Split (3)

train · 273k rows

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How the NFL Draft works.	[ "1. Any player who enters the draft is eligible to be picked, but if you enter the draft you forfeit your remaining college eligibility. Usually every senior who has graduated enters the draft since they're out of eligibility anyway. Also select underclassmen enter as well and forfeit eligibility. This is usuall...
Why do rainbows form on spilt oil on the ground?	[ "It's actually not the oil itself but the oil and water. The uneven mixture creates a prism which reflects the light rays at differing angles." ]
"The higher the probability, the higher the entropy and the lower the information content."	[ "> After all, it had been Wiener who discovered a precise mathematical definition of information: The higher the probability, the higher the entropy and the lower the information content.\n\nEr, I think it was Boltzmann who came up with the definition and it was really Claude Shannon who popularized the concept.\...
Why is Golf the go to sports for rich and/or powerful people like Presidents, CEOs? What is special about it?	[ "It costs a lot of money to play, it's played in a space that is exclusive, which allows for privacy, and it is a slow paced game that allows for conversation and socializing. The slower pace also allows people to play into much older age than other sports. It's basically the perfect game for wealthy people who wan...
how does China go from an "overheated" economic perpetual powerhouse to an economic crisis seemingly in less than a year?	[ "When the stock market has more investment in it than is justified by it's actual value, we call it a 'bubble'. The price of stocks is way too high, and people are profiting on it's rise, but eventually that bubble bursts.\n\nReal growth happens in the 3%-5% range per year. Generally, growth past that is a bubble t...
Falling through the earth	[ "Seriously?\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_5_\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_4_\n\nYou couldn't be bothered by a search?" ]
Why is there darkness?	[ "Light doesn't travel instantaneously. The universe is only ~14 billion years old so there's only a limited amount of stars we can see.\n\nAdditionally, the universe is expanding. As the space itself inflates the light starts to shift towards the red end of the spectrum, eventually dipping into the infrared portion...
What are the historical/social reasons that cause Americans to tend to define their political affiliations as a fixed variable?	[ "In the United States, the Democratic party has for decades been the party of coastal areas and big cities, where the Republicans have been the party of rural areas and non-coastal areas.\n\nRegional affiliation rules the parties, rather than ideology, and whatever is popular in a region becomes the party platform....
How is Kevin McCarthy a good choice for Speaker of the House?	[ "It makes sense because the Republican party is overrun with lunatics at the moment. Boehner was run out of town for not being enough of a hardliner. Whoever replaces him doesn't need to be experienced, articulate, or anything you might think of as useful in a politician. As long as he agrees that Obama is Satan...
As a public figure, why can't Donald Trump's tax returns be released for him without his permission?	[ "Because even public figures are allowed a certain level of privacy. \n\nWhile I would not support the release of someone's information by coercion I would support a requirement that candidates must fully disclose their finances voluntarily in order to be allowed on the ballot.", "We CAN pass a law to release...
Where does the "smack" come from when sending a kiss?	[ "When you pucker up to kiss, you create a vacuum. When any opening is created i.e. any gap between your lips and teeth, air rushes in and creates a sharp whistle, which is the smack we hear.", "Donno but back in the day when one wrote a letter to their sweety-baby-honey-pie, SWAK would be written across the envel...
If your intestines don't have pain receptors, why does having constipation or diarrhea hurt so much?	[ "The intestines do have nerves, just not the normal pain receptors you are familiar with on your fingers and the like. Instead their receptors are more sensitive to pressure and stretching. Feeling the texture of your poop isn't really necessary." ]
Why are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript all separate languages?	[ "First of all HTML and CSS are not programming languages. If you want to be able to do any programming within a browser's web page you need javascript. This includes everything where you want to say IF this, then do that. HTML is the way you format your page. For instance < b > Some text < /b > make 'some text' i...
