id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
4pobyi | How Integrated circuit are designed ? | [
{
"answer": "They are written in programming languages that specify the logical operations.\n\nThen Synthesis is performed by (a usually very expensive) piece of software to map the\nlogic to the transistors.\n\n[Some example code](_URL_1_)\n\nIn the old days chip designers were drawing huge masks with some kin... | null |
6wbc3k | how does the technology that sees if tennis balls are in or out work, and how come it hasn't completely replaced linesmen? | [
{
"answer": "It uses camera images. The exact location and specifications of the camera, tennis balls, field lines are known. Then by analyzing the size and location of the ball on the different camera images, they can determine its actual location. \n\nWhy hasn't it replaced linesmen? First of all it's extreme... | null |
8okwz9 | Are the Burmese Way to Socialism and the Khmer Rouge related? | [
{
"answer": "I am not as familiar with Burmese history as I am with Cambodian but funnily enough I am currently writing a thesis which examines ethnic cleansing in each area. So, far from an expert analysis on the subject I will give you some thoughts which might constitute an answer for you.\n\nIf I understand... | null |
33l6e5 | What is the environmental and long term climate impact of the recent Chile volcano eruption? | [
{
"answer": "Locally a big impact mostly from falling ash an air pollution. However globally, I doubt we'll see much impact unless this continues for several months. It is located around 41 S, so not near the tropical regions. For volcanoes to have a global cooling effect, they usually need to be erupting in... | null |
ow7yo | Everyone's worried about the radiation but can we harness the energy from solar flares? | [
{
"answer": "It's not really feasible to construct an elaborate and expensive generator which is powered by relatively rare and extremely powerful events. When it comes to harnessing energy you want a steady and consistent supply as that is the manner it is used in and won't have to be stored. We already have... | null |
fifmb | Advice on how to effectively study science? | [
{
"answer": "Draw diagrams until you can make them from memory.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "13127539",
"title": "Advice (opinion)",
"section": "Section::::Methodological advice.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 24,
... | null |
3lo3u7 | How do denatured proteins in cooked food get absorbed and "used" in the body? | [
{
"answer": "You already solved it - proteins are made from amino acids. Denaturing a protein just changes the conformation (shape) irreversibly. Your body would do that when you eat it. You need 22(?) essential amino acids in your diet that your body can't produce. Your body breaks down those amino acid chains... | null |
2kfgkc | What did the Founding Fathers do for fun? | [
{
"answer": "[terrible one-line answers about marijuana and sex] \n\nPlease stop posting these. People come to AskHistorians for in-depth, comprehensive and *factually accurate* answers. Please take the time to review our rules - our [section on in-depth answers](_URL_0_) in particular - before commenting.",
... | null |
batcsj | which consequences of a dam being built lead to environmental change/damage? | [
{
"answer": "One problem is that the dam floods the valley behind it, turning it into a lake. This kills virtually everything that was previously growing in the valley.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Opening a spillway creates a a current of water the down stream river life is not used to. Fro... | null |
devfls | Where are we in the current Milankovitch cycle? And when would the next ice age be (if there was no human cause climate change)? | [
{
"answer": "Firstly, there isn't a single Milankovitch cycle. Milankovitch cycles describe a set of different cyclical changes in the Earth's orbit around the sun and rotational axis. Whilst this is a simplification, there are three main cycles that respectively control changes in eccentricity of the Earth's o... | null |
1jeps5 | why people need to be raised and schooled to live well as a person, but my cat, who's not around other cats, knows how to live well like a cat? | [
{
"answer": "I've written and deleted about 5 starts to this answer.\n\n* animals in the wild teach each other how to hunt and survive - watch anything by David Attenbourough. \n\n* pets don't need many of their instincts to survive - we give them food, we give them shelter. Also, this is why animals from capti... | null |
78zhjo | How much authority did Kaiser Wilhelm II actually have during the First World War? | [
{
"answer": "Hi, I'm a student of German and politics rather than history directly. I can't provide a hyper detailed account of Wilhelm II's role in the First World War but what I can do is give some background to the constitution of the German empire - especially how it relates to the Kaiser - and some of the ... | null |
4l529q | Does the surface of the Earth "flatten out" to any extent due to space-time curvature? | [
{
