question
stringlengths 19
300
| answer
stringlengths 28
1.02k
|
|---|---|
Why was September 22 the equinox, yet it wasn't until today (September 25) that there were exactly 12 hours of daylight (sunrise 7:07 a.m. EDT, sunset 7:07 p.m. EDT)?
|
Your daylight hours depend on your latitude, so different locations experience different daylight hours at all times.
|
What would happen if all the debt in the world was forgiven tomorrow?
|
It wouldn't be possible. Too much of our money supply (as in the vast majority) is the result of fractional reserve banking (where your bank loans out most of your deposits to other customers.) Debt is the foundation of economic growth (take a look at the correlation between British usury laws and economic growth!) and to simply wipe it clear would be catastrophic. Realistically, the IMF only 'forgives' those debts which it has no expectation of ever being paid back as a means to forestall pointless economic suffering.
|
why when moving a file on a PC does it take so long? Is the computer actually physically moving the location of the data on the disk, if so why?
|
It depends on whether you're moving between logical disks (C:, D: etc.) or between locations on the same logical disk. The latter is usually much quicker, since the OS doesn't move the data, just the pointers to the data. Between logical disks, however, the data must be moved (copied then deleted).
|
Is there actually a Solution to 'This Statement is False'? (Liar's Paradox)
|
The solution is pretty simple, but unsatisfying. "The assumption you can create a logical system where all propositions are either true or false is incorrect."
|
If the size of a Vagina is only 3 to 5 inches long, why does size matter?
|
The vagina can stretch. In a neutral state it is 3-5 inches but can stretch to accommodate larger things.
|
How does a liposuction work without ripping your guts out?
|
The type of fat that people are trying to remove by liposuction is the visible fat that lies between the skin and the muscle. Lipo literally vacuums the fat from under the skin and never actually penetrates into the abdominal cavity.
|
Are dogs really happy when It's owner comes back home?
|
It's more like they are feeling too many things at once. They're relieved because more of the pack is there. they're feeling anticipation because they hope you have something cool for them. They're also relieved because they probably want to go outside and pee (or just go outside because it's outside). Also they were probably pretty nervous there for a second because it might not have been you, so now there's all that relief. And they're also expecting you guys to have super fun, so they're anticipating that a lot.
|
why do we feel less tired and feel less need to sleep when we can engage often in activities that makes us feel good?
|
Dont let me talk out of my ass too much but basically your body releases endorphins when you do something you enjoy. Endorphins provide a sense of euphoria which stops you from feeling tired. Another reason may be that your body is releasing andrenaline when you play video games which also gives you more energy. Do not mistake this 3-4 hours of sleep as being a healthy habit. There is alot of pseudoscience in certain sleep studies that will tell you whatever you want to hear. I am not an expert by any means but try to stick to a sleep schedule for optimum effects. If you do not have time in your day to get 8 hours then at least get fewer hours on a consistant basis.
|
Why does your "tolerance" increase when you drink alcohol more frequent?
|
Because when you drink more your liver adapts to become more efficient at metabolizing alcohol. Further, there's a vein that connects your stomach to your liver, allowing your more efficient liver a first pass at the alcohol before it reaches your bloodstream and thus your brain, which is where you feel the effects. This is why butt chugging and inhalation of alcohol exist and are more dangerous (both allow alcohol to bypasses the vein and directly reach the blood without being pre-filtered by the liver). They allow a smaller amount of alcohol to result in higher blood alcohol concentration than by drinking it.
|
how do boomerangs work?
|
When you throw a boomerang one of the wings is actually moving faster than the other (think about how you whip it out of your hand). The air that flows around that wing lifts it and makes it gradually spin in the opposite direction.
|
what would happen if Russia started focusing more on Asia instead of the EU?
|
Actually funny you should ask but I watched a story on the news here in AUS and it was saying that Russia is in fact looking to Asia more, and by some certain date like 2020 I think (I don't remember the stats), that it would be supplying most of its oil to Asia, followed by Europe. But to Do that they first had to expand Vladivostok and make a bigger ports because they already have the demand from Asia.
|
Why does chugging any carbonated beverage burn your throat so bad?
|
Your throat is sensitive. It is trying to keep out chemicals and cocks.
|
Why do burgers have this little white piece at the bottom of the bun?
|
That comes from an imperfection in the baking process. When you bake a burger bun, you typically place it flat on a metal pan. Oftentimes a little moisture will escape the dough during baking and get stuck between the bun and the pan. As the oven heats up, the moisture turns to steam and gets trapped as small steam bubble, which prevents the part of the bun it's trapped under from touching the pan and getting evenly browned. The white spot is the result.
|
What is the little sound you hear sometimes right before you get a call or a text message?
|
The ringtone? You're gonna have to be a little more descriptive. The only thing i can think of would be interference with other devices. My parents computer speakers used to buzz right before the phone rang.
|
If the moon can eclipse the sun why can we see stars every night?
|
The moon can block out the sun because it's massively closer than any planets. Sometimes that one really bright star you might see in the night sky is actually Venus. It's just a tiny point of light and it's the closest planet to the earth. Other planets in our own solar system will be even less visible than that. Planets outside of our own solar system are entirely invisible to the naked eye.
