Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
why are some banks able to give different rates on things, ie. a higher yield percentage on savings accounts, as opposed to others?	[ "Like any business, it's competition. There are certainly costs involved with running 1000's of branches that online banks don't have to deal with, so they do have some efficiencies they can pass along.\n\nBut there are also concerns about online-only banks many consumers have, and higher rates are a way to entice ...
Why aren't birds electrocuted when they stand on power lines?	[ "Electricity wants to take the easiest way to the ground (earth) the wires that are used for the power lines have low resistance, meaning it is easy for the electricity to travel through it. whereas a bird has a high resistance so it is hard for the electricity to travel through it. therefore almost all the electri...
Why chickens are not protective of their eggs like other birds?	[ "I grew up on a small farm. We always had laying hens. So I can tell you from experience that you are mistaken completely. \n\nIt varies between chicken breeds. Some breeds of chickens are \"broody.\" Meaning they do a good job of laying eggs and taking care of them until they hatch. Broody hens will peck and claw ...
Why is it that each month, our country adds "250,000 jobs", but unemployment seems to remain the same?	[ "The real answer (rather than the other person's flippant response about new people being created) is that the official unemployment rate has long been deflated because it doesn't include people who have looked for a job for so long and not had any success that they have given up. Those people are considered to be...
What really happens when you get a blown motor?	[ "That could mean a lot of different things. The timing belt could have snapped, causing the pistons to hit the valves. A connecting rod may have broken due to a spun bearing, punching a hole into the block as a result. Blown really just means irreparable damage, but it doesn't tell you what broke. And if it's an ol...
when the Fukushima nuclear power plant lost power which led to much of its problems, why couldn't things be powered by the reactors themselves?	[ "As another commenter said, the reactors automatically shut down due to their seismic sensors triggering the reactor protection system. Japan's nuclear plants automatically scram on high seismic activity to ensure the control rods don't jam up on the way in. \n\nHowever, even if the reactors didn't scram, most nucl...
Why is it in their nature for some animals to be so loyal and friendly towards humans while other animals despise us and are not friendly or loyal?	[ "Generally the animals that are loyal and friendly have been bred and conditioned to be exactly that.\n\nTake dogs. We have spend thousands of years breeding them. We have selected certain traits that we enjoyed and bred them for that reason. Loyalty and friendliness were some of those reasons. And it is in the dog...
How do people become right handed or left handed?	[ "I think it's still unknown. Scientists had a theory that it had to do with left or right brain dominance. But now it's pointing more towards genes.\nIt is weird though. I'm right handed with writing, but left handed in sports (hockey, baseball, golf).", "I started school ambidextrous, meaning I could write equa...
How does a company like _URL_0_ work?	[ "Why are people asking the same questions from yesterday?" ]
Why and how does sex appeal change over time?	[ "It's a combination of cultural and biological factors. Obviously its typical and instinctual to be attracted to the opposite sex and certain features that indicate health/child-rearing ability and the like. However, if you particularly like something or especially associate it with sex, either accidentally or beca...
What do lobbyists do, and why are they bad?	[ "They are paid to argue for a particular interest. They get face time with various congressmen and committees pushing their employers agenda. The problem is that their agenda may not be aligned with what is actually best for the people.", "Lobbyists are the facemen behind larger groups called special interests....
the difference between the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire	[ "Byzantine Empire = Eastern Roman Empire\n\n > How far off am I in this reasoning?\n\nRather badly. The East-West divide occurred in 313 AD; in 295 AD as a result of vast rebellions the original Empire was split between four rulers, two caesars and two augusts; by 295 the Caesar-august split was eliminated, leaving...
What does the term "graphics" actually mean, and is it video-game specific? My friend always says animated movies have good "graphics" and I feel like there's a difference and she's using the wrong word.	[ "Graphics basically means \"visual images on a surface\". A movie can have good graphics, a video game can have good graphics, etc. Computer graphics are a specific type of visual image, i.e., images created by a computer.\n\nColloquially, however, people tend to refer to computer graphics used in movies as \"CGI\"...
