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How did the united states end up with a two party system? Let's say that there are two political parties, A and B. Under the current US electoral system, whoever gets the most votes is elected. So let's say third party C comes along, with beliefs that are slightly similar to party B. If C takes enough votes away from B, party A would often be elected, sometimes even without a majority of the votes (meaning, the number of B+C voters is greater than the number of A voters). Some states and local areas have run-off elections, where if one candidate does not get a majority of votes, the top two vote-getters will have another election. In this example, if A and B get the most votes, the C voters would likely end up voting for the B candidate in a run-off election. US elections don't have run-offs, so the C voter pool often becomes fearful of voting for C, because B seems to have more support, and A will likely win if C takes enough votes from B. So C voters vote for B out of fear that A will be elected, party B grows stronger, and party C never picks up steam. If run-off elections were allowed, party C voters wouldn't be as fearful and might eventually have a chance of gaining a foothold. So why do state and local elections that hold run-offs usually have two parties? The influence of the national elections ends up trickling down to the local levels. However, you do tend to see more "independent" candidates at the lower levels of government.
How point systems, like on Snapchat and Reddit, motivate people to participate even though they contribute no tangible value like money or rewards? A buildup of score, even a meaningless valueless score, still represents time invested. Reddit Karma is a numeric value for how much people agree with you, and therefore, like you.
Why does having a window down when you're nauseous help keep you from vomiting? Or just cool air in general. Like when you're on an airplane and you feel sick it kinda helps to have the air blow directly in your face. Why does this help? So, one of the reasons we get motion sick is because the brain cannot rationalize the movement of a car with our bodies movement. Basically, we're moving, but the brain can't figure out why because we are not physically moving. This sort of disorientation in our equilibrium is attributed to poison or toxin by our brain, forcing us to expel our stomach contents to rid us of the poison. Taking away the closed off and immobile atmosphere inside a car is a good way to relieve motion sickness because it tricks the brain into thinking its true movement. Also it helps relieve the symptoms leading up to vomiting. Sweating and dizziness can be alleviated by cool air.
How do Craigslist scams work? They send you a fake check, per various laws, the bank must give you the money in your account before the check clears. Most people think that the money showing up in the account means it cleared, that's not true, you don't really know for about 2-3 weeks, and it can be even longer. The scammers tell you that 3 days is enough. They either overpay and ask for some cash back, or just take the item your selling. A few weeks later it bounces and the bank takes all the money back, you're left with minus any cash you gave them, and without whatever item you were selling.
What causes grade inflation at universities such as Harvard to get so bad? The opinion in society that every student should be capable of getting an A in a subject. In the actual design of the system an average student should be getting a C (or 2.0) in a class, above average getting a B (3.0), students gifted in the subject should be the only ones getting an A (4.0). But society has seen fit to assume all students should get an A in a subject if they do the work and that means that the standards to get an A have to be lowered.
What makes graduating from one University better than graduating from another when they have access the same information? In my university at least, the material is widely complemented with the professor's personal experience in the field. A school like Harvard probably attracts professors with more renown across their field for the things they've done than a local college with professors who might not have experienced as much as the Harvard guy. This doesn't mean that any one school is automatically better than all others, but no school is exactly the same because of this. You might take a class at one University and the professor has absolutely no idea what they're talking about and just reading off slides that aren't even theirs. You can take the same class at another school, with the same curriculum, but with a professor that shares more insight into how things actually work in the real world.
An objective explanation of the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access Pipeline controversy There's a company called Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) which is a big and complex company that owns in whole or in part a variety of energy companies and about 70,000 miles of gas and oil pipelines in the US. ETP came up with a proposal to build a pipeline that connected the Bakken and Three Forks oil fields in northwestern North Dakota to a port in Illinois 1200 miles away, from which is could be shipped by tanker to refineries. The original plan ran the pipeline through Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), but the people of Bismarck objected, since a rupture in the pipeline could easily contaminate the Missouri River and make Bismarck's drinking water undrinkable. ETP designated a new route for the pipeline that move it hundreds of miles south, running across the northern edge of the Sioux Nation Reservation, under the Missouri River, along Lake Oahe, and into Illinois, which they ran by the Army Corps of Engineers since it would cross a lot of federal land. The Army Corps of Engineers sent a notice to the tribe asking if they'd like to weigh in on the pipeline, as required by federal law. The tribe alledgedly responded twice saying "yes" and also requesting an archaeological review of the areas affected. After the Sioux received no response, they publicly accused the Army Corps of Engineers of trying to circumvent their requirement to involve the Sioux in the process. The Army Corps of Engineers then issued an environmental assessment that no land of interest to the Sioux would be affected, which drew criticism from the EPA and the Department of the Interior as being incomplete and even absurd. At the same time, other tribes further down the proposed path of the pipeline also notified the government that they had not been consulted either. The American Council on Historical Preservation (not affiliated with the Sioux) lodged a formal complaint on behalf of the Sioux Nation, and the Army Corps of Engineers stood by their findings, issuing permits for 200 sites in 4 states, concluding the pipeline with have no impact on the Sioux. The Sioux then filed a lawsuit to get an injunction against the Army Corps of Engineers and have the permit for the area bordering the Sioux reservation withdrawn, and ETP responded by suing the Sioux for stalling and blocking the building of the pipeline. Protestors from the Sioux and other tribes along the pipeline route then showed up at the pipeline construction sites to stage a sit-in and prevent construction. The number of people grew to the thousands, and Homeland Security decided that to prevent the situation from growing untenable, they would have trucks providing water to the protestors removed. Not wanting to wait for the courts the ETP construction crews began bulldozing a portion of the land the Sioux had identified as burying grounds, enraging the protestors (and on the anniversary of a massacre of Sioux on the site by the US Army in 1863). Private security forces hired by ETP then responded by attacking the protestors with dogs and pepper spray. Two days later, a judge calls a halt to the construction. By this time, there are members of 100 different tribes on the site. Jill Stein vandalizes a bulldozer for a photo-op and an arrest warrant is issued for her. In anticipation of a court decision and potential unrest, the governor orders the National Guard to the site to keep order. A district judge denies the Sioux petition and OKs continuation on construction, but the DOJ, Army, and Department of the Interior issue a joint statement refusing to authorize further construction -- asking ETP to halt construction until it is determined whether it is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. A district judge turns down an appeal from the Sioux to halt construction and ETP ignores the DOJ/Army/DOI request to stop and instead resumes construction. Now, several Senators and thousands of people are petitioning the President to halt construction on the pipeline while the Sioux and their supporters continue to peacefully protest (despite being beaten by private security and arrested by local sherriffs).
After a woman gives birth and the organs fall back into place, is it possible for them to go back in the wrong way? During pregnancy, the organs are simply displaced over time by the growing uterus. After delivery, the uterus doesn't shrink down to pre-pregnancy size. It takes over a week for it to involute. Immediately after delivery, the top of the uterine fundus is above the level of the navel. During this time, the bowel that has been displaced by the uterus settles into its former position as well. The bowel is held in place by the mesentery which keeps things in their proper place in the abdomen. The liver, stomach and spleen are not displaced much during pregnancy. Thoracic organs are in a separate area, above the diaphragm.
What causes that physical ache in your body when you have anxiety/depression/sadness? It's most likely related to stress, and the chemical and physical effects that stress has on the human body. The National Institute for Mental Health describes the effects of long-term stress: Of all the types of stress, changes in health from routine stress may be hardest to notice at first. Because the source of stress tends to be more constant than in cases of acute or traumatic stress, the body gets no clear signal to return to normal functioning. Over time, continued strain on your body from routine stress may lead to serious health problems, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, anxiety disorder, and other illnesses. Continuous sadness, anxiety, or depression can be a source of stress, which then has the negative physical impacts over time.
How does a natural lake not drain completely into the ground it is above? Well, they do, sorta. It depends a lot on the geology of the area, but lakes that have rocky bottoms will drain less into the ground below them than lakes that have sandy bottoms. Even a sandy-bottom lake though is going to take a bit of time to drain through the sand. You can try this at home (if you have sand, water, and a clear container); basically pile some sand into the container and pack it down (the sand would have been packed down by glaciers and whatever else was there before the lake formed, not to mention that the weight of the water in a particularly deep lake is going to pack it down too [6 ft of water is around an additional atmosphere's worth of pressure]). If you pour the water gently onto the packed sand, you'll notice it doesn't reach the bottom of the glass immediately, but rather slowly seeps into the sand. If this is the case for a couple of inches of sand, you can imagine the effect once you get tens of feet of sand intermixed with solid rock and gravel. So if lakes are draining into the ground slowly, why do they even exist still? Most natural lakes are fed by streams or rainfall in the area, and most manmade lakes were specifically designed to be fed (usually by a dammed river). The inflow from the rivers and rainfall is usually more or less equal to the water losses from seeping into the ground and evaporating, so lakes stay around the same depth.
