Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Why aren't we doing anything about the colossal amount of trash in the pacific ocean?	[ "Because it isn't what people think.\n\nThe Pacific gyre is filled with plastic, it's a huge problem, but the plastic is millions of tiny pieces suspended in the water. \n\nTo 'do something' you'd have to filter billions of gallons of water without killing every living thing in it and then find some way to remove t...
Why does smoking cigarettes make my hangover seem a thousand times worse?	[ "EDIT2: I see I may have misunderstood the question. Perhaps OP was asking why smoking while hungover makes the hangover worse. Perhaps they were asking why smoking while drinking makes the hangover worse. I answered the second question. The answer to both is the same: unknown.\n\nDoctor here. This is the type of ...
Why gas stations promote that their gas is ethanol free.	[ "We as humans figured out a way to turn corn into a fuel-additive. It's cheaper but our current internal-combustion engines aren't really built to effectively utilize it.\n\nLike you're five...\n\nYou freakin' love some mac 'n' cheese and can eat it all day, every day, for every meal, and be fine.\n\nMac 'n' cheese...
Why would the U.S. or its companies sell military technology it currently uses to other countries allies or potential adversaries?	[ "Lets look at it this way. Israel, for example, is the US's ally, right? Generally speaking, the US and its allies have common goals and mutual interests, so Israel having superior American weapons means that they are better suited to pursue and/or defend their mutual interests.\n\nSecondly, allegiances are gene...
when resetting electronics such as a wireless router, why does the amount of time matter with regards to unplugging the device?	[ "Most electronic devices have circuits built into them that \"level out\" the electrical current coming into it, to prevent the device from malfunctioning if there is a power surge or a sudden drop in mains voltage. \n\nThat circuit has some electrical elements called capacitors in it. (capacitors are basically tin...
Why does a single repeating drip of water drive us crazy when a small trickle of water does not?	[ "A trickle is a constant noise and is easy to cancel out. A drip is catching your attention every 5 seconds (with a 5 second drip frequency) because there is silence in between the drips. This makes it hard to focus on anything else which is more and more frustrating for each drip.", "The dripping water torture t...
Why do I feel sharp pains in my pelvis and ass when I see videos of people getting hurt?	[ "I've tried to research this and not come up with much, but I've been searching for a sensation between my navel and solar plexus." ]
If I froze some ice at -10 degrees and another piece at -50 degrees, would the -10 melt faster because its less frozen?	[ "It would melt sooner assuming they are both heated at the same rate, yes.\n\nOne piece of ice would need to absorb 10 degrees C of heat to start melting, and the other would need to absorb 50 degrees C of heat." ]
Why do we have that special attachment to our own bed?	[ "It's because we spend fully one-third or more of our lives in it. We sleep in it almost every single night. When you see something or do something that often, it becomes familiar. when humans become familiar with something they grow to like it and the attachment often grows the longer it goes on. Think about ...
How can Donald Trump, a man who regularly makes obscene statements and engages in twitter insults, be at the forefront of Republican nominees running for president of the United States?	[ "A large part of it is that Americans are very tired of politicians that pussy-foot around topics, pander to the political wind, and are percieved to be (rightly or wrongly) beholden to their campaign donors.\n\nTrump is percieved to speak his mind honestly, and he's rich enough that he isn't dependant on campaign ...
How does Switzerland's politically neutral stance work? What protects them from external threats?	[ "1st: money. During WWII they stored nazi gold and allied money. \n2nd: it's a mountainous country with a militia-style army (in theory every man is in the army and has a weapon at home) and they have plans and preparations in case of war that would completely close off the country, everyone would evacuate to the m...
What is a spider doing when it sits on the wall for an extended period of time?	[ "In a parallel universe, on spidereddit: \"What is a human doing when it sits in front of a screen for an extended period of time?\".", "Waiting for food. \n\nSpiders have a super-slow metabolism, and part of the reason why is because they just kinda sit there and chill in between meals. This allows them to go fo...
