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brv4yg
How does your DNA know where it is in your body and which body part to grow into?
Some parts of your DNA are regulatory genes. They don't build anything used for tissue or enzymes or anything like that. Instead, they build proteins that activate other parts of your DNA. So, say your DNA is trying to build an eyeball. It doesn't immediately start making an eyeball. Instead, there's a gene for "build an eyeball" and that gene turns on another gene that says, "build a retina" and *that* gene turns on *another* gene that says, "build a nerve cell" and so on. Those regulatory genes are activated by any number of chemical signalers. Some of them turn themselves on and off. So for instance, to build fingers there is a signal that both turns on the "build a finger" gene *and* turns *off* the genes that build itself. So the more of this signal there is, the less of it will be made. So you end up with pockets of high levels of this signal, but they fall off really quickly. So your body builds a finger where those signals are strong, but not where none exist. Similar signals pervade your body. Signals turn genes on or off which turn on or off other signals, which turn on or off the genes that code for the actual "stuff" that you're made out of. Every type of cell tells every other cell what kind it is, and affects which parts of their DNA is activated, which feed back to that first cell and tells *it* what DNA to activate. Before your cells even start to differentiate, when you're just an embryo barely starting to form, the cells still started with some signals that affect the growth of the cells from that point forward so they *do* begin to differentiate.
464e0fca-2451-4eb9-865f-0304ff504ed7
brvamq
Why Are Plea Bargains Not Considered As "Confession Under Duress"
So there are 2 aspects to this: the legal one and the practical one. Legally speaking, a guilty plea isn't the same as a confession or an admission of guilt. It's an agreed settlement between the defendant and the prosecution to avoid a trial. A defendant is free to go to trial and have the possibility of being found not guilty. Practically, you can absolutely make a convincing argument that plea bargains are coercive, unfair, and, generally heinous especially since the criminal justice system heavily targets people of color and people who can't afford to pay for an adequate defense attorney. Upwards of 95% of all criminal complaints in the U.S. are settled with guilty pleas rather than trials, and prosecutors have tons of incentives to coerce defendants to plead guilty in order to keep the wheels of the mass incarceration machine moving.
6dbb2eac-5496-4f26-b906-8d0a39cda8c0
brvcn8
Why does water have such a neutral taste?
Humans lack the taste-buds necessary to *taste* water. Other animals, such as dogs, have been proven to obtain them.
03f24629-023c-42d1-baf5-fbdc6b4e37ce
brvekr
Why is Mia Khalifa famous? She has done just a few videos, I don't get it.
A lot of people find her attractive. It's not like you really need much more than that to be famous. I mean, look at Tila Tequila.
ccb621c9-d00b-4e09-8625-d2eacc25a247
brvevt
How I have a blue eyed child when eye have brown eyes and my husband has hazel eyes.
You both have the recessive gene for blue eyes. In your case, brown is the dominant trait overriding the blue eyes. You each only passed on the recessive trait to your kid leading to blue eyes.
ead8fc55-d707-4741-93dd-f81e8673d987
brvzes
How do sound waves get louder when they are bouncing around a resonating chamber, like in a guitar?
The sounds keep bouncing around in the chamber until they find their way out (the hole in the guitar). Since there is only one way out of the chamber, the soundwaves get aimed in one direction; a person standing in that direction will hear the sound more loudly because the sound is less spread out and more hits them. It's like a water hose with an adjustable nozzle, the more narrow you make the stream, the more intense (or loud in the case of sound) the stream will be.
66fb7db8-7acb-41c7-934b-5165756691b4
brw1e9
How did people think before language was created ?
It might be presumptuous to believe thought itself could exist without language. Any mind representation of an object or idea could be labeled as a language of sorts. In that respect, the common brain interpretations of the senses (sights, sounds, etc...) would be the first language, which we then would have replicated through mimicry or art to communicate with other humans. Just an idea, I've done no research to back it up.
7d51a5d6-4606-4e99-a9e7-1c212ca561a8
brw2nx
What role do companies like Visa and MasterCard play in credit cards and why can’t banks issue their own cards?
Visa and MasterCard are facilitators of financial transactions, but they don't actually loan money or extend credit themselves. But they do process all transactions. The reason why banks use visa and MasterCard is because of their massive infrastructure and processing services. Visa is an accepted payment among merchants across the globe. They process the transactions on behalf of the issuer between the purchaser and the seller, and they have high security facilities to do so. For a bank to start their own credit card, they'd have to built those own transaction facilities themselves, and then find merchants to accept them as an authorized payment method. Getting a debit card issued that can only be used at certain locations would be a huge drawback. It's also problematic because you'd need a critical mass of users in order to be an accepted payment method for different stores. Building that userbase is hard, and any bank that wants to start their own payment method would have an uphill battle of convincing other banks to issue their cards There are store credit cards that the store itself owns and operates. I believe Kohl's is one example, but their cards can only be used at their locations.
0c0f6934-2080-4070-a65a-758a3652c38c
brwarg
What exactly a 'server' in IT
It's just a computer, not that different from a desktop computer. Generally it's function is based around other computers interacting with it. It generally has better specs: memory/storage/etc. but it doesn't have to, servers can be very weak computers. Sometimes they have specific operating systems or software for managing it.
d89eb981-b998-4ce3-b91a-42b079d55bd7
brwk38
How does radiation exposure cause things like burns/poisoning/birth defects?
Ionizing radiation tears the cellular structure apart. The skin blisters, turns red, then black. This is followed by a latency period. The immediate effects subside. The patient appears to be recovering. Healthy, even. But they aren't. This usually only lasts for a day or two. Then the cellular damage begins to manifest. The bone marrow dies, the immune system fails, the organs and soft tissue begin to decompose. The arteries and veins spill open like sieves, to the point where you can't even administer morphine for the pain, which is unimaginable. And then three days to three weeks, you are dead.
df27f8fc-1ea6-486b-9ee4-caa4d368ec5c
brwm90
Why are mutator and accessor methods necessary?
The idea is that in OOP Objects are supposed to "Encapsulate" data, IE their private members and manage access to that data which is something you don't see if you indiscriminately autogenerate getters and setters for every private member without thinking. It looks almost redundant in that case so it's hard to understand the point. Where you see this sort of thing make a lot of sense is immutable objects or more rarely in objects that include special validation logic during setter methods. In an immutable object you would only add accessors and not include mutators, you can set the members via a builder pattern or the constructor or not at all. This is incredibly useful for library or framework code or APIs where you wouldn't want consumers of your code to futz with your objects. Also, thread safety...you KNOW no other thread is screwing with the data because there's no way to access it. (Without reflection, but that's just cheating) If you ever needed to do migration to a new name you can have multiple methods for the same member. You can do custom logic for validation or just data presentation even though it's not often done. Like, an object with a timestamp somewhere in it could have 2 different accessors to format that timestamp in specific ways. Yeah obviously you could just do that formatting in any consuming code that needs to...but why repeat things if you can provide that convenience? Even if you don't really need to protect data from access having actual methods gives you a few advantages that may not have been thought about when the best practice was established in the early days of OOP. It's much easier to attach an aspect to a method than access of a public member if you're doing any AOP stuff. If you ever need to debug access, again way easier to attach a breakpoint inside a method and catch all cases than go hunting through the code for assignment...
fd7c530c-43e5-48fa-a1b0-8cf896391d18
brx567
How does losing fat increase testosterone in the body?
There may be more than one mechanism. The simplest mechanism involves a hormone in adipose tissue called peripheral aromatase that converts testosterone into estrogen.
8acfacf3-27df-4668-bb23-99a18cbf8aa1
brx91d
are carbs or sugars in foods like bread or crackers “equal” to those in fruits?
Every type of carb provides the same amount of energy by weight but the speed they get converted to usable energy varies. This is known as the glycemic index. Simple sugars found in soda and simple starches in processed/fried foods quickly get converted to blood sugar. More complex starches like those in oatmeal take longer to enter your blood stream. Spikes in blood sugar can lead to health issues like diabetes. Fruit sugars are a bit more complicated. Studies have shown that eating whole fruit makes the processing slow down due to the fiber in the fruit. In addition, you may not realize how much fruit sugars you are taking in while drinking juice (one glass of orange juice can be 2 - 4 whole oranges. Try eating that in one sitting).
