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Why does the US decide to fight terrorists instead of eliminating the cause of terrorism?
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Because the causes of terrorism are impossible to truly eliminate, and very, very difficult to minimize. Whenever there is the possibility that someone hates something or someone so much that they are willing to threaten innocent people to get their way, there will be terrorism.
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Many possible reasons: Terrorism makes people fear for their lives, and will be more likely to elect or support a leader who is running on a platform of aggressive tactics who promises to wage war on terror. The terrorist group may not be targeting just anyone but targeting people with opposition to the government. For example, they could bomb an opposition rally. Terrorism can be used as an excuse to go to war with another country.
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How can cross breeding of plants occur when planted too close?
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Easy answer? Pollination. Plants may not do the rumba the same way we do, but if you have two compatible flowers next to eachother and a bee chills on one, then floats over to the other and rubs off some of that pollen....well, voila. Cross-breeding (actually called cross pollination, for obvious reasons) occurs.
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Reproductive isolation are mechanisms that prevent interbreeding to occur in nature. You can read all about it here! _URL_2_
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What's happening in my brain when I repeat a word so much that it starts to sound weird?
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The reason most words don't sound weird most of the time is that the part of your brain that processes language is lighting up and telling you "Hey! Those are words. They mean stuff." Consequently, you end up thinking about them in the context of language and what they mean, but not really the actual sounds that comprise them. When you repeat a word enough, you're basically taking it out of context. It's not in a sentence or any other situation where its meaning has relevance, and eventually it just becomes a *sound* instead of a word. And lots of sounds are "weird," for one reason or another.
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_URL_0_ Basically, your brain is getting tired of the word, and starts to ignore it. It's kinda like how your tune out repetitive noises / boring stuff after awhile.
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Why do pens not work on certain surfaces, but after scribbling on another surface and getting the pen to write, it works on the original surface?
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The ball at the tip of most pens is self lubricating with the ink. If left uncapped long enough, the ink will dry out and the ball is effectively glued in place. If the ball can't rotate, fresh new ink can't get by. On a thin paper on a hard surface, or a smooth surface aka "flat"... only a small part of the surface is making contact with the ball. To get a stuck ball moving again we need more friction. A few sheets in your notebook has enough spring in them to deform around, and touch the sides of the ball, imparting more friction... thereby breaking the stuck ink, fresh ink comes out, lubricates the ball and everything writes off into the sunset.
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The graphite that comes from the pencil likes to stick to the eraser more than it does to the paper.
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Have we "seen" bosons, or are they completely theoretical?
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Photons are bosons, and from a certain perspective photons are the only thing you've ever seen.
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Not all bosons are force carriers. The whole "particle exchange" thing adds more confusion than illumination. What's actually happening is that there's a field that particles sit in, and their presence modifies the field. You can describe that modification to the field as if it were another particle, but that particle isn't actually there.
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What exactly is happening when a kitchen radio or microwave makes a static noise just before a nearby cell phone receives a text or a call?
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The cell tower doesn't know if your phone in still in range, so it sends out a query to your phone before if sends the real message. The phone transmits back a "here I am!" signal at maximum power. The phone and tower then negotiate the lowest power they can use and still communicate reliably. That's what you hear. By the time the actual text or call is placed, all that is over and you can't hear the static anymore. (/u/rhomboidus did a good job explaining it, but didn't make it clear why you only hear the static before the call and not during the call itself.)
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It only happens with GSM phones. The frequency GSM phones operate at is picked up by the speakers as a signal. The speaker then outputs the signal. It comes across as staticish because it's speaking cell phone not speaker.
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Why does being electrocuted cause physical pain?
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Brain talks to body with electricity. Electrocution puts electricity in body. Nerves scream to brain. Brain sees it as pain.
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The human body is not a perfect conductor for electricity and when electricity encounters resistance it generates heat. If you happen to become a part of an electrical current of a high enough amperage(the measurement of an electrical current), you could be severely burned. More importantly, electricity causes muscle contractions. Since our body controls its muscles through the nervous system with electrical signals, an overload of these signals might cause serious contractions and even paralysis. What’s worse is that this could even cause your respiratory system to fail and ultimately stop your heart.
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What's happening when you crease or roll up paper? Why does it stay that way?
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Got all this info from [this](_URL_0_) article. > Paper is made up of vegetable fibres, which are felted together. They felt together because the fibres are somewhat rough, although other agents, such as size are often added to encourage the fibres to stick together. But the fibres are brittle and when you crease paper the fibres along the line of the crease they are permanently fractured. It is this permanent line of tiny fractures that forms the crease. Because it is indelible, the paper is said to "remember" the crease". Even ironing with a hot ironing will not get rid of the crease. Basically, what's happening is that the paper is breaking its physical bond with the fibers along side it(but not necessarily with the ones that aren't directly where you folded it). It doesn't occur with all the fibers, however, so the paper still sticks together. They stay this way because they are brittle, like glass, and, just like when glass breaks, it can't be put back together. Hope this helped.
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Nothing is happening at the cellular level, since there are no cells as such in printing paper. They all get destroyed or at least killed during the paper making process. On a molecular level it just shifts the point at which molecules are in their lowest energy state. When paper is rolled up, there are fewer molecules on the inside of the curve. This is no longer stable when the paper is flattened out, so the molecules move kind of like diffusion, but with fibres not individual particles, so that the length of each side is the same, and the paper is flat again.
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How does animal inbreeding compare to human inbreeding? They seem less affected...
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They are just as affected as inbred humans, the issues with recessive genes apply to animals as well as humans. That's why most specialized dog or cat breeds (that were derived through inbreeding from a small population) have [predictable health issues](_URL_0_).
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The problems in humans are very minor, relatively speaking; laws and social mores greatly limit the amount of linebreeding/backcrossing/inbreeding. In domesticated animals, these techniques are how humans create different breeds. Specific examples: Dogs: hip problems in German Shepherds, severe breathing problems in brachycephalic dog breeds, or the semi-retardation of many Irish Setters and Golden Retrievers. Chickens: Cornish Cross are too stupid to do much beyond feed themselves, and many Polish/silkies/breeds-with-a-head-poof need to be trimmed so they can see. Pet ferrets are so severely inbred, just keeping them alive can be a tricky proposition.
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How did Israel and Armenia end up with such big diamond industries, when diamonds are mined in neither country?
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Just a question for you, as I don't have an answer on this subject: but are Israel and Armenia's exports in *raw* or *cut* diamonds? That would be a critical distinction, since diamonds can be mined elsewhere in raw forms, but must be cut somewhere, in most cases, before they are viable market products. If Israel and Armenia happen to have a large number of the world's best diamond cutters, that could be the explanation. Of course, you'd just want to know why they ended up with such a large proportion of diamond cutters, but at least it explains why the lack of mines is not an issue.
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Diamonds are formed deep in the Earth's crust. Places like Africa have layers of crust that are "pushed up", so they are more easily accessible in mines. The middle East and Europe didn't have the right things going on, at the right time for diamonds to form, and they don't have the right geology now for us to find and Diamonds that have formed, deep down.
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Why don't we put an implant, like "Norplant", filled with several months worth of medication into Alzheimer's patients so they don't forget to take their medication?
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I don't know anything about Alzheimer's treatments in particular, so I don't know why they can't be implanted. However, it's helpful to look at it from the other direction. Hormonal birth control, like Norplant, can be implanted because: (a) the drugs are chemically stable for months or years at body temperature (37 C), (b) everybody gets the same dose, and the dose doesn't change over time, (c) the amounts of drug needed is tiny (micrograms or nanograms per day), so months worth of drugs can implanted in a small device. If any one of those conditions aren't met, then implants won't be appropriate, and I suspect that the vast majority of drug treatments fail at least two of those conditions, probably all three.
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Natural Scientist here. I have only read the papers published on the CD47 antibody matter. But having worked/working on a similar project related to Alzheimer's Disease. The issues that arise with such treatments is first and foremost whether they exhibit a genuine improvement in their target (i.e. shrink tumor, improve cognition, reduce plaque etc)). If they do not perform better than their placebo then they do not pass phase I of drug development. If they do not, it could be down to multiple countless reasons. The humanization of the treatment might have been wrong or the vast complexity of our system may affect the pharmacokinetics or pharmacodynamics of the drug. Either way remember that only one in ten drugs make it to market and it takes 10-15 for it to get to market.
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When people claim certain foods can cause heart disease, is it caused by the foods directly or the obesity that can result from bad diet of the foods?
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Not really. usually heart diseases are caused by obstructions of the coronary arteries or other blood vessel as well, but mainly the coronary arteries. if your diet is very rich in certain kind of fat (saturated fat and cholesterol) and very low in other better fats (unsaturated ones) you are in danger *because* it can cause obstruction of the coronary arteries but it can be not related to "obesity" at all. My mother for example did have high cholesterol but she was absolutely normal in term of weight and her calories intake was normal. Of course if one is obese *by definition* has an inadequate intake of fat/cholesterol/calories and is in danger of heart diseases.
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Having a heart puts you at risk for a heart attack. There are many more factors (many that we still do not know or understand) that can result in or contribute to heart attack or stroke than diet. Aging of cells and genetic predispositions are unpreventable and attribute significantly to risk. I personally feel diet is over emphasized in our culture . . . I am not saying diet isn't important . . . but it certainly isn't the sole variable in dealing with health as many people seem to believe. So in other words, no, but you can increase your risk with a bad diet.
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Why haven't we have world maps (or at least Afro-Eurasia maps), for thousands of years? Why can't maps be passed from region to region, and copied as they go, resulting in complete maps of all of Africa, Asia and Europe?
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It's not that they can't be, but that they weren't. Accurate maps leading up to the period that I study, and continuing to some extent through it, were treated essentially as state secrets -- being able to accurately plan voyages and navigate, in an age where sea-based commerce and expansion were driving growth in Europe, was knowledge that people were reluctant to share with adversaries.
