question
stringlengths 19
300
| answer
stringlengths 28
1.02k
|
|---|---|
How do all of these companies that claim to "consolidate your debt" work? | It's a loan. They make interest. Since pretty much every debt has interest, they can charge a little more interest (since they tend to be scammy), and sometimes even cut the amount owed. Even with a high but not completely unreasonable interest rate, can still be lower than credit card interest rates, or old loans issued in times of historically higher rates. If most of the debt is high interest, you come out owing less. But, as you say, the selling point often isn't *lower* payments, rather *easier* payments. You owe one company a bunch of money, rather than many companies some money, and you pay for the privilege of having to buy less envelopes and checks (and/or being a sucker, or to postpone financial distress). |
how do the bacteria in probiotic yogurt survive stomach acid and populate the intestines? | Most of them don't but a few will get through and once they are within the gut they will start multiplying if they can find a niche there. The intestine already has a huge bacterial population and they have a habit of killing their neighbours which is why probiotic* yoghurt etc needs to be taken repeatedly to establish a viable population. * probiotic really refers to certain nutrients that specifically help bacterial growth rather than the bacteria themselves but the term has been co-opted to mean both. |
Where the superstition of walking under a ladder being bad luck come from? | It's dangerous for both you and the person who may be at the top of the ladder. Something could be dropped on your head or you could possibly knock over the ladder. Don't walk under ladders. |
Vickers Hardness Test | Don't they use synthetic ones? Synthetic are waaay cheaper then real ones. |
UV light in public conveniences. | Your mum is correct. Under UV light you can't see your veins to inject. It also works with blue bulbs I think but is more effective with UV. EDIT: Missed a word |
What is the subreddit "wheredidthesodago" about? | It's making fun of infomercials. In a certain kind of commercial, (abundant on American TV, I don't know about elsewhere), a certain set of tropes are always present. Most universal among them is a video, often in black and white, of someone utterly failing at a simple task, intended to demonstrate to the viewer why the new product is necessary. It's funny, because the new product is almost never necessary, so you have examples of people [too incompetent to operate a blanket](_URL_0_). [Here's a textbook example](_URL_1_). |
The chemical reactions that go on in my cell phone battery and how to make it last longer | It's like a really big game of red rover. When the battery is brand new all the kids line up on one side of a football field. This is the + team (Li). When you use the battery kids run across the field to the other side to join the - team (ion). Some kids can't keep running from team to team so they stop in the middle, and play with the grass, or do whatever. Each time more kids can't run the whole way. Till eventually only the fast kids are left. Thus - team fills up faster, and so does your + team. Meaning the battery life is much shorter. Now heres some crayons. I don't like the phrase, "lost it's elements." More like the elements don't play the battery game anymore. |
Why couldn't T-Rex have been both predatory AND scavenging? | Language like this is usually used for disambiguation. It *can* lead to confusion in the process, but mostly it's to try and *avoid* it. There's often some overlap between behaviour. In fact, *most* carnivores will scavenge when given the chance. There just wasn't much hard evidence of this specifically existing for T-Rex, and it's easier to classify animals in 'either / or' groups, than catering to blurry, movable lines. Bear in mind, this find **doesn't** constitute proof, either (and the blogspot article seems a bit biased). There could be numerous explanations for it, not all of which imply active hunting. |
which is the "Good" side and which is the "Bad" in Syria? | GOOD: all the innocent population of Syria, all the thousands of 'immigrants' forced to leave their home BAD: the government, the (moderate) rebels, the terrorists, the US lead coalition, the Russian lead coalition |
If mushrooms are made of chitin, a protein, why is the amount of protein listed in the nutritional information so low? | Chitin is a form of sugar - not protein. Since your question is still valid if you switch those words though, it is a type of sugar that our bodies cannot use. It acts just like fiber (also a sugar) and passes right through so to speak. |
The purpose of the "indefinite detention" aspect of the National Defense Authorization Act? | The biggest reason that I hear cited is that terrorism is very difficult to fight. A lot of times, the government has to act based on hearsay in order to prevent terrorism, and it's difficult because all the cards are stacked on the terrorists' side; Before NDAA the government couldn't detain potential terrorists, it couldn't legally search their property or (until after 911) wiretap them... someone could be getting all of the materials together for a roadside bomb or something, and we'd be powerless to do anything about it until after a lengthy court case, which requires a ton of evidence and time to get a conviction for, and still leaves the person out in society and free if they can afford bail. As a result, the government seeks new ways to fight what they see as a more difficult battle than one outside our borders. I don't agree with the NDAA at all, but that's the argument that i've heard, and i don't think it's necessarily a stupid argument either. |
The time travel paradox (or the hitler's death paradox) | You cannot time travel, it causes a paradox. In particular it would violate causality as in if you killed Hitler then he would never rise to the point where you need to go back and kill him, which means since you do not go back and kill him, he rises to the point you need to go back and kill him. |
