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Is there anything in the known universe that is truly “unlimited”? Is it even possible? | To paraphrase Einstein, two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, but I'm not so sure on the former.We believe that time is unlimited. That is, there is no specific end to the future. Either this universe goes on forever, or it eventually collapses and causes another Big Bang in an endless cycle. |
Why is Cos(a) used when its the same thing as Sin((a)+PI/2)? | Sounds like you answered your own question which one was easier to write? It's the same reason we say 5 instead of 1+1+1+1+1 |
why do arcades use coins instead of quarters? | If they give you real money, they'll have to replenish their supply of coins more often. Some people will just walk in and take out $40 of quarters for their laundromat money. |
If babies are in the womb for 9 months why aren't they 9 months old when born? | Our concept of age predates our understanding of gestation. In ancient times, people knew about years and could count the number of summers/winters that went by since the day a kid was born. They didn't know exactly how long a baby had been in the womb.In addition to the other responses, it would also depend on when yo... |
How does the porn industry make money? | It doesn't make much anymore because of all the free stuff that's been dumped online. There's still a huge market for DVDs and paid online porn though. |
Why dont we just take the garbage from our landfills on Earth and torpedo it into the sun? | I don't think you understand how expensive it is. First off, let's look at how much it would cost just to get something to geosynchronous orbit. That's clearly not all the way to the sun, but you've escaped most of the gravity, and we have good numbers for that. Prices vary, but generally it seems to be about $25,000 p... |
What is the origin of "America will not negotiate with terrorists" and why do we have this policy? | That's exactly what they will think. As soon as you pay the ransom for one person, all the other terrorist, cartels and criminals will begin to assume that they can get away with it as well, and do the same. It doesn't help that people are rarely released if you give in to terrorists demands, they are normally killed a... |
Why, when I wake from a nap, am I always REALLY thirsty? | Assuming you're not chronically dehydrated, It could be that you're breathing with your mouth open while you sleep. This would dry out your mouth and throat and make you feel thirsty when you wake up. It shouldn't take much liquid to fix this, and would probably even go away on its own once you got up and your saliva r... |
Why can't you fly to the top of Everest? | Parachutes need more atmosphere to work than is available there, and most helicopters can't fly that high. |
If you ate lots of fat, but no carbs whatsoever, would you gain weight? | Your body can make every carb it needs without ever eating a carb/sugar. If you drink nothing but oil, after a few days your body will start burning fats for energy. To answer the weight gain part. Yes. If you consume enough calories of anything, including oil, you'll gain weight. |
How did Obama lift the Embargo off of Cuba without consent of Congress? | He hasn't lifted the embargo; he's reopened diplomatic relations and loosened a few limits on what legitimate visitors to Cuba can bring home.The news headline on my TV literally says "Embargo on Cuba lifted by Obama"', "Pros: Diplomatic relations can lead to the chance to influence Cuba through trade, business opportu... |
in what does the saudi Arabian military spend its huge military budget, they don't seem to have anything mind blowing | Quite a lot of it is spent the way most police states do. Oppressing their own people. The rest is preventing border infiltrations and keeping their oil reserves 'safe' with a credible military deterrent, mostly backed up by the U.S. government, to keep oil profitable and 'cheap' by shifting the cost to our taxes. |
How does blood dispersion in the body alter behavior/abilities, if at all? | No, not really. Blood just supplies the energy, it doesn't affect the machinery. Think about it this way - if you give a an old PC running windows 95 twenty times more electricity than it needs, it still won't make the processor any stronger. |
Why... haven't sloths died out? | They're on the list, chill out, we'll get to em. Jeeze People are so impatient ", 'Does taste have anything to do with it? To other animals do sloths taste horrible, therefore nothing wants to eat them?', "> What would the benefit of being slow be? Not burning Energy? That's it. Sloths consume a lot less food than fast... |
What's the deal with "Han shot first"? I understand a scene was changed by George Lucas, but why did he do it and why did it piss everybody off so much? | People liked the fact that Han shot first, its the first time you see Han in all of Star Wars and it showed that he was a cutthroat badass. By then altering the scene to show that he shot second, it removes that character information. Now him shooting is just an instinctive reaction, it doesn't say anything about him a... |
How/why does 'ghost pepper' cause vomiting, rectal bleeding, sweating? | I'm assuming the chemicals in the pepper cause a great deal of irritation to human tissues. Regular hot peppers cause similar irritation, but not to the same degree. At a certain point hot peppers are no longer foodstuffs and are just health hazards. |