How big does a planet have to be for it to seem flat at ground level?	[ "That entirely depends on how big of an area you want to seem flat. Also what you mean by \"seem\". The Earth seems pretty flat from ground level, to be honest, unless you're actually measuring something.", "This is a good question, I can't give you exact numbers but when you think about how small a human is and ...
What is happening in the Missouri safe space video, from a legal standpoint. Specifically with the first and second reporters.	[ "If I can tag along here, what would the repercussions be if people began to use drones to film the \"safe zone?\" I know there is some kind of \"drone code of ethics\" but I'm curious about the legality...\n\nEdit: It appears they are now handing out a PSA welcoming media: _URL_0_" ]
alternation of generations	[ "In most animals, all the generations look the same - diploid animals with haploid germ cells. In many plants, the generations alternate between diploid organisms and haploid organisms. Organisms in both generations are able to survive, they just look different and occupy different niches.", "Are you specifically...
In the digital age, how will photographs be handed down to future generations?	[ "My descendents can fb me if they really care to see..", "I suppose you can print them and hand them down. My wife prints our digital photos and makes physical photo albums. It's fun for her, and it makes her feel better that our photos are not subject to being lost/deleted.\n\nEven though I have multiple copies ...
What is a Roth IRA? Why is it considered such a sound investment?	[ "In a normal retirement plan, like a company sponsored 401k, taxes are deferred until you actually withdraw money in retirement. With a Roth IRA, you pay taxes up front, but can withdraw the money tax free. This makes sense if the taxes you pay now will be lower than when you retire. This will tend to be more true ...
Why is female circumcision done by Muslims considered mutilation, but male circumcision commonly done in America completely fine?	[ "There are several forms of female genital mutilation. \n\nThe more serious forms of it are like cutting your dick off, and then making it so that the stub will hurt if someone tries to fuck you. \n\nThere are also more minor forms which are comparable to male circumcision though many of them make the very sensitiv...
Why does it always seem like the world is falling apart?	[ "Information isn't just at your fingertips, it's being shotgun blasted into your retinas. \n\nYour attention span is a hot commodity, so everyone with something to say is going to radicalize it so you take notice. \n\nWe live in the most peaceful time in history, we have more control over diseases and better health...
how "wasting water" is even possible?	[ "There are a couple of points that make it important.\n\n* Droughts aren't the only issue. Many cities (e.g. Phoenix, Las Vegas) are located in areas where water is and always will be locally scarce.\n\n* The water cycle replenishes a relatively fixed quantity of water. For cities that draw their water from river...
Why Communism failed	[ "Communism started as an academic exercise and some sound analysis went in to it, but it fundamentally goes against human nature. Given half a chance, people will try to bargain, make deals, and try to better their conditions even at the expense of others. To make Communism work, people would have to deny themselve...
Why do veterans in the USA have a seperate hospital/healthcare system?	[ "It was seen as an obligation that the citizens would pay for the healthcare of soldiers who were injured in the service of the country.", "Veterans are not required to go to a VA hospital exclusively. If they go to a VA hospital their care is paid for by the government. If they can afford to pay or have other in...
Does having a random alpha+numeric+symbol password reduce exposure in compromised email data breaches?	[ "> I assume the hackers gained access to the salted hash password file.\n\nThis is the best case. If hackers breached the site's security to get the password, we have already established that the site does have its security flaws. Whether or not they salted, or even hashed your password (or if they just stored it...
standard deviations.	[ "There's a lot of great answers involving square roots and variance, but I think the simplest explanation is that it tells you how tightly grouped your data is.\n\nFor example, if I have five numbers: 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12:\n\n* The average is 10.\n\nAnother five numbers: 2, 6, 10, 14, 18:\n\n* The average again is...
Why is glass the most chemically stable thing... ever?	[ "OP IS TALKING ABOUT HOW BEAKERS, TEST TUBES, AND MOST OTHER LAB EQUIPMENT IS MADE OF GLASS, NEVER REACTING WITH THE SUBSTANCES CHEMICALLY CHANGING WITHIN IT.", "Metals in their natural/neutral state are usually easy to chemically oxidise and/or will react and dissolve in acids.\n\nPlastics are polymers and are u...
