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2y3bjx
|
why we don't see missing persons on the side of milk cartons anymore
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2y3bjx/eli5_why_we_dont_see_missing_persons_on_the_side/
|
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"text": [
"I don't see too many paper cartons. Maybe bc they're all plastic now?",
"With the internet and facebook and such, we have better ways to spread around the pictures and information of missing people. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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||
2ccd58
|
if i heat a liquid so a solid can dissolve more easily, why doesn't it settle when the liquid is cooled?
|
Let's say I want to make sweet iced tea. It's much more effective to add and mix the sweetener in while the tea is hot than it is once the tea is cold. Cold tea gets saturated much sooner, and the sweetener settles on the bottom.
But when I heat the tea, dissolve the sweetener, and then cool it, the sweetener *stays dissolved* and doesn't settle on the bottom. Why?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ccd58/eli5_if_i_heat_a_liquid_so_a_solid_can_dissolve/
|
{
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"text": [
"If you warm water and dissolve sugar until it is saturated (no more will dissolve) then cool it, some sugar will precipitate out and settle. It doesn't in your tea cus it's not saturated, though warmth will speed up the dissolving of the sugar. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1eb0d6
|
how exactly does coal form?
|
Working on a project, and I'm looking to not overcomplicate things for another speaker in the group, so what would be the easiest way to explain coal formation, in slight detail, to a group of 5 year olds.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1eb0d6/eli5_how_exactly_does_coal_form/
|
{
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"text": [
"Forests from millions of years ago were buried in soil through natural processes, such as landslides, earthquakes, or even basic flooding. As they sank deeper and deeper into the soil, the pressure from the weight of the soil compressed the plant matter. \n\nThe plant matter did not decay/rot because there was no oxygen, since it was buried under hundreds/thousands of meters of soil.\n\nOver time, the combination of high temperature and high pressure removed all of the other elements in the plant matter until only carbon remained, which is what coal is."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
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|
1u7yc2
|
how can satalites keep track of so many things at once, radio, tv, internet, gps etc, wont they get reach a point where they run out of capacity with all the production of new devices?
|
Not very sustainable is this?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1u7yc2/eli5_how_can_satalites_keep_track_of_so_many/
|
{
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"text": [
"Each satellite only does 1 thing. GPS satellites don't provide tv",
"Satellites that the public use are either very costly to keep paying for the upkeep and new satellites as required, or are fairly cheap or free because the satellites don't have to do any extra work for more customers. \n\nGPS, for example, takes no extra effort on the part of the satellite whether there's 5 or 50 people currently using them to try and get a location. It's a passive thing where your phone just picks up a broadcast the GPS satellites make to the whole surface of the planet visible to them and it knows which GPS satellite is where in relation to the surface. Using that it can triangulate the position itself without the satellite paying attention to me individually. \n\nSimilarly any radio broadcasts aren't a personal affair: you just spew all the information out at the surface and let the receiver worry about filtering out what they want to know. \n\nIt's like if I stand in an auditorium and start lecturing - it takes the same effort on my part whether it's empty, full or anywhere in between. In the case of a satellite it's stage is as large as any part of the Earth its signals can reach.",
"GPS satellites aren't providing internet access. There are specific satellites for specific things."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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|
4bhecr
|
how does reddit have thumbnails of albums that have been deleted? or when imgur is blocked, how can it still show them?
|
This has always confused me. If the album has been deleted, how does Reddit have the thumbnail preview to show in the corner? Does it save a cached version on the server? Wouldn't this take up a lot of resources and space?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bhecr/eli5_how_does_reddit_have_thumbnails_of_albums/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d193ani"
],
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4
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"text": [
"Yes, reddit made the thumbnail and saved a copy, so it can still show you the thumbnail after the album is deleted or if you can't access imgur yourself. They're not big and there's no need to store them forever, so they're not going to use a problematic amount of space. Storing a copy will be much more efficient than connecting to imgur, downloading the original image, and creating the thumbnail again every time someone requests it."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
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|
6yuq1b
|
us debt limit - why is there even a limit if it is raised every couple months? and why do countries just keep piling up debt and not pay it off?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6yuq1b/eli5_us_debt_limit_why_is_there_even_a_limit_if/
|
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"text": [
" > why is there even a limit if it is raised every couple months? \n\nBecause the US Constitution gives spending authority to the US Congress, and they like to keep the executive branch on a short leash. All a part of checks and balances.\n\n > And why do countries just keep piling up debt and not pay it off?\n\nBecause debt is a useful tool, and it would be stupid not to use it.\n\nIt is like buying a house. You could skimp and save for 20 years to try to buy a house without going into dept. But you'd still have to pay to live somewhere while doing that. Even though you are going into debt and paying interest, it is cheaper in the long run.\n\nSame is true with a government. If a $10M bridge is going to generated $1M a year in extra revenue, it is better to borrow that money and build it *now* than it is to try to wait until you have that money in the bank.\n\nThe difference between a government and a person is the government doesn't have to worry about saving up for retirement, so it can stay in debt indefinitely.",
"This was asked not that long ago, so I am just going to paste in my answer from there.\n\nFirst thing before any understanding of what is going on can be achieved you need to know one thing.\n\n**THE UNITED STATES CANNOT INVOLUNTARILY GO BANKRUPT FOR DEBT DENOMINATED IN US DOLLARS**\n\nThe government could just print more money at the cost of causing each dollar to be worth less. Not good, but not the end of the world. So the question isn't can the US pay for everything, including its debt. What happened and what requires the debt to be raised is that the US budgeted more money to be spent than is raised and can be borrowed without violating a WWI era statute that limits the amount of money the treasury can borrow. This is why it needs to be raised.\n\nNow there is a question, should we cut spending instead of raising the debt ceiling? In the long term this is a valid question, but over the short term it isn't. The US Government debt is the gold standard for safe investments, which means that in bad times everyone wants it. That keeps the interest rate on the debt very low. If the US couldn't guarantee that it could get more people* to lend it money in the future the interest rates required to raise money now would rise, which is something we don't see happening.\n\nThe effect of US debt being so safe is that the world financial markets are built around the idea that it is as good as cash. If it turns out not to be the case, i.e. debt ceiling is not high enough, bad things could happen including a financial crisis bigger than the Great Depression. It's unlikely but could happen.\n\nNow the proper level of government spending is a valid question and nearing the debt ceiling is as good an excuse as any to talk about it, but any threat of not raising it is irresponsible and dangerous.\n\n.* people in this context normally means financial institutions, but if you were rich enough you could buy them as an individual (the denomination is either 10k or 100k) and everyone gets the same price (interest rate).\n",
"There are a lot of misconceptions about national debt, usually because people assume it's the equivalent of \"hey buddy, lend me a $20 until payday.\"\n\nImagine this scenario: I knock on your door on your 18th birthday and say \"I will give you $100,000 today, but when you turn 80, you have to pay me $120,000.\" Do you accept? Of course you do! You could take that money, put it in a long-term deposit with a 3% interest rate, and by the time you turn 80, it'll be $625,000. You'll happily give me my $120,000 and walk away with half a million for doing absolutely nothing, you'd be silly not to.\n\nYet as soon as you agree, you are now $20,000 in debt -- you have $100k to your name, and you owe $120k at a future date, that's $20k in debt. Your parents say \"Oh, /u/Sockentester, why would you put yourself in debt? Go save up $20k and pay that man back right now!\", and you try to explain, but they just see debt, and debt is bad.\n\nIt's similar for stable countries. The US will sell bonds for $10 that you can cash in for $11 in ten years. As soon as it sells one, America is now $1 deeper in debt. But now it has ten years to invest that $10 in any way that improves national productivity (hospitals for healthier workers, schools for more educated workers, infrastructure and industry, it all contributes) and winds up generating at least $1 more than otherwise. \n\nAnd who's buying those bonds? Mostly Americans, most often via retirement funds (which prefer very safe investments). If you have a retirement fund, America is probably in debt to *you*.\n\nDebt is good if you're sure you can use the borrowed money to generate more than the sum plus its interest at the end of the term, and large stable governments have lots of investment opportunities no one else has.",
"Let's take a holistic point of view. When proponents of the US Federal Reserve, namely Hamilton and the Federalists first floated the concept of a national debt, it was primarily to achieve two aims:\n\n1. Solidification of the power of the federal government by taking on all of the various colonial states' debt from the American Revolution and other hardships, at a time when the failure of the Articles of Confederation had been obvious\n\n2. The establishment of a good \"trusting\" national line of credit\n\nHamilton famously foresaw the need not only to beef up the federal system but also the benefit of being \"in debt\" but **reasonably so.** It is a huge, huge, gigantic misconception that he advocated for an *unsustainable* national debt.\n\nNow, on to modern economics. Experts estimate the US national debt at 13.6 trillion USD as of Jan 2016. Our gross domestic product was at 18.6 tillion USD also in 2016. We should be perfectly fine right, since our GDP is comfortably above our debt? Why not just pay it off? Not quite that simple.\n\nReason being is mutli-fold. First and foremost, the \"national debt\" is a value that has nearly zero practical significance. I know some people will disagree, but the raw values they give for national debt is simply what we owe on paper. There are a bevy of \"hidden\" debt or \"shadow debt\" the primary example being the amount of money required to *physically/electronically or otherwise* pay back more than 13 trillion dollars of debt. \"Shadow debt\" figures are notoriously subjective and full of speculation, so I won't even bother to hazard my guess here.\n\nAnother major reason, perhaps a more important reason is the one that people have already mentioned. Why pay off that big of a debt when your revenue can be re-invested in your own country? As long as you maintain a \"good\" credit, there is no reason why you practically should pay off such a large debt. It is slightly counter-intuitive but holding onto the debt *responsibly* not only secures your credit, but also allows you to invest your gains more freely (F-35 Lightning II program... I am glaring at you).\n\nEmerging markets struggle with building credit just like any teenager/young adult would. You have to take on debt, pay it off responsibly at a reasonable rate, in order to build your credit.\n\nKeep in mind, the US has *fiat* reserve currency, which is to say that we have such a high standing in the world that our reserve is simply our *word.* Many emerging economies have to take up existing currencies as their reserve, and/or keep things like gold and silver. We occupy an incredibly high standing in the credit market, although this is not a guarantee of keeping that standing.\n\nNow is where we get to the meat of the discussion. The \"debt ceiling\" needs to be carefully maintained because our debt and subsequent impact to our credit is observed and rated by various global entities. The threat of a government shutdown to make sense of our national debt ceiling is a very real, serious and necessary endeavor. If our credit rating deteriorates, you are looking at bevy of less favorable factors such as increased interest on our borrowing, unwanted movement of assets and potentially forced liquidation thereof, etc. However, simply raising the ceiling by the proper, responsible avenues ought not to deteriorate our credit. Simply having a debate about the debt ceiling mitigates some of the risk of having our credit cut, so any effort to grow our debt *reasonably* is, or rather ought to be, always a favorable action.\n\nDebt has a hugely negative connotation in colloquial language but in reality, it is absolutely necessary for rapid, sustainable growth. This isn't a Democrat vs Republican thing, those guys are more interested in fighting over the *rate* of debt accumulation versus our credit, but rather a Federalist idea that the US economy ought to be continuously borrowing against the prospect of greater future success.\n\nThe old saying goes: \"If you borrow 100,000 dollars from the bank, the bank owns you. If you borrow 1,000,000,000 dollars from the bank, you own the bank.\" At that point, the financial success and well-being of that bank is tied directly to the success/failure of your venture. In the case of the US, plenty of entities are willing to bet on us. We are quite literally too big to fail, however at the same time, it is our absolute paramount responsibility to oversee our debt accumulation for not only the sake of our own citizens, but for everyone around the globe and we should hope that emerging nations will do the same and wish them well on their journey.\n\nDisclaimer: I am not a Hamiltonian nor am I speculating that the Federal Reserve is the main reason for the success of the Union of the United States of America."
]
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39ywpm
|
how are dinosaurs made?
|
I'm a babysitter and recently the child has been asking more and more complex questions that I am not able to simplify enough. We were watching Jurassic Park and this question came up.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39ywpm/eli5_how_are_dinosaurs_made/
|
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"text": [
"You mean for real? They aren't. It's science fiction. Back when they still lived, they were born from eggs, much as modern lizards are.",
"Dinosaurs are not made. Jurassic Park is a film and what they done is not possible. I am struggling to believe that you are actually serious in asking this question. Most if not all of them would have hatched from eggs when the dinosaurs were here millions of years ago.",
"In the Jurassic Park mythology, the dinosaurs are created with DNA found in amber. Basically, mosquitos drink the blood from the dinos, and then become fossilized in tree sap. In the present, scientists extract the DNA from the fossilized mosquitos. \n\nThe gaps in the DNA are filled in with DNA from tree frogs in the movie. \n\nWould this work in real life? We could certainly create synthetic embryos. However, the last dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, and the oldest DNA we've ever found is 800,000 years old",
"As in how it's they're supposedly made in the movies? Just tell the child that there's a thing called DNA, and explain to them that DNA is a set of instructions like in a cookbook (or programming in a computer if they understand) for making any living thing. When things die, these instructions are sometimes but not always preserved in fossils. Now normally, every living thing only has instructions to make others of the same kind (chickens make chickens etc...), but sometimes this can be cheated by science. Then tell them that the scientists in the movies were able to use the DNA from the fossils and put the DNA into a living thing like a chicken and allow the chicken to hatch a dinosaur instead of a chicken. ",
"Simple answer: Rewind the film to the part where it's explained how they extract dino-DNA, and then tell the child DNA is just another word for recipe--like for chocolate chip cookies.\n\nSo in the film they took the dino recipe that they could read, and the parts that were missing they used parts of frog recipe. Like when you want crunchy peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich, but you only have strawberry jam, you make a substitution, and it's close enough.\n\n",
"A hundred million years ago, there were mosquitoes, just \tlike today. And, just like today, they fed on the blood \t\tof animals. Even dinosaurs!\n\t\nSometimes, after biting a dinosaur, the mosquito would \tland on a branch of a tree, and get stuck in the sap! \n\nAfter a long time, the tree sap would get hard and \tbecome fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving \t\tthe mosquito inside! \n\nThis fossilized tree sap -- which we call amber waited millions of years, with the mosquito inside \tuntil Jurassic Park's scientists came along! \n\nUsing sophisticated techniques, they extract the \t\tpreserved blood from the mosquito, \t\tand - - Bingo! Dino DNA!"
]
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1zro4r
|
do other primates recognize humans as being similar in likeness to them?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zro4r/eli5do_other_primates_recognize_humans_as_being/
|
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"Not really. At a young age they see no difference but as the primates grow, they realize they are stronger or different. \n\nI read somewhere that chimps cannot be used in film/commercials or really let out of their cage, after the age of seven because they realize that they are much stronger than humans. Then they decide to test out their strength and people get hurt or die.\n\nPlease don't take my word for it though, I'm not an expert nor have I ever see primates outside of a zoo.",
"I'm not an expert in this, but I recently watch a documentary about gorillas. \nRemember that incident in the 80's where a kid fell into the gorilla enclosure? Basically he knocked himself out and broke his wrist. The leader of the pack went over and inspected the kid. You could literally see him figuring out what this kid was, then decided to protect the kid and urge the rest of his pack away. From that I think certain primates have to potential to realize humans are similar."
]
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|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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422b3w
|
why do so many poor people vote republican? wouldn't they benefit more from voting democratic?
|
I know this sounds like a stupid question and there are other issues that go beyond the economy... but i still can't wrap my head around it.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/422b3w/eli5_why_do_so_many_poor_people_vote_republican/
|
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"text": [
"Marketing. Republicans have been very skillful in marketing themselves as the party of the \"average Joe\" while painting the Democrats as the party of the \"liberal elite.\"",
"You are operating under the assumption that Democrats are always best for poor people. That's not always the case. For example, many low income people were significantly impacted in a negative way due to Obamacare. Additionally, many low income people are negatively impacted due to lack of school choice and union pandering, etc. Very few people are single issue voters and the poor already don't pay income tax (a few years ago only something like 47% of Americans paid income tax). And things like the carbon tax and purposefully keeping oil prices high through taxation and refusing to drill locally in an attempt to keep consumption down, etc.. things like that inversely impact the poor far more than they do the wealthy.\n\nLook at it this way. If you're at a certain income level the Democrats want to send your kids to a shitty school that fails to educate them in order to placate the unions. They want to mandate you purchase overpriced healthcare insurance with deductibles so high you can't use it anyway or you'll pay a penalty. They want you to pay more on your heating and utilities because they don't want you to use as much oil. They want to reduce your employment options by making gasoline more expensive so you won't drive as much. They want tax to your nicotine addiction so highly that you can't afford to save for retirement. Speaking of which they don't want to fix social security to ensure you will receive something when you retire. They want to give out millions of working papers to illegal immigrants to compete against you for entry level positions keeping you under or unemployed. etc.. The list goes on and on. While they do favor additional handouts, their entire platform isn't always in the best interest of the poor.",
"I've noticed that poor white people vote republican. They tend to have stronger religious beliefs as well. Poor black people vote democrat because of better social services.",
"Under Republicans, the rich get much richer and poor get much poorer. Under Democrats, everybody gets a little bit poorer.",
"Isn't it the other way around? I mean, I'm sure you could post some demographic chart showing southern or southwestern states being poor red states,and come to the conclusion that all the \"poors\" in that state are voting Republican.\n\n I live in a southern state and in a low median income area,and the general consensus is that most of our lowest income voters are Democrat. A lot of the rich people in the south are old southern Democrats who often still vote that way. Middle, upper middle class and some portion of working class seem to be Republican. Of course this is all anecdotal.\n\nAs far as the economy,I guess I'm old enough not to be impressed by funny employment numbers and working class people being herded into part time jobs,with shitty health care options. The economy has been terrible for families if you don't accept the idea of the new normal.\n\nThe best thing that could happen for low income and working/middle class Americans would be for them to stop towing either party line and start scrutinizing candidates not by what they say,but by what they do. These days a huge portion of Democrats are just as fascist as Republicans and some even more so as big business has realized that the Clintons and Obamas of the world want to use the Office of the Presidency to become rich. \n\nOn the local and state levels Democrats have always been lining their pockets as much as any Republican. Elected representatives pretty much do what the money wants. The difference is that Democrats in the big cities and in union country have always embraced this and tied it into advantages for the constituency. Hopefully people will start realizing that we're all down trending these day under both parties. I don't know; a lot of Democrats seem to comfortable with lowering the standard of living for Americans as some misguided social justice goal?\n\nIt's not an accident that Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party have both been demonized to hell and back. Imagine if they put aside social issues and came together? Maybe agree on some term limit ideas and some modifications to anti trust laws and constricting the relationships between lobbyists and politicians/former politicians."
