Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Why do so many people dislike NATO?	[ "Why do I feel like you asked a question but told everyone they can't disagree with you or something? Maybe it's just me. \n\nAlso, this might not belong in this subreddit, I'm not going to start looking for sources for my opinions on an aggressive military coalition for a five year old.", "Personally, I see it a...
How do police know if something has happened to a body post mortem?	[ "Bruising, bleeding, clotting, etc occurs differently to a living body than to a dead one, because bruising is dependent on blood flow to the area.", "When you are dead your heart isn’t pumping blood around your body anymore, so if you stab or harm a dead body, then it won’t have the same bruising/bleeding patter...
How do people know what the Milky Way looks like if we are inside it?	[ "We can observe the area around us and construct a pretty decent idea. We can't look in toward the center of the galaxy well, since there's too much dust in the way to see there or across. But the gravity of those stars still has a measurable impact on the ones we can observe, which lets us calculate how they must ...
Why do so many bathrooms have their light switches outside of the room?	[ "Bathrooms have water pipes in them, and it's safer to keep switches and outlets away from water unless they (switches and outlets) are waterproof." ]
Why do certain colors of lights have a second, differently colored ring around the source?	[ "Go get your eyes checked. You seem to be seeing refraction happening within your eyes. It could be from some minor deformity in the eye like the ones that cause near sightedness and far sightedness, to pressure in the optical nerve.\n\nSo basically please go to a doctor as soon as possible.\n\nSource: had some...
Why is UK telephone cable 6-core when you only actually hook up two of them?	[ "Because when you are wiring up a building for telephones, almost all of the expense is the labor. It costs the workmen just as much to pull three-pair cabling as it does to pull single-pair cabling, and the cable itself is only very slightly more expensive.\n\nOnce that cable is in, it then becomes very easy to in...
Why are we entertained by fiction, though we are always looking for the truth?	[ "Good fiction contains deeper truths about the human condition. It's not just about the specific events of the plot." ]
Are we the first on our planet to cross "the finish line" as far as evolution?	[ "Well as you said the question doesn't really make sense because intelligence and self-awareness isn't a goal of evolution.\n\nWould other creatures become more intelligent and self-aware if not for us? Maybe. Maybe not. We found a niche and it works for us - if we never were it'd be an open niche for some other cr...
If the human body is only supposed to have about 25g of sugar a day, why do most flavored drinks exceed that?	[ "Or most processed foods.. It's an addiction thing. Your body loves sugar. More the better. So companies load up things with sugar and we all buy them.", "> Fifty thousand years ago, the taste buds of Homo sapiens directed their bearers to the scarcest, most critical food resources—sugar and fat. Calories, in a...
A cup of water with an ice cube in it has the same water level before and after the ice melts; so why are scientists so sure that global warming will cause the sea levels to rise?	[ "The 'ice cubes' are sitting on land, not in the ocean.", "The Antarctic ice sheet is on land and it's also really thick, on average 1.3 miles thick. It covers about the same area as USA and Mexico together and has 7.2 million cubic miles of ice in it.\n\nSource: [Quick Facts on Ice Sheets](_URL_0_) from Nati...
Why does brief lack of oxygen to the brain often feel good?	[ "Ok, this is only a guess (until other, more knowledgable people answer your question), but first to clarify: your vision fading after standing up too quickly is due to low blood pressure, not lack of air.\n\nI think perhaps much of the euphoric feeling is actually just adrenaline in response to your body being wor...
What about yellow makes it appear lighter than other colors?	[ "Our eyes are most sensitive to green light. About twice as sensitive to it as red or blue. Green therefore is the brightest primary color to our eyes. As you probably know, with light, color is subtractive. If you add all the colors, you get white, if you subtract any color you get the combination of the other two...
Why infrared thermometers measure a mirror's surface, and not the surface it is reflected on.	[ "I have a big, shiny aluminum pot and an infrared thermometer. The thermometer _always_ measures the _reflection_ of what's outside the pot, not the pot itself.\n\nAluminum, and shiny metals, _will_ reflect infrared like a mirror, _but glass absorbs infrared_. It's opaque to it, like a blackboard to visible light. ...
