id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
4mmupj | What is the oldest name we have recorded and what is the oldest name still in use. | [
{
"answer": "As per the first half of your question, what is the oldest name we have recorded, a very similar question has been asked before. \nThis answer comes from user u/missingpuzzle. \n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "To add to the comment of /u/jschooltiger I know of several ot... | null |
7yfgfc | How did Western culture come to associate specific colors with specific emotions (red rage, green with envy, feeling blue, and so on)? Are these emotional connotations universal or specific to Western culture? | [
{
"answer": "I can speak to colors and moods association in early Modern Europe very generally. The color-mood associations are due the the Four Hum(u)ors or temperaments. This is the ancient idea that health is mediated by four constituent body fluids -- blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. We don't REA... | null |
1glhaq | What's the history of the indigenous people in British Columbia? | [
{
"answer": "There are many tribes in British Columbia...do you have a specific one in mind? Also, what era are you looking at?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "crassy is right. You're discussing an area that has been settled for thousands of years with dozens of distinct polities, belief system... | null |
8ttdvx | how is auto stop-start on modern cars more fuel efficient? growing up i was always told that turning off and starting your car burned more gas than just idling. | [
{
"answer": "What you were told was wrong, leaving your car idling for as little as 10 seconds takes more gas than turning it off and back on. \nI was told the same thing, but it's wrong.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I would imagine this is just a myth, similar to how people believe it's mor... | null |
27pdln | why are walmart employees notorious for being strange? | [
{
"answer": "They're one of the largest employers in the country, and pay tends to be on the lower side of average. Thus they have a huge sample to pull in the extremes of humanity and pay that appeals to some of them. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "1. it's a shitty job. being \"strange\" ... | null |
8lz6xz | How realistic would it have been for someone with a low IQ like Forest Gump to fight in Vietnam for the US? | [
{
"answer": "u/Lich-Su answered a very similar question to this [here](_URL_3_) some time ago.\n\nIn the United States, about 1.8 million men reached draft age each year in the 1960s, and roughly a third (600,000) were disqualified as unsuitable for military service, half of these for physical reasons and the o... | null |
3uv2au | why would japan *announce* that they're going to resume whaling in antarctica? | [
{
"answer": "It's their culture. \"We're doing if for hundreds of years. It went fine till now. We don't question it, don't give a fuck\".\rI love Japan as in their historical culture, politeness, etc. But this part... I don't know, they're not in for change or individual thinking. Just be another gear in socie... | null |
208d1t | Do we have any other ways of producing electricity? | [
{
"answer": "Yes there are! Batteries turn chemical energy into electrical energy. There is also the nuclear reactors used in spacecraft such as Voyager 1 which use a process called Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator which turn the heat generated by small nuclear events into electricity, this process can be ... | null |
d49nwk | Did people live like cavemen in 100,000 BC? | [
{
"answer": "You should cross post in /r/AskAnthropology/ as they would have better knowledge to answer your question (this question is pre-history)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8606577",
"title": "Donji Humac",
"secti... | null |
4y7cgp | why are glasses still so common when contact lenses and eye surgery are becoming cheaper? | [
{
"answer": "Some people like wearing glasses. Some people don't like putting things in their eyes. Some people are afraid of surgery. Or, if they're like me, they've had the eye surgery but their eye sight regressed and the new shape of their cornea makes wearing contacts pretty much impossible.",
"provena... | null |
11wni6 | why does reddit go down and how do they fix it? | [
{
"answer": "Like all web sites, reddit is built on top of special computers called servers. \n\nIt happens that the servers that reddit uses are hosted by Amazon. There was a problem with some of the servers at one of Amazon's data centers in Virginia. Data centers are large buildings that house servers. T... | null |
6e5knd | why does depression make you gain weight? | [
{
"answer": "People cannot gain weight unless they eat above their base metabolic rate, it's physically impossible, no matter what your third cousin's fat sister might tell you about her condition.\n\nThat said if you are depressed you are definitely more inclined to simply not do anything, so you might not be ... | null |
2uoli0 | why do we no longer see bench style seats in cars? | [
{
