Split (2)

train · 219k rows

question stringlengths 3 301	answer stringlengths 9 7.04k	context listlengths 7 7
Before their double-helixed DNA model, Watson and Crick made a "failed" model. What did this model look like?	Apparently it was a triple helix with three sugar-phosphate backbones in the middle with the Nitrogen bases sticking out. _URL_0_ That is my google fu however not my expertise. I would not be a good person to describe what that would actually look like.	[ "Late in 1951, Francis Crick started working with James Watson at the Cavendish Laboratory within the University of Cambridge. In 1953, Watson and Crick suggested what is now accepted as the first correct double-helix model of DNA structure in the journal \"Nature\". Their double-helix, molecular model of DNA was t...
Is remembering a dream the same mechanism as remembering something in real life?	Memory isn't as perfect as we'd like to think it is to begin with. Then, on top of that, the altered state of consciousness the brain is in during sleep can (essentially) shut down parts of the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex. Since memory requires many neurons firing in concert, having fewer neurons function...	[ "For some people, sensations from the previous night's dreams are sometimes spontaneously experienced in falling asleep. However they are usually too slight and fleeting to allow dream recall. At least 95% of all dreams are not remembered. Certain brain chemicals necessary for converting short-term memories into lo...
If I shoot a car with an EMP gun, what would happen?	Devices like this exist and are being marketed to police departments around the world as a means for terminating dangerous car chases. I believe there is some safety cost/benefit calculation at work. The burning out of all electronics will effectively destroy/total the car. The driver may in fact lose control of the v...	[ "BULLET::::- In the 2008 series \"Knight Rider\" the co-protagonist—a Ford Shelby GT500KR named KITT which is capable of driving itself, talking, and firing all sorts of offensive and defensive weapons—has a small EMP device on board. The car is most often seen deploying this weapon to disable vehicles that it purs...
why when there is a silent we often hear a beep sound?	Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained that this is tinnitus: 1. [ELI5: what is the ringing noise we hear when there's silence? ](_URL_3_) ^(_ > 100 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why do my ears ring in a quiet room? ](_URL_2_) ^(_12 comments_) 1. [ELI5: What is the beeping sound I hear sometimes when it'...	[ "Beeps are also used as a warning when a truck, lorry or bus is reversing. It can also be used to define the sound produced by a car horn. Colloquially, beep is also used to refer to the action of honking the car horn at someone, (e.g., \"Why did that guy beep at me?\"), and is more likely to be used with vehicles ...
how does the amazon go store figure out what you are purchasing exactly?	Holy crud, this is a neat idea. Here's some speculation, until we can get a concrete answer from Ol' Amazon themselves. * since you need the app, and need to apparently launch it when walking in, that's probably how the store determines that you in particular are the person who just entered. Bluetooth might also be in...	[ "Amazon announced in June 2019, that Amazon shoppers will be able to pick up their purchases at designated counters inside more than 100 Rite Aid stores across the US. The new service is called Counter and launches in the US after finding success in the UK with the Next clothing chain and in Italy with Giunti Al Pu...
how was the dnc primary "rigged"?	The DNC is supposed to be neutral. The e-mails released by wikileaks from the DNC showed that they were actively trying to help Hilary's nomination and hurt Bernie's. That was a violation of their charter. In addition, after the leaks and subsequent calls for her resignation, the head of the DNC, Debbie Wasserm...	[ "The Democratic National Committee (DNC) proposed a new schedule and a new rule set for the 2008 Presidential primary elections. Among the changes: the primary election cycle would start nearly a year earlier than in previous cycles, states from the West and the South would be included in the earlier part of the sc...
why did slave owners/ traders feel it was necessary to convert slaves to christianity? if slaves were considered nothing more than property why was their salvation important?	All the answers here are correct for a certain historical period. However, it's important to remember that for the majority of the time the Atlantic slave trade was in operation, religious conversion was not a priority. There were a number of reasons for this: 1. In many colonies the average slave lived only 5-10 year...	[ "Slave-owners weren’t keen to have their slaves baptised as Christian converts could not be sold. Mostly freed slaves were therefore baptised and could then become members of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK). This led to the directors of SA Mission Society establishing their own congregation. It was ...
why there is a difference in the way medication is administered. specifically, what is the difference between pills and injections.	Injections, if through an IV, go straight into the bloodstream. Pills have to be digested before entering the bloodstream, so generally less gets in (or if something is meant to work in the gastrointestinal tract it would be taken as a pill.) Certain injections might only have a local effect (like a corticosteroid inj...	[ "A wide variety of drugs are injected, often opioids: these may include legally prescribed medicines and medication such as morphine, as well as stronger compounds often favored in recreational drug use, which are often illegal. Although there are various methods of taking drugs, injection is favoured by some peopl...
What happens to the blood in an uterus during missed periods?	Tl;dr the lining usually doesn't thicken in these cases The causes of frequently irregular periods (oligomenorrhoea) or complete lack of them (amenorrhoea) are normally always hormones. To put this into context with an example, breastfeeding results in high levels of the hormone prolactin, which then inhibits rel...	[ "Couvelaire uterus is a phenomenon wherein the retroplacental blood may penetrate through the thickness of the wall of the uterus into the peritoneal cavity. This may occur after abruptio placentae. The hemorrhage that gets into the decidua basalis ultimately splits the decidua, and the haematoma may remain within ...
Why do some cameras get really grainy when taking photos or videos in low-light/no-light?	Various kinds of noise. As the light goes down, you get less light (signal) but not less noise. But what is the noise? One type of noise is read noise. Read noise is a constant caused by imperfections in the technology used to detect the light. For example, an amplifier might accidentally amplify stray currents and m...	[ "Because the effect is caused by the relative motion between the camera, and the objects and scene, motion blur may be avoided by panning the camera to track those moving objects. In this case, even with long exposure times, the objects will appear sharper, and the background more blurred.\n", "Some still camera ...
the phrase 'have your cake and eat it, too.'	Once you eat the cake, it's gone. You don't have it anymore. You cannot have both	[ "The phrase \"Let them eat cake\" is often attributed to Marie Antoinette, but there is no evidence she ever uttered it, and it is now generally regarded as a \"journalistic cliché\". It may have been a rumor started by angry French peasants as a form of libel. This phrase originally appeared in Book VI of the firs...
