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Why do I always need a blanket to sleep even though it's hot as hell? | your body has gotten so used to sleep with a blanket that it doesn't feel right when you don't have it", 'I was under the impression this is a remnant of being in utero. Same reason that babies like to be swaddled.I only keep the middle part of my body covered when it's too hot for blankets, but I still need one on top... |
Why do braces have to be made of sharp metal? Why can't they be smooth so they don't cut up the inside of a patient's mouth? | When I had braces they gave me a little wax ball that I would take bits off of and mold around the joint connectors. Those worked pretty well. I'm sure you could get wax just about anywhere .could be excess wire coming out of the backs of it. if the assistants dont trim it right it really cuts your mouth up. god i hate... |
Why is it that the alarm always goes off right before the highlight of our dreams? | Also, you don't dream in real time. A dream that feels long might only take a few seconds in real time. It may even be that the alarm triggers the dream in the first place, and you experience the whole dream in the process of waking up! |
Why does the moon always look HUGE (like covering the whole horizon) in pictures, but I've never seen it even remotely close to that size in real life? | It is actually because there is no frame of reference in the night sky. The moon is very large and bright, when it is on the horizon it looks large, figure out when there will be a night time moon rise in your area and you'll be impressed.TL;DR: To make background objects bigger, take a step back and zoom in. Here's a ... |
How were airports different pre-9/11? | Security was basically just a metal detector. You didn't have to take off your shoes or anything or at least I don't remember ever doing it. I was less than 10 at the time. You didn't need a boarding pass to get through security. I remember being greeted by my family at the gate as soon as I walked off the plane. You c... |
Why does vinegar + aluminum foil clean stainless steel? | This is known as a single-displacement reaction. Essentially, when you burn your pan, you're forming a layer of various metal oxides on the pan . When you put the vinegar in, it starts dissolving the oxides ; however, the amount of oxides actually dissolved is relatively miniscule, and the solution is eventually comple... |
Why does inbreeding cause genetic abnormalities in offspring? | The important thing to know is that most of us are carriers for a large number of recessive genetic disorders. That means one half of our genes has the potential to make us sick, but the corresponding part being healthy protects us. The odds of us choosing a mate with the exact same defects is low. Think of it this way... |
Why do we not harness the energy produced from workout equipment in a gym? Is that not the same as a wind turbine? | Because then I'm not doing it for me, now I want to get paid for my service that I'm providing.I actually thought this was a genius idea as a kid, funnily enough! As someone who's worked with a bunch of electrical engineers, there's a reason this hasn't been invented yet, and the reason why most arm-chair energy produc... |
How does it come that helicopters are so widely used in military even though they seem so vulnerable? | they have a lot of tactics. they're much harder to hit than you think, and you'd be amazed at how quickly a cobra or apache can sneak up on you. one minute you hear no helo, next minute all you hear is helo and it's definitely within range to mess your day up. also, they rely on fixed wing aircraft to keep the skies cl... |
Why do some vegetarians eat certain animals? | If they eat meat and still call themselves vegetarian then it's a bit of a misnomer. There are more technical terms like pesca-vegetarian and such, but it's usually easier to just use vegetarian as a blanket term for not eating most meats. I call myself a meat eater but if I was getting really technical then I'd say th... |
Why is it TV writers are more acclaimed than TV directors, but film directors are more highly acclaimed than film writers? | *Are* film directors really more highly acclaimed than the writers? Because sometimes they're the same. And producers, do people even know who they are outside of the Industry? A writer for a TV show has to know to write for the viewer crowd and not quite the director, but a writer for a movie has to know the director ... |
How can Netlifx offer a great selection of movies and series without ads running ever fifteen minutes, yet traditional cable tv can’t, even though they charge customers much more than Netflix does? | First of all, it's not true that TV channel charge more to customers than Netfix does. Most channel cost between 1 and 2$ with some exceptions that cost more. Netflix cost between 9 and 14$. The reason you think that TV cost more is because you pay a service provider like Verizon or DirectTV. You are paying for their i... |
What is the purpose of the small pockets above the big pockets on jeans? | As other's have said, it's a watch pocket. I use mine for my Zippo though. Perfect fit. |
Why do Asian currencies tend to have very small denominations while western countries have big ones? For example, 1 USD ≈ 22,500 Vietnamese Dong | I don't know about the others but I do know why then yen is like that. In Japan, there's no smaller denomination, 1 yen is the smallest amount of money you can use. So instead of comparing yen to the dollar you should compare it with the cent. |
