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9z0ebn
my grade 9 science experiment - if (when) the ice caps melt, then what?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9z0ebn/eli5_my_grade_9_science_experiment_if_when_the/
{ "a_id": [ "ea5gbfa", "ea5iesd" ], "score": [ 10, 2 ], "text": [ "Your 9th grade science experiment is making you think of the earth as a small well mixed system without any other factors.\n\nThat isnt close to accurate.\n\nRaising mean temperature (which on a mostly water planet means average sea temperature) has 2 key impacts:\n\n1. Decrease in carbon sequestration capacity; warmer water can’t hold as much CO2 thus releasing it into the atmosphere and creating a positive feedback loop on the warming. Secondly that release changes the alkalinity of the oceans. If you have ever seen an exotic fish tank you would know that this means a lot of dead fish/coral. The increased heat also means more droughts and wildfires, both of which are generally ecologically bad.\n\n2. Ice cap melting. The main problem is actually the ice caps that are currently above ground (antartica/greenland) because unlike the ones floating they will just straight add water to the system. Humans like seas, we trade on them, as a result the vast majority of our major cities are port cities. If a significant amount of water is added to our oceans then these major cities will find themselves under water. Its kinda tough to turn new york into venice.", "If the ice on Antarctica would melt the sea level would rise buy 58 m all over the globe because of the increases amount of water. It would rise even more because the water temperature wold need to be higher and water expand when it is warm.\n\nThe problem is that your conclusion from the experiment is flawed\n\n > This brings me to the notion that the mean Earth temperature should generally stay relatively the same until the ice at the poles is gone.\n\nYour experiment have two fundamental flaws.\n\nThe ice on each pole is different. On the Antarctica you have a ice sheet on land. It do not float on the see. It is a ice sheet because a ice cap are smaller then than 50,000 km2. Where the glacier flow meet the ocean there will be som part that float but the huge majority is on land.\n\nIn the north you have a large ice sheet on Greenland and smaller ice caps on other islands. But the ice on the north pole is comparable thin floating see ice. If it melt do not change the sea level. \n\nThe sea ice have a thicken that is most of the time less the 5 m. Compare that to a average thickens of 2160 m on Antarctica and the thickens measured is 4776 m. It is similar on Greenland. So the area where the ice sheets can exchange heat with the seas is only small parts around the edge.\n\n\n\nThe other problem is that the the water in the sea do not mix like in your experiment. Even without stirring the fact that you heat up the bottom with a burner will result in convection so it will mix many time faster then the ocean. The small size will also make it possible to transfer heat by conduction to a lot higher degree that would happen in the ocean.\n\nA strong Ocean current like the Gulf Stream hava max speed about 2.5 meters per second (9 kph; 5.6 mph). A straight line between the southern part of Florida to Iceland is ~6 000 km . At max speed it would take 26 day for the water to travel to island in practice that line intersect land so it is longer and the speed is lower when is start to spread out. \n\n\nThe ocean is not that deep compared to it size. The average deep is 3.6 km. Equator to the pole is 10 000 km that is ~2900 time the average dept. I would guess that your experiment has a container that have that proposition.\n\nWhen the water travel for long distance it will exchange heat with the atmosphere that can be a lot warmer and colder then the water. The air is cooler on the poles then one the equator.\n\n\n\n\nYou conclusion about the temperature is not correct because you have incorrect assumption abut the mixing and heat exchange with the ice. Have a relative shallow water in a large container and put ice cubes on each edge. Pour warm water on one side and observe the speed the ice will melt. Measure the temperature in the water without steering. You will notice that when the ice melt on one side and you can heat it up more by adding warm water there will still be ice on the other side.\n\nThe average ocean surface temperatur about 17 degrees Celsius and direct measurement show that the temperature is not uniform anywhere close to the experiment. Look at _URL_0_ for a idea of the temperature of the sea.\n\nSo you can and do have warm water on earth while there are polar ice sheets.\n\n" ] }
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[ [], [ "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weeklysst.gif" ] ]
6loidl
why is space-time described as a sheet that bends, even though the universe is 3 dimensional?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6loidl/eli5_why_is_spacetime_described_as_a_sheet_that/
{ "a_id": [ "djvd54h", "djvd6px", "djve5h2", "djvj577" ], "score": [ 6, 4, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Space-time is a 3-dimensional space combined with the 4th dimension of time.\n\nAs beings that live in a 3-dimensional space, we have a hard time conceptualizing a 4th dimension.\n\nSo for the sake of effective visualization, we represent space-time as a 2-dimensional sheet that bends into a 3rd dimension. We cannot visualize a 3-dimensional space bending into a 4th dimension.", "The \"bending sheet\" description is an analogy because for many people the warping of three dimensions is very difficult to understand on its own. It is used as an aid to understanding what is actually happening, not intended to be completely accurate in itself.", "We lack a way to conceptualize how spacetime actually bends, so we resort to 2-dimensional analogues that we *can* conceptualize.", "Well, space isn't 3D, it has (at least) 4 dimensions. To quickly summarize, people will call the 4th dimension \"time\" -but honestly, it's a rather poor description. What that really says, is our space is still just 3D, but with some other ominous 4th dimensional clock overhead. In reality (literally), the 4th dimension of space --is just as physical as the rest. We (anything) physically move through it, just like any other dimension. Even at rest, we're still physically moving through a dimension of space (one we cannot perceive). In this sense, I can describe my speed at any given moment as \"time over time\" instead of distance/time (since time is a distance). So 20 -miles- per hour, could just as easily be be 20 -minutes- per hour. Both are a description of distance and time. But, to answer your question, spacetime (no hyphen is needed) --isn't a sheet that bends. That visual is used often to describe gravity or relativity, because (honestly) there just isn't a better one. In reality, there is no way to depict spacetime visually. Unless someone can come up with a way to draw a 4D cube (tesseract)." ] }
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[ [], [], [], [] ]
7nd7on
does windchill affect inanimate objects?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7nd7on/eli5_does_windchill_affect_inanimate_objects/
{ "a_id": [ "ds0y7wd" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Windchill model was created in the 1970's by Sir Dumfrey McGavin as a means to measure the cold. Sir Dumfrey was native to the US and his model was abolished in the late 80's but most people still use it today. Since inanimate objects cannot feel cold it doesn't apply to them. It applies to humans and also emus because they have relatively the same body temperature as humans have. :) " ] }
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4zdayr
the difference between different programming language types
I think python was procedural and java was object oriented. I'm learning both but I'm failing to see a distinct difference.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zdayr/eli5_the_difference_between_different_programming/
{ "a_id": [ "d6utf9q" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ " > I'm learning both but I'm failing to see a distinct difference.\n\nThat's because python is not bound to a specific paradigm - to quote Wikipedia on it: *\"Python is a multi-paradigm programming language: object-oriented programming and structured programming are fully supported, and many language features support functional programming and aspect-oriented programming (including by metaprogramming and metaobjects (magic methods))\"*\n\nI've not really worked enough with anything besides object-oriented languages myself to try and explain to you what the different approaches in other paradigms are, but that should at least explain why you're not seeing the \"big difference\" you were expecting. " ] }
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1i459o
when you "suck in" your belly, where exactly does that belly fat... go?
I'm a skinny fat guy. You know, that guy who looks slim or even skinny in normal clothes, but if you see that guy without a shirt on, there's definite flab. The kind of flab you can grab with your hands and mold it like it's playdoe. Like 20+ lbs of it. If I suck in, you can see my ribs and I almost look anorexic. My stomach is flat and the fat seems to have disappeared until I relax again. Where did that fat go? Into my muscle or what?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1i459o/eli5when_you_suck_in_your_belly_where_exactly/
{ "a_id": [ "cb0sin7" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Pretty sure what you're really doing is making your lungs and stomach smaller. When you suck in your belly it becomes harder to breath because of this. " ] }
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b9ohxx
why do old people who are sick have 2 or three good normal days where the seem to recover before they die?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b9ohxx/eli5_why_do_old_people_who_are_sick_have_2_or/
{ "a_id": [ "ek622xm" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "In some cases when they are very near death they are taken off meds that were doping them up so they become more lucid as a result. " ] }
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bg2f0t
why does banana flavouring never taste like banana?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bg2f0t/eli5_why_does_banana_flavouring_never_taste_like/
{ "a_id": [ "elhtjfq", "elhtnca", "elhto0r", "elhu0kn" ], "score": [ 6, 5, 32, 2 ], "text": [ "Its actually based on a species of banana that went extinct. There was a banana plague or something and this particular strain was wiped out, but before that it was the basis for banana flavoring.\n\nSo it does taste like banana, just not the bananas we eat now.\n\nEdit: my bad not extinct just super rare", "Most of the bananas commonly sold today are *[Cavendish](_URL_1_)* bananas. A few decades ago, the *[Gros Michel](_URL_0_)* variety of banana was commonly sold, and \"banana flavouring\" much more closely resembles that variety.", "It does taste like banana, just not a type you've ever had.\n\nBanana flavoring was modeled after the Gros Michel banana, which was the predominate type of banana prior to the 1950s. At that time, a particularly nasty strain of Panama disease all but wiped out Gros Michel crops _in the west_. A new type, the Cavendish, was substituted due to its natural immunity to this type of Panama disease, and the Cavendish became _the_ banana sold (it is still the type sold today).\n\nYou can still find Gros Michel bananas out there, but they are fairly rare. If you ever have one, you'll notice that it _does_ taste like banana candy quite a bit.\n\n**Edit**: Clarified that this is just talking about western hemisphere sales. The Gros Michel is apparently still the predominant type in the east.", "Because (supposedly) banana flavoring is based on gros Michelle bananas that were mostly wiped out by a fungus. So now the main bananas consumed are cavendish bananas which have a good but very different flavor" ] }
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[ [], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel_banana", "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana" ], [], [] ]
2agy55
what's the reasoning behind regional copyright restrictions? why would a content creator choose to make their content legal to watch in some countries but not others?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2agy55/eli5_whats_the_reasoning_behind_regional/
{ "a_id": [ "ciuztqj" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "It's to maximize the money they can get from their work.\n\nSure, they could license it globally to one company. But they'll make even more money selling the rights to one company in the US, to another in the UK, to yet another in Japan, and so on." ] }
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730ekb
how can your fingerprints be traced back to you if you haven't been to jail?
You know how cops/detectives will find fingerprints on guns, steering wheels, clothes, etc. If the suspect has never been caught before, how can the police track them?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/730ekb/eli5_how_can_your_fingerprints_be_traced_back_to/
{ "a_id": [ "dnmkzwz", "dnml37a", "dnml3w5", "dnml9qd", "dnmldzj" ], "score": [ 23, 2, 7, 3, 4 ], "text": [ "You may have been fingerprinted for other reasons. I've been fingerprinted several times for security background checks.\n\nBut if you've never been fingerprinted, they can't use them to find you, but they can be used as evidence against you if they catch you through other investigatory means", "If someone commits some crime, they may have commited or have been arrested for other crimes in the past and may have a record as a result.\n\nIt is also useful to have the fingerprints to see if a particular case may be related to another. For example, if the same fingerprints keep showing up at vaguely familiar crime scenes, it is possible a serial criminal is at work. The prints don't help *find* the culprit directly, but can help investigators see which cases are more clearly connected and thus try to focus efforts on individuals that could have had the opportunity and motive to commit *both* crimes.\n\nAnd of course they are useful once you actually have a suspect and arrest them and thus can check their fingerprints, in order to use the connection as evidence.", "I don't know how is it in the USA, but in a country where I live (Croatia), police get your fingerprints when you get your first ID card. And after that, fingerprints are in their database.\nI have to admit that I always believed that is the process in every country.\n\n--edit: spelling fixes", "This varies from country to country. In Argentina the goverment gets your fingerprints when your first national ID is issued, just within weeks of being born. They're renewed each time the ID is renewed, which happens several times throughout lifetime.", "They can't trace fingerprints to a person if they don't have a record of that person's fingerprints.\n\nThey take the fingerprints so that they can tie a suspect to the crime if/when they arrest them.\n\nThe progression of the investigation would look something like this:\n\n1) A murder occurs where the victim is stabbed to death, and rhe apparent murder weapon is left at the scene.\n\n2) Police investigate and take fingerprints from the knife.\n\n3) Police compare the fingerprints to the existing database and the victim. Lets assume no match is found.\n\n4) A neighnor tells police that they saw Person X entering the home shortly before the murder occurred. Person X has no arrest record or other source of fingerprints on file.\n\n5) Police get a warrant and arrest Person X on suspicion of murder.\n\n6) Police take Person X's fingerprints as part of their processing of the suspect.\n\n7) Police compare the fingerprints of Person X with the fingerprints found on the knife.\n\n8) Assuming the police determine the prints match, they file both sets of prints as evidence for the case.\n\nAfter that, it's mostly in the hands of the Court System." ] }
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2oyvfp
how did pirate bay get raided and shut down if they allegedly ran on raid proof virtual machines?
Here's the article that makes this claim: _URL_0_
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2oyvfp/eli5_how_did_pirate_bay_get_raided_and_shut_down/
{ "a_id": [ "cmrqxke" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "I am not a professional but I believe the police took down the servers that managed the virtual machines. Without these servers the virtual machines cannot function." ] }
[]
[ "http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-runs-on-21-raid-proof-virtual-machines-140921/" ]
[ [] ]
5ixawn
how would you create your own connection to the internet?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ixawn/eli5_how_would_you_create_your_own_connection_to/
{ "a_id": [ "dbbo4em", "dbbo75b" ], "score": [ 5, 23 ], "text": [ "The internet gets to you via several brokers. There are the backbone carriers like level3 who supply ISPS and very large companies, then those ISPS break it out to smaller cheaper options and sell it on.\n\nWhat you would probably need is to get a leased line from an ISP. It would cost thousands to put in then a thousand or more per month to lease. But it would be all yours, and maybe 100Mbps each way.\n\n", "You have access to several ISPs, via satellite or microwave relay.\n\nHowever, presuming you're committed to building your own ISP, you're going to need to lease a data circuit from your location to the nearest Internet peering point; might by Minneapolis or Denver (depending on where in SD you're located). The local phone company could sell you that.\n\nTo really go \"full control\", you're going to need to dig a 300-500 mile long trench for buried optical fiber. It's about $10M per mile, and you've probably got 25-35 local government units to get approval from. Think \"KeystoneXL Pipeline without the environmental protesters\" worth of hearings and political efforts. You'll also have to pay off the landowners, but you can probably run much of it in utility easements.\n\nOnce you get your data circuit or fiber to the peering point, you're going to need a carrier-class router, speed compatible with the other folks who peer there. It's going to be over $50K gadget, probably form Cisco, Juniper Networks, or Hauwei. Then you've got to convince the peers that you represent a neutral partner, you will have as much traffic that their customers want as they have traffic you want. If you can't convince them of that, you're going to have to pay for the difference between the traffic they route to your servers and the traffic you route to their servers.\n\nNo big deal, if you have a ton of money. You probably want to invest all that money and use the profits to pay an ISP." ] }
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45wfm2
why are some films still not available for rent, even years after their initial film premiere?
For example, I've been wanting to watch Big Hero 6 for a really long time, but I can never justify spending $15-20 on a movie, let alone movie tickets, since I never watch a single film more than once (maybe once more after a few years, but still). Big Hero 6 came out in 2014. It's now 2016 and no matter where you look it's *still* only available for purchase, even digitally. Why can't I rent it??
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45wfm2/eli5_why_are_some_films_still_not_available_for/
{ "a_id": [ "d00lpxk", "d00m0jq", "d00o5q9", "d00rf6i", "d00s1tb", "d00xla8", "d00yuli" ], "score": [ 116, 50, 10, 3, 3, 3, 13 ], "text": [ "It's currently available at Redbox locations near me. So, clearly, it is available for rent. How many places did you try?", "Disney is particular tight about their IP. They know their reputation is strong enough & kids insistent enough, that they can require you to pay for full price for their movies. They've done the same thing with Star Wars.", "There are online services that rent that movie, including [Google play](_URL_0_) and [Cineplex](_URL_1_).", "\nFamily Video has it for rent. \n\nBut I can't just tell you that, I have to keep going because the mods are too lazy to moderate their own forum so they turn on a robot that goes around arbitrarily deleting posts. ", "This doesn't explain anything re:studio releases, but, seriously, get to a library. Mine gets new dvds and blurays out within 2 days of release. If you're too cheap to pay and too lazy to pirate, it's a goldmine. Doubly so if have kids and just borrow the same movie until they get sick of it.", "I got it from redbox months ago? ", "Because the film's distributors have decided they can make more money selling the film than renting it at this point in time. Disney is especially notorious for creating false scarcity so they can issue Collectors Editions of their films later on. " ] }
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[ [], [], [ "https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Big_Hero_6?id=B21ctQBADNQ&hl=en", "http://store.cineplex.com/store/recorddetails?R=prod1850037" ], [], [], [], [] ]
61d4gc
why do movie subtitle translations change the content unnecessarily?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61d4gc/eli5_why_do_movie_subtitle_translations_change/
{ "a_id": [ "dfdla4t", "dfdwujg" ], "score": [ 6, 3 ], "text": [ "If the movie has a Russian dub, it could be a transcript of the dub (not a translation of the English). The reverse happens a lot in anime. Where the English subtitles are translated from the Japanese, not a transcript of the English dubbing.\n\nIt's also possible that the person hired to translate the movie isn't perfectly fluent in English or Russian. Could be the translator misinterpreted the scene.", " > they say \"You're ok!\" in English, but the Russian translation changes it to \"You're still alive!\", which seems to alter the meaning of the line since the person was not as risk of dying, but only being injured.\n\nThe first thing to remember is that common phrases or sayings don't necessarily translate easily. The English \"You're OK\" can mean many different things, and there isn't necessarily a good translation. You've interpreted it to mean either, \"Your injuries are superficial\" or \"You have no injuries,\" which is reasonable in the context.\n\nBut if the translation is, as here, significantly longer than the original dialogue, there's a problem. People need time to look down to find the subtitle and read it -- and reading comprehension is slower than listening comprehension -- and if there's more dialogue immediately following, there's simply not enough time to read a long string of text -- the original is a short three syllables, and with this kind of sentence, usually mumbled.\n\nAlso, you may not have interpreted the original the way the subtitle writers understood it. \"You're OK\" can in fact mean \"You're alive\" or \"You'll live\" (which may in fact have been a closer, idiomatic translation of the Russian, although that's hard to judge without seeing the Russian text), and it may be that while you think the injured person was never in danger of dying, whoever did the translation may well have assumed that he or she did in fact fear death -- and that interpretation may not be unreasonable.\n\nThere's also the possibility that it's an idiom of some kind. My Russian is very rusty, but it's certainly very common in English to say, \"You'll live\" when what we *really* mean is, \"Quit moaning, I'm sure that smarts a bit, but it's really just a scratch and it will heal by itself and meanwhile you're perfectly capable of walking normally.\"\n\nSometimes a good translation is impossible, especially when wordplay comes into it. For example, in one comedy short I saw with German subtitles, the protagonist, strapped into a contraption controlled by the bad guy, is flipped over onto his back, looks up at the sky and exclaims, \"Heavens above!\" -- that being an expression of surprise. German has no expression that would work as a pun here, so it was translated as, \"The sky is above me,\" which just lost all impact. (They should IMO have just gone with a standard German expression of surprise, but apparently the decision was taken to salvage as much of the pun as possible.)\n\nFinally, of course, not every translator is a good translator. Mistranslations creep in all the time, and more often than you might imaging. In another movie, this time *dubbed* into German, I heard one character complain that he'd just discovered that his mother-in-law was an \"illicit extra-terrestrial\". I had to translate the German back to English in my head and came up with \"illegal alien\", which seemed much more likely." ] }
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doo4ev
how come when you look in the mirror and watch your pupils dilate you do not experience any brightness change in your vision while your iris is adjusting to the light?
If the iris is meant to work the same as a cameras aperture wouldn’t we notice the light levels changing while they adjust? Edit - ELIF should be ELI5 lol my bad
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/doo4ev/elif_how_come_when_you_look_in_the_mirror_and/
{ "a_id": [ "f5p5rts", "f5pdjkt" ], "score": [ 3, 15 ], "text": [ "I don't know the full answer to this, so would refer to someone with more experience or research in this field, however I believe you would find it mostly comes down to the pupils not being the only thing that affects our vision. As with your camera example, the other factors that affect how bright a photo is, are the shutter speed and ISO, where ISO can roughly be equated to the optical nerve. \n\nWhile your pupils may be letting more light in, our eyes are incredibly complicated, and the brain even more so, and they work to adjust to things, but at a relatively slow pace, making it not particularly noticeable to us.", "Your pupils dilate not just to let in more light, but also as part of the focusing mechanism. When you look at the mirror, they dilate because you’re focusing in close." ] }
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507agb
how are vehicle racing sports such as nascar fair?
