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54m2wx | . What makes something "radioactive" and why is it dangerous? | There are a couple of different kinds of radiation: high energy photons like xrays and gamma rays; alpha particles, which are basically high energy helium nuclei; and beta radiation, which are high energy electrons or positrons.
Alpha and beta decay are caused by unstable nuclei decaying into more stable nuclei. Remember that electrical charges that are the same (like two positively charged protons) repel each other. Atomic nuclei are full of protons that absolutely do not want to be that close together, but are forced to be by the two nuclear forces, the strong and weak forces. If the charges put too much stress on the nucleus, our breaks down into a smaller nucleus, or a proton might change into a neutron (or vice versa). When this happens, energy is released as a fast moving particle.
High energy photons are just light far above the spectrum we can see. When electrons fall from a higher orbit around their nucleus to a lower one, a photon is emitted. The energy of the photon depends on how high it started and how low it went. Electrons can be charged and elevated to a higher orbit by a few things (including getting hit by another high energy photon).
No matter what the radiation comes from, it's dangerous because it can damage your DNA. High energy photons blast electrons off their atom permanently - ionizing them - which permanently changes the chemical bond that relies on electrons, which can blast apart your DNA. Alpha and beta particles just collide with molecules and can blow them apart, including your DNA.
Messed up DNA leads to cancer long term, if it's not enough to kill you outright. Short term, a lot of radiation stops your cells from replicating at all, so as cells die, they aren't replaced with new ones. And of course, the radiation doesn't only hit DNA, it can also just blow apart important molecules in your cells. Normally you can just fix those, though, unless your DNA or the rest of your cell is too damaged. So that can kill you very quickly and painfully with a lot of it, or slowly and still painfully with a little bit.
Alpha particles can be blocked by a sweater. Beta particles can be blocked by a thin sheet of metal, it doesn't take much. Gamma rays need several inches of lead. | 6677afb8-5397-467a-a044-50472992ce85 |
23nmwr | The movie American Beauty | Regular message: People are happiest doing the things that make them happy, even if those things are simple or weird or unambitious. Much of modern suburban, upper-middle class life is designed to make us forget that fact, and the people most committed to keeping up appearances are in fact the least happy and most damaged.
Meta Message: If the acting is good enough, and you sexualize enough young people, audiences will pay a lot of money to watch a super-pretentious version of Office Space. | ee834c37-d124-48cd-8b5e-a9ea052041e9 |
2z14ck | When my internet is super slow, why does restarting my modem/router fix it? | Various different reasons cause this phenomenon.
First and most common, when the router/modem are on for long periods of time, stored data (web addresses you have visited alongw ith tracking to make it easier to access those sites) builds up. Modems and routers have an onboard memory that stores and records data so that your surfing is easier and more precise, instead of having to pull it up multiple times, it stores that data in files to see it better. Resetting the devices allows your modem and router to "rest" in a sense of the word.
Another common issue is after time, your computer, router, and modem, have to deal with whats called a "Lease time" which in its most basic form says when the computer and modem are allowed to talk to the internet. If this file is expired, sometimes the router does not properly re=establish on its own thus resulting in a dropped connection. Rebooting the device allows for this information to be transmitted again and re-synchronized to the servers giving you your internet, and to the device.
Another big problem with the routers is the fact that as you use them, they are connected to many, many devices sometimes. If your a typical family of four in this day and age.. you have at least 3 computers, 2 tablets, 4 smartphones, 1 gaming console, and 1 smart tv. A Minmum user devices of 10, along with the router itself, the modem, any other associated wireless boosting devices and other equipment in your home that may or may not tie directly to the internet. So a minimum of 13 connected devices are in most American homes nowdays. This means the router is constantly dropping and reading these devices over time. As it assigns and retakes IP addresses, some routers will get stuck or corrupt, and resetting allows it to drop all of its current configurations and repair to all your devices as it is reset so that you may be reconnected again..
**HOWEVER**
If you are having to "Reboot" your devices too often, this may be a cause for concern. Over rebooting is a sign of possible internal circuitry damage, or possible antenna damage and weakness.
generally, if you do reboot your equipment, it should only be once or twice a month... If you are rebooting to the tune of 1 or 2 times per week, or even once per day, then you are most likely past preventative reboots as explained above, and you have ventured into the realm of a damaged device. At this point, replacing your worn out devices or scheduling a service call to check the quality of service from your provider is recommended and should be done immediately. | 2e9bef2a-44cc-4a53-b10d-cdc5071baed4 |
2tczco | what is the point of the whole "fifth world" subreddits | This question might get better responses in /r/OutOfTheLoop. | 90255087-1415-40c6-9f01-af42200832df |
8o4axa | How does Winrar get companies to pay for it when they could do exactly what we are doing? | Why does anyone still use WinRAR when we could all just use 7-zip? | 25bbf0eb-19e7-4989-95c0-f564edf93f8b |
7tbkee | When Windows first loads and everything is going extremely slowly for several minutes but task manager doesn't show anything taking up much CPU or RAM, what the hell is it doing? | Look at your I/O (Disk usage), most of the time, that is what is slowing down your windows startup the most.
That's why so many people buy SSDs, they are much faster than regular hard drives (but obviously more expensive). | d1eb9b6d-ab65-44b3-93d2-47c11c80f99c |
2b0bkx | How do completely deaf people know what is being said after their cochlear implant is turned on? | I had a had a friend growing up that was deaf and got a cochlear implant in second grade. She was out of school for a week afterwards but once she came back she could understand everything I said extremely well. Even if she couldn't see my lips she could easily understand me. She could already speak, sign, and read lips pretty well before she got the implant so that probably aided her in understanding me so quickly.
She has been deaf since birth and is now studying language, she knows at least 4 by now.
Something I'd like to address here in addition to what has been previously mentioned. Deaf people only sound the way they do because they cannot hear themselves properly. My friend recieved an upgraded implant a year ago and her voice instantly changed. Every few sentences you could hear her real voice. She has no doubt improved since I last spoke with her. | 869e1745-85d5-48be-adb7-8e424caf9b7c |
200epv | In this advance of Information Technology, why we still rely solely on blackbox? | We don't rely solely on the black box. It is, as you suggest, a last resort.
Modern aircraft broadcast their position, elevation, heading, and air speed almost continuously, and this information is made available in real-time (europe) or nearly so (US).
Unfortunately, in a situation where any of this is needed, is one where things have gone horribly wrong. In this case, the black box (which is actually hi-viz orange) may be useful or necessary to tie together many other pieces of information surrounding the incident.
Even if we had complete, real-time data (as above) on every accident, the "what" data does not tell us "why". The "why" is the purpose of the long NTSB investigations, and would you really trust a report issued before all possible sources of data were collected? | 46a2d6a3-9792-43a0-be5f-792ae61c0dfa |
3trnqv | What makes super powers impossible? | Most super powers violate the laws of physics. That's what makes them so "super", and it's also what makes them impossible. If there were possible, like the James Bond or Batman stuff, they wouldn't be super powers but just cool gadgets. | 6e1aee47-1c3b-4b81-8fbc-25761933ed44 |
2uzwby | Why do couples that are having trouble getting pregnant want a biological child so much when there are many children in need of adoption? | It is the innate human drive to carry on the individuals own genetic heritage. If you adopt, you and your partners DNA is not passed to future generations. This also plays into an individuals want/need to be genetically immortal via its offspring. | fb0f598a-1c6e-404a-99d9-c1a5c1946c7e |
230m2m | You hear about top executives and CEOs reducing their salary to $1 a year. How is this not against minimum-wage laws? And if it isn't, why not just cut the dollar out? | These wage laws do not apply to [exempt workers, only non-exempt](_URL_0_). And...cutting the dollar out _would_ raise red flags since there would be value exchange without compensation. | 9363c125-ef78-4935-afb9-102faa042d4f |
jhyd9 | How is blood pressure measured? Why do
doctors measure it? What does it tell them? | Blood pressure can be measured in many ways. Most commonly we use sphygmomanometers (you may know them as "blood pressure cuffs"). They wrap around your bicep to measure your radial pulse. On top of using the sphygmomanometer, we use a method called ausculatory method, which basically means inflating the sphygmomanometer cuff an using a stethoscope and listening to the pulse at your elbow. Note that when in a clinical setting, such as when you're admitted into a hospital, we'll hook you up to a machine so that we can log your pressure.