]
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[],
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4qgb6x
|
why do we turn the lights off during earth hour if we don't actually save any electricity?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4qgb6x/eli5_why_do_we_turn_the_lights_off_during_earth/
|
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"It's a symbolic gesture to raise awareness about renewable technologies and energy conservation. It's not an actual tactic to save the environment.",
"Power plants can dynamically change their output depending on the needs of the public. They will burn less fuel.",
"It's to give ourselves a pat on the back. People want do something that makes them *feel* like they're helping, but very few will inconvenience themselves enough to do something that actually matters."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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3k5p9b
|
why, after years of civil war, is now the tipping point where so many syrians are fleeing to europe?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3k5p9b/eli5_why_after_years_of_civil_war_is_now_the/
|
{
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"text": [
"They aren't fleeing, really. They're looking for a higher standard of living. If they were simply looking for shelter from war, they would not go to Germany. [Look at this map.](_URL_0_) There are perhaps near a dozen countries, all of which are not at war, between Syria and Germany. Most go through Hungary, which is not as welcoming. However, the EU says they have to be registered in the country that they first arrive in. They don't stay in Hungary, they are going through Austria to Germany. That makes them immigrants, not refugees. Aside from the viral photos of dead children, which someone took the time to, instead of burying the child, take a high resolution photo, there are thousands of videos of them rioting on the streets and being generally cunts. A video was uploaded to youtube the other day of Syrian \"refugees\" throwing rocks at train station workers as they ran for Germany.\n\nThey are doing this because Germany is advertising it. They, as well as Sweden, are literally putting up billboards advertising their countries. Norway and Denmark on the other hand are literally advertising for them to go away. they don't listen to Norway or Denmark. Why would they, when they can get free housing, food, shelter, and schooling at the cost of tax paying Germans and Swedes?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://gyazo.com/f28ebbfe666f41462466b068d4a9db98"
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||
2nfnio
|
why do subtitles and credits in older movies jump around on screen?
|
If you watch a movie from 20 years ago or more the opening credits, end credits, and title cards tend to move around on screen. This doesn't happen on modern films. I'm guessing it has to do with it being done digitally now but what exactly did they do in these older films that caused this and why was it so hard to keep them still?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nfnio/eli5_why_do_subtitles_and_credits_in_older_movies/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cmdbfrc"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"They hold an index card up to the camera and film it. Or roll a transparency past the camera whole filming (that's the star wars title)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
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1gmpzh
|
why do we have and how do we get our social security numbers?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gmpzh/eli5_why_do_we_have_and_how_do_we_get_our_social/
|
{
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"text": [
"Social security numbers were first assigned to track individual's accounts for social security, a government program that began in the 1930s. It is now used for identification by other organizations as well. It's also needed for tax forms, since it makes it less likely that a mix-up occurs between two citizens with similar names. \n\nNumbers are provided by the Social Security Administration, which is a government agency. Numbers have 9 digits. There used to be a bit of a pattern with the number, with the first 3 digits being lower for numbers assigned on the east coast. However, the system for picking numbers was recently changed to make the digits more random. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
5pcycu
|
how are mass protests organised/executed?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5pcycu/eli5_how_are_mass_protests_organisedexecuted/
|
{
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"dcqbj8r"
],
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"text": [
"I don't know how they did them in the past, but nowadays, protests are organized using social media. That's how the Women's March today became so big."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1t35jr
|
durring the week i can get 8 hours of sleep and feel like i got 2, but durring the weekend i can get 5 hours of sleep and feel like i got 10. why?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1t35jr/eli5_durring_the_week_i_can_get_8_hours_of_sleep/
|
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3,
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"text": [
"When you sleep, you're doing it in cycles that last roughly 90 minutes. Interrupting these cycles mean that your brain doesn't quite finish the recharging it normally does during sleep, and you will feel more tired and like you only got a few hours of sleep. During the weekend, you are probably waking up naturally, without an alarm clock to interrupt your sleep cycles, which is why you feel more rested. ",
"An understanding of what sleep is, is necessary to understand this. There is currently a consensus that sleep consists of five phases: \nstages 1-4 and a rapid eye movement stage, or REM. \n\nDuring stage 1, sudden eye contractions occur, and people are easily awoken. \n\nMoving to stage 2, eye movements completely cease and brain electrical activity slows down with occasional bursts of electrical activities.\n\nIn stage 3 brain electrical activity slows down even more, called delta waves, and it continues to produce smaller, faster electrical signals. \n\nStage 4 is reached once all brain activity besides delta waves cease. \n\nREM sleep is achieved once heart rate increases along with breathing and the eyes begin making rapid jerk motions in all directions, and all limb muscles become essentially paralyzed. If woken up in REM sleep people are able to recall dreams\n\nBasically if you wake up in stages 3 or 4, you're going to feel groggy. ",
"I'd bet money it's because of _how_ you wake up. If you're waking up when your body feels like it, of course it'll be easier than if you're just getting up because your alarm clock says to, regardless of how much you actually slept.",
"Work sucks, that's why."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3b2rpu
|
the new intel processor skylake. what makes it better then haswell, and why would i want it?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3b2rpu/eli5_the_new_intel_processor_skylake_what_makes/
|
{
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"csi9xx7"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It won't change your PC experience, it's just a new option for the next PC you build. It's using a new socket (lga1151) which means you'll need at least a new motherboard in order to use it. It's safe to assume the new motherboards will use DDR4 RAM, so you'll probably have to change that as well (unless your PC is pretty new and higher end). PSU/GPU/HDD should be unaffected.\n\nIt's simply the next progression in processors. Lower power use, smaller circuitry (14nm going down to 10nm in the future from Haswell's 22nm).\n\nSpeeds don't look too much of a progression, cache sizes are bigger, and there are a lot of architectural changes. We won't be able to say what this means in the real world until they're released and some benchmarks are run. It's safe to assume, it's no revolution, it's just the next step in progress."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1imz41
|
why are current hip hop and r & b songs overwhelmingly about sex and why do these genres seem to get away with it?
|
There are so many hip hop and r & b songs out there that talk about sex all the time, yet you don't seem to hear it as much in other genres. ELI5 please!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1imz41/eli5_why_are_current_hip_hop_and_rb_songs/
|
{
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"cb60z0j",
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"score": [
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2
],
"text": [
"Saying \"Getting away with it\" makes it sound like a crime. Sex has been a popular topic in songs of many genres for decades.",
"Because sex sells?\n\nR & B is mostly about Love and Love MAKING, passion and so forth. Hip-hop varies widely. The type of hip-hop that is mostly about sex are the types of songs that are played in clubs, for clubs, and clubs are were people go to hook up, for the most part. If you are making a song that Strippers want to dance to, then it probably helps to make it about sex, as opposed to being about how much you love your truck and whiskey.\n\nMany other genres use sex, they are either more subtle about it (Blurred Lines), or we simply think it means something else (Like a Virgin)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
59fcxh
|
why does spotify make you listen to its own ads?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/59fcxh/eli5_why_does_spotify_make_you_listen_to_its_own/
|
{
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"d980nme",
"d981090",
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"score": [
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It either:\n\na) keeps it fresh in the listener's mind that there is an alternative or\n\nb) annoys some people enough that they'll just end up paying the fee for an ad-free session.",
"Chances are that it is either an error in the algorithm, which is allowing those ads to play multiple times in a row, or they don't have enough ads for the region in which you are living, so they just get filled by spotify self-promoting ads. ",
"It sounds like an issue with their ad serving system. It should serve you up 3 ads, hopefully relevant, and different, depending on who is actually advertising on their service. Usually in these cases, the service (Spotify) will take an ad on each ad block, or ever 2 blocks, or every 3 blocks, to run one of their own \"ads\" talking about their service\n\nIf their ad server loaded up 3 spotify ads, its probably and error."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3mjy6g
|
resolution numbers like 1920 x 1080 are size but when a video or picture is 1080p what does that mean?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mjy6g/eli5_resolution_numbers_like_1920_x_1080_are_size/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvfl851",
"cvfmct8"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"the 1080 is the same 1080 in the resolution number. The P is for \"progressive scan\", which is a screen refresh method.",
"\"1080\" refers to the width of the image\n\"P\" means progressive scan, older HD formats used to support \"I\" which was interlaced\n\n1080p = 1920x1080 progressive\n720p = 1280x720 progressive\n1080i = 1920x1080 interlaced\n\netc... "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2g3bhq
|
the difference between an hypothesis and a theory
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g3bhq/eli5_the_difference_between_an_hypothesis_and_a/
|
{
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"score": [
14,
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2
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"text": [
"A hypothesis is an untested (but testable) proposal. A theory is a proposal that has been tested. Note that doesn't mean a theory can't be over turned or modified by a new one or new evidence. An old theory that has been dis-proven is still considered a theory as it has been tested...especially if it is still useful.",
"Hypothesis: I think that.. \n\nTheory: Research has proven that.. ",
"A hypothesis is an educated guess. Based on prior studies or work or your sense as a human you think something, such as \"the growth of grass is related to how much light it gets\"\n\nNow you can study this as you have a formulated idea. You can either set up a test to try it out, or you can do research and find other articles that may support your claim. \n\nSo you find out through testing and research that light does in fact increase the growth of grass. Now this is a theory. \n\nNow someone is going to say that too much light is bad for grass. It gets too hot and dries it out and kills it. So then you have to revise your theory to say that some light is good for grass, but too little or too much is not good. ",
" > A **scientific theory** is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is acquired through the scientific method, and repeatedly confirmed through observation and experimentation.\nScientific theories are testable and make falsifiable predictions.\n\n > A **hypothesis** is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a **scientific hypothesis**, the scientific method requires that one can test it.\n\nIn short: \nScientific Theory of z follows x: \"If you do x then z happens and we tested it and z always follows x; why exactly it's like this we don't (have to) know\"\n\nHypothesis of z follows y follows x: \"We think the reason why z follows x is because when x happens first y happens which leads to z happening. But we haven't had the time or money or capability to test if y happens all the time or only sometimes.\"",
"I think you all are using too much of a objective science approach to the question. A theory is simply an explanation for a given phenomena and is composed of several assumptions to reach its conclusion. A hypothesis is usually testing one of these assumptions and is more narrowly defined. The hypothesis can be from the theory you are examining (hoping to strengthen the theory) or can be from another theory (hoping to weaken the assumption and thus the theory).",
"Hypothesis is a \"guess\" while a theory is a tested, and proven true, \"guess\".",
"I am going to post this [link](_URL_0_) because it describes it better than much of what I have seen. Most importantly:\n\n > A theory never becomes a law. In fact, if there was a hierarchy of science, theories would be higher than laws. There is nothing higher, or better, than a theory."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.notjustatheory.com/"
]
] |
||
cg6l5q
|
why has television historically been seen as "bad" for you, while other superficially similar things (notably film) are not?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cg6l5q/eli5_why_has_television_historically_been_seen_as/
|
{
"a_id": [
"euez9wz"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Tv is something you can turn on and sit in front of for hours on end. You could be doing more proactive things if it weren’t for tv. Film is different because in those days it was a special occasion to see a movie. You had to go to a theater and pay to see a movie so it wasn’t an everyday occasion. \n\nNowadays they say the same thing about video games for the same reason."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
aqbslp
|
why does it rain more in the winter? specifically, why does the cold or warm air make it rain more or less, not why do different regions have cold or warm air?
|
I understand different regions have cold or warm front because of global air patterns, but I dont really understand why that fundamentally makes it rain more or less.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aqbslp/eli5_why_does_it_rain_more_in_the_winter/
|
{
"a_id": [
"egeu7n5",
"egfoeqk"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Water condenses more easily at lower temperatures. At higher temperatures, it remains vapor more easily. When water condenses in the air, it falls as rain. So, colder temperatures make more rain because the water in the air doesn't stay as vapor or smaller droplets that stay aloft.",
"This is not an answer, just a clarification about how you worded your title. \n\n > Why does it rain more in the winter\n\nI live in south Florida. Here, winter is our dry season and it almost never rains during the winter months. The summer on the other hand is known as \"the rainy season\" and it quite literally rains every single day in the summer. \n\n\nSo it's very regional "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
awo9ga
|
is there a reason why matter is made of negatively charged electrons orbiting around positively charged nucleus and not the opposite?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/awo9ga/eli5_is_there_a_reason_why_matter_is_made_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ehnyg2d",
"eho2i7p"
],
"score": [
14,
6
],
"text": [
"This is actually one of the big questions in physics. What you’re describing is antimatter, basically. At the start of the universe it and regular matter should have been generated in equal proportion, and likewise they should have annihilated each other. The fact that regular matter composes the majority of matter in the universe is a puzzler. ",
"The entire physics community would also like to know. In theory there should be parts of the universe where the opposite does happen, but for some reason it doesn't appear to be that way. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
30uvdy
|
what are dentists actually doing when they scrape at your teeth with those metal picks?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30uvdy/eli5_what_are_dentists_actually_doing_when_they/
|
{
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6,
5,
4,
11,
2
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"text": [
"Scraping off the plaque build up. And it is usually the dental hygienist not the actual dentist.",
"Most of the time they're looking at how much plaque is on or around your teeth. In other instances they're determining texture of the top layer of enamel. Both of these factor into the health of your teeth and help with diagnosing any problems you may have.",
"They are removing what is called calculus (sometimes also tartar, or \"teeth stone\"), which is a hardened form of plaque. It's bad for your gums and can cause gum bleeding.",
"I think my dentist was counting money while my hygienist was scraping my teeth.",
"If the hygienist is doing it, he/she is removing plaque and tartar buildup. If the dentist is doing it he/she either is not bothered enough to hire a hygienist :p, or is checking for cavities after your cleaning. The metal 'pick\" is to explore all the little grooves and surfaces of the teeth to make sure there are no 'holes' or tiny pits which the instrument sticks into when poked at which could signify decay."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2shvaw
|
how is the skin on the chest able to expand so quickly and not get damaged when someone get breast implants?
|
Edit gets*
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2shvaw/eli5_how_is_the_skin_on_the_chest_able_to_expand/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cnpm576",
"cnpmbep"
],
"score": [
6,
3
],
"text": [
"I'm not entirely sure, but I know several women who have gotten breast implants and have ended up with stretch marks. \nThen again, I know some who expanded slowly and got stretch marks, and some that didn't. \n \nI think its mostly dependant on the person.",
"a lot of women gets bruising for a bit and some get stretch marks. The doctors also do it in relatively harmless increments so the skin has the ability to stretch and doesn't rip. \n\nThe opening in which the implants are implanted are under the breast and they need enough skin left so they can see it up. \n\nWomen with implant almost always have scars under their breasts as well."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
223llf
|
why has fort hood been the site of two high-profile shootings?
|
I am not super familiar with the US Military. Has Fort Hood been the site of repeated violence for logistical reasons? Is there something about this particular base that makes it psychologically toxic? Is it just random coincidence?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/223llf/eli5_why_has_fort_hood_been_the_site_of_two/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cgj05ln",
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4,
2
],
"text": [
"I think it's more that Fort Hood is just plain huge. It's largest active duty military base in the U.S., with around 50,000 people on-base and 300 square miles of territory, making it the size of a city. We wouldn't bat an eye at, say, the city of Santa Monica or Redondo Beach having a couple of shootings in four years. ",
"The last shooter just got there from another base. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
10gl9g
|
why it only takes a minute to recharge a car battery when you need a jump start but phone batteries and lap top batteries take hours.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10gl9g/eli5_why_it_only_takes_a_minute_to_recharge_a_car/
|
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"text": [
"you only need enough charge to turn the motor over for a jump. then the alternator kicks in and charges the battery the rest of the way while the motor is running.\n\nedit: i knew it draws charge from the other vehicle, but doesn't it also charge your battery a small amount also. i usually let it sit connected up for a moment before trying to turn the car over whenever i jumped in the past",
"Jump starting a car doesn't recharge the battery, it uses the *other* car's battery to provide electrical power to start the car. If you turn off your engine right after the jump start, you'll be just as screwed as before. \n\nAs you drive the car after the jump start, the alternator will charge the battery back up. This does take time.",
"Jump-starting a car doesn't recharge the battery; it temporarily *bypasses* the battery to start the engine.\n\nA car engine needs a quick jolt of power to get started. Something needs to turn the crank and move the pistons so when gasoline is injected and ignited, the engine can keep running under its own power. That quick jolt *usually* comes from an electric motor that's just used for starting the engine, called, unsurprisingly, the starter motor. The car's battery provides electrical power to the starter motor for just a second or two, the starter motor gets the engine parts moving, and then the ignition of the fuel makes the engine carry on running without further input from the electrical system.\n\nIn fact, the mechanical energy coming out of the motor when it's running on its own fuel *generates* electrical power that *feeds into* the electrical system. Attached to the engine's shaft is a small electrical generator — basically just magnets that move around some wires. As the engine turns the generator, electrical power is generated that powers all the electric components of the car, and also feeds into the battery to charge it up. That's why a car can run just fine with a fully depleted battery (or even no battery at all, really).\n\nBut a fully depleted battery doesn't have the energy required to give the starter motor that quick jolt, so there's no way to start a car on its own when the battery's dead.\n\nThere are two ways around this: Provide that electrical jolt from an external source, and obviate the need for it entirely.\n\nIf you hook up another (compatible) source of electrical power through the terminals of the car's battery, the starter motor will draw its power from that other source. This is what you do when you jump-start a car with another car: You use the *electrical generator* in the other car to provide the current and voltage required to run the starter motor in your car, just for the couple of seconds it takes to start the engine. (You don't have to use a car engine for this, but because there are usually cars around, it's a common way to get around an electrical problem that keeps you from starting your engine.)\n\nOnce the car's engine is running, you no longer need electrical power, so you can disconnect the external source. Assuming your car's battery is functional but just depleted, the potential created across it by the built-in generator — which is called an \"alternator\" in car jargon, incidentally — will start building up a stored charge in your car's battery. If you let your car run for just a while — long enough to drive it home from wherever you got stuck, say — the car will bring the charge in the battery up to the point where it's got enough \"juice\" to start the engine the next time. Again, that's assuming your battery isn't in some way broken. If there's something wrong with the battery, then it may not take a charge at all, or may take one only to bleed it off in an uncontrolled way meaning it's dead again by next morning. But assuming the battery is okay, you've solved your problem. The car's engine will charge up the battery for you as you drive.\n\nThe other way to start a car with a dead battery involves getting the engine turning without using the starter motor. The car's engine turns the wheels through a straightforward mechanical linkage, right? Well, it also works the other way around. If you can get the wheels turning — while the car is in gear — the engine will end up turning over, just as it would if the starter motor did the work. This is called \"push-starting,\" but it's tricky, and it can't be done with just any car, so it's becoming something of a lost art these days. Anyway, that's mostly trivia. The point is your car *powers itself,* including charging its own battery, as long as it gets that initial jolt of power. Your phone doesn't work that way; the only source of battery charge for your phone is the mains plug. So if you want it to be fully charged, you must leave it plugged in until it's fully charged. There's nowhere else that the stored charge can come from."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
9xrris
|
if two identical cars drive toward each other...but one is going 50mph and the other is going 100mph, which damages the other more?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9xrris/eli5_if_two_identical_cars_drive_toward_each/
|
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"text": [
"They damage each other equally.\n\nIt doesn't matter what speed each car is going, but rather the total relative speed between them. The damage would be (essentially) the same if one car was going 150 mph, and the other was stationary.",
"When I was 11, I wondered if when you were going 60 mph and a car is coming at you at 60 mph, when it passes you and you look at it out your window, does the speed of it appear the same as if you were standing still and were passed by a car doing 120 mph? Maybe we can kill 2 curiosities with one stone.",
"Ahh, well there's a lot of simplifications to be made here. The main point is relative velocities. \n\nAt the end of the day though, if one identical car drives into another identical car, it's really like each car crashes into a non-moving wall at 150 mph. The only difference is the wall is an identical car. Each car will hit the other with \"equivalent\" mass and velocity. \n\nIt's like this: If you drive a car at 50, and car 2 driving at 100 passes you, at what speed is it going to pass you? 50 mph. \n\nThen, if you drive past car 2 going 100 the opposite way, and you're going 50, at what speed does that car fly past? 150 mph, not 50 mph. But what speed do they see you pass? 150, too.\n\nWell, if you hit each other, you both have the same mass and relative velocity. So you're both going to lose, equally. \n\n(*Never* Drink and Drive.)\n\n\n",
"remember that the earth itself is moving around the sun, which is moving through the galaxy, which is moving through the universe. in order to define the velocity of any object you have to have a frame of reference. when talking about questions like this one we assume that the frame of reference is earth's surface. but we could also just use one of the cars as a frame of reference instead. lets say we use the first car and we say that it stays still while every other object in the universe is moving relative to it. so the earth is moving beneath the car at 50mph, and the other car is moving towards it at 150mph. you could alternatively use the second car, in which case it also observes the other car moving at 150mph. so from the point of view of each car, the other car is approaching at the same speed and so the effects should be relatively similar."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
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||
605iyl
|
how can restaurants offer 5% off if you pay cash?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/605iyl/eli5_how_can_restaurants_offer_5_off_if_you_pay/
|
{
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"text": [
"Because they don't have to pay the credit card company for the transaction.\n\nWhen you pay with a card, the processor charges a fee to the merchant. If you pay cash, then there's no fee for the merchant to pay, and they can offer you a discount.",
"Absent a law or regulation to the contrary, businesses can price their products however they like. In most places, there's no law against providing a cash discount.",
"businesses pay % or a fixed amount from each deal to the credit card company. This is called the \"Credit Card Processing Fees\".\n\nIf you pay cash, they don't pay this fee to the credit card company.\n\nIn addition, this makes it easier for them to avoid paying tax (they can avoid declaring the deal to the tax agency, as there is no proof that a deal was made). This is not legal of course, but many businesses do that."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
42igao
|
what are encryption backdoors?
