id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
3zaul2 | how are companies affected by a speculative bubble? | [
{
"answer": "Say everyone is buying tulips. So you start a tulip business. Then the bubble bursts and everyone stops buying tulips. Now you're out of business.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1972328",
"title": "Real estate bubbl... | null |
bcuxac | Curiosity question about interracial marriage | [
{
"answer": "Marriage in the United States is largely governed by state laws. Miscegenation, or interracial marriage, was governed by a hodgepodge of laws from every state since the formation. During this time, different states had different races which could be barred from certain activities, and there were va... | null |
q31z9 | exactly how do those nigerian scams work? | [
{
"answer": "It goes something like this:\n\nScammer: \"I have a hundred million dollars and I need to move it out of the country while avoiding customs tax. Let me deposit it in your bank account and then you can pay it to my account in the Caymans. I'll give you 30% for your help.\"\n\nPerson: \"Oh, cool, h... | null |
8mg4cw | how come pet life expectancy hasn’t increased alongside human life expectancy? | [
{
"answer": "Hasn't it? It's not uncommon for house cats to live to be 20 now. That was pretty unheard of 40 years ago. \n\nOn the other hand, have you ever tried to get a Schnauzer to stop smoking? Can't be done. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It has, absolutely.\n\nHowever, pet medical tech... | null |
9pbzaz | When nationalism was developing in Early Modern Scandinavia, where did the Sami fit in? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not quite sure what you mean here, since the Early Modern Period would in a Swedish context be defined as the period from the Reformation to 1809. But nationalism as we know it is often thought of as phenomenon that arose in the 19th century. (this is of course very simplistic but not entirely ... | null |
1n0aa5 | Did the inhabitants of a besieged city ever join the army and fight back? | [
{
"answer": "Most walled cities had some sort of militia of all able-bodied men, in addition to a formal garrison, to defend their walls. In England they were called \"trained bands\" after 1572. More generally, in a siege, the defending commander would try to mobilise all able-bodied men to defend the walls - ... | null |
1irlb3 | During the Berlin Wall, what happened with trams/trains, etc? | [
{
"answer": "There were three tracked transport services in Berlin: regular (longer distance) trains, the Berlin intra-city rail system (S-Bahn) and the Metro (U-Bahn).\n\nThe S-Bahn was under East German management, and continued business in West Berlin with employees from West Berlin and East Berlin managemen... | null |
wdcno | Why does the human brain so easily extract faces out of otherwise random visual data? | [
{
"answer": "Certainly there are advantages to it, but also disadvantages.\n\nIf someone (human) is stalking you in the forest, and you're able to pick out their face from the surrounding foliage, then you've got an extra split second to fight/flight reaction. Likewise, if you can pick out the tiger/bear/etc's... | null |
7wuph3 | How long does the flu vaccine actually protect you against the strains in the vaccine? | [
{
"answer": "It should protect indefinitely, since your body makes memory B cells after every new exposure to a pathogen, which stay in the body for life. This is why you can never get the chicken pox twice, even if exposed to it 50 years after the initial exposure.\n\nThe reason we need to get a new flu shot e... | null |
tdqho | why doesn't the same inflation-adjusted income buy the same amount of stuff it used to? | [
{
"answer": "I strongly recommend the [Consumer Price Index official website](_URL_2_), which is pretty upfront and well written about how the CPI works. [The FAQ](_URL_0_) in particular is worth reading. (Yeah, I know that the message you quote is in Canada, but sorry, I don't know anything about the Canadia... | null |
a0mfa5 | why is gm cutting jobs and closing factories in north america? | [
{
"answer": "* Need steel to make cars.\n* When you put a tariff on steel it becomes more expensive to import. Costs automakers more to make cars. \n* Need to make room in budget, compensate for steel tariffs, or excecs to get no bonus. Stock holders get no dividend. \n* biggest expense is compensation for w... | null |
16hd7n | Do any particles other than protons, neutrons, and electrons form atom-like structures? | [
{
"answer": "You can have oppositely charged particles other than those three get bound to each other by electrostatic force and form hydrogen-like atoms, and you can replace the electrons in an atom with muons or possibly with tau particles, but if you want an atomic nucleus with more than one particle, the on... | null |
1hp9q8 | Why exactly do humans, and presumably other animals, perceive different wavelengths of light as different distinct colours? | [
{
"answer": "One prominent theory for color perception is to recognize good food sources, for instance, young (greener) shoots and leaves, flowers. Better color discrimination improves the ability to recognize them.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Polychromatic sight provides a wide ... | null |
