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How come people can't be cryogenically frozen safely as the ice crystals destroy the cell membranes, but sex cells such as sperm are kept frozen for long periods of time yet remain functional? | Sperm is frozen in liquid nitrogen, and the water in the cells is replaced by glycerol (basically antifreeze) as a "cryoprotectant", which displaces the water and does not form the crystalline structure that damages cells. However, the freezing and thawing process is still pretty harsh and many sperm don't survive. Luckily, there are billions and you only need 1. |
How is Ishmael the father of arabs ? | Well if you look at the Old Testament, Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael, though older, was born to Abraham's servant and as such was not able to inherit directly from Abraham. Abraham freed the servant and Ishmael, and he went on to father many children and became a prophet and the patriarch of Islam. He's not technically the father of Arabs, he's the father of Islam, the two just tend to go hand in hand |
There's an aweful lot of craters on the moon, would having a moon base up there be safe? | The moon has no atmosphere or running water, so there's no erosion. The craters on the moon today are the result of basically every single impact over its entire history. Impacts are still comparatively rare. |
why people make viruses? | For a lot of them, to make money. For example, many kinds of viruses load a screen as soon as you boot up that says something to the end of "You did something bad...your computer is locked....pay fine at this place to restore your computer" and users will "pay the fine" to get around it. Some virus authors are simply sociopaths who enjoy inconveniencing and hurting other people. And then the others are creating viruses irrevently (like NetGear's MrVGina.dll incident around 2007). |
Why does starting task manager when my computer is frozen seem to unfreeze it? | Task manager has top priority, so if any other program is hogging up the computer in an endless cycle you can force it to shut down. |
Why is beer not sold in plastic bottles? | Glass has been used for centuries to contain alcoholic beverages because the glass does not react with whatever it contains - wine and whiskey do not age once bottled and sealed, for example. They've pulled bottles of wine out of shipwrecks on the ocean floor and they're still perfectly drinkable after decades of being underwater. Plastic bottles, on the other hand, tend to react with whatever they contain, and leech certain chemicals, such as bisphenol-A. Apart from the obvious health concerns, this would also affect the taste of the beer in question. |
How do our bodies “get used to” being in very cold water (e.g. the ocean) after several minutes? | Your brain contains a region called the hypothalamus. This acts like an internal thermostat that controls your body temperature. When you jump in the ocean or a cold pool, your hypothalamus instructs your body to use more calories to raise your body temperature. Of course, it's not foolproof. If the water is sufficiently cold, your body temperature will drop faster than you can regulate it, and you risk nasty side effects like shock and hypothermia. |
Why can't Mexico do anything to stop the drug cartels? | The cartels have tons of money, local support in some areas, and a small army worth of mercenaries. Mexico is up against a very difficult task. America's hunger for drugs is what finances the cartels, and Mexican leaders have repeatedly asked us to reconsider our drug enforcement policies. |
When dropping a counter into a slot from the exact same postion on a pegboard/plinko/pachinko style game what is it that stops the counter from falling the same way everytime? | If you could drop the counter into the same position in exactly the same way and the game was in exactly the same state then it would fall exactly the same way. However, you can't do that because even though it may seem like you are doing things the same way on the large scale, on the small scale there are very tiny variations which cause a different outcome. Think about firing a gun. If you are shooting hundreds of yards away then even a tiny movement of the gun, too little to see without looking down a scope, will cause the shot to land a large distance away. Air movement along the path of the bullet will change where it hits, temperature differences in the barrel, etc. can all impact the result. In the same way the game has a lot of variables which make things happen differently each time. |
why does cold water taste better than regular water? | It's just a cultural thing. The Chinese prefer to drink hot water. If there are contaminants or bad-tasting substances in the water, though, it'll taste better cold simply because you'll taste it less. |
What does having insurance on a priceless artwork do? | Priceless is a subjective term used to describe something that is one of a kind and no reasonable amount money can replace. Realistically, every piece of art has a price (what others are willing to pay for it). For insurance purposes, a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, in return for payment. If you buy a “priceless” hand carved art for $1000 and then spend $400 to preserve and display it, you may want to insure it for all or part of your investment. |
How can a solution to a problem suddenly pop up? | Subconscious mind solves it for you with all of the acquired knowledge and experience. This won't happen if you've no knowledge. |
