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What is a lan party? (Call of Duty) | LAN - Local Area Network. People bring their machines and link them together for the purpose of playing a computer game. The internet speed and servers have really made this practice pointless, but it used to be the only way to play together. |
What is that sensation I get when I pee and it feels like I have to pee more? | This only happens to me when I try to pee with a bonerDoes it happen all the time? Get it checked out, I had that once and it was a urinary tract infection. idk what causes that feeling but the infection can be caused by a variety of things that can be very routine so sometimes its not even a noticeable change in lifes... |
Why do some words have such a drastic change in pronunciation when adding a suffix? For example, "maniac" vs. "maniacal"? | The change in pronunciation in this case is due to one thing only: the shift in stress, from "m**a**niac" to "man**i**acal". It so happens that there's a general rule in English: in adjectives ending in "-al", the stress falls two syllables before the suffix. * fa·**na**·tic·al* fa·**mi**·li·al* re·**me**·di·al* **sex*... |
How does the Canadian government and economy function compared to America's? | We don't elect our Prime Minister directly. We vote for a member of parliament, and the leader of the party with the most members after all the votes are counted gets appointed Prime Minister by the Governor General. The GG is appointed by the Queen . So the government can fall, and that forces an election. There's als... |
How can products such as Dr. Pepper, Sprite and Gatorade have individual promotions when they're under a brand like Pepsi and Coca-Cola? | I'm not sure I understand. Why would they not be advertised individually?", 'Dr Pepper is an independent brand not associated with either coke or Pepsi, which is why you can find it on coke and Pepsi fountains', "Think about it why would a company limit itself to only putting all its products on promotion at once? Coca... |
Why does a chicken with its head cut off run around like a ...chicken with its head cut off?? | > Why does a chicken with its head cut off run around like a chicken with its head cut off?? Chickens can run even when they are only left with a small portion of their brain stem, located below an area where most people would consider the chicken's head. This means a chicken might still be able to run after its head h... |
Why does slurping a hot beverage make it feel less hot when drinking it? | You're also using your mouth like a carburetor of sorts. Adjusting the ratio of air rushing past the surface of the liquid also changes the temperature of it while providing cooling to the tongue and inner surface of the mouth. |
How come we haven't evolved to dislike unhealthy foods? | That's a lot of biological rewiring to do, and fast food has only been around for, what, about 50 years? Evolution happens over more than one generation. |
What is science and why does it "work"? | Science is a pretty difficult concept to define. Most accept that a field in which the *scientific method* is applied is a science. The scientific method is a group of techniques put together to produce empirical evidence of phenomena. Its basis is that by by providing repeatable experimental verification, the mechanis... |
how to thieves get away with physical purchases with stolen cards? | Cameras are not always enough. You can have good pictures of someone, but if you don't know who it is, it doesn't do you any good. The police department I work for will post pictures online asking for help identifying suspects, but if they are from a distant area it may not do any good. |
Why is there congestion even when there isn't a traffic accident? | There's been some research into this lately on closed roads and loops. Researchers have put together a model. Imagine a line of cars all travelling down the road together. The front car has to slow down for whatever reason. A second later, the driver behind them reacts and slows down. Because they reacted later, they h... |
If humans are so sensitive to temperature differences that we find it hard to function when it's just 1 degree hotter, how did we service? | I can function just fine in a rather wide range of temperatures. Why do you think humans are *that* sensitive to our environmental conditions? Our bodies regular our internal temperatures for us. That's why we don't have to rely on external temperatures being optimal for our metabolism. It is what being warm-blooded me... |
How does frontline goop on the back of the neck stop fleas/ticks from eating other pupper parts? | That goop get absorbed into the fatty tissue of the dog. Science happens and the absorbed medicine transfers to other fatty tissue cells. When the fleas bite the pup they get a mouthful of toxins that have been distributed through other cells. Think of it similar to how a paper towel will absorb spills and the liquid s... |
the sensation (pain) that happens when metal touches your fillings in your teeth? | Electrical shock. You basically made a battery in your mouth with the fillings and metal being an anode and cathode and your saliva acting as battery acid. |
Why is the glass on glasses very big but contacts are very small? | not a professional, but id assume it's simply because a contact lens sits right on your eye where you see from and glasses lenses sit in front of your eye, so they need a larger surface area so you can move your eyes and still see clearly. |
