id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
wej1a | what would be the ecologic result if geese were extinct? | [
{
"answer": "I imagine there would be a gaggle of problems if you removed any species, the biosphere is a lot more interconnected than you might think.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "218972",
"title": "Canada goose",
"se... | null |
4q97is | why are little girls (as a horror trope) so terrifying? | [
{
"answer": "Horror tries to make the seemingly safe, unsafe. What's more harmless than a little girl? Now make that little girl evil and capable of doing terrible things. It flips the perception. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They're scary because their behavior is uncanny, making us believ... | null |
owb9g | Does the induced warming/cooling feeling of products like IcyHot actually do anything, or is it just a placebo? | [
{
"answer": "The active ingredients in IcyHot are topical analgesics; they prevent you from feeling the pain. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Menthol and capsaicin have legitimate pain relieving properties aside from the sensation. \n\nMenthol activates cold receptors which lessens the impulse... | null |
bx6ihm | why does a piece of butter spin when you put it in the middle of a pot of boiling water? | [
{
"answer": "It should spin even if the pot isn't boiling, just might be imperceptible.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSee when we suspend something in water there will likely only be 3 forces acting on it.\n\n1. is obvious, the force of gravity pulling it 'down'\n2. is slightly less obvious, the force the water exerts 'upwa... | null |
1x2cm7 | why don't planets orbiting stars eventually fall into them? | [
{
"answer": "Your third paragraph sums it up brilliantly. The planets are losing momentum, from impacts and from solar wind. Planets are very massive though, and the momentum imparted by collisions with asteroids and solar wind barely even touches the energy of the earth. If an asteroid comes across that has en... | null |
4px0bd | Did everyone bite their nails before nail clippers were invented? | [
{
"answer": "It is free to bite your nails and, more to the point, quite standard for nails to break off in the course of even light manual labor. So in some premodern societies where status is less based on conspicuous consumption than today, one of the things archaeologists have observed is that nail-grooming... | null |
4ucytd | why do companies allow piracy to varying degrees? why do they tolerate being ripped off? | [
{
"answer": "They don't. But filing lawsuits against each individual who downloads a movie or music would cost waaaaay to much time and money. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because the economics of fighting it don't make sense sometimes. If pirating gets more people to ultimately buy your pr... | null |
adhbpv | At what point in evolutionary history did life begin to consume other life as a source of energy? | [
{
"answer": "I think any answer here would be pure conjecture. The origins of life are not known, and all theories have holes. Even knowing all we do about the inner workings of a cell, We still can’t replicate conditions that spontaneously produce any semblance of life. \nThat being said, it would be extreme... | null |
f5bfn7 | Why did the Baron’s and Nobles support Stephen over Matilda during the Anarchy? | [
{
"answer": "I plan on coming back to this, but in the meantime, I discussed the diplomatic history of the Anarchy [HERE](_URL_0_), which may shed some light on some of the frequent support shifts during the Anarchy.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wiki... | null |
kjzbl | Say I just want to run into the convenient store. Does it use more gas to start my car or to leave it running? | [
{
"answer": "For a modern car very little fuel is consumed doing startup. Don't leave it on.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Turn it off.\n\nAssuming you're the only one in the store and you you spend less than a minute inside, the benefit, if any, would be negligible.\n\nIf, however, seventee... | null |
6n22qb | why when doing exercise do you tire relatively quickly, only to recover and regain stamina to continue? what causes this "second wind" effect? | [
{
"answer": "Respiration.\n\nWhen you exercise, your body respirates to keep your muscles going; this requires oxygen and is called aerobic respiration. When there isn't enough oxygen coming in, your body will start anaerobic (without oxygen) respiration. This is highly inefficient and causes lactic acid to bui... | null |
1kbf51 | Why do we get 'Response Lag'? | [
{
"answer": "It looks like the author is referring to a simple shift of focus.\n\nIn general, humans are very poor multitaskers -- in fact, some scientists think we don't multitask at all, and just switch rapidly between tasks (not the same things!). Short term memory is one aspect of this: you may need to \"bu... | null |
1ct71c | how does quantum entanglement provide quantum key exchange? | [
{
"answer": "I wonder the same thing. My current understanding is that both sides of the exchange are monitoring their particles constantly, and so part of the key exchange is the time of the observation made to generate the encryption.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