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Because what is beyond is unknown, and thus not mapped.
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Is all the matter in our solar system made specifically from our sun?
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The material which makes up our Sun and our solar system all originated from the same cloud of gas about four and a half billion years ago. That cloud would have been composed of mostly hydrogen and helium created in the big bang with a smattering of heavier elements (as well as more hydrogen and helium) scattered into the cloud from the supernova and death of stars before ours. While we do not know where or how big this stellar nursery was, we can see similar clouds giving birth to young stars today. The [Orion Nebula](_URL_0_) which you can see with the naked eye is one such place.
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Not really, for a couple reasons. One, the vast, vast majority of the material in our solar system is in the sun in the form of hydrogen. That hydrogen was mostly never inside a star, though perhaps some was in a star but never fused. So most of the material in our solar system was never in a star. The heavier elements, like those making up Earth and other rocky planets, were created by heavy stars it's true, but not one single one. Instead, many stars impregnate the interstellar medium with heavier elements. Then a local cloud came together from that medium and formed our solar system. However, sometimes a very close supernova can "trigger" a cloud to collapse and form a star, and it's thought there may have been a single local star which went nova and triggered the birth of ours. While very little of our solar system is composed of matter from that star, there are some trace elements which came from that supernova.
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What are the laws surrounding entering sewer systems in cities? Since there are no 'no trespassing' signs, are we free to open manholes and enter sewer systems?
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Like any other laws, they are subject to local differences. Just like you can't walk into someone else's home uninvited just because there's not a "no trespassing" sign, or can't hop a fence at a military installation if there wasn't a "Do not enter" sign on that particular fence, doesn't mean it's legal to trespass. If you have to open a manhole cover or bypass a fence in order to access something - that's common sense that you probably shouldn't be there.
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It's actually not for the liquid but for gas. Sewer produce alot chemicals that are a gas (or air to five year old.) Many of these gasses smell bad, or are poisonous or can even explode under certain condition. A S-Bend in a pipe is called a trap and it prevent the gas from entering the building.
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Why does a (large aperture) iPhone lens not naturally have bokeh?
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It has bokeh, but the depth of field is big because the focal length of the lens is so short (which is because the sensor is so small) so you barely see any blur with human sized subjects. The 4mm f/1.8 lens on the 4.2mm tall sensor of the iPhone has approximately the same depth of field and captures a similar number of photons as a 27mm f/12 lens on a 24mm tall full-frame DSLR sensor, and will have comparable amounts of blur. To get a similar amount of true optical blur as an 85mm f/1.4 on a full frame, the iPhone would have to have a 50mm aperture.
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ILC means Interchangeable Lens Camera. All pro cameras have this feature. Every lens has a specific purpose. Phone cameras are trying to emulate the ILC aspect by including two types of lenses - wide, for general use [landscapes, environmental full body portraits etc] - and the other lens closer to the 50mm range [required to take headshots without distorting facial features]. It's a physical limitation that phone makers will eventually [almost] overcome through software. See the fake bokeh on the new iPhone for example. To a discerning eye it will never be the same, but for most consumers it will suffice.
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When did the West start to have significant influence on Chinese culture? Specifically perceptions of beauty.
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It is a bit outside of my area of expertise, but I can tell you that there was already a definite, and controversial, Western influence on ideas of beauty in 1920s-30s China. To get you started on your research, allow me to point you toward 2 chapters contained in the collected volume *The Modern Girl Around the World*: ["Who is afraid of the Chinese Modern Girl?"](_URL_2_) and ["Buying In: Advertising and the Sexy Modern Girl Icon in Shanghai in the 1920s and 1930s."](_URL_2_) I have not read them myself, but I have colleagues who assign them. If you want to do more searching on your own, two key terms you should use are "new woman" (generally refers to the earlier group of female reformers) and "modern girl" (generally refers to the more fashion oriented side of things).
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A decent starting place is [this post](_URL_0_) 'Questions on Chinese in the Old West' see the last question answered by /u/keyilan
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Is there consensus about why a CD reflects rainbow colours?
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Thanks for pointing this out! A CD produces colours in the order of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet) so the diffraction grating explanation is definitely correct. Thin film interference colours follow a distinctive and completely different sequence: white, yellow, orange, red magenta, blue, green, yellow etc.: _URL_0_
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YES! This is what results in what's called *structural color*. It is precisely Braggs Law where d is on the order of 100s of nanometers. This effect is the cause behind the color on CD-Roms, Butterfly Wings, Soap Bubbles (sorta), and other 'iridescent' shades. Amazingly, the color that you see comes from Bragg's Law, and is *not necessarily the materials real color*! Further Reading: _URL_1_ _URL_2_ A more detailed read. You'll see Bragg's Law on the third page :D _URL_0_
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Please explain what occured yesterday with the British elections to an American who is confused, and what does it mean that the PM asked the Queen to make a new government? Sounds daunting.
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We have what's known as a hung parliament. This means that no one party has enough seats in Parliament to form a government. One party needs 326 of their MP's to have the majority and form the government. When no one party has enough MP's to form a government in their own right they can team up with other parties to get the majority. All Governments in the UK serve under the monarch, in this case the Queen. So when the leader of the party that won (or who has formed an agreement with other parties / joined a more formal coalition) wants to claim victory they go to the Queen and ask permission to form a government. The Queens role is ceremonial however she is still required to sign bills to pass them into law. This is known as Royal assent. She wouldn't ever use her veto.
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I think it's kind of like how the Queen is still the Queen, but Parliament actually runs the country.
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Is it possible to see the American flag on the moon via telescope?
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No, at least not a telescope on Earth or in Earth orbit. Hubble needs objects to be about the size of a football field to be discerned. Even the previously proposed 100 meter aperture OWL telescope would not have been able to see the flag, though it might have been able to resolve the landers and rovers.
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Only if the sky is obscured. [Here's a scale picture of how far away the moon is](_URL_0_)
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According to "Stalingrad" and "Barbarossa" by A.Beevor, 11th Panzer division could have strolled into the empty Stalingrad on the 3rd August but didn't as they drove south instead. How accurate is this?
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Just a few things to say here: Firstly, could you tell me which page this was found on? I’ve looked through the index for Beevor’s Stalingrad, and found no mention of 11th Panzer Division, and I don’t remember where else in the book it could be. Secondly, I don’t believe Antony Beevor ever wrote a separate book about/called Barbarossa.
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There were strategic reasons to go into Stalingrad. It was the largest city in the area, controlled a major river stop, and was a large manufacturing center. The real blunder (and a classic Hitler mistake of which there were many) was to stay way too long as the weather deteriorated and invest too many first-rate troops to the assault. The above led directly to the second blunder which was missing the developing Soviet counter-blow. In late 1942 the Wehrmacht in the East was still very powerful and could have parried the Soviet assault had they planned for it. The issue was the best troops in the area were buried in house to house fighting in the cold ruins of Stalingrad.
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Why do some straws float from a glass of soda and why doesn't it always happen?
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When the straw is floating, you may notice little carbon-dioxide bubbles sticking to the inside of the straw. These bubbles are "stuck" due to a combination of surface tension and imperfections in the surface of the straw. The bubbles naturally want to float to the top of the fluid, so they drag the straw with it. If you bang the straw on the bottom of the glass, notice how the bubbles all fly up to the top, and the straw sinks without a problem. It could also be the straw itself. Most drinking straws are made of polystyrene, which has a slightly higher density than the water in your soda. Hence, they sink. Some are made from Polypropylene, which is less dense than water, so they float.
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The straws act as nucleation points for the formation of bubbles. These growing bubbles sticking to the sides of the straw from surface tension add their buoyancy to the straw which can lift it some out of the drink. The presence of ice can press on the straw enough to keep the minor change in buoyancy from moving the straw though.
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How fast is my blood flowing through my body?
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In general, when you're at rest, any random blood cell does a full lap about once per minute. Blood moves fastest in the aorta, when first being squirted out of the heart, at about 40 cm/sec. It moves slowest in the tiny capillaries, much less than 0.001 cm/sec. But the capillaries are so short that the blood still only spends a short time there.
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Blood circulation is fast enough to do the job. The human heart pumps about ~5 liters of blood per minute under calm/normal conditions. Under stressful conditions this can go up to ~30 liters. We typically have about 6-7 liters of blood in our body altogether so one circular flow is done in 1.5 - 2 minutes. That means after 30 seconds a drug has already reached most organs at least partially.
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Are there any photos of Omaha beach from the perspective of what the troops would see as they came off their landing crafts?
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_URL_0_ Here's one. It looks nothing like Saving Private Ryan. The beach on SPR was too narrow for starters as you can see in this pic. Edit - Robert Capa took a lot of photos on Omaha Beach but sadly most of his photos were accidentally destroyed during the development process. Who knows what they would have shown.
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FYI, they went in at low tide so the incoming tides would lift boats off as the day went on. The distance from the low tide line to the cliffs on Omaha was actually pretty far - [here's a selection of images taken from the boats... - > ](_URL_0_) That's not to say you couldn't be hit, but having visited the beaches quite a few years ago, it's farther to the water than Saving Private Ryan made it out to be. This could have been a foreshortening effect caused by the camera settings and so on, but as someone else pointed out, it was something like five football fields in length from the bunkers to the boats when the invasion started...
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Why do you get the sensation of still being out and floating on water even after hours being off of a boat or the wavy water?
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What we think is happening is that your brain's understanding of the world changes a bit to compensate for the movement of the boat. You can change a person's visual perception of things if you expose them to a new visual field for some period of time, but the change in perception returns to normal after some time. So while you are on the boat, your brain learns to compensate for the movement of the waves, which is a big help while you're on the boat. But when you get off the boat, it takes a while for your brain to return to its normal perception, it tries to keep compensating for movement that is no longer there. (I personally find this effect to be strongest after a multi-day trip. It lasts for days afterward, especially in the shower for some reason.)
