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What volume of water is required to drown a human? | I've heard 6 inches of water is enough for a person to drown in. Imagine someone walking, tripping on something, and knocking themselves out upon impact. Their face is perfectly positioned in a puddle of water, but their unconscious body cannot do anything to create a flight response to it, so they lay there, therefore drowning in 6 inches of water. |
Why it's easier to burn paper starting at the edges vs. trying to burn the center of the paper | Fire needs three things: Heat, oxygen and fuel. In the case of paper, that's the fuel. The edges of a sheet of paper are exposed to more oxygen and when you place the heat there it will catch much more easily than in the center. |
How did Japan make such a quick and powerful cultural and economic comeback following the dismantlement of the imperial government and culture? | Don't forget that Japan did *not* surrender unconditionally; they surrendered on condition that they could retain their emperor. So there was some continuity of government.Because Japan was already one of the most advanced industrial countries in the world before they were defeated. |
How do ants survive enormous falls that would kill us? | It's because the height doesn't scale. A 1m drop for you and an ant are the same, even though the distance is larger compared to the ant than it is compared to you. The fucked up thing is if you were 100 stories tall, and you hopped a bit, say, 10 stories, the impact would probably make a splashing sound.I think it has to do with how massive an ant is; F= MA. An ant has a very small mass and so it hits with very little force. Versus a man who is millions of times more massive than the ant and so it hits with a ton of force,', "So I'm reading a lot of good answers here, but it also brings up this question: How high would an ant have to fall to die when it meets the pavement? |
If you can build up a tolerance to poisons by taking small amounts of them, why can't you do the same with cigarettes? | While there's definitely harmful chemicals in cigarettes, the main issue with cigarettes is that you are inhaling smoke in your lungs regularly with both damages your lungs and leaves physical deposits in your lungs. |
Why are Hispanics included as Whites in statistical polls instead of being considered their own independent demographic like Blacks or Native Americans? | Nothing about racial categories makes sense, and that's because race is a social, not biological construct. |
How do we figure out exchange rates for currency? | There are trading exhanges that work similar to a stock market, with people constantly buying/selling currencies for other currencies. Basic changes supply and demand causes the fluctuation in prices relative to each other. So if there's suddenly way more demand for Yen because everybody just has to have the newest Pokemon, and retailers in Europe and the U.S. need Yen with which to buy their supply then it'll cost more dollars or Euros to buy each Yen than the day before. |
How has Banksy managed to remain so anonymous? | As an expert on this matter, by having 15 years of online anonymity and having created several compelling works of art using sidewalk chalk on private property , I can tell you that Banksy remains anonymous because no one has a reason to expose him. Like Cirque Du Soleil, he doesn't have any true competitors, his team is likely bound to agreements to not reveal his identity, and he has chosen not to reveal it himself. Further, his name isn't actually Banksy.This is a concept that I feel like a lot of people don't understand: there are a lot of people who have seen Banksy's face, or see his face every single day. He has agents, lawyers, and artists that work beneath him and help him with his more elaborate pieces. His lawyers obviously aren't going to reveal his identity, especially if they 've signed NDAs which I'm sure they have. The concept people don't get is that just seeing someone's face doesn't mean you "know" them. Like, Banksy could walk up to you right now and say "hi I'm Banksy"; can you identify him now? What's his name? Where does he live? How are you even sure that's really him? Banksy can hide in plain sight because even though people see him, few people "know" him. |
how the Flint water crisis even came about. | Flint was using water from the City of Detroit. Detroit's water was fairly clean, or at least had a low acidity. They switched water sources and started treating water just for themselves. The water treated by Flint ate away at the lead pipes and leeched the lead into the water. Because of the corrosion, all of the lead is slowly leeching out and they cannot undo the damage. |
How did early lifeforms know how to procreate? | Humans may not know what sex at birth is but I don't think you'd have to tell them in order for them to figure it out. We're not sexually mature at birth, but that's what puberty is for. Sex is advantageous not because it's easier on each individual, but because it allows for much faster evolutionary progression because you have multiple possible combinations of each parent's DNA instead of only relying on mutation. Organisms of a species that started to mix their DNA with each other were much more likely to develop necessary adaptations, and so they began to devote more resources to the mixing of DNA. |
difference between iPhone jailbreaking and Android rooting | It's worth noting that until very recently, Windows allowed root access by default. This contributed a great deal to Windows' reputation as being virus-ridden. Most users really do need protection from themselves.Jailbreaking bypasses code signing restrictions and allows you to execute "unauthorized" code. Root gives you full top level administrative access to the device so you can modify anything you wantWhat benefits are there for rooting an android phone then, if any? |
After all the human rights violations, how is Qatar still hosting the world cup? | As stated, it comes down to the simple fact that FIFA is extremely corrupt. As long as they are making their money, they look the other way on human rights violations and deaths. After all, it's not THEM being personally inconvenienced, so why should they care? |
What exactly happens genetically that causes mutations and birth defects in children born from incest? | Valid answers [here] and [here]. However, keep in mind that incest does not automatically equal mutant frog baby, even between siblings or parents/children. It increases the possibility, but it's not a guarantee. It's only when you repeat very close incestuous relationships for breeding over a few generations that things start to go downhill. Marrying cousins is actually pretty common in the world, and the most extreme example we have of bad results from that is the prevalence of hemophilia among certain European royal families. |
-How do plants move to face the sun? | This is more in response to the second question, though I'm not sure of it quite gets to the heart of it. Sped up videos of plants show that they actually move around a lot; the following video shows how they pull off more complex movement, like climbing. _URL_1_ |
how come houses in England are made of bricks where as American houses are made of wood? | And in Scotland buildings are made of stone. I'm pretty sure folk just used what was available. |
Why are corporations willingly hurting the economy by replacing workers with robots? | It's the obvious thing to do. If they don't, their competitors will and put them out of business. The key is to figure out how to make this work in our favor rather than destroy the economy. |
Do people actually see photos when they imagine stuff? | This title isn't so great but the article is pretty cool. It might describe what you experience _URL_0_ |