How Did High End Clothing Brands Like Gucci, LV, And Other’s Blow Up? | The monograms on these items is for trademark because a stackable trunk is too vague to patent, and that problem gets more complicated with shoes or a cut of a suit. Copyright doesn't work for this kind of intellectual property. Thus, designers marked their designs. Trademark is easier for them to enforce in courts, an... |
Why do gymnasts constantly have to raise one or both of their hands during routines? | My dad once told me that it's to show everyone how fabulous that routine was.Its also once you raise your hands its like and official "finish" to the trick and they have a specific timer as to when you have to start your routineposing like that with both hands in the air signals the end of a trick, and that they have c... |
How do planes move relative to the earth if there is no contact between them and the ground? I'll tryto explain what i mean. | The atmosphere is rotating and has inertia too. It's not like it's sitting still and the earth is just spinning inside it. |
- What people mean when they claim the Civil War was not about slavery. | For example, the *Emancipation Proclamation* freed slaves in *states in rebellion* . There were still slaves in the North that weren't freed. This means that not only did Lincoln *not* end slavery, but he did *nothing* to effect slavery . The states out of rebellion got to keep their slaves, and the states in rebellion... |
Why violence and bad behavior is more tolerated among sports players in game than members of the general public. | I don't quite understand your question. Are you asking why we're not more critical of athletes that abuse their spouses or get into bar fights? Or are you asking why we're okay with football having hard tackling and showboating/trash talking? |
Why is Coca Cola cheaper in some places than clean water, e.g. Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, etc? | Idk if it's right, but like The_Serious_Account said, i guess the clean water is more like an goverment thing, and in some countries the government just doesn't care about the poor population for spending funds with them. Now, concerning Coca Cola, it's profit, doesn't cost much for them, and its part of the sad things... |
Why do some dinosaur bones stay as bones (fossils), and others turn into petroleum? | The origin of petroleum is somewhat disputed. There are theories that state that it's origins are actually abiotic, meaning that the chemistry is not related to dead organisms. However, assuming biological source of petroleum, the answer would be depth. Fossils are found in sedimentary rocks reasonably close to the sur... |
why most scientific research papers are behind a paywall? | It's published in a journal, and this journal has to cover its operating costs somehow. These journals have relatively few readers as compared to stuff made for mass consumption so it needs to get a good amount of money per reader to break even or turn a profit. For the vast majority of people these journals are useles... |
How did they manage to take that picture of pluto | The sunlight is actually fairly bright at Pluto. It *is* dimmer than the light at Earth's distance but it is not dark. NASA created a web form that you can use to figure out the time of day that your local light from the sky is the same brightness as it is at Pluto. Check it out. _URL_0_ |
How did people navigate oceans before GPS? | The only time it's not effective is when you can't see the stars at night. *Polaris* is currently the pole star for the Northern Hemisphere, and the *Crux Australis* is the closest thing to it for the Southern Hemisphere. If you can find those you can figure out where you are. Stars do move in the sky, but it's pretty ... |
When looking at laptops, is the mAh the capacity of the battery? Is it multiplied by how many cells there are? | Yes, it is the total capacity of the battery. All cells aren't created equally , so sometimes a battery with fewer larger cells can outperform a battery with more smaller cells. Keep in mind the capacity of the battery doesn't relate as much to battery life as you might think. Ultrabooks and laptops that use the intel ... |
How is being anesthetized different from sleeping? | From my personal point of view, it's different mostly because you don't dream, you don't drift in and out of consciousness like when you are asleep. It's like turning off a switch. When I had my open heart surgery , I remember asking the nurse why there was some blood dripping from the site where they inserted the need... |
Why is reading books considered such a good thing? What is the difference cognitively between someone who reads books for entertainment, and someone who watches documentaries yet never reads at all? | It's because with books you're actively engaged the entire time and have to form your own images or understanding of what you're reading whereas with documentaries or any kind of video-based learning it's inherently a more passive experience. Reading forces you to think in a way that watching videos doesn't.When you wa... |
The vaccination 'controversy'. | There is, in fact, a link between vaccinations and autism. That link is age. Autism is usually first noticed around the same age that kids get their scheduled vaccinations. This is a property of autism, and only a coincidence, but it is a link that has caused a lot of children to be diagnosed with autism shortly after ... |