Why does my banana ripen at superspeed when it's in my backpack? | Although the ethylene gas thing may be true, it might also be that you're jolting your backpack around. I don't know the science but vibration causes bananas to ripen faster. Source: I worked at a place where there was an industrial sized air conditioner on the other side of a wall from some offices. Someone did an exp... |
How sites like The Pirate Bay are illegal but find ways to stay up and even fight the cases brought against them? | _URL_2_ I think this logo they used explains it pretty well. I've forgotten what the mythical creatures called but it represents that once you cut down one head another one will replace it. Shut down _URL_0_ and _URL_1_ will take it's place and so on. Edit: The mythical creature is a Hydra. I for one, think that's some... |
How is a randomize function defined in programming? | It takes something as a seed and creates a pseudo-random output that, to our human minds, doesn't seem to be correlated with the seed value. Usually the time is used as a seed since it is constantly varying. Edit: example-- _URL_4_ |
Why is it socially acceptable to drink water during a formal meeting or a job interview, but it is frowned upon if I change that to anything else, like a smoothie or an Icee. | Well, in meetings, coffee is generally provided. But if you bring an outside drink to a job interview, you look like you don't care and are taking it all too casually, especially if in a large, plastic gas station cup. Same with a meeting - it's less about the drink than about a professional looking cup. Major meetings... |
How does a clutch work | Follow up ELI5 : I'm generally interested, having a manual transmission car myself, what exactly would happen if you were traveling 50 mph down a road and shifted into reverse? |
Why do some clocks with roman numerals use IIII for the number 4? | The reason isn't completely clear, there are a number of possible explanations: * both the 4 and 6 are upside down, so IV and VI could be confused* IIII balances better with XIII at the opposite location* IIII allows for a round number I's, V's, and X's to be made for each clock* IV was not a universal usage, some Roma... |
Why us? Why humans? What is preventing/prevented other types of animals from dominating the world on a global scale. | One theory is that we're so smart because we *aren't* well adapted. We're not fast, we don't have claws or sharp teeth, nor thick hide. We became smart instead. |
Why Did Scottish People Vote For SNP But Said No to Independence? | Bare in mind that the referendum was closer than many news pundits thought it would be. That's nearly half the country disenfranchised with stagnant London centric politics and looking to distance themselves from Westminster. They were also the party that is set to fight against austerity, given Labour, lib dem and Tor... |
How does birth control prevent pregnancies? | I'm assuming you are asking about hormonal birth control. Most use two hormones, estrogen and progesterone . They reduce ovulation and thickening the cervical mucus, which hinders sperm from passing through. |
What the hell goes on on the floor of the stock exchange? | how do they HEAR each other? how do they know who they're talking to?", 'waiting for a real answer to this one[NLYR5] they do the same exact thing that can be done electronically nowadays the difference is that they can see the reaction of their counterparts and determine a proper course of action from this additional ... |
Why buying items in bulk, the price per item drops | because stores encourage it so that they sit on product for less time and therefore make more money eg i sell a product at one for 50 or 4 for 175, they only cost me 20, but having to hang onto 3 for a month till the other 3 sell costs me employee time and space i could use for something else i could sell. so if i give... |
Why is water so damaging to electronics? | Actually water isn't as damaging as we might think. I accidentally left my phone in my pocket when doing laundry, and the phone ended up in the wash cycle for about 30 minutes. I took it out, took the battery out, let it dry for a day and it was absolutely fine, exactly like before, just a bit cleaner. Sure, water can ... |
If you look at the 70s and 80s, their culture (music, clothes, etc.) was so different from each other. Why does 2000s and 2010s culture seem almost the same? | You didn't notice the shift because you're 20-ssomething and you were not alive. if you look at yourself in the mirror every day for ten years i bet you wouldn't notice a difference in how you look, one day at a time. but now go on facebook and look at a photo of yourself from 2006, wow, that is a huge change. you didn... |
Went on vacation. Fridge died while I was gone. Came back to a freezer full of maggots. How do maggots get into a place like a freezer that's sealed air tight? | Your fruit is contaminated with all sorts of insects, urine, feces, and bacteria. It's in your fridge because it's always been in or on your food. Rotted fruit erupts in tiny fruit flies because they have always been in your produce. ~~Remember when Mythbusters tested dozens of cases of retail obtained soda cans and fo... |
