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What is a greedy algorithm and where did it get its name? | Very short, very simple, possibly wrong, but the gist of it: A greedy algorithm is an algorithm that makes the best choice possible from it's vantage point, without consideration of consequences "further out" in the system. Wikipedia has a nice gif: _URL_0_ In that example, the algorithm, whose task it is to find the p... |
Do womens periods really synchronize and if so how does it happen? | Women's periods do not synchronize together. There is absolutely no scientific proof. There was one study, however nobody was ever able to replicate the results of that study. More likely what is happening is confirmation bias. Women's periods are not fixed, and generally move around a bit from month to month. For my o... |
How do they seal Jars? | The jars are sealed because of a difference in air pressure. When the jars are filled they are heated with the lid on. This causes the air to expand inside the jar and escape the seal. After the heating, the jars are cooled which causes the air inside the jar to contract and reduce in volume, this sucks that little bub... |
What is a monitor refresh rate and what are the differences between them? | Monitor refresh rate is the number of frames per second that the monitor can display. That's the only real difference. A 60hz monitor can display 60 fps, and a 120 can display 120. |
Why can I take high quality videos with my cell phone, but security cameras still produce a very low quality and fuzzy image of people? | Because security footage is recording 24/7 there is only so much room on a hard drive for the video. Most security systems will only keep video for 5 or so days before re-recording newer video. If they did full HD video they would either have to have huge servers or only keep about half a days worth of video. |
why isn't the british army called the "royal army" | Historical reasons. The army is allowed to exist by order of the parliament, whereas the navy was personally controlled and raised by the monarch. The army exists, legally, because parliament allows it to. The distinction is less relevant today than once it was, obviouslyThe first unified british army was the new model... |
Why does stale bread turn hard, but stale chips turn soft? | I'm no scientist but I've found that baked goods get hard and fried goods go soft when they go stale. |
How does a mechanical watch know exactly(ish) how long a second is when the input speed slowly changes | You know how the period of a pendulum is constant based on its weight and length but ignores the amplitude of the swing? if not, trust me - it does. Inside a mechanical watch, you've got a [balance wheel] which is a spring-loaded wheel with weights on the edges that oscillates back and forth. The oscillations of the wh... |
Why do currencies change in value? | Let's say you started a new country, and wanted to make a currency. So you'd add up the total production of the country, and assign a value to one unit of currency, say one NewBuck per medium widget. All the other countries see how much you produce, and assign a value to your production in their own currency. This crea... |
Why didn't dinosaurs evolve to be inteligent but we did? What was different back then? | We have been around for millions of years. Our civilizations are the things thousands of years old. Evolution is not a guided process. Whatever randomly occurs, and works, sticks around. Intelligence didn't develop in some species simply because it never developed or was never needed. That being said, it's not clear th... |
How do we get sweaty hands if there aren't any pores on the skin there? | There are [sweat glands] on your palms but you don't get acne there because the palms lack [sebaceous glands]. |
CIA and what do they do | The CIA is the modern US Intelligence agency. During World War II, President Roosevelt was getting his intelligence from the British and Russians, and saw that he was not good at getting it himself, which makes the US look a bit weak. Sun Tsu wrote about the importance of intelligence, and a good espionage system and i... |
Why the 'Mandela Effect' theory isn't true? | Haha, he's not wrong, but for the completely wrong reasons. Most of his memories are wrong. At Least when it comes to specific details. The brain is really good at filling in gaps of knowledge. When you remember something, you don't remember yourself naked, so your brain fills in clothes. It doesn't remember what you w... |
Why do 10 year treasury bond yields have such a big impact on markets? | Because they are the "safest" investment, those treasury bonds represent the base "cost" of money. They are a benchmark to which every other possible investment decision is compared. For treasury bonds, the risk is effectively zero, and the risk increases with other investment options such as shares, property, your cou... |
What if anything are the police not allowed to lie to you about? | Things They May Not Lie About:1. If and why you're being held under suspicion 2. If and why you're being accused of a crime 3. What your rights are in these situations 4. That something illegal is actually legal 5. Evidence found Edit: Format. Silly mobile.They have to tell you if you are being arrested/detained or if ... |
