id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
y981o | In a hot desert how should a canteen of water be rationed? | [
{
"answer": "I'd say that pouring it over your head is just stupid if dehydration is a fear. Also, I found this:\n\n > The current rule for water use is “Ration sweat, not water.” Water rationing is an antiquated method for land travel that probably has its origins back to sailors lost at sea. While floating ab... | null |
3wk5o2 | Why is the Arab slave trade left out of textbooks and not thought in American schools? | [
{
"answer": "Because it's natural for history lessons taught at schools to concentrate on things that are easier for the students to relate to. The US is involved in the Atlantic slave trade; the Arab one, not so much (if at all).\n\nOn the same token, in my country's (Malaysia) high school history syllabus, we... | null |
jq8k1 | If light is affected by gravity then would the stars position in the nights sky be different from what we perceive? | [
{
"answer": "Oh, yes! _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Sure, there are a few ways in which this can happen.\n\nFor objects like stars which are quite nearby to Earth, you'll really only see effects if there's a particularly strong source of gravity in the way. One obvious possibility is ... | null |
1fcsas | when i stand far away from one person clapping i can't hear it, at the same distance i can hear 100 people clapping. why? | [
{
"answer": "While it is not quite this simple in this case, the wave amplitudes basically add. Actually there will be some canceling, but there will be a tremendous amount of amplitude adding, and that amplitude is the loudness you hear.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are a couple conce... | null |
9ew60f | How is louder sound different from soft sound? | [
{
"answer": "Sound is a wave, specifically peaks and valleys of alternating pressure. The waves travel at the same speed regardless of volume, that instead depends on the medium. Higher volume means those peaks have a higher pressure.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > This, I suspect, is achie... | null |
rkp51 | why everybody hates
hipsters? | [
{
"answer": "Most hipsters don't like the word hipster. It is a sort of counter-culture, individualistic type of mentality, so the thought of thousands of people just like them doesn't sit well with them. None of them want to be called hipster because they don't want to be classified like that. They call other ... | null |
41bed9 | why do analysts claim the stock market is tanking because of the glut of oil? (more in comment) | [
{
"answer": "China has been the price setting buyer of oil for more than a decade, so the price of oil dropping is seen as the best predictor of how rapidly or severely China is going tits up. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Lower oil prices are good for most American companies, and therefore... | null |
f2s1mi | How did the power vacuum created by the fall of the western roman empire influence the events of the middle ages? | [
{
"answer": "Hello! As Roman Imperial authority collapsed, the vacuum it left was more often than not filled by those in the best place to do so: local and regional leaders who in many cases were already *de facto* if not necessarily *de jure* authority figures. Indeed, in some cases the 'fall of Rome' could b... | null |
4a499s | How can the phase speed of a wave of light exceed C? What does this mean? | [
{
"answer": "An analogy would be if you imagine a spinning barber pole moving in space. The information, energy, etc. propagates in the wave packet (the pole), yet the speed of phase fronts (the spirals on the pole, which seem to move faster than the pole is moving) in the wave packet move faster than the packe... | null |
8jdke6 | Is it true that Kosovo became Albanian majority because Tito let them in? | [
{
"answer": "According to the 1921 Census of Yugoslavia (i.e. before the War, before Communism, before Tito), there was a clear Muslim and Albanian majority in Kosovo. We also see this in the 1931 census and, as far as I know, all subsequent censuses except for 1991, where many Muslim boycotted (in the 2011, ma... | null |
1mc25h | can police pursue you beyond their jurisdiction? city lines, county lines or state lines....any difference? | [
{
"answer": "Police from one jurisdiction do have the legal authority to follow you into another jurisdiction. However, this is relatively uncommon, since they typically would have alerted that jurisdiction when approaching the boundary and that jurisdiction would have their own police waiting. Also, just bec... | null |
az5pey | how much money do jewelers make knowing they have to stock their entire store with gold and diamonds? | [
{
"answer": "The rule in the jewelry business is \"triple key\", meaning if the wholesale price is $1000 the jeweler will usually start the price at $3000. This helps deal with the extra costs of running a jewelry store, which are quite high. This may sound like a large markup, but consider most retail markups ... | null |
pq0l5 | Can plants feel pain? | [
{
