id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
ev5t7o | Did slavery play a significant role in Texas secession from Mexico? If not, what changed in the next 25 years? | [
{
"answer": "**TL;DR** - It stemmed from existing social pressures all across Mexico, annexation by the US meant the rest of the South's institutions and the Planters gained super strong influence. Sam Houston was alive in 1861, and was vividly and vibrantly against the Confederate Cause, viewing it as antithet... | null |
f51gvn | After his term as president, John Quincy Adams ran for a seat in the House of Representatives and held it for 17 years. How unique was it for American presidents to run for "lesser," public offices after being president? | [
{
"answer": "As a a follow-up question, is there any precedent to a former president being considered for Supreme Court Justice?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There have been very few Presidents who served in public office after the Presidency. JQA is *by far* the most famous of them, due not... | null |
4erijg | how does your bac scale with your alcohol tolerance? | [
{
"answer": "Unless you've gained weight, it's because your body has gotten used to it. You're BAC isn't changing.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The original guy who determined the blood alcohol scale (one of the first doctors who worked as a medical examiner in NYC in the early 20th C) deve... | null |
dlkfzj | why does food poisoning happens if heat is supposed to kill bacteria/parasites? | [
{
"answer": "the bacteria can produce toxins which are not destroyed by heat from what I read earlier (I think my friend also mentioned this awhile back).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "1) Food poisoning is often caused by the toxins bacteria produce as waste. Heat does not destroy these toxin... | null |
f3kb7 | Could it be possible for a species to have one sapient sex and one non-sapient sex (e.g. the Kzin)? | [
{
"answer": "I don't see why not. There are lots of species that exhibit extreme [sexual dimorphism](_URL_1_), or where one sex is radically different than the other.\n\nedit: in a totally unrelated note, after reading the article, TIL that there is a evolutionary biology theory called the [sexy son hypothesis... | null |
5pedo1 | stomach growls | [
{
"answer": "when your guts are 'more empty' what they are filled with, instead of a semi-solid mass (food), is gas and liquid. This gurgles more noisily when your intestines engage in peristalsis, a coordinated movement of the muscles that line them, in order to stir up and progress their contents.",
"prov... | null |
326y2q | why is the toyotoa pickup present in many wars and insurgencies in africa and the middle east? is toyota intentionally producing old models and selling them in the middle east and africa? | [
{
"answer": "Toyota builds good cars that last long enough to make it to the used market and get bought by these groups ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Older model toyotas are just really tough. Drive out into rural areas almost anywhere (even developed countries like the US) and you'll find t... | null |
4onin4 | why is laundry detergent and fabric softener such a popular item to steal in order to exchange for drugs? | [
{
"answer": "Wait wtf this is really a thing???",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nExcellent article that gives more detail:\n\n* Everyone uses it, and want to keep to one brand, so someone in better times gets used to using Tide, all of a sudden can't afford it, either steals or buys i... | null |
6pgaok | why do small bugs (gnats etc.) seem to hover around and fly into my eyes far more often than everywhere else on my person? | [
{
"answer": "From what I've heard gnats like to lay eggs in the eyes of animals. (Warm, wet, eggs stick easily) and that's why they do it. Could be wrong though.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Selection bias. You see out of your eyes, so of course you're going to notice bugs near your eyes mo... | null |
8qonnu | Why does water evaporate off of ceramic quicker than plastic? | [
{
"answer": "Most likely because of higher thermal conductivity.\n\nWhen water evaporates, it cools, which makes it less likely to evaporate. On ceramic, the material can transfer heat back into the now cooler water faster, but in plastic it can't, so the water has to wait longer to get enough thermal energy to... | null |
4g1ooa | how do food flavors transfer to other foods despite being in wrappers? | [
{
"answer": "Because taste is a function of smell. It isnt the taste that transfers, it is the scent which you interpret as flavour. Strong smells are caused by particles in the air and they can adhere to other foods easily. For instance, put some strong soap next to some light flavoured food and you will have ... | null |
a6lpkn | How did the Kowloon Walled City come to exist? Why did the British and Chinese agree to remove it? | [
{
"answer": "While not answering your question, /u/DubiousMerchant had a [great response on another thread about Kowloon Walled City](_URL_0_) and referenced some source material that may answer your question.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In 1842, when the British won the First Opium War, th... | null |