How do large batteries work (like the Tesla house unit)? and What are the barriers around efficient large scale energy storage?	The tesla house battery is a basically a lithium Ion battery,same as yor phone just in Large. Here's a pretty good [link](_URL_0_) to how they work. Barriers are :the low engie density in these types of. I think the Tesla battery weighs 100KG an can store up to 13.5 Kw/H. That equates to ~4KG of diesel. Also the cha...	[ "Contrary to electric vehicle applications, batteries for stationary storage do not suffer from mass or volume constraints. However, due to the large amounts of energy and power implied, the cost per power or energy unit is crucial. The relevant metrics to assess the interest of a technology for grid-scale storage ...
why is testosterone legally prescribed for transgender but not bodybuilding/muscle gain?	Because the trans man has a recognized medical condition and the dude just trying to bulk up doesn't. And because the trans man is only going to normal male levels of testosterone - which are relatively safe - not pushing it to dangerously high levels by adding more on top of typical male production.	[ "Transgender women, known as \"kathoeys\", have access to hormones through non-prescription sources. This kind of access is a result of the low availability and expense of transgender health care clinics. However, transgender men have difficulty gaining access to hormones such as testosterone in Thailand because it...
Are there other cultures that have a long tradition of personal names appropriated from languages other than the ones primarily spoken by that culture?	Late Ancient Hebrew did this a ton. Many names were Greek. Variants of "Alexander" were especially popular. Other names were Aramaic, but the two languages are so similar that distinguishing them in names is often difficult. Yiddish does this two. Many of the names are Hebrew names or Hebrew words, and though some...	[ "However, in some areas of the world, many people are known by a single name, and so are said to be mononymous. Still other cultures lack the concept of specific, fixed names designating people, either individually or collectively. Certain isolated tribes, such as the Machiguenga of the Amazon, do not use personal ...
Why didn't any Ottoman Sultans perform Hajj when they declared themselves Caliphs of Islam?	It's mostly logistical issues. A sultan traveling from Istanbul to Mekka would need a huge army for protection. Traveling there and back would take months even years with a massive entourage which would destabilize the government back home and probably any province they pass through.	[ "When the Ottomans conquered Mamluk territory in 1517, the role of the Ottoman sultan in the Hijaz was first and foremost to take care of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, and provide safe passage for the many Muslims from various regions who travelled to Mecca in order to perform the Hajj. The Sultan was someti...
if the sun is on the other side of the earth at night, how does it stay so warm during the summer?	Okay, the only difference between summer and winter as far as heat goes is the angle that the sun hits the earth. With the axis, the sun hits at a steeper angle (ie. Straight up/down) which means greater concentration of energy, think: smaller area, same heat energy. That being said, the world and atmosphere absorb a...	[ "During winter in either hemisphere, the lower altitude of the Sun causes the sunlight to hit the Earth at an oblique angle. Thus a lower amount of solar radiation strikes the Earth per unit of surface area. Furthermore, the light must travel a longer distance through the atmosphere, allowing the atmosphere to diss...
how does the fourth amendment prevent government reach into government cell phones?	Your quote provides the answer. The constitution including the bill of rights defines what the government can, and can't, do. (It does not apply directly to private employers, of course.) You don't automatically lose rights as a result of becoming a government employee; but you may waive those rights at times in e...	[ "The bill then states: \"The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution shall not be construed to allow any agency of the United States Government to search the phone records of Americans without a warrant based on probable cause.\"\n", "In November 2017, the United States Supreme Court ruled in \"Carpenter v. United S...
why, in the event a hurricane or super storm heading for a vulnerable area, can't we launch and detonate explosives within the storm to disperse it?	I think you've been watching too much Sharknado. It doesn't work that way in real life. Besides, hurricanes can be hundreds of miles across. There's no way enough explosives could be launched to affect that, especially without causing massive environmental damage.	[ "Certain targets, such as bridges, historically could be attacked only by manually placed explosives. With the advent of precision-guided munitions, the destructive part of the raid may involve the SF unit controlling air strikes. Air strikes, however, are practical only when U.S. involvement is not hidden.\n", "...
Why is the star in the "star and crescent" symbol of Ottoman Empire/Islam not exactly upright geometrically?	The design is specified by a 1930s law. The alignment of the star is such that one of the points of the star points directly left. So it's aligned "exactly" on a horizontal axis -- relative to the crescent -- rather than a vertical axis. See _URL_0_ and the sources cited therein.	[ "The star and crescent symbol became strongly associated with the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, a symbol that had been used throughout the Middle East extending back to pre-Islamic times, especially in the Byzantine Empire and Crusader States which occupied the lands later assumed by the Ottoman Empire. By ex...
what makes soda taste so bad when you leave it out for some time?	It doesn't taste bad at all, you're just losing the carbonation so there isn't that stimulating feeling. If soda was made without carbonation I'm sure there would be a lot less soda drinkers in the world	[ "A large number of soda pops are acidic as are many fruits, sauces and other foods. Drinking acidic drinks over a long period and continuous sipping may erode the tooth enamel. A 2007 study determined that some flavored sparkling waters are as erosive or more so than orange juice.\n", "OK Soda had a more \"citric...
why is it worthwhile to separate colors from whites in laundry?	In the past, you would often add bleach to whites to help clean them. However, it would destroy colored dyes, so you would need to separate them first.	[ "White fabrics acquire a slight color cast after use (usually grey or yellow). Since blue and yellow are complementary colors in the subtractive color model of color perception, adding a trace of blue color to the slightly off-white color of these fabrics makes them appear whiter. Laundry detergents may also use fl...
why does peanut butter turn shiny after being spread?	The oil is more visible when the peanut butter is spread thin	[ "Peanut butter is a food paste or spread made from ground dry roasted peanuts. It often contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, sweeteners or emulsifiers. Peanut butter is served as a spread on bread, toast or crackers, and used to make sandwiches (notably the peanut butter a...
i saw a commercial for a car dealership offering you a car for $88 down and $88 per month even if you have bad or no credit. what's the catch? how can they do this?	You will be paying interest on that car for decades.	[ "Depending on the type of car purchased and \"the difference in fuel economy between the purchased vehicle and the trade-in vehicle\", the amount of the credit given in the form of vouchers to eligible customers is either $3,500 or $4,500. New car dealers will be able to reduce the purchase price by the amount of t...
Do dissolved solids (I.E. sugar in coffee) have the same volume as their constituents?	Generally, no. Archimedes does not apply when you're dissolving a solid. Depending on the nature of coordination in solution, a solid can dissolve and displace more or less volume than the solid would. If everything behaved like an ideal solution, this wouldn't be the case, but mixtures involve [partial molar properti...	[ "When a sugar solution is measured by refractometer or density meter, the °Bx or °P value obtained by entry into the appropriate table only represents the amount of dry solids dissolved in the sample if the dry solids are exclusively sucrose. This is seldom the case. Grape juice (must), for example, contains little...
When light is reflected off a surface, is that same photon being bounced back or is that photon absorbed and then another one emitted?	To the extent I understand it, photons don't have an "identity", there is no way to know, and use whatever assumption works for the problem you are solving. It is a very unsatisfying answer, but physics has a lot of that.	[ "Total external reflection is the situation where the light starts in air and vacuum (refractive index 1), and bounces off a material with index of refraction less than 1. For example, in X-rays, the refractive index is frequently slightly less than 1, and therefore total external reflection can happen at a glancin...