|
What's wrong with having a firewalled internet
|
The simple answer is to ask another question: what would you allow through this firewall and what would you block? A firewall isn't automatic and it isn't magic. You can't get a firewall which blocks "bad stuff". It works on rules. You tell it what to block and what to let through. China has made one which blocks traffic to and from a vast range of non-Chinese websites. The one on your home router blocks incoming connections, so that you are allowed to connect to an outside server, and if you do they can respond, but they can't initiate a connection to *you*. What rules should the American Firewall use? Should it block non-American websites, for example? Should it prevent non-American users from connecting to American websites? And how would this firewall affect hosting providers? I live in Europe, but what if I pay an American hosting provider to host my website? I can put whatever I like on that website, and suddenly all my evil code is on the inside of your firewall!
|
How come it isn't freezing cold during/eight minutes after a total solar eclipse?
|
Solar eclipse is about like nighttime -- if night only lasted half an hour or so. So it's going to be less cold that a boring ordinary night.
|
Why are there multiple gas stations at one crossroad? How do they compete with each other?
|
A lot of similar stores open up near each other, it is part of game theory. They do what is best for themselves, instead of what is best for the consumer. The best example I have is 2 ice cream sellers on a beach. They could place themselves 1/4 of the way from each end \(so say 100 feet long, 1 seller at 25 feet 1 at 75 feet\) so no person has to travel more than 1/4 of the way \(25 feet\). However, nothing stops one of them from moving a bit closer to the other to gain more customers, 1 could move a foot over, making the further people have to travel 26 feet to them, but they'll still go to him over having to travel 75 to the other guy, and now he can serve people from 0 \- 51 feet, instead of 0\-50...the other person matches this, it goes on an on etc, until the compromise is being right next to each other, and someone takes feet 0\-50, and the other takes 50\-100.
|
Aside from signing executive orders, what power does the president actually have to force Mexico to pay for a border wall?
|
Theoretically you can threaten tarrifs on their goods if they don't pay and offer them trade deals if they do. That's about the only real power short of war. If they don't pay either we build it and pay for it or we don't build it.
|
Could anyone onboard MH17 have survived the missile impact, and dropped 10km to their death?
|
Unlikely that anyone would survive for to long. It was about 600mph and dropped like a stone (didn't glide after losing power). This tells us that there was explosive decompression. This would rip the clothes righ off you. Since they were at altitude and during the day many of them wouldn't have had seatbelts on. They would have been slammed against all the ragged edges of the plane as it was breaking up. At that altitude the temp is about -50c. That together with explosive decompression makes the first 5 or 10 seconds almost unsurvivable. Sure, someone could have survived all that & died on ground impact but that's a scenario that's highly unlikely but also better not to think about
|
Why do kids usually learn the R sound last? What makes it so hard?
|
I have two boys, 6 and 4, who both struggle with it - the 6 year old in particular. It's funny, but when you try to explain how to do it...it's actually hard to describe. Go through the alphabet and you'll see that all of the other consonant sounds are easy to describe, except R. You have to bunch up your tongue in the back but also raise it up near the back of the roof of your mouth. It's kind of weird. It's also a sound that I believe few if any other languages have because it's a fairly unnatural contortion for the mouth to make.
|
All the madness that you always see on the Wall Street trading floor, what is going on here? Why is everybody yelling?
|
So first of all, this doesn't really happen anymore. Now computers do most of the trading. What you see on TV is planted to make it look busy. The floor is usually pretty empty. Next, when people were on the floor, you can think of it like organized chaos. There were hundreds of people crammed into the space and they are all buying and selling stocks based off of what the stock market is doing at that moment. It was so hectic because the stock can change faster than you can blink.
|
Why do I get a cold (sore throat, stuffy nose, etc) when I fall asleep with a fan blowing on me?
|
The dry air can promote a response from your body, similar to cold winter air.
|
How can a member of the Commonwealth be considered independent but still have a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state?
|
You are thinking about this all the wrong way. She is not the “queen of the Commonwealth”. She is the queen of the United Kingdom. But she’s also the queen of Canada, which is a completely separate job. Then, she’s also the queen of Australia, which is a completely separate job from the first 2. So, each country that she’s the head of state of is independent. Their queens just happen to be the same person.
|
How can unemployment drop to 5.6% when we have a record number of people not working?
|
You have to meet two criteria in order to be counted as "unemployed": 1. You have to not have a job (duh). 2. You have to be actively **looking** for a job. So all the 16, 17, 18-year old highschoolers who aren't trying to get jobs are not in the workforce, but they're *also* not unemployed. Counting the number of people who don't have jobs isn't really accurate, because there are always people who either cannot work or aren't interested in working. That's why "unemployment" has the criterion that you have to be looking for a job. As an aside it would also be possible that large population growth causes the apparent disparity. If there were 100 people and 10 people not working, then there'd be 10% unemployment. If the population grew to 150 with 13 unemployed, you'd have a drop in percentage of unemployment (13/150 = 8.7%) while a new record high of 13 people unemployed.
|
what's stopping me from naming random people as my heirs, in my will, when i pass and leaving my debts to them?
|
Debts do not get passed on like that. When you die, your estate (whatever assets you have after you die) are responsible for your debts. Any debt that cannot be paid by your estate is forgiven.
|
How come you can use different programming languages to create the same website?
