Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Why do different U.S. states have different start dates for back to school?	[ "It can differ even from school district to school district! \n\nEducation policies are set at a local and state level, not federal. State sets things like number of days/hours of classroom instruction each school year. But actual calendar can be set even more locally. When I grew up, we started the week before Lab...
How come when you shine a laser the light doesn’t automatically try and spread apart?	[ "Light comes in little packets called photons. These packets can't exactly spread out on their own. They travel in the direction they are emitted in until something like a lense or mirror makes them go a different direction. A laser is set up so that light bounces in a particular direction inside, and this stimulat...
Why, in well over 5 decades, has the United States cut out any major overhaul on infrastructure?	[ "This just isn't true. The US has grown insanely in the last 50 years and grew all the infrastructure to go with it. The interstate highway system expanded tremendously. Ports grew to incredible size and scale, public transport popped up and grew in various cities across the country... oh and cities! Places like ...
What is a promissory note and how/why/when would you use one to buy a house?	[ "A promissory note is related to mortgages and is the official document you sign that the lender keeps to prove you owe them the money and agreed to pay it back." ]
how is it possible to have millions of different lock and key combinations without having any overlap?	[ "Suppose that a key has 10 different places where differences show up, and each place has 10 different variations.\n\nThat gives you 10 billion possible keys.", "I used to make keys and here is the scoop:\n\nThere is some overlap, and there will always be some overlap. The key blade is rather short, and you ca...
I want to know more about the anatomy of cars. Can I please get an overview about car lingo and car performance on their characteristics?	[ "Where to begin?! I hope this is 5 enough...\n\nTo start with, HP (horsepower) and KW (kilowatts), are common units used to measure to power of an engine. The power usually has a direct relationship to the top speed performance of a vehicle. \n\nThen you have the torque of an engine, usually measures in Nm (Newton ...
What do large marine mammals drink?	[ "Many marine mammals have a built-in filtration system that allows them to drink sea water and filter out the salt. In addition, they get a fair amount of their water from the contents of prey that they eat, which is often less salty than the water." ]
r/shitredditsays	[ "ShitRedditSays is (or was, it seems to have been cut off recently) a subreddit designed to point out bigoted or hurtful statements that reddit has chosen to upvote.\n\nThe subreddit is designed to draw attention to those posts (for parody or whatnot). \n\nIn practice, the subreddit suffers from a lot of bias, peo...
Is it possible for an unfit, out of shape, overweight, 40 year old male to ever do the Jean-Claude Van Damme split?	[ "Maybe.\n\nSuppose it takes 10 years of dedicated training to reach this goal - from my own experience of doing yoga 3 mornings a week for 2 years in my early 40's, I think that to get to such an accomplishment in 10 years would be a best-case scenario.\n\nSo that means spending your 40's working towards that goal....
Why can't popular singers stream a show live on YouTube and profit money with ads and stuff	[ "Too much time and not a lot of money in it, it would be like giving away a free concert honestly." ]
How exactly do brethalyzers work?	[ "For the ones which count as evidence in a DUI, there are two mechanisms which measure the alcohol. One is infrared, the other is electrochemical.\n\nOne of them falls for the liquor-swishing, the other guards against it. Some of hand-held ones are electrochemical and will be duped by mouth alcohol. But those are...
why hasn't any space program accepted astronaut applicants between the ages 20 and 30? why only 35+	[ "They want extremely experienced people to admit into years and years of training. There's just no way you're ready for what they want out of you at age 20 and even 30 is certainly pushing it. \n\nThat said Gherman Titov was 25 when he flew a Vostok mission.", "From the NASA website:\n\n > Are there age restrict...
When you get a shot, like the flu shot or b12, why do you have to get it in certain areas like the arm?	[ "It depends on what kind of shot you get, but often if you get a shot in the arm it is because it is easiest and least irritating for the patient", "Yes and no. Yes in that certain shots need to go into certain types of tissue. This means some shots need to go into your muscle, some need to go below your skin a...