"answer": "Comfort, in part. Having separate front seats allows each to be adjusted to the comfort of the person sitting in them. I'm pretty certain bench seats can't be adjusted (but don't quote me on that) but even if they could, you'd only be able to adjust them as a bench. So if you have a front seat pass... | null |
z75lq | Did people have midlife crises when the age of death was significantly lower? | [
{
"answer": "Honestly, the best explanation/theory I've ever read about midlife crisis was that it was maybe an instinct, but not caused by the man's age, but the *evolutionary presumed* age of his wife:\n\nMost people married others of a similar age. So for men in their 'mid life crisis', their wives are ente... | null |
sdgie | How much influence has organized crime had on American politics? | [
{
"answer": "I need confirmation of this, but I've heard that a substantial driver for the rise of the modern institution of insurance was anti-mafia-hit insurance on businesses and property. If that's the case, then organized crime is responsible for one of the most powerful industries in the country.",
"p... | null |
3wpqhd | Why do we define the prime numbers to be greater than 1? | [
{
"answer": "If we were to include 1, we'd have to make an exception to almost every theorem about primes. For instance, the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic says that every positive integer can be written uniquely as a product of primes. If we include 1 as a prime, this is no longer true, as we could write 6=... | null |
3mvnsb | what would the short- and long-term consequences of abolishing the stock market be? | [
{
"answer": "Without a place for the rich to invest their money, what would they do with it? Hoard it? Buy a million mansions? The stock market is one of the most beneficial things a rich person can use their money for, building successful companies that have investments to be able to hire the common people ... | null |
caf8qe | At the height of its power, what percent of GDP did the British Empire spend on their military? | [
{
"answer": "Hi there! We've removed your question because it's asking about something like a name, a number, a date or time, a location, or the origin of a word - [basic facts](_URL_0_). We'd encourage you to instead post this question in the weekly, stickied [\"Short Answers to Simple Questions\"](_URL_3_) th... | null |
2scf48 | how big or small can animals get? | [
{
"answer": "**TL;DR:** Microscopic animals can be very small, down to 50 μm length. The main issue is the diffusion of oxygen.\n\nSmaller animals reside solely on the transportation of oxygen -the main resource in animal metabolism- by diffusion, this is because the [surface:volume ratio](_URL_3_): smaller org... | null |
3f9grj | Is the reason that we can't unify gravity with the standard model because we are exploring the behaviour of subatomic particles under the influence of gravity? | [
{
"answer": "Many of the posts below describe gravity as being incredibly weak. How do we know that?\n\nTo my understanding gravity is not a force between two masses. It is a force which distorts space-time and the effect it has on masses is due to their paths through space-time being changed as a result. I.e. ... | null |
fzdcy | What is peer review? | [
{
"answer": "Journals tap established researchers in each field to be referees.\n\n\n* Send manuscript to journal \n* Journal classifies paper and sends manuscript to anonymous referees (a few days)\n* Referees read and comment on manuscript (a few weeks to a month)\n* Decision (accept, reject, or edit) and com... | null |
r4ypb | how come animals can eat off the ground? does germs not effect them? | [
{
"answer": "Not all germs cause disease. You can eat off the ground, too, and (depending on what ground you're eating on) getting a parasite is very possible, but most bacteria and viruses don't survive outside a body for a very long time. People ingest more germs than they think they do, and for the most part... | null |
353at9 | what happens when you press the elevator button more than once? | [
{
"answer": "The signal goes to the controller, which has already registered your request for a car. It doesn't speed things along at all. Same with crosswalk buttons.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Especially crosswalk buttons are often placebo buttons that do nothing at all. Imagine if all t... | null |
33kgj9 | How credible is Freud's structural model in modern psychology? | [
{
"answer": "It depends. While in Germany's psychology-study it is often mentioned as introduction to psychoanalysis, but it is not scientifically proven and therefore not really \"modern\".\nIf you continue to do a licensure in depth-psychology/psychoanalysis or psychotherapy in Germany, it may play a greater... | null |
9gg0nq | If I am standing on a beach at sea level, how far can I see into the horizon? | [
{
"answer": "If you assume the Earth is a perfect sphere, the distance you can see is about sqrt(2Rh), where R is the radius of the Earth, h is the height of your eyes above the surface, and sqrt is the square root function.\n\nThe radius of the Earth is about 6,371,000m. If you're 1.8m tall, then you get a di... | null |
coepl8 | Why are there more fluent Welsh speakers in Wales than Irish or Gaelic speakers in Ireland & Scotland, when the latter were conquered by the English hundreds of years later? | [
