Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
How do generations work?	[ "A generation is an arbitrary grouping of births between certain dates, usually determined after the generation has peaked to describe their sociopolitical outlook or major events in world history.\n\nThe Lost Generation are those born at the end of the 19th Century, who would have fought in World War I.\n\nThe Gre...
How can we feel tense / bad atmospheres in certain places?	[ "It's a purely psychological effect. The \"atmosphere\" isn't real, but lots of symptoms are -- these can include an odd smell, an unusual quiet, the presence of nervous-acting people, or objects arranged in a manner that's unusually messed up or unusually tidied up." ]
If drawing Mohammed is disliked in the muslim community because one should not attempt to capture god's work in such a way, how come it is ok for so many to name their children mohammed?	[ "Islam is very against idols. It is okay to name your child in hope that they will share similar attributes, but depiction leads to false idols. So Christianity with their statues of saints would be considered to be promoting gods other than god.", "They are not calling their kids \"The Mohammed\", or \"Mohammed ...
Why does Islam prohibit the consumption of pork?	[ "Pigs can pose a considerable health risk and are not always safe to eat. Officially they're unclean animals, but the more probable and sane reason behind banning the consumption would be to try to discourage people from eating things that'll make them sick. Undercooked pork can be very dangerous if the pig was car...
safest position to take in an electrical storm	[ "If there is no possibility of shelter, I believe the best advice is to crouch down, as low as possible, arms round knees so you're presenting a round profile. That prevents any narrow projections that concentrate charge. Remember that the leader goes upwards first. Feet together so there is only one small area...
What is the difference between the credit card choices (MasterCard, Visa, American Express?)	[ "One difference is: \nVisa starts with 4xxx \nMasterCard with 5xxx \nand Amex with 3xxx, usually 37xx", "Each of these companies is really a payment processing system. So when you swipe a MasterCard the merchant's terminal dials up MasterCard, which then checks with the card issuer to see if you've got enough ...
If Anxiety is just the response to danger manifested by producing adrenaline (Epinephrine), why is it not possible to create drugs that stops production of Epinephrine?	[ "MD here. \n\nIn general anxiety has lots of causes(genetic factors, substance abuse, injuty etc.) but all of them lead to neurotransmitters inbalance(norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine).\nTo treat this imbalance we use mainly antidepressants(they inhibit destroy of neurotransmitters therefore bringing back the ba...
Stock prices	[ "The stock market is very complex, so I'm going to address your questions individually.\n\nChanges in price are driven by the market, it's purely \"what it's worth\". This is both in terms of a share of the company (and it's worth) or what others are willing to pay for a stock.\n\nNo one determines the price, the m...
Why can authorities seize the .se ccTLD for The Pirate Bay but not the .org gTLD?	[ "Different TLDs follow different countries' rules. In both Sweden and the US, the government isn't allowed to arbitrarily seize domain names- they have to follow some procedure, probably involving the courts, to do so. Swedish law and legal procedure allowed the government to get an order to seize the .se domain. U...
Fundamental differences that set us apart from other animals?	[ "Humans are the only species who can understand abstract information. For example I could point to a door and tell you what is on the other side of it. You would understand without having to open the door. You would know if it was safe to open the door. No other species has this ability, yet all human cultures hav...
Why do people become workaholics?	[ "I have been working 60 hr weeks the last two months. Took a 4 day weekend and spent half the time on phone calls for work. I don't know why...", "Sometimes it's people with low self esteem that feel they can redeem themselves (or generally feel better about themselves) only by working their asses off", "Money,...
Why would male public toilets in America start being raised 6-10 inches?	[ "In 1990 the Americans with Disabilities Act was put into place to make accommodations for people with mental and physical disabilities. Over the years, there have been a few amendments to this act. Businesses and other public places must stay updated with the rules of this act when they want to remodel or make oth...
Why aren't insects as scared of humans as squirrels, birds, and other wild animals?	[ "Most insects never interact with humans. Why would they need to be instinctively afraid?\n\nAlso, many species do run away when confronted head on by your menacing fingertips. Try it with black ants.", "Individual insects don't have as much invested in their life so the loss of an insect wouldn't be a huge probl...