With so many ways to listen to an artists music for cheap or even free, how do musicians make any money?	[ "Their main income is from touring and live performances.\n\nAlso, merchandise such as clothing (concert tees and such)\n\nMany pop artists have secondary incomes like clothing lines (J. Lo) and perfumes (Brittney Spears), even dolls (Taylor Swift).\n\nThey do still sell albums via iTunes and physical CDs. They als...
Plutonium (Nuclear?) Power, specifically in the Curiosity rover	[ "> I've been searching for an answer in earlier ELI5 posts, and nuclear power seems to be harnessing the energy to heat water and spin a turbine. Is this how Curiosity's reactor works?\n\nThe reactor on Curiosity converts a heat differential directly into electricity. As the radioisotope decays, it generates heat,...
Why is pipe tobacco wet but cigarette (rollie) tobacco dry?	[ "Def not interchangeable. I believe it is because generally pipe smokers want to puff on there pipe for awhile. If it was dry like cigarette tobacco it would burn up in a few puffs. The moist pipe tobacco burns and stays lit for a little while.", "> And are they interchangeable?\n\nEx pipe smoker here: they are n...
What is FM synthesis and what are the difference between FM, Subtractive, and Additive synthesis?	[ "FM stands for \"frequency modulation.\" In general it refers to any sort of time that we're changing the frequency of a signal. FM radio, for example, sends a signal by modulating (changing) the carrier frequency very slightly. When you tune into a radio station, the channel number is the carrier frequency at whic...
Why is patient zero of such significance?	[ "Viruses mutate as they travel to different hosts, so the first patient to get it has the most basic form of it that has the most in common with the daughter strains, which may evolve in completely different directions. Thus, if you find a cure based on the original patient, is has the highest likelihood of workin...
How does the aurora borealis form and why it is so hard to predict this phenomenon?	[ "when the sun releases a stream of high energy particles from its surface, if it travels in the direction of earth it will strike the earth's atmospheric particles. then these particle's electrons will absorb the energy from the suns particles, they jump from their normal energy state to a higher energy state for s...
Why do some substances melt, leaving behind the same substance, and some burn up, leaving ashes?	[ "Well melting and burning are two different processes. Say you have an ice cube. It's made up of a bunch of water molecules which are made up of hydrogen and oxygen.\n\nIf we melt the cube, we are just turning the hard rigid structure of ice, into a loose pool of water molecules. We're just adding enough energy ...
If all US currency states "Legal tender for ALL debts public or private" on it, can businesses legslly refuse to accept $100 bills?	[ "> There is.... no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services.\n\n_URL_0_", "The key word that you quoted is debt.\n\nIf you owe someone money, they must accept any legal tender to repay it. But they are sti...
Why Do Styrofoam Leach Out Their Contents When It's Super Cold	[ "It's not just when it's cold. Styrofoam is a bunch of little pellets squished together, the seal between pellets isn't perfect and will very slowly leak" ]
Why do hard criminals (like murderers) become super religious during jailtime?	[ "* joining up with others, regardless of the reason for affiliation, offers protection and community\n* prison life sucks, and placing your hopes and energies in something beyond that can be a coping mechanism\n* a lot of people are in prison because they shameless exploit and manipulate others...religion is an eff...
Free birth control under Obama's plan, how does it work and how do I know if I qualify?	[ "Apparently it's considered \"preventative care\" now... I'm not sure if it applies to existing plans though.\n\n > The guidelines go into effect on Monday, requiring insurers to provide free coverage of preventive care services for women in all new plans beginning in August 2012.\n\n[Source](_URL_0_)", "I would ...
Why does our brain tend to remember the bad things that happend to us more often and intense than the good stuff?	[ "Probably because in history, remembering bad events would help you to avoid them in the future and aid your survival. E.g. if you were attacked by a bear near a cave and lived, you would remember not to go near that cave again." ]
how can a spacecraft calculate its speed in space?	[ "The answer is, it depends on your reference point. Speed, unlike acceleration, is relative. You can only know the speed of an object when you compare it something. On earth, we measure the speed of an object based on the surface of the earth, or stationary objects. In space, any object you point to is moving at a ...