28b46dc0-3810-440b-9e34-5f5ad714add4
brxu41
Why would someone plead the fifth if they weren’t guilty of a crime? What else could the fifth amendment be used for?
You should always plead the fifth guilty or not. If you are ever arrested there is next to nothing you can say that will make your life easier. The Justice system works best when people aren't in it, so remove yourself from it. [Heres a longer explanation](_URL_0_)
7da76ebb-e609-4bfe-b8ad-c61fd6eea98b
brxvtf
Why haven't we figured out a way to induce muscular hypertrophy (the process of building muscle) without having to lift?
umm... Steroids. That is literally what steroids are. A drug that makes you get incredibly huge with minimal effort.
49c0182b-5e77-4605-aa0e-08783ecce24f
bry07h
What do spies do in real life?
Gather intelligence in different forms, communicate that information back to others, and sometimes try to stop the "enemy" from getting certain info, and sometimes spread false info. If you ever get the chance to visit DC, there is a spy museum you might enjoy.
f2ea6992-c6f9-41e7-9b97-13817aec8af0
bry58m
How much does your IQ limit your learning capacities and how far you go, when studying in a specific field?
Almost not at all, although there can be some correlation depending on the field. IQ is a measurement index, not an actual level of intelligence. People are flexible and find creative ways to accommodate cognitive issues.
5224eb0c-c46e-4b16-9d9f-033155f004fb
bryb84
If someone is paralyzed from the neck down, why does their heart/lungs/ect still work?
Sometimes it doesn't, but a lot of autonomic nervous function is controlled by the [vagus nerve](_URL_1_) which runs independently from the nerves of the spinal column. Fun fact: finger/anal stimulation of the vagus nerve in the anus has shown to cure [hiccups](_URL_0_).
44a29609-ec5e-4c9e-92d0-85ab08b66085
bryegg
Why do phones and tablets power on and off with full 100 % brightness regardless of the scree brightness settings?
There needs to be a program running to control the screen brightness for it to be set to some amount. In those situations, there is no process running for that, as it requires an operating system to run, which isn't running completely at that time. There are ways around it but its not really a necessity for the few seconds it takes for the phone to turn on or off.
0ed38437-5dc8-4a03-94f8-4722020d7f46
bryftk
What is the difference between a library and a framework?
A framework is a basic working model of a solution to some problem. For example, when you go out to eat, the basic framework for a meal is: drinks, appetizers, main course, and dessert. Now, you can modify this all you want. Maybe you want dessert wines at the end, or maybe you want to throw in a salad course. The point being is that a framework gives you a starting point from where you can jump from. A library is a working set of tools to solve a specific problem. To keep the restaurant analogy going, when you go to a restaurant, it is likely that they do not physically make their own silverware, instead they go to the store and buy it as a restaurant’s job is to focus on the food, not the utensils. In this case, the library would be utensils as the specific problem they solve is aiding in eating food. At the end of the day, libraries aren’t needed (e.g the restaurant can make their own utensils if they really wanted), but they greatly help increase efficiency. Generally, you use frameworks and libraries together. Say you were to open a restaurant, the basic meal framework would be as outlined above and you would use “libraries” of furniture, silverware, etc to aid in the operations of the restaurant. You could even consider the chef to be a library as he/she solves the problem of making the food if the owner themself isn’t cooking.
54ae6a6c-3311-48b4-a4ba-d7c76c282252
bryi1a
How does the UK Prime Minister just get booted from office? It appears much harder to be booted from office in the U.S.
In the United States, the President is elected by the Electoral College for a fixed term and can only be removed from office for specific reasons. In parliamentary systems, a prime minister is a member of parliament chosen by other members of parliament to be PM only as long as they want that person there (or they lose an election). Those members can, at any time, decide they want a different person from among them to become the PM. In that respect, it's more similar to the Speaker of the House in the U.S. The speaker is a member of the majority party selected by members of that party. For example, the current speaker, Nancy Pelosi, could be replaced at any time by house democrats if they decide. They would simply hold a vote for new speaker just like they did when they elected her speaker in the first place.
b3907bce-388c-434f-83f0-24c6b07327eb
bryxm3
How do epsilon delta proofs work in math?
Say you own a factory that purchases x's and manufactures them into y's. The people buying your y's call one day and say "Listen, there was too much error in this last batch of y's. We need you to stay within [epsilon] of your target from now on, okay?" So you call up your supplier and say "Hey, we are trying to run a tighter ship here and the incoming x's seem to be an issue. Can you keep them within [delta] of the target from now on? Then the y's coming out should be close enough for our new expectations." An epsilon-delta proof is figuring out how much error tolerance you need to demand from your suppliers (delta), based on how much is expected of you from your buyers (epsilon). If you can come up with a rule to pick an appropriate delta for any epsilon the suppliers may throw at you, then you are in good shape. Your factory can produce arbitrarily accurate y's, given sufficient accuracy in the incoming x's. We would say your factory is continuous (at that particular x value).
09fae15f-9f52-453f-8837-5e834f66c8eb
brzno0
Does US have a federal health care system?
Yes, it's called Medicare/Medicaid. & #x200B; Medicaid is for low-incomepeople, and the benefits and requirements vary by state, with minimums set forth by federal standards. Medicare is for anyone 65+ or disabled, and is 100% unified as a federal system. & #x200B; It should be noted that in many states, Medicaid is very fucked up, with the cutoff being about $12,000 annually, which is far, far below the national poverty line of about $25,000 annually.
35ec38c6-08aa-4c80-b560-93bbe1f8a918
bs0jjw
confusion on ssl certificates
Slightly simplified, it works like this: An SSL certificate contains a public key and is signed with the CA’s private key. So it looks like: > Bob’s public key is ABCD. < CA signature > Bob sends that to Alice when she connects. Alice has the CA’s public key on her computer, so she can verify the signature when she gets it. Then, Alice generates a random encryption key, encrypts that key with Bob’s public key, and sends it back. Bob decrypts it using his private key and the rest of the conversation is encrypted using that key. Eve can pretend to be Bob and send his certificate to Alice instead, that works fine. However, when Alice sends back the key to be used for the rest of the conversation, Eve can’t decrypt it, so she can’t establish a working connection to Alice.
2e3ced48-497e-475c-9a55-314f053ed51f
bs0la0
Why are there 2 types of screws/screwdrivers? Doesn't it just make it inconvenient to have to find a matching screwdriver?
Flatheads are older but also simpler to use. It's possible to screw a flathead with random stuff lying about like a key, coin or knife. If it's something that has to be opened often, this can be an advantage. That's why battery components usually have wide flats. Phillips can transfer way more strength without "jumping" much. But you need a tiny little bit of skill to screw it properly. Which is why ikea and other DIY furniture tends to use inbus screws. They don't jump at all when you provide the right tool, reducing the amount of broken screws and overscrewed boards. Inbus can greatly reduce the amount of service when dealing with laypeople. Other screws can improve on those designs but tend to be rare. tri-head aka nintendo screws are designed so you can't open up a nintendo unless you bought those specific screwdrivers, which almost nobody stocks. Before the internet, this slightly discouraged modding. Socket wrenches are better if it has to be real tight, like a car wheel. You really don't want to risk underscrewing a car wheel. Two big tips I can give you. Buy a toolbelt or work pants so you have a place to put the different tools you'll need, making it way less likely you have to search for the correct screwdriver. Secondly, buy a big box of a favoured screw type in different sizes. In my house, everything I fix, I try to exchange with phillips screws if possible.
d7302a5e-5f82-4951-a55e-cfc0283fc2e4
bs0vv2
How do frogs, toads and other amphibians know how and where to find new bodies of water?
Amphibians explore and migrate during cool moist weather. They can cover a lot of distance that way, especially if they can find damp places to take shelter in between stages of their journey. Most animals (including us) are also perfectly capable of smelling water from a good distance. Wind blowing across a body of water will have more moisture in its air than the surrounding air. An exploring frog that smells water on the wind will likely come to check it out.
dfa5bdf1-5025-4e48-9378-f7784c4d9bd7
bs2653
what happens to all the mass of a human body that doesn’t turn to ash after a cremation?
Most of your mass/volume is water, which just evaporates under the heat. The remaining dry weight is a lot of fats and proteins that burn off into gas and a small mass of mineralized bone tissue that just crumbles.