How floating-point numbers work | Floating point numbers are essentially scientific notation. Like when you have a number written as 5.972 * 10^24 . Written in this way, the number consists of several parts. In this example, 5.927 is called the significand, 10 is the base, and 24 is the exponent. Floating point numbers use a set number of digits to represent the significand and the exponent. Since they work in binary, the base is always 2, so it doesn't need to store that. A 32 bit floating point number uses 8 bits for the exponent, 23 bits for the significand and the final bit is used to tell if it is positive or negative. One point about using binary in this way is that there's actually no need to store the number that comes before the "point". It can only be 1, because if it was 0 you would have shifted the point across a digit. |
Why does coffee only taste bad at it's lukewarm state? But tastes amazing if it's at a more extreme temperature? | Good coffee tastes good hot, warm or cold. Shit coffee tastes ok when your taste buds don't work...ie extreme temperatures. |
What exactly makes seawater salty? | There is salt naturally in the environment. Salt dissolves easily in water so any rain falling will wash it into the oceans via rivers. (Rivers are slightly salty.) The sun evaporates water from the ocean but salt does not evaporate and so it's left behind. In other words, the water cycle of evaporation and rain acts to concentrate salt in the oceans. |
Why is it bad to remove a flash drive without ejecting it first? | It's actually not really bad usually. But when its in the process of writing something on it and you interrupt it you can corrupt the data and the ultimate worst case scenario would be that the flash drives formatting would be f***ed up. |
What would be the effects of consuming equal anoumts of caffeine and alcohol at the same time? | Your senses would be deprived like you are drunk, but you would also have a lot of energy. Until you drink enough alcohol to pass out or both to vomit your guts out. They won't cancel each other out since it's depressing/upping different things. A chemical which counteracts alcohol/caffeine would cancel them. You would also urinate a huge amount. |
Is buying a hybrid or electric car really good for the environment? | By the benchmarks of emissions and energy usage, hybrids and electric cars do in fact have a lower environmental impact than normal cars. There's a lot of articles that indicate otherwise, but the ideas expressed in those articles are largely based on two faulty sources, the Daily Mail and CNW Marketing, that do not stand up to scrutiny. EDIT: ~~I notice that I always get reflexively downvoted by people who don't believe me, which just goes to show the extent to which the misinformation has pervaded the discussion.~~ [Here's](_URL_0_) a more comprehensive outline of the initial sources of the misinformation and their flaws, and a compilation of more quantitative evidence supporting my point. EDIT 2: Part of comment withdrawn |
What is this greyish blob? have seen it on multiple computers when browsing reddit | It's just an image: _URL_0_ It's part of that subreddit's style. |
How do game codes selling sites have profit? | Those sellers often get the keys free of cost or buy them at a discount and sell them at higher prices, also they might get them from the manufacturers through shady means and sell them at higher prices.Most of the time keys are not obtained legally(Eg. stolen credit cards). The websites charge a commission on each sale [Here's](_URL_0_) an in-depth article on it |
If President Obama is the head of the Executive branch, that is in charge of Law Enforcement, why hasn't he said anything about police brutality in the recent weeks suspects? | The executive branch is absolutely not in charge of law enforcement. That's the concern of each individual state. Also he had [this to say about Ferguson](_URL_0_) |
How do animals hibernate for so long? | I can answer the poop part of your question. Bears eat tons of grass prior to hibernation to form a butt plug. This keeps them from defecating. I'm sure other animals have a similar mechanism. |
Is the US Police really becoming an arbitrary tool or is it just the "smartphone-video-evolution" which manipulates the facts? | It's a bit of the issue that you don't report on the routine. This isn't to say there aren't bad cops or police misbehavior/corruption, those do exist in the US. But the news only "needs" to report on bad behavior, you'll never see the headline "Police doing a good job, totally good guys" because people would assume the police acting properly is the default. |
How does the modern economy work vs the previous and old systems where people traded goods for other goods, or used shells or beads? | [Try this](_URL_0_). Lots of commentators seem to like it. |
M. Night Shyamalan's demise | He made ~2 good movies and then most of his later work was subpar. It happens sometimes, people get lucky and do amazing work a few times and then remain subpar the rest of their life. Also, another issue is that M. Night Shyamalan movies usually have a twist, which made his first movies interesting but after a while the twist style got old for most people. |
Why people don't have any memories from the first 2 or so years of their life? | the brain doesn't actually develop the capacity to store long term memories till several years after birth. The brain goes through a lot of stages in life, becoming more complex and more structured, till around 22 years old. |
What is up with american TV shedules? Why is there huge mid season gaps and in some cases just random breaks of 1-4 weeks that can occur at any given point? | The purpose of television is not to entertain...it is to sell ads. The TV schedule is a big chess game where you try to place the right show in the right time slot to make as much money as possible. You only have so many episodes, so you have to spend them wisely. Some weeks historically have fewer viewers than others. Sometimes non-regular events, like sports change the game. And sometimes they use an older, established show's time slot to try to break in a new show. And sometimes an actor is in rehab. It's a big chess game, and a lot of time why the players make the moves they do won't be readily apparent. |