3ein96 | why don't we have malaria in the northeast united states? we have lots of mosquito's, why don't they carry malaria? | [
{
"answer": "There used to be malaria (plasmodium parasite) in the southeastern US states. In the 20th century the government worked to eradicate malaria by draining mosquito breeding sites, killing the larvae, using DDT on the walls of houses, providing people with mosquito nets etc. Malaria must be transmitte... | null |
16hyc3 | Why does the discovery of this LQG (Large Quasar Group) which is 4 billion light years wide, seem to threaten Einstein's Cosmological Principle? | [
{
"answer": "Einstein didn't have a cosmological principal. That article falsely attributes it to him.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The CP is that the universe is homogenous in every direction and there's no privileged point. Any extremely large structure would violate that principle because... | null |
a1q2tt | Why is Freud so popular today? | [
{
"answer": "Oh boy, one that I can actually answer! I will try to be thorough enough for this sub's standards. For the record, I have a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology, my thesis was written on in-group/out-group formation through auditory processing, and I specialize in adolescent Bipolar Disorder an... | null |
8ogln9 | Why are there so many volcanic eruptions recently? Are they somehow connected or is it a coincidence? Or is it just new media coverage? | [
{
"answer": "The current level of activity is normal. On average, there are usually ~20 volcanoes in some stage of erupting at any given time. The recent news worthy eruptions (e.g. Hawaii and the recent one in Guatemala) are not connected. So the short answer it's just the coverage and/or the fact that these t... | null |
vggzo | Why not use Gorilla-Glass for cutting
boards? | [
{
"answer": "Why do? The main advantages of [Gorilla Glass](_URL_1_) are resistance to scratching and shattering, which aren't typical problems for cutting boards.\n\nCutting boards made of [Pyrex](_URL_0_), a different kind of glass, are very common.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hard surfac... | null |
1nubl9 | why do rich people have credit cards? | [
{
"answer": "So they don't have to carry cash. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because it is much harder to steal than cash",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It is easier to use a credit card than it is to pay something with cash, especially if you are buying something expensiv... | null |
9rr4g9 | How far did Nazi Germany's anti-Slavic sentiment extend? Did it encompass all Slavic peoples? Were certain Slavic peoples seen as better or worse than other Slavic peoples? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer to this question is that different Slavic groups were not seen as equal in the eyes of Nazi leaders. However, this was largely due to necessity and logistics rather than true, unabashed ideology, especially as the Second World War progressed. Due to the nature of my expertise, the ... | null |
788bda | how did "cheater boxes" (cable descramblers) allow you to watch premium tv channels for free? | [
{
"answer": "Way back when, television was an analog signal. More accurately, it was a *series* of analog signals that your 100%-analog color television could use to produce a picture. You have three signals for color (your TV only looked at one if it was black-and-white) and a \"timing\" signal that indicated ... | null |
3fts9t | what causes hair to have a terminal length? | [
{
"answer": "And why does my beard stop at a certain length?!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The cell which are producing hairs have a limited lifetime. So when the cell die, the hair stop growing and fall. This is true for any kind of hair.\n\nThe growing rate and the lifetime of the cell det... | null |
eb7hkf | When the Berlin Wall went up, what did the average citizen, who supported the East German government think? | [
{
"answer": "I'll take your second question first. The East German government, under Walter Ulbricht, officially called the Berlin Wall *der antifaschistischer Schutzwall* (\"Anti-Fascist Protective Barrier\"). When you remember that it was common for Eastern-Bloc politicians to casually refer to the capitalist... | null |
fmesa | If air can both heat things up (friction) and cool them down... | [
{
"answer": "Air/wind doesn't have any special heating/cooling properties. It follows the same laws of heat exchange equilibrium that everything else does: If you put something a room with warmer air, it'll get warmer. If you put something in a room with colder air, it will get cooler.\r\n\r\nBut your car engin... | null |
488fem | Why don't we use deuterium in hydrogen powered cars? Wouldn't it be safer? | [
{
"answer": "It would be equally safe but much much more expensive.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hydrogen is already a gas.\n\nDeuterium is a rare form of hydrogen which has a neutron in addition to a proton.\n\nAs was pointed out using deuterium will increase the cost of using it since you ... | null |
56qwr8 | Why did the Roman Pilum(Javelin) die out? | [
{
