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11ms8k | How a recession causes lower gas prices. | Gas prices are largely driven by gas demand. The *demand* for gas however isn't usually driven by prices. That is, most people don't travel less just because gas costs more, they have a set number of miles they *have to* travel to live their lives.
Well, if a bunch of people don't have jobs, and don't have any reason to shop, and can't afford to travel, suddenly they use less gas.
Gas has to become cheaper to sell all the gas they can make that isn't being used. | 0a9df2d2-32da-4c8e-9790-29a4384fe54f |
4jl7x7 | Why trees produce different shapes/sizes of leaves. | A thing to remember about evolution (that I often see is either forgotten or never realized) is that so long as a trait works well enough, and doesn't kill an organism or weaken it to the point of applying direct evolutionary pressure, it will remain.
Leaves are a balance between energy expenditure (to grow) and energy production. Trial and error from mutation and different plant branches of the evolutionary tree will lead to variety. | ea0b0402-d3ca-4cdc-9de1-2e1a4a86ee5b |
4x6kp6 | The five lesser-known types of magnetism? | Basically, magnetic fields happen because electrons have small magnetic fields. There are various ways they can prefer to behave in a material, giving rise to their magnetic properties.
Diamagnetism is most noticeable when there are no unpaired electrons in a material. This negates the magnetic moment of the electrons (each one has a partner that negates it). It opposes any external magnetic fields by messing with the magnetic moment of the electrons' orbit. Every material will do this, but most of the time, other effects overwhelm it.
Paramagnetism is sort of the opposite, when there are unpaired electrons. Those unpaired ones can point any which way they please and thus, can line up with an external magnetic field, amplifying it. The magnetic moment of an electron is much greater than the magnetic moment of it's orbit, so this effect outweighs diamagnetism if there are unpaired electrons.
Ferromagnetism is like paramagnetism, except that it's so strong, the amplified field can sustain itself. The field generated by other electrons in the material is strong enough to get other electrons in the material to also line up, so it can keep the field by itself.
Antiferromagnetism is the opposite, the unpaired electrons want to oppose eachother, so they have no magnetic field. The reasons why this would happen instead of ferromagnetism have to do with complicated energy level nonsense in various materials.
Ferrimagnetism forms sheets, kind of. Antiferromagnetic materials have every electron trying to be opposite of it's neighbor, so it forms a checkerboard. Ferrimagnetic materials form rows as they try to be the same alignment in one direction but opposite alignment in the other direction. This usually results in a net magnetic field like a ferromagnet.
Superparamagnetism is only found in tiny pieces of ferro or ferrimagnetic materials. They're small enough that their temperature causes them to switch the alignment of their magnetic field too quickly to produce a stable magnetic field in any given direction. But when an external field is applied, they align. It's like paramagnetism, but because the material is a better magnet in the first place, it's stronger than normal paramagnetism. | 37c7fec6-7069-4b53-ad5f-9860247a7f22 |
2ccka7 | How does my cat know to look at my eyes/face when communicating something? | It's been a common thing for workers in parts of the world to have to wear face masks on the back of their head because tigers won't attack if they think a person is looking at them. So this goes past domestication and is a hunter instinct.
_URL_0_
And just as a tip for owning cats, look them int he eyes every now and then and deliberately blink. It's a sign of trust, as cats stare unblinkingly at people they don't trust. | 490b8bd5-a0cb-4fd5-bb2a-1e64a8620ca6 |
48ypjx | OJ and the recently discovered knife can we still prosecute him or no since double jeopardy? | Without considering the Double Jeopardy, the knife was supposedly found years ago and kept by as a souvenir by a cop. It was only recently brought forward as evidence. Pure speculation, but it could be real hard to use it as evidence in court since it was handled improperly.
Edit: improperly | df5d12c9-44f1-42e8-8c1b-3178c4aa418d |
88ik20 | Why do the body-cells age? | A few reasons. The most straightforward is that every time a cell copies it's DNA, it uses up a piece of the tail at the end of the DNA called the *telomere*.
When a cell is out of telomere, fragments of the DNA itself start getting used and the cell goes into *telomere panic*. Each copy does damage to the DNA after that. | dc0d22d2-9560-427c-a9e0-ed4808dcd0f2 |
3jz5f7 | What is involved in porting a PS2 game like Metal Gear Solid 2 to Xbox 360/PS3 for an HD Collection? | PS2 and X360/PS3 have different processor architectures. Which means that the same piece of code means different things to those machines. That's where emulators come in. An emulator is a software that reads a code that's written for a certain processor and "translates" it to work on another processor. Now to make an emulator work, you have to have a very good understanding of how both processors work, so you can make the translation process as smooth as possible. If an indie team consisting of programmers who know how those architecture work at the lowest level, they can make it work, within the limits of both processors' capabilities of course. | dba6764f-03be-4da0-bd94-15aacb2f3ee3 |
668wo7 | Why does the water spray from the shower feel cold when you're standing next to the beam itself, even if the water is warm? | I believe you are feeling tiny borderline microscopic droplets of water which due to their size lose their heat to the environment extremely quickly | 4467839f-7119-45d8-8460-84f43a1792e0 |
10zzk9 | why do empty folders contain 0 bytes of data? Don't folder names contain (even a few) bytes of data? | The contents of the folders are 0 bytes of data (no contents). It's like saying a real-life box contains 0 pounds. But the box itself isn't 0 pounds. | cc63075b-b64d-478e-be14-c5fc69a839b8 |
35m823 | Do caterpillars know they they are going to become butterflies? Or do they just get in a cocoon thinking, what the fuck am I doing? | You're giving them too much credit. When you get to insects that small, and insects in general, scientist aren't even sure they're capable of abstract thought like that, they're closer to biological machine, who just do what they do on instinct alone, their brains aren't really complicated enough to make it seem credible that they can think like we can.
Also, whoever commented bfore me, I'm pretty sure you've been shadow banned. | cc49403f-23fc-4f1f-8573-b344f25926d6 |
3shkgd | Why do a majority of films that have action scenes usually have the action extremely loud and have all the talking quiet? | Most films are made with the movie theater in mind, or high-end home theaters. Those are usually multi-speaker setups, with a center speaker containing most of the dialog (not all), the other speakers doing sound effects, music and and ambiance, and a big ol' subwoofer (or two) for rumbling bass.
So when that movie is in the theater, there's plenty of dynamic range (i.e. loud parts are loud, quiet parts are quiet). It sounds great. When the Joker is telling Harvey Dent about chaos, it's quieter than when the hospital blows up. But when that hospital goes kablooey, it fills up the theater with big, loud, wonderful booming sounds.
But it all comes out crystal clear, because the speakers are designed to do such things. The louder stuff is *that much more powerful* because your ears have the quieter stuff to compare it to.
But then...
Take that same multi-channel audio track, and push it through a pair of built-in TV speakers that *at most* have 5-10 watts.
Here's what's going on:
1. Your six-plus speaker setup is now only two speakers. Your setup now has to figure where to shoehorn everything.
2. Those speakers are a lot less powerful.
3. Built-in TV speakers aren't exactly powerhouses of rumbling bass.
So you wind up with overall weaker sound. You turn up the volume because you can't understand what Batman is whispering about. Then suddenly something blows up and you go rushing for your TV remote before the neighbors come pounding on your door.
