query stringlengths 8 249 | answer stringlengths 45 7.8k |
|---|---|
When you take that little square tag off a recordable VHS tape, it makes it non-recordable. | A mechanical or electronic switch reads it like everyone is saying and enables or disables recording. By the way, SD cards have the same thing! A little plastic slider to make it read only. It doesn't do anything in the card, but the specification says readers need to pay attention to it. _URL_0_ |
Why Do More People Blame Illegal Immigrants for "Stealing" Jobs Than Business' for Hiring Illegal Immigrants? | Hypocrisy. The fastest way to get rid of illegal immigration is to fine every company who hires one $100k per offense. And then enforce this. Make it really unfavorable to hire illegals and illegals won't be hired. That simple. The reason why they punish the illegals for coming here is because they are powerless to fig... |
Why do school buses have no seat belts? | I've heard the argument that small children could choke themselves or bullies could use them as a threat as well. |
when the US "sends aid" to foreign countries such as Israel, what is actually exchanged? | In a $15 trillion dollar economy, we can afford to spare $500 million to prevent another Holocaust. Israel faces an existential threat. It always has. Whereas the Palestinians face a quality-of-life threat, accompanied by threats to their individual security and safety due to their own organizations attacking Israel fr... |
why are there so many bugs like MRSA and VRE, but nothing is immune to plain old alcohol or bleach? | Because bleach damages on a chemical and cellular level. It's not an antibiotic, it's a chemical. Anything will get killed by bleach if ingested, or inhaled. |
was Jesus considered an anarchist? | Aside the other answers given here, there's also the fact that authorities feared he might be a rebel, trying to turn the population against the Roman government. There had recently been a few of them, including some very violent ones. |
Why can't my phone use my computers internet connection if it is connected via USB? | There's no fundamental limitation in place, it's just that nobody ever wrote the software to do so & included it with the phone & PC operating systems. Basically, it's not going to help sell phones & carriers still benefit from selling more bandwidth, so you're not going to see it as a widespread feature.I assure you i... |
Why do Asian (Korean, Japanese) flight routes go way up North of Russia? | So this is something called a Great Circle Route. Most flat maps are actually kind of deceiving in that a straight line is *not* the shortest distance between two points, due to the curvature of the earth. It will look like a curved line . You can use a great website called the [Great Circle Mapper] to see what the sho... |
Why is lamb unpopular and expensive in the United States when compared to beef and pork? | One possible reason for the decline of consumption of lamb in the United States was returning GIs after World War II. Several of the canned meals provided to soldiers contained poor quality mutton. When the GIs came home, they, and their families, didn't eat it anymore because of the perception. |
why locks can be locked without being closed? (link to pic in description or in comments) | Higher end locks don't do this. I have an Abloy Protec padlock that won't even let you take the key out if its not locked properly. But that's a $150 padlock and you get what you pay for. |
If the human body completely regenerates it's cells after five years, how are tattoos so permanent? | [the human body does not completely regenerate it's cells after five years]", '[To Wikipedia!] We can restate the first section more simply:The needle injects the ink into the skin. The ink that is in the top layer of skin either gets carried away by scavenger immune cells or falls away as that top layer continually re... |
What exactly do finance departments at large companies do? | In my company, one office handles most of the bills for about a dozen others. This is beneficial to us because: many offices use the same vendors, so instead of having to cut a dozen checks every month, we all just submit it to finance and they cut one. This also makes my job easier, because I don't have to worry if bi... |
Why when running on a treadmill usually i'm really tired at 15 min mark, almost dead at 20 min, and OK at 30 min mark ? | I have similar experiences as runner. However, I don't often run on a treadmill so I experience this phenomena on the road. Also, I tend to feel the worst, including feeling out of breath, at the very start of my run. After about a mile my breathing usually regulates itself, however my legs usually still feel far to he... |
Why does ice on wings prevent planes from flying? | In addition to the lift issue, ice weighs a shitton. A plane can't fly if it weighs more than it can lift. |
Why do porns always look amazing at first and ridiculously disgusting once you have masturbated? | I've never had this problem and I don't understand why. I just lose interest, but I'm not disgusted about it.you need to come to terms with your sexual habits. Maybe you have guilt for masterbating or for the genera you are looking at? Maybe you feel lonely or maybe your partner does not like you looking at porn? I had... |