"answer": "The javelin was a weapon peculiar to Mediterranean warfare, especially for Latin/Italian, Iberian and Celt-Iberian peoples (Sanz 21). The use of javelins (not always the *pilum*, later the *spiculum* and earlier a different type, but javelins are all basically the same in function) remained a mains... | null |
w4o0c | Are the ocean floors scattered with bones? | [
{
"answer": "The presence of bones and shells on the ocean floor depends on where you are. If the bone or shell is deposited in the deep oceans (where the [CCD](_URL_1_) is present) then the calcium carbonate and calcium will be put into solution with the water. \n\nMOST of the shells are broken down and deposi... | null |
5ql0z0 | why water completely damages a cell phone when submerged. | [
{
"answer": "Electronic circuits are designed to only allow electricity to pass through certain parts at certain times. That's how your phone works.\n\nIt's a set of boolean functions (1 or 0/true or false). Electricity passes through chip, and it makes a decision such as \"and/or\". If it's 'and', it sends ... | null |
2pt34m | Why didn't the Muslims, Indians, Chinese, etc launch colonial efforts on the scale of the Europeans? Or more specifically, what caused the massive rise in colonial efforts in Europe? | [
{
"answer": "There were many economic factors such as competition. The Ottoman Empire had risen to prominence leading up to period of European colonization. They controlled many of the trade routes to the east, and Europeans would have had to pay to use them. So, while it was obviously an economic risk to send ... | null |
hetlh | Why is there only a fixed geostationary orbit? | [
{
"answer": "Because the solid line [here](_URL_1_) is the effective potential energy of the Earth (or anything) plotted against distance (taken from [here](_URL_0_)). Do you see minimum point? That is the distance where you can have a circular orbit due, i believe, to the symmetry of the potential to the left ... | null |
7eydbf | How do we know what we know about Custer's last stand? Are our sources exclusively native? Custer has a reputation as a reckless general and a political opportunist- how much of this was contemporary, vs after the fact? Should he have seen it coming? What were the battle's lasting repercussions? | [
{
"answer": "This is kind of a Thanksgiving version of an answer since I am not at home, don't have access to my books and am writing purely from memory. Should it happen that I have the time and energy to more adequately address *all* of your questions at some later date --like maybe tomorrow?-- I will. \n\... | null |
1i3nl0 | the difference between an hmo insurance plan and a ppo insurance plan, or different insurance plans in general, i suppose. | [
{
"answer": "Ok. \n\n**HMO** = Health Maintenance Organization. It's where you have one doctor who oversees your general care: your Primary Care Physician [PCP]. Your PCP is the one you see most often, and who is most familiar with your situation. The PCP determines if you need to see a specialist for lab w... | null |
5so5dr | how come when stars explode, they gush their matter out in 2 dimensions? | [
{
"answer": "That's three dimensions, but two directions; the magnetic poles of the star. The magnetic fields involved create those jets. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Doesn't that image [look familiar](_URL_0_)?\n\nThe spectral matter is chasing the magnetic field. ",
"provenance": nul... | null |
4zehfr | Why did Vladimir I of Kievan Rus embrace Byzantine Orthodoxy rather than Catholicism? | [
{
"answer": "Adding to the question, I just today read (\"The Western Heritage since 1300 AP* Edition), that not only were there Catholic and Orthodox representatives plying for religious control of Russia, but there were also Jewish and Muslim representatives too. Was there any reason to choosing one over the ... | null |
3if3e3 | how come humans seem to be the only animal that require whiping their ass after shitting? | [
{
"answer": "You might not like the answer.\n\nOther animals don't need to wipe because they can reach around and clean themselves with their tongue. They still clean themselves as needed, I'm surprised you haven't seen the dog doing it. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Do you think your dog mi... | null |
2ppcte | how are doctors incentivized to be better and compete for careers in the toughest specialties within healthcare systems that are socialized? | [
{
"answer": "Is there something about socialized healthcare that automatically mandates all pay is equivalent? ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "why is it that some people think everyone needs an incentive to better themselves and excel in life? some people do it just because they can.",
"pr... | null |
20qv8r | How much of ancient history are we missing? | [
{
"answer": "Well, \"history\" is the study of text, but generally that means that it only goes back as far as there has been written word (and myths and oral histories etc). In Western Eurasia, this goes back to the Sumerians in about the fourth millennium, although one could argue that you still can't really ... | null |
e7uu5c | how in boxing a person can get cut when punched by someone wearing gloves? | [
{