"answer": "The answer is yes or no depending on exactly how you phrase the question. Let me explain:\n\nLet me just specify first that these effects are *minuscule*. Basically Earth's mass curves spacetime, sure; the components of curvature relating time and space are pretty large and are what gives you the g... | null |
3gewrf | Do nerve cells/nerve systems work like actual circuits? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know too much about electronics yet so bear with me and let me know if I make a mistake. Neurons work very differently than our electronics. They're vastly more complicated and more simple at the same time. For one, each individual neuron works kind of like a simple transistor. It has two s... | null |
1k4fs0 | what the hell is the deal with bronies? | [
{
"answer": "They are fans of the show My Little Pony, similar to how Trekkers are fans of Star Trek and Browncoats are fans of Firefly. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "41970016",
"title": "A Brony Tale",
"section": "",
... | null |
136668 | If infrared is just another "place" on the spectrum that includes visible light, can something be painted infrared? Or is the "visible light spectrum" different in some way apart from the fact that we can only see that? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. Although when you say \"painted\" you're defining the spectrum as what you can see. A blue object reflects blue light and absorbs light from all other colors in the visible spectrum. But a what you call a blue object may also reflect infrared light. So to an animal that has the ability to see ... | null |
25bovm | Was the Roman legal system the most modern and developed legal system during ancient times? | [
{
"answer": "You're almost assuming that the derivation of western legal traditions in large part from Roman law was a conscious choice or decision over other alternate systems that were less \"developed\".\n\nIt's basically tautological, but the reason for the Latinisms in modern western legal language is simp... | null |
1nbr7b | why is it called "surfing" the web? | [
{
"answer": "Language left over from channel surfing on TV.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The internet is a series of tubes, thus it can be described as tubular. Tubular is an expression that was common among surfers in America during the 1980s. Case closed.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
1uknyr | How "woman-friendly" was early Christianity, at least for its place and time? | [
{
"answer": "Keep in mind that Paul's letters to Timothy were likely not written by Paul, but rather attributed to him long after he died. Paul's authentic letters are more radical (Galatians 3:28, \"There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in ... | null |
3lhbo3 | If you were standing on the surface of Pluto (or one of the outer planets), how much illumination would the sun actually provide for you to see with the naked eye? | [
{
"answer": "The amount of sunlight is decreases by a factor of roughly the square of the distance. So if you are 10 times further away the sun is 100 times dimmer. Pluto is over 30 times further away than the Earth is from the sun, so the sun is about 90 times dimmer than it is on Earth. \n \nThe thing is th... | null |
60xctc | what is poison? | [
{
"answer": "Really, a poison is something that will harm or kill you if taken into your body in an amount you're likely to encounter. Technically, water or caffeine (or anything) will kill you if you take enough of it, so that's why I added the \"in an amount you're likely to encounter\" part of it. \n\nSince ... | null |
n63ht | why are there so many different electrical outlets in this world? | [
{
"answer": "I would say because there are so many countries. Theoretically, a mass summit could create a universal wall plug that countries could then opt into, but no one really has any incentive to do that. The economy will barely benefit from such a change, and might even take a dip, because all the people ... | null |
1e0ydd | why is there so much media attention on the jodi arias case? | [
{
"answer": "America loves a killer. Bonus points for being a freak in the sack.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Attractive white girl + violent crime = media frenzy",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "My mother has kept me up to date with everything. It's fascinating to watch her ... | null |
6ysomi | How the bloody hell did an old italic alphabet reach scandinavia and became the runic alphabet used by germanics ? | [
{
"answer": "There is a large debate on the origin of runes. Simply because we do not know 'exactly when, where, why or by whom runes were first created' (Findell 2014:6). \n\nBarnes (2012: 9-10) lays out four basic points that runologists agree upon concerning the origin of runes: \n\n1. The oldest runic inscr... | null |
4uaj4w | what exactly causes the sickly gross-tasting burps that occur after overeating? | [
{
"answer": "A pocket of air is always present in your stomach (and visible on a standard chest X-ray).\nWhen eating, some more air gets in through swallowing.\nThe stomach doesn't immediately empty itself when eating, so imagine all you have eaten starting to be digested by stomach acid and enzymes and floatin... | null |