how do you take an idea to invention if you have no applicable talents? | You need a partner. It is very doable if you are willing to do work. I.E research what materials are needed, how much it will cost. Applicable uses, just research what you can research. Get a patent. then you can do a lot of stuff. You can PM me for more info. BTW don't talk about it too much and just do. You don't want someone stealing your idea. I also agree with the other people in this thread. An idea isn't worth shit by itself. |
Why do we need less sleep as we get older? | We do? I don't know about you but I am *tired all the time* |
How is it that SD cards stay the same size but manage to have such varying levels of storage? | Because the actual part the data is stored on is tiny. Think of it like this; a school buss looks just as big from the outside when it's carrying one kids as it does when carrying 20 kids. |
Why is my inner monologue an arsehole? | I'm not sure what kind of answer you're looking for. We don't know what your inner monologue is saying. It's your own unfiltered thoughts. So apparently you consider yourself to be an asshole. |
Are Volvos actually safer than other cars?If so why? | Yes they are. If internet is not lying then one of Volvo's co-founder's wife died in car accident, and safety was the highest priority from the start. They invented three point seatbelt (and gave it away for free to other car manufacturers, which was very generous move) and side airbags. |
In the recent Nuclear Weapons Treaty, why did the Netherlands vote in opposition? | There are American nuclear weapons stored on a Dutch air base. It was public secret for a very long time, though it was confirmed in more recent years. That sort of thing would be against the treaty. Currently, the government is not taking steps towards removing these weapons / ending this cooperation with the States, so they also cannot really vote in favour of a treaty like that. |
Why is our organ of equilibrium located in our ears? | If you want to keep balance you want the system measuring it somewhere that experiences the least acceleration during normal movement and that is the head. The position in the ear is useful, too, as it is further and on opposite sides from the center of the head and therefore experience more movement and in opposite directions when you turn your head which improves signal strength. If it were near you nose it would be more or less just measuring in one spot while the ears are far apart so you have two points for measuring. It also needs to be close to the eyes as it causes/controls eye movement to compensate head movement so that the image you see is stabilized. |
Why do wall chargers seem to charge iPhones faster than computers, xbox... etc | To add to the other replies, current (measured in amps) is drawn by the phone rather than pushed by the charger, and the rating of the charger is how much can be drawn before it shuts down/overheats/burns out. By default, the phone will only draw a low amount of current (should probably only be 150mA to allow for USB 1.1, but it's generally 500 mA). The charger has a way to signal to the phone that it's able to give more current (connecting the data pins together, putting a resistor across them, etc.), and then the phone will draw a higher amount, generally 1 to 1.2 Amps. Most phone manufacturers have settled on a de facto standard, but Apple decided on a proprietary standard so an iPhone charger won't charge an Android device quickly, and vice versa. |
Why does my hair grow to a certain length a few weeks after I shave my head; but remains that length and never goes past my shoulders even after years? | Your hair doesn't actually remain a certain length. Depending on which part of the body, your hairs can only grow to a certain distance, once they reach that distance, they fall out. |
Why do Computers have dates going back to 1969? | A timestamp of -1 gets rendered as 12/31/1969. _URL_0_ |
How come animals can eat off the ground? Does germs not effect them? | Not all germs cause disease. You can eat off the ground, too, and (depending on what ground you're eating on) getting a parasite is very possible, but most bacteria and viruses don't survive outside a body for a very long time. People ingest more germs than they think they do, and for the most part, its unavoidable. |
From the Psychology perspective and personal perspective. What is depression like? | From a personal perspective, it's like a darkness over and through every thing. There is no hope, there is no point, nothing good even registers, and you just want to die. It's horrible, and NOT AT ALL the same as 'being down', being sad, or any of that. I went into a very long and very dark depression about 20 years ago, and even looking back at that time, it's like a very dark fog is over everything. I had a very nearly successful suicide attempt, not because I wanted attention, but I just wanted it all to stop. I'm so glad I didn't because of all that I would have missed, but even knowing there were good times ahead wouldn't have changed anything. |
How do cell phones only pick up signal from their specific provider? | It's because of the frequency bands; they are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. I do not know who shares which frequency in Amerika but here in Germany we got 4 mobile networks (D1, D2, E1, E2) each got a different owner and a different GSM900 frequency range. * D1 / Telekom 13–49, 81–102, 122–124 * D2 / Vodafone 1–12, 50–80, 103–12 * E1 / E-Plus 975–999 * E2 / O₂ 1000–1023, 0 2007 E-Plus and O₂ paid for their frequencies 22mio € ea for 9 years ownership. It's equal to your radio, if you are listening to 92,2 you do not get the signals of other stations because of frequence. |
How do people see beauty? For example, what makes a rose beautiful but a Cactus not? | I find cacti beautiful, its all subjective. Beauty is not in the object, it is in your perception of it. |
