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1sg6t9
|
what the hell is going on when i rotate my eyes to my extreme periphery and experience a sort of electric jolting?
|
Yeah... really
It's a thing I've been able to produce since childhood, and I've never met anyone else who can replicate a similar experience. When I brought it up to my Dr. Dad in the past, he just thought I was a weirdo.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sg6t9/what_the_hell_is_going_on_when_i_rotate_my_eyes/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdxa46q"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Can you describe what you mean by \"electrical jolting\"? Where is it located?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
28uxxd
|
singing: "head voice and chest voice"
|
What are they, What's the difference, and how do i know if i'm singing in head of chest voice? (any examples'd be great)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28uxxd/eli5_singing_head_voice_and_chest_voice/
|
{
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"cies8q9"
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"text": [
"I can't explain very well, but i'll give it a shot using what you feel.\n\n\nIf you speak in your \"chest voice\" then you will feel vibrations more from your chest. Your chest voice is what you use to speak etc. and is a \"default\" voice if you will.\n\nYour head voice is actually a combination of both. Head voice you can feel the vibrations more in your head, depending on where. The head voice is actually a technique that combines your chest voice with your falsetto voice. Without using your head voice, if you try to transition between (if your highest modal note is... E4) E4 - E5 (Your falsetto is usually an octave higher) while singing, after your E4 note, there will be a break in your voice before you continue (this is the transition between chest and falsetto). \n\n\n\nExamples:\n\nIf I have a vocal range of... G2 - B4, and my falsetto range is B4 - B5. If I want to hit the note AFTER another, not a gradient (finish singing a B4, THEN go into a B5) then I would use falsetto to achieve it.\n\nIf I wanted a gradient, I would need to use my head voice to do so. The reason for it is, you will strain your voice going higher than a B4 with your chest/modal voice. But you will break between switching between chest/falsetto, so head voice is a technique you would master/use to be able to do it. Your head voice is more of a technique than an actual voice."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2a43p9
|
what is the 4chan tumblr war
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2a43p9/eli5_what_is_the_4chan_tumblr_war/
|
{
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"text": [
"Tumblr thought they would liberate the internet from 4chan. They started shitposting (mostly in /b/ and /pol/) in an attempt to shut down the website. In retaliation 4chan flooded tumblr with gore, shopped porn, and other shit.\n\nEdit: Autocorrect",
"You could basically compare tumblr shitposting on /b/ and /pol/ with pissing in an ocean of piss."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
743vxg
|
how can damage to nerve cells impact healing of injuries?
|
Possibly for an athlete?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/743vxg/eli5how_can_damage_to_nerve_cells_impact_healing/
|
{
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"text": [
"It depends on the type of injury. In the case of a cut damage to the nerves might decrease blood flow which has the effect of slowing the healing process. Your body may also take longer to react to the injury. In the case of a diabetic, Peripheral Neuropathy often slows both responses leading to increased risk of infection. Combined with high blood glucose levels this can mean the loss of life or limb."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
zg257
|
why don't we compare money supply with public debt?
|
I've read a couple of articles about the debt crisis and the banking system, and in every analysis they compare public debts with gdp, or with government spendings, or something like that. But the trivial thing for me would be to compare the M3 money supply (how much money the public has) with public debt (how much money they owe to the banks). Why is it incorrect to compare these two things?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zg257/eli5_why_dont_we_compare_money_supply_with_public/
|
{
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"text": [
"Why *would* it be correct to compare those two things? Money going to the banks doesn't disappear from the money supply, and public debt isn't held by the economy as a whole. If I stuff a million dollars under my bed, in what way should that affect our analysis of public debt?",
"Because the ratio is always 1:1 \n\n(At least when talking about M3) (There might be slight exceptions and variations, I'm not an economist)\n\nIf you want to look at public debt and the money supply, I believe the ratio is 1:1 when using MB (but again, I'm not an economist).\n\nThis is an easy read:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIs Our Money Based on Debt?\n\nby Robert P. Murphy, PhD Economics\n\n\"Every dollar of the monetary base (or \"narrow money\" or \"high-powered money\") comes into existence with a one-to-one increase in the public debt, collectively owed by the taxpayers. Then, private banks use that base to create more dollars (in \"broad money\") that come into existence with a one-to-one increase in private debt.\n\nGoing the other way, if people in the private sector ever paid off all of their debts, and the federal government paid off all of its bondholders, then the supply of US dollars would be virtually extinguished.\""
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://mises.org/daily/4631"
]
] |
|
54ps35
|
why does the bakery put french bread in open paper bags?
|
It gets really stale and gross within an hour this way :( It's so good when it's fresh, though.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54ps35/eli5why_does_the_bakery_put_french_bread_in_open/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d83wo67"
],
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"text": [
"The bag is open so the moisture can get out in case the bread just got out of the oven and is still releasing vapour. You are supposed to close the bag once you have started on eating the bread in order to conserve it well, or put it in a cloth bag or tea towel at home.\n\nIf your un-started French bread gets stale and gross within an hour, then you have bought bad quality bread."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1ji5a9
|
how does nature solve for pi
|
Pi cannot be resolved, yet nature seems to have no troubles ordering up circles. How?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ji5a9/eli5_how_does_nature_solve_for_pi/
|
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"text": [
"There is no such thing as a circle in nature, so nature doesn't \"solve for it\". nature doesn't do anything.\n\nAnd Pi doesn't need to be \"resolved\" or \"solved\", we know what pi is, it's an irrational number that's the ratio between the distance around a circle compared to the distance across it. There isn't really anything to solve.",
"Nature came first, we use pi to understand nature better.",
"there is no need to know what pi is in order to make a circle, you just make a circle.",
"Neither π, nor any other number are naturally occurring. They are man made ideas. For π in particular it is best to think of \"solve for\" to mean \"translate.\"\n\nSolving for π is like drawing squares inside a circle, you can always draw smaller squares, but you can never completely fill the circle, they're will always be little gaps at the edges. π expresses the circle, while 3.14159 etc. expresses the squares."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
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|
6p5z1w
|
why do a good portion of severely autistic people hit themselves?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6p5z1w/eli5_why_do_a_good_portion_of_severely_autistic/
|
{
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"text": [
"There are **many reasons** why a severely autistic person might self - injure. Here are a few from _URL_0_\n\n* biochemical reasons: self injury releases chemicals in the brain that cause the autistic person to feel pleasure (they might also numb the pain inflicted). This is usually due to a chemical imbalance in the brain. \n\n* seizures: involuntary actions caused by seizures. \n\n* genetic: some genetic disorders cause self injury because of structural or biochemical problems in the brain. \n\n* arousal: self injury may increase or decrease one's arousal. Low levels of arousal > self injury > increased levels of arousal (due to chemical response in the brain). An extreme way to self stimulate. High levels of arousal > self injury > decreased levels of arousal (almost like a calming response). Highly stimulating environments can cause this reaction because the self injury could be caused by the stress or anxiety created by the environment.\n\n * frustration: it is hard for some people with extreme autism to always understand what is going on around them, communicate their feelings, or understand what others are trying to communicate with them. They may begin to self harm from frustration. One person described that they self harm because they get frustrated and they need to hit something, but they don't want to hit other people. So they hit themselves. \n\n* social attention: if self injury becomes enforced by the caretakers, it might become a way for the person to gain attention. For example, if a mother runs to her child every time he starts to self injure, the child learns through positive enforcement that he will get attention from her if he self harms. If she ignores the behavior, then he will learn that self harm does nothing to get others to pay attention to him (and it also hurts!) so he will likely stop. \n\nIf you'd like to read about other scenarios, here is the source: https://www._URL_0_/symptoms_self-injury",
" > I understand that they can't fully process everything that is happening, but it doesn't make sense for the brain to attack it's own bod\n\nIt's kind of the opposite. They can't filter everything that is happening, it's overwhelming, so a predictable stimulus with a known cause and effect is calming."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"autism.com",
"https://www.autism.com/symptoms_self-injury"
],
[]
] |
||
1yit40
|
what causes anxiety attacks and how can they be prevented and stopped?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yit40/eli5what_causes_anxiety_attacks_and_how_can_they/
|
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"text": [
"An anxiety attack can build up momentum. If you've had an attack before you get scared of having another one. And this fear actually causes the next one.\n\nSo, for example, say you have an attack in a supermarket. The next time you return to the supermarket you think \"oh no, what if I have an attack now?\" \n\nFrequently people who have an anxiety attack fear the attack will kill them, so it's easy to see why people get in such a state about them. So something that helps a lot is to *know* that the attack will not kill you and to basically chill out about it.\n\nI saw a documentary where someone who gets attacks talked it over with a psychologist. They went to a public place and the guy who got the attacks said his fear was that he would collapse on the floor. So the psychologist asked \"well, and then what? Would it be so bad if you collapsed?\"\n\nThe psychologist went out into the supermarket and then collapsed on the ground to show what would happen. A customer went to him to see what was wrong and then a member of staff went and got him a chair and helped him up into it.\n\nThe psychologist went back to the 'patient' and said \"well, that's what happens if you collapse. What do you think?\" And the guy seemed reassured by what he'd seen.\n\nOne treatment approach is basically to keep confronting situations that induce panic until you learn that you can handle them. There is a real danger with panic that you end up scared to leave the house. So getting out there, confronting the situations, is recommended.",
"It's your mind and body suddenly reacting as though you were in immediate danger, when there is no actual danger. Imagine your reaction to standing on a sidewalk and having a car careen over the walkway and stop just short of killing you where you stand. Now imagine that same insanely fast heart rate and sweat, and scream (or wanting to scream), and fear, except you're sitting quietly by yourself, doing nothing except completely freaking out that your body is acting as though you're having a heart attack for some unknown reason right now. It's a disorder, nothing is known for sure about what causes them. For some people it's a reenactment of a previous life event that legitimately caused them that much stress and worry. There are effective drug treatments, and certain things you can do to minimize the frequency and intensity of attacks, but each person of course reacts differently. It can take some time to work out what works best for each individual.\n\nSource: I live with someone who has panic attacks as a result of a single use of marijuana as a teenager. Drugs can have unexpected repercussions for some people. Steve Martin had panic attacks for the same reason, as cited in his autobiography. Edit: added source iinfo."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
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||
rzqgt
|
spherical trigonometry and the position of the sun at a given latitude
|
In my math history class we studied this topic on a day I was absent, so my professor's notes (which he posted online) make no sense. Give me a simple way of understanding this? Please, Reddit, I need you!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/rzqgt/eli5_spherical_trigonometry_and_the_position_of/
|
{
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],
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2
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"text": [
"do you want an entire lecture about the history of spherical coordinates and how they were historically used to describe the position of the sun? \n\nor\n\ndo you want an explanation of your teachers notes [provide link]\n\nor\n\ndo you even know what spherical coordinates are?\n\nor\n\ndo you need to know about the tilt of the Earth, the orbit of the Earth"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
6kbam2
|
why do species on earth feel the need to survive? is it a "race" to be the "best"?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6kbam2/eli5_why_do_species_on_earth_feel_the_need_to/
|
{
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"text": [
"They feel the need to survive because those are the only ones we've seen. Anything that does not feel the need to survive doesn't survive, so that trait dies out then and there.",
"If they didn't act to survive and reproduce, they don't survive and reproduce, meaning the trait that doesn't have species surviving and reproducing does not get passed to the next generation.\n\nConversely, if an individual member of a species *does* act to survive and reproduce, it is more likely to, and pass on that behavior to the next generation.\n\nThere is no \"race\" in the broad senes, though there is the occasionally pursuit to eat or not get eaten.\n\nAlso it's not a matter of being \"best\". It is a matter of being \"good enough to survive long enough to reproduce\"."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
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||
50mmt5
|
how does the top layer of the earth's crust become buried?
|
I know that the further we dig, the older the fossils are. How do these get slowly buried more and more?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/50mmt5/eli5how_does_the_top_layer_of_the_earths_crust/
|
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"text": [
"The deepest rock melts into magma and gets circulated in the earth's mantle, which is the shell of molten rock around the core. This is then spit out by volcanoes in the form of lava. Lava hardens, then gets eroded and spread around. That's where we get the \"new\" material.",
"Rocks are continually getting eroded in one place and deposited in another. It's deposited in the form of sediment from rivers and dust in the air. Over many years this can build up into a thick deposit burying the older surface. \nAdditionally the Earth's surface is continually on the move, so what may have been a lake bed or a marine environment can be pushed up o form a mountain range. Parts of the sea bed have deposits hundreds of feet thick, built up over millions of years. When these are pushed up the older parts may be buried in several thousand feet of rock.",
"Fossils don't get buried everywhere! If a plant or animal dies in a river valley or along a shoreline, it can eventually be buried by dirt that gets washed downhill from nearby hills and mountains. The mountains gradually erode away as a result, but new ones are formed over time by volcanic eruption or collisions between moving continents.\n\nAnimals that die on top of a hill, though, won't get buried so easily, and their fossils probably won't be preserved. As you can imagine, this means that we know more about animals that lived in valleys and shorelines than the ones that lived on hilltops."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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fiykfh
|
how do astronomers knows the weather on planets?
|
Recently, I read few articles about planets where it rains iron or diamonds, strong wind and more. I was wondering how they figured out this.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fiykfh/eli5_how_do_astronomers_knows_the_weather_on/
|
{
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"It's not necessarily that we know for sure that these things happen, but that we can make models based on our observations and say \"yea this should happen\", or \"this is likely to occur.\" For planets in our own solar system, it's easy because they're very close and we can directly observe them, and in some cases, have observed them from the surface (we've landed probes on Venus and have currently active rover on Mars). \n\nFor planets around other stars, it's more mathematical modelling. For example, if we see that a planet is tidally locked to its parent star, we know that one side will be really hot all the time and the other side will be really cold, and based on our mathematical models, that would create tremendous winds. We can also look at the atmospheric composition of a planet and say \"it's got an atmosphere with a tremendous amount of pressure, a high temperature, and hydrocarbons.\" We can recreate those conditions here on Earth and it makes diamonds, so it strongly suggests the same should occur on a similar planet."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
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|
2nvave
|
what does it take to put the "based on a true story" label on a movie?
|
I see more and more movies putting "Based on a true story" label. What does it really mean? Can the movie have an underlying theme which is based on a true story and then spice it up with fiction?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nvave/eli5what_does_it_take_to_put_the_based_on_a_true/
|
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"text": [
"It doesn't mean anything. If you can somehow tangentially relate something that happens in the film to something that might have happened in the real world, they'll throw the label on there. It's just an attempt to add a sense of reality to the movie. ",
"There's no organization that enforces this sort of thing. Fargo said it was based on a true story even though it was entirely fiction.",
"Nothing whatsoever.\n\nThere was this guy once who had a sister. Therefore Star Wars is based on a true story.\n\n",
"It means basically \"We want you to think this is true\".\n\nNow, when a thing is based on a *confirmable* event, filmmakers rarely use \"based on a true story\". Like, we know Pompeii happened. We know Gandhi was a real guy. It's usually movies about stuff that'd otherwise make you go \"Come on! That sounds like a tabloid!\" or something that use it, to make you take it a bit more seriously. \n\nMy favorite variation on it is \"Dodgeball: A true underdog story\". It's true that it's an underdog story. That's it. ;) ",
"The movie studios legal department makes the call. You almost never can say a \"True Story\". Based gets you off the legal hook and makes it harder for people to sue. And sue they do. Its ridiculous but it happens.",
" > Can the movie have an underlying theme which is based on a true story and then spice it up with fiction?\n\nThat's usually how it happens. One aspect or detail of the movie is based on truth, and everything else is completely made up. \n\nLike Leatherface, the serial killer from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Dude was based on a real killer named [Ed Gein](_URL_0_), who exhumed dead bodies to make trophies and knick-knacks from their bones and skin, including masks and a lampshade from two women he killed. \n\nAbsolutely everything else about the movie was completely made up, even though it claimed to be based on a true story. There really isn't any sort of committee or group of people who examine a movie before giving it the \"based on a true story\" seal of approval. "
]
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[],
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3uokl0
|
what would happen if a passenger car went full speed into a runaway truck ramp on the freeway?
|
I understand a semi truck will sink into the gravel due to its own weight and quickly come to a stop, hopefully before the pile of gravel at the end. Would the same thing happened to say, a four door sedan? Or would the car be too light and glide across the gravel?
.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3uokl0/eli5_what_would_happen_if_a_passenger_car_went/
|
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"The same thing that happens when a semi goes into a runaway ramp: the sand/gravel slows it down.\n\nIt has more to do with the inability of the gravel/sand to support a weight of any amount then a particular weight and the vehicle, essentially, digging into the ground as it goes along due to it sinking because the surface cannot hold the weight of any car.\n\nThe gravel/sand is too soft to support any serious weight; just as when people walk on beaches. Because the tires concentrate the weight onto several small patches (just like feet), the vehicle sinks."
]
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[] |
[] |
[
[]
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2p052u
|
if a smartphone has as much computing power as nasa did in 1969, shouldn't sending men to the moon again be a piece of cake?