1uhzo5 | Birds and dogs behave according to the Earth's magnetic field. Do humans have any behaviors like this? | [
{
"answer": "Magnetoreception has been demonstrated in vivo in a protein called CRY2 which is heavily expressed in the human retina. It belongs to a class of flavoproteins called cryptochromes, a kind of flavoproteins that are sensitive to blue light. When CRY1/CRY2 is knocked out in mammals, the animal in ques... | null |
17aqjr | why do chargers or power sources for some machines have a box in the middle of it's power cord and some don't? | [
{
"answer": "The electricity coming out of the wall is AC (alternating current). Most electronics are powered using DC (direct current) which is entirely different from AC. The black boxes (typically known as transformers) act to convert the AC to DC as well as convert the voltage and clean up the electric sign... | null |
2vp43n | Why are there so few surviving Ancient Chinese ruins, compared to Rome and Greece? | [
{
"answer": "Aside from the base, traditional Chinese structures were mostly constructed of wood, which made them more susceptible to corrosion. The Cultural Revolution as well as foreign invasions over the last few centuries also saw mass destruction as well as looting. The Porcelain Tower for example was dest... | null |
udd1g | what is "cashback" when i use my debit card? and should i use it? | [
{
"answer": "It's just an option to have the cashier give you some cash from your account when you are making a purchase with your card. The money is comjng from your checking or savings account just like getting cash from an ATM machine, but sometimes this is more convenient. ",
"provenance": null
},
{... | null |
206bdr | What happens to old American flags when a state is added and the number of stars changes? | [
{
"answer": "Unlike in Canada, there was actually a procedure in place for the most recent flag changeover. It was outlined in [Executive Order 10834](_URL_0_). The relevant part is in Section 25:\n\n\"Subject to such limited exceptions as the Secretary of Defense in respect of the Department of Defense, and th... | null |
9iwq08 | why does heroin withdrawal cause convulsions/seizures? | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't that I know of. (I used on and off for 20 years)...I know alcohol and benzo withdrawal both cause seizures though",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Think of your brain like a factory. Your employees are opioid receptors in your brain. You've got enough to take care of ju... | null |
1kkulh | why is it that human offspring are so helpless and fragile for several years. wouldn't a person who matures the fastest be most likely to survive since they can survive on their own? | [
{
"answer": "The human brain is too big and complex to be formed quickly, and the human body, by growing slowly, doesn't need a lot of food to continue healthy development.\n\nGrowing really quickly would necessarily require that we dumb humans down and that our offspring would need to eat a great deal to suppo... | null |
1auoa0 | Engine efficiency | [
{
"answer": "You're right that using another heat engine to lower the temperature of the first heat engine's output reservoir wouldn't increase efficiency of the whole system, because you would have to power that second engine.\n\nThink of the output reservoir as a big heat exchanger outside somewhere. It has t... | null |
7ggglx | Did people from New York City's 5 boroughs originally consider themselves to be part of the same city? | [
{
"answer": "I'd like to expand on this question: Why did Staten Island join the city of New York? It was far from the others and had no direct connection to the other boroughs(no bridge, no tunnel).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They did not. They were separate cities through much of the 19t... | null |
3tw2fl | Why can't I look at a word without reading it? | [
{
"answer": "Because the human mind is an expert at pattern and relationship/structure detection and recognition. That is essentially how we think.\n\nWe are masters of pattern recognition, so when you glance at a word your pattern mind kicks in and you have no conscious choice but to 'decode' that pattern. (yo... | null |
39fnfq | Reading recommendations on al-Andalus (Moorish Spain) | [
{
"answer": "In my opinion, the two critical works are David Nirenberg's [*Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages*](_URL_1_) (1996) and Maria Rosa Menocal's [*Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain*](_URL_2_) (2002... | null |
2glyoo | nasa's announcement today. what is boeing and spacex and why is it all important? | [
{
"answer": "Boeing is a major aerospace company, meaning they make spacecraft (and airplanes but let's stick with spacecraft), but they make them for governments. SpaceX is a newer company that is trying to manufacture reusable spacecraft that are affordable to private businesses.\n\nTwo important parts: Right... | null |
agnevn | How did they introduce leap year in 45 BC? | [
{
