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bucj6m
How do computers consistently get better over time? Why can we now fit more disk space in a flash drive than we could last year? Or why couldn’t they make the IPhone X 3 years ago?
Processes get more efficient and we can make components smaller and smaller. The first hard drives were 5MB capacity and required a forklift to move. Now, we can fit 1 TB in a package the size of a pack of gum. We are starting to approach the point that it's going to be difficult to squeeze more capabilities into smaller packaging without a major technological breakthrough.
173e5577-b392-4876-8ada-2d34d500ff0f
bucki7
Why do priests need offices? What kind of clerical or desk job type activities require them to make use of a desk, drawers, etc.
Gotta write your sermon somewhere. The priest is also sometimes the one who looks after the financial health of the parish as well as handling the maintenance of the building and the grounds
6d855e00-75ec-41df-88ba-3bea758e9856
buctg0
Is it actually bad to *have* pimples?
It’s a normal reaction - basically your body trying to make things normal when it detects something that shouldn’t be there or needs to be repaired/fix. It isn’t bad to have them and is proof of homeostasis.
e0524f9e-0471-4d78-8e55-e7e23dfabd75
bud340
Other than allowing people to believe whatever they want, what legal protection does Freedom of Religion actually offer?
It prevents Congress from making any law that would restrict the free excercise of their religious beliefs. Same thing like you don't need a law to say you're allowed to assemble or say what you want ... but it prevents anyone from passing a law preventing you from doing those things
129d14a4-55c9-4e8c-a5fc-b69b4400d4bc
budadx
How does a computer chip store data?
The chip itself only stores a very limited amount of data in what’s called a “cache” (there are typically multiple “layers” of this cache: L1, L2, and L3). These caches are used for data that needs to be accessed really quickly and frequently. Data can and will be removed from this cache if it’s not being used and new, needed data will be loaded in. You then have the more spacious reserves for data like RAM and disk. The same concept applies here. RAM is used for data that needs to be accessed quickly (but not as quickly as the data in the cache). Old/unneeded data will be revoked and more important data will be loaded in to replace it. Disk is the lowest layer and stores everything else. The lower down you go in these layers the longer it takes for data to be retrieved but the more space you have to store the data. The chip manages the finding/loading of data from these different sources and then does the necessary processing on said data. Hope that makes sense. Happy to answer follow up Qs.
29aae5b3-6e67-4864-ae28-9e89c013b7a1
budn4b
Centrifuges: what do they do and how do they work?
It's a machine that spins incredibly fast. It works based on the concept of centrifugal force which is like the effect you get on those spinning rides at faires that pin you against the outside wall. So they're used for all manners of purposes such as pumping a liquid using centrifugal pumps which clings the fluid to the outside of the container and displaces it in a certain direction. Or also used to separate different density fluids in a closed container like oil from water in purifiers. Hope this helps a bit.
e814aa76-cef6-4f91-9e94-d07e31075276
budns5
How do different pain killers target different areas despite having the same basic ingredients?
Here in Australia, Nurofen was fined millions of dollars for misleading consumers into thinking that differently branded (and priced) versions of ibuprofen were able to target specific pain areas. _URL_0_
36038955-d05f-4c4e-8f6a-ec8f313c2e36
budunq
What is "the backrooms?"
its a play on life being a computer simulation. going where you aren't supposed to be. it's not an actual phenomenon so don't expect much in the way of established lore
499233e2-835d-4285-b8eb-e8783f92341c
budust
Why fried chicken is so common but fried beef is nowhere to be found?
It's not nowhere. You have chicken fried steak, after all. Beef is also used in Stir Fry recipes. It's less common because people like the grilled (steak/hamburgers), cured (jerky), and baked (meatloaf) forms of beef better.
df59f136-ab85-472b-a507-363fb941802b
buduvd
How are there multiple electricity companies if the power comes from one line?
There are two kinds of companies: power generators and power distributors. Power distributors are the people with the wires that run to your house. This is a super-highly regulated monopoly, and so these companies make very small profits for very long periods of time. However, there is much more money to be made generating power. There are many possible fuels, and all sorts of environmental factors to price in. These companies produce the power and feed it into the network. The distribution companies send control signals, called demand signals, to the power generators telling them how much to make. There is a lot of complexity here, as some power plants can change output quickly and others can't. Your money gets allocated to the company that made power corresponding to your usage. Of course those probably weren't the actual electrons you used, but if you take 100 out and your company put 100 in, that's good enough to say "you paid for your power".
ddcce173-b38f-41d3-878e-4c5757ff8ae9
bue0w8
What does it mean if 'secure boot keys are self-signed'?
In public key infrastructure (PKI), people will publish public keys that others are supposed to use if they wish to communicate securely with the individual. The problem is, how can you tell that a public key is valid? One way is that a central Certificate Authority (CA) will "sign" the certificate and attest to its validity. The rational is this: you don't have to trust me directly if we both trust a third party and that third party has signed off on us. The CA is that trusted "third party." & #x200B; A "self-signed" certificate is one that is signed, not by a trusted third party, but by the same person who issued it. It's basically the person putting out their own public key and saying, "trust me." This doesn't necessarily mean it is an invalid key, or that the person is not to be trusted, but there is that risk.
2ac7c4ef-731f-4f5b-8773-d9b4a653015c
bue7z4
how does superglue not stick to the inside of the bottle?
The glue doesn't become "sticky" until it is exposed to water and there shouldn't be any (or at least minimal) amount of water inside the bottle. Ironically, what most people think of as glue "drying out" when you leave the bottle open, it's actually reacting to the natural humidity in the air to form the chemical bonds that make it sticky.
d2e264b0-7c92-4bc3-9e1e-ff1acf65fa27
buelx4
Why do frogs cover the roads after a rain?
Frogs are amphibians, which means their skin isn't a watertight fortress like yours and they're prone to drying out if they get caught out in the sun for long periods of time. So like worms, they're taking advantage of the wet conditions to cover some distance and get past areas they normally wouldn't be able to cross (like hot pavement) in sunny weather.
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bueon5
When updating a mobile app, say, from Google Play, how can it apply the same update to two people who both may have different versions prior to updating?
The update completely replaces the entire app, it doesn't update individual files. It's the same as completely removing the app and installing the new version.
3ee0536d-453b-430b-a353-3e5e699ecb7d
buevnb
Why do domesticated animals enjoy and/or crave having their faces pet?
The maternal instinct of most animals is to nuzzle or lick their young to clean them and show comfort. The young creature learns to associate the sensation of being stroked or licked with feeling safe and warm and well fed. As adults these creatures still have this association so when we pet an animal on the head or stoke their fur in general it evokes these memories and feelings. So when we stroke a dog or cat it releases endorphins similar to what happens in a human when we are hugged. To add to this young kittens have an instinct to press their paws into the mother cat in a massage style motion to stimulate the flow of milk. When an adult cat is happy and feeling loved it will repeat this massaging paws motion as it remembers the happy times of being a kitten and feeding from its mother.
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buf7a5
Why is is necessary to put phones into flight mode during a flight? What makes it critical during take off and landing?
It's a complex issue. The FAA does **not** prohibit cellphone use on aircraft. They do however encourage companies to use their discretion and enforce policies that dictate usage of known safe devices. However, with thousands of different devices it's quite difficult to test all of them against the systems used by aircraft and determine, maintain and enforce usage of only those known to be safe. So it's pretty much individual airlines creating policies on the grounds of "We can't verify every specific device and whether it interferes with the instruments on an aircraft or not, so we will blanket-ban them instead". Most modern cellphones do not interfere with most modern aircraft. But the fact that it leaves the door open that some might interfere and create a safety issue, they simply ban them all.
c6e8c00c-41e8-4036-b580-f68d6c4ad722
bufo7x
condensation polymerisation (specific question below)...?