How do poor people with no medical coverage afford to give birth? | They don't pay it. The hospital does the delivery, sends the bill and then it doesn't get paid. They don't have any assets or wages they can garnish so there's nothing the hospital can do. Even if they are earning, you can't garnish to the point it would cause hardship anyway. As a result some or all of it gets written... |
Will a refrigerator magnet eventually loose its pull over enough time since it is perpetually fighting gravity? | There's a reason it's impossible to build a perpetual MOTION machine, and objects can remain still indefinitely. A magnet attached to your fridge is not doing any work, it's just staying there so there's no lost energy. The fridge itself would hvae the same problem: its shelves hold up your food via electromagnetism, t... |
List distribution - I am currently assigning laptops to 100 students, and I have 5 x 20 rows of Name Tags to attach. | > Is that statistically expected, or is it observer's bias? Maybe both. You have 100 opportunities to have your next student be 'lucky' and have their sticker be at the top of a row. And the more students get assigned, the greater the probability that the next sticker is on top, all the way down to the last 5-10, which... |
How does 100mg of drugs stay in me for 14 straight days? | Two things. First, in your particular case the drug isn't staying in your system the whole time. The first pill kills the hatched parasites. The second pill kills any that are currently protected as eggs but will hatch in a few days. The third pill is just in case something hatched late and kills anything left. Second,... |
Considering that the brain controls pretty much all of our bodily functions, why do we not instinctively know how our bodies work? | We 'instinctively' know how our body works! We can move our body without thinking about which muscles to activate, we feel when we need to eat or shit and know when we eat it turns to shit when it comes out. We also have an instinct what's bad and what's good for us. Humans are pretty much like children driving cars: T... |
if energy cannot be created or destroyed where does the energy come from when someone is born and where does it do when you die? | What do you mean energy? Energy to make a person move? That's just chemistry and it comes from food. And yes when you die you decompose, and that matter rejoins the cycle of being eaten by other things and eventually eaten by people again. If you mean some sort of inherent magic soul thing, then that is not what they m... |
Why was plasma television technology discontinued? | Mainly because of it's higher expense to manufacture and operate, and some other problems such as screen burn-in, which was prevalent on even the best plasma displays. Plus honestly, high end LCDs have surpassed their picture quality at much lower price points. |
Why does the US have a President, but Canada and the UK have a Prime minister? | Because they are not the same position. The US President is the Head of State and the Head of Government. The US President is in charge of only the executive branch of the government. The president choose who will be a member of the executive cabinet, but the legislative branch need to vote on who is accepted. The pres... |
Why when you fire a bullet horizontally and drop a bullet at the same time they hit the ground at the same time? | Gravity is going to accelerate both bullets toward the center of the earth at 9.8 M/Sec^2 , and doesn't care if the one happens to be moving horizontally and the other one isn't.This question comes down the exact same principle as Galileo found about dropping 2 things and them falling at the same rate. Acceleration due... |
Why is the Human body’s core temperature 37 degrees Celsius (98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) across the species, regardless of ethnicity or environmental location? | This is just the temperature that most of our enzymes and body structure work at the best. There are variations depending on your genes and environment. Also it's not exactly the core temperature, it's the head temperature, but again, there are variations. |
What causes the feeling that you are forgetting something, even though you can't find the memory of what you're forgetting? | Good question. Happens to me often when I leave the house in the morning. I just know as I close the door whether I have everything I need. But I don't know what immediately sometimes. |
Why are crayons (especially Crayola) only used by small children? | Cheap and fun for children, basically. They're sofa, maluable and they can't realy stab themselves or get poisoning from them. |
Why do people who hurt themselves usually cut their wrists and thighs and not other parts of the body? | Wrists probably because they are less fatty, and easier to draw blood from. & thighs because they are easily covered so people can't see them |
why do cats like to sit on defined spaces like pieces of paper or tape circles? | We've got a rug [like this one], and the cat never lays outside of a circle. I would chalk it up to perception bias, but honestly, if the cat were ever laying *outside* the circle, *that* would be the notable event for me. I'd probably take a picture and text it to my wife . So it's not a difference in texture or smell... |
