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is it legal to kill the president in self defence? | Yes, that would be legal. I don't think the Secret Service would let that happen and would restrain or even kill them before allowing it to happen though. In general the President is like any other citizen. |
How does Creatine work in the body? | So your muscles obviously need energy to be able to contract the way it does, and the main molecule that provides your muscles the energy they need to contract is called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. However, since ATP is so energetic, it doesn't make much sense for your body to keep ATP ready on demand-- rather, it ... |
Why is it considered okay to talk to your pet if its a dog or cat etc, but not if its a fish? | Because dogs and cats can/will respond to your voice, and even nuances in your voice, while fish do not.Fish don't know English. Even if they are born in this country, they do not assimilate like cats and dogs do. We are supposed to be a melting pot, but with fish, its all about how great the Ocean is and how Life bega... |
How can pirating sites and programs still remain readily available online all the time? (e.g ThePirateBay, uTorrent etc.) | Utorrent is legal. They could host that in the United States, or anywhere they wanted. Its just an app, which is often used for illegal purposes. As for thepiratebay, they just locate the site in a country which does not care. I'm sure the FBI would shut it down if they could but if the servers are in another country, ... |
Why haven't cat breeders created domestic cats that are as loving and social as dogs? | Have you ever had a good cat and raised it from a kitten? I've had two cats that were just like dogs. Ripley was my first cat ever, and I taught him sit, stay, fetch, etc. He was my buddy, always at my side. Never needed a leash when we went outside or anything. He was just a random kitty from the street, too. Nothing ... |
Why Wes Anderson's movies look and feel so unique. | There are probably lots of technical reasons to do with cinematography etc. but in terms of themes, I've noticed he keeps returning to themes about adulthood vs childhood. You often see children who behave more like adults and adults who behave more like children, for example. |
How can car makers make engines more fuel economic | The move to smaller engines . Engines are being made out of lighter materials, as well. Cars are more aerodynamic, etc. The biggest affect I've found on my own personal fuel mileage is the driver. If you drive like there is a glass of water balancing on your dashboard and you drive conservatively and don't jab on the g... |
Overclocking a PC, please. | Overclocking a Pc is increasing the frequency of a component inside of it, such as increasing the frequency, or Clock speed, of a CPU to 3GHz, a frequency 0.5GHz higher than the intended 2.5GHz it would normally be; Hence the name overclocking, allowing the component to perform a task faster, Frequency is usually a mea... |
How do dogs sense when a diabetic person’s glucose levels are dangerously low or high? | First, they basically screen puppies for the ones with the best noses. Everyone's breath can be used to tell what their sugar levels are like. For example, if your blood sugar is dangerously high, your breath will have a specific fruity-ish scent to it. The dogs are trained to keep an eye out for these specific scents.... |
A Few Folks Over At /r/Law Made A New Subreddit To Explain Legal Issues. Come On Over. | Taking a look, cool! Suggestion: EVERY SINGLE POST should have highlighted auto-flair "I am not your lawyer; This is not legal advice." Saves spaceBolshevikMuppet legal questions What could possibly go wrong? |
If a jogger runs at the speed of sound, can he still hear his iPod? | Yes, so long as he has it with him. Concorde flew at twice the speed of sound and the passengers were able to hear each other. Sound that is stationary that the jogger passes would sound very weird and distorted but his iPod should sound OK as it's travelling at the same speed.Yes, the sound waves from the ipod will ha... |
How does YouTube's auto caption function work? | Well yes. It utilizes a speech to text program, which is the computer trying to recognize words. It is not very good at this, but things are improving. |
How do currency exchange centers make money? | Generally they take a percentage of the money they change, or they offer other paid servicesLike with any product they buy it for less than they sell it for. You might buy your holiday money for 90p per Euro, but when you come home and change your leftover back you only get about 80p back.Imagine you sell $100, and buy... |
Why do I get hiccups when I eat too quickly? | I'm no doctor, but I would assume it's because you eat too quickly.The stomach, which is situated right below the diaphragm, becomes distended and irritates the diaphragm. This will cause the diaphragm to contract, as it does when we breathe in. You can get rid of them by exhaling as much air from your lungs as possibl... |
Why is it that story lines, characters and outcomes from a book can differ so much from the movie based off that book? | I have a feeling that the author of the book has very little influence on the movie, once they've sold the rights to it. Also, I think movie patrons are different from readers and are seeking a different kind of resolution to the story. That is, book readers are more willing to see an open-ended resolution where movieg... |