If artists can draw realistic drawing and paintings, how come there's no good realistic drawings of people from the past?	[ "Most artists nowadays learn about musculature and other superficial human structures. As the knowledge of medicine increased, the level of detail increased. Art is not always \"see and copy\", it's more like \"see, understand, and replicate\". \n\nThis is the reason da Vinci is considered a pioneer is because he s...
What's the whole Bill Cosby scandal and does it seem like he's guilty?	[ "Cosby had been accused of drugging and raping women several times, and in 2006 he paid a settlement to prevent a civil suit about it from going to trial. \n\nThis was reported in the media at the time, but not widely reported, and it did not receive much attention until earlier this year. Comedian Hannibal Buress ...
Why do americans seem to have a lot of bank accounts across different banks?	[ "I'll explain my reasoning. \n\nPG County Credit union savings from when I was a minor and my parents belonged to that credit union. My first account. \n\nBaltimore credit union savings and checking through my current employer because it was required for direct deposit of paychecks. Also have an IRA and deferred co...
Why are animals physically superior to cats (such as alligators) manage to still be afraid of them?	[ "two reasons:\n\nFirst, animals are afraid of things that are unknown or mysterious, even if the danger might not necessarily be life-threatening. Think about how many human beings are afraid of spiders, or non-venomous snakes, or small dogs? \n\nSecond, threats aren't all life or death. Sure, that alligator migh...
Why does your phone (or any flat rectangular object, like a credit card) flip on both its x and y axis, when you flip it from just the bottom?	[ "It's called The intermediate axis theorem. \n\nRotating your phone with its axis perpendicular to its face takes the most energy to spin it, because the corners are far from the axis of rotation.\n\nRotating your phone with its axis perpendicular to the narrow usb end takes the least energy to spin it, because the...
What happens in a molecular level when wood ages?	[ "A chemical bond is either a \"yes\" or a \"no\". It doesn't weaken so much as get converted into some other form of molecule.\n\nWood is mainly made up of long chains of molecules from the \"sugar\" class of compounds. And different types of wood have different densities of the sugars - oak, for example, has a lot...
How do they stop a large gas main fire?	[ "Depends on the intensity of the fire. Generally they shut off the flow of gas further up the system. Letting the remaining fuel burn off, cooling it with water or foam and sealing the well.\n\nThere are methods to shutting off fires at oil wells which can involve the use of explosives or other methods of capping t...
What is a computer server?	[ "A computer. It's a computer that has a whole lot of storage space and a really sturdy processor. It also runs specific software for specific tasks.\n\nAn office's file server, for example, would be a totally normal computer except it would have, say, four terabytes of storage. That computer goes on the local netwo...
What's the relationship between taste and smell?	[ "> Why does losing sense of smell cause reduced taste buds\n\nIt doesn't. Your taste buds can only tell if something is salty, sour, bitter, sweet, or umami (a sort of \"meaty\") flavor. That's it. Those are the only tastes that exist. So a banana, a pear, an apple, a tablespoon of sugar, and a piece of can...
electronic music sub-genres	[ "[Here is a handy animated guide.](_URL_0_)\n\nIt has descriptions for the primary genres as well as many of the obscure subgenres. And of course, a handful of samples for each category that you can listen to right away.\n\nThis has been around for at least 5 years and I don't know how up to date it is. But you s...
Why are cooling towers shaped the way they are?	[ "_URL_0_\n\nThis is probably the best answer you can find. From my knowledge, (assuming you’re referring to ones of the hyperboloid shape found in nuclear plants), it has to do with the pressures of keeping cold air down toward the base, while efficiently evacuating hot air through the top", "They are hyperboloid...
Why do Muslims call their God 'Allah' even though they believe in the same God as do Christians and Jews?	[ "Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. Christians Arabs also used the word Allah to refer to the same God.", "\"Allah\" is just the Arabic word for \"God.\" However, Arabic is a very important language to Islam: the Quran is in Arabic; it's the language of the major figures (other than those already in the Bib...
