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Why is travel so exhausting?
Travel in a vehicle is mentally stimulating. You are surrounded by noises and by other people. And it is slightly stressful because you have fairly little control over what is happening -- either because you're a passenger or because you're in traffic. (Note how much *less* tiring it is to travel if you're the driver and you're out on the open road.) Also, often you were in a hurry just before boarding the vehicle, so you enter stressed. And once on board, you are unable to exercise, which is a great stress reliever.
The difference between hospice death and doctor assisted suicide
The "personal accounts" you're hearing about are likely not from medical professionals who have treated hospice patients. Death from cancer, the most common reason for hospice, is slow and painful. As the tumors get worse, you have more pain. To manage the increased pain, patients are prescribed higher doses of pain medication. So you may hear accounts of people who witness their family members die peacefully after an increase in pain meds. That doesn't mean they were killed by the medications. You need to have a terminal diagnosis with a 6 month prognosis to qualify for hospice care in the US. The other option is repeated trips to the ER for terrible pain followed by more rounds of futile treatment.
the expression "Clocks don't really measure time, they measure themselves."
Time exists and always has^ish and always will^mostly. It is not a construct of man but rather a universal condition. Before the clock was invented we had the sundial, which measured the movement of the sun accross the sky, not really time. When clocks were invented the attempted to keep pace with time but had to be reset every day at noon or else they would be off of local time. As clocks got better they were able to keep up with fewer errors, but we're not perfect. Now official time is kept by measuring the vibrations of a cesium atom, and a certain number of vibrations is defined as a second. So the expression is that clocks only measure different physical phenomena the we define as time, either the sun or vibrations, not time itself. A clock is only as good as its ability to keep up with time, and since most commercial clocks have errors they aren't at true time so they only measure them selves.
What are birthmarks? What causes them?
It depends on the type of birthmark. Something like a port wine stain: _URL_0_ is actually an overgrowth of blood vessels that grow too much, and too close to the surface of the skin where they shouldn't be. Something like a congenital nevus/giant mole: _URL_1_ is an overgrowth of melanocytes, which are the cells in your skin that make melanin, which is a pigment that gives your skin its darker color.
How come when you involuntarily blink you never notice, but when you realize and start blinking intentionally it's all you notice
Well... because you're thinking about it. Same thing with the nose, it's always there but your brain ignores it. Once you realize this then it is noticeable.
Is it normal for a person to regularly fantasize about killing people? What causes it?
I'm not sure "fantasise" is the right word here, but many people randomly daydream about doing bad things and about bad things happening so that your mind subconciously checks that it is bad and should be avoided. There was a recent ELI5 about it which I will link if I find. If you do mean "fantasise" as in killing people is something you seriously desire, then you might have a problem. I'm not an expert, but there's a line somewhere between "it would be funny if threw that guy out the window in my head" and "I truly want to kill everyone around me with a serrated knife and bathe in their blood". If your thoughts are genuinely aggressive, then it might not be normal.
Why are people saying that the Ebola Virus is not as transmittable as suggested?
~~A lot of diseases can survive in the air or on surfaces for long periods of time.~~ ~~Ebola can't. Unless you directly get some of an infected person's bodily fluids inside you, you're extremely unlikely to contract it.~~ ~~So while Ebola is super deadly, it's not really all that contagious, when compared to most other viruses we worry about.~~ It would appear I'm wrong about this (thanks /u/zombieJesus27); Ebola actually *can* survive on surfaces. Upon further reading though, I still think zombieJesus may have slightly overstated his case. Yes, it's true that Ebola doesn't insta-die when you take it outside of the body (although it still cannot survive in air), but it *is* meaningfully less virulent than the sort of virus we'd be really worried about spreading like crazy through a sanitary first world country. Bottom line: don't worry too much. But also don't spread misinformation like I accidentally did earlier.
Child Porn stipulations
I think, it's more illegal because no matter what, the child is a victim. There's no consent and they can't know better at that age. As weird and creepy as it is, a drawn nude child is fictional if it just comes from the mind. There's no real victim here, granted if it's not sketched from a previous seen picture of a child in those situations. That's my best guess and not a citable answer.
Not trying to be racist, but why do the majority of countries have white, skinny and tall women as the beauty standard despite having very few people being actually like them?
A history of colonialism establishes cultural norms in places. In some places, there is some evidence that things like lighter skin were considered attractive due to that being a symbol of wealth (similar to fatness being a symbol of wealth and being able to afford food), but things like stereotypical European features (thin noses, blue eyes, blonde hair) were pushed as attractive due to colonialism.
Why do americans love pickup trucks so much ?
Part of it, is that the US doesn't pay as much for fuel as many European/Scandinavian countries. On average, we pay about half of what you do for fuel. Therefore, having a utility vehicle that gets poor gas mileage is not as big of a luxury as you might think. Trucks are useful. Many of my relatives are tradesmen and use their vehicles to haul buidling materials and tools. Many people are avid hunters too. A large truck bed is ideal for putting a deer in. Also our public transit is dismal in many parts of our country. We heavily rely on our vehicles for basic tasks and transport. _URL_0_
Claiming tips from deliveries at work.
You have to claim ALL income, regardless of source (tips, wages, etc) for tax purposes. You should try to claim as little as possible so that you are not taxed on that additional income, its technically illegal to do so, but its standard practice to claim little (or no) tips as income in many service jobs.
