id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
eno3pg | why does a car not move when you leave it in gear. | [
{
"answer": "When it's in gear, the driving wheels are connected to the engine. An engine's crankshaft, when it's not running, is extremely hard to turn. Trying to push the car, or leaving it on a hill, won't be enough to make the wheels turn the engine over, so the wheels are effectively locked.\n\ntl;dr the e... | null |
2z7kho | Can you cross breed sharks? | [
{
"answer": "Can it be possible to hybridize sharks? Yes. That particular combination, no. In order to cross breed, the two species must be closely related. Even then, the offspring usually are sterile. Sharks are unlikely to breed outside their species, so it'd have to be artificially done.",
"provenance":... | null |
21yrkg | -how do ear candles work? | [
{
"answer": "By good feelings and well wishes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They don't work at all, and are potentially dangerous. Here in Canada, they are actually illegal to sell, as they have no medical utility but have been shown to cause serious injuries. Don't use them... ",
"prove... | null |
2h9yej | why do most forms say "caucasian" as an option for white if most white people aren't even from the caucus region? | [
{
"answer": "Because a German man named [Christoph Meiners](_URL_0_) decided there were two races: Caucasians, who had the people of the southern Caucuses as their archetype, and Mongoloids, who were... everyone else. Christoph was something of a racist, so the defining traits of Caucasians were things like \"M... | null |
9fvcob | what are extras in movies actually talking about in the background? | [
{
"answer": "I had a friend who did that kind of work in NYC. She said they would sit there trying to make the other person laugh. Check out a cafe scene next chance you get and see how many people are trying not to laugh. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Usually nothing . You’re just pantomimi... | null |
tfj6t | Are there any good books or documentaries about Japan's Sengoku Jidai period? | [
{
"answer": "If you've been playing Shogun, I imagine you're looking for a military history. Sadly, I'm not aware of any authoritative military histories of the sengoku era. \n\nIf you're interested in the time period in general, Berry's [*The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto*](_URL_0_) is an excellent cultural ... | null |
3eobwv | what exactly happens when you trade in your phone to get credit/upgrades with your cellphone company? | [
{
"answer": "They aren't stealing your personal information if thats what you're worried about. One of the first things they do is wipe it. If you're really concerned about it you can wipe it yourself beforehand. They get them repaired/cleaned up to sale condition and then sell them. Even ones that aren't typic... | null |
4pp8hv | how does lightning "repair" the ozone? | [
{
"answer": "The high Voltage Discharge of the lightning has enough energy to Ionize some oxygen molecules which then reacts to O3 (ozone).\nSo O2 + Energy = 2 O• - > O• + O2 = O3 \n Look at it as if you had magnets 2 stick together and you need energy (force) to separate them, now you can take each one and co... | null |
agoq9c | why does old electronics produce a high ptched noice when turned on? | [
{
"answer": "The specific component is called the \"flyback transformer\". The whine is mentioned in this section:\n\n[_URL_1_](_URL_0_)\n\nMore specifically, the high frequency alternating magnetic field makes the transformer core vibrate at whatever frequency is being made. Depending on the initial quality of... | null |
ftndrh | If coronavirus is spread by people coughing and sneezing how are asymptomatic people spreading it when they don't do either? | [
{
"answer": "People that are asymptomatic don’t cough or sneeze due to the virus. They are still very much infected though, and coughs/sneezes happen to everyone all the time, not just symptoms of the virus. Also, some people are just nasty and cough/sneeze wherever without a care in the world, and that sure do... | null |
5skv4z | does alcohol tolerance come from your body learning to metabolise it more efficiently, or your brain learning to function better whilst under the influence, or both? | [
{
"answer": "Both. Alcohol is metabolized into its non-toxic (less toxic?) form by enzymes in the liver. Once your liver realizes that it is frequently encountering this thing, it starts producing more enzymes which allow it to break the substance down more quickly.\n\nFurthermore, since your brain *technically... | null |
66fcet | the venezuelan protests right now. | [
{
"answer": "Power vacuum after the death of chavez. people don't have money for food, and their money isn't worth much globally anyway. intense violence in the streets over the past year (i.e. robbery and murder). a nation raised under a nationalist/socialist identity, but that has always been politically pola... | null |
28a64c | Are there any languages that a parrot CANNOT learn to properly mimic? | [
{
"answer": "I'll try and find a non-paywall soucre for this: _URL_0_\n\nIt touches a lot on African Grey vocal abilities. \n\nParrots can mimic a wide range of noises that humans make, but not all of them.\n\nSome sounds, like \"em\" or \"en\" or the ss in \"hiss\" are difficult if not impossible for most parr... | null |
