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Why aren't all serial killers declared insane? | Not really, there have been serial killers who were mentally sound, and just killed people because that's something they wanted to do. |
Why do recipes always have perfect ratios of ingredients (e.g. 1/2 cups flour, 1/8 teaspoon vanilla etc.)? | Because cooking, at its core, is chemistry. Especially baking. If you want a pie to come out right you're going to use the tried and tested formula that makes that pie. Flavor profiles and what not are all just a combination of a certain amount of one chemical mixed with a certain amount of another. |
Why do people that are about to be beheaded (or executed) by IS, stay so still and comply instead of trying to run away? | Your hands are probably bound, how far do you expect to get? I'd rather take a shot to the head than one in the back then one in the head. It's pretty much inevitable and at that point your will is probably broken. |
Why do dreams disappear as soon as I wake up? | Dreams happen during the REM sleep stage. If you remember your dreams, you most likely woke up during/near that stage. We don't remember most dreams because we don't usually wake up during that stage. That's an extremely simplified explanation. |
that if global warming is a hoax like some people suggest, then what is the motive behind propagating such a lie? | Well scientists talk about climate change caused from CO2 emissios, but air pollution also presents a serious health risks. So you could argue the hidden motive is scientists don't want humans to die from air pollution evil bastards who do they think they are anyway?", 'Some say it is just fear mongering from the left. By making people scared of global warming, they can trick everyone into thinking voting for them is the answer. Similar to the right and terrorism. |
Why hasn't Africa been able to emulate the economic success of Asia? | A lot of it comes down to benevolent leadership, and in some ways Africa's natural resources have been a curse rather than a blessing. It's far easier to let outside companies come in and harvest your oil, diamonds, etc. in return for royalties on those raw resources than to develop your people as a resource. Far too many African leaders have taken that route. However, places like Singapore, Taiwan, etc. didn't have the natural resources to exploit, they just had people. And their leadership were smart enough and benevolent enough to want to improve their countries. They set up schools, they insisted that companies coming in to use their labor train the people with skills, as the populations became more educated and skilled, they were able to move up the ladder from cheap, basic assembly to more technical /skilled manufacturing, and more of their population could take on roles in operations, management, engineering, etc. This virtuous cycle continued, and the countries advanced rapidly. EDIT: While it's been a while, economic development was the concentration of my college degree majoring in International Studies while minoring in Economics. Did a number of research papers on topics along these lines. |
Why does Common Core garner so much negativity? | My mom who is a teacher doesn't like it because she teaches in a pretty bad and uneducated area. Most kids are first generation. Having to get them to meet certain benchmarks set at a large level is impossible. She has to work on stuff with them in 6th grade that educated children know by first. creating these standards doesn't help her kids at all. It just sets unrealistic goals.Common core is built upon the idea that students should be taught to think critically rather than just memorize material for tests. On paper that sounds like a good idea, in practice it [leads to some shocking garbage being taught to our children]I heard a complaint from a DJ on the radio the other day. His argument was that they were over complicating the way to teach addition and subtraction, and that the use of the number line made it more complicated than it needed to be, especially when they had to show their work. He basically said that "simple math" is not difficult to do. what he missed though, is that "simple math" is not that simple to someone who has never done it before, and that knowing why it works, is more important than knowing that it works. As someone who didn't know how to do division until 6th grade because "you just divide it" is not a good description of how to do something especially for someone who wants to understand the WHY"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." seemed appropriate', "A lot of people don't understand what it is and what it's all about. They've also been fed a lot of misinformation about it by certain media outlets. |
Why do Ford trucks have manual hubs, but nobody else's do? | I believe that Dodge's, Chevy's, and F150's come with fixed hubs, so the axles are engaged to the hubs 100% of the time. This means that there's extra driveline resistance, so less MPG. They actually make conversion hubs so you can retrofit manual locking hubs to these trucks for an MPG increase. They are manual rather than auto locking hubs, because manual are much more reliable, and you can engage them while stopped. The front and rear wheels have to be spinning the same speed to engage auto locking hubs, so if you are stuck in the snow, the front wheels won't be spinning and can't engage. |
Why space launches always start from a stand still position? | Geosynchronous orbit occurs at 22,300 miles from the earth. Most planes fly around 50,000 *feet*. You're not saving much energy by flying .001% of that distance. In other words, the energy lost due to drag is almost infinitesimal compared to the energy expended to fight gravity Source: I play a shit load of Kerbal Space Program. And the physics are pretty damn close. Alternatively, read some real-world rocket equations. The drag coefficient is hilariously tiny compared to the force of gravity. PS: I should mention that, should an actual ground-to-space spaceplane engine like the SABER system prove to work, once you get up to orbital velocity and altitude, launching a probe to another planet becomes almost a cakewalk in terms of energy expenditure. |
Why do dogs enjoy fetching things? | My 2 year old brother also enjoys fetch a lot, don't think it's a dog-specific thing like hunting.How about because it is fun When I played baseball, my favorite part of the game was chasing after fly balls. Sometimes things can be simple.For the same reason humans like playing fetch with their dogs i'd assume. It's a fun time had with a loving companion. They get to run and get loved on by their human and you get to play with them and love on them and get some loving in return. It exercises them and it's just fun. |
How do people with a lazy eye still see straight regardless of their eye not being centered? | As somebody with lazy eye I can try to answer this. Not everybody with amblyopia aka lazy eye has an eye that is cocked or not straight. Mine only shows in that way when I focus on something too long or when my lazy eye is covered up. The dominant eye does most of my seeing/reading and this is how I see straight. Take your hands. If you're right handed, you can throw stuff, write, etc. better than with your left hand. You can still do stuff with your left hand usually just not as well. |
why are Muslims so hated in America, even if it has been a decade since 9/11? | If you have a bully in your classroom, will the bully stop being a bully if no one in the room is an easy target? The bully will pick on somebody. The rest is relative. 9/11, lesser acts of terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the situation in Israel, lead to Muslims being the best target for American hostility. If it weren't Muslims, these Americans would just go down the list to the next group They'll rationalize their decision, but it's not an action born of rationality. It's an action born of emotion. |
Why are single people without dependents required to pay more in taxes? | They don't pay more. Married people and people with dependents pay less. The Congress decided that there was a positive societal benefit to people getting married, and people having children. So those things got tax breaks. |
