Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
How music is stored on CD's and then played back	[ "like ur a pretty smart 5yo:\n\na recording machine listens to the music as it's being played, and turns it into numbers. it records thousands of different numbers every second to represent the changing volume of the music.\n\nthese numbers are written down very small on a CD, in a spiral that goes around and aroun...
Why do people support Bruce* Jenner and despise Rachel Dolezal?	[ "Please search. You'll find the answer [here](_URL_1_) and [here](_URL_0_ )" ]
Why can't current be defined as co-directional with the flow of electrons?	[ "Because current is the flow of charge, not electrons. The particles that allow for the flow of charge are called \"charge carriers\" and electrons happen to have a negative charge, so current flows in the opposite direction of electrons. \n\nElectrons aren't the only charge carriers. In semiconductors for example,...
Why can the aging process of alcoholic beverages not be artificially sped up or completely skipped?	[ "Often alcoholic beverages are aged in wooden barrels. During the aging, the beverage is infused with flavour from the wood of the barrel. While theoretically it would be possible to artificially add those flavours, it is difficult to know exactly what and how much to add since those flavours are very subtle and de...
How does the heart send more blood to one area when needed if all the veins are one "circle" system?	[ "The heart pumps faster to send blood faster during these times, but the vessels dilating and contracting are what determines where the \"more\" blood goes (really just a higher volume to one area and lower volumes everywhere else, not actually more). This is done by nerve signals from the area that needs it to th...
how come an HD Youtube video can load in a reasonable amount of time but a GIF an exceptionally long time?	[ "GIF was never meant for video and people that post them don't optimize them so they are huge and slow." ]
Why can a human limb not sense its own weight?	[ "You can feel its weight. However you just get used to it after years. \n\nThink about it externally: if you never wear a watch, and then you put on a big heavy one your arm feels heavy because of that extra weight.\nNow let's say you wear that watch every day. You even sleep and shower in it. Eventually, wearing t...
Why do some working Americans believe their money they earn goes to welfare/foodstamps/govt assistance?	[ "Because it does. All taxes go into the general fund and are distributed from there so on the ELI5 level anybody who pays taxes, pays a percentage of everything the government pays out as the government does not make its own money.", "Glad to help! Like most things in life the realities of individual circumstance...
How exactly does a nail keep two wooden planks together?	[ "Friction. The nail breaks the wood fivers apart causing mini sized splintery pieces around the nail that when they try to return to their original position, grip onto the nail tightly.", "Many nails are driven in to block sideways motion of the boards. While a nail can be trusted to stay in its hole even if upsi...
How did the first person with HIV/AIDS become infected?	[ "This is impossible to accurately answer because obviously nobody can be 100% certain. But the most likely vector would be from somebody coming into contact with infected monkey blood, which then entered that person's bloodstream, presumably through a pre-existing cut or abrasion.\n\nMany species of monkeys and ape...
China just lost about 3.2$ trillion in the last three weeks, where did all that money go?	[ "There is no \"first law of thermodynamics\" for wealth. Wealth can certainly be created and can certainly be destroyed. The value lost in the chinese equity markets isn't \"found\" by someone else. The value of all those companies has decreased, or rather, markets realized that they were being overvalued and respo...
My popcorn is listed as 240 calories unpopped, 220 calories popped. Where do those 20 calories go?	[ "Some of the moisture, oils, and husk escape when the kernels pop. Not eating the husk or oils would reduce the calories vs the unpopped kernels since part of them is basically missing.", "Calories are a measure of energy not 'fat', some of this energy will be burned off through the cooking process.", "The calo...
How come many people think cilantro has no taste or tastes good, but a lot of people think cilantro has an extremely strong and disgusting taste?	[ "There's actually a genetic mutation that causes some people to taste cilantro as soapy.\n\n_URL_0_" ]
How do hypodermic needles penetrate your skin without punching out a "core" of flesh?	[ "They are cut on a slant, so they slice a slit instead of cutting a core.", "You make a tiny hole, and then spread it open -- you don't make one big circular \"core\" all at once. \n\nHow?:\n\nThe needle tip is tapered and comes to a sharp point. \n\nSo the tip (which is solid) is what makes the initial punctur...
