id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1vdueh | how do websites, such as _url_0_, that have no advertisements and provide a free service stay in operation and even grow larger? | [
{
"answer": "The overhead to run craigslist is pretty minimal, meaning much of it is automated and web hosting is pretty cheap these days.\n\nSomeone, somewhere, is running craigslist as a business expense, and using the cost to run as a tax deduction for their other business.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
1056j8 | Why is mathematics -- something humans develop in their own heads -- so effective when it comes to describing the external, physical world? | [
{
"answer": "Perhaps the question can be phrased differently:\n\nHow can humans be so effective at perceiving at describing mathematical patterns inherent to the external, physical world?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is sort of like asking why language is so good at describing the physi... | null |
73h2yy | why is "w" pronounced "double u" and not "wee"? | [
{
"answer": "At a very basic level, it's because W literally came from two Us, hence \"double U\". Hundreds of years ago, there was no distinction between U and V. U was written as a V and so two Vs made W. Later, when the distinction between U and V came about, the name for W still carried over, despite V now ... | null |
6xnn3s | How correct is it to say that the IRA practically invented modern urban guerrilla warfare? How did the lessons learned by their struggle against the British affect other urban insurrections around the world? | [
{
"answer": "Adapted from an old answer of mine:\n\nThe influence of Michael Collins and the pre-Irish Civil War IRA on post-1920s guerrilla campaigns is low and reached its peak in the late 1940s. Yitzhak Shamir, the leader of the Stern gang (or more officially, Lehi) and Vladimir Jabotinsky (who founded Irgun... | null |
3o56n6 | Could we deplete the earth's core of heat? | [
{
"answer": " > Could we deplete the earth's core of heat?\n\nNo. Not in any realistic scenario. We are too puny. Also, the geothermal energy is slowly dissipating in space even without our help.\n\nThe equation you are using is about *ideal* gases, and the Earth core is neither of those.\n\nMore importantly, ... | null |
37v4sg | what happens when someone declares bankrupcy in us. | [
{
"answer": "Don't know about people. When companies go bankrupt, it actually can help. This is an ELI5 of what happens:\n\n0.) **why does it exist?** - the issue in bankruptcy is that there's not enough money left (in terms of assets) to pay off all of the debts the company has or is about to have at 100% of ... | null |
3e8efn | Did armies ever send out one champion from each side to battle it out and winner takes all, instead of having everyone fight? | [
{
"answer": "Judicial duels in Russia known for a long time. According said the Arab writers, X century Amin Razi and Mukaddezi depicting tradition Russes, \"when the king decides to dispute between two litigants, and they remain unhappy with his decision, then he says to them sort it out with their swords - wh... | null |
3htwvq | How come Ireland adopted the language of England, but not its religion, while Finland adopted the religion of Sweden, but not its language? | [
{
"answer": "I can't speak to Finland and Sweden, but in Ireland, English was pretty heavily enforced as a language by the British colonists. Irish was prohibited in British National Schools, and the famines hit the rural areas, where Irish was a majority language, much harder than urban areas where English was... | null |
7e1at2 | how do music/video editing programs isolate vocals, frequency, pitch, etc.? | [
{
"answer": "It’s pretty complex but I think what you don’t understand is that the editing softwares are not meant to isolate anything, they’re meant to take the isolated vocals and turn them into a final product. So with each recording you can edit its pitch and frequencies and do whatever other mixing you wis... | null |
3biv3t | Why does happy instrumental music sound happy to us? | [
{
"answer": "Because you have seen similar music used in contexts that were happy or meant to evoke happiness, like in movies where the protagonists experience joy. You now subconsciously associate those instrumental features with positive emotions. This sounds like a circular argument, but the process is self-... | null |
98pfb5 | In the early days of firearms (16th and 17th centuries) how did one go about treating gunshot and cannon wounds? | [
{
"answer": "Hi, not discouraging other contributions here, but you might be interested in some earlier answers\n\n* /u/xRathke provides an overview of medical thought in [What did pre-germ theory people think was going on when a cut got infected?](_URL_2_)\n\n\n* /u/staples11 in [During the buccaneering era of... | null |
1uxu58 | if your pouring molten steel into a cast, what prevent the cast from melting or distorting? | [
{
"answer": "By having a different melting temperature than the metal that is being poured into it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "sand and plaster in a container to hold them in place. internal distortion is controlled with binders in the sand. Bentonite and horsehair come to mind although th... | null |
