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4fnjbk
|
why has it been so hard for president obama to close guantanamo bay?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fnjbk/eli5_why_has_it_been_so_hard_for_president_obama/
|
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"He is the President. He is not Congress. Most of the members of Congress do not want Guantanamo Bay closed. That is the simple answer. But this is ELI5. Lets get broader.\n\nGuantanamo Bay is a United States base leased from the Cuban Government for, I believe, 99 years. That government is long since vanished. But the USA maintains it still has the right to the base until the lease expires. I think the present Cuban government would like it back, or has wanted it back.\n\nWhat you are really referring to are the detention facilities. Since Guantanamo Bay is not actually on US soil the legal experts agree that some rules do not apply. So anyone the US wanted detained after 9/11/01 in the custody of US armed forces, (I am leaving out the CIA and its hidden prisons), is moved there. There are some bad folks there, dangerous to us.\n\n\nSo going back to what I said. The President cannot do everything he wants to do. The Congress must approve. They do not.\n",
"There's a few reasons. The main one is the politics of what to do with the prisoners who are held there. The option of setting them free, bringing them to America, or handing them back over to their home countries (who will likely set many free) isn't palatable for many people.\n\nObama can't close Guantanamo without letting a lot of terrorists walk and potentially put them back in action while we still have many troops overseas and ISIS has been gaining momentum. So Congress is making it difficult for him.",
"Those prisoners have to go somewhere.\n\nEvery time they have tried to move them into the US prison system, or try a prisoner in the civilian courts, the local congressman throws a fit and it becomes a big stupid political thing.",
"1. It'd be a huge political disaster if we simply sent the prisoners back to Afghanistan. Many people would argue that most prisoners would go right back to fighting/terrorism. \n\n2. Bringing the prisoners to the USA to face trial/detainment has been met with massive resistance from lawmakers in the USA. Congress has blocked any and all efforts to do so. \n\n3. The most effective thing so far is repatriating many of the prisoners to various countries where they will live (and likely monitored by the host country) for the foreseeable future. But those negotiations depend on a lot of factors that can take a long time to work out. ",
"Closing it means someone *else* will have to take responsibility for the prisoners. Good luck getting a state or other country to sign up for that. The second one of those guys so much as gets into an argument, it will be all over the news how some political leader invited violent jihad into our communities. ",
"Attorney for over a dozen detainees here. The ELI5 answer is that it is not politically beneficial for him to close it. If he desired to close it, he could have closed it in 2009. Its not politically beneficial, he does not want to spend political capital on it, so it remains open.\n\nDemocrats favor keeping Guantanamo open (mostly because the left/the Administration has not correctly explained who's detained in Guantanamo). This is a huge reason it remains open. See: \n\n_URL_1_\n\nCongress is not the reason Guantanamo has not closed. Yes they have enacted restrictions on transfer and yes the President has not fought for these restrictions to be repealed. Yes, this fight with Congress is the political answer given by the White House since 2009. The Bergdahl transfer is the best example why this is a false narrative. If the President believes that closing Guantanamo is in the interest of National Security, he can close it under his executive authority, no matter what Congress says. Moreover the \"transfer restrictions\" give him plenty of leeway to transfer men. He has chosen not to do so and employed (or allowed people to remain employed) at the Pentagon who do not want to see Guantanamo closed.\n\nLittle known fact. In 2009, Rahm Emanuel, the President's COS at the time worked hard with Republicans to prevent men being transferred to the US for trial. This demonstrates the ELI5 answer. If trials took place in US courts, Guantanamo would likely be closed:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nI do believe the President personally believes Guantanamo is an abomination that should be closed. He is a Constitutional Law professor. However, politics and personal beliefs don't always align.\n\nBackground sources: I have met with people in Congress, the White House, Department of State and Department of defense on this and have been involved with Guantanamo since 2008. Had two clients transferred last week. Been on television for years explaining this. \n\nAlso, although I am a Federal Employee I am happy to disclose I voted for BO twice. Not trolling him, just giving the straight ELI5 answer. Also, happy to provide proof if needed, although my history should suffice. I am not an anonymous redditor :("
]
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"http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/23/how-obama-bungled-the-guantanamo-closing.html",
"http://cnsnews.com/news/article/poll-democrats-flip-flop-gitmo-support-obama"
]
] |
||
97ttdz
|
how is a free mobile app, that has neither in-app purchases nor ads, generating roi for the company developing it? (e.g. "zero", a fasting app available in the itunes store)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/97ttdz/eli5_how_is_a_free_mobile_app_that_has_neither/
|
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"Data. They are likely gathering personal information on you and your habits, which can be turned around and sold.",
"Two things:\n\n\\-Someone could have simply made the app for fun or to share a useful tool, with no goals of profiting in mind\n\n\\-Investors want to focus on growing the userbase as large as possible before making changes to the app to make it profitable. You see this with a lot of tech companies today. For example, Snapchat has been operating at a loss for its entire existence but investors are still buying into the company because they believe it will be profitable in the future.\n\nEDIT:\n\nThree things:\n\n\\-\"If you aren't the customer, you're the product.\" They could be going the facebook route of collecting user data to sell to advertisers but I'm not familiar with this app so I have no idea.\n\nLooking at the developer's [Medium post](_URL_0_) on the topic it looks like he just wanted to make a tool to help people fast. It's basically just a timer so the only money he's really losing here is his own (small) development labor cost and app store publishing.",
"They may be laying the groundwork to monetize it later. Spread an app without any subscriptions or ads now, then ad them later once people are already invested in your platform. That's kind of what Twitter has been doing. It was around as an ad free platform for a while before they started selling promoted tweets."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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"https://medium.com/@kevinrose/introducing-zero-a-new-app-to-help-you-fast-209935e8245d"
],
[]
] |
||
29f7pm
|
millions of years ago when the earth was inhabited by dinosaurs and species of animals that do not exist today, why is it that none of the larger species of animals survived?
|
You always hear about HUGE dinosaurs and megalodons, and yet today we have no animals that even come close to size in comparison with these extinct animals. Why did all the big ones die off?
Edit: Grammar
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29f7pm/eli5_millions_of_years_ago_when_the_earth_was/
|
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"As the continents drifted apart the amount of oxygen also decreased. Back then there was way more oxygen availabls that allowed larger creatures to exist. Now that there's less, the size animals can grow was affected simply because there isn't enough oxygen to support the larger size",
"A number of reasons, with each having differing relevance over time:\n\n1) there used to be higher oxygen levels, allowing massive insects which physically could not survive today\n\n2) different threats and conditions. Bigger animals can often be more specialised and have high demands on their feeding requirements and will suffer more if conditions change. For example: when the K-T event occurred 65 million years ago, large creatures struggled to find sufficient food to survive in a very hostile environment, whilst smaller animals were able to live off what food could be found and take advantage of being able to live underground for shelter\n\nFinally, a :huge: number of small animals also went extinct. The bigger animals were noticed more, but we're not unique. It is also worth noting that the largest animal to ever exist, the blue whale, is still with us...",
"In addition to the other answers given, don't forget that humanity has been around for quite some time. We used to share the world with 12 ft. tall [birds](_URL_2_), 20 ft tall [sloths](_URL_1_), and wooly mammoths with 14 ft. long [tusks](_URL_0_). \n\nBut we had spears. And team work. "
]
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[] |
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[],
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_mammoth",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatherium",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa"
]
] |
|
2yvwvs
|
what's the best water to drink?
|
Re-Mineralized, reverse osmosis, charcoal filter, low ppm, neutral pH, cold water, plastic or glass bottle.
Could someone please explain the science of good drinking water? Is it just spring water? If so does spring water vary?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yvwvs/eli5_whats_the_best_water_to_drink/
|
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"By what criteria?\n\nIn terms of value for money, it's very hard to beat water from your local municipal supply. It's more tightly controlled than bottled water and, unless your area has major problems, it's quite safe. \n\nIf you find that your municipal supply has an unpleasant taste because of mineral content, there are a bunch of different kinds of filters you can use, or you can buy any of the brands of bottled water. Bottled water is way more expensive, though.",
"reminds me of test on finland of some brand of bottled water and tap water... the tap water was cleaner, much cleaner.\n\ni also find it hilarious that bottle of beer is cheaper than a bottle of water here."
