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Lots of animals, including primates, are territorial and are hostile to outsiders.Could this fact go some way to explain xenophobia and racism in humans. | [removed] | Probably not. They are territorial to those not part of their direct social group, they don't divide among lines of "similar to me good, different to me bad". |
why do so many countries between Asia and Europe end in "-stan"? | e.g Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan | It's Persian for "land." Hence, "Land of the Afghans," "Land of the Uzbeks," "Land of the Kazakhs," etc.
Pakistan is a bit of an odd one out because there isn't a people called the "Paks." Pakistan is an acronym for **P**unjab, **A**fghania, **K**ashmir, **S**indh, and Balochi**stan**, which are the regions that make up Pakistan. "Pak" also happens to be Pashto for "pure," so it works out nicely. |
If they took a multivitamin and ate 100 calories of protein and fat per day, about how long would an average, healthy-weighted person be able to survive? | [removed] | Not very long as the energy gained through eating (the calories) will be massively overshadowed by general energetic demands needed by vital organ function (heart, brain, lungs, etc.) as time goes on. Now initially they may be okay-ish through the burning of fat and muscles (atrophy) for an emergency supply of energy, but I don't see them making it past 1-2 months (depends on metabolism and other things, hence the wide range).
This is all speculation of course, this is definitely open for debate! |
How does the stomach work and pass food in zero gravity? | Doesnt the stomach need gravity to force digestive food to move on to the small intestine? Would you end up with a lot more air moving through the tract as a result? | Our digestive system does not use gravity. Otherwise, digestion wouldn't work when laying down overnight. Our intestines use muscles to squeeze matter into the right place. |
Why do Americans put so much faith in their constitution? Why should a 200 year old document be the be all and end all of what is good? | As a Brit, it seems that in the US "unconstitutional" is pretty much the worst thing something can be. Why is this document so sacrosanct and why shouldn't something be a good idea just because it goes against it? | It was the founding principles of this country, and it has served us well so far. It's not so sacrosanct that it can't be changed though, this is what the amendment process is all about. If we find that the constitution has failed us in some way, congress can create an amendment to it to realign it to a changing world.
It *created* the union - thus it is what created the United States, it was not a law we adopted into an existing country, but rather a law which established that country by its adoption by member states. It creates congress, it establishes what powers states may *not* have (eg, states cannot mint their own money), it creates the presidency, it creates the judicial system, it makes all states equal, and importantly ***it explicitly allows itself to be amended***. The creators of this document knew they were not infallible, and that they could not predict what the future holds, so they created a way for the document to evolve with time.
Why do we still use it? Because it still represents the best form of government we've been able to conceive so far. If we wanted to eliminate it, we could not claim to be the same country. |
can you explain to me tipping policy? | *Waiters and waitresses in sit-down restaurants:* 15%-20%. You tip closer to 15% if they did an average job and you tip closer to 20% if they did an excellent job.
An important note on this is that if you are using a credit/debit card and add the tip incorrectly, the waiter will get whatever surplus amount is in the "total" area and not the tip that you wrote in. For example, if the meal is $100 and you want to tip $15 but accidentally write $105 on the total line, the waiter will only get a $5 tip.
*Walk-in fast food restaurants or pizza places:* you do not have to tip unless you want to. Sometimes the receipt will say "tip." Unless I am feeling generous I put a "--" through that line.
*At a hotel:* You are supposed to tip anyone that helps you bring your luggage to your room, and anyone that brings something that you called for (e.g. an extra towel or extra blanket) to your room. I usually tip them a few dollars.
*Bar:* Make sure to tip the bartenders as well. I usually tip around 15%.
*Whenever someone delivers food (e.g. a pizza) to your house/apartment:* tip around 15%-20%. I usually tip closer to 30%.
You also should tip the dealer at a *casino, stylists at hair salons, and taxi drivers.* |
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What would happen if the US government secretly printed billions of dollars of currency and put them into circulation? | The Federal Reserve was effectively printing $80+ billion each month through most of 2013. |
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Why are films shot at 24fps? Isn't that low? Why was The Hobbit unusual at 48fps, when televisions are currently at 120 or even 240 hertz? | I seriously doubt the source signal from a cable box is 240 frames a second, so how does a 240hz television achieve 240hz? Does it create its own "fake" frames by blending real frames together?
I understand the difference between refresh rate and frame rate (I think): if a TV has 120hz refresh rate and is showing a 60fps video, it will simply display each frame twice.
But how is that any different from showing each frame once, but for twice as long? Etc.
I feel like it's such a big can of worms, I'd love it to be ELI5.
EDIT This is a better way to ask this question:
Why does 48fps look "fake" in a theater, while 60fps doesn't look "fake" on a television set? My TV tells me when I hit the "info" button that I'm getting 60fps of video. Is my TV just wrong? Is it just faux-60fps, eg 30fps but with double the frames? | Because we are used to it. Yes 24 is low, but anything higher gets this weird "cheap" feeling because soap operas are the only thing shot at high frame rates. |
How did early civilizations introduced money into their barter driven society? | Imagine you have a group of people who solely trade their goods (meat, vegetables, etc) through barter. Somewhere down the line, a decision is made to manufacture tokens by an authoritative entity (e.g. government) and everyone somehow agrees to a token's value, for example, 1 sheep = 1 tokens, 1 cow = 2 tokens.
How are these manufactured tokens/coins **initially** introduced into the group?
An "initial offering" to everyone or a select few for example? Would there be a need to have intermediary currency, like a raw material such as gold, so that the authoritative entity could say: "Trade your gold for this coin, it's more handy"? | As a side note, most anthropologists now reject the idea of a barter driven economy. Instead, most believe that pre-monetary economies were likely gift economies, with barter reserved for trading with outsiders, who perhaps couldn't be relied on to give a gift in turn.
As such, commodity money likely emerge as whatever good was universally enough desired, to be a good medium for exchange. You don't need this to be enforced from the top down. The need for some form of currency likely increased as humans settled into larger and larger groups, getting to the point where a gift economy was no longer feasible. Commodity money could be used, just because everyone wanted the commodity it was made of, and could rely on being able to exchange it again for goods or services they needed. |
How come we can not feel the heat of the inner earth if we are only 18 miles above it? | For the same reason we don't burn to death when a steel forge is fired up from a mile away. The asthenosphere's temperature is between 300 and 500 degrees Celsius. The earth's crust, from the surface to the asthenosphere, is 30 to 50 miles thick. What's more, the earth's crust has an extremely low thermal conductivity. No material exists that has a remotely sufficient specific heat capacity to transfer 500C of heat through 18 miles of (highly insulating) earth. |
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Why's the piece of lumber called a 2x4 when it isn't 2" x 4"? | Oh god dont get me started.
Here in the uk, i went to a woodyard and found some "2 by 4", meaning 2 inch by 4 inch.....except it is actually 95mm x 45mm. They dont call it 95x45, because apparently everyone 'knows' that when they label it 2 x 4, it isn't.
Fine....ok, so what i want is about 10 feet of it, so I ask how much per foot. They wont tell me because the law says they have to price it in meters. So i work out that i will need 3 meters......but they wont sell me 3 meters because to wood is only supplied in multiples of 4 feet. So i have to buy a 'standard' length which is actually 12 feet , which they then convert to meters, and then multiply that by the cost per meter to give me a price.
This apparently is done to help the customer.
Edit. Maths |
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difference between air-to-air, anti-ship etc missiles. What is diffrent about all the different missiles? | Missiles are different sizes with different speeds, weights and explosive power to go along with their purpose. I would assume an air to air is quicker and harder to flare then other missiles while a air to ship is bigger and probably packs more of a punch then normal missiles. |
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How was the very first letters and numbers on computers created and displayed on screens? | Well, that's actually two different questions. Early computers displayed their outputs through many devices that weren't actual screens, like [a type of vacuum tube called a Nixie tube](_URL_3_) or [a form of typewriter that could be remotely controlled by a computer signal, called a Teletype](_URL_2_).
Early "screen" displays were vector-based; essentially they were oscilloscopes with CRT screens that used analog circuits to control the beam deflection in ways that could show information; [this one's pretty fancy](_URL_1_). Later on they got more specialized with the circuits until they could replicate on a CRT screen what you'd usually see on a teletype, and became known as "glass TTYs"—TTY being the acronym for teletype. [Here's an influential one.](_URL_0_) After that things got more and more like modern computers, although making LCD flat screens cheap enough to be everywhere was a great improvement—I like having a desk again. |
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Why do companies have 'values' ? | [removed] | I believe to lure customers.
