Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
The Opium Wars	[ "In the 1800's the emperor of China didn't want foreign influences and trade so he imposed strick restrictions on European countries. Europe (Great Britain especially) did want tradeso in order to force more favorfull tradeing conditions the Europeans introdused the smokeing of opium. As Great Britain had prime ac...
What happens when you swallow something "down the wrong tube?"	[ "We have 2 tubes, one for food and drinking (esophagus) and one for breathing (trachea). They share one entrance at the back of our mouth, though. We have a flap called the \"epiglottis\" that folds over the trachea when we swallow, so that food slides down the \"right tube\" (the esophagus) that leads into our s...
why when I turn my music up to the max volume, say on my phone, its all distorted.	[ "It's the speakers.\n\nIn order to make sounds, the speaker has to move back and forth extremely quickly, up to 20 thousand times a second for the highest tones that humans can hear. To make the sound louder, the speaker has to move a greater distance at the same rate, so that more air gets pushed out of the way....
Why do many "Bronys" express such openness about their fandom?	[ "> 1) Why do so many men, in a growing quantity of online photographs (particularly of IRL \"brony clubs\") wear MLP t-shirts and other clothing? What propels them to abandon preconceived notions of masculinity and wear such items in public?\n\nMaybe because they disagree with the preconceived notions of masculinit...
Exploits in code	[ "Although the answers here are already correct, I feel we can break this down to ELI5 level :) \n\nLet's examine the most common type of exploit, commonly reffered to as \"buffer overflow\". \n\nYou are an IRS officer, and people bring you official stacks of papers for their cases. You assign a drawer for each pers...
Why are so many people allergic to peanuts and tree nuts.	[ "They aren't, but doctors told them they were, so you can't get mad at them. A recent study found that around 80% of the people diagnosed with peanut allergies were actually allergic to pollen and not peanuts. This misdiagnosis was due to a lack of precision in common testing regimens.\n\nLink to relevant article: ...
Why are computers so inaccurate at estimating download/installation times?	[ "Because internet download and upload speeds are constantly fluctuating due to different loads on the network, so there's no way to know for sure how long a download will take. If these speeds were constant then it would be easy.", "Internet speed is not constant. It can be 100Mb/s, 5mb/s in each second, even st...
What is Descartes's Wax Argument about?	[ "so you have a piece of wax. How do you know it's wax? simple - you see it and it looks all hard and shit like wax, you feel it and it's kinda cold and bendable, you smell it and it's all waxy smelling, you taste it and it tastes like crayons.\n\nbut hold up, let's say that some fire comes and is all \"IMA FUCK UP ...
Why are Tony Blair and George W Bush not in prison for war crimes?	[ "I cannot say for Tony Blair beyond the fact that going after a countries leader is a very complicated thing. \n\nFor Bush it is the fact that the US has not signed the ICC agreements and gives no authority to the UN or any other entity for putting US citizens on trial for war crimes. We hold our own accountable an...
Why do some people think Shakespeare was a made up person/alter ego?	[ "The plays contain detailed knowledge of court manners, foreign locations and references to historical facts as well as familiarity with earlier playwrights.\n\nThe facts known about William Shakespeare suggest he was an actor, not that well educated, did not frequent the social circles where he would pick up that...
Why do we, as English-speaking countries, call some countries by their national names and some countries by names we've made up for them?	[ "Many names for countries aren't \"made up\" as you might think, but instead come from the various other names for those countries, names that actually go back many thousands of years.\n\nFor example, Germania is the name for the countries ~~west~~ east of the Rhine, as used by the Romans (particularly Julius Caesa...
Why does cleaning your ears out feel so good?	[ "It is very sensitive in your ear canal and, as we learn during puberty, touching sensitive things feels good." ]
Why call it a 3rd party and not a 2nd party?	[ "Because it is the 3rd party. The first two being the user and the developer and the third being the external product.", "The second party is you, the consumer. A third party is someone who's neither the buyer nor the seller." ]
Beta particle decay	[ "So a neutron is composed of two down quarks and an up quark. For one reason or another (dealing with the instability of the nucleus and having more neutrons than necessary), one of the down quarks spontaneously emit a W^- boson. This converts the down quark to an up quark, and therefore converts the neutron to a p...
