Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Holographic images	[ "Picture a row of little triangles in a big line /\\ like that. As you move your eyes go from seeing the / side to seeing the \\ side, which has a different picture. If measured correctly, this tricks your brain into supplying the missing \"movement\" between the two images. So one side is A and one is C, your min...
We've had photorealistic CGI in movies since the early 1990s ("Jurassic Park," etc). Why don't we have photorealistic video games yet?	[ "Video games have to render the image in real-time, since your input determines what the next frame has to look like. A movie, by contrast, can take as long as it needs to get the image quality up to photorealistic levels, taking hours for a single frame, because they only have to render everything once.", "Even...
When you feel like your heart is skipping a beat, is it really skipping a beat?	[ "I've been tested for this, and in my case it is that one heartbeat happens sooner than it normally would, and then the next heartbeat happens when it normally would in regard to the first of the three heartbeats, leaving more space between the second and third heartbeats, giving me that fluttery feeling in my ches...
What is is that makes Buddhism a religion?	[ "> Then, why is it a religion\n\nReligions don't need to be a Judeo-Christian style monotheism. Through history most weren't. \n\n > and why different from Taoism or other \"related\" philosophies/religions?\n\nIt's related. There's a lot of overlaps in ideas in the same way there's a lot of overlaps between a lo...
NBA Free Agency and the Salary Cap	[ "The NBA has a soft cap meaning that you can exceed the maximum salary under certain circumstances. If you go too far over you are penalized with a luxury tax. This page has a list of the exceptions _URL_0_ . These exceptions were created to help teams keep players year to year. A hard cap would cause more player m...
Does my dog hear his name like I do?	[ "No. To him, his name is a command just like how \"sit\" is. But instead of asking him to sit, his name means \"look at me/come to me\" which ever way you use it." ]
Why are people so critical of their own work?	[ "Because any medium is an imperfect translation of abstract thought.\n\nI'll use books as an example, but it works for any media. Everything you know about a language paints a picture in your mind. When you read something someone has written, you can't help but see it. When someone describes a character, you pictur...
How do trains pull so many cars? What is the limit to the amount of weight they can pull?	[ "The locomotive is large, and is pretty much all engine and fuel. Of course there's a limit, but you can increase that by adding more locomotives.\n\nThis [Wikipedia article](_URL_0_) describes the record for the longest and heaviest train ever; eight locomotives pulling a train of 682 cars. It was four and a half ...
How to Buy Groceries Properly	[ "Bigger problem with 6 people in an apartment is keeping track of who owns what.\n\nI suggest, at first, generally just buying what you plan to use immediately (1-2 days), with a few frozen/canned things (frozen pizza/burritos, TV dinners, canned soup/chili) that you can break into on short notice. This will preve...
Is there a correlation between a full moon moon and odd behavior?	[ "My girlfriend works as a midwife and says the same thing. She hates working night shifts on a full moon, \"because it is madness\".\n\nI don't believe it actually makes a difference, there is no scientific proof.\n\nAlthough I'm aware that these old wives tales, and a lot of folklore regarding full moons does stem...
What is corporate welfare? (no politics please)	[ "Take major league baseball for example. For a particular team, the stadium they play in may be 50 to 100% public money. To build the stadium, local government may take away land from other private owners. The team is exempt from local and state taxes that other local businesses have to pay.\n\nFor agriculture, far...
Why is it that when i get 8-9 hours of sleep i wake up tired but when i get 3-4 hours i wake up energized?	[ "When we sleep our brain goes through a cycle of activity. This cycle will vary between 80 - 120 minutes and may repeat 4 or 5 times during the night. The \"deepest\" part of this cycle is called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. This is the state usually associated with dreaming. We will enter REM sleep various time...
Why can't we put metal objects in the microwave, yet the inside is made of metal, including the metal mesh on the inside of the door. Is the metal coated with some special paint that makes it ok to be exposed to microwaves?	[ "The electrodynamics are sort of complex. I am not saying you should try this at home, but a lot of it has to do with the shape of the object rather than the material, so you can technically safely microwave metal.\n\nA microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation, just like light. You don't really have to kn...