- if deadly viruses, like ebola, ultimately kill the host, how do they evolve, or persist to an epidemic level?	It isn't a good way to spread a virus strain. That's precisely why these epidemic diseases kill thousands and then burn out. They massacre their food supply and host by accident and die with them. The most successful viruses have no symptoms. They live in you and transfer among humanity without alarming our immune ...	[ "Generally, if a virus kills its host too quickly, the host will not have a chance to come in contact with other hosts and transmit the virus before dying. However, in serial passage, when a virus was being transmitted from host to host regardless of its virulence, such as Subbaro’s experiment, the viruses that gro...
why do tech manufacturers region lock their devices?	It's pretty simple, depending on the region you sell your product the highest price people are ready to pay for your device can differ quite significantly. If you have the same price all over the world you wont sell in some regions. If you have different prices and don't region lock people will just buy from the cheape...	[ "Adapters (sometimes called \"dongles\") allow connecting a peripheral device with one plug to a different jack on the computer. They are often used to connect modern devices to a legacy port on an old system, or legacy devices to a modern port. Such adapters may be entirely passive, or contain active circuitry.\n"...
What are some unsolved problems in Computer Science?	The biggest and probably the most famous problem is the P-NP problem. It concerns decision problems (problems that can be answered with a "yes" or a "no"). There are two important classes of decision problems - P and NP. P problems are those which can be decided in polynomial time. NP problems are those whose solutions...	[ "This article is a list of unsolved problems in computer science. A problem in computer science is considered unsolved when no solution is known, or when experts in the field disagree about proposed solutions.\n", "Perhaps the most important open problem in all of computer science is the question of whether a cer...
why did saber-tooth cats have such big fangs?	I'm just guessing here, but maybe it preyed on larger animals. Those fangs would have sunk deep into flesh.	[ "The different groups of saber-toothed cats evolved their saber-toothed characteristics entirely independently. They are most known for having maxillary canines which extended down from the mouth even when the mouth was closed. Saber-toothed cats were generally more robust than today's cats and were quite bear-like...
when people say how fast something in space is moving what reference point are they using?	It is usually going to be with reference to the body that exerts the dominant gravitational force in the region. The speed of a probe sent to orbit Europa would first be expressed with reference to the earth, then the sun, then Jupiter, then finally Europa. Possibly other planets or moons if a gravitational assist wa...	[ "Alternatively, we could choose a frame of reference \"S′\" situated in the first car. In this case, the first car is stationary and the second car is approaching from behind at a speed of . In order to catch up to the first car, it will take a time of , that is, 25 seconds, as before. Note how much easier the prob...
how do countries pay for maternity leave?	In France it is payed by the Social security (healthcare etc..), not the employer.	[ "Paid maternity leave is important for women to take time away from work to bond with a child without financial pressures. Of the 193 United Nations countries, only a handful do not have a paid-parental-leave policy: New Guinea, Suriname, the United States and a few South Pacific island nations. The international h...
What is the Eastern Front known as in Russia?	This can be a bit confusing, so I will use italics for Latinized Russian and bold for English translations If you're asking about the Eastern Front of WWII, the single massive continuous front (geographic area) is known by Russians as Великая Отечественная Война (Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna), meaning **Grea...	[ "\"Eastern Front\" is a corps-level simulation of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. The player controls the Germans, in white, while the computer plays the Russians, in red. Units are represented as boxes for armored corps or cavalry, and crosses for infantry, an attempt to repl...
How are new stars born following the death of old stars? Surely all the hydrogen has gone- or the previous star wouldn't have died?	Stars can only fuse hydrogen (and in the latter stages other elements) in their cores, where the temperature is high enough to start fusion. The vast majority of the hydrogen is outside the core (90% orso) and gets blown away when the star is dieing. This forms the material for the next generation of stars	[ "According to theories of stellar formation, as in other stellar nurseries, the stars in Henize 206 were created after a dying star, or supernova, exploded, sending intense shockwaves through clouds of cosmic gas and dust. The gas and dust were subsequently compressed into large groups, then gravity further condens...
When did "Right by conquest" stop being a thing?	Actually way later, up until WW2 right by conquest was recognized as international law. "War of aggression" as a crime was only codified in the Nuermberg Principles after WW2 and made a UN resolution in 1974 (UN resolution 3314). The principle of Right by Conquest was first diminished in the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928...	[ "The right of conquest is the right of a conqueror to territory taken by force of arms. It was traditionally a principle of international law that has gradually given way in modern times until its proscription after World War II when the crime of war of aggression was first codified in the Nuremberg Principles. In ...
It is said that Benedict Arnold died wishing to wear his Continental Army uniform, expressing regret at his betrayal. This may be legend, but do we know how he really felt in his later years about what he did, or his attitude towards the United States?	Not to discourage further discussion, but see /u/uncovered-history's answer in [this post](_URL_0_). He also addresses the Continental Army uniform question a little further down the comment chain.	[ "Benedict Arnold (June 14, 1801) was an American military officer who served as a general during the American Revolutionary War, fighting for the American Continental Army before defecting to the British in 1780. George Washington had given him his fullest trust and placed him in command of the fortifications at We...
What is the relationship between C-reactive proteins and inflammation with depression?	Some cytokines can cross/be actively transported across the blood brain barrier. There are also cytokine receptors that stimulate the vagus nerve, providing feedback to the brain. There was a study specifically investigating the use of an anti-inflammatory drug, infliximab, which antagonizes tumor necrosis factor alpha...	[ "Various review have found that general inflammation may play a role in depression. One meta analysis of cytokines in people with MDD found increased IL-6 and TNF-a levels relative to controls. The first theories came about when it was noticed that interferon therapy caused depression in a large number of people re...
What Slows a Computer Down?	This is a complicated question to answer. First and foremost -- Did you upgrade OS versions in the meantime or are you running the same OS and exact same software as before? If you upgraded the OS, then that could be part of the problem. Newer versions of Windows and OSX often are designed around newer computers...	[ "It was possible to increase the speed of the computer by using POKE 65495,0 which accelerates the ROM-resident BASIC interpreter, but temporarily disables correct functioning of the cassette/printer ports. Manufacturing variances mean that not all Dragons are able to function at this higher speed, and use of this ...