"answer": "While I can't speak for every fighter, there's some boxers/mma fighters with scar tissue and thats why they open up and bleed easily.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The gloves aren't sharp but the way it happen is from friction of the glove sliding across the skin & dragging it ... | null |
2dii64 | why are some people coordinated and some people not? what in your brain determines how coordinated you are? | [
{
"answer": "***Hand-eye coordination*** is quite complex, involving *several regions of your brain* dedicated to processing visual information, motor control, proprioception, eye movement, et cetera. \n\nGenerally speaking and without getting into details of human neuroanatomy, this kind of **coordination requ... | null |
3o3a8q | how is america not totally collapsing because of debt and the dollar bill losing value? | [
{
"answer": "Because, and I shit you not, the US dollar has replaced gold Bullion as the foundation for the worlds currencies. Instead of stashing gold, other countries stash US dollars in their vaults, and *we* stash the gold. Sort of. There actually is no gold. Just Dollars. The US dollar is currently being u... | null |
3yoe0g | At the time, did people think there would be a WW2? | [
{
"answer": "Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the man who accepted the german armistice famously stated in 1919, [\"This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years\".](_URL_0_) He was correct, WWII began 20 years and 64 days later. He was not the only one who shared that sentiment. Winston Churchill avidly spok... | null |
4ihif9 | how does the government keep increasing the debt ceiling? are they simply pushing the debt onto the future generation? | [
{
"answer": "The debt ceiling is an artificial limit on debt. It has no effect on actual interest rates or the borrowing power of the US. It is simply a red tape tool used to cause debate about spending every few months. Because it was created by congress, they can also raise it. This is like you saying, I'm on... | null |
acfgpy | Why must an electric charge be moving to experience a force inside a magnetic field? | [
{
"answer": " > But what if the external electron is stationary? In that case, wouldn't the electrons inside the conductor undergo length contraction because they have a velocity relative to our external electron, resulting in a net negative charge? Shouldn't that also exert a force?\n\nA steady current in a wi... | null |
3lupck | why jeremy corbyn is being described as a 'threat to national security' | [
{
"answer": "If you say something is a threat to nation security or something similar you will automatically mobilize a huge segment of conservative votership against someone. It's nothing more than a cheap political move, but it will probably work.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"pro... | null |
4yqr1t | Do "non-water rainbows" exist and (if yes) what do they look like? | [
{
"answer": "The main difference between different liquids boils down to their indices of refraction and their dispersion. Changes in the index of refraction would alter the size of the rainbow arc, while changes in their dispersion would change how wide the actual rainbow band is. If the dispersion is negative... | null |
q85zb | Would it be possible to use MagLev technology for faster/ cheaper Space Shuttle launches? | [
{
"answer": "This is definitely possible; a more practical arrangement would be a straight track running through a tunnel angled through a mountain range pointed along your desired orbit. You probably wouldn't want to use magnetic levitation exactly either, rather a sled propelled through electromagnetic propul... | null |
1engar | When a new language is discovered, how do people start deciphering it? | [
{
"answer": "You might try cross posting to /r/linguistics ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Ooh! I can answer this one. Sort of. \nI studied linguistics at university, and Field Methods is one of the major aspects. So, while I can't talk about the historical aspect, I can talk about the modern... | null |
jz7q4 | - how do we perceive color? | [
{
"answer": "You have these cells at the back of your eyes that are photosensitive (they have the ability to turn a particle of light into a stimulus that your brain can interpret). Light enters your eyes and travels through a lens, which sort of projects an image of the world onto the back of your eyes, where ... | null |
2py33v | Is there a trade off that makes it hard for a virus to be both very contagious and very deadly? | [
{
"answer": "Yeah, viruses that are overly virulent kill their hosts before they are able to transmit the virus to new hosts, so more deadly viral lineages tend to burn out before being widely transmitted. So there's an evolutionary trade off between high virulence and a strain's ability to maintain itself in a... | null |
26makn | (tennis elbow) why does applying pressure to the mid-arm, such as using a compression sleeve, greatly reduce or eliminate pain from tennis elbow? | [
{
"answer": "The compression bands are meant to be worn about an inch or two down from where the tendon attaches to the bone. This helps to take the pressure off the tendon and allow it to heal. Basically the bands make our body think that the tendon actually attaches at the band, rather than at the bone. This ... | null |