Why people can get "accumulated tiredness" but not "accumulated rest"? | I assume you're talking about sleep debt? Sleep debt is a little more complicated than "accumulated tiredness." It generally refers to a chain of changes and harms in the body as a result of poor sleep or insufficient sleep: increased risk of obesity, heart problems, stroke, cognitive decline, high blood pressure, high... |
If the nucleus is held together by a strong force, then how do atoms gain or lose neutrons (and radioactive atoms lose protons)? | Well, the Strong Force is only one of 4 fundamental forces of nature, the other three being Electromagnetism, Gravity, and the Weak Force. That force is only about 137 times greater than the Electromagnetic Force, which attempts to push two positively charged protons away from each other. If the Strong Force weakens or... |
Why do protagonists in TV shows primarily go with pistols? | On top of what /u/notbobby125 said; Outside of military or special circumstance it's not common to just see someone walking around with a rifle. Law and Order would be strange if the detectives were getting coffee with rifles.Pistols are easier for the actors to handle, allow for a wider range of more dramatic shots, a... |
When your car stalls, what causes it to shake so violently? | In the case of killing the engine while shifting, you're releasing the clutch quicker than the engine is spinning. Releasing the clutch puts more friction on the flywheel and crankshaft, meaning it's going to be harder to spin. The cylinders firing are usually using the piston to push on the crankshaft. If there's too ... |
Why do established writers/poets get to break the rules? (So-called "creative license") | Because they are more guidelines than rules. These rules exist for a reason. Because over time writers have figured out that certain things work and certain other things don't work. By copying this behavior, you can then be somewhat successful. But really good writers will go beyond this. They will understand why the r... |
how to constructively take criticism like an adult. | It's a little unfortunate that most people seem to phrase criticism as a direct attack on someone. Maybe it's a limitation of the English language, but it can be difficult to take criticism as a non-offense. Instead, observe criticism as feedback on how to improve yourself. How to make yourself a better person. Critici... |
Why do chickens Lay unfertalized eggs? | Why do women keep ovulating even if they're not getting any sex?", 'So their eggs are not a product of the male and female genetic mixes unless a chicken and rooster mate prior to the egg. Chickens laying eggs is more of a bodily function that comes with the age of the chicken. So chickens would lay eggs no matter what... |
Is the energy used to run your body stored in cell themselves like water is? And how is the process of burning fat used to power your body? | You know the meme that the "mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell". Well basically, the mitochondria produce a chemical called ATP. It uses the byproducts of the chemical reactions that break down carbohydrates, fats and proteins to make it. ATP then leaves the mitochondria and goes into the cell. From there, the ... |
What is being dyslexic like? | I knew a guy that was dyslexic in my math class and when they would give us problem sheets that we had to work on as a group, I would notice that sometimes he would flip the numbers unknowingly until I called him out on it. For example if the number was 123 he would write 213 without even noticing it or 3+5*8 would end... |
Why do people sleep better when it's cold but have an easier time waking up if it's warm? | When it's cold, it's easier for your body and your brain to slow down which makes it easier for you to sleep. When it's warm, you have better blood circulation which means more oxygen getting to your brain so it can work better with less effort, which makes you feel more awake and alert sooner. ETA: Both ends of this h... |
why New York is the biggest market for sports in America | * it is the largest city in the US* it was the largest city in the US when both professional sports and broadcast media emerged, and has deep traditions in both* it has a well defined city identity that overwhelms the surrounding cities * it is densely populated into a small area, which lots of people receiving the sam... |
Why is it that emotional distress causes the loss of apatite? | One way of thinking about it by looking at Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: _URL_0_ While there is some debate, the current thinking is that you first need a sound psychological mind before you start fulfilling other needs. Eating and drinking comes under the 'Safety' tier of hierarchy. As such, if you are disturbed by a p... |
Where does the internet physically exist? | I'm a sr network engineer and I asked this same question 15yrs ago lol. The internet physically exists in data centers that are connected via tier 1 & 2 internet service providers like verizon, global crossing, time warner, savvis, century link, etc etc. Most isp's own dark or dim fiber interconnecred all over the worl... |
Why are genitals darker than the rest of their owner? | Your genitals have more melanin, which protects against UV radiation. A long time ago, humans and their ancestors didn't wear clothes, so such sensitive parts did need more protection against the sun.How common is this? Mine is as pale as the rest of meAs other comments have mentioned, melanin is sun protection. That a... |