zwc9s | how do they get the caramel in the caramilk? | [
{
"answer": "First they form the top of the bar. Looks like an ice cube tray. They then turn it over and fill the depressions with caramel. Then they place a chocolate slab on top (and that is the bottom). \nLook at the bar and you can see the seam\n\nYou owe me a carmilk now because I now crave one",
"prov... | null |
6phxcj | In whaling times, how were organic products preserved on board long enough to make it to market? | [
{
"answer": "Whale oil itself will not mold or rot and even is fairly resistant to rancidity (more so even than most vegetable oils). This shouldn't be too surprising as it exists naturally in large volumes inside the whale and if it required a lot of upkeep or immune activity to maintain it would be very biolo... | null |
148xef | Did all land-dwelling creatures evolve from one, the first and only, amphibious creatures? | [
{
"answer": "The answer is no. Tetrapods, insects, crustations (several times), arachnids, meriopods, velvet worms, molluscs (several times), etc all invaded land separately.\n\n > But I find it hard to believe that one amphibious creature gave rise to every land-dwelling creatures, especially when other specie... | null |
2gemn1 | why do all animals, even insects, seem to go nuts over the red dot? | [
{
"answer": " > Felidae (all kinds of cats from large to small) brains and eyes are geared to a) notice motion and b) play with their prey. Playing with prey is the best way to kill possibly dangerous animals... especially things like venomous snakes. Dodge in, bat the hell out of it before it can strike, dodge... | null |
12kn6e | Are Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells as advantageous as Embryonic Stem Cells, research wise? | [
{
"answer": "Short answer is no. While iPS cells have a lot of potential, they simply are not as undifferentiated as ES cells. This means ES cells can be used for a wider variety of purposes more effectively. Potentially we could find a way to program them like ES cells, but it's kind of a ridiculous step when ... | null |
5lb5bi | How effective would a stirling engine that is orbiting the sun be? | [
{
"answer": "It is possible. The main problems are that stuff with moving parts generally need a lot of maintenance, and that stirling engines involve gas, which is hard to keep hold of in space. It would also have to radiate the heat away from the heat sink, which isn't a fast process, but this is a problem wi... | null |
1nxj47 | why are there so many atheists on reddit? | [
{
"answer": "The site is generally full of younger people more likely to be Atheist, and a lot of the popular reddit sections are based on learning things, science, world events etc... that's going to skew towards people who want to be more educated. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Reddit appe... | null |
72l9m2 | Why do some scientist think that in multiverse theory, the laws of physics would be different to our own universe? | [
{
"answer": "There are many multiverse theories, but the most popular one right now is eternal inflation.\n\nIn eternal inflation the inflaton field, which is postulated to have driven the postulated inflation in the very early universe, a period of extremely rapid expansion, has spontaneously decayed to its cu... | null |
1pbdev | what (if any) is the practical biological purpose of my beard? | [
{
"answer": "To keep you warm. \n\nTo keep dirt from you face, mouth, nose. \n\nTo act as a social signifier of post-pubescent\n\nTo make you look cool. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Bear repellent.\n\nAlso, women have probably sexually selected for beards over time, but mostly:\n\nBear repe... | null |
14qa3j | Why is Nicolas II of Imperial Russia perceived as an incompetent ruler? | [
{
"answer": "Editing to not be an asshole to the OP. \n\nYou noted that he was perceived as incompetent. His competency or lack thereof is difficult to gauge from outside historical context. What we do know is the result of his reign. The Russian Empire and Monarchy collapsed under his management. Despite the f... | null |
w3h1m | "Spin" of elementary particles | [
{
"answer": "[Searched](_URL_2_)\n\nRelevant [discussion](_URL_0_)\n\nOriginal question by [pryomancer](_URL_1_)\n\n > What is meant by the spin of an elementary particle?\n\nTop comment courtesy [mufusisrad](_URL_4_)\n\n > Spin, at least with respect to elementary particles, has no simple classical counterpart... | null |
3h90k1 | how come people in america need $15/hr jobs if people from asia can apparently live off ridiculous wages like $2/hr? | [
{
"answer": "Accepted standards of living, and societal expectations of what you will be capable of doing. \n\nOur standard of living requires that everyone have enough food for 3 meals a day, electricity in our homes, running water in our homes, plumbing in our homes, air conditioning, entertainments (books, t... | null |
a6muwx | what is the difference between disk capacity and density with a ssd? | [
{
"answer": "Capacity is what you really want, that's how much total storage the drive provides\n\nDensity is about how much storage we can fit in one flash chip. Higher density chips enable higher capacity drives in the same size, or drives with the same capacity but fewer chips\n\nDensity matters in the long ... | null |
