Datasets:
Rahmaa
/
eli5_final

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
query
stringlengths
8
249
answer
stringlengths
45
7.8k
. Why do many employers give their hourly employees sporadic, weekly-changing, temporary schedules?
I also work in the industry and we use an app where we employees can just swap shifts as we need to, without having to go through the manager every time . We can also put in requests for shifts and requests for days off. This makes my life much more flexible and even though I still don't have a constant schedule it feels more like I'm in control of my life again. I also think my manager feels it is a lot easier to consider everyone's wishes like this and is much more willing to make sure people get what they want.
What is preventing Toronto from acquiring an NFL franchise?
Too many cities wanting a team, too few franchises to fill them. Somewhere between 30-32 seems to be the perfect number of teams in a major sports league. For leagues such as the NFL the demand for teams and cities that want them exceed these numbers. inevitably some cities get left out, see Los Angeles who hasn't had a team in the Raiders left in '95.
Why can't magnets create perpetual motion?
My past experience with eli5 has been pretty bad. Try asking r/science. That's what the mods here told me to do. Probably get more complete answers there.
Why are you sometimes more tired after sleeping more than necessary?
Yeah, none of these answers really gets it. Because you still feel tired even if you sleep in time with a sleep cycle. So if I slept like 12 hours, I shouldn't be touted because that's an exact number of 90 minute sleep cycles. Does anyone have another answer? Edit: Sorry I can't math.Sleep cycles. If you wake up in between a sleep cycle you will feel tired regardless of how much sleep you get since you are in your deepest part of sleep. The average sleep cycle for a human is 1.5 hrs. One should sleep 6 hrs, 7.5 hrs, or 9 hrsI thought it had to do be waking up at the right moment like during the REM stage or the dreaming stage. If you wake in between you body is disrupted. But a cozy warm bed always feel better than going to work', "I find it is because of dehydration sometimes. 'll wake up dragging and lethargic, but once I realize that, I'l chug as much water as I possibly can and that almost always perks me right up.
if the U.S. Government is supposed to separate church and state, why are politicians allowed to publicly state their religious views and act on those views while making policies or voting in congress?
It's a freedom *of* religion, not a freedom *from* religion. You are free to express whatever religions, or non-religious views you like. But that same freedom does not mean people cannot express their religious views to you. Similarly, the government cannot *be* religious, but that doesn't mean that people who are religious are excluded from serving in the government or speaking their minds.
Why is the Queen of England's husband not the King of England?
Because sexism. Since a king is above a queen, for Prince Philip to have been named King after marrying Elizabeth, would have usurped her birthright to the throne. She is the one entitled to reign, not him, because her father was the previous king . Prince Philip in contrast is some guy from Germany she married. So, since King > Queen, but Elizabeth > Philip, Philip can't be King.
Why do film directors always get so much more credit and recognition than the writers?
I'd say a director is probably THE most important element in the film making process. Sure they might not be the main forces behind the writing but they bring that writing into reality. Scripts can try and be as descriptive as possible but its the director that ensures every element of the script comes out just right . As in is the actor conveying X well-enough, is the lighting accurately conveying Y well-enough, etc etc. So in a way they become the glue that make sure all the elements trying to be conveyed are working well together, they *direct* how things end up, meaning in a way they are what made the final product what it is beyond just the specific elements of screenplay, lighting, cinematography, acting, food, etc. Contrast to a conductor the conductor is directing the music to a specific outcome . They can't really take the composed piece and orchestra elements and make something with their own flair. Also in some cases the director ISN'T the one to get all the credit. I.E. The Nightmare Before Christmas is not directed by Tim Burton but he's the most recognizable name contributing to it. So sometimes a particular element or circumstance might propel a certain role as the one to get the credit
Why does water taste differently based on the cup's material? (Glass is tastier the Steel which is tastier than plastic cups ...)
I don't think it's a matter of material migration from the container to the food. All containers are tested and certified as to their variability to contain various types of food without contaminating them, either on a level physical level or chemical level . I would put my money on that the human tongue and nose catch onto small differences in the containers' smell and textile sensation and add that to the flavor impression on the brain. FYI, apart from reusing well-washed glass bottles, never reuse other containers for medium to longterm food storage. For example, olive oil will cause a plastic water-bottle's walls to slowly dissolve releasing plastics into the oil, thus making it toxic and carcinogenic.Humans cannot taste water. Only the impurities in water. Materials often leech into water the longer they remain in contact. I.e. a water bottle thats left in your car trunk for a while tastes especially plastic.Might be buried in another reply, but don't forget the role of smell, especially with plastic cups. A huge chunk of what we describe as flavor is actually scent. . So one good experiment for the leeching theory would be to let water sit in one container but then pour it into another type and immediately drink it. For example, have water sit in a plastic cup for five minutes, pour it into a steel one, and drink it to see if it tastes plasticky.
Why does the United States have such massive military expenditures when compared to all other countries? Are there reasons to where the money is going?
It would take a book to properly answer your question. I think one of the most important reasons is this-Oil is traded in Dollars. Trade and Commerce must be protected and it must have multiple trading partners.The more traders the more products ,less monopolies, increased price stability and so on.There is an efficiency in this system if all the worlds partners use the same currencyand enjoy common security. The U.S. must protect this asset and all users of it,if it is to entertain any illusion of security. When the U.S. defeats a country in war it doesn't execute everyone and annex the territory. It introduces free market reforms and may even sacrifice some of it's own industries to support the old/new trading partner. All trading partners fully commit to investing instead of arming themselves as the U.S. will take over security for the recently defeated country. The overwhelming superiority of U.S. armed forces makes any potential adversary consider the enormous cost it would be to defeat and replace the U.S. If China were to push a button and destroy the U.S. it would eventually find itself in a world where hundreds of countries would start building their own war machines using hundreds of types of different currency. So,at the end of the day it doesn't cost the U.S. as much as you think. In fact it may be argued the U.S. MAKES money off it's war machine.
Why is Card Counting Illegal/Punished?
I'm not sure it's illegal but it just comes down to the fact that a casino has the right the refuse anyone from playing for anyway reason, or no reason. So they suspect you of counting cards, this gives you a bigger chance of winning and taking more money from them then normal. They don't want this to happen so they simply just kick you out and possibly ban you from coming back. It's just like how a nightclub can refuse you entry or kick you out simply because you are too drunk or they just feel like it.