Why do men seem to be more affected more from a cold/flu? | To give a stereotyped answer to a stereotyped question: When a man is sick, his SO will take care of him, his house, their kids, etc. When a woman is sick, everything will just fall apart, leaving a mess for her to deal with when she gets better, so it's just easier for a woman to suck it up and do what she has to do even if she feels like crap, while a man can take advantage of the situation and lie in bed for days.maybe because men are more likely to try and just deal with instead of going to the doctor and getting it treatedThis is a huge generalisation! I know lots of people of both genders who make a huge song and dance out of a tiny cold and just as many of each gender that power through it! |
Why does everyone hate windows ten so much? | My current setup with windows 7 works just fine for everything that I do on a regular basis, and I believe quite strongly that if something isn't broken there's no point in trying to fix it."Everyone" is a bit of an exaggeration. There are plenty of us who are quite content with it, particularly once the intrusive stuff has been turned off. |
the answer to Elon Musk's riddle. | The part of this riddle to be concerned with is the 1 mile west. When you are walking east and west, the only place on earth that you are walking in a straight line is at the equator. The closer you get to the pole, the sharper the arc you are walking when going east-west. Think of it as your shoulder is always pointing toward the pole while you walk. I don't think the south pole answer is correct, but need to think on it a bit. |
Is intelligence like height, i.e. some people will be taller (more intelligent) than others due to genetics; or are all humans born with the same capacity for intelligence? | We don't know. It seems likely to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors, but we don't even know how to *measure* intelligence objectively. |
Why do colleges and universities charge (often high) application fees? | To discourage people from applying if they're not really interested in attending. They don't want to process applications if there's no point. |
why General Petraeus needs to resign over this affair? | Most of the stuff people have said in this thread is true, but none of that's why he HAD to resign. The real reason is that when the CIA or any other agency that deals with classified stuff finds out that you've done something that could compromise your security clearance, it conducts a mandatory investigation to make sure you haven't been compromised, and while the investigation's going on your clearance is pulled and they either suspend you or have you do some low-level busy work. **You can't function as the head of the CIA if you're not allowed to see top secret stuff for months.** That's the real reason. It only makes sense for the CIA to conduct the investigation --- if you find out someone has been lying to you and doing some risky shit that could be dangerous for the agency, you don't just let him keep on doing his job and having access to all your secrets while you try and figure out if he's betrayed you or not, because if he is, you're letting the problem get exponentially worse. |
How does Cantor's diagonal proof proves that Real numbers are 'more infinite' than Naturals? | One key is that reals all extend to an infinite number of decimal places, even if you're just padding zeros at the end. This allows you to ensure that your constructed element is clearly not a member of the set. You can't really do the same thing with integers. |
How can a fighter jet force a (kidnapped) airliner to land? | That's exactly how they would force it to land. The other day, I saw the movie Executive Decision on TV. Watching it is like a walk back in time -- it's clearly pre-9/11, because the airplane is known to be a threat to people on the ground, and the leaders wrestle with the morality of shooting down a plane full of people and instead approve a special operations mission that can only come out of Hollywood. Anyway, the point is that today it would be a five minute movie, because if the airplane is known to be a threat to people on the ground, it will be shot down.If a jet is tasked with forcing another aircraft down the decision to use lethal force has already been made. They will engage it with any weapons they have and/or any other means available to them.I hope you aren't serious. This picture should help. _URL_0_ |
why marijuana triggers panic attacks for certain people? | Well I can't answer your question but I can offer insight. I have been smoking pretty constantly; multiple times per week, if not every day, for several years. I have heard of stories of panic attacks and had a good friend have one in high school during his first time trying weed, but nothing even remotely close to one ever happened to me Until I went on a trip to Europe a couple years ago for 3.5 weeks, without smoking the entire time. When I got back, the night I got home I ripped a medium sized bowl a few hours before bed, and unleashed the most hellish experience ever. I have had some bad trips on other substances before but this time, it was just a small bowl of some decent bud and tobacco and it messed me up worse than K-holing. My heart rate was elevated extremely high for a few hours, I remember measuring it something stupidly high, like in the range of dangerous for a long time, and I thought I was going to die. I couldn't stop panting heavily, and I must have drank like 12 glasses of water, thrown it up, and drank more. Ended up staying up the whole night, taking my pulse and trying to do breathing exercises for the majority of it. It felt more like I took some bad E than a bowl. Anyway, I chalked it up to having my tolerance level drop so low, so suddenly after years of use, and then blowing it back up again. As to why this can happen randomly to people who smoke? No clue. It was really scary to me; I kind of considered myself a seasoned veteran that such a thing could never happen to I was very wrong. I am still smoking strong today, and have had nothing of the sort happen since, but then again I haven't had a decent tolerance break since either. Tolerance is my best guess. |
What are Interfaces actually used for in Object Oriented Programming? | Interfaces are one way to create [polymorphic] behavior with objects. In ELI5 terms, interfaces allow you to use something without knowing how it works or what, exactly, it does. Just as you can use a toaster without knowing that is uses a nichrome heating element. You put bread in, you press a button, and out comes toast. Because toasters all provide the same kind of interface, once you know how to use one toaster, you pretty much know how to use them all. In OOP, as long as an object meets the requirements of the interface, your code doesn't need to care how it works and can use it polymorphically. You can trade out one object type for another and any code that depends on the interface [should still work]. This means you can write code that is more general purpose, at the added expense of creating and using an interface. |
How did humans become the dominant species? | Who needs large claws if you have a spear, who needs to run fast if you can shoot an arrow, who needs to physically fight a lion if you can manipulate fire to scare it away. Human evolution is pretty much the epitome of intelligence over physical power, we ended up very intelligent and not that strong because we didn't need to be very strong while intelligence allowed for greater survival. Survival of the fittest doesn't necessarily mean survival of the physically strongest but rather survival of the best adapted to the environment, and intelligence allows for adaptation to different and changing environments. Also, human eyesight is pretty much top of the line compared to everything other than birds, during the day at least and in the night we can use fire. And given that humans are social animals individual strength doesn't matter so much as a group of humans is damn strong. |
