once the child's sex is determined, most children are raised in accordance with it to...
what happened in world war 2, and why did it happen?	1. War happened. You'll learn more when you reach middle school and take your history lessons. 2. Because we treated the Germans really badly after WW1 they elected a Adolf Hitler, a known power tripper, as their leader who eventually attacked Poland starting the European front, and because the Japanese were also o...	[ "The end of World War II in Asia occurred on 2 September 1945, when armed forces of the Empire of Japan surrendered to the forces of the Allies. The surrender came almost four months after the surrender of the Axis forces in Europe and brought an end to World War II.\n", "World War II is generally viewed as havin...
Have regulated languages evolved as much as English?	short answer: No, not usually. long answer: It's important to remember that even though there are these "governing bodies", perhaps most famously L'Académie française and Real Academia Española, they don't actually hold power over people's speech. There was some recent news about the Swedish Academy updating t...	[ "Languages, especially standard varieties or official languages used in courts of law, for administration of government, and for the promulgation of official works, tend to acquire formally regulated norms over time. Once English became the language of administration of law in England, a form of late Middle English...
what is a financial audit ?	Somewhere along the lines you filed some paperwork with the government saying how much money you made that year. The government blindly accepts that information as true and uses that to figure out how much taxes to charge you. An audit means they are going to double check to make sure that everything you said was true....	[ "A financial audit is conducted to provide an opinion whether \"financial statements\" (the information being verified) are stated in accordance with specified criteria. Normally, the criteria are international accounting standards, although auditors may conduct audits of financial statements prepared using the cas...
a grenade explosion	> Why can such a small thing do so much damage? Explosives are designed to be just that. You stuff explosives into a small, contained space and it makes it even more violent. The case is made of thick steel, so when the explosion ruptures it, it throws shrapnel all over the place and tends to make quite a mess. ...	[ "The grenade proper is a container of explosive material with an iron fragmentation band. The fuse was of the impact sort, detonating when the top of the grenade hit the ground. A long cane handle (approximately 16 inches or 40 cm) allowed the user to throw the grenade further than the blast of the explosion.\n", ...
What is the environmental impact of air conditioning?	Air condition uses 18% of electricity in US homes, which is first on the list: [_URL_1_](_URL_0_).	[ "The are some measure that seems like adaptation, but can lead, in fact, to more climate sensitivity and more climate change. For example reliance on air conditioning give relief from the heat, but can create an addiction to it, e. g. intolerance to any uncomfortable climate. Air conditioning also consumes 20% of a...
Independent Cities - How did it come about that St. Louis and Baltimore are the only two US cities not a part of their respective county?	This does not directly answer your question about St. Louis, but Virginia also has cities being independent from the counties. It is he only state in the nation this way. This evolved from the colonial times and codified in the 1970's. Here is a link to good background summary: _URL_0_	[ "An independent city and a major U.S. port in the state of Missouri, St. Louis has a history going back to an early French settlement in 1764. It is built along the western bank of the Mississippi river, which marks the border of Missouri with Illinois. It was founded by French fur traders and Pierre Laclède and Au...
If Christianity came from the Middle East, why are there no Middle Eastern countries with a Christian majority?	Christians in the Middle East largely converted to Islam over the centuries. However, there are still substantial Christian minorities in some Middle-Eastern countries. Lebanon has a large Christian population, currently making up 40% of the population. Christians were, in fact, the majority religious group in Lebanon...	[ "Christianity, which originated in the Middle East in the 1st century AD, is a significant minority religion within the region. Christianity in the Middle East is characterized by the diversity of its beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of the Old World. Christians now make up approximat...
why aren't all humans dark skinned?	Vitamin D. The further north you go, the less sun you get year-round. UV-rays from sunlight are used in the skin to metabolise Vitamin D, an essential vitamin. Less melanin in the skin (the stuff that makes your skin dark) means less UV blocked and more Vitamin D and better bone growth.	[ "Humans with dark skin pigmentation have skin naturally rich in melanin (especially eumelanin), and have more melanosomes which provide a superior protection against the deleterious effects of ultraviolet radiation. This helps the body to retain its folate reserves and protects against damage to the DNA.\n", "Dar...
