Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
From where does a hurricane get its centripetal force?	[ "The winds are flowing _into_ the storm, not out of it. They're flowing in because the warm air at the center is rising rapidly, leaving an area of very low pressure at the center. \n\nThe spin of a hurricane is the result of the Coriolis Force, which in turn is the result of different latitudes spinning at differe...
how esports commentators commentate right in front of the athletes? Does this not give away vital information especially in games like league and Starcraft?	[ "The eathletes are wearing headphones and they're usually in those booths, one per team. Exactly so they can't hear the reaction of the crowd (distracting, or a big \"ooooo!\" might be a tip-off your opponent just pulled something slick) or the announcers.", "The commentators, just like in plenty of other sports,...
Why physical releases are cheaper than digital downloads?	[ "A really big reason is that the Bethesda Softworks determines the digital download cost, and Amazon determines the price of the physical good.\n\nThe original software maker will price the digital download based on what they think they can get, and they think they can get $20. Even if they can't get $20, they migh...
Why the way the winning country of the Sochi Olympics is determined by total gold medals and not total medals?	[ "The Olympics isn't about what country wins the most medals. That sort of emphasis on quantity overvalues countries with more athletes. The emphasis is on individual events. The medal count is just for fun. Who is to argue that a gold medal in the free skating competition is equivalent to a gold medal in skeleton?"...
Since many different forces want vertical liftoff aircrafts but they are hard to make good since they are heavy (need huge fans and stuff) why don't they put controlled fans that lift the airplane on the ground? Wouldn't the result be the same?	[ "You then have the issue of transition from the 'hover' to 'regular' flight. The Harrier had rotating nozzles that achieved this and from what I've seen the back end of the JSF's donk articulates through around 90 degrees to aid with its transition. As for stability the Harrier had reaction control stability ductin...
What are imaginary and complex numbers?	[ "Think about an algebra problem involving an unknown quantity x. As far as arithmetic is concerned, you know x behaves just like any other number. So \n\n1-3x+8x-9 = -8+5x.\n\n2x ×(4x-3) = 8x^2 -6x.\n\nNow let's bring in another rule, that we know x^2 = -1. No real number (the usual numbers, including fractions an...
How igloos keep you warm?	[ "Snow is a really good insulator (because now contains lots of air pockets)\n\nThe structure keeps you out of the wind and retains any heat generated within.\n\nYou can warm up with retained body heat, or a small oil lamp (traditionally using seal blubber as your oil on a sandstone lamp)." ]
How do helicopter blades actually lift a 20,000 pound helicopter?	[ "To generate lift we use wings, which we move fast through the air. We can do this by making the vehicle go fast (planes) or by rotating the wings fast around a midpoint (helicopters).\n\nWings moving at an angle through the air will push that air down. As a result, the wing is pushed up. A helicopter moves a lot...
Why do OLED phone displays get damaged by green lasers?	[ "Come back with that one more time now?", "Could you please give an example or context to this?\n\nAfter speaking with my mind, I was still confused about the nature of this question, so I asked my old friend Google who seems to only know of a few instances where screens where damaged intentionally with high powe...
What stops an automatic car from stalling?	[ "The manual has a full metal linkage through the whole gear train, and you must manually depress the clutch. Automatics have a torque converter, which uses one turbine coming off of the drive shaft and fluid under pressure to drive a second turbine on the output at low speeds. As the speed increases, the computer...
If there is only $1.2 trillion in circulation then how is The United States Federal Government in nearly $18 trillion of debt?	[ "Banks, including the fed, are able to \"create\" money buy issuing credit and debt. Think about it this way. Imagine that I am a bank. Fred (person A) deposits $100 dollars in my institution. I then take this $100 dollars and lend it to Linda (person B). There is still only one $100 dollar bill in this mini-e...
Is there a difference between a quicksave and a normal save?	[ "A quicksave is exactly that. It allows you to save your position,supplies,equipment,etc, at the press of a button (assuming that you bind it to a key or have it on hand in console games) instead of going into a menu and going through the process of saving. \n\nFor example in Skyrim or Fo4 its good before heading i...
