Split (3)

train · 273k rows

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How does aspirin, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen work? How does it know where the pain is? (Example: Headache; Back pain; Leg pain; etc.)	[ "Aspirin and Ibuprofen belong to a group of drugs calls NSAIDs and with regards to pain, decrease pain by inhibiting COX enzymes. The COX enzyme increases inflammation (and therefore pain). Acetaminophen, whilst not being an NSAID is postulated to work in a similar fashion.\n\nThe drugs don't know where to work and...
What makes an MR layout car more likely to oversteer?	[ "Think less about the weight transfer, and more about where the weight is in relation to the tires. On rear-engined cars the engine weight is out past the rear tires, and so when the cornering car decelerates, the side force of the engine weight is applied to the rear tires alone, which increases their slip angle,...
Why Are AMEX cards not allowed to be used as much as Visa and Mastercard?	[ "Well I have a business and the fee isn't really the problem if I'm being honest; business owners will say it's the fees... but it's bullshit. That extra percent isn't going to kill most businesses.\n\nThe real reason? Chargebacks. AMEX will process them for virtually any reason. You bought a laptop from me and tho...
why we sell gas by the volume but not mass, unlike in avionics and auto racing?	[ "Planes and race cars care about how much weight they're moving around as it has a significant impact on performance. A plane needs more power to get more weight off the ground so extra mass is a problem for it if you happen to fuel it on a cold day\n\nPassenger cars don't care as much about added mass, and people...
How and why do things get preserved in amber?	[ "Amber is basically tree sap. Bug or animals chilling out near tress have some of it fall on them or they step in it and get stuck. The amber surrounds them and keeps them there. \n As far as getting preserved they are kept away from reactants, i think oxygen is the big one, which stops them from decaying or being...
Tone curves in digital photography/photoshop.	[ "There are different [color tones](_URL_0_) (I don't know if this is the right term since I am German, but anyway, that's not important). This picture, although it might not be scientifically totally correct, really helps to understand the tones: The different tones are red, blue, green, yellow, purple, and so on. ...
Why can I barely hear a siren when I'm driving and it's right behind me but they always wake me up in the middle of the night from far away?	[ "Probably because in your car there's engine noise, road noise, and music, while at night it's quiet. Could that be it?" ]
How is medicine developed? Basically how do we know which compounds will help with a certain disease/condition?	[ "There are several ways to go about making a new drug.\n\n1) The easiest is to take an existing drug and change it slightly. This is how whole classes of drugs exist. If you know the chemical structure of a drug that already works, you can experiment with changing it and seeing what happens. This is how we get newe...
how could major body changes evolve in small steps?	[ "Your point hinges on the fact that the intermediaries are detrimental, and that is inherently false. Your argument is common, though usually the eye is used as an example. \n\nEvery step in between non-existence of the organ and the fully functional version we have today had some use, or did not provide a major di...
The tax system (in broad terms) and why do we have to pay taxes on property we own, like houses or inheritances.	[ "You have taxes to fund the government and the various services and programs it provides. Property tax is commonly used to fund schools. Inheritance is not a tax on property you own, you did not own it your family member did. It is a tax on the ownership of that property changing hands. The purpose of this is to li...
What is a pentaquark?	[ "A pentaquark is a combination of 5 quarks (or multiple quarks and antiquarks, but they still add up to 5).\nQuarks are subatomic particles smaller than the electron, and make up protons, neutrons, and other larger particles, called Hadrons. Quarks cannot exist alone, and must \"partner\" up in groups of 2 or 3. Wh...
biologically speaking, what is laughter? Is there some kind of chemical involved? If you can get past the animated facial expressions and the breathing, is there a way to objectively measure how hard someone is laughing?	[ "Not sure about the second part of the question, but here's a good response from a previous thread:\n\n > Laughter is thought to have first evolved as a response to fear. After encountering something potentially threatening and then discovering that it was harmless, early humans would laugh as a means of reassurin...
