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2358c2
|
why does cold water feel good on your hands when you're thirsty?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2358c2/eli5_why_does_cold_water_feel_good_on_your_hands/
|
{
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"The same way any food makes you salivate when your real hungry, the thought of you being able to drink it makes you crave it even more.",
"It's probably because when one is thirsty, their body will heat up because it does not have the proper water supply to keep homeostasis (homeostasis is your body's ability to regulate things like internal temperature). As a result, any contact with cold things, including water, are refreshing because it helps to cool you down."
]
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|
[] |
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[
[],
[]
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||
1pd14k
|
if the earth is spinning, also while revolving around the sun, you would think that throughout the year we would be looking in different directions into space. why are there always them same stars then?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pd14k/eli5_if_the_earth_is_spinning_also_while/
|
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"The stars are not always in the same places in the sky. They change throughout the year, just as you would expect.",
"There are plenty of different stars. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, it is true that there are circumpolar stars which are always above the horizon, while they move, you do always see these stars. But the stars south of that part of the sky change a bit every day if you look at the same time each night. A little under 1/2 of these stars are visible at any single time and you must wait for morning, and even another season to see the rest. \n\nWhat you are talking about with our revolution around the sun changing our view of the night sky is accounted for with sidereal time, 24 hours sidereel makes up the entire longitude of the sky. That is how coordinates are mapped in the sky. It moves with the earth, it is approximately 24 clock hours per day, but a little short, this gives you a 12 hour discrepancy between say 9pm October 15 and 9pm April 15, to account for the sky being essentially the opposite view as you go around the sun, and it works day to day and hour to hour with much less dramatic changes too.\n\nSo if you want to see all of the stars you can at your latitude, just look up at the same time on 2 days on the opposite side of the year. If you really want to get this, then buy or make a star wheel and play with if. "
]
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[] |
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[],
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5sqm9t
|
how did the skin couloir of people change through history?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5sqm9t/eli5_how_did_the_skin_couloir_of_people_change/
|
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"Humans didn't start out with two white people. It started out with brown people.\n\nIt's most likely that white shin was the result of people moving further north, where they needed to wear more clothing and there was less sun already. Less sun on the skin means less vitamin D produced, so paler skin evolved to allow less sun to produce enough vitamin D to develop healthy bones.\n\nDarker skin is probably a case of there being so much sun that vitamin D wasn't a concern, but evolving more pigment would prevent sunburn and the related infections."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
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||
3myy06
|
how come vw cars release more emissions, while at the same time being more fuel efficient, and release more emissions while burning more fuel?
|
If the whole reason behind the VW scandal is that they cheated on emissions tests to have higher fuel economy, how can burning more fuel result non fewer emissions, and vice versa?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3myy06/eli5_how_come_vw_cars_release_more_emissions/
|
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"It's different kinds of emissions. Diesel engines are better for carbon emissions, but worse for nitrogen emissions. The VW firmware was designed to ramp down nitrogen emissions during tests.",
"NOx are not the result of burning fuel. It is formed from nitrogen and oxygen in the air, when heated to high temperature."
]
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|
[] |
[] |
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[],
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|
dlo0ku
|
why is depression so crippling and how is it cured ?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dlo0ku/eli5_why_is_depression_so_crippling_and_how_is_it/
|
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"I don't know much about why, but I do know that Depression isn't \"cured,\" but managed--usually through meds and therapy. \n\nGetting hit with mental illness isn't the best thing that's ever going to happen, but it isn't a death sentence, either. But you are going to have to put some real work into your life in order to feel better. It's a lot of one day at a time until you realize that things feel better. And, to the \"cure,\" even with close management Depression and other illnesses/conditions can spring up at any time, reminding you of the low times. That's when management gets even more important, so you don't slip even further back.",
"Often is a functional disorder of brain circuits. Those circuits control mood. Many factors can damage those circuits. Once the circuit is disregulated it can alter the concentration of one or more neurotransmitter like noradrenaline, dopamine or serotonin. We can't really knows if a depressed patient lacks of which specific molecules and different damaged circuits can be involved. Therapy is based on psycotherapy (trying to self regulate those circuits) or drug therapy that can manage to induce brain to produce lacking neurotransmitter.",
"It’s crippling because I feel worthless. Ever since I was about 15. I’ve struggled with everything related to stability and productivity. I have rarely been under any form of treatment for it. I struggle to move forward. I can’t keep a job. I oversleep my alarms after having ridiculous trouble getting to sleep. I equate intimacy with somebody condescending to touch me, because I feel unlovable. When there is no intimacy, it’s worse - I crave the same human contact I often dread. I’ve been to four different colleges and haven’t completed anything. I am emotionally fragile, highly sensitive, and generally intimidated by men. I mess things up all the time, forget things I was just told two minutes ago (like which turn Google wants me to take), I avoid making friends because I hate making plans I end up unable to keep, I overeat or don’t eat at all depending on the week. I’m always listening for others to confirm my low sense of self-worth. And when I am told I should get help, that the homeless can qualify for reduced-cost or free care, I’m just like... “who am I to take up time and resources that could be used to help somebody else? So many people have it worse - who am I to put myself forward and ask for help they can’t access?”\n\n\nEdit - Whoever keeps downvoting me, I will not be able to eat this week if you continue. 12/09/19 - Can’t post looking for work in the local Reddit classifieds.",
"I don't know what aspect of depression you want explained (e.g. The neuroscience, the psychology, the medicine, the sociology, etc) but I can try to answer your question about just why it is so crippling (and I am talking about clinical depression, not teen sadness that is often colloquially referred to as depression). There is a philosophical concept that I find captures depression quite beautifully. Robert Hamerling said, \n\n\"*Man can certainly do as he wills, but he cannot want as he wills, because his wanting is determined by his motives [...] to want something without ground or motive would be to want something without wanting it. The concept of wanting cannot be divorced from the concept of motive. Without a determining motive, the will is an empty faculty; only through the motive does it become active and real.*\"\n\nThis concept has always fascinated me. A free man can do as he wants, but he can't will what he wants. Depression in a way is the severe weakening of such motive. You simply no longer have a motive to want anything, and so you feel as if you cannot do anything and often times as if you do not exist. Think about it, there is nothing in the world you can without having a reason to do it. Whatever random thing you even do now would have the motivation of proving that I am wrong to yourself or to me. As you can see, this strikes at the core of our existence. Depression prohibits you from ever doing anything, because you can never want to. That is why it is so devastatingly crippling.\n\nHow is it cured? I am unaware of any true curative therapy. But there are things and meds that make it mildly more suffrable. We need to first understand it scientifically before we can begin to find a true cure.\n\nEdit: English",
"Other comments have good answers for what causes it and the basics of treating it, so let me do my best to explain how it feels, and to shed light on why it's so crippling (probably best to give a slight trigger warning before continuing).\n\nYou know how when you wake up in the morning, you grumble at your alarm clock and get up? Now imagine you just got laid off from your job, so there's no reason to get up on time. Now imagine it's dark and rainy out so it's not even a nice day. Now imagine that you worked out yesterday so your whole body just feels like jello. Now imagine when you try to think of a good reason to get out of bed, you just can't think of anything. Now imagine you know you should get out of bed, but you just can't bring yourself to do it - you can't find the willpower (like after a super long and tiring day) and your body feels like it's 4x heavier than it was so you need 4x more energy (than you don't have).\n\nThat's a little bit what it's like to wake up depressed, and people with depression can feel like that constantly (every day, most days, or even just some random days).\n\nNow imagine how difficult it was to get up, but now you're trying to do the same thing with the same restrictions and difficulties in regards to trying to find a reason to live. Now imagine everything you do seems to be sub-par, and not only is your being alive not helpful but it's actually hindering others.\n\nThat's why it's so dangerous.\n\nIt can also be extremely difficult to manage just because you feel alone, you don't want to be a burden, and you don't think that you're somehow at a disadvantage, you think you're actually just a worthless and horrible person.\n\nWhen someone with depression makes a joke about it, it can sometimes be testing the waters to see if anyone cares. It can be a cry for help, shouting into the void with the faintest hope that the void will respond.\n\nSure there are people who say they're depressed for attention, but - as my health teacher put it - if you're wrong, would you rather be wrong and give an attention-seeker attention, or be wrong and put someone with severe depression in danger?"
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3a24uz
|
how does the u.s. continue to lead the world as a superpower and in stem fields despite having a broken, failing education system as evinced by decades of studies and test scores.
|
Since "A Nation at Risk" came out in the 1980's, we have been told that the U.S. is falling behind, that the school system is broken and failing. Yet, in those thirty years, the U.S. has continued to lead the world. It is still the only superpower, has high standards in medicine, engineering, and science, has a top economy, and sets world agendas. U.S. universities are still prestigious and the standard of living is still high. Can this apparent disparity be explained?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3a24uz/eli5_how_does_the_us_continue_to_lead_the_world/
|
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"* The US has an excellent post-secondary education system, by many measures the best in the world\n\n* Relative US power and economic pre-eminence change slowly (and are changing) and depend on more than just the relative education of its citizens\n\n* The US system is poor on average, but very strong at the top and terrible at the bottom (I think this type of quality distribution in anything, schools, products, whatever, should be referred to as \"the American Distribution\" lol)\n\n* Life really sucks for people who only go through our secondary education system. People with no post-secondary education are far, far worse off in the US than those that have at least some.",
"The US has a population and an economy the size of the entire EU, weighed against any one EU country it vastly outranks them, weighed against the whole thing... not so much.",
"The US education system is large. While average performance might be poor or declining, the best schools are turning out a better product than they have in the past. It turns out that it only takes so many highly educated people to sustain a superpower. Unfortunately, this has the undesirable side effect of income disparity and other social ills.",
"because for the majority of students, our education system is NOT \"broken and failing\" which is a wingnut meme that really means they hate (teacher) unions.",
"Education systems not that broken...every year thousands of american students graduate with top scores, go to MIT Harvard Stanford etc and they end up making companies like Facebook and Dropbox. Also, immigration helps a lot. A lot of people want to become american because the pay, the living, the lifestyle, the dream is here. So a lot of the smartest people from India, China, etc end up moving here anyway.",
"If you look at schools at all levels in middle and upper class areas, our schools are as good as anyone's. It's just that we have very poor areas with very few resources that drag our average down. We also have the best post-secondary institutions on the planet. \n\nThe simplest explanation is that universities have selective admissions. They get to choose the students they think will make for the best group. Public schools have to take everybody. In fact, if you look at all US schools, public schools perform about the same as private schools once you adjust for income and socio-economic status. \n\nOne of the major problems with our schools isn't the schools - it's the environment. When you compare the US to Europe, you're comparing not just the schools but the entire social system. Kids in Europe are significantly less likely to go hungry, their parents spend much more time raising them because they have a more generous social welfare program, etc. To use myself as an example, I'm an upper-middle class person in the US. When my son was born, I had to be back at work before he came home from the hospital. My wife got zero dollars while she was recovering. In Europe, I would have had months (usually about 6) of paid leave to help settle my son in, and my wife would have had 2 years paid leave to take care of our infant. We were fine because we make good money, but for a poor or working class person in the US this is an entirely different story. I don't even want to know what a single mom would have to go through. Don't even get me started about what a huge pain in the ass our health insurance was. I must have spend 100 hours of my life over the last 3 years dealing with the insurance claims and billing. It's ridiculous. \n\nTL;DR It's not the schools, it's the entire society we've built around our poor and struggling citizens that makes the US different.",
"I'm going to disagree with the assumption that the school system is broken and failing. If you compare US school rankings (test scores) with other nations, *and adjust for poverty*, the US educational system outperforms other nations. \n\nIn other words, if you look at school districts where the poverty level is low, we compare well to other countries with low poverty levels (i.e. Japan, Finland).\n\nAlso, remember that advancement in STEM is not necessarily a general education issue. General test scores measure 'everyone', while STEM advances are made be relatively few. And the US is competitive in educating and funding the \"1% Genius\". ",
"* The \"failing education\" system you are talking about is the public school system\n* The \"prestigious universities\" are not public and require the payment of tuition which allows them to pay for better educators and facilities.\n* The \"economy\" is made up of a small number of individuals who are in control of the vast majority of the nation's wealth. These individuals are who hire people to push the boundaries on medicine, engineering and science to make themselves richer.",
"A few other posts mention \"adjust for poverty.\" I want to piggy back on that sentiment.\n\nIn America, you have almost everyone taking the standardized tests. Even kids that drop out usually have taken some of them before leaving school.\n\nIn many other countries, poor and lower-socioeconomic status kids often don't go to school beyond about the 8th grade. Many countries test you at each stage and you have to have qualify to go to the next stage. So, if you were a terrible student in \"middle school\" then you're routed towards a job while your studious classmates go on to high school. Those students then take the international type tests.\n\nSo, it's not really an even comparison across the board. We're throwing almost all of our kids into the blender, whereas many other countries only give those tests to the college bound students."
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f5dmyv
|
why is the existence of gravitons needed?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f5dmyv/eli5_why_is_the_existence_of_gravitons_needed/
|
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"The current standard model of particle physics does not contain gravitons.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nAs for why General Relativity isn't the end all be all description of gravity, it can't tell us what happens when gravity dominates other forces, like inside a black hole or at the Big Bang, we need a quantum theory of gravity to describe what happens in those cases. Not all quantum gravity models need gravitons though, for example, Loop Quantum Gravity doesn't use them."
]
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[] |
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[
[]
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2y3vmw
|
why do cats/ other pets like when you make weird noises at them? such as clicking, weird voices, etc?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2y3vmw/eli5_why_do_cats_other_pets_like_when_you_make/
|
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"It's conditioning. Think about when you would be making those noises. Over time, a pet associates that with receiving attention (or food). The \"cutsie voice\" thing people do around pets and babies is really human manifestation, but the end result for the pet is the same. Your cat associates you making that voice with giving it attention. The specific voice/sound itself probably has no meaning to your pet in and of itself. \n \nMix that in with the fact that strange sounds just get their attention. Humans react the same way when hearing a weird/unfamiliar sound."
]
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|
[] |
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7wttk0
|
what does the "in a minor" or "in d minor" in classical music songs mean?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7wttk0/eli5_what_does_the_in_a_minor_or_in_d_minor_in/
|
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"If a piece of minor is in \"A minor\" or \"D minor\", it is telling you two things: (a) which is the tonal center, and (b) which is the quality. Both of them make \"the key\" of the piece and it isn't limited to classical music, modern songs (like a song by Led Zeppelin or Bruno Mars) are also in keys, but they don't include them in the title, *i.e.* Uptown Funk in D minor.\n\nA tonal center is the particular pitch where the song gravitates to, where it feels fully resolved, \"at home\". [Listen to this](_URL_0_), the whole song gravitates towards A, if you were to end in any other chord, the song would feel unresolved, or incomplete. The tonal center is noted by the note letter, it can be any of the [twelve tones commonly found in western music](_URL_2_).\n\nThe quality is the \"feel\" of the song, so to speak. There are two qualities, major and minor, which one is being used depends on the set of notes that accompany the tonal center. With some ease, you can tell if a song is major because it feels \"happy\", and a minor song feel \"sad\". [Here you can listen to some songs](_URL_1_) played in their original key and then they're transformed to the opposite quality, if the song is in G major, it then will be played in G minor.\n\nSome songs, like most blues, jazz, and funk, can't be quite contained inside a single quality because they're often using notes that are \"outside\" the original set of notes dictated by the key. In that case, the closest key is the one you have to notate in the music sheet.",
"Between two octaves (e.g. a B-note and the next-higher B-note) there are 12 divisions. Most Western music primarily focuses on just 7 of those divisions in a given piece of music. The scale of the 7 notes that's dominant in a song is its \"key\". A minor and D minor are specific scales. A song may use notes that aren't in the scale, but the predominant notes used are in the scale.\n\nPlaying a piece of music in a different key changes how it sounds, gives it a different \"feeling\".",
"Major keys are made up of 8 notes; we will call them Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, and the high Do. This is also called a scale. The notes in our scale are either one whole step(w) or one half step(h) apart, and in this Major key example, those steps would be w w h w w w h. In C Major, these notes would be C D E F G A B C. Works in major keys are typically used for brighter, happy sounding songs. \n\nThere are multiple types of minor keys, but for this example, we will use natural minor. We will call the notes of our minor scale Do, Re, Me, Fa, Sol, Le, Te, and the high Do. Note that the syllables Me, Le, and Te have each been lowered by a half step. Our order of whole and half steps is now w h w w h w w. In a minor, these notes would be A B C D E F G A. Works that use the minor keys are often sadder sounding works or are soft soothing melodies like in lullabies. ",
"I'm going to have to say the \"feeling\" explanation is incorrect. It's true that minor songs can feel \"sad\" but there are plenty of minor key songs that don't. \n\nThe \"in D minor\" in classical music refers to the key and the mode. The key is D and the mode is minor. They both refer to the pattern of notes. Notes are typically arranged in a scale - think the \"Do A Deer\" song from Sound of Music - do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do. That is called a major aka Ionian mode. The \"do\" can start anywhere. In the above case, the Do starts on D. \n\nThe distinction between major and minor (aka Dorian) is the relationship between each note - whole tones and semitones. You can learn more about that here: _URL_0_.\n\nWhat it doesn't refer to though is a feeling or quality. All the modes refer to a pattern. The feeling a song evokes is how those notes and chords are arranged. In titling music, it's just easier to identify as there are so many Sonatas and Etudes. \n",
"In D minor, the D is the note the melody is typically going to start on and return to frequently.\n\nMinor is the sort of scale being used for the intervals and chords. Major scales are more harmonious and sound \"cleaner\" or \"brighter\". Minor scales are less harmonious and sound a little wrong, which can convey sadness or foreboding.\n\nNote this applies primarily to western music theory, and if then, there are many, many exceptions."
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"https://youtu.be/y1ueWz4-Hkk?t=36s",
"https://youtu.be/u9hRE0KtC9g",
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"http://www.piano-keyboard-guide.com/tones-and-semitones.html"
],
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||
3ue1tb
|
how come there are no ad blockers for non-rooted mobile devices?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ue1tb/eli5_how_come_there_are_no_ad_blockers_for/
|
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"Companies make money off of you seeing ads. They don't want you to be able to block them. Rooting gives you full access to the device so you can remove the protection that they put on. ",
"I've got AdBlock running on my Hudl 2 and on my Huawei phone, neither of which are rooted, so I'm guessing there's something about whatever you're using. They're both Android.\n\nIt's not as versatile as it is under Windows or Linux, but it works.",
"With iOS 9, users of Apple mobile devices can install ad blockers from the App Store without using unofficial hacks.",
"So i am going to assume you are talking about application ad blockers, not browser ad blockers which do work without root.\n\nYou need to understand what root means, a root, is the highest amount of control on the OS, root has the right to do literally everything, it has access to do literally everything the device can do, rules are in place to not let software's do bad things, because software's executed with a certain level of control is going to have this amount of control. Root is a Linux term (note: Android is Linux based and iPhone works in a very similar way to Linux because its Unix based), you never want to be root even if you are an admin user, its there to stop you from doing stupid things and stopping other people from making you do stupid things, because of the reasons below.\n\nThe only thing that protects software's from each other, physically on the memory from touching each other, is the operating system, the root user has the power to literally let them kill each other and do anything to them, root is 100% control of the OS which means you can also kill the OS, a root process can go ahead and copy your entire memory, sniff all your passwords, key log everything, delete/edit other software's memory objects (which is what an ad blocker would need to do).\n\nSo say you had a company (your phone/os) and you where a manager (admin), it would be like you telling Bob (process) he can to rip off's Amy (process) cloths when ever he wants. Because if Bob can rip off ads, it means he can rip off anything he want almost unless it's very well defined task (but its very hard to define this exactly, processes can be shaped in a infinite amount of ways), there's no way for the operating system to know whats an ad is in memory and what isn't, Amy isn't going to tell you which brand of bra she is wearing every day so that Bob can rip it off if its a competitors brand or something.\n\nNote: There could be a level of permissions(which is what they're called) under root and over normal processes that could let a process that needs to control other processes do so, but this is the only way that you could 'not require root' level permissions to do so. At that point thought might has well use root, you aren't managing a server which requires a very fine level of control and having access to the OS is not very interesting when you can touch everything anyways.\n\nThis is why ad blockers can be a browser extension/plugin without root but not another process completely. It's still possible that google doesn't want allow Chromes Android to have ad blockers because its how they make money, but i expect Firefox to have the ability to do that for you anyways, because Mozilla has always been about being open source and it's not like Android has the ability to stop browsers from blocking adds (it might sound like 'blocking', but its more like 'not request, process and display content').\n\n**TL;DR:** Because ad blockers require a level of permission high enough to have the ability to pwn other processes, from what i understand has a programmer that never developed anything on android. \n\n*So even if Google does a part of the ads frameworks for android, it doesn't require root because Google wants to stop you from doing so.* Software's that would go and display ads on desktop operating systems would be has hard to stop has phones."
