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What are house spiders doing? | Hello! Entomologist here. Like someone pointed out, some spiders are nocturnal hunters, you may have noticed they like dark cellars. House spiders build funnel shaped webs where they wait for prey to alert them. Since they are mostly inactive, they don't need to eat very often and can go for months without food as long... |
How do spiders get a single strand of their web across a 5 foot gap? | _URL_0_ See from about 25 seconds in if you're impatient.I hate how they always plan it to be FACE levelA lot of spiders can jump pretty long distances. They have strong legs.Some jump. Some walk the long way 'round.spider silk is not as simple. many spiders can produce silk from different extruders, or make a composit... |
Why do symptoms of a cold sometimes go away overnight and sometimes take several days to fade away? | It's kind of already been answered but immunology is complex and there could be a lot of different reasons. As someone mentioned, cold symptoms are similar to a lot of different things . However if you are certain it's a cold then differential clearance times are due to 1) exposure - if you've had the virus before you ... |
Why does steel need to be recovered from ships sunk before the first atomic test to be radiation-free? Isn't all iron ore underground, and therefore shielded from atmospheric radiation? | If I recall correctly, the iron ore is underground, but the air you run through it to turn iron ore into usable iron isn't. |
Why do optometrists ask people if they can read better in the red or in the green? | As many have said, his is called the duochrome test but many people haven't heard of it. Apparently it isn't commonly used on people with eyesight worse than 20/30 because the difference in the two sides wouldn't be distinguishable which explains why I had never heard of it; my eyes suck. |
Why are there no animals that have become mutants in the x-men universe? | There have [been a few]. Most of the characters in X-men and Marvel universes are blatantly based on animals, though, so they probably don't want to overdo it with main characters being *actual* animals. |
If black holes are stars that compacted into itself, why is it that they're more heavy than the original star? | It's not that it's suddenly heavy enough to attract light. The force of gravity is determined by how far from the centre of mass you are. With a core of a star compacted into a singularity you can get really close to the centre of mass and still have all the mass below you, from a gravitational point of view. If you ar... |
How come countries like Spain and Greece can still function and maintain one of the worlds highest standards of living when up to 25% of the population are unemployed? | I've lived in Spain for the past few years. I think a lot of people have it worse than you may realize. Spain still has all the infrastructure and technology that it built out when it had more money , so you look around and see a developed country. But the truth is that a huge chunk of the population is really, really ... |
since out brains evolved to help us survive, what purpose does the enjoyment of music serve? | This is due to sexual selection, which could be considered a subset of natural selection. The ability to play music, or to be talented in general, makes a person stand out. I recommend reading 'A Mating Mind' by Geoffrey Miller, he actually discusses the evolution of music in quite some detail, claiming that men learne... |
Why do some famous high-profile actors take roles in terrible movies? (example: Hugh Jackman in Movie 43) | Money but more importantly continued exposure. In that field I think its important to keep your face 'out there'. |
Why do courts use terms like "6 life sentences plus 140 years" when sentencing a criminal? Why can't they just say, "you're never getting out?" | When they say stuff like 150 years it's also because they want to make sure they know that justice is being served for each crime the person committed. |
Who's making money when a 20 year old movie plays on a TV channel? | There's always *someone* who owns the rights to a movie at least until it's public domain ). That someone is always a producer. It's a producer's job to fund and drive the making of a film, so they get to take the most legal/financial credit for it's existence.A 20 year old movie is new enough to likely not be public d... |
If you took all the fish, shellfish, sea mammals, etc. out of the oceans, how far would the water level drop? | What If addressed this in passing: _URL_1_ A little under six microns is the answer for fish alone. I can't imagine it being much more for marine mammals.It depends if your etc includes all life. There are tonnes of microbes. |
What would happen if someone were to consume an addictive substance like methamphetamine (enough to get addicted to it) without realising they had consumed it? | They'd have to be exposed repeatedly. If they didn't know and they were developing an addiction, they just wouldn't know why. |
Why can't a military knock out ISIS's military capabilities with a few airstrikes? | Western nations are beginning to move military assets into the region and are starting to start air strikes. It does take some planning to ensure you don't bomb some random people and even then people *still* fuck it up and bomb innocent people. In addition ISIS doesn't have uniforms and their equipment is very mobile.... |