Why is abortion so heavily regulated by the government?
Many people believe that abortion is morally equivalent to murder, or at least a form of murder. As a result, they advocate policies that they believe will reduce the number of these acts or punish the people who conduct them. The reason it seems like there is so much government involvement is because a large number of people disagree with that sentiment. This isn't the case with things like, say, murder or even the use of hard drugs. As a result there are far more areas where the groups come into conflict when it comes to policy, so you see it more.
How do they accurately measure the movement of a mountain? Everest moved 3cm. after the earthquake. Relative to what?
With topographical maps, GPS positioning, and satellite imagery; you can easily compare and contrast what the data says today with what it said with previous bits of data years ago.
Both entropy and inertia (in physics).
Entropy: Your mom tells you to clean your room every day. She had to go on a business trip so you stopped cleaning your room this week. It starts getting messy and messier and finally looks like a storm blew through it. You stopped putting energy into cleaning your room so it became a mess. Entropy states that without putting energy into existence, existence has a tendency to move toward being less ordered, the same as it takes energy from you to keep your work clean. Inertia: If you have a big rock, it takes a lot of work to push it. If it's rolling down a hill, it takes a lot of energy to stop it. Inertia means that something that's moving wants to keep moving, something that's at a stand-still wants to stay still.
Why is the task of investigating fraud/counterfeiting given to the Secret Service?
Because that was mainly why the were created in the beginning, see the [history of the Secret Service](_URL_0_) > 1865 - The Secret Service Division was created on July 5, 1865 in Washington, D.C., to suppress counterfeit currency. Chief William P. Wood was sworn in by Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch. > 1867 - Secret Service responsibilities were broadened to include "detecting persons perpetrating frauds against the government." This appropriation resulted in investigations into the Ku Klux Klan, non-conforming distillers, smugglers, mail robbers, land frauds, and a number of other infractions against the federal laws.
Why is it almost impossible to balance on two wheels on a bike, but once you start moving forward it becomes so much easier?
Bicycles are surprisingly complicated, but here is one simple (and incomplete) explanation. When you hold a bicycle up and move it from side to side you will notice that the front wheel turns to the direction it is leaning. When the bicycle is moving this has the effect of moving the wheels under the center of gravity. When the bicycle starts to fall over (center of gravity not over the wheels) the front wheel automatically compensates by steering the wheels back under the center of gravity. Obviously, the bicycle is not able to do this when not in motion. To initiate a turn you have to upset this balance either by leaning to one side or using counter steer to move the wheels out from underneath yourself.
why are people always under an illusion that they are wasting their life ?
Humanity's ability to get itself to a position where all it's physical needs are satisfied and still want more is, imo, what made us the dominant species of the planet. That dissatisfaction keeps us reaching. It's sitting in a dry cave with a bellyful of meat and saying "okay but now what".
What is Net Neutrality and why is it so important?
Net neutrality is the concept that an Internet Service Provider can't discriminate data you access via the internet. Its how the internet has worked for its entire existence so far. For example Netflix hurts Comcast’s cable business. So they clamp down and make all streaming of netflix videos unwatchable for their customers. This is not even hypothetical both Comcast and Verizon did this and Netflix had to pay them to stop. It could also manifest in “fast lanes” basically the service would limit speeds on your most frequently used websites let's say Facebook and Google and would ask you to pay them more to make those sites work faster for you. If those both sound super shady and wrong than you are pro Net Neutrality. Now normally I would give you the other side but there is none. Net Neutrality is an utterly one sided topic and the only reason people are again it is because they stand to make money by slowing speeds and limiting certain kinds of data.
How does an X-Ray machine work?
It works like a camera. An X-ray "light" shines on the object and onto a digital sensor that reacts to X-rays just like a digital camera reacts to light. X-rays go through most things so you put the object between the X-Ray source and the sensor.
Why is it when you see pictures of fashion models on the runway, they're wearing something nobody in there right mind would wear?
Think of it more as a walking art installation. Instead of a crazy ass sculpture or a painting, it's a person walking around all decorated and shit.
Why can little kids squat on their haunches, but most adults cant?
Practice. Adults who regularly do it can still do it well into their older years. In fact, squatting on the haunches is a pretty common sitting style around the world. Wear and tear does eventually take its toll, but for most people it's atrophy and loss of flexibility due to inactivity that's playing the larger role.
When boiling a pot of water for cooking, why should you start with cold water instead of hot?
Cold water is less likely to contain lead from pipes and legionella bacteria from your hot water heater. Hot water boils faster, though( I'm not sure how this is a myth other than in some conditions hot water freezes faster than cold, and so people think the opposite could be true)
How can we still see thumbnails for images that are no longer available?
Say you want to view 1 reddit page with 10 thumbnails from imgur on it. To create the thumbnails, you need to load the images from imgur first, then resize/crop accordingly. Reddit can go to imgur every time someone accesses that 1 page. Wait for the 10 imgur links to load, do the cropping process and then show them to you. But that takes a lot of time and mostly depends on imgur and not reddit. Instead, when someone posts the links, Reddit generates its own set of 10 images *once* and then shows you those every time. If the imgur links are deleted, the reddit thumbnails still remain.
