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Why is Rachel Dolezal identifying as black considered a negative thing? Is her racial identity that much different from a transgendered person identifying as a different gender?
Because none of that was necessary for her to advocate for the black community. She could've easily just been her natural self. The average african american isn't mad but more perplexed. She made up death threats and was lying about who her parents really were. It's just weird .and gender is social. Sex is physical. If your trans youre basically asking the world to accept how you see yourself, you're technically still the sex you are. A lot of people still find it odd but a trans person typically isn't living a complete lie to everyone, they change their life to fit their desired gender.The main difference here that nobody seems to be talking about is that when someone like Dolezal identifies as "black", it's not about skin and race but about black culture. Tanning her skin color just made it easier to "pass" and participate in the wider cultural dialogue, and in her case receive the same sympathetic treatment that a true harassed or disenfranchised black American person would receive. Transgenders literally feel they are in the wrong physical body. They don't wear dresses just so they can participate in women's culture. If anything, Dolezal's racial deceptions are the exact polar opposite of a Transgenders\' yearnings. She did it to serve a cultural desireBecause she lied, put on black face and profited from it. "Blacking up" is offensive and she's profited from propaganda she's pedalled for her own benefit. She has basically committed fraud and manufactured a false identity to aid in doing so. The sad part is she could be an advocate of equal rights without having to pretend to be black or "blacking up". So why she did so at all makes no sense other than to perpetuate a false identity. The odd thing is she has posted material that suggests she actively dislikes white people and the exploitation of black culture by white people while doing the exact same thing for 7 years. Hell, she claimed her adopted little brother was her actual son. She is clearly a delusional sociopath and pathological liar who should get help.
How the overall scoring for the World Cup works, and what would need to happen for the US to advance.
The top 2 teams from each group advance. A win gets you 3 points, a draw gets you 1. From there, point ties are broken by how many goals differential. Presently, the US is in second place, behind Germany based only on number of goals scored. However, all the teams in the group are still really close. If the US wins against Germany, they're going to be in round 2 for sure. If Ghana and Portugal draw in their game, the US will go to round 2. If the US loses to Germany badly, or if the Ghana/Portugal game is a completely one sided blowout, the US will not advance. Right now though it's still anyone's game. edit: Goal differential, not goals scored.
Why do companies (Google, Apple, etc.) that have billions of dollars worth of debt not pay it off when they have the money for it?
Imagine you and your neighbour both had 10 dollars in savings and planned on buying a lemonade stand each for $10 and that can make $2 profit every day. You bought it with your savings, while your neighbour used $5 of his own money and borrowed another $5 with 10% interest. You both make $2 a day but your neighbour has to make 0.5$ interest payments, thus you earn $2 a day and she makes $1.5. However, you are getting a 20% return on your investment of 10 dollars and she is making 30% on his 5 dollars. Now, your neighbour realizes he still has another $5 in savings after buying his first lemonade stand. He decides to borrow another 5 dollars and use the rest of his cash to buy another lemonade stand. Now he has 2 lemonade stands and makes $4 a day and pays $1 in interest, thus making $3 for his 10 dollar investment. You both started with 10 dollars in cash and invested it in lemonade stands, however your friend is making 3$ every day and you are making only 2$! Of course, she carries a risk of the lender taking away his lemonade stands if she fails to make interest payments. NOW, in the real world you would have to pay taxes on your profit. Let's say a 50% corporate tax rate. Your lemonade stand makes 2 dollars so you end up paying 1 dollar in taxes. Your neighbour's two lemonade stands have sales of 4 dollars, but because her taxable income is calculated after interest payments, she is only taxed on 3 dollars thus paying only 1.5 dollars. At the end of the day your lemonade stand is paying 50% corporate tax rate, but your neighbour's two lemonade stands is only paying 37.5%. We call this a **tax shield**.
Why is it so socially acceptable to drive 5-10 mph over the speed limit?
I'd be careful with this. When I was in Oregon almost no one went over, and definitely not more than 5 over. I live in NY however, and there's some roads you can be 15 over and go right by cops and not get pulled over. Ranges a lot regionally and situationally. Bad weather also means youre more likely to get pulled over for going over.
Why does Mexico get cane sugar Coca Cola while the U.S. gets high-fructose corn syrup Coke?
You are kind of dancing around a myth. Most, if not all. coke sold in Mexico is Corn Sugar. Including once made their. 'Cane Sugar' soda is a marking ploy leveraging peoples ignorance about sugar.Agricultural subsidies make corn syrup cheaper to produce in the US than regular sugar. This is not the case everywhere in the world, so many other areas use cane sugarMexico can grow sugar cane. The US grows corn and has very few parts of it that can grow sugar cane. The US also limits how much imported sugar we get to protect US agriculture. All of this combined means that corn syrup is cheaper for companies to get than cane sugarIIRC because of Ronald Reagan. He pushed hard for farm subsidies especially for corn, which meant that the US was producing huge amounts of cheap corn. Eventually it just became cheaper to use corn syrup instead of cane sugar.
If Comcast is hated so much, why doesn't Google or Charter go in and profit from the areas where Comcast has monopoly?
I don't know if it's like this all over, but in my area, Time Warner pays the city extra money to not allow other providers into the area. Google can't come in unless the city allows them, and the city is making plenty of money from Time Warner to not let that happen.
Why is throwing a glass of water on someone considered Assault?
I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be considered assault in New Zealand. WTF? Why would it be anywhere, unless it was violently done in order to provoke?
why the Pachelbel's canon in D works with so many pop songs?
It actually doesn't. That first video fudges the hell out of it. I - V - vi - IV is a very popular progression, and not without reason. 4 chords is a great length because then you have 1 chord per bar of a 4-bar phrase, which is a nice phrase length. It starts on the tonic, has a little tension but not too much, and has a nice cadence at the end which is pleasing but not too strong. Basically, it loops really nicely. Canon in D is actually I - V - vi - iii - IV - I - IV - V . So it starts out the same, but the 4th chord is different, and then it has 4 more chords.
Why can't things in small countries be replicated in large countries?
It's not really true. Many large-scale programs have been able to be implemented in large countries. There are additional challenges based on infrastructure, demographics, culture, and governing, which usually becomes more of a problem with larger country size, but it can still be done. The United States is a unique case because of state's rights and the huge cultural differences between different sides of the country that has been widened over the decades. With health care in the United States for example, Congress can't simply just make a bill granting universal health care - it has a major impact on existing health care providers, existing plans people might be on, state laws, and the huge demographic and state governing differences between say, the south and the pacific.Well it depends of the thing. One example would be that certain political reforms might be agreed upon in a small country, but in a larger nations, with hundreds of millions of people, and groups that fervently disagree, its not possible.
Billion-dollar valuations for tech companies that have never turned a profit (!?)