If company 1 and 2 sell the same product for the same price but company one is committed to recycling or hiring veterans ext most people would buy company ones product.
At least that's what I've always been told. |
How does the American President election works? | [removed] | Right now, this is just the 2 major political parties choosing their nominee. It's confusing and you can learn about this later.
The president is elected in November. Each state's votes will be counted. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state gets all of the state's electoral votes (which is based on population, each state gets 1 electoral vote for every member of congress representing the state. It works this way in 48 out of the 50 states. The 2 other states split their electoral votes based on the public vote, but they are small states, and so only have a few votes).
Whichever candidate makes it to 270 electoral votes wins the election. |
Why are pickup trucks, even ones with more than 100k miles, so expensive? | I understand there is a demand because contractors need them to run their businesses, but is that all? I'm in the market for a truck and a new, mid-sized, 4wd pickup is $30K minimum. | Pickups are used heavily by small businesses, small businesses don't tend to upgrade until they have to - in this case "until they have to" usually means "until it's not economical to repair the truck"
Unlike with a family car, which you may change every 2-5 years, a company will generally buy a pickup either new or nearly new, then just run it until it doesn't go any more... it's only being used to haul stuff around, there's no upgrade requirement: it either runs or doesn't, and by the time it doesn't it's usually scrap.
This means there aren't many running high mileage trucks up for sale. Combine this with good demand for used trucks (because they're useful enough that at $3000, everyone would just get one) and the price goes up.
In short: lots of people want a truck, and nobody sells theirs once they have it. Low supply and high demand pushes prices up. |
Why does the United States lack efficient public transportation? It's nearly impossible to go to places without renting a car. | In Europe and developed nations in Asia like Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc. You can pretty much go anywhere using public transportation. Why not the US? | It depends on where you are. In New York, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle, public transportation is a great way to get around. It's not viable for most of the country because the US is too spread out for public transit to be effective. Public transit is only effective if you can serve a lot of people with your bus stops. Japan has a population density of 873 people/mi^2. England has a population density of 1014 people/mi^2. The United States has a population density of 90 people/mi^2.
Our cities are spread out further too- the distance from Portland to San Francisco is about double the distance from Dublin to London. Things are better in the north east, so you do have viable transit between Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, but that doesn't really help people in Chicago or Memphis. |
Why do only female mammals produce milk from their breasts to nurse young? Males have nipples too, wouldn't it be helpful energy-wise for a species if parents took turns? | Males have nipples because for roughly 2 weeks in the womb we all develop as female. After that sex begins to define itself and work on breasts and a vagina is indefinitely halted.
Nipples are only the exit hole for milk, for males to produce milk we'd also need mammary glands. Not to mention milk production is tied to reproduction, too. So males would need to have periods of fertility, like ovulating females. |
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Why can't some people remember dreaming? | Some people have vivid dreams where they can remember every detail and they are aware of their surroundings. Personally I rarely remember even dreaming at all! Why could this be? Does it ever change? | prefrontal cortex isint active while in REM (dream sleep)
the prefrontal cortex deals with whats "real" and whats "fake", you can imagine how hard it would be to remember that your dreaming when you dont even know if its real or not so your brain decides that what you experience is null and void.
certain events in dreams can trigger the thought of asking "is this real?" though, so people who do not experience those events wont remember dreams very well |
How is it that Fox are seen in America as non-liberal when they air shows like Simpson and Family guy that often depict liberal views? | Im a brit by the way so please excuse me if this comes off as ignorant. | You're confusing Fox with Fox News. They are both owned by the same company, but are different channels. |
Is there a known reason why music has a different feel when you're falling asleep? | [removed] | Different effects are experienced as a hypnagogia between wakefulness and sleep. This often surreal state we experience is sometimes described as "the borderland of sleep". This is induced by neurotransmitters such as serotonin, and hormones, such as melatonin and adenosine. During this shift, there is a mild blend of sleep cognition, i.e. dreamlike, and the senses still transmitting information, i.e. sight or sound, which can give it a surreal, drifting quality.
Edit: although we usually have our eyes closed. Some people occassionally experience visual hallucinations in this phase. |
Why can't a citizen claim that they felt their lives were in danger by a cop and take defensive measures? | If you are asking about the United States, citizens can claim self-defense against officers. The legal standard varies from state to state- are you interested in one in particular?
In some states there is an elevated standard if the assailant is an officer, requiring actual imminent danger rather than a reasonable fear or belief (the standard for self-defense). Here are a few examples I found in responding to a similar question:
*State v. Kraul*, 90 N.M. 314, 318 (N.M. Ct. App. 1977) ("The right of self-defense is not barred simply because the other person in the affray is a police officer.")
*State v. Hutchinson*, 959 P.2d 1061 (Wash. 1998) (self-defense instruction in case involving shooting of two police officers)
*Brown v. Commonwealth*, 497 S.E.2d 527, 530 (Vir. 1998) ("It has long been held in Virginia that where an officer attempts an unlawful arrest, the officer is an aggressor which gives the arrestee the right to use self-defense to resist so long as the force used is reasonable.")
*Boyd v. State*, 406 So. 2d 824 (Miss. 1981) (reversing conviction for assault on a police officer because the trial court failed to instruct the jury on self-defense) |
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Why do I feel more comfortable sleeping with the door closed? | Maybe you feel that there is less of a chance of someone attacking you while you sleep. The sound of the door opening would alert you. |
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If you already have a cold, are you immune from catching another one on top of it? | [removed] | No: its called a superinfection. Its actually pretty bad because your body has to divide its resources to basically fight a war on two fronts. It would make you a lot sicker, and last longer. |
If my dad dies and my mom remarries a new guy, and becomes my stepdad then my mom dies, and my stepdad remarries and becomes my stepmom. How does this work? | A step parent is someone who is married to your parent. Your step dad and this new woman would have no relation to you, even as step parents. |
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Why do some companies have many "smaller" chains within the main chain (Kroger) while others are one national chain across the country/world (McDonald's)? | Well Kroger got big by buying up many smaller companies, whereas McDonalds is a franchiser that licenses and sells it's goods/land to independent franchisees. Totally different business models.
For example, when Kroger would move into a new market they wouldn't open up stores to compete, they would buy stores and keep their names so they didn't need to waste time and money on building a brand.
When McDonalds moves into a new market they buy up land and find franchise partners to run the locations. |
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If you stir something long enough, is there some reason it won't separate if you keep stirring? | OK, so. think paint. When you buy paint at the store they tint it and shake it up. If they shake it and mix long enough, is it guaranteed to be the same consistency of tint and chemical compound throughout the entire can? Or is it guaranteed to always have sections that are different.
To scale it up a bit, I'm thinking of a stew or chili. If you stir it long enough I'd wager that EVENTUALLY, you'd have carrot, potatoes, beef and celery all separated into sections just by random chaotic happenstance. So could the same thing (separation) happen to something on a smaller level? Or is there some reason that paint or some other substance stays uniform throughout?
Edit: Grammer | Particles of paint are sort of like marbles. Let's say you are drawing marbles one at a time from a bag containing one white (W) marble and one blue (B) marble. You could draw the following:
W-B
B-W
In each case, all marbles of each color are grouped together. What about if there are two marbles of each color? Then you have:
W-W-B-B
W-B-W-B
B-W-B-W
W-B-B-W
B-W-W-B
B-B-W-W
Only the first and last sequence have all the marbles grouped according to color. That means each time you randomize the order there is less of a chance that all the marbles of each color are grouped together. The odds of this happening go down as you add more marbles. If you have 100 marbles of each type, you would have to randomize the order a very large number of times before you happened to group all marbles of each color.
Paint particles are pretty much the same as marbles, except that a drop of paint may have something like 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules in it. The chances of randomly arranging the particles and having all particles of each color grouped together is astronomically low. So low that even if everyone on earth mixed paint their entire life, no one would ever notice even a tiny amount of paint separate into the different colors. |
In older 60-70s films showing fake blood, why was the colour portrayed so bright and inaccurate? | What you're seeing is what filmmakers call "Kensington Gore", which originated in the Hammer Horror films of the 60s. It was originally formulated by retired pharmacist John Tynegate. It's made from golden syrup, water, corn starch, and a mix of red, yellow, and blue food colouring. The cheaper film used in these low budget horror movies of the time exaggerated the red colouring. This formula was also used in The Shining's infamous elevator scene.
