Split (3)

train · 273k rows

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When someone is angry, what is happening that prevents them from thinking rationally?	[ "It's mostly the hormones that are released, with the biggest culprit being cortisol. Cortisol tends to bind to any open neuron, so it can effectively \"block out\" any rational thoughts that try to get through to your brain.\n\nThe same response happens with people that are panicking, since that comes with a large...
how police radars determine your speed if they are traveling towards you in the on coming lane	[ "Doppler effect. Frequencies of waves will be increased if they're reflected off something travelling relatively towards you. The magnitude of this increase is what tells the relative speed. The reverse of this (decrease, travelling relatively away, etc.) is also true. \n\nf'=[(v+v0)/(v-vS)]f is the equation." ]
Why do smaller downloads seem to go at slower speeds/Larger downloads at higher speeds?	[ "It takes time to establish a Connection to the server you're downloading from, which may seem longer with smaller downloads since the time it takes to establish that connection might be as long as the actual download time.\n\nAlso smaller downloads usually contains a lot of smaller files instead of a few big files...
Why do products like honey or salt have expiration date even though they never go bad?	[ "well tuna and canned goods never go bad ever too, still they have a best by date at around two years.\n\n\nthe reason can be found with simple thought exersise, how exactly would you test that a can of tuna lasts 100 years in the can.\n\nif you follow _URL_0_\n\nhe regularly eats canned foods that are older than h...
why do some people "run hot" or "run cold"?	[ "AFAIK your thyroid settles this. I also seem to be hot a lot and feel uncomfortable in situations where other people are just fine. I've asked my dermatologist why is that and she asked if anyone in my family has had issues with their thyroid(and dad had got it removed a month ago)", "In your body there are whi...
Why is Italy, Greece considered a "white" country but Spain is not?	[ "Modern racism is not very consistent; since scientists no longer support the concept, the people at large are sort of going by their gut feeling. Traditionally, although many authors separated the Mediterranean and Nordic peoples, they placed them both in the Caucasian (i.e., white) family.\n\nHowever, in the Unit...
What is the fifth dimension?	[ "From mathematical standpoint you can have as many dimensions as you like. \n\n0 dimensions is a point.\n\n1st dimension is stretching that point into an infinitely thin line.\n\n2nd dimension is stretching that line at 90^o angle (in relation to the 1st one) towards extra dimension.\n\n3rd dimension is stretching ...
What is risk premium for a stock?	[ "Beta is a systemic risk measure. It's calculated by comparing the stock's past performance to the overall market's past performance. A stock with Beta=1 goes up and down as much as the market overall. A low Beta stock moves less; it the market goes up 10% and the stock goes 5% it would have a beta of 0.5 . Sim...
Load Break Switches	[ "Basically a circuit breaker on steroids. Capable of handing more current and much higher voltages.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nYou sometimes see these on power poles. The ones on the pole outside my place tend to pop open during strong windstorms." ]
How does the US Democratic Party's rule of proportional representation work?	[ "All candidates who get 15% or more of the vote in a certain state get delegates. How many delegates they get depends on the number of people who voted for them: if candidate A gets twice as many votes as candidate B, then candidate A gets twice as many delegates (up to some rounding).\n\nAs an example, suppose we ...
Why do things like the waistband of sweatpants, the edges of fitted sheets, and the upper part of socks have such a hard time getting dry in the dryer?	[ "Essentially, the elastic in those parts bunches the material together.\n\nTo dry, material needs to have air circulation for the water to evaporate off of (the heat helps).\n\nWhere these areas are more bunched together they both hold more liquid to begin with and have less surface area for the liquid to evaporate...
why can we only tell when something (our home, for example) smells different than usual when we enter it and not be able to tell when we exit into fresher air?	[ "The reason is that we ignore/reduce constant stimuli. It is easier to notice for touch. You notice primary when something changes. \n\nYou notice when someone first touch your arm but notice less when they keep there hand there. You feel the chair when you sit down but not when you are sitting on it.\n\nThe small...
Why does Facebook need 60 million lines of code in order to run?	[ "Facebook is complicated - it does more than just show you things people have shared, said, liked or whatever. Facebook's real business is in handling data.\n\nFacebook know you really well. They've got a good picture of you - they know what adverts you're likely to respond to, they know what pages to suggest you m...