2a94fz | When referring to temperature, what exactly is a degree? | [
{
"answer": "Temperature is really a measure the average kinetic energy of the molecules. As they gain energy (heat) they tend to move around more. Degrees are a fundamental unit, meaning they aren't a product of other units like joules or watts. The different scales like Celsius, Fahrenheit, or Kelvin, are ba... | null |
35cyo2 | why do my hands get clammy when i am afraid? evolutionarily shouldn't i increase my grip ability rather than losing grip with moisture? | [
{
"answer": "When you're afraid, your body's processes speed up, especially ones that help you deal with stress. Most important in regulating your body under stress is temperature regulation, which is primarily handled by sweating.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I always remind people: evoluti... | null |
2mckub | how is blackberry still in business when no one uses one? i don't know a single person who still uses a blackberry. | [
{
"answer": "How many people do you know? Let's be generous and say 500.\n\nThat's a rounding error on the population of the US. So your circle is probably not a great indicator.\n\nThere are a number of companies, organizations and agencies that had longstanding contracts with Blackberry. Many of them are w... | null |
8qvg94 | is there an architectural advantage to “the pentagon” building being shaped as a pentagon? like does it provide more security, or is it simply for aesthetics? | [
{
"answer": "It would be cool if there was an amazing architectural advantage to the shape. The truth, as truth often is, is spectacularly boring and ordinary.\n\nThe simple truth of the matter was that the land that the government purchased for the new military headquarters was [pentagonal in shape.](_URL_0_) ... | null |
5bnutf | how are amazon third-party book vendors able to offer new and recently-published books in "new" or "like new" condition so quickly? | [
{
"answer": "In general, many third-party booksellers on Amazon used automated programs to handle their inventory. Some of them simply have the computer programmed to update when they receive new inventory, and thus those booksellers may have received their shipments of that new book today and thus immediately ... | null |
199l3w | Does the speed of light apply as a limit to how fast something can rotate? | [
{
"answer": "There's no limit on angular velocity, but there is a limit on tangential velocity at any point on a rotating body. So if something has a relatively small diameter, it can rotate very fast. However, if you start looking at rotation of very large (planet-scale) objects, where the outer edges would ... | null |
fcu7ak | Humans seem to have a universally visceral reaction of disgust when seeing most insects and spiders. Do other animal species have this same reaction? | [
{
"answer": "Actually, elephants avoid bees. Whether or not it’s disgust in particular would be difficult to decipher, but it has been useful in creating natural barriers for the animals to keep them away from crops while giving the farmers another valuable crop. \n\n\n_URL_1_\n\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\n_URL_2_",
"p... | null |
i45zf | How can i make colored fire? | [
{
"answer": "Different chemical elements burn with different coloured flames. \n\nSee: [Flame tests](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The other two posters got it right. My favorite metals to burn are [copper](_URL_0_) and [barium](_URL_2_), and [calcium](_URL_1_) is really cool too. My... | null |
sdams | A question about the Gestapo secret police of Nazi Germany | [
{
"answer": "The [Ordnungspolizei](_URL_1_) was responsible for most of the day-to-day police duties during the war, and that article suggests that they took on other duties as well, such as fire fighting. The [Kripo](_URL_0_) served as the civilian detectives, but I believe they worked closely with the SS and ... | null |
47e7wr | why are most cities "downtown" sections really shitty when they're usually a popular | [
{
"answer": "Maintenance of a downtown area is a tremendous undertaking. For example, repairing the streets could mean closing down the street for days and days. Colossal traffic jam, redirecting bus routes, businesses on that street pissed off, etc. It's very expensive and difficult. Due to the location, i... | null |
8ad5be | Why can you refuel a plane mid-flight, but you can't refuel a car while it's running? | [
{
"answer": "You can refuel a car while it's running.\n\nThe difference is that most filling stations are not designed to refuel a car while it's running.\n\nIn an airplane, if it's running, refueling happens while the plane (or its props/jets) is in motion, meaning any fuel vapor gets blown away from the plane... | null |
zu453 | Why did Truman perform better in suburbs than cities? | [
{
"answer": "The easiest way to answer that would be to say that the parties in 1948 were not the parties you know today.\n\nBoth parties had a liberal wing and a conservative wing. Dewey was from the northeast, the liberal wing of the Republican party, and a lot of the issues he was running on were basically e... | null |