What do Ukrainian separatists have to gain by shooting down a Malaysian passenger plane? | They wouldn't. However, they would not likely have known that it was civilian. They most likely mistook it for a Ukrainian military transport, command or refueling aircraft. Somewhere, someone is really regretting a poor decision.For now, the best answer is the fog of war. Nobody truly knows what was going on, and thos... |
Why would anyone choose a revolver over a pistol, given the substantial reload time? | revolvers don't jam the same way semi-automatic pistols do. They can if used incorrectly or are not properly cleaned though |
How does India simultaneously have one of the world's most advanced technological meccas yet also has what looks like one of the world's unhealthiest civilians? | India has a population of 1.3 billion people, about 1 in 7 humans that exist live in india right now. It's also the 7th biggest countries on earth. It has enough people and enough space to be both things. I've been to india and both places are real. There is areas where it's rotting animal corpses and drinking tea made... |
Exactly how useful is a constantly scrolling stock ticker, like one would see on the side of a building or on the bottom of a TV news network, to a modern investor? | Its useful for people who are not actively trading at that particular moment, but wouldnt mind seeing the general idea. I.e. I am on holiday, seeing the ticker will let me know how the market is doing overall, while i'm on my way to, say, get ice cream. It is most definetely an anachronistic thing at this point though.... |
How come it takes years to make a 2 hour movie, but shows like Game of Thrones can release up to ten hours of movie-grade entertainment every year? | There is a lot more that goes into making a movie than just shooting the scenes themselves. There is pre production work and post production work . Movies have to do all of these steps before they are released and, generally, have to do each one every time they make a movie. For a show like GoT, they don't have to hire... |
Why is "talked with Russia so bad? Isn't WHAT they talked about more important?/A Swede. | It's not bad in and of itself. The first issue is Sessions is the Attorney General and was supposed to be investigating Russian influence on the election. Obviously there would appear to be some impropriety there, so he recused himself. The second issue is that he lied about communicating with Russia during the campaig... |
Could light be trapped in a box made of mirrors? | Theoretically if the mirrors were perfect, it would work. However, even the best mirrors have imperfections that would absorb some of the energy . With the speed that light travels and thus how many bounces it must make, it wouldn't take long for the imperfections to absorb them all. |
How come I have to pay for Foxtel and get ads, when things like youtube are free because they play ads. | Foxtel is an overpriced service. There's a reason they practically doubled the content people get the moment the news that Netflix is coming to Australia came out. The sooner it dies a painful death the better. |
Unions, why were they created, what do they do, how do they work, etc. | I won't repeat what others said but I will say I find it interesting how so many people have been duped into believing unions are bad. This is my first union job and thanks to the union my benefits weren't cut nearly as bad and I've been able to get a raise each year verses once in 5 years that management gets. Unions ... |
What stops gas stations from diluting fuel? | Every state has an Office of Weights and Measures, which ensures accuracy in weighing and measures devices - everything from a supermarket scale, to whether you actually pumped 10 gallons of gas in to your car, to octane rating . From what I understand, random gas station inspections are a pretty large part of what the... |
Why is carbon tax so important in dealing with global warming? | Fossil fuels are great. They are pretty cheap, plentiful, and they provide a lot of concentrated energy. The problem is that they damage the ozone layer. Even though gas costs only 3 dollars a gallon, it does 2 dollars of damage to the ozone layer A carbon tax is basically a way to increase the cost of gas to cover the... |
Why is it not in the modeling industry's best interest to have diverse body types? | Most people don't want to see what they look like. If they wanted that, they would just look in the mirror. They want the fantasy, great looking people in great looking clothes, or lack there of. The modeling and fashion industry caters to this. Give the people what they want, not necessarily what makes the most sense. |
If singers can perform others' songs, why can't comedians use jokes from others? | When singers do covers or sample, they pay to do so. When they don't pay, courts generally have an easy time backing up the creator. Jokes are harder to quantify in monetary terms and originality terms than music. So it's much harder to bring a case against someone who has stolen jokes and also be worth it to the plain... |
