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what makes us grow taller and why can't we medically induce it for adults? | Mostly genetics, some diet. We don't have the ability to modify genetics in adults. Even if we could, it's not worth it. There's no medical reason to induce height in adults, and it'd have more risk than any benefits. |
why do s's look like f's in older written texts? | It's called long s. The shape of our letters evolved a lot over the years, starting with ancient Roman cursive. The long s is a little closer to the ancient cursive, and coexisted with the short s . Early printers used both versions, but when you're making each letter out of metal, there's an incentive to simplify and ... |
How does Gas-X work? | Gas and bloating is caused by large air bubbles inside your gut. The chemical in Gas-X prevents large bubbles from forming, which prevents that bloating feeling. You still get rid of the same amount of gas, just a little bit at a time instead of all at onceThe active ingredient in Gas -X is Simethicone. This compound a... |
How, exactly, does China manipulate its currency? | on the second part. It pegs it's currency to a controlled ratio rather than a "floating currency" - I believe its like $1-USD:26-Yuan or something like that. And IIRC monetary exchange rates are determined by the amount of money needed in transactions. [Exchange Rate Introduction] |
my daughter has a book that colors in when wet and returns to normal when dry, how? | Well the obvious answer is that someone probably bought it for her. Maybe your wife?Can you give a more detailed explanation? Does she have a pen that is damp and has no ink that "magically" colors the paper or does the paper have to be wet for her to draw on it? Either way, sounds like an acid-base reaction to me. Wil... |
The difference between PPOs EPOs, and HMOs | PPO - Preferred Provider Organization. You have a network of doctors, you can go to anyone in your network without getting a referral. You can go outside of your network . Gives you the most flexibility, and is generally the most expensive. HMO - Health Maintenance Organization - You have a specific doctor that's in ch... |
Why resource-intensive programs recommend at least 15% of your hard drive is free. | Unless you've modified your settings, normally computers will have a virtual memory setting that will use part of your HD space as RAM, in case you don't have enough RAM for those resource intensive programs. |
If something is airtight doesn't it also have to be waterproof? | Airtight only requires the seal to hold at 1 atmosphere. Waterproofing require that the seal hold under pressure . |
Is there an easy explanation or visual for the organization of the US Army? | Organisation of ranks? Organisations of armies, corps, divisions, battalions, etc? There's lots of things that fall under this question. |
The first amendment reads "Congress shall make no law respecting [religion, free speech, etc.]" Does this mean an executive order can limit speech and religion? | In theory, Congress is suppose to be the branch of government that passes laws. Over the years though, the executive branch has used its own powers to override Congress' powers. One example is Lincoln suspending habeous corpus and regulating the press during the civil war. |
Why can you sometimes see the Moon in the middle of the day? | The moon goes around the Earth at a steady rate but *not* once per day, it takes about 28 days for the moon to go around the Earth. This causes the phases of the moon. The moon is visible for about 12 hours every day and has nothing to do with whether it's currently night or not . You can see the moon during the day al... |
Why is Monsanto evil? | They have a history of forcing farmers to buy their product as there are few alternative, they charge what they want. They modify the genes of each year's seeds to make them resistant/non-resistant to pesticides and herbicides . Now, farmers have to buy the new "model" seed each season and cannot save last year's seeds... |
why some people can love a certain type of music, but other people can despise it | You're used to it. Western music all uses the same scale of the A note starting around 440Hz with other notes at standard intervals that jump around for insufficiently good reasons. [Other musical scales] don't follow that pattern, and sound REALLY weird. Because we're not used to it. There's a good question about how ... |
Why is tomato juice so popular on planes? | They theorize it may be because when you're on a plane your tastes shift slightly. This may make for tomato juice being more popular on flights. More details in this short newsweek article:_URL_0_ |
How exactly does Tilt-Shift photography work? | Tilt-shift photography uses a special lens that changes the focal plane. Normally, a lens' focal plane is parallel with the image sensor, but a tilt-shift lens skews it. This gives an effect that the top and bottom of the frame will be out of focus, rather than the foreground and background like normal. It also makes s... |
There are incurable hearing conditions described as unbearably bad, but surgery which deals with it by completely removing the sense of hearing is unheard of. Why is that? | I have a hearing condition which is actually caused by my brain. This is similar to a lot of cases of tinnitus. My doctor literally said this to me last week "I could chop your ears off and you 'd still hear it"', "There are a lot of things involved in hearing, from the [pinna] to the bones in your ear, you cochlea, yo... |