Why are smoothbore cannons more prevalent in modern tanks when we previously hailed rifled guns as a large advancement | Rifled guns are good because they cause projectiles to spin, stabilising them and increasing accuracy. But the typical modern armor-piercing tank round is in the form of a long, thin rod made of super-dense material. The thinner the projectile, the lesser the stabilising effect of rotation, so the spin imparted by a rifled barrel doesn't work very well. They use fins instead.Rifling is used to increase accuracy, by making the round spin. nowadays, the computers are advanced and rounds have fins, so rifling is not that big of a benefit. On the other hand, a rifled gun needs sliding rings to fire sabot rounds, and, more importantly, wears out much faster. A smoothbore gun is more reliable and easier to maintainSo the question has been answered. I have a new question: If I went back in time to the reign of the cannon, could I design and build a more modern "complex" cannon bullet for those cannons and potentially change the course of an ancient war?rifled barrels improved accuracy on dumb bullets/shells. improved projectile design has taken care of that, and a smoothbore allows for higher velocity, simpler maintenance, more durability, etc.Challenger 2 tank has a rifled bore and actually hits it's targets.US used 155mm cannons still use rifled barrels.To actually explain it like your 5 The ammunition has changed and now spins itself so rifling isn't needed. With some types of ammo the rifling would wear down quickly making the gun useless and they want to use a whole bunch of different types to get the job done. Here is a picture of common ammo for tanks. _URL_1_ |
Atom Splitting. What role does radioactive material have on successfully splitting an atom? | First, let us establish that within the nucleus of an atom, there are two primary forces pushing against each other, the nuclear strong force and the electromagnetic force. Within the nucleus, all the protons are trying to get away from each other because they are all positively charged, and like charges repel, however this is kept stable by the nuclear strong force, which holds nucleons, like protons and neutrons together. So why do you not really know about the strong force? Because it has a tiny range in which is can really act in. So, what does this have to do with anything? Well, the more protons found within the nucleus of an atom, the stronger the electromagnetic force repelling them is, because more charge = more force. The strong force however, doesn't scale so nicely, so it ends up with the nucleus of higher elements being more unstable, or wanting to break down into something more stable, releasing energy, usually in the form of radiation. The thing is that the strong force only acts in a tiny range, if you can break a nucleus beyond that range, then it will continue pushing each other apart, releasing energy. But there has to be a little energy invested somehow to reach this threshold. So how is this done? By shooting a neutron at it at the right speed. |
why it is currently impossible to use lightning for electricity | If I was you I'd look into how they cope with lightning on the tops of very tall buildings. |
Why do birds never shut up? | You know the Reddit-ism, *doesn't matter, had sex*? That's a big part of it; bird songs are often a mating display. They're also not all that costly: they don't take a lot of energy, and as for revealing a bird's location, well, it reveals that there are songbirds *present,* but that's a risk the birds just have to take. You can't announce your presence to potential mates without also announcing your presence to potential enemies. That sanguine attitude has its limits, though: when there's a more immediate danger- like a cat or a hawk seen nearby, you'll notice the birds tend to shut up.The louder the bird the higher its\' mating chance. If you would habe a higher chance of getting laid by running around screaming \'FUCK ME!!!" you would |
If Judas killed the Son of God and all, why do Christians think he's suffering in Hell? | Christians have a lot of different views on Hell and Satan. One answer would be that Hell is not a place of suffering because Satan pokes at you, but because you're eternally cut off from God. |
Why do water bottles come in 16.9 fl oz. why not make it an even 17? | They're not actually designed to be 16.9 fl oz, they're half liter bottles. Far more of the world uses metric than imperial measurements, so the bottles are a round size in metric units, and then just labeled with the equivalent imperial unit when sold in the US.So what you should take away from this is that America, and its outdated measurement system, is not in fact the center of the world. |
Why is it that even though my car weighs almost 3,000 lbs it still gets blown around like a feather (mild exaggeration) when I'm driving on a windy day? | The wind isn't moving your whole 3,000 lb car. Look at cars in a parking lot; they aren't moving. When a car, like yours, is already moving at highway speed, the wind can affect the direction of that movement. |
Why do we talk weirdly to babies? | Its a lot to do with the tonality of your voice. 'Baby talk' usually uses a soothing type tone which is somewhat reassuring to an infant on an instinctive level. I'm sure there is a scientific post about it somewhere but it's 8am and I'm exhausted.I 'd like to add a little interesting detail. There is some research showing that infant-directed speech contains more *iconic* language ). Iconic language refers to words whose forms in some way *resemble* their referents. In English, iconic words are somewhat limited, but we can point to onomatopoeic words like "splash" or "bark"–they sound like the things they mean. What is interesting about this tendency is that studies have also shown iconic words to be easier to learn ; [Lockwood et al., 2016]). So, it may be that parents use more iconic words with infants because, on some level, they are aware that they are easier to learn. The Imai and Kita paper also reviews some interesting work showing that people will tailor the amount of iconic language they use to the language ability of the listener. exaggerate their iconic properties? This is discussed by [Perry, Perlman, & Lupyan, 2015]) Edit: Am a PhD student studying psycholinguistics.Gees there's a lot of anecdotal comments here. I can't speak from all disciplines, the psychological literature is extensive on this and the general consensus is that it DOES help with language acquisition. We stress important words and important parts of words during IDS , keep baby's attention better, and carries emotional cues. Here's a decent review article on it that's public access. There's plenty more but many are behind pay walls. _URL_16_ Just to be clear, IDS refers more to the sing-song-y, higher pitched and exaggerated way we talk to babies. Not necissarily using nonsense words or poor grammar. |
why do professional movies look so different from home movies | iirc most hollywood films are shot at something like 20-30 FPS while most modern cameras run at 60 FPS, which changes how they look dramatically. i'm not a film expert so obviously there's more to it |
The USPS is struggling financially and therefore eliminating Saturday deliveries, while UPS and FEDEX are doing just fine. Why doesn't the USPS try and model itself after them? | The USPS is like a 20-year old Chinese guy. He moved out and has to make his own money, but at the same time, he can't make any decisions without his parents agreement . His parents do not give him allowance, so he has to make money working. He can't do his work well, cause his parents are basically poopooheads. Also he's way too nice and afraid to lose his friends, so he has a piggy bank with way too much money in it. |
How do animals other than humans handle periods? | From what I know, wild bats and primates have a much shorter bleeding period in their cycle which probably helps keep the predator attraction down. Some bats actually only menstruate after coitus , while others do it with a regular cycle much like humans. I found [this] study that goes into some detail about one type of bats with a hormonal menstrual cycle that was interesting. |
Why do we avoid raw meat when japan consumes it so often? | I'm not sure about Japan, but I know Europe irradiates their food which makes it a lot safer. Unfortunately here in the US, we have an aversion to anything that has to do with radiation and would rather risk sickness instead |