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4u40dw
|
how does an isp have partial internet outage ?
|
So it's been like 3 days and the ISP i am subscribed to is having a partial internet outage like it can load few websites like this reddit which I am using now and sites like google,youtube works but almost 90% of the internet is down for me ?
Can anyone explain me how can that happen and does that mean my ISP is blacklisted or should I ask any thing to them. Whenever I enquire about it they say it would be back to normal by night but it's been 3 days but it hasn't been completely up.
Thinking of switching the connection to other provider but I thought I might get some info about this problem and what can be the cause of it first.
FYI: My ISP is Syscon Infoway in Mumbai and it's still currently partially down.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4u40dw/eli5how_does_an_isp_have_partial_internet_outage/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d5mnqn7"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Well, the internet essentially is a ton of cables, with routers attached to them. Each website you visit has an address, known as an IP address, as does your router that you are using to connect to the internet. Addresses consist of either 4 bytes, generally written in decimal and divided by periods, for example the IP of Google is 62.127.102.187, or these days, since we ran out of these addresses, we can now use more complicated form of addressing called IPv6, but you can Google that because it isn't that necessary to explain.\n\nSo basically, the internet works in such a way that it just is a bunch of cables and computers that tell which cable the signal should go down based on the address, which your ISP configures to send to which cable. You can use a fancy program called a traceroute which traces the route your internet signal goes through as it bounces between routers to get to your destination. \n\nHere is two things I think may be what is causing it.\n\nBad DNS. The Domain Name System is an important part of the internet, essentially when you connect to a website like reddit, it has to somehow change _URL_0_ into Reddit's IP. This is what the Domain Name System does, your computer first connects to a DNS server, which has a database of all domain name and IPs, that sends you back the IP address. If the DNS server is bad or is poisoned (meaning incorrect IPs are matched to incorrect domain names), it means you can't connect to proper websites.\n\nGoogle has 2 public DNS servers that you can use if you can configure your computer to use them, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.\n\nOr it could be that the physical connection to the proper routers for your ISP are connected for some reason or another. Basically, your ISPs have routers, which act as sorting gateways, it checks the IP address to where you are sending the signal to, and sorts the signal down the proper cable. If the cable is severed or the router on the other end of that cable for some reason does not want to accept it (for example, ISPs make deals with other companies to allow traffic flow between their routers assuming there is a physical connection, they may have denied it), then you kinda have a problem. But that tends to be rare, because you can route the signal to another router which probably has a different path to that computer."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"reddit.com"
]
] |
|
3qlj4e
|
why doesn't a cable company just start offering a la carte service?
|
Certainly very few customers *like* having to buy programming in packages. If a cable company started offering the ability for customers to just choose what channels they want to pay for, wouldn't pretty much everybody flock to subscribe to them? Aren't people so fed up with the big cable companies that even if a la carte cost more, people would still prefer it?
I assume it'd be more expensive for the cable company to offer pay per channel service, but couldn't they just charge whatever they want to cover the costs, and also get a huge amount of the market by doing so?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qlj4e/eli5_why_doesnt_a_cable_company_just_start/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cwg8byb",
"cwg8c6h",
"cwg8p41",
"cwg9j9d"
],
"score": [
2,
4,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"I think just because they're behind the times, a la how Blockbuster too late started to offer their own by mail rental service, and went down. Cable channels should finally consider a la carte cable subscriptions, especially with the escalating trend of cord cutting.",
"Why would they give you the option of paying for less when they don't have to? The more crap they can push on you, the more ads they can sell, the more ads they can sell, the more money they make. So if they can bundle you the Pet Channel or whatever, they can make money off of selling ads on it. \n\nOn top of that, you've got no other options, so you either pay or you don't. ",
"Simple answer is that it's far more profitable to package it.\n\nSure, they could charge $1 for ESPN, but they make a whole lot more charging $5.99/month for a \"sports package\" that includes ESPN plus a bunch of channels you don't watch. They know what they're doing, and they know that people will purchase the whole package just for the channel they actually want.\n\nKeep in mind, many of the stations are owned by conglomerates. For instance, TruTV is owned by Turner, who also owns Bravo, HLN, Cartoon Network, and many others (TCM, TNT, the list goes on). Obviously, they do better if you buy *all* their channels rather than just the one you want.",
"Remember a couple of years back when Dish Network lost access to AMC? This is because Dish didn't want to carry another of that network's channels (I think it was Palladia, but don't quote me). Cable companies are forced by broadcast corporations to pay for all of their channels, even if they only want the popular ones. They put their foot down, and so AMC Networks called their bluff and didn't let Dish have any of their channels until Dish finally relented."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3nunfu
|
reddit's obsession with john cena
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nunfu/eli5_reddits_obsession_with_john_cena/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvrcr86"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The majority of the internet has an obsession with John Cena. All of it spawned when a radio show did a prank call or \"phone scam\" telling the person being pranked that they could see the WWE Superslam(Not a real event) and watch John Cena wrestle. There's a video from where it all started, just by looking up \"John Cena Prank Call\" on YouTube."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
5y2rd8
|
how does antimicrobial clothing work?
|
And wouldn't whatever makes them repel bacteria be washed off when you launder the clothes?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5y2rd8/eli5_how_does_antimicrobial_clothing_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"demq02a"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"First, to you second question... yeah definitely. Whether they're impregnated with a bacteriostatic/cidal agent, or have silver threads or \"nano-coatings\"... the washer is the great equalizer. Most, if not all such products cease to be effective within a couple of dozen wash cycles. Most people don't need them anyway, so they don't notice.\n\nThat said, if you're a marathon runner, or cyclist, or triathlete, etc... you may not care about the short life of the garments and you may want the positive effects. Outside of extremes though, it's just a marketing gimmick that quickly fades."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2yu8ia
|
why we say 'cogito ergo sum' when descartes said "je pense, donc je suis" in 1637, ~800-1000 years after latin stopped being spoken?
|
Descartes wrote in French (I had to read most of Discours de la méthode) but whenever you search for "I think therefore I am" or "Je pense, donc je suis" the Latin phrase 'Cogito ergo sum' invariably appears alongside. I know Latin was still used a bit in formal and religious writing but it wasn't spoken and Descartes didn't use it in Discours
edit: thanks folks! The wonderful thing about history is you can literally learn something new at any time. Case in point this thread put Latin in a new context for me, one I was only vaguely aware of before.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yu8ia/eli5_why_we_say_cogito_ergo_sum_when_descartes/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cpczez7",
"cpczlce",
"cpczms3",
"cpczoe2",
"cpd06nn"
],
"score": [
5,
3,
3,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Because the phrase is from his book *Principia philosophiae* (Principles of Philosophy) which was written in Latin.",
"He used the Latin version later in Principia Philosophiae. But more importantly, quidquid Latine dictum sit altum viditur.\n",
"Most formal scientific and philosophical writing through the Renaissance was written in Latin; this way, the great minds of France, Germany, Italy, wherever could all read each others' work.\n\nDescartes spoke French in the day to day, and wrote some works in French, but *Principia Philosophae,* one of his biggest works, was written in Latin.\n\nAs a side note, we've all heard of Isaac Newton's *Principia Mathematica,* which had the first calculus ever published within it; it was published in the 1680's, decades after Descartes. Latin didn't really die off until the 1700's and 1800's, when French and English became the international standards. ",
" > I know Latin was still used a bit in formal and religious writing but it wasn't spoken and Descartes didn't use it in Discours\n\nLatin with in heavy use, both written and spoken, in the 17th century - if you went to school, you studied Latin, and universities required a knowledge of it to be accepted as a student. Most academic and philosophical books were written in Latin (Discours was notable for being an exception to that rule).\n\nSo, the phrase was bound to be translated into Latin at some point, and Descartes did it himself in Principles of Philosophy.",
"Latin was still in common use by scholars as late as the late 18th century.\n\nIronically enough, Latin was NOT the preferred language of Rome, not among the high and mighty, anyway. At the time of Julius Caesar, noble-born Romans preferred to speak Koine Greek, they thought of Latin as kind of a gutter language. Nobody really knows what Caesar's last words were, but they wouldn't have been \"et tu, Brute,\" they would have been something on the order of \"Ωχ! Σκατά! Σταματήστε μαχαίρωμα μου!\"\n\nClaudius actually tried to limit the use of Greek, and was even known to revoke Roman citizenship for people who couldn't speak Latin. But he was only partly successful.\n\nBy the 4th century, Greek was made the official language of the Roman Empire.\n\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
96cyck
|
why haven't saturn's rings coalesced into much larger moons?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/96cyck/eli5_why_havent_saturns_rings_coalesced_into_much/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e3zkut4",
"e3zkvqs"
],
"score": [
29,
4
],
"text": [
"Basically, the junk that makes up Saturn's rings are too close to Saturn. They do occasionally clump together and start forming masses, but the gravitational forces exerted by Saturn are too strong where they are, and the clumps of dirt are squished and stretched until they fall apart.\n\nWe actually even see that the rings furthest from Saturn do have larger and larger clumps. But none of them are far enough away to form anything big enough to be a natural satellite (moon).\n\nHere's a link to a not-so-great Wikipedia article. It is called the [Roche Limit] (_URL_0_).",
"So its more like they just havent yet. I think the explanation below covers it nicely\n\n > Paul Estrada of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., one of Kempf’s coauthors, thinks ring formation might not be a one-off event. Instead, Saturn might go through cycles of moons and rings. In 2016, Matija Ćuk, also of the SETI Institute, and colleagues calculated that if a former outermost moon of Saturn had moved inward a bit, that motion could have destabilized the whole moon system and forced the orbs into orbits where Saturn’s gravity would have shredded them into rings. Those rings could accrete into new moons and eventually go through the whole process again. “It could have happened many times,” Estrada says.\n\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit"
],
[
"https://www.sciencenews.org/article/saturn-rings-age-young-moons"
]
] |
||
2agpvl
|
why are there 'latest snowden leaks'?
|
Is he still stealing information from the NSA, or is he publishing all he found in chunks, or is it something else?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2agpvl/eli5_why_are_there_latest_snowden_leaks/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ciux9tj",
"ciuxcbp"
],
"score": [
4,
3
],
"text": [
"From the sources I've seen it's being released in chunks to keep it on people's minds and in the media longer. ",
"If I recall correctly he leaked all of it at once to a couple of reporters, and there over 100.000 documents. So there is a lot of documents for the reporters to go threw, and they have to read each and single one of them before they publish them to be sure they are not jeopardizing someone life. (For instance the identity of secret undercover agents/spy's)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
5w9h83
|
why does the human body does not have some advanced self-diagnosis and tell me whats wrong?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5w9h83/eli5_why_does_the_human_body_does_not_have_some/
|
{
"a_id": [
"de8c7uz",
"de8c82e",
"de8e9pj",
"de8hui8"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"Because not only is that biologically impossible, but NO species of animal has developed this. We're not some sort of computer or android able to perform a system check or self diagnosis. That's why we developed medicine ",
"We have developed advanced diagnosis. We use thermometers and check our blood pressure. There are more devices which have been developed if needed.\n\nYou act as if we were designed by an intelligent being. We evolved. We did not even learn to write until a few thousand years ago.",
"Because it wasn't a selectable mutation, up until now.\n\nEverything we evolve happens because it gives us an advantage in reproduction. If 20% of a given population is born with a mutation that lets them hear a little bit better than everyone else, and thus escape a saber tooth tiger attack, then they get to live a little more and longer than the rest of the population and have more offspring. \n\nAs long as that trait remains selectable (due to humans being imperiled by saber tooth tigers) the population that has that mutation will continue to grow. \n\nOnce saber tooth tigers go away, or humans develop means to artificially improve their hearing, then the trait is no longer selectable. People may have it, and new people may be born with it, but since it provides no special survival advantage, it will no longer be selected for in reproduction.\n\nSo back to your proposed mutation. Let's assume someone was born with the ability to self-diagnose cancer. For the vast majority of human history, the reply would have been, \"Bummer. You have cancer. Nice knowing you.\" To some extent, that still is the case for many forms of cancer.\n\nSo, the trait you describe would not be a selectable mutation- until basically, now. Even so, mutations this complex don't pop into being overnight, like a comic book character gaining a superpower- they emerge incredibly incrementally. It would likely start with people who test positive for cancer tests a little earlier than others, and are able to get treated sooner or extend their lives and thus have more offspring. That's a selectable mutation in our society today.\n\nThe superpower you describe might be possible, but it would either take hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years to emerge, or it would have to be designed into humans with some futuristic technology.",
"Sometimes I marvel at the level of ignorance and misunderstanding of physiology and evolution in general.\n\nEvolution preserves the SPECIES, not the individual. Biologist Richard Dawkins has made a cogent argument that not even the individual, but the GENE is what is preserved. (See his book “The Selfish Gene”) I’m 64 years old, I’ve passed on my genes already. There is no “reason” for evolution writ large to have evolved a system to diagnose illness as there are plenty of other copies of my genes around. Evolution does not work by reason but by chance.\n\nThe human body, and for that matter all other life, was not designed. Life evolved. Your body does not think. You have essentially the same body all other mammals have.\n\nIf you have gall stones and your body “told” you this, what could you do about it, especially 200,000 years ago? Operate on yourself? Ask someone else to operate on you?\n\nIf your dog had a cancer, what could it do? Give itself chemotherapy or radiation?\n\nYour body functions just like your dog’s body, with a few exceptional details."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
4x7u63
|
why do conductors of professional or large orchestras often appear to be conducting slightly ahead of the music?
|
Is it to do with conducting 'foward', preventing the orchestra from slowing, or is it just a result of having so many instrumentalists?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4x7u63/eli5_why_do_conductors_of_professional_or_large/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d9brl5k",
"d6d6kjw"
],
"score": [
2,
4
],
"text": [
"This is a preference thing with how the conductor decides to lead the orchestra.\nSome conductors lead very far ahead, some conductors lead right in time. (Professional and elite orchestras tend to follow the former, and amateur and beginner orchestras follow the latter).\nHere's a reddit thread explaining the culture, bu the TL;DR version is that professional orchestras rely on the conductor less, if at all, for \"musical guidance\": when/when not to play, basic dynamics, etc. and more so on interpretation and style. \n_URL_0_",
"The difference is real, not due to the delay in sound. The microphones can be quite close to the orchestra e.g. if you watch the Proms you can see the BBC \"mike tree\" perhaps 20 ft above them. Rule of thumb: 1 ft = 1 millisecond, since sound travels at roughly 1000 ft/sec, so the delay is ~ 20 ms = half a 40 ms video frame at 25 frames per second. \n\nAll that's happening is that the musicians are playing behind the beat as carried by the conductor. The \"downbeat\" is not a fixed thing, it can move around. Bassist Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, Paul Simon, just about everyone else) gave a [speech] (_URL_0_) years ago in which he described his experiences starting to play rock after years playing classical and jazz: \n\n > In fact, I have found what I call the beat to be a wide thing, more like a ball than a point. Though I had played some jazz and other music in my youth, being a Classically trained player, I thought that I was correct to place my note right in the center of that beat, and others might be slightly off it or not - that was their business. I was wrong. It was difficult to acknowledge my problem and then to develop the technique of playing in the front part or the back part of that beat. It is not easy to place the beat, every beat, differently than you're used to. In fact, in jazz and in rock, a lot of the ability and identity of the player's music lies in his technique and consistency of placement of that beat."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalmusic/comments/1v1is6/why_do_elite_orchestras_play_behind_the/"
],
[
"https://papabear.com/miscpages/speech.htm"
]
] |
|
76o831
|
what is the difference in p2p and dedicated servers
|
Is there a simple way ti explain this?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/76o831/eli5what_is_the_difference_in_p2p_and_dedicated/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dofjnia",
"dofnion"
],
"score": [
8,
4
],
"text": [
"Let's use the Monopoly board game as an example where people are playing the game at a person's house.\n\nIn peer-to-peer (p2p), the person who owns the house is a player who also acts as the banker in charge of taking in and distributing monopoly money for purchases as well as giving out change if necessary (host). Since the banker player is also participating in the game, he/she can quickly exchange their own money to the bank when needed. However, if the banker player is distracted with his/her own strategies/a phone call/dog vomiting, he/she may end up slow to process other player's transactions with the bank. Also, if the host needs to leave, there is no reason for the game to go on in his or her house!\n\nIn a dedicated server, you have a set of players but a the owner of the house acting as the bank but not as a player. If the banker is slow, everyone has a slow experience so it is a more even playing field (though certain players could naturally interact slower than others). The nice thing about this setup is there is no chance of the game ending if a certain player drops out. The game also continues until the banker is tired of his/her role even if there are no players.",
"Suppose you and a group of friends want to hang out on the weekend:\n\nP2P servers- Whoever is able and convenient offers up their house for the night. If you get kicked out of one house then someone else might have a house you can hop over to. Once everybody leaves the party is over. \n\nDedicated server- You go to a restaurant and have a good time. The restaurant was there before you decided to go, and it still exists after everybody leaves. Some third person (outside of you or any of your friends) maintains the restaurant so people can come enjoy it. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
8deden
|
how come, when you feel unsafe in your room, you instantly feel a little bit safer by pulling the covers over you?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8deden/eli5_how_come_when_you_feel_unsafe_in_your_room/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dxmgci4",
"dxmhi3d"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"I don't know the specifics but I bet it is the same thing that calms animals down when you cover their eyes. (Like when you are moving alligators around the zoo or whatnot). Less stimuli for your brain to try to interpret through the thinking of feeling a threat.",
"We're the descendants of small, burrowing animals. Hiding is an effective defence against predators, and the instinct is still with us today."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
46lit4
|
how do mail-in rebates work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/46lit4/eli5_how_do_mailin_rebates_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d060nj4"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"The benefit is the perception of a deal. Only a small percentage of the consumers follow through on. So many times a consumer will purchase something with a mail-in rebate and either be too lazy or forgetful to go through the steps of mailing it in. So, while the company has offered the money back to all, it only has to make good on that for a select few."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
fo0oxy
|
how are drug imports and exports estimated?
|
I just completed the second season of Narcos. It's amazing.
The cops in America say they estimate about 300 tons of coke entering America. If the whole operation is done without the knowledge of the cops, how can they estimate how much is being imported?
Thanks. Be safe.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fo0oxy/eli5_how_are_drug_imports_and_exports_estimated/
|
{
"a_id": [
"flcldpn"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"This is why they call them estimates. If for examlpe they had an action at a boarder station where they stopped one in ten cars at random and managed to get 10kg of coke they can estimate that another 90kg of coke managed to slip through the net. And if this boarder station had about a tenth of the traffic into the US they can again assume that there were 900kg passing through at other stations making it an even ton of cocane which would have been smuggled into the country by road that day. Which if you muliply by the number days in a year you get close to 350tons of coke imported every year. Of course they would not just take the values from a single day at a single boarder crossing but collect all the data they have. They can also combine this with data collected in the US and other countries on how the prices changes, how many drug adicts there are, how much money the people involved make, etc. to get a complete picture of the drug flow without actually observing it directly."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
resyo
|
why do movies and music cd's have the same
prices as their competitors while those of practically
every other product vary drastically compared to
their competitors?
|
Tickets for movies at the same theatre cost the same. Ultraviolet and Requiem for a Dream, at the same theatre at the same time would have cost the same.
Led Zeppelin I costs the same as a Katy Perry CD. Same with games.
So why isn't there a proportional relationship between the quality and the price?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/resyo/why_do_movies_and_music_cds_have_the_same_prices/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c458w8i",
"c458yyb",
"c459bkh"
],
"score": [
6,
11,
2
],
"text": [
"Good question. I guess this is a combination of several factors. Firstly, while peoples opinions of various artists/movies may vary, there is no objective way to assign value to a piece of art. Some people love Justin Bieber and some people hate him - in economics the term 'utility' is used to describe how much worth someone gets out of an object - and therefore the utility of an Album will vary much more than say... bread, as peoples opinions vary so much for art. Why isn't there a proportional relationship between quality and price? You can't measure the quality in art the same way you can for cars. If a justin Beiber CD was half the price of what it is now, would you buy it simply becuase it was cheaper?\n\nSecondly, the actual cost of manufacture of the physical product - the CD or DVD and the case, is essentially the same for all CDs/DVDs. Another explaination may be an idea known as 'perfect competition', which essentially states that in a highly competitive market with many sellers, products tend to the same price. I don't know how relevent it is to this market, however.",
"There's no real \"competition\" - if somebody wants a Katy Perry album, they *want* a Katy Perry album & they're not going to buy a Led Zeppelin album simply because it's a few dollars cheaper.",
"I wouldn't put it past the record/movie industry to fix prices. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3cnm0x
|
how can people be colourblind and not realise it their entire lives?
|
I was just wondering. I'm colour blind (green/red) and I have known for the longest time. I think colouring in purple water is what made other people question it.
