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Why do architects STILL not design apartment buildings to be soundproof? | So if I don't live in a sound proof home, does anyone know of ways to help deaden sound? |
How were big publishers (CNN, ABC ect) able to get interviews with osama bin laden, yet took the US forces so long to locate and kill him? | The problem with the question is that the first half applies pre-9/11 and the second after. In the 1990s it was easier; the US was after him but not to the same degree post-9/11. IIRC Mike Wallace got an interview with him in the 90s that was subsequently published in Reader's Digest; it even mentioned sleeping overnig... |
Why does the element of my stove turn red when it's on? Why doesn't the pan on top change color as well? | Because the element is hotter, considerably so. If you had a hot enough stove, a good conductive pan making good contact and some time you could make the pan glow too. It'd be a bad idea, but you could. During normal operation the pan gets hot, then transfers the heat right on into the food in turn. Since you don't wan... |
If you are never supposed to add water to acid and your stomach is acidic, why can you drink water without it causing problems? | That's a rule for when you are adding water to very concentrated acids. You pour acid into the water, instead of water into the acid. You do this because the reaction makes a lot of heat, so you would rather have a lot of water reacting with the little bit of acid added at a time, than a little bit of water reacting wi... |
Internet piracy is illegal while brick-and-mortar stores selling used music/movies are legal. Why is this? | I bought CDs back in the day, downloaded the music to my computer and sold them back for the same price. It's essentially stealing. |
- Why do I keep hearing the same scream of a man dying in films? Ive heard it so many times. | It's called the [Wilhelm Scream]. The first clip in the video is the original. It's kind of a tradition. |
Why are western cartoons mostly episodic, and anime mostly sequential? | The other answers are good, but there's one more factor : a lot of Western animation was done for syndication, meaning a production company makes the episodes to be sold on the open market, not aired by any one channel. Or, like the Simpsons, they're planning on it living long enough to be sold into reruns on the syndi... |
why are some Internet services, like Netflix, unavailable in certain countries? | I'm gonna take a punt that setting up one of those services requires a big investment that may not pay off including giving it away for a month for free, than there is getting the rights to the many tv shows and movies Sometimes even fighting for those rights. Not to mention some countries may still have terrible net s... |
What happens if you give someone real medicine, but tell them it's a placebo? | It depends on how the drug works and if the condition is something that can be treated by this drug. The placebo effect happens when the power of the mind in wanting to believe that the body has taken an actual drug, works as well as, or better in treating the condition, thus creating a false result for the drug which ... |
a good way to improve my laptops performance. | Buy a new one. You can spend the money to upgrade the RAM, but the RAM isn't going to help you if your processor is pants-shitting slow due to its age. You can then upgrade the processor, but chances are your motherboard either doesn't support a faster one, or the bus speed on the motherboard will slow it down anyway. ... |
Why do some cars have gas tanks on the left and others on the right? | Researching this I found a few candidate explanations: The filler cap is on the opposite side to the exhaust pipe. Makes sense that it would reduce the risk of igniting spilled fuel, and it might also be mechanically easier to build. As for which side the exhaust is on, that will be influenced by the engine mounting es... |
An online poker bot and why they are illegal at most poker sites | People don't log in to Poker sites to play a machine, they want to play against people, since playing against people makes it more of an emotional / intuition game vs raw numbers. If too many artificial players join then human players will leave. If all the human players leave then it becomes just a bot vs bot game. Th... |
Why are the people who run those 4 charities that were exposed for major fraud not facing jail time? | Because white collar crime is a game that the players know how to play. They probably had lawyers with contingency plans and legal games to play the system in their favor. It's harder to win against someone who knows what their doing, even if they're in the wrong. |
what happens when you delete a file from your phone or computer? | you actually only delete the devices *memory* of that files existence. you are not actually deleting it. It is still right there on that hardrive, the device just doesn't have a pathway to find it. This is how computer forensics specialists can recover data from a wiped hard drive. |
why do our ears sometimes ring? | 'sometimes'? try all the time for those of use that have tinnitus. there are some studies that show it might be caused by damage to the inner ear, and others that show it can be an actual issue in the brain, meaning that while it may SEEM like i'm hearing the ringing in my ears, it's actually in my head. it could be ge... |