"answer": " > Were they technologically advanced back then to determine that the calendar needed a leap year? \n\nYes and people had been for some time. I assume you're talking about the introduction of the Julian calendar as you mention 45BC.\n\nGreek astronomers had long known (for at least a century by 45... | null |
1r4x1p | why cant we use computers to solve the unsolved maths problems like the millennium prize problems etc? | [
{
"answer": "Because these math problems are not about calculating some large number. They are about fundamental properties of numbers and their relations. It takes a human mind to analyze these relations, form theories and finally proove them. Computers can aid in this, for example by doing prime factorization... | null |
6qscx4 | why is counting cards in blackjack so heavily frowned against or punished if all you're using is your mind. are you not allowed to calculate with your brain when playing a game? | [
{
"answer": "It's not illegal to count cards, however casinos reserve the right to refuse admittance to anyone they choose. \n\nIf they suspect you of counting cards, first they'll wait and see how good you are at it despite distractions, free liquor, interruptions, etc, because counting cards incorrectly (los... | null |
5s98vt | What did a typical day of 17th century philosophers look like? Where did they get their income from? | [
{
"answer": "The 17th century? Presuming you're referring to European philosophy, and sampling on the substantially eminent: while I'm not sure it makes much sense to speak of a 'typical day', elite philosophers i) very commonly held lecturerships or professorships at universities, ii) were engaged to tutor and... | null |
57smzy | How come the Middle Eastern world didn't undergo a "Muslim enlightenment" period, similar to the Christian enlightenment period in Western Europe? | [
{
"answer": "First we need to recognize that this is an out and out counterfactual question which will not have a satisfactory answer. Explaining causality is difficult enough, explaining something as complex as why an entire intellectual movement *didn't* happen is impossible.\n\nThat being said I think I can ... | null |
s7kja | Is quantum entanglement really as cool and mysterious as people make it out to be or are they misinterpreting the idea? | [
{
"answer": "As a layman, I found [this](_URL_1_) article to be a very clear and helpful explanation of quantum entanglement. In particular, [ page 5](_URL_0_) describes Bell's inequality and exactly what is so unintuitive about it.\n\nAs for evidence for souls, it's not the first thing kooks have wilfully mis... | null |
2yjz4h | how does a pimp have so much control over a prostitute? (nsfw) | [
{
"answer": "When they get to the next town what do they do? Where do they stay, how do they eat, etc? And not everyone is ready to just walk away from their friends and family at a moment's notice.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's hard to trade the known for the unknown. Simply leaving tow... | null |
6g10e3 | What kind of tea would have been thrown into Boston harbor during the Boston Tea Party? | [
{
"answer": "As it happens, there is a document reprinted in Benjamin Labree’s [*The Boston Tea Party, 1773*](_URL_5_), which details the exact composition of the crates of tea that were dumped into Boston Harbor in December 1773. The official report, filed in February 1774, lists the following: out of 340 crat... | null |
1f5htp | why are we so obsessed with being lazy? | [
{
"answer": "Not condoning it, but most likely because it's easy to be lazy. It doesn't take any effort or work to survive anymore. You get instant rewards nowadays; no more hunting, just pull into a drive-thru and order food if you're hungry, etc. Most people probably just figure why bother doing extra work if... | null |
5m4nrr | why is metal coins cheaper than paper/bills? | [
{
"answer": "The initial cost of printing a bill may be cheaper than minting a coin, but coins can last much longer in currency because they are more durable. Paper notes get torn, washed, or crinkled and need to be replaced every few years, whereas coins will last decades. When was the last time you saw a pape... | null |
2n23im | Are there examples of equations being right mathematically but wrong practically? | [
{
"answer": "There are plenty of examples, mostly when a mathematical model is applied to situations outside their scope. For instance, the Ideal Gas Law, PV=nRT fails to describe situations involving very high pressures or such low pressures that individual gas molecule collisions are relevant. Newton's laws o... | null |
2uf14y | who created the orcs? | [
{
"answer": "As with the majority of fantasy tropes, the answer is that J.R.R. Tolkien took inspiration from old tales and popularized his view on the subject.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Tolkien did. \n\nThere was a term 'Orcus' in Latin which was a deity of the underworld. This is where T... | null |
d4pipj | what is the difference between a voice played digitally versus a voice produced in person? | [
{
"answer": "The folks at Amazon know the exact sound pattern of every time they use the word \"Alexa\" in an ad. They check the digital signature sent by your Echo, and if it's a commercial they ignore it. For a laugh, watch an old episode of the Castle TV show. The main character's daughter is named Alexa,... | null |