How does the laser/photon cannon work? (Apparently installed on the USS Ponce)	[ "This is a late night post.\n\nA laser focuses the light. It energizes the photons and then once they have enough energy, they get released in a certain direction.\nThe damaging part of these photons are:\n\n1. The energy they carry transfers to heat when hitting a missile, or craft. Both need aerodynamics to work....
Theorems, Postulates, and Laws...what's the difference?	[ "A theorem is a mathematical statement (think \"something or the other equals something else\"; for example, the Pythagorean theorem, where a^2 + b^2 = c^2) that has been proven to be true using lots of methods. So for example, I could state a \"theorem\" that little Johnny has been stealing and eating cookies ag...
Okay, what happened to spark the massive battle on Eve Online this time?	[ "I believe someone forgot to pay the rent on a system and when another group came in to claim it, the original group that forgot to pay the rent started fighting them. And...yeah. It's become what it is now.", "What happened is Team A [Pandemic Legion [known for being one of the largest big ship holders] and N3 [...
How does the human body tell when it's thirsty?	[ "Through a complicated systems that are connected to the kidneys (RAAS), the brain, and individual cells that are dehydrated. \n\nCells will send signals to the brain, which then signals the kidneys to reuptake fluids. But that's as simple as I can explain it. Maybe someone else can do better." ]
How do services like Pandora and Spotify work	[ "same way any business operates. sell it for more than you buy it.\n\nif it costs $10,000 for Pandora to buy the rights for a song, and they play it on 1million users and get advertising $0.01 per play, then that's profit." ]
Why can't we create a suit or apparatus that allows us to fly like birds?	[ "Extremely unlikely. For starters, our bodies are just too heavy. Birds evolved for flight by reducing their mass and streamlining efficiency in their systems. The term 'hollow bones' is a bit of a misnomer (they're not really hollow) but it reflects how much lighter their bones are. Their musculature is also more ...
How does the music industry still make the same amount of money when actual record sales are at an all time low?	[ "They don't spend as much money on recordings. That's why the studio business is almost dead. \n\nThe labels also didn't used to get a cut of touring or shows at all... now it's the norm for a \"360 deal\" where the label doesn't just sell records, they take over the artist's brand and take a cut of everything. \n\...
What is it in peoples genetic makeup that makes things like weight problems hereditary?	[ "For the vast, vast, vast majority: nothing.\n\nWeight problems weren't \"hereditary\" until the last 50 years or so, and amazingly, they still aren't \"hereditary\" in the third world. Truly shocking.\n\nHuman metabolisms don't vary by more than a few percentage points (accounting for obvious things like sex/heigh...
What does it mean to be transgender?	[ "It's when a person has a mismatch between the gender of their personality (the gender that they identify themselves with) and their physical gender. It is not defined by their gender role (ie, a stay-at-home dad is not a transgender just by virtue of his daily activities), but by their emotional identity.\n\nI'd ...
What is causing the distorted peripheral vision when looking at this gif? (gif in text)	[ "Your eyes like change.\n\nThe effect in this illusion is based on the fact that your visual cortex, the vision center of your brain, is always trying to find new information. Information that is determined to not be new is essentially ignored. This habituation, as it's called, occurs even over very short d...
Why do Catholics think fish are not made of meat	[ "The main reason for why fish was eaten when Lent first happened was that meat from animals like cows was considered a privileged food as it cost more money than vegetables; however, fish was easily obtained and was a lesser price of a meal." ]
What is the observer effect? Does light really know when we are observing it and change behaviour depending on it?	[ "In physics, an \"observer\" is anything that interacts with a quantum object. For instance, when a photon hits your desk, the desk \"observes\" the photon. So the observer effect just has to do with whether anything is interacting with the photon." ]
Why do suburbs in general have less crime than cities?	[ "Suburbs were developed with housing additions specifically targeted to bring middle class families from the cities. As a result, the suburbs often have fewer poor people than the cities. And crime rates are usually a function of poverty rates.", "Historically, suburbs were wealthier and more uniform in socioecon...