Why/How can states simply ignore the Supreme Court's rulings? | The way Federal systems are set up, the higher levels of government can override the lower levels, but they can't actually tell the lower levels what the lower levels can *say* happens. So a state can say x, Federal says y, it means y happens, but it doesn't delete x wholesale . A great many states in the US still have state constitutional bans on gay marriage - they're simply no longer enforceable following this year's Supreme Court ruling. You might want to keep a law on the books to make a point about how you think things should be, or so that you can immediately start enforcing it if a later court ruling reverses an earlier one. Interestingly, Canada does allow Provinces to ignore higher laws in some instances - the Charter of Rights and Freedoms contains a 'notwithstanding clause', which basically says the Federal law can be ignored, so long as the Provinces write into their law that notwithstanding its incompatibility, they're doing it anyway . |
Why do hippos in captivity always seem so friendly and docile, while wild hippos all seem like savage murders with nothing to lose? | What's your experience with wild hippos? Probably entirely through television while you have seen hippos in the zoo first hand for 15-20 mins. A TV programme focused on the docile behavior of a hippo is pretty boring in comparison to the occasions they are more aggressive. Dozens of hours of footage are cut down to the most exciting bits. They spend most of their time eating and napping pretty much.Keyword: "seem". They are not. They are just a tad more accustomed to the presence of humansWho Knew that Reddit had so many hippo experts?Because you are not in the cage with zoo hippos. They would chew you for fun and hold you under water for giggles.We just went to the aquarium in Camden, NJ on Saturday. They have two hippos there. They said that the two that they have were born in captivity, so they haven't learned to be territorial. They're also female. Female hippos are less aggressive than males. Even so, they always keep barriers between the handlers and the animals. |
How come an ant can fall 20 times its body length and end up unharmed, but people can't? | On a related note, you can't kill an ant by dropping it from any height, because it's terminal velocity isn't large enough to hurt it. Since the force of gravity is smaller, the drag force plays a larger role in slowing the ant down.f=ma An ant falling has very little mass, so not much force |
why aren't buildings built hexagonal? | Because that serves no benefit while making it considerably more difficult and expensive to build. Roads aren't plaid out to accommodate the shape so you'd have to waste space on square/rectangle lots. You'd spend more time making 60-degree cuts instead of working with 90-degree angles. Furniture, etc. would also have to be custom made to accommodate the odd angles of interiors. So you'd end up spending more to build a building with less square footage, which is a lose/lose proposition. |
Why is spending in the last week of a month important to businesses? | Imagine it's November. Your parents tell you that the more chores you do before Christmas, the more presents Santa will bring you. To start with, you do a few chores, thinking you'll get loads of presents. But you soon get bored, and go back to cleaning your room once a week . But then, a week before Christmas, you realise that you haven't done many chores, and Santa won't bring you many presents. You decide to spend the last week doing as many chores as you can, so you can get as many presents as possible. It's a bit like that with businesses. With the Santa scenario, you have a deadline of Christmas, and as the deadline approaches you go all-out to meet get your chores done. Well, businesses analyse their spending and income on a monthly basis, so as the end of the month draws near, everyone goes all-out to sell as much as they can and spend as little as they can, so the monthly figures look as good as possible.Okay so while some of these answers are correct depending on the situation the business is in For medium size business this is why they spend in the last quarter. With all the forecasts done they are now able to accurately determine realized profits. However most companies will either give out bonus or put money back into the company to lower their profits. Why would somebody want to lower their profits you ask? With a lower amount of profit comes a lower amount of taxes. Alot of the spending has to do with tax planning for the next fiscal year. |
Why is tinted windows in most states illegal all together? | You're right. A layer of plastic tint film on a window isn't going to do anything against bullets. That's actually pretty funny. The real reason is that it decreases visibility, so it's best to just ban it so it doesn't contribute to accidents. |
What causes the burning sensation on your tongue when you drink a very cold carbonated drink? | The bubbles themselves is what's causing the burning sensation. Either through the rough action of the bubbles grinding against your tongue, or bubbles bursting and creating heat through a process called cavitation. Not the acidity, or pH.I reckon it’s the bubble action that is doing this. The less fizzy a drink is the less it burns. Less fizz = less bubbles. Simples. |
Why can you drop bugs from 7+ feet and it does no damage to them | A better way to look at it is that things don't scale up. If you made a human size version of the bugs and dropped them from a proportional hight they would die. Small mass Wind resistance Small hight", 'Less mass = less impact force. In other words the bigger they are the harder they fall. |
What is it about today's technology that prevented it from being invented 50 years ago? | > Instead of going from 200 to 400, why not proceed on to 800, 1600, 3200, etc? Price, scale, economy, viability. Making a microprocessor in 1985 was a lot more expensive than making a microprocessor in 2010. People *did* do the things you suggested, but they ended up with Cray supercomputers that cost millions of dollars. A Cray 1 was equivalent in processing power, roughly, to an iPhone 5. An iPhone requires a number of technologies that simply did not exist 50 years ago. Not just the obvious stuff like touch screens, but also the technology to build the factories that build touch screens. The same goes for processors, memory, camera, radios, everything that makes an iPhone. Besides the hard stuff, there's software. The iPhone depends on computer science, programming languages, and paradigms that had to be developed. In short, if scientists 50 years ago really wanted to invent an iPhone - let's assume they know exactly what they want from the start, which is a big assumption in itself; well, they would have to invent all the technologies that go into that, including all the science and research upon which the technology is based. Yes, they could have done it. It would have taken them 50 years :)", 'Moore's Law was just an observation from a professor that they double in speed, but the law is unraveling as we're reaching the limit of how much we can fit on a chip and other considerations like heat dissipation get in the way. Anyway, your argument is flawed because if technology could have been invented faster, it would have been. Scientists aren't just arbitrarily restricting their progress. They don't say "Wow, we just invented X! WAIT A SECOND .We could have just invented X^2 instead!" |
Why was there an outrage when Colbert Report tweeted something about Asian community but not when almost the same thing was covered on the Colbert Report | There is no outrage, only a few people looking to be offended doing so and a lazy media outlet writing a linkbait article. They don't realize the Stephen Colbert persona is an act. |
In politics what is 'the center'? When people say that Obama is right of center, what exactly is center referring to? | _URL_1_ Great website explaining why left/right isn't entirely appropriate. Lets you take a test to see where you stand compared to all sorts of political leaders, both alive and dead.Those espousing that "left |
Why do I cough when I'm sick and awake but don't when I'm asleep? | I don't have a real answer to this, but how do you know that you don't sleep cough? |
why is Britain so stuck on holding onto Northern Ireland and not relinquishing control? | Because through think and thin we shall defend the democratic will of the people, the majority of the Northern Irish want to be in union with England, Wales and Scotland not the Republic and as such the PIRA can bomb our towns and assassinate our politicians but we won't bend nor bow to the ilk that use violence to subvert the democratic will. Should the people of Northern Ireland vote by the majority to leave the UK it will be a sad day but they will go, to inderpendance or Ireland would be upto them and while the Nats call for referedna when the unionists say we will call your bluff the nats back down knowing they'll lose as they did in 1973. Why is there a difference? How would you feel if the land you lived on was ceded to another nation, a nation that has conections to terrorists that went around knee capping people that didn't meet their demands or where found guilty of talking to the RUC . The Irish Republic is a very catholic near theocratic nation with respect to many laws in a dangerous way that kills people , would you want in if it weren't you're religion? |