All of my racing knowlage comes from video games and they tend have sytems in place to deal with the "fairness". Obviously real life doesn't.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/507agb/eli5_how_are_vehicle_racing_sports_such_as_nascar/
{ "a_id": [ "d71q7ai" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "Most racing formats (NASCAR, F1, etc.) have very strict guidelines for how a car can be constructed. F1 cars, for example, all must have a specific type of engine, meet stringent height, width, and length regulations, be within a certain weight range, etc. This means that driver skill - as well as qualifying times (and therefore starting position) - are very important." ] }
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fgeamg
why do you have to dig deep into the earth when looking for artifacts from a few hundred years ago?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fgeamg/eli5_why_do_you_have_to_dig_deep_into_the_earth/
{ "a_id": [ "fk3yxpe", "fk45f2s", "fk4eeye" ], "score": [ 3, 5, 3 ], "text": [ "Sometimes things get buried, for a variety of reasons. Maybe sediment is deposited naturally, maybe human garbage builds up, maybe it's buried on purpose, maybe people just build on top of it. Things that are buried are protected - they are safe from weathering, safe from thieves, etc. - so they tend to survive. Things that are NOT buried do not tend to last long. So if you want to find things from a very long time ago, often the only things left are underground.", "Because those are the ones that are left.\n\nIf they didn't get buried somehow, most of the artifacts on the surface were either found or destroyed centuries ago.", "Erosion and deposition are responsible for disparity between how deep we have to dig to get to fossils and artifacts.\n\nMany fossils that are millions of years old are found exposed partially at the surface, all the time. \n\nOn the other hand, artifacts which are only a few hundred years old are more commonly found in places that people have continuously inhabited, or inhabited for at least a reasonably long period of time, after their deposition. That activity, coupled with natural soil creation and deposition, causes them to be more likely to be buried more deeply." ] }
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3diogd
why can't germany just delay greece's payments for a few years?
I assume there must be a good reason why this wouldn't work, but it seems like if Germany (and other creditors) agreed that Greece could delay payments for 3-5 years, that would give Greece a chance to improve their situation. Is it as simple as the fact that they need the funds? It seems like they could easily absorb that delay.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3diogd/eli5_why_cant_germany_just_delay_greeces_payments/
{ "a_id": [ "ct5hefh", "ct5heh0" ], "score": [ 11, 2 ], "text": [ "Short answer is they don't want to.\n\nGermany has given the Greeks several bailouts at this point. Every bailout comes with promises from Greece that they will make changes to their spending pattern, yet those changes never come.\n\nGermany probably could absorb the loss, but they don't feel they should have to - the Greeks put themselves in this mess by not managing their social services well enough and the Germans want them to suffer the ramifications of those decisions.", "Because the Greek banks don't have enough money to reopen. they need more money from the Germans." ] }
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6222h7
why do powerful countries continue to make nuclear weapons even though very few can cause nuclear winter?
To my understanding it is something like only a few hundred can send the world into a prolonged winter, why would the U.S. have around 7,000?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6222h7/eli5_why_do_powerful_countries_continue_to_make/
{ "a_id": [ "dfj33o6", "dfj40j1", "dfj4biw" ], "score": [ 2, 5, 2 ], "text": [ "Their goal isn't to cause a nuclear winter, it's to destroy the enemy's supply of soldiers, manufacture, and their own stock pile of nuclear weapons. A nuclear winter doesn't prevent a nuclear counterattack (which is the main concern), but if the entire enemy arsenal is vaporized, there's no possibility of a counterattack. You can only do that with a huge arsenal, not a small one.\n\nTl;DR: a small arsenal is more dangerous than a large one, because a small one doesn't prevent counterattack, but a large one does.", "Deterrence Theory calls for having enough nukes in enough places that even if the enemy jacks you right in the mouth right at the start of the fight, you still have the means to murder them. The technical term for this is \"second strike capability\" (the \"First Strike\" being the one the enemy made against you, hoping to knock you down and out before you can retaliate). \n\nTo have proper second strike capability, you need to have A) enough nukes to be a credible threat even if the enemy takes out a significant fraction of your overall nuclear force, and B) a way to get them into the enemy's backyard. For the U.S., that comes down to a seeming surplus of nukes for the former (keeping in mind that targeted areas may have their own anti-aircraft/anti-ballistic defenses that will need destroyed or overwhelmed), and the \"nuclear trifecta\" (air-launched nukes, ground-based inter-continental missiles, and submarine launched missiles) and well laid out command and control systems, pre-plotted strike plans and a detailed chain of sucession for nuclear authority for the latter. \n\nFor example, even if the enemy successfully flash-fries the continental United States (killing the President and shredding the infrastructure running domestic air bases and nuke silos) overseas air commands can start scrambling their bombers and the assorted nuke submarines can move into position, and already be ready to fire back as soon as communication is established with whoever has authority to give the orders. A massive quantity of American nukes are either destroyed or functionally unavailable, but there's still enough megatonnage in the air and at sea to make the aggressor experience deep regret before they get broiled in their own skin.", "The point of having nuclear weapons in today's world is to ensure that *nobody uses nuclear weapons*.\n\nDuring the Cold War, it became very apparent that if either the US or USSR were to launch a first strike, the other side would be able to retaliate in a way that would *also* destroy the other side. This state of *mutually assured destruction* became the ultimate cause for peace between the two countries. Once you hit this point, you don't really need to build more but neither party can really deploy *fewer* weapons." ] }
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6oztm3
why did so many people lose their homes during the us '08 recession when you'd think that their mortgage and typical payments didn't change?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6oztm3/eli5_why_did_so_many_people_lose_their_homes/
{ "a_id": [ "dkliika" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "1. Many people had adjustable rate mortgages. Their mortgage payments did change, and they went up far higher than those people expected (or could afford).\n\n2. For many people where the mortgage didn't change, their ability to pay did. Anyone who got laid off would run out of money eventually, even if they had a fixed rate mortgage." ] }
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16x9va
the church-turing thesis
I have been a programmer for several years now, and have also taught Programming 1 at my alumni for a year before going back to the industry. One of my current work colleagues mentioned that the difference between good programmers and mediocre programmers are whether they understood the Church-Turing Thesis or not. Sadly, It's the first time I heard about this. I know about automata, recursion and turing machines (from the wikipedia page*, but I can't quite put them all together. *-_URL_0_
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16x9va/eli5_the_churchturing_thesis/
{ "a_id": [ "c807jxc", "c807nd1" ], "score": [ 4, 3 ], "text": [ "The Church-Turing thesis is that there's a kind of universal computer called a Turing machine. That is, if something *can* be computed (there are some things that can't!), a Turing machine is capable of computing it.\n\nThis actually isn't a simplification at all; there are technical details about what a Turing machine is, but they aren't relevant to the Church-Turing thesis. So I don't know what your colleague was on about.", "The guy is being an ass. It's completely irrelevant to being a programmer. If you're a theoretical computer scientist? Well, yeah, then it's like not knowing your abc.\n\nAnyways, amarkov is spot on. It simply says we're never going to invent som magical computer that can solve problems we thought were unsolvable. If you can't solve a problem on a PC written in C, there's no language or computer that suddenly allows you to solve it. " ] }
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[ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church%E2%80%93Turing_thesis" ]
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1l4qrp
why do we sometimes remember events as if we're outside of our own bodies?
I remember when I was a few years old, my mom and brother and I moving into the house we lived in for twenty years. I don't remember actually walking in; it's as if I was on the couch, watching us walk in. There are no photos taken from that angle at the time. I've had this happen a few other times, too. Why?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1l4qrp/eli5_why_do_we_sometimes_remember_events_as_if/
{ "a_id": [ "cbvqsq4", "cbvr88i", "cbvwbtt" ], "score": [ 6, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Because memory works with frameworks. Buildings are the most obvious example. Theres something called a mind temple (or something similar) named that because of the story of an ancient greek, who was at a feast. Then the roof collapsed, and afterwards, he found he could remember where people were sitting if he looked at the rubble and pictured what the building and the table were like, and who was sitting where. So he could help identify the bodies. Our minds are rigged to place things in 3D environments, it makes it easier for us to remember. So if you have the whole 3D map in your head, its easier for your mind to place a 3d family walk in, than it is for it to try to reconstruct your viewpoint at the time. ", "Remember playing the game telephone when you were younger? And how things got [corrupted](_URL_0_) the further along the chain they go? Memory is kind of like that. \n\nEvery time you recall an event from the past, your brain isn't playing it back to you like its a DVD player. Instead, you are *remembering the last time you remembered the event*. Subtle changes in how you recall an event change that event (in your memory). So, somewhere along the line, you may have started recalling the room as a whole, instead of you walking into the room from your point of view. ", "I heard it had something to do with the fact we don't have a perfect memory so we construct it and fill what we don't know as fact with false information. I'd speculate if you remember things in first-person they are true memories, though I don't think I've ever had one of those. SPECULATION AND CONJECTURE!" ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP_pDXBOSBI" ], [] ]
23i7nx
is the earth getting bigger? if so, why?
We have to dig down to find artifacts from previous generations, but surely we're not adding that much material to the Earth?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23i7nx/eli5_is_the_earth_getting_bigger_if_so_why/
{ "a_id": [ "cgx8t1q", "cgx8v2d", "cgx9fx1" ], "score": [ 5, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "The Earth is getting slightly larger because of meteorites hitting the surface, however the volume that the meteorites add is minuscule. \nThe reason we have to dig for artifacts is more to do with the shifting of the Earths surface through natural erosion, human intervention, weather etc. ", "The wind blows dirt in from other places, and once abandoned with noone to sweep or dig, the earth reclaims it.", "Yes, but it's probably more accurate to say it has cycles of expansion and contraction as parts of the earth's mantle are ejected through the crust via volcanoes and deep sea hydrothermal vents. As something is heated, it expands, it's also true that the solid of something is usually more dense than the liquid and so weighs more, but takes up less space, which means total volume of the earth is going to change depending on how hot the magma in the core is from the nuclear fission that is occurring there. As such, I expect as volcanoes are poised to erupt the earth itself has expanded as far as it can, and so the pressure inside is released via a volcanic eruption. Geological activity is why over millions of years things become buried. You can see how active our planet actually whenever you cut a cross section in a small hill and look at the banding patterns.\n\nI have no formal geology study though, but from a physics perspective that is how matter operates and our planet is made from matter. It's also true that as space debris hits our planet then the net material on it will probably increase. \n" ] }
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bmjkxz
how alcohol companies ship huge amounts of their product internationally while keeping costs down?
I understand the concept of bulk, but alcohol comes in glass bottles which seems inefficient to ship. Do they bottle it in the new country, ship it in tankers or some sort of other storage? Alcohol is heavy and flammable, etc.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bmjkxz/eli5_how_alcohol_companies_ship_huge_amounts_of/
{ "a_id": [ "emx24mx", "emx4ooc" ], "score": [ 5, 4 ], "text": [ "They get bottled at the plant and shipped in boxes. Usually 6-8 bottles in each box.\n\nSource: I work at a warehouse that distribute food and beverages to restaurants and grocery stores.", "Like any other cargo - container ships. \n\nIt is either packaged beforehand, or the loose liquid can be bottled at the destination. Shippers use either Flexitanks, which are basically really huge, durable bags or ISO tanks, which are cylindrical drums fitted into a standard 20 feet container frame." ] }
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1re01e
how do we absorb things at all from vegetables if we can't break the cellulose wall?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1re01e/how_do_we_absorb_things_at_all_from_vegetables_if/
{ "a_id": [ "cdmcih6", "cdmgelm" ], "score": [ 3, 3 ], "text": [ "You manually break the walls by chewing or cooking.", "We can break the wall by chewing or cooking as mentioned before, but also bacteria in our gut will break down the cellulose.\n\nIt's a mutually beneficial relationship. The bacteria get tasty cellulose, and we get the nutrients from the plant matter." ] }
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asx0nu
what did ghandhi really do?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/asx0nu/eli5_what_did_ghandhi_really_do/
{ "a_id": [ "egxbuws" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "He basically set himself up to be a martyr. Anti-British sentiment was growing and was reaching a tipping point. Ghandi's death would most likely been the straw the broke the camels back and started a revolution. It wasnt that Ghandi convinced the british the leave, but more he would have convinced the Indians that peace wasn't an option if he did die. His hunger strike would have been a countdown to war. This is for the most part how all peaceful protests work, an olive branch for peace but only before the revolution. " ] }
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29r8pv
why is it that some people drive like complete assholes but are the nicest people in person?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29r8pv/eli5_why_is_it_that_some_people_drive_like/
{ "a_id": [ "cinp75e", "cinplgd" ], "score": [ 3, 4 ], "text": [ "You can be nice and self-centered at the same time. In fact, being nice makes the individual feel good about themselves which is inherently self-centered. Never trust someone who is too nice. They're in it for themselves. ", "I think it's the lack of eye contact, we're not as self-conscious about our behaviour when we're only dealing with mobile metal boxes." ] }
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8jji00
how does identity theft work? is it common, how can i avoid it and protect myself?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8jji00/eli5_how_does_identity_theft_work_is_it_common/
{ "a_id": [ "dz04wpj", "dz09fcc" ], "score": [ 9, 2 ], "text": [ "It’s basically someone getting hold of enough info to open lines of credit in your name. Social security number, birthday, mother’s maiden name, etc etc, all that info can be used to open a credit card in your name, which they then can use, leaving the debt collectors looking for you instead of them. \n\nTo avoid it, don’t enter sensitive info on public WiFi, shred documents with sensitive info (or burn them, even better), never give out info to anyone who calls you. If they claim to be an official, ask for their department and name and call them back to prove they are telling the truth", "It's basically impossible to protect it fully. Something in life always requires you to give them all of your info or they will not process your information. \n\nJust make sure you don't have viruses, go to clean sites only, and ask if the last 4 digits of your SS# is sufficient" ] }
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5l2dgb
nad+, nadh, fad, and fadh2
What is the difference between them? I get that they are energy storage molecules, but I don't get the exact functions. What is their purpose in cellular respiration/photosynthesis?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5l2dgb/eli5_nad_nadh_fad_and_fadh2/
{ "a_id": [ "dbsf187" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "NAD and FAD are proton transporters in biological systems. Nadh is NAD carrying protons, Fadh is fad carrying protons. Nad works with enzymes to take protons from CH-OH groups to make a C=O group. FAD does the same with CH2-CH2 groups to form CH=CH groups.\n\nAt least that is how I understood it. I'm a food science major though not a biochem major so its not really my interest." ] }
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4r1g7y
what is the steady state theory, and how does it difference from the big bang theory
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4r1g7y/eli5_what_is_the_steady_state_theory_and_how_does/
{ "a_id": [ "d4xjn5a" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Basically big bang has all the matter concentrated in one place at the initialisation. Steady state has more matter being created as the universe expands to fill in the \"gaps\"" ] }
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3voved
how does a professional kitchen work with all those people shouting orders?
You see it often in movies and real life shows, the chef shouting his order, the others giving back a "Yes Chef" and it all works out. Most of the time. What is the system behind it? How are they organized? How do they now when to start the potatoes to finish at the same time as the steak?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3voved/eli5how_does_a_professional_kitchen_work_with_all/
{ "a_id": [ "cxpdb4m", "cxpfe13" ], "score": [ 5, 6 ], "text": [ "In the kitchen I worked in, it was rough if someone new started until they got the hang of it. Truth is, knowing when to pull out potatoes and stuff like that is just second nature after working on the line for a while. You learn to work with the other chefs and get things done at the right time. If anyone needed direction or something changed our executive chef would call it out. Mostly though, it just becomes instinct. ", "sous chef with 13 years experience here. In most kitchens your position as a chef is broken into 3 tears, commis chef (dogsbody and errand boy, there may be more than one on each section) sous chef (second in command, if its a massive kitchen he'll head the station that deals with the dishes that are ordered most but fairly easy/ quick to cook like pasta, s/he will also be the one giving commis chefs jobs for prep and dealing with any mishaps that happen in the kitchen) and head chef (the guy in charge of the pass, menu and recipes).\n\nService is usually broken into sections for the chefs: entrees, salads, pasta, main dishes and desserts. Staffing and organisation is totally up to the restaurant but if there's more than one person on a section you'll each have certain dishes to cook and your fridge and miss-en-place will be set accordingly. Bigger kitchens will have auxiliary chefs such as sauciers who specialize in a technique that will be brought to the pass independantly of the rest of the dish for the head chef to put together there, so that it stays warm and a main isnt ruined by a rubbish jus or vice-versa.\n\nThe Head chef will recieve a cheque, either from the expediting waiter or through a ticket machine. He'll shout, \"check on!\" and then rattle through the dishes ordered once, each chef listens out for dishes on their section and begins their plates. The Head chef will usually repeat the starters immediately, \"*item* Away!\" this means these items are to be cooked and brought to this pass immediately. Depending on the menu some chefs will ask for times or a timed call back but usually it is only the Head chef that chouts any kind of dish name. The other chefs should only answer, \"Oui chef!\" or tell the head chef anything their running low on. Once the guests have eaten their entrees the kitchen is told and the head chef will ask for mains on table whatever away!\n\nIn most proffesional kitchens everyone is relatively quiet in the middle of busy service, there's alot of noise but everyone is listening out for the right things, your not chatting about the football or your girlfriend. Small talk is usually exhausted during prep hours but there's still some banter or flirting with the waiting staff going on. If you're not listening up for your orders I guarantee you'll know about it from the Sous chef and if the head chef has to say something you're probably going to be fired.\n\nread Kitchen Confidential for a good look into what life is like in a kitchen, there are alot of embelishments but I've either witnessed or done most of the things in that book. " ] }
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1mvkub
where does the internet physically exist?
Does it operate on servers? If so, who owns it? If not, how does it work without a physical base?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mvkub/eli5_where_does_the_internet_physically_exist/
{ "a_id": [ "ccd0936", "ccd2rsl" ], "score": [ 9, 3 ], "text": [ "I'm a sr network engineer and I asked this same question 15yrs ago lol. The internet physically exists in data centers that are connected via tier 1 & 2 internet service providers like verizon, global crossing, time warner, savvis, century link, etc etc. Most isp's own dark or dim fiber interconnecred all over the world, even on the bottom of oscean floor. There are over 10,000 isp's globally each have a unique Autonomous system and use bgp v4 to advertise ip subnets to each other. It was estimated that the internet consumes 2 percent of power grid. Data centers are where cloud services and basic websites reside. An example of a data center is IO data, amazon, google etc etc. Research bgp, mpls, dim fiber, tier 1, 2,\n 3 isp structure, dns, oscean fiber maps, ipv4, ipv6 and u should get a better understanding of the internet\n", "It doesn't physically exist anywhere. \n\nIt's called the **inter**net. It connects other networks. \n\nNow, there are backones, and cables, and server farms, and data centers, and one could argue that this is where the internet \"is\", but really, there's no such thing as The Internet. The internet is a series of other network. Any device that connects to it becomes part of it, so it's always changing, too. " ] }
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9g7o3m
if computers only read 1s and 0s, then isn't downloading anything online just creating instructions? like isn't everything a computer can do already inside of it?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9g7o3m/eli5_if_computers_only_read_1s_and_0s_then_isnt/
{ "a_id": [ "e6230h4", "e62359j", "e623az8", "e623emh" ], "score": [ 2, 3, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "No, the computer can possibly do the instructions, but without the instructions it is useless.\n\nIt’s the same as me asking you to build a nuclear reactor. Technically you could piece together a nuclear reactor, but without instructions and help you are not going to succeed.", "Yes you are downloading instructions. Extremely complex instructions. Mind bogglingly complex instructions.", "Your computer can play you a movie by lighting up each pixel on the screen at just the right moment and with just the right color. The \"movie\" you download is a certain set of instructions telling your computer which pixels to light up and when. \n\nSoftware like paint or Photoshop allow you to tell the screen which pixels to light up and what color. With software inside your computer, you are writing the instructions. \nDownloads are sets of already written instructions.", "Not really.\n\nIf you already know the equations and then download the data to plug into them, would you say that you've downloaded instructions?\n\nLets go by example. You already know\n\nZ1 = x + y\n\nZ2 = x * y\n\nZ3 = Sqrt(x * y)\n\nYou then download x=4, y=2. Have you downloaded instructions? Not really\n\nWhen you download a JPEG picture, it knows how to take the small amount of data and turn it into a large image by decompressing it. It already has all the instructions necessary to decompress the image, it just needs some values to plug into the instructions to give you your image." ] }
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22ou9l
why do people solicit "nudes" online? what's the allure?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22ou9l/eli5_why_do_people_solicit_nudes_online_whats_the/
{ "a_id": [ "cgowoq9" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Because there is a higher element of eroticism associated with \"I took these for you\" rather than \"Here's some porn.\" It makes it more personal." ] }
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5gdtfc
how can they accurately give examples of 4k resolution in advertisements seen on 1080p televisions?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5gdtfc/eli5_how_can_they_accurately_give_examples_of_4k/
{ "a_id": [ "dariyss", "darldjc" ], "score": [ 4, 2 ], "text": [ "They don't, if you have a 1080p TV then everything is at most 1080p.\n\nThey probably went out of their way to provide a *great* quality 1080p clip to try and convince you of the possible quality 4K can offer.", "So, when you have an image that is not the same resolution as your screen resolution, but still want to display it fullscreen, you have to either upscale or downscale the image to fit the screen. In this case, we're experiencing down scaling.\n\nDown scaling from 4k to 1080p is pretty nice, since 4k is exactly 4x the pixels of 1080p (thus the name), and when down scaling an image, it can be \"super sampled\". So basically think of a single pixel in a 1080p image, and when you take the same image in 4k, there are 4 pixels in the 4k image for every 1 pixel in the 1080p image. Now when you're outputting a 1080p image, you can take those 4 pixels that match to a single 1080p pixel, and take the average of those 4 pixels to create the color for the single 1080p picture. Obviously it's a little more complex, but this is the basic idea of how its done. In [picture form](_URL_0_), this is makes a lot more sense. When done in games, this is called supersampling anti-aliasing.\n\nIf you're curious, read up about chroma subsampling, and supersampling more to understand it in more detail.\n\nNow this shows that 4k on 1080p looks better than 1080p on 1080p, but it doesn't show you the true \"image fidelity\" of a 4k screen. They can't show an accurate 4k, but they can show that 4k looks significantly better." ] }
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[ [], [ "http://files.tested.com/photos/2012/03/16/55-15472-supersampling.jpg" ] ]
3cmc3y
why do redditors announce when they've edited a post, even for small things like grammar?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cmc3y/eli5_why_do_redditors_announce_when_theyve_edited/
{ "a_id": [ "cswvivn", "cswvk8u", "cswxqua", "cswxxrc", "cswzbhr", "csx1ie3" ], "score": [ 172, 21, 23, 3, 4, 2 ], "text": [ "It's generally good form to tell people you changed something after they may have read it/replied to it. If I wrote \"I think pancakes are great\" and you comment \"me too!\", and then I change my comment to \"I think hitler did nothing wrong\", others reading the thread would assume that you commented \"me too\" because you think hitler did nothing wrong, rather than because you like pancakes. This would probably make you less than happy.\n\nI don't really know why people edit for spelling or grammar, since what you're saying hasn't really changed, but to each their own.\n\n----\n\nEdit: I can't resist the meta urge to edit my post about edits, so here are some other opinions from farther down the page that you might want to see:\n\n* /u/AnecdotallyExtant: \"It's part of [Reddiquette](_URL_0_). You're supposed to always announce edits.\"\n* /u/Divinux: \"Basically saying 'Edited for grammar' means 'no need to reread this after the edit' and brings us just that bit closer to the next kitten picture.\"\n* /u/thesweetestpunch: \"Re: spelling and grammar edits, oftentimes people will pounce on those or attempt to use them to discredit you, especially when dealing with hot-button issues\". Poor bastard probably got harassed about post edits once.\n\nMom will be so proud that I made top comment with the phrase \"hitler did nothing wrong\".", "It's part of [Reddiquette](_URL_0_). You're supposed to always announce edits. \n \n > State your reason for any editing of posts. Edited submissions are marked by an asterisk (*) at the end of the timestamp after three minutes. For example: a simple \"Edit: spelling\" will help explain. This avoids confusion when a post is edited after a conversation breaks off from it. If you have another thing to add to your original comment, say \"Edit: And I also think...\" or something along those lines. \n \n \n(Edit: Added link to reddiquette.)", "Because people with * next to the comment without explaining are sketchy as fuck. Don't roll with that crowd OP.", "for small things like grammar, it's because the post shows that it's been edited and ppl want to make sure you didn't pull some sort of trick like the kind that /u/monchoman45 mentioned", "Because if you edit your comment/post then there will be an asterisks that appears next to the time stamp indicating that there was an edit. If you explicitly state what the edit was for it avoids confusion and/or wondering whether someone completely changed their text post or if it was just a simple grammatical change. ", "I think part of it is just following suit. I did it when I first joined, but for things like grammar and that I don't bother any more. Usually because I will change it, then something else will be off and I will change that and suddenly I have several minor grammatical or structural changes that I'm not going to document. It says what I want it to say now and that is all that matters. I think it is good for things like admitting factual errors or acknowledging someone else's contribution. But for minor stuff, I assume no edit mention means only minor or insignificant things have changed. " ] }
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[ [ "https://www.reddit.com/wiki/reddiquette" ], [ "https://www.reddit.com/wiki/reddiquette" ], [], [], [], [] ]
1pl8ee
how do season ticket sales work?