Unless you have a nice surround-sound setup at home, you've been there. I know I have.
Sometimes on DVDs and Blu-Rays, you can go to the "setup" menu and you see the production company has been gracious enough to provide you with a 2.0 option (this means two speakers, no subwoofers). Use that if you can.
Otherwise, check your TV menu. Some televisions have some sort of built-in audio compression to lessen the disparity between loud parts and quiet parts. | 49e4998f-dade-4202-a031-c02aee9c4a8e |
2jngzs | What exactly causes Mouth ulcers? | Most are caused by unintentional damage such as biting. Recurring ones can be a sign of an underlying health issue. This may help
_URL_0_ | f890e232-faf1-4644-be9a-fc05e5b134da |
4sp1fa | Why does food (meat, cheese, bread, vegetables) taste different when sliced thin vs thick? | I would guess it's because there's a greater surface area to volume ratio, so comparatively more of the food gets exposed to the air. The surface of the food will interact with oxygen in the air, affecting the flavor of whatever you are eating. | 1b5ef47a-2ebf-4158-abec-0a11d8f6febc |
li6py | what is the real difference between a Prime Minister, President & a Premier of a country? | Many parliamentary democracies are republics as well, although some still have monarchs as their head of state (i.e., not republics). That last thing -- *head of state* -- is a key term here. The other term that goes with it is the *head of government*.
The head of government heads the cabinet of ministers, and is often called the *prime* minister or simply the premier (the first/highest among the ministers, who heads the cabinet instead of a specific resort like foreign affairs, finance or the economy), but can also go by other titles, like chancellor. In some countries, like the US, this person is also the head of state in personal union. In others, like in most European countries, there is a distinct role as the head of state. Usually this is a president if it's a republic, or a monarch if not. If the role is distinct, it's usually mostly ceremonial, with some additional constitutional roles (e.g., some countries require the head of state to sign laws instead of the head of government, to have an additional safeguard). Queen Elisabeth II, for example, is the head of state of well over a dozen countries from all over the world, but not the head of government in any of them.
So, the important distinction here is between the head of state and the head of government, what they're called is just a matter of nomenclature and often rooted in tradition. | 23821096-1bb3-4f83-9a72-40ffbcb1a0a0 |
yg6ar | Nolo contendere, or Plea of No Contest | Normally, there are two possible pleas in court. Guilty or not guilty; "I admit I did it, go ahead and punish me" or "I don't admit I did anything, prove me wrong".
In some cases, you are allowed to take a plea of no contest. This plea is saying "I don't admit I did it, but I'll let you go ahead and punish me anyway". While the immediate effect is the same as a guilty plea, depending on your jurisdiction there may be some secondary benefits to *nolo contendere*. For instance, under US federal rules, a guilty plea can be taken as an admission of guilt in some later court case, while a no contest plea cannot be. | a222c328-c557-45f3-9a19-183da993fcdd |
327iio | CFL bulb maximum wattage. | 1 watt isn't a big deal. 25 watts would create more heat than the fixture is designed for. | 018415b1-8456-4ef4-93af-f7778de56bb2 |
2vrh8v | Who pays for anti-smoking ads, and why do they want us to quit? | Fun fact: the Truth anti-smoking ads are actually funded (unwillingly) by the big tobacco comapnies. In the late 90's 47 states sued the tobacco industry for the medical financial burden their products put on the state's healthcare systems. Part of the settlement was that the tobacco companies had to fund the [American Legacy Foundation](_URL_0_), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the eradication of smoking. The ALF is responsible for the Truth advertising campaign. | 33117b58-e5e3-4577-8552-e5df07ecc3db |
xrwol | Why is the camera on the Mars rover so low quality? | We can, just not yet. These cameras are the initial landing cameras to make sure it survived the landing. Later this week, the fancy dancey cameras will spring up and give us lovely, awesome (like, literally awe-inspiring) imagery.
Although it's pretty awesome already in my opinion :) | bcff5d72-0d4a-412d-8f4b-30ddf01b44ee |
3jn9fw | Expiration dates for painkillers (details inside) | You are looking at date Filled vs date expired. Not date manufactured vs date expired. These drugs are created in large quantities but that doesnt mean they all get distributed at the same time. So the ones you got in 2013 and the ones you got in 2015 could have all been made in 2013. Drugs do expire. | 0df36aa3-abc9-43a7-8126-aed3af72e3f8 |
5yviqc | How do pearls form? | Here's a hint- It's the same material as their shell.
The sand is an irritant to the soft gooey creature, it can't reach to dislodge a grain of sand that is stuck, so it covers it in a layer of the same stuff the shell is made of. They get the minerals from their diet. Layer after layer it gets incrementally larger, just like the shell. | 1ada25ff-08e8-4387-ae45-99acc42e668d |
3xnl42 | What happens when you charge a battery | Batteries make electricity when chemicals inside of the battery undergo a chemical reaction. Chemical A combines with chemical B to make chemical C + electricity. When chemical A and chemical B run out, the reaction has to stop.
In chemistry, every reaction is reversible. If A + B make C + electricity, then C + electricity make A + B. When you charge a battery, you're giving chemical C electricity so that it can make A + B again. Once chemical A + B are back, the original reaction can happen again: you've recharged the battery by restoring the original chemicals so that the reaction can happen again. | b1831010-c5a9-4f42-b958-07d13405678c |
3ocle4 | why are there only ever 2 or 3 NFL games available on tv each Sunday, instead of 5-10 like for college games? | > many games available on standard cable packages like college?
Because they make more money the way it is currently setup. It's pretty simple at that. They have limited games on broadcast TV which they charge crazy rates for, which in turn is a limited amount of games people can watch which means everyone is watching them and the networks can charge crazy rates for ads.
The NFL then sells exclusive access to Sunday Ticket to DirecTV for a giant rate (DirecTV paid way too much) to make even more money.
The NFL is unarguably the best league in the world of sports at crafting and learning how to extract maximum value from their TV rights. Other leagues like the English Premier League, UEFA, NBA and such are all learning from the NFL's examples on how to craft TV deals, the NFL is just the best at it. | bc748763-0b90-4753-a909-4335fcf007e5 |
4qr6jg | How come old people sound "old". I'm not sure how else to explain it but they just sound different and harder to understand? | The cartilages in the vocal tract calcify and stiffen and the muscles get weaker. It makes their voice breathier and makes it more difficult to keep the pitch and loudness steady. | ae758160-df68-42b2-9f05-b235eb7c63ed |
2cdq4b | Why do Humans (and most mammals) have individual teeth instead of a beak or solid bony structure? | Only reason I can think of is, if one of em breaks, we can still chew | d938c345-8725-4ea7-8d6d-0200ea8b8c8f |
68yf70 | Why do people look away from the point of focus to think? | If you look away there's no stimuli trying to get your attention. You can look at a blank wall and not have anything stimulating you while you search your head for the answer. | 3ccfd4d5-fe04-4563-a31e-9004b6017a86 |
3cgghr | I've heard that no matter where you are in the universe, you're still equidistant from the universe's "edges" as it expands. How is this so? Or am I getting this wrong? | The "edges" of the universe are just as far as we can see, not physical edges, because the light at the edges is from the beginning of the universe and there can't be any light from before the universe.