Us nurses are usually the ones who get these readings, not MD's. I'll sum up your last two questions into one. We care about blood pressure because it is a part of the vital signs. Other vital signs include temperature, pulse, and respiratory rate. What blood pressure readings tell us is how much pressure is being put onto your arteries for each heart beat. Your BP varies from a low point (diastolic) and a high point (systolic) during each heart beat. The systolic number tells us how much pressure is being exerted in the arteries as the heart squeezes out blood during each beat. The diastolic number tells us the amount of pressure in the heart when it is heart relaxes before the next beat.
When you hear them say it's, for example, "120 over 80", they are specifying how much pressure in terms of millimeters of mercury (mm Hg).
We care about this because, as an adult your BP should be below 120/80, between ~90/~60 and ~119/~79. This is what we consider in the normal, healthy range.
Anything below ~90/~60 is what we call **hypo**tension. Typically people who are **hypo**tensive are so because of shock, or manually by vasodilation (note: vasodilation is when we want to open the blood vessels to increase flow of blood).
When your BP is between ~120/~80 and ~139/~89, you're considered pre-**hyper**tensive. Generally people who are overweight are in this range most of the time. This is your body telling you something is wrong and you need to fix it. You cannot live in this range for long, and it only gets worse.
From pre-**hyper**tensive we get to **hyper**tensive, or high blood pressure. This range is anything from ~140/90 and ~179/109. Your body starts to fail. You are at risk for heart attacks and strokes (due to the thickening of arteries which is called atherosclerosis). You're at risk for an aneurysm, which if ruptures, is usually fatal. Kidneys start to fail because of the narrowed blood vessels. Your vision can deteriorate due to narrowed blood vessels.
Anything above ~180/~120, you gonna' die! Get help immediately. Risks are fluid on the lungs (pulmonary edema), brain swelling and/or bleeding, a tear in your arteries, heart attack, stroke, and if you're pregnant, seizures (aka eclampsia).
Hope this helped
edit: fixed mixup of systolic/diastolic | 12aeae2a-3534-4282-8aa1-67c26d043564 |
2lpexv | Why do people find PDA uncomfortable? | Swapping mouth juices is kinda gross. Other forms of PDA are less gross, but still can be pretty gross, especially if the two people are ALL OVER each other. Also, sometimes envy or jealousy play into it. Also, sometimes certain pairings of people/genders make people uncomfortable. | c06eb64b-2c23-4efd-9945-162386e82f3d |
1t5r9m | Where exactly does money from paid bails go to? | If you show up for your trial, you get the money back.
If you don't show up for your trial, it goes into the general fund for the courts. | 818e11bb-d152-425c-9ec3-f97ab000d19c |
2qsp53 | why can't bitcoins be cheated? | So... Theres a lot of questions to answer, so I'll do my best:
Bitcoin has value because people give it value, not a government or a country. If no one accepted dollars or euros or zimbabwean dollars, then it would lose its "value". If no one was willing to pay for bitcoins or accept bitcoins in exchange for goods and services, it wouldnt be worth anything.
Bitcoins mining is a process in which new coins are generated, but that "mining" process also is a system of checks and balances. The bitcoin source code has been released, anybody with a reasonable understanding of programming can see and understand the code. That being said, the creator of bitcoin himself could not change the code now without consensus of 51% of the network. If one were to introduce false coins into the network, they would be rejected.
Every bitcoin transaction that has ever taken place can be tracked, and is on a public ledger that can be viewed by everyone. You can see for yourself at _URL_0_.
The only way to infiltrate the bitcoin system is with something called a 51% attack, basically you need to control 51% of the network to do something called a double spend, which means you can spend your bitcoins twice. Fortunately the bitcoin network is so vast, that this is virtually impossible, and thus its much harder to hack the network than it is to print fake fiat currency.
So the next question you're probably asking is why then do I hear about bitcoin being hacked so often. The bitcoin protocol itself is decentralized (much like torrents) and is virtually unhackable. Exchanges and computers are not. When you put bitcoins on your PC, your computer can be hacked, people can gain access to your bitcoins and spend them the same way you would. Bitcoin exchanges can be hacked, because you're basically trusting that someone else's computer is not going to get hacked. | 3d73af5f-c04e-4f81-83f3-e1a5b2b7108b |
17d2pl | How (if at all) would the extinction of flies and/or mosquitoes affect the course of nature? | An interesting question. Like you said in the description, it would make our lives happier.
Firstly, there would be no Malaria being spread by Mosquitoes in third world countries, so, going back to your original point, less people will die and therefore more people will be happy.
Moving onto flies. When flies land on your food at a picnic, or a BBQ, they are trying to eat it. Flies eat differently than us; they spit out acid (similar to bile, I think) which digests the food, and turns it into goo. Then the fly uses its long tube-like mouth to suck it up. Disgusting, right? That's not even the start of the story. Chances are, before that fly landed on your tasty steak or crispy crisps, it was eating a nice fresh piece of animal poo. Now this is the truly disgusting part. When a fly lands on a piece of poo, tiny bits of it get stuck to its legs. Then, it flies over to your food and lands on it; which spreads germs from the poo. ***DISGUSTING***.
**But believe it or not** flies are actually *sorta* important to our ecosystem. Because of the flies diet, they will eat dead things, and thus remove them for us (in an unpleasant, but effective way). So without the humble fly, we would have dead carcasses and animal feces everywhere. That will be truly disgusting.
TL;DR: Flies... we need those guys. As for Mosquitoes, fuck the
bastards.
Ps. To anyone reading this; would this be a good question to post on /r/HistoricalWhatIf ?
Edit: Grammar and shtuff.
Edit #2 (***No, that isn't a hashtag!***): found some links to flies. None on Mosquitoes. I hate the bastards.
_URL_0_
_URL_2_
_URL_1_ (I liked the second paragraph best!) | ce5313ae-d5df-452f-a9c2-49ffab96ac1a |
1tmfj1 | Is alcoholism hereditary? If so, how? | Alcoholism isn't hereditary so much as there is a gene that cause one to be prone to addiction. My dad was an alcoholic I never was, but i am a recovering meth addict. I have been clean for 4 years | 03ed8bf2-79a1-4604-bcf7-2932760cb3a6 |
3nnr0j | Why do people tend to get colds during the winter months, but not the summer months? | Not exactly the cold, but there are some theories around flu transmission. Essentially the cold weather is believed to help the virus survive longer outside the host, while the lower humidity levels often found during winter may aid in aerosol transmission.
Lower humidity also dries out the mucus membranes, possibly making them more susceptible to viral transmission as well as causing us to touch our noses more often. | 11cfefc9-975b-4f8a-abf6-967ecdd3fae3 |
1vs1ve | How has Magic Johnson been able to live so long with HIV? | HAART therapy combines a whole load of drugs that can reduce the rate at which HIV becomes aids. They target things like how the viruses genetic material becomes DNA, it can prevent binding of the virus to human cells, it can stop viral DNA from being integrated with our DNA so the building blocks of viruses can't be made and they can prevent those blocks from being put together. The virus evolves methods of beating these treatments though. Nowdays HIV suferers can have a life expectancy into their 70s. I am a microbiology student and have had this info drilled into me but this is ELI5 so i'll leave it at that. | b3ffc48b-3666-478c-afab-ac481b8626ae |
361uke | The difference between Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Life. | Coca Cola uses lots of sugar, and hence has lots of calories
Diet Coke replaces the sugar with sweeteners such as aspartame, which are calorie-free. Therefore the drink is calorie-free. (It actually has a couple of calories, but it's so low that the rules allow these calories to be ignored.)