Why does the moon have a ring around it some nights? | was it a rather cold night? I believe that the Halo may be a light refraction caused by ice crystals in the air, similar to rainbows. |
The 9th amendment to the US Constitution. | The US government has "enumerated powers", which means that it can only do those things which are specifically laid out as legal for it to do. Civil rights, which the first eight amendments protect, work precisely the opposite way. The ninth amendment basically says that, as opposed to the powers of the US government, citizens' rights are NOT enumerated, and a provision for a specific right should never be interpreted to mean that those are the only rights that a citizen gets to enjoy. Unless there are laws against something, a citizen can do it; unless there are laws allowing it, a government cannot. |
How Tube Amps And Solid State Amps Work | Do you want to know how amplifiers work or why people choose tube over solid state? Solid state devices go into saturation (distortion) at a sharp knee, tubes do do in a gradual curve. It is believed that the gradual curve of the tube going into saturation is more pleasing to the ear. Source: im an electronics technician and engineer for a pedal company and a high end sound reproduction company. |
How are sentences by judges that are aimed at making an example out guilty parties not a violation of "Equal Justice Under Law", and therefore unconstitutional? | Each type of crime has a valid minimum and maximum sentence. As long as the judge stays within these guidelines, it is 100% legal. |
Why don't we sneeze when we're asleep? | A simple google search will show "We're actually more prone to sneezing while asleep, since the mucous membranes swell when we lie down, but because there usually isn't much airflow or movement to stir up dust or other particles while we sleep, the membranes don't come into contact with as many stimulants as they do when we're awake." Not gunna lie though, it is pretty neat |
it's 90 degrees fahrenheit outside. It's going to rain. Is the air more humid just before it rains or just after? | Actually it's most humid WHILE it's raining. The air has so much water in it that some people even use umbrellas or stay indoors completely. |
When you bump, scrape, or acutely injure yourself, why does it instantly feel better simply by putting your hand over the injury? | Your nerves are mostly sending either pain or pressure signals to your brain. However, they can only send one signal at a time, and pressure takes priority over pain. So when you get hurt and apply pressure, your body thinks "ok there's pain and pressure but since we can only send one signal to this meatbags brain we'll send pressure, and ignore the pain for now". |
How can ocean water and air temperature be the same temperature, but the water feels so much colder? | You don't feel temperature. You feel rate of heat transfer, which is greater for the water because of its higher thermal conductivity. The same thing is true when you put your hand in the oven at 350F: in air, no problem. Touch the metal, problem. |
2001: A Space Oddessy. | There is much more to the monoliths than they get around to in the movies. Read the books, they cover a LOT that's not in the movies, I can elaborate in PM, don't want to spoil the books if you may be interested in reading them. Of better yet, if you want book spoilers, read the wikipedia entry for the novel. _URL_0_ |
Why do hotels always keep a bible in every guest room? | A large Christian organization called the Gideons gives them to the hotels as a way to evangelize. |
why is the Mona Lisa so highly coveted- I've seen so many other paintings that look technically a lot harder? | Five reasons: 1. The smile. It was the first painting of its kind to have someone smiling in such a way, so it was sort of a new era. 2. The brush strokes. He used strokes so small, they were damn near invisible, creating a very 'photographic' painting in a time when that wasn't really done. 3. Street Cred. Leonardo Da Vinci was an extremely talented guy, the quintessential renaissance man. He was a genius, and is thus rightly given praise. 4. Time. This painting took four years of Leonardo's life to make. 5. Subject. Nobody's entirely sure who he's portraying, which is pretty weird for portraits. Usually, portraits like this one are commissioned by the person depicted, but it doesn't appear this was for anyone but Leonardo. Is it a girly version of him? A prostitute? A secret lover? Or just something out of his head? |
Because you have to swear to tell the truth in court then why is "I swear I'm not guilty" not a viable defence? | The court is not assuming your truth, they're asking you to pledge to tell the truth and will punish you if you do not. |
What people mean when they say they have a fast/slow metabolism, and how that affects their diet. | Metabolism is the amount of calories your body naturally burns to stay alive. This is without assistance from fitness or athletic training. Fat takes less energy to burn than muscle which is why skinnier people tend to have faster metabolisms than heavier people. This also allows them to eat more without the weight gain. Your metabolism will become faster if you workout and build muscle. |
Why does 1% battery last longer? | Battery remaining is pretty much just a guess. Your phone measures the voltage and makes a guess as to how much of power is left. If you rarely or never let your phone run all the way to where it cuts off from lack of power, it will slowly start measuring more and more inaccurately. First it will think 1% remaining is empty. Then 2%, and so on. Eventually, it's estimate of remaining battery is significantly far from correct. When you finally let it run all the way to empty, it will seem to last longer. It thinks it's empty at 5%, so it's shows 1% remaining when you really have 5% remaining. Since it still has power, it still runs, but the estimate is wrong. Because of this, battery drain slows down as it nears empty. |