If a suppressor doesn't actually silence the sound of a gun that much, what role does it serve?	[ "It reduces the sound enough that it won't damage your hearing which also makes it so that the report of the weapon isn't heard a mile away\n\n*Edit: Integrated silencers actually do silence the weapon. Like the MP5SD. The bolt clicking is louder than the shot", "Makes the gun hearing safe, reduces recoil, reduce...
Why fish can pull oxygen from the water yet not from the air.	[ "Fish pull oxygen out of the water using a body part called a gill. They have gills on either side of their heads (kind of where our ears are). Gills are made of lots and lots of little thin fins. That way they have lots and lots of surface that touches the water passing by, so there are lots of opportunities for...
Why do cars need transmissions but planes and boats don't?	[ "Engines have a relatively narrow range of RPM where they perform efficiently.\n\nPlanes and boats propel themselves in a viscous atmosphere/fluid. As a result, plane and boat engines can operate in a fairly narrow range of RPM and still be effective. Within that narrow RPM range, the propeller/fan generates suff...
Why were buildings such as schools made into fallout shelters?	[ "Schools are large buildings, typically in the middle of population centers that typically have facilities built for large group of people (bathrooms, kitchens, etc.).\n\nThey make natural rally points for a population center and are built reasonably well to handle a crowd.", "A lot of schools were built after th...
Why didn't the FCC allow television broadcasters to use the AM band, instead of FM/VHF/UHF?	[ "The AM Band extends from 535- to 1,705-kHz, which takes up a little more than 1.1 Mhz. Each of the original TV channels used 6 Mhz. Thus, the entire AM band was incapable of handling even 1 single TV signal." ]
Why are many bathroom sink faucets so close to the back of the sink?	[ "Depends on the design, but I think it's at least partly because of how older bathrooms did their bathroom sinks. Basically the sink was a bowl, and you filled it up with water from the faucet, hot water would be a separate faucet, and you would add that in to get the right temperature. Then you wash your hands in ...
If Oseltamivir also helps prevent the flu, then why isn't it not prescribed as such?	[ "> Couldn't one make the argument that if everyone in you household has a flu, then getting prescribed Oseltamivir should be the way to go?\n\nIf everyone in your household has the flu, then Oseltamivir isn't going to help all that much. From the article you linked:\n\n > \"On average patients who start taking Tam...
How come at night when I change the angle of my rearview mirror it receives less light?	[ "[Really old picture](_URL_0_), but it explains it nicely.", "I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but I'll explain how the little flippy switch in the rearview mirror works.\n\nRearview mirrors actually have 2 mirrors in them. One reflects light normally, and one reflects light very faintly. These mirrors a...
Mathematically, why can't a chair balance with 2 legs?	[ "To see if something will balance, lay a string on the ground around its feet and tighten it. (That's called the \"convex hull\" of the feet.) The center of mass must be above the area outlined by the string for it to balance.\n\nOf course when you tighten a string around two feet, it becomes a line with no area,...
Why do we tip bartenders but not fast food workers for doing essentially the same task?	[ "Bartenders pour drinks and can give you extra booze and not kick you out when you start getting drunk. The good ones will conversation with you at show times.", "It's a cultural thing.\n\nIt's not customary to tip in Germany." ]
Why has the federal government of South Korea (including the president and PM) taken so much heat over the ferry sinking?	[ "Korean culture is huge on taking responsibility. The more power you have the more you profusely apologize for any and all mistakes. For example, when Cho Seung Hui massacred those kids at VTech, the Korean government and many korean religious leaders all apologized on behalf of the Korean population. It's a cultur...