Why do I find spiders in my sinks and shower tub more than any other location of my house?	[ "I can't remember where, but I read somewhere that they go to places that make them easy to spot for a potential mate.\n\nIf they are confident enough that there are no threats, they will climb out of their hiding places and sit still in an open space with high contrast so that they can be easily spotted.\n\nin sho...
EL5 the difference between Alzheimers and dementia.	[ "Dementia is the generic term for \"losing your mind\". It can result from many causes, including trauma, oxygen deprivation, strokes, etc, as well as various diseases. Patients with Alzheimer's disease commonly present with dementia as a symptom.", "[Here](_URL_0_)\n\n\nAlso, \n\nThe term dementia refers to a se...
Why are our bodies warm ?	[ "The chemical reactions that allow our cells to function are exothermic (they produce heat). Our body essentially burns sugars to produce usable energy. And \"burns\" isn't a metaphor: it's the same chemical reaction as lighting something on fire (it's the reason that we need to breathe oxygen), just very tightl...
why do I get "chills" all over my body when I see or hear something beautiful? Moreover, what are those chills and why aren't they just felt all the time?	[ "Frisson is the sudden feeling of excitement. There is a subreddit for it _URL_0_\n\n\nQuoted from their sidebar \"Have you ever felt a sudden, passing sensation of excitement, a shudder of emotion from an epic moment of a song, or a climax of a movie? That is what is called \"frisson\". It has been linked to rise...
What is the process for how product endorsements are arranged to be on TV shows?	[ "There are sales people on TV side and media planners on the buying side (companies, media agencies, depending on setup). Each account manager on the TV side has certain customers that he keeps in touch with and makes sure everything is going smoothly. There is usually also a 'new business development' department (...
What is the white stuff on my tongue made up of and why is there such a strong correlation to how my breath smells?	[ "I read that it is dead fungi or bacteria from food trapped in the small gaps on your tongue. I wouldnt worry about it unless you realise it getting substantially worse, it could then maybe be infection on your tongue. \nIf it starts to hurt or stay heavily coated for over 2 weeks you may need to see a GP. \n\nSour...
Why don't national flags have the name of the country displayed on them? Instead, we're stuck guessing which of the 196 countries it is.	[ "What language would you write the name in? If you can only read English, the flags of several Asian nations would look very similiar. Same for other similiar languages.", "Flags are symbols, and the stuff on them displays history, beliefs, thoughts, symbolically. In fact, there's a [whole organization dedic...
What happens to information and media (texts,apps,videos etc...)on your phone when they are scrolled out of sight?	[ "They are kept in the device's RAM as you use the app, so that when you scroll back up, they are instantly available.\n\nSome apps may run out of RAM or otherwise optimize to save it, so the data will be erased from the RAM and lost, thus when you scroll back up, then it must re-load the data from the internet." ]
what is the significance of the neutrino-faster-than-light discovery?	[ "I'm no physics major but I'll try to ELY5.\n\nThere was a guy named Einstein a while back who did a lot of math and realized, with his math, that nothing can go faster than light. It just isn't possible, and it is a fundamental rule that shows us why a lot of things in the universe are the way they are. And I me...
Why do many people see a white light during a near death experience?	[ "They don't. It's purely anecdotal. \n\nA handful of people will claim that they saw a \"white light\", or a \"tunnel with shapes at the end\" or \"the face of grandpa Joe\" etc. And then it becomes representative of the whole experience because of the next point.\n\n[It becomes a narrative trope](_URL_0_) that wri...
Why does my graphics calculator or excel add numbers that should equal zero but gives the answer as -3.00133E-11?	[ "Perhaps you're performing some kind of floating point arithmetic? Floating point (decimal) numbers don't map nicely to binary data structures, and are typically inaccurate as a result.\n\nWhen you encode a float in binary, you make every successive bit represent half the value of its precedent. So when you encode ...