2azqxj | how would it feel like to be a spider's prey? how long would you stay alive, and would you feel pain? | [
{
"answer": "You wouldn't live for all that long. First you would be caught, and wrapped up in the web. Then the spider would bite you and inject you with their venom. It would work its way through your body, melting your internal organs. You would survive until a vital organ was destroyed, or until neurotoxins... | null |
2c5ogx | how can a corporation be considered a person in the usa (and therefore a usa citizen...?) if they move their company to a different country and do not pay taxes in the usa. | [
{
"answer": "An important distinction: corporations are not considered U.S. citizens. Never before in American history has that ever even been considered.\n\nFor the purpose of applications of common law and protection under the Constitution, there is a concept of \"corporate personhood\" in the United States. ... | null |
2enkju | why do certain foods make me gassy? what the heck is going on inside me? | [
{
"answer": "Bacteria that lives in your stomach feeds on the food you eat and produces gas byproducts. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "OMG I had oatmeal this morning and yep... still tooting! ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Everyone has unique bacteria in their guts - diffe... | null |
aiqmwv | When you drink caffeine, does it act like glucose and simply give your cells more energy, or is there something more going on? | [
{
"answer": "What you've read is close to the truth. Your idea about glucose is not.\n\nVery simply put the action of caffeine is supposed to feel like you have more energy, that is to say, less tired. It does not provide any meaningful calories.\n\nSo how does caffeine work? Well blocking all adenosine recepto... | null |
1xfnlq | why/how is the housing sector so important to nations economy? | [
{
"answer": "a House is a big purchase. it's probably the Biggest purchase for most people.\n\n* people are more likely to buy a house when they're confident about their future. (job/career security, economy stability, etc.)\n* The multiplier effect. a $200k house can pump millions into the economy. you've t... | null |
1w9o71 | how that dog from two floors down can continuously bark for two hours and not lose his voice | [
{
"answer": "he has seperation anxiety. i assume that he mainly does that when his owners are not at home? seperation anxiety builds up tension, so everytime he sees his owners leave the house he starts to get desperate and all the build up tension has to come out somehow. some dogs release that tension by dest... | null |
c9pxp6 | how do bullets fired into the air come down fast enough to do damage? | [
{
"answer": "Bullets are propelled by gases from a gunpowder charge. Once it leaves the barrel traveling up, eventually the round reaches an apex, and heads back toward gravity. It will reach terminal velocity falling back down, which is much less than muzzle velocity firing up, but still enough to do damage. C... | null |
dp30lh | My mother and grandmother keep saying that living in the Soviet Union was way better than it is now because during then there was alot of food with cheap prices and i hardly believe that,was it actually true or am I getting brainwashed? | [
{
"answer": "Adapted from an earlier [answer](_URL_0_):\n\n You can poke around the internet and easily find graphs that claim that the average Soviet citizen had a higher caloric intake than the average American until the Soviet intake plummeted in 1991.\n\nThese generally come from FAO data, but an [examinati... | null |
bck6ju | how does flavored seltzer have 0 calories per serving but 10 calories per bottle? | [
{
"answer": "You're not required to disclose under 5 calories per serving per the FDA in the US - it can be rounded down to 0. As each serving is only 3.333... calories, it can be listed as no calorie.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are arcane rules on how those nutrition lab... | null |
37ws11 | Why does the United States not have a parliament like the United Kingdom? | [
{
"answer": "It was Parliament that had tried to tax them, in their view unjustly. The Declaratory Act had declared that Parliament could pass any Act it saw fit in regards to America. This idea of unlimited parliamentary sovereignty was anathema to Americans. They were concerned above all to ensure that their ... | null |
6ckesq | why is it difficult for us to recognize how annoying the annoying things we do are, when we're so quick to identify the annoying things other people do? | [
{
"answer": "It is one of those things in life. We are all born with a million small bottles, each with a label. One is greed, one is lust, one for ambition, one for honesty. Every single trait has its own jar. Love, empathy, distrust, lying, amity, etc. each has a jar. In each jar is a bit of sand. Those who a... | null |