Why isn't football played in the summer instead of winter? | American football? It started as a University sport, and conformed to their class schedule. Also baseball was massively more popular at that time, so spending the maximum amount of time away from being in direct competition would be ideal. Rest of world football? I have no ideaThe pads players wear very much prevent th... |
Why is the California High-Speed Rail taking longer than the Transcontinental Railroad, to be built? | The Eastern part of the transcontinental railroad, the Union Pacific, was over flat, dry, unforested, undeveloped land, so encountered few challenges and was much longer than the other part. The Western leg, the Central Pacific, though it went through rugged mountains, was much shorter and still didn't have to deal wit... |
Touchscreens, how does this witchcraft work? | Each iPad2 is powered by the soul of an orphan childThere are basically 2 kinds of touch screens: Resistive and Capacitive. A resistive touch screen basically "feels" the physical pressure of being pressed. A resistive screen is generally less responsive and often requires a very small point of contact. Most older touc... |
If you pay taxes on stocks, then use that money to buy a car, do you have to pay taxes again? | Sales tax is completely separate from other forms of taxation such as income tax or in the case of stocks, capital gains tax. So yes you need to pay taxes again. |
How can cats fit into tiny spaces/thing so comfortably, and why is this advantageous? | Cats lack a collarbone like we humans do, meaning that if the opening is, usually, at least as wide as their head, they can squeeze into it, since their shoulder joints can move in a way to allow passage. Pretty much a cat's whiskers help them gauge if they can fit or not.Most likely, the evolutionary reasoning to why ... |
Why were land animals significantly larger in the times of the dinosaurs compared to today? | There was more oxygen in the environment so their bodies took in more of it while expending less energy. An animal that size in a 21% oxygen environment would pass out. Their organ systems would fail. With all the plant mass back then the atmosphere was 25-30% oxygen, I believe. |
Why do pre-packaged cookie instructions say to heat the oven to 350 degrees for nonstick but 375 degrees for regular pans? | Non-Stick pans are generally dark in color so retain more heat. The coating makes the metal retain more heat. And the coating can become toxic if heated too muchBut why do always stick, regardless of the pan? |
Why do so many foods contain carcinogens? | Here's the thing - there are a lot of things that could be considered carcinogens. And while there are some that would be considered "Yeah, if you eat this pretty much at all, it's gonna likely give you cancer.", there are just as many that have a small, small, *small* chance, *if* you eat them often and in high quanti... |
What exactly is a cat's purr and why do they do it? | Various theories suggest cats purr to express emotion. Thus it's a method to socially interact. Cats purr when they're content, unhappy, in pain and often times when they want something, food for example. When you're serving food for your cat it might start walking around your legs and purr. This can be a method of say... |
What exactly is the Dream Act? | A lot of kids were brought here when they were very young. Some have spent all but a 1-2 months of their 18 year existence in the United States. The US is the only country they've ever known. So the idea is, that if they are willing to join the US Military or go to college and get an education, the government will give... |
Why is a black background and white text still not a norm in websites, apps?! | Because you have to be concerned about accessibility. Not everyone can read dark mode well, that is why its an option. black background with white text is one step away from black background with matrix green text. It hurts the eyes of those with contacts/elderly and people with contrast issues. Look up WAVE.It's becau... |
what force stops things going faster than light? | Nothing. Calling this speed 'the speed of light' is not helpful. It is the maximum speed, the speed that defines 'time', the maximum speed of the universe. It so happens that one of the things that travels at that speed is light. As an object nears the speed of light, its mass will increase. The energy you put in tryin... |
Why do we call them drones and not "fancy RC helicoptors"? | Some drones today have semiautonomous features that can help them fly back to the point of departure in the event of signal loss or a low battery state. RC copters have a tail rotor, and no autonomous features, and are generally piloted by people that know what they're doing, not just some asshole with money to burn. |
Differences between IMAX format, 70mm, 65mm? | Old movies were filmed on 4-perf 35mm, this is around 4K equivalent. The Hateful Eight is 5-perf 70mm , so ~1.85x as wide and 1.25x as tall . 70mm IMAX is 15-perf 70mm , so 3x more area than 5-perf 70mm . > Can you explain what anamorphic really means? In order to utilize more of the film, they use special camera lense... |