|
There are server-side pieces of software that run on the server and send HTML/JavaScript to the browser. Then there's code that runs on the browser. The standard for that in JavaScript, and that's pretty much what you can expect the browser to support (apart from plugins such as Flash). On the server side, you can implement a given site in whatever language you want, if you control the server. For client-side (browser) development, there are programming languages that compile into JavaScript, which will then run on the browser, but ultimately what you need to deliver to the browser is JavaScript, no matter how you produce it.
|
Why are people worried about using growth hormones on animals to be eaten?
|
It is not known if animal hormones effect humans or not. These things are difficult to test. Currently the FDA says they are safe, so many companies use them. Some consumers are afraid of chemicals and sensationalist articles can make anyone afraid of anything, and it has created the idea that consumers should "worry" about additives, and this makes it profitable to market hormone-free products even without any proof the hormones are negative. I can't honestly say if the growth hormones are safe or not; I can say the FDA says they are, but the FDA has been wrong before. The issue is far from final, and more research needs to be done.
|
Why do animals smell things in many short, quick bursts as opposed to long drawn out sniffs like a human would?
|
Actually, if you want to smell something really good, the best technique is to have a couple of small sniffs instead of one long sniff. This creates turbulences in your nasal cavities, mixing up scents and air really good.
|
How are noodles made industrially?
|
Here's a video. _URL_0_ "How It's Made" tends to cover high end products, which might be slightly different from similar mass market products.
|
Why does the leaves on the linked tree stay there even when it doesn't receive enough sunlight to make chlorophyll?
|
Plants can perform photosynthesis from artificial light. Sunlight is better, but the streetlight is sufficient and would basically give the tree endless light.
|
Years ago lead was used prevalently in paint, water pipes, and fuel. Why didn't everyone who was exposed get poisoned?
|
A lot of people did. Google "mass lead poisoning" and there are a lot of pretty gross examples. There is also a strong correlation between use of leaded gasoline and violent crime in the US (_URL_0_). You also have to recognize, though, that lead poisoning is on a spectrum to some degree (it's not just black and white), and lots of other things caused or were believed to cause madness as well. So while you can certainly test for lead poisoning, many people likely wouldn't bother or even think to. There are likely many cases of deaths that were spurred on by lead poisoning but blamed on alcohol or madness or whatever was popular at the time.
|
Why are artificial sweeteners unhealthy?
|
Per se not actually bad for you like most things are bad. Studies show that it may mess with how your brain processes sweet signals without calories versus regular sugar and it messing with that in a negative way. They have shown to cause cancer, but in those studies the doses tended to be very high, on the order of a barrel full for a human in the case of saccharin. I have personally not read any credible articles that have shown truly detrimental health effects caused by artificial sweeteners. Edit: I would be more worried about the other additives to said products with sweeteners.
|
What exactly the Seroquel and Lamotrogine is doing to my brain?
|
This is a question you really need to ask your doctor. Given that you are on schizophrenia/bipolar disorder medication at 26 I think you need to take some interest in the specifics of maintaining your mental health.
|
If the USA was to switch to the metric system...
|
That has been done by Congress. The US officially switched in the 1970s. It did not stick. Those industries like the Sciences where it is much more useful switched, but general society where there is virtually no difference in the usages as we do not need to be that accurate in things there is not enough of a benefit to overcome the inertia of learned behavior and the cost of changing the infrastructure. To switch we would have to replace every piece of equipment in every home and building from the screws and nails used to build things, to the pipes in your walls, to the car that you drive. You would have to replace every single road sign in the nation. Etc. It would cost trillions of dollars. Most nations that switched did so before there was a lot of infrastructure or standardization of how things were made or built. Those that switched later like the UK are in a kind of half transition because of those same inertia issues. The UK still uses miles, and still uses Stones and pounds for weight.
|
Why do Chinese "Lions" not look anything like actual lions?
|
Mostly because lions are not native to China. Imagine this: one person saw it, and tries to describe it in text, and the artisans tries to create something from the text, pretty much what Chinese lions looks now is what we get. Then newer generations simply copy and add their own interpretations, similar to Burrito is kinda of American food instead of Mexican food. This compares to how tigers, which is native to China, are accurately depicted.
|
Why do some people get paralysed by fear?
|
It's the third option in the "fight or flight" response. When people freeze, their brain decides being perfectly still so the attacker can't see you is the best response. This is rooted in the fact that some of man's early predators reacted to motion. So being the one that didn't move meant you were the one that didn't get eaten.
|
How much does it cost me to charge my power bank?
|
First you need to convert 12000mAh(miliamp hours) to Wh(watt hours) To do this, use this formula (mAh)*(voltage(typically 3.7v check back of power bank))/1000. (12000)*((3.7)/(1000)). This will get you 44.4 Wh. Convert 44.4 Wh to kWh which is .0444kWh. Now, take the cost of kWh and multiply it by the kWh used. .12/kWh * .0444kWh = $.00528/charge. Most lithium ion batteries start to loose 30% of their capacity around 1,000 cycles. After 1,000 cycles its reccomended to get a new battery( in this case power bank). Your total cost would be $5.28 for charging in a span ~3 years. Hope this helps. Also, don't give into people bitching because you use their electricity to charge your stuff.
|
The difference between Unison and Harmony.