How come in soccer the clock counts up? | 1. Thats pretty arbitrary. Its mostly because they refer to goals scored in x minute, but otherwise it doesnt really change either way. 2. They don't stop the clock because the game hasn't stopped. You are wasting game time for any break you take . Extra time is only awarded for injuries or other things that are outsid... |
Why are mice/rats usually used in scientific experiments? | They don't use any mice. They use very specifically controlled mice, mice with very close to perfectly known cancer rates and lifespans, etc. They use a sub population of mice that's very very close to homogenous as one and other, so their statistics that are taken from lots of observations are valid. As for why they u... |
Why do some people get a Philosophy degree, and then move on to Law. Wouldn't it be smarter to get a degree in Psychology instead of Philosophy? | Law is all about philosophy. At what point is a person responsible? How should state of mind effect punishment? Does allowing something to remain legal mean that we as a society condone such behavior? If there was a right and wrong in law then laws and politics wouldn't differ so much from place to place. |
[music theory; specifically metre (rythm) | 4/4 is common. That's 1 2 3 4. The top number of the fraction refers to the number of beats in a measure, that is, there are four beats in one measure of the song before it cycles again. The bottom number tells you whether the quarter or eighth note gets the beat, but this won't add much to this discussion. 3/4 time is... |
How is beer made? | in essences, beer is just: 1) Water - well, most of your beer is water. 2) Yeast - the thing that turns sugar in malts into alcohol during fermentation. there's also various types of yeast for ales/lagers that give them different flavors and smell. 3) Malt - nowadays, there's malt extracts, basically, a sugar syrup. ho... |
Why is air trapped in ice that's been still for hours? | > If I leave some water in the freezer, it sits and any air bubbles leave but it comes out with dots in it that I assume are bubbles, can someone tell me why? Air *dissolves* in water. It isn't that air bubbles are just sitting under water clinging to the sides, there is gas mixed into the water on a molecular level. |
Since juries (in America) decide a person's guilt, why in pop culture do we see judges banging their gavel and declaring "guilty!"? | you can choose to have a bench trial or you can have a jury trial . it's more dramatic to have a judge bang the gavel and declare guilty than it is to have the jury foreman tell the judge they decided the defendant was guilty. _URL_0_", 'Bench trials are an option that people have, and the default for some kinds of tri... |
If almost all counties in the world have an external debt towards another country, couldn't the debt be paid only "on paper", thus getting rid of it? | Paying off debt isn't beneficial to a country. As long as someone owes you something, it is within your interests for them to be able to keep paying you. This means that a sudden embargo or other economical fallout befalling your debtor is bad for your own economy. By only paying the interest, you keep the debts in che... |
Why are male urinals not common in houses? | Typically there isn't enough space in the average house to justify the use of that wall real estate. Best option would be a urinal / toilet hybrid of some sort. Kind of like this but more designer that would appeal to women. _URL_0_ |
Why are some smells good and others not? | If rotten food smelled yummy, you would eat it, get sick and die. But if it smelled bad to you, you would avoid eating it. Over generations, those who didn't eat rotten would survive and the others would die off. The end product is a brain that has evolved to enjoy smells of things that are good for you and to reject s... |
Why can't you really jump after you've been on a trampoline? | The same reason you feel like you're flying after you get off a treadmill, just the opposite. On a treadmill, you put in a great deal of effort with essentially zero physical movement, and when you're on a trampoline you get used to putting in relatively little work for a huge physical effect. After you're back on the ... |
what's the psychology behind feeling guilty when I'm not guilty of anything? | Wow I thought I was the only one w this problem! I like half believe what other ppl think even if it's totally not true. Idk why this happens it rly sucks in the wrong moments, like when ur bae asks if you're cheating and you're not at all, but then they look at you like really and you start shaking |
What is the difference between avoidant personality disorder versus just being shy and insecure? | Avoidant Personality Disorder is just that, a 'disorder' based upon a cluster of symptoms as described in the DSM-V . Associated with APD tend to have more rigidly held beliefs about their 'unworthiness' with loss and rejection being so painful, they will actively avoid any situation that may promote this. The differen... |
How does the Earth (and everything else) just float, suspended in space? | It isn't. Earth is constantly being pulled toward the sun. But since it has a high tangential velocity , the pull ends up making the planet orbit in an elliptical pattern. This applies to every planet in the solar system as well as every moon around those planets. And also extends the other way to solar systems orbitin... |
