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If rape is common in male prisons, why doesn't the public take it seriously? | Crimes against males are often ignored or taken lightly. This includes domestic violence and rape . That and the fact criminals are often painted as murderous raping monsters regardless of what crimes they actually committed. This doesn't help them in terms of gaining sympathy. |
How much of what goes into the recycling bin actually gets recycled? | You have to check with your local community, there isn't an answer that is true for all parts of the US. I know my town doesn't have a recycling center nearby for many types of recyclables so it eventually just gets thrown away. Some towns have expansive recycling centers so just Google your local waste management comp... |
Why do websites and programs have multiple options for English? | There are a number of differences between US and UK English, not just in terms of spelling, but also in terms of vocabulary/terminology. For example, 'Trash' is rarely used in the UK, so most features that refer to 'Trash' in US english will be translated to terms like 'Rubbish' or 'Bin' for UK users. Another example m... |
Why does Scotland want independence so badly (or why don't the other ones want it as much)? Economy? | Actually, half of Northern Ireland IS clamoring for referendum. Northern Ireland is home to two populations, the Irish, and the British. The Irish want to be part of the Republic of Ireland, the British want to stay part of the UK. And there is a lively and powerful movement of Irish people in Northern Ireland campaign... |
Why is the Metric system generally preferred over the Imperial system? | Metric or SI Is a completely base 10 system so it's really easy to do unit conversions and math. It also has a lot of 1 to 1 relationships between the units, this helps make some of the math easier. Imperial is a legacy system with units that were derived for practical applications. The units have little to now coheren... |
Walk me through the first phases of life on earth | *Everybody* is unclear on how life started on Earth. It's assumed that it started spontaneously, but nobody's been able to prove that, or even suggest a way in which it could've happened that's convincing enough to form a scientific consensus around it. You're asking a question literally nobody knows the answer to. |
How the heck are space probes, like Voyager 1, able to travel so far into deep space and still accurately able to transmit information back to earth? | Some frequencies have better propagation characteristics than others; I believe Voyager is transmitting on a longer wavelength than your cellphone, and I believe that translates to less disipation of the signal, for a variety of reasons. A concequence is reduced bandwidth; your cellphone can carry more data over it's c... |
NSA vs company datamining? | To be clear, *corporations spying on people is absolutely also a problem.* It just tends to be a lower-order problem because the Federal gov't has a lot more resources and capabilities than a corporation. Without putting too much of a conspiratorial bent on it, *the government spying on you is Sixth Amendment violation... |
Why is North Korea angry at every other country? | It has a ruling class that wants to maintain their own status as ruling class. The best jobs in NK are government jobs, and they know that by maintaining the status quo things might not be great, but are definitely tolerable for their personal situation . By pointing missiles and issuing threats to everyone they can pu... |
Why do baby teeth come in perfectly aligned, while adult teeth come in all crooked? | It's because of our modern diet. We've got room for our baby teeth because our bodies give us more room for them to come in straight. Adult teeth most often come in crooked because our dental arches are too narrow. Do you think you'd be here if all your ancestors had potentially deadly infections from impacted wisdom t... |
Why do I start laughing when people cry in front of me? | Humour is often the first response to injurious situations. Think about when you see a friend trip on a log and fall face first into mud. Usually you laugh first and then check if they are alright second. The laughing often can take tensions off of situations that would otherwise be a stressful thing. In the case of so... |
How music producers separate the layers of a song to take a sample | It requires access to the source files, not the finished product that is given to consumers. Think of it the same way that photoshop uses layers that can't be separated when you're looking at a .jpg of the finished result. |
Why do people have to use the bathroom so soon after drinking beer? | Because beer is mostly water, and consuming a lot of water increases the need to use the bathroom, as your body works to eliminate excess water from the body. You'd also have to use the bathroom soon if you drank a bunch of soda, coffee, or straight water. Additionally, alcohol has a diuretic effect, which can lead to ... |
How does psychological research derive fundamental personality traits, such as those suggested on _URL_0_? | tidy" may go with "planning" or "predictable" and so on. It is then up to you to determine how those buckets should be called. This is how you can get 3, 5, 10 or X number of traits, depending how narrow you want them to be. |