What do particle accelerators actually do?	[ "Scientists study the elementary particles that make up atoms via a particle accelerator. These elementary particles are called \"quarks\" and they come in pairs. The researchers at CERN, the research group who built the giant particle accelerator in Switzerland / France, think that by crashing particles together...
What is the purpose of having so many bones in our wrists/ankles?	[ "fluidity of movement. Your wrist and ankles have to turn in all kinds of directions, way more than say your knees or elbows, so we sacrificed strength in those areas for dexterity.", "Ball and socket joints are meant more for a powerful and wide motion, usually a swinging motion. Wrist/ankle joints are more to e...
Why electric cars aren’t solar powered?	[ "Some do have solar panels, such as the [Fisker Karma](_URL_0_). Most manufacturers have released designs or concepts with solar panels (Tesla, Ford on the C-Max, BMW, Toyota).\n\nQuite simply, a panel small enough to fit on a car doesn't collect enough energy to power a car. \n\nA whole roof is only good for 300-4...
If an asteroid was due to collide with earth, what could we realistically do to stop it?	[ "Depends on how much of a heads-up we get.\n\nWe've already been able to land on asteroids and comets remotely, so it's not beyond belief to say that we could park a probe on an asteroid in a precise location and either detonate a nuke on it, run a thruster, unfurl a solar sail, or otherwise nudge it enough to ensu...
Why does it seem like I always have to poop after drinking coffee or smoking a cigarette?	[ "Both caffeine and nicotine are actually colonic stimulants (see [here](_URL_1_) and [here](_URL_0_)), so they make the colon contract and move, prompting a bowel movement. Note that coffee also serves as a diuretic (it makes you urinate more) which can end up drying out the stool in your colon, so it's not overly ...
Does a company have to buy a domain from a domain selling service even if a domain isn't claimed yet?	[ "Yes. When someone enters a domain name into their browser, it essentially goes and asks someone \"hey, where does this domain exist on the internet?\". When you register a domain name, you're paying to have someone put in that information for you so that everyone knows where the name points to." ]
How come it is illegal to smoke in the car with children, but not for pregnant women to smoke?	[ "Where is this illegal? It is fully legal here in the US so this has to be a law somewhere else.", "It would be extremely difficult to enforce, for one thing. What is an officer supposed to do if he sees a woman who he believes to be pregnant and smoking? \n\nWrite her a ticket? Giving fines to pregnant women who...
Why does it sometimes hurt to cough, sometimes feel good, and sometimes both?	[ "When you cough and it hurts, It's probably because your respiratory tract is exhausted from all the coughing and needs to stop\n\nWhen you cough and it feels good, It could be because the things your respiratory tract are trying to released are successfully released.\n\nIf both,then these two above happen at the s...
Are nebulae flammable?	[ "No, because space lacks an oxidizer to create combustion. For combustion to occur you need 3 things. Activation energy in the form of heat, Fuel in this case hydrogen, and an oxidizer like oxygen. Sadly there is not a whole lot of oxygen in the vacuum of space." ]
What has changed in the past 5-10 years that "machine learning" is all the rage now?	[ "Machine learning has been slowly growing in popularity for decades. I think there are two main things that have changed.\n\nOne is that the theory has improved dramatically. Machine learning researchers have been comparing algorithms on the same benchmark data sets for years. For example, in 1998 the MNIST data ...
Why does turning electronic items off and on usually fix the problem?	[ "Look at it like a chess board:\n\nAfter 100+ moves, it's hard to set every step back until you're in the start position. It's easier to remove all the pieces from the board and start all over.\n\n^This ^was ^explained ^before", "Usually modern electronics have some kind of embedded operating system (could be lin...
How light can move as a particle and a wave and how this makes it special or in its own class	[ "Very simplistically, it's better to look at it propagating or moving as a wave and interacting or colliding as a particle. \r\r\rAlso, this doesn't make it unique or its own class. Everything that exists has properties of both classical waves and particles. Electrons, protons, atoms, molecules. You can even calcul...