How "hackers" can find all of somebodys personal information so easily, with nothing to go off of but a reddit account, or something similar. | People talk too much. Loose lips sink ships. On another message forum, there was a guy who stated that he valued his anonymity, and never gave out identifying details. Did he really? I wondered, and started going back through his old postings. He mentioned what state he was in. He said he lived in a very small town . I... |
What happens when an alcoholic who could die from withdrawals is thrown in prison? | I've gone to jail and not been given my benzodiazpine for 3 days upon arrival. Those in opiate withdrawal currently suffer. Jails often have incidents of seizures, and then treat inmates only after showing deadly syptoms. It's sad. Methadone and suboxone are hardly ever distributed to prisoners. This is all being worke... |
How was a week, an hour and a minute initially defined? | To add to the discussion from a psychological/ biological perspective, all animals have biological rhythms. You've probably heard of circadian rhythms, for example. But biological rhythms don't just repeat everyday- they repeat weekly, monthly, yearly, etc. Women's menstrual cycle, for instance, repeats every 28 days .... |
Why doesn't water burn? I'd think that a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen would be very flammable! | In a sense, it has already burned: if you burn gaseous O2 and H2 together, water results. In combustion, fuel and oxygen combine to release energy. In water, they're already combined. |
What does it mean when something is a "False Postive" or "False Negative"? | The little boy cried wolf, but there was no wolf. The boy's cry was a false positive. |
-- In the Super Bowl the Ravens did a "safety" What is a Safety and what did it accomplish? | A safety is when the offensive team, in possession of the ball, downs the ball in their own endzone. The defensive team is awarded 2 points and gets to receive a kickoff from the offensive teams 20 yard line. Normally, this happens when the offense is trying to pass, punt or run out of their own endzone, and a defensiv... |
Why are antibiotics a thing that is widespread, but not so much for antivirals? | Bacterial cells are quite different from human cells - they do all sorts of interesting things that we can target to blow up the cell without harming a human cell . Thus antibiotics are easier to develop because you have a lot more potential targets. Virus use your own cell's machinery to reproduce themselves. They are... |
what are the differences between the Christian denominations? | There are so many different sects and quite a few of them differ greatly. I grew up Mormon and the belief was that God's true church was corrupted shortly after the deaths of the apostles and that God and Jesus visited Joseph Smith and told them they were all wrong. Then, through a series of events that included a book... |
Is there a reason we sometimes feel overwhelmingly depressed and/or alone after a mid-day nap? | I always get nightmare whenever I fell asleep after lunch. Also would wake up with a headache. I think it's partly due to indigestion?", 'This has never happened to me . but I always wake up craving something sweet like chocolate chip cookies or ice creamLove mid day naps, but hate waking up feeling melancholic in the ... |
What would happen if you microwaved something while there was a hole in the microwave? | Microwaves emit the same stuff wireless routers do. It's just radio waves. Radio waves are the same as light, but lower frequency. The lower the frequency, the better light goes through objects. So your FM radio station goes through walls with no problems but your desk lamp gets blocked completely. Notice that when you... |
Why aren't there any viruses out there that make our bodies feel great? | A shame there isn't something like Pokérus but for humans, which makes you learn twice as quick. |
Why are college sports so much bigger in the south than professional sports? | Coming from the UK I do find this an interesting phenomenon. Is part of it that the professional teams are franchised and sometimes move cities? A large part of why I support various sporting teams is a sense of community and local pride and I don't think I would have the same depth of connection to a franchised team s... |
What's up with the thigh gap thing? | I've seen some thigh gaps I'm my day. Plenty of um. But then I realized that touching thighs are like a vagina extender. Never looked back .. |
Why is the Internet so bad everywhere? | Supply and demand. There is an overwhelming demand for internet. People almost can't live without it. Therefore, they can supply utter garbage and you'll just deal with it. This is sometimes made better by public works divisions of your local government who can create regulations to guarantee a level of service, howeve... |
What is addictive in painkillers and what is the high "like"? | Painkillers are opiates, similar to heroin. Once you have more experience with them you can differentiate between various opiate based highs and notice subtle differences in the buzz. For the most part though, they're pharmaceutical heroin. It doesn't so much get rid of pain as it makes you not care. You feel like you'... |
explainlikeimfive: Why are Asians perceived to be good at Math? | When Asians were fleeing their countries to come live in America there were so many that The US had to limit who came to our country. So most Asians that we let in we're coming with substantially higher IQs and getting high paid jobs that required a lot of education. And we have all seen the A+ Asian dad meme, well in ... |