How did those guys get stuck in the cave in Thailand in the first place?	[ "Ok, so the group has traveled into that cave system a few times in the past. Decided to go again this time round. Usually it's safe to visit before the rainy season arrives but unfortunately a rainstorm came early and flooded the entrance of the cave, trapping the group inside. More rain, more water, so the group ...
Why the US prefers NASCAR to Formula One	[ "NASCAR drivers work insanely hard to appear like \"one of the guys\" to their fans. In reality, they kind of are. Most drivers work their way up from driving go-karts on local tracks (again, full of NASCAR fans) to small stock cars to the big time if they're good enough. \n\nThe cars themselves are made up to l...
Why is it that if theres a parking spot with snow, its a lot easier for cars to go in than to go out? Shouldnt it be the same?	[ "You have inertia going in. Plus, the wheels compress the snow as they go over it. It often turns to ice when this happens, forming a ridge of ice the car has to bump over to get going again. Ice has almost zero friction so you can be stuck with each wheel in a little cup barely 1/2 inch or 1 cm deep. Hence the com...
Is my green the same as your green?	[ "Everyone is going to say nobody knows, which is true. But just to break it down a bit...\n\nYou really need to define \"see.\" When you think about what your brain is visualizing when you look at the screen, there are essentially two steps: the light hitting your eyes, and then your brain interpreting the light. S...
If everyone knows California is due for "the big one" earthquake along the San Andreas fault. Why do people seem to not care?	[ "Because in California, nobody gives a fuck about shit", "Los Angeles resident here. It's dangerous, perhaps, to live on a fault line, but we won't just leave because of something that MIGHT happen. So many things could go wrong, and probably will (murphy's law) but we're not going to up and evacuate our homes an...
How do bankers actually make our economy better?	[ "Essentially, the entire role of the banking industry is to collect money from people with it, and distribute it out to enterprising people that need money. \n\nIf done correctly, everyone, the saver, the bank, and the entrepreneur profits from the venture. Everything financial that you mentioned, from the stock ma...
How come when I'm drunk two eyes are screwed up but closing one eye allows me to see just fine?	[ "Being inebriated impairs your depth perception, the coordination of both eyes working in unison." ]
Why are there no national/state 911 apps (in the US)?	[ "There has been. E911 system has been specced for years. But not all dispatch centers have upgrade their systems. The FCC has a timeframe at 2020 for full completion. \n\nAnd to add, even if the dispatcher got the address, cops wouldn't be there to help her. It'd take 5-10 minutes average in cities. In...
What prevents some one from changing monetary numbers in a banks computers to get rich.	[ "Do you mean what stops a hacker from entering the bank's records from outside and altering them? Or what stops a bank's employees from altering the records from inside. THe answer to the first is some excellent security. Basicly the inner workings are never accessible even through the banks website. What you ar...
What happens in your brain when you take psychedelics?	[ "For the past year, I've been following people's descriptions of what they experience when taking psychedelics and attempting to correlate it to my understanding of how the brain works (after a degree in neuroscience). First, you must recognize that the way you construct the present world in your brain is via conce...
Are paper toilet seat covers (aka ass gaskets) really more sanitary than naked seats or just another example of humans being wasteful?	[ "Chances are, there's nothing particularly hazardous on the seat itself regardless. A toilet seat is not a hospitable place for bacteria to hang out. \n\nIf anything, they're a peace-of-mind device.", "People often confuse \"dirty\" and \"unsanitary.\" You can have sanitary dirt, and clean things can be unsanita...
How exactly do hacks work in online gaming?	[ "Most hacks involve either finding where an app stores data, and modifying that data, or decoding how an app communicates with a server and spoofing that communication. \n\nUnless the game is played with zero input from the player, then it is impossible to stop hacks, but you can make them harder to do, through ...
why do pictures taken with very good cameras show so much detail that we can't see on our own.	[ "Imagine you have a grid that is 10 boxes high, and 10 boxes wide. In total there are 100 boxes. If you were to try and draw a perfectly round object, it would be difficult. There would be jagged edges. \n \nSo you take each box, and divide it into 10 boxes high by 10 boxes wide... each single original box is now 1...
