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What happens to a country's Nuclear Weapons after its government falls? | As far as I am aware the only time something like this happened was during the fall of the USSR. Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan all returned the war heads to Russia as far as I know.When the USSR collapsed, the former communist states handed over their nukes to the Russian Federation. An example would be Ukraine whic... |
Why do ghostwriters ghostwrite when they are clearly talented enough to make a name for themselves? | Some ghostwriters are already famous authors, and write for a paycheck. Some might be modestly successful, but an "auto"biography from someone famous is likely to make a lot more. Also, some writers like their subjects and want to write those stories. People line up to write for Presidents and Politicians. There's also... |
How one would go about training themselves to wake up LATER as opposed to earlier | Keep your room absolutely pitch black until you want to wake up. Light is the main signaler of your body to be awake, so if you have a window, especially a window that faces East , more than likely the sunrise is waking you up. Get some blackout curtains, and keep your room dark. Put your bedside lamp on a timer and us... |
What does it mean when the PM "forms a new government" in the UK political system? | The US equivalent is the "new administration". Different officials are appointed to various positions in the \'new\' government to replace those who lost their positions . ETA: The reason that this is \'new\' is that they 've had to rope in the winning MPs from another party to make up their majority. So this will be a... |
How does Tilt-Shift photography work? What causes the change in the photos? | It's created by literally tilting the lens so part of the picture, that normally would be in focus, is now out of focus. In photography, [depth of field] is the term that refers to how much of the scene is in focus. Close up pictures of small things will have a narrow depth of field and far away pictures of big things ... |
Why can't we drink seawater when we're dehyrdated? | Seawater has about three times the salt content of urine. That means for every cup of seawater you drink, you body has to come up with 2 more cups of water to eliminate itThe amount of salt that is mixed in saltwater is very high, and upon drinking, your body will try and equalize the solute to solvent concentration in... |
Why do people get drunk quicker / easier in high altitudes? (Colorado, etc) | [You don't]. > In a series of studies for the Federal Aviation Administration, scientists simulated the effects of altitude, performing blood alcohol tests on groups of subjects who drank under ground-level and high-altitude conditions. They found no difference.you just feel more drunk because you are "high" at the sam... |
Why did we nuke Hiroshima and Nagasaki instead of hitting Japan's military bases? | > I don't see why hundreds of thousands of people had to pay the price for the actions of their government. In a sense, that's why we did it. The Japanese were basically too stubborn to give up, and the bombings were to terrify them into submission. Ruining the shit out of civilian populations is a good way to do somet... |
Why does time of morning make it harder to get up? | It's likely because of a process called circadian rhythm. The chemicals in your body, the temperature of your body, and the amount of light causes you to either feel sleepy or alert. It's probably an evolutionary response, so the first humans could have the energy to gather food and everything else they needed when the... |
Wi-Fi - How is data loss not an issue? | Ok, first part Yes, data loss absolutely is an issue. You said it yourself, your connection speed goes down as you get further away from the access point. Why? It's because of [forward error correction], basically your device and the access point notice an increase in errors and so negotiate to use a certain amount of ... |
Why does a vacuum 'suck'? | It's not actually that a vacuum sucks, but that any gas will spreed out as there is nothing to contain it. It's just something of higher pressure will move towards lower pressure to even it out.It's not really a "suck," it's a push. But, first, some background. We tend to think of most of the world as "empty." Think of... |
Why do TV shows sometimes have cast that are "featuring" or "with," and included as part of the main cast? | In addition to /u/Teekno's great response, last billing is often used when an older, more established actor takes on a non-leading role. It is important for both the show and the actor to give the impression they are more than just an ordinary cast member. Rich and famous Danny DeVito working on a small project he find... |
Why is it when oil prices were $110/barrel I paid $4/gallon at the pump, but now that they are $60/barrel I pay $3/gallon at the pump? | That is only the price of crude oil, which still needs to be refined in order to be used in your car. The price of crude oil is not going to be exactly proportional to the price of gasoline because the costs to process the crude oil haven't necessarily gone down.In addition to the other answers about the fixed costs of... |
Why is the D.A.R.E program so ineffective? | Having experienced it as a child, I would say the number one reason it is ineffective is it paints all drugs as equally bad and immediate life destroyers. So when one of your friends smokes pot and is totally fine the next day/week/month you do not take what you were told seriously.One of the main problems with program... |