How do worlds top athletes in competitive fighting (like boxing, wrestling, mma...) get trained if their trainers clearly wouldn't stand a chance fighting against them? | There's a lot of people who can't perform a skill themselves but can watch others and pick apart what they are doing wrong, how they can perform better. Basically they know what to do, without being able to actually do it themselves. |
ELI9: Why can't a person/organisation/whatever display a picture of the prophet Mohammed, but so many people in the world are named Mohammed and there not be any backlash from the Islamic community? | In Islam you're not allowed to make images of the prophet Mohammed specifically because of the worry that could lead to people attempting to worship him as an idol. It's only the prophet Mohammed that's the problem, not the name Mohammed, or for that matter images of other people. |
How Someone Creates a Programming Language | Watch Bjarne Stroustrup's [Why I created C++] [4:48]. He's a programming language hero and explains it better than anyone on reddit ever could. EDIT: I realise this is *why* someone creates a programming language, not how but it's still related. |
Why is Nirvana considered to be one of the best bands of all time? | It's mostly about them representing a sea change in mainstream music. Just before Nevermind came out Poison was still a top-selling band. They killed hair metal, and are remembered because of it. |
How has my phone (and other phones belonging to lucky people) survived falling onto hard floor without even a crack? | I once threw my sister's Samsung at the floor as strong as I could, and all it ended up doing was just separating the phone parts. We combined the parts back and not only did it survive, but there were no visible cracks. I believe it does come to how your phone was made, whether carefully or hastily.It depends how it l... |
- Why don't MRI's (Magnetic resonance imaging) get less expensive for the patient once the cost of the machine is paid off? | Prices tend to come down in a healthy market to reflect a reasonable profit margin of 5-20%, since if they are higher it encourages more suppliers to enter the market. Health care in the US is not a healthy market. It's nearly impossible to price shop, even in cases when it's not an emergency and thus possible. This is... |
Does having multiple monitors effect the PSU. | Psu no. GPU yes, CPU yes. I suggest multiple video cards even if running a dual monitor set up. I currently run 2 EVGA GTX 660 SLI'd together and it rocks. [edit] spelling |
How can economies with large debts of over 100% of GDP like Japan still able to get more loans and manage to run without crashing? | Postwar Japan has never missed a payment and is a massive, highly advanced economy. They're continuing to take out more loans even as they're paying the older ones back, but people are still willing to lend to Japan because they are a stable government that is perceived to be a reliable borrower. That perception is far... |
why can my laptop easily load videos at 1080p but struggles to load other videos at the same level or even lower? | The other videos might be of a higher bitrate or in a less compressed format, or they might be playing in a different player that doesn't take proper advantage of your hardware. I'll need more information to give a proper answer though. |
Why does scratching, especially back scratching, feel so good even when you're not itchy? | probably a leftover from when we were primates and would take turns picking and eating the bugs off each other there's either not as much or no more hair there, and no bugs but the positive feedback stuck |
Why do some TV shows (like Game of Thrones or True Blood) allow the showing of female genitalia, but not male? | Nudity is one of the big things that pay cable can do that other cable, much less network, can't. So they do it where they can because it draws audience and thus money. The nudity itself is never unmotivated, but they don't shy away from it either . As for why there's more boobs and bush than cock and balls: that has e... |
Why is video game optimisation when porting from PC to Console or vice versa so hard to do? | It's not necessarily hard, but it's a lot of work. When the game is getting ready to ship, most of the team has already moved on to the next project. It is up to just a handful of people to make the port in a couple of months, while the original production lasted a year, two, or longer. If the port is just an afterthou... |
why is there asymmetry in the veins of our limbs? | In reality our vasculature is pretty much symmetrical. Only the very end of the arterial vessels, capillaries, and very beginning of the veins will have some superficial variability.You asked for the med school definition, so here we go pick a random spot on your leg, and the corresponding spot on the other. Say, dorsa... |
Why can we easily walk for hours on end, but struggle when running just for a few minutes? | It's basically a bottleneck on how fast you can get oxygen to your muscles. When you walk, you have a steady and moderate energy need, so the speed that oxygen needs to get to your muscles is one that your body can easily adapt to for long periods of time. When you're running, you need more energy faster, so your body ... |