Why you have to turn off all electronic devices on an airplane.	[ "They don't want you dicking around while they're giving out instructions." ]
How was the first language created and what was used for communication before?	[ "Edit: If this isn't \"ELI5\" enough, please ask me to rewrite or explain any part of my answer. I don't mind! :)\n\nYou would be interested in reading [\"The Unfolding of Language\"](_URL_3_) by Guy Deutcher. The book is about how language may have developed - going through the phases of first nouns, then noun...
Why are insects attracted to shiny surfaces/lights?	[ "I have read that nocturnal insects use far away light sources (such as the moon) to help them navigate. Consider how some small kids think the moon is following them when they are out at night. This is because it is so far away that it seems to stay in the same place relative to you as you walk in a straight line...
What is a 'beer belly'?	[ "It's actually a combination of fat from a poor diet and an inflamed liver. Alcohol causes inflammation of tissues, particularly in the liver. Add in a crappy diet with carb-heavy beer, and the gut takes on a swollen appearance. Just a plain old fat belly won't be as round and swollen looking as a beer belly becaus...
what is conservatism and liberalism?	[ "Do you mean American conservatism and liberalism?\n\nOr everywhere else? Because they mean quite different things", "In terms of economic policy, there is a very simple rule for left versus right:\n\nThe left believes that cooperation delivers the best results\n\nThe right believes that competition delivers the...
How have there been so few fatalities due to the storm in the Philippines?	[ "This isn't the first time its happened. When you live out on an island in the pacific where these storms happen regularly, you get used to it.\n\nIts kind of like how Florida can regularly get hit by high category Hurricanes with minimal (relatively speaking at least) damage, while someone further up the coast ge...
Why is it so hard to grip things or twist things open right after you wake up?	[ "In order to stop you from injuring yourself when you're dreaming your body paralyses you. When you wake up you're still under the influence of these chemicals which takes a while to get over. Additionally when you sleep you often compress the carpal tunnel (specifically the median nerve). As you wake up, the press...
Why do I laugh when I'm in pain?	[ "Generally, people that do this grew up in an environment where the strong dominate the weak, and only the strong are the ones who's genes are passed down. When in pain, you do not want to appear weak, so you laugh to make look like it's not that big of a problem to you; that you can deal with it. If you, for examp...
How does an antenna transmit and receive signal?	[ "/r/hamradio\n/r/amateurradio\n/r/askelectronics\n\n^Those folks will LOOOOVE explaining this to you (and much much more. So much more that you will regret ever asking LOL).\nEdit:formatting", "antennae do not transmit signals, transmitters transmit signals, antennae are cut at resonant frequency of the transmitt...
why can a fan make a room cooler when the room is a constant temperature?	[ "The room doesn't necessarily get cooler, it just feels cooler.\n\nTransferring heat form your body to the air works best when the air is moving, even if the air is warm your body can sweat and cool itself from the evaporation.", "When the fan moves the air, it is transferring heat away from your body and letti...
Who is the 'affluenza' teen, and why is everyone pissed about him?	[ "They're up in arms because the court decision at the time effectively said that he is so rich and therefore so out of touch with the concept of responsibility that he could not be held responsible for his actions. \n\nBasically that there is a level of \"spoiled brat\" that legally makes you immune to punishment ...
How does thermite work?	[ "Thermite is a mixture of a metal and a metal oxide - a common choice is aluminum and iron oxide. When the thermite is ignited, the aluminum is oxidized and the iron oxide is reduced, leaving aluminum oxide and pure (molten) iron. This reaction is exothermic, meaning it releases heat - lots of heat. The temperature...