3ns6f8 | Are there any good maps of bronze age Mesopotamian cities (e.g., Uruk, Lagash) based on archaeological reconstruction? | [
{
"answer": "Here are some sources that look at a wide variety of Mesopotamian cites from the Bronze Age. \"Cultutral Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East\" by Michael Roaf (1994) This book is rather pricey, at $70 new on _URL_0_ and one person, who is obviously on drugs, is offering a used copy for ... | null |
1n0y7q | the historical background for american resistance to gun-control? | [
{
"answer": "1. People view the American Revolution as a situation where the average citizen grabbed the gun in their home and beat back the redcoats. While it's not really true and much of it was military weaponry taken from the British armories, it's still a nice idea that people hold on to. Citizens like to ... | null |
vvza2 | While racing, how do motorcycles keep enough traction to avoid crashing while they are practically on the side of the wheel? What is the physics behind the turns? | [
{
"answer": "It is simply the friction between the tires and the road. The friction keeps the tires from sliding out from underneath the bike as it travels through the turn. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's a combination of purpose built tires and heat.\n\nI won't get into the physics of h... | null |
3stakf | why do cats never seem pull muscles when they make sudden movements? | [
{
"answer": "I have always just assumed it's from them stretching every second, every minute, every day. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5741167",
"title": "Cat communication",
"section": "Section::::Visual.:Posture.\n",... | null |
6fa1q6 | Why has Vienna, Austria been the home of so many historically significant persons? | [
{
"answer": "Dumb question: Have there really been more historically significant people that made Vienna their home throughout history, than other comparable cities (Berlin, Paris, London, Rome)?\n\nIs there some sort of statistic you could give me a link to?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null... | null |
jbdzy | What are the negative feedbacks as the earth warms? | [
{
"answer": "There are some, the most important one being the ocean.\n\nAlso, warmer water sustains more algae than cold water, these algae take carbon dioxide and sunlight and turn it into sugars and oxygen through photosynthesis.\n\nYou can find out more about global warming through the IPCC climate assessmen... | null |
tsm9z | A Brief History of Romania? | [
{
"answer": "Oh dear, I used to be incredibly good at Model UN in high school and I still have a drawer full of gavels at my parents' house from it. You don't need to know anything in particular about its history, however, but you do need to know where its policy comes from, which mostly involves learning about... | null |
83wsi1 | Louis is the French translation of Clovis/Chlodowig so why does the numbering of the french kings go Clovis IV > Louis I? | [
{
"answer": "Louis is indeed derived from Clovis, which itself is the francicized version of the Germanic name Hlodwig which is Ludwig in modern German. In France, the name Clovis changed to Ludovic, then Louis.\n\nApart from the fact that Clovis and Louis look and sound different, what makes the separation in... | null |
1tg02z | What would an empty barrel cost in 1860's? | [
{
"answer": "Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't \"barrel\" as used to measure petroleum simply a unit of measure and does not imply that there is a physical barrel involved?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I don't know what an empty barrel would cost, but one thing to keep in mind is th... | null |
1cyizs | If all the salt in the oceans was removed and made into a single cube, how big would the cube be? | [
{
"answer": "The oceans hold 97% of the Earth's water (see [this](_URL_1_) from NOAA), so we can safely just look at the oceans to consider how much saltwater there is.\n\nFrom [another](_URL_1_) NOAA page, we find there are 1.4x10^(21) liters of water.\n\n[Here](_URL_2_) we see there are about 35 grams of salt... | null |
16s7g4 | Modern courts have faced the problem of the "CSI effect" (Where jurors expect incontrovertible scientific evidence like they uncover in the show). Was there a similar problem of high expectations in the late-Victorian age following the popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories? | [
{
"answer": "In a way, yes. But not exactly in the way you describe. The popularity of Sherlock Holmes and other crime dramas led to more understanding of how to examine crimes. In some cases, it even *improved* the investigations of crime. \n\nMuch as the Sherlock Holmes stories came to the public, so too did ... | null |
szpvs | If the chemical trypotran(can be found in milk, and banana's) has an effect on the production of dopamine in the brain, wouldn't that actually have the reverse effect on the body by not producing it's own natural level? | [
{
"answer": "First off, you are talking about tryptophan, the amino acid? What is the exact question you are asking?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "48548",
"title": "Dopamine",
"section": "Section::::Comparative biology... | null |
2wvrum | How exactly does an ectopic pregnancy happen? Is it that the woman keeps passing the egg like a normal cycle before the body realizes it was fertilized? | [
