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Placebo effect and how does it work? Also, what is the limit of what the body can achieve by truly believing it to be possible. | I don't think there is anyone who knows the limits of what the body can achieve through belief. How would you go about disproving someone who claimed that all medicine works due to the placebo effect? |
How do news sites get their new articles, which are just minutes old, to the top of search engine results? | More popular sites get crawled more often. In the case of breaking news, it's possible that as soon as Google finds out about it, it crawls the major news sites immediately. |
Why are the majority of the tallest buildings in the world located in the Middle East and Asia? | The Middle East and Asia developed relatively recently, which gave them the benefit of modern building materials and engineering to make larger buildings. For more established countries the expensive land worth building a skyscraper on is already occupied by other skyscrapers which would need to be torn down to replace... |
WTF is going on with the scoreboard & items?? | Everybody complaining about today's April fools joke and demanding reddit staff be fired for this need to chill the fuck out. So you had difficulty browsing reddit for a day. So what? Did the world fucking end? Get off your goddamn high horse and enjoy the chaos of it all. Excelsior! Y'all just jealous of Orangered's s... |
Why do old people's voices change? | Yes, it's [laryngeal ossification]. This tends to be gradual and starts happening around middle age but can vary wildly. Your vocal anatomy starts to get stiffer and less flexible, much like other body parts. This makes a darker tone to the voice because you can't stretch the cords as thin and the reduced flexibility i... |
What is the point of 120Hz monitors when we can only perceive 60fps clearly? | A quick unscientific test to see if there is any benefit to go above 60Hz.Take this browser window and drag it around the screen. See how fast you can drag it and still read this text. Now take your phone or a piece of paper and see how fast you can move that while still reading the text. Unless the monitor is crap, th... |
How does the pedometer know that I am walking and not just shaking my phone? | they don't. they're looking for a pattern in the accelerometer readings that matches typical walking, but the walking pattern is too varied. most of them set the tolerances loosely and the devices wind up reading non-walking motions. my phone will actually think I'm walking at some lax pace on the train. |
If anything we sense is converted into electrical signals that are then interpreted by our brains, why can't we capture, analyse, and re-transmit those signals? | Probably because there are a shitload of electric signals in your brain, and capturing the select ones you need is really hard. Also knowing which ones you need would be really hard. And then implanting then would also be kinda hard. Moreover, if the doctor hasn't felt that exact same thing before he still wouldn't not... |
How is the Galaxy s7 IP68 waterproof rated? Even when it has open ports like the USB and headphone jack | I just bought a galaxy S5 Sport. It claims to be water and dust resistant. I don't know if the S7 is made the same way. But mine has a little plug that goes in the USB port. It's a little annoying when plugging it in, in the dark. But it reminds me to push the plug back in when I take the charger out. |
The latter part of the periodic table | [Read this], it's pretty short and you'll learn just how much information is packed in the table. I don't know why some numbers are in parenthesis, that depends on the table you're looking at and how it's formatted, most like it's because the value is approximate. We can make elements by smashing nuclei together in par... |
How do people who aren't vacinated effect people who are? | Those who are not vaccinated get sick. As long as a disease exists, it can mutate. This means it basicly does the same, but looks/acts slightly different. Because it is slightly different, your immune system does not recognize it so it doesn't attack, aka you get sick. People who don't vaccinate are potentially going t... |
Why is the 40-yard dash the magical number for gauging a football player's speed (as opposed to some other metric)? | Football field is only 100yards end to end. You'll never be running the length in one burst. 40 yds is a good indicator of acceleration and short gameplay simulation in a typical game. |
Why are multi-billion dollar companies able to file for bankrupcy and why does the government bail them out? | If you can't pay your bills you can't pay your bills, bankruptcy offers a business a chance to recover and become profitable again. Every profitable business out there makes the American economy much better. Government bails out companies because it believes they can come back and turn a profit again, saving lots of Am... |
If weed is a depressant, why does my heart start to beat faster whenever I smoke? | Hi, I work at a Medical Marijuana Dispensary. Before I started, I didn't know a whole lot about different types of cannabis. So essentially, there are some different types of cannabis plant. One called Indica which acts more on the mind rather than your body, and one called Sativa. Sativa generally is the type that wil... |