What is the difference between the estimated 120,000 libraries in the US and Google making all books freely available online in their entirety?	[ "Libraries own, and allow use of, only one copy of a book at a time. They have the right to do this because they physically own one copy of the book, which is the right to use one copy of the book. Because objects.\n\nGoogle also owns only one copy of each book, but is making snippets available to possibly thousand...
Describe Hinduism and its principles to me.	[ "This is a large subject to which I cannot entirely do justice, but I will mention some of the more distinguishing features of Hinduism. Hinduism is a very ancient, polytheistic religion having a large number of deities. There are 3 particularly important dieties, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shi...
Why is creating a male contraceptive pill so challenging?	[ "I literally heard about this on the radio yesterday so i may be able to help. \n\nA male one is in development currently in Australia (I think) and has had effective trials on mice in labs showing that it is able to be effective with no major (maybe any) side effects. \n\nThe difficulty is that a male pill has to ...
NASA's new EM Drive, why is it significant, and does it break the laws of physics?	[ "Basically it is a container that bounces around electromagnetic waves, which generates movement. This requires no fuel, and seemingly doesn't make sense.\n\n\nNormally when you have an engine/drive, you will have some sort of waste product or emission. Think of a rocket engine, you have flames shooting out of the ...
Why do crickets get quiet around humans, considering we aren't one of their predators?	[ "When a lumbering monstrosity twenty thousand times your size clomps past, you may want to hush for a second and let the beast pass without trouble.\n\nSure a human is unlikely to stoop down and eat a cricket these days, but that's not true for all animals. Laying low while unfathomably bigger animals pass is a go...
}What is it that causes hair to turn gray?	[ "The reason is that, the older you get, more hydrogen peroxide (a strong bleach) builds up in your body because it can't break it down that fast anymore.\n\nThe hydrogen peroxide, in turn, destroys an enzyme that builds up melanine, the chemical compound that colors your hair, skin etc. \n\nYour body hair does not ...
Why you only get caught for illegally downloading some things, but not others?	[ "Pure luck. You just happened to be downloading the file at a time when the copyright police (basically a bunch of people at the big media companies) were tracking you." ]
why do we put our hands over our mouth when we eat something hot? [psychology]	[ "Because we tend to open our mouths to breathe when we eat something hot, and we're already conditioned to cover our open mouths (yawning, etc)." ]
Why don't humans go into heat?	[ "Most animals have evolved this behavior so that their young one's growth coincides with the seasonal availability of food/resources. This also creates a cycle of birth and deaths that overlap so that the young can grow. This seasonal cycle is what we call being in heat. \n\nHumans don't have to because we are smar...
How exactly does an acne cream like 'Neutrogena On the Spot' work to help heal and diminish pimples and what does it really do?	[ "There are two types of medications used in these.\n\nBenzoyl peroxide. This helps dry out junk clogging the pore so that the environment inside the pore is less awesome for bacteria because it lets in oxygen. BP also dries up everything not pore, making your face a wasteland of dead skin chunks and redness that ...
Simpson's paradox	[ "Imagine you and your friend are comparing your GPAs. You took 5 hard classes and 2 easy classes, whereas he took 6 easy classes and 1 hard class. You got higher grades in both the easy classes and the hard classes like 5 Cs and 2 As whereas he got a D in the hard class and Bs in the easy classes. Obviously you are...