|
I'm not sure what all the news is about and I don't really understand what backdoors are, and why the NSA wants them, or why they are bad.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/42igao/eli5_what_are_encryption_backdoors/
|
{
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"text": [
"Imagine the police saying: \"You can surely have a nice house with a locked door, but only if you give us a key for that door and therfore allow us to search your house anytime we want.\"\n\nThat's basically how it works.",
"Think of it like an office building, each individual has a key to their own office. Well security has a single master key that can open up all of the offices. Now the thing is when it comes to lets say an encrypted file. You are the only one that should have a key and that key if you set it up correctly should be impossible to replicate. With that in mind you should be able to trust your most sensitive data to stay secure. Well the government is saying that terrorists are using encryption to relay information about planning attacks so they need a \"master key\" to bypass any encryption so that they can spy on those groups. So it's like you have the key to the front door and they have their own key to your file, like a hidden back door. The main concern with this is obviously now it's not just you with a key to your most sensitive data so does someone else. People not only do not trust the government with that key but another concern is that an individual or group could possibly figure out how to use that back door and use it for malicious reasons. \n\nTLDR; This kills your privacy. Now you gotta put all your nasty porn on a USB and actually lock it up in a safe. ",
"A very ELI5 answer that's basically 'lies that are kind of close to the truth'. \n\nImagine that we send electronic messages to each other in locked boxes. These locks are numerical combination locks - unless you try for a ridiculously long time, you need to know the right numbers to open the locks. \n\nThen imagine that the government tried to make it so that all these locked boxes could now *also* be opened by a key. \n\nSo the questions you now have to think about are: \n1. Should the government really be allowed to have this key? \n2. What happens if someone steals the key, or copies the key? \n3. How can we be sure that adding the key-lock doesn't make the combination-lock work worse? \n4. What if it's possible to pick the key-lock, and picking it is much easier than trying to get through the combination lock? ",
"A *backdoor* is just \"another way in\"... imagine you and your friends are rattling on the front door of some house that you want to get into... but the front door is all locked up and there is no way in... suddenly one of your friends speaks up and says \"hey, I wonder if there is another way in, you know, like a back door\"\n\nLots of combination locks have this feature... all those different locks with all their different combinations, but you turn them over and there is a key hole... turns out there is one special key that when used, can bypass all those combinations and open those different combination locks with the key... it is \"another way in\", like a back door on a house.\n\nSome encryption algorithms have this property, the can be decrypted in two (or more) different ways... those other different ways are often referred to as *back doors*, they are \"another way in\", like the backdoor of a house with a locked front door."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
4d5zq1
|
how much power does a us president really have?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4d5zq1/eli5_how_much_power_does_a_us_president_really/
|
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"The president has certain powers, which, depending on the relative strength and composition of the legislative and judicial branches, can be quite extensive.\n\nPrimarily, however, the president is the head of the executive branch, which means he's in charge of a bunch of powerful federal agencies and departments as well as responsible for carrying out and enforcing laws. The executive branch is huge, and encompasses departments such as Defense, State and the Treasury. The president, while not directly overseeing day-to-day operations, he does appoint department heads, set broad agendas and goals and directs activities. The president also has the power to veto laws passed by congress and issue executive orders (which aren't laws but carry the force of law when issued under proper authority).\n\nAll of these powers have checks on them through the other branches. Congress can override vetoes, for example, or the Supreme Court can declare an executive order unconstitutional (or, at least, outside of presidential authority).\n\nIt's important to note just how much power executive departments and agencies have. They all report directly to the president and their leaders serve at his pleasure. The Department of State, for example, is in charge of all foreign relations. Or the Department of Homeland Security, which is responsible for all sorts of fun stuff like the TSA or Border Patrol.",
"Theoretically, the US president has all the power because at the end of the day, executive power is real power. We see this throughout US history, especially during times of war or discord, where the president simply chooses to ignore the legislative or judicial branches. \n\nOne of the most famous incidents is where andrew jackson just ignored the supreme court...\n\n\"In a popular quotation that is believed to be apocryphal, President Andrew Jackson reportedly responded: \"John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!\" This derives from Jackson's comments on the case in a letter to John Coffee, \"...the decision of the Supreme Court has fell still born, and they find that they cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate,\" (that is, the Court's opinion because it had no power to enforce its edict).\"\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\nAnother famous incident was lincoln ignoring habeas corpus and the right of free speech - the cornerstone of legislative power/right. Lincoln had political adversaries arrested, newspapers shutdown, civilian protestors arrested under martial law, etc. Lincoln even thought about having the supreme court justice arrested. \n\n\nOf course you can argue that these are extreme and extenuating circumstances, but it shows where true power lies at the end of the day. When you remove the facade of civilization/government/justice/separation of powers/etc, true power is executive power. The president is commander-in-chief so not only is he the leader of the nation, he is the leader of the military. From the CIA to the FBI to the generals/admirals/etc, they all serve at the pleasure of the president. \n\n\nEdti: Downvoted for stating historical facts. Don't ever change reddit...",
"This will probably be buried and isn't exactly what you're talking about but is a very real power the president has. And is personally a scary thought.\n\nNukes. \n\nThe U.S. has what's referred to as the nuclear triad. This includes Naval based missiles, nuclear bombers, and Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). \n\nICBM's are what I studied as a cadet in the Air Force. Here's a brief 101 on them.\n\nThere's 450 the U.S. admits to having, devided into 3 bases, with 3 squadrons per base. So 9 squadrons of 50 Minuteman mk3 ICBM's with a payload roughly 10 times the combined output of both littleboy and Fatman (the blasts that dropped on Japan in WW2) per missile. \n\n\nEach squadron has 10 duty stations. \nUnder normal circumstances it takes 2 votes to launch a missile, all 10 stations get the signal and the first 2 to turn the 3 keys and 1 switch, enter a code at the same time in 2 computers etc... Vote and the missiles are launched. \n\nAir Force 1 has 2 votes. If the president decides to launch, there is no overhead, there is no vote, there is just a button that sends the world into nuclear winter. \n\nPick wisely y'all. \n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcester_v._Georgia"
],
[]
] |
||
2v4n34
|
when women are ovulating, how does their body decide which egg goes next? is there a specific order or do they just randomly fall out?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v4n34/eli5_when_women_are_ovulating_how_does_their_body/
|
{
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"text": [
"There is an element of randomness.\n\nThe group of cells that produce a single \"egg\" is called a follicle. They respond to a hormone known as Follicle Stimulating Hormone (or FSH for short), released by a part of the brain. When more FSH is released in the early part of the menstrual cycle several follicles, around 15 to 20, will start to respond by becoming more mature.\n\nAs the follicles mature they start to produce other hormones of their own. These hormones do two things (well, more than two, but two that matter for this topic) at the same time - they start to reduce the amount of FSH that is released, and they start to make that particular follicle more sensitive to whatever FSH does still get released.\n\nIt might then be easiest to think of this as a competitive process. The follicle that has the quickest and strongest response both matures faster and prevents the other follicles from responding to the signal. Eventually this dominant follicle matures to the point of ovulation which results in another set of hormone changes that allow the rest of the cycle to proceed. Some of the follicles that matured to a certain point but didn't become the dominant follicle will \"die\" at this point, and a new set will start to mature in the next cycle.",
"The egg that is able to make the most estrogen in response to FSH will be released. Estrogen is needed to prepare the endometrium of the mother inorder for the egg to implant into the uterus and not having enough will lead to a spontaneous abortion. \n\nReproduction is only for the strongest cells because there are so many things that can go wrong and the body wants to give the best chance of a successful birth. In fact even after fertilization of the egg by sperm, only about a quarter will go on to a successful birth. The rest (75%!!) are spontaneously aborted through mistakes in cell division, and chromosomal replication. This doesnt include all the environmental factors that could affect the fetus (teratogens, infectious causes etc)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
avbsmy
|
why are bugs attracted to the indoors? and why do they struggle to go out the window once they’re in?
|
It seems like as soon as I open the window at least 5 insects (mostly flies) come through the window and then proceed to struggle to leave through the same window (i.e. they bump on the sides of the window frame or the glass itself).
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/avbsmy/eli5_why_are_bugs_attracted_to_the_indoors_and/
|
{
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"text": [
"There are a LOT of insects. Some are bound to get on on accident. You just don't notice all the ones outside, or even the ones that try to get in but fail",
"Glass isn't something that exists in nature, and insects are pretty limited in cognitive capabilities. They don't know what glass is, or even what a window is. They don't even know what a simple hole in a wall is. They don't have the most rudimentary functions that could allow them to realize that the glass they're crashing into is actually a barrier. By chance, they might crash and bounce so close to the edge of the glass that they randomly manage to pick the bright area that isn't covered by glass instead of the bright area that is covered by glass, and fly out.\n\nAs for why they head indoors in the first place, entrances to indoors areas, be it a natural cave or a house, are darker than the surroundings. Animals often rest in dark areas when it's warm and sunny outside. Insects that feed on animals, be it from eating stuff on their skin, or sucking their blood, will instinctively be drawn towards areas with animals, or that look like they could have animals. \n\nIf the dark spot was a cave rather than a tree's shadow, it's easy for the insect to get back outside by just following the light, but in a house, just following the light isn't an effective escape mechanism because the majority of bright spots inside a house will not actually lead outside."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
32kgau
|
why do people with relatively small amounts of black ancestry still look "black"? for example, tiger woods is half thai, with african, european, and a bit of native american, from his father, but in my country, show them a picture of him and 99% of people would simply say he's black.
|
go
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32kgau/eli5_why_do_people_with_relatively_small_amounts/
|
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"text": [
"This is a educated guess: dominant genes?",
"Probably because we have defined \"white\" to mean a very small variation in genetics. White basically means \"Scandanavian\" but potentially with other hair colors. Then you add to it lots of cosmetic manipulations to bring out those features.\n\nYou go into a bar and see lots of blonde haired, straight haired, blue eyed women and think that is \"white,\" but 50% or more of those women have permed and dyed their hair. Some of them may be wearing contacts that color their eyes.\n\nFor instance here is an african or maybe moroccan [woman](_URL_1_) and here is a white [woman](_URL_0_). Oh yeah and those are both pictures of reality tv star Melissa Gorga, who is italian.",
"Part of this is sheer genetic chance. Because skin color is controlled by multiple genes, when people with any mixed ancestry have kids, there can be remarkable variation in skin tone. For instance, these two men are fraternal twins: \n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe other part is more cultural/linguistic. Most Americans might call him \"black,\" but in Brazil, you might hear \"pardo\" or \"moreno,\" which literally mean \"brown\" and \"swarthy\" but are used for a wide swath of people with mixed ancestry. I once met a West African woman who expressed surprise that Americans considered Barack Obama \"black,\" as in her country he would be called \"métis\" (mixed.) In English, words indicating mixed ancestry like \"mulatto\" have fallen out of style, leading people to lump others into simpler groups.",
"Ironically, if these mixed race people go to Africa, they are not considered 'African'."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1379065/images/o-MELISSA-GORGA-facebook.jpg",
"http://www.bravotv.com/sites/nbcubravotv/files/legacy/gallery_cache/88203/watermark/real-housewives-of-new-jersey-season-3-before-they-were-housewives-melissa-09.jpg"
],
[
"http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2011/9/20/1316521309415/James-and-Daniel-Kelly-007.jpg"
],
[]
] |
|
7r6s6o
|
stainless steel is hard. meat is soft. you take a stainless steel knife that is very sharp and start to cut meat and the knife gets blunt very fast. why? how can something so soft destroy the sharpness of stainless steel or other metals?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7r6s6o/eli5_stainless_steel_is_hard_meat_is_soft_you/
|
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"I sold cutco knives for a brief period of time so I actually know the answer to this. The answer is that very little food actually dulls your knife. It's usually your cutting board. Wood, plastic, stone, ceramic. All of these dull your knife edge very quickly. The \"trick\" to cutco knives is that the actually cutting part never makes contact with the cutting board. ",
"Part of it is that the ultra-thin edge gets *folded over,* rather than actually blunted. Even a soft (but dense) material can do that.",
"Try doing all this meat cutting while the meat is hanging in the air instead of against a cutting board and make sure you aren't hitting bone or anything harder than the meat. I imagine your knife will now stay sharp a LOT longer."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
q6xkf
|
if every living creature was removed from the ocean, would the sea level drop a significant amount?