4ikea5 | how is amd still in business? | [
{
"answer": " > they seem to consistently post losses, in both revenue and market share.\n\nThat's not enough information. Is that in only one market sector? AMD gave up on the PC market years ago, and that only makes up a small percent of their entire revenue stream. They make semi-conductors, and that's more... | null |
ejferk | Can a planet have a core made of diamond? | [
{
"answer": "Well, unless somehow the mantle is made of entirely iron and nickel, the planet would lack the magnetosphere that earth has to block solar radiation and help maintain a habitable environment for life as we know it. Of course, it could be entirely possible that a new form of life would emerge that a... | null |
cx3nwt | Is it possible for a conductive room temperature gas to exist? | [
{
"answer": "Generally no, gases don't have free electrons. If you ionized it, it would be a plasma (which does conduct), and if you're asking if there is cold plasma, [there is](_URL_0_) (they're in fluorescent lights).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"... | null |
9q36fx | how does overall wealth actually increase? | [
{
"answer": "New money is created every day. A lot driven by fractional reserve banking. You deposit $1,000 in the bank, and the bank then loans out a multiple of that, creating money in the process. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When we convert raw materials into other resources, the value ... | null |
pjbkf | Is our solar system falling through space? | [
{
"answer": " > Are we \"falling?\"\n\nIn the sense that orbiting celestial bodies are in an [inertial frame of reference](_URL_0_), and falling while on earth also places you in an inertial reference frame, then yes, stars and planets are \"falling\".\n\nBut don't confuse that with there being some sort of uni... | null |
7bn9en | why a bunch of people have birthdays the same day? | [
{
"answer": " In a room of just 23 people there’s a 50-50 chance of two people having the same birthday. In a room of 75 there’s a 99.9% chance of two people matching.\n\nThis is whats called the Birthday Paradox. It has to do with exponents and maths I am not good at, but here is a link that might better expla... | null |
1p0b7y | why do we feel the need to play with our phone or read something while pooping? | [
{
"answer": "It's boring. We need something to keep our minds occupied. Reader's Digest was the original smartphone for that.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5283362",
"title": "Reading motivation",
"section": "",
... | null |
5u3vu4 | why does stroking animals relax/calm us down? | [
{
"answer": "i covered this topic in a class in university way back in the caveman days they would sit around the fire with their half wild dogs stroking their fur elicited the guard guard guard instinct in the animal thats the theory anyways so basically the theory is we were able to relax knowing we were prot... | null |
dn75sn | What affects continental drift? | [
{
"answer": "Here's a reconstruction of the last ~250 million years, which basically shows the break up of Pangea. The thing to remember is that Pangea is only the most recent supercontinent; there have been at least 6 or 7 over Earth's 4.5 billion year history. _URL_0_\n\nThe driving force, very simply, is gra... | null |
18iws8 | why we have the right to bear arms (guns), but not swords? | [
{
"answer": "You have the right to *own* both guns and swords. That does not necessarily mean you have a right to openly carry either of them around town.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If the Congress of the United States tried to pass a law unreasonably restricting your right to keep and bea... | null |
1iyawu | What are the greatest "missing" objects that are probably still in existence? (stolen etc.) | [
{
"answer": "Actually, there are a lot of papyri and archeological pieces from the ancient Egypt which have never been studied by archeologists and egyptologists. These numerous missing objects are actually in the hands of collectionners. \n\nThis is the result of the state of egyptology in the 18th and 19th ce... | null |
6gpy5h | Why can't I remember a smell or taste the same way I can an image or a sound? | [
{
"answer": "Psychology undergrad here: The big problem with your chemical senses (especially with smell) is that you can't properly assign a specific perception of an aroma to a certain stimulus. You know very well which porperties a stimulus for your eyes must have for you to perceive it as \"blue\" or \"red\... | null |
z5165 | Just how much different are actual languages different from their «old» counterpart? (eg Old English) | [
{
"answer": "That's a pretty complex question. Languages all move at their own pace, and have their own unique history, so it's going to be a different answer for each language. \n\nEnglish has gone through a lot of changes from its \"Old\" to \"Modern\" stages, so Old English and modern English are very differ... | null |
17zn4p | Anyone know of any mafia families who had their sons serve in World War II? Any post-WWII crime bosses who were veterans? | [
{