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Its actually a form of vertigo called disembarkment syndrome. See, we don’t just have five senses (which comes from Aristotle). Scientists have many more—including a sense of balance wherein fluid in your inner ear is used by your brain to adjust your muscles and account for gravity or angles of standing. Well, in the water that fluid constantly moves back and forth and your brain sets a new “normal”—to keep you from getting caught off guard it assumes waves are coming. For a while after swimming it still makes this assumption, until eventually normalizing.
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why does dial-up make that noise?
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Because there were a variety of modems that communicated with different speeds and with different protocols, and different volumes over different line conditions. The noise you heard were them going back and forth trying to agree on the best way to talk to each other. Imagine a tourist in a foreign country trying to talk to a native: Do you speak English? *shakes head* < Do you speak Spanish? > < Yes, but only slowly. > < Do you speak French? > < Yes, quite well, what can I do for you, my friend? > [Here](_URL_0_) is a chart that gives the specifics.
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On the other end, sound emitted from the person's phone is sent through their receiver (the sound loops back to you). This is why if you put two phones really close together and put them on speakerphone, you get a nasty feedback. The initial sound is cycled through both phones, amplifying each time (since its on speaker). The mumbling thing is completely normal. Look up "speech jammer" if you want info on that.
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Why didn't Germany use submarines to alleviate the British blockade during WWI?
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The German navy did attack the British fleet with submarines from time to time, but the British blockade of Germany was what's called a "distant blockade." Essentially, the main part of the British fleet was based in Scapa Flow, at the far northern end of Britain, and cruisers and smaller ships guarded the approaches around the Flow in between the UK and Norway. The English channel was guarded by its narrowness (you can see right across) and friendly forces controlled both sides of it. So the only possible place for supplies to reach Germany was from the north of Britain, through the UK-Norway gap. The British fleet patrolled and controlled those approaches, but the cruisers and destroyers it used to do that were hard for the German submarines to find, and the main part of the Fleet stayed inside the Flow, which had installed U-boat and torpedo barriers at the various entrances. It wasn't the type of blockade in earlier wars, where ships would stand off the entrance of a port to watch.
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There were a few factors that kept the blockade around. A major factor was that keeping the blockade helped keep Germany negotiating with the Allies. Without pressure on Germany, some members of the Allies thought that Germany would back away from negotiations to continue fighting. Another factor was that the Allies wanted to starve Germany. As bad as this sounds, it is true. Since there was a revolution in Germany from November of 1918 until August of the following year, the Allies had the interest of keeping democracy in Germany. The Allies wanted to do everything they could to keep extremists from coming to power in Germany, which happened to be starving the German population. Without food, fighting would eventually stop or at least die down. If you want to read about these subjects more, I suggest the following websites: _URL_1_ _URL_0_ _URL_2_ (PDF link on this site)
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Are there any body parts that can't get cancer?
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Cancer is caused by an error in cell devision that causes the cell to replicate faster then it should. That means that the only cells that cannot become cancers are the onces that can no longer replicate. So that means you cannot get cancer in your red blood cells (no DNA either), something like your hair (no longer alive) or certain nerves(sheets can be a problem though) which do not replicate.
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Any cancer is the uncontrolled division of cells, but there are a number of different mutations that can result in that growth. So cancer in one part of the body might have a mutation in the RAS gene, while another part of the body could have a mutation in the p53 gene. (Though typically its the buildup of multiple mutations that results in cancerous cells). Also cancers that develop late in life are more likely a buildup of many mutations, but there are types of cancers that can develop early in life that result from very few mutations.
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Why do cookies that start out as cubes become round when they are baked?
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As it bakes, the cookie flattens and expands in all other directions more-or-less equally. Because it's basically melting rather than growing, it expands from the center of mass and not from the edges. & #x200B; Note, this only works with cookies that start out relatively thick and have a good amount of fat. If you cut prepackaged cookies in half, or made cubes out of a leaner dough, they'd end up more square.
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The cookie dough is losing moisture, cooking ingredients, and caramelizing sugars during the baking process. If you watch, you'll see the cookie in a ball form melt down to a disc due to the butter going into a liquid state. At that point, the heat is drawing moisture out (a little), but caramelizing sugars and cooking egg in the mix. There are other processes that happen as well, depending on the contents of the recipe.
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What's the oldest language we know?
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Summerian is the first language to leave written records. I've heard the Basque language, isolated on a continent of Indo-European speakers, is the oldest spoken language still existing today.
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The language you are referring to is Punic. It is believed to have survived until around 600 AD, but quite possibly survived past that. There are inscriptions in Punic well into the Common Era though, so it took many hundreds of years for it to go extinct at the very least. For example, St. Augustine makes many references to people speaking Punic or his own knowledge of Punic, in the 400s.
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Why do so many languages have similar words for 'no', but different for the word 'yes'?
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I believe it's because having a word for disagreement in Indo-European languages tends to be more universal/fundamental than having a word for agreement. The 'no'-type word emerges early, while the 'yes'-type word emerges later on - because people would have simply responded with 'I will' or 'I am' or 'It is' or 'He will' instead of something like 'yes'. Meanwhile, if they want to respond in the negative, they need some sort of 'no'-type word in order to do so - 'I will *not*', 'She can *not*', etc. Here's an r/Linguistics thread where someone asked the same question: _URL_0_
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We're really looking at Indo-European languages here, which includes everything from Hindi to English to Ancient Greek. These languages all share a common origin - the proto-indo-european language, or PIE. PIE has been partially reconstructed from examining the huge number of current and historic languages in the family. It looks like there was a word for something like "not" or "no" in PIE that has a "ne" sound in it, and the child languages have mostly inherited that. That's why "no" is so similar across so many languages. However, there is no "yes" in PIE, which means that descendent languages have invented their own form, in many different ways.
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Why are Diesel engines better than gas in some situations? As in why are most big trucks diesel, but very few cars (at least in the US)? Is it a power thing? Efficiency?
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Diesel engines have better fuel economy and higher torque (think of it as pulling power) than equivalent petrol engines which makes them more suited vehicles which will be traveling long distances and carrying/towing heavy loads.
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Diesel engines are more fuel efficient (i.e., more MPG), last longer, can easily adapt to non-petroleum fuels and are more reliable. However, they are also more expensive, heavier, take longer to start in cold weather, and have worse emissions.
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List of historic life expectancies?
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You are correct that a lot of these statistics are based on "life expectancy at birth" which is generally skewed very low because of high infant mortality rates. Generally, however, people who make it past infancy into late childhood have a much higher life expectancy, so it isn't even necessarily life expectancy assuming you live to 15 or 20, but much earlier. Six to ten years in old in some calculations I have seen based on skeletal evidence in the U.S. Southwest for Hohokam populations being the cutoff point where life expectancy goes up dramatically. As to actual life expectancy, that is incredibly variable by time or place. Since you ask about London and medieval Europe, I'm afraid I can't help with that though I hope someone else chimes in with the answer you are looking for.
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Because of the strong oral traditions in many Nations, it is difficult to find records of individuals, and the ones who do get recorded are those who have done something great, and they get wrapped into lessons and tales that it becomes hard to tell if the person existed at all. Were you looking for a story of the life of someone, or how someone would have lived before European contact?
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For movies, how is 24 frames per second more "cinematic" than 30 frames per second?
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Only because you're used to it. Movies "look like movies" in 24 fps because movies are all shot at 24 fps. that's literally the only reason. 30fps is what they use for TV, so your brain associates the look of 30fps with things that are on TV.
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24 fps was settled on early in the history of film because it's fast enough that there is no noticeable flickering of the image, and movement looks smooth, but is slow enough that the cameras/film were easier to make, reels of film were shorter, etc.
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Why do so many Train tracks run along creeks and rivers?
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Rivers tend to form in places that have a long, continuous, mostly-gradual path from high to low places. This is exactly the sort of path trains need, as they cannot climb (or safely descend) very steep slopes. Some rivers do have steep bits (rapids, waterfalls), and in these bits the train will of course take a different route.
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Essentially it's a really cheap suspension, drainage system and anti vegetation system. _URL_0_ It distributes the weight away from the narrow tracks to the surrounding ground. It also absorbs vibrations making it a form of suspension. It stabilizes the train and keeps it in place, also over time digs into the ground and stabilizes the entire track structure. It provides a effective way to drain out water so it doesn't pool up. As the trains move the rocks grind against each other effectively grinding down any plant matter that might form. If you dig into it's a really genius system. Technically much better then the asphalt roads we use.
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How does Google Maps stay up to date with all the road changes throughout the world?
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Two words: crowd sourcing. It works like any wiki page, people can go and edit the map with new, updated information. However, the new data is not automatically pushed straight to the base map. It has to first be approved by moderators (also crowd sourced) who will approve or deny the changes. Google will sometimes have to step in to delete or undo any falsified information that slips through the cracks (which is also crowd sourced). You can give it a try here: _URL_0_
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If you mean like google earth, then there are photos taken from satellites, airplanes and helicopters on days that aren’t cloudy, every now and then you can find a border where the colour of a field changes or shadows change, depending on time of day or day of the year. It just takes lots of time and patience waiting for the clouds to go away and building a jigsaw puzzle out of non cloudy pictures
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What causes an "aftertaste"?
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[Here](_URL_1_) is a good article on the subject. The basics of it are that how we perceive flavor is based on texture, temperature, smell, and taste. Flavor here is separate from taste, as flavor is the entire ensemble of senses coming together to allow you to experience food. While there is no definitive consensus, as how we perceive flavor is not yet entirely understood, the leading theory on aftertaste is that it is our bodies experiencing flavor after the elements of temperature, texture, and smell are gone. This leaves us to process flavor with only the 'taste' of what we had eaten left. Disclaimer: I have no prior knowledge on this subject beyond what I just researched on the internet. The website is a wordpress site, but it cites published research to back up its claims. If someone in this field disputes what I've said, they know much more than me and are actually qualified to give answers. Citations given on the website: _URL_3_ _URL_2_ _URL_4_ _URL_0_ _URL_5_
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I think I know what you're talking about. I get a super tingling feeling after I eat something semi-tart after not having eaten anything for a long period of time.