How those little baby doll toy bottles work where you hold it upside down and the liquid seems to appear like he drank it, but when you hold it right side up, it refills...?	[ "The bottle is actually two containers (one inside the other). There is a thin gap between the two which is filled with liquid.\n\nThis allows a very small amount of liquid to appear to fill the entire bottle. When you tip it, the liquid flows through the gap and down into a resevoir in the top, making it appear em...
Why does (fire) cooked food taste better than raw food (mostly)?	[ "> Is it an evolutionary thing so that we cook our food more?\n\nEvolution works in a kind of after the fact way. Those who cooked more survived better and thus reproduced more.", "The [Maillard Reaction](_URL_0_) occurs when the ~~enzymes~~ amino acids and sugars are \"caramelized\" which produces that yummy b...
Why do we only have Black Friday sales once a year? Why can't we have the deals all year long?	[ "Some stores tried this. They found that they sell more if they have higher prices then drop them shortly for a sale than if they keep the sale-low prices all year.\n\nPeople just really like sales." ]
how to birds fly so in sync in a flock?	[ "I don't have sources, but I have heard a few explanations. First, they make the decision to move in any one direction based on a sort of democratic system. One bird might tilt its tail or wings a certain way, and that is its 'vote'. When a majority of the birds in the vicinity agree on which direction to move, the...
Why do I nod along with characters in movies?	[ "Because this is asking about a condition you suffer it qualifies as a personal problem according to the sidebar rules. \n\nI'm not sure what, if any, subreddit would be better for you, but if you find one that works for you, let me know and I'll edit it into this template so anyone in the future will know, too!\n\...
Dogs have a fear of heights because it knows it can die if it fell off. If someone was with a dog and jumped off a high ledge, would the dog consciously know the person was going to die?	[ "One thing I'd caution, while fear of heights is not necessarily a hardwired instinct, that does not, by that same token, mean that having a fear of heights actually equates to an understanding that you can die if you fall off. \n\nStudies with babies, for instance, suggest that they come to fear heights as their e...
why do some cans get cold when shaken.	[ "Its not actually getting colder, it just feels like its getting colder. When the can isn't shaken, heat is transferring between the liquid content of the can and your hand by conduction. When you shake the can, the liquid starts moving, and introduces heat transfer by convection. Convection has a much higher rate ...
Why do pregnant women with Ebola have a 95% chance of dying, (rather than the 40% chance of dying)?	[ "During pregnancy, the immune system is suppressed to prevent the woman from rejecting the fetus. This makes fighting virulent infections a bit difficult. This is also why many women with autoimmune conditions experience remission during pregnancy." ]
What will realistically happen in 20-30 years when the babyboom generation dies and their wealth is inherited/re-distributed?	[ "You're making a lot of assumptions not necessarily tied to facts. You're assuming that a decent portion of that 4-10 trillion dollars are liquid assets just sitting in an account somewhere not being spent. A gigantic portion of that is guaranteed to be real estate and property that will simply be passed on as is...
Why does warm air rise?	[ "Density. \n\nWarm air has more energy in each particle which means it expands in volume. Equal mass but a higher volume means lower density. Hence,, they rise.\n\nSimilarly, cold air has less energy per particle and tend to stick closer to each another. Equal mass with lower volume means high density." ]
Why do I wake up tired after I've slept in?	[ "If you wake up during the wrong stage of sleep you can feel extremely tired. This is why if you get up after your body wakes up normally you usually don't feel too exhasted, but getting woken up from an alarm can leave you devastatingly tired. \n\nThis is just one possibility though, there are many others.", "Re...
How will planting a wall of trees across Africa stop the spread of the Sahara desert?	[ "One thing that can lead to desertification is the loss of plant roots that hold soil in place and make it better at retaining moisture. Part of the hope is that the trees will help hold and enrich the soil while also providing some measure of wind break to decrease the extent to which to soil is stripped away." ]
Do insects get hot from the sun? If so how do they cool down?	[ "insects are cold blooded, so they generally prefer hot environments to colder ones. This is why there's suddenly millions of them around as spring turns into summer, and why most die off or 'hibernate' (not the technically accurate term, I know) through the winter.\n\nIn extreme heat conditions lots of insects ha...