Is it just that being colour blind is more recognised now so it's harder to go undetected or is it actually pretty uncommon to live your life without knowing?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3cnm0x/eli5_how_can_people_be_colourblind_and_not/
|
{
"a_id": [
"csx7un7",
"csx8hkg"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Well, i think its because that it feels natural to them. I had asked this to a friend of mine named Ivan(no, not russian) and he said that if the accident at his elementary school had not happened, he might not realize it.\n\nThe accident is when he colors a tree with the color red.",
"If you have never experience something there is no way for you to know you are missing it. But the way that we teach colors to children it is rare for it to go unnoticed by their parents or teachers. It can happen, but if it does it is generally a sign of severe neglect by every adult in a child's life. If somehow you make it to be a teenager without someone noticing you will be found out when you go for learning to drive. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
5g94lk
|
how do pulley systems add or remove mechanical advantage based on the direction of the pulley?
|
I spent a short time in the emergency rescue team while in the military, and we did exercises where we set up pulley systems to give 2:1, 4:1, and I think 5:1 mechanical advantage, but I never understood how it works...
From what I recall, you need to have each pulley in the system facing a certain way in order to increase the mechanical advantage, and if one is facing the the wrong way, it reduces the mechanical advantage.
I hope this is specific enough to understand, it's been a long time but it's something I occasionally ponder. I've tried looking it up but I don't understand what I'm reading. Let me know if my question isn't specific enough. Thanks in advance!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5g94lk/eli5_how_do_pulley_systems_add_or_remove/
|
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"The other reply tried explaining via kinematics but they got the physics wrong. The velocity of the length of rope does not matter in terms of force multiplication. The acceleration or the derivative of velocity does. \n\nJust note that the extra force being applied on the object doesn't come out of nowhere. It comes from whatever mount the pulley is applying tension to. Example a tree. I'm going to assume you have done high school physics. \n\nWhat a pulley does is it gives you an extra set of forces as it is in equilibrium (ignoring rotational inertia here). Let's look at just one pulley system. There's a force exerted by you pulling on rope downwards. Other end of rope that wraps around pulley is attached to a heavy object. If you apply 20N of force, the heavy object only gets 20N of force. The mount has 40N of force on it. Pretty simple. The two 20N forces going down cancel with the 40 going up. \n\nNow let's say we have two pulley systems with one on top of the other. _URL_0_\n\nThe top is the one with one end we exert force on. The other end goes into another pulley at bottom. The rope wraps around and attaches to another mount. Now if we exert 20N of force, 20 N of force is also going right around first pulley. first mount has 20N of force. Remember how the end of rope goes to second pulley. Well that's 20N going into second pulley. And 20N going to the mount since the end goes to it as I said before. Now if we attach a heavy object to the second pulley (not the rope), then we have two 20N forces going up applying a 40N force. So we now effectively doubled our force with just two pulleys. \n\nFeel free to ask questions. I'll reply when I can. "
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dwq9r1
|
how does antimatter work? could theoretically antimatter stars exist?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dwq9r1/eli5_how_does_antimatter_work_could_theoretically/
|
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"In theory yes but in practice likely not because regular matter would eventually collide with them.",
"I was just reading about this the other day. It's very interesting that we see lots of matter, but it took until the 20th century to understand anti-matter. So far, nobody really knows why! Physicists think that during the big bang, there should have been equal amounts of both, but now it takes work to find anti-matter. So, there could be stars made out of anti-matter, but we just haven't seen anywhere near that amount in one place.\n\nIf you want to read about it, its called the \"Baryon asymmetry\" and even though the name sounds technical, the wikipedia article is very understandable.",
"Follow up question. How would antimatter look like in a spectro analysis?",
"why does there seem to be significantly more matter than antimatter in the universe?",
"Also is antimatter purely theoretical? Do we know it exists? Or is this just a way to explain something we think we see?",
"It's worth noting that all theories need testing, and because of the universe we find ourselves in with it's current antimatter content, testing antimatter theories is notoriously difficult. Antimatter is expected to interact weakly differently than matter on occasion, but that's the only theoretical difference. There's also a question of whether or not antimatter interacts gravitationally differently than normal matter which QFT just can't answer. But since antimatter is so hard to come by in large quantities, it's hard to do non-quantum experiments.\n\nSo to answer your question, according to current theories, theoretically yes, but theory on it's own isn't enough to give consensus of fact.",
"Recommend the writeup at CERN. At CERN they actually create antimatter particles to study - they don't hang around very long, though. \n\n [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) \n\nBasically, the formulas that combine special relativity and quantum theory postulated an electron with positive energy, and a proton with negative energy.\n\nFor our purposes, it's literally a molecule in which the proton is a negatively charged particle, identical in every way except electrical charge. And yes, this means entire complex molecules and galaxies should be observable. Specifically, the models postulating the moments of the Big Bang would predict an equal number of matter and antimatter particles. \n\nBut . . . we don't see all that antimatter anywhere. So everyone is trying to figure out if that means a defect in the model or something not considered by the model.",
"Anti-matter works as regular matter for the most part. But disintegrate when meeting its regular counterpart. \n\nImagine a universe where antimatter would have been a bit more abundant than our regular matter and it would have been an anti-matter universe where regular matter struggle to exist. \n\nSimply because it's difficult to isolate completely one type from the other. One has to \"win\" and the other only exist when freshly created.",
"Given that we can only observe things that are in the observable universe, and that we have not located any sign of an antimatter star, or antimatter galaxies, and so on within the confines of the observable universe, whether they are a theoretical possibility or not, does not have much importance, because theory is most important when it points to phenomena to look for, or explains an observed phenomenon. \n\n In this case, the potential for anti-matter stars to exist is vanishingly small, for the following reason. \n\nStars have mass, ergo gravity, because they bend the fabric of space/time. This is the case for anti-matter as well. Just because it is anti-matter, doesn't mean the fabric of reality treats it differently than regular matter. Therefore, even assuming that a whole bunch of anti-matter could accumulate in enough volume to comprise a star, without coming into contact with regular matter, causing annihilation of both the regular and the anti-matter, once that star had formed, there would be no way to prevent regular matter falling into the gravity well of that star, and causing an almighty annihilation event between that matter and the anti-matter of which the star is made. \n\n Even in the deepest depths of the emptiest regions of space that we know of, there are uncountable trillions of tonnes of matter, so there are no places where an anti-matter star could come together, without that annihilation occurring, and in fact, no regions of space through which anti-matter could pass on the way to a central location, without also being annihilated. Its a cool idea, but I cannot conceive of a place in the observable universe where little enough regular matter is present, to permit such a thing to come about without instantly self destructing.",
"I watched it this morning too! Super interesting, but I don't think anti stars exist, at least not in our dimension anyway. Cuz the second matter comes in contact with anti matter, they collide and turn to pure light making it almost impossible for antimatter to exist in our material universe (what she said). If it does exist though, it has to be in an entirely different anti universe maybe where matter is just as rare. Idk, maybe I'm reaching. But I like your line of thought lol maybe there's an anti version of us there too! 🙃",
"I read an article once where a physics professor describes antimatter as normal matter moving backwards in time.\n\nI think that brings up lots of interesting questions about the relationship of matter, time, and light.\n\n*edit: Light is included, because physics predicts that time slows down for an object as that object's speed approaches the speed of light.*",
"To tag onto the anti-matter train, I know we can produce some anti-matter but how do we store it? Doesn't it react violently with many elements?",
"They have made anti-hydrogen in particle accelerators. The cost is $60 trillion/ gram due to the low yields and relative expense of running a particle accelerator. No that is not a typo.",
"I apologize for the stupidity of this question - but could it be the Big Bang is a gravitational effect of M/AM collision and our universe is just trying to reach cosmic quantum equilibrium by letting it cook out? \n Implication being M/AM collision is common on cosmic (rather than local) scales.Again sorry for the daftness."
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497we8
|
are we in another real estate bubble?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/497we8/eli5_are_we_in_another_real_estate_bubble/
|
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"I can't do the full explanation of the Mortgage Crisis from 08, but I can tell you it wasn't based on the value of homes. The crisis you're referring to was based on people getting approved for home loans they really couldn't afford, and then people turning those mortgages into securities that people would invest in. It's much more complicated than that, but it wasn't based on the value of homes. Home pricing fluctuates, we may be at the top of this bull run, which means there may be a pull back, but that's not saying we are in a bubble by any means.",
"A good indicator is rental yield as a percentage of value. Here in the UK you could traditionally expect to get 3.5 - 4% of the value of a property in rental yield, meaning it would pay for itself in 25 - 28 years. At the minute, rental yield is around 2.5%. This shows that homes are costing more than people are prepared to pay to live in them. Buy to let has been a significant contributor to the bubble, and it is slowly collapsing. "
]
}
|
[] |
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[],
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||
1mzli1
|
why doesn't nasa or the world work with the chinese space agency?
|
I know China wasn't let into the ISS. But why? And why dont we work with them on future missions like we do with other space agency's?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mzli1/eli5_why_doesnt_nasa_or_the_world_work_with_the/
|
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"One of the reasons I have heard is that unlike the space agencies in the rest of the world the Chinese space agency was being run by their military.",
"Rockets used in spaceflight are technically ICBMs, or they could be used as ICBMs.\n\nThe US and Russia do some space flight exchanges because our ICBM technologies are roughly at the same level. The Europeans do their own thing because the French are a big piece of the Ariane and they have their own ICBM technology.\n\nThe US Senate has refused to allow technology exchanges between the US and China when it concerns rocket technology or guidance technology as something that can get a satellite into orbit accurately could also guide a warhead to the White House lawn accurately.\n\nSome examples\n\n_URL_1_ - old US Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles turned into commerical launch vehicles\n\n_URL_0_",
"Developing a good space program requires most of the same skills and technologies as developing good missiles. Cooperating on space missions requires a very high degree of trust that the person you're cooperating with will never be a military adversary, since the person you're cooperating with is going to know all your best technology. The US is not at all certain that that is the case for China, and they're really sure that the Chinese would like to secure US rocket secrets since they've been caught stealing rocket technology from the US before."
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur_rocket"
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3d9gez
|
how do we get perfectly lighted pictures of a planet that's so far away from the sun?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d9gez/eli5_how_do_we_get_perfectly_lighted_pictures_of/
|
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"Even at the distance of Pluto the Sun is 250 times brighter than a full moon is on Earth. There's plenty of light to see.\n\nEDIT: Also, good instruments to take pictures with.\nEDITED EDIT: Thanks for the downvote for just stating the truth. See the source below that /u/RedS5 posted.",
"Anyone who is answering \"there's plenty of light\" is full of shit. Pluto is very dark and it's not easy at all to take photos of Pluto that look that good.\n\nHave you ever tried taking a picture with a film camera where you can manually set the exposure time?\n\nOn a bright day, you can open the shutter for 1/60 of a second (or less) and get a nice clear picture. Indoors, you need to open the shutter for longer, because there's less light.\n\nPluto is really dark, so the New Horizon spacecraft has to open its camera shutter for a long time in order to get such a bright, clear picture.\n\nIn fact, it needs to open it so long that the planet moves in that time, so it has to *rotate* the spacecraft to keep the planet centered!\n\nNot easy.\n\n",
"The LORRI camera on New Horizons probe has been using an exposure time of 100 milliseconds over the last few days. This is 1/10th of a second. Not long enough for Pluto's rotation to effect the result.\n\n[LORRI Images from the Pluto Encounter](_URL_0_)"
]
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||
bdzoby
|
how are synthetic elements considered elements?
|
Perhaps I'm thinking way too much into this. I'm having a hard time understanding why synthetic elements are considered elements. So other elements create these elements. With this being said, would water not be considered an element? I have understood elements to be sort of building blocks. I understand that these elements exist on their own, but when you mix them you have water, salts, etc. How are synthetic elements, which are materials made from other elements, considered elements?
Edit: I know water is not an element.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bdzoby/eli5_how_are_synthetic_elements_considered/
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"An element is defined by being a single atom with a specific number of Protons. The more protons, the heavier the element.\n\nWe can create heavier elements in the lab by increasing the proton count of certain atoms.\n\nWater isn't an element, it's a molecule. A molecule is a combination of different elements bonded together.",
"Water is not an element. It is a combination of two elements. An element is a specific, single atom that is characterized by the number of protons in it's nucleus. Whether, say, a gold atom is found in nature or we build it in a particle accelerator makes no difference; they are indistinguishable.",
"Water is a molecule. It's made of oxygen and hydrogen, which are both elements.\n\nElements all have the same basic structure, with a different number of protons, electrons, and neutrons. \n\nAdding one proton gets you a different element, and we've discovered that elements form patterns where certain groups of elements have similar properties. The columns in the periodic table form a group that reacts chemically similar because they have the same number of available electrons in the outer orbit(the most reactive part of the atom)\n\nAdding multiple atoms together is a molecule\n\nSynthetic elements follow the same pattern as regular elements, except they were made in a lab by smashing smaller elements together or breaking big ones. \n\nIf you made a synthetic gold atom it would be the same as any other good atom \n\nSome elements do not exist in nature because they either are too big to form in stars or are too radioactive and decay quickly.",
"When we make new elements from existing one what we are doing is moving two different atoms super fast in a collider and then letting them strike each other, fusing them into a new, single atom.",
"Elements are just atoms with a given number of protons in its nucleus. Any and all atoms with 6 protons are carbon, an atom with 1 proton is hydrogen.\n\nSynthetic elements are no different, they are atoms with a given number of protons. Americium has 95 protons, for example.\n\nWe create synthetic elements by smashing protons into other elements so those protons then bound to the nucleus, not a chemical level. When atoms bond to together on a chemical level, which is how you get water and salt like you mentioned, the number of protons in their nucleus does not change.",
"An element is defined by the number of protons in an atom's nucleus.\n\nThe difference between creating an element in a particle accelerator vs something like water is that the former is a nuclear reaction while the latter is a chemical reaction. \n\nIn a chemical reaction the atoms separate or bond together but still stay the same element - there's no change to the protons.\n\nIn a nuclear reaction, the atoms break apart and recombine, so they become different elements. \n\nFor example, Darmstadtium is made by bombarding lead with nickel. This isn't the same as mixing lead and nickel like an alloy. They're actually combining 2 atoms into one.",
"Elements are the name given to atoms of a particular size. More specifically, each atom in its core is made up of neurons and protons. The number of protons determines which element it is. For example 1 proton is hydrogen, 2 is helium, 8 is oxygen, 6 is carbon. They're the exact same protons and neutrons, but having different numbers in an atom makes it behave differently and gives us all the elements we know of in nature.\n\nElements can get stuck to each other to make molecules. So you get H (hydrogen) atoms and O (oxygen) atoms stuck together in molecules called H2O, otherwise known as water. Water is not an element, it's a molecule. The individual hydrogen and oxygen atoms haven't mashed together to make something bigger, there just stuck to each other like how balloons cling together with static.\n\nNow.. when a particular atom had a very large number of neutrons/protons it gets unstable, and likely to break into smaller atoms. This is called being radioactive. It means that the heaviest atoms out there don't stick around for long. But that doesn't stop scientists mashing atoms together to make bigger atoms in particle accelerators. (This isn't stickying them together like molecules are, this is actually mashing them together to make a bigger atom). The resultant elements are \"synthetic\" in the sense that they're man made but they are very much atoms in the same sense as any other element.",
"You're confused about what elements and a synthetic elements are. An element is, by definition, defined by the number of protons it has. Hydrogen is the element with only one proton. If you have an atom with one proton, it's always and only hydrogen, and never any other element. Oxygen has 8 protons. If you have an atom with 8 protons, it's always and only oxygen, and never any other element. Combining 2 different elements does not make a new element. It just makes a molecule of those 2 elements. That's what water is. It's 2 atoms of hydrogen bonded to 1 atom of oxygen. You say you know water is not an element but you literally said \"would water not be considered an element?\" so it appears that you don't know, and that's ok. We're here to learn.\n\nA synthetic element is not a molecule. It's not smaller elements bonded together. It's still a single element with a single number of protons. It's synthetic because it isn't found in nature. Let's take fermium for example. It has 100 protons. It always and only has 100 protons. No other element has 100 protons, and if an atom has 100 protons, it's always fermium. Fermium is synthetic because it's not found anywhere in nature. You can't make fermium by simply taking 10 atoms with 10 protons each (which is neon btw). That's just 10 separate neon atoms.",
"Synthetic elements are considered elements because they are a unique arrangement of neutrons and protons in a single nucleus, thus making it an element, albeit an unstable one",
"Consider a lego block. \n\n\nBy joining two lego blocks you can make a compound object. Some complex compound objects may have many, many, many lego blocks. \nBut the basic building block of those compounds are individual lego blocks of various kinds. \n\n\nNow let's look at the various kinds of lego blocks themselves. \n\n\nYou may have a tiny lego block with two studs (bumps), or larger blocks with more studs. \n\n\nIf you have the tools, you can use more plastic and make a larger lego block with even more studs, maybe you can even artificially melt off one plastic bump and make a lego block with a weird number of bumps. They are still lego blocks if they are made entirely in plastic and not disconnectable easily without some special tools or process. \n\n\nAtoms are like those lego blocks. They come in various sizes. They also join easily with other atoms based on some rules, to make compounds. In some cases the size of two lego blocks can be almost the same size as one large lego block. \n\n\nBut like individual lego blocks, individual atoms are not splittable or joinable with ease, and you need special tools and knowledge to do that."
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a1ni3d
|
how does the moons gravity pull the entire ocean up for high tide but it can't stop rain from falling?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a1ni3d/eli5_how_does_the_moons_gravity_pull_the_entire/
|
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"The moon isn't pulling the ocean away from the earth, as though if it had enough time it would suck all the water off the planet.\n\nInstead, the moon and the earth share a center of mass. Since the moon is so big, that center of mass is not in the center of the earth, it's at a point between the center of the earth and the surface. Since the earth spins and the moon revolves around it, that center of mass bulges the earth as it moves through the planet and makes the oceans slosh around. But the center is still underground, so even if you're on the side of the earth facing the moon, you're still drawn downward toward that center of mass.",
"It doesnt pull the ocean up. The moons gravity does not have enough force to raise water. What it can do however, is make it lean slightly.\n\nWhich is what a tide is. The water does not actually rise, but a little bit more of it gets pulled towards one coast. Imagine a glass of water with a playing card under one side, or a slightly out of level aquarium on a table. This simulates the moons effect on the ocean. Then as everything orbits everything else, it shifts a bit to the other side as the moon pulls the other direction.\n\nThat's the best ELI5 I can do without getting super technical."
]
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[],
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62ugul
|
how do humans forget to breathe at times?
|
I was at the dentist this morning and she asked me to keep breathing through my nose to avoid gagging. That's when I realized, there are times you get so indulged into something that you forget to breathe for a few moments. How is that possible?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/62ugul/eli5_how_do_humans_forget_to_breathe_at_times/
|
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"Norepinephrine (often mistaken for epinephrine and called adrenaline) causes the body to prepare for intense physical activity. Among the effects of norepinephrine is quicker cycling of oxygen, which then makes you feel like you need to get more oxygen, often interpreted as that you need to breathe more.\n\nAs far as the dentist goes, she's just reminding you that breathing through your mouth is not an option.",
"/u/riotshields is correct that the key she was getting at was to avoid gagging. \n\nto answer your question about forgetting to breathe though, you can't really forget. it's an involuntary activity. this is why you still breathe when you're asleep. \n\nnow, there *are* obviously things that can make your body fail to trigger the signals to breathe. some of the more common ones are opioids and anesthetics. if someone has had these in their system we either breathe for them (intubation/put a bag over their mouth and force air in) or, in rarer cases can tell them to breathe. \n\nit's rare that you can effectively tell someone to breathe because these people are usually too sedated to listen to you. but it happens, for example heroin addicts who are found almost needing mouth to mouth but if you keep waking them up and telling them to breathe you can buy enough time to give antidotes/get them to hospital"
]
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[] |
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447ftr
|
why do seemingly small (file size) windows updates sometimes take a very long time to install after downloading?
|
For example, I am in the middle of installing an 18mb update that is going on 20 minutes.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/447ftr/eli5_why_do_seemingly_small_file_size_windows/
|
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"The download size might be small, but your computer will dedompress (unpackage) all that information. \n\nIt then has to take each little file, and find where it it needed to go on the hard drive and transfer it there, and this is what it does during install.\n\nSuper ELI5: It's a bit like having a parcel arrive at your door, but until you take the contents out and pack them away around your house for use then it's still just a packaged box."