Can 2 or 3 people have the exact same voice?	[ "Close enough to cause confusion, anyway. When I was in high school, this happened more than once:\n\nSFX: Phone rings\n\nMy Dad: Hello?\n\n(pause)\n\nMy Dad: I think you must want PossibilityJones. Just a moment. PossibilityJones! Phone!\n\nMe: Hello?\n\nMy Girlfriend: Stop it! You're just screwing with me! I know...
How are the songs on the radio encoded into radio frequencies?	[ "If it is analog radio there are two ways AM and FM.\n\nIn both cases you have a carrier wave at the frequency you set your radio to. The carrier wave has higher frequency then the sound. The sound you can hear is < 20,000 hz and the carrier wave is in the 1,000,000 hz range\n\nAM (amplitude modulation) changes th...
How are nearly perfect polygon (usually hexagon) bubbles formed when I submerge a drinking bottle, with a circular mouth hole, under water and let the air escape?	[ "For the same reason [these suckers](_URL_0_) make hexagons; it is the least amount of edging surface required to make the cells or bubbles." ]
How are jars vacuum-sealed?	[ "The contents are heated as they are packed, at very least to pasteurize them. Lids are applied hot, and as the content cools, it creates a partial vacuum." ]
Why do Americans consider Barack Obama to be black when he is actually mixed?	[ "By American convention, a person is black if they have basically any black ancestry.\n\nAnd more importantly, Barrack Obama self-identifies as black.", "It is a holdover from slavery and segregation where there was a philosophy called the \"one drop rule\" that meant if you had a single ancestor who was black wi...
why animals like pandas can eat just one plant and don't have any lack of nutrients	[ "They do have a lack of nutrition that's why they sleep 90% of the time,\n\nIts why they have to eat almost a ton of bamboo a day to survive,\n\nThey don't have enough energy for sex which is part of the reason they are going extinct.", "Bamboo contains very little nutritional value so pandas must eat 12-38kg eve...
When a massage therapist comments on how tight your back is and how you have so much going on in your muscles and trigger points, does that mean something is actually medically wrong?	[ "Not necessarily. People can have tight muscles because if stress or over use, etc. This is not to say that a person with lots of tension can't have other problems, but that I just normally is not the case. \n\nWhen a person is new to receiving massage, certain things can be expected. They will often be told what t...
Can you explain to me (like I'm five) what microprocessor stepping is, and how it works?	[ "The speed usually advertised on your microprocessor (like 2.8ghz) is it's highest speed. When the processor is running at it's highest speed, it can do the most amount of work (and fastest). But running at the highest speed also makes it use up the most amount of electricity. \n\nWhat microprocessor stepping do...
Explain me voltage, electricity and current like I'm literally 5	[ "Electricity is the build up of electrons.\n\nCurrent is the movement of electrons.\n\nVoltage is how hard the current is being pushed.\n\nAmperage is how many electrons are being pushed.", "Think of a garden hose. \nElectricity is water. \nCurrent is how much water is coming out.\nVoltage is how hard the water i...
Bose-Einstein Condensates	[ "Preface: I'm doing a minor in physics, and just aced, my intro to quantum physics course, which (in addition to the introductory physics course I took last year) covered this. However, I am far from an expert.\n\nSo, in order to explain what a Bose-Einstein Condensate is, we first have to understand some things ab...
Why do movies use a green background to film with CGI and not other colors?	[ "Green is generally the farthest colour from human skin tone, being the opposite of red, so when it comes to removing it you avoid issues with holes in the person. Also modern digital cameras devote twice as many pixels to green as for blue or red, so they're a lot more sensitive to the green spectrum.", "the col...
