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What prevents someone from getting a credit card, buying a bunch of stuff, and immediately paying it off for a good credit score?
A one time massive debt followed by pay-off doesn't build credit. That's just not how it works. Sustained history of regular use, and paying the bill in full each month will slowly but surely build your credit, and won't cost you a dime. Get yourself a credit card, and set a couple of regular bills to auto-pay from the card. Then set the card to pay it's balance in full each month. Then forget about it. Check your score in 6 months, and you'll be very pleased with what you see .That would have some positive impact, but number of accounts, different kinds of accounts, length of credit history, etc. all factor into credit score.
why do people need attorneys and letters to resign from the LDS church?
/u/bertbob has it right. its not hard, those people were just being anal about getting their records removed from the church. also, my mother got her name removed from the records of the LDS Church, and as a result, she didn't need a lawyer, just to write a letter clearly stating her intentions. It took time, but no lawyer was necessary.They don't. Normally you send a letter, the Church sends a letter back to say, "are you sure?" And then you say, "yeah", and then your name gets taken off the records. I 've heard stories of the process taking a little while, so maybe these guys wanted to make the letters sound extra official and intimidating to make it happen faster; but ordinarily it isn't necessary. source: lots of exmormon family', "Lots of great reasons already listed here. Thought I'd throw out one more: some people were victims of abuse in the church. Forcing them to speak with the church in order to remove their names can sometimes reopen old wounds associated with the church. By using an attorney, the victim is protected and doesn't need to speak with any of their abusers in order to remove themselves.
Why do people still run around chaotically on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange every day? Why don't they just do it from computers in the offices?
I believe the information arrives and gets posted and offered on the floor before it is made available on the computers sometimes. Plus, negotiating in person is a lot faster than trying to do it on the phone, or via computers. I'm just guessing.. but it could be..My apologies for not writing ELI5 in the title. I wish I could go back and fix it.
Georgia's "religious liberty" bill and how it doesn't go against the Supreme Court ruling on same sex marriage
Religions aren't required to do anything against their religious beliefs. Catholic priests can refuse to marry people who have been divorced. Rabbis can refuse to marry non-Jews, etc. Background: gay marriage opponents argued gay marriage would force pastors to gay-marry people, against their religion. Gay marriage opposition would therefore be FOR one's own religious freedom, not bigotry against someone else. So true victim isn't gay people, it's religious people, according to this. This law changes nothing--religious leaders already could refuse to marry gay people--but it gives anti-gay bigots something to point to to show that they're oppressed.
Why do a majority of "As Seen on TV" products cost $19.99?
Those types of commercials lend themselves to easy A/B testing, ie. running the same commercials with different prices at different times/different channels/different media markets so at some point it was probably tested, and determined that was the price where it's still an impulse purchase where people react immediately to buy. Once they knew that, then that's probably a big criteria in developing/selecting products to market in that way.
What do seniors with no savings do if they have no family?
Off topic a bit: I've always wondered whats stopping seniors from just bingeing like crazy with credit cards. I don't think their family would inherit their debt or maybe the company would try to seize the house. but if they had no relatives then what's stopping them from living their dream on credit cards?
How does Amazon remain operating when it supposedly does not make a profit?
Amazon makes obscene amounts of money. They just don't hold onto any of it because they would have to either pay out dividends or pay more taxes. By reinvesting almost everything into the company they can just grow at a cancerous rate and take over the world.
Why do businesses not accept bills over $___ after ___o'clock?
At some point, a business will take the cash it has made during the day, count it, record it, and either bring it to a bank or lock it in a safe. After that point---even if you leave some cash around---it becomes harder to make change for large bills. As a result, it is easy to simply say you won't be making change for a $100 rather than have to leave a sizeable amount of cash in the register. This is especially true in areas with non-trivial amounts of crime, where locking up or depositing the money also ensures it is safe, and not taking large bills reduces the incentive for a late night theft.By not accepting large denominations, it prevents the till from being cleared out of change of a customer buys a small item with a $100, since there is no way to replenish. Often, larger amounts of money are placed in a safe or deposited to bank when manager/supervisor leaves. Not taking large bills also deters robbery, because it implies risk/reward is less.
why do spiders tend to build webs in the same places when they get destroyed every day?
It's all about airflow. Spiders build their webs between pressure differentials that cause wind. Your big car sandwiched in between a tree causes a wind tunnel that concentrates the flow of insects. Since you park your car in the same place every day, the wind is always in the same place, so it's a good spot for the spider's prey.
What does a producer do and why are they so valuable in media? Films/tv/radio. How can some films have so many?
A good percentage of them don't actually do anything but collect a paycheck as well as massive tax credits. source - Myself. I've been in the industry for the past 18 years.
Why are we so obsessed with washing food, while most animals eat literally from the ground?
All the answers given so far are correct, I think, but to take it one step further, dogs and cats can eat things straight from the ground that would kill us, and would probably have even killed our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Rotting, stinky, parasite-ridden meat, for example. Their digestive systems are simply different from ours, and they can metabolize and deal with stuff we can't. But the reverse is true too. Cats are pure carnivores and would likely starve to death on a purely vegetarian diet. They simply can't metabolize fruits, vegetables and other plant matter the way we omnivores can.
Why do smart phone / laptop batteries still suck after all these years, and when can we expect an improvement?
Battery technology is moving along at an average rate. Part of it is that our demand from batteries is increasing, but the other major part is what most people are comparing technology advancements against. Semiconductor technology is a unique case where the technology itself lends itself well for shrinking. In short, everything advances slower than computer technology, because computer technology is the one that's growing abnormally fast.Progress in regards to battery capacity is slow. On the other hand, we have phones that not only have more powerful CPUs/GPUs and bigger, brighter screens, but are also thinner, and have to accommodate smaller batteries. In other words, juice is being used up faster than ever at a time where consumer demand leads to physically smaller batteries.they don't suck as much as you think. take a battery from today, it could probably run a phone from ten years ago for weeks on a full charge. devices require more power to function at the level of performance and with all the features you are used to now.
Since it takes more muscles to frown than smile, why does our face defaults to a frown instead of a smile, as it would use less energy?
Full disclosure: I'm not a doctor or anatomy expert, but this is how it was explained to me as a child. Just because more muscles are involved in creating one expression over another does *not* mean that more energy is expended in the process. The muscles used to create a smile are larger and require more effort to move and hold than those used to make a frown.What you are ignoring is that there are 3 facial states so to speak that you are comparing. 1) Smile, 2) Frown, 3) Neutral which is in between. You are assuming anything that is not a smile is a frown and that is just a wrong assumption. Our faces default to a neutral position and you have to actively smile or frown.
