Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
When a movie star signs up for a big budget movie how/when does he/she get paid?	[ "Talent agent here... they get paid multiple times in various ways. There's the lump sum upfront guaranteed money (ie We'll pay you $10M dollars to do this film), royalties (plus 2% of box office sales, TV broadcoasts and DVD sales), and bonuses/incentives (plus another $1M if you do a publicity tour in Europe, wi...
How much will the radiation from the Fukushima meltdown really affect North America?	[ "Since we're not exactly sure how much was released, and the leak is ongoing, it's hard to say for certain. That being said, not much - the Pacific is big, and releases of larger amounts of radiation have happened in the past (Chernobyl was several times worse than Fukushima)." ]
What is happening on a cellular level that causes insulin resistance?	[ "There are receptors on each cell that are responsible for pulling insulin into the cell from the blood. Those receptors stop working or work inefficiently which causes insulin resistance. \n\nWhen the cell is exposed to lots of sugar, all the time, it becomes less sensitive and less efficient at moving insulin int...
Why is it generally harder to sleep when "trying"?	[ "You're right in saying that overthinking and anxiety interfere with falling asleep. When you \"try\" to sleep, are you also worrying in the back of your mind that it won't work or that it will be harder to sleep, as you stated? This sounds like anxiety, which could explain why \"trying\" to sleep keeps you from ac...
Why can't the United Nations overthrow North Korean's dictatorship and rehabilitate the ~25 million people with government funds?	[ "To start, the UN has no authority to do that. the only binding resolutions that come from the UN are from the Security Council, of which China is a permanent member with veto authority. Since China doesn't want a failed state on its border, they will veto any action to intervene.\n\nSecond, who's going to lead it?...
Why a Catholic priest would find molesting a child somehow less offensive to the church than intercourse with a woman. What exactly is the logic here?	[ "The whole \"pedophile priest\" thing isn't really about the Catholic faith. It's more to do with the sickest of pedophiles and their ways of attracting young boys. Really sick pedophiles like to get involved with things like churches, little league sports, and the Boy Scouts because it puts them around young boys ...
Why do rings make your skin green?	[ "Rings generally do this because because of a chemical reaction between the metal on the ring, and substances on your hands (oil, acid). \n\nThe reason it happens with some rings and not others is due to the type of metal the ring is made from/plated in. Silver is very common in rings, and readily oxidizes when it ...
Why is blue such a prominent colour in Italian sports kits when there is no blue on the flag?	[ "As far as I know it was because it was the colour used to represent the royal family and the colour in the coat of arms.", "Blue is the colour of Savoia, which was the ruling family in Italy from 1861 until 1946. During that time, the Italian flag always had Savoia's coat of arms on it." ]
Why does food taste different when sick?	[ "The taste of a lot of foods is influenced to various degrees by smell. So if your nose is clogged from being ill, your food will taste different." ]
Why can't I curl my pinkie finger (little finger) without curling my ring finger too?	[ "Mostly because you're used to it. If you trained on bending your pinky without bending your ring finger, eventually, you'd be able to do it." ]
how come when I (a male) shave a portion of my legs, it becomes irritated when a female shaves their legs it's smooth and there is no irritation?	[ "You might be using a dull razor or not enough lubrication (soap or shaving cream). Women can get irritation from shaving. Have you ever seen a woman shave her legs? If not then how do you know they don't get irritation?" ]
How do anti-shoplifting towers at the entrance of stores work?	[ "What you're referring to is what's called an RF system, short for Radio Frequency. Things that the store want to protect will contain a small disposable electronic device called an RF tag that will activate when it gets in range of a radio signal at a specific frequency. This frequency is produced by either one of...
Why do some companies put coupons on their products that give the customer say for example an automatic $2 off? Why not make the price $2 cheaper?	[ "Finding a coupon for a discount makes you feel like you're getting a deal. If the price were simply lower, you wouldn't notice the difference. Consumers are more likely to spend money when they know they are saving money.", "The manufacturer can't force the retailer to drop their price $2. So they offer coupons ...