Some people think aspartame is unnatural and therefore like to avoid it. So they introduced Coke Life, which uses Stevia as a sweetener. Stevia can be quite bitter by itself, so it's mixed with a little bit of sugar. This means it is not calorie-free, but is much lower in calories than regular Coca Cola. | e659f7f2-2356-4af9-8678-bc53729c4093 |
1q9tls | why is there still royalty in England | Just to clarify, in the UK at present, we don't have a King, we have the Queen and her consort, the prince.
As doc_daneeka touched on, the Queen has an important role, although essentially ceremonial, in our parliamentary constitutional monarchy system as the head of state.
It's not a great comparison given the Queen never expresses any political opinions or uses any of the powers she has without direction from her government, but she's in essence the 'president' in our system and given the complicated unwritten constitution it would certainly be a huge task to remove the position.
The other major reason is that there's not a huge will to get rid of them, there are small republican movements but they've never really attracted wide support. We did remove the monarchy after our civil war in 1649 but restored about 20 years later and we've been 'content' with them ever since.
And then there's the money, for all the talk of 'what they cost us' it's not a bad deal, the monarchy essentially gave up their land etc. and the subsequent income that made (£200m/year) to the treasury in exchange for what was called 'the civil list', an annual budget of about £8m. Then there's all the tourism revenue they help create.
TLDR; Too much effort to remove them from the system, they don't cost a great deal in comparison to what they pull in and republicanism isn't widely supported. | 98d2a7ad-f018-4b4c-9332-5afd4341380b |
2up7e9 | Why is CNN so widely disrespected? | Because they pretend to a serious news station, yet pander to the lowest common denominator US-centric gossip masquerading as news.
For example, in 2009, there were pro-democracy demonstrations in Iran at the same time as there was a coup in Honduras. CNN gave us a week of 24/7 coverage of Michael Jackson's death.
They also gave Nancy Grace her own show, for that alone they can never be forgiven. | 34ecdaf6-82a8-4ebc-8d9b-ca1f3deef994 |
64fenx | Why do different objects release different sounds when banged or tapped on? | Because different materials have different makeups, crystaline or non-crystaline structures, densities, volumes, masses and chemical makeups.
Sound travels through an item based on all of these objectives, and the sound that you hear from an impact varies greatly between dropping a bowling ball, and a ball-point pen.
Generally speaking, the more air that is inside an object, such as a hollow beach ball or a soccer ball, is going to make a more hollow smacking sound, while metal ball bearings or larger objects will make a more high pitched or pinging noise. This is due to the fact that sound doesn't travel well through these materials and you just hear the initial impact on the surface, while a beach ball is made of 99% air and the sound echos inside the ball well. | 2716da0a-c1e8-44a3-98f1-d8b73d75d6d0 |
17hwpq | What does checking/unchecking "Treat as an alias" do in gmail? | When you add an email account to your gmail, you can send and receive messages as that email address. However, this can cause some issues when sending and receiving between your Gmail account and your Alternate account:
1. If you send an email to yourself (e.g. from Gmail - > Alternate), that message will show up in both your Sent folder and your Inbox, because your Gmail sent the email and your Alternate received an email.
2. If you click "Reply" on an email that got sent from your Alternate email, the "To:" field will be populated with your Gmail address instead of the person who actually sent it.
Unchecking the box "Treat as an alias" fixes these problems. If you intend on using your Gmail to send and receive emails using your Alternate account (i.e., you want to use Gmail instead of your Alternate client and you're not sending email to and from Gmail/Alternate), then you probably want to leave this box checked. If you intend on sending email on behalf of another email account but still want email to work normally between your Gmail and Alternate, then you may want to uncheck this box.
Source: [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) | 4d3148de-3813-4f0e-9088-b7d33727ac46 |
5l4rqn | When our pupils dilate, where does the surrounding iris retreat to if it's outer diameter doesn't change? | There is a pupillary sphincter muscle that surrounds the pupil. It is this muscle constricting or relaxing that causes the pupil to constrict or dilate. The only part of the iris that moves is the part that is involved with the muscle. | 4f630495-c98c-48ce-acdd-a8f35222610e |
5vvfgu | How does the heart receives blod for its cells, I know it is a pump, and it seems inneficient to use the one it is pumping | The heart pumps blood out to the aorta. From there, some of the blood actually routes back to the heart via 3 major arteries. If any of these 3 get blocked, that is a heart attack.
I'm not sure what you mean by inefficient to use the one it's pumping | 63e23727-d025-4863-a4ee-efdaaca304d3 |
5cwknc | How can scientists create measuring tools more accurate than the tools we already have? Doesn't the accuracy of new tools depend on the accuracy of the tools used to make it? | There are methods for creating accurate without already having an accurate thing.
Like finding the mid-point between two points. Attach a pencil to a string and attach a string to a needle that you stick at point A. As long as the string is more than half the distance to the second point, you can can draw a large arc with it.
Then repeat the process from the other point. There will be two points at which the arcs intersect. If you draw a line between those points and draw another line between the two original points, you will have accurately determined the mid-point using "in-accurate" tools. | d3c56d5a-2565-4d4c-8f5c-e6e139a5cb44 |
3z324l | Why were pants mainly for men and skirts for women back in the olden days? | First off, many cultures around the world don't have this distinction - men and women in skirts is normal and they wouldn't understand the fuss. For the western world, trousers came about for practical reasons - they're easier to ride horses with is a big one. Women have kept skirts and dresses as western attitudes on femininity remained stuck with the idea that women can look pretty but don't really need to do anything practical. World War II was a major catalyst for wardrobe changes for women, but 100 years ago the idea of a woman in trousers was as difficult to understand for majority of people as a guy wearing a skirt today.
Up until about 100 years ago, children in the west still wore unisex outfits (think boys in frilly dresses) and even 50 years ago the idea of pink is for girls and blue is for boys didn't exist (historically, red was for men, pink was for boys and blue was for girls - red fabric dye was very expensive, and blue was a cheaper colour to produce).
On a side issue, you'll probably find that women's trousers have the flap covering the fly opening opposite to men's, with the explanation being that men dressed themselves and women were dressed by their maids (except for jeans).
Depending on the shape of the skirt, of course it's better for men, but western society in general has an issue with accepting this. Skirts are simpler to make and can even be warmer than trousers. For women, pants may make more sense than for men but skirts still do too. | 982cf74d-4ca1-440d-8e96-23183fe8ffc0 |
25ytax | If 0.1 amps can be lethal to a human, then why don't I die when touching the contacts of a phone battery, which is 3.8 V and 1500-3200 mA? | When you touch the contacts of a battery, the current that flows through your body is governed by [Ohms law](_URL_0_).
Because your body, and in particular your skin, has a high electrical resitance, the current that results from a 3.8 Volt potential difference is in the range of micro Amperes, which typically will not register with your nervous system.
The number 1500-3200 that you mention is a measure for how much electrical energy can be stored in the battery, and it is usually expressed in milli Ampere hours (mAh). A capacity of 1500 mAh means that your battery is able to sustain a current of 1500 mA for the duration of one hour before it is depleted. Or 750 mA for a duration of two hours. Or 15 mA for a duration of 100 hours. | 675fb6d9-42b4-4ebb-97df-8ff424994982 |
4j57x3 | The universe either started at one point, or has always been there. How are either possible? | > Point 1 seems illogical- it begs the question "what allowed the universe into being"
You are approaching this from a standpoint of absolute reliance on causality. Our brains are wired and designed to think of everything in terms of cause and effect - if there is an effect then we assume there must be a cause. And indeed we constantly observe cause and effect everyday around us.
But there is no fundamental logical reason why an effect *has* to have a cause. To say "what caused time to start" isn't a meaningful question as in order for something to *cause* something to start, time must exist. | 3b388982-f158-4a7d-b96a-2cd76fbdc388 |
4tgp28 | How does the UN General Assembly enforce its decisions? | It doesn't. The power to enforce UN resolutions belongs to the UN Security Council, and any of the 5 permanent members (US, Russia, China, UK, and France) can veto any action the security council might take. | 918488a8-a3b7-423a-afe0-fd5de054c749 |
4zjtzi | What causes internet outages? | From my personal experience as an internet tech support rep, there are several things that could go wrong. It could be a hardware issue at the central office, or hardware issue in one of the internet boxes for your neighbourhood (DSLAM), it could be the wiring running to your house, copper or fiber, being broken or worn down, it could be the box attached to your house that connects those wires to your modem, it could be your modem or router itself... lots of different issues.
