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Why can I get the same bacterial infection over and over again, but only a virus once? | Like /u/Herdnerfer said, you can get viruses multiple times too, and the same explanation is to be had: Mutations of both bacteria and viruses happen all the time. And when the mutation is sufficiently different then you will get the same infection as before, as the body has never seen THAT version of whatever it is. |
Why do we often become very hungry while drunk, or as I like to call it, drungry? | Drunchies!! I did just brush my teeth. Fuck it I'll eat too many cheese and crackers then go to bed. |
What are the odds of the winning lottery numbers being consecutive (1,2,3,4,5,6). Is it less likely than some random combination of numbers? | The other replies are right but they don't answer the question. A consecutive sequence is less likely than a random one. If we restrict ourselves to 6 numbers then of all possible combinations of the numbers 1 to 6 only _one_ is the sequence 1,2,3,4,5,6 |
For every dollar that exists in the world's debt, is there a physical dollar somewhere else? | Nooooo. It's estimated that only about 20% of the world's wealth is in the form of actual currency. Most of it is just ones and zeroes in databases throughout the world. |
How can doctors diagnose a patient properly that has dementia? | There are specific tests that research has shown to indicate dementia. Drawing a clock face, recalling words from 3-5 minutes prior, etc. Doctors usually take into consideration reports of patient behavior from family members. This is useful for your basic run-of-the-mill dementia. There are specific brain scans to che... |
How do the tomatoes at the bottom of a transport truck not get crushed? | The tomatoes have a thick enough skin. They were bred that way to have a thick skin to survive handling. Initially tomatoes had a thin skin and required a delicate touch from harvest to the store. Now they have a much thicker skin and can be mechanically harvested and take a decent beating. Also plenty of them on the b... |
Why are the gas tanks for some cars on the passenger side and on the driver's side for others? | Doesn't answer your question, but it might be worth knowing: It's been mentioned before on other posts, but if you look closely at the fuel indicator, you'll usually see a small arrow pointing to the left or right. This signifies which side of the car your gas tank is located. |
Does the US have a mechanism where the army intervenes if democracy is undermined in the country? | Democracy isn't the most important thing to the USA. The most important thing to the USA is the US Constitution. When a US president takes office and is sworn in, they swear to PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION, as do all members of the military and in fact anyone that works for the Federal government. This is very important, b... |
Why couldn't artists from the 16th to the 18th century create hyper-realistic paintings, as we can today? | Another major factor were the paints being used. Today we can create literally any color imaginable with ease, while back in that time, specific colors were very expensive, and most were made by grinding raw materials. Also, there's a very good chance that paintings looked very different 300 years ago than they do now ... |
Does a microwave take time to "warm up"? | i'm sure it'd take a couple of milliseconds to energize the coil .Yes and no. The level of excitement in the molecules after 30 seconds is much higher than after 1 second thus the food or what have you is warmer but the output from the mircowave at 1 second vs 30 seconds will be the same unless you have it on defrost o... |
what's the difference between a dual core processor that runs at 4 GHz and a 6 core processor that runs at 4GHz? | Think of mhz as the speed limit on a highway, and cores as the number of lanes. As the mhz increases, processes in your computer can complete faster. As cores increase, it can do more things simultaneously. Some computer workloads only care about mhz. They don't ship things in multiple cars, so it doesn't matter how bi... |
Why do soaps only kill 99.9% of germs | Soap doesn't kill germs at all, it just washes them away. That is also why there is a movement to ban Triclosan and other antibacterials in soap, because they're un-necessary and pose a health risk. |
Are there any biological advantages to being overweight? Could it allow you to survive longer without food? | Not really in being overweight. Having some additional fat can be used for storing the energy to be used during short period of time when you don't have access to food and really is an advantage, but there is limit when additional fat won't matter. The problem is you would die sooner, because of deficiency of vitamins,... |
Why do so many literary scholars look down upon the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series? Why is it considered low quality from a literary/scholarly standpoint? | Bear in mind, I have no formal training in literary theory beyond high school english class: The biggest complaint I've heard is that, because GRRM kills off so many characters, the later books start being made up of worse and worse characters, and there's not much sense of continuity or long-term plot. Personally, I d... |