if the government wants to spy on people, why doesn't it just pass another amendment which nullifies the Fourth Amendment? they've done that before with repealing prohibition. | the government isn't one individual, nor is it a lot of individuals with a single goal. There are enough people in congress that wouldn't let it happen, so they choose other means. Also, the american people would probably be more pissed about that. In looking at all their options of how to spy on people, they'll choose... |
Why is jumping off a bridge a means of suicide, when I've seen countless videos of people jumping off taller cliffs into rougher waters? | The world record high dive jump is about 200'. Thats with training the average mortal would probably be risking their health higher than 50'. Most bridges are 200-250' high. you COULD survive it, and some do. but if you dont go in just right, you'll die for sure. edit: maybe not immedietly, but if you break your leg, h... |
Why doesn't my bike go backwards when I peddle backwards? | It's built into the bikes design, if they didn't do this you wouldn't be able to coast with a bike. Also, when you are pedaling in smaller gears going backwards could cause the chain to come off. |
Why do children communicate by shouting? | > I don't have kids but I live in an apartment block with lots of families and I've noticed that young kids communicate with each other by yelling rather than talking You talk louder, everyboy is paying attention to you immediately. You whisper, nobody cares. Kids don't care about what it means to your neighbours, they... |
In countries without universally accessible healthcare, like the USA, how can a doctor refuse to give life-saving treatment to an individual who cannot afford it without breaking their hypocratic oath? | They don't. Individual doctors will inevitably come to the aid of a bystander. Doctors need supplies and support staff, though, so what's really relevant is how hospitals provide care. By federal law, virtually all hospitals are legally required to provide life-saving treatment regardless of ability to pay. There's no ... |
Why does sad and melodramatic music have a tendency to make some people happy and feel 'better' when they're also feeling down? | Strong emotive music help us explore the emotions in greater detail. They give us an external source of this emotion which our conscience can then better rationalise where the feelings are coming from. A study from the University of Queensland looked at metal fans and exposed them to a playlist of their favourite bands... |
I go to sleep with a pimple, I wake up and it's gone. Where exactly did it go? | Oh it' still there, hiding, waiting, plotting, only to resurface when it's time for that big interview/date/meeting, etc .The oil and other stuff inside the pimple was carried away by your bloodstream. |
what's happening when one ear suddenly starts ringing, then it soon fades away to become normal again | It's called tinnitus, which is essentially the hairs that cause you to hear becoming bent or broken, and this makes random electrical impulses go to your brain, causing you to hear high pitched noises. It's caused by many things, for more see this _URL_0_ |
Why is desalination not being pushed in places like California? | > It is so frustrating seeing the billions upon billions we spend on weapons and military while we are literally drying out. I don't understand It's called corruption. A very sad fact of life. Yes, it would make total sense to develop and use sea water, which is still a very underused resource. It can be done if we put... |
How are agreements over the silk road enforced if everything is anonymous? | Good sites like Silk Road have user reviews to primarily stem the flow of scammers. They don't advise people to buy anything from anyone with a bad review or no reviews unless they are OK with losing money potentially. Smart sellers deliver a consistent product which nets them consistent sales. |
What's wrong with suicide? | For many religious it is a sin, and one that cannot be atoned for. For many it is sign of mental illness as no one in their right mind would consider or attempt suicide. For many it is seen as a selfish thing as you do not consider the harm you do to family and friendsIn our culture it is frowned upon, weather it be be... |
Why is salt such a fundamental part when making food? | Both sodium and chloride ions are incredibly important for our body's survival. As such, our bodies have devised ways to be keenly aware of its presence in our food, so it has a strong flavor. Also, it is a good preservative and was used to keep food from spoiling in the olden days . |
Why haven't we sent a rover to Venus? It's almost half as far away as Mars. | We could build a device to withstand those temperatures, probably. But we'd also have to design it to withstand all the sulfuric acid, and I can't imagine anything we came up with would last very long. |
Equity vs Royalties and how does one make money on both? | Royalties are usually related to a licensing agreement. Say I invent a widget and patent it. I don't really have the resources to manufacture and sell it so I license it to you. You build the widgets for $5, sell them for $10, and pay me a royalty of say $1. You still make $4 in profit for doing most of the work but I ... |
