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How does my cell phone figure out my current location? | It receives signals from a handful of satellites in space called the global positioning system. They do some math and can figure out exactly where you're located.Smartphones can also use your IP address via wifi to give you a pretty accurate position. |
Why is NASCAR enjoyable to so many people? | There is a lot of strategy, a lot of close calls, jockeying for position, near misses, fast cars, fights, crashes etc. etc. There is a lot more nuance to it than people give it credit for. Take a car, throw it around a track at ridiculous speeds, get within inches of other cars, figure out when to pit stop, how long yo... |
What's the difference between the DOW, NASDAQ, and S & P? | DOW or Dow Jones Industrial Average, is a basket of 30 stocks that are tracked as a general index of how the economy/stock market as a whole are doing these are big, key companies like GE, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pfizer ). The NASDAQ is a stock exchange that's the second most important after the New York Stock Exchange, and ... |
Why are there so many rectangles all around us? | Rectangles are one of very few shapes that let you easily cut material into smaller pieces with no waste. If you cut a circle out of a large sheet of material, you're guaranteed to have odd bits left over that can't be made into circles. But if you cut a rectangle, the remainders are all rectangles too. Rectangles comb... |
Why can't we see satellites in front of the moon? | They're really really small and really far away, but if you have the right equipment you can see the [ISS pass in front of the moon] because it is relatively close to us and extremely large for something in orbit A normal communication is about 10 meters wide and orbits about 35,000 km up which makes it wayyyy wayyyy h... |
Why can police officers arrest you for walking home drunk instead of driving? Isn't that a really big Catch 22? | a. its rare. unless you're causing problems, the police generally aren't going to arrest you for being drunk if you're keeping to yourself. I generally hear about drunk and disorderly, not just drunk b. you have other options, call a cab or designated driver. c. the entire situation is avoidable. If you don't have a DD... |
Why is pork white, ham pink, and sausage brown. | Fried, smoked and boiled. Though the sausage color can also be attributed to the skin. Inside it's more white. Should be if it's from a pig. Put the ham in pan ans it will be more white.Haha, I swear I was going to post his exact question to r/trees last night. |
why do some people sweat substantially quicker/more often than others? | My favorite part is when I towel off from a hot shower, and I'm already covered in sweat before I'm fully dressed. Or walking outside in the summer. In wool work trousers. Summer weight wool is a fucking LIE.Quick question: do people that sweat more burn more calories?', "Most of our sweat is released by the eccrine sw... |
Can the FBI continue to investigate the President even if the President does not want that investigation? | Sure. Look at what happened during Watergate. Of course, the FBI Director has to have the balls to go up against their boss. And the President has the nuclear option he can fire the AG. Nixon even fired Special Prosecutors. A few of them. IIRC, the President no longer has the authority to fire the FBI director; he is a... |
Why is it so hard to keep endangered species from going extinct? Can't we just capture and inseminate them to create more? | The usual reasons animals go extinct would keep that plan from working. 1. Diseases. Introducting more animals won't change the fact that some nasty disease is endangering the pooulation.2. Decreased available space. There just isn't enough habitable space for the animals, and growing more would actually make it worse.... |
Why is there so little religion in China? | Chinese here. Historically religion in China had always been subject to and used by the ruling power, instead of the other way. Therefore Chinese people don't really have the same attachment to Abrahamic monotheism typical to the west. Our myths and legends typically feature people overcoming nature or even gods, inste... |
When Sauron was defeated the 1st time - how did he 'rebuild' Mordor? | Orcs are naturally loyal to Sauron and even after Sauron defeated they continued to fight with humans. It's not know if they are instructed by him or not. But it's possible even without his body. Sauron gained his physical form after a long time. He is known as Necromancer in Hobbit. They didn't know his true identity ... |
Why is our vision blurry underwater without goggles, but clear with them? | You can't see objects through water any more clearly as a result of wearing goggles; nothing about having a little plastic dome over your eyes makes light refract any less as it passes through the water. What goggles do allow you to do is fully open your eyes comfortably; people who aren't accustomed to opening their e... |
Despite it being painfully obvious lie detectors are not accurate, why are they still used? | most people know that polygraphs are unreliable and trivial to defeat. that isn't the point. the point is to create a coercive atmosphere where an aggressive examiner can sweat information out of you by creating the false impression that the squiggles on his graph are betraying the falsity of your answers.> To trick gu... |