Why is it not illegal to present objectively false information as truth in the news, videos, etc? Well, who gets to decide what is objectively true or false? That might be easy to do for really ridiculous concepts (the world is flat), but would be incredibly hard to do for more complex situations. And a law would have a lot of trouble drawing the line of what is easy to determine as true or false and what is not. In a case like this, you would have to put some government entity in charge of deciding what is true and what is false, which is very sensitive to corruption / only showing information that is in line with the government's interests. Even if you put this power in the command of some non-government organisation, you are still dealing with possible government influences (what if they cut funding) and the fact that no organisation anywhere is going to be completely unbiased. We have some protections against media printing obvious falsehoods (slander / libel laws), but it would be hard to have any others without compromising the free flow of information.
Why is it sometimes easier to remember a word in one's second language? As someone bilingual, I'd say that sometimes some words more accurately represent what you're trying to say in one language than the other. More accurate!
health insurance deductibles My company has open season for insurance and I am trying to figure out health insurance deductibles and how they work. The way it usually works is this: Premium - Monthly fee, always the same. Your work might pay all or some of this for you. Deductible - Total amount you have to spend on health-related costs before insurance starts to pay. This is often something like $2000. The first $2000 in health fees you incur in a year you pay for; after that, your insurance "kicks in" and starts paying for some or all of any future costs Max Out of Pocket - You've met your deductible already and insurance pays for, say, 70% of all expenses. Once you hit this secondary level of spending, insurance will begin to pay 100% of all expenses.
ELI5:As a kid - when you jumped from a high spot and your feet stung the first time, but not subsequent times? As a little kid competing to see how high we could launch ourselves from the swings, it was commonly known that your first landing would make your feet sting like hell, aka 'busting our capillaries', but after that it would feel like normal. What, if anything, was actually going on? Your brain recognised the impact as non damaging, and so when the signal comes in the next time, the brain essentially sets your nerves to ignore it, so that you don't undergo unnecessary discomfort (it's a lot more complicated, but this is a simplification). This is largely caused by your own confidence in your safety, as it knows from experience that you have been safe previous times. But the setting to ignore it only lasts a couple of hours, as the brain takes it off to avoid mistaking actual injury for another non-injuring impact.
Why are TV car commercials so formulaic? A list of features, some feel good background narrative, some prices at the end. Almost as formulaic as drug commercials, presumably without the same regulatory restrictions. Many car commercials are actually only local broadcast. Local dealers run commercials using stock car footage supplied by the manufacturer's marketing dept and plug in the VO and titles... they have no budget for anything more complex. National campaigns are less formulaic. The Lincoln commercials with Mconaghey are weird as fuck. Kia used to have man-size hamsters driving their cars.
How do partial birth or late term abortions actually work? A "partial birth abortion" is a type of late-term abortions, but not all late-term abortions are partial-birth. A partial-birth abortion is properly called an "intact dilation and extraction" abortion procedure; it involves a partial delivery of the (almost universally non-viable) fetus. The cervix is dilated, a feticide is usually used to terminate the fetus, and then the fetus is extracted intact through the vagina. The reason this is done has to do with a desire to keep the fetus intact, typically for grieving purposes. It's usually done in response to a miscarriage in which the fetus has died but has not been expelled, when the baby will be born with significant developmental defects, or when the fetus is threatening the life of the mother. You will occasionally hear reference to "scissors through the back of the neck." That does not happen often, if ever. The only time I've ever heard of it happening was in connection with someone who was committing horrific malpractice (of which "scissors through the back of the fetus's neck" abortions were only ) and who is currently in jail for doing so.
WHAT exactly makes ramen noodles so unhealthy, and if you eat ramen often, will you have a shorter life expectancy? Ramen in and of itself is just noodles in soup. But instant Ramen, the kind you buy in a store, has a lot of salt. Too much salt is bad for you.
Why do cars make a ticking sound for a few minutes after turned off? I'm a car guy myself, and even I don't really know the answer to this. Typically the sound your hearing is the exhaust. Once turned off the metal immediately begins to cool and return normal from its expanded heated state.
what is the difference between cigarettes and a vape? With cigarettes you inhale smoke from burning leaves. With a vaper you inhale vaporised propylene glycol with nicotine and flavourings. In both cases you are taking unnecessary crap in to your lungs.
Why does putting socks, which cover around 5% of my body, make me feel significantly warmer? Found a site where a university professor answered this http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/7205016/Ask-a-scientist-Feet-keep-us-warm In a nutshell, feet are really good at regulating our body temperature. They lack muscle (and in many cases fat) so they don't hold in heat well and by dilating or constricting blood vessels(subconsciously) we can regulate our body temperature more easily. same deal for hands. They say it just makes you feel warmer since your feet's pain receptors aren't screaming at you from cold induced pain. This is outside their answer but presumably for extended periods of time it would have an effect on your internal thermostat since you have one less non-muscle/fat filled extremity to negatively(edit*) regulate body temperate with. In unrelated news, covering main arteries, like your neck, with a scarf can also keep you warmer since substantial amounts of blood are being warmed. I felt like mentioning this solely because I enjoy scarves. EDIT: it has been pointed out to me that your neck isn't being warmed per se, since room temperature pieces of fabric can't exactly transfer heat to objects that are higher than room temperature. Bunch of thermodynamics stuff that I'm not going to go on a tangent to explain, but it basically doesn't let things get colder. Heat goes from warm to cold. Wooh!
ELI5:What are the actual chances of, and likely outcomes of, a Yellowstone Caldera eruption within the next 100 years? <0.01% According to this paper http://m.geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2015/07/01/G36862.1.abstract Explained in this article http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/when-will-yellowstone-supervolcano-erupt-again-scientists-might-have-worked-it-out-1508997 I have also seen articles that describe how yellowstone may possibly never erupt again simply due to changing conditions in the earths crust.
What are crop circles and how are they made? Crop circles are circles of smashed that crop that supposedly indicate alien activity. You can make them with a string of rope that you use align yourself to the center of the circle, then you take a plank with two ropes attached to it, and you smash it down with your foot on the crop (most often grain fields) Moving outward from the center using the first rope. You can add bonus points to the alien activity conspiracy by leaving chunks of metal and scorch marks on the field There were/are actual teams that did this professionally, they would contact the farmer, pay him for the crop and potentially his silence, and then make quite impressive formations. Technically, not every crop circle has been explained, in the sense that a perpetrator has not always been found, or that no one has come forward to claim the circle as their creation. But given the perfectly viable human explanation, (and the lack of answer to the question "Why on earth would aliens do it in the first place?") I find them a bit silly.
Colombia Peace Deal The Colombia peace deal would have ended a 50 year war between the government and a group named FARC. The conflict started because a group of people were not happy with the government and how they were treated , so they started a communist guerilla group to combat the Colombian government . Over the years FARC resorted to drug trafficking, kidnapping,extortion, and other illegal activity to fund their war. This marked a period of great violence in Colombia that killed over 220,000 and displaced millions. The "No" camp thought that the piece deal offered too much immunity to the FARC members, some of whom could face war crime charges , and they were willing to give up a chance for peace in order to get justice . This is because a lot of people have been personal affected by the conflict. The "Yes" camp basically said the concessions given to the FARC members is a small price to pay for peace. Edit: As some people below mentioned, the vote does not mean peace will not happen, it just means the accord which has been negotiated for the past 4 years was not accepted. The current president still has promised he will bring an end to the conflict and is working to do so.
What are canker sores and why do they only occur in the mouth? Canker sores are small, shallow ulcers that appear in the mouth and often make eating and talking uncomfortable. There are two types of canker sores: Simple canker sores. These may appear three or four times a year and last up to a week. They typically occur in people ages 10 to 20. Complex canker sores. These are less common and occur more often in people who have previously had them. What Causes Canker Sores? The exact cause of most canker sores is unknown. Stress or tissue injury is thought to be the cause of simple canker sores. Certain foods -- including citrus or acidic fruits and vegetables (such as lemons, oranges, pineapples, apples, figs, tomatoes, and strawberries) -- can trigger a canker sore or make the problem worse. Sometimes a sharp tooth surface or dental appliance, such as braces or ill-fitting dentures, might also trigger canker sores. Some cases of complex canker sores are caused by an underlying health condition, such as an impaired immune system; nutritional problems, such as vitamin B-12, zinc, folic acid, or iron deficiency; or gastrointestinal tract disease, such as celiac disease or Crohn's disease. Are Cold Sores and Canker Sores the Same Thing? No. Although cold sores and canker sores are often confused with each other, they are not the same. Cold sores, also called fever blisters or herpes simplex type 1, are groups of painful, fluid-filled blisters. Unlike canker sores, cold sores are caused by a virus and are extremely contagious. Also, cold sores typically appear outside the mouth -- usually under the nose, around the lips, or under the chin -- while canker sores occur inside the mouth.
how the Great Barrier Reef is now considered "dead" and what factors lead to it? It's not dead. That's click bait. The great barrier reef is absolutely massive. A significant portion of it is in serious decline, but other parts of it are doing just fine. So far.
why are pittbulls considered to be super dangerous? There are a few things at play. Pit bulls were bred for fighting. This means that they have certain tendency toward agression. It should be poimted out that this is a tendency, not a definite thing. A poorly raised lab can be viscious, and a well trained doberman can be a cuddle bug. But most breeds are "known for" having tendencies toward certain temperaments. Because they were bred for fighting, they have the hardware to do serious damage. If a chihuahua goes crazy, there is only so much damage it can do. Pitbulls have powerful jaws and necks that can do very serious damage in the rare case of an attack. Ownership bias. Becauee they are tough, pitbulls are a dog of choice among those who aren't going to be responsible owner's, giving the dog and it's responsible owners some guilt by association. There are plenty of lovely pitbulls loyal to lovely owners out there. But those are the main reasons for their reputation. Edit: two important distinctioms brought up in replies. There is a distinction between being bred for agression towards other animals (as pitbulls were) vs agression toward people. I realized what i said could easily be taken to mean "people who choose pitbulls are likely to be bad owners." I didn't intend that. What i meant is that those small number of people looking to use their dogs as nothing more than some sort of bad ass accesssory anyways may be more likely to choose pitbulls as their dog of choice. This shouldn't reflect on the vast majority of other pitbull owners with a hundred other reasons they chose the breed. But it does mean the public may be more likely to see and remember poorly trained pitbulls than poorly trained other breeds and thus feed the reputation OP is asking about.
