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2i3c3p | Why are calculator numpads vs. phone numpads vertically reversed in number order? | Actually, keypas on the Calculator and on the phone have different developments:
For Calculators, the old mechanical machines needed a deeper keypress for higher numbers, and those can be achived easily on the "back" of the keypad as it is higher. When the first electronic calculators were developed the Layout was inherited.
Older phones on the other hand had [dial plates](_URL_0_) where the numbers went from 1 to 0. Newer phones with a keypad inherited the same order resulting in the now known keypad. | 64f5fcaa-4944-4598-9451-c9a177932637 |
xka7y | When governments print more new money, who gets it first (and gets to spend it before inflation kicks in)? | This is a very complicated question, so I'll have to go through from the beginning.
First, I'll explain how the money supply can increase without the government's intervention.
Let's say you go to the bank and deposit $100. The bank then lends $80 to your friend Bob because he's taking out a mortgage on *Assassin's Creed* or something. Now you have your $100 in the bank, and Bob has his $80 in hand, even though he owes it to the bank. The bank only actually has $20, but Bob owes them $80. Bob goes and buys *Assassin's Creed* from Carly for $80. Now Carly has $80 and no debt, and you have $100 and no debt. So effectively, there is more money around (even though it all gets cancelled out if all the debts were paid back).
This is often a good thing in reality, especially in the business world. If you're a business owner and you take out a loan to start your business, if you make enough money to pay it back, you may not actually want to. You may want to continue to spend the money to improve your business. While you have that loan in the background, you are making money with your business faster than you would be without it, so you actually want to maintain the debt because you make more money that way.
Next, I'll explain bonds.
A bond is a fixed-term loan *to* someone by someone else. In our case, we care about government bonds, which are loans from the government. We will assume they always get paid out---the government always has enough money to pay for them. For instance, you might buy a $100 bond from the government that will pay you 2% each year. You pay the government $100, and the government will send you $2 a year for ten years, and then at the end of the ten years, it gives you back your $100.
Bonds can be traded, and they're usually traded based on their interest rate. If you sold your $100 bond to someone for $200, then they are getting a 1% interest rate on the bond. So when you trade bonds, you care about the interest rate on the bond. You might say "I'll sell $100 worth of bond at 4%". Note that you want to be selling a bond at a lower interest rate and buying at a higher one.*
Now, the central bank is the organization that "prints" money. They don't actually print money to change the supply, they just change numbers and their policies. Because things are mostly digital anyways, you can just think of them as having a limitless supply of money, but they can only use this for a few things, like buying bonds. Since they have limitless money, they also gain nothing from getting money---if you give them $100, it doesn't matter to them, since they already have infinite money.
The central bank's role is to use their infinite amount of money to control how much money supply is available. There are a number of ways that they can do this, but the most important (arguably) one is called *open market operations*, where the central bank participates on the bond market.
How it works is that the central bank decides that there is too much money or too little money, and they buy or sell bonds to move the bond price, which affects how investments get made.
An example is the best way to show this.
Suppose that the bond rate is 2%---people are buying and selling government bonds at 2%. The central bank decides there is too much money lying around, so they want to decrease the money supply. They set a new target rate, say 3%. Then they announce to the world that they'll sell government bonds at 3%. Suddenly, nobody can sell a bond for anything less than 3% because the central bank is providing a better deal. So the bond rate on the market goes to 3%.
Now, if you're a banker, and you have a bunch of cash lying around, you want to invest it. Never leave cash lying around. So you want to invest, and you look for people to loan money to. You see some guy looking to get a loan of 2.5%. You are considering making the loan, when suddenly the central bank moves the target rate to 3%. Now you can get a better deal from the bond market, since bonds have zero risk.** You're guaranteed to get paid your 3% if you buy a bond, but you might not see the money again if you make the 2.5% loan to this guy. There's no reason for you to make that loan, so you buy bonds instead.
This means more people want bonds, and there needs to be a place for those bonds to come from. That's the central bank again. People buy bonds from the central bank, instead of lending it out to the world or investing in stocks. The bonds don't get spent like money does, and the central government doesn't have anything to do with the money (remember, it has infinite money so it doesn't actually care that you just paid it millions of dollars). So the money supply goes down as money leaves the economy.
If the central bank wants to increase the money supply, they do the opposite. They announce that they'll buy bonds at 1%, and suddenly the banks are more inclined to lend money out because it's probably better for them than buying bonds. In fact, they'll sell their bonds to get more money that they can use to buy things. They'll sell them to the central bank, and then use the money they get to lend out to people and to invest, and bam! money goes back into the system.
There are other tricks that the central banks can use, but they generally all hinge on the idea of controlling how much money the banks keep and how much they lend out or invest, rather than actually just printing money and giving it away.
-* Yes, this doesn't quite make sense. There's some papering over the actual principal amount of the bond, but this is fundamentally how it works.
-** If the bonds aren't actually at zero risk, then you have problems like what's happening in Greece right now. If the government can't pay back its debts, it's a game of hot potato where there's billions of dollars worth of potatoes and everybody loses. | 4578f318-756e-483e-a4d1-90086d6d9cd6 |
32mz1c | How do people who release leaks on to torrent websites originally obtain them ex. Game of thrones | There's three reasons why TV shows or any other media is leaked:
- The production crew is huge usually hundreds of people. Someone such as an intern could easily steal a tape from an editor or someone in a similar position and then go home and upload it to the internet.
- The company producing the show also sends out review copies for early reviews. One of these people who receive a review copy could upload it themselves.
- Sometimes companies purposely "leak" an episode of their show to get public interest going or free advertising. | d318b4d5-2710-47a9-848b-b9ef9df611b3 |
24jhqw | When we say someone has a "good" or "poor" vocabulary, how many words more or less are in their functional command? | Depending on who you ask, there are around a million English words. You can take vocabulary tests that check you know just a couple of hundred words, chosen to cover a wide range, and they tend to tell you how many "word families" you know. The idea of a word family is explained as
> words such as nation, national, nationalise, and international are all considered to be members of the same family
Apparently native english speakers know some 20,000 word families. If you know more than that, your vocab might be considered "good", if you know fewer it might be considered "poor".
I just took one of those I found from google and it said [26,900](_URL_0_) word families. I don't know how many I got wrong, but that might give you an idea of the general range we're talking about.
Edit: I did a different one which said [27,800](_URL_1_), so you can see this method has some variance in it. | 5b568f0f-4e6f-45a2-bc13-3476f2c02595 |
1ioxfj | What happened to /r/circlejerk? | /r/atheism and /r/politics are two subreddits that provided a lot of material /r/circlejerk can make fun of. The joke is that since those two were removed from the default subreddit list, there's a lot less circlejerky material and what is left needs to be rationed. That it doesn't make any sort of actual sense is completely irrelevant to the joke.
In case you need to know, in real life, rationing is used when supplies of a particular product are low. You limit everyone to a maximum portion, or *ration*, hoping that will last until you can get more. Since rationing is usually used for essential products like food, if you didn't ration, you run the risk of either running out (and everyone starving as a result) or people buying more than they need because they're afraid it **will** run out and thus running out. | 3f256919-184a-46c6-9c27-ee7d73e968ea |
owajb | Why airports can't group planes by carrier? | Generally speaking, they do, within reasonable size limits and the like. | 99843bb6-88f4-415b-b3af-0b2f67283a06 |
y1101 | Bo Xilai scandal? | There is accusation (but no solid public proof) that there is a lot more going on.
Bo Xilai was in charge of the district housing China's 5th largest city (Chongqing) and it's largest non-coastal city. He and his wife had become celebrities both because they are young and knew how to work the media, used populist language and also because of substantial reforms.
He effectively shut down organized crime in a single massive raid and mass-arrest, leaving no organization standing to fill the void. They weren't fair trials by western standards, but the end result was an end to organized crime. He built massive parks and housing projects focusing specifically on the working poor, standards of living for the poor in his city were much higher than in most other cities in china.
He also was ideologically different from the current party leadership. He talked often about how the national leaders had sold out Mao's vision to appease western capitalist businesses. He spoke about the horrid working conditions and growth of wealth inequality that were the very things the revolution stood against. He advocated for a return to a more communist form of government and invoked Mao often when doing so. However with that resurgence of a Maoist ideas came a distrust of foreigners, capitalists and civil libertarians.
Shortly before the scandal he was being nominated to be part of the national ruling council. After it happened his bid was rejected. He claims it was a plot by the national party to keep him out of power, he said that his policies were seen as a threat to the pro-western government who favor business stability over communist ideology. Given the circumstances it's believable but purely circumstantial. Unfortunately the same dictatorial powers he used to lock up the mob without trial means he and his wife can be arrested without evidence as well. | d7a363f6-1b75-48bc-a088-0b0fcd8a999e |
2hanl4 | What a Roth IRA is and when it is a smart investment choice | A Roth IRA is an account you create that has tax advantages over other investment accounts. If you make contributions into the Roth IRA and keep them in the account until you turn 59 1/2, then you can take distributions from the account tax free. There is a catch, though. If you take distributions from the account before 59 1/2, there's a good chance you'll not only have to pay tax on the earnings, but also pay a 10% penalty as well as possible penalties to your state.
Is it a smart investment choice? Well, if you are certain that the money in the investment isn't going to be needed until retirement, then yes, it's a smart choice. If you aren't sure, then it might be better not to use the Roth IRA. | 1548aadc-6e79-48d1-bb22-a2f355a39628 |
5qvzf5 | Do American citizens have a right to freedom of information? | There is an overriding concept in the American view of government: All government information is public unless there is a really good reason for it not to be.
The law in most jurisdictions reflects this: citizens have a right to government information unless that information has been, by law, specifically excluded from disclosure. | a5581aa7-6164-4f07-9a6a-32e7d7e95bdf |
8nufqb | Why do bees store honey | Honey is the bees' food, so they store it for times like winter when they can't harvest flower nectar to turn into honey. | a6385005-679a-4d02-914d-ff0fc4061860 |
1sx4gg | When public bathrooms are moving more to no-touch required basins \ soap dispensers \ dryers, why do 95% of the doors open inwards, so that you have to pull a handle as you leave. | Doors that open outwards may be blocked from the other side. So, a person may be trapped inside by being unable to push. By opening a door inwards, it greatly reduces the chance of the door not being able to be opened.
A bathroom tends not to have any secondary exits.
This is a researched guess on my part. | f8bb4a6c-2758-4db0-b510-56764b78120f |
14vxtd | The FCC Narrowbanding Mandate | 'Narrowbanding' is the FCC's new term for what used to be called 'refarming,' but both terms mean the same thing: Broadcasters adopting narrower bandwidth. In this case, the Commission mandates that VHF and UHF broadcasters classified as Public Safety and Industrial/Business land mobile radio (LMR) change from a maximum broadcast bandwidth of 25 kHz to a maximum of 12.5 kHz by the first day of next year. (Just over two weeks from now.)