|
When two instruments are playing the same notes, this is unison. When two instruments are playing different notes, then this is harmony.
|
The sun's rays and why there's not a "circular ray"
|
What you call sun rays is actually light that is bouncing of atmospheric particles. The reason the rays appear to emanate from the centre is a a simple perspective effect. It's the same effect that makes it seem like the rails of a railway track appear to converge each other a point in the distance. You know, however, that in reality they are always parallel and never actually meet at any point. _URL_0_ Now, depending on the angle you are viewing, relative to the atmospheric particles and position of the sun, you can see sun rays as you describe that seem to emerge from the sun. These are called crepuscular rays. You can also see them sometimes meet a point that is NOT the sun. These are called anti-crepuscular rays. Here's an image. _URL_1_ And sometimes, you do see them circular. In which case, we call them halos. Here is an image: _URL_2_
|
Why is it when I look at something that's "Glow in the Dark" it appears to be dim, but when I see it in my peripheral, it shines like a damn lighthouse?
|
Phospherescent (glow in the dark) things emit very small amounts of light. The human eye is structured with a very high concentration of *cones* in the middle-section (fovea centralis) of the retina at the back of the eye. These pick up colour and can resolve things that you're looking directly at in great detail (up to a resolution of roughly 1 cm at a distance of 100 metres). The *rods* which are mostly found on the outer parts of the retina only transmit monochromatic information, but can pick up much lower levels of light. This gives rise to the phenomenon of individual stars being clearly visible to an observer in their peripheral vision, but of them becoming invisible as soon as the person looks directly at them.
|
What does the 1m rise in the ocean from the melting region of Antarctica mean for everyone in relatable terms?
|
Most of the world's large and important cities are on the coast. A 1m rise in sea level would mean those cities would become much more vulnerable to storms, parts would flood, sea walls might need to be built around them, etc. Some cities might need to be abandoned or protected by seawalls. Large areas of coast would be lost, including large parts of Florida and Louisiana. Countries with large river deltas like Bangladesh, Burma, Vietnam, Egypt, would lose portions of their most heavily populated areas and best farmland. Some, like the island nations in the Pacific might need to be resettled entirely, since they're only 3m above sea level anyway at most.
|
Why can some species newborns run immediately, while human newborns can't even hold up their own heads?
|
This happens because of two of the most uniquely human features: * **Big brains relative to our body size** which helped with tool usage, running "what if" scenarios, etc. * **Bipedal locomotion**: which uses much less energy than walking on all fours When our bodies adapted to being bipeds, our pelvis shrunk. But since our brains were also growing, natural selection favored delivering our fetuses earlier in development. Really, small infants are sort of an external fetus. Even at the current gestational period of 9 months, it's really a horrifyingly tight fit through the birth canal. Unlike other primates' pelvises, which have plenty of room, womens' pelvises get narrower at the end, and in fact the baby's head has to turn 90 degrees as it's exiting in order to fit. EDIT: ~~we're~~ were
|
squads, fire teams, brigades, companies, soldier ranks
|
You are asking about something that not only varies between branches of the military, but also nations and organizations, and has been known to change over time and in individual theaters of war, said reorganization sometimes happening mid-conflict.
|
How exactly can a medication cause "suicidal thoughts or actions" in a person with an otherwise normal mental state?
|
They generally are not talking about "normal" people. And for many drugs with this warning it is not understood. In the case of antidepressants, it is sometimes thought of like this: When someone is extremely depressed, they have very little energy, they sleep a lot, and in general lack the drive or inspiration to do much of anything. They are bottomed out. But if they start taking an antidepressant and improve a bit, they gain just enough motivation to do something. In the severely depressed, that something may be suicide. Under this theory, it's thought that the risk of suicide is highest early in treatment because as the antidepressant therapy continues, mood improves and you will no longer be thinking about suicide.
|
How does ordering someone out of their car not constitute a seizure of the person under 4th amendment?
|
The 4th amendment does not say seizure is disallowed, it says "unreasonable" seizure is disallowed. Officers are allowed to make lawful demands during a traffic stop, such as requring people get out of their cars. That's been considered reasonable.
|
Why is non-resident college tuition so much higher than resident college tuition in the US?
|
You pay taxes in a state and the colleges and residents of that state benefit directly and indirectly from those taxes. Going to school out of state means that you're benefiting from others' tax money. The only way to compensate for that or keep it from being abused is to charge more for out-of-state students. Edit: Incomplete thought.
|
the idea of intelligent design and how it determines the existence of a creator.
|
The idea is that our universe was intentionally created by some unnamed (wink, wink) intelligence with massive or even infinite power. For evidence they point to things like the distance from the Earth to the Sun being good for life, the fact that the moon perfectly covers the sun during an eclipse, the fact that cells work, and many other things. To them, these observations are only explainable by this higher power. They often make statements such as "It takes a clock maker to make a clock". It's not difficult to see the flaws in their logic, but that doesn't really matter to them. Most of the people who put forth these views are also people for whom faith is important. You don't need evidence for something that you have already decided must be true.
|
Moon's gravitational forces versus water in our bodies
|
Tidal forces aren't causes by the strength of gravity. They are caused by **differences** in the strength of gravity. Depending on position, one side of the Pacific Ocean might be several thousand miles closer to the moon than the other side. That means the moon is pulling one side about 5% harder than the other, and that difference warps the ocean and causes tides. The distance between one side of your body and the other just isn't big enough to make that same kind of difference.
