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The entire plot of BioShock Infinite. Still haven't figured it out completley. | Spoilers obviously. Booker DeWitt fought in the battle at wounded knee, which was a very bad thing if you weren't aware. Afterwords he felt strong remorse for what he did and considered going to a baptism to try and absolve himself of his sins. Now in the universe of Bioshock there are an infinite amount of alternate d... |
why does it feel good to stretch? | because stretching is good for your body if you're sedentary for a long time, lactic acid and lymph accumulates, which is harmful. Exercise makes sure these things are always being removed/circulated. The lymph system in your body doesn't have a "heart" to pump it around, it's purely mechanical. stretching, yawning, al... |
How can cheese go out of date? Isn't cheese basically already old milk? | It's the mould growing on it that's the problem. If you cut that off, you can eat the cheese still. It has a different texture and taste as it gets older though. Cheddar, for example, will taste stronger and crumble easier with age. |
How does Netflix know how far to skip the "previously on.." When binge watching tv? | They're all different lengths, so in all likelihood, they have someone go through and tag the episodes manually. Really wouldn't take long, if you think about it. |
Why can DJs make money by playing copyrighted music when YouTubers can't have copyrighted music in their videos? | They pays for the right to play those songs. Your own YouTube video can have copyrighted music if you pay for that right. It's just people who don't pay who get their videos yanked.DJs, restaurants, radio stations, and any other place that has a "public performance" of music must pay a licensing fee for the public perf... |
Why do people explain why they edited their post/comment? | To clarify that some comments may have been made before the change. For example, you ask "How many EDFs does it take to lift a person?" and the first five comments are "What's an EDF". Then you edit the comment to expand the acronym. Now all those comments would look stupid, and it will make people mad if you make thei... |
how a water softener works. | The point of a water softener is to remove calcium and magnesium which form positively charged ions when dissolved in water.The tank is filled with negatively charged beads and so when the hard water enters the tank the positively charged calcium and magnesium stick to the beads. The water that comes out of the tank it... |
How my directional hearing can tell when something is either in front or behind me? | Others have pointed out that the shape of your outer ear and head allow your brain to distinguish front-to-back direction, but I'd also like to note that your supposition about volume difference being the way we determine left-to-right direction is only partially correct. The delay between the time the sound hits one e... |
The difference between natural selection and sexual selection? | Their sort of two sides to the same coin. Natural selection implies that creatures with unfavorable traits die before they get a chance to breed and pass on their genetics. Sexual selection implies that creatures have evolved to sexually favor mates that have favorable traits. Creatures with poor traits don't necessari... |
Why do humans value beauty? | Hey, could be TOTALY wrong here but, I don't think it has anything to do with mating or any of our previous natural instincts. When you see somethin Astheticly pleasing and unique You're taking in all you've learned up to this point in life and seeing it in some way. You see how a mountain scape took who knows how long... |
How does medication that targets specific areas of the body (such as back/head/sinuses) work? | Well it doesn't. Medicine, specifically pills are ingested and spread throughout the body through blood once it hits the liver. It then travels through the whole body and provides relief in problem areas but can also provide side effects in other areas. Thats why there is usually a long list of side effects becauce whi... |
Why when I think of, for example, sour candy or food, does my tongue tingle and make a ton of saliva? | The thought of lemons is enough for the brain, which will send signals to the salivary glands which will start to produce greater volumes of saliva. This is a conditioned reflex action .A conditioned reflex action is a reflex action acquired from past experience or learning.First when you had not tasted lemons, thinkin... |
why does air conditioning in my car use up gasoline | The air conditioning in your car is powered by the main belt in the vehicle. That belt is driven by the engine, and it also powers other system functions. If the air conditioning is turned off, it will disconnect the system from the belt, effectively just leaving a pulley in that place, so it easily spins . When you tu... |
why doesn't car companies build new cars out of steel? , like old cars | Turns out the compressible material they make them out of now saves lives - way more than shooting around in a metal cage. > cars nowadays crumble out of the slightest impact. That's literally what they're designed for. |
The fad of vocaloid and Hatsune Miku. Why is it so popular? | Hatsune Miku and the various other vocaloids are actually voice synthesizers - i.e. they sing for you. Think microsoft sam, but for singing instead. Vocaloid videos took off all over niconico - many original songs were written using miku as vocals in particular. The key reason is that it allows artists to make music wi... |
