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If addiction wasn't an issue, would heroine actually be bad for you?
No, it shouldn't be a big deal if you can carry on your normal life, and can afford to get your fix. Source: been obsessed with Jennifer Lawrence / Katniss Everdeen for a while now.
Is 'Race' a scientifically accurate term to use, given humans have only one species and there are no taxonomic differences amongst them?
A lot of these answers are really not eli5, more like eli_verysmart. I consider myself about as bright as a five year old, let's give it a whirl. Disclaimer, I'm not a biologist. I just play one on the internet. Let's step back from humans for a second and look at another example, dogs. Dogs are an animal species, or race, that has a lot of variety of attributes. Saint Bernards, chihuahuas, and schnauzers are all dogs. They are all considered part of the canine race, even with how much they differ physically. So, to answer your question, no we don't have different races of humans. We have a lot of subspecies of humans, which explains why we have a variety of attributes. Also, not completely related, but here's my racist comment after all that. Dogs are nicer than humans, and humans are smarter than dogs.
Why are cockroaches so hard to kill?
Compressed body form, when you say hard to kill I'm assuming your talking about squishing. A roach can flatten out like a piece of paper and get into crevices or slip into something tight. So when you stomp I think the object used isn't always rigid flat and the roach survives in the space or flattens enough to dampen the impact.
Landfill. Surely it's a really really bad idea to fill holes with a partly rotting, gassy, mix of crap? Won't we run out of places to put it?
No, it's a reasonable way to dispose of solid waste. There is far more land than is needed to support solid waste disposal for hundreds of thousands of years.The landfills here get filled over and then holes drilled in to the rubbish. Then they put pipes coming vertically out of the rubbish to vent the gas. So I suppose in a few hundred years or less the rubbish disintegrates and the gas escapes.
How or where do radio stations get their music?
For several weeks now my buddy has had a two hour radio show every Saturday on an independent radio station. It's his responsibility to find and purchase the music to play on air and online. This is obviously very different from your standard Clear Channel broadcasting.
Can watch HD porn but EVERYTHING else buffers
Basically, the porn industry created broadband and fast streaming. Streaming porn was available years before YouTube or any other video streaming service. Downloading hundreds of images and videos at blazing speeds was done by the porn industry years before anyone else. Also, porn generally isn't watched the same as normal video. People generally click through to random points in the video timeline, whereas with normal video people generally start at the beginning and watch straight through to the end. That means they're compressed and encoded pretty differently.
Are the giant LED panels on every tough guy's pickup truck just the equivalent of a rack of roof beams, or is it something else?
When I work as a welder's helper we can be on the road 4 hours before the sun comes up. Driving on shitty oilfield roads is a lot safer when you can see farther up the road and anticipate hazards. These lights make a huge difference.
If there's only so much gold available in the world, why does Goldschlager and edible gold flakes for baked goods exist. Aren't we depleting our supply?
Are you asking why aren't there laws that make it illegal for private use/ownership of gold? I'd point out, there's only so much of *anything* in the world. Land, iron, food, water, anything.
Why did car trips seem so long when I was a kid?
As a child you are small, so traveling long distances are longer compared to yourself. Imagine the length between steps when a 5 year old is walking, and then compare it to that of a 20 year old's.
How close is the reproduction of classical music (Mozart, Beethoven etc) we hear today is to that of the actual music composed ?
It's kind of impossible to know anything about what classical music sounded like before the advent of recording technology because interpretation style is subject to perpetually changing fashion. Even within our own lifetimes normative classical music interpretation styles have changed so radically that we sometimes find performances from a few years back to be laughable. I suspect the same was true within the lifetimes of Mozart, Beethoven etc.
Why aren't urinals shaped better to prevent splashing?
In the army out towards Iran we pissed in pvc tubes hammered into the sand. Seemed to work fine. Never pissed on my own dick if I remember right. Shit in sandwich bags, Wagbags, aptly named for when you move them from seat to destination, and burned them in a pit filled with ashes of old breakfasts n dinner wagbags, probably 2500 to 3000 calories a bag, just in case you don't get to eat for a while. I miss it.
The psychology behind a mother blaming her child when said child is being molested/raped by the mother's husband.
Children, the elderly, and the mentally disabled are easy targets to blame for anything because they have little force of persuasion over others. Some people make up their own reality and when able to will tell lies, and manipulate or coerce others into accepting responsibility for things or bad treatment that they don't deserve. These people are usually morally weak, unsure of themselves, and are often being controlled by someone they perceive is more intelligent and capable then they are.
How do modern socialist states deal with the 'free rider' problem?
There are no modern socialist states. If you mean social democracies, they don't need to. The monthly check you get is less than any job you could get. You can live off it, sure. But some of the incentivizing children for the US's welfare queens doesn't really factor in because of the social democracy's systemic approach. You can't just take the money and fail to feed/clothe/take to the doctor your kid.
Why couldnt general Grievous use the force? was he a sith or just a regular cyborg alien who learned lightsaber combat?
Too bad all those enhanced mental processes didn't help him think of interesting dialog in the movie.When I played The Force Unleashed, it said the Emperors Guard,the guys in red, had some use of the force. I dont understand how ..
Why are movies sometimes released on Christmas Day? Wouldn't that lead to lower amounts of money?
I used to work at a movie theater. Christmas morning we'd have a small handful of customers. Come the afternoon or evening shows and all the people show up. Several sellout shows and is one of the busiest days of the year. Thanksgiving being the next busiest I believe. The night shows would have similar attendance to the morning show.
How can old films be remastered in 4K while digital video cannot?
Digital video is made up of pixels, it's a fixed resolution. Many movies today are only 2K, 2048×858 and 1998×1080 . Film is analog, no resolution. 35mm has a rough digital equivalent to 4K. 70mm IMAX like Interstellar have a digital equivalent of 14K-18K, or ~135 megapixels to 225 megapixels.
