Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
How are federal buildings considered private property?	[ "The land is owned by the federal government, as are the buildings, as is everything inside of them.", "Could you expand? What building are you talking about?\n\nFor example... you aren't going to be able to walk into the Pentagon because... its the fucking Pentagon.", "They are not, they are considered Federa...
What is happening to my blood when I get so mad it feels like it's boiling?	[ "If you're in an argument and get angry, your fight-or-flight response kicks in and causes an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. Many blood vessels throughout your body constrict, which causes body temperature to rise quickly." ]
Why don't christians have jesus as a name, like how muslims have mohammad as one?	[ "In spanish, Jesús is a very common name, like José or María.", "The English version of Jesus is Joshua. \n\nAnd, as every other person has already indicated, in Spanish, that same name is Jesús." ]
Why are college basketball/football rules different from the pros?	[ "The governing bodies of each league, be it NCAA or NBA, want to put a good product out. The rules are different because each league has found a reason to have different rules. Some of the rules encourage competition, such as the ground causing a fumble in college football. Some of the rules are just different beca...
Why is it that every week "This Week in Science" tells us of all these amazing breakthroughs in health and technology, yet none of them ever seem to materialize into real-world solutions for humanity?	[ "It's either (a) Totally over-hyped, (b) still underdeveloped and won't be ready to be widely used for a very long time, (c) it's very cost-inefficient or difficult to manufacture/use (take graphene, for example, you can't mass-produce that stuff yet,) or (d) it's totally over-hyped.", "It does appear in real lif...
What happens to drug money / laundered money after it is confiscated by authorities?	[ "It is forfeited to the gov't.\n\nIn some jurisdictions, it goes to the agency that seized it. This has caused a lot of problems, as those agencies more aggressively pursue causes where they smell money, often illegally.\n\nMore often, that money goes to a general fund and is spend like any other money the gov't c...
Why people don't just type their question into google to get an immediate, detailed answer instead of submitting it to ELI5.	[ "I appreciate the people who post to this sub instead of using Google. I can now spend hours sifting through answers to pointless questions I didn't know I wanted to know answers to!", "People want explanations they can understand in familiar terms, not highly detailed information full of inpenetrable jargon.", ...
Why is Jesus holding an orb and putting up two fingers in many of his portraits?	[ "The orb is called a [globus cruciger](_URL_0_), and symbolizes Christ's sovereignty over the world (thus the cross on top of the globe). In an interesting side note, this is yet another thing pointing out that yes, people did know the world was spherical before Christopher Columbus." ]
Olbers' Paradox	[ "Another way to put it is this. He thought that if the universe was infinitely large and had infinite stars, then any direction you look in the sky would eventually yield starlight. The night sky would be white and not black. But this is not the case. So the universe must in fact be finite.\n However we now know th...
Emulators and Roms	[ "Well, the emulator software emulates the processors in the console (in your case, the SNES). The ROM is a copy of the binary data on a game cart/disc. When you load the ROM into the emulator program, the emulator runs the ROM as close as it can get to the original hardware by converting the code in the game to som...
If taste is 80% smell then how come soap tastes horrible?	[ "It's not that the strength of the experience is 80% smell, rather that out of the number of different flavors, most are smells. The basic tastes we have are salty, sweet, savory/umami, bitter and sour. The rest, like \"vanilla\" or \"flowery\" or \"smokey\" are smells. But the basic tastes can still create very in...
What a Mechanic's Lien is/does?	[ "You take your car into the mechanic's shop to get it repaired. The mechanic fixes your car, and says you owe him $1,000. You don't have the money to pay him right now, but you need your car to get to work so you can make enough money to pay him. So, the mechanic gives you your car and keys back anyway and writes d...
During hot weather, why does my house seem to get hotter in the evening even though it has cooled down outside.	[ "Could be any of several reasons: 1) there are things in your house generating heat (e.g. electric appliances, lights, people and animals); 2) residual heat from the walls and roof of your house radiating it back into your house; 3) if the sun is still shining, could still be heating the inside of your house faster...