3acd691d-453b-495c-b8ce-783ac776cccc
bs26ds
Why is Human cloning considered taboo and unethical ?
Someone would eventually use it to grow themselves replacement organs *killing their clone in the process* and there are various other known, suspected, and unknown risks, and as there's no known advantage to cloning the medical community has pretty much agreed human clones shouldn't be allowed to develop fat enough to have a brain. We've been cloning cells for decades.
df78585f-1496-4514-bb8e-d7ef6988f529
bs27c6
Why do some developers develop an open source program rather than profit from it through a customer buying a license? What benefit does the developer get when he released an open source program?
There are other ways to make money. I’ll give you an example: _URL_1_. The whole community benefits from it and we all contribute on making it better. Now, if you want support, as a developer you can charge for it. _URL_0_ will host the site for you and give you all the support you want to manage Wordpress for you but with a price. Linux is free but companies like Red Hat offer paid support so you don’t have to worry about managing/updating the software yourself. As a developer, building open source can land you on a better job cause it shows your skills and that you are not afraid of contributing to the community.
29dc686d-24b1-44c0-a659-9c1634082c65
bs2e0x
Why do hamsters "freeze" sometimes, where they get a thousand-yard state and and are barely responsive?
It's a widespread behavior in the animal kingdom. Freezing up in response to a threat in hopes to not be seen or heard. When you say "no obvious predators in sight", the animal could have still caught a scent or heard something out of the ordinary. If it's something they're unfamiliar with, it is in their best interest to wait and see/hear what happens next.
71bf3de9-0bac-490a-818f-c2e7e43b1baa
bs30k1
the consequences of drinking water just before and/or after you eat
In short, yes drinking water dilutes stomach acid. However, the stomach is capable of detecting and correcting this change (as it tries to keep itself balanced at a certain pH). Even if you drink a liter of water directly before eating, the change in pH of your stomach acid will be correct quickly enough to make little difference in digestion. Alternatively, drinking water before or with a meal is known to promote other positive health effects that are more beneficial than the detrimental affects of the minor, temporary increase in the pH of your stomach acid. So yes, water dilutes gastric acid, not significantly enough or for long enough to affect digestion. Drinking water with food (and just generally staying hydrated) is significantly better than not doing so.
b8bb86a2-7ba1-40e1-9a19-2af26e1bfd84
bs30z2
Why does lack of sleep cause baggy eyes?
The blood vessels around your eyes dilate with lack of sleep causing them to engorge with blood giving them a baggy appearance. Also why the circles underneath your eyes appear dark.
fd176849-b9b9-45fe-9279-bbe49d1cded1
bs366h
Why is it when you pour something from a bottle it will sometimes just dribble down itself and other times it pours just fine?
Air pressure. If the bottle is tipped in such a way that the flow of water does not completely block the tip, then air has the ability to rush in and fill the gap the water is leaving as it pours out. But if you tip the bottle over to the point at which the water flowing out of it is completely blocking the tip, then everytime some water flows out it creates pressure that makes it harder for the rest of the water to come out, air has to flow up to relieve this pressure, which causes a back and forth oscillation until the water is completely poured out.
3e82bf49-1517-494c-b1bb-0db9010bbede
bs39mf
What exactly is it that makes the noise of waves on the shore?
It's sound of millions of drops, bubbles and splashes of water hitting rocks, plus sound of billions rocks and sand particles colliding with each other as water moves them. Sound of waves hitting smooth concrete walls is noticeable quieter. And if water is still and just barely moves sand, you can hear faint noise of that sand moving, which is much closer to "gray noise", whilst usual waves hitting shores sound has much more distinctive ticks and hits and all that bubbling noise.
7afb5f19-bb07-46eb-80dd-779def4d88e8
bs3gq0
Please explain the relationship between a video game/program & how the computer decides which transistors to flip?
You have a lot of questions in your post, and a lot of misconceptions. Here, I'll walk you through some of the events and layers of abstraction between "w" and walking forward. 1. You depress the "w" key on your keyboard, closing a set of contacts 2. Keyboard's hardware and software sends a USB packet containing a keydown event 3. Your computer's USB hardware reads the USB packet, and triggers an interrupt on the CPU so the OS can take note 4. OS notices the keydown event, and propagates it to the currently active window in its windowing system 5. Current active window is a java process, so the java virtual machine accepts the keydown event and makes it available to the bytecode running within 6. LWJGL (minecraft's game library) receives a keydown event, and calls the game's keydown event handler 7. Minecraft's event handler interprets a "w" keydown appropriately, and attempts to move the player forward From a bottom-up perspective, the transistors are used to implement the circuitry that makes the above possible. A handful of transistors makes a logic gate, a handful of logic gates makes a floating point addition unit, a handful of similar units makes up a CPU core, and the CPU core can then run programs. Going top down, LWJGL and minecraft are written in Java, which compiles down to java bytecode, which is run on a JVM, which is implemented in C, which compiles to machine code. The machine code can run directly on the CPU core.
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bs3gwx
How do drug induced hallucinations work? If so, how do they differ from hallucinations caused by sleep deprivation?
Drug induced hallucinations are normally caused by a psychedelic; it's a chemical reaction. The brain after sleep deprivation is similar, but more so a feeling of shutting down. If you arent sleeping and you begin to hallucinate. Go to bed.
d7216042-0ca1-4f24-b3e0-560dca858cd7
bs3ici
why do buses make that "PFSSSST" sound when they stop?
Many large vehicles have a system of brakes actuated by compressed air instead of hydraulic fluid or cables you would find in a lighter vehicle or passenger car. Parking/emergency brakes on such vehicles are usually "normally closed": to release the brake, air pressure must be applied to the brake. For these, a sudden release of air pressure will quickly activate that brake, but also will create a little bit of noise.
f4712f2c-9ad9-402b-ba2b-6da44ec7d55a
bs3lag
What is the dust on your eyes after you wake up?
Do you mean that crusty stuff at the corners of your eyelids? That stuff is just tear fluid that slowly leaked from underneath your eyelids and dried up out in the air. While doing that it took all the dirt and dust that collected in your eyes over the day, that's why this crust is mostly a yellowish or green color. If that's not what you meant, please describe it a little more detailed
addc659e-e61c-46a3-999b-3ad177617701
bs3on8
What are the main issues with Nuclear Power and why do the majority of people have a problem with it?
By far the biggest concern is nuclear waste. There are varying types of nuclear power, and some produce waste that is less dangerous than others, but all produce at least some dangerous waste, and that waste continues to be dangerous for thousands or even millions of years. But realistically, the waste produced find nuclear power plants is far easier to deal with than the waste produced by burning fossil fuels, if for no other reason than there is far less of it and is much easier to contain. So the fears about nuclear power are largely overblown.
75f16ecc-ce4c-43fd-9d74-c26716199c54
bs413p
Why do most hotels have carpet floors?
* Cheaper to replace carpet than other options in most cases. * Sound dampening. Carpet absorbs much more sound that hard flooring, and silence is a good thing in hotels. * In my opinion the right carpeting can make a room/building feel more “homey” than hard flooring.
7c2cd9f6-41a7-45d0-84d0-93047b86b62a
bs48d7
What is heretability exactly?
You are talking about the [Wilson Effect.](_URL_0_) Heritability is when you ask "What is the proportion of the variation in a given trait within a population that is not explained by the environment or random chance?" In a little kid, the environment explains a larger proportion of the variation in a given trait. So if you have one twin and send them to a good school and feed them healthy food, they will have a very different IQ than the twin you send to a bad school and inadequately feed. So maybe only 50% of the variation can be explained by genetics. But say you check in with those twins again as adults. They are likely to have more similar IQs than when they were kids. Perhaps 80% of the variation is explained by genetics. Nutrition and school matters less as an adult, and genetics matter more when talking about the person's peak IQ. That heritability went from 50% to 80% (i.e., a 0.5 to 0.8 correlation). This correlates with an increase in age. So you can say that heritability increases with age. It's just a weird way of phrasing it based on how the statistics from research studies are presented.
44cd1bbd-b9a1-468a-be80-6ffcfbc25528
bs4d3j
Whatsapp video calls
Most phones and devices that can carry sound have what is called "echo cancellation". Oversimplified the phone knows what sounds are being played trough the speaker, and can then try to ignore those sounds when the microphone picks them up. Audio is just waves, and you can cancel one wave with it's inverse wave. Phones will play the inverse sound in to the microphone when the speaker plays it, so that the "bad" sound cancels out while all other sounds is undisturbed.