Are any mammals as sexually dimorphic as humans?	Male gorillas are over twice the size of female gorillas, probably the largest sexual dimorphism among primates. The big [silverbacks](_URL_0_) you see in zoos are all males. Big differences like this are also seen in orangutans, mandrills, baboons, proboscis monkeys, hamadryas. Sperm whale males weigh about 3 times a...	[ "The reduced degree of sexual dimorphism is primarily visible in the reduction of the male canine tooth relative to other ape species (except gibbons). Another important physiological change related to sexuality in humans was the evolution of hidden estrus. Humans are the only ape in which the female is intermitten...
how do jets that are taxiing stop and start moving without trying their engines up or down ?	To get moving again, they DO spin up their engines.... modern high bypass turbofans have ridiculous thrust, just bumping them up a little from idle is enough to get an airliner moving again. To stop, they have brakes. These brakes are ridiculously powerful, more than enough to stop an airliner moving along a taxiway....	[ "When taxiing, aircraft travel slowly. This ensures that they can be stopped quickly and do not risk wheel damage on larger aircraft if they accidentally turn off the paved surface. Taxi speeds are typically .\n", "An airplane uses taxiways to taxi from one place on an airport to another; for example, when moving...
Can fish see color? And if not, why are they so colorful?	I know for a fact that at least some fish do. Some fish have a trade-off feature where they have a red belly which females finds attractive, but they are more visible to predators. Some marine animals also get their color from their diet, so maybe it has something to do with that?	[ "Mesopelagic fish are adapted to a low-light environment. Many fish are black or red, because these colors appear dark due to the limited light penetration at depth. Some fish have rows of photophores, small light-producing organs, on their underside to mimic the surrounding environment. Other fish have mirrored bo...
How did the heavier metals on Earth end up in the Earth's crust and not all towards the Core?	Here's a [recent post where I answered a very similar question](_URL_0_). Basically it comes down to two things: solubility in different materials (silicates versus metals, which is why there are Uranium ores on the surface of Earth) and meteor bombardment during the early history of the solar system (which is why ther...	[ "In early stages of Earth's formation about 4.6 billion years ago, melting would have caused denser substances to sink toward the center in a process called planetary differentiation (see also the iron catastrophe), while less-dense materials would have migrated to the crust. The core is thus believed to largely be...
How did the Allies supply their armies in France in WWII in 1944 and 1945?	Logistics were always a key factor in the planning of Overlord. Prior experience showed that capturing ports was difficult as they were a natural focus for defensive efforts, and once captured extensive work would likely be needed to repair sabotage and demolitions carried out by the defenders. Supplies would therefore...	[ "Conducted strategic bombardment of Axis targets in Europe. Between 29 August 1944 and 2 October 1944 division aircraft dropped food to the French population in liberated areas. It also airdropped food, equipment, and supplies to Allied forces engaged in the airborne attack on the Netherlands (September 1944), as w...
Was there any study of economics pre-consumerism?	Yes. Consumerism is generally linked to the rise of industrial production and wasn't a phenomenon (at least outside the upper class) until the late 19th century. Before then you had such figures as Adam Smith, David Hume, Ricardo, Marx, Quesnay, Colbert etc all writing on economics. Adam Smith is considered the defini...	[ "In the late 20th century, areas of study that produced change in economic thinking were: risk-based (rather than price-based models), imperfect economic actors, and treating economics as a biological science (based on evolutionary norms rather than abstract exchange).\n", "Consumer economics concludes the family...
What properties of charcoal cause it to be so useful in absorbing toxic compounds?	Can anyone actually explain this though! Yes it becomes more porous, yes it has active binding sites. But what is actually occurring here. Are particulates getting trapped? Are aldehyde/ketones groups protonating with particulates? Or what is the actual chemical manipulation of this?	[ "Activated charcoal is used to treat many types of oral poisonings such as phenobarbital and carbamazepine. It is not effective for a number of poisonings including: strong acids or bases, iron, lithium, arsenic, methanol, ethanol or ethylene glycol.\n", "Activated carbon is used to treat poisonings and overdoses...
Are Neutrino's really faster than light?	Because photons are light. To pass from the source to the detector, they are travelling through the earth. Light won't do that.	[ "Neutrino speeds \"consistent\" with the speed of light are expected given the limited accuracy of experiments to date. Neutrinos have small but nonzero mass, and so special relativity predicts that they must propagate at speeds slower than light. Nonetheless, known neutrino production processes impart energies far...
why are there patterns and fractals in nature?	> Why are there patterns and fractals in nature? Patterns and fractals are just the large scale result of simple repeating behaviors. Suppose you have a stem that will grow for a bit and then split, then those stems grow for a bit and split, etc. You end up with a branching pattern from simple base behaviors. > I...	[ "Some mathematical rule-patterns can be visualised, and among these are those that explain patterns in nature including the mathematics of symmetry, waves, meanders, and fractals. Fractals are mathematical patterns that are scale invariant. This means that the shape of the pattern does not depend on how closely you...
What was President William McKinley's reasoning for his views on the issue of the annexation of the Philippines?	My understanding is he was sort of painted into a geopolitical corner. He hadn't really intended on taking the Phillipines, but now that he had them he couldn't give them to anyone else (because they'd just use them as a base for competition in China), couldn't give them back to Spain (because we had just beat the pant...	[ "A controversial aspect of McKinley's presidency is territorial expansion and the question of imperialism—with the exception of the Philippines, granted independence in 1946, the United States retains the territories taken under McKinley. The territorial expansion of 1898 is often seen by historians as the beginnin...
Good books/movies/documentaries/websites/podcasts about Roman British history	British History Podcast.	[ "The History of Byzantium podcast by Robin Pierson is explicitly modelled after The History of Rome in style, length and quality; Pierson intended the podcast as a sequel to The History of Rome in order to complete the story. David Crowther of The History of England podcast has mentioned Duncan as an influence. as ...
why do the ends of escalators and moving walkways have the blue or green light that shines through the cracks?	I may be wrong but I think it's a light from a sensor that stops the escalator, moving sidewalk, etc. when it sees that there is something caught in the treads e.g. a pantleg, or a shoelace	[ "Multi-coloured spherical lights in the trees were installed in 2005 by the Elephant Impacts project. The project has repainted and added feature lighting to a number of bridges and buildings in the area, including the adjoining railway bridges on Walworth Road and Newington Causeway, and to London College of Commu...
will we ever see the national debt start going down or will it keep raising forever?	We'll likely see the national debt fluctuate up and down as this century goes on. The American economy is pretty robust and very very good at generating income. Without multi-trillion dollar wars to fight, and [hopefully] an upcoming rationalization of our economic, tax and social policies the debt will start to drif...	[ "According to the Treasury, \"failing to increase the debt limit would . . . cause the government to default on its legal obligations – an unprecedented event in American history\". These legal obligations include paying Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the debt, and many other ...