It's like two ships on the ocean, which both see the horizon equidistant from themselves no matter where they are. | 260f469d-3a27-414d-af6e-453acebc57e6 |
rcqkz | Why are there ashtrays on planes? | The average lifespan of a commercial jet is 30 years. Smoking was banned on planes in the US in 1988, 24 years ago. | 694e964a-df13-48bc-8978-08f904a19091 |
738mxq | How come humans generally get into cold water slowly and uncomfortably, but animals jump in with no hesitation? | If you think animals are not afraid of water you have never tried to bath a horse or take one through a puddle. lol.
Humans know there is a choice, that water can be warm or cold.. or even too hot. Animals know the temperature of the lakes/streams as being what they are.. they don't see any reason to be silly and enter it slowly if they need to cross, but sometimes you will see them entering water slowly when they are not in a hurry. Maybe you need to be around nature more. | 584fadc6-d8b8-4141-9fd9-da16ac16d804 |
2km3aj | What's the difference between tornadoes, hurricanes, cyclones, typhoons etc? | All are spinning masses of air. Tornadoes are much smaller than the others being only a matter of yards across. A cyclone is air spinning around a low pressure system and can be used regardless of the size. Cyclone is also used for a violent tropical storm, especially one originating in the southwestern Pacific Ocean or Indian Ocean. Hurricanes and typhoons are the same thing. If it's in the Atlantic it's called a hurricane and if it's in the Pacific around south East Asia china and Japan it's called a typhoon.
Hurricane can also be used for any wind with a speed over 73mph. | de464503-cdf2-4770-8378-2c2b226c2750 |
3m9hfr | How does "The lion Whisperer" on youtube interact with lions and hyenas? Can't they just turn things around him any minute? | With any animal it comes down to training and experience. Same thing can happen with dog trainers and happens all the time.
Lots of dog trainers for the police department have been bit by there trainees it is a hazard of the job.
Roy of Siegfried & Roy career ended after being ”attacked” by one of there own lions. | 3929c584-a8f8-412b-b380-04dd95cd2284 |
1jix03 | Why do I have the sudden urge to cough while using Q-Tips? | Ok, so basically, you have two cranial nerves that supply sensation to your throat, oral cavity, larynx, trachea, and external ear canal. When you insert a Q-tip, it stimulates these nerves, causing a discharge of signals to your brain. These nerves aren't completely separated, so your brain senses an irritation in your throat, which triggers the cough reflex. This same association of nerve impulses causes many people to feel they have a sore throat/earache when in fact their ears are free of infection. Hope this helps! | 91cd7173-b2f5-4e04-962f-369218df8fda |
8pfhbf | Why are pregnant women restricted from roller coasters, hot tubs, flights, etc? | Something tells me that subjecting a fragile developing fetus to large gravitational forces isn't a great idea.
Nor is the general large increase in blood pressure. | 6387ab6f-fe27-4424-b4c9-b5399fad6a80 |
nquot | EILI5: The whole Viva Revolution with Che Guevara? | Che Guevara was one of the leaders of the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s with Fidel Castro. He now enjoys immense popularity as a t-shirt. | cf96ae86-f9b3-4e03-8399-144fd7fceae7 |
310fge | Why do they bother to try and "hide" cell phone towers? | Because it simply looks more aesthetically pleasing. Cell phone towers are an eyesore | e80e869a-3e7e-4be4-bd71-1edf1e1170c7 |
11n6d1 | Full Faith and Credit in the US | US states can't deny the validity of legal documents in other states. So if I own some property in Texas, and I bring that up as evidence in an Oklahoma court case, the court can't decide it doesn't count because it's from the wrong state. | fb82160c-51d7-4ead-805f-a6e0ee2b1a62 |
pyfoq | Why do computers/programs freeze/crash? | It means theyre working. when you get to the theoretical side of computer science, it's actually impossible to tell when something is in an infinite loop, or just taking a very long time. Generally, the computer has just come across a large amount of data it must go through, or may perhaps be waiting on a callback from some other program it dispatched. You see this a lot if you've ever downloaded a small application from someone instead of a big budget program. sometimes when you feed a simple program lots of data (I have an image downloader some dude made in a day for instance) it will "not respond" for hours on end because it's working really hard sorting through all the data you just gave it, and not responding to the operating system's requests for activity because it can't. Generally speaking, unless you have a logic flaw, the program will finish sometime, but you have (literally a mathematically proven fact) no way of knowing when this will occur if you don't know how the program works or how much data was given to it | 56ce5e84-966c-4931-b468-0405295a19ea |
1wkmhb | How much of the music does a songwriter actually write? | It is sort of complicated. Generally, the person credited as the "writer" comes up with the main composition, or chord structure and melody for the song.
For instance- Sting is listed as the sole composer for "Every Breath You Take", because he came up with the chord structure- but when you think about that song, it is Andy Summers' guitar riff that probably comes to mind. However- Sting pulls in a reported $2k per day in royalties, while Summers gets squat.
The thought being that the other musicians (bass, drums, horns, etc) are merely playing along to the already "composed" structure of the song. Yes- they are still "writing" their parts- but the structure already existed. | c9f45355-b88f-4fc1-b1a2-d1d27bed9f96 |
1dhh0q | Dress sizes? What do they mean? | Men's sizes are based on measurements. [Women's sizes are based on lies.](_URL_0_) | c3c9628d-d3c9-4d90-8d83-350f9b65a289 |
6bh372 | Why do we use implants for breast enlargement instead of something biological like stomache fat? | Fat is a living tissue. Transplants of living tissue are more expensive and have higher risk of complications. Implants are biologically inert and relatively easy to implant. | ce09a78a-7284-4886-aee4-3ac10494fed0 |
4ycbyc | Why does the svartifoss waterfall cliff have squares | It looks like [basalt pillars](_URL_0_) erroded from the bottom. Basalt, due to the crystalline structure or something like that, naturally forms these shapes. | d00a256d-140e-4044-9fd7-cb416885529c |
twghj | How to catch up/develop a well informed opinion on world news and politics? | Personally, I like Christian Science Monitor (even though I'm an atheist. They do good reporting) and The Economist. The BBC is also good for factual stories on world events. | 05251a33-5e7d-4abf-bf8c-637b5b7c8622 |
3d0mgq | The political structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two "entities", Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The borders between these two are more or less defined by the territory the opposing forces of the Bosnian war held.
The two entities are mostly autonomous, but they are both represented internationally by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina (this is distinct from the *Federation* of Bosnia and Herzegovina). There is one citizenship, and people are free to travel between the two entities.
There is also the Brčko District which is an area which is shared by the two entities.