5f9cb7b6-9204-4327-acd1-807a57c2c5a6
bs4gsp
What do women play baseball with a larger ball and basketball with a smaller ball?
The smaller ball in basketball is because their hands are smaller, and they don’t play baseball with a bigger ball, they play softball. It is two different sports; men play softball also, and the balls are the same size as women’s.
b6871bac-3e30-4539-a0e0-300f8885a59b
bs4s99
Counting from BC
Since you are not counting year 0, you would add a year at the end, so you’d be at year 32.
0478c16c-6ba3-499d-9259-7be618361d0e
bs4xba
Why does water when you leave it sitting around awhile in a bottle or glass get bubbles that stick to the sides and taste just a little different?
The bubbles are from dissolved gases falling out of solution. Probably nitrogen and CO2. The change in taste is a result of these gases, as well as whatever minerals were added, falling out of solution.
1db8021d-27ea-4a55-bf34-6f6ee11127ab
bs5hgu
Why do our hearts beat faster when we’re nervous?
Back when evolution was designing our bodies, the main thing we were nervous about was being eaten. The faster heart beat meant more oxygenated blood, which is better for flight or fight situations but not so much when it comes to taking a test
8c584a8e-a920-42ec-bddb-fae0f9e2a7f7
bs5l92
What happens when you accidentally eat moldy bread or moldy fruit? Could it be fatal?
Several factors here but most depend on your immune status. Generally a little would not hurt you if you were otherwise healthy. Cutting surface mold on soft foods like bread does little as you can’t see the network beneath the surface. More dense foods such as cheese you can trim. You may have allergies. Some molds may produce toxins but if you are just eating a little rarely, it would most likely would never hurt you.
b4da4d7e-4dcd-4532-bd24-3f108b1e48d0
bs5rja
Is it really possible to be "sleep drunk" when extremely sleepy or tired? If so, what's the cause of the feeling and why does it happen
Biologist here! It very much is! We call it “sleep amnesia”, and while the process behind it is pretty biologically technical, the jist is: There are a handful of chemicals and hormones our body ONLY produces while we sleep, as we stay awake longer and longer, our body exhausts its supply and runs out of the stuff the brain uses to send chemical signals, things like “WATCH OUT!” To make you move from danger or “lift your leg up!” To go up a stair. And since we only form long term memories during sleep. The longer we go without it, our short term memory starts to get full, think like a thumb drive. If we dont let it plug in and dump its contents to the desktop (our brain) it starts loosing space and corrupting files in a sense, causing you to lag, thoughts seem disorganized, youre forgetful, simple tasks become harder etc. After about 2-3 days without sleep or hormonal supplements, the brain starts to shut down. It cant work without its needed nightly repair time, and eventually you’ll enter a state of micro sleep. Where the brain shuts off for 10 seconds at a time trying desperately to get you to go lay down. Fighting thru that, about 2 weeks in youll be in a full psychosis, unable to process thought. Speak coherently, walk, stand, function. And about a week later, you die from sleep deprivation To add: It sounds like youre not getting restful sleep, either being woken up or kicked out of REM Sleep, either by someone in bed with you or an external force. Try a night alone in bed, put the phone and tv screens away an hour prior, and dont go into the bedroom until youre ready to go to sleep, laying in bed on a phone disconnects the brain, if it sees the bed as a place to lounge and relax, it has a harder time using it as a place to sleep. If that doesnt work, try getting an hour of sun a day. Or just outside really, between 4-6 pm if possible. If THAT still isnt working see your doctor or endocrinologist, you may be suffering from a disorder known as “shift differential syndrome” where a change in work schedule can mess with the brain’s chemistry, and usually requires a regiment of medications to get the brain back set right
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bs664q
What are Iron Domes and how do they work?
Assuming you are talking about the missile defense system: Radar detects a projectile incoming, system launches a rocket, rocket destroys projectile mid air, projectile doesn't hit its target.
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bs6d3e
How do babies think without language?
What you're referring to is "inner monologue", which is only one aspect of conscious thought. Not everyone thinks in words and sentences to the same degree (I tend not to unless I'm planning what to say or write). Just as your dog can have thoughts and conscious experience without language, babies can, too. And the deaf, for that matter.
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bs6fy2
What exactly is Planck Length?
So, we've got units of length, like meters and feet. Those units are arbitrary. We just picked distances that were convenient to us. There are also fundamental physical constants. Those constants are the same for everyone, everywhere. But the number we use to express it will depend on what units you use. So, for example the speed of light is about 300,000,000 meters per second which is the same as 670,000,000 miles per hour. So, Planck said, what if we make units where all the important physical constants are equal to 1? This is convenient because it makes a lot of the math simpler. And it turns out that's possible. What you get are the Planck units, including the Planck length. The Planck length is incredibly tiny. Like, 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000th of the size of an atom. Some people think the Planck length might be the "pixel size" of the universe. There's no general consensus on that though.
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bs6ivs
How come fish can breathe under water, but are unable to inhale oxygen if theyre out of the water? If theyre able to filter it trough water, shouldnt they be able to use it directly?
Their gills are relatively fine and collapse when out of the water. It's not usable when it collapses like that.
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bs6jdj
How does Coast Guard monitor multiple radio channels?
**Back in my day** we only monitored 16 and maybe 22a. Multiple antennas up and down the coast all to connect to one Coast 'Group' where **a single radioman would monitor** all the static waiting for a call. Some consoles had a light which would indicate which antenna was getting the signal. If we missed it, we would broadcast across all antennas until we figured out where you were at. The radios were fast scanning multiple frequencies off each site. We also monitored 121.5mhz (civilian air distress) and 243mhz (military air distress). CG Cutters also monitor various frequencies on the bridge. Small boat stations may also monitor distress frequencies with local antenna but usually turn the watch over to the Group at night. There used to be larger communications stations that would monitor entire swaths of the world but those only monitored HF and MF. Antennas would be set up all over the place and end up in places like Hawaii, California, Kodiak, Guam, Miami... etc... & #x200B; *^((edited for clarity)**)*
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bs6jop
What are kidney stones and is there any valid reason for the body to create them?
Take a spoon of salt and put it in a glass. The salt is in a crystal form. Then pour water in it. The salt dissolves into the liquid. Then let the water sit in the sun and evaporate. The water leaves and the salt turns back into crystal form. Kidney stones work the same way. But instead of sodium and chloride, they are made out of other salts and minerals that crystalize, such as calcium. Your kidneys are the part of your body that remove excess salts and minerals from your blood (among other things) and make urine. These salts and minerals are fine when dissolved in a lot of water, but if there isn't enough fluid, they clump together and form kidney stones. The valid reason for your body to expel these crystalizing substances is that your body has too much of them in the blood and needs to get rid of them ASAP in order to damage to other parts of your body. But you also need to retain water. So your kidney stones send out concentrated amounts of crystallizing substances and they form kidney stones. There are a few other reasons why kidney stones form. Sometimes there's urinary tract infection and the bacteria help stones form. And there are lots of reasons why you blood might have too much of a crystal forming substance (e.g., you are missing an important enzyme from birth, you are eating too much protein, etc.)
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bs6mfy
What is competence hierarchy? Why is it so controversial? Also why do people plug in equality of outcome with opportunity? Opportunity is a fundamental right by all means, but how can outcome be so? Isn't it based on an individual's effort to generate it
It does, because of the way you're phrased it, this is the intended outcome of most equality ideas, the only influence is on current problems. This is my overview on the most reasonable and agreed upon ideas around meritocracies that I have seen. A meritocracy only works if people use it and agree. In principle, anyone can acheive anything, but in practise it is not beleived we currently have one (It is assumed currently that Britain (used cuz I am and it's as i best understand it), has elements of racism, sexism e.t.c, regardless of true up to date statistics, because we historically have been) so positive discrimination must be implemented to deal with people not playing along, and create a final product that has no unfair proportions of people. This is the idea that 'priviledge' must be checked and undone, regardless of whether your supposed privilegde actually has an imapct or not. *E.g It is assumed, fairly or not, that the current university application system is racist, because in the past, it was. So we must select for non-white people to go to Uni over white people, otherwise, they won't get in, therfore it is not a meritocracy, but aims to be fair.* But the other perspectives believe that in order to get to a society where a meritocracy is fair and properly used, you need to make efforts to 'reset' society. So we need to use positive discrimination for minorities, women, uncommon sexualities, in order to get a stratified balance of people in each level of education, government, industries e.t.c, so we can continue with a meritocracy that is not influenced by the system before it. *E.g we can't just 'let whoever is best do maths'. We need 50% of maths to be girls, and then future generations won't be put off or think they are prevented by the previous generations it being male dominated.* Another Idea is that, no, a meritocracy isn't worthwhile because we need a precise balance of representatives of society so every perspective is heard. *E.g government should not be those best suited to running the country, they should be a perfect startified sample of the population so all experiences are heard and have a place in decisions.* Another Idea is we must 'make up' for the past. So rather than a 'reset' we must overthrow meritocracies progression and instead turn the world 'upside down'. E.g *In the past, only half the black people got into university, so we need double that to now, to 'make up' for being mean to past generations.* Other ideas straight up don't want any pretense of a meritocracy.