{
"answer": "There are a multitude of factors which will impact whether a language thrives or dies out. Welsh, [according to Alan R. Thomas](_URL_0_), hits on a number of these: geography, regional linguistic homogeneity, and perhaps most critically, prestige status. Although there was a sociolinguistic split... | null |
3ps14m | why don't toilets have an overflow hole to keep them from overflowing all over the floor? (like sinks do) | [
{
"answer": "Because it wouldn't do any good. If a toilet is clogged, an overflow isn't going to magically allow the water to drain around the clog.\n\nIf you stuffed a bunch of toilet paper down your sink's drain, the overflow hole wouldn't help in that case either.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
49g2mg | Are modern Greeks descended mostly/entirely from Slavs? | [
{
"answer": "You dont see this question asked a lot in a modern context because modern historians do not touch topics like this. The reason they dont is because its a nationalistic question, not just for Greece but for all those nationalist groups in other countries that dont like Greece or Greeks. These are th... | null |
a3gqx1 | why is it so important to keep global temperature increase under 2°c until 2100? where did this number originate from and what happens if we cross it? | [
{
"answer": "Above 2 degrees and you start to trigger feedback loops such as ocean acidification, release of methane trapped in Arctic ice etc. The idea is that 1.5 - 2 degrees is bad but can be mapped whilst even 2.5 degrees could quickly become 3, 4 or 5 with no possibility to reverse the process. I'm sure yo... | null |
3lft69 | why do we care if iran gets a nuclear bomb? they would be insane to try to use it against us, even if they had one. so why is this such a ballbreaker for us? | [
{
"answer": "The absolute simplest answer is we have to look at allied nations as well.\n\nNot just for matters of imports/exports and business, but we're in a position where for many countries we've agreed to back them up if they go to war. \n\nSo if they nuke an allied nation such as Israel, its going to eff... | null |
9vjfgb | movie soundtracks: is there a particular order/way the songs are put on the cd? if so, how does it work? | [
{
"answer": "I would've assumed it was chronologically according to where in the film they were? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8584387",
"title": "Gin Tama",
"section": "Section::::Media.:CDs.\n",
"start_paragr... | null |
5hx9mf | Why did the North American Bison never take off as a source of beef? | [
{
"answer": "Oo, I can do this! I'm not a historian, but I come from 4 generations of ranchers, and we started ranching in the mid-1800s, when the Bison wasn't totally gone. So I can give you some history about the attempts to use Bison and cow/Bison crossbreds (the \"Beefalo\").\n \nThe very short answer ... | null |
kjez9 | the nhs reform bill that has been passed in the uk | [
{
"answer": "The Conservative government so far has been going around talking about their 'big society'. This has meant 'making work pay' (reforming welfare), 'putting parents and teachers in control of schools' (reforming education) but healthcare is more complicated.\n\n1. They want to put GPs all together in... | null |
9920n1 | why boiling water becoming vapor (gas) doesn't separate its atoms and become air? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, you can extract water from air. Every time you get drops of water on a cold drink, that’s what’s happening.\n\nYes, you can split water to get oxygen and hydrogen, but it requires much more energy than you can find on a stove",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I think percentage ... | null |
7mqtat | Why didn’t the Romans or Persians ever attempt to conquer Arabia before the rise of Islam? | [
{
"answer": "Rome did actually attempt to conquer the east coast of the Red Sea and southern Arabia during the rule of Emperor Augustus in the first century BC.\n\nThe territory roughly corresponding to modern day-Yemen was then occupied by the Sabaean Kingdom, one of the main incense-producing regions of the a... | null |
1uueet | how a vegan diet would reverse evolution. | [
{
"answer": "Now that we have a global economy, you can find the essential amino acids (protein), fats (ω-3 and ω-6), vitamins, and minerals that you need in all kinds of food. Being vegan at this point would have little to no effect on your metabolism or biochemistry, as your liver will break down most of the ... | null |
1j3r3h | How did the Jesuits go from being "God's Soldiers" of the Counter Reformation to being a relatively liberal organization within the Catholic Church? | [
{
"answer": "The key document that drove it was the Jesuit's adoption of education - they didn't originally set out to be educators but kind of fell into it after holding all sorts of offices in court during the Early Modern Period. Just when science, opening up the East and the study of vernacular literature b... | null |
2n0v8o | is it normal for members of the american government to sue the president? | [
{