How does mold grow on packaged foods? Is there just mold on everything everywhere all the time | Yes. There are mold spores in essentially every bit of air there i . When those mold spores land on an organic surface, and they have water, they will grow. |
How do they shoot reality shows? | I know some people who worked on Survivor. The show has a schedule for every day, including "meetings" between the contestants and the producers. If the producer wants to shoot a "what do you think?" scene, then that's when they do it. There are lots of crew, everywhere, and they shoot hundreds of hours of video per da... |
How did someone start naming years? | In the year 525, some guy decided to start numbering years from the year that Jesus was born. Everyone in Europe was starting to be very pro-Jesus at the time, so that year system spread. In other cultures, years have other numbers for other reasons, but the European calendar has become the world standard. |
What's so special about the 2018 Turkey elections? | Erdogan is trying to take a lot of power. Like the most power ever. He wants to eliminate the prime minister position and take control of all the government sectors. And he's been locking up a lot of his opposition. In fact, the guy running against him is campaigning from prison. So, lots of shit could go down. People ... |
Why does a conditioner bottle tell me to leave the conditioner in my hair for 2-3 minutes? | Honestly, many commercial conditioners contain silicone dimethicone, which instead of actually restoring moisture to your hair, coats the hair giving it the feeling of softness, but not actually helping your hair. You could "wash" this stuff off immediately and it will have the same effect as if you let it sit for a fe... |
Where did the "butt craze" come from and why is it so prevelant | > but there almost no scientific reasoning behind it that's where you're wrong, a nice butt tells you: 1) sexual maturity 2) overall fitness/wellbeing 3) whether or not they're sufficiently nourished to bear children evolution, not rap videos", 'As a Classicist/ancient historian I can tell you with absolute certainty t... |
Why is water so loud? | Mostly because water is very heavy. A single cubic meter weighs a ton. So when you drop a lot of it, it hits pretty hard. |
After transplant, do the ligaments and capsule that hold the liver in place grow back? | It will scar into place. Surgery is 'organized trauma' and will result in scarring. Cells called fibroblasts are activated and will lay down collagen in a process called fibrosis . As for the liver specifically the capsule is just the outermost layer of the liver so that comes on the transplant. I don't know the specif... |
Why do so many people that suffer from sleep paralysis have similar experiences such as a strange being in the room with them or static noises? | A theory I've been seeing a lot is that your brain doesn't understand what the hell is going on, why is your body unable to move, so it tries to make something up to answer this. So the hallucinations would make it look like you're paralized because of fear and your brain is happy because it has its answer.When your bo... |
Why is space debris so good at lingering in orbit when satellites have limited lifespans and we have to keep fuelling the ISS to keep it up there? | Satellites have limited lifespan mostly due to running out of fuel, after which they have difficulty with station keeping. Before they run out completely, they use what fuel they have left to either de-orbit or park themselves in a higher graveyard orbit, out of everybody's way. The ISS is kept at a deliberately low al... |
Why does my eye color change? | Once you're all grown up , it doesn't. It literally, factually, doesn't. It's just if you surround a color by other colors and light levels, the color appears different. _URL_0_ The middle bar is the same color throughout, but depending on the surroundings, it appears to be a different color.Because of amount of light,... |
How do millions of votes get manually counted in less than a day in the Australian election when every single vote needs to be shipped to the capital? | > The counting of votes is known as the scrutiny. The scrutiny commences on election night in each polling place after 6pm when the polling place has closed. Both ordinary ballot papers and pre-poll ballot papers completed by voters within their division are counted on election night. The scrutiny is usually observed b... |
Why do some Semi-trucks have dual rear tiers and others a single large one? | It's a recent fuel saving innovation. The idea is that in order to roll down the road with a heavy load, a lot of energy gets put into compressing sidewalls of the drive tires to overcome resistance, which is basically unrecoverable because it turns into heat. If you have two wide tires instead of four narrow tires, fu... |
How is china corrupt? | Naturally. To elaborate, corruption is a natural occurrence in any kind of an administrative system, that's why we have checks and balances so different branches of government keep an eye on each other in order to keep a lid on it. China, being a single-party state, does not have such checks and balances in place , so ... |