How can nightclubs have "ladies night" and charge different prices for different gender? | I wonder about a situation that I feel overly-sensitive about: I get offended that I'm searched thoroughly, as are all other males, before going into a club while women are not searched. Is that legal?", 'In my personal experience, the men really don't care as long as the prices aren't wildly different. They go to ladi... |
Explain me why we are running out of water? what am I missing?/explain me all this system | Well in California specifically we haven't had significant rainfall. Now water is conserved, but water we use here doesn't necessarily fall as rain here. if rain is falling over the ocean it doesn't do us any good. Also water comes from the melting snowpack in the Sierras and the Sierras have had very little snow. |
Why do most prices for items usually end with 99 cents? Why not just make it the next dollar? | To my knowledge it works on some people as a psychological trick. Apparently people are more likely to buy something that is $4.99 rather than $5 because they think they are spending less. I have also heard that back in the day a store for example used the same idea of ending a price on 99 cents to force the cashier to... |
Why aren't animals scared of other species that approach them while most animals are scared of humans when approached? | You're a hell of a lot bigger than a cat, and we stand upright rather than on all fours, making us seem *even larger.* We also move pretty quickly due to our long strides. If you were to crouch down, making yourself as small as possible, and move very slowly, you'd have much better chances of approaching a small animal... |
How can car insurance companies get away with charging a ridiculously high amount for new drivers? | The simple fact is the statistics reflect that younger drivers are in significantly more collisions and are generally at fault more often then say a 30 year old driver. I'm 23 and from Australia and my first vehicle was an old massive slow 4 wheel drive and I managed to get full comprehensive insurance for 700 the firs... |
Where did the idea that males have short hair and females have long hair come from? | It's just what's fashionable nowadays in our particular culture. It's different in other cultures, in subcultures within our own, and throughout history. It's one of the FAQs on r/AskHistorians, here you go: _URL_0_ |
how does a hard disk actually hold data? | A spinny-disk hard drive uses magnets to flip the polarity of metal filaments that are embedded in the disc. The read head can detect the magnetic polarity of the filaments which are read as 0 or 1. The filaments are themselves organized in tracks and each track subdivided into equal sized sectors. In a USB disk they'r... |
Can you live without having any senses? | In terms of any strict 'definition' of life, it depends. There's no concrete definition of life, but a few proposed qualifications include the ability to react to stimuli. In this sense, somebody without any sense whatsoever would not be considered alive. However, comatose people generally fail to respond to stimuli, a... |
How is the USPS funded? | It's actually neither. The USPS is an independent agency with no direct funding; it gets some subsidies to deal with overseas voters, but other than that the only federal funds it recieves are what it charges for sending mail. |
Why doesn't Bill Gates just invest his billions and donate the earnings rather than just donating his billions? | The ELI5 of it is that he donates money to the foundation. The foundation then invests the money and spends it for the charity. The difference is that the foundation owns the money can can spend or invest as much as they need to achieve whatever goals they want - otherwise they'd have to beg Bill for more money if they... |
Why is it so god-damm hard to find a cure for cancer? | Cancer isn't a single disease. And I'm not even talking about skin cancer vs. leukemia vs. cervical cancer or whatever, I mean one person's skin cancer can be different from another person's. Cancer occurs when random mutations caused by radiation or just mistakes during cell division cause something to go catastrophic... |
Why is the gap in pay between genders a prominent political issue, when the gap in life expectancy between genders is not? | Women strongly object to being paid less than men, so they fight against pay disparity. Men don't seem to object as strongly to doing violent or foolhardy things - they would fight hard FOR their right to participate in extreme sports, to drink to excess, and to avoid medical treatment for their illnesses, and those ar... |
The rotating cylinder in the face of the new Boston Dynamics robot Atlas | It's a [LIDAR] sensor that uses lasers to find an exact range to nearby objects. Since lasers can only shine in a single line, a mirror angles the laser up and down, and then the whole thing rotates to get a 360 degree view of the world. [Like this]. It's the same type of thing as is [on top of the Google self-driving ... |
What purpose do spiked rims that stick out serve, and why would they be legal? (photo example in description) | Well, I imagine they'd be pretty handy if you find yourself in a Ben Hurr style chariot race. |