"answer": " > I understand that plants have to be sentient to at least a small degree, \n\n\nWhat...planet are you on? Plants do not have sentience. They do not have nerve systems. \n\nThey do have the ability to react to changes in their environment, through stimulation of hormone production leading to m... | null |
29q4a6 | do we really need to spend 8 hours a day for sleep? can we found a way to not sleep and still be healthy? | [
{
"answer": "You don't really need 8 hours of sleep. There are ways to get the rest you need, but to sleep less. You can read about it in this article:\n\n[Alternate Sleep Cycles](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When you are awake you brain creates trash to operate. This trash needs to... | null |
16o28g | Examples of civilizations which have died out due to poor management of natural resources. | [
{
"answer": "Have you read \"Collapse\" by Jared Diamond? I think you would like it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm not sure that this is exactly mismanagement, but the example seems to fit your question in most other ways and the culture in question is not one that receives a lot of atten... | null |
73uuvs | why does drip coffee make me much more jittery than espresso, even when using the same amount of coffee beans for each? | [
{
"answer": "Espresso is extracted fast so not as much caffeine gets transferred to coffee from the bean",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Caffeine is water soluble, in general the more water and the longer it stays in contact with the ground beans the more caffeine is extracted from the beans. B... | null |
646jgk | How were the calendar and days of the week followed over 500+ years ago? | [
{
"answer": "[Relevant previous discussion](_URL_0_)\n\n[Slightly less relevant previous discussion, though it may lead you down different paths](_URL_1_)\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "20354",
"title": "Month",
"sec... | null |
3tq76i | Who laid the barbed wire in No Man's Land in WWI? | [
{
"answer": "**TL;DR:** Both sides!\n\nThis post of mine may be of interest to you:\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "11708841",
"title": "Screw picket",
"section": "Section::::Military non-equestrian use.\n",
... | null |
2v30hd | can you develop diabetes from just drinking a lot of alcohol (separate from eating loads of sweets)? | [
{
"answer": " > I dont hear of many alcoholics getting diabetes\n\nIt's a pretty widely recognized link - heavy drinking can lead to diabetes. I can't speculate why you haven't heard about it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Im an alcoholic... amd was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in october... | null |
3faydg | What is the oldest mythic creature we have a record of? | [
{
"answer": "While this is still heavily debated, modern human cognition is currently believed to have arisen sometime in or slightly before the Upper Paleolithic (~50kya to ~10kya). Being fully modern humans cognitively, this means humans living during this time would have been capable of symbolic and abstract... | null |
6jugpl | why do we have to "wait" for our eyes to adjust? | [
{
"answer": "Eyes adjust by deforming the [lens](_URL_0_) in your eyes. The shape of a lens change the path of the light that goes through it. By changing the shape our eyes makes so that the light has a path that makes the image of what you are seeing form exactly on the back of you eye, thus making it good (... | null |
b8nryf | How did exacly John II emperor of Byzantium ended up hiring Harald Hardrada with the rest of his fellow vikings? | [
{
"answer": "Hello, can I ask at first a bit of clarification? \n\n* Is 'John II emperor of Byzantium' you mentioned correct person in question? AFAIK Emperor John II is John II Komnenos (r. 1118-43), son of famous Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, thus born more than ca. 20 years after the fall of Harald Hardråde o... | null |
3utm3d | why do certain things smell nice, even when they're not edible? | [
{
"answer": "Like jet fuel or 100LL? I love those smells.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "21244096",
"title": "Odor",
"section": "Section::::Types.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 83,
"start_character": 0,
... | null |
1x4s7b | In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, did armies ignore borders? | [
{
"answer": "The answer depends where and when. Various Italian states denied (or attempted to deny) France and the Holy Roman Emperor access to their territory, typically if they disagreed with the war but did not want to get involved. This mandate was ignored at the risk of opening an additional theater of wa... | null |
7jeosg | What was the typical medical aftermath for someone who has been tarred and feathered? | [
{
"answer": "fyi, you may find these related posts of interest\n\n* [Was \"tarring and feathering\" fatal? And where in the world was it most often done?](_URL_0_) featuring /u/Goethite\n\n* [How common was tarring and feathering in the American revolutionary period? Also, was this practice supported by revolut... | null |
2jj09g | What was the USA's objective when using atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Did they expect this to speed up a surrender more than Soviet invasion? | [
{