Please could you help me understand the causes (historically/socially/economically) of the current Police Brutality events in the USA. | Most of the issues is widespread media saturation. Stuff like cop shootings boost ratings, not cops doing their jobs. Most cops are doing their jobs perfectly and doing their best to keep all people safe. That said, Yes there are some issues. Some cops take the power to their heads and abuse their powers. There are als... |
Why do different people like different music? | So I was just wandering around Google, looking up the whole "4 chord" theory -- which suggests that there are 4 main chords that morph into the most popular and "hit" songs. I read this really cool article a few years ago discussing the science behind manufacturing "hit music" in the pop genre. I'm going to keep search... |
Why is it that when I oversleep, it is harder to wake up naturally than say if I only get 4 or 5 hours of sleep? | You are waking up in the middle of a sleep cycle.I think I remember that the average sleep cycle is 90 minutes. So if you wake up at the end of a cycle, you'll feel much more rested than if you slept 7 hours, because 7 hours would have you waking up in the middle of a cycle. They sell alarm apps on your phone that you ... |
What causes traffic in bad weather? | It's a combination of a lot of things - There are more cars, since less people take transportation that makes them wet. But this is only a small influence - The average speed is lower because people are afraid of slipping - People keep more distance, thus allowing less cars on the same stretch of road. - When you have ... |
Why has Comcast/time Warner not been sued for a major class action lawsuit for owning a monopoly like Microsoft was? | They are only a monopoly like the power and water companies are. it would also be so expensive for another company to build all the needed infrastructure that even if they took 80% of the customers it still wouldn't be worth it. A single Node cost upwards of 5,000USD for one and you need thousands of these for a large ... |
I know this is a bit outdated, but can someone explain Obama's Public Option to me LI5? | Right now all insurance is run by private companies, who earn a profit. Obama thought it would be beneficial if the goverment also provided health insurance as a public option so people could select between the two. This is common in many European countries. Edit: Below comments expand in a useful way. |
the difference between 100s and short cigarettes | The 100s contain more filter, same amount of tobacco I believeThis appears to be summed up quite well at _URL_0_ |
Why can the US have thousands of nuclear warheads but simultaneously coerce other nations into denuclearization? | Most nations on the planet have signed the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. The NPT says that those non nuclear states will not pursue a nuclear weapons program. In exchange, they get access to nuclear power generation technology -- and , they know that their rivals/neighbors who have signed the NPT won't develop nuke... |
why is turning something off and on again the solution to basically every problem ever encountered? | It's not, but lets assume it is, and lets compare it to you giving someone directions to do something over the phone. If you screw up enough times and they screw up enough times, it's easier to start all over than it is to try and backtrack through your mistakes.Chess analogy. 50 steps into a game, what would be easier... |
Why are there so many new medical breakthroughs in the news, but practically none of them ever become legitimate cures. | Because a breakthrough towards a cure is just one brick in the road, but it's what gets highly touted by the media because it's easy to point out. A team of scientists working in lab conditions come up with something promising and release their findings. Someone in the media sees this paper and turns "Disease has possi... |
How do Anonymous hack the systems of the government and big companies? | Think of it as a house with a 1000 doors. And hackers as locksmiths. By default you just need to turn the knob to open the doors, then depending on the wirewall or antivirus, you can see a brand on the door and the locksmith will say. Oh WEISER! I know hiw to crack them. An other might be an other brand that this hacke... |
How did we have “accurate” maps before we had satellites? | well, we used surveying tools to mark spots on the land, and we used protractors, and pencil compasses, and magnetic compassesTrigonometry mostly, by drawing enormous triangles. This is a decent explanation of how William Lambton and George Everest mapped the Indian subcontinent: _URL_0_ |
How do generic or “store brands” get away with producing products, sometimes in the same factory as the name brand, that are identical to name brand products. | It is called "private label" production, and it actually occurs to the best interests of both companies. It works based on the principle that "name brands" are more desirable, so they cost more and have a higher profit margin than "store brands". However, the store and the producer both realize there are many people wh... |
Why do innocent people need lawyers? | 1. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. So if we concluded that innocent people don't need lawyers, that basically tosses out the 6th Amendment. 2. Innocent people get falsely convicted. It is [estimated] that 4.1% of people on death row have been falsely convicted. There are about 3,000 people on death row in the... |