"answer": "Matty The Horse Ianello served in Korea.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One of my favorite fiction books is *The Fortunate Pilgrim* by Mario Puzo, and it's about an Italian-American family living in New York. One of the sons of the family is involved with organized crime (the Ital... | null |
1cx3it | how to differentiate whether a person is chinese, japanese, korean, etc. (honest question - not meant to seem racist) | [
{
"answer": "You really can't but that's ok. Most will not get offended if you ask nicely where there are from. Same goes for Hispanics as they generally are hard to differentiate but often people will appreciate that you did not just assume anything without asking first.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
6j76rg | why do we have phobias that weren't a result of early experiences? | [
{
"answer": "A fear of clowns deals with something known as the \"uncanny valley\". It applies to objects that are close enough to humans to be recognized as such, but they aren't quite \"right\".\n\nFeatures are drawn to be highly exaggerated. Your brain doesn't know how to react. \"It's like me... But it's... | null |
fnzp2i | through what mechanism is a ventilator an effective treatment for respiratory illness? | [
{
"answer": "The patient can still take extra breaths when the body is signaling it needs more oxygen, but a ventilator takes away the work of breathing (the energy required to move the diaphragm again and again). A patients diaphragm may not be able to keep up with inspiratory demands with the rest of the body... | null |
3usps1 | Why did the Great Migration in US history start in the 1910s instead of earlier like after the Civil War (1865) or the end of Reconstruction (1877)? | [
{
"answer": "Essentially you've hit the nail on the head with your last sentence\n\n > a perceived lack of opportunity in the North\n\nWhile the First Great Migration (1910-1930) was largely caused by the brutality of Jim Crow Laws and Lynchings, another reason were the increased job opportunities in the North,... | null |
2zfx6n | The ocean level stands for 0 high. If the ocean level rises, will the understanding of 0 high change too? | [
{
"answer": "The notion of 'sea level' isn't actually the current sea level because that changes from year to year and more profoundly from place to place. Weather, moon, the geography of the water body in the area, and climate change, are just a few of the things that change 'actual' sea level (this is all fro... | null |
1qupd8 | why does bacteria grow faster at certain temperature? | [
{
"answer": "All bacteria have certain temperatures that their enzymes, or proteins in their bodies which process nutrients and other things perform at the maximum rate. As the environment temperature increases, enzyme action increases until it reaches a high enough temperature that enzymes denature, meaning th... | null |
24h335 | if double jeopardy exists, why can a judge overturn a sentencing and retry someone? | [
{
"answer": "He was already found guilty, the issue here is that the sentence for the guilt was out of line considering the sentencing guidelines.\n\nDouble Jeopardy protects from being tried again for the same crime (decision of guilt or not), not protection from an improper trial (hung jury, mistrial, etc).",... | null |
fhvut | Quick high school chemistry question | [
{
"answer": "A little bit of google makes it seem like your dad is right. Because wiki says that the way your teacher did it, it can refer to acetic acid, or several other compounds. _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "CH3COOH is the correct way to describe the structure in organic chemist... | null |
af9c6i | why do waterproof materials (tents and shower curtains) let water through when something touches it? | [
{
"answer": "They're not really waterproof, is the simple answer. They're mostly waterproof, and rely on angles to shed and wick the water away faster than it would drip out the other side. \n\nThis means you can make a relatively light and inexpensive material that still allows for airflow. \n\nAs to why your ... | null |
caobuz | how is space debris tracked? | [
{
"answer": "There is a radiolab pod cast about this topic....pretty much all debris is clasified by size and tracked individually by an agency sort of like NASA. They ping alerts to crews who might encounter the larger peices so they can avoid it but they said there is pretty much no way to keep track of the r... | null |
7lebz5 | how can a founder of a company, like papa john, be forced to step down from ceo | [
{
"answer": "The board of directors vote him out. They might do so under pressure from prominent shareholders. Ultimately, though, the board of directors determine the executive structure of the company (including voting in new board members). He's still the chairman of the board, but that doesn't mean he runs ... | null |
29ynto | How do sunburns go away? | [
{
"answer": "A sunburn isn't the same as a tan. Tans are caused by the production of melanin in the skin as a response to sun exposure. Sunburns are the layers of your skin literally being burned by sunlight, and the redness is caused by inflammation, not pigment. The redness goes away as healing occurs.",
... | null |
legp9 | why is rent control a bad thing? | [