What are Tesla cars, and why are states trying to ban them? | Does anyone know the reasoning why car manufacturers can't sell directly to the public? Why did dealerships even come about? |
Why are Americans needing to crowdfund disaster relief efforts whenever they occur (Katrina, Sandy, Harvey)? Does the US really not have money aside for such things? | I have a feeling that much of that relief effort is based on reducing the feelings of impotence that those of us witnessing the events associated with Harvey from afar feel. I know that I sleep better knowing that the $50 I donated is helping those affected by the storm even though it's clearly only a drop in the bucket. Additionally, while taxpayers usually end up paying for the majority this stuff via appropriation bills in the long run, there's little immediate response set up beyond the very basics to ensure survival - so the things that maintain the cultural standard of living that the victims are used to are often not immediately forthcoming short of crowdfunding sources. |
Why does wifi have seemingly random "slow days"? | Actual ELI5. You know how walkie talkies have the dials on the top to choose a channel? You and your buddy select the same channel to talk to each other. If someone else were to set up on that same channel, and talk to their buddy, randomly throughout the day you'd have issues talking with your friend because the other pair are talking. Wifi works in the same way, only you can't hear the other pair talking. Also a lot of the channels overlap with each other, channel 1 will cause some disruption for channel 2. For the actual tech support you didn't want, if you have cool neighbors discuss with them about coordinating channels so you don't overlap. If not you could also look into a 5ghz connection, which works with completely different wavelengths that don't overlap. |
Why the US national debt is such a bad thing, and what happens if it goes up/down | In a very general, not-entirely-accurate sense: imagine you can't pay rent. You borrow money from a neighbor to pay this month's rent. Next month, you are short once again and you have yet to pay off your previous debt, so you keep borrowing money from this neighbor. This cycle keeps happening so: your neighbor eventually stops lending you money, so you have to find a new neighbor to mooch off of ORyour neighbor eventually calls in the debt, and if you can't pay it back, then stuff happens you probably don't want. So, in the case of the US, if any country we've borrowed from called in the debt, then the shit could hit the fan in a number of ways I don't think anyone's quite sure of. Source: my parents used to work in Congress, my dad fairly high up, and his explanation involved a worse-case scenario of China complete shutting down the US somehow. I don't think that was entirely accurate but you get the idea. EDIT: formatting |
What are the claims against Global Warming? | The majority of greenhouses gases aren't made by humans. Some estimates say 99% of the greenhouse effect is non-human. |
Why is Sharks Fin singled out for consumption bans, while other delicacies, such as Foie Gras, are left alone? | Is Foie Gras cruel and sadistic? A quick web search supplies this: _URL_0_ But as /u/bguy74 says, the ban is less about cruelty and more about endangerment. Edit: OK, I thought I'd better put more effort into this as a top-level comment. I don't think foie gras is any more cruel than most factory farming methods. The animals are killed, and then the liver is removed, and other useable meat is also taken. With shark finning, the sharks are caught, the fin removed, and then they're returned to the sea alive, where they will eventually die from a combination of blood loss and loss of mobility. If sharks were farmed and killed in a conventional way, then I don't think that most countries would have a problem with the practice. |
why will youtube show people dying but freak out over nudity even non sexual nudity? | You're not a U.S. resident, are you? We love our gut-spilling killing; but naked sex? Eww. |
Why does sex take so long? Why doesn't the male simply insert his penis, deliver the goods, and then withdraw? Why all this thrusting? | Many animals do simply copulate nearly instantly . Others have a longer mating, sometimes locked together to prevent another male from mating with the female until some time has passed. Some other animals seem to have a penis that's good at removing sperm from the vagina of the partner, which means if multiple matings occur whoever goes next has a better chance of fertilizing the egg. |
how the SOPA act will ruin sites like Wikipedia and Reddit? | You own a storage complex and rent out storage sheds. As long as you follow some common sense rules, you are not liable for what people store in their sheds. So, for the most part, you're agnostic to what people keep in their sheds -- as you should be. A neighboring business brokers bikes. These bike brokers have been struggling ever since someone invented BikeCloner2000. These bike brokers bought powerful friends and together crafted laws that favor their business. They've made it illegal to own cloned bikes. Under current law, if your bike-broker neighbor accuses shed #101 of possessing a cloned bike, you have to remove any bike that resembles that clone from shed #101 and place it into escrow until the issue is sorted out. If shed #101 needs their bike for a race tomorrow, too bad so sad. Even if it turns out not to be a clone, they have to wait until it clears escrow. Under SOPA, you will now be liable for any cloned bikes in your sheds. You will be required to observe every move-in and visit to the sheds to ensure no bikes are clones. How will you know if it's a clone? Figure it out. On top of that, if somehow people keep sneaking stolen bikes into the sheds: tough shit. The feds will just remove your storage complex's postal address so nobody can mail or find you. |
Why does time (seem?) to speed up when we are happy? | My pet hypothesis is that having fun means you're probably not going to die any time soon, so your brain plays loosey goosey with those memories and doesn't store them very well. So basically you just don't remember the time passing completely. |
Why do your ears itch when you have a sore throat? | I have never experienced this but my best theory would be the link between your ears and your pharynx which could be part of your sore throat. . Basically this tube connects the inner ear to the pharynx and irritation of the area could irritate the tubes and give the sensation of itch. |
How can you protect a base on the moon from meteor impacts? | Manned bases on the Moon or Mars would have to be underground *anyway* to protect the inhabitants from the lethal radiation flux, so you'd only have to worry about the big ones, which are rare. |
How come the southern hemisphere doesn't get as much snow as the northern hemisphere? | Look at the where all the land is in each hemisphere. With the northern hemisphere you have land that's actually close to the North Pole, while most of the land in the southern hemisphere is closer to the Equator. New Zealand, Tasmania and the southern tip of South America are the closest you can get, you have to sail the rest of the way to Antarctica. Meanwhile its possible to drive from North America or Sibera to the North Pole without setting foot on a boat.I might be wrong on this, but I believe my science teacher telling me that it was because there was so much more water in the southern hemisphere. Water heats up and cools much slower than land because it is a poor conductor of heat. Because of this, the land rarely gets cold enough to snow. . |