1wrt1b | How do we decide which stars are important enough to name? | [
{
"answer": "Most of the names are historical, and the modern convention is not to assign names to newly discovered stars. This [wikipedia article](_URL_0_) and some of the others it links to give a pretty good discussion.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
2lmde9 | why, when i eat terribly (pizza, cookies, chips, beer, etc) can i eat a lot, but when i clean diet, i get so full and 2k calories is hard to get each day? | [
{
"answer": "Define \"clean eating.\" I know a lot of people that cut back on junky, carb-heavy foods and are much less hungry. It has to do with your insulin spikes and resulting hormone suppression (leptin mostly) that keeps you from being mega-hungry. Also, if you're replacing your diet with lots of vegetabl... | null |
2bm2xo | is there a possibility in the future for full immersion virtual reality gaming? | [
{
"answer": "Anything is possible, someday, as long as that thing doesn't violate fundamental physical laws. And even then, who knows.\n\nPractically though, yes, this is reasonable some day. One of the critical aspects here for experiencing this \"just [sitting] in a chair\" is the ability to plug our brains ... | null |
15sxsp | The closest star to earth is 4.3 light years away. Is this par for the course in the Milky Way? | [
{
"answer": "The density of stars decreases as you move away from the galactic centre. There, stars are much closer together.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "26808",
"title": "Star",
"section": "Section::::Distribution.\n... | null |
2hjvzf | why can't we make a system similar to a human body that gets energy from food? | [
{
"answer": "We could do that. We don't because it would be horribly inefficient compared to the fuels we already use, or most of the alternatives we've already devised.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They exist already. They're called horses.\n\nIn fact, the reason the term \"horsepower\" ca... | null |
2s7b9s | Is physical information within our universe finite? | [
{
"answer": "According to (quantum) information theory, the answer to both questions is yes, since \"[information is physical](_URL_0_)\", as [Rolf Landauer](_URL_1_) puts it in the linked paper.\n\nSince there is only a finite amount of matter in the observable universe, there can only be a finite amount of in... | null |
a1b9x0 | how does online banking work without the exchange of actual money? | [
{
"answer": "When person A pays person B, the bank takes money out of A's account and deposits it in B's account.\n\nIf they use two different banks, the banks cooperate through a very elaborate digital money transfer system.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Most (if not all) banks don't keep ev... | null |
g1d5ij | how does game streaming service (geforce now, stadia) have little to no lag, while traditional remote desktops (chrome remote desktop, microsoft remote desktop etc) having significant lags? | [
{
"answer": "Whatever remote desktop program you're running has to render *and then* encode the video feed of the desktop on the computer that you're connecting to. The encoding takes a little bit of time. That little bit of time, combined with the fact that most remote desktop programs are just really quickl... | null |
j4t0f | For lack of a better way to put it: What "sets" the speed of light? | [
{
"answer": "The speed of light is actually the speed of an electromagnetic wave. The phrase *electromagnetic wave* is quite common but what does it actually mean?\n\nAn electromagnetic wave is a wave that is spawned when a charge is accelerated, not just moving, but accelerating. The reason an em wave is cau... | null |
d0orqm | Why did savory pie culture (shepherd's pie, chicken pot pie, etc.) not transfer to North America nearly as well as desert pie culture (apple pie, blueberry pie, etc.) while by comparison it thrived in Europe? | [
{
"answer": "As usual, I'm here to suggest you cross-post this question to /r/askfoodhistorians which isn't quite as well-known but has a much more focused subscriber base.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The short, simple answer to your question is that savory pies are very popular in the US, ... | null |
9yl8h3 | how does country get richer through protectionism? | [
{
"answer": "So the idea is that protectionism keeps profits inside your own country. I buy a car from Ford for $20,000, they spent $15,000 to make it, so they earn 5,000 in profit, and because they're an American company, that profit stays in America. I buy a car from Volkswagen for $20,000, they spent 15 to m... | null |
24nc0m | How can we detect Anti-matter stars if they exist? | [
{
"answer": "If there are pockets of the observable universe where antimatter is common, then those pockets will have borders. At the borders, a primarily matter region will be interacting with a primarily antimatter region, meaning they will be annihilating each other, which we could detect as very energetic g... | null |
szdtr | what the current state of the marvel comics universe is | [
{
