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47wws7
Why is the bathroom light switch in hotels outside the door?
It is a precaution so that you don't electrocute yourself trying to turn off or on something with wet hands. In UK,only pull cords are allowed inside bathrooms. Having switches inside bathroom may land you to into legal trouble.
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8s98sy
How do scientists determine the calorie content of a food item? And the nutrient content?
They literally burn it, as far as I can tell. We got to do this in Chemistry with Pringles and a can of water suspended above the burning Pringles. We used a butt load of foil to direct all the hear towards the can. _URL_0_ Edit* My guess is that they use lasers to burn a piece and then measure the heat given off. As far as nutrient content I am not sure of the methodology.
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Formal/Informal Language
Even in an egalitarian society like the US, there are vast differences in the language that you use, depending on who you're talking to. For example, you don't expect to walk into a store and have the sales assistant greet you with, "How ya doin', bud?" And if your best friend greeted you with, "Good afternoon, sir, and how are you today?" you'd think they were trying to be funny. The Japanese system of honorifics is very complex and very rigid, which means that you have to take very great care choosing the appropriate form. But the English system of expressing respect or familiarity is much more subtle and not so easily codifed as a set of rules. Luckily for Japanese people learning English, the system is much more flexible. For example, you could probably guess which situations these sentences would most likely be spoken in: * Excuse me, could you help me? (to a complete stranger) * Give me a hand, would you? (to somebody of equal social status) * Help me out here, will you? (expresses annoyance or impatience) * And how are we feeling today? (doctor to patient) * How's things? (among close friends/relatives) * Do me a favour and shut up. (among close friends/relatives) * I'm sorry, madam, but I'm afraid I must ask you to lower your voice. (librarian)
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How can people be convicted for offensive statements?
Are you American? I ask because this is really weird for many Americans. In the rest of the world, it's pretty much agreed that inflicting emotional distress through offensive comments should be illegal. There's room for debate about just *how* offensive the comments must be, but it's basically only the USA that doesn't accept the basic premise.
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Why does exposing factual information about a company lead to a successful lawsuit against you?
It depends on how that information was obtained and what kind of information you're talking about. If it's not public information, (i.e. a company secret), think of it like insider trading. This information is an asset of the company, and by making it public, you stole this asset of the company. If it's whistleblowing of illegal activities, that is different. There are laws to protect whistleblowers. If it's simply unethical, then it is like theft of company property to expose their business practices.
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Why aren't germicidal ultraviolet lights used everywhere, to prevent the spread of disease?
They use a wavelength of light that is cancer causing. Do you want to sit under a cancer causing light? Plus, they aren't all that effective to stop, say a sneeze from transmitting to another person. It takes some time to kill the germs.
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How is kilogram a unit or mass and not weight? (flair physics)
Mass is a unit of how much "stuff" is in something - if two objects have the same number of particles (subatomic stuff - protons, neutrons, electrons), then they'll have the same mass, anywhere in the universe. Weight is a little different, because it's actually a unit of force - in most cases, it's the force of gravity we're talking about. And that'll change anywhere - you weigh slightly less at the top of Mt. Everest than you do in Death Valley, CA, because of your distance from the Earth. On the Moon, you weigh even less. But since weight is a force, we can also use it to measure, say, the force of a punch. So in everyday use, "mass" and "weight" are mostly interchangeable, because we figure that gravity isn't changing much across the Earth. But they're not exactly the same thing, because weight is based on more than just the mass.
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2ox17i
Why wouldn't game developers make exact copies of good old games but with better graphics?
Well thats actually something that has been happening a lot in the game industry recently. There have been quite a few remakes / remasters. This year alone we got a re-releases of the last of us, kingdom hearts 2 and 4 Halo games so it's a thing that is happening. I think though that you more asking why don't they just create whole new games that just play like the old ones right? Well because people would get mad and not buy them. Consumers want to see some sort of improvement or progression when the see a sequel or newer version of a game. If you're not going to change the game in some way(for better or worse) why should they buy it? Many consumers would just stick to playing the older games.
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What is inflation and what causes it?
Inflation occurs when your currency looses its value. Because there is a finite number of money in the world it has a specific value. if you burn/ destroy half of it, its value doubles and if you print more bank notes, it will inflate again. When a countries economy collapses and the state starts to print more money to keep itself from getting bankrupt the money value decreases. abruptly this lead to so called hyperinflation in the past: Italy's Lire for example was worth roughly 1/1000 German Mark. Because the value decreases you need more money to buy the same stuff you bought before with less money: maybe your bread cost 2$ yesterday and today you have to pay 4$
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Why is suspension from school a punishment? Isn't that just giving them what they want?
1. Removes a potentially dangerous or disruptive child from school. 2. Wake up call from the school to the parent. Unfortunately most repeat offenders aren't going to care about some other scolding from mom and a chance to not be expected to go to school. As a teacher though, I've found that kids that have behavior problems are the ones that typically never miss a day of school nor do they want to. For disruptive kids, school may be the only place where they're getting attention. EDIT: To be clear, OSS has been found to be largely ineffective for repeat offenders (the basis of this question), though its effects as a looming consequence for others has been less conclusive. Most schools nowadays are trending towards training teachers in counseling skills to attempt to deal with issues in the classroom, but these are either expensive to do right (counseling skills require sometimes extensive training, teachers I highly recommend the Flippen Group's *Capturing Kids' Hearts*) or are ineffectively taught (district sends one person to a seminar who then teaches it to others and so on). However to truly bring down OSS numbers staffing of counselors is a major issue. Most schools have cut dedicated counseling positions since 2008 and the result has been disastrous. Please support your local schools by petitioning your state for an increase in funds to school districts and by asking schools boards to restore these cut positions (as well as seeking counseling training for all teachers).
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Why are button batteries so expensive?
Very often, miniaturisation *does* make things more expensive. However, I think you might simply be shopping in the wrong place. You can get packs of 20 LR44 button cells for well under $10 (or even 100 of them for slightly over $10) - it's a matter of shopping around.
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What causes currency devaluation?