How do "Industry Standards" work? Do some industries have official governed document - or is this really just a buzz word? | Yes, many industries have official standards committees -- some with government help, some without. Here are some. _URL_0_ _URL_2_ _URL_3_ _URL_1_ |
Why do long jumpers do weird random seemingly pointless movements before they run and jump? | There's a certain technique for each jump. Jumpers have to count their steps, and how many of each type of step they have to take before the jump. Source: ran decathlon in high school |
Do deaf people get rhyming? Do they have their own poetic patters based on how they experience language? | Iirc there is a similar thing to rhyming in asl. The meaning of signs depends on many things including hand shape and position in regards to body. So a sign that includes a certain shape signed over the chest could "rhyme" with a similar shape signed over the hip. |
What is a mail order bride? | There are organizations that provide matchmaking services between American (or, presumably, other first-world) men and women in countries with less opportunity. The stereotype is that the women come from Asian countries, but Russia also appears to be popular these days. The prospective groom chooses one or more women from a list, then corresponds with them. If they mutually decide to, she comes to visit the US and they can get married. He gets a wife; she gets the opportunity to get a legal entry to the US. |
How do you properly warm up an engine? | There is more or less 2 phases to warming the engine. First, you should let your car idle 20-30 seconds. This ensure that the oil is travelling through the engine, lubricating it. After that, you can drive normally. Your engine is still not at optimal temperature, so DON'T push the car. Dont rev too high or floor it until the temperature rises. Just drive normally and the engine will heat up |
when commercials say "Next 20 callers will receive..." How do they keep track of that? | They don't. It's just a ploy to trick people into calling immediately rather than thinking about it first. |
Why aren't countries referred to by the native word for them by the other countries? | Many languages have sounds that other languages don't. It's why many people with the same first language have similar accents in a second language (ex: asians and 'L' sound). If the sound or technique used for pronunciation of a particular word is foreign, it'd be difficult for outsiders to say. On top of that, other languages can have different alphabets, or even different symbols altogether. Ex: 日本 is "Japan" in japanese, but do you, as a native english speaker, recognize that? How is it pronounced? (protip: Nihon) It's just easier to give everything a name in a way that is easy for you to say/write. |
How do chess players guesses how many turns are left to a match ? | Usually they aren't guessing -- they are actually playing out the best possible moves in their head, and seeing that in a certain number of moves someone will win. |
Why does the US and Russia possess enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth | Tactically speak, a surprise nuclear attack could wipe out a significant number of a countries nuclear arsenal. To maintain a nuclear deterrent, it is necessary to be able to wipe out your adversary with only a portion of it. |
why all oil trading everywhere has to be done in US dollars | It is? Do you have a link? Are you sure the USD is not just used for pricing purposes because its the world's de-facto currency for international trade? *And before the Euro people jump down my throat on this... that doesn't mean the USD is superior to anyone... but it is also the go too currency for defining "how much something is worth" in an international scene. |
If the Constitution protects against double jeopardy, how can trials go an appellate court? | The process that happens in an appellate court or other higher court is not considered a separate trial, but rather a continuation of the original trial. What the appellate court tries to determine is whether the first court did a good job deciding the case, not (directly) if the defendant is guilty or not. The American Bar Association has a good explanation [here] (_URL_0_). |
Why it's possible to stop breathing voluntary but not your heart beat? | Here's the real answer: Your diaphragm and intercostal muscles (the muscles that allow you to breathe) are under voluntary control. Your heart is an involuntary muscle. Your heart can also become denervated (lose it's nerve connections) and still beat relatively fine. This is why people who are C2-3 quads don't die but need to go on ventilators. This is why heart transplants work. |
how can movie trailers show clips of the movie, which I assume is finished, but not be shown for another year? | I assume you're talking about the Batman v Superman trailer. They've finished filming and probably finished editing too. They're advertising for the movie so early so people know it's coming. We probably won't get another trailer like this for at least 3 months but this early trailer just gets people excited. It lets people know in the back of their minds that a movie like this is coming rather than bombard people with 3 trailers when we're a few months before the movie. |
Is there a limit to the “sound quality” that our ears can hear? If so, will recordings ever reach that limit (or maybe even surpass it)? | We cannot hear sound above or below certain frequency limits. No matter how good the recording is at reproducing them, even if an electronic device can hear them, we cannot hear these notes. |