What is it about water that is so good at putting fires out? | Fire requires heat, fuel, and oxygen to burn . Water works by removing the heat element. It's also pretty cheap and readily available in most places, which is why it's used. However, you should definitely *not* use water to put out all fires. There are four classes of fire, and using water on three of them makes shit w... |
How do babies breathe while in the womb? | Avast, 'twas oft asked here. Ye may enjoy these: 1. [ELI5: why Dont Babies Drownsuffocate in the Womb ?]1. [ELI5: How Babies Breathe in the Womb and How They ?]1. [ELI5: How do Babies Breathelive During The ?]1. [ELI5: If You Can Survive Without Breathing While ?]1. [ELI5: How Are We Able to Breath in the Womb While ?]... |
Why do babies throw everything? | you ever get a new tool and wanna use it on everything? well this baby just learned how to throw and now wants to throw everything. "what can i throw? how far can i throw it? will mommy/daddy bring it back every time i throw it? woah food spreads out when i throw it look it went everywhere isn't that cool? does this fo... |
What exactly happens when you are "put to sleep" during surgery? | I don't know the actual mechanisms, but the drugs effectively shut off signalling to and in the brain. So, no pain. It doesn't even get all the way to your brain if the right drug is used. A lot of systems related to being awake and conscious and thinking are shut off too. It's not the same as sleeping as some systems ... |
The Yugoslavian genocide, how and why did it happen, how was it different from the rwandan genocide | First of all the sidebar says > Be specific! Don't ask about a general topic if you can help it. The more detailed the better. Secondly, please use the search bar. [This is a very good explanation from a year ago] that should answer a large part of your question. |
How do ramp metering lights reduce traffic congestion? | As someone who has lived in cities that used metering and cities that don't I'm more inclined to find alternate routes if I know I'm going to have to wait at the ramp for a long time. Also, anecdotally I have found that cities that use it do seem to have a more pleasant freeway experience.The lights all work together t... |
Political USA's obsession with Israel and why it's so controversial | This topic is very subjective - it greatly depends on who answers it This is the most honest viewpoint I've read == > [How the Arabs see the Jews, King Abdullah's letter to the US]. He ends it via empathy: *'I have the most complete confidence in the fair-mindedness and generosity of the American public. We Arabs ask n... |
Why Austrialia bans and causes censorship of video games based on its content. | The logic goes like this Video games are for children Children shouldn't play games with horrible murder and sex in them, so we need to protect them from being able to play them. Since video games are for children **and no one else**, there's no problem at all with just banning that horrible filth. There. That's Austra... |
How is Social Security not a Ponzi Scheme? | In order to be a ponzi scheme,you recruit new people to hide the fact that you're losing money . SS is different because it's more or less fully funded,and it can go on _URL_1_ also doesn't promise fraudulent returns. Edit: I found this link when responding to another comment. I have to catch a flight so I'm adding it ... |
why is directly looking at a solar eclipse bad for your eyes? | Your eyes adjust to the total light in your field of view, not the brightness of any particular object in your field of view. So during an eclipse, there's less total light, however any visible portion of the sun is just as bright as it is usually, which is bright enough to physically damage your eyes. Thus, your iris ... |
What was Bernie Madoff's escape plan? | His escape plan was to keep it going; used everything he could and made people around him involved as much as possible, just to make sure he himself could survive a little bit longer. He was 70 when they finally arrested him |
Why I can run my hand through a yellow flame and not burn myself | Because the flame is not hot enough and transfer of heat does not happen immediately. Blue flames are generally much hotter. It's as if you were trying to get someone wet with super soaker versus using a fire hose. You'll need a couple minutes for soaker and a second for fire hose. |
Why are humans so afraid of insects? | Building off of the "indoctrination", which is "we are taught to be afraid of them", another theory is that many spiders are poisonous and deadly to us, but they are also hard for us to see because they are small. That led the people who started teaching to be afraid of spiders to try to avoid all spiders because you d... |
How is it proven that the universe is constantly expanding? | Pick a galaxy, any galaxy . You can measure an object's speed relative to you with [doppler shift.] You can measure the distance from a galaxy with standard candles, supernovae, apparent size, and some other tricks. No matter what galaxy you look at, all of them are moving away from us, and the speed that they are movi... |