Why does the same water from the shower feel warm to my body, but scalding hot to my face? (Or warm to my face and cool to my body)	[ "Mind over matter mate. Theres more nerve endings on your face so perhaps the extra sensory information is overwhelming. Just like easing into a hot tub.", "I think it's because your body is constantly under hot water while your face is mostly away from the stream.\n\nThis allows your body to get used to the hot ...
How come so few species feel "good" when having sexual actions and why/how did it develop (in humans)?	[ "I'm distinctly curious as to how you have polled the enjoyment level of sex from the majority of the animal kingdom. This seems like it would be dangerous, messy, difficult, and expensive.", "Most mammals definitely enjoy sex. It's kind of nature's incentive to get them to procreate. The animal that enjoys sex i...
Pretty Good Privacy	[ "Off the top of my head it goes like this. You download the program, and use it to generate a pair of keys, public and private. If you want, you can upload the public key to a website that keeps track of them, but this is not strictly necessary. Say you want to send an email to some, encrypted. They must also u...
What happens during a CPR?	[ "You pump the heart manually, sending oxygenated blood through the body, delaying cell death until an AED or other advanced medical personnel. That's why it's just as important to breathe for them every 30 compressions. \nSource: Emergency Medical Responder" ]
What exactly is Taoism, and what are their beliefs?	[ "The best introduction, I think, is Benjamin Hoff's The Tao of Pooh. Stephen Mitchell's version of the Tao te Ching is also the most accessible and poetic to Western readers. When I read the Tao of Pooh, I didn't become a Taoist... I realised that I already was one. A fun introduction to Taoism (though I'd re...
Why do humans have to wipe after using the restroom but other animals don't?	[ "We wear clothes. We care what we smell like. We have butt cheeks because we need large butt muscles to keep us on two legs.", "Because we choose as a society to do so for hygiene reasons.\n\n\nHowever there is also a factor due to our walking on two legs as opposed to four. Most animals take food in at one en...
Why is it taboo to say exactly how a person died?	[ "It's a private matter & the personal business of the family. You don't deserve to know just because you liked some of his movies any more than you deserve to know anything else that's going on in their private lives. They're still people & don't automatically forfeit their private lives just because they get...
Why are there so many riots at the time?	[ "> Syria, Egypt, Ukraine and now in Venezuela. Am i now becoming aware of them or why do they start everywhere?\n\nSyria and Egypt has been going on for a couple of years now (tho Egypt has been \"on and off\" a bit). I am not quite sure about Venezuela, but I think its been going on for a while there to, or at le...
How did people with poor vision function in society before eyeglasses were invented?	[ "Long story short I was legally blind for about ten years I could only see maybe a few feet away. They were able to recently correct my vision to almost normal. \n\nI didn't drive, had other people read me menu boards/signs or just asked the sales person, and made some embarrassing mistakes with not recognizing peo...
why are orangutans so chill, but chimps are violent assholes? Aren't they really similar?	[ "Similar by what measure? Genetically, we're very similar to chimpanzees, but obviously there are some pretty substantial behavioral differences. Although admittedly, not necessarily in all the ways we'd like to think.", "How about Bonobos. You could not tell them from a chimp by their appearance. But they are ...
Now we're moving beyond 3D printing with plastics, how does that work?	[ "Anything that (1) can be extruded (e.g, a substance that doesn't have a very high viscosity) and (2) which exhibits [chemical cohesion](_URL_0_) (the tendency of a substance to stick to itself) can be 3d printed. It's not required to melt it - as long as it sticks to itself, that's enough. (Metals and plastics nee...
why there needs to be another copyright law in the eyes of the entertainment industry?	[ "Because the DMCA hasn't done anything to stop piracy, pirating is so easy its remarkable that anyone pays for software, music, and TV shows anymore. Entire websites exist with the sole purpose of distributing pirated material, but they are within the law because they don't host the files. It is completely useless ...
Discourse according to Foucault	[ "I'll give it a shot, but it's been a decade since I was in grad school.\n\nIt sounds like the professor is asking you to perform a Foucaultian analysis, wherein you look at a particular institution, analyzing it the same way that Foucault would. \n\nFor example, in Madness and Civilization (again, going off of mem...