What is happening in our bodies when we feel our stomachs drop? | It's part of the fight or flight response. Blood rushes out of your stomach to your muscles |
Why do all contests have a NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN clause ? | If a purchase is necessary, it becomes gambling, which is illegal in most states. As such, in order for contests to be legal, they have to include an entry option that doesn't require the entrant spend money. Usually the requirements are overly cumbersome (physically mail in an entry form, which still requires stamps), so no one really bothers. It's worth noting that most contests are more to generate publicity than direct sales (though one drives the other), so just having the advertisements and getting people thinking about the product is usually enough. |
How does the compass on the iPhone work? | Non-douchey answer: There's a chip inside that can sense magnetic fields (such as that generated by the Earth) and can use the field to determine the direction the phone is facing. There's really no way to explain simply how the chip works inside, as it uses fairly advanced principles of electromagnetism, but it actually works very much like a real compass, but digitally rather than analog. |
Why does streaming from sites like Youtube or Twitch seem to hit my bandwidth harder than playing online video games in real time? | The game is rendered on your computer so it only needs to stream the information about events and player actions. A video stream needs to stream constant video and audio which takes up more space. |
Why are some videos framerates 23.976024 fps (as opposed to exactly 24) | Basically it solves the problem of fitting 24 fps source material onto a 29.97 fps NTSC video signal. 23.976 fps is 80% – or four fifths of 29.97 fps, which is the frame rate of the NTSC video signal. By slowing down 24 fps *ever so slightly* (by 1/1000), you get 23.976 fps. This then allows four frames of source material to be spread over five frames of NTSC video using a technique known as [**three-two pulldown.**](_URL_0_) |
How is Uber legal without following the same liscensing rules as taxis? | Basically, because a taxi is defined as a car that you can stand on the sidewalk and hail. Legally, if you don't provide that service, you're not a taxi. This was upheld in a recent lawsuit against Uber, and the judge ruled that Uber didn't meet the definition of a taxi, since they can only be hailed from the app. They're closer to, say, a limo service where you call and schedule a trip, which generally aren't classified as taxis. |
Why are people mad about Microsoft's Windows "spying" but not Google's same "spying" in Android? | Everyone knows Google is spying on them. It is part of their business model, and Google is up front about it. They even give you web pages that show you how much they are spying on you. Microsoft is less up front about it, and has more of a history of doing dodgy things without telling users. Also, they are an older company, so a lot of their misdeeds occurred before people were as used to getting spied on. |
How come some city streets in the US like in NY emit large amounts of smoke/steam from underground unto the curbs yet you never see this phenomena in european cities? | Because the buildings are heated with steam that sometimes escape. We don't have that in Europe. |
How exactly does our body produce electricity? | At the very basic level, it is caused by Sodium and Potassium ions, which are differently charged, and using these ions to create channels of chemically-induced electric current. It would be extremely inefficient if we wanted to use it as a sort of biological battery. Our current chemical batteries have much better storage and voltage and so on. (Basically, the Matrix's premise of using humans as batteries is complete garbage from a realism standpoint. We make terrible batteries and even worse power sources) |
Does this lawsuit make the family (and possibly the lawyer) some of the richest people in the country? | No. [ABC News](_URL_0_): > An attorney who persuaded a Texas jury to award one of the largest civil verdicts ever says he and his clients don't expect to collect any of the $150 billion judgment, but they hope it helps persuade prosecutors to seek charges against a man they say doused a boy with gasoline and set him on fire. |
Why do water pipes not burst after you turn the sink/hose off? Shouldn't the pressure from the water backing up cause this? | Imagine that you have a bucket full of water. Poke a hole in the bottom of the bucket, and water will start pouring out. But if you plug the hole, the bucket doesn't burst from pressure backing up. The pressure is constant, and does not (noticeably) increase when the water stops flowing. The same is true with water pipes: The pressure is caused by gravity pulling water down out of water towers. When the water stops flowing, the pressure just levels off. |
What exactly happens in a Windows computer when you delete system32? | System32 contains all the components to get your OS running, deleting that would just result in getting stuck in the bios. This doesn't happen when you are an active user in the OS, only when you restart your computer after trying (you can't delete all files whilst you're active) to remove the folder 'system32'. |