If we can have 5" 1080p displays why can't we have 20" 8k displays?	[ "No one has demanded such a thing (i.e. mobile devices with this resolution), since 8k content is more of a novelty, \"this is the future\" thing right now, while 1080p is the mainstream standard.\n\n~~It'd be 10\", btw - as the screen is measured diagonally and it's \"4 times bigger\" as in 4 1080p screens arrange...
LUCA: A giant supra-organism that broke into three and created all life on earth?	[ "LUCA stands for Last Universal Common Ancestor.\n\nAs far as scientists can tell, all life on Earth is related. Distantly related, but related. You're relatives with single-celled bacteria -- if you could go back far enough in the family tree, you could find an organism that both you and the bacteria descended f...
Why are some defenses not allowed in court?	[ "When someone says \"That's not a legal defense\" they're not saying it's not allowed, they're saying that the defense won't absolve you under the law. \"I was running late\" isn't a legal defense for speeding, but that doesn't mean you can't try it. It just won't work.", "A legal defense is a valid reason why ...
Why can't we clone endangered species to rejuvenate their population?	[ "As /u/FixBayonetsLads said, it wouldn't produce diversity. Lack of diversity means the population would die out much more easily.\n\nThere's also more risk for genetic mutation, i.e., Dolly the Sheep (link at the bottom). Dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, however, her telomeres (sort of caps on...
How / When did SCOTUS judges become so partisan to predict a decision on the basis of party appointment rather than on the merits of each case?	[ "They're really not as partisan as people make it seem. However, they are human. The constitution and laws have a lot of ambiguity to them. People are going to interpret certain things differently-\n\n > If Supreme Court Judges are as partisan as everyone else they shouldn't be given lifetime appointments.\n\nThe f...
How does Impulse = deltaP if Pf = Pi	[ "The bullet changes momentum, as does the block.\n\nThe bullet changes it's momentum by\nΔP = (230-350)5x10^-3 =-0.6 kgm/s\n\nThe block changes it's momentum by ΔP = (1.20-0)500x10^-3 = 0.6 kgm/s\n\nTotal change in momentum of the _entire system_ is zero (momentum is conserved). However, the bullet \"gives\" some o...
What's the affordable care act?	[ "Please search. [This fine explanation](_URL_0_ ) has over 4000 upvotes.\n\nIt is working, in the sense that some uninsured people have insurance. It has also had many unintended consequences, mostly that plans which people liked were cancelled and many people have seen their health plans cut coverage to avoid \"...
Why was president Andrew Johnson impeached?	[ "Politics\n\n\nHe was elected as a unity pro union democrat VP for Lincoln then Lincoln was killed.\n\nHe was pro south and didn't care about punishing the south or \nupholding the rights of freed african-americans like the republican congress wanted.\n\nHe was impeached for violating an unconstitutional law the pr...
If a person has lung or stomach cancer, why can't the affected organ simply be removed?	[ "Doctor do remove those organs sometimes as part of cancer treatment. There are serious side effects, but it's worth it to not die of cancer.\n\nHowever, a malignant cancer will eventually spread through the blood or lymph vessels and infect other organs. At that point, removing the lung or stomach won't eliminate ...
Roe vs. Wade	[ "the only thing you really need to know about roe v wade is that it granted the right to an abortion as a fundamental right" ]
Why do brittle things, like lead on the tip of my mechanical pencil, seem stronger when shorter?	[ "Comes down to leverage, a longer piece means you can apply force further away from the breaking point, thus multiplying the force applied.", "It has to do with Leverage. The strength of the material, lead (likely graphite) in your example, does not get stronger or weaker depending on its length. Rather, the for...
how do phone card codes work? I know you punch in a number to call, but how does it bypass your phone carrier so you don't get charged by them too?	[ "You dial a toll free number first to connect to the company that issued the card, then you type in the code and phone number to tell them who you are and who you want to call." ]
What is the difference between delusions and hallucinations?	[ "A hallucination is a sensory thing. You can see, hear, feel or I suppose taste something that's not actually there or the direct result of a stimulus on a sense organ like the eyes, ears, etc.\n\nA delusion is a belief that clearly disconnects with reality. If I think that the KGB has tapped my phone because I see...