Why do most perishables expire in exactly 24 hours, one month, one year, etc? is this a coincidence or are they just rounding up/down, and if so then what validates expiration? Expiration dates are an estimate, on the low side, for legal purposes rather than some kind of hard classification. You can legally sell something like bologna for seven days after the vacuum packing is removed. If you sold it after eight days it would probably still be fine though the taste might be off, and past that it's increasingly likely to be growing mold or bacteria or something. If I get sick off meat I bought that had just been opened by the retailer (who did due diligence checking for problems before they sold it) then it's the manufacturer's fault and they take the heat. If I get sick and it turns out the meat was expired, it's the retailer's ass in the fire. If it was under expiration but the retailer should've known it was bad then it might be their ass anyway. Expiration dates aren't meant to be scientifically accurate since perishing isn't super predictable, it's not like meat has a half life or something. They're meant to establish a safe maximum threshold past which the meat is too likely to be spoiled for it to be safely sold. Sometimes a loaf of bread will keep for weeks after the expiration no problem. Sometimes it'll have mold on it the day after you open it.
My friend Ross told me that the smell in gasoline is added to make sure people know its there. How does a "smell" simply get added in? Gasoline? I'd say that Ross doesn't know shit. Our noses are pretty sensitive. Natural gas (methane) is odorless and colorless, and a gas leak can turn your house into a bomb. They add tiny amounts of an oderant that don't affect the safety or burning properties of methane, but that we can detect instantly. A variety of different compounds are possible, but sulfur-based ones are not preferred because the sulfur dioxide produced during combustion becomes acidic when it dissolves in water.
Why was Mylan's CEO forced to testify before congress over EpiPen prices? As a private company, aren't they allowed to charge whatever they think people will pay? there's a little bit more to it. Her father is in congress, and he was critical in a process that created a government requirement to keep a supply of epi-pens in all public schools, shortly before the price hike. now, some people feel like this may be some corruption at work, for obvious reasons.
Why do presidents elect Supreme Court justices? Doesn't this defy the whole balance of the three branches of government? No, because Presidents only nominate Supreme Court Justices. The Senate has to confirm them (which balances the power between those branches.) The Justice then serves for life and has power to review the constitutionality of executive and legislative actions (which balances the power between the Justice and the other two branches.)
How do modern bounty systems work? I assume you mean modern bounty hunters? In the US, bounty hunters are employed by (or are) bail bondsmen. A bail bond is something you can get when you have been arrested, are going to be tried for a crime, and the judge has set a bail. A bail is a monetary guarantee the court takes from you to make sure you show up for trial instead of fleeing: they take a lot of your money (in theory, an amount they think will make you stick around to get it back) and hold it, and if you show up for trial, you get it back. If you can't afford to post bail, you may find a bail bondsman who you can pay money to (this is where their profit comes), and they will post your bail (and keep the money you pay them). For the bail bondsman, the bail is an investment, the money you paid to get them to post bail is their return on the investment. When you get a bail bond and don't show up for trial, the bail bondsman stands to lose the money they posted as bail. Bail bondsmen have agreements with courts that allow them to recover that money, though, if they can bring you back to the police. That's where bounty hunters come in: they are bail bondsmen, or are employees of bail bondsmen, who have a (controversial and sometimes murky) right to find you and forcibly bring you back to the jurisdiction to be jailed to await trial. This is simplified; there's other issues that complicate things, like bondsmen having insurance on the bail, or taking a mortgage on your property as a surety, and so on, but the above is a general overview of how it works. Nobody is "posting a bounty" -- the "bounty" is the bail that the bail bondsman paid and wants back. Law enforcement sometimes offers rewards for information leading to arrests, but bounty hunters don't have anything to do with that -- modern bounty hunters are hunting people who were already arrested and bailed out.
How does a rubber eraser erase pencil graphite? The rubber uses frictional force to scrape away the graphite marks. In other words, super-fine sand paper.
When a migrant illegally enters Europe and has no ID, how will Europe know where to deport him? A lot of them do not carry ID's exactly for the reason of not being deported. Why would they admit to where they are from? And I don't feel covinced about the latter solution. People don't have distinct looks and you can't deport people depending on their accent.
When trying to carbon date an ancient man-made object, how do you differentiate between when the object was created and the age of material that was used to create the object? Example: An ancient sword can be made out of cast iron. When you carbon date it today to find its age, are you finding the age of the iron or are you finding the age of the sword? When you carbon date it today to find its age, are you finding the age of the iron or are you finding the age of the sword? Carbon dating is only used on biological material in comparison to the levels in the atmosphere at the time. So in your example we would date the leather wrapping on the handle to see when the cow died and assume they didn't use leather from a cow who died hundreds of years prior. The reason it works is that some carbon is radioactive and when it is tied up in an organism it rotates through them regularly. Once they die it doesn't go anywhere and the radioactive atoms decay at a known rate, so by looking at the different proportion we can know when the organism died.
Difference between pond, lake, and lagoon? It's easy ! here Hope this helps
why does plastic dishware (Tupperware) not dry in the dishwasher as well everything else ? Every time I open the dishwasher everything is dry except for the plastic containers we take for lunch etc. Why is this? Generally speaking modern dishwashers dry things off with a heating cycle, which needs to be gentle enough not to damage anything, but still drive off moisture. Your plates and cutlery being metal, ceramic, stoneware, etc... get pretty hot (as you might notice if you try to unload the washer immediately). Essentially the water is cooked off the surface, but plastic and the like are terrible conductors, and don't do the same job.
If ISIL was formed as an opposition force against the Assad regime why do they carry out attacks against westerners instead of solely focusing on Al-Assad? ISIL was not formed as an opposition to Assad. ISIL was formed from Iraqi jihadist groups with the intention of carving a Wahhabist caliphate out of whatever territory they could grab in Iraq and Syria.
How did Mars lose most of its water? Considering the water cycle that I learned in school shows that the same water is used and reused over and over again. I'm curious as to what could cause most of the water in a planet to just disappear. The solar wind stripped it of its hydrogen because Mars lacks the magnetic field that the Earth does. Oxygen, being the skank-ass hoe of elements, found something else to bond to to form a solid oxide.
How do birds die during an earthquake? During the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, 12.5 million animals died, most of which were birds. How do birds die during an earthquake? Why, of all the animals, are birds so susceptible?? Does that count domestic birds? Because poultry are often kept in large barns. If the roof comes down, chickens get squished.
Lately, I've been getting crank calls where, whether I pick up or not, the caller hangs up immediately leaving no message or insistance that I call someone else or anything. What is the purpose of telemarketing like that? One reason an organization or entity would do that is to identify what numbers are "live". Suppose you are setting up a robo-calling operation and want to call everyone in Texas with your message. You can look up the area codes easily but if you called a random number the chances are it isn't valid. All you would get is some "This call cannot be completed as dialed" message. So to prepare this organization would set up an auto-dialer to call every possible combination of numbers and see which ones connect. If they hear the tones from the calls that cannot connect they remove the number from their list, but if it connects to anything they hang up immediately. After they have culled the list they will start calling with a message.
In the world of beer, what is the difference between Ales, Pilsners, Lagers, Stouts, Porters, etc. and what is special about each one? Technically there are two "types" of beers. Ales and Lagers. In the simplest form, ales are beers fermented with top fermenting yeast, while lagers are beers fermented with bottom fermenting year. Stouts and porters are two types of ales. They typically use grains that have been more heavily roasted to give them a darker color and deeper flavor. Pilsners are a type of lager.
- in the US, why do we have a jury selection process? shouldn't the jury be made up of a random group of jurors? it seems the jury selection process adds unnecessary manipulation by experienced lawyers and prosecutors to jury trials. What do you do if the random jury pool includes someone who is the cousin of the victim? Or someone who is illiterate? or who states openly that they would never vote to convict (or always vote to convict) someone of a particular class or race or religion? Yes, it is possible to manipulate the jury selection system and reforms are possible/needed, but the need for selection/screening at some point is hard to remove from the process.