What happens when a star supernovas? | Well, I'll try basics, someone can probably be more detailed. I believe it happens because then star gets older, usually it burns hydrogen, but at the end it runs out, so it burns helium, and the rest of the reserves. Which makes is become a lot bigger, because it's a different gas. It burns hotter and faster and gets ... |
Why do Sideshows in Oakland keep going on despite it being illegal? | I've never seen this before, but the reason they're using those specific cars is because they're cheap, rear wheel drive, and have powerful engines. |
What's the difference between the Internet now and if net neutrality fails? Don't companies like Comcast and Verizon already offer you faster Internet for more money? | Want to watch Netflix or HBO's upcoming service? 8.99 in HD? 14.99.. HD available during prime time hours? 27.99 It isn't so much about your home connection, it is about all the networks your show has to traverse to get from the server to you. Right now, net neutrality means all the network providers can send data over... |
How does this act of thievery work? | They could be swapping the tag on the expensive item with a knockoff version of the same product and returning the knokoff while keeping or reselling the real thing. Let's say they buy a name brand designer shirt for $80 from your store and a similar knockoff for $10 from eBay. They put the tags from your store on the ... |
What are the incentives for a film/tv adaptation to stray from the book? | There's two ways to think of an adaptation. You could think of the movie as a translation of the source material into the language of film. In this analysis, the role of the film maker is merely translator, who seeks faithful translation first and aesthetics a much less important second. Alternatively, you could think ... |
Why can some people eat vast amounts of food but do not appear to gain weight, tenfold to the people that do gain weight from bulk amounts of food? | People overall do not accurately track their food intake. Overweight people tend to vastly underestimate their consumption, underweight people tend to overestimate their consumption, and some healthy weight people also tend to do the same. There are exceptions, of course. But they are exceptions. Statistically anyone w... |
How many nuclear explosions would result in the end of entire human civilization? | The RAND Corporation's Project SUNSHINE in 1953 estimated that around 10,000 megatons of fission products added to the atmosphere at once would make the world uninhabitable for human beings. Later they decided that you could probably do a bit more than that, but that gives a nice round number for a radiological effect ... |
What is the difference between Protestant, Othordox, and Catholic? | Catholic: Centralized under Pope and clerical hierarchy and generally conservative as in slow to change. Orthodox: Split with Catholic Church around 451 AD. Several separate Orthodox Churches, each with their own hierarchies, leaders , doctrines, and ancient traditions. Protestant: Split from Catholic Church in 1400s a... |
How is it that so many laws and rules are being placed that have their basis rooted in religion, yet the Constitution includes the "separation of church and state" ideal? | The separation of church and state simply states that the government cannot support or suppress a specific religion. If you were to not allowed to pass a law that was in line with a religion you wouldn't be able to pass anything really. |
Why does it take an hour plus to have one tire replaced on my car when pit teams change four tires on a racecar in under 10 seconds? | The primary reason would be that on your car, the shop is actually changing a tire on your wheel . That's a process that takes time. In racing, the pit crew is actually changing a wheel . The tire has already been mounted and balanced on the new wheel. there are other factors, but that's the big one |
Why has no credible attempt been made to recreate Nikola Tesla's work on wireless distribution of Energy, Death ray and other of his unfinished works? | Short answer: crackpots are attracted to Tesla, so any professional researcher will harm their reputation if they mess with such things. Robert Golka build a huge coil for the USAF at Wendover in Utah, and tried unsuccessfully to reproduce several of Tesla's claims. He tried broadcasting pulses while looking for Earth-... |
Why is the state of California the one that says there's cancer causing materials in this product? | [California's Proposition 65] requires that these things have warning labels. Other states don't have that because, well, it's only California's law |
Why can't we cancel out global warming by causing a Nuclear winter | Well for one, the nuclear fallout and other radioactive byproducts and ethical issues. Ignoring all that. Nuclear winter is the idea that by detonating bombs with high enough yield, you can throw up debris into the atmosphere to occlude sunlight and reduce the amount of solar radiation hitting the Earth. So, you can't ... |