|
If we believe what is said in [the latest](_URL_0_) CrashCourse video.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p052u/eli5if_a_smartphone_has_as_much_computing_power/
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"text": [
"The computer was just a tiny piece of the overall program. Building a rocket and getting it into space safely is still wildly difficult, especially to do so at a reasonable cost.\n\ntl;dr: Building spaceships is fucking hard.",
"Yes, and no. We may have better computers, but the NASA of yore had a blank check where science spending was concerned.\n\nThe major issue is not the science, it's the money needed.",
"Technology is not what's keeping us from going to the Moon.\n\nThere's only two things that stop a government from doing anything -- politics and money. We aren't sending anyone to the moon because it's not politically popular to do so, and it's not inexpensive enough that people wouldn't care.",
"Reaching the moon is not a computational problem, it's a physics and money problem.",
"Not necessarily, because computing power isn't the only factor in computer capability, and because a spaceship is not made only of a computer. \n\nComputing power doesn't even directly equal the capability for a computing task to be accomplished. One extremely simple example: a more powerful computer running through an inefficient operating system would not necessarily accomplish the same task a quickly as a less powerful computer working more efficiently. \n\nFurthermore, a spaceship is merely one part (along with machinery, human input, etc) of accomplishing a task like transporting people to the moon. \n\nIn short, sure, it is much easier for brilliant rocket scientists to accomplish similar goals due to improved technology than it was in 1969, but that doesn't inherently make it a \"piece of cake.\" \n\nWith that said, based on the number of space tourism start-ups over the past few years, it does seem likely that some amount of space travel (at least the moon) will become commonplace in our lifetime. \n\nedited: clarity",
"You are looking at it backwards. The fact NASA had so little computing power shows how it is only a very small part of space travel.",
"Its all about scale. The program made for Apollo, the curiosity rover, satellites, all of which are blown away by current smart phones. \n\nNow as a programmer, Android, and IOS are very resource heavy. They need to constantly be doing calculations, running a UI, dealing with third party apps the userinstalled. \n\nNow spacecraft processing computers have a specific job. They do math. Calculate burn rates, trajectories. All of which is simple mathematics which can be ran on a less powerful processor. \n\nRedundancy. Have you ever dropped your phone? Boom its broke. Space processors need to withstand liftoff, reentry, radiation. This makes the simpler is better approach so much more desired. ",
"Right now, the stuff NASA wants to use the moon for are things we haven't done before. \n\nThey have very little interest in landing there again (there was a recent Boeing proposal for some future moon landings, but nothing has been accepted yet). Instead, NASA wants to do some interesting things like putting an asteroid in lunar orbit so that astronauts can go examine in.\n\nThey also want to start playing around with the Earth-Moon Lagrange Points (basically, special areas where the Earth's gravity and the Moon's gravity cancel each other out perfectly). ",
"Yeah, a spaceflight really isn't about computer power. \nEverything we build now is for low earth orbit, so even if we had complete funding to go to the moon again, it would still take a long time. AFAIK, we have no heavy lift rockets anymore. Getting to the moon took countless man hours involving government employees, contractors and sub-contractors who no longer have the knowledge or tooling available. Having a powerful computer would certainly help things, but the task is amazingly difficult.",
"Yes, son, I'm sure there's a smartphone app that will give you and your crew escape velocity from the earth. With an adapter, you might also be able to get air and water and food from it, too.",
"Everyone else has already mentioned that computing power is only a small part of sending a man (or woman for the overly sensitive) to the moon. You have to consider the motives behind going to the moon in the 60's in the first place. With the Apollo program, it was 100% all about beating the Russians. There was really no immediate economic benefit. Besides my now super cozy NASA designed mattress. /s However, as the advancement of other sciences have developed in recent years the economic incentives are huge. Like billions and billions huge! Helium-3 is the driving economic force and without a doubt the new \"Gold Rush\". On a side note, a lot of what NASA did and still does may seem routine. At first glance, I tend to agree with this sentiment but keep in mind that NASA is funded by tax dollars so they publish all of their scientific findings in mind numbing detail. Personally, I think it's pretty interesting to read about the lunar regolith composition. Private companies are \"mining\" (no pun intended, or was it intended?) all of this data to build their own for-profit space programs. These companies think of NASA as their outsourced R & D department. In the end the first country and/or company to land and harvest/mine the moon will likely become a superpower overnight(or reassert their superpower status). \n\nWith that in mind who wants to start our own lunar mining company? One space shuttle fully loaded with Helium-3 is worth billions. \"Who's coming with me?\"- Jerry Maguire. \n\nThink about what we, this generation, have that has never existed in human history. The internet, which is the collective knowledge of the human race since the beginning of time. And you thought it was just a porn/Reddit portal. :) The next thing we have that has never existed in human history is access to technology that just 10 years ago was purely science-fiction. Think how freaking awesome/scary/cool/bizarre that is!\n\nThere are absolutely zero barriers preventing a dedicated group of hobbyists from making this happen. If you disagree I'd be happy to build a case as to why. ",
"My Dad worked at JPL, so unmanned probes, not manned missions. But he knew about rockets, and not that many people are still around that know about those old rockets. \n\nAbout 10 years ago, after he retired, he was asked to sit in on a meeting as a consultant. They were discussing which material to be used to make some part of a subdominant. They had all but decided on a particular material, when Dad spoke up that it failed at whatever conditions. They needed more than his word. He rattled off the report of its testing, showing its failure, a report he wrote on the 1960s. He *remembered* that. They would've gone forward with th wrong material and he saved them all that time, money, and effort just by being at that meeting.\n\nHe said that, at that time, there were likely only a handful of men left who knew all that stuff. Most are gone now.\n\nThat's why it's hard to do this. They're re-inventing the wheel, with new materials and components.\n",
"If you'd like to know more about what went into the Appollo missions then check out the documentary Moon Machines\n\n_URL_0_",
"The main thing is computing power was a very very small part of the sending a rocket to the moon mission as a whole. Most of the hard part was doing the calculations needed by hand via the very smart people that worked for nasa and the computing gave the minimal required info to adjust to any difficulties.\n\nSO having more computing power in your cell phone doesnt make the users smarter nor does it give you the materials or drive to send a rocket to the moon.\n\nThat being said we could send a rocket tot he moon without much hassle at all now given the money and a reason to do so.",
"Yeah, No problem. Get your phone, go build a rocket. Good luck.",
"I'm just going to add that your calculator has as much computing power as NASA did. Your smart phone is probably faster then most desktop pc's were in the 90's",
"It's not exactly *difficult*. It's just expensive as fuck.",
"Incidentally yes, but just like Facebook insists on pushing a 75Mb app package every 2 weeks to fix their bloated, unworkable app with barely a bee's nuts worth of features, so Software engineers have screwed us over again with going to the moon and insist that what was possible previously is now no longer possible unless you amp up the RAM and CPU by a factor of 10,000.\n\nHowever blame shouldn't just be on the software engineers. Unfortunately the mechanical and chemical engineers haven't really been pulling their weight either, and unfortunately fuel and metal isn't any less dense or strong and earth gravity still drags at 9.8m/s2. \n\nRocket engines have gotten marginally more powerful, but on a relative scale like when you go walk to San Franscisco and grab hold of one of the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge and claim (quite rightly) that you've increased the the carrying capacity of the bridge.\n\nFinally, much blame has to be put on the American people who decided that spending 4.5% of the federal budget was far too excessive of NASA and such money was far better spent in dropping napalm, agent orange and unexploded mines around Asia and the Middle East for the next 54 years was far more efficient use of the tax payers dollar.",
"The computing power available isn't really as important as money, or manpower. The computers we have now are infinitely better than the computers that were around when the pyramids were built, but we're not about to build infinite pyramids.",
"Do you really think we couldn't travel to the moon if we wanted? We've put multiple probes on Mars and even comets.",
"At this time, probes and shuttles don't actually need or benefit greatly from high performance computers. Shuttles and probes generally do little to no analysis of data that they collect (beyond packaging it for transmission to earth, or storing it), nor do they calculate flight plans. Additionally, current \"portable\" (as in an smaller than a briefcase) sensor technology is pretty limited; our spacecraft are relatively blind and so have limited research capabilities in and of themselves. Currently our probes are used more for collection of physical samples (which have great scientific worth) as well as being useful in specific situations in which our earth-bound sensors are not enough (i.e photography of planetary surfaces; telescopes cannot achieve magnification close to what a high resolution camera orbiting the planet can provide).\n\nNow you might ask: \"Sure, we don't NEED to have high performance computers in space, but now that they're affordable, why don't we?\". The thing is that in space, you need **absolute** reliability (well, as close as you can get). Computational power is less important than the need to count on the device.\n\nThe reason for this is that quite often repairs are very difficult or even impossible, and even if they are possible in theory, it might not be possible to fix them in time (or other circumstances arise that prevent a fix). Most systems on a rocket are crucial to it's mission, so a failure is a massive problem that probably will jeopardize the mission and very well could threaten the lives of the astronauts.\n\nSo, NASA instead makes use of computers that have undergone rigorous testing with multiple decades of evidence supporting their reliability. Newer computer components may run better, but they don't have the operational history older ones do. Additionally, in the last few decades we've made leaps in bounds primarily in how *complex* we can make computers. The basic technology is actually still pretty close to as it was in the 1950's, we've just found ways to cram more parts into one given space. What this translates to is that the way we have been improving our computers so far is to give them more parts, and we do that by making progressively smaller parts. It's like making a bomb more powerful by adding more explosives to it (as opposed to changing the explosive itself for a better one).\n\nThe problem with this is that the greater complexity of our modern computers makes them more prone to failure in theory. We have found ways to compensate for the increased threat of failure brought by scaling the amount of parts in them, but we can't fully compensate for it.\n\nSo, NASA sticks with older, more simple technology for many aspects of the shuttles that are mission-critical, and this is as it should be.",
"Well, computing power does not equal rocket power. You could presumably survive in space because of computing power, but you can't actually get there because of fuel and aeronautical engineering limitations.",
"Computationally, yes.\n\nEngineering wise? It's still a bitch.",
"You seem to think that space travel is only dependant on processing power, and not funding, or the political climate, or interest, or acceptable levels of safety, or the technology that goes with that level of safety, or...",
"Yeah. You not just code our way to Mars too? Computers do everything. ",
"[This](_URL_1_) is the Apollo guidance computer. Size of the buttons should give you an idea of its scale.\n\n[This](_URL_0_) is Apollo 10 getting ready to launch. Note the trucks driving next to it for scale.\n\nReducing the guidance computer from the size of a briefcase to the size of a SIM card won't really do all that much considering that its size is almost negligible compared to the huge damn rocket you need to get off of Earth. Making it a few thousand times more powerful doesn't really help all that much either, since the original one was good enough to do all the calculations that were necessary and all a more advanced one does is make it a bit more straightforward, gives the astronauts a little less work to do, and maybe helps you recover from a mistake or disaster more easily. \n\n",
"What part of you thinks that the computing involved with getting tons of metal, fuel, and humans into space is the difficult part?",
"The computer just tells you where to point. You still need a million pounds of rocket fuel to actually go somewhere. ",
"The simplest explanation: Your smartphone doesnt have rockets.\n",
"Best analogy is the following: \n\nCars today have more computing power and are more fuel efficient than cars in the past. Let's say I said here's $1000 for gas to drive from NY to LA, you'll make it no problem in a 1950's clunker. Now I tell you here's a $100 for gas to go from NY to LA and you'll struggle in even the most technologically advanced hybrid.\n\n I.e. even if we got a lot better at making these trips, but the budget shrank enormously.",
"Aerospace Engineer here. Did a short internship at NASA Johnson in the midst of the development of the recovery systems for the Orion CM (America's newest beyond Earth-Orbit manned space capsule). I still remember in one of the Monday morning meetings the team lead for the parachute systems complaining about this very question. \"We did it with the Apollo capsule, why are there so many problems?\"\n\nHis answer was something along the lines of, \"It was hard back then. It's still hard. Physics haven't changed. It had problems then. It still has problems now.\"\n\nEssentially, the computers didn't need to be all that advanced. Just *reliable*. The ability to compute orbits, control flight systems, and execute communications does not necessarily require a lot of computing POWER.\n\nAs for the overall difficulty of rocket science, people always think that with more computing power, design, build, and test should be easier. Yes and no. The problem doesn't become simpler. It becomes better-studied. Engineers will also do as much as they possibly can to make things safe and optimal. With more computing power comes additional checks for potential safety issues and better design. The physics don't get any easier. Our solutions get better, but they still take as much time if not more. A good example is computational fluid dynamics (computer-coded flow solvers used to tell us more information about how liquid or air flows over a given object including forces, temperatures, etc). We didn't have this tool to help study a *vast majority* of the airplanes *ever built*. So how did we build them? We built models, tested in wind tunnels, then did flight test and put lives on the line to validate. Nowadays we do wind tunnel, CFD, then flight test. CFD hasn't made the problem any *easier*, just safer, more multi-faceted, and a bit better understood than ever before. It still takes time, manpower, and money. The physics haven't changed.\n\nTL;DR: Tech tends to make the most difficult aerospace problems more multi-dimensional and a bit better understood, but not necessarily simpler or vastly cheaper.",
"It's like that stupid meme that says \"your phone has more computing power than all of NASA did in 1969. They went to the moon. You use Facebook\" or something like that.\n\nYeah...They also had millions of dollars of of rocket equipment, a team of hundreds of engineers, and the full support of the most powerful government in the history of man...give me all that and I promise I'll do more than just look at Facebook...",
"It's physics, bitch! There is a specific amount of energy required to lift an object out of the gravity well. The astronaut, the payload, equipment to create an environment suitable for life, re-entry systems, ... It gets heavy. Until we invent the space elevator, the astronaut is going to be sitting on a very large bomb that explodes very slowly in a specific direction. And that bomb is -300 degrees F. Computing power and miniaturization make it easier, but won't change the basic equation. \n\nComputing DOES make life support easier. But of the past year's catastrophes, they were all propulsion problems, not life support. ",
"The computing required to go to the moon is easy. Getting thousands of tons of equipment and rocket fuel to an altitude of hundreds of kilometers and ten thousand plus miles an hour without it exploding is what's hard.",
"I think people tend to forget that we've sent a lot of people to the moon. 12 people have walked on the moon. Another 14 or so have flown to the moon without landing on it. We are really good at sending people to the moon, we just have little reason to go back. NASA tries to do as much science as it can. It's not a taxi service to the moon.",
"The computing power isn't the issue. Propulsion, life support, time in space, and a whole host of other things are the issue.",
"Having better computers doesn't change physics..."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://youtu.be/3WpaLt_Blr4?t=1m29s"
] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZxCEYczpR2To4HoKnr7R8wfHUmcKP6bU"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/apollo/apollo10/hires/s69-27741.jpg",
"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Agc_view.jpg"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
5t2hj1
|
why does the sun feel so good on your skin when you have a fever?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5t2hj1/eli5_why_does_the_sun_feel_so_good_on_your_skin/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ddjmvw9"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Because when you have a fever, your body is internally very hot, which means heat is flowing out of your skin rapidly, so you feel cold. When the sun hits your skin, you stop feeling cold because heat is flowing into your skin as well (almost 2 horsepower worth of heat per square meter)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
11zac1
|
tire size and its relationship, if any, to traction.
|
The [post earlier showing slow motion dragster launches](_URL_0_) has me wondering about tire size and traction.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11zac1/eli5_tire_size_and_its_relationship_if_any_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c6quit6"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"More tire touching the road generates more grip. The area of contact between the tire and the road is called the contact patch. You can increase the size of the contact patch by decreasing the amount of pressure in the tires. Due to tire stability issues, there is a practical minimum air pressure for a given tire. If you want to use an even lower pressure, you must use wider tires, larger diameter tires, or both.\n\nIn high school physics they teach you that frictional force (Tire Grip) depends on the normal force (Weight of car carried by that wheel) times the friction coefficient (Chemical property of the tire). This is a simplification of the real world and does not accurately apply to rubber-pavement grip.\n\nLets say a tire supports 100 pounds of car weight, and is inflated to 10 psi (pounds per square inch). This means the contact patch is 10 square inches. If you reduce the air pressure to 5 psi, the contact patch will grown to 20 square inches and we will get more grip!\n\nThe next level of Why is complicated and probably beyond ELI5. Tire companies spend millions on research to properly understand this stuff."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/11y915/slowmo_captures_tires_on_tape_xpost_from_videos/"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
9rzi6y
|
how do houses work?
|
More specifically the ones in the middle of nowhere or even on islands. How do they receive basic utilities like water, electric, sewage, etc?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9rzi6y/eli5_how_do_houses_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e8kutqy",
"e8lbkvm"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Most of them are constructed off-the-grid, meaning they only have what they build.\n\nElectricity might come from wind, solar, geothermal, or some other source. Houses close enough to a grid can pay to have a line run out into the sticks to meet their house.\n\nWater probably comes from a well. If you dig a good well, you'll have drinkable water as long as your pump keeps working (see: electricity).\n\nSewage is almost certainly handled by a septic tank that needs to be emptied every now and then. There are also systems that process human waste into fertilizer, so that's an option.\n\nInternet out in the boonies or on islands is hella expensive if you want better than dialup. Satellite is an option, as is paying the ISP to run a cable out to your place. Both are expensive.",
"In US and Canada for example many houses are built in remote places and not connected to the grid. As such they are responsible for everything: electricity, fresh water, sewer, heating (and cooling). And today even communications like internet. So the owners need to take care of everything. (In the past we had a well that pumped fresh water from deep in the ground). Internet is provided with installed dishes. Electricity - a stand alone generator that people need to refuel every few days. Heating is sometimes provided by burning wood or with oil. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
20ee9g
|
why does an animal's fur seem to have a set maximum length while a human's hair can always keep growing?
|
I've searched all previous Reddit questions relating to any of this, and it seems it has yet to be answered. I apologize in advance if this isn't the case, but it appears to be "unknown" on here so far.
I've always wondered why it is that no matter how much an animal has been groomed and/or shaved it seems like their fur has a stopping point. It won't grow any longer in normal cases than their breed specific length. This seems kind of unfamiliar because humans can basically grow their hair as long as they wish. Is there a difference in something chromosome wise, or is it simply a difference in fur and hair in general?
Thanks!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20ee9g/eli5_why_does_an_animals_fur_seem_to_have_a_set/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cg2enxr",
"cg2eq5d"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Hairs don't stop at a maximum length, they just fall out when they've grown for a certain amount of time. Then a new hair starts growing in it's place. So the maximum length of a hair is the amount of time it can grow before being shed times its growth rate. If you have a dog or a cat you might have noticed that it drops its hairs all over the place. If it didn't, it would quickly turn into a big uncontrollable mess of hair.\n\nWhy can humans grow their hair as long as they like? They can't. It's very uncommon to be able to grow your hair past waist length. Each hair on a person's head can grow for about seven years (or so I've heard. Correct me if I'm wrong) until it sheds.",
"Well, the answer is there. Usually it is asked about shaving.\n\nHair grows for a certain length of time, stops, and is shed as a replacement hair grows. This happens with humans and with animals. Animals tend to go through the shedding phase at the same time of year, with a change of season.\n\nHumans tend to cut their hair shorter than it would naturally be, but if they didn't, it would grow out to it's natural length and be shed."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
37tdqp
|
for pure audio files, what's the difference between mp3 and mp4 formats?
|
I have audio files in mp4 format (not m4a) and an iPhone that can play both mp3 and mp4 files. What are the pros and cons of each file format? For my files, if they're are in mp4 format they take up about 2 mb but when I convert it to mp3, the file size goes up to about 10 mb. Does this mean mp3 is superior to mp4 in terms of sound quality?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37tdqp/eli5_for_pure_audio_files_whats_the_difference/
|
{
"a_id": [
"crpotde",
"crpow92"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"No, it means that MP4 (also known as AAC) is better at compressing audio at the same bitrate. So roughly the same audio quality, but MP4 creates smaller file sizes.\n\nBut, don't go re-encoding your MP3s as MP4s. Everytime you re-encode a lossy file format (like MP3) into another lossy format (like most AAC/MP4 files) some audio data is lost and compression artifacts are introduced.",
"An .m4a file is basically the same as an .mp4 file (they both follow MPEG-4 standards for formatting) except that .m4a designates the file is for audio only whereas .mp4 files typically cary both audio and video streams (although can carry just audio streams).\n\nAudio streams contained within an .m4a or .mp4 file are usually encoded using the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) codec, however this is not necessarily the case (it's possible to carry other types of audio streams in these files including MP3 encoded audio streams).\n\nAssuming you are comparing MP4 or M4A files using AAC audio, then MP3 is definitely the worse of the two. MP3 is a very old codec (the patents are just about to expire in many countries because it's so old) and it's not efficient. It requires a lot of file-size to get decent audio quality from an MP3. You can obtain better audio quality using a more modern codec like AAC with much better data compression efficiency (i.e. smaller file-sizes)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
1s1hzg
|
what are those lights dancing around in your eyes when you strain yourself too hard?
|
You know when you push yourself too hard, and those lights dance around in your field of vision. It'd be great if someone could explain to me what those are, and what causes them?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1s1hzg/eli5_what_are_those_lights_dancing_around_in_your/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdt2icx",
"cdt8894"
],
"score": [
2,
6
],
"text": [
"I'm not an expert, but I've experienced this multiple times. I think it's caused by blood not supplying the rods and cones in your eyes with enough oxygen, which will definitely mess with your vision.",
"Theyre called phosphenes. Nerve cells either turn on or stay off. Nerve cells in your eye have no way of knowing if they turned on because of light or because of pressure or a million other things. The pressure from strain can cause your nerves to fire which then the brain interprets as light. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
6yoppi
|
why are there so many islands in the caribbean?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6yoppi/eli5_why_are_there_so_many_islands_in_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dmp0a1v",
"dmp0k00"
],
"score": [
2,
16
],
"text": [
"It is time for you to study geology and island chain formation. The simple answer is that the combination of tectonic plates shifting has generated many islands. Tectonic plates have to have edges. Many of these are in the caribbean. An event which produces one island due to the edge effect of a tectonic plate will also generate others. There are multiple causes for multiple islands.",
"Most of the Caribbean is volcanic in origin, and many of the smaller (as well as larger) islands have a central volcanic peak or a mountainous interior. These occur at the joint of two of the plates that make up the surface of the earth - the Atlantic and Caribbean plates. \n\nAs well, some of the larger islands are part of mountain ranges.\n\nSo, the islands are mostly the tops of mountains or the tops of volcanoes and there are lots of them.\n\nStolen from [here](_URL_0_)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/caribb/caribland.htm"
]
] |
||
pfsib
|
why can i *only* do my homework or any sort of project the night before it's due?
|
I've had a month to do this essay, but can't even get my outline going right now because I don't feel the pressure, but the whole thing is due Friday. If I don't get some serious shit done tonight I'll be screwed, but I've accomplished nothing in the past three hours, likely leading to a 6 hour session Thursday night. Why do I always have to do this?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/pfsib/eli5_why_can_i_only_do_my_homework_or_any_sort_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c3p04vd",
"c3p0c72",
"c3p0jse"
],
"score": [
2,
7,
2
],
"text": [
"Some people, like myself and possibly you, need the pressure. In all my years of schooling, I've found that the longer I wait to do a project and the more pressure is on me, the better I do. It sucks at the time, but it usually pays off. Even going in the night before with only 20% of the work done is sometimes enough.\n\nDo a little at a time in preparation, but don't fight it too much. It just might be the way you work.",
"If I can find the study, I'll link it, but it has to do with the payoff vs sacrifice ratio.\n\nYou have a month before your project is due, so you know you have plenty of time. The payoff for you in the immediate is that you can have a good time and know you can still get your project done, so there's no shame in not doing it now.\n\nYou now have a week before your project is due. You know you need to get to work on it soon, but reddit looks awfully fun today. You'll feel a little more guilty about pushing it off today, but the payoff in the immediate (not having to do the work) is worth the sacrifice (not getting your work done).\n\nIt's now the night before the project is due. If (you're in my case) you still can't concentrate because dude those bugs on the wall are so close together maybe they'll get into an epic bug fight or something and geeze wouldn't you hate to miss that. Your payoff of watching those bugs fight to the death is worth the sacrifice, but yeah, you're probably going to feel shitty about it. Maybe you do some half-assed work for a little bit and go to bed.\n\nIt's now due in six hours. The paper is now due in the immediate, so pushing it off isn't worth the sacrifice. You feel your time is now better spent doing the work, because your payoff can be having the paper completed, never having to think of it again, vs. not doing it at all and being reminded of that when you go to class and they're due, and then again when you get your grades and fuck that's a low grade.\n\n\ntl;dr: Instant gratification when you procrastinate.",
"There is a term for this...the principle that it will generally take you as long to do something as you give yourself...it's on the tip of my brain. Someone at [/r/getmotivated](/r/getmotivated) would know."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
4fwe2q
|
why did american-italian food become so tomato-centric?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fwe2q/eli5_why_did_americanitalian_food_become_so/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d2ck7s2",
"d2cnn7h"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Italian food is varied depending on what region you're talking about. Tomatoes are very important in many regions in Italy and the cuisine in those regions feature tomatoes in a central role, and pasta with tomato based sauces are featured throughout Italy. Many American-Italian dishes are based on Neapolitan dishes, like spaghetti and meatballs, pizza with tomato sauce, etc. The gulf of Naples, and in particular Campania, are big consumers of spaghetti and tomato sauce. The dishes are Americanized, reflecting the ingredients readily found in America, but are similar to those from that region.",
"Regions in northern(rich, industrialized) Italy won't use as many tomatoes, preferring creamier sauces. People in southern(poor, agrarian) Italy used tomatoes due to their cheapness and quick growth rates. The tradition stuck with them up until today and since the rich rarely migrate, the poor southern Italians are the ones who came to America, where food is popularized and globalized. Tomato recipes came with them, so they became what spread. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
52lby3
|
why does staring at white paper in bright sun light cause your eyes to see everything in a different shade of color immediately afterwards?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/52lby3/eli5_why_does_staring_at_white_paper_in_bright/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d7l6xp5"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"In the simplest terms, when you stare at bright light, like the sun, or a flashbulb, the sensors in the back of your eyes (rods and cones) that receive the light are hyper-excited, and it takes a while for them to \"calm\" back down again. \n\nOr, you could be like me and you don't see anything after staring at a white piece of paper in bright sunlight. You're too busy sneezing your fool head off because you are one of the 18-35% of the population that has A.C.H.O.O. (seriously) also known as [photic sneezing reflex](_URL_0_)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photic_sneeze_reflex"
]
] |
||
1yqqbt
|
what exactly does the first amendment mean?
|
It reads like this:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
I'm focusing on the first part, re: "no law respecting an establishment of religion." This isn't meant to deride religion or otherwise discuss the merits of the amendment. I'm just genuinely curious what it means in a practical sense.
It seems to me that often it's interpreted as "The Government can't make laws that support one religion over another" or "The Government has to support all religions equally." But the wording makes it seem like anything religious whatsoever can't be used as the reason for a law.
Anyone have any insight on this? We see lawmakers pushing clearly religious-inspired bills and I have to wonder if this amendment really means anything at all.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yqqbt/eli5_what_exactly_does_the_first_amendment_mean/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfmwkrt"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"The most important meaning of the establishment clause originally was that the government could not establish an officially sanctioned church as England had. The important element of the \"no law\" part was an absolute ban on the government creating any law that state how any church is to be run. The government also can't create laws that specifically aid religion in any way that excludes secular organizations.\n\nA religious inspired bill or law is not necessarily illegal (though Californians did pass an anti-gay marriage law that courts ruled to be unconstitutional). America still has a fair number of laws that are puritanical in nature. Many laws have some aspect of moral philosophy behind them. The first amendment does not strictly prohibit that philosophy from being religious as well. E.g. usury laws are often accepted by both religious and secular people on similar moral grounds."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
51inw1
|
if the first airplane flew in 1903 (for only 12 seconds) how were militaries producing fighters and bombers for war just ten years later?
|
Yeah, I know I've been playing too much Battlefield 1.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/51inw1/eli5_if_the_first_airplane_flew_in_1903_for_only/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d7c9hd9",
"d7ca49h",
"d7cf4yb"
],
"score": [
10,
21,
2
],
"text": [
"After people knew that flight was possible, they were quick to study and perfect the designs and techniques required to do so. Early aircraft like biplanes were also relatively simple to construct.",
"Technology improves quickly. Once it was proved it was possible, engineers the world over wanted to build their own flying machines, and rich people the world over wanted to BUY their own flying machines. Vast improvements over the Wright's original design had been made.\n\nHowever, less improvement had been made by 1914 than you think. Everyone thought blimps would be the future of aviation, Germany had created the first commercial air company just before the war with it's zeppelins (although all the zeppelins that were being built for civilian travel were quickly drafted by the army as weapons of war). The aircraft at the beginning of the war weren't the fighters/bombers you fly around in Battlefield 1. They were observational platforms, means to take photographs of the enemy and report on enemy positions/trench placements/artillery location/movements, providing data for artillery units.\n\nThese early war planes were slow and had no weapon built in. The first dogfights happend when pilots brought pistols with them on their observational flights, would fly close to enemy observational planes and try to shoot at their pilots. The first \"bombing\" runs were done by pilots flying low and chucking bricks at the enemy soldiers.\n\nThe pistols were soon replaced with turning turrets at the back of the plane manned by a dedicated gunner, and bricks were replaced with hand dropped bombs. As the soldiers on the ground grew better at shooting down the slow and low flying observational planes, nations focused on making their aircraft faster and able to fly higher. Britain in particular was forced to innovate when Zeppelin's started bombing London, as the Zeppelin's could fly so much higher than the early war aircraft could manage.\n\nAs early dogfights showed how much of an advantage air dominance gave the person who wielded it, further time and effort was focused on improving aircraft, for every advantaged one side planes had over the enemy was more step into total victory. Innovation followed innovation. Machine guns were added to the front of the plane. Then they were put behind the propellor. Then special gears were added that stopped the machine gun from firing when the propellor was in the way so the pilot could fire the guns without damaging his own plane.\n\nWar, as terrible as it is, is the greatest force for technological innovation the world has ever seen.",
"The problem with the original Wright Flyer was high drag and pitch instability. They tinkered over the next few years such that by 1905, they had Flyer with a range of 25 miles. \n\nOf course, they weren't the only people working on the problem. The Wrights were very litigious about their patents, so aircraft development stalled in the United States. Glen Curtis being their only real competition. Over in Europe you had people like Louis Bleriot, Léon Levavasseur, and Geoffrey de Havilland. The Brizillian Alberto Santos-Dumont also made some major contributions. By 1909, you had long distance planes. By 1914, you begin seeing the modern aircraft form starting to take shape, but they were still primitive by anyone's standard. \n\nDuring the early phases of the war, the airplane's use as a combat machine was not well understood. They were relegated to reconnaissance duties. These planes were slow and offered poor protection for the pilot. Eventually, they began sending other planes up to take out the enemy observers. First with things like pistols and rifles. Some later began mounting machine gun turrets. They were more pea shoots than a dogfight though.\n\nThings really changed when Anthony Fokker invented the interrupter gear in 1915. This allowed a gun to fire through a propeller without shedding it to bits. The pilot could now shoot accurately at wherever he pointed the plane. The Fokker Eindecker wasn't exactly a state of the art fighter, but the interrupter gear made it deadly. Hence the Fokker Scourge of 1915, where it made mincemeat of allied planes.\n\nThis started an arms race for more effective fighters. Rapid engine development led to improvements in speed and maneuverability. You start seeing what we tend to think of as the quintessential WWI aircraft appear in 1916. Planes like the Albatross D series, Nieuport 11 and the Sopwith Pup. They were followed in 1917 by more famous craft such as the Sopwith Camel, Fokker DR1, SPAD S.XIII, and the Royal Aircraft Factory SE5. This is when you aces like Billy Bishop and Manfred von Richthofen made their mark\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
b3xf8g
|
how does alcohol interfere with the fat burning process in our body?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b3xf8g/eli5_how_does_alcohol_interfere_with_the_fat/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ej2ulb4",
"ej2yrea"
],
"score": [
17,
8
],
"text": [
"Alcohol can be metabolized for energy but it produces toxic byproducts. It also is easier to metabolize than fat so while your body is processing alcohol it isn't burning fat.\n\nAlso alcohol has significant amounts of calories so drinking alcohol is similar to just eating more food. For obvious reasons that tends to interfere with losing weight.",
"For every molecule of alcohol that's broken down into acetaldehyde, you make one molecule of NADH. The excess amount of NADH produced is what specifically interferes with the fat burning process.\n\nI don't know if you remember from your biology classes, but the whole point of the TCA cycle and aerobic respiration is to produce lots and lots of NADH. All this excess NADH actually inhibits a bunch of reactions in glycolysis/TCA cycle and essentially tells your body that you're in a high-energy state. As a result, your body starts making excess fat instead of burning it. \n\nThis is a big reason why chronic alcohol use will eventually lead to a fatty liver, since the bulk of it is metabolized in the liver. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
1z35fy
|
why is there no tri-core processor (3x)?
