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why do bugs like to buzz around people's heads, even when being constantly swatted at? | To answer the second half, bugs are generally not intelligent enough to recognize being swatted at is connected to what they are doing. They simply react on impulse to a swat by avoiding it best they can, then go right back to what they are doing.
So it's sort of like "Oh hey this tastes good"...."Something is coming my way I should move"...."Oh hey this tastes good". | [
"Just when Bugs is about to be captured, he distracts the man again by tricking him into thinking there is a \"frankincense\" monster behind him, just like in a good book he just read. When he looks behind, Bugs has leaped into position, making a hideous face. The frightened man leaps off the building with a scream. Bugs tut-tuts, then pulls out a mirror, makes the same face to himself, turns to the audience in horror, and then \"he\" leaps off the building with a scream.\n",
"Bugs, feeling as though he's safe, stops to catch his breath, not knowing Smidgen is right behind him. Before he knows it, Bugs is licked by the dog's enormous tongue, which lifts him off the ground each time. Bugs tries to run away, but stops at the sight of something. He calls Smidgen's attention to a giant redwood tree; and the dog runs off towards it.\n",
"Encountering a bee swarm for the first time can be alarming. Bees tend to swarm near their hives or honeycombs, so if a swarm is visible then a nest is nearby. Swarms are usually not aggressive unless provoked, so it is important to keep a good distance from swarms in order to avoid provoking them.\n",
"The Bugs come in several varieties. There are the drone-like Army Ants who have only basic intelligence, the more intelligent Assassin Bugs who can replicate human speech, though imperfectly, and the flying Lightning Bugs, amongst others. All of them are able to turn themselves into energy or rapidly call up reinforcements. In addition to these, there are \"brain bugs\", a variety that can invade human minds and turn them into zombie-like servants of the Bugs.\n",
"Bugs and the monster pass by a mirror. The creature steps back to look into the mirror, whereupon his reflection comes to life, screams in horror and runs away toward the door. Albeit confused, he turns to the audience, shrugs, then takes off after Bugs. Bugs rushes up a staircase, but suddenly comes rushing back down, running into the monster and knocking him down. Bugs says not to go 'up there' because it's dark (similar to a gag from \"The Wabbit Who Came to Supper\"). Bugs disguises himself as a lamp, then, after the monster 'turns on' the bulbs in Bugs' ears, the rabbit dances away to the tune of \"Shuffle Off To Buffalo\". From one end of a hallway, Bugs taunts the monster by calling him \"Frankenstein!\". The two keep running until a trapdoor on the floor opens, forcing Bugs to halt. While Bugs is tiptoeing backwards and praying, he bumps into the creature. He comes up with the idea to give him a manicure. He produces a table and a chair and starts working on the nails while he talks and acts like a female manicurist (\"Oh, for shame! Just look at those fingernails! My, I'll bet you monsters lead in-teresting lives. I said to my girl friend just the other day, 'Gee, I'll bet monsters are in-teresting.' I said. The places you must go and the things you must see -- my stars! I bet you meet lots of in-teresting people too. I'm always in-terested in meeting in-teresting people. Now let's dip our patties in the water!\") He puts the monster's fingers into a bowl of water, but it contains two mousetraps, which snap and catch his fingers, causing him to yelp in pain and shed some tears.\n",
"The bugs emerge at night, when the inhabitants are sleeping. Because they tend to feed on people's faces, triatomine bugs are also known as \"kissing bugs\". After they bite and ingest blood, they defecate on the person. Triatomines pass \"T. cruzi\" parasites (called trypomastigotes) in feces left near the site of the bite wound.\n",
"Ordinary (non-phobic) fear of bees in adults is generally associated with lack of knowledge. The general public is not aware that bees attack in defense of their hive, or when accidentally squashed, and an occasional bee in a field presents no danger. Moreover, the majority of insect stings in the United States are attributed to yellowjacket wasps, which are often mistaken for a honeybee.\n"
] |
if there's a no knock raid on your house by police and you kill the raiders would you be innocent in court? | I wish I had a straight answer, but it really depends on what state he lives in. If the state has strong gun laws he is more likely to be exonerated on the charges brought up. If he is in a state with strict gun laws it will likely end in murder charges. There haven't been a lot of cases that I know of, but there was a case in TX where the man was being raided with a no knock over pot. The man shot at them thinking he was being robbed. He killed one sheriff deputy. They charged him with murder, but even in TX, the jury refused to indict him for murder. Silly price to pay for some pot.
_URL_0_ | [
"Multiple claims echoed in the gun press: that a proper investigation would have shown that Ballew was not a dangerous person, that such evidence as was presented against Ballew did not rise to the level of probable cause to justify a raid, that the proper way to execute a knock-service warrant specifying a day-time search of a home is to go in daylight to the front door, knock, and present the warrant to the subject, that breaking down the backdoor with a battering ram at 8:30 p.m. was not day-time knock-service, that when un-uniformed people break down one's door at night the natural reaction is to defend oneself, and that this incident demonstrated that the ATFD zeal in enforcing gun control had gone too far.\n",
"No-knock warrants are controversial for various reasons. There have been cases where burglars have robbed homes by pretending to be officers with a no-knock warrant. There have been many cases where armed homeowners, believing that they are being invaded, have shot at officers, resulting in deaths on both sides. While it is legal to shoot a homeowner's dog when an officer fears for his/her life, there have been numerous high-profile cases in which family pets lacking the size, strength, or demeanor to attack officers have been shot, greatly increasing the risk of additional casualties in neighboring houses via overpenetrating bullets.\n",
"BULLET::::- Two former Los Angeles Police Department officers, along with 13 others, have plead guilty to running a robbery ring, which used fake no-knock raids as a ruse to catch victims off guard. The defendants would then steal cash and drugs to sell on the street.\n",
"The Court reasoned that searches \"incident to arrest\" are limited to the area within the immediate control of the suspect. While police could reasonably search and seize evidence on or around the arrestee's person, police were prohibited from rummaging through the entire house without a search warrant. The Court emphasized the importance of warrants and probable cause as necessary bulwarks against government abuse:\n",
"BULLET::::- On 2 June 2006, two family homes were raided in an operation involving 250 police in east London. One man, Abdul Kahar, was shot in the shoulder by police during the raid, but was later released without charge. The raid was based on faulty intelligence.\n",
"On July 8, 2008, two high-ranking members of the Edmonton Police were found guilty of assaulting a homeowner and entering his home without a search warrant. Staff Sgt. Jamie Ewatski and Patrol Sgt. Giovanni Fiorilli were convicted of the assault, while a third officer was found not guilty. The judge deemed the officers had assaulted Dubois at least three different times during the ordeal. This conviction, however, was overturned by a higher court on appeal. The higher level appeal court judge found that the lower level judge had made a \"palpable and overriding error\".\n",
"Robbery occurs if an aggressor forcibly snatched a mobile phone or if they used a knife to make an implied threat of violence to the holder and then took the phone. The person being threatened does not need to be the owner of the property. It is not necessary that the victim was actually frightened, but the defendant must have put or sought to put the victim or some other person in fear of immediate force.\n"
] |
when computers crash why do you sometimes still hear the sound playing? this happens especially during in game crashes. | The sound card in your computer has a buffer that contains the sounds to be played(lets say 1 second worth of music). In a normal situation the game will refresh the buffer every second with the next second worth of music. Now if your game crashes the buffer does not get cleared and thus your sound card keeps playing the same sound that's still in the buffer.
Edit: To be sure, do you mean the repeating sound after a crash or just that the sound still works but the game doesn't? In the last case it could just be that the graphics code crashed but the sound playing code didn't. | [
"Crash to desktop bugs are considered particularly problematic for users. Since they frequently display no error message, it can be very difficult to track down the source of the problem, especially if the times they occur and the actions taking place right before the crash do not appear to have any pattern or common ground. One way to track down the source of the problem for games is to run them in windowed-mode. Windows Vista has a feature that can help track down the cause of a CTD problem when it occurs on any program. Windows XP included a similar feature as well.\n",
"Sound glitches are in which there is an error with the game's sound. These can range from sounds playing when not intended to play or even not playing at all. Occasionally, a certain sound will loop or otherwise the player will be given the option to continuously play the sound when not intended. Often, games will play sounds \"incorrectly\" due to corrupt data altering the values predefined in the code. Examples include, but are not limited to, extremely high or low pitched sounds, volume being mute or too high to understand, and also rarely even playing in reverse order/playing reversed.\n",
"Some computer programs, such as \"StepMania\" and BBC's \"Bamzooki\", also crash to desktop if in full-screen, but displays the error in a separate window when the user has returned to the desktop. Crashes are usually caused by website failure or system failure.\n",
"A \"crash to desktop\" is said to occur when a program (commonly a video game) unexpectedly quits, abruptly taking the user back to the desktop. Usually, the term is applied only to crashes where no error is displayed, hence all the user sees as a result of the crash is the desktop. Many times there is no apparent action that causes a crash to desktop. During normal function, the program may freeze for a shorter period of time, and then close by itself. Also during normal function, the program may become a black screen and play the last few seconds of sound (depending on the size of the data buffer) that was being played repeatedly before it crashes to desktop. Other times it may appear to be triggered by a certain action, such as loading an area.\n",
"The brunt of the crash was felt mainly across the home console market. Home computer gaming continued to thrive in this time period, especially with lower-cost machines such as the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum. Some computer companies adopted aggressive advertising strategies to compete with gaming consoles and to promote their educational appeal to parents as well. Home computers also allowed motivated users to develop their own games, and many notable titles were created this way, such as Jordan Mechner's Karateka, which he wrote on an Apple II while in college.\n",
"A major flaw of the sound system is that the mixer is not given its own thread, so if the game stalls for too long (particularly while navigating the menus or connecting to a server), the small output buffer will begin to loop, a very noticeable artifact. This problem was also present in the \"Doom 3\", \"Quake\", and \"Quake II\" engines.\n",
"Frequent radio transmissions through the player's communications device also add to the atmosphere, by broadcasting certain sounds and messages from non-player characters meant to unsettle the player. Early in the game, during and directly after the event that plunges the base into chaos, the player often hears the sounds of fighting, screaming and dying through their radio transmitter. The ambient sound is extended to the base itself through such things as hissing pipes, footsteps, and occasional jarringly loud noises from machinery or other sources. Often ambient sounds can be heard that resemble deep breathing, unexplained voices and demonic taunting from the game's antagonists.\n"
] |
Water waves - transverse or longitudinal? | [Here](_URL_0_) is a .gif that shows the dual nature of water waves.
You can see that the black dots (which you can think of as water particles) move forward-backward as well as up-down. | [
"Transverse waves are contrasted with longitudinal waves, where the oscillations occur in the direction of the wave. The standard example of a longitudinal wave is a sound wave or \"pressure wave\" in gases, liquids, or solids, whose oscillations cause compression and expansion of the material through which the wave is propagating. Pressure waves are called \"primary waves\", or \"P-waves\" in geophysics.\n",
"In linear plane waves of one wavelength in deep water, parcels near the surface move not plainly up and down but in circular orbits: forward above and backward below (compared the wave propagation direction). As a result, the surface of the water forms not an exact sine wave, but more a trochoid with the sharper curves upwards—as modeled in trochoidal wave theory. Wind waves are thus a combination of transversal and longitudinal waves.\n",
"Longitudinal waves are waves in which the displacement of the medium is in the same direction as, or the opposite direction to, the direction of propagation of the wave. Mechanical longitudinal waves are also called \"compressional\" or \"compression waves\", because they produce compression and rarefaction when traveling through a medium, and \"pressure waves\", because they produce increases and decreases in pressure.\n",
"Transverse waves commonly occur in elastic solids; the oscillations in this case are the displacement of the solid particles away from their relaxed position, in directions perpendicular to the propagation of the wave. Since those displacements correspond to a local shear deformation of the material, a transverse wave of this nature is called a shear wave. In seismology, shear waves are also called secondary waves or S-waves.\n",
"Since the Stokes drift velocity formula_4 is in the wave propagation direction, and formula_14 is in the vertical direction, the Coriolis–Stokes forcing is perpendicular to the wave propagation direction (i.e. in the direction parallel to the wave crests). In deep water the Stokes drift velocity is formula_15 with formula_16 the wave's phase velocity, formula_17 the wavenumber, formula_18 the wave amplitude and formula_19 the vertical coordinate (positive in the upward direction opposing the gravitational acceleration).\n",
"The other main type of wave is the transverse wave, in which the displacements of the medium are at right angles to the direction of propagation. Some transverse waves are mechanical, meaning that the wave needs an elastic medium to travel through. Transverse mechanical waves are also called \"shear waves\".\n",
"Longitudinal waves include sound waves (vibrations in pressure, particle of displacement, and particle velocity propagated in an elastic medium) and seismic P-waves (created by earthquakes and explosions).\n"
] |
on snl (and similar shows) how is the live audience's laughing timed with the camera cuts we're seeing at home, when they can see everything happening on stage? | There are several staging areas in studio 8H in Rockefeller center, most of the time the audience isn't straight on, meaning the soundstage isn't directly in front of them. So the only way they can watch many sketches is on the TV(s) mounted on the walls and rails.
Other times when the cut happens for the joke for the audience that is straight on they can still see the cut in the monitor. Even if they don't laugh 80% of the studio does and the effect is the same | [
"\"Nobody's Watching\" uses its laugh track in a non-standard way. It is only used in the scenes featuring the studio audience and the recording of the sitcom within the sitcom. As the studio audience are, in effect, extra cast members, there are instances where their laughter - or otherwise - does not relate to the action the viewer is shown. Examples in the pilot episode include a scene where Alan Thicke performs to the studio audience in the background while the main scene of Will talking to Jill takes place in front of the camera. In another scene the main characters can react to the audience's reaction, which prompts Jill, after insulting Gunther, to apologize. When they see the tape of Derrick betraying Will, the audience moans disapprovingly, which prompts Derrick to call them \"drama queens\". In another scene, Will and Derrick enjoy naming random states and seeing how many people in the audience cheer to show state pride.\n",
"Audience reactions were live, thus creating a far more authentic laugh than the canned laughter used on most filmed sitcoms of the time. Regular audience members were sometimes heard from episode to episode, and Arnaz's distinctive laugh could be heard in the background during scenes in which he did not perform, as well as Ball's mother, DeDe, whose distinctive \"Uh Oh\" could be heard in many of the episodes. In later years, CBS would devise a laugh track from several \"I Love Lucy\" audiences and use them for canned laughter on shows done without a live audience.\n",
"The show opens immediately with an outtake which was intentionally left into the final edit. As Cirillo introduces the show, someone in an office chair rolls by in the background at a high speed, prompting laughter and a camera cut.\n",
"The show was broadcast live, and the sustained laughter from the audience reaction to the scene caused Kerry's fellow actor to sit in the wrong chair at the wrong time. The cameras rolled on while Kerry, Tracey, and the other actors adjusted their positions and completed the scene.\n",
"In early television, most shows that were not broadcast live used the single-camera filmmaking technique, where a show was created by filming each scene several times from different camera angles. Whereas the performances of the actors and crew could be controlled, live audiences could not be relied upon to laugh at the \"correct\" moments; other times, audiences were deemed to have laughed too loudly or for too long.\n",
"Steven Levitan, creator of \"Just Shoot Me!\" (a multi-camera series that used live and taped audience reactions) and co-creator of \"Modern Family\" (which does not utilize live or recorded audience laughter as a single-camera series), commented, \"When used properly, the laugh guy’s job is to smooth out the soundtrack — nothing more.\" Phil Rosenthal confirmed that he \"relentlessly manipulated the laughs\" on \"Everybody Loves Raymond\". \"I worked on shows in the past where the 'sweetener' was ladled on with a heavy hand, mainly because there were hardly any laughs from the living. The executive producers would say, 'Don't worry — you know who will love that joke? Mr. Sweet man.'\" Bickelhaupt confirmed this observation, admitting there are many occasions he has created all audience responses.\n",
"According to the production team, the short monologue to camera scenes originated when O'Brien began joking with the cameramen during filming of an episode. When the production team reviewed the footage and realized what it could bring to the show they \"asked him to do it all the time\", to which O'Brien felt that looking straight at the camera, \"unknowingly added a complicity between me and the audience at home\". However, he also \"often appeared detached from proceedings, bordering on deadpan\", sometimes making subtle jokes related to the show itself and its production, while his comments were comic \"light-hearted quips at contestants\". According to h2g2, \"his improvised jokes and little wisecracks on the contestants' stupidity were enough to keep the Maze going. He hammed it up marvelously and introduced a certain amount of campness into the show.\"\n"
] |
When we look back at ancient cultures we always try to estimate what year those people would have been in an area, doing a certain thing, etc. Would those people have known what year it was? | How are you defining year? Plenty of cultures used their own calendars to keep track of years, many of which we have coordinated with our own to determine dates. Care to elaborate? | [
"Among the ancient Greek historians and scholars, a common method of indicating the passage of years was based on the Olympic Games, first held in 776 BC. The Olympic Games provided the various independent city-states with a mutually recognizable system of dates. Olympiad dating was not used in everyday life. This system was in use from the 3rd century BC. The modern Olympic Games (or Summer Olympic Games beginning 1896) do not continue the four year periods from ancient Greece: the 669th Olympiad would have begun in the summer of 1897, but the modern Olympics were first held in 1896.\n",
"BULLET::::- The Ancients in the Tripods trilogy by John Christopher, referring to people from the 20th century (from the era before the Tripods' rule of Earth) and their accomplishments such as the Great Cities of the Ancients (urban metropoles like London and Paris).\n",
"The ancient Mexicans counted their years by means of four signs combined with thirteen numbers, obtaining periods of 52 years, which are commonly known as \"Xiuhmolpilli\", a popular but incorrect name; the correct Nahuatl word for this cycle is Xiuhnelpilli. We can see below the table with the current years:\n",
"During the Montour phase (1550 to 1700), the people inhabited their villages year-round, although less densely in the winter than in the summer months. This may indicate that during the winter, family groups and hunting parties may have returned to the regions previously occupied by their ancestors. Such a pattern was observed during historic times, for example, among the Miami and Potawatomi. By their trading, the Fort Ancient people had access to European trade items, such as glass, iron, brass, and copper, which have been found as grave goods at sites such as Lower Shawneetown and Hardin Village. Such artifacts appeared and were used in the area before the arrival of European explorers or settlers.\n",
"The exact foundation date is not well known. However, based on the most ancient graveyard found in the city dating back to 1596 AD (1004 Hijri Qamari ), one can calculate the date in which the people started to live in the region.\n",
"By contrast, the Attic calendar had little interest in ordering the sequence of years. As in other Greek cities, the name of one of the yearly magistrates, at Athens known as the eponymous archon, was used to identify the year in relation to others. The sequence of years was matched to a list of names that could be consulted. Instead of citing a numbered year, one could locate a year in time by saying that some event occurred \"when X. was archon\". That allowed the years to be ordered back in time for a number of generations into the past, but there was no way of dating forward beyond ordinary human reckoning (as in expressions such as \"ten years from now\").\n",
"The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries ( \"\", also known as Chronology of Ancient Nations or Vestiges of the Past, after the translation published by Eduard Sachau in 1879) by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, is a comparative study of calendars of different cultures and civilizations, interlaced with mathematical, astronomical, and historical information, exploring the customs and religions of different peoples.\n"
] |
why are there economic theories that differ so drastically? shouldn't there be more economic consensus if it's studied so much? | Economics is a social science. It isn't like biology, chemistry, etc where you can test something in a completely controlled environment. Since we can never control all of the variables, there will never be consensus among economists.
| [
"Economic theory faces the problem of constantly dealing with two contradictory concepts of information at the same time. If efficiency is the dominant aspect of analyses, it is likely that commodification is considered to be harmful. If incentive for creation is the dominant aspect of analyses, the protection of the creator is then likely to be dominant.\n",
"On the other hand, economic theory typically points to social gains from competition as a rationale for the use of markets. Thus, Smith described the “invisible hand,” whereby the mechanism of the market converts individuals’ self-interested activity into gains for society. This insight is formalized in the First Theorem of Welfare Economics. However, economic theory also points to market failures, including the underprovision of public goods by markets and the failure of self-interested individuals to internalize externalities. Because of these factors, purely self-interested behaviour often detracts from the common good.\n",
"An integral, consistent economic theory becomes impossible with the add-on approach, since market prices, product-values and social relations are always in different baskets. This theoretical eclecticism results in low explanatory power, and low predictive power – there exist multiple different theories and concepts at once, which all can interrelate/combine in all kinds of possible and \"ad hoc\" configurations, like a kaleidoscope, and therefore \"explain\" and \"predict\" everything and nothing.\n",
"Mainstream economics today is based to a large extent on bad ideas. Economic concepts, from foundational issues like markets, supply and demand and “free trade”, to money and finance, lack any systematic awareness of the physical process of production or the implications of the Laws of Thermodynamics for those processes. A corollary, almost worthy of being a separate bad idea on its own, is that energy doesn’t matter (much) because the cost share of energy in the economy is so small that it can be ignored e.g. {Denison, 1984 #6184}. The so-called “production functions” used by all schools of economic thought that build growth models omit any necessary role for energy, as if output could be produced by labor and capital alone—or as if energy is merely a form of man-made capital that can be produced (as opposed to extracted) by labor and capital.\n",
"The essay argues that a useful economic theory should \"not\" be judged primarily by its tautological completeness, however important in providing a consistent system for classifying elements of the theory and validly deriving implications therefrom. Rather a theory (or hypothesis) must be judged by its:\n",
"Economic aspects are clearest, perhaps because the economy is most easily associated with capitalism. Sustainable capitalism, as a policy outline, is an attempt to address and tackle the use of admittedly insufficient tools used today to measure the economic growth and the real value of countries, such as GDP or GO. Criticism of this form of growth measurement is centered on the fact that GDP fails to account for labor conditions and other environmental factors which have a long-term influence on the value which it measures.\n",
"A key strand of free market economic thinking is that the market's invisible hand guides an economy to prosperity more efficiently than central planning using an economic model. One reason, emphasized by Friedrich Hayek, is the claim that many of the true forces shaping the economy can never be captured in a single plan. This is an argument that cannot be made through a conventional (mathematical) economic model, because it says that there are critical systemic-elements that will always be omitted from any top-down analysis of the economy.\n"
] |
Why don't rising C02 levels get cancelled out by more global plant growth? | carbon dioxide isn't the factor limiting tree growth, so increasing its concentration shouldn't have a significant effect on growth rate | [
"Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide affects plants in a variety of ways. Elevated CO increases crop yields and growth through an increase in photosynthetic rate, and it also decreases water loss as a result of stomatal closing The growth response is greatest in C plants, C plants ,are also enhanced but to a lesser extent, and CAM Plants are the least enhanced species.\n",
"While typically limited by nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, low levels of carbon dioxide can also act as a limiting factor on plant growth. Peer-reviewed and published scientific studies have shown that increasing CO is highly effective at promoting plant growth up to levels over 300 ppm. Further increases in CO can, to a very small degree, continue to increase net photosynthetic output.\n",
"Net primary productivity changes in response to increased CO, as plants photosynthesis increased in response to increasing concentrations. However, this effect is swamped by other changes in the biosphere due to global warming.\n",
"More favourable effects on yield tend to depend to a large extent on realization of the potentially beneficial effects of carbon dioxide on crop growth and increase of efficiency in water use. Decrease in potential yields is likely to be caused by shortening of the growing period, decrease in water availability and poor vernalization.\n",
"Decreasing stomatal density is one way plants have responded to the increase in concentration of atmospheric CO ([CO]). Although changes in [CO] response is the least understood mechanistically, this stomatal response has begun to plateau where it is soon expected to impact transpiration and photosynthesis processes in plants.\n",
"CO concentrations have been steadily rising for more than two centuries. Increases in atmospheric CO concentration affect how plants photosynthesise, resulting in increases in plant water use efficiency, enhanced photosynthetic capacity and increased growth. Increased CO has been implicated in ‘vegetation thickening’ which affects plant community structure and function. Depending on environment, there are differential responses to elevated atmospheric CO between major ‘functional types’ of plant, such as and plants, or more or less woody species; which has the potential among other things to alter competition between these groups. Increased CO can also lead to increased Carbon : Nitrogen ratios in the leaves of plants or in other aspects of leaf chemistry, possibly changing herbivore nutrition. Studies show that doubled concentrations of CO will show an increase in photosynthesis in C3 plants but not in C4 plants. However, it is also shown that C4 plants are able to persist in drought better than the C3 plants.\n",
"It must also be noted that small increases in levels can cause a fertilization effect where the growth and reproduction abilities of C plants such as soybeans and rice are actually enhanced by 10-20% in laboratory experiments. This does not take into account, however, the additional burden of pests, pathogens, nutrients and water affecting the crop yield.\n"
] |
why does the sin wave not look circular? | Because you don't want a circle, you want to know it's respective cos or sin value of a point on the circle. So when you travel around the circle and map out the sinus values, you get the sinus wave.
See this animation to show you how every point on a circle mapped out creates the sinus wave.
_URL_0_ | [
"The sine wave is important in physics because it retains its wave shape when added to another sine wave of the same frequency and arbitrary phase and magnitude. It is the only periodic waveform that has this property. This property leads to its importance in Fourier analysis and makes it acoustically unique.\n",
"In contrast to sine waves, the loops of a meandering stream are more nearly circular. The curvature varies from a maximum at the apex to zero at a crossing point (straight line), also called an inflection, because the curvature changes direction in that vicinity. The radius of the loop is the straight line perpendicular to the down-valley axis intersecting the sinuous axis at the apex. As the loop is not ideal, additional information is needed to characterize it. The orientation angle is the angle between sinuous axis and down-valley axis at any point on the sinuous axis.\n",
"A sine wave or sinusoid is a mathematical curve that describes a smooth periodic oscillation. A sine wave is a continuous wave. It is named after the function sine, of which it is the graph. It occurs often in pure and applied mathematics, as well as physics, engineering, signal processing and many other fields. Its most basic form as a function of time (\"t\") is:\n",
"The sinusoid is defined for all times and distances, whereas in physical situations we usually deal with waves that exist for a limited span in space and duration in time. An arbitrary wave shape can be decomposed into an infinite set of sinusoidal waves by the use of Fourier analysis. As a result, the simple case of a single sinusoidal wave can be applied to more general cases. In particular, many media are linear, or nearly so, so the calculation of arbitrary wave behavior can be found by adding up responses to individual sinusoidal waves using the superposition principle to find the solution for a general waveform. When a medium is nonlinear, then the response to complex waves cannot be determined from a sine-wave decomposition.\n",
"Because a square wave has multiple amplitudes at sinusoidal harmonics, the average current flowing through an inductance formula_10 in series with a square wave AC voltage source of RMS amplitude formula_13 and frequency formula_3 is equal to:\n",
"Although arbitrary wave shapes will propagate unchanged in lossless linear time-invariant systems, in the presence of dispersion the sine wave is the unique shape that will propagate unchanged but for phase and amplitude, making it easy to analyze. Due to the Kramers–Kronig relations, a linear medium with dispersion also exhibits loss, so the sine wave propagating in a dispersive medium is attenuated in certain frequency ranges that depend upon the medium.\n",
"One signal that does not match a geometric distribution is a sine wave, because the differential residues create a sinusoidal signal whose values are not creating a geometric distribution (the highest and lowest residue values have similar high frequency of occurrences, only the median positive and negative residues occur less often).\n"
] |
This Week's Theme: Oral Traditions | **[Previously](_URL_1_)**
**Current**: Oral Traditions
**Upcoming**: Substance Abuse
**In the hole**: Sovereignty
Remember to ask theme-related questions in [a new thread!](_URL_0_)! If your submission doesn't get automatically flaired, [send us a modmail](_URL_2_) with a link! | [
"The NAMM Oral History program is unique, unlike any other collection in the world. The heart of the collection is the depth of its narratives that cover innovative creations, the evolution of musical instruments, the ever-changing world of music retail, as well as our collective quest to improve music education around the globe. Oral History participants have come from over 72 different countries, 49 U.S. states and were born between 1903 and 1997. This collection is our journal, our own way of chronicling ourselves and our community—the community we so eagerly embrace at the NAMM shows and so proudly celebrate throughout the year. This library of video interviews, now over 3,500 strong and always growing, contains the story of our industry told by those who helped to shape it and have watched it expand and develop through the years.\n",
"The NAMM Oral History Program is a collection of one-on-one interviews with people involved in the music products industry, including music instrument retailers, instrument and product creators, suppliers and sales representatives, music educators and advocates, publishers, live sound and recording pioneers, innovators, founders, and artists. The mission of the program is to preserve the history of the music products industry, including industry innovations, the evolution of musical instruments and music retail, as well as improving music education worldwide. The Oral History Program was established by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) in 2000. \n",
"Oral Tradition is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1986 by John Miles Foley covering studies in oral tradition and related fields. As well as essays treating certifiably oral traditions, the journal presents investigations of the relationships between oral and written traditions, as well as brief accounts of important fieldwork, a symposium section (in which scholars may reply at some length to prior essays), review articles, occasional transcriptions and translations of oral texts, a digest of work in progress, and a regular column for notices of conferences and other matters of interest. \"Oral Tradition\" spans a number of academic fields and disciplines, including, folklore, cultural anthropology, social anthropology, ethnography, ethnomusicologylinguistics, classics, and comparative literature.\n",
"The Oral History Association (OHA) is a professional association for oral historians and others interested in oral history. It is based in the United States but has international membership. Its mission is \"to bring together all persons interested in oral history as a way of collecting and interpreting human memories to foster knowledge and human dignity.\"\n",
"In July 2009, BUIOH conducted its first online workshop, \"Getting Started with Oral History\". Fifteen oral history newcomers hailing from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and Texas took part in the two-session interactive workshop. Participants are able to listen to the BUIOH staff explain key areas of oral history while viewing multimedia presentations on the topics. Practice project assignments are ascribed and Q&A sessions held after each session. BUIOH has since offered its workshop online twice a year and has serviced a total of 117 participants to date from five countries.\n",
"The Samuel Proctor Oral History Program (SPOHP) is the official oral history program at the University of Florida. With over 6,500 interviews and more than 150,000 pages of transcribed material, it is one of the premier oral history programs in the United States. SPOHP's mission is \"to gather, preserve, and promote living histories of individuals from all walks of life.\" The program involves staff, undergraduate and graduate students, and community volunteers in its operation.\n",
"Roadside Heritage is a program designed to document and publicize the history, culture, and scientific background of the Eastern Sierra Nevada and the Owens Valley in the United States. It uses schoolchildren to interview scientists, Native Americans, and others and to record the interviews. These result in \"audio stories\" which can be downloaded from the website for use by travelers and others interested in the area.\n"
] |
With a strong enough fan placed at a right angle to a speaker output would you hear anything from the speaker when the fan is blowing? | With a powerful enough fan you will "blow the sound away", albeit at some angle away from the speaker (not 90 degrees).
Let's change the scenario to a wind blowing directly at the speaker at 340 m/s (speed of sound). This is exactly the same as if the speaker were travelling through still air at the speed of sound, no? So the sound will not be able to travel forward from the speaker. Increase the speed further and the sound will only go backwards from the speaker. | [
"This unstable operation results from the development of pressure gradients in the opposite direction of the flow. Maximum pressure is observed at the discharge of the impeller blade and minimum pressure on the side opposite to the discharge side. When the impeller blades are not rotating these adverse pressure gradients pump the flow in the direction opposite to the direction of the fan. The result is the oscillation of the fan blades creating vibrations and hence noise.\n",
"A whole house fan pulls air out of a building and forces it into the attic space or, in the case of homes without attics, through an opening in the roof or an outside wall. This causes a positive pressure differential in the attic forcing air out through the gable and/or soffit vents, while at the same time producing a negative pressure differential inside the living areas which draws air in through open windows.\n",
"Contrary to the flat appearance of the loudspeaker, all three panels are slightly curved along the vertical axis to improve quality. The panels themselves are flat, but obtain their curvature by being slightly bent to a curved backing. With the bipolar nature of the speaker emitting sound from both front and back surfaces as it does, the application of a felt sheet to the rear of the panels damps and absorbs high frequencies radiating from the back. A crossover network, set at 500 Hz, remains necessary to adjust for back-to-front interference causing loss in output at low frequencies. In addition, the speaker should stand in free space to achieve optimum sound. The instructions book contains advice against placement of the speaker in corners or positions close to or parallel with walls, and further explains that a corner placement will adversely affect bass response and be detrimental to the midrange because of standing waves generated.\n",
"Fans generate noise from the rapid flow of air around blades and obstacles causing vortexes, and from the motor. Fan noise has been found to be roughly proportional to the fifth power of fan speed; halving speed reduces noise by about 15 dB.\n",
"Mechanically, a fan can be any revolving vane or vanes used for producing currents of air. Fans produce air flows with high volume and low pressure (although higher than ambient pressure), as opposed to compressors which produce high pressures at a comparatively low volume. A fan blade will often rotate when exposed to an air fluid stream, and devices that take advantage of this, such as anemometers and wind turbines, often have designs similar to that of a fan.\n",
"The air flows through the channel in the pedestal of the fan when the motor is turned on. After that, the air flows through the hollow tube. Then the air is shot out through 16-mm slits. This air flows smoothly, rather than turbulently as with a traditional fan (fan with blades). The curvature of the inner wall of the fan creates an area of negative pressure like an airplane wing to draw more air into the flow, hence \"multiplying\" it. This property of the air is called inducement. Further, the air surrounding the edges of the fan also begins to flow with the direction of the breeze, or is \"entrained\" to it. Dyson says that the air-multiplier technology increases the output of the air flowing through the tube by at least 15 times compared to the airflow taken in at the base of the fan.\n",
"Thus, if rear speakers are fed with the difference between the stereo channels, audience noises and reverberation from the auditorium may be heard from behind the listener. This can be most easily achieved by wiring two similar additional rear speakers in series between the live feeds (positive terminals) from the stereo amplifier. Alternatively, one rear speaker can be used on its own. This is the type of quad setup used by Seeburg jukeboxes that had quadraphonic sound.\n"
] |
board of directors vs. owners/shareholders | In the most simple ownership structures, the shareholders own the company and elect the board of directors. The board of directors then hire the CEO.
You're describing a scenario where a founder (person who started the company) has sold the company, in whole or in part, to other people/entities. Often that person is kept on as the CEO and sometimes is also elected to the board.
That person might have a large share of the company, but usually not an outright majority (think less than 51%).
In that case, they will for sure be influencal but if the majority of shareholders agree, they could be removed from the board and fired from the company itself. They'd still own part of it, but not be running it.
So, even if you have a large share of the company, if the majority doesn't agree with you you don't get your way. Your only option in those cases is to suck it up, or sell your shares.
Note that all kinds of much more complicated ownership arrangements can exist, usually where multiple share classes exist and only certain shares classes have voting rights - that allows the company to get money from the public markets without surrendering control, or to allow distribution of shares to employees without giving actual control to the employees etc...
Edit: Spelling | [
"The setup of a board of directors vary widely across organizations and may include provisions that are applicable to corporations, in which the \"shareholders\" are the members of the organization. A difference may be that the membership elects the officers of the organization, such as the president and the secretary, and the officers become members of the board in addition to the directors and retain those duties on the board. The directors may also be classified as officers in this situation. There may also be ex-officio members of the board, or persons who are members due to another position that they hold. These ex-officio members have all the same rights as the other board members.\n",
"Another feature of boards of directors in large public companies is that the board tends to have more \"de facto\" power. Many shareholders grant proxies to the directors to vote their shares at general meetings and accept all recommendations of the board rather than try to get involved in management, since each shareholder's power, as well as interest and information is so small. Larger institutional investors also grant the board proxies. The large number of shareholders also makes it hard for them to organize. However, there have been moves recently to try to increase shareholder activism among both institutional investors and individuals with small shareholdings.\n",
"In a publicly held company, directors are elected to represent and are legally obligated as fiduciaries to represent owners of the company—the shareholders/stockholders. In this capacity they establish policies and make decisions on issues such as whether there is dividend and how much it is, stock options distributed to employees, and the hiring/firing and compensation of upper management.\n",
"In an organization with voting members, the board is accountable to, and might be subordinate to, the organization's full membership, which usually vote for the members of the board. In a stock corporation, non-executive directors are voted for by the shareholders, with the board having ultimate responsibility for the management of the corporation. The board of directors appoints the chief executive officer of the corporation and sets out the overall strategic direction. In corporations with dispersed ownership, the identification and nomination of directors (that shareholders vote for or against) are often done by the board itself, leading to a high degree of self-perpetuation. In a non-stock corporation with no general voting membership, the board is the supreme governing body of the institution, and its members are sometimes chosen by the board itself.\n",
"In private for-profit corporations, shareholders elect the board of directors to represent their interests. In the case of nonprofits, stakeholders may have some role in recommending or selecting board members, but typically the board itself decides who will serve on the board as a 'self-perpetuating' board. The degree of leadership that the board has over the organization varies; in practice at large organizations, the executive management, principally the CEO, drives major initiatives with the oversight and approval of the board.\n",
"The role and responsibilities of a board of directors vary depending on the nature and type of business entity and the laws applying to the entity (see types of business entity). For example, the nature of the business entity may be one that is traded on a public market (public company), not traded on a public market (a private, limited or closely held company), owned by family members (a family business), or exempt from income taxes (a non-profit, not for profit, or tax-exempt entity). There are numerous types of business entities available throughout the world such as a corporation, limited liability company, cooperative, business trust, partnership, private limited company, and public limited company.\n",
"In publicly traded U.S. corporations, boards of directors are largely \"chosen\" by the President/CEO and the President/CEO often takes the Chair of the Board position for him/herself (which makes it much more difficult for the institutional owners to \"fire\" him/her). The practice of the CEO also being the Chair of the Board is fairly common in large American corporations.\n"
] |
What are the most genius political power plays in your period? | I honestly believe the first triumvirate between Caesar, Crassus, and Pompeius has to be one of the greatest political power plays of all time. The length of time they managed to keep it a secret, and then the way in which they revealed it was so theatrical it genuinely thrills me. Caesar had just made his first public blunder in the senate. The oligarchs rallied together against his agrarian reforms, then Caesar goes before the tribal assembly flanked by Crassus and Pompeius. One man was worth $180 billion dollars, the other was the (currently) greatest military leader and had the most loyal and trained legions at his command. Three men who should have had nothing in common but mutual enmity shook the republic to its core.
Just brilliant.
| [
"According to Erich Segal, reading the play as a genuine exploration of communism and female power is incorrect. It follows Aristophanes’ conflict structure of the republic in trouble, a solution suggested and that solution ultimately failing. Aristophanes’ plays mostly derive their narratives on absurd political and social innovations derived from the evolution of the state towards empowering effeminate men while displacing traditionally strong and masculine leadership. The ascent of women in political power in \"Assemblywomen\" is yet another commentary on what Aristophanes saw as the shameful effeminacy of the men currently in power in Athens. The fact that women in this instance could enter the assembly and successfully pass as men was a commentary on politicians being indistinguishable from women in costume.\n",
"In a 1994 survey of wargames \"Computer Gaming World\" gave \"Power Politics\" two-plus stars out of five, criticizing the requirement that all historical candidates run in 1992 (\"Quemoy and Matsu do not translate well into contemporary economic issues\").\n",
"Kinnaird further delves into the ideas in \"Characters of Shakespear's Plays\", especially that of \"power\" as involved in Shakespeare's plays and as investigated by Hazlitt, not only the power in physical force but the power of imagination in sympathising with physical force, which at times can overcome our will to the good. He explores Hazlitt's accounts of Shakespeare's tragedies—\"Macbeth\", \"Hamlet\", \"Othello\", \"King Lear\", and especially \"Coriolanus\"—where he shows that Hazlitt reveals that our love of power in sympathising with what can involve evil can overcome the human desire for the good. This, Kinnaird points out, has serious implications in considering the meaning and purpose of tragic literature in general.\n",
"A pioneer in the genre of hip hop theatre, Power has created a unique fusion of original music, rhymed dialogue, and choreography. His adaptation of the Greek tragedy \"Seven against Thebes\", entitled \"The Seven\", had a successful Off-Broadway run at the New York Theatre Workshop.\n",
"During the dying days of the western half of the empire there remained four main players which participated in the power games revolving around the throne; the Eastern Roman Empire as one continued to play a significant political role as did the western Roman military which made up the other three. The Gallic army was prominent, especially under Aegidius in the 460's, the Italian army was the main influence for Ricimer, and the forces of Dalmatia gave a solid base of power and support between 450 and 480 for Marcellinus and later his nephew Western Emperor Julius Nepos\n",
"The worlds of politics and drama converged, since some leading playwrights of this period were also politicians. For example, tragedian Marie-Joseph Chenier belonged to the Paris Jacobins and was elected to the National Convention; Collot d'Herbois wrote both comedies and tragedies, while being an active member of the Committee for Public Safety; and interior minister François de Neufchâteau was also a popular playwright of the time.\n",
"The 1992 game \"Power Politics\" (and, before it, 1981's President Elect) focused on domestic United States political campaigns (but not the running of the country upon election). In 1996, this was adapted to the \"Doonesbury Election Game\", designed by Randy Chase (who also did Power Politics) and published by Mindscape, in which players conducted a campaign with the assistance of a pool of advisors selected from characters in the \"Doonesbury\" comic strip. A successor entitled \"Power Politics III\" was released in 2005. In 2004, Stardock published \"Political Machine\", in which the player steers a candidate through a 41-week election cycle for United States President, developing policies and tailoring talk show appearances and speech content. The game is heavily tied to modern polling methods, using real-time feedback for how campaign strategy impacts polling numbers. In 2006, TheorySpark released \"President Forever 2008 + Primaries\", an election simulation game that allows the player to realistically control an entire election campaign through both the Primaries and General Election. \"President Forever 2008 + Primaries\" itself a follow-up to the highly successful general election sim \"President Forever\", released in 2004\n"
] |
Why is it useful to hyperventilate during childbirth? | One of the changes in maternal physiology during pregnancy is an increase in minute ventilation (hyperventilation). This occurs even before labor (evidenced by decreased PaCO2 =mild respiratory alkalosis).
Many times we (physicians, nurses) tell people to focus on their breathing. This is mainly a distraction to take their mind of something else (stressor,pain, etc.) Rarely is it necessary to remind someone to breathe (e.g., recovery room after anesthesia). | [
"Complications of emergency childbirth include the complications that occur during normal childbirth. Maternal complications include perineal tearing during delivery, excessive bleeding (postpartum hemorrhage), retained products of conception in the uterus, hypertension, and seizures.\n",
"An amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a rare childbirth (obstetric) emergency in which amniotic fluid enters the blood stream of the mother to trigger a serious reaction. This reaction then results in cardiorespiratory (heart and lung) collapse and massive bleeding (coagulopathy).\n",
"Unsuccessful attempts to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF) can also illicit a similar grief response in women. Those experiencing a late miscarriage may have more significant distress compared to those who have experienced a miscarriage in the first trimester. Even depression can occur.\n",
"An amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) is a rare childbirth (obstetric) emergency in which amniotic fluid, enters the blood stream of the mother to trigger a serious reaction. This reaction then results in cardiorespiratory (heart and lung) collapse and massive bleeding (coagulopathy).\n",
"Maternal complications may cause low amniotic fluid. Some factors such as hypertension, diabetes, dehydration, preeclampsia, and chronic hypoxia in a woman can have an effect on amniotic fluid levels.\n",
"Also, pregnancy can cause hypercoagulability by other factors, e.g. the prolonged bed rest that often occurs \"post partum\" that occurs in case of delivery by forceps, vacuum extractor or Caesarean section. \n",
"Neonatal resuscitation also known as newborn resuscitation is the resuscitation of newborn children with birth asphyxia. About a quarter of all neonatal deaths globally are caused by birth asphyxia, and depending on how quickly and successfully the infant is resuscitated, hypoxic damage can occur to most of the infant's organs (heart, lungs, liver, gut, kidneys), but brain damage is of most concern.\n"
] |
how is it that the taliban, removed from power in 2001, still able to fight and thrive against the afghan government and nato to this day? | The Taliban was effectively pushed out of Afghanistan in December 2001 during Operation Jawbreaker. CIA paramilitaries, backed up by northern militias with loose ties to the US from their guerrilla war against the Russians. They effectively moved into the tribal regions of Afghanistan and blended into their Pashtun supporters. They retook parts of Kandahar, Helmand and Paktika in mid 2002 as the US military focused on Iraq. When the Iraq war kicked off they capitalized and proceeded with a full resurgence, taking the majority of the southern territory in 2003. Their primary advantages were a US military focused on Saddam, control over and cultural connections to the local Pashtuns who were experiencing ethnic cleansing by vengeful northern groups. Insurgency is a tough war to fight. They are most likely coordinated from inside Pakistan. Their IED based fighting has caused a multitude of changes in basic US military tactics and their insurgency is not to be underestimated. They avoid direct action with the superior firepower of the coalition forces and try to push them into retreat toward belts of IEDs using sustained contact from 500-1000m, then they just disappear. The leadership was probably involved in the largely successful campaign against the Russians in the early 1980s.