17iv6f | can a programmer explain what a "delegate" is and why you should use it? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_1_\n\ngives a good explanation.\n\nbasic answer: it's like a secure, typesafe version of C's function pointers. More simply put, it's an object which references a method. \n\nHere's a good example:\n_URL_0_\n\nIt's an easy way to pass a method you wish to invoke to a function, so the function ... | null |
8dgwhb | why does a phone without a battery break when dropped in water? | [
{
"answer": "Electronics guy here.\n\nIt happens because it isn't the water that breaks the phone - *minerals* ***left behind by the water*** cause short circuits which cause parts of the phone to fry the next time any voltage is applied to them.\n\nIn theory an electronic device can be restored after getting d... | null |
48cd4h | From Facebook: "Pineapples were a status symbol in 18th century England. They were so expensive that you could rent them by the night and take them to parties with you". Can I get more insight on this? | [
{
"answer": "Collecting exotic plants of all kinds was quite a popular pastime for the landed gentry and aristocracy of 18th century England. By this I mean that people were devoting a great deal of time and energy to bringing back prized specimens to grow and cultivate in Britain. Such was the benefit of Brita... | null |
14346o | What were the popular games during your period of expertise? | [
{
"answer": "[Crambo](_URL_0_) and [Whist](_URL_1_) were common upper class entertainments that aren't very well known today. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI were apparently rather fond of backgammon. They played it while they were imprisoned and the account of ... | null |
1y0b3d | how are tangle-free headphones created? | [
{
"answer": "They use wide flat cable that does not really flex much along the width. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2336638",
"title": "Patch cable",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 2,
"start_chara... | null |
3bpwiu | What is the gold-colored wrapping on spacecraft and rover wiring? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nIt's a lightweight insulator that keeps it's properties over large temperature ranges and doesn't have problems with outgassing in vacuums.\n\nHere's some on Amazon\n\n_URL_1_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They have a similar function as the other reflective coatings: ... | null |
bfk3do | used oil? why is it considered bad for environment? | [
{
"answer": " > It comes from the ground anyway, why can't it be just dumped out on the ground?\n\nBecause it would seep into groundwater or other environmentally sensitive areas.\n\nIn its natural state it is contained within its own environment.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It comes from *... | null |
gbuj3 | Are the animals living in the city of Pripyat (the city that was devistated by the Cherynobil disaster) deformed from radiation? | [
{
"answer": "Also why do the pictures of abandoned interiors show peeling paint and what not - It seems as if the buildings have aged faster than I would have thought, even without humans there to maintain them",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As usual, Wikipedia and citations are a decent place... | null |
29b7v0 | how do tilt shift filters work? | [
{
"answer": "Tilt-shift lenses are often used in architectural photography. Parallel lines that appear to converge due to perspective distortion can be realigned to appear parallel. Sometimes the terms 'perspective control' (PC) lens and 'tilt shift' (TS) lens are used interchangeably; perspective control lense... | null |
jst5n | Is our sense of time affected by the rate of chemical reactions? | [
{
"answer": "It is much more complicated than that, and is a very active area of research.\n\nA professor at my school, David Eagleman, studies this stuff. He's a complete badass, check him out: \n\n_URL_0_\n\nedit: \n\none of his famous experiments involves using magnetic energy to slow the propagation of some... | null |
3vfq8o | why is a man participating in rape culture if both the man and woman were drunk and not able to give consent | [
{
"answer": "I'm not sure you know what \"rape culture\" means... It refers more to society's treatment of rape than rape itself.\n\nBut as far as why the man is many times more likely to be charged with rape, I suppose it has to do with an ingrained perception that masculinity is active, and femininity passive... | null |
6alvw6 | Do gravitational waves add up or cancel each other out in amplitude like sound waves do when two run into each other? | [
{
"answer": "Asked and [answered](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\n > Of course they can. Gravitational waves carry energy and energy curves space in a non - linear fashion.\nOne example would be to make a spherical 1000 km in diameter shell of about 1000 of those LIGO Sept ... | null |
ygh2d | a catch-22 situation? | [
{
"answer": "In order to get your drivers license you have to present a copy of your birth certificate.\n\n\nIn order to get a copy of your birth certificate you have to show a valid drivers license.\n\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In order to get a job, you need work experience. In orde... | null |
14cg77 | I heard that orbiting objects are really just constantly falling, but they are moving so fast that when they fall they never hit the earth... How true is this? | [