Is there any way for super-large companies to actually fail? What would have to happen for Google, Microsoft, Apple and the likes to actually disappear?
Here is a story with a bit of a personal note. I used to work for a company that made industrial fabric products. We eventually got into the business of making those arched fabric over steel buildings . We did pretty well with them, but our market was just western Canada. Our biggest competitor was another Canadian company called Cover-All. Their American branch was called Summit Structures. At their peak, Cover-All had annual sales over $100 Million. . Anyway, one of the buildings that they sold was used as a practice facility for the Dallas Cowboys. [Then one day, it collapsed in a storm and injured some people]. After the investigation, it was ruled that the collapse was due to negligent engineering rather than a flaw in the materials or installation etc. There was talk that a micro-cell created winds that were beyond the design capacity, but the investigation concluded that the wind wasn't that bad and that it was a faulty design. This meant that all of the similar Cover-All buildings could potentially be unsafe which meant that anyone who owned on could sue them. After the verdict, the company went into receivership and was practically shut down within a few months. At this point, the company that I worked for, swooped in a 'bought the assets' of what had been Cover-All. They didn't buy the company, because then they would have been liable for all those buildings. The company ceased to exist and we just took over their facilities and inventory etc. Of course, it was a big undertaking and there were plenty of hurdles to getting the company up and running. We obviously fixed the design issues and implemented better accounting and control practices etc. And that's how a $100 Million dollar company failed because of a single incident.
How does a vinyl record player even work? How does a needle produce words/music... The way a record player works fascinates me a lot more then an MP3 audio does...
drums", etc. The brain is literally trying to decompress this single waveform into multiple stand-alone waveforms of the different instrumentsAlso analog recording doesn't miss parts because its not data sampling and reproducing what it thinks the sound is it is literally the sounds in the room. Think of it as being able to hear exactly what happened at the point it was recorded. The only thing digital audio today has over records is its shareable in an easy fashion via linking and the internet, also extremely low sound floor where as a record you can often close your eyes in a dark room and "see" where the instrument is', "It's easy really, when Edison invented the phonograph he used a horn attached to a needle which was attached to a wax cylinder and when you spoke into it the needle would vibrate and carve a track in the wax, when you replayed it the sound would come back out in much the same way as it went in, the vinyl record is just a flat version of that process.
How is stepping on the flag illegal if any form of non-violent protest is allowed by the constitution?
It's not?Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 ; United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 .
Why does it get greenish outside when a tornado is coming?
Good question, and nobody really seems to know. _URL_0_ _URL_1_ That's all I could find on it, and it just seems not to be studied.
Why do cats almost always walk in a circle before they sit down?
One explanation I haven't seen yet is that the circle walk gives them a 360 degree scan of their surroundings before they lay down in a vulnerable position.Cats need to rotate the entire Earth, by moving it under their feet. This action recalibrates the center of the Earth, centered on them. This provides the cat with the necessary flattery of their ego in order to have a comfortable and restful sleep.I think its an instinctual act to make sure there's nothing sharp or uncomfortable where they are about to sleep. A sort of nesting.Cats do this to calibrate their magnetometer to the earths magnetic field, much like you do with your smartphone when you turn it around a couple of timesI thought this was normal human behavior? my cat learned it from watching me ', "Mine seems to do it to get her body below the level of what shes about to sit in. So If I have a blanket she makes it so the edges hide her or if its in grass or leaves she makes it so you cant see her if you're flat on the ground. I'd guess its hunting and safety related
How can a high-wealth individual effectively drop their income tax rate to zero?
If I understand it correctly, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but income is money you get as compensation, typically a wage or salary. I'm not sure what profits from self employment counts as, please someone comment on the matter in response to my post. But if you're wealthy, you have investments, and they generate dividends and interest. That money is taxed under capital gains, locked, currently, at 15%. You have to be just at the poverty line of income to be taxed at that rate. You can generate millions from investments, you're still taxed at 15%.
Why do places like India and China have such a higher population than the rest of the world?
Agriculture and culture. Both China and India have very large areas of relatively flat, fertile land, huge rivers cutting through that land, and and tons and tons of coastline, all of which are great for sustaining big populations. They also both have cultural norms that value large families, and in agrarian societies, the more hands you have on the farm/kids to marry off to get dowry, land, and connections, the better. And while the two countries' populations have always been really big because of agriculture and culture, I'd say that their very, very high populations today are also due to advancements in medical care, even among the extremely poor; it's a lot easier to have more babies if you're not dying delivering kid #3, or dying of smallpox when you're 26, or your kids dying young.Gender inequality, lack of female autonomy caused men to rule the family planning meaning sowing as many raw oats as they want, agrarian cultures where children are an economic asset instead of a liability, low education also means less knowledge on sex ed meaning reduced forms of birth control and family planning especially in countries with huge rural-urban disparities
Is there a possible way to speed up the process of ridding a location of radiation? For example, after a nuclear accident such as in Japan or at Chernobyl.
I'm pretty sure they've made some advances using mushrooms to clean up some of it. here's an article _URL_1_
Why do companies design bottles in such way that you can't get all of the product (e.g. Ketchup or shampoo) out of the bottle?
There are some reasons: * Profit: You need to buy more bottles. * It is not possible to create bottles containing semifluids, which a) Release the semifluid in a reliable manner , especially upon first use. and b) don't leave any residue inside.It has a lot to do with marketing, a bottle that stands up and catches the eyes is a lot more effective selling point than getting every last drop of product. Imagine store isles filled with bags piled up on one another. It would make it really hard for a product to stand out. The more I think about it though it seems like a good idea. Instead of being sucked in by neuromarketing they would buy based on quality or brand loyalty.Wasting a small amount of product is more cost effective than designing and manufacturing some high tech bottle. And even if there were such a bottle, you'd still get frustrated when you ran out because you forgot to buy more.
What is the difference between a transgender person's brain compared to a regular person's brain?
It's not really known if there is a difference at all, neuroscientists don't study this. As a trans woman, I'm pretty confident in saying it's more likely that social factors as well as personality influence whether or not people are transgender.
Why is Northern Ireland still controlled by the UK?
While there have been good answers so far, I just want to point out that 'controlled by the UK' sort of implies that it's some kind of a colonial holding, when it isn't. NI has its own government and gets representation in the parliament of the UK.
What would happen if a hole 2cm wide opened in my submarine while at the bottom of the Mariana's Trench?
