question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 7.04k | context listlengths 7 7 |
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how can the house pass a bill, but the senate refuses to vote on, or even look at, it? | The Constitution lays out fairly clearly what Congress *can* do and what it *can't* do.
However, there is very little mention of what it *must* do and *when* it must do. The effect is that the two houses of Congress have near-total control over how they perform their constitutional duties. Which effectively means that... | [
"Bills are presented by the King or by the House of Representatives, which thus has the right of initiative (Article 82). Some bills have to be presented by the States General in United Assembly (subarticle 2). The Senate cannot propose law. The ministers can but in fact act through the King who sends a Royal Missi... |
how exactly do marathons/bike races "raise awareness" for certain causes? | People are generally aware of the race to begin with, especially if it has TV/radio coverage. So if the organizers start saying they support cause "X", there are likely people watching or paying attention in some way that don't know about it. So by advertising their support for a charity or breast cancer or w/e, awar... | [
"BULLET::::- According to organizers, the Marathon is aimed to promote awareness in local people towards social issues like saving Dal Lake, fighting drug abuse, and keeping the city clean along with promoting traffic awareness, and respect for senior citizens and women.\n",
"While running has become a casual exe... |
What happened to Arianism in North Africa? | I would look at the Ecumenical Councils, particularly the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and the Second Council of Constantinople in 502. The First Council of Nicaea anathematized Arianism, making it pretty unpopular for fourth century Christians to harbor any sort of Arianism. This is when the decline really started. ... | [
"In Arian Africa the Vandal persecutions of Genseric and his son Huneric had driven many Catholics into exile. Huneric was a fervent adherent to Arianism. When peace was restored, numbers of those who through fear had fallen into heresy and had been rebaptized by the Arians desired to return to the Church. On being... |
how is it that the farmers almanac can predict long-range forecast so accurately? | It always rains around then. All you really have to do is look at a bunch of years and figure out the trends, and then combine all of them into a comprehensive calendar for useful application. I'm sure the biggest part of the whole thing is just accounting for drift in the solar calendar compared to the natural conditi... | [
"Farmers' Almanacs have published long-term forecasts for around 200 years. While almanac publishers have attributed an 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate to the publication's annual forecasts, independent studies that retrospectively compare the weather with the predictions have not shown them more accurate than chanc... |
Was Hannibal Barca black? | Apart from the "war on white history" which I won't even dignify with recognition, I'll start by saying that there is no surviving physical description of Hannibal Barca, so if History Channel wants to depict Hannibal as being darker skinned they're free to; plus I'm more concerned with their classification of Carthagi... | [
"Scipio Africanus (1702 – 21 December 1720) was a slave born to unknown parents from West Africa. He was named after Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major, the third century BCE Roman general, famous for defeating the Carthaginian military leader Hannibal.\n",
"The Black Corsair is an 1898 adventure novel writ... |
why i can spend a night drinking 20 standard drinks made of spirits (mixed and shots) and be fine, but if i drink a bottle of red wine at 8 standard drinks i'm really drunk and have a horrible hangover? | Hangovers aren't just about the amount of ethanol you drink. They're also a function of other chemicals, like methanol, higher alcohols, and other volatiles.
Red wine is full of volatiles, so even though its not as alcoholic, it still gives a murderous hangover. | [
"Drinking more than the standard drink amount increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, stroke and cancer. Mixed results are also observed in light drinking and cancer mortality.\n",
"A study found that moderate consumption of alcohol had a protective effect against intermitte... |
Why is there no snow/glaciers in some areas of the far north of Greenland? | Northern Greenland's climate is somewhat similar to Antarctica's. Antarctica is technically a desert in that it gets only 6.5in of precipication in a year. Northern Greenland gets just 8in of precipitation a year. | [
"\"Greenland:\" The interior of Greenland differs from the rest of the Arctic. Low spring and summer cloud frequency and the high elevation, which reduces the amount of solar radiation absorbed or scattered by the atmosphere, combine to give this region the most incoming solar radiation at the surface out of anywhe... |
Is there a point where too much muscle is bad for your body? | Everyone seems to be missing the point of the question, so I will rephrase in hopes have we can get an answer. I am also curious about this question.
While maintaining a healthy body fat percentage, can a person build so much muscle it can effect their health? Why? | [
"Muscle weakness may be due to problems with the nerve supply, neuromuscular disease (such as myasthenia gravis) or problems with muscle itself. The latter category includes polymyositis and other muscle disorders.\n",
"Difficulty building muscle is often associated with the ectomorph body somatotype, however oth... |
what makes unix/linux more stable and secure than windows? | In UNIX/linux, the default security model has always been that normal users cannot mess with the system configuration. In windows, the default security model has long been that any user could do anything they desired to the system, and had access to all critical system configuration and other resources. Admittedly, thi... | [
"Traditionally, Linux systems are generally regarded as very well-protected against, but not immune to, computer viruses and other malware. Whereas there are relatively many malware detection software packages like virus scanners for Windows systems, there are relatively few for Linux systems.\n",
"BULLET::::- Se... |
why do flags that have the union jack in the corner have different field colors? | It comes from the different ensigns used by the Royal Navy in the past. Different squadrons of the navy used different ensigns, so dependent on where the squadrons patrolled new colonies and institutions would use the flag familiar to them.
It's all explained in this link:
_URL_0_ | [
"Additionally, the Union Jack features in many territorial and sub-national flags. These are often Red Ensigns (e.g., ) or Blue Ensigns (e.g., and ). A small number have backgrounds of other colours (e.g. and ) or a unique pattern in the field (e.g. and ). A small number put the Union Jack somewhere other than the ... |
if ice destroys dna, how do seeds germinate successfully after being trapped in permafrost for thousands of years? | Ice doesn't destroy DNA; rapid freezing does. If you cool it slowly, it can survive. | [
"Once the seeds of Celtis Koraiensis go dormant, a process of cold stratification along with the addition of Gibberellic Acid (GA(3)) can be done to germinate the seeds. Seeds were able to germinate to a maximum of 45.2% under the conditions of 400 mg GA(3) alternating 4/15 degrees C.\n",
"In February 2012, Russi... |
Historiography of Early Modern German Executioners | Harrington's major secondary sources are nearly all in German (except Stuart). Still would be worth a perusal.
Some stuff I can think of offhand in English:
* Ulinka Rublack, *The Crimes of Women in Early Modern Germany* - bibliography is primarily German on Germany, but supplemented with English sources on Italy and... | [
"Carl Gröpler (22 February 1868, Magdeburg – 30 January 1946, Magdeburg) was Royal Prussian executioner () from 1906 to 1937. Responsible for carrying out capital punishment in the Prussian provinces, he executed a total of at least 144 people, primarily by beheading with an axe, but also with guillotines. Gröpler ... |
why does the us distribute it's milk under refrigeration? | mainly because of consumer acceptance. milk in usa has always come refrigerated.