Why are bus steering wheels (nearly) parallel to the ground whereas car steering wheels are (nearly) perpendicular to the ground?	[ "Professional bus driver here. It has to do with the angle of the rod that connects the steering wheel to the tires. Since the bus driver is much more elevated and basically sits directly above the tires the steering wheel needs to point almost straight down in order to connect. The driver of a car sits behind his ...
Why do black socks leave lint in between my toes but white socks don't?	[ "Because you're white and the black lint shows up better" ]
What were the purposes of the Nazi concentration camps?	[ "The original purpose of the concentration camp was to imprison the Nazis political enemies. This was not quite so fantastically despotic as it might appear; Germany had been rocked by violent demonstrations, street fighting, and violence between the revolutionary Communist Party supported by the USSR and right-...
Why does it feel like your heart is in your throat when you're nervous/anxious?	[ "You have major veins and arteries with blood pumping to and from the heart in your neck. What you're feeling is the increased blood pressure from an increase of blood flowing through those veins and arteries in your neck." ]
Why is it that when I fart while wearing pants and sitting down it feels like there is a bubble moving between my jeans and skin?	[ "My (educated) guess is that it is an actual bubble. Fabric can contain gasses (not very well, but some of it), so it might very well be that a bubble of gas lifts the fabric from your skin and moves until it comes to a place where it can freely escape into the air and poison you enemies.", "It feels like a bubb...
Why have Washington and Colorado not released people imprisoned for pot?	[ "Because those people committed crimes. Just because something is legal today does not suddenly make them not-illegal when the crime was committed.\n\nThe flip side of this is that you can do something that's legal today and not be charged when they change the law next week.", "Because making it legal now doesn...
(Conflicting info online) What genes determine eye color? Can a blue and a brown make a blue? Brown and a brown make a blue?	[ "In both cases, yes.\n\nThe brown-eyed gene is dominant while the blue-eyed gene is recessive.\n\nA person with brown eyes can have either one brown-eyed gene and one blue-eyed gene, or two brown-eyed genes.\n\nA person with blue eyes has to have two blue-eyed genes.\n\nSo a blue-eyed person and a brown-eyed person...
Why can small creatures such as Ants lift things much larger than themselves?	[ "There's an mathematical law that pops up in nature called the [square-cube law]( _URL_0_) which simply states that as an object gets bigger, its volume increases faster than its surface area by a factor of a cube compared to a factor of a square.\n\nThis is relevant to biomechanics because muscles get stronger acc...
When you look at someone welding, it hurts your eyes. Why is it that when you look at a video of someone welding, it doesn't hurt your eyes?	[ "Welding torches emit ultraviolet and infrared light, which can hurt the eyes. Since cameras are only designed to pick up visible light, and monitors are only built to display visible light, UV and IR don't get projected by the video.", "When you look at somebody welding all of the light that's being generated go...
Why are rocket scientists considered some of the smartest people?	[ "The USA went through a period where we were racing with the Soviet Union to make milestones in space exploration. During that time there was a huge amount of government investment and public expectation toward the field, and this attracted the best of the best in many fields toward constructing the technological m...
Why are there no hreen, blue, true red or puple mammals? All other animals (insects, reptiles, fish, birds, etc.) come in a rainbow of colors; why are mammals so limited?	[ "It's our hair that colors almost every mammal, and hair can only come in so many colors: browns, reds, yellows. \n\nNote that \"blue\" in most animals is structural, not pigmented color. The feather/wing/scale is actually microscopically shaped so that it looks blue, unlike our skin/hair which is pigmented. You ca...
The existence of North Korea	[ "NK is still a place because it is a country. China hasn't taken them over, because Russia and China have diplomatic ties with NK. They may not be good, but there is ties. As others have said, they gain nothing from taking over NK." ]
Why buying a new car is a negotiable price instead of being a fixed price	[ "Because in any business, if you're fighting for one dollar and ended up losing ten because of it, you'll get fired. \n\nSo they're not gonna lose ten-whatever thousand just to save one or two.\n\nWith cars, there's a minimum price that they have to sell at (which is never the advertised price). The sales person th...