Why do tennis balls come in a sealed container?	[ "The rubber that tennis balls are made of tends to dry out, stiffen, become brittle and less bouncy if they are left out too long. \"Fresh\" tennis balls bounce better, and are thus preferred for actual tennis play. If you're just buying them to play fetch with your dog it doesn't matter too much.", "Tennis balls...
How is tax exemption for religious businesses such as churches not a violation of separation of church and state?	[ "Non-profits are tax exempt, because most churches are run as non-profits, they don't pay taxes. It has nothing to do with the fact that they are religious institutions.", "Religious businesses are not tax-exempt. Religion non-profit organizations can be tax exempt, because Congress has exempted non-profit or...
Why does breathing stop being a natural thing after we think about it	[ "There is a part of our brain that controls heart beat, digestion muscles, everything we can't stop, is controlled by that part of our brain.\n\nHe also controls blinking, breathing, and all things you don't have to control, but can choose to.\n\nThose functions have an override 'switch' that you can pull by thinki...
Why can I be starving when going to sleep and not feel hungry at all when I wake up ?	[ "Fasting State. When you're not actively digesting foods your liver regulates your blood sugar by exporting glucose into the bloodstream based on the amount of insulin in the blood. So you wake up with the hunger response sated and you don't feel hungry until you burn up that blood sugar. \n\n_URL_0_", "Ok, lets ...
The Bohemian Grove club?	[ "Rich and powerful people drink a special juice that makes them happy then they dance in front of a giant owl statue in the forest." ]
Why do most people sleep better when it rains / thunderstorms ?	[ "I can't say I know for certain, but I'm guessing it has something to do with it being a calming noise to some. \n\nEg. Waves on the ocean, raindrops, piano.\n\nI definitely sleep better when it's raining, so there's that.", "Instinctively we realize that the likelihood of an attack from predators is greatly dimi...
How did Mexico defeat France when they were clearly outnumbered?	[ "At the battle of Puebla? The French weren't ready for a fight, and the Mexicans were. They had made much better defensive preparations than the French forces expected, so the French attacked expecting an easy victory and weren't able to react when they met stiff resistance.", "Similar to when Texans beat Santa...
The speed of light and relativity	[ "I think you are missing a key part of the theorem of relativity here. That is: the speed of light is the same for ALL observers. So, no matter how fast you are moving the velocity of light is still c (300,000 kps).\n\n\nSo lets consider your example:\n\n > if you had a flashlight and a rock, and the flashl...
How are these new chipped credit/debit cards offering more security when cashiers do not prompt us to enter a PIN, signature, or show ID?	[ "While that is the case, most identity theft doesn't happen with your actual card. It happens when they get the card numbers. If you had your actual card stolen, you'd report that as soon as it happened. People using your card numbers isn't noticed until you see it on your bill.", "The goal of the chip is not ...
Why/when did tea begin to lose its popularity in America?	[ "Have you never stepped foot in the South? We drink gallons of sweet tea a day.", "Tea is incredibly popular in the US. The standard beverage in the south during lunch or dinner is iced tea and most tend to drink 16-48 oz (1-3 glasses) of it when they have it at a meal. You are correct that hot tea is less popula...
Why doesn't water burn?	[ "So, \"burning\" is combining something with oxygen (or some sort of \"oxidizing agent\"), such that the final result is more chemically stable than what you started with.\n\nNow, I used a lot of potentially confusing terminology there. An oxidizing agent (of which oxygen is the main example, hence the name) is si...
Why do women enjoy sex even if they don't climax yet men are left relatively unsatisfied when they don't "finish the job"?	[ "just think about what's actually necessary in order to reproduce.", "Armchair evolutionary psychology would suggest for the most part men cannot reproduce unless they climax, while women can, which leads to a greater need to climax in order to feel satisfied.", "First, it's worth mentioning that women find gre...