How do bounce sheets, or dryer sheets work? | They feel kinda chalky cause they have chemicals on them. When the sheets are tumblin' around with your clothes, those chemicals get stuck onto the fabric fibers. These chemicals can conduct electricity and/or neutralize any charge on your clothes, thus making sure static doesn't build up. [This] might help explain. |
Why is suicide illegal in some countries? | My guess: 1) Religion: suicide is a sin in some religions so therefore it's also a crime. Same reason homosexuality is a crime. 2) Another reason that also applies to homosexuality: "Ewwww, I wouldn't want to do that, that's disgusting! No one should be allowed to! Why would you want to protect someone's right to do th... |
How does it help to walk around when you really need to pee? | 2 main things help cause this. 1. Your brain is big on prioritizing signals and actions. So when you're actively moving it will prioritize that action as opposed to the signal of your bladder being full 2. Keeping your body moving means your full bladder can't settle and give your brain the constant signal of "hey I'm ... |
What do CEOs do to earn such a high salary? | Their decisions can have huge impact on the profitability of a company. Suppose the company does $500 million in business a year; a good CEO might grow the company by 10% while an OK one would grow it by 2%. What is that gap? $40 million. So you might pay him a salary with an opportunity for bonuses of up to, let's say... |
Why 2 decibels is 10 times as loud as 1 decibel. | One thing that everyone got wrong on this thread: the premise is close, but slightly wrong. A change in 10 decibels is an increase in power by a factor of 10. If you increase the power by a factor of 2, you go up by 3 decibels, or 10*logBecause decibels are apparently measured on a logarithmic scale, not a linear scale... |
Why can we not have infinite power if transformers can raise voltage? | Well, power is both volts and amps. And, as a transformer raises voltage, it lowers amperage. In fact, IIRC, power is voltage multiplied by currentPower = Voltage * Ampere You can raise the voltage all you want, but in the process you lower the amps. And vice versa. Also, you lose energy in the process due to generatio... |
Why does my severely blocked and streaming nose clear up on its own simply by standing up? | Most of the blocked up feeling isn't due to mucus, it's down to your sinuses being inflamed and swollen with blood. When sitting or lying down, the relative blood pressure in your face is higher and they swell more, making you feel more bunged up. When you stand up your heart has to pump blood higher so the blood press... |
When, where, and why did today's "gender roles" come into existence | Today's gender roles largely stem from the 1950s. Before WWII women were making huge strides toward equality and the war's end turned back the clock, so to speak. Women were put out of work and were expected to be housewives with men as the sole breadwinners. Before WWII women might not have been educated but they cert... |
Why don't exchange rates take into account cost of living? | The exchange rate between two currencies represents an *average* relative values of what can be purchased with each. It does not take into account differences in abundance and scarcity or supply and demand for various goods. When you stay in a hotel, most of what you pay for is labor, and China has an overabundance of ... |
If exercise is so good for us, why do we not feel motivated before we commit to doing it? | You ever wonder what Willy-Coyote would do the day after he catches Road Runner? He has spent decades, his whole existence, building elaborate traps and now the reason for doing it is gone. You think he might build traps for old times sake? That is you. We won the evolution game. For our whole existence food was scarce... |
Why does blood rush to my head when I am upside down, but not to my feet when I am right side up (standing up)? | It does rush to your feet when you're right side up! If you're fairly skinny, look at your feet when you're standing up, and you should be able to see the blood vessels bulging out of your skin. If you lie down and lift your foot up, you won't see that bulging any more. The reason you FEEL blood rushing to your head wh... |
If the Y Chromosome is smaller than the X one, then what DNA traits does the male not have that the female does? | Chromosomes don't really work like that. Think of them more like computer code or a blue print than building blocks. The blocks come from other areas. The Y chromosome has in short all the stuff needed to make a boy. Boys also have all the stuff needed to make a girl because they get both the X and the Y. Girls don't h... |
How are movies shot at 24 frames per second and have high visual quality? | Movies have motion blur because of the way the film was developed, even films shot digitally have motion blur because of how the camera sensors work. Video games are perfect renderings of an exact scene. If an object is moving at 24 feet per second, it will look blurred in a film, which is realistic because that's how ... |
How do short links not run out? | So this link is: _URL_0_ If we assume they're given out in order we can determine how many posts were given short links like this. From a quick sample it looks like the links use 0-9 and all the letters, in lower case. That means this is link #251,873,469 or so. That's a TON of posts. 6 digits means you can support 2,1... |