No submarine built can go that deep, it takes a purpose-built type of bathyscaphe whose hull can withstand that kind of pressure. The hull works because pressure is evenly distributed across every point on the hull, and the structure is kept in equilibrium. Punch even the tiniest hole in such a structure and the structural integrity fails catastrophically, the hull would implode in milliseconds. The people inside would never even know anything had happened, they'd just wink out of existence.
Why is there a stigma/hate against Human Resource departments?
HR are typically the ultimate enforcer of labor laws in a company and are the ones ultimately responsible for ensuring the working environment complies with labor laws. As a result they're usually the ones who tell employees what is and isn't appropriate. Most western countries specifically have extremely strict regulations around employee behavior so there's usually a long list of things you can't say or do to other employees while at work. For example just about anything of a sexual nature, including jokes, can be considered harrasment and is considered inappropriate and even firable offences even if done between friends, but over heard by a third party. Also they are the final say in whether someone is fired or not.
If cancer is due to damages DNA, how do children, with newer DNA, get cancer so often?
1) Cancer is an accumulation of a series of random mutations, some of which can be passed down. So one child may need 5 mutations and another need 20. 2) There is no set rate at which these mutations happen - one child may get all 20 by the age of five and another child may randomly not get 5 by the time they die of old age at age 80. 3) Children don't get cancer so often. It's very rare compared to adults, and MOST 70 year olds have multiple tumors. But of course it's more heartbreaking when a kid dies so you see it in the news a lot more so you think it's more common than it is.Each time a cell divides into two cells, there is a tiny chance of an error in the DNA copying. Since children are growing rapidly, cell division is happening billions and billions of times. It usually works fine, but occasionally a terrible error occurs, leading to cancer.They don't, not really, you just hear about it more often. You don't see tearful news stories and fundraising campaigns for 58-year-old men with prostate cancer. The [rate of cancer] is far lower than that of adults.
With all of the pyramid schemes, or simply scams disguised as a job (receive and resend packages, etc.), how exactly can you determine the real career opportunities to the schemes?
It's pretty simple, if you they make you front any sort of money to get a job with them or to begin making money, it's a scam. For instance, if they make you pay an application fee to apply, watch out. Or if their business is predicated on you buying a bunch of product to sell it yourself, watch out. If in doubt, just keep in mind that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Job opportunities that sound like amazing slam dunks watch out.Whenever faced with a potential scam, I ask "If it is so easy, why isn't everyone doing this?" We all like to think we are special, but if you aren't bringing any job skills to the table, what do they need you for? Why isn't everyone working 10-15 hours week form the comfort of their own home? In addition, there are some tell-tale signs. The biggest are having to pay up front, being able to earn money through recruiting others, and selling to your friends and family.
Why aren't all new computers sold with only USB 3.0 ports?
If I had 50,000 USB 2.0 ports in my warehouse, I'm not just going to throw them away even though 3.0 is the new hot thing. I'll use up inventory so that I don't waste my investment into these parts, then invest in 3.0 ports, AND THEN use up all of my inventory of 3.0 ports even though 4.0 comes out.
Why copyright lawyers and legal departments don't just Google mp3s exactly the way we do, and shut down the websites where they are hosted?
Because most these sites aren't hosted in America, so they have to work with foreign countries if they want the sites shut down, and not all foreign countries have the same copyright laws for file sharing or want to work with America on this issue. It's also still not clear whether these sites themselves are breaking any laws, or whether it's only the users who are breaking the law.
Why are most heavenly bodies spherical or nearly spherical?
Basically anything that's relatively large will collapse under its own gravity into the the most compact shape possible, which is a sphere.
Why do the American, Australian and English accents sound so different?
Well in England the towns and cities would have developed over hundreds/ thousands of years, it wasn't often they would meet someone from another county. Australians and Americans would have gained their accents by the merging of various accents by the various settlers living together. English accents are also influenced by those that invaded. Northern English people have accents influenced by the Vikings like the Lancashire and Yorkshire accents.I cant explain it to you but this happens everywhere. For example switzerland, the swiss german sounds very different if you go 20 km away. Everyone understands each other but the language is different. Sometimes even the gender of a word changes, for example garage, in the bern area you say das garage and 20km away you say die garagePeople learn to speak from other people. Different places have different people speaking differently. Different speech patterns develop from differences in learning how to speak the same language.
Why won't NASA just crowd fund their manned flight to Mars?
The shear amount of money they would need would be insane. Plus it's kind of a limited investment. I mean so much could go wrong and you wouldn't see the effect of your money for several years. It would take 2-3 years to get to Mars? I could be wrong on that but it wouldn't be like going to the moon where you'd see the landing in a few days.
How does marijuana being legal in a state but still federally illegal work?
Here is the crux of the issue. The United States Constitution and bill of rights was set up to severely limit the federal government's powers. The last article of the Bill of Rights further cemented the idea of a limited federal government by letting the states decide any issue that was not discussed in the constitution. This means that the states should be able to rule over drug policy. However Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the constitution allows the federal government to regulate interstate commerce. Now in 2012, the federal government claims that the Commerce clause allows them to regulate drugs because they can cross over state lines and are thus part of interstate commerce.
What makes Messi and Ronaldo so much better than other elite footballers?
Touch, close control and thinking ahead are above all what these two excel at. Think about it, if someone passed a ball to me during a match id be so focused on controlling the ball that id not think about anything else, and id still fail. Years of footwork drills, passing drills mean they don't need to think about controlling the ball - their feet and instinct will do this for them. They can focus on where they want to be, usually past the defender and in a certain position. Its like the difference between a guitarist in a covers band, and the guitarist from the original band. Years of dedication and practice mean the famous guy doesn't need to think about what key he is in etc, just knows and feels. Add that skill to an athletic physique and good coaching to focus their skill and boom, godlike ability!", 'For me its "Something from nothing" half chances into goals in an instant. The defenders know what they're going to do but they execute it so well the defenders have no chance. Create chances and score loads of goals too.
Did Occupy Wall Street result in anything?
Just from my layman observation, it really shifted the tone of the national conversation toward the issues that most occupiers wanted to discuss - the ridiculous power and lack of accountability of the super-rich, corporate corruption, lack of social mobility for the lower classes, etc. Those things became one of the centerpieces of political discussion after the movement in a way they weren't before. Or so it seemed to me.
Can you denounce your citizenship and be technically and officially a citizen of no country?