Does the earth 'leak' into space?	[ "it does, solar winds strip little bits of our atmosphere away, we lose a few tons every day. some is replaced by micro comets/asteroids.\n\nnet net its relatively small, and does not pose a threat to us on geological time scales (IE wont cause appreciable harm before the sun eats us in 10 billion years)", "Yes....
why can't nations conquer other nations like in the past.	[ "Before the Napoleonic Wars, total conquest of another region was relatively rare. Only a few ancient and medieval powers were capable of it. Rome, Byzantium, The Arabic caliphs and the Turks, Charlemagne, Genghis and Kubilai Kahn, and various chinese dynasties. It took a very long time, like 20+ years, and the cos...
Why does the cold cause your teeth to chatter?	[ "It's your body shaking to attempt to make you warmer, the teeth chattering is just a side effect of the shaking", "You shiver when you are loosing body heat. The shivering is the way your body attempts to generate heat." ]
What causes your body to feel different types of pain? From toothache to paper cut to sunburn, why does the physical sensation vary so widely?	[ "Your brain is responsible for different types of pain (throbbing pain, sharp etc.) Your brain 'knows' where the pain is coming from and associates it accordingly. Its a useful feature to have because if you say, get scratched by an overzealous cat across the face, you need to be able to differentiate the pain to ...
How does Canada have access to US citizens criminal records?	[ "Your criminal record is public information in the United States, barring circumstances like being a minor at the time or some kind of conditions on expunging it. It's not just Canada that can see it, anyone can see it if they ask.", "> Is the USA providing this information to Canada?\n\nShort answer is yes they ...
why rappers like soulja boy who are awful at rapping are still rich off of one hit wonders?	[ "The same reason movies like Transformers are made\n\nBasically, record companies need to hedge their bets. Now, all record companies have people in them interested in producing quality music but they still need to return consistent profits. It's very hard to find high quality acts that consistently, because genera...
Why do i have to cough when i'm cleaning my ears?	[ "Its because the two areas associated with the sensations are so so close together in the brain that ower-sensation can trigger the other. It will take a few seconds of cleaning before the cough is stimulated. Not everybody has this, but another common example is people sneezing when the pluck their eyebrows. The a...
Colombia still produces hundreds of tons of cocaine each year, why aren't there cartels in the country like when the Cali and Medellin were big in the 80's and 90's? And if there aren't big cartels, who is moving all those drugs out of the country?	[ "I know that the US gives Colombia a lot of money to shut down cartels before they become powerful...and they are pushed out of major cities and into the jungle. Its kind of like a win win. They get major cities back for tourism and the production of drugs is out of sight out of mind in the jungle somewhere. Also a...
What are saccades, and why do eyes need them?	[ "A saccade is a quick, jerky, near-instant movement of the eye. The speed can't be controlled; the muscles controlling the eye move as fast as they can.\n\nOne popular suggestion for the necessity of the saccade is that the central part of the retina, called the fovea, that provides the clearest, sharpest vision, i...
What is the connection between Thai and Chinese?	[ "Regarding the cultural closeness of China and Thailand, as [this Wikipedia article] (_URL_0_) notes, a significant portion of Thai people are ethnic Chinese, and they are especially influential in business and politics. \n\nSo a Thai immigrant to the U.S. could very well be a third-generation Chinese, and if that...
How does a barcode work?	[ "You know how Morse Code is a series of short signals, long signals, and periods of silence that represent letters?\n\nBarcodes work on the same principle, only on the visual spectrum and with numbers. The lines you see in the barcode represent a numerical code. When the scanner sees those lines, it can figure ou...
Why is 1080p advertised as "full hd" when there are much higher resolutions?	[ "Because 1080p is what is considered high definition. 4k is considered Ultra HD. It's just a term used." ]
How did Oasis become so popular in the'90s, and why aren't they as Iconic as Nirvana?	[ "They had catchy, well written tunes.... for one album. Their follow up albums got worse and worse and the Gallagher brothers were notorious for not getting along with others or even each other. They even fought on stage. What they were not, however, is ground breaking. They sounded like an update of the Beatles. \...