Difference between a key change and mode change in music.	[ "From what I understand all the modes retain the same base note. So if you know enough about whatever mode they are playing in you can figure out what note they keep ending with or going back to. When you change the key the base note is different. For example the difference between C major and C mixolydian is th...
How does discarded yard debris, such as a pile of grass clippings, get hot enough to combust?	[ "I'm confused as to what you mean, but here's what I think you mean: \"How can very green plants burn if there's so much water in them?\" \n\nWater interferes with combustion because it boils at a lower temperature (usually) than the thing that we're trying to burn. \n\nThis is important because water stays at the ...
Why can't electric cars charge themselves like combustion engines can charge it's own battery?	[ "Because the combustion engine uses the combustion to charge the battery via a generator (alternator in a car). The electric car uses the battery to run the car. So using a battery to charge a battery is both pointless and will result in a net loss of energy due to heat.\n\nAlso, electric cars do charge themselves ...
How does Shampoo and Body Wash work so effectively when it only stays on our body for a few seconds before getting washed off?	[ "If I understood correctly, you are basically asking how soap works. \n\nSoap/shampoo/body wash has molecules that can interact with both the water and the fat/dirt you want to remove. These molecules have a polar portion, which binds them to water, and an apolar portion, which makes them able to interact with orga...
Why is red, white and blue so prominent in flags throughout the world?	[ "Red often symbolizes bravery, courage, or blood shed in warfare. White usually symbolizes purity and peace. Blue symbolizes peace, justice, and vigilance." ]
What is mitochondrial DNA and what it tells about human evolution	[ "You live in a house, but you have some extra room. So you let your friend come over and live in a room in your house. He has his own stuff for his room but uses your kitchen, bathroom, washer/dryer. In exchange he pays for your power bill.\n\nThis is a symbiotic relationship, you help each other. Mitochondria are ...
Why does squinting improve my eyesight when I don't have glasses on?	[ "Glasses bend the incoming light to focus it appropriately to the back of your eye. When you squint, you're doing the exact same thing, but very imprecisely. It bends the light just enough to help you get by in a pinch.", "You are doing something called compensation by squinting. Your eyes do it all the time, ...
Why are some economies self-sustaining while others require a massive trade surplus just to function?	[ "A lot of the value produced in the USA is by peoples brains and not their hands. If you import a ton of cheap garbage from china for pennies and export knowledge in medicine, engineering, business, finance, etc. For hundreds of dollars per hour, its hard to look at that as being BAD for the us." ]
If two half-asian, half-caucasian people have a baby, is there a small chance only the caucasian genes are passed on?	[ "Mathematically yes. Statistically no. That would require:\n\n- that each parent had EXACTLY half of its genes from each origin, which is a very small chance.\n\n- that they have EXACTLY complimentary halves (every gene that was asian in one parent would have to be caucasian in the other parent), which is again a v...
Why does our electoral system have "super delegates" who don't have to cast votes matching the popular vote of their district?	[ "It's not really \"our electoral system\", it's the Democrats' nomination process that has it.\n\nTechnically, those people don't have to cast votes based on anything, but the majority are almost certainly going to vote for whoever ends up winning the vote-based delegates. It came up in 2008 - a lot of superdelegat...
How does the body make blisters?	[ "heat damage increases capilary permeability and plasma (the liquid that supports blood cells) \"leaks\" under a thin skin layer, getting trapped under it.", "Tangentially related: use tincture of benzoin to treat them if you want to keep using the blistered body part quickly. Works great." ]
What causes the side effects of antibiotics, and why do they put "take with our without food" on the label when I fell like I'm going to throw up whenever I take them without food?	[ "You have bacteria in your gut that help you absorb nutrients. These good bacteria are also killed when you take broad spectrum antibiotics." ]
Why do we hear about so many soldiers in the present day wars in Iraq and Afghanistan returning with PTSD, yet it seemed to be nonexistent in those returning from WWII?	[ "Back then it was called shell shock. Damn sure happened frequently but just not as discussed much like most mental illnesses", "Source: I am in graduate school getting my doctorate in psychology\n\nAnswer: There was always PTSD. Unfortunately, untill fairly recently, mental health in general was not som...