What happens in the human body when someone just decides to pass away? | Like others have said. It is a conscious effort to stay alive. It really all goes to the ability to override your bodies limitations. E.g. you can still do another set of curls even though your muscles are screaming that they can't. You can continue running even though you are actually totally exhausted. And then you add to that drugs the body can produce to overcome pain. On the opposite if your mental state after the second last set is that you are done you just give up and it is impossible to lift another one. Same with dieing. Obviously this wouldn't work for someone who has fatal injuries . But most of these people that have what you mentioned are usually of old age and their bodies are breaking down. So they die because their body doesn't function right anymore but that is where will and drugs come into play. You can override the body giving up for a while and as soon as you decide to let go the body will stop fighting and let go. |
How does it feel to see with both eyes? | Having two eyes gives you depth perception because your seeing an object from two slightly different angles, and that difference let's you perceive depth. It's similar to how you have two ears which let's you figure out where sound is coming from based on hearing it from two different locations |
How did animals give birth on their own before they were domesticated? | Long story short, they didn't need us before we domesticated them and started directing their breeding. Furthermore, most animals in the world still give birth without human help. |
why consoles can't mod games like GTAV on PC | On the hardware side of things: Generally speaking, mods increase the amount of processing power that you'll need to run the game, since you'll need to run **both** the mod and the game simultaneously . Since consoles have a specific amount of processing power that the developer has already optimized the game to use, there's not really any processing power left to run mods *on top* of the game. On PC, you always have the ability to upgrade a piece of hardware if a game needs more than you have. Edited some awkward grammar. |
Why are curved stretches of highway tilted? | It's called super elevation. It's partially to help keep vehicles on the road so they don't go flying off the outside of the curve. It's also because a road has to drain water. A 'flat' road will usually be higher in the middle and slope to both sides so that water runs off. If you had a curve and the outside lanes were angled to the outside, vehicles would be much more likely to fly off. So because they need to drain the whole road to the inside, the whole road is tilted that way.for the same reason NASCAR tracks are tilted. As a car turns, the balance of forces on it changes such that the car is pushed towards the outside of the bend. In order to keep the car from flying off, engineers tilt the road surface towards the inside of the curve to cancel that force imbalanceFor physics reasons already stated and occupant comfort. Not for water drainage. Crowning is for water drainage. Banked curves are not for water drainage. Crowning is done on flat roads. The center of the road is higher than the edges.It's to provide additional centripetal force towards the centre of curvature, which is required to keep the car moving in a curve.To minimize the centrifugal force of the turn. The higher the speed limit, the steeper the incline, to account for that force. |
Why does the Star Wars universe seem to show no technological advancement throughout the stories? | Part of it is, you're used to things from the 20th century, where we had mass change on a continual basis. For much of humanity's existence, we did not have all that much change. Also, most of what you're shown is the rural areas, which won't be very advanced. If you have a lot of poor people, barely getting by, they won't be getting all that much more than what is needed. I mean, look at your main characters. You have the monastic Jedi, slaves, smugglers , and the like. All people who won't have the latest and greatest. |
How does a rocket engine work? | The rocket is not pushing against the ground. It's pushing against the rocket itself. Think of a rocket engine as a controlled explosion that creates pressure. By letting the pressure out of one end, the resulting pressure on the inside of the rocket chamber provides thrust against the rocket itself. This is why they continue to work in near vacuum conditions once in orbit and beyond. |
Why does hot water clean things better? | It depends on what exactly you're cleaning; sometimes, there's little observable difference at all. But on many things, hot water has an effect of softening, melting, and dissolving -- more than cold water, or at least faster. Example: recently cleaning up after cookie decorating, using cold water. It's hard to get hot on this tap, and I don't like hot water on my hands. I'm getting nowhere. But: the cookie dough is basically bound up with butter. The frosting is mostly sugar. Butter melts. Sugar dissolves. Heat helps both of those. I turned on the hot and waited. If Frodo had known about this tap, *Lord of the Rings* would be five minutes of a short guy who needed the only place hot enough to melt magic that wasn't defended by orcs, and three hours each of Gollum talking to himself, Gandalf's fireworks, and the Balrog and the Watcher in the Lake having a cage match for everyone's amusement. Anyway, everything just disappeared off the dishes in seconds. Hot water can do the same thing to greases and oils, usually the toughest things to clean.This is best answered with an experiment.Get a couple of pans and fry a few slices of bacon in each. Let the grease cool and solidify in the pan while you enjoy you bacon. Sadly, now it is time to clean the pans.With the first pan, you may use as much soap as possible, but only run cold water. With the second pan, do not use any soap, but you can spray it down with water as hot as you can get. You will find out that even without soap, the pan gets cleaner quicker with hot water. This is because the molecules in the hot water are more excited and move the grease particles around easier. The hot water is less about sterilization and more about making the soap and scrubbing work easier for you on oils and dirtHot water also has the effect of deforming proteins that make up food particles, weakening their structure. |
why can't we extract drinkable water from ocean , when there is water scarcity? | We can, it's call desalination. It just consumes a lot of energy, and thus money so it's not practical in many places. It also has environmental repercussions, you are dumping a massive amount of very high salinity slurry back into the oceans and this can impact wildlife. |
if evoloution ensures that only those who survive to produce offsping, why are flys and other insects still attacted to those blue zappy lights? | The blue zappy lights have only existed for 50 years tops. You have to consider that a huge amount of the inesct population will never be near humans. They's mostly all in Manitoba, Northern Ontario, and the territories. |
Why do some food service workers such as those in supermarkets have to wear gloves and hairnets, but chefs in restaurants and food prep in a McDonald's doesn't? | There are several layers of stuff telling employees what they have to do. First is the law. This is usually not very detailed, and it rarely dictates behavior. This covers stuff like physical safety. Second is local ordinances. This is usually much more detailed, but it still doesn't dictate behavior at the employee level. It covers things like food temperature requirements and that boring stuff. Third is company policy. This is usually pretty detailed and it dictates a lot of behavior. This covers recipes, dress codes, glove use, hairnets, etc. Fourth is store policy. Often times, managers have discretion over certain things or company policy doesn't cover it. This dictates most behavior and covers pretty much everything. To answer the situation in your question: one store had a manager that said they had to do that and the other store had a manager that didn't say they had to do that. |
What is the purpose of shadowbanning? | Well with a normal ban they can just make a new account, they can do that with shadow bans too, but they have to figure out they're banned first |
How can people bond with big cats and become friends but I've had my cat for years and he's still a dick to me? | Either you just have a picky cat , or maybe there's something about how you do things, or the presence you give off, that's not pleasing to cats. Maybe if you had a big cat they would be a dick to you as well. Or: it's just a case of Cat Rule #1: All cats are assholes.I would think its because they feed the big cats huge amounts of raw meat what do you feed your cat? |