Why do people go on the offensive when they are clearly caught in a lie or get caught doing something bad/shameful? (Psychology) | Because it works, and they have little to lose. Most people want to avoid confrontation when possible, especially when they don't have much to gain from that confrontation. People who habitually behave badly learn others will back off if they threaten to escalate the situation. And even if others don't back off, you al... |
Why do car radios turn off for a few seconds when you turn the key to start the engine? | Most cars are set to turn off almost all non-essential stuff while starting the car. There are a couple of reasons. One is that the starter motor needs all the power that the battery can provide. Another is that the battery's voltage drops fairly low while starting, and this can make these things misbehave. A third is ... |
How were soldiers in those massive "Braveheart" type foot battles able to keep from killing each other if everyone generally looked the same? | A lot of the time they wouldn't. Many people were killed by their own armies just for not being recognised. Even in the very early days of warfare, armies would recognise each other through some distinctive piece of clothing, decoration or war paint. Then of course, back in Scottish Clan days, you would go to battle wi... |
How can all movies claim to be #1? | First, these examples are different claims. The #1 comedy is usually not the #1 movie overall. There can also be a #1 drama, a #1 kids' movie, etc. Second, there are different ways to measure #1 -- for example highest review ratings, highest ticket sales in-country, and highest ticket sales globally. |
For what reason is the Canadian economy completely failing in comparison to the American? | As others have mentioned Canada exports a lot of resources. Prices for raw materials have gone down recently because demand has gone down globally, particularly in China which was previously a very large consumer of raw materials. However I wouldn't be so worried about a decrease in the exchange rate of the Canadian do... |
How Family Guy uses brand names so frequently, but no other cartoon can. | They can, they just choose not to. The reason isn't related to lawsuits, either -- there's just often a policy of not mentioning by name any companies or products who are not advertisers. If Homer Simpson is drinking Coke, and Pepsi advertises on Fox, they'll object . And in the reverse, if they mock or insult a real p... |
Why does glue not get hard and stick to its original container? | Glue needs a reaction to solidify. Superglue reacts with water, PVC glue melts the PVC it's in contact with, and other glues generally have a solvent evaporate leaving behind the solid glue. So the short answer is that the container keeps whatever reaction is supposed to happen from happening. If you left the cap open ... |
Why does the English pronunciation of 'Goebbels' include the letter r? | Because it's actually a German name. Such as the name Kurpgeweit. In that name, the W acts as a V. It's basically saying a German name in an American accent.ö, oe ö: > something like the French "eu" or the British "ur" in the word "burn", e.g. It's just the way to pronounce to \'oe\' sound in German. There's a faint R ... |
Why don't we realized we're dreaming during our dreams? | Sometimes during a particularly upsetting dream I'll realize that I'm dreaming and try to wake myself up. It's almost like my brain is fighting another part of itself the whole time. |
how do they measure the time a car needs to accelerate from 1 to 100 km/h? Does this not heavily depend on the driver? | > Does this not heavily depend on the driver? Yes an no. A professional driver can probably accelerate faster than you or I. But the difference between a typical professional and world class driver isn't that great, especially in a stock vehicle. Those few hundredths of a second might win a drag race, but don't really ... |
What is catnip and how exactly does it work? | Can someone tell me what catnip is used for? I have never understood. Is it's sole purpose getting kitties high, or is it a side effect from being used for something else? |
On a political level, what is the difference between an American state (or other federal system) and a constituent country in the U.K.? | As I understand it the main difference politically is that states in US have more control over their own laws as long as it doesn't affect a right of the constitution or federal law everything else is fair play whereas with the current system in place in the UK devolved parliaments only have control over certain sectio... |
Why is female genital mutilation considered worse than circumcision? | I think both are equally bad. I will not circumcise. It's not right of me to make a decision for my baby boy. Or baby girl. |
Are the damage caused by nuclear weapon test different from the outcome of a nuclear weapon used against a country? | No, but because the bombs used in WWII were detonated in the atmosphere, tests today are done deep underground so the environmental impact is not as great. In the last many test were done above ground as well, but we're done in isolated areas of the world. |
Why do large US employers ask you to declare ethnicity on job applications? | I'm pretty sure most large employers have a quota of ethnicities, gender, and disabled people they want to meet so they can pride themselves on being a diverse company. I'm not sure if skipping this would ultimately have any influence on your application's success. |