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bs77df
Why do old film recordings sped up?
Back then you had to crank the film manually. Operator error means this can be too slow or too fast. It is played back at a constant 18/24fps. So whenever they went too slow, the video appears too fast And vice versa.
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bs7c9j
What is a magnetosphere and why is it important?
The magnetosphere is the sphere-like enclosure around a planet created by magnetic fields created in the core. It has the effect of shielding the planet from harmful cosmic radiation, which can damage organic matter and strip the atmosphere from the planet.
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bs7rzj
Ocean phytoplankton and algae produce 70-80% of the earths atmospheric oxygen. Why is tree conservation for oxygen so popular over ocean conservation then?
Trees are more familiar, and humanity’s effects on them are more easily understood. You can imagine 100 acres of rainforest being cleared for ranch land or banana plantations a lot more easily than a cloud of phytoplankton dying off. Just the simple fact that trees and humans are on land, while plankton and algae are in water, makes us care about them more. Also, the focus on tree conservation does far more than just produce oxygen. In fact, I’d say that’s pretty far down the list. Carbon sequestration, soil health, and biological diversity are all greatly affected by deforestation.
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bs7zas
Why where old PCBs brownish/beige and now they are green?
Old PCB's were mostly green. The colored part is the solder mask, which is the top/outside layer that protects the conductive traces. Green is chosen as it causes less eye strain, which is helpful to the ones who stare at these boards 8 hours a day. It is also likely chosen since the resin is made it bulk, so it's cheaper. Power supplies seem to use boards with no solder mask likely due to them not needing solder traces (As they may be inadequate in their current carrying capabilities), and only using jumpers/wires. The tan/yellow color of the substrate is visible since there's no solder mask covering it. Older and simple electronics would sometimes use this method too.
73badd58-8f87-42e6-8426-fe9b1216072a
bs864o
If the US dollar stopped being backed by gold in the 70s, what has the gold in Fort Knox been used for over the past 50ish years?
Just because currency isn't backed by gold anymore doesn't mean gold isn't valuable by itself. As of 2018, there are 147,341,858.382 ounces of gold in Fort Knox, worth roughly $190 billion at the current price of gold. That's $190 billion that belongs to the federal government.
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bs8dps
How does the software Honey make money.
Most likely affiliate programs... they get a cut of sales they refer to the sites if you end up buying.
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bs992c
Why does Alprazolam stay in your system for 1-6 weeks when the half-life is always the same?
There are going to be three main reasons for this. First, the half-life of the drug is the time for half the material to break down, meaning there is rare chances for some of the material to last longer than usual. It's an estimate, not a guarantee. Second, and more important, is the fact that drugs like Alprazolam break down into secondary products, 4-hydroxyalprazolam and α-hydroxyalprazolam, which themselves can be broken down into other metabolites, before being excreted in the urine. Like most drugs, the compounds can be deposited into fats or other tissue, leading to a lingering timeline of release, especially when taken over a long period of time. For example, if you take 1 dose a day, and 1/4 remains in your body after 1 day, then on Day 2 you would have 1.25 dose-equivalents in your body. On Day 3, it would be 1.31, to a limit of 1.333 dose-equivalents in the blood, plus whatever is stored in your tissues. The third main reason is going to be drug-interaction. Using a CYP3A4 inhibitor, like Tagamet (cimetidine) can delay the intake of Alprazolam into the liver, which would delay the breakdown of the drug, which would allow it to stay in the body longer.
db63368c-dd06-4228-84d0-9e97f47ff88b
bs99sr
How do Television Studios Make Money
From commercials. This is why ratings are tracked. If you can claim "30% of American households watch our show every Tuesday" and back that with viewership data, then you can command a pretty penny from advertisers. A 30 second commercial during The Big Bang Theory will command a lot more than a 30 second commercial at 2AM during a re-run of some Steven Segal direct-to-video movie. (interestingly that's how he still makes money) There might be some kickback or fee pass-thru from cable providers to _some_ specialy studios like HBO, Showtime or Turner Classic Movies, but generally its commercials.
72df523c-5627-4ae9-8b04-86aff421d2f5
bs9ebh
why can’t you suck on a straw after tooth extraction?
The force of the suction could easily remove the clot from the extraction socket exposing the bone which would leave you open to infection but more importantly it could cause post-extraction alveolitis, aka ”dry socket.” Dry socket was by far the worst pain I have ever felt, and I've been ran over with shattered ribs.
5b96769e-5da4-4a7d-943b-7cd454883ef1
bs9or2
It's 2019. Why do callers on the radio still sound awful?
The way a telephone works is by making an approximation of your voice that doesn't have all of the detail of your real voice, and transmitting that to the destination. If your phone, and the recipient, has HD voice or HD calling, then you would have a much higher quality phone call. HD calling uses a phones data network instead of the normal phone network.
6eb5184a-7585-4543-a137-98a3bb414e64
bs9ph2
How do baby turtles instinctually know to go towards the water?
When they hatch, two factors play into the direction they head the first is lighting conditions. The majority hatch at night (there are a handful of species that hatch in daytime) - and use the light of moon and stars (and the reflections off the water) to orient themselves towards the water. The presence of man-made lights has been demonstrated to mess with their navigation, leading baby turtles into carparks and the like. As a result, a lot of identified turtle nesting sites have lighting statutes, which limit colour, intensity, coverage etc of any man-made lighting in the area and may ban artificial lighting completely during nesting/hatching periods the second is beach slope. When they hatch, baby turtles want go downhill, which *should* be to the water, however if they have been laid on the wrong side of a sand dune they will quite often travel down hill away from the water
ff1f28e0-4af6-46d1-80ef-ad6234469c1c
bsa5tp
How does a Roth IRA work?
Basically it's a normal account, but you are exempt from capital gains, interest, and other taxes within the account (provided it stays there until you retire). This is in contrast to a traditional IRA where you are exempt from income tax on any money your put in, but then owe income tax on the money you take out when retired. Both types of IRAs have various contribution limits and requirements that force you to keep the money in the account until you retire. The benefit for both types if you owe less taxes overall by using an IRA (you don't get taxed for saving money). A traditional IRA is better if you pay more in taxes today than you pay when you retire (most people expect to go on SS [untaxed] and take a pay cut, so most people expect a low tax rate). A Roth IRA is better if you pay more taxes in retirement than you do when you're retired (typical if you're currently an intern and expect your pay to quadruple over the next 10 years, in that case a retirement pay cut is still more than you make now).
51da7107-f700-4fb6-91a5-2221ff0be905
bsahjq
If I don’t have a thyroid, what risk does exposure to nuclear fallout pose to me?
Literally the entire rest of your body can still be damaged by radiation and it can still kill you. Radiation damages *every* *single cell* in your body. It rips apart your DNA and shreds your cells. The thyroid isn't special in that regard. I assume you've been watching the Chernobyl miniseries? If so, you've presumably noticed that all the people who have gotten sick and died didn't die years later of thyroid cancer, they died of severe radiation exposure within days or weeks. Their skin was burnt and charred and falling off. Their internal organs were basically dissolving. None of that has anything to do with the thyroid.
7e855b6d-3b25-47c2-9f42-a75bf87b9e9f
bsalmw
How can you break your penis, if penis is not a bone?