What would the astronauts on the ISS do in the event of a cataclysmic event on Earth that wiped out the entire population? Is this a scenario that has been discussed by the various agencies? | They'd likely discuss what they should do to pass the time until they run out of water. The ISS isn't self sufficient and no plans have ever been made regarding it and a catastrophe on Earth.You will find the book "seveneves" by Neil Stephenson most entertaining, as it contains this exact scenarioIt really depends on t... |
Why do we snore while asleep but not while awake? | We? You mean I. I come from a family of non-snorers It is one of our deal breakers when it comes to our kids getting married. On the day of my daughter's wedding we found out that the groom snored, we had to call off the wedding. 40% of our lives are spent sleeping, a snoring partner could be devastating to both a succ... |
Is it possible to take a supplement (albeit large) that contains every nutritional need for a human being? | NB: if it's to be taken on its own, it's no longer supplementing your diet. It'd be called a replacement, instead.I was told by my doctor that prenatal vitamins were designed to overcompensate and is a good all-around supplement. But, there are side effects in consuming more that your body can process.What about ensure... |
why is paedophilia so much more common in men than women? | It isn't more common in men. Men are just punished much more severely and much more often than women are. If you have a male teacher aged 35 who has sex with a student aged 13, he's lucky if he survives to go to jail because of the lynch mob. Genders are reversed and people make fun of the 13 year old boy if he objects... |
What happens to tenants/renters if an apartment complex is foreclosed on? | There was a federal law passed in 2009 called the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act. It required someone who foreclosed on a building with tenants to give them at least 90 days to find a new place. If you had a lease you could stay until the end of the lease . The act expired at the end of 2014 and wasn't renewed. ... |
Why can't we consciously control most of our bodily functions at will? | Most of these answers are kinda true. But, our bodies didn't decide what to give our consciousness control of It's because the body functions, most of them, are brainstem or lower brain functions and developed long before we developed consciousness, which is a higher brain function. There is no need for us to control t... |
What is my microwave doing differently when I set it to defrost mode instead of regular heating? | May I please piggyback off this microwave question? **ELI5: Why can't I put metal in my microwave, yet my microwave has walls made of metal?**", 'Side story: a guy I worked with had a stealth microwave. The light was broken, the internal fan was broken and the LED readout was burnt out. A microwave only makes noise bec... |
What was the big deal about Michael Jordan? | He was extremely dominant at the time, and would just run over defenses and rack up ridiculous PPG time after time. He led the Bulls to 6 championships in the '90s. And he was also a good guy and a team player, everyone loved him. |
Are modern aerial dogfights as exciting as shown in Top Gun? | Simple answer- no. Most jets will never see a DogFight. This is especially true of the F35 and F22, as they suck at dogfighting. The problem is, once you close to within visual range, you are typically moving so fast that it's just a flash and you've passed; the body isn't really designed to handle the g-forces tight t... |
What is the reason for the extremely rare occurrence where you suddenly feel very close to someone you just met, almost as if you'd known them before? | I call it the Fellow Traveler Effect. It's usually some combination of core ways to see the world reflected in another. You'll find children of addicts zeroing in on other children of addicts at a party because of subtle body language and when conversation starts a way of looking at the world that was similarly shaped.... |
How can people be put under anesthesia for emergency surgery but for general surgery they say you will aspirate and die if you eat anything 24 hours prior to being put under? | Sometimes emergency surgeries don't occur immediately either. When I had appendicitis, I got checked into the hospital on a Sunday around 7 pm and didn't have the surgery until 10 am, Monday. In some cases, they prefer to wait for a regularly scheduled surgeon to take care of a procedure instead of calling them in at 1... |
Why do our eyes bug out when we're in mid-fall, mid-trip, or mid-fumble? Is it a reflex? | I'd be willing to bet that it has something to do with our brains trying to take in as much sensory information as possible to either identify the immediate threat, or to find an escape route away from the immediate threat. |
if sony created Blu-Ray why are companies such as xbox allowed to use it? Can't sony hold absolute control over what they create? | Microsoft pays for the blue-ray software just like for many of the other features on the consoles. Microsoft doesn't make every piece that goes into their system. There are many companies they pay to build the various components. Sony allows them to use blue-ray because its more profit for Sony. |
