id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
r7kw3 | Steven Hawking's, in In To The Universe, just claimed that 10 minutes after the big bang the cosmos was already thousands of light-years in diameter; how can this be possible? | [
{
"answer": "Expansion isn't measured in speed. The distances between two galaxies may increase due to expansion at such a rate that from Galaxy A's perspective, Galaxy B recedes at a \"velocity\" greater than the speed of light, but the key here is that it's not a real velocity. Nothing is actually moving. It'... | null |
1jhf8f | why are ahmadiyya muslims, who appear in the news when they are either helping a community or being murdered, hated by the muslim community? | [
{
"answer": "Because Ahmadiyya represents a threat to the status quo and to the powers of the mullahs and politicians who use their false interpretations of islam for personal gain. Ahmadis are utterly peaceful and are only shown violence and oppression by the rest of the muslim world. Right away any rational p... | null |
5tdewh | when did blue became the standard color for ball pens? | [
{
"answer": "It really isn't the standard, but there's many reasons why it could be preferred by companies that manufacture pens. Here are some explanations.\n\nFor one, blue ink is distinguishable. If you're printing out a paper in greyscale, blue ink will stick out on the paper. This is especially important f... | null |
5jsasn | how do we know anything about the unobservable universe? | [
{
"answer": "We don't *know* much about the unobservable universe. It's unobservable.\n\nThat said, we *do* know stuff about the observable universe, *and* the fact that the unobservable universe comes from the observable one.\n\nSo we can predict pretty well that the unobservable universe follows the same rule... | null |
fnhvqt | how do ventilators help people breathe and are they complicated to manufacture? | [
{
"answer": "They work by forcing air in and out of the lungs. Ventilation can be made using a machine or manually using a bag-valve-mask (BVM) device.\n\nThe main idea is to keep a good flow of air in and out and to ensure that a sufficient amount of the lungs is actually in use to allow the transfer of oxyge... | null |
3vehtr | If heat and sound are both vibrations of molecules, what's the thing separating them? | [
{
"answer": "There isn't really a clear dividing line, but heat energy is more random and represents energy that has spread out among all possible vibration modes, while a traveling sound wave will be more organized and concentrated in specific vibration modes. As sound dissipates into heat the energy spreads o... | null |
10fd3t | Historically, have we ever hit a "peak oil" like situation with other commodities? What should we expect? | [
{
"answer": "Jareed Diamond wrote a book \"Collapse\" that provides some case studies on similar situations. Deforestation caused enviromental problems that led to the collapse of the Mayan civilization. The Mayan city states fought harder wars with each other as the compe... | null |
e9ruqs | common themes in latin american colonialism | [
{
"answer": "The comparison between the late 20th century and the early 16th century is quite difficult to make. For earlier periods, there are individual cases (such as William Walker in Nicaragua in the 1850s) where so-called \"filibusters\" behaved almost exactly like conquistadors. They came from abroad wit... | null |
41hihm | why do dogs have random patches of differently colored fur? | [
{
"answer": "The hair color is determine by two different genes and when the genes are differenr both of the genes get expressed fully (e.g. black and white spots vs gray)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1681022",
"title": "Coat ... | null |
3mcbng | Did the U.S. have any election irregularities in its early days? | [
{
"answer": "The Broad Seal War comes to mind. In the election of 1838, there was a difficulty with the election results from New Jersey. At the time, elections for New Jersey congressional representatives were determined by vote taken from the entire state. NJ had no congressional districts and no electors. Th... | null |
13aocq | the period between donating blood | [
{
"answer": "Based on averages and to be safe. \n\nThe cost, time and effort to take exactly the maximum safe amount of blood at the soonest possible time would be inefficient. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "1. No, it is not necessary all the time. A friend of mine was often allowed to donate... | null |
aua6pe | why doesnt black absorb all light? | [
{
"answer": "Black obsorbs all colours equally, but not 100% of everything. \"blacker\" black obsorbs more.\n\nAlso a surface can have texture that changes how it reflect light, compare a shiny black glass vs a slightly rippled textured black keyboard vs really matte black paint.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
c3xmxd | how does a turtle’s shell grow while the turtle grows? what is it made of? | [
{
"answer": "The shell is made up of panel-like things called scutes. With most types of turtles, these scutes shed periodically to allow bigger scutes to form. They are made out of keratin - same as human hair & nails.\n\nSource: I’m a turtle fan.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Turtle shell... | null |