Why aren't there nitinol motors? | Nitinol motors are just a kind of Stirling Engine. They just don't provide enough power to be useful in most applications. There just aren't that many applications where you need a small amount of power, have a ready source of heat, and can't use a more efficient engine for some reason. |
Why/how is it that radium is treated as calcium by our bodies? | Follow up question: what about something like strontium or barium? They're still in the same group but aren't radioactive, so would they do damage if they replaced calcium? |
Why does it look like car wheels are spinning backwards when the going fast and on film? | all in here dude _URL_0_ A useful application is to use a strobe light on a rotating object, and tune the strobe rate until the object appears stationary. if it's going forwards, speed up the light, if it's going backwards, slow it down. From that you know the strobe is blinking at the speed of the object. |
The point of high fashion | Think of fashion as a chart with form on one end and function on the other. High fashion is much more oriented to form rather than function. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a spacesuit would be much more oriented towards function rather than form. The clothes we wear every day are more centered, maybe with a leani... |
Why are there 720p movies of 750MB and 5.5GB if the 750 looks seemingly as good as the 5.5GB? What's the difference? | I'm sorry, but almost no 750 MB 720p rip look as good as a 5.5 GB rip, assuming you're talking about a normal, live action, 2 hour movie. Honestly, 750 MB isn't even enough to make an SD rip look very great. Video compression works by taking advantage of temporal redundancies and by getting rid of spatial details human... |
Why is water not a moisturiser? | It is. Hot water strips your body's natural oils a lot faster than warm or cold water, making your skin dry. |
why do squirrels and other small animals run across the road in front of cars when they're safe where they were? | Sorry that that squirrel forced you into its assisted suicide. 🙁 For the future, if you see an animal who looks like it might dart out in front of you again, honk at it. I use this and have turned sure hits into near misses for squirrels, cats, and even deer. Sometimes, neither of you sees the other and there's just n... |
Water on Mars - How do we know it's water and not another liquid? | We haven't seen much evidence of other potential liquids on Mars given the temperature ranges there. We know that there's a lot of water on Mars in the form of ice, and it's been suspected that there could still be conditions occasionally where liquid water could be occurring. So do we know for sure that it's water and... |
what is the iran deal and why are people mad? | Countries put sanctions on Iran to hurt their economy to convince them to stop trying to build nuclear bombs. The Iranians began negotiating to get the sanctions lifted in exchange for not trying to build nuclear bombs. But the negotiations did not go well. The Iranians didn't really give up anything major. So people a... |
Why are people so happy that Edward Snowden released all of the information that he did? | How exactly would they maneuver around massively widespread data gathering? not use the phone or email? Bin Laden did just that, so it's not exactly like we're giving them new ideas. Also, most people aren't concerned about terrorism, because it's not really a big threat to the average american, you're far more likely ... |
Why back in early 2000 Motherboards were green, and now they are mostly black. Why the color change and why aren't we seeing any pink motherboards? | Search back in this sub, iv read a more in depth answer before. it was saying about how it's just the cheapest plastic that was available and done the job, and just so happened to be green. And if the manufacturer didn't specify what colour board they wanted they were just given green as they could then make more profi... |
where does fat "go" when we burn it? | > I know fat can turn into muscle It doesn't. When you get your diet and exercise right, fat turns into carbon dioxide and water and the cells that stored it get smaller. Muscle cells produce more contractile proteins from the amino acids you've eaten to fix any damage that occurred and adapt to more exercise. One tiss... |
Why does fresh, cold air help with nausea? | It depends on what causes it. Usually one of two things causes nausea: toxin or imbalance in the ear canal. The former fresh air won't do much for, the only way to get rid of the toxin is to remove it from your system , the toxin can be anything from something you breathed in or, more commonly, something you ate. As fo... |
Why do most STDs spread via sexual intercourse and not through other actions like making out? | > Why do most STDs spread via sexual intercourse and not through other actions like making out? An STD is by definition primarily transmitted via sexual contact. Diseases which are not mainly spread by sex are not STDs. > I'm curious, what it is about STDs that causes them to spread via sex and not other means . Genita... |