k9ro8 | stereotypes of us cities/regions | [
{
"answer": "San Francisco: Gay\n\nLos Angeles: Shallow\n\nSeattle: Hipster\n\nPortland: Even more hipster\n\nWashington DC: Corrupt\n\nNew York: Asshole\n\nPhiladelphia: Low class",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Detroit: barren wastes",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "San Fra... | null |
4egn18 | why are people getting arrested for peacefully protesting? | [
{
"answer": "To hold a rally near the White House, you need a permit. This is for safety of everyone involved and to let the city know how many police to have available to assists/control...close roads, keep it safe. Without a permit, you are in violation of city law and get arrested.\n\nThis most recent event ... | null |
9fk6k8 | what differences in brain structure/function cause depression, and how do antidepressants help? i've been told we don't *fully* understand the science yet, but what do we know so far? | [
{
"answer": "Generally speaking, depression is associated with low levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin in certain parts of the brain. Having a balance of each is essential to “normal” functioning. Antidepressants such as SSRIs handle the serotonin, MAOIs prevent the breakdown of dopamine, and tric... | null |
6lce2m | North Korea's July 4th missile reached an altitude of 1700 miles. Why are scientists saying its range is only 4160 miles? Why couldn't it orbit/deorbit to anywhere on earth? | [
{
"answer": "Circularizing an orbit requires much more energy than just bringing your spacecraft high enough, if you orbit close to the planet.\n\nFor a circular orbit of the height of Sputnik my little napkin calculation gave me the result that circularizing its orbit requires about 4 times more energy than ju... | null |
3c3nr3 | Why does the the cosmic background radiation have a uniform temperature of 2.7 K? | [
{
"answer": "The light is redshifted not because it has traveled, but because the universe has expanded.\n\nIn the early universe, the photons were in thermal equilibrium with matter. When the universe was about 375000 years old, atoms formed, and the light *decoupled*, meaning that, generally speaking, it was ... | null |
7mwfwj | how long would it take to see the stars when you take light pollution away? | [
{
"answer": "As long as it takes for your eyes to adjust—light pollution isn’t a physical substance, so it doesn’t “linger”. So probably about 30 minutes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It would depend on which stars you're trying to look at (some shine brighter than others). On average it tak... | null |
2ti7e9 | what does "synthetic" really mean and why isn't everything synthetic? | [
{
"answer": "It can mean that it was created in a lab rather than by natural process, or it can mean the thing that was created does not exist in nature and so was created in a lab. This applies to things that are changed chemically. A fruit mashed into jam by a human is not synthetic jam. It's not a very good ... | null |
4ecpzh | thyroid hormones and their individual purposes. | [
{
"answer": "The thyroid gland uses iodine from food to produce two hormones: triiodothyronine, known as T3, and thyroxine, known as T4. These hormones affect every cell and organ in the body. They do everything from regulate the rate at which calories are burned to regulate our body temperature. They control t... | null |
35ehrr | why does israel continue to build/expand settlements in palestinian lands despite international condemnation? | [
{
"answer": "Because it can: international condemnation isn't worth a pile of beans with the force of sanctions/invasions/etc.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Cause it does not care. \nIt gets the USA to veto any action against it at the UN. The P5 countries: US/RUSSIA/CHINA/UK/FRANCE can put a... | null |
66i4wq | why can't most humans squat as fully and as deep as when we were babies/very young? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry, the title should say adults, not humans haha. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'd say it's a flexibility issue, which affects more than just squatting. Most people who don't do any sort of stretching routine will gradually lose flexibility over time as they get older. Your ... | null |
2bh7x7 | difference between malware and viruses? | [
{
"answer": "'Malware' is just short for malicious software and 'virus' is a program that replicates itself and infects other files/systems. A virus is a form of malware.\n\nWhat is malicious is open for interpretation though, I despise stuff like toolbars for your browser and other spyware while some crazy peo... | null |
23lubl | Can someone talk about the spread of Buddhism? | [
{
"answer": "hi! here are a few previous threads to get you started\n\n[Spread of Buddhism](_URL_0_)\n\n[AMA: Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, the Three Great Traditions of China](_URL_5_)\n\n[How did Hinduism, Buddhism & Indian culture spread through SE Asia?](_URL_1_)\n\n[How did Buddhism spread to Japan and... | null |
3ngvnr | Which shape will yield the greatest ratio of area to perimeter? | [
{