"answer": "In short, they hoped to force Japan to surrender before the Soviets could help us, if at all possible, to avoiding having to clash with them over post-war Japan, in addition to post-war Europe.\n\nAt the Yalta conference, the Soviets agreed to join us in subduing Japan, \"two or three months\" afte... | null |
1lnudd | We have superhydrophobic surfaces (ex. neverwet) Are there superoxygenphobic/superairphobic surfaces? What would that even be like? | [
{
"answer": "Superhydrophobic surfaces utilize the entropic benefit from hydrogen bonding in water (the polarity of the partially positive hydrogen and the partially negative of the oxygen can interact to hold different molecules together). The surfaces use a combination of a non-polar surface and special topog... | null |
afr0n2 | With the Roman Empire being such a popular topic here, was a typical Roman citizen at all interested in or impressed with previous empires? | [
{
"answer": "This is interested topic. Both Romans and Greeks were very well impressed by the remains of ancient Egypt Empire. There are several \"visitors graffiti\" in the Egypt and historians of that period talking with much respect about Egyptians and specially their architectonical achievements.",
"pro... | null |
1vsuph | Why are alligators endemic to the US and China, but nowhere else? | [
{
"answer": "This is an extremely interesting question. Fossil alligators in North America predate those in Asia, so as far as we can tell, the genus originated there and dispersed to Asia. The thing is, we don't know exactly how they did that. Neither species can tolerate salt water for very long, so it wasn't... | null |
cm7d3f | Why don't large organisms with many cells develop cancer more often? | [
{
"answer": "What you described is called [Peto's Paradox](_URL_1_): why do we not see a correlation between animal size and cancer rates.\n\nThere are lots of different mechanisms of cancer suppression/avoidance in larger animals. For example, the best studied cancer gene is called p53. Humans (and other anima... | null |
28xebn | what would happen if charging interest on loans were to be made illegal? | [
{
"answer": "If a lender could not charge interest on a loan, they would have no incentive to ever give out loans because they would be essentially throwing away their money. Even though they would get back the exact amount they lent out, the present value of it in a few years would most likely be less than it ... | null |
287thr | Why do people have different reactions than others to drugs? Why do some get side effects while others don't? What differences in biology could account for this? | [
{
"answer": "There's a lot of reasons. One of the major ones is variations in metabolic pathways or in the targets of drugs due to genetic variation. There's a whole field of science, [pharmacogenetics](_URL_0_) that studies this.\n\nBasically, we are all different, usually by small changes in genes. This could... | null |
56tcjx | how do dry cleaners avoid spreading lice and bed bugs? | [
{
"answer": "Dry cleaners use perchloroethylene to clean your clothes, it's a pretty aggressively anti-bug chemical. Now those new \"environmental cleaners\" might be a problem. Similarly, they launder shirts and dry them at super high temperatures (because it's faster) and bugs can't stand those temps.\n\nTh... | null |
2o87h1 | what makes someone professionally good at fishing? | [
{
"answer": "Probably experience and perception. I'm sure a good fisherman can tell where the fish will likely be in the lake, or how deep to go to get certain fish and what patterns they follow",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A big portion of professional fishing is simply dedicating plenty of... | null |
3izlg6 | Why is digital preffered over analog when digital is limited to just on and off? | [
{
"answer": "Noise is a big factor in limiting [channel capacity](_URL_0_) of either analog or digital. \n\nDigital communications can use error detection and correction. Digital can use less bandwidth than analog. Analog TV channels are 6 Mhz wide. The same 6 Mhz spectrum can carry a 19.4Mbit stream. Enough fo... | null |
537yv6 | What do we know about related history between Bulgarians and Macedonians? | [
{
"answer": "I assume with ‘Macedonians’ you mean Slavic Macedonians living in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), who are distinct from the Greek Macedonians that live in the Greek province of Macedonia. This distinction lies at the heart of the naming conflict between the FYROM and Greece I wro... | null |
3vfxhs | If motion is relative, why is it (theoretically) possible for one massive object to move in 0.5c in one direction and for another to move at the same speed in the opposite direction? | [
{
"answer": "It's perfectly possible for the relative velocity of two objects, as perceived by an external observer, to be greater than the speed of light. This is not a contradiction of the fact that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light because relative velocities are not the same in different ref... | null |
7uvdtb | When the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453, did people at the time know that they were witnessing the fall of the Roman Empire? | [
{