Why are there no (or few?) green mammals?	[ "[From this](_URL_0_), it would seem that the reason that there are no naturally green mammals -- I'm not counting sloths, whose green pigmentation comes about from algae in their fur -- is because hair colour is determined by melanin. Melanin doesn't have a green form. In birds and lizards, the skin is capable of ...
Why doesn't lightning kill all the fish in the ocean when it strikes?	[ "Lightning like all electricity takes the easiest path to a ground. If it directly struck a fish it would kill it. Otherwise it follows the path of least resistance to the earth." ]
How do gameshows get the money to just give away day after day?	[ "A top network show like NCIS is paying about $2 million in episode in actors' salaries alone. A premium cable show like Game of Thrones runs $6 million an episode.\n\nGames shows are cheap by comparison...no actors, no writers, no car chases, just a single set, a washed up actor and a few bimbos. They do it ...
Why does the body store unnecessary amounts of fat, to the point where humans can become morbidly obese?	[ "You have to keep in mind that access to enough food to eat yourself to death is a fairly modern thing to have. Of the billions of years of life evolving that led to us, it's only in the last few thousand or so that this has been possible.\n\nIf you don't have access to this much food, \"storing unnecessary amount...
Why doesn't the military/police use full body, completely enclosed, bullet proof armor?	[ "It's called a tank. They put wheels on it. It would be more expensive than you're worth. stupid heavy, slow. Every shooter is taught to shoot center mass.", "You can, but it's pricey, heavy, hot. \n\nA few private military corporations (think blackwater type companies) do buy such equipment, usually for the guy...
Why are so many lists on the internet slideshow format?	[ "Because websites get paid for ads per impression, and every new page is a new set of impressions. So instead of having one page where there's one impression for each ad, having 20 pages gives more impressions, and more money for the website operator." ]
- The East vs West Hip-Hop feud	[ "This began a while ago, in the early 1990's.\n\nPretend there was a large african desert. In the desert, there are many different animals, but the strongest, and most powerful ones, were the Lions. The desert was kind of split into two, so you had the \"Right side\" and the \"left side\" . Each \"side\" had one ve...
How is possible to watch a video file whilst downloading it at the same time?	[ "Let's compare this to an highway in a building-process:\nOn the start you've got the informations about the highway like the name and the length (data size or number of frames).\nNow the construction workers (your computer/decoder) are getting the plans and the material (data) from somewhere (the server in this ca...
Why does it feel so much better waking up after 8 hours of sleep at 9, rather than 7 or 5?	[ "Your pineal gland releases melatonin when it is dark. This neurotransmitter tells your brain and body to regenerate. When you wake up while too much is still in your system, you feel bad because you are busy regenerating.\n\nAfter 7, when the sun starts shining, your pineal gland will be releasing seratonin, the s...
Why sand/salt melts ice?	[ "The sand is for traction, not so much to assist in melting. It helps cars grip the ice better.\n\nIce is used because it lowers the freezing point of water. Water normally freezes at 32f, while salted water can stay liquid at 0f.", "Sand doesn't melt ice, it just provides traction. Salt \"melts\" ice because i...
Beep sound used for censorship	[ "It's normally 1k tone, which is a standard for testing audio in broadcast. Basically it's used because broadcasters have always had it available.\n\nMany times silence is used, but you notice it less. There may be rules in place that I am not aware of, but generally tone is used when the person's mouth is visibl...
How does a plane crash into an ocean kill all people on board?	[ "It is very difficult to land a plane even relatively safely on water. Especially when that water is rough or moving like the ocean is. So when an airplane, which is moving at a high rate of speed, attempts to land in the ocean, it will likely break up on impact. Many of those on board are often killed by the force...