As signatories of several international treaties, most states won't let you renounce your citizenship if it means you'll become stateless. The United States is among the minority of countries that lets its citizens do it.
Why do dogs sleep so much
I've always thought they rest a lot in order to be fully ready for the next hunt", 'you think dogs sleep a lot? cats man .cats.
Why are western nations upset now that the Russians are bombing ISIS?
Syria is experiencing a three-way war between ISIS, the Assad-led current government, and a coalition of Arab Spring-style rebels. Each of those three groups is fighting against both of the other groups, and has serious ideological reasons why they won't join an alliance with one group to gang up on the third. Russia, and other western nations, disagree on which *two* groups are the ones who should be attacked, and which *one* group is the one which should be allied with. Thus, western nations are upset that Russia is bombing both ISIS and the anti-Assad rebels, and allying with Assad.
Why is it fairly easy for large animating companies to create perfectly photo-realistic terrain and animals, but not humans? What really is the difference?
I assume that you're talking about games. [Terrain is often made from real images.] Humans are often handmade or reduced in quality, because most home computers can't handle photorealistic humans. A static surrounding doesn't require that much memory. A moving surrounding like a human face and human body however does. [Big movie studios however do often use photorealistic animated faces if it's necessary.]
The TV show Cosmos seems to have caused a big stir in the US. Why is this?
Haven't heard anything about people being miffed by it, but it really made renaissance Christians look terrible.
What/who are gypsies and why does everyone hate them.
I don't hate them i just don't trust them around me. Here in Croatia you would have a group of them come up to you and force you to buy a brick. Yes, a brick. So, you say no, and defend yourself with force when the inevitable attack comes. Next thing you know, there are 20 of them with knives and bats and whatnot. And you are never again safe in that city. They live in such awful places, but the thing is, they **have** money. A lot of money. I can take a couple of pictures if there is enough interest and if i can manage it without being seen, because i cannot describe it with words. They steal. A lot. Old metal, metal sculptures, even freaking sewer caps. The women often beg for money with crying kids in their hands. They say they need the money for milk or bread or whatever. Try to go to the store and buy them the groceries they claim they need yourself, you will get yelled at and insulted. I could go on but i don't feel like it
Why are some games only released for a console (Xbone/PS4) but not on PC? Aren't all games written in a programming language that PC's can compile?
> it just seems like if the game is coded and designed on a PC, surely a PC can run it? Phone apps are written on computers as well, yet they can't be run on them. Consoles and phones use a different architecture than regular computers . So no, you couldn't just take a console game and run it on a computer. As to *why* developers often don't work on a PC version of course there's the resources and associated cost it would add to the development. But also, they often have contracts with Microsoft/Sony to keep the game exclusive to their respective console - which in turn makes those exclusive games stronger selling points for a console.
If cashews have to be steamed or baked to be safe to eat, how did someone discover that?
I think hunters, gatherers, and similar are endlessly attentive to their environment, and they think about it all the time. If something is food for animals, they'll delicately taste it, treat it with heat, grind it into meal and then rinse it with water , etc.
Why do people bite their fingernails?
I'm almost 30 and I've bitten my nails for as long as I can remember. One theory I came across was really interesting. You know how one of the most common acts of aggression by little kids is to pinch people? According to this theory, you were subconsciously repressing your aggressive instincts, 'taking your weapons away', when you bit your nails. It also checks out that people bite their nails when they feel anxiety, which one usually feels when they don't feel in control of a situation, but know/believe they can't do anything about it. It's almost like they feel guilty for wanting to assert themselves in any way. I'm not a psychologist, nor do I have any training, but I feel like there's a germ of truth in it. Hope this helped.
Why do anti-depressants have such a terrible effect if you miss one?
ELI actually 5. Your brain is supposed to make happy molecules to be happy. Let's say a normal brain makes 10 happy molecules a day. A sad brain might only make 7, so they're less happy. You go to the doctor because you have a sad brain, and he tells you to start taking pills. The pills make extra happy molecules. The doctor will have you start out only taking little pills, and slowly work up to stronger pills. Eventually you reach the point where you get 5 happy molecules from the pills. Your brain gets used to the pills doing a lot of the work, so it relaxes. It only makes 5 happy molecules. That's okay, because that makes 10 happy molecules. This means that you are happy. But if you don't take pills, then your brain only makes 5 that day . This makes you even more sad than when your brain was not lazy and made 7 happy molecules.
How does bullet sizing work?
Bullets stop being bullets when they have a calibre of 20mm and then they become a shell. 20mm is 0.79 calibre so anything slightly smaller than that would be the largest caibre bullet. A calibre of .50 means .50 inches across which is 12.7mm. Power isn't solely determined by calibre but also by barrel length and size of the overall cartridge. Longer cartridge means more propellant. Longer barrel means a longer time of being accelerated. This is why a 5.56mm rifle round is gonna kill you more dead than a 9mm pistol round.
How do lumens work when measuring brightness of flashlights? Ie. How do cheap flashlights have outputs of like 2000 lumens?
To explain it to a five year old would be this: think of your flashlight as a garden hose. Lumens is how much water it can spray out of the nozzle in a given amount of time. Real flashaholics would use an integrated sphere to measure lumens. So think of a bucket and your garden hose; how fast can you fill up a bucket with water. Now don't confuse that with lux. Lux is how strong your nozzle is. If you can knock over your bucket of water that is lux.One way to do it is to use an array of cheap LEDs instead of one good one. A flashlight with multiple LEDS produces plenty of light but it is poorly focused which makes it relatively crappy for most things you would want a flashlight for.Sorry off topic and not sure how many people will get this I'm in so deep into cryptocurrency that I saw lumens and automatically thought the post was about Stella Lumens. You may continue with your regularly scheduled program.
How would less regulations on banks be 'good' for them?
No. Many customers don't have the financial knowhow to know when a deal is a bad one. Especially not when it is packaged in lots and lots of pretty words. This is especially true with many modern financial products which are very far from straight forward and wrapped up in loads and loads of bank legalese. A lot of people, sadly, think about the here and now . They hear 'you can get a car / home loan right now' and don't always stop to think what that might mean for them five, ten years into the future because they really want / need that house or car right now.
Why does GTA5 use P2P servers for their Online suite when it's the reason hackers are so abundant? What are the benefits of not using dedicated servers?
Also, having dedicated servers only means that if the company decides to shut down the game, that's it. P2P online can exist forever as long as there's people playing it.
