Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
why do large banks get to "make a deal" with the federal government instead of just being fined, sanctioned or prosecuted.	[ "The number one reason is the US justice system is always a bargaining table. Prosecutors (at every level) take cases to trial only when a bargain can't be reached (or rarely because they don't wish to reach a bargain because they value the media coverage of the trial highly). \n\nIt's exceedingly hard to prove l...
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. Is the process of evaporation different then? How does the water stay in a gas form in clouds?	[ "There are two separate mistakes you've made.\n\nThe first is the temperature at which evaporation occurs. Water boils at 100 degrees C, yes. This is the temperature where every molecule in your water sample becomes gas. But evaporation takes place at much lower temperatures. At any temperature above 0 degrees C,...
Why do you need a prescription for an asthma inhaler?	[ "There's a few things that go into deciding which drugs are offered for sale OTC. First up is abuse potential - if people can get high on it, it'll generally get regulated. After that is safety - is it easy to overdose? Does it have ugly side effects? Does it have any scary drug interactions? The final detail, whic...
How do people come up with, and make, camouflage patterns?	[ "Similar to how they make tye dye shirts. bunching up parts of it and stuff. or just randomly sewing on pieces of scrap cloth. The trick isn't randomness persay but rather a general consistency of color ratio. The onlooker fools themselves for the most part." ]
Why do microwave ovens expel air?	[ "it's cooling the \"microwave emitting plate thingys\" they eat a lot of power and subsequently generate a lot of heat like a computer motherboard." ]
Is shifting into/out of neutral in an automatic car while in motion bad for the engine?	[ "Another aspect is the difference in engine speed to output shaft speed.\n\nIn gear, engine drag still drives the input shaft of the transmission, this in turn operates the internal oil pump. This oil then is fed to the rest of the transmission.\n\nIn neutral at high speed your output shaft and various internal co...
Why is the sum of the digits of a multiple of three always divisible by three?	[ "Let's take your number as an example. First, split it up into units, tens, hundreds, etc:\n\n 10347 = 10000 + 300 + 40 + 7\n\nThen count the number of units, tens, hundreds, etc:\n\n 10347 = 1 x 10000 + 0 x 1000 + 3 x 100 + 4 x 10 + 7\n\nNow separate out a single one of each of the tens, hundreds, etc:\n\n ...
why does Coke at McDonalds taste so much better than Coke at other restaurants, and better than the bottle/can.	[ "What WtheCore said, plus drinks at restaurants are produced by mixing a syrup with carbonated water. Differences in the water used, errors in how much syrup is being used/maintenance and cleaning on the machine can all impact the end result.", "Different container, different eating environment, ice vs. none, [th...
Was there a time when Greeks worshipped the Titans instead of the Gods? Or did the entire narrative come about after worship of the pantheon of gods was already established?	[ "In a word, no.\n\nWhile certain gods came and went, and some were considered newer even when they were actually quite ancient, for the most part the gods that the Greeks worshiped remained, as far as this question is concerned, the same. Essentially their pantheon was inherited from the proto-indoeuropean roots mu...
Megathread on United Kingdom, Pound, European Union, brexit and the vote results	[ "[Very helpful link explaining what's happening](_URL_0_)\n\nSorry mods if this is against the rules, please remove it if it is...", "i have no idea what's going on, \n\n* why is the uk leaving in the first place?\n\n\n* what does this mean for the average brit?\n\n\n* what does this mean for the average american...
why do all cameras/phones save photos to a folder named "DCIM"?	[ "It's a convention. Short of Digital Camera Images. The convention allows for a device to place files in a place that makes sense on media - e.g. you media may have lots of folders, but its going to use this one to place new images. It's not much more than a convention like \"documents\" or \"desktop\" (although...
Solicited and unsolicited non-spam emails	[ "This is actually a very complex question, and there's a few ways of looking at it.\n\n* Capability? : You can send a solicited email to anyone if you don't care about being sued or fired or such. \n\n* Criminally? : See above. The exceptions here are if you're doing things like exposing state secrets, f...