The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is further split up into cantons which govern themselves to some degree. | b159595b-56ca-4ba3-b362-c896a814217a |
48383w | The ItWorks! business model. | [This article](_URL_0_) suggests that, as you might expect, it's very hard to get anywhere near the income advertised. | daafd198-53e4-466a-8670-5b91c95769ce |
23vrnf | Tomatoes and peppers are native to the Americas. Why are they identified with traditional Italian/Indian/Chinese/etc food? | A handful of centuries is an extremely long time. I wouldn't be surprised if the foods you mention almost completely supplanted traditional foods in Asia and Europe. Many New World crops offered vastly superior yields and nutritional value -- the introduction of potatoes to northern Europe caused an increase in available food which was followed by an increase in population which in turn necessitated the growing of more and more potatoes to feed the area's population. If I recall correctly the yam or possibly the sweet potato had the same effect in China. Regarding your original question, though; try Google or Wikipedia. | a1746793-9a6d-400c-931e-d4e836608905 |
2d00xv | Why are nike shoes $150 or more and how do they enhance performance in sports? | It's a fashion statement mostly.
Don't get me wrong - there's some technology and research there, but not nearly enough to really affect, well, anything that much. You may jump a few millimeters higher through some new bouncy sole and lighter material. And there is some stability enhancements that will slightly reduce the risk of a rolled ankle. And some fabric may allow the foot to "breathe" a hair better.
But in the end, it's clever marketing. | b9276579-ad11-4b8a-be9e-90b3d48ad4c0 |
1d6hqp | How all these big websites lately have been getting their data hacked. | Properly securing websites is one of those things where if you're doing your job right, no one notices. If you're doing it wrong, no one notices until you get compromised. This is why it often doesn't get enough attention.
In addition, because various sites are architected in many different ways in terms of software and topology, there's no one "right way" to secure things. Whereas there exist best practices for Wordpress blogs for example, time must be spent to determine where more complex systems are vulnerable. That doesn't excuse basic mistakes like not salting passwords or leaving database ports open, however.
Some of the recent attacks are not technological, but rather are social engineering. If users are giving away their credentials, there's no foolproof solution. | cd1fa535-0a30-46ac-9762-f6fb06ec6a40 |
6fxxlr | why is depression so common in our species when the ultimate goal is to pass genes on? Isn't that counterproductive? | Humans, because of the society we have made for ourselves, don't necessarily need to respond to environmental pressures genetically when it comes to passing on our genes.
A person with clinical depression in our society can be treated and still have sex. It's not preventing genes from being passed on, and that's the question you always have to answer when you're thinking about why x wasn't "fixed" by evolution. If it doesn't prevent sex, you're not going to see any genetic fixes. | bbfa01af-8681-4925-9ba5-c3ed65f3eaa6 |
2zpth6 | The "Economic gap" between the "1%" and the "99%" | This is obviously a very complicated question, ~~Nobel Prize winning~~ economist Thomas Piketty set out to explore it in his book Capital. What it comes down to is this:
If you make enough money (and only enough) to keep you alive, you will never get any richer. Every day you will earn $5 and at the end of the day you will have $0 left, and so the cycle repeats until you die.
But if you earn $6, you can put away some of that money. You can save $1 a day and put it in a bank account. You can set the money to work, *to make you more money*. For the super-rich, this is even more extreme. The more money you make, the more you can invest, and the more you make off of those investments that you can then re-invest. It's a positive feedback loop. | 14893614-64ce-4ede-953e-2085ae6511c3 |
472qdg | What would happen if you were quiet for years? | The vocal folds (also known as your vocal cords) are mucous membranes. Unlike muscles, which can atrophy and deteriorate from lack of use, using or not using the vocal cords doesn't really make a huge difference in their well-being. You might have some voice breaking or stammering when you try to speak again after a long time, but it's not like they would waste away from lack of use.
I believe that the biggest impact from lack of speaking would be more psychological. If you're in a situation where you can manage to not speak for any reason, you probably will not have a lot of human contact, which can affect your mental health in various different ways. | a5b86085-061b-46be-b713-a525c5fdd8d9 |
1f2v9k | SMPTE Timecode | Timecode is used in multiple ways throughout the production process. The most recognizable of which is the [slate or "clapper"](_URL_0_) The clapper is used to sync the video and audio track by creating a known point on both tracks (When the sound is made on the audio track, and when the clapper closes on the video) During editing, TONS of notes are made, mostly using timecode as a reference point. And finally, when the show or ad is broadcasted, the timecode ensures that there are no black frames (We call them "flash frames") in between different spots or shows.
Timecode is also important for determining which broadcast standard is used. In the US, we use 29.97 frames per second (NTSC), so we use a special frame count called dropframe. Dropframe skips 2 frames per minute except every 10th minute. Other regions/formats are more straightforward and have a whole number like 24, 25, or 30 fps. | 560eedf1-08eb-4064-9162-88ad182cf417 |
3s0xgv | Can imaginary numbers be represented visually? | One very helpful concept that helped me understand complex numbers is [this](_URL_0_).
It makes a lot more sense when you think about it in the way described above. Real numbers lie on a real number line, going forward for positive numbers and going backward for negative numbers.
But imaginary numbers force you to deviate off the real number line by rotating about the origin and going off in that direction. | a9fc6a52-5a2a-463e-91fa-13fb819fd3c1 |
2yab22 | How is it possible for someone to be transgender; I don't believe in gender roles or stereotypes so when someone is "transgender" i don't really know what that means... How can gender be separate from sex if we are trying so hard to eliminate gender roles, and promote equality? | [Recent studies] (_URL_0_) have shown that there may be differences in brain structure between men and women and that someone who is transgender has a brain structure more like that of their gender rather than sex. So even if we didn't have gender roles at all in our society (and trust me, we still do) there is still physical differences that are present. | b319eb39-4b4b-452f-9f96-a32fe73dbcbc |
5a5i9g | How do news outlets get a hold of all those secret tapes and documents that they reveal exclusively? | These usually come from whistleblowers or people who leak the info. Some news organizations (and I use this term loosely) pay for stuff, like TMZ or the National Enquirer. Most media companies don't pay (though there are exceptions).
Usually sources give this stuff freely for a couple of reasons:
- They want to expose corruption.
- They have an ax to grind against a person or organization.
- They want some fame or notoriety. | 0c83aa0f-7de0-4a25-9d95-236c194a199d |
vxi09 | Serialization | Serialized means taking data from a complex structured format, and saving it in a simple format. Some things like network connections and hard drives can only accept data in simple formats, which is why this is necessary.
Analogy: your bedroom is set up a certain way. That's the complex structured format. Now let's say you end up having to move to a new house. Perhaps what you do is you carefully write down where everything is in your room. Then you pack it up in boxes. Then you ship the boxes to the new house. Congratulations, you just serialized your room, by turning it from a complex structure format (the actual set up of your room), into a simple format (19 boxes and a list of instructions).
At the new house, you pull out the list of how everything is arranged, then unpack the boxes and place the contents in according to how the instructions say to. That's deserialization. | b01ff5de-8480-4c4f-aa79-9f9657e18d93 |
185ir7 | The difference between race versus ethnicity. | Simplistically and quite generally, race is what most people think of as one's physical form, and is based on outward appearance. Ethnicity is what most people think of as one's background, and is based on things like language, clothing, religious customs, etc. There are no hard lines between these designations, some overlap, and their definition is also very fluid, depending on the preconceptions and background of the observer themselves.