How are people able to feel how wet an object is through latex or vinyl gloves?	[ "The most immediate giveaways would be the sudden temperature change, as well as reduced air pressure within the glove (glove gets tighter since the air pockets in the glove are getting pushed out)" ]
Why do we laugh when being tickled when it's not enjoyable whatsoever?	[ "As with most things biological, there is a tremendous amount of guess-work required to come up with a meaningful answer.\n\nThere are many theories as to why we are ticklish and why we respond the way we do to it. The most compelling to me is the theory that tickling is related to play-fighting. The young of many ...
Does the car A.C. Use gas or electric to run, and how does it affect gas mileage specifically?	[ "It doesn't directly use gas or electric.\n\nThere's a pulley in the front of the engine. The air conditioning is turned by a belt that connects it to the pulley.\n\nWhen the air conditioning is switched on, it's pretty difficult to turn the air conditioning unit. And since this unit is connected to the engine by...
Why we need to become unconscious in order to sleep?	[ "There are a few animals that are capable of remaining conscious while sleeping, such as dolphins. This is a phenomenon known as [unihemispheric sleep](_URL_0_), in which one half of the brain is sleeping at a given time.\n\nAs to why humans did not evolve to be unihemispheric sleepers, it is likely that the requir...
How do loading bars know how far along a download is?	[ "When you begin a download, it creates a \"box\" that says there is a specific amount space that the file will be contained in. As pieces in the box fill in, the box says \"hey, I currently have been filled with X number of the Y required pieces.\"" ]
Why do bands bring have their own speakers and amplifiers if everything is just run through the arena's PA system?	[ "Like their guitar amps and stuff? A guitar amp does a whole lot more to influence the actual sound and tone than the PA. A guitarist's amp is pretty integral to his whole sound, so he'll want it to be consistent, and he'll want control over it. Then the venue will put a mic on his amp to connect it to the PA.",...
In space, it always seems that we are shown traveling on a 2D plane. What happens if you leave Earth and go straight "Up" or "Down"?	[ "Our planets are all mostly on the same plane, which is nicely convenient for illustration purposes. If you go any other direction, it's pretty darn empty. And it will take a while to run into the [Oort cloud](_URL_0_). Beyond that is way more empty before another solar system.", "Everything. Everything is out t...
how do we know how far away something is in lightyears?	[ "Well lightyears is a unit of distance just like miles or kilometres. So if you can calculate the distance to a star you can display that distance in miles, kilometres or lightyears.\n\nNow I'm not sure if you ask how we know what a lightyear is or how to can calculate the distance to a star.\n\nFor the first one, ...
Why is the ocean water so clear in places like the Caribbean but not at US beaches?	[ "Tropical waters like those in the Caribbean are warm, clear, and completely devoid of nutrients. This is why life clusters around reefs, a lot of creatures eat the plankton and algae that grows on the coral, they provide food for the area\n\nThe waters up north are cold, dark, dirty, and full of nutrients! The dar...
What makes someone a "light sleeper" vs a "heavy sleeper" and are there ways to change it around?	[ "It's just a matter of habit. This is why you're supposed to have plenty of loud noises (vacuum, TV, conversations, etc) while your baby is sleeping, so it gets used to those noises and you don't have to worry about waking it. These habits are started as a baby by your parents, and they are extremely difficult - bu...
Why have newspaper comics gotten so abysmal these days?	[ "Several factors are at play.\n\nFirst, you're older, so you've developed a taste. You might recall loving Garfield as a kid, but now you read recent strips and it's dull and bland. But if you went back and read strips that were published when you were a child, you would find them equally dull.\n\nSecond, the autho...