Why does russia get so heavily sanctioned when they supported the rebels but nothing has happened to turkey when they are supporting a group of mass murderers and barbarians that are a much bigger threat?	[ "Turkey is a Nato country with strategic position between Europe and Middle East. Because it is an ally, it is dealt with silk gloves. Kind of like authoritan Saudi Arabia is an important ally for the US in the Middle East, and US doesn't really raise up the humanitarian crimes of Saudi Arabia.", "How is Turkey d...
What causes the sensation that your hearing is muffled and your vision is blurred when you're dizzy or about to pass out?	[ "Sounds like low blood pressure. If that happens often it may be worth talking to a doctor about.\n\nIf your blood pressure is low and you suddenly stand up it may take your heart a moment to get all that blood uphill to your brain. During that period your brain basically goes into self preservation mode. It draws ...
While in China, spammers were able to send spammy text messages to my phone somehow, simply by me being there. How did they do this?	[ "When a cellphone connections to any cell network various things need to happen so that the cellphone works. The spammers have hooked into that process, legally or illegally. That's how they know you're there and how they can send an SMS to your phone even though you've never called anyone in that country.", "Mob...
Why there isn't improved safety around subway trains	[ "How many accidents are occurring today that would be prevented by your proposed 'improved safety'? How much would those improvements cost? Who would pay for the improvements?" ]
How can speakers make dozens of different frequencies (sounds) at the same time?	[ "All the waves from each sound combine into one wave. Obviously air cannot be two different pressures at a given point and time, right? So a single speaker can in theory reproduce any possible sound or combination of sounds." ]
Why doesn't the smell of excrement or urine get on your clothes, but the smell of curry does	[ "Question: does the smell of curry permeate the clothing, or does it permeate the body and scent the sweat? I had always assumed the latter. I don't find the smell offensive either way, but I had always planned, in case of a plane crash in the Andes where I am stranded for weeks with no food except corpses of fel...
what happens to bullets that get fired directly in the air?	[ "To expand on the other answer, the reason they don't hit very hard is because of air resistance. \n\nIn beginner's physics, we're taught that if you throw something up, it'll leave your hand at some height h. It'll travel upward, being slowed by the constant acceleration of gravity. Eventually it stops, and b...
Why does a ball bounce higher when it has more air in it?	[ "When a ball bounces, it deforms. With a ball that deforms more, more energy goes into the deformation, and more goes into \"wasted energy\" (heat, sound). With a ball that has higher pressure it deforms less, less wasted energy, and due to the conservation of energy, it will return more energy and bounce higher. T...
Why do I often read that scientists only search for planets that are inhabitable by our own human standards?	[ "NASA is joyously cataloging every last extra-solar planet that we can find out of a love of the pure knowledge of what's out there.\n\nThe media only cares about planets that might be habitable by humans because ordinary people don't care about desolate rocks in space. But take heart - anything that shares even 1 ...
How does the math work behind any search engine algorithm?	[ "What set Google apart from the others in the beginning of search engines was the [PageRank](_URL_0_) algorithm. From there, everyone else probably adopted something similar.\n\nGoogle is constantly looking for feedback on how to make their searches better. I think you need to start at the question, \"how can I get...
What is the point of scientists creating new elements if they are all extremely unstable and can only exist as a few atoms for a few fractions of a second?	[ "Solving a really hard problem usually requires one to solve many less hard problems, some of them for the first time. In solving those problems and documenting them you make it easier for future work which may come across those same problems. That's one of the cornerstones of science. \n\nIn addition there's a hyp...
How does money function and where does it come from?	[ "I can't speak to bitcoin directly, but money evolved into what it is today. Originally, you traded things for other things or services, then gold and silver became the standard because they were precious metals with value because of the demands of people for the metals. Then they found a way to mark the pieces of ...
What exactly is "unlocking" a phone? Why is it a big deal in the news in the past month?	[ "Basically, I'm not stating anything new, but I'll throw in a perspective from a different user: Canadian.\n\nEssentially, when I buy a cellphone here, in Canada, I have 2 options:\nPay full price for the phone, or get a deep discount of about 75% and get locked into a 2-3 year agreement with that provider, typical...