Let's say there are ten children in a playground, and they all want gold beads. Each child has one or two of these beads, but occasionally they'll trade it with another child for a new toy or a packet of sweets. Now, Jimmy, one of these children, tells his mother to go and get him so golden beads, so she comes back with a pack of 20. Suddenly, Jimmy has 20 more beads than anyone else - they all only have 1 or 2! He can buy all the toys and sweets he wants, and he does! After this success, he tells his mother to go and get some more, and she does - now Jimmy has another 20 beads! However, when he goes into school the next day, everyone's realised that they all have 4 or 5 beads, and a single bead is no longer worth as much (because everyone has them now!), and so they want more beads per sweet. Suddenly a packet of sweets that cost Jimmy 1 bead yesterday is now going to cost him 3 or 4, because all of the other children do not think the beads are worth as much now they all have them! This is the basic principle behind inflation and currency devaluation - while inflation certainly isn't the only thing that can cause currency devaluation, it's perhaps one of the most well known. As more and more of the currency gets introduced, the people find it's worth less.
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What is so enjoyable about tobacco? Explain the attraction or positive value of cigarettes, cigars, snuff, and etc. other tobacco products.
As with a lot of things, the enjoyment inst necessarily from the object itself but from how it makes you feel. I started smoking when i was 10 years old. At the time, It was simply an adult thing, and I wanted to feel older and do things only adults did. I would get together with a friend of mine and we would steal cigarettes from our parents and go and hide somewhere and smoke them and feel old or cool. Eventually it gets to the point where you enjoy the feeling you get from it, both mentally and physically and you have no reason to stop. I was far too young to have any clue about the medical issues and it quickly turns into addiction. In 1989 when I started smoking, everyone smoked. you could smoke anywhere and everywhere. Inside restaurants, theatres, office buildings, clubs, etc. so its not so difficult to see why lots of kids were taking up the habit like their parents. I have been smoke free for 21 days and i still miss it. I enjoy smoking, inhaling, exhaling, the social aspect of it, and the feeling you get after a cigarette. It's ridiculous but it is what it is.
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Why was America reluctant to join the allies in WWII before Pearl Harbour?
The US was a lot more isolationist back then. Not only that, but they weren't the military powerhouse that they are today. The military might of the US was mostly untested. WWII is really when the US came into the forefront in that arena. It also wasn't that long after WWI; the US wasn't keen on getting themselves into something like that again. The US was also recovering from the great depression -- there were bigger things to worry about. I'm sure they thought it was a terrible idea, but they weren't in the business of involving themselves into affairs that did not directly affect them. Obviously, that has changed. :)
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3kls53
Why don't seizures cause the heart to spasm erratically like other muscles?
Seizures start in the brain and send electrical signals to the muscles. But the heart has its own separate electrical system.
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2zba4g
Coughed up a tiny tooth?
Try to break it open. If it's tooth or bone, it'll have a soft (most likely degraded) interior where the marrow or pulp was. More likely is that it's either a tonsil stone that somehow didn't get stinky, or it's a piece of gravel that got kicked up into her mouth. If you can't break it, it's probably gravel, as a bone or tooth of that size will fracture relatively easily.
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1raki4
why does the mentos and diet coke geyser have to be diet coke?
The process is called nucleation. See those bubbles that form on the sides of your glass when you fill it with soda? They're bubbles of carbon dioxide, formed when the tiny cracks and crevices in the glass give them a place to form. A typical mint Menthos candy is covered in millions of microscopic pits, which give the carbon dioxide an dramatically large number of places to form bubbles. The reason it works better with Diet Coke is because of the presence of aspartame, a very low-calorie sweetener, which lowers the surface tension of the soda that would otherwise inhibit the bubble-forming process. [This](_URL_0_) video explains it pretty well. If not, you can search it in YouTube and find lots of explanations.
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Masturbation, oral sex, and other non-intercourse from an evolutionary perspective
its a way to bond and resolve conflict within groups. like with the bonobos.
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How is love any different to being overly-attached?
Love is about wanting what is best for *them.* Being overly attached is all about *you.*
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3e5tei
Why do we always think that dreams are real life despite them usually being obscure and unrealistic?
While dreaming, the part of your brain that determines if things are obscure and unrealistic is operating at a diminished capacity. In a sense, you are just not smart enough to realize there is anything wrong with an illogical situation.
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Why is the Mona Lisa worth so much money?
Think of it this way, little 5-year-old Billy/Sally: you have a really cool toy. All your friends look at that toy and want it. But you hold on to it, because it's special to you. Over the years, far into the future when you grow old, people still look at your toy and wish it was theirs, and think it looks really cool. After you pass away, people write songs about the toy and movies are written and watched with your toy in it. Suddenly, more and more people like your toy and want it. Some people are willing to pay a lot of money for your toy, but it's in a museum instead where everybody can see it. They can't touch it or play with it, but they can look at it. So people keep trying to buy it for more and more money, and this makes it cost a lot. Now stop chewing on the couch cushions and go clean your room.
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why is it that big dogs drool alot while small dogs tend not to drool at all?
Larger animals have to work harder to keep cool. Volume, which determines the amount of heat produced, goes up with the cube of the length of the animal but surface area, which determines the rate that heat is lost, goes up with the square. Dogs cool off by panting while producing drool instead of sweating. Large dogs have to drool more to maintain their body temperature in the same way that overweight humans sweat more to keep cool.
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Why are springy doorstops made with maximum compression? Wouldn't they be more effective if they could be compressed to cushion the door's impact?
The coil is just for flexibility (as others have said). If the spring was not compressed though when the door was pushed into it the spring would compress, absorbing the impact (good), however it would the release this compression, flinging the door back towards the person opening it (bad). The more force the door was opened with potentially the faster the door would be returned towards the opener. This would probably cause a lot of accidents. However you would get some great YouTube compilations.
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Why do different people like different climates?
I live in the Las Vegas Valley and chances are if you lived here long enough you grew a tolerance to heat, went to Norwalk (east of los angeles) and I was FREEZING. After long periods of time we get used to the temperatures in our enviroment, the same way early humans adopted to breathing atmospheric oxygen.