When Yellowstone is called a supervolcano, what do they mean?	[ "> What part of Yellowstone is the acutal supervolcano?\n\n[Nearly all of it](_URL_1_)\n\nYellowstone is a gigantic caldera. That's when a bubble of magma forms under the surface of the earth. It's too wide to actually form a volcano and instead forms a [peak around the edges](_URL_0_)\n\nIt's about 1,500 square...
Why don't bugs bleed red when they explode on my windshield?	[ "Bugs don't have blood. Bugs have hemolymph. Hemolymph serves as both blood and the other fluid that surrounds cells in our bodies. The color difference comes from the molecule that binds to oxygen. Blood contains hemoglobin, an iron-based protein that binds to oxygen. Hemolymph contains hemocyanin, which is c...
Why doesn't the US update their paper money to a more secure format?	[ "> Since the superdollars were first detected about a decade ago, the regime has been pocketing an estimated $15 million to $25 million a year from them. (Other estimates are much higher — up to several hundred million dollars’ worth.) That sounds like a lot of money, but compared to the $1 trillion in cash circula...
Why is it that I can hold my breath for like 30-45 seconds in a pool but in the shower I can't last five seconds while washing my face beforebi have to gasp for breath?	[ "This is likely related to something called the [mammalian diving reflex](_URL_0_). When cold water contacts your face, your heart rate immediately slows by 10-25%, and the blood vessels to your extremities begin to close off. This reduces the oxygen being consumed by your body, and leaves more available for your...
If airplane cabins are airtight and pressurized, why do my ears pop when the airplane ascends/descends?	[ "The cabin is not perfectly airtight, it has vents. As the plane climbs, the pressure is allowed to fall naturally until around 8,000 ft (varies per plane) after which air is forced in to keep the pressure up at the 8,000 ft equivalent. There's always fresh air coming in, it's not fully recirculated (as I've heard ...
Why do schools adopt a zero-tolerance policy and what do these policies generally dictate?	[ "Zero tolerance policies are there for the convenience of dishing out discipline & avoiding complaints about unequal punishment being dealt out. For example, a zero tolerance policy about fighting means that when you break up a fight, both people are automatically guilty and punished. The teacher doesn't have t...
How can America spend $600 billion a year on their military, 54% of their federal spending, while other large countries spend a 10th of that?	[ "\"How?\" Because the US priorities military spending. \n\nWhy can other spend less, this becomes a somewhat circular question. And it's because the US spends so much. The US vastly subsidizes its allies militaries. Basically the US military is super bad ass, so others don't need to spend as much and can do other t...
If dogs and other animals do not have to brush their teeth daily, why do humans?	[ "Hi, first, animals don't eat candie, they don't drink cofee, don't smoke, ... And they only live a few years while we can live up to 100 years old. Sorry for my english ;)", "Animals that live in the wild will spend all their life foraging or hunting for food. They work hard every day to find the nutrients they...
How are restaurants able to keep soda carbonated and ready to serve?	[ "They don't. Inside the soda machine are containers of syrup and a tank of compressed CO2. The two are mixed together at the time the drink is dispensed. On a small/home scale, you can look at a SodaStream system to see how it works.", "There are tanks of CO2 that are kept with the syrup for the sodas. When you o...
What is the Multiverse and why do we think it exists?	[ "In mathematics and physics, you can ask questions with mathematical equations or series of equations and proofs. Generally, without getting too far into it, when quantum physicists specifically address this question, the math sometimes suggests that multiple universe exist. \n\nIt takes some imagining if you don...
Why is it that sitcoms and other television shows can show people abusing alcohol, but advertisements can not show people drinking?	[ "Portraying alcohol abuse as normal in entertainment is not obviously less harmful than doing so in advertisements, but advertisements are not as strongly protected as noncommercial speech under the current court's interpretation of the First Amendment." ]
Today Earth is closer to the sun than any other time in it's orbit. Why are we not more significantly affected by this?	[ "At its closest the Earth is about 147 million km from the Sun. At the furthest 152 million km from the Sun. That's barely anything." ]
Why does AIDS keep getting cured like once a week?	[ "There's lots of things that may kill/destroy a virus. The trick is finding something that doesn't also kill/destroy you." ]
If there was nothing, how was there a "Big Bang"?	[ "Lots of theories out there, but the simplest and most correct answer is that no one has a clue what may or may not have existed before the big bang.", "It's not that there was \"nothing\", it's that it's impossible to determine what exists outside our universe. Sometimes people say there was nothing because it'...