The most common forms of [condensation polymerization](_URL_0_) are polyesters and polyamides. This happens two ways. The first is as an alternating copolymer (ABABAB...) where one monomer has two acids and the other monomer has two alcohols (or in the case of a polyamide, two amines). The second way is a single monomer with an acid on one end and an alcohol (or amine) on the other. Amino acid chains are an example of a polyamide which is made this way. There needs to be two reacting points on each monomer so that the reaction will keep going and form a long chain.
cf611245-58c3-47fb-9e26-7ecc5cf451be
bufoq3
Why is it that when a person has an epileptic seizure/fit that they feel so tired and out of it for such a long time.
Immediately following a seizure is what's known as the postictal state. In this state, the person is pretty much completely out of it. Yeah, they're "awake," but not really. They just kinda sit there and look exhausted. That's because they are! You could say seizing is expensive for the body. In the brain, the uncontrolled firing of millions, if not billions of neurons takes **a lot** of energy. This energy comes in the form of glucose, and when a person has a seizure their brain neurons can burn through nearly all their energy stores. If the seizure extends to physical convulsions, then the same process happens in your muscles. Having every muscle contract randomly and uncontrollably is taxing. It can take your body hours, sometimes days to rebuild all of the glycogen stores in your cells, leaving you feeling tired and "out of it."
46d10fab-5de1-4303-b81c-a619f31f206a
buftkl
why is the tip of your nail white, when the rest of the nail is somewhat clear?
Your whole nail is the same level clear. The part that looks clear is because it’s attached to the skin so the light doesn’t refract as much. The white part of your nail looks that way because the light has more space to refract. Like an etched glass window. If someone stands really close you can make out some features. If they are far away they almost disappear.
e11baa39-e04b-4913-8987-c7a1f763eca0
bufu54
What’s the difference between .com, .net, .org?
In the distant past the domains (.com, .net, .org, .gov, etc.) were meant to be given out to different types of organizations. It was supposed to be a way to organize the net a bit. .com for commercial purposes (and companies) but was open to anyone. .net for networks and internet stuff .org for kinda "other" but really for non-commercial organizations and stuff, this was always a janky one. However... this never really worked, because .com became the preferred one for just about everything, and the names lost all meaning very very quickly and everyone just assumed you would be a ".com" no matter what you were. They are all currently open and unrestricted now, anyone can get a .com, .net, or .org for any reason they want.
2008ed04-50a9-4d27-8a43-5caea64cb523
bufx8n
Do bubbles in cleaning agents and hydrogen peroxide or seltzer water help break up dirt or get into gaps?
Not soap bubbles, no. Soap and surfactants reduce water tension, effectively making water wetter, and that allows the water to get into the gaps and break up dirt. Seltzer water is a fancy name for carbonic acid, though the bubbles speculatively may help with agitation and may help push water into small cracks, but without soap, you are still limited by surface tension - the gasses themselves are displacing the water, which isn't doing you any favors. & #x200B; Dish and hand soap is "action", just like how toothpaste has a "foaming action". The foam and bubbles don't do anything, but people think their soap or toothpaste isn't working if it doesn't bubble as expected, so these products are made to bubble to either meet expectation or indicate it's working correctly. That you do a load of dishes and don't see anymore bubbles doesn't mean the wash water is ineffective. & #x200B; Detergents are concentrated forms of surfactants and don't have that bubbling action because the inside of a machine doesn't care. And as a side note - my FIL is an appliance repair man and says most people use too much laundry detergent; the stuff these days are super concentrated and he says you only need 2 Tbsp per full load. Anyway, it's also why the cleaning agents at the dentist don't bubble.
972c8ea7-2403-46aa-99f3-9110c9535c92
bug6xw
What happens to water after I drink it, but before I pee it out?
The water is absorbed by your intestines into your blood, where it forms the majority of the mass of your blood. It circulates through your body. For any cells, it also serves as the fluid that, among many other things: * Provides cells their filler * Allows cell membranes to form * Provides a medium for chemical reactions to occur * Works as a lubricant between cells * Serves as a coolant (via blood or sweat) * Helps deliver oxygen/nutrients and remove waste (again, via blood) * Carries materials in lymph system * Serves as a medium for ions in nerves/muscles (allowing you to think/move) and finally * serves as a carrier to urinate out toxic waste products. How long does water stay in you? Until you die. (It's not really reasonable to say "this water goes here and stays for X time," since it's always mixing. You could theoretically have some of the same water you had since you were born.) You literally use water in every single process of life. Without water, **EVERYTHING** starts failing.
37420dfa-4f77-41dc-b964-c7407c988231
bug7db
What is ossification and how concerned should one be?
Ossification is when something that isn't bone starts to turn into bone. Judging from the tone of the writing, it's something that can happen at the point where the Achilles tendon inserts (attaches) to the heel bone(calcaneous) but in your case it's minimal. That is, unlikely to be causing any symptoms / harm. The fact that it hasn't changed in five years is also encouraging. If I was a doctor, I would be checking out both legs and looking for differences!
ddddebd6-536d-44ed-a19d-6288f42568fa
bugd5t
Why do the lights in aircrafts have to be turned off during take off and landing?
Because take off and landing are the most dangerous parts of a flight and most likely for a crash to happen. The lights have to be off and blinds up so your eyes are adjusted to the outside brightness/darkness aiding the speed and safety of a possible evacuation
5723a352-1ae7-486e-beb3-4c6e7d190a6f
buhayi
What is panel data?
First you'll have to understand the two other main types of data, cross sectional and time series. Cross sectional data looks at a snapshot in time, and compares a lot of different attributes of the given subjects in a sample as they exist at that particular time. It generally compares differences among the subjects. Think of the test scores of a particular class of kindergartners, and how they vary according to the differences among the kids, their parents, etc. Time series data tracks a given variable/measure over time. Think of a child's test scores as he ages. Panel data is a mix of both. It starts as a cross sectional data set, by taking a sample of people and measuring some number of their attributes at some time. But then it regularly "checks back in" on the *same* sample, by re-taking all those measurements at regular intervals, say annually. So in our example, we sample the kindergartners, then re-do the sampling each year, all the way through high school. It adds a time element to cross-sectional data.
bef8f262-9fab-4250-a7a8-aa5c73644ece
buhs6e
Why do people "saw off" shotguns?
Mostly for concealment, less weight and length for more "urban" uses. A shotgun is pretty long, but when using shot in close quarters, the length doesn't really add anything. So by cutting off part of the stock, you can now carry it in closer quarters, turn corners easier and still get your point shooting ability that's best suited for shotguns. As for safety, you can basically cut down a shotgun to any length you want and it'll be fairly just as safe. They are usually chopped down to the length of the forestock, the part in front of the trigger where your offhand goes, so you can still use two hands if needed (and the recoil almost always makes it needed).
f119f893-1f47-4e35-80bf-aeaeb7accf0a
buhyu3
Why are wide open eyes and a gaping mouth the physiological responses of extreme shock?
Fight or flight It’s the body getting ready for extreme action.... more breathing in and better visuals
20e3fc7f-1c58-4ea5-9b29-8008fe6930c7
bui2wi
What specifically does nuclear radiation do to the human body?
