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21ddn5
How has Hitler's "Mein Kampf" been used by historians? How has it been misused by others?
[ { "answer": " I'm going to give one, fairly well known to historians, example. A.J.P. Taylor famously did not read Mein Kampf, and discounted both its importance for understanding Hitler and any correlation between what Hitler wrote and his later actions. \n\n I should note that this is an example of misuse...
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3to58x
Does conservation of momentum violate the conservation of energy?
[ { "answer": "No. Energy and momentum are always conserved, but remember that momentum is a vector quantity with a direction, thus in your example the total momentum of both objects must remain zero (10-10=0) but that the individual momenta of each object need not be zero.\n\nIt is then important to determine wh...
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xq5r7
Astrobiologists of Reddit, What would life in a gas giant probably look like?
[ { "answer": "\n > Could life evolve in a gas giant and would it have to live on the core or could it live in the clouds? \n\nCould life evolve? This is an unknown. We only have one instance of life to compare it to. There is speculation that it could. \n > What kind of chemistry would it have to have and wha...
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1bma3c
how does the alpha magnetic spectrometer detect dark matter?
[ { "answer": "This is probably not going to be put in terms simple enough for strictly adhering to this sub-reddit's mantra (explained as if you were five years old). Oh well, I tried. :|\n\nDark matter backstory, short version: By watching the motion of the cosmos, specifically, other galaxies, and even clust...
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1vjekj
Is carbonated water still acidic after it has gone flat?
[ { "answer": "'Flat' carbonated water is just water that is no longer supersaturated with carbon dioxide. It would still contain some residual CO2, depending on temperature, and would therefore still be very slightly acidic (ph 6 or so).\nI'm not sure what you mean by still water. If you are talking about distil...
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j8hjp
christianity
[ { "answer": "This is a good question, and this will be a long answer! I'll try to hit on all the major points, and if you have any more questions I can try to answer them later. Keep in mind, there are a lot of different Christians with a lot of different ideas, so other people might give different answers on s...
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1t71qf
How was "detective" work, or any crime-solving endeavor, carried out in the ancient world?
[ { "answer": "Quoting myself from a previous answer to a similar question:\n\nIt depends on what you mean by police.\n\nIn Ancient Greece, city-states had publicly owned slaves who acted as a police force. They kept order and controlled prisoners, but they didn't investigate crimes. Most crimes were considered a...
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adcxq2
how do motion-sickness bracelets work?
[ { "answer": "It's actually not known. Some think it's a placebo, some think there's something real about the acupressure.\n\n\nThey do work. _URL_0_", "provenance": null }, { "answer": null, "provenance": [ { "wikipedia_id": "27508128", "title": "Hologram bracelet", ...
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6gulic
i bought magic the gathering and i seriously cannot figure out how to play it. youtube video after video isn't helping.
[ { "answer": "Take a look at the sidebar over at /r/magictcg - it has lots of great resources for new players.\n\nI also think that the best way to learn the game currently is to download the Magic Duels app on your phone/steam and play that. It introduces the rules to you slowly.", "provenance": null }, ...
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5mrvkr
why can we feel sound waves, but not light waves?
[ { "answer": "You can feel light waves. Go stand outside on a bright day. It's a lot hotter in the sun than the shade, no? You just feel light in a different way than sound (usually, you feel infrared light the most, which feels like heat).", "provenance": null }, { "answer": null, "provenance": ...
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5x73f8
In ancient Rome, what would happen if I needed my appendix out?
[ { "answer": "First, it would be important to look at the diet in Rome (understanding that Rome's history lasted a millennium and while many things changed, including medical practices, diet would have remained relatively unchanged). Grain and cereal was a large part of the diet and as a consequence so was fiber...
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1gi8jo
From our vantage point, is there anywhere in the univers that galaxies are still forming?
[ { "answer": "When we look really far away we do see galaxies forming.", "provenance": null }, { "answer": null, "provenance": [ { "wikipedia_id": "12558", "title": "Galaxy", "section": "Section::::Observation history.:Distinction from other nebulae.\n", "sta...
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6rtt1d
how do small bands/record labels afford to send bands overseas to play live music?