Why don't we have 'statutory mandatory voting'? | Some countries do have this, but I assume you're referring to the United States? Basically a lot of people would argue that people have the right not to vote if they don't want to. It's not the government's place to force people to do something if its not a matter of public safety or health. Not to mention that while p... |
How does the nutritional information at the back of the food package knows there is xxx calories in that food?do they just guess or it is accurate? | All calories are a guess, but they're a very close guess of the total. How many of those you actually *digest* is less certain |
Why is the universe so young? Of a potentially infinite age (correct?) isn't it more probable that it would be a lot older? | If its age is potentially infinite then it's no more probable that it's of any age than any other. |
How do animals avoid inbreeding? Do they even? | They do. And they fuck like bunnies! Lions for example live in a patriarchal, harem-like fashion: There is the one male lion, that has a group of female lions who live with him. The female lions hunt, bring food, care for the cubs. The male lion fucks around and protects his harem from other lions. When the male cubs a... |
Why couldn't my plane (Airbus a320) take off in dense fog? | You'll get better answers from /r/flying or /r/aviation, but in a nutshell landings are a large issue with low visibility. If your plane had an emergency such as an engine failure) on take-off, it would need to turn around and land immediately. However, if visibility at the airport was only 2m, no aircraft would be abl... |
Why do TV series end even though they have decent viewership, don't have any contracting issues with the cast and the plot could continue? | Often they are just out of ideas, and the cast, writers, and producers are ready to move on. Have one or two subpar seasons to wind up a show can hurt its reputation, and have very real financial consequences. Everyone involved likely wants to continue to work in Hollywood. Going out on top affords them more opportunit... |
if a man who identified completely as male had breast implants which were identical to a woman's, would it be illegal for him to publicly show off his chest? | I remember on the Man Show they interviewed a guy who had a bet with someone that he wouldn't wear breast implants for a year for $100,000. He won the bet, and after the year he liked them so much he kept them. They blurred them out when he showed them off. _URL_0_ _URL_1_ [NSFW?] - starred out man boob", 'Depends on t... |
Why is it so difficult to get a US citizen out of a Mexican prison especially when it is in the national media | > Wouldn't the Mexican government want to expedite the process or be more lenient to avoid these kinds of allegations of mistreatment? Not necessarily. A lot of Americans, apparently including this guy, cross into Mexico to engage in illegal activity. Mexico doesn't want to sent the message that getting your mom to cry... |
If addiction is a medical condition, then why do many addiction programs require that their adherents take responsibility for their actions? | Just because something is a medical condition doesn't mean taking responsibility is not also part of the healing / maintenance process. Diabetes is a medical condition, but that doesn't mean the people with it don't need to take responsibility re: having a good diet, making sure they take their insulin on time. Phobias... |
if power stations can use steam to spin turbines and produce electricity, why haven't we set up something near a huge lava flow and harnessed that energy? | Huge lava flows imply a degree of danger and uncertainty, and they're generally not that accessible or commonplace. As /u/limbodog notes, we do use geothermal energy in places where it is advantageous, but you can't simply 'dig and hit lava' anywhere you want.Because the lava might randomly destroy what you set up? |
Why are hard drives so difficult to destroy? | It's like a lot of things -- it's very easy to do properly, but also very easy to do improperly. Removing the platters and then taking a belt sander to each side of each platter will render it unreadable pretty quickly. Overwriting it completely with zeroes, and maybe an extra time with random data will render its cont... |
Why do people choose banks when credit unions typically have much fewer fees? | Here's an example of why I use Bank of America. I was traveling and was running low on cash. I went to a BoA ATM at an airport , and my card was declined. Long story short my ATM card was deactivated recently by accident. If I had a credit union, I would be stuck/ have to go to a Western Union and hope someone could wi... |
Why are 'do' and 'don't' pronounced differently? If 'do' is pronounced 'doo', shouldn't 'don't' (do not) be pronounced 'doont'? | I have no clue what the history is here, but one of my favorite subreddits, r/linguistics, deals with all kinds of quirks in languages. They usually can give pretty decent explanations in layman's terms. I've been following that sub for at least a couple of years now so I can learn about the answers to random questions... |
Why do buildings use revolving doors? | They're meant to eliminate the social expectation of holding the door for people behind you.The reasons are actually very practical and efficient: 1. Creates an airlock to prevent cold air and winds/drafts from getting inside.2. Because of this, it is easier to regulate building temperature which saves money.3. More sp... |