]
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|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
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|
e7gukp
|
what is critical thinking?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e7gukp/eli5_what_is_critical_thinking/
|
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"At the most basic it means not automatically believing what you hear/see/read, but keeping an open mind to other possibilities. There is almost never a single correct answer to anything. Critical thinking is useful for many aspects of life, but especially for figuring out what is \"reality\" in terms of what you see in the news.\n\nQuestions you can ask yourself to improve your critical thinking:\n\n- is this source credible, how do they know what they know?\n\n- is the source biased towards an end? If they are biased, that doesn't make their information useless, but it can suggest they might be leaving out information or spinning it.\n\n- are other credible sources saying the same thing? \n\n- Have they independently confirmed the facts by themselves with their own sources, or are they just making click bait rehashing somebody else's reporting? If they only rehashed a story, why not read the original? If the source is a primary document, why not read that document?\n\n- is this a statement of facts (news), relating new developments to an ongoing story (analysis), or arguing a side (opinion)?\n\nEdit, more questions:\n\n- do they make unfounded leaps of logic or use logical fallacies (whataboutism, strawman argument, goal post moving, etc)?\n\n- does the news organization ever issue redactions/corrections without being called out, or fire a journalist for getting a story wrong? (These would be a good thing, as it shows the organization holds itself to some journalistic standard)\n\n- do they use personal attacks to distract from addressing the other side's ideas/accusations? Responding to being accused of murder by saying, \"the witness is a drug addict,\" is not a denial of the charge....both accusations could still be true.\n\nEdit 2:\n\n- I recommend the book \"All the President's Men\" by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. It is an entertaining book on the true story of their investigation of President Nixon. It explores critical thinking and the journalistic process in great detail.\n\n- here's a handy graph on the quality and biases of various news sources _URL_0_",
"“Thinking about your thinking while you’re thinking.”\n\nI guess you could take off the last three words because it seems redundant. And that act of second guessing my textbook quote is an act of critical thinking, I think..? Hehe",
"It is a systematic approach to determining whether something is true or false, through reasoning and evidence.\n\nPeople often believe things because they want them to be true, someone they are partial to told them it was true, or simply because it is where imperfect senses faulty reasoning took them. This is the basis of many pseudoscientific beliefs. When someone sees a strange light in the sky, it is lack of critical thinking that makes them conclude it must be an alien UFO.\n\nNote that critical thinking is **not** the same as denialism. While it is most often about rejecting unsupported claims, it is every bit as much as accepting solid claims, and assigning the correct degree of uncertainty to everything in between.",
"Let's start by saying that everyone has a mental model of the world. This means that you have a model of how the world works in your mind. The words chair, books, university, America, farmer, and Mathematics all have a meaning for each person who has heard of them. As time goes on this mental model changes with new information and new experiences. \n\nSome people only change their mental model of the world when they personally experience something or when someone they really trust asks them to change their mental model of the world. A second group of people can change their mind by reading a news article, a book, or through a conversation with another person. Now it is not reasonable to change your mind on a subject every time you read or hear someone give a different view. There are many opposing views and one can not live in the world changing their views that often. \n\nThis second group of people have created and told each other about a set of principles, methods, and heuristics on how to be open to change simply by reading or hearing new information, but doing so in a way that creates more consensus and in a way that makes their lives more successful. There is a lot in here so I can list some of these methods. \n\nThe first is a set of fallacies. These are new ideas that we can safely ignore, because if we allow ourself to change our mind based on these methods then we can be lead to believe false things. For example one fallacy is \"Appeal to Authority\". A teacher might say \"The earth is a globe\". The statement itself can be true, but you shouldn't believe *just* because it came from a teacher. This is because the teacher might say the next day \"The earth is flat\". Now you will have to believe that too. Instead they have to rely on other types of reasoning to prove that the earth is a globe. There are many logical fallacies and you can read about them to learn when you *should not* change your mind. \n\nThe second is a set of methods by which we should change our mind. This has to do with the theory of science and is a very large field. Many scientists learn indirectly or directly how to change their mind. One method for example is the peer review process. Someone claims something that is previously not believed, experts in the field examine it, and the results are published. Then other scientists repeat the experiments and they publish their results as well. Over time many scientists can do the same experiment and see similar results and a consensus is reached. This process is not so neat and is a very vast field but by studying the scientific method you can learn when you *should* change your mind."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://i.imgur.com/Q8ijVYO.png"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
30ow8e
|
why does the floor dry in blotches after it's been mopped?
|
Context: Just mopped my wooden floor and was sat on the sofa waiting for it to dry. Bored waiting I was checking constantly to see whether it had dried, when I realised that it dries in seemingly random blotches, regardless whether or not the floor is next to a open window. Why is this? Surely it should dry in a continuous stream from the window outwards?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30ow8e/eli5_why_does_the_floor_dry_in_blotches_after_its/
|
{
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"cpuehsh",
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"In the absence of all other environmental factors, the water will dry in patches because it isn't evenly spread over the floor. The thinner bits dry out faster, while the thicker bits remain longer.\n\nWhether the window will help or hinder the drying depends on the weather outside. ",
"I'm not sure but I think it may have something to do with the water's surface tension creating areas with more water and some areas with less water. The areas with less water will dry faster than the areas with more water. I may be wrong though."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
173536
|
what is embezzlement and why is it illegal?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/173536/what_is_embezzlement_and_why_is_it_illegal/
|
{
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"text": [
"Embezzlement is when a person or group of people lies about money in their care (i.e. it belongs to someone else, like a company or a client) so that they can withhold a portion (usually not enough to be blatantly noticeable) of it for themselves. \n\nIt is illegal because it is theft.",
"Embezzlement is when a person or group of people lies about money in their care (i.e. it belongs to someone else, like a company or a client) so that they can withhold a portion (usually not enough to be blatantly noticeable) of it for themselves.\n\nIt is illegal because it is theft.",
"[NOLO has a pretty good definition of embezzlement](_URL_0_).\n\nBasicially, it's taking something that someone else trusted you with (and expected to to do certain things) but instead you used it to make someone else or you richer.\n\nIt's important because \"contract law\" (which means in its most basic level \"I do this and you do that\") is something most of us place our trust in.\n\n\n",
"So you've got a lemonade stand that you and your friends set up. It's a really hot summer day, so you're selling a lot of lemonade and some money too. So you decide to buy a nice pitcher, and some more ingredients to make more lemonade. \n\nYou brought 10 dollars to the store, but whats this? It only costs 8 for the all the things you bought. So you decide to keep the two dollars for yourself and tell your friends back at the stand that it cost $10 for supplies. You also tell them you don't mind running to the store and will do it from now on so you can keep making an extra $2 on the side.\n\nBut instead of $2, and a lemonade stand, you're a multi-million dollar company and you've stolen hundred of thousands of dollars over the years. Its very illegal and *very* wrong."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://www.nolo.com/dictionary/embezzlement-term.html"
],
[]
] |
||
24iclj
|
is the minimum wage supposed to be a living wage, or is it protection from businesses taking advantage of workers?
|
I searched this sub for this because of the hullabaloo going on in Seattle and wanted an explanation that wasn't from some money magazine online. I personally feel like it cheapens my education because I worked hard to make the money I make. Am I wrong? More importantly, why or why not.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24iclj/eli5is_the_minimum_wage_supposed_to_be_a_living/
|
{
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"text": [
"Perhaps you should start by explaining what you think the difference is between ensuring companies have to pay a worker a wage that they can live on vs. ensuring you \"protect\" workers from businesses taking advantage of them. \n\nKinda sounds like the same thing to me.\n\nOk, so lets accept a minimum wage is established to somewhat limit a company's power to exploit it's workers, now let's assuming we are taking about 1 FTE (full time) workers.\n\nLet's also assume that in a fair world, there shouldn't be an expectation that a person needs to work more than 1FTE to support a reasonable life.\n\nIf you accept these things, then you end up with a minimum wage which *should* reflect a living wage, why shluldn't it? Why would you define a minimum wage designed to protect workers as lower than one which a person can live on if they are working full time.\n\nI think you'll find that the real talking point about this issue then becomes, how do you define a \"living wage\", and as far as I know, that varies quite a lot.",
"The minimum wage is not supposed to be, nor has it ever been, nor should it be, a living wage.\n\nMinimum wage is *supposed* to be for rock-bottom, no-skill jobs. They're supposed to be taken for part time work, teenagers, and seniors or housewives looking for some extra, easy cash. \n\nOf course, some employers try to dick around with this, so that's why the minimum wage exists--we want to make sure there's enough breathing room in the supply and demand of the job market, but still have a bottom level where people can't be exploited. So your second item--protecting workers--is what it represents.\n\nThe thing to remember is that an employer won't hire someone unless they can get that amount of value for that person. So when the minimum wage goes up, either prices have to go up to make up the difference (completely negating the point of doing it in the first place) or workers will need to work more productively to make it worth it to hire someone in the first place. \n\nObviously, there's more than one factor involved (inflation, regional markets, dissonance in demographics, etc.) where some of this may apply and some won't. But by and large the minimum wage doesn't matter any gains by low-skill workers are eroded by the changes in price and the increase in unemployment; it's a judgement call by the government as to when it should be adjusted to meet inflation. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
v59gp
|
soccer's system of transferring/buying/selling/loaning players between leagues.
|
I guess the title should be ELIAmerican. I follow American sports a lot, but I still enjoy soccer and wish I could enjoy it more. But I don't understand anything. How do these players move around? Is it just an open market where all players theoretically have a price? Is it all up to the club or does the player have a say? I know that in American sports, it's fairly common for a player to request a trade or to profess his allegiance to his team.
Thanks!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/v59gp/eli5_soccers_system_of/
|
{
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"players when they sign for a club are given a contract. this can last a few months or 1 year or any number of years (I've heard of up to 10 year contracts). this is a lot like normal employment contracts, the club agrees to pay the player a certain wage for however long the contract lasts.\n\nhowever, if club B wants to buy the player while the player is still under contract with club A, then club B have to agree a fee with club A to \"buy out\" the contract, leaving the player free to sign with club B.\n\nnow, club A doesnt have to sell the player to club B, and equally the player does not have to agree to sign for club B if club A want.\n\nhowever, if the player wants to leave, its usually undesirable to keep him against his will, as he isnt going to give full effort. and anyway, club A make money if they sell the player while hes still under contract, if they just let his contract run out then the player becomes a \"free agent\", and club A dont get anything if the player signs for another club.\n\nso the player does have a say to a degree, he gets to negociate wages and terms at any club that tries to buy him and gets the right to refuse. technically he doesnt have a say if the club hes under contract with refuse to sell him, but like i said, its usually not a good idea to keep a player that doesnt want to be there.\n\nalso, if the club wants to sell him and he doesnt want to leave, its not really a good idea for the player to refuse to leave and just sit on his contract, as he won't get played and it will have a detrimental affect on his career as he will get older, out of match fitness and lessen his value a lot",
"Just understand that american sports have single entity leagues. The league owns and controls all the teams. In soccer the teams are their own independent clubs. Walmart cant trade you to kmart for another worker just like Real Madrid can't trade someone to Chelsea."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
4ipcoc
|
if property and home values are so much higher in the city than suburbs why do the city schools have worse budget problems?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ipcoc/eli5if_property_and_home_values_are_so_much/
|
{
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"Speaking as somebody who works for a school district in a city:\n\n1 - In most cities, the inner city areas are impoverished. That's less early childhood enrichment, generally worse diets, generally more illnesses and disabilities (usually due to a worse neonatal environment and less regular health check-ups; all of that gets pricey for families over the years). Hence, there's a greater need to fund programs like free/reduced lunch, early intervention, special education, health child initiatives, etc. While those are often used in conjunction with other organizations and the costs are often helped along with state and federal funding, it does cost some money at the local level. Most poor communities outside of the city bear these costs as well.\n\n2 - These extra programs also have other increased costs: inter-agency workers, specialists who understand the relevant paperwork and program requirements, accountants who can unbraid the funding sources and keep money from being spent from the wrong budgets, increased supplies, more training and professional development, increased office space (and the associated costs in heat, electricity, security, etc), and so on, and so forth. The bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.\n\n3 - It can be hard to attract teachers to the city. In many cities, they've waived residency requirements to give them the option of living out of the district that they serve because rents can sometimes be cheaper just outside the district. In places where residency is a requirement, a young teacher starting out might not be able to afford a place to live, making it hard to attract teachers unless you compensate them better.\n\n4 - There are groups of politicians that believe public education is grossly over-funded, especially when they see a big price tag on a city. Because of the other factors, it looks disproportionately too high, so they start slashing until it looks more \"in-line\" with other communities, reflecting a deep misunderstanding of what political and economic policies led to that inequality to begin with, and thus perpetuating the same problems down the line.\n\n5 - Finally, almost any district has financial problems. It isn't just the cities, but a headline of a $100 thousand shortfall doesn't catch the same attention that $5 million shortfall does, so which one do you think is going to get attention, even if, proportionally, the bigger district is in a better position? We're seeing that in my town, in which a merger of the district with another one that's fallen into financial ruin is being considered, even though we have bigger nominal budget problems.",
"I live in Chicago, and these are the reasons why:\n\n- While the most expensive real estate is more expensive than comparable suburban areas, there are also lots of really poor areas in the city and the single school district covers it all. In the suburbs, a wealthy suburb might have great schools and the less wealthy one two towns over might have mediocre schools because it's a different school district. In Chicago, the schools in Lincoln Park and Englewood are all the same district.\n\n- City school districts are much older -- many suburbs are only a few decades old. Longer time in existence, means older buildings to maintain, and (more importantly) more pensions to cover!\n\n- The pension thing is even more of an issue because of the populations shifts from city to suburbs. Big cities used to have more families, and thus lots more schools, teachers, etc. Now there is a smaller base relative to the past and yet there are the bigger numbers of retirees to cover with pensions. The suburbs are the opposite, typically growing in size or stable, so the proportion of current teachers/tax base in growing relative to the retiree population being paid pensions. In Chicago, it's something like $2000 a year per student just to cover pension costs, before a single dollar goes to education.",
"Property taxes based on home values sometimes doesn't make as much sense as you'd think. \n\nSo say that .10 per every hundred dollars of property value goes to public school. In a $300,000 suburban home about $300 goes to the school. \n\nIn an urban apartment building it may be worth $6 million, 20 times what that house costs, and about $6,000 per year in taxes goes to the school. But that apartment building may have 50 units. So 20 times the taxes, but 50 times the students. "
]
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|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
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||
8e5opy
|
how come sam's club can sell gift cards for less than what they are worth?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8e5opy/eli5_how_come_sams_club_can_sell_gift_cards_for/
|
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"text": [
"I'm pretty sure it is too attract customers because they are likely to buy other things as well",
"For the same reason the restaurant or business can offer a coupon. \n\nThey're giving the club members a discount. It's not available to public, just members.\n\nIt's essentially an up front coupon. ",
"\n\n\n\nIf you take a look at those cards, you have to pay a bunch of money to get those cards. You have to spend 75 bucks to get a hundred in some case. That's a lot of money and you essentially have to visit the place several times. That makes you a potential person that comes by more often than not regularly. ",
"It's a marketing tool more than anything, really, and there are three possible outcomes:\n\n- people use the exact amount of the card in which case they lose a little profit (though the discount on a gift card won't erase their margin completely).\n\n- people buy more than the card, in which case they make a bit of extra cash and entice buyers into big ticket sales (that $200 card will most likely go towards buying a laptop or tires or a big screen that costs more than the card rather than pallets of frozen veggies or whatever).\n\n- people don't use the card, and it's basically free money that's never redeemed in full, if at all."