How are dental records used to identify bodies?	[ "Teeth are one of the toughest parts of the body and everybody's history is different. In cases where the body is badly damaged/disfigured teeth may be the only recognizable remains." ]
Magnetic door locks. How do they work?	[ "The magnet is a simple electromagnet. There is an iron block welded or bolted to the door on one side, and there's a mounted system with more iron bars on the frame of the door. When it's active, (you can't open the door) there is electricity going through the part mounted on the frame, which holds that part and t...
In the event of mankind being wiped out (nuclear, asteroid, virus, zombies etc) what do the people aboard the ISS (and any manned spacecraft in orbit) do?	[ "Die. Nothing else for it, it'll come sooner or later when they run out of the relevant resources needed to live.\n\nThere wouldn't be any specific plans for the crew to follow, and even if there were everybody on board would know it doesn't matter anymore if there's nothing else to do but choose how they die. \n\n...
The aftermath of a sneeze.	[ "Everyone gets the feeling, I don't know what causes it, probably something to do with blood pressure and heart rate stimulation" ]
Why do the Oscars award movies from the previous year?	[ "They're held around the end of February. If they held Oscar's 2017, awarding only movies from 2017, they would only have two months of movies to award. Then, when February 2018 came around, they would miss the other 10 months of films of 2017 because they could only focus on films released in 2018 (a 2 month span)...
When a car is moving on TV or a movie the wheels look like they're moving backwards...	[ "If you take a picture of a clock every minute, then show the pictures in rapid succession, it will go from 12:00 to 12:01 to 12:02... and it'll look like it's going forward.\n\nIf you take a picture of a clock every 23 hours and 59 minutes, then show the pictures in rapid succession, it will go from 12:00 to 11:59...
How did people originally translate languages?	[ "By pointing at shit and saying what you called it. It's not a great technique fit explaining ennui, but for something like pig, it works just fine, and to be honest, in the days of 'first' most French people didn't know what ennui was.\n\nOnce you have the verbal language written is just teaching the person to rig...
Why are some people very light sleepers and will wake up at the drop of a pin, while other people are extremely heavy sleepers and can sleep through a brass band? Why aren't all adults roughly similar in their ability (or inability) to sleep through noises?	[ "_URL_0_\n\nBasically some peoples brains are just better at blocking out noise then others.", "There is actually an evolutionary answer to this question that explains the biological answer that's been given.\n\nBack when all humans lived together in small tribes and basically used caves as their only form of she...
What is the concept of a nation-state, and how is it different from pre-WW1 concepts of soveirgnty?	[ "Before nation states, countries were mostly owned by dynasties (long lines of royalty) and/or aristocrats (the ruling elites that owned vast property).\n\nOnce countries converted into “war machines”, it became a sort of social contract between the state and the people, where the men would be conscripted into the ...
Why do people hold their hand on a bible when making an oath? What if the person isn't Christian?	[ "The \"hand on the bible\" gesture is purely symbolic. Meant to express that your words are all honest. \nIf you are not Christian, you can ask for another religious text or governmentally binding, secular text where you will be asked to perform the same gesture.", "This country has a basis in Christianity, as d...
What exactly is DDOS	[ "its when someone denies your internet connection by clogging it up with spam.\n\nimagine the driveway to your house. you can usually drive in and out of it fine when theres no traffic. if theres a few hundred cars of traffic on your street, its going to be hard and time consuming to get out of your driveway. DDOS ...
Why and how does flour/dust explode?	[ "It doesn't really explode, it burns. Explosives turn to gas almost entirely and this new gas causes a shockwave as it makes space for itself and pushes air away.\n\nFlour/dust burns, because it's dispersed fine particles it causes a huge fireball where entire volume is on fire, heating up the atmosphere air alre...
What do websites have to gain by making their visitors annoyed (from excessive popups/poor formatting/etc) to the point that they leave and never come back?	[ "I think you may be talking about a specific type of site. They're not actually trying to provide value and they know you'll never come back. I'll simplify the numbers here but the obtrusive ads and sheer volume of them mean they get paid 2 cents in total for the page view where you saw the ads. \n\nThey paid 1 cen...