"answer": "do you want spoilers?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "36658495",
"title": "Marvel NOW!",
"section": "Section::::Publication history.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 8,
"start_character": 0,
... | null |
26msmk | To what extent is the modern notoriety and recognition of Caesar, Antony, Cleopatra, Brutus, etc. the result of Shakespeare? | [
{
"answer": "I can only speak about notoriety and recognition in the anglophone world.\n\nCaesar, Antony, Brutus, and Cleopatra would definitely still be remembered without Shakespeare's plays. Having one of the most famous writers in history make your life into a narrative piece of theater is certainly helpfu... | null |
3g24y8 | why do radio stations change by region?? and how come xm is the same across america/the world? | [
{
"answer": "Radio stations have an antenna and they broadcast their signal out. But the Earth is round, so most of the Earth isn't within reach of the antenna (there's a planet in the way of the signal). So you only receive the signal of radio stations near you. \n\nIt's the same reason why broadcast TV statio... | null |
38ibez | why is there such a disconnect between science and the government? | [
{
"answer": "Because there is a disconnect between people and science.\n\nThe government will only change things that benefit them, or that there is enough public demand for that changing it would increase their chances of continued election.\n\nIf the majority of voters either don't know or don't care about so... | null |
cxwafw | Floating Feature: STEM the Tide of Ignorance by Sharing the History of Science and Technology | [
{
"answer": "So I get that the Soviet propaganda poster is sort of a joke, but there is an interesting Soviet tie-in to the modern study of the history of science. \n\nOne of the most impactful papers given in the 20th century study of the history of science was that given by Boris Hessen, a Soviet physicist, a... | null |
78jrjn | Can an insect be “fat”? How do they store energy? | [
{
"answer": "It depends a lot on the insect in question.\n\nThe most extreme example I can think of is the [honeypot ant](_URL_0_). Some members of these colonies become living food storage for the rest, hanging in place and taking in or giving out their stored reserves as needed. ",
"provenance": null
},... | null |
6rc5t0 | Does a multi-decade concentration of Radon gas lead to an accumulation of lead particles in an enclosed environment (basement)? | [
{
"answer": "We're talking about concentrations that would be nearly undetectable if the substances weren't radioactive. Let's run some numbers.\n\nThe highest recorded residential levels of radiation from radon and its decay products have been on the order of 100,000 becquerels of activity per cubic meter of a... | null |
39yn7o | Book suggestion for the 1933 coup, and the 1959 revolution? | [
{
"answer": "You may want to specify the country in your OP: some flaired users have auto-notifications set up for certain key words",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2246736",
"title": "List of fictional revolutions and coups",
... | null |
3cmpxa | developing grey hair at a young age | [
{
"answer": "Mine's genetic, but not as bad as my grandfather. He went completely grey by 20. Me, I'm salt and pepper right now. I don't mind though. Better to have hair than no hair. If it's that big of a deal, you could dye it.\n\nBut, to answer your question:\n\n1. Stress has not been shown to increase ... | null |
10kmuj | Why did the Australopithecus become extinct? | [
{
"answer": "Of all of the primate human ancestors it could be said that they met one or a combination of three fates:\n\n* Evolve and occupy a separate niche which does not compete with what became human\n* Interbreed with what became human\n* Compete for resources and lose against what became human\n\nIn othe... | null |
39ryvj | Why does sand express the same properties of a non-Newtonian fluid when wet? Is it a non-Newtonian fluid? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, a non-newtonian fluid acts like a solid when a force is applied because the particles of sand (or corn starch, etc) restrict the flow of water when pressure is applied. Additionally, the surface tension of the water keeps the particles bonded together as a cohesive unit.",
"provenance": nu... | null |
5urrvc | Is there a charge for the weak force? | [
{
"answer": "The equivalent of charge and colour for the weak force is flavour, with a caveat (edit: more precisely, weak isospin, as corrected below). Typically, flavour refers to the 6 different kinds of quarks and the six different kinds of leptons, but they're organized in 3 groups of two, with each group, ... | null |
4y1eq0 | what is it like behind the scenes when a major website or video game has a massive crash? | [
{
"answer": "Panic from everyone non-technical and loud sighs from all of the developers/network guys.\n\nIt's usually a straight-forward fix, so the tech people see \"work at off-hours that I don't get paid for because I'm salary\" and all of the business people see some super complex world-ending problem that... | null |
9tz0un | Are there dangerous retroviruses in vaccines? | [
{