Why are safety matches allowed in hand luggage but not in hold luggage?	[ "Because they might rub together and start a fire. It's much easier to detect and put out a fire quickly in the cabin than in the cargo hold." ]
What would having an actual, physical third eye do to your vision?	[ "You'd have slightly better depth perception and slightly great field of vision, but other than that, not much.\n\nThat is why third eyes are rare in nature, and when they do exist, they are usually a completely different kind of eye. The slight evolutionary benefit does not outweigh the cost.", "A third eye wit...
Why is it snowing so much in Boston right now?	[ "cough global warming cough.\n\nIn all seriousness, climate change is not simply a fraction of a degree shift. It also means more extreme swings in weather. Where it is warmer in some places, it is just as much colder in others.\n\nI feel it is not a coincidence that Boston is experiencing the most snow it has ...
How come rubbing your eyes makes them itchier?	[ "Your hands are always dirty, it's just a matter of degree. \nThere's oils on your skin, there's dead skin cells, there's good old fashion dirt. All of that could get in your eyes when rub them. \nAs for allergies, there's a layer of tissue in your eyes called the conjunctiva. They are there to defend your eyes f...
How does insurance work for large ocean shipping companies?	[ "Both the ship owner and those shipping cargo will generally have insurance.\n\nThe ship owner has insurance for the obvious reason, to insure the ship itself in case it is lost or damaged and to cover its contents.\n\nThose shipping cargo have insurance for an obvious reason and a rather obscure one. Obviously th...
How are bills able to be changed last minute with other members of congress seemingly being out of the loop?	[ "It doesn't happen with most bills. \n\nWhen it does tend to happen is when there is a particularly complicated bill that has to be passed immediately (e.g. a bill that keeps the government funding from shutting down, or deal with some national emergency). In those situations, the bill can be dozens or hundreds o...
How birds whistle	[ "Birds don't actually whistle, they sing. They have a syrinx which is just a different name for the voice box of a bird. They have their own languages and dialects just like humans which is why different bird calls have different sounds. Luckily for us their \"talking\" just sounds like song to us." ]
It I decided I wanted to go fight in Afghanistan (US Army or Marines), about how long would it take until I was actually there?	[ "Enlistment paperwork and filing: a few weeks.\n\nDelayed Enlistment: How long does it take before the Military has a slot in Basic Training for you to fill. Can be as little as tomorrow, or as late as a few months.\n\nBasic Training: 10 weeks\n\nAdvanced Individual Training: 5-14 weeks for most infantry jobs.\n...
I'm American. Why isn't there a state/ national government hosted web page where we Citizens can login with our SSN and vote for things to be voted on by our elected officials?	[ "Because the constitution and laws don't allow the government to work that way. \n\nThe US is a representative democracy. You elect people to decide what to vote on and how to vote.", "I agree that this type of system would be awesome and more \"democratic\" but unfortunately many people do not know how to use th...
Why are round icecubes better or more efficient than square icecubes?	[ "This is physics, not chemistry\n\nSpherical ice \"cubes\" would melt more slowly since spheres have the lowest surface area per unit volume. This might be considered efficient in the sense that the ice would last longer. Also, the bigger the sphere, the more \"efficient\" it would be (thanks, square/cube law).\n...
Why Does Shutting Your Computer Off Every Once In A While, Make It Perform Better?	[ "1. Updates. A lot of software updates are installed when you turn a computer off then back on, rather than when it goes to sleep. This is because it's very hard to update something while it's running, so they can only get access to it while it turns on. A lot of software updates improve performance, stability,...
Why are most, if not all, workplaces based around a dictatorship style of governing?	[ "Dictatorships are extremely effective ways of getting things done.\n\nI'm not aware of any successful company that's run in a fully democratic way -- even the employees at Valve either did what Gabe Newell wanted, or they left.\n\nThat's not to say that Gabe didn't listen to other ideas and distribute some of the ...