Why are we cool with moldy cheese but freak out over moldy bread? | There's a great program on Netflix called Cooked, they've got a super episode about the relationship between humans and mold/fungus that will make you appreciate both. Check it out!", 'A thing I am not seeing mentioned is mycelium . In a hard cheese visible mould can be trimmed one inch in on all sides and this will remove the entire organism. In a soft cheese or bread, there is no guarantee that the mycelium has not already spread throughout and thus it is no longer safe for the public and/or you . E: - for /', "At least in my experience, it is because cheese seems much less porous than bread. I can just cut the mold off of cheese and eat what is underneath, where as mold on bread seems to spread to the inside and throughout. Edit: I know this is not really the case, and mold is more than just on the surface. Im just pointing out what we can choose to ignore and what we won't. |
What would happen when 2 objects with mass collide head-on while travelling at 3/4ths the speed of light? | This is what's inside the Large Hadron Collider, for objects called Protons. Larger objects would be even more dangerous and the energy released would likely damage everything nearby. |
Why do some drivers stay 50-100 yards back in bumper to bumper traffic. | I'd like to turn the question around: ELI5: Why do some people insist on making the commute to work worse than it already is by accelerating like they want to leave Earth's gravity well when they can see the cars 50 feet in front of them are not moving AT ALL? Really, leaving some space is just the reasonable thing to do, everything else is being impatient and makes the jam worse, if anything. It's also less safe and more stressful. |
Why do people still use i3 and a lot of i5 CPU when i7 is available? | Kind of the same reason people drive cars that both do or don't have leather interiors, 4-wheel drive, automatic transmission, etc. The i3 and i5 are cheaper, and most casual use tasks don't really need that much CPU power. |
Why do people take the time to make computer viruses? It seems like a lot of work just to be a jerk, do they make money? How? | Sometimes they're doing it because the government employs them to do so and they see it as their patriotic duty to make centrifuges in Iran blow up. ", 'Viruses take advantage of mistakes in computer programs. They’re used by criminals for the same reason as other forms of crime. Usually to earn money, occasionally for ideological reasons. People can make money finding those mistakes and selling them. Sometimes they are good people who sell the mistake to the people who created the program. Sometimes they sell to the highest bidder, often to people who make viruses. Sometimes the person will create the virus themselves. Some will use your computer to do work that earns them money kind of like slavery. Some will collect information that can be sold for money kind of like burglary. And some will hide your information and try to sell it back to you kind of like kidnapping. People who aren’t in it for the money might do it for the challenge, to see their work spread and get talked about, or even to do damage to property. |
Why doesn't a venomous snake get sick/die if it eats a prey in which it injected its venom? | In addition to the first two answers, 'venomous' is not only a property of the venom, but also of the victim. Nothing is venomous in isolation. If the victim is unaffected by the venom, it's not venomous. I don't know much about snakes, but some venomous animals are immune to their own venom. |
The difference of the CPU architecture of a smartphone versus that of a PC. | They are fundamentally the same thing and work identically. The difference is that a smartphone CPU is heavily scaled down in virtually every aspect. They are usually clocked at a much lower frequency and contain less cores and transistors. This is necessary because they need to use far less energy and more importantly put out less heat which can damage components. Unlike PC's, mobile devices don't have the luxury of using heatsinks and/or fans to cool their CPU's down so they have to compromise with size and speed. |
Why are the Koch Brothers evil? | I wouldn't call them evil. They're hardcore conservatives that fund a lot of hardcore conservative groups and initiatives. Many times these groups try to intentionally deceive voters. For example, they send out mailers to potential voters with opposing political opinions that intentionally include incorrect information about where and when to vote. There's a large effort underway right now to make laws in many states that would restrict voter turnout and rights, particularly for poorer voters. Groups funded by the Koch brothers are highly involved in this initiative. |
WhenⅠget a headache, what is actually hurting? Is it my skull, my brain, tissue? What?? | Your brain doesn't actually have the equipment to hurt, it simply can't do it. The pain of a headache can come from a wide variety of sources that *Do* sense pain. Your eyes, muscles, sinuses, and so on. It's not a specific symptom of a specific problem. |
Why is moving one of the most stressful things you can do, and what happens to the brain and body when you move? | take a look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs. the need for shelter is pretty fundamental to a person feeling secure, and therefore less stressed. _URL_0_ |
How to know or explain how the moon landing isn't fake? | Russia was monitoring the launch just as closely as the US. At the time the US and Russia were not exactly getting along. It would have been in Russia's best interest to show evidence if it was fake. |
Please Eli 5. Cold war. | Imagine two guys, Joe and Bob, who are huge rivals. They've been rivals since they were kids, and as they got older, their rivalry grew into a bitter fear and almost hatred. However, no matter how bad their animosity, it wasn't like they could just outright try to kill each other. Instead, they end up engaging in all sorts of one-upsmanship while talking a big game. They get their friends and acquaintances to not patronize each others' businesses. They have friends put bad reviews online. Their kids are on competing high school sports teams, and they egg their kids on if they get into fights . Bob blows all of his cash buying expensive houses and expensive suits. Joe can't stand this, so he starts buying expensive cars so that he can keep up in this display. Eventually, Bob blows so much of his cash buying expensive stuff that he starts to go broke. Eventually, the cold war ends with the two agreeing that it was silly and getting out of hand. The two aren't exactly best buds, and Joe's friends and Bob's friends don't exactly have the easiest time hanging out together, but over time these things just sort of petered out. |
Why do you need to use a No. 2 pencil on scantrons? | As one who found out midway through her SATs circa 2001 that she was using the only #1 pencil she'd ever encountered in her entire life and proceeded to sh*t a brick .I wish I'd known all of this. |
Why do we close our eyes when kissing? Is this innate or learned? | Sometimes I open my eyes to check if my SO is opening her eyes, if she is we laugh and I ruin the moment if she's not I close my eyes and continue. |
Why do office buildings leave their lights on all night long | As well as the valid reasons listed, I've worked in plenty of offices where the lights were left on simply because no one turned them off |
Why Jews are/were discriminated against. | Briefly, - Originally the Jews came to Europe and lent money to people and charged high interest when being paid back. The Christian Church believed that lending money was immoral and that if you wish to help people financially you should give without intention of receiving. Also, charging interest was seen as extortion and unfair. This led to the stereotypes of Jews being greedy.- Jews have always and still always generally support each other but not others. Jewish business's often will support other jewish business's but not other groups of people. They like to to help other jews but not others.- People often say that they have no real homeland and they are hated for the same reason people hate other immigrants = they are outsiders.- People think that Jewish people have low morality and don't care about the morality of the countries they are in and destroy they culture of the countries of others because they have no homeland themselves. For example, most porn companies are jewish owned. There are many more reasons but this is the jist of it", 'The church blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus. Therefore all Jews are guilty. This led to centuries of abuse. The Inquisition in Spain Pograms in Russia & Poland. And of course the nazi's "final solution" |