]
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|
[] |
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[],
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ts73g
|
how does zuckerburg have (liquid) money? is it all from ads?
|
I understand he owns a lot of facebook and ownership of the shares are worth money. But where does his day to day actual cash come from? Does he get a salary or payout somehow from owning so much of the company?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ts73g/eli5_how_does_zuckerburg_have_liquid_money_is_it/
|
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"I got so much money up the wahzoo i don't even know where it comes from anymore!!",
"Basically another investor comes in and is like \"hey zuck, i wanna buy some shares yo\". This is common stuff and facebook is ready for it. However once in a while zuckerberg is like \"hey lemme include some of my personal shares in this sale\". This allows him to \"cash in\" on his shares. He might go from owning 33% of the company to 32% of the company or whatever, but he made a bunch of moneys!",
"He pays himself a handsome salary. [$600,000 this year](_URL_0_) and $500,000 plus a $220,500 bonus last year.\n\nWhen you're making that kind of money, you give a lot of it to investors to spend on your behalf. They'll usually put it into property, or stocks and shares, or other investments which will bring in more money than if it were sat in a bank account doing nothing.\n\nAnd don't forget, he made money before Facebook by setting up a software company whilst still in high school."
]
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|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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"http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/02/mark-zuckerbergs-salary-dropping-to-1-in-2013-facebook-ipo-filing-says.html"
]
] |
|
1m6z7w
|
why do they make air conditioning pipes out of copper and then cover them in insulation?
|
Okay, so I get that copper is quite soft, which makes the job of bending the tubing on-site for tricky installations quite easy. But aluminium is also soft and easy to bend, so you could easily use that and it is cheaper.
Also copper is really bad at retaining heat / cooling because it conducts heat so well. So basically by using a good conductor for your piping you are introducing a large surface area for heat loss. So this is obviously why they cover this in rock wool or whatever insulation they use.
So why not just use like a plastic or something? Surely an expensive polymer with good insulation properties will be better than copper (expensive) with rock wool (expensive)?
And go...
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1m6z7w/eli5_why_do_they_make_air_conditioning_pipes_out/
|
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"Aluminum is very prone to cracking in piping, some houses have had them and they don't work out well. ",
"The high pressure ends of these systems is about 260 psi. I don't know how strong a plastic alternative would be, but this is really high pressure. It could have to do with pores as well. Aquapex (plastic pipe used for in-floor radiant heating) sucks oxygen right through the plastic. Liquified R22 refrigerant may also be able to slide right through a lot of your standard plastics. Also, at each end of the AC system heat transfer is necessary, ie. to take heat away from the air in your home and to throw heat out to the outside air. So long as your outdoor coil is near your indoor coil we're only talking about maybe 20' of pipe, so how much loss is really occurring?"
]
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|
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40pcoe
|
how is the "golden ratio" or "fibonacci's sequence" used in music?
|
edit: I've marked it explained because I've received some great examples and others have stated that it's not even a concrete idea in music or art. I think the really wild thing is what /u/LeeMorgan said
> Number a major scale 1 through 8 on a piano. Then number the chromatic scale 1 through 13 along side it. Now count up the scale in intervals of the numbers in the fibonacci sequence and each key you land on will be the next ratio in the sequence.
I love all of the comments and they've helped me understand a bit more how the supposed "golden ratio" can be used in music and art.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40pcoe/eli5_how_is_the_golden_ratio_or_fibonaccis/
|
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"The \"golden ratio\" is a number, approximately 1.618. It has some interesting mathematical properties, one of which is that it's the *average* ratio between numbers in the Fibonacci sequence.\n\nSome people believe that the golden ratio plays an especially important role in art and music, that somehow anything using the golden ratio is more aesthetically pleasing than similar objects incorporating a different ratio.\n\nHowever, this has never been proven and it's generally considered a myth. Here's a good site that talks about the history of this number and why isn't not as significant as many claim it is.\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"The Golden Ratio is derived from the Fibonacci Sequence. Here's an [interesting song](_URL_0_)\n\n(edit) Thanks for the correction guys, and thanks to /u/over-sight for making the youtube video I linked. It's a great video, shame my mistake made this post less visible than it ought to have been.",
"\"Black then white are all I see in my infancy.\nred and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.\nlets me see.\"\n\nLaturalus by Tool was inspired by the Fibonacci's Sequence",
"It's not generally speaking. The golden ratio isnt a magic formula for great music. Music is about harmony, not some specific number based on geometric spirals. The people who peddle this dumb idea are usually both spiritualists and non-musicians.\n\nThe tonal relationship between the first, third, and fifth of the pentatonic scale are however seemingly ingrained in the minds of western cultures.\n\nHere's Bobby McFerrin demonstrating how the pentatonic scale has become almost intuitive. _URL_0_\n",
"Apparently the timing of the drums in the Amen break lines up with the golden ratio. I doubt the drummer intended it to be a mathematical sequence, there is just something inherently satisfying about playing/hearing it. Perhaps its no coincidence that it is the most sampled drum beat of all time.",
"I heard that Debussy's \"La Mer\" is based on the golden ratio. There were even a few bars that didn't fit and were found to be errors when compared to the manuscript.",
"Tool Lateralus. Syllables of his words.\n\nBlack.\n\nThen.\n\nWhite are\n\nAll I see.\n\nIn my infancy\n\nRed and yellow than came to be\n\nReaching out to me\n\nLet's me see.\n\n\nThe Syllables are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 5, 3. \n\nThe music follows the same pattern. Great youtube video on it.",
"[this](_URL_0_) is a cool video that helps explain some golden ratios in music. I remember watching it in high school algebra "
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[] |
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"http://goldenratiomyth.weebly.com/"
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|
ared73
|
why are republicans considered pro-small government and democrats are considered pro-large government? it seems like they both want big government, just in different areas
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ared73/eli5_why_are_republicans_considered_prosmall/
|
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"You are correct. For decades, Republicans campaigned for smaller government, lower spending, and a smaller deficit. This defined the party, but that is all in the past and it isn't reasonable to consider the parties using that distinction any longer. It is more correct to say that the Republican party is more conservative, resistant to change, and that the Democratic party is more progressive, welcoming of change. They both are seeking larger and more powerful federal government institutions, but as you say, different institutions."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
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||
2dvzft
|
why do countries pay farmers to destroy crops or livestock?
|
Why do countries pay farmers to destroy crops or livestock?
I understand it is to prevent prices from going down if there is over production. They don't want farmers to go out of business. Why not pay farmers AND just let the extra food hit the market? Why destroy it? Surely cheap food is a good thing.
EDIT: I ask this due to Europe paying farmers to destroy food due to Russia's ban. _URL_0_ But I've also heard it done every few years in Canada (normally related to livestock).
EDIT: Emphasizing. I understand why they pay farmers. My question is why are they destroying the food. Why not pay farmers to make up for the overproduction... AND let the food hit the market. Cheaper food would be better for poor people.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dvzft/eli5_why_do_countries_pay_farmers_to_destroy/
|
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"If you flood a market with too much of one thing, the price of that thing will go down as it won't be as competitive. Farmers will lose out if their crops cost less or are worthless because there is so much of it.\n\nYou hit the nail on the head in your extra comment BUT cheap food for us = less money for farmers = less farmers = less food in future",
"I don't know anything for sure, but I can make a couple guesses:\n\n1. There is not enough infrastructure to handle that much food. One article mentioned that Greece exports 50% of its produce. Much of the produce that stays in the country will have to be refrigerated and sold throughout the year. (Remember, harvest typically occurs only once or twice a year depending on the crop, but you can buy your apples throughout the year. [It's the miracle of refrigeration and fungicides.](_URL_1_)) Therefore, to avoid the problems associated with rotting food, such as rats that spread disease, they pay farmers to destroy the crop.\n\n2. Taxes. IF produce it taxed, and I'm not sure that it is because it isn't even taxed in the US, if prices decreased, the revenues from sales tax per unit sold would also decrease. Unless there was a HUGE increase in consumption, this would result in a net decrease in tax revenue.\n\nThe U.S. has a program that pays farmers to simply not produce anything called the [Agricultural Adjustment Act](_URL_0_). Probably other countries have a similar law, and destruction is only necessary for unpredictable overproduction."