"answer": "The continuation of Monstrelet's chronicle (which consists of almost everything in said chronicle after 1444; Monstrelet himself died in 1453), written by Mathieu d'Escouchy, which is in large part cribbing from the *Grandes Chronique's de France* as well as Jean Chartier has this to say: \n\n\... | null |
74eczr | how do certain drugs cause you to see things in high detail that aren't actually there? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nHallucinogens work by shutting down neurons that have the effect of calming other cells in the visual cortex (the bit of the brain that works out what you are seeing). So these cells start firing as if they are really dealing with real visual information. \n\nHuman eyes are actually not ... | null |
xrnka | On brain activity and perception: Can we slow down how we perceive time? | [
{
"answer": "[This](_URL_0_) Wikipedia article talks about time perception, and it's field of study. It probably doesn't answer all of your questions, but it goes over a lot of what's in your post. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "60691... | null |
b6l6du | Why does banging 2 objects together produce sound? e.g. knocking on a door | [
{
"answer": "Take a look at how [this drum head moves when it gets hit](_URL_0_). \n\nThe door does almost the exact same thing from your fist, but to a much smaller degree. As it shakes back and forth, it creates waves in the air that create sound. \n\nMost doors probably are partially hollow as well--in that ... | null |
621ho8 | Are we physically affected by reading left to right? | [
{
"answer": "I'm also interested to know how it affects other parts of our lives, such as when crossing the road, do LR reading people look left first? Or is that more dependent on what side of the road people drive on? When looking at a tapestry or large 'busy' painting, do RL readers start from the right? ",
... | null |
97kp02 | why is it in the west hiv infections are still primarily related with homosexual activity and drug use but in africa where the vast majority of worldwide cases is it primarily spread through heterosexual transmission? | [
{
"answer": "\nBetter access to contraceptives in the West. Less contraceptives are used in homosexual activities because no risk of pregnancy, drug use because sharing needles. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Intravenous drug users and people who have anal sex are at the most risk for being i... | null |
3kglel | how can median household incomes in an area be ~$50k but average home price be $5m? | [
{
"answer": "If you read that page, you will see that the $5M home price was for a specific *part* of that area, and the average income was for the city.\n\nSo, basically, that area is a very upscale part of town that also has other, less affluent neighborhoods.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "... | null |
3p0vek | Why was the USMC such a small military branch before 1941? | [
{
"answer": "Well, I think your question would be better phrased as \"Why did the USMC get so *large* after 1941?\"\n\nIt should be noted that the USMC is totally unique worldwide in terms of size. Every other marine corps in history has been quite small, and this is simply because of the traditional mission o... | null |
1tiao3 | Fire in zero oxygen | [
{
"answer": "Yes, you can definitely have a fire without oxygen. However you would need a different oxidizing agent. For instance fluorine gas reacts with hydrogen gas in [such a fashion](_URL_0_). There would be a number of differences such as the maximum temperature of the flame, how fast the fire would burn,... | null |
4ns0n1 | Did Britain plan an invasion of Norway during WWI? | [
{
"answer": "There were no such plans that I'm aware of. From 1917, the Allies, mainly as a result of American pressure, began laying a mine barrage across the northern exits to the North Sea. In response to this, the Germans began diverting U-boats through Norwegian waters. These waters were not initially mine... | null |
6apbpc | what is the difference between being depressed and being bored? | [
{
"answer": "Depression is a sort of relentless apathy. If you're just bored you can dispel the boredom through some form of entertainment easily enough. It's not a constant base state of your existence. Depression on the other hand saps away pleasure as well, leaving just emotional numbness. ",
"provenance... | null |
2ing8z | why do people still use yelp, even though they manipulate reviews? | [
{
"answer": "This post is not asking for a layman-friendly explanation to something complicated or technical, so it doesn't belong here and it's been removed. Entirely subjective questions generally belong in /r/askreddit.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
3b0rrv | How different are mitochondria and other organelles between eukaryotic species? | [
{
"answer": "In case of most organelles (Golgi apparatur, ER, peroxisomes, etc.) the main difference is in proteins so if organisms are relativelly close (in evoilutionary terms) there should be no problem in \"transplanting\" say ER of a rat into a dog cells but there MIGHT be a problem if you wanted to transp... | null |
1lqpka | what makes oil, natural gas, and coal sources of energy when other materials aren't? | [