When an endangered species' numbers dwindle into something like 10-20, how can they avoid the problems with inbreeding while recovering their numbers? | They can't. Inbreeding causes numerous problems with endangered species, but there's not much that can be done about it. The species will simply have to live with the risks or not live at all. |
Why does cheese taste better (or seem to taste better), melted or grated than it does normally? | I'm no cheese-whiz, but I heard somewhere or other that heating food rearranges the proteins in weird and magical ways, changing texture and taste. It had some kind of name like The Daniels effect or whatever. Source: some guy or gal somewhere sometime. It's all pretty vague |
Can someone explain the concept of "cognitive dissonance?" | Cognitive dissonance is believing two things at once that don't make sense together, like wanting to be with someone who hits you. |
Why don't carpenters make doors wider/taller when building a house, to make moving objects in or out of the house easier? | A carpenter might ask why you don't make your couch or bed smaller. Something's got to give. Also, as far as doors are concerned, if you're a door manufacturer it's much easier for you to be able to make all of your doors in a couple of standard sizes. As a customer this is also good because if you have a standard door... |
How did they program a computer to tell time? | So in the 70's they were thinking about this. The method they chose for computing things involves an internal 'clock' which basically changes from high voltage to low voltage every so often. The clock rate is a measure how how often it switches: for example a 60Hz rate switches 120 times in a second and completes a 'cl... |
Why does my cat bring me 'tributes?" | The better to subtly dupe you into thinking you are it's God while it lulls and manipulates you into a self-satisfied state of subservience. |
How does laughter "infect" other people? | While I'm no expert, it's thought to help social bonding as laughter is used to bond and strengthen bonds between people within a group.Vsauce does a good video on laughter which may help explain this better.To a five year old: You know how when you see someone crying, you feel bad? When you see someone happy, you feel... |
Why members of the United States Republican party talk about Ronald Reagan so much | Faulty memory. They don't remember what Reagan actually did, they remember the image of Reagan on television. They remember the hostages being released, but they give the credit [to Reagan, not Carter]. They forget he [sold arms to Iran] and funded terrorists. They forget that he [doubled the national debt] |
Why do adolescent girls seem to be more obsessed with boy pop stars (think Justin Bieber, boy bands, The Beatles, etc.) than adolescent boys are obsessed with female pop stars? | Girls want boys that other girls want. Guys just want girls, any of them, it doesn't matter", 'Pop stars maybe. Trust me, as an adolescent, I was obsessed with anything with breasts. I had Heather Locklear and Bo Derek posters all over my room. Pop is a lot more mainstream and the musicians get a lot more publicity tod... |
Me and some friends were hiking and lightning struck very close to us. We were all fine, but my friend's scabs all burst off/ started bleeding. What the fuck happened? | Barometric pressure, perhaps? Think of it like this:Our atmosphere pushes on us 14.7lbs per square inch. When the lightning struck, it burned all of the air in the immediate vicinity causing a vacuum effect--not only by changing the amount of pressure on your friend's skin, but sucking air in all around. At least I thi... |
The use of Winrar and why it works even if it is expiring? | It's shareware, if I recall . Instead of breaking the software, on expiration it just activates nag screens. Now, that being said: 7zip. 7zip 7zip [7ZIP]. |
Why immediately after ejaculation do you get very tired? | Part of it is evolutionary. The head acts as a scoop if there is already semen inside a vagina; this is to help you have children rather than the previous man. So your body does not want you to have sex immediately after because the first ejaculation has the highest sperm content, and you don't want to scoop all of tha... |
Why do some surgeries take as long as 24 hours or more to perform? What are the reasons why it make take more than a few hours? | I work with Neurosurgeons on a daily basis, as people have mentioned, it is mainly due to complexity of the case. For example in the Spine, a one level decompression may take between one or two hours depending on a number of factors and whether it requires instrumentation. However, a T3-L2 spinal infection which has pr... |
Why does it hurt so much to break a bone | Shattered my arm in an accident, honestly felt great afterwards for a few hours. I don't mean little pain, I mean absolutely no pain with a general feeling of euphoria. The next day, though, was the start of many weeks of intense pain Turns out adrenaline is a pretty great drug. As to your question: it hurts because th... |