After all these years would Voyager 1's disk be intact or bear the scars of micro impacts to the degree its unusable? | According to the Voyager team, the front side of the disc should be readable for about 1 billion years, and the back side for about 2 billion years. That's how little stuff there is in deep space. |
Why is it not a criminal offense for a bank to evict the wrong house? | it is a crime, it's just not quite theft. theft, in particular, demands the offender having the intent of depriving the owner of it permanently. their belief that the other person is the owner of those items means it doesn't apply. there are a whole host of other crimes that are committed in the process. trespassing, d... |
How games are converted to run on Linux | It's a common analogy to say that computer programs are like recipes. And it's not far off. You have a list of procedures to complete and in the end you have a finished product. Its is however, quite a simplification. In real life, it's a lot more like a science lab than a kitchen, where you have dozens of complex mach... |
Why is it always raining in places like England and Ireland? | You've heard about the Gulf Stream, right? Not the jet, but the current that comes all the way from tropical south America. The gulf stream's full of warm water - millions of tons of it, and it flows right up along the coast of England, Ireland, Scotland . The warm water makes more steam than ordinary cold water, but t... |
Why isn't cancer easily curable? | Because the cancer cells are your cells, but with the problem of copying uncontrollably. A lot of possible ways to kill cancer cells kill normal cells. The methods used today are pretty terrible, as they have major side effects. Cancer is not a single disease. And each of these vary based on genetics. Cancer is a funda... |
Are numbers bigger and smaller or higher and lower? Does this matter? | The usual terminology in maths is 'greater than' or 'less than'. For example, '8 > 4' is literally read out as 'eight is greater than four'. Note that 'greater than' means 'to the right, on the number line'. This means that zero, for example, is greater than every negative number. It might sound odd to say that 0 is 'b... |
Why can beds feel so uncomfortable while trying to go to sleep, but feel absolutely amazing when you wake up? | Maybe because your body is relaxed when you're waking up and tense as you're trying to fall asleep. |
Why does paper yellow with age? | Not all papers yellow with age, actually. It depends on what the paper is made of; specifically, what fibers were used to make it, what purifications steps it's been put through, and what processing has been done to it. Additionally, additives and residues play a part in whether or not it yellows . White paper isn't re... |
What it means to die from "exposure" | Exposure is simply when you're in a situation where your body can interact with something else , like water or air. We're subject to exposure every day with a common example being radiation . Actually, at every single point in time, you're being exposed to something. Death by exposure relates to how different types of ... |
Can an addiction be dropped "cold turkey"? Why or why not? | I was a homeless drunk who drank at least a 12 pack a day for over 10 years, DUI's, bar fights, drunk tanks. I always told myself that I wasn't an alcoholic, just a bad problem drinker with some side psychological issues . To prove it to myself, I quit cold turkey, Dec. 31st, 1995 and haven't had a drink since. No DT's... |
Why is American culture so obsessed with youth and views getting old as a horrible thing? | 50 year old here 1) getting old hurts. Your body deteriorates, and it ain't fun. Arthritis. Loss of muscle tone eve when you exercise just as much. Wounds don't heal anywhere near as fast as they did when you were young. 2) mental inertia. Many older people get set in their ways, and are less open to new ideas. They fe... |
Zeno's Paradox (infinite halves) | Another way to look at it: step 1) let the destination be the kitchen step 2) realize that in order to get to the destination you have to first get half way there step 3) set your new destination to half way to the current one step 4) go to step 2 You can repeat the whole process infinitely and never figure out how to ... |
Why don't American's have citizenship to their ethnic origin but offspring born abroad have American citizenship? | There is nothing preventing U.S. citizens from *also* having citizenship in the country of their ethnic origin , or any other country that they may be eligible for; U.S. law does not prohibit multiple citizenship. But as far as the government is concerned, a U.S. citizen is treated as a solely U.S. citizen, any other c... |
What is that old people smell? | My pop doesn't smell like old people, he has this 1950's cologne musk about him, and my nan? She just smells like cigarette.Dust, old air freshener, mothballs, even hygiene and cosmetic products created back in the day. One of my family members bought a hair product online, an old school pomade that's been around forev... |
Why do electronics need a certain voltage? Wouldn't current be what's important? | Voltage determines how much current will flow through the circuit. The fundamental relationship between Current , Voltage , and Resistance is V=IR. With basic algebra, this can also be expressed as I=V/R or R=V/I Resistance is more or less a result of the physical design and composition of the circuit, so thw only prac... |