|
Why is the number of core always in the power of 2.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z35fy/eli5_why_is_there_no_tricore_processor_3x/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfq25gg",
"cfq4ilj"
],
"score": [
3,
4
],
"text": [
"There is.\n\n_URL_0_",
"/u/shawnaroo almost had it right. Integrated Circuits (ICs), due to the way they are manufactured, are *rectangular* in shape. And when you put multiple copies of something as big as a core on a chip, you essentially do a \"cut and paste\" (almost). You also don't (usually) want to make a chip a lot longer than it is wide, or vice versa. So it is easy to see that you are usually going to try to make *even* numbers, since they are going to be arranged in rows and columns. (Not necessarily powers of 2.) Although sometimes (if the cores are fairly small) you might put some of the overhead circuitry in place of one of the cores, so your total number of cores would be an even number minus 1. \n\n \nAs someone else mentioned, you might do various numbers when you try to make an even number of cores but one or more have manufacturing defects and are disabled. \n \nThere's another trend going on right now for multi-core parts for mobile applications. Some chips use one \"wimpy\" core and multiple \"strong\" cores. That way, when the phone isn't doing much it can just use the wimpy core and conserved battery power, but when it needs more \"ooph\" it can utilize some of the higher performance cores. \n \nThere are chips available right now for things like network processing that have a lot of cores. For example, Tilera has a 72-core processor. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/multi-core-processing/Pages/triple-core-processing.aspx"
],
[]
] |
|
3l22y5
|
every decade in my mind has a distinctive fashion / music style until the 2000s - is this because i grew up in the 90s or did connectivity / the internet merge styles into one.
|
I was born in the early 80s so often wonder if growing up in the 90s explains why I can't picture a style of clothing or music for the 2 following decades. Maybe the Internet meant local trends ceased to exist as people were exposed to a melting pot of all the world's fashion/music etc. Or am I just too old and falling into the typical "in my day" mindset?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3l22y5/eli5_every_decade_in_my_mind_has_a_distinctive/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cv2gjaw",
"cv2h50o"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"It's just too soon. In 2005 we didn't have a good idea of what \"90's fashion\" was (except for maybe early 90's, 1990-1991). Give it another 10 years and there will certainly be a \"2000's\" fashion and music style. ",
"I think it's a combination of both. There are more people now than ever before and far more people who have the means to partake in something like fashion. This means there will be more styles overall and things like the Internet will make it easier to share less popular styles that might otherwise be overlooked for mainstream fashion. \n\nThere's definitely still mainstream fashion/culture, though, and it has identifiable trends. It's hard to tell what's memorable about those trends and what sets them apart until we've had time to move on to new things. In the 90s I definitely had no concept of 90s music or fashion. Now I see neon colors and grunge outfits and think \"90s.\" Or I hear an N'Sync style boy band and think \"90s.\" \n\nEdit: Looked up some '00s fashion and I guess camo, necktie belts, chokers, and shorts with words on the butt were big. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
3q8lsf
|
how come it seems england and america are bigger allies then canada and england when america fought so hard to free itself from them and canada is a common wealth country?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q8lsf/eli5_how_come_it_seems_england_and_america_are/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cwd1oao",
"cwd907w"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Because what makes an alliance \"big,\" as you put it, is having one side be the United States. Canada's relationship with the UK is about as good as any two countries' relationship can be, but Canada just has less to offer Britain than the United States does, in terms of military power, diplomatic influence, import/export, etc.",
"They aren't\n-\n\nCanada are just as much Britain's Ally as America is. All are members of NATO, and all are bound to defend the others if any of them is attacked (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway).\n\nIn terms of alliance, then, there's no difference.\n\nHowever, Britain and America have two things that make their alliance more obvious and perhaps seen as more strategically important\n\n1. They are two of the foremost nuclear powers in the world. There are only 5 officially recognised nuclear powers, and only three of them are allied (USA, Britain, France). Canada has no nukes, so in some senses is less important\n\n2. They have two of the most capable militaries in the world. The USA is obviously seen as the most capable, and Britain's is relatively small by comparison to that, but is still widely seen as very capable, if not on the scale of the USA or Russia\n\n3. They are both willing (and able) to perform \"world police\" duties. Canada does too, but tends to be more reserved in this aspect.\n\n4. They share weapons, build weapons/technology together etc. Britain and America have worked together on the F-35 recently, but also the M777 Howitzer and other weapons recently, and things like the Harrier previously\n\n5. They agree militarily - Britain and America quite often have similar interests, and therefore are more likely to act in the same way. This is the main reason that France, for example, doesn't usually factor *quite* as strongly as an Ally or either the UK or USA (although it is still a major ally for both)\n\nYou talk a lot about historical cultural similarities and \"America fighting to free itself from Britain\" - but that's very much history. In the modern world, simply put, Britain and the USA are both very capable in military terms, have large economies, and agree on a lot of geo-political policy. This makes them very useful allies for each other. The fact they are closely economically and socially linked helps."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
26zs74
|
why don't we use a decimal system for measuring angles, why not have a simple 100° in a circle?
|
Edit: sorry I meant *metric* system not decimal
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26zs74/eli5_why_dont_we_use_a_decimal_system_for/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chw1fhr"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Because the Babylonians were fascinated with a base-12 mathematical system, and they did a lot of the early work on Astronomy that was used by every culture west of India and east of the Atlantic ocean. Astronomy requires a lot of math involving segments of circles and parts of days. It turns out that the most common intersection of math that works good with circles and works good with days (based on seconds derived from the timing of human heartbeats), and months (derived from the 28 day lunar cycle) is 12.\n\nA base-12 system scales up to things like 360 degree circles and 24 hour clocks.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
27jc9n
|
what would happen if the earth was geologically inactive?
|
Was watching "Planets" recently and they made a huge deal about finding geologically active planets like Earth. I am wondering why this is a big deal and what would happen if the earth was not active in that way. Could life still exist?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27jc9n/eli5_what_would_happen_if_the_earth_was/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ci1d6kh",
"ci1d7z8"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"For a while, sure. But the problem with a geologically inactive planet is that the elements important to life can get buried under the surface to the point that life can no longer access them. On Earth, those elements are periodically recycled to the surface through volcanoes and the like, but on a planet without Earth's many, many mineral cycles, the surface could simply 'run out' of necessary elements.",
"we would no longer have a magnetic field that protects us from solar winds. Life would be very difficult"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
3xb15i
|
why do pedophiles get long jail sentences while murderers with mental disorders can plead not guilty by insanity and receive a lighter sentence? both are psychiatric disorders.
|
Why the discrepancy in sentencing and views by society?
100% serious. And asking this because of a recent murder in Toronto where the suspect has mental disorders. Consensus opinion is generally leaning towards that she should be put in a mental institution rather than prison.
Reddit page [here] (_URL_0_)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xb15i/eli5_why_do_pedophiles_get_long_jail_sentences/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cy32x4t",
"cy33bu4",
"cy33loi",
"cy34k01",
"cy35cwv",
"cy3evuk",
"cy5kr2d"
],
"score": [
13,
2,
7,
3,
3,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"We don't really give much consideration to mental disorders. Not guilty by insanity is pretty rare and requires a huge, tangible lapse in sanity. Those with 'light' mental issues won't get away with that defense.\n\nAlso, crimes against children are usually prosecuted much more severely.\n\nBut there is a growing movement to recognize and help non criminal pedophiles (those who have never acted and truly don't want to hurt anyone) to give them help before they ever commit a crime.",
"In order to get a not guilty by insanity, on a federal level you need to have evidence that [\"at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, the defendant, as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts\".](_URL_0_)\n\nThis is a pretty high standard. The person who is insane and didn't understand what they did may be able to be treated, while the practicing pedophile who knows that what they did and that it was wrong has much less of a hope of that. ",
"One does not get a prison sentence for being a pedophile, they get a prison sentence for child molestation -- which, of course, is a criminal act. Pedophilia is a psychiatric disorder that involves a primary sexual attraction to prepubescent children. You do not get charged with a crime because you are diagnosed with pedophilia, you get charged with a crime when you physically or sexually abuse children. Most pedophiles do not engage in child abuse and as many as 25-50% of child molesters are not pedophiles, so pedophilia and child molestation are really quite separate things and a diagnosis of pedophilia has no legal significance.\n\nAlso, pleading not guilty by reason of insanity (or \"guilty but insane or mentally ill\" or \"not criminally responsible due to mental disorder\") is actually quite rare; a lot rarer than TV shows and movies suggest. It's also a very unsuccessful defense -- meaning that the court usually finds the accused guilty anyway and only in rare circumstances is the accused pardoned due to mental disorder.\n\nAlso, in many cases the 'punishment' associated with insanity verdicts is actually worse than a sentence of imprisonment. That's because, in many jurisdictions, offenders who are found not guilty by reason of insanity are forcefully admitted to a secure mental hospital/facility that is just as secure (if not more secure) than some jails/prisons and often the offender can be kept locked in such a facility for an indefinite period (possibly several years or even their whole life) until the mental health professionals working at the facility deem the individual to be fit for re-entry into society and no longer harmful to themselves or others.",
"In Kansas violent sex offenders who the state still feel are at risk to offend again after they are finished with their prison sentence could be held indefinitely at a mental hospital. ",
" > murderers with mental disorders can plead not guilty by insanity and receive a lighter sentence?\n\nMerely having a mental disorder does not let you get away with murder. Criminal insanity is very narrowly defined...it goes way beyond having a mental illness, you have to show you were so detached from reality, you could not understand your actions were wrong.\n\nThis applies to very few murderers, and successfully mounting an insanity defense is very rare.",
"The idea that an insanity plea leads to a lighter sentence is just untrue. Those very rare few who are found not guilty by way of insanity more often then not are declared criminally insane and involuntarily committed to a facility. That might sound better than prison, but I assure you it isn't. On top of that, when you're involuntarily committed you typically only get released when it can be shown that you are no longer a danger to yourself or others. If you're legitimately violently mentally ill, that could be never. Your sentence is indefinite barring a miraculous recovery. ",
"Legal Insanity means that the person in question was either not in control of their actions, unable to understand the consequences of their actions, or unable to tell the difference between right and wrong. Let's take the example of someone who kills another person because he is hallucinating and believes that person to be a demon. The killer undertook an action, killing someone, with the belief that the victim was going to harm them. They could not know that what they were doing was wrong to the degree required for us to consider them guilty. They were not in control of their actions, and could not be expected to control their actions, to the degree that a normal person can. A pedophile may be mentally ill, but they are not psychotic, they are not divorced from reality, they still have the same ability to control their urges that everyone else does. They may have a strong urge to commit a criminal act, but at the end of the day an inability to control that urge is not the same as a delusional state or psychotic break. Additionally when someone is found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect they are not just let go, instead they are put in a mental hospital until it is determined that they are no longer a danger to themselves or society, which is usually about twice the length of a prison stay."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/3x17eg/rohinie_bisesar_arrested_and_charged_with/"
] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/17"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1zald2
|
how do office (and similar) chairs are able to "raise" themselves back up?
|
Sorry if the title is a little confusing. I'm asking about the office/desk chairs that are tiltable, and have a lever that lowers the seat when you pull it, and if you pull it while you aren't sitting on the chair, the chair raises back up! But it feels like the seat mechanism is pneumatic - if it is, how does it suck in air again and trap it to raise the seat when you pull the lever? If now, how exactly does it work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zald2/eli5_how_do_office_and_similar_chairs_are_able_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfrynme"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"The chair sits on a rod connected to a pressurised gas cylinder. A clamp holds this in place. When you release the clamp and put weight on the chair, the gas compresses. Then you re-engage the clamp. If you disengage it again and take the weight off the seat, the pressurised gas pushes it back up."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2x4l7v
|
could humans adapt features through evolution that are related to our use of technology over the course of a few million years?
|
I thought of a writing prompt fixed around the idea of humans becoming a super species with the use of technology and adapting features focused around this technology.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2x4l7v/eli5_could_humans_adapt_features_through/
|
{
"a_id": [
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"cowtej8",
"cowtjz8",
"cowwiwg",
"cowzn5g"
],
"score": [
2,
5,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"It's certainly possible; our opposable thumbs are great for using tools. I'm not convinced it would be a big driver of evolution, since technology is designed to work with our existing set of traits. ",
"It seems unlikely in my opinion. For natural selection to work, it requires that individuals with undesirable traits die or otherwise be prevented from reproducing.\n\nAgriculture and medicine have made it possible for virtually anybody to live out their years regardless of how marginally bad their genes are. Unless we started some serious eugenics programs and killed people with poor genetics, human evolution has basically stopped.",
"I doubt it, with technology advancing at an amazing rate, new tech being developed every day. There is a better chance that we will make technology to augment our bodies or to incorporate into our bodies. Also human evolution has adapted the human body to cope with natures challenges, for example the ice age. And has streamlined the human body to dispose of almost anything we don't need, example the tail, but it's not done yet since we could still get rid of some unnecessary body parts. I doubt though, that it will adapt to technology, possibly small things. Like developing weak long range vision since we could use binoculars, and because we spend most of our time staring at a bright screen very close to our face. Tiny things like that, but over a very long time. \n \nI ain't no expert, but that's what I think.",
"At this point \"natural selection\" is not much of a factor for us. Evolution works by weeding out \"unfit\" organisms, but since basically anybody can reproduce and stay healthy nowadays, there's not much filtering out genetics. If we were to continue evolving I suspect it would have more to do with artificial selection/eugenics which is highly controversial currently. We could easily limit the reproduction of \"genetically inferior\" people while encouraging reproduction for those that are superior, but that wouldn't go over very well. We could also take more control over the randomness of the genetic combination between egg and sperm to select only the best possible genetics for reproduction without denying anyone reproduction. The movie Gattaca has an interesting take on this possibility.",
"We're not going to grow longer fingers because of touch screens or anything. Touch screens won't be around long enough for one thing.\n\nThe key to it would be if some form of technology gave some group a better reproductive success, or others a worse chance of success, there would be a pressure for natural selection. Suppose, for example, the next generation of computers relied on mind-melding thought power for an interface. For whatever reason, black people have the ability use the thought power machines and white people don't. Suppose further that the computing power these machines allow make those who can use it very highly paid and those that can't use it essentially unemployable and realistically doomed to a life of abject poverty. \n\nThe black population would grow and the white population would shrink. Pretty damn quickly, too, a noticeable shift on only a few generations.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3t80an
|
why has captcha gone from trying to read sign language to being able to just click a box?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t80an/eli5why_has_captcha_gone_from_trying_to_read_sign/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cx3w1bd"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"First of all, the purpose of captcha is to verify that the user is indeed human and not a robot that's crawling or screenscraping a website. The second motive is to do so without inconveniencing the user too much. So the bar for a good captcha is such that's it's extremely easy for a human to solve while it's at the same time very difficult for robots.\n\nUsing images of letters and numbers was a really good test because not only it is difficult for robots (although image recognition techniques have improved), but it was also used as a crowdsourcing platform for \"scanning\" images that automated software could not decipher successfully.\nHowever, this can be a problem for some human users as well due to dyslexia or simply poor eyesight. It did not help the those images needed to be made more challenging as a result of improvements in image recognition.\n\nClicking the box is very simple for any human, regardless of their condition. However, for robots it's not an easy task, and Google can conclude whether a human clicked the box or not by, for instance, tracking the movements of the mouse and other factors. Also, in cases when that's not producing a conclusive answer the user can be asked for additional verification (\"click all images that contain a cat\").\n\nSo, the short answer would be better user experience."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
eps800
|
what does it mean to "observe" a photon and how that changes its behavior?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eps800/eli5_what_does_it_mean_to_observe_a_photon_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"felehxb",
"femdbhc"
],
"score": [
15,
2
],
"text": [
"Interact with it in any way, use any sort of method to measure it. It does not need to be a human \"observing\", just anything that can interact with the photon.\n\nIn order to measure something you need to interact with it. for most things that is fine and does not affect it in any real way, like throwing gummy bears at a ship.\n\nHowever if the thing you *are* observing is itself a gummy bear throwing a different bear at it is going to be enough to change what the measured gummy was doing, and so your gummy observation has changed the result.",
"You actually put the finger in the wound of quantum mechanics here. \nThis question is part of the measurement problem of the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics: _URL_2_\n\nOne approach is the many worlds interpretation of QM. Sean Carroll talks about it a lot lately, and it's really interesting. He has a podcast episode about it: _URL_0_\n\nand also wrote a great book on it:\n_URL_1_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2019/07/15/55-a-conversation-with-rob-reid-on-quantum-mechanics-and-many-worlds/",
"https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02602-8",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measurement_problem"
]
] |
|
8961gi
|
why do we only find super old fossils? why aren't there any new (old)fossilized things?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8961gi/eli5_why_do_we_only_find_super_old_fossils_why/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dwp5vjv"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"it takes time for the original bones to get dissolved by water and then more time for minerals to fill in the cavity.\n\nfossils are not bones, they are the mineralized deposits that form in cavities that were made by bones."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2sximg
|
.. why can i mimic someone elses voice perfectly in my head but cannot make that same voice out loud?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2sximg/eli5_why_can_i_mimic_someone_elses_voice/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cntrmbi",
"cntrpbs",
"cntvwy2",
"cntwgyj",
"cntwkpc",
"cntxeiz"
],
"score": [
52,
38,
12,
3,
6,
8
],
"text": [
"You don't mimic in your head, u jut recall their voice pattern in your mind",
"Mimicry involves muscle control as well as accurate perception. Some voice actors are very good at perception and realize what is being changed (they say their vowels funny or are nasally) if they are not really good at muscle control then they make an exaggerated Initiation. These exaggerated imitations are easier to imitate for the general public who have poor sound perception (you sound funny but I am not sure why). \n",
"the same reason you can imagine an octopus but cannot morph into an octopus. what you're able to perceive does not necessarily reflect what you can physically achieve.",
"Same reason I play guitar like Slash in my head but play like Abu Hamza in real life.",
"Why can you imagine yourself throwing the game-winning touchdown in the Superbowl but cannot even make it to the big game in real life. (hint: you're Jay Cutler)",
"For the same reason you can't play a trumpet solo you can hear in your head. \n\nIt involves controlling muscles in a skilled and controlled way. It's not about remembering, it's about moving. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2oq9z9
|
how do i make electricity with sound?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2oq9z9/eli5_how_do_i_make_electricity_with_sound/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cmpimy3"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"A microphone does exactly that. It takes sound waves and turns them into an electric signal. The sound waves hit a sensitive diaphragm, which is attached to a magnet. The magnet oscillates back and forth with the sound. There is a wire coiled loose around the magnet. When the magnet moves within the coil, it **induces** a current (electricity) in the coil. Presto!"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
10mmbs
|
x2- how can my hair hold curls and cowlicks? and how is it that when i get my hair wet and smooth out the curls and cowlicks, they stay down once it's dry?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10mmbs/eli5_x2_how_can_my_hair_hold_curls_and_cowlicks/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c6etb4j"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"You hair is made out of very tiny things called molecules. Those molecules are named amino acids. One of those tiny things, called cystein can stick to another of the same type. This is called disulfide-bond. This can break up if you heat it up, which is the reason curling irons work."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
9fxuqu
|
why are some synthetic fragrances less irritating than their natural counterpart?
|
My question stems from looking for new skincare. I recently asked a skincare company what kind of fragrance they use and they stated that they use a blend of natural and synthetic fragrances depending on what is better for sensitive skin. Additionally, I've been shopping around for a new perfume and get pretty turned around with the information about fragrance in perfume. Thank you!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9fxuqu/eli5_why_are_some_synthetic_fragrances_less/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e602d0w"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Some fragrance oils are known or potential irritants. In the perfume industry, a lot of perfumers follow IFRA guidelines, which regularly set out rules on what cannot be used in Perfumery and what can be used but only in certain quantities, etc. For example, natural oakmoss was banned a few years back, and a rush by perfumers and fragrance oil houses was on to create a synthetic that gives the same smell. The primary reason is likely that with synthetics you can set up the process so the end result is ONLY Oil X with nothing else in it as a replacement for natural oakmoss or whatever, which would have Oil X or something that Oil X mimics in terms of scent but also has other things along with it.\n\nNatural essential oils have more than literally just the exact molecule(s) that provide its aroma. Synthetics can be sometimes made in such a way as to isolate the exact molecule(s) with no other potential irritants. The synthetics might be the exact same aroma molecule found in the natural, or it can be something that's close enough in terms of scent while being different as to not cause a particular irritation."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
21igrt
|
how are emulators written?