What actually happens when you get the wind knocked out of you? | There is always some air left in your lungs even if you breathe out really hard. It is called the FRC . It keeps the tiny balloons in your lungs inflated. When 'the wind is knocked out of you', say with a fall, that reserved capacity is pushed out of your lungs. The tiny balloons collapse making it hard for your lungs ... |
Why are social media sites (Facebook, Reddit) so liberal despite the overall population being split nearly 50/50 among party lines? | A) Because of the demographics of people who go online, being generally younger therefore more progressive. B) They aren't entirely, I know heaps of right wing people and pages on Facebook. |
What happened to split screen coop gaming? | The internet + the fact that it uses more system power to have split screen and many games push consoles to their limits without split screen. If you have a solid 30FPS game with single player then adding split screen can cause the game to drop to choppy / unplayable levels. So in order to comfortably add split screen ... |
Why don't we use base-10 time? | A *minute* is 1/60th of an hour. A *second minute* is a 1/60th of a 1/60th of an hour. The name got shortened to just *second*. 60 is a very neat number if you need to split something into fractions. Half an hour? No problem--that's 30 minutes. Third of an hour? 20. Fourth? 15. Fifth? 12. You can easily divide an hour ... |
why do we take anger and stress out on people we love the most? | I'm assuming this is because we know that these people will stick by us even through stressful times. |
Why does gasoline appear blue when it is poured? | It's a dye used to help visually identify the product. Assuming you're in the US; gasoline is typically a light green, although in the right light I could understand it appearing bluish. Kerosene is typically a darker blue, diesel is yellow, and untaxed offroad diesel will be red. |
If I order some powerful magnets from Amazon, how does UPS/Fedex make sure they won't wipe credit cards / electronics that are in the same delivery truck? | They don't. It's not their responsibility to package the parcels, and magnets aren't a hazmat. Edit:words |
What is incentive for denying climate change? | Money. In order of biggest impact: Companies that produce oil & gas are some of the most valuable corporations in the world. Moving away from fossil fuels would negatively impact their business. Likewise, some of the other most valuable companies in the world create products that rely directly on fossil fuels . Re-tool... |
Why is it sometimes hard to respond to a really bad, or just plain stupid argument? | normally the person making the stupid argument isn't interested in learning or debate or finding agreement, they are seeking entertainment in winding other people up. The more people try and steer them towards an answer, the more they'll be obtuse because they are not after knowledge, they are after the entertainment p... |
If you own a piece of land, how far down do you own it? | Depends on the agreement. My family got free land in the homestead act . It's in oil rich North Dakota. We sold the land for a good chunk, but kept the mineral rights. Meaning any mineral they have under there, we own |
What is Pirate Party and why is it so popular? | Where I'm from, a pirate party is a party where everyone must be dressed as a pirate. We play pirate-y music and drink a lot of beer, rum and mead if we can get it. One person is designated as the captain and any time during the party he can call a pirate round. This is where a bottle of rum is passed around for all of... |
Why aren't bugs like ants or moths afraid of humans even though we generally kill them if they are near us? | I would guess that each individual's life is so short that they don't learn to fear us, also, in my experience, I've seen bugs react to me by running or flying away, that could be fear. |
Why are SSRI antidepressants used instead of serotonin precursors like 5-htp? | I'm not sure if this is true for 5-HT but I know tryptophan does not cross the blood-brain barrier. In other words, ingesting straight serotonin puts it in your body's blood stream and this molecule is not capable of crossing this envelope-type thing that surrounds your brain called the blood-brain barrier. SSRI's on t... |
What would happen if the sun disappeared for 3 seconds? | It would be like suddenly removing an aircraft carrier from a huge lake. Space-time would rush to fill the massive void carrying with it all if the planets, moons, planetesimals, etc. So imagine a bunch of rafts and sail boats rushing towards where the aircraft carrier was. As the water and boats rush in, the aircraft ... |
How distance is computed in video games? | Its just an arbitrary choice, at its core. In most games there will be some form of unit system: that's how the graphivs know where you are and how big you are and whatnot. However, these units have no 'real' representation, as in a definitive way to map 1 game unit to one real world km or similar. That being said, the... |
Why do some people have an overwhelming urge to playfully bite newborn babies? "I just want to eat them up!" etc. | Filipinos actually have a word for this feeling. [Gigil] is a word that describes that exact feeling. I've always thought it was a weird Filipino auntie thing, but I guess you white people get it too! |