What is AWS (Amazon Web Server) and what are the basic things one should know to understand how it functions?	[ "AWS stands for Amazon Web Services to contrast their shipping services. It is a collection of services that Amazon provides online. These are things like storage, backup, DNS, database, load balancing and maybe the most popular, virtual machine hosting. The concept about all this is the economy of scale. Amazon wi...
Can someone please explain how Narcan works? I know it reverses reverses the effects of an overdose, but how? What exactly does it do?	[ "To work, opioids must bind to a receptor on a cell to cause the effects. Naloxone is a competitive antagonist. If the opioid is a key, and the receptor is a lock, naloxone is the equivalent of you pushing the other guy aside and shoving a blank key before they can put the opioid key in. \n\nedit: antagonist, not a...
how do machines like cars and boats, use gasoline	[ "That's a long-ish story, the key here is the internal combustion engine, you might want to look it up.\n\nA very short version: Gasoline, when in vapor form and mixed readily with lots of oxygen, doesn't just burn as it would if you light it while liquid, it actually explodes (i.e. the gasoline vapor reacts nearly...
How was the BC/AD dating system created?	[ "It was created by a 6th Century monk named Dionysus Exiguus.\n\nAt the time, the calendar was based on a Roman emperor who wasn't terribly kind to Christians. Dionysus was working on an Eastern calendar, and didn't think it was fitting to link it to that particular person. So instead he did some rough math and t...
Could someone please explain to me how a basic corporate tax loophole works? As in how do companies "cheat" by paying less taxes?	[ "I'll give you a simple explanation on how a company does it for both domestic revenue and international. It happens due to international trade and the different tax levels around the world.\n\nDomestic Revenue\n\nRight imagine I have a company that produces laptops, I make the laptops in Ireland and ship them to A...
When my blood donation reacted during a test What is it that's reacting and what does this mean? Also why can't my blood donation be used?	[ "They test blood for all diseases that could be transmitted through a blood transfusion.\n\nSome people have antibodies that cross react (don't have the disease, just have an antibody that binds to the site that causes the test to be reactive)\n\nThe first tests are incredibly sensitive, but not very specific, so w...
if fat is the way energy is stored in our bodies, does this mean that a person with a higher fat percentage could go longer without eating than a person with a low fat percentage?	[ "All things being equal, for the most part, yes.\n\nHowever, when you go without eating, it is not just calories you are missing out on, there are other essential nutrients which are not stored in our bodies. The fat person would eventually suffer from deficiencies in those, and could still die while they had plen...
Gas Station Clustering	[ "It has to do with being in the right place at the right time. Most people who get gas are going to stop at the closet one on their route and easiest to get in & out.\n\nThat's why you'll find gas stations on opposite sides of a major road. It's easier to turn right into a gas station than it is to wait at a ma...
Why is the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar such a big topic of controversy?	[ "1. There are a lot of allegations of bribery. The report on it has not yet been made public.\n2. Mistreatment of imported workers by the various contractors building the stadium.\n3. In the middle of summer the temperature in the mid-day sun is over 120F, European players and fans won't enjoy that. So to compromis...
Are we really getting older slower if we are in outer space?	[ "It's not being in outer space that matters. It's moving at high speeds, near the speed of light. In Interstellar it was because they were in a powerful gravity field, which is sort of the same thing. This is because of Special Relativity (or General Relativity in the case of gravity).", "It isn't just being in s...
Can someone explain the UK postgraduate grading system in detail?	[ "A postgraduate masters degree consists of being awarded 180 credits. Some universities might say something else, like 90 credits, but really all this means is that universities \"credit\" is equal to 2 credits at some other university. Most say 180, though. Not enough credits, no degree - no matter how well you pe...
How are new queen bees born?	[ "Similar to normal bees, just fed differently. Basically when the conditions for swarming are met the queen lay eggs in special queen cups and those larvas are fed royal jelly exclusively which makes it so that they develop into queens (if they were fed as normal larvas they would become normal workers)" ]
What's the "second wind" you get from staying up late?	[ "Your brain can trick itself into thinking that it has just woken up using its internal clock. When the receptors in your eyes start detecting more light, as they often do when the sun is rising in the morning, your brain receives hormones that tell the brain it is time to start the day. This will have your body op...