Rock and Roll is Dead. Why?	[ "I've contemplated this question for a few weeks after recently watching Almost Famous. I think it's two things:\n\n1. The 50s/60s/early 70s, like you're referring to, were the first years of rock. Like many things in life (Facebook, rap, college football, fast food, the internet, etc.), when they're first introduc...
Different writers for Star Wars VII-IX.	[ "The writers and Disney have worked out a basic framework for the films. All the writers and directors know how the broad strokes of the stories the films are going to tell, but the writers/directors will fill in many of the details and decide what is the best way to actually tell the story. A lot gets added and dr...
what's actually happening to us when we "burnout"?	[ "Will power is finite. It's not an unending well like some people would like you to think. For those that willpower comes easy to, they can by very dismissive of those for whom it comes very difficult.\n\nMight take you 5 will powers to not eat that cookie. Might take someone else 50 will powers. There are t...
the rise and fall of KODAK, and why won't it ever be a 'giant' again	[ "They put all of their eggs in the film basket. They even invented digital cameras (well, Steve Sasson did while working for Kodak), but because they made the money when you bought the cameras, the flash cubes, the film, AND the processing, Kodak had it very good. They saw the digital camera as their enemy (they ...
How does the website _URL_0_ make money?	[ "They basically sell you to advertisers. Either they are selling your info to them (read that fine print), or they are selling access to your eyeballs to credit card companies.\n\n > Does this jeopardize the truthfulness of your credit report since it can be a conflict of interest?\n\nNot really. If your credit sco...
How are companies going to make money from Automation when their customers are all unemployed?	[ "Companies don't know and generally don't care: as long as automation can increase profits in the short term -- the current and next quarter -- it's a good decision and usually provides a competitive advantage.\n\nThe long term problem of having no middle class buyers is beyond the planning horizon of most companie...
Since a country can print its own currency indefinitely, why can't the US for example just arbitrarily pay off all its debt that way?	[ "Yes. The more money in circulation, the less it's really worth, period.", "Let's imagine \"Purchasing Power\" as a cake. Lets imagine \"Dollars\" as tickets. The tickets serve as coupons to get a cake. \n > 1 Cake = 1 Ticket. \n\nIf I simply print more tickets, but don't produce more cakes, the value of the tick...
What are gimmicks, and why are they often considered bad?	[ "A gimmick is something that makes something appeal better, without adding anything in general.", "The broad term \"gimmick\" just means something that is used by advertisements and other companies to make their product stand out and seem unique. It is usually like a cool trick or another unusual aspect about the...
Why does cooked fish irritate an allergy but sushi/sashimi does not?	[ "There was a study done with raw vs cooked pea allergies, that found there were cases where those allergic to the raw pea were not the cooked version. It was found that cooking the pea altered the allergen enough that the patients no longer caused a reaction. \n\nMy hypothesis from this is the cooked allergen i...
Official ELI5 Bitcoin Thread - Round II	[ "Hi y'all! former bitcoin miner here (I'll explain what that means in a minute), and I thought I'd answer some of your inevitable questions!\n\nFirst, inflation: /u/Koooooj already gave a pretty good explenation of how bitcoins prevent inflation: they're released in controled amounts that is continually halved, so ...
How could humans realistically colonize a planet with modern technology (assuming that getting there isn't an issue)?	[ "Mining tunnels seems the best option today. We can move huge drills to cut large habitation tunnels into the crust. These tunnels would provide shielding from radiation and meteorite impacts. Multiple tunnels can be combined to make large areas for food growth.", "We couldn't. We don't have reliable technology t...
The eurozone crisis. Whats going on?	[ "Greece accumulated a shit load of debt. They can't cover that debt. They need the rest of the eurozone to bail them out. Other countries(Germany) don't want to, but they share the same currency as Greece, so Greece failing would also hurt them.", "Europe (more specifically the EU minus the UK) shares a currency ...