Generally, when thinking of race, an observer will describe someone as being Black, or Asian, or White. This same observer might describe that persons ethnicity as being Jamaican, Vietnamese, or Polish.
There are all sorts of problems with these kinds of artificial designations, the most important of which is that there really is no such thing as ["race](_URL_0_)" *per sé*. | 1228a351-81df-477e-b690-b9ccb4e365af |
2635im | Why do we get so much satisfaction out of popping things? | It's actually pretty simple. When we get surprised or something happens suddenly, our brains send blood and endorphins through our body. Popping something provides us with a "controlled" surprise where we know we are going to be surprised and we also know that we wont be harmed. So we get the benefits of being surprised without the risk. | 69f4412d-bbf1-4a16-945a-0076a93947a4 |
6lirji | How do grown up (no longer in school) "bullies" work? | Well, its probably not a good idea to think of "bullies" like they are a separate population with their own tactics and strategy. Most people that we would consider bullies are just regular people like you or me, and I can guarantee that we've all acted like bullies a time or two ourselves.
Have you ever been rude to someone? Been forcefully angry with someone? Tried to force someone to do something? Teased or mocked someone? Made someone feel bad?
What benefits did you receive from doing it? How did you pick your victims? How did you work? Answer those questions, and you'll understand. | 706e7872-1315-406b-a0dc-2e291bce36e8 |
5sg6ry | Why is the measurement of time (seconds, minutes, hours) based around the number 60? Why not a more common base, like 10 or 100? | 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30. Lots of options for splitting time into neat segments. You can divide 60 into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, tenths, twelfths, fifteenths, twentieths, and thirtieths.
10 is only divisible by 2 and 5. So you can only divide it neatly into halves and fifths. It's just not as flexible.
Edit: I'm a political junkie, so I comment on a lot of threads featuring hot-button issues. But according to my inbox, this is the most incendiary comment I've ever made. | dbc35440-f573-43b7-afd2-59ced72bdc4e |
6fo0pq | Why do we, and all other animals, breath and use oxygen when nitrogen is so much more available in the atmosphere? | The nitrogen gas molecule (N2) is extremely stable and hard to crack apart. Most living organisms can't do it - most of the biological nitrogen in existence came from specialized bacteria.
On the other hand, the oxygen gas molecule (O2) is highly reactive, meaning its energy can be harnessed for useful chemical reactions, like those that support life. | 5fb3ebf4-28e6-4fc0-b51a-242793badb21 |
5s1jol | What is it about potatoes that makes them go so well with so many different foods? | Potatoes are have a relatively neutral flavor. This means they can take on the flavors of other foods without greatly disrupting the flavor profile. They're also cheap way to add bulk and calories to a meal. Recall that calories are only a bad thing in societies and ages of affluence. In times and places where food is scarce, the goal is to get as many calories as you can into a meal because you don't know whether you're going to eat well next time. Even though we may not have such problems in some places today, it's still why the potato became an integral part of various cuisines in the first place. | 554267b1-9139-4a30-a5af-de94cf725482 |
1os830 | How are police sketch artists able to draw people relatively accurately based on descriptions? | It's something of an open question whether they are all that accurate. Often they are accurate only in the gross details (hair colour, large nose, etc) and aren't otherwise recognisable.
It's quite rare for a suspect to be identified purely on the basis of an accurate sketch, though. | 96022bf6-09f6-4f13-ba3f-322ed7a92473 |
7eep4b | Why do most song lengths seem to fall between 2 and 4 minutes? | Much of the answer has to do with the length limitations of vinyl 7" 45 rpm singles, which for many years were the primary means of promoting a single song. You can only fit about 3 minutes of music onto a 45 rpm single. So historically, if you wanted to write a hit pop song, you had to keep it under that length.
More here:
[Why Are Songs On The Radio About The Same Length?](_URL_0_) | 7acf1f64-18ae-4a8e-a606-7aa5856cf304 |
3jj15j | Why is Kim Davis being held in contempt of court instead of just being fired for insubordination? | tl;dr: Elected officials cannot be fired - they must resign or they must be removed from office through impeachment proceedings.
Kim Davis is an elected official. So she cannot be "fired." There are two ways that she can be removed from office - by impeachment and by resignation. In the same way, President Obama cannot be "fired." He can be impeached by the Senate or he can resign from office.
An interesting wrinkle is that the legislature in Kentucky (their version of Congress but at the state level) does not meet throughout the year (like Congress does). So the legislature would need to call a special session to remove her from office through impeachment proceedings (or she can just resign from office).
Kim Davis is being held in contempt because she has refused to comply with an order issued by a judge. She can comply by resigning, being impeached, or deciding to do her job in compliance with the Constitution (as interpreted by the Supreme Court). | 0b14f4d2-8d8a-477d-a47b-731325b2a657 |
6tauy5 | What is that falling feeling you get in your stomach when you go down a hill in a car or rollercoaster | Did you ever jump into a cool swimming pool or river or something, and notice after five minutes or so that it's no longer cold? That's because your body 'gets used' to things after a bit.
Your body is used to gravity (and in fact evolved to take advantage of gravity). So you don't even notice that your insides... and the content of your insides, are all under one gee of gravity, because it's always been that way.
But get on that roller coaster (or even a really fast elevator) and you're exposed to sometimes-more, sometimes-less gees of gravity that make your innards heavier or lighter, as well as anything in them.
So you have upward pressure in your belly region and throat and their content when you round the crest of a big hill at speed, and downward pressure when you hit that curve at the bottom. And the best your brain can translate that to is a falling feeling. | 7fcb6fe9-0dde-40e9-98a2-13c01819bebb |
jimv4 | Why is the sea made out of salt water? | Almost all natural water contains salts and other minerals including rivers and sweet water lakes just in different levels. Rivers flow constantly so the salt they pick up from the ground does not have time to build up to the point where it tastes salty. But oceans and lakes get all of this salt poured into them by the rivers where it builds up until even we can taste it.
Some more info: _URL_0_ | ece697e2-f9a4-4c98-bb2f-6674aa0b9d4a |
6kelzx | "Remastering" a movie? | Movies are shot using film.
The original film is usually of very high quality. It's relies on physics and light to record high quality images.
Say it's 1990 something and you want to release the movie on VHS tape.
You would use a machine to transfer the film to the VHS tape. This creates a master tape, which you then copy and sells to people.
But VHS is really lousy, it doesn't have anything near the resolution of the original film.
But hey, not like anyone can do any better, so you put the film back into storage and sell the tapes.
Fast forward a couple of decades, the movie has a huge fan base and they all have BluRay capable devices.
So you dig the old film out of the archive, and you break out a new machine, this one makes BluRays.
You make a new master BluRay disk, you have remastered the film.
You copy and sell it.
Of course, there isn't really one BluRay disk to rule them all, usually they make something in a format that is easy to make other BluRay disk from, same with the VHS tape. But it still involves creating a new higher quality copy from the old film. | dc514f4d-364d-4333-961f-80cef42a8849 |
ql9rq | What do investment bankers actually do? Goldman Sachs, etc. | treedick is speaking about regular banks that give loans..not investment bank.