[ { "answer": "Many american bands can, and do make FAR more money playing overseas than the do in the US, in fact, thats where they really make their money, in Asia and Europe. They play a ton of shows, and the clubs and festivals are willing to pay them much more than american counterparts. You might be surpris...
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88kbr2
Why did Ned Kelly's armour work against firearms, but medieval steel plate didn't?
[ { "answer": "The response to crossbows appears to have been to make better armour. When powerful crossbows were common, the best armour was crossbow-proofed (i.e., successfully tested against crossbows).\n\nThe response to firearms was first, do nothing, since crossbow-proof armour stopped (i.e., had a good cha...
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3i9s2t
what's so bad about germany's economy?
[ { "answer": "Germany has a stronger export economy than most of the rest of Europe. This is perceived by some people as keeping the exchange rate of the Euro higher against international currencies than it should be; a lower cost Euro is seen as beneficial to countries like Spain and Greece which are heavily re...
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c5ecrc
Why isn't Rubidium yielded from U-235 Fission?
[ { "answer": "The atomic numbers of the fission fragments don't necessarily have to add up to the Z of the original nucleus. When fission occurs, the uranium nucleus splits into two heavy fission fragments, and some number of light particles, which could be protons, neutrons, alpha particles, or whatever. \n\nSo...
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2eqyhq
Why doesn't fly spray kill humans?
[ { "answer": "Honestly it is a case of dose:body mass ratio. The weight of flies varies a lot based on side, type etc, but 10-20mg is common. When you spray an area even if the entire spray is only 1mg of active ingredient (the example on the wiki you posted is dichlorvos - an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor) eno...
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fjye83
How young did Venetians typically join the navy? Was there a difference between merchant and wartime fleets?
[ { "answer": "I am not sure what you mean by \"Republican period\" but I can give an answer for 15th around the \"peak\" of Venetian naval strength.\n\nFirst to briefly describe the Venetian 'navy'. It consisted of state owned galleys (few if any sail ships were such state-owned) of usually two types: the mercha...
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4jokys
why do so many people enjoy watching videos of pimples being popped?
[ { "answer": "I am going to throw one out there and say that it is hardwired into the brain like many other traits that make up out collection of self-preservation instincts.\n\nGenerally Dopamine is released as a reward for doing things beneficial to staying alive... Exercising, eating, childcare, pets and fire...
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22voob
what's the fuss with purified water?
[ { "answer": "They're the same thing. Water is water. Some brands add (or, more often, don't bother to filter out) minerals that are good to you, but can often have a \"dirty\" taste. ", "provenance": null }, { "answer": null, "provenance": [ { "wikipedia_id": "1268562", "ti...
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2pyidn
why would anyone want to limit or reduce the funding/laws towards the environment.
[ { "answer": "Several reasons: \n- Personal profit and short-term thinking; \n- Not believing that the problems are real; \n- Believing that market forces will solve the problems (generally accompanied by a belief that government intervention is a bad thing in just about everything); \n- An expectati...
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8g1jco
How did indigenous cultures, European colonists, or pre-electricity South Americans understand the power of the Electric Eel? Did they understand it as the same phenomenon as lightning, or something else?
[ { "answer": "/u/robinthebum wrote about it at _URL_0_\n\nThis is not to discourage more discussion. I'd love to see more data, debate, and questions.\n", "provenance": null }, { "answer": null, "provenance": [ { "wikipedia_id": "9550", "title": "Electricity", "sect...
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1uzh8u
Does heat radiation from metal radiate in all directions?
[ { "answer": "Such a complicated problem! _URL_0_ A simple quick answer for you is that since your pan is made up of two different materials, the thermal conductivity and amount of energy held by those materials is different and will be radiated off/exchanged at different rates and total amounts.\n\nThe heat cap...
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2ytmc1
why are feminists opposed to the thin, scantily clad, large chested female characters in video games, but not the 6' feet tall male models with six pack abs on the covers of romance novels?
[ { "answer": "Feminists focus on *female* rights. They rarely touch on male perceptions. ", "provenance": null }, { "answer": "Those depictions of men are power fantasies. Few women want to have breasts so big that their spines crumple over into a crescent moon shape, but big muscles are something ma...