What are some examples of small disciplined forces defeating larger forces?	The winter war perhaps? _URL_0_ Little Finland beating off the might of Soviet Russia. 70k casualties against soviet 323k.	[ "Regular forces, in turn, may act in order to invite such attacks by concentrations of enemy guerrillas, in order to bring an otherwise elusive enemy to battle, relying on its own superior training and firepower to win such battles. This was successfully practiced by the French during the First Indochina War at the...
why some, but not all, acquisition prices are disclosed .	In the USA, if a publicly traded company is acquired, the purchase price will have to be reported publicly in reports to the SEC. Acquisition of a private company won't have to be, although if it is bought by a public company then it will often show up in their SEC reports, although it may be obfuscated. In the case ...	[ "An acquisition/takeover is the purchase of one business or company by another company or other business entity. Specific acquisition targets can be identified through myriad avenues including market research, trade expos, sent up from internal business units, or supply chain analysis. Such purchase may be of 100%,...
How do you feel about John Brown? Terrorist or freedom fighter?	He's both technically but in my biased opinion he's a freedom fighter. Though he could have planned the rebellion slightly more I believe, like asking a local slave in the dead of night on what he thought the slaves would do perhaps, but really Brown was never going to achieve the full liberation of the slaves as he wa...	[ "Brown claims to be a Muslim and jihadi who believed his actions were \"just kills\", or justified shootings, of adult males in retaliation for actions by the U.S. government in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. As he stated to authorities: \"All those lives are taken every single day by America, by this government. So ...
how does my computer know how much time is remaining for a program to be installed?	It's an estimate based on how much data there is left to transfer and how fast it is currently getting done.	[ "Time Machine creates incremental backups of files that can be restored at a later date. It allows the user to restore the whole system or specific files from the Recovery HD or the macOS Install DVD. It works within Mail, iWork, iLife, and several other compatible programs, making it possible to restore individual...
what does a company do with funds generated from selling stocks?	The go to various things, depending on the company and its business... the money does literally go into the company's bank accounts, minus fees paid to investment bank doing the underwriter, etc. They may use it to pay back debt, invest in expansion (factories, new stores, inventory), make acquisitions, pay bonuses to ...	[ "In a primary market, companies, governments or public sector institutions can raise funds through bond issues and corporations can raise capital through the sale of new stock through an initial public offering (IPO). This is often done through an investment bank or finance syndicate of securities dealers. The proc...
why old film clips, like ones of ww2 almost always seems sped up faster than 1x?	As you probably know, the speed at which motion picture film runs through the camera determines its frame rate, given in frames per second (fps). When run through a projector (which you can think of as a backwards camera) at the same speed, the movement looks natural to us. If turned more slowly or quickly, however, it...	[ "So a film recorded at 12 frames per second will appear to move twice as fast. Shooting at camera speeds between 8 and 22 frames per second usually falls into the undercranked fast motion category, with images shot at slower speeds more closely falling into the realm of time-lapse, although these distinctions of te...
why doesn't north america see protests similar in size to other continents and countries?	[We took part in the largest protest in human history](_URL_0_), in 1995 the Million Man March had between 400,000 and 837,000 people, in 1993 the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation had between 300,000 and 1,000,000 people, in 1992 the "Save our Cities! Save our Children!" protest h...	[ "Some potentially vulnerable states that have not yet seen such protests have taken a variety of preemptive measures to avoid such displays occurring in their own countries; some of these states and others have experienced political fallout as a result of their own governmental actions and reactions to events which...
What is the best way to determine if an exoplanet is suitable to sustain human life?	Part of the problem is we have a sample size of 1. Basically impossible to draw hard conclusions from. One key metric I've seen talked about is the presence of free oxygen. Oxygen is very reactive, if it is present in large quantities in molecular form it seems reasonable to infer that a process like life is creating...	[ "The discovery of exoplanets has intensified interest in the search for extraterrestrial life. There is special interest in planets that orbit in a star's habitable zone, where it is possible for liquid water, a prerequisite for life on Earth, to exist on the surface. The study of planetary habitability also consid...
why do dogs like the smell of cheese so much?	Cheese, that is, REAL, unprocessed cheese (although some types of pasteurized cheese included as well,) is naturally very pungent. Cut up a bit of Brie or aged white cheddar and tell me this isn't so. If we humans think cheese is very pungent, imagine how much more so dogs would be able to smell it. Dogs tend to have a...	[ "Dogs have around 1,700 taste buds compared to humans with around 9,000. The sweet taste buds in dogs respond to a chemical called furaneol which is found in many fruits and in tomatoes. It appears that dogs do like this flavor and it probably evolved because in a natural environment dogs frequently supplement thei...
What does it mean when one has a 'teleological view of history'?	To build a bit on /u/Sherbert42's answer: teleology (in a historiographical sense) is a form of historical enquiry which attempts to construct a narrative view of history as a progressive march in one direction; towards an inevitable end point. To give one particularly notable and illustrative example of teleological...	[ "Historist historiography rejects historical teleology and bases its explanations of historical phenomena on sympathy and understanding (see Hermeneutics) for the events, acting persons, and historical periods. The historist approach takes to its extreme limits the common observation that human institutions (langua...
if my bathroom scale shows different numbers around the house, which number should i trust?	Find something in your house that you know weighs a certain amount for sure. E.g. a new bag of rice or potatoes or whatever. Weigh that in different areas of your house and see where you get the most accurate reading. Just use your scale in that spot.	[ "Take as an example the calculation of body mass index (BMI). The BMI is the body weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. A bathroom scale may have a resolution of one kilogram. We do not know intermediate values about 79.6 kg or 80.3 kg but information rounded to the nearest whole number. It...
how family guy uses brand names so frequently, but no other cartoon can.	Any TV show can mention brand names. They usually don't, because: * it makes sit harder to place ads for that product and its competitors * it can date the show and make it less desirable in syndication * viewers often have strong brand affinities, and might not relate to characters who use brands they do not like *...	[ "Without laws governing name usage, many American names pop up following the name's usage in movies, television, or in the media. Children may be named after their parents' favorite fictional characters.\n", "Brand names and logos are regularly blurred or covered with tape or a \"MythBusters\" sticker. Brand name...
if passwords for websites are suppose to be encrypted or only known to the user, how come some websites can tell me i have entered a password i changed years ago?	They don't know the password, but they do know when you have set it. You tell them the password when you set it, but they don't remember the password, only its "checksum", or "salted hash", and forget the original password. which can be calculated from the original password and data that don't change during the lifetim...	[ "A simple protocol that does not rely on a human third party involves password changing. This works anywhere one has to type in new passwords the same twice before the password is changed. The first individual will type their secret in the first box, and the second person will type their secret in the second box, i...
if i kept switching out older body parts of mine with healthier ones as i grew up, could i live forever?	Your brain cells will eventually age and die. If you replace those you can technically live forever, but will you still really be yourself? This concept has been debated since the Ancient Greeks _URL_0_	[ "His healing factor also dramatically affects his aging process, allowing him to live far beyond the normal lifespan of a human. Despite being born in the late 19th century, he has the appearance, conditioning, health, and vitality of a man in his physical prime. While seemingly ageless, it is unknown exactly how g...