So, what is supposed to go into a stock valuation is the following: 1) Assets 2) Sales history 3) IPs 4) Goodwill 5) Non-tangible assets 6) Expenses 7) Pending lawsuits 8) Debt So, if we look at a company like Uber, we can see that they have a lot of the sort of non-physical items that can be very valuable. Even if you only think a verified sales contact is worth $0.05, they must have 100's of thousands of them . And usually, to a company looking to acquire that sort of asset, they put much more value on them . Bare in mind, the idea behind valuation works for a couple of purposes: 1) Judging the value of an individual share as based on the valuation divided by the number of available shares 2) Credit rating, the ability to borrow money is based largely on a ratio of debt to valuation. 3) Buy out strategies. Companies looking to buy Uber need to look at how many shares are in circulation , Valuation and Debt. So, that is what is useful about valuation.. The problem is, it can be gamed. If someone wants to commit fraud, they can arbitrarily inflate the value of non-physical assets. Want to buy out Uber? Value their contacts, IPs and Goodwill at lower values and get other investors to believe the new valuation.
how is a space rocket aimed at a planet?
Orbits are very predictable thanks to astronomers taking precise measurements. Thrust is predictable thanks to engineers testing rockets. There's minimal drag in space, so once you get up to speed you coast at a known velocity. Since we know how everything is moving we can aim the space rocket very accurately, even after launch, but to minimize travel time the planets have to align, hence the term [launch window]. You aim the rocket to *almost* intercept the planet at a point it *will be* at in the future, and slow it down just before you reach the planet so it will be captured in planetary orbit. Here are some relevant wiki links: * [Orbital Insertion]* [Interplanetary Transfer Orbits]* [The ITN]* [Attitude Control]* [Orbital mechanics game]
I'm nearsighted. Why are reflections of things far away still blurry if the mirror is only a few feet away?
The mirror only reflects the light that has traveled all the way from the object. So to get it in sharp focus your eyes still have to focus 'far away'. For our eyes and brain looking in a mirror is basically the same as looking through a window.Because the light from those objects is still traveling a long distance to get to your mirror, so you eyes are forced to focus on them as if they were that same distance in front of youBecause even though the mirror is close your eyes are still focusing on something far away, just through the mirrorAs a person with good eye sight, that is pretty crazy to hear.Since there are already good answers here, I'll add that conversely to mirrors functioning with that distance, you can see things far away with a phone/camera because it sees it for you, displays it and then you see that.TL;DR - if you lose your glasses, go to your phone's camera and hold your phone to your face.This is a great question that has never crossed my mind.
why manual cars are dying off even though they're more fuel efficient and keep the driver focused
They aren't, it's just the case in America.Modern automatic transmissions actually get better milage than their manual counterparts. Additionally, some automatic transmission can shift faster than it is possible to shift a manual. Lastly, people are lazy or would rather have their hand free to do something elseThis is a very US centric view; it is really hard to get an automatic rental in Southern Europe - they all seem fixated with manuals.In theory, a manual transmission would be more fuel efficient. But in real life, people just don't drive that exactly to beat a modern automatic transmission.
How do TV game shows tax people who get cash on the spot?
Surely depends how much money. If it's under 10 grand I'm quite sure it works exactly how they do bingo parlors. When you win anything over $1199, they rig it so you win multiple 1199's so it's not one lump taxable sum.Canada does not tax windfall gains, so lottery/casino/game show winnings are pocketed in the amount shown. This is also why Canadians play American big-prize lotteries, as it is possible to keep much more of the winnings than American citizens do.So you're telling me prize money is not tax-free in the US like it is e.g. in Germany? o.O
Why is so much of the ocean unexplored?
Space is easy as it's pretty much empty. You only need something that can withstand a vacuum to be there and there is nothing obstructing your view. Underwater however, the deeper your go the higher the pressure becomes, so your ship needs to be extremely strong not to be crunched. And you can't see very far as the water above you stops any light from getting to the bottom.
How do people in India know which caste I am?
You will be fine. It's not like as if there are people running on streets killing people from different caste. Also it is very unlikely someone would ask you yours.
why is it so hard for the US to get 5%of the vote to a third party candidate?
I also voted for Johnson in 2012 for the same reason. I don't think things will change anytime soon. Hopefully the younger generation will get over the popularity contest that is the American President and vote more widely and hopefully on issues and not how well they know the persons name. I don't have much hope for America these next 8 years though. That Clinton is even a viable candidate lets me know that the mentality is still set on name recognition and not ability. I don't see the GOP putting up someone I would vote for either so I'll be voting 3rd party again next year.
Why did the guitar become such a staple of modern music?
To extend MathPolice's comments: An unamplified acoustic guitar just isn't that loud. In 1940, the loud stuff was bands with big brass sections, people hammering away on pianos, things like that. A guitar player was hard to hear in a crowded bar. Without an amp, whatcha gonna do?
Why has the African continent experienced such chaos, corruption and strife over the years?
1600-1900s white imperialism & colonialism. 1900s-2000s white exploitation of their natural resources . And before you downvote me for saying this next thing, please name a few advanced societies inside the Rift. Valley or Sub-Sahara Africa .. Blacks cannot create an advanced society on their own, they're mud hut tribal people through and through.
Why is red bull so expensive, isn't it pretty much just a soft drink with a couple extra ingredients?
It's the way that energy drinks have marketed themselves as a separate category of soft drink that allows them to charge more for that arbitrary distinction. One drinks a Coke or Pepsi as a casual beverage, whereas Redbull or Monster is usually consumed for energy and alertness. However, energy drinks' claims to make you more alert and focused are widely disputed, and often times the caffeine content isn't much more than a large cup of coffee. Sure they contain ingredients like ginseng and taurine, which are not present in ordinary sodas, and these are all linked to the claim that they revitalize your energy; however, it's just that, a claim. Redbull gets away with charging you more for a can for the same reason why people wait in line and pay to get into a nightclub : exclusivity. If you're cool, you drink Redbull for energy, not soda. Or that's what they want you to think. Finally, because energy drinks have been marketed as beverages you consume when you're tired but need to be awake, people drink them less frequently. And so, they need to charge more to make as much a soda companies. And then, why don't they simply charge far less for a can to compete with soda prices? Well, people have learned not to drink too many energy drinks, as the caffeine content is rather high and can kill you in high quantities.As long as idiots pay 4 bucks for a can of red bull so they can drink Jager bombs there is no reason for the company to lower the price
Why is it that every-day people can not borrow money for mortgages directly off of the government at the 0.5% rate, but instead have to go through banks and pay 5 times that rate?
You're mixing up central banks and commercial banks. A central bank is more of a financial regulator than an actual bank. Its the monetary policy body of a country. If I was to really simplify it, its main job is to make sure the commercial banks aren't coloring outside the lines of a stable financial system, controls how much money there is in the system and make sure your currency, GBP in your case, is at a desirable level compared to other currencies. A commercial bank is, essentially, taking deposits and turning them into loans for others. If you're taking out a loan, the bank uses my deposit to finance your loan. The central banks role in this is to influence the commercial bank's decision on the interest rate it gives you as well as determine what percentage of my deposit cannot be issued out as a loan to someone else . Keep in mind I simplified it heavily and chose to ignore stuff like multipliers etc.Because a mortgage and an overnight loan even to the same borrower, have very, very different risk profiles. The 2% spread, covers the banks risk that you will default or inflation will destroy the profitability of the loan over its life. Neither of those risks is small, so the premium is relatively large.It's important to point out that the US Government 30-year rate is much higher - 2.18% today. The 0.5% rate is for short term loans, and mortgage are long term. With stellar credit and a good down payment, you can get pretty close. I think the lowest bank mortgage rate is around 3.5% right now.
