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How does Nat Geo get so much great footage of rare, small, and dangerous animals? | They have the means to to put professional photographers "in the field" for long stretches at a time. |
Why aren't all currencies worth the same? | There's a fuck ton more yen (Japanese currency) than US dollars. Supply and demand determines value. Higher supply means lower value. There's a much larger supply of yen than dollars while the demand for the two is roughly equal compared to the disparity in supply. So the value of the yen is lower. Much lower. If you took dollars to Japan and found someone who would let you buy a car in US dollars, you would only need $20K (maybe + a fee for letting you pay in dollars which is inconvenient for the seller). |
how do graffiti artists reach those seemingly impossible difficult spots, like the tops of high buildings or inside overpasses? | How to reach the ceiling? A ladder. How to reach the top of a high wall? A bigger ladder. How to reach a really really high wall? A bigger bigger ladder! |
Why do rainbows form on spilt oil on the ground? | It's actually not the oil itself but the oil and water. The uneven mixture creates a prism which reflects the light rays at differing angles. |
"The higher the probability, the higher the entropy and the lower the information content." | > After all, it had been Wiener who discovered a precise mathematical definition of information: The higher the probability, the higher the entropy and the lower the information content. Er, I think it was Boltzmann who came up with the definition and it was really Claude Shannon who popularized the concept. No matter. "Information entropy" is exactly the same as or has absolutely nothing to do with the concept of entropy used in physics depending on who you talk to. According to Shannon, the information of a message is a measure of its probability of occurrence. It has nothing to do with "meaning." A message you can predict in advance (probability = 1) contains zero information. If I already know what you're going to say, there's no point in you saying it (see: right-wing talk show hosts, left-wing talk show hosts, my mom). Hence, "the higher the probability the higher the entropy and the lower the information content." |
Why is Golf the go to sports for rich and/or powerful people like Presidents, CEOs? What is special about it? | It costs a lot of money to play, it's played in a space that is exclusive, which allows for privacy, and it is a slow paced game that allows for conversation and socializing. The slower pace also allows people to play into much older age than other sports. It's basically the perfect game for wealthy people who want to have something to do while having an informal conversation. |
Why is there darkness? | Light doesn't travel instantaneously. The universe is only ~14 billion years old so there's only a limited amount of stars we can see. Additionally, the universe is expanding. As the space itself inflates the light starts to shift towards the red end of the spectrum, eventually dipping into the infrared portion which is invisible to the naked eye. |
How is Kevin McCarthy a good choice for Speaker of the House? | It makes sense because the Republican party is overrun with lunatics at the moment. Boehner was run out of town for not being enough of a hardliner. Whoever replaces him doesn't need to be experienced, articulate, or anything you might think of as useful in a politician. As long as he agrees that Obama is Satan any that any sort of compromise with him is absolutely unacceptable then he is the man for the job. |
If your intestines don't have pain receptors, why does having constipation or diarrhea hurt so much? | The intestines do have nerves, just not the normal pain receptors you are familiar with on your fingers and the like. Instead their receptors are more sensitive to pressure and stretching. Feeling the texture of your poop isn't really necessary. |
How big does a planet have to be for it to seem flat at ground level? | That entirely depends on how big of an area you want to seem flat. Also what you mean by "seem". The Earth seems pretty flat from ground level, to be honest, unless you're actually measuring something. |
In the digital age, how will photographs be handed down to future generations? | My descendents can fb me if they really care to see.. |
Why is female circumcision done by Muslims considered mutilation, but male circumcision commonly done in America completely fine? | There are several forms of female genital mutilation. The more serious forms of it are like cutting your dick off, and then making it so that the stub will hurt if someone tries to fuck you. There are also more minor forms which are comparable to male circumcision though many of them make the very sensitive clitoris painful. It's about sexual purity/repression, and more a m middle eastern backcountry hick thing than an Islamic thing. |
Why does it always seem like the world is falling apart? | Information isn't just at your fingertips, it's being shotgun blasted into your retinas. Your attention span is a hot commodity, so everyone with something to say is going to radicalize it so you take notice. We live in the most peaceful time in history, we have more control over diseases and better healthcare than mankind has ever known. Don't worry, don't believe the hype. Go on and enjoy your life. If need be, stay off social media and go out of your way to avoid the news for a few days... You'll feel better. |
Why do veterans in the USA have a seperate hospital/healthcare system? | It was seen as an obligation that the citizens would pay for the healthcare of soldiers who were injured in the service of the country. |