How can seedless watermelons continue to exist? Aren’t seeds needed for reproduction? | It's the same thing g that happened with bananas! Bananas used to have a pit inside them that was the seed, but scientists genetically engineered the pit out of them decades ago. now, to grow any more bananas we need to genetically graft from one banana and grow it in a lab to get the banana trees. Same thing with seed... |
Why did Italian develope as a separate language from Latin,even though Latin continued to be spoken?. | In the book You Are What You Speak, the author explains that until the nation building trend of the 1800s, language was a continuum as you moved through Italy, France, then Spain, the common person spoke a language that was decreasingly similar to the Latin spoke in Rome. If you picked any point along the way, the comm... |
why is there no better/portable partition format than FAT32? | The big proprietary OS makers reluctant to include file systems other than their own unless they have to. The open source world can't really handle anything that requires royalties except as part of grey-market solutions. Makers of devices that accept removable media don't really like royalties much, but they are also ... |
How does the transmission of electricity work? | First thing first, electrons flow through metal wires because metal atoms share electrons with their neighbors, which means they're not really locked on to a particular atom. As long as there are enough electrons around the atom, it doesn't care where they're from or where they're going. That means they can flow, like ... |
What short term and long term effects can a male experience when kicked in the groin? | In the short term, a great deal of pain. The genitals possess the second most dense area of nerve endings associated with pain , so getting hit in the groin is extraordinarily painful. If you are a female, you can imagine getting kicked dead-on the clitoris, for example. In the long term, you do have to worry about tes... |
How did Japan find its huge trove of rare earth metals on Minami-Torishima? | Despite the name, rare earth metals aren't particularly rare. You can take some random dirt and test it, and it will probably have some rare earth metals in it. On the other hand, it's going to be in absolutely minuscule amounts. Even in areas with high concentrations, rare earth mining has to be done by harvesting abs... |
How can light act as both a wave and a particle? | Light has properties we usually attribute to particles **and** properties we usually attribute to waves. In fact, this is true of *everything*, not just light. Light interferes and diffracts like a wave, but it carries momentum and hits things like a particle. |
Is the theory that we are inside some sort of simulation a plausible one? Are there any well worked-out views on the topic? | It's plausible, I guess, in the sense that it could be true. If the simulation is good enough, we'd never notice. It's just as likely that I'm the only thing that actually exists in the universe and you are all just figments of my imagination or that entire universe is completely destroyed and recreated every other Tue... |
How do video games (or video game content) get leaked? | Yep to the last bit. Its somebody down the line that gives it to the press/somebody they know for a favour or a good old fashioned wad of green when it comes to bigger titles. |
Why can't a US president just an Executive Order for everything they want done? | An executive order is only capable of ordering something which the Executive Branch has the authority delegated by either the Constitution or act of Congress. This doesn't include just anything the President may want done. Any order must be supported by the relevant existing law. Technically speaking there is no explic... |
How can we "train" our bodies/tastebuds to handle spicy foods? Is it just getting used to the heat or are there actual chemical changes? | You can train your body. More importantly your brain. Your body creates chemicals to battle the pain. It is why heat heads get a high from trying really hot foods. Endorphins and other brain goos in the brain are discharged more effectively if you eat spicy food more often. If you have problems with spicy foods start o... |
what does it mean to be in escrow? | If you and I make a bet, we both give our money to a friend we can trust. It helps make sure neither one of us backs out. The friend can be said to be holding the money in escrow. Escrow shows up with a number of important deals. It's difficult to force someone to transfer a house back, so a seller usually wants to be ... |
what's going on with the stock markets? | China is an economic bubble and everyone knows it. The question is will burst or will it slowly deflate. A bubble is when the value of something is over inflated. China said they were doing great, look at all those modern flats they were building, it turns out that the flats are too expensive for people to live in. Sto... |
Why is it okay for a business to discriminate based on age but not by race? | Neither of your examples is age discrimination per the law. The [Age discrimination in Employment Act] only protects people aged 40 and over from employment related age discrimination. Your theme park isn't discriminating against age so much as childless adults, which isn't a protected class. Restaurants are not allowi... |