Why do networks have a mid-season break? | Holidays, plus it helps them spread a season out, so you have the first part of a season in the Fall, then a hiatus, then the second part, then summer, and so on. It's because most show have 18-24 episode seasons, but if they did it all straight, then they would either have to make a bigger season, or start playing som... |
Why do businesses have to 'grow?' Isn't it good enough to maintain a status quo? | 3% is bad news because that means people who bought the stock expecting 6% growth overpaid. It's fine for the company short-term, but if they keep missing projections, their stock will devalue and they'll have less access to capital. Most people don't put money away in a 0% interest account. They want to invest their m... |
Why is everyone trying to sell me gold? | Most modern money is what we call 'fiat currency', essentially, that piece of paper that says US$5 on it is worth US$5 because the US government says it does. If the US government collapses tomorrow, it's no longer around to say that the US$5 note is anything more than a green piece of paper. The idea is that gold is a... |
Why do text files like .odt or .doc change its structure/layout when opening them with a different version of Word/Open Office? | The content of the files generally contain the basic intentions of the display, but not necessarily the exact particulars. It's up to the configured preferences of the displaying application to combine that intent with the real display.These documents are not text files. They are complex, object structured XML document... |
Why can humans close their eyes and mouths but not their ears and noses? | Well, there's just really no reason to close ears or noses. For mouths you need to be able to chew and if you want to put your head under water you can't have your mouth open. Eyes need to clean themselves via blinking and to protect them from detritus and bright lights.Ears can be 'shut' to protect from loud noises wi... |
Difference between a Potato and a Sweet Potato? | The sweet potato is only distantly related to the\xa0potato. They often grow in similar area, but they're not really surplantable. |
How do our brains know which note to whistle, but guessing a chord on an instrument is more difficult? | It's really just your muscle memory. You have been using your mouth muscles your entire life so it's like 2nd nature to you. When you add a foreign object to the equation it takes a long time and lots of practice to develop that level of muscle memory where you can just play fluently with very little effort. |
Why did cars in American films and series suddenly stop having number plates? | It's common for pranksters to call phone numbers in movies or, in this case, to report license plates to the police. To avoid having to deal with legal issues, cars in movies just didn't use license plates, so there were none to report.Because people are idiots, and will try to track down who that number is registered ... |
Is phantom pain considered psychological pain or actual physical pain? | There might be cases where it's physical, but there are definitely cases where it's psychological. VS Ramachandran, the lead neurologist on phantom limbs who came up with the mirror box trick has a nice video where he describes how the pain is **learned** . He says half of the people who have phantom limbs can actually... |
If different races can have different dominant physical traits, why can't they have dominant mental traits as well? | Biologically: No reason at all. Politically: Just don't acknowledge it because that's considered racist in the age of political correctness.When our ancestors were living outside and first moving around the world, different environments had very different selective pressures for physical traits. So if people with dark ... |
Why does breath smell bad after not eating anything for a while, even after using mints/gum/etc? | You can't kill all the bacteria in your mouth , these continue to reproduce, and a lot of gums/mints are sugar based, which serves as only a very temporary solution, as the sugar or other calories in them will only serve to feed the bacteria and make them grow faster.Don’t forget that any dental issues you may be exper... |
The conflict in Syria. Why is Assad slaughtering people, why the hasn't there been all out revolt, and what the West is doing about it? | What do you mean why hasn't there been an all out revolt? Huge parts of the country have been in complete chaos for months now. My best summary of the Syrian conflict: After the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings, protests began in Syria. Essentially the regime has escalated the situation to a zero-sum game, hedging their... |
What exactly is gentrification, how is it done, and why is it seen as a negative thing? | OP, master's in city planning here. You already have lots of great answers here that describe the process, but they leave out a crucial element that's required for what would otherwise simply be neighborhood change, to be become gentrification: time. That condition also means that gentrification is really quite rare. G... |
When surgeons do an organ transplant, how do they secure the organ so it's not moving around inside the body? | They just put it in there and sew you up. It can be uncomfortable at first but it settles in. A lot of times they don't even take out the old organ. |