If something is absolutely frictionless, could you touch/hold it? | Of course you could. If you put a frictionless cube on a perfectly flat table, it would just stay in place. If you pushed a frictionless cube on a perfectly flat and infinitely long table, it would just glide forever at constant speed . If you dropped a frictionless cube inside a cylinder, the cube would oscillate fore... |
Why do we pee our beds as kids, but not as adults? | And area in the brain, in the frontal cortex, is the master controller for the act of micturition. When you get the urge to micturate, that area decides whether you are at a place where it's socially acceptable to urinate or not, and if it is, it sends the final signal that causes one to urinate.It's not developed in c... |
Why is it that when I peel a mushroom it always stops at the peak/top and never goes all the way over? | Buy a mushroom brush. Mushrooms are like sponges and can add a lot of water to your food if you get them wet. Dry brush them gently if the dirt is offensive to you. Peeling them is a waste of mushrooms, isn't it? |
How are dictators or tyrants able to maintain control over the country while so many oppose them? | Through fear. All opposers are dealt with strictly, and there are no consequences for them, since they're dictators. But if the opposers keep growing in numbers it leads to a revolution. |
Elephant poaching. Why doesn't someone just remove elephant tusks (without killing said elephant) as a preventative measure. | Removing the tusks would probably make it hard for the elephants to live in the wild because they wouldn't have their tusks to fight with. I've read though that they have used dye to color the tusks bright pink, and that makes the ivory not worth anything. |
If tomato is from the New World, how did tomato become the number one food of Italy, and what was food like in Italy before the tomato? | The staple food of the Mediterranean was the olive. Italy's hardly the only country whose diet was revolutionized by New World crops, though. |
Why are people who run onto football fields so aggressively tackled? | You're probably right, a stadium streaker is probably a low terrorist threat, but they've pretty much committed a few crimes, some of which may be felonies. Trespassing, failure to follow lawful order, resisting/evading arrest, possibly public intoxication and disrupting commerce. Plus by being aggressive in the detent... |
Why is it that movies look so different from documentaries or newscasts. | Here's something I don't understand: On my TV, Breaking Bad looks like a normal TV show. On my friend's TV it looks it was filmed with a camcorder and more realistic. It looks like I'm watching a home movie. My other friend also has a better TV than I do. We watched Conan the Barbarian. It also looked like it was filme... |
When you have an internal organ removed, what does your body do with all of the new space in your chest\abdomen? | > Other organs take up the space. Where that isn't possible, like inside your skull or thorax, the space fills initially with serous fluid and then over months is invaded by fibrous cells and replaced with a fibrous tissue resembling soft scar. Source: _URL_0_ Edit: Formating |
Is there an explanation for bored-eating? | Vsauce made a video about our mind's desire for stimulation. In the video, people were put into a room with nothing to do for an amount of time . With them was a button that they knew would shock them if they pressed it. Some people chose to press the button and hurt themselves rather than just accept the boredom. Eati... |
How was Britain able to rule such a large portion of the world despite being such a small country? | It didn't rule by numbers but by politics. It didn't take over a country, just the leadership of the country, and the empire was built on trade more than military power, although military power came in handy when trade went wrong. That is why the ex-colonies still are rather friendly to britain like having the sovereig... |
Do extreme supplements such as Emergen-C (1000% vitamin C) actually help to get rid of colds faster? | In short - there is absolutely no scientific evidence to suggest that colds are affected by any supplement especially vitamin c. This myth endures because there was a famous scientist that believed it - but it hasn't proven to be true", '_URL_0_ tl;dr version is no. Not to the degree that people hope. Some vitamin c is... |
Why do we vomit when we see or smell something that is disgusting or uncomfortable? | I recalled reading this once in a BBC. It's an evolutionary behaviour so to get rid of the harmful substance because it is assumed the particular being has already ingested the 'harmful substance' |
How did the "Weekend" happen? | The weekend was invented by union laborers. People were being forced to work pretty much 24/7 so workers got together and created the union. The union is what also created the 8 hour work day and other big changes in the workforce. I'm guessing since Sunday was always the holy day ans when people generally went to chur... |
Why is the northeast region of the United States more developed than any other region? | Basically, that's where everyone settled. It's at the coast, which is most easily accessible. That's why the West Coast is so developed too. But the East is where the first towns were, has been civilised by America for the longest, and it's where the US was basically born. The midwest was mostly white farmers looking f... |