Why do dogs hate it when you blow in their faces, but love sticking their heads out the window?	[ "Dogs stick their head out the windows of moving vehicles because of the abundance of new, wonderful smells. Dogs can't resist new, unfamiliar smells, and the open road is full of them! \n\n\nContrast that will blowing your concentrated blast of breath into a dogs nostril! :)" ]
What is a leap year, and why do we have it?	[ "Because the rotation of the Earth (a day) is not related to the orbit around the sun (a year) we get some discrepancies in our calender when we try to use one to count the other. Our calender has 365 days in a year but it actually takes the Earth about 365.25 days to complete one year. So ever year the days and se...
When one company buys another, where does that money go?	[ "A company is either owned privatly (typically a family or group of banks) or publicly (stock holders). \n\nIf its a private company, the owners get the money paid into their bank accounts which they will then use to go and buy big houses and speed boats. If its a public company, the owners of the shares get the va...
Why are our brains really good at noticing bizarre circumstances while awake, but not while asleep?	[ "When you are asleep, a specific part of you brain is not used. That part of your brain(correct me if im wrong. Neocortex) is what controls things as common sense and spotting the abstract. I remember studying this in my psychology class but its been a while so i might be off." ]
If I practice normal motor skills with my non-dominant hand, will it ever be as good as my dominant is naturally?	[ "It depends a bit. A lot of us lefties are pretty much forced to use our right hand in various situations (ever laid eyes on a pair of seamstress scissors? They are ridiculous hard to use with the hand that doesn't properly fit the grip) and as a result we are sometimes better with some tools using our right hand.\...
Potato electricity	[ "Any battery is just a chemical reaction that releases electricity. \n\nA potato contains phosphoric acid, which will react with several types of metal. You would get a similar reaction if you obtained a beaker filled with diluted phosphoric acid (or many other acids), and inserted the metal rods into the beaker.\...
If alcohol is supposed to impair judgement, why do politicians and businessmen drink during meetings?	[ "I do not know of any formal meetings where politicians imbibe.\n\nBusinessmen do it for the same reason anyone else does: it makes you relaxed, and less confrontation, unless you imbibe too much.\n\nBut that is kind of old school business. Yes, it does still happen, but most companies have policies against any sor...
How do football players not get sick when they play sleeveless in really cold/wet weather?	[ "The body heat thing doesn't seem far-fetched to me because I have experienced it. I like to ice skate, and if you exercise enough at very cold temperatures, you will not be cold. I can comfortably skate in a t-shirt. However, this is an anecdote, and thus of limited usefulness. \n\n[Here](_URL_0_) is an explanatio...
What is Front End and Back End Web Development?	[ "Front end - stuff the end user sees. When you go on eBay and use the search bar to find the thing you want, that's front end. \n\nBack end - how it all works. When you type something into the search bar it sends information to a server that pulls the information you need, that's all back end. When you buy a thi...
Why is it acceptable for smokers to take additional breaks at work?	[ "It isnt! I found out that as a non-smoker, if you start hanging out with the smokers during their \"breaks\", it will cast a negative light on their excessive breaks and bring about enforcement of established times for said breaks. It should be just as acceptable for a non-smoker to take 10 minute breaks every hou...
Was the catalyst for the YouTube revenue/clean content issue caused by the Wall Street Journal articles on YouTube? Do major papers hold this amount of power?	[ "Regarding the Wall Street Journal, it's one of the most read papers in the US (currently leading USA Today and NYT as I understand it) with a subscriber count of 2.4M, [according to wiki](_URL_0_).\n\nAdditionally many businesspeople, including those at YT and Google and the companies that pulled ads from the Yout...
Why doesn't a pistol shrimp's snap boil water?	[ "Not enough energy to. It's like lighting a match in a snow storm and expecting it to melt everything. Sure, the match is hot, but theres a lot more cold than there is hot.", "I don't know how much credence i give to the \"temperature of the sun\" quote there, but the water does boil, in a way. The water undergo...
Lightning	[ "This is actually a very complicated question, so I'm going to gloss over some detail, but hopefully the explanation will be comprehensive enough. The only \"prerequisites\" I'll assume are that you know that charges repel and attract, ie negative charges repel other negative charges and attract positive charges, a...