I know they obviously last a season, but some season ticket holders have held tickets for years, even decades. Do they pass them down if they chose to, or can they sell them? And if you buy tickets, do you pay yearly or can you pay for years in advance without having to pay more and more every year they go up in price. Im sure season tickets today are alot more expensive than tickets in the 80's.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pl8ee/eli5_how_do_season_ticket_sales_work/
{ "a_id": [ "cd3gnlt" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Typically, there are a limited number of season tickets sold every year. If you bought season tickets last year then you're invited to buy season tickets the next year before everyone else gets a chance. Some places might let you pay years in advance so the price doesn't go up over time. It really depends on the sport/team/ level (college or pro). For teams where there's a lot of popularity like Michigan St. Football for example there's a years long waiting list for season tickets and typically most people not only renew every year but bequeath the season tickets to their next of kin in their wills, which is honored by the school. Granted, they still have to pay for the tickets every year, but they don't loose their seats when the family member buying then dies. And yes, they can choose to sell their slot." ] }
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2fntt3
why do you tip waiters, taxi drivers but not doctors and other professionals ?
All of them provide you a service but I just don't understand why Americans and Canadians don't tip them.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fntt3/eli5_why_do_you_tip_waiters_taxi_drivers_but_not/
{ "a_id": [ "ckazs7m", "ckazvhr", "ckb2a9h", "ckb86vz" ], "score": [ 5, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "It's usually professions that don't earn that much that get tipped by richer people. waiters and cleaners often earn the minimum wage. Taxi fares might seem high but after taking off petrol and other costs for the car, they might not be making that much if the firm they work for takes a cut too.", "People who get tips get tips because their wage isn't very good. In most service industries tips supplement their low income. They could simply raise their rates to that of a doctor by charging you more, but having a gratuity system based on performance works better for the customer (better service) and for the waiter (potential higher pay out).", "Because the service they provide you is not something you cannot do. You feel that a waiter is getting in extra effort to bringing your food to your table, which is something you can do. So you feel the urge to give them a buck or two. However, you cannot perform a surgery like a professional, so you feel like a doctor is superior than you are in that sense. So, you don't see tipping a doctor necessary", "Because in America, the service industry has lobbied congress and they've been allowed to pay their workers below the minimum wage. As a result, people are expected to tip to supplement their wages. Tippers help pay the salaries of employees, good tippers supplement poor tippers. An unfair system that shouldn't exist. However, it exists, and disagreeing with it doesn't give you the excuse to be an asshole and not tip. People who do that are being exploitative and are essentially stealing." ] }
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23xfnn
co2 is heavier than oxygen correct?
So why doesn't CO2 blanket the surface, therefore depriving us of oxygen? are the relative weights insignificant?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23xfnn/eli5_co2_is_heavier_than_oxygen_correct/
{ "a_id": [ "ch1ip9u", "ch1lfwd" ], "score": [ 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Yes, the molar mass of CO2 is 44 g/mol, molecular oxygen has a molar mass of 32 g/mol. There are multiple reasons that we aren't suffocating, the thermodynamic reason is that the dG for mixing gasses is ALWAYS negative; if you put two gasses together they will spontaneously mix with eachother. Also there is MUCH more oxygen in the atmosphere than CO2 so creating said blanket would be very difficult. The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is growing though so... yeah. Also since CO2 isn't that much more dense than oxygen the gasses will likely never \"settle apart\" because the atmosphere is constantly being agitated and mixed by winds and such. It's not like oil and water that have much stronger intramolecular forces than gasses the only thing holding gasses down is gravity; their weak interactions allow them to mix better than an oil and water scenario. In some cases, it's better for gasses to mix because an interaction between the different molecules is favored while self-interactions are not. I hope that answer puts a dent in your question. \n\nEdit: Added some more stuff I thought of when I clicked save.", "There was a case here some years ago where CO2 literally blanketed the surface. An automated fire extinguishing system in a factory malfunctioned. The doors didnt close, but the CO2-extinguisher blasted their tanks empty. Cars didnt start, dogs suffocated and old, weak and children had problems with breathing. Over time the CO2 was washed away by the wind ad by spread. So unless you dont have a high local concentration it will mix with the air around you." ] }
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61y4t5
why taste is subjective even though the structure of our taste buds and biology is generally similar or the same.
I understand that we can link positive memories etc and other sensory inputs with certain tastes and so on, but why does something literally taste good to some people and not to others? Does every item taste the same for everyone but different people perceive them in different ways?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61y4t5/eli5_why_taste_is_subjective_even_though_the/
{ "a_id": [ "dfi8i12", "dfi95w0", "dfikvht" ], "score": [ 20, 2, 6 ], "text": [ "A lot of how your specific taste buds work actually is controlled by your genes. For example, whether or not you like cilantro is genetic. Another example is broccoli and other similar vegetables. They have a compound in them which some people taste as bitter, while others don't, because some people have a gene which codes for a protein that interacts with this compound to make it taste bitter, while others don't. Some people are genetically predispositions to be more sensitive to salt, etc. ", "Everything is subjective, a biological sensation turns into a subjective perception - each mind gives it's own meaning to any perception.\n\nWhen you look at your pet cat or dog, you're using the same biology as any other human being - eyes, light receptors etc - but you see an animal that you know and love where as another person just sees a cat/dog. It's you that is giving perception meaning.\n\nBeside that though, when it comes to taste preferences it may be related to what kinds of foods you were fed as a baby", "Something that is missing in this discussion is the importance of biodiversity. Having an entire species have a single trait means that if the environment changes then the species can go extinct before mutations save the day. By having diversity the species is prepared for these environmental changes. This shows up genetic based preferences for different types of food. At the most basic level it is coded in our genes by different types/densities of taste/smell receptors as well as different patterns that are built in our brains.\n\nThe latter is a combination of both genetics and personal experiences, one such example is being taught which foods you should like or associating foods with different experiences like someone else mentioned." ] }
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1kcmoa
why do organizations still use 'use it or lose it' budgets?
We hear the stories all the time. Especially with large companies, government agencies, and schools. Departments end up going on year end spending sprees, buying stuff they don't need to use up their budgeted money. If they don't, their budget will be reduced next year, but next year they anticipate some additional costs and really need that money. Meanwhile another department is short of money, but they can't take the surplus from one department and give it to the other. We end up with layoffs and departments that can't meet their goals while others sit wasting money. In schools (for example) this ends up resulting in one department having old books and no money for materials, while the music department has extra money and goes out and buys a bunch of new instruments when they just got new ones a year or two ago. I constantly hear people complaining about similar situations when working for such and such company or government agency, and constantly hear it mentioned in articles about education issues or from people who have worked in schools. It seems that people universally find this practice deeply flawed, yet I never hear of it changing. It just seems to be accepted as "the way it is". Are there advantages to this system that keep it in place that I am not considering? Is this system in fact better than other systems in some ways?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kcmoa/eli5_why_do_organizations_still_use_use_it_or/
{ "a_id": [ "cbnkd8x" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Simply, this is the easiest method of deciding budget for each year for large organizations. Hypothetically yes you can send a representative out to each department to gauge their expenses however to buy qualified persons who has expertise in finances are expensive. So most large organizations use this to \"cover their asses.\" Of course there's better methods but cost-benefit dictates them to use this method." ] }
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1t6uie
why does the us federal reserve consider a 2% rate of inflation to be the sign of a healthy economy?
NPR today was discussing the US Federal Reserve and the fact that they were unhappy that the rate of inflation was below 2%. Why?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1t6uie/eli5why_does_the_us_federal_reserve_consider_a_2/
{ "a_id": [ "ce4xc3m", "ce4zxb5", "cedbq9y" ], "score": [ 10, 30, 2 ], "text": [ "Moderate inflation is a *byproduct* of a healthy economy, not the cause.\n\nA healthy economy is one that *grows*. \nIncreased population, more jobs, growing cities, larger commerce - these are good things. \nTo accommodate for the increased growth, the Federal Reserve prints more money. When you print new money, you *dilute* existing money, causing inflation. ", "Negative inflation is a disaster for an economy. \n\nLet's say you have a dollar: in a low-inflation scenario (ie, the economy we have, around 2%) you can invest it and risk losing it but it might gain value, you can put it in a bank and get a little interest to balance out inflation but you probably won't lose it, or you can put it under your mattress and it will gradually lose more of its buying power. This encourages you to save in banks and investments where your money will go into the wider economy and circulate. Banks make safe loans hedged by spreading them out between a lot of people (ideally, anyways - of course the financial crash showed that wasn't always true) and investments put money into businesses at the risk of the business failing, but either way the money keeps circulating around. \n\nNow, consider a scenario with deflation. If you stick it under your mattress, it will gain value with no risk of losing it; if you give it to a bank, they might have to charge you to hold onto it, because nobody would borrow money from a bank then unless the interest rates were nearly zero or negative, and investing is pointlessly risky since you risk losing all your money. That means everyone else will probably stick their money under their mattresses too, which means there isn't any money available to spend anywhere in the economy... which further increases the value of money relative to goods, and encourages more people to take their money out of the economy. That continues to get worse until either the government prints more money, or the system collapses. \n\nHigh inflation is bad too, for slightly more obvious reasons - if money loses value fast, the cost of borrowing gets higher, prices on everything go up, take-home pay becomes worth less, etc... but it tends not to turn into a self-reinforcing spiral. So, ideally we want inflation to stay at low, safe, predictable levels. ", "My two cents. I would point out that with the use of fiat money \n(i.e paper money whose supply is not restricted by underlying security e.g the\n quantity of Gold a country owns), deflation is a substantial worry. Also, just to be clear central bankers \ntend to be more concerned about inflation expectations and their impact on investment spending rather\n than the current levels. Here's why. If the general view is that prices 1 year from now will be\n lower than prices today, then companies wont invest in increasing capacity, for two reasons \n1) You can invest cheaper in the future 2) Your production will be worth less in that future anyway, so why upscale. \nThat leads to lower productivity, which, in addition to households foregoing immediate spending in \nfavor of future (cheaper) expenditure, leads to a slowdown in growth and job losses, which leads to a further slowdown and \na fall in asset prices across the board i.e household wealth diminishes. Considering the fact that whereas savings have increased\nsince 2008, households still hold substantial levels of debt, and big purchases (think houses here primarily, even primary\nresidences) are leveraged, even with falling interest rates occasioned by deflation with the 0% floor on interest rates, you'll have asset values falling \nbelow the cost of funding (basically you owe more than the asset you borrowed for is worth). Which leads to strains on the financial system.\nThe immediate impact would likely be a weaker currency in the short term (i.e 1 USD gets you less Euro or Sterling), \nbecause in a world where investment is largely unrestricted, people will be selling their USD to invest in other\n currencies where there are prospects for growth/ positive rates of return. Also there's what's known as a carry trade \n(borrow a cheap currency (i.e a low interest rate currency to invest in an expensive (high interest rate one). Whereas\n that may seem like a good thing (a weaker currency makes US goods cheaper to the rest of the world and should spur\n investment again), this would take time, because local companies are not doing well and do not have the ability to \ninvest in buying machinery (which at some point will require selling the weaker USD to buy from the rest of the world,\n so foreigners would have to invest. But that would require foreigners to have a view that prices will turn around\n and/or the USD will stop weakening, meaning a return ro inflation or 0% real growth at the least. Which is why a \ndeflationary cycle is such a concern for central bankers, and one of the reasons the Fed acted so aggresively in 2008/9/10.\nI am not familiar enough with the Japanese case to cite that, but it's worth reading about that as well. Obviously \nthere are substantial differences between the US and Japan, one being the fact that the US dollar is the world's \nreserve currency. \n" ] }
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65eagu
how does running cheap vodka through a brita filter (or any other charcoal filter) improve the taste?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65eagu/eli5_how_does_running_cheap_vodka_through_a_brita/
{ "a_id": [ "dg9ju9m" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "It is just adding another filtration step to separate any particulates, it doesn't significantly increase the purity and you hit diminishing returns pretty quickly so say you run it through a brita filter 3 times vs 10 times you would likely not notice a difference. \n \nThe vodka production process is pretty simple. First a water/ethanol solution is distilled to give you a liquid with a higher percentage of ethanol ~80-95%. Typically it is more costly to get purer and for the sake of vodka it doesn't matter unless you are premium premium top shelf and even then who gives a S***. \n \nOnce you have your semi-pure ethanol you then add purified water to it and dilute to hit your 35-40% or 70-80 proof target. \n \nAt this point the ethanol solution was clean and all nice, freshly distilled and ready to party. The purified water on the other hand is just there. Maybe he brushed his hair and put on deodorant but didn't take a full shower. He is good enough to get by but many companies who make vodka don't care how well the water they add is as long as it is purified. It may be hard water with calcium in it or purified through a filter, it could be distilled or reverse osmosis but if you are making vodka to sell at $6/Liter I doubt you are investing in the best of the best technology for this.\n \n \n \nWell these guys that run water through a regular filter and mix it with the ethanol give you something that is essentially a little cleaner than tap water/alcohol mix. \n \n \nwhen you run the vodka through the filter you remove some of the sediment and chemicals that were introduced with the dilution (depending on the type of filter) and this is what helps give it a smoother taste letting the alcohol shine without any baddies. \n \nif you run it through again you may catch some stuff you missed but once is sufficient. However, if you are a vodka snob that really wants good quality I doubt you would buy this cheap vodka and a brita filter.\n \n " ] }
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1vrt63
earned income tax credit.
Okay so it is tax time again here in the US of A and as I am sure many of you are aware, we have an Earned Income Tax Credit system for low to middle-wage people and families. I am wondering in essence how that works? I have done some poking around on google and a bit of research but as you can imagine, most of it is lost in translation amongst jargon that makes no sense to layman. I would love a better understanding and ELI5 for how the system works. Any information or links are awesome as usual.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vrt63/eli5_earned_income_tax_credit/
{ "a_id": [ "cev6hy0", "cev7e66" ], "score": [ 3, 2 ], "text": [ "It's a tax credit intended to significantly lower the taxes for low income people who are working. Typically this means you end up getting a big, big tax refund. It's intended to incentivize people to find jobs.", "I'm not sure of the actual intent, but I seen it as a negative tax rate for low income. Also, with higher tax rates, there are deductions, but with lower incomes, deductions become meaningless." ] }
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9i50jd
what occupations do people have that makes them wealthy?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9i50jd/eli5_what_occupations_do_people_have_that_makes/
{ "a_id": [ "e6gzh6m" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "The accumulation of wealth has very little to do with occupation. Everyone can retire a millionaire if they invest steadily throughout their lifetime. " ] }
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3ydtsg
on a mini oven, what makes the difference between toast, bagel, bake, broil, and warm?
Not sure if the heating is different or how it heats up?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ydtsg/eli5_on_a_mini_oven_what_makes_the_difference/
{ "a_id": [ "cycmv8j" ], "score": [ 8 ], "text": [ "Toast is both top and bottom elements on at equal intensity.\n\nBagel is like toast, both top and bottom elements on, with the top being more intense.\n\nBake is both top and bottom elements on, with a convection fan running.\n\nBroil is just the top element on.\n\nWarm is both top and bottom elements on at a very low intensity (200-250 degrees Fahrenheit)." ] }
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1zvglr
how much water is 'too much?'
Like, how much water does it take to get Water Intoxication? When does it get deadly?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zvglr/eli5_how_much_water_is_too_much/
{ "a_id": [ "cfxe8pe" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "I drink between 1 and 1.5 gallons a day, and I am a pretty big guy (6'1\", 270 lbs), but my entire family drinks about the same amount daily and none of them are nearly as big as I am. This might seem like a lot but it's the only way to get properly hydrated (Fun fact: ~75% of people are chronically dehydrated).\n\nThe only case I've ever heard of any was a woman who drank something like 8 gallons in a day (interspersed with bouts of vomiting) and then died in her sleep. This woman clearly had psychological problems. " ] }
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d4e1x8
how would the immune system in someone with an appropriate hiv immune response render the virus ineffective?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d4e1x8/eli5_how_would_the_immune_system_in_someone_with/
{ "a_id": [ "f0a6d6v" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Currently, your immune system is fighting HIV and has active antibodies against it. The problem is that it keeps mutating and reinfecting you, so you never cure yourself of it." ] }
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6undey
how does a vehicle sense that it has been in an accident in order to deploy airbags, hazard lights, fuel cutoff, etc?
I know that basic airbags have been around longer than the systems on newer cars which shut off the engine and can even call 911, but how does the car "sense" that it has been in an accident? Most of the information available online is about the airbag itself and it's propellant or placement in the car, but what sensor(s) or mechanisms are used to determine a collision?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6undey/eli5_how_does_a_vehicle_sense_that_it_has_been_in/
{ "a_id": [ "dlu2est" ], "score": [ 3 ], "text": [ "Spread out throughout the car are various \"dumb\" sensors. They basically measure movement of the car. If there is a sudden movement followed by a sudden stop, there is a fair chance you've been in an accident. And it will trigger the airbags in various locations. \n\nFor example. If the sensors show you moved sideways to the right and stopped, the airbags on that side (curtain airbags) will deploy. \n\nThese sensors have a minimum amount of movement needed to trigger the airbags (you don't want them to deploy if you roll into a wall when you meant to reverse) \n\nNewer cars that call 911 have all that feed into a computer which then makes the call. \n\nThe engine shut off is similar to the airbag trigger, except it shuts fuel flow and other core engine parts to shut it down. \n\nSome more information: _URL_0_" ] }
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[ [ "https://carsdirect.com/car-safety/how-does-your-cars-airbag-system-work" ] ]
72fn1k
why does my iphone jump from 15% to close to 40% almost immediately upon plugging it in to charge?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/72fn1k/eli5_why_does_my_iphone_jump_from_15_to_close_to/
{ "a_id": [ "dnih6qz", "dnihh11" ], "score": [ 2, 6 ], "text": [ "Fast charge - think of it like colouring in a large shape. It's pretty easy and quick to shade in the empty space in the middle, but you need to slow down and be more careful once you get to the edges so that you don't go outside the lines. \n\nWhen you plug the charger in, it quickly shades in the middle area before slowing down as it gets to the edges. They are refining it constantly to give x% in X minutes, where x is ever increasing, and X is ever smaller.", "Phones don't actually know how much % is left until the battery is drained; they only know what the full charge voltage is, and what the empty voltage is. When you plug in your phone, especially if the battery is older, it will sense a huge jump/loss due to the influx of power. You really aren't getting 25% of your charge instantly, just a measurement quirk." ] }
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83iskq
why are paper cups used for hot drinks, and plastic cups used for cold drinks?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/83iskq/eli5_why_are_paper_cups_used_for_hot_drinks_and/
{ "a_id": [ "dvi47r5" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Probably the plastic cups you're thinking of would melt when used with hot liquids. Maybe not melt like an ice cube, but enough to deform or stop holding liquids.\n\nOf course, there are tougher plastics that could be (and maybe are) used for hot liquids. That might also be avoided because there are those who might think there's more thermal protection from the tougher cups. No one same thinks a paper cup offers much thermal protection, and add additional wraps or handles when used with hot.\n\nPaper cups are also suitable for cold. Most paper cups also have a plastic lining to make them not fall apart when wet.\n\nUsually, in our single-use world, the cheapest offering is used, so cheap paper cups with an optional liner for hot, and cheap plastic cups for cold win the cost wars." ] }
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212k3r
how does a camera (with mirrors) works?