Evolutionary History of Pandas?	[ "I suspect it is because of their diet. Taxiphyllin, what babmoo shoots produce, is a toxin that produces cyanide in the gut. So most animals can not eat it or in large quantities. We can only eat bamboo after it has been prepared correctly.\n\nBasically the giant panda was able to survive because it could eat a...
Why can't Palau, Marshall Islands, and Micronesia provide for themselves and not be in Free Association with the United States?	[ "Ever since WWII ended, there has been a strong decolonization movement throughout the world, and many countries are either granting their overseas possessions independence, or giving them full status as an integrated part of the nation.\n\nMany of these places want independence, but aren't equipped to take on all ...
Why does Google Maps suggest a slower route?	[ "The problem is if two places are far away there are too many possible ways to travel. Instead google thinks of points along the way and calculates the fastes way between those points. It then adds those ways up.", "Because the devs want to give you options. You may think \"I know that's a faster route, but I wan...
how do birds mate, and why can we still eat an egg?	[ "The chicken eggs in the grocery store have never come in contact with a rooster. They are unfertilized eggs.", "Hens lay eggs whether they are fertilized or not, and aside from the presence of the embryo, there's no difference between fertilized and unfertilized eggs. The eggs we buy in grocery stores are unfert...
Why is a bra just called a bra when it covers two things, but a pair of panties is called a pair when it only covers one thing?	[ "We don't call them a pair of shirts either. Panties came from pants, and pants originally came from hosiery, which came as two separate pieces. We kept the \"pair\" nomenclature even after we starting joining the two leg pieces together in the middle.", "same reason you drive on a parkway and park in a drivewa...
Why do some say Diet Soda is bad for you?	[ "First things first: diet soda is not known to be bad for you.\n\nNow for the elaboration.\n\nDiet soda is soda that's sweetened with something that isn't sugar. The thing that it's sweetened with tastes sweet (obviously) but has no nutritional value. So diet soda can taste sweet while having no nutritional value...
- Why is it that Peter Pan is portrayed so much by women in plays and new reboots of the story?	[ "It's much easier to make a woman look like a 14 year old boy than it is to find a man that looks like a 14 year old boy.", "Peter Pan is supposed to be a boy who is, at the very most, 14. However, not everyone wants to work with child actors, and grown men are typically very obviously post-pubescent. So instead,...
Why do I get hiccups after one tiny swig of whisky?	[ "Hiccups are a result of one of three things : expansion of the stomach, movement of stomach acid or irritation of the phrenic nerve, which controls the diaphragm.\n\nAs it is unlikely that a swig of whisky can cause the stomach to expand, it is most likely whisky irritating the phrenic nerve or a less likely, a qu...
What would happen if every single American with student loan debt simultaneously defaulted on it?	[ "The banks would be bailed out by the government, who insured the loans.\n\nTaxpayers, including those newly-graduated and working debtors, would have to make up the losses in higher taxes.\n\nDeadbeats would lose their credit rating, and have to pay exorbitant interest rates for years to come.\n\nStudent loans wou...
What causes the need to pee?	[ "It's been a while since I've studied it so I can't elaborate too much. Basically after we reach about 200mL of urine our bladder stretches too much and we feel the need to pee. I was taught that every 50~100 mL of urine will re-trigger this feeling until your bladder can't stretch enough and is forced to contract ...
When you burn your tounge, why does it feel like a different texture?	[ "The answer is in the question. Burning skin damages it. If it's damaged, it's going to be a different texture until it heals.\n\nAlso, your tongue has nerve endings just like the rest of you. The tongue itself can feel things. When burned, those nerves aren't working properly any more.\n\nSo your tongue will f...