In the late 70s, Dick Smith, a makeup artist, created the modern blood formula still used today. It's essentially the same formula as Kensington Gore, but uses Lake Pigments or food colouring mixed with zinc oxide or non-dairy creamer. It also uses either Kodak Photo Flo, lecithin, or non-bleach detergent to break the surface tension so it spreads more evenly.
Black and white films used to use chocolate syrup. Hitchcock used this most notably in Psycho. It showed up better, and looked more realistic, in monochrome than the red stuff did. Fake blood has historically been food based as it's non-toxic for the actors.
I recommend checking out [Filmmaker IQ's](_URL_0_) video on the history of fake blood in cinema. |
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How come tanks only have one cannon? | I'm wondering why tanks come with only one cannon since it seems like their structure could easily support two.
Being such expensive vehicles, i think two cannons per tank would be a better investment than fielding two tanks for the same ammount of firepower.
| Having two tanks each with one canon means that you can engage two separate targets at the same time. Also, have you seen how cramped a tank's interior is? No way there would be room for a second gun.
_URL_0_ |
Why do surgeons use Mr/Mrs/Miss etc rather than Dr? | I believe this only happens in the United Kingdom, its down to tradition. In the past they didn't get a degree and study to become a doctor, instead they became an apprentice and then took an exam to confirm knowledge.If they passed they got a degree, but not a diploma, so they were unable to use the title 'Dr'.
Nowadays, they are medically trained and have diplomas, but due to the traditions of the profession they do not use 'Dr' although they are technically entitled to.
Source: _URL_0_ |
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Why did a radical Islamist behind a school attack shout "It is for Daesh" if "Daesh" is a horrible insult? | [deleted] | > Daesh is an acronym for the Arabic phrase al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant)
Maybe is has some other meaning but it seems its just an acronym
So, yeh, he's pretty much saying "for ISIS"
Edit: Further searching I found this from an article
> The word is an Arabic acronym of al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa ash-Sham – meaning the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams – but Daesh when spoken sounds similar to the Arabic words for "the sowers of discord" (Dahes) or "one who crushes underfoot" (Daes).
They dislike it because of the sound |
Aren't all games RPGs? | The definition of Role Playing Games is very unclear. Considering the Wikipedia definition, all game are RPGs. I really need an explanation for the genre. | The key is that in a true RPG you're *playing the role*, not just *playing the game*.
In a lot of games out there, you might HAVE a role but you're not truly PLAYING that role. Look at the old classics like Space Invaders where you're a laser cannon that can move back and forth. You can't have a conversation with your support crew, you can't pick up and move stuff around, you don't control anything at all about your existence except moving left, moving right, and firing. Your role as a laser cannon is completely restricted and rigid. So you play the game and completely ignore the role.
Same applies to other games like golf simulators - you can't control much at all beyond swing and club selection. Your character has no personality, no relationships with others and no existence beyond the golf course. Sure, you have the role of a golfer, but you're just swinging clubs, not playing the role.
Even big recent games like StarCraft II don't allow you to interact in a way of your choosing. You get lots of cut-scenes, sure, but they're entirely scripted. You can pick what research you want, but it doesn't affect your "role" at all.
Compare this to a true RPG where you are immersed in the game and its associated story, and you can influence that story through your choices and your interactions with others. You have the ability to select how you want to approach various situations and not everything is scripted. You can be the evil guy out to slay every husband and boink every female you come across, or the good guy paladin type who does his best to support those around you. By selecting a role and then playing the game in a way that's compatible with it, you can make choices that directly affect how others perceive you.
In a true RPG, the role you select for yourself *matters*. |
What is admin/Appdata/Roaming for? Why is it so hidden considering how often it is needed to access. | Whenever I need to install some plugins to various programs, add some libraries, export or import settings or user configs it is usually in this folder. Why can't this stuff be in program files / why does Windows make it kind of unnecessarily hard to access? | _URL_0_
> **Roaming**. This folder (%appdata%) contains data that can move with your user profile from PC to PC—like when you’re on a domain—because this data has the ability to sync with a server. For example, if you sign in to a different PC on a domain, your web browser favorites or bookmarks will be available.
> **Local**. This folder (%localappdata%) contains data that can't move with your user profile. This data is typically specific to a PC or too large to sync with a server. For example, web browsers usually store their temporary files here.
> **LocalLow**. This folder (%appdata%/…/locallow) contains data that can't move, but also has a lower level of access. For example, if you're running a web browser in a protected or safe mode, the app will only be able access data from the LocalLow folder.
Writing to the Program Files directory requires administrator privileges. As a security feature, Microsoft introduced a feature in Windows Vista called UAC, which forces the user to give permission whenever a program wants to do things that require administrator privileges. This is meant to prevent malicious software from modifying your programs.
By placing the settings and libraries in the AppData directory instead of the Program Files directory, you don't need to give permissions every time a program wants to change them. |
; who buys a stock when you sell it? | [removed] | Who sells a stock for you to buy?
Who buys a stock when you sell?
The same group that buys stock when you're selling, sells stock when you're buying
Other traders!
Almost every trade on the market is between other traders, be they HFT computers, big mutual funds, or individuals like yourself. Very very rarely does the trade involve the company the stock is for, generally only in the case of buybacks which are a relatively small in the scheme of things |
Why does "won't" need an apostrophe when it comes from "will" and "not"? | [removed] | Yarr, ye forgot yer searchin' duties, for ['twas asked by those what came before ye!](_URL_0_) |
David Cameron appears to be deeply unpopular. How was he/his government re-elected? | Canadian here, so I'm not super familiar with the UK electoral system. I understand that there may be issues regarding representation in the current system that may have affected the outcome?
Edit: So I gather Cameron isn't as unanimously unpopular as I was lead to believe. What segments of the population is he unpopular with and which strongly support him, and why? | Parliamentary politics is setup in such a way that a person who has roughly 30% of the vote can wield 100% of the power. Given that you are going to have anywhere from 3-8 parties in a parliamentary system you have shattered support. Although maybe Cameron receives 40% of the support you might look at that as 60% of the people don't approve of David Cameron. But it also might mean that 70% don't approve of Labor, 90% don't approve of that racist party, and 95% don't approve of the Green Party.
The person who won was likely the most popular party... despite not having unanimous support. But honestly, would it really be a democracy if a person had 95% approval in an election? |
How do people take a song, take out certain instruments or vocals? | I've been wondering, what programs can do this, figure out what each instrument and such is, and turn that sound down. Any help would be super!! Your Beautiful!! =D | There's no way to do it perfectly outside of having access to the individual tracks. A common method for isolating vocals is phase cancellation. Explaining how it works is a little involved, so Google is your friend if you want to learn more. How well it works varies from song to song, depending on how it was originally mixed.
In terms of specific programs, there's a lot you can do with Melodyne DNA. It's most often used for tuning, but in polyphonic mode, it can isolate multiple notes within a track or mix (again, with varying degrees of success depending on numerous factors), which can then be manipulated. I've used it to remove piano bleed from a vocal track, for example. This isn't exactly ideal either, but it's pretty useful sometimes. |
How do office (and similar) chairs are able to "raise" themselves back up? | Sorry if the title is a little confusing. I'm asking about the office/desk chairs that are tiltable, and have a lever that lowers the seat when you pull it, and if you pull it while you aren't sitting on the chair, the chair raises back up! But it feels like the seat mechanism is pneumatic - if it is, how does it suck in air again and trap it to raise the seat when you pull the lever? If now, how exactly does it work? | The chair sits on a rod connected to a pressurised gas cylinder. A clamp holds this in place. When you release the clamp and put weight on the chair, the gas compresses. Then you re-engage the clamp. If you disengage it again and take the weight off the seat, the pressurised gas pushes it back up. |
If machines take over every part of production and people lose jobs, then who is going to buy these products? | Well eventually many/most jobs will be replaced by machines, which makes production cheaper etc, people will lose jobs. If so many people lose their jobs, who is going to buy these products massively produced by machines? Is it just a selected few then, who will survive? Sure the economy has to change somehow. Will it eventually come to a situation where the society will be like in the society depicted in Zeitgeist documentary? It just seems so hopeless to me, considering there are so many of us, resources are running out, but we don't make anything better! Still overproducing-and consuming products, wasting resources and so on. Can you explain what you think might happen? sorry if this has been asked many times | Why do you assume that the people displaced by machines couldn't find work doing other things?