How are current photography company models still viable? Why do people allow this industry to dictate terms - especially for weddings?	[ "My photographer gave me a disk with the full resolution version of all the photos taken from 2 cameras (his and his wife) as well as a large set from a professional photo booth he brought with him to take family and group photos at the reception for anyone who wanted. He also signed the rights to the photos over t...
Freshman here- why wouldn’t everybody apply to as many colleges as possible?	[ "> Freshman here- why wouldn’t everybody apply to as many colleges as possible?\n\nTime and effort. Also, application fees upwards of $100 of dollars for higher valued colleges.", "It would cost money, and what would you get for it? If 20 places admit you out of the 50 applications you send in, are you seriousl...
Why don't companies buy back their stock from investors once they become self sufficient?	[ "Why would you want the whole company back if having the majority lets you make all the decisions?.\n\nIf you want more money, just ask for a raise and pass it through the board that, since you own the majority, you can pass it." ]
How is my nose stuffy and runny at the same time?	[ "Deep inside your nose there is actually erectile tissue, very similar to the penis. An erection is caused when blood vessels in the penis get bigger so more blood flows into it, and the exact same thing happens with this tissue in your nose. \n\nSo often when we are congested and stuffy, it isn't because snot is b...
How do people with insomnia get energy?	[ "Often, copious amounts of caffeine and sugar.\n\nAlso often, they don't. They go through the day like barely functional zombies.\n\nThis question seems better suited for r/askreddit", "The effects of sleep deprivation are like the effects of alcoholism. It's sort of like asking how someone can go into their jo...
How do speakers produce multiple sounds and how does the ear perceive more than one tone?	[ "It doesn't make more than one sound at a time.\n\nIt makes a single noise. Your brain, however, is able to recognize various characteristics of the noise and separate them into individual sounds. This is something your brain does with ALL noise, not just noise from speakers.", "We all know that each sound and no...
Why do giant pandas seem to have such terrible motor skills?	[ "Bamboo isn't the most challenging of prey, and it isn't like anything eats pandas in the wild either. They don't have much need to be nimble.", "Pandas' evolutionary strategy has been to be focus on bamboo, which is almost useless nutritionally. That means they have no competition for food.\n\nSo they don't com...
Where does the phrase "take it on the chin" come from?	[ "The phrase comes from boxing, and generally denotes a direct and significant hit (most literally from an uppercut, but that's irrelevant to the use of the phrase as a general idiom)." ]
if someone gets a hold of my social security number, what can they do to steal my identity from that point?	[ "Off the top of my head, this is what I would do if I wanted to steal your identity using your social security number. First I would forge a copy of your social security card. Then I would write to your state courthouse and request a copy of your birth certificate. If questioned, I would say that I lost it and my...
When people measure "brain waves" (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc.) what are they actually measuring?	[ "Your brain is made of neurons. Neurons are electrically charged cells that communicate with each other by exchanging ions - positively or negatively charged molecules. This exchange of ions creates a voltage. When enough of these neurons creates a voltage, they start to push and pull on each other. This makes a so...
Why haven't FIFA or the IOC been shut down for corruption?	[ "By this logic if someone on a team cheats we should disband the team. The organizations aren't fundamentally corrupt, certain people are.", "A number of countries are themselves corrupt or benefit from the IOC/FIFA corruption so they have no incentive to shut it down. Other countries are refusing to play their g...
Common ground between anthropology of art and surrealism?	[ "Hello, anthropologist here.\n\nVery briefly put, there were several overlaps between the budding field of anthropology and the French surrealist art scene in Paris in the 1920ies. Both fields had an interest in exotic worlds, and both explored ways of representing aspects of reality through condensed forms. For th...
How is there competition and price variation within the bottled water industry?	[ "All comes down to marketing - making a real or apparent difference in the mind of the consumer between your product and your competitors.\n\nThe most obvious examples are your premium ones - Perrier, Evian, Fiji, that stupid Voss crap in the glass bottle. They sell it at a premium because it's \"exclusive\" by wa...
What makes fresh food better quality than frozen food?	[ "Freezing food causes water in the food to turn into ice crystals which are larger and can damage the food. When the food thaws, some of the ice turns to water and drains off leaving the food dehydrated. Long exposure to ice also leads to freezer burn which leaves an unpleasant taste and color to the food. \n\nM...