In June 1993, Parmalat introduced its UHT milk to the United States.[12] In the American market, consumers are uneasy about consuming milk that is not delivered under refrigeration, and reluctant to buy it. To combat this, Parmalat is ... | [
"In the American market, consumers are uneasy about consuming milk that is not delivered under refrigeration, and reluctant to buy it. To combat this, Parmalat is selling its UHT milk in old-fashioned containers, unnecessarily sold from the refrigerator aisle. UHT milk is also used for many dairy products.\n",
"P... |
if x-rays and gamma rays are the only ionizing radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum, how does uv light damage cells/dna? | Some UV light can be ionizing. But radiation does not have to be ionizing to cause problems. Non ionizing radiation can still catalyze chemical reactions. In the case of UV light, it stimulates the bonding of two parts of DNA in a way they shouldn't be (production of thymine dimers for the interested) and this can stil... | [
"X-ray photons carry enough energy to ionize atoms and disrupt molecular bonds. This makes it a type of ionizing radiation, and therefore harmful to living tissue. A very high radiation dose over a short period of time causes radiation sickness, while lower doses can give an increased risk of radiation-induced canc... |
stocks please | Some of the details you are asking about depend on the specific plan you have or on the company that manages it for your employer.
> I understand you put a portion of your check into buying stock and you make money from interest I think but is it money that you could possibly lose over time?
The stock that you get f... | [
"Stocks are an external framework in a shipyard used to support construction of (usually) wooden ships. They are normally associated with a slipway to allow the ship to slide down into the water. In addition to supporting the ship itself, they are typically used to give access to the ship's bottom and sides.\n",
... |
A lot of questions about the flu vaccine | Basically the WHO monitors flu strains around the world and predicts which ones will be the most prevalent. This is discussed [here with a video](_URL_2_) and this [PDF summary](_URL_1_).
The amount of change depends on whether the virus "drifts or shifts." The CDC does a good job of explaining that [here](_URL_0_).
... | [
"Influenza vaccines, also known as flu shots or flu jabs, are vaccines that protect against infection by influenza viruses. A new version of the vaccine is developed twice a year, as the influenza virus rapidly changes. While their effectiveness varies from year to year, most provide modest to high protection again... |
why does politics make people so hostile? | Politics places people on teams. Each team promotes how great and awesome their team is while saying how horrible the other is. When people that might otherwise get along find out they are on opposite teams, suddenly all those horrible things the pundits say about the other team applies to them personally. | [
"Political apathy is a feeling of disinterest in the sense of politics or apathy towards politics. It can consist of interest apathy, voter apathy, and information apathy. It can be categorized as the indifference of an individual and a lack of interest in participating in political activities. This includes lack o... |
Why are large primes so desirable and hard to calculate? | Can you tell me if 1000000000001 is prime? Well, it's not, 73 is a factor. 10000000000001 is divisible by 11. 100000000000001 is divisible by 7. Can you tell me if 10^(10000)+1 is prime? Most numbers of the form 10^(n)+1 will not be prime. We have a couple like this that were made to find primes, like [2^(p)-1](_URL_7_... | [
"Industrial-grade primes are sometimes used instead of certified primes in algorithms such as RSA encryption, which require the user to generate large prime numbers. Certifying the primality of large numbers (over 100 digits for instance) is significantly harder than showing they are industrial-grade primes. The la... |
when the large baby boomer generation begins to die and their homes flood the market, will real estate prices drop dramatically? | Real estate in certain areas that have very high boomer populations might suffer some but it isn't like they are all going to drop dead on the same day. [Boomers are about 20% of the population](_URL_0_) (wow!) but they live all across the US and there is wide range of "normal" life expectency as well as untimely deat... | [
"Greenwood, Seshadri, and Vandenbroucke ascribe the baby boom to the diffusion of new household appliances that led to reduction of costs of childbearing. However Martha J. Bailey and William J. Collins criticize their explanation on the basis that improvement of household technology began before baby boom, differe... |
What do you feel are the best books on modern Orientalism, other than Edward Said's? Also on that point, what is your view on his book? | Among historians, Said's critiques were generally taken to heart, and actually a lot of historians were already working to correct the field along the lines of Said's criticisms before Said even published *Orientalism*. The introductory chapter of Marshall Hodgson's *The Venture of Islam* (published in 1974, four years... | [
"On Edward Said's work \"Orientalism\": \"I am a medievalist, but he hates the Middle Ages. Altogether he loathes the past, he does not have the ability to enter into the spirit of other ages. He lies about European novelists and twists their words; I am myself a novelist with great sympathy for some of those whom ... |
why is using horses for consumer meat viewed so negatively? | Humans have relied on horses for thousands of years to do work and for transportation. People have a lot of feelings about them and a lot of attachment, similar to dogs and cats. Thus, there isn't much market for it. I also don't think it tastes particularly good due to being so muscular with very low fat.
I don'... | [
"A misconception exists that horses are commonly slaughtered for pet food. In many countries, such as the United States, horse meat was outlawed for use in pet food in the 1970s. American horse meat is considered a delicacy in Europe and Japan, and its cost is in line with veal, so it would be prohibitively expensi... |
why is it that insurance is worth more than the car itself in uk and in many other countries? | Well, in many cases if you crash into someone with your car, your insurance company has to pay their medical bills, and/or pay to have their car repaired. If you kill someone, your insurance company may also need to pay legal fees, damages, etc. Or, if you damage public or private property, they might also have to pay ... | [
"In 2008 the UK insurance industry paid out £18.4 million per day in private motor car claims, and more than one in six private drivers make a motoring claim each year, according to figures from the Association of British Insurers.\n",
"Despite vehicle insurance typically costing men more, there is some research ... |
record player | I'll start from the vibrating needle...
The end of the needle in the cartridge (at the end of the record player's arm) vibrates in the presence of a coil in a magnetic field (like a guitar string vibrating over a pickup). The current that the vibration induces in the coil is an audio signal that is sent on to a receiv... | [
"After electrical disc-playing machines appeared on the market in the late 1920s, often combined with a radio receiver, the term \"record player\" was increasingly favored by the public. Manufacturers, however, typically advertised such combinations as \"radio-phonographs\". Portable record players (no radio includ... |
how are humans able to focus at different depths even when one eye is shut? | Each eye has its own lens that focuses like an autofocus camera lens. The only thing you lose with one eye is depth perception or stereoscopic vision. Hope that helps. | [
"To perceive depth, infants as well as adults rely on several signals such as distances and kinetics. For instance, the fact that objects closer to the observer fill more space in our visual field than farther objects provides some cues into depth perception for infants. Evidence has shown that newborns' eyes do no... |
how different are each and every sperm? everyone is unique, but would a different sperm from the same man really change child anything close to drastically? | One sperm vs. another sperm would definitely change the child (as would one egg vs. another egg) but "anything close to drastically" is in the eye of the beholder.