|
Additionally, is our sea level slowly rising due to smaller animals getting bigger? (newborns etc..)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/q6xkf/if_every_living_creature_was_removed_from_the/
|
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"This question probably would do better in /r/askscience. ",
"Is the water level rising? Yes.\n\nWould animal body mass make up a reasonably noticeable difference? No.\n\nThink of it this way. There are 7 Billion humans on the planet. If we were to all live in one city with the same density as New York, 7 Billion people would fit comfortably in Texas.\n\nThere may be a lot more sea life than humans, but the oceans are a lot bigger than Texas.",
"The Earth's water surface area is approximately 361,132,000 km2, which is 3.89 × 10^15 square feet. That means the top one foot of global sea level contains approximately 3.89 x 10^15 cubic feet of water.\n\nSo, approximately that many cubic feet worth of animals would have to be removed to lower the sea level by one foot. I'm not sure it's possible to estimate the total volume of all living creatures in the oceans, but it's safe to say it's nowhere near 3.89 x 10^15 cubic feet. \n\nTo put it in context, the volume of an average human is about 2 cubic feet. Which means it would take about 1.95 x 10^15 humans to displace sea level by one foot. That's about 285,000 times the Earth's current total human population.",
"short answer. No, not significantly\n\n\nAlthough that depends on what you class as significant amount. Sea levels are rising at a mm or so a year. a mm sounds very insignificant, but can be disastrous for some very flat low lying islands. its all relative to scale. ",
" > Additionally, is our sea level slowly rising due to smaller animals getting bigger? (newborns etc..)\n\nI'm fairly sure the answer to this is 'no'. Matter doesn't appear from nowhere when things grow - things that are growing have to eat or otherwise take in matter, and then rearrange it to make more of themselves. In the case of animals in the ocean, the things that they're eating are generally also in the ocean, so for example a baby whale growing into an adult has its size offset by all the fish it eats to do so, and the total amount of stuff taking up space stays roughly the same.\n\nThat doesn't mean that sea level isn't rising, just that it's rising for other reasons, the most famous one being glaciers are melting into it and adding more water.",
"The ocean is mostly full of water, so even though these animals seem very big or numerous to us, they are only a tiny part of the ocean. There are many places in the ocean where a fish could swim its entire life and not find another fish.\n\nThe ocean is much, much bigger than most people visualize. Not only does it cover most of the earth's surface, it's also very deep. We haven't even explored a lot of it!",
"I'm pretty sure if you took out all the sponges the ocean would be a lot deeper.",
"I couldn't find the volume of sea creatures, but the estimated biomass of marine life is somewhere upwards of 2 billion tonnes or 2 * 10^12 kg. With the earths water surface of 361,132,000 km2 that gives us about 5 grams of marine life for every square meter on average. That's not going to be significant. ",
"GO. TO. BED.",
"According to my Oceanography Prof at McGill, most of the ocean in unoccupied. So probably not. It takes 50 years for silt to travel from the surface to the bottom. The ocean is a BIG place.",
"Did you get this question from nigganometry by canibus?",
"No and no. \n\nMost of the ocean is empty water, just like most of a mountain is rock. Mountains have millions and billions of tons of rock and thin layer of dirt and trees and animals living on top of it. The Ocean looks a lot like a mountain of water turned upside down. There is a lot of things living at the \"base\" of the mountain, the shallows of the ocean. As you go deeper, less and less lives, and at the top of a mountain, nearly nothing is alive, just so there is nearly nothing alive on the ocean floor. \n\nBut Caradrayan! There are whales in the ocean! Those things are huge! \n\nWhales are very big, but they aren't very numerous. We know this is true, because it takes a big stretch of ocean to make all the food a whale eats. Imagine a forest, and the biggest animal in it is a bear. it takes a huge stretch of forest to make enough food to feed a bear. If you mashed up all the millions of tons of trees and bushes and grasses that make up the forest a bear lives in, then you took out the mashed up bear, you wouldn't notice the difference. So goes the ocean and whales. \n\nFinally, the ocean isn't getting bigger because more animals are growing bigger. You are what you eat, and this is true for animals too. All the water and meat and scales that make up their bodies were made from something they ate or drank. When a fish dies, it's body doesn't disspear, the parts of it are eaten by other creatures, or they sink to the bottom, but they don't leave the ocean. "
]
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ss2r0
|
video game licenses
|
I see the words being thrown around a lot when talking about Piracy and Video Games, but I don't really understand them. Is it only for online games? Are they a bad thing?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ss2r0/eli5_video_game_licenses/
|
{
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"Basically, when I buy a game I've bought the right to play it. Now, the game companies would tell you that even though don't want the game anymore, I can't give it to my friend because he hasn't paid them to play it, or I can't sell it used to a game shop. It's basically the same with piracy, just they argue that it's costing them even more money because no one is paying.",
"Media licenses have been around for a long time, in order to protect the people who made the pieces of media. For example, a book company/publisher usually owns the exclusive right to sell and redistribute a book in order to keep other people from copying the book, word for word, and giving it out freely for a smaller price. However, companies have rarely enforced smaller scale breaches of the license, such as giving a book to a friend, or selling a book in a yard sale before. Since the internet has arrived, and since video games and movies, as well as music and e-books have become more available, it has become easier to copy and resell, or re-distribute media. This means that virtually anyone can buy a single electronic copy of anything, and give it out to thousands of people for free. To stop this, video game companies have started first using a product code that allows the game to be activated, which is specific to a 'batch' of games made. Later, with the arrival of online gaming, video game companies could make it so that no two people who used the same code could play together. From there on, it has gotten more and more advanced, to where it usually means you need to go online in order to play a game at all. This system is called 'DRM', meaning 'Digital Rights Management'. Although it is easier to bypass DRM when not playing online, some non-online games require you to make an online account with your code, to ensure it is original, in order to download the final data to make your game run. This is not necessarily bad, but means that you cannot give a game to a friend without giving them your password and username. Also, most people use more than one game on an account, meaning that it is very difficult to give games away. A lot of companies have, however, turned to more user-friendly DRM managers, and online stores, such as Steam. On steam, you can not only buy games, but trade them, and give them away. However, DRM sometimes malfunctions, meaning that the buyer cannot use a product they paid for. Also, nearly all DRM can be bypassed by self-declared experts who upload 'cracked' versions of games for free to the internet. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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|
4ibd5w
|
if the titanic sank due to human error and not the ship's design, why haven't any other ships with that design been built?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ibd5w/eli5_if_the_titanic_sank_due_to_human_error_and/
|
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"text": [
"Because the two are not mutually exclusive. Just because it was sunk due to human error, doe not make it a design that cannot be improved upon. \nThere were flaws in the design that upon closer inspection could be improved upon. \nIndeed that is what has happpened. ",
"With that exact same design? No one wants to because even if the Titanic didn't sink due to its design, the Titanic didn't have enough lifeboats for everyone on board. The design would have to be altered to accommodate that. \n\nLikewise, advertising your cruise ship as \"The same model as the Titanic!\" is going to be seen as trying to exploit a tragedy.",
"Two other ships were built with almost exactly the same design. *Titanic*'s sister ships *Olympic* and *Britannic*. \n\nThat said, *Titanic* was launched 105 years ago. Shipbuilding technology has advanced considerably since then.",
"Some aspects of the *Titanic's* design did contribute to its sinking. I'm thinking in particular of the [watertight compartments] (_URL_0_) that had doors in them, meaning they weren't *really* watertight. They did not go \"up all the way\", so even where the crew closed the doors, as soon as enough water got in to one, it spilled over in to the adjacent compartment, and so on down the line. ",
"It sank due to both. If you took a modern ship and put it in that scenario it actually might have avoided the accident due to better engine/rudder controls. Not to mention sonar/radar/technology to even look to see what's ahead.\n\nThen if a modern day cruise ship DID indeed hit most likely it wouldn't have sunk at all. Or a hell of a lot slower. And there are enough ships to offload all passengers now.\n\nBut luckily modern day naval practices are much much better. Yeah... bad stuff still happens and there are idiots, but you just wouldn't see such a similar event happen again.\n\nBottom line is there were a lot of errors and many parts of the ship's design were some of them."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
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"http://www.titanic-titanic.com/titanic_watertight_compartments.shtml"
],
[]
] |
||
70bgvx
|
why do men get more pockets than women?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70bgvx/eli5_why_do_men_get_more_pockets_than_women/
|
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"text": [
"Because we don't have a purse?",
"Pants with smoother behinds are marketed to women. In reality, they can buy any pants they want.",
"Women's clothing is often tight fitting and focuses on a slim silhouette which makes pockets harder to include. Also it is in less demand since women generally carry purses. \n\nMen, on the other hand, carry stuff in pockets much more frequently.",
"In the past women's clothes had no pockets so that they would be forced to rely on men to interact with the world, later this evolved into forcing women to buy handbags for further profits etc"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1ay6j9
|
what is the 'missing link' in evolution. why is it said that evolution seems to have skipped a step in going to homo sapiens?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ay6j9/what_is_the_missing_link_in_evolution_why_is_it/
|
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"text": [
"Because whenever we find the most recent known step before homo sapiens, creationists say \"oh yeah well what's between that step and homo sapiens?\" It's a neverending question.",
"This image offers a pretty good analogy on why there is no \"missing link.\"\n\n_URL_0_",
"Think about this: even if you have a relatively complete record of the evolution of any species, there will still be gaps in the record. Most animals never fossilize when they die; most fossils are never seen by humans; most that are seen are not found by qualified paleontologists (fossil experts). This means that the likelihood that any one fossil will never be studied by a qualified scientist is extremely ~~high~~ ~~low~~ high (dammit, had it right the first time).\n\nWhen Darwin first proposed the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection and since, there have been some who disputed it by saying, in effect, that since there was not and is never likely to be continuous fossil evidence of the evolution of humans, at some time where we do not have evidence of God intervened and did something that made humans what they are today. \n\nThis is one way in which the \"missing link\" idea came to be. This is also disparagingly referred to as the \"God of the Gaps Hypothesis,\" as the idea only makes sense when one believes that whatever God did occurred during the gaps in human knowledge.\n\nEven now, when our knowledge of human evolution is much more complete than in Darwin's lifetime, there are still many gaps in our knowledge. It's like knowing of several clearings in a dense, dark forest by aerial photography. You also know that there have to be paths between the clearings, but have no idea where they are- the clearings are each prehistoric hominin we have knowledge of, the paths are each one's evolutionary history. So our knowledge of the Australopithecines is somewhat detailed, but we have little idea of how the Australopithecine species are related, or how the genus Homo evolved out of them. We also know of several extinct species of genus Homo, but how they are related and which gave rise to Homo Sapiens and which variety of Homo Sapiens evolved into modern Homo Sapiens is still unclear.\n\nSo the \"missing link\" is a way of criticizing evolutionary theory by pointing out gaps in the record.",
"I hate to post a video link, especially one of poor quality, but [this Futurama clip](_URL_0_) does a good job of illustrating the concept and its application.",
"In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, there were no known fossils linking hominids with apes, so the quest for the \"missing link\" was a big deal.\n\nNow there are several such fossils, and \"missing link\" is an antiquated term. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://api.ning.com/files/oR*3jF8D0NWl1f2MztPjFYqJYwfbGxYFFYHBJcp-WrhRH*Z*kQuwMND*1GY87DMLzsYbCHoB8oJYvKa4rVnVJ52c5zwQpx58/EvolutionGradient.jpg"
],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxrxnPG05SU"
],
[]
] |
||
94re3w
|
how are people dying of the heat?
|
We are hearing that people are dying from the heat in the EU. How? I assume it isn't all heatstroke or homeless people. How does one die of the heat if they have a home and are indoors?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/94re3w/eli5_how_are_people_dying_of_the_heat/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e3n5j0a",
"e3n621c",
"e3n6ijv",
"e3ne8vv"
],
"score": [
11,
2,
6,
3
],
"text": [
"Oftentimes it's due to a lack of air conditioning (AC is something we kind of take for granted in the US; you can travel around even big European cities and see that not everyone has it) and the fact that the people dying are older or have weakened immune systems and have issues that are exacerbated by the heat. Humid climates especially worsen the issue.\n\nThis unfortunately happens every year, and it's not just in Europe. Over 650 people die in the US annually from heat-related illness.",
"Homes in countries that usually have cold or mild temperatures are built more to keep heat in than keep it out. People typically don't have air conditioning. So when a heatwave hits people are often not well prepared for it. Most of the people who die from it are elderly or have pre-existing health problems. It's rare that a healthy adult would die from the heat, and small children obviously should have parents making sure they are ok.",
"One factor is dehydration. This is a problem especially in older people who are less agile or mobile. Many elderly people don't drink enough water anyways, especially if they are weak or when it hurts to move around. Staying hydrated is important since your body needs to sweat to cool itself. In dehydrated people, a heat stroke is much more likely. Heat strokes can be deadly - this happens once your internal temperature rises to and above 40 degrees celsius. Temperature regulation of your body fails, you stop sweating, ultimatively fall into coma and then you die. This happens if the place you are in gets really really hot (like a car in the sun), for example if one lives in an attic. \n\nSmall children and elderly people are the risk group here. They are less mobile and their circulation isn't highly functioning, e.g. they have a slow sweat response. Elderly people also might have preconditions and take medicine that elevate the risk of dehydration or a heat stroke further. ",
"Heatstroke and dehydration is the answer. \n\nIf you live in an area that does not have AC, has buildings that are not designed to function in hot weather (do not have tall ceilings, do not have breezeways, do not have strategically placed large windows, etc), and you are not used to hot weather you will have heat stroke if the temperature gets close to human body temp. Most of Europe save for the Mediterranean fits this description in part or in totality. Many also do not drink enough water due to lack of knowing how to deal with the heat. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
9pizh5
|
how does a thermostat accurately sense the air temperature in a room when it's installed inside a small space heater that's generating heat?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9pizh5/eli5_how_does_a_thermostat_accurately_sense_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e822160",
"e8227kt",
"e822g0q",
"e83rp8t"
],
"score": [
9,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It measures the temperature of air coming into the heater which is at the temperature of the room in general, the heat exiting the heater generally has to go around the whole room to get back to the heater.\n\nPractically all heat transfer in a typical domestic setting is by convection, meaning the air *below* the heater is about as cold as anywhere in the room and the heat exits upwards. Some heater types use a non-trivial amount of radiative heat transfer, but providing the thermostat's heat sensor isn't in the path of this radiative heat, it's unaffected.",
"Are you referring to newer (digital) thermostats, or the older mechanical ones? In the older style, there’s a metal strip that completes the circuit, made of two metals. While the circuit is completed, the heat is turned on. As the strip heats up, one of the metals expands faster than the other causing the strip to bend, the circuit to no longer be complete, which then turns off the heat. ",
"When a space heater is set up correctly, it draws in cold air at the bottom which moves upwards as it's being heated up. The thermostat is usually either at the side or at the bottom, where the warm air doesn't flow through. So it shouldn't really get hot.\n\nIf they're obstructed and the air can't flow, the thermostat will heat up and shut off the space heater. ",
"It really doesn't matter where the sensor is. Even if you put the sensor directly in the hot air plume of the outlet. People might still be cold and will just turn the heater up despite the number displayed. It's just relative. It's a matter of calibration. What I mean is..if your temp sensor is on the bottom of the heater and you are comfortable setting it at 70 Fahrenheit..then you change the readout to display Celsius...the number displayed changes fairly radically...but you are still comfortable. The same idea on where yo located the sensor...you are always going to turn the heat up or down to remain comfortable. The number displayed means little after you have the heater long enough to remember the number you feel comfortable at."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
4nslo5
|
why are r/news mods censoring and removing posts? what do they gain by doing so?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nslo5/eli5_why_are_rnews_mods_censoring_and_removing/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d46jsxv"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Mods are people just like anybody else, and this means that they have a political leaning of one kind or another. In this case, mods of r/news decided they didn't want it known or publicized that a radical Islamist was responsible for killing 50 people, because it disagrees with their worldview. By removing posts that point out the religion of the terrorist, the mods were hoping to prevent people from blaming Islam for the attack. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2gt9vm
|
why can some people hear electricity being drawn from household appliances?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gt9vm/eli5_why_can_some_people_hear_electricity_being/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckmbn4w",
"ckmffe7"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Certain circuit elements have a tendency to expand and contract when electricity is applied to them. This effect can be seen mostly in transformers and certain types of capacitors. If the electricity is alternating at a high-frequency such as 15kHz (15000 times per second), then the sound emitted from the vibrating components will also be 15kHz. Some humans can hear sounds at such a high frequency, so they can hear the device vibrate while others cannot.",
"I've always been able to hear electronics. I never knew that not everyone could. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
8ynwtv
|
why are some hairs so painful to pull out?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ynwtv/eli5_why_are_some_hairs_so_painful_to_pull_out/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e2cd8gt"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"They are connected to a lot of nerve endings, and their disruptions causes a pain response "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2fad76
|
is it possible to create a nuclear blast with a blast radius under 10m?
|
I've been playing Fallout and wondered if the mini-nukes were a plausible concept.
I google searched but only found articles which were either too long winded or about the smallest possiboe nuclear weapons, rather than their blasts.
Edit: to clarify the title, 10m = 10 meters.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fad76/eli5_is_it_possible_to_create_a_nuclear_blast/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ck7chfw",
"ck7ckus",
"ck7cmb8",
"ck7dhkv",
"ck7f36z"
],
"score": [
2,
14,
3,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"No. Nuclear blast have a minimum size which is greater than 10 m.",
"No, it's not.\n\nAs an example, the Davy Crockett was one of the smallest nuclear weapons ever built. It was a tiny nuclear warhead meant to be fired from a tripod-mounted recoilless rifle; basically a small cannon with a nuclear payload that a few dudes could carry in pieces or a vehicle could carry easily. Kind of a cool idea, like an anti-tank gun's 'roided out older brother.\n\nYou can't get much smaller than the warheads used in the Crockett, because at that point you don't have enough atomic material to create the required reaction. Crocketts had a payload of 10-20 tons of TNT, resulting in a blast radius of a couple city blocks.\n\nGet much smaller than the Crockett's W54 warhead, and you're getting to the point where you fail to achieve critical mass. No critical mass, no boom.",
"Fallout has 10m nuclear blasts for balancing/playability purposes. If the Mini-Nuke actually lived up to the yield it was capable of (as a replica of the Davy Crockett launcher), you would die in the blast unless you were miles away, which you can't be because that exceeds the draw distance of the game. \n\nWhat is slightly closer to the actual yield is the ARCHIMEDES II strike explosion. ",
"No. The critical mass of fissile material necessary to sustain a nuclear chain reaction is large enough such that any blast would exceed 10m (such large blast radius being exactly the point of nuclear weapons in the first place).",
"I wonder if it's plausible using implosion technology that's far more advanced than what we're currently capable of. Implosion bombs (trinity/Nagasaki) work by compressing a subcritical amount of nuclear material to the point of criticality using standard explosives. Definitely not possible using anything even remotely similar to current technology and I have no idea how you'd get the required density without the trigger itself resulting in an explosion with more yield than you want.\n\nSource: extensive experience in bullshitting"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
c3mexx
|
converting non-perfect square roots to decimal form
|
can someone explain these: [_URL_0_](_URL_0_), and [_URL_1_](_URL_1_).
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c3mexx/eli5_converting_nonperfect_square_roots_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"errwj7n"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"I’ll explain the example from the website with sqrt(10). First you get a rough estimate for the square root- it’s between 3 and 4, so we can take 3 as our lower bound. The square root will be bigger than 3. \n\nThen you divide 10 by 3 to get an upper bound for the square root. Why does this work? Think of it like this: since 3 is less than the square root of 10, if I want to multiply 3*a, where a is some other number, and get 10, then a has to be larger than the square root of 10. When I find 10/3, I’m actually just finding a, and I know the square root has to be between 3 and a (now it’s a better bound than between 3 and 4). \n\nThen I take the average of 3 and a. That gives me a number halfway between 3 and a, which should be a decent estimate for sqrt(10). It’s easy to check if it’s too big or too small. If it’s too big, then I get yet another (even better) upper bound and I can repeat exactly the same process. If it’s too small, I know the real value is somewhere between (3+a)/2 and a, so I can repeat the process with a new lower bound. \n\nZooming out to the general case, the strategy is the same: I find an interval and I know the square root of my number is in that interval. I can carefully reduce the size of my interval over and over, each time making sure that the square root stays in the interval I’m looking at. After enough iterations, I can eventually make this interval as small as I want, so i can find the square root to any level of precision I want."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orrph6U2JU4",
"http://www.math.com/school/subject1/lessons/S1U1L9EX.html#sm1"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
3hw16o
|
what does it mean when the stock market goes into "correction"?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hw16o/eli5_what_does_it_mean_when_the_stock_market_goes/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cub1y0o"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"a market correction is when something is valued higher than it should be, at some point people come to their senses and stop being willing to pay such high prices for it and the stock price will drop. Usually its individual stocks or specific market segments (manufacturing, natural resources) that will correct, not the entire market at once. Your investments are probably fine, they might take a temporary decline"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
8j8wrn
|
why are colourful animals more venomous? wouldn't being less noticeable be a better form of self-defence?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8j8wrn/eli5_why_are_colourful_animals_more_venomous/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dyxu9ja",
"dyxuw24"
],
"score": [
13,
2
],
"text": [
"Poisonous animals are colorful because they want to warn predators not to fuck with them. They dont want to hide because they want to threaten (otherwise the poison isn’t much of a deterrent).\n\nVenomous animals (that bite and inject poison) are often dull colours so they can hide and then strike.",
"The bright colours serve as a warning to predators. The reason some animals (many female birds especially) are camoflaged is because they don't want to be noticed- as they CAN'T protect themselves well, contrarily to animals like coral snakes and poison dart frogs, who can. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
28y5jx
|
why does a black car get much hotter on a sunny day than any other coloured car
|
I have heard friends say things like "it absorbs the heat"; how accurate is that?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28y5jx/eli5_why_does_a_black_car_get_much_hotter_on_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cifl6xc"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Sunlight is white.\n\nWhite light is just a combination of all colors equally. Colors are just different wavelenghts of light.\n\nWhen you see something as red, it means it absorbs colors other than red. The red is reflected and ends in your eyes.\n\nBlack is not a wavelenght though, it's just lack of light. Objects that appear black simply absorb most/all wavelenghts.\n\nAnd of course the energy of absorbed wavelenghts has to go somewhere - it ends up as heat.\n\nSo black objects are hotter because they absorb more light than any other color.\n\n(Don't show this post to scientists)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
esmxbp
|
how water makes paper towels break apart easier
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/esmxbp/eli5_how_water_makes_paper_towels_break_apart/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ffb2oww"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Paper towels are more loosely compacted than other types of paper. Part of this is so that they’re absorbent, and so they’ll take the texture of the paper towel. \n\nThe paper towels are made of pulp fibers, and those fibers expand when they get wet. That expansion makes the structure loosen."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1qdu3q
|
if the current death toll in the philippines stands at around 1000, how are they able to estimate a number as high as 10,000 for the final count?
|
EDIT: The death toll from the typhoon, of course.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qdu3q/eli5_if_the_current_death_toll_in_the_philippines/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdbsyhk"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The low number is the official verified number. Te estimates are much higher because everyone knows there are thousands of bodies that are literally set beside the roads with nobody to bury them. They have been seen, but not yet dealt with so they are not yet part of the official count. \n\nOn top of that, much of the damage was caused by a storm surge. There are many people who are missing whose bodies are out to sea and will never be recovered. \n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2h7zk6
|
why are android updates staggered in their roll out, whereas ios updates are available at the same time to all compatible devices?
|
I mean the update is "free" presumably, so why not just make it available to download to all compatible Android devices at once like what Apple does?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2h7zk6/eli5_why_are_android_updates_staggered_in_their/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckq7241",
"ckq72z5",
"ckq78ug"
],
"score": [
10,
3,
4
],
"text": [
"Apple has a much more limited selection of devices, and all from the same company obviously. Android is used by many different companies and many different devices. Each company needs to update their specifically tailored implementation of the OS.",
"Because with iOS, the software developer and the hardware manufacturer are the same company. There's a lot fewer different types of iOS devices to run quality assurance on, and there's never any inter-company delays in waiting for more information when something isn't testing right.",
"Apple make all their devices and is far easier to control. \n\nThere are different manufacturers of Android devices and companies like HTC and Samsung like to add their own software before distributing. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
52flu5
|
what would happen of the sun was slightly farther or closer in the orbit?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/52flu5/eli5_what_would_happen_of_the_sun_was_slightly/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d7jtrf8",
"d7ju6xd"
],
"score": [
4,
3
],
"text": [
"Virtually nothing. The earth **already** gets closer to and further from the sun on the order of millions of miles every year.\n\nIt would have to be a fairly large change in distance before it would have a significant effect.",
"Do you mean to ask \"What if the earth fell outside of the 'goldilocks zone'? The atmosphere would either be too cold or too hot for life, as we know it at least. The composition of the atmosphere would also change due to many compounds falling into different states of matter because of the temperature change."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
3gj3gc
|
why don't the top oil producers start investing heavily into nuclear energy??