Why do women hate the toilet seat being left up so much?
Look at it this way. If you've ever shared a car with someone who always rearranges your mirrors and pushes the seat all the way upfront - it's the same feeling. It's a minor annoyance that can really piss some people off. I'm a dude and I love peeing sitting down when I'm at home. I just sit down at the toilet, push my dick down and pee. My wife loves it because no sprinkles everywhere and it's also very good for my prostate etc. It's better in the dark too for sure because: no spray n pray disaster moments. Dicks are like shotguns sometimes, not laser rifles. To balance it out I just want to state that I usually go out to my garden in the night if I'm hanging out and stand while I spray pee on the grass or bushes and feel the wind gently caressing my balls. Lovely feeling.
Are "perfectly straight teeth" (like after braces) better for eating than more uneven teeth (in general)?
If you're comparing movie star teeth to teeth with a few gaps or slight misalignment issues, there isn't really a difference. Many people get orthodontic work because they have more serious problems. Major overbites, underbites and crooked jaws can cause problems chewing, make teeth wear unevenly a nd, in extreme cases, actually cause them to fall out prematurely. My grandmother had a full set of dentures in her early 20s because poor alignment caused her teeth to wiggle loose, mine probably would have done the same without braces.
Why are different elements so different?
Every atom is like a different shape block. The square block can fit into the square hole, but the triangle block can't. The only difference between the two shapes is only 1 extra side, but because of that 1 extra side, the blocks work in completely different ways.The amount of valence electrons 2/8/8/8 plays a factor in the ability for the element to combine specifically with certain molecules which determines the makeup of most things in the universe. Why carbon is so common, etc.
How come when I slap the crap out of a fly, ROCKING its world, but it doesn't get KO'd or get a concussion?
Big man, rocking a fly's world, you bully", 'Mainly it is because fires are small: the amount of energy that needs to be exchanged to brake or accelerate an object depends on the mass of said object. This energy translates into strains on the "structure" of our object. Now, consider a small cube, the size of a fly. Make its edge 10 times longer now: it's volume, and thus its mass, will be 1000 times higher, while its surface area will only be 100 times higher. This is why if a fly falls from 2m height it will be barely shaken, while a human runs the risk of serious injury. For the same reason a fly will have a lower terminal velocity when falling and be more easily pushed away by the air moved by your hand.
Why is there a separate league for men and women in chess in the year 2015?
Women are welcome to play in the men's tournaments. They just usually have poor outcomes. So they created women's tournaments so that the women can have more success. Same with the women's titles some women earn the men's versions, but most can't.
Why are so many things that feel good bad for us?
Well a lot of the things that are bad for us really have an impact later in life. Most people didn't live that long until very recently, last few centuries. Even then, if it doesn't stop us reproducing, it won't be evolved out.
Communism and why people see it as being bad?
I have described Communism as a set of interesting concepts and noble ideas with one thing in common: they don't work. The basic concepts of Communism seem sound. But put them together with corruptible humans, and they fall in a heap. The results are not pretty, and those in power tend towards dictatorship and despotism. And it is these results that lead to the general opinion of Communism."when put into practice it always fails due to the fallibility, greed and sense of entitlement of mankind." That's being too hard on mankind and too easy on Communism. Here's a hard-and-fast example. In East Germany there was exactly one car, the Trabant. It was a terrible car and broke down all the time. What do you do, in a free society, do when your car breaks down? You get some cash together and get a mechanic to fix it. Maybe you get a smaller amount of cash together, buy the spare part, and fix it yourself. Well, if you lived in East Germany, you 'd have to put your name down on a list for a new one. And that isn't a feature of East Germany as being authoritarian - it's Communism as it's SUPPOSED to work. The wait could be for well over a year. Imagine. No matter how hard you work, no matter what kind of thing you're good at, how original or how diligent or how effective there's nothing you can doWhile there's been some great answers about the general criticisms of communism as a concept, I am seriously surprised that no one has mentioned [Joseph McCarthy] yet! This man played a huge role in why America in particular fears anything that might be considered remoteley communist or socialist, a fear which became known as The Second Red Scare and which brought about the term McCarthyism. This irrational fear still exists in parts of the west to this day.
How bad is coke for you?
If you are from the teens to late 20s, no, you don't have to right now. the real damage happens over decades. you may be painting yourself into a metabolic syndrome/diabetes/organ damage corner for when you are 40+ and have a slower metabolism. I'd consider tapering off and drink it as an occasional treat, or at least 1 or less a day. The tooth decay is an undeniable problem though. Keep on top of that.
Is it possible to use currency exchanges like the stock market and "buy low, sell high?"
That's how stock markets work. You buy shares in a company, currency, etc. while they are cheap, so you can sell them when they're high. The catch at it is, that you'd have to know which shares rise and which shares fall in value, which is more difficult than you might think.
Why does Japan have awesome candy?
> ELI5: Why does Japan have awesome candy? That's a subjective question. According to me, for example, it doesn't. However they do have a really wide variety of flavors .
Why the hell do they call 3840 x 2160 resolution, 4K? Shouldn't it be 2K?
2k, 4k and beyond doesn't follow the same 'structure' that SD and HD do. '4K' is measured from the first number. Technically, I guess it should be called 3.8K, but they round it up.
Why do motorcyclists rev their engines at stops?
This is not unique to bikers, for sure. Let me just say that up front.---Because they're a**holes. Seriously folks, I know I'm a grouchy old man and everything, and I always wanted a motorcycle, and maybe someday I'll have my mid-life crisis and buy one. And it will have a muffler. That Toys-for-Tots thing I had to suffer through one day, where a gajillion do-gooders on Harleys rode through Philadelphia? Perhaps they raised awareness of children in need; mostly they raised awareness of how self-centered and uncaring they were regarding their preferred mode of transport. I'm sure they are usually very nice people.--- But I couldn't be as dic**sh as they were that day if I rode their gawd-am bummer for three miles leaning on my horn the whole way. And if you ride, I want you to think about how you would feel if some a-hole car driver did that to you.
Why do horses need to be put down when they break a leg while most other animals don't?
One horse leg on average holds up 300 pounds of horse and is used to surviving a fuckload of punishment, because running is what horses *do*. So while you see stories of some dog using a prosthetic or getting a cast, that's because they lay down most of the time, are relatively light for their size, and have enough shit to do without running. A horse would break a prosthetic in a week, and it would be absolute torture to many to keep them from running for 3 months.
why do we assume extra terrestrial life needs carbon and /or water to live?