What are memories, physically?	[ "When you think, neurons in your brain fire off, or individually pass electricity through themselves, and this creates patterns because of the sheer speed and amount this happens. When neurons fire off in a pattern, it's called a synapses and these patterns create 'connections' which happen at several million times...
Why did slavery in the 1800s only exist in the agricultural economies of the south and not the industrial economies of the north in the US?	[ "Because oddly enough holding slaves was pretty expensive and in the north there were hordes of immigrants that would work themselves almost to death for almost no money at all. Also, tradition.", "Part of the reason was the explosion of industrialization in the Northeast. Large factories don't need slave labor t...
Why does going to sleep get rid of most 'simple' ailments (headache, sickness etc)	[ "Aside from the part where sleeping is when our bodies really hunker down and focus on healing/resting, most of these ailments are simply healed over a small period of time. \"Time travelling\" 8 hours into the future just gets the time over with. Your headache is only going to last a few hours, and sleeping gets t...
Why do people only require the car support beams in order to restore it? I mean how is that cost efficient?	[ "Well firstly when talking about cars and such the \"super structure\" isn't super, its usually just called the chassis.\n\n(UK Sha-see USA Cha-see)\n\nAnd secondly yes that can be all you need for older cars, think of it this way, for every car made, there could be dozens or hundreds of spare parts made for each...
Why do electronics run faster under cold temperatures?	[ "Some modern electronics have built-in thermal protection that causes them to slow down to prevent overheating. \n\nThose that do not have this feature do not run any faster when cold. They run more reliably.\n\nWhen electronics get too hot the insulating layers inside the chips break down, voltages drift, and ...
Why isn't a virus considered a living organism?	[ "I believe the most commonly cited reasons include the lack of internal metabolism and the lack of an ancestral means of self replication without parasitizing nucleic acid polymerase and cellular ribosomes. It is somewhat of a fuzzy concept that is always evolving though.\n\nIt could be thought of as analogous to w...
If I don't like the taste of a food and someone else likes the taste of the same food, are we both tasting the same thing?	[ "Sometimes not. Some people are more sensitive to bitter tastes, for instance, and green vegetables like spinach taste more bitter to them.", "Its really complicated, when you get into personal preferences. Lots of people assume our sensory inputs are just taking in 100% new, raw sensory information from the env...
Why do video game graphics and movie CGI look so different, when they're pretty similar in their creation?	[ "Video game graphics have to be rendered in real time at somewhere between 30 and 60 frames a second for the game to be playable where as the CGI for movies can take weeks to render out.\n\nThere's also a style difference, where movies are trying to appear as real as possible while game CG is trying to be consisten...
Why don't the makers of microwaves remove the popcorn button since every bag of microwavable popcorn instructs the user not to press that button?	[ "Those extra buttons on your microwave aren't really for people to use them, they are to make the microwave appear to be of a higher value and quality to the customer.\n\nBecause are you going to buy the microwave with the popcorn button or the one that appears to be inferior because it doesn't have this cool butto...
Does getting sick with the flu once provide the same effect as the flu shot for that year?	[ "Kind of. You'll get immunity to that particular strain, but the flu shot typically contains vaccines against a few different strains. As such, you could still catch one of the other common strains that are going around, which the vaccine would have protected you against. \n\nNot all strains that go around are pr...
Unemployment Rate for Teens and Young Adults in the US and what is being done to Improve it.	[ "I can't comment on Obama's/Romney's specific plans, since I'm in Australia and I wasn't watching your news coverage that closely.\n\nHowever, the unemployment rate isn't really something the President has much control over. Of course, this doesn't stop them from talking about it (because it's a popular topic tha...
Why is it so difficult to think with a cold or stuffy nose?	[ "Because multi tasking. Medulla Oblongata is responsible for regulating a passive ( in the background of your brain processing ) breathing. Try holding your breath and go think about any thing. Stuffy nose is an obstacle in this process." ]
In general, what is stopping the internet from being much faster than it is?	[ "So the speed of the Internet is still limited to the speed of light- if someone in Seoul wants to download information from a computer in New York, it will still take 36 ms to get there (meaning the minimum ping of someone playing on a New York game server from South Korea is 72ms- the time it takes to get there a...