How do geosynchronous orbits occur without falling to earth? | Geosynchronous orbits are much further out than normal orbits like those of ISS or most satellites. Objects there don't need to move as fast to stay in orbit, the force of gravity is less. |
[biology] Can injection of telomerase into humans create longer life spans? | 1) Yes, we can. 2) AFAIK there are no indications that telomerase injections would cause us to turn into a massive ball o' cancer. At worst, it could make that scenario a little *more likely*, but again, AFAIK there's no evidence it does in reality. Also, telomere shortening's effects are less about cell death, more about something called cellular senescence, which is when cells stop *dividing*. This is why cancer cells usually have it, but you need normal cells to divide too, to replace the inevitable natural losses. |
Why do cats and dogs drink water by scooping it with their tongues, while humans drink by sucking it up? | Cats and dogs have mouths that open up considerably, and noses on the edge of their snouts. To drink water by sucking it up, they'd have to submerge their whole mouth, which puts the nose underwater. When they would try to take in water this way, it would come through the nostrils. Humans have a nose above the mouth, and a small mouth; they can submerge the whole thing without much trouble. It's worth noting there are other animals that drink the same way cats and dogs do, and that overall there is a lot of variability in how an animal consumes water. |
Why does it look like my head's been leaking battery acid whenever I change my pillowcase? | You may be a robot. Often robots are programmed to believe they are human. You couldn't know or acknowledge that truth, but certain evidence such as this will at least attune your processors to the possibility. |
Why is it that companies are allowed to operate as monopolies in America, e.g. people only being able to get Time Warner/Comcast and no access to any others? | It is an infrastructure thing. If another ISP wants to enter TW/Comcast's territory, they have to install all of their infrastructure, which is expensive. |
What exactly does radiation poisoning do to our bodies, and how does medicine cure it? | Radiation poisoning is basically random damage to cells throughout your body, for more details see [this comment of mine]. Medicine cannot really cure any of that. It can treat some of the symptoms and prevent those from killing you while your body repairs itself, and it can support some of the body's repair efforts, for example the bone marrow can be severely affected, and there is a protein that stimulates bone marrow growth. While it works, blood transfusions can supply the blood cells your body isn't producing. In cases where the radiation poisoning comes from *contamination*, i.e. radioactive material got into your body and is *still* releasing radiation that constantly damages your body, medicine can play a very important role in saving your life by removing some of that radioactive material. For example, giving you lots of non-radioactive iodine can prevent your body from holding onto radioactive iodine, and some substances form bonds with certain radioactive elements and cause your body to excrete them. But if the radiation poisoning is too severe, you will die and the only thing medicine can do is to ease your suffering. |
why does the president get a paycheck? | They do a job, so they get paid. It was established by Article II Section 1 of the United States Constitution. It does not specify an amount; however, it does say that the amount cannot be raised or lowered during a president's term. Given that, yes, they legally have to be paid. |
Why do restaurants sign exclusive deals with pepsi/coke but convenience stores carry both? | The company they sign with usually services the machine for free as part of the exclusivity contract. Ice machine broken? Call Pepsi, the maintenance guy will fix it. Free. It's under contract. Syrup dispenser all fucked up? Call coke. The maintenance guy will fix it. Free. It's under contract. The whole Damn machine catches on fire? Call the fire department, you silly. |
What is a straw man fallacy? | Here's where the name comes from. Bob says that he can beat up John. Bob gets some straw, shapes it to look like a man, and dresses it up like John. He then proceeds to beat the crap out of this strawman. When he's done, he claims that he has successfully beaten up John. Of course, the strawman isn't John, so Bob never really defeated John; he just beat up a dummy that he claimed was John. A strawman fallacy is similar to this. Bob and John are in an argument. Bob thinks that he's right, so he makes up an argument that he claims came from John and proceeds to rip it apart. He then claims that he outsmarted John. However, John was never making that argument in the first place. Bob never really disproved John's argument; he just disproved an argument that he claims came from John. |
Why do I get a headache when I sleep in/lay around for a while in the morning? | Your headache could also be due to oxygen deprivation due sleep apnea. If I sleep 7-8 consecutive hours, I wake up with a wicked headache that wouldn't go away all day. I was just tested sleep apnea and did a trial run with a CPAP machine and slept a good spell without incident. It might be worth checking out.Your wife is kicking you in the head at night for snoring.For me, it's a combination of dehydration and sinus/muscle pain from being horizontal and still for too long.Caffeine withdrawal. Sleeping in late delays morning caffeine intake. |
Why does the US protect against self-incrimination(5th amendment) | You seem to answer your own question a couple times. > I can understand not being able to coerce information out of someone > because you are innocent until proven guilty it's the duty of the state to prove you are guilty That is the answer. You had it in you all along. |
Why the drinking age is 21 in the United States; and also why nothing has been done to lower it to 18 like it is in pretty much every other country in the world? | I don't get it. 18 is when you become a grown up. You can sign legal contracts, get drafted, get a job, etc. Buying alcohol? Big no no. It seems a bit hypocritical for me. Either change the age of majority to 21 or put alcohol buying at 18.You have to be consistent in these kind of issues. Doesn't make sense that you can legally decide what you want to do with your life at 18 and be put in life or death situations, but you can't buy a fucking beer in a bar in a sunny afternoon. |
Why do chefs wear those tall white hats? | What I dont understand is why chefs wear such white clothing? Seems like it'd be a real bitch to clean. |
How does private jet works with a customs and Immigration ? If someone owns a private jet, what's stopping them from flying it to Mexico and landing there without needing Visa ? | Radar, presumably. They'd notice the plane and track it and wonder why it didn't declare itself. |
Why do italians 'salt' their boiling water before putting the pasta into it | Son, if anyone knows how to cook pasta, it's the Italians. You're doing it wrong, she's doing it right. |
What exactly does LSD do to your brain? | Don't ever look in the mirror It's too much to handle. I looked at myself and was terrified of myself. I think it made me facilitated a change in my personality. I wasn't happy with who I was when I looked in the mirror. All my insecurities, short comings, and douchebaggery was there laid out in front of me. It made me tremble. Other than looking at myself in the mirror I had a wonderful time.LSD is in a similar shape to chemicals that naturally exist in your brain. When you take LSD or a similar drug, it binds to the same places that the natural chemical does, but only in specific places. It essentially toggles the switches in your brain for all your senses, causing distortions and a general sense of euphoriaI think the most important thing that isn't being mentioned is that the vast majority of "acid" on the market isn't lsd, which most people have come to believe.WOW did this get bigger than I thought it would! Thank you all so much for your input sorry I'm a bit late!", 'ITT: Very little science, whole lot of "OPEN YR MIND" |