{
"answer": "It reduces the overall quality of the housing. It actually creates less available housing and also raises the price of homes that should be lower. \n\nI personally think that it is morally wrong because it is a violation of property rights. If someone wants to rent out his house for $1k/month and s... | null |
37a2kq | How does a computer graph a function? | [
{
"answer": "It plots individual points. \"Insane\" is an exaggeration. Think about this, say you had a super HD 4K monitor and had the graph going across the entire screen. If the software were to individually compute every pixel it displays... it would only have to compute about 4000 points, one for every x v... | null |
5p40vn | Why did the Constitution specify March 4 (the date) for the start of the new president's term? Why did FDR specify January 20 (the date) as the new date in the 20th amendment? | [
{
"answer": "To answer the first part of your question:\n\nThe Constitution did **not** specify March 4, or any other date, as the beginning of the new President's term. It stated only that the length of the President's term was four years. And, while the Constitution gave Congress the power to set the date f... | null |
4jhbtk | what happened at the nevada democratic convention last night? | [
{
"answer": "There are many videos of what is apparently misconduct in the voting process aimed at benefitting Hillary Clinton and suppressing the supporters of Bernie Sanders.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Several bernie-supporting delegates were rejected for various reasons, it got rowdy be... | null |
30eb0f | what makes even "healthy" or "normal" people sad from time-to-time for no reason at all (it seems like)? | [
{
"answer": "Every now and then I remember how pointless and insignificant everyone's lives are.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "29605965",
"title": "Life satisfaction",
"section": "Section::::Factors affecting life satis... | null |
4uf3ke | How did showering to clean one's body become a thing? | [
{
"answer": "William Feetham patented a chain-release shower in 1767. In the late 1800s communal showers took hold by French military, under the direction of physician François Merry Delabost who had first tried them out on prisoners for reasons of economics and hygiene.\n\nIn modern times showers did not start... | null |
2nbd39 | Could DNA fossilize? | [
{
"answer": "Unfortunately probably not. A relatively recent study pegged the half life of DNA at around 500 years depending on the environmental surroundings. So every 500 years roughly half of the remaining bonds in the DNA molecule will be broken. After 2000 years, you would only expect 1/16 of the bonds to ... | null |
33uoqb | Would a single candle in an otherwise unlit circus Hall of Mirrors provide the same lighting effect as an equivalent number of real candles (equivalent to the number of reflections) in a normal room? | [
{
"answer": "Think of it this way. For every mirror there is an area NOT lit because light headed for that area was redirected by the mirror, at a loss because the mirror is not 100% efficient.\n\nThat's where the seemingly \"extra\" light comes from.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The effect ... | null |
1psl9q | the weekend | [
{
"answer": "From a Euro-American perspective, the Sabbath has been around since Biblical times, so the idea of having one day per week to take a break is ancient. \n\nI believe that current 5-day work week started around the later Industrial revolution, when more people began paying attention to things like wo... | null |
1ukktb | Hitler glorified blonde hair and blue eyes, yet he himself didn't look stereotypically "Aryan". Did he consider himself and the other Austrians to be "lower quality Aryans" and the Scandinavians "higher quality Aryans"? I.e did he consider himself "pure"? | [
{
"answer": "Hitler discussed this in Mein Kampf. \n\nHe promoted the idea of five sub-races of the Aryan people. Dinaric, Alpine, mediterranean, Nordic, and Eastern Baltic. The best kind of Aryan is, you probably guessed it, are the predominantly blue eyed and fair headed Nordics. \n\nThis was actually very po... | null |
3w6aqn | what's the purpose for the mid season finale pretty much all shows have now? | [
{
"answer": "Lets everybody enjoy their holidays without watching TV and having to keep up while with family and gives more time to film and edit episodes\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "26688484",
"title": "The End (Lost)",
... | null |
e4h67j | why are animals and plants so distinct, e.g why aren't there any plants that can walk or animals that do photosynthesis? | [
{
"answer": "There are animals like a sponge that you would likely mistake for a plant if you didn't know better, and plants that can move and eat \"meat\" like a venus fly trap. I know that plants and animals are different in that plants have cell walls and animals have cell membranes, and given how far back ... | null |
ev7mt0 | How good/bad were the Knights Templar in general? | [
{
"answer": "The story you heard is from Usama ibn Munqidh, a poet and diplomat (among other things) from Damascus who often visited crusader Jerusalem:\n\n > “Anyone who is recently arrived from the Frankish lands is rougher in character than those who have become acclimated and have frequented the company of ... | null |