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4ab3bw
Where did the Whites and Reds find the manpower and willing soldiers to engage in the Russian Civil War after the losses in World War I?
[ { "answer": "Good question. There are a couple of factors to take into account. The first thing is that much of the Russian Civil War was fought by fairly small forces. [According to PBS,](_URL_1_) Russia mobilized 12,000,000 soldiers during the First World War, lost 1,700,000 killed, 2,500,000 captured or M...
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emlx50
How does buoyancy work on a molecular level?
[ { "answer": "\"Kinetic theory\" may be the term you're looking for, if that helps you in future googling.\n\nSo, \"pressure\" is just the molecules smacking against each other, and applying forces to each other when they collide. The other main force they're feeling is gravity.\n\nIf these forces don't cancel o...
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vnjue
I want to read 12 history books in one year to know "all the things", what should be on the list?
[ { "answer": "The book that taught me most about the Weimar Republic and the two World Wars was *The Lost Revolution: Germany 1918 to 1923* by *Chris Harman*. From the publisher:\n\n*Without an understanding of this defeat, the great barbarisms that swept Europe*\n*in the 1930s cannot be understood. The swastika...
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3gd2zk
how are movies like the parent trap made when one actor plays multiple roles and their faces are seen together in the same shot?
[ { "answer": "One way of doing it is to shoot the scene twice without moving the camera. The first time, they shoot the scene when the actor plays the first role, the second time the second role. These two versions of the scene are then blended over each other.\n\nAnother version uses blue-screen in which one of...
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2wocjb
Why did the Scandinavian Norsemen write runes?
[ { "answer": "Despite their seemingly mundane and formulaic inscriptions, the raising of runestones in Late Viking-Age Sweden, particularly around Uppland, was a fashionable and calculated effort by (mostly) affluent locals to display their wealth, status and allegiance. The primarily Christian iconography and i...
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9hh11s
why is white pride racist, when no other "colour" pride is considered racist?
[ { "answer": "In general, the issue here is that when people say they have \"white\" pride, they are saying \"I am proud that I am not black.\" as opposed to people having pride in their specific heritage. No one has a problem with people having pride in being Irish, German, Italian, Polish. Those get celebrated...
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6jkxuy
Why has Country Music remained so white? What cultural and industry forces kept the genre that so willingly borrowed from blues, gospel, norteño, and mariachi so completely dominated by white artists and tied to white identity?
[ { "answer": "Hey y'all, \n\nIf you are a first time visitor, welcome! This thread is trending high right now and getting a lot of attention, but it is important to remember those upvotes represent interest in the question itself, and [it can often take time for a good answer to be written](_URL_4_). The mission...
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1rc5d4
During WWII, which Red Army unit was considered "elite"? Which was its most successful, and why?
[ { "answer": "The Red Army was very vast within the Second World War. Therefore there was a few different elite units. The major ones of these we're called Guard units. When an army proved itself as a well trained fighting force, they would get a Guard title attached to their title. One of the notable we're the...
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3s955c
how do kickstarter payments work? what prevents the receiver from just running away with the money?
[ { "answer": "To my knowledge, nothing stops them. In fact there have been numerous complaints of people never getting what they order off of Kickstarter. It's very much buyer beware. ", "provenance": null }, { "answer": "Nothing. You have no claim to anything when you donate. You aren't pre-ordering...
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6nq86m
why do we have to put oil in our cars, why can't we use another liquid like water?
[ { "answer": "Water boils at typical engine temperatures, isn't viscous enough to actually lubricate very well, and is highly corrosive to unprotected metal surfaces. It's about the worst common liquid you could use for this job.\n\nThe oil is there to coat and lubricate all the moving parts of the engine so th...
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15ca42
why doesn't the blood in raw meat clot (as far as i can tell)?
[ { "answer": "Meat that you buy (most meat) is drained of blood.\n\nThe red juices aren't blood, they're water mixed with various components of meat. I know it's tempting to think that blood is just meat juice, but quite literally the redness of the meat itself is caused by a different chemical than the redness ...
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1om4b6
where does weight actually go when one is losing it? how can i go to sleep weighing 202 and wake up weighing 199?