Why do most of the ads on TV sound/look like they are made for really really stupid people? “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” George Carlin
Why are women athlete outfits far more revealing than those of men? Some of it is probably the sexualization of women, but some of it is just what the athletes find acceptable and comfortable. Many women already wear tight/ form fitting clothes in their daily lives. Few men do. So it would be unusual for that to flip when it comes to athletic wear. Women commonly wear short shorts. Guys commonly wear baggier shorts. So it's not a surprise that women feel comfortable with short shorts/ tights in athletics. It would be weird if a guy started wearing short tights when he only wears longer, more baggy clothes outside of sport.
ELI5- Why can someone be arrested for refusing to answer questions from police, but the first thing a person is told when arrested is that they have the right to remain silent? I think it's usually "arrested after refusing to answer questions". They didn't get arrested for "failure to answer police questions" because that's not a crime in the US. The police can arrest you any time they suspect you've committed a crime. If they ask you questions and your answers convince them that you did not commit the crime, you avoid being arrested. that's the most risky approach. It's much safer to get a lawyer, your answers won't be any more convincing without a lawyer, and you might convince them that you did commit the crime, "Anything you say can be used against you". Getting arrested isn't the end of the world, in the US you're still innocent until proven guilty. Make them work for their proofs.
How are we able to determine things such as wind speeds and temperatures on planets outside of our solar system? It's actually not determinations, but rather predictions based on environment. Everything on a planetary scale is very hard to judge. Since the objects are so small and doesn't have the aspects of stars. For example, we can easily predict a stats temperature based on luminosity and how it falls on the heat spectrum. Although, this isn't anything you can do over a night. But rather daily observations. So now back to your question. Planets have different perks based on their conditions. Which can help to predict the climate. Also if you observe the host star you can also estimate distance and size based on passages. Because planetary passages block some of the sunlight, making the frequency unnatural. Larger planets have a larger passage when they pass in front of their stars compared to smaller ones. Not only that but the frequency of passages makes estimates for size and distance. Now we let's touch on the atmosphere. Which works like a konvex lens and have properties for estimations. Which indicates what the planet can contain in terms of materia. And could show wind speed. In concussion. It's estimations based on raw data and analysis. Some of the predictions are based on concussions drawn from the findings of coincidental factors based on our own solar system. But at the end of the day that's the best you can do with out current technology.
Why is it that when you're so full you can't eat another bite of food, but you can continue to drink liquids? I have it on good authority that it fits between the cracks. This is known. You can fill a vase with marbles and still pour sand in after. Then you can pour water in still. This is why you always have room for ice cream.
what is the difference between a kraken and a leviathan A Kraken is a mythical monster that is basically a gigantic squid or octopus. A Leviathan is a mythical monster that is most often described as an extremely fast sea serpent. It is also mentioned in the bible.
Why do we tend to view mammals and furry/soft animals, even predators, with a positive physical connotation (cute, pretty, regal, etc) but scaly animals, insects, arachnids etc are viewed with a negative physical connotation (gross, ugly, fearful)? Mammals all kind of have the same idea of cuteness. A human values big eyes, playfulness, and soft fur as a sign of infants, which are adorable because nature wants us to give us as much incentive to protect babies as possible. Reptiles and insects have no need for cuteness, nor do they have the usual "cute" traits. That being said there are plenty of people who find those things cute. Geckos, for example, are sometimes and exception.
What would happen if you never cut the umbilical cord? I guess somewhat inspired by this spot... I'm wondering... what would happen if we never cut the umbilical cord between a mother and child? It would dry out pretty quickly and at some point just fall off. It's not a mainstream belief, but some people believe that's actually a healthier way to treat the umbilical cord because cutting it right away separates the baby form the placenta, isolating it from a nutrient source. The science on this belief is somewhat sketchy however and is mostly regarded as dubious/pseudoscientific.
Why do so many websites (mainly news sites) now have a "continue reading" button a few lines down the page? Why not just show the whole article to begin with? One large benefit to this is to measure if someone is actually engaging with your content on a page. When a person lands on your page, then leaves without interacting with anything, many analytics libraries will consider that a bounce, even if the user reads some or all of the content. However, if they click something, that's considered an action, and that graduates you to a non bounce visitor - you didn't just land on the page and navigate away, you expressed interest in the content. This lets you do content optimization - if you are getting a lot of non bounce visitors on certain pieces of content, you can promote that content more heavily, which in turn leads to more visitors to your site, as opposed to content that causes people to bounce which should be promoted less. Other answers mention bandwidth conservation which may be a factor as well. EDIT: Since a lot of comments are talking about ads I will amend my answer to address that as well. My answer alludes to the fact that with content optimization, if you can drive more people to your site, more ads are served which can increase ad revenue. There are a lot of payment models for ads, but generally, you might get paid a very small amount for an impression (which is just loading and showing an ad on your site), but you will get paid a lot more if someone actually clicks the ad and follows through to the content behind it (as such, the companies that are paying for the ads also pay per impression and per click, and clicks are much more expensive - there's a common metric called "cost per click" which measures how much you are paying for each click, so you can assess your return on investment). With the 'continue reading' button, you could slap more ads below, but (and I'm speculating here) I'd expect if that 'continue reading' button was not there the ad would be there regardless. As such, I'm not certain it'd be a factor in generating more ad revenue, if you didn't have the 'continue reading', you'd get the impression and possible click as soon as the user viewed the ad (which would require one less click). The only counter argument to this I can think of is if ad serving companies require user interaction before you display more ads - but I don't know if that's true. I also found this asked on stackexchange that had a few other good reasons as well: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/82914/whats-the-point-of-a-read-full-story-button EDIT 2: A number of people are citing a lot of extra reasons below that can all be valid as well. This is not the end-all-be-all answer, which is why I said "one large benefit" to talk about how this is one of many. There are a ton of different reasons to design your content to have this - my example is just the most common one I've seen, but world of web advertising is very complex, with ad providers imposing rules and rapid policy changes as sites try to optimize their ad revenue within those rules! This is a simple question with a myriad of complex possible answers - I just gave one :).
Why do people develop "crushes" on others and why're they hard to get over? I am probably going to get my comment removed because it is just a link, not an explanation, but I thought this article did a good job of explaining and rather than paraphrase and plagiarize, I thought I would post it: http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/news/real-life/ask-an-adult-why-do-i-get-crushes-what-happens-in-my-brain-20150748582 However, something not noted in the article is how intense they are in teen years. I think this is because of more chemicals in your brain called hormones, which intensify reactions, and your not being accustomed to those feelings. Think about the first time you eat a really yummy dish at a restaurant, and then the next time you have it you are like, "Meh, I remember it being better." You know hat to expect now so it is not as intense. I think first crushes are sort of like that.
who is Sally Yates and what was her hearing about? Sally Yates was the acting attorney general. (Meaning, she stayed on from the Obama administration while Trump waited for his new attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to be confirmed) In December 2016, President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia. In January 2017, it came out that General Flynn (who Trump had picked to be the National Security Advisor) made a phone call to the Russian ambassador the same day that Obama imposed sanctions. It would be really problematic if members of the Trump team were undermining President Obama's foreign policy by telling the Russian government not to worry about the sanctions or that President-elect Trump wouldn't enforce them or would cancel them. In fact, that would be a violation of a little-known federal law. So Vice President Pence went on a bunch of news shows and said that General Flynn definitely did not say anything about sanctions during these calls to the Russian ambassador. And Pence said he knew this because Flynn told him that he didn't discuss sanctions with the Russian ambassador. However, US intelligence agencies listen to the Russian ambassador's phone calls. So they knew that Flynn DID discuss sanctions with the ambassador. So they knew he was lying to the Vice President. That's where Sally Yates comes in. She went to the White House counsel to tell them that General Flynn was lying to the Vice President. This was important, because the Russians Flynn was lying, so this was something the Russians could later use to blackmail Flynn. It would be a really bad situation if the Russians could successfully blackmail our national security advisor. She provided more information to the White House the next day. However, General Flynn stayed on as national security advisor for almost three more weeks, until this information came out in the press. President Trump enacted the first travel ban. Acting Attorney General Sally Yates determined that the executive order, combined with Trump's past statements about banning Muslims from entering the country, was unconstitutional. So she said that the Department of Justice (which she was basically in charge of) would not defend the travel ban. She was fired later that day. (it has since come out that Flynn did other shady things relating to Russia, but those don't involve Yates at all)
How do recycling companies weed out things that aren't recyclable that are accidentally put in the recycling bin? Even at high tech "single stream" recycling plants, that first round of sorting is accomplished with lots of people standing on either side of a conveyor belt and grabbing non-recyclables. https://youtu.be/J_RWqgXcP_k?t=122 Notice the plastic bags getting pulled out. Please don't recycle those unless you're certain they're accepted. Edit: grammar.