"answer": "Unfortunately you may find it hard to reason with some people, even with good sources. My own father has a degree in Geography yet refuses to believe in man made climate change. Remember, for his theories such as Judy Mikovits being under duress it is his responsibility to get evidence for it. \n\n... | null |
42ggdf | what happens to wildlife in a blizzard? | [
{
"answer": "More deer do die during really bad winter conditions, but it's surprising how ridiculously tough they are. During the end of fall they undergo a number of bodily and behavior changes: they eat way more food to pack on insulating layers of fat, they shed their summer coats and grow a winter hide of ... | null |
1vufgd | why does law enforcement need a warrant to search a suspects property? and why is evidence acquired without a warrant inadmissible? | [
{
"answer": "The law is there to protect everyone, including the guilty. Look up the bill of rights, and the amendment which protects you against unwarranted search and seizure.\n\nRemember these laws were written at a time when the people had very recent experience of a government which was corrupt and did not... | null |
75tqvr | how is it economical to ship ramen packets? | [
{
"answer": "Based on their 2016 quarterly report, it costs Maruchan $2.15 billion to generate $3.40 billion in sales.\n\nThey're spending $0.157 to get that $0.25. It takes 3.6 billion packets of Ramen and a whole host of higher margin foods to do it nine cents at a time, but they're apparently pretty profita... | null |
6biot3 | Is the radiation from a microwave oven considered a photon? | [
{
"answer": "A classical light wave is not a photon. It's a coherent state with indefinite number of photons. You can't say exactly how many photons there are, it's in a superposition of different photon numbers. The probability distribution for the number of photons is a Poisson distribution. So you can talk a... | null |
4xbtrq | what are the differences in antibiotics that are designed for different varieties of infection (viral, fungal, bacterial, etc.) ? | [
{
"answer": "Antibiotics are *only* for treating bacterial infections. That's literally what the word means.\n\nIf you're looking at treating fungal infections, you need an antifungal. If you're looking to treat a viral infection, you need an antiviral.\n\nThey're all completely different drugs.",
"proven... | null |
7y8rxt | How diverse was Bohemia during the fifteenth century? | [
{
"answer": "Hi, not discouraging more info here, but FYI there was a popular thread on this a couple of weeks ago, featuring /u/commiespaceinvader among others \n\n* [People are getting extremely upset because there are no black people in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. How accurate is this for 16th century Bohemia... | null |
1jc9oe | machiavellianism | [
{
"answer": "1. Always have an out, even if it means sacrificing those closest to you. \n2. The ends justify the means. \n3. All things being equal, fear is a better tool of power than compassion. \n4. What your subjects think of you means little so long as you retain your power to rule. ",
"provenance": ... | null |
34mu10 | if we know jet fuel doesn't melt steel beams then how is 9/11 explained? | [
{
"answer": "Jet fuel can melt steel beams the guy who made the original theory even said he was talking through his ass. It was a small project ment to fuck with people. It wasn't ment to be taken as fact this widely.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "1) Combustion temperatures depend, amongst o... | null |
4qoyhe | why are we able to predict astronomical events like eclipses and transits down to the minute but we still don't know when or if asteroids like bennu will hit earth? | [
{
"answer": "A couple reasons:\n\nA) The moon is fairly large and obvious, so it's been observed for a very long time, so we have a *lot* of data to say where it's going to be. It is also less likely to be bothered by small disturbances tugging on it (it don't care if a small rock hits it). It's so large and ... | null |
52jqok | the difference between a gatling and a machine gun. | [
{
"answer": "A gatling gun uses multiple barrels, whereas a machine gun uses 1",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Another distinction is that classic Gatling guns were hand-cranked, while true machine guns (Maxim onwards) are self-powered:the exhaust gases from one round are harnessed to eject tha... | null |
cub4qp | How an Aerospike engine really works ? | [
{
"answer": " > I don’t understand, why, in that case, the thrust isn’t expending on the side like a normal random flow firing in all direction ? the exhaust pressure is still much higher than air….. one side of the exhaust is on the spike make a “half” bell, right, the other, exposed to air, should just go in... | null |
54pbgt | what's the difference between debt and bankrupt? | [
{
"answer": "Debt is what you owe, but have the means to pay it off.\n\nBankrupt means you have debt, but no means to pay it off.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "**Debt** just means you owe someone money. You're have to give it back with interest at some point(s) in the future, usually spread o... | null |