[ { "answer": "The main way your body gets energy is by converting sugars to carbon dioxide and water. Fats and muscle tissue go through a somewhat similar process. ", "provenance": null }, { "answer": " > how does it actually leave your body?\n\nPrimarily through your breath. You breath in (some) O2...
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2i24io
how do people get away with murder in the courtrooms, even if it was obvious that they did it?
[ { "answer": "Money, good lawyers.", "provenance": null }, { "answer": " > even if it was obvious that they did it?\n\nBeing \"obvious\" isn't enough. The prosecution has to **prove** that they did it, beyond a reasonable doubt. Something as wishy-washy as \"it's obvious\" would be a *terrible* bas...
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f25nlc
When nations/people moved (e.g. Turks, Anglo-Saxons), did the entire population move or just the leaders/army?
[ { "answer": "It's a matter of much debate, and historians views have varied greatly over the years. Once, pretty much all historians thought that the migrations in fifth-century Europe were all great movements of people. Now, however, many believe that many of the barbarian groups were primarily military forces...
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7t340i
if i'm far enough from the ground holding my glasses, the lens will cast a shadow even though they are clear. if i move up like a foot, the lens shadow becomes more and more transparent. why?
[ { "answer": "First, shadows. We *should* all know by now that this is caused by blocking light, places where no light reaches a surface are darker places where the light can reach are brighter.\n\nSo in the case of when your glasses cast a shadow it means less light is able to reach the surface. The reason why ...
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8ylr2o
how many time does radioactivity takes to disappear ?
[ { "answer": "Never.\n\nRadioactivity never disappears, it simply gets weaker with time. This is due to half life. A half life is a set amount of time during which half of the radioactive material decays. After decay, it is probably harmless. After 1 half life, half of the original material remains, after 2, a f...
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5tdq4c
where are the colors that a human can't see? is my wall secretly another color?
[ { "answer": "The electromagnetic spectrum of light is very, very long. We call colours the wavelengths that we can see with our eye. But there is a lot more in the electromagnetic spectrum than the range between 390 and 700 nm. The wavelength is a particular feature of the wave, imagine a sinusoidal wave (a nic...
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16ibw0
Can a historian please tell me the date when Lincoln said the following quote?
[ { "answer": "Assuming you do mean \"struggle\" and not \"stubble\" (which is actually pretty funny in itself), a simple google search within quotation marks brings up this:\n\n_URL_0_ \n\nIllinois House of Representatives, December 20th, 1839. The quotation is in the last paragraph. I don't know how reputab...
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2cy88t
why do dogs love peanut butter so much?
[ { "answer": "Sweet, salty. Why else?", "provenance": null }, { "answer": "I think it's more the taste of my nuts, but I'm sure the butter helps too", "provenance": null }, { "answer": "It is a good protein food source that has a pleasant (to most humans at least) taste.", "provenanc...
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1vn3rg
why do companies trademark simple words that other companies use anyway?
[ { "answer": "A trademark is more than just the words, it is the entire presentation of the logo. While other restaurants can still use the description of \"Mild\", they cannot use the specific font and color scheme of the trademarked packets. Other companies can call their products \"cola\" but they can't use t...
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alst20
difference between hypoxemia and hypoxia
[ { "answer": "Hypoxemia is having low oxygen content in your blood, while hypoxia is moreso the effects felt from not having enough oxygen. So in a sense hypoxemia can cause hypoxia", "provenance": null }, { "answer": "There is actually a significant distinction though they often overlap.\n\n*Hypoxem...
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1878a3
why do we refer to animals' colors not as the color they actually are?
[ { "answer": "I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. I started to have small inkling, but then, where do animals come into play?", "provenance": null }, { "answer": "I think that it is to kind of hype the breed and make it sound more exotic. Also, to be nitpicky and descriptive of the ...
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1ntyey
why does climate change mean that climates will become more extreme, rather than just changing?
[ { "answer": "Some areas may become less extreme. But in any place the environment and our use of it is built around a certain climate. In places that are regularly flooded, agriculture on the floodplains relies on the regular flooding to provide water and silt for nutrients. Loss of regular flooding would have ...
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