Why are device designations in BSD different from Linux?	[ "Because BSD is not Linux and Linux is not BSD.\n\nThe designers of the respective kernels and their device driver interfaces made some design decisions. While the resulting device designations are similar, they are not the same because BSD and Linux kernels were developed by different people." ]
Why people who do meth look so messed up from their before and after pictures?	[ "Meth is made from many chemicals that are toxic to the body. Imagine dumping toxins into your body daily that harm your body and damage it. Eventually the body is going to be worn down from all the damage. \n\nAlso you start becoming addicted to meth because it releases such pleasure that ones body starts wanting ...
Why hasn't there been another moon landing since Apollo 11?	[ "As reference - _URL_0_\n\nWe have been back since Apollo 11... the last one was Apollo 17.\n\nBut otherwise? Because the Moon is a god forsaken hell hole with no value what so ever. There's no reason to be up there, its a giant pain in the ass to get there... and Moon Dust is the most abrasive and annoying stuff...
Why do some bodybuilders claim to be "All Natural" while they consume crazy amounts of supplements?	[ "By \"all natrual\" they are usually referring to stuff like steroids and injections ect which are considered cheating. Drinking protein shakes and taking supplements is considered a normal thing to do if you're a body builder. They don't do the work for you or make it easier. They just help you build muscle faster...
Allen Carr's book "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking"	[ "I downloaded the audio book off pirate bay- worked in 1 hour-I have gone 3months no smoking and no cravings.", "Ive read it twice and he tries to focus on why you smoke instead of the typical why you shouldn't smoke. There are very strong motivations at work and he tries to thoroughly debunk them as rational des...
Some computer terminologies	[ "User interface is just a description of how a person can interact with a system and a graphic user interface is a user interface that uses graphics like windows. Shell is a user interface that uses text input like DOS. Did this help at all?", "UI is broad category where GUI and CLI and etc stands.\n\nUI means Us...
What are the laws regarding salary change of US congressmen?	[ "Because your post isn't asking a simplified conceptual explanation, but rather for an answer, its been removed. \n\nYou should try /r/answers, /r/askreddit or even one of the more specialized answers subreddits like /r/askhistorians, /r/askscience or others too numerous and varied to mention. \n\nRest assured th...
Muscle Atrophy. Or how muscle loss happens in general.	[ "Unless you're going through a severe disease process, you aren't actually losing any muscle cells. Maybe it's easier to think about how muscles get BIGGER when you exercise, and go backwards from there. \n\nAs you exercise, each cell grows bigger and stronger. It's debatable whether you get MORE cells, but most pe...
the daily views graphs on music videos like "Despacito"	[ "At that frequency, it's probably people watching it more on weekends than during the week. It's a pretty common pattern if you look at graphs of website activity- it'll either dip or spike on the weekend depending on whether it's a site people tend to visit during work or for leisure." ]
What is oxygen toxicity and how does it damage the body?	[ "ELIM5: too much oxygen damages cells, particularly those in the brain and lungs. \n\nELIM12: oxygen is a reactive molecule. That's part of why it is useful for metabolism. If you are sick, increasing your oxygen exposure can be useful. But, anything in the wrong concentration can be dangerous.", "An excess of o...
How do official movie soundtracks work? Sometimes I hear the song in the movie and other times I don't.	[ "Sometimes you'll see on a soundtrack where it says \"songs inspired by\". So sometimes not all the songs get used in the movie or were never meant to be used in the movie at all. Sometimes songs will get licensed to be used in a movie, but that song will be cut from the final cut of the movie because it didn't wo...