]
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|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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||
3zq89b
|
if the united states wants to go the "universal education route" would it be cheaper to actually pay tuition, like we do today. or would it be cheaper to pay for the higher taxes, that make education "free"?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zq89b/eli5if_the_united_states_wants_to_go_the/
|
{
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"text": [
"That's the key question when it comes to most gov't provided services, and no one really knows the answer.\n\nIt *could* be cheaper to make education free. It would raise taxes, but it could also eliminate a lot of the hidden costs we pay for having an uneducated population.\n\nOr it could just create another inefficient bureaucracy that will produce a lot of underwater basket weaving degrees that don't benefit anyone.",
"Per person, the higher taxes would be easier. Per semester tuition varies wildly, but it's several grand for in state students. Any out of state student can expect ten grand and more. The amount of debt taken up by many students going for a four year degree is pretty staggering, with an average of nearly $30,000.\n\nThe taxes would be split up between all the citizens, which would make it a slight increase. Even if it adds up to $30,000 in your lifetime, it would be slowly taken out over the years, which wouldn't result in debt and loans. \n\nIs it doable for America? Who knows. I'd like to see some really in-depth, thought out plans for it. It would be interesting. My state gives out free tuition to certain students who achieve a 3.0 GPA in high school, but many lose this scholarship because you are expected to keep a 3.0 GPA and are unable to fail any classes- and you have to take a certain amount of credit hours. For some people in college, this is not doable. For some, it's easy. There are a lot of circumstances that play into it. \n\nEdit: I haven't had coffee yet and can't spell. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
47we2o
|
do amputee's have more energy because they have less body parts to function?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/47we2o/eli5_do_amputees_have_more_energy_because_they/
|
{
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"/u/NoNamesAvaiIable apparently didn't realize you're talking about energy expenditure. The energy one arm would use depends on a lot of factors, but technically, yes, your body would use less energy, so the same amount of food would be more than your previous BMR.\n\n_URL_0_",
"In theory they'd have slightly lower calorie requirements, due to less body weight, and therefore less muscle tissue burning calories. However, they're probably going to be moving about less efficiently, and burn more calories there, so I don't think the difference would be great",
"I don't remember the numbers, but leg amputees that use a prosthetic use a much larger amount of energy to run or walk. And even more if it were an above-the-knee amputation. So they probably expend more energy in a given day. An arm amputee, I guess it depends. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.livestrong.com/article/505596-how-to-adjust-calorie-needs-for-an-amputation/"
],
[],
[]
] |
||
f1oc2o
|
how are we able to memorize different senses? is the process any different? for example, remembering a picture (sight) vs a taste.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f1oc2o/eli5_how_are_we_able_to_memorize_different_senses/
|
{
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"fh7hzk7"
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"text": [
"Memory is a hot topic in neuroscience, but we don't have any solid big picture concepts. For all senses, you have receptors. Photoreceptors for sight, olfactory receptors for smell, gustatory receptors for taste, all sorts of mechnoreceptors for haptic or touch sense, and hair cells for sound.\n\nPhotoreceptors are divided into groups, some for just intensity so black and white. Some for the three fundamental colors. An image reaching your retina imprints itself spatially meaning it activates receptors spatially scattered like the shape of the image. The spatial organization of these receptors is preserved in the brain, meaning the neurons processing signal from receptor are actually spaced about similar to the receptors position relative to each other. So in essence you imprint an image on your brain that is faithfully captured like in the physical world. How do you store this? I'm not sure, but memory is thought to be stored as synaptic connections. So you allocate some neurons to represent something, and strengthening their connections with each other makes you remember it. Next time you see the object, those same neurons fire and you strengthen them more. When you imagine the object, you fire through these neurons too.\n\nOlfactory and taste receptors are different. Olfactory you have countless types, for the many many odor molecules. Each specific to a molecule. Taste we have a handful. Food you eat and odors you smell are made up of many compounds with variable proportion. The combination of activation signals from multiple receptors gives a pattern, a fingerprint for a given stimulus. You remember that pattern. Presumably in a similar way as above with synaptic strength.\n\nHearing is a bit similar to sight. The receptors are arranged spatially in a way that different sound frequencies activate different receptors. They're sort of like sitting on a membrane whose thickness is gradually decreasing. Depending on the frequency of the sound, a given thickness oscillates, so only one part of the membrane oscillates activating the receptors in that location. And you perceive the signal also as combinations of frequencies and their intensities. So it's patterns again.\n\nMechnoreceptors, we have a bunch. Some for vibration some for pressure some for soft touch etc.\n\nBut the main concept remains. You have neurons representing certain things. And you strengthen their connections making them easier to activate and therefore the concept they represent more memorable.\n\nEdit: hot not joy lol"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1thv57
|
what supposedly awaits us in heaven or hell?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1thv57/eli5_what_supposedly_awaits_us_in_heaven_or_hell/
|
{
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"text": [
"I suppose you could read the three books by Dante (Hell / Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise), but there's no guarantee of accuracy for them. They were more in the nature of a political polemic for the time.\n\nThere's not a lot of detail in the Bible itself. One of the parables of Jesus (Lazarus and the Rich Man) touches on it, but that too, is widely regarded as social commentary. The entire book of Revelation goes into it, but in very symbolic language, so it might be best not to take it literally.\n\nFirst person accounts from those who claim to have been there and back again are rather suspect.\n\nFinally, you may simply have to trust that you'd rather go to heaven than to hell."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
70dioz
|
with possible bipartisan interest in tax reform, what would most people agree is "broken" about the us tax system?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70dioz/eli5_with_possible_bipartisan_interest_in_tax/
|
{
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"The high complexity of the code means that most people lack the time or resources to correctly file and receive the correct amount of return or pay the correct amount of tax. There are services like H & R Block or Quicken that are affordable, but it says something about the system that you need a specialized computer program just to file the average person's taxes.\n\nThis benefits the wealthy who have even higher complexity BUT have the ability to pay for professional accountants to do their job. In addition the wealthy have the ability to move their income around and often pay lower rates than their income would suggest due to perfectly legal manipulation of how their income is reported. \n\nA complete overhaul of the tax system is an opportunity to clean up that entire code and make it much clearer to the average user and much \"fairer\" to the population as a whole. The goal of taxation is to fund the government which provides services to it's citizens. An efficient tax code allows the government to intake the amount of money it needs rather than making a guess and hoping it is close. In theory, this would mean that taxes were set at the rate that was needed rather than an arbitrary number that is a constant political point. In practice... look man, people are nuts and we're never gonna get that good.\n\nIn short - we clean up the code so the rich, the poor, and everyone in between are able to quickly and efficiently file their taxes, pay their share, and move on with life."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
5kch4b
|
why are people in colder countries happier?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kch4b/eli5_why_are_people_in_colder_countries_happier/
|
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"text": [
"Uh, happier - says who? Anyone I know in colder climates just complains incessantly. ",
"There is nothing to suggest this is true. And some things, such as Greenland's suicide rate, suggest that it isn't true at all.",
"You must offer data that supports your conjecture. If you can't, then at least draw a picture proving your conjecture. ",
"Of the ten places mentioned in the article you linked to in another comment thread:\n\n* Sweden: Cold in the north, sure, but not many people live there. In the south it's not *hot*, but not the coldest place on earth by a long way.\n* Australia: Hot in most places. Really hot.\n* New Zealand: Temperate. It rarely gets below freezing anywhere.\n* The Netherlands: Also temperate.\n* Canada: One of the world's biggest countries, and the climate varies considerably depending on where in Canada you are.\n* Finland: Like Sweden, but I believe a bit colder.\n* Norway: Like Sweden.\n* Iceland: Reykjavik is probably a lot warmer than you might think. The rest of the country is chilly.\n* Switzerland: Temperate. It's just that there are lots of mountains in Switzerland, so you probably associate the country with skiing and stuff.\n* Denmark: Like the Netherlands.\n\nIt's not easy to measure \"happiness\", especially because different things make different people happy. But your impression that people in colder countries are happier is most likely because most lists of the happiest countries are dominated by Scandinavian countries.\n\nThis isn't to do with the climate, and in fact in north of these countries, where the winters are so dark you often don't see the sun for weeks or months, depression is a common problem, and the suicide rate is very high.\n\nIt probably has more to do with the way wealth is distributed. The Scandinavian countries are known for having punishingly high tax rates for the wealthy, and generous welfare benefits for the poor. The working theory is that the smaller the wealth gap -- the difference between the richest and the poorest -- the happier the population is likely to be.",
"I think with what he means with \"colder\" is more temperate,im originally from tunisia, but was born and raised in the netherlands.\nIf i visit those hot countries i enjoy the hot weather a bit,but then you look at how the people live it's just to damn hot to do anything.\nAlso these people have to hope for a rainy autumn/spring, so they have plenty of harvest or else they have to import their food from the US or France, like wheat .\nEurope Usa Canada dont have this problem and also they have plenty of water in contrast to Africa Mena region.\nSo there are a lot of factors to explain why these countries are happier and more developed.\nBasicly the climate is more temperate which helps to develop a \"work\"culture,and also studying is easier ,inventions etc..\nThey never had to worry about droughts or lack food,there is also plenty of water available.\nSo i think these are the reasons northern countries are more developed."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1jnq5a
|
why is tyra banks hated so much?
|
A lot of people on my Facebook have recently been expressing their severe hatred of her, and I'm just curious about what she has done (it's been difficult to find any youtube videos or anything). I know that she was a model, and had a freak-out that was ridiculed on Family Guy, but that pretty much covers my knowledge of her.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jnq5a/eli5_why_is_tyra_banks_hated_so_much/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cbghlwd",
"cbgj005"
],
"score": [
7,
4
],
"text": [
"Because she's dramatically angry...like daddy at breakfast...when there's no ice for his whiskey. \n\nShe's ridiculed on account of dramatic scenes/reactions on television. The biggest of which was where she berated contestant on a modeling show. Snow balled from there.\n\nShe plays into drama queen/diva role given her prime was 1996 and she's less relevant now. Given I had a crush on her back then. \n",
"I dont particularly hate her but I do think she's a hypocrite for criticizing Sasha Grey (the pornstar) after Tyra herself has made an entire living off \"objectifying\" herself. Sure, you can say modeling and porn are not the same thing, but I'm sure Tyra wouldn't like it if, for example, a veiled muslim woman criticized her for showing off her goods more than the woman. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
e888rw
|
why are some keyboards able to register three inputs at once, while others can only manage two?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e888rw/eli5_why_are_some_keyboards_able_to_register/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fa9rsjx",
"fa9s3cw"
],
"score": [
2,
7
],
"text": [
"Keyboards have tiny memory in them. Every key on the board has a special number. Whenever a confirmed key press occurs, this number stored in this memory and is sent to the computer. Your OS (Windows, MacOSX, etc) have a special database called keymaps. They refer these numbers from keyboards and translate it as various things.\n\nNow, the cheap keyboard manufacturers know most popular combination of keystrokes. Like CTRL+C, CTRL+ALT+DEL, CTRL+V, etc. They have special numbers for these too. But some expensive keyboards have larger memories on-board and sometimes even have specialised software that can retrieve these keystrokes and process them.\n\nThat's why you see that some keyboards are able to send multiple keystrokes while some can't.",
"A keyboard have far too many keys for each key to have their own sensor. It would just be too many wires and sensors to manage. Instead the switches on the keyboard are mounted in a grid matrix of wires where they connect the row and column wires together when pressed. The controller will activate a pattern of columns and observe the signals on the rows to figure out which keys are pressed. The issue is that if you press too many keys there is just too many rows that activates as all the wires gets connected together and there is no way to figure out which keys are actually pressed. Identifying two distinct keys is already a challenge and requires some interpretation of the signals. Identifying three distinct key presses is almost impossible unless you put resources into solving the issue. Some keyboards do allow three button presses as long as they are common patterns as they are able to arange those keys on the matrix in a way that makes it possible to distinguish them. Others allow three buttons as long as some of the buttons are control keys which may have extra hardware on them to make them easier to distinguish. Other keyboards will add extra hardware to the keyboard to make sure all keys can still be distinguished from each other even though this increases the cost of the keyboard significantly."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
5loaxb
|
what's the psychological process that causes many people to feel "special" or "meant to be/do something important"?
|
Is it a defence mechanism? If so, it seems very counterproductive since (anecdotally) many people seem to be negatively affected by their inability to live up to their perceived potential. Is it more likely to be born or bred?
Many DMCs over the festive period has got me wondering...
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5loaxb/eli5_whats_the_psychological_process_that_causes/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dbx6ti4"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"It's narcissism. Many people believe that they are special and unique, and because of this they believe that accolades should be showered upon them."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
6ryqga
|
auto industry price-fixing
|
Why do vehicles from different manufacturers in the same car class have similar price points if price-fixing is illegal?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ryqga/eli5_auto_industry_pricefixing/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dl8te6b",
"dl8v2ck"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"this is simply how [competitive markets](_URL_0_) work in microeconomics, it didn't start like that if want the truth but the market always finds its equilibrium through competition and of course through demand and supply ",
"Because that's not price-fixing. If Toyota called Honda and made an explicit agreement to price the Civic and Corrolla the same, that would be price fixing.\n\nThere is no reason to believe that that is occurring "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand"
],
[]
] |
|
4ibi73
|
4th infantry 12th battalion 6th airborne etc. what are these numbers for?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ibi73/eli5_4th_infantry_12th_battalion_6th_airborne_etc/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d2woly3",
"d2wosao",
"d2wotsa"
],
"score": [
5,
2,
7
],
"text": [
"Someone asked a similar question about Air Force units recently, gonna copy/paste my answer.\n\n > At this point? Basically one dartboard covered in numbers and one dartboard covered in acronyms. Throw two darts, name unit.\n\n > Really though it's a hilarious mishmash. Units tend to retain the names/numbers of their predecessor unit. So the 177th Air Refueling Wing might once have been the 117th Bomber Wing, or the 117th Reconnaissance Squadron, or the 117th Hula Dancing Platoon, but then they traded in their grass skirts for KC-135s and now they're an Air Refueling Wing.\n\n > Names might also get reinstated to carry on some traditions. A new unit might be formed with the same name/number as a decorated unit of the past. Units may retain their numbers when they transition from active to reserve/guard or vice versa. Numbers may be chosen by a bureaucrat based on some sequential list buried deep in a Pentagon basement, or if the unit is important/expensive/HSLD simply because the number sounds totally bad-ass or can be made to look like a skull on their patch.\n\n > Nobody really understands it, and these decisions are largely made by people who have spent a whole career watching Top Gun and huffing jet exhaust so it really isn't that surprising.\n\nMost of the same logic applies to Army units except you can substitute literally every Chuck Norris movie ever made for *Top Gun*.\n",
"You're mixing up different types of information there, with bits missing. A \"Battalion\" describes a military unit made up of several companies plus HQ staff, while \"Infantry\" and \"Airborne\" refer to their specialisations. A more complete description would be something like \"4th Infantry Company, 12th Battalion, 6th Airborne Division\" which refers to a Company that forms part of a larger Battalion, which in turn forms part of a larger Division. ",
"Military units are generally assigned a number and a name. The name will generally refer to both: a) what their job is, and b) what size of formation they are.\n\nFor example: companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions are all different sizes of units. Infantry, airborne, etc. are basically different jobs that a unit has to do as part of the military. The number is there so you can tell units that are of the same size and job apart. \n\nSo, 7th Infantry Division is a division sized unit that's tasked with whatever job the 'infantry' designation gives it. The number itself often doesn't mean much. Once upon a time, they were sequential, (i.e. the 105th Infantry Division is the 105th infantry division around). Overtime, however, somewhere along the line some units were disbaned, others were moved around, or someone decided that it was a bad idea to just list the number of units you had, and started randomising the number. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
34u1vg
|
what happens to fish that get eaten whole?
|
Why can't they escape? What exactly kills them?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34u1vg/eli5_what_happens_to_fish_that_get_eaten_whole/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cqy6q8r"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"They die? The animal mouths closes and the fish goes down their throat. I'm not sure what you are trying to get at here\n\nAcid in Stomache and squished by the intestines"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
34kpyq
|
is russia really as crazy of a place as the internet portrays it?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34kpyq/eli5_is_russia_really_as_crazy_of_a_place_as_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cqvlazp"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Not entirely.\n\nBetween police corruption and rampant insurance fraud, Russians have a greater need to document what goes on around them. Plenty of craziness occurs in other countries, it just don't make it to YouTube."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
4bhotj
|
why is mankind interested in gore?
|
e.g. Why are there gore websites? Why do people want to know how it looks when somebody gets shot or similar things?
Or why do (I think everyone sometimes thinks that) we think about jumping, when we stand on a edge?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bhotj/eli5_why_is_mankind_interested_in_gore/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1964ub",
"d19bicm"
],
"score": [
9,
2
],
"text": [
"This will explain it to you better than any post. Basically is a method of safe learning, same way we enjoy fear without real risk (horror movies, rollercoasters).\n\n_URL_0_",
"Because people are infinitely curious and want to see or think about how things can be/are without putting themselves in danger."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbdMMI6ty0o"
],
[]
] |
|
8z7ilk
|
how is anti-matter stored if it causes an explosion when colliding with regular matter?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8z7ilk/eli5_how_is_antimatter_stored_if_it_causes_an/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e2goiy5",
"e2gopit",
"e2gozs9"
],
"score": [
8,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Generally it isn't stored. It is created and annihilated all within a few tiny fractions of a second.\n\nTheoretically it could be stored in a vacuum, suspended by powerful magnets.",
"Typically it would be stored in a vacuum chamber suspended by a magnetic/electric field of some kind that is rapidly alternating poles which prevents the material from touching anything else.\n\nI dont believe we tend to build up that much antimatter due to its tendency to explode when touching matter and the difficulty to create a true vacuum. Even the vacuum of space is not a true vacuum.",
"Very carefully. The antimatter that they store has electric charge, so they can keep it from hitting the walls of the container pretty effectively just with electromagnetic fields. The problem is if there is any matter inside of the chamber. So they have to have EXTREME vacuum chambers to store antimatter. Even so, it ends up annihilating with some air trapped inside eventually."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1mknu5
|
what is virtue ethics?
|
I've read some definitions but I can't quite grasp it. Please help!
EDIT: Thanks for your answers!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mknu5/eli5_what_is_virtue_ethics/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cca4g36",
"cca5qi8",
"cca8qza"
],
"score": [
5,
4,
3
],
"text": [
"Virtue ethics is the most important Aristotelian argument made in his Nicomachean Ethics. In short, Aristotle argues that virtues exist on a universal level which define people to be just or unjust. These virtues are not polar qualities but rather scales by which median traits are desired. For example bravery is a virtue, but it is a median, for one can be too brave and foolhardy or one can be not brave enough and cowardly. Aristotle lists 11 or so virtues as below:\n\n1. Courage\n2. Temperance\n3. Liberality or Generosity\n4. Magnificence\n5. Magnanimity\n6. Ambition\n7. Calm or gentleness\n8. Friendship or charisma\n9. honesty about oneself\n10. Wit\n11. Justice\n\nMany thinkers since then have wrestled with these virtues and the larger philosophy of if they apply or if we can make assumptions about the universal nature of them. Aristotle's chief concern was justice, but modern philosophers debate other issues concerning topics such as social equality, economic prosperity, and political freedom in relation to questions of what makes up a virtuous person and a virtuous society.",
"Utilitarian ethics asks whether an act is helpful or harmful, in order to determine its morality.\n\nVirtue ethics instead asks whether an act is consistent with being an admirable person, in order to determine its morality. \n\nIt short-circuits some of the head-scratchers that pure-utilitarian ethics can throw up, asking us to ignore intent, desires, and the definition of harm, and simply consider how an all-round good person would act. \n\nNot many people nowadays would consider it a primary ethical theory for everyday life (except perhaps the WWJD types), however it makes a pretty good secondary heuristic for solving utilitarian dilemmas. ",
"Aristotle gave a pretty good explanation of the general reasoning behind Virtue Ethics in the introduction to his Nicomachean Ethics, and I suggest reading it (it's not too complicated, nor too involved).\n\nThe most important concept he introduces is known as *eudaimonia*. It is a uniquely Greek word that refers to the type of happiness one can only experience from living a full, productive and virtuous life. This is opposed to temporary happiness/pleasure that one might derive from, say, eating, or having sex. Aristotle argues that eudaimonia is the end goal of all actions. That eudaimonia is the 'purpose' of a human being, in a sense.\n\nSo, with that in mind, it helps to think about much simpler, purposeful things. Think about a hammer; imagine *making* a hammer. What would make it a 'good' hammer? Well, for example, it has to be heavy enough to pound in a nail, but light enough that you can lift/use it - so 'weight' is a dimension (among probably many, many others) that affects a hammer's purposefulness. There is a 'right' weight (a virtuous weight) and 'wrong' weights (vicious weights). It might not be obvious where the right weight is, but it somewhere in the middle (often called the 'mean') between very light, and very heavy. The point is that it might take you many tries to make a good hammer.\n\nVirtue Ethics aims to identify these 'dimensions' in human beings. /u/Synarus lays out the ones Aristotle talks about, but modern authors have had their say as well. Basically, you ask: what is something that could affect my overall, long-term happiness? Well, if you run headlong into dangerous situations and take unnecessary risks all the time, that's probably not going to work out well for you. On the other hand, if you cower from every situation and always take the easy way out, you'll never gain much, you'll lose respect, and you will have many regrets, and this won't make you very happy either. So, somewhere between these two extremes is the virtue of Courage - and identifying that mean is not going to be easy. You need to reflect on each action and ask: was that too risky? was that too conservative? It takes practice.\n\nSorry for the wall of text, but it's a bit of a tricky concept\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
5dafyx
|
why do we subconsciously say "uhh", or "umm" when trying to remember or think about something, and does it help to remember?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5dafyx/eli5_why_do_we_subconsciously_say_uhh_or_umm_when/
|
{
"a_id": [
"da32w4c"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"They're known as non-isms, as my speech professor told me in college. According to his curriculum, they're used to fill space because humans in certain cultures are uncomfortable with absolute silence while speaking. \n\nYou'll notice most successful speakers do NOT use them*, however, because moments of silence give the listener a chance to reflect on what was said and/or a chance to respond (if it's a conversation and not a speech/monologue). \n\nOne of the most powerful things you can do as a speaker is eliminate these non-isms and allow silence instead. Even if you're saying nonsense or things that go against the listener's point of view, people are more likely to listen and understand what you're saying. \n\nTo do this, record yourself speaking and try to physically stop yourself from using a non-ism; replace that nonism with a simple pause. As you think about it more and more, you'll notice how often it happens and, with practice, you can eliminate them from your speech, and immediately sound 10x smarter\n\n\n\n*If you go off script, your odds of using non-isms skyrocket, so even historically great speakers have used them before."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2n76ce
|
why the aclu claims to protect constitutional freedoms but won't handle 2nd amendment issues.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2n76ce/eli5_why_the_aclu_claims_to_protect/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cmayi8t",
"cmayj6s",
"cmayup8"
],
"score": [
3,
9,
8
],
"text": [
"maybe it thinks that there are plenty of others defending the 2nd, no need for more.",
"From the ACLU website:\n\n\"Given the reference to \"a well regulated Militia\" and \"the security of a free State,\" the ACLU has long taken the position that the Second Amendment protects a collective right rather than an individual right. For seven decades, the Supreme Court's 1939 decision in United States v. Miller was widely understood to have endorsed that view. This position is currently under review and is being updated by the ACLU National Board in light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in D.C. v. Heller in 2008.\"\n\n_URL_0_",
"The ACLU was originally founded to protect freedom of speech, in particular. They've since expanded to the protection of civil rights, as well. Their hands are pretty much full with that.\n\nLike any organization, they have only so many resources, and must prioritize what they're going to do with the time, staff, and assets they have.\n\nLooking at it from another angle: I don't expect the NRA to support child care reform because that's not their primary mission.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://www.aclu.org/racial-justice_prisoners-rights_drug-law-reform_immigrants-rights/second-amendment"
],
[]
] |
||
3y90ys
|
how to plastic microbeads from soaps, shampoos, toothpastes etc. end up in our lakes and oceans?