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://money.cnn.com/2014/08/18/news/europe-farmers-russia/"
] |
[
[],
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_Adjustment_Act",
"http://www.foodrenegade.com/your-apples-year-old/"
]
] |
|
bsdeak
|
why can we see hundreds of stars in one part of the world and barely any in another?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bsdeak/eli5_why_can_we_see_hundreds_of_stars_in_one_part/
|
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"Light pollution. \n\n > For most of Earth’s history, our spectacular universe of stars and galaxies has been visible in the darkness of the night sky. From our earliest beginnings, the vast spectacle arrayed across the dark sky has inspired questions about our universe and our relation to it. The history of scientific discovery, art, literature, astronomy, navigation, exploration, philosophy, and even human curiosity itself would be diminished without our view of the stars. But today, the increasing number of people living on earth and the corresponding increase in inappropriate and unshielded outdoor lighting has resulted in light pollution—a brightening night sky that has obliterated the stars for much of the world’s population. Most people must travel far from home, away from the glow of artificial lighting, to experience the awe-inspiring expanse of the Milky Way as our ancestors once knew it.\n\n > The negative effects of the loss of this inspirational natural resource might seem intangible. But a growing body of evidence links the brightening night sky directly to measurable negative impacts on human health and immune function, on adverse behavioral changes in insect and animal populations, and on a decrease of both ambient quality and safety in our nighttime environment. Astronomers were among the first to record the negative impacts of wasted lighting on scientific research, but for all of us, the adverse economic and environmental impacts of wasted energy are apparent in everything from the monthly electric bill to global warming.\n\n > In refreshing contrast to some of today’s complex and lingering environmental problems, many existing solutions to light pollution are simple, cost-effective, and instantaneous. Recognizing when outdoor lighting no longer serves its function and becomes a pollutant is the first step toward choosing appropriate solutions.\n\n > Increased urban sky glow is responsible for the disappearance of the Milky Way from our night skies. For professional astronomers, the increasing distance to prime observing sites, well away from sources of air pollution and urban sky glow, becomes more problematic as economic and environmental energy costs continue to rise. Amateur astronomers, meanwhile, find prime observing spots eradicated by commercial and residential development and must travel farther from home for a clear view of the skies. Increasingly, the most important equipment needed to enjoy the wonders of the night sky is an automobile with a full tank of gas and a map.\n\nSo, an ELI5, too much light makes it hard to see dim light from space. Like when you’re in a car and the other cars headlights make it hard to see anything else. \n\nIf you go to the woods or away from civilization, you’ll have a much better time looking at the stars. Assuming it’s a clear night. :)",
"Some areas have light pollution (usually large cities) which is the excessive use of artificial light. Our atmosphere reflects emitted light, creating a \"sky glow\" that makes it hard to see stars.",
"Light pollution. In more inhabited parts of the world there tends to be more light generated by humans (street lights, buildings, etc.). This light is from our perspective stronger than the star's light, thus over-brighting the star. You can think of it as you wouldn't see small flashlight's light in a sunny day.\n\nAnd on the other hand, you have parts of the world with less light generated by human, thus you can see more stars"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
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||
7walpt
|
how do cold-blooded animals live in deserts if it so cold at night?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7walpt/eli5how_do_coldblooded_animals_live_in_deserts_if/
|
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"Cold blooded animals would do fine at night, so long as they don’t need to be active they can just kick back and rest until the sun comes up. \n\nIf anything warm-blooded creatures have more of a problem in the desert as they have to expend a lot of energy to stay warm at night. ",
"Most desert reptiles become inactive at night, hide under rocks, bury themselves in the sand, and so on. Depending on which desert, they may only be active in the morning and evening, they may also hide from the peak of the day time heat.\n\nSome like the [sidewinder snake](_URL_0_) may actually be active at night, because the daytime is too hot."
]
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|
[] |
[] |
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[],
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||
6a6v6p
|
why do sprinklers spray in bursts, instead of a constant spray?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6a6v6p/eli5_why_do_sprinklers_spray_in_bursts_instead_of/
|
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"Some do have a constant stream. But the type you are referring to do it for two reasons: First is that a constant stream would only water the grass in a thin donut shape around the sprinkler where the stream hits the ground. The part that interrupts the stream splashes the grass closer to the sprinkler with water. Second, the same mechanism is used to rotate the sprinkler head.",
"Look at this [animated GIF](_URL_0_). The part that hits the water stream periodically will rotate the sprinkler little by little, so it covers a whole circle around."
]
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|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrigation_sprinkler#/media/File:An_Irrigation_sprinkler_watering_a_garden.gif"
]
] |
||
5f7lp1
|
why does milk curdle when you leave it out but not when you heat it up?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5f7lp1/eli5_why_does_milk_curdle_when_you_leave_it_out/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dai2yyg",
"dai3wec"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"The curdling of milk is due to the action of the proteins within the milk merging when the pH of the mixture changes. Simply heating the mixture doesn't do that right away.",
"It happens when the milk becomes acidic. Leaving the milk out gives bacteria in the milk time to consume the sugars in the milk. When they do, they produce lactic acid as a waste product. That makes the milk more acidic. The acidic pH causes proteins in the milk to stick together. You can do the same thing yourself by just warming the milk a little (to speed up the chemical reaction) and adding something acidic like lemon juice or vinegar.\n\nHeating the milk to a high enough temperature doesn't change the pH, and it will eventually kill the bacteria that normally cause milk to curdle. That is the process known as pasteurization."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
2zf2b1
|
if a person can't be put on trial twice for the same crime, what prevents people who committed a crime and did not get sentenced, openly talk or discuss the crime?
|
If the person got out on a technicality or a mistake made by the police or the DA, can they just walk out and discuss, lets say, details on how they killed someone?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zf2b1/eli5_if_a_person_cant_be_put_on_trial_twice_for/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cpib6p1",
"cpibcl6",
"cpibcr0"
],
"score": [
7,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"They can still be sued by the estate of the deceased. Like OJ - wasn't convicted of murder, but had to pay a shitload of money to Nicole and Goldman's family.",
"There are crimes you can be charged with that go along with the murder: illegal possession of a weapon, breaking and entering, trespassing, reckless endangerment, etc. You might be found not guilty of murder, but by then confessing to the murder, you also confess to these crimes. Also, the police will watch you like a hawk for the rest of your life. Anytime you do anything even remotely illegal, they will get you. Since you now have a history of lying, you will more likely get convicted this time, even if you are innocent. Quite frankly, if you got away with murder and bragged about it, the police must just be pissed off enough to frame you for another.",
"They can talk as openly about it as they want, but they may accidentally admit to a crime they can then be charged with that they weren't charged with originally."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
behjym
|
how can you work out when a photo was taken (what is exif data)?
|
I'm vaguely aware that exif (?) data is a thing, but how can you take a random photo on the internet and work out when it was taken? If you save the image at a later date does this data change? Is it a visual thing hidden in the image or do you have to look at the file somehow, in which case can it be hidden?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/behjym/eli5_how_can_you_work_out_when_a_photo_was_taken/
|
{
"a_id": [
"el5yp7f"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Exif data are informations stored within the photo file itself. You can see them for example (in Windows) under the \"details\" tab in file settings (I hope it's \"details\" because I only use Windows in Polish :') ) or in some more specialised \"exif viewer\" apps or websites. The exif data contains various information: basic stuff like resolution or file creation date, which is available for every photo file and more \"spicy\" stuff like exact camera settings (shutter time, ISO, these kinds of stuff) or even GPS coordinates of the place where it was taken (if the camera supports geo-location, most phones do and ask you the first time you use the camera if you want this information saved).\n\nAs for taking a photo from the internet and getting the informations out of it, it's not that easy. If the photo you download is the original file then the exif data is probably intact. If it's not the same file and it's been processed a bit (like Facebook photos) then most of the data is probably overwritten, both as a product of modifying the file and saving it as a whole new one and intention to protect the owners' privacy(mostly the first part, though).\n\nI'd suggest to just try for yourself, save some random photos from the internet, take some with your phone, camera and explore the exif data ;)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2v1arn
|
why do some objects such as video game controllers get greasy when left unused?