There is a few different misconceptions that you should know before watching a series like that. Nuclear radiation is thee different types of high energy particle radiation. These all move in a straight line at around the speed of light until they hit something. However due to their size and speed they might go through clothes and skin before they hit something. The biggest form of radiation is the alpha radiation. This have a hard time going through the skin but this also means that the exposure is spread over a tiny volume. Beta radiation might go through the skin and flesh but not much will come out the other side of a body. Gamma radiation will go straight through almost everything however this also means that the exposure is spread over a large volume. One way to reduce radiation exposure, especially beta radiation, is to put heavy things between you and the source of radiation. For example lead or concrete. However anything will do. & #x200B; When you look at nuclear accidents however they seam no treat nuclear radiation as poison instead of radiation. This is because the radiation that comes directly from the core is not a big problem. The steel, concrete and water in the reactor building stops almost all alpha and beta radiation and just keeping people at a distance reduces the gamma radiation exposure. The problem is that an uncontrolled nuclear reaction will create all kinds of different isotopes of chemical elements. These isotopes behaves just like their base atoms and is almost indistinguishable from them. However some time in the future they will spontaneously split and release nuclear radiation. This close to the meltdown the danger is from all those isotopes that will break down within a few days or months as this means they will give quite a lot of radiation in a short while. And while skin will stop most alpha radiation and therefore protect you it does not protect you from the isotopes that gets into your body. Similarly dust that is on the ground or on your clothes can emit beta radiation that goes through your skin even if you are far away and well protected from the nuclear core. So when people wear respirators and take showers it is to reduce the exposure to radioactive isotopes. And the "medicine" that people get to protect against radiation is just high doses of minerals that makes your body "flush out" the excess radioactive minerals that it does not need. & #x200B; As for the effects of radiation on a body this have sadly been recorded through nuclear accidents of different sizes. At an extremely high dose it will just burn you as there is a lot of energy being dumped into your body all at once. This is similar to a sun burn or getting burned by boiling water. The radiation will just damage your cell beyond repair and you die within a few days. At lower exposures (but still high) you will experience some of the same effects but more gradually. As the cells gets damage you spend more energy repairing them causing you to get fatigued, dizzy and feel like you have been poisoned and feel quite sick. At a certain sense the damage the radiation does to your cells is not that different from how a virus or a poison damages your cells. But at low exposures your body is able to heal the cells as they get damaged. However some damage is not possible to repair. Specifically certain damage to the genetic material of a cell can not be repaired. On the contrary when the cell divides the damage to the genetic material will be replicated to the new cell. These damages are very random so it is hard to say what happens if anything. And thankfully we do not have enough nuclear accidents to differentiate between the damage caused by nuclear radiation and the damage caused by background radiation and other factors. However some of that damaged genetic material may cause the cells to become cancerous. And some of the cells that have damaged genetic material may be reproductive cells like sperm and egg cells and if these ever gets to create an offspring they might have genetic defects.
32ca5281-7631-468e-9960-70edc257c645
bui5yl
what are imperfect rhymes?
A perfect rhyme has the same stressed vowel and the same sound ending the rhymed words after that vowel. Take the first two lines of "The Tyger" by William Blake > Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; *Bright* and *night* are perfect rhymes - the stressed vowel is the same (the I), and they both end in the "ight" sound. Imperfect rhymes are anything else - like words that sort of rhyme but have a slightly different sound like, say, *lean* and *gleam.* The sounds ending them are different (n vs. m), but similar enough that they sound pretty close to a rhyme, since they have the same vowels. Or they could be words that have to be fiddled with a bit to make them rhyme, like, say, "hammer" and "Alabama." If I fiddled with the word a bit and said hammer like "hamma," it would rhyme perfectly with "Alabama," like the Red Hot Chili Peppers do in "Dani California." And then there are eye rhymes, which are words that look like they should rhyme when written, but don't actually when spoken. Remember "The Tyger," and its perfect rhyme from before? The next two lines are an imperfect rhyme - an eye rhyme: > What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? You're not supposed to pronounce it like "sym-met-trI," or anything. *Eye* and *symmetry* don't rhyme, but they look like they could, and historically, they might have rhymed back before English started shifting all of its vowels (well before this poem was written, by the way). But it still gives your brain a little bit of that rhyming pleasure when you read it, so it's not uncommon to see poets use eye rhymes like that.
f88043eb-b03e-448d-870d-635462f9c7c4
buiebf
What makes burner/trap phones untraceable by the police?
The phone is easy to trace, the person using the phone is not. There is nothing magical about the phones specifically, it's how they are used. Burner phones are bought by companies in huge batches, and don't require any plan or contract to use. So there's not a great way to know who is using that particular phone. They are also cheap enough to throw away and "burn" every so often to keep a pattern of use from being determined. Even if you could narrow down the phone was purchased at Walmart on a certain date, there wouldn't be a great way to know which one of the hundred that were sold that day is your suspect.
4d4036d2-54b3-4970-9e05-56ffb166cef0
buieq9
How do surgeons prevent you from bleeding out during surgery?
Depends really. Aside from major vessels, not much blood is lost during a surgery. Tourniquets for limbs and careful positioning of incisions for more general stuff. Hollow organs, the major vessels, and scalp stuff all can involve a lot of bleeding if not done right. There's packing agents, clamps, and creating pressure that all help too. I've had people lose more blood from me putting in a breathing tube (accidental damage to a tonsil) than lost in some surgeries.
52ab0fd9-a8e7-4e31-862e-93b4f6f0970b
buiha2
What are the effects of antidepressants and anxiety medication on a healthy person?
GABA drugs like benzodiazepines will have many effects common with alcohol, as alcohol also targets that system among others. SSRIs are a bit more complex as their exact role in depression is not well understood and their effects in general are much less predictable. It could provide a level of mood stabilization, no noticeable mental effect or some undesirable side effects; it'd both depend on the person as it does in depression and what the increase in serotonin in the synapse does beyond help with depression. Without a study, it would be hard to draw any general conclusions.
1b860dc9-28f6-469a-a12c-0cb28c0d1e37
buii9a
What happens to our body when our stomach gets that weird burning feeling?
That may be your stomach overflowing from too much food or the acid in the stomach coming back up to your esophagus. The esophagus isn't made from the same material as your stomach as the stomach can take that acid but the esophagus can't take it. Recommendation is to eat small meals throughout the day and sit up after meals. Also avoid irritating foods like spicy and sour foods.
b1817a2f-d299-4ff1-b0af-c77eb3c624f9
buirqg
Why is a drug cartel called a cartel?
It's like a monopoly or conglomeration of corporations, but there is no legal paperwork tying the "companies" together. Instead it's better described as a group of independent businesses opting to work together on pricing and territory instead of competing against each other. There's no legal obligation to avoid betraying the arrangement, just an informal social convention for mutual gain. Since there's no legal framework tying the different "Companies" together, it's not a proper corporation or organization that can be sued or pursued legally for damages. When someone steps out and breaks the convention, social implications may follow, and competition between the independent companies will resume. This creates competitive turmoil (gang wars, territory fights) until one "Company" wins out or a new co-habitation/Cartel agreement can be arranged.
cdc39c49-5618-4807-a932-b8f3f24a72c8
buisa3
What is the difference between IT, Computer Science, Programming and Software Engineering?