EDIT: Forgot to mention Op JB also included 200-400 US Army Delta and other international special forces. | [
"The Taliban uprising took place after Afghanistan's invasion by Allied forces in 2001. As in the earlier wars against the British and Soviets, Afghan resistance to the NATO intervention took the traditional form of a Muslim \"holy war (Jihad) against the infidels\". As with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 20 years earlier, the Taliban took refuge in the Pakistani Mountain areas and continue to move across the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, often evading Pakistani and NATO forces. The Taliban have now become a dominant role in the Afghan life once again. The Pakistani Government have been accused of supporting and/or turning a blind eye to the Afghan Taliban, while the Pakistani Government has accused NATO of doing the same.\n",
"Following defeat in the initial invasion, the Taliban was reorganized by its leader Mullah Omar, and launched an insurgency against the Afghan government and ISAF in 2003. Though outgunned and outnumbered, insurgents from the Taliban (and its ally Haqqani Network) - and to a lesser extent Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin and other groups - waged asymmetric warfare with guerrilla raids and ambushes in the countryside, suicide attacks against urban targets, and turncoat killings against coalition forces. The Taliban exploited weaknesses in the Afghan government to reassert influence across rural areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan. From 2006 the Taliban made significant gains and showed an increased willingness to commit atrocities against civilians – ISAF responded by increasing troops for counter-insurgency operations to \"clear and hold\" villages. Violence sharply escalated from 2007 to 2009. Troop numbers began to surge in 2009 and continued to increase through 2011 when roughly 140,000 foreign troops operated under ISAF and U.S. command in Afghanistan. Of these 100,000 were from the U.S. On 1 May 2011, United States Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in Abbotabad, Pakistan. NATO leaders in 2012 commended for withdrawing their forces, and later the United States announced that its major combat operations would end in December 2014, leaving a residual force in the country. In October 2014, British forces handed over the last bases in Helmand to the Afghan military, officially ending their combat operations in the war. On 28 December 2014, NATO formally ended ISAF combat operations in Afghanistan and officially transferred full security responsibility to the Afghan government. The NATO-led Operation Resolute Support was formed the same day as a successor to ISAF.\n",
"The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan until October 2001 when they were dethroned by a coalition of the United States of America with the Northern Alliance consisting of Jamiat-e Islami, Junbish-i Milli, Hizb-i-Wahdat, Harakat-i-Inqilab-i-Islami and the Eastern Shura. The UN and US fostered a new government led by Hamid Karzai, who was succeeded in 2014 by Ashraf Ghani. Nevertheless, , war was still raging in Afghanistan between the Taliban and the official government.\n",
"The Taliban insurgency began shortly after the group's fall from power following the 2001 War in Afghanistan. The Taliban forces are fighting against the Afghan government, formerly led by President Hamid Karzai, now led by President Ashraf Ghani, and against the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The insurgency has spread to some degree over the Durand Line border to neighboring Pakistan, in particular the Waziristan region and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Taliban conduct low-intensity warfare against Afghan National Security Forces and their NATO trainers. Regional countries, particularly Pakistan and Iran, are often accused of funding and supporting the insurgent groups.\n",
"The U.S.-led coalition initially removed the Taliban from power and seriously crippled al-Qaeda and associated militants in Afghanistan. However, success in quelling the Taliban insurgency since the 2001 invasion has been mixed. Many believe the Taliban cannot be defeated as long as it has sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan and that Operation Enduring Freedom has transformed into a continuing full-fledged war with no end in sight.\n",
"The multinational infantry actions, with additional ground forces supplied by the Afghan Northern Alliance, and aerial bombing campaign removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength. The war has been less successful in achieving the goal of restricting al-Qaeda's movement than anticipated. Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal drug production, and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul. At the end of 2008, the war had been unsuccessful in capturing Osama bin Laden and tensions have grown between the United States and Pakistan due to incidents of Taliban fighters crossing the Pakistan border while being pursued by coalition troops.\n",
"The Taliban began a resurgence due to several factors. At the end of 2014, the US and NATO combat mission ended and the withdrawal of most foreign forces from Afghanistan reduced the risk the Taliban faced of being bombed and raided. In June 2014, the Pakistani military's Operation Zarb-e-Azb, launched in the North Waziristan tribal area in June 2014, dislodged thousands of mainly Uzbek, Arab and Pakistani militants, who flooded into Afghanistan and swelled the Taliban's ranks. The group was further emboldened by the comparative lack of interest from the international community and the diversion of its attention to crisis in other parts of the world, such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Ukraine, Libya, Nigeria, and Somalia. Afghan security forces also lack certain capabilities and equipment, especially air power and reconnaissance. The political infighting in the central government in Kabul and the apparent weakness in governance at different levels are also exploited by the Taliban. In May 2015, Russia has closed a key military transport corridor which allowed NATO to deliver military supplies to Afghanistan through the Russian territory.\n"
] |
why do we become out of breath? | Ok, so when you run, or do exercise, you can't breath enough oxygen for your cells to respire (produce energy) normally so you start to respire anaerobically (without oxygen) so that you provide enough energy to keep on running. Obviously there is a catch, and the catch is that you produce an acid as well. Acids are bad, so your body neutralises it, producing CO2, which goes into the bloodstream. Lots of CO2 is produced and so you need to get rid of it, as the CO2 lowers the acidity of the body (in large quantities) and then enzymes can't function and you die. Which sucks. So instead you breath heavily in order to get the CO2 out, which can take a while depending on how much you have exercised. | [
"Humans, like most mammals, breathe by \"negative pressure\" breathing: the rib cage expands and the diaphragm contracts, expanding the chest cavity. This causes the pressure in the chest cavity to decrease, and the lungs expand to fill the space. This, in turn, causes the pressure of the air inside the lungs to decrease (it becomes negative, relative to the atmosphere), and air flows into the lungs from the atmosphere: inhalation. When the diaphragm relaxes, the reverse happens and the person exhales. If a person loses part or all of the ability to control the muscles involved, breathing becomes difficult or impossible.\n",
"The urge to breathe in normal humans is mainly controlled by blood carbon dioxide concentration and the acidity that it causes. A rise in carbon dioxide concentration caused by the inability to inhale fresh gas will cause a strong reflex to breathe, accompanied by increasing distress as the level rises, culminating in panic and desperate struggle for air. However, if the supplied breathing gas is free of carbon dioxide, the blood carbon dioxide levels will remain low while breathing occurs, and there will be no distress or urge to increase breathing rate, as the sensitivity in normal people to blood oxygen level as a breathing stimulus is very low. \n",
"Narrowing of the airways occurs due to inflammation and scarring within them. This contributes to the inability to breathe out fully. The greatest reduction in air flow occurs when breathing out, as the pressure in the chest is compressing the airways at this time. This can result in more air from the previous breath remaining within the lungs when the next breath is started, resulting in an increase in the total volume of air in the lungs at any given time, a process called hyperinflation or air trapping. Hyperinflation from exercise is linked to shortness of breath in COPD, as breathing in is less comfortable when the lungs are already partly filled. Hyperinflation may also worsen during an exacerbation.\n",
"Shallow breathing, or chest breathing is the drawing of minimal breath into the lungs, usually by drawing air into the chest area using the intercostal muscles rather than throughout the lungs via the diaphragm. Shallow breathing can result in or be symptomatic of rapid breathing and hyperventilation. Most people who breathe shallowly do it throughout the day and are almost always unaware of the condition.\n",
"Inhalation of air, as part of the cycle of breathing, is a vital process for all human life. As such, it happens automatically (though there are exceptions in some disease states) and does not need conscious control or effort. However, breathing can be consciously controlled or interrupted (within limits).\n",
"The automatic rhythmical breathing in and out, can be interrupted by coughing, sneezing (forms of very forceful exhalation), by the expression of a wide range of emotions (laughing, sighing, crying out in pain, exasperated intakes of breath) and by such voluntary acts as speech, singing, whistling and the playing of wind instruments. All of these actions rely on the muscles described above, and their effects on the movement of air in and out of the lungs.\n",
"Breathing (or ventilation) is the process of moving air into and out of the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the internal environment, mostly by bringing in oxygen and flushing out carbon dioxide.\n"
] |
what prevents the cell from getting too large? | It's frankly poorly understood. It seems to be a network of several regulatory pathways tied to metabolic activity in combination with cell cycle control.
[Björklund, 2019](_URL_0_) has an overview on the current state of research. | [
"A postulated model for mammalian size control situates mass as the driving force of the cell cycle. A cell is unable to grow to an abnormally large size because at a certain cell size or cell mass, the S phase is initiated. The S phase starts the sequence of events leading to mitosis and cytokinesis. A cell is unable to get too small because the later cell cycle events, such as S, G2, and M, are delayed until mass increases sufficiently to begin S phase.\n",
"Cells which were naturally larger than the size that gravity alone would allow for had to develop means to protect against internal sedimentation. Several of these methods are based upon protoplasmic motion, thin and elongated shape of the cell body, increased cytoplasmic viscosity, and a reduced range of specific gravity of cell components relative to the ground-plasma.\n",
"A 2014 paper in \"Evolutionary Applications\" by Maciak and Michalak emphasized what they termed \"a largely underappreciated relation of cell size to both metabolism and cell-division rates across species\" as key factors underlying the paradox, and concluded that \"larger organisms have bigger and slowly dividing cells with lower energy turnover, all significantly reducing the risk of cancer initiation.\"\n",
"The external nutrient concentrations are extremely important to proceeding through the Start checkpoint. The availability of nutrients is strongly correlated to cell growth size. Cells will not proceed if they do not reach a certain size due to nutrient deprivation, usually nitrogen. Thus, larger cells spend less time in the Start checkpoint compared to smaller cells.\n",
"This would occur most likely through each cell shrinking in size in response to the energy deficit (and/or in extreme situations from some cells dying via either apoptosis or necrosis, depending on location). This may occur as a result of there not being enough ATP to maintain cellular functions: notably failure of the Na/K ATPase, resulting in a loss of the gradient to drive the Na/Ca antiporter which normally keeps out of cells so that it does not build to toxic levels that will rupture cell lysosomes leading to apoptosis. An additional feature of a low energy state is failure to maintain axonal transport via Dynein/Kinesin ATPases, which in many diseases results in neuronal injury to both the brain and/or periphery.\n",
"Increases in the size of plant cells are complicated by the fact that almost all plant cells are inside of a solid cell wall. Under the influence of certain plant hormones the cell wall can be remodeled, allowing for increases in cell size that are important for the growth of some plant tissues.\n",
"The regulation of cell size is critical to ensure functionality of a cell. Besides environmental factors such as nutrients, growth factors and functional load, cell size is also controlled by a cellular cell size checkpoint.\n"
] |
why do we take off our hats during the national anthem? | It supposedly stems from medieval times when knights would remove their helmets to show trust. But really, it's just tradition. Each generation is taught that taking their hat off is respectful. There's no good reason. We could just as easily say taking your wristwatch off is a sign of respect. | [
"Since 1998, federal law (viz., the United States Code ) states that during a rendition of the national anthem, when the flag is displayed, all present including those in uniform should stand at attention; Non-military service individuals should face the flag with the right hand over the heart; Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present and not in uniform may render the military salute; military service persons not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart; and Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are in uniform should give the military salute at the first note of the anthem and maintain that position until the last note. The law further provides that when the flag is not displayed, all present should face toward the music and act in the same manner they would if the flag were displayed. Military law requires all vehicles on the installation to stop when the song is played and all individuals outside to stand at attention and face the direction of the music and either salute, in uniform, or place the right hand over the heart, if out of uniform. The law was amended in 2008, and since allows military veterans to salute out of uniform, as well.\n",
"When the U.S. national anthem was first recognized by law in 1931, there was no prescription as to behavior during its playing. On June 22, 1942, the law was revised indicating that those in uniform should salute during its playing, while others should simply stand at attention, men removing their hats. The same code also required that women should place their hands over their hearts when the flag is displayed during the playing of the national anthem, but not if the flag was not present. On December 23, 1942, the law was again revised instructing men and women to stand at attention and face in the direction of the music when it was played. That revision also directed men and women to place their hands over their hearts only if the flag was displayed. Those in uniform were required to salute. On July 7, 1976, the law was simplified. Men and women were instructed to stand with their hands over their hearts, men removing their hats, irrespective of whether or not the flag was displayed and those in uniform saluting. On August 12, 1998, the law was rewritten keeping the same instructions, but differentiating between \"those in uniform\" and \"members of the Armed Forces and veterans\" who were both instructed to salute during the playing whether or not the flag was displayed. Because of the changes in law over the years and confusion between instructions for the Pledge of Allegiance versus the National Anthem, throughout most of the 20th century many people simply stood at attention or with their hands folded in front of them during the playing of the Anthem, and when reciting the Pledge they would hold their hand (or hat) over their heart. After 9/11, the custom of placing the hand over the heart during the playing of the national anthem became nearly universal.\n",
"In the United States, civilians may salute the national flag by placing their right hand over their heart or by standing at attention during the playing of the national anthem or while reciting the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, or when the flag is passing by, as in a parade. Men and boys remove their hats and other headgear during the salute; religious headdress (and military headdress worn by veterans in uniform, who are otherwise civilians) are exempt. The nature of the headgear determines whether it is held in the left or right hand, tucked under the left arm, etc. However, if it is held in the right hand, the headgear is not held over the heart but the hand is placed in the same position it would be if it were not holding anything.\n",
"Whenever the National Anthem is played or sung or whenever the abridged or short version is played, all persons present shall stand to attention as a mark of respect except where it is played or sung as part of a radio or television broadcast or newsreels. All headgear (except religious and military ones) must be removed and all those in attendance must face the \"Jalur Gemilang\", if it is present. Servicemen in uniform must give a salute when the Anthem plays.\n",
"The anthem is written as a European-style march, consistent with many national anthems around the world. The march is traditionally a military style, with a strong and even beat, originally meant to help troops \"march\" in step while traveling.\n",
"During the rendition or singing of the national anthem, all present except those in uniform should stand, face toward the music, and pay respect. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans who are present and not in uniform may render the military salute; those not should stand still.\n",
"When the national flag is raised or lowered and the anthem is played, persons in military or paramilitary uniforms who are outdoors don their head dress and face the flag. If they are in formation under the orders of a commander, only the commander salutes; otherwise, all service personnel salute. Saluting is unnecessary if service personnel are indoors when a flag raising or lowering ceremony takes place. In such cases, persons need only stop what they are doing and stand at attention.\n"
] |
why do so many cultures use onions and garlic in their cuisine? | If you ever cook for a girl, just toss onion and garlic in a pan and the aroma alone will make her think you’re a bomb cook | [
"Because the wild onion is extinct and ancient records of using onions span western and eastern Asia, the geographic origin of the onion is uncertain, with likely domestication worldwide. Onions have been variously described as having originated in Iran, western Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.\n",
"This is a list of garlic dishes, comprising dishes and foods that use garlic as a main ingredient. Garlic is a species in the onion genus, \"Allium\". Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and \"Chinese onion\". Garlic is native to Central Asia and northeastern Iran, has a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use, and has long been used as a seasoning worldwide. It was known to Ancient Egyptians, and has been used both as a food flavoring and as a traditional medicine.\n",
"Garlic is a fundamental component in many or most dishes of various regions, including eastern Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, northern Africa, southern Europe, and parts of Latin America. Latin American seasonings, particularly, use garlic in sofritos and mofongos.\n",
"In certain versions of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism, vegetables of the onion genus are restricted according to Shastras. Many Hindus discourage eating onion and garlic along with non-vegetarian food during festivals or Hindu holy months of Shrawan, puratassi and Kartik. However, shunning onion and garlic is not very popular among Hindus as compared to avoiding non-vegetarian foods, so many people do not follow this custom.\n",
"Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are usually served cooked, as a vegetable or part of a prepared savoury dish, but can also be eaten raw or used to make pickles or chutneys. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which irritate the eyes.\n",
"Garlic is native to Central Asia and northeastern Iran, and has long been a common seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use. It was known to ancient Egyptians, and has been used both as a food flavoring and as a traditional medicine. In Ancient Rome, it was \"\"much used for food among the poor\"\". China produces some 80% of the world supply of garlic.\n",
"Onions are commonly chopped and used as an ingredient in various hearty warm dishes, and may also be used as a main ingredient in their own right, for example in French onion soup, creamed onions, and onion chutney. They are versatile and can be baked, boiled, braised, grilled, fried, roasted, sautéed, or eaten raw in salads. Their layered nature makes them easy to hollow out once cooked, facilitating stuffing them, as in Turkish sogan-dolma.\n"
] |
In the film 'Inglorious Basterds' the French citizens under Nazi occupation are portrayed as more or less continuing their daily lives, just with Nazi soldiers everywhere. Is this accurate? | I get that Quentin Tarantino wasn't exactly setting out to make a documentary, I just found his portrayal of Nazi-occupied Paris as fairly regular French life with some Nazi officers overseeing things as taking some serious liberties. | [
"During the German occupation of France, the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazi occupiers, had an ultra-conservative morality and started to use a whole range of laws against a youth that was restless and disenchanted. These young people expressed their resistance and nonconformity through aggressive dance competitions, sometimes against soldiers from the occupying forces.\n",
"In France during the German occupation, a young German naval officer is killed in Paris by a group of leftist activists. The compliant Vichy government seeks to appease the Germans by locating the perpetrators and agreeing to the execution of six people, and a special section is set up for this purpose. The section consists of judges who are too ambitious, cowardly or inhuman to refuse such work. The flames of totalitarianism must be stoked, even with innocent blood, and it is especially convenient to the government if the accused are thoroughly expendable in their eyes.\n",
"I have suffered an enormous injustice. They curtailed my career by ten years — my own people! The fact is that I knew some of the Germans when they came to Paris during the occupation. This gave my enemies the chance to satisfy their envy … If I saw the Germans in Paris —and they had been more than kind to me— it was to save my compatriots. It was my way of serving my country at that particular moment. Nobody knows how many prisoners I had released … When I spent three years in prison, they confiscated my château at Tours and my possessions. Did anyone bother to ask me why I did not accept Winifred Wagner’s invitations to sing in Germany during the occupation? But my trial was a complete vindication: I was completely cleared. Yes, they gave back most of what they had taken …\n",
"The well-known personalities of France – intellectuals, artists, and entertainers – faced a serious dilemma in choosing to emigrate or to remain in France during the country's occupation. They understood that their post-war reputations would depend, in large part, on their conduct during the war years. Most who remained in France aimed to defend and further French culture and thereby weaken the German hold on occupied France. Some were later ostracized following accusations that they had collaborated. Among those who actively fought in the Resistance, a number died for it – for instance the writer Jean Prévost, the philosopher and mathematician Jean Cavaillès, the historian Marc Bloch, and the philosopher Jean Gosset; among those who survived and went on to reflect on their experience, a particularly visible one was André Malraux.\n",
"Some imply that France did too little to deal with collaborators at this stage, by selectively pointing out that in absolute value (numbers), there were fewer legal executions in France than in its smaller neighbour Belgium, and fewer internments than in Norway or the Netherlands. However, the situation in Belgium was not comparable as it mixed collaboration with elements of a war of secession: The 1940 invasion prompted the Flemish population to generally side with the Germans in the hope of gaining national recognition, and relative to national population a much higher proportion of Belgians than French thus ended up collaborating with the Nazis or volunteering to fight alongside them; The Walloon population in turn led massive anti-Flemish retribution after the war, some of which, such as the execution of , remained controversial.\n",
"In France, Austro-German citizens also became “enemy aliens” at the outbreak of war and were sent in internment camps. The Camp des Milles, near Aix-en-Provence, where German artists such as Max Ernst and Hans Bellmer were imprisoned, was famous for its artistic life. As France was invaded, the situation of exiled German artists got more complicated and dangerous. They risked deportation, forced labour and extermination in the case of Jewish artists, both in occupied France and in the Vichy Republic. Most chose to emigrate further while others went into hiding.\n",
"The small town of Bussy and its neighbouring farms are the scene throughout. The German occupation seems sweetly peaceful but there is no doubt over the balance of power. The Germans get whatever they ask for; official notices promise the death penalty for those who disobey their regulations, and French collaborators, including the Péricands, make their own settlement with their German overlords.\n"
] |
how can personality traits be passed down genetically? | There is some debate on nature vs nurture for character traits we consider "genetic". Some times it is the cultural or socioeconomic background which makes it appear like a family has similar traits. Maybe the daughter was given a lot of scientific models or books as a youngster, or the parents pushed for or encouraged a science background in her education. It is hard to separate upbringing from genetics, but there is a possible scientific component.
Like you said, genes code for proteins. Proteins do more than just contribute visible traits which you can recognize as Mendelian (hair color, eye color, blood type). Some genes may differ in how often they are expressed, or read. This can lead to an over- or underproduction of things like hormones or neurotransmitters which have an effect on behavior and mood. For instance if high testosterone levels are correlated with aggression and if the mutation that overproduces testosterone is inheritable then the offspring may be predisposed to aggressive behaviors. | [
"Advances in molecular biology techniques and the species-wide genome project have made it possible to map out an individual's entire genome. Whether genetic or environmental factors are primarily responsible for an individual's personality has long been a topic of debate. Thanks to the advances being made in the field of neurogenetics, researchers have begun to tackle this question by beginning to map out genes and correlate them to different personality traits. There is little to no evidence to suggest that the presence of a \"single\" gene indicates that an individual will express one style of behavior over another; rather, having a specific gene could make one more predisposed to displaying this type of behavior. It is starting to become clear that most genetically influenced behaviors are due to the effects of many variants within \"many\" genes, in addition to other neurological regulating factors like neurotransmitter levels. Due to fact that many behavioral characteristics have been conserved across species for generations, researchers are able to use animal subjects such as mice and rats, but also fruit flies, worms, and zebrafish, to try to determine specific genes that correlate to behavior and attempt to match these with human genes.\n",
"Personality traits are conceptualized by evolutionary psychologists as due to normal variation around an optimum, due to frequency-dependent selection (behavioral polymorphisms), or as facultative adaptations. Like variability in height, some personality traits may simply reflect inter-individual variability around a general optimum. Or, personality traits may represent different genetically predisposed \"behavioral morphs\" – alternate behavioral strategies that depend on the frequency of competing behavioral strategies in the population. For example, if most of the population is generally trusting and gullible, the behavioral morph of being a \"cheater\" (or, in the extreme case, a sociopath) may be advantageous. Finally, like many other psychological adaptations, personality traits may be facultative – sensitive to typical variations in the social environment, especially during early development. For example, later born children are more likely than first borns to be rebellious, less conscientious and more open to new experiences, which may be advantageous to them given their particular niche in family structure. It is important to note that shared environmental influences do play a role in personality and are not always of less importance than genetic factors. However, shared environmental influences often decrease to near zero after adolescence but do not completely disappear.\n",
"Previously, genetic personality studies focused on specific genes correlating to specific personality traits. Today's view of the gene-personality relationship focuses primarily on the activation and expression of genes related to personality and forms part of what is referred to as behavioural genetics. Genes provide numerous options for varying cells to be expressed; however, the environment determines which of these are activated. Many studies have noted this relationship in varying ways in which our bodies can develop, but the interaction between genes and the shaping of our minds and personality is also relevant to this biological relationship.\n",
"Personality traits are an individual's enduring manner of perceiving, feeling, evaluating, reacting, and interacting with other people specifically, and with their environment more generally. Because reliable and valid personality inventories give a relatively accurate representation of a person's characteristics, they are beneficial in the clinical setting as supplementary material to standard initial assessment procedures such as a clinical interview; review of collateral information, e.g., reports from family members; and review of psychological and medical treatment records.\n",
"From the beginning of his research, Cattell found personality traits to have a multi-level, hierarchical structure (Cattell, 1946). The first goal of these researchers was to find the most fundamental primary traits of personality. Next they factor-analyzed these numerous primary traits to see if these traits had a structure of their own—i.e. if some of them naturally went together in self-defining, meaningful groupings.\n",
"It has become common practice to use factor analysis to derive personality traits. The Big Five model proposes that there are five basic personality traits. These traits were derived in accordance with the lexical hypothesis. These five personality traits: Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience have garnered widespread support .\n",
"Personality is a frequently cited example of a heritable trait that has been studied in twins and adoptees using behavioral genetic study designs. The most famous categorical organization of heritable personality traits were created by Goldberg (1990) in which he had college students rate their personalities on 1400 dimensions to begin, and then narrowed these down into \"\"The Big Five\"\" factors of personality—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The close genetic relationship between positive personality traits and, for example, our happiness traits are the mirror images of comorbidity in psychopathology. These personality factors were consistent across cultures, and many studies have also tested the heritability of these traits.\n"
] |
negative product placement in movies / shows | Stevia isn't a brand. It's a sweetener derived from the leaves of the plant *Stevia rebaudiana.* So there's no one to pay for the namedrop. It'd be like saying that "Maple Syrup" is a brand name. | [
"Many argue that product placement is ethically questionable, because it manipulates people against their will. A contrary view is, even if product placement is only perceived unconsciously, it is still evaluated by our mind. It cannot make people act against their beliefs. Most people also appreciate the fact that movies look more realistic with real brands and do not feel disturbed by the placements. Additionally, further research argues that product placement is not any different from other marketing tactics when it comes to ethics.\n",
"Under specific circumstances, product placement can lead to no or even negative effects. This usually happens if the product placement is too obvious, while the audience also feels it is being manipulated.\n",
"The animation parodies a regular pharmaceutical television commercial, detailing the benefits of a drug whose use isn't described in detail. Instead, a large number of side effects are sung to an upbeat musical jingle, which emphasizes that the consumer should buy the fictional drug \"Progenitorivox\"— even if the generic drug is half the cost— if only to be like a family on TV. The animation ends with a seemingly random disclaimer, also a parody of pharmaceutical or \"drug\" advertisements.\n",
"This often occurs in negative advertisements and comparative advertisements—both for products and political causes. An example would be a manufacturer of a product displaying an ad that refutes one particular claim made about a rival's product, so that when the audience sees an ad for said rival product, they refute the product claims automatically.\n",
"Product Placement is an advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote their products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appearances in film, television, or other media.\n",
"A variant of product placement is advertisement placement. In this case an advertisement for the product (rather than the product itself) appears in the production. Examples include a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement on a billboard or a truck with a milk advertisement on its trailer.\n",
"BULLET::::12. Gupta, P. B., & Gould, S. J. (1997). Consumers' Perceptions of the Ethics and Acceptability of Product Placements in Movies: Product Category and Individual Differences. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 19(1), 37-50.\n"
] |
What's the evolutionary advantage of a circadian rhythm that doesn't match the Earth's rotation? | Things don't have to make sense. They're there because they haven't reduced fecundity.
Stuff happens because it can. Organisms are historical documents, not perfectly tuned machines. | [
"Circadian rhythms allow organisms to anticipate and prepare for precise and regular environmental changes. They thus enable organisms to better capitalize on environmental resources (e.g. light and food) compared to those that cannot predict such availability. It has therefore been suggested that circadian rhythms put organisms at a selective advantage in evolutionary terms. However, rhythmicity appears to be as important in regulating and coordinating \"internal\" metabolic processes, as in coordinating with the \"environment\". This is suggested by the maintenance (heritability) of circadian rhythms in fruit flies after several hundred generations in constant laboratory conditions, as well as in creatures in constant darkness in the wild, and by the experimental elimination of behavioral, but not physiological, circadian rhythms in quail.\n",
"A circadian advantage is an advantage gained when an organism's biological cycles are in tune with its surroundings. It is not a well studied phenomenon, but it is known to occur in certain types of cyanobacteria, whose endogenous cycles, or circadian rhythm, \"resonates\" or aligns with their environment. It is know to occur in plants also, suggesting that any organism which is able to attune its natural growth cycles with its environment will have a competitive advantage over those that do not. Circadian advantage may also refer to sporting teams gaining an advantage by acclimatizing to the time zone where a match is played. \n",
"Biological rhythms were first studied in \"Drosophila\". \"Drosophila\" circadian rhythm have paved the way for understanding circadian behaviour and diseases related to sleep-wake conditions in other animals, including humans. This is because the circadian clocks are fundamentally similar. \"Drosophila\" circadian rhythm was discovered in 1935 by German zoologists, Hans Kalmus and Erwin Bünning. American biologist Colin S. Pittendrigh provided an important experiment in 1954, which established that circadian rhythm is driven by a biological clock. The genetics was first understood in 1971, when Seymour Benzer and Ronald J. Konopka reported that mutation in specific genes changes or stops the circadian behaviour. They discovered the gene called \"period\" (\"per\"), mutations of which alter the circadian rhythm. It was the first gene known to control behaviour. After a decade, Konopka, Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young discovered novel genes including \"timeless\" (\"tim\"), \"Clock\" (\"Clk\"), \"cycle\" (\"cyc\"), \"cry\". These genes and their product proteins play a key role in the circadian clock.\n",
"The seasons occur because the Earth's axis of rotation is not perpendicular to its orbital plane (the plane of the ecliptic) but currently makes an angle of about 23.44° (called the obliquity of the ecliptic), and because the axis keeps its orientation with respect to an inertial frame of reference. As a consequence, for half the year the Northern Hemisphere is inclined toward the Sun while for the other half year the Southern Hemisphere has this distinction. The two moments when the inclination of Earth's rotational axis has maximum effect are the solstices.\n",
"While a precise 24-hour circadian clock is found in many organisms, it is not universal. Organisms living in the high arctic or high antarctic do not experience solar time in all seasons, though most are believed to maintain a circadian rhythm close to 24 hours, such as bears during torpor. Much of the earth's biomass resides in the dark biosphere, and while these organisms may exhibit rhythmic physiology, for these organisms the dominant rhythm is unlikely to be circadian. For east-west migratory organisms—and especially should an organism circumnavigate the globe—the absolute 24-hour phase might deviate over months, seasons, or years.\n",
"What drove circadian rhythms to evolve has been an enigmatic question. Previous hypotheses emphasized that photosensitive proteins and circadian rhythms may have originated together in the earliest cells, with the purpose of protecting replicating DNA from high levels of damaging ultraviolet radiation during the daytime. As a result, replication was relegated to the dark. However, evidence for this is lacking, since the simplest organisms with a circadian rhythm, the cyanobacteria, do the opposite of this - they divide more in the daytime. Recent studies instead highlight the importance of co-evolution of redox proteins with circadian oscillators in all three domains of life following the Great Oxidation Event approximately 2.3 billion years ago. The current view is that circadian changes in environmental oxygen levels and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the presence of daylight are likely to have driven a need to evolve circadian rhythms to preempt, and therefore counteract, damaging redox reactions on a daily basis.\n",
"Do circadian timekeepers enhance the fitness of organisms growing under natural conditions? Despite the expectation that circadian clocks are usually assumed to enhance the fitness of organisms by improving their ability to adapt to daily cycles in environmental factors, there have been few rigorous tests of that proposition in any organism. Cyanobacteria are one of the few organisms in which such a test has been performed. The adaptive fitness test was done by mixing cyanobacterial strains that express different circadian properties (i.e., rhythmicity vs. arhythmicity, different periods, etc.) and growing them in competition under different environmental conditions. The idea was to determine if having an appropriately functional clock system enhances fitness under competitive conditions. The result was that strains with a functioning biological clock out-compete arhythmic strains in environments that have a rhythmic light/dark cycle (e.g., 12 hours of light alternating with 12 hours of darkness), whereas in \"constant\" environments (e.g., constant illumination) rhythmic and arhythmic strains grow at comparable rates. Among rhythmic strains with different periods, the strains whose endogenous period most closely matches the period of the environmental cycle is able to out-compete strains whose period does not match that of the environment. Therefore, in rhythmic environments, the fitness of cyanobacteria is improved when the clock is operational and when its circadian period is similar to the period of the environmental cycle. These were among the first rigorous demonstrations in any organism of a fitness advantage conferred by a circadian system.\n"
] |
Did the advent of cooking food correlate with an increased longer lifespan, and/or have an obvious impact on early human evolution? | My thought is that it definitely has an impact on human lifespan. The heat used to cook food kills many microorganisms present in the food that could possibly cause diseases in humans.
Also. Because cooking food breaks down the molecules in food to form simpler substances, this would also mean our bodies expend less energy to completely digest the food consumed and absorb nutrients from the food. As such, naturally, less food is required to provide enough energy for a human to function. | [
"Farming, which, the authors note, produces 10 to 100 times more calories per acre than foraging, carried this trend further. Over the period from 10,000 BC to AD 1, the world population increased about a hundredfold - estimates range from 40 to 170 times. An accelerated rate of evolution is a direct result of the larger human population. More people will have more mutations, thereby increasing opportunity for evolutionary change under natural selection. The spread of rapidly expanding populations eventually outpaced the spread of favourable mutations under selection in those populations, so for the first time in human history favourable mutations could not fully disperse throughout the human species. In addition, of course, selection pressures changed once farming was adopted, favouring distinctive adaptations in different geographic areas.\n",
"The evolution of the human diet has not stopped since the end of the Paleolithic. Major functional adaptations have arisen in the last few thousand years as human technology has altered the environment. The most prevalent dietary adaptation since the Neolithic is lactase persistence, an adaptation that allows humans to digest milk. This adaptation appears roughly 4000 years ago in Europe. For populations more dependent on agriculture and domesticated animals, the importance of being able to add another edible resource should be noted.\n",
"BULLET::::- Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history, largely to meet rapidly growing demands for food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. This has resulted in a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth.\n",
"Many specifics of the evolution of the human diet change regularly as new research and lines of evidence become available. Through the Paleolithic across the last 2.8 million years there has been a pattern of human and human ancestor’s biology adapting to an additionally available food source with resulting greater brain size, with the subsequent broadening and diversification of human diet. \"Homo habilis\" incorporated larger amounts of animal protein and fat into its diet, then as \"Homo erectus\" evolved it increased the breadth of its diet through fire and more advanced tool use. \"Homo sapiens\" in turn evolved the ability to consume cooked starch and marine life, which led to a further increase in brain size then greater technological diversification that ultimately allowed modern humans to adapt to a wide variety of ecological niches. The initial technological and biological adaptations each have knock on effects that allow a greater range of species to be used as food. This culminates in the Neolithic when suites of plants and animals are ultimately domesticated. In short, if there is a clear universal human Paleolithic diet, it is the use of fire to cook food.\n",
"Richard Wrangham, professor of biological anthropology at Harvard University, proposes that cooked food played a pivotal role in human evolution. Evidence of a cooked diet, according to Wrangham, can be seen as far back as 1.8 million years ago in the anatomical adaptations of \"Homo erectus\". Reduction in the size of teeth and jaw in \"H. erectus\" indicate a softer diet, requiring less chewing time. This combined with a smaller gut and larger brain indicate to Wrangham that \"H. erectus\" was eating a higher quality diet than its predecessors. To explain a decreased gut providing the amount of energy required for an increased brain size, Wrangham links his research on the digestive effects of cooked versus raw foods with the lower reproductive abilities of female raw foodists, and BMI in both sexes, to support his hypothesis that cooked starches provided the energy necessary to fuel evolution from \"H. erectus\" to \"H. sapiens\".\n",
"As early evolution has it, prehistoric ancestors in the form of hunter/gathers maintained the mentality that food supplies were unpredicted and their next meal was unknown. In this way, ancestors would eat whenever possible and efficiently store the energy absorbed as fat to use when resources were scarce. Since then, the environment in which we live in, has evolved rapidly with food supplies readily and effortlessly available. Consequently, the approach to conservation of energy from food has now been transformed into overeating and under-activity, generating a recipe of chronic disease and premature death.\n",
"Wrangham's latest work focuses on the role cooking has played in human evolution. He has argued that cooking food is obligatory for humans as a result of biological adaptations and that cooking, in particular the consumption of cooked tubers, might explain the increase in hominid brain sizes, smaller teeth and jaws, and decrease in sexual dimorphism that occurred roughly 1.8 million years ago. Some anthropologists disagree with Wrangham's ideas, pointing out that there is no solid evidence to support Wrangham's claims., though Wrangham and colleagues, among others, have demonstrated in the lab the effects of cooking on energetic availability: cooking denatures proteins, gelatinizes starch, and helps kill pathogens. The mainstream explanation is that human ancestors, prior to the advent of cooking, turned to eating meats, which then caused the evolutionary shift to smaller guts and larger brains.\n"
] |
Does the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle mean that we've proved string theory and does that mean we now have the elusive "Theory of Everything"? | Short answer: no. The Higgs boson is predicted by the Standard Model (SM), and its confirmation just serves to strengthen that model. Since we know that SM can't be the whole story its predictions should fail at some point. The discovery of the Higgs boson merely tells us that we still haven't reached that point.
Edit: grammar | [
"An initial focus of research was to investigate the possible existence of the Higgs boson, a key part of the Standard Model of physics which is predicted by theory but had not yet been observed before due to its high mass and elusive nature. CERN scientists estimated that, if the Standard Model were correct, the LHC would produce several Higgs bosons every minute, allowing physicists to finally confirm or disprove the Higgs boson's existence. In addition, the LHC allowed the search for supersymmetric particles and other hypothetical particles as possible unknown areas of physics. Some extensions of the Standard Model predict additional particles, such as the heavy W' and Z' gauge bosons, which are also estimated to be within reach of the LHC to discover.\n",
"Therefore, the search for the Higgs boson did not conclude with the 2012 particle's discovery – proof that a particle exists is not proof that the particle is indeed a Higgs boson, or that the discovered particle matches a specific theory about the Higgs boson, or that it could not be some other unknown particle which behaves \"in some ways\" like a Higgs boson.\n",
"BULLET::::- The first theory of the Higgs boson is put forward by Peter Higgs, a particle-physics theorist at the University of Edinburgh, and five other physicists. The particle is discovered in 2012 at CERN's Large Hadron Collider and its existence is confirmed in 2013.\n",
"Following the 2012 discovery, it was still unconfirmed whether or not the 125 GeV/\"c\" particle was a Higgs boson. On one hand, observations remained consistent with the observed particle being the Standard Model Higgs boson, and the particle decayed into at least some of the predicted channels. Moreover, the production rates and branching ratios for the observed channels broadly matched the predictions by the Standard Model within the experimental uncertainties. However, the experimental uncertainties currently still left room for alternative explanations, meaning an announcement of the discovery of a Higgs boson would have been premature. To allow more opportunity for data collection, the LHC's proposed 2012 shutdown and 2013–14 upgrade were postponed by 7 weeks into 2013.\n",
"In late 2012, \"Time\", Forbes, \"Slate\", \"NPR\", and others announced incorrectly that the existence of the Higgs boson had been confirmed. Numerous statements by the discoverers at CERN and other experts since July 2012 had reiterated that a particle was discovered but it was not yet confirmed to be a Higgs boson. It was only in March 2013 that it was announced officially. This was followed by the making of a documentary film about the hunt.\n",
"As part of another longstanding scientific dispute, Hawking had emphatically argued, and bet, that the Higgs boson would never be found. The particle was proposed to exist as part of the Higgs field theory by Peter Higgs in 1964. Hawking and Higgs engaged in a heated and public debate over the matter in 2002 and again in 2008, with Higgs criticising Hawking's work and complaining that Hawking's \"celebrity status gives him instant credibility that others do not have.\" The particle was discovered in July 2012 at CERN following construction of the Large Hadron Collider. Hawking quickly conceded that he had lost his bet and said that Higgs should win the Nobel Prize for Physics, which he did in 2013.\n",
"BULLET::::- is the mass of elementary particles being generated by the Higgs mechanism via electroweak symmetry breaking? It was expected that the collider experiments will either demonstrate or rule out the existence of the elusive Higgs boson, thereby allowing physicists to consider whether the Standard Model or its Higgsless alternatives are more likely to be correct.\n"
] |
how do people lose coordination while playing vr games? | Have you played it?
There's big difference between looking lifelike, and looking good enough to throw off your senses.
If it's good enough to make you believe it's moving, your mind is getting different signals from your equilibrium and balancing sensors (in your ears) and your eyes.
Think about it like motion sickness, even if you know you're moving in a car, your body still gets confused and you get sick.
The same thing is happening here. Your eyes are telling your brain you're in a moving cart, or falling down, and it responds and gets confused.
No matter how enlightened you think you are, or in touch with your body, when your eyes get deceived and they send the motion signals to your brain, there's nothing you can do about it. | [
"The overcoming of the condition known as dyslexia is also considered an improvement due to the continuous utilization of controllers for the video games. This continuous process helps to train the users to overcome their condition which impedes in their abilities of interpretation. The ability of hand-eye coordination is also improved thanks in part to video games, due to the need to operate the controller and view the screen displaying the content all at the same time. The coordination of the player is enhanced due the playing and continuous observation of a video game since the game gives high mental stimulation and coordination is important and therefore enhanced due to the constant visual and physical movement that is produced from the playing of the video game.\n",
"The physiology behind VR sickness is not currently clearly understood. Fortunately, research has uncovered some clear indications of certain conditions that cause VR sickness. It seems that the images projected from virtual reality have a major impact on sickness. The refresh rate of on-screen images is often not high enough when VR sickness occurs. Because the refresh rate is slower than what the brain processes, it causes a discord between the processing rate and the refresh rate, which causes the user to perceive glitches on the screen. When these two components do not match up, it can cause the user to experience the same feelings as simulator and motion sickness which is mentioned below.\n",
"While certain features are known to moderate VR sickness in head-mounted displays, such as playing from a seated position rather than standing, it has also been found that this merely puts off the onset of sickness, rather than completely preventing it. This inherently presents an issue, in that this type of interactive VR often involves standing or walking for a fully immersive experience. Gaming VR specialists argue that this unique brand of VR sickness is only a minor issue, claiming that it disappears with time spent (multiple days) using the head-mounted displays, relating it to \"getting your sea legs\". However, getting users interested in sickness for multiple days with the promise of \"probably getting over it\" is a struggle for developers of head-mounted gaming tech. These same developers also argue that it has more to do with the individual game being played, and that certain gaming aspects are more likely to create issues, such as change in speed, walking up stairs, and jumping, which are all, unfortunately, fairly normal game functions in predominant genres.\n",
"Although the game was named \"VRChat\", it is not necessary to have VR equipment to play the game. The game also offers a desktop version for those who don't have VR headsets, but it has limitations such as the inability to freely move an avatar, as well as certain game maps making use of both hands, such as a shooting game where the player must use their other hand to reload a weapon well holding it with the primary hand. Desktop Mode users are restricted to a single hand for interacting.\n",
"Some players become more concerned with their interactions in the game than in their broader lives. Players may play many hours per day, neglect personal hygiene, gain or lose significant weight due to playing, disrupt sleep patterns to play resulting in sleep deprivation, play at work, avoid phone calls from friends, or lie about how much time they spend playing video games.\n",
"While there is great interest in using video game rehabilitation with children with cerebral palsy, it is difficult to compare outcomes between studies, and therefore to reach evidence-based conclusions on its effectiveness. Because video gaming is popular, it may help children's motivation to continue with the therapy. There is moderate evidence for improvements with balance and motor skills in children and teens, but it is not recommended as an effective therapy.\n",
"It has been shown that action video game players have better hand–eye coordination and visuo-motor skills, such as their resistance to distraction, their sensitivity to information in the peripheral vision and their ability to count briefly presented objects, than nonplayers. Researchers found that such enhanced abilities could be acquired by training with action games, involving challenges that switch attention between different locations, but not with games requiring concentration on single objects.\n"
] |
why is it so much easier to eat a spoonful of sugar than a spoonful of salt? | Humans are wired to find more sugar. A spoonful of sugar will not kill you. 10,000 years ago a spoonful of sugar would be hard to find, and a very nice energy boost to a person who generally had to still hunt for food. High energy, carbohydrate dense sources taste sweet and pleasant because 1) eating more of them is good in the short term and 2) it will not kill you, since carbs are an essential macronutrient needed in pretty large amounts every day. IIRC the recommended daily intake of carbs is like 270 grams, which isn't small.