The fear of AI. | Any AI capable of self-improvement can probably identify and circumvent its own kill-switches. Any AI *not* capable of self-improvement is of limited utility. The problem is not with an AI smarter than ourselves *per se*, but rather that there is no guarantee that it would be friendly, and if it were malevolent then in... |
If being gay is considered to be hereditary, why hasn't natural selection gotten rid of it yet? | Well, a couple things. First, gay people aren't sterile; my father is gay, and here I am. Second, just because someone is born with something doesn't necessarily mean either parent had it; if that were the case, evolution would never work. Third, there may well be more than one factor. Like, being tall may make you mor... |
Why can't people just make up a religion and proclaim various laws to be in violation of their First Amendment rights? | It is still crazy to me, so many years later, that Scientology has already done exactly this, but it only seems different because it's proximal. |
Why do lawyers defend people that are guilty like the Boston Bombers? | Because even if they're guilty, there are still laws that protect the guilty, like the right to not testify against themselves, the right to challenge evidence brought against them, the right to cross-examine witnesses, the right to not have evidence acquired illegally by the police, etc. A defense attorney's main job ... |
Why is the NFL being criticized for not suspending physically abusive players? Shouldn't said abusers people be in jail or prison? | Allow me to interject as a police officer: Just because someone commits an assault, doesn't mean that they will spend even a moment in jail. If given an unsecured bond or a written promise to appear then they walk straight from the magistrates office to their cars and leave. These rich athlete types also have lawyers t... |
Are we the only species that keeps other species as "pets"? If so why did we begin to do so and other species did not? | there's a pretty well known gorilla that has maintained pets the way we humans do. her pet preferences have been kittens. see: _URL_3_ |
Why does screaming make people feel better? | It lets people expel energy in a non-violent way . It's let crying or laughing, it helps us express emotions that would otherwise be kept inside us. |
How do restaurants manage to keep sliced avocados green for hours, but 5 minutes after I cut mine at home, it starts to turn brown? | At Chipotle, when I worked there, we would cover the guacamole containers in plastic wrap, and aim to use them all very soon. Plus, when there is a little bit of brown, it's harmless oxidation and you can stir the avocados to get that green again. Then again, this is Chipotle we're talking about.Browning is from Polyph... |
What happens after a thief steals a car? | When my van was stolen, it was for joyriding. I got it back ten days later when a suspicious abandoned vehicle was reported to police a few counties over. The passenger doors looked like a moose tackled the van. Inside . holy Jesus. It's like Delta House threw the party of the year in there. Trash. Smoke. A pair of pan... |
How does buying a used product such as a CD or DVD benefit the artist? | It doesn't, beyond increasing the mobility of the product and thus the chances of a reprint.No royalties from a 2nd hand CD would go to the artist. But artists generally make more money from live performances than they do from recording sales. So by owning the CD you might think to yourself "These guys are pretty cool,... |
How can as of right now, it is more expensive to buy a gallon of orange juice than it is to buy a gallon of oil. | Sure, getting to the oil is expensive, but the volume is HUGE. Oranges are easy to reach, but quantities are low and agriculture isn't cheap either . The Thunder Horse Oil Field, for example, is worked by the Thunder Horse Platform . However, it can produce up to 250,000 barrels of oil PER DAY and 200 million cubic fee... |
If proteins get denatured by extreme acidic or alkaline environments, how does it survive our stomach acid and go into the small intestine for digestion without any harm? | Proteins are digested in the stomach. They're broken down into amino acids and peptides which are then absorbed in the small intestine. The enzymes that do this are adapted to work in the acidic environment of the stomach. The acidity is actually required for them to adopt the proper structure to work. |
Why can't we make the flavor of chewing gum last more than 5-10 minutes? | I'm pretty satisfied with Dentyne Ice above other brands. I find it lasts at least 20-30 minutes. Shiver is the best flavour btw. |
How do twin cities work? | Twin towns/twin cities have two meanings. In the US, it refers to two cities very close by - e.g. St Paul and Minneapolis. In Europe, it refers to two settlements normally in different countries which have agreed to be 'twinned', which is to say have a connection of some sort between them. Twin towns/cities in Europe h... |
Why does Google Chrome use up so much processing power? | It's a process called sandboxing. Basically if I have a website open, everything it does is inside of the sandbox and can't go out. Every tab in chrome is it's own sandbox. Let's say I have 10 tabs open without sandboxing. Flash player malfunctions on one, and the whole browser crashes. In Chrome, each tab is it's own ... |