Why is the penis not proportional to one's body size unlike our other body parts. | It is, within broad ranges. Hands, noses, limbs, heads they are all generally larger on larger people, but are not universally so. You're looking a bit more closely at the penis because penis.Most body parts have to be proportional so they can work together . But the penis is pretty much just a tube of meat, it works j... |
Why must a blood transfusion, or any kind of I/V, go one drop at a time? | They don't. What you are describing is a gravity drip, but IV just means that the fluid is delivered intravenously. This is typically done through peripheral or central lines. Once you have an in, you can use a pump, a drip, push an injection, etc. The drip is just one example. It is used often when you have to deliver... |
Why does it smell different outside when it's about to snow? | Not that I am educated about this at all, but my guess would be that the pressure from the dampness doesn't allow the smells to travel as much. Just a guess though. |
The new bill allowing Japanese troops to fight abroad? | After Japan's aggressive war regime finally surrendered in 1945, the U.S. force them to agree to a constitution that prohibited them from ever becoming involved in foreign military issues no matter the cause. This was seen as a safeguard against anyone ever again having to endure Japanese atrocities under the pretext o... |
Why is slouching bad for our backs even though our evolutionary ancestors slouched all the time? | Our evolutionary ancestors developed a different posture and it is part of some of the most pivotal aspects of our evolutionary development. We have an upright and efficient stance that allows us to excel at distance travel. Gorillas aren't our ancestors, and their posture shouldn't be seen as a throw back to a 'more n... |
why do banks lend governments money when they take so long to repay them? | > It seems like governments around the world are never even close to repaying their debts. The US government has paid their debt back on time every single time. > Why would a bank choose to lend them money? Because with the US at least its just about the safest investment you can make. Guaranteed interest over X years.... |
What is the relationship the National Guard and the federal military, especially regarding the command structures? | The National Guard works for the state government in which it is located. The federal military works for the feds. However, the National Guard can be "activated" by the federal government in time of need. This puts the individual National Guard members on federal active duty orders. When a National Guard member deploys... |
Mercenary groups such as Blackwater | for the first question. They are a private business, think private investigators or rental cops on an international, better trained, scale. Two sort of. They are included in the budget which is approved by congress. They are a separate entity so they are usually just used for security of certain "interests". |
Why did I get four different bills for the same medical procedure? | > Why did I get four different bills for the same medical procedure? Umm > I got a bill from the hospital, the doctor, the anesthesiologist and the anesthesiology group. The hospital because you're in their building, the doctor because you're taking his time, the anesthesiologist because they gave you some drugs? and t... |
Why are disorders renamed between DSM versions? (Munchausen's has become Factitious Disorder, for example) | It's done by committee, and when people are given petty power and authority, they usually exercise it. The rationale for any given change is going to be a function of the groups which change it, and whatever it is that they're thinking. It may be that they feel a different name is less pejorative , or it might be that ... |
Why does the price of gas fluctuate daily and the price of a quart of oil remain relatively the same? Or even millions of other products made from plastic? | The price of petroleum is based on the cost of extraction and distribution. The consumer price of motor oil is based on what customers will pay. These two prices are independent of one another. Also, petroleum isn't the same as 'gas'. You use different 'fractions' of crude oil to produce different types of products. Wh... |
Why can't I sleep at night when I'm nervous for something happening the next day? | The fight or flight response your body has to stress is ill adapted to our current way of life. This is a well-known phenomenonStress makes it hard for your body to relax. I think your problem is more mental than physical. I have found meditation to be very useful for getting to sleep and, upon waking, falling back to ... |
If net neutrality is dead and my ISP blocks off half of the internet, can I still get there using a proxy server? | Possibly. Assuming your ISP allows you to access the proxy server, you might just be trading one overlord over another. The core fear is that ISPs will start blocking high-bandwidth content like video-streaming sites this is stuff that proxy ISPs are probably sure to block, as they already have enough bandwidth issues ... |
Why a lot of men bald with age but women don't | For some reason, unknown to us - most men's hair follicles on the top of the head are sensitive to DHT, a by-product of testosterone, which causes the follicles to shrink and die. For some reason this only really happens on the top of the head, which is why you never see old balding men who are balding on the sides/bac... |