Edit: I meant the Image sensor, not the camera as a whole, sorry for that!
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/212k3r/eli5_how_does_a_camera_with_mirrors_works/
{ "a_id": [ "cg90pa3" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "they use a ccd or cmos sensor. these work as solar cells do, they convert light into electrons. with thousands to millions of little photo-sensitive cells the tiny pad. the electrical charge from the converted light is read by the computer which turns it into RBG color at X,Y coordinate. does this a million times for each photo cell on the sensor and assembles the image for you annnndd SCIENCE! your picture. \n\n_URL_1_\n\nif you're confused about how it knows what color to make each pixel, each color has its own frequency on the electromagnetic spectrum and thus each cell receives a slightly different 'charge' dependingon the color of light.\n\n_URL_0_ the smalll rainbow is actually what humans can visibly see. imagine if we could see the entire range of the spectrum. almost like the mighty mantis shrimp." ] }
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[ [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EM_Spectrum_Properties_edit.svg", "http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cameras-photography/digital/question362.htm" ] ]
1dd28s
how is new internet cable laid between very large cities without digging up a lot of yards and parking lots?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dd28s/eli5_how_is_new_internet_cable_laid_between_very/
{ "a_id": [ "c9p5qkc", "c9p6oto" ], "score": [ 4, 3 ], "text": [ "Most places have utility \"right-of-ways\" that are either government owned, or which the government and/or utility companies have the right to allow infrastructure development in. \n\nRoads/sidwalks/medians/neutral grounds/etc. are all good places to bury utilities without digging up private property. \n", "A lot of inter-city fiber follows highways and railroad tracks. Railroads make a lot of money renting the sides of the tracks to cable operators. [Here's an example](_URL_0_) of a company that does this." ] }
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[ [], [ "http://www.feci.com/index.php?page=companies-parallel-infrastructure" ] ]
2pirlw
when you're getting blood work drawn for a routine physical, why do they want you to fast for like 12 hrs before hand?
What specific measurements they're looking for get screwed up?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pirlw/eli5_when_youre_getting_blood_work_drawn_for_a/
{ "a_id": [ "cmx27tf" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Blood sugar. After not eating for all that time, your blood sugar should be at a certain level. They're checking for diabetes any anything else that might be related to blood sugar levels. " ] }
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7fx57w
how does hydroplaning work?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7fx57w/eli5_how_does_hydroplaning_work/
{ "a_id": [ "dqeyv42", "dqeyxk3", "dqf1gdz" ], "score": [ 2, 25, 6 ], "text": [ "When wheels are spinning they use friction to propel the vehicle forward. When the ground is wet, the wheels are separated from the surface by water causing friction to not happen because there is no contact with the ground. There will be nothing to propel your vehicle also nothing to stop it.", "Generally fluids have to go somewhere when displaced - when you dive into a pool, you have to move all the water that used to be where you dived into. This takes a little bit of time and energy, which is why there's a shock when you break the surface of the water and slow down significantly - you're pushing all the water away.\n\nYour average car tire has treads which are engineered to wick water away from between the tire and the road - when moving at speed on a significantly wet surface, the tires are pushing forward into a surface that has a layer of water on it and they need to wick away the water that goes between the tire and road in order to maintain traction. Some tires do this very well and some do not (slicks).\n\nAs soon as the tire is unable to clear the water faster than water goes under the tire, the water pushes the tire off the ground and you lose traction, i.e. hydroplaning. Cars are pretty heavy so you need to be going pretty fast in pretty wet conditions generally for this to happen.", "People think the tread on a tire is there for grip. \n\nWell kinda. \n\nRubber on tarmac is what's giving you the grip, all the tread is doing is getting rid of water from under the tire. That's its entire point. \n\nThat's why racing cars if they know they'll be racing in dry conditions use slick tires without any tread on them at all, because that gives you the maximum amount of rubber on road. \n\nHydroplaning is when the tread can't get rid of the water fast enough, and the water actually forces the tire to lift slightly from the road, at which point you're at the mercy of physics. " ] }
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o6x67
can everything be hacked? or are there limits?
Watching television, I get the idea that a smart hacker can get into system. I understand a lot is possible, but in real-life aren't there limits? Isn't everything encrypted? Isn't some stuff simply unreachable from the internet? What I am looking for is a simple, but expert explanation of what hackers *can't* do.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o6x67/eli5_can_everything_be_hacked_or_are_there_limits/
{ "a_id": [ "c3euvex", "c3eux9m", "c3ev0v7", "c3ev315", "c3ev709", "c3evkze", "c3evwcr", "c3ewibi", "c3ex2lw", "c3exrcc", "c3ez20a" ], "score": [ 4, 4, 5, 75, 2, 13, 2, 5, 3, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Radio waves that carry radio signals and TV signals are not reachable from the internet, but you can override them with the right non-internet-based technology. However, this would violate FCC regulations, and it'd take equal or better tech than what the radio/TV stations are using to broadcast with to cover the same area that they do. It has [been done before](_URL_0_) though.", "I really don't know that much about it, but my basic understanding is that many places that need to be really secure just aren't connected to the internet in any way. Of course the CIA *website* can be hacked, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that sensitive mission data or whatever is stored somewhere with any kind of outside access. Naturally, if the \"hacker\" can somehow gain physical access I guess any system can be broken into, it's just a matter of time then.", "On a somewhat related note, I was wondering yesterday if it is possible to encode a phone virus onto one of those smart phone scan codes that are everywhere these days. An unsuspecting person would scan it and \"upload\" the virus. ", "So everything has a balance, right? If you put a computer in a closet with no internet connection, it cannot be hacked by the internet. You need a way to interact with it. A person in the room with it could open it up, get it to boot something, reset the firmware, whatever. But from the internet this computer is unhackable.\n\nBut how useful is a computer that is not on the internet? So by allowing traffic in or out of the computer, you allow an interaction with that computer from the outside world. The more complex you make the available interactions, the more possible it is that there is a bug in the way interactions are handled. It's interesting because once you open a computer to the internet you have to realize that everything that controls that access is in some way created by a human. The software that handles the rules, the software that handles the connections, the software that says \"NO ONE CAN CONNECT TO THIS COMPUTER\"... it's all still software. The simpler the software, the easier it would be to protect it. But once you start adding the ability to have multiple users, multiple permission states, multiple applications with their own access, etc etc you open yourself up to the possibility of one of the software pieces that controls any aspect of this system to be prone to failure or exploitation.\n\nMaybe not the best explanation, but that's my perspective.", "If you run a computer in your house, and don't connect it to the internet in anyway, obviously it cannot be hacked without physical presence. If it is connected, no matter how secure, there *always* is a way to hack it.\n\nTake this situation on a bigger scale. If, say, the CIA runs a closed network, there is little chance of it being remotely hacked. If something is connected on teh interwebz though, it can be hacked. That's how computers work.", "well hack means several things.....\n\nTo a hardware hacker, the verb to hack is about synonymous with play around with. So could they hack a toaster? probably, they could probably get it to make pictures of darth vader on the toast or something, but most people wouldnt think of this as a 'hack' in the term of a computer hacker. (even though to most people who understand the essence of the phrase wouldnt really see a difference)\n\nA software hacker is very similar to a hardware hacker (software just being different states of hardware afterall :-p) only instead of doing it with toasters or hardware, they do it with software. They try to figure out how something works, and what they can play with. In effect hackers are like man children engineers, they just wanna have fun and play with something.\n\nMost people think of hackers as russians or some teen kid in their mothers dimly lit basement, sitting there mining bit-coins, or trying to gain access to someone elses box. They should probably be called crackers, as opposed to hackers, because in most cases they are cracking not hacking, hacking is the investigation for the fun of it. Its like learning for learning sake, it feels good, its fun. Crackers are people who do a very similar activity but for a different intent, they want power. Typically in the form of rooting a box or getting money.", "You can hack anything and everything. Source: Die Hard 4 Live Free or Die Hard. ", "I think that the term \"hacking\" and \"hacker\" need some more definition.\n\nObviously it does not mean wielding a hatchet and destroying things (or does it?)\n\nI believe the origin of the term comes from the expression \"an old hack\" meaning an experienced corespondent of a newspaper who was able to reliably \"hack out\" a story of the appropriate verbiage from his typewriter before the deadline set in.\n\nAs such, it was an expression of endearment or admiration.\n\nNowadays, a \"hacker\" seems to indicate a person who gains access to a computer that she or he is not supposed to gain access to. Sometimes with the intent to destroy or disrupt things (e.g., anonymous changing the home page of websites), sometimes with the intent of financial gain (e.g. your variety of crooks stealing your credit card information), and sometimes just because it can be done or to gain information (*not me! I never hacked into another system! I swear*).\n\nNow, the \"breaking into a system\" part can be done in various ways. If the system is connected to the Internet, then one obvious method of attack is to try and gain access via some sort of remote link. You sit in the comfort of your own home, make contact in whatever way with the to-be-hacked computer over the internet, try some attacks, and maybe you'll gain access. This is the typical script-kiddy approach. Chances of success are low, and there are many script-kiddies out there so once in a while such an attack will succeed.\n\nAny decent system admin will have her or his system locked down against all possible script-kiddy attacks. The attacks are widely known, they are not very creative, and the way to counter them is usually just being hygienic, like washing your hands after visiting the toilet. No big deal.\n\nThen, there are the people who actually are creative and seek out so-called \"exploits\" in the systems they want to attack over the internet. An exploit can be thought of as a disruption in the communication between two computers, whereby the attacked computer looses its shit and eventually comes under the control of the attacker.\n\nAn example. Suppose I am a client computer, and you are a server. The \"protocol\" we have both agreed to calls for me telling you how big my message to you is in the first two bytes that you will receive from me. I am malicious and tell you that the message will have a length of 200 bytes. Instead of that, I send you a message of 10000 bytes in length.\n\nIf your server program is poorly written, it will reserve 200 bytes of memory and henceforth try to cram 10000 bytes of message into the reserved memory area. Clearly, this does not fit and will lead to errors in your server program. When tailored appropriately, such an error will not crash the server but cause it to execute code that I, as a malicious client, have put in place. Who knows what will happen?\n\nAn other example, more destructive, is SQL injection. Again, I am a malicious client and you are an unprepared server. I have called up a search form in your website, and I maliciously plan to wreck your database. I pretend to have lost my account information, and I have reached a form inviting me to enter my email address so that your server can look me up in the database.\n\nNow, if your server program is not SQL injection proof, it will create a lookup statement like *\"select user from users where email=\" + $input* where *$input* is the text that I typed into the web form. This is bad, because if I as a malicious user know SQL syntax too, and I happen to guess that your user table is called \"users\", I can input the text \"x; drop table users;\" in the forms input box.\n\nThe net result will be that your database will first perform a search for user *x*, and then determine that a second command is issued, namely *drop table users*. This is correct SQL syntax telling your database server to delete the table named \"users\".\n\nIf you named your user table \"users\", then at this point your are toast.\n\nBut I am prattling on.\n\nWhat hackers can't do: when you start using such products as True Crypt or Blue Crypt, or encrypting files or entire partitions in general, then only the person who has the password (or better: pass phrase) for that file or partition will be able to read it when you boot up your compy. There are open source (and free as in free beer) solutions to accomplish this. Open source guaranties no government back doors in the encryption. ", "Yes, there is a limit to what can be hacked by technological means. Highly secure systems can be disconnected from the Internet, yet there is no theoretical reason why even a system connected to the internet cannot be absolutely secure. (Even in computer-security literature you may find assertions to the contrary -- \"no system is absolutely secure\" -- yet these are *rules of thumb*, warnings against hubris, not logically solid assertions.)\n\nI could write you some unhackable internet-facing software given just a few minutes: say, an [echo server](_URL_0_). This is practically possible because that is a *very simple* piece of software. Real software is complex. In fact, to make the echo server above *run*, you need several massively more complex systems, such as an operating system and a network stack, that can also be points of security failure.\n\n*Proving* that software of the sort of complexity you're used to using is secure, or writing it without *any* mistakes, is science-fiction stuff. In the real world, developers try to get into good habits to make *fewer* mistakes, and products are *tested* before being released to detect and remove *some* bugs. The difference between testing and proving is essential. Mathematical proofs of security are impossibly hard to find for complex software, yet if such proofs could be found they would leave you completely sure of whatever was proven. Testing is practically possible, but you can never be completely sure that there isn't something you've missed.\n\nEven things that sound comparatively simple can be complex in reality. Say you want to write a program to load a picture and show it on the screen. Sounds simple, right? In fact, \"loading a picture\" is not as simple as it sounds. The picture might be in a variety of formats, such as GIF or JPEG or PNG, which are not very simple at all, because they were written with various goals besides simplicity in mind, such as efficient compression and decompression and faithful representation of image data. If you write this loading code yourself, your picture-loading program is no longer simple in any way, and you'll probably make mistakes that leave your program insecure. If you *don't*, you have to trust that the loading code you do use is secure. In fact, [this is not always the case](_URL_2_).\n\nNearly all real world computers are running software of mind-boggling complexity, such as an [operating system](_URL_1_). Experience shows that such software generally contains security bugs. For that reason, any real-world system is likely theoretically exploitable. There is, however, no theoretical reason why every computer system *must* be vulnerable.\n\nMost real-world hacking works by searching a large space of potential targets to find a few that are vulnerable. For instance, scanning a large number of web sites to identify whether the web server they're running has any known vulnerabilities, attempting to crack the passwords of many users of an organization at once hoping to hit one user that chose a weak password, or sending a trojan to many people hoping that one will be tricked into executing it. If a hacker absolutely must hack into a specific target, they can achieve some of the same effect by monitoring that target over time, across changes in the system, to look for a window of opportunity.\n\nLastly, note that practical ways to \"hack\" can involve means that are not technological (such as social engineering, violence, or intimidation), or physical manipulation of the target computers (with physical access there *is* almost nothing a hacker can't do, so any server intended to be secure will be kept in a secured site and accessing it will mean a physical breach of security, e.g. a break-in). These methods aren't really covered by my discussion above.", "Define Hacking please. Do you include Social hacking?", "A good rule of thumb is, if someone with enough authorization can get into a system from the internet, a hacker can get into a system from the internet.\n\nIt's surprising just how much stuff can be hacked, but there definitely are limits. A good example of this is the famous hacker Kevin Mitnick. Mitnick was extremely talented at two kinds of hacking: phone phreaking, which means hacking the phone system through a typical phone line, and social engineering, which involves trying to trick human beings into doing stuff for you.\n\nKevin Mitnick got caught hacking when he was a child, and during the court case, it was established that he was very skilled at what he did. The plaintiff's lawyer argued that Kevin was so skilled at hacking that if he did go to jail, he must be kept away from all telephones, because he could whistle into the telephones, and launch a nuclear warhead. This is completely impossible, and Kevin could never do such a thing. Nuclear launch computers are completely disconnected from the outside world, virtually untouchable unless you were actually at one of the facilities in person. Also, even if Kevin Mitnick had hacked the phone company and somehow got the number of one of the phones the President would call to launch a nuclear attack(very unlikely, as it's probably information that even the phone company doesn't know), the operators are instructed to only take instructions if given the correct launch codes, which are also held in a briefcase carried around by the president. This briefcase is also a closed system, and cannot be hacked without physically breaking into it.\n\nThe lawyer was only half wrong though. It was true that Kevin could not possibly launch a nuclear warhead from prison, but that didn't mean he couldn't hack the phone system. Kevin was held in solitary confinement, and he could only access the phones under the strict gaze of a prison guard, who would dial the phone for him. Kevin could only call numbers of specific people, but he found a way to get by that. When he had finished calling someone who he was allowed to call, Kevin would pretend to keep the conversation going while the person hung up. After the person on the other end of the line hung up, the phone would give a dial tone, at which point Kevin would pretend to have an itch and start scratching his back against the telephone case. Behind his back, Kevin found the holder for the phone and would start tapping rapidly in sequence, mimicking the sequence that the phone(a rotary dial) would use to dial a number. This way, if Kevin could sound like he was having a constant conversation with somebody, the guard watching him would never know that Kevin had \"hacked\" the prison phones to dial out to an unauthorized number, which no one thought would be possible(except perhaps other phone phreakers at the time).\n\nSo, it's difficult to say what the limits are of what hackers can do, since that's really only limited by the hacker's skill, but it's easy to define what hackers cannot do at all." ] }
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[ [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_broadcast_signal_intrusion" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "http://www.paulgriffiths.net/program/c/echoserv.php", "http://www.knowing.net/index.php/2005/12/06/how-many-lines-of-code-in-windows/", "http://www.infosecwriters.com/text_resources/pdf/JPEG.pdf" ], [], [] ]
76bi9r
why does a speaker makes a sharp noise when a mic is near?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/76bi9r/eli5_why_does_a_speaker_makes_a_sharp_noise_when/
{ "a_id": [ "docph4s" ], "score": [ 8 ], "text": [ "Oh oh this one is mine! \n\nThis is called feedback. Essentially when you make a sound into the microphone and it comes out of the speaker. Simple enough. But if the mic gets close to the speaker and “hears” something that is coming out of that speaker it tries to feed it back to the speaker and this happens over and over very quickly until it is just one sound stuck that gets louder and louder until something breaks the cycle. " ] }
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48atix
what do google, facebook, and other similar companies' employees do all day?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/48atix/eli5_what_do_google_facebook_and_other_similar/
{ "a_id": [ "d0i4stj", "d0i4umb", "d0i63dk", "d0i7psu" ], "score": [ 13, 5, 36, 4 ], "text": [ "Writing new code for new features, optimizing other code, Going over new ideas, proposing features, talking with advertisers, dealing with complaints, etc etc.\n\nTons of stuff.\n\nGoogle is sooo unbelievably massive in what all they do that trying to explain what they do is impossible. It just depends on what part of the company you are talking about.", "Working? Those companies have lots of different departments and different projects, that's why they have such a massive workforce, for the most all these people spent their time working at their assigned projects. I believe Google, and maybe other tech companies, will give their employees some time so they can work on self-appointed projects under the company's brand, some Google Apps began their life by being a self-appointed project by some Google employee I believe. ", "The thing to note is that a massive company really works like lots of smaller companies.\n\nIt's not 1000 people in a room all trying to find something to fix - there's a Gmail team, a Google+ team, a Youtube team, a Maps team, an Android team. Each of those teams will then be broken down into support, development etc. Those teams and sub-teams work separately on separate projects or pieces of a project.\n\nThen there's R & D, marketing, HR, legal, finance. And things like cleaners, kitchen workers, drivers, even pilots for big companies with private jets.\n\nEssentially, they'll all work on very different things, usually pretty much unconnected to everyone outside their immediate team and a few contacts in other teams.\n\nI work in a hospital group with 5,000-ish employees, but I really work in a team of 6, within a department of a couple of hundred. I mostly interact with those 6, plus another 10 who are working in related fields, with a little interaction with others of the couple of hundred. Beyond that, I don't have much day-to-day interaction with, say, the clinical staff.\n\nAs to what they do... well that depends on their job. Software developers will do software development, support people will deal with help requests, HR will deal with hiring/firing, finance will deal with money, pilots will fly the planes around. Pretty much the same as people in smaller companies do.", "I don't know - why don't you Google it or ask one of your friends over facebook?\n\nNah seriously, just like any other product, it needs to be maintained and updated.\n\nIt's not like they suddenly gave birth to Google and just went right, go on, be free, be wild.\n\nI mean it's great but it isn't AI. It won't teach itself (yet). People are constantly reviewing how it works and how to improve it. That's why people say bing is shit compared to Google, obviously bing has employees and it is still hugely successful, but it needs to be maintained to make it efficient and accurate - arthrograms alone aren't enough. " ] }
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4zrxrc
what the chair of the federal reserve actually does.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zrxrc/eli5_what_the_chair_of_the_federal_reserve/
{ "a_id": [ "d6yc7cn" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "In a nutshell, she speaks for the most important central bank in the world, the US Federal Reserve. She report to Congress regarding the Fed's monetary policy objectives and coordinates with the Secretary of the Treasury in order to take actions aimed at achieving the 2 fundamental goals of the Fed's policy:\n1. Maintaining the stability of the US dollar\n2. Keepking unemployment rates low\n\nThe objectives are widely held to be true, but in full disclosure, they are also debated by economists. \n\nHer statements are closely scrutinized because the institution she leads makes choices regarding the monetary policy that will directly affect the US dollar, which is the backbone of the global financial system. \n\n" ] }
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8bsc81
baby actors for birth scenes?