Why is it preferable to have illegally obtained evidence thrown out of court as opposed to keeping it and prosecuting the one who obtained it? The Supreme Court discusses this rationale in every exclusionary case. The first thing to keep in mind is that the Constitution does not require an exclusionary rule. But for the 4th Amendment to have any value it must have some remedy or mechanism of enforcement. Suing the officials for an illegal search is always an option. But the cards are stacked against the defendant, who is probably already busy defending himself in a criminal trial. Further, agents of the state are a big target to take on for a private individual. If private citizens are left with the sole burden of enforcing an important Constitutional right, that right may effectively disappear. The alternative, and the one the Court considered most likely to deter illegal searches, is to cut off the reward. An illegal search practice = inadmissible. BUT, since the Constitution does not require the exclusionary rule, and since it more often than not lets a guilty person go when applied, the rule is only to be applied when the deterrent effect outweighs the cost to society. Therefore, in a case where, for example, an officer made a legitimate mistake of law, or a clerical error prompted him to act in a way that turned out illegal, the exclusionary rule has little deterrent effect and the evidence should be admitted.
Why is the United Airlines CEO testifying before the US Congress? I'm curious what the US government has to do with the dragging incident. Airlines are subject to all sorts of regulations and policies enacted by laws Congress creates, enforced through the FAA, etc. When incidents like this occur, then Congress wants to investigate what happened and why, and see if they need to clarify existing rules & regulations or add new ones to prevent similar incidents.
Why does Orange juice need to be constantly refrigerated but not Apple or other juices? Shelf stable juices undergo pasteurization and are sealed inside the bottle. They must be refrigerated after opening because once more air is introduced the chance for molds to grow is higher.
How is Harvey an example of Global Warming and not just a "once in 500 years flood" like the President said? The President tweeted Can anyone explain to me how this isn't an exact example of Global Warming? For years they've been saying we will start getting bigger storms with larger flooding and here it is, right? Yes, you're pretty much right (although Donald was, for once, also kind of right). We measure large natural disasters, amongst other things, using a "X year" scale. For example in the UK we have "100 year floods". What this means is that floods, or storms happen quite regularly, but are often not very bad. However due to a variety of reasons, every once in while they're really, really bad. Since we have good historical records most of the time, and since we can roughly work out the probability of occurrence for storms / floods of various scales, we can give them their "X year" rating, which just means "how long would you have to wait, on average, between events of this magnitude". EDIT : the above section on probabilities is not exactly correct. Thanks to /u/skimbro for pointing this out. The "X years" is based on the probability of it occuring in any given year. So a 100 year event has a 1% probability of occuring in any given year. This is not quite the same as what I said. In the example of a 100 year event, over a 100 year period the odds of an event like this occuring are approximately 64%, or very nearly 2/3rds. You can work out the odds of an event of this nature occuring in a given time period with the following period : probability of failure(so 100 years = 1% = 0.99) to the power of the number of years you are interested in. 0.99 to the power of 100 = 0.36, minus this from 1 and multiply by 100. This is the probability of your event happening within the time period you desire to know. So a 500 year storm over a 500 year period = 0.998 to the power of 500, etc = 64% odds it occurs in a 500 year period, 34% odds it does not Where global warming comes into this is by modifying the frequency and / or magnitude of the events. For example, without global warming the hurricane would likely have still happened (leaving aside chaos theory butterfly stuff etc for now). However, it probably wouldn't have been AS bad. Maybe more like a 300 year storm, or something like that. In addition, because storms are worsening, the "X years" scale is becoming wrong - you're getting floods that ought to be "100 year" floods every decade or so - by worsening the local climatic conditions, we affect the frequency of serious events. So Donald could well have been right by calling it a 500 year storm. They do happen, and its a meaningful scale used for these kinds of events. However, global warming suggests that its impact was probably worsened, and its frequency increased, as a result of global warming.
If the US believes in the separation of church and state, why does each political party reference 'God' so frequently? Seperation of Church and State means the government cannot instate a state religion or keep you from practising yours. It doesn't mean that individual politicians or even parties cannot use the bible / koran / torah / whatever other religious texts, to guide their principles.
Why does a horseflies bite hurt so bad with that small mouth? Not patient enough for a YouTube video? Here's a gif.
What happens to an enemy state's embassy in case of war? Generally, they are allowed a few hours/days to leave the country in peace, under diplomatic immunity. The thing is, most countries who host an embassy also maintain one of their own in the other country, so whatever they do to the diplomats of the enemy could also be done to their own in retaliation. Furthermore, there has been very few events in modern history where it was not obvious at least a few days beforehand that war was about to be declared and this is generally the time where diplomats make their exit. In the off-chance this does not happen, the embassy and its staff are pretty much considered hostages (or spies) and held prisoner. This is one of the few examples I can think of
How do casinos prevent counterfeit chips. Why can't someone duplicate some chips and cash them in? It appear far simpler than cash. Most of the responses here are complete bs. While RFID chips exist, they are extremely rare as the chips and the equipment to use them is expensive and unnecessary. First off, making passable fakes is difficult and takes some equipment that most people can't get, you can't just go to Wal-Mart and pick up some poker set and paint the chips. Each value of chip is uniquely designed in terms of size, weight, color, and edge pattern. Higher value chips are usually microprinted, have uv markings on them or holograms (Most common). Chips usually get larger in size the higher the value so you can't paint a smaller value chip to match a larger value one. Lastly, most casinos use strict inventory control. When a player leaves a table with more than a predetermined amount of money, several people get a call. If someone goes to cash out and it can't be determined where the chips came from, they don't make the change. Leaving and going to another casino doesn't help as they will contact each other to get the information they need. Lastly, casino surveillance serves as a huge deterrent to trying to steal. It's the same reason casinos don't get a large amount of fake bills either. If they get a fake, it's easy to track down where it was picked up and pull a pic of the passer off the camera. Thieves aren't stupid, they aren't going to take the risk of getting caught for a single payoff. You wouldn't go rob a store without a mask in broad daylight in front of a crowd, neither would a counterfeiter. Source: I'm a casino manager for a large property in Nevada.
why does a common house fly insist on repeatedly landing on a person despite having an entire property to fly around in? To lick off your sweat. At least some species anyway. Human sweat is full of salt and protein (more so than other animals because of our high salt intake). Basically they're using you as a salt lick.
Why are unpaid internships not illegal? First, that is not a law. Second, many countries have not signed or ratified. Third, in the US at least, you can hire unpaid interns only if certain criteria are met. Edit: a word
Why is Phillip considered a prince, even if he's married to the Queen? The wife of the King is a Queen (Queen Consort). The husband of the Queen is a Prince (Prince Consort). Phillip is not King. He is husband to Elizabeth, who is Queen (Queen Regnant). The difference between Queen Regnant and Queen Consort is that Queen Regnant is Queen by her own right, while Queen Consort is Queen through marriage.
How do pornsites check if the girl or boy in the video is 18 or above? I've always been wondering Under US law, primary and secondary producers of pornography have to comply with a number of record keeping regulatory requirements. More specifically, they must maintain records of every performer's legal name(s) (past and present), nicknames (past and present), date of birth, government-issued photo ID (scan/copy), a copy of all the pornographic photos/videos featuring the performer, detailed records concerning the date those materials were created/produced and published, etc. Alternatively, the production company can hire a third-party (a "custodian" of records) to maintain copies of these records and performers' IDs instead. As I indicated before, US law only requires primary and secondary producers to maintain these records. A primary producer is basically someone directly involved in creating/producing the pornographic material. A secondary producer is like a commercial distributor of the pornographic material. However, a website—such as reddit—which merely allows users to upload/post their own pornographic material is not considered a primary or secondary producer. Thus, such websites are not legally obligated to comply with the record-keeping regulations for pornographic material. However, if the website knowingly hosts pornographic content which they know or suspect may feature minors without verifying the age of the people involved, the website could be held liable for facilitating the distribution of illegal pornography. For this reason, many sites will either request ID or simply remove content from users in cases where the age of the person featured in the material is unknown or suspect.
Why is middle finger considered as offensive? Who established it as something vulgar and how? The middle finger represents the penis, the fingers curled up either side the testicles: so the gesture basically represents the phallus. The Ancient Greeks knew this gesture, so it has a very long history. It was a way to insult a man by suggesting that he enjoyed receiving anal sex.
"Alternative Facts" Kellyanne Conway, advisor to and spokesperson for Donald Trump, came up the with the term "alternative facts" as a way of brushing off press accusations that Trump's press secretary was caught in a lie over the size of the inauguration crowd. Specifically, the administration claimed (through the Press Secretary) that inauguration crowds were bigger than those from the Obama inauguration, despite there being a live feed from the top of the Washington Monument focused on the Mall at both events and the crowd at the Trump inauguration being quite visibly much smaller. Critics leapt on "alternative facts" as a phrase representative of Orwellian "new speak" - making up euphemisms to change the perception of what people hear, for example, using "alternative facts" in place of "bold-faced lies" to downplay that they are attempting to change everyone's understanding of the "truth" by presenting and "alternate truth" which is preferable. It's propaganda. Ever since, the press and critics of Trump have used "alternative facts" mockingly to emphasize his history of inaccuracy and verifiable lies which characterize his political career.