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24egur
How is fire able to be on the surface of water?
There's something else on top of the water that is burning, like oil or fuel or flotsam.
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Why are taxes on gasoline a fixed dollar amount when nearly every other tax is a percent of the sale?
The price of oil (and by extension, gas) fluctuates wildly in response to geopolitical events and supply factors that state governments have no control over. Rather than try to budget in advance for such an impossibly unpredictable revenue source many governing bodies opt to impose a tax on volume instead. It's not perfectly predictable either, but it's a lot easier to plan for. You'd hate to budget for a 10% tax on $5 a gallon gas and then have the price crash to $1.30 a gallon for nine months.
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If steroids were around since the 1930's how do we know older players didn't use them?
Older players didn't use steroids because they used much stronger performance enhancing drugs such as speed.
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Why Do Most Games These Days Indicate Loading With An Icon Instead of a Bar?
One less feature to support. Loading bars are actually pretty hard to do correctly. How much work is left to be done? What percentage of it is done? Keeping track of that adds development overhead to some overworked teams, and usually isn't particularly accurate. Modern game UIs tend to be heavyweight, too. Many of them involve libraries such as Scaleform (Flash), or even full 3D rendering, and it can be easier to skip all that and just throw an image up -- both in terms of development and runtime performance. Also, many games try to have shorter loading times, now. In my experience, the main thing people need to know is that the application hasn't crashed. A "throbber" can usually accomplish that.
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How does electroplating work?
You stick what you want to electroplate into a pool of metal ions. You then run a current through it (opposite to the ion charge sign you want to attract). The metal ions will stick to the thing you are electroplating. There are tons of applications, from aesthetics (gold plating), adding conductivity (copper). You can even coat with anti rust substances, or harder materials to increase durability.
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How come all those gift cards for Steam, iTunes, Google Play, etc. have the exact same proportions and layout?
It's probably the same size as most credit cards, drivers licenses and so on. That size is normed as "ID-1": _URL_0_ Valve, Apple and Google just decided to use that, because they fit well in wallets and it's a nice know size.
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How did Kirby Dick's documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" show him appealing and discussing the movie with the MPAA,in the movie?
The film the MPAA reviews often is not completely finished. MPAA rating can be time consuming, so they send the movie early and finish up special effects and such, or even added scenes.
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How is a Gendarmerie different from a National Guard or Police Force?
The Gendarmerie is a police force, but part of the military. They are different from military police because their jurisdiction is among civilian citizen populations rather than military personnel. They are different from the National Guard because they are a law enforcement agency rather than reserve troops for the military. They are different from the city police because their jurisdiction is national.
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why did some men have misstresses in the past but now the term isn't used much?
Women didn't like it back then either, but it wasn't easy for women to get jobs, or at least good paying jobs. A lot of social stigma for a divorced or separated woman. So they had to put up with a lot of men being jerks. Cheating, physical and metal abuse, etc. Today women are more educated and independent, treat a woman badly and it's much easier for her to leave. So now there's a greater penalty for cheating.
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Why do we hear new songs on repeat and love them but after a while we hate them?
Your brain is full of synapses--connections that fire when activated by stimuli, in this case, a song. You can think of it as a movie. The first few times you watch it you notice things you didn't the previous time. Once you watch it enough, you know each line of the characters. The same goes for a song. When your brain remembers each note and line in a song, the synapses have been cemented into your brain and you know what happens in the song. And in this, it is just like a movie where there is no adventure or excitement in watching it because you already know what happens. *note: I don't know anything but this sounds right*
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How does a roomba work without damaging itself, such as falling down stairs etc?
The roomba has proximity sensors and spends its time mapping the room. It knows where hazards are and can avoid them. Just don't pick them up, or they might accidentally fall down stairs if it's not where they expect itself to be. And yes, they do actually clean, although not as well as a traditional vacuum. It's good for a daily cleaning so that dirt doesn't accumulate, but it won't get rid of deeply embedded dirt.
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why does a scissor not work for left handed people but does for right handed?
scissors are actually made for right handed people typically, it's the way the right hand applies pressure on the handle aligns the blades. When you try and use your left hand, the blades separate and nothing cuts.
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2rdveu
what happens when a clothed cat falls over?
Exactly that. They feel restricted, like they cannot move, so they stop trying. This may help An Engineer's Guide to Cats 2.0 - The Sequel: _URL_0_ Also, not all cats to it. Mine doesn't.
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6lpr7x
Why do some people tan and some get sunburned?
Being sunburnt is your bodies reaction to excess UV light. The pigment that colors our skin (ie. Tans) is called melanin. Those who have more tanned/darker skin have more melanin. Melanin serves as the first layer of protection from UV rays, once this layer has been overloaded, then the skin will start to become sunburnt. So let's say the skin is exposed to enough UV rays. The skin will realise that this amount is harmful and start producing more melanin. This is why a lot of people have a tan after recovering from sunburn. This mechanism can still be triggered even if the person doesn't get sunburnt. On the other hand, people who are very pale and cannot get a tan no matter how much sun they expose themselves to likely have some form of melanin deficiency.
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Why is tear gas internationally banned for use in warfare, but not for use by police?
All chemical weapons are banned for use in warfare, not just tear gas. If the police are firing gas canisters at a rioting crowd, I (unlike a soldier in the field) can be pretty sure it doesn't contain VX.
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Do fish drink water?
This seems like a legitimate question a five year old would ask.
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Why do adults need less sleep than children?
Every noticed how when you're taking in a lot of new impressions you get more tired? Like when traveling, living in a new environment etc. Not only are childrens brains under intense development physiologically, they also need to learn an immense amount of new skills, from basic ones like just getting the hang of your body, talking and developing a social intelligence, to things like math or school stuff in general. As we enter puberty, and even more so once the brain matures in our early twenties, the brain starts to enter a more static state. It starts removing paths and structures in the brain it doesn't consider necessary. This makes our brain a lot more efficient, and allows us to refine our skills and expend less energy on maintaining it. Since we don't need to maintain the brain quite as much and continually make so much room for new things, we also don't need as much time to process everything, as we do when we sleep. Interesting side note: There are some studies that have linked neuropsychiatric issues like ADHD and ASD(autism spectrum disorders) to the brain not "shedding" its less important structures. I know me and my SO who both have ADHD and ASD have more need for sleep than other people I know, and are highly susceptible to mental fatigue, which makes sense with the above explanation.