Why doesn't Queen Elizabeth's husband hold the title of King? | Hierarchy - Nice and simple. A King outranks a Queen in the aristocratic hierarchy. As the Queen is the 'Rightful Monarch', When she marries, it does not the promote someone to above her station, as she is currently top of the chain. Its fairly easy to find out what the chain is .The top is the Royal Family , After tha... |
Why has it become such a sin to wear socks with sandal? | It's the equivalent of wearing a fanny pack or having a mullet. To each his own.Because people like to be judgmental and feel superior to others. That is why they decide what other people should or should not do when it does not impact them. Whether it be socks and sandals, or what music is good, or any other fad or fa... |
Why does it take Google under 1 second to search the web while it takes almost a minute for my computer to search through its own hard drive? | Because Google doesn't search the web when you type a search. They index web pages 24/7 and store a highly-optimized cache of search terms and associated websites in a special format that is easily searchable. When you type a search term, they search that optimized index and give you the results based on websites that ... |
When animals go extinct because of humans why are humans the scumbags? Isn't it just survival of the fittest? | When lions finally manage to eat all the zebras, are the lions scumbags? Hardly. Lions can't think the thought that wiping a species off the face of the planet might be an evil thing to do. We on the other hand can think about whether killing a species of animals is bad. And that makes us responsible for what we do, as... |
Why is cannibalism so taboo? | It is an excellent way to pass along parasites and disease. Eating non-human animals at least makes it a bit more difficult for parasites to pass along as they have to be able to survive through two different body systems. I'd say that from an evolutionary perspective, those cultures that were cannibalistic probably we... |
How does all the water in a manmade lake get there? | There's a man made pond at my local golf course that is fairly large, walking along it is about 40 meters. It took about 2 months to fill. Heavy rain during our winter helped it fill quickly. Also water was pumped from the river that runs along the golf course, into the pond.Where I am from they make man made lakes in ... |
how does the fourth dimension work? And what does it mean? | You live in a 4 dimensional universe. Three dimensions are distance and one is time . The speed of light is the ratio of the distance in the temporal one, the one we call time, to the distance in the spacial ones, which we call distance. Every object exists as a unit velocity segment in this 4-space. Since a 4-space is... |
Should there be labels explaning the type of post?[Politics],[Economics],[Games],[Technology]...etc | I think this overcomplicates a subreddit that revolves around simplicity. The point is that those asking questions shouldn't always even know what category the question would fall under. Is a question about the war on terror a political question or a history question? Is a question about the 3DS price drop a games ques... |
What are people saying when they’re using ASL? | It depends. Some signs use Non Manual Markers to modify or clarify the meaning of the sign. These can be mouth positions or head tilts or a range of things that aren't hands, but add to the meaning of the sign. However, when these aren't called for, a signer might sometimes mouth the word for the sign. Also, some peopl... |
What exactly do Actuaries do? | Take the number of vehicles in the field, , and multiply it by the probable rate of failure, , then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, . A times B times C equals X If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one. |
Is there a reason why the media reveals the nationality of those who die in disasters, and why a news station will single out those of its own nationality? | Announcing the countries let msny people exclude those they know. As for centering on one country, that'd the typical vulture behavior owned by nrwsies.Yes, people are people. But because people are people, something involving "us" has more impact than something involving "them"Because most people care more about their... |
why are teens more prone to acne than kids or adults? | Hormonal changes cause the skin to produce excess oils. The oils mix with dirt to form a sludge and that sludge clogs pores. If you want to get rid of a teen's acne, make sure he washes his pillowcase and uses a light soap like Dove or Aveeno. It might also help to see a specialist. |
If all wavelengths of light travel at the same speed, what causes them to rainbow after exiting a glass prism? | The light thingies move the same speed through empty space. But when they pass through some stuff they all move at different speeds. They all run the same speed through a field, but when they jump in the river they all swim different. The current will push the slowest guy farther down river than the next guy, and so on... |
How dangerous the whole North Korea thing actually is. | North Korea is pretty belligerent but it's usually mostly talk. They're conventional forces are pretty large, but mostly outdated. They still pose a pretty big threat to South Korea, but there isn't much new there. The threat to the mainland USA is pretty small. They are working on missile technologies but nothing even... |