Why are conifers usually triangular while deciduous trees are usually 'circular' in profile? | If you drop your leaves, then you don't have to worry as much about maintaining structural integrity under a heavy snow load, and can focus more on maximizing solar intake during the time when you have leaves. Conifers OTOH take a more structurally sound pyramid shape to deal with northern climates while still maintain... |
Will the electric signals my brain sends to my body get effected if i were to be surrounded by a very strong magnetic field? | It's possible, but it would have to be an immensely strong field. Far stronger than anything you'd ever run into outside of a lab. It's the sort of thing you'd pretty much have to do on purpose.in some highly contrived theoretical setting it's *possible,* but not realistically. magnetic fields are a problem for compute... |
What would happen if space wasn't vacuum? | We wouldn't exist because there would be no planets. If there were something in space other than mostly nothing, there would be drag on things orbiting stars. Their orbits would decay and they'd crash into the stars. |
How does epilepsy work and how is it triggered by flashing lights? | As a Nursing Care Technician in the neurosciences department I approve of what has been said here. What triggers the epileptic events depends on where is the brain the event starts in. An epileptic event is electrical waves firing off in the brain all over . Neurologists use EEG's to test which part of the brain it sta... |
Why are Asian-Americans treated better than other non-whites? | I think a good way to have a discussion is not to look for ethnic attributes that explain why one group is treated worse or better than the other. The real question you're asking is why the racism towards Afro-Americans appears to be so much worse and systemic than towards other groups. And to answer this question we h... |
Why can martial arts experts break bricks with their hands, but when a normal person try, he ends up with a fractured hand? | Few things at play here but 95% of it is technique. If you're talking about a punch then it's also a little bit of conditioning your body to be ready to take a hit. When you punch correctly it's only supposed to be your first and second knuckles that make contact. The other ones will guarantee broken bones, similarly m... |
How Would Quantum Computers Be Immune From Hacking and Spying? | Very simply put, you can't read the data without changing it. It would be against the laws of physics. You've seen that thing in detective shows where they use a pencil to lightly rub on a notepad and see what had been written on the missing sheet of paper? It's a little like that - to be able to read the message, it a... |
New theory says that the Big Bang might not have happened? | I've heard so many science-minded people say that we can observe the remnants of the big bang in the universe - not just relying on mathematics to offer a hypothesis. How, then, can mathematics override that which scientists claim to observe? I figured we'd default to math only if we had no observable phenomenon.What i... |
Why are testimonies/devices intended to elecit emotions from the jury allowed during trials? | There's actually a rule of evidence that basically says that you can't introduce anything that is unfairly prejudicial. Usually that's not going allow the exclusion of pictures of dead bodies, but if it's really, really extreme then it's a possible argument to be made. The motion to exclude prejudicial evidence is rare... |
Alcohol destroys brain cells but what does that actually mean? Does our IQ drop? Do we lose personal memory? Is our thinking process slowed down? | Actually, the idea that alcohol destroys brain cells is entirely a myth propagated by the temperance movement in the early 19th century. Alcohol doesn't destroy brain cells, even though shitfaced drunks might *look* braindead. Chronic alcohol abuse may result in Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, which is a severe, potential... |
why all the obviously 'bot internet comments without URLs? | I'd need examples, but as a moderator on a forum that gets hit with a lot of spam Sometimes they'll post comments, then come back a month later and edit them with a link. This bypasses most spamfilters. There might be a full stop that links somewhere, for tricking search engines. 1x1 image embedded, which is used to pu... |
Why is so much of Africa living in poverty and famine today? | Understand that the conditions some Africans are living in today aren't all that different from what a European or East Asian might have experienced anywhere from 100-300 years ago. The modern lifestyle of plentiful food and abundant access to luxuries was only made possible by the modern agricultural revolution that s... |
What makes up dry ice and what makes it react the way it does? Also a simple history lesson would be nice. | Like watabit says, it's simply frozen CO2. At typical conditions where humans are, it sublimates directly into gas CO2 but since it's so cold it tends to condense water vapor in the air, and that's why it looks like a fog. It is a fog! CO2 is invisible but water vapor, obviously you can see. It's used a lot for visual ... |