. The electoral college, popular vote, swing states and why my vote actually matters? | i feel like i post this like every week The importance of the electorial college The EC amplifies the minority opinion. The number of electoral votes each state gets is based on the number of representatives and the number of senators . This allows rural states like Wyoming, Alaska, Idaho to have some say whereas they ... |
Why can stress make you sick? | There are at least two reasons. 1. The parasympathetic nervous system helps build and maintain the body. The sympathetic system breaks down and harms the body . If you are stressed, your body never has a chance to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is needed to fix and repair your body. Plus the chronic... |
How do credit card companies force a return? | Sure, if they get a company that is giving them X too many returns they can say "You'll need to honour these otherwise we withdraw our service". In any on-line business that would be back-breaking and certainly a pain for off-line at the very least> Do they have some sort of leverage? By definition they are pretty much... |
What does CCleaner do to your PC? | Basically CCleaner removes old and unnecessary files from your system to free some space. For example old log files created by windows or all sort of temporary files. Also you can tell CCleaner to clear parts of your browser or most of installed applications. This includes cache, history, old files, reports, saved form... |
How do gas stations determine their gas prices, while varying in cost anywhere from 10-45 cents per gallon? While being directly across the street from another? | Same way as any other business, supply and demand. When you see to gas stations with different prices, the high priced one might have better quality fuel, be easier to get to, a better convenience store, more pumps, or a have loyalty program. Or maybe their supply raised prices faster, and they would rather sell less g... |
What prevents a person from lying about a degree they have and how is the validity checked? | > how can I be stopped? And how do you check to.see if someone really has a degree? Your employer can request that you have your university send them a transcript of your coursework. This is a physical copy of all the grades you earned for all the courses you took, and it's mailed/faxed to them directly from the univer... |
Why is it socially acceptable to spend so much money on your wedding day even if you are not financially stable? | Traditionally, the wife's family pays for the wedding as part of her dowry. It's part of why you needed a fathers permission to marry his daughter. With the breakdown of the traditional family, and changing social norms, it now rests on unprepared couples to handle it themselves. |
why is dimensional lumber not actually sold in the dimensions it is named (ie: a 2x4 is actually 1.5 x 3.5 inches)? | Lumber is rough cut to the actual dimensions. It is then planed to be smooth and to make it more consistent. They take off 1/4" from all sides for the smaller stuff like 2x4's and more as it gets bigger . You can actually buy "full dimension" lumber which is very rough but can look nice for some outdoor applications. |
How does was taking long showers or leaving the tap running waste water? | If we use freshwater from reserves faster than it is replenished, then we will eventually not have enough water to use. Not to mention the fact that cleaning wastewater takes energy. |
Is the spiciness of some vegetables (such as jalapenos and other peppers?) their method of self defense? | What makes a pepper spicy is called capsaicin. Capsaicin is increased when the peppers are stressed. Not enough water, aging, and decreasing nitrogen in the soil for example will stress the peppers. Therefore they become hotter |
Why is the west aligned Shia Islam, but support Sunni Islam? | Whether they are Sunni, Shia, or any other religious denomination is purely incidental. The US Government does not lend support based on compatibility with western value systems. Foreign relations is about geopolitical strategy, not ideals.> Can anyone explain why we are supposedly aligned against Shia Muslims, even th... |
First CBS, now Fox channels. What does Dish Network have to gain from dropping channels? Isn't it only hurting its own business? | Fox tells Dish "pay us more money". Dish says "no". Fox says "fine, then you can't show our channels". Then the two of them play a game of chicken- can Dish hold out long enough that Fox gives in and doesn't require them to pay a bunch more money for channels that no one wants?Dish has to pay CBS and Fox for redistribu... |
Why does every game i install on steam require the installation of that Microsoft DX thing? | _URL_0_ > [ ]There are over 40 different versions of the D3DX library for D3D9 alone, and many more for D3D10 and 11 as well.Each game that uses the D3DX helper library is linked to a specific version.[ ] Microsoft's licensing terms prevent anyone from distributing the files directly, the only way to distribute them is... |
How big do waves in the middle of the ocean actually get? | 5m height is quite common, but since there are many different sized waves traveling at different speeds, sometimes they come together and you get a brief but very large wave. These rogue waves" can reach 20-30m in height]. Some things like [high speed ferries make rogue waves more common] because they produce soliton w... |