Why does a single overpass (flyover) take the same amount of time to build as a skyscraper?	[ "You're probably perceiving a lot of it because you're stuck there fuming in traffic and getting all road-ragey. Smaller overpasses don't usually take as long as a tall building to finish. \n\nThat being said, they do take a while. Some reasons:\n\n* They often have HUGE footprints when you include on-ramps and off...
How do they keep the water in water towers from freezeing dolid in the winter?	[ "For a few reasons:\n\n1. water retains heat better than almost all other liquids. I believe only ammonia of the common liquids has a higher specific heat than water.\n\n2. It's moving! Water towers - despite what we commonly think - aren't generally for water storage, they are for water pressure management. Mov...
What exactly is G-Force?	[ "When you're standing on the ground, your body (or any other object) experiences a downward force. For simplicity's sake, other forces exerted on the human body are often expressed in terms of multiples of this base level of force because most people have no concept of what a Newton really is.\n\nWhen flying plane...
How do they assign social security numbers?	[ "The nine-digit SSN is composed of three parts:\n\nThe first set of three digits is called the Area Number. The Area Number is assigned by the geographical region. Prior to 1972, cards were issued in local Social Security offices around the country and the Area Number represented the State in which the card was iss...
why western formal menswear is always white and black, with something tied around your neck?	[ "I only know about ties. They used to be functional. Weirdly, in the Croatian military during the 1600's, they used to tie the top of their military jackets together (instead of a top button) with a bit of cloth. King Louis XIII liked the look so much he made it a requirement for royal gatherings. It became fas...
How do we measure magnetic fields?	[ "The other answers that talk about measuring forces or moving coils around are possible solutions in theory, but not practical in real world applications like the iPad cover.\n\nIn those devices something called a hall sensor is used. This type of sensor uses the fact that electrons that move in a magnetic field ...
How is Google not a monopoly, especially in the B2B section?	[ "Being a monopoly isn't illegal. Engaging in anticompetitive behavior in order to become or maintain a monopoly is illegal. \n\nTo my knowledge, Google isn't involved in any behavior right now that is designed to force other companies out of the market, they're just performing better or at a lower cost than their p...
What causes to us to wake up and forgot where we are for a few brief seconds?	[ "The brain isn't something that just turns on full power and shuts down to 0 power when not in use. It needs to warm up, and take in its new (remember you just spent hours somewhere else in your dreams) surroundings to build context and put meaning behind what it sees. When you wake up, its not like your brain is a...
The Chinese Government-Is it really communist?	[ "Well at first it was trying to be hard core communist, but Mao's Great Leap Foreward resulted in them falling flat on their face. After millions died and Mao died too the government decided to go a different direction. The Chinese are communist only in name at this point, they have adopted a Free Market system for...
Why do pimples form and why are they so prevalent with teens going through puberty?	[ "Your skin (particularly around the face, but not just there) is full of tiny holes called pores. Pores serve a variety of functions but the point of your question:\n\nPimples occur when the pore becomes clogged with dirt, oil, or an in-grown hair. Pimples are common in teens due to the excessive natural oils gener...
What is Imperialism?	[ "A country is being imperialistic when it's asserting power over other countries through militaristic or political (usually militaristic) means. \n\"Imperialism\" comes from the world \"Imperial,\" which is a word used to describe any collection of states/territories ran by an emperor or other sovereign figure, als...
Why does a 1280x720 photo look fine on a 17 inch monitor but grainy on a 4x6" print?	[ "Monitors usually have a resolution of about 96 ppi; they have about 96 pixels per inch, although this can vary. Mobile devices typically have much higher ppi as they are viewed at much closer range.\n\nPrint resolution for good results is around 300 dpi, or 300 dots per inch. This is much higher than the usual com...
Why is it so satisfying to peel something?	[ "I'd assume that it triggers a smaller version of the dopamine rush we get when we get something new.", "I'm assuming it's because when we were in nature and evolving and stuff, we would get some sort of dangerous stuff on us. The ones who would peel it off would live, so peeling stuff is satisfying" ]
Gas Station Gasoline Grades as well as additives (Techron etc.)	[ "The grades of gasoline are Octane measurements. Higher octanes ignite at a higher pressure. High performance engines have high compression, so a low octane fuel will explode too early which will mess with your engine, so they need high octane fuel. Regular cars don't get anything special out of high octane fuel...