|
I only have very basic programming knowledge (like CS101-level) and I can't imagine how someone reverse-engineers a console like that. I heard they use programmer manuals sometimes? But I'm not sure about that.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21igrt/eli5how_are_emulators_written/
|
{
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"cgdbwer",
"cgdbxfq",
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"cgdiu48",
"cgdjhes",
"cgdll16"
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"score": [
8,
5,
5,
2,
3,
3,
11
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"text": [
"*Sometimes* they have access to dev kits and other developer tools -- if you're talking about older consoles, it's all about analyzing memory dumps and reverse engineering things -- and yeah, it sucks, which is why even the best emulators really only get it right 95% of the time.",
"Emulated hardware usually just comes down to learning what the inputs and outputs are. A manual makes this easier, as it often spells out what they do. Without a manual, you can still look at the wiring or apply test inputs to see what kind of outputs you get to try to learn how to emulate its behavior.\n\nFor old video games, at this point one can copy the software in the cartridge/disc and create a wrapper around it to map its inputs and outputs to those of your emulator.",
"[Here's a well done write up.](_URL_0_)\n\n > **Basic idea:**\nEmulation works by handling the behavior of the processor and the individual components. You build each individual piece of the system and then connect the pieces much like wires do in hardware.",
"Would a Xbox 360/PS3 emulator be insanely hard to make? Let alone run? ",
"I write emulators for fun.\n\nWithout documentation, it's just your standard reverse engineering. Just like the Linux guys have to do with drivers sometimes. Once you understand how the hardware works (or, more often, how the code written for the hardware expects the hardware to work), you can write a simulation that's good enough to trick the code written for it.\n\nA lot of times you have documentation too, but even then you need to do a lot of RE work. Documentation is rarely complete or accurate. I've actually heard of game developers using the documentation written by an emulator rather than the official stuff since it can be more complete, and covers the edge cases a little better.",
"Think about emulating something a lot simpler, first. Like, the vintage [TI Programmable 57](_URL_0_) calculator. (My 7th grade math teacher had one of these, back in '81. It was the shit, man.)\n\nHow would you go about that?\n\nWell, you'd probably whip out Visual Studio or Eclipse or whatever IDE you prefer, and code up a little one-window application. \n\nYou'd take a nice picture of a TI-57 and use that as the background image in your application.\n\nYou'd use whatever GUI toolkit you're using to create virtual buttons for all of the button areas on the picture of the calculator, so you can tell when somebody clicks the '7' key or the ' X^y ' key or whatever. You'd designate the part of the picture that's the TI-57's screen as your output area, and probably allocate some kind of bitmap that's the right size and shape for drawing your results in.\n\n\nOk. Cool. So you've mapped out the basic input and output mechanisms of the calculator. But how are you going to emulate the *behavior* of the calculator? How are you going to make it so that when somebody clicks '7 2 X^y =' that the display area prints '49'?\n\nNow is when you have to write a program that *behaves* like the TI-57. This is the guts of any emulator. Doing this means understanding how the thing works.\n\nI think I remember my math teacher saying that calculator was a reverse-polish notation calculator (but '81 was a long time ago, and I could be wrong). Whatever. RPN is easier to implement, so for sake of this post, we'll pretend that it was.\n\nRPN calculation puts the operands before the operators. This is handy, because it means you can just push numbers and stuff onto the stack, then when an operator comes along, consume however many operands it needs, and push the result back onto the stack.\n\nThe calculator's display just needs to show whatever's on top of the stack. Easy.\n\nSo fine. You use whatever stack class comes with your IDE, or else roll your own. Stacks are easy. Hook up handler functions for all of the virtual keys you mapped out, and program each one to do the right thing.\n\nYour '7' key handler, for example, multiplies the value on the stack by 10, adds 7, and pushes the result onto the stack. So if there's nothing (zero) on the stack, pressing '7' gets you a 7. If there's a '1' on the stack, pressing 7 gets you 1*10 + 7 = 17 on the stack. Ditto for the other digits, with some extra complexity for the '.' key so you can enter decimals, et cetera.\n\nYour '+' key handler consumes the top two values from the stack, adds them together, and pushes the sum onto the stack.\n\nYour X^y key handler consumes the top two values from the stack, raises one to the power of the other, and pushes the result onto the stack.\n\nMake it so that all of your handler functions call the update-display function when they're done, so the user can see the results.\n\nWrite an appropriate handler function for every key on the calculator, and you're done.\n\nThat's it. Writing an emulator is a matter of providing surrogates for the original thing's inputs and outputs, then writing a program that implements an *accurate model* of the inner workings of the thing being emulated.\n\nIf you can get your head around how to do this for a calculator, you should be able to imagine how it works for a console. It's just more complicated. Now you're writing a program to emulate the physical CPU in the console, to emulate its memory store, its display hardware, et cetera, and to hook all those parts up correctly.\n\nBut at the end of the day, it's the same basic process.",
"The entirety of an emulator all at once is overwhelming for anyone.\n\nYou write an emulator via divide-and-conquer: you do lots of small bits, and slowly link them together.\n\nThe initial way you get the information is through leaked programmer manuals, official instruction set manuals for given processors, and through pain-staking reverse engineering. For instance, if you want to know how the overflow flag is set, but it's not documented, you perform every possible add operation, log the flag results of each, analyze the output and manipulate your own code until you can match your logged data. You do this through lots and lots of educated guesses. The better your deductive reasoning skills, the better you'll be at writing an emulator. Electrical engineering skills really help out for the earliest reverse-engineering efforts in helping you to run code on the hardware and get some initial analysis work done.\n\nAfter a system is well emulated, you can use the source and debuggers from other emulators. But you're really just emulating an emulator at that point. It's fine if you want to do that, of course.\n\nThe biggest requirement for writing your first emulator is being willing to spend potentially a few months staring at a blank video output screen. Your only indication of it being alive will be your CPU debugger printing out hundreds of megabytes of text as you step through instructions.\n\nOnce you have some games running, you then spend the next ten or so years analyzing and fixing bugs, only to cause more bugs in the process. So it's a nice, decade-long game of whack-a-mole."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://stackoverflow.com/questions/448673/how-do-emulators-work-and-how-are-they-written"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://retrocalculators.ecrater.com/p/15811967/vintage-texas-instruments-ti-57-programmable"
],
[]
] |
|
fq26dm
|
what exactly is lichen?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fq26dm/eli5_what_exactly_is_lichen/
|
{
"a_id": [
"flo8zk3"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Lichen has been described as \"Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture\".\n\nSo it is a fungus that lives in a symbiotic relationship with algae or cyanobacteria.\n\nThe algae or cyanobacteria can photosynthesis ie use light to convert water and carbon dioxide to sugar and oxygen just like pants do.\n\nFungi can't photosynthesis and are biologically closer to animals them plants. So they can provide nutrients from the ground and give the algae or cyanobacteria a structure to live in.\n\nSo it is two types of life that both need each other to survive.\n\nIn a way, humans and the bacteria in our guts are similar because we use them to break down the food. We have a huge problem surviving without the gut bacteria.Cows and other animals that eat grass uses bacteria in this stomach to break down the cellulose. They would not be able to survive at least not on the normal diet without the bacteria.\n\nSo in a way animals are not that different because we too used another living thing inside us to survive. You could describe a cow as an animal, bacteria symbiosis."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
ncvsf
|
different degrees of infinity
|
I have trouble understanding the possibility, even. I want to know how they were found, what they are in general, and how they're used
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ncvsf/eli5_different_degrees_of_infinity/
|
{
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"c383nyr",
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"text": [
"First, we have to establish what it means for two sets of things to be the same size. Obviously, the easiest way to do this is simply count the number of things in each set and check if the numbers are equal. But remember, we're going to deal with infinity here, so we don't want our definition to rely on being able to *count* everything. Instead, we say that two sets have equal size when there exists what's known as a bijection between them. (If you have two sets A and B, saying that a bijection exists between them simply means that you can pair things in A with things in B, in such a way that no element is in two different pairs and all elements are in one pair.)\n\nNow, one kind of infinity is the size of the set of all counting numbers. There's always a number one higher than the number you've counted to, so there has to be an infinite number. According to the above definition, this happens to be the same size as a lot of other infinities (the set of even counting numbers, the set of integers, the set of fractions...).\n\nBut there do exist larger ones. For instance, if we consider the set containing all fractions, along with what are known as *irrational numbers* (these are the ones like pi, which can't be represented by any fraction), we find that this is not the same size as the infinity of counting numbers. It can be proven that it's *impossible* to pair up each irrational number with a counting number; there will always be some left, no matter what you do.\n\nThis doesn't have much practical use, it's mostly just cool.",
"Infinities are an interesting subject. The word infinite is really a shorthand for a variety of related things. Some *thing*, anything really, is called infinite in some sense if, in that sense, it is unbounded.\n\nNow, there are two major kinds of infinite: countable and uncountable. Countably infinite structures can be paired up with the natural numbers and uncountable ones cannot.\n\nCountable sets are unbounded in the number of elements you can identify in them, but there is always a \"unit\" element that is added when you \"count\".\n\nUncountable sets are unbounded in the number of elements you can identify, but there is no \"unit\" element, so they are also unbounded in how many elements can find in some range.\n\nThere are many more kinds of infinite, but they aren't much more exciting than these two, as far as I know.\n\nThe practical use of this relies on the fact that structures described as infinite have some property in common with other infinite structures. This allows you to express things in one structure in terms of another.\n\nIn calculus, the concept of a limit invokes infinite structures, and this gives us a way of converting \"infinite processes\" into \"algebraic processes.\" This uses countable infinities.\n\nIn physics, (and also calculus), the concept of infinite allows you to express statements of arbitrary precision. If you can always get closer to a value, you can substitute the value you are getting closer to for the process that is getting close to the value. This uses uncountable infinities.\n\nBasically, these things all happen behind the scenes. Basically, you are taking something that would take infinite steps, recognizing what each of these steps have in common, and replacing the process with that commonality. This tends to only work when the process is super clean and predictable, but it is very powerful when it does.",
"lets talk about the hilbert hotel...\n\npretend i own a hotel, and it has a infinite number of rooms, and every room has a guest in it. Now say you wanna check in to my hotel, i tell you all the rooms are fullup, you would think that you cant stay here right? well youd be wrong, because I am not a clever man but I know a few things, firstly id ask everyone to move down one room, so the person in room one goes to room two, etc... and you can stay in room one\n\nnow lets say you decide you like my hotel so much, you decide to get all of your friends and bring them to the hotel as a vacation. You are a very popular person and have an infinite number of friends (a countably infinite)! Now get this, i tell you the same thing, im full up, but you and all your friends can say here. Ill just ask everyone to move to their rooms double, so room one goes to room two, and room five goes to room ten. Then all of your friends can just stay in the odd numbered rooms....\n\nif you understood what was going on, we can then talk about cantors diagonal argument....",
"All the counting numbers (1,2,3..) have to go on forever. You never get to a point where you can't add one. So that set of numbers is infinite.\n\nBut the set of even counting numbers (2,4,6,8...) also goes on forever, you nver get to a point where you can't add two. So that set is infinite too.\n\nBut the set of even counting numbers has to be smaller than the set of all the counting numbers because it is missing all the odd numbers.",
"First, we have to establish what it means for two sets of things to be the same size. Obviously, the easiest way to do this is simply count the number of things in each set and check if the numbers are equal. But remember, we're going to deal with infinity here, so we don't want our definition to rely on being able to *count* everything. Instead, we say that two sets have equal size when there exists what's known as a bijection between them. (If you have two sets A and B, saying that a bijection exists between them simply means that you can pair things in A with things in B, in such a way that no element is in two different pairs and all elements are in one pair.)\n\nNow, one kind of infinity is the size of the set of all counting numbers. There's always a number one higher than the number you've counted to, so there has to be an infinite number. According to the above definition, this happens to be the same size as a lot of other infinities (the set of even counting numbers, the set of integers, the set of fractions...).\n\nBut there do exist larger ones. For instance, if we consider the set containing all fractions, along with what are known as *irrational numbers* (these are the ones like pi, which can't be represented by any fraction), we find that this is not the same size as the infinity of counting numbers. It can be proven that it's *impossible* to pair up each irrational number with a counting number; there will always be some left, no matter what you do.\n\nThis doesn't have much practical use, it's mostly just cool.",
"Infinities are an interesting subject. The word infinite is really a shorthand for a variety of related things. Some *thing*, anything really, is called infinite in some sense if, in that sense, it is unbounded.\n\nNow, there are two major kinds of infinite: countable and uncountable. Countably infinite structures can be paired up with the natural numbers and uncountable ones cannot.\n\nCountable sets are unbounded in the number of elements you can identify in them, but there is always a \"unit\" element that is added when you \"count\".\n\nUncountable sets are unbounded in the number of elements you can identify, but there is no \"unit\" element, so they are also unbounded in how many elements can find in some range.\n\nThere are many more kinds of infinite, but they aren't much more exciting than these two, as far as I know.\n\nThe practical use of this relies on the fact that structures described as infinite have some property in common with other infinite structures. This allows you to express things in one structure in terms of another.\n\nIn calculus, the concept of a limit invokes infinite structures, and this gives us a way of converting \"infinite processes\" into \"algebraic processes.\" This uses countable infinities.\n\nIn physics, (and also calculus), the concept of infinite allows you to express statements of arbitrary precision. If you can always get closer to a value, you can substitute the value you are getting closer to for the process that is getting close to the value. This uses uncountable infinities.\n\nBasically, these things all happen behind the scenes. Basically, you are taking something that would take infinite steps, recognizing what each of these steps have in common, and replacing the process with that commonality. This tends to only work when the process is super clean and predictable, but it is very powerful when it does.",
"lets talk about the hilbert hotel...\n\npretend i own a hotel, and it has a infinite number of rooms, and every room has a guest in it. Now say you wanna check in to my hotel, i tell you all the rooms are fullup, you would think that you cant stay here right? well youd be wrong, because I am not a clever man but I know a few things, firstly id ask everyone to move down one room, so the person in room one goes to room two, etc... and you can stay in room one\n\nnow lets say you decide you like my hotel so much, you decide to get all of your friends and bring them to the hotel as a vacation. You are a very popular person and have an infinite number of friends (a countably infinite)! Now get this, i tell you the same thing, im full up, but you and all your friends can say here. Ill just ask everyone to move to their rooms double, so room one goes to room two, and room five goes to room ten. Then all of your friends can just stay in the odd numbered rooms....\n\nif you understood what was going on, we can then talk about cantors diagonal argument....",
"All the counting numbers (1,2,3..) have to go on forever. You never get to a point where you can't add one. So that set of numbers is infinite.\n\nBut the set of even counting numbers (2,4,6,8...) also goes on forever, you nver get to a point where you can't add two. So that set is infinite too.\n\nBut the set of even counting numbers has to be smaller than the set of all the counting numbers because it is missing all the odd numbers."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3sgwan
|
why does it hurt more to sit down after squats than to get up?
|
I've always heard people starting new regimens complaining about this.
They say that when they get that typical muscle pain after starting exercise, they have more pain moving down than up, why is this?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sgwan/eli5_why_does_it_hurt_more_to_sit_down_after/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cwx3777"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Moving up you just push with all your might. Moving down requires more fine control. You're holding yourself up and slowly lowering yourself down."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
3n3shb
|
why do my jeans always stink after a few wears?
|
Granted I work as a bartender, but it's a non-smoking bar so my jeans shouldn't absorb any such odours. I can wash them and have them smelling like roses, then wear them for a couple of shifts and have them smelling like a tramp's pocket. Why?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3n3shb/eli5why_do_my_jeans_always_stink_after_a_few_wears/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvkhz5j",
"cvkiqgq"
],
"score": [
9,
2
],
"text": [
"When you wear clothes they absorb your sweat, local odors, and stuff spilled in them. No offense but your question is the clothing equivalent of asking \"I always smell great after a shower but how come I smell bad after 3-4 days without bathing?\".",
"Bacteria cause odor in clothes. I could imagine working behind a bar it would be very easy to get wet with water or other liquids. This environment combined with you sweating is ideal for bacteria to grow and reproduce. \n\nI would ask what do you do between shifts with your jeans? To help (without washing) it would be best if they were dry and able to air out. If that fails you should wash them with a mild detergent.\n\nYou might want to try browsing /r/rawdenim for ways to care for your jeans without washing them. They are strong believers that denim does not need to be washed and likely have ways to to prevent odors that you are talking about."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
1flxwf
|
what is going on with apple and the price fixing trial with the doj?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1flxwf/eli5_what_is_going_on_with_apple_and_the_price/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cabjogo"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Here you go, this guy did a great job explaining it: _URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1fisj9/us_takes_apple_to_trial_over_ebooks_pricefixing/caatz4t"
]
] |
||
3aqmee
|
how are elevator routes prioritized?
|
There seems to be many different complicated choices a group of elevators must make, such as which elevator goes to which call and which calls are answered first. how is this done?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3aqmee/eli5_how_are_elevator_routes_prioritized/
|
{
"a_id": [
"csf2237",
"csf4c6v"
],
"score": [
8,
4
],
"text": [
"From what I've noticed, they seem to follow some basic rules.\nIf it's heading in one direction, it'll pick up whichever people are also heading in the same direction on its way. So, for example, if it starts at the ground floor, the person in the elevator wants to go up to floor 10, the elevator will stop to pick up anyone on, say, floor 4, 6 and 9 and drop any of them off on whichever floor they want to stop at.\nOnly once the elevator is empty (ie, nobody's pushed any more floor buttons) will it change direction. So starting from 10, it'll head down. If nobody was waiting at 10, it just hangs around for the next person to press the button for any direction.",
"This is actually kind of an interesting question.\n\nIn the academic Software Engineering world, the \"Elevator Problem\" is a popular toy problem to examine when trying out new design and specification tools. (Like Z notation)\n\nOr, at least it was a decade ago when I was a student and encountered this silliness.\n\nSo, there are lots of extremely heavily formalized specifications and designs that have been made for elevator systems -- much more so than the complexity of the problem warrants.\n\nGenerally, the system works like this:\n\n When a call button is pressed, it remains lit until claimed.\n If an elevator is passing by a floor with a lit call button, then:\n if the elevator is empty, then it claims the call and stops at that floor\n otherwise, if the elevator is travelling in the direction of the call, then: \n claim the call and stops at that floor\n otherwise, \n the elevator does not claim the call\n\n When an elevator is stopped with the doors closed, then:\n if the elevator is empty, then:\n if there is an unclaimed call ahead in the direction of travel, then:\n claim the call and travel to that floor\n otherwise, if there is an unclaimed call behind (opposite direction of travel), then:\n reverse the direction of travel, claim the call and travel to that floor\n travel to one of the floors that empty elevators wait at in this bank and await a call\n otherwise, if the elevator is not empty, then:\n if there is a lit floor button (inside the car) ahead in the direction of travel, then:\n travel to the nearest lit floor ahead in the direction of travel\n otherwise, if the only lit floor buttons are behind in the direction of travel, then:\n reverse the direction of travel, and\n claim the call, and\n travel to the nearest lit floor\n otherwise, wait a short time for a floor to be chosen, if none is, then:\n the elevator is empty\n\n When a floor button is pressed, then:\n then the elevator is not empty\n\n When the doors open, then:\n the elevator is not empty\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
kzlq7
|
romani/gypsies.
|
I am a 5-year-old from America, and know nothing about these people.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kzlq7/eli5_romanigypsies/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c2okmbg",
"c2okwxs",
"c2ol2em",
"c2okmbg",
"c2okwxs",
"c2ol2em"
],
"score": [
4,
30,
18,
4,
30,
18
],
"text": [
"Person from Balkans here, which is the regions with most gypsies in Europe.\n\nThey call themselves many names, mostly Romani and Egyptians, but they actually come from India. because they find the term \"gyspy\" to be offensive, but we still call them that .They are nomadic people, meaning that they have no permanent home, they move every now and then to a new country. They are very poor, and most often live off by begging on the streets or doing criminal activities, which involve : scavenging metals, pick pocketing, and selling stolen goods. \n\nThey speak their own language, they don't try to assimilate into the society, they don't go to schools, have jobs or anything other. Their means of transporations are horses. They are also the only brown-skinned people in this part of Europe, no other visible minorities. ",
"The Romani are a people that originally came from Northern India and wandered into Europe about 700 years ago. They've maintained a nomadic lifestyle and culture that is distinct from the ones that surround them. The term \"Gypsy\" is a misnomer that comes from a time when they were thought to come from Egypt.\n\nTheir nomadic culture has put them at odds with a number of the agrarian and industrial cultures with which they come into contact, and made them pariahs in the agrarian society they originally found in Europe. Industrialization found them willing to take any job for any amount of pay, earning them the outrage of the developing working classes--who wanted more money for the same work. Unions would work to exclude them for this reason, once again putting them at an economic disadvantage (read: making them poor).\n\nAs we know about cultures that remain poor for a very long time, they resort to pretty much any means of survival. The law of the land became secondary to the law of a full stomach. Thus, they became associated with crime and fraud in Europe.\n\nSome Roma managed to make it to the United States. They've found themselves better able to integrate here, as our society has some respected transient elements, particularly in the transportation industry. ",
"Man of Roma decent here. I work in a well paid job, live in a city flat, but move every 2 years. My family has traditions I don't hear of outside of it. The indian decent is true and I do know that in mainland Europe there is a problem with Roma being linked to crime, but as has been said, when the population don't want you to work there is very little else to turn to. Most roma in Scotland (where I am from) mixed with the scottish travelers (or tinkers) and live in houses now, except for my Di (grandfather) who still lives in a caravan. Big families are important and the tie between family is everything. Job wise in Scotland a lot of Roma are members of the arts community, with some even holding decorations from the queen due to their services to it, other like myself are skilled tradesmen working as either self employed contractors or for contract companies.",
"Person from Balkans here, which is the regions with most gypsies in Europe.\n\nThey call themselves many names, mostly Romani and Egyptians, but they actually come from India. because they find the term \"gyspy\" to be offensive, but we still call them that .They are nomadic people, meaning that they have no permanent home, they move every now and then to a new country. They are very poor, and most often live off by begging on the streets or doing criminal activities, which involve : scavenging metals, pick pocketing, and selling stolen goods. \n\nThey speak their own language, they don't try to assimilate into the society, they don't go to schools, have jobs or anything other. Their means of transporations are horses. They are also the only brown-skinned people in this part of Europe, no other visible minorities. ",
"The Romani are a people that originally came from Northern India and wandered into Europe about 700 years ago. They've maintained a nomadic lifestyle and culture that is distinct from the ones that surround them. The term \"Gypsy\" is a misnomer that comes from a time when they were thought to come from Egypt.\n\nTheir nomadic culture has put them at odds with a number of the agrarian and industrial cultures with which they come into contact, and made them pariahs in the agrarian society they originally found in Europe. Industrialization found them willing to take any job for any amount of pay, earning them the outrage of the developing working classes--who wanted more money for the same work. Unions would work to exclude them for this reason, once again putting them at an economic disadvantage (read: making them poor).\n\nAs we know about cultures that remain poor for a very long time, they resort to pretty much any means of survival. The law of the land became secondary to the law of a full stomach. Thus, they became associated with crime and fraud in Europe.\n\nSome Roma managed to make it to the United States. They've found themselves better able to integrate here, as our society has some respected transient elements, particularly in the transportation industry. ",
"Man of Roma decent here. I work in a well paid job, live in a city flat, but move every 2 years. My family has traditions I don't hear of outside of it. The indian decent is true and I do know that in mainland Europe there is a problem with Roma being linked to crime, but as has been said, when the population don't want you to work there is very little else to turn to. Most roma in Scotland (where I am from) mixed with the scottish travelers (or tinkers) and live in houses now, except for my Di (grandfather) who still lives in a caravan. Big families are important and the tie between family is everything. Job wise in Scotland a lot of Roma are members of the arts community, with some even holding decorations from the queen due to their services to it, other like myself are skilled tradesmen working as either self employed contractors or for contract companies."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2ghsly
|
why does the lit cigarette seem blue on camera in this video?