Salt is also important. We have sodium taste receptors that tell us when something is salty. We need it to survive. No sodium, no life. However, it is much easier to overdose and die from too much salt because it's needed at a careful dose every day to maintain body function. You need it to feel, move, breathe, pretty much everything. A big ol' mouthful of salt is pretty close to your maximum intake for the day. As a result, we've evolved to the point where that tastes really dreadful, since eating too many of those will make your kidneys unable to process that sodium, and you'll die. Eating lots of salt in the short term is acutely bad and poisonous even, and you need far less salt than sugar to survive. A spoonful only of salt probably will not kill you, but it's not super far off. | [
"Fructose has higher water solubility than other sugars, as well as other sugar alcohols. Fructose is, therefore, difficult to crystallize from an aqueous solution. Sugar mixes containing fructose, such as candies, are softer than those containing other sugars because of the greater solubility of fructose.\n",
"Because the salt has a purer flavor due to the lack of metallic or bitter-tasting additives such as iodine, fluoride or dextrose, it is often used in the kitchen instead of additive-containing table salt, so such flavors are not introduced to prepared food. Estimating the amount of salt when salting by hand can also be easier due to the larger grain size. Some recipes specifically call for volume measurement of kosher/kitchen salt, which weighs less per measure due to its lower density and is therefore less salty than an equal volume measurement of table salt. Different brands of different salt vary dramatically; a measure of one brand may be twice as salty as a measure of another.\n",
"The bliss point for salt, sugar, or fat is a range within which perception is that there is neither too much nor too little, but the \"just right\" amount of saltiness, sweetness, or richness. The human body has evolved to favor foods delivering these tastes: the brain responds with a \"reward\" in the form of a jolt of endorphins, remembers what we did to get that reward, and makes us want to do it again, an effect run by dopamine, a neurotransmitter. Combinations of sugar, fat, and salt act synergistically, and are more rewarding than any one alone. In food product optimization, the goal is to include two or three of these nutrients at their bliss point.\n",
"Salt is essential to the health of humans and other animals, and it is one of the five basic taste sensations. Salt is used in many cuisines around the world, and it is often found in salt shakers on diners' eating tables for their personal use on food. Salt is also an ingredient in many manufactured foodstuffs. Table salt is a refined salt containing about 97 to 99 percent sodium chloride. Usually, anticaking agents such as sodium aluminosilicate or magnesium carbonate are added to make it free-flowing. Iodized salt, containing potassium iodide, is widely available. Some people put a desiccant, such as a few grains of uncooked rice or a saltine cracker, in their salt shakers to absorb extra moisture and help break up salt clumps that may otherwise form.\n",
"Sugar is sometimes added when curing fish, particularly salmon. The sugar can take many forms, including honey, corn syrup solids, and maple syrup. Adding sugar alleviates the harsh flavor of the salt. It also contributes to the growth of beneficial bacteria like \"Lactobacillus\" by feeding them.\n",
"Sucrose (table sugar) is most commonly associated with cavities. The amount of sugar consumed at any one time is less important than how often food and drinks that contain sugar are consumed. The more frequently sugars are consumed, the greater the time during which the tooth is exposed to low pH levels, at which point demineralisation occurs (below 5.5 for most people). It is important therefore to try to encourage infrequent consumption of food and drinks containing sugar so that teeth have a chance to be repaired by remineralisation and fluoride. Limiting sugar-containing foods and drinks to meal times is one way to reduce the incidence of cavities. Sugars from fruit and fruit juices, e.g., glucose, fructose, and maltose can also cause cavities.\n",
"A sugar spoon is a piece of cutlery used for serving granulated sugar. This type of spoon resembles a teaspoon, except that the bowl is deeper and often molded in the shape of a sea shell, giving it the name \"sugar shell\". Sugar spoons are sometimes called \"sugar shovels\" because of their rectangular shape and deep bowl.\n"
] |
Why is liquid oxygen magnetic? Are there any other gases that are magnetic when in liquid form? | The oxygen molecule has a magnetic moment because the two electrons in the two highest occupied molecular orbitals have parallel spin. Curie paramagnetism increases at lower temperatures and is quite noticeable at the boiling point. | [
"Oxygen, long known to be slightly magnetic in the gaseous state, is powerfully attracted in the liquid condition by a magnet, and the same is true, though to a less extent, of liquid air, owing to the proportion of liquid oxygen it contains. \n",
"Oxygen molecules have attracted attention because of the relationship between the molecular magnetization and crystal structures, electronic structures, and superconductivity. Oxygen is the only simple diatomic molecule (and one of the few molecules in general) to carry a magnetic moment. This makes solid oxygen particularly interesting, as it is considered a 'spin-controlled' crystal that displays antiferromagnetic magnetic order in the low temperature phases. The magnetic properties of oxygen have been studied extensively. At very high pressures, solid oxygen changes from an insulating to a metallic state; and at very low temperatures, it even transforms to a superconducting state. Structural investigations of solid oxygen began in the 1920s and, at present, six distinct crystallographic phases are established unambiguously.\n",
"In the triplet form, molecules are paramagnetic. That is, they impart magnetic character to oxygen when it is in the presence of a magnetic field, because of the spin magnetic moments of the unpaired electrons in the molecule, and the negative exchange energy between neighboring molecules. Liquid oxygen is so magnetic that, in laboratory demonstrations, a bridge of liquid oxygen may be supported against its own weight between the poles of a powerful magnet.\n",
"Liquid oxygen has a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetic: it can be suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 g/cm (1.141 kg/L or 1141 kg/m), slightly denser than liquid water, and is cryogenic with a freezing point of and a boiling point of at 101.325 kPa (760 mmHg). Liquid oxygen has an expansion ratio of 1:861 under and , and because of this, it is used in some commercial and military aircraft as a transportable source of breathing oxygen.\n",
"The tetraoxygen molecule (O) was first predicted in 1924 by Gilbert N. Lewis, who proposed it to explain why liquid oxygen defied Curie's law. Modern computer simulations indicate that although there are no stable O molecules in liquid oxygen, O molecules do tend to associate in pairs with antiparallel spins, forming transient O units.\n",
"Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of elemental oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard an application which has continued to the present.\n",
"The ground state of has a bond length of 121 pm and a bond energy of 498 kJ/mol. It is a colourless gas with a boiling point of . It can be condensed from air by cooling with liquid nitrogen, which has a boiling point of . Liquid oxygen is pale blue in colour, and is quite markedly paramagnetic due to the unpaired electrons; liquid oxygen contained in a flask suspended by a string is attracted to a magnet.\n"
] |
Did the American military expect/plan for an attack from Mexico during world war 1? | Mexico was undergoing a multi-sided civil war, and they were in no position to fight a war against anyone outside their borders. As for the US military, the so-called "Punitive Expedition" saw about 5,000 US troops chase one of the combatants, Pancho Villa, around Mexico for a year with the intent to kill or capture him, which was not successful. | [
"On 9 March 1916, the Mexican rebel General Francisco \"Pancho\" Villa ordered nearly 500 Mexican revolutionaries to make a cross-border attack into the United States at New Mexico. The raid was in response to Woodrow Wilson's recognition and support of the Carranza regime. Commander of the Army 8th Brigade John J. Pershing led a failed punitive expedition to kill or capture Villa. However, Villa was not caught and by 1919 had assembled a sizable force and had initiated several battles against Mexican military troops in an attempt to rally the Mexican people against President Carranza. On the morning of 15 June 1919, Villa's forces attacked Mexican military troops at Fort Hidalgo.\n",
"The 2nd Division of the United States Army deployed to Texas City in 1913 to guard the Gulf Coast from incursions during the Mexican Revolution, essentially encamping nearly half of the nation's land military personnel there, due to the perceived double threat that the Mexican Revolution might spill over across the border or that the neighboring country might become a German ally in the incipient World War.\n",
"Both the San Ignacio and San Benito raids, along with General Pershing expedition in Chihuahua, created a situation in the United States and Mexico that seemed to be a \"\"repetition of that process that brought Europe into war in 1914.\"\" Just two days after the raids, on June 18, President Woodrow Wilson announced that he was sending the remaining National Guard regiments to the border, not including the Arizona, New Mexico and Texas regiments which had already been in position since May. Within two weeks, American reinforcements began to arrive and by the end of the year over 150,000 militiamen were in position. Wilson also sent sixteen additional warships to patrol the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico's Pacific coast. Carranza followed suit by concentrating his forces along the border and issuing a \"\"general call to the civilians of Mexico to arm themselves\"\" in preparation for an American invasion. According to the \"New outlook, Volume 113;\" \"\"there were spectacles in the cities of the United States not since 1898\"\" during the Spanish–American War. In addition, thousands of Americans living in Mexico began fleeing north, or to the safety of the United States Navy. War would never come though, other than a raid near Fort Hancock, Texas on June 31, incursions into American territory ceased by July, which helped resolve some of the tension between the two nations. It wasn't until late 1917 that a new series of attacks would begin. But, like the engagement near Fort Hancock, they all occurred in West Texas, far away from where the Seditionists were active.\n",
"In the Mexican–American War 1846–48, the U.S. Army under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott and others, invaded and after a series of victorious battles (and no major defeats) seized New Mexico and California, and also blockaded the coast, invaded northern Mexico, and invaded central Mexico, capturing the national capital. The peace terms involved American purchase of the area from California to New Mexico for $10 million.\n",
"In 1914 and 1916, U.S. troops were sent into Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The Pancho Villa Expedition under Brigadier General John J. Pershing attempted to capture Pancho Villa, a Mexican who had mounted attacks on U.S. border towns. The skirmishes on the border later became known as the Border War (1910–19).\n",
"During the 1910s, relations between Mexico and the United States were often volatile. In 1912, U.S. President William Howard Taft considered sending an expeditionary force to protect foreign-owned property from damage during the Mexican Revolution. Thus War Plan Green was developed. In 1916, U.S. troops under General John Pershing invaded Mexico in search of Pancho Villa, whose army had attacked Columbus, New Mexico; earlier, American naval forces had bombarded and seized the Mexican port of Veracruz, and forced Victoriano Huerta to resign the presidency. In 1917, British intelligence intercepted a telegram from the German foreign ministry to its embassy in Mexico City offering an alliance against the United States and assistance in the Mexican reconquest of the Southwest. Released to American newspapers, the Zimmermann Telegram helped turn American opinion against Germany and further poisoned the atmosphere between the USA and Mexico. Relations with Mexico remained tense into the 1920s and 1930s.\n",
"After the declaration of war on May 13, 1846, U.S. forces invaded Mexican territory on two main fronts. The U.S. War Department sent a U.S. Cavalry force under Stephen W. Kearny to invade western Mexico from Jefferson Barracks and Fort Leavenworth, reinforced by a Pacific fleet under John D. Sloat. This was done primarily because of concerns that the British might also try to seize the area. Two more forces, one under John E. Wool and the other under Taylor, were ordered to occupy Mexico as far south as the city of Monterrey.\n"
] |
how come in zombie themed movies and tv shows the characters never refer to the zombies as zombies? | Because that would denote a previous knowledge of zombies, which one could presume to include knowledge of how to eliminate them as a threat. The scenario being depicted is more realistic if the unaffected do not have any knowledge about the threat. | [
"Zombie films feature creatures who are usually portrayed as either reanimated corpses or mindless human beings. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the zombie comedy, which may or may not retain a significant horror theme, and often crosses into black comedy. Examples include: \"White Zombie\", \"Night of the Living Dead\", \"Dawn of the Dead\", \"REC\", \"28 Days Later\", \"Deadgirl\", \"Dead Snow\", \"Night of the Creeps\", and \"Messiah of Evil\".\n",
"The following is a list of zombie feature films. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the \"zombie comedy\" or the \"zombie apocalypse\". Zombies are distinct from ghosts, ghouls, mummies, Frankenstein's monsters or vampires, so this list does not include films devoted to these types of undead.\n",
"How the creatures in contemporary zombie films came to be called \"zombies\" is not fully clear. The film \"Night of the Living Dead\" made no spoken reference to its undead antagonists as \"zombies\", describing them instead as \"ghouls\" (though ghouls, which derive from Arabic folklore, are demons, not undead). Although George Romero used the term \"ghoul\" in his original scripts, in later interviews he used the term \"zombie\". The word \"zombie\" is used exclusively by Romero in his 1978 script for his sequel \"Dawn of the Dead\", including once in dialog. According to George Romero, film critics were influential in associating the term \"zombie\" to his creatures, and especially the French magazine \"Cahiers du Cinéma\". He eventually accepted this linkage, even though he remained convinced at the time that \"zombies\" corresponded to the undead slaves of Haitian voodoo as depicted in Bela Lugosi's \"White Zombie\".\n",
" is a second year Fujimi High School student and Rei Miyamoto's classmate and boyfriend; he and Takashi are friends. He refers to the zombies as \"them\" since they are not quite like the ones seen in movies, and that becomes the name for any zombies the main group encounters in the series. On the way out of class, he is bitten by an infected teacher. After rising as one of \"them\", Takashi delivers a fatal blow to his head.\n",
"A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the \"zombie comedy\" or the \"zombie apocalypse\". Zombies are distinct from ghosts, ghouls, mummies, Frankenstein's monsters or vampires, so this list does not include films devoted to these types of undead.\n",
"Zombies are creatures usually portrayed as either reanimated corpses or mindless human beings, in both cases cannibalistic or more widely as undead bodies, ghouls, mummies, reanimated corpses, vampires and so on. While zombie films generally fall into the horror genre, some cross over into other genres, such as comedy, science fiction, thriller, or romance. Distinct subgenres have evolved, such as the \"zombie comedy\" or the \"zombie apocalypse\". Zombies in \"this\" article are not distinct from other types of undead like ghouls, ghosts, mummies, or vampires.\n",
"\"Zombies!!!\" is an homage to zombies in fiction, particularly the zombie films of George A. Romero and Sam Raimi. The shambling movement of the zombies as compared to the players and the relative ease with which they are dispatched makes them weak enemies individually, but (as in the films) they are strong in large numbers.\n"
] |
if liquids turn to gas when heated, how is it that liquids like pancake mixture turn to solids when heated? | Short version.
You're heating the moisture out of the pancake mix, while also changing the chemical structure of the mix, which is what cooking is, changing the chemical structure in your food. When the moisture leaves, you're left with the changed solid and some moisture trapped inside. | [
"Similarly, liquids are often used in cooking for their better heat-transfer properties. In addition to better conductivity, because warmer fluids expand and rise while cooler areas contract and sink, liquids with low kinematic viscosity tend to transfer heat through convection at a fairly constant temperature, making a liquid suitable for blanching, boiling, or frying. This phenomenon was also exploited to produce lava lamps. Even higher rates of heat transfer can be achieved by condensing a gas into a liquid. At the liquid's boiling point, all of the heat energy is used to cause the phase change from a liquid to a gas, without an accompanying increase in temperature, and is stored as chemical potential energy. When the gas condenses back into a liquid this excess heat-energy is released at a constant temperature. This phenomenon is used in processes such as steaming. Since liquids often have different boiling points, mixtures or solutions of liquids or gases can typically be separated by distillation, using heat, cold, vacuum, pressure, or other means. Distillation can be found in everything from the production of alcoholic beverages, to oil refineries, to the cryogenic distillation of gases such as argon, oxygen, nitrogen, neon, or xenon by liquefaction (cooling them below their individual boiling points).\n",
"When a liquid reaches its boiling point bubbles of gas form in it which rise into the surface and burst into the air. This process is called boiling. If the boiling liquid is heated more strongly the temperature does not rise but the liquid boils more quickly.\n",
"Liquids form a free surface (that is, a surface not created by the container) while gases do not. Viscoelastic fluids like Silly Putty appear to behave similar to a solid when a sudden force is applied. Also substances with a very high viscosity such as pitch appear to behave like a solid (see pitch drop experiment).\n",
"A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a (nearly) constant volume independent of pressure. The volume is definite if the temperature and pressure are constant. When a solid is heated above its melting point, it becomes liquid, given that the pressure is higher than the triple point of the substance. Intermolecular (or interatomic or interionic) forces are still important, but the molecules have enough energy to move relative to each other and the structure is mobile. This means that the shape of a liquid is not definite but is determined by its container. The volume is usually greater than that of the corresponding solid, the best known exception being water, HO. The highest temperature at which a given liquid can exist is its critical temperature.\n",
"They are designed to be wide enough to allow substances to boil violently as opposed to a test tube, which is too narrow; a boiling liquid can explode out of the end of test tubes when they are heated, as there is no room for bubbles of gas to escape independently of the surrounding liquid. This phenomenon is called Bumping.\n",
"Gas–solid mixing may be conducted to transport powders or small particulate solids from one place to another, or to mix gaseous reactants with solid catalyst particles. In either case, the turbulent eddies of the gas must provide enough force to suspend the solid particles, which otherwise sink under the force of gravity. The size and shape of the particles is an important consideration, since different particles have different drag coefficients, and particles made of different materials have different densities.\n",
"Some substances that appear to be solid, can be shown to instead be extremely viscous liquids, because they form drops and display droplet behavior. In the famous pitch drop experiments, pitch – a substance somewhat like solid bitumen – is shown to be a liquid in this way. Pitch in a funnel slowly forms droplets, each droplet taking about 10 years to form and break off.\n"
] |
the argentine economic crisis | I'll have a go.
An important concept in economics is the Impossible Trinity: free flow of goods/capital, control over interest rates, fixed exchange rates. Essentially, only 2 of these 3 are ever possible to maintain.
Argentina tried to maintain all three. Free flow of goods and capital and having control over your country's interest rates are very important for economic growth. Fixed exchange rates are typically used to help your exports grow.
Argentina had its currency fixed with the dollar. Prior to the crisis in Argentina, many similar regimes (trying to hold the impossible trinity, e.g. Thailand, Brazil, Russia) fell victim to the results of the impossible trinity, the fears that other such regions would fall victim became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The way governments maintain fixed exchange rates is to buy and sell in the foreign exchange markets. Global investors saw that Argentina was having to spend dangerously in order to maintain their exchange rates but knew the pressure for rate change would eventually cause the government to relent. In simple terms they put increasing pressure on the currency's relative value despite heavy intervention in the markets by the Argentine government. Eventually, the government realised it would go broke trying to fight the market and capitulated resulting in disaster. All of a sudden, the peso is worthless and anyone who had debt denominated in foreign currency could no longer pay up. E.g. you had $10m in debt, prior to the crisis this was equal to 20m pesos (figures are hypothetical). Now, all of a sudden, it will take you 2bn pesos to pay off that debt. You can see how default becomes the only option.
Inflation in Argentina at the time plays into this, as does the contagion effects of Brazil's crisis (i.e. a closely linked economy), but I think the currency situation and the idea of the impossible trinity are often overlooked.
Not an expert, I took a class about international finance and the currency crises of this period were discussed extensively. Open to criticisms, corrections and comments. | [
"The Argentine economic crisis culminated in the government defaulting on its debt and the devaluation of the Argentine peso at the end of 2001. APSA's market value declined from $390 million to as low as $40 million. The damage to PASA's finances inspired a shakeup of the company's management. In an interview with the new general manager, Andrés Olivos, for the Chilean magazine \"La Capital\" in 2003, reporter Lorena Medel contended that \"it was rumored that Parque Arauco had had a grade-10 earthquake. That its finances were delicate, and that shareholders couldn't believe the level of debt that was permitted to arise with respect to Arauco Salud\" (the medical tower). Olivos denied the situation was ever as dire as some suspected and revealed that the company was opening a \"gastronomical boulevard\" for Parque Arauco Kennedy. He conceded that Arauco Maipú had failed as an outlet store center and had returned to its role as a traditional mall.\n",
"The Argentine economic crisis of 1999–2002 is often held out as an example of the economic devastation said by some to have been wrought by application of the Washington Consensus. Argentina's former Deputy Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana, in an interview with the state news agency Télam on August 16, 2005, attacked the Washington Consensus. There never was a real consensus for such policies, he said, and today \"a good number of governments of the hemisphere are reviewing the assumptions with which they applied those policies in the 1990s\", adding that governments are looking for a development model to guarantee productive employment and the generation of real wealth.\n",
"The Argentine economic crisis of 2001 was in part the result of massive capital flight, induced by fears that Argentina would default on its external debt (the situation was made worse by the fact that Argentina had an artificially low fixed exchange rate and was dependent on large levels of reserve currency). This was also seen in Venezuela in the early 1980s with one year's total export income leaving through illegal capital flight.\n",
"The world economic crisis in 1929, known as the Great Depression, had a profound impact on Argentina. It primarily affected the economy, since 80% of its revenue came from foreign trade. The crisis created a situation of social tension, with decreases in salary and increases in unemployment. This economic unrest created the political context for the 1930 coup. This crisis of democratic systems was seen throughout all of Latin America.\n",
"The ensuing economic and political crisis was arguably the worst since the country's independence. By the end of 2002, the economy had contracted by 20% since 1998. Over the course of two years, output fell by more than 15%, the Argentine peso lost three-quarters of its value, and registered unemployment exceeded 25%. Income poverty in Argentina grew from an already high 35.4% in October 2001 to a peak of 54.3% in October 2002.\n",
"The 2018 Argentine monetary crisis was a big devaluation of the Argentine Peso, caused by the high inflation, an increase in the price of the United States dollar at the local markets, and other domestic and international reasons. As a result of it, the presidency of Mauricio Macri requested a loan from the International Monetary Fund. \n",
"Argentina, which had been considered by the IMF to be a model country in its compliance to policy proposals by the Bretton Woods institutions, experienced a catastrophic economic crisis in 2001, which some believe to have been caused by IMF-induced budget restrictions—which undercut the government's ability to sustain national infrastructure even in crucial areas such as health, education, and security—and privatisation of strategically vital national resources. Others attribute the crisis to Argentina's misdesigned fiscal federalism, which caused subnational spending to increase rapidly. The crisis added to widespread hatred of this institution in Argentina and other South American countries, with many blaming the IMF for the region's economic problems. The current—as of early 2006—trend toward moderate left-wing governments in the region and a growing concern with the development of a regional economic policy largely independent of big business pressures has been ascribed to this crisis.\n"
] |
Is it beneficial to try to avoid coughing when sick? | Coughing can help to remove sputum plugs and other irritants from the lungs. It most definitely has beneficial effects.
That said, an ineffective cough can be just as dangerous long term as it can hurt muscles and even lung tissue if continued for long periods. (this is very uncommon even among the extremely ill however)
In a typical cold, so long as you're not coughing all over people It's generally accepted to cough as needed.
Codeine is a cough suppressant, and as such is included in many cough formula's, and can be helpful before bedtime to allow one to rest more easily.
Gaufanesin(I probably spelled it wrong, I always do) is an expectorant, meaning it can actually irritate the body and create a cough, and is also in a number of cold formula's.
| [
"According to the American Academy of Pediatrics the use of cough medicine to relieve cough symptoms is supported by little evidence and thus not recommended for treating cough symptoms in children. There is tentative evidence that the use of honey is better than no treatment or diphenhydramine in decreasing coughing. It does not alleviate coughing to the same extent as dextromethorphan but it shortens the cough duration better than placebo and salbutamol. A trial of antibiotics or inhaled corticosteroids may be tried in children with a chronic cough in an attempt to treat protracted bacterial bronchitis or asthma respectively.\n",
"Prevention is by not smoking and avoiding other lung irritants. Frequent hand washing and flu vaccination may also be protective. Treatment of acute bronchitis typically involves rest, paracetamol (acetaminophen), and NSAIDs to help with the fever. Cough medicine has little support for its use and is not recommended in children less than six years of age. Salbutamol is not effective in children with an acute cough who do not have restricted airways. There is weak evidence that salbutamol may be useful in adults with wheezing due to a restricted airway; however, it may result in nervousness, shakiness or a tremor. Antibiotics should generally not be used. An exception is when acute bronchitis is due to pertussis. Tentative evidence supports honey and pelargonium to help with symptoms.\n",
"Staying hydrated and avoiding alcoholic and caffeinated products which worsen symptoms is key. Avoiding cigarette smoke is also recommended because it can cause increased discomfort if inhaled. Drinking more fluids, especially those that can thin mucous (such as hot liquids), can be beneficial. Nasal irrigations such as saline-based nose sprays can be used to help with secretions in the throat which may be causing discomfort to the sufferer. Furthermore, people can ask their doctor to prescribe steroid-based nasal sprays which are safe and more effective than decongestant sprays that can be bought over the counter and may only remain helpful for a limited period of time.\n",
"Prevention is by not smoking and avoiding other lung irritants. Frequent hand washing may also be protective. Treatment for acute bronchitis usually involves rest, paracetamol (acetaminophen), and NSAIDs to help with the fever. Cough medicine has little support for its use, and is not recommended in children under the age of six. There is tentative evidence that salbutamol may be useful in treating wheezing; however, it may result in nervousness and tremors. Antibiotics should generally not be used. An exception is when acute bronchitis is due to pertussis. Tentative evidence supports honey and pelargonium to help with symptoms. Getting plenty of rest and drinking enough fluids are often recommended as well. Chinese medicinal herb are of unclear effect.\n",
"Evidence does not support its use for acute cough suppression in children or adults. In Europe it is not recommended as a cough medicine in those under twelve years of age. There is some tentative evidence it can reduce a chronic cough in adults.\n",
"The efficacy of cough medication is questionable, particularly in children. A 2014 Cochrane review concluded that \"There is no good evidence for or against the effectiveness of OTC medicines in acute cough\". Some cough medicines may be no more effective than placebos for acute coughs in adults, including coughs related to upper respiratory tract infections. The American College of Chest Physicians emphasizes that cough medicines are not designed to treat whooping cough, a cough that is caused by bacteria and can last for months. No over-the-counter cough medicines have been found to be effective in cases of pneumonia. They are not recommended in those who have COPD, chronic bronchitis, or the common cold. There is not enough evidence to make recommendations for those who have a cough and cancer.\n",
"No good evidence exists for or against the effectiveness of over-the-counter cough medications for reducing coughing in adults or children. Children under 2 years old should not be given any type of cough or cold medicine due to the potential for life-threatening side effects. In addition, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the use of cough medicine to relieve cough symptoms should be avoided in children under 4 years old, and the safety is questioned for children under 6 years old.\n"
] |
/r/theredpill | It's basically a more militant version of /r/mensrights, who believe that men are an actively oppressed group, and that feminists/women are responsible. | [
"r/TheRedPill is a misogynistic subreddit which promotes male supremacy. It was profiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It has been associated with several right-wing movements and the alt-right because of its attacks on feminism and mockery of rape.\n",
"r/The_Schulz is a semi-serious subreddit created for the German politician Martin Schulz, the former president of the European Parliament and a member of the SPD. According to Spiegel Online, r/The_Schulz was created as a satire against r/The_Donald. Like r/The_Donald, the subreddit frequently uses slang terms, most notably \"MEGA,\" or \"Make Europe Great Again,\" and \"keine bremsen\" (German for \"no brakes\"). Since its creation in November 2016, the subreddit has been featured in many articles, both inside and outside of Germany. On January 30, 2017, Schulz gave the subreddit a shout-out on his YouTube channel. , r/The_Schulz has over 10,000 subscribers.\n",
"The DPLA is a discovery tool, or union catalog, for public domain and openly licensed content held by the United States' archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. It was started by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in 2010, with financial support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and has subsequently received funding from several foundations and government agencies, including the US National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It \"aims to unify such disparate sources as the Library of Congress, the Internet Archive, various academic collections, and presumably any other collection that would be meaningful to include. ... They have yet to ... decide such issues as how near to the present their catalog will come. There is an ongoing dispute regarding so-called 'orphan works' and other questions of copyright.\" John Palfrey, co-director of the Berkman Center, stated in 2011: \"We aspire to establish a system whereby all Americans can gain access to information and knowledge in digital formats in a manner that is 'free to all.' It is by no means a plan to replace libraries, but rather to create a common resource for libraries and patrons of all types.”\n",
"DSLReports operates over 200 forums, many of which focus on Internet and computer-related topics. Other forums are dedicated to general conversation, political discussions, do-it-yourself projects or regional discussions. There are over a 1.8 million total registered users on the DSLReports forums. A discussion forum is automatically created for every news and opinion article posted on the front page, which allows members to discuss the article in question. Although membership is free, the forum community allows for anonymous posting so the information or source in [anonymous] posts may be questionable as compared to posts made by actual frequent members of the site.There are also well hidden private invitation and very controversial forums such as the \"meatlocker\" which can be seen by adding the /forums/meatlocker suffix to he website address. It is said this private area is for nude and pornogrhapic material submitted by the moderators and special guests.\n",
"Using latent semantic analysis, FiveThirtyEight analyzed the relationship between the r/The_Donald and 50,323 other active subreddits based on 1.4 billion comments made over a two-year period from 2015 to 2016, and found the community was related to a number of \"hate-based subreddits,\" such as the respectively banned r/fatpeoplehate and r/coontown.\n",
"Dolibarr ERP CRM is an open source, free software package for small and medium companies, foundations or freelancers. It includes different features for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) but also other features for different activities.\n",
"Grav is a free, open-source and self-hosted content management system (CMS) based on the PHP programming language and Symfony web application framework. It uses a flat file database for both backend and frontend. Grav is more widely used, and growing at a faster rate, than other leading flat-file CMS competitors.\n"
] |
How is asthma medication made? | There's various different classes of asthma medication - inhaled corticosteroids, beta agonists, leukotriene modifiers. That's why you can't find a direct source on how it is made. Also, compared to rocket fuel, we are getting into really complex chemistry here, so you need to know what to look for. But I fear it won't be easy to understand without a thorough grounding in organic chemistry.
Here is an overview on corticosteroids, for example: _URL_0_ | [
"An inhaler (puffer or pump) is a medical device used for delivering medication into the body via the lungs. It is mainly used in the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Zanamivir, used to treat influenza, must be administered via inhaler.\n",
"Medications are typically provided as metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) in combination with an asthma spacer or as a dry powder inhaler. The spacer is a plastic cylinder that mixes the medication with air, making it easier to receive a full dose of the drug. A nebulizer may also be used. Nebulizers and spacers are equally effective in those with mild to moderate symptoms. However, insufficient evidence is available to determine whether a difference exists in those with severe disease. There is no strong evidence for the use of intravenous LABA for adults or children who have acute asthma.\n",
"The most effective treatment for asthma is identifying triggers, such as cigarette smoke, pets, or aspirin, and eliminating exposure to them. If trigger avoidance is insufficient, the use of medication is recommended. Pharmaceutical drugs are selected based on, among other things, the severity of illness and the frequency of symptoms. Specific medications for asthma are broadly classified into fast-acting and long-acting categories.\n",
"The idea of directly delivering medication into the lungs was based on ancient traditional cures that involved the use of aromatic and medicinal vapours. These did not involve any special devices beyond the apparatus used for burning or heating to produce fumes. Early inhalation devices included one devised by John Mudge in 1778. It had a pewter mug with a hole allowing attachment of a flexible tube. Mudge used it for the treatment of coughs using opium. These devices evolved with modifications by Wolfe, Mackenzie (1872) and better mouth attachments such as by Beigel in 1866. Many of these early inhalers needed heat to vapourize the active chemical ingredient. The benefits of forced expiration and inspiration to treat asthma were noted by J. S. Monell in 1865. Chemicals used in inhalers included ammonia, chlorine, iodine, tar, balsams, turpentine camphor and numerous others in combinations. Julius Mount Bleyer used a variation in 1890 in New York.\n",
"Before the invention of the MDI, asthma medication was delivered using a squeeze bulb nebulizer which was fragile and unreliable. The relatively crude nature of these devices also meant that the particles that they generated were relatively large, too large for effective drug delivery to the lungs. Nonetheless these nebulizers paved the way for inhalation drug delivery providing the inspiration for the MDI.\n",
"Metered-dose inhalers are sometimes used with add-on devices referred to as holding chambers or spacers, which are tubes attached to the inhaler that act as a reservoir or holding chamber and reduce the speed at which the aerosol enters the mouth. They serve to hold the medication that is sprayed by the inhaler. This makes it easier to use the inhaler and helps ensure that more of the medication gets into the lungs instead of just into the mouth or the air. With proper use, a spacer can make an inhaler somewhat more effective in delivering medicine.\n",
"Exhalation delivery systems (EDS) deliver medications to the internal nose. Developed in 2006, EDS devices use the patient's exhaled breath to propel medication, such as steroids, into the nasal cavities. The method can deliver medication deeper into the nasal passages than intranasal sprays, and at a lower pressure than nasal irrigation methods.\n"
] |
How did plants get by before the Angiosperm? | Just because a plant doesn't produce a flower doesn't mean they don't produce seeds.
[Gymnosperms](_URL_0_) are an ancient plant type (cycads, ginkgo, pine, etc.). Their seeds develop either on the surface of scales or leaves, often modified to form cones, or at the end of short stalks as in Ginkgo. We still have many extant species of gymnosperm around.
[Bryophytes](_URL_2_) are the oldest of all lineages of land plants and they produce neither seed nor flower. Instead they create enclosed reproductive structures (gametangia and sporangia) which are released for fertilization. You can sometimes find both male and female cells on one plant, depending on the species.
Finally, let's not forget [Pteridophytes](_URL_1_) which are our ferns, horsetails and club mosses. These very old plants reproduce and disperse via spores. Ferns first appear in the fossil record 360 million years ago so they've been doing their thing long before Angiosperms.
So as you can see there were plenty of ways plant reproduced before flowers came along and one of them was seed production. | [
"A geoxyle is a plant in which an enlarged, woody structure occurs beneath the surface of the ground. Such plants have developed independently in various plant lineages, mostly evolving in the Pliocene and subsequently diverging within the last two million years. In contrast to their close relatives, these plants have developed in areas with both high rainfall and a high frequency of fires. They are sometimes known as underground trees, and the areas where they grow as underground forests.\n",
"Historically, many chromalveolates were considered plants, because of their cell walls, photosynthetic ability, and in some cases their morphological resemblance to the land plants (Embryophyta). However, when the five-kingdom system (proposed in 1969) took prevalence over the animal–plant dichotomy, most of what we now call chromalveolates were put into the kingdom Protista, but the water molds and slime nets were put into the kingdom Fungi, while the brown algae stayed in the plant kingdom. These various organisms were later grouped together and given the name Chromalveolata by Cavalier-Smith. He believed them to be a monophyletic group, but this is not the case.\n",
"The extinct arboreal plants of the genera \"Lepidodendron\" and \"Sigillaria\" were the first to have distinct aeration structures that rendered these modifications. \"Parichnoi\" (singular: parichnos) are canal-like structures that, in association with foliar traces of the stem, connected the stem's outer and middle cortex to the mesophyll of the leaf. Parichnoi were thought to eventually give rise to lenticels as they helped solve the issue of long-range oxygen transport in these woody plants during the Carboniferous period. They also evolved to acquire secondary connections as they evolved to become transversely elongated to efficiently aerate the maximum number of vertical rays as well as the central core tissue of the stem. The evolutionary significance of these parichnoi was their functionality in the absence of cauline stomata, where they can also be affected and destroyed by pressure similar to what can damage to stomatal tissue. Evidently, in both conifers and Lepidodendroids, the parichnoi, as the primary lenticular structure, appear as paired structures on either side of leaf scars. The development and increase in the number of these primitive lenticels were key to providing a system that was open for aeration and gas exchange in these plants.\n",
"\"Aglaophyton\" is among the first plants known to have had a mycorrhizal relationship with fungi, which formed arbuscules in a well-defined zone in the cortex of its stems. \"Aglaophyton\" lacked roots, and like other rootless land plants of the Silurian and early Devonian may have relied on mycorrhizal fungi for acquisition of water and nutrients from the soil.\n",
"The inflorescences of these plants form in the shallow central depression - the \"cup\" - of the plant, which often fills partway with water, through which the flowers bloom. Neoregelias, like most bromeliads, bloom only once in their lifetime and then begin to die, but normally not before producing several pups - small clones of the parent plant - around the central flowering rosette on stolons. These offshoots eventually replace the mother plant and form a cluster around it - though in cultivation, the offshoots can be severed and replanted when about two-thirds the size of the adult plant. The leaves immediately surrounding the inflorescence are very often brightly colored, even in species otherwise not brightly marked - an adaptation to attract pollinating insects.\n",
"\"Thursophyton\" is a genus of terrestrial vascular plants which flourished in the Middle Devonian period. These plants consisted of aerial stems branching dichotomously, trichotomously or pseudomonopodially, at least the main axes clothed in spirally arranged spines up to 7 mm long, which are not leaves as they are not vascularised and leave no scar when removed. The stems contain an elliptical exarch xylem having both annular and spirally thickened tracheids; very little is known about the sporangia.\n",
"The \"Rhynia\" plant was small and stick-like, with simple dichotomously branching stems without leaves, each tipped by a sporangium. The simple form echoes that of the sporophyte of mosses, and it has been shown that \"Rhynia\" had an alternation of generations, with a corresponding gametophyte in the form of crowded tufts of diminutive stems only a few millimetres in height. \"Rhynia\" thus falls midway between mosses and early vascular plants like ferns and clubmosses. From a carpet of moss-like gametophytes, the larger \"Rhynia\" sporophytes grew much like simple clubmosses, spreading by means of horizontal growing stems growing rhizoids that anchored the plant to the substrate. The unusual mix of moss-like and vascular traits and the extreme structural simplicity of the plant had huge implications for botanical understanding.\n"
] |
what is it about potatoes that cause them to retain the heat of four suns as opposed to the other ingredients in the soup? | Potatoes are made of mainly water. Water has a very good ability to store heat.
You may be thinking "but suop's water too". Yes, but the soup has a quite high surface when in a dish making it possible to evapourate whick takes the same enery that water needs to heat up 83 °C. Yes, literally THAT much.
However, in the potatoe the water cant evaporate because it's sourrounded by the soup. Also, the water in the potatoe can't really "move" or mix with the water in the soup which is why they can't get rid of the heat as fast as the soup. | [
"Wrapping the potato in aluminium foil before cooking in a standard oven will help to retain moisture, while leaving it unwrapped will result in a crisp skin. When cooking over an open fire or in the coals of a barbecue, it may require wrapping in foil to prevent burning of the skin. A potato buried directly in coals of a fire cooks very nicely, with a mostly burned and inedible skin. A baked potato is fully cooked when its internal temperature reaches .\n",
"The resulting potatoes are creamy, as the starch in the potatoes cooks more completely due to the higher boiling temperature of the extra-salty water. The salty skin stands up particularly well to both herbed and plain melted butter.\n",
"Once a potato has been baked, some people discard the skin and eat only the softer and moister interior, while others enjoy the taste and texture of the crisp skin, which is rich in dietary fiber. Potatoes baked in their skins may lose between 20 and 40% of their vitamin C content because heating in air is slow and vitamin inactivation can continue for a long time. Small potatoes bake more quickly than large ones and therefore retain more of their vitamin C.\n",
"Other types of processing increase resistant starch content. If cooking includes excess water, the starch is gelatinized and becomes more digestible. However, if these starch gels are then cooled, they can form starch crystals resistant to digestive enzymes (Type RS3 or retrograded resistant starch), such as those occurring in cooked and cooled cereals or potatoes (e.g., potato salad). Cooling a boiled potato overnight increases the amount of resistant starch.\n",
"Many root vegetables are very resistant to spoilage and require no other preservation than storage in cool dark conditions, for example by burial in the ground, such as in a storage clamp. Century eggs are traditionally created by placing eggs in alkaline mud (or other alkaline substance), resulting in their \"inorganic\" fermentation through raised pH instead of spoiling. The fermentation preserves them and breaks down some of the complex, less flavorful proteins and fats into simpler, more flavorful ones. Cabbage was traditionally buried during Autumn in northern US farms for preservation. Some methods keep it crispy while other methods produce sauerkraut. A similar process is used in the traditional production of kimchi. Sometimes meat is buried under conditions that cause preservation. If buried on hot coals or ashes, the heat can kill pathogens, the dry ash can desiccate, and the earth can block oxygen and further contamination. If buried where the earth is very cold, the earth acts like a refrigerator.\n",
"Though the stew was tolerable, most soldiers detested it. As one soldier put it, \"warmed in the tin, Maconochie was edible; cold, it was a man-killer.\" Others complained about how the potatoes appeared to be black lumps. A reporter once described the stew as \"an inferior grade of garbage\".\n",
"It can be used in recipes for baking, boiling, mashing, roasting or in salads, and can be cooked in a microwave oven. It is not so suitable for frying. Red potatoes may be cooked with the skin on, and should be scrubbed and rinsed before preparation.\n"
] |
Is it possible for the wind to blow hard enough to change the direction of a photon? | **Short answer:** Nope.
**Long answer:** There was actually [a very good experiment done around 1900](_URL_1_) that tested whether the speed of light would change in moving medium - flowing water in particular. It was found that it didn't. This was a big deal, and it meant that something really peculiar was going on with the motion of light. This exact experiment was actually a big piece of Einstein's inspiration when developing the special theory of relativity.