2j62af | Can there be incomplete annihilation? | [
{
"answer": "Protons and neutrons contain more than just 3 quarks. There are gluons holding them together, gluons interacting with other gluons, and gluons can spontaneously form temporary quark-antiquark pairs (called \"sea quarks\").\n\nThe 3 permanent quarks are called valence quarks. They give the particle ... | null |
3kdjgm | the difference between adverbs and adverbials. | [
{
"answer": "An adverb is a word, an adverbial is a group of words, phrase or clause which acts as an adverb.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "239517",
"title": "Adverbial",
"section": "Section::::The form of adverbials.\n... | null |
288mav | difference between marxism and cultural marxism? | [
{
"answer": "**Marxism** - The ELI5 version is that economics dominates and explains human society. Specifically, by looking at how capital is distributed you can explain and predict how society will be organized. It also predicts, based on history and a particular view on how technology will develop, that on... | null |
5n8b0f | why do cities and towns "stagger" stoplights so that no matter your timing you'll always be caught at a light? | [
{
"answer": "So you don't speed? Maybe....",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are a lot of different ways that traffic lights are controlled. In some cases the goal is to create \"waves\" of traffic that go through multiple green lights. And of course there are detectors that wait for vehicl... | null |
fao4ut | how does “night mode” work for iphone pictures? | [
{
"answer": "It keeps the shutter open a little longer to allow more light in. It mixes that with some digital brightening that makes some noise, so depending on the situation, it takes 2 or a few photos and combines them and it puts those photos on top of each other and the artificial intelligence does its thi... | null |
ja999 | Why are so many organic molecules yellow or orangish? | [
{
"answer": "In my limited experience (Chemistry undergrad, BioPhysics grad school work), the smaller ring structures and smaller conjugated bond paths absorb larger amounts of energy (the blue, purple, green, etc), which means that the energy that passes through the solution is what's left, (the orange, red, y... | null |
2sqvn2 | Were stone carvings in ancient, medieval, or renaissance sculptures painted or colored? | [
{
"answer": "Frequently, yes.\n\nAncient sculptures were almost always painted. Here's an article about how traces of this paint can be detected scientifically: _URL_3_\n\nHere's a reconstruction of what classical sculptures might have looked like originally, when painted: _URL_4_\n\nAnd here's an older article... | null |
4sh31d | Would it be possible to build a predictive model of chemistry? | [
{
"answer": "Density functional theory (DFT) does this quite well by solving the quantum mechanical calculations for molecules or materials. Often it is predictive, but not perfect in most cases.\n\n_URL_0_ has a huge database of material compautations, and works towards predicting performance in batteries, The... | null |
6jditc | how are you supposed to know if a self diagnosed mental illness isn't just the placebo effect? | [
{
"answer": "Its easy...a self diagnosed mental illness isnt the placebo effect. It cant be. The Placebo Effectis a beneficial effect, produced by a placebo drug or treatment, that cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient's belief in that treatment. ... | null |
2b0iaj | how do people die from strangulation but wake up from being choked / knocked out? | [
{
"answer": "Because when you choke someone out in a martial arts setting, or knock them unconscious, you immediately cease the attack and allow them to recover. I promise, if you continued your choke for even a fairly short period of time after they pass out, you are likely going to kill them or severely injur... | null |
mg2tv | What is located in the area that would otherwise be a uterus if a man were a woman? | [
{
"answer": "The base of the penis is where the vagina would be, the prostate is roughly where the cervix would be and the bladder is where the body of the uterus would be (the male bladder is larger).\n\nThe non pregnant uterus is not that big, about the size of a clenched fist.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
4jmf4k | why do modern ultraportable laptops only have a 32/64gb ssd, when netbooks, which were even smaller, commonly had 120gb hard drives? | [
{
"answer": "Those larger hard drives were mechanical drives which compared to SSD's, are very slow and more prone to damage since it's getting bumped around all the time. \n\nSSD's of the same size (or higher) go up significantly in price.\n\nIt's a mix between improving speed and keeping costs low.",
"pro... | null |
31fou1 | since it's illegal for children to purchase cigarettes, why isn't forcing 2nd hand smoke on them also illegal? | [
{
"answer": "I agree the it should be stopped, but how would you enforce it",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The only way it'll stop is when society matures enough that either no one smokes, or everyone who does smoke doesn't do it in a situation where it affects anyone else.",