Depression sufferers - How do you explain to someone without depression what it feels like to have 'one of those days'? | Imagine being sick and not being able to leave the bed, but without the sick feeling, instead, just very tired. We don't want to be tired, and it makes us feel like we are lazy sacks of shit. We don't want to feel that way, we want to get things done, but simply cannot due to glitches in our brains. Another problem is ... |
why do only men have adams apples? | The Adam's apple is a feature of the human neck. The medical name in English for it is the laryngeal prominence. This lump is formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage around the larynx .The adam's apple can usually be seen better in adult men than in women, girls, or boys. The adam's apple is only part of the thyro... |
Where do I end, and where does my bed begin? If I'm laying here... at a molecular level is there a clean divide or a gradient area where I'm part mattress? | From a molecular perspective, if you and the mattress are relatively dry, there is a very sharp distinction between your body molecules and the mattress's molecules. If you could visualize it, you would see a band of relatively empty space. Think of it like the separation between oil and vinegar in a basic Italian sala... |
How exactly do our eyes get "bad"? | Your eye is a biological camera. A camera has 3 main components. There are the lenses that focus light, the light sensor that collects light, and the circuits/software to turn the collected light into the image we see. As people get older, the lenses part is generally what goes bad first. Our auto-focus ability slowly ... |
Is it possible to die by drinking too much water? How much water someone would have to drink to actually die ? | Yes. It takes quite a bit, but imagine that you're in a chemistry lab and you have some form of chemical. If you dilute the chemical in water enough, eventually the essential elements of the compounds would get washed out. Imagine that instead of a high density of red blood cells and other essential nutrients and hormo... |
Why does a camera flash flash, instead of just keeping on a steady light until the picture is taken? | Traditionally flashes were really really f'ing bright. To the point that it a) takes a lot of energy to get that bright and b) generates a lot of heat. Old flashes were disposable. Your 1970s and previous camera might have had a series of tube flashes that once used up you disconnected from your camera and threw out. I... |
what do soundwaves in DAW’s (such as audacity or ableton) actually represent? do they also show all upper harmonics, or is some information not presented visually? | When viewing the wave form on a computer you are looking at the value of each sample. This is directly related the voltage your sound card will produce when you play it back. The waveform contains all the information, it's hard to see what frequencies it contains. There are some tools that will analyze the waveform and... |
How can 1 or 2 locomotive(s) push/pull soo much tonnage | Think of it like people pushing a stalled car. Cars these days are about 1.5 tons or these days, but can be pushed by someone who is approximately 150lb/68kg. Sure, the start is EXTREMELY difficult, but once you get it going, it's not too bad to push the car where you need it. |
why do my dogs like being patted on the head? | If I were to guess, it's because they were used for thousands of years in hunting where it would be unwise to make noises of approval. It was a way of silent reward that is now an intricate part of the relationship.Id say its probably because the top of the head is a difficult spot for a dog to reach. There for it is a... |
Why is prom such a big deal in the US? | Prom in most places in the US isn't a big deal. Places with prom traditions are different. I went to highschool in New Jersey which has a decent amount of beaches and properties to rent. In most New Jersey towns it is tradition to leave prom and go down to a shore house stocked with alcohol and party with your friends ... |
Why doesn't a rain-cloud just fall out of the sky as one big drop? | Because the development of raindrops is progressive. Once enough molecules have combined they fall, and they can't stay up long enough to come down in one fell swoop. They fall as soon as they're heavy enough to fall to which is about the size of a pea. |
Why does it take some people forever to lose weight? | the maximum recommended weight loss is no more than 1 kg/week. any faster than that and you risk some health complications. maybe you are working out a lot, eating right, whatever. most people aren't able to do that, so it sets up a more realistic goal. |
Are the 'buy acres on the moon/mars' legitimate? If we inhabit the moon and I own an acre, can nobody build on that without my permission? | It really depends on the fine print. The UN has declared that no nation can claim sovereignty in space. There has also been legislation that states that private ownership of terrestrial space is illegal, but that hasn't been ratified by too many countries. Empty space is an even weirder and more disputed issue. |