Why/how do some people pass out on amusement park rides and then wake up like it never happened? | G-force moves a not insignificant amount of blood away from the brain. How much it moves and how long the g-forces are sustained determine the degree to which you experience symptoms ranging from blurred or otherwise severely impaired vision, to blackout or even GLOC . _URL_1_ And, for your morbid reading pleasure: _UR... |
ELIM5: Why are most major events held once every 4 years? | Presidential elections in the US are every 4 years, but every 5 in France . Shorter terms make no sense as governments wouldn't be able to implement much. WC Olympics and Euro are massive competitions with many cities involved. On a logistical stand point, these are difficult events to organize. Most of the time host c... |
Why are dimes smaller than pennies, but the rest of American coins get larger in size with denomination? | They may be smaller, but they got it where it counts: material. The dime is made of copper and a bit of nickel, but it used to be silver, which was much more valuable than the penny, which is currently mostly zinc, but used to be copper. Obviously silver was worth more than copper. Currently, however, pennies cost abou... |
If space is a vacuum, what would happen if you took a huge bag of O2 up there and then opened it? Where does the gas go? | Gas is a state of matter that fills the volume of the container in which it is released. Imagine you had a room that was a perfect vacuum, and you opened a small bottle of compressed oxygen in there. The oxygen would expand to fill the room, at a commensurately lower concentration. The same would happen in space Your h... |
How come In Clue you have to figure out WHERE someone was killed. | In murder mysteries, often the body is moved after the murder. It is presumed everyone knows where the body is *now*, probably the morgue. What isn't clear is exactly where the murder took place. |
How did humans come to adopt the naming model of a first name, middle name, and last name? | The anecdotes I have heard are mostly around identifying people when speaking of Joe to your friend if there are 5/7/10 Joes which one are you refering to?Earlier on it was easier to say Joe the Baker or Joe the Smith which is where a lot of the surnames come from that are associated to jobs, others used Joe Toms' Son ... |
Where were all the autistic kids in the 60s/70s/80s? No one in my family remembers friends or classmates that were on the spectrum, now I seem to see them everywhere. | As was mentioned, we're now better at diagnosing it. In the past, people with mental disabilities were more isolated from the general public. Special schools when they're kids, and then institutions when they're adults. The idea that mentally handicapped people are capable of being productive members of society is fair... |
How is my cell phone able to make "emergency calls" when there is no cellular service available? | They can't make emergency calls when there's *no* cellular service. But they **can** make emergency calls when the only towers in range are owned by a rival network. That is, if you use Sprint, and only Verizon towers are nearby, Verizon can refuse to allow you to use their tower for normal calls, but they are required... |
Why do people take/believe generalizations serious even though those generalizations are proven wrong? | In my opinion it's because they are used to believing something and is easier to continue believing it than to examine their beliefs and conclude that they were wrong. Especially if these beliefs were instilled in them by someone they love or respect. |
how does a 1099-G work? | A 1099 is a form that a company sends you reporting money they paid you during the year. For instance your bank sends a 1099 for any interest they paid you on a savings account. A 1099G is just a version of that form that you receive from a government agency. If you receive state unemployment benefits the state will se... |
The Reddit community-orientated controversy over Papa Johns. | Papa Johns decided to cut employee hours so they didn't qualify for Obamacare and Reddit is a very liberal website. |
Whats the best/polite way to get my company a page on Wikipedia? | Generally you're not supposed to write an article about your own business, since it's a conflict of interest. |
What exactly happens when "knots" in your muscles are worked out by a masseuse? | The short answer is we aren't sure what muscle knots are or if they even exist. Some experts in physical therapy believe they are areas of muscle that are trapped in the "contracted" position, and massage then somehow resets the state of the muscle fibers or relaxes the nerves that control the muscle fibers. However, [... |
How does tire tread work? Wouldn't that reduce the area of contacting surface between the tires and flat ground, thus less friction and more dangerous? | Completely smooth tyres work really well in dry conditions. If you have water on the road surface, then a slick tyre can end up with a layer of water between the tyre and the road, something known as aquaplaning. This causes problems with braking and steering, and so is clearly not a good thing. Tyre treads are designe... |
What is that thick saliva that forms in the back of your throat when you run/exercise a lot? | This is just a hypothesis, and I'm hoping someone else can offer some actual knowledge. But based on the fact that when you run and exercise your body uses a lot of water, my educated guess would be that that thick saliva is just normal saliva with a lower than normal water to "goo" ratio.Probably mucus from the lungs ... |