What is happening with the hole in the ozone layer it used to be a huge deal but now i dont hear anything about it	[ "It's been recovering. News sources prefer more sensationalist stuff. It's a lot easier to get viewers when they say it's growing than it's shrinking, so they've largely stopped talking about it since it started recovering." ]
How can gas station/mini-marts (in the US) reject large bills?	[ "\"legal for all debts\" means debts. If they haven't agreed to the sale and you haven't received the goods, there's no debt yet.", "From the [US Treasury on Legal Tender](_URL_0_):\n\n > ...\n\n > This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for de...
what causes that "old" metallic-like smell in antique typewriters/cameras/sewing machines?	[ "It's actually a kind of body odor. When you touch the metal, it catalyzes the decomposition of oils on your skin and makes smaller, more volatile compounds that make up the \"metal smell.\"" ]
Biologically, why does a man often reach orgasm long before a woman?	[ "Male orgasm(ejaculation) is required for reproduction.\n\nFemale orgasm is not.\n\nMakes for more efficient reproduction.", "The female orgasm does serve a purpose in reproduction; the pelvic muscles contract/tighten and this helps pull the semen in further, increasing chances for fertilization." ]
When the police offer a reward for helping to catch a criminal where does that money come from?	[ "> Taxes? Does each police station have an allotment of funds?\n\nYes." ]
Why do .gifs take SOOOO long to load???	[ "If by GIF you mean actual animated GIF and not animated-GIF-converted-into-a-video-but-still-called-a-GIF, these were never designed for videos.\n\nGIF is a simple graphics format that work well for simple shapes, logos, that sort of thing -- and not, for example, photos, with thousands of colours, soft edges and ...
What does "going to the lowest bidder" mean?	[ "Usually it's referring to how government contracts are awarded. Contractors submit bids for how much it will cost to do a particular job for the government, and the government is required to choose the contractor with the lowest cost estimate. So like \nApollo astronaut Alan Shepherd said: \"It's a very sobering f...
Why do we have weird train of thoughts(shower thoughts) when we're in the shower?	[ "You might just be having some confirmation bias. You remember having weird thoughts in the shower more than you do somewhere else. It also has to do with the shower drowning other sounds, and if you wash your face and close your eyes you lose visual stimulation. So when you don't have your two primary stimuli your...
How do the school/college history textbooks in USA capture the WMD-triggered war on Iraq?	[ "This is America. Most of our textbooks were written in 1989.", "Yeah i dont think it hasn't been long enough for that stuff to get into history books just yet for the most part.", "High school senior here, my history textbook last year ended with a picture of Bush during his \"Mission Accomplished\" speech in ...
How can a medicine cause suicidal thoughts or actions? Is it possible you could engineer compounds to invoke certain kinds of thoughts?	[ "A depressed person might feel suicidal, but lack the motivation to go through with any sort of plan. It's not necessarily that anti-depressants \"cause\" the suicidal thoughts, but they can give a suicidal person the energy to kill themself if the circumstances that cause them to contemplate suicide aren't remedie...
populist attacks against globalisation?	[ "The pro-globalization view of globalization is that trade benefits everyone. It allows competition between companies regardless of their origins, and helps to prevent war by building strong economic ties between belligerents. They look to a factory worker in China and see that that worker has a better quality of l...
How come humans are the only species with acne on our faces?	[ "Many animals have acne -- you usually don't see it though because the animals are covered in hair.\n\nPeople with beards have acne too, even though you can't see it.", "It's not exclusive to humans, [cats](_URL_0_) for example can get acne, too." ]
Why "John Smith" is considered a common/default name?	[ "John is a very common first name in history, in the US it was the most common given name up to 1924. Smith is also a very common surname historically due to the number of blacksmiths and other smiths needed for wars, who were also less likely to be killed as they were not fighting." ]
Why does India have so many people?	[ "The poorer part of India is against birth control, breeds until they have enough men to sustain the family, because once you're old you're supported by your children, and other cultural reasons that promote large families.", "In addition to the history of ideal conditions for population growth, appears to me lik...