How can some people drink all night, sleep only a few hours, then get up and work all day? | Back in my more depressing and darker days, I would consume an average of 750 ML of cheap Tequila within a matter of hours, sleep from 3 to 8 then same the next night. My trick at the time was water, and by water I mean tons of water. I would drink roughly a gallon before falling asleep and a few bottles of water in th... |
Why are there so many IT workers on reddit? | Well it kinda depends on which forums you are hanging out in. If you are in r/programming, it's a pretty safe bet that there will be a lot of IT people there. I can't really speak to anyone else, but I work in IT, and the biggest reason I'm on Reddit is because I don't have anything better to do right this second and I... |
Why do some people tap their foot, bounce their knee, etc when sitting? | This is a major problem for me. I can't stop it no matter how hard I try. Always been that way. |
Why did the Dreamcast never take off? | Adding to others Sega had also burned a lot of bridges and lost money with the 32x, Sega CD and Saturn machines. They lost a lot of third party developers because this and the console never quite got the support it needed and Sega was tainted by its fairly recent mistakes in the public eye as well. The launch was also ... |
Why, in America, if someone hurts themselves on my property, and it was their fault, do I have to pay for it? | You don't. It's the opposite way around. America is fairly lax in terms of how people defend themselves. In my country, if you find someone robbing your house, and you shoot them in response, even if they live, you'll get in more trouble than the robber. |
Why is the age to drive a several-ton vehicle 16 in the USA, but the age to operate some simple machinery such as garbage compactors and cardboard balers 18? | In the case of farm machinery, it is actually less; some states allow 14 year olds to operate heavy farm equipment and vehicles as long as they stay on the farm. I surmise the laws - which each State drafts independently - were written with an eye to business. Young teens - 16 or so, are limited to driving a family veh... |
Why did the U.S. win the Korean war but lose the Vietnam war? | Well, the Korean War isn't technically over. There was a cease fire but that is it. That is one of the reasons the US Military has a strong presence still in the country. |
Why is finding "patient zero" in an epidemic so important? | Biocontainment team member here. Helps to find out who has it, who the disease may have spread to and came from. Say you had a person from Sierrea Leone that was Ebola positive, we'd have to know if they took a boat or plane, did they take a direct flight or did they drive after landing? If they drove did they use a ta... |
Why does sunlight reveal a ton of dust while artificial light doesn't? | It's a matter of contrast, to see dust particles floating in the air you need the light of the sun *and* a darker background. This effect is much easier to see when you're indoors, outside it is still possible but much less frequent because there's a lot of light all around, and even though the dust is illuminated with... |
Why does Major League Baseball not make the World Series a true World Series by allowing international teams to compete? | I think Toronto will be very dissapointed to learn they're now part of the US.MLB teams do not have only American players. The best players from around the world play in MLB and each team has an international roster. The best MLB team that year is clearly the best in the world. It is widely recognized and accepted that... |
What's the argument for and against selling health insurance across state lines? | I have limited knowledge on this, but I've read that opening up health insurance across state lines would not increase competition. Apparently there was some study done on this. The reason it wouldn't increase competition is because you need more than to be able to sell insurance somewhere in order to actually sell ins... |
Why do cats always seem to want to lie on whatever I'm working on, or to crawl into tight spaces? | I've noticed the majority of these times the cat is snuggling into warmth. Laptops, on the ground on top of my laptop's AC Adapter, etc. Other times it doesn't make as much sense - like newspaper. Pick up a newspaper and make a crinkle sound? FUCK THAT IM OUTTA HERE!#!@#!@#!@# find a paper on the floor . I better lay o... |
Why can women have multiple consecutive orgasms, while men "are done" after ejaculating? Similarly, why do woman orgasms last longer than male ones? | It's an evolutionary trait from our ancestors where monogamy was not normal. The shape of a human penis is no accident, the head of the penis is shaped that way to scoop out any competing sperm that were in the vagina beforehand. Scooping out competing sperm makes it more likely your sperm will succeed. This comes with... |
if someone has massive credt card debt and that person dies, what happens to the debt? | What /u/GenXCub said, but since you're asking there's something you should know, that is that no one is responsible for the debts of the deceased. Not next of kin, not family, not friends, not the executioner of the estate, no one. This is important because you better believe debt collectors will come knocking to see h... |