Why did democracy (the Weimar Republic) fail in Germany post-WW1? | In the the treaties that ended WW1, Germany was officially responsible for the war . It was decided that the newly formed Weimar Republic must pay off all the *massive* cost of the war. To pay for this, the Republic decided to just start printing money. [And print money they did]. The little remaining German economy ta... |
Why spaceplanes are not a thing? | By moving more or less horizontally like planes do, you have to go through a LOT more atmosphere in order to get to outer space, which means you need a lot more fuel. Like, an ABSURD amount more. You've seen pictures of the Saturn V or the space shuttle on the launchpad? 85% of all of the mass there is fuel to get it t... |
How do lottery quick picks work? | related fun fact: I work at a grocery store in Ontario where we sell lottery tickets. If we cancel a quick pick we actually have to hold onto the ticket+the cancellation slip for 30 days, because those numbers could *technically* still be drawn and win the jackpot.Lottery employee here. The random number generator that... |
Why does moving music cause goosebumps? There's no threat, and I'm not cold. What function does it serve? | It's actually a bit of a 'trick' from how people used to live and survive long ago. The goosebumps you feel when listening to sad music make people feel cold because the music imitates the sound of other people who are lost. The goosebumps are a sign to find the person who is lost and give them a hug; you feel cold and... |
How no two snowflakes are exactly alike. | It's not like someone goes out and measures these things, it's based on how the crystal forms. At the center of every snowflake , is a little speck of dust or dirt or something. This speck gives something for water to condense on. Same as when a cold glass gets sweaty or eyeglasses fog up near a shower. So when a snowf... |
How do emp devices work? | Effectively, they work the same way a radio works. Radio waves pass through a wire, which sets up a current in the wire. An EMP does that on steriods, and are usually strongest in the microwave range, which makes the little lengths of wire in circuit boards close to ideal antennas for them. And it does it very quickly,... |
Why do we have a Uvula, what is it for in a survival view? | Since I no longer have a uvula, I can tell you that it used to prevent liquids that I swallow from coming out of my nose. It also helps me to create a seal at the back of my mouth, enabling me to easily swallow. When I had my uvula removed, I had to re-learn how to eat and drink.First some background anatomy: The mouth... |
Why do the drawstrings on sweaters and hoodies always try to come out of the hoods when they are run through a washer and dryer? | My guess is that one of the drawstring ends can easily get snagged by other garments or other parts of the hoodie, then as the washer or dryer turns the clothes are tossled and the string is pulled. Imagine the drawstring end getting sandwiched in some jeans then as the washer spins the jeans move away from the hoodie ... |
If adults cannot make up for lost sleep, are we constantly in a sleep deficit? | For an out of cycle adult it can take up to 30 days to fall back into a regular sleep cycle and routine. It's why jobs that change shift times frequently are terrible for people . You don't "catch up" on sleep like people try to do by oversleeping. Instead it just takes time to fall back into a restive rhythm. |
How does a dog’s fur, or any “fur” for that matter, know when to start/stop growing? | Hair/fur on mammals never really stops growing *en bloc* except in cases of baldness. Instead, individual hair follicles occasionally take a rest, then shed the old hair and start over on a new one. How often they do this decides how long the hairs can get - some follicles do it every few weeks and make short hair, som... |
Why is helium an element? | No, it is fundamentally different from hydrogen. The simplest, and most common, form of hydrogen has a nucleus consisting of 1 proton. All forms of hydrogen have only 1 proton, with varying numbers of neutrons. Helium, on the other hand, always has 2 protons in the nucleus. It is an element because, except for splittin... |
What does "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" actually mean? | It depends exactly what you mean by "actually". Regardless, the Sermon on the Mount reaches a climax in the "Beatitudes", where Jesus takes several qualities traditionally construed as blessings, good fortune, signs of divine favor, or whatever else you want to call them, and *inverts them*. For example, he says that i... |
How did medieval blacksmiths create intricately designed pieces of armor? | Blacksmith here. Many of the extant pieces you see in museums are the equivalent of the Rolls Royces or space shuttles of their era, requiring huge amounts of resources and the most highly skilled craftsmen . The majority of the shaping is done cold , and the intricate ornamental work can be accomplished using several ... |
why do stickers curl up when they are first removed? | Probably because you are creasing the paper in a continuous fashion. Say you've got a paper sticker. Paper creases.So if you bend a piece of paper far enough, a crease is formed which means that the paper stops elastically returning to it's roughly flat shape, and instead keeps the bend you've put in it. It's not enoug... |