What happens when our lips are chapped?	[ "The external covering of your lips is essentially a thin layer of skin. Like all skin, it can get dry. Poor hydration, sun exposure, and cold weather can all dry out and irritate your skin, lips included. When you lick your lips, you're rubbing your tongue over that skin and wearing it down through contact and sal...
What are the philosophical differences between transsexual and Transracial? Why is transsexual the only one accepted? Why are transrace people not accepted by any communities?	[ "Transexual also known as gender dysphoria is generally considered a real thing. Transracial largely exists on Tumblr and among stupid people.\n\nYou can make certain biological arguments that since people are all created as one sex and our bodies morph during early stages of life that there can be a spectrum for ...
Why did the Romans steal the Greek Gods and rename them?	[ "I'd suggest asking in /r/AskHistorians or /r/History to get a better answer, but the short answer is that there wasn't any stealing going on, because polytheists didn't think of it that way. \n\nTake Ares and Mars (Greek and Roman gods of war).\n\nAres is seen as a manifestation of physical prowess in war. He ha...
If water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, both flammable elements, why is water not flammable?	[ "Fire involves, generally speaking, more complex chemical bonds with higher amounts of energy in their bonds, releasing their bonds, and re-combining with each other to form bonds with lower amounts of energy. The better examples of the complex chemical bonds are gasoline, oil, wood, peat, etc; they release the che...
How do hostage negotiations work?	[ "I have a few co-workers that have done HNT training. The way it works is like this, the HNT tells the hostage taker what she can offer and tries to work out a reasonable solution. All people have basic needs, and the HNT will try to take care of those first. The start of talking someone down may go like this: Are ...
Why are Criminals given multiple life sentences?	[ "Because one is charged and judged for each crime - not all together. Best example: Someone in jail (life sentenced) murders. Now he will have a new court case + judgement", "Multiple life sentences are give to ensure that the criminals remains in jail. In some areas, a life sentence is actually 20 years (or wha...
Why deploy all 10 Iridium-3 Satellites in the same location?	[ "The satellites presumably have a small amount of fuel on board. It doesn't take much fuel to tweak your orbit a bit to get the satellites all following the same orbit but spaced out around the orbit. \n\nJust dumping a satellite out into space is a great way to quickly lose the satellite. The real world isn't as c...
Why do alcohol swabs sting cuts but Poly/Neosporin does not?	[ "Alcohol doesn't sting. All over your skin there are these cells that respond to temperatures. They create the sensation of burning, stinging, etc. These cells have a threshold, where they become active if they are in contact with something above a certain temperature.\n\nWhat alcohol does is it very briefly confus...
ELI 5: Why does salt make everything taste good.	[ "A professional chef once told me that salt opens up your taste buds (which are microscopic pores on your tongue), meaning other flavors get absorbed by the tongue easier, making foods taste stronger.", "Salt, Fat, and Sugar are rare in the natural world.\n\nSo our bodies have evolved to enjoy them when we come a...
How do people who are naturally tone deaf cope with languages like Mandarin Chinese where intonation determines specific meaning?	[ "_URL_0_\n\"Tone deaf people seem to be disabled only when it comes to music as they can fully interpret the prosody or intonation of human speech.\"", "Tone deaf can be beaten by training, letting anyine learn to sing or play. It was a TIL recently.\n\nIm \"tonedeaf\". I can't tell an E flat from E sharp if you ...
How can an apartment advertise a "starting at" rent amount and then not honor that price because the "market rate changed"?	[ "It all has to do with the contract that you sign when you sign your lease. Most allow for them to change the rent based on market rate periodically. Normally it is once a year.", "Most people rent apartments on their days off, and for most that is on the weekends. That is why market rates are higher then, and du...