Why do marketing personnel like to purposeful misspell words (ie. "Wyngs", "Kwik", etc.)? | A lot of times, it's for trademark purposes. For example, recently the SciFi channel changed its name to Syfy. This is because SciFi is a generic term for science fiction, and because of that it would be difficult to fight any trademark infringement claims in court. Legally, you can't trademark a generic term, and if t... |
Why do wild animals come to humans for help? | Confirmation buas. The overwhelming majority of truly wild animals will hide from humans and therefore we don't know about them. Wild animals that we see as coming to humanity for aide, are usually just running across our paths and we simply believe the animals are coming to us. Because of this we don't usually see all... |
How does body dysmorphia work? | I have some body dysmorphia. For me, it's not that I don't see that I'm skinny, I just see the very small amount of fat that I have and I hate myself for it. Some days I can see myself the way I am, and I think I look good. Some days I look at myself and I see more fat than there really is and it's very hard to look pa... |
isn’t it a tremendous waste of energy for a human male to produce so much sperm that each ejaculation holds 100 million of them? Why not, say, a thousand? | Male bodies produce so many because female bodies are basically toxic to them and kill so many. If males only ejaculated 1000, the rate/chance of pregnancy would drastically go down. It's not really a waste of energy if it's literally what our bodies need to do to keep surviving and reproduce more humans.The a tial ene... |
Why do police, firefighters, and ambulence not have different sirens? | Umm, in my experience, they do, at least in the cities I've lived in. Fire trucks have a lower pitched siren with a longer cycle ; they're easy to distinguish to me. Ambulances and police cars can have similar sirens to my ears, but ambulances often have different modes they switch through, rapidly alternating sirens w... |
How can someone be tried and convicted of resisting arrest, but no other crime? | You don't have to be guilty of a crime to be under arrest, just suspected of one. So if you end up being innocent, but you physically protested your arrest then they might still charge you for resisting. |
How does the square root function work on a calculator? | Well [there's a few ways to do it]. A calculator doesn't need a perfect answer, though, only an answer correct to 9 or so decimal places so it often employs [some math that's hard to ELI5.] A simple way that would work on a calculator, though, would just be a simple estimation program. It'd guess and 'home in' on the a... |
How does a currency peg work exactly? | China printed money to buy dollars, they raised the value of the dollar compared the Chinese Yuan in order to keep their exports cheap for the US.To technically do this, the Chinese central bank just have to go on the change market and ask for dollars in exchange for Yuan. It didn't drive inflation in China because int... |
Why aren't air conditioners liquid-cooled? | Air conditioners are heat pumps. They transport heat from a source to a heat sink. Anything can be a heat sink as long as it's significantly colder than the radiator unit, and capable of transporting the heat away. Some AC units *do* use water as a heat sink. The problem with using water is that you need a *running* wa... |
Why some people are naturally more photogenic than other people. | I don't think there are any people that always look good in every picture. I'm even doubtful there are people that do most of the time. If there are then my guess would be proper lighting, applying cosmetics appropriately, good genetics, good facial & body symmetry, and/or just Photoshop. You should watch the [Science ... |
Why do smoke detectors run on batteries? Wouldn't it be safer and easier if they used the house electricity? | No, because if the house's electricity were cut off from an electrical fire than the alarms wouldn't go off. Actually in my case the smoke alarms are wired to the house, and have an internal battery incase one or the other fails.In new construction they are hardwired, this requirement may vary based on your local build... |
Why isn't there a streaming service like Netflix for video games yet? | Well for one when you watch a movie on Netflix it is linear, and so you don't have to download the entire movie before you start watching. As long as the next second is downloaded you can watch. For games, you would have to download the entire game before you could play it. |
What is Google Fiber, and Why is it Supposed to be Better Than Current Internet Connections? | The main difference with regular internet connections is the vested interest of the provider. Normal internet providers make their money on their services. It's in their best interest to offer cheaply maintained networks for the highest price they can ask. A slow network simply means they can charge you more for improv... |
How are current photos of the F-117 not distorted? | Some of the first pictures taken of the F-117 are blurry because those cameras used sonar auto focus systems. While the F-117's unique shape was designed to reflect radar waves away from their source, it had a similar effect on these sonar waves, making it difficult to achieve focus. Modern cameras generally use contra... |