Why do critics often disparage 'Monster-of-the-week' type TV series? | The main reason that 'Monster of the week' shows change is the amount of space the writers have to fill. MOTW is fine for a pilot or a first season, like X files, but if a writer has to do a whole season or two or three in one go? They are no going to want to write 50 half-million dollar Scooby Doo episodes. |
The missile knows where it is because it knows where it isn't. | The principle of inertial navigation is to track relative motion and accumulate towards a goal value . The video is the sort of explanation we try to avoid in ELI5, it's literally treating you like you are 5, and it comes across as pretty condescending. It's not a gag, just inept. |
Why did electronic toys in the 90's and early 2000's specifically warn not to use rechargable batteries? | One of the reasons may have been the low voltage everyone is talking about, but in the 90's and 00's NiMH phased out NiCd and those are pretty close to the 1.5V of alkaline batteries Another important is that rechargeable batteries need to be monitored when they are discharged as to stop what's called deep discharging.... |
How come when I order something online and get charged immediately but if it's wrong I have to wait 5~10 buisness days? | They don't really charge you immediately. At least, they don't see that money immediately. It is debited from you account, and spends a few days in processing before it gets to the vendor. Once it hits their account, they reverse the charge, and it takes the same few days to get back to yours. |
How do things explode in space if there isn't oxygen to feed the fire? | You may be confusing combustion ,which requires oxygen and fuel, with just explosions in general, which is just a rapid expansion with a release of energy. Combustion can result in an explosion but it's not the only way. Things like stars explode because when fusion stops in the core the star collapses and then rebound... |
What is better, holding back a sneeze or letting it out and why? | Possible injuries from holding back a sneeze include hearing damage, ruptured blood vessels, and breaking bones. Don't hold it in, just control the spray. |
Why are dreams so much weirder when you have a fever? | 1. Effect of medications - some may have sedating effects and otherwise unnoticeable withdrawal symptoms. 2. More dreams. You have more dreams due to spending more time in bed. Also, due to discomfort and people checking on you more often, you're more likely to wake up during dreams and then more likely to remember the... |
Why was the Citizens United ruling passed in the first place and what benefits does it provide for the average citizen? | For the average citizen, it arguably has negative benefits. For big companies, it allows them to give as much money as they want to candidates in an election. As for the reason it was made, despite the corruption inherent in the system, and how much power it gives to corporations over people, giving money to a cause is... |
How places like the UK have amazing download speeds but places like the US have very low download speeds. | It greatly depends on where you live in the United States. I just checked my download speed, and I'm at 45 Mbps. You may be experiencing slower speeds if you live in a rural area further away from communications infrastructure. |
how the Chinese water drop torture was such a cream and effective form of torture | Have you ever had the experience of getting fixated on a repeated pattern? Maybe you've watched a light blink every 2 seconds, or listened to a beep that goes off at regular intervals. That's kind of what Chinese water torture is. You get fixated on that drop of water, always anticipating the next one. The problem is, ... |
How come when you stand up on a train you're completely still, but when you stand on a bus you have to hold on to something to stay upright? | Trains are huge and heavy, unable to speed up or slow down or turn corners rapidly. Buses can do all of these things, which throw you off balance. It's these rapid changes in motion, not the original speed of motion, that makes you have to hang on. |
How do people at the NYC ball drop go into the pens starting at noon and not leave for beverages or to pee before midnight? | My brother has gone to Times square for the last 8 or so years, was the last person interviewed in like 09 or something. Basically, you just hold it. Don't drink a lot of water beforehand. Don't eat anything really rich in fiber beforehand. You just stay there for 12 hours or even more if you really want a good spot. |
Can I declare my house a new country? | You can declare whatever you want, doesn't mean anyone else is going to recognize that claim. In fact, someone already did that _URL_0_ While he refuses to pay taxes to a foreign nation, he does donate aid funding to the US in an amount coincidentally equal to his tax requirements ", 'In order to claim a new country, y... |
How does a frisbee fly? Does it HAVE to spin? | Yes. The shape causes air to travel faster above it and slower beneath it. This creates a pressure differential that creates lift underneath the Frisbee. The spinning provides it with stability, so it doesn't flip over and topple to the ground. |