While the penis has no bones in humans, it still has structures designed to be rigid during erection. If the penis is bent sharply during intercourse, or some other reason, then the tubes inside the penis responsible for semen and urine release can be damaged. This can include an audible cracking sound, very similar to that of a broken bone, as well as the potential for permanent changes in the shape of the member or ability to become erect. _URL_0_
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bsaoex
Why do guitar amplifiers give off bad feedback? guitars in giant rock concerts don't normally do this, how they can be so loud without feedback?
The guitar amps/setup at rock concerts are different to your typical bedroom 30watt fender amp. Firstly, at most large concerts, amps are ethier mic'd up on stage, or off stage in an Isolation Cabinet. The musicians will probably have 'in ear monitors' (head phones essentially) for listening to all the audio they need to hear. This essentially means that its much harder for a feedback loop to occur as any amp noise isn't being directed to the guitar. Secondly, a lot of feedback is caused by noise, a few things can remedy this. 1) A noise suppressor - This acts as a gate where low-level noise such as power-hum isn't let through to the amp, as soon as anything louder is detected (for example playing the guitar) the gate is opened and sound is let through to the amp. This makes feedback harder to occur (in simple circumstances) 2) Power conditioners - These help prevent 'noise'. Which i think is commonly referred to as 'ground hum' ? Any large concert will have (high end) noise gates and power conditioners to help prevent unwanted noise/feedback. Note : A lot of musicians will have their 'rig' off stage, however they'll have an amp or speaker on-stage so they can intentionally trigger feedback by walking up to said amp/speaker and dry-humping it with the guitar. This is a very intentional setup which prevents feedback in 99% of the regular performance.
406f7c0d-2e66-4214-a767-37487c8e0bde
bsauik
How are we able to see other galaxies millions of light years away, but are still unsure about a potential new planet in our solar system?
Galaxies, though far away, are quadrillions of km across and literally shine with the light of billions of suns. An undiscovered planet in our solar system would be only a few thousand km in diameter and emit no light of its own. It would receive very little sunlight and reflect a similarly small fraction back toward Earth because of the staggering distance between us and it. It’s the difference between a raging wildfire on the horizon and a tiny gnat five feet from your face in the dark of night.
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bsazh2
If we know how old the universe is based on the fact that objects furthest away from us we can see are ~14 billion light years away, how do we know that there was light right from the beginning of the Big Bang? Couldn’t there, in theory, have been darkness for X billions of years before light?
It's not just about how far away these objects are, it's about how far away they are *and* how fast they're moving away from us. Think of 2 cars on a road driving away from each other at some speed. If you know their speeds and the current distance between them, you can calculate when they were both at the same place. We can also check this with another method which is to measure the age of certain star clusters (we can do this because there's a relationship between the luminosity, spectral classification, and age of a star). It turns out these 2 methods are pretty much in agreement with each other. We also know that the universe was, for the first \~379,000 years of it's existence, opaque. That means we can't see anything of the universe for the first \~379,000 years. This is because the universe back then was so hot that atoms couldn't form, and blocked photons from traveling freely.
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bsb5x0
What is "Keynesian" Economics?
Say the economy is good. Businesses grow, they hire more people, people spend more money, etc. This is called a boom. But say the economy grows too fast. Suddenly there are 4 coffeeshops in a neighborhood that only needs 3. Companies go out of business, people get laid off, demand drops. This is called a bust. But then suddenly there only 2 shops in a neighborhood that needs 3. So the economy starts to grow again. This idea is called classical economics. The economy has a boom-bust cycle and self-corrects. But now it's the Great Depression. This bust is the worst in human history. Bankers are jumping out of buildings. Farmers are starving to death. It's really bad. Enter John Maynard Keynes. He studies this problem and comes up with Keynesian economics. He said that the economy was not necessarily self-correcting. People invest and buy goods based on fear and predictions about the future, not what is immediately practical. So if you think the economy is really bad, you'll try to save money when it's actually better to spend money. So even though the neighborhood needs 3 coffee shops, no one wants to open a new one after seeing the previous ones fail. Keynes said that the government can help fix this problem. The government can basically spend more money when the economy is bad. So if people are out of work, the government can hire them to dig ditches. The workers feel like they have money so they spend it on food, cars, houses, etc. Then cooks, carmakers, and constructions workers feel like they have money too, so they spend it on things they need. The government just buys up a ton of coffee and dumps it in the trash. That makes coffee shops a better investment and someone opens up that third shop. This is supposed to be offset by saving more money when times are good. This counter cyclical approach (spend more when times are bad, and save more when times are good) became incredibly popular. It was the same approach used to deal with the Great Recession 10 years ago. Of course, since then many Nobel Prize winning economists like Milton Friedman came along and pointed out the flaws in Keynesian thinking. And recently Nobel Prize winning behavioral economists came on to the scene and started rethinking about how people make economic decisions. But Keynes is still a giant in the field. He would have easily won a Nobel too, but he lived before the prize was even created. Today, classical economics and Keynesian economics are the two orthodox views on economics. This means they are the ones accepted by mainstream academic economists. Since then, there are some more unorthodox views that have come up (Austrian economics on the right, and modern monetary theory on the left). Traditionally, Keynes is more popular on the left and classical economics is more popular on the right, but this isn't a hard and fast rule. For example, George W. Bush used a Keynesian approach when dealing with the Great Recession and Barack Obama continued it. (The joke at the time was there are no atheists in foxholes and there are no classical economists in a depression.) My personal take on it is that both classical economics and Keynesian economics are good. (Meanwhile, behavioral economics is the great new innovation, and the unorthodox theories are garbage). Which approach you favor depends on whether you like to rip the band-aid off fast or slow. Classical economics is best in the long term. It involves ripping the band-aid off. Maximum pain in the short term (many people lose their jobs), but the economy corrects itself faster. Keynesian economics is like slowly removing the band-aid. It takes longer, but it doesn't hurt as much (people are protected from the brunt of a recession). It's worse in the long term (you can still see the effects of the Great Recession today), but as Keynes put it, who cares? In the long term we're all dead. Edit 1: As long as I'm throwing in a couple personal views here, I'll point out that politicians tend to spend when the economy is bad, but also when the economy is good. This applies to left wing politicians for sure, but also right wing ones who claim they aren't spending. For example, though we are no longer in a recession, Donald Trump has continued to spend. That makes the already great economy soar even more, but it sets the US up for an even worse crash in the near future. The same can be said for Bush and other recent Republican presidents. Edit 2: As a last point, the impact of a president's economic decisions isn't generally seen for a decade or two. Furthermore, when a Republican president is in charge, there is often a Democratic congress or vice versa. That means it's very hard to distinguish whose policies are helping or hurting the economy. Presidents are generally blamed when the economy is bad, even though it's not their fault. But they often take credit when the economy is good, even though they have nothing to do with it. So make of it what you will.
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bsb9xx
Why are human interactions under the influence of alcohol easier?
Imagine getting up, grabbing your chair, and flipping it. Merely by imagining it, you are able to map out the muscles you'd use to do it. You're able to plot how you'd go about it. You start to prepare yourself to actually do it. You prepare for the action, but are inhibited by a wide variety of factors, including knowledge that flipping your chair for no reason would be a very silly thing to do. In very simple terms, alcohol doesn't interfere without ability to think about doing things nearly as much as it interferes with the ability of thoughts to inhibit the actions you are considering. One of the more pleasant effects of this is that it makes all of the worries you have when you are talking to others less likely to stop you from following through with talking to others.
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bsbb4u
How exactly was Jordan Belfort scamming people and why did it work successfully till his demise?
As I understand it he would basically pump and dump stocks. So he would find a cheap stock and buy up alot of it causing the price to inflate then he would hype it up to investors through false information and falsified financial statements of that company and get them to buy in as well at the higher price which inflates it even more. Then he and his brokers would sell their shares at the inflated price which causes the stock price to tumble and they'd just reap the profits of buying low and selling high. He got away with it for a while basically because nobody who knew said anything because they profited as well. His success and party lifestyle eventually causedd the SEC to be suspicious and they started to investigate and the rest is history. Moral of the story: if you're getting rich through illegal means, don't flaunt it and draw attention to yourself
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bsbbiv
Why movies have so many movie studios and producers for each movie? What do they all do?