Three are fields of varying specialization, and one is a tool/dicipline. IT is short for information technology. It is the field concerned with how to store, retrieve, process and transmit information. This isn't explicitly computer information - the problem of how you send a television program from the broadcaster to the consumer could strictly fall under IT, but is more often used for things like networking, system administration, and commercial information processing. Software engineering is the field of how to design, write, and engineer software. It concerns itself with the different methodologies of software design, how software is structured, and practical knowledge in making efficient software. Computer science is a *very* broad field, but generally is used for the theory of computing: how "computers" (in the abstract definition) work, the mathmatics of computing, and theoretical side of software, algorithms, and computer systems. It is the underlying theory behind that software engineering applies to day to day software. Programming is then the actual act of writing instructions for a computer to follow. It is what actually connects all these fields to the actual hunk of metal sitting in front of you.
1bda565b-2cef-4d27-9ab5-a107ef50b5f1
buj2bv
Preferential Voting, specifically the Irish voting system.
In preferential voting you score candidates in order of preference, 1, 2, 3 etc. They count all the votes marked 1. If they get enough votes to win, then they win. If they don't get enough votes to win then they eliminate the candidate in last place and count the votes marked 2 on those ballots. Repeat for the other numbers until someone wins. So you have candidates Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom gets 5 votes marked 1, Dick gets 3 and Harry gets 2. Harry is eliminated. Those two votes for him are now transferred to someone else. They look at who they voted 2 for. Tom gets one, Dick gets one. Tom now has 6 votes, Dick has 4. Tom has a majority and wins. The EU vote is a bit different. Say an area has 10 seats up for vote. The TDH Party put up three candidates, Tom, Dick and Harry. If they win one seat, Tom becomes an MEP. If they win two seats, Harry also becomes an MEP. The EU election is a little more complicated than that. Once a party has won a seat, the number of their votes is divided in half and the next seat goes to the next highest scoring party (which might still be them). So if the TDK get 6 or the 10 votes, they win a seat. Then their score is counted as 3 to see if they win the next seat. If they win that second seat then their score is divided by 3 instead so their score counts as 2 to see if they win a third seat for poor Harry.
d3b6c02e-faf6-4faf-8b3b-df802a910333
bujc30
what was the rampart scandal?
In the late 90s the Rampart division of the LAPD put together an elite task force to focus on the street gangs. The goal was to reduce the crimes, violence and drugs in the slums. It was later discovered that this task force had been badly mismanaged. The police officers were encouraged to take down the gangsters by any means necessary. Even if this meant planting evidence, lying in court, working for rival gangs or even just assassinating the gangsters on the street. Many of the police officers became integrated into the street gangs working for them and for their own personal gains more then for the public. For example in one case an undercover officer had a chance encounter with an off duty officer in the same task force and mistaking him for a gang member shot the off duty officer to death on the street. In another case an officer planned and executed a bank robbery allegedly to pay his debt to a hitman he had hired to kill two rappers.
173b4248-9618-4cba-9962-654677a43759
bujmx9
Why does our body temperature increase when we are sick?
The bacteria or viruses that are making us ill thrive best at normal body temperature. As part of a defense mechanism, our body will therefore increase its temperature when ill in attempts to make it less hospitable to them, giving our immune system a better chance at containing and eradicating the contagion.
ae69650d-50ed-4357-9b77-5b2364447622
buk2yo
Why do some gasses have an odour while others are odourless?
Nature has sculpted all living things through evolution for billions of years. Species tend to evolve ways to avoid deadly gasses. Sulfur for instance is highly toxic. We would want to be instinctually repulsed by that odor, otherwise our natural curiosity may end up killing us. I imagine the reason there are noxious gasses that are odorless is because they have become prevalent only in recent times. I’m pretty sure carbon monoxide isn’t a major threat in nature (if it is, maybe the native life would develop a method to detect it ). I would say it’s why lots of toxic foods and like, poop for example smells like, well, shit. When food rots, we are repulsed by it. Cats hate citrus and it happens to be toxic to them I believe. Anyway I have no idea the bio-mechanism behind the actual detection of these molecules but I think we need specific receptors and also a brain designed to process the varying signals properly Edit: typos
af2a4ae0-9bbc-4f06-9f89-6292c560ccfd
buk4b8
Why are culverts and drainage pipes “ribbed”? Wouldn’t a smooth pipe be better for letting stuff flow through?
As the other answer, it is bendable in the lengthwise direction. But also, and possibly more importantly, it is far less able to collapse. The ribbing gives it strength in the circumferential direction. It's similar to corrugated iron sheets which bend in one direction, but not across the corrugations.
762b60e3-7330-48e2-b5a5-e560ade3f1be
buk5c2
How come mammals’ fur doesn’t come in a wider array of colors like green, blue, pink or purple?
The only reason reptiles like snakes are brightly colored is to alert predators that they are poisonous. Birds are brightly colored to attract mates. Fish are brightly colored to attract mates and alert predators they are poisonous. Amphibians like frogs are brightly colored to alert predators they are poisonous. Mammals need to be camouflaged to better hunt and survive because food isn’t as easily found and predators are numerous. Edit: am stupid and confused frogs for reptiles.
b10a9688-416e-4762-8f84-858cd0e65399
buk5k5
Why is alimony necessary?
The first thing to keep in mind is that alimony isn't some automatic thing that a divorced spouse gets but is something individually set by a judge based on the specific circumstances. So let's imagine a scenario. Spouse A and B both have college degrees. They mutually agree that Spouse B will quit work in order to go back to school and get a doctorate. Afterwards Spouse A can quit and get a doctorate. Spouse A is the sole provider for years of grad school. After graduation Spouse B gets a job making four times as much as Spouse A and files for divorce. Spouse A made an investment and, without alimony, is screwed. Alternate scenario: Spouse A quits his or her job to become the primary caretaker of their children. Spouse B grows his or her career and now makes a lot more money. Divorce. Spouse A deserves money from Spouse B because, when they were a couple, they made a mutual decision to sacrifice Spouse A's own career and earning power.
9f6a50e4-4e91-47a0-a405-3238837777bc
bukf7h
what exactly is a cramp and what causes it?
Husband of a Physical Therapist here. Basic explanation: when sufficiently stressed, muscle fibers get tangled and the muscle contracts in a way it's not supposed to, without your input.
70fb4d78-1578-4ad9-8a22-8d0c7a729af3
bukled
If the Earth goes around the sun,in an elliptical pattern, why does the north and south hemispheres have opposite seasons?
The seasons aren't caused by the elliptical orbit of the Earth, they are caused by the axial tilt. The Earth isn't perfectly parallel to the Sun, the Earth rotates on it's North/South poles tilted at 23.4 degrees relative to its orbit around the Sun. Depending on the time of year your hemisphere is either tilted towards the Sun (Summer) or away (Winter) Being tilted towards the Sun results in a warmer season, but contrary to popular belief it's not because you are closer to the Sun. It's because more of the Earth's surface is exposed to the Suns light which makes the days longer. Longer days means we are exposed to more heat.
4a502152-1ed6-44e3-bcb9-1dd9428f9616
buklgu
What happened in these places in the 1980s-1990s?
That rule is in place to minimize the risk of spreading Mad Cow Disease. Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), is a disease that was first found in cattle. It's related to a disease in humans called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Both disorders are universally fatal brain diseases caused by a prion.
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bukmd6
How do light bulbs go out?
If you mean "burn out": the tungsten filament inside a bulb is relatively fragile. When you turn the bulb on and off the filament heats up then cools down. Each heat/cooling cycle will put stresses on the material and over time it will develop weak spots until the material just "breaks" in a spot. Bulbs that turn on/off frequently (like in your entrance hallway, or a bedside reading lamp) will (in general) burn out quicker than ones that are infrequently turned on or are left on for long periods. Of course the bulbs for special purposes like your car headlights or the bulb in your fridge are designed to different robustness standards.