Why do headphones sound better when you press on them?	[ "you get a better seal around your ear, making more sound go directly in the ear rather than floating off" ]
How and why does the human body generates heat?	[ "When we burn calories, we actually burn (oxidize) calories. The oxygen we breathe in is used for cells to take the food we eat and turn it into energy. The leftovers are heat, carbon dioxide (which we then breathe out), and a bit of water.", "Basic thermodynamics. Any time energy is converted from one type to ...
How come animals today aren't as big as the dinosaurs were?	[ "Keep in mind a few facts:\n\nThe biggest animal that ever lived is alive today. Bigger than any dinosaur, bigger than megalodon, bigger than all the ones you never heard of. Biggest animal ever is the blue whale.\n\nTwo, huge prehistoric animals like giant sauropods, megalodon, those kite-sized dragonflies, all ex...
How in the hell did Arnold Schwarzenegger become the governor of California?	[ "Everyone was pissed off at the guy before him. My car registration became like $1000! I mean wtf, what do they do for me to charge me $1000?? He promised to fix it and he did.", "/u/aolsux00 and /u/Wrekked_it touched on the two big factors (we hated Grey Davis and Arnold had political connections), but there's m...
How did they print photos in old newspapers?	[ "How old were the newspapers? The first newspapers used reusable type for the letters. To print a picture engraving were made. No there was no shading possible at first. Then engravings using multiple small lines were made to produce shadows.\n\nAs printing advanced the ability to print smaller and smaller lines, t...
What is causing the troubles in Calais/The Channel Tunnel?	[ "Migrants have been building up over the years, many of the asylum seekers are from Syria and other middle eastern countries affected by the voilence. Since the Strikes happened there was alot less staff causing a build up in queues bringing lorries to a stand still. This provides the perfect opportunity to get ont...
the different denominations in Christianity and whats the difference between them	[ "One of the early forms of Christianity that I know is \"Arianism\" (don't confuse it with Aryan, the fantasy race of the Nazis). The idea is that the Son, Jesus Christ, is inferior to the Father because the later created the former. And the Holy Spirit is inferior to the Son because Jesus created the Holy Spirit. ...
What makes computer code inefficient or elegant?	[ "Basically, it's a measurement of what a program is able to do contrasted by how much space the program takes up. Here is an extremely simplified example:\n\n2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 20\n\nor\n\n2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16\n\nor \n\n2 ^4 = 16\n\nAll of these equations equal 16, but each successive version of the eq...
Why is there an age requirement (35) to be President of the United States?	[ "There are a number of reasons. \n\nFirst, the framers of the constitution believed that wisdom comes from experience and they must have believed that 35 was a sufficient age for a person to gain enough experience.\n\nSecond, they didn't want people to be elected merely because, say, their father was a good politi...
Why is that when an escalator is turned off and you walk on it you feel like you're losing balance?	[ "Balance is one of our senses, and our senses are acclimated to our environment, so that the brain can simply tune out some of the inputs.\n\nSome hard-wired examples would be that you can't usually hear your own blood pumping through your body or that you don't see the little veins in your eyes (there's actually s...
how exactly does water ruin electronics, assuming that they are turned off after and dried throughly, what damage to hardware is done that is irreparable?	[ "Different components react differently to water. Most ICs, for example, will dry just fine, but may end up with residual water stuck underneath the chip, unable to dry. \n\nCapacitors can corrode from the inside out, and transistors do weird things when exposed to water, but immediate drying and cleansing with alc...
What kind of relationship do lawyers actually have with their clients in terms of guilt?	[ "My understanding... it isn't relevant if your client is innocent or guilty. A defense attorney's job is to make sure the prosecutor's job is being done correctly. \n\nA prosecutor wants a conviction. They need to prove \"beyond a reasonable doubt\" that the defendant is guilty. A defense attorney needs to make sur...
How does Spotify use so little mobile data?	[ "They use a piece of technology called a codec, shorter for encoder - decoder. You may be familiar with some like mp4 for video and mp3 for audio, or its AAC successor m4a. \n\nThere are ways a codec can reduce bit rate, or how much bandwidth is consumed in transmission without losing any information. The most comm...