Why aren't humans able to stand completely motionless? | Because standing requires motion. At the very least, you need to be alive, and your heart and lungs will be moving to do so. With more complexity, maintaining a standing posture requires constant adjustment to maintain balance in a system that's constantly changing - the computational power and motor coordination requi... |
Why do the back of roller-coasters experience more 'whip' as compared to the front? | "Whip" in kinematics is described as the rate of change of acceleration, also known as *jerk*. Since roller coasters are primarily gravity powered, the front starts going faster downhill while the back is still coming uphill. Which means the back changes from moving up, to moving down faster. |
Why is old technology often painted pastel green on the outside? | If you are talking about household appliances from the 40s through 60s--that was the style. Like stainless steel is was the style from 2000 - 2010 or something. Don't ask me what the style is now. All my shit is old. |
Why can console games contain and directly portay extremely violent stuff that nobody would do irl, but be very subtle on sexual content which are perfectly legal | Because for whatever reason, western society has become more accepting of depictions of violence than it has of depictions of sex. You see the same thing in films, TV, book, and other entertainment media.Touma_Kazusa : Well you just said it. We for the most part will never kill an human in real life but we will do it i... |
why are emotions attributed to the heart instead of the brain? | Your chest can actually start to feel painful during a really emotionally traumatizing moment. I believe this is actually caused by your breathing muscles which is also why your breathing becomes sporadic Hence why they call it heartbreak. Because it feels like its your heart. This could be where some ideas of emotions... |
How do chemical attacks work? ie. The one that recently happened in Syria? | Conventional weapons typically involve explosives as their payload. They explode, the pressure wave and shrapnel cause damage, but then it's done. Chemical weapons replace the explosive payload with one that spreads a specific chemical gas into the air. Once the chemical comes in contact with a person, it reacts in som... |
Why is it both my reading speed and absorption rate are a lot higher when reading stories as opposed other forms of writing? | Think of all the knowledge in the world as a building and rooms contain things that you know or don't know. Every time you learn something new, your brain has to find the hallway or staircase that connects that room to all the other related rooms. The ease with which you can do this depends on the proximity of the new ... |
Why do some planes leave trails in the sky but not others? | It's not the plane, it's the air the plane is travelling through. The more humid the air, the more trails you get. Dry air means fewer contrails. If you see two planes, one leaving a trail and the other not, they are probably travelling at different altitudes with different humidities. |
How is it that our bodies don't leak the smells of our innards? | Your esophagus is closed by a the esophageal sphincter.Your other end is sealed by the anus muscle, sphincter. Of course you can smell it if your body lets it vent. It's called a burp and fart. Apparently, the seal is tight enough to hold in gas. EDIT: correction", 'Our intestinal tract is separated by muscle, fat, ski... |
Why does my mouth taste gross when I'm sick? | One aspect is the body's own immune responses. We have learned that some physiological changes experienced during illness are themselves autoimmune responses rather than directly being caused by the illness. That said, the illness can do such things as: Emit toxins , and cause damage to organ walls which must be repair... |
In British politics, what are the politicians with 'Shadow' in their title e.g Shadow chancellor, shadow foreign secretary. What is their purpose? | They are the official opposition, so the government will have a health minister, the opposition will have someone who "shadows" that minister and in debates etc. asks questions and generally holds that minister to account for decisions that they makeIn a roughly two party system, one party gets the most MPs and forms t... |
what does a physics engine do? Are directx, frostbite, and source all physics engines, and what is the difference between them? And how would make a physics engine? | DirectX is a graphics interface, not a physics engine. Frostbite and Source are game engines that include physics engines. Basically, the physics engine is the part of a virtual environment that simulates the physical interactions between objects in that environment. A basic example of this would be gravity. One simple... |
How come electrical plugs aren't hot when then come out the outlet? | Keeping it fairly ELI5: The heat generated by electricity is due to resistance. Copper has very low resistance. The law of conservation of energy essentially means that energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Only transferred/converted. By resisting the electrical flow, that energy must go somewhere. It is expressed as... |
Why do we crave certain foods? | Not a expert but I think it's just because your body knows what food has what a lot of fat/protein/carbs/calories etc. so you have a big craving for them. For example, let's say you have a pretty bad flu bug, you are sore, tired, coughing etc. Your body wants to recoup what it lost. So you want to eat a lot of fatty fo... |