What is the purpose of the "Do not eat" packets often found in packaging? What would happen if it was to be consumed?	[ "it is there to absorb moisture and keep the thing its packed with dry.\n\nit is non toxic but may irritate your digestive tract..\n\n\nbtw its silica gel\n\n_URL_0_" ]
Why can reading glasses be purchased over the counter, but glasses for nearsightedness cost hundreds of dollars?	[ "As I understand it, \"reading glasses\" are basically wearable magnifying lenses at various strengths. Glasses for nearsightedness (or farsightedness) are far more than that - in essence, they need to be carefully shaped to reverse the abnormalities of your natural lenses and eyeball. This is a somewhat complicate...
how are ETFs priced?	[ "Each share of the ETF owns very specific fractional shares of the other stocks. If we have an ETF that is 0.01 shares of AMZN, GOOG, and AAPL per ETF share then it should be priced at 0.01*(1715.97+1152.26+188.84) or $30.57 per share.\n\nIf you were a market maker and you owned a large number of shares of this ET...
What is GitHub, what is it used for, and what do the key terms like fork and commit (there are others too) mean?	[ "Git is one form of revision control, there are many others like subversion, etc. Revision control exists as a means to manage contributions and updates to code, especially code that multiple users work on at the same time. It does this by keeping track of all changes made, who made them, merging different change...
How does "declaring war" on a country work? And how does a country know who is attacking them? Couldn't the US go bomb a country and say another country did it?	[ "Yes, a country's leader could go attack another country and blame someone else. However, the complexities in chain of command and the number of people that would be required to know are so high that people would find out eventually. Even Russia, which Putin keeps on lockdown with state-controlled news and the like...
How do muscles get stronger as you workout?	[ "In a couple of different ways, actually. First and foremost they get stronger with lots of exercise because they get better at recruiting more fibers and contracting harder, which is mainly due to the training effect on your central nervous system. Secondly the muscles themselves get little micro tears in them as...
how are chip cards more secure than swipe cards?	[ "The chips generate a rolling code and would be imposible to predict or duplicate. So suffice it to say that you cannot spoof the card.\n\nSo unless you actually steal the card (easy to identify and report) you are out of luck.\n\nso any retailer that uses a chip is effectively immune from credit card fraud or atl...
If I do something illegal on the internet, how can the police track me down?	[ "I doubt that they would unless you did something that caused physical harm to someone or something." ]
Why are rainbows always curved?	[ "Rainbows are actually circular, however, ol' earth gets in the way. But there's more to it, too.\n\nThe sun's light has travelled so far that it's coming basically straight at us, there are droplets of water in the air that splits the light apart into colors, and bounces them back towards you. However, there's onl...
Why do obsessed fans develop the desire to kill celebrities or the object of their obsession and idolization?	[ "I'm sure someone with psychology credentials will come up with a much better response, but my guess is that it has something to do with a sense rejection. These people \"fall in love\" with the people they are obsessed with and feel rejected that the feelings they have are not mutual. In extreme cases this manifes...
Why does it feel warmer when it's snowing outside, compared to it just being cold without snow?	[ "Bunch of wrong answers here...\n\nSnowfall implies negative degrees celcius (otherwise it would rain). As the temperature drops below zero, the humidity in the air quickly drops aswell. Dry air is much easier to shield yourself against than humid air. \n\nThis is why 1 degree celsius above zero is such an awful te...
What are “non-free” packages in Linux?	[ "Used in debian-style repositories and others, the non-free section refers to packages that do not have source code published under a \"free\" license. Such packages/software are distributed free of charge, but the source code is not available and/or users are not allowed to modify and create derivates of the co...
Why does an explosion "suck in" the surrounding environment and then light up?	[ "There are three different aspects to that that together form your \"explosion\": \n\n1. If anything gets \"hot\", it starts to emit light. If air and gas get hot because of a chemical reaction and as such starts to glow we call that \"fire\". \n2. If anything gets \"hot\" it expands its volume. If you make gas ve...