I know this is bad but what is karma? (On reddit) | That's not bad, don't worry :) [There are some search results that might help you] Otherwise think of it like points - if people like what you say, you get a positive point. If people dislike what you say, you get a negative point. This goes for submissions and comments. Some kinds of submissions, like self posts, get ... |
if you tell me your name, I forget immediately yet I remember every lyric to 1000 songs on my Ipod? | To add to the other good answers you aren't really 'remembering' the lyrics. There are clues as the song goes along and if you ever get lost somebody else is already singing the right parts. Try to write down the lyrics to one of your favorite songs you'll see what I mean. |
How does a college foreign exchange student learn the material presented to them in whatever host country's language the classes are in, if they barely speak the language? | We have someone in our office right now who speaks barely any English, yet they're here in the US, going to a university right down the street. How would someone with little to no grasp on the English language take and pass college classes that are solely in English? .. |
Why are new technological leaps so expensive? For instance, it can't seriously cost so much more to produce DDR4 memory than it does to produce DDR3. | We're getting to the point where semiconductors have features on the atomic scale. Making factories to create chips that precise is getting ridiculously expensive. But new technology always comes at a premium. They want to squeeze money from early adopters, but when a chip comes out it is pretty scarce. Something that ... |
Why, when a person is sentenced to death does it take decades to follow through on the execution? | Basically we want to be really, really, really, sure we're right, so there's a lot of different ways to for inmates to appeal. This doesn't just include claims of actual innocence, but minor technical errors during a trial, competence of counsel, the mental state of the defendant at the time of the offense or currently... |
How do "entrepreneurs" develop their potentially lucrative ideas without having them stolen by others at any point in the process? | Most often, the idea an entrepreneur implements isn't really *that* unique -- several people have similar ideas. Consider Uber and Lyft, or Coke and Pepsi, or your favorite 5 burger-and-fries restaurants, or your closest 5 dry-cleaning shops. The uniqueness of the idea is one of the smaller contributors, or even zero c... |
Can someone explain how drug control rooms help drug addicts? | It is basically a safe, no questions asked environment where people can use illegal drugs. It doesn't help with their addiction, but it makes it less likely they will die of an overdose. You probably can't set up your own drug control room. They typically have to be state sponsored, otherwise you might be an accomplice... |
When/How did peanut allergies become so prevalent? | I'm allergic to peanuts as you might guess from this thread already, there is no consensus on the causes of allergies or many other inflammatory responses. The hygiene hypothesis has gotten a lot of traction Others have pointed fingers at things like pollution. But there really is no clarity at this point. The AAP's ne... |
How can people die from skin cancer? Why can't the cancerous part simply be cut away? | It depends on the type of skin cancer. Basal cell carcinomas are generally very treatable with excision and rarely metastasize . Squamous cell carcinomas and malignant melanomas tend to be more aggressive, and can spread to other parts before you cut them out. Once it spreads to lots of different parts of your body, yo... |
How exactly did ISIS form and why does Reddit say their formation is because of the United States? | ISIS formed because of a power vacuum. The US disbanded a lot of the Iraqi military during its occupation which left many former officers/soldiers without a means for livelihood. Combine this with religious oppression that happened in Iraq during Saddam's reign and a number of other circumstances and you have a recipe ... |
How does a software company offering a "free student subscription" know you're a real student? | A while back, probably not one of my brightest moments, I asked a representative from Adobe when I was subscribing to CC if they would care that I wouldn't be a student anymore a couple months into the subscription. They just flat out said no. |
Why is it that my PC can run high-end games easily, but is unable to emulate Nintendo DS games smoothly? | In addition the general issue of emulation, your Nintendo DS emulator was reverse-engineered. The creators didn't get any help from Nintendo such as specifications. They had to figure everything out just by studying the DS hardware. So there are probably features that they could have taken advantage of if they knew abo... |