"provenance":... | null |
4betbw | what makes guitars that expensive? | [
{
"answer": "Can be vintage, or workmanship in general. High priced manufacturers (PRS) are known for good sustain, and of course the art that may be put into it. I'm not much of a player, but this I know",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Guitars are actually among the cheapest, most mass-produc... | null |
9ol35i | g-force - what is it and how does it injure/kill? | [
{
"answer": "G-Force is just a shorthand way of referring to a force using the force of gravity as a reference. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nSo 1G is the same as the force we feel due to gravity. This feels like almost no force at all because we feel it act on us all the time. 2Gs would be twice the normal force of gravi... | null |
2vog4p | Why does Turner's syndrome have any effects at all? | [
{
"answer": "Even though one X chromosome is transformed into a Barr body, some of its genes are still expressed. They're called the [pseudoautosomal regions](_URL_0_), of which there are two. The article linked contains a section on Turner syndrome and its probable pathology.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
n39pp | How is this possible!? | [
{
"answer": "In the past there have been people who have been revived after a hour underwater. Some time ago I was watching a lifeguard show, and they claimed that once an hour pasts of a person missing in water it becomes a search and recover, not search and rescue. All I could find on the subject was this [ar... | null |
2bumvk | why does the usa still have an embargo against cuba? | [
{
"answer": "The older Cuban-American generation is vehemently anti-communist and, therefore, very pro-Republican. They're adamantly opposed to lifting the embargo. They're a powerful constituency group within the Republican Party, and they happen to be centralized in a major battleground state.\n\nTL/DR: Ol... | null |
8i0a2r | if you are short-sighted, is it better for your eyes/eyesight to wear your glasses in front of a computer screen? | [
{
"answer": "Um, wut? I'd have to be 3 inches or less from the screen to read it. This is not a thing for me.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Anecdotal, but I'm near sighted, my vision starts to go blurry around the 8-10 foot mark. I typically wear my glasses at the computer, and find if I don'... | null |
2q2uwb | How do cold blooded animals cope in colder climates? Do they feel such things such as brain freeze? Is there any examples any cold blooded creatures living in the cold? | [
{
"answer": "Cold blooded animals are actually newly classified as endothermic organisms, such that they need to take in external energy in the form of heat in order to survive. Their blood is not cold, as the original classification would suggest. Therefore, in an absence of heat, they can not support metaboli... | null |
3nhbha | Did the Norse colonies of Greenland make contact with any Inuit tribes? If so were there any records of interaction? Conflict? Trade? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, the Norse called them *Skraelings*. The relationship between the Norse and the skraelings appears to have been mostly belligerent until the abandonment of the Greenland colonies.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You'll probably find [this post](_URL_0_) interesting; it contains... | null |
13y11l | why do video games ship with unused files and portions of code? | [
{
"answer": "Back when memory was a hot commodity, yes, it did take away and would've caused issues.\n\nToday, it's easy enough to fit a whole game onto a disc (or if you're downloading it, the size only matters insofar as how much space your client has). \n\nA lot of game companies work with pretty tight deadl... | null |
21rh6n | Why do some animals produce more offspring than other animals? | [
{
"answer": "Animals are grouped according to their reproductive strategy by r/K selection theory. r types tend to produce a lot of offspring, hoping that a few will survive. These animals tend to be smaller, lower on the food chain, or less complex organisms. Insects, fish, and rodents are good exampes of t... | null |
3yo98n | why is pirating more socially accepted than other copyright infringement crimes? | [
{
"answer": "It's a lot easier to do than other forms of copyright infringement. Not as many websites or services are dedicated to helping you do other things like counterfeiting. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is just a guess, but I think there's a perception amongst most folks that cer... | null |
7ic33u | why is it that most people can hold their breath for at least one minute, but if you’re ‘choked out’, you can go unconscious from lack of oxygen in roughly 10 seconds? | [
{
"answer": "a headlock restricts blood flow to your brain by blocking your artery. that has a far more immediate effect than holding your breath.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Chokeholds restrain your oxygen not your breath.\n\nThe pressure on one's neck forces too much blood flow to be tra... | null |
wr83h | - why a government would 'peg' a currency to, say, the us dollar, and why a less-valuable currency is better for foreign trade. | [
