Input: Article: The committee considered an eight-bit code, since eight bits (octets) would allow two four-bit patterns to efficiently encode two digits with binary-coded decimal. However, it would require all data transmission to send eight bits when seven could suffice. The committee voted to use a seven-bit code to minimize costs associated with data transmission. Since perforated tape at the time could record eight bits in one position, it also allowed for a parity bit for error checking if desired.:217, 236 § 5 Eight-bit machines (with octets as the native data type) that did not use parity checking typically set the eighth bit to 0.

Now answer this question: Why did the committee decide on 7bit instead?

Output: minimize costs associated with data transmission


Article: Glass has the ability to refract, reflect, and transmit light following geometrical optics, without scattering it. It is used in the manufacture of lenses and windows. Common glass has a refraction index around 1.5. This may be modified by adding low-density materials such as boron, which lowers the index of refraction (see crown glass), or increased (to as much as 1.8) with high-density materials such as (classically) lead oxide (see flint glass and lead glass), or in modern uses, less toxic oxides of zirconium, titanium, or barium. These high-index glasses (inaccurately known as "crystal" when used in glass vessels) cause more chromatic dispersion of light, and are prized for their diamond-like optical properties.

Question: What is the refraction index of typical glass?
Ans: 1.5


Here is a question about this article: The passing of the Antarctic Conservation Act (1978) in the U.S. brought several restrictions to U.S. activity on Antarctica. The introduction of alien plants or animals can bring a criminal penalty, as can the extraction of any indigenous species. The overfishing of krill, which plays a large role in the Antarctic ecosystem, led officials to enact regulations on fishing. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), a treaty that came into force in 1980, requires that regulations managing all Southern Ocean fisheries consider potential effects on the entire Antarctic ecosystem. Despite these new acts, unregulated and illegal fishing, particularly of Patagonian toothfish (marketed as Chilean Sea Bass in the U.S.), remains a serious problem. The illegal fishing of toothfish has been increasing, with estimates of 32,000 tonnes (35,300 short tons) in 2000.
What is the answer to this question: When was the Antarctic Conservation Act passed by the U.S.?
****
So... 1978


The problem: Answer a question about this article:
By 1763, the war in Central Europe was essentially a stalemate. Frederick had retaken most of Silesia and Saxony but not the latter's capital, Dresden. His financial situation was not dire, but his kingdom was devastated and his army severely weakened. His manpower had dramatically decreased, and he had lost so many effective officers and generals that a new offensive was perhaps impossible. British subsidies had been stopped by the new Prime Minister Lord Bute, and the Russian Emperor had been overthrown by his wife, Catherine, who ended Russia's alliance with Prussia and withdrew from the war. Austria, however, like most participants, was facing a severe financial crisis and had to decrease the size of its army, something which greatly affected its offensive power. Indeed, after having effectively sustained a long war, its administration was in disarray. By that time, it still held Dresden, the southeastern parts of Saxony, the county of Glatz, and southern Silesia, but the prospect of victory was dim without Russian support. In 1763 a peace settlement was reached at the Treaty of Hubertusburg, ending the war in central Europe.
In 1763 what was the status of Frederick?
****
The answer: his kingdom was devastated and his army severely weakened


Problem: Please answer a question about the following article about On the Origin of Species:
While some, like Spencer, used analogy from natural selection as an argument against government intervention in the economy to benefit the poor, others, including Alfred Russel Wallace, argued that action was needed to correct social and economic inequities to level the playing field before natural selection could improve humanity further. Some political commentaries, including Walter Bagehot's Physics and Politics (1872), attempted to extend the idea of natural selection to competition between nations and between human races. Such ideas were incorporated into what was already an ongoing effort by some working in anthropology to provide scientific evidence for the superiority of Caucasians over non white races and justify European imperialism. Historians write that most such political and economic commentators had only a superficial understanding of Darwin's scientific theory, and were as strongly influenced by other concepts about social progress and evolution, such as the Lamarckian ideas of Spencer and Haeckel, as they were by Darwin's work. Darwin objected to his ideas being used to justify military aggression and unethical business practices as he believed morality was part of fitness in humans, and he opposed polygenism, the idea that human races were fundamentally distinct and did not share a recent common ancestry.
Why were some political commentaries attempting to attach natural selection to human races?
A: to provide scientific evidence for the superiority of Caucasians over non white races and justify European imperialism


Question: Read this and answer the question

Many assembled PCBs are static sensitive, and therefore must be placed in antistatic bags during transport. When handling these boards, the user must be grounded (earthed). Improper handling techniques might transmit an accumulated static charge through the board, damaging or destroying components. Even bare boards are sometimes static sensitive. Traces have become so fine that it's quite possible to blow an etch off the board (or change its characteristics) with a static charge. This is especially true on non-traditional PCBs such as MCMs and microwave PCBs.

What force can easily change or even completely destroy an etch on a PCB?
Answer:
static charge