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Why do Americans not have an English accent anymore? When did we lose it?
So this is a topic I actually find quite interesting, but I feel like I'm going to have to address a few issues to fully answer your question. To begin with I'm just going to point out that I'll use the term dialect instead of accent, I have my reasons for this but they aren't important to understanding everything else I'm going to say. Anyway so for starters I want to address an important concept that anyone reading this might not be aware of, namely that there isn't a universal "English Accent" and "American Accent". Each of these areas are actually made up of several dialect regions, which are areas that have unique features that set them apart from other dialect regions. These features will be things like pronunciation (for example someone from New England in America most likely wouldn't pronounce the Rs in the phrase "park your car"), word choice (for example whether a speaker says "coke", "soda", or "pop" to refer to drinks like Coke, Pespi, Mountain Dew, etc.) or grammatical variation (for example saying "I seen that" instead of "I saw that" or "I be fine" instead of "I am fine"). The reason I bring up these regions is that the regions vary in terms of how linguistically conservative they are. So while it is generally true that American English is much more similar to the English spoken in England during the 16th and 17th century it actually depends on which variety of American English someone is talking about. If I'm remembering this correctly dialects in the Northeast in America are actually very linguistically conservative and have remained fairly similar to the English that was spoken in the East Anglia region in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, since a majority of the English immigrants to the Northeast in America came from East Anglia. This isn't to say that American English doesn't change at all or as much as British English, in fact there is a change taking place in cities like St. Paul, Minnesota and other North Central cities called the Northern Cities Chain Shift, which is basically a vowel pronunciation change, but it is change nonetheless. So the shortest possible answer from all this is American English is more similar to British English of the 17th and 18th centuries, but both have changed, it's just that British English has changed more. If I didn't answer your question or you 're still confused feel free to ask more questions and I'll try my best to answer them, also I google image searched these two maps showing dialect regions of America and Britian so people would have an idea of what I'm talking about, enjoy! _URL_1_ _URL_0_
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5r9m00
Why are people from Manchester called Mancunians?
Manchester's original Latin place name was either *Mamucium* or *Mancunium*, depending on the source and time. Over many centuries, this ended up becoming the name *Manchester* that's used today. *Mancunian* is simply derived from the older place name. A side note, but it's not uncommon in the UK for demonyms to be derived from an older root: * Liverpool: Liverpudlian. * Manchester: Mancunian. * Newcastle: Novocastrian.
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Do other languages need the use of a Thesarus or is it only English that has so many synonyms?
Thesauruses and synonyms exist pretty much in every language. Synonyms are there to describe very similar objects or situations in slightly different ways to give a more precise picture. Most languages have some space to allow for such variations.
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1k66es
How do people with Alzheimer's suddenly remember a fact about their lives, but forget it a moment/day later?
Alzheimer's messes with the neural connections in the brain. Think of it like a shorting wire. Sometimes the signal will get through, sometimes it won't.
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8sht9c
Why when you get sunburnt is drinking a lot of water a huge importance?
Basically sunburn is inflamed skin and its going through the healing process. Our body uses water as a transport mechanism to provide nutrients and remove waste products. Sun burnt skin needs to be replenished with nutrients and have the injured skin bi products removed. More water means more transport and removal of this critical healing process.
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When big movie producers send out movies to be reviewed by critics, shouldn't it be easy to catch who uploaded the DVDScr?
It's a decent idea. Amazon tried to do something simillar for their e-book sale, they thought of placing 1-2 random spelling mistakes in each one, to see who uploaded something at a torrent tracker. But eventually they abandoned the plan. I'm not answering your question though :(
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88xrb0
Why do you feel cold and nauseous after breaking a bone?
Shock. You both is redirecting your blood to your vital organs, which drops your blood pressure. Shutting down your digestive system and flooding your body with hormones such as adrenaline enables it to have the resources it needs to deal with the problem once it knows what it is.
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How does my charger know to stop charging my phone when it's at 100%?
The usual way the state of charge for any battery is measured is by voltage. It's most accurate when the battery is full or nearly full or empty. My guess would be that there's a target voltage and when it's reached the cellphone disconnects the charger electronically. Proper battery monitors actually use a more complicated algorithm to get the most accurate state of charge.
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1yt2t9
How do TV companies record viewing figures?
TV Viewership is measured under the Nielson system, which returns "ratings" for specific demographics. They gather the information by either having select households self-report their live viewing habits or by sending out "Nielson boxes" to certain homes to be connected to TVs to specifically send viewing reports to Nielson. This system gives a general percentage of which households are watching what channels when. The system has faced a ton of backlash from the public in recent years over the out dated aspects of the system and how they lack a proper way to account for DVR or streaming methods in the overall rating. It is also under criticism for how it selects it's "subjects." Plus people report having a bias of what they watch because they know they are being reported on to Nielson. The company has recently been trying to find ways to redo the system to account for the problems. Most networks are aware that while Nielsen ratings give a general idea of the audience, it is not exact. That's often the point of the social network aspects of tv shows showing twitter hashtags for every episode and sites like GetGlue where anybody can "check in" to say what shows they are watching. It gives a better idea of who is watching or plans to watch the series. TL;DR: TV views are measured by a outdated but somewhat-effective system of select people reporting on what they watch.
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What would if we dug a hole across the earth and threw and object in there?
Gravitational pull is basically zero at the center of the earth, so an object would fall and pass the center, but then be drawn back the opposite direction. Each pass through the center of the earth would slow the object down, eventually leaving it suspended right in the middle.
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1vyouk
Why is the filming and distribution of pornography legal, while prostitution is illegal?
I'm not the expert or anything but my guess is that porn actors and actresses go through severe and mandatory regulations, policies and laws in order to be hired. They need to do weekly tests as proof that they are healthy and have no diseases. On the other hand, prostitutes don't have any regulations at all and they probably won't care if they give you a disease or not.