22rxps | Why have Argentine and Chilean political cultures been different? | [
{
"answer": "I would say Chile's geographic isolation had a key role. Have a desert in the north and a frozen wasteland to the south tends to place the heart of the populace in the center. That eliminates the problem of regionalism that other countries at the time had. Chile never really had a caudillo problem ... | null |
7p0y89 | If the M14 was readily available and known to be a good weapon then why was the M16 used in Vietnam? | [
{
"answer": "The development and testing of the m16 is one fraught with bureaucracy and was generally mishandled by people who either: 1) had little experience with small arms design (ie generals) and 2)Those that simply wanted a rifle similar to the m1 garand with full power rifle ammo. Much of this story goes... | null |
2klv9y | eli:5 - what is with the giant outrage of texas demanding id for voting? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know how many Texans are commenting here but as one I'd like to believe that Americans are the only ones determining the outcome of American elections. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because some people argue that as these IDs require money and time to acquire, it constit... | null |
28zcjp | How accurate is Da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper from what people at the time would have visualized the Last Supper as? | [
{
"answer": "Da Vinci's The Last Supper is a special portrayal of the biblical event because it was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan, to be placed in the dining hall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery, which the Duke had recently had renovated. The reason this makes it special is becaus... | null |
9hcitw | how can the fbi seize a website? | [
{
"answer": "The website is stored on a server which is physically located somewhere. If it's located in the United States then the FBI can get a warrant to take possession of it (or at least the section of it that the website is on) to shut the service down. If it's located in another country then they have to... | null |
1qagj9 | What would a explosion look like in space? | [
{
"answer": "im by no means an expert on the subject, but I have a couple links that may interest you. look into [Starfish Prime.](_URL_1_) it was part of a series of High Altitude Nuclear Tests carried out by the US. This one in particular was conducted 400km above Earth. The highest ever recorded nuclear test... | null |
1lzvi2 | Does plastic deteriorate/lose integrity over time? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, and it really depends on the plastic.\n\nSome plastics react to moisture or oxygen in the atmosphere and will break down over time. These are fairly rare and not used as commodity plastics yet, but occasionally you'll come across that biodegradable cup where this applies.\n\nMost plastics wil... | null |
1tqmb6 | does it rain over all the oceans and seas? are any areas over an ocean or a sea classified as deserts? | [
{
"answer": "There are definitely bodies of water which get rained on more or less depending on where they are. The amount of precipitation which falls in the arctic is very small compared to that which falls in a tropical region. Areas of ocean which are downwind from deserts also get very little direct precip... | null |
20lml3 | How do NASA scientists take such clear long exposure photographs of Nebulas and galaxies, if the Earth is constantly rotating itself and around the sun? | [
{
"answer": "Telescopes are motorized to track a location in the sky as the Earth rotates under them.\n\nThe [Wikipedia article on equatorial mounts](_URL_0_) has a bunch of examples and pictures of telescope mounts.\n\nEven relatively small backyard telescopes can have motorized mounts, for amateur astronomers... | null |
dagje4 | How does cocaine get into the hair structure through use and environmental exposure? | [
{
"answer": " > is water soluble, why isn't it coming out in the water? Why is permeating the hair further?\n\nI can't answer your other questions, but keep in mind there is a lot of water in the human body, inside cells and tissue and bodily fluids etc. Just googling it hair is apparently 10 - 13% water. Might... | null |
13czbs | Could a hydrogen car have a water dispenser inside the car? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, that is in the world of \"could.\" I doubt that the hardware required to store a meaningful reservoir of water would be worthwhile for most vehicles, though.\n\nA more practical example would be a household or neighborhood level hydrogen power cell, that uses provided hydrogen to generate bot... | null |
97gkpo | Why can't herbivores eat meat, and why can't carnivores eat plants? | [
{
"answer": "Carnivores stomaches have an extremely low PH allowing them to process raw meat without harmful parasites thriving. Many herbivores have several stomaches in order to digest the very tough cell walls of plants. Dietary needs as well as digestion Is vastly different between the two types of animals... | null |
1ljfta | How did elite Westerners entertain long-term visitors before the twentieth century? | [
{