"answer": "Given any closed curve of length L in a plane, the area A it encloses satisfies the *isoperimetic inequality*\n\n > 4πA ≤ L^(2)\n\nEquality holds if and only if the curve is a circle. So if you fix the perimeter of an area, the greatest area is achieved if the perimeter is a circle.\n\nThis inequa... | null |
fy1v3y | What was the Anglo-Saxon hierarchy like? How did the nobility function and what were similarities and differences with the nobles of continental Western Europe? | [
{
"answer": "At the bottom you've got your serf, these are essentially slaves to the land they are on (and its landowner). There are a few distinctions between them and slaves but in practice there is little difference.\n\nYour next highest are Ceorls. These are free men but lowest of the low. They are you peas... | null |
d35y6i | from where the light photons get energy to move at such a high speed?do they keep on moving forever? | [
{
"answer": "You do not need energy to keep moving if you are already moving and are not affected by friction, resistance etc. You need energy to gain speed, that is, to accelerate, the more mass you have, the more energy you need. Photons do not have a rest mass. This is why they do not need energy to move at ... | null |
ruwov | Why do allergies seasonal or otherwise make people so tired? What is happening here? | [
{
"answer": "Remember that Allergies are an activation of your immune system. Your body believes that it is under attack and is trying to fight it. It's the same tiredness that you feel when you're actually sick. Your body is using a lot of energy to attempt to remove the pathogen that it thinks is going to ... | null |
19nz77 | why does lightning make these funny fractal lines when passing through mediums of high resistance? | [
{
"answer": "It's for the same reason that river systems have that same pattern. Electrons are not flowing out of the source of electricity, but rather the electrons are being pulled towards the source. The electrons naturally move along the paths of least resistance, in the same way that water flowing from the... | null |
11ntds | How tall will a human grow if raised in a zero gravity environment | [
{
"answer": "Osteoperosis from a young age. I don't think this is possible. Bone loss is one of the effects of zero gravity. I imagine one born in space wouldn't live very long.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "24271628",
"title":... | null |
tedkb | can someone explain what happens if euro is dissolved and we go back to europe having individual currencies per country? | [
{
"answer": "I assume there'd be an absolute chilling of diplomacy and trade due to the massive breach of trust.\n\nI can't wait to hear a more educated and sober opinion on this. Feel bad for Germany. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The aim of the European Union is to increase the closeness o... | null |
2q5rcd | If you had a lake full of gasoline and dropped a match into it, would it all immediately explode? | [
{
"answer": "Liquid gasoline isn't explosive, but gasoline vapor is. If you dropped a match on it the vapors above the lake would explode. You need the right mixture of fuel and air combined with an ignition source, but you would presumably have that for some portion of the match's path while falling.\n\nThat e... | null |
ff1kfn | When did Germany and France become historical rivals and why? | [
{
"answer": "The most reductive answer to this question is 1871, when Germany as a country came into existence on the basis of a humiliating defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian War. Not only was there no such thing as a country called \"Germany\" before then, but the harsh feelings and especially territoria... | null |
4jemz8 | why do linux things use .tar.gz so much? | [
{
"answer": "Mostly because Unix was more used at the time most compression mechanisms where being introduced, and both tar and gzip have good compression rates and were very easy to use at the time. Both rar and zip appeared around the same time as alternatives for the PC eco-system but, as you might well know... | null |
42lm6t | what is the practical use for integration? | [
{
"answer": "They undo differentiation. So to use your examples, if derivatives let you find acceleration from velocity from position, integrals let you find position from velocity from acceleration.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Let's say I know the equation for how fast something is moving ... | null |
2dse63 | what would happen if prince george of cambridge or any other future heir to the british throne turned out to be gay? | [
{
"answer": "I'm sure it has already happened, but in the past it would have been kept a secret and married a woman anyway.\n\nIf it happened now and they came out, we'd probably just have a gay king. Not that big a deal if they don't produce an heir, it would just pass to the next in line.",
"provenance": ... | null |
1wegwy | why do people often worry that rape victims are actually lying? | [
{
"answer": "The policy isn't to assume that there wasn't an issue or that someone was lying, but to assume (like we do in our legal system) that the accused is innocent until shown otherwise.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > Sometimes this is even the official policy, such as at various univ... | null |