{
"answer": "A country might peg their currency to the US dollar if they like the US trading with them. Look at a country that has lots of goods they want to export. How much their currency is worth to other currencies makes little difference to citizens inside the country, so they can have a less valuable cu... | null |
37sasc | regarding ice (frozen water not the drug), why is there a white centre and a clear shell? | [
{
"answer": "As it freezes, air bubbles form and cause the cloudy appearance you're talking about. The bubbles come from gases dissolved in the water in its liquid state which are forced out as the water crystallizes.\n\n It's possible to freeze ice in a clear form by boiling it first, which liberates the disso... | null |
alpmp0 | cancer cure that scientists recently claimed to be one year away | [
{
"answer": "The treatment which the biotech company calls MuTaTo (multi-target toxin) is based on SoAP technology, which belongs to the phage display group of technologies.\n\nCEO of the biotech company Dr Ilan Morad said they started with identifying why other cancer-related drugs and treatment are not workin... | null |
52fzup | In calculating standard deviation, why do you square the variances instead of taking the absolute value of the variances? | [
{
"answer": "Using squares makes standard deviation much more sensitive to large errors. Assuming you have already weeded out clear outliers, this forces the best fit trendline (minimizing stdev) to actually fit all the data reasonably well, rather than fitting some data points really well, and others not well... | null |
6q6gay | how is it possible to get doom to run on so many devices that are not even purpose built as home computers, like the gps console on someone's car for instance? | [
{
"answer": "The original code for Doom was released to the public under an open source license. So anyone with enough knowledge of C and the APIs for those devices can reprogram Doom to run on them.\n\nNo idea how you got about running custom software on a GPS device though. It probably requires a bit of tinke... | null |
8r9j18 | why are monotremes considered mammals? | [
{
"answer": "There are more aspects that make a creature a mammal than live birth. Foremost is the presence of mammary glands that produce milk. Others are hair/fur covered bodies and being warm blooded. I'm sure there are more but my biology is quite rusty ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I di... | null |
1txn6q | how people sell movie scripts and who decides if it's a big budget movie? | [
{
"answer": "I can tell you one thing for sure--make sure your formatting is up to par with the genre you're writing. What are some that you've written so far? Who you pitch to might depend from there.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Studios receive scripts all the time. Someone, usually people... | null |
ot4za | Why does smoke from incense or cigarettes not (usually) set off smoke alarms? | [
{
"answer": "Alarm Company Employee\n\n\nDetectors fall in to 3 categories.\n\n\nGeneric Smoke - These are the old style ones that your cigarettes could set off. The respond to any smoke in the air.\n\n\nHeat - These have an IR sensor in them that looks for a heat signature in the room (Usually used in commerci... | null |
3662xv | Why does plaque always come out a yellowish-white color, regardless of the color of food you've eaten? | [
{
"answer": "Dental plaque is a biofilm of bacteria, not a buildup of food particles, and as such the color depends on the type of bacteria not the type of food. From what I understand, dental issues are generally a result of the high amount of carbohydrates (i.e. sugars) that we consume. Therefore I would assu... | null |
84lozz | For Scandinavians' and Germanics' mythology: | [
{
"answer": "I can't really help with your questions, but I can definitely give you some recommendations: you'll want both the Edda and the Poetic Edda for Norse/Scandinavian mythology as well as historical epics like Beowulf and *The Saga of the Volsungs* translated by Jesse L. Byock. The prose Edda is on Proj... | null |
9h1oef | just saw a video where a snowmobile accelerates really quickly in a drag race setting. a commenter said part of the reason is it's cvt transmission . what is that? | [
{
"answer": "Continuously Variable Transmission. Polaris has been using them for ages:\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "84130",
"title": "Centrifugal governor",
"section": "Section::::Operation.:Non-gravitation... | null |
d9r0ti | What did contemporary political maps of Warlord era China look like? Did they just mark the Republic of China, with pre-warlord borders, or did they update it at all? Did this vary depending on where the map was made? | [
{
"answer": "So, I wont be able to answer this question in full, mainly because anyone is gonna have a hard time finding maps of warlord-era China. It's just, as you said, a period of total chaos where China really is a failing state. I tried looking into it quickly online, but to no avail - I couldn't find any... | null |
58gh79 | why do we still not have bold, italics and underlined keyboard options for typing on mobile devices? | [
{