"answer": "It's not exactly what I'd call common, but it's not impossible. You can basically sue anyone at any time for anything. \n\nThis doesn't mean that the judge won't just throw your case out of court though. I'm fairly certain that's what's going to happen here. Nothing will be accomplished except for ... | null |
6qux1g | how has the u.s. economy changed since the 1970s? | [
{
"answer": "That is a hell of a question with a million parts to it! \n \n\nSociety has changed a lot, as has science and technology for countless fields and professions. Thus, more specialization is required for the highest levels of education due to so many fields existing. This means expansion and growt... | null |
u6s2s | Why do some people faint/vomit at the site of blood/severe injury and others not? | [
{
"answer": "This is semi-layman speculation, so please don't downvote me to hell for trying!\n\nThis is due to the [vasovagal response](_URL_0_). Essentially, when presented with a trigger such as a cut or injury or even seeing someone else get injured, a cascade of responses fire off.\n\n > On one end of the... | null |
2nl4h6 | if i store 1 gb of files in the cloud (dropbox, google drive, etc.) how many gb on servers is that for the provider? | [
{
"answer": "It's probably 3GB, plus backups- storing data in 3 locations is pretty standard to keep it safe (the primary, a backup, and somewhere offsite). Which costs them next to nothing to store because hard drives are dirt cheap.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
15ufvk | How Did the US Navy Do Against the British in 1812? | [
{
"answer": "The US navy was incredibly small compared to the British at the time. The British had over 600 ships, while the US had 22. The US could not muster enough forces to meet for a pitched battle, so they really resorted to harassing British shipping. The US had 3 powerful ships, including the USS Consti... | null |
4xvnj1 | why do springboard/platform divers sit in a jacuzzi after their jump? | [
{
"answer": "To keep their core temperature up after being in the cold pool water. This allows for maximum circulation around the body and therefore maximum flexibility.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The water in the diving pool is cold, and when you're cold, your muscles tense up a little, a... | null |
zsybo | Will the universe ever retract in on itself, creating another big bang? | [
{
"answer": "Evidence seems to be to the contrary. Cosmic Inflation is accelerating, outstripping Gravity's ability to pull everything back together. We still have another 1 to 100 Trillion years of star formation left, but after that, grab your blankets, it's going to get rather cold and lonely.",
"provena... | null |
15m6sa | stock values | [
{
"answer": "A stock is like any other product and its price is influenced by supply and demand. People buy stocks to either: participate in the company's earnings in the form of dividends and capital gains (which is more often the case) or gain control of the company (which is rarer, but could massively influe... | null |
n2gym | Here's hoping this can be answered maturely... what is the science behind the inability to urinate while you have an erection? | [
{
"answer": "Since sperm travel through the urethra at high pressure, the passageway to the bladder needs to be closed off in order to prevent \"backflow\" doing ejaculation.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Since sperm travel through the urethra at high pressure, the passageway to the bladder n... | null |
4yeb34 | If silica sand (which is what the insulated plates on the space shuttle were made out of) has a melting point of 3200*F, and our thermosphere can reach 3750*F, then how did the Shuttle pass through without major malfunctions? | [
{
"answer": "Basically, the thermosphere is very hot but also very thin. It doesn't have a high energy density. It's true that if you left the space shuttle in the thermosphere for a while, it would eventually suffer damage; however, it would take a while.\n\nThis is similar to how boiling water (100 C / 212 F)... | null |
2csyu3 | do hallucinogens have the same effect on reptiles that they have on humans? | [
{
"answer": "I don't think a reptile can have an existential crisis, followed by a period of self-discovery and then settle on a period of emotional nirvana. \n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "24547483",
"title": "Hallucinogenic... | null |
em96ac | How many blacksmiths would be in a castle? To smith all the weapons and armor. | [
{
"answer": "You may be interested in [this previous answer](_URL_0_) that I gave about supplying medieval armies. At least by the high and later Middle ages (the period that produces the castle we think of), Weapons and armour would not be made in a castle, normally, but bought from armouring centers elsewhere... | null |
5z2dk5 | for the digits of pi (that we can calculate) is there a trend of certain digits being more common than others. | [
{
"answer": "I don't believe there is. But check out this video. If you're into math it's pretty interesting and I believe it may answer your question.\n\n[Mile of Pi - Numberphile](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "From [this article on _URL_1_](_URL_0_)\n\n > Are the digits of pi rand... | null |
3ubzim | how are claw machines - a game of chance - legally allowed to present themselves as games of skill? | [