[US] What could happen if the executive branch just ignored the judicial branch? | > What would happen if Obama did the same thing today? Congress would impeach him. In record time. That's how the checks and balances works, if the president gets too out of line, congress can boot him. |
Is dangerously high volume of music as dangerous for people that has impaired hearing? | The perception of sound isn't what is dangerous, it is the impact of the associated pressure wave on the delicate apparatus of the ear. If the ear is structurally intact, then that impact can damage it whether you are able to perceive sound or not. In other words, whether you can hear or not, you can still blow out you... |
Why is Mars' core not molten anymore? | Because it is small. It did have a molten core, even a magnetosphere but because it's small it lost heat faster. Small things have a larger surface area in relation to their mass than big things, hence when they cool down quicker. |
Why Does Water Soak Upwards, Appearing to Ignore Gravity? | So you understand that gravity is pulling it down. The 'problem' is that it isn't obvious what exactly is pulling the water up! Your answer is the capillary effect. In a very broad sense, water molecules have a negative end and a positive end. Opposite attract, so all those water molecules want to line themselves up so... |
Why is there a dispute over labeling products from the West Bank and Golan Heights areas? They can't be labeled "Made in Israel" anymore. | Under international law, Israeli settlements are considered illegal and not part of Israel. Israel's government has repeatedly been urged to destroy all settlements and return political and judiciary control of disputed areas back to its rightful owners. The EU voted to ban imports of products from outside Israel's int... |
How do geologists determine how much water falls from a water fall? | The same way you measure volume of water that flows down a river. You go to where you can easily determine the cross sectional shape of the river. Then you measure how fast the water is moving. Do some math involving multiplication and perhaps integration over time and there you goThat's actually hydrology not geology,... |
Where does the average human height (say 170cm) fit on the cosmic scale from the smallest known piece of matter to the largest known distance? | Planck length is roughly 10^-35, distances smaller than this are not described usefully by modern physics. The diameter of the observable universe is roughly 10^26. However this value is constantly changing so it's less fundamental than the planck length. Still, your height is about 26 orders of magnitude smaller than ... |
How do my reflexes close my eyes before I can process what happened? | You're made aware of it *after* you've processed it. The bit of you that you're aware of, the bit you think is *you*, your conscious mind.. is actually the last link in the chain. You're brain registers what's happening, takes action *then* tells you what's just happened. This is a great clip from a BBC documentary abo... |
Why does a GPS unit require signal from at least 4 satellites in order to determine its position? | So the way GPS works is that each satellite broadcasts its ID, and the timestamp of its internal clock. Your GPS receiver knows where each satellite is supposed to be, and it can look at the delay in time between the timestamps it sees from multiple satellites to determine its own position . Let's imagine a 2D example.... |
I've seen crabs living under water and also living out of water in the sand on the beach .How can they breath in both environments? | "Crabs" is a huge category with many species. Aquatic crabs live permanently in water and have gills like fish. They can go out of water but only for short periods, but then again so can some fish. There are also terrestrial crabs that have lungs and live on land. These guys can swim around and actually hold a bubble o... |
Why do flies and other insects repetitively go into dangerous situations, such as the exact same spot after being swatted at, are they incapable of learning? | In short, yes, their brains are just far too simple to be capable of learning like this. A fly has very simple sense - > action pathways. While it's possible for certain pathways to be reinforced, this isn't going to happen just from a couple of swats. It's not even clear that the fly's internal map would cover a large... |
Why do we wake up after falling down in a dream? | Dreams where you fall and die or similar deaths will trigger a response from your Brain sending signals to your body as a panic response. Think of those as "HEY WAKE UP WE CAN\'T BE DEAD". Same thing happens when you're falling asleep and sometimes you get that reaction. Your body falls asleep faster than the brain and... |
Why do the Japanese like the USA even though 71 years ago they got nuked twice by the USA? | Because we then helped rebuild their country and became a significant trading partner for the next half century In general though, the speed with which the beligerants of WWII became allies is pretty historically impressive. The unification against the USSR certainly helped. |
Why is it easier to look at the Sun with one eye than it is with two? | the total amount of light your brain says is safe to take in is averaged across both eyes. closing one reduces the perceived light intake to ~1/2 and said brain says, "it's cool fam you can look and not damage your retina." but your poor retina still gets the same amount of light and damage anyway. if you do look at th... |