Is there a scientific reason why we assume the foetal position when we are in pain?	bodily instinct will be to protect itself and given that all our vital organs are in our torso shielding them with our un-vital arms and legs is just instinct so any horrible pain humans usually resort to instinct. But its different for some people because everyones pain threshold is different so what may be horrible ...	[ "Pain is usually considered to be strongly transparent: when someone is in pain, he knows immediately that he is in pain, and if he is not in pain, he will know he is not. Transparency is important in the study of self-knowledge and meta-knowledge.\n", "It is generally assumed that the tendency to catastrophize p...
if doma gets overthrown in the scotus will same sex marriage be legal everywhere in the us? or will each state have to pass it individually still?	DOMA does two main things: 1. Makes it law so that if one state legalizes same sex marriages, all states do not have to recognize it. 2. Denies federal marriage benefits to same sex couples, even in states where they are legally married. This is Section 3 of the law. The part being talked about right now at SCOTUS i...	[ "On February 22, 2018, \"La Nación\" reported that the Sala IV was reviewing six lawsuits seeking the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the country. On March 9, 2018, the Attorney General recommended to the court to abide by the IACHR ruling and declare article 14 of the Family Code, which prohibits same-sex mar...
why isn't government used software open source?	I'm a government person involved in purchasing SW. And the short answer is they do. The long answer is much of the SW they need must be custom and the government is not really interested in paying someone to write SW and then hiring other people to fix it when it breaks. They've tried that, it never ends well. On top ...	[ "Open source in education — Colleges and organizations use software predominantly online to educate their students. Open-source technology is being adopted by many institutions because it can save these institutions from paying companies to provide them with these administrative software systems. One of the first m...
Is there a chance of siblings not sharing any genetic material?	The chance is so small it's basically zero. You don't get a whole single chromosome from each parent, for example you getting copy 1 of chromosome 5, and your sister getting copy 2. Chromosomes [randomly swap pieces](_URL_0_) between each other during sex cell creation. So your chances of being "unique" are many tim...	[ "Theoretically, there is a chance that they might not share genes. This is very rare and is due to there being a smaller possibility of inheriting the same chromosomes from the shared parent. However, the same is also theoretically possible for full siblings, albeit (comparatively) much less likely. Because of the ...
What capabilities would the now abandoned Super Colliding Superconducter have had compared to the LHC? Are there any questions it could have answered that the LHC cannot?	The SSC was expected to run up to 20 TeV (TeV is a measurement of energy, Tera-electron Volts) while the LHC is only going to hit 7 TeV in 2014. Using the standard model they can predict what range of energy certain particles will have, for instance before the LHC fired up they figured the higgs boson had between 115–1...	[ "The LHC was shut down on 13 February 2013 for its 2-year upgrade, which was to touch on many aspects of the LHC: enabling collisions at 14 TeV, enhancing its detectors and pre-accelerators (the Proton Synchrotron and Super Proton Synchrotron), as well as replacing its ventilation system and of cabling impaired by ...
Today marks the anniversary of the last time the United States declared war - WWII. What is the difference between a declaration of war and a military engagement?	When congress passes legislation that uses the term "Declaration of War" in the title, it's often referred as the formal Declaration of War. U.S. congress has not formally declared war since WWII. The only difference between formal declaration and authorization of war by Congress is using the "Declaration of War" i...	[ "BULLET::::- President [[Harry Truman]] delivered Presidential [[Proclamation 2714]], which officially ended American hostilities in World War II. The declaration, cited in statutes and regulations concerning the definition of World War II service for purposes of veterans benefits, noted that \"a state of war still...