Let's take Goldman Sachs' Investment Banking division
Basically, they underwrite securities. Facebook is going public, they go to an investment bank to help them raise capital. Investment banks are financial intermediaries. | 785da36a-33be-4aaf-b082-22bab46b8e69 |
2ymg8r | Why is it okay to say racist things about white people and sexist things about men but not the other way around? | If you want the actual explanation for why some people say this, it is the following:
People *claim* that it isn't actually racism because racism = prejudice + power. So if you are a historically disadvantaged group (therefore less power), nothing you do can be racist. It can be bigoted, intolerant, or ignorant - but not *racist*.
Does it make much sense? No, I don't think so. If you want equality, practice equality. Pretty simple. But that is how people try to justify it, anyway.
You also have a non-trivial amount of people who just hear "blacks can't be racist" (or whatever group you want to use) and go around using that to justify obviously racist/sexist actions without understanding the "justification" at all. | 2a689d42-1f95-4a2c-8e71-e659c669c13c |
4jemki | What is bad about universities like the University of Phoenix and DeVry? | They admit anyone who has (or can borrow) the money to pay them, regardless of whether they are ready or able to do the coursework.
They provide subpar education at excessive cost.
Their graduates tend to find themselves not particularly employable, and in a lot of debt. | 8eaa8fd8-1973-4696-85fa-c7f767a17da1 |
4e3rhc | How do wireless speakers work? | Just like radio. There is a transmitter and a reciever. In the case of Bluetooth, the transmitter is something like a smartphone. Then the speaker recieves the signal, and amplifies it. | e9d7d8bd-ae77-451e-ad00-5a9d43bdfe34 |
6ln26q | Why does touching the contacts on a 9-volt battery not shock you, but something like putting your finger in an electrical outlet will? | here ya' go:
_URL_1_
While potential (in this case volts) is 9v, the current is very low. The batteries ability to shock is negligible. As is 120v given low current. However most home circuits are breakered to 15 or 20 amps. More than enough to kill a person who sticks a fork or tongue in an outlet.
As for the difference in voltage vs current, that is described in ohms law. So where a 120vac circuit can provide (let's say) 20 amps, a 240 volt circuit only need to provide 10 amps for the same power. (watts)
That's why may appliances use 240vac. The current necessary to carry is half.
A Van de Graph generator can produce 10's of thousands of volts. The current is negligible. Go ahead touch it.
_URL_2_
Here is a good study on volts x amps
_URL_0_ | 0d3f26fa-52df-45f1-9639-7b362315e5bd |
5eqk1b | The Defense Industry | Here's an article about the top 9 defense contractors in the US and the projects they work on: _URL_0_
As far as I know, they work the same way all government contractors work, mostly, except that they and employees often have special security clearances. They place bids on contracts and the government accepts the best bids. I believe Cheney/Bush was criticized for unfairly favoring Cheney's former company in the bidding process, though. | 4468de88-87b7-4504-aa8a-2f912be6546d |
7t9y38 | how do people deep fry ice cream? Wouldn't it melt? | First of all the ice cream for this is frozen at extremely cold temps, then it is quickly battered and fried, so while the ice cream softens up a little....it is still plenty cold. | 9ff615f5-0393-49c5-824d-790d819dbd06 |
8k3773 | Chromosome 2 and Reproduction | other humans with trisomy mutations can sometimes still reproduce so I don't really see why this would be a problem and likely we just got lucky enough for the trisomy to be mirrored in possibly a sibling on sibling relationship due to the higher chance of both parents having the same mutation. From there the extra chromosome just stuck around because it had a pair. I don't really know, but it's plausible enough, from my understanding, that the initial macro-genetic impacts of the extra weren't significant enough to impact reproductive viability in a natural setting. | 42a21b89-9b5e-47c2-b887-8f617da66c55 |
7nj7s7 | On what grounds can a gaming company sue an individual for creating gameplay hacks? (Aimbots, etc?) | When you pay for software, you're not actually buying it- you're buying a *license* for the right to use the copy that you have.
This may seem like a minor difference, but legally this allows the owner of the software to determine *how* you're allowed to use it.
The details of licensing are found in the EULA, which most people don't read. In practice it rarely crops up, but it gives the software company leverage in their back pocket if they ever need it. Included in the license agreements may be the right to revoke access without notification, the right to collect information about your usage of the software, & c.
_URL_0_ | f3f5db3e-a997-4c5e-ba27-c5c3dd98f6a7 |
33ir5h | Why does my nose get runny when I eat/drink something hot. | Spicy foods irritate the mucus membranes in your head and lungs. Your body reacts to this by making you create mucus, to coat and protect you from whatever may be causing the irritation. You also tear to protect your eyes, which drains into your nose, exacerbating your snot nose.
You can also sweat because your body thinks it's overheating, and is trying to cool itself down.
I always put some hot sauce on my food and over time you gain a sort of resistance. Can be a fun way to win bets. | c07cb1b9-31f4-4515-904f-f26710541018 |
6hif36 | Someone dies before they get a chance to retire. What happens to all of their social security benefits? | US Social Security works less like a piggy bank, and more like a Ponzi Scheme (some critics would argue that it's *literally* a Ponzi scheme, although I think that goes a bit too far).
Unlike most pension plans, citizens do not have individual "Social security accounts" which they pay into while they're working, and later withdraw from when they're retired. Instead, every currently working citizen pays into one big pool, which is used to support citizens who are currently retired.
When a citizen retires, they're not supported by the money paid in by their *own* generation, but by the generations which are currently working. If a veteran police officer gets shot two days before his retirement, nothing special happens to "his social security benefits", because there was no specific package of benefits with his name on them yet. There is, however, a system of benefits for widows and orphans.
[Ida May Fuller](_URL_0_) of Vermont, ~~Social Security Number 000-00-0001~~, began paying payroll taxes into the Social Security system in 1937. She retired in November 1939 (having paid money into the system for three years), and collected the very first monthly social security check in January 1940. She continued receiving benefits for 35 years, until her death at the age of 100. | c859f9cb-711c-4ba2-8cea-783674f4f51f |
3eb2h1 | How much knowledge can the human brain store? | This is a commonly asked question here. Please see [these previous posts.](_URL_0_) If they don't entirely answer your question, you might create a new post with
a more specific question.
Try our handy Search function sometime. :-)
For best results in most cases, use 2 or 3 general, common words
that refer to the key concepts in your topic. | f7d80575-a917-4751-b7f3-26c850c2e71f |
272qw7 | Is Magneto (from X-Men) good or bad? | Think of Magneto (and Charles Xavier) as ideologies.
X-Men has always been a metaphor for people who are different, marginalized, etc.
Thinking back to the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960's (when X-Men was created), you had people advocating non-violent protest (Martin Luther King Jr.) and you had people who were, well, not necessarily violent, but definitely more militant (Malcolm X).
Both had more or less the same goals, but their methods and messages were different.
Charles Xavier is MLK, Magneto is Malcolm X.