Light will follow the same path whether or not the medium is moving, up to a small relativistic correction. However, in reality, moving fluids tend to also have funny pressure and temperature gradients, and that can change the index of refraction of the light, slightly warping the image that you're looking at. This is the source of stars twinkling, [road mirages](_URL_0_), among other familiar experiences with light. | [
"The breaking of rotation and boost invariance causes direction dependence in the theory as well as unconventional energy dependence that introduces novel effects, including Lorentz-violating neutrino oscillations and modifications to the dispersion relations of different particle species, which naturally could make particles move faster than light.\n",
"Since the scattering is isotropic, the net momentum is transferred in the forward direction. On the quantum level, we picture the gradient force as forward Rayleigh scattering in which identical photons are created and annihilated concurrently, while in the scattering (radiation) force the incident photons travel in the same direction and ‘scatter’ isotropically. By conservation of momentum, the particle must accumulate the photons' original momenta, causing a forward force in the latter.\n",
"In the low-energy limit, the electric field of the incident wave (photon) accelerates the charged particle, causing it, in turn, to emit radiation at the same frequency as the incident wave, and thus the wave is scattered. Thomson scattering is an important phenomenon in plasma physics and was first explained by the physicist J. J. Thomson. As long as the motion of the particle is non-relativistic (i.e. its speed is much less than the speed of light), the main cause of the acceleration of the particle will be due to the electric field component of the incident wave. In a first approximation, the influence of the magnetic field can be neglected. The particle will move in the direction of the oscillating electric field, resulting in electromagnetic dipole radiation. The moving particle radiates most strongly in a direction perpendicular to its acceleration and that radiation will be polarized along the direction of its motion. Therefore, depending on where an observer is located, the light scattered from a small volume element may appear to be more or less polarized.\n",
"If the particle is located at the center of the beam, then individual rays of light are refracting through the particle symmetrically, resulting in no net lateral force. The net force in this case is along the axial direction of the trap, which cancels out the scattering force of the laser light. The cancellation of this axial gradient force with the scattering force is what causes the bead to be stably trapped slightly downstream of the beam waist.\n",
"Once the wind speed reaches a certain critical value, termed the \"impact\" or \"fluid threshold\", the drag and lift forces exerted by the fluid are sufficient to lift some particles from the surface. These particles are accelerated by the fluid, and pulled downward by gravity, causing them to travel in roughly ballistic trajectories. If a particle has obtained sufficient speed from the acceleration by the fluid, it can eject, or \"splash\", other particles in saltation, which propagates the process. Depending on the surface, the particle could also disintegrate on impact, or eject much finer sediment from the surface. In air, this process of \"saltation bombardment\" creates most of the dust in dust storms. In rivers, this process repeats continually, gradually eroding away the river bed, but also transporting-in fresh material from upstream.\n",
"Robertson considered dust motion in a beam of radiation emanating from a point source. A. W. Guess later considered the problem for a spherical source of radiation and found that for particles far from the source the resultant forces are in agreement with those concluded by Poynting.\n",
"BULLET::::- If the electrons emit a light wave which is 270° out of phase with the light wave shaking them, it will cause the wave to travel faster. This is called \"anomalous refraction\", and is observed close to absorption lines (typically in infrared spectra), with X-rays in ordinary materials, and with radio waves in Earth's ionosphere. It corresponds to a permittivity less than 1, which causes the refractive index to be also less than unity and the phase velocity of light greater than the speed of light in vacuum \"c\" (note that the signal velocity is still less than \"c\", as discussed above). If the response is sufficiently strong and out-of-phase, the result is a negative value of permittivity and imaginary index of refraction, as observed in metals or plasma.\n"
] |
My friend says, that during medieval times 90% of an army would consist of drafted peasants with no prior fighting experience and sub par equipment (like sharpened pieces of wood as an improvised spear) is this true? | A reply to /u/themantheycallsven
You may want to read /u/mi13 's answer here
_URL_0_? | [
"These saw themselves overpowered and were not able to contain the advance of the peasant troops. According to Jean Tarde, there was one soldier for each 100 peasants, and their military organisation owed itself to the fact that a good number of artisans, \"sons of good families\" (some historians, such as Mousnier and Bercé, include some minor nobles, or squirearchs, joining the revolt), and former soldiers were accompanying them. On the other hand, although the King had decreed an end to the movement, he also had expressed a certain benevolence toward the rebels and had promised to hear their complaints, and so for months the nobles felt indecisive about the degree of violence to employ in the repression, and their answer was due soon. As the reinforcements that the governor of Bourdeille had asked the King for were slow in coming, the nobility and the wealthy classes of the cities organised their own armed League. Months later, the reinforcements required by the King arrived from Jean de Sourches de Malicorne, governor of Poitou, and Jean du Chasteigner, M. de Albin.\n",
"When the German peasants revolted in 1525, most Imperial troops were fighting in Italy. Georg von Waldburg could only recruit 4,000 unreliable Landsknechts and could do nothing more than to negotiate with the peasants. But after the victory against France in the Battle of Pavia, many war veterans returned to Southern Germany and were enlisted by Waldburg.\n",
"Some more well-off peasants may still serve as \"Men-at-arms\" in their lord's forces, each aristocrat being able to raise a few hundred men-at-arms from their peasant tenant families. These part-time soldiers are paid a marginal wage and are provisionally given basic armor and carry pikes or spears as their armaments. Each is also required to wear the livery of his lord's house. Though organized and markedly courageous, they are mostly poorly trained and under-supplied as their lords will rarely spare the time and resources to properly equip them. As such, men-at-arms often rely on salvaged or captured arms and other war gear from the battlefield.\n",
"In 1445, the first steps were made towards fashioning a regular army out of the poorly disciplined mercenary bands that French kings traditionally relied on. The medieval division of society into \"those who fought (nobility), those who prayed (clergy), and those who worked (everyone else)\" still held strong and warfare was considered a domain of the nobles. Charles VIII marched into Italy with a core force consisting of noble horsemen and non-noble foot soldiers, but in time the role of the latter grew stronger so that by the middle of the 16th century, France had a standing army of 5000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry. The military was reorganized from a system of legions recruited by province (Norman legion, Gascon legion, etc.) to regiments, an arrangement which persisted into the next century. However, the nobility and troops were often disloyal to the king, if not outright rebellious, and it took another army reform by Louis XIV to finally transform the French army into an obedient force.\n",
"The armies were composed very differently: the peasant army under the leadership of Guillaume Cale numbered several thousand Beauvais peasants with a core of 400 Parisians, sent by Etienne Marcel, the leader of the Paris commune following a simultaneous uprising in the city. The force was poorly armed and untrained, though a few mercenaries and members of the lesser nobility provided limited leadership. The motives of the latter for joining the uprising were mixed. Some were subsequently to claim that they acted under duress, while others may have been convinced that the Jacquerie were acting on behalf of the imprisoned king.\n",
"Through the medieval period (the 5th to 15th century in Europe), soldiers were responsible for supplying themselves, either through foraging, looting, or purchases. Even so, military commanders often provided their troops with food and supplies, but this would be provided in lieu of the soldiers' wages, or soldiers would be expected to pay for it from their wages, either at cost or even with a profit.\n",
"Contemporary historical analysis may be more accurate than the medieval sources, as the modern figures are based on estimates of the logistical ability of the countryside to support these numbers of men and animals. Both Davis and Hanson point out that both armies had to live off the countryside, neither having a commissary system sufficient to provide supplies for a campaign. Other sources give the following estimates: \"Gore places the Frankish army at 15,000–20,000, although other estimates range from 30,000 to 80,000. In spite of wildly varying estimates of the Muslim force, he places that army as around 20,000–25,000. Other estimates also range up to 80,000, with 50,000 not an uncommon estimate.\" \n"
] |
What causes voltage? | Voltage isn't the potential per unit charge. It's a potential difference between two points. Potential is potential *energy* per unit charge.
Essentially, it's the amount of potential the circuit has to accelerate a unit of change to a velocity such that the charge has a kinetic energy of qV. In the same way that gravitational potential is the amount of potential a grav. field (the Earth's, for example) has to accelerate a mass. | [
"Voltage spikes, also known as surges, may be created by a rapid buildup or decay of a magnetic field, which may induce energy into the associated circuit. However voltage spikes can also have more mundane causes such as a fault in a transformer or higher-voltage (primary circuit) power wires falling onto lower-voltage (secondary circuit) power wires as a result of accident or storm damage.\n",
"A voltage applied to a human body causes an electric current through the tissues, and although the relationship is non-linear, the greater the voltage, the greater the current. The threshold for perception varies with the supply frequency and with the path of the current, but is about 0.1 mA to 1 mA for mains-frequency electricity, though a current as low as a microamp can be detected as an electrovibration effect under certain conditions. If the current is sufficiently high, it will cause muscle contraction, fibrillation of the heart, and tissue burns. The lack of any visible sign that a conductor is electrified makes electricity a particular hazard. The pain caused by an electric shock can be intense, leading electricity at times to be employed as a method of torture. Death caused by an electric shock is referred to as electrocution. Electrocution is still the means of judicial execution in some jurisdictions, though its use has become rarer in recent times.\n",
"The effect of a voltage spike is to produce a corresponding increase in current (current spike). However some voltage spikes may be created by current sources. Voltage would increase as necessary so that a constant current will flow. Current from a discharging inductor is one example.\n",
"In circuits with primarily inductive loads, current lags the voltage. This happens because in an inductive load, it is the induced electromotive force that causes the current to flow. Note that in the definition above, the current is produced by the voltage. The induced electromotive force is caused by a change in the magnetic flux linking the coils of an inductor.\n",
"BULLET::::1. For a circuit as a whole, such as one containing a resistor in series with a voltaic cell, electrical voltage does not contribute to the overall emf, because the voltage difference on going around a circuit is zero. (The ohmic \"IR\" voltage drop plus the applied electrical voltage sum to zero. See Kirchhoff's voltage law). The emf is due solely to the chemistry in the battery that causes charge separation, which in turn creates an electrical voltage that drives the current.\n",
"The magnitude of this current can be controlled by a voltage applied between the cathode and the grid. The grid acts like a gate for the electrons. A more negative voltage on the grid will repel some of the electrons, so fewer get through to the anode, reducing the anode current. A positive voltage on the grid will attract more electrons from the cathode, so more reach the anode, increasing the anode current. Therefore, a low power varying (AC) signal applied to the grid can control a much more powerful anode current, resulting in amplification. Variation in the grid voltage will cause identical proportional variations in the anode current. By placing a suitable load resistance in the anode circuit, the varying current will cause a varying voltage across the resistance which can be much larger than the input voltage variations, resulting in voltage gain.\n",
"For example, the voltage appearing across an inductor or \"coil\" is due to a change in current which causes a change in the magnetic field within the coil, and therefore the self-induced voltage. The polarity of the voltage at every moment opposes that of the change in applied voltage to keep the current constant.\n"
] |
how come most people can't sing in tune, but crowds of people hit the right tones. | Most people *can* carry a tune. What they can't do is carry a tune loudly, that's one of the big things that separates professionals from shower virtuosos.
In a crowd, you don't have to sing loudly, and you are better able to keep in tune by listening to those around you. Also, if you are out of tune, enough people are in tune to compensate. | [
"Sometimes people who get the desire to call believe that it is enough to stand up on a platform, and sing the provided text to a square dance song, or call a pre-written sequence of patter. Difficult as even that can be for some, with some natural talent, a good ear for rhythm and timing, an engaging stage presence, and perhaps a robust singing voice, even a beginner can sound good.\n",
"Disruptions and distractions are discouraged during a song. This includes walking through the circle, general noise, and conversations. If between-song conversations and noise get out of hand, it is common to hear someone shout \"Filker up!\" as a signal to end the conversations so that the next person can have their turn.\n",
"\"[S]ome of the most talented singers have been caught in the act of lip-synching\". Arts journalist Chuck Taylor says that it is considered \"an egregious offense\", but he points out that when singers are dancing and doing complex stage shows, it is hard to sing live. On some TV show performances, \"the singer's microphone is still on. On the parts they're not confident on or if the performance is physically demanding, the artist will sing quieter, and more of the performance [backing] track vocals can be heard.\" There are \"very few artists who [...] completely lip-sync\" while a backing track is playing with \"full lead vocals\", a practice done due to \"weather conditions, technical issues, or sickness.\"\n",
"Choral singers experience reduced feedback due to the sound of other singers upon their own voice. This results in a tendency for people in choruses to sing at a louder level if it is not controlled by a conductor. Trained soloists can control this effect but it has been suggested that after a concert they might speak more loudly in noisy surroundings, such as after-concert parties.\n",
"Abilities of young people to hear high frequency tones inaudible to those over 25 or so has led to the development of technologies to disperse groups of young people around shops (The Mosquito), and development of a cell phone ringtone, Teen Buzz, for students to use in school, that older people cannot hear. In September 2006 this technique was used to make a dance track called 'Buzzin'. The track had two melodies, one that everyone could hear and one that only younger people could hear.\n",
"Sometimes they will mimic a specific person’s tone, normally the person they spend the most time with. They might additionally learn to imitate noises that are undesirable for them to repeat. Unwanted vocalizations can be minimised by not rewarding the bird with laughter or attention, or redirecting by getting the bird to perform another known trick.\n",
"Singers, professional and amateur alike, frequently improvise in the moment \"which\" mantinadas they sing or improvise entirely new ones on the spot. Sometimes a certain pairing of a particular mantinada with a particular melody (e.g., based on a well-known professional recording) will also congeal among much of the population and therefore tend to be repeated in performance.\n"
] |
Do SSRIs actually work and why is there so much scaremongering about them? | These communities you speak of are peddling quackery. Selective Serotonin Re-Update Inhibitors do indeed function as described, but they are not intended to be used exclusively with the expectation that they will "cure" depression or anxiety. Any mental health professional worth their salt will use SSRIs in concert with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, in order to help the patient build a repertoire of coping mechanisms, as well as mindfulness to recognize when they are experiencing "miss-shoots" as a result of neurochemical imbalance.
Self-help communities are often lead by celebrity motivational speakers who intertwine religion or sports training into their talks as a means of appealing to target audiences and they are ultimately committing highly unethical practices by giving what is ultimately medical advice without having a medical license or degree.
For those people who claim that SSRIs never helped them, this is entirely believable, however. No two brains are exactly alike, and that is why there are so many different SSRIs-- the process involves finding which one actually works for you. They also have the unavoidable problem of losing efficacy over time as your brain adjusts to their chemical presence, so it can be a constant battle with a dysfunctional brain to keep it working the way it should be. That is why CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is so important, because the principal of neuroplasticity allows you to actually "reprogram" your brain through behavioral change. The SSRIs just help that process along, or allow it to begin in the first place. | [
"SSRIs carry a relatively low risk due to the fact that they are not associated with much of a tolerance or dependence, and are difficult to overdose with. TCAs are similar to SSRIs in their many advantages, but come with more common side effects such as weight gain and cognitive disturbances. They are also easier to overdose on. MAOIs are generally suggested for patients who have not responded to other forms of treatment.\n",
"Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are used, especially with exhibitionists, non-offending pedophiles, and compulsive masturbators. They are proposed to work by reducing sexual arousal, compulsivity, and depressive symptoms. They have been well received and are considered an important pharmacological treatment of paraphilia.\n",
"SSRAs have been used clinically as appetite suppressants, and they have also been proposed as novel antidepressants and anxiolytics with the potential for a faster onset of action and superior efficacy relative to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).\n",
"Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or serotonin-specific re-uptake inhibitor (SSRIs), are a class of chemical compounds that have contributed to the major advances as antidepressants where they have revolutionised the treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders. The SSRIs are therapeutically useful in the treatment of panic disorder (PD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and anorexia. There is also clinical evidence of SSRIs efficiency in the treatment of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia and their ability to prevent cardiovascular diseases.\n",
"SSRIs are described as 'selective' because they affect only the reuptake pumps responsible for serotonin, as opposed to earlier antidepressants, which affect other monoamine neurotransmitters as well, and as a result, SSRIs have fewer side effects.\n",
"Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as sertraline (Zoloft, Lustral), escitalopram (Lexapro, Cipralex), fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Seroxat), and citalopram, are the primary medications considered, due to their relatively mild side effects and broad effect on the symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as reduced risk in overdose, compared to their older tricyclic alternatives. Those who do not respond to the first SSRI tried can be switched to another. If sexual dysfunction is present prior to the onset of depression, SSRIs should be avoided. Another popular option is to switch to the atypical antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin) or to add bupropion to the existing therapy; this strategy is possibly more effective. It is not uncommon for SSRIs to cause or worsen insomnia; the sedating noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressant (NaSSA) antidepressant mirtazapine (Zispin, Remeron) can be used in such cases. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia can also help to alleviate the insomnia without additional medication. Venlafaxine (Effexor) may be moderately more effective than SSRIs; however, it is not recommended as a first-line treatment because of the higher rate of side effects, and its use is specifically discouraged in children and adolescents. Fluoxetine is the only antidepressant recommended for people under the age of 18, though, if a child or adolescent patient is intolerant to fluoxetine, another SSRI may be considered. Evidence of effectiveness of SSRIs in those with depression complicated by dementia is lacking.\n",
"The main indication for SSRIs is major depressive disorder; however, they are frequently prescribed for anxiety disorders, such as social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), eating disorders, chronic pain, and, in some cases, for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They are also frequently used to treat depersonalization disorder, although generally with poor results.\n"
] |
why is the border between canada and the us so straight in comparison to the rest of the worlds borders? | [It's not. It's really not](_URL_0_)
It's actually incredibly jagged.
It only appears straight because of how small the angles are from space, and because on maps they go by where the border should be, not where it is.
The border is supposed to be on the 49^th parallel, but in reality there are a few flaws.
1 - They didn't have GPS back then, so they more or less sent a bunch of guys out with a compass and a map and told them to mark the land.
2 - There are lakes and such that couldn't be conveniently cut straight through. Such as one between Minnesota and Manitoba. Since maps were incomplete, many arrangements were things such as "Go from the northwest corner until it reaches the Mississippi River" except that the river stops short of the border, so a later round decided that it was just easier to cut off a chunk of the Canadian side for the USA.
3 - Vancouver Island would have been cut into two parts, seeing this though, the nations decided to let Canada have the island. Point Roberts isn't so lucky so now students have to go from USA into Canada and then back into the USA in the morning and then again in the afternoon to get to and from school. | [
"Canada–United States relations refers to the bilateral relations between the bordering countries of Canada and the United States. Relations between Canada and the United States historically have been extensive, given a shared border and ever-increasing close cultural, economical ties and similarities. The shared historical and cultural heritage has resulted in one of the most stable and mutually beneficial international relationships in the world. For both countries, the level of trade with the other is at the top of the annual combined import-export total. Tourism and migration between the two nations have increased rapport, but border security was heightened after the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001. The U.S. is approximately 9.25 times larger in population and has the dominant cultural and economic influence. Starting with the American Revolution, when anti-American Loyalists fled to Canada, a vocal element in Canada has warned against US dominance or annexation. The War of 1812 saw invasions across the border. In 1815, the war ended with the border unchanged and demilitarized, as were the Great Lakes. The British ceased aiding First Nation attacks on American territory, and the United States never again attempted to invade Canada. Apart from minor raids, it has remained peaceful.\n",
"The Canada–United States border (), officially known as the International Boundary (), is the longest international border in the world between two countries. It is shared between Canada and the United States, the second- and fourth/third largest countries by area, respectively. The terrestrial boundary (including portions of maritime boundaries in the Great Lakes, and on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic coasts) is long, of which is Canada's border with Alaska. Eight Canadian provinces and territories (Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick), and thirteen U.S. states (Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine) are located along the border.\n",
"Canada and the United States share the world's longest undefended border, co-operate on military campaigns and exercises, and are each other's largest trading partner. Canada nevertheless has an independent foreign policy, most notably maintaining full relations with Cuba, and declining to officially participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Canada also maintains historic ties to the United Kingdom and France and to other former British and French colonies through Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and the Francophonie. Canada is noted for having a positive relationship with the Netherlands, owing, in part, to its contribution to the Dutch liberation during World War II.\n",
"Canada and the United States have the world's largest trading relationship, with huge quantities of goods and people flowing across the border each year. Since the 1987 Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement, there have been no tariffs on most goods passed between the two countries.\n",
"The Canada–United States border was demilitarized, including the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. The U.S. and the British agreed to joint control over the Oregon Territory. The Rush–Bagot Agreement laid the foundation for the world's longest east–west boundary—8,891 kilometres (5,525 mi), and the longest demilitarized border in the world.\n",
"The strength of the Canada–U.S. relationship is demonstrated by impressive bilateral trade of approximately $1.9 billion a day, along the world's longest undefended border. Energy trade is the largest component of this cross-border commerce. Canada has the third-largest oil reserves (after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela), thanks to its oil-sands resources. The United States has historically been Canada's only foreign market for natural gas, oil, and hydropower. In 2010, almost 100% of Canada's exports in these commodity classes were destined for the United States. Canada is the largest foreign supplier of crude oil (25% of oil imports) and natural gas to the United States. In short, this energy relationship has enhanced U.S. energy security and provided Canada with a steady demand for its energy exports.\n",
"Canada shares borders with the United States in 8 out of 13 provinces and territories. The provinces and territories that do not share a border with the United States share a provincial border with at least one that does except for Prince Edward Island.\n"
] |
Should I listen to music while studying? | Studying with no music is theoretically the best way to study because the room you take your test in will likely also be silent. However, if you need some noise then music without singing is better than music with singing because the words from the singer can interfere with your ability to put into memory the words you are studying. | [
"Contemporary music pedagogies emphasize \"sound before sight\", or the idea that in order to develop an understanding of music and music notation, individuals must first become comfortable with listening to, singing, and performing tonal and rhythm patterns before reading and writing music. Modern studies by Luce (1965), McPherson (1993, 1995, 2005), and Bernhard (2004) all suggest a significant positive correlation with playing by ear and the ability to sight read, and experimental research by Haston (2004) and Musco (2006) also suggest that spending classroom time playing by ear does not negatively impact students' abilities to develop music reading skills.\n",
"Stewart, Walsh & Frith (2004) state that “music reading is an automatic process in trained musicians” whereby the speed of information and psychomotor processing occurs at a high level (Kopiez, Weihs, Ligges & Lee, 2006). The coding of visual information, motor responses, and visual-motor integration make up several processes that occur both dependently and independently of one another; while “the ability to play by ear may have a moderate positive correlation to music reading abilities”, studies also demonstrate that concepts of pitch and timing are perceived separately.\n",
"Another critical difference between reading music and reading language is the role of skill. Most people become reasonably efficient at language reading by adulthood, even though almost all language reading is sight reading. By contrast, some musicians regard themselves as poor sight readers of music even after years of study. Thus, the improvement of music sight reading and the differences between skilled and unskilled readers have always been of prime importance to research into eye movement in music reading, whereas research into eye movement in language reading has been more concerned with the development of a unified psychological model of the reading process. It is therefore unsurprising that most research into eye movement in music reading has aimed to compare the eye movement patterns of the skilled and the unskilled.\n",
"\"This unique, exciting prospect bears no limits to what can be achieved. We can take people with no experience in Music theory and have them reading music and, more importantly, understanding music in just a matter of weeks.\"\n",
"There have been many studies on the use of music to aid in teaching, as well as how an individual who plays music fares in their education. Results show that using music when teaching children to read, for example, can help children learn how to read and give lasting results. A study on elementary students even showed that students with music training have overall better verbal memory, compared to the memory of those students of the same demographic without music training.\n",
"Eye movement in music reading is the scanning of a musical score by a musician's eyes. This usually occurs as the music is read during performance, although musicians sometimes scan music silently to study it. The phenomenon has been studied by researchers from a range of backgrounds, including cognitive psychology and music education. These studies have typically reflected a curiosity among performing musicians about a central process in their craft, and a hope that investigating eye movement might help in the development of more effective methods of training musicians' sight reading skills.\n",
"To fully understand music being played, the student must learn the basics of the underlying music theory. Along with musical notation, students learn rhythmic techniques—like controlling tempo, recognizing time signatures, and the theory of harmony, including chords and key signatures. In addition to basic theory, a good teacher stresses \"musicality\", or how to make the music sound good. This includes how to create good, pleasing tone, how to do musical phrasing, and how to use dynamics (loudness and softness) to make the piece or song more expressive.\n"
] |
The Black Death as the crucial factor that ended feudalism and began the Protestant Reformation - accurate? too simple? both? | It is too simplistic. No major world events can be boiled down to one cause. For example, World War I: The popular answer to "what caused it?" is the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. However, such an answers ignores other factors such as increased colonial aggression and the naval race.
For your question, saying that Black Death was the cause of the Reformation is entirely too reductionistic. It may have had an influence, but there are a variety of other factors which helped to cause the Reformation, such as indulgences and general corruption within the Roman Catholic Church. Basically, the Reformation was the result of approximately a century of build-up pre-Luther of discontent within the Church and had many contributing factors. | [
"A major factor contributing to the death of feudalism in most of Europe was the Black Death of 1347–1351 and subsequent epidemics which killed one-third or more of the people of Europe. In the aftermath of the Black Death, land was abundant and labor was scarce and the rigid relationships among farmers. the church, and the nobility changed. Feudalism is generally regarded as having ended in western Europe around 1500, although serfs were not finally freed in Russia until 1861. \n",
"In the Late Middle Ages (1340–1400) Europe experienced the most deadly disease outbreak in history when the Black Death, the infamous pandemic of bubonic plague, hit in 1347, killing a third of the European human population. Some historians believe that society subsequently became more violent as the mass mortality rate cheapened life and thus increased warfare, crime, popular revolt, waves of flagellants, and persecution. The Black Death originated in Central Asia and spread from Italy and then throughout other European countries. Arab historians Ibn Al-Wardni and Almaqrizi believed the Black Death originated in Mongolia. Chinese records also showed a huge outbreak in Mongolia in the early 1330s. Research published in 2002 suggests that it began in early 1346 in the steppe region, where a plague reservoir stretches from the northwestern shore of the Caspian Sea into southern Russia. The Mongols had cut off the trade route, the Silk Road, between China and Europe which halted the spread of the Black Death from eastern Russia to Western Europe. The epidemic began with an attack that Mongols launched on the Italian merchants' last trading station in the region, Caffa in the Crimea. In late 1346, plague broke out among the besiegers and from them penetrated into the town. When spring arrived, the Italian merchants fled on their ships, unknowingly carrying the Black Death. Carried by the fleas on rats, the plague initially spread to humans near the Black Sea and then outwards to the rest of Europe as a result of people fleeing from one area to another.\n",
"Among the most immediate consequences of the Black Death in England was a shortage of farm labour, and a corresponding rise in wages. The medieval world-view was unable to interpret these changes in terms of socio-economic development, and it became common to blame degrading morals instead. The landowning classes saw the rise in wage levels as a sign of social upheaval and insubordination, and reacted with coercion. In 1349, King Edward III passed the Ordinance of Labourers, fixing wages at pre-plague levels. The ordinance was reinforced by Parliament's passing of the Statute of Labourers in 1351. The labour laws were enforced with ruthless determination over the following decades.\n",
"The Black Death epidemic first arrived in England in 1348, re-occurring in waves during 1360-2, 1368-9, 1375 and more sporadically thereafter. The most immediate economic impact of this disaster was the widespread loss of life, between around 27% mortality amongst the upper classes, to 40-70% amongst the peasantry. Despite the very high loss of life, few settlements were abandoned during the epidemic itself, but many were badly affected or nearly eliminated altogether. The medieval authorities did their best to respond in an organised fashion, but the economic disruption was immense. Building work ceased and many mining operations paused. In the short term, efforts were taken by the authorities to control wages and enforce pre-epidemic working conditions. Coming on top of the previous years of famine, however, the longer term economic implications were profound. In contrast to the previous centuries of rapid growth, the English population would not begin to recover for over a century, despite the many positive reasons for a resurgence. The crisis would dramatically affect English agriculture, wages and prices for the remainder of the medieval period.\n",
"The Black Death epidemic first arrived in England in 1348, re-occurring in waves during 1360-2, 1368-9, 1375 and more sporadically thereafter. The most immediate economic impact of this disaster was the widespread loss of life, between around 27% mortality amongst the upper classes, to 40-70% amongst the peasantry. Despite the very high loss of life, few settlements were abandoned during the epidemic itself, but many were badly affected or nearly eliminated altogether. The medieval authorities did their best to respond in an organised fashion, but the economic disruption was immense. Building work ceased and many mining operations paused. In the short term, efforts were taken by the authorities to control wages and enforce pre-epidemic working conditions. Coming on top of the previous years of famine, however, the longer term economic implications were profound. In contrast to the previous centuries of rapid growth, the English population would not begin to recover for over a century, despite the many positive reasons for a resurgence. The crisis would affect English mining for the remainder of the medieval period.\n",
"The outcome of the Black Death encouraged a radical reorganization of the economy and eventually of European society. In the emerging urban centers, however, the calamities of the 14th and early 15th century, and the resultant labor shortages, provided a strong impetus for economic diversification and technological innovations. Following the Black Death, the initial loss of life from famine, plague, and pestilence contributed to an intensification of capital accumulation in the urban areas and thus a stimulus to trade, industry, and burgeoning urban growth in fields as diverse as banking (the Fugger banking family in Augsburg and the Medici family of Florence being the most prominent); textiles, armaments, especially stimulated by the Hundred Years' War, and mining of iron ore with the booming armaments industry. Accumulation of surplus, competitive overproduction, and heightened competition to maximize economic advantage contributed to civil war, aggressive militarism, and thus to centralization. As a direct result of the move toward centralization, leaders like Louis XI of France sought to remove all constitutional restrictions on the exercise of their authority. In England, France, and Spain the move toward centralization begun in the 13th century was carried to a successful conclusion.\n",
"The Black Death epidemic first arrived in England in 1348, re-occurring in waves during 1360–62, 1368–69, 1375 and more sporadically thereafter. The most immediate economic impact of this disaster was the widespread loss of life, between around 27% mortality amongst the upper classes, to 40–70% amongst the peasantry. Despite the very high loss of life, few settlements were abandoned during the epidemic itself, but many were badly affected or nearly eliminated altogether. The medieval authorities did their best to respond in an organised fashion, but the economic disruption was immense. Building work ceased and many mining operations paused. In the short term, efforts were taken by the authorities to control wages and enforce pre-epidemic working conditions. Coming on top of the previous years of famine, however, the longer-term economic implications were profound. In contrast to the previous centuries of rapid growth, the English population would not begin to recover for over a century, despite the many positive reasons for a resurgence. The crisis would dramatically affect English agriculture, wages and prices for the remainder of the medieval period.\n"
] |
why do videos sound terrifyingly deeper when slowed down? | Higher pitched sounds are just sound waves vibrating really fast. So when you slow a video down you’re also slowing the sound down making the vibrations slower and the sound deeper. | [
"In video games the use or not of motion blur is somewhat controversial. Some gamers claim that the blur actually makes gaming worse since it does blur images, making more difficult to recognize objects, especially in fast-paced moments. This does become noticeable the lower the frame rate is. Improvements in the visual quality of modern post-process motion blur shaders as well as a tendency towards high frame rate video games has lessened the visual detriment of undersampled motion blur effects.\n",
"Conversely, extra motion blur can unavoidably occur on displays when it is not desired. This occurs with some video displays (especially LCD) that exhibits motion blur during fast motion. This can lead to more perceived motion blurring above and beyond the preexisting motion blur in the video material. See display motion blur.\n",
"Higher refresh rates, while they reduce flicker, may cause other problems. Simply redisplaying the fields may cause judder, particularly on fast moving images, as the image is displayed repeatedly in the same location, rather than moving smoothly. Conversely, interpolation (which avoids judder and may create more fluid motion than in the original video) can instead cause blurring, particularly visible on fast scrolling text. See motion interpolation for further discussion.\n",
"In televised sports, where conventional cameras expose pictures 25 or 30 times per second, motion blur can be inconvenient because it obscures the exact position of a projectile or athlete in slow motion. For this reason special cameras are often used which eliminate motion blurring by taking rapid exposures on the order of 1 millisecond, and then transmitting them over the course of the next 30 to 40 milliseconds. Although this gives sharper slow motion replays it can look strange at normal speed because the eye expects to see motion blurring and is not provided with blurred images. \n",
"Many motion blur factors have existed for a long time in film and video (e.g. slow camera shutter speed). The emergence of digital video, and HDTV display technologies, introduced many additional factors that now contribute to motion blur. The following factors are generally the primary or secondary causes of perceived motion blur in video. In many cases, multiple factors can occur at the same time within the entire chain, from the original media or broadcast, all the way to the receiver end.\n",
"In the case of most media, such as DVD movies and video games, the video is blurred during the authoring process itself to subdue interline twitter when played back on interlace displays. As a consequence, recovering the sharpness of the original video is impossible when the video is viewed progressively. A user-intuitive solution to this is when display hardware and video games come equipped with options to blur the video at will, or to keep it at its original sharpness. This allows the viewer to achieve the desired image sharpness with both interlaced and progressive displays. An example of video games with this feature is the Super Smash Bros. series starting with \"Melee\", where a \"Deflicker\" option exists. Ideally, it would be turned on when played on an interlaced display to reduce interline twitter, and off when played on a progressive display for maximum image clarity.\n",
"It was noted by frontman Grant Nicholas in an interview on now-defunct TV channel The Amp that as the video is seen in slow motion from start to end, it has done something not done by many or any music videos in the past.\n"
] |
How does car wax work to protect the paint colour? | Well I can help with some parts of your question:
Waxing a car in the traditional sense puts a microscopic layer between the world and clearcoat/paint. Water/acids/etc eat away at that first before they get to work on the clearcoat. Should enough time go by the clear coat will get eaten away and then the color starts to go rather quick. (Clear coat failure)
UV rays are damaging to many things (skin/paint/color in fabric/etc) There are synthetic waxes with UV inhibitors in them that help take some of the punch of UV rays away. The color that's in car paint is in many ways the same as the color in a flag left out in the sun for years. It fades unless it's been treated with something special. I've never really heard of "wax" in general protecting from the sun, and by that I mean the 4 dollar bottle of turtle wax at walmart isn't going to keep your car safe from UV rays. As an example - when a the ZR1 variant of the C6 corvette was released, it had a clear coated carbon fiber roof, the clear coat had an additive mixed in to protect it from UV rays (so the carbon wouldn't yellow) This additive costs thousands of dollars per gallon.
_URL_0_
(references the special paint they use with UV blocking
On the more physical side of things (vs chemical) waxes help fill in all the microscopic valleys/bumps/etc in the clear coat, giving you that smooth feel and shine. | [
"Paint sealant works by filling into the pores and irregular surface of the body thereby creating a smooth finish on top. The way it helps is it denies a sticking surface to foreign substance and they come off the car easily without further damaging the car surface\n",
"BULLET::::- Automotive paint & other finishes: Automotive paint refers to the paint typically seen on cars and trucks. This type of finish requires a compressed air source, such as an air compressor or CO2 tank, and a spray gun. It is more expensive than a finish using spray cans, but when done skillfully it can be better looking and much more durable. Other methods of painting can include powder coating which is highly durable though not quite as aesthetically pleasing to many modders as automotive paint. Electroplating can also be done on steel computer cases and parts. Aluminum cases can be plated or anodized as well, and processes are available to plate plastic cases. Plated coatings can range from nickel to chrome and even gold. More elaborate finishes can be crafted by using a combination of techniques, such as chrome plating with a transparent color coat.\n",
"BULLET::::- Solid paints have no sparkle effects except the color. This is the easiest type of paint to apply, and the most common type of paint for heavy transportation vehicles, construction equipment and aircraft. It is also widely used on cars, trucks, and motorcycles. Clear coat was not used on solid colors until the early 1990s.\n",
"Automotive paint is paint used on automobiles for both protection and decoration purposes. Water-based acrylic polyurethane enamel paint is currently the most widely used paint for reasons including reducing paint's environmental impact.\n",
"In the factory, car bodies are protected with special chemical formulations, typically phosphate conversion coatings. Some firms galvanize part or all of their car bodies before the primer coat of paint is applied. If a car is body-on-frame, then the frame (chassis) must also be rustproofed. Paint is the final part of the rustproofing barrier between the body shell (apart from on the underside) and the atmosphere. On the underside, an underseal rubberized or PVC-based coating is sprayed on. These products will be breached eventually and can lead to unseen corrosion that spreads underneath the underseal. Old 1960s and 1970s rubberized underseal can become brittle on older cars and is particularly liable to this.\n",
"Cutting compound used on automotive paint is an example of an abrasive suspended in a liquid, paste or wax, as are some polishing liquids for silverware and optical media. The liquid, paste or wax acts as a binding agent that keeps the abrasive attached to the cloth which is used as a backing to move the abrasive across the work piece. On cars in particular, wax may serve as both a protective agent by preventing exposure of the paint of metal to air and also act as an optical filler to make scratches less noticeable. Toothpaste contains calcium carbonate or silica as a \"polishing agent\" to remove plaque and other matter from teeth as the hardness of calcium carbonate is less than that of tooth enamel but more than that of the contaminating agent.\n",
"Paint protection film (PPF, also called clear bra, clear film or clear paint film) is a thermoplastic urethane often self healing film applied to painted surfaces of a new or used car in order to protect the paint from stone chips, bug splatters, and minor abrasions. This film is also used on airplanes, RVs, cell phones, electronics, screens, motorcycles and many other areas. Paint protection film is OEM approved by virtually all car manufacturers.\n"
] |
why do you burn fat better at a lower heart rate than your cardio zone? | You don't. You burn a larger *percentage* of fat calories in that heart rate zone than in a higher zone. But, because you're burning more calories in total, you actually burn more fat calories in total at higher heart rates.
See _URL_0_ | [
"Phillips maintains that aerobic exercise is more effective for fat loss when done first thing in the morning, because it raises the metabolism for the remainder of the day, and because the body draws more heavily on its fat stores after fasting overnight.\n",
"There is a common misconception that spot exercise (that is, exercising a specific muscle or location of the body) most effectively burns fat at the desired location, but this is not the case. Spot exercise is beneficial for building specific muscles, but it has little effect, if any, on fat in that area of the body, or on the body's distribution of body fat. The same logic applies to sit-ups and belly fat. Sit-ups, crunches and other abdominal exercises are useful in building the abdominal muscles, but they have little effect, if any, on the adipose tissue located there.\n",
"A 2006 study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, suggests that combining cardiovascular (aerobic) exercise with resistance training is more effective than cardiovascular training alone in getting rid of abdominal fat. An additional benefit to exercising is that it reduces stress and insulin levels, which reduce the presence of cortisol, a hormone that leads to more belly fat deposits.\n",
"Strength exercises such as sit-ups and crunches do not cause the spot reduction of fat. Achieving \"six pack abs\" requires both abdominal muscle hypertrophy training and fat loss over the abdomen—which can only be done by losing fat from the body as a whole.\n",
"A criticism of BMI is that it does not distinguish between muscle and fat mass and so may be elevated in people with increased BMI due to muscle development rather than fat accumulation from overeating. A higher muscle mass may actually reduce the risk of premature death. A high ABSI appears to correspond to a higher proportion of central obesity, or abdominal fat.\n",
"Fat cells have an important physiological role in maintaining triglyceride and free fatty acid levels, as well as determining insulin resistance. Abdominal fat has a different metabolic profile—being more prone to induce insulin resistance. This explains to a large degree why central obesity is a marker of impaired glucose tolerance and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (even in the absence of diabetes mellitus and hypertension). Studies of female monkeys at Wake Forest University (2009) discovered that individuals suffering from higher stress have higher levels of visceral fat in their bodies. This suggests a possible cause-and-effect link between the two, wherein stress promotes the accumulation of visceral fat, which in turn causes hormonal and metabolic changes that contribute to heart disease and other health problems.\n",
"Diet itself helps to increase calorie burning by boosting metabolism, a process further enhanced while gaining more lean muscle. An aerobic exercise program can burn fat and increase the metabolic rate.\n"
] |
What were Catherine the Great favourite books from Voltaire? | Hi! This is a great question. My name is Lena and I work on Voltaire and his library. Here are some examples from their correspondence of Catherine's favourite works by Voltaire, by no means an exhaustive list (she specifically ordered that all of his published works be sent to St. Petersburg along with his private library after his death). One would have to do a bit more digging to see her letters specifically to other Russian nobles, but I would hazard a guess that she did not keep these works to herself :-) She also admired Montesquieu's Esprit des Lois and used it in drafting the Nakaz, Russia's reformed legal code (which she then sent to Voltaire for feedback).
* September 16 1763 CII writes to V: "By chance your works fell into my hands, I could not stop reading them, and I wouldn't want book that wasn't as well written, and from which so much could not be profited."
* June 1765: Looks like Essai sur les mœurs was a big one: "She \[CII in 3rd person\] has read this great book from one end to the other with much pleasure...She is persuaded that this book will prove her thoughts, it will be purified by fire, in Paris, which will give it an even greater shine."
* October 17 1771: Questions sur l'Encyclopedie, in particular the article on fanaticism, "which I read with the greatest satisfaction in the book of the Questions sur l'encyclopédie."
If you have a university subscription, I would recommend searching through their correspondence on [Electronic Enlightenment](_URL_0_). *Ecrasez l'infame*! | [
"Voltaire played an important role in promoting Catherine's image in Europe. He has been described as Catherine's \"most distinguished western partisan, her most enthusiastic devotee, and her most indefatigable and eloquent propagandist.\" In addition to singing her praises among his circles of friends, Voltaire wrote pamphlets that supported Catherine's policies and had her pronouncements and letters published in the western press, particularly targeting anti-Russian publications such as the \"Gazette de France\", the \"Gazette de Cologne\", and the \"Courrier d'Avignon\". Voltaire even succeeded in convincing the French historian Claude-Carloman de Rulhière not to publish his \"Histoire ou anecdotes sur la révolution de Russie en l'année 1762\", which provided a disparaging account of Catherine's rise to power.\n",
"The main topics of discussion in the Voltaire-Catherine letters were Russia's foreign and domestic affairs. Despite their mutual affection for literature, art and philosophy, very rarely did Catherine and Voltaire discuss such topics. One scholar has suggested that Catherine did not have the intellectual capacity to have such discussions with Voltaire, and that Catherine brought up primarily political affairs in her letters in order to impart her political ideas onto Voltaire. They did discuss cultural matters in the year 1772, which suggests that Catherine wanted to distract Voltaire from her recent partition of Poland.\n",
"Voltaire was undoubtedly one of the most controversial writers and philosophers of the Enlightenment Age, and \"The Maid of Orleans\" was also certainly one of his more contentious works. An epic and scandalous satire concerning the life of the not-yet-canonised Joan of Arc (\"the Maid of Orleans\"), the poem was outlawed, burned and banned throughout a great portion of Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. Containing mockery and satirical commentary on the life and antics of its subject, the poem itself has variously been described as \"bawdy\" and \"licentious\".\n",
"Early in 1759, Voltaire completed and published \"Candide, ou l'Optimisme\" (\"Candide, or Optimism\"). This satire on Leibniz's philosophy of optimistic determinism remains the work for which Voltaire is perhaps best known. He would stay in Ferney for most of the remaining 20 years of his life, frequently entertaining distinguished guests, such as James Boswell, Adam Smith, Giacomo Casanova, and Edward Gibbon. In 1764, he published one of his best-known philosophical works, the \"Dictionnaire philosophique\", a series of articles mainly on Christian history and dogmas, a few of which were originally written in Berlin.\n",
"Born François-Marie Arouet, Voltaire (1694–1778), by the time of the Lisbon earthquake, was already a well-established author, known for his satirical wit. He had been made a member of the Académie Française in 1746. He was a deist, a strong proponent of religious freedom, and a critic of tyrannical governments. \"Candide\" became part of his large, diverse body of philosophical, political and artistic works expressing these views. More specifically, it was a model for the eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century novels called the \"contes philosophiques\". This genre, of which Voltaire was one of the founders, included previous works of his such as \"Zadig\" and \"Micromegas\".\n",
"Voltaire and the Marquise also studied history, particularly those persons who had contributed to civilization. Voltaire's second essay in English had been \"Essay upon the Civil Wars in France\". It was followed by \"La Henriade\", an epic poem on the French King Henri IV, glorifying his attempt to end the Catholic-Protestant massacres with the Edict of Nantes, and by a historical novel on King Charles XII of Sweden. These, along with his \"Letters on the English\" mark the beginning of Voltaire's open criticism of intolerance and established religions. Voltaire and the Marquise also explored philosophy, particularly metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that deals with being and with what lies beyond the material realm, such as whether or not there is a God and whether people have souls. Voltaire and the Marquise analyzed the Bible and concluded that much of its content was dubious. Voltaire's critical views on religion are reflected in his belief in separation of church and state and religious freedom, ideas that he had formed after his stay in England.\n",
"In England, Voltaire lived largely in Wandsworth, with acquaintances including Everard Fawkener. From December 1727 to June 1728 he lodged at Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, now commemorated by a plaque, to be nearer to his British publisher. Voltaire circulated throughout English high society, meeting Alexander Pope, John Gay, Jonathan Swift, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and many other members of the nobility and royalty. Voltaire's exile in Great Britain greatly influenced his thinking. He was intrigued by Britain's constitutional monarchy in contrast to French absolutism, and by the country's greater support of the freedoms of speech and religion. He was influenced by the writers of the age, and developed an interest in earlier English literature, especially the works of Shakespeare, still relatively unknown in continental Europe. Despite pointing out his deviations from neoclassical standards, Voltaire saw Shakespeare as an example that French writers might emulate, since French drama, despite being more polished, lacked on-stage action. Later, however, as Shakespeare's influence began growing in France, Voltaire tried to set a contrary example with his own plays, decrying what he considered Shakespeare's barbarities. Voltaire may have been present at the funeral of Isaac Newton, and met Newton's niece, Catherine Conduitt. In 1727, he published two essays in English, \"Upon the Civil Wars of France, Extracted from Curious Manuscripts\" and \"Upon Epic Poetry of the European Nations, from Homer Down to Milton\".\n"
] |
why third world countries are so cheaper in comparison with first world countries even for goods that both import/produce? | Labor and property values.
When you buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you aren't just paying for the coffee. You are paying for the people who made the coffee and for the rent and utilities on the building. Of that $4 you are paying, maybe $0.50 is for coffee, milk, and the cup. Around $3 is for labor and overhead, and the rest is profit.