Are there any issues in which the historical record and archaeological evidence strongly disagree with each other?	The legend of the Dorian Invasion would be a good example of this. The Ancient Greek literary tradition held that Spartan rule over the region of Lakedaimon was established during this Invasion (also called the Return of the Herakleidai), in which the Dorians (to whom the Spartans belonged) descended into the Peloponne...	[ "Historical evidence also converges in an analogous way. For example: if five ancient historians, none of whom knew each other, all claim that Julius Caesar seized power in Rome in 49 BCE, this is strong evidence in favor of that event occurring even if each individual historian is only partially reliable. By contr...
If heat is the jiggling of particles which can't exceed the speed of light, does this mean there's an "Absolute Hot" similar to absolute zero?	Even ignoring all the other (non-trivial) subtleties, the important take-home point is that temperature of a substance is (basically) the average kinetic energy of its particles, and even though speed has a maximum, kinetic energy doesn't. This is because the usual relationship between velocity and kinetic energy (1/2 ...	[ "Since temperature relates to the thermal energy held by an object or a sample of matter, which is the kinetic energy of the random motion of the particle constituents of matter, an object will have less thermal energy when it is colder and more when it is hotter. If it were possible to cool a system to absolute ze...
Why is that an ARM based processor and an x86 based processor cannot be compared clock for clock.	You can't compare even different core architectures using the same instruction set clock for clock. Generally ARM instruction set is more RISC-like than x86. On average, each instruction does little less than x86 instruction. Binary sizes for ARM are little bigger than for x86 (10-15% bigger). Many other different...	[ "ARM processors use ARM register banks for fast interrupt request. x86 processors use context switching and fast interrupt for switching between instruction, decoder, GPRs and register files, if there is more than one, before the instruction is issued, but this is only existing on processors that support superscala...
My buddy's dad found this rock on their farm. Apparently a meteorite may have hit the region, could this rock have been affected by that collision?	I haven't found a lot of peer-reviewed journal articles about the impact, but what I've found seems to indicate it happened 83 million years ago. At that time, that part of Alabama/Georgia was under a shallow sea. I'm rather skeptical that a rock that large would be found in overlying sediments, especially a farm. Howe...	[ "In May 2009 Manfred Cuntz, a professor of physics and the director of the astronomy program at the University of Texas at Arlington, was called in to investigate a supposed meteorite impact. Cuntz along with other experts, a Fox TV film crew and the property owner met at the site. They found a refrigerator-sized g...
Are Cloudless Tornadoes possible?	I'm assuming you mean actual tornados since you can of course have phenomenon like dust devils which can be invisible, but these don't form the same way as tornados. The process of creating a tornado is much more complex than just two air masses colliding. The conditions that are required for a tornado to form, resu...	[ "Although it is rotating wall clouds that contain most strong tornadoes, many rotating wall clouds do not produce tornadoes. Absent the co-position of a low-level boundary with an updraft, tornadoes very rarely occur without a sufficiently buoyant rear flank downdraft (RFD), which usually manifests itself visually ...
how does a country first react if they are being invaded by another country?	Normally there is some form of advanced warning, in some cases a declaration of war in others intelligence gathering indicating a build up of forces on the border area. The general first action is a mobilisation of the army, so all on leave etc. army forces report to designated areas to arm and deploy. It then depends ...	[ "To declare war on other countries, the president or congress of the country proposes a Natural enemy law. If the vote passes, the two countries are at war and each region is attacked either by order of the president or automatically by the game every 24 hours. In wars, the citizens of the respective countries figh...
Is friction affected by surface area? For instance if I bought bigger tires for my car would I stop faster? what is the equation for this?	Contact area does not affect frictional force. You might be surprised (I was!), but think about a 1kg 2x1x1cm block on a ramp. Put the brick down sideways, and the surface area is 2cm^2. That 1kg is being distributed over that whole 2cm^2 with a force of 500 grams per cm^2. Now stick that block on the 1x1 side. ...	[ "New models are beginning to show how kinetic friction can be greater than static friction. Kinetic friction is now understood, in many cases, to be primarily caused by chemical bonding between the surfaces, rather than interlocking asperities; however, in many other cases roughness effects are dominant, for exampl...

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