Just watched the finale of Friends again. Whenever a baby is born in a film or tv show, they always have a live baby actor crying and naked, maybe with some nasty stuff on it. Do the parents have the right to subject their child to this? How old are they usually?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8bsc81/eli5_baby_actors_for_birth_scenes/
{ "a_id": [ "dx983da" ], "score": [ 8 ], "text": [ "Yes, they have the right to, but these kind of scenes are heavily subject to child labour laws in films and series. Which means there are huge limits on what sort of scenes can be shot, how long the child can be on set, etc. (That is why, for example, Full House used the Olsen twins to portray one child -- they could double the amount of time filming by using each child separately)\n\nAs for the age of the kid in question, that depends a lot. SAG (Screen Actors Guild) regulations say the child needs to be at least fifteen days old, but in many cases, those newborns are actually already a couple of months old. This is mainly due to supply and demand. There isn't a very huge amount of parents signing up their newborn for these kind of things, whereas the amount slowly starts to increase from a few months on. \n\nedit: [This website] (_URL_0_) goes into what sort of regulations exist for young actors, which includes things as limited filming time, payment, until what age they need to be accompanied, etc etc." ] }
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[ [ "https://www.sagaftra.org/content/young-performers" ] ]
d98qf7
why don’t diamonds hold their value? i understand that debears controls the price by limiting supply, but the general market still has limited supply and high demand.
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d98qf7/eli5_why_dont_diamonds_hold_their_value_i/
{ "a_id": [ "f1fdbfn", "f1fe1p9", "f1h9grd" ], "score": [ 8, 24, 3 ], "text": [ "Demand is well below supply and diamonds don't wear out so grandmas diamond is still a diamond, artificial diamonds can also now be produced.", "its a one way demand. demand is high for **new** diamonds. the second you buy it, its used. you can't sell a used diamond back to a jeweler and selling it yourself will get you very little. since DeBears has a ton of actual inventory, theres no reason to buy used diamonds (from a jewelers perspective)\n\nthe \"limiting supply\" isn't as simple as them not selling many diamonds. they use their massive inventory to underbid anyone else selling diamonds, then buy the mines since the competition can no longer make a profit. then they raise their prices back up to profitable levels.", "I'va gone through about half the comments in here. I just wawnted to point out that priuce fixing isn't *only* the result of demand and supply. \n\nSome of others have been touched here: \n\n\\- The price can come from the cost of production (it is the case for new actors that are then bought by DeBears)\n\n\\- The price can be set by customer ability to pay (it is the case in the comment that states people \\*want\\* to show how much they are ready to pay for a Diamond). \n\n\\- The price can be set in regard to competitors.\n\n\\- The price can be set by a psychological treshold (1$ for instance).\n\n\\- The price can be set legally.\n\n\\- The price can be set by the expected return on investment.\n\n\\- Etc, etc, etc...\n\nThere is a lot of different price formation practice. The myth of Demand and Supply is just that, a myth. It does play a role of course in some situations, and is what drives most stock marckets. But in everyday's life, prices are not negotiable, they are set by the stronger economical agent, and demand and supply only help clarifying who is strongest agest, and don't have any effect on prices. \n\nI personally think that most of the time, it's not the high price that is set by a low supply but the opposite. If you have a low supply, as a seller, you should find the price that will get you the exact number of customer you want to supply, not more, not less. You adjust the price to get to a supply target of X items per year for instance. \n\nFor finding a reason why Diamonds loose value when \"used\", I would suspect that the marketing has shapped the market that way on purpose. If someone has a monopoly, he can just set a buying price very low and give as an explanation that \"no one wants a used X\". But in reality, I doubt any women would be upset by used Diamonds (keep in mind that not all of those Diamonds goes onto wedding jewelry). Do they mind when they receive a Diamond for a random occasion? No. Would they ask if the Diamond have been used if it wasn't marketed that way? Probably not...\n\nThat's my two cents. I was actually surprised to not find an actual reason.\n\nBonus: Baudrillard, the philosopher, talked about Art as the Absolute Good (as in Good and services): It had no utility and a maximum value. Diamonds are of that nature, as written in other comments. So of course their price is manufactured. And by having a really high price, they actually gain a use: they can be used as a currency, which takes very little space for a large amount of money. Another consideration to keep in mind." ] }
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849nl9
why are we able to have full control over certain muscles (ability to give oneself calf cramps, move pecs, etc) but not others (wiggling ears, etc)?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/849nl9/eli5_why_are_we_able_to_have_full_control_over/
{ "a_id": [ "dvo9nqr", "dvos1wb" ], "score": [ 6, 2 ], "text": [ "Part of being able to move your ears is learning to do it before the nerves and muscles atrophy.\n\nWatch babies react to sound. Their ears will move a little, though it may be hard to see because they will move their head. As they get older, they forget how to do it and the muscles die off.\n\nMy grandfather taught me how to wiggle my ears when I was about 6. I've been doing it ever since. I can't do much, but I can control how much motion there is of what I can do. I have been able to teach children how to do it, but never anyone over 12 or so seems to be able to learn.", "Most answers I see seem to be answering your specific example where I read your question as that being an example and not the question.\n\nThe muscular system and nervous system are closely integrated. Basically an electrical impulse from the nervous system \"tells\" a specific muscle to contract, how much to contract, how long, etc.\n\nThe nervous system can be divided up by either anatomy (form) or physiology (function). Functionally, there is the voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary controls mostly muscle attached to your bones, and cause movement. Like your bicep moving your forearm or your quads moving your legs. With these muscles you specifically control them, you intend to move in a certain way and it happens. The electrical impulse is created consciously by you and does your intended movement. \n\nInvoluntary controls mostly internal muscles like the muscles that move food along your digestive tract. You don't consciously move them. What happens in these cases is that some stimulus (such as the presence of digested food in your intestines) stimulates the electrical impulse that then causes the muscles to act.\n\nThat is how it happens. Why it is like that it's because so much is going on inside you that is happening more or less constantly. Also you wouldn't want to stop digesting food for example when you're asleep. \n\nThen of course some voluntary muscles you no longer have good control over such as the answers above. Hope that helps!\n" ] }
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ptmkt
if it costs more in legal fees to fight a ticket than to actually pay it, why don't cops pull everyone over?
I'm not super familiar with traffic law, nor am I super familiar with the American legal system in general (I'm a somewhat educated layman at best). But let's suppose I get a speeding ticket in which I am going ~5mph over the speed limit. One could argue I didn't really break the law since I wasn't going that fast and most people go at least a little over most of the time. The cop doesn't have me on radar, just says I was speeding and writes me a ticket. It will cost me more in legal fees to fight it, even though I could potentially win since he didn't have me on radar. Therefore I am forced to pay the ticket. Rather than ask how this is even remotely fair or logical (because I already know it's not), instead I have to wonder why cops don't just do this all the time. Some people may fight the tickets, but they still pay legal fees to the court which go to the city that pays the cops' salaries anyway. So either way they get money, and it seems they make more money when someone decides to fight a ticket than if they just pay it. Let me know if I'm getting something wrong, I would love some kind of clarification because clearly I'm misunderstanding something or else I'd see more people getting pulled over. **tl;dr: Cop writes me a ticket, gets money whether I fight it or not. Am I wrong?**
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ptmkt/eli5_if_it_costs_more_in_legal_fees_to_fight_a/
{ "a_id": [ "c3s4yon", "c3s4zpq", "c3s57cd" ], "score": [ 5, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "Firstly 5mph over the limit is still breaking the law, I don't think you can really argue that it isn't; and 5mph is actually a significant value. - You may have a case if you can prove that your speedometer and/or the cops was faulty (or any equipment they use) and you had adequate reason to believe they were reading correctly, (but the law allows for margin of error anyway that would cover this)\n\n\n\nBut I guess that's not the real question you are asking is it, more why don't the cops just go around busting everyone for anything and hope no one fights back and make a lot of money?\n\n\n\nWell, that's simple. Because people do fight back. People are always criticizing police methods, to keep what they do, fair and just. People agree that speeding is harmful, and allow the cops to enforce a law to limit speed. If they use a method that we don't like, to enforce that law, we fight back.\n\n\n\nThat's why speed cameras are such a hot topic. They have been fought against in court many times, and proven that errors do occur. Many counties and cities are now removing or minimizing speed cameras because of such.", "There are two ways to look at this:\n\nRemember when you were 5, what did you want to be when you grew up? A firefighter? An astronaut? A POLICEMAN? If you wanted to be a policeman when you grew up, it's probably not because you wanted to be a dick. A person who becomes a cop generally does so in order to do good rather than extort the populace.\n\nIn addition, if the police did this, people would catch on. Namely us and the media. You know that giving random tickets wouldn't be cool, and so do we; we'd be PISSED! Imagine a bully that kicks sand in all your friend's faces. All your friends would team up and start beating him up. The chances of a violent riots by citizens who have the right to bare arms is frightening enough to make sure that the police doesn't... overtly and blatantly take advantage of the rules in this way.", "Usually people don't get lawyers for fighting traffic tickets. It makes sense to fight because in my experience the cops don't always show up." ] }
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7hbbow
why has natural selection not removed people with nut allergies, lactose intolerant and so on?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7hbbow/eli5_why_has_natural_selection_not_removed_people/
{ "a_id": [ "dqplcjv", "dqpljyo", "dqpmcyw" ], "score": [ 2, 5, 2 ], "text": [ "If you have a nut allergy but manage to live until you have kids.. you can pass it to them.. it doesn't prevent people from having kids.. so.. unless you died before having kids.\n\nAdditionally, and probably more to the point.. allergies are not always genetic.. in fact I think they seldom are. Studies have shown that people who use a lot of hand sanitizer and stuff on their kids are more likely to have kids with allergies... kids that grow up on farms, playing in dirt, having lots of pets.. tend not to develop allergies. ", "Mammals in general are lactose intolerate; they only need to drink milk as infants, once they're done being weaned, they typically stop being able to tolerate lactose. Most humans are lactose intolerant, and becoming able to eat lactose as an adult is a relatively NEW adaptation, mostly present in groups in northern latitudes where milk was an important resource.\n\nAllergies are an effect on an over active immune system, responding to a harmless allergen as if it were a dangerous allergen. If your immune system was *weak* you'd be dead, so our strong immune system is the end result of a long history of selection for a *stronger* immune system.\n\nPeople who die of a peanut allergy are basically a glitch, but their deaths are insufficient to impact population growth.", "If they live long enough to reproduce there is no evolutionary pressure on the trait to get rid of it. \n\nThe allergies can kill you, but if you learn of it and then avoid nuts you will most likely be able to have kids. So for most who have a mild allergy there is little risk, but severe allergies can be removed from the gene pool. \n\nLactose intolerance is actually the \"natural state\" of humans. Being able to process lactose is a mutation that some ethnic groups in Northern Europe, the Asian Steppe, and Central Africa developed due to the need to consume milk as a food past the age of 7. In those populations natural selection did \"mostly\" remove the lactose intolerant as those that could digest lactose got more food and so had more kids. But people in other places had different food sources so did not have the evolutionary pressure to develop the ability to digest lactose. " ] }
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1s9omk
current temperature reads 5°f, but it "feels like 1° with a wind chill factor of -15°". what?!?
Someone please explain to me the difference between all the temperature measurements in terms I can understand without having to learn about cirrus clouds and dew points and barometric pressure. Thank you!
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1s9omk/eli5_current_temperature_reads_5f_but_it_feels/
{ "a_id": [ "cdvbesv" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "Pretty simple, the feeling of coldness is due to how quickly heat is pulled out of your body. It turns out that this rate is dependent on more than just the air temperature. The air density (and moisture levels) as well as the amount of wind, both impact how cold it feels. For a quick example of this, go get a room temperature metal pan and a plastic cup and touch both of them to your cheek -- they're both the same temperature, but the metal will feel a lot colder." ] }
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18v2ng
- the difference between a metaphor, analogy, simile, and illustration.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/18v2ng/eli5_the_difference_between_a_metaphor_analogy/
{ "a_id": [ "c8i8wd6", "c8ifavm" ], "score": [ 18, 2 ], "text": [ "A metaphor describes one thing as being something else:\n\n\"His face is a baboon's ass.\"\n\nA simile describes one thing as being similar to to something else, but not synonymous with it:\n\n\"His face is like a baboon's ass.\"\n\nAn analogy compares two things as having a similar relationship between their fields of things:\n\n\"His face is to beauty as a turd is to fine dining.\"\n\nAnd an illustration is either an actual visual of the thing, or describing it as such:\n\n\"His face looks like a baboon's ass was hot-glued to a mannequin.\"\n\nI am not a poet.", "Since JerziDevil has already beautifully explained the differences, I'll just leave everyone with this cookie.\n\n[comic by XKCD](_URL_0_)" ] }
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[ [], [ "http://xkcd.com/762/" ] ]
3k1mol
is there a reason why it's so hard to run in dreams?
For a few days I've been having dreams that involve a lot of running. Sometimes for sport sometimes away from something and almost every single time it feels like my legs weigh 200 pounds each and I'm trying to drag them through water. So I was wondering if there's a specific reason why it's so difficult to run in dreams? I can understand things like clocks and mirrors being messed up but if you can walk why can't you run?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3k1mol/eli5_is_there_a_reason_why_its_so_hard_to_run_in/
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So when you run in a dream, your legs don't move. Without that feedback, you brain conveys to you that you're not moving. So it feels like you're, as you say, running with 200 pound weights on your leg.", "My best explanation (talking out of my ass here) is that, in the real world, walking involves a lot of physics/gravity that we take for granted to assist us. We're really kind of pole-vaulting ourselves as we fall forward in a way.\n\nIn our dreams, there's no real gravity or physics at play. It's not even really simulated, so we don't feel real pulls and falling like we do in reality. Our brain must have trouble processing forward movement without those forces if it thinks we're running.\n\nI imagine this really only applies of we're (semi) consciously thinking of the act in the dream. Like being aware that you're trying to run but unaware that it's a dream. If you're not thinking about trying to run you might manage just fine.", "I don't know why I'm chiming in with something so irrelevant but when I'm running in dreams it feels like I have some kind of leg cramp paralysis that I once had for some inexplicable reason when I was a kid. it really stresses me out.", "I thought it had something to do with the spinal cord handling a chunk of walking, almost \"autonomously\" from the brain. That is, the brain \"directs\" in broad terms (\"go up stairs,\" \"walk in that direction\"), but the spinal cords handles the nitty-gritty details of gait and related things. So when you're asleep, that part isn't responding to the brain at all, and your brain doesn't *really* know how to make the legs go correctly...\n\nNote: I am not an expert in this area by any means...\n\n**Edit**: _URL_0_", "I have very vivid dreams and most of the time I have a lot of control, it's pretty much like being Neo in the matrix, I've sort of trained my thoughts so that I can run faster, but in my dreams it's a completely different way of running, it's hard to explain. It was tough when I was first dreaming, but since I constantly dream I know what I can do and how to go about doing certain things, I'm basically breaking my dream rules. It's not all the time but I do feel like I have a lot more control over my dreams when I do have them. ", "I think it depends on the person. I can run, but I can never scream or yell at anyone. Most of the time I'm partially aware that I am dreaming though.\n\nObviously the most common explanation is that sleep paralysis prevents the feedback necessary for some functions, but for some reason it doesn't limit me physically just vocally. \n\nOne time when I was at a hotel I tried to overcome sleep paralysis in a semi-conscious dream by forcing myself to sit up. It was a huge struggle and as I was waking up I could see myself in some shitty dirty room and someone sitting there. It was hard to keep my eyes open and I felt sweaty and weighed down. It was impossible to make out the face, but I was able to say something loudly so I was almost positive that I wasn't dreaming. After about 10-20 seconds I woke up in the hotel room but not sweaty or sitting up at all. Freaked me out for a while afterwards.\n\n**to;dr** I can run in dreams, but not yell. Had a scary wake up experience where I yelled but couldn't move, then I apparently woke up out of that.", "Sometimes when I dream I feel like I am awake and I'm aware of events around me but I can't open my eyes is the reason something similar?", "You can dream you're running, shouting, punching, or doing whatever. If you wake up fast enough you can actually remember such things, such as when your alarm clock interrupts a dream. Otherwise, you tend to forget most dreams.\n\nHowever, if you're starting to become conscious and still dreaming, then your conscious part of your brain wants to get involved in the dream and run, shout, punch, whatever. But, you can't due to dream paralysis that prevents you from acting out your dreams (when that malfunctions, you get sleepwalking).\n\nSo, like many have said, it's dream paralysis that prevents you from running in your dreams when your dreaming starts becoming lucid. Otherwise, you can indeed move in your dreams when fully dreaming.", "This also occurs to me, I end up having to use my hands to pull my self or \"crawl\" faster and to turn corners.", "For me I'm almost always running in my dreams, so it's definitely very different for everybody", "I have a differing opinion from some others, I'm a fairly avid lucid dreamer and got really big into it for awhile. I'm able to run quite fast in dreams if I choose, lightspeed even. \n\nI believe the problem is because your subconscious controls your dreams when youre not lucid, and a lot of times when running you could just have a fear(without knowing aka subconsciously) of running too slow. Maybe afraid you won't outrun somebody chasing you, or afraid you won't run fast enough to catch or kick a ball. Well those subconscious thoughts would affect you since fear drives a lot of dreams. I don't know if you've ever had a dream where you think, I really hope X doesn't happen, and then it does. I could very well be wrong but that's my best guess from my experience, if you believe you can run fast, you'll be able to run fast. ", "Try running on all fours. I'm not certain if this solution works only for myself, but I get a considerable rise in speed and I don't get that running in water feeling. Kind of silly to think about/try, but I never run on two legs anymore when I'm dreaming. Who knows, it may work for you too.", "Solution: Learn how to teleport or do like force sprint (like in Force Unleashed) while dreaming. I actually do this, especially when having lucid nightmares.", "Depends the \"energy level\" of the dream. Some dreams are too weak to render too many sensations and visuals and if you start running, it would just crumble apart. Other dreams you can do some crazy stuff beyond comprehension.", "I had a dream where I was trying to run to class and for some reason you got expelled if you were late so I was really panicking. I also carried a textbook the weight of a Toyota Corolla and kept banging my head on the lockers along the hall so yeah that was fun.", "Why is it that in some dreams when I go to walk I can't seem to stop and go faster and faster until some object stops me..?", "Interesting that your brain weighs down your legs to prevent you from running. In my dreams, I felt much lighter to the point that I can barely get traction as though I'm slightly floating. I will often grab things like grass to pull as I run for extra propulsion. Brains are weird. ", "This happens to me often. I just thought it was because I was fat in my early teens and couldn't run. Oddly enough I end up on all fours trying to build up momentum but that never works. Most of my dreams end with me looking at my hands and feet and wondering what the ever-loving fuck is going on. Now I know. ", "Someone asked a similar question 4 years ago and I thought it was fascinating so I saved it :) \n\n[\"Why can't I throw good punches in my dreams? I can't be the only one who experiences this...\"](_URL_0_)\n\nCredits to [/u/Baeocystin](_URL_0_c1nbibg): It's because punching (like running) is a highly-coordinated activity that relies on proprioceptive feedback throughout the motion to work. Since the thalamus clamps down both on the transmission of the motor signals you'd need to effectively complete the motion and the perception of joint-motion data while you're asleep, everything feels bogged down and slow.\nCompare that to 'flying', which is a), something we can't do normally, so we have no basis for comparison to see if it feels right or not, and b) superman-style flying about doesn't require significant body motion anyway.", "It's a tangent, but if you *do* want to run fast in your dreams, try doing it like a gorilla. Use your arms, too. This seems to work really well, though it's less like you're running and more like you're pulling the world past yourself.", "I kid you not, when I can't run in my dreams I start running backwards, like I turn around but keep going in the same direction, and it gets me going! I don't know why but running backwards works.", "Ever tried to punch someone/something and you're arms turn into marshmellows?", "Whenever I try to run in a dream, I always jump way too high between steps like I'm running on the moon or something. I'm trying to gain speed but every time my foot touches the ground I'm nearly weightless and go bouncing way back up ", "I used to have similar dreams of trying to run and it felt like trudging through yogurt or something but one time I got down on all fours and then I could book it like an animal. Strange sensation.", "A lot of these explanations are giving scientifically sound but the fact remains most people can run in their dreams either sometimes or most of the time.\n\nI frequently vividly and lucidly dream and have never had this issue you describe. Nor did I before I lucidly dreamt. I think it is simply something about you personally that we don't understand.\n\nMost theorization about how you feel during dreams is just that: dreams. Why is it that in a dream, words for me never match up to their meanings? A sign reads \"lunch\" and I perceive \"sun\", as an example. Why does my thought process simultaneously take first and third person and feel like neither in my dreams? Why can I rarely fly unless I morph my arms into wings?\n\nLots of questions we have no answer and to be honest, specifically the top comment, if that were true then you shouldn't be able to do much of anything dreaming and yet you talk, breathe, eat, fuck, etc. Logically it makes sense but is it true? Probably not.\n\nTDLR; There's no real answer but plenty of theories presented in this thread.", "How about why the dream really starts to get good Right before I wake up? Always.", "dreams? What's that? I just close my eyes, two seconds later it's morning. Sounds like a hippie thing.", "I'm still wondering why I almost never dream at all. What happened?", "Ok most of you are way off, some of you are close but still I think I can explain better.\n\nContext is i am a lucid dreamer, have been for years now.\n\nWhen you dream the world you create is produced from within you and expanded out. \n\nWhen you walk around in your dreams the world moves because you make it move and the pace matches your walking pace. When you want to move faster in your dream the world moves around you faster. The truth is that your legs never feel the weight of your body when in a dream because they are not really holding you up, your mind is creating the ground beneath your feet to give you perspective.