What's the facts on Kwanzaa? Is it a real thing?	[ ".The reasons it's a joke is that the sentiment of a new Christmas celebrating Africanness is a bit odd, those who would celebrate it probably already celebrate Christmas, and the traditions have no cultural or emotional root with people (Or historical for that matter.)\n\nImagine if I made a new holiday up of whol...
Why are bitcoins worth money?	[ "Bitcoin, like anything else, is worth money because we agree that it's worth money. Any value that anything has is only because someone else agrees that that something is worth trading for. The same is true of cars, diamonds, gold, and money. \n\nIf it is accepted that X amount of Bitcoin is worth Y dollars, th...
How can we be sure of the dates of historical events	[ "Knowing how they were implemented, we can sort of \"convert\" the dates from other calendars like Julian to our own. The Julian calender has a 365.25 day year. Gregorian uses 365.2425. That's a difference of .002%. Most of Europe adopted the Julian calender so it is pretty easy to convert since 45 BC. Before true ...
Why does adding slow motion to certain videos create a shutter effect?	[ "Imagine you have a video. You open it in your video software. After some investigation, you learn your video is 1 second long and consists of 24 individuals photos of a cat running. Cute!\n\nBut one of your friends comes along. She isn't very impressed by the video. She says it would look cooler if the cat was mov...
Why did Blu-ray win the war over HD-DVD?	[ "Sony owned blu Ray. They ps3 released in 2007 I think came w a blu Ray player... That ended that. But Sony did let you bring your hddvds back and paid for blu Ray replacements. And hddvds players also you could return for bluray. I only remember that because a friend of mine at the time bought an hdvd player for...
Why the asteroid in this .gif take the path that it does [particularly the parts where it speeds up and then suddenly leaves]	[ "The initial change in direction occurs because the object passes into a region of space where Earth's gravity outweighs that of the Sun. It's not a sudden change, which is why the path is curved rather than a sharp corner at this point.\n\nThe final loop is special because it happened to bring the object close to ...
Why are humans so bad at growing teeth?	[ "Unlike most animals, human diets have undergone a relatively rapid change in a relatively short period of time. Take an animal species and you're looking a creature that's been eating the same general diet for the last...million years or so.\n\nTake humans, however, and our diets have changed drastically in the pa...
Why does everything continue to exist, from moment to moment? What prevents the all-ness of everything from randomly, suddenly ceasing to exist?	[ "Your question is similar in feel to the question 'why is there anything at all?'. Thinking about this sometimes gives me vertigo, or makes me scared of death. Imagining the reality in which nothing exists feels like trying to imagine myself not existing....\n\nSo I guess I'd say there is no answer because it would...
Why do different types of alcohol have different effects on behavior?	[ "To my knowledge, little to no actual data exists on this. It is mostly anecdotal. However, alcohol makes you drunk. It really doesn't matter what kind of alcohol it is. Apart from the likelihood of a hangover the next day, the type of alcohol you drink actually doesn't (seem to) actually have different effects on ...
Why do bees produce honey? Why is it not harmful for the hive when we steal it all?	[ "They use it as a food source through the winter. It IS harmful if we steal it all; the hive will die without it. That's why people interested in keeping the hive alive only take some, or take it all and provide them with another food source.", "Bee's make honey for two reasons\n\n1. To insulate there hive in the...
Why does 'humid' cold feel colder than 'dry' cold?	[ "Humidity is the amount of moisture in the air and water is a good thermal conductor so when its cold water is cold and hot water gets as well. So when its cold and humid it will feel colder than when its dry because of the moisture in the air. It also has the reverse effect hot days will feel worse when it's humid...
What exactly causes mouth ulcers? Why are they white and why does salt help to heal the ulcers?	[ "Replying from phone. apologies for any typos. \n\nUlcers can be caused by a number of things. Stress, viral infections, bacteria, allergic reactions, etc. So no one thing causes it. \n\nThe whiteness, is basically your mouths way of scabbing over. Combination of platelets, mucous, and pus. If you have ever gone sw...