Because we only have one known data point that on what the conditions are that support life. Scientists don't exclude the possibility that liquid methane could support life or there could be silicon based life forms, we just know for a fact that liquid water and carbon support life and if we want to find a needle in a hay stack we should look in the hay stacks that meet our criteria.
On a console gaming system with unchanging hardware like the Xbox 360, which has been out since 2005, how do the graphics on games keep getting better?
There's no fixed way of creating a game. It's the same as using photoshop. There are multiple ways that you can accomplish the same task, some are more efficient than others. As time passes game developers learn and discover more efficient ways of coding their games. This frees up more resources and allows for more robust and detailed graphics.As time progresses and devs gain more experience with the platform they start to figure out shortcuts so they can make the games seem like they look better. Little things like lowering the FOV making guns bigger, having really low texture quality etc.At first developers don't know how to best use the console's for lack of better term potential. Over time as they make more games they find different ways to squeeze more out of the systems, this is why launch games generally look poor and we get the best games close to the end. There are also tricks used, cutting corners to force things to work a bit better. A great example is to look at the PS2, think of how damn good the God of War games looked compared to some of that systems other games?
Why is it unsafe to eat cooked meat stored in the refrigerator after 3-4 days? And what is the likelihood of actually getting sick?
Meat can go bad in the refrigerator because cold temperatures slow the growth of many bacteria but it doesn't kill them outright. Some species that cause food poisoning such as Listeria monocytogenes can actually continue to grow even in the refrigerator and cause sickness if it is consumed. It is generally accepted that somewhere between 10-25 of all meat contains Listeria and this Listeria can be a real concern. rhomboidus is correct though, that properly handled meat will certainly last longer and than improperly handled meat.
How do woman's periods sync up?
They don't. The original study was published in 1971 and subsequent attempts to replicate the study failed. Also, there were problems with the original study as well. [Wiki link]", 'Have you ever been on a turning lane at a stop light with other cars in the lane and everyone has their blinkers on? And every once in a while a few of the cars blinkers seem to "sync up"? But after a while they get out of sync again? Similar principle. If you have many women together for long enough, it will appear that their cycles will sync together, but as others have stated, it is a myth.Most women's cycles aren't truly 28 days, they vary and can change month to month, that's just the average. And some women vary wildly in the length of their period . Ultimately, its a stupid myth. Anytime you get a bunch of women together, someone will 'sync' eventually. For a week.
Why did humans evolve to lose most of the hair that our early ancestors had, yet require clothes to stay warm?
Just to conter something that's popped up a few times in this thread; features are never really 'discarded' or at least the ability to redevelop those features is always retained. Most birds don't need teeth any more but the instructions for building them are still encoded in avian DNA.
How would life have started on a planet that none exists?
We've known this for thousands of years: 'God said, let there be life, and there was life.' But seriously, first comment nailed it.
Why do people buy used police cars?
Some people see them as being reliable used cars since they likely followed a regular maintenance schedule . Other people think it's just cool to drive an old police car.
The bodies strewn around Mount Everest
It's too risky, you'd be putting more lives in danger to retrieve the bodies. Which you'd then have to bring those new bodies down as well creating more risk. Carrying 200 pounds of frozen, dead weight down a mountain is NOT simple or easy to do.
Why can't we taste when we are sick?
Mostly because a huge part of taste is smell, and you can't smell when your nose is stuffed up. Have you ever tried eating with your nose plugged? It's very hard to taste anything.
Why its usually much cheaper to manufacture outside of america.
The richer a country is, the more it costs to employ their citizens. So, suppose a given factory costs a million dollars to build, and uses $1,000,000 of plastic a year, and needs 100 employees. You can build it in America, and those 100 employees would want, say, 15 bucks an hour, working out to around 62,400 per employee , or $6,240,000 a year. Or you could build it in the third third world, pay your employees a dollar an hour , for 208,000 a year, plus 50,000 a year in bribes. Man-hours is the biggest cost of most businesses by far, and the difference between paying first-world employees and third-world employees is huge.Poorer countries citizens live a much lower standard of living and thus a factory job is considered a good job. They are also willing to work for prices that we would consider absurdly low. This is just my world knowledge-Much cheaper labour costs-Little to no environmental regulation to follow -Cheaper to buy the land for factories to begin with-Cheaper to get the resources to begin with as the huge amount of manufacturers in china order them therefore the suppliers competition pushing prices down-Currency fiddling done by the Chinese government making it very cheap to buy the Yuan which will be used to pay for the manufacturing and therefore pay much less to produce than USA production Cheap labour is pretty much not the whole story.
Why did creatures in ancient times (dinosaurs) grow to be so much larger than creatures we have now?
It's important to note that the Blue whale was and still is the largest creature in existance, larger than even the biggest dinosaur.
I'm sick. Where does all of this snot come from? I figure blowing my nose would get rid of it all but I seem to have an infinite supply.
I would recommend a neti pot. It's the only old-world remedy I ever recommend, and it clears all the snot out of your sinuses. You can buy them from Walgreens for $15.
what is it about cancer that kills you ?
Don't most people die from complications of cancer, rather than the cancer itself? I hear a lot of times cancer patients will get an infection and never recover.This is a stupid question but what is cancer itself? a parasite?
Why is it important to know so many digits of pi?
Mostly for bragging points. The most precise that you would ever need PI in actual practice is seven or eight decimal places, and that's only for professional engineers. **Edit:** Wait, do you mean why do people memorize so many digits of PI, or why are we figuring out so many digits of PI?
What is happening in my brain when I am 'moved to crying' by the chords of a song?
I agree with what has been said about the actual composition about a piece of music, but remember- music only has meaning in the context that it is given. What we consider as 'dissonant' and 'consonant' has changed throughout history and will continue to change. Imagine a really powerful moment in your life- a wedding, a funeral, a slow dance at the 6th grade dance, or whatever. You might remember that time in your life, but if there was music involved, it will literally trigger those memories so clearly for you, which is often an overwhelming emotional experience. Check out this short video, you won't regret it. _URL_2_
Every year, more money is "pumped" into the economy, and prices go up, wages go up, expenses go up... Where does all that money come from?
The mint. The government can just make more and that's partly what drives inflation . Governments like at least a little inflation because it means people can't just hoard cash to hide their wealth from the government, well, not without it devaluing over time.
Why do people who don't regularly smoke, do so, when drinking alcohol?
I think it's a social thing. If they have friends that smoke, they might smoke too. Especially if its all of your friends and you get left behind if they all go outside to smoke.
What is the Loudness War and what side am I on?
You aren't quite on a side. The loudness war was an arms race within the music industry of louder and louder albums. You are collateral damage having been forced to listen to albums that inexplicably sacrificed audio quality for volume for ages.
How can Marijuana be legal on a state level while it's illegal on a federal level? Does the federal law mean nothing?
It's like the babysitter letting you stay up late & watch scary movies, even if your parents say you can't.
Why do so many older people seem to lose empathy for young people even though they went through the same things?