|
I started wondering this when I picked up the PS3 after a few months, and had to spend ten minutes wiping the controller down, especially on the joysticks. Why would it get greasy or sticky? It happens with other things in the house.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v1arn/eli5_why_do_some_objects_such_as_video_game/
|
{
"a_id": [
"codkjto",
"codn4n0"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Oils and sweat from your hands collect and dry on it. ",
"Are you by any chance a smoker, or are people smoking inside the house on a regular basis?\n\nIf so, the smoke with all its nasty byproducts will settle down on everything, including your game controllers.\n\nDon't know if that's the case, but it surely does grease up everything.\n\nSource: I'm a smoker and every once in a while (once a year or so) I really need to clean some tar and nicotine brown stains from smooth surfaces."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
1wskto
|
why the edward viii abdication crisis would have made a constitutional crisis and destroyed the british monarchy?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wskto/eli5_why_the_edward_viii_abdication_crisis_would/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cf51age"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The British monarch has multiple roles, one of which is Head of the Church of England. You can think of that as roughly analogous to the position of Pope, but for Anglican protestants.\n\nIn 1936 the Anglican Church was quite conservative in many ways. In particular it did not recognise divorce (even though it was legal in the UK) and even more specifically they would always refuse to allow a divorcee to remarry in church if their former partner was still alive, on the grounds that as they didn't recognise the (legal) divorce then any further marriage would be bigamous in the eyes of God.\n\nSo in 1936 Edward VIII became king and then several months later it became fairly clear that he intended to marry Wallis Simpson, a lady who had been married and divorced twice before.\n\nThis posed a quandary: as Head of the Church of England, Edward was expected to uphold all of its traditions and beliefs; but if he married Mrs Simpson he would be explicitly breaking one of those core beliefs.\n\nThis was the cornerstone of the constitutional crisis. To resolve the matter either Edward would have to renounce his position as Head of the Church of England (and that would have caused a massive new set of problems) or he would have to abdicate so that he was no longer either king nor Head of the Church."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
17u6mi
|
buying stocks and how it can get me more money.
|
I am fifteen years old and just got 25 dollars from a team fortress 2 trade online. I want to be smart and use it to get me more money by buying stocks or shares or whatever they were called. I'm not too sure because I am just making money now, but how will I go about doing this? How does it work? and if there are another ways of making money using the money I have that could help out alot.
Thank you.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/17u6mi/eli5_buying_stocks_and_how_it_can_get_me_more/
|
{
"a_id": [
"c88vwmw",
"c88xq0o"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"You buy shares of a company. A share is simply a percentage, you now own a percentage of the company. When the company succeeds those share prices go up in value because more people want in on the success. Then you can sell when the prices are high which makes you a profit. Example: you buy stock at 3.00$ a share, the company does well releasing new product and now shares are 30.00$. Yous sell however many shares you have making a profit of 27.00$ on each one.",
"With $25, if you're interested in learning about the stock market, your best bet is buying a book on it. Any stock you buy is going to have a fee, probably a $7 minimum. It'll be very difficult to overcome that fee."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
55pd5w
|
why are disorders renamed between dsm versions? (munchausen's has become factitious disorder, for example)
|
I just asked my abnormal psychology professor, and she had no clue. What's the reasoning? Illness Anxiety Disorder doesn't seem any more clear than Hypochondriasis, and definitely not when it's been known as something else this whole time. So why?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/55pd5w/eli5_why_are_disorders_renamed_between_dsm/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d8cjkyy"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"It's done by committee, and when people are given petty power and authority, they usually exercise it. The rationale for any given change is going to be a function of the groups which change it, and whatever it is that they're thinking. It may be that they feel a different name is less pejorative (Minimal brain damage becoming ADHD for example), or it might be that they feel a literary reference such as \"Munchausen's\" is simply not the norm anymore and want something more clinical.\n\nStill, the answer is, \"Because it's done by committee\", and in the immortal words of Lord Cocks (no joke, Sir Barnett Cocks):\n > A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
f6d6cb
|
when microwaving food, why does it take longer to heat multiples? example: 1 taquitos takes 35 seconds, 2 taquitos takes 1 minute
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f6d6cb/eli5_when_microwaving_food_why_does_it_take/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fi3y2be",
"fi3yzpm",
"fi3zpli"
],
"score": [
6,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Because you have a fixed amount of energy emanating from the microwave magnetron. More food = that energy gets split amongst the different pieces so you have to heat them longer.",
"Because the energy inside the microwave continues to bounce around until it finds something to heat up with two or more items in the oven there are more things to collide with so the energy is divided up among the items.",
"ELI5 version of the previous comment: think about it like you pushing a 30kg dumbbell or any weight on the floor with both your hands. Let's say you can push it to the end of the room in about 10 seconds. What happens if I add an other dumbbell so now you have to push 2 dumbbells with each in one hand, so essentially your \"pushing power\" stays the same, but you're just distributing the same power to twice the weight. So if now to push, you're using the same amount of power to push twice the weight. That makes it so that the time to complete the task is basically doubled, since both the bumbbells move at half the speed. Considering you asked this question, I assumed you were in high school and answered accordingly. So a microwave has a set amount of power it can output, the amount of things you put in the microwave is what determines how fast the microwave can hear them up."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5oa2ds
|
how do central banks work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5oa2ds/eli5_how_do_central_banks_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dchr2v6"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The primary function of a central bank is to control the nation's money supply (monetary policy), through active duties such as managing interest rates, setting the reserve requirement, and acting as a lender of last resort to the banking sector during times of bank insolvency or financial crisis."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
7a4g69
|
how do the chances of having twins run genetically throughout a family?
|
My mother has a twin sister and my father has a twin brother. Is there any chance that my genes (male) can cause twins or does only my sister (female obviously) have to worry. Or is it all just luck of the draw!
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7a4g69/eli5_how_do_the_chances_of_having_twins_run/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dp75rwc"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"It depends on the kind of twins.\n\nTwins can happen due to one of those things: one egg cell is fertilised by one sperm cell but splits early into the growth process and develops into two seperate babies (identical twin) or the female body produces two egg cells during ovulation which are then fertilised by two different sperm cells (fraternal).\n\nFraternal twins have a genetic component. releasing two egg cells at once is a trait that can be passed on genetically. Only in women can this trait actually lead to a higher chance of having twins though (because obviously men aren't ovulating), but men might pass this trait onto future daughters of theirs.\n\nAs for identical twins, IIRC, the fertilised egg cell splitting is really due to chance and not really genetically influenced so that sort of trait cannot be passed down. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1w71oq
|
why defaults have less mods than subreddits with fewer subscribers.
|
I see defaults with two mods and one mod bot while having millions of subscribers, but then I see subs with a quarter of the subscriber count having eight mods and no bot. Why is this? Shouldn't subs have more mods as they grow in size to handle the traffic?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1w71oq/eli5_why_defaults_have_less_mods_than_subreddits/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cezacms"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It depends on what the mods want and how strictly the subreddit is regulated. In some cases, it's just a matter of the mods having their own opinions on how much work they need to do and how much work each of them is able to put in. Often, it's a matter of how tightly regulated the subreddit is. For example, in /r/videos, there are few mods, but there isn't much regulation needed. Sure people will occasionally get banned for posting spam or personal information, but pretty much every submission that's posted will meet the criteria of being an apolitical video. Another example is /r/atheism back when it was a default. That subreddit was infamous for its complete lack of regulation and as such, it was filled with non-stop reposts and instances of karma-whoring.\n\nOn the other side, look at something like /r/askscience. In that subreddit, there is very strict enforcement of all comments. In fact, in that subreddit, it's incredibly common to look through a thread and notice dozens of comments listed as having been deleted or removed. Needless to say, /r/askscience is tightly regulated. Since so much regulation occurs there, it makes sense that they have 55 mods. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
47h8x3
|
how do some gas stations stay afloat charging 20 - 30 cents more than the one across the street from them? seems like they're always dead.
|
I stayed in a hotel for a week. There's a 7/11 across the street with gas at $2.05. A Stop'n'Go across from them at $1.99 and a Mobil across from them at $2.34.