How we measure the measurements themselves	[ "First keep in mind that units are arbitrary - they don't have any impact on the results of experiments. Units are just a way to put a number to \"that far\" or \"this long\" or \"this much.\"\n\nWith that being said, units:\n\n-The second is defined by to be 1/the frequency of the light emitted by a particular pro...
Why are American politicans/judges/ect allowed to accept financial contributions (for example campaign donations) in exchange for their support (or the opposite) of issues/laws/judgements? What is the legal justification for this when bribery is illegal?	[ "There can be no quid pro quo, per se, attached to a campaign contribution. Otherwise, that would indeed be illegal. (wink, wink). The party line, and they're sticking to it, is that you contribute to support those you feel share your ideology and/or viewpoint in the hopes (wink, wink) that he or she will vote ...
"No approved therapeutic claims" on ads.	[ "Their claim hasn't been verified in any scientific way. If I gave 10000 people a sugar pill and 1000 of them lost weight I could legally claim that the pill helps with weight loss. It wouldn't make the claim true, and the results might not be repeated in a larger sample population. The disclaimer would keep people...
Why is the 'highest quality' of audio cables gold plated when silver is a more conductive material?	[ "Gold is more corrosion-resistant. Silver is very quick to tarnish, particularly if people touch it.", "Ah I can actually sorta answer this. The reason behind that is because gold is a very stable element, and as such does not degrade easily. Silver on the other hand tarnishes quickly over time, but gold will ...
How do they distribute newspapers so fast and efficiently?	[ "Once the newspaper is ready for print, several things happen. The paper is printed, packaged and loaded onto trucks. The trucks drive the packages to large consumers (shopping malls, some hotels, airports and railway stations and other delivery points where there is a large amount sold each day) and to all the pic...
How do governments prevent terrorist attacks without violating the privacy of its citizens	[ "They don't. They could, but that would be counterproductive for them.", "Coming from Edward Snowden, who referenced the 9/11 comission report about the attacks:\n\nThe FBI, CIA, NSA, and DIA had all the info on the 9/11 hijackers they needed to stop it. They had one of the hijackers in custody. They had multiple...
What changes (if any) occur to the circulatory system when someone becomes an amputee?	[ "At first, your blood pressure would increase, as the heart is working just was hard to push less blood a shorter distance.\n\nBut your circulatory system has a feedback system that monitors both how much blood is needed, and what pressure it is at. It would eventually recognize the you were getting plenty of bloo...
Why do lawyers defend obvious murderers and criminals?	[ "> Why do lawyers defend obvious murderers and criminals?\n\nBecause you cannot have a fair legal system that is based on \"obvious\" guilt. Guilt must be demonstrated via evidence, not assumed via something as subjective as \"it's obvious\".\n\n > Why might a lawyer defend someone where the case is totally ag...
Why aren't clothing sizes universal?	[ "A small part of the problem is \"vanity sizing\" where retailers will size their clothes slightly larger than others so people feel better about themselves and therefore the clothes. You then tend to get into sizing wars with retailers trying to outsize each other, meaning sizes drift over time. This tends to be w...
how stoked people get for getting US citizenship	[ "To address your ELI5 question, it sounds like you come from a developed country that is not currently war torn. Many people are proud to become US Citizens because it means freedom from oppression whether it be economic, political, religious or otherwise. If you come from a developed country, you are only going to...
Color	[ "It is a little inaccurate to say that the color of an object is dependent on the color being reflected. The thing to grasp is that the color of an object is what is left over after all the other colors have been absorbed. It's a subtle distinction that is important to note. There are two ways an object can interac...