Why is leather considered more ethical than fur? | Because bunnies are cuter than cows. It's the same reason that North Americans are outraged that other countries consider cats/dogs food animals, but happily eat all kinds of other animals.Here's what I believe: We live in a culture where furry animals are valued more and we generally think they are cuter and easier to relate to. We 've also been culturally conditioned to not think of "farm animals" as individuals in the way we think of dogs, cats or even foxes. Why? Because for the majority of people it's not very pleasant to think of meat as something that comes from an animal that had friends, had favourite activities, had a personality, memories etc. So we think of them in terms of abstract groups: All pigs, all cows, all chickens are alike. That said, there definitely are [people who *don't* think it's ethical with leather]. The argument is the same: We need meat just as little as we need fur. We can both eat and wear other things and be perfectly fine. Therefore it's misleading to say that leather is just a by-product of a cow that would 've been killed anyway. Most people wouldn't refuse to eat meat if they knew the skin of the animal was not used, so it's unclear why they would then refuse to take the skin unless the meat was used.It's not more ethical, but I would guess because cattle are used almost exclusively for meat, etc. This makes it more efficient to use that leather instead of wasting the animal, though I think it often still is thrown away at slaughter. It is more common, and a waste to *not* use in a sense. More ethical? It depends on what is ethical to you. Cattle have a pretty sturdy population, unlike say the Arctic Fox or Mink, so by using leather products you aren't decimating any populations, etc. etc. etc. |
What would someone with a chromosome combination of YY look like? | Think of it this way. Like others have said, without an X, it doesn't become human. The X is required for life. females are XX, but each cell only uses one of the Xs and the other is inactivated and never used again in that cell's life. Which X is inactivated varies. So the Y addition in XY makes a male, and the male only has one X to choose from. _URL_0_ fun fact: X inactivation is why only female cats can be calico. The allele for black and orange fir is on the X chromosome. Males can be black or orange but not both because they have only one X . Similarly, an X chromosome can code for black or orange but not both. So some cells inactivate black and some inactivate orange . Sorry for the tangent. |
How are roads named officially? Is it picked by the government or the people? | I guess it depends on where you live and what kind of street is. Also, some countries want to privatize the streets, as some political parties in Germany are trying to do right now to earn some money. In these cases you can literally just buy the street and then you can name it whatever the f--- you want. What I personally experienced is that a newly built street could also just be named by the people that live there, or that are going to live there, this happened to two of my relatives. A new neighborhood was going to be built, and after all the houses were sold, the local government decided to leave the decision to the future owners. Basically they did an election deciding on the prettiest sounding name, although this probably only happens in suburban streets. But maybe I'm wrong and a Mister Fifth Avenue is very happy that the Times Square is on his very own street. Personally I think this is the best way, as the streets actually get beautiful-sounding names. just completed a housing development in Australia creating new streets and a cleverly worded letter was put to council that street names were to be named after the main investors children in respect of his valued financial investment in the state. So There you have it a lasting legacy for generations to come. |
Why don't all notes have a flat and sharp? (IE: why is there no Fb?) | 3", etc. Using just a number system, you can see that 1-sharp is 2, 5-flat is 4, etc. Now out of those 12 notes, we have constructed various scales, the most common of which is the C scale. The C scale consists of notes 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Those are the notes that we 've taken to giving letter names. So note 1=C, 3=D, 5=E, 6=F, 8=G, 10=A, and 12=B. Notice that E and F are right next to each other , so F♭ is E, and E♯ is F. Also note that B and C are right next to each other , so C♭ is B and B♯ is C. For other notes, you can see that D♯ and E♭ are both the same note , which doesn't get its own letter under this system. |
The difference between ibuprofen, advil, and tylenol. | OP: The distinction you're looking for is between acetominophen , ibuprofen and acetylsalicylic acid .Advil and ibuprofen are [chemically identical]. This means that they will work equally well, assuming that you absorb the same amount of active ingredient from each preparation. It also means that the risk of overdose is cumulative if you take both, **so you never should**. Ibuprofen/advil work by stopping the creation of part of the inflammatory system in your body called prostaglandins. You can use other medications which do the exact same thing . Because they work in the same way, however , the side effects can be additive. There is a cousin-medication called acetaminophen which has some similar properties: namely fever reduction and pain control. It probably works in a similar way, but we don't know for sure, and seems to be "safe" to take *with* the true NSAIDs. "Safe" is in quotes because it's all relative: acetaminophen is actually an incredibly toxic medication, and thousands of people suffer accidental but irreversible liver damage every year. A smart person probably shouldn't use acetaminophen at all, because it's far too easy to make a mistake with the dose, and the damage is permanentThis is a sidenote, but you should never mix Aspirin and Advil. You can mix Tylenol and Aspirin. You can mix Tylenol and Advil. Just not Aspirin and Advil. . Also, as others have mentioned, Tylenol is very hard on your liver. I never take Tylenol more than twice in the same week. In fact, I try not to take it at allReddit saved my night I nubbed my little toe so hard I think I heard something crack went to lay down to hate myself for having done this yet again and read this nugget of wisdom. Given the inflammation and searing pain I took ibuprofen for the swelling and Tylenol for pain and can now go to sleep. Thankzzzzzz', "I'm glad this question was asked. Even though it may be common knowledge to some, it is important to know what medications you're putting in your body. |
Why aren't taxes just done automatically? | It could be possible for the IRS to provide a pre-filled form using the information they have, but that may be discouraged by the tax preparation companies. And for the majority of filers, they have numerous free options for filing out federal returns, although they require manual entry of many forms. However, for some people, there is a lot of paperwork involved. . For those living without complicated situations, the IRS has a one-page simplified 1040ez that can be filled out in minutes. |
One in the hand is worth two in the bush | It's stating that it's better to have one dead in your hand than two live in the bush. It's a caution to take what you've got and run instead of gambling on unknowns.Real world example: "I have ten sales calls this week." "I made a sale this week." Which one is more valuable *right now*? |