Why Kickstarter doesn't give any money to projects if they don't raise past a certain point
The have a section on this in their [FAQ] > It's less risk for everyone. If you need $5,000, it's tough having $1,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project. > It motivates. If people want to see a project come to life, they're going to spread the word. > It works. Of the projects that have reached 20% of their funding goal, 82% were successfully funded. Of the projects that have reached 60% of their funding goal, 98% were successfully funded. Projects either make their goal or find little support. There's little in-between.
What is the purpose of terrorist attacks, if they only give the group a bad name?
Terrorists attempt to strike fear into their enemies' civilians. If a country suffers terror attacks, the civilians might think to follow what the terrorists want to avoid future attacks.
Why should I buy insurance? Wouldn't companies not offer insurance if it was mathematically in my best interest?
Insurance is a cost/benefit thing. In theory, you'll probably never need, say, flood insurance. But the cost is minimal, and the risk of having a flood and losing everything with no way of buying it back makes buying said insurance a sane choice. Or look at car insurance; you'll probably never total your car. But paying a few bucks a month and never getting anything back is a reasonable price to pay for getting coverage on the rare occasion that you do, say, $20,000 worth of damage.
Why is it okay to eat sushi at a sushi restaurant, but it's bad to go to the store and get raw fish to eat?
It's a matter of trust about how the fish was handled and how fresh it is. If you flash-freeze the fish properly you can eat it as sashimi
the "fake news" scandal, in as few words as possible
Half the comments are calling the 'MSM' fake news, and half are getting it right. Don't listen to the willfully ignorant trying to draw false equivalences between major news networks and alternate 'entertainment' news shows like Alex Jones or opinionated and poorly researched blog pieces. Breitbart is sensationalist as hell, and also has reported on news that objectively did not happen before. CNN is also sensationalist, but don't report on things that did not objectively happen. A commonly used trick is to present a bunch of facts that while true, are an incomplete picture of the truth that tells an entirely different story.
what exactly is Short Selling? How does it work?
Short selling is borrowing something you don't own to sell with the intention of buying something identical back later and returning it to the person you borrowed it from. If you do this, you keep the difference if the price falls, and lose if the price goes up.
Why don't animals such as deer/dogs run away when a giant car is coming towards them? Isn't that supposed to be a survival instinct?
There's a really good chance, too, that because a car moves in a way that is clearly not like an animal, it just looks like something getting bigger and bigger, not like something getting closer.
Why is water so scarce in the universe when hydrogen and oxygen are so common?
> why haven't there been enough combinations of these two simple elements to produce water anywhere in the known universe that's not Earth? There is actually been PLENTY of water seen places other than earth. Venus has water in it's atmosphere. Europa has a whole ice covered sea covering the entire moon made of water. there are thousands of bodies the the ort cloud that are mostly water, when they have orbits that bring them to the inner solar system we call them comets.
How on earth do TV stations subtitle a live-to-air show?
The answer is surprisingly low tech: someone types it as it's happening. Sometimes speech recognition software is used, but it's not as good as a human, so for major live events, they just have a fast, accurate typist.
If we got in a time machine and handed an iPhone 6 to Apple in 1999, would they be able to figure out how each component works and recreate it?
No. Our design process was not small enough to recreate the iPhone. If they had the tech back then, they would have built it. There really isnt anything in the phone that didn't exist in 1999. The thing was, we didn't have a means of getting the components to fit, let alone have comparable power with the larger-at-the-time transistor size. Plus, reverse engineering modern SMD tech is VERY difficult due to the tiny size.
What is the difference between mental illness and psychological disorders?
To a degree there's overlap. If Dwight began suffering from depression because the altoids were the wrong flavor, he would need therapy to unlearn the reflex , however medication with the counseling and therapy may help restore the neurochemical imbalance that the depression caused similar to physical therapy for an injured limb. The main difference is injuries with the brain get really complicated really fast
Exactly what does a conductor do in an orchestra? Why is he so important?
One thing he does is keep the beat, which allows everybody to be in sync. He also gives feedback to the musicians - like, if the flute section is too loud, he might signal for them to tone it down a bit, or he might motion to another section that they need to be louder. In addition to that, there are frequently places in music that don't stick completely to the beat. For example, a *fermata* is basically a note or rest that you hold for a variable amount of time - trying to coordinate *that* among an *orchestra* would be really difficult without everybody looking in the same direction - not to mention getting everybody to start again, all at the same time.
Why Did So Many People Hate Windows Vista?
I work on and sell computers for a living. * Hardware manufacturers were slow on writing drivers for Vista. There was plenty of time for them to get on it, but because they hadn't had to since XP came out 5 years prior, they got lazy.* Its minimum system requirements were far too low: 512 MB, wheras Vista has performance hits below 2 GB; 4 times as much. Many computers were shipped with that little, and the computers ran _horribly_.* People hate change. There were a lot of great features in Vista, but between 2001-2007 many people got their first computers. They didn't want to switch to Vista, darnit.* People didn't understand what UAC was for and just hated it. A somewhat valid complaint was that older programs wouldn't work on it, but many would with comparability mode or with software updates . New programs were always compatible, but people didn't want to buy new software, even though OS updates typically required software updates.
Why do banks give you money when you do a "note-passing" robbery?
Rule 1 of being robbed at work. It's not your money so don't be a hero. Rule 2. There is no rule 2. Follow rule 1.
Why Do Humans Enjoy Being Scared?
Scary movies or stories are one of the few thing that's fully occupy my mind and distract me, so it's like a nice break from my crazy head sometimes.
If we have many forms of clean energy ready to use, why don't we use it instead of complaining about how unclean our energy is?
Solar and wind energy are great, but they really aren't capable of supporting an entire infrastructure. You need to have a bigger primary power source like coal or nuclear power .
How they know how many people watch a given TV show
The way they do it has been explained well so I'm gonna get a little off-topic. The thing about these 'rating counters' is that they are done for advertisement purposes only. Companies who buy advertisement time from TV channels need this data for a more efficient advertising. For example, if you have a women's product, you wouldn't want to advertise it during a show which is mostly watched by men. Also, the data is taken from above-average income people's TV's. So, it only serves for the advertisers. But TV shows and channels use the data to show off how much they were viewed, which I think is way less accurate than it is thought. The small sample of above-average income cannot be generalised to the whole public.Maybe not in every country, but in the Netherlands a few households have a little box that counts what is watched and with how many people. The boxes are given to people of all demographics, so it represents the dutch society.They then count up all the numbers, and multiply them with the actual number of citizens.