{
"answer": "I'm guessing that ectopic pregnancies occur due to the blastula not being properly propelled by peristalsis. Perhaps this leads to the blastula staying in the fallopian tube instead of embedding itself in the uterus.\n\n > The mechanism for how this works confuses me. If the body didn't think it w... | null |
dby46i | Did Ronins lose their 'Ronin' status and become a Samurai if hired? | [
{
"answer": "A *ronin* is simply an unemployed *samurai* (i.e., a samurai without a position as retainer to a lord). If they obtain a position as a retainer, they cease being ronin. If they lose their positions, they become ronin. Whether ronin or retainer, they were still samurai.\n\nIn principle, being a roni... | null |
82fepp | what is happening mechanically different between a decent golfer and a world class competing professional golfer? why can they make their ball for so much further? | [
{
"answer": "The faster you swing, the harder it is to hit the ball accurately. It takes practice and control to be able to hit the ball further *and* hit it where you want it to go.\n\nBut distance is only part of the game. There is accuracy, there is knowing what club to use, and then there is the short game.... | null |
2tsx1e | How was the Soviet Union able to develop such a great spy network before WWII despite being a country less than 30 years old? | [
{
"answer": "Spy networks don't really have much to do with the 'age' of a country. Britain's Secret Service MI6 was only officially founded in 1903, and until WWI it was mostly concerned with Irish rebels and Fenian terrorists.\n\nThey way the USSR, the way almost any nation builds a spy ring, is recruiting wi... | null |
lpegb | why does my stomach still hurt in the same place after my gallbladder's been removed? | [
{
"answer": "this is kind of late but i hope you see this- it might be worth checking it out at the doctors and getting an ultrasound done, if you have the moneys for it. i've heard that you can actually form gallstones in your liver post-cholecystectomy, if you have a super-shitty diet.",
"provenance": nul... | null |
o08wy | hong kong and macau | [
{
"answer": "In both cases the agreement that covered the return of those areas to China was based on a principle called 'One country, two systems.' This was basically a modern was of saying that China would have 'suzerainty' over HK/Macau. Suzerainty is an extreme form of autonomy where the suzerain region c... | null |
9sg3rt | what is the science behind travel constipation? | [
{
"answer": "sitting for long periods of time in a very low humidity atmosphere (in an airplane at least) drys out your whole body.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It mostly has to do with irregularities in your daily pattern or stress. These changes can be anything, different food, different e... | null |
2h4k89 | why do some comedy shows have canned laughter, or live audience laughter but most comedy movies don't? and why have the laughter anyway? | [
{
"answer": "Lots of studies have shown that people tend to laugh more when other people are laughing. There's something very social about it. That isn't to say they will think the material is any funnier. So using laugh tracks works for television.\n\nIt isn't used in movies because movies were designed to be ... | null |
30prs6 | What factors determine the speed of sound? Are there different speeds of sound for each planet's atmosphere? | [
{
"answer": "The speed of sound in an ideal gas is determined by:\n\n a = sqrt( ( rho * R * T ) / M )\n\n- a = speed of sound (m/s)\n\n- sqrt() = square root\n\n- rho = specific heat ratio of the gas (dimensionless)\n\n- R = universal gas constant (8.3145 J/mol*K)\n\n- T = temperature (K)\n\n- M = molar mass... | null |
64ni9l | billion gets b, million gets m, why does thousand get k??? | [
{
"answer": "It's derived from the Greek work khilioi, which meant thousand. The Greek didn't have a word for million. The largest number they had a name for was 10,000, which was a myriad. So we use more modern naming mechanisms for numbers larger than that. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Ki... | null |
1kurt4 | how express shipping works, how hard would it be to make all packages arrive in 2 days opposed to 5-8? | [
{
"answer": "You can ship things by truck or plane cheaply but.slowly. Putting them on a plane is more expensive but faster. When ordering from.a company, getting your order put to the \"front of the line\" can be done.for.a.few extra dollars.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Companies have a su... | null |
1qihew | After being liberated by the Allies in WWII, what did communities in France, Poland and other occupied countries treat women who fraternized with German Solidiers? | [
{
"answer": "badly. here's a previous post on this:\n\n[There are pictures of women from France who after their liberation from the Nazi's were publicly shamed with their hair being shaved off and other similar acts for fraternizing with Nazi soldiers... but what happened to these women after the initial shamin... | null |
a9nnn4 | why are car keys use different mechanisms (sliding pins?) then our normal house keys? what are the advantages/disadvantages? | [
{