Why do the first few sips of a beer or alcoholic beverage make me feel more drunk than the entire rest of the drink does? | I find that the smell of beer gives me that sense for a few minutes. I don't feel drunk, per se, but I seem to have drunk memories hit me if that makes sense. |
Why do stores and shops that sell cupcakes put an unnecessary amount of frosting on them? | It's because the cupcakes is merely a delivery vehicle for the frosting. At least the cupcakes I make are! The frosting is the best part. |
Why does Russia's bombing campaign in Syria appear to be more effective than ours, even though we've been at it for months? | I don't know if it would be considered more effective, remember the comment came from Puttin aside that they are killing US-trained Syrian rebels which helps Asad and ISIS. [BBC has good coverage on their bombing startgety]. Btw don't forget Russia recently accidentally bombed Iran their ally as well [Source]. So I am ... |
Why are some stars blue and others orange/red? | 'Hot' is relative. Compared to other stars, out Sun has a pretty average surface temperature, this makes it yellow. Stars with a cooler surface temperature, like giant stars, and red. Stars which are incredibly hot start to appear blue or white. You can do something similar here on Earth. If you heat up a lump of metal... |
why is the West more closely allied with Saudi Arabia instead of Iran? | The US used to be super friendly with Iran. So much so that the US had direct access to The Shah . The Shah was overthrown via revolution in 1979 and US citizens were taken hostage. This was probably the biggest thing to kill Jimmy Carter's 1980 election campaign. Ever since then, Iran was considered an enemy of the US... |
How do chickens convert a carbohydrate-based diet into high-protein eggs? | I think first it's important to realise that while heavy on the carbs it won't be devoid of proteins, there'll be amino acids in even vegetable matter and these are the building blocks of protein. So it's basically the same process that allows a human to build muscle and skin from a high-carb diet. Incidentally if you ... |
Why doesn't the Earth's orbit decay? Anything that could accidentally cause it to? | without external forces applied, anything in orbit will decay. Even the solar wind isn't enough to stop us. It's just that the sun will burn out before we fall into it . This guy [put up a chart] that says Earth will fall into the sun in 4.37502 * 10^15 years. edit, this was posted in 2013, so subtract one year. |
You name it, China manufactures and exports it to US market hungry for cheap goods. But not cars. Why not? | One word: [quality]. They have excellent cars, but the safety/quality standards of the US are so different from the Chinese standards that it is difficult to bridge the gap with a car that will appeal to the Chinese people at a price point they'll accept and also have something that will appeal to a US buyer. |
will the imminent arrival of mass produced lab grown meat change the vegan perspective of meat eating. | As a rule, serious vegans don't eat food that was produced by animals, even if they ae unharmed - no milk or cheese, some don't wear wool, eggs are out. For them, animal exploitation is the line they draw. So how will that apply to lab meat? Hard to say. It does come from a cell line extracted from an animal, so some w... |
Why did humans evolve a sense of dignity/embarrassment, whereas other species didn't? | One of my dogs faces away from me when he poops. If you walk in front of him while he's going, he'll turn to face away from you again. Does that count as being ashamed or embarrassed?", 'You ever seen a cat do something silly and laugh at it? They will avoid that action in the future, though you may still catch them do... |
If millions of people use Reddit, then why does the top post of all time only have 38,000 upvotes? | Lots of people lurk, or don't vote. My top post of all time has 800k views, bunt only got upvoted like 4k times. |
If we can bank online why can't we vote online? | So sure, we could. Canada is one of the countries on the forefront of this experimenting with it. In area's where it was used voting when up 300% Cost is probably the first concern. It isn't going to be cheap to move to a new system. Security is probably the second concern. Enough dead people vote under the current sys... |
Why is it impossible for PS1 games to be HD remastered? Is it not possible to just redo the textures? | It's not impossible, it's just incredibly expensive and time consuming. Besides the fact that re-doing the textures takes a lot of effort, you also have to re-create all of the models. The original models were made up of very few polygons- much of the reason modern games look more natural is that they have more precise... |
If price collusion is illegal, how does OPEC get away with setting the price of oil? | The don't set the price, Opec sets quotas for member states to meet. They control the price somewhat by controling supply vs the existing demand. Price colluision is two companies agreeing to set a price above what the market should be. Debeers controls the supply of jewlery grade diamonds, and therfore affects the pri... |
I've heard that leaving wall/phone chargers pluged in when not charging wastes power. What prevents them from shutting off automatically when not charging a device? | Basically the monitoring circuitry you're describing that would automatically turn charges on and off would *itself* be a vampire load that wasted power. There's really no getting around it. That said, this is much ado about nothing: Chargers and clocks and LED indicators represent a tiny fraction of the energy ineffic... |