Does the fact we can choose to believe that free will exists, prove that free will exists? | Nope. It's a complex topic, but the idea is that choice is an illusion. You can "choose" to believe or not to believe. However, some would argue that your choice is a product of your life up to that point. You were basically destined to choose that way all along. I don't mean to say one side or the other is accurate. B... |
I often hear people say the universe is young, but how do they know what's young in terms of universes? | It means there's tons of negentropy left. That is, there's absurd quantities of usable energy left in the universe, and that much energy is going to take an astronomically long time to waste away even if nobody does anything to shepherd it. We have plenty of time.Young just means far from heat death in this context. He... |
How does a cricket ball "swing" and to what degree does the environment/weather/pitch play a role? | You're right about shining one side of the ball to get it to swing. The reason being that the smooth side of the ball will travel through the air with less resistance than the rough side. So if one side is quicker through the air than the other, the ball will swing. **Enviroment** There's an old cricket adage that York... |
Why do spiders not get stuck to their own web? | Basically, they tiptoe. They only come into contact with the webs a little bit at a time, use only the little hairs on each of their legs. Spiders can and do get stuck on their own web in gusts of wind or something huge disturbing the web. |
Why is it you get dizzy and lose vision momentarily when you stand up too quickly sometimes? | That is called orthostatic hypotension: _URL_0_ When you stand up, the blood that was pooled in the lower parts of your body has to spread out farther in order to reach your extremities . Since there's less blood in your head, there's less oxygen, and you essentially start to lose consciousness. |
Why haven't any open widely supported vector video formats taken the place of Flash on the web? | The only reason to have a vector format is to display media that originates in a vector format. Moreover, if you want to display anything more complicated than wireframe pictures, you need a ton of raster data to paint onto your wireframe. When you're writing a 3d video game, it makes sense because the installation cam... |
Why did people first milk cows/goats? | I'm not sure we know for certain, but I would surmise that knowing our children suckle on our teats, and their children suckle on their teats, we quickly worked out we might gain food by taking their milk, and that this food is renewable. |
How does audio get transmitted over a specific frequency or waves? (AKA Radio) | Radio waves have two ways of being transmitted: AM and FM . The way a radio wave is created is by electrons running up and down radio towers. This is what creates the electromagnetic wave. Electromagnetic waves have a special property because it creates an electric field in one direction, and a magnetic field in the pe... |
Why does iced coffee taste so good, but cold hot coffee tastes terrible? | When you prepare coffee to be iced, you prepare it stronger than normal. That way, you can brew it hot, and then when you dilute it with lots of ice it winds up the proper strength. If you drink that hot iced coffee preparation before adding ice, you'll find that it's overpoweringly strong. If you ice a cup of hot coff... |
Do people with disabilities in US go to regular schools like movies make it seem? If so, why? | In the US we call it "inclusion" or "mainstreaming" and the idea is that a student should be in the most "mainstream" environment in which they can be successful. There are schools for the blind and deaf as well as schools for those with other major physical or mental handicaps but the goal is to include them when poss... |
the difference between a Lawyer and a Solicitor (Australia) | A lawyer is the general term. All solicitors are lawyers. In Australia, a lawyer can loosely be one of two main types. A solicitor or a barrister. A barrister is the one in robes and wigs who stands up and talks in court. They're specialists at running a trial, convincing judges and juries, examining evidence. A solici... |
How can Luxembourg have an insane national debt and not crumble? | Debt per capita doesn't matter very much--what matters is the debt as a percentage of GDP, the size of the economy. After all, wealthy countries can afford to pay more than poor countries even if they have a lower population. Nevertheless, Luxembourg's external debt as a percentage of GDP is also high. This because "ex... |
Why do we skip a number when two (or more) things are tied for the same rank? | We skip a number because it doesn't matter if there are 2 tied for first or there is a first and a second, the next one is the 3rd best -- because there are 2 ahead in the ranking. It's the number of people/cities, etc. ahead, not the number of unique scores that matter. |
The surge of violence in Chicago | A combination of reasons. High unemployment, A mass amount of organized crime due to drug running, a corrupt local government, an oblivious federal government, high population density and an extremely strict gun control policy. That's the extremely, extremely, short version. |