"answer": "There is no standardized method to send font styles via SMS. Apple, could for example, enable it on all their devices, but then what would happen if the user sends a bold message to an Android phone? Android wont know what to do with the extra information and it will just display it as plain text.\... | null |
5vf24p | why does the world need money? | [
{
"answer": "Because after many tries and experiments, people found that it was really, really inconvenient to buy a water buffalo with skittles. Just as an example.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's an easy way to make an indirect trade. Rather than be paid in potatoes or grain or whateve... | null |
1m3g9s | Does the temperature of the earths core contribute at all to sustaining normal/livable temperatures on the surface. If so, why or why not? | [
{
"answer": "On the *surface*—well, no. Sunlight + atmosphere + surface composition = *weather*, and this is what defines temperature, humidity, winds, etc. Contribution from inside of the Earth is just too small to be measurable in the global scale. \nHowever, if you dig a mine deep enough, you will actually f... | null |
5sstpc | why does food taste worse when you eat a lot of it at one time? | [
{
"answer": "I assume you mean is if you eat the same thing over and over, in that case, it is because you are not getting all the nutrients your body needs from that particular food; thus making your body \"tired\" of eating it. Or it could be from getting too much of a type of nutrient. Its like the opposite ... | null |
2d5z7k | How do we know Proxima Centauri is the closest star? | [
{
"answer": "For very close stars, we can examine their paralax due to the Earth's orbit as seen [here](_URL_0_).\n\nWe measure where on the sky a star is and then measure where it is again 6 months later. Because the Earth is now on the opposite side of the Sun, the star will appear to have moved. We can use t... | null |
3xz7rg | How acceptable was it to support the IRA in America around 1981? | [
{
"answer": "Thanks to the strong tradition of free speech in the US, of course one *could* express any number of opinions. But I get the sense you are asking what the range of expressed opinions was. \n\nWith regard to the hunger strike itself, there was support for the hunger strikers at a relatively high lev... | null |
1pw1ue | why do we continue drinking alcohol, when it continually causes problems for everyone? | [
{
"answer": "Prohibition caused even more problems so they had to give the booze back. Meanwhile, special interests have been pressuring the government to control alternative intoxicants to protect their various interests for about a century which has led to so many other prohibitions. A lot of these other su... | null |
19fj4l | - how doomed are we in america with the sequestration thing? | [
{
"answer": "Well its almost certainty happening. However the country isn't doomed. Most of the effects wont be felt for another month and the places that do feel them will be very specific.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "$85,000,000,000 of $3,800,000,000,000\n\nTake 9 zeros from both sides, i... | null |
1i5h3z | why some foods completely unrelated to animals contain fat (olives, nuts, avocado), please. | [
{
"answer": "Ok, fats are a wide group of compounds that are generally insoluble in water (they won't mix, rather they'll form a greasy layer on top/bottom), and are well defined as Triglycerides. \n\nA triglyceride is just the name given to a molecule thats made up of a glycerol molecule, and three Fatty Acid ... | null |
2re6r2 | what are some scientific explanations for well known cases of 'supernatural' phenomena? | [
{
"answer": "**Physical**\n\n* [Carbon monoxide poisoning](_URL_5_) can cause feelings of dread, auditory and visual hallucinations and illness\n* Expansion and contraction of materials in a house as it heats up and cools down throughout the day can cause noises such as creaks, groans, clicks and bangs, and can... | null |
31oq0s | why current religious freedom laws are considered so objectionable. | [
{
"answer": "It's objectionable because most people believe society should be beyond this. Let's take the statements that are said about not serving gays and change the word to \"blacks.\" \n\nNow the RFRA laws can't work that way because African-American people are a legally protected class, and LGBT people ... | null |
7ynwqu | how do sprints change your body versus jogging? | [
{
"answer": "Sprinting builds cardio and explosion in a shorter amount of time, it also burns fat for longer. Whereas, long distance cardio can improve cardio but not explosiveness it also takes longer. So you can get better results, running harder sprints than longer distance.",
"provenance": null
},
{... | null |
8m9oiq | how is it ok for the usa to try to force other nations to denuclearize even though we maintain a nuclear arsenal that is capable of destroying the world. | [
{
"answer": "We have signed onto denuclearization and test ban treaties and have complied with them. We have dismantled hoards of nuclear weapons. It isn't the US trying to force countries to denuclearize, it's the international community that recognizes dangerous regimes that support terrorism and threaten the... | null |
1q668l | what on earth is wwe wrestling about | [