Why do things take "4-6 weeks" to ship?
This is not always the case, but especially with infomercial trinkets, it's not uncommon for the products you're buying not to even be manufactured yet. By allowing long lead times, the seller can gauge response and manufacture just enough to meet demand.
how are people able to track hackers ie: where they are, who they are, etc
One of the reasons that every hacker seems to come from Russia is that Russian servers don't generally release user information, so the trail kind of dies there. So the smart thing to do is proxy through a Russian server before proxying elsewhere.
Why can programs on my computer be completely unresponsive but pressing control+alt+delete is always instant?
This is because the program is stuck in some sort of loop, so sending commands to the program does not work. Ctrl+alt+del sends an interrupt, which means that it tells windows to drop everything it's doing. Next windows will show the ctrl alt del menu. This (generally) will not stop the program from being in the loop (ie it won't start working just because you pressed ctrl alt del) but it stops the computer from executing the program. Next you can just kill the task, which means that windows stops whatever the program was doing and closes the program. Downside is that you won't be able to save whatever was happening at that point (but since the program wasn't responding, that's no big deal).
How come you can "feel" when someone is watching you?
You can't actually tell other than by looking at where other people are looking. Humans are social animals and we look around quite a bit to check where others are looking without really noticing. Only when we detect someone looking our way do we take note, sometimes thinking we somehow knew we were being observed. But when tested under controlled conditions that simply isn't true.
What determines how much spicy food someone can handle? Is it genetic?
You can build up a tolerance. Also helps if you were raised on it. I imagine genetics plays a part, too. Plants evolved capsaicin because they needed their seeds spread far. Small mammals, lime mice, can't stand the spice and avoid it. However, birds don't feel the capsaicin and can eat and spread the seeds far away. Then humans came along and we loved it. We took it and cultivated it all over the world. I'd say both we and the peppers win.
If there was a pill that contained all the nutrients, vitamins, energy etc., would you still need to eat?
Yes. Because the calories you would need cannot be consumed in something as small as a pill.
Do heat-seeking missiles ever accidentally lock onto the sun?
Yes, this is actually a known problem with primitive heat-seeking missiles, and pilots would occasionally try to get between the missile and the sun in order to transfer the missile's focus onto the sun. Modern missiles are specifically programmed to avoid this.
Liability of Gun Manufactureres
The main precedent is the tobacco industry. They were successfully sued by both private parties and governments for the negative health effects of tobacco use. However, that was mainly predicated on the fact that they had research into the negative effects of smoking that they kept covered up for decades, and during that time they had made statements that smoking was fine when they knew it wasn't true. Gun manufacturers are relatively clear on the fact that guns are dangerous (and, indeed, it's sometimes a major component of their advertising), so you'd need to come up with a different theory of liability.
What does a police officer have to do in order to receive a jail sentence?
No, if they were to do something undoubtedly criminal, they would receive jail time. The thing is that most of the crimes that we see police committing are simply recklessness, negligence, excessive force, which are relatively minor things. Juries and Judges are more likely to let these go by with lower sentences, such as suspension or dismissal because things like police service are often seen as something which should allow punishment to be deducted. There a hundred times where police have gone to prison, the only difference is that those police are generally involved with something more criminal than excessive force or as it's starting to be called "Police Douchebaggery"
What would be the bodily effects of taking a pill giving you 17 times the amount of daily Vitamin C for a year do to your body?
Vitamin C is water soluble, meaning that the body takes in whatever level of vitamin C it needs and flushes the rest out through the kidneys. The body does not store Vitamin C, so any additional dose is removed. The percentages of RDA appeals to the "more is better" and does nothing but create urine high in Vitamin C.
Where does the items deleted in the Recycle Bin go?
They essentially just get marked for re-writing, meaning that now the computer can write over that space with whatever. So they aren't deleted until something is written over it. I could be wrong however, i pulled this out of my ass-brain.
Why don't birds get cold in the wind?
Birds have insulating feathers called *down*. They trap air close to the body so convection (moving air currents) can't pull heat away. To get their feathers to do this, their muscles can make the feathers stand on end -- these are *literally* goose bumps. By the time it gets warm, they have shed many of their insulating feathers due to molting, and what remains is kept tight against the skin, allowing for maximum cooling.
Why is it sometimes taboo to classify transgender folk as having a mental illness?
Because one criterion for mental illness is that the behaviours and thoughts the person is experiencing keeps them from being able to fully function day-to-day. For example, anxiety disorders and depression can impact a person's ability to go to school, to work, to hold social ties, etc. Feeling like one's gender is not strictly male or female is not an illness. It is an expression of the self, just like whether someone is neurotic or secure, introverted or extraverted, etc. Mental illness has to do with the impact on the person, just like any other illness; it is not because other people feel uncomfortable.
Why does a vehicle 15 mph faster than you appear to gain a much greater distance from you depending on your own speed?
Because when sitting still, you have all of your environment in the same relation to the moving car as you. However when you are moving 70mph, the only reference point you have is your car and the other car to judge the speed difference.
Why do we experience a 'burning' sensation in our eyes if we haven't slept for a while or immediately after waking up?
It might be that "crusty" discharge from your eyes called rheum ( a mixture of different kinds of cells, mucus, dust, etc.) that is released during sleep. It looks likes sand in your eyes hence the saying. The burning from sleep deprivation is just like what sleeplessness does to the rest of the body, give it fatigue.