This mandate affects LMR broadcasters licensed to operate at 150-174 MHz nad 421-512 MHz. FRS operates on 14 channels (seven shared, seven reserved) within this range. *However:*
By definition, FRS does not operate above 500 mW; such unlicensed service is not subject to the narrowbanding mandate, as the mandate only impacts licensed service, not these much lower unlicensed power levels. If you are operating at 500 mW or below, this does not affect you directly. *But:*
It does affect all GMRS operators, including those operating on FRS hybrid bands (FRS channels 1-7). Meaning, if you are using hybrid service, the mandate does affect you.
Consumers who are only receiving these channels are not affected, for the most part. The modulation and centreband channels are not changing, only the maximum bandwidth. The Commission's tests suggest a possible signal loss up to 3 dB, but this should not be noticeable or problematic for most listeners.
Broadcasters who are affected only need to make sure they are using compliant equipment, and I confess that's where my help stops. I'm quite good and experienced at surveying and making sense of FCC policy and R & R (rules and regs), but much less knowledgeable about this specific class of technology.
Even all this is oversimplifying it a bit, however. I strongly suggest you read the FCC's FAQ about this:
_URL_0_ | b78fc0ac-6ca5-42f9-b2e2-38d543cb64c0 |
2qwa3e | Why do movies/TV shows/commercials always seem to use empty opaque cups (i.e. a coffee cup) or other containers, when a simpleton like me can easily spot that they're empty just by watching? | Continuity, if they use real drinks in a clear glass, and the scene requires them to take a drink, they would have to refill the glass to the exact original spot for each take (and a film can do up to 10 takes for each scene). And the actors would have drunk an unholy of water by the end. It saves a lot of trouble just to have them mime drinking from an empty cup. | 4f8b6afa-d6e5-4f32-8487-ca5540525db9 |
86dmqq | Can humans survive on ONLY vegetables, no drinks? | No. We are not designed to get our water only from food and you cannot get sufficient amounts from just eating fruits and vegetables. In fact it is fairly difficult to get all the nutrients we need just from vegetables. You have to supplement with things like Algae, nuts, etc. | 27ee5dbb-4536-41fb-95c8-f57e9d1803a7 |
28p82c | Why does my voice sound weird to me when I listen to it on a recording? | When you normally hear your own voice you hear it echoing through your skull. You don't get that effect from a recording. | e2865066-0651-42a6-9406-01a630fbd21f |
7t9o3n | Do today's video games keep you playing like casinos do, throwing you wins once in a while to keep you playing longer? | There have been news recently of a patent filed by Activision for a system designed to goad players into buying more microtransaction items by doing things like matching them up against better players with premium items that the manipulated player doesn't have, to make them believe that they would be more successful in the game if they went ahead and bought the premium item.
Directly after the purchase of the item, the game would make sure to match the players against worse opponents to make them feel good about their purchase.
Activision claimed they haven't implemented the feature into any of their games…yet.
Edit: For a somewhat more positive example from the same company, Hearthstone has a system where the chance of getting a Legendary card inside of a pack slowly increases the more packs you buy, to the point where you are absolutely guaranteed to get at least one Legendary every 40 packs you open. | 12d9fe5b-9439-41d1-9c64-1a8a7e9739e4 |
64vtfm | Why does it hurt to move a limb after it "fell asleep"? | You have nerves in your body that send signals to different parts to work-- specifically muscles. They begin from your spinal cord, branch, and extend all the way to your fingers and toes. Your arm or leg falls asleep when pressure is placed on the nerve or when blood is cut off from supplying the nerve. The effect is similar to when you hit your funny bone (your ulnar nerve) which can be painful, and cause the pins and needles sensation. People with more common nerve compressions which can be chronic may have diagnoses such as sciatica or carpal tunnel syndrome and experience a range of painful symptoms. | 0b0cbd8c-05ff-4a80-89c1-6e6b5305a426 |
83fv1q | - Why do smells get "burned in" to your nose? (Bleach, vomit, etc) | It's because those particles are in aerosols, little droplets of water with other things mixed in. And those droplets get in your nose and deposit their contents on the mucosal lining. Eventually you secrete enough mucus to wrap them all up, you swallow that, and it's gone. But until that time you can still smell them because they are still there, just hanging out inside your nasal cavity. | b9b4d8a5-49fd-498f-91e5-cda02438141c |
6rbdtg | What is wrong with means testing? | (UK) Sometimes implementing it is more expensive than just giving the benefit to everyone who claims it (eg UK child benefit)
Sometimes it misses the point (e.g. child benefit could be claimed directly by mothers who weren't working which in some cases acted as support for the kids where there was a dysfunctional relationship with the well earning father who controlled the money)
Whilst the benefits system is fragmented, means testing is a nightmare to implement in cost effective way. That might change once universal credit system is fully rolled out. | a4274bfe-603a-4e2e-a3a2-b1d6f1e7f340 |
60fxk4 | How do the companies that sponsor benefit from having game shows give away their products to contestants? | I was on a game show with my family once and the show had a specific rule. "If we offer a prize you act excited. You clap, cheer, etc. if you miss out on a prize, act disappointed. Whether or not you like the prize, or already own the prize, you will make that prize seem like the best thing in the world or we'll send you back to your seat and pick some other contestant who will." | dfbbe08b-7d37-42af-a445-2f4ef51cd2de |
3pcnvx | Why Muzzle velocity is measured in feet per second rather than mph/kph. | Because bullets generally travel in units of feet rather than units of miles and the United States uses the Imperial system rather than the metric system for common units of measure. | 2684b629-b98e-492a-adb7-a4d5d3c73245 |
qahxh | How come after drinking a lot of beer (calories), I want to eat something bad for me (more calories). | This is going to be a very simple explanation, there are a lot of biological factors involved but this is basically it.
Alcohol is a depressant, when you get drunk your consciousness decreases based on how much you drink. When this happens, people tend to become very instinctual. You start trying to fulfill your instinctual needs... Such as sex, sleep, and hunger.
Now we go to the past, long story short, humans LOVE fat and greasy stuff. It kept us warm in the past. (Long long time ago)... So essentially, in your stupor state, you tend to like more fatty foods due to evolutionary instincts of liking fatty stuffs. | e78e1116-678d-408b-b259-5512f20fe56b |
41hsdm | What is the difference between hard and soft water? | Hard water has more minerals dissolved in it (calcium etc); you soften water by adding salt, which binds to the minerals. Hard water can leave mineral deposits throughout the system, and makes soap difficult to lather. | 570f57e0-b4cf-4630-aa33-b9e29a1db1fa |
65eywj | How do people die of Heatstroke before Dehydration? | your body has a limited ability to cool itself. so heatstroke without dehydration would be something where your body temp gets too high but you still have water in your body. | c19b1e12-b843-4450-b3e5-f8308c37a7b2 |
7j2fjw | Why are there holes in Swiss Cheese? | Basically: Cheese is milk that has gone bad because bacteria breed in it. The bacteria fart while breeding. The farts make up the holes and the stink of the cheese. | d84ccaac-ab73-4fa2-9a89-07e1091ad510 |
31f2jh | What mental effects does catnip have on a cat? | Catnip isn't psychoactive. It smells a lot like kitty pheromones. A cat's reaction to catnip is a reaction to feline sexy-time smell. [Here's](_URL_0_) a neat iO9 article about it. | d2aecddf-7928-4a32-bbb5-9dd58a90ad2c |
68gii3 | why were tv and movies black and white? | Because the technology of how to create black and white photographs and moving pictures came first.
Television at first was black and white too even though color movies already existed at that point.
The technology to make color-tv was more expensive than b & w tv and the receivers for color were also more expensive. During the early phase of adoption they had to add color information in such a way as to not break anything for people with b & w tvs while allowing those with expensive new color tvs to get a color picture from the same signal.
During the phase before it became normal some producers would create and broadcast shows in b & w despite color being available because it was cheaper to do so and not many would have the color receivers to see the difference. | 9d886a0e-cedb-4b74-bfa6-61bfe741401f |
5efuz8 | Why are people with a latex allergy also allergic to bananas? What's the connection? | The banana contains a protein which is very similar in chemical structure to latex. So if you're sensitive to one, there's about a 50% chance that you're sensitive to the other as well.
_URL_0_ | 061cca53-8993-4ffe-ab43-7609e0213d87 |
2tj6nd | How does memory get stored in HDs, SSDs, and ram? | That is a complex question.
There are quite some different methods used to save the data.
Put simply SSD and HD are non volatile memory while the ram in your computer is volatile. Meaning if there is no power - the ram loses the stored information.
HD with a spinning magnet disk work by changing the north or south pole of the logical units of the magnetized coating of the disk. It works mechanical and therefore is slower than the other two.
RAM and SSD work with memory chips. RAM can't hold the data, SSD can. I tried hard to eli5 the mechanism of how flash memory and ddr sdram save data but failed. | b713364b-3398-4988-b518-2312ddf417a6 |
2ipmc8 | why it goes vitamin A to E, then jumps to K. What happened to F to J? | Most of them were renamed upon being grouped into the B Vitamin group; for example vitamin G was the old name for riboflavin, which later became known as vitamin B2.
Vitamin F was different: It was the old name for essential fatty acids, which were considered vitamins at the time of their discovery but have since been reclassified as fats. | aa89a30a-8961-4a6a-abee-c4a74aa972bc |
1tu0qd | Why are Jews (race not religion) not considered to be Arab? | Because they descend from Semitic, not Arabic origins. They are more closely related to Persians, who are also not Arab. | 1fc40c0a-2cd7-4bf8-bc5d-835c659ea8b3 |
3qkdu2 | Why helicopters and planes can't get out of the earth? | They need to push down on the air to keep flying. In space, there's no air to push down on. Eventually, the air becomes so thin that you can't push enough of it down to keep yourself up.
You can swim in water, because it's dense, and you can push water down and pull yourself up as a result. Now try swimming in air. Not as easy, eh? Not enough air to push down so you can 'swim' in it.
It's the same thing for planes and helicopters, it's just that since they can already fly in air, their critical point happens when air is a lot thinner. | 01ac68b7-e0a9-4c69-953d-dc8038cac60d |
2qv29f | If all humans switched to a plant based diet, and all meat, dairy and egg industries disappeared, how would this new and increased demand for plants based foods affect the environment? | The animals we grow to make meat, milk and eggs contribute to half of global greenhouse gas. This number takes into account not only the fossil fuels used to produce and transport livestock before and after slaughter, but also the other gasses that livestock produce on their own. These various gasses are referred to as carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e).
Of the gasses generated for production of meat, beef is the highest contributor, generating about 30 pounds of CO2e per pound. Poultry is second with 19.5 pounds generated between chicken and turkey production while pork comes in last at 13.3 pounds of CO2e per pound of meat produced. Compare that to broccoli. It generates 2.2 pounds of CO2e. That's a lot less!
Too much CO2 in the air traps gasses and particulates into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and pollution. It takes 9 trees one month to scrub 10 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere. 1,600 trees are being cut down every minute just so people can eat meat. That’s 1,600 fewer trees to keep excess CO2 from contributing to pollution and global warming…every 60 seconds.
If you eat meat every day 15.8 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions go into the air. If you eat a plant based diet only 6.3 pounds go into the air.