Why is Zimbabwe allowed to use the US Dollar as its national currency? | Several countries do so. It has no negative affect on the value of the US dollar because Zimbabwe isn't able to print US dollars - only the US is. If anything, it is a slight downward pressure against inflation because it increases the demand for US dollars. Similarly, a number of non-Eurozone countries use the Euro wi... |
Is your thinking voice your actual voice, or a different voice entirely? | Your thinking voice it's only limited to your imagination, you can read something with someone else's voice if you want. My default thinking voice differs from my actual voice, I think it's because I'm not very talkative and I don't remember my own voice. I spend too many time reading and I mostly communicate by writti... |
Why are women's jeans not measured in length like mens? | More and more stores are doing it . Women's clothing sizes were first introduced when most women didn't wear pants, and the length of the skirt didn't matter as much since women could easily hem the length shorter. |
Why can't the President of the US drive? | The Secret Service won't let the president driving in public, where he might get into a security situation. Presidents drive on their own sometimes when they're at their secure vacation spots. Lyndon Johnson had one of those novelty cars that was also a boat, and he liked to freak people out by pretending he'd lost con... |
How a paid lawyer gets someone a better deal than a public defender. | The other answers sufficiently explain it, but let me add this. You get 2 job offers. The first pays around 2-3 times as much as the second. Which one would you take? Lawyers working PD usually aren't the cream of the crop, because those guys work for real money. |
Why SHOULD Obama wait to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice? | Well, nobody's asking him to wait, because they know he won't. In fact, he *didn't* wait - he has already nominated someone, a man named Merrick Garland. The issue is that the ball is now in the Republicans' court. They control the Senate, so it's their choice to allow Mr. Garland to have hearings or a vote or not. So ... |
Why does the United States have bases in so many countries? Is this still necessary? | The bases remain and will continue to remain because they serve the host nations' interests. It may be philosophically difficult to stomach the presence of an American base on your native soil, but the money it brings in and the security it provides is tangible and undeniable. They aren't used to dominate the host nati... |
Homeopathy and why people believe in it? | Homeopathy is the belief that adding water to something makes it stronger. A good argument? Common sense. Have a nice cup of apple juice that you've put into a 50 gallon jug of water and ask if it tastes stronger. Homeopathy is **much** more diluted than that, to the point where it is unlikely any of the original subst... |
WiFi, how do you even? | Actually, related ELI5 if that's okay. How the hell do mobile networks work? How wide is the area that the satellites broadcast over? |
Polyphasic Sleepers. How can sleeping 4.5 hrs a day be healthy? | Ahhhh there's a lot of broscience here One thing that must be understood is that while an explanation may be backed with studies to prove it's validity, studies are always constantly being disproven. Studies only assert a theory. Nothing becomes law until it is repeatable. This is why you must take studies with a grain... |
Why everything will be ok no matter who wins presidency! | Rural America is throwing a tantrum because we didn't listen to their needs. Tantrums usually end in PTA meetings where people finally get listened to. We will come out of this a stronger nation. But it's gonna get worse before it gets better. |
Why can tenured professors teach poorly and stay employed? | It takes a lot to fire a tenured professor. A few years ago, a tenured prof at bates college got busted selling crack. They realized they couldn't fire her, because there was nothing specific in the by laws about selling drugs. Eventually they fired her via a loophole: you could befriend for not showing up to administe... |
What is the point of swinging nunchucks all around and behind your body as always shown in movies and TV shows? | Well, it's a display of dominance. If someone's looking to start a fight with you, a good deterrent would be to show them how good of a fighter you are without actually having to fight them. Concurrently the point of japanese and chinese martial arts in general is to avoid conflict if possible. Now with nunchucks, spec... |
Why do ants sometimes pick up their dead friends and attempt to bring them back? | Mourning of the dead is not an exclusively human construct. Elephants have been observed to not leave the side of dead for hours. I don't know ants specifically, but there are oodles of animals that feel a connection to the lost. However, knowing ants, they probably are cannibals and eat their dead. |