When someone sues another person who's not financially well-off for a huge sum of money, how do they get paid?
Essentially she won't. She can attempt to take money from wherever he may have some, and then on top of that try to take a percentage of any earned (garnishment). But the reality is she won't get a dime.
How do people on drugs, such as meth, supposedly get superhuman strength, taking multiple people to subdue them etc?
Your body normally limits the amount of force your muscles place on themselves, your ligaments, joints and bones, because it is possible to damage them. It is not unknown for someone to rip a bicep muscle clean off their forearm, or for an arm-wrestler to break a bone. When on certain drugs, the body's protection mechanisms can shut down. The body's chemistry is so far out of whack it acts like it is in a life-and-death struggle, where it requires all the strength it can muster to survive.
If fusion reactors fuse hydrogen into helium, wouldn't we run out of hydrogen at some point?
Hydrogen is the most abundant substance in the universe. 90% of all the atoms that exist are hydrogen. There is so much hydrogen locked up in fossil fuels that we could just use them for millennia before we even started using water, or sending spaceships to collect it.
Why do we have the capacity to hate ourselves?
Free thought and free will has many positives and negatives. Increased intelligence means that we also can see the uglier sides of things, and well....
What is the "shy bladder" and what can people do to get over it?
> What's going on You're having an expectation that someone may intrude on your urination, which in turn makes you unable to relax. > how can I make it easier on myself Find someone to squeeze you. /meta You may need to somehow snuff out all surrounding sounds to help you unwind and start peeing.
- why do most honour killings involve murdering the victim? Why not kill the rapist instead?
In such cultures women are viewed as property, to be bought, sold, or traded. The honor killing is in retribution for the perceived dishonor of allowing themselves to be raped, as it damages or destroys their value to their male owner. It is fucked up.
Why is it that if you exhale like blowing out a candle the air is much cooler than if you exhale like you're checking your breath?
Hi, Mechanical Engineer here. I assume that when you blow out a candle, you purse your lips. Air is pushed out of the small hole and this creates a high pressure, fixed volume chamber in your mouth and exits to a lower pressure, free volume atmosphere. This sudden change in pressure causes the volume of air contained to expand and the temperature to drop, making the air you blow feel cold. This is also known as [Adiabatic Cooling](_URL_0_) On the other hand, when you check your breath, your mouth is open wide enough that the pressure between the inside of your mouth and the air is similar to one another and the volume is no longer contained. The warm air is now caused by your body temperature heating the air as it leaves your body.
What is the significance of a full metal jacket in small arms ammo?
Bullets were originally just cast lead, and many people still do cast bullets this way (I used to). This can lead to lead deposits in the barrel which will hurt accuracy as well as a bunch of lead in the air (not a good thing). The FMJ is a copper jacket around this soft lead to make it more stable in flight as well as not leading the barrel. On top of that, lead is some soft and can lead to bullets getting deformed rather easily; FMJs are highly resistant to this.
Why and how is it that the Windows operating system hasnt been replaced?
One of the main reasons is that Microsoft makes deals with hardware manufacturers to include their OS in those products by default. This starts the cycle that makes most consumers use Windows regardless of if they're at work or at home. Consumers generally don't like change, so then Windows usage seeps into other areas simply because people are familiar with using it in another context. OSX is out simply because it's tied to Apple hardware and its licenses prohibits OSX from being installed on non-Apple hardware (hackintoshes are excluded). Much like the iOS and Android comparison; there are more manufactures out there than Apple, so by default Apple is going become niche. This leaves linux and/or other *nix OSes out there. Because Linux is an open source project and not driven by money there's much less incentive than MS to get consumers using the software.
Why is St. Louis not as important in the United States as it once was? Is it likely to continue shrinking?
It was very important when the Mississippi was a big hub for transferring industrial products out of the Midwest. The small arms factory my grandmother worked at during WWII in Davenport, IA shipped through St. Louis, for example. As Midwestern industry declined, so did the shipping of those products out along the Mississippi. That said, the shrinking of St. Louis is exacerbated in the statistics. While other cities expanded their borders as their populations sprawled, St. Louis couldn't because it was not part of any of the neighboring counties. Chicago, today, makes up something like 80% of Cook County. St. Louis couldn't expand in a similar way because it couldn't take land from a county it didn't belong to.
why can't people inhale when they get the wind knocked out of them
You know when you hit your leg on something (like you bring your thigh up into a bar underneath the table) and you pause whilst cursing the pain because your leg kind of seems to go numb for a second? That's your body very temporarily immobilising the area to make sure nothing is SERIOUSLY wrong with the part of your body that got hit. The same thing happens with your diaphragm (the chest muscle that pulls down to make your lungs expand) when you get hit in the torso. A second or two of no diaphragm contraction means a second or two of no inhalation.
What has happened to the babysitting market in the last ten years?
The market is flooded. You have a lot of people who can't get jobs elsewhere because the economy isn't as strong, so there are many people able to work as babysitters. Which not only means that you have babysitters lowering their rates to remain competitive with everyone else, but also advertising whatever benefits they have to try and get that babysitting gig.
When listening to earphones/headphones, why does my music feel louder after I yawn?