I haven't seen one car at Mobil.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/47h8x3/eli5_how_do_some_gas_stations_stay_afloat/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d0cxgnj"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The actual stations themselves make very little or nothing on gas anyways. Even selling gas at all is really just a way to get people to stop. The money is made on inside sales. So, they may have a better price on say cigarettes or fountain drinks or beer. One place I used to work the fountain drinks were by far our biggest money maker. There is a crazy huge mark up on them and many people came back every single day and many came multiple times a day to buy one.\n\nIt's also important to note that stations change their prices every day or every couple of days. So while one place may be higher right now, that might not be true tomorrow."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
5cek7y
|
would a chinese speaker understand someone speaking english with a thick chinese accent, easier than a native english speaker?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5cek7y/eli5_would_a_chinese_speaker_understand_someone/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d9vt6iv"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Assuming that both parties spoke English, yes absolutely, but that assumes they have the same or similar accents. China is *huge* and has a buttload of regional accents, and of course there are two major languages (Mandarin, and Cantonese). Assuming they were from the same region though, definitely. \n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1vx3ot
|
superconductors, specifically cooper pairs and the meissner effect
|
* How are the electrons paired
* Why is the magnetic field expelled from inside the superconductor
* How are poles formed from a superconductor when a magnet is brought near
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vx3ot/eli5superconductors_specifically_cooper_pairs_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cewntp9"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"How electrons are paired: \n\nLet's say we've got a metal. What happens in simple metals is that each atom, which starts out with zero total charge, has an electron (or a few) which pops off and is free to wander around the entire material. The atom, having lost an electron, is now positively charged. So you have a \"sea\" of negatively charged electrons which wander freely, and a background of a bunch of big, heavy, slow-moving, positively charged ions, which are usually arranged in a regular pattern which keeps the ions a set distance away from each other.\n\nNow imagine that one electron gets close to an ion. The electron is negative, the ion is positive, so the two attract each other! So now that big ion gets pulled away from where it was towards the electron, and the electron, which moves quickly, zips away. But now wherever this ion is, there's some extra positive charge where there wouldn't be otherwise. And that extra positive charge, which is very slow to move back to where it was, can attract another electron! So basically, each electron leaves a \"wake\" of positive charge, which then attracts another electron. In this way, the electrons attract each other by using the ions as a proxy. If this attraction is strong enough, then enough electrons can pair up so that you get a superconductor.\n\nNOTE: This is only true for a set of superconductors called BCS superconductors. [High-temperature superconductors](_URL_1_) have a different pairing mechanism which is not fully understood.\n\nWhy magnetic fields are expelled: I don't really know of a good intuitive way to say why they're *expelled*. I can really only talk about that in terms of the London equations and things like that. I'll explain why you can't *change* the magnetic field in it, but that doesn't actually explain the Meissner effect completely.\n\nWhenever you have a metal, if you change the magnetic field inside it [Faraday's Law](_URL_0_) says that the charges in the material will start running around in order to cancel out that change in magnetic field. (Electrical current running in a loop causes magnetic fields to appear.) If there's resistance, then these currents won't be able to completely cancel out that magnetic field, because the electrons can't move freely. But if there isn't, as in a superconductor, nothing stops you from getting more and more current until you're completely canceling that new magnetic field.\n\nAs for the last question, I'm not quite sure what you mean by \"poles.\" Perhaps you mean that the superconductor itself creates a magnetic field to oppose the field of the magnet you bring in? That I explained above."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday%27s_law_of_induction#Faraday.27s_law",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temperature_superconductivity"
]
] |
|
2f7s96
|
when i'm in a crowded room and want to focus on one conversation happening across the room, why does that conversation seem to become more audible, or more easily discerned?
|
Mostly just curious about how your body knows to essentially block out, or make most other sounds fade out as you focus on that one particular sound, conversation, etc.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2f7s96/eli5_when_im_in_a_crowded_room_and_want_to_focus/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ck6ovhd",
"ck6p3se",
"ck6vvpl"
],
"score": [
13,
10,
2
],
"text": [
"It's called selective focus or sometimes it's called the cocktail party effect. There is a difference between perception (actually putting brain power to interpret stimuli) and simple detection by your senses. So when you focus on this one conversation, your brain only interprets signals here and effectively ignores the rest of the sounds in the room. ",
"It's the same reason why you can feel a drop of water on your head but can't feel your clothes.\n\nBecause the brain ignores (to a certain extent) stuff that it deems unimportant. That is why you cannot see your nose unless you want to, it's always in your line of vision, you just ignore it.\n\nAlso, the brain has conditioned things that it will pickup on even if you're ignoring them, such as hearing your name in a crowded room of conversation, even though you weren't listening for it. \n\nThe brains power to prioritise is simply astounding.",
"_URL_0_ here ya go!"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latent_inhibition"
]
] |
|
2j5gww
|
where do the erratic/random "call of the void" thoughts/urges come from?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2j5gww/eli5_where_do_the_erraticrandom_call_of_the_void/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cl8k9ps",
"cl8ncxo",
"cl8rn34"
],
"score": [
6,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Since I don't think anyone is going to have a conclusive explanation for this, I personally think that they come out as a result of your brain thinking \"what if I just did this\" and then you think about what the consequences of it would be. It's just the fact that you become aware that you Could do it, and then you get scared that it's a possibility and you dwell on it. ",
"It's our way of recognizing potential threats I believe. I think vsauce has a video on it. I'd link it but I'm on mobile ",
"It's called L’appel du vide, there is a really good response here: _URL_0_\n\nBasically it's a self-destructive urge to take control of a situation, like suicide."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/n40zc/does_lappel_du_vide_have_an_underlying/"
]
] |
||
6pbuj0
|
if the krakatoa eruption was loud enough to circle the earth multiple times, why does a supposedly louder 1 ton tnt explosion not?
|
I was reading about Krakatoa and how it could be heard around the world. It says the sound traveled around earth 3 or 4 times.
However, on almost every source, they claim a 1 ton explosion or the Tunguska meteor was louder. Why were these not heard around the world if they were louder?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6pbuj0/eli5if_the_krakatoa_eruption_was_loud_enough_to/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dko4gao"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"From _URL_0_: \n\n > Closer to Krakatoa, the sound was well over this limit, producing a blast of high pressure air so powerful that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors 40 miles away. As this sound traveled thousands of miles, reaching Australia and the Indian Ocean, the wiggles in pressure started to die down, sounding more like a distant gunshot. Over 3,000 miles into its journey, the wave of pressure grew too quiet for human ears to hear, but it continued to sweep onward, reverberating for days across the globe. The atmosphere was ringing like a bell, imperceptible to us but detectable by our instruments.\n\nSo it \"only\" was only up to about 5000 kilometers furthers hearable, but still measurable.\n\nThis is the same as earthquake measurement which is too weak to be felt by you, but still can be measured by instruments and multiple measurement locations can be used to pinpoint the original centrepoint.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://nautil.us/issue/38/noise/the-sound-so-loud-that-it-circled-the-earth-four-times"
]
] |
|
1xno2g
|
why can speed skiers go faster at 35 degrees than an average skydiver does at 90 degrees?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xno2g/eli5_why_can_speed_skiers_go_faster_at_35_degrees/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cfcytww",
"cfcyufs"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"I think your premise is wrong. I've never heard of a skier going faster than a skydiver at terminal velocity in the position that is fastest (arms to the side, legs together, face slightly down, which is close to 200 MPH).",
"I would imagine that drag coefficient/air friction as a lot to do with it. But now I'm curious for a more detailed answer."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
1wb24e
|
how do people escape from north korea.
|
What routes do they take?