Rural/Tribal people and their perfectly white teeth. | They do not have the luxury of eating or drinking sweet things often. This prevents a lot of tooth decay.The reason most people in the industrialized world have teeth problems is because of sugar. We consume pounds and pounds of sugar a year which eats away at our enamel which make them yellow and tarnished. These peop... |
Why is it better to sometimes cover a wound and other times leave it exposed | First Aid Instructor here: all wounds: wash then cover. leaving a wound open leaves it open to infection. covering not only stops infections but bleeding as well. direct pressure helps.With the exception of minor scrapes and papercuts, wounds should *always* be covered initially. Covering the wound keeps it moist, prom... |
Where does surplus electricity go? | In a general sense, unused load is wasted. In a practical sense, unused load is often stored in a number of ways, such as mechanically in a fly wheel or chemically through any number of processes, such as hydrogen production. Occasionally, this extra power is delivered to something like a distillation plant, to produce... |
How do they determine the nutrition facts of a food product? (like total fat, protein, calories | How many grams if protein are present? Etc. And calories are determined by measuring how much energy the serving will give off using a calorimeter. |
what does it mean on a watch when it says Quartz? | It means that it has a quartz crystal regulating the movement via the piezoelectric properties of the crystal. If you pass an electric current through quartz, it changes shape; and when it changes shape, it generates a current. Using carefully tuned crystals, a very precise frequency can be assured. By counting the bea... |
Why do butter and margarine cook so differently despite tasting very similar? | Leaving aside the fact that I don't agree with butter tasting similar to margarine: Butter has milk solids in it, along with other organic compounds that undergo caramelization while also being a fat that allows for the heat transfer so that the food gets crispy. In your example, the butter AND the bread carmelize. Mar... |
What seperates oceans? Why do we have 5 of them and not one that contains all of them? | Two things; 1) land masses and, 2) water currents. Since technically all oceans are connected it is ocean currents that really separate the oceans from each other. Other than that it's just imaginary lines drawn by people on a map a long time ago. |
Vacuums, not the machine, the actual process of a vacuum and is the vacuum of space a true vacuum? | A vacuum is simply an area where no 'stuff' is present. Certain parts of space are vacuums because there is nothing there. No stuff. No matter. Things do not simply fly out into vacuums like a vacuum cleaner pulls things in. What is happening if you have seen things fly out into space is that the pressure is compromise... |
How do inkjet laser printers, and other printers, work? | Printers that use plain paper as a medium tend to print in one of two ways: 1. Ink is stored as a liquid. To print, the container uses an electric current to vaporize a tiny amount of ink, creating a pressure difference, causing it to eject from the print head. 2. Ink is stored as a powder. To print, a laser beam, proj... |
why can I sometimes feel my pulse really strongly in a random part of my body? | There are a lot of reasons for feeling your pulse or heartbeat. 1st of all you should get a basic checkup with your doctor.Many people can become more aware of their heartbeat at nighttime because it's quieter around them and they focus on it. Other causes are vast including high blood pressure, narrowing in you blood ... |
How come when traveling on roads with pay tolls, vehicles with more axels have to pay significantly more for the toll? | Heavier vehicles, which have more axels, are harder on the roads. Tolls, which are used in part to keep the roads in good repair, reflect the additional wear and tear of multi-axeled vehicles[Trucks are exponentially worse on the roads than cars.] |
because my English teacher can't. What are the main differences between absurdism and existentialism? | Simple version from a theatrical perspective: Existentialists: Life has no meaning, so we must create it ourselves. Absurdists: Life has no meaning, and that's hilarious. |
What do people do with their money while serving life in prison? | Someone on the outside with access to his accounts can give him a good bit to spend in the commissary, most likely but I doubt he'll need millions for that kind of stuff. Pretty sure his assets will go to next-of-kin or something by default, but surely they sit and talk with a lawyer upon being put in jail to sort all ... |
Why do actors & actresses in popular movies and tv shows seem like the perfect choices? | You feel that way now, but when casting the role, the people were staring down the fact that this was the dad from Malcolm in the Middle. Now, as it happens, in that case the creator of the show had worked with him prior to that on an X-Files episode and new the range. It's very easy to miscast a role, but there are th... |
How do different types of exercise trigger different types of muscle growth? i.e Marathon runner vs. bodybuilder | Muscles have three different types of cells or fibers . One fiber type helps lift more weight but it fatigues easier. Another type cannot lift as much weight but it has a lot of mitochondria so it can sustain exercise for a lot longer. The third is an intermediate fiber between these two. The first two fiber types are ... |