The most common issue would be the modem hasn't been restarted in awhile. Like any piece of smart technology, devices need to be restarted because over time bugs and error codes build up in the memory and bog it down. Restarting devices erases these bugs and gets the system working again.
EDIT: for spelling and grammar. | 73e7ff2b-caae-482c-aa62-016eb968d11b |
534u2p | Why does the USA send billions of dollars to other countries when it's public schools are broke, healthcare is hurting, and infrastructure is crumbling? | Because humanity is important as a whole. We might have crumbled roads, but some places have none. | 2e03a693-1d19-4687-9fc1-a1934122c651 |
31pkh4 | What was Hitlers final goal? Was it to conquer all of Europe or just prove that Germany is a superpower not to be dealt with? | More than anything, Nazi Germany wanted space, or "living room" (aka in German: Lebensraum which translates to living space, but living room I think is easier to understand) to expand the German culture, heritage, and power.
From a practical perspective this meant controlling continental Europe, North Africa, the Caucuses, and Western Russia. All under a single *German* state. This would allow Germany, and Germans plenty of resources and space to spread out and be more productive, as well as cementing Germany as the major world power. | e565a452-74cc-47d6-a9e2-dfd827f5f59b |
2fbysk | How do ATMs always dispense the crispiest of bills? Even if the bills are years old. | They can dispense nice-looking bills because that's what they are filled with. ATMs are filled with money that comes from the bank, and the banks remove worn and damaged bills from circulation. | f85548e9-8589-4857-9884-6200283f1c72 |
1ndbm3 | People who can see other people's aura's. | Little mix of crazy, too much pot, and some scammers in the mix as well. | 5cb783d4-16c4-4b62-8297-b092fae71e25 |
75tup7 | Can jury nullification work the other way too? As in, is it possible for a jury to purposely convict a provingly innocent person resulting in a legal conviction? | No, not in the same way. When a jury rules a man innocent despite the evidence against him, the state can't do anything about it. The Constitution protects him from being tried again for the same crime. That is what creates the institution of "jury nullification"--the acquittal can't be second-guessed.
But when a jury rules a man guilty despite the evidence, a judge *can* rule otherwise. If the jury could not reasonably have reached a guilty verdict given the evidence, it will not stand. Even if the trial judge decides against it, the convict has the opportunity to appeal. Jury verdicts are rarely overturned in this way, but the verdict has to have at least some relation to the evidence, unlike with nullification.
To be sure, a biased jury or judge can do a lot of harm. There are plenty of cases where, to outsiders, the verdict is questionable. But there is an important conceptual difference. | beddaa3e-b1a9-482a-9b52-6de233dc63c5 |
3qiyqd | Why did the Nazis house Jews and other minorities in concentration camps instead of simply killing them? | Nazis housed them for experiments as well as free labor. Many camps also contained political prisoners or intellectuals that they could exploit for information.
This also ties in with the Final Solution, by gathering these undesirables, it made it easier for the Nazi's to systematically execute all of them. They'd use less ammunition, less gas, and less resources than hunting them all in the streets. | 717569db-91ea-4b05-af1c-7ab977c8e500 |
2o5sz1 | Why does Israel spy on the US? | Everyone spies on everyone as much as they are able if they are smart.
Making decisions requires information. If you don't have correct information then you are less capable of making the right decisions. Therefore if you value making the right decisions then you must also value pursuing accurate information, even if those people with the information don't really want you to know. You see, the people making the decisions swore an oath to their own people and owe it to them to make the right decisions, and they don't owe the people who want to keep secrets anything at all.
This is why everyone has spies of varying ability, even if nobody wants to talk about it. | 5b94fa31-7755-46ba-ba88-9d1d71299a6a |
rs57g | How come some comments change when I upvote them? | I think it is because if somebody alters the comment after you've loaded the page, the moment you vote it is selectively updated by javascript in the browser in order to get the vote counted right. | 13d3a7f9-f5c1-42ad-a986-bc807721c965 |
1west6 | Why do fruits and vegetables always feel cold, even when they should be room temperature? | How cold things feel to the touch is a reflection of their ability to conduct heat. Items which are better heat conductors will feel colder, whereas items that don't conduct heat well, will feel less cold.
Put a glass cup, a plastic cup, and a metal cup on your counter and let them all come to room temperature. The metal one will feel coldest, because it has high heat transfer. The plastic one will feel least cold, for the opposite reason.
Fruits have a high water content, and so generally conduct heat fairly well. Thus they feel cold. | a08e23f3-ec65-4c26-97f1-7a1c66f8188d |
2i5y4l | Why does a bike balance while its moving? | Bikes use multiple things that keep the bike up and prevent it from going left to right a lot. The way the front wheel is build it makes the bike turn when you drop towards a side. Now the bike went from falling to turning. And while turning the centrifugal force (which is basically the forward momentum/inertia you mentioned) starts to push you back up.
What could happen is that you get pushed to the other side and start to wobble. The mentioned angular momentum ( which is basically inertia for turning things, they don't want to change the way they are turning ) dampens the wobble. Even though it won't stop the wobble it makes it easier to handle. And all the friction in the turning parts of the bike and between the wheel and the street will eventually stop it completely. (Or the bike slows down too much and all those effects stop working) | f7409368-fc98-4504-9286-12d558cbfd3d |
1n0mf5 | How are nuclear reactions started? | More or less. Fissile material constantly emits neutrons, but when you only have a small amount of the stuff, most neutrons escape the bulk of the material before meeting another nucleus and causing another fission event. In this case, the neutron emission is only due to spontaneous fission because the material is radioactive. The more of the material you have per unit volume, the more neutrons will cause fission events (because they're more likely to hit another nucleus). Once you have a particular amount of fissile material (the critical mass for that substance) you will cross a threshold such that each neutron, on average, generates more than one extra neutron by causing fission. When this happens, you have a runaway nuclear reaction and you get an explosion.
As an example, one design is the implosion-type weapon. You have a sphere of fissile material that is close to but not at critical mass. When you want the weapon to go off, conventional explosives around the sphere explode, crushing it and bringing it to critical mass (because you now have the same mass, but in a smaller volume). Boom! | f3dee150-5739-4275-a5a6-70dc8ca702a7 |
2m7sel | What is a SmartGrid and/or MicroGrid? How are they beneficial to the public? | Microgrids (usually self-sustaining) can power a small area on its own, but also generate and store electricity (usually with large batteries/wind/solar power) and then use that stored energy to pump back into the rest of the large public grid. This means less power outages and more reliable electricity.
You can check out _URL_0_ for a good breakdown of information and some useful links. | dc35f52c-1b70-4c09-9d24-b7351161b38d |
2fz1lx | There are always campaigns to "stop global warming". Can we actually stop global warming, or are we just delaying it? | If everyone in the world was to cooperate, we absolutely could fix it. There's two things that need to happen. One is to replenish our carbon sinks which convert CO2 into oxygen. Basically this means re-planting the world's forests and cleaning up the oceans so the photosynthesizing plankton and algae can return.
The second thing is to get off of fossil fuel energy sources, quickly. Even if we shut off every car and coal power plant in the world tomorrow, it still wouldn't be enough to prevent some pretty serious climate change (and God help us if we keep burning fossil fuels for much longer). This is why we need the carbon sinks, to give us that extra boost. But we need energy, and that's where renewable, clean energy comes in. Solar, wind, and tidal energy all need to be seriously increased and it needs to be done seriously fast. | 0363462e-a1c1-42b1-b97d-7110d699337e |
55ege2 | How are diamonds made from coal? | Diamonds aren't made from coal and pressure + coal does not make diamonds.
They're both made from carbon but they are completely different. They don't even form in the same types of rock.