Why is heart cancer so rare? | This is because muscle cells don't divide, and cancer is most common in cells that divide a lot. Dividing cells are primed for cancer because:1) a lot of the machinery needed to divide rapidly is already present in the cell so not a lot extra is needed to make it grow uncontrollably into a tumor/cancer2) the more a cel... |
How do fish get rid of excess water that is swallowed when eating other fish? | Salt water fish are permanently drinking water. They then use their kidneys and special glands to excrete excess salt . Freshwater fish on the other hand are permanently peeing out low concentrated urine, since they experience a continuous osmosis o water into their body In neither of those cases extra water intake by ... |
Why is alcohol regarded differently from other addictive substances? | I don't think true alcoholism is treated differently than other addictions. I feel that the scary life-ruining alcoholism has same seriousness as any other type of drug addiction in the media. If you're asking about the social acceptance of alcohol use vs drug use, that's mainly just due to a combination a combination ... |
Does "stress sweat" really "smell worse" tha regular sweat? | Humans have two different types of sweat glands; eccrine glands and [apocrine glands]. The two have different functions and therefore different smells. Apocrine sweat glands are sensitive to adrenaline. So, yes, stress sweat smells more than the watery sweat that comes out of eccrine glandsMythbusters did this one ._UR... |
When a clock is say, five minutes ahead of time and we reset it, why does it return to being five minutes ahead? | The timing mechanisms are off, so a minute or an hour on your clock is not the same as a minute or hour in real life, so gradually over time it begins to get further and further out of sync. Then someone notices it is out of time, resets it and the process starts again.Depends on the type of clock you're talking about.... |
What are "Logistics" companies I see in industrial areas? | Logistics is basically transport and warehousing, but with the added service of making sure that the desired goods turn up in the right order, at the right time. Example: A car plant needs to have windscreens to built into their cars, but doesn't want to pay for storing them. Neither does the supplier. Solution: A logi... |
What is the motive behind facebook posts asking obviously easy questions? | Social media accounts normally don't get paid "per comment" or anything like that, but a bigger and more engaged audience is going to be easier to monetize. If simple, relatable content can get a conversation going, that may lead to a critical mass of people and attention that could be good for business. The way Facebo... |
In a nuclear explosion why do things get vaporized? | The temperatures generated near an exploding nuclear weapon are in the several tens of millions of degrees. This is enough to vaporize pretty much any known substance. Once you start moving away from the explosion, however, the temperatures drop off dramatically. They are often still quite high enough to burn human bei... |
How to whistle with your fingers? | Take your thumb and any finger . Bring the tips close together, but leave about a 1/4 inch of space between them. Use your fingers fold your tongue back. Curl your lips around your fingers and blow. It takes a lot of practice. Edit: Wow! Gold! This is awesome!! Thank you kind stranger!Anybody else just almost pass out ... |
The genetics of hair loss. If my mother's father is bald, will I be too? | Maybe. I think it does come from the mother's side. My dad has a full head of hair at 70, I have the horseshoe pattern. |
Why doesn't rain seriously harm us when it falls from the sky? | Gravity does cause things to fall with increasing speed, but as they speed up air resistance increases . Eventually the force of the air resistance is enough to balance the force of gravity, so the acceleration stops and the raindrop reaches terminal velocity. Apparently the terminal velocity of rain isn't high enough ... |
Quantum Hall Effect in Graphene | The Hall Effect is an observation that that when a magnetic field is applied to a conductor which is carrying current, a potential is created *across* the conductor by the Lorentz Force from the magnetic field acting on the electrons. A Hall Effect Sensor is a tool that uses this effect to measure the intensity in a ma... |
Why are pizza deliveries much more common than delivering other foods? | Pizza is easier to order since you can order a few items for an entire group, same with Chinese food. Could you imagine ordering McDonalds over the phone for 5 people?Business norms perhaps? In Dubai you can order anything and have it delivered. KFC, Popeyes, McDonalds, Hardees, etc etc.My guess is that pizza became po... |
Why do dogs/other animals instinctively know how to swim but humans have to be taught how to not drown? | Humans seem to have lost this reflex / instinct, babies actually have a diving and swimming motion like reflex until about 6 moths. _URL_0_ Haven't seen a good explanation as to why. Instinctive swimming seems to be hit and miss in primates, there is some info that primates that don't instinctively swim can be taught h... |