|
_URL_0_
Friend just sent a SnapChat (not the video) and his cigarette was blue for some reason. It is not actually blue, it just appeared to be in the camera. That was a picture, this is a video.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ghsly/eli5_why_does_the_lit_cigarette_seem_blue_on/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckj81o0"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The cameras can pick up IR along with visual spectrum. The heat is skewing the sensors reading. Making it appear blue. I see everything else is normal. "
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aq6mIZixCY"
] |
[
[]
] |
|
1i5lut
|
what the advantages/disadvantages of a montessori school are
|
I'm curious about it. I know people who think it's good and others who think it's stupid. What is it and why is it good/bad?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1i5lut/eli5_what_the_advantagesdisadvantages_of_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cb17x9b"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Two-year montessori student here. Loved it. I remember a LOT of the lessons/stations to this day. Learned a lot of practical skills (tying, foling things) as well as analytic ones (fraction station, holla!). I also learned to read like a pro.\n\nLooking back, the thing I think was most valuable was that it taught me to be an actual person with actual responsibilities. We had schedules for watering plants, feeding the birds, etc. Whatever books/supplies we worked with always had to be put up, often in a particular way. I know it sounds hippy-ish, but it taught me how to be considerate, which is something sorely lacking in 2013.\n\n > What is it \n\nIt's a pre-k/k school that takes a somewhat alternative approach to the classic chalkboard/desks/teacher approach. Essentially, there are a lot of different stations and lessons spread around the rooms. These stations are mostly little tasks that teach/reinforce practical or analytical concepts, and most are tactile in nature. For example, the fractions station I mentioned above was 5 cylinders (if I remember correctly) lodged in a wooden tray. The cylinders broke apart in halves, quarters, eighths, thirds, and sixths. The goal was to break the cylinders apart and make whole cylinders from mixed wedges. There were also simpler stations (for example, arranging tiles numbered 1-100 in ascending order) and harder ones. Some were simple arts and crafts stations where you could paint/draw/color a picture to take home. Some stations were literally for practicing cleaning. Like there'd be a broom and dustpan in the corner, and you had to sweep shit up.\n\nAs a kid, there was no real plan - you just kind of went at it. The teachers kind of floated around the room, and they'd sit down with you regularly and run you through multiple stations to make sure you were progressing. You couldn't just screw around, though - my teachers were really good at making sure someone was at a station all the time.\n\nAdvancement was kind of self-enforcing. You couldn't move on to the harder stations until you mastered the easier ones. And once you see your friends on the harder stations, you really, really want to move on, both out of jealousy and humility (because if you can't move on, everyone knows you're dumb). For me, this was way more powerful of a motivator than grades.\n\nAlso, if you got in trouble (e.g., acting like an ass or not doing any work), you had to \"sit on a shape,\" meaning one of the shapes painted on the floor in the middle of the room. Which was the MOST BORINGEST AND HUMILIATINGEST EXPERIENCE IN THIS ENTIRE PLANET OF EARTH.\n\nEdit: Sorry! Forgot to answer your question \"What is it?\""
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
6y8oww
|
what does north korea want?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6y8oww/eli5_what_does_north_korea_want/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dmlf5zi",
"dmlf9rl",
"dmlfrkr",
"dmlgebl"
],
"score": [
3,
4,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"1. To be left alone\n\n2. To force favourable trade deals / relief packages so that..\n\n3. Things can stay the same",
"Very simple, the North Korean regime wants to stay in power. This makes them extremely suspicious of the US and South Korea, but also of China.",
"Welllll, I'll tellya whaddey want, whaddey really really want!\n\nAnyways! North Korea wants a reunified Korea and to maintain its independence. As long as South Korea exists, North Korea will feel threatened by \"western expansionism\" and its inability to reunify the peninsula. The problem is South Korea wants the same thing and it's doing way better; there are no famines, they're technologically advanced and enjoy a good economy, which is all things the North lack. That is a threat to the Kim family's rule, a threat to the legitimacy of Communism, and a threat to the guarantee of the independence of North Korea in case it collapses from... you know... sucking. China was their only ally as well, and China is starting to see the good in opening itself to the globe; North Korea is called the \"hermit kingdom\" because travel is harshly (like, no citizen out ever) regulated by the regime. With China stripping away at its communism and backing away from North Korea (allying itself with North Korea and providing them with the means to keep itself alive when the world wants North Korea to collapse is bad for business), North Korea is getting more desperate to keep the rest of the world at bay from toppling the Kim regime. So arming itself with nuclear weapons and ICBMs not only keeps North Korea relevant, it keeps its independence guaranteed because no one really wants to get nuked. So for now, it wants to guarantee its independence. But in the grand scheme, it wants a unified communist Korea and to pay back Japan for the war crimes it committed in Japanese-occupied Korea in WW2 (but that's a different rabbit hole completely).",
"North Korea wants two things:\n\n1) Their ruling family and authoritarian government gets to continue, forever, without any pesky \"democracy\".\n\n2) The Korean Peninsula should be unified, as it was before the American Sponsored war, with the NK running all of it.\n\nThese two things are not both going to happen. Nuclear weapons are mostly about (1), because they see that nuclear powers are not invaded like other countries like Iraq have been. The rest of the world might be OK with (1) without nuclear weapons, but that's putting the decision authority in the hands of the rest of the world, which NK isn't keen on."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5tbbfq
|
are babies ever physically awake while in the womb?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5tbbfq/elif_are_babies_ever_physically_awake_while_in/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ddll6wv",
"ddllada",
"ddlleb7",
"ddllu1g",
"ddlmg8f",
"ddlmood",
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"ddlptrn"
],
"score": [
279,
65,
11,
13,
10,
21,
39,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Yes. They spend most of their time sleeping but they do spend time awake and aware. They will react to things outside the womb and move around more when they're awake. ",
"You posed a yes-or-no question, so the answer to your question is, It depends on what you mean by \"awake\".\n\nTo explain:\n\nBabies open their eyes in the womb. They kick, they suck their thumbs, they turn around, and they kind of punch their little fists at times. This behavior is usually pretty predictable for the mom, and they seem to sleep when she's moving and become active when she sits down to relax, though it's probably different for every mother/baby pair.\n\nThat said, this article in Scientific American discusses EEGs (measures of brain activity) of babies in the womb, and it looks like they are \"asleep\" 95% of the time.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nSo, maybe the other 5% of the time, they are \"awake\". But they also do not seem to have the awake brain activity that babies outside the womb have.",
"Anecdotally, absolutely. I am currently 29 weeks pregnant and can predict when my baby will or will not be active, based on what I've recognized his sleep pattern to be.\n\n[Less anecdotally](_URL_0_),\n\n > After about seven months growing in the womb, a human fetus spends most of its time asleep. Its brain cycles back and forth between the frenzied activity of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and the quiet resting state of non-REM sleep.",
"Actually babies swallow amniotic fluid and pee it out. Their circulatory system is set up to bypass lungs in a way until birth. They go through sleep and wake cycles as well as can detect light as well as sound. ",
"But how do they go from zero oxygen environment and living attached to the host to a oxygen rich environment breathing on their own?! \nBlows my mind",
"Yes. It's sometimes obvious when the baby is awake, especially late in the pregnancy when the baby is bigger. The baby moves around much more. There are periods of activity and periods of inactivity.\n\nAfter a baby is born, a parent will recognize the baby's jerky, uncoordinated movements as the same ones they felt in the womb.",
"I used to play Simon with my daughter when she was in the womb. I would tap my wife's stomach and she would tap the same spot.",
"So from my own experience, baby will wake and kick if you something on your belly like a book. ",
"When I was pregnant with my first My cats always knew when he was \"awake\" before I did. They'd come encircle my belly and purr really loudly and my son would stretch out little fists and feet and kind of kick/pet them thru my tummy. It was really sweet. Until he flipped over close to term and those kicks bruised my ribs. :/"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-does-consciousness-arise/"
],
[
"https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090413185734.htm"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
cnc5yu
|
how do stores like costco and sam's club keep such huge quantities of produce and meat fresh?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cnc5yu/eli5_how_do_stores_like_costco_and_sams_club_keep/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ew8uk8j"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"They aren't doing anything too different than smaller supermarkets.\n\nSupermarkets are really sophisticated at predicting and buy \"perfect\" amounts of perishable items such as meat and produce. They have people back at their HQs whose entire jobs, and frankly careers are doing complex math and forecasting for exactly what and how much to buy, order, and ship to each store so that they have just the right amounts. Yes, its a job, lots of business people who are super into data do this job, and companies are pretty damn good at it.\n\nNow, this shouldn't go without saying though, plenty of produce is thrown out. However, this is expected. They often overstock produce for display purposes, and don't expect to sell it all, they expect some of it will not sell, but thats just part of how they want it to look. Yes, markets throwing out food that could have been eaten sucks. It sucks big time, but oddly enough, this isn't actually that big a factor in \"wasted\" food/produce, as there is tremendous waste long before it ever gets to the market, where the waste is comparatively small."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
3ybr27
|
why does the weight we gain from food based off of the food's calorie value instead of its physical weight?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ybr27/eli5_why_does_the_weight_we_gain_from_food_based/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cyc47jn",
"cyc4a3g"
],
"score": [
10,
2
],
"text": [
"The parts of food that don't contain calories aren't absorbed by our bodies and come out as urine and feces. ",
"So imagine the difference between, say, gunpowder and C4. Both are explosive, but C4 is a lot *more* explosive. There's more energy stored in the molecular structure of C4 than there is in gunpowder. So that's the difference in high and low calorie food. \n\nBut your body stores energy in fat cells, and fat stores energy in a particular way. So if you take in X ounces of \"gunpowder food\" it becomes Y ounces of fat. If you take in the same C ounces of \"C4 food\" your body turns it into a lot more fat because there's more energy to stir up.\n\nThat said, weight gain is a pretty complicated process so it's not just an absolute x calories to y fat thing. What type of calories matters, how much you use, and when both matter...it's definitely complex."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
3xbavp
|
charging a minor (suspect) as an adult
|
Whenever this comes up in the news, it seems like the criteria for doing so is arbitrary.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xbavp/eli5_charging_a_minor_suspect_as_an_adult/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cy36y9i"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"This is a situational problem that is decided by the judge and proposed by the ( usually) plaintiff\n\nif we take imaginary example 1.\n\n a 16 year old has 2 beers with friends, then goes joy riding in his dads car and accidently kills someone. \nThere is no reason to try this teen as an adult, for although it was terrible it was not malicious, there was no premeditation and it was accidental result of bad decision making of a young person. \n\nImaginary example 2:\n\nA 16 year old is unhappy and feels victimised. he spends 3 months trying to source weapons and ammunition (not hard is SOME countries) then details a plan to kill the three people in his school that constantly torment him. \nHe kills these people, and perhaps a few others. He shows not only a malicious attitude, but also that the acts were premeditated and he understood the consequences of his actions but did the crime anyway. \n\nThe defence would press to try him as an adult "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
971y8l
|
why don’t your testicles wrap around each other’s chords?
|
Sorry about this lol
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/971y8l/eli5_why_dont_your_testicles_wrap_around_each/
|
{
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"e44wc9m",
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],
"score": [
6,
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"text": [
"Testicles are attached to the scrotum, which keeps them more-or-less in place next to eachother. This doesn't absolutely prevent the issue, but it does keep them separated fairly well. One testicle often hangs slightly lower than the other, which also helps to prevent the issue.\n\nWhen they do twist or wrap around each other, it's a serious medical concern. It can cause extreme pain or even the death of one or both of the testicles. ",
"Testicular torsion can happen and is insanely painful. Luckily for the most part the connective tissue in there keeps them from moving out of place much. ",
"It is entirely possible to tangle them. It’s a condition that can really hurt. However for the most part, you have connective tissue that consists of fat and ligaments that keep everything in place. Almost every organ in your body has the same thing that’s why your organs don’t go flying around your body when you go on a rollercoaster for example"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
33gmf1
|
what is happening when i don't understand what someone has said until two seconds after i say, "huh?"
|
This happens to me all the time. Why does it take a few seconds to process?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33gmf1/eli5_what_is_happening_when_i_dont_understand/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cqkq5cz"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"According to this wiki, the brain apparently stores auditory information in a 'memory tank' because unlike visual info you can only hear something once. This echoic memory storage has a duration of up to 4 seconds during which the previously heard sound is replayed (echoed, hence the name), making you able to understand what you previously thought you didn't understand. _URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echoic_memory"
]
] |
|
25g2se
|
how do elections to the european parliament work?
|
Until that video about Danish motivating their citizens to vote I didn't know that people that belong to countries that were part of EU could vote. So how does it work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/25g2se/eli5_how_do_elections_to_the_european_parliament/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chgug3m",
"chh3ocq"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"The European Parliament is made of MEPs voted for by each country. Each country has a certain number of seats based on their population (although smaller countries have proportionally more). \n\nEach country is allowed some freedom in how they elect these MEPs. Some have a country-wide proportional voting system, some do it on a regional level. E.g. In the UK there are 12 regions that each elect a certain number of MEPs. The details are up to the country, but it must be a proportional system.\n\n",
"People vote for their regular national parties and then those parties will go to the European Parliament to join certain 'parties' which function as alliances. So you would have like-minded conservatives from the UK, Germany and France in one party in the EU.\r\rSo here in the UK, we have the Labour party which is socialist, so in the European parliament it joins PES, the Party of European Socialists. The Liberal Democrats will join ALDE, the alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, the Conservatives will join the European People's Party etc.\r\rEvery country is allowed seats based populations. Germany is the largest with 96."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
8st86p
|
how does our sense of touch enable us to feel that something is about to slip from our hands, before it does?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8st86p/eli5_how_does_our_sense_of_touch_enable_us_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e121fej"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Because you can feel that you're gripping it less, with less pressure, less friction, or both. You can also feel when it starts sliding, or when the angle changes."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1q1k5m
|
what is the difference between mexican soda and u.s. soda
|
what is the difference between mexican soda and U.S. soda. Recently I saw an article that mexican coke was switching to high fructose syrup from cane sugar and I didn't know the difference between mexican and U.S.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1q1k5m/eli5what_is_the_difference_between_mexican_soda/
|
{
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"text": [
"That was the main difference aside from the glass bottles",
"That's the main difference. They use cane sugar instead of HFCS. HFCS is cheaper in the US, so many products are sweetened with it instead of cane sugar.",
"Soda made in the U.S. has been made from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) for decades. Soda made in many other parts of the world continued to be made with cane sugar (and in glass bottles).\n\nThe difference is in the taste. If you don't believe me, seek out your most Latin neighborhood and find an abnormally tall glass bottle of Coke, Sprite, or Fanta. Then thank me for changing your life.\n\nAlso, assuming you're anywhere in the southern half of the country, they sell this stuff in bulk at your local home depot.",
"In the US you have both subsidies for domestic corn growers and tariffs against foreign sugar imports which means we drink the crap stuff. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2f3wy4
|
how did all of these celebrities' nude pictures get leaked at the same time?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2f3wy4/eli5_how_did_all_of_these_celebrities_nude/
|
{
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"text": [
"Someone hacks numerous icloud accounts over time. Hoards them, and releases them into the wild.",
"Better question, why are all of these celebrities taking the risk of photographing themselves in the nude when they're so high profile?",
"If anyone is curious how to do something that isn't horribly difficult to prevent something like this from happening to them, you can turn on two factor authentication on your iCloud or Google account.\n\nOn iCloud, go to _URL_0_ and sign in with your iCloud account. Go to the menu option on the left that mentions Security and then turn it on.\n\nOn Google, just search for two factor authentication and it will show you the page that walks you through the steps.\n\nThis will make it so that if anyone phished or guessed or reset your password, they would still be prevented from accessing your account unless they had possession of a second code that is randomly generated and unique (unguessable) that is only sent to your phone. Most of the time the hacker will not have physical access to the phone.",
"Not necessarily iCloud's fault. The guy didn't hack into the servers, that's basically impossible. He \"phished\" for their account info by tricking them to log in to a website that's not actually iCloud, and then he was able to get in. It's really the girls' and/or their PR people's faults for not being educated on how easy it is to get tricked like this. We also haven't totally confirmed that he even got all if the photos through iCloud. It is possible that some/all were gathered when Snapchat was actually exploited a few months ago.",
"The NSA had them all in a folder called \"celebs\"",
"These were most likely gotten and hoarded over time, now is just the time they're coming out.",
"From the amount of celebrities that have been hit it would seem more like an inside job to me.\n\nAs someone who has been in IT Application Support positions for the last 6 years, I have had unbridled access to production databases, servers, certificates, code base, etc. It would be easy for someone with that access look up some ones details, cross reference to file locations on a server and the manually copy them somewhere else. Encryption is a little bit more difficult, but if they had access to the code base they may have access to encryption keys and the algorithms used to encrypt the data.",
"As someone who works at an Apple tech support call center, I do *not* look forward to the calls I'll be getting at work tomorrow...",
"What I can say for certain:\n\n* The pictures were on a cloud system, which I believe has been hacked.\n* The hacker is selling the pictures on /b/ for Bitcoin\n* The buyers share the pictures immediately, resulting in the flood of pictures varying from simply private to outright pornographic\n* Most subreddits will delete them. Don't expect to see the leaked pictures on /r/jenniferlawrence, /r/kateupton or most of the others.",
"ELI5: Where can I find them?",
"I think a much simpler explanation is that all these female celebrities sent nude pics to one guy and that guy got hacked. \n\nRyan Gosling, please come forward. ",
" > The Next Web reports that a Python script has appeared on Github that \"appears to have allowed malicious users to 'brute force' a target account's password on Apple's iCloud.\" Based on a vulnerability in the Find my iPhone service, the software was able to repeatedly guess passwords very quickly in an attempt to find the right one. Usually multiple guesses lock accounts down, but the flaw in Find my iPhone meant that didn't happen.\n\n > The software sat on Github for two days, before appearing on Hacker News and then swiftly being patched by Apple today at 3:20 am PT. The Next Web has since tried using the tool, which now quickly locks accounts—suggesting that it does indeed brute forces passwords but has now been patched.\n\nApparently this hack was a likely reason for the leak. A proof of concept was made [here](_URL_0_) It's possible this existed for some time and the hacker was able to collect all the pictures.",
"Because Apple products don't need any type of security, unlike Windows everything you do on Apple products is automatically safe from Internet threats. /s",
"They used iBrute available at _URL_0_ which has now been patched by Apple to brute force passwords against known accounts. There was no timeout set in login attempt so Apple screwed up.",
"I knew cloud would benefit us",
"Here is an article from Business Insider explaining some of the possible ways. The iCloud hack is apparently just a claim by the perpetrator and a theory at this point.\n\n[All The Different Ways That 'iCloud' Naked Celebrity Photo Leak Might Have Happened](_URL_0_)",
"I'm waiting for Aubrey Plaza aka MY BAE ",
"Am I the only 20-some female that doesn't take nude pics of herself? \n\nJeez",
"Someone working for the NSA leaked them. I don't hear anyone saying this, but it is the most obvious answer. Occam's razor.",
"It was someone who works for the NSA",
"Here are all the stolen pictures, obviously NSFW. No, I did not upload them. So don't thank me. _URL_0_",
"The vagina of the Cuoco is pelous or shaved?",
"For what I've read on the 4chan thread, her iCloud was hacked. Not sure if true tho because you know, 4chan.",
"There is a guy on 4chan that posts leaked pics when people donate bitcoins to him. I think the current goal is $800 in bitcoins and he will put some videos. As far as how he got the nudes, I have no idea. I red that they are all from some hacked apple server ? Or at least thats what I understood. If they all share the same brand of phone its pretty logical to think that their network got hacked.",
"iOS devices have an iCloud feature called Photo Stream, which automatically uploads all photos taken to the cloud, your other iOS devices, and iPhoto on a Mac. It does this automatically, within seconds, for each and every single picture, ever. Even if you delete the picture from your camera roll, it'll still be on Photo Stream and in iCloud.\n\nRumour has it that someone hacked celebrities' iCloud accounts and got all those pictures. iCloud is a simple email and password sign-in, similar to Reddit and any email client ever. Although they're starting to do two-step verification (code sent to your iOS device) most accounts are still simple sign in.\n\nHow exactly this person got so many celebrities' iCloud emails, passwords, or why they retained pictures for such a length of time remains a mystery. The whole iCloud thing could even be false. This is a developing event and we still don't know all the details.",
"Because people, who are surrounded by PR and image consultants, aren't told to encrypt their sensitive images securely. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://www.appleid.apple.com"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://github.com/hackappcom/ibrute"
],
[],
[
"https://github.com/hackappcom/ibrute"
],
[],
[
"http://www.businessinsider.com/icloud-naked-celebrity-photo-leak-2014-9"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://imgur.com/a/JW9Gc#17"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1z62l2
|
why don't actors use actual liquids when pretending to drink in films?
|
It seems every time I watch a film in which a character drinks tea, coffee or something in a film, the cup is noticeably empty. Why don't they just put water in or something?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z62l2/eli5why_dont_actors_use_actual_liquids_when/
|
{
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"text": [
"After 20 takes you'll probably be vomiting from drinking too much water, coffee, etc. ",
"Film continuity is generally the reason; here's a good video to explain it:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nScenes are rarely done in a single take. \n\nSo let's say an actor drinks down to a visible 60% percent of a glass of tea and the take is considered successful. Great, and cut.\n\nIf you then have an actor drink, say 25% (We're now at 85% of the visible tea gone) more tea on the second take and then flubs his line, the film crew would have to try as closely as possible to match the tea in the glass as last seen (60%) on the last successful take. It would get to be time consuming, and ultimately difficult to track.\n\nRemoving the liquid from being visible is the easiest route. You don't want to break the illusion or distract the viewer with something minute.\n",
"Often the scene demands that the actor speak a line straight after drinking. They can't do this if their mouth if full of tea. Having the actor 'pause and swallow before speaking' would be used to say something about the character - such as an unwillingness to discuss the matter.\n\n(\"Just add a touch of class\" - big bonus to everyone who gets the reference.)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3vQQ3ntVY4"
],
[]
] |
|
4k8b77
|
how do popular social media apps become popular when they start out with 0 users?
|
Take snapchat for example, you would think people would only use it when a sizable portion of their friends are using it too which explains why it is popular now, but how do people launch such things that are compelling for people to be the first people to "use" them before they spread?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4k8b77/eli5_how_do_popular_social_media_apps_become/
|
{
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"text": [
"usually an app will be tested by a group of people who the app is targeted at and the developers will see how they use it and then try to cater it towards that market of users. once they know exactly what people want from the app/social media its entirely about marketing. getting the word out there, tell your friends about the app, they tell their friends, the userbase grows. ",
"Advertising heaps, once 1 person likes it, they'll tell the next, and so on. It takes a long time to build a reputable app.",
"Those companies will work hard to be mentioned or featured on popular sites that have similar target users. \n\n\ni.e. A new programmer centric app/site will try to get stories posted and up voted on Hacker News.",
"Aside from good advertising, popular social apps become popular because there is an intrinsic desire for them. At the core, people want to use them freely and not feel forced.\n\nTake your example: Snapchat. We can sugar coat it all we want, but the truth is that a couple college grads wanted to send/receive nudes from girls. People have been sending nudes since cell phone cameras were invented (early 2000's), but you always hear of people getting burned by those photos later on. So, it's not like Snapchat was an insane idea. People have been doing it for a whole decade. Snapchat was their solution for flirting/sexting. They got a jump start in college campuses and you know the story from then on...\n\nYes, yes I know that Snapchat is not a fool-proof app. And it's not just a sleezy app. This is just a small part of how social media apps get popular.",
"A few off the top of my head:\n\n* Market research and testing\n* Promotion to the target market\n* Promotion to people who tend to be early adopters\n* [Influencer marketing](_URL_0_)\n* [Astroturfing](_URL_1_)\n",
"Apps like Snapchat often get a foothold in a small community first. For example a school. If the developer is from that school it will be relatively easy for that person to distribute and promote the app and the users will soon be able to use the app to it's fully potential as their friends have it as well. If the app turns out to be useful then it will start to spread as people will recommend it to other people that aren't going to this school.",
"Well, reddit got started using a ton of [fake accounts](_URL_0_) to create the illusion of people using it.",
"It's all about the initial marketing. If you have a certain target demographic, then you'll market it specifically to them. I remember that a while back Justin Bieber advertised by uploading all of his social media pictures with something called \"Shots\" which was some bullshit app that did absolutely nothing of use, except for putting a branding watermark on photos. Still, because of this marketing strategy, they gained a lot of users from his Instagram/Twitter.\n\nSame goes to many other Social Media sites. If you make a good first impression, and manage to maintain quality (unlike Shots) you'll gain a lot of users within a few months. If you don't, even a good site/app could go to waste",
"You can buy app downloads. \n\nTapjoy for example will give you virtual currency in certain games if you download or visit certain websites. \n\nIf a user finds it interesting, they'll invite other people to use it. \n\nInstagram when launched was usable as a standalone photo editor.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influencer_marketing",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing"
],
[],
[
"http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-reddit-got-huge-tons-of-fake-accounts--2"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
4c0ust
|
what happens by a wasp sting?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4c0ust/eli5_what_happens_by_a_wasp_sting/
|
{
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],
"score": [
3
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"text": [
"Those damn little bastards have little tiny poker stingy things that are coated in venom. They poke you with said tiny little poker thingy and, voila, PAIN. \nIf you want to know more, then read this super duper article on [wasps](_URL_0_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/wasp.htm"
]
] |
||
4b4t15
|
how do fine jewelry stores make money when it costs so much for them to maintain a huge inventory of diamond jewelry?