Coal is dead plants turning into sedimentary rock whereas diamonds are from igneous rock and are formed in the mantle and brought up by volcanic eruptions. | d52d74a0-08c8-44a5-83dc-67da6d67d5be |
7z49jv | Why have elephants been tamed as war animals in the ancient world but never tamed for domestic things like farming? | But they have. In certain areas, such as India and SE Asia, they are routinely used for logging in mountainous terrain.
But they eat a whole lot, and the upkeep is prohibitively high relative to the increased power available.
And considering their size, it is much easier for them to do a lot of damage to people, as well as harder to contain, in the event they do get out of control. | 1909b419-ee65-47d6-8f0b-c489c17e600e |
1p2v37 | Why is eugenics in general considered such a bad thing. | I'm not entirely sure what you mean, if you say "eugenics". The problems with it seem very obvious to me, if you share my definition, which is to steer human reproduction for the "good of a healthier society". I think my definition more or less fits the one Wikipedia is using. _URL_0_
I guess nobody would be against getting rid of e.g. Parkinson's disease by distributing a vaccination to everyone, but I wouldn't call that eugenics. Eugenics are about the politics of reproduction. And being able to reproduce is a very basic human need AND right, which people shouldn't be able to lose or have it threatened in the name of an abstract collective good.
Eugnics are almost inseperable from totalitarian thought, because there is a strong political element in many cases of deciding what is a good and what is a bad trait. It contradicts the idea of a free individual.
Just think about the different views out there on homosexuality - some people might consider it worthy of being wiped out of the human gene pool. Also topics of racism and social class arise and have also been a very tragic part of the history of eugenics.
It's my first attempt of an ELI5, I hope it was helpful. :) | 4b9b5575-280b-4c2a-90d8-ced2ece599a3 |
3fyhzz | How are things named? | There are a lot of ways things get named.
1. Take its equivalent name in another language. This is what a lot of English is. Chair's origin was from the old french "chaiere".
2. Name it based on its function or origin. "Fireplace", "compact disc", "computer" are named based on their functions or appearances. "Nylon" (New York and London), "Kleenex", "reddit", etc. This is the typical approach with modern words or brand names, with one exception:
3. Be the first to call it something and let it catch on.
People decide what a name is based on who propagates it. Companies market their brand name until it becomes synonymous with its product. Scientists coin new terms and name species and use it until it enters common parlance. Slang is invented and circulated until it becomes part of the local dialect. One thing's for sure, naming is not the responsibility of one person; everyone needs to know it for a name to work! | 29fe5dc1-c640-4b1b-b767-eb04aea41f19 |
225l4f | How do I balance a checkbook? | 1) Start of the month - Figure out how much money is currently in your bank account
2) Through out the month - Keep track of every expense you use your bank account for (including withdrawals)
3) End of the Month - Figure out what your ending balance is and return to step 1.
Your checkbook is now balanced. | 512c96c1-a69c-4e6a-956f-ee16fb1ed78f |
53e971 | Why are we restricted by airport customs in the amount of cash we carry? | There is no such limit. Above $10,000 you have to declare it to them and fill out a form. It is to fight money laundering; same as the reporting requirements for large cash transactions at banks. | efa8004d-8f3b-4199-b412-337a4072dcee |
54zfc2 | How to read a woman's measurements? | Your friend is correct.
A woman with a bust of 37 inch means that the measurement of their chest going across their breasts is 37 in in circumference.
The Waist is measured at the belly button (on most people) and if it is 24 that means it is 24 inches in circumference.
The hips is measured at the fullest (largest) part of the hips and buttocks. It once again is a measurement of circumference.
The 37-24-35 is very close to the classic hour glass figure which is considered the best ratios to have. Marilyn Monroe for example was 35-22-35. | 7dc49f97-171f-42fe-8d69-2a2f8fc9b808 |
3mkx5t | SPOILER ALERT: Why is "50 Shades of Grey" so controversial? | It's a book based on a piece of *Twilight* fan fiction written by a random woman with no writing ability whatsoever.
It's controversial because it displays a serious misunderstanding of S & M, consent, and healthy romantic relationships, while at the same time is directed at teen girls or younger and has the literary difficulty level of a 2nd graders book.
In the book, Christian Grey (called Edward Cullen right up until release) is an stalker and rapist who takes a virgin and terrorizes her into continuing an abusive, one-sided relationship. He literally plants a tracking device on her without her consent and threatens her constantly if she ever disobeys him.
In the end, she "changes his mind", is supposedly less creepy, and they live happily ever after. | 22e9fa02-37ce-432b-a8fb-0272f5c8c762 |
60yedq | How Does Vinyl Work? | As the needle goes around the track it follows a little groove, as it does it moves back and forth a little bit following the path of the groove. Those little movements create a small amount of voltage commonly using a piezoelectric crystal (a material that creates an electric field when deformed), those small changes in voltage are the music. Now in order to hear the music those small changes in voltage need to be amplified so that they can drive a speaker and you can do that fairly simply with either modern transistors or in older times vacuum tubes.
The earliest recording devices used the exact inverse to etch music into wax cylinders by having a microphone feed into a needle that would deflect due to changes in the electric field. The signal you record is the signal you play back if the two methods are mirror images of one another like that. | 522545d4-7c71-4775-ad93-a01cf50cc1f2 |
194rwj | How does the government track people downloading illegal music? | I am not aware of any evidence of any western governments tracking 'illegal' downloads. Most file-sharing is not 'illegal' in the sense of committing a crime that harms society in general (such as theft or assault). But it does breach copyright laws. Breach of copyright is a *tort*, a civil crime in which an individual who is wronged can sue for damages. In order to sue for damages, evidence that meets certain standards must be acquired.
Large trade organisations, copyright enforcement groups and smaller security firms seeking to earn a quick buck monitor file-sharing downloads in order to obtain the details of participants. | cea2c54e-5ac8-42c9-91af-c11ac739bdb0 |
1xdeu4 | When it comes to the topic of birth defects, what is the difference between a congenital and a genetic condition? | Genetic describes the source or cause of a condition. Congenital describes the time of onset, that is, present at (or often before) birth.
Note that a congenital condition is not necessarily genetic; it could also refer to an infection, a condition caused by a vitamin deficiency (e.g. spina bifida), exposure to a toxic substance in utero, etc. | d2ddbfa2-4513-470c-838a-71df9cf3c87e |
2860ra | Why do I feel tired after eating greasy food? | More than likely it's just the sheer amount of food that you're eating, not necessarily what it's composed of. You don't feel sluggish after eating broccoli and carrots because you aren't going to eat nearly as much.
Your body just wants you to calm down for a bit while it works on digesting the giant pile of food you just asked it to deal with. | b6728d9e-96f3-4359-a516-24e69dc02c9e |
6guw9p | Why is altitude (in regards to aircraft) still measured in feet, rather than metres? | Standardisation and inertia. The whole world basically agreed to the same sets of rules and measures and even language for flying. There's no real need to go to the expense and hassle of changing it.
And no, there's no real benefit to measuring altitude in metres instead of feet. The benefit of the metric system is that the whole system is aligned. There's nothing special about a metre that makes it better than a foot. Kilofeet, centifeet etc. would work just as well if they'd been designed that way from scratch. | 3345d346-d064-49f6-9393-940e15c6a5b9 |
6l5x5y | Non HD movies now in HD | Movies used to be shot on film for better quality. There is not a lot of movies that was shot in SD as even when digital cameras were available they still used film. It is just relatively recently when you have HD and 4k digital cameras that movies have started shooting digitally. So the SD movies are usually SD scans of much higher quality film. You can therefore easily take out the original film that were shown in theaters and rescan it in HD or even 4k. | ea207b6c-70b9-492d-ac43-525f70c585f3 |
2b27yl | If Netflix runs much better over VPN, why doesn't Netflix offer VPN service to their customers? | If traffic is being throttled from your provider to netflix, it doesn't matter if it is VPN traffic, it will still be throttled.