If a human head is separated from the rest of its body, is there a way to keep the head alive, medically ? Will the person still behave normally ? | You know how neutered dogs behave differently after they're fixed? That's due to the testes generating chemicals that affect our behavior. And testes are a relatively small part of the body, with a small role to play in personality. Your liver generates TONS more chemicals than the testes, and it affects personality a ... |
How comes that no matter what colour the gel in soap products, the lather is always white? | Soap bubbles at certain angles act as tiny mirrors, reflecting all light. Since lather's a bunch of tiny bubbles it spreads incoming light in all directions, so it appears white. |
Why does checking your credit score lower your credit score? | It doesn't. Someone's misinformed you. Hard credit inquiries lower your credit score. But soft inquiries do not impact the score at all. |
If electricity takes the path of least resistance, then why do lightning bolts always look like a squiggly line instead of a straight one? | Lightning doesn't move as one unit. It propagates by stepped leaders, which are around 10-20 meters in length Stepped leaders will follow the path of least resistance in their 10-20 meter segment, then another set will branch out from the end of them and find the path of least resistance, again and again until it conta... |
In what scenario would you buy a stock with low earnings per share? | You would buy it if the price per share were also low, such that the price per dollar of earnings is fair. You might also buy it if you think the earnings will be a lot better in the future -- buy it now while it's cheap. |
Why do unsolved math problems still exist? | I give you my wording was wrong in the divisible by three. I was writing my thinking and while I worded it wrong, that error is irrelevant to my larger point which that lead to, which is the multiplication of 3+1 always results in a positive number which negates a loop because you can never have the same numbers.your o... |
Why does the owner of a medium sized local restaurant (about 75 employees in two locations) claim he will have to fire a lot of his employees due to the new health care law? | According to [Forbes]: > Businesses with 50 or more employees must provide health insurance or pay a penalty. If the business fails to comply, the penalty is $2,000 for each full-time employee Additionally, if the coverage offered is too expensive , the penalty is $3,000 per employee who must buy insurance with a gover... |
Why aren't humans naturally good at anything like many other animals? | First of all, with advancements in technology, we don't need to have our primitive skills, and that means through the course of time many of us have lost them.\r\rWe also have quite a lot of skills, most importantly our brains. Our intelligence is a great skill and allowed us to jump ahead. It's just something you see ... |
How does this shooting in California not prove that stricter gun laws won't help our problem? | Here are some types of laws in California which failed to prevent yesterday's shooting: 1. Guns must be purchased through registered dealers. Purchasers must have a Firearm Safety Certificate administered by the State. 2. Only certain types of firearms are allowed to be bought, sold, or possessed by individuals 3. Limi... |
How do epson salts help you? | Epsom salt is essentially magnesium. Magnesium is used by the body in hundreds of different chemical processes and reactions. It helps maintain a healthy heart rhythm, keeps calcium balance in check, and helps reduce tension in muscles. The benefits you are experiencing are from magnesium.Some people can have a deficie... |
Why doesn't anything take advantage of the increased CO2 on planet earth and bring it back down? | It might, after we've ruined the planet for ourselves. [Atmospheric CO2] has gone [way up, way quick]. Nothing can adapt to the amount of CO2 we're generating as fast as we're generating it. |
What is happening in the body when men are having an erection lasting longer than 4 hours and what has to be done once they see a doctor? | Having an erection for a very long time can damage the erectile tissue, and usually means there's something wrong with the systems that regulate blood flow to the penis. Depending on cause, they might use medication or, in severe cases, actually puncture one of the veins to drain blood directly. |
Why retail video games are still sold as CDs rather than as USBs for PC gaming? | Cost. It's much cheaper to do a mass run of optical discs versus solid state media. With flash drives, you also have to consider that some customers are morons and might wipe the drive. The average DVD writer costs 20 bucks or less retail, so it's even cheaper for a system manufacturer - as such, they're standard on pr... |
Why do we make the "ahhhh" sound after drinking something refreshing? | If you do this, it's probably a learned behavior from TV or movies. However I can't recall ever witnessing this in real life |
Why is it so difficult for people to change their perspective on something when the evidence clearly shows that they are wrong? | We often think of a belief as something based on evidence and argument, since that's the ideal, but in reality it is much messier than this. We might believe something because someone who we like also believes it, or because it makes us feel good, or because we fear a world in which it is untrue. If that's the case, we... |