Do the rubber "bristles" on certain toothbrushes actually have a positive effect on teeth cleanliness?	[ "Those are not intended to get your teeth clean, but to stimulate your gums.", "No, but those things allow to make the price of the toothbrush higher." ]
Why does pressing in a X with your fingernail make a Mosquito bite stop itching?	[ "I thought I was the only one that did this" ]
Is "sleep debt" a real thing?	[ "Yes and no.\n\nYes, if you sleep too little, you'll feel bad and incur various bad effects on your body and mind, and and an increased amount of sleep later can be necessary to get back to your full capabilities.\n\nNo, this \"debt\" is not quantifiable and computable objectively in numbers. It's not the same for ...
How do impartiality laws work and are things like Twitter moment subject to them?	[ "Laws vary hugely by country. What country are you asking about?" ]
The United States immigration process	[ "Getting a Visa gets you into the country. There are different forms of visas, depending on why you actually came (work, student, travel, etc.). All must be maintained, and can be rescinded for bad behavior. Once your Visa expires, you're forced to leave.\n\nOnce you have been in the country for 5-10 years (dependi...
Why is it easier to remember the items on a few short lists than it is to remember the items on one long list?	[ "Mostly because of chunking: which is a mnemonic device (in simpler words, a way of remembering things easier). Chunking basically means that you remember things placed in groups (‘chunked’ together) better then when it’s one larger thing." ]
why can't we breed up animals for the sole purpose of using bits of them for our own use? ie we breed cows just to eat them why can't we breed elephants just for their tusks and other things, or whales for their meat and other things	[ "Why can't we breed pandas? Why don't they procreate?\n\nBecause some animals have a very hard time procreating in captivity. No matter how much \"breeders\" try to recreate their natural habitats, these pandas still feel constricted and aren't in the mood to procreate.\n\nFor domestication in general, there are ha...
when to use past vs. passed.	[ "Past when you are talking about time. Passed when you are talking about objective or distance.\n\ne.g. \"It is past my bedtime!\"\n\ne.g. \"I passed the test!\"\n\ne.g. \"You just passed the exit.\"", "Past is a noun referring to a time previous to this time. Passed is a verb telling us that something happ...
How do people solve murders?	[ "Yeah they also use your post and search history on websites like this and Google. Don't do it man just watch forensic files and first 48" ]
How do you die in a wildfire if you know it's coming?	[ "Fires can move fast.\n\nLike, really fast. 60-70mph is not uncommon.\n\nA very big fire essentially creates its own weather. With hurricane force winds whipping it into a massive firestorm. Fires can also \"jump\" large sections of land riding on the wind. If you aren't careful or if a fire suddenly shifts direc...
What's SRS and why does everyone hate them?	[ "/r/shitredditsays\n\nBecause people see them as manipulating votes on subs they link to, acting aggressive and confrontational, and constantly railing against reddit despite being (obviously) part of it. Also, because, frankly, most redditors don't care one bit about what they have to say.", "The kind of people ...
Can you hear your own voice internally or externally more loudly? Why?	[ "Your own voice in your head (and body) is louder that your own voice that you hear externally. This is known to anyone that has ever heard thier own voice in a recording. \n\nHowever you hear your voice when you speak or sing is NOT how others hear it. There are lots of acoustical dynamics going on when you hea...
Why does an MRI scan have no effect on the iron in your body?	[ "Because the iron in your body isn't actually iron as such, the iron atoms are bound with other atoms in molecules, which changes their properties. Same thing as with hydrogen. Flammable on its own, not flammable when bound with oxygen (i.e. H2O, water). Iron on its own is magnetic, iron bound in molecules is not."...
how do people in Vancouver afford 1-3 million dollar houses that would sell for half the price anywhere else in Canada ?	[ "Basically, you don't.\n\nOnly people who make more than 60k a year live in Vancouver proper. Everyone else lives in the suburbs, like Burnaby or New Westminster. Middle class people who make 50k-80k before taxes can rent a multi-bedroom place in these areas or even a small house. People who make less than that jus...
