Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
Was recreational drug use as common in ancient times as it is today?	[ "Well since OP didn't specify, how about in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire?" ]	[ "Hi readers! Since questions like these often attract anecdotal answers, just a quick reminder: you are in /r/AskHistorians, so do ensure that answers are comprehensive and informative, and based on solid source material. Personal anecdotes or other casual chitchat/speculation/opinion are not accepted as answers he...
Does the mandelbrot set really contain every possible curve?	[ "I assume you're asking whether the boundary of the Mandelbrot set contains a (possibly scaled and translated) copy of any curve. The answer is no. In fact, the boundary has Hausdorff dimension greater than 1, so it actually does not contain _any_ (edit: smooth) curves. Think about it this way: You can continue to ...	[ "Depends what you mean by \"know\". We assume this to be true because we have no mechanism for it NOT to be true, and we have seen zero evidence to contradict it. It is like asking, do you KNOW there aren't dragons that we haven't detected?" ]
Why companies shorten commercials after having aired them for a few weeks.	[ "You pay for commercials based on how long they are. When a campaign starts, they're willing to blow some extra money to get out of the gate strong, but as time goes on they want to save some money, increase the number of ads they can play for the same money, so they use shorter versions." ]	[ "The initial price is generally based on the exit value required by the investors. Depending on when you put your money in and what level of risk you assumed, you'll want a certain payout. You set the amount and price of the stock to get that payout. However, selling stock is really no different than selling anythi...
Why do some foods taste better when reheated than they do when fresh from the oven? (like Lasagne)	[ "lasagna (like many foods) have a lot of seasoning (the tomato sauce especially). the longer the food sits, the longer the seasoning marinates. thus, more flavor" ]	[ "If you are going somewhere for the first time you are devoting a lot more processing power to following directions and looking out for signs/landmarks, etc. That makes time and distance seem greater. There is also the anticipation of some event/experience to keep you mind working hard; again creating a feeling of ...
Do photons experience time?	[ "> I don’t even know if this question makes any sense I’m just curious. It makes sense in that I understand what you're asking, but it doesn't make sense in that it's a meaningless question; it has no answer. A photon is always traveling at c in all reference frames, and to measure the passage of time, that can't b...	[ "The Bohr model can't really 'prove' Planck's black-body law. It assumes (ad-hoc) that angular momentum is quantized, without any rationale, really. (Except the one given later by de Broglie in terms of de Broglie-wavelengths) The Bohr model doesn't obey the uncertainty principle, the Schrödinger equation does. Not...
Why does plastic lighten in color when put under stress?	[ "When you bend a plastic, it's molecules change their positions and basically move away from each other. The tiny holes (molecular size) mean there is more pigment, which changes the color of the plastic." ]	[ "Are you familiar with the tone control on an audio amplifier? If the knob is set to the middle, then each frequency is amplified equally. That is like white noise. If the knob is turned halfway to bass, that's like pink noise. The low frequencies are stronger than the high. If the knob is turned all the way to b...
Can Mars be seen from the lunar surface? Have any photographs of Mars been taken from this vantage point?	[ "The Earth and the Moon are essentially the same distance from Mars. Thus, from the surace of the Moon, Mars would be visible as a dot in the sky, much as it is from Earth." ]	[ "Unfortunately, Liquid water, needed for even the most extreme plants, is extremely rare to completely non-existent. Liquid water will not last long on the surface due to the almost complete lack of atmosphere. In addition, with such a limited atmosphere, plants would not be able to survive/function properly and wo...
Why can human skin endure near frozen water for minutes without repercussions, but not endure boiling water without getting third degree burns?	[ "So let's consider magnitude here. \"Near frozen\" water is around 0 degrees C (32 degrees F). \"Room temperature\" for humans is around 20 degrees C (70 degrees F). So our near frozen water is about 20 (38) degrees off from \"comfortable\". Boiling water is 100 degrees C (212 degrees F). By the same math it is aro...	[ "your question is based on a confusion of scale. life on earth lives within a very sensitive, and relatively narrow temperature range. the most extreme temperatures between night and day or between seasons even is orders of magnitude less than the temperature changes which occur on other planets. in other words, o...
Is it true that if you are insane, you do not know it?	[ "This is not true. Plenty of people with mental illnesses are aware of it. If you search reddit AMAs, you will find a couple from people who have schizophrenia and are completely aware that they way they experience the world is not the way others experience it. There are, of course, some people who are extremely me...	[ "I love this question. There is a movie called Waking Life that addresses this idea. The whole movie is on YouTube right now for free and is awesome. Check it out. But at the minute 40:35 is when your question gets talked about. _URL_8_" ]
Three questions about string theory	[ "I can't say or the first two, but the parameters you are talking about in question three are Calabi-Yau manifolds, 6-dimensional spaces. As you probably know, strings vibrate in tiny higher dimensions to give themselves the properties that we see, and the Calabi Yau manifold is the given extent to which a string c...	[ "Imagine you grew up flying in a plane. The ground looks like different colors. There's a green area over here, and a brown area over there. When you land for the first time, you're surprised that the green area is actually made up of large trees, and the brown area is made of rocks and shrubs. There are thousands ...
What is actually happening to color when sunlight bleaches something?	[ "Light from the sun will usually act as a bleach through a process by which high energy photons of light, which are often in the ultraviolet or violet range, interact with the colourant in the compound (chromophore). These photons can disrupt the bonds in the chromophore, by breaking them, rendering the resulting s...	[ "Many chemicals oxidize and lose their intended properties, just like food (which incidentally is made of chemicals :P). This means that free radicals (oxygen ions) attach to different parts of the vitamins/rip off a few atoms. So the vitamins could either become inert and useless, or potentially poisonous. --- Mor...
I always wondered why the "One a day" vitamins have to be so uncomfortably large. Why not make them into two regular sized pills and call it "Once a day" vitamins?	[ "some pills do that. See: the gummy one a days. but generally, it's easier for people to understand to take one pill once a day than two once a day, even if it's little uncomfortable." ]	[ "A simpler explanation of why one-time pad encryption can't be cracked: Let's say our adversary is sending encrypted text messages in English. With most encryption systems, you can try decrypting that message with every possible key. Most keys will just give you random-looking characters, and one will give you a pr...
Why has no one claimed the piece of unclaimed territory between Egypt and Sudan?	[ "It has no population, no resources, and neither country has anything to gain by bothering to assert control over it. Also, if they were to, then (because of complicated border arrangements from the colonial era) it would mean they'd have to forfeit claims to another, more valuable, area of land. Sure, another coun...	[ "Hi, I've approved the post, but just a note to you and potential respondents: this subreddit has a 20-year rule against discussing current events, so any answers will have to cut off at 1997. If you're looking for answers that can include 1998-2012, do consider x-posting elsewhere, eg. a foreign affairs sub like /...