{
"answer": "Hundreds of millions of years ago, because our atmosphere had less oxygen in it, things did not break down as quickly as they do now. You see, nowadays, pretty much anything that is 'organic' is food for something or another. The coal, oils, and gases is the result of all this past uneaten \"food\"... | null |
2g1yr5 | How do aquatic plants in places like the Chesapeake bay resist algae buildup on themselves? | [
{
"answer": "Believe it or not, plants wage extremely intense biological warfare. Most plants secrete compounds that are toxic to other plants and organisms, which helps them establish their roots so that they can obtain nutrients. I don't know what type of plant you are referring to, but this can be seen with ... | null |
63t216 | What evidence is there that women trained in combat sports in Ancient Sparta or other civilizations? | [
{
"answer": "Evidence for women participating in sport and games is significant, however, women were expressly barred from participating or viewing the Olympic Games. The Heraean Games were a single sex series of events in which women competed against each other, divided by age. Greek society as a rule was rep... | null |
2rpfvh | Other than submitting yourself to Hitler and hating on the Jews, what did the Nazi political party "stand" for? Did they believe in low taxes? Or social welfare? Communism? | [
{
"answer": "Well here is the 25-point party platform published in 1920. And I believe as late of as 1933 it was unchanged. I'm not sure if Hitler had it changed after that time. But by and large this was representative of the party stances.\n\nEdit: I've been asked by the mods to add a lot more commentary to b... | null |
4ngsv7 | when people read text, do they "hear" it in their minds? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. It's called [subvocalization](_URL_0_). Some people \"hear\" words as they are reading them, while others don't. I know I am a subvocalizer because if I try to listen to music with words and read a book at the same time, I can't understand what I'm reading because I'm \"hearing\" two things... | null |
17es0z | How are generics of high-end medications created when pharmaceutical companies can patent their chemical formulas? | [
{
"answer": "They aren't sold until the patent expires. There is a whole business in slightly altering pharmaceuticals to keep renewing the patent. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "25566420",
"title": "Dronabinol",
"secti... | null |
20tjku | the nonsense behind the hip-hop illuminati conspiracy theory | [
{
"answer": "In a nutshell rappers keep mentioning it to make them seem more important than they are. I'm a huge Hip Hop fan, and you can see a lot of rappers are desperate for people to think they are successful (see: huge gaudy chains etc). When you see these images in videos, it's often rappers trying to sho... | null |
2pl4h6 | What happens to the gravitational potential energy of mass lost in nuclear fusion? | [
{
"answer": "Nothing, since gravitation is based on energy density rather than mass. As long as the energy quanta don't leave the star, its gravitation will remain the same from the outside. When particles leave the star, its gravitation gradually decreases.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,... | null |
28i8w2 | why does cat food and dog food smell repulsive while the meat i eat smells delicious. | [
{
"answer": "Because dog and cat food consists primarily of ground corn and other fillers which are formed into kibble, baked, and then sprayed with fat to make it palatable. Unless you're talking about canned food, which usually consists of water, fillers, and offcuts. There's no comparison between a handful... | null |
8n0k2o | how do scopes work? (firearms) | [
{
"answer": "The scopes reticle/crosshairs arnt parrell with the barrel, it aim downwards slightly and meet the travel of the bullet at certain distances. So if you zero your scope for 200 meters. The bullet will travel lower than the point your aiming at untill it hits 200 meters, then it will travel higher un... | null |
1x6b5x | how come you can "spot increase" muscle (by doing isolation movements) but you can't "spot decrease" fat? | [
{
"answer": "As your question implies, if a muscle is isolated then that is the one that will grow. There is no analogous way to isolate fat for consumption. Fat loss occurs throughout the body at equal rates.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Different control mechanisms, basically. Muscles re... | null |
85ktca | why are some plates and cutlery not dishwasher safe? | [
{
"answer": "Pots and pans are usually excluded because they are made of materials that react with the harsher chemicals used in a dishwasher (Just like a human hand would be damaged). As a result, they will be damaged.\n\nOther things, like some glassware, are so fine that rattling in the dishwasher is enough ... | null |
1srpqh | after giving blood, is it harder to gain and/or maintain an erection? | [
{
"answer": "No, our bodies very quickly compensate to keep blood pressure the same despite a loss of volume. One way is to just increase the fluid content of the blood, thinning it out until more blood cells can be made. Another is to constrict the blood vessels, decreasing the total volume of the circulatory ... | null |