Why were people compelled to kill the last wild specimens of now extinct species?	[ "One of the main reasons is so that you can collect and preserve a rare species. Once killed, the animal can be cleaned, stuffed, and mounted on a wall or otherwise preserved in perpetuity.\n\nThe people who do this care more about collecting those animals than they do about actually preserving a rare species.", ...
So the opposition in Myanmar wins. What's going on?	[ "Well the opposition in Myanmar wins because behind the scenes, nations like the U.S. are offering protection from China's inceasing attempts to flex their muscles. So as a result the military is relaxing their hold. But it doesn't mean they will let go of power easily. Where a democracy and the rule of law is flim...
Why is it that cats and dogs get arthiritis relatively quicker than when humans get it?	[ "Possibly because they have a shorter life span?\n\nOne human year is approximately (from memory, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) 7 dog years - this means that a 10 year old dog is the equivalent of an 70 year old human. If you think of it this way then it makes sense that they might be a bit arthri...
Is it really possible to shoot a lock open with a pistol?	[ "Depends on the lock, the pistol and other factors.\n\nI believe the Mythbusters looked at this and (as I recall) concluded that most locks can take several bullets without being compromised. At some-point the weakest part of the lock is the thing its attached to... the door.", "You can break anything by applyin...
The Libertarian view of the "free Market".	[ "It means that the deals, purchases, sales, transactions and agreements between companies and customers, employees and employers should not be regulated by the government. Likewise the government should have minimal regulation on how companies operate.\n\nThere are few ideas behind this. One is that freedom is valu...
What defines the shape of some drinking glasses to correspond to a specific beverage? For example, wine or scotch glasses have slightly different sizes of the leg and the part that holds the drink. Is it a historical matter?	[ "This is a fun question that we’ve spent a lot of time studying. I’m a sommelier with a specialty in whiskey. The thickness of the glass, the shape of the bell, and the stem all play rolls in how the smell gets to your nose and at what temperature. The Ol’ Factory being a major part of how we “taste” things. There’...
How such a small amount of a toxic substance (such as Ricin) can have such a dramatic effect on something as large as a human being.	[ "The relative \"large-ness\" of humans does not affect the actions that ricin has upon our body (in the sense of your question). To some degree, our mass will affect how potent toxic substances are, but I want to focus on how \"small\" amounts are enough to kill us. You see, two things come into play when you're di...
Why do humans have such a hard time with calculations?	[ "Computers were build to be good at calculations. The human brain evolved over many thousands of years to be able to do complex tasks like recognizing voices or faces, though there was never a need to be good at calculating, hence we are not good at that.", "Over the years, humans didn't need to know calculations...
How the hell did people survive before mosquito spray? I am getting eaten alive right now.	[ "I assume you mean how did they not go crazy, rather than how did they not get diseases, because they did get diseases. \n\nI've heard a few theories:\n\nUse smoke to keep the bugs away. When fire is how you cook, harden wood for spears, and keep large animals away, you always have smoke.\n\nThere may be some plant...
Why do people crouch when exiting helicopters in movies or real life?	[ "Because the rotorwash can knock you down if you're not careful; it creates very powerful winds. Crouching down also makes you smaller so less debris hits you." ]
What does a movie/TV producer do?	[ "They run the project, arranging stuff. On a movie project, they're the guys kicking everything off, sourcing scripts, arranging finance to buy a script, getting some talent attached to the project so that further funding can be secured. They know what's needed to take a project from inception to completion, and ma...
How were people able to map the world before space travel?	[ "the same way you can map out a large building. You wander round, and take measurements of your angle and distance, and with a sextant, part of your position too. From that, you can build up a map of the shape and layout of the building or the world.\n\nMost people also didn't need to map more than a small area the...
Puerto Rico’s debit crisis and the role of the US congress?	[ "The debt crisis itself is relatively simple. The Puerto Rican Government owes about $80,000,000,000 and is having trouble paying the interest on that debt, due to a weak economy and social distrust of the government.\n\nWhy the US Congress is involved is a little more complicated... but basically boils down to Pu...