So there you go my little friend. If you stop eating meat you might just help stop global warming and pollution and help save the world. | dfdd1f23-7d64-4130-bbb3-a99a99d935fd |
40of1u | If an adult didn't learn certain things during the critical period, will it be very difficult for them to learn them? | I think based on science it is possible, but it will be extremely difficult. One suggestion is to try and keep a positive attitude, and try to learn.
Edit: hard work normally pays off. | 3e184916-b4f8-453d-9cd6-c6bc0ddf9b59 |
2ppupx | How dangerous is turbulence on a commercial flight? What are the risks, and how high are they? | Pilot of a variety of types of aircraft here:
Aircraft are certified to a variety of standards based on intended use. At the very least, they're designed to handle any turbulence nature can throw at it and then some, plus usually a 150% safety margin provided the pilot operates the aircraft in a certain manner. Smaller general aviation aircraft are designed to much greater relative strength standards and are actually much safer in this regard.
[Here's a picture of a 787 with full wing deflection](_URL_1_).
This doesn't mean that nothing will break in heavy turbulence, some systems might go down, but the plane should still be structurally sound enough to fly even after going that far.
Do keep in mind that your perspective in a plane is skewed. Much as the bank angle looks exaggerated from a passenger seat, the wing looks like it's deflecting much more than it really is. Most wing flex you've seen, even in the worst of turbulence, is well within the 100% design limit.
What keeps the aircraft from falling apart is a speed that pilots will remain below if entering high turbulence. This isn't just for the stresses of the turbulence on the plane, it's also for the stresses that the controls might take to keep the aircraft flying level. Your pilots will know when to keep the aircraft within that limit.
So what harm can turbulence do?
It can turn your laptop (or lap child) into a missile. Even in severe turbulence, the plane wont break, but a person who isn't strapped down will.
It can also happen in totally clear air (Clear Air Turbulence AKA CAT). It's not just caused by the situations that create storms, it's caused by air being different speeds and/or directions in different places. As your plane passes through changing air, the forces of the air will act on the plane's momentum. In some places, there's no predicting it, so it's best to keep your seatbelt on as much as possible in case you hit this.
Turbulence from terrain or even other planes can be enough to roll an aircraft onto its back. We know how to avoid this and do so whenever we go up.
If there's any weather to be afraid of in a plane, it's anything to do with solid ice. Think what would happen if your car would be hit by 500 mph pebbles and golf balls, [hail can royally mess up a plane](_URL_2_).
The airplane, in very severe conditions, can also be weighed down and lift reduced by ice sticking to the plane. There are systems and procedures to avoid/reduce this effect, but it has taken down aircraft before.
There is also air associated with thunderstorms. The turbulence in a storm is caused by passing through pockets of stationary, rapidly rising, and rapidly descending air, and the eddies that relative motion creates. The most dangerous of these airflows is the downdraft, air that's going down so rapidly that some aircraft can't climb through it. Upon reaching the ground, [the air then goes out to the sides causing all sorts of effects that I don't want to bother explaining, just look at these diagrams](_URL_0_).
I shouldn't even have to say this, but a tornado is bad enough that it's not safe to be anywhere near it.
There's also the psychological effects that these things have on pilots. Most are not the types to hoot and holler like you hear on videos about this sort of thing, but can be sufficiently rattled to affect their flying abilities. Most pilots have enough nerve that this isn't much of an issue.
**tl;dr: The plane can handle much more force than you think, provided it's flown within limits. The real danger of turbulence is loose items inside a cabin/cargo hold flying about. There are other weather phenomena that are much more hazardous.** | 9e5bad9d-3150-4d57-951b-063dd6b6792b |
p92q7 | - Gabriel's horn, I just don't get it. | The small tail end keeps going indefinitely, thus the surface area keeps going (since the surface area is calculated by multiplying by the length, which is an infinite number.).
Before we talk about volume, remember that 0.999999999999..... = 1.
99.9999% of the volume is at the larger end of the cone and it decreases as it gets towards the end, so even though the surface area keeps going, the volume will not increase enough to round it up to a number that matters.
[Here's a good visual representitive](_URL_0_). Doesn't matter how long it can go on, the digits towards the end will not make it round up to 1. | e3877c9e-fba6-466e-92b2-8df68e5e2ef4 |
3zt9ik | Why is there a militia occupying the Malheur Wildlife refuge. | So... There are ranchers in Oregon named the Hammonds. It is typical to set land on fire to kill weeds (this is called a controlled burn). Some weeds won't be killed unless they are burnt. So, they set some of their land on fire to kill weeds. Now, the land bordered federally-owned land. The fire spread onto unoccupied federal land. The Hammonds were charged with Arson and sentenced to 1 year of prison. There was a plea deal (basically a compromise) where the Hammonds would have to give up land in exchange for a lesser sentence. The Hammonds took this to the Supreme Court and lost. Recently, a judge sentenced the Hammonds to 4 more years in prison because under the Anti-Terrorism Act, minimum time in jail is 5 years. The Bundy's are upset for two reasons: Reason 1: they believe the 5 year sentence is overkill. Reason 2: they think that the gov't shouldn't try to bribe someone to give up land via a plea deal. So... That is why they are occupying the Wildlife refuge. They have 100-150 armed men, so the government have to decide if it is worth losing lives of both the militia and the police in order to get the building back. Sorry for the long post... | 35805a74-b48d-4461-8b73-8099ba71472d |
1twnjn | Morse code. Is it, it's own language or is it in English? How did it become universal? | Morse code isn't a language, it's an alphabet, although it uses the same letters as english. Individual letters are signified with a combination of dots and dashes, and words are spelled out as per normal. So you can use morse code with whatever language is compatible with the letters you have available to you. | 6fd2c343-d561-436c-8c01-bcad1b8c46ae |
3em7a1 | Why do cats go crazy when you rub the base of their tail? | Wouldn't you go crazy if someone rubbed the base of your tail? | 90bd59f8-1cc7-4aa8-acaa-9672d56d7c21 |
3ur1zp | Can someone explain to me the significance of the Lucy fossil andwhy its a big deal? | Here is an overview of the Hominin family tree as it stands...I've added a few more details about Lucy's species *A. afarensis*.
**Quick Facts**
* Humans are primates. All species classified as primate belong to the same order Primates.
* Primates evolved about 60-70 million years ago. There are many different groups of primates that have now gone extinct. There are many different groups of primates that are still alive.
* There is no single trait that defines the primate order, primates are odd that way. Instead we have a collection of traits that together do not exist in any other group. We have forward facing eyes, can distinguish colours very well, have opposing thumbs, generally have large brain-to-body size ratios, have nails not claws...and so on.
Humans are apes. All apes evolved from an Old World monkey species about 25 million years ago. Apes, in contrast to monkeys, lack a tail.
* The living apes include: orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, gibbons, siamangs, and humans.
* We have many fossils of 'transitional species' within the primate order. We have a very complete human lineage as compared to many other fossil groups.
**The Hominin "Human" Lineage**
Our last common ancestor with chimpanzees lived 7 million years ago in Africa. This last common ancestor was not a human, and it was not a chimpanzee, it was its own distinct species of ape. This last common ancestor would split into two populations. One population would lead to the evolution of humans, we call this lineage the 'hominin' lineage. The other population would lead to the evolution of chimpanzees and bonobos, we call this lineage the 'pan' lineage.
Fossil species hominin lineage are first found in Africa, between 5-7 million years ago. There are no fossils found outside Africa during this time.
* [Sahelanthropus tchadensis](_URL_9_) is an extinct hominin species that is dated to about 7 million years ago, possibly very close to the time of the chimpanzee/human divergence. Some scientists are hesitant to classify this species as either a hominin or pan species, although generally it is classified as a hominin.
* [Orrorin](_URL_11_) is the second oldest fossil specimen we have. We only have a few bones. It is 6.1 to 5.7 million years old.
* [Ardipithecus](_URL_2_) species is a genus represented by two species: A. ramidus, which lived about 4.4 million years ago, and A. kadabba, dated to approximately 5.6 million years ago. We have a nearly complete skeleton and so we know a lot more about these species than the previous two. These species still had opposable big toes, and given the shape of their pelvis they very likely still walked quadrupedally (on all fours) in the trees. They probably spent some time on the ground as other features of their skeleton point to the beginnings of a bipedal stance. To keep it short, these species lived both in the trees and on the ground. They did not use stone tools.
* [**Australopithecus**](_URL_6_) genus is represented by a number of species including *Australopithecus afarensis, A. africanus, A. anamensis, A. garhi*, and *A. sediba*. It is very likely that an australopithecine evolved from an ardipithecus species. Australopithecines dominated the landscape of Africa from about 2-4 million years ago. They are the first species to make, use, and modify stone tools...which was a significant discovery. These species had an upright stance, walked bipedally, and had lost that opposable big toe. This tells us that their ancestors had already given up many traits that favour living in trees, for newer traits that favour walking upright or bipedally. They marked that critical period in our hominin ancestry when we transitioned from more ape-like to more human-like.
* [Paranthropus](_URL_0_) genus is also represented by a number of species. They lived during the same time as some of the Australopithecines. These guys all went extinct, and are an evolutionary dead end. It is very likely that the paranthropus genus evolved from an early Australopithecine because they share many physical features.
**Homo Genus**
[Homo genus](_URL_3_) first arose about 2.5-3 million years ago. Humans are part of the homo genus. It is very likely that the earliest Homo species evolved from an Australopithecine. Homo species are mainly defined by their increased brain size.
* [Homo naledi](_URL_3__naledi) is probably between 2-3 million years old, but we are waiting on dating evidence to help us place them exactly. That being said the naledi fossils are a mix of old and new traits, being somewhere in between Australopithecines and Homo species which would place them somewhere around here in our family tree, being one of the earliest Homo species that evolved. They have a small brain (australopithecine trait) but they have more modern teeth structure (homo trait). Considering all the traits, the scientists decided to classify the fossils as Homo rather than Australopithecine.
* [Homo habilis](_URL_3__habilis) generally regarded as the first definitive homo species in the fossil record. They evolved about 3 million years ago. There is some contention as to whether it should be in fact classified as a Australopithecine. Homo habilis is only found in Africa.
* [Homo erectus](_URL_3__erectus) is first found in Africa about 2 million years ago. There is no contention, Homo erectus is part of the Homo genus. Homo erectus very likely evolved from a population of Homo habilis. Homo erectus is also the first hominin species to leave Africa. Homo erectus left Africa about 1.8 million years ago and spread into Europe and Asia. They also used stone tools, and they also were able to use and control fire. They lived in small hunter-gatherer groups and very likely had proto-languages. The last Homo erectus fossils we have date around 140,000 years ago, and it is around this time that we think they went extinct.
* [Homo heidelbergensis](_URL_3__heidelbergensis) evolved from Homo erectus populations in Eurasia and Africa about 800,000 years ago. Homo heidelbergensis has a slightly larger brain size than Homo erectus. They also made, modified stone tools and also used and controlled fire.