What are tennis players looking for when they are choosing a ball for their serve? They have 3, discard one and save one for the next serve in their pocket. But the next serve they pick from 3 again Fuzz. They are looking for the fuzzyest and the least fuzzy. The least fuzzy is for the first serve where you're going for speed and the less fuzz there is the faster it will go through the air. For the second serve they're not going hell for leather (too much risk of a double fault) and so you serve slower and try and get as much topspin on it as possible. More fuzz=more topspin
How can the president issue an executive order like the Muslim Ban without it the other 2 branches approval? It falls under the purview of the President, as it is considered a case of immediate national security. The precedent was set by John Adams in 1798 as a result of our relations with France. The Alien & Sedition act gave the president the right to imprison, deport, or refuse immigrants from a nation considered hostile to the US. First, it is not a "Muslim ban." No one is barred entry due to their religious beliefs. It is a temporary suspension of immigration from countries with a high rate of radicalization into ISIS, which has used the immigration process in the past to get onto US soil. Immigration from these countries is only expected to last as long as it takes to come up with a thorough and effective vetting process, to determine no ill intent or ISIS affiliation of the person entering the US. As I mentioned above, this is not the first time the President has suspended immigration from certain countries due to high risk of people immigrating from those countries. In 1882, President Chester Arthur suspended immigration from China, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1889 as constitutional. Justice Stephen Johnson Field wrote, "The power of the government to exclude foreigners from the country whenever, in its judgment, the public interests require such exclusion, has been asserted in repeated instances, and never denied by the executive or legislative departments." The immigration act of 1917 was passed by congress which barred immigration from Southeast Asia, India, and the Middle East. And in response to Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt suspended immigration from Japan, Germany, and Italy with Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527. This current temporary suspension is due to the same sort of risks FDR was responding to.
What is the difference between serotonin and dopamine? What are their roles too. What does dopamine do as well as serotonin. Quick Answer. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with the pleasure centers of the brain. It is responsible for feelings related to love, joy, pleasure, reward and motivation. Serotonin is also a neurotransmitter and helps to regulate mood, irritability, impulse, obsession and memory. - Copied from Google.
What causes the "helicopter noise" when you roll the backseat windows down in a vehicle, while the front are still up? When the air tries to move around your car, it creates a lower pressure outside than inside. This makes air want to go out the window - so it does, but then the pressure inside gets lower so it wants to go back in. It does this rapidly so you hear (and feel) the vibration of the air going in and out of the window. Opening another window should stop it, or at least decrease it. Some cars come with ventilation (usually hidden in the trunk or wheel well) just to stop that from happening.
How will the proposed wall solve any of America's problems? Mostly, it will make us feel better, because we've already forgotten about the large fence between our countries that at the least isn't very safe to put a ladder against. It will make it marginally harder for the 5% of illegal immigrants that cross the border outside of a checkpoint to get into and out of the US. The other 95% cross the border legally, but then stay illegally after their work/vacation visa expires. See, there are plenty of programs for companies to hire migrant workers on a 3-month work visa, which is more than enough to get someone over the border. They do their work as a legal immigrant for 3 months, then are supposed to head back home. Or the family of Mexicans that want to spend a nice weekend at Disney World that got "lost" on their way back to the airport. There's really nothing stopping them from simply not going home and hanging around in the US until someone makes them leave. Hang around long enough and you can apply for legit citizenship. Especially if you can pop out a baby on US soil. I'm genuinely hoping the wall becomes a metaphor for spending $60bil on Immigration enforcement reform instead of a giant concrete dong along our border. That kind of money could have an Immigration officer following up with every visa, verifying that folks actually left when they said they did. If we're going to go full-retard on curbing illegal immigrants, it would be nice if we could be smart about it.
ELI5:Why do so many actors end up directing some of the episodes of the tv show they are starring on? e.g. Michael J. Adams directed the winter premier of Suits, like I have seen it very often. Is it something with their contracts? It is a way to expand professionally. Being on a mid-tier basic cable TV series isn't something you can ride for the rest of your career...especially if you were cast for being young and good looking, and that is becoming less true each passing year. If you don't want to go back to doing dinner theater and TV commercials, directing is a career path you can continue one with when you are balding and overweight. Also, not to disparage a career, but it isn't that hard to do with an established TV show. The producers and writers have all the creative control, the actors know their characters, the sets are build, the wardrobe stocked, and there is an experienced assistant director standing right next to you. It is more than just yelling "action!" and "cut!", but with a bunch of people who've done a hundred times before, it is a pretty gentle way to break into the craft. Finally, sometimes it is in the contract. If you are a lead in a long running TV show, there is a temptation to leave and find something else before it loses its popularity and before you lose your looks. The show has to provide inducements for you to stay, money, more creative control, and sometimes the opportunity to direct.
Why do so many fast food drive thrus have 2 windows, but always have you pull to the second window? The reason for this is that if they get very busy, they can have you pay at the first window and receive you food at the second. However if they do not feel they are busy enough to merit the extra worker, they will only have 1 window open. I believe they typically use the 2nd because it is closer to the kitchen and front end of the store. This allows for easier change of order or so the line looks shorter.
Does the president even have the power to gag employees of federal agencies and the agencies themselves? Don't we pay for their research, expertise, and information? Due to the differences between our government's I'm not entirely sure this is the same but reminds me of Canada. Our previous prime minister silenced scientists. Sorry, on mobile. ( https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.3079537?client=ms-android-bell-ca ) The primary reason from what I understand was because their party's stance was global warming isn't real and pro oil and gas. Basically didn't want scientists talking to media about how they are making really poor decisions about the environment. Trying to control public opinion. Very scary they can do this kind of thing. As soon as our new prime minister got into office he immediately removed the gag order.
What are different shapes of pasta good for? Flat, ridged, fluted, shapes...I've heard they are good for holding onto different kinds of sauces but can't find a good source. Any chefs or other food pros that can let us know the secrets? Different pastas suit different dishes and purposes. There are literally hundreds of different types of pasta but they can be organized into different groups, such as shells/cups, round, flat, long, soup pasta, stuffed, and special shapes. Really, it's a matter of personal taste and creativity, but some are better suited to, say, a cream sauces (flat pastas like linguini) and some are better suited to a chunky sauce (cupped pastas like orrechiette) and some are better suited for oils (long, thin pastas like cappellini or angel hair). High texture pastas pair well with textured sauces (which cling to the nooks and crannies of the pasta). Cupped pastas go well with thick or chunky sauces. Long, thin pastas go well with olive oil based sauces that coat the pasta without drowning it. Sheet pastas are best for layering (think lasagna) or rolling. Tomato and simple cream sauces are pretty universal and can be used with basically any pasta. Generally speaking, the smaller or thinner the pasta, the lighter or thinner the sauce or soup it should be paired with. The bigger/thicker the pasta, the heartier and/or meatier the sauce it can handle. And the giant pasta shapes like manicotti, jumbo shells, and canelloni are meant to be stuffed.
Can the FBI continue to investigate the President even if the President does not want that investigation? Sure. Look at what happened during Watergate. Of course, the FBI Director (or Special Prosecutor or AG) has to have the balls to go up against their boss. And the President has the nuclear option...he can fire the AG. Nixon even fired Special Prosecutors. A few of them. (He didn't have to worry about the AG; Mitchell was chin deep in Watergate himself.) IIRC, the President no longer has the authority to fire the FBI director; he is appointed to a 10 year term. He can do pretty much whatever he wants so long as Congress doesn't turn on him. ( : I was wrong...see response below.)
What's the difference between Bulls, Bison, Buffalos, and Oxen? Are they all related to "normal" black and white cows? A bull is a male cow. A bison is a species related to cows that is native to North America. A buffalo is one of many species related to cows native to Africa or Asia. And unlike an ox is a job description, not a species. They are the same species as the "normal" cow or bull, just trained to do labor instead of be meat or milk suppliers. Not to be confused with a musk ox, which is not that closely related.
Does the president really have 'Launch Codes', or is that a Euphemism for some other mechanism? It is literal. The launch codes are known internally as the "gold codes." They are printed on a card nicknamed "the biscuit," that is kept on the president's person at all times. The Vice President also has the gold codes, in case the President is incapacitated and some nukes need launching. There is also what's known as the Nuclear Football, which is a metal Zero Haliburton briefcase that travels with the President at all times. It contains within it retaliatory options, classified launch site co-ordinates, information on how to operate the emergency broadcast system, and 3x5 index cards with the launch codes. The Gold Codes the biscuit are required for the president to be given access to the Football, which is used for the actual authorization. They are used in conjunction.
Why do drummers generally cross their arms when playing? The hi-hat is generally positioned on the left of the snare because its pedal needs to be accessible by foot. The bass drum is traditionally played with your right foot so then the hi hat is controlled with the left. The majority of people are right handed so they play crossed so that the dominant hand is striking the hi hat. Of course plenty of drummers are left handed or just prefer to play open handed - it all depends.
Why does someone ignoring you cause so much pain and anger? We wish to have the attention and approval of others, since this is obviously a survival and reproductive advantage in society. Your brain's natural response to being dismissed or ignored, then, is to motivate you to gain more social acceptance. That being said, remember that the other person's action or inaction is not what causes the emotional response,it is your own mind which causes that response, and only you can identify, analyze and control it.