In a developing country, they might pay $0.50 for labor and overhead, and be happy with half the profit, so your coffee only costs $1.25. | [
"By placing high tariffs on imports and other protectionist, inward-looking trade policies, the citizens of any given country, using a simple supply-and-demand rationale, will substitute the less-expensive good for the more expensive. The primary industry of importance would gather its resources, such as labor from other industries in this situation; the industrial sector would use resources, capital, and labor from the agricultural sector. In time, a third-world country would look and behave similar to a first-world country, and with a new accumulation of capital and an increase of TFP (total factor productivity) the nation's industry would, in principle, be capable of trading internationally and competing in the world market. Bishwanath Goldar, in his paper ‘Import Substitution, Industrial Concentration and Productivity Growth in Indian Manufacturing’ wrote: \"Earlier studies on productivity for the industrial sector of developing countries have indicated that increases in total factor productivity, (TFP) are an important source of industrial growth,\" (Goldar 143). He continued: \"a higher growth rate in output, other things remaining the same, would enable the industry to attain a higher rate of technological progress (since more investment would be made) and create a situation in which the constituent firms could take greater advantage of scale economies;\" it is believed that ISI will allow this (Goldar 148).\n",
"Most things are cheaper in poor (low income) countries than in rich ones. Someone from a \"first world\" country on vacation in a \"third world\" country will usually find their money going a lot further abroad than at home. For instance, a Big Mac cost $7.84 in Norway and $2.39 in Egypt in January 2013, at the prevailing USD exchange rate for those two local currencies, despite the fact the two products are essentially the same.\n",
"Third World countries are especially interested in international tourism, and many believe it brings countries a large selection of economic benefits including employment opportunities, small business development, and increased in payments of foreign exchange. Many assume that more money is gained through developing luxury goods and services in spite of the fact that this increases a countries dependency on imported products, foreign investments and expatriate skills. This classic 'trickle down' financial strategy rarely makes its way down to brings its benefits down to small businesses.\n",
"If a country's exchange rate is too high, its exports will become uncompetitive as buyers in foreign countries require more of their own currency to pay for them. In the meantime, it also becomes cheaper for the citizens of the country to buy goods from overseas,as opposed to buying locally produced goods), because an overvalued currency makes foreign products less expensive.\n",
"BULLET::::- Freer trades are a useful tool for least developed countries to obtain more capital, new technologies and better business practices. However, those countries often offer fewer market and investment opportunities, thus more developed countries will choose to direct their negotiations capacities toward richer regions. In 2017, the European Union had 5 FTAs with Sub-Saharan countries out of a total of 43 FTAs in place. As developed countries effectively lower trade barriers and tariffs between them, countries at the margin are faced with higher tariffs which are hurtful for their development.\n",
"Third World countries have long served as a market for Chinese agricultural and light industrial products. In 1986 developing countries purchased about 15 percent of Chinese exports and supplied about 8 percent of China's imports. China has increased trade and investment ties with many African countries such as Chad, the Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, partly to secure strategic natural resources such as oil and minerals.\n",
"Developed countries are allowed to maintain and develop their primary industries even further due to the excess wealth. For instance, European Union agricultural subsidies provide buffers against fluctuating inflation-rates and prices of agricultural produce. This allows developed countries to export their agricultural products at extraordinarily low prices. This makes them extremely competitive against those of poor or underdeveloped countries that maintain free-market policies and low or non-existent tariffs to counter cheap goods. Such price differences also come about due to more efficient production in developed economies, given farm machinery, better information available to farmers, and (often) larger scale.\n"
] |
Where did the Etruscans come from? | No one really knows, there are two main theories, either they developed in Italy, or they developed in Anatolia prior to coming to Italy. I generally subscribe to the latter as the Etruscan language is not Indo-European, as well as genetic evidence from several studies that show that that modern people from Tuscany have different genetics than other Italian people around them, and that they share a certain similarities with modern day Turks. This is all very speculative, as people have been moving around since far before written history and the genetic make-up of people changes throughout history because of migration, war or other social reasons. The best we can do is guess. | [
"The origins of the Etruscans are mostly lost in prehistory, although Greek historians as early as the 5th century BC repeatedly associated the Tyrrhenians (\"Turrhēnoi\"/Τυρρηνοί, \"Tursēnoi\"/Τυρσηνοί) with Pelasgians, which could both be broad descriptive terms. Strabo and the \"Homeric Hymn\" to Dionysus make mention of the Tyrrhenians as pirates. Thucydides, Herodotus and Strabo all denote Lemnos as settled by Pelasgians, whom Thucydides identifies as \"belonging to the Tyrrhenians\" (τὸ δὲ πλεῖστον Πελασγικόν, τῶν καὶ Λῆμνόν ποτε καὶ Ἀθήνας Τυρσηνῶν). Although both Strabo and Herodotus agree that Tyrrhenus / Tyrsenos, son of Atys, king of Lydia, led the migration, Strabo specifies that it was the Pelasgians of Lemnos and Imbros who followed Tyrrhenus to the Italian Peninsula. A link between Lemnos and the Tyrrhenians was further manifested by the discovery of the Lemnos Stele, whose inscriptions were written in a language which shows strong structural resemblances to the language of the Etruscans. This has led to the suggestion of a \"Tyrrhenian language group\" comprising Etruscan, Lemnian, and the Raetic spoken in the Alps.\n",
"The Etruscans (\"Etrusci\" or \"Tusci\" in Latin) were settled north of Rome in Etruria (modern northern Lazio, Tuscany and part of Umbria). They founded cities like Tarquinia, Veii and Volterra and deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by the Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings. The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. Historians have no literature, no texts of religion or philosophy; therefore much of what is known about this civilization is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.\n",
"The Etruscans (\"Etrusci\" or \"Tusci\" in Latin) were settled north of Rome in Etruria (modern northern Lazio, Tuscany and part of Umbria). They founded cities such as Tarquinia, Veii, and Volterra and deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by the Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings. The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. Historians have no literature, no texts of religion or philosophy; therefore, much of what is known about this civilisation is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.\n",
"The Etruscan civilization flourished in central Italy after 800 BCE. The origins of the Etruscans are lost in prehistory. The main hypotheses are that they are indigenous, probably stemming from the Villanovan culture, or that they are the result of invasion from the north or the Near East. A more recent study has suggested a Near Eastern origin. The researchers conclude that their data, taken from the modern Tuscan population, 'support the scenario of a post-Neolithic genetic input from the Near East to the present-day population of Tuscany'. In the absence of any dating evidence, there is however no direct link between this genetic input and the Etruscans. By contrast, a mitochondrial DNA study of 2013 has suggested that the Etruscans were probably an indigenous population. Among ancient populations, ancient Etruscans are found to be closest to a Neolithic population from Central Europe.\n",
"The Etruscans called themselves \"Rasenna\", which was syncopated to \"Rasna\" or \"Raśna,\" while the ancient Romans referred to the Etruscans as the \"Tuscī\" or \"Etruscī\" (singular \"Tuscus\"). Their Roman name is the origin of the terms \"Toscana\", which refers to their heartland, and \"Etruria\", which can refer to their wider region. In Attic Greek, the Etruscans were known as Tyrrhenians (, \"Turrhēnoi\", earlier \"Tursēnoi\"), from which the Romans derived the names \"Tyrrhēnī\", \"Tyrrhēnia\" (Etruria), and \"Mare Tyrrhēnum\" (Tyrrhenian Sea), prompting some to associate them with the \"Teresh\" (Sea Peoples).\n",
"Modern archaeologists have come to suggest that the history of the Etruscans can be traced relatively accurately, based on the examination of burial sites, artifacts, and writing. A separate Etruscan culture distinguishable from that of the possibly ancestral Villanovan people emerged in the beginning of the 8th century BC, evidenced by the inscriptions in a script similar to that used for Euboean Greek. The burial tombs, some of which had been fabulously decorated, promotes the idea of an aristocratic city-state, with centralized power structures maintaining order and constructing public works, such as irrigation networks, roads, and town defenses.\n",
"The history of the Etruscans can be traced relatively accurately, based on the examination of burial sites, artifacts, and writing. Etruscans culture that is identifiably and certainly Etruscan developed in Italy in earnest by 800 BC approximately over the range of the preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture. The latter gave way in the 7th century to a culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy.\n"
] |
How do squids propel themselves without using the tentacles? | Jets is the right term. Squids have a moveable opening in their mantle cavity which they can use to direct a jet of water to quickly propel themselves. They usually use the flaps on the side of their bodies for smaller movement. | [
"Adult squid have several distinguishing features. The mantle encloses the visceral mass of the squid, and has two fins, which are not the primary method of propulsion. Instead, the squid has a siphon, a muscle which takes in water from one side, and pushes it out the other side: jet propulsion. The squid has eight arms and two tentacles with suction cups along the backs. In between the arms sits the mouth, or beak. Inside the mouth is a tooth-tongue-like appendage called the radula. Squid have ink sacs, which they use as a defense mechanism against possible predators. Squid also have three hearts.\n",
"To wield its exceptionally long arms, this squid species builds up internal fluid pressure by contracting its muscles, which allows it to expel two long tentacles at a high speed in order to catch prey.\n",
"Almost nothing is known about the feeding behavior of these squid. Scientists have speculated that bigfin squid feed by dragging their arms and tentacles along the seafloor, and grabbing edible organisms off the floor. Alternatively, they may simply use a trapping technique, waiting passively for prey, such as zooplankton, to bump into their arms. (See Cephalopod intelligence.)\n",
"Tentacles are the major organs used by squid for defending and hunting. They are often confused with arms—octopuses have eight arms, while squid and cuttlefish have eight arms and two tentacles. These tentacles are generally longer than arms and typically have suckers only on their ends instead of along the entire length. The giant squid and colossal squid have some of the largest tentacles in the world, with suckers capable of producing suction forces more than ) and with pointed teeth at the tips.\n",
"Squids squirt jets of water when they need to move quickly, as when escaping a predator. To make this escape as fast as possible, they have an axon that can reach 1 mm in diameter (signals propagate more quickly down large axons). The squid giant axon was the first preparation that could be used to voltage clamp a transmembrane current, and it was the basis of Hodgkin and Huxley's pioneering experiments on the properties of the action potential.\n",
"Giant squid have small fins at the rear of their mantles used for locomotion. Like other cephalopods, they are propelled by jet—by pulling water into the mantle cavity, and pushing it through the siphon, in gentle, rhythmic pulses. They can also move quickly by expanding the cavity to fill it with water, then contracting muscles to jet water through the siphon. Giant squid breathe using two large gills inside the mantle cavity. The circulatory system is closed, which is a distinct characteristic of cephalopods. Like other squid, they contain dark ink used to deter predators.\n",
"Squid can move fast through the water by jet propulsion, expelling a jet of water through a flexible siphon located on the ventral surface just behind the head. Some species can even launch themselves out of the water and move rapidly through air, remaining airborne for several metres. The phenomenon has been little studied because it happens so rarely and so unexpectedly, but it has been photographed on a small number of occasions, and \"Sthenoteuthis pteropus\" has sometimes tentatively been identified. The squid seems to be engaging in an active flying process rather than a passive glide as the fin is spread widely and the arms are held in such a position as might help provide lift. The squid were found to travel five times as fast in air as in water and it is thought that the behaviour may occur during long distance migrations in order to conserve energy.\n"
] |
_url_0_, inc. not paying income tax despite being legally considered a person. | You’re allow to deduct your losses on your tax return. 3 years retroactively and 20 years prospectively.
Amazon focused on growth for many years at the expense of profitability and is now using the tax loss carry forwards (Deferred tax assets) to offset their taxable income in profitable years.
Perfectly legal, all companies have this ability, it’s part of the tax code. Politically popular to point out that someone isn’t paying taxes while ignoring they losses they incurred for 1.5 decades. | [
"In the tax law of the United States the claim of right doctrine causes a taxpayer to recognize income if they receive the income even though they do not have a fixed right to the income. For the income to qualify as being received there must be a receipt of cash or property that ordinarily constitutes income rather than loans or gifts or deposits that are returnable, the taxpayer needs unlimited control on the use or disposition of the funds, and the taxpayer must hold and treat the income as its own. This law is largely created by the courts, but some aspects have been codified into the Internal Revenue Code.\n",
"On his website, Cryer made a variety of assertions about the legality of the federal income tax in the United States, mostly in regard to taxes on wages. He claimed that \"the law does not tax [a person's] wages\", and that the federal government cannot tax \"[m]oney that you earned [and] paid for with your labor and industry\" because \"the Constitution does not allow the federal government to tax those earnings\" (referring to \"wages, salaries and fees that [a person] earn[s] for [himself]\"). Cryer stated:\n",
"A taxpayer may receive taxable income from the taxpayer's employer when the employer pays the taxpayer's taxes. In 1929, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of \"Old Colony Trust Co. v. Commissioner\". The employer paid incomes taxes on behalf of an employee, and the Court questioned whether that payment constituted additional taxable income to the employee. The Court decided that the payment constituted income to the employee because \"the discharge by a third person of an obligation to him is equivalent to receipt by the person taxed.\" Thus, even when a taxpayer does not directly receive compensation for services, the compensation may be considered gross income if the payment releases the taxpayer from an obligation.\n",
"One argument repeatedly made by tax protesters is that the income of individuals is not taxable because income should mean only \"corporate profits\" or \"corporate gain\". This is the \"Merchants' Loan\" argument, named after the case of \"Merchants' Loan & Trust Company, as Trustee of the Estate of Arthur Ryerson, Deceased, Plaintiff in Error v. Julius F. Smietanka, formerly United States Collector of Internal Revenue for the First District of the State of Illinois\". The argument is essentially that \"income\" for federal income tax purposes means \"only\" the income of a corporation — not the income of a non-corporate taxpayer — because the United States Supreme Court in that case, in discussing the meaning of income, mentioned a statute enacted in 1909 that taxed the income of corporations.\n",
"Similarly, tax protester Tom Cryer, who was acquitted of willful failure to file U.S. Federal income tax returns in a timely fashion, argued that \"the law does not tax [a person's] wages\", and that the federal government cannot tax \"[m]oney that you earned [and] paid for with your labor and industry\" because \"the Constitution does not allow the federal government to tax those earnings\" (referring to \"wages, salaries and fees that [a person] earn[s] for [himself]\").\n",
"The argument that a person's income is not taxed when the person rejects or renounces United States citizenship because the person claims to be a citizen exclusively of a state, and variations of this argument, have been officially identified as legally frivolous federal tax return positions for purposes of the $5,000 frivolous tax return penalty imposed under Internal Revenue Code section 6702(a).\n",
"Protesters argue that the income tax violates the Fifth Amendment right that no person shall be \"deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law\". However, people can be deprived of life, liberty, or property \"with\" due process of law — this is what the courts do. Legal commentator Daniel B. Evans describes:\n"
] |
In movies and TV shows, why does removing an object that has impaled a character often make them bleed more? | Not just in movies and TV, in real life too! An object stabbing into you will cut and rip tissue and blood vessels, causing injury. But as long as the object is in there, it’s effectively holding everything in place still. It’s like that experiment where you take a plastic zip bag full of water and shove a pencil through it. As long as the pencil is in there, it’s plugging the hole. Remove the pencil, and water starts to flow. Same thing happens in a body.
In real life, removal of the penetrating object should only be done once you reach a hospital and a medical professional can safely do it. Our gut reaction is “get this out of me!” But your chances of survival drop drastically if you remove the object and start bleeding uncontrollably. | [
"For example, in the Japanese and PAL Versions of \"No More Heroes\", blood splatter and gore is removed from the gameplay. Decapitation scenes are implied, but not shown. Scenes of missing body parts after having been cut off, are replaced with the same scene, but showing the body parts fully intact.\n",
"I've never had to die on camera before, let alone in such a grisly way. So you just have to kind of give it everything. You talk to the two actors holding you and say, ‘Let's not pansy around here. I'm gonna absolutely try and get out of this, so don't let me.' Then, you let it rip. It can't be some sort of half-assed whimpering – you've got to really believe the pain and the fear. It's actually quite liberating.\n",
"BULLET::::- \"No More Heroes\" - In the versions released in PAL territories and Japan, blood spatter is removed. Decapitation scenes are implied, but not shown. Scenes of missing body parts after having been cut off, are replaced with the same scene, but showing the body parts fully intact.\n",
"Dismemberment has been portrayed in many films; although a few are depictions of historical or actual events, a significant number are within the horror genre. Filmmakers can be quite innovative in the methods depicted, and thus reflect the public's fear and fascination with this method of torture, homicide, and/or body disposal. The following movies portray or imply dismemberment in some form; exceptional methods or motives are described.\n",
"The film has developed a cult following due to its gruesome, if primitive, special effects, including some memorably bloody death scenes. One character is eaten from the inside out by the titular monsters, resulting in a gushing fountain of intestinal matter. Another victim is stabbed with a wooden stake, then shot twice in the face, with resultant gaping bullet holes. \n",
"The proverbial \"face on the cutting room floor\" is a character in a movie who, after the shooting is completed, is completely removed from the film, for whatever reason. The same idea also holds true for documentaries, where in the editing process the large amount of raw footage is cut down to a manageable size and where it can happen that a particular part of the film is completely removed from the final version.\n",
"BULLET::::- Characters cannot be killed. Rather, they just go \"Out of the Fight\" (or OOF) for the remainder of the combat scene. Characters \"can\" die in a \"Movie\" episode, however, even there character deaths are not common.\n"
] |
why is a larger digital camera sensor better than a smaller one? | When you have bigger pixel buckets, the buckets stay cooler and are more likely to absorb the light accurately.
Think of it like this, the more light that hits your pixel buckets, the more they heat up. If you imagine it like water, the more light that hits the sooner that water starts to boil and gets very bubbly. If you have small buckets then the water boils faster. When the water boils, it bounces up and down and isn't smooth. This is like your pixels not recording the correct color - noise. So if you have a bigger bucket of water the more it takes to make the water boil.
If you have a bigger sensor, and bigger buckets, the more likely you'll record the light more correctly and smoothly between the buckets. | [
"For low cost and small size, these cameras typically use image sensor formats with a diagonal between 6 and 11 mm, corresponding to a crop factor between 7 and 4. This gives them weaker low-light performance, greater depth of field, generally closer focusing ability, and smaller components than cameras using larger sensors. Some cameras use a larger sensor including, at the high end, a pricey full-frame sensor compact camera, such as Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1, but have capability near that of a DSLR.\n",
"These cameras have much larger sensors than the other types, typically 18 mm to 36 mm on the diagonal (crop factor 2, 1.6, or 1). The larger sensor permits more light to be received by each pixel; this, combined with the relatively large lenses provides superior low-light performance. For the same field of view and the same aperture, a larger sensor gives shallower focus.\n",
"For historical reasons, sensor size specifications such as 1/2.5\" do not match the actual sensor size, but are a bit larger (typically about a factor of 1.5) than the actual sensor diagonal. This is because these sensor size specifications refer to the size of a camera tube, while the usable sensor size is about 2/3 of the size of the tube. Tubes are not used on digital cameras, but the same specifications are used.\n",
"BULLET::::- The main disadvantage of a smaller sensor, with a pixel count that matches a larger sensor, is the reduction in incoming light hitting the light sensitive part of each pixel of the sensor. This is true even if the Four Thirds camera and lens are properly designed to focus all captured light onto the smaller light circle circumscribing the smaller sensor. The reason is that a smaller pixel has a disproportionately smaller light sensitive area because the pixel loses a larger proportion of its total area to secondary circuitry and edge shading than a larger pixel. With less captured light to work with each pixel output voltage requires additional amplification with associated higher signal noise, resulting in increased chromatic and color noise as well as reduced dynamic range. A telecentric lens design helps reduce this problem but still leaves a smaller sensor, with smaller pixels, more sensitive to the angle of incoming light, among other things producing a more pronounced image corner light fall off.\n",
"BULLET::::- The smaller sensor size makes possible smaller and lighter camera bodies and lenses. In particular, the Four-Thirds system allows the development of compact, large aperture lenses. Corresponding lenses become larger, heavier and more expensive when designed for larger sensor formats.\n",
"Cameras with digital image sensors that are smaller than the typical 35mm film size have a smaller field or angle of view when used with a lens of the same focal length. This is because angle of view is a function of both focal length and the sensor or film size used.\n",
"The resolution of digital camera backs (in 2017, up to 101 megapixels, IQ3 100) is higher than any fixed sensor digital camera (in 2017, up to 51 megapixels, Hasselblad X1D). and captures more detail per pixel due to the omission of an anti-aliasing filter. Each pixel is also able to capture more dynamic range due to higher quality electronics and larger pixel pitch. The use of active cooling systems such as internal fans and Peltier effect electric cooling systems also contributes to image quality. The Sinar eXact creates images in excess of 1 GB in multi-shot mode from a 49 MB sensor.\n"
] |
Would plants grow differently in an environment with less gravity? | [Here](_URL_0_) is an article reporting on an experiment on plant growth in weightlessness conducted on the Space Shuttle. There was a variety of impacts on plant growth -- for the stem, for roots, even for the pegs that bump out of germinated seeds. | [
"Plants grown inflight experience a microgravity environment, and plants grown on the surface of Mars experience approximately 1/3 the gravity that earth plants do. However, so long as plants are provided with directional light, those grown in low gravity environments still experienced normal growth. Normal growth is classified as opposite root and shoot growth direction. This being said many plants grown in a space flight environment have been significantly smaller than those grown on earth's surface and grew at a slower rate.\n",
"Subsequent research went on to investigate the effect of low gravity on plants at the organismic, cellular, and subcellular levels. At the organismic level, for example, a variety of species, including pine, oat, mung bean, lettuce, cress, and \"Arabidopsis thaliana\", showed decreased seedling, root, and shoot growth in low gravity, whereas lettuce grown on Cosmos showed the opposite effect of growth in space (Halstead and Scott 1990). Mineral uptake seems also to be affected in plants grown in space. For example, peas grown in space exhibited increased levels of phosphorus and potassium and decreased levels of the divalent cations calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and iron (Halstead and Scott 1990).\n",
"Biotic factors also affect plant growth. Plants can be so crowded that no single individual produces normal growth, causing etiolation and chlorosis. Optimal plant growth can be hampered by grazing animals, suboptimal soil composition, lack of mycorrhizal fungi, and attacks by insects or plant diseases, including those caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, and nematodes.\n",
"Several experiments have been focused on how plant growth and distribution compares in micro-gravity, space conditions versus Earth conditions. This enables scientists to explore whether certain plant growth patterns are innate or environmentally driven. For instance, Allan H. Brown tested seedling movements aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1983. Sunflower seedling movements were recorded while in orbit. They observed that the seedlings still experienced rotational growth and circumnation despite lack of gravity, showing these behaviors are instinctual.\n",
"Several experiments have been focused on how plant growth and distribution compares in micro-gravity, space conditions versus Earth conditions. This enables scientists to explore whether certain plant growth patterns are innate or environmentally driven. For instance, Allan H. Brown tested seedling movements aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1983. Sunflower seedling movements were recorded while in orbit. They observed that the seedlings still experienced rotational growth and circumnation despite lack of gravity, showing these behaviors are built-in.\n",
"Even in agricultural crops, where ideal conditions are approximated as much as is practical, plants are not always growing (and therefore transpiring) at their theoretical potential. Plants have growth stages and states of health induced by a variety of environmental conditions.\n",
"In nature or crop fields, water is often the most limiting factor for plant growth. If plants do not receive adequate rainfall or irrigation, the resulting dehydration stress can reduce growth more than all other environmental stresses combined.\n"
] |
During WW2, how was the traffic between Switzerland and other countries handled? | At the Évian Conference the Swiss stated that they can just be used for transit emigration. Fugitives were temporarily tolerated. Since the outbreak of war all foreigners required a visa to enter Swiss territory. Excluded from this were political refugees, but this status were not given to Jews. Illegal immigration were nontheless well known.
All in all the Swiss handled soldiers from other countries according to the Hague Conventions. Between 1939-1945 there were more than 100'000 army members interned (34'500 French, 24'400 Italians, 17'100 Poles, 7'200 Germans und Austrians, 5'800 Brits, 2'100 Yugoslavs, 1'600 Americans an 8'400 Sowjets + others) Only members of the SS troups were rejected by swiss authorities.
Interment camps were established in Büren an der Aare, Girenbad, Adliswil, Wauwilermoos and elsewhere. Others were held in disused hotels. Conditions were not the very best, especially some were overcrowded and not well planned.
Short news about american pilots being shot down over germany and landed in neutral switzerland. Don't know how biased this is. [CBSNews](_URL_2_)
I hope some historians with experience can elaborate in depth.
Sources (in german):
_URL_1_ (Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Internierungen)
_URL_0_ (HLS: 2. Weltkrieg - Flüchtlinge) | [
"From 1943 Switzerland stopped American and British aircraft, mainly bombers, overflying Switzerland during the Second World War. On numerous occasions during the war, Allied aircraft trespassed on Swiss airspace; mostly damaged Allied bombers returning from raids over Italy and Germany whose crews preferred internment by the Swiss to becoming prisoners of war. Over a hundred Allied aircraft crews were interned and placed in ski resorts which were left abandoned due to the lack of tourists after the outbreak of war. They were to be held in there until the war had ended. At least 940 American airmen attempted to escape into France after the invasion of Normandy, but Swiss authorities intercepted 183 internees. Over 160 of these airmen were incarcerated in a Swiss prison camp known as Wauwilermoos, which was located near Lucerne and commanded by André Béguin, a pro-Nazi Swiss officer. The American internees remained in Wauwilermoos until November 1944 when the U.S. State Department lodged protests against the Swiss government and eventually secured their release.\n",
"During the Second World War, Switzerland effectively shut down the border, leaving Büsingen cut off from the rest of the Third Reich. German soldiers on home leave were required to deposit their weapons at the border guards' posts in Gailingen am Hochrhein. The Swiss customs officers would then supply them with greatcoats to cover up their German uniforms for the duration of their short journey through Dörflingen (Swiss territory) to their homes in Büsingen.\n",
"Switzerland's trade was blockaded by both the Allies and by the Axis. Economic cooperation and extension of credit to the Third Reich varied according to the perceived likelihood of invasion and the availability of other trading partners. Concessions reached a peak after a crucial rail link through Vichy France was severed in 1942, leaving Switzerland (together with Liechtenstein) entirely isolated from the wider world by Axis controlled territory. Over the course of the war, Switzerland interned over 300,000 refugees and the International Red Cross, based in Geneva, played an important part during the conflict. Strict immigration and asylum policies as well as the financial relationships with Nazi Germany raised controversy, but not until the end of the 20th century.\n",
"Switzerland's trade was blockaded by both the Allies and by the Axis. Each side openly exerted pressure on Switzerland not to trade with the other. Economic cooperation and extension of credit to the Third Reich varied according to the perceived likelihood of invasion, and the availability of other trading partners. Concessions reached their zenith after a crucial rail link through Vichy France was severed in 1942, leaving Switzerland completely surrounded by the Axis. Switzerland relied on trade for half of its food and essentially all of its fuel but controlled vital trans-alpine rail tunnels between Germany and Italy. Switzerland's most important exports during the war were precision machine tools, watches, jewel bearings (used in bomb sights), electricity, and dairy products. Until 1936, the Swiss franc was the only remaining major freely convertible currency in the world, and both the Allies and the Germans sold large amounts of gold to the Swiss National Bank. Between 1940 and 1945, the German Reichsbank sold 1.3 billion francs (approximately 18 billion Francs adjusted for inflation to 2019) worth of gold to Swiss Banks in exchange for Swiss francs and other foreign currency, which were used to buy strategically important raw materials like tungsten and oil from neutral countries. Hundreds of millions of francs worth of this gold was monetary gold plundered from the central banks of occupied countries. A total of 581,000 francs' worth of \"Melmer\" gold taken from Holocaust victims in eastern Europe was sold to Swiss banks. In total, trade between Germany and Switzerland contributed about 0.5% to the German war effort and did not significantly lengthen the war.\n",
"During the two World Wars, services were suspended on the parts of the line extending beyond Switzerland's borders. After World War II, several lines were closed. In 1958, the total length of the network's routes was .\n",
"Switzerland was a neutral country during World War II, but adjacent to and at times almost completely surrounded by Axis, or Axis-occupied, countries. On several occasions, Allied bombing raids hit targets in Switzerland resulting in fatalities and property damage. Such events led to diplomatic exchanges. While Allied forces explained the causes of violations as navigation errors, equipment failure, weather conditions, and pilots' errors, in Switzerland fear was expressed that some neutrality violations were intended to exert pressure on the country to end its economic cooperation with Nazi Germany. In addition to bombing raids, air attacks by individual fighter planes strafed Swiss targets toward the end of the war. The Swiss military, in turn, attacked Allied aircraft overflying Switzerland with fighters and anti-aircraft cannons.\n",
"Switzerland maintained a state of armed neutrality during the First World War. However, with two of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) and two of the Entente Powers (France and Italy) all sharing borders and populations with Switzerland, neutrality proved difficult. From December 1914 until the spring of 1918 Swiss troops were deployed in the Jura along the French border over concern that the trench war might spill into Switzerland. Of lesser concern was the Italian border, but troops were also stationed in the Unterengadin region of Graubünden. While the German-speaking majority in Switzerland generally favored the Central Powers, the French- and, later, Italian-speaking populations sided with the Entente Powers, which would cause conflict in 1918. However, the country managed to keep out of the war. During the war Switzerland was blockaded by the Allies and therefore suffered some difficulties. However, because Switzerland was centrally located, neutral, and generally undamaged, the war allowed the growth of the Swiss banking industry. For the same reasons, Switzerland became a haven for refugees and revolutionaries.\n"
] |
why hollywood releases movie that are so similar in plot and so close in time intervals.examples are this is the end and the worlds end; oblivion and after earth, etc... | One movie studio hears about the development of a film, and they produce a similar movie - usually on a faster timeline in order to match release dates. This not only potentially steals viewers from another movie (or shares them), it also capitalizes on interest that will be generated by either movie's advertisements. | [
"His films also typically end with a death, which is portrayed not as a tragedy, but as a happy moving on where the deceased looks down happily at the world below. \"Between Heaven and Earth\" ends with a birth, but it is similarly handled the passing of a character into a new world. This pattern is continued in \"Mr. Nobody\", where two deaths open the film and a unique twist on death at the end of the film conveys a wistful sense of happiness.\n",
"\"Until the End of the World\" was poorly received in its first release, and was both a critical and commercial failure. In the United States, the film was released by Warner Bros. in December 1991, and was on a small number of screens with almost no advertising. The U.S. box office grossed $752,856.\n",
"In retrospect, it can be seen that Steven Spielberg's \"Jaws\" (1975) and George Lucas's \"Star Wars\" (1977) marked the beginning of the end for the New Hollywood. With their unprecedented box-office successes, these movies jump-started Hollywood's blockbuster mentality, giving studios a new paradigm as to how to make money in this changing commercial landscape. The focus on high-concept premises, with greater concentration on tie-in merchandise (such as toys), spin-offs into other media (such as soundtracks), and the use of sequels (which had been made more respectable by Coppola's \"The Godfather Part II\"), all showed the studios how to make money in the new environment.\n",
"Critic P. Adams Sitney described \"The End\" as a \"a deliberately conclusive work\" that \"mixes the prophecy of immediate doom with nostalgia, as if the earth were already gone\". Fred Camper wrote in the \"Chicago Reader\" that it was \"among the greatest films I've ever seen…[and] unlike any others I know\". In his review in \"The Moving Image\", Richard Suchenski called it \"Maclaine's best film,…one of the definitive cinematic expressions of the Beat sensibility.\" Dennis Lim of the \"Los Angeles Times\" described \"The End\" as \"some kind of masterpiece, a Beat-inflected vision of nuclear paranoia.\"\n",
"Hollywood Ending is a 2002 American comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, who also plays the principal character. It tells the story of a once-famous film director who suffers hysterical blindness due to the intense pressure of directing.\n",
"Film scholar David Bordwell, writing in \"Film Viewer's Guide\", mentioned the (un)reality of the ending as a topic for debate, as there is no definitive answer as to whether the ending is reality or fantasy. By the end of the film the line between fantasy and reality is blurred for the audience as well as the character. Scorsese doesn't offer a clear answer but forces each viewer to make up his or her own mind as to how to interpret the film.\n",
"Walt Disney Pictures released the film in the United States on May 25, 2007. Critical reviews were mixed; the film was praised for its performances, musical score, action scenes, humor, and special effects but was criticized for its plot and running time. Despite this, \"At World's End\" was a box office hit, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2007 with over $960 million. It was nominated at the 80th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Makeup and the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, which it lost to \"La Vie en Rose\" and \"The Golden Compass\", respectively. A sequel, \"\", the first in the series to neither be directed by Verbinski nor star Bloom and Knightley, was released on May 20, 2011.\n"
] |
how did joel olsteen end up with a net worth of $57 million, despite average preachor wages being around $50,000? | Predominantly through book sales. He's been investigated and was found to have crossed all the t's and dotted the i's. He's a dick but keeps clean books. | [
"On March 30, 2012, Luebke agreed to a four-year extension with the Padres worth a guaranteed $12 million that includes 2 club options for 2016 and 2017. He received a $500,000 bonus for the deal. He earned $0.5 million in 2012, $1 million in 2013, $3 million in 2014 and $5.25 million in 2015. His 2016 option was worth $7.5 million and had a $1.75 million buyout, and his 2017 option was worth $10 million with a $250,000 buyout. Luebke could have earned up to $27.75 million.\n",
"He signed a $120 million seven-year extension deal after the 2009 season in the largest contract in Cardinals' history. He averaged 147 games played for the first five years, but injuries severely hurt his playing time in 2015 and this year. He posted five 20-homer seasons and four 90-RBI seasons. Holliday produced a cumulative WAR of 24.1 in those eight years. According to Fangraphs, which created a tool to convert WAR to dollars in order to estimate the value of a player, Holliday has been worth $168.6 million since 2010. He was active in the community with many charity appearances. He will turn 37 in mid-January 2017, after playing 13 major league seasons, the first five with the Colorado Rockies, and first half of 2009 with the Oakland Athletics until traded on July 24 to the Cardinals. After what could be his final at-bat with the Cardinals at home on September 30, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he hit his first ever pinch-hit home run, his 20th of the season, giving him 61 RBIs for the season, in his 980th game with the Cardinals that included six 20-homer seasons. With his 20th home run, Holliday became the sixth Cardinals' player to reach that mark, tying the NL record held by the 1965 Milwaukee Braves, and later 2003 Atlanta Braves. The homer also extended the team's pinch-hit home run major league record, now 17.\n",
", his $10.2 million career earnings stood as the highest all-time online career total. His largest payout was $235,592 for a 3rd-place finish in the 2404-player $1000+60 March 28–29, 2011 Full Tilt Poker - $1K Monday $2 Million Tournament. His largest online wins were the 2,700-player $240+16 March 14, 2010 Full Tilt Poker - The Sunday Brawl for $109,620 and the 20-player $5000+200 March 9, 2008 winner-take-all PokerStars - Sunday $5,200 Freezeout for $100,000.\n",
"In the early 1970s, Rinaldo began to bring up the subject of buying property at the meetings. His followers began to donate money. One estimated that over the years, he contributed $30,000. A couple reported that they had made a $20,000 donation to Rinaldo, believing they were donating to a religious organization. A woman estimated that over 5.5 years she had contributed around $10,000, despite the fact that she had a low income and was in fact unemployed for 20 months during that period.\n",
"Rauner's exact net worth is unclear, but has been estimated at, minimally, several hundred million dollars. During his campaign for governor he promised that he would accept only $1 in salary and no benefits from his office, including forgoing a pension and reimbursement for travel expenses.\n",
"Before the 2012 season, he agreed to a two-year extension (which added a $4.1 million salary for 2013 and included a mutual option for 2014) at a minimum of $4.35 million. He went on to pitch to a 3.71 earned run average with a 3-9 record as well as 69 strikeouts in 80 innings.\n",
"He accepted a bet of $10,000 from 2+2 Poker Forums to say \"lol donkaments\" on an episode of \"High Stakes Poker\", which he did after winning a hand against professional poker player Erick Lindgren. After the initial $10,000, he also received a further $45,000 in donations from other charitable poker players who were amused by the bet.\n"
] |
Does distance affect heat produced from light? | The amount of energy an object will receive per unit of time (power) from a light source certainly does change with distance but the size (and even sign) of the effect depends on the nature of the light source.
Lets start off with a normal point source like a light bulb. The light leaving the bulb at any given time expands outward at the same speed in *all* directions. You can visualize this as a spherical shells centered about and expanding from the light source. As you move further and further from the bulb these shell gets larger and larger, so for energy to be conserved the power per unit area has to continually decrease. The area of a sphere increases with its radius squared, so for the total energy to be held constant the power per unit area has to fall off like the distance from the light source squared. If an object was 30 units away from the source but now is 60 units away it is going to receive (30/60)^2 = 1/4 as much power.
The case of the laser is a bit more complicated because laser light is collimated and does not radiate evenly in all directions. The exact outcome would depend on how the light from that particular laser is focused. The fundamental laws of optics prevent any laser from being perfectly collimated so far from the laser the power per area will always fall off in a manner very close to the distance from the source squared. If you are close to the laser it may fall off much slower though or in some situations the power may actually temporarily increase as you move away from the source (if the laser beam is focused near your object).
Lastly, it should be noted that there are many factors that effect the temperature of an object. It would certainly not scale proportionally with the power received by a nearby light source, although receiving more power would certainly lead to a higher temperature measurement. | [
"BULLET::::- He consolidated and enhanced the results of Desains, Forbes, Knoblauch and others demonstrating that the principal properties of visible light can be reproduced for radiant heat – namely reflection, refraction, diffraction, polarisation, depolarisation, double refraction, and rotation in a magnetic field.\n",
"BULLET::::- albedo - reflectance; the ratio of light from the Sun that is reflected by the Earth's surface, to the light received by it. Unreflected light is converted to infrared radiation (heat), which causes atmospheric warming (see \"radiative forcing\"). Thus, surfaces with a high albedo, like snow and ice, generally contribute to cooling, whereas surfaces with a low albedo, like forests, generally contribute to warming. Changes in land use that significantly alter the characteristics of land surfaces can alter the albedo.\n",
"Optics, the study of light, is concerned not only with visible light but also with infrared and ultraviolet radiation, which exhibit all of the phenomena of visible light except visibility, e.g., reflection, refraction, interference, diffraction, dispersion, and polarization of light. Heat is a form of energy, the internal energy possessed by the particles of which a substance is composed; thermodynamics deals with the relationships between heat and other forms of energy. Electricity and magnetism have been studied as a single branch of physics since the intimate connection between them was discovered in the early 19th century; an electric current gives rise to a magnetic field, and a changing magnetic field induces an electric current. Electrostatics deals with electric charges at rest, electrodynamics with moving charges, and magnetostatics with magnetic poles at rest.\n",
"Infrared radiation is popularly known as \"heat radiation\", but light and electromagnetic waves of any frequency will heat surfaces that absorb them. Infrared light from the Sun accounts for 49% of the heating of Earth, with the rest being caused by visible light that is absorbed then re-radiated at longer wavelengths. Visible light or ultraviolet-emitting lasers can char paper and incandescently hot objects emit visible radiation. Objects at room temperature will emit radiation concentrated mostly in the 8 to 25 µm band, but this is not distinct from the emission of visible light by incandescent objects and ultraviolet by even hotter objects (see black body and Wien's displacement law).\n",
"Lastly, there is a clear wavelength dependence in Rayleigh scattering. It is greatest at short wavelengths, whereas skylight polarization is greatest at middle to long wavelengths. Initially it is greatest in the ultraviolet, but as light moves to the Earth's surface and interacts via multiple-path scattering it becomes high at middle to long wavelengths. The angle of polarization shows no variation with wavelength.\n",
"Luminous efficacy of radiation measures the fraction of electromagnetic power which is useful for lighting. It is obtained by dividing the luminous flux by the radiant flux. Light with wavelengths outside the visible spectrum reduces luminous efficacy, because it contributes to the radiant flux while the luminous flux of such light is zero. Wavelengths near the peak of the eye's response contribute more strongly than those near the edges.\n",
"By intentionally changing the Earth's albedo, or reflectivity, scientists propose that we could reflect more heat back out into space. We could also intercept sunlight before it reaches the Earth through a literal shade built in space. The effects are uncertain but it has been suggested that 2% albedo increase would roughly halve the effect of CO doubling.\n"
] |
why do we go through so much security to get on an airplane but virtually none for any other mass transit? | Mostly not especially logical hysteria post 9/11 for things like taking off your shoes and not bringing liquids. But airplanes have always had more security because airplanes are more vulnerable to attack and hijacking (which is what people *used* to be afraid of before terroists slammed them into skyscrapers) since they're so hard to operate.
If I want to take over a plane, I can kill the pilot and copilot and then essentially everyone on the plane is fucked. Best case scenario, after I'm subdued, an untrained person does an emergency landing and *maybe* doesn't kill everyone.
If I want to take over a cruise ship - so what? If I kill the captain, the boat floats there quietly for a while before the coast guard comes. Even if I manage to try and sink the damn thing, life rafts and the immediate availability of rescue are much safer than maybe slamming into the ground at 200mph.