|
To me that seems like the only viable option for energy in the future and I would just think that it'd be worth their time to start taking control of the nuclear market so they can control it like they do the oil market. I know they're two very different things with very different markets but they must realize that oil and gas won't last forever and the only argument I buy for nuclear energy is that it's too expensive. (If we can test nuclear bombs on US soil we can store the waste in similar areas) So I'm just wondering why oil companies haven't started doing that yet.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gj3gc/eli5_why_dont_the_top_oil_producers_start/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ctylkxm",
"ctylpbc"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Companies have things they are good at - called core competencies. There are almost none of the core competencies in drilling for oil or refining oil or selling gasoline that translate into nuclear energy production - that is building plants, managing complex regulatory environments, generating and distributing electricity. So the only way to get into nuclear practically would be to buy nuclear companies - companies that are already fairly priced in the market. So there's no way for an oil company to buy a nuclear company and make more money than the nuclear company could by itself.\n",
"It's a matter of cost. The oil companies have already invested a lot of money in oil. They are making large returns on that investment. If they switch fields, they need to now figure out how nuclear regulations work versus oil field regulations. Build expensive plants. There's a 10 year delay before you start returning investment. \n\nIt's not economical right now."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
3jthdx
|
what's that pleasant "stinging" sensation when you get into freshly cleaned sheets?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jthdx/eli5_whats_that_pleasant_stinging_sensation_when/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cus6rgp"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"As far as I understand it, that sensation is static electricity, being picked up on your skin. I believe that the \"stinging\" is the hairs rising, even the tiny ones you can't see. (Kinda like the balloon on head of hair thing.)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
e1ua3g
|
why does some music sound so much better a few notches softer while others are much better loud?
|
Bonus: is listening to music with headphones basically audio vr? What is the difference in sensory exposure one would receive from listening to music in headphones vs on a Bluetooth speaker?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e1ua3g/eli5_why_does_some_music_sound_so_much_better_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"f8sbyqu"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"a couple of possibilities- \n\nthe recording of various tracks can vary in volume (gain) such that playing one album at +20 volume on your speaker is much louder or softer than playing another at +20. another possibility is the dynamic range of the music. classical and jazz styles tend to have a higher dynamic range, but the recording may not capture it well and might clip the dominant higher or lower frequencies that stand out more in the softer parts. pop/rock/metal/r & b tend not to fluctuate as much, so this can have an effect too.\n\none thing to note is that bass (lower) frequencies are omni-directional (travel in all directions), whereas more treble (higher) frequencies become more uni-directional (travel in one direction). this, plus the fact that bass frequencies travel through objects better, can have a huge impact on the overall sound based on the layout of your room and the frequencies of importance in the music. as you turn up the volume, higher and lower frequencies will mix slightly differently in your room since they are projected differently and interact differently with the environment. \n\nall I can say about headphone listening is that it is so much closer to your ears, and therefore has less interaction with the environment to distort the sound. not sure what else is at play though"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
b2fdaa
|
why are environmentalist's against building more dams to store water to protect against droughts?
|
In California, we have drought's most years but we have lots of water we could capture...if we built more dams. But many environmentalists are against this. What's the reasoning?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b2fdaa/eli5_why_are_environmentalists_against_building/
|
{
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"eiscylc",
"eisd2n0",
"eisd7aw",
"eisfjas"
],
"score": [
17,
3,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Dams have to destroy large areas to create a reservoir. Fish species are impacted. Lots of damage happens to the local ecology. \n\nPlus building a dam can't be done just anywhere, and in order to build up water you have to not be using it or divert other water sources into your new reservoir, causing further damage. ",
"It's an issue of short term vs long term effects. Dams are very short term. It sounds like a good idea at first because it means more water, maybe creating more jobs. But the dam still costs a lot of money, jobs will be done once the dams are complete. And then with the issue of fish shortages and environmental quality haunting us as of late, this will only hurt is in the future. More information here. _URL_0_\n\nA lot of the problems we are having right now is due to short term projects we've invested in the past and trying to bandage up the mistakes created from these projects doesn't truly fix anything. It only prolongs the inevitable. Does not help that a lot of these projects focused more on production but not maintaining the source (in this case, our waters).\n\n",
"California limited water supply mainly comes from lack of ground water. Putting a dam in place does not necessarily accelerate how much ground water is being regenerated.\n\nAlso, as mentioned before. Dams are devastating to the environment. Because of the Missouri and Mississippi River having so many dams put in place, the Mississippi delta is almost completely starved of sediment. This spells disaster for the marshes in Louisiana as they act as a buffer from storm surges, not to mention provide a habitat for wildlife such as oysters. Marshes need sediment to thrive.\n\nYou can also look at the salmon problems cauaed by dams as well.",
"Dams creates lakes, which drastically increases the surface area and evaporation of water. \n\n\nWhen water flows out in the open, a little of it is constantly evaporating into the atmosphere. When a damn blocks the river, the water will form a lake with a much larger surface area than the previous river. This means, that a larger proportion of the water is exposed to the atmosphere, and that much more of it will evaporate into the atmosphere. As a consequence the much less water will eventually make it downstream, only increasing the likelyhoods of droughts there. \n\n\nThis is often a big discussion when countries want to make damns in international rivers. For example, the Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the two Sudans seem to always be fighting over the upstream countries wanting to dam the nile, while the down stream countries cant afford to lose anymore water."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/restoring-damaged-rivers/dams-wont-solve-water-needs/"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
1pxd9k
|
if i kept a bottle of pure spring water unopened for a million years, will it still be safe to drink it after the million years?
|
Considering nothing destroys it or penetrates the bottle or makes the bottle leak in any way, and it's always kept at 65 degrees F, will a million year old, unopened bottle of pure spring water be safe to drink?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pxd9k/eli5_if_i_kept_a_bottle_of_pure_spring_water/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cd710sf"
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"text": [
"If nothing gets into it i mean absolutely nothing at all and the bottle is sealed extremely tight then the water would most likely be fine to drink heres a study _URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/scientific-experiments/scientific-method5.htm"
]
] |
|
chlrq8
|
with the millions (or billions) of barcodes in the world and more being added daily, how are they all unique?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/chlrq8/eli5_with_the_millions_or_billions_of_barcodes_in/
|
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"Barcodes are actually just a font what represent the numbers that are normally printed just below it. The most common type of barcode in North America is the UPC (Universal Product Code) that is owned and managed by GS1. GS1 officially licenses barcodes for products for sale, using a system where the first N numbers of the code represent the manufacturer of the product, and the rest represent the product from the manufacturer.\n\nBy sticking to this system, and making sure that their barcodes use the correct manufacturer number, they can know they wont be overlapping with another manufacturer.\n\nManufacturers can also pay more to get a shorter manufacturer code, so that they can have more digits left over to have more products.",
"Barcodes operates as an alphabet, so they don't need to be unique. When you scan it, it just needs to display a item number/name, that a system can read from its stockhold index, and from here you get the price, or any other information needed.",
"[short talk on barcodes](_URL_0_) if you're interested in how they work",
"Barcodes also don't necessarily have to refer back to any sort of master list, or anything. Many are just used for internal tracking, so they don't NEED to all be unique. For example, one company offers an office furniture tracking system platform (software and hardware). Every one of their customers could all have barcodes/UPCs that start with 0-00000-00001-0 and go up from there, and it wouldn't matter. The code itself doesn't have any information in it. It's just an identifier to a specific item in a database.",
"The barcode is just a representation of the number written under. On the bottle in front of me it is a 13 digits number, meaning 10,000,000,000,000 unique barcodes.",
"On a side note, did you know that the bar code reader, actually read the blank spaces, rather than the black lines?",
"Short answer: They are not.\n\nBarcode is just a way to encode data, and what data you encode is up to you. There are some global systems that allow you to identify a country and manufacturer of products though.\n\nBut even them usually just refer to product type/batch, not every individual product (so for example all bottles of coke from one shift in one plant will get same barcode).\n\n & #x200B;\n\nPS. For coca cola one batch can be milions of cans. But the batching happens, that's why sometimes the barcodes \"don't scan\" when the new batch of products come into a store. \n\nSometimes there's a promotion, that would get a new barcode.\n\nOften different retailers (big ones like Target, Wallmart), will get their own barcode for a given product.\n\nDifferent sizes of items will obviously also get different barcodes.",
"Fun fact: the lady who invented the barcode or some aspect of it donated $1,000 every single week in the donation basket at my church growing up.",
"There a really good video that covers barcodes/how they’re used:\n\n_URL_0_",
"They’re just numbers represented by lines, just like Braille is numbers and letters represented by dots. \n\n\nFun story about bar codes. At work our prints/copies are tracked and limited to a certain number per month and are tied to our badges that we scan at the copy machine using a barcode reader. \n\n\nWell, I used an app or website to decode the barcode (and type of barcode) and saw that it was just my employee ID with some leading zeroes. As luck would have it our employee ID is also our phone extension, which has a nice published list we can all access. Obviously I used a barcode generator and created several barcodes using employee IDs for coworkers I don’t really care for. Worked like a charm. I don’t think I’d ever come close to hitting my copy limit before, it was just kinda fun to work it out.",
"/u/MrOctantis summed up most of the barcode details nicely, but I just wanted to make it known that each company has it's own set of barcodes.\n\nBarcodes are used in the same way that employee identification is used within a business. You could work at Target with an employee number of 201 and then turn around to work at Taco Bell and get the same employee ID number.\n\nThe same is true with barcodes. Each company has it's own set of barcodes to track the quantity of goods they have sold and have restocked. These barcodes are completely separate from other companies and manufacturers, so overlap and limited availability of barcodes isn't an issue.",
"It’s really simple barcodes is basically a language. The spaces between lines and the type of line is all repressing different numbers. \n\nThe first half of a classic barcode usually is the number of a the company who make the product. So Coca-Cola barcodes will all have the same first half. The second half is the product code. That will be unique so, a Coca Cola cherry can will have a different second half to a Coca Cola cherry 2 litre bottle. \n\nCompanies can apply to a central barcode organisation to resister themselves and get a new barcode. They also send them new product numbers when they release new things. \n\nYou can actually learn the barcode language, not that you’d need to as the barcode number is usually printed below. \n\nThere is a great podcast on it from stuff you should know if you want to know more check it out.",
"Since you’re all experts, what is the deal with “Amazon” barcodes?\n\nThey re-barcode most products and my Pantry Check home inventory app cannot read them.",
"A barcode is typically 2 parts. The first half of the number is the manufacturer number, and the second half is the product number.\n\nSo for example, if you look at the back of various Frito Lay chips, their barcodes all start with 028400.\n\nThe important thing is that two companies don't get the same manufacturer number. So any company that wants to use a barcode, has to get a license from the barcode people, GS1, and they give you that company a unique manufacturer number. They make sure nobody else already got it, or gets it in the future.\n\nThen the last 6 digits can be used for every different product your company makes. Except actually, it's only the last 5 digits. \n\nThe very last digit is a 'checksum'. Basically, it's a way of checking whether the barcode is legit, by doing some math to all the other numbers. When this math is done correctly, the final digit can only be one specific number out of 10 possibilites (0 through 9). If it is any other number, we know that the barcode number is either fake or incorrectly typed in. \n\nSo with 5 numbers to work with, that means the last digits can be anything from 00000 to 99999... meaning you can make up to 100,000 unique products in your company before you run out of numbers.\n\nWhat if that might actually be a problem?\n\nWell there are other barcode standards, lots of them. In America we use a standard that is 12 digits, but there are other standards that are 13, 14, or even more.",
"They're not necessarily unique. Barcodes are regularly recycled and duplicated.\n\nI work for a company that delivers parcels, and all of our parcels are tracked internally based on a barcode. The barcode is essential just a way of representing the parcels \"unique\" id, but it has a maximum length due to legacy reasons. What this means is after around 3-4 months of orders, we run out of barcodes and old ones are reused. Usually this isn't a problem, because parcels should have been delivered long before 3-4 months is reached, but it does mean that if you track your parcel a few months later, it might not exist anymore.\n\nOther companies will probably be using exactly the same barcodes as we are - but for different purposes. It doesn't really matter if another company uses an identical barcode, because the context in which they're used are different and they'll never cross paths. I would imagine in a retail setting there must be some rules around how barcodes are distributed but I have no idea about that.\n\nThis is one of the reasons why alternative 2D barcode systems such as QR codes are taking off - they allow you to encode much more data in to the space, to avoid duplication/reuse.",
"It's tough to conceive of *just how efficient our number system is*. Especially if you incorporate letters into the number scheme. \n\n3 is a rough approximation of pi. But it's bad. You'd waste an entire bucket of paint on a beach ball. But just adding 1 digit brings that waste down to 1/10th of a bucket. \n\n3.1 = 1/10 of a bucket. \n\n3.14 = a nice coat of paint. \n\n3.141 = paint is too thin, kinda see though.\n\n3.1415 = there's paint?\n\n3.14159 = down to the single molecule thickness if that. \n\nIt takes a very small number of digits to represent huge things. How many grains of sand are there on Earth? \n\nseven quintillion, five hundred quadrillion grains. As a number: 7,500,000,000,000,000,000. That's every single grain of sand on Earth. ( [Estimated] (_URL_0_) )\n\nBar codes don't need many digits at all to cover every product ever made. The current system of letting manufacturers decide their product numbers is extremely wasteful, letting at least 90% of the available number space be inaccessible and it doesn't matter because that's only 1 more digit."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT_gwl1drhc"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/XPuTZMp-HE8"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/09/17/161096233/which-is-greater-the-number-of-sand-grains-on-earth-or-stars-in-the-sky"
]
] |
||
x2cos
|
how did nations pick which side of the road to drive on? why don't we all use the same side?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/x2cos/eli5_how_did_nations_pick_which_side_of_the_road/
|
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"At least from what I've heard: In places like the UK and Japan, people carried swords on their left side (so they could use their right hands to draw them out). In order to avoid crossing/touching swords with someone on the other side of the road, people rode on the left side. ",
"I don't think a lot of thought went into it. It made sense to stick to one side, so people just picked a side and stuck to that. The habit began centuries ago, when the world was much less connected and travelling internationally was a major deal -- so what other countries were doing didn't really factor into decisions like that. There really doesn't seem to be a major reason for the decisions.",
"I remember reading somewhere that people originally starting riding horses/carriages on the left side of the road was to make it easier for them to use their swords against others on the road. by being on the left side of the road they could hold the reins in their left hand and a sword in their right.\n\nThis switched in America because more wagons with multiple horses were used. To control all the horses they'd use a whip, which would be held in the right hand. If you're holding a whip in your right hand you want to be sat on the left side of the wagon so you can best reach all the horses with it, and if you're sat on the left side of the wagon you want to be driving on the right side of the road.",
"A semi-related question: How do roads connect between countries that drive on opposite sides? Is there some sort of over-under bridge or tunnel connection?",
"Hmm, that's quite the novel idea, huh? It would certainly make things much easier if things like this and systems of measurements were just standardized throughout the world.",
"The explanation I've heard:\n\nIt was common originally for riders to stay to the left (this may have been just convention, I'm not sure), as determined by the Roman empire. A while later Napoleon came along and said \"too many people are swinging their swords as they pass others, so let's switch that around so their sword hands are on the outside of the road.\" Napoleon controlled a very large portion of Europe, so many countries adopted this. The English, of course, said \"screw you Napoleon\" and stuck to the left; the Americans were allied with the French so they also adopted the right-side driving. The majority of countries that drive on the left in current times were at one point part of the British commonwealth and so adopted the British system.",
"_URL_0_\n\nSee \"History\".",
"Starting in the 1800s, but more and more, especially during the 1900s, countries have done a fair job of working together to make decisions about technology. Also during this time, large companies or the governments of big countries were powerful enough to affect what everyone else decided to do.\n\nCars were a technology that emerged before there were very many systems of for countries to agree, and when cars were first invented, it wasn't very important that every country did things the same way, so long as all the people within a country did things the same way. So most countries just did things the way they were inclined.\n\nFor that reason, your question probably is really \"why did countries drive their horse-drawn wagons on the right or left?\" So the answer to your original question is \"it's complicated.\"\n\nWhich side of the road you drive your car or carriage on seems like a major thing so that it would be clear from history when such things started and why. But that isn't necessarily so. One source on the internet talks about which side they drive on in Sweden and why. The source says that traffic in Sweden , \"started to use the right side of the road in 1718 and did so until 1734, when suddenly left-hand traffic was introduced. Why? No one really knows\" (_URL_0_). \n\nSome countries along the way, like Sweden, switched from the left to the right in order to be more like their neighbors. They did this in 1967. \n\nThere are some easy-to-understand web pages out there, though they do not all say where they get their information.\n\n_URL_3_\n_URL_2_\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_",
"In North America, the task of keeping out of the ditch or swamp was more important early on than the task of avoiding other vehicles. The definitive reference work on this subject is\n\nKincaid, Peter. *The Rule of the Road: An International Guide to History and Practice.* Greenwood Press, 1986. \n\nWrites Kincaid: \"In summary, different types of transport, all used by right-handed people, tended to produce different rules of the road. Armed walkers and armed horsemen tended to keep left to leave their swordarms free. Horse riders kept left in any case because they mounted from the left and stayed near the edge where it was easier and safer to mount and dismount than in the middle of the road. People leading horses with their right hands tended to keep right because the led horse was then protected from passing traffic. Carters tended to keep right because they walked on the left side of their horses, leading with the right hand, and by keeping right could walk in the middle of the road...to avoid collisions. Postilion riders tended to keep right because they sat on the left-rear horse and thus could better judge clearances....Drivers who sat on the vehicle kept left because they sat on the right to keep their whip hands free and could judge clearances better when passing if they kept left.\"\n\nKincaid describes other contributing factors such as conformance with neighbors, influence of colonization, national unity, imported vehicles, etc. Although we tend to think of a keep-left rule requiring right-hand controls, and vice versa, he points out a number of instances where curbside controls have been preferred to centerline controls.\n\nAs of 1986, he counts 118 \"independent territories\" with right-hand traffic and 51 with left-hand, adding: \"The above figures show what a minority rule left-hand traffic is today. Countries which use it account for only about a third of the world's population, a sixth of its area, a quarter of its roads, and a sixth of its motor vehicles.\" A number of countries have changed their rule of the road, including, since 1950: Cameroon, Belize, Ethiopia, Sweden, Bahrain, Iceland, Burma, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Yemen. All these but Burma changed from left to right.\n\nThe American expert on this subject is Richard H. Hopper, whose article \"Left-Right: Why Driving Rules Differ,\" appeared in *Transportation Quarterly* 36 (1982), pp. 541-548.\n",
"One thing that I didn't see mentioned is that almost everywhere once ruled by the UK drives on the left side (India, Hong Kong, Ireland). Countries like France, US, Germany, Italy, and Russia, who were never ruled by the UK drive on the right. \n\nWhile the swords thing is also true, later in the 20th century politics and colonialism also came into play. ",
"Because napoleon and carring swords",
"In britain we used to walk on the left side of paths/roads because most people were right handed and consequentialy wore their swords on their left, if they walked past someone on the road and had to defend themselves, then the guy they were fighting would be on their sword side, which is why to this day, we drive on the left side of the road, it is just a natural evolution of old tradition."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic"
],
[
"http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/history/driving_on_right.shtml",
"http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/634/why-do-the-british-drive-on-the-left",
"http://www.i18nguy.com/driver-side.html",
"http://www.amphicars.com/acleft.htm"
],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3j7pi2
|
how did the republican party go from abraham lincoln's party to being the party of the confederate states?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3j7pi2/eli5_how_did_the_republican_party_go_from_abraham/
|
{
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"text": [
"The Democrats were associated with the civil rights act so the Republicans positioned themselves as being against civil rights [to win support in the south](_URL_0_).",
" > [Eric Rauchway](_URL_0_), professor of American history at the University of California, Davis, pins the transition to the turn of the 20th century, when a highly influential Democrat named William Jennings Bryan blurred party lines by emphasizing the government's role in ensuring social justice through expansions of federal power — traditionally, a Republican stance.\n\nSo basically, a Democrat before the New Deal switched what he believed in and took to the other side (Republican) and Republicans started adopting those arguments and when there were new issues dealing with business they sought to be Republicans. I just think they just got confused and sort of fell in line with each other. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_strategy"
],
[
"http://www.livescience.com/34241-democratic-republican-parties-switch-platforms.html"
]
] |
||
4sqpb1
|
how are specialized machines made?