{
"answer": "This is exactly correct. For any object moving in a circle, it must be experiencing a force called centripetal force pulling it inward toward the middle of the circle. This is necessary for it to follow the curved path. In the case of an orbiting object, the gravity is pulling the orbiting objec... | null |
3rv9f2 | how there can all the gold ever mined only add up to three swimming pools worth | [
{
"answer": "You probably greatly underestimate the size of an Olympic swimming pool. Such a pool is a minimum of 2500 m^(3), which is about a hundred million pounds of gold. At current gold prices of ~$1100 per troy oz, that's about $1.7 trillion of gold, which seems like a pretty reasonable number. Times thre... | null |
6cqwv4 | is body language cultural, genetic, inherited and/or something else? | [
{
"answer": "I would say 50/50. Laugh and clap seems to ve innate actions, while some gestures (Like the \"yes\" movement up and down with the head VS the \"no movement) are cultural.\n\n For example the military salute isn't something innate, it's social construct to express order, loyalty and discipline even ... | null |
3h786q | why are the blades on modern energy windmills so narrow? | [
{
"answer": "You want it to be as light and efficient as possible. If it could be three feet tall weigh 50 lbs and deliver 1500 megawats/hour would't that be preferrable to a massive wooden windmill?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The blades are made to catch the wind [like an airplane wing] T... | null |
29jisl | driving a fwd car in the snow | [
{
"answer": "Hey buddy, sounds like what you're getting at is understeer and oversteer. FWD cars are more prone to understeer, and RWD cars are more prone to oversteer. \n\n[This](_URL_0_) is the best image i can find to explain it simply.\n\nYou usually lose traction in a car when the driven wheels, (FWD vs RW... | null |
6k6hbr | when we type up an email and hit "send", how does the internet know where to correctly deliver our email? what does this process look like between two computers/email accounts? | [
{
"answer": "It works kind of like the post office. Think of it like this. The stuff after the @ symbol is the city. The stuff before the @ is the street address.\n\nWhen you hit send the email gets given to the post office of the \"city\" you specified which can be google, yahoo, comcast or hotmail. The city t... | null |
2ykfb6 | why are snowden documents still being released, nearly two years later? | [
{
"answer": " > Or are they being deliberately released slowly, because releasing them all at once would be too much to process?\n\nSort of this. If he dumped them all at once, a lot of the controversial-but-not-really-controversial stories would be ignored. Also, by releasing them slowly, it keeps the whole t... | null |
2xhmb5 | I found this symbol in Palma, Mallorca just outside the Seu Cathedral. What does it mean? | [
{
"answer": "Here is some pics\n_URL_0_\n_URL_1_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You might have more luck in /r/whatisthisthing. That sub is dedicated to answering these kinds of questions. Still, please report back here if you get an answer. :)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": n... | null |
2qpjn2 | Were the Romans Really as Brutal and Cruel as we Think? | [
{
"answer": "I've never heard anything about genocide by Romans, do you have a source for that because it sounds interesting.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They certainly had a mentality of ''might is right'' that led to brutally cruel things. I forget the exact quote, but Caesar wrote someth... | null |
exgr7e | how does music royalty work? how do the music companies keep track of how many times a song is played? | [
{
"answer": "Absolute speculation and close approaches, but with Spotify and YouTube (or any streaming platform) things change because you have more tracking. \n\nWhen it comes to tv/radios they send a list of the songs they've played and then, whoever pays the artists, measures that channel/radio audience and ... | null |
5iei6y | why is censoring on facebook, twitter, reddit, or even banning products on amazon, or ebay considered an assault on "freedom of speech"? | [
{
"answer": "The idea of free speech is often abused and misinterpreted. You can't say whatever you want on any social media site just like you can't walk into a store and start screaming obscenities. Facebook and Reddit and every other site owned by any company is free to limit speech in any way they see fit... | null |
63p9gi | Did people in ancient and medieval times have anything comparable to hobbies? | [
{
"answer": "Stitching patterns into fabric (embroidery) was something that both lower and higher class members of society participated in. this was considered more of a women's activity, however, and I don't recall any accounts of men (outside of tailors) doing this for leisure.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
ce7s7t | why are laptop and tablet batteries often split into several smaller cells instead of having only one large cell? | [
{