Why do some guitars/violins etc. have shapes that look like integrals cut out on them? | These are called f-holes. What they do is they allow some of the sound from the strings to enter the hollow body of the instrument. They then bounce around in there and get louder then they come out and the instrument sounds louder. Why they're shaped like integral signs I have no idea. Maybe integral signs are shaped ... |
How does bayesian theory work? | Could you be a little more specific? Do you mean [Bayesian probability] in general or [Bayes' theorem] specifically? |
Why do browsers like Chrome and Firefox allow outside programs to edit your home page, search engine, etc? | * This usually happens when you install a program that comes with these browser items as add-ons. If you're not careful you can click through the installer and accidentally agree to have these items installed in your browser. * When a program on your computer installs something into a browser, the browser doesn't know ... |
Why do girls mature faster than boys? What is the biological process that makes this happen and what purpose does it serve? | well if you think about human progression over a few thousand years, most humans most likely came from woman who had kids as soon as they were biologically able. So if you could have more kids earlier on, the more genetics you have in the population. so for human survival, having the early maturity trait was pretty imp... |
Why does it become difficult to speak clear sentences on a call when you hear feedback of your own voice? | [This is why.] Basically your brain is trying to process hearing speech that is the same as what's coming out of your mouth causing confusion. [Devices ]have been invented which can stop a person from speaking by recording and playing back their own voice seconds later. |
the organization of house #s in America | I just bought a house in America . I told my family in the motherland , and they asked why the long house numbers? Is there a 1 Main Street? Why is my house # 10126, when it's not the 10,126th house on the street? As its the 8th house on the street, why isn't my house # 8? |
Why do people refer to flu season as a seasonal time of year? Does the flu usually pick up around Jan/Feb? If so, how is a virus seasonal? | Communicable diseases *do* spread more during the cold part of the year because people spend more time indoors in closer proximity to others, but that's not the only reason for the flu season. Birds play a role in transmitting flu viruses and the viruses migrate and mutate with bird migrations. So, this year's flu viru... |
Why does drinking water on an empty stomach cause nausea in some people? | Because it is thinning your blood and your blood sugar must be obviously already low and you might be on the border line for diabetic. |
hydrogen fuel cells and how they power automobiles. | Have to explain a few things first: Combustion engines: This is the type of engines most vehicles have. The engine has a bunch of holes in it, then pumped over each hole. Fuel gets put into each hole, and it's hot enough that it actually explodes, which is why it's called a combustion engine. When the explosion pushes ... |
Why are gaming controller buttons letters or shapes? | Colors are insufficient delineations when 20% of the population experience some form of colorblindness. Higher percentage in lower income areasOn an arcade game, you don't have to have "A" and "B" buttons. You can have "jump" and "fire" buttons, or "thrust" and "shield" buttons, or whatever other particular names that ... |
How do they measure distance traveled in space? | If you are traveling in space with a mirror. Then they would send light from earth to your mirror. Light will reflect and come back. We know speed of light = 300000 km / s. We will calculate the time it took for light to come back say 5 secs. So distance traveled is 300000 multiple by 5 = 1500000 km. Since light has tr... |
Why is Proactive so ridiculously expensive? | They are willing to pay that much because it's relatively effective and because it's endorsed by celebrities. |
Why your signature is as valid a form of verification as your fingerprints? | Your question is worded incorrectly. It isn't valid verification. It's an acknowledgement. It's basically the company saying we obtained an acknowledgement from the person claiming to be said person. You can dispute nearly anything, especially in America. But you would have to claim that you were being impersonated or ... |
Why is quadratic the term for an equation with a variable of power 2, when quad typically refers to 4? | Quadratum is the Latin word for square and so quadratic means something is square like', "Quad- is also used to describe a square. A square with a side of x has an area of x^2. The notion of squaring far predates the notion of exponentiation. The number 2 didn't become associated with squaring until much later.New Oxfo... |
How does finite element method/analysis work? | The way I understand it is that you break a super complicated system up into pieces, and simulate the discrete pieces individually. It'll probably be better with an example. Say I have a metal rod that initially has the left half at 40C and the right half at 0C, and I would like to simulate the temperature of the rod o... |