History would indicate that everything will be just fine. |
Why does salt burn cuts and other lesions? | Why does it hurt when you out it in a wound, or on sores and things? | Not a medical professional so anyone with more knowledge please correct it: Wounds have exposed nerves. Nerves send signals through ions such as sodium and potassium; chlorine exists in the ECF. When exposed to salt, the sodium ions react with the nerves, mimicking a signal in the body and you interpret that as pain. |
Why can't you get prosecuted for posting videos/picture of yourself doing drugs while you can for posting a murder you've committed? | I know murder is far worse than smoking a joint but I've always wondered what stops law enforcement, for example, from prosecuting people showing their illegal grows and smoking on camera. | Typically the picture is a starting point for an investigation.
If you post a picture of you doing drugs, they interview you and you say "fifth amendment" or "it wasn't drugs. It was something that looks like but isn't drugs," that's where the investigation ends.
If you post a picture/video of you killing someone, they open an investigation and comb the scene for evidence corroborating what you've said, look for a body, etc. |
Lateral Inhibition and how it enables us to perceive lines/edges. | We are able to see because light falling on light-sensitive pigments in photoreceptors alters electrical signals that are passed onto several types of neurons, which in turn, deliver these signals to the brain for processing into visual images.
While we like to think that the light-absorbing pigments take all of the light that fall on the photoreceptor and convert it into electrical signals, some light is unintentionally scattered to its neighbors.
The problem when looking at edges is that a photoreceptor that corresponds to the dark area usually receives some light that is scattered from a neighboring photoreceptor. Thus, instead of signaling for "dark", it would signal for "grey".
Lateral inhibition prevents this.
In lateral inhibition, the neurons that receive the signals from the photoreceptors also receive signals from neighboring neurons. The neurons compare their signals with each other and determine which signal is due mainly to direct light and which is due to scattered or stray light. The neurons whose signals come from photoreceptors receiving direct light **inhibit** the neighboring neurons whose signals likely come from photoreceptors receiving scattered or stray light.
The overall effect is that edges are sharp and clear rather than a blurry gradual gradient of progressively lighter (or darker) areas.
It's not always a perfect system, however. There are optical illusions that exploit lateral inhibition, like [the infamous Hermann grid illusion.](_URL_0_) |
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What is a trust and why did Congress hate them during the progressive era? | Literally, it refers to an agreement where shareholders put their shares in the care of trustees. Starting with John Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and soon imitated widely, this became a way for a company to become enormous in spite of regulations. Thus, "trust" basically became a way to say "monopoly" or "giant corporation with too much power." To this day, "antitrust law" refers to the regulations against monopolies and anticompetitive behavior.
The fear (and sometimes reality) was that trusts could become all-powerful and unaccountable, using their size and market power to stamp out competition and swindle the public. Standard Oil at one point controlled something like 90% of oil production (by owning all the refineries) and 85% of sales (by owning everything else.) The Supreme Court eventually broke up Standard Oil into numerous smaller companies, which in some form make up a lot of our modern oil companies. |
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the pharmacy business in the US. Why can't my doctor just give me my meds? | Because your doctor doesn't want to keep every medication in stock. My doctor's office is smaller than most pharmacies, so they would need a larger office to offer the same services.
Also, for most medications, you don't have to go to the doctor repeatedly (refills). It would be a waste of money and time to have to see the doctor every time you needed a refill.
tldr: convenience for the doctors and patients. Makes more sense to have 5 pharmacies that handle the patients from 100 doctors than to spread the medicine out among the 100 doctors. |
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Why do return journeys always feel quicker then journeys there? | [removed] | Your brain pays more attention to new information than old information, and this changes your perception of time. Part of the perception of time is based on a sequence of events that have happened, and new events are given more attention by the brain. Returning home follows familiar paths, which the brain does not pay as much attention to. This is also why a commercial seems shorter the second time you watch it. |
Why is a 61 yard field goal so difficult when kickers regularly kick off 80 yards seemingly straight? | [Jake Elliot 61 yard game winning field goal](_URL_0_) | * Field goals have to aim at a smaller target; kickoffs just have to stay in bounds.
* Field goals have to arrive at the end zone 10 yards off the ground. Kickoffs are counted based on where they land.
* Field goals have to be kicked using a holder; Kickoffs get a tee.
* Field goals have to be kicked over the defense which is trying to block the kick, meaning that you can't kick them with as flat of a trajectory. Kickoffs have no such worry.
* Field goals are kicked under pressure. Kickoffs you can take your time.
* Field goal kickers have to start stationary when the ball is snapped, greatly reducing the speed they can get up to before kicking. Kickoffs usually have a much longer run up to the kick. |
Why did the building of a pipeline have to be voted on by the government(USA)? Doesn't this infringe on government interfering with private corporations? | Title.
I don't know very much about the KXL but I see it everywhere. | Oil and mineral rights are a lot more complicated than basic land ownership, for one. Think you can strike oil/gold in your backyard and call it yours? You might be surprised.
On top of that, there are environmental concerns that necessitate certain permits (not least of which are municipal zoning permits, but it is more complicated than that, too) and in some cases international law which must be respected. Any private or public undertaking of any kind may be (and usually is) subject to governmental oversight, and in many cases requires explicit approval. The scope of such restrictions and requirements varies widely from state to state and business to business, but in almost all cases there are a ton of boxes which need to be checked before anyone can move forward.
Finally, the concept of "government infringing on private corporations" is a new one on me. There isn't any kind of specific prohibition against the government interfering with private corporations, and it happens quite a lot, even excepting obvious interference from the passage and enforcement of laws. |
Why do Lazors or Bright Light Disable Digital Cameras? | I have actually seen this occur on a few instances (and in movies), and was just wondering. | With an old-fashioned camera, the film was exposed only when the shutter was open. All of the rest of the time, the film was kept in the dark. If you left the shutter open too long, the film would "saturate"...become completely exposed. The same thing would happen if the film wasn't kept in the dark.
Digital cameras do something similar. The specialized transistors which sense the incoming light are first zero'd out, then the circuit is told to capture the image for a short period of time. Over that time, each transistor in the array of pixels essentially measures how much light hits it. But they can't measure infinite amounts, they have a limit. Once that limit is reached, that pixel is saturated and can't measure any more brightness.
If you expose a digital camera to too much light in that time period, it will saturate the image....just like it did with chemical film cameras.
P.S. It is "laser", not "lazor". It took me a bit to figure out what you even meant. |
TV broadcast cameras used tubes before the advent of digital photography to capture and transmit the images. How did those work? | Before the advent of digital photography/digital camera sensors, tubes were used to be able to convert images to signals which could be transmitted over the air/via RF for live TV transmissions. How did those work to capture the image and convert it to a transmissible signal? | I'm not sure if I can ELY5, but here it goes. Analog (tube) cameras had a photosensitive plate at the front, just behind the lens. Whatever the camera was pointed at would produce patches of black, white, and gray on that plate which was divided into pixels. The other end of that electronic camera tube emitted a beam of electrons from the anode of the tube. That beam of electrons scanned the photosensitive plate from left to right at about 13000 times per second, and at the same time scanned from top to bottom at 60 times per second. The movement of the beam was controlled by electromagnet surrounding the tube. When the beam scanned a particular pixel on the plate it would produce a voltage based on the level of gray (reflected light) it detected.
That voltage is what was transmitted down the cable to the tv set which worked in the opposite manner. It projected an electron beam onto the front of its tube as it scanned the plate 13000 or so times per second left to right, and 60 times a second top to bottom. The inside of the tube was coated with a phosphorescent material that would light up at different levels depending on the voltage that was applied to each pixel and that would produce black, white, and gray pixels. The beam in the tv tube was emmited from the cathode, which is why they are called CRTs, or cathode ray tubes.
TL; DR - analog cameras functioned like reverse cathode ray TVs.
Edit: clarity. |
How are auto/motorcycle racing tracks/circuits designed? | What makes the 'designer' decide what turns to put where or how do they determine the shape and type of track? | There are many considerations when designing a race track.