The children produced from two different sperm from the same father would be very similar and have many of the same genes, but they would be as different a... | [
"Each sperm or egg cell possesses a random selection of genes from its mother or father. While not the most probable event, a sperm or egg may randomly acquire, for example, mostly alleles that confer light skin coloration or mostly alleles that confer dark skin coloration. In such cases, fraternal twins can differ... |
what is the difference between taking medicine in capsule form versus pill form. for over the counter medicine, what is the reason to take one over the other if they have the same dosage? | IIRC capsules work faster because the medicine inside them is in liquid form (?) and the gel on the outside breaks down faster than the solid pill form. | [
"The purpose of the fixed dose combination is to make it easier for people to take their medication; but also to ensure that if people forget to take one or two of their drugs, they do not then develop resistance to the remaining drugs. \n",
"Since their inception, capsules have been viewed by consumers as the mo... |
how did blue and red become known as opposing colours? | Blue and red aren't opposing, but bright basic blue and bright basic red are heavily visually contrasting. They're easy enough to differentiate in most visual situations. | [
"In painting and traditional colour theory, blue is one of the three primary colours of pigments (red, yellow, blue), which can be mixed to form a wide gamut of colours. Red and blue mixed together form violet, blue and yellow together form green. Mixing all three primary colours together produces a dark grey. From... |
how are international laws enforced? by who? | International law can be enforced in a few different ways, but the most common is through treaties. A treaty is basically a piece of paper that two or more countries sign that says "We REALLY promise not to break the rules of this treaty". There is no technical retribution like a police force could do inside a single c... | [
"International law differs from state-based legal systems in that it is primarily—though not exclusively—applicable to countries, rather than to individuals, and operates largely through consent, since there is no universally accepted authority to enforce it upon sovereign states. Consequently, states may choose to... |
What were the "mystery religions" of antiquity, specifically those practiced in the Greco-Roman world? | It's difficult to say anything definitive about mystery cults compared to other ancient religions like Christianity or Judaism, because these cults did not leave much documentary evidence behind. The mystery was a central part of the ritual, and so we have passing comments from ancients about them and archaeological ev... | [
"Mystery religions, sacred mysteries or simply mysteries were religious schools of the Greco-Roman world for which participation was reserved to initiates \"(mystai)\". The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not ... |
Could Ancient Greek women in Athens work as mercenaries? | A simple answer would be that no they could not. Athenian women typically were always relegated to a domestic role in daily life. The Athenians were very conservative in regards to how they treated their women. Women were not allowed to be in public without male supervision nor allowed to attend plays at the amphitheat... | [
"There is evidence of mercenaries (\"misthophoroi\" in Greek) being hired in Ancient Greece from the 6th century BC. The tyrants of that time hired bodyguards from other city-states. It is not known if earlier Greek armies and navies, such as the Minoans and Mycenaeans, used mercenaries. \n",
"BULLET::::- Likewis... |
why do leds work as a light sensor? | LEDs are photodiodes that emit light when electricity is passed through them. Because of this, they are also sensitive to wavelengths of light that are slightly shorter than or equal to the light they emit when voltage is applied. A Green LED for instance will be sensitive to Blue light and will emit voltage in the opp... | [
"The light from LEDs can be modulated very quickly so they are used extensively in optical fiber and free space optics communications. This includes remote controls, such as for television sets, where infrared LEDs are often used. Opto-isolators use an LED combined with a photodiode or phototransistor to provide a ... |
How did Carter's foreign policy on human rights increase tensions and undermine vital alliances? | There was a thread about his attempts to keep the world peaceful. It should be a good jumping off point for you.
["We never dropped a bomb. We never fired a bullet. We never went to war" - Jimmy Carter. Is Carter's assertion true? Was his administration as peaceful as he claims?
](_URL_0_) | [
"Upon taking office, Carter reoriented U.S. foreign policy towards a new emphasis on human rights, democratic values, nuclear proliferation, and global poverty. Carter ended U.S. support for the Somoza regime in Nicaragua and cut back or terminated military aid to Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Ernesto Geisel of Brazil... |
given the growing consensus on climate change - why has there not been an adverse impact on real estate proprotities prices in costal areas? | Even fairly aggressive climate change models don't predict huge disruptions for the next century or so. Most people don't care very much if the house they buy now will be in good shape for their grandchildren. | [
"In many beach areas, but especially in the towns of Tamarindo and Jacó, a real estate boom took place when many foreigners from developed countries began buying beachfront properties and building holiday and vacation houses and condominiums. These developments completely changed the life style in these towns, and ... |
trans genital surgery | Which one? There are a bunch. | [
"Sex reassignment surgery (SRS) refers to the surgical and medical procedures undertaken to align intersex and transsexual individuals' physical appearance and genital anatomy with their gender identity. SRS may encompass any surgical procedures which will reshape a male body into a body with a female appearance or... |
When were the economies of the USSR and the US most equal? | Well, let's take a look at some graphs!
[Here](_URL_1_) we have the USSR's economic history from 1970-1990. They peaked at ~1 trillion dollars ~1980.
This is lower than any point of the US during that same period. [Same source](_URL_0_).
At no point in time was the economy of the USSR close to that of the US durin... | [
"Nevertheless, some countries under communist rule with socialist economies maintained consistently higher rates of economic growth than industrialized Western countries with capitalist economies. From 1928 to 1985, the economy of the Soviet Union grew by a factor of 10 and GNP per capita grew more than fivefold. T... |
why does the snow only accumulate in these parking spaces?? | Cars haven't parked there. Where the main aisle for the spaces is (that dark patch between sets of spaces) the pavement is still very warm, so it just melts snow when it hits. | [
"Snow removal impacts the design of city infrastructure. Where possible, street boulevards are wider to accommodate the windrows and sidewalks are not right next to the street. Fire hydrants will have tall flags to locate them under the windrows. Reflective traffic lane markers embedded in the roadbed is not possib... |
Is it possible to translate an alien language like in prometheus? And if not, how would we communicate with them? | Cryptographing is like find out a new language. Once you find out the structure and rules of the language you might be able to decode it. Also, they could have software that detects language on our computers. | [
"Noam Chomsky (1983), basing on his theory of the existence of a genetically-predetermined universal grammar of human languages, holds that it would be impossible for a human to naturally learn an alien language because it would most probably violate the universal grammar inborn in humans. Humans would have to stud... |
Day of Reflection | July 22-28 | Woo, Day of Reflection! I was waiting for this, cause I just found a new guy on here who's my new BFF! (Sorry Arty. I'm breaking up with you and taking the cat and the house and the car. You can have the couch though!)
So I noticed a user I'd never seen before in a [couple](_URL_1_) of [threads](_URL_0_) this week, a... | [
"The first Day of Private Reflection took place on Thursday 21 June 2007. The purpose of the day is to \"Provide an opportunity for people to remember the events of the past in a non-confrontational, dignified and respectful manner.\" Healing Through Remembering and its Day of Reflection Sub Group took time to care... |
why have i learned so much about the holocaust and the war crimes committed by the nazis, but i have never learned anything about the japanese war crimes during wwii? | My understanding (in the US) is that post-war, Japan grew to become a vital trading partner with the US. As such, it would be better to avoid touching on "controversial" topics such as Japanese atrocities during the war, or the US's Japanese internment camps.