How come the metal tools, crucibles, etc. in a metal foundry do not melt when handling molten metal. | Things melt at different temperatures. It's essentially the same as a cup holding ice as it melts into water. And for the second bit, that is really weird to consider. Lots of high-temperature stuff though is never fully melted and then cast. It's shaped using much harder tools that can press it into shape. Ceramics es... |
Why is it that humans typically need braces to get straight teeth, but other animals (cats, dogs, etc) don't? | I am on my phone and can't look it up. But there is a research article some where about our anscestors having prefect intact straight teeth more often than the current population and it is theorized that this is because of our current diet affecting iur teeth. Also that our mouths have evovled too small for the amount ... |
Why has samurai swordfighting (kendo/kenjutsu) consistently survived while European knightly swordfighting has little practitioners? | Fairly sure fencing is FAR more prolific and popular than kendo/kenjutsu. Largely because one is an Olympic sport and I haven't even heard of the other |
Can anyone explain the Eggs we eat? | Hens will lay eggs regardless of a presence of a rooster or not. If there isn't a rooster to provide the sperm then the hen will lay unfertilized eggs that won't hatch. |
during a horror movie, when something shocking and scary happens, why do your testicles retract? | It is part of a natural reaction your body undergoes when confronted with danger. The body retracts the testicles to protect them from damage during a fight or flight. Other effects of the same process would be increased heart rate and breathing, an increase in several chemicals such as epinephrine and cortisol that wi... |
why does the translucent water in my bottle cast a shadow comparable to the one created by my solid body? | Shadows are made when light is prevented going forward with all its neighbors. This can occur in 3 ways, the light is absorbed, the light bounces off , or the light is bent . The water is causing refraction. The light is being bent away from the path it would follow in the air, and so less light is hitting the spot 'be... |
What's in the space between gas particles | In simple terms: nothing. Nothing of consequence anyway. Turns out the difference between what we consider to be normal atmospheric conditions and the cold, hard vacuum of outer space is. . . pretty damned thin. Scarily thin, even. Let's do a little thought experiment. Imagine, if you will, a single cubic meter of Eart... |
Why is it easier to follow a line when cutting something? | For cutting in a straight line, I'd say the reason why a line helps is because you've made the line with something that actually is straight. The line is a guide or reference for your eye to follow. If there is no reference, however, your eye probably starts to pick out grain patterns to help as references to try and k... |
Why is it a bad plan to teach "Just Say No"? when it comes to drugs? | Any time you don't have consistent empirical data to follow your claims any person that comes of age is not guaranteed to accept a general statement about what you should and shouldn't do when the risks seem more and more vague. It is also one of those political phrasings that tend to bite you back when people discover... |
If dogs are considered so intelligent why can't they understand that the road is dangerous? | i guess you've never seen stray dogs wait at pedestrian crossings for the light to turn. a housedog that goes outside 4 hours a week might be too excited to care. |
How the Western White men who join ISIS do not end up getting their head cut off once they're in ISIS territory? | 2 things: * People from that region of the world, Iraq, Syria, Iran, aren't that dark skinned. See [aryan]. * All those men I've seen in the news had long beards. |
Why is it that when we sleep, our cuts will heal in hours, while when we are awake they stay open? | While you sleep, during rem sleep, your body drops a huge amount of human growth hormone into your bloodstream. HGH is actually better at helping the body heal than grow, you can't really use it to grow after puberty is over. Its really astonishing how fast the body heals and how HGH works. If you were to administer it... |
What does a share do other than go up and down in value, and sometimes paying out a quarterly dividend? | You've pretty much nailed it, although many shares also give you voting rights at the company's Annual General Meetings.You are most likely referring to "Common Shares" which represent ownership in a company. Common Shares are usually given one vote per share in matters where shareholder vote is required. For instance,... |
Why is it not efficient to build mechanical batteries for grid-scale storage ? | I remember [seeing this video a few years ago], and it fascinated me. They basically fill some train cars with heavy things, and set them atop a hill. When they need power, they let the train cars go down the hill, and generators in the cars are then powered by gravity. How do they get up the hill again? Via electric m... |
Why is it that I really want to be productive, but my brain literally does everything it can to stop me? | Extreme procrastination like this usually means some part of you really doesn't want the thing to happen. Late for your wedding? Maybe you aren't feeling confident about getting married. Can't start filling out your tax form? Maybe you feel it will be a horrible experience involving lots of math and rules, or you don't... |