How come a man can rent a tux from somewhere or buy a suit and use it for multiple special occasions but a woman has too buy a new dress for every event that comes up.	[ "They can, but just generally don't want to.", "Because your post isn't asking a simplified conceptual explanation, but rather for an answer, it has 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...
How did people get water to drink in ancient Venice?	[ "Venice has a complex system that catches rainwater putting it into cisterns that are then accessed by various city wells and fountains.", "There were wells that tapped the aquifer under Venice. Draining this aquifer was one of the main causes of Venice sinking. All wells were banned in the 1960s I believe." ]
If two perfect singers sing the same song and can sing the same octaves and notes, how do those two singing voices still sound different?	[ "Every person, and every instrument, plays each note slightly differently. If you take A over middle C, it will always be 440 Hz no matter whether you sing it, play it on a piano, play it on a saxophone, etc. But just because the note itself is 440 Hz doesn't mean that all of those 440 Hz notes sound the same. Each...
Who funds the chocolate milk commercials on ESPN?	[ "Lobby or industry groups mostly, basiclly the MPAA of the milk or egg businesses. \n\nAccording to this\n_URL_0_\n\nThe add is paid for by The Milk Processor Education Program aka MilkPEP. \n\nAccording to their website MilkPEP is funded by the nation's milk processors.\n\nThe egg commercials were paid for by th...
why can't some people wink?	[ "Your facial muscles, including your eyelids, are controlled by the facial motor nucleus. This is a cluster of neurons in the brainstem. But it's not a uniform thing, it's split up into smaller parts.\n\nThe upper half of your face gets sent mostly weak, bilateral signals. A lateral signal means that the signal is ...
Why do humans have a bellybutton?	[ "Your belly button is where the umbilical cord connects when you're in the womb. That's what provides you with food and oxygen. It has no purpose as an adult, it's just a leftover.", "The belly button is where the umbilical cord, made up of the umbilical arteries and umbilical vein, attached to you as a fetus. ...
The ability to be vague in the "ingredients" list on certain foods	[ "The FDA has very specific rules on labeling, as can be found [here](_URL_0_)\n\nThe rules specifically address 'spices' and indicate they can be listed very generically, as \"spices\" or variations thereof. \n\nAs for why they did it that way, one can only conjecture. Industry lobbying, for one, because spices (as...
The difference between transsexual, transgender, and hermaphrodite, options those people have for reproduction, and what it means to "Identify" as fe/male.	[ "A hermaphrodite is a person with a rare condition that causes them to be born with fully functional male AND female parts. Today, it is usually the case that parents will make a choice and have the other parts surgically removed.\n\nTransgender has to do with gender identity, specifically, identifying as the oppo...
Why do we find massages relaxing and soothing?	[ "Massages stimulate a lot of nerve endings in ways that they typically aren't stimulated. It also increase blood flow in those areas which is good for you body." ]
Why are we trying to colonize Mars?	[ "Some facts about Mars: It has 24.5 hour days, 144 trillion square meters of land area (roughly equivalent to the land area of Earth), and an average temperature of -85F. That's cold, but better than any of our other options.\n\nFirst, a self sustaining martian colony is a Plan B for Earth, should a catastrophe occ...
How does a computer processor "turbo-boost"?	[ "A computer processor (CPU) has an internal clock. It \"ticks\" so many times per second. A CPU running at 3.2 Ghz ticks 3.2 billion times per second. This is very roughly how many calculations it can make per second. You can make the CPU run faster by turning up the clock so that it ticks more times per second...
Why is a college degree now required for many jobs when some of those same jobs used to be operated by people with only a high school education?	[ "Because there are far too many interested. Diploma is a way to reduce the people applying for a job plus the degree is a way to understand that they know something.", "I'm not sure what jobs you're referring to, but from a broad perspective, a college degree is less of a risk for an employer. I work in an organ...