Why does Saudi Arabia oppose Assad's regime in Syria? | The Lebanese Prime Minister, who had joint Lebanese-Saudi citizenship, was assassinated in 2005. The Syrian government was apparently to blame, and that's been a big factor in the poor relations between Assad and the Saudis. Other than that, Syria has long been a supporter of Hezbollah and has publically criticised oth... |
How do we know that all snowflakes are different? | > Larger, complex snowflakes are all different. The number of possible ways of making a complex snowflake is staggeringly large. To see just how much so, consider a simpler question -- how many ways can you arrange 15 books on your bookshelf? Well, there's 15 choices for the first book, 14 for the second, 13 for the th... |
Why do grocery stores let you do self-checkout when that makes it so easy to steal? | I have to admit I never use the self-checkouts because I feel they're taking jobs away from cashiers. |
How did Mexico defeat France when they were clearly outnumbered? | In addition to preparation, it is easier to defend a territory from within than to have military operations based remotely. Historically the native groups are statistically favored in invasion attempts with a long-term advantage. They are already present at the location, they already are familiar with the land and the ... |
How are companies going to make money from Automation when their customers are all unemployed? | As others have said, it's because those jobs get replaced with new ones. In economics it's called Creative Destruction. At some point, pony express riders were fired when the telegraph became popular. Then telegraph operators were fired when we switched to the telephone. Then a lot of telephone operators were fired whe... |
Why is it easier for non-native English speakers to sing, than to speak, with good pronunciation? | When you sing, you are forced to conform to the proper rhyme and the proper accent patterns because they are part of the song's DNA. Additionally it is easier for your brain to remember the sounds that you hear when it can relate them to another experience like pitch.I have also found that typically it is music that th... |
Why do humans find eyeless or pitch black eyes scary/unsettling? | Seeing the white and black parts of someone's eye lets you tell what they are looking at. Without that information you can't tell if they are looking at you or not and this is unsettling because for all you know they could be staring at you. The movement of the eyes can also show the intentions of the person because yo... |
What's the biological purpose of males getting sleepy after ejaculation? | I'm not sure this is universal for all males. Some may feel sleepy after the deed, but some do get more awake and receive a second wind to stay awake. However, there is another term they use in Japan called [Kenjataimu]. The period after ejaculation in which a man is clear of thought and free from sexual desires.It's r... |
Why have they not started issuing social security cards in plastic form like the DMV does with drivers licenses? | My mom laminated mine a super long time ago. Every time I've had to use it no one has ever said anything. |
How do some people sleep with their eyes open? | You don't want it it's mostly a pain in the ass. Cons: You WILL have chronic dry eye and sleep like crap most of the time. Pros: Although I guess technically I do wake very easily including to someone waving their hand in front of my face or w/e A. I'm not 100% sure that's because of the sleeping with eyes open B. When... |
What's the legitimate purpose of a water tower? | Am I the only person that doesn't know what the *illegitimate* purpose of a water tower is? |
What's the difference between someone who has a learning disability and someone who's just stupid/slow/dumb? | The differences lie in perceived intelligence vs actual intelligence , but the book difference between a stupid/slow/dumb person comes from something called the [Edit: **Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition **] ~~DSM-IV-TR, which is short for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental D... |
What makes something Machiavellian and what are some examples? | Most people use it to mean amoral because Machiavelli believed that in order to attain and retain power you had to ignore the morality of your actions and always focus on how your actions effected your hold on power. The basic idea is that you can't desire to be a good person and a powerful person, you have to choose b... |
Why does the body wake up starving when it consumes a lot of food before bed, but wakes up fine if it doesn't? | I get hungry mid morning if I have a bowl of cereal. Other food even if they are carbs don't do that. Must be the sugar in the cereal? |
How Redbull racing, an energy drink continues to complely dominate Formula 1. While massive car manufacturers, Mercedes, Ferrari etc can't catch up? | A particular rule in Formula 1 bans the use of Traction Control systems. Red Bull found an ingenious and secretive way to get around that rule, and then gave that to their best driver. This means Red Bull has the fastest car, and the fastest driver. Once the FIA finds out how they're doing it, it will probably be banne... |