Your ears are usually pressurized, which serves as a slight volume reduction in some cases. Over time, the pressure in your ears can accumulate. When you yawn, the muscles used relieve the pressure within your ears, "popping" them and removing the pressure, which allows you to hear better.
What does sunlight consist of, and why do some parts pass through windows while other parts don't?
Sunlight and heat are (in simple terms, heat is complex) both electromagnetic radiation. They just have different frequencies (the rate at which the wave repeats itself, think of it like the number of waves in a given stretch of ocean). UV light (higher frequency) causes sun burn. It’s blocked by special glazing on the glass. Visible light, and IR radiation (lower frequency) which feels like heat, are transmitted through the glass to your body.
Differences and Similarities Between Computer Science and Computer Engineering.
In Computer Science you will learn mostly programming and a bit of computer hardware and electrical engineering. In Computer Engineering you will learn computer hardware, electrical engineering, and programming about equally. Neither is particularly useful for IT which I've always felt was more a skill you learn as you go, not in college. There are trade schools specifically for it though.
Why is it common practice to separate high voltage (120V) wiring/cabling from low voltage (24V) wiring/cabling?
Electrical Controls Engineer here. Basically it is to reduce noise and to not induce voltage into the lower voltage wires. With ac circuits the currents alternates through the wire generating a magnetic field. Any wire close to this can potentially interact with that field and a voltage will be created in the wire. The higher the voltage the greater the potential for a low voltage wire like 24dc or especially 4-20mA runs to have noise induced on them.
How do smart phones dissipate the heat created by the processor?
I think some of the answers are great, but missing a major point that I want to add: The chips in smartphones ([SoCs](_URL_0_)) are built from the ground up to turn the energy in the battery into useful work as efficiently as possible. In industry terms, smartphone SoCs have truly insane Performance Per Watt, which is a unit of how much screen brightness, CPU speed, etc can be achieved using only a joule of energy every second. So to answer the question, mainly because they barely produce any heat. Heat is what happens when energy from the battery is lost, and not turned into useful work. This is why the mobile device revolution only happened recently. Chips this efficient are a very new invention.
Why can we (USA) claim a no flight zone in a foreign country?
Because we have big guns and fighter jets. All we need is a UN Security Council resolution to be able to do whatever we want where ever we want. In this case, Russia will veto any resolution like that.
X-box 360 downloadables, the entire Banjo-kazooie game is 48mbs (with heaps of animated scene vids) and a short Banjo trailer is 98mbs to download, why?
The animated cut scenes in the game are rendered in the game - so instead of having a recording of a video for each scene, they just have to include instructions for how the character will move. Think of it as shipping blueprints for a house (knowing the receiver has the supplies) versus shipping an entire house.
Why do I get silly or weird when I'm really tired or otherwise sleep deprived?
I've actually read that being sleep deprived is like being drunk. "After 17-19 hours without sleep, performance on some tests was equivalent or worse than that at a blood alcohol content of 0.05%" Here is the link _URL_0_
Why did analogue TV tuners click from channel to channel while analogue radio tuners slid along a scale?
My Dad had an old 9" TV in the garage with a manual tuner that did not click. You could do some interesting things between channels. When you're off the main frequency range for a channel, there's a huge amount of distortion. UHF and VHF (old TV channel bands) are on an entirely different frequency than AM/FM. They carry through object differently, and over distance differently. Also, picture takes more bandwidth to transmit than radio does, so the RF bands are larger.
How is gps for self-driving cars accurate enough when my google gps totally craps out any time I'm in a mall plaza?
Self-driving cars use more than just GPS to navigate; they also use onboard cameras to identify the road, other vehicles, pedestrians, traffic lights, and other potentially relevant information. If they lose GPS signal, they continue going along what was the plotted route until the signal is regained. As the technology improves, they can also gather data on *where* GPS is likely to fail (such as a tunnel or mall plaza). In these instances, their navigation can plot more detailed courses in advance since the computer is anticipating a loss of satellite feed for a bit.
Why the tallest skyscrapers are built only in Asia or North America but not in Europe?
The sky is significantly lower in Europe; there's really not enough height to build such huge skyscrapers.
Why does David Cameron want mandatory porn filters for UK internet users?
Information control. Australia's government tried to same thing a couple of years ago but it failed. Turned out that porn was just going to be the first step and then after that it was going to be everything the government didn't like. Whoever controls the information has the power. The idea is to get their foot in the door by saying it's about porn, specifically child porn (which it won't do anything to stop since you don't just find that with random searches) and then after that you just quietly expand it to cover everything else.
What are MLM scams and what are examples of them?
The hallmark of a Multi-Level Marketing scam is that the emphasis and reward are heavily weighted against recruitment instead of the actual work of selling a product. If I hire you to sell vacuum cleaners door to door, and pay you based on your time/amount of sales, then it's a legit job. If instead I pay you relatively little for selling vacuums, but pay you very well for recruiting other sellers, then it's an MLM.
how are license plates numbers distributed?
Not sure if it's the same in Canada, but states in the U.S. print a bunch sequentially and send them to each local DMV. I'm not sure if they're assigned to an area DMV, or just whichever boxes get loaded. Either way, a specific area will tend to get a whole lot of certain sequences, and not many of others, and the state in general will have more too, since if they print a thousand starting with BNZR[-xxx], there's going to be a thousand more BNZR's than BNZS's, and ~~260,000~~ 676,000 (?) more BN's than BO's.