How and why do styluses work on touch screens?	[ "There are two major types of touch screen, resistive and capacitive.\n\nResistive touch screens work basically by having two layers of flexible plastic over the screen. When something pushes down on the top layer, the layers touch, and this is detected. Resistive touch screens are responsive to basically anything:...
Why is it so easy to notice bad acting? What are good actors doing that makes them seem more natural? Is there a scientific explanation for how we tell the difference?	[ "Humans are social animals. If you want to have a cushy life in the group, you have to pick up on lots of little cues. Body language, tone of voice, facial expression, every little detail is important and we are trained to pick up on discrepencies. A good actor has to fool you on all of these fronts. A bad actor mi...
How does laundering money through expenses work?	[ "As a general rule, you can't. Laundering money requires that you inflate _revenues_ so that you can pretend your dirty money was earned through legitimate sources, thus \"washing\" it.\n\nNow, that said, you can't just inflate revenues forever. If you run a business and suddenly double revenue without _any_ incr...
Why do we often get so entertained just by sitting looking at a bonfire?	[ "Fire is a powerful tool, and is/was one of mans most prized inventions. The dancing of the flames on the wood can be quite serene. The crackling creates a background filter to help you focus. (username kind of relevant)", "The universe invented fire, humans just harnessed it. Most modern societies don't teach th...
The difference between cisgender, transgender, and intersex	[ "Cisgender is what most people are. Their physical sex, and gender identity are mostly in sync, so they feel 'normal' with themselves for the most part.\n\nTransgender -as can be assumed by the prefix 'trans' being the opposite of the prefix 'cis', is the exact opposite. Their physical sex does not match how their ...
What causes the body to get addicted to a certain drug, and why does it form a reliance off of it?	[ "Drugs affect many parts / processes of your body, but the addiction part is largely neurological. \n \nAddiction Process: \nUser takes drug - > Brain gives big reward and starts positive association with the drug - > User takes drug - > Association increases - > Repeat \n \nAfter the user goes clean,...
when you exhale, why is your breath warm with your mouth open & cool when your mouth is almost closed?	[ "When your mouth is open wide you feel the air that has been warmed in your lungs. When it is barely open like blowing out a candle the air from your mouth is moving faster and pulls more of the cool surrounding air into the air stream, this combined with increased air speed makes it feel cooler.", "The answer li...
Why do our feet have arches? Wouldn't it be more advantageous to have your weight distributed over the entire surface of the foot?	[ "The entire purpose of the arch is to act as a spring to help absorb the impact from walking. Walking puts a ton of stress on your bones and if you run, it's worse. Imagine driving a car without it's springs. Every bump would be slamming into the frame basically. Eventually, you'll wear things out much faster.\n\nA...
How did different languages develop?	[ "Think of it like a giant game of telephone, but instead of a message passing from person to person, it's a language passing from village to village, region to region.\n\nOne group branches off from the main group, and finds a new place to hang out. They take the language with them. But their knowledge of the main ...
Infrared remote controllers	[ "The different buttons prompt the remote to emit a different sequence of 'flashes,' which are interpreted by the receiver to the corresponding action. Think how you can communicate between two ships at sea with a single lantern and a shutter.", "They send pulses, something similar to morse code. These pulses cont...
Why do pigs go through a big transformation if they're introduced into the wild?	[ "A creatures phenotype (physical manifestation) is dictated by its genetic code. There are actually different ways in which genetic code will be expressed depending on the environment that the creature finds itself; this phenomenon is called epigenetics. There is another phenomenon called neoteny in which creatures...
Why does my nose run when I eat food with cayenne or similar pepper spices?	[ "Chili peppers, used in spicy foods, contain capsaicin. Other spicy foods, such as horseradish and wasabi, contain allyl isothiocyanate. Both capsaicin and allyl isothiocyanate stimulate a reaction in your nervous system, causing your nose to run.\n Your nose runs when eating spicy foods because both capsaicin a...