Do they go to south korea or china?
and
How do they avoid getting spotted.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wb24e/eli5_how_do_people_escape_from_north_korea/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cf0bt62",
"cf0d0yj",
"cf0rhgp",
"cf0sph0"
],
"score": [
26,
3,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"North Koreans normally escape by the Chinese border. Crossing the border between North and South is a very bad idea - It's littered with mines, heavily guarded and it's almost guaranteed you'll be shot. Although the Chinese border is also heavily guarded, this factor can be overcome by bribes - normally cigarettes, money and/or food will be sufficient. A position on the Border is a highly desirable role for this reason. Nonetheless, the hardest part is the actual crossing. The Tumen is typically very cold and very deep - if you watch some of the documentaries covering this topic, they may show scenes of the vast number of dead bodies scattered across the river. However, the river is occasionally frozen making the crossing somewhat easier.\n\nOnce in China, your safety is far from secure. China has an agreement with North Korea that any refugees caught will be sent back - it's been rumoured this will be abolished in the near future due to friction between the two countries. If you are caught, chances are you'll be sent to a prison camp and possibly released in the future. However, if caught again it's almost certain you'll be executed. Futhermore, defecting in China is increasingly strenuous due to the embassies in China being heavily guarded to stop defectors claiming assylum. If you do set foot on the embassy's land, the Chinese government will permit individuals to leave for South Korea. In this [video](_URL_0_), a family of North Koreans attempt to enter the South Korean embassy.\n\nAnyway, from China there's several other options as to get to South Korea. For a high price, you can have a fake Identity made for you and fly to South Korea ( this has on several occasions gone wrong). In the circumstance where this is financially infeasible, refugees normally drive to the borders of countries in the North East of China (some of the neighbouring countries reject North Korean asylum seekers for different reasons). If all goes well, Koreans are able to claim asylum and subsequently fly to South Korea where they are interviewed, quarantined and then taught how to live in a Capitalist society - you'd be surprised how long this takes. They're also provided with funds to ensure a comfortable start in South Korea. \n\nI forgot to mention there have been other methods of defection. Some have escaped by sailing along the coast in to South Korean waters and many Soldiers have notably defected across the DMZ in Panmunjeom . In one story, a North Korean soldier shot a commanding officer and then ran across the famous block that separates the two countries.\n\n\n",
" > What routes do they take?\n\nA very common route is a very long one. Once in China, the North Korean refugees can stay in China but that can be quite precarious since there is always the fear of being sent back. \n\nThe closest country which won't send back the refugees in Thailand. Once in Thailand, the refugees can go to the Republic of Korea (ROK) embassy in Bangkok and they will be flown to the ROK. \n\nThis route is quite dangerous, as they need to go through much of China and then pass over the Chinese-Laos border, then over the Laos-Thai border -- illegally. ",
"NOBODY LEAVES FROM NORTH KOREAN PARADISE!!!!!\n\n\nGLORIOUS LEADER ALLOWS SOME PEOPLE TO LEAVE IN ORDER TO EXPERIENCE THE HORROR OF WESTERN PIG DOG LIVES SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO. \n\nTHEY ARE ALL DEMANDING TO COME BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BUT OUR WISE LEADER HAS CAUTIONED ON LETTING THEM IN LEST THE WEAKER ONES BE BRAIN-WASHED SPIES. THEIR APPLICATIONS TO RETURN ARE BEING PROCESSED.\n\n\nThe leave via land trade routes with China or by boat.",
"\nIf you are still interested in this subject after reading these answers you should read a book called escape from camp 14. It is about a man named shin who was born in a north Korean prison camp and escapes then escapes north Korea through the Chinese border."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_G7IwWVDA"
],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
4bu712
|
most carcinogens seem to have benzene rings in their chemical structure. how (or why?) do benzene rings likely cause cancer?
|
A link to a visualization of the chemical structure of a benzene ring:
_URL_0_
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bu712/eli5most_carcinogens_seem_to_have_benzene_rings/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1cgg0z",
"d1chmsv"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Most of these compounds form large bulky compounds called adducts in the DNA. This causes errors during cell division because the enzymes that replicate the DNA cannot \"read\" these adducts. If the adduct occurs in the right place, this can cause dysregulation of the cell cycle, which leads to cancer. \n\nEdit: Just to clarify, only some products that contain a benzene ring are carcinogenic. There are many compounds, many of which are found in your cells, that are not carcinogenic. In fact, one of the essential amino acids, [phenylalanine](_URL_0_) contains a benzene ring, and you can't live without this amino acid. ",
"This is probably best for r/askscience "
]
}
|
[] |
[
"http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/b/e/benzene/image001.gif"
] |
[
[
"http://f.tqn.com/y/chemistry/1/S/4/N/1/phenylalanine.jpg"
],
[]
] |
|
3oyutf
|
how do people lipread?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3oyutf/eli5_how_do_people_lipread/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cw1nyl3"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Your lips generally play a big role in the pronunciation of words. While big movements aren't required (ie ventriloquism), most people tend to make the same shapes with their lips to make the same sounds when speaking. Someone who can lip-read has trained themselves to know what shapes of the mouth correspond to which syllables.\n\nThere are many people who are deaf or partially deaf who train to lip read so they can carry conversations with normal people. A downside is that when people learn someone is deaf, they generally try to speak much louder and over-exaggerate their lip movements. While this might help someone hard of hearing, this is very bad for someone who is actually deaf and is trying to understand based on lip reading since you're now making different or exaggerated shapes."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
4hugkb
|
why is it that if you click a web link on mobile, it usually refers you to a 'www.m.' version but often it doesnt work the other way around?
|
My guesses are that its either something to do with the way mobile browsers are detected or just that more people click web links on mobile than click mobile links on computers.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hugkb/eli5_why_is_it_that_if_you_click_a_web_link_on/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d2sdw0p"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"It's just because the web designers have not set up their website to work that way. They assume that mobile devices have reduced capabilities (or at least a reduced screen width) and refer them to another page meant to accommodate that deficiency. On the other hand, desktop users have no trouble manually navigating to the page they want if they really need to, and automatic referrals may be frustrating when someone really *does* want to go to the mobile page.\n\nAn alternative web design approach is what is called \"responsive\" design. The style sheet for the website is designed to make the page look different depending on the size of the browser window, so that everyone can in theory be accommodated on the same page regardless of screen size."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
dre1ng
|
if the flu shot is based on last season’s strain, why would it be effective this season?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dre1ng/eli5_if_the_flu_shot_is_based_on_last_seasons/
|
{
"a_id": [
"f6hjfp8"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"it's based on the strains that research indicates to be the most common during the next season. usually more than one type of flu viruses are part of the vaccine..."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
3vcasi
|
what happens to my body if i get into the shower (or bath) with extremely hot water right off the bat?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vcasi/eli5_what_happens_to_my_body_if_i_get_into_the/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxma1kl"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Depends how hot I guess? Burns are possible, and happens to small kids all the time when kids are put into too hot baths. It's best to just run it to a comfortable temperature."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
3hzbjg
|
what's the difference between a "therapy dog" and a "service dog"?