Same thing with trains - you can derail them, but you don't need to be on them to do that. Otherwise if the conductor dies or is incapacitated, you can generally stop the train just by pulling a lever and then everyone just gets off. | [
"Air transportation security in the United States is regulated by the TSA, an agency of the US Department of Homeland Security. Passengers must provide a valid federal or state-issued ID in order to be allowed onto a flight. A person must also go through a pat-down procedure or a body scan before boarding a flight to ensure that they have no prohibited items. These security policies have been adopted by the US government ever since the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks in which terrorists managed to hijack several commercial airliners. Items that are prohibited on airplanes include firearms, tools, or other objects that can be used as weapons, explosive or flammable materials, and other dangerous or debilitating chemicals or substances.\n",
"In the United States non-passengers were once allowed on the concourses to meet arriving friends or relatives at their gates, but this is now greatly restricted due to the terrorist attacks. Non-passengers must obtain a gate pass to enter the secure area of the airport. The most common reasons that a non-passenger may obtain a gate pass is to assist children and the elderly as well as for attending business meetings that take place in the secure area of the airport. In the United States, at least 24 hours notice is generally required for those planning to attend a business meeting inside the secure area of the airport. Other countries, such as Australia do not restrict non-travellers from accessing the airside area, however non-travellers are typically subject to the same security scans as travellers.\n",
"More frequent service from local airports can be provided by smaller aircraft for better transportation at ranges of . Travel times for San Francisco to Los Angeles () or Boston to Washington () could be halved using secondary airports with only carry-on luggage not needing baggage conveyor belts and requiring less elaborate airport security.\n",
"Since the September 11 attacks, it has become more difficult to be a stowaway on board transportation arriving to or departing from the United States. Airport security has dramatically increased, and among the new security measures is trained professionals watching over the fences from which stowaways usually gain entrance to an airport's runway.\n",
"For airports built within or close to the city limits, extending mass transit urban rail systems like rapid transit or light rail to airport terminals allows full integration with other public transport in the city, and seamless transport to all parts of town. Service frequency will be high, although travel time is a drawback as the services make many intermediate stops before reaching the city center and thus there may not be enough space for the baggage commonly carried by airport-bound passengers. Furthermore, luggage stowing facilities are not commonly found on mass transit vehicles as their primary objective is to provide high-capacity transport, as in the Airport, Inner West & South Line in Sydney, Australia. A common solution involves building a separate people mover from a mass transit station to the airport terminal (see below), often using automated systems, allowing faster travel time and fare discrimination, for instance Orlyval. Because they are solely dedicated to passengers using the airport, luggage stowing facilities are more likely to appear on these systems.\n",
"Screening security at American airports has also been questioned, with suggestions that some American airports should also force passengers to put laptops and other electronics in the airplane hold until security at these airports improves.\n",
"In many cases, there is no train station directly at the airport, usually because the infrastructure on which the service operates makes it impractical to build such a station. When this happens, a shuttle system is required for the last part of the journey; using either a people mover (often automated, such as AirTrain JFK in New York City) or a bus. The former allows low operating costs and higher perceived quality; the latter does not require specialized infrastructure to be built, and is often the preferred choice at smaller or low-cost airports. Shuttles do not provide a direct connection, and often involve a wait for a transfer to the next stage of the journey. Thus their market shares are often lower.\n"
] |
(or like... hs): why does my stomach get upset when i'm stressed? | stress is a response left over from the era when it was very likely for a lion (or some guy who wants our food) to try to kill us with very little warning. so when you feel like a lion could pop out at any moment, you become stressed. when you are stressed, your body's long term functions (digestion, immune system, cell growth) start to shut down in favor of your short term functions (running fast, reaction time, breathing). so when a lion finally did jump at you, you could run away faster then if you were trying to digest your food at the same time.
however, that situation doesn't happen as much in america. instead of lions, we have things like morgages and shitty jobs. your body has the same stress reaction to these situations is it does to a lion, however, unlike a lion, these problems will remain for years at a time. so your body is in full stress mode 24/7, ready for it's fight-or-flight response, and feels like that is more important then digesting you hamburger, which will just sit there for much longer then it should. | [
"One explanation for the connection between inflammation and depression symptoms, is that depression is a disorder that stems from immune responses across the body. Due in large part to the systems that bring them about both involving the same pro-inflammatory cytokines, the suggestion is that strong or prolonged immune responses allow for those with susceptibilities to depression to experience it outside of experiences with any other risk factors. Of the ways this might happen, one is that those whose immune responses have been shifted to be pro-inflammatory without sufficient anti-inflammatory compensation have elevated risk of experiencing inflammation intense enough to cause depression. Another suggestion is that variation in neurotransmitter production or receptors may also play a role in one’s risk of experiencing inflammation-based depression if certain combinations result in increased risk of inflammation, similarly putting them at risk of maladaptive changes in brain chemistry.\n",
"Depression and low mood were found to be of a communicative nature. They signal yielding in a hierarchy conflict or a need for help. Low mood or extreme low mood (also known as depression) can regulate a pattern of engagement and foster disengagement from unattainable goals. \"Low mood increases an organism's ability to cope with the adaptive challenges characteristic of unpropitious situations in which effort to pursue a major goal will likely result in danger, loss, bodily damage, or wasted effort.\" Being apathetic can have a fitness advantage for the organism. Depression has also been studied as a behavioral strategy used by vertebrates to increase their personal or inclusive fitness in the threat of parasites and pathogens.\n",
"Symptoms include depression, anxiety, and anger. Chronic stress can create medical problems including high blood pressure, diabetes, and a compromised immune system. The impact may reduce the care-giver's life expectancy.\n",
"Major depression is often associated with increased immune function, and the two are thought to share similar physiological pathways and risk factors. Primarily seen through increased inflammation, this relationship is bidirectional with depression often resulting in increased immune response and illness resulting in prolonged sadness and lack of activity. This association is seen both long-term and short-term, with the presence of one often being accompanied by the other and both inflammation and depression often being co-morbid with other conditions.\n",
"In addition to this, the way that an individual responds to stress can influence their health status. Often, individuals responding to chronic stress will develop potentially positive or negative coping behaviors. People who cope with stress through positive behaviors such as exercise or social connections may not be as affected by the relationship between stress and health, whereas those with a coping style more prone to over-consumption (i.e. emotional eating, drinking, smoking or drug use) are more likely to be see negative health effects of stress.\n",
"In addition there is increasing evidence that inflammation can cause depression because of the increase of cytokines, setting the brain into a \"sickness mode\". Classical symptoms of being physically sick like lethargy show a large overlap in behaviors that characterize depression. Levels of cytokines tend to increase sharply during the depressive episodes of people with bipolar disorder and drop off during remission. Furthermore, it has been shown in clinical trials that anti-inflammatory medicines taken in addition to antidepressants not only significantly improves symptoms but also increases the proportion of subjects positively responding to treatment.\n",
"Depressed mood can be the result of a number of infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, neurological conditions and physiological problems, including hypoandrogenism (in men), Addison's disease, Cushing's syndrome, hypothyroidism, Lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, chronic pain, stroke, diabetes, and cancer.\n"
] |
why are g-protein receptors the target for more than half of the drugs? | G-protein receptors are very common receptors that need to be activated in order to trigger a cascade of reactions within the cell. They are involved in a large amount of common processes that can often go wrong in people (e.g. inflammation, glucose homeostasis, etc.). This makes an obvious target for drugs because they stop these processes completely (because binding of G-protein receptors is often the first step) and they are easy to target because you just need a complementary molecule that can be transported in blood. | [
"G protein-coupled receptors comprise a large protein family of transmembrane receptors. They are found only in eukaryotes. The ligands which bind and activate these receptors include: photosensitive compounds, odors, pheromones, hormones, and neurotransmitters. These vary in size from small molecules to peptides and large proteins. G protein-coupled receptors are involved in many diseases, and thus are the targets of many modern medicinal drugs.\n",
"The 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Brian Kobilka and Robert Lefkowitz for their work that was \"crucial for understanding how G protein-coupled receptors function\". There have been at least seven other Nobel Prizes awarded for some aspect of G protein–mediated signaling. As of 2012, two of the top ten global best-selling drugs (Advair Diskus and Abilify) act by targeting G protein-coupled receptors.\n",
"G proteins are important signal transducing molecules in cells. \"Malfunction of GPCR [G Protein-Coupled Receptor] signaling pathways are involved in many diseases, such as diabetes, blindness, allergies, depression, cardiovascular defects, and certain forms of cancer. It is estimated that about 30% of the modern drugs' cellular targets are GPCRs.\" The human genome encodes roughly 800 G protein-coupled receptors, which detect photons of light, hormones, growth factors, drugs, and other endogenous ligands. Approximately 150 of the GPCRs found in the human genome still have unknown functions.\n",
"The magnitude and duration of lorazepam effects are dose-related, meaning larger doses have stronger and longer-lasting effects, because the brain has spare benzodiazepine drug receptor capacity, with single, clinical doses leading only to an occupancy of some 3% of the available receptors.\n",
"The specific binding of LY-404,039 to human cloned mGlu receptors has been found to be highest for mGluR (K = 149 ± 11 nM) and relatively high for mGluR (K = 92 ± 14 nM). Research suggests that it does not have any appreciable affinity for other metabotropic glutamate receptors, ionotropic NMDA receptors, or kainate receptors, nor does it appear to have any affinity for adrenergic, benzodiazepine/GABAergic, histaminergic or muscarinic receptors.\n",
"Larger drugs (500 Da) can provoke a neutralizing immune response, particularly if the drugs are administered repeatedly, or in larger doses. This limits the effectiveness of drugs based on larger peptides and proteins (which are typically larger than 6000 Da). In some cases, the drug itself is not immunogenic, but may be co-administered with an immunogenic compound, as is sometimes the case for Taxol. Computational methods have been developed to predict the immunogenicity of peptides and proteins, which are particularly useful in designing therapeutic antibodies, assessing likely virulence of mutations in viral coat particles, and validation of proposed peptide-based drug treatments. Early techniques relied mainly on the observation that hydrophilic amino acids are overrepresented in epitope regions than hydrophobic amino acids; however, more recent developments rely on machine learning techniques using databases of existing known epitopes, usually on well-studied virus proteins, as a training set. A publicly accessible database has been established for the cataloguing of epitopes from pathogens known to be recognizable by B cells. The emerging field of bioinformatics-based studies of immunogenicity is referred to as \"immunoinformatics\". Immunoproteomics is the study of large sets of proteins (proteomics) involved in the immune response.\n",
"In practice, the receptorome now is considered to encompass not only traditional receptors but also ion channels and transporters in the human genome that are potential drug targets. Some of the most renowned types are the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) - targets for many medications.\n"
] |
Does flushing help or hinder a drought? | The problem with flushing is that you then fill your tank back up and use more water. If you live in an area with a drought, you should use less water, including flushing less regularly, taking shorter showers, turning off the water while brushing your teeth/washing you face, etc. | [
"Drought can cause plants to suffer from water stress and wilt. Adequate irrigation is required during prolonged hot, dry periods. Rather than shallow daily watering, during a drought water should be directed towards the roots, ensuring that the soil is thoroughly soaked two or three times a week. Mulches also help preserve soil moisture and keep roots cool.\n",
"During the dry season, humidity is very low, causing some watering holes and rivers to dry up. This lack of water (and hence of food) may force many grazing animals to migrate to more fertile spots. Examples of such animals are zebras, elephants, and wildebeest. Because of the lack of water in the plants, bushfires are common.\n",
"When properly applied (watering well in excess of evapotranspiration, maintaining soil structure for excellent drainage), brackish-water irrigation does not result in increased salinization of the soil. Sometimes this means that farmers have to add extra water after a rainstorm, to carry salts back down to below the root zone.\n",
"Since extremely high humidity is associated with increased mold growth, allergic responses, and respiratory responses, the presence of additional moisture from houseplants may not be desirable in all indoor settings if watering is done inappropriately.\n",
"Greywater reuse in toilet flushing and garden irrigation may produce aerosols. These could transmit legionella disease and bring a potential health risk for people. However, the result of the research shows that the health risk due to reuse of greywater either for garden irrigation or toilet flushing was not significantly higher than the risk associated with using clear water for the same activities.\n",
"BULLET::::- \"Watering\" - They are more tolerant of drought than many house plants, but can be damaged by both under- and over-watering. Keeping the growing medium just moist throughout the year avoids either extreme.\n",
"The removal of water is also affected by the shading provided by vegetation. Shading helps prevent the desiccation of the soils which results in shrinkage and cracking allowing the deep penetration of rain water. Plants need to have a high leaf to root ratio and have the ability to persist through hot summer months in order to provide effective shading of the soils.\n"
] |
why do people feel mentally clear when fasting? | When you're fasting, the brain gets energy from ketone bodies instead of sugar, and some people experience mental clarity that way. [Some people use a ketogenic diet for epilepsy relief](_URL_0_) and adding supplemental ketones to the diet of Navy divers [prevents seizures related to oxygen toxicity.](_URL_1_)
The ketogenic diet is essentially the Atkins diet- your metabolism runs on ketones whether you're burning your own fat or eating fat. It is a high fat diet, which causes weight loss because it suppresses hunger, so it is easy to keep total calorie intake low. | [
"The act of fasting represents the condition experienced by the needy, who although already hungry must also fast for Ramadan. Muslims fast by denying themselves food, water and all related sexual activity with their spouses, but people with chronic diseases or unhealthy conditions such as diabetes, and children are exempt from fasting. Travelers, and women who are menstruating or nursing a baby, are exempt from fasting as well during their special situation but are required to fast later. A person's observance of fasting can be for naught if religiously forbidden acts are made, such as Ghibah (backbiting others) and deceiving others.\n",
"Nasr describes that Fasting is abstaining oneself from food, drink and sexual intercourse from the dawn to the sunset during the month of Ramadan. The Fast also requires the abstaining one's mind and tongue away from evil thoughts and words. It is obligatory from the age of adolescence until the time one possesses the physical strength to undertake it. The fast is not obligatory for the sick, those travelling and breast-feeding mothers, but they must make up the lost days when possible. According to Tabataba'ei, (Fasting) means to abstain oneself from something, which later in the development of the religion was applied to abstaining from some particular things, from break of dawn up to sunset, with intention (niyyah,النّيّة). Fasting results in piety i.e., to abstain oneself from gratifying worldly matters, results in the perfection of the spirit. He adds, one should care about matters which take him away from his Lord: this is called piety. This abstinence from common lawful things causes him to abstain from unlawful things and to come nearer to God. The end of Ramadan comes with the prayer of the Eid after which a sum of money equal to the cost of all the meals not eaten by oneself and one's family during this month is usually given to the poor.\n",
"Coupled with deprivation of sleep and oxygen, another form of deprivation includes fasting. Fasting can occur because of religious purposes or from psychological conditions such as anorexia. Fasting refers to the ability to willingly refrain from food and possibly drinks as well. The dissociation caused by fasting is not only life-threatening but it is the reason why extended fasting periods can lead to ASC. Thus, the temporary dissociation from reality allows fasting to fall into the category of an ASC following the definition provided by Dr. Avner (2006).\n",
"There are those who see fasting as an exercise in self-denial and Christian obedience that serves to rid the believer of his or her \"passions\" (what most modern people would call \"addictions\"). These often low-intensity and hard-to-detect addictions to food, television or other entertainments, sex, or any kind of self-absorbed pleasure-seeking are seen as some of the most significant obstacles for man seeking closeness to God. Through struggling with fasting, the believer comes face to face with the reality of his condition - the starting point for genuine repentance.\n",
"Ramadan fasting is safe for healthy people, but those with medical conditions should seek medical advice if they encounter health problems before or during fasting. The fasting period is usually associated with modest weight loss, but weight can return afterwards.\n",
"In a physiological context, fasting may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight, or to the metabolic state achieved after complete digestion and absorption of a meal. Several metabolic adjustments occur during fasting. Some diagnostic tests are used to determine a fasting state. For example, a person is assumed to be fasting once 8–12 hours have elapsed since the last meal. Metabolic changes of the fasting state begin after absorption of a meal (typically 3–5 hours after eating).\n",
"Through the discipline of fasting, when practiced with prayer, repentance, and almsgiving, it is believed that by tempering the bodily desire for food, other passions are tempered as well, and that the soul can orient more away from worldly needs and more towards spiritual needs. Through this practice one is better enabled to draw closer to Christ, and engage in the continuous and synergistic process of becoming more Christ-like. While fasting is practiced with the body, it is important to note that emphasis is placed on the spiritual facet of the fast rather than mere physical deprivation. Orthodox theology sees a synthesis between the body and the soul, so what happens to one can be used to have an effect on the other.\n"
] |
What is the best Frederick the Great biography? | Iron Kingdom by Christopher Clark is more the general history of Prussia in 800 pages, from the Hohenzollern family all the way to the post-WWII division of Germany. While not specifically about Frederick the Great, it includes lots of material about the man and his rule. Great citation material for projects about Germany.
_URL_0_ | [
"One of his most influential books is \"Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor\", first published in England in 1988 and reprinted many times in several Italian editions. Here he looks at an iconic figure from the Middle Ages from a new perspective, criticizing the views of the famous German historian Ernst Kantorowicz concerning Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, whom Abulafia sees as a conservative figure rather than as a genius born out of his time.\n",
"His first book, \"Frederick III\", appeared in 1981, and since then he has published several historical biographies, as well as books on local history, true crime, rock music, fiction and drama. He is also a contributor to the \"Oxford Dictionary of National Biography\" and \"Guinness Rockopaedia\", and has produced articles on historical, musical and art subjects in national and local journals, including \"Illustrated London News\", \"Royalty Digest\", \"European Royal History Journal\", \"Best of British (magazine)|Best of British\", \"BBC History Magazine\", \"Record Collector\", \"Antique Collector\", \"This England\", \"The Independent\" and \"Gibbons Stamp Monthly\". He has reviewed books and records for the press, written CD booklet notes, and between 1991 and 1996 edited and published the 1970s rock fanzine \"Keep on Rockin\".\n",
"Johann Gustav Bernhard Droysen (; ; 6 July 180819 June 1884) was a German historian. His history of Alexander the Great was the first work representing a new school of German historical thought that idealized power held by so-called \"great\" men.\n",
"Historian Leopold von Ranke was unstinting in his praise of Frederick's \"heroic life, inspired by great ideas, filled with feats of arms ... immortalized by the raising of the Prussian state to the rank of a power\". Johann Gustav Droysen was even more favorable. Nationalist historian Heinrich von Treitschke presented Frederick as the greatest German in centuries. Onno Klopp was one of the few German historians of the 19th century who denigrated and ridiculed Frederick. The novelist Thomas Mann in 1914 also attacked Frederick, arguing—like Empress Maria Theresa—that he was a wicked man who robbed Austria of Silesia, precipitating the alliance against him. Nevertheless, with Germany humiliated after World War I, Frederick's popularity as a heroic figure remained high in Germany. Frederick's place in British historiography was established by Thomas Carlyle's \"History of Frederick the Great\" (8 vol. 1858–1865), emphasizing the power of one great \"hero\" to shape history.\n",
"He attended Frederick the Great during that monarch's last illness, and afterwards issued various books about him, of which the chief were \"Über Friederich den Grossen und meine Unterredung mit ihm kurz vor seinem Tode\" (\"\"On Frederick the Great and my conversation with him shortly before his death\",\" 1788) and \"Fragmente über Friedrich den Grossen\" (\"\"Fragments on Frederick the Great\"\", 1790). According to the \"Encyclopædia Britannica\" Eleventh Edition, \"[t]hese writings display extraordinary personal vanity, and convey a wholly false impression of Frederick's character.\"\n",
"Above and beyond these accomplishments Fredericks’s greatest achievement is his \"Journal\", a personal diary that is unprecedented in its length, continuity, detail, and candor. \"The Journal of Claude Fredericks\", begun in 1932 when he was eight years old, and written by him over the course of more than eighty years, up until a week before his death, is a document of some 65,000 pages in length, one of the longest personal narratives in the language. In his 2015 biography of the poet James Merrill (\"James Merrill: Life and Art\", Knopf, 2015) Langdon Hammer at Yale, one of the trustees of The Claude Fredericks Foundation, writes: “...Over time \"The Journal\" would become a unique archival record and a massive literary work in its own right––a project of self-knowledge tirelessly pursued. It was purchased by the Getty Research Institute (at The Getty Center in Los Angeles) in 1988, at which point it consisted of more than 30 million words.” In a prospectus printed by The Stinehour Press in 1997, Fredericks described \"The Journal\" in this way: It is a book that is peopled with literally thousands of people but documents a life often passed in monkish solitude. At times the journal is compulsively detailed about the merest minutiae of daily life but at other times consciously and with as much art as the writer at any given moment has at his command seeks to create the reality of an hour, an evening, a day. There is a good deal of actual narrative—that of the writer’s own life and also that of the lives of innumerable other people—but also a great deal of introspection that seeks to understand the narrative and what it says about the nature of life itself. In 1995 Fredericks, with the collaboration of Marc Harrington, a former student at Bennington, began the vast project of editing this long journal for publication in its entirety and, since 2004, the first 4,000 pages have been published: \"The Journal of Claude Fredericks Volume One, Two, and Three\" (1932-1943). \"Volume Four\" (1944), which represents the next fifteen-hundred pages, ones that Fredericks was preparing in the months prior to his death, will be published as editing is completed.\n",
"On 5 March 1746, he was elevated to the rank of a Prussian count and he received a golden tabloid from Frederick with a personal acknowledgement. He died on 19 November 1755 in Sagan. For his work, his name was immortalized in 1851 on one of the honorary plates on the Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great.\n"
] |
Song Dynasty China was said to be close to an industrial revolution. Was there anything "lost" during periods afterwards? Was the Song really more likely to industrialize than it's successors? | I would point you to the answers that others and I made in this [thread](_URL_0_) regarding Song state institutions, the role it played in the Song's tremendous economic growth, and how later dynasty's diverged from the Song model.
I would also add that the Song was birthed from a unique period of time in Chinese history - the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. After the Anshi Rebellion, the military governors (*fanzhen*) carved out semi-independent fiefdoms for themselves and deprived the central government of the land tax revenue. This forced the state to become more creative in its taxation policies and the state began to rely increasingly on indirect taxation. The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, during which China was divided into several competing states, accelerated this process. Much of the Song's policies and practices can be traced from this period in time. Interstate competition did not disappear with the rise of the Song, as it faced strong enemies to the north and west (Khitans, Jurchens, Tanguts), and this competition paved the way for innovations in finance, economic policy, and military technology. By contrast, the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties never faced strong adversaries and therefore lacked the need to innovate. | [
"During the Song Dynasty (960–1279), the country experienced a revolution in agriculture, water transport, finance, urbanization, science and technology, which made the Chinese economy the most advanced in the world from about 1100. Mastery of wet-field rice cultivation opened up the hitherto underdeveloped south of the country, while later northern China was devastated by Jurchen and Mongol invasions, floods and epidemics. The result was a dramatic shift in the center of population and industry from the home of Chinese civilization around the Yellow River to the south of the country, a trend only partially reversed by the re-population of the north from the 15th century. By 1300, China as a whole had fallen behind Italy in living standards though its wealthiest regions may have remained on par with those of Europe until the early 18th century.\n",
"The Song dynasty (960–1279) brought a new stability for China after a century of civil war, and started a new area of modernisation by encouraging examinations and meritocracy. The first Song Emperor created political institutions that allowed a great deal of freedom of discourse and thought, which facilitated the growth of scientific advance, economic reforms, and achievements in arts and literature. Trade flourished both within China and overseas, and the encouragement of technology allowed the mints at Kaifeng and Hangzhou to gradually increase in production. In 1080, the mints of Emperor Shenzong had produced 5 billion coins (roughly 50 per Chinese citizen), and the first banknotes were produced in 1023. These coins were so durable that they would still be in use 700 years later, in the 18th century.\n",
"For over three centuries during the Song dynasty (960–1279) China experienced sustained growth in per capita income and population, structural change in the economy, and increased pace of technological innovation. Movable print, improved seeds for rice and other commercial crops, gunpowder, water-powered mechanical clocks, the use of coal as a source of fuel for a variety of industries, improved techniques for iron and steel production, pound locks and many other technological innovations transformed the economy. In north China, the main fuel source for ceramic kilns and iron furnaces shifted from wood to coal.\n",
"Three decades after the Song dynasty was founded its government still had issues consolidating its power and rule over China and didn't properly address the most important social issues that plagued the population. The economy of the Song dynasty was in a bad shape during this period and around the country peasants were forming their own armies to rebel against the government and started killing corrupt government officials. The largest of these peasant revolts was organised by tea farmers and landless tenant farmers (旁戶, \"páng hù\") in the Shu region (蜀, the modern day province of Sichuan) where these peasants were protesting exploitation by rich landowners of the Sichuan Basin and the Song government's state monopoly on the purchasing of tea (博買務, \"bó mǎi wù\"), this monopoly prevented the tea farmers from obtaining a reasonable income to live off. Another contributing factor to the bad living conditions of the peasantry at the time was a severe drought that devastated the country while the Song dynasty was suffering heavy losses against both the Khitans and the Tanguts. By the year 993 the number of participants of the uprising in Sichuan had reached several hundred thousand farmers.\n",
"The Song period (960-1279 AD/CE) brought additional economic reforms. Paper money, the compass, and other technological advances facilitated communication on a large scale and the widespread circulation of books. The state's control of the economy diminished, allowing private merchants to prosper and a large increase in investment and profit. Despite disruptions during the Mongol conquest of 1279, the 2nd plague epidemic in the 14th century, and the large-scale rebellions that followed it, China's population was buoyed by the Columbian Exchange and increased greatly under the Ming (1368-1644 AD/CE). The economy was remonetised by Japanese and South American silver brought through foreign trade, despite generally isolationist policies. The relative economic status of Europe and China during most of the Qing (1644-1912 AD/CE) remains a matter of debate, but a Great Divergence was apparent in the 19th century, when British dependence on opium smuggling because of the Chinese Empire's demand for silver to pay for its tea exports led it into a series of wars that ended China's isolation and autonomy through a number of Unequal Treaties.\n",
"The economic development of China under the Song dynasty was marked by improvements in farm tools, seeds, and fertilizers. The Song inherited the plow innovations described in the Tang dynasty text \"The Classic of the Plow\", which documents their utilization in Jiangnan. The Song improved on the Tang curved iron plough and invented a special steel plough design specifically for reclaiming wasteland. The wasteland plough was not made of iron, but of stronger steel, the blade was shorter but thicker, and particularly effective in cutting through reeds and roots in wetlands in the Huai River valley. A tool designed to facilitate seedling called \"seedling horse\" was invented under the Song; it was made of jujube wood and paulownia wood. Song farms used bamboo water wheels to harness the flow energy of rivers to raise water for irrigation of farmland.\n",
"Due to the enormous amount of production, the economic historian Robert Hartwell noted that Chinese iron and coal production in the following 12th century was equal to if not greater than England's iron and coal production in the early phase of the Industrial Revolution during the late 18th century. However, the Chinese of the Song period did not harness the energy potential of coal in ways that would generate power mechanically, as in the later Industrial Revolution that would originate in the West. There were certain administrative prefectures during the Song era where the Chinese iron industry was mostly concentrated. For example, the poet and statesman Su Shi wrote a memorial to the throne in 1078 that specified 36 ironwork smelters, each employing a work force of several hundred people, in the Liguo Industrial Prefecture (under his governance while he administered Xuzhou).\n"
] |
Can complex life evolve on a moon? | The earth has lots of variation too; 24-hour day/night cycle, tilted axis causing seasonal changes, and the distance to the sun varies something like 5 million kilometers throughout the year. The reason why those changes aren't too bad for life, is because we have an atmosphere to help equalize the temperatures. With an atmosphere it takes longer to heat things up and longer to cool things down, and heat can spread around more evenly, so as long as there is at least *some* reasonable variations the atmosphere will stay within reasonable limits. If there is no atmosphere, then the difference between day and night is extreme. Variation is actually good for a climate: planets that are tidally locked to their star have one side that is extremely hot, and one side extremely cold. Moons can never tidally locked to the parent star!
And specifically:
Oscillating distance (orbit): That's a negligible effect. For example, Europa only oscillates between extremes of about 1.2 million kilometers. The eccentrically of the parent planet's orbit is a much larger effect, and remember that the earth's distance varies a bit more, and it doesn't effect climate much at all. Also, the orbit of Europa is only a few days, so any difference is averaged out decently anyway. Why? Because if you imagine a really long period of oscillation, you'll have long periods of time where its too hot or too cold (assuming the effect is even that great), shorter is better.
Eclipses: Just adds a bit more complexity to the day/night cycle, but with a slight bias towards more night. Interestingly, if the moon is tidally locked (which most of them are) then only half of the moon would observe the eclipses. The the frequent eclipses would make things a bit colder on average, but the extra variation wouldn't matter much. | [
"Lathe's research has led him to develop a theory that without the Moon, there would be no life on Earth. When life began, Earth orbited much more closely to the Moon than it does now, causing massive tides every few hours, which in turn caused rapid cycling of salinity levels on coastlines and may have driven the evolution of early DNA. Lathe uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which amplifies DNA replication in the lab, as an example of the mechanisms that facilitate DNA replication, In the laboratory, PCR synthesis is achieved by cycling DNA between two extreme temperatures in the presence of certain enzymes. At lower temperatures, about 50 °C, single strands of DNA act as templates for building complementary strands. At higher temperatures, about 100 °C, the double strands break apart, doubling the number of molecules. The synthesis of DNA is started again by lowering the temperature, and so forth. Through this process, one DNA molecule can be converted into a trillion identical copies in just 40 cycles. Saline cycles triggered by rapid tidal activity would have amplified molecules such as DNA in a process similar to PCR, says Lathe, \"The tidal force is absolutely important, because it provides the energy for association and dissociation\" of polymers.\n",
"The hypothesis concludes, more or less, that complex life is rare because it can evolve only on the surface of an Earth-like planet or on a suitable satellite of a planet. Some biologists, such as Jack Cohen, believe this assumption too restrictive and unimaginative; they see it as a form of circular reasoning.\n",
"The possibility of extraterrestrial life on the Moon was ruled out in the 1960s, and during the 1970s it became clear that most of the other bodies of the Solar System do not harbor highly developed life, although the question of primitive life on bodies in the Solar System remains open.\n",
"On Earth, itself an ocean world, liquid water is essential to life as we know it. A question is whether the dark, alien oceans of the outer Solar System could be habitable for simple life forms, and if so, what would their biochemistry be. Exploring these moons could help to answer the question of how life arose on Earth and whether it exists anywhere else in the Solar System. It may also be possible to find pre-biotic chemistry occurring, which could provide clues to how life started on Earth. Any life detected at the remote ocean worlds in the outer Solar System would likely have formed and evolved along an independent path from life on Earth, giving us a deeper understanding of the potential for life in the universe.\n",
"Increasingly organic compounds are being found on objects throughout the Solar System. While unlikely to indicate the presence of extraterrestrial life, all known life is based on these compounds. Complex carbon molecules may form through various complex chemical interactions or delivered through impacts with small solar system objects and can combine to form the \"building blocks\" of Carbon-based life. As organic compounds are often volatile, their persistence as a solid or liquid on a planetary surface is of scientific interest as it would indicate an intrinsic source (such as from the object's interior) or residue from larger quantities of organic material preserved through special circumstances over geological timescales, or an extrinsic source (such as from past or recent collision with other objects). Radiation makes the detection of organic matter difficult, making its detection on atmosphereless objects closer to the Sun extremely difficult.\n",
"\"Our Moon Life\" is a research organisation led by Sri Sivamathi M. Mathiyalagan. The research aims at creating a complete living condition for plants, animals and Human Life on the Moon, through fundamental understandings of Life on Planet Earth. The fundamentals of life combined with the scientific understanding of the Universe paves way for this phenomenal research path. The research path delves into multiples aspects of Science like\n",
"The moon is in range of a planet but Computer has not offered any prediction as to whether it would support life. Kano informs Koenig that it has been scanning the planet continuously since they became aware the planet existed but still has insufficient data to make a prediction.\n"
] |
why do some artists choose not to upload their singles on youtube, even ones that are decades old? wouldn't they make lots of money from advertisement? | A lot of songs are not property of the artist themselves, who would probably love to be making money off their own work.. | [
"Due to file sharing via the Internet and changing consumer markets, the number of records an artist has sold is not necessarily indicative of how popular or important that artist is. There are Swedish hip hop acts who release records for what they know is going to be an economic loss, in hope of earning their money through concerts and other ventures.\n",
"They are yet to release a full-length album, because they prefer giving out their music for free. They have had millions of downloads from their site and other related pages. They did release a free multimedia CD of their singles and videos in 2001. The band does not have any policies against their music being copied and distributed. They have made their music available for download on their official website.\n",
"Other journalists say the music is just as popular as it ever was, but that fans have found other means to consume the music, such as illegally downloading music through P2P networks, instead of purchasing albums and singles from legitimate stores. For example, Flo Rida is known for his low album sales regardless of his singles being mainstream and having digital success. His second album \"R.O.O.T.S.\" sold only 200,000+ total units in the U.S., which could not line up to the sales of the album's lead single \"Right Round\". This also happened to him in 2008. Some put the blame on the lack of strong lyrical content that hip hop once had. Another example is Soulja Boy Tell 'Em's 2007 debut album \"souljaboytellem.com\" was met with negative reviews. Lack of sampling, a key element of early hip hop, has also been noted for the decrease in quality of modern albums. For example, there are only four samples used in 2008's \"Paper Trail\" by T.I., while there are 35 samples in 1998's \"Moment of Truth\" by Gang Starr. The decrease in sampling is in part due to it being too expensive for producers.\n",
"In the 2010s, some amateur writers, bands and filmmakers release digital versions of their stories, songs and short films online, with the aim of gaining an audience and becoming more well-known. While the huge number of aspiring artists posting their work online makes it unlikely for individuals and groups to become popular via the Internet, there are a small number of YouTube stars who were unknown until their online performances garnered them a huge audience.\n",
"Similarly, the band Barenaked Ladies released a number of tracks online in 2000 that appeared to be legitimate copies of tracks from the band's latest album. Each file contained a short sample of the song, followed by a clip of a band member saying, \"Although you thought you were downloading our new single, what you were actually downloading is an advertisement for our new album.”\n",
"In March 2009, the on line video-sharing site YouTube removed all premium music videos for UK users, even those supplied by record labels, due to a failure to find \"mutually acceptable terms for a new licence\" with PRS for Music. As a consequence, PRS for Music established the Fair Play for Creators campaign in order to provide a forum where musicians could \"publicly demonstrate their concern over the way their work is treated by online businesses\". David Arnold, Jazzie B, Billy Bragg, Guy Chambers, Robin Gibb, Pete Waterman, Mike Chapman, Wayne Hector, Pam Sheyne and Debbie Wiseman sent a letter to \"The Times\" newspaper in support of the campaign launched by PRS for Music. A rights deal was settled in September 2009 between PRS for Music and Google that allowed YouTube users in UK to view music videos.\n",
"Many artists are using the Internet to give away music to create awareness and liking to a new upcoming album. The artists release a new song on the internet for free download, which consumers can download. The hope is to have the listeners buy the new album because of the free download. A common practice used today is releasing a song or two on the internet for consumers to indulge. In 2007, Radiohead released an album named \"In Rainbows\", in which fans could pay any amount they want, or download it for free.\n"
] |
if i put a candle on fire and a bug and put them under a glass cup..when the fire depleates all the oxygen inside will the bug eventualy die suficating? | I flame needs approx 13% oxygen to sustain the flame, I have no idea what an insect needs to sustain life. | [
"Joseph Priestley, a chemist and minister, discovered that, when he isolated a volume of air under an inverted jar, and burned a candle in it (which gave off CO), the candle would burn out very quickly, much before it ran out of wax. He further discovered that a mouse could similarly \"injure\" air. He then showed that the air that had been \"injured\" by the candle and the mouse could be restored by a plant.\n",
"Glass candle-holders are sometimes cracked by thermal shock from the candle flame, particularly when the candle burns down to the end. When burning candles in glass holders or jars, users should avoid lighting candles with chipped or cracked containers, and stop use once 1/2 inch or less of wax remains.\n",
"In 1772, the chemist Joseph Priestley carried out a series of experiments relating to the gases involved in respiration and combustion. In his first experiment, he lit a candle and placed it under an upturned jar. After a short period of time, the candle burned out. He carried out a similar experiment with a mouse in the confined space of the burning candle. He found that the mouse died a short time after the candle had been extinguished. However, he could revivify the foul air by placing green plants in the area and exposing them to light. Priestley's observations were some of the first experiments that demonstrated the activity of a photosynthetic reaction center.\n",
"For a candle to burn, a heat source (commonly a naked flame) is used to light the candle's wick, which melts and vaporizes a small amount of fuel (the wax). Once vaporized, the fuel combines with oxygen in the atmosphere to ignite and form a constant flame. This flame provides sufficient heat to keep the candle burning via a self-sustaining chain of events: the heat of the flame melts the top of the mass of solid fuel; the liquefied fuel then moves upward through the wick via capillary action; the liquefied fuel finally vaporizes to burn within the candle's flame.\n",
"In tealights the wick is tethered to a piece of metal to stop it from floating to the top of the molten wax and burning before the wax does. Candles designed to float in water require not only a tether for the wick, but also a seal on the bottom of the candle to prevent the wick from wicking water and extinguishing the flame.\n",
"Candle wicks are normally made out of braided cotton. Wicks are sometimes braided flat, so that as they burn they also curl back into the flame, thus making them self-consuming. Prior to the introduction of these wicks special scissors were used to trim the excess wick without extinguishing the flame.\n",
"A candle wick is a piece of string or cord that holds the flame of a candle. Commercial wicks are made from braided cotton. The wick's capillarity determines the rate at which the melted hydrocarbon is conveyed to the flame. If the capillarity is too great, the molten wax streams down the side of the candle. Wicks are often infused with a variety of chemicals to modify their burning characteristics. For example, it is usually desirable that the wick not glow after the flame is extinguished. Typical agents are ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate.\n"
] |
how do bees track a missing queen? | Pheromones! The worker bees can smell their queen. They use chemical signals, especially wheb distressed. That queen is probably very scared and all the workers are trying to protect her because they can smell her fear. | [
"For those who don't know, the queen excluder is a series of parallel wires placed closely together in a bee hive. It sits between the lower brood boxes and the upper supers, the boxes where the honey is stored. It functions to keep the queen from laying eggs in the boxes that contain the honey in them. She's too big to fit between the wires, but the worker bees can still come and go unimpeded.\n",
"In beekeeping, the queen excluder is a selective barrier inside the beehive that allows worker bees but not the larger queens and drones to traverse the barrier. Queen excluders are also used with some queen breeding methods. Some beekeepers believe that excluders lead to less efficient hives.\n",
"The queen excluder is a mesh grid, usually made of wire or plastic, sized such that worker bees can pass through, but queens (generally) cannot. When used, it is generally placed between the hive body and the honey supers. The purpose of the queen excluder is to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers, which can lead to darker honey and can also complicate extraction. Many beekeepers reject the use of queen excluders, however, claiming that they create a barrier for workers and result in lower levels of honey collection and storage.\n",
"In the modern Demaree method, the queen is placed in the bottom box, along with one or two frames of brood (but containing no open brood), as well as one or two frames of food stores, and empty combs or foundation. A queen excluder is placed above the bottom box, thereby restricting the queen to the bottom box but allowing bees to move freely between the bottom box and the rest of the hive. The original hive, along with all open brood, is placed above the queen excluder. The method works best if the nurse bees are remove far away from the queen. The distance between the queen and nurse bees can be increased by placing the brood nest at the very top of the hive, with the honey supers between the brood nest and the queen excluder. If any swarm cells are present, these must be destroyed by the beekeeper. The relative absence of queen pheromone in the top box usually prompts the nurse bees to create emergency cells. After 7–10 days, the beekeeper destroys the emergency cells, and then either removes the queen excluder (thereby ending the \"demaree\") or repeats the process a second or a third time until the swarming impulse is over.\n",
"The Queen Bee is an elderly, roundish woman. She owns an orchard on the edge of the Hira plain and uses the apples to make Queen Bee Cider, which has energizing properties. She also raises bees to make Queen Bee Honey, which has certain healing properties. She is also the mother of Steven and Nevets. She supplies them with Queen Bee Honey to give to the Resistance. After Lief, Barda and Jasmine escaped the City of the Rats, they stole nine apples from her orchard. Queen Bee was enraged and nearly ordered her bees to sting them to death: but she was abated by Jasmine's money. However, once she realized that they had destroyed the City of the Rats (and by extension, were working against the Shadow Lord), she allowed them to leave and promised to pretend that she had never seen Barda, Lief and Jasmine.\n",
"The queen bee's abdomen is longer than the worker bees surrounding her and also longer than a male bee's. Even so, in a hive of 60,000 to 80,000 honey bees, it is often difficult for beekeepers to find the queen with any speed; for this reason, many queens in non-feral colonies are marked with a light daub of paint on their thorax. The paint used does no harm to the queen and makes her much easier to find when necessary.\n",
"Drones are the largest bees in the hive (except for the queen), at almost twice the size of a worker bee. Note in the picture that they have much larger eyes than the workers have, presumably to better locate the queen during the mating flight. They do not work, do not forage for pollen or nectar, are unable to sting, and have no other known function than to mate with new queens and fertilize them on their mating flights. A bee colony generally starts to raise drones a few weeks before building queen cells so they can supersede a failing queen or prepare for swarming. When queen-raising for the season is over, bees in colder climates drive drones out of the hive to die, biting and tearing their legs and wings.\n"
] |
why cans/tins of foods such as soup and fruit, as well as jars of food, are mainly cylindrical rather than other forms, such as cuboidal. | Canning involves changing the pressure on the inside of the vessel, and using a shape that has edges makes those points weak spots which could collapse, crack, or break. By being round, all the pressure on them is distributed equally around, like an archway in a stone wall. It's also one of the most efficient storage shapes that has little wasted space but is still able to bear weight when stacking. | [
"Cans come in a variety of shapes: two common ones are the \"soup tin\" and the \"tuna tin\". Walls are often stiffened with rib bulges, especially on larger cans, to help the can resist dents that can cause seams to split.\n",
"Most cans are right circular cylinders with identical and parallel round tops and bottoms with vertical sides. However, cans for small volumes or particularly-shaped contents, the top and bottom may be rounded-corner rectangles or ovals. Other contents may suit a can that is somewhat conical in shape.\n",
"A bowl is a round dish or container typically used to prepare and serve food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes bowls especially suited for holding liquids and loose food, as the contents of the bowl are naturally concentrated in its center by the force of gravity. The exterior of a bowl is most often round, but can be of any shape, including rectangular.\n",
"A tin can, tin (especially in British English, Australian English and Canadian English), steel can, steel packaging or a can, is a container for the distribution or storage of goods, composed of thin metal. Many cans require opening by cutting the \"end\" open; others have removable covers.\n",
"A bin is typically much shorter than a silo, and is typically used for holding dry matter such as cement or grain. Grain is often dried in a grain dryer before being stored in the bin. Bins may be round or square, but round bins tend to empty more easily due to a lack of corners for the stored material to become wedged and encrusted.\n",
"Container sizes range from \"nanos\", particularly magnetic nanos, which can be smaller than the tip of a finger and have only enough room to store the log sheet, to 20-liter (5 gallon) buckets or even larger containers, such as entire trucks. The most common cache containers in rural areas are lunch-box-sized plastic storage containers or surplus military ammunition cans. Ammo cans are considered the gold standard of containers because they are very sturdy, waterproof, animal- and fire-resistant, relatively cheap, and have plenty of room for trade items. Smaller containers are more common in urban areas because they can be more easily hidden.\n",
"During the war, soldiers frequently requested that the cylindrical cans be replaced with flat, rectangular ones (similar to a sardine can), comparable to those used in the earliest versions of contemporary K rations, because of their compactness and packability; but this was deemed impractical because of the shortage of commercial machinery available to produce rectangular cans. After 1942 the K ration too, reverted to the use of small round cans.\n"
] |
the difference between philology and linguistics. | There's definitely a (venn diagram style) overlap. Linguistics primarily questions the relation of signifier (sign/sound/the noise that comes out of your mouth when you say the word "tree"/the 4 letters T R E E next to each other on a page) and signified (the actual physical living tree that you can see and touch) and the way that meaning is created in this relationship between object and sign and how that meaning is conveyed to others. Also the way that signs/objects are arranged in relation to other signs/objects in a system called grammar. Linguistics could also be considered a branch of semiotics (which considers meaning with and without language {the way meaning is created by the arrangement of utensils beside a plate, for example}).
Philology incorporates linguistics but restricts itself to the study of written text, not oral communication. It also connotes the study both of older/classical texts and the history/development of language. Sort of as opposed to literary theory/criticism, which might consider the history of literature but not necessarily the history of language. Like I said, those are just connotations, not absolutes.
So linguistics is "broader" (more media {written, verbal}) than philology, but philology is "deeper" (history, translation). Again, there's a lot of overlap and I just made a whole lot of generalizations, so don't take that like it's written in stone. Although if it was written in stone, it would probably be a philologist, not a linguist, studying it. | [
"Philology is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics. Philology is more commonly defined as the study of literary texts as well as oral and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. A person who pursues this kind of study is known as a philologist.\n",
"Linguistics is a multi-disciplinary field of research that combines tools from natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Many linguists, such as David Crystal, conceptualize the field as being primarily scientific. The term \"linguist\" applies to someone who studies language or is a researcher within the field, or to someone who uses the tools of the discipline to describe and analyse specific languages.\n",
"\"Linguistics or philology may be considered either as a science or as a philosophy. Under the first aspect we may gain some idea of its extent by thinking of the vast number of languages which are to be investigated, not only those now spoken, but also many of which we have but the fossils. It touches here psychology and history, and enables us to know the unseen. A linguistic criticism is the source of all true commentary. By philology we can reconstruct prehistoric man, and read the history of times before the Olympiads and Nabonassar. Languages are never lost. By this science, the original unity of the human race is already nearly proved….Again philology as a philosophy speculates on the value of language to man, and its relations to his mind. These speculations are not to be confounded with the facts of the science….Every profound thinker has found himself fettered by language. Hence disputes and misunderstandings have arisen. Also in poetry, in devotion, in music, language is shown to be imperfect; it can never be made sufficient for the whole realm of thought. Man in his development, must have a nobler and fuller language than he has to-day. This may be in a new creation with spiritual bodies.\"\n",
"Philology is the study of language preserved in written sources; classical philology is thus concerned with understanding any texts from the classical period written in the classical languages of Latin and Greek.\n",
"The Faculty of Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics is a department of the University of Oxford, headed by Aditi Lahiri. It was created in 2008, uniting the discipline which had previously been studied across a variety of other departments. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division.\n",
"Philology, with its focus on historical development (diachronic analysis), is contrasted with linguistics due to Ferdinand de Saussure's insistence on the importance of synchronic analysis. The contrast continued with the emergence of structuralism and Chomskyan linguistics alongside its emphasis on syntax, although research in the field of historical linguistics is often characterized by reliance on philological materials and findings.\n",
"Before the 20th century, the term \"philology\", first attested in 1716, was commonly used to refer to the study of language, which was then predominantly historical in focus. Since Ferdinand de Saussure's insistence on the importance of synchronic analysis, however, this focus has shifted and the term \"philology\" is now generally used for the \"study of a language's grammar, history, and literary tradition\", especially in the United States (where philology has never been very popularly considered as the \"science of language\").\n"
] |
what exactly happened to make julian assange and wikileaks go from loved to hated? | He didn't go from loved to hated. He was and remains incredibly divisive. People tend to have very polarised views and either love or hate him.