Why don't bugs adapt to not hit my windshield?	[ "By percentage, so few bugs are killed in this way that it doesn't create much evolutionary pressure.", "I think the bugs hit your windshield because you are on the road, right?\n\nThey are usually above the road because it is warmer than the surrounding area (more true in the country than city). \n\nDoes that m...
Why are the planets named after Roman Pagan gods?	[ "The planets out as far as Saturn can be seen without a telescope. The Romans had names for them, and our civilization kept using those names even after the Romans were gone. Uranus and Neptune got their names to continue the pattern.\n\nOh, and the moons of the planets are named for minor gods and heroes associate...
Why does my stomach growl when I am hungry? What is going in inside and why does it make a sound?	[ "They are called borborygmi - such a wonderful word....", "You have passageways throughout the entire GI system where the food is moving from one section to the next. Between the stomach and the small intestine, for example, is the pyloric canal which is the passageway through the pyloric sphincter muscle. Your a...
Why does your nose run when you east spicy things?	[ "Nasal irrigation is a way for the body to protect sensitive and vulnerable tissues in the sinuses. Spicy foods trigger a feeling of actual heat (like real fire), even though it's not actually hot. The best way to cool spicy foods (at least from chili peppers) is with milk or some other dairy product. Fats in milk ...
What is happening under the hood my car that makes it "go" when I press the gas pedal?	[ "Basically controlled explosions. Each car had a certain amount of cylinders ( v6 v8 4 banger etc) that's what people mean when they say that. In each cylinder their is a piston connected to a shaft (crank shaft). Fuel and air are mixed into the cylinder and ignited by a spark plug. The explosion forces the piston...
Why does ice stick to your fingers when you're holding it?	[ "Basically, the ice is so cold that it can freeze the thin layer of moisture on your hands. As the ice warms up, then it doesn't happen anymore. \n\nYour skin has a small bit of moisture on it. Fresh ice is usually below the freezing point meaning it has some \"room\" to absorb more energy before it becomes water. ...
How are Criminal Disenfranchisement Laws constitutionally legal??	[ "SCOTUS has decided that disenfranchisement laws are constitutional based on Section 2 of the 14th amendment." ]
How come if there is an advertisement on TV, it's called a commercial, but anywhere else, they're just called ads/advertisements?	[ "Commercials are ads too, they're just a specific type of ad that happens to have a specific name. Calling them advertisements wouldn't be incorrect." ]
Why is it that battery powered wall clocks leave a stain after a period of time?	[ "That's where the battery case was. When batteries are in use they generate a slight amount of heat. That mark is just a very very slight 'burn' of the paint where it was pressed against the wall. It's not dangerous, because it's a very low-grade burn.", "The clock motor generates a little heat and vibration, whi...
In the cave paintings in France and Spain from 20,000 years ago, there are rinos, lions, gazelles, etc. Why did these animals go extinct in Europe but not in Africa?	[ "Climate change dealt Europe an ice age -- it just became too cold for some of these animals.\n\nHuman population density limited the amount of space for these animals to live, eat, and not be hunted by humans." ]
What's the difference between college, community college and university in the US in terms of the credibility of one's degree? Do all of these even end with one getting a degree?	[ "Community Colleges are 2 year colleges that offer trade certificates and Associates degrees. Sometimes, they'll cooperate with a state college or university in order to offer higher degrees in specific programs. These are run by the county (usually) or city (sometimes) and designed to offer a wide variety of educa...
Hot air rises on earth but what happens to hot air on the space station?	[ "There might be some movement due to the different densities of air creating different pressures, but it wouldn't move much compared to hot air on Earth.\n\nAn interesting side effect of this is lighting a candle in zero-g. The flame itself doesn't rise into the shape we're accustomed to seeing. Instead it ends up ...