Why are the sidereal year and the tropic year related?	[ "The difference in the first place is due to [axial precession](_URL_0_), the rotation of Earth's axis. If this didn't happen, then sidereal and tropical year would be exactly the same. The reason why they are almost the same is that the precession is very slow. It takes tens of thousands of years for the axis to d...	[ "To add a concrete example to what's already been stated: [The Sahara desert fertilizes the Amazon rainforest.](_URL_0_) Equatorial trade winds carry mineral dust (carbonates and oxides, mostly) from the Bodele depression in the Sahara to South America, significantly increasing the productivity of the Amazon basin....
A problem with the multiverse theory?	[ "There are numerous problems with your summary - there's no cohesive \"multiverse theory\", mostly proponents of multiverse theories come at it from a non-science standpoint, etc. - but I'd like to focus on one of your core ideas which is flawed: Infinite possibilities =/= All possibilities To see this easily, cons...	[ "Such hypothetical / speculative / open-ended questions are better suited for our new-ish sister sub /r/asksciencediscussion. Please consider reposting there instead." ]
If Crimea is 60% (ethnically) Russian, how did it end up as part of Ukraine? Might there be similar conflicts over other nearby regions with high Russian populations?	[ "Crimea was moved to Ukraine by Khruschev. Since nobody considered the possibility of collapse, this seemed like a routine and rational administrative decision. (Similar thing ocсured in 1922, when Soviet government split Ossetia into North and South, which became regions of RSFSR and GSSR respectively.) Also, Crim...	[ "Many of them considered themselves to be British before and during the American Revolution, and actively fought against the Colonists on the side of the British. These people were known as Loyalists. The others did not view themselves as Americans either though. They identified themselves as Virginians or Pennsylv...
When did Americans start spelling "arse" like "ass"? Did this reflect pronunciation, or was it euphemistic, like "shoot" for "shit"?	[ "[Seems to have been just a sound change.](_URL_1_) The sound /r/ was lost before /s/ in words like curse (cuss), parcel (passel), and burst (bust). Sound changes like that are typically systematic, even if they don't happen to every possible word - words like worse, course, and fierce were apparently not inc...	[ "Lower right corner, there is your tray, click on the icon that looks like a keyboard, and change the setting to US English, or just US. If you don't have this little icon, look for a little taskbar that can be anywhere on your screen, usually at the top. Change it to US settings. It happens whenever you change yo...
Why was Scott Pilgrim a financial failure when release in cinema's but quickly became a classic film within 3 years?	[ "Primarily, poor marketing. Most people who would have seen it, myself included, had no idea it was actually a cool movie. They didn't give enough of an idea of what the movie REALLY was. It also wasn't a well known comic book at the time, and so not showing off the movie that way hurt the audience it could have ha...	[ "The simplest answer? People a wary of change. They get stuck in their patterns and routines and will naturally resist anything that is different. However, business is a bit different. Change generally means spending a lot of money to adapt. IT is a good example. How many computers are still running Windows XP, b...
How can Netflix and other streaming companies release many ‘Blockbuster’ movies / tv shows a month while users pay a much smaller fee then if they saw them all in theaters?	[ "Well, Netflix is massively in debt right now, but they’re doing it for a good reason. They are battling for market dominance over all the other streaming companies, and to win that, they need as much original and rewatch able content as possible. Sure, they might make less than a blockbuster like Avengers Endgame ...	[ "Because they use a separate company to provide ads, which come from different web servers. Imagine they're people. Dave works for the pizza company, he delivers your pizza. Sarah works for marketing company, she delivers the ads. Now, you could put a camera on your porch. Then you only open the door for Dave, but ...
What happens when your mind drifts, and your eyes can't focus?	[ "You are employing more focus to a task (usually a mental one like daydreaming) and as a result less focus on the information around you, as your brain requires more processing power than what is required by the wasted effort of your senses. This can happen during extreme focus as well, on an enjoyed or important ...	[ "Johnny loves math, he's very good at it. But every summer break in between grades, he doesn't practice his math. He does other things like skating, baseball, and playing spin the bottle. No math equations or learning takes place all summer long. When Johnny returns to school, his brain hasn't kept up on math what...
How do spiders choose a location for their web?	[ "Similar question, regarding 'ceiling spiders' (long legged, thin whispy spiders): Q: ceiling spider in my bathtub; stays in 'open side' of the bathtub curtain. If we move the curtain to the right, the spider will migrate to the left. If we change curtain sides, spider does so again. We can repeat this on demand - ...	[ "Oh man everywhere, cracks in the drywall especially around pipes (bathroom) the can come from the pipes if they are really intrepid. We had ants one summer coming from an electrical socket in the kitchen and the hole they go through was in the wall (so so tiny) that connected the stove bent out side. Homes are not...
Did the people of USSR use to celebrate New Year's Eve and Christmas? If so, did they have a culture of gifts or Santa Claus?	[ "Yes, they did. During the first decade after the October revolution Christmas wasn't that important (even though New Year's Eve was much celebrated). But, in 1935, many Christmas traditions were re-adopted as part of a new secular celebration. Indeed, they adopted the traditions of decoration of a tree, or \"ёлка\...	[ "No, Fireworks are not large enough and barely bright enough and way too low in height to differentiate them from other constant light sources at such high altitudes trough the atmosphere. --- You can see street lights from the ISS with a good camera resolution, and faintly with the naked eye, especially if the...