They did have to write things in to make Magneto be more towards the "bad" sides when talking about mutant superiority (which is subjective), which isn't related at all to civil rights, but the Professor and Magneto started at the same point and diverged. | f3991db5-caf4-4a5e-b1e0-f31470544949 |
4ujqjx | Why does Bayern Munchen/Munich have the 2 names, and which one is "correct"? | Its official German name is "Fußball-Club Bayern, München e.V.", normally abbreviated to "FC Bayern München" or just "Bayern München".
"München" is the name of the city -- its German name. To English-speaking people, the city is better known as "Munich", so in English-speaking countries the club is known as "Bayern Munich". That's not its official name, but the English version of the abbreviation of its official name.
Of course, "Bayern" is German for "Bavaria", so you might expect the English name to be "Bavaria Munich". But English-speakers have no problem pronouncing "Bayern", so it's left as it is. "München", on the other hand, is really difficult for English-speakers: the sound written "ch" does technically exist in most English dialects but never in the middle of a word like this; while the sound written "ü" doesn't exist in English at all. As a result, English-speakers simply can't pronounce "München" correctly.
If you're in any doubt as to the "correct" form, just look at [their logo](_URL_0_pics/logos/fcb.png) on their [official website](_URL_0_). However, to avoid embarrassing yourself, unless you speak German well, it's probably best to just stick with saying "Bayern Munich". | 59ed0518-c688-4d7b-a90c-3a48768f7d9b |
xrzv1 | Where do TV ratings come from? | The main ratings firm is the Nielsen Company. Hence the term Nielsen ratings.
This works basically the same way a political poll works. There are statistical methods for looking at the way a small number of people answer a question and figuring out how the population as a whole would answer it. Just like they don't have to ask *everyone* who they're going to vote for to figure out that President Obama polls at X percent while Mitt Romney polls at Y percent, they don't have to count every single person watching a program to say this many people watched it.
They pick a sample the same way pollsters do. In this case people sign up to be "Nielsen families" and they're given a diary. They're supposed to track when someone is watching TV and what they're watching, and then report that information back to the Nielsen Company, who figures out how many of their sample are watching a show and then work out how many people that compares to across the whole country using a lot of statistics and math.
One problem with this method is that it relies on the families to tell the truth, and sometimes they don't. Nielsen also uses electronic monitors that track what channel the TV is tuned to, and even has experimented with cameras that would confirm whether the TV's just on in an empty room or whether there are actually people in there watching it. | 5c5d88dd-d011-42b4-910b-78099a57781d |
1ijtzo | What are the main differences between Republicans and Democrats in USA? | full disclosure, I'm a registered democrat and this is a very loaded question, but VERY broadly:
Democrats tend to believe that the solution to problems lies in enabling (forcing) a community to come together to support the poorest/weakest individuals. They try to put policies in place that directly provide money or services to these people at the expense of the more wealthy members of society. The disadvantage is that it puts a disproportionate burden on the wealthy, since they have to pay not only to support their families but also contribute to poorer families. Any system or policy put in place at a government level can be gamed, and it also carries a certain level of inefficiency and bureaucracy. Additionally, individuals don't get to choose which parts of their taxes to pay, so if you don't care about the arts and don't want to support them, a portion of your taxes will still go to fund them. The advantage is that these policies provide greater opportunity for people to rise from poorer classes. People born into poor homes start off with disadvantages - just a few examples would be that they can't afford high-quality food, have to attend schools with less funding, and are more likely to grow up with domestic violence. As a result, they are less likely to go to a good college, and thus less likely to get a good job. The deck is stacked against them, and democrats aim to fight that a little bit, arguing that even if their policies are imperfect, they are worth it.
Republicans believe that these policies should be limited in order to keep them as efficient as possible. They believe that what you earn should belong to you, and that good people will help the poor anyways, but that forcing you to fund certain programs that you may not agree with isn't fair. The argument is that the "American dream" means coming from nothing and making something of yourself, and if you do that then you deserve to reap all the benefits of your determination and hard work. They also argue that rich people and wealthy companies have more money to hire workers, which therefore creates jobs. The disadvantage of this is that once someone is rich, their kids tend to do better, and poor people are stuck by the wayside; a few people climb the ladder but it becomes increasingly difficult to do that, so it is advantageous to the people already in power and harmful to others. The advantage is that wasteful spending is reduced and people can choose what to fund rather than having the government decide for them.
The Tea Party has become a big part of the Republican party, but it's actually quite unique and I think it should be separated out. The Tea Party is vehemently opposed to a lot of government policies. Think Republicans on steroids. However, the Tea Party relies on sensationalizing false facts and figures to make their case. For example, many Tea Party politicians state that the US was founded as a Christian nation, which is explicitly NOT true according to writings from the founding fathers. They often say that programs cost more than they actually do or blame the current administration for policies that were actually created under the previous administration. They do not seem to fact check most of their claims, but they say them convincingly and people assume they know what they're talking about. They refuse to compromise on legislation (which completely obstructs the process of creating laws), and thus make congress unable to get things done, and then use the fact that congress isn't doing anything as evidence when they complain that government is broken.
Historically, Republicans and Democrats have been able to work out their differences to pass programs that are in the public interest while keeping them small enough to minimize their impact on your paycheck. A great example is Medicare, which was passed with bipartisan support in 1965 and helps us pay for care for the people over 65, which is the time when care is most expensive and also the time when people are not working and thus won't have insurance through their employer.
The parties have been growing apart for a while, but the advent of the Tea Party in the last several years has really highlighted their differences, and forced Democrats to be the party of "Big Government" and Republicans to be the party of "Rich Privilege". The people we elect to congress are increasingly more extreme on both sides, so it's harder to reconcile differences and work together to govern. | cd3d2780-72a8-4535-b1dd-9f0cb62cbf7a |
2qev4w | The controversy surrounding the 2000 election (George W. Bush vs Al Gore) | It was an extremely close race, the deciding state being Florida. 537 more Floridians voted for Bush than for Gore, but across the board, in the entire country, Gore got more of the popular vote.
So the supreme court made the decision that since Bush won Florida, the deciding state, by a margin of 537 votes, that Bush had won the presidency.