How do people on the internet find out another person's identity and address, and how can I avoid this happening to me? | Email headers will give away your IP if you do not have a proxy. There's not much you can do with just an IP though. You can DoS it and make their Minecraft server stop working, you can call the cops if that IP is threatening suicide or doing something illegal and they can figure it out, but finding an address so you c... |
How does a horn amplify sound without adding any energy to it? | It's not that the horn adds energy, but that its shape causes less energy to be wasted, allowing the feedback that causes resonance . For example, let's say that instead of a horn you stick a pillow on the end of the tuba. Obviously, nobody would be able to hear a thing, because it absorbs all the sound. A bare pipe is... |
How can we sense when people are watching us? | Studies show that we don't do this. There is some confirmation bias and other times where you may hear or notice something that alerts you. |
Can a country as big as the US have zero debt? If so, how will this affect the economy? | It's possible, assuming the country had a balanced budget or a budget surplus. This could, in theory, happen to the US but it'd take a lot -- better economy, more tax revenue, budget cuts, etc. over the course of many years. I'm not an economist, so I can't really say what impact it'd have on the economy. It would have... |
Why is everything so expensive in airports? | A number of reasons. The other responses so far capture a few of them. - Airport retail space is expensive, so companies have to pay the airport a lot of money for rent. Airports are often also a bit remote so there's more cost in both shipping their stock to them and in storing the excess once it arrives. They get thi... |
Why are turbulences harmless for a plane? What's the physics behind that? | So, a plane flies entirely because it's generating lift. It generates lift through an interaction between the air and the wings, and is dependent entirely on the airspeed of the plane. However, airspeed is subject to things like the direction and magnitude of the air itself , because airspeed is relative to the *air* a... |
Proposition 65? I ordered something from Amazon, I don't live in California. What does this mean exactly? | Basically, California law is super-cautious. And product manufacturers are often even more cautious - they'd rather put the label on if it's not needed, than leave it out when it's actually needed and get fined by California. Examples of chemicals on California's list include caffeic acid found in literally all plants;... |
Why can't humans grow to the size of giants, like Gigantopithecus? | Drugs and abundance of food wouldn't increase size on their own unless there was selective pressure for genetic tendency to be big. That could be natural selection, an environment that favors large people, or sexual selection, where people prefer bigger partners. But generally being huge isn't a good thing. Increased e... |
Where does Southern Hospitality come from? | You mean the phrase itself? It started developing a few decades before the Civil War to describe the stereotype of Southern matters. If you mean where as in place where, I guess it comes from people that live in Southern States : Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, North Carolin... |
why do we lose weight more easily when we drink lots of water? | Water is a cofactor for lipid/fat metabolism. Fat can't be burned or used for energy without it. |
Why do scantrons require you to use a No. 2 pencil? | The number/grade on a pencil determines the hardness of the lead. The harder it is, the lighter and less smudgy the marks it makes. So #1 pencils have softer lead that smudges more easily, while higher numbers make finer, more controlled lines, but they won't be as dark. Number 2 provides a good balance for the grading... |
Why is the Moon so sandy and dusty when there's no wind or water for erosion? | No water, No atmosphere, bombarded with radiation, asteroids, micrometeroites, meteors, and god knows what else bombarding it for the last several million years.. Vacuum seal a slice of toast. Leave it on your counter in the sunlight. Every day, punch the toast, without breaking the seal or puncturing the bag, at least... |
What was Paul Simon talking about when he says Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes? | Yeah, like she doesn't care that she might list them, because she can just get more diamonds. |
Why is it illegal to record a conversation with someone over the phone? | People answer and make calls under the assumption that the call is private or at leas that their words will be heard once and that's it. This is similar to how laws regarding private and public property works. People make the assumption that your appearance in public space is your own decision and that you are aware th... |
Why are cochlear implants stigmatized by the deaf community? | I think it's implication that deafness is something that needs to be 'fixed' as it implies there's something wrong with them. At lot life with deafness their whole life and view it as not only normal but something to be proud of. I imagine for some there's a bit of aversion because it will feel like you're abandoning t... |