The differences between Toughness, Strength, and Hardness in material science	[ "They are all pretty similar, but there are some distinct differences.\n\nHardness is a measure of how much force can be applied to something before it permanently changes shape\n\nToughness is the maximum amount of energy the object can take without breaking\n\nStrength is a measure of how elastic the object it is...
How/why is someone like Artem Vaulin, the founder of KickAss Torrents, held accountable for copyright infringement, if it's the USERS of the site that are breaking the law?	[ "The law isn't nearly that simple. Torrenting copyrighted content isn't the only thing that's illegal. To oversimplify everything as much as possible, the law also specifically makes what Artem Vaulin was doing illegal, at least according to the FBI and the prosecutors.\n\nSo for a silly analogy, if I run an unlice...
Why does the US have a Two Party System? Is it in the Constitution?	[ "The fate of all first past the post electoral systems is the eventuality of two party systems. With few exceptions, two main parties will dominate the political landscape given enough time.\n\nHere is a nice video describing the same:\n_URL_0_", "There being two parties is not part of the constitution but is a ...
The U.S./Russian proxy war in Syria and all the major players.	[ "Russia wants ISIS gone.\nUS wants ISIS gone.\n\nRussia wants assad to stay\nUS wants him to go.\n\nKurds want more territory for their own country\nTurkey doesn't want that.\n\nThe stick of it all is Assad.\n\nThe Kurd's and US and all of the western world want him gone. While Russia doesn't want that to happen a...
When zoomed out in pictures, why do buildings appear to have swirls?	[ "_URL_0_\n\nit happens when a computer tries to represent fine patterns with repeating details. The camera is incorrectly capturing and reproducing the image; this is caused by the camera's lack of ability to capture fine enough detail." ]
Where do the erratic/random "Call of the Void" thoughts/urges come from?	[ "Since I don't think anyone is going to have a conclusive explanation for this, I personally think that they come out as a result of your brain thinking \"what if I just did this\" and then you think about what the consequences of it would be. It's just the fact that you become aware that you Could do it, and then ...
What exactly does meta mean?	[ "Yarr, ye forgot yer searchin' duties, for ['twas asked by those what came before ye!](_URL_0_)", "Strictly speaking meta- means \"after\" or \"beyond.\" \n\nAsking a question like \"how does gravity work\" is a physics question. Our theories and study of physics can approach an answer to that question. A questio...
Why do names have meanings but these names aren’t words used in normal conversations?	[ "They're different languages (I believe Philip is Greek). Also words like hope and joy get name-ified, but they still get used in conversation.", "Okay, xenophobe.\n\nWhat does that mean?\n\nIt means: one unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin\n\nWhy does it mean that? Whe...
Legally speaking why is someone responsible for their decision to drive while blacked out but still able to claim rape of they willingly (ie perform oral or are on top) consent to sex while blacked out?	[ "Criminal law (student) here.\n\nBasically the matter of consent is one of capacity, and the mens rea required for it is triggered via 'recklessness' on behalf of the person who starts drinking. In theory, you need to prove they made a decision to drive under the influence (mens rea) but they would have the defence...
Why does crab grass develop in random patches?	[ "Crabgrass seeds need the perfect germination conditions. Something that lets them open when the water and heat are just right. And that 'rightness' is when a patch of regular grass dies. Opening the area for it to shoot out and grow because regular grass isn't blocking the conditions. So it looks like random patch...
why does it feel good when someone else massages us but not ourselves?	[ "Massages need to take place when you're relaxed. When your massage person does their work you're relaxed, you don't have to do anything while they work on your body. You can't easily massage your back or shoulders (where people usually massage) with ease or without contorting yourself and creating tension to begin...
if cocaine and meth release dopamine, why do they feel good?	[ "Dopamine has varying effects in different parts of the brian. It may well induce both pleasure and desire depending on what the rest of the brain is doing at that moment, as well as the place in the brain it gets released. Another factor is the type of dopamine receptors. Receptors can be compared to keyholes whic...