140owq | silly math regarding supermassive black holes and average density. | [
{
"answer": " > Now, this conflicts with things I've heard, that the average densities of supermassive black holes are in fact very light, some even lower than water.\n\nI thought this was totally wrong at first, but then I [ran the numbers myself in wolfram alpha](_URL_0_) and got a density drastically lower t... | null |
2o8jk8 | why am i "innocent until proven guilty in a court of law", but only found "not guilty" and not "innocent"? | [
{
"answer": "You (and your lawyer) are under no obligation to prove your innocence, nor your \"not-guilty mess.\" The onus (burden) is on the prosecution to prove that you are guilty, and your job is to refute their accusations and show, if possible, that they can't be true.\n\nThat's what presumption of innoc... | null |
63hdi6 | growing up my mother always told me to never start a pot of boiling water from hot tap water only cold. what's the logic behind that if any? | [
{
"answer": "In the past, hot water was stored in a separate holding tank where it was kept heated. This water was not necessarily \"safe\" for drinking as the same water could be sitting for days at a time. \n\nI've also heard that old lead pipes leach lead into hot water, but not into cold water. This explain... | null |
n5sn6 | how the eurozone is facing economic crisis yet the euro remains stronger than the dollar. | [
{
"answer": "When an economy is doing badly, governments have two common answers: make their money worth less, so people from other countries start buying their stuff, and borrow money to spend, to make sure people in their own country have jobs. Governments can afford to borrow this money, *because* they are a... | null |
3sybb4 | as seen in movies, can you actually run and jump on top of and across moving train cars? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nof course you can. Its just hilariously dangerous and theres never a reason to actually do it",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1607260",
"title": "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride",
"section": "Section::::Magic... | null |
76r86o | today in britain, the sky went really orange for a few hours - why? | [
{
"answer": "Not sure if related, but Portugal and northwest Spain are having a huge number of forest fires going on causing a lot of ashes and smoke, turning the sky orange in most places nearby. are you south of Britain? \n\nedit: _URL_0_\n\nedit2: this was Spain, not Britain, just in case ",
"provenance"... | null |
34fb2i | How accurate is the portrayal of a sadistic slave owner whom would whip and beat his slaves for seemingly trivial stuff? | [
{
"answer": "There is abundant evidence that maltreatment ([whipping](_URL_1_), and [worse](_URL_0_)) of slaves was not uncommon, [NSFW](_URL_3_). However, whenever you see a movie like *Django Unchained* for example, you have to realize that whatever their historical motivations, the movie makers have to tel... | null |
6sq2c5 | I have heard that H. P. Lovecraft came to regret his racist views later in his life. Is this true? | [
{
"answer": "It's hard to answer the question of how someone felt inside, but to the extent we can judge a man's feelings and thoughts based on his words, the answer is no, he didn't. Or, at least, he didn't state in a public way that he did.\n\nS.T. Joshi, certainly one of Lovecraft's most devoted historians, ... | null |
1wkwwb | how do antibiotic pills work? if there's an infection say in the mouth, how does the body know to send the medication back through the bloodstream to fight the infection? how does the body know that the medication is made to fight infection? | [
{
"answer": "Your body doesn't have to \"know\" anything for it to work. It's absorbed into the bloodstream and then kills any bacteria it comes in contact with, as long as they're not too resistant. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The others are correct, though I'll expand a bit. Antibiotics... | null |
8yxeg7 | why is compulsive hoarding so common among baby boomers? | [
{
"answer": "Baby Boomers are the children of those who went through the Great Depression where all supplies and food were hard to get and you had to save every scrap of everything that could potentially be useful. They were raised by people who developed these habits as a matter of survival and many passed on ... | null |
72m04o | how can the government involve itself with sports-related issues? | [
{
"answer": " > What is illegal (by national laws that fall under FBI jurisdiction) about a company giving individuals money?\n\nBribery of a government official is illegal. You will note that state universities are controlled by the government and the employees are state employees. If you bribe a state employ... | null |
18kc8l | the differences between a nation, a state, and a nation-state. | [
{
"answer": "A nation is a group of people with several factors in common like land inhabited, religion, ethnicity, language, or culture.\n\n\nA state is the government over an area of land\n\n\nA nation-state is a state that governs an area that primarily consists of one nation.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