How come shoes in sizes 7 and 14 are listed as "special sizes" and also so hard to come by?	[ "This is because in most shops a men's size is from 8 to 13, this is based on average sizes\n\nWomen's sizes go from 5 to 9. That being said, a women's size nine is the exact equivalent of a men's 7, so maybe try that as you can usually get basic shoes in both men's and women's (converse and vans and what not)" ]
If humans get parasites from drinking from streams, lakes and rivers, how did we survive before we could clean it?	[ "Most parasites don't kill you. They can stay in your body for decades; it is not evolutionarily advantageous in most cases to kill its host quickly.", "There are a few factors at play here.\n\nFirst of all, not all parasites will kill you. They might make you unwell, but they won't normally kill you outright.\n\...
Why hasn't Esperanto taken off?	[ "Lots of reasons. \n\n1. Esperanto isn't a functional langauge in it's original form. It turns out, human language has certain universal rules that require layers of complexity that perfect logic doesn't allow. It has since, of course, been reworked into a usable language, but the \"simple and consistent\" claim do...
Pokemon IV System	[ "IVs (individual values) are hidden values between 1 and 31 attached to each stat (attack, defense, etc) that determine a pokemons overall potential in those stats; the higher the IV value, the higher the stat its attached to will be. These values are set and cannot be changed, unlike EV (effort values) which are i...
Why isn't a zip code enough when entering an address, why must I give my State, City AND zip code?	[ "I'd assume it's a 2nd check for incorrect zip codes... IE: If you're sending a letter to Scruff McGruff in Chicago, IL 60652, and accidentally mix up your 5's and 6's and send it to Scruff McGruff Chicago, IL 50562, (Which is the zip code for Mallard, IA) they can say \"Chances are, it was meant to go to Chicago,...
DeMorgan's Laws	[ "I'm going to use some more practical examples to explain this. We all make decisions like \"Go outside if it's sunny\" or \"Eat pizza if tired and hungry.\" De Morgan's Laws state that when you take some decision that has more than one part (e.g. \"tired and hungry\" or \"thirsty or hungry\"), you switch ANDs and ...
Why do flight fares change all the time instead of having fixed fares like buses and trains?	[ "Trains and busses for public transportation are regulated and subsidized by the government. The city or state will have a transit authority or department of transportation negotiate and partially subsidize a fixed price. \n\nPublic transportation is subsidized by the government as a public service and to encourage...
What happens to a file after it has been deleted?	[ "It is removed from the active file directory(what you see) so you can no longer find it. Then the spot on the hardrive that stores the data is marked as free space. The data is still there for a little bit until you write somethings over it.", "File systems have some kind of indexes, which lists where each file ...
why do catholics worship the virgin Mary?	[ "Common misconception that they \"worship\" her, she's just held in really high regard (like a Saint, but higher) as she is believed to have been born without original sin and obviously birthed Jesus, who is an important guy.", "This is a misconception. She's just treated VERY well. It's a bit like respect for a ...
What is the "c" character with the little squiggly thing at the bottom for?	[ "It represents a \"soft\" c, or S sound in French and Portuguese. (It exists in other languages, but I'm not sure if it does the same thing in those languages)\n\n\nFor example, the French word français is pronounced \"frahn-say\" whereas without the cedille, francais would be \"frahn-kay\"", "In a lot of langua...
Oort Cloud	[ "I'm not sure \"hypothesis\" is the right word to describe it, unless you mean that it's hypothesized to exist.\n\nBasically, it's a roughly spherical cloud of debris surrounding the solar system, just inside the sun's gravitational influence but far enough away not to get blown away by the solar wind or get collec...
How can someone be lost at sea with all of the technology and satellites we have now?	[ "> ...pick them up on a satellite...\n\nSatellites don't have any special abilities to \"sense\" where people are.\n\nMost satellites aren't cameras, those that are cameras are in use by spying agencies and they cost a trillion dollars.\n\nIf those lost people were floating around the Indian Ocean spotting them w...