Why do companies like Redbull and Monster spend so much money on sponsorship and advertising when everyone knows them? | It's also about brand association. They want to target their brand within a target market - a cool, young-oriented market. Views of these sports are usually more young and active. Hence the brand sponsorship and placement in these areas. |
What difference does it make to place military on alert? | I'm not totally au fait with Lithuania's military, but standard examples include possible cancellation of any leave, a requirement that military personnel don't stray too far from their bases in case they need them back in a hurry to tool up and rush out of the door, plus they'll ramp up training and speed up maintenan... |
Why are most buildings and rooms rectangular? | To add to the other comments posted- One reason buildings are rectangular is because they are heavy. Very heavy. The bigger they are, the stronger of a foundation they need. In order to lay a foundation that will withstand all the pressure being put down on it builders lay down a grid of concrete and whatnot for the bu... |
Why does so many peoples leg bounce up and down while sitting? And why are they generally all at the same tempo? | I do it all the time and it isn't due to anxiety or nervousness! It is linked to an individuals sensory profile. For example I bounce my leg when concentrating because I'm a sensory seeker. I can't concentrate sitting still. Other people may fit into sensory avoiding, low registration or fuck I forgot the rest!", 'I am... |
How hard is it to make drinking water? | Burning hydrogen produces water. All that is needed is to condenses it. It's very simple. The thing that stops it being used is the cost. Free hydrogen is rare. Industrially hydrogen is made from water, so there would be the cost of transporting it, and the energy to extract it. |
Why is there unrest in Puerto Rico right now? | Because for the longest time irresponsible Puerto Rican politicians kept issuing bonds to fill holes in their budget. These bonds were seen as attractive since they weren't taxed the same since PR wasn't a state. Also PR also has government owned corporations running up massive debt, like its electric company. The only... |
Would an EMP ever be able affect a human being's nervous system? | Because the nervous system doesn't work the same as electronics. It doesn't use electricity, but it uses ions on different sides of the neurons to transmit signals by releasing other chemicals or hormones. Also, it probably is a lot easier to generate a voltage surge in cables and circuits than in neurons. And a high e... |
Is abandoning your family if you're a parent illegal? | Quote from the Wikipedia article on [Child abandonment]: > Today, abandonment of a child is considered to be a serious crime in many jurisdictions because it can be considered malum in se due to the direct harm to the child, and because of welfare concerns . For example, in the U.S. state of Georgia, it is a misdemeano... |
Why divorce needs mutual consent. | You're putting too much emotion into it. It's a contract to obtain multiple legal benefits over being a single entity. It's like the creation of a corporation. Breaking a contract comes with some issues. |
Why are "wine pairings" the way they are? And how are you supposed to drink the wine with your meal? | Drinking wine with a meal, your choice of wine is most likely going to compliment the main dish. Chicken and fish are popular with whites and a nice peppery steak demands a robust red! You do not keep the food in your mouth but instead you let the spices and flavors change your taste pallete. Taking a nice bite out of ... |
Why is gold the standard of wealth when things like iron, wood, or food may be more useful and fossils (ie) may be just as rare. | You don't want your main currency to rapidly shift in value due to changes in price and demand. Hence why resources like iron, wood and food are not a great idea. Even for gold this was a problem. Spain created a financial crisis when it started shipping in gold from the new world. |
If it's a fault *line*, why are earthquakes centered in one specific spot? Shouldn't the "epicenter" be the "epi-strip"? | It is an epi-strip. But the epicenter is the center of the epi-strip. Edit: You will see many simulations of this. [Here's one] of the San Andreas fault. You'll see it start in one spot and rupture outward along the strip. These rupture events can go within seconds, or for megathrust earthquakes, take several minutes a... |
- Why do we still have wires and cables ? | There's actually a few reasons. First, wires are generally cheaper. A wired device doesn't cost much to manufacture because there's all sorts of construction machines to build them. All over the world, plants that don't require a bunch of miniaturization churn out lots of electrical wire. So if you're making a decent l... |
Why do we "catch" colds/flu/etc. in cold weather? Why are we more susceptible to getting sick in colder weather. | It isn't because our bodies spend more energy trying to keep ourselves warm which weakens our immune systems? |
Can someone please explain why video games are NOT a waste of time? | I disagree with the majority of this thread. People are saying that video games are no different than other forms of media, but this is untrue. The interactive nature of video games makes it a completely new breed of media. There are studies behind benefits of playing video games, but I'm a lazy bastard so I wont go fe... |