Why do we have the urge to speak to babies in a "baby voice?" | [Studies have shown that from birth, infants prefer to listen to infant-directed speech, which is more effective than regular speech in getting and holding an infant's attention. Some researchers. . . believe that baby talk is an important part of the emotional bonding process between the parents and their child that helps the infants learn the language. Other researchers. . .confirm that using basic “baby talk” helps babies pick up words faster than usual. Infants pay more attention when parents use infant-directed language, which has a slower and more repetitive tone than used in regular conversation.] ~Excerpt from Wikipedia |
What's the argument against charter schools | Very, very simple explanation: Why not just make ALL the schools good enough so ALL the kids get a good education? Don't just let the smart/hardworking kids escape the awful school they would otherwise go to.Three things: 1: They are desired by some religious groups and may people feel taxpayer dollars shouldn't be mixed with religious institutions for education. 2: They may take the best students out of the general public schools, making the population that is left look worse by comparison. This "editing" function could have significant social effects on the school as well as more involved parents also leave, and as the demographic mix of the student body changes 3: They undermine the union closed shop that we currently permit in our public schools and may create wage and mobility pressure on the union workforce, and may undermine union positions on teacher qualifications, performance review, compensation, work rules, tenure, etc. |
Why are there so many British actors in American television? | Productions that are going to be filmed almost entirely in Europe, like GoT, will have a larger amount of European actors. Otherwise, I don't really think they're over represented. |
Why do ads play smoothly on streams, even though the content stutters? | It depends on the site specifically. In most cases the web site owner doesn't host the adds themselves, they contract with someone else and leave space on the site for the ads to fit in, or in the case of streams play the ad before the video. In many cases the ads are hosted on a Content Delivery Network . A CDN is several servers located around the world that host content you need to get to the user right away. So the company that runs the ads themselves have servers all over the world. They'll have several locations in the USA alone, a few scattered across Europe, then across Asia such as one in Korea, Japan, Singapore, etc. So the CDN that delivers the ads has a server located close to you by virtue of having servers everywhere. The site you're streaming off of most likely is hosted in a single location. That means that the time taken to simply traverse the internet is faster for the ad than the content. If you are in San Diego, CA, and the site is hosted in Ireland it will take time for the content to reach you. However, the ads on that site are with a world wide company, so they have a CDN endpoint located in San Francisco, CA. That means that you are a hop skip and a jump away from the ad, but a transcontinental, transatlantic flight away from the site content. --- But that is only part one of it, part two of it is the servers themselves. Not only does your large ad company have endpoints all over the world, but your large ad company has better servers too. These servers have more processing power, more ram, and more bandwidth. The server with the actual content is slower all around, and not necessarily equipped to handle the load. |
What is REDDIT GOLD like? | Doesn't look like anyone else mentioned it, so Reddit Gold also gives you the option to display 100 subreddits instead of the usual 50. So if you are subscribed to more then 50, a default member will only see a random selection of this 50 when they come to reddit. The random 50 changes every half-hour I believe. With Reddit Gold, this number is bumped up to 100. |
why everyone hates Michelle Bachman | One important thing to note is that NOT everyone hates Michelle Bachmann. She won the Ames straw poll, she is the leader of the Tea Party caucus and she has a dedicated following. As for the people who do hate her , it's because she is an extremist Christian conservative who is opposed to gay marriage, wants to ban pornography and thinks that only Intelligent Design should be taught in schools. She does also have her ridiculous gaffes but that's not the main reason. Plenty of people do that, and they are not as widely hated as Bachmann. Essentially, it's because her policies are unpopular amongst the sort of people you've been asking. |
Why do companies push to install their mobile app when you visit their website? What sort of information they get from their app vs a web visit? | It's a multitude of things more than just getting information from the user, though that is a reason. Most tech companies do not like the web, it's messy, unsafe, and difficult to build experiences. IOS and Android offer a solution to this but it comes at the cost of reach. Everyone understands how a website works. So piggy back off that search and point them to the environment where it can be easily maintained, safe, and attached to your hip. Google has been pushing for Progressive Web Apps lately and it's their answer to this issue. Instead of using the website's reach to point to an app, they want to provide the experience right there in the browser. They also introduced instant apps so who knows what the hell is going on over in google land. The data you talked about is becoming more available on the web, but it doesn't come out of the box like it does with an app. Browser API's now offer web cam, location, etc so developers can pull data from their user. But it's still not as comfortable to a user as an app. I'm personally pushing for pwa's but it's still up in the air how Apple will respond and whether or not service workers will make it into the safari browser. TLDR; using an app instead of a website can make things a lot easier on companies. Not just new data points.Exposure - See a TV commercial for CompanyX, see a print ad for CompanyX, see a website for CompanyX, and open your phone and see an icon for CompanyX Along with what the others have said |
Why is it that most people get more emotional when they see animals get hurt as opposed to seeing other humans get hurt? | Movies! for years we've been subconsciously trained by the media to ignore the dead bad guy and focus on the good guy killing all the bad guys and it has made us a little less sensitive towards real blood.. and when an animal gets hurt in movies, its always an emotional scene having influential emotional music that just touches your heart.. Viola! that's how you program people .. I can't say what all the implications of that are on our lives but i can safely say that its turned us into senseless people having distorted priorities. |
How do people make aimbots? | I saw a good explanation so I won't try to write another, but if you want to learn more, a program called [Cheat Engine] has built in tutorials to teach you more about how game hacks are made and how to make your own. You can start with something simple like an infinite ammo hack and then use what you learned to make more interesting ones. Just don't hack in multiplayer games, it's unfair. Use it quite literally for educational purposes. |
Why isnt China's population declining if they have had a one child policy for 35 years? | China has an overall mortality rate of 7 in 1000, so seven out of every thousand people die every year. As long as for every thousand people eight babies are born the population will grow. It's on average getting older because fewer children are being born, but not to the point of increasing the mortality rate above the birth rate. |