If our brain works with electrical pulses, why does an EMP not shut our brain down?
there are no wires in our brain. EMP pulse is destructive to electrical equipment because the pulse generates a high-voltage electrical spike in anything metal, especially long wires. There isn't enough metal in our brain for the magnetic pulse to generate a voltage spike except in the case of the nearby nuclear burst, in which case your body will be disintegrated at the same time it experiences the EMP. So, nothing to worry about.Your neurons don't really have electric sparks flying across each other like they show in animations. They work on ionic gradients and its mostly electrochemical processes occurring. Nothing to do with magnetic currents. Same reason why your body being 70% water doesn't 'short" out your nervous systemThis might help. [How exactly do neurons pass signals through your nervous system?]
Why is Chinese food that is made at home terrible in comparison to stuff ordered from a restaurant?
It's because they are using restaurant quality ingredients that taste different than what you are buying in the store.
How do women know when its time to change a tampon?
We change them before they start leaking. It usually just something we can tell, but because we're not supposed to keep them in for longer than a few hours , a lot of girls just change them every time they go to the bathroom, or if it feels like it's time to change.When my goddamn underwear becomes soaked in blood at a really inconvenient time.I personally can't tell. I just change it every 4 hours or so.Sometimes if you take a dump with a tampon in it actually pushes the tampon out. There is a lot of strategery involved planning bathroom trips during that time of the month.When the tampon is dry it clings in place . As it gets wet it looses it's grip, so a slight tug on the string will cause it to move if wet or stick if dry.
What are those black/white things that people snap before recording a scene to a movie/commercial/tv and what are they used for?
Slate/Clapper. Often information about the scene #, the take, the director and DP are written on the slate so you've got a record of what you're about to see . As others have said, the *snap* sound when the slate closes allows for easy syncing of audio and visual. Side note - even on shoots where audio is built into the camera, a slate is sometimes used when multiple cameras are present. This allows the editor to sync the cameras in post production. It's hard to get perfect sync between cameras visually but the sharp, percussive *snap* gives a reference point by which you can connect the same frame of each cameras media. Source: this is what I do for a living
redshift, how do we account for our own relative movement?
> If redshift tells us the universe is expanding from a single point Redshift tells us the universe is expanding from *us*. It is established relative to the point of observation: our galaxy. Yes, objects that are not moving relative to us aren't red-shifted and objects that are moving toward us are blue-shifted.
why do humans brush their teeth even tho no other animal does it.
While a high-sugar diet that everyone else talked about is the main reason, we're also the only animals to shave, wipe our butts, wash our hair and use deodorant. It's kind of just another part of hygiene in human society to have clean teeth and breath that doesn't stink.
What's so great about a Swiss bank account?
Let's say the owner of such a bank account dies or simply forgets about his deposit. What happens with his money if he never told anyone about his account?
Why are terrorist still killing the citizens of Iraq, even though American troops are withdrawn?
Before the invasion, Sadam's Sunni Muslims were the ruling party, and they got all the lucrative government postings with lots of enabling of graft, and immunity from legal difficulties. The Shi'ite Muslims were the ones harassed by the police and forced to pay bribes to advance their businesses. Not sure what the difference in beliefs are, and I may have the sects reversed. The invasion ousted these people from their offices with Hussein, and replaced them with a government cobbled together by U.S. and other foreign diplomats. Now that the foreign military is gone, some folks want things back the way they were. Edit: fixed the sects.
How Will The Update to the Final Rule of the FLSA Affect My Salary?
Hi /u/newsoulsam. It's hard to know exactly how the change will affect you because your company has some options when deciding how to comply with the ruling. They could simply convert you to hourly at your current rate of pay. They could also increase your rate of pay to the new salary threshold of $47,476. It's unlikely that they would increase your pay beyond the required minimum. They could also change your employment agreement to a 50 hour workweek and pay you 1/2 time for any hours worked between 40 and 50, and time and a 1/2 for hours worked over 50. Your company has until December 1 to comply. Administratively and financially, this will be a big deal for employers so your management team is probably working through the logistics now. Feel free to let me know if you have any more questions!
What is going on inside the brain of a person with a speech problem? (stutter, stammer, etc)
I had a pretty bad stutter when I was younger, still shows up every now and then today. As far as I can tell, my stutter shows up when I'm thinking faster than my mouth can work. Obviously, that won't apply to everybody, but I'm fairly certain that's what does it for me. I think of something and try to say it before I'm done saying something else.
What are the negative effects of marijuana?
I expect you're mostly asking about the THC, and I don't have much knowledge about that. But if you're smoking marijuana, you should remember that inhaling things that are on fire is bad for you. Whether it's tobacco or marijuana or wood or gasoline. I know, people usually don't smoke as much weed as cigarettes, for example, but it's still not great for you.
Why do mouth ulcers and canker sores swell when cuts anywhere else on the body simply get red and heal up?
That is a great question! The mouth and eyes tend to swell more than other parts of the body likely for a couple of reasons. One the eyes and mouth have many many blood vessels which means there is going more edema and more inflammation . Second, both the areas have very thin skin which means the swelling is more pronounced. That why if you get punched in the eye or lip , the area swells fast. Clinically it changes the way I practice. For example, when I do surgery around the eye/upper cheek or do filler in the lip, I have the patient ice for a few hours immediately after to reduce the swelling. Disclaimer: I am a dermatologist but I can't offer medical advice via Reddit, and anything I say is not a substitute for a personal consultation with a doctor.
Do world leaders bring their own security when they visit other countries? Is this different depending on who is visiting and who is being visited?
Many like to hire local security and just have their own guy in charge. It's way simpler than having a security team that's licensed everywhere.
Why does it seem like we're driving faster on smaller roads than motorway's, even when going at the same speed?
Run down a hallway and run through a field or when you see a plane flying through the sky. It appears as it's going very slow but it's actually moving extremely fast. It's all about perspective.On a smaller road, you are typically closer to objects on the side of the road. A lampost 5 feet away appears to be going by faster than one 30 feet away.
how do babies know to drink/eat
My son crawled to and sucked my breast as soon as he was placed on my chest when he was born. It's one of the most miraculous things that I've ever witnessed.
Why do spiders curl up once they die?