Why did the government bail out automakers instead of granting vouchers to people that could be redeemed for a car? | France did this a few years ago. In 2009, a new president steps in, gives great financial incentives for people to scrap their old car buy a new car. Everyone is happy. Except that a year or two later, everyone still has a new-ish car, and nobody is interested in buying one now at normal market prices, so the car indus... |
Why are characters on kids shows these days always "collecting" things along the way - like stars, doubloons, Super Letters? | I wouldn't say teach, I'd say reenforce collecting and getting all the toys, products, etc involved. Adding in collecting coins also makes it more video game like . The core of many of these show is to be a giant ad for the merchandise. Its not as blatant as GIJoe and Transformers in the 80s but its still a part of the... |
How can some terminally ill people just "hold off" death until they're ready? | With a lot of diseases, your body become so weak that breathing is difficult, and can at teams require a conscious effort. You even have minor attacks, were you have to breath as hard as you can for a while just to stay alive. At some point, you might choose to not make that effort anymore. Also, you can make choices a... |
How can my dry cleaner sweep my shirts into a huge pile of other peoples shirts and get them back to me? | HA.. Something I can answer as i have working knowledge of the system that have been used in different companies. Source: My parents work shoe repair and do a delivery route with dry cleaners. Going on 30 years now. In the older mom-pop, if you watch quickly, what they will do is not so much dump them, as fold it as on... |
What would happen if I was travelling close to the speed of light and I turned on a flashlight? | No, to an outside observer the light will be coming out at the speed of light. To you, the light will also be coming out at the speed of light. To all observers, light in a vacuum will always be at c. This observation is one of the major components to relativity. It's needed to explain the 'apparent' discrepancy betwee... |
Why do humans and animals get different diseases and why is some diseases impossible to be transmitted between humans and other animals? | Diseases can be caused by a lot of different things. A disease is any sort of specific problem with the health of an organism. Many diseases involve aging - degenerative disc disease in humans, for example, is caused by wear and tear on the spine . You can see why this can't be transmitted to your dog, or a tree. Other... |
What does it mean to eat unhealthy/healthy? | > What type of impact does good/bad food have on me. Does it just mean I will feel shittier, or will it make me 50% statistically more likely to die 10 years earlier. Both of these. Eating certain foods will make you feel better or worse, more tired or energetic. It also directly impacts your life expectancy, the guy w... |
How come we can see things so vividly in our dreams but can't create such vivid images in our imaginations when we're awake? | Because our dreams are *not* that vivid. They leave out tons of information, and when we wake and try to recall the dream, our brain fills in gaps with information that wasn't even there during the real dream. |
What exactly happens when somebody is "knocked out"? | It kind of is. Being "knocked out" is essentially having so much trauma done that your brain shuts down all unnecessary actions/faculties in order to protect itself. Such as if you pass out due to pain, or get knocked out by a hit to the chin. You normally wake up a little bit later, dazed and confused. Other times, it... |
How was the computer invented? | It started slowly. People noticed you could design an electric circuit to answer a simple question. I'm not even talking about things like addition or subtraction yet - just things like "is one of these on" or "are both of these on". Then people started combining these small steps into bigger ones to answer bigger ques... |
what in the audio jack’s design makes the iPhone more prone to water damage than the lightning port? | > But there are other orifices on smartphones, too. Whenever you have a port in a container such as a smartphone the efforts to secure it against water intrusion are going to have a certain rate of failure. Whatever the rate is the fewer ports the lower the risk to the device as a whole. Obviously they can't get rid of... |
why planets are spherical AND why saturn has a ring | Spherical planets: gravity is a radial force, which means that it pulls equally in all directions, and the strength only depends on how far away you are. We say that it is "spherically symmetric". Now, for a small object like an asteroid, it may be that the mass is small enough that the force of gravity can't move stuf... |
In Mario64, what caused the glitches where if you leaned against certain walls in just the right way, you would fall through them to a strange abstract polygonal purgatory? | Collision detection bugs. Most of these had to be done with machine-assists or 'wedging', as the angles required to cause the glitch were quite precise. The strange polygon effects are the result of trying to render to an infinite distance. |