When collecting DNA from saliva or a cheek swab, how do they know they aren't looking at the DNA from bacteria or bits of food in our mouth?
Because human DNA can be distinguished from non-human DNA. Humans have 46 chromosomes arranged in pairs while bacteria usually have 1 or 2. The chromosome pairs are also arranged in a way that are unique to humans so even if you took a sample from something else with 23 chromosome pairs it still wouldn't look like human DNA.
How Can I Unlock The Front Door To The Apartment Block Where I Live With The Same Key I Use To Unlock My Apartment Door?
It's known as a maison key system. You know how the janitor at school can open all the classrooms with one master key? That means that 2 keys work for a particular classroom door: the teacher's key and the janitor's master key. The same idea applies with the apartment gate, except with possibly dozens of keys that work on that one door. Note that a master key system and a maison key system are two different things: a master key system is one key that will work with many different locks, and a maison key system is one lock that will accept many different keys.
Why is the American power grid so bad compared to other western nations?
If you want a slightly less LI5, more thorough read about the US grid, its shortcomings in the current times and the work that's going on to improve it, [try this NGM article].
Why do we use pillows? Babies/infants/toddlers seem to do just fine without them. What happens, causing us to eventually need to sleep with a pillow?
I don't sleep with pillows. I inevitably end up shoving them away after too long if I try. I like to just be flat on the bed.
Can someone explain to me what FOREX trading is? And why is it gaining a lot of popularity right now?
FOREX is the trading of currencies as opposed to stocks, bonds, and other assets. It operates very similar to the others but it is traded 24 hours and can be done outside of markets as well as in them. Trading currency always been popular. In fact, currency is the most traded asset. It may seem popular right now because of volatility in global markets, which arise from oil, economic growth, politics etc. Countries that are resource-dependent have currencies that fluctuate with resource prices. This leads to opportunities to profit off these fluctuations. Currencies are showing up in the news a lot because there's a lot of uncertainty and many fluctuations are quite large.
Why do I look at and think the shirt is Yellow and White but my friends all clearly say it's Dark Blue and Black?
Tell your friends to not use shitty filters if they are discussing the colour of something. I'm colourblind but I see blue/black.I see black and blue. OP send us a different picture of what you see as absolute black and blue.
Why hasn't a North Korean attempted to assassinate Kim Jong Un yet?
North Korea isn't bad because the leader is bad. It is a horrible place to live because of the Government. If you were to kill Kim Jong Un he would only be replaced by someone just as bad, perhaps worse. Besides, most North Korean's think of their leader as an almost godlike figure. They are told that the rest of the world is a hell-hole, and that Kim is protecting them from the 'Evil' western world. Very few Koreans know the truth.
How do we know that a note is not part of the scale?
It's because you are used to hearing notes in that kind of scale. As you grow up you hear music which is built on the same kind of rules as the music you're playing on your saxophone. When something violates those rules you can hear it and know that it sounds wrong. Now sometimes people do break the rules and get away with it because it sounds new and different to people. This is part of how musical style changes over time. As for where those rules came from, it is a mixture of things. Some notes, because of how sound works, sound good played together or one after the other. Other notes really don't. The rules are based on those observations, mixed together with some very complicated practical problems of how to actually build an instrument which can be played effectively and with other instruments. This is called 'tempering' and it's horribly complicated.
Why do humans have such a horrible sense of smell?
The way I understand it, we as humans don't really rely on our sense of smell for anything extremely important since we have our other senses that do the majority of the work. In a way our sense of smell is kind of devolving, or has been for a long time.
Why has Facebook never had a dislike button until now?
Likes and dislikes are not anonymous and they didn't want to make it easier to be assholes to each other on Facebook.
Why are there so many map projections?
because every projection of 3D object on 2D object have flaws. and it's even more visible when you try to project sphere. there always will be *something* wrong.
Why So many people on reddit hold negative views towards China?
There is the pollution. There are the jobs that left the US and went over there because labor is cheap and environmental laws are lax. The companies there tend to copy our stuff and undercut the prices of locally made products. There is the way they treat Tibet. They prop up North Korea and don't do anything obvious to help the North Koreans.
How can being homeless be made a crime?
This is a hard question. For me, I was homeless for three years, but I tried everything I could to get a job, get a place of my own, and get on my feet. I went from shelter to delete shelter, and sometimes lived in my car or camping in a public park. However, what I noticed while being homeless is that I was a rare individual. A great majority of those in the shelters weren't willing to even try to get jobs or get in their own. And the sad part was that many of them had kids. So, I guess the places that are wanting to make it illegal to be homeless are doing so in an vBulletin effort to stop people from becoming serial shelter hoppers.
When we're trying to fall asleep, why do we fidget?
since the question has been answered, I'll just give helpful advice. If you want to fidget less, clench all the muscles in your body at hard as you can until just before it starts to hurt, and then release them. Start at your toes and work your way up to your shoulders. This will relax them all!", 'Those roll over signals are more powerful than most will imagine. If you lay flat on your back and close your eyes before falling asleep, refuse to react to these urges. You can trick your body into sending you into sleep paralysis without actually being asleep. It will feel narcotic, your body will start to tingle from your feet all the way up to your head. And you will be able to live in your dreams.For the same reason we fidget when we're up and around I guess, to get into the most comfortable position with minimal stress on joints, tendons and muscles, and that no protrusions or agents are irritating the skin. Also to get into an optimal position for temperature regulation while you doze.
Why can't I comprehend what people say to me when there are other people talking in the background?
Mindfulness training may help. It's actually quite easy and seems fairly effective, you can look it up if you are interested.
How do anti-bacterial hand gels/soaps kill bacterial cells but not your own cells?