Why does the death penalty cost so much? | 1 - The drugs are expensive. Due to only having the one purpose and no major company wanting to be known as the guys who supply the execution drugs, the companies that do manufacture them are able to name their price. 2 - Death Row is generally it's own area with it's own procedures. Not to mention the guards have to b... |
Because Na explodes upon contact with water, if I stabbed someone with a dagger made of sodium would it explode as soon as it enters their bloodstream? | A blade like that wouldn't last in open air - the water vapor in the air would react with it. As for what would happen, I'm not sure. You might not make them explode, but the NaOH that would form in their blood would catastrophically sabotage their blood chemistry. |
Why we don't form scabs inside our mouth if we get a cut/burn | Have you ever noticed how soft scabs get in the shower? It's because they're basically dried blood and plasma . In your mouth, everything is wet and it can't try out to form a hard shell. But scabs are important mainly because they protect the wound. Your mouth is already a pretty protected place, so it's not so import... |
How are tv shows such as "Bar Rescue", or any of the home renovation/makeover shows able to afford these huge and I would assume expensive renovations? | I'm sure it's like extreme makeover where sure, you get it for free but then they get stuck with the taxes on everything. There's a lot of money made in commercials and endorsements though. Plenty enough to cover the part they pay", 'Like game shows, they are actually pretty check to make. When you consider a top rated... |
How are fetal genetic abnormalities determined through the testing of the mother’s blood? | The mother's blood contains some dead placental cells, which are genetically connected with the fetus. _URL_0_", 'You're absolutely right, and we can't actually get any confirmatory tests from the blood test. However, we can test for certain hormones that the baby should be making. These hormones can cross the placenta... |
How does banning revenge porn not contradict copyright laws? | Owning the copyright on something doesn't necessarily mean you are free to do what you like with it. Copyright is about preventing others from benefiting from the work you legally own without your permission. Putting restrictions on how you can use your own intellectual property doesn't contradict that. |
why did we need theoretical equations to make atomic bombs? | In this case a lot of things had to be discussed in theory before we're certain it's possible to work in practice. It's expensive to process materials, etc. so it's best to have some idea it'd work before going through all that trouble. After which R & D can help hone down the fine details. A contemporary example would... |
Why is the US concerned that certain countries get nuclear weapon capabilities but it's OK we have it? | For the same reason it's ok for Daddy and other grown ups to have guns, but not for you. |
The major British newspapers (Sun, Guardian, Daily Mail, Independent, ...): can someone briefly summarize each one's reputation, political leaning, and popularity? | Sun: Tabloid, only recently stopped printing half naked ladies on page 3. Rupert Murdoch's mouth piece. Leans to support whichever party Murdoch prefers at the time. Extremely popular. Guardian: Well respected broadsheet. The most left of the bunch. Also known as the Grauniad due to a reputation for typographical error... |
why DUI checkpoints aren't considered unconstitutional? | It is my experience that the ability to stop a vehicle for a Random Breath Test has lead to a more gentle approach to policing. When the policeman sees something like a minor infringement, an old rego sticker or minor maintenance issue, they can stop you for a RBT, and then mention the other issue with a 'get it fixed,... |
What is the difference between milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and extra dark chocolate? | Milk chocolate has milk in. Dark chocolate has no milk in. Extra dark chocolate has negative amounts if milk in.And white chocolate isn't chocolate cause it's not made with the actual bean.Chocolate kills me slowly. Dark chocolate kills me more quickly. Extra dark kills me really quickly. I hate being allergic to choco... |
How exactly do braces work? | The braces are fitted by a dentist; they're designed and placed for your needs. The wires and brackets constantly exert pressure, which move the teeth into position very slowly over a long period of time. |
Why do people pay so much for diamonds and gemstones? Do we really just like shiny rocks? | It is more than because they are shiny, though that is a part of it. It is also a large part of the years of advertising to create the idea of diamonds being a part of a marriage proposal. This creates the idea that giving a diamond as a gift is a very special and important thing. Then offering diamonds as other forms ... |
Communism and why everyone hates it. | Pure communism as theorised is a utopian society without class, where industrial technology has reached a level where people only work because they want to, for the joy of working, and it goes 'from each person according to their ability to each according to their need.' also in true communism, there is no government o... |