\n\nWhen you run from something in the dream then your mind works against you. First the object you are fleeing is paramount in your mind and is thus more real and you are drawn to real things in dreams (they are significant). Second when you think run, as apposed to go there, you try to push off the ground to propel yourself faster. You created the ground from within you so in effect you are pushing off yourself trying to get forward motion, it doesn't work very well. You expect to move if you push off the ground so to preserve continuity, the world you create moves a bit, just not as much as your effort should imply. The more you focus on running the harder it is and the more you focus on the thing your running from the closer it will be pulled to you. \n\nThe trick in dreams is to not run but fly, think of where you want to be and reach for it. Alternatively if your in a real life analog then just think up a new scene and be there like teleporting, this doesn't break continuity so I normally use it. There are other methods of flying and you really need to find what you like. I personally enjoy what I call land speeding, you draw the force of gravity up into you and redirect it, from your perspective you are falling parallel to the ground, it works as long as your touching the ground (or very close to it), so your are skimming along the roadways with your toes almost touching the ground. Its like being on a motor bike, without the bike. Lots of fun.\n\nAbove all, you need to remember that everything in your dream is a part of you and you need to love it all, even the ugly bits.\n\nAlso no external entity can enter your dream, the closest that can occur is that two (or more) entities choose to share a common dream but their souls do not ever touch they simply have similar dreams where the actions of the other entity is expressed in your dream like a puppet. You always have the choice to take over the puppet in your dream, if you don't like what it is doing and close out the other entity completely. You are always in control. Shared dreams are always more fun.", "I have dreams of being an animal on all fours bounding around all fast an shit...sometimes I'll even jump up real high like I'm flying almost. Glad I'm not like the rest of you mortals who don't have sweet ass dreams", "How can you run... If you have no legs?", "For the same reason why you never heard of a running ghost. You are body and ghost. Sleep paralysis is a disconnection from your body. So you end up with either a real ghost body or an imagined ghost body. But in the end you are a ghost when sleeping. Being a ghost you can do ghosty things like flying but not physical things like running. Running like a cat like described by others is just flying with ground contact. Even when flying you can't do physical things like flapping your arms to change directions. You fly with your mind. It's all mind when you sleep and all physical when you awake.", "It's weird what I end up doing is that I kinda just dive forward and i start to fly and sometimes I'll spend what feels like minutes just diving forward trying to get myself to fly again when I'm being chased ", " do you think that's air you're breathing? Hmpf", "Same thing happens if you need to fight, I feel like my arms weight a million pounds when I throw a punch in my dreams. ", "This is interesting to me. Whem I'm dreaming, usually running is effortless. Sometimes I also have dreams where physical activities are super easy. I can do pull-ups or push ups until I feel like stopping. These things are difficult for me in real life, so dreams like this are amazing to have, for me.", "You think that's air you're breathing?", "I actually legitimately did not know this was a problem for others until I read this thread. Mostly because \"running from something\" is one of my most common dreams, complete with parkour. \n\nPulling the trigger of a dream gun is ridiculously hard though.", "I've read something contradictory to the other comments in the lucid dreaming subreddits, a while back, that suggests your mind does not want to have to do a lot of work generating extensive amounts of false reality around you so that it can concentrate on imagining the world immediately around you and convince you more easily that you are asleep. By running your causing your brain to put effort into generating new false reality and retain what had previously been moved past which could lead to you realising it's not quite real, when it struggles to do so.", "This happens to me when i get in fights in my dreams. (Which actually happens pretty frequently) its really frustrating trying to puch with lead hands, and it sorta turns into a slow-motion fight scene from the matrix but with me iniside screaming from frustration that im moving so slow", "If you are having a dream you don't like just blink 3 consecutive times in a dream, it always works.\nwhen i have a bad dream i always do this ", "I have a similar problem pulling triggers on guns in dreams. (Not that I dream about guns very often, but when I do, I find it nigh impossible to pull the trigger.)", "I'd like to add for interest's sake, that as someone who's wheelchair reliant (without paralysis), I run much, much better in dreams. ", "I used to have a dream that was essentially [this](_URL_0_) but any time I tried to move out of the way my feet and legs would barely move. Then I would freak out and wake up.\n\nI could also fly, but only down hills at about waist height. Like I was laying down on an invisible skateboard.\n\nOnce in a while I'd have a dream where I was driving on a cliff side road, then somehow the car would go over the edge. Then I would fall out of the car and bounce a few times when I hit the ground. I would usually wake up after the 2nd or 3rd cartoon-like bounce.\n\nThe worst was the reoccurring dream of all my teeth falling out one by one. I'd literally wake up freaked out and have to make sure my teeth were still in my mouth.\n\nFuck you brain!", "Despite being overweight and never working out, I run in my dreams all the time. Never running away from something, always jogging. And I run and run and run, kind'a like Forrest Gump. I'll run for a really long time and get to a crossroads where I can turn left and head for home or turn right and keep running further away. I always take the right and keep running. It makes me wonder if I should start jogging for real.", "Just an aside, but I've found the easiest way for me to run in dreams...is to run like a big cat on all fours. Dig my hands into the ground and push off and voila! ", "I've had this happen so many times and never understood why. I get to the point where my legs stop working entirely until I'm dragging myself across the ground. This is where it gets weird. This Is the point where my legs start to function again somewhat but instead of standing upright, I start running on all fours like a cheetah. It always reminds me of Rob Schneider in the animal.", "Or why you go to punch your attacker and it feels like you're punching through molasses. Then your attacker is laughing at you because you can punch him all you want, it isn't doing anything... I'm not the only one who has these dreams, right?", "Am I the only one who frequently doesn't have themselves in their dreams? If i am featured in the dream, it not \"me\" but my look. Like an actor playing a different role. it's just my body. and \"i\" am like the eye of a movie camera. never really in one character. \n\n", "In my experience it's because your legs are actually trying to turn in bed. I've been woken up more than once for kicking my gf in bed while running in a dream.", "Just a guess, but maybe its difficult for the brain to process running in terms of changing location? Run to where. In a dream I don't know how well the landscape around you is determined. Seems that the only thing in your conscious is what is right in front of you. So maybe you can't run because your brain doesn't yet understand the landscape around you or can't develop it fast enough for running as opposed to walking.", "I assume it's the same reason that my punches always land with the force of gummy bears in my dreams", "If you're having trouble running, try flying! Works great for me and usually gets me where I need to go. ", "I think it's because it's all in your brain. So you don't need to run. You just fly through like noclip in a videogame.", "This is bullshit. Everyone here has crazy ass dreams about flying and magic, punching stuff, kidnappings... \n\nI barely ever remember my dreams, and if I do it's boring. Just talking to people and stuff. I've had one crazy dream that I remember in years. \n\nI feel kind of ripped off.", "Not sure if anyone has answered this correctly but here is why\n\n_URL_0_\n\n1 of the lesser known senses our body has, explained as our brains ability to determine your body position through movement, ie when your running you generally know how fast you are moving without much thought. So when your dreaming, your legs are obviously not moving and you brain gives the sensation of slipping on ice or something like that. ", "Freud said that feeling powerless in your dreams relates to a feeling of powerlessness in your life, a lack of control.", "I always have dreams where i'm shooting people.. bad guys or soldiers. But i never shoot actual bullets, only the sound of my voice saying \"pew, pew\". \n\nIt's so frustrating goddammit, for once i'd love to use a real gun in a dream.", "Metaphysically speaking, I have read that when this occurs, or when your punches are too weak, it's due to you being on the border of the etheric and astral planes. \n\nThe etheric plane is your own personal space, while the astral is shared. \n\n", "I would dream ruining or going uphill would be so slow and make me tired so I would drop on all four and just be able to run effortless. ", "For what ever reason I've run on all fours in my dreams since my early teens. It must give me more traction or something because I've out run cars before.", "I've found that I usually try to run, remember (vaguely) that I can never run in dreams, and end up running backwards. \n\nI don't know why it works, but it works.", "My dad is a physiologist and explained this to me when I was young so sorry for a somewhat incomplete answer. I'm remembering the explanation as it was told to me as a ~5 y o.\n\nThere's a part of your brain that simulates gravity in your dream world. Sometimes when you're sleeping this brain structure \"slips\", that's why in some dreams you feel weighed down, and others you feel like you can float or fly.", "This will probably get buried, but I have had it happen tons of times where I fall down for some reason and it is unbelievably difficult to stand up. Like it feel like my limbs are made of lead and I can't lift my body off the ground. ", "just start running on all 4 and grab the ground to run faster. this seems to work for me. \n\n-Stephen \"Occasional Dreamer\"", "I can run just fine in my dreams. I can also jump, punch, and kick, and melt things with fire. I once burned up a dragon and a witch. \n\nWhat I can't do, however, is ride any sort of moving vehicle. No cars, no bus, no trains, no bike, no rollerblades, no skateboard. This ruins many dreams where I have to travel a great distance to chase an evil overlord.", "I have \"heavy legs\" in dreams, too.\n\nI read that during sleep, the brain inhibits messages to the limbs so that your body is not physically doing everything that you are dreaming. If this didn't happen, everybody would be sleepwalking all the time.", "It's not that \"running is hard in dreams\" - or any other activity. It's that being unable to do something you want to do is your dream interpretation of a real life challenge. You might be unable to run, or unable to hit someone back who is attacking you, or any other example. It almost certainly indicates your brain mulling over something that is challenging you in real life.", "It's interesting to have browsed here and come upon this, because I occasionally experience something similar in dreams, except at times I find myself struggling to walk, even occasionally crawling. It goes without saying that suddenly losing physical capacity really ruins a dream.\n\nGood to know that there's a reason for it, and it's not me inexplicably coming down with some sort of muscle degeneration. Maybe I'll stop feeling so stupid when I wake up to that from now on.\n" ] }
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[ [], [], [], [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_locomotion#Components_of_spinal_locomotion" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/gg3dj/why_cant_i_throw_good_punches_in_my_dreams_i_cant/", "https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/gg3dj/why_cant_i_throw_good_punches_in_my_dreams_i_cant/c1nbibg" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "https://youtu.be/CD-E-LDc384?t=4m36s" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [ "https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception" ], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [], [] ]
1lmlck
what skill is required for car racing?
I'm not trying to be rude to any racing fans, I simply don't understand it. What skill is there in NASCAR, Formula 1, etc?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lmlck/eli5_what_skill_is_required_for_car_racing/
{ "a_id": [ "cc0q2d2", "cc0q2f3", "cc0qapf", "cc0qhe0", "cc0qxjl", "cc0tk5m" ], "score": [ 6, 16, 5, 5, 5, 2 ], "text": [ "It's much harder than it looks. You are strapped into a cage with layers upon layers of clothing/safety equipment with no air conditioning, no power steering so you are fighting the car that wants to go in the opposite direction you want to go in, no bathroom, no stretching your legs, for hours on end. Oh, and you need to handle this thing perfectly through turns, curves, and other hazards at 200 MPH.", "Attention span and great hand eye coordination. Imagine being on reddit for hours upon hours (6 hours straight). You cannot use the bathroom and you are constantly reading a ton of information. Eventually you are going to get tired and worn out from doing the same thing over and over.\n\nRealistically, I can break it down a bit further for you:\n\nNASCAR drivers need to have nerves of steel to continously drive at or around 200 MPH while watching fuel and communicating with a pit crew. Additionally, driving a car at that speed is not like driving to the grocery store. Try taking your car to even 110 MPH and notice how unstable the car can become (try moving around a bend at that speed). Not only do they need to deal with the speed of the car, they have to worry about the countless other racers that are doing their own thing as well! Add in drafting (where you speed up by driving in someone else's streamlined air path) and there are tons of variables that require you to stay focused. Oh, and by the way... the car is not cool either. You are wearing a fireproof suit and sweating your ass off the entire race.\n\nTL;DR - These guys have unbelievable reflexes, attention spans, and determination.", "Have you seen formula 1? That is insanely hard. Controlling cars at that speed is not easy, there is constant shifting, no power steering, other racers near by, dealing with the physical stress, hours of focus, etc. ", "NASCAR drivers have to have excellent spatial awareness. While it is not as technical as F1, NASCAR drivers are still racing at very high speeds, in large packs of other drivers, sometimes mere inches apart. \n\nTo put it in perspective...have you ever been in a multi-lane turn lane? Where you and 1 or 2 lanes next to you are all turning into the cross street? Have you ever been turning with groups of cars next to you, in front of you, and behind you, some right up to your bumper, or inches from your door? If so...how stressful was that?\n\nNow imagine that instead of doing that at 10MPH, you are doing it at 190MPH, and instead of doing it for 30 seconds, you are doing it for 3 hours. Thats how stressful and difficult it is to drive a NASCAR car. ", "For me a few things pop into mind. \n\n1. After a 20-30 practice session you come out of the car sweaty, exhausted, cramped sometimes, and often i can not open my hands. Its one of those things where you grab onto something for so long it gets stuck in that position. Physical fitness and preparedness is key and pacing yourself. This will make sure you dont over exert yourself too quickly. \n\n2. Patience and concentration. Tons of things are going through your mind when racing. You need to think about the cars around you, lap your on, whats coming up, what worked last lap, what didn't work last lap, speed, gear, tire temp, tire left, fuel left, does the car feel ok, are there any adjustments id like to request, is it worth the time to adjust. Granted there is a pit crew to help with all this...still goes through your mint. \n\n3. Technical knowledge. You need to know the car just as much as your engineers. \"Yea i thing it kinda made a ehhh sound in the back area with a klunk\" doesn't quite cut it. Although there are tons of drivers like this...being able to tell your crew exactly what the car is doing is pretty darn important. Also knowing the technical aspect of your car helps you understand how to drive the piss out of it. \n\n4. Balls of steel. You try explaining to your boss and the guy who has to build another one you lost a $1-20 million race car because you screwed up. \n\njust a few off the top of my heads...but there are tons more. If you really want to know what it feels like, see if you can do a driving experience program. Then multiply it by about 100.", "This video can give you a really good idea about the challenges with driving these types of cars. It's Richard Hammond from Top Gear, who basically drives supercars for a living, just trying to get an F1 car around a track.\n\n_URL_0_" ] }
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[ [], [], [], [], [], [ "www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUZJVY-sHo" ] ]
5anrpr
what's the difference between a starter and a reliever in pitching?
I understand why someone would be a closer. Powerful, unhittable pitches, but only a relative handful in any given game. But if a guy can start a game and throw 100+ pitches, why can't he do that starting in the 4th or 5th inning? What difference should it make to him?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5anrpr/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_a_starter_and_a/
{ "a_id": [ "d9hxhal", "d9hxn2s" ], "score": [ 11, 4 ], "text": [ "A starting pitcher is a guy with stamina who also is generally more talented than a reliever. He has to see a lineup multiple times so he needs better \"stuff\" to compensate. \n\nA reliever is generally a failed starter with only 1 or 2 good pitches that can get him through an inning, but not multiple innings. The better the pitcher, the more you want to use him, thus the starter is generally more talented. \n\nStarters can go in the 4th or 5th inning, but never during the regular season, only during playoffs. The MLB season is 162 days long, it's a marathon not a sprint. Starters are on set schedules during the year to make sure they don't get over pitched and tire out. In the playoffs it turns into a sprint and sometimes starters will make appearences out of the bullpen. ", "Starting pitchers typically have a larger repertoire of pitches, speeds, release angles, etc. so that they can better fool hitters over a longer period of time. They have conditioned themselves to pitch every 5th day and be able to throw 100+ pitches in an outing. \n\nRelief pitchers typically have fewer pitches, and as you mentioned often rely on one overwhelming pitch (ie. throwing 100+mph fast ball). They might be able to bounce back and pitch every day or every other day, but because they are going full blast they are often only able to go an inning or two at a time.\n\nThink of it like the difference between long distance running and sprinting -- each use the same basic skill, but difference characteristics will lead to success in each. Same in pitching." ] }
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50wvp4
can there be a successful economy/system without any taxation?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/50wvp4/eli5_can_there_be_a_successful_economysystem/
{ "a_id": [ "d77ljje", "d77mb0n" ], "score": [ 4, 9 ], "text": [ "Yes there can! Theoretically...\n\nAnd only probably for a short period of time...\n\nTaxation serves to try and solve the tragedy of the commons. Everyone pays a little bit to have enough money to take care of things that would be difficult to do as individuals.\n\nPrivate companies can fill this role, with each person paying a certain portion (in labor or capital) for the work to be done. The problem is that human beings are no psychologically designed to approach matter this way.\n\nTaxation isn't really and end in itself, as it is a method to fund a system that make decisions and mediates disputes. If you can find people who will do that for free, then you technically don't need taxation.", "Kind of. \n\nYou can have an economy without taxes, as long as people follow rules. The problem with no taxes, means no police force/government/courts. That leaves every at the whims of the guy who can raise the biggest private army/gang/etc. Those guys will then either take what they want, or extract protection fees (which are, at their core, basically serving the role of taxes)\n\nOther than that, it generally comes down to how many services people/expect want from the government. You don't *need* stuff like roads, social security etc, but most people want those provided if it's an option. And quality of life would be much, much lower if the private sector had to provide all of that.\n\nBut you kind of need at least some rudimentary police/army system, or you'll get rolled over by your neighbor who does. In smaller societies, you can potentially get by with a militia (which wouldn't need to be taxed), but again, you're vulnerable to any group that organizes better, and it's kind of unstable." ] }
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4bq5lu
why are 'detox' diets frowned upon?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bq5lu/eli5_why_are_detox_diets_frowned_upon/
{ "a_id": [ "d1bemel", "d1bey5w", "d1bgpbs" ], "score": [ 2, 3, 2 ], "text": [ "No one is saying that detoxing the body is impossible, but the diets often fail to mention the specifics on how it works. What \"toxin\" are you targeting, what's the agent \"detoxing\" it and how does it do that. The diet should point to scientific studies that back up their claims. Lack hows and whys, scientific rigor and logical consistency are the reasons why people hate fad diets.", "Detox diets are frowned upon because (1) that they have little long-term effect on your bodily health, (2) binge-and-compensate cycles aren't healthy and result in a worsening of your overall condition (see also: yo-yo dieting), and (3) lots of people want you to pay money for these ineffective detoxes that encourage bad habits.\n\nI can see the merit in \"giving your body a break\" or whatever, and going vegan and alcohol-free for some time to watch your BP and LDLs drop. And cutting back on the meat and booze if you've been overindulging, even if you're not gaining weight or seeing any adverse numbers in a routine blood-check, is always a good idea. But that's just part of a normal, healthy lifestyle. There's no need to devote six to eight weeks to shoving various combinations of fruits and vegetables down your gullet in ridiculous quantities to the exclusion of all else. This isn't going to have a long-term effect, and short-term effects are limited to the constant fructose high (which is enjoyable, but not exactly the healthiest thing).\n\n > I mean, when antibiotics were being invented, nobody went around saying stuff like: ''Wow, look at this guy, ''killing'' bacteria! It's like you don't have an immune system''\n\nHave you heard of the anti-vaccination movement?", "Your typical \"detox\" is just a bunch of pseudo-scientific hogwash and has little to no basis in reality. People frown upon most fad diets that make huge claims with nothing to back them up." ] }
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1dnofv
why can pets live healthily off of pellet food and water but humans require a variety of foods and water?
Is there a human equivalent to pet food that will sustain life for years?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dnofv/eli5_why_can_pets_live_healthily_off_of_pellet/
{ "a_id": [ "c9s21d7", "c9s22af", "c9s25uv", "c9s2r6t" ], "score": [ 2, 9, 2, 12 ], "text": [ "[we can](_URL_0_)\n\nour body only needs certain essential nutrients to survive, and if you make yourself a concoction of just those you'll be just fine.", "We eat more for pleasure than animals do. We could very well survive off of tiny pellets that had our daily nutrients packed in, which is pretty much what pet food is to animals ", "People like variety & would *hate* eating the same thing every day. Animals don't mind so much.", "What if pets like variety and the only reason they keep eating the pellets is because that is all we'll fucking give them?" ] }
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[ [ "http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/rob-rhinehart-no-longer-requires-food" ], [], [], [] ]
3jq22d
generally speaking, why were europeans in seemingly constant conflict with one another from renaissance until wwii ended?
I was just skimming over the Eighty Years War, and it occurred to me that I have no idea why Spain would bother retaining and fighting for land in central or northern Europe. Why were the old European nations so keen on conquering one another?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jq22d/eli5_generally_speaking_why_were_europeans_in/
{ "a_id": [ "curfh5q" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "War is the default state of man - it's peace that's the exception.\n\nPeace occurs when there is a balance of power or a hegemony. Balances of power are inherently unstable and prone to fall apart. So virtually all periods of 'peace' you observe in history are the result of one group dominating all the others in the region.\n\nBecause Westerners tend to study European history, you'll hear a lot about wars that happened in Europe. But Europeans were hardly unique in this type of violence. If you want a truly violent history, study a place like India. Without a centralized hegemony like China or a restraining influence like the Catholic Church, India was a near-constant cauldron of war for most of its history (interestingly enough, these cultural roots continue to the present day where China has a notoriously awful martial tradition and India has one of the strongest martial traditions in the world)." ] }
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1chxr1
why should i consume more protein after working out?