What he did, and continues to do, is release private (often classified) information from governments, corporations and organisations. He is variously viewed as a vigilante, a traitor, a whistleblower or a hero. Really, it depends on whom you ask.
| [
"On April 11, 2019 Assange was arrested after being taken from the Ecuadorian embassy. The U.S in the Justice Department believes that with the position at Wikileaks during the 2016 elections he had a key role in the Russian attack on the 2016 elections. During the same election had had released DNC staff flies as well, many believe that he released them because the next day was democratic election. Soon after a DNC staffer named Seth Rich was murder and was to believed to be leaking the e-mails. Also the U.S Department of Defense believes that Assange had conspired with Chelsea Manning in cracking a password that was on a U.S Department of Defense computer. Which is stored on a U.S government network and she had downloaded 1,000 of classified documents.\n",
"The co-founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, was a resident of the embassy for seven years after entering it on 19 June 2012 to claim diplomatic asylum after being wanted by Swedish authorities for questioning over four alleged sexual offences. Assange's asylum request was eventually granted by the Ecuadorian government in August 2012. The Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation in May 2017, claiming they could not expect the Ecuadorian Embassy to communicate reliably with Assange with respect to the case.\n",
"In December 2016, in a statement to \"People\" magazine, Anderson called WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a \"hero\". She stated that he had done everyone \"a great service. Everyone in the world has benefited because of WikiLeaks\". Meanwhile, \"elaborate plots against him and made up sexual allegations could result in him being extradited to the US — where he would not be treated fairly — because of his exposure of truths.\" In April 2019, over several tweets, Anderson was angry at Assange's ejection from London's Ecuadorian embassy. In May 2019, Anderson visited Assange in HMP Belmarsh with Kristinn Hrafnsson and said she believed Assange to be innocent and \"a good man... an incredible person. I love him, I can't imagine what he has been going through.\"\n",
"On 26 September 2018, it was announced that Julian Assange had appointed Kristinn Hrafnsson as editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks while the organisation's statement said Assange was remaining as its publisher. His access to the internet was cut off by Ecuador in March 2018 after he tweeted that Britain was about to conduct a propaganda war against Russia relating to the Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Ecuador said he had broken a commitment \"not to issue messages that might interfere with other states\" and Assange said he was \"exercising his right to free speech\".\n",
"On 10 April 2019, WikiLeaks said it had uncovered an extensive surveillance operation against Assange from within the Ecuadorian embassy, asserting that videotapes of Assange taken at the embassy constituted an invasion of privacy. WikiLeaks said that \"material including video, audio, copies of private legal documents and a medical report\" had surfaced in Spain and that unnamed individuals in Madrid had made an extortion attempt.\n",
"When Julian Assange of WikiLeaks sought refuge in Ecuador, the \"Daily Mail\" noted with irony that some of the diplomatic cables he had published revealed corruption in the same nation he sought asylum from.\n",
"Julian Assange, was allegedly investigated by the Eastern District of Virginia grand jury for computer-related crimes committed in the U.S. in 2012. His request for asylum was granted and he remained a resident in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012. In 2019, an indictment from 2017 was made public following the termination of his asylum status and the subsequent arrest by the Metropolitan Police of UK in London. According to the indictment, Assange was accused of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in order to help Chelsea Manning gain access to privileged information which he intended to publish on Wikileaks. This is a less serious charge in comparison to those leveled against Manning, and carries a maximum sentence of five years with a possibility of parole.\n"
] |
the feeling of "touch" on a molecular level. | When you touch something the cell walls of your nerves are stretched (think pushing on a balloon). Protein complexes in the cell walls of your nerves are stretched as well. This stretching opens a channel down the middle of the protein and let's ions from outside the cell in. The change in voltage of the cell results in the nerve firing a signal which travels to your brain where something something processing something something consciousness. | [
"The sense of touch, or tactile perception, is what allows organisms to feel the world around them. The environment acts as an external stimulus, and tactile perception is the act of passively exploring the world to simply sense it. To make sense of the stimuli, an organism will undergo active exploration, or haptic perception, by moving their hands or other areas with environment-skin contact. This will give a sense of what is being perceived, and give information about size, shape, weight, temperature, and material. Tactile stimulation can be direct in the form of bodily contact, or indirect through the use of a tool or probe. Direct and indirect send different types messages to the brain, but both provide information regarding roughness, hardness, stickiness, and warmth. The use of a probe elicits a response based on the vibrations in the instrument rather than direct environmental information. Tactual perception gives information regarding cutaneous stimuli (pressure, vibration, and temperature), kinaesthetic stimuli (limb movement), and proprioceptive stimuli (position of the body). There are varying degrees of tactual sensitivity and thresholds, both between individuals and between different time periods in an individual's life. It has been observed that individuals have differing levels of tactile sensitivity between each hand. This may be due to callouses forming on the skin of the most used hand, creating a buffer between the stimulus and the receptor. Alternately, the difference in sensitivity may be due to a difference in the cerebral functions or ability of the left and right hemisphere. Tests have also shown that deaf children have a greater degree of tactile sensitivity than that of children with normal hearing ability, and that girls generally have a greater degree of sensitivity than that of boys.\n",
"Touch is an extremely important sense for humans; as well as providing information about surfaces and textures it is a component of nonverbal communication in interpersonal relationships, and vital in conveying physical intimacy. It can be both sexual (such as kissing) and platonic (such as hugging or tickling).\n",
"The absolute threshold for touch is the minimum amount of sensation needed to elicit a response from touch receptors. This amount of sensation has a definable value and is often considered to be the force exerted by dropping the wing of a bee onto your cheek from a distance of one centimeter. This value will change based on the body part being touched.\n",
"The somatosensory cortex encodes incoming sensory information from receptors all over the body. Affective touch is a type of sensory information that elicits an emotional reaction and is usually social in nature, such as a physical human touch. This type of information is actually coded differently than other sensory information. Intensity of affective touch is still encoded in the primary somatosensory cortex, but the feeling of pleasantness associated with affective touch activates the anterior cingulate cortex more than the primary somatosensory cortex. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data shows that increased blood oxygen level contrast (BOLD) signal in the anterior cingulate cortex as well as the prefrontal cortex is highly correlated with pleasantness scores of an affective touch. Inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of the primary somatosensory cortex inhibits the perception of affective touch intensity, but not affective touch pleasantness. Therefore, the S1 is not directly involved in processing socially affective touch pleasantness, but still plays a role in discriminating touch location and intensity.\n",
"The sense of touch was first utilized as a medium for communication in the late 1950s. It is not only a promising but also a unique communication channel. In contrast to vision and hearing, the two traditional senses employed in HCI, the sense of touch is proximal: it senses objects that are in contact with the body, and it is bidirectional in that it supports both perception and acting on the environment.\n",
"Touch in this context refers to the perception of detailed, localized tactile information, such as two-point discrimination (the difference between touching one point and two closely spaced points) or the difference between coarse, medium or fine sandpaper. People without touch-position perception can feel the surface of their bodies and perceive touch in a broad sense, but they lack perceptual detail.\n",
"Touch research conducted by Jones and Yarbrough (1985) revealed 18 different meanings of touch, grouped in seven types: Positive affect (emotion), playfulness, control, ritual, hybrid (mixed), task-related, and accidental touch.\n"
] |
why does a small cloud form at the top of a newly-opened, cold soda bottle? | The rapid depressurization lowers the vapor pressure of that little volume of air in the top of the bottle, and the humidity in that air rapidly condenses into that little cloud. | [
"The conversion of dissolved carbon dioxide to gaseous carbon dioxide forms rapidly expanding gas bubbles in the soda, which pushes the beverage contents out of the container. Gases, in general, are more soluble in liquids at elevated pressures. Carbonated sodas contain elevated levels of carbon dioxide under pressure. The solution becomes supersaturated with carbon dioxide when the bottle is opened, and the pressure is released. Under these conditions, carbon dioxide begins to precipitate from solution, forming gas bubbles. \n",
"In a new bottle of soda the concentration of carbon dioxide in the liquid phase has a particular value. If half of the liquid is poured out and the bottle is sealed, carbon dioxide will leave the liquid phase at an ever-decreasing rate and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the gas phase will increase until equilibrium is reached. At that point, due to thermal motion, a molecule of CO may leave the liquid phase, but within a very short time another molecule of CO will pass from the gas to the liquid, and vice versa. At equilibrium the rate of transfer of CO from the gas to the liquid phase is equal to the rate from liquid to gas. In this case, the equilibrium concentration of CO in the liquid is given by Henry's law, which states that the solubility of a gas in a liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas above the liquid. This relationship is written as\n",
"The difference between the reduced pressure at the top of the tube and the higher atmospheric pressure inside the bottle pushes the liquid from the reservoir up the tube and into the moving stream of air where it is broken up into small droplets (not atoms as the name suggests) and carried away with the stream of air.\n",
"When a soft drink bottle is carbonated, it is pressurized with carbon dioxide to higher than the ambient atmospheric pressure. Eventually the dissolved CO and the CO in the headspace above the liquid reach a dynamic equilibrium, where the amount of CO dissolving in the liquid equals the amount of CO escaping the solution into the headspace, at a pressure of approximately 2 atmospheres. The bottle remains in this dynamic equilibrium until the first time that the cap is removed.\n",
"Bottle Caps are sweet tablet candies made to look like metal soda bottle caps in grape, cola, orange, root beer, and cherry flavors. They are sold by Nestlé under their Willy Wonka Candy Company brand.\n",
"The bottle, more precisely a metal or plastic cylinder, is lowered on a cable into the ocean, and when it has reached the required depth, a brass weight called a \"messenger\" is dropped down the cable. When the weight reaches the bottle, the impact tips the bottle upside down and trips a spring-loaded valve at the end, trapping the water sample inside. The bottle and sample are then retrieved by hauling in the cable.\n",
"Spicules are formed in a cloud when the glass explodes from the contact of the cold jet. These are held to the glass blank during forming, and if the vial is not reheated or cleaned after manufacture, these spicules can drift off into the mixture subsequently placed in the vial. This is a serious problem in the manufacture of soft contact lenses or pharmaceutical products.\n"
] |
how are gift cards validated and activated at checkout? are their serial numbers stored in a database and then marked as activated? how are they activated when their numbers haven’t been scratched off? | Point of sale system (POS) scans a barcode on the gift card. This barcode is specific to the gift card, and allows the card to be identified without the card number or pin.
The retailer accepts cash, the POS records a transaction on the retailers ledger. Then, the POS sends the transaction information to the gift card company, this activates the card.
Source: worked in retail.
| [
"Some card issuers also use activation-during-shopping (ADS), in which cardholders who are not registered with the scheme are offered the opportunity of signing up (or forced into signing up) during the purchase process. This will typically take them to a form in which they are expected to confirm their identity by answering security questions which should be known to their card issuer. Again, this is done within the iframe where they cannot easily verify the site they are providing this information to—a cracked site or illegitimate merchant could in this way gather all the details they need to pose as the customer.\n",
"Cards may have a barcode or magnetic strip, which is read by an electronic credit card machine. Many cards have no value until they are sold, at which time the cashier enters the amount which the customer wishes to put on the card. This amount is rarely stored on the card but is instead noted in the store's database, which is cross linked to the card ID. Gift cards thus are generally not stored-value cards as used in many public transport systems or library photocopiers, where a simplified system with no network stores the value only on the card itself. To thwart counterfeiting, the data is encrypted. The magnetic strip is also often placed differently than on credit cards, so they cannot be read or written with standard equipment. Other gift cards may have a set value and need to be activated by calling a specific number.\n",
"Cards are stored by either scanning the barcode on the back of the card or manually typing in the UPC number. The app alerts users when one of the loyalty programs they are a member of has an offer or coupon available. Rewards points earned by the user are kept track of within the loyalty card feature as well. Users can share loyalty and membership cards with other users as long as they are registered in Key Ring. Weekly Sales Circulars are digitized, allowing users to view what they would normally find in a newspaper on their smartphone.\n",
"In the past, carders used computer programs called \"generators\" to produce a sequence of credit card numbers, and then test them to see which were valid accounts. Another variation would be to take false card numbers to a location that does not immediately process card numbers, such as a trade show or special event. However, this process is no longer viable due to widespread requirement by internet credit card processing systems for additional data such as the billing address, the 3 to 4 digit Card Security Code and/or the card's expiration date, as well as the more prevalent use of wireless card scanners that can process transactions right away. Nowadays, carding is more typically used to verify credit card data obtained directly from the victims by skimming or phishing.\n",
"Electronic verification systems allow merchants to verify in a few seconds that the card is valid and the cardholder has sufficient credit to cover the purchase, allowing the verification to happen at time of purchase. The verification is performed using a credit card payment terminal or point-of-sale (POS) system with a communications link to the merchant's acquiring bank. Data from the card is obtained from a magnetic stripe or chip on the card; the latter system is called Chip and PIN in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and is implemented as an EMV card.\n",
"For card not present transactions where the card is not shown (e.g., e-commerce, mail order, and telephone sales), merchants additionally verify that the customer is in physical possession of the card and is the authorized user by asking for additional information such as the security code printed on the back of the card, date of expiry, and billing address.\n",
"Machines in different retailers may accept card via EFTPOS, debit/credit cards, electronic food assistance cards, cash via coin slot and bank note scanner, and in-store gift cards where applicable. Most coupons also have barcodes and can be scanned the same way that items are scanned, although some require entry by a member of staff.\n"
] |
how to calculate mechanical advantage of a pulley system | ratio 500/10 = 50 , answer b
If they show a diagram the trick is to imagine the load raised by 1cm and follow how many cm of rope you could pull free as a result·
Simplest machines:
- inclined plane
- pulley
- lever (3 classes of lever)
| [
"Some mechanical linear actuators only pull, such as hoists, chain drive and belt drives. Others only push (such as a cam actuator). Pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders, or lead screws can be designed to generate force in both directions.\n",
"Pulleys were constructed of wood, iron, steel or a combination thereof. Varying sizes of pulleys were used in conjunction to change the speed of rotation. For example a 40\" pulley at 100 rpm would turn a 20\" pulley at 200 rpm. Pulleys solidly attached (\"fast\") to the shaft could be combined with adjacent pulleys that turned freely (\"loose\") on the shaft (idlers). In this configuration the belt could be maneuvered onto the idler to stop power transmission or onto the solid pulley to convey the power. This arrangement was often used near machines to provide a means of shutting the machine off when not in use. Usually at the last belt feeding power to a machine, a pair of stepped pulleys could be used to give a variety of speed settings for the machine.\n",
"This relationship shows that the mechanical advantage can be computed from ratio of the distances from the fulcrum to where the input and output forces are applied to the lever, assuming no losses due to friction, flexibility or wear. This remains true even though the \"horizontal\" distance (perpendicular to the pull of gravity) of both \"a\" and \"b\" change (diminish) as the lever changes to any position away from the horizontal.\n",
"A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft that is designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable or belt, or transfer of power between the shaft and cable or belt. In the case of a pulley supported by a frame or shell that does not transfer power to a shaft, but is used to guide the cable or exert a force, the supporting shell is called a block, and the pulley may be called a sheave.\n",
"For example, consider an incline press machine that is a single-lever machine that has the plates halfway up the lever from the handles to the fulcrum, and begins moving the plates at a 45-degree angle from vertical. The lever will provide a leverage advantage of 2:1, and the incline will have an advantage of 1:√2/2, for a net mechanical advantage of . Thus () of plates will apply to the user only an equaling weight of or a force of at the beginning of the motion.\n",
"This leads to a mechanical advantage: the force needed to lift a load is only a fraction of the load's weight. At the same time, the distance the load is lifted is smaller than the length of chain pulled by the same factor. This factor (the mechanical advantage \"MA\") depends on the relative difference of the radii \"r\" and \"R\" of the connected pulleys:\n",
"For a mechanical system, constraint forces eliminate movement in directions that characterize the constraint. Thus constraint forces do not perform work on the system, because the component of velocity along the constraint force at each point of application is zero. For example, in a pulley system like the Atwood machine, the internal forces on the rope and at the supporting pulley do no work on the system. Therefore work need only be computed for the gravity forces acting on the bodies.\n"
] |
why are companies who get fined by the government fined for so little? | Because the fines are set, in part, by a combination of laws designed for older currency values, and also in part by lobbies in the industry pulling for smaller wrist-slaps. | [
"Companies that do not comply with the restrictive trade practices provisions of CCA may be fined by the Federal Court. There are three ways the maximum fine can be calculated. The maximum possible fine is the larger of A$10,000,000; or three times the value of the illegal benefit; or (if the value of the benefit cannot be ascertained) 10% of turnover for the preceding 12 months. Individuals may be fined up to $500,000 and since 2009 certain offences under the Competition and Consumer Act (such as price fixing or participation in a cartel) have been criminalised with executives who engage in conduct which contravenes the relevant provisions liable for a custodial sentence of up to 10 years in prison (44ZZRF and 44ZZRG of the CCA).\n",
"The Anti-Unfair Competition Law prohibits commercial bribery punishable by economic and administrative sanctions. It is prohibited to give or receive bribes in the course of selling or purchasing goods. In case of misconduct, companies are fined in between 10.000 RMB and 200.000 RMB The Criminal Law of China prohibits giving and receiving property to obtain an undue benefit, with penalties including fines, confiscation of property, imprisonment or death.\n",
"Further, a corporation may simply be a \"veil\" for an individual's activities, easily liquidated and with no reputation to protect. Again it is argued, company fines ultimately punish shareholders, customers and employees in general, rather than culpable managers.\n",
"The field of compliance can generally be perceived as an internalization of external laws in order to avoid their fines. The adoption of laws like the FCPA and the UK Bribery Act of 2010 strengthened the importance of concepts like compliance, as fines for corrupt behavior became more likely and there was a financial increase on these fines. When a company is sued because its employers engaged in corruption, a well-established compliance system can serve as proof that the organization attempted to avoid those acts of corruption. Accordingly, fines can be reduced and this incentivizes the implementation of an efficient compliance system. In 2012, the US-authorities decided not to prosecute Morgan Stanley in a case of bribery in China under FCPA-provisions due to its compliance program. This case demonstrates the relevance of the compliance approach. \n",
"Similarly, no business deduction is allowed \"for any payment made, directly or indirectly, to an official or employee of any government [ . . . ] if the payment constitutes an illegal bribe or kickback or, if the payment is to an official or employee of a foreign government, the payment is unlawful under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977.\" Similarly, tax deductions and credits are denied where for illegal bribes, illegal kickbacks, or other illegal payments under any Federal law, or under a State if such State law is generally enforced, if the law \"subjects the payor to a criminal penalty or the loss of license or privilege to engage in a trade or business.\" No deduction is allowed for kickbacks, rebates, or bribes made by those who furnish items or services for which payment may be made under the Social Security Act.\n",
"In some cases where the system of law is not well-implemented, bribes may be a way for companies to continue their businesses. In the case, for example, custom officials may harass a certain firm or production plant, officially stating they are checking for irregularities, halting production or stalling other normal activities of a firm. The disruption may cause losses to the firm that exceed the amount of money to pay off the official. Bribing the officials is a common way to deal with this issue in countries where there exists no firm system of reporting these semi-illegal activities. A third party, known as a White Glove, may be involved to act as a clean middleman.\n",
"The U.S. Department of State charges back fees to manufacturers who have failed to register previously. Smaller exporters who may not have been aware of the requirement to register can potentially be charged crippling back fees when they first register. Allegations have been put to the U.S. Department of State-industry advisory group, the Defense Trade Advisory Group, that charging back fees discourages some manufacturers from registration.\n"
] |
Why are there so many books on Rome, Greece, and Egypt, but hardly anything on Persia? | Part of this is simply what we find in popular literature. Because the classical past is very prominent in western memory and is a "prestige" topic it is easier to sell and publish books on the topic; in addition there are simply more people out there with the background needed to write on Greece and Rome. Egypt is less prominent in the "Western Past"(a terrible term but we'll use it) but its monumental architecture and spectacular funerary practices have given the subject a considerable public appeal as well. Having said that, there are a considerable number of very fine books on Persian history before the Islamic conquests. Weishofer's _Ancient Persia_ is a commonly recommended general overview of Persian History from the Achaemenid Empire to the Islamic conquests. For further reading on the Achaemenid Empire in particular, Briant's _From Cyrus to Alexander_ remains so far as I know the standard treatment of the subject, with a extensive bibliography on more detailed topics in the field. | [
"Western art, no less than history and theology, bear testimony to the ubiquity of the Persian presence in antiquity. Of all the extant works of Greek tragedy, for example, the only one that is about a non-Greek subject is Aeschylus' play \"The Persians\".\n",
"The non-Iranian sources are mainly Greek. The most important Greek source is Herodotus. Some of the Greek information on ancient Iranian religion is however unreliable. This is either because it is based on outright wrong information or based on misunderstandings.\n",
"Many Greek astronomical texts are known only by name, and perhaps by a description or quotations. Some elementary works have survived because they were largely non-mathematical and suitable for use in schools. Books in this class include the \"Phaenomena\" of Euclid and two works by Autolycus of Pitane. Three important textbooks, written shortly before Ptolemy's time, were written by Cleomedes, Geminus, and Theon of Smyrna. Books by Roman authors like Pliny the Elder and Vitruvius contain some information on Greek astronomy. The most important primary source is the \"Almagest\", since Ptolemy refers to the work of many of his predecessors (Evans 1998, p. 24).\n",
"The influence of Persian literature in Western culture is historically significant. In order to avoid what E.G. Browne calls \"an altogether inadequate judgment of the intellectual activity of that ingenious and talented people\" , many centers of academia throughout the world today from Berlin to Japan have permanent programs for Persian studies for the literary heritage of Persia.\n",
"In the United States, some critics have a dissenting view that prefers the Byzantine text-type, such as Maurice A. Robinson and William Grover Pierpont. They assert that Egypt, almost alone, offers optimal climatic conditions favoring preservation of ancient manuscripts while, on the other hand, the papyri used in the east (Asia Minor and Greece) would not have survived due to the unfavourable climatic conditions. Thus, it is not surprising that ancient Biblical manuscripts that are found would come mostly from the Alexandrian geographical area and not from the Byzantine geographical area.\n",
"Finally, one characteristic of the Roman presence in Persia is that Roman emperors dreamed of conquering all Persia from Trajan to Galerius, while Parthian/Sassanian kings never tried to conquer Rome, Italy or southeastern Europe according to historian Theodor Mommsen.\n",
"Some researchers have quoted the \"Sho'ubiyye\" as asserting that the Pre-Islamic Iranians had books on eloquence, such as 'Karvand'. No trace remains of such books. There are some indications that some among the Persian elite were familiar with Greek rhetoric and literary criticism (Zarrinkoub, 1947).\n"
] |
How does the heat from the sun reaches the earth? Are the rays of light emited by the sun hot? | Yes the rays are hot as in they carry a lot of energy. This energy is in the end what is captured by the earth and the plants and the solar cells to turn into other forms of energy. There are two reasons why the temperature in the Himalayas is still lower:
* First of all the energy of this beam does not really depend on how far it has traveled. This because the air does not absorb a lot of its energy. The energy density will slightly decrease (since the rays are divergent) but comparing the height of the Mt. Everest (~9km) to the average distance from the earth to the sun (~100M km) this effect will be negligible. So the energy of the rays is the same at both positions
* However energy is proportional to pressure, and the pressure decreases with altitude. This because temperature is nothing more than the average velocity of the particles. With more particles more particles will bump into you and in this way transfer energy to you. This is why in the Himalayas it's cold.
So for your second question: it's not so much "friction" (friction is not really the right word) between the rays and air, it's between the rays and more solid (absorbing surfaces), these surfaces will transfer the heat to the air, which will in turn transfer it to you. | [
"Very hot objects emit UV radiation (see black-body radiation). The Sun emits ultraviolet radiation at all wavelengths, including the extreme ultraviolet where it crosses into X-rays at 10 nm. Extremely hot stars emit proportionally more UV radiation than the Sun. Sunlight in space at the top of Earth's atmosphere (see solar constant) is composed of about 50% infrared light, 40% visible light, and 10% ultraviolet light, for a total intensity of about 1400 W/m in vacuum.\n",
"The Sun emits energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Solar energy strikes the surface of objects. Some of that energy is absorbed and stored as heat (thermal energy). After sunset, this thermal energy remains and is emitted in the form of IR radiation.\n",
"Earth receives energy from the Sun in the form of ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared radiation. About 26% of the incoming solar energy is reflected to space by the atmosphere and clouds, and 19% is absorbed by the atmosphere and clouds. Most of the remaining energy is absorbed at the surface of Earth. Because the Earth's surface is colder than the Sun, it radiates at wavelengths that are much longer than the wavelengths that were absorbed. Most of this thermal radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and warms it. The atmosphere also gains heat by sensible and latent heat fluxes from the surface. The atmosphere radiates energy both upwards and downwards; the part radiated downwards is absorbed by the surface of Earth. This leads to a higher equilibrium temperature than if the atmosphere did not radiate.\n",
"Solar radiation (or sunlight) is the energy Earth receives from the Sun. Earth also emits radiation back into space, but at longer wavelengths that we cannot see. Part of the incoming and emitted radiation is absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere. In May 2017, glints of light, seen as twinkling from an orbiting satellite a million miles away, were found to be reflected light from ice crystals in the atmosphere.\n",
"Radiation from the sun, or solar radiation, can be harvested for heat and power. Unlike conductive and convective forms of heat transfer, thermal radiation – arriving within a narrow angle i.e. coming from a source much smaller than its distance – can be concentrated in a small spot by using reflecting mirrors, which is exploited in concentrating solar power generation or a burning glass. For example, the sunlight reflected from mirrors heats the PS10 solar power tower and during the day it can heat water to . \n",
"Indirectly scattered sunlight comes from two directions. From the atmosphere itself, and from outer space. In the first case, the sun has just set but still illuminates the upper atmosphere directly. Because the amount of scattered sunlight is proportional to the number of scatterers (i.e. air molecules) in the line of sight, the intensity of this light decreases rapidly as the sun drops further below the horizon and illuminates less of the atmosphere.\n",
"Energy released as gamma rays will interact with electrons and protons and heat the interior of the Sun. Also kinetic energy of fusion products (e.g. of the two protons and the from the p-p I reaction) increases the temperature of plasma in the Sun. This heating supports the Sun and prevents it from collapsing under its own weight.\n"
] |
What would happen if you tried to manipulate a rod of material that was a lightyear in length? | Just _some_ of the times the same question has been asked before:
[If I pushed a button 10 light years away with a stick that was 10 light years long, how long would it take for the button to be pushed?](_URL_5_)
[If I have a theoretical rod that is 1 light-year long and I have the ability to pull it one meter towards me, will the opposing end pull away from an observer at the same time or would there be a delay?](_URL_0_)
[If I have a string that is one light year long](_URL_2_)
[If you had a pole 2 light years long on supports would the friction stop you from pushing/pulling it?](_URL_3_)
[If I were floating in space next to a 1-light-year-long metal rod, and I pushed the end of the rod forward one meter, would the far end of the rod move one meter instantly?](_URL_4_)
[If I had a pencil that was 2 light years long, and I managed to use it to write a message on another planet, would I be achieving FTL communication?](_URL_1_)
| [
"It follows that if a rod is accelerated by some external force applied anywhere along its length, the elements of matter in various different places in the rod cannot all feel the same magnitude of acceleration if the rod is not to extend without bound and ultimately break. In other words, an accelerated rod which does not break must sustain stresses which vary along its length. Furthermore, in any thought experiment with time varying forces, whether we \"kick\" an object or try to accelerate it gradually, we cannot avoid the problem of avoiding mechanical models which are inconsistent with relativistic kinematics (because distant parts of the body respond too quickly to an applied force).\n",
"The Rod of Light is the thirteenth science fiction novel by Barrington J. Bayley and his only sequel (to 1974's \"The Soul of the Robot\"). The book continues the story of Jasperodus, who is now in conflict with Gargan, a ruthless robot attempting to make his own soul.\n",
"A detailed investigation into SL-1 determined that one operator (perhaps inadvertently) manually pulled the central control rod out about 26 inches rather than the maintenance procedure's intention of about 4 inches.\n",
"An apparent resolution of this paradox is that the physical situation cannot occur. To maintain the rod in a radial position the circles have to exert an infinite force. In real life it would not be possible to construct guides that do not exert a significant reaction force perpendicular to the rod. Victor Namias, however, disputed that infinite forces occur, and argued that a finitely thick rod experiences torque about its center of mass even in the limit as it approaches zero width.\n",
"The \"Eldritch Wizardry\" guidelines described each piece as having its own unique powers. In a gaming scenario, the more parts of the rod a user possessed, the more powerful each one of the seven parts became.\n",
"BULLET::::- In the video game \"Portal\", yet another similar gun to \"Half-Life 2\"'s, which is titled the \"Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device\", can create a weaker zero-point energy field by simply lifting objects and carrying them, but cannot throw or pull in from a distance. These items can also be dropped through the portals it can create. Unstationary Scaffolds and chamberlock elevators move on tractor beams. A tractor beam known as the \"Aperture Science Excursion Funnel\" appears in the second game in the series, \"Portal 2\". Razer Hydra owners get upgraded version of the Portal Device in \"Portal 2\" which can freely move objects in three dimensions.\n",
"Because the Rod is so potent, it cannot be conventionally protected. Therefore, to keep it safe the Wind Dukes designed the separate sections of the Rod to scatter around the globe whenever its full powers were employed by striking Miska. Each piece of the Rod both leads and urges its bearer in the direction of the next sequential section. Once the first section of the Rod has fallen into the hands of the player characters they are committed to a quest which will take them the length and breadth of their homeworld, and eventually into the heart of the Abyss.\n"
] |
how much luck is involved when something goes viral on social media? besides the merits of the content itself, what other factors contribute to it? | You normally need a key person to comment or forward it. Someone who is followed or read by lots of other people to start a kind of cascade effect. A single comment by someone like George Takei will send an ordinary item into a potentially viral one | [
"BULLET::::- Network Analysis: social data is also interesting in that it migrates, grows (or dies) based on how the data is propagated throughout the network. It's how viral activity starts—and spreads.\n",
"The growth of social networks significantly contributed to the effectiveness of viral marketing. As of 2009, two thirds of the world's Internet population visits a social networking service or blog site at least every week. Facebook alone has over 1 billion active users. In 2009, time spent visiting social media sites began to exceed time spent emailing. A 2010 study found that 52% of people who view news online forward it on through social networks, email, or posts.\n",
"Some social media sites have potential for content posted there to spread \"virally\" over social networks. The term is an analogy to the concept of viral infections, which can spread rapidly from person to person. In a social media context, content or websites that are \"viral\" (or which \"go viral\") are those with a greater likelihood that users will reshare content posted (by another user) to their social network, leading to further sharing. In some cases, posts containing popular content or fast-breaking news have been rapidly shared and reshared by a huge number of users. Many social media sites provide specific functionality to help users reshare content, such as Twitter's retweet button, Pinterest's pin function, Facebook's share option or Tumblr's reblog function. Businesses have a particular interest in viral marketing tactics because a viral campaign can achieve widespread advertising coverage (particularly if the viral reposting itself makes the news) for a fraction of the cost of a traditional marketing campaign, which typically uses printed materials, like newspapers, magazines, mailings, and billboards, and television and radio commercials. Nonprofit organizations and activists may have similar interests in posting content on social media sites with the aim of it going viral. A popular component and feature of Twitter are retweeting. Twitter allows other people to keep up with important events, stay connected with their peers, and can contribute in various ways throughout social media. When certain posts become popular, they start to get retweeted over and over again, becoming viral. Hashtags can be used in tweets, and can also be used to take count of how many people have used that hashtag.\n",
"With all this information so readily available, there is a rising trend of \"slacktivism\" or \"clicktivism\". While it is positive that information can be distributed so quickly and efficiently all around the world, there is negativity in the fact that people often take this information for granted, or quickly forget about it once they have seen it flash across our computer screens. Viral campaigns are great for sparking initial interest and conversation, but they are not as effective in the long term—people begin to think that clicking \"like\" on something is enough of a contribution, or that posting information about a current hot topic on their Facebook page or Twitter feed means that they have made a difference.\n",
"Due to the real-time nature of social media, financial services companies must be on constant alert for potential issues so they can be mitigated before any serious damage control is necessary. Any negative experience a customer has can easily be shared online and if it ends up going viral, those comments could likely have a detrimental effect on the company’s stock price and reputation. On the other hand, any positive experience a customer has can also be shared online. However, positive experiences are much less likely to become viral.\n",
"A sudden burst of publicity may accidentally cause a web traffic overload. A news item in the media, a quickly propagating email, or a link from a popular site may cause such a boost in visitors (sometimes called a flash crowd or the Slashdot effect).\n",
"Social media being a main source of news and breaking new stories, people can connect to people from all over the world and learn in new ways. It is easier to see people's private life on a public network. This being said, social networks such as Facebook makes viewing someone's daily life as simple as sending a request. Society is exposed to everyone's lives and people are starting to compare themselves with their friends that they have on Facebook. It is easy to log in and see someone brag about their success or their new belongings and feel bad about yourself. In recent studies, researchers have been linking Facebook with depression in this generation of social media. They may start to have low self-esteem by seeing their friends online have more exciting lives and more popularity. This social comparison bias among social network users online can make people start to think of their lives as not as fulfilling as they want to be. They see pictures or statuses about job promotions or new jobs, vacations; new relationships, fun outings or even those that can afford nice things. This can cognitively affect people's self-esteem and cause depression. They can start to feel bad about their appearance and their life in general. Social media influences the number of social comparisons people have. One study found that the more time users spend on Facebook each week, the more likely they are to think that others were happier and having better lives than they themselves.\n"
] |
would we still get hungry if everything our body needs is directly pumped into our bloodstream? | There is TPN, total parenteral nutrition. It is expensive. Everything you need is pumped into the bloodstream. They are very prone to getting infections. It is a big catheter.
Patients getting getting TPN are generally very sick. They do not complain about being hungry. But it could be that they are sick. | [
"Although the passage of food into the gastrointestinal tract results in increased blood flow to the stomach and intestines, this is achieved by diversion of blood primarily from skeletal muscle tissue and by increasing the volume of blood pumped forward by the heart each minute. The flow of oxygen and blood to the brain is extremely tightly regulated by the circulatory system and does not drop after a meal.\n",
"If not enough energy is taken in through diet, as in the process of starvation, the body will use protein from the muscle mass to meet its energy needs, leading to muscle wasting over time. If the individual does not consume adequate protein in nutrition, then muscle will also waste as more vital cellular processes (e.g., respiration enzymes, blood cells) recycle muscle protein for their own requirements.\n",
"The acute supply of energy to the brain from the intake of nutrients presents problems for the organism. In the event of an emergency food intake is only activated if allocation is insufficient, and must be taken as a sign of disease. In this case the required energy can not be requested from the body, and it can only be taken directly from the environment. This pathology is due to defects lying within the control centers of the brain such as the hippocampus, amygdala and hypothalamus. These may be due to mechanical (tumors, injuries), genetic defects (lacking brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) receptors or leptin receptors), faulty programming (post-traumatic stress disorder, conditioning of eating behavior, advertising for sweets) or false signals may arise due to the influence of antidepressants, drugs, alcohol, pesticides, saccharin or viruses.\n",
"BULLET::::- So, people especially those with warm and wet Mizaj (sanguine temperament), should not consume large amounts of food products with warm and wet Mizaj which produce excessive amounts of “Blood” in the body. Fasting and starving are of the treatments recommended to people suffering excessive “Blood”. Therefore, decreasing food intake drastically for a fortnight would benefit them.\n",
"In order to survive a tetanus infection, the maintenance of an airway and proper nutrition are required. An intake of 3,500 to 4,000 calories and at least 150 g of protein per day is often given in liquid form through a tube directly into the stomach (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy), or through a drip into a vein (parenteral nutrition). This high-caloric diet maintenance is required because of the increased metabolic strain brought on by the increased muscle activity. Full recovery takes 4 to 6 weeks because the body must regenerate destroyed nerve axon terminals.\n",
"The gastrointestinal system, particularly the stomach, releases a peptide hormone called ghrelin. In 1999 experiments have revealed that hunger is communicated from the stomach to the brain via this hormone peptide. This peptide can stimulate thought about food, and is suppressed after food is ingested. Nutrient injection into the blood stream does not suppress ghrelin, so the release of hormone is directed by the digestive system and not by nutrient availability in the blood. These blood levels of ghrelin increase with fasting and are reduced after a meal. Ghrelin antibodies or ghrelin receptor antagonists inhibit eating. Ghrelin also stimulates energy production and signals directly to the hypothalamus regulatory nucli that control energy homeostasis.\n",
"This state can last for as long as glycogen is available, and can be prolonged by constantly eating carbohydrate-rich food. If the load on muscles is greater than the body's ability to recycle lactate back into glucose, lactate will start to build up in the blood. Once lactate reaches its renal re-absorption threshold (5–6 mmol/l in general population), it gets lost to urine, wasting many calories (and producing bright matte yellow particles on surfaces where urine dries). At about the same time the kidney will also start correcting blood acidity by acidifying urine. Overly acidic urine causes irritation that feels like a frequent urge to urinate (with little volume) and a \"hot\" urine.\n"
] |
if it is illegal to hire someone base on race, why does job applications still have you choose what is your race, why does it matter? | Background information is used by HR departments for tracking purposes internally and isn't used for hiring. Legally any racial/personal information must be removed from the application before being forwarded to hiring officials. Also, offering that information is purely voluntary and can't be held against if you choose not to disclose it. | [
"Race not only plays an important role in the way that employees act with each other, but also how employees act toward customers based on what race they are associated with. People expect others to behave in a certain manner due to what race they identify or associate with. Race influences and changes the way we see and view others.\n",
"Public universities and other public institutions of higher education across the nation are now allowed to use race as a plus factor in determining whether a student should be admitted. While race may not be the only factor, the decision allows admissions bodies to take race into consideration along with other individualized factors in reviewing a student's application. O'Connor's opinion answers the question for the time being as to whether \"diversity\" in higher education is a compelling governmental interest. As long as the program is \"narrowly tailored\" to achieve that end, it seems likely that the Court will find it constitutional.\n",
"Racial quotas are illegal in United States college admissions, but race can be used as a factor in admissions decisions (affirmative action), as decided in \"Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke\" (1978) and re-affirmed in \"Fisher v. University of Texas\" (2013). Lawsuits have been filed on this basis, including:\n",
"While religion, sex, or national origin may be considered a \"bona fide\" occupational qualification in narrow contexts, race can never be a BFOQ. However, the First Amendment will override Title VII in artistic works where the race of the employee is integral to the story or artistic purpose. (This consideration is not limited to race.)\n",
"In the hiring process, discrimination may be either open or covert, with employers finding other ostensible reasons not to hire a candidate or just not informing prospective employees at all as to why they are not being hired. Additionally, when an employer fires or otherwise discriminates against a transgender employee, it may be a \"mixed motive\" case, with the employer openly citing obvious wrongdoing, job performance issues or the like (such as excessive tardiness, for example) while keeping silent in regards to transphobia.\n",
"Even so, studies have shown that it is easier for a white male to get a job than it is for an equally qualified man of color or woman of any race. Many positions are \"cycled\", where a company fills a position with a worker and then lays them off and hires a new person, repeating until they find someone they feel is \"suitable\"—which is often not a minority.\n",
"Organizations can strive to be intentional with their hiring practices so that they have talent pools that are more representative. Currently, minorities are underrepresented in the interview process at 6%, and they receive lower salary offers. However, Hispanic and black men still receive higher offers than their female counterparts of the same race. Without considering the intersectionality of people, firms may miss that it is important to evaluate hiring practices of the whole person and not just correct for race or gender in a silo. Correcting just for race can perpetuate situations in which black and Hispanic men continue to make more than their female counterparts, but correcting just for gender will continue to allow white women to earn more than all groups but Asian and white men. Corrections that avoid binaries can help to reduce siloed hiring practices that attempt to fix one issue at a time rather than a multifaceted approach.\n"
] |
1 out of 10 men are direct descendants of genghis khan. why men specifically? is it impossible for women to be direct descendants? | Male descendants are just much easier to trace, because it has to be the same Y chromosome. | [
"There are no living males known to descend directly from Genghis Khan, or any of his nearest male relatives. Many researchers have attempted to infer his Y-DNA haplogroup, according to various criteria, from those now prominent in Mongolia and other areas formerly part of the Mongol Empire.\n",
"Khan had four wives, from whom he had a total of 18 daughters and 16 sons, the oldest of whom was born about 1981. A fifth wife died under mysterious circumstances amid rumors that Khan had her killed.\n",
"The children of Börte were given more power than those of the other wives of Genghis Khan. However, Il-Alti was born to a concubine, whose name was not recorded in the history of the Mongols. She had nine half-brothers and five half-sisters. Four of her nine half-brothers died before reaching adulthood. The remaining five were Jochi, Chagatay, Ogotei, Tolui and Kholgen. Her half sisters were: Koa Ujin Bekhi, Checheikhen, Alakhai Bekhi, Tumelun, and Altalun. Historians have been mistaking Il-Alti for Altalun for many years.\n",
"Although several of Genghis Khan's children by other wives or concubines received some form of recognition in the empire, including land or military commands, including troops, only Börte's children were recognized as potential Great Khans. She, together with his mother Hoelun, was counted as one of his most trusted advisors.\n",
"During his reign, Genghis Khan raised the status of women in positions of prominence, particularly his daughters and consorts. These women included his daughter Altani, who was awarded the title of \"Hero \"Ba'atur\", given to major figures in the Mongol Empire with successful military and political careers, when she saved the life of his youngest son, Tolui.\n",
"Another important consideration is that Genghis' descendants intermarried frequently. For instance, the Jochids took wives from the Ilkhan dynasty of Persia, whose progenitor was Hulagu Khan. As a consequence, it is likely that many Jochids had other sons of Genghis Khan among their maternal ancestors.\n",
"BULLET::::- Genghis Khan followed the contemporary tradition by taking several morganatic wives in addition to his principal wife, whose property passed to their youngest son, also following tradition.\n"
] |
in southern countries, was north originally considered south? | [it's arbitrary. ](_URL_0_) There are historical occurrences of maps that are "upside down". So even though "north" meaning toward the North Star or magnetic north is always the same direction the way you choose to draw it on a map is up to you. It could just have easily been on the left or right side of the map instead too.
Edit: to better answer your actual question though it's because the dominant countries at the time maps were becoming standardized wanted to be "on top". | [
"The visible rotation of the night sky around the visible celestial pole provides a vivid metaphor of that direction corresponding to up. Thus the choice of the north as corresponding to up in the northern hemisphere, or of south in that role in the southern, is, prior to worldwide communication, anything but an arbitrary one. On the contrary, it is of interest that Chinese and Islamic culture even considered south as the proper top end for maps.\n",
"The existence of \"The North\" implies the existence of \"The South\", and the socio-economic divide between North and South. The term \"the North\" has in some contexts replaced earlier usage of the term \"\"the West\"\", particularly in the critical sense, as a more robust demarcation than the terms \"\"West\"\" and \"East\". The North provides some absolute geographical indicators for the location of wealthy countries, most of which are physically situated in the Northern Hemisphere, although, as most countries are located in the northern hemisphere in general, some have considered this distinction equally unhelpful. Modern financial services and technologies are largely developed by Western nations: Bitcoin, most known digital currency is subject to skepticism in the Eastern world whereas Western nations are more open to it.\n",
"The North is mostly correlated with the Western world and the First World, along with much of the Second World, while the South largely corresponds with the Third World and Eastern world. The two groups are often defined in terms of their differing levels of wealth, development, income inequality, democracy, political and economic freedom, as defined by freedom indices. Nations in the North tend to be wealthier, less unequal and considered more democratic and to be developed countries; Southern states are generally poorer developing countries with younger, more fragile democracies and frequently share a history of past colonialism by Northern states. The Global South \"lacks appropriate technology, it has no political stability, the economies are disarticulated, and their foreign exchange earnings depend on primary product exports.\" Nevertheless, the divide between the North and the South increasingly \"corresponds less and less to reality and is increasingly challenged.\"\n",
"In 1993 he argued the fundamental differences between North and South developed during the 18th century, when Celtic migrants first settled in the Old South. Some of the fundamental attributes that caused the Old South to adopt anti-English values and practices were Celtic social organization, language, and means of livelihood. It was supposedly the Celtic values and traditions that set the agrarian South apart from the industrialized civilization developing in the North.\n",
"BULLET::::- In the Southern Hemisphere, south is to the left. The Sun rises in the east (near arrow), culminates in the north (to the right) while moving to the left, and sets in the west (far arrow). Both rise and set positions are displaced towards the south in midsummer and the north in midwinter.\n",
"The exception to this system is Caecias (NE), which Aristotle notes is \"half north and half east\", and thus neither generally northern nor generally southern. The local Phoenicias (SSE), is also designated as \"half south and half east\".\n",
"The southern and northern zones differ in their political organization, with the south led by hereditary chieftains, while the north follows the self-made big man structure common in Melanesia. Both the hereditary and non-hereditary leaders are known as \"aaraha\".\n"
] |
Are cancerous cells ever observed in non-animal organisms such as plants, fungi, etc...? | Yes, plants can form tumors, but in general it is thought they are not as harmful as in animals because plant cells have cell walls while animal cells don't. Similar pathways lead to plant tumors as in animal tumors (ie they develop from stem cell niches). But, one of the key steps in cancer metastasis in animals is the interaction between the cancerous cell and the extracellular matrix surrounding the cell. In plants, due to the rigidity of the cell wall, the cancerous cell has very little room to grow and metastasize, and the cell wall is thought to be critical for the proper development/maintenance of the plant.