How do shaving creams make shaving easier?	[ "To save you a chemistry lesson with lots of long words, let’s break it down to four basic ingredients:\n\nStearic acid – one of the main ingredients in soap-making. This puppy attracts dirt and grease and cleans your skin.\n\nSurfactants – or “surface-acting agents.” They attract water to your skin, making it mois...
Why do nipples go hard when they are hit?	[ "It's easier for newborn to latch onto a stiff nipple than a flaccid soft one. It's theorized thats why they stiffen upon contact.\n\nThe other reason is cold. In the same way you get goosebumps on your arms in the cold because your body is trying to keep you warm with your \"fur\". The hair follicles around your n...
Biologist and Doctors	[ "Antibiotics generally start to take effect pretty quickly, but there's a lot of stuff that has to happen between \"antibiotic starts working\" and \"you feel normal again.\" Basically, you've got to kill off the bacteria, then turn off your body's response to them. Both of those take time.\n\nLet's say you're taki...
Why do your palms get sweaty when you're nervous/scared?	[ "Your palms get sweaty when you're nervous or scared because of a system called the sympathetic system, triggering the fight or flight response. Or in ELI5:\n\nWhen you get scared, your body releases a chemical, which among other things, makes you sweat more in anticipation of the extra heat your body created while...
How would a basic income system work, how would it be implemented, and how might it affect taxation, industries and the economy?	[ "Basic income is the government giving a set income to everyone in the country. This is funded by taxes as any other government program.\n\nYou can still work and earn money on top of your basic income. And the more you earn the more taxed you are, so if you earn quite a bit you will payback your basic income throu...
Do astronauts on the ISS just not fap?	[ "Why would you think that? They're up their for awhile, if they're not having sex with eachother, masturbation seems like an obvious thing that would happen" ]
why is celery frequently served with chicken wings?	[ "It acts as a vehicle for ranch or blue cheese to cool the mouth off without having to take more hot sauce to get the cooling relief.", "The high water content and coolness of the celery spears along with the creamy ranch/blue cheese dressing serve to dampen the fire in your mouth when eating buffalo wings, where...
Why is it that electric charges in a magnetic field don't experience a force unless they are moving?	[ "This is actually a scenario experiencing quantum/time relativity. \n\nIn the magnetic field, if you take the field as an observer, the charged object you see moves through and has a flux in the field enough to produce a change in the system. Through the particles end, when the particle is the observer, instead the...
Why must Inflation happen in an economic system? Why can't we just ignore it and say that money is worth the same?	[ "It's not a guarantee that inflation will happen, or that the inflation will be a good thing. You can have deflation where a dollar is gaining in value over time. This encourages people to save money instead of spending it, and you have less dollars flowing through your economy. You can also have hyperinflation whe...
Why is the cost of groceries still high when the price of gas has fallen back down?	[ "What /u/Teekno said, water, is a huge part of it, and not limited to just California - reports were that last summer was so dry in the midwest that grains and corn were also going to have a much smaller crop this past fall, on top of the pork shortage, and this past winter [has killed over 30k dairy cattle,](_URL_...
Why can routers only use 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz if they're so congested?	[ "Radio spectrums are like a broad highway. Consider 2.4 and 5 as like the 2 far left lanes on a highway, but there are maybe 6 more lanes.\n\nThese 6 lanes are reserved for military communications(2 lanes), emergency responders radios(1 lane), aircraft radio communications(1 lane), and cell phone companies(2 lanes)...
Why do people think that US income tax is unconstitutional? If so, why isn't this bigger news?	[ "> Why do people think that US income tax is unconstitutional?\n\nBecause people don't want to pay income tax, so they grasp at straws to try to find a way out of it. For instance, some people claim that, because the versions of 16th amendment that were ratified by the states have slight differences in the spellin...