"answer": "Dang, why \"do\" car keys use different mechanisms would of course be correct",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are many types of mechanisms for household locks as well. The traditional pin style is simply the most common. All operate on the same principle however that the vall... | null |
58p3zs | Why was the Ottoman Empire unable to mass convert Christians in the Balkans like previous Caliphates in the middle east? | [
{
"answer": "The current makeup of the Balkans is not quite reflective of its demographics during the Ottoman Empire. It's like asking, \"Why was the Ottoman Empire unable to convert the Jews on the West Coast of Israel, but the West Bank of Palestine is almost entirely Muslim?\" The reality is that a huge move... | null |
2g4xvf | why do many european countries have baby-naming laws? | [
{
"answer": "It's a child protection thing. They don't want a child to have to live with a name that is inappropriate/offensive or that will cause the child trouble growing up.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It is a quality of life thing really. Think about how much flak kids today catch over ... | null |
a30oa2 | how do generators turn mechanical energy into electrical energy? | [
{
"answer": "There are ways to convert vibrations into electrical energy (every microphone does that), but typically generators are specifically using rotation. More specifically, rotation of a magnet. Faraday's law states that whenever a magnetic field changes, an electric field is produced. When you move a ma... | null |
2t8r8a | why isn't imgur integrated into reddit? | [
{
"answer": "What do you mean integrated? With RES, imgur (and many other image-hosts) are pretty well \"integrated\" into the site, as far as being able to quickly view the images.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Imgur likes to see itself as a separate community than reddit even though most of... | null |
2c1ue6 | how can oil wells drill horizontally? | [
{
"answer": "Think of a straw that bends in the middle. Now connect a drill bit to one end and some hydraulics to bend the bendy joint. Bending the joint alters the aim of the drilling bit [enabling it to be steered](_URL_0_) to a horizontal position from a vertical one, eventually.",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
88o4qs | - older people always say their arms, legs, wrists, etc. hurt just before it starts raining. why is this? | [
{
"answer": "Arthritis can make your joints more sensitive to changes in barometric pressure that occur just before it rains. The same an happen in younger folks who have broken bones that have later healed. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Ahoy, fellow redditor. Yer not alone in askin', and ki... | null |
585eim | why do we have over 18,000 unaffiliated police departments in the united states? why isn't there a single government agency that unites them? | [
{
"answer": "In a lot of ways they are one organisation: they share resources, training, and methods. The fact that they are separate organisations however let's each department focus initiatives on local problems as opposed to only the biggest problems across the country.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
jrnkg | what is falun gong, and why does the chinese government hate them so much? | [
{
"answer": "I probably wouldn't tell a five year old this, but here is the simple version.\n\nFalun Gong is a cult (they believe crazy things about aliens, and think scientists are evil), and the people who run it live in America and do things to upset the chinese government. They tell other people living in C... | null |
1x4vf4 | Why are the chances of War within the Developed world so low? | [
{
"answer": "International trade relations mainly. By going to war you starve your economy of billions of dollars which would create a massive anti-war movement. Imagine the recent anti-war movement but with funding and support from large businesses while the war is the cause of unemployment and economic downtu... | null |
7x5t1d | What is the history of the Irish Travellers? What writings are out there that pertain to them? Do we know how they came to live a nomadic lifestyle? | [
{
"answer": "Traveller history is a highly contentious subject, because it is tied up with their identity and right to continue their itinerant lifestyle. The idea is that if Travellers are really just displaced or dispossessed people (as has been argued), the best \"solution\" is to re-settle them. This was th... | null |
6s69ow | what makes some people naturally better at sports than others, even as children who have had similar levels of sporting experience? | [
{
"answer": "Nobody likes to hear this but men are physically superior to their female counterparts. Simply because of a higher bone density, testosterone levels and muscle. \n\nNot to mention societal factors where males are groomed to be tough and not show emotion, pain, or struggles. They essentially will li... | null |
8v4rtl | how do spoilers to unreleased movies, games, and books get released? | [
{
"answer": "Next time you watch a movie, watch the credits.\n\nCount the names and imagine how hard it is to have a project with that many people, keep the spoiler-y information away from all or most of them, and then hope that nobody who knows spills the beans.\n\nSame with games. Somewhat easier with books, ... | null |