|
and can I prevent dogs from entering my establishment if they are therapy dog (or otherwise not a service dog that "does work")?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hzbjg/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_a_therapy_dog/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cubwd1d",
"cuclfys",
"cucygmk"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Therapy dogs do not qualify under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). \n\n_URL_0_ page 4:\n\n\"Social/Therapy Animals \nSocial/therapy animals provide emotional support in places such as elder care facilities and hospitals. These animals do\n not have the same legal status as assistance/service animals and are not mentioned in the ADA. Many visiting therapy\n dogs help physically stimulate people in nursing homes or assisted living facilities by playing ball, being brushed or\n petted, and going for walks. Although many therapy animals are dogs, any type of animal that is good natured can be\n used to provide these services. Some animals, including horses, help in reaching people that were once thought\n unreachable.\"\n\nIf you're not an American citizen, different laws may, of course, apply.\n\n",
"In America:\n\nA service animal is a dog (or in some cases a miniature horse) trained to do tasks that mitigate a person's disability. They can go almost anywhere the public can go except some churches and things like operating rooms. You can ask if it is a service do and what its tasks are, and you can only kick it out if it does things like bark a lot, attack things, etc.--which shouldn't be happening with an SD.\n\nA therapy dog is a person's pet that they have trained to have good manners and they take to libraries, hospitals, etc. to comfort people. They don't have public access rights like SDs; they are invited to these places.\n\nA facility dog is like a professional therapy dog--someone officially has them as a pet and takes care of them, but they basically work full time at a particular school or organization. Also no public access rights.\n\nAnd an emotional support animal or ESA is an animal of any kind who is not necessarily task-trained but helps with someone's mood issues. There are housing laws that apply to them, but they do not have public access rights.",
"I work at a hospital, we allow registered service dogs and not therapy dogs. We do this because Service dogs provide a service, they help the blind get around, trained to bring medication a phone or other objects, calm someone down from a ptsd episode. Therapy dogs are are much less trained, and are generally used for light services, like calming down a patient, or making someone more comfortable. For the other question, yes you are allowed to tell someone that if all the dog does is provide emotional support that they are not allowed in your establishment."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://pubs.nal.usda.gov/sites/pubs.nal.usda.gov/files/assist.pdf"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
9qrgo8
|
what makes the u.s. dollar so powerful worldwide?
|
In most countries, people are willing to accept US dollars as payment, but not other currencies. Most, if not all currencies can be converted to the local currency, so why the US dollar?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9qrgo8/eli5_what_makes_the_us_dollar_so_powerful/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e8b7qka"
],
"score": [
13
],
"text": [
"At the end of World War 2, most western nations were recovering as infrastructure and manufacturing suffered damage from the war. Meanwhile, the US infrastructure was undamaged, allowing it to play a key role in reconstruction efforts in Europe. Due to the large amounts of trading with the US, it's currency became valuable and in high demand. It was also much more stable than local currencies still reeling from the economic impact of the war. This lead to the US dollar becoming a reserve currency in many nations, and it could be exchanged between non-US nations as a trusted commodity. It remains as such mostly due to inertia as it would take a competing currency to be both widespread across the world and stable to displace the US dollar in this role."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
5s8tsl
|
how does keeping your vehicle plugged in overnight help it start on a cold morning?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5s8tsl/eli5_how_does_keeping_your_vehicle_plugged_in/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ddd6mpt",
"ddd7g6t"
],
"score": [
2,
7
],
"text": [
"This is only for northern, cold climates. What you're actually doing is plugging in a block heater. The heater keeps the engine fluids from freezing or keeping its viscosity low. Without doing this in very cold areas, the engine might not turn over/start, or have very poor performance until those fluids heat up.",
"ASE/Lexus certified Master Tech here. This is a multi part answer, and I'll do the best I can. \n\nEngines rely on lubrication from engine oil to be able to run. Engine oil is responsible for preventing wear, reducing friction, preventing corrosion, and is used as a hydraulic fluid within the engine. Because of all of the properties it has to achieve, even the lowest-viscosity oils available are rather thick. Ever heard the expression \"slow as molasses in winter time\"? As viscous(thick) liquids cool down, they become more viscous, gradually getting thicker as temperature drops, until the eventually freeze. Engine oil does not exactly \"freeze\" in any conditions you'd likely find in nature, but it does get quite thick when it's in very cold climates. They make special oils with very low viscosities for cold-climate operation, but even those have a hard time in climates where temperatures are below 0* F. If oil within an engine becomes too thick, it cannot do its job properly and damage to the engine or poor performance could occur. \n\nThe device in question is called an Engine Block Heater. It is basically a powerful electric blanket that plugs in to household power, and it warms the engine block constantly. The warming prevents the engine oil from becoming too thick, so when you go outside to start the car, it's much easier to start, and prevents damage from extremely cold starts. The increased engine temperature also helps with combustion, or the burning of fuel /air inside the engine. Engines run most efficiently at a certain temperature, and when they start at a very cold temperature, much more fuel is used and wasted to achieve combustion. Engine block heaters are not commonly sold built in to vehicles, and are an accessory that must be added if needed. \n\nIn very extreme climates, diesel-fueled vehicles also use heaters inside the fuel tanks to prevent the diesel fuel from becoming a gel in the extreme cold. This is because diesel fuel is much more viscous than gasoline, and behaves similarly to engine oil in cold temperatures. \n\nIt's kind of like insulating your plumbing pipes in the winter to keep them from freezing. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
3whu0n
|
why do people buy beauty products/cosmetics and health remedies that are scientifically shown to be nonsense?
|
Collagen, for example, is only helpful for wrinkles if the body makes it. It's not absorbed through the skin- yet gazillions of women pay a lot of money to buy it and rub it on their faces.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3whu0n/eli5why_do_people_buy_beauty_productscosmetics/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cxwbpaq"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Many people are unaware of the science behind it, instead they just know the advertising message the product puts out. \n\nMany people also reject whatever the science says and just go with the idea that they like the sound of or want to think is right."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
3fxin7
|
are there any known instances of animals or insects who "lie" to or deceive members of their own species while communicating?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3fxin7/eli5_are_there_any_known_instances_of_animals_or/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ctsvng1"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Plenty. \n\nSome smaller garter snakes pretend to be female so they can get to the center of a mating nest ball.\n\nSmaller cuttlefish hide their tentacles and pretend to be female so they can sneak past aggressive males and get closer to females.\n\nseveral species of primates will pretend and scream predator alerts to distract other primates so they can sneak and steal food stored by other monkeys. \n\nI can't remember the species now, and google is failing me, but there are a few species where females will pretend interest in mating with a male, purely to eat the food that the male brings as a gift. Afterwards go off and mate with a different male.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
1ni8b2
|
what exactly happens if you default on a student loan?
|
Are the consequences bigger if it's federal or private? What if you leave the country (US in this case) and don't come back?