Why do humans get time suppression during tragic events? | Time appearing to slow down is actually an illusion. The part of our brains that helps us feel emotions, the amygdala, becomes more active during times of stress. This causes our brains to ramp up memory recording, making our memories in the moment of a car accident or similar situation much more dense and detailed. Compared to our normal memories, it seems like memories that detailed must have been made over a longer period of time than the quick few seconds of the crash would allow. This makes us feel that time slowed down. But it's just memories temporarily being set into "4k recording" mode, so to speak. |
Why do I, sometimes, really not like some people for, seemingly, no reason? | You're probably not a terrible person. Everyone has a few little things that just rub them the wrong way. Not everybody is socially compatible. The polite response is simply to tolerate those people who you don't like and observe the social niceties when necessary and avoid them the rest of the time. |
Why are smartphones coming out with a 64 bit processor but < 4GB ram? | Well if you've already hammered out your 64bit support before you need it for the RAM that's always nice, of course. There are some other advantages, though none I would imagine are Earth-shattering. 64bit CPUs would also generally use 64bit registers, which means you can potentially keep more useful information in the CPU at a time. |
Why do fries get soggy the next day? | The inside of a fry is moist cooked potato. Deep-frying dries and cooks the outside to a crisp. There is nothing keeping or blocking the inside of the fry seeping out moisture to the outside. Over time, this process makes the outside layer moist and soggy. |
Is it possible to drink water at a constant rate such that you can just keep peeing indefinitely? | No. You can drink in excess to the volume of water you excrete, and this can in fact even be fatal if done excessively enough. The result is that your extra-cellular fluid will be low in solutes, and osmosis will shift it into your cells, causing swelling in (among other places) the brain, what is sometimes called water intoxication. Sufficient swelling can result in death. |
When I play guitar my left hand is fluent, fast and accurate but when I use it for anything else it's basically useless. How come? | You've taught the muscles to work in a certain way as you learn to play. Muscle memory. If you went and did normal day to day stuff with your left hand you will become more proficient at anything. |
What is going on with You Tube? All sorts of fairly popular channels are being deleted, losing monetization, or having constraints placed on them and seemingly out of nowhere. Is there new management, broken automation, or something else? | I'm not sure if this is what the OP meant to imply, but the limitations aren't being placed on specific channels, but are rather sweeping algorithm and policy changes that affect everything. The two that seem to be causing the most grief are the switch from a per-view monetization plan to a per-minutes-watched monetization plan (although this happened a long time ago in internet standards) and the fact that their content-ID algorithm gives false flags to videos ALL THE GODDAMN TIME. When a video is flagged for copyright violation, the monetization is automatically disabled for that video. There have been cases of things like the *sound of rain* triggering the algorithm to flag a video for copyright infringement. tl;dr a combination of seemingly benign policy change and bad automation [Super Bunnyhop has a great video on this.](_URL_0_) It's from 2013, but it's still incredibly relevant. |
How does radiation from the Fukushima plant affect the fish I eat in North America? | It doesn't, really. The levels measured are incredibly tiny, nanosieverts. You'd get more radiation from spending time in Denver or eating a banana. |
Why do some sudden noises scare the crap out of us, while others go nearly unnoticed? | (This is purely from what I understand about the flight or fight response; I have done no research into whether this is an accurate explanation so take it with a grain of salt). If your ears cannot detect or is not expecting a specific sound the brain defaults to "this sound is foreign or out of the norm so it must be bad" and releases some adrenaline to help you fight the the threat or go away. In the days of primitive humans, a foreign or unusual sound usually meant danger, so the brain evolved this response to help fight or flee from the perceived threat. Since your brain knew the second time around the sound wasn't a threatening sound or you might have been expecting it your brain simply ignored the signal to release adrenaline, since the brain wants to conserve as much energy as possible; again this comes from speculation and my limited knowledge of how the human body actually works; fellow redditors free to correct me if I have misunderstood or misinterpreted anything. |
How exactly did the rotors on the Wehrmacht Enigma work? | I hope you get to read this. Look for a YouTube channel named singingbanana the guy is a matematician and he has an awesome explanation on how the enigma machine works. Found the link for you (wanted to watch it again) _URL_0_ |
Whats the psychology behind the "silicone baby" phenomenon on YouTube. | 1) Some people who have lost children use them for grieving 2) Some people who can't have children use them as surrogates 3) Some people just like them, they're considered collectible |
How to pay off students loans? | Interest is a percentage that you were told when you took out the loan, and every month (or year or some other time frame) that much percent of the amount you have left to pay is added to your bill. To pay off the loans you probably have to contact the company you took out the loan from, look for a contact number on the monthly statement you receive for the loan in the mail or online. |