37zl3v | what would happen if countries just stopped obeying the geneva convention? | [
{
"answer": "The reason that countries obey the Geneva Conventions is so that other countries will.\n\nIf Freedonia is at war with Oceania, then if Freedonia starts ignoring the Conventions, their own soldiers may no longer be protected by it if Oceania decides to ignore it as well.",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
7bw61f | Did the name "The United States" stem from The United Kingdom? | [
{
"answer": "No, it did not -- while the Declaration of Independence (1776) is the \"unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America,\" the term \"United Kingdom\" was not used for the political union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland until after the Acts of Union (1800) actually unite... | null |
1q1kce | I am a sailor aboard a German U-Boat during WWII, What is my daily routine, what is my life like? | [
{
"answer": "Well, all of those questions completely depend on the era of the war that you sailed in. In 1940, most patrols were extremely short (at most, two weeks). They were short for a variety of reasons, mainly that Uboats had next to free reign across the shipping routes; most were able to sail out, attac... | null |
40j9h6 | why don't attics have proper floors? | [
{
"answer": "They are just unfinished rooms - they keep the floors open so you have access to the ceiling of the house so you can make adjustments to wiring and other in-wall items.\n\nThat said, you can get a finished attic. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
6uo7h6 | How can gravity bend light if the speed of light is constant? | [
{
"answer": "Light *doesn't* have a constant speed. In a curved spacetime, the coordinate speed of a distant light ray need not be *c*.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Light follows geodesics, which are spacetime equivalent of straight lines in space. It's a bit - but only vaguely - like riding... | null |
3pjqf6 | What is the earliest documented interaction between a foreign country, and Australian Aboriginals? | [
{
"answer": "If by \"documented\" you mean refer only to surviving, contemporary written accounts, then the first documented encounter between Australians and non-Australians occurred on February 26, 1606. On that day, a Dutch expedition led by Willem Janszoon, made landfall near Weipa, Queensland, in Awngthim... | null |
2ji0mk | if you have a miscarriage pretty far into pregnancy, what happens to the baby thats inside the body? | [
{
"answer": "You give birth to it. In very very rare cases the body forms a cyst around it and the fetus becomes calcified and stays in the body",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Followup question: Do you give birth relatively soon after the baby is dead or will it first be born after 9 months l... | null |
2m5ezm | How different was the treatment and persecution of witches in areas controlled by the Spanish Inquisition in comparison to the rest of Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Witch hunting was more of a Central-Northern European thing, so the scale of persecution in Spain (with the exception of Euskadi) was much lower than in, say, Germany. See this [map](_URL_0_). The Spanish inquisition main target was, after all, the *conversos* (muslims and jews, forced to convert t... | null |
k468x | tone deafness: what is it exactly and how in the world can someone not hear how off-key they are? | [
{
"answer": "It's when someone can't tell the difference between different pitches (notes) of sound correctly. \n\nThere seems to be a part of the brain (the superior [arcuate fasciculus](_URL_0_)) which is broken or missing in tone deaf people. So in a way, asking how certain people can't hear how off-key they... | null |
3am3rb | Why didn't the Nazis use hollow point ammunition? | [
{
"answer": "Germany abided the laws of war for the most part. There was a big difference between the Western and the Eastern front obviously.\n\nLike you pointed out this ammunition was banned since the Hague Convention and using this ammuntion would just make the enemy do the same and the advantages would neg... | null |
nhjlf | Why are there drug effects in nature? | [
{
"answer": "Some of the chemicals are toxins used by the plant to defend themselves. Those can have hallucigenic effects for a human, but might not for an animal that happens to eat the plant.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In addition to toxic effects (like caffeine's natural insecticide eff... | null |
rzywc | To what extent does our knowledge of the electrochemistry of our brain support or contradict the idea of free will? | [
{
"answer": "This is both a scientific and philosophical problem, and we'll need a better understanding of both the question (the language and the meanings of words used to pose it), as well as neuroscience, in order to answer it.\n\nTo begin with, you have to state your question much more precisely. \"Free wil... | null |
hcirc | What are the advantages of hair over feathers and scales? | [
{
"answer": "Better insulation and less weight and air resistance. If you don't want to fly and have to keep your core temperature above the temperature of the environment, hair turned out to be your best choice ;)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipe... | null |