Why are some house flies loud and some silent? | This is a simple case of their genetics. Different sized flies, having different weights, require different amounts of lift to remain airborne. Depending on wingspan, and their strength, an insect will beat its wings at different rates. A butterfly, with large wings, will displace more air per beat, thus generating more lift. This demands more force, but must be done less often. Since the period of their wings' motion is below 20hz, and beyond the human hearing threshold, we cannot hear them fly. A housefly, on the other hand, displaces very little air per beat due to small wing surface areas. This, while not require a lot of force, must be done very often. Since they must beat their wings roughly 200 times a second, they produce an audible tone at a frequency of up to 1000hz. This changes depending on their flight, whether they are ascending, descending, or traveling laterally, as well as through the Doppler Effect, as they change position relative to the observer in significant time intervals. |
How do home shopping tv channels like qvc and hsn stay in business? | Old people are their market. Old people hate computers and buying things they're not certain about. They see the product, and a smiling salesman, they don't have to read anything or search for it, they pick up that phone and say what they want. Edit: and if I had to guess, I'd say they don't mind paying a little more for the convenience of it. |
How weather prediction works and why it requires massive computing power | ELI5: We know something about weather, but predicting weather is really really hard. So we just plug a bunch of stuff into a computer and the computer makes a guess. The more stuff we find out about weather the more we put into the computer, and the more complex the prediction. This is called a "simulation", and we use it for lots of things from weather to stocks to life insurance. It is always computer-heavy. |
Why are salt and pepper such ubiquitous ingredients in cooking? | The human sense of taste has evolved to enjoy salt, because salt is important for your body to keep functioning. But that's not the only cool thing it does, it also seems to suppress our perception of bitter tastes, which lets other tastes like sweet or sour stand out more. Salt not only tastes pretty good on its own, it also makes other things taste better. Black pepper adds some flavor and a little bit of spiciness, but usually doesn't overpower dishes unless you add too much. Many other spices tend to be strong and distinct in flavor, and as such can "take over" a dish, instead of just enhancing it. |
Why, in boxing, does the referee continue to count after a downed fighter stands back up? | It is called a standing 8 count. It basically gives the ref the ability to judge of the fighter is able to go on, or is he is essentially out on his feet. Also gives the fighter an extra couple of seconds to compose himself before continuing _URL_0_ |
Why does 76 F/24 C with the heat running feel different from the same temperature with air conditioning? | There are lots of things going on with how you think a temperature feels but the basic idea is that we don't really sense the absolute temperature. We sense differences in temperature. The simplest way to see that is being outside on a hot day vs. coming inside from a cold day. When you come in from a hot day you sense a large drop in temperature so it feels cold. If you come in from a hot day you sense a large increase in temperature so it feels hot. If that doesn't cover a case you are thinking of let me know and I can add more complications. |
How does sleep restore energy and what causes your brain to signal you to become exhausted? | Sleep doesn't really restore energy, your body is actually kind of tricking you into resting by producing chemicals that make you feel exhausted. Make no mistake, you need sleep to avoid long term damage to most of your systems; feeling tired is an illusion though. |
Why do some companies have different names for different countries? Like Lynx/Axe or Asda/Walmart | In the case of Asda/Walmart, Asda was already an established chain of stores - Walmart buys it to a) gain presence in the UK where it has none... and quickly b) instantly gain Asda's customer loyalty and logistics (instead of establishing its own stores, its own infrastructure and THEN trying to win customers over. Once you've bought it, you don't want to immediately change the name, because that might confuse existing customers. Or indeed, if you're making money, why bother changing it? (in Europe, the Walmart brand might even have negative "cheap American schlock" connotations) In the case of Lynx/Axe, those are brand/tradmark issues. Essentially Unilever (the company) couldn't register Axe as a trademark in the UK so they had to call it something else. Brand trademarks are a regional thing. (I couldn't find what company/product owns the "Axe" trademark in the UK) |
How come people can use quotes in movies without citing the source and it's fine, but if you don't do it in writing it's plagiarism? | It depends on the type of writing. If you're writing a novel you can use quotes as see fit. In academic writing you need to cite anything that isn't your own original work which includes quote. |
Why is there an obvious difference between girl and boy handwriting? | Handwriting style is formed during penmanship practice in grade-school homework assignments. Girls are not just more fastidious about their penmanship homework, they are notably more fastidious about all graded assignments in grade school than boys are. There are lots of different explanations for why this is... more obedient, stronger identification with their (usually female) teachers, more ability to focus on repetitive tasks for a long period of time... but I don't think it is conclusively known. |
How did we get from the "Golden Age" of Air Travel to the current state of air travel? | The golden age of air travel was also the golden age of family road trip vacations. The services were caused by minimum price regulations that placed a very high minimum price for a flight (a low priced flight across the country cost the equivalent of about $1500 today). Because it costs far less than $1500 to fly across the country, airlines competed for travellers by offering services. When the regulations requiring very high minimum prices were removed, airlines began removing services and lowering prices to find that most people prefer lower prices to bundled services, so they deliver the services for which the most people will pay. Edit: Corporate greed means selling the most profitable services for the most money. It's foolish and not greedy to cut services people want at prices higher than the cost of providing them. |