Why is the patriot act viewed negatively? | The purpose of the act was to deter and punish american terrorists. In reality it was used by the FBI to ignore the constitution and things like 'probable cause' to investigate people unrelated to terrorism. This included, drug traffickers, homeless people, visitors to las vegas, and a webmaster regarding copyright infringement. > One criticism of the Act is that "other purposes" often includes the detection and prosecution of non-terrorist alleged future crimes. _URL_0_ |
How do software engineers keep track of all the code in a very big program? | [Let me introduce you to git](_URL_0_) Git is a version control system that acts as a repository for your source code. It has features like version history, branching and merging, code rollback, all the things you need to properly handle large coding projects. Git is one of a number of version control systems, and it is one of the most popular (if not THE most popular). Other examples include Perforce (popular with game development studios because it handles binary files much better) and SVN. |
Why are older people generally more conservative? | Youth allows for risk, both physically, mentally and financially, as the only solution to these risks is time, which only youth has. |
What does the common person seek to gain from denying climate change? | Start with the other side. If the climate is changing, why should the average person agree? You probably answer that with "They can **act** to change things and not destroy the planet", that's the common argument. What people get by denying climate change is freedom **not to act**. If the action you're suggesting is expensive, inconvenient of politically challenging, great benefit accrues if there is a plausible excuse not to act. To understand beliefs, you need to consider how actions might be different. |
What is it about the color black that absorbs light and converts them into heat? | it's physics. and you got it the wrong way 'round. objects appear black to you BECAUSE they absorb the electromagnetic waves we call light. that light carries a certain energy with it which gets absorbed, which is then converted to thermal energy aka heat. If thats not what you meant, please elaborate a bit on the question |
What is the scientific reasoning behind some substances that have a reverse tolerance? | "Reverse tolerance" or drug sensitization is a real thing that can occur with certain drugs or alcohol. If you think about alcohol in particular, over time you build up a tolerance for it and it takes more alcohol to get you intoxicated. Supposing you continue to drink heavily, you can damage your liver, which can lead to a reduced tolerance or "reverse tolerance". Some drugs require a sensitization period, in which your brain/body needs time to build the proper neural connections and uptakes in order to feel the full effect of the drug. Antidepressants/antipsychotics tend to fall under this category. |
How do spiders get to the top floor of apartment buildings? | They can climb. They can also get blown along by the wind until they land on a higher floor of a building. |
Where gold gets it's worth from and why it's so valuable to economies | If something is useful, then it's valued more. If something is hard to find, then it's valued more. If something is shiny, it's valued more. Since Gold is useful, hard to find, and shiny, it is very highly valued. A few reasons Gold is used: * for jewelry and awards, because it's shiny and has a nice color. * for making computer parts, because it conducts electricity and is easy to mold into many shapes. * in spaceships by NASA as a lubricant between mechanical parts, because it can withstand harsh space conditions. There are plenty of uses for gold now, and the list of uses will grow, which means it will get even more valuable. And as Gold supplies get used up, fewer Gold will remain, *further* increasing it's value. And that is basically why Gold is so valuable. |
Why is it more expensive to eat healthy? | Your premise is somewhat flawed; it is not necessarily more expensive to eat healthy. It certainly *can* be, if you buy certain types of raw ingredients, but does not have to be. Industrial scale food processing is extremely efficient, so a lot of prepared food is cheaper than the make-it-yourself equivalent...so if you try to eat the same stuff as just build your own, it usually doesn't work out. However, if you adjust how you cook and eat (stay in season, stay local, stay low on the food chain) it's fine. |
The game Skyrim. I've watched half a dozen videos about it, but don't get it. | It's an "open-world" RPG. Kinda like WoW, but tailored for a single player. Essentially, they've plopped a big sheet of land down; decorated it with trees, mountains, and other nature stuff; built some towns, cities, dungeons, and people or creatures to populate them; wrote stories and quests for the player to do; then told the player to have at thee. It's exploratory fun. |
How do we see images in our head? | Cutting through the bullshit in this thread - I will tell you that people who argue "you're thinking of the last time you saw a banana" are absolutely pissing me the fuck off. *HOW* the dick can I imagine shit I've never seen then? To play devils advocate, I will admit the philosophical answer is found in Descartes' idea of real components making up imaginary beings (hippogriff, siren, etc) - ie we can't imagine something without using components of things we already know. However, more to the point of what you're actually asking, the idea parallels why we "see" while we dream, or hallucinate. There's some stimulation of the visual cortex, and it would make sense that this wouldn't be something humans can do by will, because if you can *make* yourself see things that aren't actually there how can you know what's real or not? |