What can OSX not do that Windows and Linux can?	[ "I use all three on a regular basis and I find the pro/con arguments for each system to be a bit overblown. For the average end user there is little difference other than aesthetics. Chrome looks the same on all three operating systems, and that's about all the average person uses their computer for anymore is we...
Why are there different screw heads? Why not just one head, used everywhere?	[ "Originally, screws were designed for flat-headed screwdrivers and were very expensive to produce. With the advent of automation in factory settings, however, screws were needed which could better stand up to the power of automated screwdrivers. Thus, the Phillips-head screw was designed to help better center the s...
How much is the average college partier doing to his/her body, by binge drinking every weekend over the course of four years?	[ "Follow up question: how much is that damage exacerbated by continuing for the following 8 years?", "Binge drinking alcohol is actually one of the most harmful drugs to your brain. \n\n\"“Frontal white matter tracts are the pathways that connect the frontal lobes to the rest of the brain,” study co-author Catheri...
Why is the sign for a dollar $ when the dollar starts with a 'D'	[ "historical reasons, it's easy to find on [wiki dollar sign](_URL_0_).\n\n\nthere are two possibilities, it evolved from spanish peso (p^(s)) by merging of two letters and evolving into $ (like on [this](_URL_1_) picture)", "I'm more interested in when the dollar sign was reduced to a single vertical line over a ...
What's going on with Nick Clegg?	[ "Nick Clegg is the deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Democrat Party. The current Prime Minister of the UK (not just England) is David Cameron; however, he is only Prime Minister because his party (the Conservatives) entered into a coalition with Nick Clegg's Party.\n\nNick Clegg is in the news a lot n...
Why is a number 2 non-mechanical pencil required for standardized tests?	[ "The #2 pencil is a mid-range softness for pencils, about an HB hardness, it is a pencil that can leave a dark mark and maintain a semi-sharp point. On the HB scale the higher the H number the harder the lead, the higher the B number the darker the lead, F and HB are the mid lead, but HB leaves a darker mark than ...
Why are there so many Saudi Princes? And how many are there?	[ "There are 15,000 members of the royal family in Saudi Arabia, all princes/princesses or better. Part of this is just due to the fact that Saudi Arabia has practiced, and still practices, polygamy. The founder of modern Saudi Arabia had at roughly 100 children, 45 of them sons. His youngest was born 52 years af...
what happens to someone's debts when they die?	[ "Hey tarekiswhat, don't kill yourself. I love you.", "Almost always it's just a loss for whoever loaned it to you and it disappears, or if anything exists they take it out of your estate before it gets passed down to your kids/etc.\n\nUnless someone co-signed for something of yours ,then they're responsible for t...
Why do they still paint airforce planes in camouflage?	[ "The paint on the B2, F22, F177 is radar absorbing paint which helps reduce it's radar signature. And the paint on the other planes is CARC paint which is chemical and radiation resistant.", "They are not painted for camouflage. It may look like camo but the paint is special and has other purposes." ]
Why is standardized testing such a big deal?	[ "Your GPA depends as much or more on how easy of a grader your teacher was than how good of a student you are. Standardized tests don't tell them much, but at least it gives them something they can use that can compare between students in different schools.", "It gives the country an easy way to compare scores an...
Why haven't insects evolved to be able to avoid spider webs?	[ "What makes you think they haven't? They're in an evolutionary arms race. Bugs that can't escape or avoid spider webs die. Spiders that can't make a spider web that catches bug dies of starvation. \n\nEach generation the poorest web making spider dies of starvation, and the insect least able to avoid or escape spid...
Is the sun actually yellow?	[ "the sun is white.\n\nit's just tinted yellow from the sky, it's also why the sky is blue, \nthe sky diffracts light.\nhere is a great video\n_URL_0_\nthe sun looks red at sunset because of the atmosphere.\n\nthe suns emits a lot of light, not all of it is visible to us humans, but we will see it as white if we wer...