How do hotels/motels not run out of hot water?	[ "Depends where in the world you are. Here in Australia, a lot of newer hotels use massive instant-hot water heaters. Meaning they don't store tanks of hot water, rather they heat water as needed. Plenty of smaller places (motels) use the same principal, but rather a small instant heater for each room. This is also ...	[ "They don't. It's a marketing ~~lie~~ gimmick. I used to work for a company that did a similar thing by mail. New customers were supposed to sign up by a certain time for special rates but as a specific matter of policy we'd give those rates to anyone who mailed back the special offer." ]
how did android become the de facto phone OS besides iOS?	[ "Everyone can use it and it's free and pretty good. It being open source and therefore not propriatary is also a good factor." ]	[ "You probably don't remember windows 3.1.. when windows 95 came out shit was forever changed. When win98 came out, everything wrong with win95 was fixed (for the most part). Better question- why was windows 95 so good? Edit: just to wrap this question up in three simple words.. the start menu." ]
What's the difference between depression and anxiety?	[ "Speaking from experience: Depression is not wanting to do anything, not feeling interested in anything, and just being tired Anxiety is constant worry, thinking about things you can't change, and having to keep moving no matter what. Basically 2 sides of the same shitty coin" ]	[ "This CGP Grey video does a really good job of explaining it all. _URL_3_" ]
Why all my friends suddenly have gluten intolerance?	[ "Odds are they don't. Gluten intolerance is a rare condition that affects less than half a percent of the population. But the current fad diet is being \"gluten free\" and so if they are on that fad they may say they are gluten intolerant to explain participation in the fad, or to try and make the restaurant comply...	[ "Well as far as I know it started with this prank video: _URL_0_ And after that it simply went viral." ]
Why was reading hieroglyphics not passed down as other languages were?	[ "I wrote [briefly](_URL_0_) about this a few months ago. In short, it's because hieroglyphs were not the script of everyday business. They were an ornate, decorative writing system used on monuments and, in cursive, in religious texts. They are strongly associated with an Egyptian political and religious identity. ...	[ "In theory what you describe is possible, to a degree. Part of the problem is that going backwards, you could make lots of different high-level programs that result in the same executable. You would never be able to get back to the original code though. Information like variable names and sometimes function names a...
What would happen to a salt-water fish if you threw it into freshwater?	[ "Most fish species would die from osmotic shock, however evolution has equipped some to survive this transition. Salmon transit from fresh to salt and back again, and eels from salt to fresh, However many more species, if gradually equilibrated, can live quite well in the other environment. Guppies come to mind as ...	[ "Hydrogen peroxide. It makes a mixture better known as [piranha solution](_URL_0_), commonly used in biology labs." ]
What is scalar energy and does it really exist ?	[ "I've honestly never heard of this before. Everything I've read in the last hour or so points to \"scalar energy\" being a pretty bad interpretation of vacuum energy or just out-right New Age drivel." ]	[ "Not a real thing. There's a \"sovereign citizen movement\", which protests all kinds of things (like taxes). Every year around tax time, this thing pops up where people go \"We're sovereign citizens! We don't need to pay taxes!\" but this has absolutely no validity." ]
Why does our body need oxygen?	[ "It is needed in order to provide energy, through the process of [oxidative phosphorylation](_URL_0_), which creates ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP can also be produced in the absence of an aerobic metabolism, but in a less efficient way. This process takes place inside the mitochondria, which are cell organelle...	[ "[Touching other people releases oxytocin in to the brain.](_URL_0_) That chemical helps form bonds between people, and leads to all sorts of generally positive outcomes in interpersonal relationships. Since babies all require touch and interaction with other people to get fed, we start getting out learning that to...
How can it be that radioactive decat is truly random?	[ "> radioactivity is truly random To the best of our knowledge, this is true. There is no way, even in principle, to determine precisely when a given particle will decay. All we can really determine is the probability that it will decay in some finite time-interval. > decay cannot be influenced by external processe...	[ "Well one way is by selected specific people for your study. The studied that showed evidence that vaccines caused autism actually dropped people from the study who had children not become autistic, found children who had family history of autism to include in the study, and kept the numbers small. Another way coul...
In countries with a lot of rural countryside, e.g. rural Canada/Australia/US mountain states, how does house building work? Can anyone apply to buy a small plot of land and make a house?	[ "Assuming by \"rural\" you mean not in any city or town: In America you can buy any plot of land that is for sale that you can afford, no application required. Building on it on the other hand is subject to various regulations by a plethora of government agencies. In unincorporated areas the regulations are minimal...	[ "Conceptually, the two countries had quite different political systems with regard to how minority white rule was maintained. In South Africa, apartheid theory stated that blacks were not part of the nation. Rather blacks belonged to their ['homelands'](_URL_0_), formalised in 1970 when blacks had their citizenship...
[META] Can questions that get over 500 upvotes without a sufficient answer be placed in a "popular unanswered questions" section where people can eventually submit answers and approved answers then get posted as an answered question?	[ "There's nothing wrong with reposting a question, if it's gone a long while without an answer. I posted a question several months ago, and it got zero response, so after a month or so went by, I cut and pasted the post into a new post, and that one got several quality answers. As long as you wait a good long while ...	[ "...Why do they have default subreddits? Do they ever remove them? What makes a subreddit default-worthy? I'm five years old, please explain... Thanks in advance! Also, before they add a new subreddit to the default list, do they ask the owners' permission first?" ]
Can you measure pain?	[ "Medicine can at the moment only rely on subjective scales. There are of course some indirect metrics like the dose of a specific drug. But in the case of neuropathological pain you are dealing with a very different pain in comparison to breaking yor legs. There is not even a clear concept of what pain really is. A...	[ "Let me give you an example using a bit of math. If I have a point in 2D space, I need 2 coorinates to describe its position, x and y. The distance to the point is sqrt(x^2 + y^2) Ok now in 3D space I need three points: x, y, z. The distance to the point is sqrt(x2 + y2 + z2). See the pattern? Ok now about about 4D...
Why cant words just be spelled phonetically?	[ "Because: * Pronunciation changes overtime * Pronunciation changes by region/class/etc. * Changing the spelling of root/loan words in many ways makes the language more difficult. It helps that all of the Greek words with \"Chi\" in them have that characteristic \"Ch\" spelling. English in particular is very non-pho...	[ "Phones are already expensive. Using the absolute best parts available at the time to create some überdevice would cause the price to skyrocket and only a select few people would be able to afford it. It would probably cost the company more money to put something like this together than they could earn by selling i...
How much more difficult is it to send a rover on Europa compared to Mars?	[ "Firstly, europa is a lot further away than mars which presents two problems- reduced power capacity from solar requiring controversial RTGs and the distance requiring more fuel, more course corrections and therefore a higher cost. We dont really have a good idea of the landscape of europa so a lander mission would...	[ "How would you get it there? Pound for pound, going to the moon is expensive. Really expensive. How would you service them? Getting a technician up there is really really expensive. How would you protect them? Earth has mild temperatures and magnetic protection from solar flares. The Moon doesn't." ]
When something travels faster than the speed of sound, it creates a sonic boom. If something were able to travel faster than the speed of light, would it create a "light boom"?	[ "[Cherenkov radiation](_URL_0_) is the equivalent process for charged particles travelling faster than the speed of light within a material. The speed at which light propagates through any material (air, water, glass) is lower than the \"universal constant\" value of the speed of light - however, it is possible t...	[ "Color is really a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum we call visible light (you may recall ROY G BIV for the colors of the rainbow, that range of colors is visible light). Each section of the EM spectrum has a certain energy, and depending on what energy is present you have a different color. Things that are ...