Why do some people lack the ability to explain things simply? Expecially if they are knowledgable. | Depends on what it is. Simple questions can lead to complex answers, usually because the asker has no idea what they asked is not as simple as they believe. Other complex topics, may be broken down easier for laymen and provide for a decent framework with little effort. The problem usually lies in what people believe to be simple and complex; rarely do ones expectations line up, especially when they don't know. Asking also leads to further questions. |
if Pulse was packed full, why can't people literally charge at the shooter and stop him? | That would take coordination and a willingness of a lot of people to be shot when they could be trying to hide instead. Altruism isn't exactly a common human characteristic. |
How did humanity survive millennia of smoking and drinking during pregnancy if they are bad for fetuses? | I think you may be associating any use of alcohol or smoking with a poor outcome in the fetus. Not all women who use those substances will give birth to children with birth defects. In fact, low amounts of alcohol in pregnancy has been found off and on to be safe. It is the use of large quantities that causes issues. The majority of the human population uses alcohol in moderation so most children born to mothers who drank wouldn't have birth defects. In fact, the connection wasn't made until the 70s and was only done so with alcoholic mothers. |
Why are student loans almost necessary to attend college? | They aren't, if you have the cash lying around. Most people don't have that kinda cash, so they need to use loans to pay for it. |
What does the westboro baptist church actually believe in? | They're essentially more cult than church. Fred Phelps is the leader although I understand the role has passed down the heirachy a little due to his fading health. They believe that the world outside their church and narrow definition of the bible is damned and is destined to go to hell. Not just non-christians, EVERYONE. There was a Louie Theroux documentary on them a few years back that featured one of the daughters of the church explaining that if she was hit by a car or something and died there would be no sympathy for her, since she had obviously displeased god for such a thing to happen.Hatred. I drive past their compound when visiting my parents. They hate everyone. Right now, the sign on the compound is about how the super bowl is evil. Whatever is going on in the news/pop culture, they will find a way to hate on it. They just want attention. |
Why do certain races of people tend to do similar lines of work? | Everyone needs to make a living-- including immigrants and the descendants of immigrants that may be a different race. Certain things, such as the taste of food from a person's native country can be exported-- and implemented in another county in the form of a business like a restaurant. Let's take Mexicans for example-- would you trust a Russian to make a perfect Enchilada? Would you trust a Mexican who's never tasted curry before to know the correct proportion of spices in a Tikka Masala? In the UK, we have a large population of native Indians and they're usually pretty business-savvy people that will run a business as a family-- such as a corner shop, newsagents or an Indian restaurant. Indians have acclimatized pretty well to the UK, such that the UK's favourite dish is the Chicken Tikka, although I'd venture that the taste between a British Tikka and one at a curryhouse in India may be wildly different. As to Nail polishing, it's a fairly easy skill to learn and teach . In a western country, it's a luxury service so the chance of making a good profit is pretty high-- especially for those with the best skills.Also as you tend to deal with strong chemicals on a daily basis and it's not a top wage earner when compared to university graduates, it won't be that attractive to the native-born ethnicity, so immigrants will fill the gap-- same with people that pick oranges in Florida. Low top end earning potential means most people will look for another job. |
82% of British police officers don't want the UK police to be armed - why is this? | Built into this question is the assumption that a police officer is more like a bouncer than a librarian. When a librarian needs to settle down rowdy patrons, he or she shushes them, relying upon a combination of social pressure and personal authority to restore order. Under very few circumstances would the librarian be the one who is called upon to use violence to restore order, in a violent situation, they would call security, or the swat team. When a bouncer needs to settle down rowdy patrons, he or she will often have to employ violence. They also prefer to use social pressure and authority, but there is a more limited expectation of compliance with a bouncer--often they must enforce their authority with their fists. You've made a leap in your belief about policing-that it is intrinsically a violent job, akin to being a bouncer, and that a police officer will predominately rely upon force to restore order. That is generally not an officer's preferred tool . This isn't a British thing, all officers of the law would prefer there be no shooting. British officers believe that by not carrying weapons, they signal that they are here to keep order without violence. They reject the notion, implicit in your question that there is no cost to signalling that you are ready to harm citizens. If this was fancy-talk instead of ELI5, we'd say they are [trying to avoid Anomie]. |
Why do a girl's breasts first develop during puberty, and not during a woman's pregnancy? Would it be too much stress on the body to develop breasts while pregnant? | I believe what develops during puberty is the fat tissue. Breasts are like lungs, the ducts branch into smaller and smaller ones, while space between them is filled with filler tissue. In brests those are milk ducts and fat tissue. The latter develops early, and milk glands develop only when they 're needed.Most animals do not develop breasts until they become pregnant and they shrivel back up to nothing after the "baby" is weaned. This shows that it is not too much stress to develop breasts when pregnant, but notably they don't have milk until the woman is ready to give birth.In addition to what others have said, one thing to remember that in a primitive society, woman were pregnant for much of the time they were fertile. It wasn't graduate from college, get married, and wait until we are in a good place. It'ss babies, babies, babies, 15-35, have as many as you can, hope a few survive. From an evolutionary perspective, might as well grow those breasts early, you are going to need them for a while. |
Why does whacking the remote when it's low battery actually work. | If the contacts are good, it is possible that whacking the remote doesn't actually make a difference. I've found that with some batteries, even when they die, if you let them sit for a short amount of time, you will get an additional bit of life out of them. Maybe whacking the remote lets the batteries rest for long enough that they will work for a few more button presses? |
Why is Detroit seen as the "bad" part of America | Detroit was thriving but there was a suburbization factor _URL_0_ where many cities in the USA and around the world started to leave the city centers. What happened to Detroit was that there was a big migration of poor blacks from the south to the north. Detroit had a huge influx of poor jobless blacks and suburbanization was pushing white people out of Detroit. If you look at the greater detroit area with all the suburbs to account for suburbinzation. Greater Detroit never really declined until way later but when you look at the city of Detroit they were heavily impacted. The car industry was doing poorly sure but the job left detroit and only went to the suburbs. So you then look at the city of Detroit. What did they do? Did they drive the homeless-ghetto poor blacks out of the city? Absolutely not. Did they do nothing different than they were doing before and were pretty much neutral? Nope. Did they raise taxes and spend a hugely improportional amount of tax money for black people, make policies to give poor black people jobs before other people just because they were black? In order words did they have highly racist policies that benefitted non-tax paying poor blacks and in doing so make it it crazy to keep your businesses and homes in Detroit? Absolutely. The first black mayor of Detroit was a racist whose racist policies pushed white people and jobs out of the city but what's beneficial was that Coleman was very fiscally conservative and kept the budget balanced so that despite the city going to the shitter he maintained it Once he was gone though that was the end of that and Detroit started to slip. |