Why is it that parents go to great lengths to see that their children receive the best education available, yet do not take the time and effort to educate them as well? | My parents certainly did. They were committed to educating my sister and I at home. They viewed public school as a supplement to a proper education. My father is a physician, and my mother worked for Merrill Lynch certifying stocks/bonds until I was born and she became a homemaker. In any case, their focus was always o... |
Why don't babies get morning breath? | It's mainly from not having teeth which holds a lot of bacteria. My one year old has had morning breath ever since he's gotten teeth. |
How does the Army National Guard work? | > Does the Army National Guard have boot camp? Yes. They go to the same basic training as people in the active army. > Do they pay your housing? In general, no. There is such thing as full-time National Guard positions, and those people get the same pay and benefits as active duty soldiers. > What are incentives of the... |
What is the TeV mass scale and what does it have to do with particles beyond the standard model? | The LHC runs individual particles into each other at super-high speeds. How fast, you ask? So fast that it's really hard to measure their speed directly. Instead, they measure the energy of the particles. There were a number of experiments conducted in 2011, according to the paper, with the LHC set to 7 tera- electron ... |
If electric fields produce magnetic fields, and our brain/nervous system operates electrically, how do we not have electromagnetic interference disrupting our entire body's operation? | You mean interference such as happens with [Transcranial magnetic stimulation]? Read the section on TMS's mechanism of action for more details. |
Why do people oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? | The Trans Pacific Partnership agreement isn't really what it purports to be - at least from what we can tell from the leaks so far . The TPP could, for example, compel countries to introduce new legislation that would outlaw the circumvention of digital locks even for non-infringing purposes. This means it could potent... |
How does the US have the most powerful military in the world if less than 1% of the population joins the military? | It's not just technology, but also skill, training, and fitness. North Korea might boast a massive military, listing basically every able male as a reserve soldier, but in actual combat many of them would be simply ineffective.Everything comes down to money. [We spend more on our military than these 13 countries combin... |
why aren't police officers in the UK allowed to carry guns? | Just realised that I didn't actually answer your specific questions! > *How would a regular officer stop a terrorist with a smuggled AK47?* Bear in mind that the UK has 40-plus years experience of dealing with terrorism, it's in many ways a routine part of life and of policing over here. And as far as I know, there has... |
Why is zero multiplied by infinity not defined as zero? | Because it wouldn't make sense in some situations. For instance, we want to say that x * 1/x is always 1. But if we're treating infinity as a number, plugging in x = 0 gives 0 times infinity. |
Why don't Mac's get viruses? | They do. Windows/PCs are 90% of market share .if you program viruses, you'll focus on max damage. |
why don't truck and car companies (like Ford) make new trucks with new technology that look like the older models everyone loves? | I'm surprised nobody has mentioned [Morgan Motor Company], who are still pumping out gorgeous cars over a hundred years since they pushed out their first timber-framed beauty. Some current model eye candy: _URL_4_ |
How is North Korea so well hidden from our view when the US has such high tech satellite imaging? | It's not really well-hidden, the world is aware of many of the large scale atrocities committed in North Korea. It is common knowledge that there are large-scale detention camps in North Korea. This knowledge was obtained through satellite imagery. Smaller offences/crimes i.e. crimes committed on a small scale sometime... |
Why do so many famous or successful people seem to be from South Africa? | Political unrest in S.A. has caused a large number of talented people with enough money to leave the country, seeking stable opportunities elsewhere. But the *average* person there doesn't have the resources to leave so you never hear about them. If you were to spend time in S.A. you would not find an unusually high pe... |
Why do animals never seem to roll an ankle or pull a hammy? | Also . when the gazelle pulls a hammy, he usually ends up cheetah food, so you really don't get to see the gazelle walk it off . accounts it's dead.On a semi-related note, Humans are the best marathon runners, no other animal can run for as long as humans can and as consistently.Most athletes, especially elite ones are... |
Did communism during USSR ever do any good, if not, why didn't it end sooner? | You've confused Russia and the USSR as being one and the same. Russia was a state in the USSR, one of 15. You wouldn't refer to the USA as California. |