They have to work with the local geography. So a track on an extremely flat plot of land would look different than one in a hilly area.
They also have a big concession for safety. Everyone loves super long straight sections which let the cars top out at very high speed. However they can contribute to injuries when there's an accident. That's why you'll see little chicanes (S turns) in the middle of one. They're visible in the [Mulsanne Straight at the track Le Mans](_URL_0_) runs on.
On the outside of big corners, they'll have a huge run-off area filled with gravel to slow down cars that run off in those areas.
Courses also need good spectator areas, along the finish line of course and in areas where there will be lots of racing action which mainly takes place just before or after a corner or in a section where speeds are slower and handling becomes more important. |
Why does hanging upside relieve stress on your back? | Why does an inversion table work? Why doesn't gravity compress my spine in the other direction when hanging upside down? | The real trick is not that you are inverted, it's that you're hanging.
If you go upside down with all your weight on your head (a headstand), your spine is still compressed. But if you go upside down and *hang from your feet* as on an inversion table, your spine is now supporting you via tension. |
The Anti/Arson/Property Damage/Bombing of Abortion Clinic in the USA. | [removed] | Yes, it's terrorism, and the actions of terrorists are difficult to describe with any rationality- they're beyond reason. Like most terrorists, they are focused on the evil of some person or group that they become delusional and derive their sense of purpose from fighting that group violently. It usually involves illogical jumps from "some of these people do wrong things," to "all these people are THE problem and we need to kill them." They also, like a lot of religious terrorists, claim to be the "real" version of a recognized religion while violating that religion's core teachings.
There are no known networks of anti-abortion terrorists. It looks like they're all lone wolf attackers or small lone groups. |
how are people able to get cosmetic surgeries to remove multiple ribs and not die | The ribs are there to protect your organs (heart, lungs etc.) but are in no way vital. You can live perfectly well without them. |
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Why does water taste colder after I chew mint gum? | Mint gum contains peppermint oil, or menthol. We have certain receptors on our skin/teeth which are sensitive to temperature. Menthol's effect on these receptors is to increase their sensitivity, hence cold water can feel colder after chewing gum.
It should also be noted that menthol does not dissolve well in water *at all* so when you drink, you are effectively distributing the menthol around your mouth thus enhancing its effect on your receptors. |
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How do CT scanners work? | I just don't get it. | Ok so basically it's just a shitload of x-ray shots.
When you take a conventional x-ray, it passes through once and takes a photo, so to speak. So let's say you wanted to take a photo of a person, but someone else was standing in the way and they or your subject can't move. Or say you wanted to take a panoramic photo. You'd need to take multiple shots and tie them together.
CT is like that. It shoots from multiple angles and stitches the image together to create a more 3-dimensional image, allowing for better details and thus better understanding of what's happening in there. The same thing could be done with a regular x-ray if they just kept rolling you around the table and hitting the button. The difference is that the CT puts them all together for you and allows you to see things more clearly and with less exposure time, because doing that with a conventional x-ray would take hours at least, depending on the target. Additionally, the X-ray shots would not differentiate relationships, while the CT program typically can. This means that your 3D image created by the CT would show dimensions, separating the organs and such, while your x-ray shots would not. Like maybe a doctor wants to look at the *front* of your lung, he would have trouble doing so with a regular x-ray because the heart's in the way.
So why don't they do this every time? Well, a CT is super expensive and not always available. The exposure itself is also way more expensive. Last and most importantly, the patient is receiving an x-ray dose through his body at hundreds of times higher than a regular x-ray, and every exposure a person receives leaves something behind permanently, so if they did a CT on you every time you needed an image, you'd hit critical levels of life dose pretty fast. |
why are the Great Lakes considered "Lakes" and not "Seas"? | Compared to other large bodies of inland water like the Acadian and Black seas | Generally, a sea is something that is part of the [world ocean](_URL_0_). That is, it's "sea level". I don't know where the Acadian Sea is, but the Black Sea is connected to the Mediterranean, which is connected to the Atlantic.
The Great Lakes are lakes. They are fresh water lakes at higher elevation than the sea. Water flows from them through rivers, ultimately the St. Lawrence, before it goes into the ocean.
The Black Sea is at sea level. Lake Superior is 600 feet above sea level. |
Why is microwaved food bad for you? | My parents always tell me that microwaving food is bad, but they don't know why. I've heard some myths about the change in the molecular structure, but don't quite get it.
| It isn't bad. Microwave cooking isn't voodoo magic. It's just a particular way of transferring heat into food.
There are three ways to get food hot. There's conduction, convection and radiation.
When you heat up a pan, then plop a steak down in it, the surface of the steak that touches the pan gets really hot really quickly. That's conductive heat.
When you heat up your oven, then stick a blob of bread dough into it, the hot air in the oven transfers heat to the dough and turns it into a loaf of bread. That's convective heat.
When you draw a glass of water from the tap and then set it down in the sun, you'll come back later to find it warm, maybe even warmer than room temperature. The light from the sun is streaming through the glass, bumping into water molecules and other things, and causing the water to heat up. That's radiative heat.
Microwave cooking is just like leaving a glass of water in the sun … only instead of the sun, we have an artificial source of microwaves. The light from the microwave source is way more intense than sunlight, so as it passes through the food it bumps into big molecules — water molecules, mostly — and heats them up.
Microwaved food isn't bad for you. |
How is the world apparently over $100 trillion in debt and who is it in debt to? | I'm no economics guru but I thought to be in debt meant you owed someone money. It was recently announced that the world is in over $100 trillion in debt. What does that mean/how is that possible? | At a global level net debt is 0, one man's debt is another man's asset. I believe that figure is just referencing government debt, which is owned by other countries, corporations and private citizens. |
Why do we measure economic success based on growth, rather than other metrics? | In many parts of the world, we are taught that growth is the #1 indicator of a health economy. Why is this? Aren't there other metrics that would better define a country's health? | There are a few reasons.
1. Changes in economic growth are correlated with really dramatic changes in the economy. Negative growth is strongly correlated with widespread unemployment
2. Related to number 1, we know what to do to if economic growth fails. We can run deficits, or lower interest rates. It's one of the few aspects of the economy economists have done a pretty good job figuring out.
3. It's a good measure of the maximum a country and its government can 'do.'. It started when the US joined WW2, as the government needed to know how much industrial output they had, so they could figure out how much could be directed to the war effort. Today, tax revenues are strongly correlated to GDP. More GDP means more tax revenue, which means more things like school books without taking away from anything else.
4. Related to the above, it is a pretty good measure of how much 'stuff' is out there. And I like stuff. I have a lower-middle class lifestyle, and I hope my daughter has opportunities for a better lifestyle. If there was no economic growth, her better lifestyle would be at someone else's expense.
5. Because of all those reasons, it gets a lot of attention for secondary reasons. People looking at mortgages or who own homes like to know what interest rates are doing. People who own houses and stocks like to know what they are doing. Politicians promise X and expected GDP growth influences if they're going to be able to keep that promise. So it gets a lot of media attention.
All this said, we need to view it critically, and realize it doesn't tell the whole story. Health, education, environmental issues, economic mobility and inequality are among the factors that are not captured by the indicator. It is a useful tool for what it does, but it doesn't do everything.
Tl;Dr - GDP growth is something we know how to measure pretty well, and something we know how to influence at least in the short term. It also helps us give things to people without taking things away from others.
That said, there are a lot of other factors that we need to keep in mind. |
Why do youtube videos have to re-buffer if I try to skip back to a part that has already loaded? | I don't remember this always being the case. | Because there's a pretty small buffer in your computer where the video is stored. As it plays, it deletes the older part of the buffer to make room for the other data coming in. If you skip back to before where the buffer starts, it has to rebuffer. |
How do documentaries get to film organised crime from within like drug dealing, interviewing kingpins...etc? | [removed] | Police can rarely compel reporters to give up their sources. It's protected.
And it's not useful anyway. Who cares where some gang members did an interview months ago. There's no physical evidence of the crime that goes with the story. It's just that, a story, otherwise known as hearsay. It's not admissible in court. |
If silver is the best conductor of any metal, why do we most often use gold? | Silver is not as resistant to corrosion and it "tarnishes" - the corroded material/tarnish are not as conductive. Gold is remarkable in that it does not tarnish and does not corrode under most circumstances. |
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What is happening when a commercial only plays halfway through? | You know when a commercial flashes for maybe a second sometimes in a random place in the commercial. | I am assuming that you are referring to broadcast television.