why companies still buy Microsoft products despite Linux and Open-/LibreOffice being easy, functional and completely free? | 1) cost of switching 2) the cost isn't actually that high for high. Business listeners for Microsoft products are really cheap, so per employee, you're not paying all that much. 3) people are familiar with windows/office. If you switch, you either have a much smaller hiring pool to work with, or have to train a good po... |
What is M-103 and Sharia Law all about? How are they connected and why are so many people against it? | Many Muslim countries don't make a clear distinction between religious law and civil law. In many cases, religious courts have full legal authority and can sentence you to prison or even execute you for violating religious law. This is what most people mean by Sharia law. Note the Islam is not unique in this regard, th... |
Why do movies use the same actors over and over? | Celebrities have certain box office pull. For example, I will almost always go see any Seth Rogan film, because he's one lovable motherfucker and I dig the cut of his gib. A shitty movie with great actors will still pull in somewhat of a crowd, and as people realize how bad the movie is--the initial surge of interest w... |
Why does Chrome care if my clock is ahead or behind? | It cares because security certificates have dates on them and are only valid for a certain amount of time. When you visit a website and see the little lock icon in the address bar that means the site has a valid cert which Chrome is able to validate, the cert essentially means that if you visit a site saying the are _U... |
Why were JNCO's a thing? Who made them popular? | Skateboarders started this trend, like most others, in the early '90s, before Jnco capitalized on it. By the time everyone else had caught on, in the mid to late 90s, skateboarders were hanging their heads in shame including me. _URL_0_", 'God, luckily I read the other responses, I thought you were asking about Junior ... |
How can water be bottled and distributed around the world for decades from a specific spring or mountain range without coming to an end? | Also a lot of bottled water comes from different sources and is simply re-branded depending on where it's being sold. Poland Spring and Deer Park water, for example, is the same thing with a different label. |
If we can't observe dark matter, how do we know it exists? | We can detect the existence of matter without seeing it by the gravitational effect it has on matter we can see. The same concept applies to regular matter as well. Before we had the ability to see Pluto, we could tell there was something massive in the vicinity of where we now know Pluto is because of its effect on Ne... |
Why do amphetamines suppress appetite? | Dopamine is one of the nuerotransmitters that signals satiety. When the brain is flooded with dopamine, it will think you are already full. Amphetamines will also increases other nuerotransmitters like epinephrine and norepinephrine which activate the sympathetic nervous system and keep you from being bothered by thing... |
4d Arrays (Programming) | If I'm not mistaking, 2d arrays are usually just arrays of arrays, ie. every entry in the first array is simply a pointer to another array. So by that logic, a 4d array is simply an array of arrays of arrays of arrays. edit: typo", 'One way of looking at it is: Imagine that as a reference to a particular page of text. ... |
Wjat are gate attendants so busy doing at the computer before boarding a plane? | Mainly getting all the lines set up and preparing boarding passes / baggage tags for printing Source: I'm a check in agent |
Why can't we legalize prostituion simply by filming it? | Because the government still isn't getting their tax money. Porn companies still have to file their taxes every year, but prostitutes don't pay taxes on their income. Like many things, it comes down to money. |
I am blind(from birth). Describe colors to me. | I have some synesthesia related to having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. So some senses looks like colors to me anyway. These might not relate or make sense. Red is the feeling of sharp metal against your skin, the smell of rust, the sharp feeling that you get when you chew tin foil. It tastes like iron and sweat. Yellow... |
Why we don't just cut away the parts of our body that has cancer? | That's what excising a tumor is; cutting it away from a body. So, basically, in a lot of cases, we do. Sometimes, however, it's difficult to get all of it, and a lot of times it's in a place that's awkward to do effective surgery on, like the brain.I remember seeing this question here not so long ago and someone drew a... |
Why do poachers kill species to extinction for ivory? There's no economic sense to it. | This is what is called the tragedy of the commons. It's in the group's interest to poach sustainably, but it's in each individual poacher's interest to poach as much as possible now, because otherwise some other poacher will come along and get all the ivory first. The only way to get around it is with collective action... |