When dating, why is age difference a big deal for teens/kids, but not for adults? | Because the maturity levels are exponentially different between years/grades. A freshman is incredibly more immature than a senior, but is only 3 years younger. When you're 40 the difference between you and a 36/37 year old is pretty negligible if not non-existent. |
How is the global economy *not* a zero sum game? | Robert's got the right idea here. To do it more in a EL5 style: Some countries are better at things than others. The USA is really great at farming; we have some of the best farm land in the world and it is really great for growing crops like wheat and corn, but we can't really grow cacao here and that's the plant that... |
What is the purpose of the sewn on loop on a seat belt? | It's there to identify if the seatbelt has been under severe stress in the event of an accident. When the belt tensioner locks during a crash and your body is propelled into the belt, those stitches break, indicating the belt needs to be replaced after a crash. You will notice the same stress loops sewn into fall arres... |
How/why is someone like Artem Vaulin, the founder of KickAss Torrents, held accountable for copyright infringement, if it's the USERS of the site that are breaking the law? | Okay wtf. Why is a Ukrainian National being dragged into the U.S. Legal system? So if I broke federal Ukrainian laws online, I could be dragged to the Ukraine? Can't Ukraine prosecute him for the same damn thing? |
Voter ID? Who does it hurt, and how does it not help with vote fraud? | The voter id laws are specifically designed to disenfranchise people who are likely to vote Democratic. Elderly people, poor people, people who work 2 jobs to make ends meet and feed their families, women , all have some reason not to have an appropriate ID. They don't have money, time, or transportation to get one, so... |
Why is primary and secondary education free and considered essential for everyone but not university? | Imagine if you had neither, or only primary. You'd only know how to read and write at a basic level. What are your job prospects? Next to none, as every job nowadays requires you to use a computer or write reports or calculate things, which you can't do unless you've done 12 years of compulsory schooling. So, it is in ... |
How does the US dollar come back to the US when it has been used in other countries? | if it its a bank and the bill is worn beyond its limits, then the bank sends it back to the US for a new replacement. but it doesn't needs to return to the US to have value in foreign transactions. |
if race is a social construct, then why can't people identify as other races? | Because with transgendered people, you have their DNA which says A but somewhere in that knot of neurons and chemicals we call a brain, it's functioning to say 'B' instead. And because genders are something of a social construct, we accept when a person says 'biologically I'm A, but my brains was born saying B so I'm g... |
What happens in an Embassy on a day-to-day basis? | I live next door to an embassy in Washington DC. It's a central-African country. They show up around 10, leave around 3 and frequently get take out food. I've never once seen anyone enter the door for the visa office. |
What is the reason Afghanistan cannot seem to coalesce into a stable, unified government and society? | I feel like the west and the 'rules' of the world basically try to force square pegs into round holes with many of these middle eastern/Islamic countries. You have people who's culture is pretty tribal and you try to put a neat border around them with a central government which they don't really recognise or want. |
Why can men keep producing children in old age but women have the menopause? | As women get older it becomes increasingly likely that there will be complications prior to and during child birth. In evolutionary terms it's better for the species to only allow child birth during a short window. For a male it doesnt matter as they aren't carrying the child so it doesn't really matter. |
If water had no surface tension, would you be able to jump into it from any height and (as long as the water was deep enough) survive? | Follow up question: if there was a fluid with a very low but non-zero viscosity, could you survive a long drop if you went feet first and curved a bit so you didn't just go straight down like an arrow? My thinking is that there is still some small amount of resistance to slow you down gradually without killing you on i... |
Why do we lose saturation in our colors for several minutes when we are in the sun for a couple hours? | An optometrist explained it to me thusly: The parts of your eyes that process color -- rods and cones -- undergo chemical reactions when light hits them, and these reactions produce electrical signals that get interpreted as color by the brain. The problem is that once the chemical reaction takes place, it needs to res... |
How can America spend $600 billion a year on their military, 54% of their federal spending, while other large countries spend a 10th of that? | Part of the reason why the US is so wealthy and powerful is because its power and influence doesn't stop at its borders, it's part of a vast economic empire that spans the globe. Maintaining a global empire is very costly and tends to perpetuate the threats against it. The bigger your empire is, the bigger it must be t... |