Academic fencing outside E Europe?	[ "No, not really. Academic Fencing is fairly unique, and you don't find similar traditions elsewhere. German students who studied in England during the period did, apparently, comment on the similarities with the English students' propensity for boxing, but superficially at best, especially as, to my knowledge, ther...	[ "Neanderthals lived in some of the most heavily dug-over regions on the planet--Europe and the Near East. No doubt the prevalence of archaeologists has something to do with the prevalence of known fossils." ]
What is the "quantum" in quantum physics, quantum computers and so on?	[ "Go and grab a magnifying lens and look at your monitor, can you see the little squares composing it? That's a pixel. It's a quantum of image. If you look at a picture on your screen, the image will be created putting these little pixel-tiles one close the the other. It seems smooth, but if you look close enough an...	[ "Because in theory it allows you to compute both values at the same time. So, lets say I'm trying to hack an encryption. The encryption uses 10 bit key. So in order to break it, I have to try every possible input for that key, and decrypt with each one: 0000000000 0000000001 0000000010 0000000011 ... 111111111...
Why does floppy paper whip into shape	[ "Generally, if I'm picturing what you're describing right, when you \"whip\" a drooping sheet of paper, you bend it slightly down its length. That bend gives the paper a more strength and it stays up." ]	[ "There is something called miura-ori origami that has the properties you describe. _URL_0_" ]
Why do men and women get paid the same amount in the US Open when men have to play best of 5 sets and women only play best of ?	[ "Popularity. Unlike many other sports women's tennis gets a lot of viewers, comparable to the men's." ]	[ "This occurs in sex-role reversed species, and is typically accompanied by a polyandrous mating system. Both sex-role reversal and polyandry are pretty uncommon. The northern jacana is a famous example of this. The females are more brightly colored than the males, and they defend territories that contain several ne...
How do all you can eat sushi restaurants make money?	[ "The vast majority of people wat less than what they paid for. Sushi doesn't need to be expensive, and I guarantee you the all-you-can-eat place isn't sending their chef out to air express a high-grade tuna from Tokyo." ]	[ "They don't. It's a marketing ~~lie~~ gimmick. I used to work for a company that did a similar thing by mail. New customers were supposed to sign up by a certain time for special rates but as a specific matter of policy we'd give those rates to anyone who mailed back the special offer." ]
what are MAC adresses for computers and how are they different from IP adresses?	[ "MAC adresses are hard-coded into physical hardware devices (and cannot be changed) - sort of like the street address for your house. IP address are set in software and can be moved/changed - sort of like your phone number. When you call 911, the operator can tell what your address is because your physical address ...	[ "There are a number of ways that scientists can use proxies to estimate temperatures - a proxy is just a known ratio of isotopes or minerals that changes depending on temperature. The wikipedia page for the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum goes in to a couple: \"Precise limits on the global temperature rise during ...
If chemicals like Dopamine and Serotonin make us feel happy, are there chemicals that make us feel fear or anxiety?	[ "In general, it is not terribly useful to look at neurotransmitters as having really strict allegiances to certain tasks, especially in the central nervous system. A single neurotransmitter might have tons of different receptor sub-types in the body and brain. Anyways here's what I got: There is evidence that dynor...	[ "This article looks pretty relevant, Neural Correlates of Reexperiencing, Avoidance, and Dissociation in PTSD: [\\[PDF link warning\\]](_URL_0_). Quote from article: > As predicted, state reexperiencing severity was associated positively with right anterior insula activity and negatively with right rostral anterior...
I had a KFC yesterday with less calories than a healthy home-cooked meal, based on this, why isnt it beneficial just to eat KFC all the time?	[ "That would depend on what you ate at KFC, and what home cooked meal you are comparing it to." ]	[ "It is not always better. But...consider a few details: 1. once you've bought your house you are no longer subject to rent changes (increases). You're locking in your fundamental living costs. 2. the interest you pay on that mortgage is tax deductible. So, the mortgage cost is not quite as high as you think. 3. the...
How do tokens work? How does a machine (i.e: arcade game, subway turnstile, etc) distinguish one token from another, or from a similar sized coin in general?	[ "Typically, this is done by size and/or weight. There will be elements of the machine that will evaluate the coin by one or both of these metrics to see if it is \"valid\" - it will return it if it is not. Odds are, the tokens will work just fine as there aren't that many people that make tokens and there isn't muc...	[ "Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: what makes pop rocks/popping candy 'pop'? ](_URL_2_) ^(_1 comment_) 1. [ELI5: What makes Pop Rocks pop? ](_URL_0_) ^(_4 comments_) 1. [[ELI5] Why do pop rocks pop in your mouth? ](_URL_1_) ^(_18 comments_)" ]
How is entropy related to chemical equilibrium?	[ "At equilibrium, the entropy is maximized (locally) and does not increase any further." ]	[ "It depends on your favorite interpretation. Copenhagen: Things collapsed because there were measurements in the universe. Many worlds: Things are still entangled but we only see a part that \"looks\" classical due to decoherence. And so on. > How can we even suppose a freshly prepared qubit, if it contains hidden...
When did supporting a US political party become like supporting a "sports team"	[ "This is hilarious because I've been thinking this for years. People don't want the country to get better... They want their side to win." ]	[ "> Obviously my question was biased and I was trying to prove a point As the sidebar says: > Don't post just to express an opinion or argue a point of view. Don't do this here. This thread has been removed. Try /r/changemyview or /r/politics." ]
Why are most goods cheaper in developing countries?	[ "A great many goods are more expensive in economically less-developed areas, but staples tend to be less expensive for several reasons. One is that the cost of many products is largely in the processing and handling of products (labor costs), not in the basic value of them and the cost of labor in less-developed co...	[ "Instinct, basically. The chipmunk has developed instinctual behaviours to harvest and hide food when the days start getting shorter. Same thing causes birds to migrate. The ones that didn't develop that instinct couldn't live through the harsh winters that occurred in some areas and died out." ]
How can a speaker with only one membrane produce several sounds at the same time ?	[ "The waves very literally add up and stack one atop the other! On the left in this image is a sound wave, on the right is the individual frequencies that make it up: _URL_0_ You see the big drop and the big peak? Notice how all the other waves have peaks there as well. This is the kind of thing a video example wou...	[ "We aren't really sure why, but it doesn't seem that something like that can be done. Think about it like your bladder; you can build up a need to urinate, but you cannot urinate so much that your bladder is more than empty." ]
After baking food in the oven, why does cooking oil seem to appear underneath the baking foil when there are no perforations in the foil?	[ "Aluminium foil is not going to be permeable to cooking oil. You can test this yourself by making a foil bowl with no holes in it and sticking it in the oven and just cooking that for a while. Either you have holes in your foil or it is leaking over the sides. In either case, oil under the foil will tend to spread ...	[ "Your friend was correct. But this is such an easy experiment to do at home, I'm surprised you didn't do it yourselves. The fact is that a huge amount of heat is lost if you leave the lid off, and the pot boils significantly faster with the lid on. You will also find that with the lid on, the pot will stay boiling ...