1ux2ow | Is there a 200 year time discrepancy during the middle ages? | [
{
"answer": "Radiocarbon dating, archaeology, astronomy and dendrochronolgy (dating by tree rings) are very helpful, accurate methods used to confirm our assumptions about the historical record. Among other means, historians also use methods of text analysis, including claimed authorship, linguistic analysis, s... | null |
5bulfv | what keeps the oceans from flooding the earth? | [
{
"answer": "Gravity. The gravity of the Earth pulls the oceans (and all liquids) to the lowest point they can go. That's why rivers flow downhill from mountains into the ocean.\n\nThe same force that keeps water inside your glass keeps the water of the oceans in the ocean.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
d2o6ba | why are smartphone companies (especially apple) adding like 3 didfrent cameras on thier phone. is this really necesary, and does this increase the price by a lot? because if it does i dont understand why its not better to buy a camera then add three cameras to a phone | [
{
"answer": "There is probably a demand from people who use their phone as everything and do not have a separate camera. Demand could also come from people using services like iCloud to back up their photos, and companies like Apple can see how much their camera is being used).\n\nOf course cost will increase, ... | null |
95qzvs | Do humans have any natural instincts? If so, what are they? | [
{
"answer": "We have a bunch of natural instincts.\n\nYou ever take a swig of sour milk and retch?\n\nYou ever snap awake when water hits your face?\n\nThese are instincts bred into us for our survival. \n\nRotten food could kill you, get it out of your mouth!\n\nWater could drown you! Get up get up get up!\n\n... | null |
59j70n | how does "declaring war" on a country work? and how does a country know who is attacking them? couldn't the us go bomb a country and say another country did it? | [
{
"answer": "Much like declaring a thumb war, the country just goes \"We declare war!\" Often this would be conveyed by diplomats, but broadcasting it can be one way to find out. Also, bombs and gunshots that are directed toward one's country is a significant clue.\n\nSometimes it may be difficult to know that ... | null |
1nw0gc | In WW2, Why did Germany open a second front with the USSR? Why wouldn't they wait until defeating Britain? | [
{
"answer": "It has been Hitler's dream for almost 20 years at that point to invade the Soviet Union and take Lebensraum (Living space) for the German people. Hitler wasn't about making logical decisions, Hitler was about making demands on his flights of fancy, on his whims, on his wishes, on his beliefs, etc ... | null |
1m48k4 | What was W. Europe and Britain like before the Romans arrived? Who lived there and how did it change as a result? | [
{
"answer": "Well, in France, you had the Gauls, who were divided in multiple tribes, like the Arverni, the Aedui and the Belgii who were quite advanced. These tribes were Celtic. Spain had been taken over by Carthage, partially and the rest of it was inhabited by Spanish tribes. Those tribes were Spanish, but ... | null |
6qtmw4 | Did Hitler genuinely hold Christian beliefs or were his Christian beliefs solely a political move? | [
{
"answer": "More that can be said, but check out the [Hitler section of the FAQ for some related content.](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "11710701",
"title": "Hitler's Table Talk",
"section": "Section::::Contro... | null |
1vpumt | Were Ethiopia's rulers Jewish before converting to Christianity? And if not, was there a large Jewish Ethiopian population that in anyway predisposed Ethiopia into becoming Christian? | [
{
"answer": "Sorta. On the first bit, there was a [Jewish kingdom in the region](_URL_0_), but I wouldn't call them the leaders of Ethiopia. However, there was a large Jewish population in Ethiopia. They moved to Israel en masse in the early 1990s, but there was a significant population. And this population... | null |
189339 | what's wrong with transfats? | [
{
"answer": "They increase your chance of heart disease by a *lot*; if just 2% of your calories come from trans fats, your chance of heart disease doubles. There's also no good reason why they can't be replaced with \"normal\" fats, so many people have chosen to do so.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"ans... | null |
aebb41 | if an adult marries a minor aged, for arguments sake, 13 in a third world country, and moved to a country where the legal age of consent and marriage is higher, what happens? | [
{
"answer": "\"Asking for a friend\" ? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Most likely the marriage would not be considered valid.\n\nAnd even if it was considered valid, unless there's a law stating that the age of consent does not apply to married couples, it would still be illegal for the coupl... | null |
ab71pv | What maintains the amount of blood in your body? | [
{
"answer": "Essentially, your kidneys work on balancing the fluid levels and chemistry of the blood, and your brain coordinates what it contains.\n\nThe marrows make blood cells that goes into the plasma.\n\nSo simply replacing the fluids is not enough, it takes a while before a new batch of blood cells are re... | null |