Why is it harder to open a refrigerator door the second time after closing the door to the refrigerator before hand? | The warm air that just flowed in when the door was open cools off quickly. That makes it shrink, creating a slight vacuum. Since the fridge is not totally air-tight, additional air is sucked in and the vacuum goes away after a few seconds. |
If you are flying in an airplane and it is storming, can you get struck by lightning if you are flying above the clouds? | Lighting hits planes all the time as most of the time it just passes thru the planebut some times it can make the plane explode.[the plane explode ] |
Can we please try to keep questions in this subreddit limited to those that actually require simplified answers? | That's not an appropriate question for askReddit, which is ostensibly for more thought-provoking questions. It would be better for something like r/answers. |
Why does English no longer have a strong culture of poetry? | Perhaps the definition of "poetry" is too narrow? I find the song lyrics of many bands and artists, and some of the dialogue of the greatest movies and TV shows, to have all of the same literary qualities as great poetry. Just because the "poem" as a standalone expression of art is not as popular, does not mean that po... |
What happens to our bodies after we're buried? | It depends on the climate where the body is buried. In extremely dry places there have been almost perfectly preserved bodies found after thousands of years. In wetter climates, in a strong wooden coffin, it's more like 10-50 years depending on the type of coffin. |
when doing deep breathing exercises, why do we breath in through the nose and out through the mouth? | A guy asked my football couch back in high school why he always yelled "in through the nose out the mouth" when we ran during the start of practice. He told us one day to reverse it, half the team passed out before the first mile was done.For me when running in the winter it helps warm the air before it hits the lungs.... |
What's happening when my muscle visually twitches? | If you mean like a spasm then it's an electrical signal sent to your muscle. Which leads to why was it sent. That is the real mystery. |
Why is it harder to swallow nothing in quick succession compared to swallowing liquid/food? | The muscles in your throat have to contract more when there is no food to push against, meaning each swallow involves more muscle work/movement and takes longer to complete.swallowing works by creating a space in a tube of muscles in which is the food you're swallowing. the muscles then move this created space down the... |
Why is it called an emergency brake if most people only use it for parking? | In the UK it's called a handbrake. Although in some cars it isn't hand operated. With an auto transmission most have a transmission lock when in park so the car is unlikely to move. The foot operate brake pedal is usually hydraulic. The parking or "emergency" brake is cable operated. If the hydraulic brake servo fails,... |
How do certain items like game consoles and apple products, have a fixed price which does not differ between retailers. | The authorization to sell a product is done via contract. Part of that contract can be that you cannot discount below MSRP, or can dictate the ways in which you can, how much you can etc. So..if you want to sell Apple products, you have to live by their distribution agreements and policies. This isn't a limit on compet... |
Why isn't it possible to reuse candles with the used wax? | You could take any leftover wax and reform it around a new wick if you wanted to. But most of the wax is gone because that is what actually burns. The wick is just a tool for keeping the fire close to the wax and for bringing the wax up to the flame like a straw.There shouldn't be any wax left, what kind of candles are... |
Guy Debord's concept of the 'spectacle' | It's like when someone is getting their picture taken just for facebook. The person does not act naturally but rather how he wants to appear to be. This translates into other aspects of life as well. The relationships to things have become represented by images in our heads -they were put their by advertising and film ... |
What causes "pins and needles" in feet and why? | It's pain from return of circulation to the nerves. If you sit or lie in certain positions you can occlude the blood supply to a limb, or just to its nerves. Once circulation is returned they send out signals of distress to indicate a potential problem. When the blood has had time to oxygenate the tissues and remove to... |
Why is it so difficult to have automatic translations? | > I know it has something to do with context and the different meanings of words This is pretty much it. When you use the word "crown", how do I know if you mean a "fake tooth |
How does YouTube's auto-generated subtitles work? | Google took hundreds of hours of accurately subtitled video and fed it to a machine learning program that linked sound snippets to written words statistically. Then they had it run through YouTube matching sounds in videos to words, creating subtitles. They then flagged incorrect subtitles and fed that information back... |