How does sleep debt/build up work? | The first question to answer is, what is the point of sleep? Among some other functions, the primary purpose of sleep is for the brain to enter into a maintenance mode. Think of it as that 2am hard drive defragging that runs when you wouldn't otherwise be on your computer. Instead of space reallocation, however, the brain's process is biochemical and serves to "wash and replenish" the brain's cellular machinery, something that can't happen when the individual is in a waking state. This process is both reactive (meaning it doesn't do any good to do it before there's a mess to clean) and rate limited (which means that it takes X amount of time to achieve Y results). As such, the normal waking/sleeping cycle maintains an equilibrium of building up a mess and cleaning it up. You can't bank sleep. That would be similar to cleaning an already clean house for the sake of cleaning it and expecting any mess that you make in the future to come out of the extra work you did. It just doesn't work like that. |
When you create a new object in Java, why do you have to say what kind of object it is and then repeat it as new? | Because you're first defining the object. You're telling the computer that 'Hey, there's a thing, and it looks like this.' But that thing doesn't exist yet. That's what the *new* keyword is for. You're allocating memory by telling the computer 'Hey, you remember that thing I told you about? Make room for one.' E: Also, you should check out /r/learnprogramming |
Myspace came first, but Facebook is more successful. What happened and why? | People thought Facebook was better, then everyone switched over almost at once. MySpace wasn't first either; before that there was something called Friendster, and before that I personally used something called AsianAvenue, which was social networking for Asians. Each time, everyone switched almost at once. In fact, these switches happened with enough regularity that I'm sort of surprised that Facebook has held on for this long. source: I'm an old fart. |
Going along with the trash to energy question - Why arent we using the methane produced from decommissioned, sealed landfills as energy? | we are. some outfits do this already. however this is a SMALL SMALL portion of total power output of the nation. |
Why are states on the east coast so much smaller than the states on the west coast? | The states on the east coast were populated first (European population that is...). State lines (colony lines initially) were devised in various ways, but all dependent on much of the east coast being populated very early. In other words, there were lots of people clumped up into various areas on the east coast and they divided themselves into colonies and then states. It took longer for Euro-Americans to go further west, and when they did the populations were very small at first. So the western territories were much larger areas, with very low populations, and many of those whole territories later became states. That's actually the way it remains to this day. If you rank the states by population density, California is the only western state in the top half, and it's only #11. Little Rhode Island has almost four times the population density as California. |
How can gorillas and other herbavores get so big and muscular from a diet of essentially leaves and plants, while vegan humans tend to loose muscle mass on plant based diets? | Nobody here has addressed the genetic basis and control of muscle mass and buildup in response to testosterone levels. One reason for example that a male gorilla simply builds muscle easily is because their muscles do not atrophy as easily and "build" with much less limitation for little exercise. |
Does the start/stop feature in modern cars actually save fuel or is it just a gimmick? | Modern cars with direct injection are very easy to start up. They require less RPM and are much more reliable than they used to, so it takes far less energy to start up the car, especially once it's already warmed up. This means that it only takes a couple of seconds of idling to be worth it, even though it's not very much. Cars which come with start/stop also usually come with a more reliable and more powerful ignition system, which can last a lot more cycles. |
How come when we look at something bright, we can see the image burned into our eyelids when we close our eyes? | The way we see is that photons (light particles) from objects stimulate cells in the back of our eyes. This stimulation takes the form of light-sensitive molecules changing their shape as a photon hits them. When they are in this changed shape, they send a message to the brain saying "I'm activated", which the brain interprets as us seeing something. Now, the fact that something is really bright means that it gives off a lot of photons, and thus it activates a lot of your cells. Now, it takes some time for the light-receiving molecules to fold back to their deactivated state; so if you look at a bright object and close your eyes, there is a time period where the molecules are still activated and sending messages to your brain, so your brain thinks you're still seeing the thing until all of the molecules deactivate. |
why do we have (driving) wheels in four wheelers and (handle) bars on two wheelers only? | 4 wheel ATVs have handlebars and not steering wheels... so I'm confused by this question. |
Why do some humans feel lonely, despite having people around them such as friends and family? | Having people around is not the same as connecting with them. Lonely is an emotional response; proximity is physical. |