How was code invented before code?	[ "you programmed in binary by flipping toggle switches. after that came punch cards.", "All programming is basically simple logic (addition, subtraction, comparing values, etc.) and control statements (jump, branch, etc.). At the lowest level of all, you've got electrical circuits, not code.\n\nThis is how adding...
Why can't we drill 1m diameter hole above the location of taiwan kids trapped in a cave instead of diving to try and rescue them ?	[ "Experts are considering it... \n \n_URL_0_ \n \nPS - It’s in Thailand (tropical, touristie place) not Taiwan (political place where people from the old China live).", "What if that cause the cave to collapse onto the kids trapping them or even killing them. Their safety is more important than getting them ou...
With regards to documentation, what is the difference between "format" and "style"?	[ "It's a little context sensitive but I'd say that document format dictates how your document is structured while style dictates what that structuring looks like.\n\nFor example my format defines paragraphs, headers and hyperlinks. My style defines that paragraphs have a normal font weight, headers have a bold font ...
why people think the moon landing was fake?	[ "There's no good reason for it. Some people just believe crazy things.", "First off I want to say I believe it was real.\n\nBut there are a couple of reasons. The first and most simple is some people always believe that the government is lying to them and that everything is one big conspiracy. Another reason is w...
Why do we get nightmares when we are feverish or sick and fall asleep?	[ "Dreams are not fully understood, and neither are nightmares. Based on empirical findings there are several theories that present themselves. \n\nBased on those different theories there are different explanations and answers to your question, but our knowledge in this area and the brain as a whole is surprisingly l...
why doesn't ice cream freeze into a solid? (it remains softish)	[ "There are two key ingredients/additives in commercial ice cream. These are called Stabilisers and Emulsifiers.\n\nThe two used in Ice Cream are called Guar Gum & Xanthan Gum.\n\n*Guar Gum* comes from seeds from the Guar Plant. It is a refined additive which acts like a Thickening Agent/Emulsifier...
Would Michael Phelp's 'special' genes make him good at sports other than swimming	[ "No sport puts as much emphasis on upper body strength as the Butterfly, except probably wheelchair racing.\n\nHis reaction time seems pretty good, and he could probably hit baseballs pretty well. Translating that into a baseball defensive position seems questionable. Maybe golf, though that's much more finesse t...
Why is the Earth's moon named The Moon while other planets' moons have actual names?	[ "Because it was named centuries before we knew that the planets had moons. To discover the moons round other planets we needed to invent the telescope and then realised that there were a lot of moons out there so they needed names to identify them.", "It does have a name: the Moon. Other moons are called \"moons\...
What exactly is our problem with immigration?	[ "Immigration is a fantastic concept that allows many people from different countries to give themselves or their children an opportunity at a better life.\n\nIllegal immigration is a problem because unregistered people use a countries healthcare, school system, and public facilities. This weighs heavily on the coun...
Why do humans respond faster to auditory stimuli than to do to visual stimuli?	[ "Research is still a bit fuzzy, but the hypothesis involves 2 parts. \n\nA. your ears utilize reflexes, which are faster than responses (responses involve additional levels of processing in the brain). Essentially, there is less processing that is needed for an auditory stimulus than a visual stimulus. \n\nB. The n...
How does hydroplaning happen? Is there any "safe" speed?	[ "When there is water on the road your tyre has to shove it out of the way if it's to stay in contact with the road. The tyre has grooves in it to make this easier, but there's a limit to how fast they can move water. Exceed this and the water builds up like a wedge under the tyre, lifting it off the road.\n\nYou ar...
- Homeownership (specifically first time home buyer)	[ "First, IAMA former real estate agent/broker. Here are some answers to your questions, and a few other things to keep in mind:\n\n1. Yes, kind of. First time home buyers are eligible for FHA financing which enables you to get a lower down payment at a lower interest rate than other options. If you want me to go mor...