What's the origin of the possessive 's (apostrophe S) ? | I don't know about the origin, but the correct way of using it when the name already ends in an s, is to omit the final s:James' dog. |
How can I think that two people look very much alike but someone else thinks that the same two people don't look alike at all? | Perhaps you have poor attention to detail and thus two people to you may look very similar due to sharing some prominent features but look completely different to people who pay attention to the details. Same reason to us all chimpanzees look pretty much identical and yet they can tell each other apart just fine. Hard ... |
Why are all our emotions stronger at night than during the day? | When you're tired, you don't regulate emotions as well as when you're well-rested. Managing and regulating emotions takes coordination. Over the course of the day, connections break down a bit. When you sleep, these connections reset and you start the next day at full capacity. You have a lot to do with it, of course. ... |
When/where did the idea of prisons arise? | When/where questions aren't really suitable for ELI5, it's more for complex questions which usually require technical jargon to be explained in a way that leaves out the technical jargon. This question doesn't need technical jargon to be explained Go to [r/askhistory] or [r/law] and ask there. I'm sure someone will kno... |
How does hunting (legally) benefit animals? Particularly those that are endangered? | There are some cases where it can be alright to hunt endangered wildlife; the hunt has to be extremely regulated, and will be very specialized. Basically, it hinges on if a certain endangered population would perform better with certain members culled. I don't think the story you linked would be a good example. A good ... |
How does Netflix load so fast? | You aren't watching full HD episodes of Archer on a 2mbps connection. As someone with a 2.5 mbps connection, I can tell you that your video quality is certainly sacrificed; you are getting a highly compressed version of the video. |
Why would I use a VPS server? | People use VPS's for the same things they use normal, dedicated servers - put a website on it, run a filestore/FTP server, cloud file storage, video game servers, media servers - I've run all of those and more. |
How do EMPs actually work? I know WHAT they do, I just don’t know HOW they do it. | A basic EMP discharges a lot of energy all at once, that energy can actually be electrical, chemical, or nuclear in nature . This creates a moving electromagnetic field. When this field moves across a conductor it generates a current through something we call induction. Most of our electronics have relatively fragile c... |
Why did people used to hate/ridicule the Poles? Seems like calling someone "Polish" used to be an insult. | It depends where you are from. Urizen23 gave a good reason why the Polish are common targets for racism in the USA. In the UK its for a different reason. A lot of illegal immigrants, and legal ones too, come from Poland, they offer to work for much less than minimum wage and take a lot of manual worker jobs. If you are... |
Why is rice so readily available and cheap? | > It seems to be incredibly labor intensive and somewhat low yielding When you have cheap labor & cheap land, this isn't a huge deal. When you have industrialized processes for harvesting and refining it, this cuts the costs down. When your processed product doesn't spoil or require complex refrigerated storage/shippin... |
How can anesthesiologists tell that patients are truly out, rather than merely paralyzed and unable to remember, but fully able to feel? | So there's 3 types of medications that are used that should be discussed separately. A sedative reduces awareness, and some block memory. An analgesic reduces pain. A paralytic prevents movement. They are all used for most patients under general anesthesia. Traditionally, patients were sedated first. You basically give... |
Why do we sleep a lot when we're sad, depressed? | Depression in particular is long thought to be caused by an imbalance, or low levels of serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical in the body most known to be a neurotransmitter that helps control mood balance and sleep cycle. An unbalance in serotonin levels can effect the bodies ability to control it's sleep wake cycle adeq... |
If we can store up to 128GB on a micro SD card, why are we still using big bulky hard drives in computers? | Micro sd cards are slow and extremely unreliable. We don't store all files in zip because a) it requires CPU cycles and would slow down your computer and because b) most files of significant size are basically the same size compressed . |
Why are old/damaged ships deliberately sunk instead of salvaged for their steel? | Some old ships are held onto for salvage purposes. At the Naval base in Bremerton WA there is line of WW11 era carriers, mothballed for salvage. It's the most impressive sight in town tbh. |
The controvesy surrounding Mark Zuckerberg's decision to donate 99% of his facebook income to charity. | A lot of people are touching on the tax avoidance aspect, but there's another one that relates not just to Zuckerbergs, but all the billionaires and celebrities who donate money for their pet causes. While there is obvious value in saving lives, eradicating diseases and so on, there's some element of these charities 'g... |