Because just like you, youngin's never took advice from the older gerneration. We old folks just say, screw it, you'll learn eventually. Repeat for every generation. Now pass me my prunes and Geritol. And stay off my lawn.
If dollars are created when the Fed loans to banks where do the extra dollars come from to pay off the loan?
That's one way - the Fed can also create money by buying things, usually treasury bonds, in the open market. Those transactions don't imply a future repayment. The Fed also isn't the only source for money to be created: lending transactions by banks also create money. But remember that money is not wealth: the amount of money grows, but nobody gets richer. There are many differences between sovereign debt and personal debt, but the keys are that a government is not mortal, and will not retire, so it can borrow and lend indefinitely. Further, governments ultimately can create money to repay loans.Personal debt is substantially different than national debt. The thing about national debt is that it is constantly being paid off on time while new debt is being issued. The debt is used to stimulate the economy. And it is in the form of bonds which people and corporations choose to buyAre you talking about physical currency, like actual bills and coins, specifically?
Why does the moon appear to "follow you" as you move/drive?
OK thanks, that's what I told him so now I feel confident that it wasn't just a stupid Mom answer. ;-)
Why do we sometimes have a "blink-and-it's-morning" sleep?
I'd like to know an answer for this as well. Only happened to me once as a child and I was mad as hell. One guy made an educated guess but I want the ELI5 I'm used to with giant words and technical jargon.
Why do some people bother uploading illegal content for us all to view/download? What do they gain from it?
Much of the content you find on popular, widely-known filesharing sites actually starts out being released earlier on top-level sites/networks. The people that upload to those get earlier access to all the content that is posted before it gets released to the public at large, usually a week or two in advance. That's pretty good incentive I imagine. The people who upload to large public sites can either be releasing for the top-level networks or just random internet users who want to upload something. For the former it's probably their duty. For the latter there's very little chance of getting in trouble unless you upload massive amounts of content or something important like a leak of a movie before it comes out in theaters.
Why does almost the entire Brazil world cup team go by just one name? Seems pretty precocious, like they all attended THE Ohio State University.
Many Brazilians go by single name nicknames. It's cultural, possibly made more common by the relatively low literacy rate. _URL_0_
Why during horrific occurrences, do humans put their hand over their mouth?
There's another gesture - the 'both hands on head, elbows out' gesture that I have seen people in videos do when witnessing something horrific - car accidents etc. I've always wondered about that one, it seems even more universal then mouth-covering, and more specific . It has felt, at times, like at least partially a gesture of helplessness.My guess is that the natural reaction is the opening of your mouth to gasp or scream or whatever, and the learned behaviour is not to display our gaping foodhole to innocent bystandersIt can be comforting. Not only does it draw your arm across your torso, neck, and face, thus "shielding" those sensitive and vital areas, but it also stimulates the lips, face, and hands - all very sensitive areas. Just like touch from another human being can be comforting in times of duress, so can our own touch serve to calm and comfort our brains.On a personal level, I' m a 47 year old male and I only remember doing this as an involuntary instinctive reaction once in my life. When the first of the Twin Towers collapsed , live, on television. My jaw dropped open and my hand flew up over my mouth.Always remember thinking what a cliche I must have looked like. Only other person in the room with me was my mother.Perhaps your brain recognizes an unusual situation outside of everyday routine events that it automatically knows how to deal with. Sensing that a higher level of brain function is needed to assess & respond, the gasp reflex is stimulated to increase oxygen saturation in the blood. Not sure about the hand over mouth, I always assumed it was manners kicking in. Others have made good suggestions..I once read a tidbit on human body language and remember covering of the mouth as being a sign that the person subconsciously wants to block what is being said, because it is wrong or untrue. I don't know if this is a manifestation of the same reflex reaction, though it's worth a guess. I found [some info] on this with some quick googling.
Who is Tom Bombadil and why is he important to LOTR?
You know how sometimes your kindergarten teacher sends you home with reading homework? What if, instead of doing your homework, you asked me to do it instead? I'm pretty good at reading. I'd have no trouble at all doing it. But the truthis, I just don't care enough to do it. It doesn't affect me. And if I do all your homework for you, you'll never learn anything, in which case, why bother going to school in the first place? So, when you're given homework, you have to do it, because if you don't, you're not going to get anything out of it and I might not do it anyways. And then you'll get into trouble. Tom Bombadil is like that. Taking the ring to Mordor was the homework of men, elves, and hobbits. Tom Bombadil could do it if he wanted to, but he has no reason to care about it because it doesn't affect him. Frodo has to take the ring because it matters to him and because he has to learn how to be a hero. If Tom Bombadil did it for him, he certainly wouldn't have grown up any, now would he?
Why does it "hurt" when you swing at a baseball but miss?
Well, it didn't usually hurt me when I swung and missed, but certainly it feels more awkward. I suspect it is because your body was prepared for some resistance from the ball and counted on that resistance to avoid hyperextension of your limbs/muscles/tendons, but then when the ball resistance did not come, your limbs, muscles and tendons extended or stretched a bit more than planned. Kind of like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football but Lucy pulling it back -- his knee would get hyperextended a bit and his body flipped around because he kicked with force assuming a certain amount of push-back from the ball that never came.The "hook of the hamate" is a bone at the base of your palm, opposite side of your thumb. If you swing a bat and miss the ball, the bat will continue to rotate within your grip. The handle of the bat will dig into the hook of the hamate, sending that electrical vibration feeling up your arm.
What kind of drinking causes a hangover?
I think it's different for everyone, but a primary factor is dehydration. If you guzzle a few glasses of water before you pass out after a night of drinking, your hangover should be less intense. Me personally, if I drink too much of anything sweet I will have a terrible hangover.
All the different types of music file such as mp3,mp4, alac, flac. Etc....
Digital music formats fall on a scale between file size and quality. With newer advances in technology, files can retain a higher quality with a smaller file size. **MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, M4A, M4P, RA**, and many others are **lossy** codecs. This means they reduce the quality of original music/audio and compress the file. Often these are the smallest file size. **FLAC, ALAC**, and many others are **lossless** codecs. This means they retain the quality of the original music/audio but are still compressed and smaller in size than uncompressed files but typically larger than lossy codecs like MP3 etc. **WAV, RAW, AIFF** are uncompressed audio and retain all of the original music/audio quality but generally have the largest file size. **M4P, WMA** can often have [Digital Rights Management ]. This restricts the user to playing the content only on 'approved' devices; for example your iPod. **FLAC, OGG** are notable as they are [free/open forma/open source] codecs that don't require any licensing or fees, but still provide comparable or better sound quality than others. This means software developers and hardware manufacturers can make products supporting these standards without paying royalties or fees. This answer disregards the [Bitrate], which can be summarised as higher is better; i.e. a 320 kilobit per second MP3 file will typically sound better than a 128 kbit/s file. **tl;dr** FLAC has a bigger file size, but better quality. MP3/AAC is a smaller file size but less quality. WAV is unnecessarily huge.