On the other hand, Germany kind of embraced a cultural sha... | [
"On a similar note, both countries would continue to conceal any war crimes committed by the other side for the remainder of the war. The Holocaust was systematically concealed by the leadership in Tokyo, just as Japanese war crimes, e.g. the situation in China, were kept secret from the German public. An example w... |
why is not standing for the us national anthem so offensive? | Because most baby boomers are arm chair patriots who have never set foot outside of the US. | [
"Beginning in August, several professional athletes have participated in the 2016 U.S. national anthem protests. The protests began in the National Football League (NFL) after Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers sat during the anthem, as opposed to the tradition of standing, before his team's third preseaso... |
How long did it take the population of the USSR to recover after the Second World War? | [Here](_URL_0_) is the data for the Soviet Union for the 20th century. (Second link in contents will take you to a graph and a spreadsheet)
You can see the effects of the Russian revolution and subsequent NKVD purges. And you can see the effect of WWII.
However, the figures for recovery might not be exactly fair as the... | [
"Estimates of Soviet deaths attributable to the 1932–1933 famine vary wildly, but are typically given in the range of millions. Vallin et al. estimated that the disasters of the decade culminated in a dramatic fall in fertility and a rise in mortality. Their estimates suggest that total losses can be put at about 4... |
how are uk prime ministers chosen? | The Prime Minister is normally the head of the largest party able to get the confidence of the house. They will still represent their constituents.
The UK does not have a written constitution so there's nothing saying what happens if the leader loses their seat. Bare in mind though that before the 60s most PMs weren't... | [
"The Prime Minister is the head of the United Kingdom government. As such, the modern Prime Minister leads the Cabinet (the Executive). In addition, the Prime Minister leads a major political party and generally commands a majority in the House of Commons (the lower House of the legislature). The incumbent wields b... |
the old testament, new testemant, and the koran all have passages denouncing and prohibiting the practice of collecting interest on loans, so when and how did this practice become accepted in society? | It's not quite that extreme -- notably the Old Testament only said not to charge interest to the poor, or within the Jewish community. This left Jews free to charge interest to others.
It became more permissible over time, as the definition of usury moved from "charging any interest" to "charging an unfair amount of i... | [
"In the continuation of the reading, Moses forbade the Israelites to charge interest on loans to their countrymen, but they could charge interest on loans to foreigners. A closed portion (, \"setumah\") ends here.\n",
"It was the interpretation that interest could be charged to non-Israelites that would be used i... |
why does the us currently not have a surgeon general? | Congress wont approve the nominee as the NRA objects and the Republican House members take their orders from the people with the money. Many federal judge appointments are also vacant for political reasons. | [
"The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus the leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. The surgeon general's office and staff are known as the Office of the Surgeon G... |
How will the waters actually recede from Harvey, and how do storms like these change the landscape? Will permanent rivers or lakes be made? | As a flood engineer i wish i came here sooner to answer a few questions.
But the main thing is that a number of vectors will remove the water due to gravity. Namely sewers, ground drains, good old evaporation, lay of the land, local ground geology, tidal differences to name a few. Once the hurricane has passed tho... | [
"To prevent damage to the river, the surrounding environment and fish, surplus wet-season flood flow would be pumped from the river inland from the coast and transported by canal, avoiding interference with the eco-sensitive flood plain, then stored by aquifer recharge in and re-gathered from the La Grange Aquifer ... |
how did an oppressive nation get picked for the winter olympics? | The IOC do not make hosting decisions lightly. Ru$$ia mu$t have had an excellent pre$entation. | [
"The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted on three continents by twelve different countries. They have been held four times in the United States (1932, 1960, 1980 and 2002), three times in France (1924, 1968 and 1992) and twice each in Austria (1964 and 1976), Canada (1988 and 2010), Japan (1972 and 1998), Italy (... |
Is it actually possible to increase your alcohol tolerance? | Sadly yes. Alcohol tolerance proceeds pretty slowly, and it can take years to build up an appreciable tolerance, unless drinking is very heavy. Tolerance occurs mostly because of a diminished number of GABA receptors. The worst part about this particular tolerance is that those receptors are responsible for nerve atten... | [
"Alcohol tolerance is increased by regular drinking. This reduced sensitivity requires that higher quantities of alcohol be consumed in order to achieve the same effects as before tolerance was established. Alcohol tolerance may lead to (or be a sign of) alcohol dependency.\n",
"The researchers noted that moderat... |
Why not 1024bit encryption or beyond? | 512 bit encryption gives you about 10^154 possible keys. If you took every single atom in the known universe and somehow turned every single one of them into the fastest supercomputer ever build, it would still take an unimaginable many times the age of the universe to try all possibilities. While quantum computers low... | [
"BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature included with Microsoft Windows (Pro and Enterprise only) versions starting with Windows Vista. It is designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes. By default, it uses the AES encryption algorithm in cipher block chaining (CBC) or XTS mode with a... |
how do they film the scenes where an explosion-esque event happens, the movement pauses, and the camera moves through? | Multiple cameras at different angles. If you set a bunch of cameras up in a row and record with all at once you can move to the same timestamp in each camera and have a different view of the same second. | [
"The camera is usually stationary throughout the film, but this trend is sometimes contrasted by abrupt, rapid movements of the camera. The sudden movements are always accompanied by a loud sound effect, usually an explosive gunshot. A notable exception is the final crane shot, which moves gently away from the Butc... |
Are the Bosnian pyramids man-made or nature-made? | None of the actual experts take it seriously. It's a natural hill, and the people who in their ignorance refuse to accept this have wrecked genuine sites of archaeological interest in their random digging.
There's nothing to this claim, it is pseudo-archaeology of the rankest sort.
| [
"The 'Bosnian pyramid complex' is a pseudoarchaeological notion to explain the formation of a cluster of natural hills in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 2005, Semir Osmanagić, also known as Sam Osmanagich, a Bosnian businessman now based in Houston, Texas, has claimed that these hills are the largest human-m... |
How accurate is the history in the Master and Commander Series? | hi! not discouraging anyone from contributing any more info - especially a general assessment - but FYI, there have been several questions on various aspects of this series. Check out these posts for previous responses
[What would happen if you are a PoW during the Napoleonic wars and escape, go back into service, and... | [
"Master and Commander is a nautical historical novel by the English author Patrick O'Brian, first published in 1969 in the US and 1970 in UK. The book proved to be the start of the 20-novel Aubrey-Maturin series, set largely in the era of the Napoleonic Wars, that O'Brian continued working on up until his death in ... |
what does it mean to be jewish? | > So my question is if it is a religion or an ethnic group?