Why do I sometimes get zapped when touching metals? How can I prevent this from happening? | You are most likely building up a static charge by rubbing dry materials together. Turn on a humidifier and moisturize your skin. Pick up your feet when you walk, stop scuffing them, and stop wearing socks on carpet. Put anti static sheets in your dryer and and stop doing crazy dance moves in wool sweaters and nylon pa... |
A simple Monty Hall explanation | Always had a pure math, but not intuitive grasp of this problem until I got this explanation: Monty Hall brings you into a room with 10 billion doors, only one of them has the prize. You pick a door. Monty then opens 9,999,999,998 doors, Monty says that none of the doors he opened had the prize in them. There are now t... |
How come a camera can take only 4 megapixels photos and 1080p video? Is there no correlation between pixels in photos and film? (HTC One) | A still from a 1920x1080 resolution video is less than 4 megapixels A few reasons: 1. When you record video, it needs to be compressed on the fly. Trying to compress that much image data per second would create a huge load on the phone's processors and it might not be able to keep up. 2. Even if they could, the data ra... |
How come the sound from earphones is very muffled and quiet when you press them hard into your ears? | Sound is made up of invisible waves that travel to your eardrums causing vibrations which your brain interprets as sound. Air works best for these waves to get to your eardrums. If the headphones are pushed in really tight, most of those waves are going to be carried through your ears skin and cartilage which doesn't t... |
How does social media groups like UNILAD and similar have 10 million fans by just reposting stuff that comes to the Reddit frontpage? | Mainly because they are on Facebook, so a lot more people get to see the content they post. Depending on security settings, chances are you have at least one friend who sees, and potentially likes/shares their post. Because they liked or shared it, everyone on their friends list sees it too, whether they follow the Uni... |
Why are service providers exempt from giving credit for outages of their service? | Because enough people sign that sort of contract that they don't NEED to and if they did it could possibly end up being very very expensive for them. No company in their right mind is going to cut off what might turn into a pretty large percentage of their revenue stream due to Acts of God , equipment failure, human er... |
Why is a Hot Shower or a Hot Tub so Amazing, While Hot Temperatures Outside are so Miserable? | Possibly 2 factors: 1. You have *complete control* over the temperature, which makes you more willing to withstand it. In a similar fashion, we know that people will subject themselves to much higher pain thresholds when they know they can stop it; but if they feel like someone *else* is making the decision, then they ... |
When I'm on a swing, how is it possible to keep going higher just by pushing the air with my legs? | It's not about pushing the air with your legs. By swinging your head back and your legs forward , you're exerting some force on the chain which actually lifts you up a little higher. On the way back, you do the opposite motion , which lifts you up higher on that side too. If you keep doing this, you keep gaining height... |
The difference between computer science and computer engineering | Edit: [TL;DR: This comic just about sums it up.] Computer science is a science. It was originally a sub-branch of mathematics, which is now known as theoretical computer science. Applied computer science, or "software engineering", contends with algorithms and software. Computer hardware is studied to inform the design... |
If the US is so deep in debt, how do they still have money to spend? | If I make $100,000 yr and have a $500,000 mortgage , money may be a bit tight, but I have plenty of cash each month to make my payments even though my debt is massive relative to my income.The US is still able to borrow money. And people are still willing to lend it money. Nobody knows what the US credit limit is. Obvi... |
What does it mean when it feels like your heart is pounding harder versus faster | A heart pumping "harder" is filling with more blood and ejecting more of the blood out of it. Beating faster is controlled by electrical waves traveling through the heart muscle, causing the muscle contractions to speed up. |
Why can't this be drawn without lifting up my pen/pencil at least once? | I think the problem is that there are four points where five lines come together. If you start at one point and finish at another, then you can handle two vertices with an odd number of lines. All of the other vertices have to have an even number of lines, so you can come in and go out without getting stuck there. Note... |
Why do we have 12 hour AM/PM as well as 24 hour systems? Which came first and why was the second one created? | Based on the full absence of 24 hour dials in the pre-digital era, you can safely say that the 12 hour AM/PM system came first. Now, why is the 24 hours system easier to use: 1. It gives a clear indication in the numbering of the hours which part of the day you are in, you don't need to worry about any suffixes 2. No n... |
Why can't the bad stuff in old meats (chicken, beef, pork) just be cooked? | Cooking kills germs. Rancid meat contains both germs and germ poop . Excrement usually contains stuff which is either toxic or useless, more so when it comes to bacteria . It wil ltaste bad, and probably be bad for you if it's old enough. You won't fall sick if you recook couple-day-old meat which has little to no visi... |