{
"answer": "Are you sure you seen them marked as \"game of skill\"? They probably don't.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "22741242",
"title": "Merchandiser",
"section": "Section::::Description.\n",
"start_paragrap... | null |
a2ig8t | Mirepoix, or slight variations of it. What's the significance of onion, celery, carrot and why do they appear in almost every European cuisine? | [
{
"answer": "This would be an excellent question for r/AskFoodHistorians as well!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "42342378",
"title": "Allium polyanthum",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 1,
"start_cha... | null |
2nq286 | How far away from our solar system would our Sun still be visable enough to be in an alien constellation? | [
{
"answer": "Only 30-40 light years. Our sun has an absolute magnitude of ~4.9, which by definition means it would have a magnitude of 4.9 when seen from 10 parsecs away (~33 light years).\n\nOur eyes on the clearest nights with no light pollution can only see things brighter than about 5th magnitude, so the su... | null |
1j5bi1 | why can't evolution just be a part of creationism's plan? | [
{
"answer": "It can and there are groups out there that agree with that theory.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The bible has nothing in it about evolution, most of the people who deny evolution believe the bible word-for-word on the topic of how god created the world. \n\nJust speaking of the ... | null |
1pgf83 | why doesn't soil's "usefulness" run out? | [
{
"answer": "It does run out, that's what fertilizer is for.\n\nSometimes people will plant legumes (beans and stuff) every few years because they help put nitrogen back in the soil (\"legume nitrogen fixation\").\n\nThis is part of the reason that the Natives of the American Southwest frequently grew the [Thre... | null |
5h1vqo | How much protection would chainmail give a warrior in the earliest medieval period? | [
{
"answer": "Questions like these are always impossible to answer precisely, or in any quantifiable sense. We haven't any surviving, fully intact mail shirts from the 6th century, nor can we reconstruct it exactly - the metallurgy, if nothing else, will always be a bit off. There have been some limited tests pe... | null |
5ul28b | why is happening leidenfrost effect? | [
{
"answer": "Pan is so hot that bottom of water drops evaporate immediately and form a vapor cushion for the droplet to hover around on abs insulate the drop from evaporating. In other words the steam below the drop isn't hot enough to evaporate it, even tho it's vapor itself. ",
"provenance": null
},
{... | null |
2fup95 | why do my previously broken body parts hurt when it rains. | [
{
"answer": "no one knows for sure. but some theories..\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I have also always heard my parents and complain about old broken bones etc getting incredibly painful when it is cold. And even though I am not \"old\" by any social term, I have started getting p... | null |
1vsdnp | Did America offer offer France any assistance during the French Revolution (Or France asking for US aid) and how did the political elite of the US react to the demise of its ally. | [
{
"answer": "By demise of \"its ally\" are you referring to the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 or Napoleon seizing control?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You may be overestimating how much Napoleon cared about America. America really was regarded as a small and relatively unimportant country at t... | null |
1c16pn | Where would an RNA World abiogenesis ideally take place? | [
{
"answer": "I had a professor explain his theory, and I like it more than anything I've heard in literature, so I'll pass it on to the best of my abilities.\r\rIf you are familiar with how PCR works, you know that it relies on temperature changes to begin the various steps: very high temp to denature the DNA, ... | null |
p80zr | Where in the Universe it is the darkest? | [
{
"answer": "[This is certainly one very dark place.](_URL_1_)\n\nThat darkness is a molecular cloud. Lots of dust and gas that obscures all the stars behind it from our view.\n\nEdit: Thanks to kodiakus who prompted me to find the [same area in IR](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The... | null |
376yu9 | why does coke in a glass bottle, or in a can, taste noticeably different from coke from plastic bottles? | [
{
"answer": "my take: studies suggest that plastic (or: PET) bottles release certain chemicals over time, like antimony, phtalates or acetyldehyde. the latter is said to (ever so slightly) influence the taste, which most people only realise when drinking bottled (tasteless) water.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
5mosgo | why do the drawstrings on sweaters and hoodies always try to come out of the hoods when they are run through a washer and dryer? | [
{
"answer": "My guess is that one of the drawstring ends can easily get snagged by other garments or other parts of the hoodie, then as the washer or dryer turns the clothes are tossled and the string is pulled. Imagine the drawstring end getting sandwiched in some jeans then as the washer spins the jeans move ... | null |