The point of using a VPN is that you are getting to netflix through a remote gateway on a provider that doesn't throttle netflix. | 189f24f4-7ae7-4396-bfd1-e6a03da6208d |
2jvvu0 | Why is it that when people shorten 'transgender,' they add an asterisk to it? | This is a highly educated guess, but I believe it's because an * , in computer lingo, is also a "wild card", meaning that it can take the place of one, or several letters. In this case, the person could be talking about transGENDER or transSEXUAL people, so they shorten it, to trans* | a7444f19-73a2-4290-8375-cddda97a9445 |
3ioyvh | The possibility of the world's nuclear powered submarines surviving an asteroid that would end humanity. | The strike, sure.
The aftermath, like the loss of all higher life on the planet, not really. Where would they resupply? Where would they get more food? They would be fine, maybe for a year, but is that really "winning" this scenario? | 4521060f-fad9-4e02-9015-cad781a64c39 |
5yi26f | When people become paralyzed, why does it seem common that they retain control of their eyes and eyelids? | Paralysis is the result of a "disconnect" between your brain and your peripheral nervous system.
[Here is a rear view of your body and major nerves](_URL_0_).
The majority of paralysis cases are the result of traumatic injury to the spinal cord, which severs nerve connections.
An injury to the lower thoracic or lumbar vertebra usually results in paraplegia (can't move legs) because the nerves that innervate your legs can no longer communicate with the central nervous system (brain & spine), but everything above the waist still can.
A higher injury (upper thoracic or cervical vertebra) often results in quadriplegia (can't move arms or legs) because (look at the diagram again) the majority of your PNS nerves connect to the spinal cord below the neck region.
This is also why it is very uncommon for someone to be paralyzed in the upper body region (can't move arms) while still being able to control their legs.
In order to lose eye control there would have to be an injury traumatic enough to sever nerve connections within the skull. This would more than likely result in death.
It could happen as a result of brain damage, infection, hereditary conditions, nerve degenetation, etc. but again, since most cases of paralysis are the result of injury, these cases aren't seen nearly as often.
Locked in syndrome is a result of brain damage, so it's a bit more difficult to predict the outcome of cases like this. It all depends on exactly what neural pathways are affected and to what extent. | 741ac60a-7808-48d4-a323-a1c6cce2fce6 |
1oiavv | P versus NP and the effect(s) on the world that would come from it being solved | Without getting into theoretical computer science too much, P is the class of problems that are "easy" to solve, and NP is the class of problems that may or may not be easy to solve, but are at least easy to verify. And by "easy" we mean that the best-known algorithm (process) for doing it scales well with the size of the problem.
Adding two numbers together is easy. When adding numbers that are *n* digits long, you only need *n* steps. Adding numbers that are 10 times larger only takes 1 additional step. Adding numbers that are a million times larger only takes 6 additional steps. So that scales really well with the size of the problem.
Finding a solution to the knapsack problem ("here's a bunch of objects weighing different amounts, find me a subset of them that weighs exactly 10 pounds") is really hard. All you can really do is try every combination until you find one that works, or you go through all of the possibilities and find that nothing works. But verifying a solution is easy--you just add to see that it works, and adding is easy.
But why is the knapsack problem hard? Is there something fundamental about the laws of mathematics that demands that there's no good solution? Or have we as humans just not been clever enough to think of a better way? Over time, lots of problems that we used to think were hard have turned out to be easy because someone came up with a better solution, so people got thinking that maybe all of the NP problems are actually in P.
If it turns out that P=NP, then there are a whole bunch of problems that people think are hard that are actually easy. Most modern cryptography systems would end up being broken, because they're based on some of these problems that we assume are hard.
If it turns out that P does not equal NP (which is what everybody assumes is the case), then nothing really changes. | af27f03b-0e66-438d-93f9-b8795bb64892 |
59546a | What advantage to companies have for focusing on short term stock gains? | From the perspective of the board of directors, and the "company itself" the single measure of success of the company is shareholder value. In fact, a focus on _anything other than that_ is a shirking of legal responsibility of a board member.
So...thats the starting point. If your shareholders are frustrated that it's taking too long to get them return, then you aren't doing your job very well and you _must make a change_. This is to say that when this occurs, the company is not doing a good job. Period.
This isn't to say that you aren't right - that they are being short sighted and might regret it later, or might create more shareholder return on a longer time continuum if they could escape the "pressure" of quarter announcements.
Further, while I generally embrace cynicism and there is a lot of poor management in the world, do remember that the people doing the analysis are pretty smart and pretty experienced. Notably the best companies can create both short and long term value and when either of those aren't happening they should make adjustments. It's generally considered "burying your head in the sand" to say "the stuff we've got coming out next year is really gonna save us" - the market is right to look for management of the finances of the businesses in ways that hedge against that risky stance. | 5be6648f-d2de-4b98-b359-4752da5b5476 |
4q5cce | what causes nail biting and why is it such a difficult habit to break? | Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the chewing action of the jaw (when biting nails) releases endorphins (not sure why), which causes a positive feeling in your brain - this mainly happens when you are anxious, so your body is trying to find a way to relieve or comfort itself. It's also why some people find chewing gum (or to extreme cases, overconsumption of food) helps them relax.
This becomes addictive not only because of those endorphins, but because you chew your nails it causes them to have a very rugged, imperfect shape. Most people who commonly chew nails (not out of anxiety) tend to show some symptoms of OCD, which means that they want to keep their nails in a symmetrical pretty shape, which causes their "perfectionism" to not stop biting until the nails look decent (of course, when they grow back they are still rugged, so this cycle continues). | 14ac029f-4a55-4788-8585-b00c66e0e860 |
2s4z1u | Why are boneless wings even called wings? | Because you can't walk into a restaurant and order 20 pieces of "that bomb ass shit". | 525278ba-1892-45c0-a6ce-d200ba47ba73 |
2214bc | How do people "fail" to commit suicide? | Gun jams, rope snaps, they land into a truck of pillows and cake, etc. | 37322833-e07d-44ba-8a1c-12e5145ddefa |
43n6yn | why is cursive writing the default writing style in Russia but phasing out in English? | It is easier to write Cyrillic in cursive than in print. Д for example is annoying as fuck to write in print for example. Some people write in a mixed fashion with some parts cursive and some parts written.
Source: Know a Cyrillic language. | c8d9dc33-6a57-490d-84e9-325ac17a270f |
4muzoo | why are these hot ass teachers hooking up with funny looking kids? | Because they are pedophiles and mentally ill. They are turned on not by the looks of the student, but by the teacher's position of authority over the student, and the innocence, naïveté, or "freshness" of the sexuality of a young teen. | cbabe409-1539-4b69-8e84-957a6b7a0591 |
ky19u | Why is everyone cautions about Salmonella, but sushi is okay? | Raw fish in sushi, called *sashimi*, can indeed contain bacteria or parasites. To get rid of parasites, some countries have laws saying that you must freeze the fish at [253 K](_URL_0_) for many hours. Many parasites freeze to death at such low temperatures.
However, other foods, like ground beef, often do not have such laws about freezing, so there can be bacteria or parasites that survive. | 4df48f57-c6a9-469d-bb9d-6435586bc70d |
460e16 | Why is noon 12PM rather than being 12AM? | AM means ante meridiem or before midday. So 12am is 12 hours before midday.
PM means post meridiem or after midday. | f9acc4c1-b9f8-431d-813a-fd07278885e0 |
t4lfy | Computer Triggers | It's very likely event driven: There's a complex system in the computer kind of like a post office.
The health pack sends mail to the post office. The post office decides what order to do things (usually in order) but can pause everything if needed.
If things go smoothly the post office sends mail to the player's health. When the player's health gets the mail it updates it for you.
This all happens in a fraction of a second though, so it seems instantaneous with no break to your mailed commands to tell the character to keep moving forward.
(Also note that technically the post office does use an infinite loop to check for updates.) | dadca370-8fb4-43e8-9c08-c8f6b0be9453 |
1lemkl | What are viruses, exactly? Why do they exist? | Viruses classically fall under a couple different vague families: trojans, adware, spyware and worms. Over time, it has become harder and harder to classify a virus under any one of these families, as they've grown in complexity to the point where they often are all of these things.
The first one was written to map the internet; the first worm, designed to travel from server to server and report back. This experiment, as you can guess, didn't end as expected, when he ended up choking the Internet rather than map it.