How true is the theory that the government (USA) is keeping cures (for diseases such as cancer) from us because it makes them more money to treat a disease than to cure it?	[ "The government is not. There is no reason for them to do that because governments do not need to make money, that's what tax is for. It is reasonable to assume several promising treatments are not being pursued or offered by drug companies because they are not profitable." ]
Why would the U.S. Special Forces (supposedly) bury Bin Laden's body at sea almost immediately after his death?	[ "> 1) How did Bin Laden manage to live comfortably in Pakistan for so long without getting caught?\n\nThe Pakistani government hasn't exactly been forthright in its relationship with the US, and bin Laden had become pretty good at hiding after 20+ years as a fugitive in some form.\n\n > 2) Why did the U.S. dispose ...
Why were most cities in the world founded over a century ago, except for a few planned exceptions? You don’t really see new cities appear anymore...	[ "You have new cities appearing,but they aren’t famous now so you don’t know about them yet.\nLike China for example makes a lot of planned cities", "Most cities are the result of somewhat natural growth and all the places where the circumstances are right to grow a city already have one.\n\nSome bridge or a place...
if I go down a wheel size do I automatically go up a tyre size?	[ "Alright so for example. I have 32/11.5/15 tires. The 32 is how tall the tire is, 11.5 is the width, and 15 is the rim size. If you change rims, all you have to do is get the same tire but with the changed rim size. So if you get a 16 inch rim, you're gonna look for 32/11.5/ 16. The tire itself is gonna lose half a...
Why do diplomats have immunity?	[ "It's two-fold, I'd say. Firstly it's so that the diplomats cannot be threatened into submission. \"Report back that there are no war preparations here or you'll be prosecuted and jailed for life for jaywalking!\"\nSecondly, diplomats and some of the other employees in embassies follow the laws and rules of their h...
How does my body know to wake me up at night if my arm falls asleep?	[ "While asleep, your brain sends periodic \"pings\" to each of your limbs to check that they're still there and functioning. When you pinch a nerve while asleep, the ping doesn't come back, and your brain starts up enough of your processing capability to fix the problem." ]
how realistic are the depictions of cell phone and computer tracking shown in spy movies? Do you really need to "keep someone talking" to have enough time to triangulate their position? Do hackers really "ping" their signal off multiple servers around the world to avoid detection?	[ "> Do you really need to \"keep someone talking\" to have enough time to triangulate their position?\n\nIn general, no. Even if your number is blocked/unlisted, the phone company knows where you're calling from immediately and law enforcement agencies have ready access to this information. Keeping somebody talking ...
What Are the Advantages/Disadvantages to a High Displacement Four Cylinder Compared to a Low Displacement Six Cylinder?	[ "You forgot a large detail in your comparison. The Audi B5 S4's engine is turbocharged. The V6 configuration saves some space which was used for a turbocharger to increase power output.\n\n\n\nA 2.6L turbocharged engine can produce a larger power output than a 2.5L non turbocharged engine while keeping the consumpt...
Why does nothing grow in the sand at the beach?	[ "First of all, [they do]( _URL_0_).\n\nThe main reason beaches don't get a lot of plant growth is twofold: erosion and salinity.\n\nThe constant battering of the waves and the tides means the sand of beaches is typically moved around a lot, so any plants that tried to grow in that sandy soil would find themselves...
Why is there no humor-based talk show, or any formatted program, by the right wing conservatives? The left it seems spends a lot of time laughing at the right's proclivity to lie and distort truths, while the right are simply angry about every tiny details that makes up the left.	[ "As the good reverend Stephen Colbert once said - \"Reality has a well know liberal bias\".\n\n\nYou can make fun of liberals and play up stereotypes, but if you try to make fun of the policies they advocate there is a lack of material unless you flat out make shit up. Generally reality is on the liberals side, th...