Why did throwing money into public fountains become a sign of good luck and associated with wishes?	[ "In the past (and still today in many areas of the world), access to clean water was a luxury. Centuries ago, this clean water was considered a gift from the gods. Many people actually believed that gods or deities lived in the water, in fact. So, they would sacrifice what little money they had to these gods to app...
With current government policies in the making, as a 90s kid, should I still continue to dump money into my 401k, if not, what are some other ways I can save for retirement?	[ "Short answer, yes. Long answer, certain policies that are being talked about mean you may need to become a lot more educated about your 401k.\n\nYour 401k is typically limited to a few different investment options offered by your companies plan provider. Sometimes the options are great, sometimes they are not so...
Why you get less and less sore the more frequent you work out?	[ "The body adapts to stress after repeated exposure, and in the case of decreased soreness in exercising much of that has to do with increased efficiency in using energy, such that muscles produce less lactic acid and other fatigue signs. However, that applies most to certain ranges of motion, so for the greatest ra...
Diesel versus Petrol	[ "Hmmm how to explain this to a 5-year old.... Well I'm not sure I can simplify it, but I can explain it to you as easily as I can.\n\nDiesel and gasoline engines are both, from a design standpoint, essentially the same. They are both composed of the same piston-chamber design where a controlled explosion in a chamb...
when hair like underarm hair and pubic hair, or even arm and leg hair have a set length of how long they grow (we never see men with underarm hair to their elbows) how does the hair know when to stop? And if you shave or cut the hair, how does it know to grow?	[ "Hair follicles have three states: active, inactive, and dormant. In the active stage, hair is being grown; in the inactive stage, hair is present but not growing; and in the dormant stage, hair falls out and the follicle rests. Therefore, at any given time, only 2/3 of your follicles contain a hair. In this way th...
Why do planes leave trails?	[ "When things (like fuel) are burned (like in an engine), they produce three main things: Energy (used to move parts, like the turbine/propeller in the plane's engine), Carbon Dioxide & Water. The last two come out of the engine (in gas form) as exhaust.\n\nSince planes fly in very cold air, the water vapour turns...
Fast Fourier Transform and what it is used for.	[ "A Fourier transform is a way of encoding a complex signal in terms of several simple components. Think about a complex sound, like human speech, or someone playing a tuba. The pattern of that soundwave is some crazy curve that jumps up and down wildly, [like this](_URL_0_). Now think about a pure tone, like what h...
Why are objects in (old) cartoons that will be animated drawn differently and so easily noticable?	[ "Old cartoons were hand-drawn on transparencies. Usually, there was a background artist who painted the background, then another artist who just drew the animated figure on a set of transparencies, one per object. These were then stacked together and photographed to make the frame. When the two artists didn't exact...
If Vladimir Putin lost his mind one day and he'd decided life should be no more, would the world be safe or are there systems in place to stop things like this happening?	[ "Many nations have anti missile systems, but how advanced they are is probably highly classified.\n\nHowever Putin was the head of the the Russian intelligence, which is no small feat. He actually must be stable of mind, and isn't the leader most likely to fall off his rocker. Americans judge him because he doesn't...
ELI5: If I touch a puddle that has an electrical cable in it, I'll get shocked. If I throw an electrical cable into the sea, why will not everything in the entire ocean become shocked?	[ "When you are shocked it's from electrons flowing through your body. Electrons on a finite thing. There are only so many of them. The amount of electrons that can be drawn from the outlets in a typical building are way way way more than are needed to kill a human. \n\nHowever the Ocean is really really really big. ...
When i cut my finger, blood goes everywhere but when surgeons perform surgery, blood isnt exploding everywhere?	[ "* they avoid major blood vessels\n* you are anesthetized so your heart is beating more slowly\n* they often clamp off vessels to the area they are working on\n* there is a person their with a suction tube to remove excess blood", "Surgeons also like to work in a bloodless field so they will apply large tournequi...