3xveep | people have been eating cheese for ages, way before refrigerators and airtight containers, but if i leave cheese on my table for a few hours it becomes inedible; how were they keeping it fresh in the past? | [
{
"answer": "They ate moldy cheese, or would store cheese in large pieces and cut off the exterior mold before eating. It still kept a hell of a lot better than milk did.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I imagine you're only eating soft cheeses then? Hard cheese doesn't need refrigeration to r... | null |
1i24bx | When and why did the Spartan identity die out in Greece? | [
{
"answer": "The fall of Sparta was a complicated issue involving their first ever land battle loss (with an army at full strength) to Thebes and spartan population decline. essentially they had so few natural born Spartans they had to allow helots to bolster their standing army.\n\ncheck out: _URL_0_ \n\nand e... | null |
1zlbxs | How do different octaves of the same musical note compare in frequency, and how does it compare to different notes? | [
{
"answer": "It is a very fundamental function of the frequency.\n\nAn octave is a doubling (or halving) of frequency. If we consider A above middle C, we've got a frequency of 440Hz. The A one octave lower is 220Hz. The A one octave higher is 880Hz. Another octave up is 1760Hz.\n\nAll of the other notes are ba... | null |
13epzd | how do pension plans work? | [
{
"answer": "A pension is what's called a defined-benefit plan. Defined-benefit means that the plan is going to pay out an amount of money that is set, and nothing that happens short of a default on the plan will stop that from happening. This is different than, for example, a 401k or IRA where the plan will ... | null |
1r0qah | what is postmodern ethics? | [
{
"answer": "Postmodern ethics is way of approaching ethical dilemmas by examing the context and narrative. Generally speaking postmodernists tend to have a much narrower belief in freewill and so they feel that true questions of ethics need to be adressed at a higher more contextual level. \n\nThis would mean ... | null |
580wpw | Was the pike really the most used weapon in the Medieval Age? If so, why do movies depict the sword as the most used weapon? And why did european armies still use heavy cavalry as the main striking force if it was so easy countered? | [
{
"answer": "Are you specifically talking about pikes or polearms in general?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hiya!! Not at my computer right now, so sources will be delayed and apologies for formatting. I can't do a well-informed media critique, but let's talk a little bit about medieval warfa... | null |
7ouiik | how come extremities can get below 98.6 f and be fine, but our core is much more sensitive to temperature change? | [
{
"answer": "your core can get below 98.6 and still be fine. you're basically fine down to like 95 then serious hypothermia starts to kick in. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because your core contains your organs that are essential to the process of life. Your limbs are expendible and don... | null |
4e4xnf | why are we more sleepy when doing something as opposed to trying to sleep? | [
{
"answer": "Sleepiness comes in waves. If you went to bed when you were sleepy, you'd be fine. But most people decide to go to bed when they are sleepy. Then they brush their teeth and dick around on their phone for an hour, and the moment is past. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"pr... | null |
13l5zh | A Question Concerning Anglo-American Relations | [
{
"answer": "I've never heard of the United States pushing for Britain to take such extreme financial measures to purchase goods. Where did you read this? My recollection is that the British were more worried about finding enough tonnage that could actually visit American ports to trade because the neutrality l... | null |
11hk5o | When speaking in a foreign language, why does most people's accent remains their native? | [
{
"answer": "It has to do with the sound sets of their native language. Some sounds exist in certain languages that do not in others. So when learning a language, people usually cannot emulate the sounds perfectly. \n\nThe reason some people will 'never' be able to speak like a native, is because by time a pers... | null |
43h0f0 | why are there no laws circumventing that prevent national media from outright lying on their headlines? | [
{
"answer": "Simple; it's not worth it to go to the trouble of making what would be a difficult if not impossible to enforce law to prevent such minor damage. Anyone who can't be bothered to read the facts and come to reasonable conclusions is so foolish that no law is going to make them immune to manipulation.... | null |
2kierc | A late mediaeval knight is travellíng through an area he knows to be dangerous but in which an attack is not guaranteed. Does he wear his armour all day? | [
{
"answer": "He'd probably be wearing an \"Arming doublet\", under a rather more dressy garment. It was a sort of padded jacket worn under armour, with mail gussets to protect armpits etc. See the illustrations here: _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