Why is it that bugs can survive falls that would be (proportionally), deadly to larger animals?
Kinetic Energy = .5 What does this mean? It means that the energy with which you hit the ground is dependent on your mass. Bugs have little mass, therefore they don't hit the ground very hard. Also air friction slows them down a hell of a lot more than it does us.f=m*a Acceleration= force of gravity so the variable here that comes into play is mass, Very little mass = very little force since the acceleration is a constant for free falling objects, no matter their massHere is a classic essay, "On Being the Right Size", that discusses this issue as well as many others related to big animals vs. small animals. _URL_0_[An approachable essay by JBS Haldane on the topic.]
Why is rotisserie chicken cheaper than most uncooked full chicken
It is my understanding that rotisserie chicken is a loss-leader. Most people grocery shop once per week. In order to get you in the door more often, they offer ready-to-eat dinner items like this yummy chicken. So, they sell them at a loss to get you in the door. While you're there, you buy more stuff. That's the goal.
Why does a slow hard drive affect everything else on my computer?
The hard drive is a book, the ram is the page you are on, the cache on the cpu is the sentence you are reading, the instruction is the letter you are processing. In order to start doing anything, you have to open the book in order to read the page. In order to get to the page you want to be at, you have to read the index to find what page it is on. So you are constantly needing to recheck the index as you do anything, which is on the hard drive. Any changes or edits you make, even just updating that you modified the file by re-saving the same thing requires you to write into the book, sometimes edit the index. Everything goes back into the book. There are countless things you load into RAM every time you do something, some things are done continuously or periodically all the time. Indexing is the notable thing, got to keep the index up to date and that involves a lot of reading/page switching. There is also reporting, as in error reporting or just notifications of events, which are logged for the event viewer, etc etc. That is an immense amount of simplifying, and RAM/cache/instructions don't really work exactly like that, but I think it shows speed differences. RAM is orders of magnitude faster than the harddrive, the cache on the cpu is faster than the RAM.
Why the USA don't have national identity card?
A Social Security card/number is assigned to each individual during early childhood, based on birth certificates. You can't function in the system w out the #, it is your 'permanent identity'. Edit: it's Federal
How come rapists get longer sentences than murderers in the US?
You're wrong. In America, 97 out of 100 rapists never see the inside of a jail cell. and the 3 that do, serve about 5 years. The average sentence for homicide is over 9 years.
What makes God more more prominent than the Greek gods?
Monotheistic religions have a way of gobbling up polytheistic religions. If you are polytheistic, you are ok with someone worshipping a different god than you. The hunter worships Artemis, the blacksmith worships Hephaestus, and if that weird foreign guy worships Yahweh, what's the harm? Monotheists see it very differently. There is Yahweh, and everything else is evil, and they are highly motivated to remove evil from their midsts, once they come to power.
what a bug in a computer program/video game is. Why does it exist?
Remember when you first started adding two digit numbers? Did you ever forget to carry a digit. That's a bug. A bug is what we call any mistake in a program. Supposedly, this is because the first error on the first computer was caused by a moth flying into a vacuum tube. Bugs can be seen by the user, or they can be fixed silently by the program. But, program can only fix a bug silently if the programmer tells it to expect that error. Trying to fix every bug this way is not practical, and in some cases it is not possible. A crash is usually just a specific kind of bug. Crashes happen when the mistake is so bad that the program can't recover. Several programming languages also crash by default if an error occurs that a programmer has not planned for. While most users don't like crashes, a crash can stop an error from making your computer worse.
How does the TSA know if you have a Note 7?
Either they'll just look at it/ask you or its xray image is very distinguishable from other phones. But the TSA is fairly inefficient in finding bombs and the like. If you commit to it you can easily bring a bomb on a plane
Why don't we use superglue to mend wounds anymore?
Surgeon here. We use superglue all the time. Generally a fancy brand called Dermabond, which is 8-octyl cyanoacrylate with some thickener and a slight purple tint so it doesn't run everywhere and you can see it on different skin tones.
What is Homeopathy and does it really work?
Others have described how homeopathy is performed, but to be clear, any effects observed are due to the placebo effect. Your body can do amazing things on it's own, due to this effect, and it is elusive, and no one understands it. The results of homeopathy are indistinguishable. The idea came from some 1796 bullshit, and it's principles basically haven't budged. Mind you, people thought blood letting was a cure all around then --- Did you hear the one about the homeopath who died of an overdose? He forgot to take his pill - James Randy", 'If homeopathy worked, we could all get drunk from one drop of wine in a swimming pool. _URL_2_', "Ask Steve Jobs about how well homeopathic and all-natural cures work. Oh wait, you can't because the cancer killed him.
Why is Porn seen as Perpetuating Stereotypes/Unrealistic?
I don't know about the 'perpetuating stereotypes' bit, but there's no denying that it's unrealistic. Porn is made specifically to be aesthetically pleasing to a viewer, with no regard for the comfort, pleasure or even safety of the actors. In a real-life sexual situation, exactly the opposite is true.
How big of a health risk would a deodorant be that prevented you from sweating at all?
At all would be bad. You could easily over heat, and there is no telling what kinds of other negative effects it may have. If you mean preventing sweat on the area it was applied . we have that in every grocery store. It's called anti-perspirant. Deodorant is basically perfume for your arm pits. It just tries to mask odors. Anti-perspirant, stops the sweating in the first place, thus preventing odors. And yeah maybe there's some scent in it as well. If you sweat a lot and don't like pit stains, that's what you need.
What Does Jeremy Corbyn Mean For Labour And British Politics?
It means we Will have a conservative 3rd term because honestly he just won't give the middle classes a reason to vote for him. Liz was the best possible candidate because she would have given the middle classes an incentive to vote Labour. He needs either to follow a Blairite playbook or convince Murdoch to back him somehow perhaps by offering to Privatize the BBC or allow all T.V. to have a slice of the license fee.
Why does food smell so delicious as it enters my body but feces smells so disgusting as it leaves my body?
Food has to smell good. That's how it has evolved to be. When the plants and animals were evolving, fruits were developed by the trees with the purpose of getting eaten by an animal. When an animal eats a fruit, it dissipates there seeds and help plants reproduce. Sweeter, attractive, good smelling foods have better chances of getting eaten by the animal than not so attractive or good smelling food. So this is the way plants have evolved better and tastier fruits. In response humans have evolved to eat even attractive and good smelling foods. Good odor, attractive and delicious looking foods are preferred over bland foods. When humans started cooking they started making food more attractive and good smelling by adding spices and garnishing agents to them. Because attractive foods are preferably eaten by us. When we eat food, it goes into our digestive tract where it is acted upon by various enzymes that degrade it into its basic constituents that can be absorbed by our body. It is also acted upon by millions of bacteria that house our digestive tract. These bacterias help degrade the food and in turn produce gases like hydrogen, methane and other. It is these gasses that makes our stools mal-odorous. Our body also releases a chemical called bilirubin into our stools. This bilirubin is converted into urobilinogen and stercobilinogen which impart a characteristic yellow brown colour to our stools. In jaundice it is this bilirubin which increases in our body to cause yellowing of skin and eyes.He body keeps the nutrients while getting rid of the waste. Also, the food was prepared and preserved while the feces was broken down by stomach and intestinal acidsEvolution has trained you to eat things that are nutritious, high in calories, and not rotten. None of those things can be used to describe your feces.
what is League of Legends and why has it become so popular with such a wide spectra of people?