Why do I "Cringe" when I remember something stupid I did? | It's an evolutionary consequence. The cavemen who cringed mostly survived to pass on their genes. Those who reacted by facepalming with a large stone, not so much. |
how and why is eating meat so bad for the environment? | Another thing to add is 'how' we do it is as serious as the 'what' we do. Cows are known for releasing methane which is a greenhouse gas. The thing is, cows do not by nature fart methane. It's a result of the fact that we feed them junk in order to drive large scale cattle cultivating. [Here's an article on the subject... |
why does a squeak toy squeak if squeezed quickly, but not if squeezed slowly? | The sort of reed used in toys is often a [free reed aerophone] which relies on air pressure pushing a reed through a slot but there not being enough pressure to keep it there - so it springs back, then gets pushed through again, and so on. This repeated action chops the air-stream into pulses, which we hear as sound. O... |
If there are infinite parallel universes, why are there none where interuniversal travel is possible? | Because by entering another universe you create an extra piece of matter which has no specific counterpart while the previous has extra anti-matter thus creating a sort of anti-bigbang destroying both universes. |
How can shelf stable milk be kept at room temperature for months without going bad? | I worked at Nestle as a microbiologist and I would love to share ho there are different types of shelf stable milk. Milk spoils because microorganism digest the milk, breaks down the protein, and produces waste changing the consistency of the milk. Another way milk spoils is exposure to light because light, as a form o... |
If women workers are getting lower pay for equal work, how come companies don't hire mostly or all women to increase profits and therefore, out-compete rivals? | How come companies didn't hire cheap African-American labor in the South in the 50's. It's not nearly that bad but expecting economic efficiency to fully cancel out sometimes unconscious bias is naive. |
Sucker in the room - meaning | In any group of people, someone is the least experienced, knowledgeable, or clever. If you can spot a person who's lower than you, it's them. If no one is lower than you, then it's *you* who are lowest.When you play poker, you have an advantage if you are more skilled than your opponents, and you have a disadvantage wh... |
Why is 100°F air extremely hot and uncomfortable for humans, while 100°F water is slightly warm and pleasant? | 100°F is pretty damned hot for water. Most hot tubs are about that temperature, and take some serious getting used to, and can be dangerous for people in poor health. Temperature and heat are not the same thing. Water has a very high heat capacity, which means it takes a lot of heat energy to raise it's temperature by ... |
Why do so many veterans end up homeless? | A lot of veterans have job skills limited to the military and can't do much when they leave the military.It is not uncommon for veterans to come back with some condition. Some of these are physical, others are mental . Combined with the lack of help from the government to solve these problems, they often end up with no... |
Why do hard drives spin? | A Hard Disk can be though of like a vinyl record that you put data on instead of music. Data is placed onto the Hard Disk by magnetizing specific section of the disk. Data is read by placing a reading head above the disk to measure the magnetic power of the section The Disk is divided into million of individuals sectio... |
Why is it that all planet's are relatively spherical? | If a mass is small enough it would be irregular shape. This is because the force of gravity cannot overwhelm the strength of the rock itself. For any planetary sized body, however, irregular shapes wind up being quite small. Otherwise, their own weight causes them to deform like plastic. As a result, they tend to 'flow... |
Why can't this generation of consoles be emulated on PCs since PCs are so much more powerful? | Emulating hardware perfectly with all its quirks is ridiculously resource intensive. Here's a very relevant article: [Why Perfect Hardware SNES Emulation Requires a 3GHz CPU] |
How do people construct tunnels underwater? | They dig under the water. The English Channel isn't that deep. More here: _URL_0_", 'The [Ted Williams Tunnel] in Boston actually has about a 0.75 mile section that is underwater. This section was built in 300-foot sections and then sunk to the bottom of Boston Harbor, where the pieces were connected together. edit: Fo... |
Alabama Supreme court overruled (maybe?) the SCOTUS. Does it mean anything? Who's authority is followed (in alabama)? | The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the land. **No** court can overrule it, except itself - the SCOTUS can reverse it's own decisions.When the Supreme Court issues a decision like this, it does two things: 1. Issues a decision that is explicitly binding on the parties to the specific case tha... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.