How are guns/bullets traceable	[ "Guns have an individual id number stamped on them. As far as bullets go, when they are fired the barrel leaves unique markings on the shell which can be traced to the gun that fired it. This only works if the investigator has access to the offending gun and does not work for shotguns." ]
Why are my muscles feeling sore after a poor night's sleep?	[ "I can think of a few things that cause this.\n\nMost importantly, your body makes a large chunk of repairs to your muscles during sleep. If your muscles are damaged (which just happens when you use them), then not sleeping well will mean your body isn't able to repair as much as it otherwise would have. Especially...
Why are so many retail stores uniforms a blue shirt and khaki pants?	[ "The khaki's represent a laid-back atmosphere to make customers feel welcome and comfortable. The color blue is meant to represent loyalty, trust and intelligence." ]
How Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other oil export depending countries are dealing so differently with low oil prices.	[ "Imagine you have several households, and all of them have one family member with a pretty decent income as salesmen (oil revenue in this metaphor). However, some of them have to commute further than others, and have other expenses that mean they get to keep less of their total pay. If sales drop low enough, it a...
Why is it easier for non-native English speakers to sing, than to speak, with good pronunciation?	[ "That's because we repeat the sounds we hear, instead of processing the sound from scratch. \n\nImagine speaking like drawing a horse, isn't it easier to copy one from your drawing book than drawing one from a blank piece of paper?", "Hi! I'm by no means an expert, but I did a lot of choir and a capella in high s...
How did presenters create slides with text and graphics in the 80's?	[ "As a college student in the 1990's I had to do a lot of these for my courses.\n\nThere was a way to use a copier - certain brands of transparencies (clear 8.5 x 11 inch plastic) could be fed to a copier and the grapics printed on them. Our library sold the brand that worked for the Xerox copiers, back then the wro...
When installing updates on my computer, why am I required to close applications completely unrelated to the update?	[ "Hard to give a more concrete explanation without an example, but it's pretty much because applications can use common resources, and you have to make sure everything stays consistent. For instance, if you're updating some video plugin, Chrome may use it. You have to close Chrome and restart it with the new version...
Considering the amount of crap we cram into our bodies, why is urine commonly shades of yellow to brown and not purple or green?	[ "There's a few reasons.\n\n1) artificial dies and food colorings can't always survive the digestive tract intact, so they break down into their constituent parts, which aren't always as vibrantly colored.\n\n2) The digestive tract may not pass the dyes into the bloodstream, so the kidneys may never have the opportu...
The anal fisting boom of 2006	[ "1. Back in 2004 or '05, USC 2257 was either edited or added to the federal code. It states that any producer of pornography had to have records recording their performers' ages going back either a decade or the life of the production company. This was a big blow to porn, because they were as good at keeping record...
Why does some cheese have holes?	[ "The answer to your question is \"a big-eyed bacteria named Sherman\". \n\nFirst, a bit about process. If you want to make cheese - any cheese - you need the help of bacteria. When you add bacteria to milk, it makes lactic acid and gives the cheese a lot of its taste. Once that's done, a milk-clotting enzyme called...
Why do websites like Facebook and Youtube feel a constant need to change format?	[ "Well that's internal information, so people who don't work at one of the companies in question can only guess. I'll take a shot at it, though.\n\nFirst, just because a certain design works doesn't mean it's perfect. Everything can be improved, and Facebook and Google probably think they're doing exactly that.\n\nS...
What is this cosmetic product really? Where does it come from?	[ "the complex names really just come from the molecules themselves. If you're trained in organic chemistry, you can read the name and know exactly what elements and how many are in the compound. It goes a little like this (although im definitely not all the way right)\n\ndeca - 10 \n\nmethyl - A carbon atom bonded t...
Why aren't the oceans getting saltier?	[ "They are getting saltier. The reason we do not notice is that there is a very small percentage change even over millions of years. The dead sea is a very small body of water compared to the rest of the ocean and its relatively isolated compared to the most oceans/seas. the dead see also would not of gotten that mu...