What are the modern explanations for how consciousness arose?	[ "There are none yet. It's a mystery. We're even discovering that some animals can communicate and think on a higher level than we initially thought." ]
what's the significance of races like Dakar Rally regarding little guy v. Corporation?	[ "It's likely because in the Dakar races anyone can hit a rock, get stranded, have to climb a hill multiple times back to back, get lost, etc.\n\nA closed circuit race will help you get down to a difference of milliseconds, so all that billion dollar research comes into play. Out on the open dessert I think there a...
The IQ Test	[ "Spent most of my youth getting grilled by IQ tests (I have an IQ of > 150), so I have some personal insight.\n\nThe fundamental problem is that nobody even really has a clear notion of what intelligence actually is, much less how to measure it.\n\nIQ tests originated in the early 20th century as a way of disti...
why is communism bad?	[ "The ideology of communism is pretty awsome. Everyone being equal no one person being more important than the whole people who have jobs work enough to meet demand then knock off and have more time to live and enjoy their lives. In practice communism creates single party states those in power want to hold on to pow...
When something gets into my eye and I no longer feel it but it doesn't come out, where does it go?	[ "At the very tip of each eye (side closest to the nose) there exists a pore (nasolacrimal duct) that is to rid our eyes of tears, dust, debris, etc. that is linked to our nose. Which is why our nose gets runny when we cry. A lot of the times, the eyelash gets pushed out by the eyelids and with the help of the other...
How drinking makes you "drunk"	[ "The ethanol (the specific type of drinkable alcohol) is digested and moves into your blood stream to your brain (it chooses your brain because it uses a great deal amount of resources in the body). When in the brain it makes your brain release certain proteins which connects to the brain and slows down a certain n...
Why do we have the urge to tap our foot or dance to a catchy beat?	[ "Rhythms are integrated into everything we do. We breathe in rhythm. Our heart beats in rhythm. We sleep and wake up in rhythm.\n\nWhen we hear a strong rhythm, our brain's first reaction is to somehow get in sync with it. Since breathing, heart rate, and sleep cycles can't necessarily be controlled to match a beat...
Why is it that I can go 6 hrs without taking a piss but within 30 min after that first piss, I have to go two more times?	[ "Could be a bit like 'breaking the seal' when you're out on the beers.\n\nWhen you haven't peed for a while, the walls of the urethra a stuck together, along a lot of it's length. It's also relatively dry. It takes a relatively full bladder to force the urine down the urethra to open it up.\n\nOnce you've peed. The...
What/Who are Reuters?	[ "They are a news outlet that primarily focusses on reporting, not broadcasting. Similar to the associated press. Basically, every news outlet can't have people stationed all over the world, so these news agencies fill that void. They report from places like Romania, not much going on there that's in the world news,...
hyperthermia	[ "People tend to shiver when they have medical hyperthermia because their body is incorrectly trying to raise their temperature even further..\n\nIn hyperthermia (fever) the set point in the hypothalamus of what is 'normal' temperature is raised. The body thinks it is cold even when it isn't. In mild cases (common c...
When I read internet comments someone always has this post. "Start working from home as of today... You can work for 3-5 hours a day and earn $2000 a week... Weekly payments, simple job for which you only need a computer and a reliable internet...." How does this scam (if it is a scam) work?	[ "The [Federal Trade Commission](_URL_0_) explains how several of these scams work.", "The Golden Rule: \n\nIf it sounds too good to be true, then it's not true." ]
why don't sophisticated hackers do something useful? ex: instead of breaching Target/Playstations network, why not just erase everyone's student loans? granted, that may not benefit them whatsoever, but would be glorious for society.	[ "Ignoring the difficulty of pulling this off, I'm going to take you through why it is a bad idea, even though it sounds great.\n\nA loan is considered an asset by banks. They own the investment that is supposed to return regular revenue throughout the life of the loan. If all of the sudden, billions of dollars in ...
Does drinking alcohol really kill brain cells?	[ "Long term alcohol use can cause brain damage. Over the course of prolonged use the brain shrivels up similar to a raisin and can cause damage to certain regions of the brain causing various disorders. Some damage is repairable but once the damage goes too far there's no turning back. Can be quite devastating.", ...