20l6k8 | Why in the 19th,20th century or even today autocratic states always have military parade with all the stuffs(Tanks, missiles, choregraphic move) while in the western world its fairly rare and less impressive? | [
{
"answer": "Actually military parades are much more common than you may think, and are certainly not circumscribed to autocratic states. Even though the USSR collapsed, Russia continues to hold a parade to commemorate winning WWII (The Great Patriotic War). [Here](_URL_2_) is a link for the 2013 celebration.\n... | null |
u2god | How do stimulants keep you awake? | [
{
"answer": "Sleep is pretty complicated, and is regulated by a lot of different neurotransmitters/neuropeptides. Most people are familiar with caffeine, which blocks your ability to feel increasing levels of adenosine, which accumulate over time to make you tired.\n\nMost classical stimulants (i.e. the amphet... | null |
3u9kvi | What sort of behavior has been observed in cloned animals? Do their behaviors and temperaments stay the same? | [
{
"answer": "There actually have been studies on the behavior of cloned animals, particularly livestock. According to studies, the behavior of both pigs ([link](_URL_3_)) and dairy cattle ([link](_URL_1_)) and ([link](_URL_2_)) is very similar to similar animals. \n\nOne interesting note from the cattle studi... | null |
49zjp8 | What did language education look like in Mesopotamia? | [
{
"answer": "The genesis of a language, assuming its organic nature, is something that is still hotly debated among evolutionary biologists, cognitive psychologists, and linguists alike. Conlangs (constructed languages made by individuals or groups) did not really come about until much later in history (medieva... | null |
32ypa6 | psychologically, why does it seem more common that we highlight the negative aspects in our lives, rather than the positives? | [
{
"answer": "It's called memory polarization- you'll find as time goes on we don't necessarily just remember the bad, it can go either way. Ex: one old man \"when I was your age I had to walk 5 miles uphill both ways in the snow just to get to school\" (this is a negative polarization/life was worse) but anothe... | null |
3i5n1u | why do the people who impact/benefit society the most (teachers, non-doctor healthcare providers, relief aid organizations, etc.) get paid so little in comparison to those who benefit society relatively less (pro athletes, artists, etc.)? | [
{
"answer": "Because they will voluntarily work for less. They don't have agents, managers or scouts looking for them. And if they don't like the price, someone else will take their place.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "People like being entertained, so much so that they're willing to pay lots... | null |
azdt0u | how do magnets form, and why/ how do they do what they do? | [
{
"answer": "All matter is made out of atoms. An atom can be thought of as a small nucleus of material around which orbit even smaller particles of matter called electrons. The electrons have an electrical charge, so when they orbit they form small loops of electrical current around each nucleus. Magnetic field... | null |
3n4a48 | if nasa isn't allowed to go near water, why are they gearing up to explore europa's ocean? | [
{
"answer": "It isn't outlawed entirely, persay. NASA can go explore water if it designs the mission to focus entirely on sterilization of the probe. If they can ensure 100% disinfection, they can do it.\n\nCuriosity was never equipped with the right tools to fully disinfect itself in this way. ",
"prove... | null |
zdfbb | What is happening in the sky tonight | [
{
"answer": "Still daylight where I'm at but I think you're describing a lunar halo. Google it, it's pretty interesting.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Basically, there are ice particles in the air, and the moonlight is refracting off of those. These line up for any given observer and seem to... | null |
7o0zn6 | now that weed is legal in some states, how will police be able to determine what levels of thc warrant a dui? | [
{
"answer": "That's a big open question right now. We don't currently have a simple, cost-effective test that accurately determines how intoxicated a person is that's equivalent to an alcohol breathalyzer. For now, they're just playing it by ear & the existing legal standards all suck.",
"provenance": n... | null |
1xy9mu | Are human sicknesses able to cause sickness in other animals, such as cats and dogs? | [
{
"answer": "Some do. An illness that is transmitted from an animal to humans or vice versa is a zoonosis. Zoonoses do not have to cause the same symptoms in both parties to qualify as such, *many* zoonoses are asymptomatic in the animal carrier or vector. There are far too many to list them all, but some good ... | null |
7ajsxf | Does magnetization of a piece of metal change its mechanical properties? | [
{
"answer": "A little, but it is almost irrelevant because deforming the metal is going to rapidly demagnetize the metal. This is essentially due to entropy, at room temperature the magnetised state is either unstable and slowly decaying back to the demagnetised state or metastable. Either way, mechanical energ... | null |
c9zcm0 | why do minivans have pop-out third row windows? | [
{