|
I would imagine a fine jewelry store would have to go into a lot of debt just to maintain enough of an inventory to have a showcase of diamond rings, necklaces, etc. for customers. Say they sell a couple of rings a week, for a $4K/week profit. That still comes nowhere near paying for the millions of dollars of inventory that they are maintaining, as well as the storefront, the employees, etc. it seems like it would take an inordinate time for a jewelry store to ever make a profit, if they even could. How are they able to make a profit?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4b4t15/eli5_how_do_fine_jewelry_stores_make_money_when/
|
{
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"text": [
"I see this question is old, but I randomly stumbled onto this and actually work in this industry. I'm pretty sure most of these answers are guesses. You're absolutely right, it is not practical for a jewelry store to keep a large inventory, so they don't. The vast majority of jewelry you see in stores are on consignment. The store doesn't actually pay for the jewelry, or if they do, they pay for a small percentage of their stock in exchange for the rest (usually only for big, well known luxury brands like Cartier). The designers more or less lend their jewelry to the stores to display, if the store sells it, they pay the designer. If the store can't sell it, no big deal, they send it back to the designer. The designer takes the brunt of the hit. It's also why it's very difficult to break into the fine jewelry market.",
"Because buying the rings wholesale and direct is significantly less than what they sell it to you for. They mark it up several times (most I've personally heard is around 12x). a $1200 ring might have only cost them $100-200. So let's say they sell $5k work of rings. That inventory might have cost them $700-800 and the rest is profit and goes to maintaining the storefront. ",
"The markups on jewelry are insanely high and people are always buying wedding/engagement rings. They also offer services like cleaning, repair, and changing watch batteries."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
8j0f9f
|
what happens to the inside of your body when turned upside down our sideways?
|
I've always heard blood rushes to your head when you're turned upside down. What about stomach fluid? Is there a difference in when I'm lying down sleeping and standing up? Any other parts of the body that are effected?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8j0f9f/eli5_what_happens_to_the_inside_of_your_body_when/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dyw0jl9",
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],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
" > What about stomach fluid?\n\nThat will move to the top of the stomach where it is held in by a sphincter (this is what isn't working correctly for people with acid reflux). Laying down can also result in acid leaking out which is why people with reflux have trouble sleeping.\n\n > Any other parts of the body that are effected?\n\nEverything is affected to some extent but most organs are held generally in place by fibrous tissue.",
"The inside of your body is much more compact than you would think. Things don't have that much room to move."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
a6go3r
|
could a company just buy 100% of the stock of another company and treat it as theirs?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a6go3r/eli5_could_a_company_just_buy_100_of_the_stock_of/
|
{
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"text": [
"Why buy 100%, in most cases you only need 50% + 1\n\nThat is exactly what happens *all the time*. If the other company is willing it is called an acquisition. If the other company is not so willing it is called a hostile takeover. In either case the buyer is buying up enough of the company to take control.",
"Theoretically. But 100% of the stock is rarely on sale at once. In generally you only have a few percentage for sale at any given point in time. \n\nWhat you are describing is called a hostile takeover and it normally occurs with 51% being purchased and this normally takes a reasonably long period of time. ",
"Yes. If you hold 100% of a company's stock then you hold 100% ownership in that company, so it's yours. Assuming you can get 100% of share owners to sell you their shares, it's totally doable."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2hs1av
|
what is the box-part of a laptop charger doing? why does it get hot sometimes, and why does it not get hot other times?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hs1av/elif_what_is_the_boxpart_of_a_laptop_charger/
|
{
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12,
3
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"text": [
"The \"box\" is the power supply which is pretty much just a simple transformer. It converts 120v/240v input from the wall to a much lower volatge, (depends on the laptop)usually is anywhere between 9v to 24v, a voltage that can match the laptop battery's specification.\n\nIt gets hot when it's in use, charging your battery. How hot it gets depends on how low your battery is. Normally the lower the voltage on the battery, the hotter it will get because more amps (power) is being drawn from the \"box\". When your battery is pretty full and you're only proceeding light tasks the charger will barely get hot.\n\nHope that helps.\n",
"JRX is correct but I wanted to try to present it more clearly. That box does three main things:\n\n1. It reduces the voltage down to something the laptop can manage.\n\n2. It converts the AC power coming out of your wall to the DC power your laptop needs to run.\n\n3. Smooths out power fluctuations from the wall to make sure the power your computer receives is a constant, steady voltage. To keep \"the brick\" small some laptops have this function built on to the motherboard instead. \n\nYour cell phone adapter does the same thing: it's just smaller since your phone has a smaller power requirement. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
25ds19
|
did the chinese have to learn the mongolian language like americans have to learn spanish?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/25ds19/eli5_did_the_chinese_have_to_learn_the_mongolian/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chg7b1y",
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],
"score": [
2,
5
],
"text": [
"Who said Americans have to learn Spanish?",
"In 1279, when the Mongols conquered China and established the Yuan Dynasty most of the rulers did not use Chinese for the administration of China. Mongolian language was used and highly educated Chinese did learn Mongolian in order to interact with the government. \n\nAt the height of the Mongol Empire there was a period called Pax Mongolica (between 1209 and 1258) where Mongol armies conquered most of Eurasia. At this time they established governments that incorporated unified laws and policies but also respected much of the local culture. Most of these conquered lands the regular people did not learn Mongolian, but almost everywhere the most educated citizens did learn Mongolian. \n\nPresent day there are some groups of people in China that learn Mongolian. While Mongolia the country is very small, there is a part of China called Inner Mongolia which has many native Mongolian speakers. \nIn Inner Mongolia the language is a co-official language along with Mandarin Chinese. So students in Inner Mongolia do learn it in school and it is on most signs and forms. \n\nOutside of places that have a large presence of native Mongolian speakers it is not taught. Not nearly as widespread as Spanish is in America. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
64acbs
|
why is water boarding so hard to withstand?
|
You hear that people can't even last 10 seconds being waterboarded. I just heard a statistic that even special Ops average 14 seconds.
Why is it so difficult to withstand? I understand that it simulates drowning, whatever that means. But people can hold their breath for much longer than 14 seconds. Are they not given the chance to breathe?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64acbs/eli5_why_is_water_boarding_so_hard_to_withstand/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dg0l0g2",
"dg0mlm7"
],
"score": [
4,
5
],
"text": [
"Waterboarding is essentially simulated drowning. The experience of drowning in this way is extremely unpleasant and involves a large amount of fear stress and panic in the individual. ",
" > I understand that it simulates drowning, whatever that means. But people can hold their breath for much longer than 14 seconds. Are they not given the chance to breathe?\n\nThe idea is to cause the sensation of water moving into the breathing system of the body while minimizing the actual penetration of the water into the lungs.\n\nHolding their breath isn't going to work because the interrogator is going to make them breath. They might just sit there and wait, or more likely punch them in the gut."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
1se8sq
|
how do aerosols work and how are they produced?
|
Clarification: aerosol cans and bottles (e.g., whipped cream, shaving gel)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1se8sq/eli5_how_do_aerosols_work_and_how_are_they/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdwqr9j"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"An aerosol is any substance that has been reduced to small particles that can float in the air (at least for a while). Spray cans and spray bottles produce aerosols simply be releasing a pressurized liquid through a nozzle--when the liquid reaches an area of lower pressure, it naturally breaks up into tiny droplets."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1railm
|
why do people lose the color in their eyes when they go blind?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1railm/eli5_why_do_people_lose_the_color_in_their_eyes/
|
{
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"cdl833b",
"cdl8q67",
"cdl8rnj",
"cdl9urv"
],
"score": [
9,
4,
8,
4
],
"text": [
"Are you talking about cataract?\n\n_URL_0_",
" > Why do people lose the color in their eyes when they go blind?\n\nThey don't. Unless, as /u/Schnutzel/ mentions, they have cataracts.",
"Thats only for certain types of blindness. If you have retina damage(burned, scarred, detached) for example the eye will look normal to a person. In movies they white is uusally made with lenses or computer effects to emphasize the blindeness to the viewer.",
"this is in cases where the cornea, the clear front part of the eye, clouds over due to infection/trauma/etc. Since the iris and pupil are immediately behind it, the no-longer-transparent cornea blocks those colors from being seen. Cataracts affects the lens which sits behind the iris through the pupil. they often appear as more of a yellowish cloud and more easily noticed when looking straight in with good lighting"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
a895ik
|
complete indian voting system.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a895ik/eli5_complete_indian_voting_system/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ec90fnx"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Questions like this are better in r/ask_politics."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
38unaz
|
where do flies go when it gets windy?
|
...Or rains?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38unaz/eli5_where_do_flies_go_when_it_gets_windy/
|
{
"a_id": [
"crxyty5"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Are you talking housefly or horsefly? If housefly, it's probably just going downwind. If horsefly and not a category 2 hurricane it'll go wherever the fuck it wants to go because apparently they are bogglingly fast. \n\nsource: _URL_0_ "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.speedofanimals.com/animals/housefly"
]
] |
|
445hx9
|
why doesn't the united states fda create a daily multivitamin they approve of?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/445hx9/eli5_why_doesnt_the_united_states_fda_create_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cznjsu3",
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"cznnoi0",
"cznq7m7"
],
"score": [
5,
5,
5,
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Vitamins are not food and they are not drugs. They cannot regulate them because currently they do not have the authority to do so. They (or some other part of the government, I am not sure) would have to reclassify all vitamins to make them a drug and therefore able to be regulated. \n\nEdit: Also the FDA does not make any drugs, they regulate the companies that makes drugs. I am not sure how the FDA changing the classification of vitamins would magically make them more beneficial. ",
"Recent studies have shown zero benefit from vitamin supplements.\n\nAlso the FDA is a government regulatory agency, not a manufacturer of anything but policy.",
"Multivitamins are not usually medically necessary. A normal diet will get you the vitamins you need. If you supplement it, then you're essentially creating more work for your kidneys and producing very expensive urine.\n\nSome people have medical conditions or dietary deficiencies that make supplementation useful. For example, people with thyroid conditions may want to supplement with iodine. Vegans may need to supplement B12 or D. But a single one-size-fits-all daily multivitamin is neither practical nor necessary.",
"Because vitamins are a waste of money, they offer no health benefit to an otherwise healthy person. \n\nIf you're not suffering from malnutrition, and are not pregnant there is practically no reason you should be taking vitamins. \n\n\ntl;dr vitamins are a scam. ",
"Because they know vitamins are a crock. Normal people get all the vitamins they need from their food as long as they are eating more than poptarts for every meal. Vitamin supplementation is good for people in extraordinary situations. For example, pregnancy, *diagnosed* deficiencies, and individuals who may be in a nutritionally deficient environment like someone who works in the arctic.",
"ELI5:\n\nYou are a consumer of lemonade. There are several stands in your neighborhood, and the parents in the neighborhood watch all the lemonade stands to make sure the lemonade is made properly. Some kids add more sugar than others, some use organic lemons while the rest use regular lemons, some kids sell lemonade in big glass jars while others sell it in little plastic cups.\n\nThe parents make sure the kids are washing their hands before they make lemonade, that the kids aren't claiming their lemonade cures cancer, and that the kids aren't lying about the ingredients they use to make lemonade. \n\nThen the parents recommend Billy's lemonade. But why? Billy's lemonade is really not all that different from Suzy's lemonade, or John's lemonade. \n\nSee, different people need different types of lemonade, so for the parents to recommend one type as superior sends the message that all people should have the same kind of lemonade, which is completely false.\n\nThus, the parents are clearly backing a false message, which is massively hypocritical considering their job is to make sure the lemonade stands do not make false statements about their lemonade."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
809w4a
|
where does that weird sadness come from after some orgasms?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/809w4a/eli5_where_does_that_weird_sadness_come_from/
|
{
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183,
40,
5,
5
],
"text": [
"The French term for orgasm is “la petite mort” the Little death. I equate it to the come down after doing drugs. Probably has something to do with the act releases some endorphin like a narcotic. \n\nEdit: Corrected French grammar ",
"Your brain has a finite amount of chemicals that make you feel good called \"neurotransmitters\" such as dopamine and serotonin. When you orgasm your brain gets flooded with a few different types and when you're done you have less of the chemicals available. They replete over time unless you've abused some really hard drugs and killed the neurons that produce them. Common antidepressants that work by altering these chemicals such as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) have many sexual side effects such as the inability to orgasm, genital numbness, and impotence. \n\nEdit: Many people suffer from this condition to some degree but it can be minimized by exercising more and adopting a diet that provides more of the amino acid precursors that allow your brain to produce these neurotransmitters. Tyrosine is the amino acid precursor to dopamine and is found in foods like bananas and walnuts. Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin and can be found in foods like eggs and fish. There is also a rare condition known as \"post orgasm illness syndrome\" which some believe to be rooted in the brain. Other believe it to be an allergic reaction to one's own semen.",
"Post-coital tristesse is the term you are looking for! Do a google search and surf around, there are several perspectives, but the most fascinating to me is that the Greeks characterized this phenomenon and discussed it. Aka I don’t have a simple hard and fast answer for you, but that’s the name. ",
"Do you have it during sex or just after masturbation?",
"I've been living my entire life feeling like I was the only person in existence to have this negative side affect from it. I always figured it had to do with negative past events relating to it. Reddit has the answers to anything, it's a proven fact at this point! "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2ggd8u
|
how the gaza strip works. what is a person's life like who lives there?
|
Is it really an open-air prison? Are Palestinians able to come and go as they please? Do they have access to things they want/need (food, water, medical, etc.)? Why do they have these tunnels I keep hearing about, what are they for? I've heard that Hamas uses them for terrorist activity and I've also heard they're used to smuggle necessities into Gaza...I'm totally ignorant and curious about things I've read online with no idea what's true and don't mean to offend anyone with my stupidity. Any unbiased, factual information is greatly appreciated!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ggd8u/eli5_how_the_gaza_strip_works_what_is_a_persons/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckiuvxu",
"ckj02s8"
],
"score": [
15,
5
],
"text": [
"The Gaza strip is very, very closed-up. \n\nEgypt has a blockade based on Israeli pressure.\n\nIsrael won't allow Gaza through for 'obvious' reasons.\n\nThey have limited naval access. (VERY limited - akin to smuggling)\n\nThe tunnels are there PRIMARILY for getting resources in. Gaza has no farms, no cattle, no food, no natural resources. The tunnels were initially built by civvies to bring in resources. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they're used to smuggle other items such as weaponry. As controversial as it is, you can't really blame them. I'm 100% against the conflict, but you can't be surprised that both sides have weapons.\n\nGaza is a very, very small place, and to make matters worse, it's incredibly highly populated. So that limited amount of water, food and resources not only has to last in time, but it also needs to be distributed over a large population. Literally \"spreading it thin\".\n\nThe worst part is that Hamas is using it as a stronghold, so although most of Gaza is just innocent civilians, there are militants scattered about and it is complicating things.\n\nIsrael for example can (and has) denied humanitarian aid access into the Strip on the premise that it may be sent to supply militants rather than civilians.\n\nIt's just a modern-day siege IMO.",
"Gaza isn't an open-air prison, but they are blockaded due to their government being run by an internationally condemned terrorist organization; Hamas. As such, every opportunity for free trade has been met with illegal smuggling of weapons. \n\nIn 2005, Israel decided to remove its entire presence from Gaza as a gesture of good will with aims for future peace talks. 10,000+ people, as well as millions of $ in infrastructure (mostly agricultural). The following year, in 2006, Hamas used the vacuum left by Israel's withdrawal to win a popular election, and then kick out their rival party, Fatah. Since then, they've ruled with an iron fist murdering many of their fellow Palestinians, as well as attempting to murder as many Israelis as possible by shooting thousands of rockets at Israeli cities.\n\nFor this reason, Israel established a land and naval blockade of Gaza... in order to prevent Hamas from getting more weapons which they've pledged to attack Israel with. ***However, Israel still provides Gaza with thousands of tons of aid, and more than half of their electricity.***\n\nEgypt also decided to blockade Gaza ever since the Muslim Brotherhood was removed from power and outlawed by al-Sisis, since Hamas is an offshoot of the MB and is both ideologically and politically aligned with Hamas. \n\nIn short, the moment Hamas chooses to demilitarize, or another Palestinian party takes control of Gaza, the blockade will stop. \n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
a2ra7d
|
how were early generation icbm's guided, and how were they "controlled" from their silos prior to internet communication?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a2ra7d/eli5_how_were_early_generation_icbms_guided_and/
|
{
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"text": [
"They are not controlled via internet by the way. That would be a horrendously dangerous setup",
"Basically ICBMs are fire and forget. The ICBMs were typically pre-targeted. The guys in the Silo get the order, confirm the codes, and initiate the launch, and that's pretty much the end of their involvement. This is why manned bombers are a part of the nuclear \"triad\"....you can fly them around and look threatening when needed, but you can call them back home when things calm down. \r\n\r\nOnce the ICBM launches, it used what is called \"inertial guidance\" to get to its target. Essentially this system has at least two spinning gyros in it that could sense acceleration in any direction. Circuits could read what the gyros were doing and adjust accordingly to make sure the missile would follow the proper flight path. Since this is all internal to the missile, it can't be jammed by the enemy.\r\n\r\nThe mechanical INS systems weren't super precise, so in the early days the focus was on massive warheads....you don't need land too close to the target when you had a multi-megaton warhead on board.\r\n\r\nNewer systems have non-mechanical laser gyros that can use physics to measure the difference in how far beams of light travel due to acceleration. With this added precision, warhead size shrank, and now you can fit multiple warheads, each with its own targeting, on a missile if so desired.",
"ICBMs aren't controlled by their silos even today. They're designed to be self sufficient because if they're launched, the shit is hitting the fan and their silo may not exist in a few more minutes, and GPS is almost certainly down\n\nEarly ICBMs were preloaded with targets and used Star Trackers to align themselves so they'd hit their targets. They'd lock on to some bright known stars and use their relative angles to determine its position and orientation. More modern ones use Inertial Guidance Systems to direct them to their targets based off how far they've traveled and in which directions\n\nYou don't want your nukes to be networked. If you can give them target instructions remotely, so can your target!"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2zd7re
|
why did microsoft let people endure internet explorer 6 for so long back in the 2000s?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zd7re/eli5_why_did_microsoft_let_people_endure_internet/
|
{
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"text": [
"There was no serious competition. It wasn't until Firefox, chrome, and safari became popular that Microsoft started to lose marketshare. ",
"Microsoft created Internet Explorer to prevent the Web from undermining Windows. The Web, mostly used through Netscape Navigator back then, didn't care what operating system you were using, whether it was Windows, Macintosh, Unix, or even more obscure OSes. That was a threat to Microsoft's Windows revenues so they created a Windows browser and used illegal business practices to take over the browser market. Once they succeeded in taking over the browser market, there was no more reason to continue making the Web better and with more than 95% market share in 2003, they stopped investing in IE. It wasn't until Firefox came along and showed Microsoft and the world, that browsers mattered that Microsoft began investing in IE again."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
266kmt
|
my rights when speaking to police officers.
|
I've ben watching checkpoint refusal videos. Here's a compilation which should more or less what I'm talking about.
_URL_0_
As you know, when you're being pulled over (even if you've done nothing wrong) one can get nervous. I'm looking for a simplified explanation for what my rights are in the US when dealing with encounters with law enforcement. The traffic stop is a great example, but what else should I know.