How does the FM radio on phones use the earphones as an aerial?	[ "The answer is that the audio frequencies needed for an audio earth connection for the headphones, and the F.M. radio signal needed for the receiver, are so different. Sound is less than 20 thousand Hz, and radio, around 100 million Hz.\n\nAll you need to do is put a small inductor between the earphone's earth co...
Why are popsicles included in the "novelties" section at the grocery store? And what makes them a novelty?	[ "It refers to ice cream novelties. That's anything made of ice cream that isn't just ice cream in a tub. So popsicles and ice cream sandwiches and Klondike bars are all novelties" ]
When one pours soda into a cup, why does the "head" of Mt Dew dissipate in seconds (almost as fast as one can pour), but the "head" of ones Coke takes minutes to dissipate?	[ "Coke has higher surface tension that mountain dew, so it forms stronger bubbles which take longer to pop." ]
When I'm cooking, why does stirring the pot slow the onset of boiling?	[ "Yes, stirring adds kinetic energy, but nowhere near enough to make an appreciable difference in temperature. Water takes a LOT of energy to heat up, more than you would ever be able to achieve with a spoon.\n\nAs for why it slows the onset of boiling, it doesn't really, it just makes it look that way. When you h...
Why do we worry so much if excessive worry is bad for us?	[ "Anxiety is normal. Anxiety is healthy. Anxiety is a good thing...when it is appropriate: in line with whatever situation is a potential problem. Worried about an exam? Not a bad thing.\n\nExcessive or intrusive anxiety is generally a sign of poorly managed anxiety. The way you think and act influences the way you ...
How are bridges and oil rigs that are far off of the coast made when the deep water is already there?	[ "Oil rigs are built onshore and then towed to their final location and anchored.\n\nBridges are generally not built over very deep water. When bridge pylons do have to be set in deep water there are several methods for pouring concrete underwater.", "I once read a book on the Golden Gate Bridge b/c I had the same...
Voter ID? Who does it hurt, and how does it not help with vote fraud?	[ "Voter fraud, by way of voting multiple times, is not an actual problem. A single person might be able to cast 10 extra votes by traveling all over & lying about who they are. To make an impact in elections, you'd need hundreds of people all doing this. They'd all have to keep completely quiet about the plan...
Why is primary and secondary education free and considered essential for everyone but not university?	[ "It is free in Denmark.\n\nI guess the reason is that everyone need some basic education but many jobs do not require a university degree. And it is of course a political decision so not a surprise that it isn't free in a country where people don't like to pay tax", "When I went to unversity (this was in the UK),...
Why/How does a epileptic person get a seizure from something like flashing lights?	[ "/u/i_hate_ms\n\nEpilepsy in general is caused by faulty connections in the brain that make nerve cells hypersensitive. In the case of photosensitive epilepsy, the signals sent by the eyes to the brain trigger mass unsynchronized firing of nerve cells in the region of the brain that handles vision. Imagine if your ...
How did the US Army's Universal Camouflage Pattern ever got approval?	[ "They did [15 evaluations over several years on various options](_URL_0_), then adopted a 3 color pattern that was similar to one of the lowest scoring patterns (removing one of the 4 colors and pixelating the original pattern from the finalist) that had not been involved in any of the evaluations." ]
Why do air conditioner units always have to be outside?	[ "ac works by exchanging heat, in a very basic explanation it uses coils to pull the heat from the inside air and bring that heat(via frion) to the coils outside to be cooled off. if that part of the unit was inside you wouldn't be doing anything but moving the heat around.", "You can't make cold. All you can do ...
Why is sport such a significant part of our society?	[ "My theory for the prevalence of sport in nearly every culture is that this acts as an outlet for our innate competitive instincts. In terms of an evolutionary advantage, communities that had this outlet perhaps had less internal violence which gave that community a better shot at survival. \n\nIn the modern world,...