Is there a scientific reason my room gets colder with less stuff in it?	[ "When you've got a lot of stuff in your room, you've got less air in it.\n\nIn the same enclosed space, it takes less energy to warm a smaller amount of air than a larger amount.\n\nSo when you have less stuff in your room, you have more air and better circulation, and it takes more energy to warm it, and if you're...
PCOS and birth control	[ "You may want to ask this in /r/PCOS. There will be a lot of women there who have been through the same issues you have." ]
Why does my nasal sinuses clog up once I lay down to rest?	[ "Nasal sinuses are essentially holes inside your skull that clog up with mucus (snot) when you have a cold. \n\nEach of these sinuses have an opening in them which allows the mucus to drain from the sinuses into your nasal cavity (inside of your nose). Most of the sinuses have their drainage openings on the bottom ...
Why do we have a bracketed tax system, and why don't we use flat tax rates for everyone?	[ "As ELI5 as was explained to me: A flat tax, like 11%, would be a larger share of a low earning citizen than a high earning citizen. A person earning $100 would be more affected by paying $11 dollars than a person earning $100,000 would be paying $11,000.", "A flat tax is a regressive tax. A regressive tax is o...
How Bi-Planes are able to time/shoot their guns without the bullets hitting the propellers.	[ "While all of the responses so far are good (the wiki link explains quite well in-depth, with illustrations), I'd like to try making this as ELI5/TL;DR as I can:\n\nThe pilot's trigger is not really the same as a trigger on a handgun - it does not make the weapon fire. Instead, it works more like a safety - when pr...
Does wearing a hat contribute or cause hair loss in any way?	[ "You said in any way. Yes it can, if you have psoriasis, wearing a hat can trap heat and sweat, aggravating the condition. Which can cause temporary hair loss.\n\nOtherwise generally no." ]
How do babies learn languages so quickly?	[ "Not like they have much else to do, poopin' don't take too much time.", "There is a very critical period of language development starts at five months and ends at age five. During this period of time the brain is primed for language acquisition and it is constantly growing and forming new neural pathways in resp...
If every company that has moved "hq" overseas suddenly had to pay the taxes owed to the US gov't, what would happen?	[ "The better question is: why should we tax worldwide profits of corporations anyway? The taxes that they are avoiding by moving overseas are taxes on profit (edit: typo) made outside of the US. We are alone in doing this, since every other country in the world only taxes corporate profit made within their bor...
How exactly is data transferred wirelessly? Bluetooth, Radio, Satellite, NFC, Wi-Fi, Li-Fi etc?	[ "Imagine the hose in your garden. Its connected to a faucet. If you open and close it fast enough and in a pattern, water comes out of the other end also in a pattern. \n \nNow, devices have recievers and transmitters. These know how to \"read\" and \"write\" patterns respectively. We can now set this up so that...
What it means to cut someone off	[ "Basically it is when another driver passes your car, but gets into your lane without leaving reasonable space between your front bumper and their back bumper.\n\nThis can be, and often is, accompanied by the offending driver immediately reducing speed to compensate for sliding in between cars recklessly, creating ...
Is there a reason that some devices (like a remote) have their batteries installed in opposite directions, as opposed to a flashlight which does not?	[ "When you put batteries in series (i.e. stacked up end-to-end), their voltages add together but the current stays the same.\n\nWhen you put batteries in parallel the voltage stays the same, but the currents add together.\n\nInstalling the batteries in opposite directions is a way of putting them in series witho...
How does carbon dating work if all of the atoms being tested were originally created in stars?	[ "That's because the Carbon-14 was not made during the big bang, or even when our sun and the earth were formed. Carbon-14 is constantly being created by decay of Nitrogen-14 in our atmosphere. When something is carbon dated, it's dating the carbon that was created during the lifetime of that organism.\n\nRadiocarbo...
Why are certain animals (e.g. dogs, cats) domesticated more commonly than other animals (e.g. deer, raccoons, etc)?	[ "Dogs and cats are better suited for the tasks we give them. There is not a lot that a deer can do that something else we have tamed could do more efficiently. Although reindeer are used in extremely cold environments that would not be good for horses.", "Put a dog on a farm. What value is added? A dog will natur...