|
Why is iron important in the human body
|
It binds to haemoglobin (the stuff in your red blood cells) and makes it work, haemoglobins' job is to carry oxygen around your body, so if you have no iron, you have no oxygen carrying stuff which means you have no oxygen which means dead.
|
Why are many highways winding and not straight?
|
They have to go around hills and valleys without going up and down to much. Therefore, they gently curve around to keep the road relatively level.
|
What’s actually happening when a person “gets the wind knocked out of them?”
|
You temporarily stun the diaphragm muscle, preventing a person from being able to breathe.
|
what's the difference between a green and blue screen, and why does it seem like everyone only uses green these days?
|
The basic principle is the same--in your video editing software, you select everything that's just the right color, and then apply edits to that. It stops you from having to manually select an area in each frame, which would be incredibly impractical for most purposes. Green screens are favored for digital filming because digital cameras are normally more sensitive to green, and a cleaner image means cleaner editing as well. Blue screens were especially useful for editing film strips directly, because there was high-contrast film that was sensitive to blue. You'd use a filter to expose the non-blue part of the image separately from the blue part, allowing you to imprint two different images. But you can use a blue screen for digital editing as well, if you want; it's just not quite as advantageous--the typical use is when you need to shoot a bright green object.
|
why do malnourished people get bloated bellies?
|
What is happening is that for those people they might get enough calories but have too little protein. That lack of protein leads to a lack of fluid regulation and buildup of fluids within the abdomen. The big belly is water weight to the extreme.
|
Why, when quoting a Sanskrit text in English, did Oppenheimer say "I am become death"? Why would you translate something into a target language using poor grammar?
|
"Joy to the world, the Lord **is come**." "Christ **is risen**. Christ will come again." "I **am come** in the name of the father." It isn't poor grammar, it's an archaic use of to be as an auxiliary verb. Modern English uses the verb 'to have' instead: the Lord has come; Christ has risen, etc. The King James Bible frequently uses this verb form, and since so many people have read it and quoted it over the centuries, the form now sounds "archaic" and biblical and faintly badass to modern English speakers.
|
What exactly is a spinoff company?
|
You make beer, that is your company's main line of business. In the process of becoming a leader in beer, you got really good at making beer cans...so good, you get a lot of business that has nothing to do with your beer. This has muddled your business direction a little, because you have to make decisions that might be good for one division, but bad for another. So you decided to spin off the can operation into a new company. I'm a shareholder, with 100 shares. One day I get a letter, telling me I now own 80 shares of the beer company, and 20 shares of the can company.
|
How does the audio know how to split into 2 different left and right signals in earbuds?
|
The audio file is stereo (a left signal and a right signal). Look closely at that one jack and you'll see it is divided by a pair of black lines into sections. These sections are hard-wired so that one will carry a signal to the left bud and one to the right. If you opened up the jack casing you would see two separate wires soldered to the jack. Likewise, if you cut open the headphone cable you would discover two separate wires inside. Note, the source signal is physically separated into two signals at the point at which the digital audio file has been converted into an analogue signal. So, if you're playing music from your phone then the socket that your earbud's Jack is plugged into is also hard wired to maintain two signals (left and right). The Jack is merely a continuation of a dual-signal that begins at the analogue-to-digital converter in the source device. Hope that makes sense.
|
how lyft is almost as big uber but only uber is suffering with regulations, fines, arrests and stings?
|
It's not. Lyft's last valuation put it at $2.5B _URL_3_ Uber's last valuation put it at $41B. It has raised more money than Lyft is worth. _URL_2_ Left currently serves 1 country _URL_0_ Uber serves 57 countries _URL_1_
|
What is the difference between Jews, Christians and Muslims when it comes to the soul and afterlife?
|
There are distinct differences between each. For a Jewish person, they will certainly get to "heaven" (there is no concept of hell) and because of this, they thank G-d by obeying him. Christianity is similar; although Christians do believe in hell for non-believers, the rationale is because God has forgiven you and you believe, you no longer want to disobey. Conversely, Muslims are the most action-based believers, as they strive to obey the laws set by Allah as there is a real threat of going to Jahannam (hell) if they do not. However, it is still greatly faith based with the first pillar being the Shahadah, a declaration of faith.
|
Where do fruit flies come from?
|
Small eggs you don't see, or they hatched from another nearby location such as your trash, and were attracted to the fruits.
|
What is so special about Ebola
|
Previous outbreaks were easily contained and did not spread beyond a small region. It also occurred only sporadically. Every few years it would show up, kill a few hundred people at max and then disappear again. The best management strategy was to isolate outbreaks and let the virus burn itself out. This is no longer possible as it seems.
|
is “a hour” still correct because a vowel doesn’t follow it? Even though “an hour” sounds better because the sound when you say “hour” is an “o” sound?
|
The a/an rule depends on whether the next word begins with a vowel *sound,* not a vowel letter.
|
Why did video game developers stop using footage of real actors? Wouldn't that be the most realistic option for say, a FPS?