It is both, and used interchangeably for either.
> And what about people like Adam Sandler?
He is ethnically Jewish but not particularly religious. | [
"\"Who is a Jew?\" ( ) is a basic question about Jewish identity and considerations of Jewish self-identification. The question explores ideas about Jewish personhood, which have cultural, ethnic, religious, political, genealogical, and personal dimensions. Orthodox Judaism and Conservative Judaism follow Jewish la... |
what causes foods like radishes, horseradish, and ginger to taste spicy? | Allyl isothiocyanate in radishes and zingerone, shogaol and various gingerols in in ginger.
All of them(and piperine from black pepper) act on the same receptors as capsaicin, but weaker and for a shorter time. This is why they don't have the same lasting heat feeling. | [
"The characteristic fragrance and flavor of ginger result from volatile oils that compose 1-3% of the weight of fresh ginger, primarily consisting of zingerone, shogaols and gingerols with [6]-gingerol (1-[4'-hydroxy-3'-methoxyphenyl]-5-hydroxy-3-decanone) as the major pungent compound. Zingerone is produced from g... |
Book/online resource request for learning historical evolution of technology and culture | If you have specific interests in the History of Technology I would be happy to suggest things. Most of the very broad histories of technology I find to be severely lacking and I have little patience for these books that attempt to apply a sweeping theme to the technological history of a whole era.
For example if you ... | [
"Media Technology and Society: A History from the Telegraph to the Internet is a 1998 book by Brian Winston. The book's central thesis is that technology, rather than developing in relatively discontinuous revolutions, evolves as part of a larger evolutionary pattern. It was named 'Best Book of 1998' by the America... |
how does wireless data transfer works with so many devices receiving information from one source? | In addition to UntitledDocument37's info on addressing, I would like to add some more information about how this complex process works.
The main thing to realize is that your phone can only "yell" so loud to the tower. There may only be a couple of towers that can even "hear" your phone nearby.
You must also realize ... | [
"Data can be transferred either wirelessly or through cables. Cables are often used for permanent installations, while wireless radio transmissions are used for targets placed provisionally in the field and for running targets.\n",
"One use of this is wireless push technology, by pushing data across wireless netw... |
What is the process to fix deep and wide sinkholes? I'm thinking of the ones have hundreds of feet deep that simply can't be filled. | Very often they are ignored. It's no something exactly hard to do, but is very expensive.
But if they are in a place that is convenient and worth enough to the huge cost to repair, they can use infills from three different resources.
The first, very common in my country (Brazil) is demolition disposal. Is an cheap and... | [
"Partial depth removal involves the selective removal of deteriorated concrete to a certain depth or of a concrete overlay to a depth exceeding 3/4\". It is usually done in the case of concrete restoration projects where embedded objects such as rebar are substantial and need to be preserved.\n",
"A sinkhole is a... |
What methods are used by historians to answer counterfactuals? | Historians generally do not try to answer such sweeping counterfactuals. There are too many "variables" in such approaches, and you end up in totally speculative territory.
Narrow counterfactuals are much more common, and are arguably implicit in every statement of causation (if I say _X_ was important, I am implying ... | [
"Few further attempts to bring counterfactual history into the world of academia were made until the 1991 publication of \"Plausible Worlds: Possibility and Understanding in History and the Social Sciences\" by the Cambridge sociologist Geoffrey Hawthorn, who carefully explored three different counterfactual scenar... |
What, aside from knowledge of how to use/extract coal and oil, prevented an industrial revolution from occurring earlier in history? | There's always more that can be said but while you wait you might enjoy some of these older posts on the topic. As you'll quickly see, its actually a pretty complicated discussion.
/u/Daeres and a deleted user discuss [Why didn't we get an industrial revolution during Antiquity ?](_URL_2_)
/u/AlviseFalier talks about... | [
"Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, fossil fuels have been used as sources of energy. Coal began to be widely used after 1800 and would continue to be the dominant source of fuel into the 20th century. However, two events set the stage for the Age of Oil: The first was in 1846, when Abraham Gesner in... |
why does an electrolyte solution like gatorade hydrate, while an electrolyte solution like salt water dehydrates? | A solution with a higher concentration of electrolytes than your blood has will increase the concentration in your blood and draw water out of your cells to correct it. A solution with a lower concentration (or just water) will have the opposite effect. Something like Gatorade aims to have the same concentration as you... | [
"Electrolyte solutions are normally formed when a salt is placed into a solvent such as water and the individual components dissociate due to the thermodynamic interactions between solvent and solute molecules, in a process called \"solvation\". For example, when table salt (sodium chloride), NaCl, is placed in wat... |
why are bombs in cartoons always stylised to be the big, round black ones with a fuse and the word "bomb" written on them? |
That's what old-timey artillery shells and grenades looked like. Black iron sphere with a fuse in one end. Light, launch, and hope it explodes near where you want it to explode. | [
"BULLET::::- Bombs – These black objects are important in the game. When they get together they stick to each other. Two or more sticking together can be blown up with the B button, erasing blocks or hurting enemies. Stick four up in a square to make a big bomb, stick two big bombs together to make an even bigger b... |
why did i throw up the fish oil plastic capsule | [Those aren't plastic](_URL_0_, that would be very bad. Chances are, the capsule broke and you simply brought it back up. Those things dissolve so it is likely that it never made it very far, but broke on the way down and released the oil. | [
"Discarded plastic bags floating in the ocean resemble jellyfish, a common food of sea turtles. If a turtle eats a plastic foil, it tends to clog the turtle's digestive system and results in the animal dying. There have been many cases of dissection showing plastic foil and other debris inside turtles stomachs and ... |
what is the difference between a carburated and fuel injection engine | Carburated is basically fuel getting into the engine by vacuum from the intake which is a gravity type system since it doesnt work when your upside down and needs about 2-3psi to work and a fuel injected system has electric solenoid injectors that open precisely at the right time to spray fuel right before the intake v... | [
"On petrol engines, fuel injection replaced carburetors from the 1980s onward. The primary difference between carburetion and fuel injection is that fuel injection atomizes the fuel through a small nozzle under high pressure, while a carburetor relies on suction created by intake air accelerated through a Venturi t... |
why do some states disallow voters with no party affiliation to vote in primaries? | Many states havd closed primaries: by law or decision of the political parties, only those with a registered party affiliation can vote in the partisan primary ballots. Those who have not registered affiliation can vote in closed primary election, but will be given a non partisan ticket (generally only referendum qu... | [
"The Democratic and Republican parties have both allowed voters who decline to state a party affiliation to vote in all of their respective primary elections until the 2008 presidential primary election, in which the Republican party disallowed the practice.\n",
"In some states an unenrolled voter who votes in a ... |
in a water drought, why don't supply/demand economics increase the price of water and, thus, incentivize us to use less? | Public water supplies aren't part of the free market. Water districts are heavily subsidized through taxes & generally have hefty regulations placed on their rates. On top of that, they're generally monopolies.