Most television networks are national, but are broadcast by a local affiliate. I.e., the national NBC network buys, produces, and plans content, which it then hands off to a local affiliate who actually broadcasts it to you. When it does so, it leaves gaps in the programming for the local affiliate to fill in--either with local programming (news) or advertising for companies without a national reach.
When this happens, equipment has to anticipate these holes, and switch between the national and local sources. Sometimes this switch isn't seamless, isn't cued right, or the inserted programming is shorter or longer than desired. All these issues lead to clipped, dropped, or shifted content.
FYI: it's also why some commercials are much louder than others--the loud ones are usually local inserts with a bad level setting. |
Why aren't American citizens automatically registered to vote? | [removed] | There are multiple issues with this, the biggest one is practical.
The United States has a district-based voting system, unlike some other countries. It matters where you vote--which offices are up for election can vary between here and the next few streets over. So to register someone to vote automatically, you need to know their place of residence.
The U.S. does not maintain a central database of citizens and where they live. Unless you provide that information, a voting registrar couldn't just obtain it. Of course, there are databases that have many people's information, such as driver's license records, but these are not conclusive as to where someone has legal residency. Without a central database, ultimately the only way to prevent incorrect registration is for people to register themselves.
There's also the privacy argument. Voting rolls are public information. Why should you automatically have your name and address published, when you don't want to? What if you are opposed to voting? Presumably the automatic scheme comes with automatic updates, so your entire record of residency will be open to inspection.
For what it's worth, it is possible for people to conveniently register to vote or update their registration when they obtain a driver's license or file for a change of address with the post office. This has much of the benefit but few of the downsides of automatic registration. |
At what point in history did it become possible to tell apart an American from a British person by hearing their accent? | I believe [this](_URL_0_) is what you're looking for. Here is a filler sentence so that the bot doesn't remove my comment :) |
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How do games (Like Animal Crossing) know that you left the game without saving, but don’t remember anything else unless you save? | [deleted] | Remembering that you didn't save the same is as simple as one variable that either says 0 or 1 to represent if the player saved the game or not. Actually saving the game involves writing the entire player's data to the location of the save game. |
Why are court provided defense attorneys seen as inept, when prosecutors are also court provided? | * prosecutors have more discretion of which cases they pursue...if they are overloaded, they can off good deals to shoplifters who they can go after murderers
* prosecutors have to be good enough to stand a chance against very good very expensive lawyers...prosecutors who can't keep up don't make it very far
* it is more politically beneficial to fund efforts that put criminals in prison, not ones that keep them out of prison
* prosecution is a gateway to political office, and putting a lot of years in can pay off...public defense is a resume builder for recent grads looking to get into the private sector...or prosecution |
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How do dogs learn to deal with emotions | I'm kinda referring to this video _URL_0_ where the dog seems to ask for forgiveness.
But do they really understand why they want to forgive, what is sad, happy, cause and effect for emotions. | Dogs can't comprehend what an accident is. If you fall on the dog by mistake for example, the dog will think you did it on purpose. It will either see the action as a threat or it will submit to you and try to relay that it's loyal to you so no need to attack it. Same thing if the dog bit you by mistake, it thinks it did it on purpose.
Dogs don't ask forgiveness, they're not that smart. The dog is trying to show it's not a threat and wants you to forget what happened. |
Why is there so much hate in the world today? | [removed] | It's always been here. You're just growing to recognize it. As Billy Joel said, "We didn't start the fire."
In terms of genocides, we're actually in a pretty tranquil time compared to the last several centuries. So perhaps we should take some solace that all this anger isn't being transformed into violence in the way it once was. |
Difference between blues and jazz | ## **What they both have in common:**
In both styles of music, improvisation is central. When musicians learn a jazz or blues song, they learn the melody, sometimes the lyrics, and the chords, and sometimes some of the riffs or patterns that make it familiar - but everything else is up to interpretation. The "written" part of the song is typically short (under a minute) and the rest of the time is filled with the musicians improvising over the form of the song for several choruses.
The instrumentation is pretty similar. Blues tends to use a bit more electric guitar, but overall in both types of groups you'll tend to find a rhythm section of one drummer, one bass player, and then either guitar, piano or both - with saxophone, trumpet, and trombone being the most common solo instruments. In blues you're more likely to see the harmonica or "jazz harp" too, plus a lead electric guitar player.
Historically, both are quintessentially American art forms, influenced by American folk music, African-American spirituals, and work songs sung by slaves.
While a typical rock band will have consistent band members and perform mostly original songs, blues and jazz musicians switch up their bands and collaborate all the time, and play a mixture of originals and jazz "standards". Each performer or group tries to take familiar blues or jazz songs and perform them in a unique way, showing off their own improvisational skills.
## **What characterizes blues**
Part of what characterizes blues is the lyrics and the overall subject matter: blues music is about sharing stories of sadness, grief, bad luck, and heartbreak. The music isn't intended to make people feel sad, it's more like a catharsis - you can relate to those feelings and share them, and by sharing the story you can feel better.
Common musical elements include some common chord progressions (like 12-bar blues) and a call-and-response pattern, and some typical rhythms. There's a scale called a "blues scale" that contains the notes most frequently featured in blues music.
## **What characterizes jazz**
Jazz is a larger genre that encompasses a wider variety of musical styles or subgenres. Jazz is more likely to be purely instrumental, though vocal jazz is not unusual at all.
Musically, jazz music has a very wide variety of chords and chord progressions. Jazz music frequently borrows melodies and chord progressions from classical, popular, broadway, and other genres, using it as a basis for improvisation. Music written by jazz musicians often involves complex modulations and tricky chord changes.
If you ask a jazz musician to play blues they'll be familiar with the 12-bar blues pattern and lots of jazz songs and blues songs that fit that pattern. |
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why is sea water salty? | When rain falls on land it dissolves salt. The water goes primarily into rivers. which then flow to the ocean, depositing the salt. Water from the ocean then evaporates and falls as fresh water back on land, picking up more salt and eventually depositing it into the ocean. |
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What is Decarboxylation | I've tried googling it but it all seem's very confusing. Is it to do with creating energy? | _URL_0_
> Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group and releases carbon dioxide (CO2).
Without more detail on what context you're using/hearing decarboxylation in, it's hard to say what it does, on a larger scale. |
How do I get a five year old to like me? | Be nice to them. Offering a gift may help with the initial "who is this person" but bribery after that isn't going to help them like you, just consider you a candy/toy dispenser. Try to learn what they are interested in and let them talk to you about it. Respond like it's cool and you are interested, and they'll think you are pretty awesome. |
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Why do my computer speakers produce noise when the plug in touches my skin? | And also, why don't my headphones do the same? | Your skin has a small electrical charge on it. You can check it out by holding the end of a voltmeter or touching the input to an oscilloscope. This is basically seen as noise on the line since your body is not grounded and comes out as a noisy sound from the speaker. If you also touch the ground of the plug with the same finger, you will notice the sounds goes away.
Since computer speakers are powered and headphones are not, the noise can be amplified loud enough to hear. Headphones rely on the power of the signal to produce sound. Your skin does not produce enough power for you to hear the noise. |
what happens when someone rich dies with nobody to pass it on to? Where does the money go? | [removed] | A person who dies intestate, or without a will or beneficiary, will have their assets distributed "by law". There are laws everywhere to govern this sort of thing and vary by location. For example, the laws in England are different than those in the United States. In fact, in the US, the laws are by state. For the most part, the assets are placed into an account, an administrator is hired and assigned to locate the nearest living relative/s. Failing that, the assets will eventually go to the State Treasury. Generally speaking. |
How can people calculate the odds of something like dying from a shark attack ? | By counting how many people die from shark attacks and comparing it to the other things people die from.
e.g. If 1000 people die and three of them are eaten by sharks, that's a 0.3% chance of being eaten by a shark. |
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Why do perfectly rational humans road rage? | I personally don't think it has much to do with being in a car - I get the 'road rage' feeling in other situations.
The common denominator in my experience goes like this:
I am trying to get somewhere, and in order to do so, I must navigate amongst others who are also trying to get somewhere.
The rage occurs when I get the feeling others are displaying the "every man for himself" vibe and in essence placing the importance of their schedule above mine.