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bukobw
why does 95 degrees F feel so hot when our internal temperature is 98.6?
We're like a car engine. We keep producing heat no matter what temperature it is outside because it's a byproduct of creating energy. We have to shed that heat so that we don't overheat. And it's easier to drop heat at colder air temperatures. If it's 95F out, it takes longer to cool down, so we get uncomfortable.
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bukum7
Why does burping leave a distinct taste of the first thing you ate that day?
I'm pretty sure it's removing air from your stomach. In which case it would smell, and taste, like the food that was in there
8ff22c1e-8fdb-4b48-803c-636813d75332
bul1xp
Why does bologna damage paint?
Because it contains fat. It will leave a grease mark on anything it touches. When the bologna goes splat, the fat ruins the matte.
c7ecaeca-b88c-4a97-b0dc-0d27ef2bb4b2
bul2dc
Does leaving a phone screen idle save more battery then flipping it on/off?
The screen is typically the most battery intensive thing your phone does. The more time it's on, the more battery drains. Every second it's turned off saves battery.
99bcbbfd-3610-490f-9fee-a5cec1f412a4
bulbip
the process of pawning and how it benefits both people
I give you an item worth $100. You give me $50 today and if I give you $60 within 2 months, I get it back. If not, you get to sell it for $100.
22bf9ea5-b200-405c-bcc8-1cbbb39c676e
bulkbp
Sports drinks with sodium make you hydrated, but we all know you can't drink salty sea water because you'll get dehydrated. Why?
A take on this question was asked a couple of weeks back. Essentially, our body needs sodium. We normally get enough in the food we eat, but athletes can sweat out large amounts (from our body’s perspective) of sodium while performing. The amount of salt in a sports drink aims to match this level. It is formulated to replenish the sodium lost through sweat over half a US football game for the average NFL player. Sea water contains many many times more salt. So much so that our body needs to use its water reserves to flush the salt out of our bodies, because the water consumed with the salt isn’t enough to fully flush it out of our kidneys. As a result, you’ve got less usable water in you after drinking ocean level salt water than before.
a55345a3-c3e8-4981-ae5e-92ffadb8d65e
bulov3
- Computer Memory Leaks. Why do they happen, and what happens?
The classic memory leak occurs because of a bad memory cleanup routine. An application stores data in RAM by definition, but when it's done with that RAM it has to release it allowing it to be used by something else. So let's make up an example. You have an application that has an undo option, this allows you to undo the very last thing you did in the application. But in order for this to work the application has to track the last thing you changed so it can undo it, this is stored in memory. Now imagine the developer forgot to write the piece of code that clears the previous actions from memory, so instead of just storing the very last thing you did, it stores every single thing you've done since you opened the application. Even though you can only undo the very last one. These actions keep building up in memory until there's nothing left for other applications to use.
146aca4a-5005-49d6-ba3a-43f0db71ffb1
bulwh4
How do armies collect their dead soldiers?
Often, they didn’t in places like iwo jima. Those to-the-last-man island fights were brutal and there was rarely a chance to collect the dead. Many Japanese remain where they fell, or were collected up by the US forces and buried in mass graves. Most US soldiers were recovered hours to weeks after a battle, and usually repatriated to the US. Historically, armies would sometimes allow groups from either side to move around openly in front of the guns to collect the dead and wounded, but not often since the 1800s. And places like the Somme, the dead remain in the ground where they died.
eb7b3ccf-ea00-4ea7-a46c-afe81c729459
bumrr0
Why can’t my older body handle going on swings?
Think about when you were little. We would all twirl in circles to get dizzy on purpose. It doesn't sound pleasant now. I dont know how strong evidence is for it, but one hypothesis is that it helps kids develop balance and stability so they find pleasure in those disorienting experiences. It goes away when you're older because you no longer need it and dizziness or similar sensations(like going on the swing) are more likely to be symptoms of an illness or having consumed something dangerous.
52830217-4961-48ec-9991-d252ab3d9e9f
bun0gi
For what reason(s) does a profitable company typically allow itself to be bought out?
Your gonna give me how much money? < Slides over paper > Oh... thats a lot, thats way more than I'll make running this business myself, even over a long time. You got your self a deal buddy! The most common one, is that the owners of the business simply get offered a good deal to sell.
211fe4f4-fd04-4ee8-8302-1a82a1a16c6d
bun6be
How and why does the keto diet work?
The keto diet works two-fold really. On one part it causes you to burn fat instead of carbs and glycogen (stored glucose). Keto is nice because you need energy all the time and that energy comes from excess fat stores on you. That's an obvious loss. The second form is that keto suppresses hormones that stimulate hunger. Doing this leads to feeling full quicker when you do eat and not feeling that urge to eat when you are hungry. Fat is also harder to digest and costs more energy to use versus carbs (glucose). See, keto takes away your ability to eat empty carbs and that plays a big role in why you lose weight. You suddenly stop drinking soda and eating chips and other non-filling foods because you can't if you want to stay on the diet. Considering a soda can be like 250 calories and you don't drink them anymore you are cutting out 250 to 500 calories a day. That's a big deal. I did keto for a few months to see what it was like and lose around 20lbs I wanted gone. I felt awake and alert. My upset stomach quit after a month. I slept better. I was in a better mood. I could eat a meal and not get tired after I was done. My exercise routine felt cleaner and like I was dialed in when I was doing it. All these things persisted even after the weight was done and I stayed on it. I do low carb now and still feel just as good.
b3106bd5-2433-4b4e-9a93-4cded221d562
bunfbb
Is it better for your eyes to have a phone brightness set low or high when it's night (pitch black), and why?
Better to set it to low. Your eyes use blue light (light of the sky) to synchronize the body's internal clock. Blue light means daytime which means you should stay awake. Our digital devices nowadays produce a great deal of blue light. The more blue light exposure at night you get, the more your body's internal clock gets confused, causing you to have worse sleep at night. High brightness will also cause your eyes to lose dark sensitivity at night. If you stare at something bright for a long period of time, you'll notice that you won't be able to see well in dim lighting. This recovers in ~20-40 minutes in darkness and is known as dark adaptation. If you find yourself taking a long time to adjust to darkness, go see an eye doctor as this is a symptom of eye disease.
68f3540b-4ce1-4938-befb-630467c3ead9
bunjr8
Why can’t we remember things that happened before we were 6-8 years old?
I have flashes of memories from before I was four. We were living outside Marion, Indiana. My flashes include : > laying on the couch during a rally severe thunderstorm at night > the landscape of a house across the road from ours > being in a hospital bed after I had a bad reaction to a prescription My family moved to upstate New York when I was four, and we have no pictures of the above.
a906619b-b97d-43a3-a911-7c42e81e8769
bunkuv
How do piezoelectric crystals work in CB radios?
Piezoelectric crystals work two ways. You can apply mechanical stress, and they will create a voltage. Or you can apply a voltage, and they will mechanically deform. A crystal in an oscillator circuit uses the latter of these. If you carefully make the crystal, it will have a frequency that it "wants" to resonate at. So if you have a 15.315 MHz crystal, for example, you put it in an unstable circuit. It will quickly (if the circuit is designed right) make the whole circuit oscillate at the crystal's natural frequency of 15.315 MHz. This doesn't really have much to directly do with the antenna in a radio. The crystal provides a fairly stable reference frequency that the radio circuits can then use for tuning. IIRC, some old-fashioned CB radios will use multiple crystals to tune in specific frequencies more directly, but that would be an unusual thing to do these days.