Is there a correlation between poor penmanship and any other traits of a person?
Poor handwriting can be due to so many factors that judging someone on it is useless. Just as laziness or ignorance can cause it, so can being in a hurry, medications that cause shaky hands, diseases both neurological and not, and just never practicing because you type most things in today's society.
Why do libraries let you renew items?
My mom's a librarian for the public US system, and for years she has been telling me that renewal used to require that you show up with the actual book in hand and get it stamped, proving you haven't lost or irreparably damaged it in the process. Not doing this incurs a fine as a means to deter theft. Sure you can take this book and sell it but there's gonna be a fine and until you come pay it you can't use the library again. These days it's a little different because a lot of libraries have renew online service. Typically you can only renew online a few times before having to bring the book back anyway. Most places also don't let you just keep renewing forever. This way the book stays in circulation and everyone can get to use the full extent of the resources.Their model is not to collect fines as income! Fines are extremely small, and they exist only to annoy you into returning your item when someone else is waiting to read it.I'm a librarian that works at a county library. Like others have said, collecting fines for income isn't our goal. The fine system is basically just a deterrant to make sure people aren't abusing the system at the cost of others since the library is supposed to be an equal opportunity resource. We allow renewals but have a limit of 2 renewals per item so you can't just keep renewing an item forever. Also we don't allow renewals on items that are requested by other patrons. So basically, we want to allow you to keep your stuff if you need extra time with it, but limits are in place to ensure fairness to other patrons.
Why aren't calories related to food weight? 1lb of broccoli is 154 calories, while 1 lb of ground beef is 798 calories.
Calories are how much energy you get from food. Your stomach burn your food to make you go, like a car engine. But not all things burn the same. If you try to burn a rock, almost nothing happens to the rock. If you try to burn a stick, most of the stick burns up. If you burn gasoline, you get a really big flame and almost nothing left over. It doesn't matter how big the rock is, it just won't burn like gasoline will. Some foods, like vegetables, your body can't burn very well. Some things, like meat, your body is much better at burning so you get more calories. The leftover parts you can't burn are pooped out.
Why do most people become more aggressive on the internet?
Because most of the time they are arguing with complete strangers with completely different views, whereas in real life you aren't likely to argue with strangers over politics, etc.Really? Most people? The aggressive ones just pop out more.
what are the requirements for time travel?
Travelling to the future is easy. Just get yourself something that can travel very, very fast, and time dilation will let the universe age faster than you. Travelling to the past is hard. There are several schemes for time travel, and the only ones that might possibly work theoretically rely on negative mass, which probably doesn't exist. So, good luck with that.What do you mean requirements? Im traveling threw time at a completely normal rate as it is!
The fifth of november.
It's the 309th day of the year, it comes after November 4th and before November 6th. Sometimes it's a Tuesday but this year it's a wednesday. I don't think it's ever been a Saturday though.
why is it that we can see a light even if we stand beyond the range of light it casts
The range of light as you refer to is just a region near the light source where the intensity of the radiated light reaching the surroundings is high enough to be clearly visible after reflecting off surfaces. The light that is cast actually reaches pretty far, but you can't see it because it has much lower intensity as compared to the light that reaches your eyes directly from the source.The lighting bouncing off of objects is only enough light to see those objects at the couple feet around the candle
"original streets" and underground cities
Sacramento, CA has an underground section, which was risen to circumvent frequent floods they'd experience back in the late 1800s. Having many residents situated in a disaster-prone area was a prominent reason for the construction of most old underground areas. Not the case today. Besides subways and shopping centers, you probably won't see modern underground cities unless there's a dire need for one, and nowadays there's alternatives that don't require lifting an entire segment of a city ", 'If anyone has ever toured Miller brewing in milwaukee wisconsin, the surface buildings on the street are only half of whats there. Huge complexes underground with connecting tunnles to all of the buildings. It seriously feels like a gritty version of the hive from resident evil
What is the point of XML?
So imagine you have an object. That object has properties. Now imagine you need to transfer that object across a system that you can't literally pass the object itself--say, over the web. How do you pass that data? Do you turn everything into a string and send it like that? XML is a language designed to facilitate easy transfer of this type of data across systems. It allows a programmer to clearly define an object, that object's properties, and that object's properties' types in such a way that another system can easily parse that data back into an object on their system. It's a standard everyone can work with, which is the entire point.
Why exactly does McDonalds get a bad reputation for being unhealthy?
Salt, fat, and sugar are really cheap ways to make something taste better. So all junk food and fast food restaurant use them liberally. Same goes for a lot of other restaurants actually, even if we don't talk about them as much. The burger you make would almost definitely have fewer calories and less sodium than any fast food one. It's not a huge difference, maybe a few hundred calories, but its not insignificant either. And like u/slash178 says, if you then get some soda, fries, maybe a desert, etc, that'll really add up fast.
How come so many documentaries are on YouTube? Are they not in breach of copyright, or have they not been found?
Documentaries very rarely make any money in theatrical or DVD release, so they're not missing out on much in commercial terms. The makers would probably have it out there as evidence of their skills than have it forgotten about.
what actually happens in the brain when someone loses their sanity when they witness something traumatizing? What about those who are in shock?
Did you know studies have proven men's testosterone becomes elevated when they handle a gun? Why? The collective idea of what a gun implies. Now extrapolate that concept; that the body can create a physical response because of a stimuli, even if the stimuli is simply an idea. There has to be a program in the mind that relates the concept of power in regards to a self, The mind has its own operating system and programs/routines. One of them deals with self-preservation for obvious reasons. When one is exposed to trauma, the program for self-preservation is triggered. The problem is, it doesn't deactivate, putting the subject into a constant state of existential dread. This state creates a feedback loop that reinforces the self-preservation routine. Since the routine is a sub-conscious process, it is very hard to turn off especially because there is an aversion to whatever caused the trauma. By reliving the trauma it is possible to integrate the experience and mitigate the self-preservation feedback loop. This is done with exposure therapy. New studies vindicate what people have been saying for decades, that MDMA can help subjects safely discuss and deal with the trauma thus defusing its psychological and physical effects. Anyway that's my theory. Processed a very traumatic experience after taking a powerful psychedelic and followed that line of reasoning which cured me of PTSD.