Why do people say the alarm goes "off" when really it comes "on"?	[ "The alarm is always \"on\" looking for a certain stimulus. When it sees that stimulus, it turns \"off\"." ]
When did time begin?	[ "This is something that is unknowable. Our Universe's timeline started with the big bang. Outside of that we can only speculate. \n\nThe theory I like to believe is that our Big Bang was actually a white hole connected via a Schwarschild wormhole to it's opposite super massive blackhole existing in another Universe...
Why does depression sometimes make breathing very difficult?	[ "It's difficult sometimes to figure this out but from personal experience, I suffer from anxiety and depression, my anxiety causes something called \"over breathing\" or \"hyperventilation syndrome\" Basically, you learn to breath incorrectly and this can cause feelings of shortness of breath or like your drowning,...
Why do we consume Sodium Chloride and not any other salts?	[ "We do consume a few other types of salt, just not as much as sodium chloride. If you look at the container of salt in your kitchen, it probably says that it's \"iodized salt\", meaning it contains a small amount of sodium iodide or potassium iodide in addition to the sodium chloride. A lot of packaged foods also h...
How do parrots say sounds made by the letters B, F, M, or P without lips?	[ "You can produce these sounds by pressing your tongue against your upper lip too, you don't need a set of lips to approximate it, just a way to modulate the airflow properly.\n\nParrots can come pretty close to most human speech with their tongue, beaks, and weird respiratory system setup, but sometimes they have...
Since the Efficient Market Hypothesis is widely accepted, how is High Frequency Trading profitable/viable?	[ "HFT makes EMH true, in a pretty real sense.\n\nThe role of stock traders is to act on any idiosyncratic information they have, and to do so until their information content cannot be exploited any more.\n\nThe essence of EMH is that in equilibrium, all information has already been acted on. Thus you only make mon...
Why doesn't a single engine propeller plane need a second propeller to counteract the weight of the front one spinning?	[ "Single prop planes do have a bit of torque that yaws the plane in one direction or the other. Usually, you'll make small adjustments to the rudder and ailerons (aka. trimming) to counteract it, or depending on the age of the plane, compensate for it manually." ]
Why does reddit hate rich people in general?	[ "We don't hate rich people - but we hate knowing that there is such a disparity between the top and bottom - the gap is enormous. Seeing a kid with a 20K car would blow my mind. I rode a bike to school for 10+ years... still ride one to work every day. I can't imagine having had enough cash to buy a car that exp...
How is it possible that the original Super Mario Bros for NES is only 40 kilobytes?	[ "The lower power of computers back then requried some very clever usage of storage space. Limited color palattes, no moving backgrounds, and reusing sprites in multiple locations (IE The clouds and the bushes are the same sprite in different colors)." ]
What's the difference between sexual assault and sexual harassment?	[ "Well harassment tends to be verbal/communicative while assault is any sort of physical act. If he/she didn't touch you, it's harassment. If he/she did, it's assault." ]
Why do we physiologically have individualized physical attractions to different types of physical traits instead of just simple homogenized attraction to traits that represent strength and survivability?	[ "first of all, there are trends in what we find attractive. very few people find truly maladaptive traits attractive. most people who like men find strength attractive. most people who like women find some amount of curves attractive. most everyone finds healthy people more attractive.\n\nsecondly, there is no ...
When you turn a cup/bowl of water in your hand, why does the liquid inside seem to remain still while to cup turns?	[ "Think of the cup and water as two different objects. You are providing forces for the cup(object 1) to move, buy you are not directly involved in the moving of the water(object 2). The water is moved by a coefficient of friction from the cup. As cups are usually quick smooth, the effect of friction is very low res...
what is enthalphy	[ "Assuming you know what the following are:\n\n * Energy, heat\n\n * Heat Capacity (Specific heat)\n\n * Calorie (exact definition)\n\n * Work (energy)\n\n Q=mcpΔΤ, W=pΔV, U=mcvΔT\n\nEnthalpy* is a measure of how much energy a system or substance can produce. To help you understand the definition, ...