Would the horizon look any different on a considerably larger planet?	[ "It would look flatter, but because the curvature of the earth is undetectable by the human eye until you are a few miles up, it would look pretty much the same.\n\nOn a much smaller planet, the horizon would have a noticeable curve to it." ]
Why does everyone hate flash and why are they happy that it's "going away"?	[ "You know how the Olympics have two official languages, English and French, right? This standardization allows everyone (athletes, judges, organizers, and watchers) to have one of two languages in which to communicate. Moreover, for the sake of this analogy, imagine that English and French are easily-accessible lan...
Why do you see shapes and color while rubbing your eyes?	[ "In addition to light, the rods and cones in your retina can be stimulated by pressure. When you rub your eyes hard, the pressure gets transmitted through the jelly part of your eye to your retina. \n \nThis is not a good thing to do. Putting pressure on your eyes like this puts stress on your retina. Th...
How does scoring work in the Tour de France?	[ "Couple of things:\n\n-Depending on the year and what the organizers decide, stage winners from 1 to x will get overall time bonuses of a couple of seconds.\n\n-The same time thing isn't simply a matter of technology, it's a practical measure due to the roads only being wide enough for a handful of bikes versus hav...
Why is it difficult to pee after masturbation?	[ "I will talk from a man's perspective.\nDuring ejaculation, bladder muscles contract, so non of your semen gets into it. It takes time for it to relax. Be grateful that it is difficult to pee after, otherwise you would have had a [retrograde ejaculation](_URL_0_)." ]
If it's safer for a child to ride in a backwards facing car seat why aren't airplanes designed so all seats face backwards?	[ "Mythbusters did this. Rear facing seats are significantly safer but they freak people out so too bad we don't get them." ]
Why is violence still exercised in wars between countries?	[ "Because that's what war is. Violence is the ultimate force; just like they say in starship troopers, \"the supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived\".", "Wipe my ass. No?\n\nWipe my ass or I'll kill your family and rape your corpse.\n\nViolence gets things done, for better or for worse." ]
Why are Bass(music) Bass(fish) pronounced differently?	[ "Spellings and pronunciations change significantly over time. Often these changes happen by mistake, and there isn't a good reason for why it happens to one word or another. In this case, Bass(music) comes from the middle english word base, and it retained the long a sound that is natural for that spelling. Bass...
How can men be raped by women?	[ "\"Rape\" just means sex without being able to give consent. If a man is drugged, or threatened or otherwise unfairly coerced into doing the deed when he doesn't want to but has no good alternative, then it is rape.", "If you think that a man cannot get an erection if he doesn't want to, your wrong. I may be spea...
Torrenting. How do small files come from big files, and what is seeding and leeching?	[ "The idea of the bittorrent protocol is that a large file, or collection of files, is split into many parts, each of which has a known checksum. Individual users with a complete \"part\" can share that part with other users, and the original person with the complete file[s] only needs to transmit as little as one ...
How can the Grand Canyon be 18 miles wide in some areas when it was only carved up by water?	[ "It's like this, It starts off with the small 10 foot river, slowly over time that gets deeper. The deeper that goes the more potential wind erosion.\n\nThink of it like dragging your finger through the sand. At first you make a fine line, then as you do it more and more in the same spot, the sand on the side of th...
What do proponents in Indiana consider the benefits of the "Religious Freedom" bill to be? There cannot be that many people in 2015 just willing to support a law than is simple bigotry, right? What is the draw?	[ "> There cannot be that many people in 2015 just willing to support a law than is simple bigotry, right? What is the draw?\n\nThe issue is that feelings about gay rights fall roughly into 3 categories:\n\n* people who ostensibly have moral objections, and strongly oppose (~40%)\n* people who are directly impacted,...