Spiders have muscles to pull their legs in , but no muscles to extend them, and hold them taut. Instead, their body has liquid circulating through them that inflates their legs like balloons! That way, when their muscles are relaxed, their legs will be outstretched, when their muscles are tensed, their legs are pulled in. When the spider dies, like most other systems in their body, the system which allows the liquid's circulation fails, and their muscles continue to pull their legs in. Makes 'em look all curly!", 'More comfortable way to spend the aeons before Cthulhu summons them to rebirthI understand the whole "hydraulic pump/pressure" explanation But I have a friend who preserves spiders, and she had to come up with a way that they wouldn't curl up. The way she does it, is she finds the spider live, and then kills it slowly by leaving it in the freezer. Once it's dead, she transfers it into a vial or jar of an alcohol based solution. Now, even if the spider froze solid in the freezer, it thaws in the jar/vial, as she just keeps them out on shelves in room temperature, and the spiders still keep their shape. At this point, what is it that keeps them posed and prevents them from curling up?', "At the precise moment of death, the spider will realize how short life really is. At the same moment the spider's life will flash before it's many eyes when it finally comes to a realization; it had 8 beautiful arms and never once used them to hug itself. With its last breath, it will hold itself in a loving embrace as it awaits for the world around it to turn dark and cold.
Why did the hivemind just lose it's shit about andrewsmith1986 being POLITE_ALLCAPS_GUY
You know that episode of family guy where Brian finds out that Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh are played by the same actor? That's what this is.Can you link me to the post where this happened?', "Is it bad that I don't know who any of you fucking people are? I never pay attention to peoples names.so why is this andrew smith guy so famous?
Why when I swallow a pill it sometimes feels as if it is stuck in my throat
I once took one of those cheap vitamins that are basically a plastic capsule with powder in it. I had the weird feeling that it was stuck in my throat, thought it wasn't stuck, but in fact it was. A few minutes later a huge burp bubbled up out of my stomach and when I released it a cloud of the powder came billowing out of my mouth. Laughs to myself were had after getting the shitty taste out of mouth.
What is the law on using a brand name product in a movie/show?
This [website and video] give a pretty good explanation but basically there's no law preventing you from using and showing product brands in movies/shows. So why do most cover them up or create fake brands? * If you show a brand, you're give away advertising for free and may have a hard time getting other sponsors to pay.* Showing a brand may conflict with other advertisers who may sponsor a movie/show or with program commercial advertisements.* If you show a product in any negative way that the company doesn't like, they may try to sue you if they think you've tarnished their reputation.* The movie/show producers may not want the viewers to think that they are associated with or are being paid by the brand company. * The movie/show producers may just not want viewer being distracted by brands and logos
What happens if a computer has more than 26 drives?
This is only a problem with Windows-based machines, and was designed around the assumption that the average person wouldn't have more than 10. In Linux your drives are counted using numbers, so there's no upper limit.
How come a movie can cost hundred of millions to make ?
Insurance isn't cheap either. Not only do you have to insure against personal injury but you have to insure the investment money. You have to have policies for some actors guaranteeing a reimbursement if they don't show up or can't do the job. You would be surprised how many people work on a movie. My sister's ex used to be a location scout, they travel the world looking for the right place then getting and paying for the privilege of using it. Feeding everyone. Transportation. The guys who do the subtitles, in every language. Lawyers, lawyers, and more lawyers. Stunt people and body doubles. The person who makes sure no animals are harmed. The guy who wrangles the snakes/ whatever. Tutors. Voice coaches. Accent coaches. Someone to walk the diva's poodle. The typesetter for the credits. The actual film . Programers. Digitizers. Etc, etc, etc. And half of these jobs are unionized and highly regulated. The output is just amazing.part of its the ongoing scam of "hollywood accounting" _URL_1_ expenditures are inflated and what the movies make are accounted close to zero as possible to avoid paying people involved in the movie. some movies exist just to launder money and are just a scam, people still go to watch them. you should watch this: _URL_0_ why jack and jill took 79.000.000 USD to make. titanic by james cameron only took only under 2.5 times that, 200 million. Watch the video blogs from Peter Jackson, during the making of the Hobbit. One look at his fleet of choppers scouting locations in New Zealand and you can see how quickly such a production burns through money.
Why does a picture get hung but a person gets hanged?
ran" and "runned" . So really, it all comes down to their roots and introduction to the English language. One comes from Anglo-Saxon rules, one comes from French rules, and we just decided that "hung" sounds better than "hanged", but "hanged" is unique and so we gave it a unique usage.
What is the reason for films not using 'Google', 'Facebook', 'Youtube' etc.
It's not always true. “The Amazing Spider-Man” had scenes where Peter Parker used Bing. It's more about deals and product placement. TV shows and major networks don't always have the money in their budgets to afford widely-known brands and products.
How did a phone connect to another phone overseas pre-1950's?
The first transatlantic telephone cable, [TAT-1], wasn't built until 1955. Before that, there were transatlantic telegraph cables, but they couldn't really carry a voice call. Before 1956, transatlantic telephone conversations were carried by radio on the HF bands. The HF bands are a chunk of the radio frequency spectrum that can bounce off of the ionosphere, taking the signals much further than line of sight.So during world war 2, it would have been possible to just call from the USA to a random phone in nazi Germany? Or did the trans Atlantic cables get severed during the war?', "So, are these cables sitting on the bottom of the ocean? Or do they kinda float? Isn't the bottom of the ocean under so much pressure that the cables would collapse?
Why does our body need a rigorous oral hygiene?
You don't *need* rigorous oral hygiene. But you do if you want your teeth and gums to be healthy as you get old. A tooth are like a well aligned back. You don't miss it until it's gone.
Why are large tractor trailer trucks allowed to idle for hours when it makes more sense to shut down the engine to save fuel?S
It's not too terribly bad. Google tells me the idle cost is about 1 gal/hr. As said, it's used keep heat/ac on for sleeping, and run refrigeration, and to keep the engine warm . Some rigs have Auxiliary Power Units- APUs- that are more efficient at generating electricity for this. But, actually, the cost to idle for a night isn't too terribly bad to begin with. They'd probably LIKE to have plug-in power instead. But that's a lot of power to try to run into a parking lot.Is this actually a common thing? When we have trucks waiting to use one of our loading docks they always shut off the engine. The refer unit will kick on completely independent of the truck, if the trailer is equipped.
Why is alcohol supposed to be "worse" for you than marijuana.
I'm a nurse that frequently works in ER. This is why I will continue to stand by the idea that alcohol is way worse on our society than pot: I have seen countless people come in from the effects of alcohol. More people come in for alcohol related causes than anything else. Whether it be seizing from Withdrawals, drinking too much, getting into fights or car wrecks because of it, or people who have been at the hands of someone intoxicated . My personal favorite is the people delirious and withdrawing and telling me they're going to kill me, spitting on me, and physically and verbally abusing me. Pot on the other hand? Once. He was a high school kid that smoked up for the first time with his friends and greened out and threw up. Gave him some fluids and his dad took him home. Would have been just fine without our help but the school had to call an ambulance.