How can IQ be so confidently ascribed to racial characteristics (i.e. hereditary)? | Simply put: 1) There is really no consensus amongst psychological sciences that IQ tests can be considered to be an accurate measure of anything, other than performance on the specific and abstract tasks that constitute IQ tests. 2) Even when using an arbitrary test like an IQ test, it has proven completely impossible to isolate and filter out learned and acculturated abilities. 3) It is thus impossible to attribute any results of IQ tests on a population scale to genetic traits, as the social and learned effects cannot be discounted. The claims to heritability do not thus necessarily point to genetic inheritance, IQ scores are far more likely to be passed on by upbringing. 4) IQ tests are a product of a pursuit - the assessment of intelligence - that is controlled and influenced predominantly by white, upper-middle class, academia. So, unavoidably, the results will be a bit skewed towards white test-takers. |
Is there any significant difference between different brands of water? | Significant, I wouldn't say. The source of the water changes its composition, and therefore also the taste. If two brands get water from the same source, they would be practically identical, unless one of them really screwed up the bottling process. Unless you have a serious mineral deficiency, I can't imagine one brand being measurably more healthy for you, and if you had a mineral deficiency, you should get a proper supplement for that anyway, not bottled water. |
When I have a cold, why does my nose often continue to feel blocked after I have blown it thoroughly? | The blocked feeling doesn't only come from mucus, it's usually inflammation of the sinus cavities and nasal passage. |
Why does being tickled make us laugh when it is such an unpleasant sensation? | The short answer is we really don't know. Of course, [people have their guesses](_URL_1_), and it seems to be that it isn't a naturally occurring physiological response driven by (as you put it) a biological imperitive. Most of the hypotheses point out that you typically 'learn' about tickling through a parent/child interaction. Indeed, if you feel like reading up on scientists scarring childeren for life, [Cracked](_URL_0_) has 6 good tales, one that tried to prove whether tickling was a physiological response or a social learned response. |
How is it that prisoners can earn law degrees while serving time, but on the outside people go into six-figure debt to get the same degree? | Offering prisoners the chance to study in prison lowers their chances of returning to a life of crime afterwards and improves their behaviour while inside. That said it is not the same degree. Do you really think prospective employers are going to look at a harvard degree and a prison degree and are going to go 'yes, these degrees are exactly the same in terms of worth'. |
How do they measure how fast a continent is moving? | There are fixed points all over the world. People are continuously measuring the position of these points in relation to each other. It used to be with triangulation and celestial observations but nowadays they are using GPS. |
What the hell happened to Shia Lebouf? | Well according to [this song](_URL_0_) he's a cannibalistic serial killer. But I think that might be fiction. |
Why is the Word "Character" Pronounced as "Ka" racter and not "Cha"racter ? | Character and chameleon come from Greek root words. When the Greek word was adopted into our alphabet the "ka" sound was written as "ch". Champion and Chalk came from Latin and over time were pronounced with the "cha" sound that was also written as "ch" in our alphabet. |
Why do we humans get so easy problems with their teeth while animals don't brush their teeth at all and most of them do fine their entire life? | We have terrible diets that contribute to damage to our teeth. Many animals also don't live as long as humans, and that damage can take a while to really compromise your teeth. And ultimately, if an animal's teeth go bad, which does happen, that's typically *the end* of their entire life. You don't see the bad teeth animals running around because they have died from complications to having bad teeth, like disease and starvation. |
Do film companies pay theatres to show their movies, or do theatres pay film companies for the rights to show their movies? | It's a shared pool that works out roughly like this, the ticket price is split between the studio and the theater at a percentage 1st week: 90% studio / 10% theater 2nd: 80/20 3-5: 60/40 ...etc Specific movies and specific studios may have deals that alter the percentage for each week and timeframe, it's all negotiated, and these are estimated but it's a good rough base of how it works. The theaters still collect all the money on concessions, that's where they make the bulk of their profits. |
Why is it, that on the same amount of food consumption, I feel fine to exercise, but feel empty to edit an essay? | The empty feeling when thinking about the essay is a psychological process. There could be many reasons your brain wants to avoid it. This most likely has nothing to do with food intake. Sounds like small dose of the maladaptive coping mechanism psychologists call *avoidance*. (Yes, it's a thing.) Plain old procrastination is different. I'm guessing it's the coping mechanism because you have some deterring "feeling" associated with it. |