Why, in times of economic recession, can't governments just print more money? | A simple way of thinking about it is to think of a bunch of hungry people. You print money and give them all a bunch of money. Now they are a bunch of hungry people with a bunch of money; you didn't make anything of real value, like *food*.They are, though technically its not the government, its the federal reserve |
Why can't I buy my own debt for less than it's worth, even though collection agencies can? | When credit agencies buy debt, they usually do so in bulk, and without discrimination about whose debt they buy . That makes it difficult for you to get your debt at discount rates. Situations where you can, you could normally just renegotiate with your creditor. |
What is the difference between the regular, ultra, and premium types of gasoline? Is the premium actually better for your car? | Gasoline is sold by octane rating, typically starting at about 85/87 for regular and topping out at 91 for premium, although you can get higher octane fuel from specialty shops. The octane rating is how resistant the gas is to preignition, which can occur if you use a lower octane fuel than recommended and creates knoc... |
How do boilers tell when someone has turned a tap to hot as opposed to cold? | A boiler is just a holding tank, with water from the well or water company coming in, and hot water coming out. The boiler has its own thermostat set to keep the water in the tank at a particular temperature. So when you run the hot water in the house, hot water in the tank is removed and replaced by colder water from ... |
What is the appeal of abstract art? | I have an app on my phone that creates generative art wallpapers. I just love it. Every few hours, I unlock my phone to find a new wallpaper with different shapes and colours. They are striking, often bright, and are something I can have displayed on my phone without risk. And because I'm kind of 5, I like looking at b... |
Why is it after I crack my knuckles I am unable to crack them again until later? | He's correct it all has to do with the gases that are in your joints so when you crack them there's no gas left, you have to let some gas build up again before you can crack them |
How do restaurants deal with dishes that require more preparation than can be done on-demand? | You use a rough estimate of the amount you sold this time last day, month, year. It's pretty effective. Also when it's gone, it's gone. Like Prime Rib. Only so many are cooked depending on the estimated sales for that day. When it's gone for the day, it's scratched/86'd meaning anyone that orders it will be told that i... |
What is happening in my body when I haven't eaten in a while and my breath smells really stale and bad? | It's a phenomenon called ketosis. Your body likes to burn the stuff you eat. It burns carbs first, then fat, then protein. The protein is like a last resort, after you've burnt your carbs and fat. It's harder to burn, and more complicated. When it starts burning, it lets off ammonia, which shows up in the urine and bre... |
For what reasons do men wear underwear? | I would say that it has a lot to do with sweat. Most people don't wash suit pants or jeans every single time they wear them. If you didn't wear underwear, all that sweat and nastiness would be caught by your pants. |
Why do so any political candidates repeatedly run for election when they do not have a reasonable likelihood of winning? | Because people keep financing their campaigns. As long as someone is contributing money, I think they feel almost a responsibility to keep it going to the bitter end. Campaigning is a grind, with the travel and speeches and glad-handing, but it seems to me that the process almost mimics the center-of-the-universe feeli... |
How come (some) kids "can't sleep" unless they have a book read to them? | This is definite conditioning. Learned behavior. My parents didn't read shit to me and I slept like a rock every night.I guess their brain too excited after another busy day in that strange, new world and the story helps them to chill out.I'm not an expert here but I would imagine this has to do with conditioning. Pavl... |
Hair Conditioner. My cousin age 7 is convinced it is butter and shampoo. | You know those pictures of Einstein with his crazy hair? That's due to him having lived in the days before conditioner. If you've got really short hair you can get away with not using it, but if you want longer hair to look like you haven't just crawled through a bush you're going to need a bit of conditioner. Maybe no... |
If I go to sleep with a stuffed nose and only being able to breathe out of my mouth, what is ensuring that I don't choke while asleep? | If you fall asleep with a blocked nose and your mouth falls shut, eventually your body will force you to open it again so you can keep breathing. It's like when you roll over in your sleep - you do so without knowing, even though you might shift your entire body around in the process. Your throat can also take a lot mo... |
How does a single point of light from a laser blind two different people? | A laser is not a single photon: it is a steady beam of light. Wave the beam around, and it moves from one person's eye to the next. |
How can credit card fraud cause bankruptcy | They probably couldn't pay their bills while they were investigating the fraud, or their investors lost interest due to it. |