what are the contents of a "hot hands" pouch and how do they generate so much heat almost instantly? | They oxidize iron when exposed to air to produce the heat; basically they speed up the rusting of iron which is an exothermic reaction. Powdered iron and salt seem to be the main components along with water to allow the reaction to take place, charcoal to distribute the heat, cellulose as a spacer, etc. |
Why dont the eyeballs of animals like snow leopards that thrive at -30 degrees freeze over? Do they just blink every millisecond? | Minerals in the eyewater - this reduces the freezing point.You can observe this when salt is put on frozen streets.It does not heat up the streets, but reduce the freezing point of the water on it, thus removing the ice.Finland here. The coldest I've been out in is about -35°C and can absolutely confirm that your eyeba... |
How does it work getting Wi-Fi on planes? | The primary way is just that the plane has a type of mobile phone service attached to it and talks to cell towers on the ground, think of it as your plane just has a mobile hot spot turned on. Generally this isn't very high bandwidth, and the latency can be high. Newer methods, primarily being developed by a company ca... |
Is feeding swans, seagulls and ducks good or bad for them? | This is a "that depends" question. It's GOOD for them if you're feeding them nutritious food and it prevents them from starving. A domesticated swan living in a groomed pond and being regularly fed a balanced diet doesn't care if it's domesticated or not. It has a low-stress life and that's awesome in its mind, despite... |
Why do flamingos stand on one leg? | They don't need to pump the blood all the way down those long legs. Since they're very long, you'd need a lot of blood pressure to push the blood down so it flows up again, so they're doing it to save energy.Minimises heat loss. They stand in water to feed. Lifting one leg up helps keep the heat. Scientists proved this... |
What is happening exactly when a breaker "throws"? | Basically, there's an electromagnet that, if too much current is running through it, gets strong enough to pull the switch open and shut everything down. You can see a picture [here]; the *solenoid* is the magnet the pulls the switch open. |
Where goes my sixpack in the evening | > Am I adding fat during the day and loose it during the night? You are dehydrating during the night and rehydrating during the day. Bodybuilders when preparing for their shows will avoid drinking anything so their skin is tighter to their muscles. It is perfectly normal and not really something you should try to stopT... |
what is pus? how does it form? and why does it hurt until you get it all out from the wound? | It hurts because its causing swelling and heat. When you squeeze it out it releases the pressure on the surrounding tissues.The pain is - typically - from a combination of inflammation and pressure. There's no direct link between pus and pain -- it's quite possible to have one without the other. |
Why does music sound better when you're high? | As with almost all questions concerning the specific effects and mechanisms of drugs, we don't really understand it all that well because there isn't great data available. In order to legally study weed, or any illicit drug, you have to get permission from a body whose mission is to "lead the Nation in bringing the pow... |
Property taxes and how much exemptions can save you. | Property taxes are usually based on the value of the property. In my county , it's just about 1% of the property value. If I have a $500,000 house, my tax comes out to about $5000. In some places, you can get exemptions for various things . That value comes off of the value of the residence - if my county had a $22k ex... |
- Why do we still feel hungry when our bodies are burning fat stores? | Because those are for emergency use only. You are not suppose to survive off them. So you evolved to constantly try and replenish them. And yes, hunger is triggered by the physical fullness of your stomach as well as your blood sugar levels.Imagine you have 3 gas cans in the back of your truck in case you run out of ga... |
Why there are still gold bars and why they don't appear to be used for anything. | Humans have a very weird obsession for shiny objects But gold isn't useful for anything but electrical uses but its to expensive to use commonly. Also gold is a rare element if you put all the gold ever mined by humans in one place it would only add up to 3 Olympic sized swimming pools. Fun fact the only way to make go... |
How are 3D movies filmed? | Most of the time, they have a special camera with two lenses that it records simultaneously . Some films that wanted to add 3D as a gimmick were shot in 2D and then modified in post-production to add 3Ds . |
Why are desktop CPU's not getting bigger? | > Couldn't the size of the CPU be increased to allow for better multitasking without sacrificing speed Unfortunately, no. The speed at which CPUs operate is so high that the amount of time it takes a signal to travel even a few millimeters has become significant. Larger CPU would mean circuitry on one side would have t... |
Why is it that when people close their eyes, there are faint splotches of different abstract things visible? | They're called phosphenes. Apparently the retina produces them even when at rest and in the absence of light. It's sort of the same way that fireflies can glow; there are cells within our eyes that emit biophotons which are light particles that are produced by our eyes themselves.White noise/ static because no stimuli.... |