If people say Dolphins and Orcas are as smart as humans, why have they not built underwater economies and cities?
I haven't heard many professionals say they are *as* smart as humans, although plenty of people say they are intelligent relative to other animals. I'd point out they do not have hands, so tool-use is difficult if not impossible. They also don't have access to the variety of building materials we do. And for that matter, intelligence doesn't necessarily mean you need economies and cities.
How come the U.S doesn't use PIN-verification for card purchases?
Don't know if this fully answers the question; but for some reason our debit cards linked with checking accounts usually require a pin. Some banks require it over a certain amount like $25, while others require it for all swipes. But credit cards and credit accounts don't typically require anything but a signature and sometimes not even that. Most online purchases require the cvv security code on the back of the card but no information is required that isn't readily available from the card itself, besides a billing zip code tied to that account .sometimes Not sure why this seems to be the norm.. In the US, cc companies reimburse you for fraud up to a certain $$ amount. Once that level is passed, they will either require a PIN or you’ll be required to show ID to see that name matches the card. But for a $1.50 soda, merchant and card issuers agree: chip, swipe, sign , and get them out the door for the next transactionMost places require "Chip and PIN", just like in Europe. It's mostly just smaller outfits like local restaurants and such that are still using the older method of signing, and this is only because they want to allow the customer to tip using their card.
do people with mental diseases know they have it?
A student at the college I used to work for had a form of mental illness that manifested as visual hallucinations, usually with auditory components. I never met him, my friend was his teacher. Apparently he was completely non-violent, but prone to hallucinating people being mean to him and talking badly about him, and getting depressed about it. His remarkably clever way of working around it was to carry his mobile phone with him everywhere, and then set it to record on any occasion where he thought maybe the input was not quite right. He'd discovered that if he looked back and forth between the hallucination and the camera screen, the visual hallucinations didn't carry through to the phone. It allowed him to sort out fact from fiction: guy standing in front of you isn't visible on the phone? Not real; ignore him. Amazingly clever as that approach was, I really hope he eventually found some medication that worked for him, because that's got to be an emotionally exhausting way to live your life.
When im using big headphones (bose or beats) with a small device (iPod) does it use more battery than using a smaller headphone? How does this work?
Possibly, I'm not sure if it would draw more power or not but it could definitely make a softer sound at the same volume setting . The key of the headphone is the driver unit. Most headphones would use what is called a 'dynamic' type driver - an magnet attached to a coil of wire which moves a membrane up and down, causing vibrations and producing sound. Having a bigger magnet means the headphone is able to produce better and more full sounds , but in turn also requires more power to physically move the membrane. It's not the only factor in sound quality, but it's why you'll often see headphones advertising '*x* mm drivers' Another factor in power draw is 'impedance' - this is the electrical resistance of the wiring. A lot of low end headphones tend to have low impedance, this means the wires have little resistance which means they can be powered easily by devices like phones or MP3 players. High end headphones tend to have high impedance - this is because these higher end devices are typically paired with amplifiers, which can improve sound quality by literally amplifying the strength of the electrical signal. Having a high impedance protects them from blowing out, vs low impedance headphones in which the driver unit might irreparably break from trying to vibrate too hard due to a strong electrical signal.
If in the US you are innocent until proven guilty, how come an accused criminal can be put in jail without bond prior to their trial?
First, a person is *presumed* innocent the don't become innocent until after the trial. That being the case, the vast majority of the accused are eligible for bail only when it can be shown there is a risk of flight or public safety is it denied. Also, a lot of accused criminals are on parole or probation. In the course of getting arrested, they may violate that parole, and be locked up for that reason.
What are spiders doing when crawling across the ceiling/wall and randomly changing direction?
Well to the Spider, it's random at all. We could say the same for just watching traffic, without context it's just nonsense. If we tried to impede/capture the spider, it would start behaving more reactively --but, only because we know the context.
What's the technical difference between a green screen and a blue screen (besides the fact that one is green and the other is blue)?
There's an excellent video about the history of his technique here: _URL_0_ I found it fascinating, maybe you will too.
How much does a captain on a cruise ship control? (Navigation, steering, etc)
I've only been on Naval vessels, but I imagine cruise ships operate in a similar fashion. The captain doesn't actually do any of that stuff. There's a Navigation Officer to chart the proper course, and the boatswains mate's drive the ship. The Captain is there to make decisions and coordinates between all the department heads who have specific tasks in their department.
Why can't we "make" more water?
The Earth's surface is 70% covered by water. It's hard to imagine why we would want more. One of the big problems with climate change is the release of frozen water from Greenland and Antarctica into the oceans.
Why is it always the US & the UK that intervene and send troops to the Middle East? Why not other countries such as Germany etc
well, you know, we germans have started two world wars killing roughly 70 million people in less than 30 years our fathers were deadlier than the spanish flu my father fought in ww 2, my granpa died in ww 1. we're not so attracted by the idea to take part in another war. and beyond this, our constitution forbids it.they do, the dutch had a considerable presence in afghanistan
How does electricity work (ohms, voltage, amps, continuity, grounding, & watts, AC, DC, current)?
Please could visit [Khan Academy's youtube page] and watch the physics sub playlists { electrsostatics, voltage, electric potential energy, circuits, magnetism } It's all there, for basic DC circuits. Nice and slow, and you'll get the math.
Shopping locally vs big business, LI5 please.
Local business keep a much higher percent of income within the community instead of shipping it somewhere else. It's trendy to shop local because it's better for your community but it costs more therefore it requires some sacrifice. That's not to say big business is necessarily bad for your community, but there needs to be a good mix.
why do movie computers/phones use fictional operating systems?
It protects the show-makers from lawsuits and, more importantly, from giving companies free advertising. Any brand-name product you see in a movie or TV show paid to have it's product in there pretty much all of the time. So if Google isn't willing to fork over ad dollars to be featured in a movie, the movie will use Spyder-Finder or whatever other fake search service. The other minor issue is that if the computer fails the heroes , that can open up civil liability for trademark dilution so this just eliminates that whole possibility.
Why would a person downshift and use a lower gear to accelerate (or obtain more power)?
The force that accelerates the car is the torque at the wheels . Using a lower gear will give you more torque at the wheels assuming you aren't revving the engine above the point where it's making good torque of course. As another poster said, it's about leverage using a lower gear is like using a longer lever so the engine can apply more force, but obviously this is then limited by maximum engine revs. For best acceleration you would aim to keep wheel torque as high as possible which means staying in the lowest gear you can until the drop off in engine torque at high revs brings wheel torque below the level it would be at in the next gear.