How do corporations let themselves get to the point where they need to close 10s-100s of stores and lay off 1000s? Shouldn't they scale back slowly/over time? | For large corporations 100 stores is a little at a time. Closing stores actually costs money, it is more efficient to cut off 100 property costs at onceIn many cases, the corporations used debt to fuel the growth and the growth was not sustainable as the corporation scaled its operation. Once you have millions in debt,... |
Why do certain vibrant colours make your eyes hurt when looking at them? | Ever since the blue LED x-mas lights came out I have called them "hurtyoureyes" blue. I wouldn't even mind a ELI25 as to why they are so vibrantI am slightly colour "blind" in the red-green and even i find red lights very intense. How do people with normal colour vision stand seeing such bright colours? I pity them. *t... |
Why are there different grammar/spelling rules for "It's" and "what's"? | "*It's*" actually means "*it is*" even though lots of people use "*it's*" to indicate possession. For example, the sentence "*the dog grabbed it's ball*" is grammatically incorrect because what you are actually saying is "*the dog grabbed it is ball*" which obviously does not make grammatical sense. Instead the sentenc... |
Negative gearing and the Australian real estate market | Rich investors bought property via bank loans and rented them out. If rent income is more than the interest expense on the bank loan, they generate a net income and so pay tax on it. However, when rent is less than the bank loan cost, the investor makes a loss. When then computing their tax for the year, they can net o... |
How did the first being(creature/species) came into existence? | There is a lot of debate on the subject. And it very strongly depends on what you define as a creature. Evolution from microbes and proteins in the ocean is the answer to where larger creatures come from. Where the proteins came from is up for debateWe don't know. We have a theory, or perhaps set of hypothesies, called... |
Why do tuna & salmon have such a distinct taste? | I think you're a bit wrong about white fishes : some white fishes have very distinctive taste and/or texture, like ray or flounder, for instance. I think the reason we find some white fishes indistinguishable is because of the way we eat them : boiled with a lot of sauce , or as breaded fish. Eating them raw, for insta... |
Why does Amazon allow users to write reviews for products they have never purchased? | If I'm not mistaken you can see if the reviewer has purchased the item or not so you can take the review itself with a grain of salt. They allow people to do this because they realize people can purchase items outside and Amazon, they want to give these people a voice as well, whether it is to warn someone or praise a ... |
How do surgeons prevent major blood loss during coronary artery bypasses? | It is clamped. The heart is then stopped with a potassium solution . The sewing of another vessel is performed, then the heart is eventually started once againBlood flow is diverted to a heart-lung machine during surgery, which allows the heart to be stopped and operated on. |
What happens in the brain when you're desensitized? | Basically, anything in your brain happens because some stimulus is fed to neurons and if the stimulus is above a certain threshold, the neurons fire and cause your response. If you - for example - take cocaine, your brain releases lots of dopamin which makes you feel good. However, you body "knows" that this isn't norm... |
Why were Milkmen once a thing in America, and why did they stop being a thing? | Milkmen have been a thing since long before refrigeration existed. You can even see it in things like "Fiddler on the Roof" which is set in the early 1900s and it was a well established job for a long time before that point. The local dairy would deliver milk every day to people who could not raise their own cows and t... |
Why do our bones crack? | Do you mean like when people 'crack' their knuckles? If so, they're not actually cracking. It's the space in the joint expanding and synovial fluid rushing into that space. That creates the feeling and 'popping' noise. |
How do cats always land on their feet | They do it by simultaneously manipulating the moment of inertia of their front and back haves. SmarterEveryDay has an excellent video with slow-motion explaining this [Cat Physics]Black magicks and a very good sense of balance. They instinctively known how to twist their body so that their feet will be facing down duri... |
What will AMD's GPUOpen allow developers to do? | Right now, drivers and applications for video cards is like the Dorothy and the Wizard in the Wizard of Oz. When you compile or use an application, you are speaking to a giant head that only tells you things it thinks you want to know or access. The difference from the metaphor is that you KNOW there is a man behind th... |
Why do we feel nauseous when we watch someone else vomiting? | In the social environment in which humans developed if one member ate something poisonous then likely the others did as well. It would then be helpful to also vomit to avoid being sickened too.I remember seeing on a show once that It's like a natural survivor built in skill, body reacts in turn to seeing someone sick a... |
The concept of women "syncing up" their periods. | They don't, it's a myth. Considering cycles range from 25-30 days and can last from 3-9 days in duration, they don't actually sync up, they just gradually overlap for a time and then they go back to being at different times. Think of it like being in the left hand turn lane. You watch all the blinkers and for a few sec... |
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