How is it that I get so car sick when I try to read or write in the car when I'm otherwise fine?	[ "Reading and writing requires intense visual focus. Your eyes home in on the paper, and the visual part of your brain kind of stops paying attention to anything in your peripheral vision.\n\nHowever, if you're in a car, your inner ears are telling your brain \"hey, I'm moving all over the place\". But your eyes a...
Why is cheese sometimes crunchy/gritty? And what causes that texture?	[ "The crunchiness is caused by crystals of various substances that form as the cheese dries. They start out dissolved in water in the cheese, but as the water evaporates, they start to crystallize. Usually, the crystals are made of calcium lactate. But sometimes, for some cheeses, there are crystals of amino acid...
If a MLB pitcher were to hit a player in the head, and that player have life suffering injuries, would the pitcher be in trouble?	[ "Unless it was intentional, no. All the players signed legal waivers when they sign their contracts.", "Only if intentional.\n\nBy playing on the field you are accepting the risk of injury." ]
Guantanamo Bay	[ "It's a US Military base slash terrorist prison in Cuba. We jail terrorists there because they are not subject to US laws and do not have the right to a lawyer, phone call, speedy trial, know charges against etc etc. \n\nSomeone once told me another reason we keep terrorists off US soil is because the terrorists wo...
If a joint cracking is a result of gases in the joint popping, how can I crack the same joint multiple times?	[ "imagine you have a balloon and cracking a joint is like opening the balloons mouth for 1 second. If you have more fluid in your joints than one moment of release from a single crack, more will come out on subsequent ones. you may notice how they get progressively less powerful as the crack count continuously goes ...
Why or how do fires make sound? More specifically 'roar' ?	[ "Hot air rises, and the fire heats the surrounding air unevenly, causing increased turbulent air flow around the fire that we can hear as sound.", "The flames heat the air near it, causing it to expand, then as that air leaves more air comes in to be heated, causing waves of pressure I.e sound" ]
The phases of the moon and their rise and set times.	[ "The moon orbits and rotates around the earth in the same way as the earth orbits and rotates around the sun. Because the moon orbits the earth at a different rate that the earth rotates it causes the moon to rise and set at different times of the day\n\nThe phases of the moon are also due to its orbit. The part of...
Is there any Virus which infects Apple products?Why is there such a big problem with windows and hardly any problem with the mac when it comes to bugs?	[ "Yes, there has been malware for Apple products including OSX. Windows gets targeted more because it has a far larger market share. I haven't had significantly more bugs on a Windows device than I have on OSX. I haven't seen a BSoD since XP was the latest Windows OS, but I did see a kernel panic on OSX (So basicall...
Do birds stop for rests after flying for long periods of time?	[ "It depends on the bird. Most birds do stop to rest, but birds like swifts, terns, and albatrosses can stay in the air for weeks or months at a time, usually by gliding on air currents. One benefit is that lets them conserve energy." ]
Stress is implicated in a great number of health problems today, things must of been pretty stressful for our early ancestors, why are our bodies still not able to deal with stress?	[ "There's a big difference between acute stress and chronic stress. Life was not as stressful as you have been led to believe. Most anthropologists estimate that hunter-gatherers worked a lot less and had more leisure time than modern humans. The stress response is adaptive for dealing with short term threats in the...
Why auto makers dropped the frameless doors?	[ "Because they really didn't work too well. It was too hard to build a seal between the car frame and the glass, that worked well when closing the door, while allowing the window to slide up and down. Because you couldn't hold the glass in a channel, the window gets pulled away from the seal at high speed, unless yo...
is it true that if one sits too close to a television it will affect your vision after a certain amount time?	[ "It MAY cause eye strain which could be a temporary annoyance, or cause a headache. But no long term damage can/will come of it. Simply put, your parents said that because if you were to close to the TV, it makes it harder for others to see." ]
Australia is a relatively new country which was settled by the British so...where the bloody hell does the accent come from?	[ "It doesn't take long for an accent to change! \n\nWe even have different accents from our own parents. Or maybe you can tell more easily from your grandparents. My grandparents sound much more 'plum' than I do.\n\nThe children of the first fleet would have had a different sound from their parents, who were a uni...