Why hasn't the Westboro Baptist Church been declared a hate group?
There's no official designation of a hate group. Many people I know do consider them a hate group.But .Jesus\' burritos **are** the best burritos! And what does it mean to be "declared a hate group"? There's no such official government designation. Even if there was, it couldn't mean anything. Hate groups have the same general rights to express their views as other groups. The is the USA. We let the Ku Klux Klan have freakin\' parades if they want to. But you can declare the WBC to be a hate group. No one is stopping you. And a lot of people will agree with you. But you know what the absolute, best response to the WBC is? To pretend like they don't exist. It is the only way to get rid of a troll, and they are real-life, hardcore, dedicated trolls.The 1st amendment of the constitution protects the freedom of speech and the freedom of religious expression. WBC says noxious things and practices their religion in a noxious way, but thats all they do. Until there's evidence that they have assaulted a person or committed some other kind of crime, they cannot be called a hate group.
How does annoying the Internet cost a million bucks in a couple days?
If this is in relation to the Valve paid mods thing, I think Gabe Newell said that he received so many angry emails that they had to build new servers to accommodate them all, although I don't have a source on this.
why does backing every horse, or it's equivalent, not actually work in practicality in gambling?
You couldn't back every horse in the race and win money. Bookmakers have a profit margin in their prices The easiest way to explain this is with a coin flip. You would expect the odds of a coin landing on either heads or tails to be equal, or 1/1. However a bookie would make the odds of it being either result as 4/5. Two people backing either result for £1 would result in the the bookies taking £2 from the customers but only paying out £1.80 when one of them wins. That 20p being a bookmakers guaranteed profit but if you were to back both results you would lose 20p. That's how a book works but in a more complicated manner as with 10 horses in a race the odds go in and out depending on the betting to maximise a bookmakers chance to profit. There's another type of betting you touched on with Leicester called arbitrage betting. You could back Leicester to win the league at 10/1 for £1 and win £11. Then go to an online betting exchange and lay it at 3/1 for £1. Leicester win: £11 returnLeicester lose: £4 returnStaked £2 on the only 2 possible results but winning AT LEAST £2 or as much as £9. Either way you cannot lose money. As a side note, don't cash out on Leicester They are going to win. Source: I work for William Hill.
Why might somebody want to exercise Open Carry with their firearm?
Ever walked around in 100 degree had with 100% humidity while having a concealed weapon? It's simply more comfortable One issue is ccw rules require you to completely conceal. If your shirt rides up and people can see the gun, you just broke the law. Allowing open carry means you don't have to worry about that
How does the French healthcare system work and why is it rated as one of the best in the world?
I quite like New Zealand's healthcare system, but it seems about 10% of my patients don't agree with paying 5$ per medicine per 3 months. Oi vey.for your viewing pleasure a YouTube playlist that give a brief overview of how different developed countries systems work. International Health Care Systems: _URL_5_', "Free, universal healthcare is always the best option. It's absolutely sickening what the Tories are doing to the NHS. They're absolute scum.
Why does Computer Science have one of the highest unemployment rate of all majors when the field has so many job openings?
Notice that the experienced graduates had half of the 8% unemployment. Going into computer science you have to specialize like medicine or have many specialties. Just because you got a degree does not mean squat if you can't prove it in the real world. I know many colleagues that apparently did really well in class but that hasn't seem to translate into the day to day constantly changing field. You have to be willing to continue your education beyond your degree. My degree got me in the door but my certifications allowed me to get other jobs that were higher paying. I'm not knocking degrees but other than my first job no company has really given any weight to it other than to check it off that I have a bachelors degree. all the conversation so started with what certifications do you have that are current and relevant to the task that you're going to be working on.I just graduated with a CS degree. One thing I have noticed among some of my peers is that they are pretty damn good at programming but they lack that “social” quality that employers look for. You can’t just be a good programmer. You have to be a team player and willing to face adversity for growth. Some people just can’t face that, so they don’t go that extra mile past just doing their programming homework assignments. To me, It’s about the entire package.Outsourcing I heard. Or at least you see people talk about it on here a lot about how they create a position with the standards so high that they can't get filled practically and they either outsource the job or bring someone from India. They will defend that decision by stating that they couldn't find anyone to fill the position. They save money and no one is the wiser. The tech industry is really nerve wrecking in terms of job security.
What happens to money lost due to depreciation?
It evaporated. The money didn't *vanish* it just left your hands and went back into the system. Like a bucket of water left in the sun. We all just collectively agree it's not as useful or interesting as it used to be and the extra $5,000 you paid for it is off being useful and interesting elsewhere. The key to understanding economic systems is that it's a big circle that doesn't really exist. My car has value because everyone believes it does and it's worth less than your car.. because everyone believes that's the case. There is no beginning or end, no big pot of money, no definable physical trait of '*value*'. It's not anchored in an observable physical universe, if you dig something out the ground without civilisation around you can't *measure* its value like you can measure it's weight. All you can say is it was *y* number of times harder to find than milk is but less useful and work from there. It's all relative. Your car is worth $5,000 because everyone says it is. Doesn't really matter what it used to be worth because it was a made up number then and it's a made up number now. However as long as you can sell it for those made up numbers and use them to buy other stuff for made up numbers.. it's useful.
What is the difference between Windows Operating systems 32-bit and 64-bit? Why do they exist and what are they used for?
In addition to what Nathan said, x86 and x64 are the architectures . ISA is kind of like a standard for what instructions and types of data the processor can handle. I'm not 100% sure about the exact details of why older games can have trouble running on a modern OS. I can only guess on a few things, but I am in no way sure. Hopefully someone who knows will explain.
Why is "That's just the way it's always been done" an acceptable business model for large corporations rather than encouraging innovation?
Just yesterday, i had a longer talk about this with a consulting company about this. The problem is that big changes cause big effects. And it is really really hard to figure out what this effect will be. That's why companies tend to make small changes, small enough that it won't hurt if it goes wrong. And if this small change improves the overall system you go ahead in the direction and make further changes to keep improving. It's done to keep the risks as small as possible.
How are multiplayer video games balanced before launch?
If you're referring to gameplay balance - usually the devs figure out balance by playing the game and tweaking it to their liking.