Multiple studios is probably a result of many locations, and/or what kind of scenes are involved. One studio might be responsible for live-action city scenes. Another for location shots in the desert. And yet another for animation ... and so on. Broadly speaking, producers are... salesmen. It’s their job to acquire money for production. They may or may not be involved in selecting production staff (directors, studios, actors....) Generalizations, of course.
bf72902f-3fcd-4aa0-b7ff-3d076c24d948
bsc6p5
Why do moths follow light and keep hitting the source of it?
They're all trying to get back to their home, the moon. Seriously though, from what I understand they use the moon as a point of reference for navigation and a sufficiently bright light fools them. Why they keep slamming into it, I dunno. I imagine it's because they're moths...
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bsc7y9
How bonds and interest rates and bonds and stocks are related
Stocks typically have higher rates of return than bonds. But bonds are much less risk. So there risk /reward trade off made by investors when they choose to invest their money. As interest rates rise, there are investors who are willing to flip from stocks to bonds based on their personal risk/reward profile. When it’s a difference of 8% with risk or 2% risk free, they take more risk. When it’s risky 8% or no risk 5%, suddenly the low risk option seems the better of the two for more investors. As more money gets invested in bonds, that money isn’t invested in stocks and creates a lower demand for stocks, lowering their return. So now stocks are only returning 7%, further narrowing the risk/reward trade off.
d7a2f9b8-8f9d-43bb-842d-3db46fd222bd
bscd1k
How come we can feel when someone is staring at us?
You can't & #x200B; Here is what is happening, you are millions of years of evolution. So you are constantly trying to spot those nasty animals that are trying to eat you. So, you look around. Guess what, there is another human doing the same thing. But he or she sees something moving, you head. It may even be in the peripheral of vision. So he/she looks at what is moving, your head. & #x200B; What you say is, I knew they were looking at me. Nope.
a7bec06e-5f32-47a1-a018-375e048e024e
bscdx4
How do we know numbers like "e" & "pi" are transcendental? If its true, how do people calculate all those digits of them, down to the millions of digits?
The exact proof for either is about a full page of math. But the general gist is: If pi/e wasn't transcendental, then there would be this way of representing pi/e in a not-transcendental way, and that it would have to match this other way of representing pi/e in a not-transcendental way. And making them match is impossible.
dfd46f29-1c52-461a-8765-dff1fcd9386e
bscg2g
How do birds thermoregulate?
Birds are warm blooded, so they have nearly the same responses and strategies for thermoregulation as mammals. One difference is that birds use their feathers to insulate themselves instead of fur. It why down jackets are so warm.
5b9600f0-b1a5-4605-96ad-2871f0a0b67b
bscn1n
Why do most electronics that run on two batteries require you to have them facing alternating directions?
It makes the wiring easier. The circuit starts at one end, runs through the first battery and across to the second battery, and back through the second to complete the circuit.
e1401fc4-0c3c-40fb-894b-b315d2bc17b2
bscqfx
What is the basis of the “drive to survive” in living things?
I have a double major in biology and microbiology with a good bit of interest in evolutionary biology. I’m not sure what the “instinct to survive” is exactly, as much as I do understand it, I would argue that it is not the root drive of life. Life reproduces. Evolution is all about making viable offspring that can go make their own viable offspring in turn. Survivorship is only important to get those viable offspring out into the world. Salmon swim upstream as their bodies go through intense changes so they can spawn and die. Male angler fish get absorbed by the female fish until they are nothing but gonads pumping spermatozoon. Male black widows and praying mantises get eaten by their mates. As to some sort of hypothetical drive to survive, I doubt there is a single biochemical pathway. Bacteria don’t have instincts or thoughts or drives and they are alive. Viruses are simpler biochemically and they may or may not be alive. Viruses are much different than us, but we both reproduce. Scientists do think about the first life and what sort of traits it might have, but that’s more along the lines of RNA World or metabolism first, or looking at possible lipid bilateral evolution.
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bscqzu
Wisdom teeth extraction - couldn’t it be simpler?
By the time you have trouble with wisdom teeth, it typically much too late to do anything but extract them. You would be shocked to see how badly twisted a severely impacted wisdom tooth can be [_URL_1_](_URL_0_) giving it a little more space with the tooth is literally SIDEWAYS is too little too late extracting four healthy teeth from EVERYONE just in case their wisdom teeth cause trouble later would be a huge amount of unnecessary dental work.
a123dc6a-7360-45e8-9d06-2a2b58cd8d2c
bscvqw
Why are ferrets illegal in California?
California is a large agricultural provider for the Country. Those animals can be destructive to crops or just be invasive and bad for the environment. Mainly for the agricultural reasons though.
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bsd7p2
Why is it that most domesticated mammals and birds seem to have "personalities" and "emotions", but fish and reptiles do not?
Facial disparity. You are around mammals more than birds, reptiles, and fish. They also share more common musculature in and around the face. So they make expressions you are familiar with. Reptiles and birds we commonly encounter have their eyes farther to the side, and differently defined mouths. Ask longtime fish owners (people who have only 1-5 in a tank) and they will say their fish have personalities. Ask anyone who has had a bird more than a year and they will as well. I haven’t spoken much with any reptile owners about their pets, but would wager it is the same case there. Once familiar with the animal, you begin to attribute emotion to various actions.
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bsde6y
Why aren’t helicopters used to rescue hikers and remove bodies from Mt. Everest?
The air in too thin and they can't fly that high up. They create lift by pushing air downwards. The higher up you go, the less air pressure you have, the less downward force a helicopter can make to fight gravity.
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bsdeak
Why can we see hundreds of stars in one part of the world and barely any in another?
Light pollution. > For most of Earth’s history, our spectacular universe of stars and galaxies has been visible in the darkness of the night sky. From our earliest beginnings, the vast spectacle arrayed across the dark sky has inspired questions about our universe and our relation to it. The history of scientific discovery, art, literature, astronomy, navigation, exploration, philosophy, and even human curiosity itself would be diminished without our view of the stars. But today, the increasing number of people living on earth and the corresponding increase in inappropriate and unshielded outdoor lighting has resulted in light pollution—a brightening night sky that has obliterated the stars for much of the world’s population. Most people must travel far from home, away from the glow of artificial lighting, to experience the awe-inspiring expanse of the Milky Way as our ancestors once knew it. > The negative effects of the loss of this inspirational natural resource might seem intangible. But a growing body of evidence links the brightening night sky directly to measurable negative impacts on human health and immune function, on adverse behavioral changes in insect and animal populations, and on a decrease of both ambient quality and safety in our nighttime environment. Astronomers were among the first to record the negative impacts of wasted lighting on scientific research, but for all of us, the adverse economic and environmental impacts of wasted energy are apparent in everything from the monthly electric bill to global warming. > In refreshing contrast to some of today’s complex and lingering environmental problems, many existing solutions to light pollution are simple, cost-effective, and instantaneous. Recognizing when outdoor lighting no longer serves its function and becomes a pollutant is the first step toward choosing appropriate solutions. > Increased urban sky glow is responsible for the disappearance of the Milky Way from our night skies. For professional astronomers, the increasing distance to prime observing sites, well away from sources of air pollution and urban sky glow, becomes more problematic as economic and environmental energy costs continue to rise. Amateur astronomers, meanwhile, find prime observing spots eradicated by commercial and residential development and must travel farther from home for a clear view of the skies. Increasingly, the most important equipment needed to enjoy the wonders of the night sky is an automobile with a full tank of gas and a map. So, an ELI5, too much light makes it hard to see dim light from space. Like when you’re in a car and the other cars headlights make it hard to see anything else. If you go to the woods or away from civilization, you’ll have a much better time looking at the stars. Assuming it’s a clear night. :)
50c6431a-4a74-4e8c-8c4e-795a9cf41b02
bsderp
What are investment banks and how do they function?