1plzrw | what would actually happen if we built a tunnel from one side of the earth to the other and then proceeded to drop something through it? | [
{
"answer": "The dropped object would accelerate toward the center of the earth until it reached terminal velocity, and once it passed the earth's center it would start to slow down and then fall back toward the center again, oscillating back and forth until gravity and wind resistance would keep it at the cent... | null |
9ui17w | what is the election everyone in america is talking about and what could it change in the american political system (i'm not american) | [
{
"answer": "It’s the midterm elections for congress and some special elections for governors that are in new positions. \n\nEdit: just considered you might not know what Congress is. It’s kind of like the parliament if your from a country with that. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Every two y... | null |
5p1orj | why is the nanking massacre so controversial among the chinese and japanese? which is correct? | [
{
"answer": "considering there are living witnesses to some of the atrocities, it's hard to deny atrocities happened.\n\nthe Japanese story says there was no high level orders. and whatever stories of individual soldiers committing actions must have been fabrications because honorable soldiers always follow ord... | null |
z5iha | why auto insurance companies allowed to discriminate? | [
{
"answer": "It's not a denial of service or something like preferential treatment for a certain race, gender, etc. Actuarial science is just that: a science. Insurance is a business, and the different variables that determine how much someone pays for their insurance are based on past and present statistics of... | null |
2iy89g | Why was the 5.56mm round chosen as the NATO standard? | [
{
"answer": "in 1977 NATO agreed to adopt a 2nd round in addition to the 7.62x51mm round, specifically the SS109 steel tipped round which was designed to pierce a soviet style steel helmet at 600 meters.\n\nJane's Infantry Weapons 1986–1987, pg. 362\n\nThe Small Arms Review vol.10, no.2 November 2006.\n\nIt's 4... | null |
3f8efv | why is the death of one lion such a huge story but the extinction of rhinos in the wild barely makes the news? | [
{
"answer": "Because people want something to be upset about and this is the newest thing. Two weeks ago, no one ever even knew about this goddamn lion. The news said we should be mad, so everyone got pissed. Outrage gives people a feeling of purpose.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Stories ... | null |
1z64fz | Looking for some career guidance. (post-undergrad) | [
{
"answer": "Your question is certainly welcome here but you might want to try posting it to /r/AskAcademia too – they're good with career advice.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "32494174",
"title": "University of Łódź Faculty of... | null |
2kjsx7 | how come i can see a vein bulging out of my left bicep, but not my right, even though i work out each arm equally? | [
{
"answer": "Your body is not an anatomical mirror. Your left side does not mirror your rigt side. Same as your left index finger is not identical to your right index finger. Thus your veins runs 'differently' in your body, meaning that some are close to the skin and some are not.\nAnother contributing factor m... | null |
e9a55r | milk expiration dates | [
{
"answer": "If you say that it's literally same exact milk (same brand, same type, same size, etc) then its probably different stocks. Lets say Whole Foods bought milk 2 weeks ago and Safeway bought theirs 2 days ago. So WF's milk is older, and thus expires sooner.\n\nHowever if you mean that brands are differ... | null |
25meoe | Is it possible to make an anti-matter atomic bomb? | [
{
"answer": "Yes although we don't have anything close to the technology to make that. If exploded in a vacuum it would look the same as a regular nuclear bomb, if it was in contact with regular matter than there'd be an intense burst of gamma radiation as it annihilates with regular matter.",
"provenance":... | null |
28nswb | I've noticed on a lot of milk crates they say something along the lines of "using this for anything other than milk is punishable by law" was stealing milk crates ever such a big problem that they had to make a law to address it or was this just a precaution? | [
{
"answer": "hi! could you specify which country you're referring to? thanks!",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yes, that is the case. During the 1970s and 80s these plastic crates were regularly pilfered because of their solid construction and light weight. Today manufacturers have copied thes... | null |
sgll7 | how do the ads next to porn videos know where i am? | [
{
"answer": "[Check this out.](_URL_0_)\n\n > Every device connected to the public Internet is assigned a unique number known as an Internet Protocol (IP) address. IP addresses consist of four numbers separated by periods (also called a 'dotted-quad') and look something like 127.0.0.1.\n\n > Since these numbers... | null |
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