Why do batteries, especially cellphone, die quicker the lower the charge?	[ "Computer technician here who regularly troubleshoots smartphone battery issues: As a general rule they actually don't. Modern lithium ion/lithium polymer batteries have small onboard processors that regulate and monitor their performance. It monitors many things but most notably it tracks how many charge cycles th...
Why do low fuel prices have a negative long term effect?	[ "They don't.\n\n..although they can have. One of the things you need to remember with economics, is that very few things \"do X\". Economies as a system are too complicated for such easy conclusions.\n\nIn this case however: The rise of fuel prices tends to drive inflation (when fuel becomes more expensive, transpo...
What are/were qualudes? What were they originally intended for? What did the effect feel like? How they used?	[ "Well, since they are impossible to find these days, no harm in discussing what they were about.\n\nThey were originally a sleep aid, prescribed to those who can't fall asleep or sleep through the night (Insomnia). People pretty quickly found out that if you resist the urge to sleep, you were hit with a pretty powe...
Why can we be woken up by others snoring but not our own?	[ "You can be woken up (easily) if your sleep is not deep. You only snores when your sleep is deep.", "I have woken myself up by my own snoring, early morning, in a dream state. It's a really weird feeling." ]
How can birds sit on electricity cables and not be electrocuted?	[ "Electricity will always seek to flow through the path of least resistance. If it can flow at all, it will go through the conductor that is lowest in resistance to the flow.\n\nWhen a bird perches on an electrical wire, there's no change in the bird's electrical status- it offers no easier path for electricity to f...
How do they make old 70s and 80s movies in high definition when it didn't exist back then?	[ "Film is a very high quality medium capable of storing images very high resolutions. The master prints of those films are still around and are used to create HD copies.\n\nBack then, scans of the films were taken at relatively low resolutions because VHS tapes were the standard medium for distribution. VHS tapes ar...
How healthy are probiotics for you? Do they help with weight loss?	[ "Probiotic refers to food that contains \"healthy\" or \"beneficial\" bacteria. Our intestines are loaded with bacteria that help us digest food. Probiotics contain some of those bacteria. They are generally recommended for people who are on long term antibiotic therapy, among other things, as those people will hav...
How Gödel Numbering works	[ "There is a difference between the \"logical leap\" in terms of what it does in general and exactly what Gödel was doing. I will give you an ELI5 idea in general.\n\nAny claim that can be proved in math can be answered by writing out a proof of that claim. This proof is nothing more than a finite collection of symb...
What is syndication on TV?	[ "[\"Syndication\" is essentially a market for programs to be sold to TV stations, to fill out their schedule](_URL_0_). For the most part, at least for broadcast TV, 'primetime' and morning news shows are the only programming produced exclusively by a network for broadcast on their own channel. Everything else is...
Why do apps on Google Play need me to give them access to details which are seemingly private and unrelated to the app I'm downloading?	[ "It depends on the app; either it:\n\n1. Is spamming malware (there is no initial vetting done on apps put onto the Google Play store; Google only takes apps down if they're reported).\n\n2. Is sneakily but legitimately selling your information to advertisers.\n\n3. Has features you aren't aware that utilise those ...
how do they determine traffic light timing at intersections?	[ "There are 3 traffic control systems that I'm personally aware of. None of these terms should be considered technical or correct, I'm just a geek interested in cars who wandered one night into the part of the internet where they talk about traffic lights. \n\nStatic lights - no sensors, just timed according to exis...
What exactly is the Dial-up sound?	[ "They're doing a few things:\n\n* Figuring out which protocols each modem is capable of, and selecting the best one that they both can handle.\n\n* Sending some commands to the telephone network that switch it to a mode more useful for modems than talking.\n\n* Measuring the qualities of the telephone connection.\n...
When a relative gets into an accident, how do emergency services notify you?	[ "Depending on the circumstances, there are a number of ways next of kin are notified of an accident:\n\n- if the accident is fatal, all efforts are made by the police to locate the next of kin and notify them in person. This allows for support and victim services to be made immediately available. This also ensures ...