How Social Security Numbers are assigned? Could you guess someone's knowing basic information about them, such as date of birth, location and time? | In Denmark we have a 10-digit social security number. The first 6 numbers are the date of birth, and the last 4 digits are randomly generated with the last of those being odd or even based on gender.The last number is also calculated from the previous 9 numbers and the 7th number tells something about what century the ... |
Why isn't the night sky covered in a blanket of stars? | There's gas and dust blocking our view of a lot of the universe, plus a lot of stars are so dim and/or distant that their light diffuses into nothing before reaching us.the simplest answer is that .. it IS covered by a blanket of stars. it's just that compaired to some, others are so dim you cant see them with the nake... |
Why don't the inside of water pipes rust and contaminate drinking water? | They used to, when they were made of iron. Fortunately, that practice ended in the 1950s. Today they are made of plastic, or perhaps copper in an older home. Copper can dissolve in water, with the right properties, leading to expensive pinhole leaks. Copper in the water kills bacteria, so it's arguably good for you. th... |
Why can I feel the old cathode ray tube televisions from several rooms away when they're turned on? | Many CRT emit a high frequency noise just at the edge of human perception. It is so high it doesn't even register as a sound, but more of an odd sensation. |
Why is head-butting a commonly used attack? Doesn't it hurt the person giving as much as the person receiving? | If you do it right, you are using the harder parts of your head to hit the softer parts of theirs . Also, there is the element of surprise if you know it is coming, and they don't, they can be stunned, allowing you to act freely even if you are hurt too. |
What will happen when the student loan bubble bursts? Will it be different from the 2008 financial crisis? | One effect will be a number of colleges that either close down or significantly shrink. This has already begun in the law school portion of higher education. _URL_3_ has a huge number of links on this if you would like additional reading on it. He's a fairly libertarian blogger, but is very knowledgeable about higher e... |
Why is a tomato classed as a fruit and not a vegetable? | There is no such thing as a vegetable. It's a lay term that is meaningless from a classification standpoint. Technically speaking a tomato is the fruiting body of a tomato plant and is a fruit. Using that definition of fruit as a fruiting body, a cucumber is also a fruit, as is any squash, pumpkins, peas, jalapenos, et... |
How did the color blue and pink become associated with masculinity and femininity (e.g. newborns are wrapped in blue or pink blankets from the get go)? | Edit: My apologies for posting a myth. ~~It's pretty recent and I'm unable to find any credible explanation.~~ ~~*The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink , being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate ... |
how do archeologist decipher languages that have been dead for hundreds or thousands of years? | Typically it is traced. So modern English can be traced to middle English can be traced to old English can be traced through various other intermediate languages to Latin. Even if we had lost knowledge if Latin the process works to rediscover it. The most famous and cleanest example is the Rosetta Stone. The stone has ... |
What is past, present and future. | Space-time is 4-dimensional. Three spatial dimensions . Time is the 4th dimension in this view . So, if you want to go to a place you can give directions such as: - 10 feet forward- 10 feet to the right- 10 feet up That defines a place in space. However, let's say you want to meet me there. For that you need to define ... |
what prevents different governments from printing currencies of each other? | Nothing. North Korea's government is the largest source of counterfeit $100 bills in the world. It's estimated that 1% of the ones in circulation are high-quality fakes |
Why do we swing our arms when we walk/run? | If you didn't, eventually your arms and legs would move on their own due to rotational energy being transferred to them from your gait's asymmetries. Then they would, hanging limply, get out of kilter and mess up your gait. The animals that did so were eaten by lions which disapproved of their aesthetics, and thus only... |
Why do some GIFs appear have a dotted texture? | Gifs generally contain a lot of data compared to, say, a png or jpg, because they are motion pictures. To keep file sizes low, sometimes shortcuts in data compression have to be taken. One way of achieving this is through *dithering*, a process of interspersing two different colours of pixels to give the effect of diff... |
What does a DNS do? | explainlikeimfive._URL_8_" so forth and so on, are also A records and there would be information in this zone file to indicate the IP addresses of each of those domains as well The next most common record type is an MX record. An MX record tells the rest of the internet where to send email for a given domain name. If y... |
What causes people to go lactose intolerant? | Most mammals, humans included, lose the ability to create lactase as they grow up. Some humans retain it, but it's far from most. You likely just stopped producing lactase. |
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