{
"answer": "Hey... uh... you know all those movies and TV shows you watch? They're not real either. You still watch those despite knowing it's acting, don't you?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's just entertainment. I'm not a fan but I can appreciate the athleticism that some of those guys... | null |
3w35y5 | Why did 4 year liberal arts educations become popular in the United States? | [
{
"answer": "Your question actually needs to be flipped around: when did other countries *stop* insisting upon a liberal arts foundation.\n\nThe modern university system was born in the Latin (European) Middle Ages, in Paris and Bologna. The medieval curriculum was founded on the liberal arts: the *trivium* of ... | null |
1zuc5z | why can't i goto a doctor 2x a year and just get screened for every disease and eliminate the risk of cancer/etc? | [
{
"answer": "If you had the money you could. But no insurance company or universal health care would cover that. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Most tests for diseases are not 100% accurate. These tests normally don't detect the actual presence of a certain virus or bacteria, but test for cer... | null |
8ejhsl | why do you get really thirsty after eating chocolate/sweets? | [
{
"answer": "Your body uses tons of water to regulate blood sugar. This is also why a night of binging on candy will make you «hung over» the next morning, you are really dehydrated",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I believe it has to do with your blood sugar being elevated. One way your body el... | null |
knvhh | As an enthusiast of astrophysics, and one who is out of the loop, I would love to know about quantum fluctuations. | [
{
"answer": "They arise from the fact that any system cannot have zero energy. The lowest state in quantum mechanics, the ground state, is a non-zero energy that due to the Uncertainty Principle has a chance to be found at higher energies than the expectation value of that energy. \n\n_URL_0_\nThe introduction ... | null |
uq90f | If you were locked up and only had access to 1 litre of water, how should you comsume it in order to survive the longest? | [
{
"answer": "Before drinking any of it, store your urine if it's dilute. You're probably pretty hydrated already, so you'll be losing a lot of water through there. When your urine starts to get darker(Probably only after 1 piss), stop, and start drinking small amounts of water. Concentrated urine will be very b... | null |
613nkb | a bill was passed to remove internet privacy regulations today , what does that mean really ? | [
{
"answer": "My take on it would be to eliminate piracy, no more GBA Roms and free e-books for me. Some could say it's for the protection against terrorists but really, the TSA hasn't done anything and neither will monitoring 5 million people named Mohammad.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Basi... | null |
11qakd | why are some classical compositions titled like standard songs (moonlight sonata) and some are... not (overture no. 2 in b minor) | [
{
"answer": "The 'modern' names are often added *after the fact*, and usually have nothing to do with the actual composer.\n\nFor example, the \"Moonlight Sonata\" **isn't** really called the \"Moonlight Sonata\" at all. It's official name is \"Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# Minor. Opus 27, No 2\".\n\n5 years after ... | null |
1wbcg6 | For Americans in WWII, did your geographic location determine which front you were sent to? For example, were Californians sent to the Pacific while New Yorkers sent to Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Nisei (American of Japanese heritage) were regularly deployed to the European theater out of a fear that the troops would turn against the U.S. if deployed in the Pacific. While National Guard units were often kept together, everything else would routinely be pulled from all over the country.",
... | null |
eshees | What did happen to the Lincoln Battalion survivors when they came back home in 1939? | [
{
"answer": "First things first - on the question of how the volunteers were received at home, I have written [this answer previously](_URL_0_), which I think covers most of your second group of questions.\n\nThe first set of questions isn't really covered there though, and is interesting ground for me to write... | null |
13yi61 | What animals have an Amygdala? | [
{
"answer": "All vertebrates have roughly the same set of cortical organs, and many vertebrate brain structures have homologs in invertebrates. \n\nThe harder part of answering your question is what you mean by \"larger.\" This gets into very complicated comparative anatomy. Do you mean \"has more cells,\" \"... | null |
1gfnye | What causes sunscreen to lose potency over time after application? | [
{
"answer": "It has always been my understanding that over time it is washed off or worn away by water/sweat/rubbing (like wiping your eyes to get water off takes a little sunscreen with it).\nMy dad (the protective doctor) has always recommended re application every 3-4 hours if you are just outdoors and every... | null |
6xt96j | how do astronauts travel between the earth and the iss? | [
{