why do athletes tape their wrist, fingers, ankles, etc...	[ "to better support the joints. Take ankles for example. I use to twist my ankle all the time playing soccer. Taping up the joint provides more support and keeps it stable." ]	[ "As a followup question, what \"image\" did they project? By this I mean, was it like a sign of nobility? Was it to show loyalty to a particular faction/religion/craft? Was it considered low class or as brands for criminals? Thank you. Cool question OP." ]
If we could replace our (United States) current interstate system with a brand new one, how could we make it more efficient than what we have now?	[ "There is a company (on phone can't find link) that had proposed solar embedded road tiles with electricity and internet infrastructure built in. Replicable sections and self snow melting as well. Not sure if they transported water, and cost wasn't too bad either." ]	[ "Talk to your representative and lay out your concerns. My understanding is that calling, and calling often, is the best tactic, as it's the only way where you absolutely know you have their full attention, even if for that brief moment. Or, you know, do what nobody actually does; pay attention during the various...
The message of Les Miserables	[ "It's a beautiful story about love, hate, forgiveness, sacrifice, camaraderie etc. Strong emotions effectively conveyed by well written songs." ]	[ "Due to a great inequality of wealth. Priviledged people and groups feel they earned all thier money and ignore how much was due to circumstances of their birth , so they think poor people just deserve to be poor Emphasis on rights and profits of corporations is another issue" ]
Why do companies run ads for 3 to 5 minutes on youtube? It gets skipped 99% of the time, wouldn't a 15 second ad be much more efficient in getting customers?	[ "15sec? I suspect most ads barely get the 5sec before the user skips them if its permitted. But the advertiser pays less if the viewer selects to skip it, so to their mind... having a person skip the ad might not be so bad... get their logo out there, and then bore them into skipping the end to save money." ]	[ "> What am I missing here? Risk pools and terms. The life insurance company is offering you $100k in coverage for $20/month for some fixed amount if time (let's say 20 years). Their also offering it to thousands of other people too. Let's say they think there's a 4% chance you'll die over the 20 years. On the surfa...
How random is random?	[ "It is impossible to generate truly random numbers using a compter. The best that can be done is to create pseudorandom numbers, sequences that repeat after so many numbers (note that if implemented properly, this number is truly astronomical). To find truly random numbers, one can look at processes in nature, like...	[ "Imagine you're writing a research paper. You go to the library, and there are three books that will help you, but they are in all different shelves. You can read one, put it back, and then go to the next one, but this will make you tired. So you grab them and scatter your stuff on an empty table. Now you can read ...
How come it feels so good to exert force when kicking a ball or punching through something when you successfully complete the actions, but when unsuccessful it feels so empty?	[ "Whether you're punching or kicking (or even tackling or swinging), you're putting a lot of kinetic energy into your body. As you connect, there's a sort of \"billiards ball\" effect, where the energy goes out of you into your target, leaving you still (or at least drastically reducing your force). If you were to, ...	[ "Breaking the sound barrier doesn't involve any release of energy other than the object's normal acceleration. The reason that you hear a boom is because when an object is traveling at the speed of sound, the sound waves coming off of it line up to form a single \"wave\" that hits you all at once. Basically, the am...
What's the Difference between an Assault Rifle and a Carbine?	[ "An assault rifle is weapon capable of automatic fire that fires and loads intermediate rifle rounds, which are generally lighter and faster than their predecessors(retroactively named 'battle rifles'). As a result, assault rifles are fairly controllable in automatic fire. The term carbine actually encompasses se...	[ "Awesome question, you’re right that the research about this kinda sucks. If you are good at interpreting/understanding research articles then check this out, if not then I’ll cover the details below so don’t worry: _URL_0_ Generally, research of this nature is done using model organisms, in the case of this study...
Health and Wellness Credit compensation from my company?	[ "I would consult your employee handbook and/or talk to HR. In general, that sort of thing is given to you when you do stuff like join a gym and go X times a month. Or it could mean they're giving you money and telling you to use it on a gym or something. But it will necessarily vary (and by quite a bit) from compan...	[ "They might. It depends which store and which organization the money is going to. I believe the charity Ronald McDonald House is attached the McDonald's corporation, so the money is probably a tax write-off. But some stores literally just let charities put a little donation box in front of their cash register for n...
Why aren't antibiotics used in combinations, routinely, to combat drug resistance? It doesn't seem that much more taxing to the body, and the chance of a bacterium developing resistance to both substances simultaneously is probably a magnitude lower.	[ "actually, antibiotics are used in such manner, its called \"synergism\". there are specific combinations though, this depends on the mechanism of the used antibiotics. for example one of the used combinations is penicillin and aminoglycosides where one of them make holes in the bacterial membrane so that the oth...	[ "Could you design a processor that could execute both x86_64 and ARM_64 code? Yes. You really wouldn't call it an x86_64 processor anymore though, at that point it would basically be a x86_64 + ARM_64 processor combined. Would this even be worth doing? Not really. The cost would be you lose the individual advantage...
How is the research into stable, safe fusion and/or fission coming along?	[ "This is just a quick response. Fission: Search generation 4 reactors. This is the active area of research for the future of nuclear fission reactors. In addition, small modular reactors (SMRs) are big areas of research. Fusion: In this area you have competition between inertial confinement fusion and tokamaks. In...	[ "It's not actually feasible, nor is it actually happening. All those articles about cool 3D renderings that have nothing to do with what NASA is working on. There is a guy there who has made a few powerpoint slides and a picture of an optical table, but there are no plans to make a faster than light spaceship." ]
Why does time seem to go so fast in the morning before I go to work? I only sit there on the couch doing nothing. Yet when I get to work, time seems to drag all day?	[ "I thought this was a question I was wondering about too but after reading the whole title I see that it's not exactly the same. I did notice that in the morning, if I listen to a song, the rythm seems a lot quicker compared to me listening to the same song in the evening. I wonder how that happens. To maybe answer...	[ "Basically every time you used the escalator, it moved by itself. The first times it felt weird because your body wasn't used to use stairs that move by themselves. So the first time you used an escalator, you probably felt like you lost balance and needed a few seconds to stabilise. After many uses, your brain got...