Why do so many celebrities want to be photographed by Terry Richardson? | Question 1: Am I a celebrity? * Yes: Move onto question 2* No: Who gives a shit about you? Question 2: Do I like to look terrific in photographs? * Yes: Move onto question 3* No: Use your iPhone for nude selfies Question 3: Do I mind being raped? * Yes: Call Annie Leibovitz* No: Terry's your man! |
How are carbs and sugars in fruits and vegetables different than those in other foods like pizza and twinkies? | Super oversimplification, please don't murder me: The carbs in fruits and vegetables are generally complex carbohydrates , which are more difficult to break down. They're also generally accompanied by the massive amounts of micronutrients, so fruits and veggies tend to be recommended as "better" than foods with simple ... |
What makes a planet spin? | They spin because there's nothing to stop them. Newton's first law of motion is: An object will remain at rest or at constant motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Since the earth is spinning in a vacuum there is next to no friction slowing it down. So why did it start spinning in the first place? Think of a... |
Why are predominantly African-American churches so much different than more White churches? | As a white, atheist Canadian, I obviously wouldn't have the answer. But if I were to hazard a guess, this style of prayer and observance were borne out of a need to raise the morale of the severely oppressed black communities. After having been forcibly indoctrinated into Christianity, but having no money for the churc... |
Why is it that when we "daydream" or daze off, we don't seem to be aware of what's in our line of vision? | It happens, can happen at least, with any mental process that does not require external input. Basically, if you're thinking hard about anything. The brain doesn't want to be interrupted, essentially, so it stops paying attention to visual stimulus and focuses as much of it's computing power as possible to what you're ... |
Why do plastic water bottles start to smell bad when left for a prolonged period after being opened? | 2 Main things: 1 standing water breeds bacteria, so water left to sit will get nasty no matter what it is in.2. cheap plastic bottles will leach plastic into them over time . This is why all those bottles have small print saying not to reuse them. Its not too bad if its a day or 2, but you probably shouldn't reuse a bo... |
When I have a common cold, what physiological process makes me feel cold even at room temperature in the summers ? | Your sense of cold doesn't really work the number on a thermometer. It's actually a really complex calculation your body does that looks at a lot of things like hoe quickly heat is leaving your body and what temperature your body wants to be. Your body has a built in temperature that it wants to be. If you get colder t... |
How does refinancing work when it comes to taking out loans? | A re-finance means that you entirely pay off one loan and replace it with a new loan. This is typically done to get a lower interest rate or to lower your monthly payment. 1. it lowers your monthly payment because the principle left on your loan is less than when you started your original loan. So your new 30 year home... |
When pouring liquid out of a carton, why does it come out in waves? | As you pour the liquid out, air has to rush in to fill the void that's been left behind. As the air rushes in, it causes the liquid to make those waves. |
Why are the people that seem to love laughing and cracking jokes usually the ones that are actually depressed? | The two most common personality types amongst comedians/naturally funny people are ENFP and ENTP. These two types, like all NPs, overanalyze everything and spend a lot of time in deep contemplation. This contemplation includes, especially for ENTPs, dwelling upon the meaninglessness of existence. This, combined with th... |
How does in-flight WiFi not pose any problem, but using cell phones might do? | As older planes are phased out, almost all planes are built to withstand interference from phones. The biggest problem is actually with phone's base stations. The phone system is designed for phones to be on the ground, only able to get signals from a few towers, and generally with only one strong one. But when you are... |
Why are you considered to be the closest to death you will ever come without dying when you sneeze? | That's probably because of a common myth - the one that says your heart momentarily stops when you sneeze. There are even suggestions that the phrase "bless you" and its equivalents are based, at least in part, on this myth. There's a good straightforward explanation here - _URL_0_', "This is a loaded question so it's ... |
How does Pi work, how was it discovered, and why is it so critical in mathematics? | Since none of the other answers weren't very 5-year-old friendly, I figured I could do some explaining.\r\rPi is a number, and it's very closely related to circles. In ancient times, when people started working with geometry, they eventually stumbled upon circles.\r\rThe problem was finding the length of the circle, or... |