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How come cold water from my faucet tastes good, but warm water tastes like hot garbage?
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If your water heater hasn't been flushed regularly then there is most likely a lot of corrosion sitting in there with the water making it taste bad.
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Taste is a series of chemical reactions, which occur more vigorously in warmer temperatures than colder temperatures.
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Why do they bother to try and "hide" cell phone towers?
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Because it simply looks more aesthetically pleasing. Cell phone towers are an eyesore
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Lots of building have a facade on them that is made from, among other things, a layer of wire mesh. While not intended for this purpose, the wire mesh acts as what's called a [Faraday cage](_URL_0_). This will severely interrupt the kinds of electromagnetic waves that cell phones use to connect to a cell tower.
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What is GAP insurance? Why is it an option on my Lease agreement but not my auto insurance?
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the car is sold to you for $25,000 (the purchase price). you take out a bank loan for $25,000 the second you drive it off the lot, it's now only worth $23,000 because it's now a used car. your loan is using a $23,000 collateral against a $25,000 balance. if you crash the car the instant you get out of the lot, insurance is only going to give you $23,000 for it. you're now paying for loan with no usable car. the bank wants $25,000 to close the loan. gap insurance is for the difference between loan balance and vehicle value, aka the gap.
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That's exactly how car insurance works. Can you clarify your question?
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Why a random people allowed to make and sell products on websites such as Etsy, eBay that are already real brands, e.g. Minecraft, Starwars?
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They aren't. The issue isn't with them being "allowed" to infringe on trademarks and IP, but rather in companies asserting their rights and policing their IP. Think of etsy/ebay like youtube. I can upload Rihanna's next hit and reap the rewards and it will go unnoticed by youtube until people representing Rihanna submit a claim for my video to be removed. You could go right now and file a complaint to etsy about the user you linked and etsy will probably remove the items for the time being. The items you linked were made in the image of minecraft, but as I am unfamiliar with the brand I do not know to what extent they infringe upon minecrafts IP.
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Because you can make money selling the product without recruiting other people to do it.
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Why does some steam, like that coming off a coffee pot, have a smell? Isn't steam just pure water vapor?
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Just because water is evaporating doesn't mean nothing else can at the same time. Smells are a result of volatile compounds being released into the air and making it to your nose, such as those from coffee beans/grounds.
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Expanding steam forces the hot water up onto the basket of coffee grounds, where it drips down and mixes with the water in the pot. Once the steam has lifted the water, it rushes out and is replaced with more hot water. Some of that water boils into expanding steam and the process repeats.
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Is it possible for the human eye to naturally have greater (better) than 20/20 vision?
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Yes. My proof of this is testing at both a regular physician and an optometrist that found that I have at least 20/10 vision. I believe the "standard" 20/20 vision is the *average* ( I do not know how the average has been determined) persons visual acuity-how clearly they see at a 20ft distance- and not the absolute baseline, and therefore people can be above or below it. You rarely hear about people with better than 20/20 vision, I expect, because it doesn't interfere with their daily lies negatively, and because unless you request it, it is not routinely tested for.
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Telescopes and microscopes come to mind as ways to have better than 20/20 vision. Jeweler's loop, reading glasses are all examples. 20/20 isn't perfect, it's what a typical person will see. There are people with better than 20/20 vision naturally. But 20/20 is generally good enough for most tasks in modern life.
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Double Bouncing on Trampolines
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How high you bounce depends on how much energy the trampoline puts into you. The trampoline can only put in as much energy as it is pushed down with, so the trick to double bouncing is to get two people to put energy into the trampoline, then having all of that energy released into one person. So, let's say A and B are two people in the air over a trampoline. They both hit the surface and start pushing it down. When the trampoline has absorbed almost all of their falling energy, A jumps. Because the trampoline has not yet rebounded from A and B falling onto it, much of A's jump energy simply goes into pushing the trampoline down further. A is now in the air, so all trampoline energy will go into B as it rebounds. B can time an additional jump to go even higher, but with 2 people's energy propelling only them, they will go surprisingly far.
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The trampoline has springs all around it and they store energy. Potential energy is stored energy. Kinetic energy is energy of motion. When you’re in the apex of your bounce you have high potential low kinetic. Right before your feet hit the trampoline you have highest kinetic lowest potential. As the springs absorb your kinetic they gain potential. That potential is added back to you as you go up. If you jump your legs add kinetic energy as you go faster/higher up. Two people jumping both put their energy into the springs. When second person buckles their knees they prevent their body from gaining kinetic. That energy has to go somewhere and it goes into you. That makes you bounce higher. Same things as loading a spring with 200 kg of mass accelerated by gravity then releasing it on to 100 kg.
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Why are some people so prone to cavities?
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Some folks just have soft teeth. My family especially is notorious for having "soft" teeth, which makes us more susceptible to getting dental issues. I had to get sealants put on my teeth as a kid once my permanents came in to prevent a lot of nastiness my older family members had to go through. Even with the sealants, I still got a lot of cavities in my time and I brush every day with mouth wash.
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Sugar does not directly cause cavities... You have to start with what does, bacteria. Your mouth houses a large amount of bacteria, but only one type causes cavities (don't know the name, but Google). Now, where sugar fits into the story... The sugar you eat will act as food for the harmful bacteria. The bacteria eats the sugar and produces an acid. That acid is what destroys your tooth... And then you have a cavity. How you combat this process is to brush for teeth and floss (would also tell you to eat healthier)..... If you really really REALLY want to get grossed out and see the extreme of poor dental hygiene, read up on Periodontal disease. Also... Be smart when you are young and take care of your teeth because the dentist is not cheap.
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Why can't/doesn't the United States look at its neighbors to the North and copy their methods that seem to be working? Canada has universal healthcare and college tuition is a fraction of what it is in the US- why doesn't the US try to implement the same models of governing?
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Canada also has a fraction of the population that occupies a much smaller geographic location. You can't just copy and paste laws from different countries and apply them to others when the people have vastly different opinions on things.
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The US is a country founded on individualism. It is a central part of our culture. Socialism runs counter to that mindset. Socialism requires the individual to sacrifice some small part of their own desires to ensure everyone can achieve a baseline. Americans don't generally like the idea of sacrificing the individual to the group, and tend to see the most extreme ends of that thinking as likely outcomes.
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Why are Gun Sounds in most action movies unrealistic/not the real sound of the weapon?
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The short answer is movie theater, and especially home theater/tv speakers can not mimic a gun shot, so you basically have to make it sound like something. Most movie theaters average about 85 decibels for a sound track. A 9mm gunshot is about 150 decibels. If you were to muffle a real 150db gunshot down to 85db, it wouldn't even sound like a gun shot. So in Hollywood, they have to basically engineer a sound that is believable.
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I think a key issue that nobody has addressed about your question is that the movies and TV shows want to emphasize when there is a change in the interaction. Poor gun handling and unnecessary gun cocking sounds can help indicate that someone is coming closer to performing a violent act. This helps increase the tension, without being very intrusive. In a realistic interaction involving a gun, the gun only makes two noises after it's been drawn. Immediately upon drawing, there will be a nearly inaudible click as the gun is taken off "safe". The next noise the gun will make is when it's fired. That is assuming an automatic pistol carried with a round in the chamber. In other situations you may have to cock it/load a round, but you would also do that as soon as you draw. So most gun handling and gun noises in cinema are there for story telling purposes, not realism.
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Why is "The Philippines" spelt with a Ph and double P, and "Filipino" spelt with an F and single P?
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[Article explaining why](_URL_0_) TL;DR: The islands were colonized by Spain which named them "Las Islas Filipinas," after King Felipe II. In English, *Filipe* is translated to *Philip*. When the USA took over the control of the islands they anglicized the name to the Philippines. Because English language likes to be purposely confusing the noun *filipino* describing people who come from the islands did not get anglicized to *philipino*. Thus you ended up with filipino's living in the Philippines. Then the USA left and the people living on those islands want to reclaim their native language(s) thus they changed the words to describe themselves yet again, and now we also refer to these people as *pilipinos* living in the *Pilippines*.
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I'm not sure I understand the question. Just because American and Filipino currencies had equal numeric value doesn't mean that they had equal global purchasing power and doesn't really reflect the relative power of the Philippines in Asia. Could you elaborate more on why you feel the Philippines would be considered among the most powerful nations in Asia?
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Is storing energy mechanically (like winding a watch) less efficient or expensive than batteries?
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Springs can be very reliable and efficient over a small travel range when unimpeded. However, they're not very dense – particularly if you're trying to use them over their more-efficient range or in an open, unimpeded arrangement. Watch springs are fine if you're only trying to store a couple joules. You only need one spring and lightness is more important than raw density. Chemical (battery) and thermal (molten salt) storage are likely to be far simpler when you're dealing with a scale of multiple mega or giga joules of energy storage which would be typical of medium to large solar energy storage systems. There are specific kinds of spring arrays that have been proposed for dense energy storage: _URL_0_ but as with everything involving carbon nanotubes, it's mostly speculation/pipedream at this point in time.
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An engine is only at its peak efficiency in a very narrow band of RPMs. Cars and trucks have to use transmissions to try and keep their engine running as close to peak efficiency as possible, but it still results in a fairly inefficient system because balances must be made between peak power and peak fuel efficiency. When an engine is used to power batteries an electric motor runs off of, it can be run at its peak efficiency the vast majority of the time rather than constantly changing RPMs, resulting in far greater fuel efficiency. Edit: This is a very simplistic response based off of a similar question and response I had run across before.
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How do cough suppressants work?
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Dextromethorphan is probably the most commonly available cough suppressant in the US. There is a part of your brain that makes you feel the sensation that you need to cough; dextromethorphan is thought to interact with this part of the brain to suppress the sensation.