|
It'd be uncanny valley. [Beowulf](_URL_0_) in 2007 was pretty much one-of-a-kind because it looked so close to realistic, but it was just that much off. Your brain is really good at picking up on the subtle failures of lighting and colouration that CGI can make, so you either spend way, way too much time and energy on CGIing everything perfectly - and even then many people will still get a sense of it being fake - or you just roll with a less realistic art style. When it's [obviously fake ](_URL_2_)people don't generally find it [off-putting](_URL_1_). LA Noire did a pretty good job on getting real actors to not be too uncanny valley, but some people still found it really odd and even if everyone thought it was perfect it was a really difficult process to get the full human face in the game properly.
|
How do services like Pandora make money?
|
at first Pandora relied on donations, as it had no means of directly earning money from playing songs. they operated under the premise of being a sort of scientific endeavor, and the service was threatened many times with copyright policy shutdowns. today, they are still a "music discovery service", but play ads for free listeners, and there is also a subscription model. They pay a pretty small amount per song play, and the money collected from ads/subscriptions probably more than covers it.
|
How does currency work in the world markets in terms of inflation, exchange rates, stocks, etc.?
|
If a bunch of people in foreign countries suddenly want to buy American goods, they're going to need dollars to do that. Same thing works with stocks. Ford doesn't take the Japanese guy's yen to pay for the stock, they only take dollars. So, you have a bunch of people who want to get dollars. Just like anything else in economics, currency exchange rates rely on the principle of supply and demand. If the demand for American dollars rises, then the 'price' (exchange rate) of those dollars also increases and the dollar becomes *more* valuable relative to other currencies. Hope this helps!
|
What did Margaret Thatcher do to become so hated?
|
She was conservative and imperialist to the extreme.
|
what goes on neurologically thats makes one person smarter than another?
|
Depends on what you mean by smarter. Your brain has billions of little engines that are all talking to each other, as well as gas tanks to pull out stored information. The better these engines are at communicating with each other, the more gas tanks that are supplying fuel, the more horse power you are going to get. Now, this extra horse power doesn't necessarily make you smarter. A Ferrari heading in the wrong direction is slower than a Civic heading in the right one. A Sports car wont be able to reach the same places as a Jeep.
|
Why were dinosaurs so much bigger then pretty much every animal around today
|
The truth is we don't really know, some of the more common theories are. 1. The world was different then, compared to today. Oxygen content of the air back then was much higher. 2. The planet was warmer, with lots of plants for them to eat, and less competition for the food. 3. A large cold blooded creature has sufficient mass to maintain heat, even when the weather is cooler. 4. Being large was a type of self-defense, too big to kill and eat.
|
Since silverback gorillas have such humongous guts, how come they don't get diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity related health problems?
|
A thing to consider is time. A gorilla's lifespan is normally between 35 and 40 years. And health problem with obesity in humans develops over time but gorillas develops faster and humans usually don get obese at a young age. The diet of a gorilla is low in sugar and fats and is likely similar to what would be recommended for diabetics. And you cant necessary draw conclusions form humans to animals. Bowhead whale have more fat content then a human but can live for over 200 years. And then there is the problem in the question. How do you know that those are not the common causes of death in gorillas? The final question that should have been the first one I looked at. Do gorillas have fat belly? It looks like the answer is NO. The belly is large because the have larger intestines since they eat more plant fibrer then we do and can ferment it. Compare the stomach of a cow and and a dog to notice that plant eaters need larger stomach. _URL_0_
|
Why is my internet connection speed much faster on my laptop than on my iPad from the same place in my house?
|
Because your laptop is probably euipped with an better wireless card, that will give you further range and faster speeds than a simple Ipad.
|
I've seen this more and more, but why do people put their cell phones on speaker and then hold the phone an inch from their mouth?
|
I don't know about men that do this, but women do it so you don't end up with a phone covered in make-up and hair products. Also, depending of your earrings, you can get a clanking sound when your earrings hit the phone. Source: my wife.
|
Why do many businesses, especially those with long term aspirations lease vs buy their buildings?
|
Lease payments are deductible business expenses. Leasing property or equipment reduces a company's taxable income dollar-for-dollar. A building owned by the company is an asset. Depreciation reduces taxable income, as well as does interest on loans taken to acquire business assets, but in general leasing is the better option for tax purposes. Of course, there is less risk involved with leasing than with ownership. Ask anyone who has moved to a new house while being unable to sell the old one.
|
How astronauts digest food in space
|
Food digestion and movement of food and waste through the digestive tract does not require or rely on gravity. Instead, the muscles of your digestive tract contract and squeeze the food through your digestive tract through what is called peristaltic action.
|
Why do Men Go bald on the top and sides of their heads but not in the "beard/mustache" areas?
|
It has to do with the follicles on that part of the head. Men with male pattern baldness have follicles on the tops of their heads which react to a specific hormone that causes them to recede and eventually stop growing hair (that's why hair transplants take hair from the back of the neck area. Those follicles are resistant to the hormone).