Explain the weird sensation I often have after driving where I literally can't remember how I got to my destination. Is there an actual term for this or am I just crazy? | Do you smell exhaust fumes when you drive? The other comments seem plausible and benign, but just in case I'd check out your exhaust system. Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause memory loss and a leaky exhaust system could leak CO into the cabin. It can be very dangerous. |
Regarding smartphones, what did Apple invent and what did Android invent? And what did other companies invent? And who stole what from whom? | Everyone stole everything from everyone else, really. Basically, the company didn't invent things, individual people came up with ideas for features, and the company implemented some of those features. Apple put out the first smartphone that was actually popular. Android added a bunch of features that Apple didn't have... |
Why is it safe to eat veggies/fruit grown in rain water/waste water - but not drink the water by itself? | What you don't want from random waste water is mostly harmful bacteria. These can't survive inside a healthy plant, and physically can't get into it because the water absorbing root's openings are smaller than the bacteria. |
What are DLL files and how do they work? (like I'm five) | A DLL is a file that includes logical operations written by a computer programmer. DLLs make it easy to use code made by someone else to do something you need to do. For example, if you need access to mathematical functions, and Bob already created a DLL full of math equations, you can import his DLL use his work. An a... |
How much money disposable money do people in the US have every month? | There are so many factors and such a wide range of salaries and living expenses that it would be difficult if not impossible to give even an average percentage of disposable income. However, here's a quick snapshot of my own personal finances: * Monthly pay: $3500* Deductions : $232* Taxes : $828* Rent & bills: $1170-1... |
What does a sheriff do? And how is it different from normal police? | The Sheriff is the ULTIMATE law enforcement authority in a county. A Sheriff's office is made up of the Sheriff, who is elected by the people of the county. The Sheriff's deputies, who are hired like any other peace officer. Touching back on the ultimate authority deal, a sheriff has explicit authority over a county. I... |
How is it that the United States spends more on health care than any other nation but it ranks in the bottom half of life expectancy for industrialized countries? | I'd say two main reasons. One is that a lot of the money spent on healthcare is retroactive, or basically after its too late. It costs more to amputate a diabetic's leg than help control her blood sugar to avoid complications. The money is not being spent on preventative care. The other issue is that because we don't h... |
Why can't we live in a society that provides free food/water and shelter to everyone, and then play with capitalism in a way that benefits society? | You have to understand that changing the whole socieconomical system is an extremely daunting task, especially when the system promotes those who have money and power into positions of decision making. > play with capitalism in a way that benefits society? Why capitalism? It's a rather misused word, if you ask me. The ... |
How did the word English word fanny, referring to a woman's pink bits, changed in American to mean ones buttocks? | I'll add to this by saying, English spoken in England is not immune to changes. The English accent as we know it is newer than the American. |
Why does Saturn have a hexagon storm and why is it a hexagon not a circle? | Fluid dynamics are an *incredibly* complicated field of physics, and the things that can happen in a rotating ball of gas get weirder as that ball of gas gets bigger. There are a few predictive models that could explain it, but right now we don't know exactly why this has happened. Your amazement that such an odd struc... |
Is it possible to "Fix" the genetic problems many dogs have (Pugs, Bulldogs, Etc) by continuing to selectively breed? | It is the lack of genetic diversity that is the problem - as noted by a few people on here.When you selectively breed, you are generally moving towards a goal and you take two animals that share this trait and hope that you head in the right direction. The easiest way to do this is to breed within a family and you will... |
Why are all the planets spherical? | First look [at this video] of water in space. The lack of gravity makes the water spherical because the forces inside the water itself are enough to keep them together and nature always choose the less energy shape to keep something that is in equilibrium that, in that case, is a sphere. Because the planets are rotatin... |
How can the Chinese board game go have more possible moves than atoms in the universe? | It's because they are talking about *combinations* of moves. Of course the possible number of *individual* moves is fairly limited, but the board involves many possible first moves, times many possible second moves, and so on. |
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