Why is the job market so bad for some professions like Law and Architecture? | Because there are way more lawyers and architects then are needed. The housing bubble in 2008 drove down demand for architects. The law bubble hasnt quite burst but people with law degrees have a hard time getting employment unless they went to a reputable school. Law and architecture was seen as an attractive career b... |
What does the "e-i-e-i-o"stand for in the old MacDonald song? | It doesn't mean anything. It's like "Rama Lama Ding-Dong" or "Give Peace a Chance." --Homer Simpson', "It doesn't mean anything lyrically. My best guess is that it's an easy way to appreciate the relationship between the notes in that musical motif, one-two-one-two-three. |
How do some sites redirect Google Images' "View Image" link to a page that isn't just the image? | There are two possible ways for websites to restrict you from viewing the full image through Google images, but still allow Google to capture the image for a thumbnail: 1) Whenever you click on a link that takes you to another website, by default there is a 'referrer\' tag sent along with the request that essentially i... |
Why doesn't Tinder just ban the bots / spam? | Because there's no good way to do that. Should each new user be required to have a conversation with a Tinder employee to prove they aren't a bot? Should you need to send a copy of a government-issued ID to Tinder to use the app? Bots don't tell Tinder when they sign up that they are bots. And bot writers are very good... |
Why does zeta(0) = 1/2? | This is more ELIKnowCalculus, but takes away all the overly technical parts to show a little more clearly what's going on. To figure out what many nonstandard values of the Riemann Zeta Function are, you need to use the [Functional Equation]. This relates the analytically continued values of Zeta for s < 0 to the value... |
Why do Blue Laws still exist? | Because people are used to them and no one is chomping at the bit to get them repealed. They are a minor inconvenience that a small minority supports strongly, and everyone else opposes weakly. Politicians who want to repeal blue laws will only lose votes by doing so. On top of that, the businesses affected by blue law... |
How do we coordinate in space? | Often, we use spherical coordinates, with Earth as the center. That is, we describe where in the sky it is and how far away it is . There are a lot of other systems in use, though, depending on the application. |
How is it legal for gossip magazines to blatantly lie about celebrities on a weekly basis? | The US has weird libel laws when it comes to "public figures" such as celebrities. The theory is that if you write a news story about a normal non-public figure, they don't have equal footing to retort, but a public figure can counter that information by releasing information to the press themselves. Because of there i... |
Why do third-party, pirated streams of, say, sporting events often run better than the official online streaming services offered by the actual networks (WatchESPN, Fox Sports Go, etc.)? | it does not have as much traffic , if youre watching through a paid service chances are hundred of thousends are with you , but if you watch it on a stream its only a few thousends , because if u go to a stream and its laggy , u go to the next one , so the traffic on the website is a lot less |
Merchant navy ships and their measurements | GT is "Gross Tonnage" - Roughly it's a measure of how big the ship is . NT is "Net Tonnage" - Again roughly, is what you get if you were to take gross tonnage and remove all the parts of the ship that make it work . This is supposed to indicate how big the cargo parts of the ship are. Both of these are measures of VOLU... |
What does it mean to have a healthy back? | [Here] is a drawing of a spine in a good posture. You will notice it is divided into four regions. Seen from the side it is curvy: The uppermost region is your neck and curves inwards. Next is the thorax and curves outwards. Then here is the gut/stomach where the spine curves inwards again. At last is the butt/tailbone... |
If someone was born away from any human contact, how would they think being that they never learned a language? | This isn't unheard of. They're called Feral Children. They're as intelegent as they would have been had they been raised in society but generally communicate with very basic gestures and sounds because they never needed to learn a more complex form. They're completely capable of learning, however humans learn language ... |
How does spicy food, specifically high in capsaicin, boost our immune system? | Spicy food doesn't boost our immune systems. There is some small correlation with spicy food intake and longevity, but the reasons are a mystery. |
How come animals are much smaller than millions of years ago? | Why would it be? The larger you are the more resources you need to find to stay alive. You may have to compete with a smaller creature that can get to your foodsource, make use of it and leave faster than you can kill them. Bigger =/= better. Survival of the fittest is a crap phrase because it leads to so many misconce... |
How diesel engines work? | Diesels create more torque than gas engines. They work on the principle that the more air and fuel that you can get in to a cylinder the bigger the bang and more power. Back in the day diesel engines were very simple. There were high pressure fuel injectors working on a mechanical fuel pump driven off the engine. When ... |