Canada's Free Healthcare System | Everyone here seems to be forgetting that Canadian federal income tax rates are on par with American ones, if not lower. However provincial taxes vary from being on par with American ones to being much higher but you get a much much higher rate of return. Those people in California still have to pay for their health insurance on top of their taxes. We also do pay more for just about everything, but I'd rather pay a bit more for things than have to pay big time if I get sick. I don't feel as bad paying $89 a night at the motel 6 in Canada when I realize the housekeeper is making $11 an hour and has healthcare coverage vs getting paid $6 an hour and being uninsured. |
How is it legal for mobile games to almost completely copy other games? | Although I'm sure others have said this, you can't copyright an idea, only an implementation. In the case of flappy birds it wasn't that original anyway, it is really similar to lunar lander which is ancient. But the main point I wanted to make was that even if it did violate copyright, you can only take action on that in the civil courts, and that is very expensive, time consuming and risky, not least because you could end up winning and be unable to actually force your opponent to pay up any money awarded - they may go bankrupt or just disappear. |
how it is possible for someone like David Blaine to hold their breath for 17 minutes | Would temperature have anything to do with how long someone can hold their breath? I believe protective hypothermia/suspended animation keep cells from degrading to a stage of necrosis - would a low temperature increase the cell's ability to retain oxygen, or have I got the whole concept entirely wrong? |
How did the Germans gain so much power during World War 2? | Power is a very ambiguous term. What do you mean? Military power? Political power within the country, or political power with respect to Europe? Or the 'power' of their empire? Militarily, they didn't have many advantages over their enemies. Their primary advantage was superior tactics. Their airforce was utilized well to give their units tactical advantage in securing key strategic points, and they utilized tanks and motorized divisions to spearhead offensives, rather than to support infantry. This allowed them to 'Blitzkrieg' Poland, France, the Low Countries, Yugoslavia and Greece and control most of Continental Europe. When they came up against an enemy that had both the numbers and the territory to recover from it's mistakes , they were far less effective. It's arguable the German Army of WW1 was superior to the German army of WW2 in terms of equipment and training, relative to the other combatants. |
Why is it good for you to raise your heart rate through aerobic exercise but not through caffeine, stress, anxiety, etc? | Never been a smoker. I have given up heavy drinking and being grossly obese - and I am now diabetic due to that carrying that weight - even though it is long gone. So I have a boatload of stuff I had to give up so I can be around as long as I can for my family. My father was a kind man but was the center of his own world. If it didn't please him, he didn't do it. Growing up I got to watch my father value the bottle more than his family. He did kick that when I was in college - for which I am proud of him. When 12 years ago, he had first signs of COPD doctor told him to give up smoking or else. The 'else' you know. He then spent the last 12 years of his life valuing cigarettes over his family. He spent the last two years of his life avoiding his family because if he got a cold, he would end up in the hospital. Addiction is hard to break - even f-ing hard - no doubt. F-ing hard but not impossible. Too many folks use something being f-ing hard as an excuse so they don't have to stop their addiction. |
Our Bodies Need both Salt and Water, so Why is Drinking Saltwater Deadly? | Here's the thing. You need both salt and water to live. Seawater contains both - but it's a lot saltier than blood can be without you dying. Your kidneys can't dump salt out of your bloodstream without enough water to wash it out with; they do what they can, dumping most of your spare water into urine and taking some of the salt with it, leading to a raging thirst as you are now dehydrated. This prompts you to drink more water. Unfortunately, if the only water you have is seawater you've just added even more salt to your problems. And very soon, you'll be *even thirstier*, prompting you to drink even more seawater Horrible way to die. |
How did Central Park - a large, highly valuable piece of land in an over developed city like NY come to exist | In addition to the other answer, remember it's in the developers of current park side property to maintain that quo and not develop it, it would ruin their values. So, yes it could go to some developer, but the political and economic clout of all the developers and owners surrounding the park would far outweigh them. That's on top of the public and civic support for the park that would outweigh any one developer |
Why does engine coolant use a liquid instead of a gas. | It's all about heat capacity and operating temperature. Absorbtion and adibiatic swing let you get less than ambient temperature, that's awesome for cooling things very cold. Radiators let you rapidly dissipate heat that is significantly above ambient temperature. That is awesome for cooling down very hot things so they don't get way too hot. Gas refrigerants are good at the adibiatic cycle, this makes them awesome for compressor-based coolers. Relatively speaking water has a massive heat capacity. That is very awesome for moving large amounts of heat efficiently around. It's all about solving the problem most efficiently. Your engine doesn't have to be 0* it just has to be cool enough not to break down. For that a combination of great dissipation of high temperatures and coolant with epic heat storage capacity is a winner. |
How am I supporting communism by shopping at walmart? | Communism? I'd say you'd be supporting capitalism. You'd be supporting those who can leverage a competitive advantage by offering cheaper prices. You'd be supporting free enterprise and competition. If it was communism, the government would own walmart, as well as the mom and pop stores, and neither would exist for profit, but for the reason of a) providing a service of supplying goods and b) providing employment for people.China is communist. Everything Walmart is from China. They sell everything cheap by buying it cheap from China. |
Why is it that Apple can continually post record breaking financial quarters and investors seem to always act like it's the worst thing that's ever happened? | Imagine a child whose parents have dropped hints leading up to Christmas that he'll be getting a bicycle for Christmas. If he opens a wagon or some other toy, it doesn't matter how nice it is, the child is likely to feel misled and dissapointed. The same is true about investors. They price stocks based on their belief in management's ability to meet its own goals for a period of time. If management merely meets the goals, everyone who expected them to exceed the goal will be dissapointed while only those who expected them to not meet the goal will be happy . If the price drops significantly, it means more investors were expecting management to exceed goals than miss. |
In a mixed-race baby, does it matter for the childs' complexity, which parent (sex: father or mother) is colored and which is white? | two people of different skin tones will not always produce a baby with the same skin tone. there is a range of possible skin tone colors for the baby. and it doesn't matter if the mother/father are switched, the possible range will be the same. |
How did milk become such a common drink to have when most of the world is lactose intolerant? | I find it odd that people gag at the idea of drinking human breast milk, which is actually meant for human consumption, but happily drink cow's milk, which is meant for baby cows. |