What is the US Gun Lobby and how does it have such a large political influence? | It has a large political influence because there are a lot of gun owners here[I own several myself]. Buying a gun from a business[this includes gun shows] requires you to have a background check done for every gun purchase. Private party sales do not require a background check but in my experience most sellers want you to show a concealed carry permit or a permit to purchase firearms permit. There is no scenario where guns will be banned, it's just not going to happen. |
I am not an American and don't know why John F Kennedy was/is so highly thought of | Honestly, mostly because he was young (by politician standards), handsome, charismatic, and he was assassinated before his time. In short, he was perfect martyr material. Also, people looked to the young president as the symbol of hope for a better future. After his death, we instead got the Vietnam War and the general chaos of the 1960s. I suppose baby boomers look to him as a symbol of the future we were *supposed* to have and see his assassination as the moment when we went "wrong". |
how does drinking water coming into NYC not get dirty from the pipes? | Why would the pipes be dirty? Water utility workers will occasionally open valves and hydrants to blow sediment out of the mains, but for the most part they stay pretty clean unless there's a major break. |
How can the law restrict us to so many work breaks but smokers can take how ever many they'd like? | > Why is it that if I were a smoker I would have no problem taking several breaks throughout the shift? Because your employer is treating people unfairly. There's no law about smoke breaks. This is entirely an issue with your employer's break policy. |
Why do humans scream when scared? | To signal others about the danger. It's typical for social species to instinctively let out cries or other ways of warning the others of the tribe about approaching predators or enemies. Such collective defense makes both the group and its individual members safer. |
What does music sound like to animals? | I actually think this is a really good question. I enjoy some pretty heavy music and I've played it around animals before. It seems to me that if you had an actual person in the room screaming his lungs out a dog or cat would respond to it, but they seem pretty indifferent toward that kind of thing coming out of a stereo. Makes me wonder if they process it differently somehow? Maybe they require a visual cue to clue in that it's actually a human voice. |
Corporate & Top 5% Tax Loopholes. | Hapax_Legoman is technically correct, but he is treating the rules as written as if they were passed down the mountain on clay tablets. When companies and hedge-fund managers lobby to change the tax code, it doesn't mean anything to say that they are playing by the rules. Nobody thinks that companies that pay very little income tax found some ingenious hole in the tax code to exploit. That's a bit of a straw-man. We're angry because they aggressively lobbied for the tax code we have now. Most human beings don't have the luxury of spending money on changing the law like that. |
What does it mean to be an offside player in soccer? | A player has crossed the other teams defensive line, past the last defender before the ball has. So there is an unfair advantage, it prevents goal camping from the offense. |
How does calorie counting make you lose weight if you eat the extra calories gained by exercising? | Wow - you seem confused. First of all: Check out _URL_1_ Second: Work out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) here: _URL_0_ If you want to lose weight, then eat 500kcal below this value CONSISTENTLY. Note that the TDEE calculation takes exercise into account. You can absolutely lose weight without exercising, I will just not be very healthy. Then you'll just be a thinner person, not necessarily a healthier person. |
What is the internet? | It is a network of computers and servers connected to each other which can share data. For example your computer is connected to Reddit's servers and so is mine. We exchange information (text in this case) with Reddit's servers. |
Why does cheese taste so much better when it's melted? | It doesn't. You just like it better. Also, 'cheese' is not all the same, there are probably hundreds of varieties... |
Why does my 21 inch LED monitor support 1080p but my 32 inch LED tv only does 720p? | You are meant to sit closer to your monitor than you are to your TV, therefore resolution matters more on a monitor than it does on a TV. That being said, there are several models of 32" TVs that support 1080p perfectly fine. One that only goes up to 720p is a cheaper model, or several years old. |
What gives milk its white colour? | The white stuff it contains: * [Butterfat](_URL_0_), which is a bright yellow color * [Lactose](_URL_2_) (sugar), which is white. * Proteins, mainly [casein](_URL_1_) which is rich in calcium. |
How was hydrofluoric acid contained or used before plastic was invented if it eats glass containers? | It was held in glass bottles that had a coating of wax inside. *”And, like many other acids, it also reacts with metals, so storing it is a bit tricky. Where do you put something that eats through its container? Well, these days it’s stored in special plastic bottles, but in the 17th century when it was first discovered chemists had to use glass bottles coated inside with wax, and hope the coating was a good one.”* [source](_URL_0_) |
Why do i dream more when i sleep after I have been reading? | Actually, you dream about the same amount every night (REM is your brain organizing your memories); it just depends on how much of the dream you remember. Memories are kept more often if they're important, vivid, or recent. Considering books are only successful if they satisfy both former characteristics, then your memory will contain more recent and memorable memories from which your dreams grab, making them more vivid and interesting, making you more likely to remember them. |