"answer": "If you hook multiple cells together in series where you put positive to negative that increases the voltage but keeps the amperage the same. Three 1.5 volt AAA cells connected in series become a 4.5 volt battery with 1000 mAh. \n\nHooking them in parallel puts their amperage together but keeps the ... | null |
7md9x0 | why do people pull their windshield wipers up during a snow storm? | [
{
"answer": "To prevent the wipers from becoming frozen onto the windshield glass, if ice forms due to snow melting and refreezing.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "402713",
"title": "Windscreen wiper",
"section": "",
... | null |
u305c | Why didn't Asians build castles like the Europeans? | [
{
"answer": "Not a Far East expert, but I know at least the Japanese did build and use military castles. Look at the famous [Osaka Castle](_URL_0_) for example.\n\nAlso - siege warfare was an important doctrine in medieval China. [Wikipedia](_URL_1_) refers to Chinese fortresses along with walled cities. \n\... | null |
400afv | What is the dominant strain of historiography in the People's Republic of China? | [
{
"answer": "Primary and middle-school students have Chinese history and World history classes.\nUntil recently, high-school students chose either an Arts or Science-based curriculum, with the Arts students continuing studying history, but I believe this has recently been made more flexible.\nStudents also stud... | null |
3d1pvz | As historians, do you ever feel burdened by your lack of knowledge certain histories? | [
{
"answer": "Personally? Absolutely! When you realise the sheer, absurd depth of your field, and then realise there are untold thousands of other fields just like yours, where people could study for decades and still not know everything? You definitely feel stupid, but it's an awe-inspiring thing too. As a fiel... | null |
1054h4 | what does economic freedom mean? | [
{
"answer": "This question was [asked yesterday](_URL_0_). The short answer is that it doesn't mean anything, but a particular group uses the term in a particular way. They define it in their report.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "34541... | null |
dh01rt | Were Romans broadly aware of the First or Second Triumvirates at the time they were active, or would they have sounded like conspiracy theories? | [
{
"answer": "There's a great deal of misinformation that keeps appearing and disappearing on this thread.\n\nYes, the Romans were aware of the Triumvirate, and of the agreement between Pompey, Caesar, and Crassus popularly called the \"first\" Triumvirate. In reality, there was only one Triumvirate, that of Oct... | null |
ttv9w | A way to test the "frame rate" aka flicker rate of the human eye | [
{
"answer": "If you have a strobe that you can tune very finely... I have seen a few science projects that utilize that part of your brain, to make water look like stunt is going up. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "731779",
"tit... | null |
21a869 | How close were the Allies (specifically US) to losing WWII in Europe in terms of resources? | [
{
"answer": "The allies suffered major supply problems after the invasion of Normandy and after breaking through into France and the low countries. This wasn't necessarily a problem with production so much as getting it to the necessary places. The rapid breakout that was operation Cobra stretched allied supply... | null |
1vrbv1 | if windows xp is still so popular, why is microsoft abandoning it? | [
{
"answer": "Because they don't make money supporting outdated software. They want people to buy the new versions. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If by \"popular\", you mean that lots of people have it, then yes, it is popular. At schools and businesses where its not necessary to have the mos... | null |
3sqy4e | If i was in a boat and dropped a one pound stone over the deepest part of the ocean (Mariana Trench?) What would happen to the stone as it decends? | [
{
"answer": "Whether or not it would be crushed depends on the chemical makeup of the stone. The Mariana Trench is nearly 11 kilometers deep at its deepest point. That's a lot of pressure. The weight of all of the water above it would be pushing down on the stone.\n\nIf it survived, it almost certainly wouldn't... | null |
2rq65b | why is it ok to draw muhammad because of a few radicals. but, it's not ok to put a cross upside down, burn the us flag, and so on? | [
{
"answer": "It isn't illegal to burn a US flag. Not aware of any laws against drawing crosses upside down.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "We like to work on the idea that people can take a joke against religion. As for flag burning, my guess would be that it's seen as treason, less so but yo... | null |
7ysggb | why when someone gets the all clear that they are cancer free they still have a high chance to get it back? | [
{
"answer": "Because we're never totally sure that every cancerous cell is out of your body and that another tumor won't form.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's almost never 100% cancer free.\n\nDoctors generally call it \"in remission\" when you complete cancer treatments, and there is stil... | null |
86ft18 | Is it possible Elizabeth Bathory was innocent? | [
{