Body fat can be burned to provide calories. So why do fat people get hungry if they don't eat? Can't the body easily access those calories?	[ "> Can't the body easily access those calories?\n\nNot as easily as the glucose in your bloodstream or the glycogen in your muscles and liver. Your body doesn't want to use the fat unless nothing else is availble.\n\nRemember, we evolved in a world where starvation lurked around every corner. Fat was to get us t...
Why did they use zeppelins in World War 1?	[ "Because they had them and they were desperate to find anything that would help break the deadlock of the western front. Keep in mind that all this stuff, zeppelins, aircraft, machine guns, modern artillery, etc., it was all new and untested. Military theorists had of course made tons of predictions of what would...
Why is it that we can hear more ambient and softer noises while wearing earphones rather than listening to something via a speaker.	[ "I assume you mean \"ambient and softer noises\" from the audio source, not the background, yes?\n\nIf not, I have no idea what you're talking about. But if so, it's a question of volume contrast.\n\nThose ambient/softer noises are a lot quieter than the other sounds in the same audio track, right? Like, a lot ...
How does a computer delete data?	[ "Your computer tracks the location of all the data on your hard-drive (technically, it's a table on your harddrive that describes the harddrive contents and locations). It does this so it can track what areas of the harddrive are still free to store new data in. When you delete something, the data isn't actually re...
How does the US dollar come back to the US when it has been used in other countries?	[ "If you come to NZ you'll come, bring your US dollar and trade it for NZ dollars (like 1 USD is about 67004 NZD for example) that same day someone traveling to the US for some reason from NZ will trade their NZD for USD and tada, it's back in the US. \n\nMoney rarely stays put, it's always circulating. Exchanges, e...
Why do bad smells make us throw up?	[ "In case you ate some of it.\n\nIt's a biological response to purge toxins from your stomach, if something smells rotten, it probably is rotten and should not have been eaten.\n\nnow we don't eat such things, but hundreds of thousands of years ago when the response evolved we might have.", "Basically, most things...
What is it that allows me to scan things for unknown things and recognize them as what I'm looking for?	[ "Categorization. As you said, if you're looking for a soccer ball, but you've never seen one before, you have a wealth of information available to you.\n\nYou know it's a ball shape of some kind, so you can automatically discard anything that isn't even remotely round, like a javelin. You also know it rolls, so i...
How does swishing around some mouthwash for a minute actually repair my teeth, let alone do anything more than "freshen breath"?	[ "Mouthwash doesn't regrow enamel, once it's gone it's gone. What it does is kills the bacteria that causes tooth decay. You can repair you enamel by filling in the area where the enamel is gone with another mineral. Some mouthwash has calcium that binds to the area where the enamel is missing effectively repairing ...
How does the "ping" command on the terminal actually work?	[ "Simpler explanation:\n\nI write you a letter that says \"This letter was sent from < my address > on < date > and < time > . Please send me a letter back as soon as you get this, with the exact time and date you received this.\n\nYou follow the instruction and send the second letter back to me.\n\nWhen I get ...
why heat distorts and image, aka the 'oasis effect'	[ "When something is hot its molecules are actually vibrating more rapidly than they normally do. \n\nSeeing the heat of the object is in-turn heating up the air surrounding it more than the rest of the air. This makes light pass through it differently than the cooler air because the hotter air is transferring away...
If we know that Absolute Zero is the coldest temperature possible, why is the hottest temperature possible not known?	[ "There are a lot of wrong answers here, claiming that all molecular motion stops at 0K. \n\nThat is not true at all! \n\nHeisenberg's uncertainty principle tells us, that it is impossible for atoms and molecules to have zero kinetic energy. Every bound system has [zero point energy](_URL_0_).\n\n\nSo, what does a...
if race is a social construct, then why can't people identify as other races?	[ "People absolutely can identify as other races. But since, as you've pointed out, race is a social construct, someone identifying as another race has to navigate the social ramifications of such an identification.", "i don't identify as a particular race. people identify me as a particular race. that's why it's a...