* [Homo neanderthalensis](_URL_8_) or 'Neanderthals' evolved from a population of H. heidelbergensis about 350,000-600,000 years ago. Neanderthals evolved and went extinct in Europe, they never left Europe. The last Neanderthals went extinct about 25,000 years ago. Neanderthals are the only known hominin species for which humans have definitive archeological contact.
* [Denisovans](_URL_5_)...we don't know much about these guys because we only have a single finger bone, a single tow bone, and a couple of teeth to work with...so lets take their findings with a grain of salt. They lived about 50,000 years ago in Asia. They are very likely evolved from a Homo erectus population. It is unclear if humans every made contact with them, although there is recent evidence that we possibly interbred with them.
* [Homo floresiensis](_URL_1_) is an odd Homo species found only on a single Indonesian island. This species likely evolved from a Homo erectus population. They evolved around 100,000 years ago and lived until quite recently, between 12-13,000 years ago. Humans very likely never encountered floresiensis, although it is conceivable that early human migrants to S.E. Asia may have met them.
* Humans (Homo sapiens) evolved about 200,000 years ago in Africa from a population of H. heidelbergensis. Humans left Africa about 60,000-100,000 years ago. We were not the first species to leave Africa and when we left Africa we found that it was already occupied. Humans first encountered Neanderthals in Europe about 50,000 years ago.
You can see that each species adds to the complex and rich hominin tapestry. The discovery of Lucy and subsequent Australopithecine species has provided us with a lot of information on this critical period in our evolutionary history. Australopithecines have provided us wonderful discoveries like how early stone tool use developed, or how early we transitioned to a bipedal stance. They are a key part of our history and without them we wouldn't be here today. Lucy is the quintessential fossil that represents this time in our collective history, her bones take us into a world we can only begin to imagine. Their world was the one that set the stage for ours, the *Homo* genus. Its pretty crazy that one simple fossil can provide us so much information and so much depth into our own existance. | e4d802ac-ab72-4953-98b9-a961625fbd38 |
3mvflx | How can a doctor/dentist/optometrist etc. practice in a state and not accept the sate's insurance? | It's not state run or federally run health care in the US. It's still a choice for the doctors on whether or not to participate. For most it's what keeps the patients coming so they do it. The ones who don't have either decided the hassle of dealing w/ the plan isn't worth it or they're so busy they don't need the patients from Plan X. | 3e4046aa-64ca-4132-b222-0cacda260efe |
4qlkpk | Would eating a bunch of cooked bacteria be nutritionally similar to eating cooked meat? | Don't know about bacteria but I can find nutritional information on nutritional yeast. Yeast are single-celled organisms but they're technically fungi & not bacteria. Here's the nutritional information from a 100g serving:
| Yeast | Beef (cooked) |
-|--------|------|
calories | 281 | 211
calories from fat | 31 | 100
total fat | 3g | 11g
cholesterol | 0mg | 84mg
sodium | 31mg | 53mg
Total carbs | 31g | 0g
dietary fiber | 25g | 0g
sugar | 6g | 0g
Protein | 50g | 26g
Iron | 25% | 9%
I'll let somebody smarter than me comment on how much alike or different yeast is from your typical bacteria.
sources:
* _URL_0_
* _URL_1_ | af63fb02-7181-4e05-8033-ba2de0481d08 |
6gl6bz | Can someone explain what it is about music theory that allows pretty much every song to be mashed with eachother in a way that fits? | Songwriters are unimaginative. They use the same stupid chord progressions and scales and rhythms over and over and over and over again.
The energy of a song is largely independent of the scale/harmony, so that's no barrier. Key doesn't matter because you just shift one song or the other up or down until the two songs match. And because we all use the same stupid scales, the chords often barely matter as well. The melody from All Star is mostly pentatonic which means it works with *virtually any* typical Western chord progression.
There's a reason this is done with mostly pop songs and not, say, King of Limbs-era Radiohead. | 79156ad5-793d-4a0c-b754-d8b1d4834d1b |
101mhw | The RNA world hypothesis | Currently: DNA- > RNA- > protein=functional enzymes
DNA codes for proteins that are enzymes that do things in your body such as copying DNA.
As it so happens, RNA can perform both functions: holding information and acting as an enzymes.
The RNA world hypothesis is that RNA was the first biopolymer and performed both as an enzyme and as a template for making more copies of itself. Later DNA was evolved as a more stable information carrier and proteins as better (more diverse/stable/more modes of regulation) enzymes. | c88e0a5a-f875-49b4-b8f5-652b40018b57 |
8j635u | Why do governments want to avoid a current account defecit? | Taxing imports has little to do with mitigating deficit. It's more about protecting national industries from foreign competition.
On one side, you might have one particular good being produced in your country that costs more than their foreign counterparts with similar quality, so the national industry can't sell. So the government put taxes to make the national good preferable over the imports. That ensures the survival of the national industry and protects jobs.
On another side, that'll drive the foreign company to work on lowering their costs or raising their quality even more to compete in that market even with taxes, while the national companies won't have that much of an incentive, because they are being sheltered by their government
That is oversimplifying things by the way, there are many arguments on why this works or doesn't work on both sides, and i'm not getting into that
Edit: I talked about import tariffs but disn't answer the question directly. An account deficit means more money flowing towards other countries companies than towards your own companies. That will, over time, reduce your countries capabilities of investments, which will lead to creation of fewer jobs and so on. | 119b7293-5aef-4b5c-805e-b9e00e69c57e |
7av95d | Question about light and my fan | If your bike light s an LED, it's not really varying in intensity, it's just strobing, the moving fan blades highlight the strobe effect. | 95196bd2-21d6-442a-a048-67f10e119500 |
3ovzce | Why horn player's call musical notes different names. | The main reason for this is so that when you learn to play a horn, you don't have to re-learn everything to play a higher or lower horn.
For example, consider the saxophone family. There's exactly one fingering for the "G" in the middle of the treble clef - three main fingers down with the left hand, none with the right. Whenever you see that note in the staff, you finger that note and blow, and you'll get the right note.
If you switch from an alto sax to a tenor sax, though, the note that sounds will be lower, because the instrument is bigger and it's tuned to a different key. But the fingerings are exactly the same.
So basically it means that you can switch from an alto sax to a tenor sax, bari sax, or soprano sax and you can still read the same music and use the same fingerings, even though the notes sound lower or higher.
The other advantage is that each instrument is usually tuned such that the most common notes they play are in the *middle* of the staff so they're easiest to read. It's hard to read notes way above the staff or way below. There are exceptions - flutes and lead jazz trumpets tend to have a lot of notes way above the staff. Still, it's broadly true that a note in the middle of the staff for most instruments will *sound* average, notes below the staff will *sound* low for that instrument, and notes above the staff will *sound* high for that instrument.
So basically it makes things more confusing when different instruments are talking about the same notes, yes - but overall it makes it faster and easier for each player to sightread and play the notes on their own instrument, and switch instruments within a family without relearning fingerings from scratch. | 57465524-258a-4f91-9ae5-dcddcce75424 |
3cxmt3 | The difference between aftershave/perfumes and eau de toilette. | aftershaves- theyre basically lotion in the disguise of a nice smelling perfume. its a little safer to put on your face, and they have slight chemicals in them that soothe freshly shaved skin. its almost like a lotion in the form and scent of perfume.
perfume- this is generally the highest in concentration levels. they have 15%-40% concentration and these are the sprays that you put on for a full day of work because the smells are made to last longer and be stronger.
eau de toilette- this is one of the least concentrated ones.the smell isnt intended for a long purpose as you can just spray more whenever you want to and it wont be overwhelming. its usually very liquidy and comes in a spray bottle. typically this is just a quick "im clean but want to smell even cleaner" as the smell fades and doesnt spread through the whole room like a strong perfume will. generally these are only 4%-15% concentrate.
edit- the percents to show how different they can be in how potent the smell is. | a1a0e2e1-ca2d-41dc-803d-249f1463f8e0 |
20ha66 | Why is it sometimes economically rational to keep loss-making firms afloat? | Three reasons:
1. Because the firm's existence provides more benefit than just its direct economic impact. In your example, it's possible that quick access to British made ships provides more good for more British firms and consumers than buying ships abroad. Banks are an unfortunate example of this, as we in the US have literally created firms which are "too big to fail." No matter how unprofitable they are, they have become such an essential part of our economy that letting them tank would lead to disaster. (For those of you who are about to immediately mention Iceland, remember that they are a country of less than 1 million people, and the US is at the very least 300x bigger)
2. For some firms, it is like an odd form of socialism. Taxes are taken from the successful and used to grow the revenue of the unsuccessful. You are correct in your previous assumption that letting the firm close will have too great of an effect on the unemployment rate. For example, the auto industry in the US supports one million jobs. If we had let GM fail, it would have sent our unemployment rate skyrocketing. For comparison, look at what happened to the northern UK when Thatcher fought the heavy industry located there. 30 years later and the region has yet to recover.
2. Odd national pride is the other reason. There are some industries which are supported simply because they're seen as fundamental to the image of the nation - or because the owners of said industry are well connected to the government. I believe Australia's film industry is heavily subsidized by the government. This comes from a strong desire from both major parties in the Australian government for the Australian voice to be heard worldwide. | e8e4e216-f1a8-4047-a5fd-6639472ea791 |
8tjk4x | Chemically, what happens to your body (brain) when you can’t stop laughing? | I'm just guessing but it could be related to some activity in one of the Many cannabinoid receptors which are known to be able to send people into awesome fits of laughter when exposed to oral or smoked cannabis.
Interesting question I must say | a8fac555-02a0-405d-a4af-7bbb7db7a6f7 |
2iihe9 | What makes C++ a better language than C? Or in other words, what are all the advantages of Object-Oriented Programming? | Object-oriented helps keep track of things in a logical, reusable, and extendable structure.
Think about a video game. In a video game, there are plenty of characters on the screen. Every character has a model and a location in the world. With classes, you can make a "character" class that holds all that character-specific data in an easy-to-use template.
**TL;DR 1:** It's like keeping all the contact information for your friend in a single contact card on your phone.
Every time you create (aka, "instantiate") a character in the game world, the class constructor will automatically fill in all the data and keep it together in a single, logical object. In C, this same data would probably be stored in one or more arrays. While that works most of the time, if there's a logic bug in your program, you might find yourself reading the wrong data (off-by-one errors) or possibly reading a location that isn't real data at all (reading a character's location after it was already removed, for example). These bugs can be nasty and hard to find. With objects, the data for each character is contained in a single object, so all the correct data is in a single place, and only exists if the object still exists.
**TL;DR 2:** Since the entire contact card is displayed at the same time, you won't accidentally dial Taco Hut when trying to call your friend.
Secondly (and this is very important for large projects), it helps keep code organized. You might know where all the arrays and variables that keep track of a character's inventory are, but unless he worked with you in designing it, Steve might not. If Steve has to make a change to your code to add his code for equipping larger backpacks, he'll have to hunt down all the inventory code or ask you to explain it. While proper code organization can prevent problems like that, object-oriented code *forces* you to write it organized in smaller logical chunks, making such techniques less necessary.