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Most of them don't so much as STOP you from coughing as they use ingredients like sugar and menthol to coat your dry irritated throat and/or help break up and wash down the phlegm and mucus that can stick to its sides. It's helping with the reasons your body wants to cough more than outright stopping it. There's also "cough syrups" that do the same thing plus add something called an "antitussive" ingredient in them that is an active drug that tells your brain "hey stop coughing" for a while. Although most cough drops are essentially candy with some comforting stuff added, there are some medicine-containing lozenge exceptions (look for DM after the name, as that means an antitussive DextroMethorphan, which kind of sounds like something Walter White would cook up in a trailer somewhere).
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How do cough suppressants work?
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There are a few types of cough suppressants and they all address different reasons for coughing. The most common antitussives just seek to sooth irritation like menthol or cherry lozenges. Others try to get rid of the reason you’re coughing in the first place like expectorants or decongestants. Finally there are cough suppressants that work by numbing the cough reflex or the nerve endings in the throat and lungs themselves, essentially muddying the signal nerves send to the brain raising the threshold for what causes a cough. Cough medicines that end in DM fall into the last type, Dextromethorphan being the ingredient that does it. Edit: a few missed words.
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Most of them don't so much as STOP you from coughing as they use ingredients like sugar and menthol to coat your dry irritated throat and/or help break up and wash down the phlegm and mucus that can stick to its sides. It's helping with the reasons your body wants to cough more than outright stopping it. There's also "cough syrups" that do the same thing plus add something called an "antitussive" ingredient in them that is an active drug that tells your brain "hey stop coughing" for a while. Although most cough drops are essentially candy with some comforting stuff added, there are some medicine-containing lozenge exceptions (look for DM after the name, as that means an antitussive DextroMethorphan, which kind of sounds like something Walter White would cook up in a trailer somewhere).
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Why has acid rain become a thing of the past when we still have pollution problems globally that would contribute to its formation (i.e. smog)?
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It is mainly caused by Sulfur Dioxide in the atmosphere. The Clean Air Act passed in the 70s severely cut back on the amount released with new regulations about air scrubbers in power plants/cars. The main cause of sulfur dioxide is also Coal used in power production. Nowadays Natural Gas is Cheaper, Easier to transport, much more efficient (the waste heat can be used to spin secondary turbines granting even more power) and much cleaner than coal for power generation so it is the fuel of choice. [Also catalytic converters became required on cars past 1975](_URL_1_) which helped remove a large amount of sulfur dioxide from exhaust. Acid rain still affects many country's with lax regulations such as China however it doesn't get talked about much because honestly "out of sight out of mind". [Even better news is that soil damage in the US from acod rain has finally bottomed out and nature has began the slow process of cleaning up all the damaged soil in the Northeast.](_URL_0_)
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Mainly because Sulphur dioxide is a huge air pollutant. It is *the* major component from which acid rain is formed. Add sulphur dioxide to water, skip a few steps, and you get sulphuric acid. Nasty stuff. We really don't want any of that in our atmosphere. What we're currently pumping out is already too much.
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Why supermassive black holes have low density?
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Here the density is defined as the mass of the black hole divided by the volume contained within the Schwarzschild radius. The radius increases in proportion with the mass, so the volume increases as the cube of the mass, so the density goes as mass over mass cubed, which is the negative-two power of mass. However, it's not clear whether this average density is a meaningful physical concept. White dwarves are even weirder: the heavier they get, the smaller their radius gets.
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The singularity of a black hole has infinite density and zero volume. Aside from that, neutron stars can have densities up to 5.9 x 10^17 kg/m^3. A matchbox full of that stuff would contain three billion tons of mass, or a cube of rock 800 meters each side. Any denser than that and it collapses into a black hole.
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How can we know where a signal from outer space is coming from?
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Galaxies are far apart. If you look at a random spot in the sky there is a good chance there is no galaxy in that direction. If you look at a random spot where something happened there is a good chance to have only one galaxy there. [Here is Hubble's Ultra Deep Field](_URL_0_) - see how few galaxies overlap. If you see spectral lines in the signal (needs a detection in some other wavelength range, not just radio waves) you can also measure the redshift and therefore the distance of the signal.
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I’m not a scientist, so I can’t explain like you’re 5. However, it’s a combination of a few things. Space is empty, so there’s nothing to interfere with the signal, unless a satellite momentarily dips behind a planet. Basically there’s a network of satellites around Mars that pick up a signal from the ground on Mars, then relay back to a network of massive satellite dishes on earth that are tuned to only hear those signals. It’s all a part of the [Deep Space Network](_URL_0_) and unfortunately we can’t fit those in our phones or tunnels.
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How do rotary aero engines work?
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[They work like this!](_URL_0_) The engine rotates around a fixed shaft, and the propeller is simply bolted to the front of the engine.
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Actually, none of the things you've suggested. They work by having large bits of the engine, called "buckets", move into place behind the engine to deflect the exhaust gas so that the gas ends up going forwards. You can see an image of a couple of engines with the reverser buckets deployed [here](_URL_0_).
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What determines how deep a person's voice is going to be?
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The short answer is that the size of your vocal cords/folds does. Bigger vocal cords generally resonate at lower frequencies than smaller ones do. Although vocal cords aren't really cords, you can imagine them in terms of guitar strings: the big ones resonate lower pitches than the thin ones do. So, a child's voice is generally higher than that of an adult, female voices are generally higher than those of males. Of course other factors (eg., genetics, allergies) can affect vocal pitch. E.g., when a person has a cold, their vocal cords can swell from infection or irritation from coughing, and give the person a hoarse and/or deeper voice.
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What I would like to ask towards this question, is the voice we are talking about usually the voice of the person, or someone else? As far as I can tell, the voice I listen to isn't from anyone in particular I know, but isn't my own either.
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Why do most people break out on their faces more than any other part of the body?
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People have a higher density of oil glands on their faces. Therefore, more opportunity for clogs. Regular touching and hair resting against the face makes it even worse.
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Acne can also be caused by diet, and sometimes washing too frequently can irritate your skin and make breakouts worse.
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Serbia - was the outbreak of WW1 in any way their fault?
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A group of Serbian officers, the Black Hand, did provide limited weapons and training to Mladna Bosna, but it seems the plot to kill the Archduke was very much the latter group's initiative. We know that the Serbian Prime Minister, Nikola Pasic, was aware of these cross-border operations and was seeking to put a stop to them, and that some sort of vague warning was given to the Austrian government prior to the assassination. Therefore, No, I would say that Serbian responsibility for the outbreak of WWI was at most quite limited. *July Crisis* by Thomas G. Otte *The Trigger* by Tim Butcher
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Not to stifle discussion but this thread ["If Serbia started the ball rolling on the events that triggered WW1, why is Germany always portrayed as the prime evil in the war?"](_URL_0_) should give you a sufficient answer.
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How do college campuses support fast wifi speeds across a huge area and among so many people?
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Massive numbers of access point relays, routers, and switches. A given access point can handle 5-10 people at decent speeds and it is hardline wired to a router or switch that can handle 10-30 access points. These are then connected to the main servers of the campus which in turn connect the campus internet main line hub.
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This could be a very long reply basically involving a course in wifi engineering, however, in simple terms it looks like this. 1. They use multiple commercial grade access points which are all controlled by a central controller device. This keeps track of connected devices and ensures the device connects to the ap with the best signal as it roams. 2. AP placement is carefully calculated to provide consistent coverage as well as load balance number of devices per AP. 3. Radio channel space is carefully planned to prevent interference (CCI) 4. AP are all connected to central controller by a fast (at least GB) wired netowrk. 5. The entire netowrk is connected via 1 or more fast broadband/ethernet internet circuits There is a lot more to it, but that is the basics.
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How watching porn ends in me having viruses and spam emails, and how to prevent it.
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Where on earth are you getting your porn from? _URL_0_
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Niche market. The porn available for free is only the tip of the iceberg, the money they make is from website subscription and dvd sale. You can fap for free watching the same ole clips available or rent and subscribe to get the porn that turns you on.
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Were "Heavy" weapons named as such because they weighed a lot, or because they were used to take out heavy targets?
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I answered your question a little while ago: [Does the notion of 'heavy' infantry and cavalry actually exist in ancient texts?](_URL_0_) The name refers to the weight of the equipment. The classification is at least as old as the 5th century BC, although the first to be named by a weight adjective was the light infantry, not the heavy. There is another relevant reply from /u/dandan_noodles in that thread, to fill you in on the Napoleonic period when these designations are very widely used.
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The 1868 Declaration Renouncing the Use, in Time of War, of Explosive Projectiles Under 400 Grammes Weight (also known as the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868) was really the first modern international treaty limiting a weapon for its gruesomeness. The weapon banned were rifle bullets that exploded upon impact. The rationale was a big milestone in international law: when a soldier is hit by a bullet, he is no longer a combatant. Since the normal bullet by itself achieved its purpose, an exploding bullet causes **unnecessary harm**. This same language was used in later treaties. It was initiated by the Russian Tsar Alexander II. His army had invented such a bullet, but knew that its secrecy wouldn't last long. So, he invited most of the European powers to St. Petersburg for the conference and they signed the treaty. No one has since used such bullets.
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Why can't we create a machine that converts CO2 into O2?
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When you make O2 from CO2, the C is still left over. There are systems which do this. Plants are an example, which take co2 and water (h2o) and give off O2. There are various other ways (usually complicated and not very efficient) for separating CO2 into C and O2. The problem is that you need to put in energy, like a lot. CO2 is mainly produced as a byproduct of producing energy. So you would need "clean" energy to operate a machine for reducing by-products of energy production and that is the whole problem. It is not that it is not possible to separate C and O2, it's that it's not possible to do it easily in an energy efficient way with a clean energy source.