"answer": "Nothing elaborate, and not an answer to your question, but one thing I will point out just for some reference is that prior to the late 19th century, the entire idea of a hotel did not exist. Sure you had inns and taverns, but those were not places the wealthy would stay. Instead if the wealthy tra... | null |
2sm36r | why is it ok to insult religion in name of freedom of speech, yet not ok to be a racist? | [
{
"answer": "Because no-one is responsible for the colour of their skin, but they are ultimately responsible for their own belief system.....\n\nYou can only ridicule someone based on the stupid choices they have made (such as believing in imaginary friends as adults) & the things they have done, & not on t... | null |
fx2pno | Historians who read languages for which there is no known pronunciation, or for which there are large gaps in pronunciation, how do you do it? | [
{
"answer": "This is exactly what I work on (and I mean *exactly*). Most Egyptian texts are written in a phase of the language called Middle Egyptian. Middle Egyptian was only spoken until the mid second millennium BCE, but the written language continued to be used for formal writing for the remainder of Egypti... | null |
5rorcg | was fighting in ice hockey allowed since the beginning of this sport, or was it introduced later - and if so how that happened. | [
{
"answer": "It's not allowed. That's why there are penalties for fighting. \n\nFighting is a result, usually, of three things. \n\n1. Get your team to raise their game. I'm willing to drop gloves and get into a fight. What are you willing to do to get our team back into the game?\n\n2. Defend a team mate. That... | null |
d7buc3 | Why did germanic migrants lose more of their language in favour of Latin? | [
{
"answer": "An answer ([Why are the spanish and french not considered Germanic](_URL_0_); u/Libertat) I posted some time ago might provide with some elements of response. \nBasically, it's doubtful that each Barbarian coalition had its own \"national\" language, being made up from the IInd century of various ... | null |
6v8so3 | why does damage to eyes not become apparent immediately and takes time ranging from a night's sleep to years to show up? | [
{
"answer": "It's like a sunburn. At first, it's just all red and painful (but your retina has no pain receptors, so it doesn't hurt). The next day, your skin is literally falling off your body. In that time, the damaged cells were figuring out that irreparable damage had occurred and that they might be cancero... | null |
3v9uwj | why does the us senate always seem so empty? | [
{
"answer": "Most of them are doing their jobs. Their jobs just have very little to do with the debate floor. Think about it, how inefficient is it to have one guy speak to a room of a hundred about some issue while everyone else has to feign attention. During that time a politician could be meeting with lobbyi... | null |
1jz5ey | can someone explain the difference between a university and a technical school? | [
{
"answer": "In the US, technical schools focus mainly on job training and associates degrees in specific fields. They're great if you want to be a plumber, electrician, automotive tech, or some other sort of skilled trade.\n\nThere may be a stigma against the sort of jobs you'll likely be training for. You w... | null |
typsw | hare krishna | [
{
"answer": "They are a branch of Hinduism that started in New York in the 1960's. Sort of.\n\nSpiritually they try to grow closer to the Supreme Lord Krishna, through various methods.\n\nThey require members to be vegetarians and abstain from 'illicit' sex, gambling and intoxicants. They highly regard four vir... | null |
338xpk | why has no one crossed a dandelion with a carrot or parsnip, thus creating a nutritious vegetable that grows wild as a weed? | [
{
"answer": "A few things. First, dandelions *are* nutritious vegetables that you can eat lots of ways.\n\nSecond, a weed is just any unwanted plant - they typically grow more aggressively than cultivated plants because they are evolved specifically for the environment in which they are found and because they d... | null |
3cn21v | Why does the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall baffle cosmologists, but not its namesake constellations? | [
{
"answer": "The constellations are merely local stars visible from earth and have no relation to the galaxy structure other than direction. The galaxy structure is behind the stars that make up the constellations and hence from our observational point of view \"in\" those constellations the same way a distant ... | null |
6vyfzf | How does the fact that energy is quantized explain blackbody radiation? | [
{
"answer": "If you assume that EM radiation at thermal equilibrium can have arbitrary energy in each mode, you run into an ultraviolet divergence (call the ultraviolet catastrophe). The total energy goes like ω^(2), integrated from zero to infinity, which is divergent.\n\nIf you assume that radiation can only ... | null |
5ahsb8 | how does a barometer actually measure air pressure? | [
{
"answer": "Inside a barometer is a sealed can, containing air. This makes it a bit like a metal balloon in that air is trapped, and can neither flow in or out of the can.\n\nIf the air pressure outside of the can changes, it'll squash the can slightly. If the air pressure drops, the can will expand. It's thes... | null |
4234fq | Does special relativity preclude multiple time dimensions? | [