**TL;DR 3:** By it's very nature it keeps your contacts organized, so when you loan your phone to a friend, they can always figure out how to navigate the contacts screen easily.
Finally, techniques like inheritance and encapsulation promote code reuse and more general solutions. Instead of writing code multiple times for chests, characters, and vehicles to all store items, you can write a single "inventory" class and extend it. That gives the three very different objects a common interface that the item team can rely on when they need to add or remove an object from an inventory.
**TL;DR 4:** It promotes common, generic formats. You can add an email field to a contact card and your email program will be able to recognize it, regardless of whether it's a phone contact, an email contact, or something else entirely.
Basically, it's a layer of organization on top of the base code that helps keep track of things, especially in huge projects. It's also easily extendable, allowing you to reuse a lot of code rather than re-typing it all. | 1e130f9a-2207-419c-8e43-792bedb88421 |
8sogfu | How does applying heat to something actually relieve the pain? | It depends upon the kind of pain. For muscle aches, heat causes blood vessels to relax and dialate. This means more nutrients are going into the area, promoting healing and carrying away toxins faster.
For other sorts of pain - like a burn or an area swollen with infection, apply heat is a terrible idea. Cooling is effective as it causes blood vessels to clinch closed -and the problem is too much fluid in the area. | b443bf93-c8e7-43b7-9e6a-54c3367dfc73 |
2hpi6t | Sometimes when I go to bed, I fall asleep for 15 minutes and wake up completely refreshed and unable to fall back asleep for hours. How does this happen? | And how is it when I sleep for 12 hours, I wake up as though I didn't sleep at all | c6835f83-7a0c-4cbe-96c9-abff819e74c0 |
2w1mpt | What is the objective or telos of ISIS? Are we doing them a favor by feeding attention to the beheading videos? | They want to create (at this point it's more appropriate to say expand) a Caliphate - basically one big over-arching Muslim nation ostensibly led by a successor of the prophet Mohammed. In theory the caliph is the leader of the entire Muslim community. They want to unite Muslims under this Caliphate by force.
Also they are depraved terrorists that even Al-Qaeda say are uncompromising. The media coverage of the kidnappings, beheadings, etc are all force multipliers for them. There is a theatrical element to all terrorism. It accomplishes a number of goals for ISIS - first it legitimizes their power internationally by showing that nobody can/will stop them. It helps to recruit new people to fight in Iraq/Syria and also to recruit cells to operate in other countries. More practically it consolidates their control in the territory they take over. This is why it's not just citizens of Western countries being executed. It's similar to what the Taliban did in Afghanistan and what Al-Qaeda did in Iraq. Murder and intimidation campaigns force the local people to accept they either help ISIS or are put to a particularly brutal death. All the theater makes their reputation real to the world and the next village in line to be subsumed into the "Caliphate" - nobody doubts they will execute people for basically no reason, even resident Muslim villagers if they don't provide support. The media feeds this reputation and makes occupied people less willing to fight back. It's exactly what ISIS wants.
Of course all of this will come crashing down in a rain of guided missiles and special forces when the West grows tired of having terror cells pop up in their cities. It will take a lot to get the US over the war weariness from the Iraq war debacle, but the media attention on ISIS is a double edged sword for them that will overcome this in time. Ultimately I think their brutality will be their undoing. | 098283b6-1b8a-42fe-9636-eea14b241119 |
15miof | Salt and ice - Why the burning sensation?! | When salt meets ice it lowers the freezing point of the water. The result is super cold water. This is why salt is used to melt ice on roads, and why you use salt and ice to make icecream.
The reason is that the salt goofs up the formation of ice crystals, making it much harder for the water molecules to line up and freeze into ice. | 7a36b624-56ed-41fa-ac1f-3b3977f11576 |
5simkl | Why do all currencies undergo inflation over time? | This is a very broad topic to talk about, however I shall do my best, I've included a tl;dr at the bottom if you want to skip. I've tried to keep it brief but I could literally talk for days about this all in detail. Please let me know if you have questions or disagree with anything I wrote, I love talking about this stuff and would love to share what I have learnt with you.
In order to understand inflation, first we need to distinguish money. Money in the modern day is fiat money - it is not backed by anything such as gold or other precious metals - and is just a generally accepted form of payment. It only has value because we are told it has value. During the times of the gold standard, yup, you guessed it, it was backed against gold.
Inflation occurs when the supply of money is increased to the point where the value of the money starts to decrease. This is because there is a greater abundance of the money and since value is normally related to the quantity of a good (I say normally since there are goods where price does not change regardless of supply, i.e. oil/petrol/diesel), the greater the quantity the lower the value and vice versa.
- As a side note, this is based on the assumptions of neo-classical thought. A more accurate description of reality is presented by the Post-Keynesian School of Thought, and is often referred to as Horizontalism, Structuralism (which itself includes more than just money theory) or the Endogenous money supply.
Even though there is an increase of money, there is no simultaneous increase of material goods or assets, because this is fiat money remember. This can get out of control and lead to hyperinflation (examples include Post war Germany and Zimbabwe).
Since money hasn't got a real physical value, it cannot be exchanged directly for anything physical, it is instead a form of payment, or an IOU of sorts. When you run out or run low on cash, you turn to the commercial bank to draw credit and borrow from them. You can only receive credit if someone else has debited their cash into an account (at least in the Neo-Classical School of Thought). This demand for money (credit or borrowings) increases, and is matched by an increase of supply.
- I should note, that this is also matched by the effect of the money multiplier, where a bank will lend out a certain percentage of a deposit to create a new debit, which is then lent out again, etc.
Banks (commercial banks specifically), create money from the money they are receiving from the people (and yes it is essentially fraud but its up to interpretation really). I should also note that if you are curious of horizontalism then the causality is the opposite, the supply of money is anywhere between 0 and infinite at any given moment in time, and will be granted to anyone so long as they are creditworthy (known as credit rationing), which in turns causes a deposit later on.
As the supply of money increases, and inflation rises, the purchasing power of the money decreases. You can buy less goods with the same amount, for instance £1 used to buy you 5 Freddo's, now £1 will buy you 2. You could argue that this is just a price change by the manufacturers, however, the root cause is the reduction of purchasing power.
The reduction of purchasing power forces consumers to turn to the banks once more and demand more credit to support their lives and needs, which in turn causes inflation to rise. It is an endless cycle, however, it is in reality a slow process, and normally, inflation is targeted through interest rate targeting policies by the Central Banks (like the Bank of England).
Do not get me wrong though, inflation does not spell disaster for an economy. Generally speaking, it is beneficial, as inflation equates to growth. It means more people are spending money encouraging expansion of industry and services, causing increased trade both domestically and internationally. Problems only arise when there is no change in physical goods. If people are spending more but not getting more then it is not a good thing.
tl;dr - The current supply of money is exhausted by the consumer (spent or saved). Money is demanded by the consumer in the form of credit (i.e. borrowings or overdraft). Money supply is increased by the banks to match the increased demand. The value of the money drops, as there is a greater abundance of said money. Inflation increases causing a higher demand for money again. The cycle continues unless it is controlled. | 2c424354-7a76-4246-9643-071debee2e78 |
61hhrt | Why is it so hard to make friends after you turn 25? | The biggest factor is opportunity. Young people are almost always set up in large groups due to school. This also happens at a time in their lives when they are very open minded. As you grow older your personality tends to solidify and you tend to judge other people more solidly then when you are young.
You also don't tend to reach out of your circle to find new people as often. Now yes most adults work in places with a large number of other employees but the ages of those employees tends to be much more spread out than the ages of your peers when you're in school, and there is far less time for flat out socialization in the work place.
**TL:DR** It's not you, it happens to everyone. | a3503caf-5697-4925-a1dc-6e656994d589 |
51oopw | What causes the attraction to "odd" physical traits? My attraction to slightly gapped teeth, for example. | Perhaps you were attracted to someone with this trait earlier in life, and you associate that trait unconsciously with a person who may have shaped your image of an attractive person.
What is considered "attractive" can change from era to era, and culture to culture. One way or another we are exposed at an early age to what this image is. Straight and clean-white teeth are often a feature of the attractive people featured in media and culture, so not only do we factor that into our opinions but we imitate them to acquire some of that image.
I find women that remind me of my first girlfriend have a different appeal to me than other women who may have other "attractive" features. Its not that my first girlfriend was stunning or conversely unattractive, but I associate with her appearance a generally successful relationship with someone I was attracted to. | cdeefa55-843f-4b08-8846-6a88a41ede24 |
3xjaif | why too cold things sometimes are felt like hot things? | For your sensory system something that is very hot vs something that is very cold is very similar response. You get the same systems responding to both situations. Your body thinks a cold burn and a hot burn are the same thing because they both equally suck from an evolutionary point of view. | 441e8787-b5e8-40b7-9ca9-329f89b1daa6 |
2rklkw | How a gas pump knows when my gas tank is full | [From Wikipedia](_URL_0_):
> Most modern pumps have an auto cut-off feature that stops the flow when the tank is full. This is done with a second tube, the sensing tube, that runs from just inside the mouth of the nozzle up to a Venturi pump in the pump handle. A mechanical valve in the pump handle detects this change of pressure and closes, preventing the flow of fuel. | 9fed172d-108d-4b8f-88f5-4cfddd22c824 |
m5pua | Okay, ELI5. We have the different blood types covered, so how about the difference between whole blood, platelets, and plasma? | During a whole blood donation, donors typically donate a pint of blood. During platelet or plasma donation, your blood is collected and then separated into its components by a machine; the machine keeps the platelets or plasma and returns the rest to you. Your blood stays confined within a single-use sterile tubing kit and sterile equipment, so the process is completely safe. This procedure allows you to donate more frequently.
* Red blood cells: help treat anemia or acute blood loss and carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. Red blood cells last up to 42 days.
* Platelets: help control bleeding; replace platelets destroyed by disease or cancer therapy. Platelets must be used within 5 days.
* Plasma: supplies nutrients to cells, used to replace fluids in shock and burn victims. Frozen plasma may be kept for up to 1 year.
(As a recap) AB plasma is the universal plasma type, AB plasma can be safely given to patients with any blood type. AB-negative blood is the rarest blood type represented in less than one percent of the population, while AB-positive occurs in ~3 percent of the population. | e1a7ccc7-a905-46b5-bb6e-282561dad705 |
44ohbm | I have acid reflux. What is happening inside of my body that makes it feel like I am softly belching molten lava? | You are burping up a strong stomach acid and while your stomach has a protective lining, your throath has not.
The acid is corroding your throath and that feels like belching molten lava. | 746dda9f-85f4-4516-aa5e-e03b332ffbcb |
l1qje | The IMF | The IMF is a board of 187 member nations that has $500billion to fund short term emergency bailouts to countries that could otherwise cause a catastrophic economic collapse. Greece would be prime candidate for a IMF loan right about now.
Decisions are made by voting. Each member nation's vote is weighted according to how much money that nation contributes to the fund.