1y2vhp | Was there any attempts to unify Italy or Germany prior to the 19th Century? | [
{
"answer": "The Holy Roman Empire was, in many ways, a unified Germany (albeit a very loosely unified one).\n\n[Here](_URL_0_) is a map of the empire around 1800. \n\nAlso worth listening to: the HRE national anthem - [Gott Erhalte Franz den Kaiser](_URL_2_) - which was composed by Haydn in 1794 for Franz II ... | null |
402hml | what is the purpose of robo calls that hang up on you right after you speak? | [
{
"answer": "Not sure if this is always the case but I've read that they're just machines that call random phone numbers and if you answer, it will hang up and add you to a spam list.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Companies that do bulk calling often have an autodialer system that dials phone... | null |
1yzyig | How do above ground power lines keep from shorting out in a rain storm? | [
{
"answer": "In order for there to be a short to ground or to another phase, there would have to be a continuous path of water between the two (or the two would need to be so close that the air in between suffers a dielectric breakdown). The insulators that the wires are mounted on are designed such that the wa... | null |
w3sqv | In all science fiction books and movies, they always say they are "___ earth years old. " Do we have a calendar yet for mars or any other planet that can coincide with earths systems? | [
{
"answer": "[Searched](_URL_4_)\n\nRelevant [discussion](_URL_5_)\n\nOriginal question by [Greasy](_URL_3_)\n\n > I mean, concepts such as years, months, days, time zones, daylight savings time, etc. would lose their meaning. I predict that we will use as a standard of time measurement something that will rema... | null |
ew8uyy | Does reading or otherwise learning cause new brain cells to grow or new connections to form? | [
{
"answer": "Nerve cells form or regenerate extremely slow, so much so that for a long time they thought they didn’t grow at all. \n\nMy limited understanding of the brain is that you are forming connections. And forming connections is like exercising your brain so that it maintains and improves “elasticity” wh... | null |
1unxyw | the ammunition shortage | [
{
"answer": "One theory, Obama is going to ban guns and ammunition so people are buying as much as they can.\n\nAnother theory, gun and ammunition manufacturers have convinced people that Obama is going to ban guns and ammunition so people should buy as much as they can.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"a... | null |
4qev43 | what makes a tree knot so tough to cut through? | [
{
"answer": "A knot is not necessarily tough to cut through. The problem with knots is that they don't follow the grain of the board. \n\nIf you're ripping a board (that is, you're sawing with the grain), the amount of force you have to use to move the saw is relatively constant. But when you hit a knot, the gr... | null |
6x6le3 | enforcing travel bans | [
{
"answer": "Usually the US find someone travelled to a banned country via passport stamps or banking transactions. At that point the federal government fines the person. The easy way to avoid this is to only use cash and ask border agents not to stamp your passport. Cuba has a reputation for not stamping the ... | null |
pyqsw | Do cats view humans as fellow cats or as separate creatures? What about dogs? | [
{
"answer": "Cats look at humans as servants.\nOn a serious note:\n\nI don't know about cats, but dogs do have an interesting relationship with humans. [This](_URL_0_) is a really interesting documentary called \"Dogs Decoded\" that I watched in my neuropsychology course. One of the more interesting things I le... | null |
m0iwz | Why is it brighter and the colors are more vivid when it is cold outside? | [
{
"answer": "As an amateur photographer I can say that humidity does have an effect on brightness and color. Especially for long distance scenery pictures. There is a correlation between humidity and temperature, so that would explain why there tends to be less haze when it is cooler outside. ",
"provenance... | null |
3ttjw4 | what does it take for the world to officially announce the beginning of a world war? | [
{
"answer": "There's no real \"announcing\". World War 1 was simply referred to as the \"Great War\" until after the Second World War. \n\nIt's really just a way of expressing a lot of nations who have treaties with one another have declared war on another similar pact with conflicting views. This is typically ... | null |
g3oi53 | why do doors at businesses open outward, but residential doors open inwards? | [
{
"answer": "If your house door opened outward, the hinges would be on the outside, and a thief could just take the door off the hinges and walk right in. So it's a security thing.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Just guessing, I think it's a safety thing. If someone is trying to get into your ... | null |
xddxu | Does body hair really have a significant impact on swim speed? | [
{
"answer": "Significant is relative. In a sport where the difference between setting a record and coming in third place can be fractions of a second *everything* helps.\n\nHair does increase drag. In fact, the material that the swimsuit is woven out of makes a difference. Everything that can be done to give ... | null |