What is fourth dimensional space? I thought the fourth dimension was time? | A circle is to a sphere what our body right now is to the whole of our life. Imagine I have a scanning device that can give me a perfect 2D cross section of anything in front of it. Now imagine I set this scanner on the edge of a table and drop a spherical object in front of it. What will the scanner see? The first fra... |
Why are American college textbooks so expensive? | Because they intentionally make never versions frequently ,with slight differences. Adding a few new problems etc. Many people do get them off amazon,but they're still rather expensive. Were finally starting to get to the stage where you can just rip a PDF,but many people prefer a physical copy |
How did punch card programming work? | The most well known type of punch card was the IBM 80 column card. It was essentially a matrix, 80 columns wide and 12 positions from top to bottom. Usually just one or two positions would be punched per column, sometimes three, and some less common encodings could use more. Typically, for a programming language such a... |
Why is rented accommodation so expensive in developed countries with scarce population densities like Canada? | Housing is expensive mainly in Canada's bigger cities and in boom towns like Fort Mac simply because that is where people want to be because of quality of life and/or employment opportunities. Real estate speculation by foreign interests has also contributed to the cost of housing, decreasing the lived in supply and in... |
Why can't astronomers say with certainty if a specific asteroid will or won't strike the earth? | Because that requires knowing it's precise trajectory. Even a minute error in readings over the vastness of space an object will travel can change something like an asteroid impacting earth.They generally can. When a new object is first observed, all the observations are quite near to each other. Since any measurement ... |
How do movie/animation studios handle different languages, for example: Frozen's multilingual "Let It Go". | I'm fluent in both Japanese and English. The meaning was a bit different in the Japanese one. I think they used lyrics to fit the syllables the best. |
How did the cameras that were used during the moon landing work? How were they able to broadcast relatively clear picture and sound from space, using 1960s technology? | * there is very little interference in space if light reflected from the sun can get to the earth, so can radio signals* being the government, they weren't restricted by licensing or the FCC, they could use the best frequency for the job* the orbiter boosted, focused, and directed the signal* giant radio antennas, not ... |
Why can humans live longer now than we could, say, 500 years ago? | If you aren't at risking of starving to death, getting killed in a war, or dying from simple injuries like a cut or a broken bone, you'll live a lot longer. Modern medicine, agriculture, sanitation, and infrastructure all go a long way to prolonging the average human life. |
Why do 99% of all English speaking singers sound American while singing, regardless of nationality/speaking accent. | Not everyone does. The Sex Pistols and The Arctic Monkeys sound very British. But it's interesting how non-English speakers also sound American as well like The Scorpions , Shakira , The Hives , etc.. From what I read once, many non-American singers were influenced by American singers so they imitate them. |
why haven't we evolved to find healthy food tasty? | We have. Healthy food tastes good and there is a way to unlock the tastiness of it. Stop eating unhealthy food. Sugar,fats, sodium and additives rewires the brain so that they brainwash you into thinking only that's good. If you go 2 years without eating a frenchfry, then it would taste like shit because there's too mu... |
So how does the body 'die'? Also what does it feel like just before a person is about to die? | Former ICU nurse here. Your comment about people recognizing they're about to die before a change in vital signs is interesting to read. I saw this all the time in the ICU, where patients would ask if they're dead, or say they were afraid of dying, and it seemed to me they'd pass away very soon after. Like they had a p... |
Why are hotel room air conditioners set to freezing temperatures and often left to run 24/7? | I don't know the reason but I do know that keeping temperatures low reduces bacterial reproduction which would seem a good idea in such a setting. |
What are sparks, specifically when they come off of an electrical device? | We all know about solid, liquid and gas states of matter from school. The one we often forget about is plasma. When you see sparks anywhere but a hard vacuum chamber, you're seeing air getting excited to that plasma state. Neon signs use the same effect of an arc of electricity running through a gas but with controlled... |
why is hand sanitizer bad? | Not sure what your co-workers are getting at but alcohol based ones might not be the best for your skin. The antibiotic based ones aren't really terrible for you but potentially terrible for society, they can make bacteria resistant. |
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