"answer": "Currently only the Russian Soyuz spacecraft transport astronauts to and from the ISS (Prior to 2011 the Space Shuttle also fulfilled this role for the US, and in the next few years SpaceX and Boeing will provide US with manned spaceflight capabilities again.) The Soyuz carries up to 3 astronauts to... | null |
27iap6 | Artisans in the early middle ages | [
{
"answer": "Military equipment crafting is definitely something that didn't die out because of the necessity, even in places like Britain where civilian production of what was previously common items like wheeled pottery disappeared. The increasing militarization of society in all levels in Europe and the nee... | null |
3c891s | what happens to old crinkly dollar bills? | [
{
"answer": "Stores will send them to a bank. Then that bank will give old and damaged bills/coins to the mint/bill printing place. The coins and bills will get destroyed and new one will be made to replace them.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedi... | null |
9ae596 | why do companies like verizon work so hard to limit customers internet usage? | [
{
"answer": "Money. They don’t want to invest in infrastructure so they throttle customers to save costs.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "To reduce there cost and income and incrase profit.\n\nData usage in mobile networks cost money. It is not the cost to send the data as the only cost then is... | null |
rkatu | the difference between shifting gears on an automatic and on a manual. bonus: how does it relate to bicycle gears? | [
{
"answer": "For automatic, going faster makes the car automatically increase gears. In manual, you increase it yourself with a gearstick as you get higher revs.\n\nThe main advantage of automatic is you only have to focus on the road really, not gear switching(althougha fter a few months of manual driving the ... | null |
c343mr | when watching a live sports broadcast, why does radio tend to deliver audio feeds a few seconds before transmitted via television? why are they not equally quick? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nGives the broadcaster time to delete nudity, profanity, or anything else they don't want going to air.\n\nWith radio, it's just the play by play guys on the microphone. Far less likely for something unwanted to go to air, so they don't need to worry about it.",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
h37bu | If I have a direct line of light to a galaxy that is on the edge of our observable universe, what would I see as time progresses? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on the precise expansion rate of the Universe. For some Universes (such as those dominated by matter or by radiation), we can see more and more distant objects as time goes on. For other Universes (mostly those with accelerating expansions, so this includes our present situation) closer ... | null |
n3x98 | how can a 64-bit minecraft world seed create an infinite world? | [
{
"answer": "Well, for starters it isn't infinite, but it's basically infinite because you couldn't travel it in all your life.\n\nFrom Wikipedia: A 64-bit register can store 2^64 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 different values, a number in excess of 18 quintillion.\n\nWhich is a really big number.",
"provena... | null |
1bevul | china's ghost cities | [
{
"answer": "[23rd Aug 2012, from this subreddit](_URL_0_)\n\n[22nd May 2011, from TIL](_URL_1_)\n\nSame video in both",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When I visited several years ago I asked the same question and got a somewhat satisfactory answer. Basically the Chinese Government has built t... | null |
1ul3k8 | how could a world without money function. | [
{
"answer": "Barter system. You'd trade things for other things. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As our economy is built? It couldn't. But you can actually see some examples for real: generally, a standardized currency falls out even when no money is imposed. For example, Diablo II had an ent... | null |
5t62ja | what are the main reasons for most of the worlds population (non british colonised countries) wanting to learn english? | [
{
"answer": "A good portion of the world's largest corporations are based in English speaking countries. A good portion of the world's scientific and medical research is written in English. A majority of the most popular movies that are released world wide, are released in English. No matter where you travel in... | null |
2pn3g1 | why does my apple iphone require that i have at least 4.5 gb of storage available in order to update? | [
{
"answer": "The files you download in the update must be decompressed before being permanently installed. A 500 MB download could easily decompress into a couple of gigabytes or more.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "25970423",
... | null |
1rs82k | How do you calculate the amount of rocket fuel needed for a specific weight? | [
{
"answer": " > The problem that I am encountering is that the more fuel (liquid or solid) I end up needing more fuel to compensate for the pervious amount of fuel added.\n\nThat's because that's exactly how it is. I can't remember exactly what it's described as, but it's a well known problem with rockets. \n\n... | null |