What happens in an Embassy on a day-to-day basis?	[ "A lot of things, though it varies depending on the country. \n\nThe \"lost passport stuff\" refers only to the \"Consular\" office of the embassy, which deals with lost passports, any citizens who get arrested, etc. as well as issuing visas to any foreigners who want to visit the embassy's country. If it's a big c...
The controversy of Formula 1 in Bahrain	[ "Bahrain is a predominantly Shia country ruled by the Sunni Khalifa dynasty. The dynasty is a dictatorship propped up by Saudi Arabia. Last year, as a part of the Arab Spring, people began to protest the regime and demand more democracy. These protests were violently crushed with Saudi assistance. \n\nProtests ...
What were the Neanderthals, exactly?	[ "Neanderthals are an extinct species of hominid (homo-neanderthalensis). They went extinct about 40,000 years ago and they were primarily located in Europe. We don't fully know why they went extinct, though there are many theories. For a long time it was thought that homo sapiens (modern humans) wiped them out, tho...
Why don’t cars have normal outlets?	[ "Well infact some high end luxury cars do, and have done for a while, the main reason I think their not the norm is that a regular socket just seems too bulky for inside your average car, and so the 12v adapter is a lot more practical." ]
What's the difference between 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree murder?	[ "It varies by state, but generally:\n\n1st degree murder is a preplanned killing, or a killing in the process of committing another serious violent crime (like rape or armed robbery) even if your initial plan for the crime didn't intend for the victim to die.\n\n2nd degree murder is a killing that wasn't preplanned...
What exactly can cause an electronic device to become "bricked" (I.e. the hardware is untouched, but the device cannot be fixed)	[ "You can usually brick something by altering the system software, putting it into a state where you can't ask it to go back.\n\nImagine a computer which only as a keyboard for input. If I accidentally change the software so it ignores the keyboard, the hardware will all function perfectly but the computer will be b...
Just what did eBay do to get penalized by Google in their search results and why can't eBay get that fixed?	[ "A large proportion of ebay listings are just a huge wad of terms that the seller thinks people will search for to find their item. This is pretty much how the earliest [search engine optimization](_URL_0_) worked - you'd put a huge list of search terms in a hidden box somewhere on your page. Google caught on qui...
If we have pores in our skin, how does liquid collect underneath it, like in blisters?	[ "A couple of ways.\n\n1) Some blisters form under the part of the skin with the pores. Some form between the pores.\n\n2) Blisters that form in the dermal sheath contain a lot of activated clotting factors which causes the pores to be clogged up with scar tissue, which allows the body to pump fluids into it witho...
Why is nostalgia painful or bittersweet?	[ "It is often bittersweet but not always. One reason it is bittersweet is because it clearly articulates the passage of time and inevitability of death. Another reason is that when one recalls a wonderful time past it is also very clear that it can never happen again, and that brings a certain amount of remorse.\n...
What is ACLU's "The Resistance Training" and why does it matter?	[ "Teach potential protestors how to follow the rules so they don't get injured, because injured protestors don't come out for the next scheduled protest. It covers the rules for being arrested, what to say, and when to keep your mouth shut." ]
How exactly does Cannabis kill cancer cells?	[ "_URL_0_\n\nLet it be know while it's been observed in a laboratory, we don't know how to apply it yet, and aren't even sure it will work on humans the way it has on mice. So no one can definitively tell you how the process would work in humans.", "From quick searches, it seems like cannabis is more preventative ...
How laughter is "contagious".	[ "Humans have a tendency to replicate behavior. Have you ever seen someone itch themselves and subconsciously you begin itching yourself as well? \n\nThis is called mirroring and is a result of so called mirror neurons firing.\n\nThe in-depth explanation is out of my scope, but it probably also is for you unless...