Why do we lose our appetite when we see something gross?	[ "Caveat: I'm not an evolutionary biologist.\n\nI imagine that those who developed that nausea/aversion when presented with something gross like rot, pus, fecal material, etc... were less likely to be exposed to dangerous bacteria and more likely to survive. \n\nBasically poop is dangerous and feeling grossed out ab...
How did spiders develop their web weaving abilities, and what are the examples of earlier stages of this feat?	[ "A more primitive behavior can be seen in ground-dwelling spiders like tarantulas that live in burrows use silk to line the walls of the burrow instead of making elaborate webs.", "I JUST went through a voyage of discovery on this exact question! We're like brain buddies!\n\nBasically, the first spiders were ven...
How does the Plan B pill work?	[ "The plan B pill is a very high dose of a hormone similar to progesterone. When you take it, it prevents any eggs from being released, just like for daily birth control pills. Pregnancy causes a large increase in progesterone, and this increase in progesterone stops the menstrual cycle in one spot, meaning no eggs ...
If someone was in space, travelling at such a high speed that a noticeable amount of time dilation affected them, what would determine their age legally?	[ "Our laws arent equipped to handle this so it would simply go by his legal birthdate regardless of any dilation he experienced." ]
Why while cell phones continue to get slimmer, house phones are still bulky?	[ "Because cell phones are portable, they are small and compact by design. House phones are bound to a nearby outlet anyway, so size doesn't matter", "It's expensive to make technology small. So while it's perfectly possible to make a house phone that's the same size and shape as a smartphone, if it was in the stor...
Why do I sometimes need to take a dump after having a cigarette?	[ "Nicotine acts as a stomach irritant, so it's common to feel like you have to shit after (or during...) a smoke" ]
Why are there so much homeless people in Germany, although Germany having a social security system.	[ "Actually there aren't that many 'true' homeless in Germany compared to many other countries with comparable climate.\n\nOne of the problems with getting a good idea how many homeless there really are is trying to come up with a good definition.\n\nMost of the people you see begging in the streets in Germany's pede...
If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into? What exists in the space that the universe is expanding into?	[ "The super short answer is we don’t know. All we know is that the universe is getting less dense, and there is more empty space between celestial objects. Its also not doing so radially (from a center), but more just sort of in all directions.\n\nWe know this through observation and measurement so we are sure its h...
For electronics that require double-A batteries, why do they typically require them to be reversed?	[ "Currents flow in one direction. In flashlights, batteries are stacked behind each other so that the current goes in a straight line. \nIn other cases where batteries are parallel, the line must connect from the top of one battery to the bottom of another. \nFor that to happen efficiently and without complicati...
Why is Google so keen on pushing its Google+ service on users, despite the backlash?	[ "Google's entire money making strategy is to target advertising towards users. The better they know their users, the better they are able to target relevant ads to them. I'm not bashing them for this, as it's beneficial to consumers as well (If I have to see ads, I'd rather see the ones for something I might be i...
Difference between Northern Ireland & the Republic of Ireland & the conflict	[ "[This picture sums it all up pretty well](_URL_0_).\n\nNorthern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom - sort of like a US state.\n\nRepublic of Ireland is an independent nation.", "The entire island of Ireland used to be under British rule. It became part of the UK in 1801.\n\nMost Irish people were Catholic as ...
why is the Blackberry messaging system "safer" than others / how is it encrypted?	[ "They are one of the only messaging systems that use full end to end asymetric encryption. Each handset have the only copy of a built in private decryption key. The coresponding encryption key is made public. The sender encrypts the message before it is sent to blackberry and it can only be decrypted by the receive...
Information is tranferred through a wire changing the voltage, but isn't voltage a property of the power source? What's happening in the conductor?	[ "Between the power source and the measurement location are one or more transistors. These act like switches -- either allowing the \"high\" voltage (usually around 3V or 5V, not very high) to pass through, or blocking it so that the voltage on the far side is low." ]
Why are "cuss" words considered so bad?	[ "Because they usually have sexual connotations.\n\nAnd sex is considered taboo.", "Because of social rules. Theyre not bad in general, nor are they considered bad in general. Theyre considered bad by certain groups, for lack of a better word for a collective of people.\n\nSame goes for sex. Theres no taboo in gen...