Why does the handle in a clay cup not heat up when there is hot liquid inside, but does when you place a cover over it?	[ "Because heat rises. The handle is not only off to the side, but ceramic is very good at insulating heat, the handle has a huge surface area that touches the air to keep the handle cooler than the cup as a whole." ]
the materialist conception of history	[ "The materialist conception of history is the idea that history is driven primarily by wealth. That is, you can explain most major events in history by noting that people acted to gain more wealth or keep the wealth they had. This view was popularized by Marx, because he thought that communist ideology was a natu...
How desiccant packets work and why don't they expand or something? Or do they?	[ "Desiccant packets are used to maintain a dry environment, or for preservation. Basically, the silica gel has millions of little \"pores\" around it, like a golf ball. Water molecules adhere to these pores really well, and fill that porous space. This traps the water, without increasing the overall volume of the si...
- What exactly caused Illinois to go into such deep debt?	[ "To begin with, Illinois had a normal amount of debt for a state. Probably some parts of its debt are larger than average - for example, there's always a lot of talk about pensions for state workers. It also wasn't great about matching up taxes and revenue with the money it was promising to spend, so a long-term pr...
Where Did the Money From the Stock Market Crash Go?	[ "Imagine that everyone in your neighborhood has been buying Special Bags of Gold for many years as an investment. Everyone has put a fair amount of money into buying these Special Bags of Gold and they have all been told that their value has increased over the years. Typically, 1/2 of everyone's net worth is stor...
why do my previously broken body parts hurt when it rains.	[ "no one knows for sure. but some theories..\n_URL_0_", "I have also always heard my parents and complain about old broken bones etc getting incredibly painful when it is cold. And even though I am not \"old\" by any social term, I have started getting pains in fractured bones etc when it is bitterly cold. But I ...
Why didn't many people evacuate Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the warning leaflets were dropped?	[ "Everyone is talking about the leaflets, but the other half of the story is that Japanese cities were being bombed every week. And these cities had more deaths and destruction than Hiroshima and Nagasaki (though caused with multiple bombs). \nLooks like 105,000 were killed from nuclear weapons while fire bombs kill...
With possible bipartisan interest in tax reform, what would most people agree is "broken" about the US tax system?	[ "The high complexity of the code means that most people lack the time or resources to correctly file and receive the correct amount of return or pay the correct amount of tax. There are services like H & R Block or Quicken that are affordable, but it says something about the system that you need a specialized comp...
Why do some restaurants/stores accept MasterCard/discover and others don't?	[ "The usual reason is that they don't like the fees associated with one card or another.\n\nDepending on their payment processor and the current fees associated with the four major credit card issuers, the cost for accepting a Discover card may be much higher than the cost of accepting an American Express, and the s...
Indiana's Religious Freedom Bill	[ "The law cannot 'significantly burden' religion except in the case of 'compelling interest'. That's already the rule.\n\nSo, there can't be a law forbidding you to go to church or forbidding you to wear your burka or making you stand and say there is no God. Amish people aren't made to do a lot of the birth certifi...
How did credit cards start?	[ "It started in 1950 with the diners club. Basically the head of the diners club would give out cardboard cards and pay for people's meals on the hope that they would pay him back at the end of the month.", "To get really basic with this, it started when loans were invented. Credit cards are just automated loan se...
what is procedural law, and what is substantive law?	[ "Procedural law is the laws and rules that determine how a court case is handled. It says how long each party has to respond to the other party, what is allowed as evidence, etc.\n\nSubstantive law is what most people generally think of as \"law.\" It tells you what actions a person must do in order to be liable, a...
What is so bad about artificial sweetners that have no sugar/calories?	[ "> Benefits of Artificial Sweeteners\n\n > Low Calories\nIf you’re trying to lose weight, replacing sugar with moderate levels of artificial sweetener may prove helpful. Artificial sweeteners can help you cut calories on everything from baked goods to iced tea. As with any product, use artificial sweeteners...