3iufyr | Why does hot water rapidly cool when poured into a glass that contains salt? | [
{
"answer": "Enthalpy of dissolution is the energy required to dissolve something in a solvent. This energy is taken from the surroundings thus cooling the solution. \n\nThere is also a lattice energy iirc and this releases energy so there would be a sum.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
53pn4r | Did the British paratroopers use a different helmet than regular infantry during WWII? | [
{
"answer": "British airborne forces did indeed use a different helmet design, starting with a small number of [\"P\" Type helmets] (_URL_2_) in 1942 followed by the \"[Helmet, Steel, Airborne Troops Mark I] (_URL_4_)\" and [Mark II] (_URL_0_).\n\n(Photos from ParaData, which has [a page on airborne headgear] ... | null |
21cybr | At the beginning of WWI, why was the German army so much more professional/organized/effective than the French or English armies? | [
{
"answer": "There's no denying the efficiency of the German mobilization which is likely what you're referring to. To understand this you have to understand the Schlieffen Plan. The Schlieffen Plan was the plan created out of necessity because of Germany's position in the early 20th century. They were essentia... | null |
305b40 | how much do views from services like hulu and netflix count toward helping a show stay on air? | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't really help at all.\n\nIn order for a show to stay on the air, it has to be profitable for the network that orders the show.\n\nSo, if there's a show called \"Americas Next Top Wizard\", produced by Sony, and aired on CBS, then CBS needs to make enough money through advertising revenue t... | null |
4ypi0k | Why was Nestorianism so readily accepted by Churches in the East, yet rejected to the West? | [
{
"answer": "This is a great, but really big question! I'll attempt an answer here, but with the understanding that the acceptance and rejection of Nestorianism goes along lines both theological and political. \n\nFirstly, some background for those unfamiliar. Nestorios was installed as Patriarch of Constantino... | null |
5q5bj1 | What was Nazi Art and Architecture like in the 1930's? | [
{
"answer": "Architecture was an important part of the representation, with a goal to impress by ever larger plans, most of which never saw fruition due to the start of the war.\n\nHitler was especially interested in architecture and formed a close bond with Albert Speer (who would later become a cabinet member... | null |
4qo68j | it's so dark near pluto, how was new horizons able to take a picture? | [
{
"answer": "Believe it or not, it's not actually that dark near Pluto. The sunlight is very weak compared to what we are used to, but in terms of brightness it's around 250 times brighter than a full moon on earth. \n \nCheck out [This Article](_URL_0_) for a run down of the basic maths involved.",
"prov... | null |
5x22up | Had a question in Physics class; I got one answer, teacher got another. Can someone explain where I am wrong? | [
{
"answer": "You are correct.\n\nTo see this, consider the following thought experiment. Someone is standing on the riverside and as soon as the boat pass him, he throws a small rubber duck into the river right next to the boat. The river will take the rubber duck with it at the speed it is flowing.\n\n1 second... | null |
1ty8lw | Are battle depictions of one or two extremely skilled swordsmen that kill dozens of men, while thousands of poorly trained infantrymen that usually die true? | [
{
"answer": "The most important things to remember about battles is that if you're alone you're dead. Skill definitely plays a role, but so does morale, equipment and luck. The last two I think are most important - a good armour allows one to face many opponents and deal with them. And will save you when a bunc... | null |
2n653u | why do i never have to poop when i'm on vacation or camping, but as soon as i come home, i'm taking the biggest shit of my life within minutes? | [
{
"answer": "I'm no poop expert but I think it's a territorial thing. Think about our evolutionary ancestors. They were comfortable and safe pooping in familiar territory. If they were on a hunt for a Wooly Mammoth or something, the act of pooping would put them in a vulnerable position.",
"provenance": nul... | null |
2qyjw0 | how can people lose consciousness when a cabin or area depressurizes? can't you hold your breath for several minutes if you need to? | [
{
"answer": "If you hold your (pressurized) breath in a rapid depressurization, you may get an air embolism and die. Basically, the air in your lungs rapidly expands and tears your lungs and the air escaping through the tears can kill you. Unconsciousness due to low oxygen takes longer to kill you. If you don't... | null |
yv67d | what is light, wavelengths, and how do we see colour? | [
{
"answer": "The eye contains cells called \"rods\" and \"cones\" that sense certain wavelengths of light. The brain interprets those signals as color, depending on the wavelength determines what color you see...\n\nAn interesting thing is the colors Pink/Maroon in that area don't actually exist in nature. th... | null |
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