Why do i keep getting acne when I have showered every day for 4 years and have a healthy diet/work out? Im a 18 year old male	[ "Not a doctor here, but maybe you should see a dermatologist if you haven't already (not that this is strange, but they can really help).\n\nA lot of acne in adolescence is caused by androgens being released in the body, such as testosterone (this is released in everybody during puberty, regardless of sex). Somet...
Why are phones so much more expensive than other mobile technology???	[ "Miniaturization. It's the same reason laptops are more expensive than desktops. It's pricier to make things smaller.\n\nTo a lesser extent, Steve Jobs set the price of the first iPhone based almost purely on his gut feel of what people would pay. It seems to have stuck" ]
why do pens dry out if you leave the cap off even though most caps have holes in the top?	[ "TL;DR: Air, humidity, and heat circulation levels. \n\nAir has two ways of drying out stuff. \n\nThe first is through simple \"Brownian Motion\" - the effect where absolutely still air has individual particles (molecules) that move around and when they hit some water, knock some loose and evaporate them. This ...
what happens if you don't carry any i.d. and refuse to identify yourself to police?	[ "It is very rare that this situation would happen. I don't know about the US but in the UK (specifically England and Wales), you can be arrested if it is not possible to verify your name OR address, if the police officer believes you have commited a crime. \n\nIn this situation they would take you to the police sta...
Explain why some racing cars have open tops, like I'm five.	[ "I dont think you've gotten too many great answers so I'll give it a go.\n\nSeries like Formula 1, F2, F3, GP2 etc must follow the formula for the series which has strict rules and regulations, hence the term formula. In this case the cars are required to be open wheel and open cockpit.\n\nA better series to cons...
How does Supply and Demand work when the good is virtual, like steam games?	[ "In this case the supply is essentially infinite, but demand isn't.\n\nAs the price charged increases, the demand will decrease as less people are willing to pay that price for the game. It works out that there is an optimal point where enough people want to buy the game at a high enough price where revenue is maxi...
What does Berkshire Hathaway do exactly?	[ "Value investing. They buy stock in companies that they believe are undervalued. Some companies they buy 100%. Warren Buffet and his team analyze companies very carefully before selecting what to buy and they very rarely ever sell." ]
Why do you get the feeling of throwing up when you're hungry?	[ "Your stomach is constantly producing acid and sometimes when there is no food in your stomach, there is too much acid and it causes a feeling of nausea", "How can people eat when they wake up in the morning? I don't get hungry until about 4 hours after I wake up in the morning, and I don't eat anything before I...
When our nails grow, what stops the skin at the base of the nails from stretching and breaking?	[ "It does stretch and break, but the nail is moving slowly enough that the tiny injuries and repairs happen without you noticing.\n\nThe growth occurs under the small patch of skin at the base of the nail. The rest isn't actually alive, it's just hard protein, similar to hair, working its way across the top of your ...
Why do cell service providers charge so much for data?	[ "For two reasons. \n\n1. They can. They want make more money. \n\n2. To discourage people from using too much data, and therefore making it slower for everyone. \nWireless data doesn't cost to much to produce, but there is a limited quantity of it.", "1) Because they can\n\n2) Because the infrastructure to suppor...
Why do people with memory loss remember their childhood in such detail but forget recent events like their grandchildren getting married?	[ "I'm not an expert on a scientific level, but I worked in an assisted living home that specialized in advanced forms of dementia for over a year and this is what I picked up in my time there;\n\nThe brain forms thought and memory with physical connections points. And each time you reference a memory, you thicken an...
Double and single action trigger mechanisms in revolvers and the differences between the two.	[ "In a double action, when you pull the trigger, the hammer moves back, and then is released, triggering the primer in the bullet and firing the gun. Alternatively, you can pull back the hammer manually, which then makes the trigger pull much shorter and lighter (which is what a \"hair trigger\" actually is).\n\nIn ...