Science words are scary.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1chxr1/eli5_why_should_i_consume_more_protein_after/
{ "a_id": [ "c9gnh06", "c9h4w6e" ], "score": [ 7, 2 ], "text": [ "well, when you work out your muscles end up with a whole bunch of micro-tears. your body needs to repair these micro-tears, otherwise you'd eventually end up with completely torn muscles all around, and that's not going to help anybody or anything. to repair these micro-tears your body needs special little nutrients called amino acids, and since protein is chock full of amino acids(that's basically all it is), your body gets to use all of this influx of amino acids to repair and improve all of your lovely new-forming muscles.", "good that science words are scary because i dont know any for this answer. my mom was an amateur bodybuilder/personal trainer/nutritionist when i was a kid so she ELI5'ed me a lot.\n\nwhen you work out, your muscles are actually tearing and repairing. small tiny tears. then your body works to repair these. hence your soreness after. \n\nyoure supposed to eat protein after your work out because of the of the amino acids like /u/creep_nu said. but right after your workout, there is a window of time about 60-90 minutes after your cool down, that maximizes the efficiency of your protein intake\n\nso make sure you eat some flesh when you get home!\n\nnuts in the car, peanut butter, plenty of good snacks too " ] }
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1qln5q
why, when energy companies all raise their prices within weeks of each other, it's not price fixing?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qln5q/eli5_why_when_energy_companies_all_raise_their/
{ "a_id": [ "cde18wj", "cde1fyc", "cde4qv4" ], "score": [ 2, 7, 2 ], "text": [ "All energy companies buy their electricity from the same energy pool, much like a stock market. They all buy at approximately the same price, thus their customers end up paying the same price (with a small variation depending on how big margins the energy company has).\n\nEven though the energy company might have their only energy producing plants, they still pool their resources so you don't buy energy that has necessarily been produced at your company's energy plant.", "Energy prices are driven by supply and demand. If the cost of oil suddenly went through the roof and all your state's power plants run on oil, it's perfectly reasonable that all energy rates would go up. ", "Price fixing is when sellers agree to a price, setting it an artificial point, ignoring the actual costs. This is anti-competetive and their collusion ignores the free market.\n\nIf the actual wholesale cost changes or demand rises significantly, everyone raising their prices is a natural result of the market.\n\nLet's say you run a lemonade stand. Your cost to make a glass is $0.10 and you sell it for 25 cents, making a decent profit. You find out that your friend is going to start a stand a block over. He could sell his lemonade for $0.20 and steal most of your business but this could start a price war where you'd be forced to drop you price to $0.19 to compete, leaving you both making less money. If you were to talk to him and agree to never sell lemonade for less than $0.25 a glass, this is price fixing.\n\nIf there's a lemon blight and the cost of lemons skyrockets, making the price $0.30 a glass, and you both have to raise your prices to $0.50 a glass to keep making a profit, this is just market forces.\n\nSimilarly, if there's a heatwave and you're selling your lemonade at $0.25 faster than you can make it so you raise your price, that's also market forces at work." ] }
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1eb365
how do economies value their currency against other countries?
For example, Australia is currently in around 80mil in debt, where as America is in the trillions in debt, yet the dollar is nearly identical in value.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1eb365/eli5how_do_economies_value_their_currency_against/
{ "a_id": [ "c9yhr4u" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "The value of currency compared to other currency is not determined by countries or governments, but by 'the market.' \nSupply and demand determines the price. \n\nNote that some currencies are not even used by just one country (like the Euro) or no country at all (bitcoins).\n\nThere is one exception: some governments decide to pin their currency to the dollar (or another currency). What basically happens there is that the government guarantees that they will exchange their local currency with the dollar on a certain fixed rate.\n\nThis is why printing more money is not a solution, since the supply will increase, thus the value will decrease." ] }
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6k6ft2
how do producers get away with sampling songs in their tracks?
How do artist get away with doing things like [this](_URL_0_)?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6k6ft2/eli5_how_do_producers_get_away_with_sampling/
{ "a_id": [ "djjpnr3" ], "score": [ 7 ], "text": [ "If the sample is being used for a recording that will be sold to the public, they have to ask permission from the copyright owner of the original song (usually the music publishing company), and also from the owner of the original recording (usually a record company). Often they'll have to pay for permission. This is called \"Sample Clearance\".\n\nIn the early days of sampling, especially in the hip-hop scene, producers often didn't bother asking permission, and not many people made a fuss about it. But as sampling became used more often in successful recordings, things changed.\n\nThe beastie boys' 1989 album \"Paul's Boutique\" (produced by the dust brothers) is an incredible album, made entirely from multi-layered samples - including samples from nearly 30 different records in one track alone. Back then, permission was easier and cheaper to obtain, and samples were not always legally challenged when permission wasn't obtained - so it is said that an album like 'Paul's boutique' would be financially/commercially not possible to make today.\n\n[\"Shake Your Rump\"](_URL_0_) from Paul's boutique. I love listening to the album and trying to identify all the different samples. Many of these were paid for with permission, some may not have been." ] }
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[ "http://www.whosampled.com/sample/392220/Russ-Goodbye-Esther-Phillips-I-Wish-You-Love/" ]
[ [ "https://youtu.be/BptQHAW2T5M" ] ]
d1bscy
if you have two identical bikes, and riders who differ only in their weight (one is heavy and one is light), who would travel down a hill (no peddling allowed) fastest, and why?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d1bscy/eli5_if_you_have_two_identical_bikes_and_riders/
{ "a_id": [ "ezk35ys" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "The lighter one would cause the bike tires to deflect less reducing friction between the road and the tire. There is also less friction on the bearings from the lighter one." ] }
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cxw3uk
why do some hot sauces take longer to "kick in" than others?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cxw3uk/eli5_why_do_some_hot_sauces_take_longer_to_kick/
{ "a_id": [ "eyo14kn", "eyoeky1", "eyoly30", "eyomslc", "eyon3l3", "eyp3bpc", "eyp8ng1", "eypq0vd", "eyptzfv", "eypyojj" ], "score": [ 20, 13, 6, 116, 967, 410, 7, 3, 3, 3 ], "text": [ "Also why do some have a quick instant burn while others have a slow long lasting burn?", "It has to do with taste buds and molecular pathways that coordinate signals to the brain. In short, some spice compounds activate pathways that take longer to reach the end target and send the correct signals to your brain to activate the spice feeling.", "Is scoville units a practical measurement of heat? I have tried the hot sauce called Mad Dog 357 and that shit about blew my head off. Rated at 357,000 scovilles. I also tried the Hot Ones Last Dab Redux, rated at 2,000,000 and it barely seemed hotter than Tabasco to me. They were several days apart, so it wasn't like my tongue was just numb from the start.", "The real reason is that capsaicin is a hydrophobic molecule and not very soluble in water (or saliva). Depending on the food, it will take longer or shorter for the capsaicin to reach its receptor, which is named TRPV1. Btw, there's lots of misinformation in here.", "A quick google for a paper that addresses this didn't find anything published, but did link back to reddit! [Ask Science: why do some peppers have a slower burn than others](_URL_0_).\n\nSome dedicated redditor linked to a few other threads with similar questions (though some were actually just \"why does capsaicin burn). One commenter says they also couldn't find anything on this specific phenomenon, so all we have are hypotheses—not theories—but they're well grounded.\n\nSo here's my attempt at explaining for an especially precocious 5 year old (like a person with a 5 year old's knowledge of the world but an adult's capacity for ambiguity and new vocabulary):\n\nThe chemical in peppers that gives you the burning feeling is called capsaicin. It directly affects nerves that are also about sensing abrasion and physical heat.\n\nThere might be several reasons for why different sauces have different feelings, but I think the best guess is a simple one: acid just straight up makes those nerves a little hyperactive, so capsaicin affects more nerves faster (so more total burning), but the nerves also reset faster, meaning the burning goes away sooner.\n\nThere might be other reasons for different hot sauces to burn differently, like more oil might carry the capsaicin to more places in your mouth, evenly coating everything before the capsaicin sinks through the skin of your mouth to hit those nerves all at once.\n\nAlso, there's an entire family of chemicals similar to capsaicin, called capsaicinoids\\*, and most peppers have a bunch of them in different amounts (it's mostly capsaicin though). These other capsaicinoids might affect the nerves differently, taking longer to affect one and sticking around longer, or vice versa, or some other combination of effects.\n\n^(*: bonus fact, caffeine is similar too, a lot of plants have various closer or distant relatives of caffeine in different amounts, which is part of why yerba mate, coffee, guarana, and tea all hit a little differently. \"Guarana extract\" or similar are still usually just caffeine though.)\n\n^(edit: if I gave gold I think I would like to be thanked for it, therefore by the, heh, golden rule, I offer up my thanks for the shiny flair)", "I can't think of an ELI5 way to put this, so I'll just simplify this:\n\nThe molecule that creates a spicy feeling belongs to a group called vanelloids. They bind to receptors all over your body (not just in your mouth), and trick your body into thinking there's real heat.\n\nAs to why some brands take more time, it's due to what they're submerged in. Capsaicin, the most common compound, is a fat soluable molecule. This means that it binds to fat easily, and if they're submerged in a more fatty base (such as oil), you would have to wait for the fats to get out of the way. Most hot sauces are made from vinegar, which is way less fatty than oil, and so it kicks in way faster,", "In my experience as a Chef for about 25 years and traveled to many countries who\\`s locals eat spicey food (I\\`m Irish), the difference in heat and longevity lies in whether the chilies are fried in the oil first or if they are added later to the dish , another factor is if there is either vinegar or alcohol in the hot sauce recipe as both of these infuriate the chili enzyme thus making it hotter immediately and intense for a short time versus a slow and long burn.", "Check out this paper. It gives some good information on different capsaicinoids and their affects on mammels. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nBasically different capsaicinoids affect nerves differently. Therefore some cause rapid heat. Some cause delayed heat. And they also cause different pains. Some cause prickly some are flat like it's butter being spread around your mouth like you would toast.", "Depending on the lipid/acid/water content and ratio of the sauce.\n\nLipids decrease and shorten the kick \n\nWater increases it\n\nAnd acid confuses you initially as it’s sour", "The peppers have different chemicals in them, and the chemicals are all in the same family. Some of them burn low and slow, some of them burn hot and fast. A habanero is a really hot pepper because it has a lot of the burning chemicals in it, but it has more of the slow burning ones than the fast burning ones, so even though it's \"hotter\" it's actually a more mild pepper in small amounts. A tabasco pepper, on the other hand, is not nearly as strong as a habanero, but it has mostly the hot fast type of chemicals--the kind that burn the front of your face and make you cry. A small amount of tabasco will taste a lot hotter than a similar amount of jalapeno.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nEdited to say that I see a lot of other great responses here but no one is giving a complete picture (myself included). This topic is deceptive in its complexity. Not an ELI5 appropriate question unfortunately." ] }
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[ [], [], [], [], [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/243tkv/why_do_some_hot_peppers_have_a_slower_burn_than/" ], [], [], [ "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666316310339" ], [], [] ]
27tedl
why isn't the sun up for exactly 12 hours in summer?
For me, todays sunrise was at 4:39am and sunset 9:32pm The days are getting longer and hence the night shorter, I know the earth is tilted on its axis but, why don't we spend at least as long pointing away from the suns rays as toward them?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27tedl/eli5_why_isnt_the_sun_up_for_exactly_12_hours_in/
{ "a_id": [ "ci486ea" ], "score": [ 4 ], "text": [ "I am a person who would very rearly ever say the following, but I find this incredibly complicated to explain in words, and I will just show you how to explain it to yourself with a painting. My version of the painting will include a precise enough explanation for the reasons behind it all, though.\n\n**The underlying reason:** Because the earth's axis is tilted, and because you do not live on the equator.\n\n**== The explanation ==**\n\n- Look at [this picture](_URL_0_) of the sun shining on the earth that has summer on its northern hemisphere.\n\n- Look at South Korea, which is about to enter daytime. ^[I ^just ^had ^to ^think ^about ^why ^I ^knew ^the ^direction ^in ^which ^the ^Earth ^would ^continue ^to ^turn. ^I ^am ^just ^glad ^my ^brain ^had ^rationally ^deduced ^it ^before ^I ^had ^to ^explain ^it ^to ^myself. ^=P ^]\n\n- Draw two imaginary lines from South Korea around the world to where daytime would end:\n\n* Make the first line horizontal by standards of the picture.\n\n* Make the second line on Japan's degree of latitude; meaning, make it parallel to the equator.\n\n- [I have drawn the half of this imaginary drawing that we are looking at for you.](_URL_1_) Compare the legth of the two lines. Get it?\n\nBecause the Earth gets smaller the farther north or south you get from the equator [i.e. \"Because the earth is a ball\"], and because those points do not turn around the earth in a line that is parallel to the line towards the sun, the points that are tilted toward it will have more time in the sun's light.\n\nFor the same reason, the equator's daytime is always 12 hours, and for the same reason a spot on a hemisphere in the middle of autumn and spring will have a daytime of 12 hours [I suggest you draw yourself a mental picture of that last scenario as well: On the same picture used before, imagine the sun coming from the front or the back rather than left or right.]." ] }
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[ [ "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytime_%28astronomy%29#mediaviewer/File:Earth-lighting-summer-solstice_EN.png", "https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52682137/NetSpreads/Information/Explanation/Daytime%20in%20Seasons.png" ] ]
7nny4l
migratory animals
Animals that return to the location they were born in, doesn't that encourage incest in a sense? And how is that not a problem?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7nny4l/eli5_migratory_animals/
{ "a_id": [ "ds3cuet" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "Not necessarily. Sea turtles return to the beach where they were born, but there may be dozens of nests on that beach, so there will be lots of unrelated mates for them. Incest may still occur, but it's not actually a problem if it happens infrequently. It's only when incest happens repeatedly for many generations that defects start to become more and more common. In human societies cousins marrying was the norm for a long time, and that didn't cause any problems, except in royal and noble families where cousins and siblings married *all* the time." ] }
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2pjuzh
if we can see a representation of 3 dimensions on a 2 dimensional screen, why can't we see representations of 4 dimensions in a 3 dimensional environment?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pjuzh/eli5_if_we_can_see_a_representation_of_3/
{ "a_id": [ "cmxcuxf" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "We can. The problem is that a 3-D representation is just a \"slice\" of the full object. You'd need to somehow animate it to grasp the full 4-D nature of it.\n\n[Here's an example](_URL_0_) of a 2-D representation of the 3-D representation of a simple 4-D object. You need to keep in mind that the \"motion\" you see isn't really a transformation of the object - just a way of showing it from different perspectives." ] }
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[ [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xN4DxdiFrs&channel=ediacura" ] ]
eno0tj
what is it about washing your hands that actually gets them clean?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eno0tj/eli5_what_is_it_about_washing_your_hands_that/
{ "a_id": [ "fe2kd1f", "fe2kefx", "fe2kekv", "fe2kto3", "fe2lhxd", "fe4dh29" ], "score": [ 4, 6, 9, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Oils from your hand bind with the soap and go down with the water. I think there are diminishing returns when it comes to hot water.", "Hot water does kill bacteria, not at the temperature from a tap. You need around 60 degrees to actually kill bacteria, that is too hot for your hands. \n\n\nAntibacterial soap does kill bacteria but is no better than using soap and water. \n\n\nWhat is happening with the soap is that your are physically removing the bacteria from your hands. The longer you wash with soap and water the more bacteria will be removed (20 seconds or so is enough). Warmer water can increase the soap getting bubbly which means it gets more places and increases the amount it helps move. \n\n\nSo warm water with soap for 20 seconds is the way you should wash your hands.", "It is the scrubing. I worked in nursing. The soap helps but unless you properly scrub your hands you cannot reach all the places germs can hide, under nails, along nail beds, up wrists, etc. Water is best just to have a comfortable temperature so you can wash the germs away.", "As simply as I can describe it, soap breaks down dirt (and your top layer of dead skin). The soap then sticks to all of this gunk (which includes germs), then you wash it all away.\n\nWarm water makes the reactions occur faster and more effectively. You could use cold water, but you would need to be at it for a much longer time.\n\nSoap, like shampoo, bubbles when it has nothing else to attach to. So, if you don't see bubbles after lathering up, it is because the soap is sticking to dirt and whatnot. You keep adding handsoap until it bubbles so you know you got everything.\n\nAlso, antibacterial soap is good because it kills bacteria rather than just washing them away.\n\nIf you go for temp only, the water would need to heat your hands to about 165 F for atleast 15 seconds to kill the stuff there. But that gives you 3rd degree burns, so best avoid that. Warm water is perfect.", "It's just using soap. What happens is that there are small particules of dirt stuck to your hands. These particules can be water soluble (and then just rinsing your hands with water can get rid of them) or oily (and then they're not soluble in water so just rinsing your hands wouldn't work). \n\nThe soap molecules are made of a hydrophobic tail (which \"likes\" oily particules) and a hydrophilic head (which \"likes\" water). The hydrophobic tails will surround the oily particules and the heads will make an hydrophilic coating around all of it (like a sphere, the surface of the sphere is made of the heads and the inside is made of the tails, with the dirt particule in the middle), allowing it to become soluble in water and carried away by it when you rinse.\n\nAntibacterial soap just has the added benefit of having chemicals which will actively kill the bacteria instead of just trying to remove it from your hands.\n\nEDIT: Also, except if you work in a hospital/any health related field/encounter a lot of sick people, antibacterial soap usually isn't necessary, and overusing it can contribute to create super resistant bacteria strains. You kill all the bacteria that can be killed with this kind of soap, and the only remaining ones are the resistant ones, which can then proliferate more because they are no longer in concurrence with the bacteria you eliminated\n\nEDIT2: As stated in another comment, using warm water does speed up the chemical reaction, so it is more efficient to wash your hands for 30s with warm water than with cold water, but you can't possibly wash your hands with water hot enough to kill bacteria and stuff, so that's the only added benefit", "**Please read this entire message**\n\n---\n\nYour submission has been removed for the following reason(s):\n\n* ELI5 requires that you *search the ELI5 subreddit for your topic before posting*.\n\nThere are no exceptions to this rule. \n\nUsers will often either find a thread that meets their needs or find that their question might qualify for an exception to rule 7.\n\nPlease see this [wiki entry](_URL_1_) for more details (Rule 7).\n\n* Here's a link to the search _URL_0_\n\n\n\n---\nIf you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](_URL_2_) first. If you still feel the removal should be reviewed, please [message the moderators.](_URL_3_?)" ] }
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[ [], [], [], [], [], [ "https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search/?q=washing%20hands&restrict_sr=1&t=year", "http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/how_to_search", "https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules", "http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Can%20you%20review%20my%20thread" ] ]
20nd83
why are boats so rediculously expensive
A new boat as compared to a new car. Is it the cost of manufacturing? What IS it?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20nd83/eli5_why_are_boats_so_rediculously_expensive/
{ "a_id": [ "cg4xb77", "cg4xfqi", "cg4xgw6", "cg4xljc" ], "score": [ 2, 3, 7, 3 ], "text": [ "Boats are luxury items, and often have very hefty taxes levied on them.", "What kind of boats are you talking about? The ones I'm familiar with, such as bass boats, are about the size of a large car and are comparable in cost (especially in the used market).", "Saw a sign once: \"A boat is a hole in the water into which one throws money\".\n\nBoat maintenance is huge due to the water alone, nevermind water-intense life like moss, grime, barnacles, and so forth. Add onto that fuel, boating licenses, dock fees, taxes...", "Like anything else, they are priced at a level that the market will bear." ] }
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1ut5cj
what is an engine then, really?
My boyfriend and his friends rented out a big old building downtown. Last night we were walking through the basement and I saw this thing. I asked him what it is and he told me it is an engine, and acted like I should've known. But when I asked him some more questions (why is it nailed into the concrete? Don't engines go inside of things? What was its purpose nailed to the floor in the basement and how did it work?) it turned out he had no idea. _URL_1_ _URL_2_ _URL_0_
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ut5cj/eli5_what_is_an_engine_then_really/
{ "a_id": [ "celee0p", "celehzq", "celgzfo" ], "score": [ 4, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "An engine is basically an air pump that converts fuel into useful work (power over time). That work can be transfered to a vehicle (car engine) or used to generate electricity (back up generator), or power some system of machines to get a useful output (think of a factory). The limits are basically only one's imagination (and an output that exceeds fuel costs). \n\nEdit: given the branding (Carrier is a well known heating, ventalation and air conditioning manufacturer), my guess would be that it operated an air conditioning or refrigeration system. ", "Engines take some kind of power source (gas, electricity, etc) and do work -- that's basically it.\n\nWhat kind of work? Well that depends... If it's in a car, it'll turn the wheels. If it's in a drill, it'll turn the drill bit. If it's in a saw, it'll turn the saw blade. Etc. etc.\n\n > Don't engines go inside of things?\n\nMany times, yes, but not always. Consider a portable power generator. Often times these are portable units that you can take with you to convert the energy from gasoline into electricity. \n\n > What was it's purpose nailed to the floor in the basement \n\nMy best guess is a possible backup power source -- if the electricity went out, the building could still be powered by gas via the engine. ", "Finally joined reddit to answer this question. It is most definitely NOT an internal combustion engine. It is a compressor, likely for air conditioning or a cooler of some sort. Carrier makes HVAC equipment, not engines. It's meant to be driven by either an engine (unlikely) or an electric motor (more likely). If there's a walk-in cooler in the area, there's your answer." ] }
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[ "http://imgur.com/4qmE7m3", "http://imgur.com/LJyxiG7", "http://imgur.com/F7tLESO" ]
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4hi97w
if we shake something strong enough,will the bacteria on it fall ?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hi97w/eli5_if_we_shake_something_strong_enoughwill_the/
{ "a_id": [ "d2pshez" ], "score": [ 12 ], "text": [ "No amount of shaking that your hands can do will work. However, an *ultrasonic cleaner* will shake off some percentage of the bacteria with thousands of shakes per second. Not enough to sterilize it." ] }
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er3j3q
why do injuries like ingrown toenails hurt more at night?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/er3j3q/eli5_why_do_injuries_like_ingrown_toenails_hurt/
{ "a_id": [ "ff0xs98" ], "score": [ 6 ], "text": [ "I believe it’s because you are most inactive then, and you are distracted by nothing else, so you notice it most then." ] }
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44x0x9
how does the music or television industry decide what will and what will not be censored?