3mkpq1 | Where in the universe does time run faster than what we currently experience here on Earth? | [
{
"answer": "Anywhere the gravitational field is weaker than on Earth will see time running faster. Empty space far from any objects will see the fastest time flow.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It runs faster relative to us in places of lower gravity. For example, the astronauts on the ISS ... | null |
8dc29l | why are semi-trailer trucks so deadly in crashes? | [
{
"answer": "The weight difference is the biggest factor. Cars, SUVs, and pickups weigh less than 10,000 pounds. The average loaded semi weighs 80,000 pounds. Cars are also built to transport their own weight and the weight of their passengers, meaning that their frames, bodies, and suspension parts are desi... | null |
2hqfsm | In 223BCE how different would the different versions of Greek spoken across the Eurasia, have been from each other? Were they all mutually intelligible? | [
{
"answer": "Koine Greek (from the Greek word for \"common\") was a variety of Greek spoken throughout the Greek world, including at the least the Greek Islands, Asia Minor, Egypt, and the Levant. The term \"koine language\" today refers to a lingua Franca used amongst speakers of related languages. \n\nKoine G... | null |
4zq51i | Does people that have lost limbs have higher blood pressure? | [
{
"answer": "The body has mechanisms to alter or maintain blood pressure and blood flow. There are sensors that sense blood pressure in the walls of the arteries and send signals to the heart, the arterioles, the veins, and the kidneys that cause them to make changes that lower or increase blood pressure. \n\nS... | null |
vrt3f | Dry erase on wood? | [
{
"answer": "As wood is very porous I don't think it's possible. Depending of course on the type of wood you work with. Most woods would need to be lacquered or heavily polished to work with a dry erase marker.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There is dry erase paint that you can buy at any h... | null |
7yq9io | Can dogs observe and recognize aging in adult humans? Do they differentiate between young adult, middle-aged and elderly humans? | [
{
"answer": "I’m not sure about this specifically, but the most common way people find out whether animals and babies can differentiate between things is by using a habituation test. \n\nA habituation test is an experimental procedure where you show images or objects to the subject over and over until they get... | null |
1tlkev | When did it become common for Europeans outside Britain/Ireland to learn English? | [
{
"answer": "Of interest would also be when the Irish started learning English...",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I can chip in for Sweden.\n\nNot far after the compulsory *folkskola* (people's school) was started, English became an academic subject. This is second half of the 19th century. It ... | null |
3r58t8 | where did all the cereal prizes go? | [
{
"answer": "Down some toddler's throat. Now we have stickers and website codes which are much more difficult to choke on and far less expensive to package.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Just bought a box of honey nut O's with a minions toy inside.\n\nIt's definitely not as popular as is was ... | null |
6p57dz | why do we have to pasteurize cow milk but not breast milk? | [
{
"answer": "The difference is that Brest milk isn't generally kept for long times where bacteria and pathogens can get in and start multiplying, Its almost always ingested teat to mouth. As opposed to cow or goat milk.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Milk is sterile when it comes out of the co... | null |
219h0l | why is "district attorney" in the us often an elected and political position? | [
{
"answer": "How do you suggest they get appointed, if not by election? Who decides what the test looks like? Who administers it for? Who decides what crimes will be focused on? Who decides what crimes won't be focused on?\n\nElecting a person seems like the only reasonable way to answer all of these questions.... | null |
1pcv2y | Without ready access to sugar, what were popular desserts in early Colonial America? | [
{
"answer": "Settlers in the area lacked traditional cane sugar, but they were not without sugar. The Northeast is full of many sugar maple trees that were used to create maple syrup, used by natives long before Europeans settled the area. Sap is harvested, boiled into syrup, and if you boil it some more you ge... | null |
8ko7ga | Are there any mammals with the same or similar vocal range/abilities as humans? | [
{
"answer": "Dogs actually have pretty similar ranges as humans, from a deep bark to a high pitched wimper. \n\nMore interesting is vocal ability question... Both birds and (some) whales are known to be able to imitate human speech.\n\n\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I don't know of others... | null |
2q3avs | Does History only pertain to humans? | [
{