There have been many stories recently about multivitamins being ineffective. But I have a family member who had an iron deficiency, was prescribed an iron supplement, and it worked. What gives?	[ "What gives is there is a difference between being prescribed medicine to combat a specific illness, disease or deficiency, and a person without such a condition taking a multivitamin for general health and well-being or as a preventative measure for diseases like cancer or heart disease. That is, if you have a con...	[ "The idea is that in free-market capitalism an employer should be able to pay whatever they want to somebody to work in a particular position and if that wage is too low, then the person would find a job that pays better somewhere else. The \"effective\" minimum wage would be wherever the market of employers and po...
why did the Dutch golden age end?	[ "Dutch King William III got himself on the English throne with the support of a Dutch army. His Glorious Revolution ended turmoil in England, ironically laying the foundation for England to become more powerful than the Dutch Republic. In France, Louis XIV came to power and made the country an important competitor ...	[ "Hi! You can find some excellent answers on this topic in [this section of the faq](_URL_0_), under 'The Decline of the Spanish Empire'. Edit: As the faq's answers focus mostly on Spain, here's another great [answer by u/Itsalrightwithme](_URL_1_) looking more at the Portuguese side." ]
When a computer takes abnormally long to complete a simple task (like 3+ minutes to move a text document) but then succeeds, what was it doing that whole time?	[ "It really depends on the computer and the file, but, it could be one of many things. A few examples are: The hard drive/ssd nearly full and is causing problems You have virus protection/Anti-Malware doing a lot of scanning Your computer is busy performing many background tasks that weren't halted for the file copy...	[ "Imma answer your question, but first let me tell you about this time I watered the lawn on a warm july afternoon, there were clouds in the sky and childrens laughter.... ok seriously, who knows, maybe they just like to hear themselves type, or create an emotional connection to the recipe, perhaps they are just kil...
Why is there a historical kingdom in the Caucuses called Albania that seems entirely unrelated to the modern state of Albania?	[ "Scotland also used to be called Albania. And there is Albion and the Alps. According to [etymonline](_URL_0_) that word means \"hill\" or \"white\" and is found across several Indoeuropean languages." ]	[ "Congratulations to our winner of this month's book giveaway, Andrew Stead! The selection of books we have available this month are: A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne, recommended by /u/Bernardito. 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric Cline, recommended by /u/kookingpot. ...
What is the difference between a donkey and a mule?	[ "A mule is a mix of a donkey and horse. They are also sterile—you cannot breed a mule to a mule and get another mule." ]	[ "Here's a pretty good explainer. _URL_0_ Basically it comes down to different memory, different promises (reliability and service life), and different marketing." ]
Why do ants "collect" the dead bodies of their fallen comrades? What are they doing with them?	[ "Ants are farmers. The pick up dead things and carry them back to their hill and take them to a chamber deep in the colony. Then they leave it there and mold grows on it and the ants eat the mold. So, they are likely \"recycling\" their fellow ants." ]	[ "To establish dominance. The females select their mate based on the dance moves. Once a mate is selected: the female wards off the other ones, with paralyzing glares if possible, but violent combat if necessary. The males, usually stronger than the competing females, do not usually interject in this ritual but rais...
Why does attraction cloud judgement?	[ "You have a reproductive instinct that drives you to breed. It is outranked only by basic survival - the hierarchy of needs (air, water, food, shelter.) Genetically, reproduction is your one and only purpose beyond survival, and even the quality of your attempt (i.e. fitness of mate, personal success) is secondary ...	[ "Sugar tastes good. When faced with a choice between that which is smart and that which is pleasing, most people will spend their money on the latter. A business exists to sell people what they want to buy, not what some might feel they should buy." ]
Why aren’t the Pakistani people just called the Pakis?	[ "Not sure for the rest of the world but paki has been used in the UK anyway as a racist word call someone a paki and your probably gonna start trouble." ]	[ "We don't need profanity to insult one another, think of all the ways you can insult someone in English without using a profanity. Besides, languages can borrow words and their meanings." ]
How does Trans-cranial magnetic stimulation(TMS) work?	[ "How this works, I’m not exactly sure, but physics states that the ions in question would be physically affected by the field, so it’s possible that the electromagnetic field affects the quantum vibrations of the ions. This could have a very real effect; the new field of quantum biology attributes olfactory percept...	[ "Quoting [Wikipedia](_URL_0_) (a bit naughty, but it's a nice way to express what I think): > The proposed theory is inconsistent with quantum mechanics and critics have ruled it out on those grounds. Which is essentially saying what you pointed out, yes. If what they're doing is as easy as it sounds - just runnin...
What were Teddy Roosevelt's views and political stance on race and equal rights?	[ "Roosevelt's views on race were complicated but on the whole they were progressive for the period (haha). He did support black civil rights. However he spent a good bit of time in North Dakota, and while he was there he became convinced that the local Native Americans were as a group worthless. He went so far as to...	[ "My inclination was to reject your teacher's assertion out of hand, but then I remembered the Eskimo Scouts, who I have a soft place in my heart for. [Here](_URL_2_)'s a bit of audio for you from NPR, and [here](_URL_1_)'s a text story from 1988. In brief: During World War II, Col. \"Muktuk\" Marston traveled Alas...
Why do cars not have fail-safes that prevent the battery draining to a point where the car won't start?	[ "A lot of newer cars do. On my 2002 Toyota, if you turn the car off with the headlights on, the headlights go off, too. Unfortunately, the dome light and interior door lights will still drain the battery if the door isn't shut securely. Newer cars than that are better about it. It's getting harder and harder to acc...	[ "In some cases, they do. For example, the SwiftKey keyboard for Android analyzes not only the way you use it, but also your most commonly used words and phrases in your emails and social networks. However, in general, it's better to base predictions off the population of word usage as a whole, rather than trying to...
why cameras are not allowed in court.	[ "one concern is that cameras could adversely affect the way in which witnesses act and speak on the stand. if a witness's demeanor is vital to convincing a jury, lawyers and judges do not want to compromise the way witnesses act. it is nerve-racking enough already to be up on the stand. also, witnesses may be reluc...	[ "My guess? When you're dealing with a lot of makeup, prosthesis, special effects its easier to hide flaws. You can see acne under makeup in high def, you couldn't really see that back in the day. Just a guess." ]
Did North American wolves “learn” guns are bad?	[ "Follow up question; would a biologist or similar be able to give different / more in depth information within Reddit?" ]	[ "Unfortunately I suspect that any answer to your question would just come down to a question of semantics/definitions. What evidence would you need to see to say there was gender? Sex-specific behaviors which vary by region/pack but not by genetics? Even those could be explained as adaptations to local conditions.....