In a few songs, I've heard words like asinine, God, violence, and blood censored, but at the same time words like bitch, damn, and ultra-suggestive word play is left in. Why?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44x0x9/eli5_how_does_the_music_or_television_industry/
{ "a_id": [ "czu344y" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "A lot of this started because of Hollywood and the Catholic Church. Before all that though, there were a lot of events of newspaper publishers who used obscenity and were taken to court by readers. They determined the first amendment didn't cover obscenities, basically. The idea is that you can get your point across without having to be vulgar. \n \nPopularization came through the Film Industry as you'd expect. I'll TL;DR this part - baisically there were organizations put into effect to censor (and later to rate) films for the masses. Since broadcasts are technically open to the public, they're always censored. \n \nNowadays, You have the FCC to thank for this one. They regulate all of the censorship laws in effect in the US. They have very specific guidelines as to what can be aired and what can't. Broadcasters that are caught have to pay a hefty fee if they violate those laws." ] }
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1ttdcg
how do really loud sirens work?
The firehouse siren in my town just went off and I can hear it clearly even though it's over 3 miles away. How is that possible?? Are all sirens the same? Like tornado sirens, bomb sirens, fire sirens?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ttdcg/eli5_how_do_really_loud_sirens_work/
{ "a_id": [ "ceb9g1g", "cebawr3", "cebbv38", "cebc2xz" ], "score": [ 17, 8, 25, 4 ], "text": [ "Civil defense (tornado) sirens is what i'm assuming you're talking about. They are either remotely powered or contain a battery inside. Typically using electro-magnetic force, they spin a centered shaft with fins attached. The rate they spin and the formation of the fins is what generates the noise. If you are real curious look up the V8 Chrysler siren!", "Another question: If he can hear it from that far away, how is it not deafening to those closer? Or is it just assumed that whatever disaster looms is worse than becoming deaf?", "As you learned in school, sound is just compression waves in the air, moving at a certain frequency that our ears detect as sound.\n\nNow, you're probably used to the speaker cones that are in your headphones and TVs and stuff -- they work by having an electromagnet push the cone back and forth to make those waves. Louder speakers need bigger and more powerful electromagnets, causing larger and more powerful waves in the air -- but at some point, if you put enough power through a speaker, it will reach the structural limit of the electromagnet or the cone, causing physical failure. Putting more power into the speaker causes the cone to push more air around, but there's an upper limit to how much air a cone speaker can move back and forth.\n\nThere are other ways of making air waves though, which allow for much higher volumes. Tornado sirens work this way: there's a compressor fan, which creates air pressure inside the horn. The mechanism that spins the fan also spins a blade of some sort that \"chops\" up the air, or creates varying open and closed windows that allow the air to escape, causing periodically low pressure and high pressure output -- a \"wave\" that you can hear. Depending on how fast the blades are spinning affects the frequency of the sound waves, and thus the pitch raises and lowers, but this isn't really effective for playing music. Because you can hook up a really powerful motor up to the compressor and blades, causing huge waves, bigger waves than a delicate speaker cone and coil can tolerate, it can create really, really powerful sound output.\n\nEdit: [Here's a good description with animation and pictures](_URL_0_).", "It's been a while since I have watched it all the way through so I am not sure if he explains it, but this man is an excellent craftsman who was building a dust collector and realized that it created a lot of noise like a siren. So he did the logical thing and made it create the most noise possible. Very fun to watch\n\n_URL_0_" ] }
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[ [], [], [ "https://airraidsirens.com/tech_howtheywork.html" ], [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAfvOjdZpkg" ] ]
2ar10e
if an insurance company won't pay out due to an "act of god", what's to stop me simply stating that i do not believe in god? or asking them to provide proof of god's existence or role in the damage?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ar10e/eli5_if_an_insurance_company_wont_pay_out_due_to/
{ "a_id": [ "cixw46e", "cixw49m", "cixw6oo", "cixw7bh", "cixw9m4", "cixwg8t", "cixwyau", "cixxbpr" ], "score": [ 2, 2, 3, 23, 2, 6, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "It's a figure of speech, ask them what it means and they will give you a definitive list.", "Nothing is stopping you from saying it. But you signed the agreement so they couldn't care less. ", "\"Act of God\" in this case just refers to something that happened outside of your control. Example \"You rent a car from me and promise to bring it back in two weeks. The day before you have to bring it back it is destroyed by a hailstorm.\" You didn't summon the hailstorm so it is not your fault and you won't have to pay for the car. Same with the insurance. BTW in dutch it is called \"overmacht\" which loosely translates to higher power, but doesn't refer to god. SO calling you don't belief doesn't work.", "\"Act of God\" is the official legal term for events outside of human control, for which no one can be held accountable. It is irrelevant whether you believe in a god because when you signed the contract with the insurance company, you presumably knew what the term meant.", "Your insurance coverage is a contract that you expressly agreed to. They agree to provide you financial coverage for items listed in your policy and you agree to pay them premiums to do so. Part of that contract is a list of things you both agree will be covered and not covered.", "Because \"act of God\" is a legal term, not a religious one. You agreed to the terms and conditions when you entered into a contract with the insurance company, and you are bound by them, so your beliefs or absence of beliefs is irrelevant to the situation.\n\nEDIT: clearer language", "Act of God doesn't actually have to do with religion it just means whether or not you or another human could've influenced whatever caused the damage. For example tornado knocks over a tree and crushes the car that's an act of God because its out of your control.", "Your insurance company doesn't believe God is picking on you it's just a term for something that nobody has any control over." ] }
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ar4b6v
why would the extinction of insects mean the end of mankind?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ar4b6v/eli5_why_would_the_extinction_of_insects_mean_the/
{ "a_id": [ "egkorfw", "egkozfp" ], "score": [ 5, 2 ], "text": [ "Insects are the main pollinators for many species of plants, including crops that we eat. So if all insects went extinct, there wouldn’t be anything to pollinate those plants and they would cease making fruits/reproducing", "Well for one, the total collapse of the food chain. Everything that eats insects dies, which means all the animals that eat *those* animals and so on. Plus insects are huge pollinators, so say goodbye to a bunch of plant life as well. Insects are also heavily responsibly for breaking down waste and decaying organic matter and recycling in back the ecosystem. A world without insects is a world of death and rot and decay. " ] }
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apeodp
why is the raising prices of goods seen as justified by many per inflation, but the raising of wages for anyone other than the upperclass is not?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/apeodp/eli5_why_is_the_raising_prices_of_goods_seen_as/
{ "a_id": [ "eg7skj5", "eg7t2ef", "eg7ti2i" ], "score": [ 7, 2, 3 ], "text": [ "The premise of your question is incorrect in two ways. First, overall wage growth *is* sought by economists. Second, mild to moderate inflation is tolerated (and, in some ways, good), but high inflation is bad and runaway inflation is an economy that’s about to die. \n\nIn the US, the main job of the Federal Reserve is to keep inflation in check. They do that with a few tools, most visibly the interest rate. They’ve been doing an amazing job on that; we haven’t had high inflation in a long time. They are an under-appreciated forced for good. Without them, the economy would veer off the road. ", "Well incorrect premises, people do want higher wages, but higher wages means more expenses for businesses, but higher prices = more profits.\n\nBetter question is why upperclass get rises but lower dont?\n\nSimply as they own the buisness or are very vital for it. Could be shareholders, ceo, top project lead etc.\nThey cant be replaced easily. It is cheaper to give them a rise than replace them.\n\nOn the other hand anyone else if they demand rises might be cheaper just to replace them.\n\nWell that drifted away from the original question.\n\nSo you see higher prices can be justified by higher costs, and most costs nowdays are wages. So you would think that 5% price rise would equal 5% wage rise? Kinda, and not in the good way. As said earlier, it depends on how vital you are whether you will see a bonus. Oh and btw humans are really selfish egoistical creatures. \n\nImagine a democracy where only the rich people can vote. That is a corporation. I think that should answer your question.", "Because the easiest way for the rich to get richer is to charge more for products and pay employees the least amount possible. \n\nYou will see all kinds of other responses to this and your initial question trying to convince you it's more complicated or that there's some magical long worded reasons for it. It's all bullshit. Rich get richer. That's the answer. " ] }
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3gnl83
musicians of reddit - why is so little modern music in 3/4 time? and why is next to no modern dance music in 3/4 when 3/4 was a waltz (dance) tempo?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gnl83/eli5_musicians_of_reddit_why_is_so_little_modern/
{ "a_id": [ "ctzr9u3" ], "score": [ 2 ], "text": [ "3/4 time isn't conducive to solo or group dancing, where people gyrate and/or bop up and down to the time. Try even to sit in your chair and nod to 3/4 time-- it doesn't really work. Most of the time, the big beat 1 is too slow, and nodding to every beat is too fast. You can sort of flail about to 3/4, but unless you're actually dancing a waltz, dancing is pretty much out. And pop music is often about danceability. \n\nThere are still lots of pop songs in 3/4 (or 6/8) time... \nBreathe (3 a.m.) by Anna Nalick\n\nShitloads of Money by Liz Phair\n\nAlicia Keys -- Fallin\n\nDaughters -- John Mayer\n\nWeezer -- My Name is Jonas \n\n\n Come to mind right away. I'm sure there are others.\n\nNow, pop music in complex time, like the 4/4+3/4 in Barracuda, or the 7/4 in Peter Gabriel's Salisbury Hill (which switches seamlessly between 4/4+3/4 to 3/4+4/4)... or even the extra 2/4 beat thrown into the chorus of \"Hey Yah,\" that's just awesome stuff.\n" ] }
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tuleg
how do places like this form naturally?
_URL_0_ Geologically speaking, how does something like that just happen?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tuleg/how_do_places_like_this_form_naturally/
{ "a_id": [ "c4pujpz", "c4pv28e", "c4pwr29", "c4pwz1g", "c4px4go", "c4px614" ], "score": [ 15, 21, 10, 3, 2, 6 ], "text": [ "Over time the water erodes away the rock. You can see on the rock wall where the different water levels used to be over time the rise and fall of the water level will erode the wall. If the water never goes up to ground level that is how the overhang is created. Rock hardness also comes into play the upper layer maybe made of a harder rock thus allowing it to erode slower that the lower layers of softer rock.", "[Relevant magic school bus episode](_URL_0_). \n\nBasically it's about erosion. One type of rock will hang on, while other will collapse when you wash away its support. ", "I know the spot and hopefully will be able to give you a simple answer.\n\nFirst it is limestone. Limestone is formed in layers. Because of that it like to break in layers. This is what produces over hangs and bridges. \n\nThe other part is sink holes. Limestones is like a really slow sponge. If you leave it in water it will absorb it (hundreds of years later). If it has areas of different densities these will get hollowed out. \n\nThere is more to it than that, but those are the basic processes.", "I can't seem to find the link, but there is a good documentary about those things. It was probably BBC or PBS. I watched it on Youtube. \nI remember that they talked about a turtle falling in and then an alligator went in after it. Both were unable to get out, and ended up dying. The bodies were perfectly preserved at the bottom because of the lack of oxygen. \n\nMaybe someone knows the video?", "Limestone is a soft rock, as rocks go, and so erodes faster than other types of rock that are considered hard. This is an extreme example of undercutting which is pretty much what it says on the tin. It would have happened from the waterfall over many years and erosion from the lake which the waterfall has probably formed.", "Man, I need to visit Hamilton Pool this summer." ] }
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[ "http://i.imgur.com/z8DYO.jpg" ]
[ [], [ "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSUL6Og2VVg" ], [], [], [], [] ]
22gi4p
if black holes are so powerful even light cannot escape, now can we see them if the light reflecting them shouldn't be there?
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22gi4p/eli5_if_black_holes_are_so_powerful_even_light/
{ "a_id": [ "cgmkld5", "cgmklnc", "cgmko4c", "cgmkp27" ], "score": [ 9, 6, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "We can't see them because there's no light reflecting from them.\n\nWe can observe their effects on the surrounding space.", "We can't directly observe them. They strongly bend light that gets close to them (gravitational lensing) which we can detect.\n\nEdit: See [this](_URL_0_) image from wikipedia.", "We don't detect the reflection, we detect:\n\n1. the absence of the reflection.\n2. the absence of any projection of stuff from them (a star for example sends us info).\n3. the affect of the black hole on surrounding space (gravity bending and distorting light).", "Images you have seen are artist's interpretations." ] }
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[ [], [ "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/BH_LMC.png/300px-BH_LMC.png" ], [], [] ]
1yhgn6
so apparently i snore now. how is it that i can't hear or notice that i'm even doing it?
ELI5: So apparently I snore now. How is it that i can't hear or notice that I'm even doing it? I never understood how people who snore couldn't hear themselves. Now that I do it, it's maddening to me.
explainlikeimfive
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yhgn6/eli5_so_apparently_i_snore_now_how_is_it_that_i/
{ "a_id": [ "cfkje0f", "cfkjh3h", "cfkjnrh", "cfkkbup" ], "score": [ 3, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Because one does not... as a rule... snore while awake.", "Because you are asleep. Congrats on the first girlfriend. Finally someone telling you what has been happening for a while. ", "At some point you will half wake up and hear yourself and not be able to believe you slept through that before.", "Because you are asleep when you are doing it" ] }
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f7uoxb
how does leaky gut cause anxiety and depression?
I have SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) and it’s a well known thing that having that overgrowth can cause depression and anxiety. But how?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f7uoxb/eli5_how_does_leaky_gut_cause_anxiety_and/
{ "a_id": [ "fifp929", "fiftgxh", "fifyvr5", "fih4kg4" ], "score": [ 23, 6, 10, 2 ], "text": [ "\"Leaky gut\" isn't a real medical diagnosis, not according to the gastroenterologists that I know, anyhow. It's mostly a diagnosis that naturopaths and other quacks give to people with depression and other problems. They target people that have felt bad for a long time, and are reaching out for something to help them. These quacks give them a name for why they feel bad, and say they can help them with dietary advice and supplements. It's basically just a way for them to cash in on the \"gut microbiome\" craze.", "I know of a couple of studies that show people with SIBO have pretty much the same rates of depression and anxiety as anyone else, but I've never seen a study showing that SIBO causes depression. The only place I've ever seen anyone claiming that SIBO causes depression is on the websites of \"alternative\" practitioners who are trying to sell magical cures and treatments.", "It doesn't. \"Leaky gut\" and even SIBO unless diagnosed by a doctor with fecal cultures are not real and proven problems. The idea of leaky gut is someone inventing a problem so they can sell you a solution that won't actually work. They set it up so that you blame yourself for still having issues to try to get you to try a different cure for a made-up disease.\n\nSIBO can be a real thing, but it's extremely rare and isn't an *overall* overgrowth. It's a situation where, usually through antibiotic use, something like c. dificile or other bacteria gains ground that it usually can't in a healthy system. Your body is always at almost maximum capacity for bacteria, especially in your guts. There is competition for food that keeps the balance between good/bad/neutral. Bringing antibiotics in can override the balance and allow a semi-permanent change in what has the most resources and where it can be. You aren't suddenly having a huge increase in bacteria, but rather are having a problem with what is in charge.\nTreatment is antibiotics and probiotics, and usually takes several months.", "I would recommend [the psychobiotic revolution]( _URL_0_) for an accessible explanation of this topic." ] }
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[ [], [], [], [ "https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/142621846X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_VNzuEbP9K8NYJ" ] ]
c9mgtp
what are all the down sides of the proposed usa census questions asking about citizenship?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c9mgtp/eli5_what_are_all_the_down_sides_of_the_proposed/
{ "a_id": [ "eszuwn0", "eszvhgc" ], "score": [ 5, 2 ], "text": [ "People who are not citizens or those who host them, like land lords or relatives, will feel reluctant to report the true number of people living under their roof if they believe that doing so could mark them for raid and or deportation. It is put there as a scare tactic to make people afraid to be counted, similar effect of voter ID laws.\n\nNow if you feel that counting people who are not citizens is a bad thing, that you can take up with the constitution. The constitution states that all \"free persons\" should be counted.\n\nYou could argue that they're not tax payers, but in fact they are. Every purchase they make is taxed and if they are using false documents, they're still taxed at work. Regardless, it is in the constitution so it would take a major effort to change it. \n\n\nAs for the downside, it is an injustice to attempt to scare people out of their rights and we are judged by the injustices that we commit.", "The census requires a count of all persons living in the United States. Doesn't matter whether those persons are citizens, permanent residents, or non-citizens. The best way to get an accurate count is to be as inclusive as possible and try to get as many people as possible to respond. Asking about citizenship is well understood to increase the likelihood of non-citizens failing to respond to the census at all (and will likely impact the response rate of citizen households that may have familial or other ties to resident non-citizens). Even the census bureau has claimed the presence of a citizenship question will likely result in a significant undercount. Moreover, because of the way non-citizens tend to be located in traditionally democratic-leaning States, the undercount will impact traditionally blue States more severely than traditionally red States. Because each State's share of Representatives in the House of Representatives is based on the census, this uneven undercount is likely to be far more detrimental to the political power of traditionally blue states than traditionally red States. That's why the GOP strategist who passed away (whose name escapes me) was pushing to include the question." ] }
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544rro
why does the cost of soda fluctuate so much per week
Within a given month, what will happen is Coke products will go on sale week 1, then Pepsi week 2, then Coke again, then nothing. I don't think it has anything to do with supply/demand, is it just whatever is overstocked that week? And are the sales controlled by the soda companies or the stores that they're sold in?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/544rro/eli5_why_does_the_cost_of_soda_fluctuate_so_much/
{ "a_id": [ "d7yu8ct", "d7yvrbp", "d7z0w6z", "d81t32r" ], "score": [ 2, 2, 2, 2 ], "text": [ " > And are the sales controlled by the soda companies or the stores that they're sold in?\n\nIn the case of products with a long shelf life, it's usually the brand that sells a large quantity of their product for a low price, so that supermarkets can put them on sale. They do that because they have a large enough profit margin so that they still make a profit at the reduced price, and hope that they will make up for the reduced profits by enticing people who would not buy it at the regular price to buy it at the reduced price. 10 bottles of coke worth $0.10 of profit are just as good as 1 bottle worth $1.\n\n", "The profit margin on soda is enormous anyway, so much so that the name brands are content to be priced above store brands.\n\nThey are not necessary products. About the only logical time to buy soda is when you need to have bottled liquid to drink. Artificially sweetened soda is cheaper than a lot of bottled water.", "I am a consultant for retail convenience and I interact with these vendors daily. It's nothing more than a tactic to gain market share in a highly competitive environment. \n\nThe company \"buys down\" the price of the product, offering price promotions to the consumer which in turn allows them to sell more product. \n\nIt's all about the shareholder. If Company X records share growth in Q3, stock price goes up. \n\nSame goes for tobacco, beer, and so on. Hope this helps. \n\n(It has nothing to do with basic supply and demand)", "As other commentors have said, price margins on soda are ridiculous. For a can of soda, the most expensive part is the aluminum used to make the can. The total cost is somewhere around 7 cents a can. " ] }
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5n2dcf
thorium-fueled molten salt reactors...why can't they have a meltdown and why aren't we using them as a 'green' alternative energy?
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5n2dcf/eli5_thoriumfueled_molten_salt_reactorswhy_cant/
{ "a_id": [ "dc8hxxo" ], "score": [ 5 ], "text": [ "Thorium isn't the selling point for a reactor that can't melt down; thorium is extremely difficult to turn into elements that can create a nuclear bomb (heavy uranium and plutonium).\n\nThe liquid salt aspect is the neat part. The reactors have been tested, and despite public hatred, are extremely safe. Our current reactors run on extremely highly pressurized water that, if a leak occurs, sends out radioactive steam. The salt reactors, when designed properly, literally can self shut down if it gets too hot, and if needed can be dumped into a big holding tank where it gets too spread out to generate heat.\n\nA little more sciency: a well designed power reactor can utilize nearly 100% of its heavy fuels, but the current light water reactors use somewhere around 2%. They do this by modulating the neutron economy. If more heavy elements are generated than are destroyed you get a breeder reactor. These are what nuclear bomb plutonium was generated from. If you take that dangerous bred fuel, clean out some elements that steal neutrons without helping, and put it back while forcing more elements to be broken down you get a burner reactor.\n\nThe breeder/burner cycle can be done within a single reactor with fuel reprocessing, and can utilize current nuclear waste. The elements that can't be broken down have half lives in the range of 100 years (instead of 100000 years of uranium and plutonium isotopes that LWRs generate).\n\nAnd as to your question of why isn't it used: public perception of nuclear power is tainted by things like Chernobyl, 3 mile island, and Fukushima (all light water reactors). But for the number of big failures at nuclear plants there's lots more at other forms of power generation, but they aren't as easy to demonize." ] }
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3q8swn
how can we know the percentage of a group that is unaware of a condition when we obviously don't know either? (e.g. 16% of those infected with hiv don’t know it)
explainlikeimfive
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q8swn/eli5_how_can_we_know_the_percentage_of_a_group/
{ "a_id": [ "cwd82iy", "cwdmwad" ], "score": [ 2, 2 ], "text": [ "Mostly, it's educated guesswork. Sometimes, actual research is involved. Take 1000 random people and test them for HIV. Use those numbers to calculate what you want to know. ", "The normal way to figure out what percentage don't know is to test a large number of people, and separately ask whether they have the condition in question. Then, compare the number of people who have the condition with the number of people who said they have the condition.\n\nFor example, if I test a large group of people, and out of that large group of people, 57 say they have HIV, and I get 68 positive HIV results, that suggests that about 15% of the population with HIV doesn't know it.\n\nOf course, medical ethics says that I should let everyone know afterwards; but the test allows me to make a reasonable guess about what percentage of people is HIV positive and doesn't know." ] }
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