Why no nuclear *research* subs? | Modern technology has rendered a nuclear powered research vessel unnesscary. While NR-1 could stay on station independent of a tender, it was rare that she would have operated that way for very long, and it unsafe for the crew to be too far from a surface ship for extended missions. Today, remotely operated submersible... |
If morphine overdose can be used to euthanize, why can't it be used in death penalty executions? | Morphine is only used to euthanize as a matter of convenience. Many terminal ill patients are given morphine for pain, and in places were assisted suicide is legally complicated, it is the best option available. But that doesn't make it a good option, as there can be a number of unpleasant complications from an overdos... |
Why do Americans act like they got it absolutely right with the constitution the first time? Why are they so obsessed with the founding fathers? | I'm going to remove this as a loaded question. Americans modified our constitution 27 times so this doesn't make sense. If you want to argue a point of view try /r/changemyview instead. |
Why do people who are passed over for the CEO job, usually end up leaving the company? | A company can only have one CEO. The CEO generally keeps the job for a long time. Once you've worked your way up to being considered for CEO, getting passed over means you're stuck waiting until the new CEO retires. If the CEO is any good, this could easily be a decade or more. If the CEO is bad & they get removed quic... |
How does the Earth's rotation effect an Aeroplane in terms of distance travelled? | The distance is the same and it would take the airplane the same amount of time to travel either direction . Where you are getting confused is a common mistake. The thought is that once you leave the ground you are no longer connected to the earth's rotation. In actuality the atmosphere around the earth is rotating at ... |
Does my voice sound to other people like it does to me when I talk, or how it sounds to me when I hear it on tape? And why is there a difference? | Apparently it has something to do with your vocal chords and how they sound different when they resonate through your jaw bone. When we hear a recording of ourselves we sound higher pitched in a way that makes us think we sound different and more than likely terrible. Hopefully someone can correct me on this but I'm li... |
Why does a major chord sound "happier" than say a minor or a diminished chord? | Radiolab does a great [podcast] on dissonance and it's effect on the brain.This will get buried, but thought it might be slightly relevant. I know the question is about the actual sound of music being "happy" or "sad," but in one of my college music history classes, we studied an interesting twist on this concept. This... |
Why can't I hear myself snore? | my dad snores so loud sometimes that he wakes himself up. He's always confused when it happens and has no idea what woke him. |
Why is it so hard to study 1 hour straight, but you can spend 8 hours gaming or doing sth else with no problem? | For the same reason that it's easy to lay down rather than jog; one is a relatively passive, low-effort activity, and the other is learning something new. |
How is a sniper rifle more powerful than most other guns? (i.e most other semiautomatics and automatics) | Sniper rifles tend to use a larger caliber. The extra powder and projectile mass give the gun a longer range and more accuracy. there are assault rifles in the same calibers, but the accuracy isn't as good . Assault rifles uses smaller calibers because the soldiers can carry more for the same amount of weight. An SMG n... |
How do they freeze the moment on camera and then spin around a certain point 360 degrees? | Yes, as other have mentioned, it's done with multiple cameras. But in planned scenes ) there are ways you can do it with a single camera and some added effects. Check out this tutorial by Film Riot: [_URL_2_] |
Evolutionarily, why do men grow facial hair but women do not? | I have no answer to this, but I would like to add that I think it's interesting how in many animal species the male is usually the elegant/ pretty one, while the female is typically more bland. This is common in many birds. However, from my understanding, it's almost unanimous to believe that the female of our own spec... |
What happens if you freeze an acid and turn it solid? Is it still corrosive? | Acids without water aren't acids. *edit: as somebody pointed out, there are solvents other than water, but the idea is roughly the same with them* Your normal CO2 is just a gas you breathe out. Dissolve it in water and it becomes H2CO3 - carbonic acid. Very, very weak, but enough to affect your blood pH. Chloride is ju... |
Why are we told to save water, when 70% of the earth is made of water? | First of all, 70% of the Earth isn't made of water. 70% of the surface is covered with it yes, but it's actually only 0.05% of the Earth's total mass. And then 97% of that water is in the ocean the 3 remaining percent makes up all glaciers, rivers, lakes and water underground. So most water on Earth is salt water, whic... |