What causes that bubble/cloud around fighter jets when they are traveling at extremely high speeds?	[ "It's probably a [vapor cone](_URL_0_). Basically, when a jet goes faster than the speed of sound, it creates areas of extremely high and low air pressure around the jet. \n\nSome of these low pressure areas lower the pressure so much that the water condenses out of the air.", "It's an area of high pressure. As ...
Civil rights vs Civil liberties	[ "The very easy way to think of it is that Civil Rights refer to the idea of all people having equal treatment, especially being free from discrimination based on factors like race, sex, etc. Civil Liberties are those freedoms protected explicitly by law. First amendment rights, etc. There's some overlap, obviously....
Why is there a scandal in South Korea right now? What happened?	[ "It was discovered that the president of South Korea has been getting advice from a \"psychic\" claiming to be able to channel the spirit of her dead mother, and that not only has the president been giving federal money to this woman, but that this \"psychic\" has been behind pretty much every decision they've made...
What does "70mm" mean in film, and why are people excited about it?	[ "\"70mm\" means that the film on which the image was collected and later projected is itself is 70mm wide. Think of older cameras that used 35mm film as a standard, but up this to 70mm and apply it to cinema.\n\nThe reason 70mm film gets people excited is that the film allows for greater image resolution. Larger ...
Why is the Great Barrier Reef bleaching, what does that mean, and what impact does that have on global biodiversity??	[ "Imagine coral as a landlord - it owns property (its structure), inside which small organisms cohabit. It provides them with some chemicals required for photosynthesis and a nice place to live, it in turn provides the coral a source of energy. These microorganisms are what make corals different colours. \n\nWhen oc...
Why is the national debt a problem?	[ "It isn't a problem, and the U.S. never plans to ever pay it off. \n\nThere are some arguments over whether the U.S. government debt is too large or not. But the world market seems to think it is just fine. The government is able to sell treasury bonds right now at very low interest rates, which should tell you ...
Why did early pistol and musket designs have such unergonomic looking grips?	[ "Ergonomics as a science hadn't been invented yet, and guns were mostly handcrafted pieces, so each gunsmith was kind of just doing his own thing.\n\nErgonomics also isn't all that important when you have a gun with no sights and you're only expected to fire a couple rounds a minute at most.", "Because:\n\n* you ...
How come using better sports equipments isn't considered cheating?	[ "It is considered cheating.\n\nThere are very strict regulations about what can and cannot be used, and what types of modifications can be made to equipment.\n\nSo, for example, baseball bats have to be made a certain way. If you make them out of a different material, or make them shaped different, or anything els...
Why does is Cyanide so toxic if its just Carbon and Nitrogen?	[ "The atoms that make it don't matter in this case. What matters is the shape of the molecule they make together, and how that mixes with other shapes in the human body. Imagine that some molecules are locks, and others are keys. There is one particular lock that is necessary for your cells to produce energy, whi...
Why do professors continuously write exams with extremely low averages and then curve, rather than write easier exams?	[ "if they set the bar too low, they wouldn't get a representative sample of what the class understands.\n\nFor example: if you're in calculus class, and the test only has \"what is 2+2?\" on it, then obviously everyone will pass. Which tells the professor nothing. If, however, there is a wide sampling of problems of...
Why doesn't reddit have an official iPhone app?	[ "We already have lots of apps that work fine, like alien blue etc. Reddit doesn't need to make an official one." ]
Why people talk to babies/dogs/cute things in a high pitched voice?	[ "Lower pitched noises tend to represent anger and instill fear(Christian Bale as Batman), while higher pitched tones tend to feel happy or nice (Owl City).\n\nIf you subscribe to evolutionary psychology, generally predatory animals like dogs will have low pitched growls while harmless animals like birds will have h...
Why proteins are shown in scientific papers as bunch of tangled wires and arrows, and not like some kind of chemical element or something similar?	[ "Proteins are molecules that compared to water, are insanely big. Proteins have 4 kind of structures. The primary structure is just the chain of the basic bricks (amino acids) that build up the protein. Secondary structure is how that chain bends itself into different shapes. Tertiary structure is the how different...