Envy and how to use it	[ "No, Jealousy in the classic sense is far different than Envy.\n\nEnvy is simply looking at something and wishing not only did you have it, but the person possessing it did not.\n\nJealousy often consists of a combination of emotions such as anger, resentment, inadequacy, helplessness and disgust.\n\nEnvy is simply...
Explain to me the Voter ID amendment.	[ "The proposed amendment to the Minnesota state constitution will require voters to show photo identification at the polling place before they are allowed to vote. It further stipulates that the state government should be required to, at no cost, provide an acceptable form of photo ID to eligible voters.\n\nThe argu...
What is actually going on here, Is he dead or alive?	[ "He's dead. You can't defeat the aging process (The breakdown of cells and the inability to create new ones) or hunger or thirst by just meditating.", "The monks are claiming he's still alive, but medically, he's dead." ]
When I have to "stop and think" to solve a problem, what is going no in my body as I stare at nothing? Is this different from "stopping to think" to remember a fact?	[ "You are simply shutting down the other activities that your brain is usually forced to multi-task, in order to divert more of your brains attention to the task at hand. You have markedly diminished critical thinking skills when you are multi-tasking, so if you can just quiet down for a second and stop intaking oth...
Mechanics of Omnidirectional Treadmill	[ "_URL_0_ This video shows off a similar technology while letting you see the side and underside, which helps a lot in understanding what it's doing.\n\nIt's basically one big conveyor belt, with a bunch of little conveyor belts on it facing the other direction.\n\nIf the little belts move, they can move you forwa...
Why do I feel physically exhausted after an argument, even if I argued calmly?	[ "Because any sort of conflict triggers the 'fight or flight' response.\n\n[Wikipedia] Fight-or-flight response - _URL_0_" ]
Why is it that there seems to be a new revolutionary breakthrough in fighting cancer every week, but cancer isn't cured yet?	[ "Because there are hundreds of different types of cancer, and thousands of different subsets of possible progression. Cancer is just your own cells dividing unconstrained, so every individual case is absolutely unique.", "Cancer is not caused by one single etiological factor, but rather complex overplay of n numb...
How can colleges like UConn justify raising tuition of students, while paying their coaches for their sports inordinate amounts of money?	[ "According to [this article](_URL_0_), in 2011 men's basketball generated almost $14M in revenue, netting the athletic department almost $4M in profit. Football and Basketball (including Women's basketball at UConn) effectively fund the entire athletic budget.\n\nPeople only go to watch winning teams. So yes, the c...
What is Dungeons and Dragons	[ "If you play WoW, you have played D & D on the computer. Dungeons and Dragons is about the same game. When the game was first made it was new and exciting because it was a role playing game with dice and adventure. The rules read like a mortgage contract, and are as detailed as a spec sheet for an aircraft carrier....
How was Voldemort able to run a successful "Pure-Blood Only" campaign if he himself was a half-blood?	[ "He found out and killed any connection with the muggle side of his family. Kept it a tight secret and although it was suspected no one really knew.\nDid you even read number 6?", "It's not like his parentage was well known, he was an orphan after all. Besides, no one was going to call him out on it and risk g...
if we could vibrate at the natural frequency of air could we "phase" through objects?	[ "No. There is literally nothing about that question that makes any scientific sense. Even if air had a \"natural frequency\", it does not pass through solid objects, so there would be no reason to think a person would either.", "What people are basically trying to tell you is that this is a work of fiction, and t...
Why emigrate illegally? Why do people not go through legal channels to enter a country?	[ "There are a limited number of spots and demand far outsizes supply. The process also can take years, even decades depending on personal situations and costs significant amounts of money. Many people come to the country only to work so they can send money back to work. Waiting that time quite literally costs them m...
Why do international calls cost so much? Both landline to landline and mobile calls	[ "Just a guess but probably because they can. How come there are fees for buying sports and concert tickets? You're just paying a fee for paying a fee. It makes no sense but people pay anyway." ]
Why does a word look unfamiliar if we stare at it for a long time?	[ "A word written down is on its own just meaningless symbols to represent an idea, emotion, place etc. The longer you just stare at the word itself the meaning is peeled away leaving you with the symbols alone. \n\nThe same can be experienced by repeating a word over and over again. After just a short time it will s...