"answer": "Hopefully someone will see and be able to respond to your question shortly, but in the meantime, you may find this earlier discussion helpful:\n\n[Was Elizabeth Báthory framed?](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "12609... | null |
51j5ea | Have all the Earth's crusts recycled to the mantle at some point? | [
{
"answer": "It all started as molten because of the massive amount of energy released by coalescing from a gas cloud, but after that no. That's why we can find rocks as old as from when the earth first solidified in places like Australia. [Jack Hills](_URL_0_). Continental plates are less dense than oceanic... | null |
5wbhyw | Can a black hole exert an electrical force? | [
{
"answer": "Yes you can have [charged black holes](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "27470863",
"title": "Transformation optics",
"section": "Section::::Mimicking celestial mechanics.:Producing black holes with m... | null |
365w3p | How many planets have we surveyed for signs of a Technological civilization? | [
{
"answer": "We dont really have the ability to do that to any great degree at this point. The only thing i can think that we can actively do is do a spectral analysis of a planets atmosphere for artificial or life-produced chemicals. This can be done, but it is not easy. You have to be able to detect the stars... | null |
2868y1 | Can we harvest energy from black holes? | [
{
"answer": "There's the [Penrose process.](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Somebody recently wrote a paper on this very topic: _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well you can't directly extract energy from a black hole, as nothing comes out of one (except for may... | null |
nh5ym | Why do I see a staticy grid when I close my eyes? | [
{
"answer": "I have some moderate expertise about the visual system, but I'm not an authority, so this is just my best guess based on what I know.\n\nThe short answer is that, to my knowledge, we don't know *precisely* why this happens, though it's probably a combination of things:\n\nThe first and more obvious... | null |
31z6n2 | Why does samurai armour seem so badly designed compared to medieval european armour? | [
{
"answer": "It's a question of resource availability. Japan had less natural sources of iron and other suitable metals, meaning that what they had was used to make weapons. It's a contributing reason that swords were so tied to nobility in Japan: they were incredibly expensive and precious.\n\nBecause of this ... | null |
1onmpv | What happened to the idea of invading another country to expand a current one? Details inside. | [
{
"answer": "Wars of aggressions are internationally outlawed. From the charter of the United Nations, Article 2, §4:\n\n > All Members shall refrain (…) from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state (…)\n\nThis is the original purpose of the United Na... | null |
zzvqg | I need help with the relationship between feudal lords and their warriors in medieval times. | [
{
"answer": "Ok first things first we need to define our field a bit. The Anglo-Saxons were not by any strict definition 'feudal'. \"Feudalism' as an economic/political system only properly appears in England under the Normans after the conquest in 1066. So I'm going to give you sources that point towards th... | null |
11h6n8 | Is there a reason why Evangelical Christians sometimes have seizures during "prayer"? | [
{
"answer": "Dr. Walter Cannon ([Study here](_URL_0_)) in 1942 studied cases of \"black magic deaths\". Cannon noticed that in cases of victims being \"cursed\" they had an exceptionally strong belief that they were doomed to die. He speculated that the victims released hormones that caused a rapid and potentia... | null |
2hrf2e | Ohio Native Americans. Looking for resources. | [
{
"answer": "**Moundbuilders**\n\n* [The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America](_URL_12_)\n* [Gathering Hopewell: Society, Ritual, and Ritual Interaction](_URL_7_)\n* [The Scioto Hopewell and Their Neighbors: Bioarchaeological Documentation and Cultural Understanding](_URL_1_)\n* [Ohio Hopewel... | null |
9eitx6 | how can straight talk use the same towers as verizon and other top tier providers? | [
{
"answer": "Mobile phone companies own a lot of spectrum and towers, generally more than they can use (for now, things are growing). They sell their excess capacity to other providers, such as Straight Talk to use unused portions of their mobile phone networks. It's making $0 while not in use, so they'd rathe... | null |
1ri9j9 | why would the israelis and saudis lobby *against* an interim nuclear deal between the us and iran? | [
{
"answer": "A similar deal was given to North Korea in the 1990s with regard to their nuclear program. Now they have multiple nuclear weapons and have spread the technology to other countries like Pakistan, which have since built some nuclear weapons of their own.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer... | null |
yi0hl | How close can stars get? | [
{
"answer": "You have binary star systems in which each member can retain its own planets in their respective ecospheres.\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Nasa found the first planet ever discovered in a binary star system about a year ago if 'I remember correctly. Found an article:[Nasa news ... | null |