How does an EpiPen work? | Starting on a bit of a tangent but allergic reactions are just a major freakout by part of the immune system . They have major reactions to things you're 'allergic' to which causes parts of your body to swell . The swelling can be minor or major . What epinephrine does is jack up your heart rate and open up your airway... |
How do Yelp, Google, etc. verify a business is closed when it is reported as closed by users? | I have been part of a program called 'Google Map Editor', and it is a crowd sourced editing platform. When someone reports it as closed, then it shows up on the crowd volunteers' screens. I think Google has an Algo and ranking system - Like if my previous edits for small area near me have been rated well, then Google m... |
Why is the "I'm not racist, I have black friends" argument invalid? | The popular opinion is that every white person is a racist even if they don't know that they are racist or don't want to be racist. Even if you're nice to minorities 100% of the time and treat them with respect 100% of the time, somehow you have subconscious racial prejudices that magically disadvantage minorities in w... |
If Paypal gets the ability to offer loans, will it in essence become a bank? | I think it would be considered a bank once you can store money on it and make interest. Other people will probably have better, more defined answers about what a bank has to do to be called a bank. But, as of right now Paypal lets you store money, move money, make purchases, get paid, have a form of credit, convert cur... |
Since I've heard many times that English is a difficult language to learn, what is they most logical, simple language to learn? | It's going to be different depending on your native language. Japanese is very hard to learn as an english speaker, but Chinese speaker will have a much easier time because they share the same pictographic symbols. The Defense Language Institute puts languages into different categories based on their difficulty to lear... |
Why do opposites attract? | You're already looking at the world through your own perspective; do you really want someone around who will seemingly always be stating the obvious/what you were already thinking, OR do you want someone who will point out what you've overlooked/missed out on? |
Why do the timezones GMT+13 and GMT+14 exist, instead of just making it GMT-11/GMT-10? | There are a couple of islands in that area that are in the same country. That would mean that one part of the country is always 22 or 23 hours ahead of or behind the other half. When it comes to organization, this is a nightmare. It's so bad, that many large countries ** just use one timezone, even if that means that p... |
Why do pancakes/pop tarts smoke in the microwave after only 1 minute? | My friend set off the schools fire alarm after he left the pop tart in the microwave for a minute, yeah don't do it", '1 minute increases the time that friction from water molecules increases the heat making the food start to break down or smoke. LPT:The directions say to microwave for 3 seconds. |
How do bacteria think? | Short answer: they don't. Long answer: They do it by what you might consider a very basic instinct, - think a slug avoiding salt, but even dumber. |
How is it that sometimes extremely tall people (7ft) don't have extremely tall parents? | Height is complicated. Unlike the gene for, say, blue eyes or red hair, there isn't a single identifiable height gene. Scientists say that there are as many as 20 different genes that affect your height. That's just how genetics work. So, the height of your parents or ancestors doesn't guarantee anything about your own... |
Why are F1 cars so flimsy? | While the exterior parts like the suspension and the wings are indeed flimsy and don't withstand collisions, the body of the car around the driver is *very* sturdy. There is a carbon fibre cell called the monocoque that is doing an excellent job of protecting the driver even in extreme accidents. Remember that in the l... |
Aside from slight fluctuations over time, has the Earth always been roughly the same mass (including organisms)? | There is a prevailing scientific opinion that says Earth was once hit by a stray planet called Theia, which was roughly the size of Mars. This happened in the very early lifetime of the solar system - possibly as little as 20 million years after its creation . This impact is what we think led to the creation of the Moo... |
Is there a reason for the Alphabet to be in order? | Not really. It's sort of loosely based on the Greek alphabet. That's actually where the word alphabet comes from . |
Why does eating food in general make you thirsty? | Its not salt in general, I mean, salt does make you very thirsty. Dry food, even food with little to no salt, makes you want to drink something. I'm no medical pro or anything, but I think that if your mouth and throat get a bit too dry, they'll immediately sound off the alarm to take a sip. at least I believe so, anyo... |
How did LED lights become so cheap to produce? | awful lifespan? I have led games from the late 70's that still play great.Guy with silicon electronics experience here: The main reason price went down was because demand for energy efficient light sources increased so the volume of LEDs being produced also increased. The actually technology required to make an LED isn... |