How are clubs and other social gathering places allowed to have "Ladies Night" without people pulling out the discrimination card?
It's important to remember that discrimination is legal, except in some very specific circumstances. In some places, a ladies night at a club isn't legal for precisely that. But in many others, it's legal to discriminate on pricing at a club because nobody ever wrote a law banning it. Remember: in a free society, things are legal until there's a law making them illegal.
What is a flame made of?
[Here's a video ] about what exactly a flame is. It's targeted to 11-year olds, but I still learned from it even as an adult! To summarize the video: * fuel + oxygen + heat leads to a chemical reaction that gives off blue light.* The products made from that reaction is very hot, leading to heat. * Sometimes, when there's not enough oxygen, you get a reaction that leads to soot, or tiny balls of carbon. * When the carbon is very hot, it gives off yellow/red light, just like how an old fashioned light bulb will give off white light when heated.
How buying a phone in USA works.
I use Virgin Wireless. $35 a month, no contact. Basically you buy a phone from anywhere from a hundred or so bucks up to full price iPhone and activate it. You can even get a used phone for a couple dollars on eBay and use that. The only issue I have is super tiny in that Virgin uses the Sprint network, so coverage isn't as expansive as like, Verizon, but it's hardly a problem for me. I have unlimited data and texting, but limited voice. For $50 a month you get unlimited everything. I pay less for a whole year of service than many people pay a month. Edit: Since it's 'no contract' I cancel whenever I want with no fees and I'm NOT paying off my phone, or anything. I own the phone, and have used my same Galaxy S3 for years.It is not so much used anymore . But what would happen was, instead of paying $600-700 for a phone you would pay $100-200 but you had to get a contract where you stayed with that phone and plan for 2 years or face large cancelation fees. It had pros and cons, but it did get annoying that you were stuck in a plan for 2 years. Now most US carriers have separated the phone from the plan and you can either buy the phone at full price and stop service any time or they have set up payment plans so you pay $30-40/ month for the phone and what ever the cost of service is.
In the age of HDTV and DSLR Cameras, Why are CCTV footages like 1980's TV resolution?
You have to look at when some of the cameras are installed as well. They may have been put in 20 years ago and were the top technology for that time. Whoever owns them may haven't seen the need to upgrade so long as they do their job.
Why is it that most of society is clearly eating too much on a daily basis, yet no one seems to be doing anything that's remotely effective at addressing the problem?
Isn't that what Michelle Obama is trying to do, educate parents and children about nutrition and better eating habits?
On WWII propeller planes, how did the nose guns shoot without damaging the blades?
This was more of an unknown in WW1, actually. The guns were synchronized with the propellers, which aren't in some random location, but in a very predictable position based on position of some shafts. Here's a picture of how it works. _URL_2_ From this article. _URL_2_", 'when you hold the trigger the gun doesnt fire until a little dingaling on the rotor blade shaft hits a whatchamacallit, but since the blade spins so fast your dont really notice a delay. therefore if the gun is mounted on top of the aircraft at 12:00 it only fires when the rotors are at 9:00 and 3:00. Thats as eli5 as it gets.The answers given below are correct. Interrupter gears were used, and if they ever failed it wasn't a big deal, the pilot could glide to a safe landing . Some alternative designs had the pilot or bombardier able to stand up in their seat and fire a gun mounted to the top wing, over the propellor arc, also useful as it could slide back and fire directly upwards, so one could fly underneath an enemy and shoot upwards into the plane above.If the gun was shooting through the same space as the propeller, there was a timing mechanism incorporated between the gun and the propeller so that it only fired during the space between the blades. A much cheaper alternative was to mount the gun above or below the propellerThere are two ways to do it: * Interrupting syncronization. Stops the gun from firing when it would hit a propeller blade. * Synchronization. The gun is controlled by the engine shaft, so it fires at the same rate as the propeller spins.The slomo guys actually did an episode on this very thing. Was an interesting episode. I'm too lazy to post the link so Google it or something.
How do grocery stores make their store brand version of just about every product on their shelves?
My dad used to make plastic bags. The supermarket sold both my dad's brand and their own store brand. They were both made at my dad's factory.Companies like [Ralcorp] and [Treehouse] specialize in private-label foods.Well, first you have to know what kind of market they operate. Supermarkets charge every brand for the rights to display their products. Depending on the location inside the supermarket and the shelves . This is how supermarkets make money. But then, supermarkets discovered that people would be willing to buy cheaper versions of almost anything. So they usually contact a company and ask them to produce something for them. Now, because they don't have to pay for the shelve space and because they don't advertise them , they can sell them at a much lower cost. For a time, most major brands were willing to repackage their products into these store brands . But they soon realised that people discovered there was no difference and started buying the white label for a cheaper price. Now, some brands even proudly display they don't manufacture for other brands in their ads . But not all, for instance, where I live, 95% of the pasta is made by the same company , but they simply use a crappier recipes for the store brands. This situation has led to a great deal of tension between brands and store chains. They for one need the supermarkets to sell their products, on the other hand they are screwing them over by selling their own stuff. The supermarkets do it, because they know there's no other channel of distribution.
Sailing INTO the wind?
You cant sail directly into the wind you have to go at slight angles called tacking and jibing, not sure if that's spelled right. So you basically make zigzags toward where you are going without ever heading right at it.I found [this video] which explains it in a kid-friendly manner without too much technical jargon.The explanations of people here are correct on the topic of how to gain ground to windward by tacking through the wind but most are wrong in how the sails generate power. They don't catch the wind and change its direction as their sole purpose, this is a bonus effect and in fact most sails force the air upwards to exhaust out of the leech of the sail near the head. Sails actually work on a pressure imbalance. As the wind reaches the mast, it can go two ways: Past it and through to empty space or get caught by it and move past the sailcloth. This results in low pressure on the leeward side and high pressure on the windward side . As pressure likes to balance out the high pressure pushes against the sail trying to reach the low and has the effect of 'sucking' the boat along. Obviously there is some sideways force being applied by the wind but this is cancelled out by the centre of lateral resistance, be it a daggerboard/ centreboard or keel or whatever and turned into forward movement as much as possible. TLDR: Sucking not blowing. Same as lift on a wing but on it's side. Source: Raced for over a decade nationally for my county and hold advanced and race coach dinghy sailing qualifications. Been instructing sailing for a long while.
About how much bone could I have replaced with surgical steel before the cons start outweighing the fact that I'm becoming a Terminator?