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how can some people have a fetish that they only fantasies about while finding it disgusting in real life. Incest is one example where many claim they would never do it in real life however it is still a turn on for them in form of a fantasy.
Specifically in your example of incest, there's a thing called [the Westermarck Effect] (_URL_0_) that is basically the effect that growing up around family members ruins any possibility of being sexually attracted to them. You don't want to bone your sister because you grew around her, watching her dirty her diapers and eat her boogers and whatever, long before she became a sexual being. But, taboo is a strong aphrodisiac. People get aroused by doing things they're not allowed to do, or perceive themselves as not allowed to do. And one of the first sexual taboos you ever learned is, "Don't fuck your sister." So, while the idea of sister-fucking can be exciting because of the taboo, for most people, they look at their actual sister and the Westermarck effect kicks in and the idea of actually fucking your own sister feels gross. So, they like porno of other people boning their sisters, so they don't have to deal with the icky real-life feelings of their own sister situation. This same concept pans out for some other fetishes which have real world consequences. The idea of losing control to an unknown assailant (rape fantasy) can be super hot, but being faced with the possibility of real rape, suddenly it's scary and not fun, because the real world has consequences. Or a poo fetish, because in real life poo can make you sick, and so on and so forth.
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When you eat healthy and then eat a cheat meal, why does the junk food taste so bad and make you feel sick?
A lot of Junk food is really high in sugar and salt, while a lot of home-cooked 'Health' food is much lower in those things. As far as taste: When you're eating junk food all the time, your senses get used to the ultra-high sugar and salt content. When you switch to eating 'health' food all the time, you get used to the lower sugar content, and you become more sensitive to the less-dramatic flavors that would have been overshadowed by excessive sweetness/saltiness. This also means if you go from healthy-to-junk, then you'll be suddenly bombarded with syrupy, excessively salty food. As far as feeling gross: Eating junk food (usually stuff that is super high in carbs and sugar, aka soon-to-be sugar and sugar) in excess can create a dramatic blood sugar spike, then blood sugar drop. The rapid swing of blood sugar and insulin response can create horrible headaches and general gross feelings. (Aching, fatigue, etc) Those same things happen when you eat junk food normally, but if you're doing it all the time, your body kinda adjusts to feeling gross and sets that as the baseline 'normal' - Having excessive junk food as a 'cheat' day means it's 1 day of shit after a general baseline of 'pretty ok' so the feeling is more obvious.
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Can I fire a gun in space?
Yes, it will fire at normal bullet speeds. The bullet contains everything it needs to fire, so you don't need to worry about that. The only difference would be that the bullet would not lose speed to friction with an atmosphere and the trajectory wouldn't be curved (or as curved) due to gravity.
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The difference between Prussia and Germany
Prussia is a region of Europe roughly comprising what is now northern Poland, parts of Lithuania, and the Russian exclave of East Prussia. This region was given to the Teutonic Knights during the Crusades to fight against the native Baltic pagans, which was the first German state in the region of Prussia. Fast forward a few hundred years and Prussia is now the largest and most powerful of the many German states, comprising the aforementioned territory along the Baltic sea and roughly the northern half of modern-day Germany. In 1871 the German states unified into the German Empire (minus Austria, which already had an empire of its own) with the Prussians dominant; the Prussian king Wilhelm I became Kaiser and the Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck became Chancellor. After Germany lost World War I the Treaty of Versaille forced them to give up most of the territory in Prussia proper, giving it to the restored states of Poland and Lithuania, as well as Russia. Much of the German-speaking population left or was expelled.
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Why are some countries' military independent from the government?
There is no single answer to this but in some countries the military have managed to own land which they can get income from instead of getting income through taxes. This makes it much harder for the government to control the army as they can not reduce their income. Of course there is a lot of politics and culture as well. If the leaders of Pentagon ordered an invasion of the White House and capitol hill they would have to be sure the men were willing to comply with the order. On 23 February 1981 the Spanish Congress were invaded by the Civil Guard and the rest of the army and police were unsure of what orders they should follow until the king made a televised speech condemning the coup.
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why do we treat/accept Monday as the first day of the week, but almost all calendars show Sunday as the first day of the week?
I don't know about Monday being the first day of the week. It's moreso the first day of the workweek, and why its treated like the first day of the week probably originates with that. In fact, in Vietnamese, Sunday is literally translated to "First day" and Monday is "Day two" and so on for the rest of the days.
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How did ships work?
A sailing ship cannot go *directly* into the wind, but it can engage in what's known as *tacking*. Tacking is when a ship sails at a 45^o angle into the wind. It can repeat that process at a 45^o angle in the other direction into the wind, and end up moving slowly, but ultimately directly into the wind, like this: _URL_0_ As for the wheel, I imagine what you're seeing in the movies is the rudder coming to a straight (not turning left or right) position, which it'd be pulled to while the ship is moving forward. It'd probably take a lot of force to turn the wheel left or right, but letting go of it would straighten the rudder back to it's straight position.
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1n4sgz
Why do we have registries for sex offenders but not for murderers?
[Recidivism Rates](_URL_0_) - the statistics and likelihood of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences. Sex Offenders are statistically more likely to offend again than murders are. Furthermore Sex Offenders are really easy targets for politicians to use to their advantage with their voting base. (you'd never vote for someone that *doesn't want to track sex offenders*, right?)
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What happened to the new CEO's weekly AMAs?
They got tired of lying and having to backtrack on everything they bullshit about. So it's best to avoid questions.
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How do natural wildfires start?
Lightning is natural, and starts a surprising number of fires. At our annual campout this year we watched smoke jumpers and helicopters spend the night putting out a lightning-spawned fire on a ridge only two or three miles away. AFAIK, everything else is man made.
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How are wooden barrels made to not leak?
It takes a long time to build a barrel, but the longest time is simply letting the wood air dry for a few years. The easiest simple explanation is that they use the two iron bands and a big old hammer to bang the wooden slats in so that they fit VERY tightly to each other. Like we're talking massive pressure. Water won't get through that (or wine or whiskey). It's just super tight and they use a hammer, a winch and the iron bands to achieve that.