|
Photo analysis/Face detection algorithms (snapchat face filters)
|
I don't really have much experience in this field. But as far as I know it goes something like this: First of all the algorithm is trained on low-resolution images of faces from different angles. Several filters are applied to the training images to enhance facial features (I usually do something like: threshold, grayscale, contrast). Here's an example: _URL_1_ Now for the image you want to detect faces on: 1. Apply the same filters and make the image low resolution to save computational power. You just need the features to be enhanced. 2. Compare pixel data to training data. (Various ways to do this... see: _URL_0_) 3. If the training-data has facial regions defined you can extract and pinpoint them. 4. You should now have a box of where the head region is, making it easy to add a mask. For more... look at OpenCV.
|
How was Thomas Young's light wave theory proven?
|
What was Young's experiment to prove the wave nature of light? The double slit experiment. If you don't already know what it is, two slits were made that were kept a very tiny distance from eachother, and using a single source, or two sources in phase, light was shone through both these slits (I tried this at home, very interesting experiment and very easy to do too). The observation was that you'd get bright and dark fringes. What did this mean? & nbsp; This meant that light can interact with eachother. There are two types of interactions, known as constructive interference and destructive interference. Constructive interference is basically the bright spot, where the light from both the slits add up and you get a bright fringe. Destructive interference is basically the dark fringe you get, where both the light waves from the slits cancel each other out. This proved the wave nature of light (as photons can't really cancel each other out).
|
How do chocolates (during the late 1800s) survive in temperate climates like in the Philippines without refrigeration?
|
[Ice box](_URL_0_) It’s like a cabinet that has a huge area for one massive fucking ice block and then the other side has the storage area and below was water collection
|
Why does the government provide “stimulus” to banks rather than just larger returns to low to middle income earners?
|
they did do that. _URL_0_ *almost* everyone got $600 cold hard cash. Unfortunately this money was quickly blown, often on imported goods that did nothing to support the US economy. Quantitative easing was a more direct route to not just subsidize spending, but to facilitate liquidity for the market to operate naturally. There was also cash for clunkers, which IMO was a fairly ingenious plan to support the auto industry while reducing pollution. Unfortunately it turned out to be insufficient.
|
How do we inherently know what notes to whistle?
|
There's isn't any "real" notes. Even the idea that everyone "should whistle the same notes" is only around 200 years old. Before that, every place (even different city/towns) had different notes (hertz) they played on. The frequency "C" of today is absolutely arbitrary. Which means we don't need any prior information to whistle, everyone knows to just go up-down-up-down-up-up (or whatever) in frequency (to sing). It also means the Mozart you hear today, isn't the way Mozart wrote it (his "notes" were a half step below the "standard" today) Essentially there aren't any (right) notes (perfect pitch), there's just an up-down-up-down sequence. People with perfect pitch just happen to do their "up and downs" at the already arbitrarily agreed upon frequencies we have today (something they usually learn very young). *this doesn't necessarily make them a good singer --just better at singing along.
|
Why don't we put solar panels on wind turbines?
|
Some panels are placed on the supporting structures but placing them on curved surfaces isn't that easy. Placing them on the blades isn't practical for a whole host of reasons.
|
Why some pre-modern societies developed base-2, base-12, or base-20 numbering systems, instead of base-10?
|
Actually, 10 based system doesn't have any advantages. The only reason we use it is because we have 10 fingers. 2 based system is very comfortable for computing. 12 based system is comfortable because 12 can be divided by 2, 3, 4 and 6. About cycling - it is in any system. If you add 10 hex to 4 you get 14 hex.
|
Why are cats so fascinated by boxes?
|
The safest place in nature is a hole or cave where you're protected on 5 sides and only exposed on one. Evolution favors safe behavior like this, so it has become instinct. An open box is the modern equivalent-only open on one side, danger can only come from one direction, so they feel safe. It's also the reason cats (and dogs) will "knead" the ground and walk in circles before laying down-they're checking for anything pointy that might hurt them. Not so important for a box in the living room, but a good thing to do when laying in a hole that might have a thorn or pointy rock at the bottom out in the wild.
|
Why do fly’s rub their hands together?
|
The fly's mouth ([proboscis](_URL_0_)) extends straight down, so as a result flies usually stand ON the food they eat. And they like various liquids (from raw meat juice to anything sweet), which they suck up (flies don't chew). So they rub their legs to clean them.
|
Why do some languages adopt new words for recently invented items?
|
Quite often a word will be used that literally describes the object, or what the object does, this could be for convenience as sometimes the inventing country's word might be difficult to pronounce. In a few countries it is common to adopt the inventing country's word though. In fact inventing a new word might be for different reasons: Interestingly South Korea will use the English word for Western inventions, while North Korea refuse to and will invent their own word.
|
Why is the Linux OS so popular to use in science and research equipment?
|
It's really flexible, so it can be used more efficiently for highly specialized tasks. Also, a lot of research software is written for it.
|
Why my pubic hair grows so much faster than my facial hair.
|
speak for yourself, its neck and neck over here
|
In the UAE, the salaries for some professions can reach $20k a month and tend to start at $5k. Dubai has run out oil but can sustain these salaries. Why can't Londoners earn $5k starting salary?
|
Dubai makes its money through financial services for the nearby petro-states that *do* have vast reserves of insane oil money. You don't actually need barrels of oil to get rich on oil, you just need rich friends.
|
What is the difference between a Loner, an Introvert, and an Antisocial person?
|
I think you might be confusing the terms asocial and antisocial. If you are antisocial you are being unkind or abusive towards other people. If you are shy you are being asocial.