4ooq2n | Does the density of a material have any relation with its thermal conductivity? | [
{
"answer": "They are positively correlated, for example [here is a plot of thermal conductivity and density of different kinds of snow](_URL_0_). A simple way of thinking about it is that heat is conducted by atoms bumping into each other, and this can happen more readily when the atoms are closer together.",
... | null |
1us8hh | why does my congestion move from nostril to nostril with gravity? | [
{
"answer": "My best guess (I don't really know) is all congestion is is a mucus/fluid build up in your nasal cavity, not exactly in your nostrils so I kind of imagine it as water in a bottle. It moves around based off gravity but if won't just drip out on its own. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer... | null |
ewlsim | The dynastic union of Castile and Aragon seems to have rapidly coalesced into a unified Spanish kingdom. Why couldn't the later dynastic union of Spain and Portugal achieve the same results? | [
{
"answer": "Well your premise is wrong, Castile and Aragon didn't coalesced into a unified Spanish kingdom, it didn't do that until the Spanish War of Succession (1705-1715).\n\nBefore that, the territories of the Spanish crown only had two common institutions: the Monarch and the Inquisition. But for the rest... | null |
7b7iw8 | Did people of Indochina know of the Australian landmass before European discovery? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, they did. Fishermen from Makassar, in southern Sulawesi, travelled to the north and northwest coast of Australia for months every year from at least the mid-eighteenth century, quite possibly from the mid-seventeenth century and – according to at least seven contested, hard to explain but carb... | null |
3pogie | Was the Soviet union during cold war always poor and just postering wealth? | [
{
"answer": "Well, you have to consider the context. The disparity was there even before the Soviet Union existed. The Russian Empire was much poorer (per capita) than Western Europe or the United States. It was significantly behind in industrialization, human development and infrastructure. If fact, the poor s... | null |
31qzvy | Do you think camera quality will ever be good enough to be measured in gigapixels? | [
{
"answer": "The technology for gigapixel images already exists, but it's not being used in traditional cameras yet. For example, the [Pan-STARRS](_URL_0_) survey uses a 1.4 gigapixel camera. Each of the images taken with it is ~2Gb.\n\nThe difficulty in moving them to traditional, handheld cameras is that 1 ... | null |
yr8ki | Does every culture in the world assume a 24hr day? What are some alternate time keeping units in the world and throughout history? | [
{
"answer": "Not about time-keeping units, but here's a clip about cultural differences WRT time, from Wikipedia:\n\n > The psychological/perceptual arrow of timeMain article: Time perception\nA related mental arrow arises because one has the sense that one's perception is a continuous movement from the known (... | null |
2bfu5f | How does relativity affect orbital mechanics? | [
{
"answer": "The boring answer is that if you have a Newtonian circular orbit with v^2 =GM/R, then if v=c then R=GM/c^2 which is half the Schwarzschild radius, so it's already inside the black hole, or in the interior of the object if it's not a point mass.\n\nIf you consider an orbit of a massive particle at 1... | null |
2fo5li | What determines how much of an ingredient you have to add to a dish in order for the dish to have a noticeable change in flavor? | [
{
"answer": "Taste is quite complicated so it is not always a linear 'more of X = stronger flavour', although that will generally be true if you are talking about something simple like adding more sugar to water.\n\nIt also depends on what the other flavours in the dish are already. For example if you over brew... | null |
5pmw8h | what makes fruits taste different from one to the next? | [
{
"answer": "Not sure on the chemistry behind fruits but as for mimicking a fruit, flavours have been mimicked for years without actual fruit extracts. Strawberry milks being a common one. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "aromatic compounds, essential oils and some other chemicals like tannin a... | null |
1w2w44 | the social construction theory in feminism | [
{
"answer": "Different societies have different roles for women. The social construct theory in feminism states that you cannot generalize a gender. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "People act the way they do because it's been taught to them both consciously and subconsciously. In other words, ... | null |
2bxzdj | The 1946-2000 map of Palestine is frequently used in debates about the ongoing conflict. Does it provide a reasonable picture of the development of the conflict? | [
{
"answer": "I have seen this map and similar variations of this map before. The first map is probably depicting private rather than political land ownership. Politically all of the land in the first image is owned by the British Empire in what was known as the British mandate of Palestine. Britain acquired thi... | null |
1hsh5f | how the united states is in so much debt, but day-to-day life seems completely normal. | [