This occurs in the supermarket, bus stop, walking behind slow groups of people, crossing intersections, and of course driving.
I probably need to chill out - i generally only rage internally, but that is the reasoning |
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Is there a maximum amount of calories a human body can absorb in a single sitting/meal/day? | If you were to eat a gigantic amount of food/calories during a window of time, would there be a point where your body would just stop trying to metabolize it due to the volume? | No... so long as your body doesn't reject it, it will always attempt to digest and utilize it.
That said eventually you will hit a point that no matter how hard you try your body will reject it and try to eject it from the body. |
Why are a chicks down feathers yellow and where does this colour pigment go as they mature? | Welp I cannot answer this question in entirety, but I do know:
1.Not all chicks are born "yellow" the "yellow" ones end up white but black chickens hatch black.
2. Just as with human teeth, chicks molt ( loose and regrow) their feathers 2x a year normally during spring and fall to keep a strong protective layer. I believe the chicks are born with the soft "yellow" feathers to provide the first insulation and are only soo developed because they just hatched. As the chicks grow and turn into adults they under go a serious of molts developing new feathers each time. Eventually they are fully covered in the "hard feathers" that allow them to be protected, just like that of a skin. |
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When you tie a string around your finger it swells with blood. What happens, ultimately, if you leave it there? | The chestnut is "It'll fall off", which is obviously wrong. Do the vessels burst or does it reach an equilibrium? | Well, it might not fall off (because of the bone), but it will die and rot. If you've ever been on a cattle farm, males are sometimes castrated by putting a tiny rubber band around their danglers (their testicles). They eventually die and fall off naturally (though they're often cut off before they rot). So, it's kind of the same idea. Lack of blood means no oxygen or nutrition for the flesh. |
Why are there some uncontacted tribes in the Amazon that we just observe and leave alone? Isn’t it cruel to not show/give them the advanced technology and medicine the rest of the world uses? | Why is that cruel? They've lived their lifestyle for thousands of years and are content with what they have. Their lives are based around very specific religious beliefs that help them cope with the concepts of disease, loss, etc.
I think it's a great sign that we've progressed so far in human civilization that we're able to let another culture just peacefully live by itself, without trying to impose the stressors of modern life and religion on them. |
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How have data providers managed to escape the same regulation put in place in 1982 for Bell Systems? The phone market is wide open, but the data market tends to boil down to one or two terrible providers for most. | Basically, due to the wording of the law, broadband providers aren't considered "telecommunications providers" and therefore not subject to the same regulations.
That's pretty much the whole crux of today's Net Neutrality problems. |
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how are TV commercials louder than the show that I am watching? | It happens every time... I'm watching my favorite TV show on a decent volume and it cuts to a commercial that is wayyyyyy louder than my show. How does this work? | FCC rules which became effective on 2012 require commercials to have the same average volume as the programs they accompany. These rules were made under the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM Act), which Congress passed in 2010. So you might be listening to a show that has a lot of loud points; this affects the average volume of the program, and so allows louder ads. Also, there are some exceptions to the rules (for small cable systems or TV stations, usually in smaller markets).
Finally, the broadcaster could just be ignoring the rules. This happens [all the](_URL_0_) [time](_URL_1_). Part of the problem is that the rules are pretty toothless (no mandatory penalties). You can complain to the FCC, and if they get enough complaints they may go after the broadcaster.
_URL_2_ |
What Exactly is Causing the Hawaii Volcanic Activity? | I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but what exactly is going in in Hawaii? What would cause the lava lake to lower/magma to move miles away and erupt in fissures? | Because Hawaii is an active volcanic island chain. There's a big ass pool of pressurized hot magma underneath that's always trying to get out. It's a zit that continuously spewing. |
Why is bed-wetting associated with serial killers? | It is part of the Macdonald triad. The Macdonald triad proposes that three behaviours in youth (extended bedwetting, fire-starting, cruelty to animals) are indicative of later violent tendencies.
The thing is though, we aren't actually sure if the Macdonald triad is actually statistically a thing. Some studies say it is, some studies say it isn't, some studies say that those behaviours (among others) are linked to childhood neglect and abuse which puts a child more at risk of violent tendencies. The people who believe in this say that bed wetting longer than average can lead to feelings of shame and loss of control, which can then result in fire starting and animal cruelty (trying to regain that control), especially when they are punished by parents for this bed wetting. But like I said, there is a lot of debate if it is a thing at all. |
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How do anti-psychotic medicines work? What is different about psychotic brains? | [removed] | Imagine you had a bowl of skittles, these represent all the different receptors in your brain. And imagine each piece of seroquel attached to one of those skittles.
All the red skittles are receptors associated with sleep. With a dose between 12.5 and 100mg, you would have enough seroquel to attach itself to all your red skittles. And the seroquel will always attach to the red skittles first. But what happens if you take more? Can you get more sleepy? No, because you have no more red skittles available for seroquel to attach to. Your green skittles and yellow ones and green ones do different things, so introducing a larger dose of seroquel will start to have different affects. |
How does a high-risk investor predict if a certain company is going to generate profits? Does one have to be an expert in the field the company works in or understand the products it offers? | How does one learn to be a high-risk investor and put their money into companies they are interested in while still making profit? | Well, first we need to define what a "high-risk" investment is.
Usually this will mean one of two items:
1. A young company that has created something uniquely valuable
2. A company in financial distress
Let's start with number 1: a young company.
This is the type of company you'll usually see in Shark Tank/Dragon's Den. Essentially someone thought up a product or idea, and started a business around it.
**SOME** sources of risk here are as follows (by no means is this exhaustive):
1. Management. Usually someone at this stage of business is a first-time entrepreneur (or maybe it isn't their first time, but the other attempts did not realize success). They are going to make mistakes, mistakes cost money.
2. The Underlying Product or Service. So the entrepreneur has an idea. Okay. How *big* is the idea *really*? Is this just a gag gift? Is it the next major trend? How big is the market for this idea, and how much would they be willing to pay for it?
3. The Company's Short History. It's very hard to tell if you're improving or not if you've only got a year or two of financial records (which, in many cases, could be incorrect!).
4. Management's Expectations. Usually founders of small businesses are **very** optimistic about what they're going to do and how successful it will be. Everything they say needs to be taken with a grain of salt.
5. **TIME** This one is a big one. An investment in a small start up isn't like putting money in the bank or even investing in the stock market. **You will not be able to access that money for at least a few years, and usually more.** That can be very problematic.
6. Profitability. In order to succeed, your company must generate more cash than it spends. Many start ups **do not generate more cash than spent for several years.** They usually need a lot of capital from investors like you just to survive until they're big enough to gain a profit. If the company isn't structured very well, it could be a long time before profit is recognized. (Also some industries, like a whisky distillery, by the nature of their business take a long time to have a product ready to sell).
Why invest amidst all these risks? **Because you're able to get a large portion of the ownership of the company for *relatively* cheap so that if it DOES take off, you can make a TON of money.**
Now let's look at Distressed Companies.
A distressed company is one that has been operating for a bit, but suddenly now finds itself near or in bankruptcy. Why on Earth would someone want to invest in that?
Well, sometimes the company's underlying, normal performance is perfectly fine, but they took on too much debt, or some very unusual thing happened that caused them to get in the mess they're now in. Other times, the way they do business isn't the best, and so they're missing out on great growth opportunities. So, you can either loan them cash or invest in them so they survive, get back on their feet, and then realize a good return (both the company overall and you personally).
It all comes down to something called your *risk appetite.* That is, how willing are you to lose for the chance to win?
Obviously if you'd lose $100 maximum and gain $1,000,000 maximum, you'd be more likely to take that bet. If the reverse were the case (bettering $1,000,000 for the chance to win $100), you'd avoid that. It comes down to where you draw the line, how negotiations play out, and how the overall deal ends up going before and after. |
The Economics of Mesothelioma advertisements | I constantly see ads on broadcast television asking to reach out if you were impacted by asbestos. Why are these profitable? And who is paying up?
I know that it's something about a class-action lawsuit, but does recruiting more people into the class make the suit more profitable? | A cancer medication company gets sued because it doesnt actually cure cancer. Big shot lawyer firms sue the medication company, and agree on $50m to be paid as settlement to those affected by the medication.