the observer effect, the measurement problem and the 'conscious observer' of quantum mechanics?	The "observer effect" and "measurement" problems are commonly misrepresented on the internet by people who are obsessed with new-age pseudoscience. It has nothing to do with conciousness or anything magical. To put it in ELI5 terms: Imagine that we you are blindfolded and sitting in a chair. I have set up a machine th...	[ "An especially unusual version of the observer effect occurs in quantum mechanics, as best demonstrated by the double-slit experiment. Physicists have found that even passive observation of quantum phenomena (by changing the test apparatus and passively 'ruling out' all but one possibility), can actually change the...
why are dj's treated like artists, with a stage name and everything, and their own 'shows' people get tickets to, when they just play other people's copyrighted music?	"Art" is a form of expression. Imagine that 100 people are going to be showing up to your house in an hour. How will you entertain them? Playing music is a good option. Do you have the right music to play? Would you just turn on the radio? Go to Pandora? Radios have commercials. Songs don't always compliment one ano...	[ "I party with the promoters I play for. A lot of DJs don't like to do that; they play the party, go back to the hotel and then get ready to go home. Not me. I don't deny it! For me a DJ is someone who brings a vibe. If you don't party, then how do you bring that vibe?\n", "Most of the DJs and live musicians who p...
what exactly was dialup and why couldn't you use the phone at the same time?	The computer sent data through the phone line. Since the phone line transmits sound data - the computer was literally generating sounds that could be interpreted as data - high and low pitched squeals that represent the data you are sending or receiving. It was like a very rapid morse code. If you picked up the phon...	[ "Dial-up access is a connection to the Internet through a phone line, creating a semi-permanent link to the Internet. Operating on a single channel, it monopolizes the phone line and is the slowest method of accessing the Internet. Dial-up is often the only form of Internet access available in rural areas because i...
Why don't modern cellphones create interferences near speakers any more?	So, for our friends that don't know, the buzzing is a signal in the AM range. The effect is well known since the rollout of GSM in Europe begun (see Stephen Temple's _"Inside the Mobile Revolution_", Ch. 22). What's happening is that in TDMA, each transmitter gets a time slot in which to transmit, and then remains sil...	[ "The longer wavelengths have the advantage of diffracting more, and so line of sight is not as necessary to obtain a good signal. Because the frequencies that cell phones use are too high to reflect off the ionosphere as shortwave radio waves do, cell phone waves cannot travel via the ionosphere. (See Diffraction a...
whats going on with the statehood movement in puerto rico as of now?	There was a non-binding referendum is 2012, but most people see it for the sham it was. The pro-statehood ruling party rigged it so they first asked if they people preferred the status quo, then asked the remaining people if the wanted statehood. If they asked the questions in the other order, they would have gotten ...	[ "The Independence Movement in Puerto Rico refers to initiatives by inhabitants throughout the history of Puerto Rico to obtain full political independence for the island territory, first from the Spanish Empire, from 1493 to 1898 and, since 1898, from the United States. A small variety of groups, movements, politic...
How do deaf people perceive heavy bass sounds?	I'll take a shot at this. I think many people will agree they can "feel" low-frequency (bass) sounds in their chest when loud enough. We can perceive this vibration in our bodies with other senses, probably [somatosensation](_URL_3_) (i.e. touch), perhaps with [proprioception](_URL_0_). I found [this paper](_URL_1_), w...	[ "The human ear can generally hear sounds with frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz (the audio range). Sounds outside this range are considered infrasound (below 20 Hz) or ultrasound (above 20 kHz) Although hearing requires an intact and functioning auditory portion of the central nervous system as well as a working...
Before the Augustus founded the empire, the Roman republic was plagued with civil wars. Why didn't the Parthians invade?	They did...it's all over the sources... The Parthians crossed the Euphrates only twice. In 51 Cicero feared a Parthian invasion into Cilicia, but it did not materialize, and the brief Parthian campaign following Crassus' defeat fizzled out quickly. Plutarch claims that Pompey reached out to the Parthians for asylum, b...	[ "Battles between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic began in 54 BC. This first incursion against Parthia was repulsed, notably at the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC). During the Roman Liberators' civil war of the 1st Century BC, the Parthians actively supported Brutus and Cassius, invading Syria, and gaining terr...
Can bacteria feel pain?	Not in any sense of the term that would make sense from a human perspective, for sure: by definition, single-celled organisms don't have nerve cells, and what we call "pain" is entirely a nervous-system response to various stimuli.	[ "Though it has been argued that most invertebrates do not feel pain, there is some evidence that invertebrates, especially the decapod crustaceans (e.g. crabs and lobsters) and cephalopods (e.g. octopuses), exhibit behavioural and physiological reactions indicating they may have the capacity for this experience.\n"...
What is Bell's Inequality and how does it work?	It is a response to the famous EPR (Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen) paper written in 1935 where they described a thought experiment leading to what we today know as quantum entanglement. Or to quote them: "spooky action at a distance". Entanglement can be briefly explained by two entangled electrons (A and B) being in ...	[ "The intention of a Bell inequality is to serve as a test of local realism or local hidden variable theories as against quantum mechanics, applying Bell's theorem, which shows them to be incompatible. Not all the Bell's inequalities that appear in the literature are in fact fit for this purpose. The one discussed h...
Can any experts comment on this article about the nuclear reactors in Japan please?	Seems like a fairly in-depth article. Not sure why people would call it anti-science as such, everything I read was more or less what I have read elsewhere. What does worry me was the section about mobile generators being brought in to provide power for the cooling but the "plug not fitting". Now I'm no engineer, but ...	[ "One reactor model, the L-54, was purchased and installed by a number of United States universities and foreign research institutions, including Japan. The Japanese Atomic Research Institute renamed theirs Japan Research Reactor-1 (JRR-1) and the government of Japan issued a commemorative postage stamp noting the e...
what is being done in the world of science to offset the imposing "antibiotic apocalypse?"	[Here is an article you may want to read](_URL_0_) I'll post a little of the article so my comment doesn't get deleted. Scientists have come across a potential game-changer in the fight against drug-resistant superbugs - a new class of antibiotic that is resistant to resistance. Not only does the new compound - whic...	[ "Antibiotic resistance is another major concern, leading to the reemergence of diseases such as tuberculosis. The World Health Organization, for its World Health Day 2011 campaign, is calling for intensified global commitment to safeguard antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines for future generations.\n", "...