We've been hearing about ebola for years. Why is it spreading internationally now?	[ "It is not a new strain. The strain of Ebola causing this epidemic is the Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV). This virus is the deadliest of the Ebola strains and can have a case fatality rate of up to 90%. It causes Ebola hemorrhagic fever in humans and initially presents itself with flu-like symptoms, diarrhea, vomiting, ...
Why would anyone buy a Treasury Bond? I can get .25% interest from a savings account.	[ "FWIW savings accounts can almost always be found that have higher rates than t-bills.\n\n1. A savings account is not risk-free. Comparatively speaking, a US Treasury is. \n2. The insurance that protects savings accounts is limited to 250,000 dollars in the US. If you want to put more than that in the account,...
Why is removing EXIF data from photos a good thing?	[ "EXIF Data can be used to tell everything from what type of camera or device was used to take the photo, all the way to the exact geographical coordinates of where it was taken. From there it's not hard to punch it in to a map online to find out the exact location (someone's house for instance).", "EXIF data can ...
Why is transliteration from Asian alphabets to Western alphabets so terrible that, for example, an Asian last name pronounced "win" is spelled Nguyen?	[ "I don't have any good sources other than living in Southeast Asia for a while (though Thailand and not Vietnam), but as far as I know this transliteration is not too unfaithful to the actual Vietnamese pronunciation. The trick here is that \"win\" is just the easiest English approximation without having to learn ...
Quick Question about air pressure and lift.	[ "This is a great question but it has some common misconceptions! They're quite likely not your fault, a lot of people teach this wrong.\n\n > So, when I was learning about forces and various dynamics in physics we were taught that planes could fly because of the force known as lift.\n\nYes, that's true.\n\n > As ...
If water is more dense than oil, then how do you dilute oil with water?	[ "you don't really. oil and water don't mix, so you'll just end up with a mixture instead of a more dilute solution. you can thin oil by mixing it with a oil of a lower viscosity.", "ELI5: What is the actual difference between water and oil? Why can't those two liquids mix? Can you give me another example of ...
What was American society like before 9/11?	[ "We weren't always obsessed with terrorists; that's the biggest difference. When we had military engagements, we went in, took care of business, and left. While there might have been government spying then as well, it would have been an even bigger deal when it was uncovered, instead of even somewhat justified.\n\n...
Shark skin	[ "A shark is covered in grooves, which channel water around it and across the surface more efficiently than just a flat surface. For example, a paper airplane flies better and faster than a flat sheet of paper - it's like this but on a much smaller scale repeated across their body.", "It's smooth going head to tai...
Why don't cabs have barf bags like airplanes?	[ "Cause cars have this thing called doors and windows. Throw up outside.", "A) Cars have easier access to outside air due to doors/windows. Also the airflow of cars is going to be a bit different. The plane's ability to cycle and clean the air is going to reduce that vomit smell for other passengers.\n\nB) Aircraf...
Why can't we remember the moment we fall asleep?	[ "It takes a while for your brain to process your working memory into long-term memory. When you fall asleep, though, your brain stops doing that. So you miss those few moments.", "Missing in these answers is the fact that there is no well-defined \"moment\" when you fall asleep. It's a gradual process of parts o...
If North Korea was able to acquire nuclear weapons why don't more countries have them?	[ "To a degree you are correct — there are _many_ countries in the world today that, if they decided to, could have functional nuclear weapons in the next year or so. Japan, Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and several others fall into this category. These are states that have mastered the full nuclear fu...
To what degree is an unemployment rate integral to an economic system?	[ "Too low unemployment would result in wage inflation as companies have to offer more money to lure and/or keep employees, which would drive general inflation... pay workers more, have to raise prices.\n\nThe general view is that 5% is considered \"natural unemployment rate\" where the system is in rough equilibrium...
How do large food/drink franchises maintain perfect taste-matching around the world, all the time?	[ "Those big franchises change their tastes according to area they operate in. Coca cola does taste differently across the world. So does mcdo and any other you could name.", "I work at Starbucks. Pretty much most of our products are all sourced from the same manufacturer. I can only speak for the U.S. stores, but ...