What is going on in Syria right now regarding the war of government vs. rebels, etc. Also, what will happen now that Syria has agreed to surrender their chemical weapons?	[ "Please read the sidebar and [the rules](_URL_0_) before participating in /r/explainlikeimfive.\n\n > 9\\. You must search before submitting. All posts on ELI5 are archived, so you should search before making a submission. Remember to search using keywords, don't just paste your title into the search bar. If ...
- Totalitarianism and politics	[ "I dont exactly agree with Schmaltzed. \n\nTotalitarianism is political system, where the government tries to control every aspect of public but ALSO private life.\n\nIn contrast a government that just controls the economy, military, art, education, science is not perse a totalitarian government. \n\nThe greatest e...
Why is affirmative action still around?	[ "The easiest way i can explain it is affirmative action is a set of guidelines and goals to reduce and reverse historical trends of minority groups being deprived of social and economic opportunities not available to them solely because of their background.\n\nI saw guidelines and goals because actual quotas have ...
Why can English speakers efficiently communicate with most other English speakers (regardless of dialect) but a lot of Mandarin speakers can't communicate likewise between the various dialects of Mandarin nearly as efficiently?	[ "Because there is no clear distinction between 'language' and 'dialect'.\n\nAn important aspect of differentiating between a dialect and a language is mutual intelligibility. If two people who speak the different dialects cannot understand each other, then they speak different languages. \n\nHowever, in the real wo...
Why do people feel a dull ache in their forehead when an object (like a pen or finger) is brought very near to, but without touching, the point between their eyebrows?	[ "I get the same sensation when something comes close to the area between my eyebrows. It has nothing to do with eye movement or mystisism. I cannot explain why but i can feel a slight pressure when an object is close. I have wondered about this myself.", "I'm kicking myself because I can't find the source, but I ...
Why do my eyes tear up when I pull a hair out of my nose?	[ "Because it freaking hurts! As an aside, I love doing that all day. I guess I should have used a throwaway for that, but who cares? :)" ]
Why are weather forecasts still so inaccurate?	[ "You remember the times they're wrong and rarely remember the times they're right. \n\nAlso if an app is telling you it's sunny and clear when it's raining perhaps the location services on your phone aren't functioning properly.", "They actually are getting way more accurate than ever. They also generally give pe...
Since I'm not a Nielsen family, does pirating a show basically have the same effect as watching it on live TV?	[ "With respect to TV ratings, if you're not participating in any special Nielsen Families (or related) program, then pirating would be effectively the same as watching the TV program live via antenna or via a passive cable/satellite tuner (e.g. using the QAM tuner built into your TV). \n\nThere are, however, cable/s...
How can gas stations charge 9/10 of a penny, when no such denomination exists?	[ "Since there is no such denomination, they \"do it\" by rounding to the nearest penny. When you multiply any amount of gas by any price, you always get something that has to be rounded off.\n\nIt's their way of turning 9 cents into a dime, 99 cents into a dollar. That also gets them a tiny bit more money than if th...
Why do spicy foods affect some people more than others?	[ "From personal experience, it's how used to spicy food you are.\n\nThe experience I've had involves home made curry; one my dad made that he considered to not be spicy at all, I agreed, was way too hot for friends I shared it with.\n\nI imagine it's tolerance. The more spice you eat, the more you body is used to th...
Why does society view the exposure of the female chest so differently from that of a man's? Why do women have to cover and men don't?	[ "In New York State wherever a man can legally be topless, so can a woman.", "Societies will always view a man's bare chest differently than a woman's bare chest, because breasts are a secondary sex characteristic that men don't have. How exactly that plays out in a particular culture at a particular time will cha...
In theory, how do all of the US government armed forces (Police, FBI, DEA, etc) rank and compare to each other?	[ "They all have different responsibilities. The Federal level is above the State. And the State level is above the Local. State level in most states acts as a sheriffs department which is just like your local police, but across the entire state and used often for rural areas that do not have a local police force...