What animal has the worst common cause of death?	Manatees getting hit by propellors and bleeding out. Usually they get hit multiple time in their life, and are killed by particularly brutal hits.	[ "In 1993, 25 schools throughout New England, United States participated in a roadkill study involving 1,923 animal deaths. By category, the fatalities were: 81% mammals, 15% bird, 3% reptiles and amphibians, 1% indiscernible. Extrapolating these data nationwide, Merritt Clifton (editor of \"Animal People Newspaper\...
the current global warming is very concerning, but there was global warming about 1000 years ago called the "medieval warm period" - how many other such warming periods have there been and why is the current one so different?	The medieval warm period was not as extreme, and came on much more gradually. The current one has been sudden and steady, and we have a clear cause for it: increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We've increased the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content by 1/3, for example - that's a huge effect on a planetary scal...	[ "In a perspective commenting on MBH99, Wallace Smith Broecker argued that the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) was global. He attributed recent warming to a roughly 1500-year cycle which he suggested related to episodic changes in the Atlantic's conveyor circulation.\n", "The Holocene climatic optimum (HCO) was a perio...
what decides whether something will release alpha, beta, or gamma radiation?	Type of radiation is determined by the material that emits it. Gamma radiation is electomagnetic radiation, like radio waves, microwave, x-rays, gamma rays... they are typically formed when a charge (electron) is accelerated or decelerated or moved in a circular path (which is an acceleration btw). It can also be forme...	[ "Alpha decay or α-decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle (helium nucleus) and thereby transforms or 'decays' into a different atomic nucleus, with a mass number that is reduced by four and an atomic number that is reduced by two. An alpha particle is identical to the...
What would be the effects of a normal diet that was entirely liquids?	People survive quite well on liquid diets for long periods of time. Google might turn up more information if you search for [tube feeding](_URL_0_). For people who can't tolerate solid food for any reason, a tube can be placed through the nose or through an incision into the stomach, and fluid given through that tube c...	[ "A liquid diet is a diet that mostly consists of liquids, or soft foods that melt at room temperature (such as ice cream). A liquid diet usually helps provide sufficient hydration, helps maintain electrolyte balance, and is often prescribed for people when solid food diets are not recommended, such as for people wh...
How do we know which way up a planet is?	All planets in the Solar System orbit in almost the same plane, and their axes of rotation are almost perpendicular to such plane. (Only exception is Uranus). So you can define East as the direction the planet is rotating, and North as 90° left of the East. We also have reference frames and coordinate systems: cartesi...	[ "Still another method is to first determine the geographic center of the country and from there measure the shortest distance to every other point. All U.S. territory is spread across less than 180° of longitude, so from any spot in the U.S. it is more direct to reach the easternmost point, Point Udall, U.S. Virgin...
Is it true that a third of the knights in the battle of Agincourt were over 50?	Well life expectancy is a very skewed statistic, because infant mortality deflates it substantially. The upper-classes could expect to live to the beginning of what we'd call "old-age" (about 60s, 70 and above was more of a gamble) if they weren't taken ill or killed in battle. It's possible- there would be plenty of o...	[ "This story does not stand up well under scrutiny. Walter would have been around seventy years old at the time of the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, and rather old to be taking up the sword instead of his accustomed musical instrument. He is not listed among the knights created by Edward IV before or after the battl...
why do fireworks look so bad on film/video, yet look good irl?	Fireworks can look great on video if you have a good enough camera. Cheap cameras, like the ones in our phones, can't handle low light conditions very well and have a hard time focusing on the rapid flashes coming from a firework. The camera is constantly trying to auto focus but can't, resulting in a blurry image.	[ "Novelty fireworks typically produce a much weaker explosion and sound. In some countries and areas where fireworks are illegal to use, they still allow these small, low grade fireworks to be used. A few examples include:\n", "Availability and use of consumer fireworks are hotly debated topics. Critics and safety...
how 2 wifi routers on the same channel can interoperate without completely jamming each other's signal?	It's FM, and you know what happens to FM signals when 2 people try the repeater at the same time, with equal power. It's unreadable. Yes, the wifi points would jam each other too. They can interoperate only because packets are short bursts and can be error corrected. They don't route the other networks traffic as it ...	[ "In the case of WiMAX, Uplink Collaborative MIMO is spatial multiplexing with two different devices, each with one antenna. These transmitting devices are collaborating in the sense that both devices must be synchronized in time and frequency so that the intentional overlapping occurs under controlled circumstances...
how do you steer a gunship? or a clipper? or large sailship in general?	On most boats, the rudder is, in fact, the principle steering device. The sails on sailing vessels generally do not "steer" the boat. However, they must be re-positioned when the boat changes direction or when the wind direction changes, to maximize the thrust provided by the sails, using the available wind. For non...	[ "A steerer can also use the steering oar to adjust the position of the boat by cranking. When a steerer cranks the steering oar, the stern of the boat moves either to the left or right, spinning the boat. This is typically executed to turn the boat around at practice or to ensure a boat is lined up straight and poi...
How definitive are the DNA results on the Richard III skeleton?	You didn't really elaborate on what you mean, but I'm guessing you want to know how confident we can be that the skeleton they've found is King Richard? Here's an overview of the evidence: DNA comparisons: * Geneticists were able to extract and sequence mitochondrial DNA from the skeleton * Mitochondrial DNA is pas...	[ "In February 2016, French, Danish and Norwegian researchers opened the lead boxes in order to conduct DNA analysis of the remains. Radiocarbon dating of the remains showed that neither skeleton could be that of Richard I or Richard II. One skeleton dated from the third century BCE, the other from the eighth century...
What was the anti masonic party and what happened to them?	They were a political party formed in the wake of public outcry over an incident where some Masons in NY state were accused of kidnapping and possibly killing at fellow Mason (named Morgan) who had published an expose on the initiations. This was in the 1820s. The Anti-Masonic party was the most successful third-part...	[ "The Anti-Masonic Party, also known as the Anti-Masonic Movement, was the first third party in the United States. It strongly opposed Freemasonry as a single-issue party and later aspired to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. After emerging as a political force in the ...
Did the US ever try to convert Filipinos to Protestantism during their colonisation of the country?	After the US colonized the Philippines the Catholic Church was disestablished, and was no longer the official religion. When that happened there was a large influx of Protestant missionaries of all denominations to the Philippines. Today, Protestants make up around 10% of the total population in the Philippines, with a...	[ "During the early part of the United States governance in the Philippines, there was a concerted effort to convert Filipinos into Protestants. As Filipinos began to migrate to the United States, Filipino Roman Catholics were often not embraced by their American Catholic brethren, nor were they sympathetic to a Fili...
what's the difference b/w high quality and low quality meats?	Meat from an animal that received high-quality feed is more chemically varied, and has more flavor. This is particularly noticeable in mild-tasting meat like chicken. High-quality beef typically has more fat mixed throughout (an effect called "marbling") which creates a richer taste and more delicate texture.	[ "Consisting of low-quality rib meat, described as a \"tough, scraggy meat\", if not well cooked, In recent years their high fat content has made them unpopular in many Western countries, although they are widely used as döner meat in Europe. \n", "Beef quality grades - A quality grade is a composite evaluation of...