The Wright Amendment, Love Field, and why all that happened	[ "Love Field, still in use today, was the big airport of Dallas. But it was going to be unsuitable for the DFW area to support the larger amounts of traffic envisioned by the FAA, so they stopped funding Love Field and a few others in the DFW area to get the DFW area to approve a new, consolidated airport that coul...
When and how can I visit Cuba as a tourist?	[ "You can go there as a student or for some professional reasons if you get permission from the government.\n\nIt has long been understood that Americans and their money are welcome as visitors in Cuba, but you have to bribe the customs officers to not stamp your passport. If they stamp it you will get in trouble wh...
Why is the divorce rate in USA so high?	[ "A lot of it has to do with cultural acceptance. In Western nations, divorce has gradually become accepted as a normal resolution for unhappy marriages. In other cultures, however, it may not only be heavily frowned upon for married couples to divorce, but it may also be forbidden except under special circumstances...
How is it that the ultra rich pay little/no taxes but a flat tax would be a "gift" to them?	[ "> The richest 1% pay an effective federal income tax rate of 24.7% in 2014; someone making an average of $75,000 is paying a 19.7% rate. The average federal income tax rate of the richest 400 Americans was just 20 percent in 2009.\n\nWhile many wealthy pay lower rates, on average they pay more. The US has traditi...
What is the appeal of shooting and watching a movie in 70mm?	[ "/u/aok51289 is partially right in terms of resolution, but very right in terms of difficulty and it being cumbersome, not mention expensive.\n \nThere are two types of 70mm, the kind The Hateful Eight is filmed on (5-perf 70mm) and the kind Interstellar, The Dark Knight, etc. are filmed on (15-perf 70mm, aka 70mm...
Why women prefer taller men?	[ "Please read this entire message\n\n---\n\nYour submission has been removed for the following reason(s):\n\nELI5 is not for:\n\nSubjective or speculative replies - Only objective explanations are permitted here; your question is asking for speculation or subjective responses \n\n\n\n---\nIf you would like this ...
Why is computer emulation so difficult?	[ "If you want to translate a newspaper in another language that you don't know anything about, what do you do? (Can't use Google Translate!!)\n\nYou take a French-English dictionary. Every time you see a word, you have to look at the correspondence in the dictionary and write that down on a piece of paper. It will t...
Why are ATM receipts printed on a paper such that the print vanishes after a few days	[ "It is thermal paper. It is used in ATMs and various other places primarily because of reliability. There is no ink or toner to run out, and it needs the fewest possible moving parts. (You still need a motor to move the paper.)", "ATM receipts are printed on thermal paper, similar to what's used in most cash r...
why is Leicester pronounced "Lester"?	[ "This is known as \"[Elision](_URL_1_)\" which is when certain syllables or letters are ignored in words. Sometimes this is intentional, as with \"I'm\" instead of \"I am\", and sometimes it is just because the phrasing has evolved due to dialects and laziness.\n\nIn this case it should be said \"lie-ses-ter\" or p...
How does India support a massive population despite having a very poor system of sanitation?	[ "Honestly - and having traveled throughout India - it's only \"filthy\" if you're used to e.g. US suburbia. If you've spent time in the grittier parts of big cities, it's pretty much like that. There is a major problem with adequate, clean water and sewage disposal, but honestly it's not like a garbage dump. S...
Why are some people more prone to nightmares/night terrors than others?	[ "There may be a connection with endocrine function (adrenal glands, etc.) I have heard this but don't have a source so consider with caution. Also, check out the Radio Lab on lucid dreaming. Basically, during waking hours ask yourself, \"Am I awake? Is this real?\" Eventually you'll ask yourself that during the dre...
What is a virtual machine? (Computing)	[ "Let's say you have a PC with Windows 7, which is perfect to play, surf reddit and so on. Well, you clean your room and happen to stumble over your favorite old computer game, you always played in your childhood. Excited and full of old memories you want to try it again - but it's only made for Windows 95 and doesn...