The flesh is weak. The steel, stainless, strengthened and precision milled, limbs manipulating their 'surroundings' like a sickle mowing through corn stalks, futile resistance and still, your vulnerable soft middle is exposed to so many possible/easy ways do destruction that it too should be replaced. Leaving only the human head and what it contains as the only real desirable part left. Why is that again?", 'It sure would suck if you get a dent, though
If there is a lot of research concluding that starting school at a later time is more beneficial, why won't schools/governments make it happen?
Because schools are actually public daycares, not learning institutions. It would fuck up the parents' workday.
Why/how does the US have the authority to "grant permission" for a private company to land on the moon?
Same way your neighbor has authority to allow you to throw rocks into a river from his back yard. He doesn't own the river, he has no authority over the river, but if you hit a fisherman in the head, hes sort of liable for the rock you threw
Why is the world record for a marathon on a treadmill so much slower than the record for a road-based marathon?
I notice I run slower on a treadmill vs. outside and I only do 3-5mile distances. I'm about 20-30secs slower per mile on a treadmill. The theory I have come up with is that you HAVE to run at the speed of the tread vs. on the road/trail when you naturally can slow down and/or speed up based off the terrain, breathing and comfort. Basically I believe it takes more energy to maintain a set pace vs. letting your body do it's thing.Probably because treadmill record setters go for a more consistent speed, instead of adjusting it as they would if freely running. It’s considerably harder to adjust your speed on a treadmill for a more optimal performance. I’ve checked the [general rules] for treadmill record setting and there appear to be no rules regarding to adjusting your speed mid-run, but changing your speed while free running doesn’t require you to break your concentration. I’ve also skimmed through attempt videos from the same page and haven’t noticed any of the runners changing running speed at any pointRunning in an actual marathon triggers the competitive nature of some brains. In many cases, a human can push themselves to catch the person in front to them the ‘competition’ takes on its own aspect. Running on a treadmill rarely pushes that competitive spirit as far and fast as it would in a competitive race.
Why is it considered rude to have our elbows on the table when we eat?
It has been considered rude since the time of Rome, continued to be rude through the Middle Ages, and is rude even today. Similar to the Jewish tradition of foot washing, it was customary for a guest at a Roman table to wash their hands before partaking in a meal. Washing of hands at that point really meant rinsing one's hands in a basin of water. If you've ever dunked your arms in a narrow trough, it's kind of hard to get both in past the elbows without getting a lot of water down your front, so the Romans would just wash to the sensible length of one's forearm.My mom once told me its because when you do so, you are hunched over your plate and look like you are protecting it against someone who would try to steal it off you. Leaning back and not having your elbows on the table says you trust people not to steal your food. on the other hand though, i would tend to agree with /u/OhTheHueManatee. some tables flip overI have no credibility to my name, but I heard once that it was because in olden days when there were big, poor families, and putting your elbows on the table was a waste of precious food spaceBecause you will wear through the elbows of your shirt. That is what my Grandma says.
Why is it so difficult to remove salt from saltwater?
It's not difficult - people have been doing for thousands of years. You just heat up the salt water; the water evaporates and the salt is left behind. It is expensive, though. Have you ever made pasta and had to boil water on the stove? It takes a *while* and that's just half a gallon or so. Think about how much gas/electricity you're using to boil half a gallon of water. Then, think about how much you would need to boil water at an industrial level - *hundreds of thousands* of gallons of water. *Then*, understand that when you make pasta you're only *starting* to boil the water - to remove the salt completely, you would need to boil it until all the water is gone. *THEN*, realize that the boiling point of salt water is actually a little *higher* than that of pure water, so you actually have to heat it up more before it boils.
After getting bit by a mosquito, it itches. Is there an evolutionary benefit for humans that the bite itches?
It's actually the bodies immune reaction to a local anasthetic which is injected before the mosquito draws blood so you don't notice it's proboscis . It's beneficial for humans to think to get out of the area since mosquitos spread deadly disease more than any other creature on earth. However not all subspecies spread specific diseases.
Why would a person voluntarily go into debt?
There is such a thing as good debt and bad debt. Bad debt would be if you are living paycheck to paycheck and decide to take out a loan to buy a brand new car because your friends all have new cars. Good debt would be if you have no car, but got a job where you needed to drive daily, you would take out a loan to buy a car that you would use for work and to make money. Same idea of good debt goes for a house, if I am paying rent, I am pretty much paying someone else's mortgage and giving them my money, if I take out a loan and buy, yes I'm paying interest in it, but at least it would have equity and I could sell the house later and recover what I had been paying. There is also the chance that prices will go up and I might be able to make a profit off the house if I buy low and sell for a higher price.
When Bill Gates makes those adds saying we're THIS close to wiping out Polio but just need more donations, why doesn't he just donate the rest?
it's important to get people involved. It's not a 1 man army thing. he wants to convince people they can make a difference so we can do far greater things than him doing it by himself.
How do ATMs (virtually) always dispense the right amount of cash and make almost no mistakes?
I used to work at a bank and I regularly refilled the ATMs. We didn't always put brand new notes in, but we did take care to only put good quality notes in. The machines actually count the notes multiple times and if there is any discrepancy in the counts, the entire bundle is discarded and a fresh lot sent for counting before it's delivered out to you. That's why you sometimes hear a lot of whirring when you're waiting for your cash to come out.
Casual acceptance of unfaithfulness in African-American culture
It's not a black thing, it is a douche bag thing. You'll find the same attitude in party frat houses.I never understood why some people brag about things they should be embarrassed about.
How can we ever know we're on the "right" side of propaganda? (more detail in post)
My parents live in Russia and I talk to them every week. They are not aware of the propaganda in Russian media and pretty much believe everything they see on TV and read in local newspapers. They have no reason to doubt the information they receive so they make no attempt to check the facts or find a different angle. They don't speak any language other than Russian and that obviously limits their access to foreign info sources. When we argue about politics, they usually assume my information is wrong, because I was brainwashed by American propaganda.I personally always try to find the truth somewhere in the middle, because from where I stand I can see propaganda everywhere.
How can convicted and sentenced serial killers spend so long on death row, like decades...
Many death row inmates file appeals, arguing that they should get a new trial due to new evidence, how the evidence was collected, etc. The appeal process can be very lengthy because each appeal needs its own trial date. If there is a trial date, they obviously can't execute the person.
what does the death of Kim Jong-il mean for North Korea/the rest of the world?