{
"answer": "No, it doesn't. Special relativity admits a simple generalization to p time dimensions and q space dimensions by replacing the Lorentz group with SO(p,q), the group of transformations that preserve the line element:\n\nds^2 = (dt^1 )^2 + ... + (dt^p )^2 - (dx^2 )^2 - ... - (dx^q )^2\n\nThe real pro... | null |
59qowq | how did all matter fit into an area less than an atom at the beginning of time? | [
{
"answer": "We don't know! But it probably wasn't really what we would consider to be \"matter\" at that point anyway as even subatomic particles wouldn't have been precipitated out yet.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "anything before t=1 is useless to theorize about. The rules that govern the... | null |
42drou | Is there a historical reason why, in regards to U.S. currency, the coin denominations are 1, 5, 10, 25, 50 while the dollar denominations are 1, 5, 10, *20*, 50? | [
{
"answer": "The 25c denomination is historically derived from the usage of the Spanish colonial 8 reale or \"Spanish Dollar\" coin in British colonial America. The Spanish Dollar (and smaller denominations such as the 4 reale, 2 reale or quarter dollar, 1 reale, and half reale) is estimated by some to have co... | null |
xfucu | why gas mileage goes up the slower you go | [
{
"answer": "Your gas mileage depends more on the RPMs (rotations per minute) than anything. Have you ever noticed when the pedal is pushed down, the RPM meter goes up? Well, that's when more gas is spent. Because not only is gas being spent on making the wheels turn, but it's being spent on how fast the wheels... | null |
84p4gw | Why is the fall of the Mississippi River considered a great blow to the Confederacy? | [
{
"answer": "You are correct in the assertion that geographically, the Confederacy wasn't split in \"half,\" but it was irreparably split. Think of the consequences had the British been successful in controlling the entire Hudson River and split New England from the other colonies. Geographically it wasn't hal... | null |
180rzy | the usps is struggling financially and therefore eliminating saturday deliveries, while ups and fedex are doing just fine. why doesn't the usps try and model itself after them? | [
{
"answer": "The USPS has a government-mandated monopoly on letter delivery, granted on the condition that they deliver to every single valid address in the country. Private carriers like FedEx and UPS can refuse to deliver to specific locations.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Got it backward... | null |
642def | how can someone open a credit card under my name. | [
{
"answer": "Did he actually open it under your name? If he did, you would see the bank summary and transactions as far as I know. He probably added you as an authorized card holder to one of his accounts. I have cards from my parents that are like that",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "What y... | null |
1dx15q | How did Werner Van Braun feel about being taken to the US? | [
{
"answer": "German scientists were taken to some sanatorium at Gorodomlya island at Seligyor lake, they lived there much more comfortably than most of Soviet scientists. They actually had made a contract to work there and were allowed to take with them wives (or mistresses) and children. German engineers were ... | null |
abpj4t | Is it possible to culture healthy gut bacteria outside of the body with the intention of reintroducing it? | [
{
"answer": "There's actually a technique called \"[poop transplant](_URL_0_)\" where they transfer poop from a na healthy person to the patient, they do this to restore the microbic biome in the patient's guts, usually is done after something nasty happened to the patient's bacteria (example: chemotherapy). ",... | null |
7phbwc | how did the notion of sharing blood with family members came about in ancient and medieval times? | [
{
"answer": "Even before our understanding of DNA, there was still a conception and understanding of inherited traits. At the time, the blood was considered the essence of a person's life and contained your personality.\n\nSince offspring inherited a parent's physical and behavioral traits, it is not a big leap... | null |
3ei0fs | Would Jesus have been educated or familiar with the teachings of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle? What do we know about the education of young Jews of his time period? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up: would Plato or Aristotle have been familiar with Genesis or Jewish thought?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "So the simple answer to this would be: probably not. The longer answer is, in order for Jesus to have studied these philosophers, even on a basic level, he would h... | null |
16sk08 | Is it true that Kruschev wrote in his memoirs that during the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK told him that the military might overthrow him? | [
{
"answer": "Hi. I'm not a historian but I am reading [Tim Weiner's *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA*](_URL_1_). Here are a few thoughts.\n\n* Weiner writes about an Oval Office conversation on October 27, the day before the crisis was resolved, in which Robert McNamara burst into the office to report t... | null |