Do programs like Lumosity have any measurable benefit to cognitive abilities? Or is it all just hype? | I'd like to weigh in here with some very little undergrad information I just learned, but basically going to back up what everyone else is saying. You'll get better at lumosity, but it has no real measurable impact on plasticity or fighting off alzheimers. Sorry no references.If it improved performance on things that are not itself, in measurable ways, or even was based on things that do, they 'd cite the studies they were basing that on, because that 'd be way cooler for marketing than just "designed by scientists." Unfortunately there is no science for games to do what they want to do. That's not to say their claims are false - mostly that they simply haven't been studied. But as a general rule of thumb, assume advertisers make the strongest claims they can truthfully make about the benefits of their product, and Lumosity stops short of claiming any measurable benefit . That's a clue.I can't find the article I read last month where a neurologist said that it can't raise your intelligence, but like any form of practice you will get better at the thing being practiced, so you are better off choosing something important to you and giving that particular focus your all. But in case you still want to work your brain with games, [this study found that you are better off thinking in portals] |
What are the logical reasons for keeping the penny? | Zinc miners/manufacturers - Keep a large and lucrative customer. The US mint spends a lot of money on the material to make pennies. While Zinc won't go out of business, companies don't like loosing any customers period. Change Dependent Charities - People would give less to them if the change was rounded up/down. Regular People - Don't want businesses rounding their prices up a few cents. People who love Lincoln - Losing a form of honoring the 16th president. |
Why do people sometimes groan and mutter aloud while thinking of an embarrassing thing they said or did? | It's cognitive dissonance. It's because you're mind can't hold two ideas about yourself at once, you generally view yourself as the type of person who wouldn't do such an embarrassing thing, or you would ridicule people who would do a similar thing, so your mind rejects that instance which is essentially what happens when you blurt it out loud. I learned thing from my therapist… let's just say i had a very public mental breakdown so this happens to me a lot.Thank you for making me feel a bit more normal, reddit. |
Why did Assad use chemical weapons to attack his own people? I know he's very corrupt, but what's the point of this? | This is just speculation, but I believe that Assad was testing Trump. Tillerson had said that the Trump administration would back off of the idea of regime change. In Assad's eyes, that means Trump is weak and he can do whatever he wants to. He tested this idea with a relatively small gas attack. Assad knew that if Trump did not respond then he could do whatever horrible things he wanted to. Unfortunately for Assad, Trump is completely unpredictable, so Assad got smacked in the face with 60 tomahawk missiles. Russia is going to make a big stink over this, but I don't think we will be seeing any gas attacks coming from Assad anytime soon. |
Why does the hair on our head keep growing, while eyelashes and eyebrows, etc, stop? | My eyebrows have accelerated as I age. I have to have them cut when I get my hair cut. And those little hairs in my ears ? Don't even want to go there. |
Sound doesn't travel through space. It's a wavelength. Light travels infinitely without degrading and it's a wavelength. What gives? | > we'd hear sound, then microwave and radio frequency then eventually colors That was bullshit. Sound is the vibration of a medium with non-zero mass. Light is transmitted by photons, massless particles. Them being waves is the only commonality between them. |
How and why can the EU claim water doesn't prevent dehydration? | Although water with a specific electrolyte content can actually prevent dehydration, this is probably just a bogus claim, and probably is meant to scare the customer into buying this particular brand. The case is the same as with cholesterol-free vegetable oil: it's not cholesterol-free because it's %BRANDNAME%, any vegetable oil is cholesterol-free. also _URL_0_ |
Why do mosquito bites leave bumps and getting a shot at the doctors office doesn't? | Mosquitoes inject a chemical* into the site of the bite which stops the human blood from clotting. The reaction of your body to this chemical causes the bump. Fortunately shots at doctors office don't use such a chemical. * I think the chemical is called heparin. |
Why do people find things funny? How did humanity develop the ability to perceive things as humorous and why? | It's a release of tension. Steve martin talks about it well in his book. I wish i had the rest of the quote. What if there were no punch lines? What if there were no indicators? What if I created tension and never released it? What if I headed for a climax, but all I delivered was an anticlimax? What would the audience do with all that tension? Theoretically, it would have to come out sometime. But if I kept denying them the formality of a punch line, the audience would eventually pick their own place to laugh, essentially out of desperation. This type of laugh seemed stronger to me, as they would be laughing at something they chose, rather than being told exactly when to laugh. |
What are the dangers/benefits of having a low birthrate and a large percentage of your population over the age of 65? | In biology, what we can see from [Japan's age demography graph] is that the population is mostly unstable and with significant degrowth. This is different than say [Germany's] which is almost completely stable. Also, this is different from, say, [Pakistan], which is unstable and rapidly growing. All areas have a maximum population limit based on resources, functions, etc. Japan might have over-shot theirs, but nature will fix this problem itself, as you can see with the younger generations being smaller. A harmonic population size that ever stabilizes is very typical in biology, so there is nothing to be afraid of. Edit: Whoops, we're talking about Japan, not France. |
Spain and France have the same time zone, why is Great Britain in a different one? | For Spain it's that Franco changed the timezone to be in solidarity with Hitler in WWII and it just kind of stated that way. Doing everything way later than normal is just part of the culture now. |
Why are some doors hollow? | Because they're cheaper. It saves home builders money to use hollow doors in the interior of a house. |
Why do British colonies seem to have turned out more well-off than colonies of other colonial powers? | So first off, there's a fundamental difference between settler based colonies like the US, Canada, Australia, etc. and resource based extraction colonies like Peru and Nigeria. Simply put, England was far more willing to allow colonies to develop structures for their own benefit when the colony was primarily run by white people than by brown people. Another issue to consider is how well off the area was prior to colonization/how much did the imperial power remove. When the brits took over the Malay states, they were doing quite well and there wasn't a huge need to remove all existing political structures, you just needed to manipulate them for your benefit. However, the Spanish went in and absolutely annihilated all existing structures in the New World. Lastly, it depends on what the colony's primary resource was. If your area's wealth is primarily just a raw natural resource, then the colonizer has little incentive to do more than hire slaves to acquire that resources and build the minimal infrastructure to ship it back to the motherland. If your wealth is generated by other means then the colonizers have to develop the infrastructure a little more. Places like Hong Kong and Singapore made their money from trade, wearas places like the Spanish colonies were mainly for extracting gold. |
Why do most men find lesbianism to be so attractive? | We like women. What's better than one women? Two, my friend. Two. And don't forget the sandwiches.Two twats, four tits, no dick. Next question? |