Could a woman take testosterone supplements while pregnant to increase the chances of the child being a boy?	[ "No. Sex is not a hormonal issue, it's a genetic one. Your sex is determined based upon whether the sperm cell that fertilized your mother's egg had an X or a Y chromosome. No amount of testosterone will change that.", "no, ignoring what would probably be miscarriage inducing effects of hormone treatments, sex...
How do insects have such strong grip?	[ "Because insects have a proportional larger surface area than volume, where volume equates to weight and surface area is proportional to muscles which equates to more strength. Also insects have \"hooks\" in their legs that allows them to stick to rough surfaces." ]
Why the microwave has to be closed to start working?	[ "Very little would happen if you operated a microwave with an open door. Microwaves are notoriously hard to get into the food that you're trying to cook, which is why most microwave ovens have a rotating tray, to try and align the food with as many microwave paths as possible. If the door were open, the energy woul...
Why does the United States have more prisoners per capita than any other country?	[ "While this is an extremely complicated question,the most significant contributing factors are \"the war on drugs\", mandatory minimum sentences, and three strikes laws. These function to incarcerate people for what would otherwise be considered less serious offences.", "Well, one thing I know, it's the place we ...
Why is the VA (Veteran's Administration) so dysfunctional and inefficient? What are the reasons for the current scandals over patient care?	[ "A large part of the problem is a delay in transitioning to a computer-based system, coupled with a massive number of veterans.\n\nThere are currently over 20 million veterans. For each of these, the VA needs to keep complete records regarding past service, medical issues, financial options, disability... And tho...
How can drug companies put instructions and warnings on the back of their tablet packaging (like ibuprofen and aspirin) for how many someone should take at a time/within 24 hours etc. when everybody has a different body weight/size?	[ "If a medication isn't fat soluble, then your body weight will have little effect on how it's absorbed. Particularly with painkillers, they're concerned with liver and kidney damage - and the liver and kidneys don't vary much in size." ]
Why isn't Edward Snowden protected under the Whistleblower Protection Programs?	[ "* First, the government says, he did not expose the kinds of actions covered by whistle-blower protections — illegal conduct, fraud, waste or abuse. \n\n* Other officials have argued that the programs revealed by Snowden are illegal or unconstitutional. For now, they are presumptively legal, given the assent of me...
What exactly causes the "seeing stars" effect when you blow your nose too hard?	[ "When you sneeze, your facial muscles tense up, putting pressure on your eyes. This increased pressure causes the sensing cells on your retina to misfire, causing what your perceive as spots of light. You get the same effect by just pressing on your eyes with your fingers" ]
Why does a li-ion/lipo battery explode when shorted out?	[ "The lithium atoms can crystallise and form a chain, that chain can short circuit the poles and it is this short circuit which can cause a fire. - _URL_0_", "They have much higher energy density (meaning there is more energy stored in the same mass/size) than other batteries. All that energy has to go somewhere ...
why is genital skin always darker than normal skin?	[ "Copied from askscience:\n\n > The expression of Androgen receptors is greater in melanocytes located in the areolas and genital area. Thus, Androgen stimulation promotes the synthesis of melanin and pigmentation in these areas.\nThis is a relevant paper: _URL_0_\n\n > There are other hormonal stimuli that promote ...
Why don't we rebuild ancient structures to there former glory rather then leave them as they are?	[ "Partly it's because we're not 100% sure what their former glory was, and are worried that if we were to rebuild them that we'd get it wrong and thus ruin an important part of human history.", "We do do that sometimes though. The Parthenon is getting restored, and Shakespeare's Globe was rebuilt and modernized to...