The biggest criticism of the IMF is that it puts policy conditions on its loans, such as the recipient has to raise their taxes or cut government benefits, before getting the loan. The other criticism is the IMF pushes economic reforms but not human rights reforms. | 97d95486-6a59-4553-801b-675bb34511d2 |
14ynrp | Why do humans only have one hair color, but other mammals, like my dog, have more than one hair colors? | 1) When an animal is being hunted, if they blend in well they have a lower chance of being caught. So they will live to pass on their chromosomes and so on and so forth.
[Read about Disruptive selection](_URL_1_)
[Countershading - when an animal's stomache has lighter color](_URL_0_)
[And dog coats!](_URL_2_)
If this doesn't explain it well enough, tell me and I'll attempt to explain more in detail.
2) Humans can have multiple shades of hair color. My pubic hair is black, my beard grows blonde and my hair is red. | 153c0b44-9610-42db-89ad-9cdee64aadbc |
7iyvic | Which countries don't rely on the US for their internet? | Net neutrality won't really affect other countries. Comcast, Verizon don't control the backbone and messing with the backbone would quickly get America as a whole thrown off the internet.
As a general rule most big/wealthy countries control their own internet. China for instance blocks most foreign web sites for political reasons. If America did something stupid they could have their own internet up and running in a few days.
tl,dr - America is not in a position to charge other countries for specific content. If we tried we'd quickly find out how impotent we are in the modern era. | d6682d59-2a98-4d3b-9e68-003201d8fdc5 |
3deyat | Why are American right wing politicians and citizens so adamant about denying climate change? | 1. If the government concludes that man-made climate change is a real thing, and a problem, then they will probably change policies in order to respond.
2. Some of these policy changes will probably decrease the amount of fossil fuels Americans consume, and others will probably require significant changes to cars that are sold.
3. These changes will cost oil/coal/gas companies a lot of business, and impose big costs on car manufacturers.
4. Companies that stand to lose money by these changes will pay money to politicians and "experts" to deny that there is a problem, thus preventing Step 1. | 05f69d59-ab41-4f57-a3b3-0dd7c1874bcc |
32zk2r | The difference between lager, ale, beer, and more(?) | There are a bunch of different alcoholic drinks that are made from barley (sometimes with other ingredients). There are two key distinctions that are relevant to the terms you've named: ale vs beer, and ale vs lager. (Notice that "ale" does double duty here, and has two different meanings.)
In the ale vs beer meaning, *ale* is any kind of fermented drink that's made with barley malt (and probably most other kinds of malt, too). *Beer* has to be made with hops, the flower of a vine that's native to Europe and is somewhat related to cannabis. All beer is ale, but some ales (not popular since the 1500s) are flavored with (for instance) juniper berries or spruce tips, instead, and don't count as beer.
In the ale vs lager distinction, both terms are kinds of beer. (After all, non-hopped ales are practically extinct.) Here, *ale* means a beer fermented with one kind of yeast (that tends to form a foamy cake that floats on top of the fermenting liquid); *lager* is made with a different kind (that doesn't tend to rise to the top of the container). They're called top-fermenting and bottom-fermenting yeasts, even though bottom-fermenting yeasts don't actually sink to the bottom. | 3cbe25c6-6611-46c6-88d7-839d4932ce80 |
7eoqyp | Why ejaculation feels better the longer you last? | Because your brain has more time to "set things in place" - orgasms are partly chemical and partly electrical. | 2647ea6d-bcc0-4b9e-88a6-090bc046e0be |
2c6s1i | Why do I get addicted to stupid idling games like Cookie Clicker? | because they are:
1) simple
2) engaging
3) rewarding
It is my personal theory that if you make something be all three of these things that people will do it - it doesn't matter what it is. Games are just conducive to being these three things.
Now just because something isn't all three doesn't mean people won't do it - but if something is all three then people basically will have no choice and will do it. | cacf6fdc-fd77-4fd3-b3cf-fe0d0283d802 |
39xzeb | In what sense have creditors been "pillaging" Greece for the past five years? | To make a long, complicated story short: external investment (via debt) is necessary in order to maintain a functioning government in Greece. No investment, the government has no funds to operate, and falls apart completely.
Because capital (needed for investment) is globally mobile, investors are not in a situation where they have to accept terms from Greece, because they can just invest elsewhere for a better/safer deal. In order to compensate for the extreme risk they are taking by loaning money to Greece, they impose terms in the form of austerity measures (limit spending) which are meant to ensure that the Greek government does not overspend again and default again. This is meant to lower risk for investors so they don't end up getting shafted (which already happened multiple times).
If you don't understand how financial markets work, it just seems like the creditors have it out for Greece and are being "mean", but in reality their reasons for pushing austerity measures are valid and understandable. While austerity may seem bad, the alternative is no investment and a non-functional government, which would be significantly worse. The left/far left parties are preying on people's emotions and lack of understanding to make it seem like austerity measures are some type of "punishment", when in reality they are a necessary condition for securing investment. | 8f6f68a3-cc7e-42d1-a095-e3666cc29a7b |
3fppaf | What led to the "Top 1%" economic gap? And compared to how the general population perceives it, what is the actual economic spread? Is the government doing anything about this? | This is not a new phenomenon. The [power curve](_URL_1_) has shown up in economics and various other disciplines again and again. This was first analyzed in a scholarly context by Vilfredo Pareto, who in 1896 noted that [80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.](_URL_2_) Research and simulations suggest that this inequality arises naturally in a free market system, and is not necessarily due to corruption or conspiracy (though those could potentially amplify the effect). You can draw a line arbitrarily at the 20% mark, as Pareto did, or at the 1% mark, as the Occupy movement does, but it can be helpful to keep [the entire curve](_URL_0_) in mind.
Edit: Better image of income curve | 58bd277f-5aae-4671-88f6-712cde676045 |
3pb4aw | Do local news anchors only work a few hours a day, or what else are they doing? What are some of their job responsibilities besides presenting the news for an hour? | These days news anchors do other things. They report, they do appearances, they write copy and web scripts. They shoot and edit franchise pieces. Maybe if it's a top 20 market they will only anchor but that's rare these days.
Still, producers do 99% of the work. | 0d490e97-3b06-49ec-a9fb-8ddf1636b64c |
6gidyr | Why aren't chapters still added to the bible? What would somebody have to do to get something added to it? | They do add new chapters to the bible. The mormons added a bunch for instance. The problem is that not everyone is on board with that so new sects form. | beb13189-c0ff-4c9a-b928-36fe1d78e62f |
3yb8ej | What is the difference between asthma and bronchitis? | Symptom wise they are pretty similar. From a health care professionals standpoint, bronchitis would be more acute and caused by an infection or such (unless it's chronic bronchitis, which is confusing) and asthma would be a chronic condition. Physiologically, bronchitis and asthma both have inflammation involved but asthma mostly involves the tightening of the muscles as well, which is why inhalers are used which relaxes the muscles in the lungs. Bronchitis' symptoms are more from the massive inflammation which makes the airways more constricted.
The symptoms are very similar cause it's the same organ being affected, but the details of why the organ is malfunctioning are a bit different...unless you have asthmatic bronchitis which has the best of both worlds.
Like for bronchitis, taking a beta - blocker like Albuterol(inhaler) won't be as effective since beta - blockers relax muscle contraction. | 84c3a869-72fb-45b3-b717-33cb1ebae978 |
13of93 | Belly Button Fluff please | Google this, there are scientific studies.
The lint comes from your underwear. Studies traced the origins of the fibers. They get there by mechanical motion of your body movements, through the hair in your groin and on your belly. That's right, underwear fibers get shimmied up your front from rubbing on your hair as you move, and collect in your belly button.
You don't even have to wear your underwear high for this to happen.
Keep yourself trimmed, and the problem will go away. | 5287e3ac-963c-480c-8df1-017003a0601c |
3tixed | Why are there no Wikipedia pages on famous medieval jesters? | Apparently your Google/Wiki search talents are awful.
[Archibald Armstrong](_URL_2_)
[William Sommers](_URL_1_)
[Robert Armin](_URL_0_) | 0656dd5f-d0cc-4134-87fa-114d208548a8 |
1e774l | What happens if an astronaut aboard the ISS should need immediate surgery (ie: Appendicitis)? | There are various medicines on board that they could use, as well as consulting with doctors on earth. If those didn't help, there are emergency Dearborn procedures. A spare Soyuz is kept docked to the ISS for emergency situations, such as medical emergencies, or meteoroids. So if necessary, they could try to return to Earth. | a45ba51b-239b-4e62-9a3a-4fa41a860545 |
413tir | How can a huge statistic such as the world population be even remotely accurate? | Well, governments do. They issue birth certificates and death certificates. Of course it's not totally accurate but the census teams do a lot of research to estimate how many records are missing and figure out the margin of error. That's included in the estimated population. | 9b2ccb17-e4cb-4fe1-83bb-3b70079fb103 |
2wrzva | How do our bodies "Naturally" wake up with no alarm, nobody mowing their lawn outside etc? | Your body has what's called Circadian Rhythm. It determines basically when you sleep and when you eat but is affected by the sun and your environment and any number of other factors. Even more basically it tells your body's metabolism when to work and when to chill out. If you've been sleeping too long your body will wake you up because you need energy whether that's simply the sun or water or food. Conversely too much of either of those things are likely to put you to sleep so your body has time to recoup. | 5e890e89-75a0-40a8-8eba-29b2839b5082 |
4qi7am | Why sometimes when you hang a towel or jacket, it slides or falls off many hours later? | Probably ghosts.
Or maybe just some air flow, the air conditioner kicks on.
Or potentially if its a wet towel, the water collects to the bottom and redistributes weight.
Or potentially its just moving very very slowly to start with until it drifts far enough to start moving quickly.
Basically think of a towel like a thermodynamic system or a chemical reaction. It wants to fall down so that its in lowest energy state, but its stuck in a local minimum. For reference this type of thing _URL_0_ . Over time a random process is going to give it a little extra energy, and just like gasoline burns to a stray spark or super cooled water freezing all at once, the towel falls. Its hard to say what the specific source of energy was from that little description. It could be lots of just random little things. And it will depend how well you hang it up how much the barrier to this towel falling reaction is. No one can give you an exact answer, so the best answer is an inexact one: Because a hung towel is in a metastable state, and eventually it will reach equilibrium.
My personal feeling is its ghosts for sure. | 377c67a0-c0dd-41fc-954a-c513b3babf80 |
7e51cm | Short selling. How can you make money betting against a stock? | If I told you I was going out of town and could pick up something you wanted, I could ask for the money up front. We both know what it's worth now. However, when I actually get there, the price has dropped, and I just pocket the difference. | 67e11d84-dd43-4072-81df-a457c31174f7 |
26bh35 | How can a 300m wide comet hitting Earth be so catastrophic? | Because it has a lot of kinetic energy. Drop a bullet on your hand from six inches and it won't do any damage, shoot a bullet at your hand and it will FSU. | e3270bc0-aa6d-4e1b-8a91-bc930bd3ab6d |
24qvxu | How do vacuum cleaners work? | They don't create a vacuum. They work just like a leaf-blower, but in reverse. The bag in the vacuum cleaner let's air through so the garbage get's trapped in the bag and the air is released out of the machine. Just put your hand on top of the part that makes the noise and you can feel (often warm) air coming out of it. | f18412fc-3e5b-4b67-bb47-c785aafece9d |
uieay | Why are x-rays harmful? | X-rays are, in essence, very stong sunlight. When you bask in sunlight, it warms you. Now, imagine light much more powerful than that. It'd do more than just slightly warm you up.