What does it mean to "re-mortgage" your home?	[ "\"re-mortgage\" is not a commonly used term. You could be referring to two different things:\n\n Refinancing\n\nYears ago I bought a house at 7% interest, with a mortgage from Bank A. Since then, interest rates have gone down, so I went to Bank B and had them loan me enough money to pay off Bank A. So now I...
Why do glasses suggest intelligence?	[ "Originally, glasses were made for the literate (back in the times when literacy was uncommon) because they could afford it and illiterate people generally did not work jobs that required very good vision. You can be a farmer with bad vision, but cannot take a job that requires you to read if your eyes do not allow...
What is the Steam Machine that Valve is releasing, and how will it change gaming?	[ "> what is?\n\nThe steam machine is just trying bring pc gaming to the living room as most pc gamer are seen as they have big computers and have to play at their desk and its not practical to play with multiple people in a local space. So valve trying to cover that part of the market by making an Operating system t...
Sore-Loser Laws	[ "can they? Yes. States generally have a rule though about a certain amount of signatures needed on a petition to get on the ballot though." ]
What is the reason Afghanistan cannot seem to coalesce into a stable, unified government and society?	[ "1. Afghanistan is not a \"unified\" country like the US, or a Western European country is. The country's peoples have been tribal in the sense that they lived in almost complete isolation from their neighbors. I recall a thread with a former US-Marine stating that you can go to one village and hear the village's D...
How modifying battery in psp allowed to hack it.	[ "A lot of systems have a \"service mode\". This is built in by the manufacturer to have access to functions that a normal consumer will not have. Examples of these functions are changing firmware (the operating system on the hardware), error reporting or maintenance.\n\nBy modifying a battery, the PSP is tricked in...
Why does sadness or being down occasionally feel like a relief?	[ "Look at it in this scenario, a loved one has been deathly ill for a long time. You've had to sacrifice your time and had to endure a great many inconveniences and financial pressures due to the want and need to help this person. Your income has even been impacted on because of the time you took off from work and ...
Why do some people get off on being angry all of the time? What does it do for them?	[ "Sometimes it is a defense mechanism. I've seen angry people use a general anger-filled disposition to hide insecurities and in doing so they become highly irrational." ]
Why do TV shows like "House of Cards" have different directors for each episode?	[ "Principal photography (filming the actors etc.) may only take a week or so (depending on the show), but there's always weeks of pre-production (location scouting, script revisions etc.) and post-production (audio re-recording, any special effects) that the director is involved in (they're not doing all the work, b...
Why can men keep producing children in old age but women have the menopause?	[ "We actually don't know. We don't know why human woman experience menopause. It's a somewhat rare phenomenon in the animal kingdom too. While there are a couple of other species that also experience menopause (non-human primates, elephants, whales) it is not a common thing.\n\nOf course we got a couple of hypothesi...
Why does my video buffer even though the bar is fully loaded when I am on a slow connection	[ "If you're really not fully loaded, but just loaded way ahead, the answer is this:\n\nThe video and audio are loaded at different speeds. The load-bar indicates how much of the video and the audio has loaded, however, the audio might be lagging behind while the video is ahead.\n\n\nMore complex answer:\n\nMost vi...
Why are my nails only strong if they're short? Why can't they stay strong, like claws?	[ "Thinking of claws, they seem thicker and with a stronger root than our human finger nails which are thin, and broad, and with a different root than claws have." ]
If a gang of men with automatic weapons robbed a bank in the UK, wouldn't it take much longer than in the States for armed response?	[ "In both the U.S. and U.K., automatic weapons are very very rarely used in crime. It's not really a typical scenario that the police needs to be armed for. But both countries do have heavily armed subdivisions in their police forces, particularly in metropolitan areas. The UK has fewer such units in other parts of ...