Skin cells and bacteria cells are built very differently. Because of that chemicals in soap are mostly harmless to us and dangerous to bacteria. Because bacteria cells are much more fragile it doesn't take much to disrupt their inner workings.
How is it possible to have dreams where we believe in completely impossible things until we wake up?
Here's another way to see it: You indiscriminately believe whatever you see. If you're dreaming, you just believe it's real. If you're awake, you take that as reality instead. Really we just automatically take anything we see for reality. If you woke up suddenly as another person with their memories and their surroundings, you'd never notice. The only thing we can really say is that when we're dreaming, we believe that what we see is true. Well, it *is* true - but only within the dream. It just wouldn't be true when awake. But when dreaming we don't even know that we're not awake in the first place, so it's not like we're assuming that what's true in the dream would be true while awake. We're just assuming that whatever we see is just *true*. And this applies to being awake and dreaming alike.
Why was it easy to learn a language when I was younger, but now it is difficult to learn any new language as an adult?
I believe this is a myth; it seems counter-intuitive, but language acquisition is easier when you already have knowledge of grammar, sentence structure, etc. .
Why, in North America, is diesel more expensive than gasoline? I just learned that in Europe gasoline is more expensive than diesel.
14 years ago it was subsidized by the gov't and was cheaper than gasoline. When gas prices started to spike from under $2/ gallon to $4/ gallon, diesel bumped up.higher than gasoline, as it should've bc diesel fuel cost more to produce than gasoline. Asian governments and European gov'ts still subsidize diesel bc tbe trucking industry blah blah blah Anyway, any American who complains about the cost of petroleum products in America should search what tbe rest of the world pays. I pay $8 for one gallon of gas here. $8.
Why are juggalos so hated on reddit (and in general), when female prostitution is viewed as for the most part completely acceptable?
this is the greatest reddit post of all time. OP is either a genius, or the complete opposite of a genius but this is the greatest thing i've ever seen on reddit.
Why are many trains not designed very aerodynamically?
[Bullet trains] are aerodynamically designed but I think you're talking about regular trains. They did try to make regular trains sleeker in the 1930s [like this] but the efficiency gains were offput by how much harder it was to maintain them. So for regular trains how aerodynamic it is isn't the ultimate factor.
If medical marijuana is such a miracle drug, why don't pharmaceutical companies make a pill form of THC? That way patients that can use the drug without the stoner stigma.
There are already a number of drugs on the market related to THC. The closest relative is dronabinol, while the most commonly prescribed is nabilone. They're often used as appetite stimulants and anti-nauseants, especially in cancer patients.
Why does Easter change dates every year?
There's two widely used systems to build a calendar. Our current system, *a solar calendar*, based on the time it takes the earth to go around the sun. The other method, *lunar calendars*, are based on the the time it takes for the moon to complete a cycle. Lunar calendars are much easier to work with because they don't require extensive record keeping or understanding of the sky - you just know that 28 days makes a cycle and 13 cycles is *almost* a year but, over time, these drift out of sync with the seasons. Solar calendars, OTOH, are more consistent & stay in sync with the seasons much better **but** they require more advanced understanding of the sky & record keeping to figure out in the first place. Easter is complicated because it's based on *both* types of calendars. It's the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox .
why are sportspeople more likely to get injured now compared to decades ago?
Several factors: 1. In the NFL guys would play with non-obvious injuries. Concussions in particular, but also strained muscles and lots of things that can only be diagnosed with MRI. 2. In baseball, pitchers throw harder than ever. The Cubs' Aroldis Chapman throws around 2/3 of his pitches at over 100 mph, and there are numerous pitchers who will hit 100mph every night. In 1980 a pitcher hitting 100 mph once would have been the headline of the night. This extra speed means the pitcher's arm is that much more taxed with every throw. 3. In some leagues , players are guaranteed lots of money. If they suffer a career-ending injury, the team still has to pay them, so there's an incentive to push players less hard if it means keeping them in the game.
Why do companies ask for billing address on credit cards? I don't want invoices or anything in the mail
Fraud prevention. They check it against the credit card company's file. A lot of people have their billing address different from their street address . If someone steals their card number, it's useless without knowing the billing address.
How do you protect from a ddos attack?
By hiding your IP. If your IP is known, there are almost no effective measures you can use to combat DDOS attacks short of buying incredibly expensive elite protection that is meant for working companies, not your everyday dude. People can find your IP through various means because it's simply not a hidden thing - one of the most common ways to find a persons IP is through their Skype account which is as simple as typing their account name on resolver sites. The easiest way to protect your IP is to use a VPN, which basically means all your internet traffic goes through a private proxy - therefore anyone would only see the proxy IP and not your real one.
Why famous people seem to date and marry other famous people.
Famous people tend to be in the same social circles as other famous people. Just like high school kids tend to date other kids from the same school, famous people tend to date the people they're around.
- when people cut people open in surgey, why dont they bleed everywhere?
Can someone ELI5 why deleting comments is somehow better than posting comments with big words like 'cauterize'? If a comment is too complicated, reply comments can be less complicated - while still retaining the meaning of the original, informative comment. For instance, I'm no surgeon, but I'm good at explaining things to laymen and I have a working knowledge of biology . If there was a wordy post here, I could simplify it - and someone looking for more information after reading my simplification could have a more complicated version to look at. But there's nothing here, so nobody benefits. See where I'm going with this? The subreddit is for answers to questions, and complicated answers can be changed in to less complicated ones much easier than [deleted] can be changed in to anything.
what do hard drugs do that cause a permanent change to a person's looks.
Meth makes people feel like there's little insects crawling inside their skin, causing them to constantly scratch their face and make giant, bleeding holes in themselves.If you're addicted, I think "getting your fix" becomes priority one, even in front of basic hygienic standards.Doesn't meth make people grind their teeth as well?
Why is it illegal in some states to wear headphones/ear buds while driving, but deaf people can drive legally?