What is Big O, Big Omega, and Big Theta Notation?	[ "When you have two sequences or functions, you are often interested in how fast they grow compared to one another. For example, suppose you have two functions f(n) and g(n) that tell you how many operations two different algorithms use to sort a list with n elements. As n gets bigger, if the number of operations ...
How you make broadband faster.	[ "Broadband is like a chain, its as strong as your weakest link. Therefore you need to trace everything back from your devices back to the ISP" ]
Why do digital downloads of games cost the same amount as a hard copy?	[ "Because if they were cheaper, people would have much less reason to buy a hard copy. There'd be no real reason to pay people to manufacture them, ship them, or sell them. The people who own those businesses want to stay in business, so video game developers are careful not to screw them over.", "The vast, *vas...
Are there any other species besides humans which naturally (i.e. without training) understand pointing? As in if I were to point to an object, a member of this species would look toward the object and not the tip of my finger?)	[ "[Elephants](_URL_0_) point and understand when we point at things too." ]
When did blue became the standard color for ball pens?	[ "It really isn't the standard, but there's many reasons why it could be preferred by companies that manufacture pens. Here are some explanations.\n\nFor one, blue ink is distinguishable. If you're printing out a paper in greyscale, blue ink will stick out on the paper. This is especially important for official docu...
How do electronic devices or circuits know how much current to draw from a power supply? What determines how much current it needs?	[ "The circuit has a characteristic resistance. The source voltage divided by that defines the average current required. Of course, things are more complicated than that, because the actual current varies from time depending on what state the circuit is in, but that's not as ELI5 an explanation. Things are always ...
When something stressful happens, people are initially calm. Once the situation is passed, then stress sets in	[ "Stress actually focuses you initially. Afterwards adrenaline is still in your body, which triggers other physiological reactions we normally associate with panic.\n\n\nSome people just react differently to the situation mentally.", "As a survival mechanism, people are surprisingly good at staying focused during ...
How does rubbing batteries together restore their charge?	[ "It doesn't. \n\nWhat does happen, is that since you're holding the batteries, you're warming them up due to the warmth of your hands. Chemical reactions happen faster at higher temperatures, and as such, warming the battery produces a slight boost.", "You are probably just heating the batteries up. Heating them...
Why do vehicle speedometers go so high?	[ "It provides the illusion of performance. Having a speedometer that goes high implies that the car must have stronger engines. Also, in other countries, like Germany, cars that travel on the unrestricted autobahn can reached higher speeds. It's also cheaper for one car company to use the same speedometer across a...
Is there a way to get over phobias?	[ "Different things work for different people. Some people get help from hypnosis, some have a really gradual desensitization/exposure therapy. [This is a link](_URL_0_) to a self desensitization therapy. My advice would be to skip past the nonsense pre-reading to \"step 1.\" Essentially the most common way to get o...
Why is gambling so restricted in the US?	[ "TLDR: Religion in the past, corruption in the present.\n\nOriginally gambling was restricted on religious grounds.\n\nThen it was restricted because of inertia (restrictions already on the books and nobody cared enough to have them repealed). Sometime in the second half of the 20th century, states discovered how...
Why don't engines create max hp at max rpm?	[ "Horsepower is a measure of work which is force over time. Assuming that each cylinder produces the same amount of force every 4 stroke cycle, the more cycles you can pack into a given amount of time, the more work.\n\nSo your gut feel is mostly correct. Because the rpm keeps increasing, but the cylinders are still...
Why, when looking at a computer screen from a lower angle, do the colors invert to a weird blue and black?	[ "A computer screen is made up of pixels. There is no single LED/crystal/light source that can display all the colors you want represented as a single piece. Instead, there are multiple sub-pixels in each pixel. The most common is to have one Red, one Green, and one Blue (RGB). They adjust the relative brightness...
- why auto manufacturers don't install solar panels in the roofs of their electric/hybrid vehicles	[ "Solar panels covering the roof of a car would produce a minuscule amount of energy. It's not worth it.", "There is one car that does (and it's a beauty). It's called the [Fisker Karma](_URL_0_). It's a hybrid, but not in the typical way. Instead of running on its petrol engine when the battery runs out, it opera...