If we were to make a armor out of modern day materials what it would be made of and how much protection it could provide agaisnt medival weapons such as swords and early gunpowdered weapons?	[ "If? We already do. Boron carbide. Ultra-hard, light weight ceramic." ]
Why are state boundaries on the western side of the USA much cleaner/straighter than those on the east?	[ "There was a lot of land to divide up, and very few people to worry about keeping communities together for. \n\nThus, in the Eastern US you tend to get more natural boundaries such as ridges and rivers, things that might have naturally divided a territory into separate areas that people would spend most of their t...
How do the major mail deliver services (FedEx, UPS) handle people who don't pay for the faster shipping? do they literally sit on the packages?	[ "They ship it by truck, instead of by air. Much cheaper for them. If the truck's not full for a particular regional destination, then it doesn't go. So your package will sit in one hub until the truck is full enough to send to the hub near you." ]
Why can't we just have synthetic teeth?	[ "We do, but they have to be screwed in to your jawbone with titanium screws. \n\nNatural teeth are glued in place by a layer around the base of the tooth called the periodontal ligament. It acts as a cushion and can heal itself so it doesn't wear out. Tooth implants have no shock absorber or have shock absorbers wh...
How do cuts work?	[ "Your skin is made out of a bunch of molecules that are linked together. When something pushes hard enough the pushing force is greater than the strength of the links and it breaks. \nNow a blunt object spreads out the force on a bunch of different places, so all these places share the strength of their links, so...
Why do senators and representatives rarely represent the state that they are born in?	[ "Americans tend to move quite a bit. This puts us in the position of being able to choose where we want to run for office from. A politician may not have views that align exactly with their \"home\" state, and make a strategic determination to move to a location where they have better odds of winning.", "How ma...
Why do balloons stop floating after a while, even though they still have helium?	[ "Yes, the remaining helium still provides buoyancy, but there comes a tipping point where that buoyancy isn't enough any more to carry the weight of the balloon's casing.", "Sure, but the balloon has weight itself. As the helium decreases, eventually the weight of the helium and balloon combo is no longer less th...
How was it possible for us to view the moon landing when the astronauts hadn't returned to Earth yet? (those were the days of "film at 11")	[ "For Apollo 11 it was sent by radio signal back to Earth which was picked up by receivers in Australia and then broadcast worldwide. A camera was attached to the lander to film it.", "It was video. News shows used the old 'FILM AT 11' for those not adjusted or familiar with the relatively new VIDEO technology t...
Why does it seem as though as I grow older, time and life speeds up?	[ "Dude I am 30 and still raving like mad!\nBring your self together!", "Because theoraticly it DOES! Ever so slightly though.\n\nAs you grow older, you also grow taller. This means the distance from your head to the center of the earth increases (ever so slightly in the grand scheme of things). This means the spee...
Why are PC digital downloads cheaper than console digital downloads?	[ "Console downloads are a closed market. You have exactly one source for your downloads.\n\nPC digital downloads have competition, so there are more market forces at play.", "My guess is that PC games have a higher Elasticity of Demand. There are way more games available for download on PC, thus users have more...
Why can you stream from Netflix/Hulu/HBOGo with no problem, but your laptop heats up and the video lags if you try to watch from the AMC/CBS/NBC website?	[ "Netflix' player is based on HTML5, I can't say anything about the others. But I'm assuming that AMC, etc. have Flash-based players... and Flash has terrible performance when it comes to video decoding." ]
How are street numbers assigned?	[ "Its based on a grid. If you ever look along the top and sides of a map there will be number indicating that certain areas go along with certain addresses. So when you look up a street you find roughly where the address is. Usually each city/county/township has their own way of deciding which addresses get assigned...
Why do big game developers and publishers not listen to their community and continue making mistakes?	[ "Because they still make money regardless of how many mistakes they make. Despite all the disappointment with those games, they still sold millions of copies.", "The community doesn't have a unified opinion. It's chaotic and depends on what subdemographic you ask. Then there's the argument that people do not nece...