Why do we find B.O. unappealing if it's something that occurs naturally (and often while we're relatively clean)?	[ "I used to be friendly with a homeless guy who hung around outside a bar I used to frequent, and despite being homeless and looking the part, and not even setting foot inside the bar, he managed to go home with women like ALL the time. It was nuts. Some girl would step outside to smoke, or linger before leaving, an...
why is it so important to keep trauma victims awake/alert on the way to the hospital, as in how does that aid in their chances of survival?	[ "More often then not, its easier to monitor the condition of someone whose conscious. By simply talking with the first responder we know they have a viable airway and are breathing. A comatose patient is difficult to assess, as they cannot pinpoint the location of the injury, tell the medical staff how they feel, a...
What causes sleep paralysis in our brain?	[ "Not exactly this, but for a five-year old, this...\n\nImagine your brain shuts down some functions when you sleep. Your eyes are closed, you're not paying attention to the sounds your ears get, and your muscles get to go into total relax mode. \n\nNormally, everything turns back in in the right order and just in t...
My address bar, IP and DNS, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Servers.	[ "Alright, here goes.\n\nLet's visit _URL_0_ and search for \"test\". Type that in, and hit enter:\n\nThe first thing that happens, is Web Browser goes \"WTF is _URL_1_\". However, Web Browser knows a guy called DNS Server which has handled this thing from time to time.\n\nSo the Web Browser sends ...
How does revenue sharing work for a song like "Uptown Funk" where it is written by like four people, sung by someone else yet supposedly "belongs" to a DJ like Mark Ronson?	[ "There are two copyrights which are related but distinct and both have revenue consequences.\n\nThe first is the copyright in the music itself - the \"mechanical rights\". Those rights come into existence as the shared property of everyone who wrote the song and the music. However, it is possible (likely) that th...
In the US, how are judicial gag orders constitutional?	[ "The First Amendment is not an absolute right. It can be limited by law, but the government has to meet a certain level of judicial scrutiny to determine whether the law limiting the right is acceptable under the Constitution. Namely, things like this where the limitation on one's right to free speech is based on t...
Why is everything so expensive in Australia and New Zealand?	[ "Prices are higher on nearly all islands. When you cut out the possibility of trucking and rail shipment, costs go up. While Australia and New Zealand have some natural resources, they have to import more items by plane and boat than non-island nations.\n\nEven on islands that have bridges to them, the route is typ...
How does combining Playstations (or any other computer) into a "cluster" create a supercomputer?	[ "Software developer here,\n\nCluster computing is not the same as grid computing or cloud computing or super computing or mainframe computing.\n\nA cluster is a homogeneous local network of nodes, a grid is heterogeneous, a cloud is heterogeneous, distributed, and may even be 3rd party. Distributed computing in com...
How do scientists know that Dark Energy makes up ~70% of the Universe if they don't know what it is?	[ "The universe is expanding. That is to say, all of the galaxies that we can see appear to be moving away from the point where they all started at the big bang. That makes sense. Big explosion, everything gets blasted away from the middle.\n\nBut, since gravity means that matter attracts other matter, the galaxies s...
Why do dogs react to human voices but not to speakers (phone, TV, music, radio, etc)?	[ "I hate to admit it but we still have a landline. The phone and voicemail are inside the basement stairway. When someone level a message our dog goes to the door and waits for that person to come out of the basement door.\n\nOur old dog would howl when she heard my wife leave messages on it.", "Dogs have great he...
What is a stroke, and what causes it.	[ "Your brain requires an immense amount of oxygen and energy to continue functioning. And it requires it nearly continually. A stroke is a blockage of the blood flow to the brain. This results in the parts of the brain that the blood is flowing to to become negatively affected. Usually this is on one side of the...
How do bugs always get trapped inside ceiling light covers?	[ "I don't have proof for this but I read it in an article about mooths. Many insects tend to confound (mix up) an artificial light source with the moon-light which they use for orientation. \nAnd once they get in the lamp-housing its hard to escape for them, just like a bee flying in your room through a tinted windo...