Why is evidence found illegally by police inadmissible in court? I am asking why it is illegal to do random search and seizures of private property, or why police officers gathering evidence should be charged. Rather I am curious why any evidence found illegally is considered inadmissible? Its still evidence isn't it? Is it simply because it was found illegally or are there other reasons? In the simplest way it's because they broke your rights, typically either legally or your constitution, and if we allowed cops to break these rules for evidence that defeats their purpose in the first place.
What safeguards are in place, in the U.S.A., to stop a rogue president from using nuclear weapons? Here is a great article for this: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-nuclear-weapon-launch/ In short there are a total of 9 steps: The president considers a nuclear strike The president convenes a conference with military and civilian advisers in Washington, the consultation may last just 30 seconds. The president decides to launch: Some advisers may try to change the president’s mind or resign in protest—but ultimately, the Pentagon must comply with the commander-in-chief’s order. The senior officer in the Pentagon war room must formally authenticate that the person ordering the strike is indeed the president. The war room prepares the launch order, a message that contains the chosen war plan, time to launch, authentication codes and codes needed to unlock the missiles before firing them. The encoded and encrypted message is only about 150 characters long, about the length of a tweet. It is broadcast to each worldwide command and directly to launch crews. Launch message in hand, the crews open locked safes to obtain sealed-authentication system (SAS) codes prepared by the National Security Agency and distributed throughout the military’s nuclear chain of command. They compare the SAS codes in the launch order with those in their safes. If the missiles are launched from a submarine: The captain, executive officer and two others authenticate the order. The launch message provides the combination to an on-board safe holding the “fire-control” key needed to deploy the missiles. Missiles are ready for launch about 15 minutes after receiving the order. If the missiles are launched from land: Five launch crews in various underground centers control a squadron of 50 missiles. Each crew consists of two officers. The individual teams are spread miles apart. Each receives the orders, opens safes and compares their SAS codes to those sent by the war room. If they match, the crews enter the message’s war plan number into their launch computers to re-target missiles from their peacetime targets in the ocean to their new targets. Using additional codes in the message, the crews enter a few more keystrokes to unlock the missiles before turning launch keys retrieved from their safe. At the designated launch time, the five crews turn their keys simultaneously, sending five “votes” to the missiles. Mutiny is unlikely It takes just two “votes” to launch the missiles. So even if three two-officer ICBM crews refuse to carry out the order, it won’t stop the launch. About five minutes may elapse from the president’s decision until intercontinental ballistic missiles blast out of their silos, and about fifteen minutes until submarine missiles shoot out of their tubes. Once fired, the missiles and their warheads cannot be called back. It takes as little as five minutes to launch a nuke. No one can refuse a launch and it is virtually impossible once the decision has been made (In theory)
In video games, why killing people and violence is ok, but sex and nudity is still controversial? Because of your culture. In comparison, here in germany it's the other way around. We're more lax on the sex and nudity, but violence, gore and the like get the boot.
Why do some people/countries deny the Armenian Genocide? If I remember correctly if they recognize it as a genocide, they have to compensate the recognized group. As well as the fact that they may not like them.
ELI5:How do illegal Immigrants live in the US. Regardless of their status, every child in America has a legal right to a K-12 education. There was a supreme court case that makes it illegal for schools to require anything only a legal citizen could obtain (social security number) or inquire about anything that may out their parents as illegal immigrants. Housing discrimination based on immigration status is illegal also. And as far as work goes . . . It is illegal to hire illegal immigrants as far as I know. But you that they are getting hired in large numbers for low-skilled jobs. tl;dr: America goes out of its way to make sure that illegal immigrants can't be discriminated against.
ELI5:How do waterfalls freeze? If the water is continuously falling at a rapid pace, how does it get a chance to freeze? Question Inspiration: It has to be very cold, for a long time. Most people know moving water can't freeze, but in real life scenarios, there's always a spot where water comes in contact with a solid surface (The rock or ice) that momentarily brings the fluid to a stop, in that short amount of time it has to be cold enough to freeze the water, this spot is called a nucleation spot (where things start). From there it just basically builds outwards until the whole thing is frozen, the water freezing like a column as it flows down and hits the ice below, layer by layer. Edit: I am surprised by how many people find this interesting/upvoting, it's ice to see so many people take an interest Edit 2: Now my highest up-voted comment, with my lisp I never thaw that coming
When you hear of political protests around the world why is it so often "student protesters" who are involved? Students and young people are often more idealistic and more likely to believe they can effect real change, while older people tend to be more pessimistic and resigned to things being hopeless or impossible to change. You can put this partly down to naivete on the part of young people, who lack experience and haven't seen protest movements fail before, but it's also true that if you've known a particular situation for ~50 years it's easy to incorrectly feel like it's fixed and "that's how it's always been and always will be." On top of that, students and young people tend to have more free time, and less to lose. If you're 40 and working to pay off your mortgage and support your kids, getting arrested at a protest or labelled as unpatriotic can totally destroy your life, prevent you from feeding your family; even keeping someone in jail for a few days can result in them losing their job, without you having to charge them, a tactic that has been used in some countries. When you've got kids and people relying on you, you don't want to rock the boat or do anything risky. If you're in your 20s, it's much more likely that you don't have to worry about that. Students specifically, as opposed to just young people not in school, tend to form protest movements because they're more likely to be engaged with social and political issues thanks to their education, more likely to be left wing (university-educated people tend to lean more leftward than average) which means you oppose traditionalism and push social change, and crucially, they're surrounded by lots of other young people who are also engaging with social and political issues, making it easier to form mass movements. Universities are places where 100 people are routinely gathering in the same room to voluntarily learn about politics, it's going to be easier to attract large numbers of people interested in political protest there than anywhere else. This applies to a specific example, but in the 50s-60s, the US civil rights movement was heavily driven by university students because universities were a great place for black people and white people to finally mix socially. People moved from towns where segregation (either legally-enforced or just socially custom) dominated to urban areas to attend universities where black and white students sat next to each other in class, and the experience resulted in a lot of them realizing that the segregation they grew up with was bullshit and becoming enthusiastic about fighting it. Anytime a paper interviewed a white person inexplicably participating in the movement for black civil rights you would hear "I grew up with my parents and friends telling me the blacks were slow and naturally inferior, a different species, then I went to university and there were black kids in my dorm and black kids in my classes and I realized it was all a load of crap." This has lessened a bit thanks to organisation over the internet. We're seeing the average age of protesters rise (although take this with a grain of salt, it's hard to measure).
why when you put a wooden spoon across a pot does the water not boil over? Any bubble that touches the spoon pops because it is so rough. That leaves a gap that the other bubbles fall into. Since no bubble can go higher than the spoon, the pot doesn't overflow.
Why does orange juice from Tropicana taste different from Simply Orange if they're both 100% Orange Juice? I've taste tested both of these. They taste different, despite both saying 100% Orange Juice with no preservatives or additives. Neither has pulp, and both bottles were bought on the same day. Back in the day--maybe pre-1990s?--year-round fresh (not frozen, not concentrate) OJ was not as common and was more expensive. Then, some great new process was devised and it became more common and cheaper. With the new process, it's squeezed, then stored in vats for months at a time. This process caused it to lose flavor. So flavor is added before it is sold. Different brands have slightly different flavor processes so taste different. And these have a different flavor and consistency than genuine fresh-squeezed OJ. Go get some genuine fresh squeezed from Whole Foods or similar and you'll taste the difference.
Why do we feel relief after we hit or break something when we are mad? Aggressive reaction syndrome (ASR). It is commonly found in primates and is a response of the enlarged amygdala. When we get angry it's essentially the amygdala taking over and telling the brain it's time to get physical and assert ourself. Since we're social animals with complex hierarchies it's important to show others that we're strong and capable.