Why do airplane flights have different flight numbers with different airlines when it is the same flight? | It is called code sharing. WestJet doesn't fly to Atlanta, and Delta doesn't fly from Saskatoon. Still, WestJet is going to be happy to sell you a ticket. They have an agreement with Delta and their booking systems are integrated, so a WestJet customer flies to Toronto and is automatically put on a Delta flight to Atla... |
Why do some old games have 999 limits on things instead of the 16-bit or 8-bit integer limits? | Either a game design choice or just because of the display limits, capping it to 9s gives you maximum use of a fixed width realestate on the screen. For example, if your internal counter is an unsigned 32-bit, the maximum is probably '4294967295', but that's a lot of digits you'll never use, so we cap it to 3 digits, o... |
How exactly does a person 1. flip houses, 2. in their spare time, 3. with other peoples' money, 4. profit? | 1. You flip houses by purchasing them and selling them. Sometimes you make substantial or cosmetic improvements to increase the selling price.2. Sometimes cosmetic improvements can greatly increase the price. New paint, wall repair, landscaping, etc don't take a lot of time. You can also hire contractors to fix things ... |
Is it possible to rid humans of certain diseases/illnesses by "selective breeding"? | Mostly not. Some diseases are genetic, and that might be fixable. The mutation might reoccur, there are spontaneous cases. Most diseases don't have a genetically immune population to breed. Many others, like the flu, mutate pretty frequently. |
How do you separate water and oil? | You can let them separate naturally under gravity in a [sep funnel] and then take out just the bottom layer through the cock. Or you can [centrifuge] (_URL_1_ them to speed up the separation. If they don't want to separate because they are in an emulsion or have a very similar density, you can often break the emulsion ... |
Why do our emotions overcome our logic in times when we are trying the hardest to stay calm? | Thus is why me ex broke up with me. I always keep a cool head. When she would fly off the handle I would tell her calmly to come back when she could talk like people. It's possible to keep calm and control your emotions during any situation. She said I didn't show enough emotion. But getting worked up over trivial bull... |
Why can I open my eyes under water with no problem but when I get water in my eyes in the shower I can't open them comfortably until I wipe them? | It's because in a pool, the water is moving slowly and covers the whole of your face so you eyes can comfortably adjust to the change in its environment. In the shower, the water is constantly moving downwards and not at an extremely consistent rate, which makes it difficult for your eyes to adjust to the change in the... |
Why does airplane food suck? For example: couldn't they charge $1050 instead of $1000 and serve much better meals? | Sure, they could charge more and give you better food. In fact, they do - it's called Business Class or First Class The airline balances the service provided at each class of service with the price point they want to hit to maximize their sales. The service and amenities at each level are calibrated to be proper for th... |
Why women wear shirts that let you see the top of their boobs but get annoyed if you look | I don't think looking is what annoys them. Staring does.Women don't exclusively dress for men; they'll dress to say to other women \'Look what I have here, I'm skinner/have bigger boobs/have bigger lips/have a better but/ have better abs than you do. ENVY ME"If you are rich,handsome and rich look all you want but if yo... |
How Come Only Certain Spots Have the Capacity of Sexual Pleasure? | The density and placement of neurons. If you think of your arm as a forest and the trees and sense receptors, then it's a Savanah then, if you consider sex organs and secondary sex organs, there is a much higher concentration of trees, like a densely packed roofed forest. Now, if we consider fire to be an orgasm, it is... |
how can you poll a small population (1-2 thousand) and use it as an estimate for how hundreds of thousands will vote? | Because that's how it works. A poll's goal should be to exactly reflect the way the actual voting public will vote. You can't really measure this until after the fact. After the vote is taken, if your polling methodology yielded results similar to the actual voting public, you have been successful, but you still refine... |
How are small breeds of dogs such as Chihuahuas descendants of wolves? | If you met my chihuahua you'd understand. He stands a foot high and is ten pounds of solid muscle. |
Could heartbreak cause an illness like the common cold? | Most people have a cold or some kind of bug pretty much all the time, but your immune system is generally handling it without you even noticing. As others said, the stress/anxiety/depressive mood of a break up or argument can impact how effective your immune system is, which means that it can't fight off the cold as ea... |
Why is "Children and women first" a thing? | It's to do with protecting the weaker in society, those who depend on the strong for survival. There is evidence for an evolutionary aspect to protecting children, even when they're not our own. In many societies protecting women falls into a similar category. It seems to be most famous in nautical circles. For a long ... |