Functionally nothing as power had already been transferred and his death was expected. It's mostly important in relation to the cult of personality that existed in NK and how they will respond. I seriously doubt anything is going to change though.Kim Jong-il had a unique combination of shrewdness, ruthlessness, and crazy that allowed him to rule North Korea with an iron fist while keeping the rest of the world at bay. Chances are, his successor will not be as good at this game as he was. He may have to deal with the rest of the world in order to stay in power, or he may not be able to stay in power at all.This was a paper that someone wrote in 2009 about the matter. These are all speculations about the possible outcomes of KJI's death. _URL_2_ It's a lot to read and it's not really ELI5, but i'm sure someone can break these situations down and explain much better than I could.It means that Kim Kardashian is free to reign as the "evilest Kim alive"On another thread, here's a "explain like I'm an intelligence agent" answer: _URL_3_', "Not much in any real sense, North Korea's leadership had already more or less been transferred to his son. Maybe his son will be less extreme then him but so far that has not been the case.A fatter version of Kim Jong-il keeps on playing the game.
Why can I buy a can of spray paint for $3 but a can of air to clean my computer with costs $8?
> Institution. > Making you think you're crazy is a billion dollar industry. > If they could sell sanity in a bottle, > **They'd be charging for compressed air**, > And marketing healthcare. > They demonize welfare, > Middle class eliminated, > Rich get richer til the poor get educated.
Can someone explain Entropy like I am five?
The first step is to realize that Entropy is an abstraction created by humans. Now read other people's thoughts that spent more time writing.
Why are Asians buying real estate all over the world, causing a housing crisis in various cities?
As someone from Vancouver, our provincial government is corrupt as fuck and is doing nothing to stop the foreign investments into real estate, meaning you can own a nice 1br condo in Vancouver for a cool 700k Not to mention a lot of it is dirty money made in ways that wouldn't be legal if it wasn't made in China. A lot of people here own a nail salon, or a hair cutting place and drive a 80,000 car. Half of the new developments here sit empty and the developers are taking a huge advantage of it by building more and even going so far as to market these developments in China.Because every other asset in China is a bubble or has a huge problem with it. Source: Was investment banker there for 3 years, every single deal that involved a Chinese company/asset went wrong in some way. Most of them were "walk aways."', "Asians? They're just the latest buyers in a real estate cycle managed by real estate agents who's made money over and over again on the same properties once sold to whites, jews, Japs etc etc. The rich Chinese are actually paying the most for housing because they've got the most money to spend right now. Next will probably be arabs.
Second Amendment: what is well - regulated?
Nobody is sure. That seems like a cop out answer, but we've been arguing about it for roughly 230 years.
Why is it generally regarded as a bad idea to date within the workplace / date a colleague?
I actually met my wife through work, but we worked in different departments and weren't typically in the same area or even had the same lunchtime. So we rarely saw each other. It was actually great because we could carpool in together, worked the same shift, and could complain to each other about work stuff & understood what the other was going through. But if we had worked closely around each other I can see how that would've cause problems. As soon as things go south, personal feelings start interfering in the business environment and jealousies can erupt. Even a casual sex fuck-buddy relationship would probably lead to problems in the workplace eventually depending on how close you work with the partner.
Do the drugs people snort remain in their lungs?
Snorting it doesn't go to your lungs, it gets trapped in your nose and absorbed through the mucous membranes. It goes to your bloodsteam through the nose, not the lungs.
Should adults (not a baby or child) not be drinking milk ?
Humans have evolved to drink milk as adults, mostly. Some of the DNA from the time before this gene mutation still remains so there are people who are lactose intolerant. For details I suggest you go to scishow on youtube Basically, if you're not lactose intolerant, you can drink milk without worries.Cheese is basically concentrated milk. How dare you suggest we not enjoy this glorious product.
How is video evidence supposed to be taken seriously as technology advances?
If you had a top-tier expert painstakingly manipulating videos, maybe it would get by a subpar defense team. Generally speaking though, there's telltale signs of photo and/or video manipulation that might not be apparent to a casual viewer but if a video's in question, people are going to look closer.
How do (most) video games still only use 1-2 cores on the CPU and run well?
Increased complexity. You could do 38 * 55 faster by having two people do two separate calculations - yell out the answer and have a third person add the two results together. But now you have to split the multiplication into two parts AND what happens if one person has an easier job? Say you are multiplying 1000 numbers and Tom starts yelling out his result every second while Dick takes 2 seconds. Now you have to make sure you match up the correct pair of results AND did you notice the other problem? Tom finishes in 1000 seconds and Dick finishes in 2000. Now you have to go back and re-split the multiplications because ideally you want Tom and Dick to finish at the same time so Tom doesn't sit around doing nothing.
Whats the difference between a car battery and a computer power supply unit?
The car battery is a device that stores energy while the computer power supply converts energy from one form to another. A car battery uses chemical reactions to store electrical energy which it can release at a constant rate using Direct Current or DC. The current flows in one direction which makes it usable by your cars electronics. This battery must be charged so that it can store enough charge to start your car and consistently power the car electronics. It usually is powered by the cars alternator which converts rotational energy from the car's movement to electrical energy. A computer power supply converts alternating current or AC to DC. Your house electrical system is based on AC where the current fluctuates back and forth at a certain frequency. The power supply uses a circuit that converts it into DC so that it can be used to power the computer.
Why are there no "unclaimed" territories on earth?
There's an abandoned oil derrick somewhere in the pacific that some guy set up shop on and claims to be his own country. No one bothers him because he's not worth bothering with.These sort of cases are called Terra nullies. There were a couple of terrae nullius the 20 and 21st century. Look it up on Wikipedia!
Why is it that billions of dollars can be transferred electronically every day but electronic voting systems are still unreliable and unsafe?
In the case of money you have control. You know how much money you had before, the other guy knows how much he is supposed to get If many people keep books then foul play by the software or hardware quickly becomes visible. With a voting machine in order to see foul play you would have to know how everyone else voted. Exit polls alone don't give you that knowledge. They are often off without vote tampering. Theoretically hand counted paper would have a similar problem but unless the boxes are allowed to be transported away before counting large scale fraud is very very difficult because of the large number of people that would have to be involved
how are pets that spend all year inside in a temperature controlled house able to synchronize their shedding cycles with the seasons?
A groomer once told me that dogs and cats shed more year round because we keep them inside climate controlled houses. They'll have a big seasonal shed, but also continue to shed more than an outside dog would.
Why are Liberia and Ethiopia so poor?