How does a woman's body know to sync menstrual cycles with other women that are frequently around? | This doesn't actually happen, though it is a commonly cited myth. Multiples studies have shown that there isn't much truth to the "menstrual sync" hypothesis, though it can *seem* that way. In any group of adult women, chances are that 1/4 of them will be bleeding at any given time. If they're living in close proximity enough to notice each other's cycles, it's easy to notice overlap with each other and it can easily seem like you are moving in some sort of synchronized fashion. But you don't ever get a case where all the women have moved to be on the same cycle, like they're jumping rope together. That just doesn't happen. |
Why are knives and swords curved? | There are a number of reasons. Take the Berber Arabs, they used curved swords because they often rode into battle on horseback and the curvature helped to stabilize attacks and balance weight so that they can be more easily used. In a more generic sense, curvature also assists in damage since it forces more of a point and the business end of the weapon, making attacks easier and more effective. Rather than having to run a straight knife along an object, swinging a curved sword will kill two birds with one stone, it will chop _and_ slice. |
How do planes avoid collisions above the Atlantic where there is no radar? | There are airplane “highways” usually separated by 10 000 ft. East you fly odd (ie 30 000ft) and west you fly even(ie 40 000ft) |
Why do flies and most flying insects seem to intentionally keep bothering you after swiping at them multiple times? | That's a bit like asking you why when it's hot out three days in a row you don't just move to another UNIVERSE. They aren't smart, their worldview is about 1 bazillionth of a second in front of them and a foot around them. They are running on auto-pilot and the auto-pilot programmer was a mouse, who was in a coma. |
Why does healthcare in the USA cost so much more than elsewhere, is it better than treatment elsewhere? | In the UK everyone contributes to healthcare via taxes. More people contributing to a communal pool means lower overall costs for everyone. In the US everyone has to buy their own insurance and many people don't/can't. Smaller amount of people contributing to a communal pool means higher overall prices for everyone. Added to that people with insurance are technically covering those without because it's illegal for a hospital to turn down patients. If someone comes in with a broken leg or gunshot wound or whatever, the hospital is required to care for them. If they don't have insurance the hospital has to write it off as a loss and the prices for everyone else's care goes up as a result. |
Please explain climate change proof like I am 5 | For eli5 it's doubtful anyone can show anything further than this xkcd on the subject. It shows you with a picture to really put things into perspective. _URL_12_ |
In the Star Wars Universe, are lightsaber duels decided by whoever is the stronger force user or is it more of a skill based battle? | It is a mixture of the two since the force effects your reflexes, physical strength, focus and predicting your opponents moves. Rey may well have been just as strong in the force as Kylo but she also likely had some skill with physical weapons based off the fact she carried a staff most of the time leading to an even-ish match up. |
Why do we feel sleepy in warm temperature rather than cold temperature ? | I learned at least one of the reasons for this from a professor last semester. He's a kineticist (that's a field of chemistry) and very into endurance running -- and he told us just exactly why the perfect running temperature (high 60s to low 70s) is what it is: Pyruvate kinase Essentially, the heat outside actually interferes with the body's ability to make ATP, the energy molecule, out of the food we digest. This happens because pyruvate kinase, a crucial enzyme in ATP synthesis, is concerted mostly into a biologically inactive conformer at around 85 degrees F. This conformer is present in some portion at 70 degrees, but it's mostly the active form that dominates. After about 85 or so, you have a 60/40 ratio of the inactive to active forms. TL;DR heat slows down your metabolism and you run out of energy. |
why do ebooks cost more than paperback? | I have never seen an eBook cost more than a physical version of the same book. What makes you think this is a thing that happens? |
Why do most toilets have handles and not pedals? | I believe this problem has been erradicated with the installation of, the bathroom sink, in which to wash your hands afterwards. |
If the House always wins, how come most casinos go broke? | Assuming that most casinos eventually go broke, lets look at a few things. First, its absolutely possible to be making money hand over fist and still go broke. The thing about having a lot of money coming in is that it makes you feel invincible. You can take stupid risks that get you sued or fined into the ground. You can neglect to fire staff that's losing you money day after day by half assing their jobs. You can agree to projects or plans that are too stupid to ever work. On the other hand, its not unusual for the owners of a business, like a casino, to decide its time to wrap things up. Maybe the design and theme of the casino is decades out of date, or the crowds just aren't coming in like they used to. When the time comes, its easy to stop reinvesting money in the casino, and to let it die of old age while the owners plan their next brand new casino. Maybe the new project will even buy the building from the old casino during bankruptcy. |
What do radical terrorists hope to accomplish? What draws people into such groups as Al Qaeda? | Actually, Al Qaeda had a published 20-year plan. It called for engaging the infidel in countless small conflicts, dividing their forces and wearing them down economically and in public support by attrition. It hoped that the government would become oppressive in the face of the threat, resulting in more Muslims rising up and joining the cause, and more loss of support from the general public. And so on. Wow. Lucky for us that TOTALLY didn't happen, eh? |