Why is there such a larger concentration of land mass in the Northern Hemisphere?	[ "There is no reason, it just turned out that one hemisphere has more land above sea level than the other.\n\nKeep in mind that the designations of \"north\" and \"south\" are human-made, you could easily swap the names around or flip the map: _URL_0_", "You also have to keep in mind that the most common world map...
Why do things like paper and clothing become transparent when wet?	[ "Paper and most clothing is made of long chains of molecules that will attract and loosely bind water. When they get wet the structure of the molecules that make up the paper or cloth changes slightly allowing more light to pass." ]
Why do passports expire?	[ "1) Prevent identity fraud. It's tougher to use a stolen passport if it has an expiration date.\n\n2) Things age, namely the photo used in the passport.\n\n3) Technology improves. A lot of technology goes into a passport, both for the identification of the holder/authenticity of the passport and to prevent fraud. I...
Is streaming digital data essentially "intelligent electricity"?	[ "Not any more than the electricity going through a phone line is \"audible electricity\". Its all just a sequence of electricity, making sense of it comes with the encoders/decoders on either side.", "If I had a light that I flashed to tell a message (like [Morse code] (_URL_0_)) would you call that intelligent l...
How do insurance companies deal with voluntary organ donations?	[ "The recipient pays all costs for the donor in the US. One or two blood tests (pre-) and a doctor's visit (post) may not be covered by the recipient, depending on the exact methodology used by the specific transplant center.\n\nSource: Related to a donor and a recipient. The donor [or insurance] paid all costs exce...
Why is it that when i learn something, it always seems to pop up soon after?	[ "Confirmation bias. You're not seeing that thing any more often than normal, but since it's on your mind it stands out when you see it or hear about it.", "What about experiences? I had two black guys waiting outside the back door of the restaurant tonight way after close, my boss and I were leaving and I had j...
Why do 4 year-old's think Dinosaurs and Trucks are so cool?	[ "I think it may be down to the fact that they are aware that they, themselves have little in the way of power, so things that are inherently powerful, may appeal to them, as something to aspire to. I'm not certain though.\n\nAlso, I'm 34. Dinos are still badass." ]
We eat food, drink water and breathe down our throats. Why do we gag when we put our finger in our throat?	[ "Because it simulates choking. Air/Water/Food doesn't normally stop halfway down, as it were." ]
How bacteria appears in its enironment?	[ "There are two ways salmonella can get in eggs. One is if the chicken has salmonella on it's ovaries or in its ovaducts - that can get an infection in the egg sack before the shell is formed. The other is if there is salmonella on the shell, like from the chicken's own poop. (Interestingly, these are different kind...
Why is having a credit card (and taking micro loans for everyday purchases) at all a good idea?	[ "My friend Bob asks to borrow 5 pounds from me. I worry that he might not pay it back, but it's only 5 pounds, so I lend it to him. He pays me back next month. This repeats a few times, he's always borrowing 5 or 10 pounds and always paying it back. Then one day he says he really needs to fix his car and can he bor...
How does a sex change, male-female/female-male work?	[ "However the patient wants and their medical health professionals recommend - every transgender person is going to have a unique experience, as their bodies may react differently to treatments or they may not desire the full range of treatments available. \n\nThe most common step is for the person to take hormone r...
What is a "sigh," exactly, and why do we do it when we're sad or exasperated? Does every culture sigh?	[ "I don't think it's cultural or even human for that matter. I've heard my dog sigh when he's frustrated", "There is a great article in the Guardian that discusses this;\n\n > Californian scientists have identified the source of the sigh. It is not just a response to sadness, depression or despair: it is, also, th...