Binary Options	[ "Binary options are a type of financial instrument which can be exercised based on the value of some asset at or after some point in time.\n\nFor example, a given option may pay the option holder 10$ if the value of a single share of ACME exceeds $100 on July 13th 2018 at the close of market.\n\nIf I am the option ...
the difference between the FBI, CIA, NSA, and Homeland Security.	[ "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a police force that is run by the federal government. This means they investigate and respond to crimes within the US. They also happen to be responsible for counter-intelligence, or put another way, they are responsible for investigating the crime of espionage inside t...
If you are deaf do you need to be concerned about your ears? In terms out volume	[ "Yes.\n\nWhile you may be deaf loud noises can still cause both pain and physical damage to your ears.", "Well, you still have an inner ear and an outer ear so you can still have issues with very high pressure such as an explosion or maybe diving stuff which can be painful. But as far as issues such as using a gu...
Why is the plastic no longer opaque on this sticker?	[ "Because one side of that plastic has lots of bumps, so when light passes through it, the light is refracted and scattered in random directions. However, the sticker fills in these bumps and leaves a smooth surface for light to pass straight through unobstructed." ]
Why do most devices that use multiple batteries need to have them alternated?	[ "Efficiency. \n\nMost devices require more voltage than a single battery produces. For example, a AA battery produces 1.5 volts. If you need 3 volts, you need to connect two AA batteries in a series. That means you need to join the positive end of one battery to the negative end of of the next battery.\n\nThe easie...
If Republicans are for small government why are they introducing so many laws thrusting their religion on to others?	[ "Mostly because Republicans haven't been for small government in several years. Republicans and Democrats just have different opinions on which parts of government should be bigger or smaller. In general, Democrats want to control what you do outside of your house, Republicans want to control what you do inside of ...
What function do Tinder bots serve?	[ "It's selling porn. That's it. Those sketchy links you end up getting sent by a tinder bot or anything else are just porn. The one reaping the benefit is the person selling the porn." ]
do sperms come with pre-installed intelligence and character or are all sperms the same and develop these traits later?	[ "I like to compare intelligence to a glass of water. You can think of the size of the glass as your genetic contribution (the instructions encoded within sperm and egg cells) and the water itself as your environment. The size of your glass determines how much water you can hold, and obviously a larger glass will ho...
How do high areas of heat ripple our vision?	[ "Hot air is less dense than cold air, and light travels through them at slightly different speeds. At the boundaries between hot and cold air, the difference causes light to refract (aka bend) as it passes from one to the other. As the hot air rises and circulates with cold air, the boundaries between hot and cold ...
Do additives in gasoline from petroleum companies such as Invigorate or Triclean actually do anything? Or are they just a gimic to attract unaware customers? Or maybe they do a little but are essentially negligible. Please explain what they are and if they are worth a damn.	[ "Ok you have 2 blends of gas, summer and winter, each blends has additives required from your country mandated as law, these are mainly detergents to keep your fuel system clean and THEY WORK GREAT! Every gas station has the minimum guaranteed. \n\nProblem comes with the \"special additives\" such as shell, to be ...
Why do some TV shows like TBBT and Homeland make it over to prime time British TV, but Parks and Recreation and Breaking Bad don't?	[ "Either the networks there believe that they will not be popular enough to justify acquiring the rights to, or the rights holders in the US are asking for more money than the British networks are willing to pay.", "Remember that Breaking Bad is relatively niche despite its critical acclaim and internet fame, and ...
Why do worldleaders even think about going to war with eachother even though they know that it will cost incredible amounts of money and many innocent lives?	[ "War is usually about land and resources. If one country needs land for farming and it's taken by another country, they will not have the ability to feed their people. If land with valuable minerals or oil is taken, the country losing that land will have less ability to progress by using those resources. If a shipp...