Why is it that our facial expressions seem to show that we are in pain while having sex, even though we feel pleasure?	[ "I think it has to do with the intensity of the pleasure we're experiencing. It can be overwhelming, even though it feels so good, and the body even prepares itself sometimes by involuntarily tensing up our muscles, especially when we're close to experiencing an orgasm." ]
How matter becomes "alive" or develops consciousness	[ "I recommend reading: [The User Illusion](_URL_1_) by Tor Norretranders, [Gödel, Escher, Bach](_URL_3_) by Douglas R. Hofstadter, and [I Am a Strange Loop](_URL_4_) also by Douglas R. Hofstadter for some interesting reading on the subject (Warning: Gödel, Escher, Bach isn't for everyone- it's a bit strange,...
- what the gallbladder does, who it works for/with, why I, at 32 am having attacks!	[ "I had my gall bladder removed about 6 years ago, so I can tell you what happens when you don't have one and how the doctor explained it to me.\n\nYour gall bladder acts as a storage place for the bile and other digestive bits that your liver produces (salts, etc). This is helpful because when you eat, your body n...
why is mocking the Jewish faith so common in popular entertainment?	[ "I just wanted to point out that Matt Stone is Jewish and that South Park rips every religion a new asshole, not just Judaism. They also wrote a massively successful musical called \"The Book of Mormon\" which completely destroys a particular religion. Can you guess which one? I'll give you a hint: NOT JUDAISM.", ...
Why translations on shirts and things so bad?	[ "Who says these are translations? For example, the \"Home Alone\" vs \"Mi Pobre Angel\" title change is a choice by the studio. The meme of latchkey kids isn't as common in Latin American countries, so a \"Solo En Casa\" title wouldn't have worked. Calling children angels in America would be mostly sarcastic, th...
Why haven't humans visited the moon since 1972?	[ "[This article](_URL_0_) covers it fairly well. The TLDR is that it comes down to budget restrictions, technological restrictions (current rockets aren't powerful enough to reach the Moon), a lack of political and public interest as well as NASA being more interested in putting people on Mars.", "Largely, because...
Why is northern Mexico's drug trade so violent and why does it feel like no one is seriously doing something about it?	[ "Because the cartels quite literally own the mexican goverment. Or more specifically, the influential politicians that could do anything about it.", "The Mexicans in the early 2000's took aggressive measures to combat the growing influence of the cartels. Long story short this strategy backfired and allowed the ...
Why is it when someone drinks a cup of coffee they might get sleepy but the same doesn't happen with energy drinks?	[ "It sometimes does, especially in people with atypical responses to caffeine, such as those with ADHD. Some folks with ADHD self medicate with energy drinks rather than taking a prescription stimulant such as adderall. I’ve also encountered parents who use Mountain Dew to chill out their kid during a hyperactivity ...
Why at high speeds on a motorcycle you countersteer turns while leaning.	[ "As you're rolling forward you turn the wheel to the left\n\nMomentum continues to carry you forward\n\nSince the wheel's moved to the left you 'fall' into the space where the wheel used to be.\n\nThe bike leans over to the right (the space in which you're falling)\n\nThe bike's wheels draw a curve that has your 'l...
What does it mean to estimate pi	[ "Pi is an infinitely long not repeating decimal. 3.14 is an estimate to the hundredth position. 3.14159 is an estimate to the 100000th position.\n\nAll finite representations of pi are estimations, and the work of calculating the next digit is to \"estimate pi to a greater degree of accuracy.\"", "Pi is something...
why moving a body part through hot water makes the water feel hotter than when said body part is stationary in the same water at the same temperature.	[ "Same reason air feels cooler when its being blown on you by a fan instead of being still.\n\nThe movement, yours or the water's, makes you come in to contact with water that hasn't cooled down by being in contact with you.\n\nSame thing happens with cold water if you move around instead of being still, it will fee...
Why should I worry about Google's data gathering?	[ "Do you have to be worried? Not necessarily. Just what does Google have about you? If you use their email, they likely know your name and keywords about your interests. If you use their search, they know some of the sites you visit and your interests. For the most part, knowledge of your interests helps them make a...