standard deviations. | Standard deviations add context to data. Is 20 a lot more than 10? If it's how fast your car is going right now, not at all. If it's how much you spent on lunch today, maybe. If it's how many times you peed yesterday, then, ya know, it might be time to see a doctor. Standard Deviations are what allow you to transform these into comparable situations - eg, Speed= +0.2 SD, Lunch= +1.1 SD, Bathroom= +3.8 SD. (There are good technical explanations on this thread already so I won't add one) |
Why is glass the most chemically stable thing... ever? | OP IS TALKING ABOUT HOW BEAKERS, TEST TUBES, AND MOST OTHER LAB EQUIPMENT IS MADE OF GLASS, NEVER REACTING WITH THE SUBSTANCES CHEMICALLY CHANGING WITHIN IT. |
With so many ways to listen to an artists music for cheap or even free, how do musicians make any money? | Their main income is from touring and live performances. Also, merchandise such as clothing (concert tees and such) Many pop artists have secondary incomes like clothing lines (J. Lo) and perfumes (Brittney Spears), even dolls (Taylor Swift). They do still sell albums via iTunes and physical CDs. They also get royalties when their music is played in streaming services and on the radio. They *can* sell the rights or grant permission for their music to be used in movies, commercials, TV shows, etc. **Most importantly; if you like a band, go see them live! This really is the highest level of support you can give them. Plus, concerts are awesome. No one has ever died saying that regretted going to so many concerts!** |
Why is pipe tobacco wet but cigarette (rollie) tobacco dry? | Def not interchangeable. I believe it is because generally pipe smokers want to puff on there pipe for awhile. If it was dry like cigarette tobacco it would burn up in a few puffs. The moist pipe tobacco burns and stays lit for a little while. |
Why is patient zero of such significance? | Viruses mutate as they travel to different hosts, so the first patient to get it has the most basic form of it that has the most in common with the daughter strains, which may evolve in completely different directions. Thus, if you find a cure based on the original patient, is has the highest likelihood of working on the daughter cases. |
If all US currency states "Legal tender for ALL debts public or private" on it, can businesses legslly refuse to accept $100 bills? | > There is.... no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. _URL_0_ |
Why do hard criminals (like murderers) become super religious during jailtime? | * joining up with others, regardless of the reason for affiliation, offers protection and community * prison life sucks, and placing your hopes and energies in something beyond that can be a coping mechanism * a lot of people are in prison because they shameless exploit and manipulate others...religion is an effective tool for doing this * a lot of people are in prison because they feel they were special and the law doesn't apply to them...religion lets you construct a narrative where your are special and have been chosen to fulfill a divine plan * people tend to be more sympathetic and deferential to those who share their religion, including prison guards and parole boards * some prisons actively push religious activities, and give privileges to those who participate |
Why does our brain tend to remember the bad things that happend to us more often and intense than the good stuff? | Probably because in history, remembering bad events would help you to avoid them in the future and aid your survival. E.g. if you were attacked by a bear near a cave and lived, you would remember not to go near that cave again. |
how can a spacecraft calculate its speed in space? | The ONLY way to calculate a speed is by using some sort of reference point. When we say a car is going 60 mph we mean that relative to the road it is going that fast. The Earth is hurtling through space at ridiculously fast speeds relative to the objects in space. There is no "absolute speed" by which to measure how fast something is going. So basically to answer your question: The only thing that matters when it comes to speed is your surroundings, so using the planetary bodies that are currently closest to you is the most accurate measure of your speed. There's no such thing as a "precise speed reading." It's all relative. |
If a suppressor doesn't actually silence the sound of a gun that much, what role does it serve? | It reduces the sound enough that it won't damage your hearing which also makes it so that the report of the weapon isn't heard a mile away *Edit: Integrated silencers actually do silence the weapon. Like the MP5SD. The bolt clicking is louder than the shot |
Why fish can pull oxygen from the water yet not from the air. | Fish pull oxygen out of the water using a body part called a *gill*. They have gills on either side of their heads (kind of where our ears are). Gills are made of lots and lots of little thin fins. That way they have lots and lots of surface that touches the water passing by, so there are lots of opportunities for some oxygen passing by to dissolve into them. If you've ever seen someone with long hair underwater, you've seen how their hair kind of floats all around their heads, right? What happens when they come out of the pool? Their hair falls flat onto their heads and kind of all sticks together because it's wet. That's exactly what happens to a fish's gills when you take a fish out of the water. All those little paper-thin fins collapse together and stick together because they're wet and have no water to float in. There isn't enough area left on the surface for them to get the oxygen they need, so they suffocate. |