What is the geneva convernion? | It was an agreement among nations in an effort to minimize the impact of war on the noncombatant population, for the most part. It also includes specific language for unnecessary suffering of combatants. Originally it was just an agreement for everyone to be fair and civil to the wounded soldiers, offer treatment, etc,... |
why do we need Internet providers? | ISPs are the internet. The cables that go all around the world didn't appear out of nowhere. Someone dug them down, and takes payment to connect to their network. |
Why does food usually taste better when cooked in an oven as opposed to throwing it in the microwave? | The heating from a microwave will be much closer to "steaming" than roasting in an oven. The browning you get from roasting/searing in a hot oven will not take place in microwave, at least not in typical cooking. The chemical reactions that brown sugars and proteins create a mix of complex flavor molecules. Texture is ... |
How do pedometers know how far you've walked? | Your whole body shakes as you walk and step from one foot to another. They have a sensor which measures that shaking and counts steps. Then they just need to multiply the number of steps by the length of a stepIt is not exact, but good ones will have you program in your height and average stride and then it simply coun... |
The pronunciation of Gif. | I say it's with a G sound, because of the acronym that it represents. It stands for Graphic Interchange Format, and that's how the word Graphic starts. Outside of that it's totally arbitrary, I have yet to hear a good reason why to use the J sound. |
How do the courts force a jury to follow the letter of the law, and not common sense? | The jury is only responsible for making findings of fact. The judge provides all legal instruction; she tells the jury that if they find facts X, Y and Z are true beyond a reasonable doubt, they should return a guilty verdict. As demonstrated by this case, though, that guidance doesn't always work. There are no legal p... |
Why does marajuana have no effect if you eat the leaves, but when you cook marajuana in brownies or chocolate it has a strong long lasting effect? | First off, eating enough of the buds will get you high, but not anywhere near as much as if you smoked or cooked with them. A large portion of the THC in buds actually starts as THCA. Heating the buds will convert some if not all of that THCA into THC. If this was the only problem, you could bake and eat the buds and g... |
effects cannabis can have on developing(teenage) brain? | At the moment there isn't any concrete information. Being as marijuana is still a Schedule 1 drug the process for acquiring the correct permits to do studies on it is nearly impossible and will remain that way until the DEA decides to reschedule the drug. A side effect of it being so hard to actually study the effects ... |
the difference between road names: streets, highways, parkways, lanes, boulevard, road, etc | > As a type of road, a boulevard is usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the center, and "roads" along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery. > A street is a public ... |
Why is vomiting sometimes more "violent" than other times? | Sometimes your body knows what's in your stomach is bad and you throw it up and call it a day. Sometimes you body thinks what's in your stomach is bad and throws it up, but that's not the problem. The bad thing is already in your blood or intestines and throwing up doesn't help. Your body can't figure that out, so you ... |
Why do water glasses get a ring of water around their base? | 3 possible reasons. 1. Condensation. This applies only if it's cold water. 2. There was some water on the outer surface which eventually slid to the bottom. This is common if the glass is freshly washed or filled carelessly. 3. Glass is cracked. Water has leaked out", 'Well, it happens because for one reason or another... |
How is it that '.exe' files can have such a small file size, (MB/KB) and be used to install many gigabytes of data? | If it's a small file that installs lots and lots of data, then in all likelihood it's a downloader which downloads all this data from the internet and then installs it.A file with the `.exe` extension normally contains binary code which can perform arbitrary operations. For example, it could download data from the Inte... |
How does an A.C motor work? | Mehdi Saghadar - Electroboom channel does a few videos teaching about AC. Assuming you know how AC works, skip to the 8 minute 10 second mark and watch Mehdi do his thing. _URL_0_ Otherwise watch 'em all. He goes into shockingly funny detail about how things work.The electromagnets are on the outside of the AC motor wh... |
What are the benefits of protecting endangered species? | We feel better or there's a real environmental problem with the species dying out. That's it. If the problem is that Man is causing the extinction of a species, then we as a moral issue have a charge to ensure that species doesn't die out, because, we suck if we let them expire, and we can't let that happen, we can't s... |
Why can two colors (yellow and blue for example) form green, but no two colors can form blue (or red, or yellow)? | I'm not 100% sure, but primary colours cannot be mixed because humans are what we call trichromats--organisms that see in 3 colours. We have cones in our eyes that see red, green and blue. This is also why some people are colour blind, and can't see a certain colour, and why those are the colours that are usually hard ... |