If dogs and other animals do not have to brush their teeth daily, why do humans? | Dogs can have tooth decay which requires dental work. Regular cleaning by a Vet is recommended. I brush my dogs teeth at least three times a week. Ask any Vet, it's a good idea. |
"No approved therapeutic claims" on ads. | Making you feel more powerful" all unverifiable non-specific claims, it's all good marketing talk void of any medical value. |
Why did early pistol and musket designs have such unergonomic looking grips? | These were one shot, smooth-bore weapons that required a lengthy reload between shots. They weren't accurate, and they weren't capable of firing multiple rounds. That means that aiming and recoil damping weren't important, only production cost and reload speed. That's also why pre and early-civil war battles were fough... |
Why do professors continuously write exams with extremely low averages and then curve, rather than write easier exams? | because if everyone got a 90%, then it's too easy. but if most maxed out at 60% but a few got a 80%, then it's a class that challenges and shows the diamond students. this is true in working world as well. my first manager told me. nobody gets a 80% on their annual review. not unless you sold a billion dollar contract.... |
Does taking a double dosage of something have the same effect as taking it twice a day? If so or if not, how? | Generally speaking, it depends on how short the half life is. If it's a very short half life then doubling up won't do much because it will be eliminated to a subtherapeutic concentration very quickly. The picture can vary because some drugs use 2nd order kinetics or have to be processed into active metabolites but as ... |
How it is possible that before 2. world war only men worked and still earned enough for whole family when today we have whole families (mom, dad, child) working and barely survive? | People have touched on the rise of housing costs, but it's more complicated than existing house prices going up because of increased incomes. Housing prices have also gone up because of the increasing complexity of houses. Also, if you think that capitalists weren't gouging the worker AND the people, you need to take a... |
What are sister cities? Do they actually have any relationship benefits or is it just a gimmick? | Owensboro, Kentucky is a sister city with Olomouc, Czech Republic. Every year college students from Western Kentucky University travel for a 6-8 week exchange. I went on the trip twice - once as a student and a second time as a TA. Basically, the student travel around central/eastern Europe while being stationed in Olo... |
Why do some people never get sick with colds or flu when everyone else does? | I don't know. I am a cashier at a drug store. I handle nasty, sweaty money, and I am often sneezed or coughed on. I don't get sick often. |
Why is Atomic Bomb testing in the ocean allowed? | The ocean is *really really really really god-damn BIG*. It would take quite a blast to cause a noticeable difference on anything larger than a local scale. A-Bombs aren't great for life, you are correct, but as long as we don't detonate a bunch of them all over we can minimize the damage. |
Why can't we artificially inseminate endangered species like pandas and rhinos in order to raise their numbers? | I found [an article about it]. It looks like we do do that. It's difficult to do, and it's not sufficient on its own, but it's still a thing we do. |
What is the difference between a voxel and a pixel? | its funny i didn't know what a voxel was either, but I used this thing called google. Missed out on some karma, but didn't waste anyone's time.Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, vs 3D Dot Game Heroes. A great example is in the [intro to 3D Dot game heroes.] The movie "pixels" that just came out, along with a post on ... |
Why is it that before an orgasm you have a feeling willingness to do anything, but as soon as the orgasm passes you come to your "senses" (NSFW) | I am confused by this, too. That's why I can't share masturbatory fantasies with a partner. They're private and personal and disgusting. I would never be able to participate in what I am thinking of but it sure does get my motor running. I am thankful, however, that some of those fantasies have evolved. |
Why does someone stricken with Alzheimer's forget names and memories, but retain math skills and advanced vocabulary? | Eventually they lose all of those. But when they forget, the info might be there, but the neural connection to that info is lost. Earlier memories often have stronger connections so they're remembered longer |
why do we sometimes wake up accidentally when our bodies are still obviously tired? | Because sleeping when a predator wants to eat you does not help you live and pass on your genetic material to the next generation. Its all about evolution and evolution doesn't make your body better it just makes it more evolutionary fit to your environment. Edit: Clarifying what kind of fitness |
why are almost all the animals afraid of rain ? | I don't know, but I also wonder: Why do people leave a swimming pool when it starts to rain? |