Say you own a house and you want to sell it to someone else. You hire a real estate agent. Now say you own a giant corporation and you want to sell it to someone else. You hire an investment bank. Investment banks are the intermediaries between investors who have money, and corporations who need more money. They make money by underwriting (raising money) and mergers and acquisitions advisory services (helping companies buy and sell themselves). They generally function in 5 ways: 1. Underwriting. Uber just went public. That means Uber just created a bunch of stocks (shares in the company) and sold them to people. They Uber used that money to invest in the company. 27 investment banks, let by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, underwrote that initial public offering (they botched it). 2. Mergers and Acquisitions. Two companies want to merge into 1. Or 1 company wants to acquire another one, or part of one. Banks help support this process. 3. Sales and trading. I call you, a rich person, up and say that I have a great way for you to make money by buying a stock. You invest with me. This is sales. Or I buy and sell stocks on your behalf without your permission every time. This is trading. If I use the banks own money instead of your money, it's called proprietary trading. 4. Equity research. I do a bunch of research on companies and help decide which ones are good and which ones are bad. For example, I look up whether a new cancer drug works. If it works, I say the company is good and tell people to buy the stock. If it's bad, I tell people to sell the stock. 5. Asset management. You are really rich. I invest your money for you so you aren't distracted from sleeping with supermodels on your yacht. I charge you a percentage for this service. These are the main ways that investment banks make money. Nowadays, banks are starting to move towards more boring retail banking ways of making money too (e.g., making small business loans, charging fees on checking accounts, etc.)
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bsdhzw
How can airports have flights to any destination you select on any day you need to fly?
They don't. The airports schedule daily routes that just fly back and forth. When you buy a ticket, they will schedule a series of flights that get you where you want to go. Sometimes you will have to fly to one airport, wait for the next flight, then fly to a different airport, and so on.
ca91906a-8a4d-4dce-911c-c21847302e67
bse1a3
What would happen if the government couldn't identify a person?
TLDR - everyone would probably just treat him like he was homeless. Well, unless it was an emergency the hospital wouldn't treat him because he doesn't have medical insurance. They'd probably assume he was a homeless person, and leave him to wander their waiting room until he got too disruptive. If he got disruptive, the police would get a call, and when he told them his "from another world" story they'd probably think the same thing and escort him out of the hospital and leave him to fend for himself.
bca11f53-dd70-4533-b851-9f8a3537cf98
bse6jv
Why did people think urine was sterile?
Urine is "cleaner" than most of the water you can find in natural habitats. It is in itself the product of a filtration of blood, which is already detoxified by our immune system, by our liver and several other mechanisms. So, if you have, like, a wound you have to clean, is much safer to use your urine than the water of a random pond, or the one from a river.
9e0c788f-9a76-4b99-afb1-ef504f2a2ac2
bsehq9
Astronomers say there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches on earth. How do they know how many grains of sand there are in the whole world?
We can estimate both the volume and mass of the Earth. Take a bucket of sand, weigh it, measure its volume, then count the number of grains of sand in it. You now have an estimate of the number of grains per kg or per litre of sand. You can use that to estimate the maximum number of grains. We could assume the whole world were nothing but sand, take the mass of the Earth and multiple it by the number of grains of sand in a kilogram, and you’d have the maximum possible number of grains. Obviously the whole Earth isn’t made of sand, so we could be a little more careful. We could assume the top km of the Earths crust was made of sand, and multiple that volume by the number of grains of sand in a litre. This would be closer. Keep repeating this process and you’d get a ballpark figure of the number of grains of sand on Earth. Not an exact number, but a reasonable maximum.
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bsei5c
how does chesmists of 1700s - 1900s knows how many protons the elements have?
They didn't. It was only in the early years of the 20th century that Rutherford showed that there was a small positively charged nucleus at the centre of an atom. That led to the development of modern pictures of the atom. That doesn't mean that clues were there. In the 18th century, Lavoisier and others had measured the masses of different elements that reacted together and found that there were fixed ratios and simple multiples. That led to valence and ideas of atomic weights. In turn that led to ordering the elements by mass and a number of tables to try and make sense of the data. Ultimately Mendeleev's Periodic Table of 1869 and atomic physics discoveries from then on made sense of atomic structure and behaviour.
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bset4v
Why does it not feel like I'll fall to the side when I'm on a plane that's turning sharply?
In a correctly executed airplane turn, the experienced acceleration should remain pointed the same direction (towards the carpet) throughout the turn. If the plane just banked 45 degrees left, and then maintained straight flight towards towards a given heading, you would of course feel like you're being pulled to the side of your seat. But because the plane is banked *and* turning, you experience a centrifugal force *away from the turn.* This is just like the centrifugal force you feel in a car when the driver makes a quick left turn - you get throw to the right in your seat. Those two vectors - the centrifugal force and gravity's tilted force - should sum together and point straight down into your seat, towards the carpet, so that your in-flight beverage doesn't spill over its edge. & #x200B; Of course, all of this assumes a well-executed turn through smooth air. A bad pilot could just jam hard left rudder without banking at all, causing the plane to "skid" through the air, throwing you to the right (just like the car scenario). Or, they could forget to level out the plane after a turn, resulting in you being pulled at an angle in your seat (just like you imagined). This is called "slipping", and is actually used on purpose in some situations to lose altitude or airspeed in a hurry!
d45fefd0-2d70-4a3c-923a-a9f35ddc8385
bsf54x
Why is it OK to compare and draw conclusions from data where there are two samples of very different size?
Sample size is important on its own as it relates to the statistical “power” of a study. Power is about how large of a sample size you need to detect a statistical difference between variables with a given amount of certainty. For example, let’s say we have a two-sided coin, and we don’t know whether it’s a fair coin (i.e. 50/50 odds). If we flip it twice and we get the same side both times, does that mean that it’s not a fair coin? Maybe. But what if we flip it 5000 times and it comes up heads 4750 of those times? Would we be suspicious? We’d be more certain that it wasn’t a fair coin, and we’d have a fairly good idea of the odds. That’s statistical power as it relates to sample size. The other concept in some studies is generalizability and it relates somewhat to power. If we look at a population of 100 people and we find that 80 of them like cold weather, could we then say that 80% of people like cold weather? Again, maybe. But what if I told you that those 100 people all live in Maine and are between the ages of 18-24. We might not be so certain that we could apply the data from those 100 people and make conclusions about people in general. But, if we have a large enough sample, we might be able to find that we have a diverse group of people different locations and different ages and other demographics, and we might be able to generalize our findings. That’s generalizability. Combining these ideas gives you a sense of how we can use smaller sample sizes to imply information about larger sample sizes.
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bsfo43
Why is the bottom part of the cloud negatively charged and not the top part?
> Why is the bottom part of the cloud negatively charged and not the top part? Large drops or ice crystals are more likely to grab electrons from small drops or ice crystals, and the small drops and ice crystals are more likely to be blown to the top of the cloud. > why do they strike the earth rather than just go to the top part of the cloud, The earth is closer, though quite a lot of lightning goes upwards or cloud to cloud as well.
c355a24c-b390-4f70-9614-67cf391a30d2
bsg3gb
How does the file compression work?
* Compressor looks for larger patterns of data inside the file that also repeat a lot. * Compressor makes a list of those patterns. * Compressor searches through the file and replaces each instance of that pattern with a reference to the list. * De-compressor takes the list and searches through the file for references, and replaces them with the full pattern from the list. So even though you are adding a list to the file, because you are replacing the patterns with much smaller references, you end up saving space. & #x200B; Example: Original - "I once ate dinner with Albert Einstein. Not the real Albert Einstein, but rather a ghost-like version of Albert Einstein. And when I say dinner, I don't be mean me and Albert Einstein's ghost went to a real restaurant, I mean I was dreaming about going to dinner with Albert Einsein's ghost." & #x200B; 293 characters & #x200B; Compressed - @ = Albert Einstein "I once ate dinner with @. Not the real @, but rather a ghost-like version of @. And when I say dinner, I don't be mean me and @'s ghost went to a real restaurant, I mean I was dreaming about going to dinner with @'s ghost." & #x200B; 244 characters & #x200B; You can see, even with adding the list of patterns, we still save space compared to the original.
6a106cff-dc2e-4188-84a3-0e7ebeddbdbf
bsg4sb
Why do transparent phone cases turn yellow after a while?
The transparent phone cases are often made of polyurethane. When exposed to UV light, polyurethane can degrade and become oxidized, turning into yellow-ish compounds called quinones.
4b348f43-51ab-4410-89b4-6c13a7ed6758
bsg7hc
is radioactive water more dangerous than radioactive air?
Air isn’t radioactive, it’s the dust in the air that is radioactive. I would say the air borne radioactivity is more dangerous because when it gets in your lungs it doesn’t get out. Radioactive water isn’t so bad as long as you don’t drink it. If the water gets on your skin, it can be washed off.
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