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Actually there is a process how to do that. The best way to do that in an very economic way is to plant trees. Trees can remove CO2 from the atmosphere and at the same time provide a steady supply of O2. There are a couple of countries that don't really believe in trees so they are looking for other ways to get this done. The USA is one of these countries. Why looking for a technical way when there is already a great natural way to do it better for less money and without any needed human interaction?
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Do all moons look like ours?
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There are moons a lot bigger than ours, and moons so small they're just big boulders. There are moons made of rocks, and moons made of ice. There are moons exposed to the vacuum of space, and moons with a thick atmosphere, clouds, and rain. (Well, one anyway.) There are moons that are almost perfectly smooth, and moons with cliffs 20 kilometers high. There are moons covered with huge active volcanoes, and moons that have been inert for billions of years. There are moons with liquid water ocean inside, and moons that are solid to the core. There are white moons and black ones, yellow, orange, and grey....
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Gravity pulls inwards. That means large enough objects deform to the point where everything is as close to the center as possible. That shape is a sphere. There are, however, many moons that aren't big enough for this to occur. For example, [Deimos](_URL_0_)
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When companies have massive payouts like Wells Fargo, where does the money come from? Do they have rainy day funds?
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Most larger companies know that at some point they will be sued. So what they do is they put a certain amount of money away every year in case something like this happens. Sometimes things get way out of control and they don't have enough cash for it, thats when they get in trouble.
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They use your money. They lend your money to others, the others pay them interest, and they keep 100% of that profit minus the 50 bucks.
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Prices of shares go up and down each hour. So why don't people just buy, and sell when the price gets higher and keep doing this until they are rich?
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They do! But it's not quite that simple. You can't buy and sell at the same price. At a particular moment in time, if the quoted price for a share is, say, $20, you may find that you can buy at $21 and sell at $19. This is how your broker makes his money. So if you sold when the price had gone up by only $1, you'd lose money. And the more times you buy and sell, the more money you're giving to your broker, so you're better off holding onto your shares for a bit longer if possible.
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Publicly traded companies have stocks for sale on the market. Some are "voting" shares that give you a say in company decisions. Usually an investor can only afford a meager number of shares and the proportional 1 millionth of a vote that comes with it, but a huge company or investment firm can sometimes just buy all the voting shares and effectively control the company. It can only happen if the company has issued voting shares and 51% of those shares are available for purchase. The price is whatever it cost to buy all the shares at market rate. Once it becomes apparent that someone is trying to buy all the shares, the remaining shareholders tend to raise the price. These days a lot of companies have contingency plans to massively dilute their shares and render them worthless if they detect a hostile takeover bid, but back in the 70's and 80's this kind of unapproved and unblockable buyout was fairly common practice.
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Why do department stores like Sears place their cosmetics stores near the 1st floor entrance?
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Typically in a mall, the ground floor has the highest foot traffic. The higher floors get increasingly less foot traffic. For example if you look at the store directory for Macy's in NYC. _URL_0_ You'll notice the premium high margin products are on the first floor. Men's wear is near that, because men want to get in and out as quickly as possible. Next is women's and children's clothing, because female shoppers don't mind going to where they need to go, and if they pass men's, maybe they'll pick something up for a guy they know. Housewares and furniture tend to be higher up, because you don't impulse shop for that, it's a destination you're going to no matter where it is.
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it's also to clear out the unpopular/unsold items. you'll notice that items in outlet stores are never the same ones as department stores.
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why is nationalism/patriotism seen as a good thing in the USA, but is seen as a bad thing in Europe?
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The U.S. has yet to experience for itself consequences of nationalism gone too far. Europe has had two devastating wars as a result of nationalism (gross oversimplification, but nationalism was definitely a major contributing factor). In contrast, the World Wars didn't damage the American homeland.
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Much of that patriotism comes from the idea of [American exceptionalism](_URL_0_) where the United States is somehow unique or better than other nations. Conservatives tend to want to return to older value systems (or retain current ones) so it fits that they would claim that those value systems are somehow "better" than others and should thus stay in place. If you develop a narrative that America is the "best" country then it naturally follows that you would not want to change anything about it, fearing that you would no longer be "best" because you abandoned the ideas or principles that made us so.
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If memory is so cheap, why is memory used as a factor differentiating models of electronic gadgets at different price points? Doesn't it seem like $5 worth of memory ends up being used to justify $50 worth of added price?
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Well for the most part you answered your own question. If you are selling a product, and by adding $5 per unit to your manufacturing costs you can get an additional $50 per unit in revenue, you would be stupid not to make that move. The other factor is the physical challenge and logistics. More memory takes up more space, consumes more electricity, and generates more heat. This means that adding $5 of memory might require $10,000 in engineering costs.
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Ram is used by your processor for the storing of programs currently in use. Thus ram needs to be super fast, and storage space doesn't need that kind of speed. Your hard drive is made of small disks that have the data written on them, and ram is a circuit board. Another reason for it to be more expensive.
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Why cant we artifically metabolize food to use as a renewable energy resource?
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We can. That's basically what bio-diesel/corn-based ethanol fuel is. The problem is that food provides enough energy to power a human body handily, but when you want to start powering machines with it, you need a *lot*, more than there's really room to grow if you wanted to power a whole civilization. The other problem is that all the energy that goes into growing the food and processing it into fuel vs the amount of energy produced by the fuel results in a net loss.
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We can to some extent but a lot of the things in food like proteins, vitamins, amino acids etc. are quite complex and instead of trying to make, purify and mix hundreds of complex chemicals it's easier and cheaper by far to just let plants and animals grow them for us.
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Is it possible to create a sound-absorbing 'device' for an open window to muffle a linear source of noise?
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If air can pass through the window, then so will sound, without needing reflection. The fundamental aspect you're missing is [diffraction](_URL_1_). However, it would certainly reduce sound amplitude, the question is only by how much. And just about anything would be better than egg cartons (boards of wood, foam, etc)
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You couldn't do this passively as far as I know, for if you're blocking loud sounds with some passive filter, inadvertently the less loud sounds will be blocked at the same time. A damping material will dampen by a certain amount regardless of what the initial volume is. Actively, you might have *some* success by detecting sound-waves above a certain volume, and producing it's anti-wave to cancel it out. This would only work quite locally though. Otherwise, if you want to be particularly fancy, you could maybe develop a pair of headphones that perfectly dampens all sound, and has microphones on the outside. It could record the sound and have it be processed in real-time by a chip that extracts sounds above a certain level, and then plays whatever remains in your headphones.
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Why do some people not get fat when they eat a lot while other people eating the same amount get fat immidiatey?
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Different rates of metabolism, different ages, different body chemsitry. Also, skinny people tend to overestimate how much they eat and bigger people tend to underestimate how much they eat.
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In restaurants they don't care about calories. They want their food to taste good, so more people come. That's why they use more fat (and sugar) as you would at home.
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When did tobacco and alcohol begin to be restricted from minors?
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Don't quote me on this, but I believe that during the administration of Ronald Reagan, the federal government of the US made it the policy that, if the states did not adopt 21 as the age for alcohol, then the states would lose some important federal funding (I believe for their freeways) I have no idea when exactly such products began to be restricted to minors, but I believe that it goes all the way back to ye olde times in the US. While it was not uncommon for children to be given a small amount of alcohol or "near beer," it was seen as a rite of passage for a young man to go to the tavern with his father.
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When did they change the drinking age to 18?
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Why is it recommended that you start drinking beverages with the lower alcohol content and then steadily raise it (beer - wine - whiskey), and why is it bad to do the opposite?
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Hmm, this is the opposite of what I've always been told. Beer before liquor, never been sicker. Liquor before beer, you're in the clear. IMO you should start with higher alcohol beverages because alcohol takes a while for you to gauge how drunk you are, so if you're taking shots late in the night you might end up way drunker than expected.
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Well, in Sweden in the 17th century they recomended beer when someone drank to much booze. And considering that everybody started their day with a steady shot of vodka (followed by many more during the day), I can only imagine that you had to been really down and out to reach the point when you where considered an alcoholic.
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How did medieval scouts estimate the size of enemy armies?
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Many scouts would simply attempt to "eyeball" the number of enemy soldiers if there was no other reliable means for determining their number, often with drastically incorrect results. Other than that, it was common for enemies to attempt to estimate the strength of a foe by counting the banners of his army, especially when faced with a disciplined force. If, for example, you had some knowledge of Roman formations, you might know that each century had either 100 or 80 men, depending on the year. From that you could try to pick out individual centuries and estimate the number of soldiers. It was exactly this type of scouting which led the Byzantines to drastically vary the number of men in each of their formations, so as to confound attempts to use organizational banners to estimate their strength. I'm not sure what other methods were used to estimate the strength of less organized forces, other than observing their camps.
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I would recommend you to look at [this answer](_URL_1_) and [this answer](_URL_0_) that I've given previously. Generally the commanders of armies didn't stumble across the enemy but looked for them with cavalry scouts and intelligence.
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Why Edward Snowden is hated by pretty much all Americans?
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He's not. Hell most people probably think he did the right thing. Nobody is calling for his head in the US, or at least not many are. But what he did was the *literal* definition of treason. So he can't come back... because the rules exist for a reason and he knew the price going in.
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In simplest terms imo, Snowden stole all the info and data himself to inform the public. Assange receives stolen/leaked data and info from other people who have forwarded it him to so he can publish it to inform the public.
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Is there an anti-Higgs?
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The standard model Higgs is its own anti-particle, because the quadratic term that appears in the Lagrangian is ~ H ∂ ∂ H We generically say the thing on the left is the anti-particle of the thing on the right; for the Higgs field they're both the same (as they are for e.g. the photon).