How do people get "used to" the cold? | You've gotten some good posts, but I want to add that it works in reverse, too. I live in a very cold-climate area. When people from my area go somewhere with a much warmer climate, they often find it harder to deal with than the locals do. My sister-in-law complains that it's too hot when it gets to 25 degrees .Minnes... |
How do companies like Jelly Belly make such accurate 'gross' flavoured novelty jelly beans? | There's an excellent episode of How It's Made that walks through the process. Haven't looked for it but I'm fairly certain it's out there", 'The dirt Harry Potter jelly bean is made of actual dirt. I will never recover from that jelly beanThe skunk flavor was the most atrocious thing I’ve ever eaten. I’m not sure why b... |
Why has Putin been the leader of Russia for so long? | after the soviet union collapsed most of its former citizens fell into one of two groups: 1. oh thank god we're not part of that garbage empire anymore 2. fuck we're not relevant russians are part of the latter group, and putin is very much a soviet-type leader", 'The Russian constitution limits a president to two cons... |
- Why does the Swiss claim to be neutral? | Switzerland does have an militia army with around 180'000 soldiers, and spends around 4'000'000'000$ per year on that army. During the franco-prussian war and the two world wars Switzerland called the militia in, in order to protect the borders. The aim was to be a strong fortified place in middle Europe, so that any a... |
Why does my heart actually feel "heartbroken" or hurt when im only emotionally affected? | Stress - including any strong emotions - can trigger your fight or flight response . Your heart starts pumping faster, your blood vessels widen to allow more blood flow, and your throat jams open to allow more air flow. This alone can create physical discomfort and it can be magnified by attempting to swallow my stomac... |
what exactly is a phobia and where do they come from? | A phobia is a crippling fear that is usually unjustified and accompanied by avoidance of the feared object or situation. For example, being afraid of spiders isn't a phobia, but fearing them so bad that you can't work or have a social life is a phobia. It's really an anxiety disorder. These usually develop in childhood... |
Why have no video game consoles made a move towards allowing keyboard and mouse inputs? | At least with the PS3, it's not the console's fault at all. IIRC they, freely allow the developer to implement in their game if they want. Only a tiny handful of developers have elected to do that, however. I think the biggest reason is balancing the multiplayer experience. However, there is talk of BF4 having M/K supp... |
How do we cool things to near absolute zero? | The 'heat' something has is really the amount of kinetic energy it has. The atoms/molecules in a substance are constantly jostling around, and potentially colliding with other external materials. Hot things have more energy, and bounce off things with more force, passing the energy on to the thing that it collided with... |
Why do uneducated people tend to have more children? | Coming from a farmer's family I know a big factor in my grandparents having 11 kids is the extra help is neccessary. You cannot run a farm with a few people and kids have the double benefit of free labor and keeping everything close to home. |
Why is EST the standard for saying when something is on? | Pretty sure it has nothing to do with population but the fact that we get night before the rest of the country, so things air here first. The Simpsons airing at 8pm Pacific time means 11pm here and it wouldn't be as watched. So the east coast sets the standard of time for the rest of the country, as things have to air ... |
Why do you sometimes feel sick when extremely tired or from lack of sleep? | When you feel sick in those cases, it's probably you eliciting a stress response to force yourself to stay awake. This activates your body's sympathetic nervous system . Part of this response is to shut down your digestive and immune system which can manifest in feelings of sickness. |
When can you use un and im, in front of a word? | According to [this]^[1] > In general, words take un- when they are of English origin and in- if they come from Latin. Apart from that, there’s really no good guide to which one you should choose. I'm sure you could find words that don't fit this 'rule' though. |
What exactly is turbulence, and what causes it? | [Turbulence] is chaotic flow of a fluid, as opposed to [laminar flow], in which the fluid flows smoothly. Fluid flows at high reynolds numbers often become unstableTurbulent flow is very complex, and not yet fully understood. It's associated with a high [Reynolds number], where inertial forces dominate over viscous for... |
If fat is bad for our health, why haven't we evolved to just expel fat like waste from our body. | Fat isn't bad for our health at all. It's absolutely necessary, even. Evolution works by eliminating people that cannot reproduce. Plainly speaking, fat people can have as many offspring as skinny people. The negative effects of obesity usually don't kick in until someone is well within child-bearing age, which means t... |
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