Why do PC's become slow and "aggravating" to use after little time, but Macs seem to stay at top performace for a long time?
IT professional here: Can you please define "slow"? This word is thrown around often when it comes to computer complaints but details matter. Is it taking a long time to boot up? Is netflix choppy? Is it slow when you open a third powerpoint deck? Those can help me answer you better. The shorter answer is RAM, that helps keep things quick. Additionally, macs I have found are less inclined to have background processes initiated and installed silently. When you hit ctrl-alt-Dlt and go to task manager, then to the "processes tab" that shows you all of those things your computer is doing that you can't see. That list may be longer and thus taking up more of the computer's resources than it is on a mac.
Why do browsers and websites prompt you for saving your passwords if it is considered unsafe?
The Average Joe is unlikely to be "hacked", but very likely to forget the password to a site he hasn't used in a while. Browser password-saving is meant to be a convenience feature, not a security feature.
Why does AM talk radio have such a disproportionately large amount of commercials compared to FM music stations?
Your FM station has sneaky ways of putting in advertising even though it might claim to have 55 minutes of music. It's advertising when the DJ comes on between songs and reminds you that they will be at a certain business (AD!) tomorrow from 4 to 6 and they'll be giving away a certain item (AD!). It's advertising when in between songs, the DJ comes on and casually reminds you that the artist they are about to play has a concert coming up (AD!) in a couple weeks and reminds you tickets are still available at a certain website (AD!). I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea.
What is the overall goal/point of google deep dream?
Google deep dream was developed as a test of Google's image recognition software. Basically, they're running it backwards - rather than taking a picture of a dog, and asking the software "Is that a dog"; they take a random picture and ask the software "show me what looks like a dog". By seeing what the software draws, you can determine what characteristics it uses to determine a dog. For instance, back in the early days of image recognition, the department of defense thought they'd trained a computer to recognize tanks in pictures. It turned out they'd actually trained the tank to recognize sunny days, because the tank pictures were all taken on a sunny day, and the no-tank pictures on a cloudy day. Google deep dream, for instance, discovered the Google Image recognition thinks dumbbells have a human arm attached to them. Then they released it to the public because it makes cool pictures.
Why does it seem like most funerals in the US are open-casket?
Films and TV do open-casket because of course it is more dramatic and visually interesting. In the US, the family picks which they want.
Why are we mean to people we crush on or love?
Many people are unable to express their feelings of affection towards people they like. Some are embarrassed at showing these feelings and lash out in frustration which turns into rudeness or meanness. This usually happens in people when they are not shown affection in their lives early on or experience "tough love," and then that transfers over to their daily interactions with people they crush on. Hope this helps.
Why is medicine dosage measured in half-life if half the medicine is still in the body?
It's not used to purely say when a patient has "0" of any drug in their system, it's more to help when giving "Top Up" doses, say you have a patient on Morphine that needs an extra dose, knowing the half life helps Doctors/Nurses decide of they're able to give them a slight dose if they need it. It's also used when calculating Antibiotic doses, as you need a minimum level in the body to acheive the desired effect, but balanced with potentially overdosing. For example, if 50mg is the minimum requirement, but each tablet is 100mg, with a one hour half life, the dosage would be: 100mg, wait an hour for it to drop to 50mg, another 100mg which takes it to 150mg, so the next hour/half life only takes it down to 75mg, so if the patient had another dose they would have 175mg in their body and so on. So, if this wasn't kept in check they would soon be potentially overdosing.
Teresa's daughter Riddle.
There's a couple of things you need to take away. We can work this out similar to how algebra work. "my daughter's mother" = "me, or my female partner" So now the riddle is "Teresa's daughter is me or my partner" If Teresa's daughter is me, I am Teresa's daughter If Teresa's daughter is my partner, I am Teresa's son in law Since none of the answers are "Son in law", the answer has to be "Daughter", or B
The Jets releasing Tim Tebow and why it's such a big news story.
Short version: He has a lot of fans because of his religious beliefs. People are interested in him even though he isn't very good. Long version: He was a top college player, but also a vocal evangelistic Christian, which made him very popular among like minded people. When he got to the pros, his fanbase insisted he was a top quarterback, and put a lot of pressure on his team to let him start. And when he got the chance to start, his team had a few exciting/lucky comeback victories, despite the fact he was pretty terrible. So there was a confused debate, with his rabid fans insisting he was the best QB ever, and most everyone else wondering why they couldn't see how bad he was. So now, everywhere he goes, this distracting media circus follows. Normally, a player of his ability would quietly develop as a backup until he was ready, but since he crazy fans insist he should start, he has been a distraction everywhere he goes.
The "cooling" sensation when eating a powdered-sugar donut.
The process of sugar dissolving in saliva is endothermic (absorbs heat). Since it's such a fine powder, it happens quickly and the effect is noticeable.
Why do people have to swear under oath? If they're willing to lie, they'll do it with or without the oath.
If you lie while under oath, you're guilty of [perjury](_URL_0_), which is a felony in the United states, punishable by up to 5 years in prison. If you lie in your day-to-day life, you're just an asshole exercising the 1st Amendment.