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> If the Higgs boson imparts mass to other particles, and every particle has an anti-particle, then is there an anti-Higgs that could impart negative mass? The Higgs Boson is its own anti-particle, much like the photon. > I understand wormholes as a spacetime abnormality, so why do we need some special type of matter for a wormhole to exist? Calling a wormhole a "spacetime abnormality" is a bit of an over-simplification. It's a sort of abnormality that we have no evidence for existing and no known way of producing, so we have to "add" hypothetical physics to make things work. As for things like negative mass, [here](_URL_0_) is a great response on it.
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The Monty Hall Problem?
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Here's a way of thinking about it. When you first choose a door, there is a 1 in 3 chance of picking the door with a prize behind it. *You are more likely to have picked a door with no prize.* You would, theoretically, expect to pick a door with no prize 2 out of 3 times. Then, a **door with no prize** is eliminated. But, since you've *probably* picked the **other** door with no prize (and they can't have eliminated your door) - the ***most likely*** scenario is that you've picked a door with no prize, a second door with no prize has been eliminated, and the **door you can switch to has the prize**.
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Simple. When you first pick a door, you have a 1/3 chance of picking the good door, and a 2/3 chance of picking a bad door. Therefore, for the best chance of being right, you should assume you picked a bad door at the beginning. Then, the host eliminates one door (assuming you picked a bad door, he ALWAYS eliminates the OTHER bad door) leaving you with two doors. Again, you should bet on the chance that you picked the bad door first. Therefore, you should switch.
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How have HeLa cells impacted cancer research?
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I'm assuming you've already read the book, but for anyone else who's popping into this thread and wondering what HeLa cells are, I highly recommend [The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks](_URL_0_) as an intro/primer on this subject. It's written so that the average person can understand it, but never feels "dumbed down." Considering that they "stole" her cells without permission (or even telling her after the fact), it's also an interesting exposé on the lack of ethics and treatment of minorities in the medical community at the time. Hopefully this thread takes off because I'm also curious as to any recent discoveries that have come about thanks to her "donation." edit: I accidentally a word.
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It's fairly well established that some viruses are not only risk factors for but can directly cause cancer. For example, HPV types 16 and 18 contain a E6 oncoprotein that binds to the tumor suppressor protein p53 and increases its rate of degradation. They also contain a E7 protein that affects another transcription factor related to the retinoblastoma gene. Both of these changes result in uncontrolled cell replication, leading to cancer. This is why HPV testing has become an increasingly important part of routine cervical cancer screening. Other well studied viruses that cause cancer include Epstein-Barr virus (Burkitt's lymphoma), human T-cell lymphotrophic virus (adult T-cell lymphoma), and HHV-8 (Kaposi's sarcoma). Hep B and C are also associated with hepatocellular carcinoma though I'm not sure how much of that is related to the underlying inflammation/cirrhosis as opposed to direct oncogene activity.
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Why is the human brain susceptible to suicide? If survival is the main goal, why would our brains allow themselves to consider self-termination?
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Well, I suppose partly because it is harder to sustain natural patterns (striving for survival) in an unnatural environment. Indigenous people who have been "civilized" or made part of modern society have some of the highest suicide rates. For them, the contast between their earlier life and modern life is the starkest and hardest to deal with. Evolutionary speaking, human beings never were meant to or prepared for being so isolated and alone as they are in modern society and that sense of isolation is even harsher when you are being discriminated for being of a certain race, transgender o for whatever reason. Evolutionary speaking, a human being simply isn't very well equipped to deal with such situations, because a strong (sense of) community has always been crucial for human survival. So it's really not too surprising that when these natural patterns of community and belonging break down, so do some human beings.
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When some people are depressed and suicidal, they are completely unwilling to do anything. They want to kill themselves, but can't muster up the energy to do so. After taking the meds, they start to come out of the slump. However, they might still have the desire to die; taking drugs won't bring back your wife or return all the money you lost. So, with this new found energy, they might actually take the initiative and go through with suicide. Also, I am assuming that different people just simply have different reaction to drugs.
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How is water/waste recycle in a space station environment?
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Urine can be filtered and purified to be drinkable again. Solid waste on the ISS at least is usually stored in waste tanks and later studied when it's returned to earth with the astronauts.
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It all goes out of the house in the same pipe. Then it goes to a water treatment facility that filter, cleans, and treats the water and sends it either into the water table or back into the water supply for the city (I'm honestly unsure if it gets recycled directly back to the city or not)
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Do fish need to drink? If so, how?
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Freshwater fish absorb water through osmosis. It's the movement of a solution through something semi-porous, like skin, until the solution is equal and balanced on both sides. They do swallow water when they eat, but they don't "need" to drink. Saltwater fish also go through osmosis, but the concentration of salt in the water they are in is greater than the concentration of salt in their bodies. The water in their bodies is constantly drawn out in an effort to balance the two. They constantly swallow water to replace it.
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Because their cells have adapted to saltwater. If they were in fresh water the water would try to equalize the chemical concentrations of the fish's cells with itself, which would involve flowing into fish cells and bursting them open. The same thing happens to people if we drink too much water.
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how do nuclear powers vehicles work and is that technology able to be implemented into transportation vehicles (planes and cars) for clean energy?
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They have a nuclear reactor in them. The only difference between these reactors and the really big ones that power cities is scale. Now, can they be implemented in planes and cars? The answer is no. Nuclear reactors can only be so small, and are always going to be heavy due to the materials needed for shielding. So that makes them fine for things like aircraft carriers, but not so useful for smaller vehicles, like nearly everything else.
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Ah! I'm useful. There were plans by both the US and the USSR to build nuclear-powered planes but the biggest hurdle was weight. The planes would be too heavy if effective measures were taken to protect the crew from radiation. I'm pretty sure that not a single prototype has actually flown under power from nuclear propulsion, but I know that at least the US actually did develop an effective propulsion system prototype in ground tests. It was basically a nuclear reactor that sent the generated heat via tubing to modified jet engines. The heat from the tubes ignited the compressed air from the intake and spun the turbines, no need to combust jet fuel. It was actually fairly simple and it worked.
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Since blasphemy was a crime punishable by stoning in Biblical times, why wasn't Jesus simply taken out and stoned by the Pharisees?
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In John 8:58 - 8:59 it says "Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am. - Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple." Originally, according to the Gospel of John they did in fact try to stone him for blasphemy but failed as he went into hiding out of the temple. More however, according to several Gospels (specificly Mark) - Jesus was trialed by the Roman Governor due to the fact that the Pharisees were not allowed to execute or commit an execution or such during Passover as it would go against one of their laws which were in place and so they went to the Roman Governor and let him have the formal execution as the Romans were not Jews and saw no problem doing an execution during Passover. Sources: [_URL_1_](_URL_0_)
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It was more of an undoing of the existing practice the Jews had, in which the priests in the Temple would place all the sins of the people on a goat and release it into the desert (from whence we get the idea of a scape goat). In a sense, Jesus was both a sacrificial lamb who bled/died to cover the sins of humanity, as well as a scapegoat who took all of humanity's sin onto himself and was deserted by God during his death.
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Why do the pixels get distorted when you take a picture of a computer screen?
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the pixels in the screen are part of a grid. so are the pixels in the camera's sensor. it's very hard to get the two grids to align perfectly while taking a picure
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You're seeing a [Moiré pattern](_URL_0_) caused by interference between the grids of your photo's pixels and the computer screen's pixels. You can see similar Moiré patterns by looking through two ordinary window screens (the kind you use to keep out bugs) one on top of the other.
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If a heart is stopped (cardiac arrest), how can a shot of adrenaline sometimes work?
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If the heart is stopped, you're not going to start it again. A lot of people think that drugs or a defibrillator will start a stopped heart, it won't happen. Epinephrine will cause a slowed heart to speed up as well as increase your breathing rate. It does this by blocking the pancreas' ability to produce insulin (this increases your blood sugar) and increases the available fat for use as energy around your cells. Together this causes a huge surge of energy. Epinephrine causes smooth muscle to relax, but at the same time contract with more force. So your airway will open, and your heart and arteries will contract with a greater force. All of this basically speeds up the amount of sugar and oxygen that gets to your tissues, reversing the causes of shock. Edit: not sure why I'm getting a few downvotes. I'm a paramedic and kinda know a few things about the question asked.
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A heart attack is a blockage of blood flow to the heart. A cardiac arrest is when the heart stops 'beating.' A heart attack can cause cardiac arrest, but not all cardiac arrests are caused by heart attacks.
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Why do bags of chips only ever come half full?
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Because if they were completely full you'd end up with a bag full of flavoured dust by the time it got to the shelves. The air in the packaging serves to cushion the contents by giving it some "wiggle room".
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It keeps the chips from being crushed in transport.
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What's the most fascinating scientific breakthrough or a new technology that will likely come within the next 30 years?
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I'd say really a cost-effective breakthrough battery technology. The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is going to be a really important step for us as a society and a revolution in battery technology is a major stepping stone. It allows so many other technologies to work more efficiently: solar energy, wind energy, electric vehicles...
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If you consider biomedical engineering to fall under the umbrella of nanotechnology, then it's [already been done](_URL_0_). Researchers managed to grow enough cow muscle tissue to make a hamburger, and then ate it. It's still an expensive way to produce protein, but it has the potential to eliminate the need to raise animals for food.
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In the 476 start date for the Extended Timeline mod for the game Europa Universalis IV, the Western Roman Empire starts off controlling some Mediterranean coast next to the Ostrogoths. How true is this?
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That's a reference to emperor-in-exile Julius Nepos, who had been driven out of Italy in 475 to Dalmatia (the modern Croatian coastline) and spent 475 to his death in 480 asking Zeno and Constantinople to support his claims to the throne, but no one was interested in doing so. Some Nepos partisans even now would claim that we should date the end of the Western Empire to Nepos' death in 480, but 476 is traditional by this point.
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I may be reading it wrong, but it almost seems like you're implying that the Greek empire was the direct predecessor to the Roman, which isn't the case. The breakup of Alexander's empire is called the Hellenistic period, which basically divided the empire into separate kingdoms ruled by his generals. It was after this that the Romans came in and conquered Greece.