You can't use public money to build a system then throw your hands up and say "free market!" when there'... | [
"Attempts to increase water supply to cope with growing water demand, which is fuelled by the increase in supply, has been shown to be unsustainable. Drought occurrences can trigger temporary reductions of water availability, often leading to water shortage when water demand cannot be satisfied by the available wat... |
spontaneous water glass explosion at dinner? | Was it a shatterproof glass? It was likely under tension, like a [prince Rupert drop](_URL_0_).
It will be much more durable than standard glass, until a sudden shock comes along. Maybe it had a microscopic crack that propogated slowly from thermal expansion. | [
"At the moment when the water reached its highest possible point in the glass pipe, visitors could witness an interesting physical phenomenon for about a minute. The air pressure above the water had lowered dramatically. Therefore, the evaporation of the water happened so vigorously that the water started to boil s... |
why is it that we don't overheat and die when the outside temperature is over 98 degrees, body temperature? shouldn't our body be unable to loose heat heat at those temperatures? | In addition to sweat, the fact that air is a bad heat conductor also helps a lot because it takes people a while to actually heat up. If the temperature outside is 115 degrees you'll be fine. If the temperature inside is 115 degrees you will almost certainly die. Only one person has ever survived that, and it was after... | [
"Significant physical exertion in hot conditions can generate heat beyond the ability to cool, because, in addition to the heat, humidity of the environment may reduce the efficiency of the body's normal cooling mechanisms. Human heat-loss mechanisms are limited primarily to sweating (which dissipates heat by evapo... |
Do solar systems have an electric charge? | I feel like there are a couple of different questions blending together here. As to whether the solar system acts like an atomic system with the sun/planets/sundry stellar bodies acting as fundamental particles, the answer is essentially 'no' (or at least, it lacks many of the features of an atom).
In the article you... | [
"Electric charge is a quantity used to determine how a particle will behave in an electric field. There are three possible \"types\" of charge: positive, negative, and neutral. However, the distinction between positive and negative is by convention only. Electric charge is quantized in units of the elementary charg... |
Question about Hungarian Military Uniforms of World War II | Just to clarify your question, do you mean a Shako like [this](_URL_0_)? | [
"The Hungarian Second Army is probably the best known Hungarian wartime army because of the part it played in the Battle of Stalingrad. Before being sent to Russia, the rank-and-file of the Second Army had received but eight weeks of training. The only tactical experience for many of these soldiers were the maneuve... |
How common was it for girls under the age of 15 to get married to men before recent times? | From the medieval period, the church said you could be betrothed before puberty, but you could not be married until both parties could assent to it, which coincided with puberty - generally assumed to be 12 for girls and 14 for boys. That was a minimum however, and there was a fair amount of commentary which said that... | [
"married before the age of 15 years, and of these, 17% were married before they were 10 years old. Another survey, conducted in the state of Madhya Pradesh, found that 14% of girls were married between the ages of 10 and 14 years.\n",
"Women may legally marry at age 18 (or at age 15 with parental consent) and men... |
how can things like trees,weeds,grass, and so forth,be considered to be "alive", as well as know how to do what is required to keep themselves alive, such as absorb water and sunlight,when they don't have a brain to control their functions? | Sentience is not a classification for life. Growing, reproducing and the ability to react to the environment are. Organisms that exhibit these behaviors are considered alive. The cells in plants, for example, preform all the necessary functions without a central brain (as we know it) being necessary. | [
"According to such a theory, each one of us is potentially Mind at Large. But in so far as we are animals, our business is at all costs to survive. To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes out at the other end is a ... |
Were slaves in Haiti aware of the French Revolution, and perhaps influenced by it? | In terms of the Haitian Revolution, very much so at a senior level. In the case of other slave revolts, I am not particularly sure but I see no reason to dispute the claims of Geggus as described by /u/amplified_mess - after all, there were widespread rebellions well before the French revolution, so its impact does hav... | [
"Other historians say the Haitian Revolution influenced slave rebellions in the US as well as in British colonies. The biggest slave revolt in US history was the 1811 German Coast Uprising in Louisiana. This slave rebellion was put down and the punishment the slaves received was so severe that no contemporary news ... |
What are the major cities that no longer exist or have decreased dramatically? | Antioch. Founded by Seleucus Nicator, it was the capital of Syria during Roman/Byzantine rule and one of the major centers of Christianity. Declined and virtually disappeared during the times of crusades. | [
"At the same time, the urban cores of these and nearly all other major cities in the United States, Western Europe, and Japan that did not annex new territory experienced the related phenomena of falling household size and, particularly in the U.S., \"white flight\", sustaining population losses. This trend has slo... |
what is a limited slip differential, or differential in general? and in what cases are certain types of differentials preferred/more beneficial over the others? | Not sure if this fits the rules of ELI5, but I think it fits the spirit. Here's the (quite long, nearly 10 minutes) video that *finally* gave me a good understanding of how differential gears actually work.
_URL_0_ | [
"The main advantage of a limited-slip differential is demonstrated by considering the case of a standard (or \"open\") differential in off-roading or snow situations where one wheel begins to slip. In such a case with a standard differential, the slipping or non-contacting wheel will receive the majority of the pow... |
when i force myself to see double vision, how am i doing it? and what is happening to cause it? | If you're not crossing your eyes, and seeing double that way, then you're probably just focusing far away. This is how you see /r/magiceye pictures! | [
"There are two main kinds of movement: conjugate movement (the eyes move in the same direction) and disjunctive (opposite directions). The former is typical when shifting gaze right or left, the latter is convergence of the two eyes on a near object. Disjunction can be performed voluntarily, but is usually triggere... |
why has tesla's work on 'free energy' never been fully explored or completed in the modern day? | Tesla never tried to produce "free energy". He wanted to realize wireless power transfer - but that still would have required a power source to run the system. The reason nobody ever put money on his idea was not just the risk of people tapping into it, but also that it's wasteful. Wireless energy transfer over big di... | [
"In 1933 at age 77, Tesla told reporters at the event that, after 35 years of work, he was on the verge of producing proof of a new form of energy. He claimed it was a theory of energy that was \"violently opposed\" to Einsteinian physics, and could be tapped with an apparatus that would be cheap to run and last 50... |
When our epidermis grows with our size, does the number of nerve endings increase to maintain a constant density, or are they simply spaced further apart? | the number of sensory nerves innervating your skin is determined by the number of neuronal cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglia. During gestation this number increases through division (some die off) and reaches a stable number. Neurons are 'post-mitotic' and do not divid further. The neuronal cell bodies by then hav... | [
"Cytoplasmic flows created through osmotic pressure gradients flow longitudinally along the fungal hyphae and crash into the end causing growth. It has been demonstrated that the greater pressure at the hyphal tip corresponds to faster growth rates. Longer hyphae have greater pressure differences along their length... |
If temperature is a measure of average kinetic energy, is a bottle of water speeding past me "warmer" than a bottle of water in my hand? | It has more energy, but it isn't really "warmer". The question abuses the definition of temperature. Temperature is about the molecular average kinetic energy, not the macroscopic energy.