If Jason Collins is gay, and homosexuality is genetic, than why isn't his identical twin brother Jarron gay too? | Because anyone who claims to have a complete understanding of the root cause of sexual preference is wrong. What we do know is that people don't "choose to be gay." But that does not mean there is a gay gene. It only means sexual preference isn't something someone chooses at some point in life, and it isn't something t... |
Why do many basements use ceiling tiles? Why not drywall? | Two main reasons: 1. Because there is usually a whole bunch of plumbing and wiring on the ceiling in the basement. A drop ceiling makes access to plumbing, ventilation, and electrical much easier and cheaper. 2. Drop ceilings are generally much less expensive to install, especially in an already built house. Most peopl... |
Why cant regular ballpoint pens write on metal? | The surface you are writing on needs to be porous to absorb the ink, which is why it works on paper, card, clothing, skin etc. But not on surfaces such as metal and glass. It's also the reason the ball and internals of the pen are non-porous. |
How does evolution work in regards to things we learn? | Evolution does not mean it will be good for the specie or the specific gene. All it means is, if it gives an advantage to passing on the gene, it is likely to prevail in subsequent generations. If a mutation showed up that gave males really super good hand eye coordination, and for some reason females found it attracti... |
why it feels so ridiculously amazing to press on the inner corners of my eyes when my allergies are acting up | There is a small sinus that sits on either side of your nose. This drains fluid from the eye into the nose. That's why your nose gets runny when you cry or when you get allergies. Seasonal rhinitis or other allergic reactions can cause these ducts to become clogged up. Pressing on them can cause them to become unblocke... |
How to browse the deepweb without going to jail. | For starters "deep web" isn't just underground, illegal stuff. It's just shit that's not easily found by search engines. If your company has an internal website, that's "deep web". If a page requires you to log in, that's "deep web". Secondly, the odds of a site that allows you to hire a hit man being real are phenomen... |
How lawyers can defend someone when they have already admitted their crime. | Say you're accused of first-degree murder. You've confessed to killing the guy, but you said he was angry and you felt scared. Your lawyer may be able to show that you were afraid for your life, and make a case for self-defense. Or she could prove that you hadn't planned the killing in advance, and that you were caught... |
Why did Sadam refuse UN weapons inspectors if he didn't have WMD's anyway? | 1. France and Russia were whispering into Saddam's ear that the US wouldn't take any meaningful military action, despite the threats, and that France and Russia would each veto any UN Security Council resolutions that authorized military force against Iraq. 2. He wanted Iran -- his and Iraq's mortal enemy and against w... |
How do missiles "lock-on" to aircraft? | Most tracking missiles lock onto aircraft using thermal imaging . This is why many military aircraft carry flares . Some specialty missiles use EMF or electronic tracking, where they target an aircraft's transponder or other electrical systems. The "lock on" showed on TV and in movies is when the missile is directed at... |
why aren't nightclubs / bars held responsible for the mess their patrons leave on the streets in front of the establishment. | For the same reason that you aren't held responsible if a guest leaves your house and makes a mess on the street outside. Nightclubs don't own the street and so aren't responsible for it - it belongs to the local government, and that's paid for out of your taxes. |
Why do words seem so weird after writing or saying them very often in a brief time window? | It's called semantic satiation. Essentially you make the same sounds enough they become meaningless. From what little I have read, what is happening is that you essentially temporarily over fire the neurons in your brain which are associated with the meaning of those sounds, which make the connection between those spec... |
Why is black and white printer ink used when printing mass amount of documents? | Generally ball ink is cheaper, plus it lasts a lot longer because instead of the cartridge needing to hold three different coloured inks, it holds just black, meaning it has 3x as much black as any single colour in the other cartridgeYes, blank and white printers are much cheaper to own and operate compared to color pr... |
If the lenses of my glasses are see-through, why do they still cast a shadow? | Because they refract the light passing through them, so that it is spread over a wider area. It's sort of the inverse of the super-intense dot of light you'd see if you focused a magnifying glass on the ground; rather than bringing all the light to a dot, the light gets spread around. And, of course, making the light l... |