Why is cyber-bullying such a problem? Can't people just step away from their computers?	[ "I imagine that for lots of people, social networking has become an integral part of their life. In fact, it is part of their social circle. I hang out with dudes over Teamspeak that I play games with. Sometimes we meet IRL and hang out, it is also great when you can drive to another country and have a place to sle...
Where do cranes come from?	[ "[A big crane is assembled using ground level, flexible length cranes that are mobile but can't carry as big a load as the main crane](_URL_0_)", "Usually a huge concrete pad is built and the crane is built with mobile cranes a section at a time. These can't the large loads used by the big crane which is why they...
Pornography censorship in Japan.	[ "It comes from an old Japanese law that came from the Meiji Era (1868-1912) where content \"injurious to public morals\" was forbidden. This law was influenced by Western Victorian morals. Over time the law was relaxed in other cultures but Japan was more conservative and kept the law around.\n\nThe law was event...
How are the costs of reality makeover tv shows like Home Improvement and Hoarders paid for and why?	[ "Same way all TV shows work. People watch show because they enjoy the content. Then TV network shows adverts to those people. The advertisers pay the TV network who in turn pay the show creators who then have some more money so they can make more shows.\n\nThere isn't a TV around that doesn't have costs and a budge...
How does a computer keep track of the date/time while unplugged from power and the internet?	[ "Theres a flat battery on motherboards. You gotta change em like every 6 or 7 years.", "They also have a small digital clock which keeps running. \n\nSome small computers, such as Rasperry Pi, do not have this as it is relatively expensive. They can get the time on startup from internet servers, the so-called XNT...
How does a Government body censor the internet of its people?	[ "There are various ways. The most basic of which is simply manually removing the server from the internet (i.e. trace the location of the server hosting the webpage via its IP address and then simply seize it)." ]
Why do neon signs have a buzzing noise to them?	[ "I think the most likely culprit is the transformer for the neon sign. The transformer takes the 120V or 240V 60Hz from the outlet and steps it up to several kV. The way it works is by running current through a coil of wire to create a magnetic field, and then converting that field back to a current in a secondary ...
How come movie companies do not do much about pirated movies on the internet?	[ "Because you can never remove something from the internet. \n\nYou can only restrict access to it." ]
Why does coiled wire serve as a good inductor?	[ "When you have current running through a wire it induces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is circular and encircles the wire. If you point your right thumb in the direction of the current then your fingers are curled in the direction of the magnetic field.\n\nIf you take a wire and coil it up then the magnet...
What is a "trigger" on Reddit, and is it a term used outside of Reddit?	[ "When some people undergo severe psychological trauma, like rape victims or soldiers, they're left with something called PTSD. Sometimes, things that remind them of the traumatic event can give them a panic attack or other unpleasant things.\n\nIn some online communities, it's considered polite to warn people if y...
How do non profit companies make money?	[ "This was explained a few days ago on reddit, so let me see if i can reguritate it.\n\nNon profit means the company isn't making profit. That still means they need qualified persons to fill their jobs. These people are paid, sometimes very competitively, to keep this organization afloat.\n\nWhat Non-Profit means is...
How does gut flora work and how can probiotics help?	[ "Gut flora refer to the billions of bacteria that live in your intestines. They serve multiple purposes. \n\n1. They help with digestion. E. Coli, for example, helps you by producing Vitamin K, which you cannot produce yourself. \n\n2. They compete for space with bad, pathogenic bacteria. If bad bacteria can't find...
What happens when you call into a talk radio station?	[ "You call the station and someone answers, they ask you what you're planning to say. If they decide your story is acceptable they will usually put you through to a point where you say your thing and it's recorded. The recording will then be played on-air and the hosts will talk about it. If it's a conversation type...

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