These advertisements promise that you (the victim) wont owe the lawyer a single cent unless you win the case. This is appealing to victims that wouldn't normally sue, since lawyers can be quite expensive.
The only catch with these lawyers is that if you do in fact win the case (which they almost always do), they charge a percentage of your settlement money to keep for themselves. This way, people wont have to pay upfront with their "real" money, and instead just pay the lawyer a portion of their "winnings." That is why these lawyers take on cases that they are almost certain they can win. |
How could a nuclear fusion reactor have a near perpetual source of energy? What is nuclear fusion? | I have read that Germany have successfully fired up a nuclear fusion reactor. So I am just wondering how could it have a powerful source of energy. | The specific reaction one would use depends on the fuel, but we'll go with deuterium. Deuterium is abundant within sea water, and it's essentially a hydrogen with a neutron (rather than a hydrogen without which is more common).
We'll take two deuterium atoms and slam them together with heat and pressure. This causes one of two reactions: Either a normal hydrogen and a tritium atom (hydrogen with two neutrons) leaves, or the protons fuse together into helium with a single neutron and an energetic neutron erupts from the joining. This "escaping" neutron hits an object, causes it to heat up, we use the heat to boil water, and the steam turns a turbine.
If we get the first of the above two reactions (Tritium), the tritium atom will fuse to another deuterium atom creating a hydrogen atom with two neutrons and an energetic neutron. From that neutron, we get more energy.
Basically, when the calculations are run, you can get the same amount of energy out of three hundred gallons of gas that you could get from a single gallon of sea water. It would be, for all intents, "perpetual" as far as the energy needs of the Earth in the medium to long term. |
Why do some white people look Asian or Hispanic, when their parents and ancestors are completely white? | So, I'm from Iceland, and we're a pretty pale white country, but some people look almost Asian (Björk), and hispanic (Can't name any famous but 2 girls in my class are like brown (not tan) and their parents are white and they have Icelandic ancestors etc.
Just doesn't make sense to me.
Is there something the mother eats that makes them more brown, or is it just purely gene based and they got rare genes or whatever?
I mean no offense or to hurt feelings (?) or any other thing like that (Can't find a word, since my vocabulary isn't that big) If it does, just ask and I'll take this down. | Bjork either has Inuit descent or have recessive genes. |
Evolutionary advantage for plants producing poisonous fruit? | If a big way that plants carry on their offspring is by animals eating fruit and pooping the seeds somewhere else, what is the advantage of the animal dying/getting sick in the process? | Poisons react differently between organisms. A lot of chemicals in fruits are poisonous to mold, bacteria and insects. For example caffeine is an insecticide, for us it just makes us jittery. If the fruit is poisonous to us humans, it is coincidental. |
How does filesharing on Piratebay work? | Can someone please explain or link to a graphical presentation on how pirate bay file sharing works? | The Pirate Bay itself doesn't share the files at all. The files are shared using a peer-to-peer protocol known as bittorrent. That is to say, the people downloading a file are downloading it from other people who already have it and are connected to the bittorrent network. There is no central server holding the file data itself, it is all on the users' computers and transmitted between them across whatever network infrastructure lies along that path. The Pirate Bay just keeps records of which files are available on the network and who is seeding (i.e. uploading) them. |
Where do banks keep money in the age of digital currency? Do they have to transfer money out of vaults when I do an ACH transfer? | I am trying to grasp how this works. Is there some poor guy driving back and forth with large bills of money? Or are there actually no dollars at all involved when you do a bank transfer? And if it's all digital... Is there some master digital vault that says how much money they have at any given time? Forgive me for sounding like I'm five! | Banks don't actually have your money anywhere. There isn't a box in the vault that has your money in it, in fact, bank vaults just have the cash on hand that a bank needs (and what has been deposited), as well as safety deposit boxes. Your 'bank account' is just a computer file that says how much money you have in it, and the bank just changes that file whenever you put in money, or take it out.
When you remove money, whether it is online or at the bank machine, that value goes down. If you make an online purchase, the bank makes your account file smaller, and makes the seller's account file bigger.
Hope this makes more sense! |
Why is it that the higher the altitude, the lower the temperature? | Shouldn't it get hotter since we're closer to the sun? | The sun is too far away to make a few tens of kilometers matter.
The difference is pressure. Pressure and temperature are related. Temperature is about the average amount of movement in the molecules of gas in a given volume. As there are less molecules in gas at a lower pressure, there is less movement.
Another point is that air that is rising experiences a drop in pressure. It has to expand as it does so, and that expansion is movement, and movement needs energy. That energy comes from the heat energy of the air, cooling it. This is TERRAOperative's explanation in different words.
The third is Juanfro's - the Sun's energy travels through the transparent air, and heats the Earth's surface. The hot surface of the earth heats the air close to it, and that makes the air nearer to the surface hotter. |
Why do tennis players keep their score by the 15? | Seems like they love it. | Tennis is an old game and no one is 100% sure but this is a generally accepted theory:
& nbsp;
As you (hopefully) know, a clock face has 4 quadrants: 15, 30, 45 and 60.
It is thought that there was a clock at the end of the court that helped with scoring and they could move the hand to the next quadrant for each point scored and a player could win if they reached 60.
However, they needed to make the scoring system tie in with the rule where a player can only win by two points. They decided to make the scoring: 15, 30, 40, 50, 60 in order to make space for two winning points if the game came to a deuce (40-40). The fifty served as what we know as an 'advantage'. If the player on 50 (or advantage) loses the next point, it returns to a deuce. They never reached 60 so they hadn't yet won the game. |
why do deciduous leaves go brown in autumn/fall | Why don't they go black or white or purple? | Some are purple, though. Anyway, the green color of leaves during spring and summer is due to chlorophyll. The leaves themselves aren't actually green. Their natural colors are the reds, yellows, browns, and other variations. These natural colors are a result of the pigments carotenoid and anthocyanin. As the sunlight decreases in the fall, plants produce less chlorophyll and show their natural color.
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Why was the race to be the first nation to land on the moon so important the countries involved? | I always thought it was a race to see who could claim ownership, but then I learned about the [Outer Space Treaty](_URL_0_). | The moon landing occurred during the height of the Cold War.
If someone can shoot a rocket and hit the moon, they can definitely shoot a rocket and hit their enemy's capital city. So it was a mixture of intimidation, bragging rights, and good old one-upsmanship. |
Why do many people enjoy messing with others to a certain extent? | Could be a harmless prank, burning someone online, or even a kick in the nuts, and this is particularly noticable during early adolescence when kids love calling each other names and playing pranks on each other.
So why is that? Are we just messed up by nature? | If you mess with somebody (a little bit) and they take it well it can be both funny and endearing. It's funny, because it's audacious, and it goes beyond your everyday platitudes.
It's endearing in the sense that if they take it well you know they have a sense of humor, and that they don't take life as seriously as possible. Throwing a mild insult at someone is a good way to figure out if you're talking to a kindred spirit, or someone that already kind of hates you. Kids do this more because they're trying to establish relationships and understand how to develop them in the future. It's also not possible to understand social boundaries unless you've tested them a bit, which is an important thing to learn as you get older.
That said... obviously some people just mess with others because they're dicks. :) |
How does Cobb's totem work in "Inception"? | I understand the function: The top spins forever in the dream. My question is: How does that work? What is it about the dream that causes his top to not adhere to the laws of physics properly?
I'm not interested in theories about how he's been dreaming the whole film, or that his wedding ring is the real totem. At its base value, with the top functioning as his totem and toppling in the real world, how does that make sense in the context of the movie? | Dreams are largely controlled by your subconscious mind. You're subconscious mind "knows" your in a dream, thus your totem will continue to spin as your subconscious knows that's it's purpose: to remind you that you are in a dream.
In the non-dream world, your subconscious mind has no control over anything. The laws of physics take over. The top stops spinning and you know you're in the "real world". |
Why are there sometimes very warm days in the winter, but there are never very cold days in the summer? | There are. You're just more aware of a 20 degree above normal in winter than you are a 20 degree below normal in summer. 70 in the summer against a 90 average feels very different than a 50 against 30.
For example, the average temperature in Boston on the 4th of July is 81, but it's gotten down to 63 on occasion that day. The average on christimas day is 37, but the high for that day is 65. You'll note that the swing between these is _identical_. (and there is nothing special about the weather on xmas and the 4th of july, as much as some patriotic christian folk might want us to believe!) |
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