Why is a recent (less than a year) prescription required to order replacement contact lenses or glasses when it's OK to wear existing lenses or glasses for over a year? | I get my eyes checked every year and because of my health insurance, I only pay a small copay for new glasses/contacts. You should be wearing the best corrective lenses for your eyes so if you have not gone to see your ophthalmologist in over a year, you should. Its not really OK to wear existing ones if your eyes have changed in that time as they can lead to headaches and damaging your eyesight even more. Which is why you should make it a point to get your eyes checked at least once a year. |
if a human embryo isn't viable, by what mechanism does the body decide to terminate? What is it that goes "this isn't working, scrap it"? | A precise answer probably wouldn't be really eli5 but basically there will be some chemical signal if the embryo isn't viable on a cellular level. When cells die they release a lot of different chemicals that signal for other cells to recover and destroy the remnants. Also, when the embryo dies it stops secreting hormones that make the uterine wall grow into the placenta which will then start to die and detach like during a regular cycle. On the other hand, if there is some major genetic defect the blastocyst won't even implant into the uterine wall from the start and after a certain point if the fetus dies in utero the body won't necessarily terminate the pregnancy which can be very dangerous for the mother. |
why did detroit fail? | In the 50s and 60s, the United States was the only country producing reliable, quality vehicles meant for a middle class population. BMW existed in Germany, and Rolls Royce in Britain, but neither company made affordable vehicles. In the 70s and 80s, however, this changed as Japan and South Korea finished rebuilding and Toyota and Honda started producing reliable vehicles themselves. In response to this competition, Detroit did...nothing. In fact, their vehicles steadily decreased in quality as Asia's improved. The behemoths of Michigan were arrogant, and thought they would always have a market, no matter how inferior their products. American consumers proved them wrong. |
Why do passengers have to open airplane windows during takeoff and landing? | It's so the flight personnel can see the engines/wings to ensure no issues. However, I've never heard an attendant say to open windows for landing/takeoff. |
Why do servers crash during a big launch? Wouldn't the company have countermeasures to prevent that before the launch? | Imagine you are preparing for a party in which everyone is invited, but you don't know how popular you are. How do you prepare for it? Would it be better to have leftover food or to order more food when more people come? Would it piss off your friends if you don't have enough food? Answer these questions and you will have answers to your question. |
Why don't American coins have numbers? | So back in the day a dollar was a silver certificate that you could exchange for a dollar worth of silver. Coins used to be made mostly of silver, so a quarter had 25¢ worth of silver and a dime 10¢. There used to be a half dime, but it was deemed to impractical because of how small it was, so the nickel came out in a larger size made with cheaper metal. |
Why does hot water feel significantly hotter on my face than on other parts of my body? | A more sensitive and dense pattern of nerves and minute vascularisation in your face. Your back/thigh/arm doesn't have the same amount or type of nerves as your face. Your head is highly vascular as well, and is the warmest appendage from the core. You regulate your skull temperature quicker to keep your brain in its happy stasis. Feeling hotter heat on your face is a sensory warning to protect your noggin. |
If illicit substances such as drugs were legalised, what would become of the black market? Would there be demand for something else? | If there is way to make a profit the black market will find it. Take cigarettes, they are legal but because of the high taxes placed upon them it is possible to buy them in places that have low or no taxes and then sell them to retailers in areas with high taxes making profit for the black marketeer and a little more profit for the retailer. Legalized drugs would likely fall into a similar situation. If there is a way to make a profit there are always people willing to skirt the law or openly break it to take that profit. |
In theory, could an object with the mass of a grain of sand hitting the earth cause the same damage as a huge asteroid, if it were traveling at a fast enough velocity? | First of all, > Energy = Mass times Acceleration This is wrong. Force=mass\*acceleration. Energy = 1/2 mass\*velocity^2 . To answer the question, if you were to ignore the atmosphere, *maybe*. In real life, earth is surrounded by an oxygen rich atmosphere. As soon as that grain of sand hits the atmosphere, it would compress the air a lot, immediately start burning, and then be gone. Super-high velocity very small meteoroids hit the atmosphere like this all the time. If they're bigger than a baseball, you see a neat little flash and call it a meteor. Smaller things just flash and gone. If the earth didn't have an atmosphere, then the answer is maybe, probably not. When the difference in size between two objects colliding gets to a certain point, you stop getting a collision and start getting a penetration. The result would be similar to shooting a bullet into the ground, there's no big "smash", it just drills a grain-of-sand-sized hole at the point of impact. |
why can company's like U.S. Cellular claim to have 4G coverage everywhere but in reality, only have it in very few places? | They absolutely never claimed that. That would be a complete lie. They always publish maps showing where they have 4G coverage. |
Why are so many Americans afraid of having voter id laws? | Some 10% of Americans don't have photo-ID, and that group tends to be the elderly and the poor |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.