{
"answer": "What consequences do you expect that the United States would face for having \"so much\" debt? Because standard economics doesn't predict earth-shattering consequences for anything near the current level of debt.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The same reason you can be 10s or 100... | null |
3b208e | Was Pope John Paul I poisoned by powerful members in the Vatican? | [
{
"answer": "Of course if I could definitively answer your question here I would be a very rich man, as this is still an incredibly contested event. That being said, we can make a few assertions. \n\nThe 'freemasons' you refer to are **P2**. This was a secret and illegal lodge in Italy, something akin to a cove... | null |
2hlohs | is there any consequence to the increasing number of illegal immigrants (primarily and specifically, hispanic) in the united states? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. Their children will be American citizens, and they will be voting in about thirty years from now. And they have a *lot* of children.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are consequences of keeping them illegal, it's complicated to say the least. A country that experiences ch... | null |
8an5t1 | In the Roman Empire, were their notable high-status people who had ethnic backgrounds that today we would generally categorize as black African, Indian or East Asian? | [
{
"answer": "Whilst it doesn't directly address your question, this earlier answer by u/cleopatra_philopater may be of interest (as may some of the quotes from Mary Beard in the article linked by the OP): [Given the recent furore concerning Dr Mary Beard, I wondered if there are any official accounts of black R... | null |
db25ex | How did Rasputin survive? | [
{
"answer": "There's always more that can be said, but you might enjoy these older posts.\n\n/u/kieslowskifan on [how the myth was created](_URL_0_).\n\nand /u/carlton_the_doorman gets into the [actual assassination.](_URL_1_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
2cj9xn | when i am woken briefly in the night, i often have no memory of it by morning, why is this? | [
{
"answer": "When you fall asleep, your hippocampus, the area of your brain responsible for learning and memory, sort of switches off, or into \"sleep mode.\" Most likely, you're still in a dream-like state, or experiencing a parasomnia, and the hippocampus hasn't kicked back into gear.",
"provenance": null... | null |
31psea | Why doesn't the Coriolis effect on the Earth create a perpetual westward wind? | [
{
"answer": "/u/I_Cant_Logoff correctly pointed out that wind is slowed down by friction on the Earth, which means that there should not be a permanent westward wind. In fact, meteorology is very complicated and chaotic, so that any simple picture you might have is necessarily subject to instabilities and large... | null |
2gn3nv | if mass production and automated efficiency lowers the cost per item, how do podunk smaller grocery stores sell their own (lower volume) products for far less $? | [
{
"answer": "Could you give some examples? I'm not sure whether you're talking about mass-produced store-brand goods, bulk goods, or what.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Let's say Green Giant owns a factory that can churn out 20 million cans of green beans per day. But they only sell 10 milli... | null |
cpe7t1 | is it fact that frequent readers are smarter, and if so, what happens in the brain during reading to cause this? | [
{
"answer": "That's a lot like observing that frequent runners are agile. Frequent reading builds focus, making it faster and easier to recall what you've read and integrate it into your understanding. When you do something over and over, the brain strengthens those pathways. When you don't do something much... | null |
1vshyn | Why are there exactly 7 full notes? (Music) | [
{
"answer": "Only in Western music (with a few exceptions) will you find a scale with seven distinct notes. The range of frequencies between octaves is scientifically determined, but our culture has made us recognize seven specific frequencies as pleasing when played in order. Other cultures have notes that a... | null |
5j8f42 | Is there any hard evidence that the USA has secretly influenced Brazilian politics to put a "puppet" president in power? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on how you'd define such things.\n\nThe best candidate is the 1964 coup against João Goulart. The coup was not engineered in the US. But the coup plotters involved the US early on. The US provided money and CIA resources to support the plotters. President Johnson also sent the carrier *U... | null |
44s1jy | why is "boohoo" a word used to represent crying? | [
{
"answer": "I'm guessing it's a sort of onomatopoeia. Like \"buzz\" for insects or \"meow\" for cats. When people cry, sometimes it sounds like \"boo hoo\", so it sort of stuck. Same with \"wah!\" ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you're trying not to cry, you might press your lips togethe... | null |
1k20pc | Will the oceans eventually recede back due to the increase in temperature? | [
{