The most harmful thing in x-rays is that they damage your DNA. Most of the time it's okay, as the cells can either repair the damage or self-destruct. In some cases, however, the rays damage the DNA so that the cell won't self-destruct, and instead continues to grow rapidly.
And that's cancer. | 8444ba49-b203-4ae7-b3b1-35edd06830d3 |
6k0s7q | is there any actual benefit to natural diamonds versus cubic zirconia? | You know that a cubic zirconia is not an artificial diamond, right? It's just that in jewelry it can be cut to resemble a diamond, even though it doesn't have the exact same properties (eg. lower refractive index). | 98f048fa-c666-4ff9-827c-3dbdcfe9c4bf |
1tmwng | How did the nation of Israel come to be? | There had been a movement among certain Jews for decades to re-establish a Jewish state in the Middle East. As a result of this movement, Jews had established population beach heads in many parts of British Palestine. Before World War II, and after it ended, there was major turmoil in the region between the British (and nearby French) Colonizers, Arabs, and Jews all struggling for political power, often leading to violence.
After a Jewish faction bombed a British controlled hotel, killing a number of people, the British decided that they would divide the area up among Arabs and Jews. This decision was also driven by increasing pressure world-wide to scale back colonialism and a major influx of Jews to the area following the end of World War II.
Neither the Jews nor the Arabs were happy with the way the land was eventually divided, and there was fighting immediately upon the announcement of an independent Jewish Israel, as Arab military powers rejected the partition plan. Although Jewish leaders largely accepted the initial land deal, at the least as the best they could get, they took the fighting as an opportunity to expand the Jewish areas and make them contiguous, while Arab forces attempted to extinguish Jewish control. Ultimately, the Israeli forces, with U.S. support, won the fight. Thus Israel was established.
EDITS: izzy2112. | 25a202a5-f973-4f52-8541-d0b30fa397bf |
3ldik3 | The Euro is an "E" (€). The Chinese Yuan is a "Y" (¥). The Korean Won is a "W" (₩). Most currencies' symbols are based on the first letter of their currency but then why is the dollar sign a $? | > The sign is first attested in British, American, Canadian, Mexican and other Spanish American business correspondence in the 1770s, referring to the Spanish American peso,[1][2] also known as "Spanish dollar" or "piece of eight" in British North America, which provided the model for the currency that the United States later adopted in 1785 and the larger coins of the new Spanish American republics such as the Mexican peso, Peruvian eight-real and Bolivian eight-sol coins.
>
> The best documented explanation reveals that the sign evolved out of the Spanish and Spanish American scribal abbreviation "pˢ" for pesos. A study of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century manuscripts shows that the s gradually came to be written over the p developing a close equivalent to the "$" mark.[3][4][5][6][7] A variation, though less plausible, of this hypothese derives the sign from a combination of the Greek character "psi" (ψ) and "S".[8]
_URL_0_ | f2541f7d-41bc-4139-aa37-2937d7c6e32c |
320x01 | Why was the concept of the month developed/accepted? Why don't we count the date as "Day 275" of the year, for example? | The concept of the month was based on the cycles of the moon, which last about 29 days. The English word "month" comes from the word "moon". | 363cb416-a25b-47e5-bb38-bdfa1897e5ca |
2wq7ce | Why was Canada involved in WWII if they were never directly attacked? | Because the UK was. Britain pulled the majority of their former colonies into the war; remember, Canada did and still does share a head of state with the UK. | aef902dd-6ec1-464f-b1d8-19c74b029916 |
7ov9gh | What is 'visual theater'? | This is not a standard term, so you are not going to get a good explanation here. Sometimes artists just invent terms. | f9138144-e738-4554-ae3d-c0f65203d885 |
130l6g | How music is written | Ah, David Bowie. Is there anything he can't do? Okay, so to try and answer your questions:
(1) Do artists just mess around with their instruments until they hear noises that they like?
Absolutely. For instance, I play guitar, drums and piano and when I was a bit younger, I used to just get really stoned, or take some LSD, and just mess around with my band. It was beautiful.
(2) Or is there a specific formula to which most songs flow to?
Yes, as well. While some music is definitely created by the sound and 'feel' of it rather than by formula(as in question 1), there are also many, many conventions which help to structure music theory. These conventions help musicians to communicate with eachother using written music and language. In Western music, formal theory arbitrarily starts with a note called middle C. From experimentation long ago (again the 'messing around' in question 1), humans worked out that some notes sound nice together, and some don't. They grouped notes that sound nice together into various scales, keys and chords, and gave them names. This allowed musicians to know what notes to play when someone said, 'okay, we're going to play in the key of C sharp', because they know what notes make up the key of C sharp. In other words, they know what notes sound good with the notes contained in the key of C sharp. Through trial and error, music theory developed and now very quickly describes on paper everything about the music you hear, from the notes making up its key (the melody), to the length of the notes being played (note value), to the number of beats in one measure of the music (time signature), to the speed of the song (tempo).
(3) Why do all of the songs I listen to sound so different?
Because there are different formulas for different genres of music. However, they can all be described by the one overall music theory system. This doesn't mean they all sound the same though, just that they use the same language to describe themselves.
(4) How did David Bowie work out the melody and structure of Heroes, did he make it up as he went along or did he envision it before hand? Probably a bit of both. Musicians generally have an idea for a song, perhaps it is as simple as a few notes played on a guitar, or a cool drum fill. And when you add other musicians with their own interpretation and creative faculties, the thing just grows from there, almost by itself. Other times, a musician might have the whole thing scripted first, either in their head or on paper. For instance, Beethoven was deaf yet managed to write some of his most brilliant pieces without being physically able to hear them. But he knew that they would work, because he had written them out using music theory beforehand.
In summary, creating music requires both improvisation (just 'messing around' to see what sounds good) and a structured, formulaic approach. Most musicians do a bit of both to help them make their music. In either situation, a music theory system allows them to do both these things by describing the notes they play, what other notes would sound good with the ones they're playing, and helping them to communicate with eachother and record their music so others can play it too. | 13b24b4f-1dc3-4bd7-9fa3-75a211289967 |
5hli2v | Why is 80 proof (40% alcohol by volume) the standard alcohol content in most hard liquors? | When a similar question was asked [last year](_URL_0_), it was shown that it's in fact regulated in the US that liquor is bottled at ["not less than 80 proof."](_URL_1_)
Most vendors, therefore, tend to dilute alcohol to the minimum required by law in a major market (that is, 80 proof or 40% ABV), though there's some variation from country to country. | f470e514-7942-4d46-b6a2-a2ca98fc229b |
1yuivm | How do antidepressants help if they are capable of causing suicidal thoughts? | Caveat that this is ELI5, but this topic is not easily explainable in simple terms.
Antidepressants do not help. This has been proven by the drug company's own trials. Dr. Irving Kirsch has shown that for everything but the most severe depression, the drug companies' own studies show that antidepressants are no better than a placebo pill clinically. He further argues very convincingly in his book, The Emperor's New Drugs, that the small effect seen in severe depression is not a real effect, but a result of study participants knowing they are taking a drug and not the placebo pill.
Dr. Kirsch's study is available here: _URL_0_
How is this possible? Antidepressants have very strong and noticeable effects on the brain. They manifest as typically fairly severe side effects like insomnia, restlessness, etc. The vast majority of people in antidepressant studies can tell when they are taking the drug or a placebo because of these side effects. Thus, they and the doctors break the placebo "blind" in the study, causing the double blind placebo design to become worthless. The rare studies that have published data on how many patients were able to guess which they are on has found that patients can guess with about 80% accuracy, while the doctors performing the study can guess with 90% accuracy whether the patient is on the drug or placebo.
There is further evidence in other studies that antidepressants are actually worse than placebo pills. There is clear data that shows a group of about 10 - 15% of people who have serious side effects and do much worse when taking antidepressants. The other 85 - 90% of people have a response curve that looks eerily like placebo.
Placebo effects are a complex topic, so I will leave that for another time.
As for the suicidal thoughts, that requires an explanation of what antidepressants do to the brain.
Your brain uses chemicals called neurotransmitters to send messages between neurons (the main brain cells). Between two neurons that wish to communicate is what is known as the synapse. Neurotransmitters are put into the synapse to transmit information and when finished an enzyme in the brain removes this neurotransmitter from the synapse. One of the most widely dispersed and used neurotransmitters is called serotonin.
Antidepressants (most of them at least), short circuit this process of removal of serotonin, causing serotonin to remain in the synapse. Theoretically, this "increases" serotonin levels since serotonin scheduled for removal and destruction is left around. In practice the brain's neurotransmitter systems are very complex, and there are feedback systems that govern levels of neurotransmitters and the brain's sensitivity to these neurotransmitters. Think of these feedback systems as a way for the brain to maintain proper function in an environment full of toxins. If toxins, for example alcohol, reach the brain and mess with neurotransmitter function, the brain is capable of recognizing this and adjusting to the situation.
So what happens with antidepressants? As far as we know, the feedback systems detect an excess of serotonin. They respond to this by decreasing the brain's production of serotonin and decreasing how sensitive neurons are to serotonin. The brain is attempting to restore balance. Our best estimates based on observation are that this process takes roughly 1 - 2 weeks, and will begin again when a dose increase is made. It will operate in reverse when a dose decrease or drug stoppage is done. There is one more effect that must be mentioned. It is thought that antidepressants also alter levels of dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is another widespread and extremely important neurotransmitter. This effect appears to be indirect, possibly through serotonin having an indirect effect on dopamine levels. The indirectness is important because some side effects caused by antidepressants seem to not go away over time. These side effects are possibly caused by the changes in the dopamine system. Because they are indirect, the brain's feedback systems do not respond to the change and adjust. But this effect on dopamine is really not completely known at this point.
Now you know a rough sketch of what is going on in the brain. What do these brain changes cause in outwardly observed behavior? In the first 1 - 2 weeks, while the brain is still overwhelmed by the drug and attempting to adjust, you see something called "activation". Mild activation results in the side effects that are common with antidepressants: headache, insomnia, dizziness, tremor, appetite changes, anxiety, etc. (the list is huge). Roughly 85 - 90% of people probably have just these mild changes. The unlucky few others will have extreme side effects that are probably indicative of higher sensitivity to the drugs and/or lower metabolism of the drug. These include hypomania, mania, psychosis, etc. These reactions are related to sensitivity and are dose dependent: for the 85 - 90% of people with mild reactions, if you started them on a very high dose they too would have an extreme reaction like hypomania or mania. This is why patients are always slowly worked up to a higher dose.
So, activation occurs for the first 1 - 2 weeks on the drug. It also reoccurs on dose changes and on discontinuation of the drug. The symptoms on reduction and discontinuation are different and include additional very not fun things like "brain zaps".