LoL is made after DOTA, the game which created the MOBA genre. MOBAs are essentially RTS means Diablo, and they are an interesting twist to the RTS format. The focus on controlling one character makes for a simpler, more intimate game than games like Starcraft which frequently end up being a contest of how many clicks you can make per minute. At the same time MOBAs are team games, so they are great to play with your friends. In many ways MOBAs are an evolution of the RTS genre, and many RTS players have migrated from that genre as it has stagnated somewhat. And among all the MOBA, LoL is probably the one which has the best mix of simplicity with depth. That's why it's the most popular.
Are there any countries in the world that can realistically invade the US by force?
Our military would vanquish any invaders, true, but let's not discount the fact that A LOT of citizens are armed to the teeth.The us navy has some 430 ships. Of that, 76 are submarines. And submarines are in three categories- fast attack, ballistic, and guided missiles. Anyway, for those wondering, a fast attack submarine is the type you 'd see outside a country conducting surveillance or sinking battle groups in time of war. Guided missile submarines also can do surveillance, but really in wartime are used to level enemy structures and ballistic submarines are what carry around our nuclear missiles, staying deep under water and generally are our "big stick" against anyone who 'd want to launch nukes at the us. So, say an invading force had some type of weaponry that our surface ships couldn't defend against. Any invading naval force would also have to have a great multitude of subsurface ships to get past our subs, and that's if we didn't immediately send fast attacks out to preemptively attack any battle groups, and if the distraction of our ssgn \' blowing the ever loving cap out their cities and military bases didn't make them turn around. Tl; dr: even if a navy got through our surface vessels, they 'd have to beat our subs tooThis thread is giving me a [freedom boner].Any country's Navy that even attempts this would be annihilated in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean before any of their troops set foot on US soil save for perhaps China and Russia, and even so, they would lose so many causalities on the trip over alone that they would barely get here in one piece, and immediately get decimated on the beach. This is leaving out nukes because if you nuke somewhere and then invade it you will end up dying to radiation/there is nothing left for you to conquer so why bother?
Why do I have to wear a lead apron when getting x-rays of my teeth at the dentist but nothing is done to protect my head?
The whole point of the x-ray at the dentist is to get an image of your teeth. Which are, you know, *in your head*. It's kind of hard to protect your head from x-rays when the entire point of the procedure is to *send x-rays through your head*.
Why is it illegal in most states to carry brass knuckles but knives are fine?
I'm no expert on the subject but knives are useful tools which don't ever need to be used for violence. Brass knuckles on the other hand seem to only be used for violence.
Why evolution hasn't made parasitic bites any less painful.
I suppose this has 2 perspectives to answer from. 1) The bed bug doesn't care how its bite makes you feel, it's already gotten what it came for. 2) Your body won't minimize the itching and pain, because it's your body's way of saying something is wrong and needs attention. Otherwise we wouldn't take care of ourselves.Most sides get to evolve, making evolution something of an arms race. Parasites try to get sneakier, and the hosts come up with better ways to fend them off, and balances out into some kind of stalemate.
Why does the world (besides the United States) hate Israel so much?
There are a few Middle Eastern countries that just don't think Israel has a right to exist, and are angry because of that. Most countries don't mind that so much, but they *do* mind the fact that Israel blatantly ignores UN resolutions telling them not to do things.
Why does my body's capacity limit and threshold for pee seem to change?
Your bladder holds your urine, but it isn't a container of fixed size like the gas tank on a car is. It's a flexible sack than can expand and contract. There is a complex series of reflexes as well as inputs from higher brain functions that regulate the bladders tone. Diurnal variations, local irritation and other factors may influence the balance between relaxation signals and stimulation signals .
Can you force someone out of sleep paralysis by prodding them?
Normally, when you go to sleep, there is a part of your brain that makes it so that your body cannot move. Otherwise, we would all act out our dreams. When you wake up, your body is allowed to move again. Sleep paralysis is when you can't move your body even though you are awake. As someone who has had sleep paralysis before, it's pretty terrifying. I have never had anyone wake me up during those moments, but I think gently prodding them might help them get up. If you have someone that you know who is suffering from sleep paralysis, here is what I suggest: A. Try to get a full 6-8 hours of sleep. It'll help. B. Relax. Sleep paralysis is frightening at first, but once you recognize what is happening, try to fall back asleep if you can. B. If you want to wake up, I have found that focusing on small movements first, like wiggling your toe or moving your fingers and then moving on to a bigger body part is very helpful and can wake you up. Big movements won't happen when you are in sleep paralysis, so focus on small ones. C. If it is a chronic thing/preventing from feeling well-rested, see a doctor about it. Talk to the person and ask them if they have sleep paralysis. I know I would appreciate being woken up from those episodes, because it is hard to relax and focus when you realize you have no control over your body. Ultimately, your friend is the person you should talk to this about. Hope this helps -TheRationalDove
Why aren't oil countries limiting production to counter the crash of oil prices?
Some money is always better than no money for many businesses. Its also important to look and see that even at current prices some companies and countries in the middle east are still making a ton of money. Just because the current price isn't sustainable in our countries, doesn't mean it isn't sustainable in other countries. North American oil is much more complicated and more expensive to produce in contrast to other places around the globe.The price has already fallen. Saudi Arabia pretty much has oceans of oil under it, they are purposefully over-saturating the market in hopes that all different methods of getting oil from the ground become unsustainable. This gives them the greatest market share and attracts more business towards them.There are only 20 comments in this thread, and several of them completely contradict each other. Most of them are written by people with absolutely no understanding of economics whatsoever. OP, you're going to have to research this question for yourself if you want real answers.
What is that itchy feeling I sometimes get on the inside of my body?
Anyone else have this happen after reading this? Like- You're super aware of your blinking. Edit: Grammers.Oh my god me too I would very much like this answeredThe word for what you're feeling is "formication." Note the letter after "for" is em, not en. Someone in every class of fourth graders finds this word in a dictionary and uses it to torment his classmates. "Sally hates [or loves] *formication*, don't you Sally?" Etc. It's one of the joys of being a elementary school teacher, or so I'm toldAnxiety attack, mine come in the form of fake heart attacks, they used to be foot itchies.. I miss foot itchies now I read this as "on the inside of my booty" and was expecting a very different thread conversationI get it too. I just thought I was going crazy
What would happen if a conjoined twin committed a serious enough crime to warrant incarceration?