why is desalination so expensive? | For two reasons, energy and time. It can be quick but takes a lot of energy, and usually isn't worth it unless water is badly needed. Or it can consume very little energy, but takes a very long time to get the same amount of water ", 'While you can distill water like that to purify it, it takes a long time and in no wa... |
How can a Circle have an infinite amount of points, that together and individually, hold no space, yet they create a finite enclosure? | Because you are thinking about a circle and a point as physical objects, rather than mathematical *concepts*. Naturally if you *draw* a circle and then draw a dot, a finite number of the dots you draw will fit in the circle you draw. But the *mathematical* concept means the points have no size - they are merely the loc... |
What happens when you swallow something "down the wrong tube?" | We have 2 tubes, one for food *and* drinking and one for breathing . They share one entrance at the back of our mouth, though. We have a flap called the "epiglottis" that folds over the trachea when we swallow, so that food slides down the "right tube" that leads into our stomach. If we're talking, drunk, or something ... |
why when I turn my music up to the max volume, say on my phone, its all distorted. | It's the speakers. In order to make sounds, the speaker has to move back and forth *extremely* quickly, up to 20 thousand times a second for the highest tones that humans can hear. To make the sound louder, the speaker has to move a greater distance at the same rate, so that more air gets pushed out of the way. In orde... |
Why are so many people allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. | They aren't, but doctors told them they were, so you can't get mad at them. A recent study found that around 80% of the people diagnosed with peanut allergies were actually allergic to pollen and not peanuts. This misdiagnosis was due to a lack of precision in common testing regimens. Link to relevant article: _URL_0_"... |
Why are computers so inaccurate at estimating download/installation times? | Because internet download and upload speeds are constantly fluctuating due to different loads on the network, so there's no way to know for sure how long a download will take. If these speeds were constant then it would be easy.Internet speed is not constant. It can be 100Mb/s, 5mb/s in each second, even stop for 1 or ... |
What is Descartes's **Wax Argument** about? | so you have a piece of wax. How do you know it's wax? simple - you see it and it looks all hard and shit like wax, you feel it and it's kinda cold and bendable, you smell it and it's all waxy smelling, you taste it and it tastes like crayons. but hold up, let's say that some fire comes and is all "IMA FUCK UP YOUR WAX ... |
Why are Tony Blair and George W Bush not in prison for war crimes? | I cannot say for Tony Blair beyond the fact that going after a countries leader is a very complicated thing. For Bush it is the fact that the US has not signed the ICC agreements and gives no authority to the UN or any other entity for putting US citizens on trial for war crimes. We hold our own accountable and if ther... |
Why do some people think Shakespeare was a made up person/alter ego? | The plays contain detailed knowledge of court manners, foreign locations and references to historical facts as well as familiarity with earlier playwrights. The facts known about William Shakespeare suggest he was an actor, not that well educated, did not frequent the social circles where he would pick up that kind of ... |
Why does cleaning your ears out feel so good? | It is very sensitive in your ear canal and, as we learn during puberty, touching sensitive things feels good. |
Why call it a 3rd party and not a 2nd party? | Because it is the 3rd party. The first two being the user and the developer and the third being the external product.The second party is you, the consumer. A third party is someone who's neither the buyer nor the seller. |
Why are device designations in BSD different from Linux? | Because BSD is not Linux and Linux is not BSD. The designers of the respective kernels and their device driver interfaces made some design decisions. While the resulting device designations are similar, they are not the same because BSD and Linux kernels were developed by different people. |
Why people who do meth look so messed up from their before and after pictures? | Meth is made from many chemicals that are toxic to the body. Imagine dumping toxins into your body daily that harm your body and damage it. Eventually the body is going to be worn down from all the damage. Also you start becoming addicted to meth because it releases such pleasure that ones body starts wanting it more t... |
Why hasn't there been another moon landing since Apollo 11? | As reference - _URL_0_ We have been back since Apollo 11 the last one was Apollo 17. But otherwise? Because the Moon is a god forsaken hell hole with no value what so ever. There's no reason to be up there, its a giant pain in the ass to get there and Moon Dust is the most abrasive and annoying stuff we've ever found. |
Why do some bodybuilders claim to be "All Natural" while they consume crazy amounts of supplements? | By "all natrual" they are usually referring to stuff like steroids and injections ect which are considered cheating. Drinking protein shakes and taking supplements is considered a normal thing to do if you're a body builder. They don't do the work for you or make it easier. They just help you build muscle faster and ma... |
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