Why is it that every major religion originated from the middle east? | I think your question goes in the wrong direction. It seems you are asking for some connection between a religion being very wide-spread and the fact that it originated somewhere in Asia. Apart from the fact that the middle east is culturally related to Asia, Africa and Europe, I don't think such a connection exists. C... |
How did the concept of currency begin? | Probably from people who moved from place to place buying and selling things. Such traveling merchants would always be looking for goods that everyone wants, that are small and easy to carry [1]. So things like gold and silver, because they're pretty metals that make good jewelry. And there are rich folks in many diffe... |
Why is it when I'm sick my body produces what seems to be an endless amount of snot in my nose? | Imagine if you could spray the floors of your house with super glue, so that anyone trying to break in would get stuck to the floor and can't move. That's basically what mucus does to germs. Then your body flushes the mucus out to get rid of the germs. |
When out of breath, should I let my body rapidly breathe, or attempt to maintain a steady rate? | Also I'm not sure if this has been mentioned in here but when you get out of breathe do not bend over and put your hands on your knees. Stand straight up with your hands on top of your head, this opens up your diaphragm and allows you to breathe more easily. |
What is the usefulness of complex numbers in daily life? | You'll use them in many future math classes and also physics classes. If you plan to go into any engineering field, complex numbers will be important to know. They come up all the time. The reason for this is because complex numbers are closely tied to sinusoids and engineers like to use sinusoids to model lots of thin... |
When we sing, why does it sound good to ourselves but not as much to others? | For starters, you're not hearing what they hear. The voice you hear coming out of you is basically the sum of all the sound waves you make bouncing around in your head and body-- which is why you sound so odd when recorded and played back. Singing is learning to control the pitch that comes out and compensating for the... |
Why is a 'healthy' housing market good, when it punishes first time home buyers who tend to be poorer or younger and benefits those who were already lucky enough to own property? | I am sure those of us that own a home don't consider the debt we accepted and paid off as luck. It takes planning and work to be a home owner. |
Einsteins definition of insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. | Einstein is the sort of person people like to attribute quotes to. That particular quote actually comes from a 1981 text of Narcotics Anonymous. I imagine it was intended to get people to join Narcotics Anonymous, since they presumably hadn't yet. [Insanity] is actually a legal term meaning mental illness of such a sev... |
What are opioids, why are they bad, and how can I avoid using them? | I had a relatively minor surgical procedure and my doctor gave me a six day supply of an opioid . Boy, am I glad it was only six days; that shit can make you feel goood. Be very, very careful if you are prescribed them, and don't feel like you need to finish the entire course. I probably could have switched to Tylenol ... |
Why do muscular men differ in physique today compared to men in, for example, the early 1900's? | Training has changed very significantly. But also what has changed is what is considered to be aesthetic in body building. When you see bodybuilders of the past with certain muscular weak points, it's not because they were not capable of developing muscles there, it's because it was not considered to be a significant p... |
How can rappers get away with talking about smoking weed so blatantly? | If a rapper rapped 'I murder [so and so] and I buried his body in [such and such] forest', and so and so had indeed gone missing after seeing the said rapper, then the police might be inclined to investigate. But when a rapper says 'I smoke weed' what are they going to investigate? Simply saying that you smoke weed isn... |
How did universities and hospitals and such charge so little for services in the past and still turn a profit when they struggle today even charging so much? | It is because not treating people is really cost effective. In the past, medicine was a lot more limited than it is today. If your knee hurt but you could still walk, they'd give you a pain pill and sent you home. If it really bad, they'd take an x-ray, not find anything, then send you home. They next step was invasive... |
How glue works on a molecular level. | Without glue: **[Thing with no electrical charge A]** * < a very tiny amount of very weak electrical attraction maybe > * **[Thing with no electrical charge B]**. Not much force holding them together. With glue: **[Thing A]** * < a lot of very weak electrical attraction > * **[glue]** * < VERY STRONG electrical attract... |
Why are the health benefits of sunlight not replicated by other light sources? | Actually, there are lamps that stimulate vitamin D They're marketed for treating Seasonal Affective Disorder and they mimic the spectrum of light from the sun |
why do capital letters matter in URLs for YouTube videos? | The computer treats lowercase and uppercase letters completely differently - 'a' and 'A' are different characters, as different as 'a' and 'b'. When using the letters as part of a code , this difference matters, since it greatly increases the number of possible combinations. If you ignore the case then each character o... |