Why do homegrown plants need constant attention such as water or they will die, while wild plants are left alone and flourish?	[ "Wild plants die all the time. The ones you see are the few that lived - natural selection. They are outdoor so they get water from rainfall.\n\nIndoor plants are often from another region. They are constantly at \"room temperature\", something that no plant is naturally accustomed to, so we often get plants fro...
Why are Hazmat suits so big and bulky? How come they can't make them smaller and slimmer?	[ "They are both positive pressure and most contain a SCUBA apparatus. This alone results in a system that isn't small. Additionally, the material the suit is made from should be chemical and puncture resistant, this adds thickness. Additional layers may be worn underneath depending on the situation encountered.", ...
Why are actors/directors/crews not employees of major studios (or are they)?	[ "Movie studios used to operate this way many decades ago. It was referred to as the star system. The decline of this method of operating came about largely because studios became notorious for exploiting actors and heavily restricting or controlling their careers. The system also tended to favour the development...
why is it easier to balance on a bicycle when moving than when standing still?	[ "I actually did a little research project on this a few years ago.\n\nThere are two main sources of tilting: the moment of force from gravity, and the moment of force from the centripetal force.\nWhat you have learned subconciously is how to use your steering weel as input to use the centripetal force to balance ou...
Why do deeply religious people badmouth other religions?	[ "From their perspective, other religions are evil.\n\nIf you believe your immortal soul goes to heaven you believe the right stuff, and goes to hell if you believe the wrong stuff, other religions are Satan's trick to try to lead you into damnation. To you, they are literally the worst thing in the world.", "S...
When you download a newly aired episode of a show, where/who does that file come from?	[ "Someone runs their cable box's output into a computer which captures the video stream and saves it as a video file. That is then uploaded. The capture and creation of video files isn't unique to media companies you know." ]
Why did society's view of 'The Future' change from being classically futuristic to being post-apocalyptic?	[ "It's easy to underestimate the amount of knowledge and scientific advancement that have taken place in the last fifty years. In the movies, scientific achievements solve problems; in the real world, they often highlight them.\n\nWe got more and more information on the problems with the environment, with the politi...
Why are the directions "left" and "right" associated with liberal and conservative political philosophies?	[ "It comes from the French Revolution when people loyal to religion and the king would gather to the right of the president of the National Assembly while supporters of the revolution would gather on the left. The right thus became associated with traditionalism and conservatism while the left with equality and revo...
why is there a feeling of total disgust for men after they finish masturbating...and what causes it	[ "Your mind pretty much goes from a high state of pleasure to a state of reason in a matter of seconds...", "Masturbation itself doesn't cause disgust. But often times porn includes things that are disgusting. Rimming, girls taking it in the ass then mouth, ugly guys gang-banging a girl... gross!\n\n[But if you're...
police paperwork	[ "Note: I am not a law enforcement officer, but I have gone through police academy and I personally know many officers. Each jurisdiction will be different and contain different protocols about who writes the report and what they write and what papers they use, so this is not a definite answer for everywhere.\n\n---...
Differences between IVR, MMP and the American voting system.	[ "America has FPTP also. Basically, whoever gets the most votes wins. In some cases they require a majority. Then they take the top two and have a runoff.\n\nThe problem with this is as follows. Let's say we have three candidates, Alice, Bob, and Charlie. 60% of people like Alice or Bob, but hate Charlie. The other ...
How do nations determine their currency value?	[ "Most currencies are not regulated in the way you say, countries do not set the values of their currency in international trade themselves. This was not always the case (see \"gold standard\"), but now, most currencies are floated on an exchange, the Foreign Exchange Market, where the value of each currency is dete...
How are urls created, and also how are they made so they dont match another url?	[ "each url (not including the sub directory) links to exactly one ip address (as determined by your dns server, different people using different dns, may be directed to different ips). this ip address determines the webserver which will serve the webpage. \n\n[server].[domain].[top level domain]/(optional)[sub dir...

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