"answer": "Seems like it would work great for letting the hot air out and cooling the interior. Is it for that reason?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'd imagine it's due to some combination of cost reduction (car companies are *incredibly* stingy lol), improving airflow without causing the ... | null |
1xiaig | why do hand warmers expire? | [
{
"answer": "From what I've read, hand warmers work via a chemical reaction, caused by the exposure to air. So as long as they are exposed to air, they will give heat. At a certain moment, there is nothing left to react with air.\n\nWhile they are wrapped in plastic, there is less exposure to air. However, plas... | null |
5mxucm | Why are there so few remains of german culture and language in today's USA when german used to be the largest group in terms of ethnic heritage | [
{
"answer": "(a re-statement of my earlier points without the unnecessary soapboxing--my apologies to the AskHistorians mods.)\n\nI'm not an Americanist, so this will remain a 'holding' point until the Americanists arrive, but:\nThere were intensive efforts to eradicate German language and/or culture during and... | null |
1h7qc7 | Before the advent of photographs and film, who were the great female sex symbols and how did people find out about them? | [
{
"answer": "Cleopatra was definitely a sex symbol going as far back as BCE times. In fact, I submit that she intersects exactly with the OP's example of Rita Hayworth as her myth progresses (being depicted by Vivien Leigh in 1945's 'Caesar and Cleopatra' after Hayworth rejected the role)\n\nEarly accounts of ... | null |
9ai4ep | how are translucent things actually see through? like a translucent frog or fish. | [
{
"answer": "Stating the obvious here, but the tissue they are made of doesn't absorb light in the visible wavelengths. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Humans have transparent tissue too! Look at your cornea, it has to do with how the tissue is made up at a molecular level ",
"provenance":... | null |
7ai7nv | global economics. | [
{
"answer": "I'll try to give you an example, since you brought up Vietnam: \nIn Vietnam, the people can fish directly on the shore and they don't have huge factory trawlers (like the US for example). \nThis drops the cost of fishing in the first place, since the running cost of said trawlers is very high. \... | null |
4afmbr | Today is Commonwealth Day. How did the newly independent nations in Africa and the Indian subcontinent view the Commonwealth at its inception? Didn't they see it as the vestiges of colonialism? | [
{
"answer": "India saw heated debate on this topic of 'to be or not to be'. It was so heated that it even created a schism within the leading Indian Freedom Fighters party, the Indian National Congress.\n\nThe British Raj had consistently maintained that it (through the British Parliament) reserved the rights t... | null |
1t82ky | Is there a definitive moment where you transition from "awake" to "asleep"? What happens at that time, if it exists? | [
{
"answer": "Sleep onset has associated amnesia that is normal as you transition to sleep. The amount of amnesia though, is variable. This is why you never remember when you fall asleep. Although generally sleep and wake is considered mutually exclusive, that is not always the case. So sometimes there is some... | null |
2c39kv | How did Africans in the occupied part of North Africa react to WWII fighting between the Axis and the Allies? | [
{
"answer": "Just popping in here to recommend a great Egyptian film called \"Alexandria... Why?\" (\"Iskandariyah... lih?\") (1979) that focuses on Egyptian responses to the threat of a Nazi invasion while living under a British occupation. The big question the movie asks (which I believe is a dominant narrati... | null |
6lc7t6 | How do we know the life expectancy of insects? | [
{
"answer": "Insect life expectancy is generally based on lab studies. You can do it in the field, but you need the insect you're studying to be common so that you can find multiple individuals reliably and track their population's life cycle.\n\nTracking and tagging insects is a pain in the butt and most inse... | null |
45rpgn | Why is Chinese called Sino | [
{
"answer": "It comes from the Latin word Sinae, Latin for Chinese. Precisely from this derivation:\n\n > The terms \"sinology\" and \"sinologist\" were coined around 1838,[2] and use \"sino-\", derived from Late Latin Sinae from the Greek Sinae, from the Arabic Sin which in turn may derive from Qin, as in th... | null |
yvbwj | vmware - what is it? how do i set one up? | [
{
"answer": "VMWare is a software which let's you set up a virtual machine. *Virtual* means that it doesn't really exist e.g. there is no real hardware you could touch. \n\nThis software will use resources of your actual computer to create the virtual machine. This implies that it can be only a little less powe... | null |
1046ug | How does a real life "warp drive" work, how can we provide the energy needed for it, and will it be possible to develop this technology with regards to space travel within our lifetime? | [
{
"answer": " > How does a real life \"warp drive\" work,\n\nThere's no reason to believe any such thing is physically possible in our universe. So-called \"warp drives\" are the sorts of things that you can force out of Einstein's equations (or, in more recent versions, our of certain speculative string models... | null |
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