Why do dogs stink? | Hi there ! Dogs have natural odors used for animal recognition and for scent-marking territory. Actually all canids do . They produce these odors through their nose, ears and paw pads. They also produce unnatural odors and this may come from very diverse reasons : * Breath * Dental diseases and gums can also produce a ... |
How can egging a persons house possibly cause $20,000 worth of damages? | It normally doesnt. In the Justin Beiber case the house in question had VERY EXPENSIVE stone. So the eggs ruined the expensive stone. Thats why there was such a high repair cost.It counts as vandalization which then qualifies for property damage. If you're talking about that beiber case, it's because the property he va... |
How does breathing into a brown paper bag help with hyperventilation | Hyperventilation causes you to blow off too much CO2, which is critical to your body’s respiratory drive. The human body does not measure O2 levels in the blood, but rather CO2 levels in the blood to determine respiratory need and rate. However, we need a certain level of O2 in the blood to survive and for our organs t... |
How does a single hair resist the flow of water, attach itself to a smooth surface, attract other hairs and eventually clog a drain? | The surface of a drain isn't usually smooth, there are tiny things for the tiny hair to get caught on and then like you said it attracts other hair and it's all down hill from there. |
why can we eat seafood raw but not chicken/beef/pork? | There are tiny little organisms everywhere, called bacteria. They live on the ground, on your desk, in the air, everywhere you look; they even live in and on you! Some are good for you, some are bad for you. Some of them that live inside you are very important and help you digest food. These things are really everywher... |
Why is the average human height of today taller than the average human height of the past? | Diet. People need to be eating well during their teenage years to hit the maximum potential height their genes will allow. The modern human eats more than humans in the past. Which is why we are taller, and well, fatter. |
What's the difference between the functions of the Head of the State and the Head of the Government? | Head of State is often just a formal/ceremonial thing. They don't do the sort of things that a Prime Minister, President etc might do. In the UK, for example, the Queen is the head of state. She does formal/royal things. She doesn't sit in Parliament or set Government policy. The Prime Minister, and her team of ministe... |
Can someone ELI5 the difference between an ion and an isotope? | Stuff is created out of three things . These are protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons define what material it is, and oxygen for example will always have eight. Usually, there's an equal amount of protons and electrons. However, if it's missing an electron, the charge changes to +1, and if it's got an electron too ... |
How to use bobby pins | For me, I find to pin my hair *up* with bobby pins, I need *a lot* of them to do it. I try to cross them over each other when I can for stability, it does seem to hold them in a lot better overall, though, I prefer the teensy little claw clips to hold my hair up in a non conspicuous way. It's like a game with myself to... |
What does back end and front end mean in terms of web development? What is the difference between them? | The front end is what the user can see and can interact with. For example if you're driving a car, the "front end" is the steering wheel, the seats, the pedals, the gear shift etc. The back end is the server that processes the data in the website. If you're driving a car, the "back end" is the engine, the wheels, the g... |
How do Chips Ahoy Chewy stay Chewy? What's the ingredient? | I don't have a definite answer for you, but there was this fun article I found [from 1984]. The author contacted Nabisco and Keebler and their response was that it was "proprietary information" and "elfin magic." He suspects that the corn syrup, being a liquid sweetener, could lead to a softer cookie. I would also spec... |
How is the capital city of a country/state decided? | A mixture of tradition or past empire or history of events, entrepreneurial convenience , cultural meetpoint, availability of resources and geographical position. Just pick any capital, and they will the capital for ones of these reasons or several of them. Sometimes some idiot running a country or empire a lot of time... |
the Big Bang is widely quoted as having a volume of about 120 decibels, but how is that possible if there is no sound in Space? | Whilst I'm not 100% on the information you've provided, there is a distinct difference that must be noted between Sound Being Created and Sound Traveling. Sound must travel through a medium, which fails in a vacuum. The Big Bang would definitely have created Sound, which would have traveled within the elements first sp... |
The trigger in our brain that switches us from laying awake and the instantly asleep. | Ok so not to be like "you're wrong" but the process for falling asleep is actually kinda long. As you lay down and close your eyes your brain slows down its processes and shuts down certain parts of your brain so they can rest and regain energy. And it's at this point i'm starting to forget the mechanics. I'm pretty su... |