what exactly does Obama care do? why do some people hate it so much and why do other people love it so much? "Obamacare" is actually called the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act", but was renamed "Obamacare" by Republicans in an attempt to make Republicans/Conservatives/Alt-Righters dislike the act before they knew what it was because is was being associated with Obama (whom they already hated for many reasons - another story completely). That being said, the Affordable Care Act did a few things, including: pre-existing condition It did a lot more, and you can read about it here . TL;DR - it's allowed a lot of poor people access to healthcare that they did not previously have access to. And then those same people voted for someone who would dismantle it without thinking about the implications of their actions.... but that's another story. EDIT: Formatting
Why in winter, on sunny days its really cold, and cloudy days its warm? Why? Pilot here. The weather has a serious effect on aviation so it's extremely important to understand how it works. Many of the answers in here are either saying "It's because clouds only form in warmer air" and "The clouds insulate the ground preventing the heat escaping. Believe it or not, they are both as accurate as much as they are inaccurate and neither explanation is technically incorrect. Here's the straight dope though: Clouds have no bearing on whether or not it will be hot or cold, regardless of the time of year or where you live. So what dictates whether it will be hot or cold? That would be the sun and it's position. In short, clouds are a symptom of a warm day, the clouds themselves do not cause it to be warm. Equally, a lack of cloud does not cause it to be cold. A lack of clouds is it's a cold day. So to your question then. Why does it always seem colder when the sky is clear during winter? And why are people insisting that the clouds insulate the earth and make it warmer? It's actually all to do with air pressure. Air like all forms of gas has mass and weight. You can't see it but its a physical thing you can touch and move. And like most gassy things on earth, if you heat it up it expands. And by expanding it becomes thinner. This means hot air is thinner and less dense than cold air. So cold air is thicker and heavy, thus the "pressure" of its weight is high, therefore we have "High" air pressure. Warm air is lighter and less dense and rises more easily, therefore it weighs less and thus its pressure is low, so we have "Low" air pressure. Us pilots love cold days because the air pressure is high and the air is nice and thick. It makes for some good flyin'. Especially if your in a smaller aircraft, you get to save some fuel too as you can lean your fuel mixture back a bit more! Your also at reduced risking of icing up to a certain point on a cold day (Which surprises most people) which is important because icing is very, very bad on a plane. The other reason that we like cold days is because clouds cannot form generally below a certain height. This is a massive simplification but clouds form when moisture in the air rises with warm air higher and higher until the air begins to cool down and cools to a point where it can no longer carry the moisture. This is referred to as the "Dew point". It then forms a cloud. If this process continues long enough to a critical mass within a certain amount of time it becomes rain at some point. Warm air carries more moisture than cold air because its thinner (Thus lower air pressure). Beyond a certain temperature cold air carries very little moisture indeed. If the air is too cold to carry this moisture (Water vapour) up in the first place, clouds simply cannot form and thus this is the reason you never see clouds on a really cold day. So why are people banging on about clouds insulating the ground and why are they both right and wrong?? Firstly, as the sun shines on earth, it heats the earth up and some of this heat is radiated back out to space, this much is accurate. However whether clouds have any bearing on this process depends on the time of day. During the day, if cloud forms it actually prevents the majority of the sunlight from reaching earth and thus absorbs or radiates the heat back into space at the cloud level. The heat never makes it to earth and the effect of this is the day feels cooler. However during the day, cloud itself does very little to insulate the earth's heat because that's basically where clouds are coming from as a I described above. At night though it's a different story. As the part of earth you're on moves out of the sun's rays and starts to cool, the heat that was absorbed by the planet radiates back out to space. With no cloud coverage, this process happens very quickly and the night becomes quite cold. However if there are clouds, they absorb some of this radiation and slow the process down and the night feels warmer because it's taking longer for the absorbed heat to be released back to space. However the rules of cloud creation still very much apply, so if it was cold to begin with during the day, there is likely to be very little cloud in the night. It all depends on how much moisture is in the air. In order to simplify this I have left quite a bit out of this including how wind is formed from differences in low and high air pressure and hot and cold fronts which complicate things tremendously but you now have a base knowledge of cloud formation in a static atmosphere. I hope that gives you a greater understanding of it but if you need a TL;DR then that would be this: Clouds form because its warm and do not form when it's cold. If it's a cold day, that is the reason your not seeing any clouds, it's not cold BECAUSE there are no clouds. EDIT: Thank you for the gold kind stranger. Also thank you to /u/devilscolonic who pointed out a paragraph I've messed up somehow by deleting part of it when I added a comma which totally changed its meaning, it was supposed to read: Especially if your in a smaller aircraft as the plane just wants to climb and its performance is enhanced versus a hot day, though riding thermals on a warm day is fun and you get to save some fuel too as you can lean your fuel mixture back a bit more! To those who asked (Many!) I mostly fly a Piper PA28 Warrior II and a Cessna 182 these days. THE EDIT'S EDIT: Many asking various questions so I will respond here. I can't recommend any particular school to learn to become a pilot because I am in the UK and most of you asking are in the US or elsewhere. Also I am biased. However what I do recommend is if you are able to do so, learn on a "Intense" course where you have your lessons as close as possible. There's nothing worse than having a lesson once a month or something like that and your flying instructor has to go back and cover old ground with you because it's been so long since your last lesson. Sporadic lessons probably ends up being more expensive because you need more lessons to cover old ground, even if intense tuition costs more initially. The best source of information to learn aviation meteorology is the documents your flight school give you or official aviation publications. We tend to use this one from AFE (It changes its appearance a lot so this is what it looks like currently) but bear in mind it's got a European slant (Pressures in millibars, UK/European air laws) but the met in it is valid everywhere. How much to learn to fly? Varies massively depending on skill level. There's a minimum flight time requirement too. I can only quote for the UK but it's gonna be around £6'000 to £8'000.
Why does one person singing out of tune sound like ass, but 50,000 people singing out of tune sounds amazing? Aside from the emotional impact of being together in a large group - do the different out-of-tune notes somehow cancel each other out, or combine to make new harmonics? Because they all are randomly out of tune, but just slightly, so they add up around the proper notes. On average you get a sound that is more intense around the right notes and their harmonics (which makes it sound non-dissonant), and the out of tune sounds just becomes a bunch of overtones making the sound a richer and more complex timbre. See this old comment I made for some technical details and visuals.
Why are nuclear bombs detonated in the air instead of on impact? Because it has a wider impact range. Detonating on the ground has quite a bit of energy absorbed into the ground below it, instead of on the target location. Detonating in air allows it to spread out more, dealing more damage.
I just read that it takes 26 hours for New Year to pass all time zones, how can that happen? Because the time zones go from UTC-12 to UTC+14. Specifically, the cause is several islands in the Pacific Ocean such as Kiribati. Kiribati is an island nation whose islands are spread across three times zones. Normally, these time zones would have been UTC+12, UTC-11 and UTC-10. The problem is that it would put one part of Kiribati a day ahead of the rest of it. So instead they chose to move the rest of Kiribati one day ahead, so their time zones are UTC+13 and UTC+14 instead of UTC-11 and UTC-10. I'm not sure why they didn't just choose UTC-12, UTC-11 and UTC-10 instead, but I'm guessing it's so that they will be on the same days as the islands west of Kiribati instead of the islands east of it.
How are pop-up and generally annoying web ads viable? Go to a news website, or any website in general, and you get bombarded with pop-up ads, ads that start playing videos automatically, etc. - how is this intrusive advertising even remotely beneficial to the advertiser anymore? It seems like this type of advertising would do more harm to their brand than help. Do they actually generate substantial traffic and revenue for the advertiser? The same reason you get viagra and penis pill spam in your email. Some people are unbelievably stupid and willing to spend money to prove it.
How do you claim undiscovered land? If your on a boat, sailing through lets say the Pacific and you come across an island and later on you find its an undiscovered island then can you claim it as your own land if your are A. In international waters B. Belong to a country or are a citizen of a country? If you have the answer, who would you talk to to claim the land. By the way, this is just a hypothetical. Imagine you are out walking in the woods near your house and you find a cave. You think to yourself, "Gee that's a real nice cave, there's just enough room for my rocket car, my crime fighting computer and my superhero costume collection. It'd be perfect for me." Let's say that nobody already owns the cave, so you move in and bring in all your stuff. You carve a costume wardrobe into one of the stone walls, grab a shovel and flatten the floor a bit so your rocket car can drive in and out. After you've finished working on the cave and fixing it up you start to think of it as yours. But not everybody agrees. There's another guy a few miles away who also fancies himself a billionaire superhero like you. Flies around in a stupid metal suit that he made himself while a prisoner of the Taliban or something like that. Anyway, one day he walks by and sees your cave and thinks, "That's a great cave, I should make that my lair." So he comes in for a chat. He starts by telling you that he's going to move into your cave because it's his. You tell him to get stuffed, and that if he tries to take it from you, you'll be forced to unwrap a bundle of BAM!, POW! and WHOOF! on him. And what's more, you've recently adopted a teenage boy who'll do the same. "Yeah?" says the guy, "Well if that's how you feel, I'm friends with a cryogenically frozen soldier, a Norse god and some dude who owns a bow and arrow. They'll back me up if I ask them. Your move." "So what?" you say. "One of my friends is a super strong refugee from a dying planet, another is a mythical Amazonian warrior and there's also a guy who was electrocuted by lightning while drowning in toxic chemicals. They'll take your friends for sure." "Yeah? We'll see. How fast can your friends be here?" "Funny you should ask. There's something I didn't tell you about my friend who got struck by lightning." Suddenly a phone rings. It's the other guy's cell. On the phone is a cool, english sounding voice with immense gravitas. "Forget the cave." it says. "I've spent my life training superhero teams at my private academy, and I'm telling you, your team is outgunned. In any case, nobody else wants a fight over this cave when we should all be working together for the good of mankind. Everyone else has decided the cave is his cause he claimed it first. So walk away." This call makes all the difference. The other guy might not be happy, but he leaves you in peace. The cave is yours because a) you claimed it b) you were in a position to defend it and c) everyone else agreed that your claim and ability to defend were substantial enough to recognise your right of ownership.
Why do people put a shirt or towel in the window of their abandoned cars on the interstate? It means your car broke down and wasn't abandoned. Your hazards will only work until the battery dies. It let's the police know your intent to come back to retrieve the car. As long as it's off road, or not on private property you may buy yourself a few days without getting towed.

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