Why do cars need transmissions but planes and boats don't? | Engines have a relatively narrow range of RPM where they perform efficiently. Planes and boats propel themselves in a viscous atmosphere/fluid. As a result, plane and boat engines can operate in a fairly narrow range of RPM and still be effective. Within that narrow RPM range, the propeller/fan generates sufficient thrust into the viscous atmosphere/fluid to propel the aircraft/boat forward. On the other hand, car engines are "rigidly" connected to the ground via ground- > tires- > wheels- > driveshaft- > transmission- > clutch- > engine. This means that without a transmission, a car's engine would have to operate on a much wider range of RPM's - including RPM's where the engine performs poorly or not at all. A transmission allows the car engine to remain in its efficient RPM range while the car can travel from a crawl to over 100mph. |
Why were buildings such as schools made into fallout shelters? | Schools are large buildings, typically in the middle of population centers that typically have facilities built for large group of people (bathrooms, kitchens, etc.). They make natural rally points for a population center and are built reasonably well to handle a crowd. |
Why didn't the FCC allow television broadcasters to use the AM band, instead of FM/VHF/UHF? | The AM Band extends from 535- to 1,705-kHz, which takes up a little more than 1.1 Mhz. Each of the original TV channels used 6 Mhz. Thus, the entire AM band was incapable of handling even 1 single TV signal. |
Why are many bathroom sink faucets so close to the back of the sink? | The reason is probably cost reduction. The faucet is most likely a casting. Castings of consumer products are made in such a high volume that costs associated with design (such as fancy curves, etc.) don't impact the cost of an individual unit much. The primary cost is the material. A shorter faucet means less metal and a lower cost. |
If Oseltamivir also helps prevent the flu, then why isn't it not prescribed as such? | > Couldn't one make the argument that if everyone in you household has a flu, then getting prescribed Oseltamivir should be the way to go? If everyone in your household has the flu, then Oseltamivir isn't going to help all that much. From the article you linked: > "On average patients who start taking Tamiflu within 48 hours of getting sick will recover one day faster than patients who do not take anything" So you're looking at just one day of reduced symptoms, at the cost of risking many of the pretty terrible side effects of Oseltamivir, if you give it to people who already have the flu. The only time it might make sense is if everyone in your household has been vaccinated, and *one* of your has the flu anyway (idicating that the vaccine might not have been effective against the strain in your household). In that case, it *might* be worth it to reduce the spread to other family members. |
How come at night when I change the angle of my rearview mirror it receives less light? | [Really old picture](_URL_0_), but it explains it nicely. |
Mathematically, why can't a chair balance with 2 legs? | To see if something will balance, lay a string on the ground around its feet and tighten it. (That's called the "convex hull" of the feet.) The center of mass must be above the area outlined by the string for it to balance. Of course when you tighten a string around two feet, it becomes a line with no area, which leaves a super tiny area that the center of mass must be in for it to balance. |
Why do we tip bartenders but not fast food workers for doing essentially the same task? | Bartenders pour drinks and can give you extra booze and not kick you out when you start getting drunk. The good ones will conversation with you at show times. |
Why do headphones sound better when you press on them? | you get a better seal around your ear, making more sound go directly in the ear rather than floating off |
How and why does the human body generates heat? | When we burn calories, we actually burn (oxidize) calories. The oxygen we breathe in is used for cells to take the food we eat and turn it into energy. The leftovers are heat, carbon dioxide (which we then breathe out), and a bit of water. |
How come animals today aren't as big as the dinosaurs were? | Keep in mind a few facts: The biggest animal that ever lived is alive today. Bigger than any dinosaur, bigger than megalodon, bigger than all the ones you never heard of. Biggest animal ever is the blue whale. Two, huge prehistoric animals like giant sauropods, megalodon, those kite-sized dragonflies, all existed at different times and were big for different reasons. It's not a case of "prehistoric = bigger". There were lots of small dinosaurs too. Dinosaurs were adapted to grow extremely fast. Sauropods could grow 6 tons *a year*, based on estimates of age & weight. |
How in the hell did Arnold Schwarzenegger become the governor of California? | Everyone was pissed off at the guy before him. My car registration became like $1000! I mean wtf, what do they do for me to charge me $1000?? He promised to fix it and he did. |
How did they print photos in old newspapers? | How old were the newspapers? The first newspapers used reusable type for the letters. To print a picture engraving were made. No there was no shading possible at first. Then engravings using multiple small lines were made to produce shadows. As printing advanced the ability to print smaller and smaller lines, then dots, developed. Enough fine dots and you can print pixels. |