How do drugs like meth and crack change someone's appearance?	[ "Constriction of blood vessels decreases the amount of blood that reaches parts of the body, and parts that rely on the smallest vessels may not receive enough blood to remain healthy. Skin and the face are two examples, and the mouth is a special case because other regulating systems are also compromised, like sal...
The difference between various mint flavors (spearmint, wintergreen, peppermint, etc)	[ "I assume you mean the artificial flavorings?\n\nAll three are based off of actual plants, which taste different. \nThe cooling, sweet sensation you get from peppermint is from the chemical menthol, and Wintergreen is flavored by using the chemical Methyl salicylate. I don't know what they use to flavor something l...
Given incredible luck, is it at least possible for radioactive matter to cause enough, and the right, mutations to make a turtle look like a teenage mutant ninja turtle?	[ "Well, since incredible luck is a given, the answer is (theoretically) yes. All living beings are composed of the same elements, the 4 bases of the DNA. Since the concept of DNA mutation generally englobe duplication/translocation of chromosomes, there's no theoretical limit to what may happen (although the transfo...
What does it mean that the Carbon in our atmosphere has passed the point of no return?	[ "Scientists anticipate that there are certain feedback loops, which mean the warmer it gets, the easier it is to get warmer.\n\nImagine sitting in a waggon with rusty wheels. The wheels are so locked up that even though you are on a slight decline you aren't moving. You add a few books to the wagon for more weight...
why isn't righthandedness/lefthandedness equally common?	[ "Nobody knows why but there are theories: _URL_1_\n\nMy two cents: I am lefthanded myself. But i use computer mice with my right hand. A friend of mine is right handed and because he set up his desk wrong as a child was forced to use the computer mouse with his left hand. So the environment is definitely a factor.\...
What is muscle memory, particularly in relation to playing an instrument?	[ "It's just one way your brain stores memories. Rather than trying to store a bunch of letters that you then translate into notes, which you then have to tell your fingers how to play, it's probably just easier for your brain to store a series of movements.\n\nIt's not specific to just instruments though. Muscle mem...
How does imposing tariffs on cheaper goods like steel and aluminium help an economy?	[ "In the big picture, and in the long run, it generally doesn't. The purpose of placing an import tariff is to protect your own country's domestic producer of whatever that good is. In this case, it's to protect the steel and aluminum makers. This is generally done for political reasons (those industries and communi...
How do bands make money from albums/songs? What if they release independently?	[ "Whoooo boy. \n\nAlright, so the old way that bands used to make money (from about the late fifties to some cases in the present day) is that a label signs the band and the two work out a publishing contract. In almost all cases, the label actually owns the rights to the music at this point, not the band who wrote ...
If every US citizen received a monthly living allowance of $1,200.00 and all other federal benefits were discontinued, would the cuts, including administrative, pay for the allowances?	[ "No. \n\n1) $1,200/person/month is a lot of money.\n\n2) The money that would be paid to people with means would not contribute to a public benefit. People who can care for themselves do not need free money. A flat allowance wastes money on the rich.\n\n3) A flat allowance provides a disincentive to work for the ...
Why does Hot coffee and Iced coffee taste delicious, but lukewarm coffee tastes absolutely disgusting?	[ "High quality coffee tastes good at all temperatures.\n\nIf you drink over roasted coffee (which is common at most popular coffee chains), then it will only taste good at extremes of the temperature spectrum because the tongue isn't as sensitive to the bad flavors at those temperatures.\n\nThe reason that mass prod...
Why can Expedia offer half off on hotels regularly, yet rarely has specials on flights?	[ "The airlines rarely have an issue filling a flight. Offering a discount just detracts from their profit. Even if a seat is open, it only becomes more expensive as the flight time nears. Last minute seats are lucrative, wouldn't want to miss that chance by filling it at a discount rate!\n\nHotels have vacant rooms ...