Can someone explain string theory to me?
Precocious child: "What is everything made out of?" Science: "Little things called atoms." PC: "Well, what are atoms made out of?" Science: "Smaller things called protons, neutrons, and electrons." PC: "What are those made out of?" Science: "Even smaller things called quarks." PC: "What are quarks made of?" Science: ".........uh, small bits of string vibrating in the 11th dimension. I think. Why don't you go see how well you can hide? I'll count to 100 and see if I can find you."
How do game cartridges and video game discs work?
Cartridges have memory chips inside that have the game code stored in them. When you insert the cartridge into the console, metal contacts in the console touch metal contacts on the game cartridge, and they can exchange data via electrical signals. The console loads the game off of the cartridge, and you play. Discs are covered with lots of microscopic pits that were imprinted on it when it was "pressed", and the console uses a laser to read the sequence of those pits, and turns that sequence into a digital signal. Cartridges load very fast, but the memory chips are relatively expensive and that limits how much data can feasibly be stored in them. Discs are very cheap to make, and hold a good amount of data, but cannot be read nearly as fast as cartridges.
[Biology / botany] How is it possible that some plant species mimic the visual form of other beings, without being able to 'see'?
Random mutation. Sometimes the random mutation results in a look that slightly mimics some other look, which might give an advantage. For instance, something that looks slightly like a predator, might scare away a herbivore intent upon eating the plant. Thus, that plant survives to reproduce. Others that don't have the look, get eaten more regularly. So over time, more of the 'scary looking' plant's progeny survive, relative to the 'tasty looking' plant. So, it doesn't "Try" to look like something. It just accidentally does, but since it works, it gets reinforced by survival. However, some of the examples from the article you link are simply, as it alludes to, cases of pareidolia. It isn't mimicking something. We simply think it looks like it because our brains like to find patterns, and in some cases there is coincidental similarity.
Why do people naturally put on a different voice when they're on the phone or serving someone?
When on the phone you can't see facial expressions or body language so you have to communicate all that information through just your voice. Therefore some people try to use a happier or overly emotional voice in order to be perceived the proper or happier tone. While serving someone, the idea is to please the customer. No one wants to talk to a grumpy ass hat while trying to buy something so the person providing service puts on a show so they can continue having a job. Sometimes you have a shit day and it would be bad if that reflected. Also, some people aren't confident in their speaking skills so they use a "different persona" in order to overcome the fear
Why do some tests and assessments require that answers are filled in using a #2 pencil?
Because the machine that is used to scan it can only see a certain shade of black.
How do one-way windows actually work?
They are just heavily-tinted windows. What makes them one-way is that the room that's supposed to be visible is well-lit, and the room that's not supposed to be visible is dark (same way tinted windows on cars hide what's inside). The window is actually just as visible in both directions. It's placement that makes it work.
Why is the last percent when charging your device the one that takes the most time?
In general, for charging batteries like lithium ion cells, there is a maximum safe voltage that shouldn't be exceeded (keep in mind batteries can hold a ton of energy, and you don't want that released uncontrollably). This generally means that as the charging cycle comes to a conclusion, the voltage of the charging circuit increases to a constant level, and because the cell voltage increases after that, the current flowing into the battery tapers off.
Is it possible to not get addicted to Cigarettes and Alcohol?
There's definitely a spectrum of people's physiological reaction to nicotine and how addictive it is. Some people just can take it or leave it. I was like you, a social smoker in college and for a few years after. (This was back in the day when you could smoke in bars.) I smoked when I drank, and a "heavy" day for me was maybe ten cigs, but during the week or when I went home for the summers I didn't smoke at all and never missed it. Obviously, you shouldn't smoke (sorry, had to say it), but if it's been two years since you started, if you were going to get addicted at all I think you would have been by now.
Why is the hiring practice so much more difficult for minimum wage jobs than skilled labor?
I think part of it is weeding people out. The other part of it is that for skilled labor you usually have some other credentials that make the tests given at DQ pointless. If you have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution, you should be able to pass a math and literacy test and have proven that you can at least follow university rules well enough to get a degree. That being said, I've seen some companies require ridiculous paperwork like you mentioned and I've seen other places hire minimum wage workers on the spot as soon as they've finished filling out an application.
Why are people with a lazy eye unable to perceive 3D in 3D films?
3D films used polarized light to create the effect. The footage is shot with 2 cameras, and projected through 2 projectors with different polarizing filters, one vertically polarized and the other horizontal. The 3D glasses are also filters, only allowing light of a vertical polarization to enter one eye, and light of a horizontal polarization to enter the other eye. The brain combines the images to form an image, and that's where the 3D effect comes together. (Read more [here](_URL_0_)). From what little I know of Amblyopia (lazy eye), both eyes are still functional, but since the one eye is misaligned the brain ignores the image from it when forming the image in your brain. The two-camera effect is lost, since your brain is only 'seeing' the film from one of the cameras and ignoring the other one. You're essentially watching a standard one-camera production, the only difference being you're watching it through a polarizing filter.
How are professional sports statistics captured?