|
Like in How It's Made, there are all these specialized machines that are made for only one purpose. How is this equipment made and what makes it more economically viable than humans?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4sqpb1/eli5how_are_specialized_machines_made/
|
{
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"text": [
"Complex things are not typically made at 1 place. Some company wants a machine. Their engineers plan a concept, or they hire some other company with engineers for a concept, or several companies are involved designing different parts of the concept, tons of other specific companies from all over the world are contracted out to make specific parts of the overall machine, then maybe a bunch of other companies get hired to assemble different parts, other companies assemble those parts the other companies made, another company markets it...and maybe any number of these companies are actually sub-companies of a larger parent company...the world is a very complex network. Things come about through networks within networks within networks.",
"It's often just the tool head or mold that's specialized, the rest is of the assembly line is fairly standardized. The motor that spins various equipment, moves pistons, etc is all controlled by programmable controllers such as the now obsolete? GE FANUC. I believe Mitsubishi and Panasonic also make [programmable logic controllers](_URL_0_) as well, but I'm not as familiar with them. \n\nI'm more familiar with a bottling plant operations. There are obviously multiple bottle shapes and sizes. Some of the equipment is \"universal\" and can adapt to multiple bottle sizes, some of it needs to be adjusted or changed for various bottles. By either changing the tool heads, or by adjusting it on the PLC.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmable_logic_controller"
]
] |
|
3i4sy5
|
what happens when someone finds treasure?
|
If an actual buried treasure was found and was worth X amount of dollars, what would that person do? Do they just auction it off, if it's of historical importance is a museum able to just lay claim to it, do they just call 1-800-cash-4-gold?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3i4sy5/eli5what_happens_when_someone_finds_treasure/
|
{
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"cudaeet",
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3
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"text": [
"There's a good chance the gold belongs to an existing government. And they often have a right to claim it. You can't really sell treasure like you would normal things, because by this point its likely more valuable for what it is than for the materials used in its construction.\n\nMuseums will buy these things from you. But they cannot just claim them. But really, unless you find completely unmarked treasaure in a sunken vessel in international waters, some entity probably has a right to that stuff.\n\nThey won't just take it from you though. They compensate you for its return.\n\nUnless the treasure is protected by the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Heritage, in which case you'll probably be arrested.",
"Short Story: If it's on land and you don't know what you're doing, you get none of it. Unless no one claims it!\n\nLong Story: Lets say you stumble on a cache of Spanish Gold, of which there are many in the American Southwest. First, if it's on Private land, you have to make a deal with the Property Owner, the IRS, and your soul. Assuming those all go well, which means you probably will have to pay off each party. You might get to keep the rest, assuming the Feds don't stick their nose in. If it's on Federal Land you have to get a Treasure Trove permit, and convince the State Archaeologist that you know what you're talking about. If you just fell into a hole, you won't be allowed to keep any of it. If you knew how to find them, and where to look, you will be allowed to keep 12%. \n\nIf, however, you just don't tell anybody, you'd better not buy anything huge or else you'll get audited. Then you'll lose it all AND go to jail / get fined.\n\nAssuming you recover said cache, you will probably sell it to a museum or private collectors. That way you will get more than just the mineral value of the artifact. \n\nSOURCE: Participates on Treasure Hunts with a professional crew."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
120v5w
|
why has "fapping" become a synonym of "masturbation"?
|
Seriously interested in an explanation.
It's becoming more commonly used every day.
Why is even fapping a synonym to masturbation? Is it an onomatopoeia?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/120v5w/why_has_fapping_become_a_synonym_of_masturbation/
|
{
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"c6r7b1h",
"c6r8iri"
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"score": [
15,
5
],
"text": [
"The word fap is an onomatopoeia that tries to mimic the sound of skin hitting skin rapidly. ",
"[This comic may be to blame](_URL_0_) as it's one of the earliest found instances of \"fap\" being used as a sound effect for male masturbation. This same comic gave us schlick for the female version.\n\nOf course, that author got it from somewhere too, so.... "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://sexylosers.com/003.html"
]
] |
|
4ew0la
|
how do historians prove something did or didn't happen in the past? what tools do they have to test their theories?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ew0la/eli5_how_do_historians_prove_something_did_or/
|
{
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"text": [
"Through primary sources. This can be literature written at the time, or archeological evidence or other. An example is Viking runestones, which were inscribed with different things. There's a few around Britain and I think North America, which shows that they visited those places. \n\nPrimary evidence can be used to back up secondary evidence. So a historian can make points such as \"Christianisation began in viking age Scandinavia around the 1000s, here I have proof, texts written by monks and missionaries bringing Christianity to the Scandinavians, as well as texts written by Scandinavians themselves about Christianity as well as a lack of Norse mythology after x amount of time, there is also this church which was built, archeological evidence shows it was built around the time of the beginning of Christianity in Scandinavia.\"\n\nSame for proving something didn't happen in history, evidence showing something did happen. ",
"They look at what people wrote about it at the time, the archaeological evidence, and the general plausibility.\n\nFor example, if you wanted to know whether or not Caesar crossed the Rubicon, you have his personal diaries, contemporary authors, near contemporary historians, and the fact he did in fact conquer Rome. This is well established historically.\n\nIf you wanted to know whether Jesus fed the masses with loaves and fishes, we have no personal accounts, no contemporary or near contemporary records, no physical evidence, and it relies on the supernatural. While it cannot be shown it definitively did not happen, from a historical perspective, there is almost no evidence to establish it did happen."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
1aaqoo
|
how do music services such as pandora or spotify fill their music libraries?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1aaqoo/how_do_music_services_such_as_pandora_or_spotify/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8vn8se",
"c8vqy51"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"They license the music from the producers of that music. They hash out contracts with the big firms and get good deals, then make money off ads/subscriptions",
"Do you mean the specifics as to how they technically upload the music onto their database from the music industry?\n\nIf so I would like to see this answer!"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
awfvrg
|
why do theme parks/water parks use height as a measurement for entry rather than a weight or age restriction?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/awfvrg/eli5_why_do_theme_parkswater_parks_use_height_as/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ehm83w2",
"ehm8n7l",
"ehm93dd",
"ehmcv41"
],
"score": [
47,
3,
9,
9
],
"text": [
"Most rides depend on height to figure out if the safety harnesses will fit.\n\nIt's also a lot easier to measure quickly than weight or age. Have you ever tried counting the rings on a 12yo boy?",
"You quick and obvious, can't be faked. Weighing people takes time and it is no better indication of age than height is. Age needs people to carry ID when they are dressed for leisure or they can just lie.\n\nA measure of physics size makes sure the for the seat, harness or whatever.",
"try and get people to get on scales... noones gonna show up anymore",
"when i was a youngin i was like a half inch under the minimum height (12.7 mm for some) so the shoulder strap harness was loose but i sat hella up when dude checked it so he let me go.\n\nwhen the loopy thing went upside down (left, loopy, right, backwards loopy, done..kinda like that ship one) i left my seat just barely and the shoulder strap kept me \"at\" my seat. it was fuckin wild. i thought it was normal until my brother commented that that wasnt supposed to happen.\n\n*the safety harness is supposed to keep your butt on your seat.* i was too far away from mine.\n\nmy weight wouldnt have mattered because gravity. and my age wouldnt have done jack shit."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2ghl7s
|
why do so many small companies sell themselves to larger ones?
|
Microsoft is apparently buying the company that made minecraft. Why do companies do this? Is it that hard to operate as a single small company?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ghl7s/eli5_why_do_so_many_small_companies_sell/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckj5nl6",
"ckj5o7q",
"ckj5qa8",
"ckj5sk5",
"ckj6b73"
],
"score": [
4,
5,
7,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It is hard to make money. They're basically winning the lottery and cashing out.",
"Because the owners of that company get that money. If you make a small company and sell it for a billion dollars, you've just made a billion dollars.",
"Mojang's owner has two options: run the company that he created and make it make money, all to support his desire to \"make fun games,\" which is the reason he stated for doing what he does;\n\nor, he can sell the company to Microsoft for $2.5 BILLION US$ and devote his life to making fun games without ever needing to worry about money again.\n\nWhich would you choose?",
"You can read about Markus Persson's reasoning on his blog: _URL_0_\n\nHe never intended on running a multi-million dollar software company, he just enjoyed making games.\n\nAnother good example would be when Microsoft bought Bungie back in 2000, they were a very successful company in their own right, but with all the resources that a large company like Microsoft can offer it's hard deal to pass up, plus the large sum of money for the buyout is a nice incentive.",
"Large companies can't innovate. They're too big, too corporate, too bureaucratic. But large companies have capital, and market share, and distribution chains.\n\nSmall companies and startups are where talent collect and get actual work done. But they don't have the infrastructure or the legitimacy the large companies have, so they have to work extremely hard to make gains in the market.\n\nLarge companies buy talent and innovation, and then use their big infrastructure to bring it to market. Things that come to mind for me is Microsoft didn't build their browser in house, they bought it. Apple didn't invent the iPod, that came from a design patent from the late 80s. Comcast didn't build their infrastructure, they bought out all their competitors assets. Microsoft, again, bought Bing. They don't generate their search results, they steal them from Google (proven). Speaking of Google, they want to cut their energy requirements in their data centers. They don't hire engineers to develop a solution, they throw a million dollar prize (pocket change) to get startups to develop a solution. Portal didn't come from Valve, it was a senior final project called Narbacular Drop out of DigiPen. The whole project team was hired at their graduation ceremony."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://notch.net/"
],
[]
] |
|
2rs1jq
|
if cocaine is expensive, why is crack so cheap?
|
My best guess is that by smoking cocaine, you get more of the drug into your bloodstream quicker, therefore a smaller amount of crack gets you equally high.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rs1jq/eli5_if_cocaine_is_expensive_why_is_crack_so_cheap/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cnippm3",
"cnj1k8a"
],
"score": [
30,
3
],
"text": [
"cocaine is used to manufacture crack. There is less cocaine per dose of crack than there is per dose of cocaine. The process of making it into crack makes it much more potent so you can consume less for the same high. This allows them to sell it cheaper.\n\nOne does not normally smoke cocaine. ",
"TIL there's a difference between crack and cocaine."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
6bct6q
|
what would happen if i couldn't pay off my student loan debt?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bct6q/eli5_what_would_happen_if_i_couldnt_pay_off_my/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dhljqgu",
"dhlkg87",
"dhlkkvv",
"dhlwdhj"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
7,
2
],
"text": [
"You can't dismiss student loans in bankruptcy.\n\nIf you fail to pay your student loans, your paycheck and tax refunds will be garnished until the debt is repaid. \n\n",
"Find colleges that are closer to your price point. \n\nTuition has skyrocketed because of student loans. They're so easy to get, that they just up tuition and get a bigger check from Sally Mae.\n\nExample:\n\nIn Los Angeles (where I went to college 20 years ago), there are 2 different state schools (state schools are government subsidized, and will cost much less for locals).\n\nUCLA (which most people have heard of), if you don't pay for housing, will cost $26k for a school year (2 semesters, no summer classes)\n\nCal State LA (CSULA, not well known, but still a university), is right about $10k for a school year ($3,300 per quarter). This is where I went, and from 93-97, I was paying about $800 per quarter, so you can see that tuition is way outpacing inflation. $800 in 1993 would be $1,300 in today's dollars, and yet tuition for the quarter is $3,300)\n\nPrivate Universities are bonkers with their costs. USC (University of Southern California, VERY well known, especially their film school) - ~$51k for undergraduate, up to $62k for specialized programs like physical therapy.\n\nTo go back to your original point of \"should I go to college?\" I would see if you can find someone who is in the field you are interested in. I work information technology, and unless you want to get into management, IMO a degree is completely worthless. You will learn the same amount on-the-job in much less time (and get paid for it!). However, I wouldn't say it's the same for other fields.",
"Out of all the debts you could choose not to pay, that is literally the worst. It's the only debt you can't discharge in bankruptcy as of a few years ago. If you were unable to pay, they'd take portions of whatever government assistance or insurance money you were getting. If you were destitute, obviously they couldnt collect anything from you but the moment you start earning on-the-books money again, the debt collectors will blow you up. Your credit will suffer immensely.\n\nPay it. Under basically any circumstance, pay it. You will get effd in the eh by the long D of the law if you dont. ",
"Defaulter here . Graduated 2002. Owed $30000. Tried to pay loans off of around $450 a month. Could not - too immature . Defaulted. Credit score gets horrible , if your parents co-sign theirs gets ruined as well. This prevents you from buying any major purchase required credit cards, auto loans, home loans , etc. College loans went into collections . Debt collectors call on stop. Threaten to garnish wages . They did not. I now owed around $45000 due to interest and penalties. Eventually started slowly paying them consistently . They debt collectors having sat on these loans for quite some time offer settlements of the original bill. Paid off with lump sums (making more money now). However cancelation of debt goes against your taxes (i.e. You make $100k , paid off loans let's say $30k). IRS now believes you made $130k for the year.\n\nNutshell - pay your loans best you can"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
a9mpnj
|
how are knives sharpened?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a9mpnj/eli5_how_are_knives_sharpened/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eckp6q0",
"eckp9j4",
"eckptxp"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Someone is going to have a much more technical and precise answer here, but basically you are scraping pieces. Think about not having a pencil sharpener. So you grab something to shave off the extra parts. Like a knife in that case. Same with a knife. Just tweaking how slim a knife, and therefore, how sharp, it can be. \n\nEdit. Have you ever seen skates been sharpened?",
"You use a grinding stone or something along those lines. When you use a knife a lot you’re either slowly flattening or breaking little bits off. A knife has to be very thin (at the blade) to actually cut. When sharpening it you’re grinding and chipping off that flatness in the blade making it sharp again. Kind of like a pencil, you use it, and over time it gets worn out and instead of having to throw it out you simply sharpen it by removing actual pieces of it to make it work.",
"To sharpen a knife, you use a sharpener to grind or polish off small amounts of metal from the knife's edge. Sharpeners are often made from materials like stone, different grades of industrial grit, ceramics, or diamond fragments."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
xasju
|
why my hands get all sticky when i get something sweet on them
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/xasju/eli5_why_my_hands_get_all_sticky_when_i_get/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c5krpp0"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Sugar has hydrogen in it. This hydrogen is attracted to water, and will create bonds with the water. Because your palms have some water on them, from sweat or whatever, these bonds can be made. These minute bonds all help to make your hands sticky."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
63a5vj
|
why is it that after taking my glasses off, from time to time i will have this phantom sensation on my nose where they sit, that i have them on? how does it occur?
|
I should mention I just started wearing glasses again since I was a kid. They don't pressure my nose at all. Very comfy.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/63a5vj/eli5_why_is_it_that_after_taking_my_glasses_off/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dfsgsgt",
"dfsil6x"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"We are all fairly familiar with the five major senses. But we have a ton of other ones. One is called proprioception. I am fascinated by it because i suffer from migraines that disrupt that sense (among others).\n\nProprioception is the sense of your body in space. Your glasses get added to that.\n\nThink of how you can park your daily car so well. But if you are driving someone else's you get a weird feeling of not knowing where the car is in relation to other objects. That is the most common example of the sensation that I can think of.",
"Adding to Deuce's comment is that this also occurs due to what is known as stimulus adaptation. To give a very simple definition your brain focuses on stimuli but there is no point in wasting mental effort focusing on a constant stimuli as long as it is not really affecting us so when you put glasses on your brain at first notices but after some time it adapts and basically assumes the glasses should be there just like your arm should be attached to your body and therefore when you take them off your brain thinks something should be there and for a moment it will feel like they are there and this will happen until your brain adapts again and does not feel as if anything is missing. It is similar to phantom pain where people who have lost a limb feel pain in the missing limb"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
du4w4p
|
why does working in front of computer or watching tv decrease the rate at which your eyes blink?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/du4w4p/eli5_why_does_working_in_front_of_computer_or/
|
{
"a_id": [
"f71zr7a"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Eyes blink less when actively being used to concentrate on and process information. When using a computer, that's all you're doing. It's similar to blinking less while working on homework or writing an essay. When things become rote, like crocheting, you'll begin to blink more as you depend less on your eyes."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
94sa46
|
why are electromagnetic waves always portrayed as sine waves?