167f3f53-a97e-4e01-9100-7a4d35d83493
bunqhi
Do petitions actually work? If so whose answering to them?
Very few tactics are universally effective. Sometimes, petitions are part of a democratic structure. For instance, a ballot initiative might need a certain number of signatures to get on the ballot and be voted on. Sometimes, petitions are a threat of other action. For example, a labor union might collect signatures of a massive number of employees, with the implied threat that all of those employees would be willing to strike over the issue. When companies or private groups respond to petitions, it's usually because they are concerned about PR. In that case, there is sort of the implied threat of a boycott.
d938c08e-a25f-41ee-b2e9-839a2f45d17e
bunvda
what exactly is a trade war? And what is the U.S. and China trade war about?
Someone can undoubtedly provide a better response, but the short version is the controlling entities (in this case government leaders) create & tweak trade deals/privelages, import/export rates (tariffs), and more to leverage their economy over the opponents, ideally without sustaining much damage, but typically at a heavy loss, attrition style. For example, we can buy less of a resource from a nation, by means of raising the tax on importing it, thereby making the domestic or other alternative source more attractive, economically, but realistically that doesn't make those sources cheaper, so you're still operating at a relative loss, while denying your opponent your business.
d13f21e5-a34a-4148-82df-34c2a1ff894a
bunxlr
How do piezoelectric crystals work in guitars?
Piezoelectric crystals commonly have a perovskite structure. It is a crystal structure that looks like a cubic cage with usually a small atom at the center. As the atom in the middle is positively charge and the cage is mostly negatively charge, any deviation from the cubic symmetry would cause a dipole moment (think of it like static electricity, positive charges attract negative charges). So, if you disturb the crystal by means of stretching, compressing, hitting, vibrating, etc, you'll get a voltage. That voltage does work. In the case of piezoelectric pick up, the voltage follows the vibration of the string which creates a sound signal.
a1d84e59-ec8f-4cb7-88de-13521d10a0e2
buo3r3
What was the Investiture Controversy?
Investiture just means appointment. In the case of the investiture controversy, it was a conflict about who got to appoint people to official position in the Catholic church such as bishops. At the time, ruling Kings and other lords would appoint people to these positions within their realms. In the 11th and 12th centuries, a series of popes began to assert that only the church had the authority to appoint people to positions within the church. The kings and nobles of Europe insisted that only they had the right to appoint people to positions in their realms. The conflict was settled in 1122 with the church largely winning.
04e31a4f-d5c9-4e54-a86d-478b724f044a
buog43
How is gas produced in our intestines after digesting certain foods?
Gas produced in your gut is largely due to bacteria. Your gut has a thriving ecosystem of little critters that help break down your food into simpler molecules your body can deal with. They do this by eating what you ate, and then pooping out a fair amount of various gases as a byproduct.
8a95376b-fd32-4fce-b37c-ab8119294062
buoixc
How exactly does radiation affect the human body?
Ionizing radiation is the dangerous type. This means it carries enough energy to damage your cells and DNA. These include alpha particles that wont easily penetrate skin but will damage tissue if inhaled or swallowed. Beta rays are stronger and gamma rays the strongest. Radiation dosage is cumulative over your lifetime. A long term low exposure is likely to trigger some types of cancers. A high exposure will cause sunburn like symptoms, all the way through the body. If cared for properly it may be survivable. At some point the exposure is too high and too many cells die so the victim dies quickly. Note that radio waves are NOT ionizing radiation and do do not cause ongoing damage.
71b062ba-46c9-4c3f-bc38-cbb66e06b6e9
buomfu
What exactly happens when you deposit more than $10,000 at a bank?
If you're in the US the bank notifies the IRS. The IRS takes note, and may decide to investigate where you got the money from. If your tax records don't look like someone who should be making $10,000 deposits on the regular you may get audited.
7985af61-05b9-4fac-9bff-ce2e03d126df
buouwd
Why are most street lights and car lights orangish yellow and not white?
Many street lights were/are sodium vapor lights. It’s a highly efficient light that just produces a warmer light as the byproduct. _URL_0_
7c66ccb3-29ab-4b7a-8731-d7db89ba2eed
bup8zr
Why is it that people hate waking up even after getting 7-9 hours of sleep?
It depends on what phase you wake up in during your sleep cycle. If you finish your 90 minute sleep cycle and wake up around then, even if it’s only been 3 hours, you won’t feel as tired as of you wake up in the middle of your REM cycle, even if you have already slept 7+ hours. Also some people need more sleep than others or are on a different sleep cycle (variations of naps during the day and less time at night)
8fb956dd-7207-4cea-a6e1-6a74ead22d8a
buq4aj
How does the Belgian government work ?
It doesn't *Queue laughtrack* Okay, first of all, you need to know we have A LOT of governments. Only the federal government was out for over 500 days, and while we had no new government, we still had the old government tending to urgent and running business. So no new laws were brought up during those days, but spending was regulated, all offices and services were funded. Urgent matters could be adressed if they couldn't wait for the new government. So it's not like we did 't have any government, just not a *new government* And while all that was going on, we still had Flemish, Walloon and Brussels Capital governments, also French and German speaking governments (the Dutch speaking government is incoorporated in the Flemish region government. So while we had NO government, we still had A LOT of government. Hope this cleared it up ;) Also see [this](_URL_1_) or [this](_URL_0_)
494f08da-e50d-4fd2-9733-28764310f9b4
buq7zp
Why do prokaryotes not develop organelles? Is there a benefit to being more simple if you’re unicellular?
In the most general terms, there is always a benefit to being more simple in that every thing that an organism makes costs energy. Prokaryotes are unicellular but all eukaryotes aren't multicellular. Setting aside if viruses are alive, all life is divided into two groups prokarya and eukarya. Prokaryotes are single celled organisms that have no nucleus, no membrane bound organelles and are much smaller than eukaryotes(less than a tenth of the size on average.) Prokaryotes are bacteria and archea. Most people are familiar with bacteria, archea are organisms that are like bacteria but just as distantly related to bacteria as eukaryotes are. So eukaryotes can be both unicellular and multicellular. Yeast are single celled fungi for example. _URL_0_ Above is a link explaining endosymbiosis which is the theory that organelles came from a cell engulfing another cell but then not digesting it. Basically, organelles were once free living organisms. Chloroplasts (organelle for photosynthesis) were once cyanobacteria. It might be the case that organelles allow for multicellularity. All eukaryotes have mitochondria (one of those organelles). Mitochondria is where the vast majority of ATP (energy storage molecule of cells) is produced.
bafc3098-d8ce-44d0-86b8-e6d5854f21ea
buqcwm
Why does our voice crack sometimes??
Opera singer to the rescue to explain a few reasons why your voice cracks: 1) if you’re referring to the cliché voice crack typically associated with young men, that’s because all of our vocal chords are affected as we all go through puberty. Fluctuating hormones and body growth cause the chords to thicken as well as lengthen, leading to that classic voice drop. However, this is a process that bodies adjust to, and because there is a natural, bigger divide in male voices (what you feel is supported and natural switching drastically to falsetto), sometimes your chords just don’t do what you want them to do, leading to that crack that’s sudden and out of nowhere. It fades/stops (in speaking) over time as the body matures. 2) If you mean like when someone’s singing and they crack on a note (not fully hit it/voice sounds like it breaks/jumps to falsetto lower than expected), that could be a myriad of things depending on the body and the experience of the singer. 9 times out of 10, it’s an issue of airflow and muscle tension. Trying to control the voice too much (pushing the sound out, singing with throat tension), which is common in both beginning and intermediate singers, can get in your own way. It’s like stepping on a garden hose and expecting water to come out. 3) If it’s when you’re sick and your voice is raspy and cracking all over the place, it’s because your vocal folds are swollen/irritated, and therefore can’t oscillate correctly. Hope this helps! Feel free to be more specific if I didn’t address the exact crack you mean.