What is causing the troubles in Calais/The Channel Tunnel? | Migrants have been building up over the years, many of the asylum seekers are from Syria and other middle eastern countries affected by the voilence. Since the Strikes happened there was alot less staff causing a build up in queues bringing lorries to a stand still. This provides the perfect opportunity to get onto them. It's harder when the lorries are moving. More are trying to cross at this time since it's the best chance they will get thanks to the strikes |
What makes computer code inefficient or elegant? | Basically, it's a measurement of what a program is able to do contrasted by how much space the program takes up. Here is an extremely simplified example: 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 20 or 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16 or 2 ^4 = 16 All of these equations equal 16, but each successive version of the equation takes up less space. |
Why is there an age requirement (35) to be President of the United States? | Explain it like you're five? So somebody like an American version of Justin Bieber isn't swept into office because of his fan base. |
Why is that when an escalator is turned off and you walk on it you feel like you're losing balance? | Because since escalators are designed to move, when they are turned off they wiggle. Not a lot but just enough where you're barely aware of it. So since normal stairs are meant to be sturdy an escalator is not and your brain is not used to stairs wiggling and shifting. |
how exactly does water ruin electronics, assuming that they are turned off after and dried throughly, what damage to hardware is done that is irreparable? | Think of electronics like a big freeway system. Where the freeways themselves are the electronic circuits. The electrons that travel on these circuits would be the cars. Now Imagine that you NEED to take a certain highway to get to a certain destination. When you add water, you now change the path(s) that those electrons can take, most times to disastrous effect. Just because an electronic device is turned off does not mean that there aren't electrons(cars) that want to go places they shouldn't under normal conditions. This is why water is bad in a very simplified way. |
What kind of relationship do lawyers actually have with their clients in terms of guilt? | My understanding... it isn't relevant if your client is innocent or guilty. A defense attorney's job is to make sure the prosecutor's job is being done correctly. A prosecutor wants a conviction. They need to prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that the defendant is guilty. A defense attorney needs to make sure that we don't starting doing "close enough" in a courtroom. That is a slippery slope, and one that would destroy our legal system. |
How do shaving creams make shaving easier? | To save you a chemistry lesson with lots of long words, let’s break it down to four basic ingredients: Stearic acid – one of the main ingredients in soap-making. This puppy attracts dirt and grease and cleans your skin. Surfactants – or “surface-acting agents.” They attract water to your skin, making it moist. Emulsifiers – hold the water on our skin, keeping it soft and pliable. Glycerin – it keeps skin supple long enough for you to do your thing. |
Why do nipples go hard when they are hit? | It's easier for newborn to latch onto a stiff nipple than a flaccid soft one. It's theorized thats why they stiffen upon contact. The other reason is cold. In the same way you get goosebumps on your arms in the cold because your body is trying to keep you warm with your "fur". The hair follicles around your nipples stiffen causing the "nipply weather effect" to occur |
How would a basic income system work, how would it be implemented, and how might it affect taxation, industries and the economy? | Basic income is the government giving a set income to everyone in the country. This is funded by taxes as any other government program. You can still work and earn money on top of your basic income. And the more you earn the more taxed you are, so if you earn quite a bit you will payback your basic income through taxes. Basic income also means the governments can remove other forms of welfare completely. You no longer need unemployment aid, food stamps, pensions and help for the poor. As everyone has an income. |
Do astronauts on the ISS just not fap? | Why would you think that? They're up their for awhile, if they're not having sex with eachother, masturbation seems like an obvious thing that would happen |
why is celery frequently served with chicken wings? | It acts as a vehicle for ranch or blue cheese to cool the mouth off without having to take more hot sauce to get the cooling relief. |
Why must Inflation happen in an economic system? Why can't we just ignore it and say that money is worth the same? | It's not a guarantee that inflation will happen, or that the inflation will be a good thing. You can have deflation where a dollar is gaining in value over time. This encourages people to save money instead of spending it, and you have less dollars flowing through your economy. You can also have hyperinflation where your currency spirals out of control, and ultimately gets replaced by bartering/foreign currency. A low inflation rate encourages spending/investing, because your money is losing value if you stuff it in a matress. More money flowing through the economy equals a better economy. |
Why is the cost of groceries still high when the price of gas has fallen back down? | What /u/Teekno said, water, is a huge part of it, and not limited to just California - reports were that last summer was so dry in the midwest that grains and corn were also going to have a much smaller crop this past fall, on top of the pork shortage, and this past winter [has killed over 30k dairy cattle,](_URL_0_) which will lead to milk/butter/cheese shortages as well. In short: Blame the weather : < But also, as they raise prices, folks get used to them, and even if the base costs went back down, that doesn't mean that manufacturers/grocers have to lower the prices back down, it just means that they can profit more. |