How do anti-depressants work?	[ "Basically, pretty much every thought and emotion that you feel is the result of chemicals (neurotransmitters) in your brain. Depression is usually associated with lower amounts of serotonin and/or norepinephrine. You release these chemicals when you feel a particular emotion or mood, and then it is reabsorbed (reu...
why can't we smell anything wen having a cold?	[ "Your nasal passages and the scent sensing nerves in them are inflamed and covered in a heavy mucous preventing them from working properly." ]
Why do humans have to treat water to make it safe to drink?	[ "We don't have to. We just have the option of reducing our relatively small risks to near zero instead. If chimps could do that, they would, and would benefit from it as much as we do. \n\nWaterborn illnesses are common whether you're human or not." ]
Hypocrites	[ "Hypocrisy is all about present thought matching present action. People are allowed to change their opinions and actions over time without being hypocritical.\n\nPreaching environmental awareness and fuel economy while onboard your private 747 is hypocritical." ]
What is the "well regulated militia"?	[ "The second amendment says: \n\n > A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.\n\nThe militia, in present day America, is called the National Guard. Each state has their own national guard, and most of the time t...
Can someone please convince me that Global Warming is real?	[ "> The political benefits just seem too tempting for this to be unbiased scientific fact.\n\nI really don't understand this line of reasoning. What are the 'political' benefits of climate change? Why would politicians want a \"lever against industries who produce carbon emissions.\"?\n\nTrying to convince Americans...
The French revolution and the reign of terror	[ "French revolution started, factions formed against the monarchy. Then when the promised achievements of the revolution weren't met, the mob turned on the ringleaders of the revolution ending in several of the key revolution leaders losing their heads to execution during the reign of terror\n\nDuring the reign Fran...
Why does the value of currency tend to inflate over time as opposed to deflate?	[ "Because a small amount of inflation is good for the economy as it encourages people and companies to spend money, which is what keeps the economy going. So government policies are all designed around trying to ensure a stable, low level of inflation.", "Note this is only really true in the fiat currency era, whe...
- Why have Televisions been able to get full HD feed instantaneously for a long time yet YouTube videos still buffer while trying to load the same thing even now?	[ "If you mean televisions running IPTV hardware (Roku, AppleTV), they do have to buffer, and will shift down to a lower resolution if the data rate drops. Even if your internet connection is running fast enough to stream the full rate, it will often come in surges with momentary pauses, so buffering evens out the r...
Branch Davidians and the Waco Siege	[ "The branch Davidians, an Adventist sect focused around David Koresh lived in a compound in Texas were stockpiling illegal weapons. The ATF got a warrant to investigate and approached the compound armed. The Davidians didn't take too kindly to this so fended them off. Siege ensues. \n\nATF have no understanding and...
The US freedom act.	[ "The USA Freedom Act is a law that reauthorized the authority given to the federal government under the Patriot Act. The main difference is that the Freedom Act altered certain procedures to try to safeguard privacy rights to a greater extent than the Patriot Act did, without compromising the tools the government c...
When is inflation a good thing?	[ "Without inflation, you could safely keep your money sitting under your mattress without worrying about it losing value. When you have inflation, you have to do something with it to stop it from losing value - invest it, lend it, buy a house, etc. These things put the money back in circulation giving us an actu...
how does putting a lawyer on retainer work? What are the advantages of doing this versus just hiring/consulting a lawyer when you need one?	[ "TV shows do not represent real life. The reason some gets a Lawyer on retainer is because it is cheaper. It is essentially buying in bulk. Someone pays the lawyer to be on retainer so that they can consult with them whenever they want/often. This is cheaper than paying the lawyer each time the person needs lega...
The refrigeration cycle or how refrigerators keep food cold.	[ "This is based on a basic thermodynamic fact: expanding a gas decreases its temperature. So, in a refrigerator, you end up having a fluid pumped in a cycle. The part of the cycle where it turns into a gas and expands is connected to the inside of your fridge. And the part where you have to compress it back into...

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