Why does it start to rain much more heavily immediately after thunder?	[ "Thunder is produced in a type of cloud called a \"cumulonimbus\".\n\nIn this type of cloud, air gets pulled higher and higher by the air currents. As it does so, its temperature decreases, and because cold air can't hold so much water in its invisible gas form, the water turns to visible liquid water droplets.\n\n...
How does a song "grow on you" after a few listens	[ "Our brains like repetition. We like being familiar with something. So after you hear it multiple times you \"know how it goes\" and automatically start liking it better." ]
Why, when I have a headache - If I bend over or bend down, the headache becomes instantly much more painful until I stand up straight again	[ "Increased pain when you bend over or press on the area is symptomatic of a sinus-related problem, possibly a sinus infection.", "Maybe because more blood is flowing into your head due to gravity, which causes an increase of pressure in the brain.", "That sounds like a classic sinus headache - they're a little ...
Why do University computers get a 200+Mbps connection while my laptop only gets 10mbps.	[ "Gigabit speeds are pretty much restricted to wired connections. Shared wireless isn't up to the task." ]
How do mirrors have different levels of "zoom"?	[ "By being curved - Convex mirrors have negative magnification, making things look smaller than they actually are. Car side mirrors are very slightly convex so that you can see a wider angle of view, which is advantageous when driving. Concave mirrors like those on a telescope are the opposite, having positive mag...
so why do companies make mail-in rebates?	[ "People who are attracted by the rebate price and buy it, but never mail it in.", "The advantage is that the company still gets to advertise savings - Pay 200 get 100 rebate, that's just 100 dollars! - and still benefit from a substantial number of 200 dollar sales from people who forget or don't bother to send i...
Why do people keep buying EA games if they know they will have to 'pay-to-play'?	[ "Because EA games is the biggest player in the gaming industry and they make a lot of games.\n\nRemember that Reddit is a forum for people who have a problem. You don't hear the people who are happy because they are either downvoted to hell or too busy having fun to engage with those who are unhappy.\n\nEA is maki...
Why are razor cartridges so expensive?	[ "1. People pay that much for them\n2. Once you buy the handle, since each has it's own interface, the choice to swap razors includes more costs than just the difference in blade prices. \n3. The major razor companies pay stores enough to ensure that only a few brands will fill the shelves. \n4. Go check out Dorco...
The enormous salaries of professional athletes. When did this madness start? Is it a result of owners, players, or consumers?	[ "Let me ask you this, what would you rather be done with the money? If the sport is making enormous sums of money, based on the efforts of the players, would you rather the money just go to the CEOs of the sports team?\n\nIf you look at professional athlete's salary as a percentage of what the team makes, as oppose...
What's it called when you have a memory of hearing something while looking at another source?	[ "It's called associative memory. Any time you're remembering things, there's a whole lot of other potential activations than what you recall. Sometimes the connections are strong enough to pull a peripheral memory into full recall." ]
Why do we feel the need to use hand motions when talking even over the phone when the other person can’t hear us?	[ "The real question is why we bother to talk on the phone in the first place when the other person can't hear us." ]
Why does it hurt if I drink through the nose?	[ "We didn't evolve to drink through our noses like for example elephants. We evolved to drink through our mouths. We smell and breath through our nose. Water getting in our noses implies to our body that we might be underwater and getting water inside us, so we might be in danger of drowning. So the unpleasant feeli...
Why are stocks worth anything? (particularly ones that don't pay dividend)	[ "As a shareholder you are a part owner of the company and are entitled to what an owner would be entitled to(profits from the company). In the short term the company may not have profits, or wants to grow the business so the Board of Directors(elected by the Shareholders)decides to reinvest the profits instead. In ...