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Why do people assume that a guy driving a big truck is overcompensating?
Because very few people actually ***need*** a big truck, especially in cities. They don't typically tow large loads, or haul three refrigerators at the same time very often, so people assume it's a macho thing.
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1ldivr
Who owns the federal reserve?
This is a complicated question, so bear with me. The first thing to keep in mind is that the idea of there being a singular Federal Reserve is an abstraction. The Federal Reserve system consists of a couple of committees and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks. Private banks in each region hold stock in the regional Reserve Banks, but this stock is not freely transferable. The stock does pay dividends, as compensation for the reserves that member banks are required to deposited interest-free at a Federal Reserve Bank. After dividends and operating expenses, the remainder of the Reserves' profits go to the U.S. Treasury. Each regional Reserve Bank is audited annually by an internal team, by the Government Accountability Office, and by a private third-party accounting firm. Federal Reserve policy & mdash; interest rates, reserve requirements, and the like & mdash; are set by the Board of Governors and Federal Open-Market Committee. Governors are appointed by the President of the United States for staggered, non-renewable 14-year terms. The FOMC consists of the seven governors and five of the twelve regional Federal Reserve presidents on a rotating basis. There are many laws that regulate how the Fed operates, but the U.S. Government has no direct power to set policy. So, the Federal Reserve System is nominally owned by private banks, but in practice, it functions largely as an independent semi-governmental agency.
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Is the Human Brain faster than a computer?
It depends on what you mean by "faster". Can the human brain show a correct response to a simple external stimulus or output a simple computation more rapidly than a computer? No. Are there tasks that the human brain can do more rapidly than a computer? Yes. Mostly because there currently are tasks that cannot be done by computers *at all*. If a computer is capable of doing a task, it is generally possible to speed it up by using more resources, so it is almost always possible for the computer to beat humans in terms of speed for those kinds of tasks. I can't think of a task that a computer is capable of doing which it cannot do faster than humans.
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Why orange juice tastes so bad after I brush my teeth?
I read somewhere that one of the ingredients in toothpaste kind of deactivates the part of your tongue that tastes sweet things. So OJ minus the sweetness is that sour icky taste you're thinking of. Here it is: _URL_0_
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3qeb7y
We do people featured in drug documentaries not get arrested?
and yes i know i wrote we in the title instead of why. you're so smart for spotting that.
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1uqm8s
Europe and North American culture and civilization is refered to as "western". Why is that?
The term 'West' (as opposed to 'East' in the sense of China or the like) developed before the Americas were known. At the time, the known world was Eurasia, and Europe was on the western edge of that world. So the 'West' came to mean 'European-influenced'.
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17s6gh
How come I jump as high off 2 feet as I would off 1 foot? Shouldn't I jump higher off 2 feet? Which would let me jump higher?
Depends on whether you are moving or not. If you are getting a running start, jumping off one foot is much better. You can drive one if your knees upwards to change your forward momentum into vertical momentum. If you are standing still, two feet is the way to go. If you can, pump your arms to get more power. That's about all I've got.
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6kko7u
When oligarchs like the Koch brothers die, where is all that power gonna go?
Both of them have children. Whether the children can exercise the power is a thing yet to be seen. Just like it was not known at the time when Fred Chase kicked it which of his four sons would do what.
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Why do we say 'the NSA' but rarely 'the NASA'?
"NSA" is an initialism, like FBI or most 3-letter agencies. "NASA" is an acronym and linguistically treated like a noun.
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1dorw9
How do they decaffeinate coffee and soda (pop)?
The [International Coffee Organization](_URL_0_) actually has a decently ELI5 worth explanation on how they do it.
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1n40nj
How do short films make a profit?
There are tons of "shorts", after a fashion. They're just on television -- most TV shows are basically in the tradition of the serial shorts (once a staple of movie theaters), adapted from cinema to the small screen. Modern short *films* mostly don't make a profit. Many get made by student filmmakers and artists, either as exercises, vanity projects, or to make an artistic point. They often don't cost very much to make: maybe $25,000. More expensive Hollywood/studio shorts get made essentially as prestige projects, to draw attention and praise to the studio, director, actors, etc. Disney/Pixar and their peers still make animated shorts for a few reasons. The short acts as a "bonus" attached to a feature film, which audiences like. It's a side project the crew can work on while taking breaks from a main project (often there's no voice talent required, so it's just animators). The short also sets a mood, without being a part of the feature film itself, which is useful to the director's storytelling. And the short is a chance to experiment with technical and storytelling techniques, which are still emerging in animation.
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27xr4l
what makes "neon" colors so bright?
> Sometimes instead of being called neon colors they are called "fluorescent" colors. What makes them fluorescent is that they absorb light you normally can't see (UV light) and then release that energy as visible light. The result is that if you shine light that has UV in it (like sunlight or a blacklight) instead of just reflecting light like normal colors do, they actually glow as if they were a weak light bulb. The end result is that there is actually more light of those colors hitting your eyes so they seem brighter. > As for why you can't think of "dark" neon colors, it's because what makes them distinct is that they add more light, while darkness is actually the absence of light. _URL_0_
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89w5du
Why are chocolate stains so hard to get out while other stains aren't?
Part of it is that chocolate is super dark, of course. It's also ground very fine too make, so it gets everywhere. And the bits that are not tiny teeny chocolate powder are brown cacao oil. So you've got those three things (each of them a hard stain alone) to make the perfect storm of stains.
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6n4vyz
how come we couldn't use built up pressure to launch objects into space?
It's actually an idea, called the Verne Gun after Jules Verne's classic book *From the Earth to the Moon* and like you said, the initial object would be fired into near earth before propulsion or other means are used. The problem is pesky G forces. In a rocked it's a somewhat slow build up, but firing shit out of a massive cannon is going from 0 to hypersonic instantly. This would likely turn any astronaut into fine paste while the rest of the craft is torn apart by the atmosphere resistance.
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1tqdtd
How does eardrops works in reducing pain or infections?