The vast majority fulfil one of several fraudulent roles:
* DDoS: Your computer is opened up to receive attack requests, in which it will join a larger effort to drive massive traffic at a server to prevent it from responding to legitimate queries.
* Spam: Your computer is opened up to send out spam emails, covering the identity of the origin of the message.
* Trojan/Rootkit: Usually a more script-kiddie oriented virus, it is usually used to pester or torment the user needlessly. They seem remarkably unproductive. Frequently can make a computer unusable.
* Spyware: Watches your movements, usually with the goal of stealing login information and credit card numbers.
* Adware: Designed for one of two purposes: to display ads to the infected user for revenue, or to hijack the computer and use it provide false impressions/clicks on existing ad sources. Usually the later, as the former tends to be noticed.
* Ransomware: A new variant, known for encrypting files and demanding payment to release them. There are other methods, but this is the most common/effective.
* Worm: A virulent virus, usually with none of the above payloads. Designed to spread, not damage, but tends to do so as it consumes resources.
They exist because someone wanted to write one, usually with the goal of making money, despite the difficulties in actually obtaining that money, as ad revenue is pathetically low and credit card fraud is harder than it seems. | d5d24592-cbd5-4143-9df4-d5c9344a66d8 |
3gcuxi | What is the difference between being intelligent and being intellectual? | To be an intellectual you have to be interested in certain things: art, politics, philosophy, science. Plenty of smart people don't give a hoot about those things, but interest in them tends to track with intelligence. | 6c849297-abf3-486d-9b7f-b9025c68c5f3 |
2wepbj | Trying to understand vitamin D. There is a LOT of conflicting information out there. How many mins in sunlight do I need per day. Does it count if it comes in the window or if I am outside but in shade? I read somewhere that it washes off??? Please enlighten me!!! | I cant answer your other questions, but you cant wash away vitamins absorbed by your skin. That would require some serious osmosis, and isnt achieved by a swim or a regular bath. No science to back up my claims. Always research trusted sources. | f57613f9-035f-49f9-84f2-397f07fadce9 |
221ix8 | Why do most cartoon characters have four fingers on each hand instead of five? | Easier and faster to draw, and because early animators (Disney, Warner Bros) dit it, it was adopted as the style. Some cartoons do not do this, most recently noted in the AdultSwim show "Rick and Morty" where characters sport all 5 normal digits.
*EDIT: I accidentally a words there. | 662b4fc5-9520-49ba-8044-75215c6b2b42 |
1u80np | How do you make/manufacture glitter? | Colored foil and lots of little kids with scissors in china. | 74977c89-45b5-42a3-bba3-f7109fb5ec9d |
47o457 | If you got to build a machine that can throw coins the same way everytime, from the same height, in a controlled space, with no wind and with milimetric precission, would the coin always land the same face? | A team at Stanford did exactly that while investigating how random a coin toss is, building a machine that tossed coins so that they always landed the way they started. Put the coin in the machine heads-up and it would land as heads 100% of the time (or at least in 100% of their tests).
They also concluded that a normal coin toss by a human isn't quite fair, and will land the way it started 51% of the time. | 53d6f132-d499-4874-8d08-0996cc0a3cec |
6x51oe | Is there a difference in reading from a book and reading online material? why does it appear that people who read a lot of books have a deeper knowledge than people who spend time reading online? | There's not going to be one definitive answer to this question---and a lot of the difference is based on outdated stereotypes about what it means to be smart.
However, there is an important difference between spending a lot of time reading books and spending a lot of time "reading" online: focus.
Unless you just happen to be reading digital copies of books, reading books requires more focus and attention than reading online.
Most people who are reading online are reading dozens of different posts on different topics, with various levels of quality control and depth.
By contrast, spending the same amount of time reading books implies engagement with some substantial part of all of the materials relevant to a topic---since you had to pick that one book for a reason, as opposed to whatever an aggregator selected. Books themselves are also more likely to deal with a particular topic in depth, and if you are reading "good" books, are likely to have gone through a great deal more rigorous vetting and review. | ef19ab3e-cee5-4c3f-a266-30c7252d7648 |
5rmeqt | Why are streaming services offering such widely different content based on the country like netflix in Sweden vs usa. | Streaming services have to pay the content providers a licensing fee for each separate market (country) so it's primarily an economic decision - will they make enough money out of having that particular show, etc available in that particular market to justify the cost.
But sometimes there are local laws that might prevent something - for example (I don't know if this is true or not) but Game of Thrones might be a bit too risque for certain markets.
There can also be competing licensing agreements. For example HBO might sell Game of Thrones to the local Swedish cable company with exclusive rights so it's not made available through streaming services.
This actually happened with Orange is the New Black when Netflix launched in Australia - Netflix wasn't allowed to show to current season **of their own show** because they'd already signed a contract with our cable TV company for exclusive rights. | f574634f-bfbc-483f-b3e9-c80f30728a50 |
6jepo4 | Why did my black goldfish turn orange? | You could've just googled it, but here's my five cents. Source: Had lots of goldfish in my garden pond when I was younger. Goldfish hatch black and turn orange during the first years of their life. Some of them are "early" developers and turn gold within their second year, some of them take five years, occasionally even longer. And very few of them never turn gold. So that one fish of you just was a bit late, nothing wrong with that. | 254b2476-d49f-472a-804a-f45f46d305c3 |
1381mm | Why do special effects and CGI cost so much money? | It's not just a program. It's the team of people needed to use those programs. Within the CG world, people tend to specialize. There are modelers, animators, texture and lighting people, compositors who put effects into footage, and so on. Each of those elements is hugely difficult and typically requires years of training to get to a professional level. Each of those people is a professional who receives a professional's salary for their expertise at what they do, and the long-ass hours they put in to do it. Plus, CG effects take a lot of processing power to properly render; you're looking at a lot of hardware, including huge render farms filled with computers tasked with taking those professionals' raw output and rendering it out as movie frames. There's a lot going on behind the effects you see in movies, even the short or simple ones that you don't even really notice.
Source: SO is a 3D modeler. That shit's hard. | 3148ef7e-5e54-4f41-a198-7e23d281a354 |
143rif | Why don't they make 2 liter soda bottles rectangular? | Storage containers for items under pressure (soda, propane), are round because the items inside are pushing outward. Corners and seams are weak points, so a round shape minimizes those places, to help prevent blowouts. | bc09b1a9-3d9c-4c6c-aec5-62508fc467a3 |
5j3liw | How do scratch and sniff stickers work | An adhesive mixed with an ester (a chemical that can smell like various organic substances, such as strawberries) is stuck onto a piece of paper. Then, the smelly area is sprayed with an easily-scratched substance, which also blocks the scent until the smelly patch is uncovered. | d41a127f-c3d2-47c8-8ce2-6ee198b26303 |
1vmqs3 | Why does sleeping feel so good shortly after waking up? | During sleep, a horomone called melatonin is released throughout the night to induce a relaxing sensation throughout the body. Once the body is triggered to wake up (I.e. sunlight or an alarm clock) the body stops producing melatonin. The problem is that even though melatonin is not being produced anymore, the remaining melatonin in the body lingers for about 35-50 min which is the half-life of melatonin.
Edit: since im the top post which is awesome sauce btw!, ill add some info
Melatonin production is halted by blue light, thats why it is beneficial to use a program like f.lux to reduce blue light from electronic screens
Melatonin has little to no role in depression, depression normally has to do with neurotransmitters in the CNS
Source: Endocrine class I took | 5d7fecb9-b9e6-4251-9722-6980d513b715 |
37au8q | How does cat litter work | It's also conditioning. We teach them that this is where they go and since they naturally want to bury their droppings it works for everyone | cda2bbad-cc11-4ad9-8d8a-d2ab9b75c665 |
4y93pl | A presidential pardon decades after death | Basically it's just to officially acknowledge that the person was innocent. It brings some justice to the family | f2e65a5c-b010-4ef3-bf7b-62918846947e |
5muv12 | Why does blood go to someone's mouth when they're stabbed? Is this a real thing that happens? | Well if they are stabbed in the lung it would fill with blood and they would be forced to cough it up, same if their intestines were punctured blood would eventually make it to the mouth | 2e065cb5-64ca-4b52-85df-083e238fea18 |
1k7mhy | How can American Airlines file for bankruptcy but continue to buy brand new planes? | They're in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a Chapter 11, a business continues to operate as usual, it just goes through a judicial proceeding to create a "plan" to restructure its debt.