|
Would a modern version of Spartan way be more effective, in theory, than traditional military effectiveness?
|
> easily the most effective fighting force in Greece Per unit, yes. As a whole, I highly doubt it. Spartans *were* badass as fuck. But there weren't very many of them. They only won the battle at Thermopylae because they had a terrain advantage. There's a reason they mass produce modern soldiers the way they do. A single badass never trumps 10 'good enough' men, because it only takes on bullet to stop him. The best fighting force is easy to train, equipped by the lowest bidder and utterly replaceable. Sad truth is that is how the military works. Because it's the most *efficient* way for it to work.
|
If conjoined twins share a stomach, do they both feel full or hungry at the same time?
|
It's hard to make general statement about conjoined twins because literally every case is different, but the feeling of hunger is regulated by hormones, most importantly Leptin and Ghrelin, which circulate in the blood. So if the conjoined twins share their circulatory system (which they *have to* if they share a stomach), then these hormones will always affect them at the same time. However, there might still be a different reaction in the brain to the hormones.
|
Why are there so many different species of animals, yet we as humans are all one species?
|
There have been many different species of "humans" that did coexist at times. This site has a list of some of our relatives that died out along the way, with approximate times of extinction so you can compare and see which ones lived alongside each other, if you like. _URL_0_ Exactly why our line is the only one left is up in the air, but most likely includes the same list of reasons other species die out - someone better comes along and wipes you out, you don't adapt to changing environmental conditions, etc. There's evidence that Neandethals didn't necessarily die off, but merged with homo sapiens at some point as their DNA can be found in modern Europeans and Asians (_URL_1_).
|
How do you test something for randomness?
|
Reminds me of a joke: a brilliant computer scientist claims to have invented a computer that can generate truly random numbers (not psuedorandom, but truly random). He assembles a room full of mathematicians and scientists to demonstrate it. He asks the machine to give him a truly random number. The machine responds "1". Someone else in the room asks for another truly random number. The machine responds "1". A third person in the room asks for another truly random number, and the machine responds "1". At this point, everyone turns a cynical eye on the inventor and someone asks, "are you *sure* these numbers are truly random?" The inventor replies, "well, that's the problem with truly random numbers, it's impossible to tell." On a more serious note, in your Rubik's Cube example, there are only a finite number of positions that it's possible for a Rubik's Cube to be turned to, so the "randomness" of any given starting position is just one divided by the total number of possibilities.
|
If the primary colors are Red, Yellow, and Blue, then why are pixels made to only show Red, Blue, and Green?
|
RYB are the subtractive color primaries, which works with paints and reflective surfaces where adding more tends to make things darker. RGB are the additive color primaries, used on screens and projections, working with light sources where adding more tends to make things brighter.
|
Beveridge Model vs Single Payer system
|
The answer to your question is written in black and white in the links you provided. From the Beveridge Model section: > The term 'Scandinavian model' of health care systems has a few common features: largely public providers, limited private health coverage, and regionally-run, devolved systems with limited involvement from the central government.. Due to this third characteristic, they can also be argued to be single-payer only on a regional level, or to be multi-payer systems, as opposed to the nationally run health coverage found in Canada, Taiwan and South Korea.
|
Why are peanut allergies so often really serious?
|
Peanut allergens, since they are a food product, can come in direct contact with the internals of the body. The swelling they cause can cut off the ability to breathe. And let me tell you, suffocation is a very serious problem that can kill you quickly.
|
Why is Belgium a really powerful and influential country given the size as they are home of the EU headquarters?
|
It isn't... it fact quite the opposite. It is such an irrelevant little country that it was *perfect* as the place for EU HQ. Putting it in Germany would have annoyed France... and having it in Paris would have pissed off Germany... and of course the UK would be pissed regardless.... But Belgium... well nobody can be offended by that choice.
|
Why do all deaf people speak with that specific tone in their voice?
|
They can't hear, so they can't hear the voice inflections that we all have. This means they have never learned how to properly use voice inflection. Instead they have just been instructed on how to properly form letters and words. This is difficult enough to teach someone who can't hear, and voice inflections aren't totally necessary, so they get dropped in favor of spending more time on the pronunciations.
|
; why is it that people snore when they are asleep, but don't have the same breathing pattern when awake?
|
When people lie on their back the soft tissue (tongue, soft palate) hangs farther toward the back of the throat because of gravity, partially or completely closing off the airway. When people breathe in, the negative pressure flaps this tissue and causes noise, which is snoring. When people are awake gravity doesn't pull the tissue in this direction so no noise is created.
|
What would happen if, after centuries of calculations, it was discovered that pi DOES have a definitive end?
|
This won't happen. [Pi has been formally proved to be irrational.](_URL_0_)
|
Want to check if your answer is appropriate for a 5 year old audience? Use this simple tool to measure grade level of your writing.
|
Thanks! Alternatively, you can calculate an actual grade level of readibility (e.g. 7th grade, 9th grade [US System]) by using the [Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula](_URL_0_). I don't know any good calculators for this online, but I do know you can calculate it instantly by pasting the text into Microsoft Office, and then spellchecking. You will have to change your spellcheck settings and check the box that says something like "display readability information". I've found that systems like Flesch-Kincaid have worked very accurately with papers I wrote in Jr. High.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.