(An analogy: It's like asking how fast can a fish swim, and then you put your fish tank into your car and drive down the road and... | [
"BULLET::::- Different heating and cooling loops must send the heated or cooled water in with as low a velocity as possible. (This necessarily entails heating and cooling loops having velocity controlled pumps and tube ports with the maximum feasible diameter.)\n",
"without referring to Frenkel, Fisher or Widom, ... |
on election night, how do they determine who has won a state after calculating only 1% of the state's votes? | Normally they won't call an election won with only 1% of precincts reporting. It's just an indicator.
Usually, it is known ahead of time how certain counties vote. They can extrapolate from that how the rest of an election goes, but they won't call an election until a higher % of precincts have reported their result... | [
"Following the national presidential election day in the first week of November, each state counts its popular votes pursuant to that state's laws to designate presidential electors. Almost all states allot all their electoral votes to the winning candidate in that state, no matter how marginal the candidate's win.... |
Does the placenta have the DNA of the mother or the baby? What about the umbilical cord? | The placenta is fetal tissue! Very, very early on in development the blastocyst implants in the endometrium of the womb. The outer layers of cells in of the blastocyst become the trophoblast that becomes the placenta, embedding deeper and interfacing with the blood supply of the mother. The foetus essentially builds it... | [
"In placental mammals, the umbilical cord (also called the navel string, birth cord or funiculus umbilicalis) is a conduit between the developing embryo or fetus and the placenta. During prenatal development, the umbilical cord is physiologically and genetically part of the fetus and (in humans) normally contains t... |
How common was it for people in ancient civilizations to just travel for leisure? | Not to discourage any further answers, but you'll probably find these older posts helpful:
* [Did tourism exist within the Roman Empire? I assume that most of the lower class could not afford to go visit another city, but what about the richer population?](_URL_1_) by /u/bitparity
* [Do we know if ancient people (thi... | [
"Travel outside a person's local area for leisure was largely confined to wealthy classes, who at times traveled to distant parts of the world, to see great buildings and works of art, learn new languages, experience new cultures, and to taste different cuisines. As early as Shulgi, however, kings praised themselve... |
why does everyone want sessions to resign? | The allegations are that he was contacting the Russian ambassador outside of his Senate Armed Services panel responsibilities prior to the election and then committed perjury by saying that he had no contact with the Russians during his Attorney General confirmation hearings. | [
"Although Sessions denied that he had acted improperly, he was pressured to resign in early July, with some suggesting that President Clinton was giving Sessions the chance to step down in a dignified manner. Sessions refused, saying that he had done nothing wrong, and insisted on staying in office until his succes... |
data breach: why are the companies themselves responsible and why does it still happen? | Usually with companies that get breached, there is some company-consumer assurance that their data will always be safe. So when it is breached, its like a breach in their trust.
It is also extremely difficult to find the hackers, they may be on the other side of the world. Thus, not being able to bring the suspect to ... | [
"There is also a major backlash from the consumer if there is a data breach in a company that is supposed to be trusted to protect their private information. If an organization has any consumer info on file, they must by law (Red Flags Clarification act of 2010) have written information protection policies and proc... |
how does the show top gear get ahold of these impressive super cars and get away with basically anything when driving them on the public roads (drag racing, etc.) when the roads are clearly not closed for filming? | This depends on the car they are driving. Most of the cars are models they get from the manufacturers to increase publicity on their brand or model. Sometimes they get cars from owners who like their car to be on the show.
When they go out on the public road they make it look like the road isn't closed but it actually... | [
"Unlike normal episodes of \"Top Gear\", in which the challenges were related to the abilities of the vehicles reviewed, such as the Toyota Hilux in the \"\", producer Andy Wilman admitted that \"the narrative of the film is a bit more skewed towards the three guys.\"\n",
"The series is known for its extremely we... |
How have check marks come to represent 'right' while Xs represent 'wrong'? | There are quite a few theories floating around out there, but as it's not a universal standard and mainly contained within Western Europe and cultures influenced by Western Europe, I'm inclined to go with the tick / cross system being distributed by the Romans, especially given the amount of bureaucracy they bought to ... | [
"The check mark is believed to have been created during the Roman Empire. \"V\" was used to shorten the word \"veritas\", meaning 'truth'. This was used to indicate yes, true, or confirmed on items in a list. Over time, the design of the mark started to change. As people started writing more quickly, the right side... |
who develops medicines for animals? | Pet care is a $5.5 BILLION dollar a year industry. So there is definitely money to be made from pet pharma. But the companies themselves are often "normal" pharma companies - Bayer, for example, makes Advantage flea products.
That doesn't even include the size of the pharma industry related to livestock and agricult... | [
"Animals may also play a role, in particular in research. In traditional remedies, animals are extensively used as drugs. Many animals also medicate \"themselves\". Zoopharmacognosy is the study of how animals use plants, insects and other inorganic materials in self-medicatation. In an interview with the late Neil... |
what info can whatsapp use to provide targeted ads, if all my chats are encrypted? | I'm assuming this question stems forth from the recent publication that WhatsApp is going to share data with the Facebook network so that specific social network can use that information to provide targeted advertisements.
There are many ways this information can be used. But one of them that I find not too farfetched... | [
"In order to identify targets for government hacking and surveillance, both the GCHQ and the NSA have used advertising cookies operated by Google, known as Pref, to \"pinpoint\" targets. According to documents leaked by Snowden, the Special Source Operations of the NSA has been sharing information containing \"logi... |
why isn't there a tl;dr law that would prevent things being secretly added to bills in congress? | Well, nothing is "secretly" added. There's no attempt to hide anything. But you are correct that unrelated riders are often put on them.