Why listen to music through headphones when driving? I mean, every car I've ever been in has a speaker system so . ?
Why have humans not returned to the moon since 1972?
Cuz been there done that! Actually though. We have been there and seen all there is to see as far as our scientists are concerned. It's an expensive trip to make just to go there for the sake of going there. Unless there's any scientific benefit to earth or the country that's funding the mission there's no point in funding it at all.
Why aren't women required to register for Selective Service in the US?
Because the last time the draft was active women weren't allowed to serve in combat roles, which is what most draftees we used for. No one's too concerned about changing the rules because no meaningful amount of people have supported reinstating the draft in the last 30+ years.
why do we get grumpier the more tired we are?
Basically yes, you run out of happy juice. I'm no expert in this field but basically as you get tired stress hormones begin building up in your system. Get enough of these and you get side effects, irritability being one. Theres a few different hormones but one of the big ones is cortisol I believe. Do this regularly and you set yourself up for an increased risk of a ton of different ailments
Why are people against GMO's, Isn't every plant genetically modified?
I can't speak for every body on this topic, but I don't have a problem with GMOs. What I **do** have a problem with is all of the lobbying and political manipulation done so that the average consumer can't *know* if something is genetically modified. If GMOs aren't bad for us, why put a fuck ton of money in the lobbyist groups to make sure we can't know about them? As a consumer, [I have a right to know what's in my food.] I don't care if it's a GMO, I don't care if it's some giant chemical compound I can't understand. [Such as this.] I should be able to know and make an informed decision based on that. The fact that big corporations are trying to hide that information from me makes me skeptical.
Why are so many famous songs targeted at pre-teen girls?
Puberty and new emotions. This makes them an easy target for emotional pop songs about feeling upset over boys as they are chemically wired to react to this.Same reason 12-16 year old boys corner the metal market wired for agression. Parents will buy their kids their favorite album, which is basically an emotional support kit. Tie this in with teen channels and magazines that portray the artists and deserving worship, especially the dreamy boy type ones tell the girls they should crave validation from these teens idols then have them pay for an album of vague songs saying they love you. Or that sound like every breakup ever. They're just a prime demographic for the emotional product the artists are selling. Watch this video for a catchy musical explanation _URL_0_
How the first human beings were able to translate from one language to another.
They're called pidgin languages _URL_0_ They usually start when a trader moving along the coast stops to trade with locals and there's no common tongue. You point to your mouth, then hold up some fancy thing you want to trade. Eventually a few words will become obvious, then an ad hoc grammar can develop. A couple dozen return trips from the traders, and since neither group has been practicing each other's language the pidgin you've developed and used becomes more and more structured, eventually becoming a blend of the original two that's a little easier to pick up on. No one's writing poetry or telling stories in these improvised tongues, just as long as it's good enough to trade this gunpowder for that silk.
Why do so many games now not have local LAN? Is it hard to implement?
B/C the proportion of the user base that would use it is so small that it isn't worth allotting the time necessary to code it. Other features are more important so lan usually just gets chopped from the feature set.
How will self-driving cars be able to determine the amount of friction there is on the surface of roads?
It should be no problem to figure out the friction of whatever surface you are driving on since you know how much your motor is working and how fast your tires are actually turning. I don't know though how they will be able to predict the surface properties of the road ahead of them.
how long are skyscrapers built to last? If they are too old and needs to be put down, how will they be demolished?
It's estimated that without any repairs or maintenance, most skyscrapers would collapse after about 100-200 years. Now, they certainly can perform the repairs and maintenance and keep them up indefinitely. I don't know if a really huge skyscraper ever has been demolished. I'd imagine they'd use cranes and stuff to slowly deconstruct the building basically in the reverse order that they built it, because if they just blew it up it could fall and knock down or damage adjacent buildings.
Why is it that video games have loading screens after deaths?
Because, at the risk of making this sound political, naïve death systems that go through the same code path as loading are super easy to make, and well-designed death systems that squeeze out every drop of performance are hard. Every team competent enough to make a triple-a game _could_ make a loading system like the latter, but the decisions about what to spend time and effort on are made by higher-ups who don't often realise or care that users really do care about loading times.
What should I not point my laser pointer at and why?
Not sure if someone has mentioned this yet, but don't point a laser into a DSLR camera, they can burn the sensor and all pictures taken after you've burned the sensor will have some kind of dot or line that cuts through the image. You can YouTube DSLR and lasers, and IIRC there's a video of a guy that used his DSLR at some concert and a laser passed through the lens and you could see almost immediately the lines it burned into the sensor.Air traffic controller here . Ya airplanes. Helicopters. Big no no. We in the aviation business actually take laser events very seriously. They get reported on a nationwide level and is in fact a felony. Also, dogs or your friends eyes.The answers provided here, and also highway directional signs. They are made with reflective materials and pointing a laser at one can create a dot the size of a basketball and they're very bright.Eyes and aircraft, certainly. But please, for the love of God, enough with using them in movies and concerts too. Whhooo, you can make a red or green dot jiggle around! Good for you you twat, now grow up.I'll tell you what you SHOULD point your laser at--at night over a campfire. Quickly wave the laser over the smokefire. It's amazing. It looks like a map of the world. Friends and I did it with a green laser, so I'd recommend that. I'll follow up with pictures once I get to my computer. EDIT: Sorry for the delay. I should start by saying we may have been high during all of this so it may not be as cool to you all . And a phone camera couldn't quite capture laser on the smoke. The coolest is to wave the laser parallel to the ground over the smoke . Also, waving it in a circle to create a 3D cylinder. _URL_4_ EDIT2: Better picture and a video from hannick9: Not OP to the rescue! I did the same thing on a camping trip a few years ago. _URL_4_ _URL_3_
Why the Democratic party demanding Romney's tax documents is different than the Republican demanding Obama's birth certificate.