Why do we always put reactive materials in glass beakers/flasks/graduated cylinders etc.?	In a nutshell, glass is very stable, and will not react easily with most compounds. The class stays intact, the chemical stays the same, everyone is happy. However, some reagents are better kept in plastic containers such as polyethylene, or even quartz, because glass is not a magical non-reactive substance either.	[ "Until 2010, no organic strong glass formers were known. Strong glass formers can be shaped in the same way as glass (silicon dioxide) can be. Vitrimers are the first such material discovered, which can behave like viscoelastic fluid at high temperatures. Unlike classical polymer melts, whose flow properties are la...
Why do the continents seem to migrate north, leaving a gap between antarctica and the rest of the world?	It's random, mostly. Plate tectonics is driven by convection currents in the mantle under the crust. Most of the time, people only consider the major continents moving, but [the jigsaw puzzle is slightly more complicated](_URL_0_) than that. Numerous oceanic plates are jostling around too. During Pangea, Antarcti...	[ "Antarctica continued to become more isolated and finally developed a permanent ice cap. Mountain building in western North America continued, and the Alps started to rise in Europe as the African plate continued to push north into the Eurasian plate, isolating the remnants of Tethys Sea. A brief marine incursion m...
Would a nuclear bomb explode if you bomb it with an other bomb?	No. There's a very critically timed cobination of events that have to happen to get a nuclear detonation. The worst that would happen is that you detonate the charge around the fissile material and produce a conventional 'Dirty' bomb.	[ "Fusion-boosted fission bombs can also be made immune to neutron radiation from nearby nuclear explosions, which can cause other designs to predetonate, blowing themselves apart without achieving a high yield.\n", "Although neutron bombs are commonly believed to \"leave the infrastructure intact\", with current d...
If gravity is a pulling force, why is there no equivalent repulsive/anti gravity force?	short answer to your question can be: because there is no matter with negative mass. all matter has positive energy (this statement is called "weak energy condition") and creates positive curvature of spacetime (positive and negative are subject to sign convention). effect of this "positive" curvature is, that when yo...	[ "This is because gravitation is an attractive force, but if there is an underdense region it apparently acts as a gravitational repeller, based on the concept that there may be less attraction in the direction of the underdensity, and the greater attraction due to the higher density in other directions acts to pull...
what is the difference between an originalist interpretation and a "living document" interpretation when it comes to the u.s. supreme court?	The idea is a debate about whether the founders wrote the thing to be specific, rigid, and amendable only through the amendment process... or whether the founders wrote the thing with deliberately looser language to take shifting societal norms into account. For example, the 8th amendment prohibits "cruel and unusual...	[ "Originalism is a theory of \"interpretation\", not \"construction\". However, this distinction between \"interpretation\" and \"construction\" is controversial and is rejected by many nonoriginalists as artificial. As Scalia said, \"the Constitution, or any text, should be interpreted [n]either strictly [n]or slop...
Slavery in ancient Greece	It's a simplification, and simplifications like this are only going to make sense with respect to some benchmark; perhaps that's the context of your friend's view. But without context, there isn't really much to support her. Estimates of the slave population in Classical-era Greek states are exactly that, estimates, b...	[ "Records of slavery in Ancient Greece go as far back as Mycenaean Greece. The origins are not known, but it appears that slavery became an important part of the economy and society only after the establishment of cities. Slavery was common practice and an integral component of ancient Greece, as it was in other soc...
The "Duel of Champions": how common was it? What was it's purpose?	Been asked before a few times. The term for this is [Single Combat](_URL_0_). _URL_1_ _URL_2_	[ "Orazi e Curiazi (English title: \"Duel of Champions\") is a 1961 film about the Roman legend of the Horatii, triplet brothers from Rome who fought a duel against the Curiatii, triplet brothers from Alba Longa in order to determine the outcome of a war between their two nations.\n", "A duel is an arranged engagem...
What mechanisms are behind stereotypical accents in people with English as a second language?	First the basics: Different languages have different phonetic systems (where phonetics refers to the individual consonant vowel combinations that form the phonemes which establish contrast for word differentiation. You know "bat" and "pat" are different words because [b] and [p] are "contrasting"). The primary f...	[ "Certain English accents feature variant pronunciations of these sounds. These include fronting, where they merge with /f/ and /v/ (found in Cockney and some other dialects); stopping, where they approach /t/ and /d/ (as in some Irish speech); alveolarisation, where they become (in some African varieties); and debu...
How are ions made artificially?	You usually just take regular atoms and rip off their electrons somehow (heat them up, subject them to strong electric fields, shoot them through stripper foils, or some combination of those).	[ "Ions can be non-chemically prepared using various ion sources, usually involving high voltage or temperature. These are used in a multitude of devices such as mass spectrometers, optical emission spectrometers, particle accelerators, ion implanters, and ion engines.\n", "Ions can be created in an inductively cou...
why can a laser be seen from miles away but a regular flashlight has such a limited range before the light fades?	A laser tends to be very well focused, which means that its energy doesn't spread out that much as it travels. A flashlight, on the other hand, isn't focused that well, which means that its energy spreads out very quickly as it travels, so gets dimmer much faster than a laser does.	[ "BULLET::::- Diode lasers are used as a lightswitch in industry, with a laser beam and a receiver which will switch on or off when the beam is interrupted, and because a laser can keep the light intensity over larger distances than a normal light, and is more precise than a normal light it can be used for product d...
why can most people jump higher off of one leg, when clearly there is more power in two legs?	Well, it's not all about raw power. The problem isn't being able to move upwards, you can climb stairs a lot higher than you can jump. The problem is accelerating quickly. Look at it this way; stand perfectly still with your hands at your sides and jump. You probably didn't get very far. This is because when you jum...	[ "\"\"I never assumed my handicap and if anything, as a kid not having a leg meant that my arms were much stronger,\"\" Pueta added. His right leg is stronger than a tree and he jumps all over the field–like a kangaroo–and will tackle everything that comes his way. His line-out jumping is also an asset to whatever t...
How do flu shots work?	> How does one shot protect you from all variations of flu? > Do they need to be topped up, as newer strains come into existence? One shot contains vaccines for three different strains of flu. The CDC spends a LOT of time and effort every year trying to predict which three strains are most likely to be a significa...	[ "Flu-flu arrows are often used for children's archery, and can be used to play flu-flu golf. Similar to Frisbee Golf, the player must go to where the arrow landed, pick it up, shoot it again, and repeat this process until he reaches a specified place.\n", "The influenza vaccine comes in two forms, the inactivated...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

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