Can our brain switch it's perception of colors? | I dont have an answer, but everytime i get a high fever the way I perceive colors gets screwed up. I.E. I see the red digital numbers on my alarm clock as green_URL_0_Good link describing types of color blindness and causes. |
How UBS lost $2 Billion from a "rogue trader", and what the difference is between legal and illegal trades. | It's a particularly tricky situation in terms of oversight. An investment bank like UBS *makes its money* from taking risks. Its investment specialists *love* to take risks, and they're rewarded when their risks pay off with huge bonuses. Although all major banks have "risk assessment" divisions, the 2007-08 financial ... |
Does everyone hear their own accent and just consider it normal, or is there a universal set sound for people hearing those who sound the same? | Accents are all about perspective. Anyone who speaks a certain way that is from their point of view "normal" and "default." You too have an accent but just consider it normal yourself. |
why do we need to eat both carbs and fats? | Our bodies require some fatty acids for survival and some proteins for survival. We can technically live just fine without any carbs at all, but they are a common source of easy energy. We could technically live on supplements alone if we wanted to, as long as we had a source of calories to go along with it, but that t... |
Tipping Out ( Delivery Driver ) | An amount or percentage of a server's tips that the server shares, either voluntarily or as mandated in a tip sharing or tip pooling agreement, with other employees such as bus boys, bartenders, back waiters and hostesses whose job duties indirectly assist the server. |
Why is it legal for businesses to offer discounts to senior citizens or military members, but it's illegal to offer the same discounts to a certain race or nationality? | The Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate based on race or nationality.You could make a rule that also gives favorable treatment to McDonald's employees. There's no rule against any kind of discrimination other than race, religion, creed, or the other specifics laid out in the Civil Rights Act or ot... |
Why do lymph nodes hurt when swollen? | Lymph nodes have a fibrous capsule surrounding them that is innervated with pain fibers. It's kind of like a sack tightly bound around the node. If you get an infection and the node swells rapidly, the capsule is stretched, causing pain. That being said, if the node grows at a slow rate, as in lymphoma or lymph node me... |
How is reading posts/surfing on my cellphone different/better/worse than r adding a book? | Yes. Short articles - and let's be honest, you're mostly talking about reading memes and Facebook junk - do not stimulate the brain in the same way that reading a lengthy article or book on a single subject does. Scattering your attention is much less beneficial. Consider the studies done on young children who watched ... |
Why do we stop '' breathing automatically '' when we are aware of our own breathing? | You kinda answered your own question. When we're not aware of our breathing, the brain controls it automatically, through what's called the autonomic nervous system. This is also responsible for other functions like heartbeat and blinking. We can control all of those to a certain limited extent, but not too much, nor f... |
Why are rats the most common lab animal to do studies on? | Something I know about! Actually, mice are more common, but rodents in general are used for a few reasons. They're cheap, small, easy to handle, easy to house and feed , can be placed with members of their own species, can't really hurt you, and reproduce quickly. Now, non human primates are a closer biological analog ... |
What is the purpose of the silver/metal, platform/plate thing when microwaving a frozen pizza? | There's a bit of a misconception regarding metal in microwaves. Flat metal actually isn't bad in a microwave, because it does essentially the same thing as the walls of the microwave . With those pizza trays, the metal reflects microwave directly up against the bottom of the pizza, allowing more direct radiation agains... |
What is the real basis of the lawsuit from PUBG Corp against Epic Games and what are the potential implications? | That Epic leased the use of their software to PUBG, presumably with an exclusion clause. Saw that pubg was doing well and decided they wanted to make their own game . So pubg is suing because they were told epic wouldn't give the rights to their tech to anyone else, and then used it themselves. It would be tough to inf... |
Could you make water if you had enough Hydrogen and Oxygen? | We could. Burning hydrogen in the presence of oxygen creates water and heat as byproducts. It's a tremendously expensive way to create water though. Since hydrogen is a real pain to store and transport. Shortages of clean water on Earth have everything to do with economics and logistics and very little to do with the a... |
Why does a piece of bread placed in the same container as stale or hard cookies make them soft again? | Staleness is just a lack of moisture. A piece of bread contains just a bit of moisture, which can evaporate and soak into the other items, making them no longer stale. Nothing special about the bread, you can use any slightly damp object that's food-safe. |