"answer": "They'll [eventually boil off due to increased solar output](_URL_0_). The salts won't evaporate.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "41994159",
"title": "Global warming hiatus",
"section": "Section::::Factors.:N... | null |
83usln | what do best men, maids of honor, grooms men and bridesmaids do in a wedding? | [
{
"answer": "The best man holds the ring until the vows, the maid of honor holds the bride's bouquet during vows, and the others just stand up there awkwardly watching the ceremony ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Besides what has already been said, the best man and maid of honour also tend to ... | null |
4bgjl0 | During the Age of Sail, how did sailors keep from freezing during the night | [
{
"answer": "The answer is pretty basic, really: ships would have a galley stove and often a small stove in the wardroom (where the officers gathered) that would warm the space. Sailors would wear oilskins to prevent getting wet, and wool clothes that keep you warm even when wet. Space and crowding was also som... | null |
ei3t2x | why do you change from breathing perfectly normal, to snoring when falling asleep? | [
{
"answer": "Snoring is usually caused by some sort of obstruction in the upper part of your airway. During sleep, your muscles start being relaxed and they may collapse a little to block your airway which results in snoring.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "My jaw slides back and blocks my airw... | null |
1hrv26 | I've never liked math. I thought it was boring. Now I see it's practical. How do I teach myself it? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_ \nAlgebra and calculus are good, it really depends on what you need it for or what you've realised it is practical for. Any more info?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "146089",
"title": "Danica McKellar",
... | null |
2b5qmv | viruses - can i get them only by running executable files (.exe, .bat, .com, .jpg.exe), or are there other ways? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, and the gist is that it comes down to interactions. When two different types of \"things\" interact, it is an attack vector and can be exploited. Two different kinds of things can be \"a browser displaying some media\" or \"a viewer executing a macro\" - where a container attempts to perform... | null |
16njdy | If you get wetter from running in rain than from standing still, do you get more sunburnt from running in the sun than from standing still? | [
{
"answer": "Light exposure does not change based on your movement, unless your move into shadow or under cloud coverage. \nOther factors may play like if you sweat, you will have more protection against the sun, etc.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You don't get wetter from running in rain tha... | null |
culyuw | Would’ve Neanderthals been able to build and use boats? | [
{
"answer": "The presence of Mousterian-style tools on the Greek islands of Kefallinia and Zakynthos suggests that they might have done, according to [this](_URL_1_) 2012 article. (See also popular press summaries [here](_URL_2_) and [here](_URL_0_))",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"... | null |
2yei26 | Time dilation effects the hour in miles per hour- which effects speed, which effects time dilation?! How can this work? | [
{
"answer": "I'm a little confused by the wording of your question but I will try to answer what I think you are asking. \n\nTo begin relativity is what happens between frames. So in your frame you will measure a speed, the passage of time, and the length of objects in your frame, all of these are correct measu... | null |
bxamk5 | Can a gas/smoke stick to an adhesive surface? And if so, at what density would it require for this to possible? | [
{
"answer": "Smoke or gas? They're very different. A gas is a chemical that is above its boiling point and has evaporated, like water vapor, oxygen, and other components of our atmosphere.\n\nSmoke is a colloid, a solid aerosol to be specific. It's made of solid particles of ash/soot suspended in the air, which... | null |
1aysbe | black circles from lack of sleep | [
{
"answer": "A lack of sleep can make your skin more pale, which in turn makes the blood vessels under your eyes more visible.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "13185705",
"title": "List of dimensions of the Discworld",
"se... | null |
e3s157 | how come turning wifi/data on and off again makes it work better? | [
{
"answer": "Like pretty much anything computer related, resetting fixes an abundance of issues. By starting something over it is forced to run all it's code from the beginning, refreshing anything that might have gotten out of whack. \n\nI don't have a specific technical answer because it could be a whole numb... | null |
30nfcf | why do a lot of song recordings fade out instead of ending like a live version would? | [
{
"answer": "They were designed to be played on radio or in clubs, where one song would be smoothly overlapped and transitioned to the next song without a clear stop in the music.\n\nSometimes in popular music the artists just didn't have a creative way to end the song.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"an... | null |
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