If a body's cells constantly replace themselves, why do tattoos persist for a lifetime? | The ink doesn't sit inside the cells. It sits between them, and the particles of color are too big to be carried away by white blood cells.The human epidermis is comprised of multiple layers of cells in various stages of division. The uppermost layer is the dead, flat cells that tend to flake of when your skin is dry. ... |
how do snakes digest whole eggs? | ~~Snake-eating eggs~~ *Egg*-eating *snakes* will push the spines in their neck vertebrae into their esophagus and break the egg once it's been swallowed entirely. They then squeeze the shell and empty it. The goo is digested. The shell is then vomited. Other snakes will probably use similar techniques, though not speci... |
how directional speakers (and directional sound in general) work | Sound is the vibration of air particles. Taking to in a room is like standing in a swimming pool and splashing around, everybody gets wet. Directional speakers are more like you holding one end of a slinky, and your friend holding the other, you can shake the slinky forwards and backwards as much as you want, but your ... |
why do computers still have trouble connecting to printers? | printers are the children of lucifer, sent from the depths of hell really though printers rely on software written for your computer. this software has to be written by the printer company because it's written for their printers. they are actually in a legal position that prevents other people from writing that softwar... |
Over the years has the average car/truck/van become more reliable and cheaper to repair, less reliable and more expensive to replace, or a mixture of the two, and what are some examples? | More reliable and more expensive to repair. Back in the 50's and 60's you would be lucky if your car made it to 100000 miles because of poor build quality and technology compared to today Edit: Now most car with less than 100000 would be considered new or mostly new. |
What was the whole Tiananmen square protests about? | basically, at the time, China government was in a state of turmoil. The population was being exposed to Western values such as freedom, democracy, etc. But the gov had a tight lockdown on everything that was anti-government. the protests were nationwide but the Beijing protest was led by the students from the big unive... |
The Gotthard Tunnel Opening Ceremony | They hired some German theatre producer who did some significant stuff in Switzerland to design the ceremony. Theatre people are a bit weird; success appears to hinge upon being shocking and memorable rather than necessarily enjoyable and comprehensible. Likely they hired him for political reasons and then nobody wante... |
How is an operating system like Windows made? | Just like every other program, in a programming language. I am assuming your question is about what comes before an operating system because unless you are a huge dorklord like me it's basically a magic box that runs an operating system. There are multiple layers to a computer that you most likely never see. when it st... |
Why is it that when I'm healthy, if I sleep for 10 hours I'm tired, but when I'm sick, I can sleep for 10 hours and need a nap? | Because your immune system is burning through a lot of energy to fight the infection. You have to make a crap ton of new immune cells, antibodies, etc. You also might run a fever, which consumes a huge amount of energySo either way youre tired when you sleep 10 hours? I would try sleeping 8 hours and see if you still f... |
How can "he said she said" constite an arrest warrant | Cop here: An arrest warrant is issued if a judge determines there is probable cause to do so. Probable Cause isn't a checklist, it's more of a "it's either there or it's not". Generally it takes more than an accusation for a judge to sign one- *especially* for a pretty serious felony. From experience based on what happ... |
Why we can not move on the 4th dimension as freely as we move in the other 3 lower dimensions x,y,z. | Because the 4th dimensions is not spacial and nature and has its own set of rules, rules that make moving around in it very bizarreBecause time is a different kind of dimension than the other three. No matter how far you rotate away from "straight forwards" in the time dimension, you will *never* end up facing backward... |
Why/How is Tesla given such a high valuation, more so than Ford and GM recently, despite never turning a profit? | Valuation is largely dependent on your ability to make future money, as well as how much money you make now. While a dollar today is worth more than a dollar a year from now, its probably fair to say that someone who's going to make ten million dollars every year starting ten years from now has a higher "valuation" tha... |
Why does deleting web cookies sometimes make the website accessible again? | Because of bugs. Cookies are used by the site to identify users and sometimes store their preferences. For example, the first time you enter the site, the site will generate a "user id" - a random string of characters which the site assigns to you - and will send it to you as a cookie. Whenever you enter the site, the ... |