So neither were colonised in the traditional sense but colonialism certainly drank their milkshake, to use a there will be blood analogy. Also Liberia arguably was colonised, and still is. African Americans freed slaves largely of Nigerian and Cameroonian ethnic origin colonised it and until recently treated the local African population much in the same way white colonists did in the countries around them. But the main reason Liberia and Ethiopia are poor is modern history - 40 odd years of recent war. Liberia's civil wars were caused by political instability caused by a number of coups caused by an overly politically powerful military. There are many reasons why Liberia's military were overly powerful but just a few are: unrestricted military aid from the US who wanted to turn Liberia into a bulwark against communism, fear on behalf of the Americano-Liberian elite minority of the indigenous majority causing them to turn to the army for protection, and members of the armed forces having strong control over the lucrative rubber industry. Ethiopia's civil war was basically a cold war proxy war. USSR backed groups fighting US backed groups.This was complicated by two wars of independence the attempt by the former Italian colony of Eritrea to split from Ethiopia and the attempt by the Afar ethnic group to form their own state in Ethiopia and Djibouti.This link by The School of Life explains why countries are poor and answers your question: _URL_0_
Why would Chechen rebels even be concerned about the U.S.?
You are assuming and/or implying that the motive behind the bombing is related to Chechnyan independence. We do not know the motivation as of yet. It could very well have been carnage for the sake of carnage. Some people just do that. We'll know the motive within a few days, I'm sure.
Do chefs train their palette for food they do not like? It so, how?
A professional cook has to be objective about what they're tasting. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms but that doesn't mean that I can't taste something made with mushrooms to test if the seasoning is right. I have to put my personal tastes aside in order to do my job well.
What did Hilary Clinton do to have so many people not like her?
She married Bill Clinton, who was hated by Republicans for being popular. She was outspoken on political issues instead of being a photogenic domestic accessory during Bill's political career.
Why do we truly taste many things only after we swallowed them?
While the top comment is informative, it doesn't actually answer the question. The reason you need to swallow to fully taste is because your olfactory sense plays a lead role in taste and when food is in your mouth you aren't smelling it very much but as you swallow it passes the throat entrance to the sinuses and wafts up into your nasal cavities. This is one of the reasons why eating horse radish or wasabi burns your nose, even if you try not to exhale through it. Your nose and throat are linked at the back of your throat and the acts of swallowing, and breathing after distribute molecules to your olfactory senses which play a huge part in your perception of their flavor. If you could gargle your food you could get the full flavor without swallowing but that's just gross. However if you're tasting wine and can't get drunk on the job, a swish around the mouth, and letting the wine settle at the back of your throat without swallowing is the best way to fully explore it's flavor.
Why has the USA not put a stop to the atrocious genocide and obvious human rights violations in North Korea?
Because it would involve a bunch of people dying , and would cost a ton of money. And after all of that, there is no guarantee that the result would be any better. The US basically moved into Afghanistan and Iraq, took over for a while, and tried to turn them into effective and stable democracies. It hasn't gone particularly well in either country. The US got involved against Hitler because he was invading a bunch of other countries, including some good allies of the US, not because of the concentration camps.
Why does no one ever use the push in slots on plastic cups?
Generally they'll only be used on larger orders or catering. There's just no real point on doing it on small orders, but orders where you have 20 different pizzas or 20 different drinks it does.I used to work at McDonalds, and we would often use these if one order had different drinks, especially "same color" drinks
Why can't you just mount two or more batteries in an electric car to extend its range?
Everyone has already covered the increase weight leads to less efficiency. I want to point out that the current 'Battery' on one of these cars are already hundreds of smaller batteries all packed together to form one large cell. So they are already multiple batteries in a car to extend the range. Why they don't add more? Because it doesn't seem like the return would be worth it as most people have relatively small commutes and its impractical to actually road trip with it anyways.You can - [here's a post with some pics from someone who did just that.] Of course the catch is it's expensive and heavy and takes up a lot of space, and there are no "out of the box" range-extending batteries available at this pointThe Tesla Model S actually has 7,104 lithium-ion battery cells in 16 modules in the 85KW version and wired in series each module contains six groups of 74 cells wired in parallel; the six groups are then wired in series within the module. Taken from [Wikipedia]Imagine they do this, and it doubles the range and everything is awesome. But as you always have two batteries all the time now it makes sense to combine them into just one pack, saving weight and materials and making the wiring easier. So, once again, you have one battery.Battery packs for electric cars are heavy. Adding enough to significantly extend the range would add a lot of weight, making the motor work harder and draw more power. It's a case of diminishing returns.The batteries in these cars are huge. And weigh a lot. If you nearly double the weight of the car, it would take twice as much energy to move it.
Why isn't Ctrl+Shift+P For Pasting?
If you're using your mouse to highlight or select something it's occupying your right hand. This leaves your left hand for shortcuts. The easiest ones are the common ones in a line at the bottom. Ctrl-Z , Ctrl-X , Ctrl-C , and Ctrl-V . Not only is Ctrl-V easy to do, it's also right next to Ctrl-C, which makes sense. Other easy shortcut keys are Ctrl-A and Ctrl-S . Ctrl-Q and Ctrl-W are sometimes used for quitting a program. This all of course completely ignores things if you're left handed. Try pressing Ctrl-Shift-P, it's extremely awkward on my keyboard as well .
How can white be described as the absence of color?
When people talk about color, they can be referring to two different things. They can be talking about electromagnetic frequencies or they can be talking about pigments. In terms of EM frequencies, black is the absence of color and white is the presence of all colors. That's why white light can be refracted into the spectrum. But in terms of pigmentation, white is the absence of pigment. Animals with little or no pigment in their skin are albino or white. A sheet of white paper is considered colorless until some paint or other medium containing pigments is applied.
How do cigarette lighters actually light a cigarette?
There used to be a little plastic and metal thing that you push into the socket. The electrical current heats it up, so that when you pull it out it can be used to light a cigarette. Nobody really uses them to light cigarettes, so they don't actually include them with the car anymore.Car lighters come with a few parts. The initial part in most cars that have them is the socket; the socket itself is part of an electric circuit that commonly supports about 12 volts of DC electricity, from the battery/electric system of the car itself. Most gadgets that you can plug into your car through these sockets are not "lighting a cigarette", they're just leeching power from the battery, which as long as the car is running, the alternator replenishes easily enough. The lighter itself is a plug for the socket. It contains a heating element that uses the same electric current as gadgets would use to heat up, and with some clever mechanical design, they automatically pop-out once they get hot enough. The heating element is, for a handful of seconds, hot enough to light a cigarette .> Cigarette lighters are used for everything from charging phones to, well, charging phones. Make sure you aren't confusing an actual cigarette lighter with just a power outlet. Phone chargers work in both outlets but cigarette lighters won't work in plain power outlets.
How have most restaurants maintained high drink prices when McDonalds sells any size of drink for $1?
They charge you what they do because they can. You're not allowed to bring outside food or beverages in to a restaurant. You're going to be thirsty while eating your meal. If you want anything other than water you're going to pay a premium for it because you don't have any other options.