For the record, I'm a pretty average guy, I don't do illegal things (by and large). This is just to inform myself.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/266kmt/eli5_my_rights_when_speaking_to_police_officers/
|
{
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"Legally, you don't have to do anything except stop and accept whatever legal punishment they find suitable.\n\nFor instance, if you are stopped at a DUI checkpoint, you do not have to submit to a search, or answer their questions about if you have had anything to drink, but they may ask you for a breathalyser, if you refuse that, then that is an automatic DUI charge.\n\nBest way to get out of it? Answer truthfully, but don't consent to a search without a warrant.\n\nIf you are stopped at a manhunt checkpoint, same sort of deal, except refusal to answer any questions can be seen as probably cause to search the vehicle.\n\nIf you are pulled over for whatever reason, don't respond to \"Why do you think I pulled you over?\" as they may not have a reason, or you may have one that results in a worse fine ie \"I ran that stop sign\" when they pulled you over for a faulty tail light. You don't have to answer any questions without an attorney or other legal aide with you. \n\nYou don't have to consent to searches, and if it seems like the encounter is hitting a wall remember to ask \"Am I being detained?\" and if they say yes, ask what for. If they say no, ask \"Am I allowed to go?\", if they say yes, pull safely onto the road, if they say no, ask again \"Am I being detained?\"\n\nPretty much, if you get stopped, be polite, don't be a dick, but remember that you don't have to answer any questions, you don't have to consent to searches, and remember to ask \"Am I being detained?\" and \"Am I free to go?\" whenever possible.\n\nAny sort of police stop is going to be bad, and you have a large amount of control over whether it's going to be a prostate exam, experimentation, or if they are going to need to yell \"I'm going in dry\".",
"From the ACLU:\n\n > **Stay calm.** Don't run. Don't argue, resist or obstruct the police, even if you are innocent or police are violating your rights. Keep your hands where police can see them.\n\n > **Stop the car in a safe place as quickly as possible.** Turn off the car, turn on the internal light, open the window part way and place your hands on the wheel.\n\n > **Upon request, show police your driver's license, registration and proof of insurance.**\n\n > **If an officer or immigration agent asks to look inside your car, you can refuse to consent to the search.** But if police believe your car contains evidence of a crime, your car can be searched without your consent.\n\n > **Both drivers and passengers have the right to remain silent.** If you are a passenger, you can ask if you are free to leave. If the officer says yes, sit silently or calmly leave. Even if the officer says no, you have the right to remain silent.\n\n[Source](_URL_0_).",
"* Police can stop you if there is *reasonable suspicion* This standard is pretty low and is not worth arguing about...even if there wasn't reasonable suspicion, it is pretty easy for police to make something up.\n* Police can detain you for a short amount of time to see if there is probable cause to make an arrest.\n* While detained, police can have you and your passengers exit your vehicile.\n* To \"ensure their safety\", police can conduct a pat down of you and your passengers.\n* Should they find probable cause of a crime, police can arrest you.\n* Upon arrest, they can search the areas of your car in reach of you or your passengers.\n\n > As you know, when you're being pulled over (even if you've done nothing wrong)\n\nOne thing to be aware of is you don't know what the police know. You don't know if they have reasonable suspicion or probable cause. You also don't know if your missed a speed limit sign or your brake light is out. Asserting your rights is important, but you can't assume the police are just harassing you for doing nothing wrong.\n\nAlso, that guy in the video, is pretty much being a dick to cops for the fun of it, and is being let through because no drunk would make that much of a fuss. Checkpoints are legally dubious, but don't let this guy be your role model. ",
"\"Rights\" and \"realism\" don't perfectly overlap. You should answer the police officer's questions as much as you feel comfortable, just don't be a dick. If you don't want to answer something, think about it hard, think about it again, then decide. You're rights can say and mean whatever they do, but if you are doing something abnormal in your questioning, your ass is gonna have to go to court and defend yourself, and you can't afford lawyers that good to get you off.\n\nAssert your right, be realistic, don't be a dick.",
"Note the difference that these are Immigration checkpoints which are much more lax than other types. Don't try this if you get pulled over for speeding.",
"You are **never** required to consent to a search, and advice I have been given is that you never should regardless of whether or not you have anything to hide. Refusal to consent to a search **cannot** be considered probable cause to search. If they have probable cause or a warrant, they will search with or without your consent, but if they have your consent they WILL search and that can take a lot of time, inconvenience, and stress. It's not uncommon during a search for them to during a search detain you (handcuffs, for their safety), wait for backup, \"toss\" the car or property (throw things around, take out anything they can, etc.), call for a dog to assist, etc.\n\nEven if they have probable cause or a warrant, you are **not** required to consent, merely to comply and not resist while they execute the search.\n\nThey **may** do something called a \"Terry stop\" where they can look for anything in plain view and frisk you for their own safety without probable cause or a warrant.\n\nYou **may** be required to consent to an alcohol test or immediately surrender your license. This is known as implied consent and has been upheld because legal ability to drive is not considered a right but a privilege. The officer is required to have reasonable suspicion that you are under the influence, however.\n\nYou are **never** required to answer questioning without an attorney present (except for some things like identification, see below), however failure to do so can lead to extreme inconvenience on your part. It can turn something like a simple speeding ticket to an arrest and/or search, legal or not. I am not a lawyer but my advice would be to politely not answer things that would incriminate you (\"do you know why I stopped you?\" \"No, sir\") but to generally be cooperative except things like consenting to searches. Generally if they ticket you they will inform you that signing the ticket is not an admission of guilt but a guarantee that you will either appear in court or accept the charge.\n\nYou **do not** have the right to lie to an officer. If answering a question would incriminate you in any way (even if not related to the crime under investigation), you **do** have the right to refuse to answer, and your refusal may not be taken as incriminating in itself.\n\nYour right to remain silent and to refuse to consent to searches **still exist** if you are a passenger and not the driver of a vehicle.\n\nIn some states you may be required to provide identification upon request and may be punished if you refuse to do so, and to provide driver's license, registration, and proof of insurance if stopped in a motor vehicle. This has generally been upheld by the courts.\n\nYou **do not** have the right to physically resist or attempt to escape or evade except in cases where your life is at risk; this **will not** hold up if you are resisting or evading in commission of a crime, **only** in cases of actual police brutality of an innocent person. Some states actually have statutes permitting even lethal force against an officer if it is absolutely necessary to protect your own life. Odds are this will not be the case for you, and you should not attempt to resist or evade unless your life is in actual danger at the hand of the officer, because doing so where not absolutely necessary **will** result in charges. Attacking an officer who is not actually trying to kill you will **never** be a good idea.\n\nIf you are actually being illegally arrested or searched, etc., your best course of action is to be physically compliant while verbalizing your refusal to consent to search and that you are exercising your right to remain silent, and to get yourself a good attorney to take the officer/department to the cleaners after the fact. \n\nIf you are arrested, you have the right to an attorney, and if you cannot afford one, one must be provided. You have the right to have your attorney present at any questioning. You do not have to sign anything or say anything without an attorney present, and you should follow their advice for saying/signing anything after consulting with them.\n\nWhile you have the first-amendment right to say pretty much whatever you want, it is a good idea to be respectful and polite. There are a ton of times where somebody being polite to an officer has resulted in a warning instead of a ticket. There are exactly zero times where being rude has done so.",
"I'm assuming OP meant to ask about his rights with respect to police *in America*. Your US rights are meaningless if you're traveling abroad. Most countries have rights that will apply to you, but most will be different. EG., nowhere on this earth other than America does one have the *right* to have possession of a loaded gun. Here in Canada, you'll go to jail without passing Go for that.",
"The response to this thread was superb. I truly gained something from the responses here. I agree that excising your rights can impede a \"regular guy\" cop from doing his job, but every so often I hear about or am involved some nonsense (ie cop on a power trip). \n\nI wanted to know for the most part what my rights were while talking to a cop in any situation when I'm reasonably sure I have done nothing wrong. This concern was addressed in great detail, so thanks!!",
"One thing I'm not seeing a lot of here that I think is very important... You have the right to record (via audio or film) your interaction with the police. "
]
}
|
[] |
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_3dDNPwJTU"
] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.aclu.org/drug-law-reform-immigrants-rights-racial-justice/know-your-rights-what-do-if-you"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1bbksj
|
why isn't staged reality tv subject to game show laws?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bbksj/eli5_why_isnt_staged_reality_tv_subject_to_game/
|
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"You'd have to be specific about what gameshow laws you're talking about.",
"Because reality TV shows are not game shows. ",
"I'm not a lawyer, but based on my understanding, it's because it's questionable whether the laws passed by Congress back in the 1950's after the 'quiz show scandals' even apply to reality shows. This is for a few reasons:\n\n1. First of all, many reality competition shows ACTUALLY SAY in the ending credits (and I assume in the contracts that contestants sign) that the producers' input is taken into consideration each week on eliminations. No chicanery can be said to be taking place if the producers admit upfront that they are influencing the results.\n\n2. The laws written specifically reference televised \"contests of intellectual skill, contests of intellectual knowledge, and/or contests of chance.\" It's arguable that many reality competitions do not actually fit these descriptions but are instead 'for entertainment.'\n\n3. There's been no truly blatant cheating that has come to light in a lawsuit yet. As covered in number 1, the producers' influencing a show towards a favored candidate doesn't fall into the same realm as the quiz shows where the outcomes were as scripted as a WWE match, but were presented to the public as genuine contests. \n\nIf, say, American Idol was caught throwing out the results of their voting system and picking the winner they wanted, that would be a major scandal and might result in prosecution. But it would be totally legal for the producers to create a 15 minute video package about their favored contestant's brave struggle against gingivitis in the hopes of drumming up more votes, because a reasonable person can see exactly what's going on."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
9u6z38
|
why do foods taste better when they contain more than one of the senses (salty, bitter, sour, sweet, umami)?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9u6z38/eli5_why_do_foods_taste_better_when_they_contain/
|
{
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"text": [
"Taste is our bodies way of determining nutrition. Activating more of these flavor receptors and different ones at the same time gives us a signal that whatever food were eating probably has multiple sources of nutrition in it."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
8zg7r3
|
why does saliva carry dna?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8zg7r3/eli5_why_does_saliva_carry_dna/
|
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"The DNA in saliva is mostly found in white blood cells. There are white blood cells in your saliva because your mouth is one of the main ways pathogens/germs enter your body. The white blood cells in your saliva are there to be your body's first line of defense against these germs. \n\nAnother source of DNA from your saliva is from epithelial cells. These are cells that make up the inner lining of your mouth, which get shed into your saliva.",
"There are lots of things in saliva. \n\nMainly, there are a wide range of symbiotic bacteria that live in the upper respiratory tract. These bacteria contain lots of DNA. In total, most if the DNA you will find in your mouth is bacterial DNA, not human. This is because bacterial cells tend to be much smaller than human cells and outnumber them by several hundred to one. \n\nMoreover the inner lining of the mouth is referred to as the Oral Mucosa.\n\nLike the skin, the mouth contains a layer of Epithelial cells, the outer surface of which consists several layers of dead cells. Like the skin, these dead cell are constantly being shed and replenished by the layer of living cells underneath. These dead cells contain DNA, and saliva tends to contain a fair number of them.\n\nSo, in summary, the saliva contains both bacterial DNA and human DNA, mostly bacterial.\n\nBut DNA tests look for certain sequences in the DNA that are specific to humans, and ignore ones found in bacterial DNA.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
3vfxya
|
why do delivery or shipping companies themselves not know when something will get delivered but have to estimate it within a range of several days?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vfxya/eli5_why_do_delivery_or_shipping_companies/
|
{
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"cxn631a"
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"text": [
"They don't know how many orders they are going to get on a given day. Too many, and yours has to wait for the next truck. Too few, and yours waits in a the truck until it gets full.\n\nThen it goes to the distribution center, and the same thing happens again, you order might go out right away, or it might have to wait.\n\nAlso, they hold space open for priority orders, which might bump your package at any step of the way."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1xlxe9
|
why do people like mosh pits?
|
What is the point of Moshing (Moshing?) and what is the history behind it?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xlxe9/eli5_why_do_people_like_mosh_pits/
|
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"It started in the 70s and 80s at punk shows, where people's dancing got wilder and wilder, and eventually got to where people were slamming into each other. It kind of went from there. It was originally called mashing, but it turned into moshing because that's the way the singer from Bad Brains, who had a Jamaican accent, pronounced.\n\nI like to mosh at metal concerts. For me, it's kind of like a game, I compare it to playing football without a football. For a lot of people, they like it as a way to work out their aggression in a somewhat controlled way. As violent as mosh pits may look, people generally aren't trying to actually hurt each other.",
"Moshing mostly occurs at show playing high-energy, aggressive music. \n\nIt only makes sense that the dancing is high-energy and aggressive, too. ",
"For me, like Mephysteaux said, it's a controlled way to get aggression out. When I'm at a gig, forgetting about the 9 to 5 and having fun it's an extra way to let loose and engage with the people around me. It adds to the comradery. You should see how eager people are to help a fellow gig-goer if they fall over in a moshpit. I usually see dozens of hands reaching for me at once and I'm back up before I know it (exceptions to every rule of course).",
"In addition to the above comments, it's also a killer workout.\n\nJust sort of evolved. First there's moshing, then moved to moshing/throwing down, then next thing you know everyone's lined up on either side of the room gearing up for a wall of death.\n\nI personally am fascinated by the co-ordination and collective consciousness of mosh pits. It all just happens, and happens because people are expressing their appreciation for some killer music.",
"I wish I had my copy of this magazine called Nest which I bought randomly at a Salvation Army maybe 10 years ago in the past. It was an interior design magazine, but I just bought it because of its unique design. In that issue, there was an amazing article about mosh pits. In it, the author makes the argument that mosh pits are living things, in a sense. They are moving masses of flesh, solid walls in one instant, bouncing people off, and porous membranes in the next instant, absorbing people into the mass. \n\nPerhaps the simplest way to explain it, is that a mosh pit is a collective dance. A bit hectic and violent, but it's simply a way of dancing with other people to music.",
"I personally think there's something so neat about moshing, where it's an environment of aggression but also compassion. You're jumping around and pushing people, and then there's also the moments when someone falls over and everyone helps them up, or after a show you're all talking and making sure people are okay. \n\nOf course you'll get a few people who go there to pretty much assault people, but I guess it depends on the bands you're seeing. ",
"I find them very interesting to watch. Moshing has its own etiquette and unspoken rules. It's almost controlled chaos. ",
"/u/Mephysteaux is probably right. But I want to point out some thing that they very much so didn't hit on. Current Mosh pits. Punk and metal pits are very different. Punk pits are more likely to have more random violence (sighting that I have received every bloody lip ever from jack ass punching a small girl in a punk pit). They all thrash their own direction to the music and its all random (and thus the accidental or not so much violence.)\n\nMetal moshing is a whole lot more of the group working together and going to the music and not just seizing into each other every which direction. \n\nI hate modern punk pits, I love being tossed in a sea of metal,.",
"As a wise man once said:\n\n\"Get in the pit and try to love someone.\"\n\nI have been to many concerts, and been in many different types of pits. But one thing is almost always true. There is a certain type of respect for your fellow man for everyone who jumps in. For the song/songs the pit is moving, you are all there to have a good time. Get a little rough, bruised up, thrown around, its all good. And when the music stops, everyone is your friend.\n\n\nI say almost because sometimes there is a douchebag or two. But they really stand out from the norm.",
"[Allow Steve Souza to explain it to you](_URL_0_)",
"I spent much of my youth in slam pits at hardcore shows in the 80's. Every one was different, depending on the band, the tempo, the crowd. Some were really great. I recall a 7 Seconds show where we got a big circle thing going and everyone was smiling. Some were just *insane.* I left a Dead Kennedy's show literally soaked head to toe with sweat, myself and other's. Some were scary, especially if skinheads or other assholes were involved. I got a few bruises. My favorite thing was to cling to the front of the stage. You got kicked in the head a lot, but you got a really great view. Btw, there is no excuse for slam dancing at a Janes Addiction show.",
"The only way to really know is to be in one. You feel fucking alive, there's something so primal about it.",
"Moshing was a great part of my youth.\n\nFast fun music makes young men want to jump and push and burn energy.\n\nSome of the best pits I participated in were NOFX, Rancid, Primus and Fishbone. Even though Fishbone wasn't like the other bands, their energy on stage infected the crowd.\n\nFun stuff and even back then, the rules were the same. If you see someone fall, you pick em up. Help with stage dives etc.",
"I'm looking forward to the moshing at the FUCKING MANOWAR SHOW ON 22ND OF FEBRUARY!",
"For me the pit is a place of brotherhood, solidarity, darwinism, and catharsis. \n\nWhen you and I are in the pit, we are brothers(and sisters) in a sense. We are there to beat the shit out of each other, but in a fun way, and we are there to take care of each other. We are there because we feel the music more intensely then everyone else and we aim to prove it. When the music starts blaring and the emotions are running high, I will push and shove and swing and slam the shit out of you. We'll start the circle pit arm in arm only for me to send you wheeling across the floor into some innocent sideline bystanders. Well charge at each other, in a display of aggression and dominance, our horns interlocking, but its all in good fun. If there is beer on the ground and you slip, don't worry, well protect you until you get up. You may curl into a fetal position for fear of being trampled only to look up at human shields forming as people grab and pull at your clothes pulling you from the floor. Are you about to pass out from heat exhaustion, or being crushed because you are 90lbs of little girl? Don't worry, we'll lift you up out of the shit and crowd surf you to safety. Maybe in all the excite me you get a fat lip or black eye, but well be arm in arm singing our favorites before its all over. \n\nThat is my emotional take from the pit. On a more fun note, I like to often do experiments in the pit. I am a fit guy, and I treat the people in the pit as gas molecules or atoms, freely bouncing around the container they are in. Sometimes I stand there stagnant in the middle and bounce people off me, most of the time I am the one walking against the circle pit, fucking everyone up. \n\nThe best and most fun way to handle a pit in my experience is the drunken master routine. Cross your arms over your chest in a defensive position, and simply convert everyone else's energy instead of exerting your own. Sidestep, and redirect oncoming attacks and absorb blows rather then push back. Using this you can easily be pushed(note the crowd does this for you) to the barricade at the front for a kick ass view.",
"Energy, people feeding off the energy of the band and the band playing harder because of the crazy pit.\n\nThere are rules to the pit as well as different varieties of pits.\n\nThe golden rule is: \nIf you go in the pit you're gonna get hit.\n\nPeople that intentionally try to hurt others will get their asses handed to them.\n\nIf someone falls you pick them up immediately.\n\nThe people on the edge of the pit are bouncers, they help keep people safe by pulling them out or throwing the assholes back in even harder\n\n\nTypes of pits:\nClassic pit, classic \"slam dance\" pit where people going every direction just running and jumping into each other. \n\nCircle pit, everyone moving in the same direction in a big circle\n\nHardcore pit, mostly people staying in 1 spot \"hardcore dancing\" or \"two stepping\" looks like people flailing around throwing punches and doing spin kicks , This is the place you are most likely to get kicked or punched in the face \n\nWall of death, crowd splits in half and on the bands mark they run towards the other side and meet in the middle in an epic braveheart style clash, these are awesome and the band goes crazy a lot of times they will play a cover song, raining blood by slayer makes for crazy wall of death \n\nOne of the craziest pits I've been in the lead singer of the band (Bulldoze) jumped into the middle and started swinging the Mic around by the cord knocking people in the head, this was just a few weeks after he got out of jail for beating someone nearly to death with a cymbal stand. ",
"I always liked being one of the perimeter guys around a pit. Bounce people back into the action, help them up if they fall down.\n\nPits are all about catharsis and communal energy. Good times.",
"You get the adrenaline rush of being in a fight, but you are actually relatively safe. I've been in several mosh pits. They can actually be pretty enjoyable if you get in to the music and atmosphere. But there are of course risks, and occasionally there are jerks in the mosh pit who think it's okay to hurt people.",
"I work at a large rock and roll bar as security. We have many bands come thru (punk country metal hardcore funk jazz) so we see the very different types of moshing/slam dancing frequently. The metal heads And punks are generally very cool people, they pick people up, they don't use closed fists the have a great time just moshing to the music they love. The new age hardcore crowd I have to say are a bunch of asswads. Mostly these kids (17-20) \"slam dance\" that's the flailing around fighting air you see and have no concern for anything/anyone. Now I am all for expressing yourself to music, but as an employee of the venue who is charged with watching what goes on in pits at shows, I don't think most of these people are \"expressing\" themselves. Very few kids truly do slam dance for fun and I don't have to talk to them or throw them out (using close fists punching back of the head using legs to kick pushing people from behind) but what I mostly see is gangs of assholes bullying and targeting other listeners. It's honestly like the people who do this are to afraid to get into a real fight so they use the excuse of slam dancing to literarily try and beat people up. You can clearly tell who is actively listing to the music and who is just flailing around like a moron with his junk in fire. I'm not a fan of hardcore at all but I respect it as a medium of music. I do have to say tho that if your fan base comes to a show just to \"fight\" or \"slam dance\" and not for the music then you have missed something.",
"In a good mosh pit you will be picked up faster than you fall down. There's a special camaraderie in the pit.",
"I read a book on mosh pit culture once, though I can't remember what it's called. What I took away from it is that it's a lot like how fight clubs are described in the film. You get physical and 'fight' with other people in a controlled, supportive environment. That's a rush in itself. Then a day later you're sore, but happy, and have a temporary new perspective on life. ",
"Female psychobilly here,I wreck, kinda similar to moshing, except with more fists and elbows. Can't repeat enough that it's such a nice place, if you fall down you get picked back up, if you drop a phone or glasses, everyone stops and finds them. I've seen a few accidents, nosebleeds happen often. Coming from a 5ft lady, and the majority of the psychobilly scene (must add in the UK, damn American kids and their circle pits) are 6ft tall (and wide) blokes. It's all a laugh!",
"I'm more of a skank pit kinda guy, (more or less the same concept) but Its just a way to express your emotions through the hyperactive music, plus ska is super bouncy, so it only feels right lol",
"It's where you can get out anger and frustration...it feels like a giant family that is having fun. Everyone in pits is extremely friendly and no one really wants to hurt anyone. This is punk shows mainly. I heard metal shows are full of assholes. ",
"I used to mosh a lot, it helped me feel the music more and let out aggression in a positive way (weirdly). My favorite moment was getting knocked down, and have 5 guys pick me back up right away so I didnt get trampled. I also lost my shoe and some guy found it. And gave it back and gave me a hug. There is a great sense of community and trust in the pit.",
" At smaller clubs it can be a lot of fun. My favorite pit was at a Vandals show. It was maybe 400 people running in a giant circle of happiness bouncing around for an hour. \n Punk/hardcore (not hardcore dancers that shits stupid) shows seem to have the best in my opinion. Crowding the singer and screaming along while others stage dive into the madness is a blast. \n The moaning, whiney sad metal pits seem to have the worst. Lots of sad, angry kids make for a lame time. \n But then there's shows like Slayer at giant amphitheaters. Those pits are just chaos. It's generally just a big fight to stay standing. \n There's no real point to it all other than releasing a bunch of energy with other people with a common interest.",
"\"You know what this moshpit needs? Kung fu.\"\n\n-Said no one ever."
]
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|
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4drwnd
|
why do we still need to test cosmetics on animals? surely we know which chemicals have negative effects on the human body, so wouldn't it just be a case of achieving the desired colour, texture, and specific properties?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4drwnd/eli5_why_do_we_still_need_to_test_cosmetics_on/
|
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"Chemists are constantly inventing and discovering new chemicals/chemical compounds. So regrettably - no, we don't know which chemicals have negative effects on the human body.\n\nSame goes for pharmaceutical trials. We test on animals because it would be worse* to try first on humans.\n\n*with an asterisk, because some would argue to the contrary, and that's a whole other debate.",
"Even if we know what A, B, and C do to people, we might not know what A and B do, or A and C, or A and C in cold weather, and so on. \n\nThere's a lot of stuff out there, and a lot of different ways to make the stuff go together.",
"We actually barely understand the full effects of even a fraction of the novel organic compounds we have synthesized and released into our environment. \n\nWe will be finding out the hard way for centuries. \n\nHumanity kind of has a bad habit of finding a single approach that works for a problem, taking that approach, and running with it, scaling up as large as needed without fully investigating the full scale of the consequences involved. ",
"As an animal friend, I have to admit that I dislike the whole practice of it... I can (to a point) understand testing drugs on animals, but cosmetics? No. Cosmetics isn't something you \"need\".",
"Not quite the question you asked, but others answered that so I'll cover the inevitable followup. \n\nWe have to test on animals because living things are freaking complicated. The most conservative estimate has 20,000 protein coding genes in the human body. Each gene can actually lead to several different proteins. Insulin is an easy example - created in a proto form and then it is chopped to give it's active form. Then there's all the tRNA, mDNA, all the fats, vitamins, bacteria and other things I've forgotten. \n\nSo, this is 10s possibly 100s of thousands of things any new cosmetic (or drug) may interact with. We have finally reached the point where simulating these interactions on a computer is possible, but the work involved is immense. Each atom must have forces, acceleration, velocity and position updated and each frame needs to be 1 femto second (1/1,000,000,000,000,000 of a second) to cover hydrogen bond vibration. Quite simply there isn't enough CPU time on the planet to do this in bulk and we aren't there yet. ",
"Cosmetics isn't necessarily just colored makeup, this also includes things like skin creams and anti-aging products.\n\nIf you're trying to formulate something that reduces the appearance of wrinkles, you need some skin to test it on. Not only to make sure it isn't harmful, but to make sure it's providing the effect you're trying to achieve.",
"I see lots of people saying that chemists aren't 100% sure what would happen, but why do many cosmetics companies not test on animals? If they can do it without why can't others? For example nyx cosmetics doesn't test on animals, but they're owned by l'oreal who does. Obviously l'oreal knows that they don't need to test on animals but they still do, why? (This is an honest question, I'm just wondering is it cheaper etc)",
"I suspect that you're underestimating the complexity of modern cosmetics. First off, there are hundreds of types of products. Moisturizer, foundation, blush, mascara, shampoo, wrinkle-cream, the list goes on and on. Some of these are more complicated than others, but wrinkle cream is a great example of a product where every company wants to claim that they have some special component that makes them better than everyone else. So they're always trying new stuff to see if they can remove slightly bigger wrinkles, or remove them slightly faster. This means that chemists are making up new stuff all the time to supply this rush for a new and more effective product. The same principle applies to every product. Have you ever wondered how a shampoo can simultaneously wash oil out of your hair and moisturize it? \n\nIt's also a question of how to best optimize your product. It's probably rare that someone has the perfect product and they just want to thicken it up a bit. It's usually that they want to thicken it, but they still don't want it to feel oily or stickey on your skin, and it needs to dry quickly, but also not cake up and flake off through the day. It's a bonus if perspiration doesn't wash it off, but it should still be easy to remove. So you get all these awesome features by adding exotic chemicals that permeate the skin in some special way, or respond very specifically to moisture. But then, maybe the stuff you add to resist moisture gives the product a grainy texture, so you have to add a solvent to better disperse the moisture stuff. Well, now the solvent smells funny, and you need to do something about that. This kind of thing goes on and on, and the bottom line is that companies are always adding to and tweaking their recipes, so they need to know how new components are working. \n\nA final thought: if it was really as simple as combining the things we already understand and arriving at the perfect mixture, then all the competition in cosmetics would be gone. Every company would be capable of making the perfect products, and it wouldn't matter what you bought because they'd all be just right. However, competition does exist, so they must still be working on something.",
"The real reason is that according to the letter of the law cosmetic manufacturers must test on animals in order to demonstrate that the product meets quality control standards for safety. There are regulations that state that all final products, before released to market, must be tested following methods outlined in pharmaceutical compendia and must meet predetermined specifications. Until the regulatory bodies change the laws and compendia, manufacturers are required to comply. ",
"Chemistry just doesn't work that way. You can mix two non-toxic elements/compounds and get out a toxic compound in return. And that's just toxicity, because of the complexity of biochemistry, things that you think might not have an impact could very well have an impact because of the way it all interacts together.\n\nConsider cyanide - cyanide is just some carbon bonded with some nitrogen. You could consume quite a lot of either of those things and be perfectly fine, but a tiny amount of cyanide will kill you dead. Fast. By themselves, neither of these things are very dangerous to you, but when they are bonded together they have entirely different chemical properties and become an incredibly potent poison.\n\nThe same applies for cosmetic products. You never know if the new compound you are using to get effect X is going to have some different set of chemical properties that will interact badly with humans. Because of the complexity of biochemistry, it is nearly impossible to just simulate this accurately, so you have to actually test it on some living thing that you can use as a benchmark."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
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||
5s4jj7
|
modern art. how do people judge, let's say, a jackson pollock painting a masterpiece when to me it looks like chicken scratch? why is the malevich square such a big deal?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5s4jj7/eli5_modern_art_how_do_people_judge_lets_say_a/
|
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"Most of us only know these paintings from pictures in books or a computer. I haven't even had the pleasure of seeing a masterpiece apart from when I went to the Smithsonian when I was like 9.\n\n I had someone once tell me that you won't understand what makes these seemingly abstract or \"plain\" (like those paintings that look like a single shade of color) pieces so awe inspiring until you stand before them, where the true scale of work is before you. Colors, shapes and patterns can stir strong emotions and feelings, but I think they don't translate well when reproduced on a smaller scale. I hope this helps in some way at least explain why its hard to understand why we are fascinated by what seems to be chicken scratch",
"Just to note about the black square, they've done forensics on that painting and it was revealed that the black square was painted over something much more colourful and vibrant.",
"Two words: \"Pierre Brassau'\n\nIn 1964 Ake Axelsson exhibited a selection of paintings in the Gallerie Christinae in sweden, claiming they were painted by a previously unknown (but extremely talented) avante garde painter by the name of Pierre Brassau.\n\nWhile the works weren't universally liked, a lot of art critics loved them, including Rolf Anderberg who wrote \"Brassau paints with powerful strokes, but also with clear determination. His brush strokes twist with furious fastidiousness. Pierre is an artist who performs with the delicacy of a ballet dancer.\"\n\nOh, and Pierre Brassau was actually a Chimp from the local zoo who Ake had been given a set of paint and brushes and sat in front of a canvas.\n\nBasically, people like to appear intelligent, hate being excluded and tend to conform with popular opinion.\n\nI paint a crap painting, convince someone that I'm actually a genius, but it takes real intelligence to understand my work. This person pretends to understand and appreciate my work and other people fall in line...because when a room full of seemingly intelligent people are all raving over how awesome something is, no-one wants to be the person who says \"I don't get it.\"\n\nThat being said, art is subjective. What one person finds beautiful, someone else might hate and vice versa\n\n",
"Disclaimer: I am not a modern art fan.\n\nA lot of Modern Art is considered important because of the context of the time. Originality and creativity in the context of their time are valued, and become historically important. This particularly includes artists who influence others by expanding the range of styles.",
"It's hard to answer this in general--the answer is going to vary from artist to artist. But:\n\n1) The broader history of art. Some \"simple\" pieces were revolutionary at the time for the way they changed perceptions about what art could be. Marcel Duchamp put a urinal on a podium, called it a sculpture (\"Fountain\"), and delighted and outraged everyone. It was audacious and shocking at the time. \n\nAbstract art (in Western culture at least) was a big deal in part because of the novelty of seeing images of things that were not even recognizably \"things.\" Not a figure, not a landscape--pure color and shape without having to \"be\" anything. \n\n2) Technique. If you've ever seen a Pollack up close, it's incredibly detailed, vivid, and complicated--not to mention often gigantic. It's actually pretty incredible to see in person. \n\nThere are a lot of other reasons I'm missing--again, probably one for every famous piece of modrrn art--but that's a brief start. ",
"Most modern art has less to do with the aesthetics of the work and more to do with the cultural context of it at the time. It can be a reflection on cultural values, or it could be something related to the techniques used. I recall learning about a painting in college that was basically a full field of blue. The big deal about it, though, was that getting that shade of blue in a stable, constant quality to make an entire field of it was *astronomically* difficult and expensive at the time - so it was reflective of the skill of the painter to acquire, use, and make that blue so even back in a time when it would have been incredibly difficult to do so.\n\nA lot of modern art tends to have (or at least *tries* to have) some kind of context or message through it, rather than the more concrete works we're used to seeing that are of a certain setting or design. It varies on how successful it is - there's a school of thought that the intent or context around a work shouldn't matter and that the work should stand on its own, so with that metric it can be hard to really gauge modern art without doing some manner of research of intent.\n\nAs for the Square, I did a little digging, and the big deal there is that it was one of the first instances of an abstract painting. It was one of the first times someone had come forth with a piece of art that wasn't a painting *of* something, and was starting the bridge into modern abstract art rather than more traditional painting. The fact that a fairly well known painter put actual *effort* into something like this got some attention, and got people thinking.\n\nSadly, getting people thinking caused Malevich to fall on the wrong side of a fellow by the name of Stalin. It didn't end well."