It depends on the medication contained within. Many contain antibiotics and many contain steroid anti-inflammatory agents which reducing swelling and pain associated with it.
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2olzk9
Why are fingerprints different person to person?
Actually, even identical twins have different fingerprints. Minor differences in fingerprints arise from random local events during fetal development. The genes determine the general characteristics of the patterns of fingerprints. However, inside the uterus, finger tissue comes in contact with the amniotic fluid, other parts of the fetus and the uterus. Some experts point out, for example, that touching amniotic fluid during weeks 6-13 of pregnancy significantly changes the patterns of fetus’s fingerprints.
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1wohg2
Why is the scandal with Chris Christie and the lane closures a big deal?
It isn't just that someone died in an ambulance. Granted, that is the worst possible outcome for the situation, but what makes those responsible for this situation reprehensible is the fact that the lane closure was designed to cripple the city of Fort Lee. People would not be able to get to work on time, stores are going to see decreased sales, a lot of traffic, if at all possible, was diverted. And this was done with the callousness of a 15YO playing Sim City and trying to punish the people of the town by creating a volcano on the only road out of town. Look, Christie is a bad ass. He presents himself that way and that is what the citizens of Jersey want to represent them. But you can be a bad ass and not be a bully and Christie crossed that line.
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5szkz0
how do scientists fire just a single elementary particle?
Usually they do not. For example the Large Hadron Collider emits protons in bunches of 100 billion. [source.](_URL_0_)
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6mlmt0
Why do we "hallucinate" while reading?
Go to a doctor. There might be something wrong with you. Or perhaps stop chewing on the book. Thanks.
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2270jt
How can enough oxygen remain in crowded cities where there are very few plants to photosynthesize the CO2?
there are no impregnable barriers separating urban air space and surrounding air space, so air can move freely back and forth. as such, not only can wind (credit to ernie) bring in oxygen, it can also remove CO2 and other components that make up "air".
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38end0
Can insects really make a home for themselves inside a human's ear canal?
Yes. Yes they can. There are also blowfish which can lay eggs in your eye and then grow maggots inside your eyesocket. There are also 3 foot long nematode worms which can get into your feet, grow into your leg, and then spend weeks crawling out when they die. Fortunately, we are pretty close to wiping out that particular one.
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How can someone sue over potential profits?
There is precedence in the concept of tortious interference. Let's say you arrange to sell some product to a potential buyer. But, before they actually buy the product, they bow out of the deal. You find out that some third party was spreading rumors or lies about you, and that directly led to the buyer not following through with the deal. This is tortious interference. In this case, the sale that never happened would be the lost "potential profit" and the victim could stand to recover that in damages from a suit. It'd be upon the plaintiff to demonstrate and validate what those loses were (that is, what they would have earned if the sale had went through). All that said, it is never a requirement in a court of law to prove things "unequivocally." Given that this is a civil matter, the bar would be the "preponderance of evidence." Basically you have to just show that it is more likely to be true than not true. That is, if you demonstrate that it is 51% likely to be true, you've met that burden.
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27bmf4
If hair is supposed to be "dead", how does shampoo+conditioner+hair creams work in order to make "dull, life-ess hair" into smooth, shiny and silky?
You know how shoe polish and leather conditioner will make old shoes look new again while exposing them to water, mud, and sun light will make them deteriotr faster? Even though hair is not living, they could still benefit from adding more moisture while exposing them to the elements could still destroy them.
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1r5q4i
Why is "18 years old" most desirable in porn films? (NSFW)
They know their market. Who doesn't like the idea of watching some 18 year old girl get pounded? The funny thing is a lot of them probably aren't even 18. Who the hell cares? Who would be able to tell? Just give her some pigtails and a cheerleader outfit and you're good. They'd say 16 if it were legal. Also, this is a very inappropriate question for a 5 year old.
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Why do we say our descriptive words in a particular order? For example: "Big red ball," not "Red big ball."
There actually is a "correct" order, although most people don't learn it. We often pick it up without realizing it, but that's why certain orders sound "weird" _URL_1_ _URL_0_
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6c15gi
Why do emergency vehicles sirens in the US also have the strange sounding siren that almost sounds like a bubble or being underwater?
The thumper? It is a really low tone that deaf people can feel approaching.
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1rsh2r
Why are dogs one of the few animals that form strong attachments to people and bond really well with humans?
Because dogs have been domesticated over time. Originally dogs (or the precursor to what we call a dog now) wouldn't have been as friendly and attached to humans as the ones we have today. Over time, however, 'dogs' that were more friendly to humans would be more likely to get food from humans and survive (and pass on their genetics to offspring). So basically the friendly dogs that attached to humans would get more human sympathy (i.e. be given food, water, shelter) and would be more likely to survive and reproduce than non-friendly dogs. Eventually you end-up with most dogs being very friendly and affectionate towards humans. Additionally, humans have helped to selectively breed dogs which are friendlier and more attached to humans by encouraging the friendly dogs to mate and/or preventing violent/non-friendly dogs from mating. So, once again, over time you end-up with a much greater population of friendly dogs than non-friendly dogs. In summary, a combination of natural selection processes and selective breeding have contributed to the evolution of the dog into a fully domesticated animal that is genetically predisposed to be friendly with and be socially attached to humans.
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19auqn
If water boils at 212°, then why is there water in the air?
There is water in a gas form in the air due to a process called evaporation. Evaporation creates water vapour. Evaporation is different to boiling water. When water reaches 212F it turns into steam. There is only so much water that can stay suspended in the air as a gas (the water vapour) through evaporation. It will go higher than this level in the event of boiling. When you boil water, you get steam, which will increase the water in the air, to above this level. When this happens the water will start to condense back into liquid water, forming 'mist' which is visible to the eye.
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1ryrvl
If Bitcoins are just computer generated, why hasn't some one found a way to just make them without mining?
Bitcoins aren't generated, they already exist. They are the answers to a set number of very hard and tedious math problems. You don't create new bitcoins. You get access to a bitcoin that already exists when you find the answer to the problem it is hidden behind. That is if no one else got there first and logged it into the network. The only two ways of getting a bitcoin is by solving the problem (mining) or just guessing the answer.