Why eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc are considered breakfast food?	[ "Believe it or not, it was the result of a deliberate advertising campaign on behalf of the pork industry:\n\n > In the 1920s, Bernays was approached by the Beech-Nut Packing Company – producers of everything from pork products to the nostalgic Beech-Nut bubble gum. Beech-Nut wanted to increase consumer demand for ...
Why do people wearing clothes made by child labour/slaves treat people who wear fur like monsters?	[ "Fur is easily visible, and is usually worn by wealthy people, so it's easy to criticize.\n\nNote that very few people attack strangers for wearing leather, even though it's just fur with the hair removed." ]
Why does the speed of light have anything to do with time travel?	[ "> They just seem like unrelated areas. It is my understanding that:\n\n > Speed of light = forward through time\n\n > Faster than the speed of light = backwards through time.\n\n > I just don't see the relation?\n\n\nWhat happened is that Einstein discovered relativity. I'm not going to get into why, suffice to...
If calories are technically energy, how do they turn into fat or muscle?	[ "Your body doesn't turn calories into anything, per se. A calorie is a unit of measurement regarding energy - one calorie is the amount of energy required to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree (Celsius). Your fat and muscle comes from things like protein, lipids, and carbohydrates." ]
Why do days begin in the middle of the night instead of dawn?	[ "Dawn changes everyday, so it would be a very unreliable gauge on time. But I know what you mean, why doesn't the day begin at our current 7am. I'm only guessing, but i'd imagine it would come from what we perceive to be the 'middle' of the day, 12 noon. If that is the middle, then logically the opposite side would...
why do fridges make such strange sounds?	[ "Refridgerators contain [heat pumps](_URL_0_), which circulate heat out of the fridge. These heat pumps contain moving parts, which make noise. [Here's a nice animation of what's moving in a heat pump](_URL_1_)." ]
If poverty and crime are almost always linked, why are the ghettos in San Francisco and Sacramento with Asian immigrants have almost non existent crime?	[ "Who says those areas don't have crime? There are Asian gangs that operate in San Francisco and Sacramento.", "Are you kidding, or just extremely poorly-informed?\n\nChinese gangs have been a serious problem in San Francisco dating back to the early 20th century, at least. Go try reading up on, say, the Sun Ye...
Why does the bruised part of an apple turn brown so quickly after its dropped?	[ "The cellular damage allows for oxidization (just like how if you cut the apple open, it would brown). Read more here: _URL_0_\n\nThere's probably a deeper answer about why apples in general oxidize so quickly (which I don't know the answer to), but as far as your question goes, the bruise has the same effect as cu...
What causes our body's automatic reaction to gag when we see or smell rot?	[ "Our body developed this sense of disgust to prevent us from poisoning ourselves. We need to feel sick, or disgusted by rotten, and possiby poisonous food, so we won't even be tempted to eat it.", "You left it open for a more specific answer, so here you go, ELI5 style:\n\nWe do a lot of things automatically. So...
How does a phone recognize when someone else takes a screenshot of your text/snapchat/etc	[ "The way I would have done it, were I to be developing snapchat, would be to \"hook\" the Android-provided function for a screenshot.\n\nThat is, I would program software that forced my code to be ran whenever a screenshot was taken, and, if appropriate, send that a screenshot has been taken." ]
Why do older TVs have a weird screen effect while being viewed on another camera?	[ "because the refresh rate of the TV screen collides with the frame rate of the video resulting in an \"animation\" of said refresh rate - the line moving up or down the screen. It's similar to the way rims on a car often look like they are going on the wrong direction on film, or how in a strobe environment water ...
Why does Asian porn use censors? [NSFW]	[ "There's a [Quora post](_URL_0_) that explains a little bit about the laws in Japan regarding censorship. A more in-depth explanation can be found on this [Wikipedia page](_URL_1_).\n\nEssentially, it's viewed as okay to accept that porn exists and people watch it so long as the act itself is censored. Both links I...
The Vault 7 CIA leaks	[ "Is there anything specific you want to know about? It's a very big leak and one that people are still sifting through - there is a lot of misinformation going around though and I'd love to help people understand where I can to stem that.\n\nTLDR: Wikileaks have come into possession of some data from one of the CIA...