Not too many presidents probably get called out on their birth certificate, and so Obama provided the short form and didn't want to do anything further. I am fairly sure there is not a precedent for providing a long form birth certificate, but I could be wrong. So only people with an axe to grind really pushed for the long form, and it was a stupid but easy way to try to make him look bad. When it comes to taxes there is a precedent for quite a while now that you provide multiple years in order to show you aren't hiding anything. Romney's father did this when he ran for office. For Romney to provide fewer tax returns than usual looks shady, especially in light of all of the fussing people make about his tax rate. So this is an easy way to make him look bad, that isn't quite as stupid because he did go against a precedent used for years before him. Just my off the top of my head opinion anyway.His taxes show his direct, real-life experience with US tax policy. Obama's birth certificate showed that he was qualified to be president. Both have been asked for in the past during political campaigns. Releasing years of tax returns is a precedent set by Mitt Romney's own father. These two situations seem comparable, but they are not. Obama released his birth certificate, and republicans said it was fake. This situation would only be comparable if Mitt Romney released his tax returns, and the democrats said they were phony and that Mitt led a conspiracy to forge them and defraud the US government for years. Again, alot of people like to say that "both parties do the same shit", and while I agree that this seemed true in the past, it's looking like the Republicans are being increasingly led by the straight-up crazy wing of their party.
Why do we need to test our smoke detectors, and how exactly does the test button work?
The battery can fail, or some other circuitry might go bad over time. While they don't give any active indication that they are working, they're still suffering wear and tear, as monitoring for smoke/carbon monoxide is a 24/7 operation. Smoke detectors can break just like any other electric device. We test them regularly to ensure they're still working. The test button simply completes a circuit, resulting in a beep if the detector is working correctly.
Why is there ice in some urinals?
Sometimes it's just old ice dumped in there", 'They say to throw clothes or shoes in the freezer so the cold temperature kills the smelly bacteria, for a quick fix. Seems like a good way to reduce the urine smell in urinals by dumping ice in themdrunk people will focus on melting ice instead of just randomly pissingSometimes they run out of room in the freezer.
Why do so many people think prostitution is bad?
It's basically not very high on most people's laundry-list of social changes desired and no politician is going to come within 1000 feet of any pro-prostitution legislation if they don't have to.
How do dogs interpret human language?
I would imagine it's alot like talking a someone who only speaks Spanish and you speak English. It just sounds like jibber jabber but eventually you understand a word here or there.
Why humans are attracted to butts and why we find them sexually desirable?
Men tend to be attracted to the look of secondary sexual characteristics, i.e. feminine curves. Butts are one of the feminine curves. A butt with a certain shape is indicative of sexual maturity and reproductive potential. Most animals have sex in doggystyle position, so our ancestors were probably originally mainly turned on by the shape of females' butts. The theory is that as humans evolved and started having sex in different positions, women developed bigger rounder breasts that mimicked the look of butts.Cause no one likes to have a hot girl sitting on your lap and feeling bones, they want that cushion!
Why does the Korean War get much less attention in history and modern culture than other wars?
It is because the scale of the conflict was small in relation to WWII a much bigger conflict which happened only a few years prior. People from the nations which made up the task force which went there were tired of war and therefore it wasn't mentioned much on the much tighter controlled media at the time. . Much bigger conflicts occurred with most of the powers shortly afterwards. The British had the Suez Crisis and the Bush wars with Africa. The French were fighting a conflict in Vietnam ending in Dien Bien Phu. The US then got embroiled in Vietnam.
When I have an overwhelmingly familiar dream, have I actually dreamed it before, or does it simply feel "familiar" because my brain knows what's going to happen next?
I dreamed same, or at least almost identical dreams a few times. A dream journal helps, if you're not sure whether you dreamed this before or not.
Why does a good pair of headphones/earphones make it feel like the sound is coming from inside the middle of your head?
They don't. GOOD headphones try to reproduce the neutral sound of flat speakers as best as possible, including making it sound like the audio is coming from around you rather than inside your head.
Why is vinyl considered the gold standard for music quality?
I digitized my vinyl collection. The clicks, pops and skips are like old friends. When I hear the same song without them, it's mildly disturbing. Vinyl sucks
Why is PETA considered evil?
So one of the biggest complaints is that they [euthanize a shit ton of animals]. That seems a little hypocritical considering how much PETA claims to care about animals. They [try to justify it] by saying that they're euthanizing animals in terrible shape. But the reality is that there are plenty of no-kill shelters out there that care about animals and really do save them, unlike PETA. Also there's the fact that they [just kind of dump them in the trash], which is a little cruel. Or at least, callous. PETA has also [stolen pets and euthanized them]. While it's not a regular thing, it's happened a few times. That's a little messed up. It also puts the lie to the idea that they're only euthanizing horribly sick and unhealthy pets. If it's a healthy pet on someone's porch, why did they euthanize it? Also, they waited what, two days to euthanize the pet? They've also been accused of doctoring videos. At the very least, they're misleading. They go to the worst slaughterhouses that are violating *legal* requirements, and present it like the norm for all slaughterhouses. They use shock value to push their agenda. It's not exactly pleasant to be blasted with pictures of bloody animals. That may not be *evil*, but it's certainly *shady*. Their followers [harass and assault] people, which is at the very least, shitty. Throwing paint may or may not be a common thing, but if they do it, that's assault, and also destruction of property. Also, finally, they're mostly just a little crazy. It's one thing to say we should love and protect animals, but the say some crazy, stupid things like advocating for [pet cats to be given vegetarian diets], despite the well-known and scientific fact that [cats are obligate carnivore], and must eat meat.
How do sugar substitutes, like saccharine, taste sweet but have no calories like a true carbohydrate?