Why do pharmaceutical commercials always tell viewers to see their ad in a magazine? Do people seriously buy a magazine just to look at an advertisement?	[ "It's because they can't always fit all of the legally required fine print into the commercial -- side effects, warnings, etc. Take a look at a pharmaceutical ad in a magazine sometime, and you'll find that it's probably two pages, back-to-back: Pretty drug ad on the front, and page o' text fine print on the back.\...
What happens to the brain when you get knocked out? What are the long term consequences?	[ "Generally speaking, a knockout (KO) is when your brain is rattled against the side of your skull. Hence why knockouts sometimes don't happen with the strongest punch, but with a moderate strength one placed right on the chin. The leverage is better at \"whipping\" your head around, causing the brain to slosh aroun...
Humans produce lots of body oils. Would they be good for anything if they could be harvested?	[ "This really should be how baby oil is made. \n\nFrom those especially oily babies.", "How about as a replacement for fossil fuels?\n\nWhen you shower, a decent amount of body oil is washed down the drain, carried through a sewer and into a wastewater treatment plant. One of the first steps - Primary treatment -...
Why is it that human intelligence evolved so rapidly while other intelligent creatures like dolphins remained behind?	[ "Human intelligence hasn't changed much (nutritional and medicinal advances may have helped some in the past century), but human knowledge has.\n\nThe reason we have as much knowledge of the world as we do is our linguistic ability. Most of the knowledge an animal gains over its lifetime is lost when that animal di...
How is it that an event in a dream can make me feel real physical pain?	[ "Because pain is in the brain. Pain receptors feed back to your brain, where it interprets them as pain.\n\nIf, in a dream, you get stabbed, then your brain thinks you got stabbed, so you feel the pain." ]
When your body burns fat, where does it go?	[ "Converting the entire fat you have into energy would make you something like 10000 (to grossly underestimate) nuclear bombs. You certainly are not using that much energy. So your conclusion is right, it isn't being converted into energy like that.\n\nBut chemical reactions evolve energy. Some bonds in your fat hav...
Why are the Beatles so popular?	[ "I won't explain why they were popular in their day, as that it obvious. The reason they are still revered to this day is because of how innovative they were. Apart from being great songwriters, they were ceasless experimenters. Never making the same album twice. Remember that a pop band writing their own songs wa...
The intuition behind the fundamental theorem of algebra	[ "I think you're a little mixed up, it's not that a nth degree polynomial crosses the x axis n times, it's that the polynomial has n roots, some of which may or may not be imaginary. But then certian polynomials had roots that didn't seem to exist. For instance if you have x^2 = -1 as a root you can't really solve t...
What is new electronics smell?	[ "There really isn't a single answer for this as it depends completely on the product. With that said, most likely what you are smelling is the chemicals used to clean the circuit boards and such to prepare them for use. As the item warms up you are probably also smelling any remaining flux or chemicals being cook...
Why do we tune out smells?	[ "I think it's a predatory thing, new smells means something new is arise and we should be alert. If nothing smells new, then we cool.", "Your nose 'smells' things when particles from the object with the scent float into your nose and make contact with various receptors. The receptors they connect with determine i...
How come there can be a thriving porn industry when there's an almost infinite amount of free porn? (Not that I would know)	[ "A lot of that free porn is ripped from the paid porn sites. Logically, there are a lot of people out there who still pay for porn, either because they are suspicious of free porn or because they want to support the porn they like." ]
Why do some gay men "sound" gay, I.E have some sort of gay accent (serious).	[ "We are not going to remove this question-- thanks for phrasing it sensitively and for indicating that your search didn't yield the results you were looking for.\n\nTo commenters: please keep it respectful here.", "This was actually a question pretty recently on /r/AskHistorians.\n\n_URL_0_", "Unfortunately thi...
Can animals tell apart reality from their dreams?	[ "I learned from Stephen LaBerge (doctor who studies sleep and dreams at Stanford) that, from an evolution standpoint, the reason we (and animals) have a hard time remembering our dreams is so that we don't get them confused with reality." ]
How do Large Bubbles Form on Potato Chips?	[ "There is an air pocket that expands during the frying of the chip. However it does not expand enough to break the elasticity of the potato creating a bubble that solidifies when the starches cool down." ]

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