Why do film reviewers on YouTube have so many issues with fair use, but those on television do not?	[ "The film clips you see on TV reviews or on video reviews put together by larger outlets (newspapers, big pop-culture websites, etc.) are provided by the studios or distributors. There is no issue with fair use, because everything is already cleared. \n\nThese materials make up a film's electronic press kit (EPK). ...
How can our ears pick up the smallest vibrations in the air, but wind isn't deafening?	[ "If it's strong enough it certainly is deafening, but the shape of our ear lobes and canals does a pretty good job of keeping the wind streams out. It's a relatively small canal so big gusts of air blow past it while the intersection of more or less standing air in your ear canal and the shifting air outside can tr...
Did those Duracell batteries with the little "press here to see power remaining" function actually work? If so, how?	[ "They did. \n\nYou'd have to press really hard though, and then the line would fill up/ turn transparent indicating how full the battery was.\n\nAccording to an older ELI5 threat, pressing on the circle's would close a circuit within the battery, which would heat up a resistor. This heat is then detected by the lit...
How do payroll debit cards "save" an employee money? Why do some places push for them to be the only method to get your paycheck?	[ "Direct deposit costs employers money. It isn't a lot, and it is cheaper than physical checks, but it isn't free.\n\nPay cards are being pushed by the banks and they are generally pretty terrible for the employee. The banks will do them for free or even pay the owner of the company to use them.\n\nSome people don...
When I was a kid I saw side by side (our product vs. theirs) advertising everywhere, what happened to it?	[ "Two reasons why it's not really done anymore:\n\n1) Anything you say about the other product, any use of their brand/trademarks and any demonstrations of the other product will be carefully scrutinized and can potentially get your company sued or in trouble with the FTC (in the US), particularly if you make any st...
How does this airfoil work?	[ "The rhomboidal wing used in the aircraft works as a very large wingtip, reducing harmful wingtip vortices that induce drag." ]
How do cells know what to do when they don't have brains?	[ "Big, complicated, multicellular organisms like us are really just the result of tons and tons of very complicated chemical reactions! \n\nFor example, blood vessels seem to magically \"know\" to grow in a pattern that oxygenates every cell. What actually happens is that, during growth, cells that aren't getting en...
What's actually happening when you miss someone so much you can physically feel it?	[ "The threshold between mental anguish and physical pain is quite small. That's pretty much what it boils down to. Any emotional turmoil can inflict fairly severe physical effects as well. It's why grief runs rollercoasters over people.", "The part of your brain that regulates emotional reactions, the anterior cin...
How my dad can get all of these coupon viruses on his computer so easily when I have never gotten one once.	[ "In my experience, old people (aka our parents) have far less an understanding of computers than you give them credit for. Their knowledge base and skill set are NOT intuitive like it is for us. They can't \"figure it out\". They click on shit. They have no idea what they're doing or clicking on. If they knew, then...
When I have a sinus infection - why does the side that is plugged change occasionally?	[ "Often it has to do with the way you are positioned. First of all, the sensation of stuffiness you are feeling is due to a dilation of the small vessels that are in the lining of your sinuses (decongestants work by constricting these blood vessels). The vessels leak fluid and cause edema (bogginess) of the sinuses,...
whats so special about Cuban cigars, why can't we just make them in the states?	[ "If we could get the Cuban tobacco we could do a pretty good imitation; producing cigars alone is not the problem. It's all in the unique combination of growing conditions found on the island. That's why California Pinot Noir won't taste the same as French Burgundy made with the same varietal grape, all other wine...
During WW2 how was post made possible between the UK and Germany?	[ "You go through a neutral 3rd country. \nFor Europe popular choices were Switzerland (usually involving the International Red Cross for sending mail to POWs and civilian internees) and Portugal (for everything else). \nThe British Mail service, in order to avoid appearing to colaborate with the enemy, enlisted th...

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