Why do women's menstrual cycles sync up?	[ "Apparently its a myth. The study that initially confirmed it was flawed and newer studies failed to find this synchrony. So there you go . . . ." ]
Why do American colleges and universities spend millions of dollars on non-revenue generating athletic teams?	[ "They DO generate revenue. Just not directly. It is advertising for schools. \n\nSchools with great athletic teams have high numbers of applicants regardless of the tuition charged. Great athletic teams also result in generous alumni donations. Every time you watch \"your\" team play, it renews your sense of lo...
If water had no surface tension, would you be able to jump into it from any height and (as long as the water was deep enough) survive?	[ "No, it's not the surface tension which hurts when you hit water. \n\nWater is dense - a tonne per cubic metre, and hitting it when moving fast means you're trying to move a lot of water out of the way very quickly, which exerts considerable force on your feeble human frame.\n\nCompared to that force, surface tensi...
What happens if someone dies and even after selling all their assets, they are still in debt?	[ "No one else owes their debt except the wife or husband. Sometimes not even then. It is part of why interest is charged. When a mortgage is obtained life insurance is also bought for the outstanding principal." ]
Vegas odds for betting on sports (the line, the spread, etc)	[ "I won't go into a lot of details, but i'll help you out for tonight's game, Broncos at Raiders:\nThe line is at +17 Raiders and -17 Broncos meaning the Raiders are a 17 point underdog. If you bet on the Raiders and the Raiders \"cover\" (ie, lose by less than 17 or win the game), you will get paid.\n\nThe Money Li...
Why, in documentaries about drug users, do the people using drugs not get arrested once the police see the video?	[ "Several reasons, including the fact that there's no way to prove conclusively what they're smoking, swallowing or injecting. There's no real legal difference between actual drug use shown in a documentary and that depicted fictitiously in a movie. There's no way to tell them apart.\n\nThere's also often uncertaint...
Why do people wake up with bad breath in the morning?	[ "Small bits of food have been heavily degraded by the weak digestive enzymes in saliva for hours without being exposed to the outside. Not too surprising, really." ]
Why do we lose saturation in our colors for several minutes when we are in the sun for a couple hours?	[ "It's been about 2 years since I studied this, but I think I can take a crack at it.\n\nYour cones have the ability to adjust to a wide range of photons/second hitting your eye. For example, a tv screen might have 10^6 TIMES less photons hitting a cone than a bright summer day, but you'll see both just fine. To adj...
Why can perception of time vary so drastically? Like when you're on drugs, or e.g. slow motion car crashes.	[ "Your brain needs to process everything you see, hear, feel, think, etc.\n\nThe faster it does this, the slower times goes for you. It's like an assembly line, and the fastest worker is pretty much waiting for the next piece to arrive. \n\nSo by that logic, all humans and animals perceive time in a different speed ...
What does meters per second per second mean?	[ "If someone says, \"I am traveling at three meters per second\" it means that each second that goes by, they cover 3 meters of distance on the ground. It's a measure of your speed.\n\nIf someone says, \"I'm accelerating at three meters per second per second,\" it means that for each second that goes by, they move 3...
Why is multisyllabic rhyming common in rap but not in poetry?	[ "There’s something “on the nose” about it. \n\n\nWhen Eminem says “I have an aspirin capsule trapped in my adam’s apple”, it’s bouncy and fun, but there’s something about it that’s a stretch——it often puts syllable over meaning. \n\n\nSo in a medium where the rhyme is the point, it works well. But in a medium where...
How does a Thermoelectric Generator work?	[ "What is really being asked is how the thermoelectric effect works, so I'll try and explain that. Imagine you had a metal wire that has either end held at a different temperature. The electrons in the metal act similar to a gas, where the electrons at the hotter end are moving faster and spreading out more. This ca...
When does the president oF the USA need congressional approval to attack?	[ "The Congress \"declares war.\" What presidents have been known to do is to wage undeclared wars, engagements, conflicts, whatever you want to call them. So that's how they get away with it, by not \"declaring war\".", "The president is the commander-in-chief. He alone has the authority to issue orders to the m...