Why can you feel nauseous when you wear polarized sunglasses?	[ "Visual information goes to part of your brain that also gets balance information (brainstem gets visual and vestibular inputs). But 'polarized' glasses alter the incoming visual information, so any conflict or differences between these inputs (visual and vestibular sensory conflict) gets percieved as nausea (or an...
Why is it "Ladies and Gentlemen" and "Boys and Girls"? Is there a reason for the order and the difference in order when addressing different ages?	[ "They're called frozen binomials; like how we say \"pots and pans\" not \"pans and pots\".\n\nIt has to do with syllables (smallest to largest), complexity of the word, and what just rolls off the tongue easiest.\n\nSome argue a gender bias, but for every \"man and woman\" binomial there is an \"aunt and uncle\"; f...
Why does light have speed? Why isn't it instantaneous?	[ "The speed of light is the speed of causality. It is the fastest speed by which any event can affect anything else in the universe. It is also the defining property of the universe that gives rise to time.\n\nLet me explain.\n\nImagine a clock. This clock is made by holding two perfect mirrors exactly parallel to e...
How did societies enforce the law before police were a thing?	[ "There were always enforcers, members of the tribe that enforced the rules, they just didn't have job titles.", "Over time, the role of the church and parents has lessened on this subject. The concept of \"it takes a village to raise a child\" has diluted quite a bit.\n\nChurch elders, teachers, town elders, but...
What's the difference between a President and a Prime Minister. What's the difference between a Congress and a Parliament?	[ "The difference between them is who chooses the leader of government.\n\nIn a presidential system, the people elect both the members of the legislature (congress) and the president independently, and the president is the head of the government.\n\nIn a parliamentary system, people elect the members of the legislatu...
Taiwan and China's relationship in the past and now.	[ "Taiwan used to be a small native-held island, in China's sphere of influence but not considered very important. In the 17th century or so, Chinese colonists started showing up. When Japan gained control over the island in 1895, a majority of its inhabitants were (Han) Chinese. After World War II, Japan gave the is...
do we lose our imagination or do we suppress it as we get older ?	[ "Neither, really. Some people maintain very active imaginations for much of their lives.\n\nHowever consider why a child has a need for a greater scope of imagination. Much of their world is still a mystery to them. They might know that something works a certain way, but they don't know how. So perhaps that l...
Why are clothes hangers not shaped like human shoulders?	[ "They are designed to be in the shape of human shoulders.\n\nFrom the Wikipedia page on clothes hangers;\n\n > A clothes hanger, coat hanger, or coathanger, is a device in the shape of:\n\n > * Human shoulders designed to facilitate the hanging of a coat, jacket, sweater, shirt, blouse or dress in a manner that...
Why are we so concerned with wealth inequality/disparity in the US?	[ "I think that for most people, just knowing someone in an office earns millions of dollars a year while they work just as hard to scrape by with $30K a year irks them. Very few people are happy in the knowledge that they have it better than their grandparents did while watching the ridiculous wealth and privilege ...
How do astronomers calculate when and where an eclipse will occur, and how total it will be?	[ "The earth, the sun, and the moon all have very predictable orbits. The earth is slightly tilted and the orbit of the moon around the earth is also slightly tilted which means the moon crosses the plane between the earth and the sun every once in a while.\n\nThe earth takes 365 days to orbit the sun, the moon take...
US army/navy/air force numbering systems	[ "It's all sequential. It starts at 1 and goes to 2, 3, 4, 5 etc... When the U.S. goes to war it expands the number of units activated to fill up every number sequentially. When the U.S. leaves a war or downscales then it gets rid of most of its units except the ones with historic or glorious lineage. That's why uni...
Why are colossal (eg. Godzilla) things depicted as moving so slowly?	[ "As things get larger they may appear to move slower, but that is just because they are far away. Godzilla would be walking much faster than an insect could fly, but not in comparison to its size. If it was matching speed to size it would probably be breaking the sound barrier.", "Flies have an [absurdly high rea...