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If people who is overweight, but not obese, actually live longer than people whose weight is considered normal, why is that not considered the 'ideal' weight?
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I think you misunderstand the obesity paradox. People who are obese don't live longer, but they have a higher chance of surviving chronic diseases. _URL_1_ _URL_0_
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Talking about someone's overall weight isn't a good way to measure how healthy they are, or how much fat they're storing, because muscle mass, height, and genetics play a component in how much you're going to weigh. Body fat measurements are important to understanding how overweight someone is because someone who has a lot of muscle mass and very low body fat will still have a high BMI reading because BMI doesn't discriminate between fat and muscle, and is just a product of height and weight.
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Are there any books tracing the history of the idea of Utopia? Any comments on the subject?
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Let's not forget [Utopia](_URL_0_) by Sir Thomas More.
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Absolutely not. I'm not a classicist, but I do have an interest in the ancient world. One of my favorite professors when I was an undergrad was a classicist, and his argument for why Athens even became so intellectually inclined and "progressive" was because they had slaves do everything. Athens, by far, had the most amount of slaves of any city-state. I would say it wasn't a "utopia" for that reason alone. Moses Finley in Economy and Society in Ancient Greece puts the number of slaves at about *80,000* in the fifth and sixth centuries BC. That's 4 slaves per household. Couple that with the fact only men born in Athens had any rights, I wouldn't exactly call it a "utopia." That is, unless, your definition of utopian democracy grants no rights to women and children and is built on the backs of slaves.
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Books about Central Asia and the Silk Road
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Creating a Central Asia book list (and improving the Russian one) are definitely to-do projects on my mind.... Anyway, the two books that come to mind for the period you're focusing on are Christopher Beckwith's *Empires of the Silk Road* and Svat Soucek's *History of Inner Asia*. The former covers a very broad swathe of history (bronze age to modern era), but does devote some chapter space to the period and topic in question. Soucek's work mostly covers this period in its first chapter before continuing on to the arrival of Islam and the succeeding periods of history. It's a bit questionable whether the 4th - 8th centuries are actually the "height" of the Silk Road - the trading networks had a few waxings and wanings, and the period in question is between the fall of the Kushan Empire and the Han and the Arab Invasions, so most of the history of that period would focus on the Kök Turk Khanate, with the Tang Dynasty establishing itself in the 7th century.
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While I don't know much about the Asian Silk Road economies, you can see a massive impact at the European end. The preeminence of Italy, and, in particular, its trading powerhouses, like Venice and Genoa, were based off the Silk Road. This helped place the Mediterranean at the centre of the European world. The Columbian exchange saw a massive shift in this as the economic centre of Europe moved away from the Mediterranean and the Silk Road trade to the Atlantic littoral, first to Portugal and Spain and then to Britain and the United Provinces. John Darwin's *After Tamerlane: The Rise & Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000* (London, 2007) is a very good book to look at these processes in a global, and non-Eurocentric perspective. I haven't read it yet but I think Maria Fusaro's *Political Economies of Empire in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Decline of Venice and the Rise of England, 1450-1700* (Cambridge, 2015) would provide some interesting perspectives on this as well.
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When did Mediterranean armies switch from the extremely brutal, ancient Roman tactic of enslaving half and killing half of the people they conquered, to later only killing the actual soldiers and lords who were fighting them, leaving peasants and merchants to live as they did before?
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I understand what you're asking but believe this might be an argument of semantics at some point. Major civilian killing during the medieval era stopped after the 30 years war with the ending of the brutality of the mercenary armies of Europe. However, of the 80 million killed in WW2, the most recent massive European conflict. 50 to 55 million killed were civilians, about half from famine and disease. While this period was well after the Roman period, we see mass killings throughout all ages.
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A lot of slaves were used as galley slaves in Italian Renaissance city-states. Since the Mediterranean is small and does not have consistent strong currents or trade winds, the ships used were galleys or boats driven by many oarsmen. This was back breaking work and slaves did not have a very long life expectancy. These galley slaves were critical for navies fighting against other city states and against pirates for control of trade routes in the Mediterranean. These slaves also powered the merchant ships of the Mediterranean. I don't have any access to my sources because I am away from my university but I could get them if you want them when I get back.
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How are colors determined when coloring pictures taken with an Electron Microscope?
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It's entirely up to the user. Quite often, in biologic samples anyway, we already know the true colour of the sample we're looking at. So most of the time it's based off that. If the colour is unknown, people tend to stick to high contrasting colours which look friendly to the eye. Have a google of electronmicrographs of red blood cells for a good set of examples.
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Electron microscopes are effective because the wavelengths of the electrons in the microscope are several thousand times shorter than the wavelengths of visible light. This allows a beam of electrons to resolve much more small detail. To something very small, visible light basically covers a large amount of the surface, like a very wide paint brush over a rough wall. Sure you get paint on it, but it does not fit into the little nooks and crannies. With an electron beam, it's more like a very,very thin brush that can be passed over the wall...reaching into all the little cracks.
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Is it possible for there to be a reversed Placebo effect? Can your body ignore medicines if you truly believe it won't help?
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A related topic to the placebo effect is the [nocebo effect](_URL_0_), where negative effects are experienced in response to an inert drug. It's certainly related to - but not the same as - your case where pessimism is causing adverse effects.
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Placebo effect is someone believing they are getting better even when they've been given a fake medicine...they get better simply because they think they're taking medicine. Confirmation bias is believing only those things that line up with a preconceived notion that you have, and ignoring evidence that contradicts what you believe.
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Why do we enforce a licence for driving (because the act requires training and responsibility) but not for similar things, like parenting or voting?
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We should have very exclusive restrictions on parenting, the problem is becoming a parent just requires inserting tab "A" into slot "B" so unfortunately people who are too dumb and irresponsible to be parents are more then capable of doing it and the only way to stop them would be to make majorly repressive societies – i.e. the solution would be worse then the problem it is trying to solve. This is similar to voting. Sure giving everyone a vote allows lying demagogues and megalomaniacs to rise to power, but history shows that every time you make means testing voting, the worst possible people gain control of the institutions that determine the means and lock in the evil psychopaths they worship – so again the solution is worse then the problem. Meanwhile means testing to keep reckless idiots from driving is a solution that is much better then its problem.
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The Federal government only has authority over those things specifically granted it in the constitution. Everything else is up to the States to write laws to govern. Laws for driving vehicles is not under one of the things granted the Federal Government and cannot legitimately be argued to be covered by the things that are grated them. This means it is a State matter. > If you move states and you have a drivers license already, you don't have to take a test again. All the laws are the same. So what's the point in not making it a universal license? This is not true. Some States do require you to take the test again when you move from another State, and not every State has the same laws. For example, some States allow you to turn right on red at stoplights.
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What do those yellow camera looking tripods that land surveyors use do?
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They are called total stations. They are calibrated to measure horizontal angle deflection from a base line, vertical angle deflection from the vertical, and the slope distance to a prism target. They do all this very, very precisely. By establishing a frame of reference, surveyors are able to plot the points that are located with the total station and produce a finished survey. Or you can establish points in drafting software such as AutoCAD, and then use grid data to accurately place those points on the ground within an established frame of reference. _URL_0_ Source: I am a licensed civil engineer and land surveyor.
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They use the field like a big green screen. Anything that isn't the same color as the field doesn't get drawn on.
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How was Jeannette Rankin elected to Congress before Women had the right to vote?
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Women had the right to vote in Montana in 1916. Her brother, Wellington Rankin had a LOT of influence in Montana and helped engineer her nomination and election. Rankin was the only person to vote against declaring war in WW I and WW II.
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Women were getting the right to vote and this was a major issue to them.
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[Astronomy]How would we detect a Dyson Sphere built by intelligent extraterrestrial life?
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A Dyson Sphere would be a big source of infrared radiation. It would be cooler than a star of comparable size.
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> For all we know, it would be so huge that it's black body radiation would be negligible. All the power from the star has to go somewhere. The size of the sphere would determine its surface temperature based on its need to emit all that power to maintain thermal equilibrium. The outer surface of a Dyson sphere would therefore be a source just as bright as its star, just in a different part of the spectrum. To do the math, the power emitted by a sphere is proportional to surface area times is temperature to the fourth power, so we can calculate its temperature: T*_Dyson_*^4 & times; r*_Dyson_*^2 = T*_star_*^4 & times; r*_star_*^(2) T*_Dyson_* = T*_star_* & times; (r*_star_* / r*_Dyson_*)^(1/2) [Plugging in the values for the sun and 1 AU, we get a temperature of 393 K (248 & deg;F)](_URL_0_), which peaks at 7.3 micron wavelengths, in the mid-infrared spectrum. It would be much brighter than a star-sized 393 K object because of its vastly larger surface area: 46,000 times larger in our example.
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What is the earliest known example of a song with lyrics?
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If it's only the lyrics you are after, let's start with the [Hurrian songs](_URL_0_) from about 1400BC. There is incomplete musical notation with them. For comparison, some of the psalms are claimed to date from about 1000BC, but this would be difficult to substantiate. These have no musical notation, but in some cases refer to the names of tunes (e.g. "Do not destroy").
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Many songs were covered in the 50s for racial reasons. There were very often "white" and "black" versions of a song, especially when the original song was recorded by a black artist.
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Why do people see fractals under the influence of psychedelic drugs?
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*Claim. I have taken psychedelics (psilocybin), and can attest to this. It's not so much you see fractals, but rather you see the fractals and geometric patterns that are already in everything more clearly, and it's beautiful. Trees, clouds, water, skin... I have a feeling that we're all secretly computers. EDIT: I just realized I never answered your question: I have no fucking clue why this happens. Try it for yourself, see if you can figure it out. Don't take too much.
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If the dose of any psychedelic is high enough, you lose connection with reality through traditional means. If your brain is visual and creative enough, this is where you can get full blown hallucinations. Personally I've only had them on DMT
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