Why do things that are warm or heated up have more of a scent than things that are cold?	[ "You smell things because particles of the item are floating in the air and registering in your nose. If you heat something up it makes substances more volatile. This just means that since the thing is hotter its particles have more energy, and so can escape from the object into the air more easily. Also bacteria a...
Why Tim Tebow is not playing in the NFL (especially this year with so many injured QBs)?	[ "He is not good enough to play. The NFL teams are not blacklisting him for some arbitrary reason. He is not good enough. It really is that simple, no matter how hard his fans wish otherwise.", "If Tim Tebow were good enough to be playing in the NFL, he would be. He certainly wants to. But its clear that no team f...
If two different species can't breed with each other, how do we have things like the liger? (Lion + Tiger	[ "Some species are close enough that breeding is still an option. A horse bred with a donkey will result in a mule, which is sterile and unable to breed with anything else.", "Unfortunately, what delineates one species from another is very loosely defined, and some of it is just arbitrary decisions on the part of ...
How do companies like Netflix, Shomi and Crave TV make money charging a few dollars a month when I pay $70/month for cable and they have commercials?	[ "Part of it is that Netflix, Shomi, and Crave produce very very little of their content. They simply distribute entertainment and distribution rights are much much cheaper than production costs along with distribution rights. \n\nPart of it is the fact that there is not a middle man. The cable companies are a middl...
Why we say "Islamic" extremism instead of "Muslim" extremism	[ "Typically, \"Islam\" refers to the religion, and \"Muslim\" to the people who follow Islam. \"Islamic\" is used for anything that is part of the larger culture of Islam- Islamic art, Islamic Music, Islamic Prayers....and so on. \n\nSo we say \"Islamic extremeISM\" and \"Muslim ExtremeIST\"", "Quick google searc...
Why does lifting weights make your muscles bigger?	[ "It's not true that muscle cells divide and more and more are made. Muscle cells are generally not made during your lifetime, but instead hypertrophy and grow in size due to the stress placed on them during activity. They'll eventually have more mitochondria for better aerobic oxidation. Muscle cells can die, but...
why can't planes have an enormous parachute attached to the cabin in case of emergency/loss of flight?	[ "I think this will anser your question (_URL_0_) but essentially:\n > To safely bring down a big commercial airliner such as a Boeing 747 with about 500 people on board, there would have to be 21 parachutes each the size of a football field, says Popov. “It takes about a square foot (0.1sq m) of material to bring d...
Why we can't use salt water as toilet water?	[ "Corrosion is a big issue with salt water lines, but there is another problem as well. Cities have a fresh water system which have fresh water reservoirs, water pumps, water towers, pipes, etc. The toilet water comes from that fresh water system. If we wanted salt water toilets, then the city would have to build...
If my fingerprint was never recorded, how can I be IDed?	[ "This is true. If you were never recorded there would be no record.\n\nYou'll be fingerprinted for almost any government job, any time you're arrested, or for certain types of background checks.\n\nIf none of that occurred, then there would be no record.\n\nIf in the show the guy they were looking for was former m...
If we were to cover the ground with enough solar panels to generate all of our electricity, would atmosphere and ground not become substantially colder leading to new issues?	[ "Not really. \n\nFirst, the best place to put such solar panels would be somewhere that you weren't using the land for other purposes. So you'd avoid building giant solar farms in agricultural lands and so forth. You'd put them on top of buildings, perhaps, or in deserts that get a lot of sun. And they might take ...
Economist of Reddit, is there a behavior similar to matter, where "value" cannot be created nor destroyed?	[ "> Follow Up: When they say, the market lost 3 trillion dollars, was it lost or just shifted to a different market or horded by speculators?\n\nTo address this, specifically.\n\nIf I own a house, I could reasonably sell it for X dollars. That money wouldn't be in my pocket (I haven't sold the house, after all), bu...
T+2, as in "Funds will be settled into the nominated merchant account with bank on a T+2 basis"	[ "For Reference - _URL_0_\n\nT stands for \"transaction\" as in \"the day this event actually happened\". The \"+X\" indicates how many days after the \"T\" that the money/asset will officially change hands.\n\nSo a T+2 transactions would mean that if you sold on Monday, the transaction would \"clear\" (ie people g...