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5xaykt
How do earphones know which sounds to play in the right ear and which to play in the left?
Take a look at this picture of earbuds: _URL_0_ Notice the jack is separated into 3 sections. This is how the stereo sound gets split into right and left. One section carries the signal for the right ear; one section carries the signal for the left ear. The third section is what is called a common wire. The common wire doesn't carry a signal to the earbuds, it's merely the path back to your phone/mp3 player/sound system to complete the electrical circuit. Both the left and right earbuds use this common wire.
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1o9rmo
If we can control our breathing manually when we think about it, why can't we control other things manually like our heartbeat?
But you can control your heart rate. Just because you never learned dosen't mean you can't. There are many stage performers, yoga, martial arts enthusients who have demonstrated the ability to control their heart rate. The quickest that comes to mind is people who train to hold their breath underwater ~ they slow their heart rate to achive the many minutes underwater without brain damage.
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5hi6c9
Accumulation of wealth
The accumulation of wealth by one group is associated with the accumulation of things by others. Which results in the accumulation of obligations and debt. These obligations and debt become the generator of wealth for others. These obligations come in the form of labor to earn a living, providing for and raising a family, status, self worth, and empathizing with the needs of others. These obligations also form the basis of paying for labor, acquiring resources and financing needed to grow the economy, make a profit and create jobs in order to meet other obligations. Big numbers in the billions are the result of a business success, mergers, acquisitions, globalization, good products, good marketing, job offshoring for cheaper labor, and productivity increases due to personal drive, computerization and robotics.
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px22e
Defragmenting a hard drive, and what it means for the hard drive to be fragmented.
Let's say you have a lunch box. When you go to school, your mom has already (but hastily) packed it for you. Every item in your lunch box takes up some space (including some more than others). For example, your PB & J sandwich takes up 3 units of space, and your juice takes up 2 units of space, and your cookies take up 4 units of space. If we looked at a diagram, they might look like this: > [..[sandwich][juice]..[cookies]..] > where a . = unit of free space Now, looking at this diagram, we can see that our total food/drinks takes up 3+2+4 = 9 units of space, and you have another 6 units of free space. Great! Timmy Smith, who owns the biggest baseball card collection in the school, wants to give you his cards to hold for a couple days. Great! He tells you that his cards take up 6 units of space. Reviewing our lunch box, we have 6 units of free space! Therefore, we can take his cards and put them in our lunch box. But there is a problem. While we know that we *can technically* put his cards in the lunchbox, we don't have the necessary room available due to the placement of other items in your lunchbox (see the above diagram, there's only 2 spaces of free space available individually, and we can't cut up his cards to fit in those spaces!). So what is the solution to your mom's hasty packing job? We simply need to reorganize a bit! Let's take all your food/drink items and simply slide them all over to the left. Now our lunch box looks like this: > [[sandwich][juice][cookies]......] > where a . = unit of free space Now we have *6 consecutive units of free space*, and we can take Timmy's cards and fit them snugly in: > [[sandwich][juice][cookies][tim's cards]] > there is now no free space *** So, to elaborate upon the above analogy a bit, de-fragmenting your harddrive is meant to remove all those tiny little spaces in-between your files on your harddrive, and position them all together so you can fit larger files. Hope this helped.
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3dmxww
Why do we die instantly when our heart stops? Why don't we asphyxiate from lack of oxygen from blood no longer circulating?
You don't die instantly; people with a totally stopped heart often die, but it is possible if the heart resumes in a timely manner you'll survive. There's a distinction between alive and conscious, though. A total stop in blood flow will make you pass out really quickly; in fact a sudden decrease in blood flow to the brain can easily cause one to faint even without the heart stopping.
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3qdr25
how Issac Newton came up with calculus and how others knew it valid and sound
It's all about recognizing a relationship between certain numbers. Let's talk gravity. Without air resistance, roughly 9.8m/s^2 on earth. We for sure know gravity works, we've proved it many times, objects fall down! and if objects fall down...what the fuck is up with the moon! It's just up there, mocking gravity! And so are all the other planets! The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy states: "There is an art to flying, or rather a knack. Its knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. ... Clearly, it is this second part, the missing, that presents the difficulties." Newton knows they have to be following the law of gravity, because the law of gravity affects everything. So the paths these bodies are following, part of that equation is gravity. This presented Newton with the two body problem, the answer to why things *orbit.* We look at center of mass, this is the part of the body that follows the orbit, since we work with only 2 points we can assume the relationship exists on one plane, and we look at the forces, how much gravity is affecting the body like a rope pulling on it directly and the other body's momentum. Knowing all of these things, Newton knows he can relate them! But "the how" hasn't been invented yet. He works out the math, and he's able to graph elipses, _URL_0_ And then what does Newton do? He looks at the sky to check his work. If he is correct about the orbits, the planets will all be in a very specific, measurable place in the sky. And he was right! Basically, Newton was the cool guy who could walk into the pub and bet on where the planets would be in a week, winning mad bets because that's what people did for fun in those days ^pretty ^^sure This concludes an ELI5 leaving out most of the complicated math
e7470aa8-5716-4430-96dc-a9dbf5e0b093
195w7f
How bad is car exhaust for you?
Aside from the carbon monoxide, which just kills you, combustion byproducts are extremely toxic. There are gasses and particles that are inhaled and collect in the lungs and blood. Long term exposure is very bad, which is why cars have so many emissions controls to try to reduce the impact. The older the car, the more harmful stuff is coming out of the exhaust. It's nothing to freak out over, but it's never a good idea to run a car inside a garage.
d703dc39-064a-4a7c-baae-31cdd80e1147
52hlhc
How are doctors able to so accurately estimate how much time terminal patients have left to live?
This isn't biology, it's math. To be specific, it's statistics. Doctors know the percentages, basically. They know that, out of 1,000 patients with a specific diagnosis, all were dead within a year, and the average life expectancy *was* 6 months. So when a *new* patient is diagnosed with the same condition, they'll say "This person has 4-8 months to live, a year at the outside."
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