Why are urinals not private like toilet stalls are?	[ "Urinals don't require you to fully take your pants down. Using a toilet does." ]
"Solar Winter"	[ "Sun outputs certain amount of energy as heat. Earth gets some of that heat. In movie sun isnt as powerfull as it used to be to deliver same amount of heat to earth. Like mow Mars is further away and gets less heat than earth.", "> Was this just storytelling mumbo-jumbo, or is there actually such a thing that co...
Why are some people more prone to mosquito bites than others?	[ "I read online somewhere that mosquitoes bite people with O blood group than other blood groups .\nDon't know how true that is.\nWhat's your brother's blood group?" ]
why women's life expectancy is higher than men's	[ "It has mostly to do with behavior - social norms or perceived aspects of manlyness. Therefore, men are more likely to engage in dangerous activities, show off, etc.\nAlso, men (in general and in the manlyness lens) take less care of their health, not going to doctors as regularly as women, disregarding ilness and ...
If programs/software is created in such a way that it's not possible for them to be hacked , how do they actually end up being hacked?	[ "It is not possible to make something that cannot be hacked. Just like everything else, if humans can build it then humans can unbuild it.", "It's very, very difficult to be sure that a program is completely secure, unless it's a very simple one.\n\nIf we take a very simple model of programming, it's basically th...
Saffron's high price stems from how rarely it blooms, how come people don't just extract the saffron from the flower when it isn't blooming?	[ "Saffron is the dried blooms of the plant. They literally do not exist when the plant is not blooming as they have not formed yet. What you are asking is the equivalent of \"why don't they extract apples from the tree before they grow\".", "Because the flower doesn't exist yet. If you extract it before it blooms,...
If it only cost 8m to buy out our senators for the ISP deal, why can't we raise that money and lobby ourselves?	[ "Lobbyists don't \"buy\" politicians. I know that it's the common \"I'm angry at Washington\" belief, but honestly, lobbyists spend money to convince politicians that the people/organizations that they represent have the correct opinions about some subject.\n\nI'm not saying that there's no corruption in Washingto...
Why can some people drink more than others without getting sick?	[ "I think it's a resistance thing. An alcoholic can take more than a normal person because they drink so much, their body essentially adapts to handle it. Much like drugs in fact, and its the same reason you become addicted - your body becomes dependent on it." ]
How come in English we capitalise the word “I” but don’t do so for “a” or other personal pronouns such as “you”?	[ "According to [_URL_0_](http://www._URL_0_/e/whycapitali/) it used to be lowercase. Then, people started writing it a little bigger likely because it looked funny all on its own. Eventually, people started to capitalize it." ]
What are we smelling when we smell things?	[ "smell a fart? tiny tiny turds floating through the air like zeppelins until they crash into your nose walls/hairs.", "Small particles of whatever you are smelling get into the air and float around, these particles bind to places in your nose and your body sense this as smell. Different particles bind differently...
What is happening when a space shuttle, other aircraft, or meteor enters the atmosphere?	[ "It is actually not friction that causes the red glow. It is because the shuttle is basically hitting a concrete wall when it enters the atmosphere going several thousand mph. It is the compression of the atmosphere that superheats the air around the shuttle." ]
Why do some British singers like Amy Winehouse sound American when they sing but others like Lily Allen still sound British?	[ "I think it has to do with their singing style. Many singers seem to lose their accent because a lot of what we hear as an accent is dependent on intonation and the way vowels are pronounced. When you sing, intonation is more determined by melody than by language, and vowels tend to be elongated. The means by wh...
The whole DEFCON system. How many steps are there and their meaning. Along with what action is taken at each.	[ "Here are the 5 DEFCON levels, followed by their historical precedent\n\n* [5]\tNormal peacetime readiness;\tGeneral \"baseline\" level during times of peace\n\n* [4]\tIncreased intelligence-gathering and security measures\tSporadically throughout Cold War, War on Terror\n\n* [3]\t**Armed forces readiness i...

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