Some things that are listed as zero calorie actually have calories, but if there's less than 5 per serving size then they are allowed to round down to 0. Others do have calories, but the body burns more calories digesting them, essentially making them like a negative. Many artificial sweeteners are very similar to sugar in chemical formula and shape, which is why they still fit into your taste receptors and register as sweet, however they are not digested like sugar is, so they don't actually get absorbed into your body. Along the same lines, that's usually why artificial sweeteners usually don't taste exactly like sugar. They're close, but not the same, and your body can tell the difference.
How does Samsung and Apple release updates that "increase system peformance" if they cannot physically take each phone and change the Processors, Ram etc..?
It's like how console games released near the end of the consoles generation look so much better than the launch titles. The console didn't get better, the programmers just figured out better tricks to maximize the return from the system.
American here - what does 'o levels' and 'a levels' mean?
Wait, does that mean that British kids only have to go to school until they're 16, if they don't want to go to college? And they can still get a good job in some trade, without the stigma of a US high school dropout?", 'O levels no longer exist. they were replaced by GCSEs primary school until age 11 > secondary school until age 16 > college until age 18/19 > university
Confused Canadian - How do I shower in Europe?
In England here, every shower in buildings I've lived in has had a curtain. I find the fully enclosed kind to be kind of claustrophobic
Why is ISIS such a threat that needs worldwide intervention, when similar movements (Kmher Rouge, Bhurma) were allowed fizzle themselves out over the decades.
The answers given here are only half right. The main and foremost reason that ISIS is being attacked is that **there is no superpower backing up ISIS.** Is there was then ISIS wouldn't be attacked. Also ISIS is not a nation but an organization ISIS has no right to self-determination.
Why does water act as hard as concrete if you land on it after jumping from a high enough point?
Water cushions a fall because it moves out of the way when you hit it, but not too quickly, which slows you down over a longer period of time than if you hit something solid. Since water doesn't compress much when you hit it, it only cushions your fall by slowing you as it moves out of the way- unlike, say, an airbag, which is full of air that is capable of compressing Water needs time to move out of the way, though, so the faster you hit the water, the less time it has to move out of the way of your body, and the faster you are slowed down by the water. Technically, air will act in much the same way at high enough speeds, becoming more resistant to your passing as it has less time to move out of the way- which is what is happening when a space craft reenters earth's atmosphere when leaving orbit.
Why does staring into bright lights help me sneeze?
It is because the sun's ultraviolet rays irritate the sensors in your nose, and you want to get it out", 'I know ucsf is doing a study on it. I have it too, very refreshing.
What are the best tactics for monopoly?
Don't just buy everything. Get the railroads. Get the utilities if you can, but never at full price. Houses/hotels are the way to win -- if you can't get a complete set so that you can start building those, you're going to lose. Make sure everyone uses the rules and that free parking doesn't give you money somehow or the game will take forever.
Why were there ever 13 colonies instead of just one "British North America"?
Also, religious differences between the colonists made it difficult for them to get along with each other, it's easier if you just separate them under different governments. The Mayflower pilgrims founded Massachusetts , but they kept excommunicating each other for failing to be sufficiently Puritan, and those breakaway colonists left to found Connecticut and Rhode Island. Maryland was originally founded by Catholics, and so no good Protestant's going to set foot there, and Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers
How do companies find, choose, and start using a sweatshop?
Obviously I don't have any experience in the field, but I can imagine. So here is my guess. A tech giant advertises that it is looking for manufacturers to produce their product and they will take the cheapest option. Someone says I'll do it for half of what the lowest option you get is. The company agrees of course because money and badda bing badda boom your company is now using a sweatshop to their knowledge or not.A sweatshop is a derogatory term, for a factory with low-paying jobs and poor working conditions. They often employ women and immigrants in light manufacturing, like sewing or assembly. No one says "I need to open another sweatshop", the same way no one decides to go out and be a slumlord. They typically set up a factory, and then start cutting corners and coercing employees into longer hours, at which point detractors would call it a sweatshop.
What do people mean when they say "I can understand X language, but I can't speak it"?
Think about when you're reading, and you come across a text with a lot of words you don't know, but you can figure out what's being said from the context and the words you do know. You're not going to turn around and use those words in conversation because you don't know the words well enough to recall them or use them properly. It's a bit like that.There are varying stages of fluency. When you learn another language you begin at step one and make your way through the continuum. As this article from Psychology Today discusses, children can understand what is being said much earlier than they can speak the language. This statement can be verified through anecdotal evidence of interacting with a toddler. Many times if you ask them a question they can shake their head yes or no and they demonstrate that they fully understand the concept. However, they would be unable to repeat back what you said. Studies have shown that children have a much greater ability to learn language than adults do. Thus, adults who have learned to understand a language may take many more years before they can speak it fluentlyI think most people are saying here is "can't speak it effectively". Take for example: I took half a credit of university German. So I know basic vocab, but I also know some fundamental rules of grammar. Surprisingly, I can read German reasonably well - I can pick out the words and figure out what the verbs are trying to do and from that I can fill in the gist of the rest. But if I were to write or speak it it would be real bad. Like "Where is bathroom?" "I will car drive restaurant" "I can computer know" Not so say that I wouldn't be able to get my point across to a German, but I 'd sound like a 3 yr old Can you understand British English? Can you speak it? Even, are you confident in writing British English, without using any Americanisms?
Why can't we improve the hardware of consoles such as playstation or xbox like we can with pc's?
because they aren't designed to be upgraded plain and simple. the console manufacturers don't want users messing with their hardware because it can only cause problems.
Why do we taste eye drops after inserting them?