Why can routers only use 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz if they're so congested? | Radio spectrums are like a broad highway. Consider 2.4 and 5 as like the 2 far left lanes on a highway, but there are maybe 6 more lanes. These 6 lanes are reserved for military communications(2 lanes), emergency responders radios(1 lane), aircraft radio communications(1 lane), and cell phone companies(2 lanes). These other 6 lanes are vital to be restricted - what would happen if a bunch of people clogged up the aircraft lane and people flying couldn't get through to the air traffic control! That would be bad! So the FCC makes sure these important lanes stay clear as possible. Sure there are more reserved lanes - but I cut the example to just a few. |
Why do people think that US income tax is unconstitutional? If so, why isn't this bigger news? | > Why do people think that US income tax is unconstitutional? Because people don't want to pay income tax, so they grasp at straws to try to find a way out of it. For instance, some people claim that, because the versions of 16th amendment that were ratified by the states have slight differences in the spelling of words, capitalization, and punctuation, it was never properly ratified, and is thus invalid. Another argument is that, since congress didn't pass an official proclamation of Ohio's 1803 admission to statehood until 1953, that Ohio wasn't a state until 1953, and thus the whole ratification process is invalid. This despite the fact that a) it's ridiculous, and b) the amendment still would have passed even without Ohio's ratification. |
If you are deaf do you need to be concerned about your ears? In terms out volume | Yes. While you may be deaf loud noises can still cause both pain and physical damage to your ears. |
Why is the plastic no longer opaque on this sticker? | Because one side of that plastic has lots of bumps, so when light passes through it, the light is refracted and scattered in random directions. However, the sticker fills in these bumps and leaves a smooth surface for light to pass straight through unobstructed. |
Why do most devices that use multiple batteries need to have them alternated? | Efficiency. Most devices require more voltage than a single battery produces. For example, a AA battery produces 1.5 volts. If you need 3 volts, you need to connect two AA batteries in a series. That means you need to join the positive end of one battery to the negative end of of the next battery. The easiest way to do that is for the batteries to be placed in alternating directions. That makes it really easy to join the positive end of one battery to the negative end of the other. If the two batteries were in the same direction you would need much more wiring, which would take up more space and waste more material. |
If Republicans are for small government why are they introducing so many laws thrusting their religion on to others? | Mostly because Republicans haven't been for small government in several years. Republicans and Democrats just have different opinions on which parts of government should be bigger or smaller. In general, Democrats want to control what you do outside of your house, Republicans want to control what you do inside of it. |
What function do Tinder bots serve? | It's selling porn. That's it. Those sketchy links you end up getting sent by a tinder bot or anything else are just porn. The one reaping the benefit is the person selling the porn. |
How do high areas of heat ripple our vision? | Hot air is less dense than cold air, and light travels through them at slightly different speeds. At the boundaries between hot and cold air, the difference causes light to refract (aka bend) as it passes from one to the other. As the hot air rises and circulates with cold air, the boundaries between hot and cold constantly change as well as does the direction of light passing through. This creates the moving, ripple effect. |
Why do some TV shows like TBBT and Homeland make it over to prime time British TV, but Parks and Recreation and Breaking Bad don't? | Either the networks there believe that they will not be popular enough to justify acquiring the rights to, or the rights holders in the US are asking for more money than the British networks are willing to pay. |
Why do worldleaders even think about going to war with eachother even though they know that it will cost incredible amounts of money and many innocent lives? | War is usually about land and resources. If one country needs land for farming and it's taken by another country, they will not have the ability to feed their people. If land with valuable minerals or oil is taken, the country losing that land will have less ability to progress by using those resources. If a shipping lane is taken, some countries might even become trapped, unable to import or export goods. |
El Niño. What the FUCK happened to winter? | Okay, so, the pacific ocean is really big, and really windy. The winds push all of the water to the west, and it wells up warm surface water along the western pacific. Every once in a while, for reasons we don't yet fully understand, the wind gets a little weaker, and the pacific ocean has a crazy backwash. Then that flops against the far coast, and washes back again. That wave of warm water crossing the pacific twice creates El Nino and La Nina, these periods of bizarre weather. We're not sure if El Nino is happening more often than it used to or not. We're definitely in a rough patch, but we don't have enough historical data to say if it's just a rough patch or connected to climate change. But it'll happen again in 2-7 years if the rough patch doesn't subside. |