The differences in types of radiation; Cherenkov, Hawking, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Ionizing, Non-Ionizing, etc | * Cherenkov radiation - energy given off when a particle is going faster than the speed of light in a given medium. Nothing can go faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, but there's no reason something in water can't go faster than the speed of light in water . If that electron was going 80% of the speed of light,... |
What would happen if the world stock market crashed? | The two-word answer is: Recession, probably. Depends on what caused the crash, and how the world's central banks react. Three examples: * World stock markets collapsed in 1929, and the world plunged into the Great Depression. * The US stock market collapsed in 1987, to the same magnitude as in 1929, but there wasn't ev... |
Why is Activision acquiring King for ~6 billion dollars? What is the benefit for the company? | King is a foreign firm so Activision can use money that was mostly sitting in low return bonds . King makes money, so Activision will gain King's earnings . Activision gets experienced mobile developers and marketers which they can combine with their own very well known gaming assets to hopefully create the next big th... |
How do sports arenas prepare for uncertain game dates for playoffs and such? | Playoff dates are already scheduled with the season dates. Of course, some GMs already know their team should make it in while others know they wont so they will double schedule. A few years ago the Denver Nuggets\' owner got caught red handed for booking a WWE televised event the same day as an NBA playoff game. After... |
Why a being a convicted felon takes away a person's right to vote in the US | To quote from [The Straight Dope:] "The simple answer to your question is that felons can't vote is because voting is a civil right and you forfeit certain rights, temporarily anyway, when convicted of a serious crime." Furthermore, "convicted felons have been denied various privileges granted to other citizens going a... |
Why are programs like Photoshop and Sony Vegas so expensive? | They are primarily meant for professionals who make thousands off their projects and would not think twice about purchasing the software they need to do their job, even if it costs hundreds of dollars or more. Both of them have "learner" or "student" versions that are much less expensive. They also have discounts for s... |
What is a single-payer health care system, and how is it different from public option health care? | **single-payer**: The government settles all medical bills with doctors and pays for the medicines and procedures out of money raised in taxes. There might be some ability to get private insurance, but it's limited and still requires working through the government in most cases. **Public option**: government offers it'... |
Why can't Windmills based out at sea have a Tidal Power element at there base to allow for tidal-energy too ? | Because that would merely cost, while only increasing energy production by a very small margin. Wind turbines are placed in areas with high wind, and ideally on sandbanks to reduce installation costs. The chance that this matches with a place where tidal forces can be gathered cost effectively, is unlikely. |
why do we get the chills when we touch chalky things? | I am not sure the precise texture you're talking about, but my guess is you picked up this avoidance mechanism somewhere earlier in your life. A very very broad answer would be, we are heuristic living machines. We evolved to instantly and lastingly create strong positive and negative biases. If I hear a noise and get ... |
What is Virtue Signaling? | It's loudly performing the outward signs of your group's ideology, beyond your actual feelings on the matter, as a means of gaining status within the group. It can be name-dropping Jesus all over the place for religious people, getting snotty over a popular social issue on the internet, making a performance out of repe... |
Madea. How can they keep making these movies?? | I'm Black, and I despise Tyler Perry movies. Too much of a Christian theme to them. If you don't act Christ like, then the worst will happen to you. One movie I watched that completely turned me off to Tyler Perry movies was Temptation. Married woman falls for a seductive man, and she has an affair. According to the mo... |
If space is vacuum, how are rockets, ISS, satellites is moving? | Rockets move because for every action there is a positive or negative reaction. Satellites and the ISS move because being in "orbit" actually just means they're basically constantly falling to Earth by Earths gravity, but their horizontal velocity is so great that it keeps them from getting too close to Earths atmosphe... |
Why isnt the 'Find My IPhone' app default in an IPhone? | It is default and installed on your phone, regardless of whether or not there's an icon on your home screen. Turn on your iPhone. Settings - > iCloud - > Find My iPhone. It's there. |
Why cant the 200+ corpses on Everest be picked up with a helicopter or something? | They can't even fly that high, never mind hover long enough to pick up a body. The maximum height that a helicopter can hover is about 13,000 feet. The 'Death zone' of a mountain is the most dangerous part, where the majority of bodies lie. The death zone starts at about 26,000 feet!", 'Helicopters cannot fly at that a... |
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