Considering all my car does is beep that the key is missing, what prevents someone from stealing a running car with keyless go If the key isn't with the car? | They aren't more or less secure than standard keys, just more convenient. Yes, if you leave any car running, it's much easier to steal |
why have airlines not improved their boarding process and why do they board so close to takeoff and then hurry everyone up? | * it is going to take time to board no matter what, investing in an elaborate system to save 5-10 minutes may not yield great dividends* boarding isn't the only bottleneck, there is luggage, paperwork, and catering* many people are not experienced travelers, and barely have the wherewithal to follow the current procedu... |
How can Comcast get away with overcharging for bandwidth, terrible customer service, and nearly fraudulent business practices? | Because many people have no alternative for high speed internet service. They will have a huge amount of customers regardless of weather or not they do anything right or wrong. Imagine you had a job, where no matter what you do, you get paid. As long as you show up, you're paid. Are you going to do your job well? Or ma... |
The legal status of marijuana in the USA. | Federal law: still 100% illegal State law: varies by state. Colorado allows normal use with limits. Some states allow use for medical reasons. Some it's still 100% illegal. |
How come most (or all) TV remotes are black? | It's only older television sets/VCRs I had that were lighter. Usually grey. I once had a silver TV/VCR combi in silver and it had a silver remote. I'd say when lcds came on the scene was when most started being black. Not sure of the reason, maybe to stop them looking dirty as easily? Stop discoloration ", 'I’ve seen p... |
Why can't we just make a fuck ton of solar panels and windmills everywhere instead of relying on fossil fuels that ruin the environment? | Solar panels require a lot of sunlight so work much less efficiently in areas that get a lot of cloud cover. Windmills require a lot of wind. You can't just stick either anywhere you like. Plus they are a pretty hefty investment to build and maintain, and can take many years to pay back these costs, even in places wher... |
What's the difference between getting all your vitamins from supplements, and getting them from fruits and vegetables? | First of all, eating fruits and vegetables is the default state of affairs, so backwards your question is. Supplements are usually more expensive and also it is hard getting the dosage right. Plus they taste horribly. But the most important thing is: Normal food contains more than just isolated nutrients. There are lot... |
How do self-healing cutting mats work? | When I saw the cut on my mat didn't heal like our human skin , I thought I was scammed. Thanks for reddit users explaining it, I tried to google but nowhere near this level of info. |
Could someone please explain what overclocking is, like i'm 5? (In terms of computers) | Imagine you're in PE and the teacher is making you run around the track. You can comfortably run around the track and not get too tired, but if you sprint, you'll be running as fast as you can, but you'll get tired. Computers naturally run at a comfortable jog. Overclocking makes it sprint. |
Why are buttons on women's clothing on the left side compared to men's clothing which are on the right? | Traditionally, say in the Victorian era, women wore multiple layers of clothing: corsets/bustiers, crinolines/cages and would often have maids to help them dress. It would therefore be easier for the maids to button up a dress with the buttons on the left side, assuming that the maids are right-handed. Men didn't requi... |
Why did cellphones suddenly go from all using different chargers to nearly all using the same? | Market demand was for more uniform chargers. Also, in the EU, it's a regulatory requirement now. Why was Apple different? Well, first off, they had their 40-pin charger for the iPod, which had published specifications to allow third party device control of the iPod, for things like speakers, etc. It make sense to bring... |
Why do stars all look roughly the same size, when they're so vastly different in distance and size? | They kind of do to the naked eye, but only because they appear very small, and 4 times larger than extremely tiny is still very small. But really there's quite a bit of apparent size variation if you pay close attention. It may help being away from light pollution. But the stars that are bright in our sky also appear l... |
Why are TVs seasons so short these days? | I hate this personally. South Park used to be ~22 episodes a season and slowly slid down to around ~16. Then it went to 14 a season and now every season will be 10 episodes. I used to love South Park but now I cut even be bothered to watch it because there's just no overall story anymore and every episode is just stuff... |
How do they produce TV shows so much faster than movies? | TV is easier to produce because: * lower production values* they don't have to introduce the setting in each episode* they don't have to tie up the entire plot by the end* the characters are already set up and have well established motives* they can get by with bottle episodes that don't impact the long term plot* sets... |
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