3bs3b9 | if it is legal to have up to 1oz of weed, how do drug dealers keep from getting arrested since they obviously have more? | [
{
"answer": "This is really a ask a legal question, not a concept question.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I assume you are not talking about places like colorado where weed is entirely legal but regulated. \n\nFWIW, they usually DO get arrested. In most places were weed less than one once is ... | null |
d4a23a | How exactly can we tell if other planets have water or water vapor in their atmosphere? | [
{
"answer": "Spectroscopy. We don't just measure the overall decrease in brightness, we also measure it as function of wavelength. Water vapor preferentially absorbs some specific wavelength ranges while it lets others pass through. If we look at these wavelength ranges then the dip is deeper - the planet appea... | null |
4kajqv | Book covering the early 1400s to present day | [
{
"answer": "I'm reading and have been quite enjoying John Darwin's *After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires 1400-2000*.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3661581",
"title": "Fawley Court",
"section": "Section:... | null |
3aac79 | How accurate is this style of combat? | [
{
"answer": "There are 15th century German fighting manuals (Hans Tallenhover's *Fechtbuch* or fight book) illustrating and showing captions that depict these kind of strikes in use. They were a technique that was apparently used by European swordsman reasonably often. \n\nI don't know enough about the subje... | null |
70fgh5 | How did the roman military punishment of sleeping outside the camp work? | [
{
"answer": "Being forced to sleep outside the camp walls was a part of the decimation punishment, though it had fallen out of use by the time of Crassus and Antony. After a unit had been decimated, the remaining members would be forced to camp outside, and were only given barley or fodder-grade wheat. It’s im... | null |
45g40j | What is the actual origin of Valentine's day? | [
{
"answer": "I can't say that I can answer your question in its entirety, but who says that Lupercalia is related to Valentine's Day? As far as I'm aware February 14 was simply the feast day of Saint Valentine, with no implications of a celebration of romantic love until the late Middle Ages. Someone can feel f... | null |
7ilmcc | why do christians celebrate jesus' birthday along with many other pagan traditions? | [
{
"answer": "It makes it a lot easier to get a massive amount of people to do something (convert to Christianity) when you don't ask them to change much of what they're doing ( by not making too many changes to their religious practices).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The Medieval calendar ha... | null |
3aaro7 | Was the fact that companies like Kodak, Hugo Boss, Volkswagen ect were part of the Nazi war effort used against them by their competitors in the post war years? | [
{
"answer": "Related question: Did any of them get into legal trouble if involved in the death camps, Bayer FEX.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "VW was famously established as a Nazi initiative. However, this was more than balanced at the end of the war by its recovery through the efforts of [M... | null |
4z7la0 | Were people living in Greece by the 10th Millenium BC? If so, would they already be speaking the Greek language? | [
{
"answer": "Just double-checking, do you mean 1,000 BC, or 10,000 BC?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "12111",
"title": "Demographics of Greece",
"section": "Section::::Historical overview.\n",
"start_paragraph_id... | null |
f7ew9k | how do direction work in space because north,east,west and south are bonded to earth? how does a spacecraft guide itself in the unending space? | [
{
"answer": "Just like on earth n,w,e,s are meaningless without a reference. The same will apply to space. \n\nSince things move in space you will need to use coordinates relative to some set objects. Say certain stars. We havent really begun space exploration to really hammer out a good system but we do us... | null |
86qs0l | how do people grow pot on tv without getting arrested? | [
{
"answer": "No prosecutor will go to court on a charge of posesssion of a controlled substance unless they get their hands on the substance so that they can prove it is something illegal. Without solid proof that it’s pot (and not just something that *looks* like pot), they can’t get a conviction and won’t was... | null |
29auii | Does time flow differently in other galaxies? | [
{
"answer": "Well, let's first take a look at time itself. What do we know about it? Well, it's relative. Meaning, our perception of time is dependent on several factors, it isn't a single thing that is independent from our understanding of physics. Time is also bounds by these laws.\n\nOne of the major things ... | null |
eawexh | programing question | [
{
"answer": "Yes, you can. The compiled executable and the uncompleted text files have nothing to do with each other. You can change the code while the program is running, and changing the code will not magically alter a running program.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