37c066ac-dd8d-4032-a6aa-ec563f6ae0b5
buqj69
why is flossing so good for your teeth and is there a right way to do it?
Floss is better at accessing the tiny space between your teeth than tooth brushes. Its purpose is to remove plaque or anything else stuck between your teeth that the tooth brush could not remove. If you are brushing your teeth correctly, floss isn't needed, more like a "just in case". Also, floss should be used to scrape the sides of your teeth, not rubbed against your gums.
284057e6-49e9-4d08-8aeb-3de2d2f21429
buqxn7
What Radiation does and why is it so dangerous?
The radioactive material tends to hang around in the environment. In the air, in the soil, the water, which then gets ingested by plants and animals. These rarioactibe material emit ionising radiation when they decay. Specifically, the danger of radiation is that it ionises atoms (i.e. removes electrons from atoms). If this happens to a part of your DNA, it damages it, your body will attempt to repair the damaged DNA bit sometimes it does so incorrectly, leading to cancerous cells.
a93ad741-dfe4-4413-ab4c-bfe07cdac62d
bur0s6
Electronegativity and atomic radius
Electronegativity refers to how many electrons are needed to complete a valence shell. A Fl atom needs 1 electron to complete its valence shell. An O atom needs 2. A Ne atom has a complete valence shell and is happy. I like to think of it like a collector that needs 10 more Pokemon cards to complete his collection vs. a collector that needs 1 more card. The collector that is only missing one card is going to be a lot more intense about getting that last card than the other guy. So say there are two atoms that need one electron to complete their valence shell. The one that is bigger (i.e, has a bigger atomic radius) is probably a little more chill. The electrons in the inner shell can jump up to the outer shell and make the valence shell happy part of the time. So it's a little less intense than a valence shell that has no inner electrons to share in. This isn't quite how it works, I'm guessing. But it's good enough for ELI5 purposes, I hope. There's probably a few more Nobel prizes to be won in this field.
01dcfcc8-d45b-4ef1-a89f-33fbcf7527e5
bur31f
What's the difference between a router and a wireless access point?
A wireless access point is a hub of a Wi-Fi network. It allows Wi-Fi capable machines to connect to that network. A router connects multiple networks together and routes messages between networks. For instance, it allows users on the Wi-Fi network to send messages to an ISP and out onto the wider Internet. Consumer networks are generally very simply laid out, so consumer APs generally combine both in one device. Commercial or institutional networks will more often benefit from separating them. For instance, if you have to have a large office space connected by Wi-Fi, you'll likely have multiple access points connected by wire to a single router.
cd6a0382-eb29-439a-b057-27eb9a8054d5
burdnj
Why do areas in front of me appear to shake while actually being straight under extreme heat?
It's due to refraction of the light. Hot air and cold air moving around causes vibrations which in turn causes light to refract and the image you see to appear wavy.
b7441541-7ea7-48bd-ae11-b66b54a31de5
burok1
How are games 'ported' to different platforms like PC, Xbox or PS?
Most of a game's code and assets are the same between platforms. The main things that have to be different are the bits that interact with the hardware or OS. Take graphics for example. On PC and Xbox you use the DirectX API to give instructions to the GPU. But PlayStation has its own API for that. So if you need to convert an Xbox game to PlayStation, you have to rewrite that code. Typically the code for a game is organised so the platform specific stuff is separated from the non-specific stuff. That way it's easier to work on a game for multiple platforms at once.
0d551701-e8ad-4972-b376-2b45d7e04875
burvwm
My apartment key opens my own door, but also the communal laundry room, communal basement and communal elevator keyhole. How does that work?
Keys can be designed so that as locks become more complex, the more unique the area they're locking is. For example, imagine your key has 4 portions that equal a code of 1-3-5-7. Your room requires the code 1-3-5-7, so only your key will open your door. But perhaps the laundry only requires a key of 1-3-x-x. The latter parts can be any key. So your friend with key 1-3-4-6 can't open your door, but they have the same beginnings of the key that can access the laundry room. The more sophisticated the keys and locks, the more layers of complexity you can use to distinguish between tiers of security.
732c49cc-faab-47fb-afda-4c15bc2d387f
buryja
If the brain is capable of Neuroplasticity then what is the impact of genes on the brain related to mental disorder? (Bipolarity, anxiety, etc.)
Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to form new connections, or strengthen or weaken them. This is what happens when your brain is changing. Because of your unique genetics, you are born with a unique brain, that has unique attributes which can result in a higher or lower chance of having a certain mental disorder. As your brain changes, it may have a higher chance of developing a mental disorder (we call this "predisposition"). Environmental factors also play a role in the development (or reduction) of mental disorders. Depending on your genetics, you may respond differently to these factors.
1e107005-c090-4cd1-85eb-08298a8645cf
bus1tq
How does smoking or drinking coffee affect your digestive system?
I highly recommend against smoking coffee. It's possibly much worse for you than drinking it.
a5ca8148-055c-4fc6-8af4-6b9bc56ba1ce
bush0j
How come there are only two political parties in the U.S.A? Is it possible to create more or is there a rule against it?
There aren't two parties in the US: There are roughly 70 parties that have some participation in various local and federal elections around the nation. However most of them have never gotten a single representitive on any level. Anyone can register and form a political party, the hard part is getting enough people to vote for you. The most common reasoning behind the two party dominence is that the US overwhelmingly runs on First-Past-The-Post voting. FPTP is extremely simple. Whoever gets the most votes wins (with "winning" being the representitive seat for that district, the electoral votes of that state, the senatorship, what have you). it doesn't matter if 80% of all voters hate you, as long as none of your competitors get more votes than you you win despite representing a minority of voters. When each district can only produce one "winner", and the "winner" is always the person who has the largest minority share, you naturally start moving towards two party dominence. Smaller parties realize they can never win, so their voters abandon ship and back a larger party that *can* win. When two parties are too similar they start splitting voters between them, making the "bad" party have an easier time scooping up the largest minorty, thus voting for smaller third parties actually harms you, and people stop doing it. Most parliments in the non-anglo western world use some level of proportional voting, and there you see that it's usually a few "core parties" that have a strong following, but a lot of smaller parties that still get fair representation. Voters have a stronger voice when they can more easily find two or three viable parties that they agree with on some level, instead of having to choose between the relative extremes if they want their vote to practically make a difference. Even simply merging districts and having them send two or three representitives goes a long way in making it easier for smaller parties to get a man in every once in a while.
c1cc9ecf-386e-4e27-8c31-15a4fe8f6790
busixu
How do doctors remove all the air after a surgery?
The gas kinda migrates around til it finds its way out. Mine went into my bladder. So that was an interesting pee. EDIT: Am guy. So yeah, dickfart. EDIT 2: So after some helpful comments I should update this. The story: After being home for two or so days after a laparoscopic appendectomy, I felt the urge to pee. Hobbled painfully to the bathroom and prepared for relief only to get a ppppfl sound and what I would describe as ooze. No pain just very very surprising. Never asked my doctor about it because it never happened again. Reason: Some helpful redditors have mentioned that it wouldn’t be caused by the gas, but instead was caused by either a catheter or less likely, a small cut in my bladder during surgery. I just figured the gas in my toros had to go somewhere, why not my junk?
a68820f5-937a-40fe-9ffd-6662faa42eec
busoiy
What's the difference between a war and a 'cold war'?