why do mushrooms naturally grow in a circle shape?	[ "Many types of fungi feed of plant matter buried in the ground. They form a vast network of roots, the so called [mycelium](_URL_0_). This network grows underground, absorbing all the nutrients, at at some point they use the stored up nutrients to grow above ground to spread their spores with the wind. So if you se...	[ "Take your basic butterfly, add a pattern that varies with each individual, eat all the ones that look the least like the target pattern, and what's left over will have patterns that are less likely to be eaten. Repeat for generations and you get closer and closer to perfection." ]
Are you more likely to survive a fall into a river or water in motion rather than static water? Is there less surface tension in moving water?	[ "If you're falling into water, it doesn't really matter because the [impulse](_URL_1_) will be the same. In some short amount of time, you need to move a lot of mass of water out of the way, and in both cases (static or flowing water), you still need to move a lot of mass of water. A pretty nice, quick calculation ...	[ "Neat question! I found a good article on this: Taira et al, 2003: \"Deep and Bottom Currents in the Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench, Measured with Super-Deep Current Meters\" _URL_0_ At the bottom of the trench, they observe a flow of a few cm/s either eastward or westward, depending on tides, [inertial oscillatio...
A complete anthology of the history of the foundation, rise and fall of the Roman empire?	[ "There are several books that I could recommend to you, however for an all encompassing look i would suggest The Romans: From Village to Empire: A History of Rome from Earliest Times to the End of the Western Empire. It is more of a text book in nature, which would actually be great for you since you seem to have...	[ "Get a feel for what you are reading. Ask yourself do all their arguments follow? Are they sometimes making leaps of logic? Are they priviliging/relying one group of sources, if they are do they explain why? What perspective is the book written from, how might this affect the focus of the book? Are they making bad/...
Why do stenographers use those tiny typewriters?	[ "They're [stenotypes](_URL_0_) which are much faster than typing, but don't transcribe speech directly into readable English but into a form of shorthand. Why? It's quicker - the words are formed with \"chords\" rather than letter at a time." ]	[ "Most have a [relay phone](_URL_0_) in their homes - they use an interpreter. [TTY](_URL_1_) is also available on mobile phones, landlines, and in 911 centers." ]
How can the quality of a video deteriorate if it is uploaded, downloaded and re-uploaded to and from the same location?	[ "YouTube (and I assume other video websites) processes the uploaded videos. If you'd download a YT video, you'll find that it's not the same as the original file. If you would upload the file to a service that doesn't do any processing (such as cloud storage), then no matter how often you'd upload/download, the fil...	[ "Imagine you want to cook some food. You reach for a recipe book. Not being very brave you go for something simple. You take the eggs and mushrooms and butter and ham out of the fridge, and you follow the instructions carefully. At the end of the process you enjoy your omelette and think \"if I ever want this omele...
if I filled a channel or trough with some chemical, and this trough went say half way around the world. Is there any other chemical that, if introduced in some small amount on one end, would register a reaction on the other end instantly?	[ "The upper limit for a chemical reaction to move is the speed of sound in the reactants. Chemical reactions are caused by physically combining the reactants, and the sound is just a pressure wave, which is nothing more than molecules moving and bumping into nearby molecules, causing them to move, etc. So the speed...	[ "This particular technology is called AJAX, which is more of a set-method-of-doing-things which evolved overtime. Basically it's a series of function calls that allow a Javascript script running on your browser to make a call to a website and get new information. AJAX has been around for a while, with Microsoft add...
How bad was alcoholism in Victorian Britain?	[ "It was certainly seen as a problem by the British government, particularly Gladstone's First Ministry (1868-1874). Gladstone's policies were characterized by Christian morality which were strongly opposed to excessive drinking. The Licensing Act 1872 restricted the opening hours in public houses; regulated the con...	[ "Or would you put it down to factors such as the Army, Parliament, the Major General rule, religion at the time?" ]
Why do we feel the urge to stretch when tired? What are the biological effects for doing this?	[ "It has always been my understanding that stretching increases your blood circulation, therefore delivering more oxygen around the body and making you feel energised." ]	[ "The thing about our body language is that it is more symbolic than we realize. Sometimes when we try to remember something we sort of look around, as if we are searching around for the memory. This is half learnt behavior (we see others do it, and mirror it) and half physical reenactments of mental processes. When...
How does a hard drive hold information even after being disconnected from a power source?	[ "Tiny sections of the disk are magnetized. By assigning 1 or 0 to a given polarity, binary data can be encoded onto the disk by magnetizing or not magnetizing given sections. Since this magnetization persists after it is performed it does not require an active power source. Basically, you're doing the equivalent of...	[ "> I think it's just a delay in the OS's process to update the display And you are almost correct. It's not the display (which can be updated immediately), it's the OS that takes a little time trying to reconnect to the network before deciding it is really down. Your roommate doesn't know what he/she is talking abo...
How is blocking traffic connected to the BLM protests?	[ "Black Lives Matter protesters block traffic. They do this as a part of their protest. Blocking traffic connected to the BLM protests because BLM protesters block traffic." ]	[ "Mythbusters did a segment on it, and they found that eye-black coupled with shade from a hat brim made a noticeable difference against glare. Sorry, on phone and I don't know exactly which episode." ]
What is making my throat hurt when I’m sick?	[ "Inflammation of your throat caused by viral/bacterial attack. Essentially the sickness is trying to invade your throat and your body is trying to fight back. Your body sends a bunch of cells to fight it off, causing your throat to swell and become tender, and the bacteria/viruses injure the cells of your throat wh...	[ "the yellow part of a cigarette is a filter. the smoke coming out of the burning end is the smoke that is straight up from all of the chemicals. this is why second hand smoking is considered more dangerous than regular smoking, it would make sense as to why you cough from the smoke on the burning end because of thi...
What causes light waves to shift length as they travel through x amount of time and space?	[ "The cosmological redshift is indeed caused by expansion of space, just as you suggest. If I can use some formulas: if the space-time metric is -dt^2 + a(t)^2 dx^2 (a(t) is the scale of the universe at time t) then the difference D of x between wave crests is constant during the time, but the distance between the c...	[ "You've discovered [the twin paradox](_URL_0_). The answer is that you can't have the spaceships \"suddenly\" be at rest with each other. Either one or both must undergo acceleration. In the case of one spaceship accelerating and becoming at rest with the other, the accelerating spaceship has its time dilated. If t...