Does wealth/income inequality skew median statistics?	[ "The numerical income of a particularly high income individual does not move the Median, because the Median is the actual value which has the same number above and below. This makes Median less skewed by outliers in the way that Mean is.\n\nIt doesn't matter how far above or below the median anyone is, only how man...
If we breathe in oxygen (O2) and breathe out carbon dioxide (CO2) then what does the oxygen do? Does it just collect carbon then leave?	[ "The oxygen in the air you breathe enters your blood from your lungs. Sugars and other nutrients in the food you eat enter your blood from your small intestine (located beneath and right after your stomach in the digestive tract). \n\nYour blood delivers food and oxygen to your cells that they need to create energy...
Why do completely random memories pop into my head?	[ "If you could definitively answer this and prove your theory, you'd probably win a Nobel Prize. There is a lot of theory on how memory works, but no one knows for sure. The best explanation would be that somehow the right combination of neurons in your head fired in just the right way to trigger that memory. \n\nI ...
Are U.S. internet speeds slowed by NSA activities?	[ "Activity they want to monitor is copied off to the side. It doesn't slow anything down.\n\nThey have their [own rooms](_URL_0_) in telecom facilities where the data is copied and stored. They don't have an \"ISP\" per se.", "No, the NSA does not slow down the internet. That would be contrary to their goal of kee...
Queen Victoria ruled over one of the most powerful empires in history for almost a century. So why did it take until 1918 for women to be considered politically intelligent and allowed to vote?	[ "Generally speaking, the idea that EVERYONE should vote is extremely new. Today, we think of voting restrictions as being intended as a way of making sure certain parts of society didn't get a say out of spite or elitism, but in reality, it was much more an attempt to solve a problem that we still suffer from today...
How can one prove the solar system is heliocentric without access to scientific equipment?	[ "Well, really, heliocentrism isn't correct either.\n\nThe solar system orbits around its combined center of mass, which is somewhere within the sun. But since there are no fixed points in space, there's no fundamental difference between saying that the Earth orbits the Sun and saying that the Sun orbits the Earth, ...
Why the north was fighting against slavery in the civil war, yet the 13th amendment was barely passed by this same government?	[ "The north didn't go to war to end slavery. They went to war in order to preserve the union—to bring the southern states back under the USA.\n\nThe south, however, did secede because of slavery. For a present day analogy, think of all those people who insist that Obama wasn't born in the USA, or that he is a \"se...
How do Taxi drivers split the fare with the company?	[ "I believe they pay for the car similar to a rental, kinda like a overpriced car payment. Anything else they make is their money.\n\nEdit: Sorry, passed up the description a lot... The fees are monthly to use the cars, and if you use your own, all you have to pay is the fees to use their numbers. I hope an actual t...
Why is it so difficult to support Crossfire/SLI? AFR seems like such a simple concept	[ "Various things but predominantly they're discrete cards as much as people like to think of them as linked. For instance, you put something in VRAM on GPU0 it may not be directly accessible to GPU1.\n\nBasically it's hard to keep things synchronized in an optimized fashion for all different applications simultane...
Why do people feel the need to use a "throwaway" account if reddit accounts are anonymous anyway?	[ "Because little clues add up, and if you piss off one nut-job, they can cause a lot of real-world problems.\n\nAlso, throwaways have less importance on points, so you can ditch it and go outdoors and do other stuff instead of staring at this dumb website.", "Because they're only anonymous if you put forward to ma...
How come according to Einsteins theory of relativity we can't go faster then light?	[ "You cannot reach not exceed the speed of light because it would take infinite energy to do so. Your energy grows without bound as your speed approaches c." ]
When we describe things like magnets and forces as having a "positive" or "negative" charge, what, physically, are we actually describing?	[ "Electrons and protons have charge. It's a fundamental property of things. It doesn't reduce to anything else.", "Electricity & magnetism both have two sides & opposites attract. We decided to, fairly arbitrarily, label one as \"negative\" and the other as \"positive\", just like we label magnetic fields \"n...