Why do bodies of water and the edges of heights have a "pull" to them?	[ "The pull you feel have nothing to do with gravity, it's purely psychological.\n\nThe phenomena is named \"the call of the void\". It's kind of your brain running the 'what if' and we get that uneasy feeling of 'I could so easy do X' where X is something you normally wouldn't wanna do and that would cause irreversi...
How does reading in poor light damage your eyes?	[ "It doesn't. You can get a headache from the tension of having to focus in poor light but there is no damage.", "Someone please use some sciency words so i can show my mum...", "It doesn't cause eyes damage more then it puts strain on your eyes.\n\nWhen you're in a room with dim lighting your eyes will try to ...
Why do websites allow you to "skip" ads at all?	[ "Because if they forced you to watch a whole ad every time, you wouldn't come back. The advertiser knows that the person that they want to reach is someone who is interested in their product, and they would watch the ad. So they are happy to pay something even if the viewer skips the ad.", "I work in digital adve...
The many-worlds theory/multiple universe theory	[ "Imagine a bubble. Inside this bubble is our entire universe. For the sake of argument, imagine that you can't pierce or go outside this bubble. Now, there is some event that happens (lets say a coin flip), and the bubble splits. In one bubble, the coin flipped as heads, in the other the coin landed on tails. Other...
what to know about adopting a stray dog?	[ "I assume by \"stray\" you actually mean a dog found wandering the street. \n\nFirst, know that you really don't know much about the dog. If you're going to take him or her into your house, you should be aware that they might have some health issues that you're not aware of. It's a very good idea (in fact, I'd ra...
why do horses have to be put down if they break a leg?	[ "A broken leg for a horse is very dangerous to the horses health. They rarely lay down due to their weight and to keep a horse immobile for a period long enough is also bad for its health.\n\nThis will explain it better\n\n_URL_0_", "Horsies have bodies built to always be able to stand or move around. They're not...
What exactly do music conductors do?	[ "They don't just stand around waving a wand. They are the producer/director of the concert music BEFORE it is performed in concert. They tell the individual musicians and sections/groups of musicians (during rehearsal) how (exactly) to play the music (tempo, volume, articulation, etc). In concert, the conductors ar...
Why do Americans say "math" and "sports" while people from the UK and Australia say "maths" and "sport"?	[ "I know that people from UK say maths because it's an abbreviation for mathematics. That's all I got, hope it helps.", "Truncated plural nouns often take on the plural suffix. Some examples:\n\n* Carbohydrates: Don't eat too many carbs.\n* Perpetrators: The police are looking for three perps.\n* Magazines: ...
Difference between types of fat (saturated, mono.., poly.., trans) and which ones it's safe or unsafe to consume. I am on keto, so fats is almost all I eat.	[ "So, first things first, what is a fat? Fats are molecules that look like [this](_URL_1_), or like [this](_URL_2_) if you prefer a more 3D image. As shown, fats consist of 2 parts, an alcohol called glycerol, and 3 long chains of carbons surrounded by hydrogen, known as fatty acids.\n\nSo first is the difference be...
why China outlawing ivory trade decreased the price even though outlawing drugs has not done the same.	[ "Ivory is the sort of thing people like if they can get it but they don't like so much that if it's not avalible that people are going to go crazy finding ways to find it. \n\nIf you told someone with a serious opioid addiction that the only way they could ever get more was to cook and eat their own mom you'd get s...
Why doesn't the NES zapper for Duck hunt work on new TVs?	[ "When you pulled the trigger, the screen flashes black with a white square around the object. A photodiode on the zapper detects what colour the aimed screen is, and if its white you get a hit.\n\nThat's all I know, as for why it doesn't work now I have no idea. Probably because the form of photodiode doesnt pick u...