There are certain restrictions on what a business in Chapter 11 can or can't do, but for the most part it's business as usual. | 09742ae3-e2e4-4376-a625-e62850a3b569 |
71wzo4 | What is the science behind ICBMs? | The B stands for Ballistic, which means that the missile is boosted by rockets to a high altitude, then falls back down unpowered at an extremely high speed - something like 7 km (4.3 miles) per *second*. The sheer speed, combined with the lack of flames out the back, makes an ICBM extremely hard to track and intercept, by design.
So the missile itself is fairly simple in principle, but getting it all to work is harder. If the missile's trajectory is set correctly during the boost phase, it means little or no correction is required during the terminal phase. Modern ICBMs have multiple independently-targeted re-entry vehicles - MIRVs -which separate from the missile and have their own rockets and guidance systems.
The sheer speed of re-entry can't be over-stated. At 7 km/s, that means the warhead goes from 14 km up - 46,000 ft, higher than any commercial airliner - to the ground, in *two seconds*. | 190618cb-da7a-47a7-8ca5-f0a16e9331dc |
595k0n | Why U.S. conservatives are so against abortion but generally the first to gripe about families with multiple children on welfare. | Because they are honoring a set of principles:
1. the fetus deserves protection as a living thing.
2. it's not fair to others to create economic advantage for some without the hard work put in by the rest of us.
You too have principles that result in "tension" - where upholding one leads to pushing against another. For example, I believe as an entrepreneur that I ought to be able to create a company like I want to and hire people that I want to hire and pay them what I want to. I also believe we need to have an organized system of immigration - these things are total odds. I also believe that we need to protect rights of those who have been historically screwed and that I shouldn't be allowed to only hire white men like myself beyond some point. Tension. Part of political life.
You're asking of those you disagree with to meet a bar of consistency based entirely on your framing of the issues. These are independent considerations based on primary principles to one audience, and thinking of it as "stupidity" doesn't further our ability to find common ground. | df80d3e4-de8f-4def-a8e9-e1efc5b4e277 |
1tqlk6 | How and why does fever cause dehydration? | A fever is a consequence of the body fighting an invader. Many pathogens can thrive at normal body temperature, but they break down and die at slightly higher temperatures.
Much like when exercising, the energy used increases body temperature which causes sweating and water vapor to be exhaled from the lungs.
Many fever inducing diseases cause diarrhea and increased mucus production also, which releases water from the body. All that has to be replenished.
(not an actual doctor) | fdc9c726-b548-4971-9065-b2639d42a9f3 |
2r7ulk | how long does foreclosure take? | Depends on the state, the loan documents, and whether any payments/work out attempts were made. Typically, people don't just stop paying intitially, and when the bank starts the process, state law mandates how many times and how frequently the sale must be advertised. Further, some states require a judicial finding prior to the completion of the process. Lastly, they may have filed bankruptcy, which delays the process until a motion to lift stay is granted.
No, I'm not a lawyer, but I did spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express | a90d1174-af97-4a4f-bf3c-95725080a7e5 |
25q52w | The theory that drinking *more* alcohol will cure a hangover. | Hair of the Dog, as it's called. It's simple. You get drunk enough to not feel the pain of the hangover. Physically, your brain stem is still dehydrated. You've addressed the symptoms, but not the cause. | 32ccfb09-6155-4e91-b8ce-df4186c61598 |
11vbhl | How can states legalize marijuana when using/having it is a federal offence? | Through the 10th amendment. Powers not expressly delegated to the federal government in the constitution are reserved for the states. The only way to (legally) grant the federal government additional powers is by constitutional amendment. States with marijuana initiatives are asserting that the federal drug laws are unconstitutional since there was never an amendment to the constitution (as there was with alcohol prohibition) and are reasserting their state sovereignty on that issue. | b3138988-ed4a-43ab-8de1-f7aeebe25695 |
7tufve | Why is so common in the NFL to make the Super Bowl or at least make the Playoffs without making the Playoffs the previous year as opposed to the NBA? | 1. Football is a more team oriented sport. A good Quarterback can't do much on his own, nor can a good Cornerback prevent an entire team from scoring.
2. You're only competing against 3 other teams for an "easy" playoff spot, since the top teams from each division automatically make it to the playoffs. And then you have two wildcard spots in the primary conferences. While a smaller percentage of teams get in (12 out of 32, vs 16 out of 30), you have less local competition.
3. There's only 16 games in a season (vs the 82 in the NBA), so each game counts for more. A few lucky wins for your team or bad losses for your rivals influences your playoff chances more. | dacb00ef-1ff3-4071-9599-b99b6d7dbcd5 |
5rlzdu | Why does the water pressure increase when a container of water is moved higher? | Pressure is defined as Force / Area, or:
P = F / A
When you increase the force, that increases pressure (straightforward). But if you spread that same force out over a larger area, you decrease the force at any given point, meaning lower pressure.
Let's assume for your question that you have a container of water attached to the top end of a hose (or pipe), and you want to measure the pressure at the bottom end of that hose.
Let's also assume that you're not moving the container vertically enough for changes in air pressure or gravity to be significant. So, the pressure of water at the container's opening will be basically equal no matter whether it's at ground level or you move it hundreds of meters into the sky (like a water tower)
For this system, any additional water pressure is being caused by the force of gravity acting over the length of the hose. And the force of gravity only acts vertically. So if a long hose attached to the container is slack, it's roughly equivalent to a smaller hose that goes more directly between the water container and the end.
(I say roughly equivalent because the longer hose will add some extra friction, but will be a small decrease in pressure since water flows easily)
The important variable here is the height difference over which gravity can act, which you change anytime you move the container higher.
In our original definition we see that P = F / A. How does height relate to this, specifically?
Newton's second law: Force = mass * acceleration , F= m * a -- and in this case the acceleration is gravity, usually represented by g
P = m * g / A
Water has a uniform density, so the mass, m is equivalent to density * volume.
P = d * v * g / A
Now for gravity we only care about what's happening vertically. We ignore any horizontal displacement between the container's end of the hose and the other end of the hose, because it doesn't matter for gravity -- it only matters for friction, which as we said is a small effect since water flows easily.
Thus, we can pretend that our hose is a straight **vertical** cylinder between the water container and however far the end is below it. The volume, v of a cylinder is height * circle area, or h * A.
P = d * h * A * g / A
The A at the top of the hose, where the original force (of the water that's inside the container) is being exerted, is equivalent to the A at the bottom of the hose, so these A's cancel.
P = d * h * g
Density and gravity are constant, so the only variable affecting your pressure is the height of the hose, i.e. the height you put the container at.
This is how a water tower works. | 7888f720-c76c-4973-8a77-1aa08d35f2e4 |
8wtdxk | If Radio waves are omni-directional, why does a station go from clear to garbled and back again in a matter of inches? | The cause is **multipath interference**.
Radio waves reflect off of things like buildings and the ground. As the waves expand out from the transmitter, part of the signal gets reflected and part travels directly to your receiver. The reflected part travels a longer path than the direct part so it when it arrives at the receiver it's out of phase with the direct part. Because the signal is a repeating wave, *sometimes* the reflected part is perfectly opposite phase as the direct part and it cancels the direct part out. Most of the time it's somewhere in between which doesn't totally cancel but interferes with it. | ae1d93a9-2858-46c5-a76f-9038b8355b40 |
2uxe3d | Why are .jpg's so bad? | Jpeg is good for for photographs or other things that have lots of subtly different color gradients, but aren't great for things like logos or line drawings, or other things with sharp color transitions, or things that require transparancy, which jpeg doesn't support.
Use JPEG for photographs and PNG for logos or drawings. | ce018df9-e502-4fa8-add7-d30511c15008 |
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