How much of a given generation’s Social Security benefits are paid by succeeding generations in the US?	[ "it's a continuously revolving system. money in, money out. the working generation pays for the retiree's. problem is...in recent decades, there's more retirees than workers and the trend is going to be even more retirees than workers. \n\nsocial security is not an investment vehicle. it's a wealth redist...
The difference between a wireless access point and a network switch	[ "Think of a network switch as a telephone operator. When you pick up a telephone, and call a number, the telephone operator will connect you to the number you want to call.\n\nA wireless access point is like the base on your wireless phone that is connected to the phone switch. It allows your wireless phone to ma...
what is going on when you feel a tickle on your skin like a tiny bug is moving on you but your closest examinations reveal nothing is there.	[ "There are very tiny nerve receptors in your skin if two or more of them are stimulated at the same time you get this sensation, sometimes the bug moved before you saw it, sometimes it can be dust or other debris, sometimes it can be a phantom response. For more on the nerves in your skin - _URL_0_", "That's call...
Why does the connection strength between a phone and a wifi router fluxuate, even when neither are being touched?	[ "Your connection strength isn't just determined by the strength of the signal between you and your phone, it is also impacted by the noise in the environment\n\nWhile the signal strength may remain constant, if the noise increases because of a leaky microwave or increased WiFi traffic from your neighbor's router th...
Why do British judges wear big, curly, white wigs?	[ "Short answer: Tradition.\n\nLonger answer: because the look established a standard appearance for the various types of official (barristers have one particular wig/robe set, different levels of courts have different appearances, and up until relatively recently judges had in some cases 5 sets of robes/wigs for d...
What is "Right to Work" and why do so may people think it's a ripoff?	[ "It's the label that anti-union forces have placed on legislation which prohibits workers from being forced to join a union at a business where a union exists.\n\nThe argument for \"right to work\" is that people should be able to decide whether to join the union, and their employment shouldn't be contingent on a w...
Whats the difference between 4G and 3G? And is there a 2G or just a G?	[ "The different \"G\"'s are just different 'generations' of the wireless data technology used by cell phone network operators. They set certain standards that must be used by phone manufacturers, specify assumptions that manufacturers can make, etc. Telecomm companies build their networks to support a certain genera...
What harm does having a large debt do?	[ "We have to pay interest on our debt. So having a huge debt means we have to pay a lot of interest, which means we either have less money to spend on things we want/need or have to borrow even more money.", "Basically, interest. That, and increasing dependence on the lending party.\nIf you have a mortgage or othe...
Why do we have to buy domain names from companies instead of just claiming it ourselves for free?	[ "Back in the day, before everyone and his uncle wanted a domain name, before the world wide web, before google, you could just ask for a domain name and get it for free. Who did you ask? The National Science Foundation, of all things. \nWhen domains started getting more popular, the National Science Foundation g...
What is the Standard Model? Why does it matter?	[ "The Standard Model is our current best theory of particle physics. It contains all the particles and all the forces necessary to explain everyday life.\n\nThere are six quarks and six leptons that make up pretty much everything we usually refer to as \"matter.\" Then there are the four fundamental forces that gove...
Why is rainwater not salty?	[ "As you almost said in your question, the act of evaporation involves the water molecules getting enough energy so that the water can take its gasous form. \n\nThe key part here is \"water molecules\". When water evaporates, nothing else gets \"picked up\" with it. Each molecule is always by definition pure H2O.\n\...
What is the difference between investors and shareholders?	[ "In a publicly traded company, anyone can buy shares. They are thus investing in the company. Their say in how the company is actually run is limited. Usually virtually the only say they have is in the election of the Board of Directors. \n \nInvestors in a privately held company sometimes invest in return f...
How much progression do we have into time travel possibilities?	[ "All the advancements in modern physics have progressed us away from the possibility of time travel.\n\nSince Einstein's work on relativity, we've found more and more evidence indicating that nothing can go faster than the speed of light, and this severely limits theoretical avenues for the discovery of time travel...