Why are some people able to open their eyes in the ocean without any discomfort, while other people's eyes can be very irritated by the salt water?	[ "Bitch grade or non bitch grade, Poseidon decides.", "I find it hard to believe that people can open their eyes in the ocean without discomfort. I've swam all over the world, and it always stings. That said, cold water is a lot harder to deal with than warmer water. And some water has more minerals that irritate ...
How can a file that is 0 bytes can be stored when technically it shouldn't exist because it contains no data?	[ "Think of it as a filing cabinet. You open the drawer and you pull out a folder. The folder has nothing at all in it. It is a file with no data. If someone were to ask you how big the file is you would say it had no data. Even though it has no data, there's still a folder there and it still takes up space in t...
Why do heights feel taller when looking from the top down than from the ground up?	[ "It's a lot more than just the height differences. It's your sense of danger kicking in coupled with your enhanced ability to actually perceive height because there's more to compare it to.\n\nWhen you're on the ground, you are not in danger. When you are leaning over a precipice looking down, you are. Your brain i...
Neural networks and data analysis, particularly in the context of biology (i.e., "omics" analysis using computer algorithms, etc.).	[ "The reason why there are programs called \"neural networks\" is because they employ something discovered with the brain, which is that when a group of neurons fire at the same time, they \"link\" together. That new \"link\" is a new recognized pattern\n\nSo lets look at genomics you have a giant trove of data, tak...
why is a north facing yard/home a good thing (at least in the southern hemisphere)?	[ "No idea. But in the northern hemisphere, I would like a west facing home. I spend a lot of time in my back yard. The sun in my face would help wake me up in the mornings and, I'd like some shade in the afternoons and early evenings.", "Up here it's all about southern exposure, and for the same reason: The sun w...
Why does everything crackle when I open the freezer?	[ "It's likely a combination of two factors: ice cracking and plastic bags. The ice will crack if there's a sudden change in temperature (particularly ice that is close to/around the door/freezer connection). Plastic bags are also filled with cold air. When they warm up (even a little bit) the air inside them will e...
Hydro power generation, why is there only one big turbine at the bottom of the hill and not multiple? The water should regain its kinetic energy?	[ "Most of the energy comes from the drop in height, from the top of the lake to the level of the turbine. That generates immense pressure. Once the water comes out of the turbine, that pressure is spent. The remaining energy (which is indeed wasted) is small.", "Some hydroelectric plants have multiple turbines. Th...
Why did speakers make noise when phones nearby sent texts	[ "It was caused by interference with the signals the phone was sending, and the electronics of the speaker. It doesn't happen as frequently now, because we've refined the technology used in both, so speakers are less susceptible, and phones don't send as much power out, and thus you get less interference.", "Sound...
What use does Vitamin A have in your body and how is it stored?	[ "My masters thesis is on Vitamin A! This may get removed because it's sort of high detail and not really ELI5, but PM me if you want more info.\n\nVA basically exists as a few different forms in the body. We don't make VA in our body, but we obtain it from our diets. By eating animal products, we ingest retinol (RO...
Why can a nearsighted person see clearly in Oculus VR with glasses on, but not without? The lenses are an inch away, well within 'vision range'.	[ "The optics in the equipment will be set for viewing with a relaxed \"normal\" eye, ie one that would be focused on distant objects. So you (or I) would need our normal spectacles or contacts to get to that focus point.", "The key word here is 'astigmatism'.\n\nBehind your pupil you have a soft, squishy lens conn...
Why are other countries getting ready for nuclear war? Yet, being in California, we aren't doing drills or building bomb shelters? Seems as if everything is being shrugged off.	[ "North Korea have been showing off muscles since the 50s. There is nothing terribly new and exiting there. There is very little to suggest that they can successfully deliver a nuclear bomb to North America. South Korea have been at war with North Korea for generations now. It is not just a war in name as the ceasef...
How do people die from choking on their own vomit, is there a reason the feeling of choking doesn't wake them up?	[ "When people choke on their own vomit, it's generally because they're so drugged up that they can't wake up or even move. Normally people, even really sick ones, are going to wake up and save themselves.", "It mostly happen if the individual have high amount of alcohol or narcotics in the body that suppress refl...

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