There is another, somewhat paradoxical effect. This effect is a general numbing of the emotions. The vast majority of people - even those who think antidepressants helped them - will describe the general feeling on them as numb. This effect also does not seem to go away with time. It is probably a result of indirect alterations of the dopamine system as described above. People experiencing mild numbing of their emotions will do just fine - they may even subjectively feel better because they no longer care about the things that were making them depressed. But again, a certain small percentage of people will experience a stronger negative effect. These people will develop intense negative feelings - often their depression becomes much more intense. They will often experience akithisia - a sense of inner restlessness that is excruciating torment. It feels like you are crawling out of your own skin. Many of them will develop intense suicidal thoughts - often of a bizarre character and often spontaneous. Some of them will develop tardive dyskinesia - a Parkinson's like movement disorder - over time.
I could go on about these effects, but that is enough to explain how antidepressants can cause suicidal thinking. Also, don't let people give you the lame drug company excuse that antidepressants increase your motivation before they get rid of your suicidal thoughts, therefore giving you the motivation to kill yourself. That is a sick joke. The antidepressant Cymbalta was involved in trials to gain approval for urinary incontinence. Study participants were screened and no one with depression was allowed in the study. Many participants developed intense suicidal thoughts after starting the drug. The trials were shut down after a popular student hanged herself in the study laboratory. It made the newspapers for a brief time, but nothing about the studies was ever published, and researchers have tacitly agreed not to talk about it.
If you want to know more about how antidepressants and other psychoactive drugs affect the brain, I highly recommend Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry by Dr. Peter Breggin. It is thoroughly researched and an incredibly comprehensive book. | 86f961d6-bf97-4864-9231-bd9df16b7465 |
461v9p | Why did the Troubles happen in Northern Ireland, and why was it at times so violent? | To understand the modern troubles, and to appreciate why it was so violent you have to look at the history as far back as the 12th century when Ireland was invaded by the Normans. This was the start of 'direct English rule' this established a deep running hatred in many native of the native Irish people, who felt they were being oppressed and they hadn't the cohesion at that time to fight back
Matters didnt get any better and when Henry VIII came to the throne in England and started the English reformation, and his own branch of Protestantism, he proclaimed himself King of Ireland and tried to impose the Protestant beliefs on Irish people - The majority of whom were catholic peasants.
The Reformation failed in Ireland and this lead to a campaign known as the 'Plantation' in which many English and Scottish Protestants were promised some of the most fertile and prosperous land in Ireland, at the expense of many of the native Irish farmers. At this point tensions had increased between the Protestant and Catholic sides ( Who were typically seen as English and Native Irish respectively - and sometimes still are by the more narrow minded people) the tension culminated in various re- occurring conflicts that became part of the tapestry of Irish, and then Northern Irish culture.
Again things did not get any better, Irish people were considered second class to Protestants, and were not even granted full rights until the Catholic Emancipation in 1829.
The Irish potato famine had further negative effect on relations also as the English government of the time had an economic policy of "Laisser Faire" - meaning to 'let be'. Implying they would not get involved in economic issue that they believed should right themselves in time.
Tensions and conflicts came to a head In 1922, after the Irish War of Independence and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom to become the independent Irish Free State, which after the 1937 constitution, began to call itself Ireland.
The six northeastern counties, known as Northern Ireland, remained within the United Kingdom. The Irish Civil War followed soon after the War of Independence. The history of Northern Ireland has since been dominated by sporadic sectarian conflict between (mainly Catholic) Irish nationalists and (mainly Protestant) unionists. This conflict erupted into the Troubles in the late 1960s.
So to understand why it may have been so violent at times, you have to appreciate that this conflict had been building up and even ongoing for some 700 years and while many counties of Ireland split from the UK, many 'Catholic Irish' people were stuck in a UK controlled Northern Ireland and were reluctant to leave their homes, and this sentiment was shared by the 'Protestant British' who at this point had been living in Ireland for many years also. | b9be50b3-005c-4342-ac94-8e1e8d0815f8 |
1k13y1 | Why do people have such naturally fragile feet (requiring shoes) when other animals do not. | We don't have naturally fragile feet. Most of us have unnaturally fragile feet because of the invention of footwear. | ae3f77d7-744b-478c-bb47-03d5bed97f14 |
4q5btx | Why are today's weight standards different from the mid 1900s? | There's nothing particularly wrong with BMI. It's a rough guide to an appropriate weight. BMI was never designed to be accurate; it was designed to be an easy to use guide.
In general, nothing much has changed to require a change to BMI guidance since the 1950s. There are a few more people who do serious body building (where BMI does not work), but as a proportion of the population the number is minimal.
The problem is that there is no real "gold standard" as to what indicates a healthy weight for any one individual person. Body composition (body fat percentage) is OK, but it has its own problems, and is very difficult to measure accurately. Devices such as body fat estimating scales aren't really much better than just weight alone. A proper set of caliper measurements taken by someone trained and referenced to a good set of tables is better, but not all that much. For really accurate estimations, you need to use things such as dual energy X-ray absorbimetry (DEXA) or buoyancy testing in water. Even then, an accurate assessment of body fat is not everything.
BMI, as a guide is pretty reasonable, it has an 88% accuracy at predicting whether a person has an appropriate body fat percentage. There aren't that many medical tests, especially ones that simple, which have such a good accuracy.
However, there is an interesting discrepancy between the sexes. For men, BMI classification is about 88% accurate. 6% of men are incorrectly classified as overweight (because they have higher than average muscle - body builders, or athletes, or heavy manual laborers), and 6% are incorrectly classified as a "healthy" weight (when they have high body fat, because they have very little muscle bulk, and their body fat composition is more suited to someone who is overweight or obese).
For women, the accuracy is also about 88%. However, only 1% of women are incorrectly classified as overweight or obese. 11% are incorrectly classified as a "healthy" weight, when body fat composition is more suggestive of being overweight or obese. | 5ec77646-024c-4a45-bdf1-aef793d2aaff |
3zttv1 | What Michael Eisner did at Disney and why people didn't like it | This is gonna be a text wall, so bear with me.
TL;DR: Michael Eisner took the company in a direction that almost killed the feature animation division, in a nutshell.
---
By the time he stepped down in the mid 2000s, Disney Feature Animation was becoming a joke, releasing tired, money spinning sequels of their classics (like Cinderella 2, Jungle Book 2, Beauty and the Beast 2), all of which were box office flops.
Michael Eisner was brought into the company (as CEO) along with ex Warner Brothers top man Frank Wells (as President) to replace Ron Miller in the early to mid eighties as the top people in the company, in order to try and strengthen it.
Another big one in critisim of Eisner is this: Frank Wells died in early 1994, and everyone expected Jeffery Katzenberg, who'd been the producer of such massive films as Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King and Aladdin to be promoted into Frank Wells old spot as company president. Instead Eisner absorbed the position and made himself President and CEO. This, understandably annoyed Katzenberg, and he left the company.
Here's the interesting bit; Katzenberg joined forces with two other big film producers, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen and formed none other than DreamWorks, which now, with DreamWorks Animation, isn't far behind Disney and Pixar at all, and is a notable rival.
After that, Eisner appointed a friend of his into the role, who only lasted just over a year, and then was terminated, not without $100 million dollars worth of stock options, and a $38 million dollar severance pay.
Approaching the end of his tenure at Disney he was considering closing Feature Animation for good, and it was a pretty tense period for Disney, which is when the Save Disney campaign came up to eventually vote for him to not be reappointed by the shareholders board. In 2005 he resigned.
**HOWEVER**.
In fairness, it has to be remembered that when Eisner was brought in in 1984, Disney was not in a good way with Feature Animation. They'd released a string of famous hits in the fifties and sixties and even before that, but after Robin Hood came out in 1973, they started to struggle. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound and then the truly awful Black Cauldron, the latter of which was in production when Eisner started.
Don't get me wrong, the Fox and the Hound and the Rescuers were decent films but they were nothing like the successes of previous years, Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmations or The Jungle Book, to give examples. They were lukewarm and weren't making as much money as Disney wanted.
Eisner was brought in and told pretty much it was his job to get Disney back on the rails again, and he had one shot at it before the plug would be pulled on Disney Feature Animation. The first film that was done completely with him at the top was the Great Mouse Detective, a classic. That paved the way for Oliver and Company, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocohontas, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules... In other words, Disney's most famous period of animation, the "Disney Rennaisance", is when Eisner was at the head.
So yeah he almost killed Feature Animation at the end. But, he also saved it to begin with.
*edited for clarity* | f075b4a1-9d57-415c-abe8-31cf2b245c2b |
3qjr26 | How do humans still evolve? | Well an important thing to remember is evolution doesn't have to be exclusively beneficial traits.
It's always been my opinion that science and modern medicine will negatively affect the "evolution" of humans, and only further scientific advancements will be able to cancel out the negatives it originally caused.
For example, allergies. Previously, anyone with a common allergy would have likely died before they were able to reproduce. Touch one peanut, and without modern medicine, you're done. Now however we keep them alive, and as allergies have a good chance of being passed on, there will come a point where the vast majority of the population has these commom allergies. The only way around this is finding a permanent cure to allergies.
Eyesight has a similar problem. It's likely there will come a point that most people will be born needing glasses.
This is just to name a couple of examples, but you're right; people just don't die like they used to. Unless we find a way to cure genetic conditions, it's likely no one will be able to survive without modern medicine at some point in the future. We've basically beaten natural selection, which is great for the individuals that would have died, but is to the detriment of our species as a whole. | 5c7bc379-7379-4262-84c5-b4949bbfef7c |
23yv03 | How does a CPU work? Please use simple metaphors for each subsystem. | [Check out this video.](_URL_0_) It explains not only the CPU but also how it interacts with the RAM. | b8e4b351-9f1c-47d3-94a2-c138f0fe7881 |
3ztdkv | Why emotions from suppressed sources feel much stronger than regular emotions | Your sister makes your life worse, by continuing to piss you off over a period of years. That has a much greater effect on you than some random annoyance in your life that is perhaps only going to happen once. It is oppressive to know that you will continue to be troubled by your sister for some indefinite time to come, possibly for your entire life. Your sister might still be annoying you when you are 90 years old. She might not, of course; lots of things could change. But meanwhile you do not know how long the problem will persist. You can be a gracious and choose to overlook something annoying, but a continual, repeating annoyance is much harder to overlook. It means that even though you have restrained yourself from choking your sister, over and over, she does not appreciate your self restraint and continues to be annoying. So while you are being considerate, she is being inconsiderate.
I have assessed this situation from your point of view, and you may be 100% correct. But I do not know what your sister is doing that you find so annoying, and I do not know why she is doing it, or what complaints she might have about you. In cases of conflict between two people, there are usually two sides to the story. So do not take this as my confirmation that you are entirely right and your sister is entirely wrong. That may be the case, but I do not know enough about the situation to really know that. (But I will be dropping by to do an in-depth interview of you and your sister.) | 3c358d66-88fa-4da1-844e-7d786293e44b |
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