2edsah | Was it always a rude thing to ask about salaries? For example, would somebody in 19th century London be offended if I asked how much they made? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of 18th century literature talks about money and how much a person had \"settled\" on them per year. Jane Austen and similar writers focused on this a lot. Jane's characters always knew how much every person made and how much they could expect to have if they married that person. \n\n\nI am... | null |
2g0mw1 | Which events led to enforcing speed limits on vehicles? | [
{
"answer": "Speed limits are older than the \"horseless carriage\" itself; the Locomotive Act of 1861 in the UK limited steam-powered \"road locomotives\" (train engines designed to travel on roads instead of tracks) to a maximum speed of 10 mph. In 1865 the speed limit was lowered to 4 mph and a requirement w... | null |
ly4kr | django and other web frameworks | [
{
"answer": "An ELI5 would require an entire chapter to cover the basics. I'm going to assume you understand certain concepts. If the explanation is still confusing, ask, and I'll post a more detailed response.\n\n**ELI20:** A framework is like an operating system. It provides libraries, as well as resource man... | null |
3f9sz8 | the chinese market crashes | [
{
"answer": "This crisis comes along with the GDP growth of China slowing down. Chinese people started to invest in the stocks because of China's central bank decision to lower rate (the idea was to keep the growth going).\n\nThis created a bubble as many businesses were overvalued. Fearing huge speculation, th... | null |
17q60u | Prior to the Industrial Revolution, was England (or the United Kingdom) ever a similarly significant internationally? | [
{
"answer": "Just drawing off the top of my own head here before a proper answer comes in, England always had a strong navy after the middle ages, henry viii leaving the catholic church made England pretty significant and then holding off the Spanish armada was no mean feat. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
2kvl9x | Relation b/w speed of light and gravity? | [
{
"answer": "This is actually a pretty complicated question. In special relativity, for inertial frames, the speed of light is a pure global constant. In general relativity, the issue becomes more muddled, here's what Einstein said about it: \n\n > \"... according to the general theory of relativity, the law ... | null |
ay0a5e | When and why did militaries stop updating 'ceremonial' uniforms? | [
{
"answer": "as a side question, are they pieces of dress uniforms that actually do tend to be updated from this diversion point or are they pretty much unchanged?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Many countries began fighting World War 1 with colorful uniforms typical of the one's you described... | null |
3wig0u | How romanticised is the 50s USA in comparison to how it actually was? | [
{
"answer": "Could you be a little more specific with your question? Its not clear to me where, how, and why the 50's are being romanticized. There's a lot of dystopian views of the 50's in media - for example, lots of eerie post apocalyptic games and TV shows frequently have a 50's backdrop. Some famous ex... | null |
1onfp1 | can somebody explain ram for me? | [
{
"answer": "Computer processors are really, really fast. Hard drives are really, really slow in comparison. If computers handled and processed data by writing and reading directly from the hard drive, computers would be extremely slow too, because the hard drive couldn't keep up with the processor's speed.\n\n... | null |
4zwnbo | At what point in history did the average person have access to clocks? | [
{
"answer": "There are a couple ways to talk about this topic. One is a straightforward survey, such that is is possible, of what I guess I'd call clock density. I'm not sure such a precise study exists, but we do know that in the 14th and 15th centuries mechanical clocks started to be more present in Europe. C... | null |
f5iclc | why does bacteria in our mouth become harmful to our teeth, while bacteria inside our body is usually kept in check and co-exists within us? | [
{
"answer": "When bacteria in the mouth eat food they poop acid. That acid mixes with food and saliva to make 'plaque'. The plaque sticks to your teeth. The acid in the plaque dissolves the surface of your tooth (enamel), creating holes (cavities).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's the foods... | null |
2mubez | why are juggalos so hated on reddit (and in general), when female prostitution is viewed as for the most part completely acceptable? | [
{
"answer": "Juggalo != gigolo.\n\nHeck, I really have no idea whether male prostitutes even *like* Insane Clown Posse as a group. Anything's possible, I suppose.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'd much rather hang out with a prostitute rather than a juggalo.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
2oj3nk | in golf/baseball/hockey, why does a follow through matter? since the ball has already made contact with the club/bat, why does it matter if the swing is continued or not? | [
{