Why are computer highlight boxes blue? | When Microsoft released their first version of windows they had to choose between only 8 colours to display stuff against white. Most looked awful Blue looked the best 'non-black' thing on those primative screens. At that time they chose blue as a standard colour for loads of things that would be seen often by the user... |
What are those square power boxes in our backyards for? Does every house have them? | If they're green metal boxes, they are transformers. You probably have underground electrical service. These essentially take the place of the [gray metal cylinders] on utility poles, which are used in overhead electrical services. Underground electrical services run high voltages just like overhead powerlines and thes... |
Why do my dogs get very hyper after a bath? | I don't know the answer to this but it's so true, they go nuts. Maybe they run around so fast because it helps them dry off quicker, or maybe they're just really happy and relieved to be out of the bath haha The real question is: do cats do the same?", 'For they same reason my dog runs around the yard in a Victory Lap ... |
Why do the GBA versions of SNES-ported games have washed-out colors? | Because they were designed to be displayed on a GBA screen and not a TV screen which almost certainly doesn't have the same color depth, among other physical hardware differences. |
Why do crops need to be planted in a different place every year for the ground to be exhausted, but trees can just keep giving fruit for years in the same place? | Trees don't take nitrogen from the soil like many crops do. That's the issue. You can't grow crops if there's no nitrogen in the soil. Certain crops pull nitrogen from the air and put it back into the soil, and in some cases it's better to do that than dump a bunch of fertilizer that could mess up the water table. |
How do Electric Batteries work? | There are two major categories of batteries - dry cell and wet cell. Dry cell batteries like your average Duracell AA are two chambers separated by an insulator. One side is filled with a mix of ionized metal filings that has a large negative charge, and the other filled with a material with a positive charge. When the... |
Why do video game developers still make games for last-generation consoles? | There is still a massive market in the previous generation consoles. You want to appeal to the widest audience as possible. While the Xbox one and ps4 have sold well, they are nowhere near the amount of 360s and ps3s sold.I'm not an expert but I do know that AAA games can take several years to develop & finish. If they... |
Why does excess food stretch the stomach but not excess water? | Excess water can actually stretch the stomach. Competitive eaters will often practise by drinking tons and tons of water, so they "train" their stomach to stretch more without having to eat unhealthy amounts of food all the time. As for why eating food makes you more full than drinking water, there are two reasons. Sol... |
If someone is born color blind, how do they know they are? | A lot of times they don't know until they happen to see one of those color blind tests. That's how my brother found out he was. He saw one at the beginning of a movie and didn't get why there were a bunch of dots. And I told him it was a color blind test and that there are two or three different colors in the circle |
Why do we feel compelled to hit/break stuff when we are angry? | fight or flight response humans when confronted with problems have a fight or flight response - animal nature. You choose to fight and tackle the problem, or flight and avoid it. When you get down to the most basic instinct, you want to solve the problem by destroying it. If you're angry at something you can't hit or b... |
What happened with Hilary Clinton and her emails and why is it a big deal? | Hillary Clinton used a private e-mail address stored on a private e-mail server while she was Secretary of State. At the time, it was not required for SoS to use the government provided e-mail. A little while ago the Department of State requested that she provide all of her e-mails for archival purposes. It got out tha... |
Why are many women needlessly naked in many paintings while men are often clothed? | Incidentally, the picture in question is actually portraying an Athenian statesman, Alcibiades, not a naked woman. He's likely naked as a nod to the ancient Greek tendency to laud the young male form and depict it naked, and perhaps as a sly acknowledgement of the Athenian custom of older men taking younger men as love... |
what caused the economic comeback of the 1980's leading to landslide wins for Reagan? | This remains a matter of some debate among economists. During the 1970s, a recession began due to the Iranian oil crisis. Fuel costs around the world increased, leading to a lack of growth and long-term recession that ended in the mid-80s. Conservative economists believe that Reagan's tax cuts were ultimately responsib... |
Why does there seem to be such a disdain for universities amongst right-wing groups? | Universities tend to be populated by liberal administrators, teachers and programs. Since virtually all universities are funded at least in part by the government conservatives feel that they are forced to pay for something that promotes ideas they disagree with. Imagine forcing Muslims to pay for Christian churches. |
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