"answer": "If considered with its technical and narrow definition, \"history\" refers to that part of the past that is documented with written records. One can have a history of volcanic eruptions - and not even consider their effect on people - but the use of the term \"history\" would technically imply \"vo... | null |
8xfsq1 | why did some animals in the same family become hyper aggressive like geese, whereas ducks are relatively benign? | [
{
"answer": "Geese have earned their vicious reputation from their behaviour when they protect their nests. They nest on the ground where there are many predators, so they are very protective. \n\n(Some) ducks like wood ducks nest in tree hollows and are not faced with the same pressure and are more docile/less... | null |
vfgrx | How much explosive would be needed to destroy the moon, and if we used the debris to make rings à la Saturn, how would this affect the tides? | [
{
"answer": "The gravitational binding energy of a spherical object is close to (3/5) GM^2 /R - that's the energy you need to completely overcome gravity and blow the object apart. Plugging in the numbers for the moon gives you about 10^29 J. That's the equivalent to 2 x 10^19 tonnes of TNT. The largest nuclear... | null |
5sgnao | how does math describe nature so well ? | [
{
"answer": "Well, remember, we designed the math to describe nature. There are tons of theories in mathematical physics that didn't describe natural phenomena all that well, so we discarded them.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The subset of Math you are studying, multi-variable calculus, was... | null |
2grhn6 | "At near-light speed, we could travel to other star systems within a human lifetime, but when we arrived, everyone on earth would be long dead." At what speed does this scenario start to be a problem? How fast can we travel through space before years in the ship start to look like decades on earth? | [
{
"answer": "It follow the formula for the Lorentz factor, which is 1/sqrt(1-v^(2)/c^(2)). At 86% the speed of light, you age one year for every two years on Earth, at 99% the speed of light you age one year for every seven years on Earth.\n\nedit: I have to go now so stop asking me about warp drives!",
"pr... | null |
1dtt53 | Whether a woman is fertilized after sex or not, where does the semen go? | [
{
"answer": "Since sperm cells don't last very long at warm temperatures, the cell will undergo apoptosis (cell suicide.) ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "i would hesitate to say that all of it oozes out. some of it will stay there until the vagina expels it during part of its standard discharg... | null |
1qtioy | How could Lewis and Clark travel all the way out to Oregon when Louisiana Purchase only included as far as Montana? | [
{
"answer": "One of the greatest hopes of the period was that it would be possible to find a waterway that was navigable from the Atlantic (or at least from the Gulf of Mexico) to the Pacific. [Lewis and Clark](_URL_0_) followed the Missouri through the Louisiana Purchase and then hoped that they could find the... | null |
3ixuy5 | the situation in israël and palestina. | [
{
"answer": " Please remember to search before posting.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "31400690",
"title": "Morten Levin",
"section": "Section::::Views on Israel.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 6,
"start_chara... | null |
17stih | how do residential solar panels 'give back' to the grid? | [
{
"answer": " > How much power could you actually be contributing?\n\nDepends on a lot of factors: Where in the world is the house? Is it summer or winter (summers have more hours of sunshine)? Are there a lot of clouds?\n\nA very good soar panel has a power of 16.22 W/ft^2 (175 W/m^2) *peak*. This means if *a ... | null |
17hsfq | How does H.265 compress video better than H.264? | [
{
"answer": "The most simplistic explanation is that video encoding is always a trade-off between processing power versus file size. The more processing power you can throw at encoding/decoding, the smaller you can get the file size. As computers become more powerful, that can be leveraged to reduce the band... | null |
us32u | Can a two dimensional object have mass? | [
{
"answer": "Well, electrons and other elementary particles have no dimensions and have mass.\n\nBut yes, these are all in fact just mathematical constructs in attempt to describe what is happening.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It depends on what you mean by object. We live in 3 spatial dim... | null |
56zdy0 | What is the simplest venom used by an organism? | [
{
"answer": "Im going to answer based on the assumption that you specifically want formation about venom, and not generally poisons.\n\nOff hand most venoms I can think of are mixtures of agents. The primary agent is usually a short protein, more accurately described as a polypeptide of around 20-40 amino acids... | null |
4gywkh | Was Hitler in any way, at any point, a Zionist? | [
{
"answer": "Hi. This question was answered [here](_URL_0_).\n\nThe answer is totally and unequivocally no. Being Zionist means supporting the creation of a Jewish state, and Hitler never supported it. The Nazis at one point signed an agreement that deported Jews to Mandatory Palestine, signing the agreement wi... | null |
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