Why does water on the street vaporize even though its temperature never comes close to 100 °C? | Think of a box full of ping pong balls. Now start shaking the box a lot. You're imparting a lot of energy into those balls, and they're flying all over the place, most of them shooting out of the box. You'll soon end up with an empty box. That's what happens when you boil water. The water molecules have a ton of energy because molecules get more energetic as you heat them up . Now go pick up all those balls and put them in the box again. This time we're going to shack the box just a little bit. That's going to represent our puddle sitting out in the sun well below 100 Celsius. Every once and a while, even though you're not shaking the box very hard, a ball or two works up enough energy to bounce out of the box. If you wait long enough, you'll end up with an empty box. That's what's happening in a puddle. Those water molecules just happen to bounce off each other in such a way, even with less energy in the system, that they get bounced up into the atmosphere instead of staying in the puddle. |
Why do various recreational drugs have such different effects, if most of them do the same thing: release more, or inhibit the reuptake of dopamine or serotonin? | As it's been mentioned before.. this isn't a question nor an answer for a 5 year old. I just wanted to add that there is much more to drugs beyond the currently explainable science. If a drug is capable of taking your mind out of your body and in to another dimension this is evidence of extra-dimensional activity that leaves the boundaries of the explainable phenomena of this world. My best advice to a 5 year old would be to not let the limits of the science this world draw boundaries on the phenomena you will encounter in life. Too many people out there are content to over-rationalize things that may be clues to a far deeper, far greater and far more profound understanding of the universe, drugs especially. |
Why do grape flavored things never taste like grape? | I just wanted to add, because the other commentators already answered your question, artificial banana doesn't taste like the banana most people are used to either. IIRC we normally consume the Cavendish banana, but the artificial flavor is derived from the Gros Michel variety instead. |
How people are able to travel so cheaply? | There are some good deals that you have to find. In Spain and the rest of Europe is easy with low cost companies. However, try to find a website or Facebook page that gets and helps people with this deals. It's important to be humble and book cheap rooms. It depends on the county you're traveling to, but there are good deals. Life in eastern Europe is cheap, and even more in east Asia. You just have to find good prices for flying. Last year I went to Istanbul from Spain. The flight was 75 euros. The total costs of the travel were circa 300 euros for a week, with a shared room and buying the food in supermarkets.sometimes you can just fine last minute deals. The day after I graduated college, I found a last minute deal from North Carolina to Germany. I paid 278 for the round trip. I had to leave within 12 hours of booking my ticket. I did not start my new job for another month. while traveling, I stayed in hostels, couch surfed, and friends of friends. I had a great time and I spent less than 500 bucks in two weeks. most people would not deal with the uncertainty but I was okay with it. I had nothing worth stealingI have a credit card that is attached to a frequent flyer program for Air Canada. Whenever I pay my bills and buy stuff I get miles for that. So far I have been on 3 vacations to Europe for free. You should look into that. |
How can people be held responsible for knowing the law when it's basically impossible to know it all. | Now, let's say you and I go toe-to-toe on bird law and see who comes out the victor? |
How does stress cause hair colour to turn white? | The simple answer, prolonged stress can change the way your body works. Keep in mind this is not the old wives tale about being so scared your hair turns white, but prolonged stress can cause noticeable physiological changes. The issue stats with the body's natural reaction to stressful or high pressure situations, the fight or flight response. As the name implies we become physiologically ready to brawl or bail; we release a smathering of hormones and chemicals that affect our function altering heart rate, inhibiting digestion, raising blood pressure, increasing glucose, etc. These changes cause our body to 'burn hotter' and allow us to meet imediate challanges more effectively, however remaining in this state chronically puts strain on our body systems and wears them down . In addition, if kept in this state for long enough, our body adapts to the new status quo which can result in permanent metabolic changes. As a result, people can appear to age faster, and, in some cases, go grey more quickly. The classic example is presidents aging in office, here are some pictures. _URL_1_ **TLDR:** Stress causes your body to 'burn hot', burning hot for too long wears your body down and causes damage Ipso Facto - Aging", '/r/askscience may be able to give you a better answer.What I've gathered about this topic is that stress doesn't directly cause hair to whiten, however it's not entirely impossible that they're correlated due to the negative effect stress can have on your health. |
Why aren't African countries more commonly used for Manufacturing? | It's done already, Morocco for exemple used to have a blooming textile industry before companies moved to China for cost reasons. Now that China is getting more expensive, some manufacturers have moved to Kenya. Besides manufacturing, a lot of call centers and IT jobs are outsourced to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Senegal nowadays. |
Why you can't take pictures in museums using flash? | The flash won't damage the paintings if it's once or twice. But when you have thousands of visitors, sometimes a day, it can over a period of time. |
How will $15 federal minimum wage NOT cripple small businesses? | [See #3. #2 also applies.] Mostly it's because of decreased employee turnover and increased spending money. If more people in your local economy have more money to spend, they're more likely to blow it on bowling/pizza. Plus it costs way less to keep the employees you have than to hire new ones, even if the wage is raised. |
why are foreign movies never widely played in america? | As for your follow up question, a large proportion of the movies here are German dubs of American or otherwise English-language movies. That's also why no one here pays any attention to the lip movements when watching TV because we're conditioned from an early age that they don't need to fit what is spoken. We also learn in our early childhoods that it's normal that people in movies and TV shows talk in German all the time but all the signs and texts are in English. |
Why are the elderly so susceptible to scams which are incredibly obvious to younger people? | I truly believe that older people can make themselves keep up. I'm knockin' at the door of 70 years, but I have purposely tried to keep my mind as sharp as possible. One reason: I don't want to be an older person who gets scammed. Maybe when I'm 90 I'll slip up, but for now I try to keep up, including being fairly computer savvy. Older people CAN educate themselves; one just has to make up his/her mind to do it. One doesn't even need a computer; if nothing else, read books. For me and others who are internet proficient, lurking in Reddit helps, because I'm exposed to all kinds of things. Older folks--all folks really--just have to know and truly understand that there is a segment of society that will try to cheat us; so we just have to be aware, be prepared, and learn some basic skills: NEVER give out your SSN or your bank account info over the phone, for example. We need to teach ourselves that the IRS, the bank, the police, etc., will never ask us for these things over the phone. Get caller ID and if the phone number isn't recognized, don't answer it. Don't sign anything until your son or daughter or brother or husband--whoever--reads it first, etc. Basic stuff to **know and understand** for this day and age. |
Why are new cars considered "less reliable"? | They aren't really. Survivorship bias. They made just as many shitty disposable cars back in the old days. All the old cars still on the road are expensive and very well put together and maintained. The shitty cheap ones that were beat on are all in the junkyard. |
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