What does it mean when a video game company releases the source code for a game | Not quite. If you release a PC game into public domain, it means anyone can play it, download it and sell it. But if you release the source code, it's diferrent. Source code is literally the recipee of the game - you can eat the cake if you don't know the recipee, but if you know the recipee, you can modify the cake in... |
Could the internet ever be "destroyed"? | Sure, I imagine the heat death of the universe would do it. Probably quite a few things not nearly as dramatic as well |
How do you define insanity? | When people are talking about whether a murderer is sane or insane they are generally not actually talking about the person's mental health. Instead they are talking about whether the person is legally sane or not, as legal insanity is a defense against crimes. The only factor that really matters when talking about leg... |
Why are disposable batteries more commonly used rather than rechargeable batteries? | They are cheaper, and until recently, much better than disposables.Convenience I guess I've got a battery charger, and a few recahrgable batteries But I can never find the charger when I need it.. I'm nearly always 1 rechargable battery short I'm never organised enough to pre-charge the batteries ready for use, and whe... |
How come all children and/or adults affected by Down syndrome look similar to each other? | Down's Syndrome is caused by a triple copy of the 21st chromosome. Along with the mental difficulties, that extra chromosome also causes very specific facial structure abnormalities, a relatively short stature, and a few other physical issues. |
What the difference is between Deep-fried and fried | Fried is just cooked in a pan, like you see people do with sausages or bacon. Deep-frying is when you have a pot or other vessel of heated oil, like you see in some food kitchens that do fried chicken or other fried foods . The main differences is more even and consistent cooking with deep-frying than regular frying, b... |
What activity occurs in your body when you get up too fast and have blurred vision | The true name for it is orthostatic hypotension. As previously stated, it is the sudden drop in blood flow to the head/brain until the body realizes it needs to push harder to overcome gravity. Blurry vision happens when it is close to enough pressure. Passing out happens when it takes to long to catch up.Blood pressur... |
What happens when a commercial (radio/tv) randomly gets cut off and another plays? | It's the local station over-riding the national ad feed scheduled for that slot, and the sloppy overlap shouldn't be something you can see.The other poster nailed it. I just wanna add the idea that maybe its because the company didnt pay for a long enough spot. Like they paid for 25 seconds of commercial time but their... |
What's the difference on your body between sleeping 6 hours + a 2 hour nap versus 8 hours per night? (or a similar combination) | I'm not even close to an expert about sleep but I remember reading something a while ago. Here goes nothing I read about someone attempting a method to sleep for only 2 hours per day by getting into a certain sleep cycle. The theory is based on the amount of REM sleep cycles you can get because REM sleep is where your ... |
How come Rockstar doesn't release Gta V for PC at the same time they release the console version? | Could be a few reasons. Most likely it's anti-piracy. Though it's possible to pirate games for consoles it's a bit harder, requiring you to mod you console . While on your PC it's just download the crack and you're ready to roll. So they figure people will buy the console version because they want to play now rather th... |
What are instances? (Computering) | It is the difference between a recipe for a cake, and the actual cake. Before it gets used, you cake "exists" abstractly, as a design and a list of instructions. Once you follow those instructions, you have an instance of a cake. Certain computer programs support a similar design philosophy. You have classes, which are... |
Why mucus running down your throat when you're sick makes it so painful to swallow and makes your throat so sore? | THe mucus from your nose is sticky and meant to be expelled, and the mucus in your throat is meant to coat and protect. Nose mucus strips away the throat mucus and leaves everything dry. |
Is eating fat really that bad for you? | From what I understand of the ever-changing world of nutrition, no. Fat doesn't make you fat. Eating more calories than you burn in a day makes you fat. Where those calories comes from either doesn't matter, or only matters indirectly. But, fat is very dense in calories, and doesn't contain many other nutrients. This m... |
why do wood fires burn so slowly, but house fires with even greater area to cover seem to be rather quick? | The wooden structure itself actually doesn't burn that fast, and if you look at the remains of a structure fire, you'll notice that a lot of the wood is mostly in tact. The fire just weakens it enough for it to collapse, if it does at all. It's the furniture, carpets, etc. that burn so fast. Especially curtains. Curtai... |
Why have we always made robots out of metal instead of other materials? | Metal is durable and easy to shape. Wood really isn't. You could carve wood into a certain shape, but it would take a lot of time and effort and frankly it's easier to just pour molten metal into a mold. Wood is also easier to damage, and it's susceptible to rot. Of course, steel can rust but that's a slower process th... |