Why are 'insofar' and 'inasmuch' written as so and not as separate words?	[ "\"Insofar\" and \"inasmuch\" are early contractions of common phrases used in 16-17th century English. This phenomenon of compound words can be found in all Germanic languages (and incidentally, it's much more common in German) but there are several other examples I can think of off the top of my head:\n\n\"nevert...
Why it takes 3-5 business days to transfer money to/from my PayPal account.	[ "The financial system takes a while to do anything, since various security checks have to take place by all parties involved. It's not just Paypal being slow for fun, it's so they can ensure the money is really there, that the bank account is real, that it isn't limited, and all kinds of other things that are requi...
When shorting a stock, where does the money you gain come from?	[ "You short stocks when you think they're going to be cheaper in the future than they are today.\n\nIf you ignore fees & commissions, the basic process is:\n\n1. Borrow 100 shares of stock\n2. Sell 100 shares today at $100 for $10,000\n3. Wait a week\n4. Buy 100 shares at $90 for $9000\n5. Return the shares\n6. Po...
How long would normal bodily reactions (like processing food) take without enzymes? Additionally, how much do enzymes speed up a reaction?	[ "Sometimes by many millions of times.\n\n > An extreme example is orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase, which allows a reaction that would otherwise take millions of years to occur in milliseconds.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nBiological life would basically not be possible as we know it without enzymes." ]
Why am I paid less than my friend?	[ "Because Australia varies the minimum wage for people under 21. The minimum amount McDonalds is legally allowed to pay your friend is more than what they have to pay you." ]
Why can the same numeric temperature feel different at different times?	[ "I'm not an expert and someone feel free to correct me, but I think it's mostly due to humidity. How much moisture is in the air makes a huge impact.", "Because your body is not a thermometer. It's not trying to tell you what the temperature is, it's trying to let you know if you're warm enough or if you're too c...
Why do many Native American tribes own and operate Casinos in the United States?	[ "Because when we rounded them up and threw them on reservations the land we placed them we handed over to them with a lot of leeway and sovereignty from our laws. Thus, gambling is not illegal and becomes an easy revenue source for them.", "Because we took their land. Then we provided some land for them to live ...
Why is eating fiber (which goes through my digestive system) good for my heart?	[ "Your body uses cholesterol to make bile, which is what allows you to break down fats in the small intestines. Fiber binds cholesterol in your food and the bile you secrete. That bile would otherwise be reabsorbed into your body. So the fiber gets the bile out through feces, and your body is forced to make more bil...
Panic Attacks	[ "Hi there, Therapist here, and also have had panic attacks myself. It is common that many people will experience a panic attack at some point in their life without having an anxiety or depressive disorder. A panic attack is simply the activation of a person’s fight or flight response without a true life-threaten...
What does it mean to be audited and why do people not like it?	[ "Edit: like others are pointing out, there are lots of different types of audits. I assume you are asking about a typical income tax audit, as that's the type you hear people complain about in media or IRL.\n\nDishonest people don't like it because they cheated on their taxes and they are afraid of getting caught...
Why is it that when you're in the dark, staring directly at a light makes it less visible than looking beside it?	[ "Your eyes are made up of two different types of receptors: cones and rods. Rods are for low light vision, while cones observe the colors and work in 'normal' lighting conditions.\n\nThose cones and rods are not evenly distributed on your retina. The center of your eye doesn't have any rods, so when you're looking ...
What is virtualization?	[ "1 physical server can do the work of many because most servers are never pushed to 100% utilisation. So, get 1 physical server to host a few virtual servers. Each virtual server does its thing separately from each other.\n\nNow imagine 10 physical servers hosting, say, 100 virtual servers. Need more memory on v...
Why are most things in space shaped like spheres?	[ "Gravity pulls everything to a central spot. Also they aren't sphere, they are oblate spherical shapes meaning they bulge on the sides." ]
What Facebook's IPO means	[ "I would like to add a bit of warning: learn how the stock market works and be wary of trade behaviour anomalies. IPOs like Facebook generally do pretty well at first because of the media hype and extreme influx of stock purchases that creates an initial price inflation. \n\nStock market prices are supposed to be e...