Why hasn’t Amazon been forced to break up due to anti trust laws like Standard Oil Corp was?
One, because the market is now global. I ordered customized 3.7-volt battery from a tiny manufacturer in China last week and I didn't have to use Amazon. Even in the publishing industry, there are a hundred alternatives to Amazon, including digital options that can be read on a Kindle. Two, conservative lawmakers, judges, and FTC and DOJ administrators are much less likely to actually enforce anti-trust laws. So if you want to see giant corporations like Amazon forced to compete, don't vote for fucking morons like Trump or the congressmen who protect him.
Why our perspective of constellations doesn't shift
They are shifting, just hugely slowly. Come back in a few billion years, it'll be unrecognizable.
How does humor work?
From another ELI5: One purpose is as an evolutionary function, to signal that what we got is not what we expected. That is, when man would hunt in the forest, if a group of hunters thought it heard a bear sneaking up on them, but then a rabbit jumps out, instead, they will laugh to indicate that the tension has been broken and there's no need to worry anymore.
Why are alcohol calories worse than other calories?
Drinking also contributes to poor judgment. You are more likely to eat a big plate of greasy food at 1am when you have been drinking than when you haven't been drinking.
Why am I wide awake at night after being exhausted all day/evening?
If you mean why do you want to sleep at work but then you stay up all night on reddit, then in simple terms, it is because your brain gets stimulated when you are doing something you enjoy. If you aren't having fun you will be more tired. Try reading a calculus text at night and you should get to sleep.
what would happen on a flight if the Airplane's emergency exit door was opened?
[According to an airline pilot], it's not possible. The door typically swings inward first, even if it's made to rotate and pop out afterwards. It's being held in place by the higher air pressure inside the cabin. And it adds up: even if the air pressure inside is only about 2 PSI greater than the pressure outside, a small emergency exit door might have an area of about 1000 square inches, meaning you'd need to apply 2,000 pounds of force to budge the door. Aircraft doors are over-engineered for just this reason. Unless there's a catastrophic structural failure of some other part of the fuselage or something, in which case you've got other concerns. If the aircraft does lose cabin pressure without something catastrophic happening, it *might* be possible to open the door in flight, but you'd probably have to do it while getting the everloving shit beaten out of you by passengers/flight attendants/skymarshalls :)
XKCD's Password strength comic today
While it isn't quit LI5 its probably LI12 [_URL_0_] and a really awesome explanation and probably where Randall got the idea.
Vermont Governor declined to legalize recreational marijuana because there is no way to test a driver for impairment. Why is there no stipulation with other prescription medications that can dramatically alter your ability to drive?
Because it's not about the weed. It's usually never about the weed, but the issues surrounding it. Think of the other interests that the governor serves that conflict with legalizing weed. He has taken money from [pharmaceutical] companies, who are notorious for trying to block legalized marijuana. If something smells like shit, it probably leads to a pile of cash and bad, easily disprovable excuses and hypocrisy like you have noticed with this thread.People have been arrested for being under the influence of prescription drugs, including [Phish frontman Trey Anastasio]. They use the field sobriety test in order to determine intoxication, which theoretically can be used for marijuana enforcement as well. There is no threshold for how much opiates or other drugs you have in your system, if you make a critical driving error, fail the field sobriety test and you test positive for pharmaceuticals you can get a DUI. The demand for an actual THC level that can be measured to determine sobriety is a stall tactic, because no such threshold exists. Not only does THC stay in your system for weeks after ingestion, but a seasoned smoker may have such a tolerance that the level in their bloodstream cannot indicate how high they actually are. The state will likely propose the same statutes for determining DUI-drugs, and might opt to lower the legal BAC limit if you are found to have made a moving violation with alcohol and THC in your system.
Why does cold water leave us gasping for air?
I found this out the hard way by jumping into the sea with a snorkel in my mouth. Breathing rapidly through a tiny tube isn't easy/fun", 'As a side note, why do we sometimes gasp for air when *drinking* really cold water?
Why do football players (soccer) need to rest for at least three days between games when hockey players can play four games in a week?
Hockey uses the entire body, but soccer is harder on the legs which easily cramp and will tear. The wear on the body in hockey games is spread across the whole body but equally taxing, it's not an argument of who is tougher, thats for another thread.
Why is it necessary to pre-heat the oven?
It should be mentioned that pre-heating isn't strictly necessary for many dishes. Dishes that take a relatively long time to cook don't particularly care a whole lot if you pre-heat - you shouldn't be going by how long it's been in the oven as to when it's done anyway. Dishes that cook for short periods of time, or baked goods , on the other hand, are more sensitive to having the oven preheated properly. Also, bear in mind that when the oven says its preheated and when its preheated are rarely the same thing . I tested my oven and, while I found it was calibrated accurately, it didn't hit the correct temperature until: - 325F - 4 minutes after it said it was preheated- 350F - 8 minutes after it said it was preheated- 375F - 14 minutes after it said it was preheated- 400F - 20 minutes after it said it was preheated- 425F - 27 minutes after it said it was preheated
Why is a handwritten signature the universally known and accepted way to bind yourself to an agreement and things of the like?
An original ink signature is in fact difficult to forge in a way that would deceive an expert. Combined with a witness and perhaps a notary seal, it's the gold standard, because there are several ways to cross-check it.
Why do video games crash and stop working, rather than produce an error and move on?
They do both; if they can move on when the error occurs, they will, but you only get to know about the times when they can't move on and are forced to crash.So, as a programmer, my game level might reference an object called "Enemy_45". In the program, I request this object. The code either tells me where that object is in memory, or, if it doesn't exist, it gives me a special value for a memory location that doesn't exist. I ask for the object at that location that doesn't exist. The default behaviour of a computer program when you ask for that is to crash. Programmer prefer this to happen, because we know something has gone wrong and we can fix it. Otherwise strange things happen and it can be hard to spot. I could write it so that I test "If this memory location is the \'non-existent\' value then don't do anything". There might even be a good reason to do this but usually we expect all the assets to be correct and validatedMost answers are covering programming in general, but the question is about games, which typically do have a different response when their code finds an abnormality. *Mission critical* systems are regarded by their fault tolerance. They can't just stop doing their job whenever they face an unexpected condition. An hospital device's software can't just let the patient die if it finds a null pointer or something. In most cases mission critical systems would log some info about the error and "move on" whenever possible. Video games on the other hand aren't mission critical. Nobody would die or lose money if they stop working now and then. In fact, it's in the best interest of everybody if they crash spectacularly whenever something odd happens in their code. Otherwise the error might get unnoticed or ignored and possibly never reported to the developer.