What do people who go to seminary actually learn for four or six years? Are they just rehearsing ceremonies and learning Bible history? What are they actually tested on? | Theology, Philosophy, History , Latin, Greek, Hebrew, History of the Bible , Christian Literature and Art History My uncle is a Catholic priest, and these are at least some of the things I know he studied. That's in addition to all the stuff pertaining ceremony and stuff. I know he had some Education classes , but I'm ... |
Cell phones conversations are crystal clear, but high-stakes air traffic control conversations are done on crackly-ass radios | ATC needs to communicate to *all* planes listening on a frequency. Cellphones are clear in part because there is a direct connection between the two phones that's being relayed by cell towers and then through land lines; the over-the-air portion is as short as possible and the rest is grounded, whereas ATC is necessari... |
Why do we sweat when it's 90°F outside, but our internal body temperature is 96.8°F? | Think about it the other way. When you are really cold, you put on a thick sweater/jacket. The jacket itself isn't generating heat, its just keeping in the heat your body generates to keep you warm. Since your body is constantly generating heat, the opposite conditions make sense. If the outside temperature starts goin... |
When I'm sleepy, why is rubbing my face and eye sockets vigorously one of the most desirable things to do? | Close your eyes. Now open them. You should notice that light sources around you are somewhat still identifiable even with your evey closed. Now close them and rub them. You'll notice you lose that ability to identiy your surroundings via your eyesight, helping you disconnect from the reality around you and realize how ... |
Why are cable companies constantly trying to push their home phone service? Most people already have cell phones and it sounds like an added burden to their existing infrastructure. | the equipment for your internet is capable of producing a dial tone, it's already in your house, and it has almost no effect on bandwidth. it's just extra cash every month. imagine if, for some reason, you paid for 5 blinking lights each month, but the modem had 6 lights on it. they would of course try to get you to tu... |
Why did we evolve to the point where we have to wipe our ass when no other animal has to do so? | Half the problem is that we're meant to squat when we poop, not to be seated on a toilet. |
How do I know a scientific study is accurate? | That's why the most important rule of scientific studies is that they must be repeatable- if the second, third, and fourth studies all show the same results, then it's probably accurate. Without doing the study yourself , it's hard to figure out if they've actually figured something out or if it's total garbage. |
Orgasms, how do they work and why do we even have them? | To keep it simple, in both genders it is a rhythmic vibration of pelvic muscles that produces a feeling of pleasure. It exists because people wouldn't want to reproduce if it didn't. Not sure if it does this for females, but for males it also releases a bunch of chemicals that cause fatigue and a feeling of clear-minde... |
How can I, as an American - help to destroy tipping-culture in a way that will not result in tip-based employees starving homeless on the street? | > Why is it legal? Why would it not be legal? Even in countries where tipping isn't customary it isn't *illegeal*.Back when i was waiting tables in college i would routinely make about 18-20 dollars an hour from tips. Now unless you can get the min wage raised to that then guaranteeing the server 10 dollars an hour wou... |
Why aren't tobacco and alcohol schedule 1 drugs? | It's basically because they are so well accepted and the use of them is so integrated into society that it has become unable to be banned/labeled/categorized as a schedule 1 drug. One could even go as far as say that Alcohol is quite a bit more toxic and dangerous that marihuana will ever be. However one is socially ac... |
why don't ATMs give out $10 bills | In Europe you're prompted what type of bills you'd prefer, 5/10euro notes or 20/50s and I think it's the most wonderful thing. |
LI5, what is the difference between Army infantry and Marine infantry. | Originally, the USMC were part of the Navy. Essentially, the ships would get close to land and drop off the meanest sailors, give 'em swords and maybe a musket, then pull away. Those guys were the Navy's infantry, and later the Marines. Eventually, they broke away from the Navy, but are still closely related to them. W... |
Why is it that computers get slower as time goes on, even when you factory reset it? | There are multiple reasons for this: 1. A lot of it is perception. Software is going to get more demanding over time, and your computer will slowly become outdated. 2. The more your drive is fragmented, the slower your computer is at reading from it. Modern computers are less affected by this, as they do defragmentatio... |
How does a PR incident lead to the decline in value of a companies stock? | In a perfect system the stock price reflects all known information about the company. Random bad press is unexpected and depending on the cause it can have a large impact. Yesterday's situation has a couple of unknowns. Will the guy sue? Possibly. Are people upset and deciding to let United know by choosing other compa... |
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