Somebody Correct me if I'm wrong please. | eeb6c18b-ee3d-4c7b-910b-65e4c7642abb |
6e4rrh | What's the difference between a flash drive and external hard drive? | An external hard disk is called as such because it utilizes a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). One of these drives has a metal platter with different magnetic sections, called sectors, that are read by a small magnetic sensor called a head on the end of an actuator arm. Many people are now moving over to flash storage, however, which is what a flash drive utilizes and thus is named for. Flash storage does not contain moving parts but rather is similar to a large grid of capacitors and transistors that are used to keep data. It is faster to access than an HDD because you do not need to wait for the disk to spin to the correct location. It can decay, however, unlike an HDD. The more an area of flash is written the more it wears out and eventually it will fail. | 6ff7260a-c17d-4377-81c1-ae89abb102f8 |
2i7091 | Why are colleges and universities so different from each other (Yale vs a local community college) but all of the information taught in school is the same for their respected fields ? | I studied physics at a reasonably high-ranked school, and I can tell you definitively that 90% of what I learned that actually stuck was from working with other students, not from lectures. The caliber of fellow students is hugely important in my opinion, and you simply get better students at better schools. I also contest your statement that the information taught is the same. With better professors and better students, more can be covered in the same amount of time, so subjects can be taught more completely and more thoroughly. | 0c93cc6d-80a3-4032-8ab8-96e6a65139ed |
70627f | How do various worms dig into people, and how do we not feel it? | they normally enter through food when they are very very small.
alternately there are some parasites who can enter through cuts that already exist in the skin. | a14c6c20-8882-4bda-8eaa-d5d71f791608 |
4nl418 | why are transgender issues suddenly all over the place? | Causes are fashion for many people. And transgender issues are currently the most fashionable. I say this as someone who fully believes that trans people deserve equality and freedom from persecution, but also as someone who recognises that people clearly bandwagon. | 13e494c2-2a65-4f45-bf7f-d614193126c1 |
1zvc6b | How can clams grow shells? | In a very similar manner to how humans grow bones and teeth. They capture the elements they need to form them from their environment, and react them together in such a way as to deposit a solid mineral in the places they need it. | 05d847b6-c5a4-4530-8551-08cd7ff17db5 |
3ekcq7 | Do News sites still see that I watched their video even if I said screw this when the Ad came up? | If the video loads even for an instant, yes - that counts as a view. It does not technically count as a complete view if you left before the video ends, however, a view in the internet world is counted as an impression.
They will also know if you left before the actual video by tallying up the number of times the ad and the actual video has been viewed (or similar metric). If the number of ad impressions exceeds the number of views, they will know that their ads suck and they need to put it elsewhere 'cause people are not seeing the actual content. | ee62082e-173d-4b16-bfad-bb5de895eb19 |
32v1lm | Black athletes with hyphenated names | No I meant why is it so prevalent in black athletes. I know about hyphenated names with divorced parents.
I want to know why it seems to only occur in black athletes and not in other races IN SPORTS. | 83affbc5-c281-46bc-b756-4c915d58b1c6 |
7pd7t3 | I had a fruit fly wander into my microwave and I decided to nuke him for 3 minutes, for science of course, and in the end the little bugger flew out. How is this possible? | 1. The insect is too small to act as an efficient receiver of microwave energy.
2. There area areas within the machine that get far less energy, and (by moving from hot to not-hot areas) the fly can seek them out. | 450f2b0f-8561-4edc-80fd-4ae81adf2592 |
1wox4m | Why do I get a feeling someone's watching me even when I can't see them? | I've always heard that the brain records and processes every single thing your eyes see. EVERYTHING. Although it sees all, it has to choose what information it presents to your aware mind at the moment in time. Although your brain saw everything when you walked into a new room, there is only certain information that you need to be aware of, and only a certain amount of information you can actually use.
My best guess is you can sense someone is watching you because at some point in the last few minutes your brain actually saw someone...but you just werent aware of it at the time. But because the brain is wired for survival it tries to send messages to you that you should be careful, hence the feeling of being watched.
Thats the way i understand it. | 51cfd132-ecad-4dd0-b862-442d7246f470 |
7u2ipx | what is "old man" strength? | Nobody's mentioned this, so I figured I'd give my $0.02. Old man strength is typically from those who have been performing some form of physical labor for a long time, and have such developed incredible grip strength. This is the part that /u/WOT_IF_UR_LEGS is talking about where it feels as if they can crush your hands. Additionally, what they may lack in raw power, they make up for from years of lifting heavy objects and have developed a proficiency in it so that they may look a lot weaker (old man) than they really are (strength). | 3932351a-287d-4336-b61c-7afd16228ced |
65arm6 | Why Do People Have Fetishes? | I have a bag of frozen peas. I always buy Birdseye, I just prefer that brand, but some people like other brands and that's OK too. If you're having peas with dinner you'll cook them in a pot or in the microwave so you have warm peas in the plate. That's just how it's done, right.
A few years ago I was making dinner on a really hot day, and there was a bowl of frozen peas sat there waiting to be cooked. The bowl was nice and cool, frost on the outside and all. It felt good on my clammy hands. I wondered what they'd taste like frozen, but that'd be weird, cold hard peas, wouldn't it?
Tentatively, I picked a few up and tossed them into my mouth, rolled them around with my tongue and crunched down on a couple. That sensation of going from cool and refreshing to defrosting and releasing that sweet juicy pea flavour were just wonderful.
I often enjoy a mug of frozen peas, much to the scorn and ridicule of my nearest and dearest.
Anyway, I tried a thing and I liked it, even though it might be considered unconventional. | 0281641f-19a0-4853-bee6-56829fdc5dcf |
2c07ic | I've been without an internet connection since June 12th. What's going on in the world? | Most major stuff has already been covered but:
*The largest Ebola outbreak ever is going on right now | dc71679f-7387-41f8-b63c-3f10777acbd4 |
6jh1hs | Why is a mouse more accurate than a joystick on a controller | Because with a computer mouse you move it exactly X distance on the table so the cursor moves Y distance. With a joystick, you essentially 'toggle' the cursors movement in any given direction, for a certain length of time, until the cursor reaches what you need. It's also less accurate because you're dealing with a fixed joystick instead of a mouse that you can move all the way across your desk if you wanted to.
This is my interpretation of it, anyway | fbce97ff-638a-4426-aa04-6747f847ed34 |
57ebex | When was the last time in human history it would be more common to see someone walking barefoot than with shoes or sandals? | It was common up until the 1950s in the south for children to go without shoes. It is still somewhat common in regions with lots of creeks. | 015753dc-8141-49d6-aab0-43278ca37754 |
2otv6y | Why do some drinks seem to pass right through you whereas plain water is retained? | The sugar and electrolytes in Gatorade and other sports drinks actually increase how much water you absorb into your blood stream. This can be perceived as too much fluid and your body will try to get rid of it if you aren't actually dehydrated. Normal water, on the other hand, lacks the sugar and electrolytes that promote water absorption so it stays around in your gut longer. | 7181e943-f075-4719-829d-c2eeaccabc0b |
2bhw0n | How does a disease make a comeback like Ebola or the Bubonic plague have recently? | Ebola has no cure, or even a real treatment. It never really went away. It's just that humans aren't commonly exposed to it (it probably normally lives in bats), and when they are it tends to kill quickly enough that it burns itself out. So you see a series of fairly quick and nasty outbreaks in the areas in which infected bat populations come in contact with humans, in west and central Africa.
Plague is different, in that it's curable with antibiotics. It lives in various rodents, and occasionally breaks out because it too has never really gone away. If it happens in a richer country, it's usually dealt with pretty easily. Isolated cases pop up in the US and Canada now and again, incidentally. | 9755bb7a-962b-4166-9b83-6897f56330a1 |
1u6c55 | How do they clean up the lead at gun ranges? | Nowadays that lead is worth good money as scrap. There are guys that come out with some attachment that fits on a tractor that kind of sifts the lead out of the dirt. The gun range makes big money for letting them come take the lead. | 78e234c8-58d1-4284-85aa-833bbe5d541c |