Is there a finite amount of potable water? If so, what terms would completely deplete it? Can the finite amount be used to make more?	[ "There is a finite amount of water. Saltwater can be treated to make potable water but it's still limited. We couldn't make more unless we utilized chemical reactions like hydrogen peroxide, etc." ]
El Niño. What the FUCK happened to winter?	[ "Okay, so, the pacific ocean is really big, and really windy. The winds push all of the water to the west, and it wells up warm surface water along the western pacific. Every once in a while, for reasons we don't yet fully understand, the wind gets a little weaker, and the pacific ocean has a crazy backwash. Then t...
How are young birds and eggs safe in nests? Aren't they sitting ducks?	[ "First and foremost. Did you just make this post for a sitting ducks pun?\n\nSecond, that is why a great many birds build nests way up on the top of trees. Those that don't generally try to disguise it in the underbrush. \n\nBut yes, at the end of the day, eggs do get eaten. Nature doesn't care that much about ...
Why are gasoline prices so volatile especially compared to other staples like bread or milk?	[ "Because the markup on gasoline is much smaller than the markup on more processed goods like bread. [Wheat prices](_URL_0_) are similarly volatile as [oil prices](_URL_2_), but there's about a nickel of wheat in a loaf of bread, so when the price of wheat moves by 50% it impacts the total cost of the loaf by only ...
How can an advanced US destroyer collide with a tanker in open waters? Are there no alarms or nobody steering? How can something like that go unnoticed?	[ "The most common reason is human error:\n\n– Insufficient watch-keeping.\n\n– Lack of situational awareness.\n\n– Failure to set priorities – lack of positive action.\n\n– Preoccupation with administrative tasks.\n\n– Failure to communicate intentions (officer/master/pilot).\n\n– Lack of assertiveness – failure to ...
Why do drive-thru fast food places have two Windows even though only one is used?	[ "When order volumes are high enough, and when they have staff for it, they can run both windows, which makes the drive-thru a little more efficient. But it doesn't make sense to run it that way when order volumes are lower.", "Personally since I've worked at a drive thru for about a year now, we do actually use b...
Why do guys feel it in their stomach when they get hit in then balls?	[ "In humans, the testicles start out life in the abdomen and descend through its lower wall, eventually ending up external to the body. This gives them a number of connections to the abdomen; they're basically wrapped in every layer of the abdominal wall. Their nerve supply comes from the abdomen as well, apparently...
How can we assume that people recycle properly? What happens if someone accidentally throws a non-recyclable item into the recycling?	[ "The recycling plant has machines and people to split recycling. Even if it where all recycled properly you still need to put the coke can in the aluminum recycling machine and the coke bottle into the glass recycling machine." ]
Why are there no gray people?	[ "There are in-between colored people; they’re brown, not grey. White people aren’t ivory white, and black people aren’t ebony black; we’ve got some reddish hue that shows through our skin. Black people from Africa are very dark skinned – in American and many European nations, we often see someone with brown skin an...
Why when I put my banana in my lunch bag, does everything taste like banana?	[ "Whilst I can't really answer your question, have you tried a \"banana guard\" or similar product? Covering it would reduce contact with the rest of your lunch (potentially helping with the flavour problem) and protect the fruit from bruising at the same time.\n\nI do know that bananas release ethylene as they ripe...
Would it be possible to change a planet's atmosphere, terrain, etc enough to make it capable of supporting life	[ "The process that you are referring to is called Terra forming. Theoretically it would be possible, though at current times, we struggle just to manage maintaining little national parks. The process of changing another planets atmosphere without drastically changing it too much might be more than we could ever mana...
Quantum Mechanics Superpositions	[ "The superposition principle is a property of waves (more precisely it's a\nproperty of a linear system, and most wave equations are linear) that\nsays if you add two waves together you get another wave.\nYou are most likely familiar with superpositions even if you don't know it,\nfor example a C note on a piano is...
Where do Syrians get their weapons? And why do they still get them?	[ "Many of the weapons spread throughout Africa and the Middle East are remnants of the collapse of the U.S.S.R. There were so many spread throughout the region that when it fell many of the weapons ended up on the black market etc. That is one reason you see so many with AK's. That and AK's are one of the most relia...

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