4hx8an | Why is a dust particle floating upward in my room? | [
{
"answer": "Air is still circulating in the room. If it weren't, then all of the air molecules would collect around the ground and there would be big troubles for us.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2844",
"title": "Atomic theor... | null |
2ps3sv | how come if a car sits for an extended period outside, the tires get dry rot, but the tires on my daily driver which sits outside all the time don't? | [
{
"answer": "Because tyres work via friction on the road. Friction generates heat. Heat cycling a tyre causes chemicals used in the curing of the tyre to be released which stops them from cracking/rotting. Tyres that do not get heat cycled by driving the chemicals in the tyre remain in one place.\n\nYou can see... | null |
9m1llr | How and why did so many of the Buddhist monastic orders and sects that took root in Asia become divorced from meditation as a cornerstone of the religion/practice? | [
{
"answer": "It was not the 'cornerstone' for many. There are other parts of the Noble Eightfold Path, after all. And there are many 'Dharma doors': devotion, faith, charity, compassion, ethical behavior, the path of study, the path of shamanism, the path of work, the path of yoga, lay and monastic paths, socia... | null |
8hd2y5 | How did CollegeBoard manage to get its SAT and AP tests to be such important steps in getting into most universities in the US? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer to your question is that the College Board is the Old Boys Club in education made tangible. \n\nThe College Board (originally called the College Entrance Examination Board) is basically one of the first educational think-tanks in this country, founded in 1899 by educational leaders... | null |
2vpx6l | How surprising was the American military's dominance over Iraq in the Gulf War? | [
{
"answer": "Well for one thing, observers were looking at what seemed to be building up to a massive scale conflict and Iraq's military was certainly nothing to sneeze at. \n\nWe have the gift of hindsight and many today seem to consider Iraq's military forces as weak, incompetent or 'not standing a chance' ag... | null |
n1nnu | If I smashed my hand with a hammer, and someone cut my hand off instantly after, would I still feel the pain from the broken hand? | [
{
"answer": "No, you would not feel the pain from the broken hand because the pain receptors that were sending the signal that you perceive as pain are no longer attached. The signal that they send to the brain is very very fast and once they are gone that signal is terminated immediately. \n",
"provenanc... | null |
2yo1gk | why was it a trend to add 2000 and 3000 to the end of products? | [
{
"answer": "There was a time when year 2000 was the future.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "10249042",
"title": "Coaxial power connector",
"section": "Section::::Connector sizes.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 14,
... | null |
r8yob | Can electromagnetic radiation create sound? | [
{
"answer": "Your definitions are a little hazy. On one end of the spectrum you have radio waves (which you can't hear directly...try listening now) on the other end you have gamma rays (which silently irradiate you). However if radio waves travel through the medium of a crystal radio you can definitely hear ... | null |
2ycr8e | with websites using shortened links(reddit, youtube, twitter ect), why do they still use the full link at all? | [
{
"answer": "It's just semantic. With the long URL, you can tell what subreddit it's in and what the title of the post is. You only need the thread ID to grab the thread's data, but it doesn't mean anything to any of us because we aren't relational databases.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Sho... | null |
1r3y2y | From an infantryman's perspective, what war from the beginning of the 20th century to the present has been the most horrific? | [
{
"answer": "I think this will be almost a matter of taste. In chronological order, and taking no stance on which one is worst:\n\n* The Boer war is notoriously the last in which the British Army suffered more casualties from disease than from combat. Also where concentration camps were invented, although this ... | null |
7zaiwr | Do wild animals get physical addictions to substances? | [
{
"answer": "They certainly *can*, though I have no benchmark for how common this is in most species.\n\nThere is plenty of documentation for various animals seeking out psychoactive substances on the semi-regular. Common ones include preferential selection of fermented fruit over newly fallen material for the... | null |
6zjmz3 | In the 1800s in "wild west" America were there neighborhoods that people lived in similar to today? Or were there singular houses spread out randomly? | [
{
"answer": "The West is an enormous place so generalizations are difficult to make. That said, the majority of the region was and continues to be largely urban in its settlement. Since most people in the nineteenth century did not have a horse (contrary to the Hollywood-based stereotype), people had to be able... | null |
3ajzhw | Can someone elaborate on the natural gas pipelines of the Han dynasty? | [
{