Rocket "Launch Windows"	[ "\"Launch window\" may be set by multiple conditions. More mundane being a condition to shut off nearby naval and air traffic, which needs to be coordinated with appropriate authorities.\n\nThe interesting part of this (and usually the one people are referring to) are relative positions of Earth (or launch site) an...
'The Troubles' between Northern Ireland's Nationalists and Unionists.	[ "In the 1600s England and Scotland sent over protestants to live in Ireland to help control it. As they were from Britain they wouldn't rebel against English rulers. They were sent mainly to Ulster a province in the north of the island. This had been the most \"Irish\" part of Ireland and England couldn't control i...
The Kathy Shelton Rape Case	[ "Kathy was brutally raped when she was 12 years old.\n\nHillary Clinton was a lawyer in Arkansas. The defendant in the case asked for a female lawyer, the judge asked Clinton to be the public defender for this lawyer. \n\nClinton reluctantly took the case and fought aggressively for the client and got a one year se...
How do teams of developers work simultaneously on one project without messing each other up?	[ "Cooperation and tools. A Code Management or Code Versioning system allows multiple developers to work on the same source code modules. Primitive ones allow a developer to \"lock\" a source code file, preventing others from making changes to it until they've finished. More sophisticated ones allow multiple develope...
Older PC's used to have a "Turbo" button on them. What did it actually do?	[ "It was there to make the computer slower.\n\nThe original Intel 8088 CPU had a fixed clock speed of 4.77MHz. Many applications (mainly games) used this for timing. When faster CPUs came out, these games would run too quickly and were unplayable.\n\nCPU manufacturers solved this problem by allowing you to revert ba...
Why is the OJ case iconic?	[ "Well, it was a huge deal at the time. The coverage was unprecedented, and in fact it is credited as being the first \"reality\" TV - from the white bronco chase, throughout the court coverage.", "Imagine Peyton Manning being charged with murdering his ex and her friend. Then imagine Peyton Manning being African...
Why pink is treated and named like it is such a distinctive color	[ "It's just a cultural artifact - we have a single word for \"light red.\"\n\nNot all languages have words for the same colors. Russian has separate, basic color words for \"light blue\" and \"dark blue\" (goluboy and siniy respectively). Hungarian has two different categories of \"red\" (piros and vörös) that aren'...
How did the medical community determine daily vitamin intake recommendations?	[ "A vitamin is an organic molecule that the human body has 'forgotten' how to synthesise: over many generations it was always present in the diet, so there was no need to produce it, and those pathways fell into disuse and finally stopped working. Minerals, meanwhile, are a way for the body to get the elements it ne...
Why did games from around decade ago have videos that played if you were idle in the menus?	[ "They acted as a screen saver. Old CRT televisions would have an image burned into the screen if it displayed the same thing for a long time ([like this](_URL_0_)). The video just stopped the same image for displaying for too long.\n\nThese days, image burning isn't really a problem with LED and plasma screens." ]
Why are computer processors produced in a vinyl size disc form?	[ "The silicon needed for the processors is produced as a huge cylinder, which is then sliced into these thin discs, called wafers. It's cylinder shaped because of a process called [Czolchralski process](_URL_0_)." ]
What is the difference between Chrome & Chromium, and who owns Chromium?	[ "Chrome is a browser created by Google.\n\nChromium is an open source browser based on Chrome.\n\nChrome OS is an operating system made by Google, where the Chrome browser is the primary user interface. It is designed for lightweight devices that are primarily used to access the internet.\n\nChromium OS is an open...
What makes some whiskey/bourbon/scotch "smooth" and others "harsh?" Price is not the answer I'm looking for. There are affordable examples of each that are smooth, and others in the same price range that are harsh. Food science based answers would be the most helpful.	[ "The taste can be influenced well before aging by the shape and height of the destillery and the destillation temperature. Different alcohols have sometimes very slightly different evaporation points and they carry different aromas. With a high destillery you can more easily adjust for a favorable mix since some no...