How are young birds and eggs safe in nests? Aren't they sitting ducks? | First and foremost. Did you just make this post for a sitting ducks pun? Second, that is why a great many birds build nests way up on the top of trees. Those that don't generally try to disguise it in the underbrush. But yes, at the end of the day, eggs do get eaten. Nature doesn't care that much about the death rate, so long as the survival rate is enough to keep the species going. |
Why are gasoline prices so volatile especially compared to other staples like bread or milk? | Because the markup on gasoline is much smaller than the markup on more processed goods like bread. [Wheat prices](_URL_0_) are similarly volatile as [oil prices](_URL_2_), but there's about a nickel of wheat in a loaf of bread, so when the price of wheat moves by 50% it impacts the total cost of the loaf by only a couple percent (and most of the other costs are much more stable). Oil is the majority of the cost of gasoline, so when oil prices move gasoline prices often rapidly follow. Milk is unique because dairy prices are heavily influenced [by the government](_URL_1_). |
Why do drive-thru fast food places have two Windows even though only one is used? | When order volumes are high enough, and when they have staff for it, they can run both windows, which makes the drive-thru a little more efficient. But it doesn't make sense to run it that way when order volumes are lower. |
Why do guys feel it in their stomach when they get hit in then balls? | In humans, the testicles start out life in the abdomen and descend through its lower wall, eventually ending up external to the body. This gives them a number of connections to the abdomen; they're basically wrapped in every layer of the abdominal wall. Their nerve supply comes from the abdomen as well, apparently resulting in what's called "referred pain," where pain is felt in places not involved in the injury. |
How can we assume that people recycle properly? What happens if someone accidentally throws a non-recyclable item into the recycling? | The recycling plant has machines and people to split recycling. Even if it where all recycled properly you still need to put the coke can in the aluminum recycling machine and the coke bottle into the glass recycling machine. |
Why are there no gray people? | There are in-between colored people; they’re brown, not grey. White people aren’t ivory white, and black people aren’t ebony black; we’ve got some reddish hue that shows through our skin. Black people from Africa are very dark skinned – in American and many European nations, we often see someone with brown skin and consider them with black, but they’re of mixed skin town. A lot of people in other nations have skin so black that they’ll make you wonder why we chose the word ‘black’ to describe people that are actually Crayola brown; brown is what you’re wondering why it doesn’t exist, and it does. |
Would it be possible to change a planet's atmosphere, terrain, etc enough to make it capable of supporting life | The process that you are referring to is called Terra forming. Theoretically it would be possible, though at current times, we struggle just to manage maintaining little national parks. The process of changing another planets atmosphere without drastically changing it too much might be more than we could ever manage. |
Where do Syrians get their weapons? And why do they still get them? | Many of the weapons spread throughout Africa and the Middle East are remnants of the collapse of the U.S.S.R. There were so many spread throughout the region that when it fell many of the weapons ended up on the black market etc. That is one reason you see so many with AK's. That and AK's are one of the most reliable weapons. They were built with more mechanical tolerance so they do not jam as easy etc. |
Why do Energy Drinks only come in cans while water only comes in bottles, yet pop/soda can go either way? | Having worked in the Soda industry, I remember asking once why Soda bottles expired a lot quicker than soda in cans, and it's due to the plastic deteriorating due to the acid in the beverages. There are a few Energy drinks that come in the plastic bottles, NOS comes to mind, however I'm willing to wager that the gut rot we get from the stronger energy drinks works very much the same on the plastic bottles. By putting them in the metal cans it would essentially help increase the shelf life of the product. |
Explain to me the fourth dimension | You might enjoy these previous posts on the topic: _URL_0_ _URL_1_ |
Why does it seem that anywhere you go these days , there is background music playing (gas stations , malls , airplanes) ? | It's mostly a subconscious thing. There is some evidence to suggest that the tempo of the music playing will affect customers behavior. Slow music in a store might cause some customers to slow down and look around, and possibly even buy more. Fast music in a restaurant might cause diners to eat faster so that the table will be ready sooner. Holiday music might put the customer in a better mood, it might not though. |
How are sanctuary cities a thing. Why is it not aganist the law to harbour an illegal | It is the federal government's job to enforce immigration law. The states don't need to help out in any way legally speaking. A "sanctuary city" is a city which has an official policy of not helping the federal government, but not obstructing them. If it was illegal to let an illegal alien exist within your city then the federal government would be able to impose duties on state law enforcement, a big legal overreach. |