Why do people listen to music with earbuds in while driving a vehicle that most likely has a stereo in it? | They could be listening to music from an audio player which can't connect to the car stereo (for example if the car doesn't have an aux input). Or they could just be using their headphones to talk to someone on the phone. And where I'm from it's very illegal. |
Why are head-lice a 'kids thing' that seems to only exist amongst groups of younger aged children? | Because kids, when at school and play they get their heads close to others. Adults, consider it rude/weird/childish to do that. While the lice may spread from child to adult, it is less likely to happen between two adults. |
The Turkey/Netherlands Diplomatic Tensions | Basically Turkey wanted to send someone over to the Netherlands to campaign, but the Dutch government was like 'we want none of that here'. Turkey said some not so nice things about the Netherlands and they responded by not allowing the Turkish campaign dude to land there with a plane. Turkish people in return tried to burn the Dutch flag but it turned out to be the French flag (I laughed so hard at this) and stabbing oranges for some reason. Now more countries are getting involved and basically scolding Turkey for handling things poorly. |
Why does the toast get crunchier when it cools? | The steam evaporates off, so it's less moist. |
How do computers know what time it is? | They have an internal clock, a lot like a wristwatch. It keeps track of the time. There's even a small battery on the motherboard to keep track when the computer is unplugged. |
Can someone please explain the sunk cost fallacy? | Imagine you've had a car for the last fifteen years, and that car is a piece of shit. It breaks down every few dozen miles, it smells gross, it looks like shit, and you're constantly pouring money into it. The Sunk-Cost fallacy is where you would be more likely to keep the car and keep pouring money into it than to spend a whole bunch of money on a new car. The thinking is something like "I've spent so much money on this car, it'd be stupid of me to buy a new one." This is also extremely common among gamblers, who might keep playing a machine, reasoning that since they've put so much money into it already, it's bound to pay off eventually. TL;dr, It's where you think that it's more beneficial to continue doing something, despite that something being obviously detrimental, because you're sure that if you keep doing it, you'll get a return. |
What's the difference between the different tiers of gasoline and is it really worth the extra money for premium gas? | Higher grades of gasoline are refined more carefully to give them a higher octane rating, which means they burn more consistently and are less likely to "knock" (ignite prematurely) under the higher compression in high-performance engines. Unless your car's owner's manual specifically says you need to fill the tank with a higher grade of gasoline, it's a waste of money. Check the owner's manual. |
How come I can tell you the numbers that come before and after 7 right away but have to go through the alphabet in my head to tell you the letters that come before and after H? | You do addition and subtraction on numbers when you are a little kid all the time. So, 7-1 and 7+1 are intuitive. You don't do the same for letters. H+1 and H-1 aren't drilled into your head as a little kids, so many people have to recite the alphabet to know the position of letters. |
Why do the windows in the back seats of cars not go down all the way like in the front? | It's not to keep children in the car. It's simply that there isn't enough space inside the door for the window. The bottom of a front car door is bigger than the window, so it can go entirely inside. The rear doors have a cutout for the rear wheel well, which keeps the window from being able to go all the way down. |
The current American immigration problem | The **unbiased** report is that the politicians are still arguing what they think needs to be done. And since they're arguing and arguing and arguing about it, nothing gets done. In the meantime, many poor and desperate people from the impoverished countries of Central America will continue to immigrate illegally to the USA. They will do the jobs which most US-Americans refuse to do, like agricultural work and cleaning jobs. |
Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Plan | It regards taxes. 9% tax on corporate income, 9% tax on individual income, and a 9% national sales tax across the board. of coarse this is impossible, but people are having fun with herman, and I think he is having fun too |
Why is it that some days after my hour long drive home, I cannot remember the journey at all? | The human brain has (as I understand it- could be wrong) a bit of an autopilot function. However, with this said, if the brain detects a problem, it pops out of it. That's the reason why you start paying attention just as the guy cuts you off, from what I understand. |
Why do a lot of hospitals have religious connections? | For centuries medical care was provided by churches and temples. This is because for many religions care for the sick is a major command of their faith. This tradition has carried on into modernity and a lot of hospitals are heavily funded by religious groups, and many are physically owned by them with the religious group actually paying to have it built and owning the land. |
How are the elements in the 7th row of the periodic table created in a lab? | Particle accelerators fire streams of one type of atom at another type of atom. The kinetic energy is enough overcome the repulsive forces, and smash the nuclei together, creating new elements. It is nuclear fusion, not chemistry, so while you can't change an element through chemistry, you can through physics. |
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