"answer": "[You might find this interesting.](_URL_1_) Can't say I know much more than that, but I recall Needham mentioning the same thing in one of his books on China. You can download his books [here](_URL_0_) if you're interested. Sorry for the short answer and I haven't read RKG's book, but this is somet... | null |
1ee5ki | What is Mitochondrial Decay? Is this real? | [
{
"answer": " > His claim is that DNA decays over long periods of time and the same DNA can only be folded so many times because it deteriorates too badly.\n\nsounds like he pulled that one out of thin air. DNA in synthesized/repackaged de novo every time a cell divides.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
dy7fos | how does a website know i mistyped my card number before i even click “place order”? | [
{
"answer": "Part of the card number identifies the type of card so it can tell immediately if you have tried to put a debit card instead of a credit card (or vice versa) or if that part of the number doesn't match any type of card.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are calculations that ca... | null |
164oie | How do molecules such as ATP, mRNA and proteins, transport around the cell? | [
{
"answer": "The simple answer is [diffusion](_URL_1_). An easy, somewhat intuitive, non-thermodynamics way to think about it is to take some food coloring and put a drop of it in a glass of water. After a while the entire glass will be that color. The molecules of the food coloring spread throughout the water.... | null |
iw3or | The need for air conditioners to have a solid barrier between inside and outside... | [
{
"answer": "An AC doesn't make \"cold\" out of nothing. In reality there is no such thing as making cold. What it does is separate hot from cold. So cold air comes out one side, and hot air comes out the other. If there is no barrier. the inefficiencies of the whole process would actually make the room hot... | null |
bfekp4 | why iron is considered the most 'stable' element. wouldnt helium or the inert gases be it? | [
{
"answer": "It’s a different kind of stable. Helium is stable since it doesn’t react with other elements, while iron is stable in the way that if you have a single iron atom, it isn’t going to fall apart.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Helium and the noble gases are stable in that they don't ... | null |
3dr9lx | is there an actual law stating that the opposite genders aren't allowed to go into the other's restroom in a public space, or is it just a common courtesy being practiced? | [
{
"answer": "AFAIK, there are no existing laws at the federal level that make it illegal for a man to use the women's restroom, or vice versa. It could theoretically open you up to charges of sexual harassment or something similar, but that's not really the same issue.\n\nSome members of the Florida House of Re... | null |
2grkut | why is it i feel more comfortable walking around while im on phone? am i alone in this? | [
{
"answer": "I do the same thing and have always wondered why. I always guessed that it was because it's a habit to move away from other people while talking on the phone as to not be rude. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I recall this answer being helpful when this question was asked previous... | null |
1ctdrk | What two ethnic groups are genetically farthest from each other? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know which specific groups, but at least one of them, and maybe both, would be associated with sub-Saharan Africa. All of the populations associated with other parts of the world would have diverged more recently, ie. after having migrated farther away, and are therefore more closely relate... | null |
2jdhgy | why are spray bottles cold, instead of hot, to the touch? | [
{
"answer": "1. they aren't hot or cold when resting. If they stayed hot while under pressure then you'd have just discovered infinite energy! The bottle may _feel_ cold because it absorbs heat readily (e.g. it's made of aluminum).\n\n2. you may be feeling the bottle after it has lowered its pressure. The bott... | null |
4fzhk4 | why do we have to go through us customs in canada, but not the canadian customs in the us? | [
{
"answer": "It used to be that you went though US customs in the US, and Canadian customs in Canada. Some smaller airports continue to work this way.\n\nBut then the US introduced customs pre-clearing, so instead of checking after you've arrived in the USA, the check everything before you get there. ",
"pr... | null |
vycop | ocams razor and the burden of proof | [
{
"answer": "**Occam's razor:** The original, from William of Occam, is: *\"plurality should not be posited without necessity.\"* This means that you shouldn't add assumptions that are not needed to explain something.\n\nNowadays it is used to say that, of several possible explanations, the simpler one should ... | null |
12vixj | From your period of expertise, what is a human trait that was revered, held in high regard or even just generally accepted that would typically be looked down upon today? | [
{
"answer": "There is absolutely no way that the media would have given FDR the same consideration of his disability that they did in the 1930's and 40's. Even when he was \"walking\" you could tell something was wrong. Many people knew he had problems, but the full extent of his disability was relatively well ... | null |