The cold war was a period where neither side liked each other, but both were too afraid of the consequences to fight an actual war against each other (since both had nuclear weaponry). The cold war involved spies, propaganda, arms races, foreign coups, supplying aid to terrorist groups attacking your enemy, supporting your allies in proxy wars (i.e against your enemies allies), and so on. Actual wars typically involve full scale fighting between the sides at war.
30a86b1c-fad3-4ca1-8c0a-8aa9060cb26c
buspnd
How are we able to see in 3D? I mean could you explain to me in detail how we are able to put together two 2D images to get a 3D image?
Well, we can't see the world in 4D because the world isn't in 4D. There are three spatial dimensions, the fourth dimension of the universe is time. I suppose you do see events in sequence, so that's 4D. & #x200B; But you're able to perceive a third dimension with two eyes because of parallax: you're able to perceive depth because nearer objects shift more than distant objects between your two eyes.
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busrz5
How does long-exposure photography work?
When the cameras shutter is open for a long time, two things happen. More light hits the sensor and motion is blurred since the sensor records all tho movement it seen in that time.
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busyes
How are glass marbles mass produced?
The first half of this video shows the machine which rolls hot chunks of glass while they cool to round them. [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)
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but0rg
If garbage workers have a holiday off, how do they get all the garbage picked up?
My township collects our trash twice a week. So if the garbagemen are off on Memorial Day, which would have been a trash pickup day ... people will just hang onto their trash another three days until the Thursday pickup.
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butafk
How does air move across a room?
Air pressure. My house has really weird pressure. I can close a door on one end of the house, and if the garage door isn't latched right, it'll open and then SLAM shut.
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butgy5
What factors determine the radius of a rainbow?
\*Disclaimer\*: this comment assumes basic knowledge about how rainbows form. Watch [this Youtube video](_URL_0_) for an ELI5 explanation of that. The radius of a rainbow is always 42°. The only factor that determines it is the refractive index of the water in the raindrops - i.e. how much they bend light - which is basically always the same. But perhaps your question is "why is do rainbows seem to have different sizes?" For a start you have to know that the center of the rainbow is always exactly on the opposite side of the sun. You also need to know that the shape of a rainbow is a part of a circle. This circle has a center point, like every circle. Draw a line from the sun to your head, and continue the line on the other side. Let's call this the 'solar axis' (a term I just made up for simplicity). This axis - while looking away from the sun - marks the center of the rainbow. The rainbow itself (the arc) is always found at a certain angle from this center: 42°. This is (in short) because light always bends with the same angle inside a raindrop. However, how much of the rainbow you see depends on the height of the sun. One extreme is when the sun is right overhead. The solar axis points towards the ground and you can see no rainbow at all, since the arc would need to form somewhere below the horizon, where there is no rain. Now imagine lowering the sun until you see a rainbow. When will you start seeing it? Because the rainbow is 42° away from the solar axis, you can only start seeing a rainbow when the sun is at an angle of 42° or lower from the horizon! You can theoretically just see the top of the rainbow at this angle. The lower the sun goes, the more rainbow you'll see, and the more spread out the base will appear. Edit: better introduction video
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butitn
What is the difference between a "secure line" and a normal telephone line?
A "secure" line has its audio scrambled so that a normal listener can't decipher what is being said. This used to take the form of analog modulation but now-a-days it could be as simple as encoding it into a digital form and then doing some light encryption on that digital data. & #x200B; EDIT: I said it *could* be as simple as light encryption. I never said it had to be light encryption and I have no interest in getting into a debate over what constitutes "light" encryption.
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butmgq
How do bidirectional microphones work?
They measure the the difference of the sound from front (+) to back (-). This causes the sound wave from the front to be picked up as usual. From the back the sound wave is inverted (does not matter in most cases). And from the side both of the above happen, which causes them to cancel out. bonus: This makes this microphone pickup the sound relative to the position differently, the bidirectional mic is also named a figure 8 mic for this reason. An omnidirectional is O shaped. And if you mix in the characteristics of an omnidirectional microphone with those of a bidirectional you get a cardioid shaped response.
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butnp6
How/ why do rockets fly in one controlled direction rather than chaotically all over the place like a balloon when released?
The nozzle on a balloon is floppy - it flops around all chaotically as air wheezes out of it. The exhaust bells on a rocket are on gimbals - on giant motorized mounts that can aim the thrust coming out. Then, the problem becomes how do you balance a broom on your hand (aka the so called inverted pendulum), but as it turns out we have really good computers that have already solved that problem.. so [much so that you can easily do it at home](_URL_0_) with a cheap computer and some spare parts.
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butttl
How did older films edit in the credits, specifically in actual footage?
Many techniques have been used over the years, but one of the oldest is to paint the credits on a clear sheet of plastic, then just put that on top of the existing footage.
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buueij
How do "change the picture with heat" mugs work?
Some paints have a property named *thermochromism* (thermo = heat, chromism is a word used for processes involving colour changes) Specifically, dyes used for mugs and the sort tend to be leuco dyes, which can change between a form with colour and a form that is transparent. So you paint two images, with one available during one temperature, and another available during another temperature.
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buul94
Why does our perception of time change, depending on what we're doing?
The gist of it is, if you enjoy doing it, time is perceived to speed up. Likewise, if you dislike it or have fear towards it, time is perceived as slow. Also, as you age, your internal perception of time is slower so everything around you relatively seems to speed up [Here's a helpful video explaining the concept](_URL_0_)
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buuozu
why do pronouns exist?
Mostly as a shortcut: usually the pronoun is shorter than the noun. There are of course lots of one-syllable nouns and one syllable names, at which point it seems pointless, but once it's an established as a convention to use a pronoun when that's adequate, it sounds funny not to. There are lots of things in language that are just conventions and don't have a definitive logical reason.
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buuxec
Why is it harder to breathe when you think about breathing?
I'm just here to represent everyone annoyed that you're making it harder for us to breath rn.
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buv623
What is terminal velocity and how does it work?
When an object is falling, there are two forces acting on it: \- Gravity, pulling it downward \- Air resistance, pushing it upward & #x200B; The force of air resistance increases when the object falls faster, while gravity is (basically) always the same. When the object is dropped, air resistance increases (as the object moves faster) until air resistance is equal to gravity. At that point, since both forces are equal, the object falls at a constant speed. That constant speed is referred to as "terminal velocity".
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buvcak
Anti-Aircraft Guns WWII
I would say that the AA fire is depicted fairly accurate. Flying above AA fire wasn't possible for heavy AA guns as they could reach 30,000 ft altitude relatively easy though with a roughly 30 second delay/flight time of the shells. As it wasn't really possible to get accurate hits at that altitude AA batteries would mostly just saturate the air space ahead of the bomber formations with well timed explosive shells that would go off all around the planes as you see it in those shows. Even though direct hits were relatively unlikely the shrapnel could still damage planes and wound/kill flight personnel, and a direct hit would most likely end in the plane going down. On a bombing run anywhere between 10-20% of planes would be shot down during the mission by AA fire and interceptor aircraft, and probably a similar percentage would be able to fly home with some damage. [This 1943 instructional video explains it quite well.](_URL_0_)
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