How come subway (underground) is not affected by flood above it? | Subways have drainage systems, otherwise they'd flood every time it rains. So the water just goes into the drains and into the sewer. In general that's where all this water goes - into the drainage systems around the area. The flood is only there because it temporarily overwhelms the drainage system - it'll all go away... |
How is it possible to get even more tired after studying/thinking very hard than after exercising? | The brain uses a lot of energy, it produces waste products and there’s a saturation point or limit of how much information you can hold in your short term memory. So absolutely, mental activity can be extremely tiring. |
How would a college with free tuition work? | A college with free tuition would work because they would get the money needed to pay the staff and such from an other source. Usually that source is taxes. So either, taxes will go up to provide free education, or taxes will stay the same, but the budget will get restructured. One thing that has been suggested, for ex... |
What tests are scientist's willing to invest in now that there's water on Mars, whereas before they wouldn't? | Well I imagine now they would be more interested in searching for signs of life, as they now know that is a distinct possibility with liquid water. |
How does the US health care system work when a life is in danger? Is it fair that the UN offer free medical services abroad? | By law if you come to an emergency room in the US with a life threatening injury or illness the hospital is required to stabilize you regardless of whether or not you have health insurance. That being said, they're only required to stabilize you and they'll still bill you for it. |
How can Ethernet cables handle increasing speeds when newer cables are frequently replaced with "newer technology"? | Long story short, they haven't - they evolved along the [CAT-standards] which support corresponding [ethernet] standards. |
what is the difference between justice and vengeance? | Justice is doing what is fair, right, or proper. Vengeance is harming someone in retaliation for them harming you, your property, or someone close to you. Sometimes vengeance can be just, but not always. For example, say your brother is a gang member. He's not an upstanding citizen and one day he shoots someone in a ri... |
Why/how does white noise help people focus or sleep? | I'm no scientist, but this is a broad question in my opinion. I'd say it's different for everyone, but for me, the sound is calming. It's kind of how the ocean is calming to some, so they listen to the sounds of waves. It also might be something someone has connected to something calm like sleeping, so everytime they h... |
If I delete some files on flash storage (e.g a pen drive), how is the data still (partly) recoverable? | Most OS's don't really delete files when you "delete" them. They merely mark the space as usable again if some other data needs to get written. Until the data is overwritten, there may be enough of it around to figure out what was deleted if someone can get a low enough level look at itThe actual file isn't deleted, th... |
Why does it cost SO much for simple medical procedures? (United States) | In the U.S., health insurance companies only pay a certain percentage for procedures, equipment used, etc. Therefore, hospitals must hike the prices up to compensate. The downside of this, however, is oftentimes hospitals won't lower the cost if a patient is paying out of pocket. This is bullshit. In addition, there ar... |
Why do radio stations announce their radio station name and frequency after seemingly every song? | FCC rules require them to announce their frequency and call sign periodically. Beyond that, it's also a matter of marketing. To remind you what station you're listening to. |
Where will the Islamic State be in 5 years, if the current direction is maintained? | Short answer: Fucked. Long Answer: Thoroughly fucked, since right now, though for the past few months the IS has been doing rather well, its currently under some trying circumstances. IS no longer has the manpower to hold the huge area they now control. Remember that, though it may sound like a lot, the 31,000 *maximum... |
Why are bonsai trees so small, expensive, and prized? | They are normal everyday full sized trees that are kept in nutrient deprived soil, shaped to grow forcefully by metal wires into the desired shape, and pruned to look like an itty bitty baby tree. It is basically starving and mutilating an otherwise healthy tree to aesthetically look the same but tiny :)It takes some a... |
Can you predict when will a person get a disease by looking at their genes when they are born ? | For things like the common cold or other communicable diseases, no. For genetic diseases, we already do this. We could maybe predict immune response based on extrapolated gene expressions, but that would be in the broadest of terms, as the immune system changes over a persons life time. |
For numbered limited items, such as paintings, why are lower numbered prints more valuable than higher numbered ones? | Back when prints had to be handmade, such as using screen printing, the tools used would only be made once. They can wear or have dried ink in spots or otherwise show signs of use. So the early in the run, the better the quality of the print. Now with modern printers, that's not necessarily a concern anymore. Unless th... |
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