How Did They Code The First UI? | At the time, shells already existed on teletype terminals. These were essentially electric typewriters hooked up to a phone line or serial cable. What you typed didn't go to a screen, but onto a paper spool. The running gag is when someone writes something followed by ^H ^H ^H ^H, the terminal output to disregard the l... |
Why is it that a lot of homeless people in the US are veterans? | I don't know if it's the same in the US, but many UK ex-service personnel join the forces precisely because they have no family support, poor education and a general lack of decent prospects. When they leave after x years service, the same problems are still waiting for them exacerbated by being institutionalized and/o... |
Is it posible to breath in through your nose, while breathing out of your mouth? Resulting in a continously flow of oxygen and carbon dioxide? | At the same time? No. You breath in my contracting your diaphragm, which expands your lungs and lowers the air pressure inside them - this draws air inwards through your mouth or nose . When you exhale, your diaphragm relaxes, the lungs contract pushing the air out. Since respiration is controlled by the air pressure i... |
What sort of chance does Gary Johnson really have of winning the presidential election? | He isn't running to win, he is running to get a message out and allow people to case a protest vote. Practically speaking, he has zero chance. Maybe if Obama and Romney simultaneously withdrew at midnight the day before the election, he'd have a chance, but even then it would be unlikely. |
why do 12 string acoustics have normal (or close to normal) width necks while an 8 string electric has an absolutely massive neck by comparison? | Don't play a string instrument but I've seen a few. 12 string acoustics are double six strings. That is, the open strings are set to six pitches, and there are two strings for each pitch. This means you WANT to strike both strings when you try to strike one of them. That means it could be just a little wider than a six... |
How are plane wings designed to achieve lift? How do they decrease lift when landing? | Omagosh what a complicated question. Basically, wings move through the air and create low pressure above the wing, and high pressure below. If you want to know how, read up on leading edge theory. High pressure always wants to move to low pressure, so the wing rises The fast the airfoil is moving, the more extreme the ... |
why are drones not used to find the missing airplane? | Planes and helicopters come standard with equipment not found on drones: humans. Humans who can quickly pan around to see a greater field of view, and aren't limited by the gear on the aircraft. |
How do our bodies cope with below-freezing temperatures if most of our bodies are water? | Well, we cope for a while because we generate our own heat by burning food--it's literally an exothermic chemical reaction going on in our gut. But, our fingers and toes can freeze and die, we can become delirious and, of course, if we're too cold for too long, we'll succumb. So, really we're all happier closer to the ... |
What does Big Data really do with our data? | They mostly use it to figure out what kind of person you are so they can advertise best to. If they know you are a parent and know your income and know the age of your kids, then they will make sure you are getting an ad for the brand new toy for your kid's age. Target did an interesting thing regarding that. There are... |
The 5-second rule. If I drop something on the floor how fast does it take for germs to latch on? | Almost instantly. Germs don't move any great distance without a carrier. They are passed via contact in this case, which happens as soon as the object touches the floor. That being said, it doesn't matter if it's been 1 second or 5 minutes. |
Why do dogs mark their territory by peeing on bushes, poles, etc., when the next dog is just going to come along giving zero fucks and pee on top of it? | Part of it is the height of the spray a bigger dog will spray higher up , so dogs can tell if there is a bigger dog in the territory they need to yield to. They also appear to mark at the 'local maxima' of their route, that is, the places that stick out from the surrounding terrain if it's the most obvious object in vi... |
The Yugoslavian conflict and the subsequent breakup | I was just in Slovenia! Nice place. Nice people. We ate creme cake in one of Tito's fancy joints in the mountains. Didn't want to tell anyone that my German grandfather was a farmer in Serbia and had good ol Tito put him in a camp where they killed most of his friends during WW2! |
How did people brush teeth back then, who invented the toothbrush and why and everything pertaining to this..question. | Back around 3500-5000 BC, the Babylonians and the Egyptians used a twig with a frayed end as a toothbrush. Around the 15th century, the Chinese used the bristles of a pig's neck to create the first ever bristled toothbrush. In 1780, William Addis from England invented a more modern toothbrush using cattle bone for the ... |