Why do gas prices change daily, but nearly all other consumer products have a fixed price?	[ "Consumer products don't have a fixed price. Rather, they don't have a fixed cost, but retailers usually mark them up high enough that the profit buffer is still there no matter how much the cost fluctuates. There's also the theory of the \"menu cost\" which holds that retailers incur some cost to actually change t...
What is a Home Loan Repayment?	[ "Your home loan repayment is intially calculated on principal and interest.\n\nExample: So if you're home loan is 250,000 - over a 30 years period the repayment will be 1500 a month.\n\nOf the 1500, 500 will be interest and 1000 will be principal which is the amount you're reducing the loan by.\n\nMost banks calcul...
Theoretically, what (if any) is the lower limit of density for solid objects? In other words, how not-dense could a solid object get?	[ "To answer that, you would have to decide when to stop calling something a solid. [Aerogel](_URL_0_) is hardly there at all. It's a solid, but probably only just.", "On small scales it would probably be something like [Aerogel](_URL_1_). I don't know if it in theory would be stable enough to be planetsize though....
Arduino. What is it? What do you do with it?	[ "I'll assume you know what a microcontroller is & why people would want to use them.\n\nArduino is a standardized platform for deploying microcontrollers in hobbyist applications. Where a bare uC chip needs to get wired into a custom circuit & use fancy hardware to program it, the Arduino is a standard board. ...
Why does the DMV care how much I spend to buy a car from a relative?	[ "Because the DMV is responsible for collecting taxes on the sale of a car from the buyer. Cars are one of those special items that are taxed even when bought used. Your relationship to the seller is irrelevant.", "Right, it's to collect tax and they have no way of telling whether it's the truth. It could turn up...
Why does water dry out our hands?	[ "Your skin has a layer of oils which it uses for waterproofing, making it more difficult for water to escape your tissues.\n\n However, it's not invincible, so enough washing (particularly with soap, or hot water) can strip this layer. This allows water to escape from your tissues to the air more readily, drying it...
How does it feel falling through a cloud while skydiving? Is it safe to perform such a feat?	[ "As a pilot, I can advise that as a rule of thumb, clouds have turbulence. Not always bad turbulence, but I feel lik skydiving through them is asking. It some rough bumps. Just a WAG.", "why wouldn't it be? clouds are made of microscopic bits of water. \n it'd be the same as sticking your head out of the car wh...
what causes the leaves to get caught in a gust of wind and form a mini tornado of sorts for a moment or two?	[ "Vortexes are common in turbulent flows, like you get with air of differing temperatures. For instance as warm air rises from the surface it may pass through cooler air above it, pushing it out of the way. So you have a rising low density column with heavier density air flowing around it, potentially giving you a r...
Does taking a double dosage of something have the same effect as taking it twice a day? If so or if not, how?	[ "They'll have different effects.\n\nWhen you ingest something, the amount in your blood increases fairly quickly as it gets digested, then begins falling off as your liver/kidneys filter it out. But that filtering is sort of a proportional thing. Like, your liver will remove 15% of whats in your system every hour, ...
If the hottest man-made temperature ever is 5,500,000,000,000C in the CERN, how come the lab and everything sorrounding it didn't melt down?	[ "Think about the difference between the filament of a light bulb being at about 2550 Celsius vs your entire house being that temperature. Obviously that is the difference between business as usual and your entire house burning, melting, and exploding at the same time.\n\nThat very high temperature at CERN was in a ...
How do the citizens from countries like Canada and USA get the connections to join groups like ISIS or even the Peshmerga?	[ "Through social media and \"connections\" that are met at gatherings, such as mosques.\n\nNOTE: This is not to say that all mosques are recruiting grounds for ISIS but it has happen.", "The same way that they get connection to organizations such as the Hell's Angels, or the KKK or Neo-Nazi groups.\n\nThose groups...
Japan's transition from the Empire we fought in WWII to the friendly, efficient, stable (video game/anime factory) they're known for today?	[ "The US also kept intact the Imperial Monarchy. Being vital to the Japanese culture and ethos, the Allies allowed for a constitutional monarchy ( which was arguably in place after the Meiji era anyways). \n\nBy having a peaceful occupation and rebuilding, along with respecting the Japanese culture, they became our ...