|
Doesn't waste water run through atleast one filter before polluting the oceans?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3y90ys/eli5how_to_plastic_microbeads_from_soaps_shampoos/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cybjb8m",
"cybl8ul"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Yes! The trouble is these things are very small (not microscopic but small) see [here](_URL_0_)\n\nAbout 99% of them are caught by the filter BUT, there are two problems. First, the 1% amounts to about 8 trillion of these things per day getting into the ocean. Second, what happens to the 99%? They're put with the rest of the junk that makes up a kind of sludge, and spread out usually over land areas. Of course, the beads wash away and many eventually make it into the ocean. ",
"There are microbeads, which are the little teensy bits of plastic in toothpaste, soaps, etc. Those are a problem. A bigger problem are microplastics, which are essentially tiny bits of plastic that comes from degrading plastic materials - those are the ones that sit in the water table in marine environments. There has been a lot of confusion btwn microplastics and microbeads. It's nice that they're banning microbeads, but the bigger issue is the plastic garbage sitting there shedding off particles."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.sciencealert.com/images/oct-15/banonmicrobe.jpg"
],
[]
] |
|
fsdncs
|
how the gut micro-biome of a cesarean delivered baby is different from a normally delivered baby?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fsdncs/eli5_how_the_gut_microbiome_of_a_cesarean/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fm0rxg8"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"You do not have a gut micro biome in the womb. It is something you get after being born. And the first bacteria that ends up in your digestive system will have an advantage over later bacteria as it will have time to increase in number. So your gut micro biome is largely influenced by the first things that enters your digestive system as you open your mouth and starts breathing. During a cesarean section this would mostly be the bacteria in the air of the hospital as doctors keep the opening quite tidy and clean. A normal delivery on the other hand is a lot more messy. Not only is the baby taking its first breaths of air just inches from their mothers anus but a lot of the same muscles used during delivery of a baby is also used for going to the toilet. The first micro biome a baby gets into their digestion system therfore have a closer resemblence to the micro biome found in their mothers toilet bowl which eventually came from their digestive system."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1kgthy
|
why is latin america referred to as such, when nobody who has ever lived there spoken latin as a first language?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kgthy/eli5_why_is_latin_america_referred_to_as_such/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cbos3pn",
"cbp6uxa"
],
"score": [
7,
2
],
"text": [
"It's the part of America where *Latin-derived languages* are spoken widely.\n\nIn the United States and Canada, English is the most common language. (Let's ignore Quebec, cause everybody else always does.) But south of the US southern border, the dominant languages are the Latin-descended Spanish and Portuguese. Hence, Latin America.",
"Because French: spoken in Canada, Haïti; Portuguese: spoken in Brazil ; Spanish: Spoken in Mexico and the rest of the American continent - these languages derive from Latin. Latin used to be the language spoken in the Roman Empire, it's was a very big empire, after this big nation collapsed, something interesting happened, the Latin language started to evolve, people in France spoke their Latin a bit more differently than Italy, and so on. Overtime, those \"broken Latin\" became so different from original Latin that they became a separate language. Now these countries, went to place their colonies in the new world, and throughout their respective territories , they spoke a language that came from Latin hence the name Latin America. Since English is not a Latin language, the USA is not considered part of Latin America. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
7rxst8
|
how are data transmission being secured when using https? if it is encrypted, how come the browser can decrypt it and not the sniffer?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7rxst8/eli5_how_are_data_transmission_being_secured_when/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dt0eieu"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"TLS (which is the protocol that secures HTTPS connections) starts with a handshake where the two parties agree on the parameters of the connection security, and part of that is agreeing on what key to use. There are two main ways that happens, either via *public key cryptography* or a *key exchange algorithm*.\n\nPublic key cryptography is a way of encrypting things such that there are two keys (a public key and a private key), and if you encrypt something with one you can only decrypt it with the other. The server sends their public key to the client as part of the handshake, and then the client encrypts the key they want to use with the server's public key and sends it back. The server decrypts it, and then both sides have the key.\n\nKey exchange algorithms are based on one of several specific functions (we'll call the funtion *f*) and a random value from either end (S and C, for server and client) to create a combined key K. The function is made so that if you have either S and f(C) or C and f(S), you can get K, but you can't determine K if you only have f(S) and f(C). Then, the server sends f(S) to the client and the client sends f(C) to the server. They each combine the secret value they kept with the value the other side sent to determine the key to use, but an eavesdropper can't because they only get to see f(S) and f(C)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
3jrymc
|
what does an isp do exactly?
|
Why do I need to connect to the internet via an ISP, and why am I not able to connect to and surf the net directly with merely end-user hardware and software? Is the ISP's service to me simply providing its permission to access the data lines and transmitters it either owns or has stakes in?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jrymc/eli5_what_does_an_isp_do_exactly/
|
{
"a_id": [
"currllr",
"currvqe"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"There's no \"net\" for you to connect to directly. The entire Internet is just a massive network of data lines connecting computers together. If you want to run your own data lines between computers, you don't need to pay for that (well, besides the cables themselves permits to dig up the ground and lay them). \n\nThe way the Internet works is that you're connected to a network (run by your ISP) and the computer you want to communicate is also connected to a network (that is connected to one or more ISPs). Your ISP figures out which network the computer you're communicating with is on and sends the data to the appropriate ISP. If the computer in question is on the same network as you, it can send it there directly.",
"The ISPs purchase internet connectivity from large backbone providers. This is sold in amount of extremely large bandwidth that costs tens of thousands of dollars per month.\n\nWhat they then do is provide the infrastructure so that thousands of customers can access that internet connectivity.\n\nSo, if you wanted to, you could spend $40,000 a month on backbone connectivity. But, that's way more than you'll ever use, and you probably don't have that kind of money. But your ISP lets you get access to that line and share it with a lot of other people, bringing the individual cost down."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
cp2kuk
|
if white rum and vodka are both distilled, what makes them taste different?
|
Edit: thanks y'all. I was under the impression that both were distilled to almost pure ethanol and then cut with water. It seems that rum is not distilled as much and distilling can still bring back some of the stuff that makes rum taste like rum.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cp2kuk/eli5_if_white_rum_and_vodka_are_both_distilled/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ewmruz5",
"ewny9hp"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Vodka is normally NGS, or a neutral grain spirit. It's definitionally odorless and colorless. Rum on the other hand is distilled once, twice max from sugar cane and traditionally can be aged in Oak casks, although it's not required. Toasting said casks draws wood sugars called lignin to the surface to infuse into the spirits inside.",
"When you ferment stuff there are heaps of interesting chemicals, some already in the mash you're fermenting (the molasses notes in rum and the phenols from smoke in Scotch, for instance) and some produced by the yeast.\n\nYou load up a pot with your fermented mash and boil it gently. The first things that come off (the foreshots) are lighter aromatics, followed by the bulk of the ethanol, followed at the end (the feints) by heavier alcohols and other scents/flavors. The stillmaster exercises some control over the flavor of the liquor by deciding how much of each to keep.\n\nSource: my daddy taught me [how to run a still](_URL_0_)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://alchemistcabinet.wordpress.com/2017/07/25/the-blue-flame-a-treatise-on-producing-hooch-in-saudi-arabia/"
]
] |
|
8g4i8r
|
why are homo sapiens sapiens the only specie of human?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8g4i8r/eli5_why_are_homo_sapiens_sapiens_the_only_specie/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dy8sjs0",
"dy8ulkb"
],
"score": [
4,
10
],
"text": [
"We aren't. We are the only ones left. We breed out and slaughtered the others to extinction.",
" At various points in history, we did have multiple species of humans. They just got out-competed and went extinct. The most recent episode took place around 25,000 years ago. \n\nNeanderthal man was a human species which occupied Europe. Cro-magnon man (aka anatomically modern humans) occupied Africa. As long as both species lived on separate continents, there was no problem. It was easy for each species to breed in isolation and adapt to living in different environments. Eventually, however, Cro-magnon humans spread out of Africa and displaced the Neanderthal.\n\nWe don’t really know why this happened. Climate change might have made the environment more favorable to Cro-magnon and less favorable to Neanderthal. Cro-magnon was probably also smarter and more adaptable than Neanderthal, so they were better able to compete and use technology to their advantage. Some have suggested that Cro-magnon may have brought African diseases that Neanderthal was vulnerable to. There is at least one anthropologist who thinks Cro-magnon had an advantage in hunting efficiency because he domesticated wolves while Neanderthal did not. It could have been any - or all - of these things. \n\nThe jury is still out on whether Cro-magnon ever interbred with Neanderthal. Some people think evidence supports the idea. However, even if they did interbreed it was not widespread. The hybrid species may even have been sterile, like mules, and in any event their genetic line did not survive even in hybridized form.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
4q5dw1
|
why does cell phone video always look like crap when shown on the news and network tv(like recordings of tragic incidents by a bystander) but look fine when sent directly onto sites like youtube?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4q5dw1/eli5_why_does_cell_phone_video_always_look_like/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d4qcokt",
"d4qdbqu",
"d4qiq7p",
"d4qn2h4",
"d4qq73g",
"d4qr7u2",
"d4qr8ku",
"d4qrai0",
"d4qsxua"
],
"score": [
49,
277,
7,
45,
2,
4,
2,
35,
14
],
"text": [
"Because it's most likely from somebody that doesn't have a high end phone. (Lot's of people still use old phones especialy in poor countries)",
"A lot is also due to comparison. When one watches the news, they see footage from 10,000$ + studio cameras. These shoot full HD and are tripod mounted, so a shaky camera phone, which isn't the same quality as the studio will be noticed more.",
"In addition to the reasons already offered, some people don't have their phones configured to record in 1080p or better because either they don't know better or are trying to save file space. \n\nAlso, it depends on how they transfer the file to the media. Uploading to email or MMS from your phone often compresses the video. ",
"This happens when I shoot 4K video on my iPhone 6s and then upload it to Facebook. I was told that it's because the video gets compressed when uploaded to certain sites or sent via email. When I load my 4K video on my 4K tv it's perfectly clear. So I know it's working.",
"I'll add my 2¢\n\na lot of people shoot video vertically on their phone and so when they show it on the news, they usually include those crappy, reflective, blurry sidebars to fill the space. the whole situation makes for a crap viewing experience.\n\n[Kind of an example](_URL_0_)",
"You ever download a YouTube video from one of those sites? The double compression is garbage. Then they put it on HD and convert it even again. So compressed once to go up to youtube, again from the downloader, converted so it can be put on the news, and then cut to from HD footage. Probably would have been fine if they had the source video. Maybe they emailed for the source video, and when they sent it they tapped \"small\" so that it would send from their email provider.\n\nTL;DR: Probably compression.",
"Did he change the Question or am I the only one who reads that different?\n\nI guess it's like that because the TV guys download the video from the very first site they see (in 320p/480p) instead of searching the original source. Or it's because there aren't much possibilities to share a video like that (for normal users) and they just send it via Email or something and then you'll have it compressed, because it's too big otherwise..",
"The main reason is stacking resampling. Your phone video looks great at its native framerate. You upload it to youtube or whereever, who then resamples and compresses your video. Youtube has become good at this so it nowadays doesn't look too bad. you can witness this firsthand if you compare a video you uploaded 5 years ago to the result you get if you upload that same source video today. THEN, the network tv dolts who are on a tight deadline so don't get to experiment with different encoding rates, download your video from youtube (which might involve resampling it again) and then have to import in into their NLE system and rerender it yet again to produce a broadcast signal. There are ways to mitigate these problems that require time, skill, and or flops usually network tv has none of these.\n\nthis is somewhat relevant _URL_0_",
"I'm going to super late tag in on this and it will probably get burried. There's a lot of partial info but nothing quite nails it fully. \n\nTo begin, I am a Broadcast Engineer. I have worked for a few stations doing National News, and now I work in live event Broadcasting. \n\nThere is a lot of aspects. Some of these are true. The bigger screen effect is one. The almighty power of the Internet is another. \n\nTo start, when a story wants to use a clip, usually it isn't sent direct. Usually it's been posted online. Mostly because the effort it takes to get the original is too much for anyone to care because laws allow us to use clips in fair use. So you get a reporter asking you to grab it from the internet. A really dumb put painfree way to do this is output the computer feed into a converter, (often not your stations native resolution), upconvert it to 1080 or whatever you have, and record it to an HD Disc or SSD (depends on gear). This alone can take a lot of hits. The converters often have to use a lot of processing to get this to work. You get some quality loss there. The upconverter/cross coverter is going to take a shit signal and do the best it can, which often makes it look weird. Then you record it, which often can take a small hit. \n\n(If you download it directly somehow, it gets worse post download, and then you need to covert it to a new file format so you can actually work with it) \n\nThey edit it into a package or a story. Often not a huge hit unless they export it wrong and we realize this fifteen minutes to air and once again, upconvert it. That means it's been down and up converted again. Huge losses. \n\nThen we air it. Hooray. \n\nExcept here's a funny thing: 1080, in a Station, before it gets out, looks very similar to what consumers get as 4K. It's a damn beautiful image but lo-and-behold there's this magical thing called the Broadcast Spectrum. Channels are allotted a certain amount of Bandwidth in the mass spectrum of bandwidth. Even if we don't use over the air broadcasting, this allocation still exists for cable (long story: muxing and demuxing the signal. Your cable box is essentially a digital tuner. You go over that, you start bleeding). So now we must take this signal and compress the shit out of it. \n\nIf you understand compression, you know its a sampling of the origianl image. Highly detailed things become slightly less. Except horribly detailed things that are already compressed and looking as such are just going to get worse. \n\nIn the standard compression scheme we use, colour takes a big hit. By the time it gets to your cable box, and is decompressed, that cell phone image is looking like utter crap. But the liver spots on the anchor are a little less noticeable. \n\nTo add, often the web feed is a seperate feed from the switcher but goes through it's own path. Still looks like poop on the other end. \n\nHope that helps. \n\nTL;DR: A combination of stupidity, compression, government regulations, processing and magic. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/yCOrqUA0ws4"
],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icruGcSsPp0"
],
[]
] |
||
1vm34b
|
why people like the onion so much.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vm34b/eli5_why_people_like_the_onion_so_much/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cetlbo6",
"cetlecg"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Different people, different tastes in humor. The world would be a pretty boring place if everyone was the same.\n\nPlenty of people might say they dislike the Daily Show for the exact reasons you like it....",
"Satire necessarily means it's attempting to show something true.\n\nMost articles that aren't poking fun at something obvious are just a general satire of the media generally. Things like [this](_URL_0_) are making fun of the terrible understanding of statistics the media shows and in turn imparts on its consumers. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-study-finds-blacks-more-likely,18552/"
]
] |
||
25l3ct
|
how are wires and cables strung up through the house by technicians without me ever seeing them break my walls?
|
Not just for electric wires and cabling, but even my vacuum cleaner plugs INTO the house, and sucks stuff to what seems like into the wall, but everything goes somehow into the tank in my garage. He never broke my walls or put down pipes. How does this work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/25l3ct/eli5_how_are_wires_and_cables_strung_up_through/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chi8hdz"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Couple of ways.\n\nAssuming you're talking about existing construction: Eg: adding a new outlet, the easiest way is to figure out where the wall is from the attic and, drill a hole and push a bunch of it down. Have someone at the bottom to pull the wire out of the hole you made for the socket in the wall.\n\nAnother way is using a device called a wall fish. This is basically a semi-flexible, thin plastic or fiberglass pole. You do just the opposite - you push the wire UP through the holes you made.\n\nYET ANOTHER WAY, which is very useful if you're replacing wire or it needs to run horizontally through a wall for some reason is to tie a string around the end of an existing wire and pull it out of the wall. Then tie the existing wire and the new wire to the string and pull the string back through the wall. \n\nIf you're talking about NEW construction, then they put the sockets in prior to doing the drywall or plaster..so it's there on the studs in the wall before the wall gets sealed up."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
27k4gx
|
how are the lawyers of the wealthy able to get lighter sentences than the lawyers of the poor for the same crimes?
|
If the laws are the same, then what is it about expensive lawyers for wealthy clients that always seems to lead to lighter sentences for their clients?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27k4gx/eli5_how_are_the_lawyers_of_the_wealthy_able_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ci1kilo",
"ci1krfo",
"ci1krzf",
"ci1orss",
"ci1owqa",
"ci1qqgw",
"ci1uvyq",
"ci1w4my"
],
"score": [
47,
3,
2,
2,
3,
8,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Better lawyers can charge more money because they have more skill. They've got more experience, a better understanding of the laws, and better public speaking skills. They'll produce a better case than a cut rate lawyer because they're better at the job. \n\nThat's only part of it though. A rich person won't hire **a** lawyer. They will hire **many** lawyers. Each one can specialize in a certain field, bringing in a better skillset, and the defense team will have multiple people to bounce ideas off of.\n\nA poor person however just gets whoever they get appointed to defend them. Even if their attorney is competent, they simply lack the resources that a rich person could supply. \n\nEdit: Remember, in the US you don't need to be proven innocent to get off scot free. You're presumed innocent, and it's the job of the prosecution to prove otherwise. All the defense has to do is undercut the prosecution. If you can find a chink in the armor and keep pressing it, that might be good enough. Even if the defendant is totally guilty, if you've got enough people who can pick apart the prosecution, it might be good enough for a win. ",
"Poor people usually can't afford to hire an attorney on their own. The law states that everyone has the right to legal representation, so a poor person can get help from a public defender--a lawyer who is employed by the government. The problem with that is public defenders usually have extremely heavy case loads since relatively few criminals can afford a private attorney. They really can't provide the time and effort that would be best for the accused.\n\nIn contrast, a wealthy person can hire a lawyer(s) on their own. These attorneys can spend much more time on the case since a wealthy person can afford to pay for the hours that would get him/her the best legal representation. There is also a point that should be mentioned regarding the quality of attorneys. Money talks and a good attorney in the private sector can easily earn 3x as much as a public defender (70,000/year is on the upper end for public defense). I'm sure there are a number of public defenders who do the job because they believe that strongly in it, but ultimately, I think most attorneys are likely do what's best for themselves--they're only human.",
"There are a lot of reasons that do not have anything to do with the lawyer. A wealthier person has the resources to get treatment appropriate for the crime such as drug treatment or anger management. They often have jobs and community involvement that suggest they will not a danger to society. Rich kids sometimes have college lined up. Messing that up will to make them less of a danger to society. Rich people have the resources to hire private investigators to aid in cases. They have money to pay for long shot tests tat sometime pan out. They sometimes have more to lose from any type of conviction, so they are more likely to push for trial. At trial jurors are often sympathetic to attractive or well spoken people.",
"Think of \"the law\" as a class of people. Because it pretty much is.\n\nThe wealthy are in that class; the poor are not. \"Expensive lawyers\" are in that class; lawyers with billboard ads and big lettering in the Yellow Pages are not.\n\nWhat expensive lawyers and wealthy criminals *do* isn't very important, except in unusual cases. Who they *are* is decisive every day.",
"Think like this, why is Lionel Messi the most expensive football (soccer) player in the world, when a lot of other people are playing the same sport?\n\nThing is, not everyone is as good as Messi. Therefore, a lot of players can score goals and give you the same results, a win! But they're not as effective as Messi.",
"Criminal lawyer from Canada here. There are a lot if reasons:\n\n- in Canada the state has very limited obligations to provide you with a free lawyer. You are obviously at a disadvantage to be a self rep. \n\n- More time and preparation. If you're poor and paying me or if your your Legal Aid (I'm paid by the government) I have limited time to prepare for a case (the test for how much work I'm allowed to do for legal aid is that of a Client of modest means). Most cases pay me around 13 hours (at less then half my normal rate) to do a straightforward matter from bail to trial. If I have a client with deep pockets I will spend much more time on the case. I usually spend way more time then allotted and rarely ever get fully paid. \n\n\n- People with money have access to services to better themselves easier than the poor. Hit your wife, you can pay for domestic violence counselling prior to sentencing. This helps a lot. As well charitable donations can go a long way. \n\n- Thebest lawyers are the most expensive. The rich can afford them. A top 1% lawyer can be very intimating. They are obviously better lawyers and have better outcomes. \n\n\n- The rich can hire investigators, etc. a poor accused faces the virtually unlimited resources of the government. ",
"The police have a tougher time investigating wealthy people and collecting evidence on them. If you violate the rights of some 20 year old black male, no one will give a shit. Do the same thing to a 50 year old white CEO and it'll make national news. \n\nThen they hire an entire legal team to defend them. This matters because litigation is often a strategic game of time and resources. Litigation costs a LOT of money and time. Most prosecutors can't devote all of their time pursuing a single defendant. If a particularly wealthy defendant can afford to have lawyers fighting tooth and nail at every stage of litigation, it'll require the prosecutor to similarly invest more of his time to fighting back. At some point, it's more worth it to give the wealthy defendant a good plea bargain.\n\nOne thing that's important to note is that 80%+ criminal cases plea out. Plea bargains are negotiations, and some of the important factors to consider are how much time and money it'll take to try the case, and your chances of prevailing at trial. Wealthy defendants can tilt the negotiations in their favor by making things a huge hassle for the prosecution. \n\nIf you're a rational prosecutor who is chasing stats in order to advance your career, isn't it more worth your effort to convict two poor blacks for the same effort it would take to convict one rich white?\n\nNow, if the wealthy person is very high-profile, the prosecutor might be more tempted to take it to trial so he can be in the news. The flip side of that is that losing doesn't look good either, and the wealthy person has some damn good lawyers on his side.",
"I can understand where it pays to have a good defense team if you are accused of murder, but what about something simple like a DUI. I hear if you were to try to represent yourself for a DUI, the judge would give you the worst possible outcome. But if you pay for a good lawyer, they put in no effort and you get a great deal. The system is rigged."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
atuzod
|
why is deet in insect repellents bad for us humans?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/atuzod/eli5_why_is_deet_in_insect_repellents_bad_for_us/
|
{
"a_id": [
"eh3pys7"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It seems to have a low but existent correlation with neurological effects like seizures and mood disorders and in extreme cases brain damage. However, this generally comes from high exposure and appears to be rare. I don't believe the mechanism of action is known. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
3nfgfd
|
if a lack of rem sleep makes you go crazy, and marijuana inhibits rem sleep, why don't stoners go crazy?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nfgfd/eli5_if_a_lack_of_rem_sleep_makes_you_go_crazy/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvnl12n",
"cvnlk2b"
],
"score": [
3,
7
],
"text": [
"Depending on the dose of Marijuana, it may promote REM, as well. Also, REM sleep completely disables the use of Norepinephrine and Epinephrine, which is often spiked during stress and pain. If its too high, you may actually actually help your REM latencies with marijuana in a limited way, but inhibiting the spike of NE and Epi, which high amounts would prevent restorative sleep.\n\nAnother point, studies show a build up of Dopamine in schizophrenia patients (although there is more to it, like misfolded proteins). Dopamine is released when seeking and experience the marijuana high, which would prevent some build up. Using the above point, with this one, dopamine would be generally (not all the time) used in opposite autonomic functions, and usually negates effects of the stress reactions. \n\nSource: I have Narcolepsy, and spend much time reading up on areas like this.",
"Define \"go crazy\"...\n\nA lot of true stoners *are* quite abnormal.\n\nI've seen quite a few similar questions. \"Why don't people who .... go crazy?\"\n\nI think people have a poor impression of what \"crazy\" is. It is not all running around waving your arms in the air or like a chicken with its head cut off. There are *many* kinds of mental illness or deficits with varying severities that are resultant from varying stresses or deprivations.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
1rhogx
|
how does a lawyer "bury" evidence?