"answer": "The advice is not given out as a way of influencing the ball after it's lost contact with the bat/stick/etc.\n\nThe advice is a way of mentally and physiologically improving the motion of the swing while it is still in contact.\n\nI'm not a psychologist or kinesiologist, but I would guess that ment... | null |
4hbm4t | when did female breasts become a body part of sexual nature and why? | [
{
"answer": "There's a theory that suggests breasts were evolved to attract male mates since they're jiggly and eye catching. Females with breasts could have just as easily had large flat male-like nipples for milk production since the fat in the breast does nothing but add mass. Some women with small breast si... | null |
3ezr6a | Was the War of the World's broadcast the first instance of an entire nation being trolled? Have there been other similar events? | [
{
"answer": "Here are some precedents you may find interesting:\n\nIn the 12th century, legends began to promulgate throughout Christian Europe of a figure named \"Prestor John\", rumored to be the ruler of a rich and powerful kingdom in \"the East\" (at first, legend places him somewhere in India -- specifical... | null |
ar3yji | why can't you get an electrical shock from the neutral | [
{
"answer": "In a balanced 3 phase system, neutral should carry little to no current. Ground is actually fail safe. Ground is there in case the equipment becomes electrically charged. It will discharge to ground through the conductor, instead of you.\n\nIn an unbalanced system, neutral will carry a current, an... | null |
cp2ry3 | how do passwords work. specifically passwords to unlock devices such as smartphones or laptops | [
{
"answer": "A iphone have a [Secure\\_Enclave](_URL_0_) that is a dedicated hardware for the password/fingerprint. It is not accessible to the general CPU except for calls that send it the passcode/fingerprint to it to unlock the system or conferme that it is correct. It also manage the part that encrypt the s... | null |
1gv517 | how sports venues paid for with tax payer money maintain a monopoly on crappy, overpriced food when there are obvious alternatives? | [
{
"answer": "It's not a monopoly, it's more of a convenience issue. A restaurant can charge whatever they want, and if people don't want to pay, they can leave and find another restaurant.\n\nSports venues charge so much for food simply because they can. Yes, you can go watch a game for just the price of the ti... | null |
61vy9e | Are reading and writing learned at the same time? | [
{
"answer": "As to whether it is possible to learn to read or write without learning the opposite, I would certainly think that both are possible. I don't have attested examples to cite, but I don't see why someone born without arms would not be able to learn to read. In general, we certainly teach children to ... | null |
3ch6lr | why is 300 parts per million for particulate matter in the atmosphere significant enough to cause health issues? | [
{
"answer": "A couple of nanograms (10^-9 grams) of botulinum (the toxin that causes botulism) can be deadly. Everything can be lethal if you have enough of it, and some things are just really, really good at disrupting your body and preventing it from doing the business of staying alive.\n\nA single molecule o... | null |
2skig0 | why does the us order the day and month of a date differently to other countries? i.e. today to me (in europe) it is the 15/01/15 not the 01/15/15. how did this slight, but significant, difference come about? | [
{
"answer": "IIRC in the UK we do **day - > month - > year** as its the smallest in time to largest.\n\nThe US does **month - > day - > year** as there are fewer months than there are days, and there are fewer days that there will be years.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "dd/mm/yyyy - keep... | null |
2dw3jc | when i sometimes go to sleep with my eyes closed and not moving, i know i'm not asleep. do i get any good quality rest compared if i'm sleeping? | [
{
"answer": "If you're not asleep, then you're not getting the same quality rest as if you were sleeping. Your brain may appreciate the decrease in stimulation, and your muscles the rest, but if you're not asleep, then you're not... sleeping.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I agree with the oth... | null |
5p3j4i | some jobs are unpleasant but fundamental to society (eg: janitor, bus driver). why aren't these the best paid jobs? | [
{
"answer": "Because anyone can do them. They are low skill and lots of people can fill that role.\n\nSometimes they do get better pay because the job is undesirable (I think trash collectors get paid decent, at least compared to minimum wage). ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Jobs are categor... | null |
6iyx3e | if you have good credit, and pay your bills off every month, how do credit card companies make money off you? wouldn't they prefer customers with bad credit? | [
{
"answer": "You almost hit the nail on the head. It's not that credit card companies prefer customers with bad credit, but they do prefer customers that carry a balance on their accounts from month to month. They can't charge interest on a $0.00 balance, so in cases like that they make money from everyone else... | null |
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