crc6ek | why do some of my bed sheets feel super silky smooth and cool, whilst others are rougher and warmer, despite both being 100% cotton? | [
{
"answer": "Thread count will have a lot to do with it. Higher thread counts should typically be smoother (also more expensive).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It’s a matter of thread count. My grandmother once told me that you should stop at 500/600 and don’t get the 1200 thread count sheets... | null |
a1hobt | What would a Tudor kitchen look like? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up questions: how did the average commoner's kitchen or food preparation area look in comparison to the royal/noble's kitchen?\n\nMy understanding for many castles is that kitchens were often separated from the main house/keep as a fire precaution. Did the common person have any way to take ... | null |
77x4z0 | why do contact lenses weaken the muscles of the eyelid over time? | [
{
"answer": "They don't. Is there a reason that you think this is the case?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2648712",
"title": "Eye strain",
"section": "Section::::Causes.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 8,
"sta... | null |
7o3z3j | Why does my body/legs/knees ache when I don't get enough sleep? | [
{
"answer": " > Any home remedies got that before I start my day?\n\nDrinking enough water would be a good start. That being said, it's not some magical fix for getting insufficient sleep, it only helps against dehydration. (and dehydration ~~is~~ has been quite common ~~these days~~ for decades, and can cause ... | null |
2onuft | If sound can be cancelled by producing another sound-wave in anti-phase, and light is packets of waves, is it possible that light can be cancelled out using anti phase? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, all waves, including sound and light, experience destructive interference when two coherent waves meet out of phase. This is what leads to optical interference effects such as the swirling colors on soap bubbles, the colors on peacock tails, the color patterns on the bottom of a CD, etc. The r... | null |
4m9wtf | what happens when a power company generates too much power? | [
{
"answer": "In my simple perception of the world, if the electricity is not used, the generators will speed up, so they need to throttle the steam to the turbine.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "For the most part power generation is correlated with power usage by a close margin, which is why s... | null |
2jtmyl | What's the history of the term "Judeo-Christian?" Why don't we talk about "Abrahamic _____s?" | [
{
"answer": "Well, I think it has a bit to do with the history of the usage. It used to be just \"Christian\". People talked about Christian history, and Christian values, and Christian morality, and Christian tradition. If you look at the Google ngram viewer, \"Judeo-Christian\" doesn't even register until 193... | null |
7rv509 | Why are the people of American Samoa not born American citizens? How did the US acquire American Samoa? | [
{
"answer": "The American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States. In 1901 the case Downes v Bidwell the Supreme Court held that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment does not extend birthright citizenship to U.S. nationals who are born in unincorporated territories. Here is a link to ... | null |
4f1l5z | Were the Vikings that raided Britain and elsewhere all elite warriors, or were they common folk? | [
{
"answer": "*Víking* just means pirate. Apart from the few specifically named heroes (saga-characters like Egill Skallagrímsson, Gunnar Hámundarson, etc.) there's no suggestion that they were in any way or form part of an elite. Some may have been very wealthy (the ones in charge of expeditions, ships, and the... | null |
2kwp5p | Do airplane seatbelts do anything? | [
{
"answer": "I've been in severe turbulence with the seat belt sign on. \n\nEven the stewardess was strapped in. \n\nA guy two rows up was not buckled in. \n\nAll of a sudden the plane dropped and unbuckled guy smashed his melon on the overhead carrier. He was not only a danger to himself but had he hit another... | null |
1krsy6 | How do scientists determine if a rock sample or metal sample had and extraterrestrial origin? | [
{
"answer": "This can be done in any number of ways depending on the object. The easiest way is to get an established meteorite researcher to look at the sample (though this is hardly perfect). A better way is to make a thin section from which meteorite researchers can then look and see what it is. Now if you h... | null |
1jbllo | How were Czechs treated within Austria-Hungary? | [
{
"answer": "It's complicated. It was basically the industrial center, out of the five older carmakers [two are Czech](_URL_1_). So nobody would have said they cannot work right. Still, the working class Czech immigrants in Vienna were generally looked down upon, [despite their numbers being large](_URL_4_) (an... | null |
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