Why can't games and other graphics programs use a circle?	[ "The decision was made a long time ago that the easiest and most simple way to do 3D computer graphics was to make everything out of triangles. Since then pretty much all the tools and hardware used for producing 3D graphics in real-time have been built around making everything out of small triangles. These things ...
So what are the "super difficult math problems" that computers have to solve to mine bitcoin like?	[ "ELI5:\n\nIt's actually not a super difficult problem, just time consuming.\n\nImagine you have 1,000,000 grains of sand that are numbered from 1 to 1 Million. However, you cannot tell what the number of each grain of sand is until you pick it up and examine it (which takes a few seconds).\n\nYou now begin a search...
If a boat crosses a water bridge, how is that weight distributed?	[ "The boat weighs exactly the same as the water it displaces. So the fact that a boat is passing over doesn't change anything. As long as the water level in the canal stays the same, the pressure at the bottom of the canal stays the same, and the weight on the supports stays the same.", "No it does not act the sam...
Which African countries play the most important roles on the continent? Which countries should everyone know a brief overview of?	[ "Nigeria (English Speaking) - The most populated African country at 160+ million. The country has an extraordinary amount of oil wealth, but it is also one of the most corrupt countries on earth so most of it has been squandered. It is a giant on the continent. Nigerians are found in large numbers throughout ...
Where can I find the truth about climate change?	[ "I wouldn't give much credibility to Ivar Giaever when he says stuff like this: \n\n > I am not really terribly interested in global warming. Like most physicists I don’t think much about it. But in 2008 I was in a panel here about global warming and I had to learn something about it. And I spent a day or so — hal...
Why are astronauts strapped into the shuttle 3 hours before take off?	[ "T - 3 Hours, and holding. During this hold in the count, the Space Shuttle is fuelled up with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Combined with the solid rocket boosters, the Space Transportation System will produce 7 million pounds of thrust to lift 4 million pounds of spacecraft. Be sure to check the news reports...
If Neptune stopped orbiting the Sun, would it start getting pulled directly into the Sun? If so, how long would it take for it to smash into it?	[ "The part about Neptune \"stopping\" doesn't really make any sense, so I'm going to ignore it. The second part is very easy to answer... if the Earth were anywhere near Neptune while it were falling Sunward, our orbit would be seriously destabilized and we'd be flung out of the solar system, or fall Sunward as well...
What exactly IS earwax, and what is its function?	[ "> ELI5 is for requests for easy-to-follow explanations of complex concepts and subjects. That means no questions that are just looking for straightforward answers...\n\nYour whole question can be answered if you look at the [Wikipedia page for earwax](_URL_0_). I mean, seriously, the first two sentences answe...
Why is it generally suggested not to mix different types of alcohol?	[ "You are right that the chemical is the same. You're mostly focusing on ethanol here (CH3CH2OH). The strength of an alcoholic beverage has to do with the concentration of ethanol in the beverage. So, why does it matter if we mix alcoholic beverages then? \n\nWell, my understanding is that the mixing process doesn't...
Why do bruises hurt when they get poked?	[ "Well, bruises are blood seeping out of blood vessels which have been damaged, so there's... damage there. But mostly, the blood puts pressure on surrounding tissues, and this pressure is detected by the nerves which interpret it as pain. Add just a little bit more pressure by poking it, and you feel it.", "To ke...
What is happening when I feel a "cute overload" when I see puppies, baby animals, etc.?	[ "Well, this is known as \"cute aggression\" (_URL_0_ ; _URL_1_) and I've posted on this before in ELI5, so I'm just going to quote what I said the last time as an elaboration for you:\n\n > Basically to simplify, this phenomenon does appear to exist in significant proportions of the population (so hopefully that m...
What is the purpose of this structure in a dam?	[ "Looks like an overflow emergency drain. In the event the level behind the dam gets too high, this structure, which is connected by pipe to a sluice way, allows water to drain without letting the dam be topped, which can be damaging to the dam structure. The smaller one I'm guessing is an air vent for that system....
could stomping on the gas in an older vehicle induce a transmission failure?	[ "Semi-competent mechanic here. The transmission was already on its last legs. Full throttle acceleration places a lot more load on the transmission compared to gentle acceleration because the engine is generating its full power.\n\nYour friend's acceleration simply accelerated the unfortunate transmission's demise....