How does washing your hands kill germs? | Generally it doesn't, it just moves the germs away. Kinda like washing mud off your hands doesn't destroy the mud, just moves it elsewere. That's with regular soap. Do not use antibacterial soap. Or antibacterial anything for that matter. Getting rid of germs seems logical (after all, that's what causes diseases), but doing that messes up your immune system, causes allergies and other health problems. That doesn't mean you should start living like a caveman though, find the balance. source: med school |
What is exactly social security? | You work, you pay SS. The taxes you pay go to someone else who is receiving SS. When you retire you will be paid by others who currently work. The amount you get paid receiving SS is influenced by the amount of taxes you contributed. SS is facing issues but the worst case scenario (ignoring total economic collapse) is you receive 60-80% what a person would have today. SS you will likely receive less than you pay in (inflation adjusted) if you work a full life time. Medicare is the opposite and most beneficaries receive $2 to $3 for every $1 contributed which will likely be a larger issue than SS funding. |
When humans die our bodies rot. When insects die they just dry up. Why? | Their insides rot. But their 'skeleton' is on the outside, and just like humans, it's the hardest part and resists breaking down the longest. |
Why do containers that had egg in them bubble and froth so much, even when just rinsed? | Egg whites contain a lot of liquid protein, which forms a thin and strong layer, a temporary membrane that fills with air to make a bubble. |
Why is it so difficult to swallow when you look up, or tilt your head backwards? | Because tilting your head back opens your airway and they can't both be open at the same time. |
Why are there so many seagulls in the local shopping center parking lot even though I'm nowhere near close to the ocean or a large body of water. | Seagull is a common or informal name for many different types birds that are located pretty much everywhere across the planet. The gulls you are seeing are probably ring-billed gulls. They do like to nest near water, but since they can eat pretty much anything, they are commonly found near easy to find food sources. |
How do Governments pay back trillions worth of debts? | We are perpetually paying off old debt while creating new debt. Debt is basically the total money the US government owes to people who hold government bonds. These government bonds set out a repayment schedule, and the US has never missed a payment since the revolution making it one of the safest investments on earth. If you buy a $5,000 2 year bond, it means you pay the government $5,000 and over the next 2 years they will pay you back $5,000 plus interest. Bonds are important, they help balance "risk" by being very very safe. In a risky world economy, lots of people want to buy bonds and that means the US has no problem finding buyers without raising interest rates. So government debt does "go away" but it is replaced by new debt at the same time. Even in the 90s when the debt was "going down" we were still creating new debt, just not as fast as we were paying off old debt. |
How come back in the 50s and 60s it was safe for parents to let their kids go off and play all day, but as the years progressed that changed? | It's always just as safe. The difference is that parents now are more paranoid. |
How do zero calorie energy drinks work? | > Is is just that there are chemicals in it that inhibit the neurotransmitters that make you feel tired, or something else along those lines? Yeah, pretty much. Stimulants like Caffeine work by basically telling your brain "you are awake" or blocking the signals that say "you are tired" (the exact mechanism depends on the stimulant) as opposed to actually giving you energy. |
A lot of history books talk about the banning of atmospheric tests of thermonuclear weapons in the 60's. Where do they test them now and how is it safer? | When they are tested underground there is very little dust kicked up into the atmosphere. When the Soviet Union tested the largest thermonuclear device ever the physicist in charge deliberately did not make it as powerful as possible because the effects would be too wide spread and long lasting. |
why do some bottles of alcohol have flow regulators/fun stoppers/plastic thingy at the tip of the bottle? And some don't? | ITT: People who think the OP is asking about those add-on pour spouts that bartenders use. We are talking about the plastic filter/screen thingy that is *inside* the top of the bottle, *underneath* the original cap, already installed when you buy the bottle from the store. To answer the question, they are usually only included on bottles of liquor that is used for pouring shots and mixed drinks in a haphazard fashion from a plastic bottle in order to minimize glugging and overpouring. |
If a heart is stopped (cardiac arrest), how can a shot of adrenaline sometimes work? | If the heart is stopped, you're not going to start it again. A lot of people think that drugs or a defibrillator will start a stopped heart, it won't happen. Epinephrine will cause a slowed heart to speed up as well as increase your breathing rate. It does this by blocking the pancreas' ability to produce insulin (this increases your blood sugar) and increases the available fat for use as energy around your cells. Together this causes a huge surge of energy. Epinephrine causes smooth muscle to relax, but at the same time contract with more force. So your airway will open, and your heart and arteries will contract with a greater force. All of this basically speeds up the amount of sugar and oxygen that gets to your tissues, reversing the causes of shock. Edit: not sure why I'm getting a few downvotes. I'm a paramedic and kinda know a few things about the question asked. |