Why is it that no matter how many times I pee in the toilet without flushing, the water level never rises?	[ "Behind the toilet bowl is a bend which leads to the drain. You can see it clearly in [this diagram](_URL_0_). When the water level rises above the bend, water flows over the bend and down the drain. It makes no difference whether the water being added to the bowl is your pee or is clean flushing water - in both ca...	[ "If you ask for 1 pen, it costs you two dollars. If you ask for 100 000 pens, they will only cost you one dollar each. I prefer selling you 100 000 pens at half price, than selling you 1 at full price and have 99 999 sitting around doing nothing. In a similar way, if you ask for a small amount of money, you pay a b...
Extension cord with ground outlets	[ "They dont work. The hole is just so that plugs with a ground pin fit in, but the ground pin loses its function." ]	[ "Because there is no electric current to get a shock from. Wireless chargers create an electromagnetic field, no different to a magnet really. Inside your device, this gets turned back into electricity again." ]
In the 1940s in England if women were doing war work were they expected to change out of trousers before they went any where in public (like a shop or an eating establishment)?	[ "Going \"anywhere in public\" in pants wouldn't be an issue at all. I mean, women were enfranchised from 1928; pants are no big deal. Now, they would be perhaps frowned upon in a posh restaurant, but dress codes for restaurants are not new. If it were a fancy enough place, they might not let someone in, but the war...	[ "Context is important. I'm not surprised to see a hot dog at a hot dog stand. I'd be surprised if I opened my wallet to pay for a hot dog and it only had a hot dog inside. I'm not surprised to see beach clothing at a beach, but would be concerned if I'm about to go into surgery and the surgeon shows up in a speedo....
penis sizes differences	[ "I've read that this stemmed from cultures living in more temperate regions covering their genitalia less allowing them to be visible and penis size to play a role in mate selection. Thats why you typically find the races with larger penis' to be closer to the equator." ]	[ "You each got 50% of your dad's genes, some overlap and some don't, some get activated earlier than others." ]
What's the biggest living form ?	[ "It depends on where you draw the line for what a single \"organism\" is. I believe the largest organism on record that is generally accepted as a single unit is a [mushroom colony found in Oregon](_URL_0_) that spanned a couple thousand acres and weighed over 600 tons. The Wikipedia page gives you a good idea of...	[ "If you consider viruses to be alive, then [RNA viruses](_URL_0_) would qualify as they use RNA instead of DNA to pass on their genetic material." ]
What happens to the extra mass of hadrons when they deconfine into their constituent quarks?	[ "> In high energy beam collisions, when quarks deconfine and become free, the bare quark mass is ~5 Mev. No they don't. The quarks are always confined. The bulk of the mass/energy of baryons are in the gluon field that binds them." ]	[ "The \"standard model of cosmology\", i.e. [the lambda-CDM model](_URL_0_) treats dark energy as the result of having a non-zero cosmological constant. \"Constant\" being the key word. Ideas like the Big Rip only come about when you imagine a cosmology where the cosmological \"constant\" is actually some elaborate ...
Why is Muhammad Ali so famous?	[ "He was one of the greatest ever, and boxing was much bigger when he was the best boxer than it is now. He was the undisputed HW champion, got stripped of the belt for refusing to go to Vietnam, than worked his way back up and became undisputed HW champ again and defended it 10 times" ]	[ "-Not a historian - US Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, Jr was awarded the Soldier's Medal for putting him and his forces between Vietnamese civilians and another contingent of US forces that were hunting down the civilians during the My Lai Massacre. _URL_0_" ]
When filling a glass with ice then water, why does ice sometimes stay at the bottom of the glass?	[ "Sometimes the surface of the ice will melt when it first touches the bottom/sides of the container you place it in since the container is usually warmer. The bulk of the ice is well below the freezing point. The cooler bulk of the ice cube can sometimes refreeze the ice at the interface faster than the heat from t...	[ "There's fluid within tiny tubes in your ears, and these tubes have hairs on them. Your brain pays attention to these hairs and how the fluid moves them in order to figure out where you are in space and how you're moving, but it also uses what your eyes see. Normally, your eyes and ears tell your brain the same thi...
Do both DNA-strings contain the same information?	[ "The strands carry the compliment of the other. C binds with G and A binds with T, so where there is a C on one strand there is a G on the other. The machinery of the cell has bits which take advantage of this fact to make the whole thing work." ]	[ "[This video explains quite well how it works online, specifically Youtube](_URL_0_) TL;DW: Youtube only sends information about changes between frames of a video. Since there is usually very little difference between 2 frames the server can just say \"ehhh take what you had last time, shift this part a tiny bit th...
What holds clouds together?	[ "There are three qualities of air which vary continuously throughout the atmosphere: humidity, temperature, and pressure. The combination of temperature and pressure determine the saturation point of the atmosphere; if the humidity is below that point, the moisture in the air is in the form of invisible water vapor...	[ "Let's take plan old white glue for an example. It is a bunch of sticky stuff in water. When the water evaporates, the stuff that's left behind is frozen into place. When it's in the bottle, there's nowhere for the water vapor to evaporate to, so it stays wet and sticky." ]
Since we(humans) feel heat transfer instead of temperature, why is it so comfortable to feel warm?	[ "It goes back to what you said. We detect changes in temperature, but not temperature itself. Feeling warm is nice because it takes us from being cold to being warm. However, feeling warm isn't nice when you are overheated; being in front of an air conditioner would. It's all about what maintains homeostasis at the...	[ "Look at it like a phone and charger. If you put a load of energy into the phone (more than it's rated for), it'll do serious damage almost immediately. If you use an underrated charger, it'll put only a little energy in, but the phone will use more than it's getting and eventually die. Heat is just a form of ener...
If I found an uncharted island would I own it or would a country own it?	[ "Not an island but a guy did buy an old Fort off the coast of the UK which he has declared a new nation, Principality of Sealand, but noone recognises him as anything more than a moron. _URL_0_" ]	[ "Most of the time the people who go to these places are either already successful or some kind of athlete. The majority of the people you are talking about already have a lot of money to finance these trips. The alternative is usually some kind of athlete like the ones you see on YouTube doing extreme sports (base ...
I have a closed box full of particles. What pattern of moving the box will cause the most movement of the particles in a short time frame?	[ "I used to work in a lab where we had to mix bulk samples before sampling. For what you are doing, grab the box by opposite corners and rotate while rotating the corners hand to hand. So the motion is the same as if you were spinning it through the axis of the corners while rotating the corners themselves. Works be...	[ "Let's say that you pick out a person at random from a group. What is the probability that they are sick? Well, given that you don't know anything about them, you would just say that the chance they are sick is about the same as the chance anyone else - the number of sick people in the group over the total number o...

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.