Nazis in modern day America | Soldier who was conscripted to fight in the war", and "person who was alive in Germany in the 40s". The guys hiding in South America are high ranking officials or war criminals. A HUGE percentage of the population of Germany in the 30s and 40s was involved in the war effort to some extent. No one really blames the 17 year old who was drafted for fighting in the war. They obviously couldn't ALL be tried and prosecuted, and in fact no one would even want to. These guys may be "Nazi's" in a sense, but can't really be compared', "The Nazi Party was not some fringe group. It was the political apparatus of the Third Reich. Telling someone they couldn't immigrate because they were a Nazi would be akin to telling someone from Russia or China they couldn't immigrate because they were a Communist. To function at a high level in the Third Reich, membership in the Nazi Party was almost a requirement after a certain time. Oskar Schindler was a Nazi. Erwin Rommel was a Nazi. Werner von Braun was a Nazi. Membership in the Wehrmacht wouldn't even cause immigration to blink. If you were healthy, male and of the right age during World War II, you weren't given any choice about joining the Wehrmacht. |
How do ants in antholes survive large rainfalls? | not even joking i have an ant hill kinda thing far in my backyard. these recent nights of down pouring i've thought man i should make an eli5 post about how the rain doesnt destroy their tunnels and such. thank you OP. and you too @nerfherdin", 'Ants dig their tunnels with downward slanted shafts to allow for the water to pool in the lowest part of the nest if the water pools at all.Effectively they dig their own drainage tunnelsMy first thought immediately went to how many times I tried to drown ants when I was a kid.. even in a pool they seemed to bite the shit out of me, then backstroke the fuck out of there.How about rabbits? They don't do well with getting soaked and burrow underground. They also can't climb trees to get above flood or near flood conditions.It probably depends on the type but ants can survive for two weeks underwater. I imagine it is mostly drained by thenWhat about gasoline and fire? Does that affect ant hills. |
How come our bodies adapt so we only get the chicken pox once, but we always get the flu and other things? | Chicken pox arrives from a specific, unchanging infection. There are dozens of different kinds of the flu, all of which constantly mutate and change. Same with the cold, its a bunch of different viruses, beating one doesn't beat the literally hundreds of others.Comparing chickenpox and the flu, you do gain immunity from both after you have caught them and your body has caught them off. The big difference is that there is only one form of chickenpox you can catch, so you catch it once, gain immunity, and cannot catch it again. The flu on the other hand is constantly evolving and changing - you can catch one version, gain an immunity from it, but when version 2.0 appears the immunity you gained from the earlier strain is useless is stopping it, and you get the flu again. The way fly vaccines work is that they can choose to inoculate you against many different versions of it, and just choose the most common at that point. This is the reason who you need to get a new injection every year or so, as the new injection inoculates you against newer strains that are now more common than those of the year before. |
Why does digital media cost the same as physical? | The best reason available is retailers. As far as I'm aware, at the moment music is probably the only medium where digital sales have overtaken physical, and even then that was only fairly recently. As such, most people who are selling something depend on physical retailers for more than 50% of their entire business. So let's say someone decides to sell their ebook for half of what its going to sell for on store shelves. Retailers have no incentive at this point to promote, or even sell the book at all, why waste money and space selling something in your store that no one is going to buy as its much more expensive than the alternative? While you might get the people who don't have mobile devices or just don't care, you can't make that audience the backbone of your business. So retailers indirectly and directly put a ton of pressure on publishers to match prices, and they can get away with it because publishers need retailers for the majority of their business.A large part of the cost of producing media goes into the content , not the physical material. That said, I actually do find that with a lot of things, like my textbooks, digital is cheaper than physicalbecause idiots keep paying for it. the price of a product is not the value, it is what people are willing to pay for it. |
Why does grass dominantly cover land on Earth? | I'm going to throw out something else that not a lot of folks are covering. Grass is pretty darned useless except as a food source. Lumber used to dominate the planet before the rise of things that could break down celulose. Trees, and the lumber they produce, were a prime fuel source before the industrial revolution. Europe and Asia in particular were pretty much logged out before we found alternate fuel sources. From building houses, to carts, to fire this stuff was too good to pass up. Grass also just grows so quickly. When you've got a field that goes fallow for a year you'll get grasses and weeds, and a few saplings. Now you plow everything under and the grass has already seeded while the trees were too young. Do this year after year and you'll find that you've systematically removed the breeding population of a species. Substitute forest fires here now. You burn down 10000 acres of land and the first thing that comes back are grasses, which choke out a lot of those young saplings. Grass is like the cockroach of the plant world while trees are the majestic elephants. There's just too much of the grass for the trees to compete in many areas. |
Why do all adverts for watches show 10:10? | One of the reasons I heard is that 10:10 is the position that is less likely to cover some important features of the clock face, such as date windows and, of course, logos. But there's also a lot of other plausible explanations – as this thread demonstrates. |
Why do Americans sound so different now compared to < 1950s? | Early microphones weren't that great. You had to hold very still while speaking and maintain a certain tone because the mics had a poor vocal range. Hence, much of that eras recording you hear may sound much different from how people really talked.Because we all sound more "Hollywood" now. Example: In the 1920s if you lived in the Appalachian region it is entirely possible that you could have grown to adulthood, married, and had children before you ever heard someone speak without an Appalachian accent. If you go to the region today you'll notice a very curious phenomena: Those 70+ are nearly unintelligible, those between 45-70 have strong accents, but due to the influence of the public school system and radio speak fairly standard English, perhaps most amazingly though, those under the age of 20 sound only "vaguely southern" and have little accent at all. TL;DRThe people speaking on TV in the 50's mostly grew up in an age where everyone wanted to sound like their fathers; not Dan Rather. |
How do american football players get head injuries when they wear protective helmets? | Helmets are designed to reduce the likelihood of skull fractures and frankly can't do much more than that. As far as I can tell, there are very few skull fractures in the NFL today. |
If it were possible to fly a space craft into the sun without becoming a giant burnt marshmallow... would the ship crash on the surface, or pass through because it made of gas? | There's gas, and then there is really really dense gas. If we ignore all the temperature issues, consider that your space craft is likely made of metal, let's just assume it is iron. Iron has a density of about 8 g/cm^3. While the *average* density of the Sun is about 1.4 g/cm^3 , the density of the center of the Sun is more like 150 g/cm^3 So, no, you are not just going to fly right through. Or, to ELYA5:While the outer parts of the Sun are fluffy, and you can fly right through, as you get near the center, it is really really really thick and your spaceship won't be able to make it through. Sources: Am an astrophysicist. |
If alcohol is so easy to produce, why doesn't everyone just start making their own liquor companies? | it's easy but time consuming. People pay for NOW! Plus regulation is a bitch to navigate and is also time consuming. |
The difference between Athiest, Agnostic, and Secular | Atheism: There is no god OR I do not believe in god . Atheism speaks to belief, not knowledge. Agnosticism: I don't know OR one cannot know. Agnosticism speaks to knowledge, not belief. Agnostic-atheism: I do not believe in god but I admit that I do not know. Ignostic: What is a god really? How do we define it? Secular: The idea that religious beliefs should be separate from government/legislation/legal policies etc. |
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