Why did RIM/Blackberry make BBM for Android and iOS?	[ "There's 4 major ways that an app can make money. So far BBM hasn't implemented any of them that I know of, but maybe they plan to do so in the future.\n\n1) Pay up front - they haven't done that and probably won't since not as many people will download their app if they do.\n\n2) Subscription - again they haven't ...
Why are nightmares called nightmares?	[ "According to [Wikipedia](_URL_0_) the word \"nightmare\" derives from the Old English \"mare\", a mythological demon or goblin who torments others with frightening dreams.[3] Subsequently, the prefix \"night-\" was added to stress the dream-aspect. The word \"nightmare\" is cognate with the older German term Nacht...
Why am I less tired when I wake up after 3 hours of sleep then when I wake up after 8 hours?	[ "Waking up during rapid-eye movement sleep will make you feel worse and act worse than waking up during heavy or light sleep, which is why you can nap for an hour or three and feel great afterwards. It rejuvenates you.\n\nThe brain stages sleep into multiple forms, simply put, light goes into heavy sleep, and heavy...
What and why does getting a brain freeze hurt so much?	[ "This [article](_URL_0_) says it best in my opinion. Here's the main explanation:\n\n\"Dr. Serrador and team recruited 13 healthy adult volunteers. They were asked to sip ice-cold water through a straw, so that the liquid would hit their upper palate. Blood flow in their brain was monitored using a transcranial Do...
Why is it acceptable to eat steaks rare or medium but minced meat must be thoroughly cooked throughout?	[ "Meat is generally minced when it is approaching its use-by date. Steaks on the other hand usually have strict bacterial quality control, and so can be eaten less-cooked.\n\nBasically, it comes down to contaminants, and how many can be expected in each style of meat. Minced meats can be assumed to contain salmone...
What are the long term effects of casual alcohol consumption (ex 3-5 drinks per week) and how do the effects differ from alcoholism/heavy drinking?	[ "First of all, there is a difference between alcoholism and heavy drinking. Alcoholism is a psychological dependency on alcohol, where the individual cannot or will not stop drinking despite whatever bad effects it is having on his life, health, job, and family. Alcoholism and heavy drinking typically go hand in ...
Why do drinks of all types "sweat" water?	[ "The \"sweat\" is actually condensation of the water vapor in the surrounding air. It happens because of the temperature difference between the drink container and the air around it. Warm air can contain more moisture than cool air. The warm air cools down at the container surface, and the now-cooler air can't cont...
Why do melted chocolate chips (in cookies, pancakes, etc) stay melty after they've cooled down?	[ "there's a real science to tempering chocolate. \n\n\nyou have to heat it hot enough that the fat and sugar melt, cool it enough that the sugar sets, but the fat doesnt, which results in fat covered sugar crystals, then heat it enough that the sugar becomes semi-fluid, without separating from the oil, ..\n\nthen yo...
Why are some smells harder to wash out of your skin than others? e.g.; perfume vs. bleach	[ "Some asorb in. Perfume is menthol based so evaporates. Where as bleach is acid based and will burn in to your pores" ]
Why do some women complain about "luxury" tax on tampons but accept taxes on other necessary hygiene products like toothbrushes, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc?	[ "I can only comment on the 5% VAT applied to them in the UK. The anger towards the tax from some women in the UK mainly stems from 1)a fundamental misunderstand of how the tax system works, and 2)misinformation.\n\n1) \n\n* 5% is the minimum level of tax permitted by the EU. A finite list of items are exempt and ca...
It seems like a lot of my classmates who are in the military are getting married sooner, starting families sooner, etc. Why is this?	[ "Reasons that have been given include that because military personnel are expected to see combat, they will consider \"completing\" monumental life events such as marriage, having children sooner, aimed also at giving their long-time boy/girlfriends some closure and guarantee in the event that they unfortunatel...

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