Why is Brazil's crime rate so high, and where did these trends begin?	[ "I beg to disagree with the other answers. The wealth gap is but a small part of the equation. Plus, OP is asking about crime and not only street violence. Tax evasion, corruption by politicians, extortion, they are all crimes. They are committed by wealthy people, and a lot. And still, a lot of the most violent cr...
Why is it that 4G internet on my phone feels insanely slow, almost useless sometimes, but years ago, back when 4G and LTE didn't exist, 3G on my Blackberry felt fine?	[ "It's because websites have put more content into their pages. If you tried to use your old 3G again, it would be painfully slow.\n\nEven though our computers are getting faster, the actual time taken to run our software is the same across the years. We keep building heavier software.", "Because years ago, you ...
why do car engines vibrate more when in park?	[ "When your engine runs, it doesn't deliver nice constant power. It's a series of captured explosions delivering sudden bursts of power, followed by a lag until the next burst. This is more noticeable when the engine is running really slowly, since the explosions are further apart. Also, the weight and resistance...
Why is it that television shows from Britain seem to appear different than American tv shows?	[ "Couple things would give it a different look. First, they use PAL rather than NTSC. Pal uses 25 fps while ntsc uses 30 so pal will look more cinematic while ntsc will look more fluid. Also color encoding differences between pal and ntsc. \n\nWhen we in the U.S. watch a Britcom or other material produced in the UK,...
Why did using AM radio for music fall out of favour?	[ "AM sound quality isn't great, but it travels longer distances. FM sounds better, but doesn't travel far.\n\nThis is probably not an official stance, but I think AM - being sports and news talk primarily - has a smaller audience appeal, so reaching farther audiences is better for them as it expands their potential ...
Why do I get a weird tingly sensation in the bridge of my nose when something is less than a foot in front of my face?	[ "I know exactly what you're talking about. I get this too, though don't know much about it either. The feeling will linger on the tip of my nose for up to a minute after the person or thing leaves that threshold.", "Are you a dude? If so, is it kinda like the feeling you get when something is not too far from you...
Why are "month end" sales so important to companies?	[ "My take: we tend to procrastinate. \nIf monthly target is 20 widgets, logic would state to sell 5 a week. Problem is, we bask in the month end hang over and drag our ass in week one, then struggle to make up for lost time in weeks 2 and 3. This leads to a balls out race into insanity in week 4. But don't sweat it,...
As a broke, 24-year-old pizza delivery guy what can we as citizens do to help fight against internet censorship?	[ "Honestly I question whether this belongs in ELI5. There really isn't a way to explain what the problem is without 'bias' or 'blatant speculation'.", "The most important thing to do right now is to remain informed and to write letters to your representatives giving your well-reasoned opinion why things like SOPA ...
What is really happening when you snap mentally?	[ "Define \"snap\". It can mean a lot of different things. Like snapping from stress where you just can't take it or snapping as in waking up one day and killing 10 people?", "You're going to have to be a lot more specific. \"Snapping\" is a colloquial term, not a scientific or medical one, that describes a bunch ...
Why do free range eggs have harder shells than the "conventional" kind?	[ "Free range chickens have a more varied diet which contains more minerals. Or in short, because they eat bugs.", "I don't mean to hijack, but since we're on the topic- I've heard that free range eggs are not necessarily so, that there is a bit of deceit or exaggeration involved. Anybody here with inside knowledg...
How it is possible that before 2. world war only men worked and still earned enough for whole family when today we have whole families (mom, dad, child) working and barely survive?	[ "People don't realize that our \"quality of life\" is significantly better than during that era.\n\nEven 20 years ago, we didn't pay for cell phone, internet, cable. Cut that out? That's $200 a month minimum.\n\nEven 20-30 years ago, a lot of people had 1 or 2 pairs of shoes. 2 sets of clothes (daily clothes, churc...