]
}
|
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||
2ouwg1
|
why was the soviet union so far ahead of the united states at the start of the space race?
|
I've been told that, at the end of World War II, German scientists (the best in the world for driving the US space program) fled Berlin to the US troops to avoid being captured by Russians. While in the long term this helped the US space program, the Russians were able to recover most of these scientists' work from their Berlin research facilities--providing a huge research base from which to launch the space program. I've been unable to verify much of this, though, so any verification or other insight will be hugely helpful.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ouwg1/eli5why_was_the_soviet_union_so_far_ahead_of_the/
|
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" > at the end of World War II, German scientists (the best in the world for driving the US space program) fled Berlin to the US troops to avoid being captured by Russians.\n\nheh, i guess thats one way to put it:\n\n_URL_1_\n\nby the way, the us moon program was directed by german engineer that designed the v2 rocket, and operation paperclip was why you got him and 1500 (!) other scientists \n\n_URL_0_\n\nit would be interesting to see an alternate reality where russians got to those people first.\n",
"The us focus was elsewhere such as in aeronautics, the first a in NASA rather than space.",
"* The Soviet zone of occupied Germany included Peenemunde, which was the center of the German rocket program. This enabled them to take much of the research for themselves.\n\n* As part of the arms race, the US initially focused largely on strategic bombers due to its larger air force and ability to use European allies' bases. The Soviet Union lacked those advantages and so put early efforts into ICBMs, which translate into space technology.\n\n* The Soviet program was treated as a state secret while the US program was more public and quickly became led by the civilian NASA. This meant that public opinion had more impact on the US program than on the USSR, so in the wake of early failures and fears of wasted money, the US program was not very popular until the USSR already put Sputnik in orbit.\n\n* The Soviet Union took more risks with human life than the US. This enabled them to put Gagarin in space a little sooner, but by now the US was catching up.\n\nETA: Thanks for the gold, stranger! This thread got way bigger than I would have thought.",
"There was an excellent docudrama about this a few years ago. \n\nThe Americans did get Van Braun, who was a genius when it came to rocketry. Russian scientists still knew a fair amount about rocketry as well as German expertise from other rocket scientists who were familiar with Von Brauns work. They also had some space enthusiasts running the project. They knew that long range missiles and space rockets were essentially the same. They had enough political clout to convince the higher ups that scientific research was also a practical offshoot. Science and technology was an important aspect of Soviet philosophy.\n\nThe US had a fairly disorganised plan. They didn't take advantage of Von Braun's expertise. He was basically a teacher - educating American rocket experts to produce home grown talent. The US was doing very little actual development. Essentially the US rocket program was on hold until the Soviet Union had already launched a satellite. By the time the US actually had something in orbit, the Soviet Union had rockets capable of carrying payloads in excess of a ton.",
"Another factor is that the US political climate in the fifties was very anti-intellectual. Or more precisely, politicians found that being anti-intellectual could get them elected.\n\nAdlai Stevenson, who failed in two presidential campaigns, was derided as an \"egghead\", meaning someone who is intelligent and educated (and therefore doesn't understand the common man.)\n\nThat made it risky for someone in congress to argue for increased funding for science, so it didn't happen until the Soviets sent up Sputnik and made the US look like the lesser power.",
"One thing that I actually really respect about USSR is the education system that they had. It is mind blowing how much progress they made in so little time. Yuri Gagarin himself is born in a village in the middle of nowhere, with no 'noble' origin or a headstart and he became the first man in space. That's kind of impressive if we compare it with how much money a real good education costs nowadays even in a not-really-elite university.\n\nHonestly I think we are being a bit too harsh on USSR sometimes, after all we can learn from anything.",
"Better question: why were the Germans ahead of everyone else on rocket research?"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
2wvqdn
|
what would the practical results of the fcc regulating the internet as a utility? not the theory of "open and free blah blah blah." see text for detail.
|
So here's the deal. Let's flip a switch and regulate broadband as a utility. What ACTUALLY happens?
Does Comcast stop running copper cabling to new neighborhoods? Could I start up an ISP and provide cable internet services using Comcast's already installed copper lines? Would I have to pay to lease their copper to provide my service? What would be the consequence for a theoretical new competitor in the space, say, providing high speed internet (broadband) over a new wireless spectrum. Are they similarly regulated and would that limit innovation in the field?
I'm not interested in the, "Free and open internet" speculation, I'm interested in the actual day-to-day consequences of this type of regulation. Any takers?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wvqdn/eli5_what_would_the_practical_results_of_the_fcc/
|
{
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"text": [
"What actually happens right away? Nothing.\n\nWhat it would do is open the doors for the FCC to start enforcing additional regulations on ISPs to ensure customers are able to get reliable service that keeps up with technology, and that they can do so at an affordable rate. \n\nYour questions are all around the minutia that would need to get worked out, and the answers would likely depend on all sorts of things such as what new rules the FCC put in place."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
522d8f
|
how do the paralympic categories prevent someone who is "less disabled" than someone else dominating that particular category?
|
I know that there's separate categories for different disability levels, but I just wonder ... take the T20 (track events for people with learning disabilities). There's one category for that, but surely certain learning disabilities will impact your performance more severely than others? So how does it not become a contest of who who is "least disabled" in that instance?
Sorry if the "least disabled" part of my question is offensive. Didn't know really how to word it differently.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/522d8f/eli5_how_do_the_paralympic_categories_prevent/
|
{
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"d7gt427"
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"text": [
"So basically every athlete in every sport that wants to compete is assesed and given a classification based on their disability. Those with a higher degree of disability (someone in a wheelchair with limited movement for example) will be given a lower classification then say someone who has a leg amputated. Each classification then has its own standard times. obviously the athlete with the amputated leg will be faster then in the athlete in the wheelchair. But if the lower classified athlete gets closer or faster then their standard times then the higher classed athlete then the lower classed athlete would win. Source: was an athlete with a disability. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
53qwcs
|
how do monarch butterflies migrate thousands of miles when they can only fly ~5 miles per hour?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/53qwcs/eli5_how_do_monarch_butterflies_migrate_thousands/
|
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"Well, let's say they go from Mexico City to Toronto. That's about 4000 miles. That's roughly 800 hours of flying time. If they fly for 10 hours a day, that's only 80 days to travel. \n\nIn reality, they apparently make much better time. According to the US department of Agriculture, they can take as little as two months to make the trip.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nI also found a few sites that contradict the five mile per hour estimate.",
"Monarch butterflies actually can glide the way birds do, so the butterflies do use wind currents to their favor when traveling.\n\nAlso keep in mind no single butterfly actually completes a round trip migration.\n\nWhen Monarch butterflies fly north, it takes four generations to reach their destination. These butterflies live 2-6 weeks.\n\nWhen Monarch butterflies fly south, it is a single generation that actually lives about 7 to 8 months. These butterflies actually are the \"first\" generation of the northern migration.\n\nAlso if I'm wrong, someone feel free to correct me!"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/Monarch_Butterfly/migration/index.shtml"
],
[]
] |
||
56c94r
|
how did colors come to be such an important source of symbolism?
|
I mean, we see colors meaning things all the time. Sports teams are often represented by a set of two or three colors, companies have colors and just about anything that has a color has a certain feel/meaning to it. Do we know exactly when that became an important part of our society/brains?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56c94r/eli5_how_did_colors_come_to_be_such_an_important/
|
{
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"text": [
"Colors have always been a source for feelings. Certain colors create certain feelings. For example:\n\n[Yellow and Red make you hungrier which is why McDonalds and countless others use those colors.] (_URL_1_)\n\n[Red is a powerful color that makes people more aggressive and attractive](_URL_0_)\n\nBlue is seen as more stability and trustworthy. \n\nColors have been important part of our psyche before history. These feelings are likely due to evolutionary aspects. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201212/is-red-the-color-sexual-desire",
"http://thevisualcommunicationguy.com/2013/10/13/red-and-yellow-how-restaurants-suck-us-in/"
]
] |
|
jmggc
|
i'm reading a really stupid book, but there is a part referring to statistics...
|
The protagonists in the story are not buying this explanation, and neither am I. I am hoping that someone might be able to explain if it could be correct.
The antagonist is talking about ESP and I'm not here to debate that. However, his reason behind believing that ESP is real is this:
He did studies with the cards like Bill Murray used in *Ghostbusters* in [this](_URL_0_) scene. He tried to get people to guess the shape on the other side of the card. He said that statistically speaking (and for argument's sake we will say that this part is correct) people should guess correctly 20% of the time.
He then goes on to say that those who did any higher than that, 25-30%, show some sign of ESP. This is where he lost me.
I am pretty sure that I am right in my side when I say that if ESP is real (for argument's sake) this situation could not prove it. Statistically speaking does not mean anything more than about 20% of the time the average person will guess correctly. This number is the average amount of times that people got it correct, meaning sometimes they get it right 50% of the time and some people get it 0%. How does it prove ESP when there will nearly always be people that guess more and less than 20%?
I hope I've explained it well. I can quote exerts as well. If ESP is real, could this be a valid argument?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jmggc/im_reading_a_really_stupid_book_but_there_is_a/
|
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"text": [
"If random guessing gets you 20%, and you **consistently and repeatedly** perform better then that, then you have some additional information, by whatever means that might be. A single person, on a single test, getting 25% is not solid evidence that person has ESP.\n\nA coin flip will come up heads 50% of the time. If you flip a coin twice and get heads both times that doesn't mean you have a magic ability to control coin tosses. It will be heads 50% of the time if done a large enough number of times, but there is a 25% chance you'll get two heads in a row on two tosses, that's still pretty damn common even with random chance.",
"Let's say the antagonist tested the subject using 100 cards. The probability that the subject randomly guessed 25 cards or more correctly (25% or better) is 8.75%. That means that about 1 in 12 of your subjects would attain this level purely by chance alone! So for 100 cards, 25% really isn't a high enough threshold.\n\nThe probability of correctly guessing 30 cards or more correctly is 0.6%. This is better, but if you are testing hundreds of subjects you would still expect 1 or 2 to get this many correct by chance alone.",
"If random guessing gets you 20%, and you **consistently and repeatedly** perform better then that, then you have some additional information, by whatever means that might be. A single person, on a single test, getting 25% is not solid evidence that person has ESP.\n\nA coin flip will come up heads 50% of the time. If you flip a coin twice and get heads both times that doesn't mean you have a magic ability to control coin tosses. It will be heads 50% of the time if done a large enough number of times, but there is a 25% chance you'll get two heads in a row on two tosses, that's still pretty damn common even with random chance.",
"Let's say the antagonist tested the subject using 100 cards. The probability that the subject randomly guessed 25 cards or more correctly (25% or better) is 8.75%. That means that about 1 in 12 of your subjects would attain this level purely by chance alone! So for 100 cards, 25% really isn't a high enough threshold.\n\nThe probability of correctly guessing 30 cards or more correctly is 0.6%. This is better, but if you are testing hundreds of subjects you would still expect 1 or 2 to get this many correct by chance alone."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Rza0c6hIg"
] |
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[],
[],
[],
[]
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|
7bmaxo
|
why did you never see cheesecake with a traditional pie crust?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7bmaxo/eli5_why_did_you_never_see_cheesecake_with_a/
|
{
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"Outside of the USA, traditional pie crusts are common in cheesecakes. Inside the USA, cheesecakes are traditionally made with cream cheese on a graham-cracker crust that requires no baking. This kind of cheesecake was actually invented here in the USA, as well.\n\nThe most important factor regarding crust variety is that traditional cheesecakes have fillings and crusts that are baked independently of each other. You don't bake the filling in the crust like you would with any other variety of pie, so traditional pie crust is unnecessary. \n\nOf course, you could make your own cheesecake and use a traditional pie crust, and it tastes wonderful."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2477cj
|
a full summary of the cold war from the breakdown of the alliance to the 'space race'.
|
I've been assigned a surprise history test for Wednesday and I thought that rather than cramming, (which never helps) I'd employ the help of a group of people who are well-known for explaining things to people who are younger than them. You're explaining it to a person who is in year 10 (or 9th grade if you're American) and can comprehend things reasonably well. However, If I don't understand something, it takes me a while to get it. Anyway, I'm sorry about the long-winded explanation and I appreciate your help!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2477cj/eli5_a_full_summary_of_the_cold_war_from_the/
|
{
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"There was a time when Joseph Stalin was known in the U.S. as 'Uncle Joe' and the Soviet Union was helping the U.S. and the U.K. beat Nazi Germany in WWII. The problem is that Soviet Russia was not always a Western ally because they had a non-aggression pact with Germany during the beginning of the war called the Ribbentrop-Molotov Act (named after the Chancellors of Germany and the Soviet Union respectively). Things went sour during the war and Hitler decided that he kinda wanted to invade Russia as well so he could secure his eastern front which propelled Stalin to fight Germany and become one of the major western allies and bear great responsibility in the defeat of Hitler's Germany.\n\nAfter the end of the war there was a great matter to solve between the allies: what to do with the conquered territories. Germany was destroyed and the Soviets had marched to Berlin, conquering everything in their path. The Yalta Conference was the beginning of the end for the East-West stability, when Roosevelt claimed for Soviet support against the ongoing fight against Japan in the Pacific and received a negative from Stalin, the same man that had pissed off Churchill by wanting to extend the Soviet influence into Poland (i.e. allow only a Communist pro-Soviet Union Government, which would be the rule for the Soviet approach for Eastern Europe in the following decades). Western powers were concerned that Stalin might negotiate a separate peace deal with Berlin and gave in to Stalin's demands.\n\nAfter all was settled, the war was over and the reconstruction of Europe had to begin all the major pieces for the Cold War were already in place. Stalin had acquired virtual control of Eastern Europe, reclaimed all the territories lost in the war and some more and was lauded in Russia as a great leader and strategist. Roosevelt had died in 1945 and Truman took over, while Churchill was still worried with Soviet growth abroad and reconstruction of his own country. So you had a strong Soviet Union, a strong U.S.A. and a weak Europe as the result of WWII. The U.S. decided to launch the Marshall Plan and aid Western Europe in its efforts, obviously aiming at securing at least a long lasting alliance between the U.S. and European countries both militarily and commercially. So you kinda had a barrier between the two undisputed victors of WWII and that barrier was Europe. Stalin had assured that his influence in Eastern Europe was guaranteed and started making some aggressive remarks towards Churchill and the U.S., calling WWII a capitalist adventure and claiming that communism was the goal of all humanity. This, around 1947-1948, in the beginning of Cold War rhetoric, Capitalism vs Communism, East vs West.\n\nAround this time China, another U.S. ally who was fighting against Japan, had their own communist revolution led by Mao Tse Tung. A few years later Korea started going red, led by a man called Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Un's grandfather. The U.S. decided that a communist China, allied with a Communist Soviet Union and a Communist Korea was too much and decided to stop the revolution from spreading, which started the Korean War. U.S. strategists aided the southern Koreans in repelling the Communist north and were going to take the north of the country when China decided to act and help their fellow Koreans in fighting the U.S.. Meanwhile Stalin was promising to aid the Korean revolution, but besides sending money and some weapons didn't feel like fully committing to it by sending troops to the Korean peninsula. \n\nThis is the major event in the Cold War and would establish the foundations of the Sino-American alliance that assured the U.S. would win the Cold War. Why? It demonstrated that the U.S. was willing to fight in a foreign land to assure their ideological and strategic advantages, it demonstrated that the Korean peninsula is a key strategic point for China and it also made clear that Stalin wasn't yearning for direct confrontation with the U.S. in the Pacific and was more weary of his situation in Europe.\n\nStalin died the year the Korean War was over, 1953. While some people might have expected a truce, situations like that of Korea (a communist revolution and the involvement of World powers to either aid it or break it) started spreading around the world. By then the U.S.S.R. had developed their own atom bomb and became really bold. Some analysts say that the U.S. should have used its period as the only atomic super power to crush the Soviets and assure global dominance. Hindsight in always 20/20...\n\nSo now you have two atomic powers facing a world starting to divide between Communists and Capitalists, from Central America to South East Asia, from Cuba to Vietnam, Angola to Egypt, countries were faced with a choice: to be pro-USA or pro-USSR. The Cuban revolution was the apex of this period, a small island a couple of miles away from Florida had their own communist revolution led by Fidel and Che Guevara and were quickly moving to become one of the Soviets best friend. \n\nBut why the fight for space? Why the moon? Well, it happens that the technology you need to launch a satellite or a rocket is the same technology you need to launch a nuclear bomb... During WWII the U.S. had to actually fly to Nagasaki and Hiroshima and drop, from a plane, a couple of atom bombs. By the mid sixties destruction was only a button away. In 15 years things changed a lot, and that change was due to the development of spacial technology, that has its beginning in the famous Sputnik satellite launched by the Soviets in 1957. Realizing that if they conquered the space they could exert their military superiority from far away, the U.S. invested heavily in their own space program, a period that was known as the Space Race.\n\nThe major event of the Cold War entered history under the name of 'Cuban Missile Crisis' and it's important because it exemplifies exactly what was the climate of the time. So Cuba had their revolution and were now major partners of the U.S.S.R.. A man named Kruschev was the leader of the Soviet Empire and a certain John Kennedy was the president of the U.S.. Fidel remained the Commander in Chief of Cuba and had accepted to harbor some soviet nuclear missiles in his country in a direct provocation from Kruschev, that was really pissed with the U.S. placing their own missiles in Turkey facing Moscow. The U.S. discovered those missiles and ordered Fidel and Kruschev to take them away, to which the Soviets answered something along the lines of 'oh, so you don't like having nuclear weapons pointed at you? well, neither do we'. The world was never closer to a full out nuclear war than during those weeks in 1962. Kennedy had to choose between invading Cuba or appeasing Kruschev and decided, with the aid of MacNamara, the man responsible for his foreign policy, to put his foot down and demand that the missiles were dismantled. Kruschev said no, both countries sent nuclear ships to Cuba and for a moment the whole world held their breath waiting to see what would happen. You probably saw it in 'X-Man First Class'... It was that minus the mutants. Eventually Kruschev acquiesced and decided that World War III shouldn't happen over a 9 million inhabitant island in the Caribbean and dismantled their missiles (they agreed that the U.S. would dismantle their missiles in Turkey and never invade Cuba).\n\nThe secret is to think of it in terms of not only an ideological dispute, which I'm sure you've heard plenty about and that's why I didn't mention it much, but as a strategic situation. Europe, the Pacific, Cuba, Vietnam, the Middle East, all were places that had strategic value for one country or the other. \n\n Well, that's a summary of it... You can check Wikipedia for the main events like Yalta, Ribbentrop-Molotov, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis. One thing that helps is seeing videos on youtube, there are some cool ones of the Korean War and a really good documentary with MacNamara about his life and his work during the Cuban Missile Crisis (this man is a genius, he went from nothing to being the highest paid executive in the world, to becoming Kennedy's adviser). Hope it helped!"
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1wzexd
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why do bass frequencies seem louder when you are behind the speaker?
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The bass on my speakers is sometimes unnoticeable when I am sitting in front of them. However, when I go behind them, there are far more prominent low frequencies.
It is the same at music festivals; when you are in front of the speakers, the bass does not come through anywhere near as powerfully as when you are behind/to the side of the stage.
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explainlikeimfive
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http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wzexd/eli5_why_do_bass_frequencies_seem_louder_when_you/
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{
"a_id": [
"cf6qkzn"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"it's because the other frequencies are a lot more prominent to the front of the speaker. it's not that the bass is harder around the back, everything else is just quieter, so it seems to have more boom to it. "
]
}
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