By far the most unique ELI5 question I've seen in over a year on reddit.I got it! Put one in the jail cell, close the door with the skin flap going through that hole for the hand cuffs. Boom, just one twin is behind bars and the other is free to go Oh, wait ', "I'm a lawyer. While I don't have the time to do the legal research, can I just say that this is a fascinating hypothetical?", 'If anybody remembers that tv show that was on HBO a few years ago, "Tales From the Crypt", they had an episode that dealt with this. It was a long time ago, but I think the story line was : One of the twins wanted an operation to separate them, and the other didn't. This same twin who wanted the separation ended up committing a crime , but he could not be put to death because that would kill the innocent twin as well. Eventually, the innocent twin finally signs the release form that allows for them to be surgically separated.Seriously, not even a single mention on here of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain? OP's question has been answered, folks thoroughly and decisively by the greatest wit in the last 200 years.isnt it a crime to let a crime happen while you could have stopped it?', "I'm sure the other twin would be an accomplice.
Why did people in photographs from the 19th and early 20th centuries always look so mad/mean/never smile?
In addition for standing still for minutes at a time, the photographs were rare and would probably be the only one they ever displayed. So they would dress up formally and have a formal expression; you don't get a portrait painted with a goofy grin.
Why does the gynecologist leave the room when you take off your clothes?
As a med student who just finished his gyn rotation: We have shit to do when your changing. There's no reason why we need to be there, awkwardly watching you take off your clothes in front of us. We throw you the gown and then use those minutes to start typing up the patient notes or grabbing a quick bite to eat in between patient time. Also, yeah, it would be awkward to just stand there and watch you strip. At least when your naked we can discuss medical issues that we see, when you're changing all we'd be able to talk about is your choice of underwear or something.
Why don't countries exile criminals anymore? There are plenty of uninhabited islands that could be set up as a type of penal colony.
Every penal colony which has been set up has been proven to be an economic failure. The two most horrible examples we know of are the Soviet Gulag system and the French penal system which existed in French Guiana between 1853 and 1938. Penal colonies are a waste of money and encourage massive corruption. Penal colonies are very expensive to maintain and they simply don't work since slave labour is not the most productive labour. It is far easier to construct jails for the purpose of punishment.
Why does a laptop/pc get slower after time/use?
In Windows files build up over time and the PC gets slower. Try switching to Linux and you'll probably see a massive performance increase. Or not. It could also be that your CPU cannot handle certain types of modern programs.
Why does it seem that the percentage of people becoming atheists has increased in the past 10 years?
It may be that there are not actual more in general but that it is more socially acceptable to be forthcoming about there atheism. My grandfather was a non believer. He went to church and participated in religious functions. However he thought religion was all bullshit. He may have been an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist. He didn't talk about it much. I did not really know about it until I was around 20. And then he would only bring it up when he was around close friends and had afeew drinks. Never around my grandma and I do not know if she ever knew. I was definitely not going to be the one to mention it.Existential insecurity is the single greatest predictor of religious fanaticism. The more secure your daily life, the less need you have for religion. So yes, modern technology, medicine, and even government are all causing people to abandon religionThe Internet, I 'd guess. I became atheist around 6th grade when I would rant and rave to "god", yet received no advice, no response, and no acknowledgement. The Internet reassured me during my period of confusion. That's probably what a lot of people do now. When in doubt, go Google it.
Why can people with ADHD focus on fun things like Video Games but not boring things like Homework?
ADHD isn't necessarily the lack of ability to focus, it's the lack of ability to *control* your focus, and your responses to stimuli.
The leaning tower of pisa is leaning because of the soft ground under it. If that is the case shouldn't the tower be sinking straight?
Imagine dropping a stick in soft mud. What are the chances the stick will stay perfectly straight? You have irregularities in weight both on the stick and the building. You have irregularities in the softness of the ground under it. You have difference in water both from rain and ground water. You're asking the wrong question, the question would be what SHOULD it sink perfectly straight, and clearly it doesn't.There are structures, New Orleans bridges for instance, that are built to basically float in soil or mud. Good architects design buildings with this in mind. But not during the middle ages. Even factoring this in means the weight distribution must always be considered. New building are actually built with movable weights which will dampen Earthquake shocks.
Why can America get away with spying on friendly countries without getting in deep poop for it?
The people at the top know that most countries are doing the same thing and just haven't been exposed the way the US has.Only non-allied countries get in trouble for it, and even then not really. Generally, when counter-intellgence discovers a bug/spy/agent/whatever they won't report it or disable it counter intelligence isn't police work where you want to bust a suspect. They'll string the *whatever* along for as long as possible and use it to feed bad intel to the observing country's intelligence apparatus. In extreme cases, if they catch a spy of hostile country and can't turn him, they'll arrest him and trade him for one of our agents that was captured. Germany and Israel both spy on the US regularly and don't get in trouble for it - so do many other countries. Do you really, honestly believe that other countries aren't spying on the world's only superpower? If an agent of an ally is caught and can't be used to feed false intel, then the US will quietly contact his intelligence agency and say "hey, we caught your dude all up in here time for him to go home." The only reason the US is being flogged publicly for international spying is because it's happened so publicl and generated so much outrage in the general public that the governments can't handle things in their traditional manner. Do you really think that, given the option, Merkel would have scored cheap political points rather than exploited the knowledge of the US listening to feed the US bad intelligence so that they have a long term advantage over the US?who said it's illegal to spy on other countries? there's no international law agreed on by all countries of the world that spying is against "the law" america is the big bully in the schoolyard. he gets to spy on you but if you spy on him, he threatens to beat you upBecause everyone is doing it. We were just stupid enough to get caught.
How come if I'm late making a payment a corporation/company can charge me interest on the outstanding amount. But when a corporation/company owes me money, I can't charge them interest?
If a corporation owes you money and you're not getting interest from them, you should renegotiate the contract you signed with them if it's that important to you.
What's the difference between clementines, tangerines and mandarins?
If you find a stone in a clementine, it means the clementine tree has been close to a lemon tree. Clementines are sterile by design. At least that's what I've been told.Which ones are the ones with puffy, very easy to peel skin, no seeds, and sweet & juicy clementines?', "Tangerines are NOT oranges. they're tangerines! the difference between Clementines and Manderins are like the difference between a Scotch Terrier and a Cocker Spanal the tangerine would be the grey fox in that same analogy", 'In the northeast US at least, whatever is sold as "clementines" definitely have seeds. One specific brand would be "Darling Clementine", and they're sold in balsa wood boxes/crates', "After reading this thread I'm SO glad I have an orange in the fridge to eat! Craving citrus so much after this :)", '[Minneola tangelos] are my favorite. Part Duncan grapefruit, part Dancy tangerine. Very high water content and sweetness. Excellent for juice and cocktailsThere is a GREAT podcast about this very topic, and the Mafia as well:[]
My cable provider has a monopoly on service in my neighborhood. This is the case throughout the US. How is this *not* anticompetitive behavior?
They don't REALLY have a monopoly. They have a lease on the lines which lasts for a set amount of time. After that time ends, other cable companies bid for the lease. It isn't a monopoly as long as one cable company does not remove the other cable companies from being able to compete for service.