Why are some people attached to a particular sleeping position?	[ "I would also like to know why I always end up sleeping on my stomach with my arms by my head, even though my arms fall aslep every time I do this. My scumbag sleeping brain never learns...", "Because on my right side with my arm under the pillow and my head on the pillow with my left leg outside of the blankets...
why is it that fire normally burns orange? Why isn’t it blue, green, or purple?	[ "The color of a flame depends on what is burning and how hot it is. Most flames come from burning carbon based fuel (wood, wax, etc) and these things burn orange/red/yellow. The higher the temperature the whiter the flame. Other chemical substances simply burn different colors than carbon. This has to do with the a...
Why were futurist so optimistic about the year 2000?	[ "Futurists of the 20th century merely used the year 2000 as a distant, exotic-sounding future year. Their optimism was based on projecting their economic system (capitalism or communism) into the future in order to demonstrate that the troubles of their time are temporary and that perseverance will lead to a great...
What is the advantage of being young when it comes to gymnastics?	[ "Because the rules don't allow them to compete internationally below 16. Younger girls gymnasts can complete more difficult maneuvers than adults, performance peaks at 16 to 18 because 16 is the cut off. It's not bullshit, a large part of women's gymnastics events involves spinning the body (more spins=more diffi...
How did plants appear on land when all life started in the ocean?	[ "Just as with animals plants grew in shallower and shallower water... then at the edge of the water... then on the land. A gradual 'evolution' from aquatic to terrestrial." ]
Human blood lust	[ "entertainment. also, probably forbidden fruit. The idea of blowing shit up with big guns is attractive because you probably can't do it IRL", "I cannot recall the source (perhaps someone can assist me with this,) but there was an article not too long ago that mentioned that - as humans/animals - we are hardwired...
When a singer is performing during a concert and they have an earpiece, what are they listening to?	[ "It's an in-ear monitor. It helps the singer keep in tune by blocking out external noise and playing back the band audio through the earpiece so the singer can hear themselves in relation to the rest of the band.\n\nWithout such monitors, it's actually very difficult for singers to sing in tune because the sound of...
Why computer viruses associated so strongly with internet porn?	[ "I'm not sure about this, but I also guess that if you are watching porn, you are more likely to download pictures (which are suitable to be malicious) videos, Java plugins (I heard there is a lot of security flaws inside the Java virtual machine) and even new codecs for watching those videos etc... All that conten...
The proper use of commas. And other grammar that is used in everyday business language.	[ "[Grammar Girl](_URL_2_) is a good resource for learning grammar rules. In a professional setting, you'll probably need to use commas to separate items in a list (I think we'll need to get Janine in Accounting, Kevin in Legal, and TJ in HR involved in this), to join two clauses using and/but/or (I emailed Kevin abo...
Why are electronic language translators so bad at their jobs?	[ "Let's take a simple German sentence:\n\n* Knopf fest drücken.\n\nThis has a particular grammatical structure: \"Knopf\" is a noun, \"fest\" is an adverb, and \"drücken\" is the infinitive form of a verb. This construction is used to give instructions: the equivalent construction in English is infinitive-noun-adver...
Why does the sun seem to burn hotter in the morning (ca. 10:00) than in the afternoon (ca. 17:00)?	[ "1000 is only 2 hours off of noon. 1700 is 5 hours off if noon. The morning equivalent of 1700 would be 0700.", "It has to do with the height of the sun in the at 10:00 and 17:00.\n\nIn the morning at 10:00am the sun is almost at its highest position in the sky. Because of this the sun radiates more energy toward...
How is time an illusion	[ "People like to think this, and deep thinkers come up with this on their own all the time, but time is actually a part of the universe, that exists with or without people. It is relative, but it definitely exists and has been mathematically proven over and over" ]
Why do your eyes start to sting when you're tired?	[ "It's both. Your eyes only have so much power." ]
Why is that James Bond movie called 'Quantum of Solace?'	[ "It is also a term meaning \"extremely small\". \n\nThe idea is that Bond is getting an \"extremely small\" amount of solace (comfort) by hunting down and killing the people responsible for Vesper's death.\n\nAlso the bad guy's are called \"Quantum\" so there is that too.", "Like most Bond movies, it was the tit...

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