I'm aware of optical and auditory illusions...are there illusions for the other senses i.e. smell and taste?	[ "There are but there probably are not as many because sight and hearing can be replicated easily (as easy as looking and listening to your computer/smartphone), while smell and taste require actual physical particles.\n\nFor taste, there is a fruit called the miracle fruit or miracle berry that after eating them, i...
When it comes to movies/tv shows, what is the difference between directors and producers?	[ "This can vary a lot from production to production. However, generally directors tend to be the one with the vision, on the set telling how the actors should act and how to present the story. Producers tend to be the ones making sure the tv show/film is on a reasonable budget on time, and the channel/studio/sponsor...
Does Listening to An Audiobook Affect the Brain the Same Way Reading a Book Would?	[ "No. Reading text and processing auditory language involve separate brain structures, although many people [sub-vocalize](_URL_0_) while reading, involving both brain structures.\n\nAnother major difference is speed and comprehension. Some people comprehend text better than audio, and some the other way around. If ...
Two objets at certanly distence. Can we put them closer each other by the half distance indefinitely? . I mean the half of the distance, then the half of that distance ......thx	[ "Theoretically, in abstract terms yes. There will mathematically always be another half distance you can divide by.\n\nBut real world physics don't permit for this. There is a phenomenon called the Planck Unit, which I suppose you could think of as the \"resolution of the universe\". Much like a screen cannot show ...
What is the point of putting a video consisting of only a still image onto a Facebook page?	[ "Hey there!\n\nFacebook's algorithms place more 'value' on a video, and will place it higher in the feed, and is more likely to deliver it to more of the people following your page. You get more 'bang for your buck' by placing ad money in a video instead of a static image. Movement also catches people's eye, and th...
Why have Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter during the past year gone from chronological newsfeeds to “customized” newsfeeds?	[ "[Filter bubbles](_URL_0_), by encouraging you to engage only with content you already engage with regularly, maximize engagement with their services and thus shareholder value and ad revenue.\n\nIt also \"sanitizes\" the content, since censoring controversial or offensive content is taken as part of the tailoring,...
How does the Home Owners Association (or HOA) Function?	[ "The idea behind a HOA is to get the neighborhood working together for their own benefit. A lot of things is shared between the owners of a neighborhood such as parking spaces, sidewalks, fences or even walls and roofs. The HOA is the owners who join together to maintain these things. They also might help each othe...
How does Netflix make money/earn a profit off of Netflix Original TV and Films?	[ "The same way any channel makes money by producing shows. They produce something because they want you to subscribe to their channel. \n\nThey license stuff out based on the show. They make a dvd and blu ray of the season. They sell it to syndication on cable channels. If it's not fantasy stuff like Game of Thrones...
Why do some games run on a mac but not on linux if both are unix based os.	[ "They're not UNIX-based, they're UNIX-like. MacOS is based on FreeBSD, which i a very different operating system than Linux. Furthermore, MacOS has it's own completely custom GUI and graphics APIs than Linux does. Only the very, very basic components of a game would be easy to port over.", "In short, becaus...
When copying files from one device to another, why does the transfer speed slowly decrease over time?	[ "Your computer can only create and allocate files on a device just so fast, so if you have lots of little files there will be a lot of overhead of creating the files themselves (naming, extension, permissions, all that) on the destination drive. You will see a speed increase if you're copying larger files (compar...
Why can't U.S. citizens 'veto' an election?	[ "The candidates are who they are because the American public voted for them. The time to decide who are candidates will be has long passed.", "The election process is _the process_. The majority of voters decided who to put forward and the majority of voters will determine the final outcome. So...no. They've b...
Why do humans find eyeless or pitch black eyes scary/unsettling?	[ "It's called The [Uncanny Valley](_URL_0_), and it's not limited to eyes. Basically, the closer something gets to looking human, the more we can sympathise with it - until it gets to be about 95%-99% human. Then it freaks us the hell out. Basically if something is just a bit... off. \n\nEyes may have the addition...

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