|
I'm not a lawyer.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rhogx/eli5_how_does_a_lawyer_bury_evidence/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdnccka",
"cdne2u7"
],
"score": [
8,
2
],
"text": [
"Both criminal and civil cases have discovery, where one side has to give the other information, documents, etc. In a criminal case the prosecutor also has to give the defendant all information that may be exculpatory (tend to show the guy didn't do it). When a lawyer \"buries\" evidence he either doesn't turn it over as required, or buries it in a pile of irrelevant evidence. An example would be if there were 1,080 hours of phone conversations recorded and the prosecutor gave the defendant an audio tape of those, not telling him he only planned to use 5 minutes of the tape.",
"In cases were there are lots of documents, The one tiny bit of information that could get your client off is literally buried under boxes and boxes of irreverent data. Since most cases have a time when they need to go to court, if the lawyer doesn't have someone helping them go through it all, they might miss it.\n\nYou might have heard the term \"Overwhelm them with paperwork.\" Its a trick large companies use against an individual. The can ship literally thousands of pages of data..all required by law that would take you months if not years to go through it all."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
b5esa4
|
how were new kingdoms and powers formed, especially when they occupied the same mass of land
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b5esa4/eli5_how_were_new_kingdoms_and_powers_formed/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ejd0gz5"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Empires aren't held together by magic or some law of nature. An emperor has to make sure that their subjects are too content, too afraid, or too weak to rebel. \n\nThat takes skill and luck and it's very easy to get it wrong."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
9tc7s2
|
why do dams actually work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9tc7s2/eli5_why_do_dams_actually_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e8v6ahs"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"That's actually exactly what we want to happen. Let's say that there's a river we want to dam.\n\nThe first thing we do is find a logical spot to place the dam. As soon as we dam a river, the water has nowhere to go and the river will start to flood the area behind the dam and eventually create a lake. A reservoir. That means the location we choose for the dam will be sacrificed to create the reservoir.\n\nOnce we have a reservoir, we can use it for a variety of purposes. \n\n* If you build the reservoir in a region that has wet and dry seasons, the reservoir can act as a water supply for the dry season. \n* A river takes the path of least resistance but your reservoir can be diverted into channels for irrigation in agriculture.\n* If you want to transport water uphill using an aqueduct, you need water pressure. Your reservoir can provide that.\n* A modern use for dams is generating electricity. A hydroelectric dam incorporates turbines. When water is let through the dam from the reservoir, the water pressure will turn the turbines and generate electricity."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
2d46n0
|
how can nfl coaches have bose headsets but the referees' microphones don't work half the time?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2d46n0/eli5_how_can_nfl_coaches_have_bose_headsets_but/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cjlxel8",
"cjlz2pu"
],
"score": [
7,
2
],
"text": [
"There actually not Bose headsets; it's an advertising opportunity. The coach's reaction is the most popular off-field football camera angle. Naturally, it's a great spot for an advertorial. Motorola does this too. Most headsets are made my a company called CoachComm.\n\nSimply, an official's microphone often sounds horrible or fails to work is because of wireless interference, but more often an official's inability to use it correctly. Remember, they are paid to officiate the game, not to be a sound engineer. When they run up and down the field they typically don't adjust the microphone so they will be heard better. The mics are often Sennheisers.",
"Yeah it's marketing. Bose doesn't make them. Remember how they used to be branded by Motorola? A friend knew the guy who cooked up the idea to brand the coaches' headsets. He's apparently set for life now."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
1tc3qh
|
how did they program a computer to tell time?
|
I'm confused as to how this happened. How did the first person to put a clock in a computer tell the program how long a second was?
I get that once you get that down you can write a formula that says, "Ok program, 60 of those is a minute, 60 of those is an hour, ect" and then the program takes it from there. But it boggles my mind how they first coded the concept of time into something non-mechanical.
Sorry if my question seems unclear. I'm having a hard time wording it.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tc3qh/eli5how_did_they_program_a_computer_to_tell_time/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ce6fl34",
"ce6gtzs"
],
"score": [
9,
2
],
"text": [
" > How did the first person to put a clock in a computer tell the program how long a second was?\n\nThe clock in a computer isn't a program. It's a physical [oscillator circuit](_URL_0_), much like the one in a quartz wristwatch.",
"So in the 70's they were thinking about this. The method they chose for computing things involves an internal 'clock' which basically changes from high voltage to low voltage every so often. The clock rate is a measure how how often it switches: for example a 60Hz rate switches 120 times in a second (high to low or low to high) and completes a 'clock cycle' 60 times in a second (low to high to low again). Having some reliable way to measure how much time passes, they made routines that will wait for one second to pass and keep a count of how many seconds have passed. They decided that the reference for how many seconds have passed was [January 1, 1970](_URL_0_). So processors now have a special register that keeps track of this count. As far as I know this is how it is still done today. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_oscillator"
],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time"
]
] |
|
2qv0n0
|
superconductors: how can something carry with no loss at all? wouldn't it just be asymptotic, with increasingly small resistances?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qv0n0/eli5_superconductors_how_can_something_carry_with/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cn9s0py",
"cn9th4r"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"No, the resistance does drop as the temperature drops but at the critical temperature the resistance drops to zero and current will flow without loss.\n\nA highly simplified way to imagine how it works is that the atoms in the substance are so cold that they don't have enough vibrational energy to affect the elections as they flow past. Energy is transferred in quanta, the vibrational energy of the substance is lower than the smallest quanta needed to alter the state of the electrons.",
"The reason why electrons can travel through the superconductor without resistance is because the superconducting material is not simply just a medium through which electrons can flow like other conductors, but the atoms of the superconductor actually participate in moving the electrons along. Here's what happens according to BCS theory:\n\n* When an electron passes between two atoms, the two atoms are drawn to the electron (opposite charges) but this is delayed so by the time the two atoms pull in the electron is out the other side;\n* Now you have two atoms in proximity so this creates an area of positive charge;\n* This positive area attracts the next electron towards it;\n* By the time this second electron reaches the area, the atoms have already snapped back so the electron just passes between them;\n* Repeat."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
2ywztx
|
why do snow banks take ridiculously long to melt away?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ywztx/eli5_why_do_snow_banks_take_ridiculously_long_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cpdpare",
"cpdu3zp"
],
"score": [
17,
5
],
"text": [
"Snow is very good at insulating itself and things inside it because it's for a large part air as well as that it's white meaning it reflects most heat as well.",
"[Relevant XKCD](_URL_0_)\n\n > Melting a gram of snow takes about 335 joules of energy. To put that another way, a 60-watt lightbulb is capable of melting about a pound of snow an hour.\n\n > A foot of snow contains roughly the same amount of water as an inch of rain, give or take. Let's assume you've had a decent snowstorm of about a foot and that you want to melt a 9-foot-wide swath while driving along at 55 mph.\n\n > 55 mph × 1 inch × 9 feet × water density × 335J/gram = 574 megawatts\n\n > The nuclear reactor on an aircraft carrier, for example, produces less than 200 megawatts. To melt snow in front of your car, you'd need three of those."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://what-if.xkcd.com/130/"
]
] |
||
6n3wb1
|
what is the difference between the responsibilities of the surgeon general and the cdc?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6n3wb1/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dk6jj5m",
"dk6k0re"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"The Surgeon General is the head of the of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC). They are the spokesperson for the U.S. Government's policy on public health. Basically what the govt. wants to accomplish in regards to public health, he makes sure the pubic knows about it, and puts it into action.\n\nThe CDC works to identify, prevent, treat and raise awareness of diseases in the United States, and also research ways to fight those diseases. They also care about pubic health and, they want to improve overall health in the country.",
"The United States Public Health Service (PHS) is a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The PHS contains several agencies:\n\n1) **Office of the Surgeon General** - Leads the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and serves as the \"top doc\" in public relations and outreach. PHSCC is a para-military force of medical officers that can be deployed anywhere in the United States within 12 hours, and typically assumes a command role in disaster recovery and treatment. It also serves with the US Navy in disaster response abroad.\n\n2) **Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality** - Produces guidelines for medical drugs and procedures. Trump Administration proposes to merge with the National Institutes for Health.\n\n3) **Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry** - This agency studies and educates the public on environmental, biological, health hazards without regulatory authority. It's head is the Director of the CDC.\n\n4) **Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)** - Study and containment of contagious disease and promotion of prevention of these diseases. Originally created to lead the National Malaria Eradication Program, it focused heavily on mosquito abatement prior to developing other centers, institutes, and offices for different diseases/needs. This agency contains an emergency response division, but it is only focused on contagions. \n\n5) **Food and Drug Administration (FDA)** - Regulator and tester of food labeling and drug labeling/approval.\n\n6) **Health Resources and Services Administration** - Agency charged with improving access to healthcare to people who are uninsured, isolated, or otherwise vulnerable (infants, pregnant, HIV+, etc). \n\n7) **Indian Health Service** - Similar to above, but focused on Native American populations rather than the vulnerable or uninsured.\n\n8) **National Institutes of Health** - Biomedical and public health research agency.\n\n9) **Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration** - Agency tasked with improving the quality of treatment for those suffering from substance abuse or mental illness."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
cor3ew
|
salvia? what does it do? is there different types?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cor3ew/eli5_salvia_what_does_it_do_is_there_different/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ewkosud",
"ewkour9",
"ewlh2x9"
],
"score": [
2,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Salvia is well-regarded by the psychonauts who **chew** it, the bare leaf. And though the smokers of the extracts *sometimes* enjoy it, many people describe it as intensely traumatic, or at best \"the weirdest 30 seconds of your life\", don't quote me on that duration.\n\nIf you found a low-level 5x extract, or bare leaf, you might look up experiences from chewing it. If you found some 40x then you might want to stay away. These are the usual \"different types\" people might talk about: just concentrations. There are different chemicals, salvinorin A and B, in it, but I don't think anyone swears on one over another, or that anyone has bothered to purify one out.",
"Salvia is a hallucinogenic plant. You can chew it for a mild euphoria or smoke it for a more hallucinogenic high. I've been told that you really have to use a torch like lighter to fully vaporize the active ingredient and get the most from it.\n\nThe types aren't really types but instead the plant coated in an extract of various concentrations 5x 10x 20x for example. Bigger the number the more concentrated and the more effect. I Dont believe you chew the extract coated ones.\n\nI've smoked it a couple times.\n\nOnce I was the lower right hand corner of a pink spiral vortex\n\nAnother time I had a three part internal conversation with myself. \n\nUnlike lsd or shrooms the effects are short lived 15 minutes at most and fairly easy to ignore at least in my experience.\n\nEdit: I was totally wrong about chewing. It's more than mild euphoria. Its supposedly more intense.",
"Definitely thought this said saliva. Anyway, we bought some when it was legal and I put on a CD of Native American music to get a sort of spiritual real-feel, and my husband and I had two completely different experiences.\n\nI started off with painful sweating, I could feel it coming out of my armpits like a big triangle saw-tooth thing was forcing me through it, i saw the triangle with the saw-teeth but I wasnt afraid of it, it just hurt, like a rite of passage to the next level. Then I was flashed back to about 1979 with my sister and myself playing on a giant lawn roller (the kind pulled by a tractor) in a park where my dad was playing football with his work team. This was a real memory but one I had long since forgotten (the memory was about 35 years old), I could feel all of it as if it was real and happening right then, the grass the air the light in the summer. \n\nSadly I was shaken out of this by my poor husband shouting 🦆 this, this isn't cool and jumping up and running out of the room, had to go after him to make sure he was safe. He was fine, it's a very delicate trance, easily broken.\n\nBut I was all for trying it again, and he was - never again."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
76d6it
|
which has more grip? a wide tire or a narrow tire?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/76d6it/eli5_which_has_more_grip_a_wide_tire_or_a_narrow/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dod1izv",
"dod4x4u"
],
"score": [
7,
2
],
"text": [
"Engineering answer: generally a wider tire will have more grip, but tires are notoriously load dependent so you'll have to look at a specific tire's engineering documentation to find the coefficient of friction at a specific load (weight + dynamic load). I believe that information is measured experimentally, rather than predicted mathematically. \n\nThat's a crappy way of saying \"there is no easy answer without trying it\".",
"The rubber that a tire is made of has a finite limit of grip regardless of the load. (Edit: This is how it works in practice anyway, I'm not an engineer so I don't know the physics)\n\nImagine it like this: The load only increases the friction of the tire to a certain point at which the tire can achieve no greater grip for a given surface area. So the solution is either change the material or increase the surface area."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
2w8sdl
|
when hackers steal money, where do they send the money?
|
If a hacker wants to steal a shitload of money - let's say he steals 1 million from a bank - how does he actually get the money in a usable account? Wouldn't the bank see where the money is going and trace it back to him? Or does he get it out at an ATM?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w8sdl/eli5_when_hackers_steal_money_where_do_they_send/
|
{
"a_id": [
"coona8l",
"cooo752",
"coop7mi"
],
"score": [
8,
3,
4
],
"text": [
"Different hackers will do different things, I'm sure, but the cases I hear about are more about credit card fraud than redirecting funds. Hackers will get credit card numbers with codes and use those to purchase things. The cases I know about involved buying sporting goods and gift cards, presumably because they are easy to re-sell.",
"Hacking you describe is impossible\n\nThe holliwood idea of hacking is impossible. There is no central database of your funds, which are then send somewhere. It never happened and there is no danger it will. Nope. \n\nHacking (the hostile one) is more of a mobile scam than it is actual hacking. There is no bypassing firewalls, no wiring the money.\n\nThe actual hacking is about the lil old sniffing out a credit card info.\nYou find out a someone's mobile phone, you google it find out his/hers facebook page, which will have other info's and clues. Maybe it's an elderly, so you fabricate a deal that is just for them. And hints that other people from they facebook list used it. So you create a false website, with false e-shop, which will remember their credit card info. And with them you could buy a stuff and let them send it to the anonymous PO box. Or you take it a step further and with the information about the person you will call to the bank and change the information so you can log into the online banking and from there you send it to anonymous account, or paypal, or whatevs.\n\n\n",
"I used to work as the fraud and securities manager for one of the largest gaming processors in the world.\n\nMany would use a prepaid card an then have it sent via check or our own prepaid card program.\n\nMany online casinos are not concerned about laundering and only with avoid charge backs and profit.\n\nI ran into many huge cases of fraud in the 100,000s but was told to wait till multiple charge backs were issued. \n\nA lot of people won't notice 10$ or less extra charge to a casino so it goes undetected. This still regularly takes place on all of the top 20 casino sites. (primarily bingo and poker)."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
6ybcmk
|
why do we throw random medications at depression to see which will work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ybcmk/eli5_why_do_we_throw_random_medications_at/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dmm1pn7",
"dmm2r31",
"dmm6omp"
],
"score": [
2,
24,
4
],
"text": [
"Because medications aren't 'one size fits all'; depression specifically can be caused by different things (there's a difference between 'I'm sad because my husband died', and 'I'm sad because I have chronic depression') and people react differently to different medications, so it's necessary to try a few before finding what will work in some cases. ",
"Let's say you had a soft drink in front of you. You pick it up and take a sip. It tastes... funny. You don't know right away what is the problem, but you can tell (usually) that it doesn't taste the way it is supposed to. \n\nYou have an expert come in to see if she can figure out what's wrong. She has a lot more experience with these problems than you, and she knows what the most likely problems are... maybe it's too bitter or has not enough sugar. You can describe what you taste, and she can do some tests and use previous sodas as a guide, but no two glasses of soda are the same and she can't taste it for you. \n\nSo she uses her best judgement and tries to tweak your soda so it tastes right. Sometimes she gets it wrong, and she doesn't pick the right ingredient. Sometimes she gets the right ingredient, but you have to work together to find the right amount. Trying with more sugar, adding more slowly until it tastes right. \n\nYour brain is like the most complicated soda in the world. And no two recipes are the same. Hopefully together you can figure out what ingredients, chemicals in the brain, are not correct and it can help you out. \n\nDon't forget, there might be reasons for the recipe being wrong... and just adjusting the ingredients doesn't fix that reason. It's a good idea to look for more help dealing with those reasons as well. ",
"I'm absolutely no expert. (Not even in the medical field) However, if I was to make an uneducated guess:\n\n1. We don't exactly know how the brain works.\n\n2. It's difficult to determine how the brain works due to accessing a live working brain. Our observation methods are limited. (MRIs, CAT scan, etc.)\n\n3. Because of aforementioned lack of access, we think of the mind as a mystery box, and we test input in and observe output result. (aka throw random medications at depression to see which will work)\n\n4. As others mentioned different people are... well... different (different life experiences, different brain chemistry, etc..) So what works for one may not work for others. \n\n5. It's complicated... Depression may be situational (lost a job) or may be due to a chemical imbalance. Either way, although medicine has been an immense help to millions of people in their battle with depression. Sometimes other types of therapy can be tried independently or concurrently (CBT, IPT, physical therapy, hypnosis, etc...) When it comes to depression, one size definitely does not fit all. \n\nedit due to formatting"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
664jjo
|
what makes nuclear bombs so much more powerful than 'normal' bombs?