We allow this because it allow compromises to be made. For example, let's say you want to pass a particular measure that I'm opposed to. We might sit down and make an agreement: you'... | [
"The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) strongly opposed the bill, arguing that the bill \"undermines\" citizens' \"right to be informed\" by making it more difficult for \"citizens to find their government's regulations.\" According to AALL, a survey they conducted \"revealed that members of the public, ... |
why does a step up transformer cause lower currents? | Ohm's law applies when you shove electrons through something by applying voltage. A transformer isn't doing that. It's a coil of wire applying a magnetic field to another coil of wire. Now if that second coil is running at twice the voltage and twice the current, then we have magically created energy. That's why power ... | [
"The ideal transformer model assumes that all flux generated by the primary winding links all the turns of every winding, including itself. In practice, some flux traverses paths that take it outside the windings. Such flux is termed \"leakage flux\", and results in leakage inductance in series with the mutually co... |
Did the ancient Romans have any ideological or moral reasons for why they ran gruesome gladiatorial combat? Was it truly only for public pleasure or was there more to it? | The origin of Roman gladiatorial combat was probably [some form of ritual combat](_URL_1_), linked to funerals or religious festivals; the death of one (or both) of the combatants would then be a form of human sacrifice. The oldest *recorded* gladiator fight in Rome was in honor of the funder's dead father. (The Gree... | [
"Like many ancient cultures, concepts of ethics and morality, while sharing some commonalities with modern society, differed greatly in several important ways. Because ancient civilizations like Rome were under constant threat of attack from marauding tribes, their culture was necessarily militaristic with martial ... |
why when i scratch an itch, does my brain/body create another, often on a completely different part of my body. | Wish I knew. It's the same thing when I'm trying to go to sleep and I get an itch, right on the side of my body that I'm laying on. Can't ignore it, have to turn over and scratch. | [
"Itch (also known as pruritus) is a that causes the desire or reflex to scratch. Itch has resisted many attempts to be classified as any one type of sensory experience. Itch has many similarities to pain, and while both are unpleasant sensory experiences, their behavioral response patterns are different. Pain creat... |
Engine design question - why do standard car engines always come with cylinders in banks of 2, and never 3? | Because of first and second order vibrations, as well as ease of manufacturing. First order vibrations can be addresses in either a 4 cylinder or a 6 cylinder base engine. In simple terms the same amount of metal is going up or down at any one time. In a 4 cylinder engine this is done by each cylinder being separate... | [
"The inline-four engine is the most common four-cylinder configuration, whereas the straight-6 has largely given way to the V6 engine, which although not as naturally smooth-running is smaller in both length and height and easier to fit into the engine bay of smaller modern cars. Some manufacturers, including Acura... |
was there anyone prominent in classical times, in Greece or Rome, who believed there were other inhabited worlds in the universe? if "yes" how did other people take the idea? | Epicurus was a fairly prominent Greek philosopher (founder of the philosophical school of Epicureanism) of the 4th-3rd centuries BCE. The doxographer [Diogenes Laertius records a letter from Epicurus to Herodotus](_URL_0_), in which Epicurus says [Loeb translation]:
> Moreover, there is an infinite number of worlds... | [
"In ancient Near Eastern cultures in general and in Mesopotamia in particular, humans had little to no access to the divine realm. Heaven and earth were separated by their very nature; humans could see and be affected by elements of the lower heaven, such as stars and storms, but ordinary mortals could not go to he... |
Would it theoritically be possible to isolate serotonin and dopamine, and create them in drug form, if this is possible what would the side effects be? | To answer part of your question:
While you can create dopamine, injecting it serves no purpose unless it can be directly administered to the desired area of the brain. This is because dopamine is incapable of passing through the blood brain barrier. However, we can work around this by giving people L-3,4-dihydroxyphe... | [
"Findings implicate that abnormalities of serotonin function and the serotonergic system could be responsible for psychiatric disorders such as the spectrum of schizophrenia (gating) disorders and therefore, that serotonin agonist or antagonists might be useful in the treatment of e.g. schizophrenia. To investigate... |
why do babies in the womb not have allergic reactions to foods they will later develop allergies to (assuming the mother eats those foods during pregnancy) | Please note that I am by no means an expert on this subject. I will try to explain my understanding of it based on just what I remember from biology classes. If you would like to be 100% sure seek information from sombody like a midwife. (I also am no expert on the english language so please don't take my spelling and ... | [
"A wide variety of foods can cause allergic reactions, but 90% of allergic responses to foods are caused by cow's milk, soy, eggs, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish. Other food allergies, affecting less than 1 person per 10,000 population, may be considered \"rare\". The use of hydrolysed milk baby for... |
If there were a radio station on the Far/dark side of the moon would we be able to detect it? | There is an aspect to this question that the others are missing: some of the radio waves will propagate from that radio station around the moon and to the earth without reflecting off another body.
[Huygens' principle](_URL_1_) tells us that waves can be treated as being continuously re-emitted by each point through ... | [
"The radio telescope would consist of a lander vehicle that would deploy dipoles across a 300-400 m area. The dipoles, which receive the cosmic radio signals, would be deployed either by a dispenser or by a team of small mobile robots. The South Polar location would ensure permanent sunlight and direct communicatio... |
- why does your nose burn when there is a foul or strong scent in the air? | When you smell it is because you are breathing in amounts of the actual chemical it is that you are smelling. For example: If something smells like bleach it is because you are breathing in particles of bleach and that is what your nose is recognizing.
& #x200B;
If your nose is also burning when you smell something ... | [
"Inhaling the vapor causes symptoms that begin in the upper airway and expand to the lower airway. Increased concentrations cause worse symptoms. Mild inhalation exposure causes rhinorrhea (runny nose), sneezing, barking cough (a harsh cough that sounds somewhat like a dog barking), epistaxis (nosebleed), dyspnea (... |
why can you see the veins in your eye when the eye doctor shines a bright light into it? why do eye doctors even do that? | They do it to see the back of the inside of your eye through your pupil. They can determine whether you are at risk for glaucoma, among other things, this way.
Edit: the veins you see are on the front of the inside of your eye. You can see them because of the light reflected off the back. | [
"Advocates of eye vein verification note that one of the technology's strengths is the stability of the pattern of eye blood vessels; the patterns do not change with age, alcohol consumption, allergies, or redness. Eye veins are clear enough that they can be reliably imaged by the cameras on most smartphones. The t... |
why are high pop. density areas more left leaning? |
Small cities are essentially everyone feeling a sense of community by sharing the same religion, hobbies, and ideals. They view the government as an outsider trying to rule over them. When 95% the town is Religion X, nobody opposes things like bible verses in court houses.
However in a large city there are Christi... | [
"The low population density (less than 30/km², or 78/mi²) is caused largely by the rural exodus and urbanisation of the 19th and 20th centuries. Some commentators prefer to speak of a \"low-density diagonal\" (\"diagonale des faibles densités\") and regard the term \"empty diagonal\" as both pejorative and exaggera... |
if a premiere is not supposed to happen till sunday, how can they show commercials with previews of these live events on wednesday? | The footage they show on commercials is from previous years. The "live from the red carpet" shows are filmed as the celebrities arrive for the awards, which can be an hour or more before the ceremony starts | [
"In the United States, on days when presidential elections take place, regularly scheduled prime-time programming is suspended so that networks can air up-to-the-minute coverage of the elections. Likewise, regularly scheduled daytime programs are suspended during coverage of presidential inaugurations. However, dur... |
when they bottle soda how do they stop it from bubbling over? | They add the carbon dioxide when the water/rest is already in the bottle. | [
"The conversion of dissolved carbon dioxide to gaseous carbon dioxide forms rapidly expanding gas bubbles in the soda, which pushes the beverage contents out of the container. Gases, in general, are more soluble in liquids at elevated pressures. Carbonated sodas contain elevated levels of carbon dioxide under press... |
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