Reddit points, or why there are no posts with like 200,000, 500,000, or more upvotes | It would be interesting if users could view the number of times a post has been 'viewed' as well as upvoted", '[/r/TheoryOfReddit] would be a good place for you :) |
Why do small dogs start to "swim" if you hold them above water? | Haha not all small dogs do this! One of my dogs is a Bichon Frise and if you try this he just hangs there until you drop him when you do drop him he sinks all the way to the bottom then starts swimming, i've never met a dog who loves being underwater as much as he does! |
If the human mouth has so much bacteria that a bite is almost guaranteed to get infected, why do we want to put a fresh cut in our mouths? | Your body is already accustomed to the bacteria in your own mouth, because you're exposed to them constantly. It's _other peoples'_ mouths you have to worry about. |
How is it legal for to pay someone for sex as long as you film it and call it porn, but prostitution is illegal? | For starters, it isn't completely clear that making pornography is legal in most US jurisdictions. In the absence of a law or legal precedence explicitly saying one way or another, it is entirely possible a pornography producer could be convicted under prostitution laws. Most state courts haven't said one way or anothe... |
Why do pictures of far away galaxies appear so crisp and beautiful but recent images of an asteroid near earth is grainy and of poor quality | Good question little John/Jane. You know when mommy takes a picture of you at a soccer game and it's blurry? That's because you're moving to fast food the camera, just like the asteroid. Remember mommy's pictures from our trip to the mountains? They're great! That's because the mountains are big, far away, and they don... |
Why can't we tax everyone the same percent? | Those at the lower end of the income scale would complain! Fundamentals of marginal utility show that the first dollars of income are most important and subsequent dollars are less so in practical terms, that first $25k is really important to get a basic roof over one's head, food on the table, have basic transportatio... |
Why do we feel the urge to keep throwing up even if there is nothing left? | Your body doesn't know there is nothing left. It just straps in and turns the Belch dial to 11 |
Why does hot water (or heat generally) clean better than cold water (or cold generally)? | I heard that it actually doesn't clean better than cold water at the temperatures that we use. For hot water to clean better than cold water it would supposedly be at temperature that would scorch our skin. |
Why is the post-WW2 50s decade considered the quintessential time period for defined gender roles when throughout the 40s women were in "men's" roles for the first time? | Women were actually in men's roles for the first time during WWI. After the end of that war, there was a surge for women's rights, the most obvious example being the right to vote in 1920. Part of the issue following WWII, had to do with the Cold War and American ideals about how the rest of the world saw them. The con... |
Is Africa as unstable as the media portrays it to be? | Actual African here : Contrary to popular misconception, Africa as whole is actually quite stable. IMO people and media often confuse instability with lack of governance as well as the assumption that civil war = whole of that country is warzone. A lot of areas in Africa, tribal leader or similar actually hold a quite ... |
How come I do not feel hungry in the morning if I don't eat breakfast, but if I do, I find myself wanting something to eat or drink. | It's not often the answer is in the word =/ Breakfast = break fast. You've broken your fast. Your body is no longer in energy conservation mode. |
why don't hockey teams hire a 500 lb. goalie to block the whole goal? | Hockey goalie here. It's a pretty annoying myth that goalies are not athletic and just stand around. Sure we don't skate as much as the other players. It's not our job. But it's way more technical then you'd think and it takes years to develop the skills, just like any other position. If you've ever seen a normal playe... |
How is the design of the U.S. gov't "deliberately inefficient"? | The starting point is the threshold to amend the U.S. constitution is incredibly high). It's only been Amended 27 times in the roughly 230 years since its been enacted, and 10 of those came immediately after it was enacted. It's typically much easier for other countries to change their national charter and make sweepin... |
why isn't hunting lions and other endangered animals banned world wide? | first: the majority of the world doesn't have wild lions second: that guy killing the lion Cecil **is** illegal, that's why it's in the news |
What is the dark web vs. deep web? How exactly do you get there? And how dangerous is it if you don't know what you're doing? | One is home of the Silk Road. One isn't. Not a marketplace for the well adjusted contributing member of society however. But damn sweet when throwing a very special kind of party. |
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