Why do emotionally/ mentally exhausting events or situations tend to leave you feeling physically fatigued as well? | In the most literal sense of the word "fatigue" there are four types of fatigue involving skeletal muscles . One of these types of fatigue is called "central command fatigue" and it can be described more plainly as "If your brain tells your body that it is exhausted, then your body will be exhausted". It is a normal ps... |
Why people love a zombie apocalypse? | A zombie apocalypse means the fall of human civilization as we know it. The new world will be a harsh one where survival itself is a challenge. Day-to-day stresses go from "how much does gas cost/does that girl like me/my rights are being infringed upon" to "I have to go out and kill, skin, and prepare an animal or I'l... |
Why are our teeth some of the only body parts that don't take care of themselves? | Teeth take much more of a battering than other body parts. We are constantly bathing them is sugary syrup drinks and food. Teeth simply didn't evolve to handle this level of punishment. If you stayed away from the sugar and stuck to fresh veggies and small portions of meat you would have great teeth. As for cleaning th... |
Why do politicians agree to be interviewed for Colbert Report clips when he is always going to make fun of them right to their faces? | There is an old saying: any publicity is good publicity. At least people will remember their name! And they might also think "hey, this person is cool and a good sport." |
What does it mean when chemicals are "released" from the brain? | Yes, basically the chemicals, called neurotransmitters, are just sitting in compartments, called vesicles. Your brain is made up of neurons . All your thoughts and feelings come from neurons communicating with each other. One neuron will release the neurotransmitters into the synapse, which is a little space between ne... |
Is it possible for you to not hear ANYTHING (unless you're deaf)? | Maybe if you are dead or in outer space with no helmet Sound is all over the place, even in the quietest of places, sound still goes about you and your surroundings. The only reason we sense silence is because our ears aren't powerful enough to be able to hear it. If you cup your ears, you can hear "the ocean", which i... |
Why do I need a prescription to get glasses if I am nearsighted? | > Why can't a doctor just tell me what I need to get That's what a prescription is. It's a written document that outlines in what way your vision is impaired, so that a lens can be cut to compensate for these issues. You can't just buy them off the shelf because different people a range of different problems with eyesi... |
What is quantum networking? | The ability of manipulating a concept of quantum mechanics known as entanglement. Where entangled particles will replicate the information from one or the other across even vast distances instantaneously. If we could engineer this properly, we could have a 0 latency way of transmitting information from node A to Node B... |
How does hand soap actually work? | Oils and dirt on hands, for the most part, can't dissolve in water. The soap molecule consists of a long chain of carbon atoms that likes to dissolve oils and dirt, and at one end it has a piece that likes to dissolve in water and carries the long, "hydrophobic" piece with it, along with any oils and dirt that it has d... |
Why don't shipping companies use the GPS already inside their trucks to give estimates on their tracking websites? | Some of them do. Here in the UK DPD and a few other couriers do it. Quite early in the morning, if I'm expecting a DPD delivery, I'll get a text message that says something along the lines of "Your consignment will be delivered between 12:51 and 13:51^*, by our driver Dave**". ^* ^Yes, ^it ^always ^has ^weirdly ^specif... |
We can focus on different objects in our field of vision by changing the shape of our irises...how does this work when we focus on different sounds? | The iris just controls how much light enters our eyes, and it's done automatically - we can't control it. Focusing on different objects is done by changing the shape of the lens at the front of the eye. Focusing on sounds is entirely mental. Unlike vision, we actually hear all sounds at the same time - there's no need ... |
Why do some websites list an MD5-Hash alongside download files when a hacker could simply change this value too? | It's not just to protect against hackers. I once had a bit of a flakey internet connection and was trying to download a largish file. Every time I downloaded it, it had a different md5sum, indicating the file was getting blorked during the download . Anyway, because the site posted the correct md5sum value on the downl... |
If I have absolute proof that a man commited a crime, but I aquired it illegally and it is inadmissable in court. Does the criminal go free? | If the evidence cannot be presented in trial then the criminal would go free. That's why cops are taught to be meticulous in their evidence gathering. One slip up or mistake can cause a case to be thrown out. It's a good thing and bad thing because it does hold law enforcement to some accountability but it also means a... |
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