|
I get that a sine wave is a projection of rotation but what is the significance of this?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/94sa46/eli5_why_are_electromagnetic_waves_always/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e3nd1a2",
"e3ndy7l"
],
"score": [
32,
5
],
"text": [
"While an electromagnetic wave can have any(\\*) shape, there are two reasons we portray them as sine waves.\n\n1. Sine waves have some very nice mathematical properties. While [the equations that describe light ](_URL_3_)can be solved for any(\\*) wave shape, solving is [particularly easy ](_URL_2_)for sine waves. Also, you can represent any(\\*) wave shape, no matter how complicated, as [the sum of many sine waves ](_URL_0_)of different wavelengths. So sine waves are clearly a mathematically good choice.\n2. Many of the behaviors of light suggest that sinusoidal light waves are a fundamental property of the universe, not just a human convenience. If you send a light wave of any shape into a prism, the prism will split it up into different sine waves, with the different wavelengths (colors) going off in different directions. Light also has this dual particle/wave nature, and the particles (photons) correspond to sine waves of a particular wavelength.\n\n(\\*) There are some boring mathematical restrictions, but they're the same for all three asterisks so let's not get into that.\n\nOne last note: light is sometimes represented as a complex exponential function rather than sine waves: there's a [close correspondence ](_URL_4_)between complex exponentials and sine waves, and both 1) and 2) above are true for them too. But see [today's xkcd.](_URL_1_)",
"Every wave is expressible as the sum of different-frequency sine waves -- this is the basis of most audio compression schemes."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourier_series",
"https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/complex_numbers.png",
"https://physics.info/em-waves/",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_equations",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_formula"
],
[]
] |
|
6nix81
|
how does "phone data" actually work? do the phone companies save money by handing out less amount of data per month? is there a limit?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6nix81/eli5how_does_phone_data_actually_work_do_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dk9s7mc",
"dk9sgi8"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Cellular Providers, for the most part, have their Infrastructure in place - Monetizing Blocks of Data is the Game they play - for example, with MetroPCS, I get \"unlimited\" Data for $60 bucks per month, but only the first 28 Gigabytes I use is at \"High Speed\", after that, my ability to watch any Video is severly limited by \"Network Traffic\" - in other words, They Monetize and Choke you down, because they Can... Hope this helps...",
"The phone data, connection, 2G etc all are working thanks to Masters that are usually placed on top of the buildings (they cooperate with the owner of the building or the land, offering them sweet deals by letting them use the master.\n\nSecondly, each masters have different frequency output, less number = faster but less strong (cant last long) so distance it travels is little, thus it requires more masters that support that frequency to be build.\n\n4G = Requires alot masters that are close.\n3G = Is better but slower than 4G, but does work eveb at longer distances whereas 4G cant.\n\n2G: It travels very far, but it can only give little amount of data (signals) it carries + takes longer time, thus, it is usually used for calling mostly if no 3G or better is available.\n\n\nSo now, we come to data! Phone data is something companies add to limit abuse on the masters.\n\nThey can be overloaded and cause overall of the speed much worser, it practically would mean \"why use WiFi when you got unlimited data everywhere?\" And so, all will think that way and use data instead of WiFi.\n\nWhen all of us use the data, we make masters to transfer tremendously big data, and each masters are in contact with each other, so if you focus to one thing too much, that one thing will affect others too, the load is divided to others but others will also suffer same thing, this will cause a 3G speed similar to a 2G speed or worser, and 4G speed into a 2G speed.\n\n\nElse, no, data is damn cheap, but if you add a limit that can be breached by paying more money, then less people will waste data.\n\nElse, bandwidth is no problem, but problem is on the masters that sustain to those loads.\n\n\nThis isnt about 50,000 or 100,000 people, but millions of people over the country.\n\n\nThis is why in the past, a unlimited 2G data was cheap, because the masters would not suffer those loads as data size itself is already little, it was alright + not many people were using it, as back then, we had phones not capable of multitasking, so in the background, it did not require constant connection 7/24 unlike todays smartphones.\n\n\nIn sweden, until 2010 or earlier, there was unlimited data plan, but now nope.\n\n\nIn some countries, unlimited data still exists, but there is most of the time \"fair usage policy\" tending to apply, burden into small texts so customers dont see it but company has proof that they did add it to the site IF things go too big up to attorney.\n\n\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
379vaf
|
how does the fruit and stuff in lotions or hand cream actually help your skin?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/379vaf/eli5_how_does_the_fruit_and_stuff_in_lotions_or/
|
{
"a_id": [
"crkvs82"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Mostly, it doesn't. Many of those things contain a vitamin or other compound that has been linked to healthy skin in trials where mice were fed large quantities of it, or mice developed skin problems when deprived of it. They do jack shit when applied externally.\n\nAll lotion does is moisturize dry skin. Basically all lotions on the market do that. Everything else is a matter of preference, fragrance, color, packaging, marketing claims, consistency and feel, and other things that have nothing to do with how well it works."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
dm4hiw
|
what's the relationship between humans and bacteria?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dm4hiw/eli5_whats_the_relationship_between_humans_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"f4wve5f"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"There's three broad categories of human-bacteria relationships:\n\n1. mutualistic. Humans cannot make a lot of what we need. Some amino acids, for example. We can eat some of it from our diet, but we also have bacteria in our gut that can synthesize certain things for us. Bacteria in our gut can synthesize all 20 of the standard amino acids, and even those that we can make ourselves can be supplemented in this way. We provide the resources (from what we eat) and the bacteria provide the processing/catabolic sophistication we lack. This is called resource mutualism. \n\nThe resident bacteria also fight off pathogenic bacteria. Our gut, mouth, skin is very unfriendly to many other bacteria because the resident bacteria outcompete invading bacteria. This is called competitive mutualism. Our resident bacteria are highly evolved to replicate very fast and to be very responsive to our body telling it where to stay. The bacteria in our gut, for example, basically don't \"try\" to get into our blood. They know their place and like it there, even though there's > 90 trillion bacteria in your gut. \n\n2. Commensalistic. Some bacteria just hang out and use us but we don't really derive any benefit or suffer any harm from it. A lot of skin bacteria are commensal. They know not to invade our body, but other than that they don't do much to us. \n\n3. Pathogenic. Some bacteria are our enemy. Our immune system is highly evolved to recognizing these bacteria using molecular patterns, and also to adapting to specific infections. Large parts of our body are designed to inhibit bacterial infections. Our eyes release bacteria-destroying protein, our skin is salty to inhibit bacteria and has toxic fats that we ooze, our blood is sealed off behind a complete cell barrier, our stomach is one of the most acidic among non-carrion-eating mammals, etc. A lot of this is evolved to fight pathogenic bacteria."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
3o1frm
|
options and futures and such derivatives
|
I've read several definitions and whole book chapters and I just don't get it. I have a pretty good understanding of stocks and such. To make things even more complicated, what are strategies such as butterflies and all those strange terms??
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o1frm/eli5_options_and_futures_and_such_derivatives/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvujzph"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"futures, options, spreads, and butterflies are all promises (contractually obligated promises, but promises no less). Let's look at a few different stories and then maybe it'll make more sense. \n----\n1. Futures - an agreement to conduct a specified transaction at a specified price at a specified time. \n\nAlex and Jamie were cruising along the road, when they pass by a gas station. The current price of gas is $3.00/gal. \n\nAlex: \"Gas is still so cheap, it's great. I'm not looking forward to when they start going up again as our oil runs out. Who knows, it might get to $4, $5, maybe $10 by New Year's 2020?\"\n\nJamie: \"Are you kidding? With the new technologies in fuel production driving down production costs and electric cars and stuff drawing demand away, gas will probably only be $1 or $2 by 1/1/2020\"\n\nAlex: \"You think so? How about this: on 1/1/2020, I'll gladly pay you $3 for gas, because I know it'll be more expensive than that.\"\n\nJamie: \"You're on; I'll gladly sell you gas for $3, because I know it will be cheaper than that.\"\n\nAlex: \"So we're agreed then, that in the FUTURE, I will pay you the agreed STRIKE PRICE of $3 at the EXPIRATION 1/1/2020\"\n\nAnd thus Alex and Jamie have negotiated a future with strike price $3 at expiration 1/1/2020. They will make this transaction; they've already agreed to it so Alex must buy that gallon of gas from Jamie for $3, even if it's cheaper at the pump and Jamie must sell that gallon for $3, even if it's more expensive than that at the pump. \n\n----\n\n2. Options - An agreement to have the option of conducting a specified transaction at a specified price at a specified time. This comes in 2 flavors: put options (puts) are an agreement to have the option to sell at a specified price, whereas call options (calls) are an agreement to have the option to buy at a specified price. They may sound like they're the same thing as each other since in any transaction there is 1 person buying and 1 person selling, but the difference is who has the power to choose if the transaction occurs. For puts, the seller is the one who gets to decide if the transaction happens at the specified price at the specified time and the buyer is contractually obligated to agree; whereas for calls, the buyer is the one who gets to decide if the transaction happens at the specified price at the specified time and the seller is contractually obligated to agree. \n\n----\n\nCALL OPTION\n\nAlex and Jamie were cruising along the road, when they pass by a gas station. The current price of gas is $3.00/gal. \n\nAlex: \"Gas is still so cheap, it's great. I'm not looking forward to when they start going up again as our oil runs out. Who knows, it might get to $4, $5, maybe $10 by New Year's 2020?\"\n\nJamie: \"Are you kidding? With the new technologies in fuel production driving down production costs and electric cars and stuff drawing demand away, gas will probably only be $1 or $2 by 1/1/2020\"\n\nAlex: \"You think so? How about this: On 1/1/2020, I'm allowed to CALL you and buy 1 gallon of gas from you for $3.\"\n\nJamie: \"That seems kinda unfair that you get the OPTION to CALL me and make the terms.\"\n\nAlex: \"Alright, how about this: In exchange for giving me that OPTION, I'll pay you $1 today, because I know in the long run I'll be saving money.\"\n\nJamie: \"I get to pocket $1 and you don't really benefit from this deal since gas is gonna be super cheap? Sounds good to me.\" \n\nAnd thus Alex has purchased a call option from Jamie with a strike price of $3 and expiration 1/1/2020 for a premium of $1. If gas is more expensive in 2020, then Alex will call Jamie and buy the gallon for only $3, so Alex has saved money. If, on the other hand, gas is cheap in 2020, then Alex won't call Jamie, but Jamie is still ahead because Jamie got that $1 premium. \n\n----\n\nPUT OPTION\n\nAlex and Jamie were cruising along the road, when they pass by a gas station. The current price of gas is $3.00/gal. \n\nAlex: \"Gas is still so cheap, it's great. I'm not looking forward to when they start going up again as our oil runs out. Who knows, it might get to $4, $5, maybe $10 by New Year's 2020?\"\n\nJamie: \"Are you kidding? With the new technologies in fuel production driving down production costs and electric cars and stuff drawing demand away, gas will probably only be $1 or $2 by 1/1/2020. So how about this: on 1/1/2020, I'm allowed to PUT 1 gallon of gas in your car and you'll pay me $3. \"\n\nAlex: \"That seems kinda unfair that you get the OPTION to PUT the gas in and make the terms.\"\n\nJamie: \"Alright, how about this: In exchange for giving me that OPTION, I'll pay you $1 today, because I know in the long run I'll be making money.\"\n\nJamie: \"I get to pocket $1 and you don't really benefit from this deal since gas is gonna be super expensive? Sounds good to me.\" \n\nAnd thus Jamie has purchased a put option from Alex with a strike price of $3 and expiration 1/1/2020 for a premium of $1. If gas is cheaper in 2020, then Jamie will put 1 gallon of gas in Alex's car and charge Alex $3 for it, so Jamie will make money. If, on the other hand, gas is expensive in 2020, then Jamie won't put any gas in Alex's car, but Alex is still ahead because Alex got that $1 premium. \n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2lc6k5
|
hey reddit, so what the hell are those squiggly lines i see in my peripheral every once in a while? don't know why i didn't wonder until now..
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lc6k5/eli5_hey_reddit_so_what_the_hell_are_those/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cltg0va"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"They are called floaters. Mostly they are the shadows cast by bits of the inside of your eye that have broken off and are floating around in the vitreous humor, or eyeball fluid, in your eye.\n\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/spotsfloats.htm"
]
] |
||
44z8wx
|
why arent satellite phones more mainstream? can't the big guys like verizon at & t etc send a satellite into orbit?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44z8wx/eli5_why_arent_satellite_phones_more_mainstream/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cztzfwc",
"cztzo1d",
"czu02u1"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
8
],
"text": [
"There is no demand from consumers. Most people live near a cell tower and have no need to go straight to space. Groups that do need it, like the military, have their own. \n\nThey are also pretty large. ",
"Because people want phones that are light, have long battery life and are inexpensive. Nobody wants a three pound phone that doesn't play Candy Crush where you can call someone for a dollar a minute -- unless you're in a place where *nothing else will work*.\n\nIt will always be cheaper to make a phone that talks to a tower a few miles away than one that talks to a satellite in space.",
"Except for the coverage area, satellite phones are inferior to cell phones. Reception can be quite spotty, so the sound quality is bad and calls drop out when a satellite is no longer in unobstructed view. The phone is by necessity large and power-consuming. It's more of a winning proposition for the major carriers to expand their cell tower network than to try to sell the customer on such a different product."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5coodw
|
why do babies have to have their burps/other gas manually expelled and does it work on adults?
|
The bounce and wiggle, back rubs, the like.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5coodw/eli5_why_do_babies_have_to_have_their_burpsother/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d9y7s0k"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Babies are super useless at doing anything themselves, so you have to help. Having trapped gas sucks for everyone, but I bet it sucks more for a tiny person who has no idea that gas even is a thing, and can't move around to force it out. If they need to release that gas and can't on their own, they scream and hurt and are just awful to be around. Additionally, it can make them harf, which is dangerous and gross.\n\nAnd yeah, it works with adults. Ever been riding down a bumpy road or having particularly active sex and suddenly, air has to come out?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
4eeyra
|
why you can’t smell your own perfume ?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4eeyra/eli5why_you_cant_smell_your_own_perfume/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1zj8n4",
"d1zjhxa",
"d208b9d"
],
"score": [
2,
19,
2
],
"text": [
"The mind is more interested in change then the current state of your surroundings, especially smell. After a certain period of time your mind simply ignores what it is smelling till there is a change. ",
"If your brain was constantly sending you signals about how you smelled and all sorts of small sounds and smells that exist in your environment but you don't think about, it would overload your nervous system.\n\nWhen there's a new smell, your brain will tell you about it for some time and then stop so it can focus on detecting other new information. It's called [Olfactory Adaptation, or olfactory fatigue](_URL_0_)",
" The more a stimulus is repeated, the less useful the information it provides, so your nervous system tamps down the response over time. It's the same thing that happens when you \"get used to\" a cold swimming pool or a too-hot shower.\n\nIn about fifth grade, my science teacher demonstrated by having everyone close their eyes, and then made a loud noise with a ruler. Everyone jumped. Then he repeated it every few seconds, and after a few, nobody was jumping anymore.\n\nThis process is called habituation; every animal does it, down to bacteria. It's the simplest form of learning there is."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olfactory_fatigue"
],
[]
] |
||
3dvzu5
|
how a defense lawyer is able to change a speeding ticket into a non moving violation so that i don't get points on my record
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dvzu5/eli5_how_a_defense_lawyer_is_able_to_change_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ct95uii"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Criminal courts, especially for minor crimes and infractions, are super busy, and extremely backed up. Deals are made all the time to streamline the process.\n\nIt's essentially a plea deal. Your lawer says \"He'll admit he's guilty if you drop this down\". And the DA agrees.\n\nYou're happy because it doesn't go on your record. Your lawer is happy because he got you off on the original charge. The DA is happy because he still gets a conviction. You're all happy because they don't have to go through a lenghty court process. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
56wsy0
|
why do four elements on the periodic table still not have proper names?
|
I'm referring to Uut (Ununtrium), Uup (Ununpentium), Uus (Ununseptium), and Uuo (Ununoctium). I noticed that Fl (Flerovium) and Lv (Livermorium) – formerly Uuq (Ununquadium) and Uuh (Ununhexium), respectively – received proper names. Why haven't the other four?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56wsy0/eli5_why_do_four_elements_on_the_periodic_table/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d8n1at3",
"d8n1f6i",
"d8n1h5w",
"d8n2dlq"
],
"score": [
3,
12,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"Those names are placeholder names until the elements have been confirmed to exist and are formally given names by IUPAC. They were confirmed to exist in Dec 2015 and the proposed names are expected to be formally accepted by the end of this year. \n\nThese are the proposed names:\n\nUut = Nh = nihonium\n\nUup = Mc = moscovium\n\nUus = Ts = tennessine\n\nUuo = Og = oganesson\n\n",
"They're working on it. We don't want to end up in a situation where different countries, or even different universities and networks of publishers, insist on using different names for the same element, so it's important that everyone with even pretensions to importance feel like they've had their say before a final decision is reached. If everyone is on the committee, they'll all feel silly if they refuse to abide the committee's decision.\n\nAnyway, it's recently been announced that the four elements in question have provisional names: Nihonium (Nh, 113), Moscovium (Mc, 115), Tennessine (Ts, 117), and Oganesson (Og, 118). They're open to public comment, but it seems to this writer that these names are more or less certain to be adopted.",
"As new, heavier elements are synthesized, they receive a temporary name. The names you all cited are the temporary, placeholder names which are applied to the elements, and each of those names is based only on the element number.\n\nThe experiments which created the element must be reproduced and the data confirmed. Once the new element is verified, the team which first synthesized the element has the right to propose a name, but that remains pending until approved by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.\n\nOnce the new name is approved, it replaces the placeholder name.",
"Basicly you dont want one element go by different names. Like if half the planet said Hydrogen and the other said \"Mutium\" (or some shit like that) so instead alot of other undiscovered elements are already named and when \"john scientist\" eventually < makes > it, alot of scientists comes together and reviews his work. If its good then they call \"john scientist\" and asks him what he wants to name the element. It needs a uniqe name with its own two letter \"code\" and non offensive (assholeium < SS > , fuckyouium < FU > will not fly) name and chances are it will be named after John. Once the name is set the new official periodic table is published."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
12zcnv
|
zero day vulnerability, and why they sell for so much?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/12zcnv/eli5_zero_day_vulnerability_and_why_they_sell_for/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c6zeryk"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"A zero day vulnerability is a security flaw in software that the developers don't know about yet. Because the developers don't know about it, they've done *nothing* to try to stop it, so there's a lot of potential to abuse it."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
y5das
|
how do i explain to a barber how i want my hair cut?