What factors lead to fluctuations in stock prices?	[ "Stock prices change because the perceived value of the underlying assets in the company. The basic way to value a stock is to look at future profits and adjust them for (1) risk and (2) how far they will occur in the future. This approach is roughly called \"discounted cash flow.\" Anything that reduces future pro...
Who do transmission towers and cranes have bases that are narrower than the tower itself?	[ "[Here](_URL_0_) is a thread with a good explanation. Basically, the bottom of the tower is subject to a lot of forces, and the pyramid shape is stronger than spreading it out." ]
what does 'innocent until proven guilty' really mean	[ "True. A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty, which means that the burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove the defendant guilty, not on the defense to prove him innocent.\n\nTypically when a person is arrested and charged with a crime, they are either held in jail or allowed bail, basically handi...
Exactly why do Buzzfeed and Gawker and Vulture and Vice and whatnot have names that invoke such negative implications?	[ "Self deprecation is fairly popular these days. Vice is a little different in that it's always been a smaller media outlet. I've always thought of them as niche journalism though they've expanded considerably over the last couple of decades.\n\nThe others are just click bait. It doesn't really matter what they're c...
How do the spiders in my basement survive considering there's no bugs for them to eat?	[ "If there are spiders in your basement... why do you think there are no other bugs for them to eat?", "There are no bugs because the spiders eat them …", "What makes you so sure there's no food? Not all spiders eat flies and birds. Some eat insects too small for you to see without a magnifying glass, others eat...
How do geologist date the age of stone formations?	[ "There are lots of methods, including isotope measurements like C-14. C-14 works for living organisms because the constant exchange of carbon means that the body contains the 'normal' mix of carbons, but once the organism dies, it's locked in, and then the more unstable carbons decay into more stable carbons at a ...
How does google know how popular a place is from hour to hour.	[ "The same way they know how fast traffic is moving. They collect gps data from every android phone and see that there's an increase in number of phones in that location at that particular time.", "My wife works in advertising as a data analyst. Cellphones, especially Android phones are constantly giving away a lo...
Why isn't cryosleep (like in Avatar etc.) available (yet?) ?	[ "The trouble with \"cryosleep\" is that we can't freeze a person fast enough. Unless a person is frozen VERY quickly, \"ice\" crystals form in their cells' cytoplasm, causing those cells to rupture immediately on thawing (obviously killing them, most of their cells are now dead). Theoretically, if we could freeze...
Can someone explain what a Super PAC is and why it is messing up elections?	[ "Basically what happens is that people can only contribute so much when they donate to political elections for obvious reasons. It prevents single rich people from buying politicians via financing their election.\n\nEnter the Super PAC, which is essentially an account that's run by someone and anyone can donate an...
Why do I feel grimy after a brief nap, but not after a full night's sleep?	[ "Sleep happens in cycles and phases, a phase consisting from light restorative sleep to REM or rapid eye movement phases. When you take a nap for longer then 10-20 minutes, it goes into the REM cycle. The REM phase reacts badly when stopped abruptly much like a drop on a roller coaster. That's why the best amount o...
Why do you sometimes wake up and your mouth feels fuzzy with bacteria, but this never happens during the day?	[ "Eating, drinking, talking, and just salivating help wash clean mouth surfaces while awake. One would hope all of these are sharply reduced during sleep.", "You stop producing saliva when you're asleep (most of the time - occasionally you continue to produce sliva, which is why some people sleep-drool). Saliva w...
Why do your fingers hurt when they get cold?	[ "Hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency, is painful. The blood vessels constrict in effort to maintain core temperature thereby decreasing the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells to the tissue of the hands.", "It's usually because of the vessel constriction in the appendages, however, depending on how much they hurt...
Why is it that we can see dim light in a dark room better in our peripheral vision than when we look straight at it?	[ "You have different things in your eyes called rods and cones. \nRods are better at seeing in low light, and are generally around the outer part of your eye. Cones can see color, and are grouped right in the center. \n\nWhen you are in low light conditions you can see better if you don't look directly at something ...

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