|
How exactly is it possible such a relatively 'small' bomb can create so much damage and why is the fall out so incredibly dangerous?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/664jjo/eli5what_makes_nuclear_bombs_so_much_more/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dgfiljj",
"dgfj2uv",
"dgfknu3",
"dgfkpir"
],
"score": [
7,
3,
14,
2
],
"text": [
"Normal chemical reactions don't affect the number and type of atoms present in a system. However, in larger atoms, the bonds the nucleus of an atom contain a significant amount of energy. A fission weapon attempts to exploit this by firing neutrons at a semi-stable atom (like uranium 235), creating an unstable product that splits into new atoms. \n\n These new atoms are also often unstable, but decay over longer times, giving rise to nuclear fallout. ",
"There's a force that keeps atoms bound together (called the strong nuclear force). It's powerful enough to overcome the electromagnetic forces that would otherwise push protons away from each other. When a nuclear warhead detonates, a number of the molecules are split, releasing the nuclear binding energy that was holding them together. Once one molecule does this, the flying particles hit others and cause them to do the same, resulting in a cascade of molecules splitting in a very short amount of time. All this energy results in a huge explosion.\n\nThe fallout of a single nuke isn't incredibly dangerous if the bomb detonates in the air (as the two used in WW2 were) since the radioactive debris is blown away and dispersed by wind and water relatively quickly. However, should a nuke detonate at ground level, radioactive material will mix with dirt and settle, causing elevated levels of radiation in the area.",
"Bombs work by rapidly releasing energy, which in turn heats up the air/material around it and causes an explosion.\n\nImagine a hill and a ball. The hill is a little bit special, it has a small groove at the top so that the ball can sit there stabily, but the grove isn't so deep that you can't push it over and down the hill. Now, there are a couple key states to note: The ball being at the top of the hill, and the ball being at the bottom of the hill. If the ball starts in either of those states, it kinda just sits there. However, if you decide to push the ball out of its groove and down the hill, it will have a lot of energy by the time it reaches the bottom of the hill, which will be released into whatever it hits. This is kind of how bombs work as well.\n\nNon-nuclear (conventional) bombs use chemical reactions (reactions between atoms). The chemicals inside the bomb are capable of being in multiple states. By design, they are first in the high energy state (ball on top of hill), before before being pushed into a low energy state (ball bottom of hill). This transformation is from one set of chemicals to another set of chemicals, releasing lots of energy in the process.\n\nNuclear bombs are pretty much the same, except instead of the changes of state happening between atoms, it happens within atoms. After an atom gets to about the size of an iron atom, it gets harder and harder to pack more protons and neutrons onto it (it's like pushing the ball up the hill), so when some manage to get knocked away, it releases energy. Pound per pound this actually releases A LOT of energy compared to chemical reactions, which is why nuclear weapons are so much stronger.\n\nAs for nuclear fallout, it's still pretty similar. Nuclear weapons release/create a lot of atoms that are unstable. They have a bad neutron/proton balance and are akin to a ball on the top of a hill with just a itty bitty groove, that is very easily knocked into releasing its energy (technically, it doesn't require a knock, just time). This release of energy can happen when the atom is a part of human cells, or can just pass through and knock some things around. This actually happens all the time because the world is filled with radiation, but too much of it can be hard for your body to handle, causing cancer and other issues.",
"Splitting one atom of Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239 releases about a million times more energy than the complete combustion of one molecule of gasoline (which has an energy density ~10 times higher than most explosives). This is why you get a lot more boom with less massive bombs.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1og9ea
|
why do we say aww?
|
Why is it a universal thing to say "aww" or "ooh" to something cute/fuzzy/young?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1og9ea/eli5_why_do_we_say_aww/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ccroihq",
"ccrrvie"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Basically the same reason as why we say \"ouch\" when we are hurt as /u/killaj2006 said [here](_URL_0_) basically it is because we have just been \"culturally conditioned\" to do so our whole lives so now it is just automatic that we do so because we associate the word \"aww\" with something cute and/or fuzzy ",
"It's just a word like any other. Arbitrary."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nl1wv/eli5_why_do_we_say_ow_when_were_in_pain/"
],
[]
] |
|
5n0p9z
|
is it harder for non-english speaking people to learn to write code since the syntax is in english?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5n0p9z/eli5_is_it_harder_for_nonenglish_speaking_people/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dc7rnqf"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Kids in my country learn coding from second grade (6-7 yrs old) \nI think there are programs to start learning in our native language, and when their english is good enhough they switch to english... (Around 10-12 yrs old) "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
97sijr
|
how do services like google photos and icloud guarantee your files and pictures won't be lost due to some error?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/97sijr/eli5_how_do_services_like_google_photos_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e4ajmzq",
"e4ajn5b",
"e4aklrg"
],
"score": [
5,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"They make at least 3 copies of your data, stored on different devices. If one device breaks, they replace it and make a new copy of your data from the surviving copies.",
"Well, they can't guarantee it against all odds, but they can put measures in place to minimize the chance that they are totally lost. In short: they keep backups. The files don't simply exist in one place, but exist in multiple places, or have safety measures put in place that would allow them to recover lost data.",
"Redundant backups of redundant backups. I'm a systems admin and responsible for my company's backups. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
avt1fg
|
what are operating income and net income? how do they differ?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/avt1fg/eli5_what_are_operating_income_and_net_income_how/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ehhgpp0",
"ehia0vd"
],
"score": [
12,
4
],
"text": [
"Operating income is the income a business derives from its operations. It is typically the revenue minus costs of goods sold, wages, other expenses that are needed to operate or run the business. Most companies also refer to operating income as EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes)\n\nA business may also have non operating income and expenses. For example investment income, income from sales of businesses/subsidiaries, financing expenses and taxes. After these are taken into account, the final number is the net income. This is the \"bottom line\" income of the company. \n\nOperating income is used to assess the health of the operating side of the business - what the company does on an ongoing basis. Sort of like its core business.\n\nThe net income takes into account other expenses not related to running the core business (interest, taxes, financing costs) or income that may be one-off items (like selling a factory/building that a company no longer uses) This gives the final \"profit\" of the company for that period. \n\n & #x200B;",
"Let's say you're running a lemonade stand for one year, and each month you earn $100 in lemonade sales. $1,200 is your revenue for the year.\n\nYou also spend an average of about $40 per month on raw materials (lemons, water, ice, sugar, cups, napkins, etc.) needed to make and package the lemonade that's going to be sold. That $480 for the year is your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS).\n\nThe $720 difference between your revenue and COGS would be your gross margin.\n\nNow, of course there are more costs associated with your lemonade stand. You spend an average of $5 a month on gas to drive to the grocery store for materials. You paid your little brother $20 a month to work at the lemonade stand while you were unable to. You paid your neighbor $10 per month to put the lemonade stand in his yard.\n\nThat $420 is your Operating Expense.\n\nThe remaining $300 is your Op income.\n\nNow, there are auxiliary costs associated with your business. The government is going to tax you on your Op income. So let's say you have to pay $100 in taxes.\n\nAssuming you're not paying interest or financing fees, the $200 that's left over after taxes is your Net Income."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
3pxh05
|
why do ankles heal in stages?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3pxh05/eli5_why_do_ankles_heal_in_stages/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cwaemy4",
"cwajyzo"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"I had the same thing a long time ago. The doctor told me I'd have been better off breaking because a bad sprain takes months to heal fully. I too could run after a few weeks but the pain lingered for months. I'm pretty sure it's because ligaments take a long time to heal and the surrounding muscles are tight. Stay active but be careful because you can hurt it again . \n\nEdit to say. Get an compression ankle sleeve. Not the ace wrap that you have to wind around your ankle. It will give you a little more support.",
"First off, the healing is continual. Any stages you see are laid on. That said, it's because there's a lot of different pieces that all have been partially to severely damaged. If you break your ankle/leg, the bone snapping releases the energy and everything else is better off for it. In a sprain, all the varieties of tissue must be healed in a variety of ways. It takes longer and is more involved with more damaged tissue."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2uspmc
|
what exactly changes for me when internet service is reclassified as title ii?
|
Will I save money? Will I have better service?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2uspmc/eli5what_exactly_changes_for_me_when_internet/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cobb0si"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Please search ELI5, and the rest of reddit before submitting, this question was asked over a dozen times today. \n \nHere is a good conversation about it- _URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/networking/comments/2un3u2/can_we_have_a_discussion_about_title_ii/"
]
] |
|
1zuvxq
|
how can evidence found by the nsa be admissible in court?
|
If the NSA violates the constitutional right to privacy, couldn't any reasonable judge strike down any evidence they presented that was obtained by spying on someone without reasonable suspicion? (I'm only familiar with Canadian Law so I'm really not sure how things work in the US)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zuvxq/eli5_how_can_evidence_found_by_the_nsa_be/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfx6s59"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"The problem is that a lot of what the NSA does is arguably legal. When the NSA collects online data, they're targeting interactions with foreign countries, which is subject to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. If they approve, then it's legal.\n\nAnother problem is that the Supreme Court has never declared that online activities are protected by the 4th Amendment. So the government can argue that because you're giving permission to your ISP to log your data, they can ask the ISP for a copy without a warrant. Such a case would likely be appealed up so the final outcome would be unknown.\n\nBut if the NSA did something that the Court has declared is protected, such as wiretap a phone call without a warrant and you were arrested based on information from that call, then yes, a Court should rule that data inadmissible. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
m5oyo
|
menthol cigarettes.
|
Why is the FDA trying to put a ban on **menthol** cigarettes?
And why to they feel that menthol cigarettes are more harmful than all the rest of them?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/m5oyo/eli5_menthol_cigarettes/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c2yb5l0",
"c2yb5l0"
],
"score": [
4,
4
],
"text": [
"I believe the FDA advisory panel stopped short of recommending a ban on the cigarettes, but instead suggested that the FDA ultimately would pursue more modest action, such as marketing restrictions aimed at reducing access for younger consumers.\n\nThough, not directly harmful to your health, per say, but the advisory panel found that there is scientific evidence suggesting that menthol has cooling and numbing effects that reduce the harshness of cigarette smoke and that could make it easier for young people to start smoking and harder for them to quit. \n\nFurthermore, they found that evidence is sufficient to conclude that menthol cigarettes are disproportionately marketed per capita to African Americans. Which is consistent with targeted marketing efforts of the cigarettes targeting African-Americans.\n\n[[1]](_URL_0_)",
"I believe the FDA advisory panel stopped short of recommending a ban on the cigarettes, but instead suggested that the FDA ultimately would pursue more modest action, such as marketing restrictions aimed at reducing access for younger consumers.\n\nThough, not directly harmful to your health, per say, but the advisory panel found that there is scientific evidence suggesting that menthol has cooling and numbing effects that reduce the harshness of cigarette smoke and that could make it easier for young people to start smoking and harder for them to quit. \n\nFurthermore, they found that evidence is sufficient to conclude that menthol cigarettes are disproportionately marketed per capita to African Americans. Which is consistent with targeted marketing efforts of the cigarettes targeting African-Americans.\n\n[[1]](_URL_0_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/TobaccoProductsScientificAdvisoryCommittee/UCM249320.pdf"
],
[
"http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/TobaccoProductsScientificAdvisoryCommittee/UCM249320.pdf"
]
] |
|
58780e
|
why does sound from a television or other source not come through clearly during a phone call?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/58780e/eli5_why_does_sound_from_a_television_or_other/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d8y14k6"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Phones have multiple microphones to cancel out environmental noise. Typically you have one microphone near the mouth that picks up both your speech and background noise. Then there's another microphone placed on the back side of the phone or somewhere further away from the mouth. This mic mainly picks up background noise.\n\nIf you then go ahead and subtract what the background mic picks up from the signal of the speech microphone, you're left with (mostly) just speech."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
17kswi
|
why is it that in certain areas my mobile phones internet will be extremely slow, despite having full bars, and sometimes the speed will be fine even with one bar?
|
This bugs me a lot.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/17kswi/why_is_it_that_in_certain_areas_my_mobile_phones/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c86f344"
],
"score": [
11
],
"text": [
"There's three main reasons, and unfortunately none of them will be fixed any time soon.\n\nThe first is that there's no universal standard for what bars of signal actually mean. Every manufacturer has a slightly different way of working out what it shows on your screen, and some will even vary it from phone to phone. They're not trying to fib you into thinking you have great signal when you don't (usually), they're just trying their best to come up with a solution that actually makes sense. Which is hard, because there is no single number that can express how good your reception is at any given time. So full bars might not actually be the best signal, and one bar might not necessarily be the worst.\n\nSecondly, the world wide web runs on a system called TCP/IP. It basically tells two devices how to send a message between themselves in such a way that they both understand it. Now, TCP/IP was designed before wireless data transmission of that kind was really a thing, so it was designed on the basis that you'd have a solid, reliable connection like a network cable between the two devices. Now wireless is less reliable than that. Not unusable, but a bit shaky. There's all kinds of things that can interfere with the signal, and because TCP/IP was never really built to work around that, it just tries it's best. It does pretty darned well, too, but it's just not as good as a wired connection. A lot of very smart people are trying to make it work better, but that could be a while off yet.\n\nLastly is a thing called \"contention\". In the context of mobile internet, that means \"how many people are trying to use the same connection\". Because your internet connection is only wireless until it gets to your carrier's transmitter (the thing that throws out a mobile signal), and then after that it goes along a broadband connection not unlike the one you'd have at home. But it might end up serving dozens of different people, depending on how many are in the area. So even if you're sat on top of the transmitter with a perfect connection to it, there might be lots of people using that same internet connection and slowing it down. Your mobile phone only shows bars to indicate how well it's connected to the transmitter, not the internet beyond, so you have no way of knowing how bad the contention is. \n\nThe same problem does exist to a degree with wired broadband - some providers might give you 50:1 contention, meaning fifty people using one connection - but a busy street might have a hundred people walking down it with phone downloading something as they walk, plus another few hundred in the surrounding houses. The line gets busy. At a concert in the sticks you might suddenly have five thousand people on one transmitter. This used to be a really big deal, because a lot of mobile networks never really thought this mobile internet thing would be as big a deal as it's turned out to be, so their infrastructure was pretty shoddy. They're working on it, but not all networks are as good at getting it right."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1aek3v
|
srs
|
This is not a troll thread. I am genuinely curious about SRS. What does it stand for and what is it about? Why are there so many affiliated subs and how do I know where to start? How do I know if I will fit in? What are some of the SRS-associated terms and what do they mean?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1aek3v/eli5_srs/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c8wo663",
"c8wogrg",
"c8wq3ln",
"c8wqo1i",
"c8wrc87",
"c8wwus9"
],
"score": [
26,
4,
6,
7,
3,
7
],
"text": [
"It was started as a satire sub by somethingawful to point out and make fun of the sexism and racism on the site. \n\nIt has since been abandoned by its original founders and taken over by a bunch of slightly crazy people. \n\nThey say they are just a circlejerk but in reality they like to point out thinks that could possibly be considered offensive, mostly are jokes, and talk about how they are so much better than those people because they are above those sorts of things. \n\n\n\nAll of what I just said is fine and good and honestly probably wouldn't annoy anyone but srs constantly vote brigades and derails any topic they get linked to. They leave their little corner of reddit and spread around down voting anything they disagree with en masse and leaving shitty comments. Then on top of all that you have unconfirmed reports of them collaborating in the doxxing of certain people, most notably /u/violentacrez, faking a suicide to get reddit shut down and being involved with trying to get reddit banned in schools and colleges. \n\nThe last part was all unconfirmed but they were most likely involved in some way. ",
"SRS stands for ShitRedditSays and is available at /r/shitredditsays. It's a community for posting and making fun of the racist, sexist, homophobic, and other marginalizing comments that redditors post and upvote. Because it's a circlejerk, they auto-ban people who break the jerk (asking questions about why stuff was posted, etc) as well as people who post sexist, homophobic, racist and marginalizing stuff there.\n\nIt's grown into a group of subs, sometimes called the Fempire, which provide places to discuss a variety of topics without the misogyny, racism, slurs, etc that you see on the rest of reddit. \n\nMost of reddit hates it: some for the way that its moderation works (the really fast bans on SRS Prime, the main /r/shitredditsays sub), because they don't like being identified with racism/homophobia/misogyny/etc, or just because they don't see how something so much of reddit dislikes *can't* be bad.\n\nI think the best thing to do with terms you don't understand is google 'em-- there are a lot of acronyms we use but most of them have results on the front page. Feel free to let me know and I'll define 'em if there are any in particular you're having trouble with and I can get into the connotations, though.\n\nIf you're not sure if you'll fit in, well, read SRS Prime and see if they're your kind of people. A lot of people are turned off by SRS Prime but like the other SRS affiliated subs, such as /r/SRSDiscussion, /r/SRSFeminism, /r/Daww, etc. There are also a lot of links in the sidebar with the history of SRS and a lot of social justice related 101 level material for getting up to speed on what privilege is and stuff like that.",
"I have an SRS anecdote that may be relevant.\n\nI once posted a comment deep in an /r/askscience thread. I was describing how the sun does nuclear fusion, I said that two protons fusing together is like two frat boys who are into transexual porn finally getting over their homophobia and hooking up with each other. I extended the point by saying that one of the protons actually goes through a sex change and turns into a neutron.\n\nI thought I was being clever by making fusion accessible to youngsters on the internet. The comment was pretty popular, got several hundred upvotes, and made it onto /r/bestof. \n\nThe comment was deleted by the mods of /r/askscience. I know that SRS requested the comment be deleted, but it might have just been the mods of /r/askscience doing what they do best. \n\nI asked SRS why they were mad because I just didn't understand what they were all about. They banned me. I later found out it was because I used the word \"tranny\". I talked with my trans friends about this, and they informed me that is indeed quite an offensive slur because of the way trans ladies are treated in so-called \"tranny porn\". \n\nSo, in a nutshell, it's a militantly feminist circlejerk that likes to \"educate\" reddit about feminism, though they do little to make their thoughts accessible to reddit-at-large.",
"Wow all the down votes here.\n\nThis is exactly is what SRS is, they down vote anything they don't agree with, idiots.",
"It's a sub reddit that uses the vote system to downvote anyone they don't agree with",
"srs is a downvote brigade with a poor sense of humor "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
8742fs
|
psychodynamic theory
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8742fs/eli5_psychodynamic_theory/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dwa19pg"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Ahoy, fellow redditor. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained:\n\n1. [ELI5: How does Frued's psycho dynamic theory treat abnormality? ](_URL_4_) ^(_5 comments_)\n1. [ELI5:How does psychodynamics (Freud) explain and look at mental illnesses in general? ](_URL_2_) ^(_8 comments_)\n1. [ELI5: Freudian psychology ](_URL_0_) ^(_ > 100 comments_)\n1. [ELI5: How does psychoanalysis work? (x-post from eliphd) ](_URL_6_) ^(_5 comments_)\n1. [ELI5: Freudian psychology and Jungian psychology ](_URL_1_) ^(_9 comments_)\n1. [ELI5: Freud's theory of psychosexual development. ](_URL_5_) ^(_8 comments_)\n1. [ELI5: The Id, ego and super-ego ](_URL_3_) ^(_56 comments_)\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gf02q/eli5_freudian_psychology/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ugm1c/eli5_freudian_psychology_and_jungian_psychology/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45rrof/eli5how_does_psychodynamics_freud_explain_and/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o6beh/eli5_the_id_ego_and_superego/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zxthj/eli5_how_does_frueds_psycho_dynamic_theory_treat/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20qclm/eli5_freuds_theory_of_psychosexual_development/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dh82m/eli5_how_does_psychoanalysis_work_xpost_from/"
]
] |
||
168f3g
|
what's the point of the u-bend in sink/toilet plumbing?
|
Wouldn't having a straight pipe prevent the sink or toilet from getting clogged?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/168f3g/eli5_whats_the_point_of_the_ubend_in_sinktoilet/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c7tod5y"
],
"score": [
13
],
"text": [
"Generally the flow of water down the drain is sufficient to keep the drain from clogging up. \n\nThe thing is, sewer pipes are not clean places. They are full of nasty odors and gasses. The u bend on a drain pipe insures that there is always some water sitting in it, and the water sitting in it blocks gasses from the sewage line from coming up out of the drain."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2bz718
|
if it's true that you can calculate the circumference of the milky way galaxy within a couple of centimeters with only ~10 digits of pi (or something similar) then how can hundreds of digits of pi have been calculated?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bz718/eli5_if_its_true_that_you_can_calculate_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cjabw80",
"cjabxan",
"cjacvv1"
],
"score": [
3,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"what does the *practicality* of calculating the number to many digits have to do with the *ability* to calculate the number to many digits?\n\nIt's like saying \"If the speed limit is 75 miles per hour, how can a car go faster than that?\"",
"How *can* it have been calculated? By simply crunching the numbers and finding new digits.\n\n*Why* has it been calculated? Because it can be. We're millions of digits into pi now and we keep going. It's also a great test for various computing benchmarks.",
"We don't calculate digits of pi by taking circles and measuring them. We do it through mathematical definitions that are perfectly precise.\n\nFor example, we know that:\n\natan(x) = x - x^3 /3 + x^5 /5 - x^7 /7 ...\n\nand\n\npi = 16\\*atan(1/5) - 4\\*atan(1/239)\n\nThe more terms we use in that first formula, the more accurate the second becomes."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2l532z
|
why there haven't been any legal ramifications for nsa spying? if it is legal what makes it legal?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2l532z/eli5_why_there_havent_been_any_legal/
|
{
"a_id": [
"clrjzs6"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Basically AFAIK since the Bush administration and the war on terror, the patriot act basically justifies, or at least try to justify the spying. \n\nAnyone who's more knowledgeable correct me if I'm wrong. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
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