2re1zi | what happens to a copyright when the company that holds it goes out of business? | [
{
"answer": "The rights would be considered an asset by the liquidators and sold in order to pay creditors",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "33656039",
"title": "Playboy Enterprises, Inc. v. Frena",
"section": "Section::::C... | null |
84av3k | Where did Western Europe get its natural gas during the Cold War? | [
{
"answer": "If I may add a few supplementary points to u/kieslowskifan 's answer... \n\nAt the beginning of the Cold War period, natural gas was not in wide usage as a fuel in Western Europe. Coal gas was made in gasworks local to many towns and cities, then piped to homes. The USA moved from coal gas to na... | null |
dq33ya | why do objects that are the same temperature as our average body temperature feel hotter than our hand when we touch them? | [
{
"answer": "Because 37 degrees is the body core temperature. Your fingertips are often colder than that, especially the skin, where your thermoceptors are.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "We can not feel \"temperature\", our senses measure \"heat loss\".\nBecause of that, we also sense iron \"... | null |
1ndawj | Sleeping with music playing | [
{
"answer": "To add onto his question: does listening to an audiobook while asleep provide better recollection of it?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In general, noise throughout the night is disruptive to sleep, especially if the noise level is highly variable, e.g., occasional loud noises. Ho... | null |
ydwvu | Why are creatures more energy efficient the larger they become? | [
{
"answer": "At least for warm-blooded animals, surface area to volume, and heat loss are significant factors. Mammals, for example, keep a body temperature that is almost always warmer than their surroundings. \n\nImagine you have a cube mouse, 1 meter x 1 meter x 1 meter. This mouse has a volume of 1m^3, and... | null |
1in0pk | How did the armies of Genghis Khan handle logistics? | [
{
"answer": "First I would recommend looking at Mongol culture and lifestyle. The Mongols come from a harsh steppe, and had a strong nomadic culture. It's cold at night, and hot during the day. The land is generally pretty terrible for farming, and there aren't many forests or trees around to cut up to build st... | null |
8v2itq | how are deisel-electric engines more energy efficient than direct-drive deisel engines? | [
{
"answer": "It comes down to being able to run a diesel electric engine at the optimum efficency while a straight diesel engine is responding to the load of the train. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The diesel motor can run constantly at its most efficient rpm to charge the battery, rather t... | null |
24pxho | why do i find it so hard to change my eating habits? how do i get myself to like eating something? | [
{
"answer": "The way I see it is that the keyword is habit. It's amazing how closely related food and smells are to conditioning, think Pavlovian conditioning and the salivating dogs. When we eat or smell something high in fat or sugar our brain releases chemicals, most of them feel good. Seeing many of us h... | null |
6454bw | Was there a period in the 19th century when Portugal was essentially governed from Brazil? | [
{
"answer": "You are correct. But as you might guess the situation was far more complicated than that.\n\nIn 1803 the UK and France went back to war. Portugal was a long standing ally of England, but wanted no part of war with Napoleon. So the regent João (later João VI) tried to walk a line of neutrality betwe... | null |
1n3b8y | why does steam/valve insist that linux is the future of gaming? | [
{
"answer": "There are a variety of reasons, I'm probably not the best person to try and answer this, but I'll give it a shot.\n\nFirstly Linux is highly optimized and can be dedicated to running just steam whereas with windows, you will have to run heaps of their applications.\n\nWith Linux being so streamline... | null |
67t1ld | title ll of net neutrality. how could isp's benefit from having control of internet speed on certain websites and apps? | [
{
"answer": "They would get the power to censor as they see fit (we don't want you to visit site X, so we'll just restrict all data flow to and from it) and they would get the opportunity to add extra fees - an example would be to limit data speeds to the point where streaming becomes impossible, and then they'... | null |
9dc72a | how do arms deals work? | [
{
"answer": "The deal is between the UK government and the Saudi government. Regulations prevent BAE Systems (or anybody else) from just selling dangerous weapons on a retail basis. They sell them to the UK government, deliver them in Saudi Arabia, and get paid by the UK government with money they got from th... | null |
78ncwf | Was the collapse of Rome felt/realised in China? | [
{
"answer": "I asked this question a few years ago\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe top comment by /u/Ambarenya states that the Chinese were at least vaguely aware of the Roman Empire's existence and had at least some limited communication. After a while the Chinese noticed that the limited communication had faded down to ba... | null |
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