This is because of their lacrimal punctum. Go to the mirror and pull your eye down and look at the red bit near your nose, you see the hole? That's it. When you produce tears or have another liquid in your eyes, some of it drains into these holes and then into the lacrimal sac, the nasolacrimal duct, and eventually into the back of your nose and throat, where you might get a taste.There is a small tube from each corner of your eye that connects to your nasal cavity called the [nasolacrimal duct]. As well as what the smell receptors contribute to what we think of as "taste", from the nasal cavity it's also possible that some of the fluid would go down your throat and perhaps make it's way onto the back of your tongue in the process.When you produce tears or have another liquid in your eyes, some of it drains into these holes and then into the lacrimal sac, the nasolacrimal duct, and eventually into the back of your nose and throat, where you might get a taste. This is normal and safe, but eye drops aren't exactly designed with flavor in mind.
why do most canned fruits taste essentially like their fresh counterparts, but peaches taste completely different?
I'm not sure if this has an effect on the flavor, but [the canning process makes canned peaches at least as nutritious as fresh peaches], and sometimes more. > Researchers found almost four times more [vitamin C] in canned than fresh peaches. In addition, canned had comparable levels of vitamin E and a lot more folate than fresh.On a related question, what is the juice that comes packed with canned peaches?First off, lets establish that flavor is mostly due to the aroma of the food. Your tongue can only taste 5 basic flavors, whereas your nose has a near infinite combination of "flavors." If there is a subtle change in flavor I would rule out your tongue as the decider, and focus more on your nose. The peach aroma is crazy complicated and likely easy to screw up. As mentioned already, canned fruits are boiled which denatures or "unravels" lots of proteins. Further, peaches are often soaked in a salt solution to prevent discoloration. I suspect it is a combination of these two processes that interfere with the smell of a canned peach, and thus its flavor.> most canned fruits taste essentially like their fresh counterparts Really o.O? I've never had that opinion while eating a canned fruit. Canned pineapple tastes like some sugary dessert compared to fresh pineapple, canned apples are similar and the wrong consistency, canned cherries might as well be made out of sugar, etc.
Why does methamphetamine use ruin your teeth?
If you've taken Sudafed before, you've probably noticed a dry mouth feeling as well as your sinuses expanding due to reduced blood flow. This helps prevent mucus creation, which makes you feel better when you have blocked up sinuses, but also cuts down your saliva production. Methamphetamine is basically just a slightly modified pseudoephedrine molecule which is the activate ingredient in Sudofed and also has some decongestant properties. It also causes you to feel high. The reduction in saliva production results in a dry mouth, which means you are more likely to suffer tooth decay if taken for long periods of time.1) Dry Mouth concentrates the acid at the sites of bacterial growth.2) Reallocation of calcium in the body away from teeth 3) Poor oral hygieneWhy do kids love the taste of cinnamon taste crunch? No one knows. Other people seem to know the answer to your question though, so maybe listen to themLack of hygiene. Dry mouth i believe does the most damage. Allowing your own acids created in your mouth to break down your teeth.
Why does it take so long to withdraw the US' troops from the Afghanistan, Iraq, and the other countries they're in?
Because you don't just walk into someone's house, break their vase, and then walk right back out. You try to fix the vase.
Hows is the Commission on Presidential Debates legal?
Because political parties aren't part of government. It might seem like they are, but they are really just private clubs who decide to support certain candidates over other candidates. If two private clubs want to allow a third club to set up a debate, that is nobody's business but theirs.Of course it is legal. There is nothing saying that the candidates have to attend these debates, there is nothing that says the candidates cannot have debates that occur outside the Commission, so why would it be illegal?
Why do smokers get a calming response from cigarettes when they are distressed, nervous, or anxious; when it seems like nicotine (a stimulant) should have the opposite effect?
Part of addiction is Pavlov's good ol' classical conditioning. The more you use a drug in a predictable way, the more your body learns to predict your drug use. For example, if you take a heart rate stimulant every night at 8pm, then eventually by 7pm on following days you might start finding yourself with a decreased heart rate. Thus, when you take the drug, you reach equilibrium. So, at first, drugs have their full effect on their users, but over time their bodies homeostasis shifts and they eventually become dependent on the drug via the symptoms I described. So, in this case, the drug acts to return the user to their functional state, rather than getting them extra high and wired up.
What it feels like to be stabbed.
I tried to break up a bar fight a few years back and got stabbed 3 times in the abdomen for my trouble. At first I felt nothing , but then after I looked down and realized I had holes in me there was a dull ache. The guy got me down the right side of my torso so it was really just fat + muscle, he didn't hit anything major so I imagine that's why there wasn't a lot of pain involved. It didn't really hurt until I was in the ER and they were scrubbing the wounds. THAT sucked.Caught a knife swing to the fore arm when someone tried to rob me at a gas station. Burning sensation like a mother fucker for hours. Like it was on fire. But willing to bet robbers face was in a lot more pain afterwards. Kicked him in the chest sending him flying backwards. While he was flying he managed to turn around just in time to attempt eating the fuel pump.I think it truly depends on your mentality. I have been stabbed right below my shoulder, I didn't feel it at first. Then I felt the same pain as being cut like normal, then a numb ache of pain while I covered it up. It just ached for days while it took its time to heal.
How can companies like Amazon go so many years without turning a profit?
As long as investors think you will at some point make a huge win, they will invest in you, pumping fresh money in, hoping for that one big win that they then will share. It's a gamble. You bet on the company making profit in the future. If they do, you win, if not your money is lost.They reinvest most of their profit and then distribute the remainder as quarterly bonuses to their board.
Why was Mr Netanyahu's speech so popular in congress? Why is he so popular regardless of the controversy coming from POTUS?
Obama is attempting to normalize relations with Iran. Normalized relations with Iran means that Israel, foreign-policy wise, becomes less important to the US. The Democrats have slowly drifted away from their support of Israel over the past two decades and, while the Democrats support is still there, Israeli leadership has seen the writing on the wall and is now essentially speaking only to the Republican party Essentially, the Democrats have started to make the normalization of relations with Iran a priority. This freaks out the Israeli leadership because of the possibility that a friendlier Iran will cause Israel's importance to US foreign policy to wane.
why does the U.S. refrigerate eggs when most of the world doesn't?