Why isn't all internet data encrypted?	[ "Encryption adds overhead, notably CPU time in encrypting/decrypting the payload and the accompanying latency of doing so. The vast majority of traffic gains no benefits from being encrypted, so it would be a waste of time and resources.", "It would be too much overhead, both on the server side and the client sid...
How does vector and matrix operations differs in CPU vs GPU?	[ "Most modern CPUs have vector units, so they do not differ from GPUs in any meaningful way.\n\nIntel's x86 family of microprocessors initially supported IEEE scalar floating point arithmetic with the x87 family of coprocessors. This architecture was integrated into the CPU starting with the 80486, providing a separ...
What is with the fighting culture in hockey?	[ "Your question's a little vague. \n\nIf you're asking why do people like watching people fight in hockey, it's because it's entertaining in the same way that mixed martial arts cage fighting events and boxing are entertaining. People get a kick out of people kicking the shit out of each other, even if that's not th...
had a shower thought...why do the drawings you put in fogged glass stay there even after a session of defogging and into the reformed glass?	[ "The oils on your finger stick to the glass and less water vapor will stick to the oily sections of the glass when you re-fog it." ]
[NSFW]Does the Quran really say this? If not, how is it being interpreted by ISIS?	[ "Islam has a concept which is often translated to english as \"slaves\" and other times as \"servant\" because it really has a meaning inbetween those 2 words. \n\nThis servant does not have his own freedom, and is in that way comparable to a slave to some degree. But at the same time he is made a part of the famil...
What makes computer hacking difficult, and not something a computer itself does?	[ "Well in some cases, it does. But that's another story.\n\nConsider what computers do: very simple tasks, very fast. They don't (usually) screw up.\n\nNow hacking consists, fundamentally, of finding cases where people told the computer to do the wrong thing. At a very basic level, this is a deviation from expecte...
Why do some biscuits take longer to completely soak if completely covered by liquids instead of slowly dunked?	[ "When you dunk the biscuit, the tea replaces the air inside the biscuit. The air has to be able to escape the biscuit for this to happen. This is easy if part of the biscuit is still dry, because the surface is porous. But when you completely dunk the biscuit the porous surface is covered by tea, which resists the ...
What is a Jehovah's witness? What's that all about?	[ "EDIT: [suns36orange](_URL_0_) has graciously provided links to actual material generated by the Jehovah's Witnesses and can answer questions from the perspective of someone who actively believes. I honestly don't and I was a child at the time I was so my views are coloured in that regard. \n\n\nFormer JW: They're ...
How do us humans know how to have sex?	[ "If nothing else, experimentation with sticking one thing into another and having it feel good. A penis and a vagina are located in the same general region and probably wouldn't be difficult to figure out that one fits the other pretty well. \n\nNo contact with any other human being would likely also come with no s...
Why, if I live in Jackson, MS, my Amazon package went from South Carolina to North Carolina (the opposite direction).	[ "Not if it had to have it's own truck to do so. Most of the carriers use a \"star and connector\" model for delivery. For a long time, every fedex package that left it's \"region\" was routed through TN because this simplified logistics and made economic sense. Increased volume has allowed for more local replica...
Why don't cars sound like the explosions in their engines?	[ "As others have said, insulation plays a great role - an explosion in a sealed box is not going to cause much displacement out of the box.\n\nHowever, there's another factor. Explosions are discrete when you have spaces between them. But what if they are really close together? A car going past you might have an ...
How is online shopping safe?	[ "For example, when I buy something online, the online shop uses my card details and uses that to take money from my bank account. So why can't they just randomly take large sums of money from my bank account? Is it all just based on trust? The bank account doesn't know any difference between \"The customer just bou...
Why are Pit Bulls a more dangerous and unpredictable dog compared to other breeds?	[ "They're not. Unfortunately, a fairly large majority of pitbulls are located in lower-class, poverty stricken urban cities/neighborhoods. This could be because they have a large build compared to other breeds. But, because these dogs are usually trained to \"protect\" and \"intimidate,\" it's just a case of classic...

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