. Why not discover? | It's my understanding that they have higher processing costs for the merchant. So when they run the card there's a fee associated with it to the retailer. They also must choose to accept the card, and if I'm not mistaken they also have to get permission from the company. But with visa and MasterCard you can get the equ... |
How can you tell from graffiti alone that the artist is Banksy and not someone mimicking him? | He does maintain a portfolio on his website. Not sure if it's totally comprehensive for all his work, but a piece turning up there seems like pretty solid authentication.my god his wiki page is a headache > He is an amazing graffiti artist and uses his skills to show people what he has got to show themExit through a Gi... |
To what extent is the food you eat related to how you feel? | While swapping in some healthier options won't necessarily lead to magical Mother Nature-powered improvements in all aspects of life like some people claim, it certainly can help provide indirect and some direct benefits, especially when combined with some things like regular exercise that are shown to have larger dire... |
Why is the middle east constantly at war with the west? | It's always been volatile in that area of the world. However, it has been exacerbated thanks to the United States and Russia playing proxy war games with each other. To a lesser extent China in recent years has been wanting to have more influence there too. Last and certainly not least, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been ... |
Math folks, How can an asymptote get infinitely close to 0 without ever reaching it, yet mathematical proofs can prove that .999etc is equal to 1? | First, know that infinity isn't just a really big number. You can't reach it by normal means. Even the largest number that you can think of is 0% of the way along the number line from 0 to infinity. When math types say that 0.9999 .. is equal to 1, that is because we have an infinite series of 9's. It isn't that there ... |
How do they get the CO2 inside the bottle/can of soda before packing? | I've been to a soda factory and have had this explained to me. Basically, when they're filling the bottle, they have a machine that lowers the temperature of it and its contents to just above freezing. This means that the molecules of the liquid slow down - a process called stabilisation. They then mix the liquid with ... |
[Meta] Quit complaining about every question you see in here | I used to be one of those people. One day it just clicked that this subreddit isn't mean to be taken literally; the answers don't have to always be taught like to a five year old. Just taught so that the every man can understand complex or niche subjects. |
If the US and Iran come together, how will the Middle East power balance change? | I don't think it's possible, but if it happens, IMO: Iran's main enemy in the region is Saudi Arabia. So the kingdom would totatally turn against the USA and probably would sponsor anti-western radicals. Israel would panick and be unpredictable, they may be even can start a new war. USA's main Muslim ally in the region... |
What creates the feeling for a person that they are being watched? | We just periodically get the feeling we are being watched, it helps keep us on our toes so a mountain lion doesn't eat us or something. We don't have a real sense for it, we just notice the few times when we were right and ignore all the times we were wrong. |
How can a private company like SpaceX launch a rocket for so much less than a government run agency like NASA? | Because NASA is publicly funded, there's a certain amount of beauracracy that is inherint and required. you need liasons with congress. Your bidding process has to be open and transparent. Space X doesn't. They can say, I need 4,000 widgets, who can give me the lowest price? You? Done. When can you deliver them? Also, ... |
How a master key works. | A master key isn't actually the magic part, but the lock is! Basically, there's two spots that each pin is allowed to be in that will unlock the door. The non-master or *change* key is one set, while the master key is the second set of pin arrangements. You duplicate that second set of pin arrangements for every lock y... |
During tax return season, why do some people have to pay in, instead of receiving a pay out? | You estimate your income tax owed for the year, then throughout the year you pay what you think will add up to what you will owe at the end of the year. That way when the year ends you don't have to pay any extra. Some people guess low. That is, they paid less than they should have paid. That means that they now have t... |
What is the Mad Cow Disease? Why can humans get it? | The Mad Cow disease is a thing called a Prion disease. It's a rare type of malformed protein which supposedly there is no cure for. |
What is the difference (historically and now) between India and US that creates so many more comp. engineers? | Where I went to school you could take a keyboarding class if you wanted to, or desktop publishing , or word processing. You could also take a programming class if you wanted, but no one was going to herd you into the classroom with a cattleprod and then nail our feet to the floor. India has a lot of people who had thei... |
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