Everyone says that if Pakistan and India go to war, there will be global consequences. What are they?	[ "Both have nuclear weapons and would probably use them if faced with an existential threat such as actually losing a conventional war to their deadly enemy.\n\nThe rest of the world has an interest in avoiding a nuclear war, wouldn't you say?", "China would go to war with India if the state of Pakistan was threa...
How come I can get really tired reading a book or watching tv, but when I try to go to sleep immediately after I toss and turn for hours before finally falling asleep?	[ "If you're like me, it's because your mind races. Reading or watching TV means something is effectively doing a lot of the \"thinking\" for you. You can start to doze and still have the thoughts be fed to you. When thinking in bed, some thoughts lead to more and it just spirals out of control. \n\nFunny thing is, w...
Why is saffron so expensive?	[ "Saffron comes from the stigmas of a flower called the purple crocus. There's only a few stigmas in each flower. So it takes a lot of flowers and a lot of hard labor to harvest and prepare even a small amount of saffron. I think it's cheaper if you buy saffron threads instead of in ground powder form, though.", "...
Why is it that we sometimes remember seemingly insignificant things we don't try to remember. ex: when I was 6 I specifically remember tying my shoe on my birthday, but I don't remember anything else. What's the trigger?	[ "They're called flash memories, it's when something significant happened to you ( or at least you perceived it as important ). It's the same as \"that one time I accidentally shit myself before school in sixth grade and had to wipe it off and wear that same pair of underwear at school that day\". The memory may not...
when skydiving, is the gravity of the earth's core pulling me down or the air molecules I am in contact with?	[ "Everything attracts everything. However, the heavier the object, the more force it will exert on you. Imagine all the weight of the air above you when jumping (pulling you up); that weight is negligible compared to the weight of the earth + the air beneath you (pulling you down).\n\nSide note: the distance is also...
What is Net Neutrality? Why does it matter? Or why should i care?	[ "Net neutrality is the philosophy that all content on a network should be treated equally. That is, an Internet service provider shouldn't prioritize network traffic based on where it's coming from, where it's going, what kind of content (video, music, etc) it is, and other things in that vein.\n\nNet neutrality i...
How do internet companies that offer large amounts of data storage turn a profit?	[ "Ever since GMail, companies have found that this model can work. The thing is that huge capacities are a powerful selling point (it instantly made GMail the top free mail brand in what was a crowded market) but most people don't use much of that capacity. I have had my gmail account since 2006, sending and getting...
How does the screen of your car know the name of the current playing song when you are just listening to the radio?	[ "It's called RBDS. They just send the data along with the regular signal. Your radio gets the extra info and it tells you what song is playing.\n\n\nEdit: a word", "Ever see Star Trek or some other show where they find \"a signal in the signal\"? It is just like that, the radio signal has all the info for sound...
Why I feel a "difference" between shows like The Wire, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad VS shows like Leverage, Babylon 5 and Burn Notice.	[ "Others have mentioned elements but there's another that started, largely, with the Sopranos and was perfected by The Wire.\n\nAmerican television in the past has always been about the advertising. Content was dictated by who was choosing to advertise during that timeslot, censored because an advertiser complained,...
The Planned Parenthood Fetal Organ Donation Program	[ "Yes, the fetal tissue is harvested after abortion only with the mother's consent. If the mother does not consent, the tissue is destroyed in the same way all medical waste is destroyed. The tissue can come from any sort of abortion, whether that is a fetus that is not viable, one that threatens the life of the mot...
Why so many Native American tribes seem to own casinos	[ "Gambling is illegal in a lot of the United States, but on Native American Reservations, they don't have to follow those rules as much. So casinos get built because they don't have many laws to say no casinos", "Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution says:\n\n\"Congress shall have the power to regulate Comme...
Why are there 'LATEST Snowden leaks'?	[ "From the sources I've seen it's being released in chunks to keep it on people's minds and in the media longer.", "If I recall correctly he leaked all of it at once to a couple of reporters, and there over 100.000 documents. So there is a lot of documents for the reporters to go threw, and they have to read each ...

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