You have two choices when it comes to preparing eggs for sale. You can produce the eggs in clean condition by caring for the chickens and having clean coops. This allows the eggs to be packed and sold with no further cleaning required. In that case it's best not to refrigerate them because refrigerating them will cause the interior of the egg to contract, drawing contaminants through the shell. The other option is to raise them in filthy factory farms, and power wash them before sale. This is cheaper, however once an egg has gotten wet, it must be refrigerated because the contaminants have already soaked through the shell. In Europe, they mandate that eggs are produced cleanly and unrefrigerated because they are much safer overall that way. In America we contaminate our eggs right out the gate, and refrigerate them just to retard the growth of the contaminants already present. This is why it's a bad idea to eat a raw American egg, but perfectly safe to eat a nonrefrigerated European egg.
How are those ships put inside bottles?
If you buy one at a gift shop or store, it's likely that the bottle was assembled around the ship. A ship is created. A bottle is made, missing either the top or bottom. The ship is placed in the bottle. The bottle pieces are reattached and glued/melted back together. You see this most often on bottles that have decorative rope/twine around it. The bottle reassembly seams are visible if you look from the inside.
What exactly is your body doing during sleep to generate/recover energy for use the next day?
The purpose of sleep isn't to recover energy per se, rather it's a state of general recovery for the entire organism in question. To briefly clarify, your body can't 'generate' energy at all, rather we ingest energy and convert that to other forms of energy as needed. For example, we convert chemical energy to kinetic energy when we utilise our own energy storage to move muscles. During sleep, you essentially enter a 'low-power' mode. This time-frame is the perfect opportunity for your body to dedicate it's 'energy' to regenerating the body. During this time your liver detoxifies your blood, damaged muscle tissue is repaired and depleted hormones are synthesised & stored. Of course your body can do this stuff when you're awake, it's just much easier during a period of no activity . Citation needed, though I believe that your body also takes time to re-stock glycogen levels within cells during sleep.
Why do we need REM? Why could't we just close our eyes and dream?
Cause they were a great band man, and their songs HELP us dream! C'mon! What's the Frequency, Kenneth??? You know what I mean?", 'Do I understand that your question is "Why do your eyes need to move?" Well, that's a question that has intrigues scientists for years. For a while, we just thought that it was just that our eyes weren't paralyzed during sleep like most of the rest of us. It stands to reason--even people who can't move anything else sometimes can move their eyes. So maybe they're just really hard to paralyze. But this didn't explain why people who are blind still do it. Or infants before they can really focus on anything. New research seems to indicate that eye movement is directly connected with processing memories. It seems that each eye flicker allows you to switch memories completely. I twas observed in waking patients when looking at images. The ones that invoked memories caused the characteristic rapid eye movement.It's actually not completely understood. There hasn't been much proof that REM sleep is even necessary. Source: My SO has narcolepsy. Untreated, she will go directly into REM sleep and have vivid, often lucid dreaming. She can literally sleep for 12-16 hours straight and wake up still tired because constant REM does not give your body true restful sleep. Her treatment is pure GHB, brand name Xyrem. This puts her into nothing but NREM or restful sleep. She will not dream at all until it wears off . She will then awake fully rested and no longer tired. So basically as long as you get your NREM sleep, you don't even need a full 7-8 hours because you skip the REM stage. Hasn't had much in terms of negative effects after 10 months so far.
If some Oysters can filter 15 gallons of water a day, why are we not putting oysters in highly polluted rivers like the Thames?
The Thames isn't highly polluted and hasn't been for years. Don't confuse the muddy look with pollution.
How does non-scratch glass work?
The latest versions aren't normal glass, they're artificial sapphire, which is very, very hard. You can scratch it with diamond but your keys have no chance.
Back in the 90s there were a few vehicles that came out with 4 wheel steering. Why didn't this become a thing?
I know the GM trucks that had Quadrasteer weren't that popular. It was an expensive option and most people who tow trailers have learned how to back up with normal steering. I would assume the cost and potential breakage were problems in other cars.
Why humans are so inclined to seek any form of "drugs"
Recreational drugs feel good. Humans like to feel good. There are lots of substances that make you feel terrible, and humans generally don't take them unless someone can convince them that they're effective medicine. The ones that are used recreationally all make people feel good, and that's by definition something people want to do.
How do deep sea creatures withstand the pressure?
Simply put, the same way we withstand the pressure at sea level. We have been living with about 15 lbs of air pressure since before we were born, we breathe it fine. The fish have been withstanding the pressure the same way we have. The problem comes when you try to get *out of* your native pressure. So long as we have a constant air supply, humans can stay at depth for plenty of time . The fish would have problems coming up to the surface, for the same reason we'd have problems sitting atop Mt. Everest - we're just not designed to handle that air/water pressure. A very short answer, without delving into the biology of relatively unknown creatures is **they adapted to live in the extreme environment.**
Why is there so much hate against Comic Sans font?
Basically, because it was thrown together by somebody who didn't really understand type design, and as such ends up looking kind of shitty a lot of the time. It's not that the *concept* of Comic Sans is bad; just that the implementation is bad. It is certainly possible to [execute that concept properly], however.
Why are camera lenses circles but the video/pictures are rectangular?
Because the sensor/film stock that they're exposing onto is rectangular. Selling rolls of round film would be difficult. On the other hand, on some really old photos or things that use very large backs you do get rounded vignetting from the lens.I would add that lenses are circular to maintain uniformity in their surface. If it was square or other shapes, corners may cause weird refraction. This is regardless of the sensor/film being used.It's easier to make lenses round and to make film/image sensors rectangular.