Source:
_URL_0_ | [
"Multicellular organisms, especially long-living animals, face the challenge of cancer, which occurs when cells fail to regulate their growth within the normal program of development. Changes in tissue morphology can be observed during this process. Cancer in animals (metazoans) has often been described as a loss of multicellularity. There is a discussion about the possibility of existence of cancer in other multicellular organisms or even in protozoa. For example, plant galls have been characterized as tumors, but some authors argue that plants do not develop cancer.\n",
"Hypertrophy of cells caused by protists and fungi has been observed since the late nineteenth century. Scientists observed them in several organisms, of which the infection would have varied host cell specificity, ultimately leading to different cellular consequences. For example, the dinoflagellate protist \"Sphaeripara catenata\" induces hypertrophy, polyploid nuclei formation whilst forming a thick-walled hyposome where rhizoids extend into the cytoplasm for nutrient absorption in the appendicularian \"Fritillaria pellucida\". This can be contrasted to the \"Microsporidium cotti\" infection of the testes of \"Taurulus bubalis\" where a dense microvillus layer is present for improved nutrient absorption.\n",
"The theory that cancer cells themselves could be an infective agent (the Allograft Theory) was first offered in 2006 by Pearse, Swift and colleagues, who analysed DFTD cells from devils in several locations, determining that all DFTD cells sampled were genetically identical to each other, and genetically distinct from their hosts and from all other individual Tasmanian devils whose genetics had been studied; this allowed them to conclude that the cancer originated from a single individual and spread from it, rather than arising repeatedly, and independently. Twenty-one different subtypes have been identified by analysing the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of 104 tumours from different Tasmanian devils. Researchers have also witnessed a previously-uninfected devil develop tumours from lesions caused by an infected devil's bites, supporting the contention that the disease is spread by allograft, with transmission via biting, scratching, and aggressive sexual activity between individuals. During biting, infection can spread from the bitten devil to the biter.\n",
"In birds, whose cells contain microchromosomes, it has been suggested that there was a correlation between the presence of mega-telomeres and the number of microchromosomes present in a species, such that bird genomes with large numbers of microchromosomes also possessed larger amounts of telomeric DNA sequence. It was thought that these telomeric sequences might protect genes on these tiny chromosomes from erosion during cell division. However, subsequent studies showed that mega-telomeres are not necessarily present in all species with microchromosomes, nor are they found on all microchromosomes within a cell. Mega-telomeres are also thought contribute to the high recombination rate of chicken microchromosomes. The longest mega-telomere in chickens is associated with the W (female) chromosome, suggesting that mega-telomeres may also affect sex chromosome organization and the generation of genetic variation.\n",
"Microscopically, tumor cells resemble normal cells (elongated, spindle-shaped, with a cigar-shaped nucleus) and form bundles with different directions (whorled). These cells are uniform in size and shape, with scarce mitoses. There are three benign variants: bizarre (atypical); cellular; and mitotically active.\n",
"Neither Geddes (1879), who observed the presence of starch and chlorophyll in the green cells present in the tissues, nor Delage (1886) and Haberlandt (1891) had formally been able to identify their origin and nature, however, suspecting micro-algae.\n",
"He notably discovered that animal cells moving through tissue culture will halt when they come into contact with another cell of the same type, with the important exception of cancer cells. This discovery led to new interest and research into the dynamics and growth of cancer cells.\n"
] |
What are the earliest examples of a North/South divide in England? | This cultural / administrative divide can be traced back at least as far as 11th Century.
In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Northumbria was regarded as a bit of a wild backwater and was never visited by Edward in his entire reign. Indeed, their own Earl Tostig Godwinson spent a large part of his time in Southern England, at court. Unsurprisingly, this state of affairs was unpopular with Northumbrians, who eventually mounted a minor rebellion that resulted in the death of some of Tostig's lieutenants. Eventually Northumbria chose their own earl: Morcar. After some bargaining, Edward was grudgingly forced to accept this, as there was little appetite for a civil war.
William the Conqueror famously 'harried' the North, which obviously caused some resentment to say the least.
Northumbria continued to be a problem for William for years after the initial invasion in 1066 with at least one of Williams local lords being murdered there.
Here is what I believe to be a source: _URL_0_
(I am new to AskHistorians so please tell me if I have broken any rules or if this post is bad in some way. Thanks) | [
"Potential historical reasons for the divide include the influence of Scandinavian rule in the latter centuries of the first millennium CE, with much of the cultural differences of the north-south divide coinciding with the borders of the Danelaw. The Economist proposed in a 2017 article that the origins of the North-South divide could be traced back to the Norman Conquest, and the Harrying of the North in which William the Conqueror laid waste to many towns and estates in the North. This significantly reduced the wealth of the northern half of the country, laying the foundations for centuries of economic disadvantage.\n",
"In historical linguistics, the dividing line between North and Midlands runs from the River Ribble or River Lune on the west coast to the River Humber on the east coast. The dialects of this region are descended from the Northumbrian dialect of Old English rather than Mercian or other Anglo-Saxon dialects. In a very early study of English dialects, Alexander J Ellis defined the border between the north and the midlands as that where the word \"house\" is pronounced with to the north (as also in Scots). Although well-suited to historical analysis, this line does not reflect contemporary language; this line divides Lancashire and Yorkshire in half and few would today consider Manchester or Leeds, both located south of the line, as part of the Midlands.\n",
"In Great Britain, the term North–South divide refers to the economic and cultural differences between Southern England and the rest of Great Britain (Northern England, The Midlands, Wales and Scotland). The divide cuts through the English Midlands. Sometimes, the term is widened to include the whole United Kingdom, with Northern Ireland included as part of \"the North\".\n",
"The local historian Dorothy Silvester has identified a \"parish line\", which divided northern from southern counties of England and Wales (Denbighshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and northern Yorkshire). North of this line, parishes tended on the whole to be large, containing several townships. However, south of this line, parishes tended to contain single townships.\n",
"During the following years Northumbria repeatedly changed hands between the English kings and the Norwegian invaders, but was definitively brought under English control by Eadred in 954, completing the unification of England. At about this time, Lothian, bordering the northern portion of Northumbria (Bernicia), was ceded to the Kingdom of Scotland. On 12 July 927 the monarchs of Britain gathered at Eamont in Cumbria to recognise Æthelstan as king of the English. This can be considered England's 'foundation date', although the process of unification had taken almost 100 years.\n",
"Towards the end of the 6th century English settlers were penetrating along the upper Trent and laying the foundations of the kingdom of Mercia. A Latinisation of the Old English Mierce meaning ‘border people’. Possibly by the early 7th century some English had settled peacefully on surplus lands in the border region and gradually the line connecting Tarvin and Macefen along the river Gowy and Broxton Hills in Cheshire could have formed the dividing line between the British (Welsh) and the English during the 7th century.\n",
"Northern England is characterised by a series of fault-bound blocks separated by sedimentary basins whose origin can be traced back to the Carboniferous period. The North Pennines are formed on the Alston Block which is defined to the west by the Pennine Fault and to the north by the Stublick and Ninety Fathom Faults. It is separated from the Askrigg Block to the south by the Stainmore Trough. This latter block, coincident with the Yorkshire Dales, is defined to the west by the Dent Fault and to the south by the Craven Fault System. The Northumberland and Gainsborough Troughs lie to the north and south of these two blocks.\n"
] |
What was the effect of marijuana on the ancient world? | I don't actually know if they criminalised the drug or not, but the origin of our word cannabis is from the Akkadian word *qunubu*, meaning that in the Near East at least they had been aware of cannabis for a very long time. At least in a religious ritual context, it's clear that the Assyrians and Babylonians used cannabis, but it is entirely possible that it was *only* used in this context and there is no evidence for common household useage. You can detect chemical traces of drugs with modern archaeology, we've used it to detect opiate traces in a few containers (the ones i'm familiar with are from Bronze Age Cyprus).
I'll be honest- of all the drugs that can be seen throughout history (rather than just the last 100-200 years) Cannabis does not seem to have made a big impact anywhere. Hemp was used as a material for weaving and clothing, so it was certainly useful to people. But off the top of my head, Opium certainly had more impact. It doesn't really seem to have been any more important than many other herbs and plants, and was certainly less important than grain, barley, olive trees, opium and salt in history to name a few natural products off the top of my head.
I am less familiar with its recent history, i.e the Industrial Revolution and onwards, and someone familiar with that area may give you a different answer. | [
"Prior to the introduction of opium to ancient India and China, these civilizations pioneered the use of cannabis incense and aconitum. c. 400 BC, the Sushruta Samhita (a text from the Indian subcontinent on ayurvedic medicine and surgery) advocates the use of wine with incense of cannabis for anesthesia. By the 8th century AD, Arab traders had brought opium to India and China.\n",
"Cannabis was a major component in religious practices in ancient India as well as in medicinal practices. For many centuries, most parts of life in ancient India incorporated cannabis of some form. Surviving texts from ancient India confirm that cannabis' psychoactive properties were recognized, and doctors used it for treating a variety of illnesses and ailments. These included insomnia, headaches, a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, and pain: cannabis was frequently used to relieve the pain of childbirth. One Indian philosopher expressed his views on the nature and uses of bhang (a form of cannabis), which combined religious thought with medical practices. \"A guardian lives in the bhang leaf. …To see in a dream the leaves, plant, or water of bhang is lucky. …A longing for bhang foretells happiness. It cures dysentry and sunstroke, clears phlegm, quickens digestion, sharpens appetite, makes the tongue of the lisper plain, freshens the intellect and gives alertness to the body and gaiety to the mind. Such are the useful and needful ends for which in His goodness the Almighty made bhang.\"\n",
"Many scholars, like Luis Astorga and Jorge Alan Sanchez Godoy explain that there is no evidence that would suggest that cannabis or opium were consumed in Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spanish and the Chinese . Although indigenous communities in Mexico consumed hallucinogenic mushrooms and Peyote in their religious practices it was not until the arrival of the Spanish that cannabis was introduced to Mexico.\n",
"Historically cannabis has been used an entheogen to induce spiritual experiences - most notably in the Indian subcontinent since the Vedic period dating back to approximately 1500 BCE, but perhaps as far back as 2000 BCE. Its entheogenic use was also recorded in Ancient China, the Germanic peoples, the Celts, Ancient Central Asia, and Africa. In modern times, spiritual use of the drug is mostly associated with the Rastafari movement of Jamaica. Several Western subcultures have had marijuana consumption as an idiosyncratic feature, such as hippies, beatniks, hipsters (both the 1940s subculture and the contemporary subculture), ravers and hip hop.\n",
"Evidence has suggested that cannabis was present in Egypt since circa 3000 BP. However, whether or not it was used for psychoactive purposes during this time has not been documented. It was stated in a book written in 1980 that cannabis cultivation has occurred in Egypt for \"almost a thousand years\". During this time, cannabis was used for making rope and it was also cultivated for use as a drug. Cannabis has been utilized in Egypt for hashish production for at least the last \"eight or nine centuries\". \n",
"Cannabis is indigenous to Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and its uses for fabric and rope dates back to the Neolithic age in China and Japan. It is unclear when cannabis first became known for its psychoactive properties; some research suggests that the ancient Indian drug soma, mentioned in the Vedas, sometimes contained cannabis. This is based on the discovery of a basin containing cannabis in a shrine of the second millennium BC in Turkmenistan.\n",
"The medical use of cannabis dates back thousands of years, to ancient China, India, and Egypt. It was popularized in Western medicine by the Irish physician William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, who was introduced to the drug in the 1830s while living abroad in India. O'Shaughnessy documented a number of medical applications for cannabis from the experiments he conducted, noting in particular its analgesic and anticonvulsant effects. He returned to England with a supply of cannabis in 1842, after which its use as medicine quickly spread throughout Europe and the United States.\n"
] |
herding dogs. how do they know where the livestock needs to go? how much is instinct, and how much is training? | Where to take the animal is training, whatever method they use to do it is the genetics. Aussies will body block, nip heels, bark (very loud) and strafe. Other dogs like the Catahoula will be much more aggressive with the nipping, and I think Healers to some degree. A herding (or stock) dog will direct, a shepherd will protect. Great pyrinese is a good example of a protector. All these fit into what is known as pastoral dog breeds.
A nickname for the Aussie is "Velcro Dog." Get one and find out why. They're great with kids. I have a 9 mo female who warned a friend with get mouth for playing too rough with the kids. | [
"Herding instincts and trainability can be measured when introducing a dog to livestock or at noncompetitive herding tests. Individuals exhibiting basic herding instincts can be trained to compete in herding trials.\n",
"Some animals instinctively gather together as a herd. A group of animals fleeing a predator will demonstrate herd behavior for protection; while some predators, such as wolves and dogs have instinctive herding abilities derived from primitive hunting instincts. Instincts in herding dogs and trainability can be measured at noncompetitive herding tests. Dogs exhibiting basic herding instincts can be trained to aid in herding and to compete in herding and stock dog trials. Sperm whales have also been observed teaming up to herd prey in a coordinated feeding behavior.\n",
"All herding behavior is modified predatory behavior. Through selective breeding, humans have been able to minimize the dog's natural inclination to treat cattle and sheep as prey while simultaneously maintaining the dog's hunting skills, thereby creating an effective herding dog.\n",
"The term \"herding dog\" is sometimes erroneously used to describe livestock guardian dogs, whose primary function is to guard flocks and herds from predation and theft, and they lack the herding instinct. Although herding dogs may guard flocks their primary purpose is to move them; both herding dogs and livestock guardian dogs may be called \"sheep dogs\".\n",
"The use of dogs for herding sheep makes good economic sense for many farmers. In a typical pasture environment each trained sheepdog will do the work of three humans. In vast arid areas like the Australian Outback or the Karoo Escarpment, the number increases to five or more. Attempts to replace them with mechanical approaches to herding have only achieved a limited amount of success. Thus, stock handlers find trained dogs more reliable and economical.\n",
"Like other herding breeds, these dogs excel at many dog sports, especially herding, dog agility, frisbee, and flyball. Herding instincts and trainability can be measured at noncompetitive instinct tests. Aussies that exhibit basic herding instincts can be trained to compete in ASCA stock dog trials or AKC herding events.\n",
"Farmers exploit flocking behavior to keep sheep together on unfenced pastures such as hill farming, and to move them more easily. For this purpose shepherds may use herding dogs in this effort, with a highly bred herding ability. Sheep are food-oriented, and association of humans with regular feeding often results in sheep soliciting people for food. Those who are moving sheep may exploit this behavior by leading sheep with buckets of feed.\n"
] |
why is the us media overly sexualized, but then people are shamed for sexualization? | > The FCC is so sensitive about some things (language, no nudity) on television/in media, but yet, the media still finds a way around that.
...
> why is there such restraint over sexuality when it is blatantly obvious that people find ways around it?
Your question has a built-in presumption that the FCC is tightly regulating these things and that TV stations / content producers are actively trying to find loop-holes / ways to exploit these tight restrictions and get around them. In reality it's pretty much the exact opposite.
Firstly, the FCC doesn't regulate Cable/Satellite TV stations, only freely accessible broadcast stations (the ones you can pick-up with an antenna). Secondly, even for the broadcast stations which are regulated by the FCC, there is nothing stopping them from broadcasting explicit language, nudity and sex at night time. The FCC regulates content during the daytime strictly for the protection of young children. At night, the safe harbor kicks-in at about 10 PM and any TV station (including broadcast stations like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, etc.) are all free to air highly explicit language, nudity, sex, etc.
The fact is these stations choose not to air such content and impose voluntary censorship. It's not the case that they're trying to push the boundaries as far as the rules will let them - quite the opposite... They are actually imposing rules of self-censorship upon themselves which are much more strict than any government regulations require.
This is mostly because they want to appease advertisers (many of whom don't like to be associated with Risqué content or anything which could be controversial). Self-censorship is also imposed to avoid public outcry from vocal parent/family and religious groups who may take offense to (what they see as) inappropriate content like explicit language, nudity, sex, and these groups have been known to organize boycotts. So basically TV stations electively choose to be uptight when it comes to things like sexuality because they're afraid of upsetting the people (e.g. advertisers) that help fund their stations.
You will notice that premium channels like HBO (which rely on subscriber fees rather than advertising) have no problems showing explicit language, nudity and sex on their channel. | [
"Most studies consistently show that after exposure to pornography and other forms of misogynistic media depicting degradation of women and rape, including hip hop and rap, viewers show attitudes that are less sympathetic to rape victims and more tolerant and accepting of violence toward women – in effect, such behavior becomes more \"normalized\" and \"mainstreamed. It's desensitizing and addictive potentials are well-documented in its users.\"\n",
"In more recent times the media, particularly TV shows, have been accused of promoting sexist stereotypes. In 2017, one talk-show of a state-owned broadcaster was cancelled after accusations that it promoted discriminatory views of women.\n",
"There is a long-lasting connection between misogyny and mass media. Comedic sitcoms often portray men degrading the value of women and commenting on women's weight and size. This contributes to the internalization of gender size stereotypes, sometimes negatively affecting the mental and physical health of females. One of the primary problems in mass media is the under-representation of women in widely consumed productions. \n",
"The exploitation of women in mass media is the use or portrayal of women in mass media (such as television, film and advertising) to increase the appeal of media or a product to the detriment of, or without regard to, the interests of the women portrayed, or women in general. This process includes the presentation of women as sexual objects and the setting of standards of beauty that women are expected to reflect. Feminists and other advocates of women's rights have criticized such exploitation. The most often criticized aspect of the use of women in mass media is sexual objectification, but dismemberment can be a part of the objectification as well.\n",
"Television is often subject to criticism for the sexual exploitation of women on screen, particularly when teenagers are involved. In 2013, the Parents Television Council released a report that found that it was increasingly more likely for a scene to be exploitative when a teenage girl was involved. The report also found that 43 percent of teen girls on television are the targets of sexually exploitative jokes compared to 33 percent of adult women. Rev. Delman Coates, a PTC board member said, \"young people are having difficulty managing the distinction between appropriate and inappropriate sexual conduct\". This report is of a series that's about media sexualization of young girls.\n",
"\"People with certain fetishes now face the prospect of becoming victims of the government's sustained assault on civil liberties. In a knee-jerk piece of headline-grabbing, ministers have introduced a law on \"extreme pornography\" which comes into force this month. Rather than targeting the exploitative, abusive and bullying elements of the pornography industry, the law is aimed at sadomasochistic images regardless of the context. So low is the barrier that if taken literally it could lead to a couple who take a photo of their consensual (and legal) sexual activity being arrested for possession of that photo.\"\n",
"Another negative social implication may be the increased use of pornography due to rarity of women and greater sex related crimes of violence targeting women. With a greater scarcity of women, men may be more inclined and desperate to seek out female partners.\n"
] |
why does jello pudding mix only work with dairy milk? | They make ones that will work with non dairy milks. The proteins and fats and sugars in milk are pretty unique which is why they can make cheese. You cant make almond cheese or coconut cheese, and you cant make dairy pudding with them either. Maybe someone can explain the science behind the interactions with the casein(or whatever milk enzyme it is) that makes it work specifically | [
"A dairy mix is the blend of milk, cream, sugar, stabilizers, and vanilla packaged by a dairy for commercial use. This mix can either be made directly into ice cream or placed into containers for the use in soft serve, frozen custard, or ice cream machines. Dairy mix used in restaurants can be also used to make frozen drinks or smoothies.\n",
"Dairy mix is typically packaged in bags, jugs or half gallon cartons. Most dairies place these in milk crates or boxes, depending on where or how they ship their product. These products are pasteurized under State and Federal guidelines.\n",
"Because square milk jugs can be stacked, they require less labor at the dairy, and can be packaged more quickly, which allows the milk to be shipped sooner, providing fresher milk to the retailer. The wide mouth is also easier to fill which reduces the likelihood of spillage and the sanitary issues caused by milk getting on the container.\n",
"Malted milk is a powdered gruel made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and evaporated whole milk. The powder is used to add its distinctive flavor to beverages and other foods, but it is also used in baking to help the dough cook properly.\n",
"Unhomogenized milk and cream contain butterfat in microscopic globules. These globules are surrounded by membranes made of phospholipids (fatty acid emulsifiers) and proteins, which prevent the fat in milk from pooling together into a single mass. Butter is produced by agitating cream, which damages these membranes and allows the milk fats to conjoin, separating from the other parts of the cream. Variations in the production method will create butters with different consistencies, mostly due to the butterfat composition in the finished product. Butter contains fat in three separate forms: free butterfat, butterfat crystals, and undamaged fat globules. In the finished product, different proportions of these forms result in different consistencies within the butter; butters with many crystals are harder than butters dominated by free fats.\n",
"Some milk is dried and powdered, some is condensed (by evaporation) mixed with varying amounts of sugar and canned. Most cream from New Zealand and Australian factories is made into butter. This is done by churning the cream until the fat globules coagulate and form a monolithic mass. This butter mass is washed and, sometimes, salted to improve keeping qualities. The residual buttermilk goes on to further processing. The butter is packaged (25 to 50 kg boxes) and chilled for storage and sale. At a later stage these packages are broken down into home-consumption sized packs.\n",
"Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. However, most modern buttermilk is cultured. It is common in warm climates (including the Balkans, South Asia, the Middle East and the Southern United States) where unrefrigerated fresh milk sours quickly.\n"
] |
When did owning swimming pools become fashionable? | In Rome and Greece, swimming was part of the education of elementary age boys and the Romans built the first swimming pools (separate from bathing pools). The first heated swimming pool was built by Gaius Maecenas of Rome in the first century BC. Gaius Maecenas was a rich Roman lord and considered one of the first patron of arts - he supported the famous poets Horace, Virgil, and Propertius, making it possible for them to live and write without fear of poverty. However, swimming pools did not became popular until the middle of the 19th century. By 1837, six indoor pools with diving boards were built in London, England. After the modern Olympic Games began in 1896 and swimming races were among the original events, the popularity of swimming pools began to spread. | [
"Swimming pools became popular in Britain in the mid-19th century. As early as 1837, six indoor pools with diving boards existed in London, England. The Maidstone Swimming Club in Maidstone, Kent is believed to be the oldest surviving swimming club in Britain. It was formed in 1844, in response to concerns over drownings in the River Medway, especially since would-be rescuers would often drown because they themselves could not swim to safety. The club used to swim in the River Medway, and would hold races, diving competitions and water polo matches. \"The South East Gazette\" July 1844 reported an aquatic breakfast party: coffee and biscuits were served on a floating raft in the river. The coffee was kept hot over a fire; club members had to tread water and drink coffee at the same time. The last swimmers managed to overturn the raft, to the amusement of 150 spectators.\n",
"Swimming emerged as a competitive sport in the early 1800s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming pool, St George's Baths, was opened to the public. By 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools, built around London. The sport grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association, was formed, there were already over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country. \n",
"Swimming emerged as a competitive recreational activity in the 1830s in England. In 1828, the first indoor swimming pool, St George's Baths was opened to the public. By 1837, the National Swimming Society was holding regular swimming competitions in six artificial swimming pools, built around London. The recreational activity grew in popularity and by 1880, when the first national governing body, the Amateur Swimming Association was formed, there were already over 300 regional clubs in operation across the country.\n",
"The modern Olympic Games started in 1896 and included swimming races, after which the popularity of swimming pools began to spread. In the US, the Racquet Club of Philadelphia clubhouse (1907) boasts one of the world's first modern above-ground swimming pools. The first swimming pool to go to sea on an ocean liner was installed on the White Star Line's \"Adriatic\" in 1906. The oldest known public swimming pool in America, Underwood Pool, is located in Belmont, Massachusetts.\n",
"The Amateur Swimming Association was founded in 1869 in England, and the Oxford Swimming Club in 1909. The presence of indoor baths in the cobbled area of Merton Street might have persuaded the less hardy of the aquatic brigade to join. So, bathers gradually became swimmers, and bathing pools became swimming pools.. In 1939, Oxford created its first major public indoor pool at Temple Cowley.\n",
"Although a swimming pool had been proposed from the earliest days of the Club, it was not until after World War II that one was built for and enjoyment of the members and their families. In 1963, the Club added a new swimming pool with family and lap areas. In 2000, the poolside grille was given a facelift and new restroom facilities were added.\n",
"The late nineteenth century also saw the development of swimming as a competitive sport, in contrast to \"bathing\" as a therapeutic activity. The first British amateur swimming association was formed in 1869, and the Balmain Swimming Club was formed in March 1884. In 1891 the NSW Amateur Swimming Association was formed by men's swimming clubs and in 1906 women swimmers formed their own association. Fred Cavill arrived in Sydney in 1879 and, with his sons, managed a number of harbourside pools (for example, Lavender Bay) and helped to popularise competitive and long-distance swimming. His son, Dick Cavill introduced the crawl from the Solomon Islands which revolutionised swimming and another son, Sydney Cavill developed the butterfly stroke.\n"
] |
What happens to disease immunity from vaccinations if you're HIV positive? | The body does still produce an effect but it is significantly reduced with a low CD4 count. Think of T helper (CD4) cells as basically the [bugles](_URL_1_) calling in the cavalry of the immune system; once an antigen presenting cell (APC) hands them some info and gives the T helper the secret handshake, they rally and direct the immune system. Without these you'll only really see a local response which isn't great for memory. Someone with a low CD4 count has to be very careful of live, attenuated (weakened) vaccines like influenza, smallpox, or [BCG](_URL_0_) because they can quickly develop an infection and die. Before obviously would be ideal for vaccination, afterwards (like most other infectious disease treatment with HIV+) has to wait until the HIV is under control. | [
"The type of vaccination for this disease is called artificial active immunity. This type of immunity is generated when a dead or weakened version of the disease enters the body causing an immune response which includes the production of antibodies. This is beneficial to the body because this means that if the disease is ever introduced into the body, the immune system will recognize the antigen and produce antibodies more rapidly.\n",
"The potential for contact immunity exists primarily in \"live\" or attenuated vaccines. Vaccination with a live, but attenuated, virus can produce immunity to more dangerous forms of the virus. These attenuated viruses produce little or no illness in most people. However, the live virus multiplies briefly, may be shed in body fluids or excrement, and can be contracted by another person. If this contact produces immunity and carries no notable risk, it benefits an additional person, and further increases the immunity of the group.\n",
"When a person is vaccinated, their immune system develops antibodies that recognize specific segments (epitopes) viruses or viral-induced proteins. Over time, however, viruses accumulate genetic mutations which can impact the 3d structure of viral proteins. If these mutations occur in sites that are recognized by antibodies, the mutations block antibody binding which inhibits the immune response. This phenomenon is called antigenic drift. Breakthrough infections of Hepatitis B and mumps are partially attributed to antigenic drift.\n",
"Susceptibles have been exposed to neither the wild strain of the disease nor a vaccination against it, and thus have not developed immunity. Those individuals who have antibodies against an antigen associated with a particular infectious disease will not be susceptible, even if they did not produce the antibody themselves (for example, infants younger than six months who still have maternal antibodies passed through the placenta and from the colostrum, and adults who have had a recent injection of antibodies). However, these individuals soon return to the susceptible state as the antibodies are broken down.\n",
"Some individuals either cannot develop immunity after vaccination or for medical reasons cannot be vaccinated. Newborn infants are too young to receive many vaccines, either for safety reasons or because passive immunity renders the vaccine ineffective. Individuals who are immunodeficient due to HIV/AIDS, lymphoma, leukemia, bone marrow cancer, an impaired spleen, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy may have lost any immunity that they previously had and vaccines may not be of any use for them because of their immunodeficiency. Vaccines are typically imperfect as some individuals' immune systems may not generate an adequate immune response to vaccines to confer long-term immunity, so a portion of those who are vaccinated may lack immunity. Lastly, vaccine contraindications may prevent certain individuals from becoming immune. In addition to not being immune, individuals in one of these groups may be at a greater risk of developing complications from infection because of their medical status, but they may still be protected if a large enough percentage of the population is immune.\n",
"A major goal recently in HIV-1 vaccinations is eliciting the broadly neutralizing antibodies before the virus is actually established, since the virus integrates itself into the host's DNA. Vaccine trials have been largely unsuccessful in eliciting a response using mimics of the e\"nv\" region, potentially because of its high genetic variability.\n",
"Contact immunity is the property of some vaccines, where a vaccinated individual can confer immunity upon unimmunized individuals through contact with bodily fluids or excrement. In other words, if Amelia has been vaccinated for virus \"X\" and Roberto has not, Roberto can receive immunity to virus \"X\" just by coming into contact with Amelia. The term was coined by Romanian physician Ion Cantacuzino.\n"
] |
is there a difference between a racist and a bigot, and if so, what is it? | A racist is intolerant towards people of other races. A bigot is intolerant of other people's opinions. But bigot can sometimes be someone who's prejudiced because of another person's identity (be it their sexuality, class, gender, disability, etc). | [
"An example of Peattie's views that can be construed as racist is the following, from \"An Almanac for Moderns\": \"Every species of ant has its racial characteristics. This one seems to me to be the negro of ants, and not alone from the circumstance that he is all black, but because he is the commonest victim of slavery, and seems especially susceptible to a submissive estate. He is easily impressed by the superior organization or the menacing tactics of his raiders and drivers, and, as I know him, he is relatively lazy or at least disorganized, random, feckless and witless when free in the bush, while for his masters he will work faithfully.\"\n",
"Racism is defined by a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Racial differences are most easily compared by the phenotypical differences between peoples of a different race, i.e. skin tone, facial features, hair color, and body type. To place social value on any trait, whether positive or negative, is a product of somatocentric values.\n",
"Racism consists of both prejudice and discrimination based in social perceptions of observable biological differences between peoples. It often takes the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are perceived to be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. In a given society, those who share racial characteristics socially perceived as undesirable are typically under-represented in positions of social power, i.e., they become a minority category in that society. Minority members in such a society are often subjected to discriminatory actions resulting from majority policies, including assimilation, exclusion, oppression, expulsion, and extermination. Overt racism usually feeds directly into a stratification system through its effect on social status. For example, members associated with a particular race may be assigned a slave status, a form of oppression in which the majority refuses to grant basic rights to a minority that are granted to other members of the society. More covert racism, such as that which many scholars posit is practiced in more contemporary societies, is socially hidden and less easily detectable. Covert racism often feeds into stratification systems as an intervening variable affecting income, educational opportunities, and housing. Both overt and covert racism can take the form of structural inequality in a society in which racism has become institutionalized.\n",
"Racists is a 2006 novel by Kunal Basu about a scientific experiment in the mid-19th century in which a white girl and a black boy are raised together as savages on a small uninhabited island off the coast of Africa. The long-term experiment is devised by the \"racists\" of the title, two rival scientists—one British, one French—to once and for all settle the question of racial superiority.\n",
"Racism is defined as the belief that physical characteristics determine cultural traits, and that racial characteristics make some groups superior. By separating people into hierarchies based upon their race, it has been argued that unequal treatment among the different groups of people is just and fair due to their genetic differences. Racism can occur amongst any group that can be identified based upon physical features or even characteristics of their culture. Though people may be lumped together and called a specific race, everyone does not fit neatly into such categories, making it hard to define and describe a race accurately.\n",
"Racism is the belief in the superiority of one race over another. It may also include prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity, or the belief that members of different races or ethnicities should be treated differently. Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities.\n",
"Racism is abusive attitudes or treatment of others based on the belief that race is a primary determinant of human traits and capacities. It is a form of pride that one's own race is superior and, as a result, has a right to \"rule or dominate others,\" according to a \"Macquarie Dictionary\" definition. Racism is correlated with and can foster race-based prejudice, violence, dislike, discrimination, and oppression.\n"
] |
Questions about aspirin... | 1. I synthesized aspirin in my undergraduate organic chemistry class. We dissolved it in 100% ethanol, then added water for recrystallization. The aspirin dissolves completely in EtOH, but is not as soluble in the water/EtOH solution. So, I would go with ethanol. Edit: [this paper](_URL_0_) describes solubility of aspirin in various solvents. Acetone seemed to work the best.
2. I haven't looked at the thermodynamics of the reverse reaction, but it seems as though the acetyl group in aspirin would fall off and give you acetate/acetic acid. Edit: OK, I think I have it. A base would attack the carbonyl present in aspirin, leaving salicylic acid and acetate/acetic acid. | [
"Aspirin is used in the treatment of a number of conditions, including fever, pain, rheumatic fever, and inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, pericarditis, and Kawasaki disease. Lower doses of aspirin have also been shown to reduce the risk of death from a heart attack, or the risk of stroke in people who are at high risk or who have cardiovascular disease, but not in elderly people who are otherwise healthy. There is some evidence that aspirin is effective at preventing colorectal cancer, though the mechanisms of this effect are unclear. In the United States, low-dose aspirin is deemed reasonable in those between 50 and 70 years old who have a risk of cardiovascular disease over 10%, are not at an increased risk of bleeding, and are otherwise healthy.\n",
"Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), is a medication used to treat pain, fever, or inflammation. Specific inflammatory conditions which aspirin is used to treat include Kawasaki disease, pericarditis, and rheumatic fever. Aspirin given shortly after a heart attack decreases the risk of death. Aspirin is also used long-term to help prevent further heart attacks, ischaemic strokes, and blood clots in people at high risk. It may also decrease the risk of certain types of cancer, particularly colorectal cancer. For pain or fever, effects typically begin within 30 minutes. Aspirin is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and works similarly to other NSAIDs but also suppresses the normal functioning of platelets.\n",
"The idea of using aspirin to prevent clotting diseases (such as heart attacks and strokes) was revived in the 1960s, when medical researcher Harvey Weiss found that aspirin had an anti-adhesive effect on blood platelets (and unlike other potential antiplatelet drugs, aspirin had low toxicity). Medical Research Council haematologist John O'Brien picked up on Weiss's finding and, in 1963, began working with epidemiologist Peter Elwood on aspirin's anti-thrombosis drug potential. Elwood began a large-scale trial of aspirin as a preventive drug for heart attacks. Nicholas Laboratories agreed to provide aspirin tablets, and Elwood enlisted heart attack survivors in a double-blind controlled study—heart attack survivors were statistically more likely to suffer a second attack, greatly reducing the number of patients necessary to reliably detect whether aspirin had an effect on heart attacks. The study began in February 1971, though the researchers soon had to break the double-blinding when a study by American epidemiologist Hershel Jick suggested that aspirin prevented heart attacks but suggested that the heart attacks were more deadly. Jick had found that fewer aspirin-takers were admitted to his hospital for heart attacks than non-aspirin-takers, and one possible explanation was that aspirin caused heart attack sufferers to die before reaching the hospital; Elwood's initial results ruled out that explanation. When the Elwood trial ended in 1973, it showed a modest but not statistically significant reduction in heart attacks among the group taking aspirin.\n",
"It is also used, along with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA, aspirin), for the prevention of thrombosis after placement of a coronary stent or as an alternative antiplatelet drug for people intolerant to aspirin.\n",
"Aspirin's ability to suppress the production of prostaglandins and thromboxanes is due to its irreversible inactivation of the cyclooxygenase (COX; officially known as prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase, PTGS) enzyme required for prostaglandin and thromboxane synthesis. Aspirin acts as an acetylating agent where an acetyl group is covalently attached to a serine residue in the active site of the PTGS enzyme (Suicide inhibition). This makes aspirin different from other NSAIDs (such as diclofenac and ibuprofen), which are reversible inhibitors.\n",
"Aspirin is known to interact with other drugs. For example, acetazolamide and ammonium chloride are known to enhance the intoxicating effect of salicylates, and alcohol also increases the gastrointestinal bleeding associated with these types of drugs. Aspirin is known to displace a number of drugs from protein-binding sites in the blood, including the antidiabetic drugs tolbutamide and chlorpropamide, warfarin, methotrexate, phenytoin, probenecid, valproic acid (as well as interfering with beta oxidation, an important part of valproate metabolism), and other NSAIDs. Corticosteroids may also reduce the concentration of aspirin. Ibuprofen can negate the antiplatelet effect of aspirin used for cardioprotection and stroke prevention. The pharmacological activity of spironolactone may be reduced by taking aspirin, and it is known to compete with penicillin G for renal tubular secretion. Aspirin may also inhibit the absorption of vitamin C.\n",
"Aspirin inhibits platelet aggregation and formation of blood clots. It is effective across the entire spectrum of acute coronary syndromes, and it actually has been shown to reduce the rate of death in patients with STEMI and in patients presenting without ST elevation. Aspirin is contraindicated in patients with documented allergy or known platelet disorder. Patients who have had gastrointestinal symptoms while on long-term aspirin therapy are usually able to tolerate aspirin in the short term. For patients with true intolerance to aspirin clopidogrel is recommended. Lower doses need days to achieve full antiplatelet effect, therefore a loading dose is necessary for patients who are not already on aspirin.\n"
] |
what is today's news on google forking webkit and launching blink mean? | Webkit is a web page rendering engine that Google chrome has been using for a while now because its lightweight and fast. Its also used in other browsers and is open source, meaning everyone can see how it works and more easily find flaws with it. Because its open its used in many other browsers on many different platforms and Google wanted to make it more tightly integrate with the rest of Google chrome. So basically chrome will soon use a tweaked version of webkit they're calling Blink. Forking means they basically copied web kit, renamed it and took control over the development so they could have the freedom of modifying it however they'd like.
So in short, Blink will make Google Chrome faster than it already is. | [
"On April 3, 2013, Google announced that it would produce a fork of WebKit's WebCore component, to be named Blink. Chrome's developers decided on the fork to allow greater freedom in implementing WebCore's features in the browser without causing conflicts upstream, and to allow simplifying its codebase by removing code for WebCore components unused by Chrome. In relation to Opera Software's announcement earlier in the year that it would switch to WebKit by means of the Chromium codebase, it was confirmed that the Opera web browser would also switch to Blink. Following the announcement, WebKit developers began discussions on removing Chrome-specific code from the engine to streamline its codebase. WebKit no longer has any Chrome specific code (e.g., buildsystem, V8 JavaScript engine hooks, platform code, etc.)\n",
"Following the story of the fork's appearance in the news, Apple released changes of the source code of WebKit fork in a public revision-control repository. Since the transfer of the source code into a public Concurrent Versions System (CVS) repository, Apple and KHTML developers have had increasing collaboration. Many KHTML developers have become reviewers and submitters for WebKit revision control repository.\n",
"Blink is a browser engine used in the Google Chrome browser and many other projects. It is developed as part of the Chromium project with contributions from Google, Opera Software ASA, Adobe Systems, Intel, Samsung, and others. It was first announced in April 2013.\n",
"Chrome initially used the WebKit rendering engine to display web pages. In 2013, they forked the WebCore component to create their own layout engine Blink. Based on WebKit, Blink only uses WebKit's \"WebCore\" components, while substituting other components, such as its own multi-process architecture, in place of WebKit's native implementation.\n",
"Google originally used WebKit for its Chrome browser but eventually forked it to create the Blink engine. All Chromium-based browsers use Blink, as do applications built with CEF, Electron, or any other framework that embeds Chromium.\n",
"Google Reader was the first application to make use of Google Gears, a browser extension that let online applications work offline. Users who installed the extension could download up to 2000 items to be read offline. After coming back online, Google Reader updated the feeds. Google Reader stopped supporting this feature in June 2010.\n",
"Blinkx was named for blinkx.com, an Internet Media platform that connects online video viewers with publishers and distributors, using advertising to monetize those interactions. Blinkx has an index of over 35 million hours of video and 800 media partnerships; 111 patents related to the site's search engine technology, which is known as CORE.\n"
] |
If I were to accelerate a pebble to 99% the speed of light aimed at the center of the earth....what would happen? | A 10g pebble moving at 99% of the speed of light, hitting a solid surface, would release about 5.5*10^15 J of energy. This is similar to the energy of a 1-megaton nuclear bomb (by comparison, the Little Boy was about 1.5% as much and the Tsar Bomba 5000% as much). | [
"Moving at a speed close to the speed of light and encountering even a tiny stationary object like a grain of sand will have fatal consequences. For example, a gram of matter moving at 90% of the speed of light contains a kinetic energy corresponding to a small nuclear bomb (around 30kt TNT).\n",
"Based on these calculations, Bradley was able to estimate the constant of aberration at 20.2\", which is equal to 0.00009793 radians, and with this was able to estimate the speed of light at per second. By projecting the little circle for a star in the pole of the ecliptic, he could simplify the calculation of the relationship between the speed of light and the speed of the Earth's annual motion in its orbit as follows:\n",
"Bradley explained this effect in the context of Newton's corpuscular theory of light, by showing that the aberration angle was given by simple vector addition of the Earth's orbital velocity and the velocity of the corpuscles of light, just as vertically falling raindrops strike a moving object at an angle. Knowing the Earth's velocity and the aberration angle, this enabled him to estimate the speed of light.\n",
"Neither Newton nor Bradley bothered to calculate the speed of light in Earth-based units. The next recorded calculation was probably made by Fontenelle: claiming to work from Rømer's results, the historical account of Rømer's work written some time after 1707 gives a value of 48203 leagues per second. This is 16.826 Earth-diameters (214,636 km) per second.\n",
"If we repeat the exercise with light signals sent around the other side of the hole, the resulting anisotropy in the speed of light will now act in the opposite direction, and B will appear to be \"uphill\" of A.\n",
"This report also points out that the signal had its maximum ERP lobe to the north, and that this had been 1.6 kW at launch and 3.2 kW after the power increase. Also, that the coastal towns to the south-west had been treated to the weakest ERP (0.5 kW at launch, 1.0 kW later). Amongst the effects of this were to leave the town of Cardigan with no signal.\n",
"It is said that Wally West has reached the velocity of 23,759,449,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (about 24 tredecillion) × c (the speed of light) and he could only do this with the help of every human being on earth moving so the speed force was joined through everyone. With that speed he was able to not only run from planet to planet but different galaxies and universes at what would be considered a blink of an eye.\n"
] |
could australia use seawater to put out the fires, or is fresh water required, so as not to add a bunch of salt to the soil? | We could, but it would have the consequence you mentioned. Also, transporting water inland is a very expensive thing to do. | [
"As a result of the water supply crisis during the severe 1997–2009 drought State governments around Australia began building desalination plants that purify seawater using reverse osmosis technology. Many of these plants have included in their overall cost the building of renewable energy sources such as wind farms.\n",
"Another consequence of land clearing is dryland salinity. Dryland salinity is the movement of salt to the land surface via groundwater. In Australia there are vast amounts of salt stored beneath the land surface. Much of Australian native vegetation has adapted to low rainfall conditions, and use deep root systems to take advantage of any available water beneath the surface. These help to store salt in the earth, by keeping ground water levels low enough so that salt is not pushed to the surface. However, with land clearing, the reduced amount of water that previously got pumped up by the roots of the trees means that the water table rises towards the surface, dissolving salt in the process. Salinity reduces plant productivity and affects the health of rivers and streams. Salinity also affects the lifespan of roads and other infrastructure, affecting the economy and transportation.\n",
"Australia had previously relied solely on water from dams for agriculture and consumption. The drought changed the way Australia treated its water resources. Because of the long-term effects of the drought now showing, many state governments attempted to \"drought-proof\" their states with more permanent solutions such as grey-water water-recycling, government rebates for home-owners to install water tanks, and tougher restrictions on industries.\n",
"Because of the shortage of fresh water, sanitation systems must use saltwater for flushing. The sanitation network on South Tarawa is performing very poorly, and a major project is underway to rehabilitate the system and improve sanitation and public hygiene.\n",
"Land clearing in Australia has resulted in a loss of this native vegetation, replaced largely by agriculture and pasture crops. These are often annual plants and shallow rooted, and thus, unable to intercept, and adequately absorb stored, and rising ground water. This creates an imbalance in the hydrological cycle, and results in dryland salinity.\n",
"When cultivated, acid sulfate soils cannot be kept wet continuously because of climatic dry spells and shortages of irrigation water, surface drainage may help to remove the acidic and toxic chemicals (formed in the dry spells) during rainy periods. In the long run surface drainage can help to reclaim acid sulfate soils. The indigenous population of Guinea Bissau has thus managed to develop the soils, but it has taken them many years of careful management and toil.\n",
"The soil in Australia naturally contains salt, having accumulated over thousands of years. This salt may come from prevailing winds carrying ocean salt, the evaporation of inland seas, and from weathered parent rocks. Rainfall absorbs this salt on the surface, and carries it down into the subsoil where it is stored in unsaturated soil profiles, until it is once again mobilised by ground water and rising water tables. When this ground water comes closer to the surface, this salt is also brought up. As the water eventually evaporates, it leaves behind all this concentrated salt, resulting in soil salinity. \n"
] |
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