r/AlwaysWhy

People still cook with cast iron skillets that are a century old. The iron itself can last for generations, and the cooking surface can be cleaned and reseasoned when it wears down. Nonstick pans work differently because their cooking surface depends on a coating that can wear, scratch, or peel over time.

What I find interesting is that the cast iron surface can be maintained or rebuilt by the owner, while a damaged nonstick coating generally cannot be restored at home.What actually determines how long these two types of pans remain usable?

The US had more than five million farms in 1950. By 1982, that number had fallen to about 2.2 million. The decline had already been underway for decades, but the number of farms continued falling through the 1970s, while the farm crisis of the 1980s brought another major disruption to rural America.

What made it possible for so many farms to remain viable in earlier decades, and what changed by the 1970s and 1980s?

Mid century photos show enormous municipal pools with diving boards, grassy decks, and large crowds on summer days. Some of those pools were eventually filled in or demolished, sometimes leaving little trace of what had once been a major part of local public life.

What changed around public swimming pools that made so many of them disappear? Why did this happen when it did, and what explains the decline?

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since July 2009. Meanwhile, prices for many everyday expenses have risen, and most states now have minimum wages above the federal level.

Why wasn't the federal minimum wage tied to inflation or another measure that could adjust it automatically? What are the economic arguments for setting it as a fixed dollar amount rather than indexing it?

Tim Cook did not come, and neither did new CEO John Ternus, while every other company worth a trillion dollars sent someone. Social media quickly filled this blank with the take that Apple is behind on AI. Altimeter's Brad Gerstner called it a "nothing burger," and noted that Cook had been at the White House just days earlier for the Xi state dinner. This gap in time, this setting, this guest list, make one want to explore several more layers: What exactly was this lunch gathering? Frontier model companies? The compute narrative? A safety commitment? Or some new interface between the White House and tech giants? Apple's models are smaller, run on its own silicon, and partner with Google instead of building massive compute; it stayed quiet on AI safety, the main topic of the day; attendees later signed a safety accord. So the question is not just why Apple did not go, but: When "frontier AI" is defined this way, does Apple count as an insider? When "safety" is signed this way, what does silence mean? When everyone sends someone, is absence being behind, a choice, a schedule, a strategy, or another kind of position? Why did a lunch called a "nothing burger" still leave so many seams worth exploring? Who is defining the frontier, who is defining safety, who needs to sit at that table, and who does not?

While I looking through fashion magazines and seeing how men's hairstyles have changed over the past 100 years, I noticed something I found pretty interesting.

The mullet was hugely popular around the world in the 80s and early 90s. It spread through rock music, sports, movies, and TV, and eventually became a pretty common men's haircut. It wasn't just popular in the US either. It was popular in many other countries as well.

The style came back to some extent in the 2020s, but it doesn't seem to have reached anything close to the same level of popularity. Modern mullets also tend to be shorter and more layered, so they don't really look like the classic 80s version.

Meanwhile, slick-backs and side-parts have been popular for generations. The exact styles change over time, but the basic idea never really disappears.

I personally prefer the slicked-back styles from the 20s and 30s. I think they look clean and work well with the face and clothes. I don't think mullets look particularly good, but that's just my personal taste.

So what makes one hairstyle survive across generations while another becomes so closely associated with one era?

Is it because the slick-back is more of a basic hairstyle that can keep changing with fashion, while a mullet has such a distinctive shape that it's harder to separate it from the era that made it popular?