f19240 | when you turn the ac on, turn the speakers louder or turn on a subwoofer in a car, does fuel economy decrease in order to create more power? | [
{
"answer": "When you turn A/C on the compressor gets power from one of the engine belts. The compressor turning puts more load on your engine therefore reducing fuel economy. The stereo and subwoofer use electricity which is generated by your alternator. The alternator like the A/C compressor runs off an engin... | null |
55msv5 | why are people who run onto football fields so aggressively tackled? | [
{
"answer": "They want to discourage it so that it doesn't become more common.\n\nThey have a game to play (and televise, and sell advertisements for, etc) and don't want it to be frequently interrupted by people running around on the field. As well, if people were to run onto the field while a play were actua... | null |
3tg8r2 | could we reproduce the mechanics of what powers the earth's magnetic field, and miniaturize it to protect spaceships from radiation? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. You just have to figure out how to avoid a strong-ass magnet from interfering with all the equipment.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yes, the earth produce a magnetic field via a rather complicated and not so well understood process but the nice thing about it is that, like a... | null |
bskk1k | how do those cables they string across the road measure your vehicle speed? | [
{
"answer": "if I am thinking about the same cables you are thinking about they aren't used to measure speed they're used to count how many cars are going across the road they use it to know how much maintenance or if they need to expand the road to handle more traffic.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"an... | null |
4dr934 | how do people not feel effects from thc and other substances if they're still present in our systems for up to days/weeks/months enough to show up on drug tests? | [
{
"answer": "Two reasons: First, much of the substance is excreted out of your body. They are testing for what small amounts are left over. The concentrations in your body are very very small, and not enough to make you feel any effects, but can still be detected.\n\nSecond, depending on the drug, they are not ... | null |
bhd2dr | why is scrotal skin so different from other skin? | [
{
"answer": "Because it has a very particular job that other skin doesn't.\n\nYour testicles have to be kept at a certain temperature, one that's lower than the rest of your body. So your scrotum needs to be able to adapt to temperature and then respond by raising or lowering the testicles, becoming thicker, or... | null |
b357cf | why is there seemingly only 5000 species of mammals on earth yet seemingly endless minute variations in insects/birds/reptiles etc? | [
{
"answer": "Smaller reproduction times and lifespans means you can have more generations and a higher rate of mutation. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Mammals are the most recent biological class to come along. We haven't had the time to develop as many mutations which might be beneficial en... | null |
1eb4lg | WWII - How much did the Axis powers know about the Allied invasion plans on D-Day-1? | [
{
"answer": "It depends. Rommel is on record claiming that the Allies would come at high tide to minimize casualties crossing the (narrower) beach. This ruled out the 6th of June since it was generally acknowledged that the attack would commence at first light, and first light at June 6th had the low tide. That... | null |
2gy4qj | why can't you cut all the wires in a bomb to prevent it from detonating? | [
{
"answer": "I can very easily rig up a dummy bomb for you that would go \\*pop\\* if you cut the wrong wire.\n\nSometimes, it is the presence of electricity that prevents a circuit from triggering rather than a lack of it.\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Perhaps in practice to a limited de... | null |
1ozb35 | Who was the first U.S. President to have his photograph taken while in office? | [
{
"answer": "Based on what I've been able to find out, the earliest *surviving* photo of a president in office is [of James K. Polk.](_URL_2_) However, [this one](_URL_3_) (of his cabinet) and [this one](_URL_0_) of he and his wife might have been taken in any order but they were almost certainly taken while he... | null |
6kdtdt | what is cherenkov radiation? | [
{
"answer": "In a nutshell, it’s like a sonic boom, but instead of going faster than sound, it goes faster than light. Instead of going BOOM, it’s a flash of light/radiation. Nothing goes faster than light in a vacuum. However, through a medium like water, light slows down so some subatomic particles can go fa... | null |
a5y24v | is there a reason spicy things become less spicy after being refrigerated? | [
{
"answer": "Cold numbs your taste buds. So it's not less spicy your mouth just doesn't register the capsaicin like it would if the wings were hot.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "54000061",
"title": "Neurogastronomy",
"s... | null |
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