How do shows such as moonshiners get away with all of their illegal actions if the identities and methods are portrayed up front on television?	[ "Hate to ruin the magic but its fake. \n\nAlso the methods are never really shown, generally key details are always left out." ]
Why is a Pint of Guinness so much better in Ireland/NYC/London etc. than my suburban bar?	[ "I haven't been able to verify it myself to take this with a grain of salt.\n\nGuinness in Ireland or other more populated areas will be fresher and will end up tasting better. A pint of Guinness at your local suburban bar will be shot out of a keg and through lines that have had older staler Guinness in it for muc...
How do our eyes know when something is just about to hit them? Like when a bug hits my closed eyelid when just a second ago it was open.	[ "Eyes are great at detecting motion and changes, and the nervous system is much faster than conscious thought. You reflexively blink before you're aware" ]
How does a record play all the different notes and sounds of a song?	[ "Your ear only hears in one dimension: at any given instant in time it senses the pressure of the air against your eardrum. \n\nWhen an instrument plays a note that produces a rapidly changing pressure--it goes from higher-than-ambient pressure to lower-than-ambient pressure hundreds of times per second. Your ea...
Is posture and muscle balance more important than the type of mattress you're sleeping on to relieve back pain?	[ "I have no medical education, but speaking from experience as someone with 3 herniated discs, I can say the mattress makes a huge difference.\nI was studying abroad when I had my first crisis because of an herniated disc and the mattress provided by the university was complete shit. As soon as I got home my pain re...
Is there some cultural significance to a male Asian child always having his junk out in public?	[ "In rural China kids (regardless of gender) wear [crotchless pants](_URL_0_) for ease of peeing or pooping. In Chinese cities this is seen as a very trashy thing to do now, since more sophisticated parents buy diapers and peeing or pooping everywhere is not acceptable (and doctors warned about UTI). There are count...
Historically, does socialism work long-term? Why or why not?	[ "Social policies mixed with capitalism have been proven to work very well together. This includes the United States, Canada, and many European countries. Pure socialism (public ownership of all means of production) has never been properly implemented.\n\nCapitalism comes with many inherent flaws, and a \"mixed\" ...
How does soap kill bacteria?	[ "bacteria have a lipid encasing that soap will adhere to, soap has two ends, one that likes water and one that likes fats. lipids are a fat.\n\none end hooks onto the lipid coating, the other end hooks into the water. this allows the bacteria to be washed away." ]
Why do modern lightbulbs seem to only last for eight or so years but the first lightbulb ever made still runs today?	[ "It's not the first bulb ever made that still runs today. Early light bulbs used to last only a few hours before burning out. A specific light bulb, with low energy consumption and a thick carbon-based filament (that they're not quite sure what it's made of...) still runs after over a hundred years of continuous ...
Would it be possible for animals to have sex and babies with another subspecies? (like chimpanzees having sex with orangutans)	[ "This doesn't work in most cases.\nOne case where it works is for example horse and dunkey, their children can be two different subspecies, depending on which of those two is the male and the female. The problem here is, that this animals can't recreate further.", "It depends on a lot of factors.\n\nFirstly, oran...
What does it mean to unlock your phone to another service provider? And why, depending on the brand, does it cost so much and take so long?	[ "Most phones are capable of talking to other carriers that use the same networking technology. For example, in the USA, AT & T T-Mobile and I think a couple others all use the same GSM system. \n\nHowever, if you buy a phone through one of those carriers, they put a piece of software in place that checks who you'...
what is social engineering?	[ "Social Engineering is using specific triggers and actions to provoke an action in a person or group of people.\n\nReverse Psychology on children is a simple example, but it gets pretty deep down the line.\n\nThings like mob mentality, mass hysteria, and moral panic can all fall under the heading when provoked inte...

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