It's a bit of both. Traditionally stats are collected by the official statisticians - there is usually a team of them (although it depends on the sport.) For instance in hockey one person is responsible for tracking when each player gets onto the ice and when each player leaves the ice, for the purposes of tracking time on ice. All of the traditional baseball stats (batting average, ERA, etc,) can be gleaned from the official scorer's report. There are more advanced statistics being tracked, like in baseball they are tracking things like launch angles and exit velocities for batted balls, route efficiency for fielders running towards fly balls, etc. That stuff is all computerized (and the MLB buzzword for it is "Statcast")
All these random pyramid schemes in the US
There are two sides to the businesses. The products, and the MLM. Many of the companies sell actual products that people want to buy and will even pay a premium for. My wife buys the lip-sense stuff and swears by it.
Why do people think that blacking out their eyes in pictures protects their identity?
Eyes presumably show the most emotion / personality etc of any body part, so we're most likely to remember those, if we see them again. Also, who blacks out their own eyes..? It's usually done by others to protect the identity of someone.
why do dry erase markers erase themselves if you color over a line you already drew?
The pigment in the marker is dissolved in alcohol. The alcohol evaporates after you write with the marker and expose it to air, leaving the pigment as a dry, solid layer (though easily wiped away). This is why you can't write with dried-out markers. But if you write over the pigment with the marker, it dissolves again in the alcohol you're adding.
Bohr's Theory of the Hydrogen Atom
Basically, the atom was understood like a solar system. Electrons orbiting the nucleus. Bohr suggested that the electrons could only be in very specific orbits and light was emitted when it went from a high to a lower orbit and light was absorbed when it went from a lower to a higher.
What does a a lawyer do to defend someone like Dylann Roof
A defense lawyer's job is to protect the accused's constitutional rights. Even of a person is obviously guilty of the most heinous crime ever, they still are entitled to all the same rights and protections as anyone else. Just because someone is accused of doing something awful and appears obviously guilty - that doesn't mean we don't have a trial and go through the proper procedures. The defense lawyer is there to make sure the government does its job properly. And at the end of the day, you want to make sure the defense lawyer does their job well. It protects the conviction from being overturned on appeals or motions for ineffective assistance of counsel.
why do musicals play a medley of the music in the musical at the beginning before things start?
Traditionally the Overture (from French for "Opening") introduces the musical themes used later in a piece like an opera. The Finale will recap them at the end. It's a little like the essay structure Introduction - Body - Conclusion.
Has Russia really decimated ISIS the way some reports suggest?
"The Russian Air Force has conducted more than 60 flights and bombed over 50 Islamic State targets in three days, according to Russia’s top armed forces official." _URL_1_ Assuming this is true (which sounds fairly accurate considering the amount of reports about it), having lost 50 installations would have a noticeable negative effect on any force. The long-lasting effect isn't known (it hasn't happened yet) but in the short term there have been reports of ISIS members defecting because of it. As a straight answer, yes Russia has put a dent in ISIS facilities. Whether or not this is will have a detrimental effect on ISIS won't really be definite until more reports come out.
Why does rubbing your eyes feel so good? And is it bad for your eyes/vision?
I have no idea why rubbing your eyes feels good, but if you rub hard and long enough (over a long period of time), you can induce a condition called [keratoconus](_URL_0_), which is a deformity of the cornea. Keratoconus can significantly distort your vision. Additionally, rubbing your eyes can lead to an increase in intraocular pressure.
Why can't we use spectrometry to reverse engineer the Coca Cola secret formula?
At most that will tell you whats in the can and the approximate amounts. That information is already printed on the can. It wont tell you the process that was used to mix the ingredients.
Why is violence in video games acceptable, but sexual violence is an extreme taboo?
Everyone is used to violence and in some cases it’s perfectly acceptable to use it (e.g. when defending yourself). There are no cases where sexual violence would be acceptable, however.
Why do jokes make us laugh?
A good explanation I have heard (I'm a bit of a comedy geek) is that most jokes *subvert our expectations*. In other words, they lead us to start following a trail of thought in a certain direction, then BAM! we are forced to think in a totally different way suddenly. The element of surprise makes us laugh. Here's a good article about jokes: _URL_0_
How do birds know which direction to fly when they head south for winter?
Many birds have a sense of magnetic field that allows them to know direction and travel to the right place. Many sea turtles also have that sense. Many birds also have a sense of barometric pressure as well, which is why you can often birds leaving an area before a storm.
Doctors always super-sterilize everything before any procedure, from giving a shot to full surgery. Is this "can't be too careful" or would I take horrible infections from receiving a shot without alcohol wipes?
It's less of a worry about giving you a small infection that goes away after a week or two and more of "we don't want to get sued for $20 million because we gave a guy flesh-eating bacteria with his tetanus shot."
In what circumstances does a president sign a bill while Congress is in session?
If in 10 days the president doesn't sign a bill and Congress is still in session then it becomes a law just like you said. In that case then, the president has three options. They are different in not just whether the bill becomes a law but also in what they mean. * The president can obviously veto a law meaning he is strongly saying it shouldn't be a law. As long as congress doesn't have enough support to over turn it, that's that. * The president can sign it meaning he really does want it to be a law. * The president can not sign it. It still becomes a law but the president doesn't have to show that he like the law. It's a statement more than anything else. Maybe he knows that he will be overturned if he vetos it (which would make him look weak), maybe it's for another reason, but whatever the underlying reasons it's a way for him to basically say "I don't like this enough to put my name on it but I can't/won't stop it."