Why Most Rappers Have the Urge to Say Their Name in Their Music? | Educated guess here but in hip-hop it's very common to feature other artists on a track so it helps the artist gain exposure and let's the listener know who's verse or was when they like it. Also worth mentioning that alot of artists (Kanye and travis scott particularly) don't put the feature artists name on the track. I'm also sure it has something to do with rap music becoming less unique so rappers feel the need to remind us who they are because so many others bite flows/rhyme schemes |
What does it mean when the ingredients of a food product say “natural flavors” ? | If you grow fungis and other microbilogic stuff in a lab you can get all kinds of flavours. Its a missleading term. Technically it is all natural but it doesnt mean the flavour in your orange juice is from oranges... |
Why are circuit lines sometimes squiggly? | It is so that every lane takes the same time as the others. They are squiggly because those memory components have a shorter distance than others and to have them all run at the same speed, so to get them to run at the same speed as one thats farther away it has to run a larger distance that is equal to the others. |
From an actual 5 year old; what makes water stick to surfaces? | Polarity. The water molecule is unbalanced, and has an attractive field on the molecular level. This very weak magnetism allows it to cling to things. The reason it clings is the same reason why surface tension exists: water likes to cling to other polar molecules. This means that it likes to cling to itself, as well as other materials that are made from polar molecules. The cup is made of polar molecules, which is why water is mildly attracted to the cup. |
Do copper sleeves and braces for your body really work? If so, how? | They absolutely don't work at all. But wait, there's more! Ok sadly there isn't, it's just basically a scam, there's no evidence this stuff does anything. |
theres so many types of toothpaste that supposedly do different things, but they all have the same one active ingredient. | There are indeed inactive ingredients that have different benefits, but almost none are significant. The best toothpastes have fluoride, xylitol, no sodium lauryl sulfate. Tom's clean & gentle is a good one, so is Biotene (expensive), or Spry/Squigle with fluoride. -dental hygienist. |
What the difference(s) between a pub, a bar, and tavern? | Bars are typically geared toward alcohol, a pub is geared towards food and alcohol, and a tavern normally is a pub with rooms to rent for nights. I could be wrong, but that's what I grew up thinking :) |
why do we gag when we smell or see something gross? | A wise man once told me, "You know what the difference is between smelling shit and eating shit? Parts per million." |
In these sanctuary cities, Why are the Mayor and city council not being charged with aiding and abetting a criminal, and harboring a fugitive? | They aren't actually breaking any laws or (legally speaking) aiding and abetting anyone. They're just refusing to do the Federal Government's job for them. It's not up to individual local governments to enforce federal law and they can't be forced to if they don't want to. If they were actively preventing federal officials from entering their cities that would be a different story, but that's not what they are doing. |
Before gunpowder weaponry, how were any naval battles fought? | A few diffrent ways. I'd recommend /r/askhistorians for a more complete explanation. There's a few things that were done: 1. ramming other boats, either to breach their hull and to sink them, or to send over troops for boarding actions. 2. Archers stationed on deck firing arrows, either regular ones of fire arrows to kill the enemy crew or set their ship alight. 3. Mounted heavy weapons like catapults or ballista's that would fire a vareity of projectiles to damage the enemy ship or set it on fire. anything involving giant parabolic mirrors probably isn't true. |
How that tugboat from the front page could pull the ship 10 times it's own size | Tug Boats are basically motors with a ship built around them. One big floating motor designed to move ships. |
How does muscle enable us to lift heavier things? | Muscles are made of fibres which contract to make a certain action. For example, a bicep curl. The more muscle, the more fibres. The more fibres you have contracting together, the more force you create. More force allows you to lift more. |
Why do school buses have to always stop before railroads on open up to doors to listen? If the gates are up, it should be clear. | Because the gates do not always work, not all rail crossings have gates, and the gates do not always deploy long enough before a train passes for larger slower vehicles to get across should they have some kind of mechanical trouble. This requirement is also for more than school buses. It is required of all buses (school or public), and it is required of all trucks hauling hazardous materials. |
Why is there a country called Turkey and an animal called turkey when the two have nothing to do with each other? Is there any relationship between the two, or is it just coincidence? | There's also a city in Turkey called Batman. What's up with that? |
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