|
I normally just walk in and want it shorter or "trimmed" or whatever. I don't have a picture of myself with recently cut hair that I can bring in as a reference. How the hell do I tell a barber exactly what I want without just grunting out "shorter!"?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/y5das/how_do_i_explain_to_a_barber_how_i_want_my_hair/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c5sh202",
"c5signn",
"c5sj0br",
"c5skgc3",
"c5sn75e"
],
"score": [
9,
6,
2,
5,
5
],
"text": [
"Go to the same person every time. They will remember what you like and it will easier for you to communicate with them. Once you establish a relationship with your barber you can just tell them what you didn't like the last time.\n\nLearn the number system for the buzz cutters. Usually 1 is the shortest going up to 4 or 5. This will make it easier for you to tell them what you like. Maybe last time a 2 was too short for you. Just tell them you'd like a number 3 for the sides and they will know exactly what you mean. \n\nAnd always tip well.",
"For the best results, pictures! Go through magazines. Hopefully you find what you are going after. Sometimes you can get lucky and just ask for a trim if that is what you want and you actually get a trim. I find that most people end up with something way shorter than they want. Be sure to have a good talk with your stylist. If you do end up getting what you want. Remember who did it! This is as good as gold!",
"picture. photoshop the style you want onto your head. ",
"Have a conversation with the barber. Give him the story of how you want your hair cut. He'll check with you as he goes. You aren't the first in this situation, and he's a professional.\n\nHere's the kicker. Your goal is to ACHIEVE that haircut one time.\n\nAfterward, ask the barber how to explain your haircut easily next time. Learn it.\n\nThe picture is a great shortcut, but learning the lingo to describe your own haircut is invaluable.\n\nMy last haircut adventure was with my nearest barber shop, and no one speaks English. He's holding the buzzer saying, \"uno? dos?\" I'm responding, \"Zero, Zero.\" Now that my hair's falling out (and not in a good way) I mostly just buzz it myself.",
"get your hair cut just prior to getting your next license"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1qmzcq
|
how come programs never run out of serial/cd/activation keys?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qmzcq/eli5how_come_programs_never_run_out_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdeell8",
"cdeeo1w",
"cdehpjj"
],
"score": [
2,
12,
2
],
"text": [
"You've never shopped Steam sales/extremely popular Humble Bundles that activate on Steam have you?\n\nAlso, because the company can always generate more.",
"Well let's see, how long is the average activation key? 30 characters? Each one can be either a letter or a number, so that's 36 possibilities for each character. That's 30^36, or 150094635296999121000000000000000000000000000000000000 combinations, which is over 21442090756714160142857142857142857142857 times the number of people on earth.",
"The old school activation codes from the ninties worked by taking the number and do some math on it, if the result was the same as a number the program knew about then the serial was correct.\n\nFor example a very common serial code method used with old windows applications was to take the registration name and turn it into numbers, then use that number with a secret number to create a serial code, then you can take the serial code and the registration name, and make sure they turn into the secret number and you knew it was valid. This is often the case when you need both the correct name and the correct code to unlock the application.\n\ni.e if this simple formula would generate a serial key\n \n serial = name * secret \n\nthen you can test it with \n\n serial / name == secret\n\nThis way makes the serial code a derivation of the given name, so there would as many serials as there is combinations of letter to make names.\n\n\nThe new way of online registrations is often done with fat database tables of valid keys and then just cross them out when they are used, then generate more into the database when needed."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
8k7qsm
|
how do they film scenes in hells kitchen when the contestant is talking to the camera as if they are still in the middle of service?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8k7qsm/eli5_how_do_they_film_scenes_in_hells_kitchen/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dz5hlns",
"dz5jhrb",
"dz5ujqi",
"dz5wpgi",
"dz5wsz6",
"dz5ytse",
"dz61c8f"
],
"score": [
225,
64,
3,
15,
9,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"It's all done after the fact. People will ask them about a certain point in time (or show them video), and then say \"talk about this\"",
"They have a private room where a person asks them to recap what happened, and films it. Then they take that segment of film and splice it between different segments of events so that you get the feel that they're narrating what's going through their head as it's happening in real time.\n\nIt helps that reality show contestants are often vetted by how dramatic and camera\\-friendly they can be. That's why you see more of the people who are abrasive and irritating and less of the quiet, shy types. You'll end up with way more footage of some hammy loudmouth than someone who mumbles into their shirt and can't remember what happened.",
"It's all filmed after the fact with a script, same with all reality TV with terrible cutaway interviews like that.",
"Also, on another note, clips of people reacting one way or another are not usually genuine. \n\nThey will line everybody up and then tell them it’ll be another 15 minutes before the lighting is right. Then, with cameras rolling, they get shots of people being annoyed or whatever. BOOM. Drama!!",
"In any reality show, interviews are done either end of day or on a separate day. Producers take good notes so they can interview the contestants about every detail. They answer in present tense to keep you in the moment.\n\nEvery show is different. They aren't scripted, unless it is a \"reality sitcom\" type show. They will get the interviewees to answer in short sound bite versions. ",
"_URL_0_ here is recent AMA done by ben who was runner up in the latest season. ",
"Because every show like this is edited to Hell ;) and you rarely see how things actually play out in real time. \n\nMost of this stuff is staged. The freak outs, the tears, the reactions. Yeah they are clips of people doing all of this but whenever you see jump cuts and quick camera changes, it’s usually because it’s editing together pieces that didn’t happen together but fits a better story. \n\nThe easiest way to identify this is when they show a clip from one direction but there is a sudden follow up shot from a different angle where you don’t see any camera crew from the initial shot. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/HellsKitchen/comments/7v1fwf/ama_benjamin_knack/"
],
[]
] |
||
ca20zb
|
where do all the abandoned truck trailers come from? whenever i drive anywhere, i see all sorts of trailers parked in lots, garages, in fields, in buildings, on the sidewalk. millions of trailers everywhere looking like they've been there for ages. who knows why they're just there, rotting?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ca20zb/eli5_where_do_all_the_abandoned_truck_trailers/
|
{
"a_id": [
"et5af74",
"et5g2rv",
"et5uopf"
],
"score": [
10,
11,
3
],
"text": [
"They have stuff in them. Makes a good storage spot. My work has one parked outside for extra warehouse space.",
"The main reason you see completely broken down trailers, with no apparent use, is that they are hard to move once the bottom/axles are all rusted out/damaged. Can't roll them, and you'd have to get another trailer, or do a lot of work to get them road worthy. The owners could have gotten something for them at one point, but due to whatever, they let them sit. Now it's gonna cost more in headaches, and money to move than the trailers are worth. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nThey all started out brand new for someone. Some got old, or damaged, or are no longer suitable for whatever they were being used for. Some have damages that aren't worth fixing/making road legal. Sometimes it's better to just get a new trailer even if they are still road worthy. When they are not needed for daily/weekly/monthly work, they have to be parked somewhere. Some are sold, abandoned, junked, scrapped, or parked by owners who plan to use them at eventually. Many times they rot away while sitting there. Trailers can make for great \"temporary\" storage units. They also maintain some value because they were once licensed, and legal for road/highway use. They may look bad, but as long as they are up to code... There are people that make a living off of moving stuff with the odd trailer. It's like having an old truck. They can be very handy.",
"When I see an apparently abandoned trailer near a road without a car attached it is most likely that work place of a prostitute. Seriously, we have those in Germany a lot."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
bmg9y4
|
why does the media and people put importance or make a deal when talking about the royal family.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bmg9y4/eli5_why_does_the_media_and_people_put_importance/
|
{
"a_id": [
"emwd2bl",
"emwd4ts",
"emwdelb"
],
"score": [
8,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Because if we are all paying attention to that we aren't paying attention to the real problems in the world",
"Because they're all popular and celebrities. Also, bear in mind that a majority of the media you're exposed to is probably from English-speaking countries like America or the UK, so there's that aspect to it as well. English-speaking countries have a history of relationships with the UK, and so the UK royal family is going to be more well-known and more reported on than celebrities from non-English speaking nations.",
"To me it's bit like popular sports like football, basketball or cricket.\n\nPoliticians are corrupt and inept, poverty is rampant everywhere, the lack of education doesn't bode well for the long term, people are either unemployed or struggle to make ends meet working their arses off at jobs they hate, people are mean, racist and self-centered af.\n\nIn this wonderful world, having a little bit of simple pleasures like sports or Disney princesses dream can't hurt I guess. All with a reinforcing sense of tribalism —that's *my* sports team ; that this royal family exists is a noticeable pride of *my* nation…. And people love the reassurance they're part of a proud, strong group.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nThat's my take. I also think that many people will want to have superiors to look up to. Adult life daddies and mummies and grannies. That's reassuring too. Someone's really in charge, not those fleeting politicians. Doesn't matter that it's no longer true, if they're still here, it means chaos could be worse, and that's something init ?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1j57tf
|
why do nes games distort with blocky graphics the way the do?
|
What is happening in the system to cause the glitches?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1j57tf/eli5_why_do_nes_games_distort_with_blocky/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cbb7urj",
"cbb7veg"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"The system reads the cartridge with the metal pins. If the cartridge is not in all the way or is dusty. The system will read it incorrectly and sort of input the wrong code in places.",
"If you are talking about graphical distortion on the original NES (ie something like [this](_URL_0_)) then it would be caused by the wrong data being written to the ram and then being interpreted as if it is image data."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.explodingrabbit.com/forum/attachments/280906_0004_castlevania2xcastlevania3-png.1286/"
]
] |
|
3wd9qg
|
how can internet download speeds be faster than your hard-drive write speed?
|
e.g. Google Fiber is 1000Mbps, A 7200rpm hard drive could have a write speed of 400Mbps.
I understand that RAM is used for small things like Web Browsing but if you have 8GB of Ram and download a 16GB file will it download at a consistent speed or will it slow to your hard-drive write speed?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wd9qg/eli5_how_can_internet_download_speeds_be_faster/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxv95x4",
"cxv9c2j"
],
"score": [
16,
2
],
"text": [
"I think you have your units mixed up; Google Fiber is 1000Mbit/s, the fastest 7200rpm drive I have peaks at 200Mbyte/s (i.e. 1600Mbit/s) before considering things like RAID.\n\nIn answer to your second question, a download would proceed at the speed of the lowest bandwidth link of the connection to the server (quite likely 1000Mbit/s or less) and would be buffered in RAM whilst it is waiting to be written to disc.",
"Your hard drive might be slower. In this case you'll download at the drive write speed. Note that while your connection is 1000Mbs you won't always download at that speed (because it isn't the only limiting factor)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
a68yg4
|
why are "economy cars" always front wheel drive?
|
I have noticed that all of the economy cars, like civics and priuses and basically 90% of cars are front wheel drive for "gas mileage"
& #x200B;
How does the location of the powertrain impact gas mileage/is there really a big noticeable difference on paper?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a68yg4/eli5_why_are_economy_cars_always_front_wheel_drive/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ebsxnvd",
"ebsxr3u",
"ebt199y"
],
"score": [
3,
3,
4
],
"text": [
"1) Front wheel drive means a lighter car since you need fewer heavy parts to transfer the drivetrain to the real wheels.\n\n2) It's simpler to build and design, which allows for less expensive or better value cars, which is the type of car you are looking at when you're looking at good gas mileage.",
"With a front wheel drive you can point the engine such that it directly drives one of the front wheels. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nWith a rear drive car with a front mounted engine you can get a rotating shaft that points towards the back of the car but you then have to convert it to a shaft that points at one of the wheels and you lose some power due to friction that takes place in that converter. \n\n\nThis is another reason why electric cars can be so efficient, some are designed to have the motors inside the wheel so there is no loss of power trying to get the motion of the engine into one of the wheels. ",
"If you want to drive the rear wheels with a front engine you need a drive shaft running the length of the car to the rear differential. This means it's way easier if you have the engine feeding straight into the transmission which feeds straight out to the drive shaft, but this results in a car with higher ground clearance and a longer front end which isn't desirable\n\nA transverse engine which runs the width of the car and feeds into a transaxle transmission is very compact and easily powers the front wheels resulting in a small, low car with a stubby nose. A smaller car us a lighter car, and a lighter car is more fuel efficient"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1oazyg
|
the ending sequence in the movie "trading places" with eddie murphy and dan akroyd.
|
This movie keeps being played on Comedy Central and no matter how many times I watch it, I can't follow the ending trade scene where the big wigs try to corner the market, then eddie and dan buy, sell, then buy and make a lot of money, and put the big wigs in the poor house. how does this happen? I know, it's stupid, but this bothers me a lot more than it should. Thanks.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1oazyg/eli5_the_ending_sequence_in_the_movie_trading/
|
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"text": [
"[NPR did a radio segment on exactly this.](_URL_2_)\n\nTL;DR: [short selling](_URL_1_), based on [inside information](_URL_0_).\n\nOrange juice is being bought and sold. The Duke brothers think the orange harvest was bad, because Winthorp (Aykroyd) and Billy Rae (Murphy) have given them a forged crop report, supposedly stolen from the government.\n\nThe Dukes decide that when the crop report is publicly announced, the price of OJ is going to go way up -- there's less of it than people thought! So they decide to buy up the OJ. That's what happens in the beginning of the scene -- the Duke brothers have a guy on the floor buying up the OJ. As he buys up all the bargain OJ, he has to pay more -- the market price goes up, up, up.\n\nThen Winthorp and Billy Rae go into action, selling OJ. They don't actually have any OJ yet, but that's alright -- the sales aren't settled until the end of the day. So as long as they buy OJ later in the day, they'll be fine. This is called \"short selling\" -- basically hoping the price will drop, doing the whole \"buy low, sell high\" thing in reverse order.\n\nThen the crop report is announced. Turns out there's plenty of OJ for everyone! The price plummets. Winthorp and Billy Rae buy up discount OJ, and make a fortune. The Dukes sell out, hoping to save what they can, but when the exchange closes they're ruined -- they bought high and sold low.",
"It is called market manipulation, and it is actually illegal, but considering how it came about it's doubtful if it actually happened in real life if the firm it was done to would actually do anything about it.\n\nHow it came about was Mortimer and Randolph bought the commodities report before it was announced, Luis and Billy Ray seeking to teach them a lesson steals and switches the report for one of their own showing the opposite outcome, giving the Duke brothers a bad perspective on the Orange yields for the year. Luis and Billy Ray buy up the commodities leading up to the day when the report was to be announced, and then sells them through a third party to the Dukes, who think orange futures are actually going to increase, and in turn drive up the prices, after the announcement turns out to go against what the Dukes though, orange futures were not changing, they turn around and sell of the commodities at a loss just to get rid of them while they were still near the price margin they bought them for driving the prices back down, at which point Luis and Billy Ray buy them back using the profits that they made from initially selling them, thus leaving them with a windfall profit along with normalized prices on orange futures. In turn bankrupting the Duke brothers at the same time.\n\nIf anybody actually tried this stunt it would violate many FTC and Stock trading laws, and the robin hood justification of they were braking the law in the first place wouldn't hold water.",
"Everyone else has done a good job of explaining how, I figure I will try and do some numbers (numbers are not from the movie, just example)\n\n Duke: Buy 10,000 at $5 (outlay, $50000)\n Duke: Buy 10,000 at $5.25 (outlay, 52500)\n Others: Buy 50,000 at $5.50-8 (outlay 550,000-800,000 (this is when people start thinking the Dukes know something)\n Duke: Buy 10,000 at $8, $9, $10 (outlay, 80k, 90k, 100k)\n \nDuke's now have 50,000 OJ futures costing $372,000, Others have 50,000 futures costing $330,000 (or so). \n\nWinthrop and Billy Rae are short selling, so they don't own the shares, they are borrowing them basically. \n\n Winthorp-Rae (WRae): Sell 30,000 at $10 (cost $300,000) to Duke\n WRae: Sell 30,000 at $11 (cost $310,000) to Duke\n WRae: Sell 30,000 at $12 (cost $320,000) to Others\n\nAt this point, WRae have sold 90,000 shares at a cost of $930,000. Dukes own 110,000 shares at a cost of $980,000, Others own 80,000 shares at $650,000. \n\nShort selling, if the price goes up, WRae has to pay the difference (So if OJ went to 15, 90,000 shares would be worth 1,350,000, and they would owe $420,000). \n\n > Crop report comes out, more OJ than anyone can drink\n\n Others: Sell 20,000 at $5 (trying to get out) (cost $100,000)\n Duke: Sell 20,000 at $4.50 (cost $90,000)\n Duke: Sell 20,000 at $4 (cost $80,000)\n Others: Sell 20,000 at $3.50 (cost $70,000)\n WRae: Buy 30,000 at $2 (outlay $60,000) from Dukes\n WRae: Buy 30,000 at 1.50 (outlay $45,000) from Others\n WRae: Buy 30,000 at $1 (outlay $30,000) from Dukes\n\nAt this point, WRae has covered their 90,000 shares (sold at a total of $930,000, and bought for $135,000 (profit of $795,000)). Duke has sold 100,000 shares (bought at $980,000, sold at $260,000 (loss of $720,000)), Others have sold 70,000 shares (bought at 650,000, sold at 215,000 (loss of $435,000)). Duke and Others have some shares left, which would get sold around $1 as well. \n\nNot sure how clear that is. ",
"Side point: note that when the brothers exchange a dollar bill in the bathroom to settle their bet, they wash their hands, as if touching real money was unsanitary."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_information",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_selling",
"http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/07/19/201430727/what-actually-happens-at-the-end-of-trading-places"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
4frzlq
|
why do we find healthy foods repulsive? wouldn't it be more beneficial if we liked to eat healthy food?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4frzlq/eli5_why_do_we_find_healthy_foods_repulsive/
|
{
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"There was a point in human history (Not that long ago, from an evolutionary stand point) where food was much harder to acquire. \n\nWhere basic calories were more important than overall nutrition.\n\nSo we evolved in order to prefer foods that were high in calories and sugar, as they were the largest sources of nutrition and fairly rare, meaning that we wanted to consume as much of it as we could in order not to starve.\n\nUnfortunately this instinct still exists, and in a huge abundance of food in a modern world - A lot of us cannot control the impulse to gorge on huge amounts of high calorie food.",
"It's a matter of priority. We absolutely need salt and sufficient caloric intake to live, so we crave those things most. Things like kale are the most dense in fiber and nutrients, but if we had devoted our time to searching for bitter greens in the wild as ravenously as we had searched for meat, we'd probably have starved to death. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
4bglo1
|
what is that star hanging out near the moon tonight?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bglo1/eli5_what_is_that_star_hanging_out_near_the_moon/
|
{
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Afaik it's the Jupiter now\n\nIt's usually the Venus or the Jupiter, with the moon they are the brightest objects in the nightsky.\n\nOther stars are not bright enought and can't compete with the (full) moons brightness",
"[Observant people in North America and the Pacific will see a very, very subtle penumbral eclipse of the moon on the morning of March 23, 2016. The blazing planet Jupiter will be nearby. Western North America will see the entire eclipse.](_URL_0_) You can find these things out for yourself if you bookmark the page.",
"There's a free app for IOS phones called Star Walk that'll create a labeled map when you point it at a star/planet. It's great.\n\n(And yep, Jupiter.)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://earthsky.org/tonight"
],
[]
] |
||
g0s9lh
|
why are moths nocturnal when they could be awake during the day to get more light?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/g0s9lh/eli5_why_are_moths_nocturnal_when_they_could_be/
|
{
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"text": [
"Because the birds that would eat them are mostly active during the day. Being active when your primary predators are not is a common survival strategy.",
"Moths are flightless larva for most of their life to span. When they do finally develop wings it's only for a short period of time and most of their energy goes towards finding a mate and laying eggs. moths navigate mostly by smell so light doesn't really help them much. when they do need to eat there are plenty of plants that actually only bloom at night and require moths.",
"If they were awake during the day they would all fly into the sun and die!\n\nSeriously though... moths don't need light. Stereotypically they are attracted to light but that's just navigation thing, calibrated to it being night to begin with. They are not like feeding off of light like photosynthesis or like humans get vitamin D from light.",
"Moths are nocturnal because they just...are. The same way many other species are diurnal (awake during the day), it’s just a biological and evolutionary trait that exists in the DNA. \n\nMoths are not obsessed with light. They are confused by it. Being nocturnal, they use the moon as a point of reference to navigate the world. Given how far away the moon is and how slowly it orbits the earth, it is a fairly static point of reference. When that light source is much closer, like...say...your porch light, it makes their navigational instincts go haywire. Hence why they swarm lights. It confuses the shit out of them and they don’t know what to do."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
8pt104
|
what is the difference between information and data?
|
I have this on a test and the switch in my head doesn't turn on. can someone explain? this is for a research course.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8pt104/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_information/
|
{
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"text": [
"Having data is for instance having the results of a test applied to highschool students. Information is knowing that the ones that passed used a specific method of study... (I was going to use a more political example but the trolls will attack)\n\n\nData becomes information when you know the is an use to it. That is what data mining does, you take insane amounts of data and try to extract something useful from it.",
"I think you have accidentally stumbled on a question for our time... anyone from a computer science background will tell you data is just a bunch of unorganised facts... and information is organised in a way that is meaningful... but back to my point... maybe it is all meta... maybe all information is just data, and we just invent meaning... now where are my mushrooms?",
" > What is the difference between information and data?\n\nContext\n\nIncidentally that's what we're missing to give you a relevant answer to this question.\n\nA table of results from a study is data, but without the context of how the study was performed its just data not information. Once you have the context then you can tell what the table means, and now it is information\n\nFor a computer you also need context to use turn the data into useful information. 01000011 01000001 01010100 can be 67 65 84 or CAT or a kind of purplish gray depending on the context those bytes are used for."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
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