Just curious, I'm not in danger of it. At the moment, ha ha ha^sobs
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ni8b2/eli5_what_exactly_happens_if_you_default_on_a/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ccit2ji",
"ccit4qj",
"ccithhc",
"cciwhjt",
"ccj0qud",
"ccj4dtt",
"ccj7new"
],
"score": [
2,
3,
3,
8,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"I don't know if it matters much based on whether it's federal or private; what I do know is that if you stay stateside it will fuck up your credit, they will garnish your wages (if you're working) and generally shit will get real.\n\nNo clue if fleeing the country would work for anything; we live in a fairly interconnected world these days, but I know I've looked at my monthly student loan rates and considered trying to run away from them.",
"In Canada the government takes all your tax returns until it's paid off. However, they keep charging interest on it forever (unlike with private debts where this is illegal), meaning you never pay if off and you lose your tax returns forever. ",
"If you default on a federal student loan, they will first demand payment in full. Then they will add collections costs to the loan - generally between 18% - 25% of the balance. If you don't reach out and try to resolve it they will eventually garnish your tax refund and up to 15% of your wages. If you have a professional license that could be revoked depending on the industry and state you live in. Eventually, they could sue you. Private loans are different - they can't garnish like the feds can so they tend to litigate sooner. If you leave the country they (at least the feds - but likely private) won't chase you. But the loan will never ever go away so if you come back, it will come back to haunt you - but will owe much much more than you did originally. \n\nBut why would you abandon a debt that you agreed to repay? If you are asking because you are having trouble making payments you should call the servicer - there is almost always something they can do to help. Default just isn't worth it.",
"From personal experience (except I'm not fleeing the country):\n\nFirst, they'll start calling you several times a day. If you don't respond after a week or so, they'll begin calling your co-signer (in my case, my parents) similarly. They aren't allowed to say specifically what they're calling in regards to, but will state it's an urgent matter.\n\nIf they don't hear from you after that, they'll send letters stating you now owe the balance in full, and give you a due date (bear in mind they don't realistically expect you to pay the balance in full, and this is more a means to scare you into calling them and setting up a payment plan).\n\nI haven't had my private loans go into collections, but my public (gov) loans have. They called me a few times with the offer to make a 9-month payment plan, at which it would be rehabilitated and sent to a 3rd party bank where it would sit until I paid it off. \n\nBecause I didn't respond quickly enough, they sent a letter to my employer stating they would start garnishing my wages. Right now, this equates to 15% of my income each paycheck deducted automatically and sent to ISAC. I had to agree to the aforementioned 9-month payment plan ON-TOP of this to get the garnishment lifted, otherwise my wages would be garnished until the whole balance was paid off. In total, a good $600 of my income each month goes to my balance. Mid-November is my last scheduled payment until my loan is rehabbed, and my monthly payments will resemble something closer to $200/month.\n\nMoral of the story? Even if you feel like you can't pay, keep in contact with your student loan providers, ask for a forbearance if you're financially unable to make a payment. It's much more painful what they'll do to your income if you blow it off and assume they'll just leave you alone.",
"Your life becomes a living hell.",
"They repossess your knowledge. ",
"They will chase you forever. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
98xcax
|
how do our brains let us talk without deliberately thinking?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/98xcax/eli5_how_do_our_brains_let_us_talk_without/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e4jf4n9",
"e4jg5fb",
"e4jgz30"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Drastically formulated: you learn to speak before you learn to think. The amazing part is that you're actually able to think without speaking out loud.",
"We sure have that ability, but wouldnt it be nice if people formed a sentence, then think over it and only say it? ",
"It's a parlor trick, we think as we speak we are forming it as we go. When we think in our heads we just shut a valve.\n\nSo when you mutter to yourself you are just literally thinking aloud. When you think before you speak you are just rehearsing inside.\n\nLanguage and thought are intrinsically mixed."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
23z7md
|
why does your hair and nails continue growing after you die?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23z7md/eli5_why_does_your_hair_and_nails_continue/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ch207fk",
"ch208fu"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"They don't. It's the skin around them that retracts. ",
"Long story short, they don't\n\nIt seems like they do because your skin gets dehydrated as your body breaks down and your hair roots and fingernail bits hidden by skin are revealed as your skin recedes.\n\nEw."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
3nzwjq
|
ghosts.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nzwjq/eli5_ghosts/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvsphqs",
"cvsphyv"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"There is no science behind them because, of course, they don't exist. \n\nOther than that what exactly is your question? How do they exist? They don't. What are they made of? Nothing, except \"up\". They are made up. ",
"There's absolutely zero peer reviewed, reproducible scientific evidence that any such phenomenon is anything but fiction and superstition. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
4095a5
|
- if humans have been around for 200,000 years and civilization only began about 6000 years ago, what were we doing for the other 194,000 years and what changed?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4095a5/eli5_if_humans_have_been_around_for_200000_years/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cyse4sf",
"cysgyrn",
"cysjcp9",
"cyso5gn",
"cyspo6f",
"cysxbuz"
],
"score": [
97,
15,
11,
14,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"For millenia humans were hunters and gatherers. We moved from place to place and ate the plants and animals that grew there. Then, the neolithic revolution happened. We figured out that we could domesticate animals and grow plants for our own purposes. Agriculture created a surplus of food that allowed us to stay in one spot permenently. Additionally, agriculture meant that not everyone had to gather food. This created the \"division of labour\" Some people became artists, others became craftsmen or merchants. These advancements enabled the development of civilization. ",
"Prior to the advent of agriculture and cement people wandered, lived in natural shelter, and made things out of stuff like trees and pointy sticks. Basically, up until about 10 000 years ago humans were nomadic hunter gatherers. \n\nFire pre-dates modern humans, as does early tool use, essentially we were born into that, but homo sapiens seem to have a knack for continually making better tools. Some of what people were up to until about 40 000 years ago is killing off or mixing with the other hominids of the Homo genus (probably the best known being the Neanderthals who were either (or both) partially absorbed into homo sapiens and partially killed off), and some refining of tools, clothing and language. \n\nBasically modern humans didn't leave africa until about 70 000 years ago, but earlier human relatives were around for the better part of 2 million years. Somewhere in africa a couple of hundred thousand years ago the species emerged as a branch of another species, and then there's sort of absorption and expansion into neighbouring regions, that lasts ~150k-180k years. About 70 000 years ago modern humans get to the Levant (syria/lebanon/israel) and encounter the already existing Neanderthals, as they go further east the encounter denisovans, then over 30 000 or so years those groups either merge into modern homo sapiens through breeding, or they get killed off. Then you have modern homo sapiens in relatively small widely distributed clusters around most of the world. Rather than set up shop somewhere they could always move (hence finding homo sapiens in north america despite the apparent problems of getting here from either east asia or west africa or europe). \n\n",
"Up until about 10000 BC, they were trying to survive an ice age. We are currently in the middle of an interglacial warm period, but for most of those 200,000 years the earth was much colder.\n\nAbout 10,000 BC, the climate warmed, and the glaciers retreated. This allowed human to settle, perfect language, discover agriculture and writing and that's when things really took off.",
"Moores law. I took so long to accumulate enough data for the next step. It's all exponential ",
"I would hesitate to say we lacked civilization entirely prior to 6-10k years ago.\n\n*Cities* were first founded about that time, which is almost certainly a consequence of the agricultural revolution. The growth of agriculture and husbandry is generally something we recognize as a mark of civilization. Art has been around even longer than that (see neolithic cave paintings for example), a mark of civilization; toolmaking as well. Domestication of animals preceded the rise of cities, and may have played a minor role in the discovery of agriculture (if we can domesticate animals, can we domesticate plants? By domesticating dogs, perhaps some time and/or individuals in a tribe were freed up to farm/try farming/got bored and tried it? I have no idea.)\n\nHighly organized societies might be a better way to phrase your question? More accurate, at least.\n\nAs to what changed, it was almost certainly the rise and spread of agriculture and husbandry. Those two discoveries allowed people groups to: 1) stay put and not chase game/harvests all over a continent, and 2) support much larger populations--many of whom suddenly had time and energy for non-survival skills like metal working, weapon making, military strategy, organizing and developing mythologies (religions), art and architecture, and developing trade with other cities and city-states. All of those had previously existed to small degrees and in fragments here and there, but the ability to support a large population in one spot allowed these \"other\" activities to grow exponentially.\n\nThe development of writing also dates to this period, though some informal scratching may have existed previously (think tally marks and pictures).",
"Highly recommend \"The Mainspring of Human Progress\" for a fascinating discussion on this exact topic. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3miak1
|
why do streets always appear wet in film and tv even if it isn't raining?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3miak1/eli5_why_do_streets_always_appear_wet_in_film_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cvf5nx0"
],
"score": [
12
],
"text": [
"It's an old trick. It makes the roads look better on film. They actively spray it down with a hose to make it look shiny.\n\nSource: watching Terminator 2 with production note subtitles on. Very interesting stuff."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
86ddyy
|
why do salty foods measure sodium content, but not chlorine content? why are the cations in salts generally listed but anions aren't?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/86ddyy/eli5_why_do_salty_foods_measure_sodium_content/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dw45qca",
"dw4efdh",
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],
"score": [
245,
49,
11,
10
],
"text": [
"Because it's the sodium that is nutritionally more relevant. Both because people need a certain amount of sodium intake, and because with certain medical conditions too much sodium becomes dangerous. As far as I know of, it is extremely uncommon to have a diet deficient in chloride (or too much), so there's no reason to list it.",
"In addition to the above, for certain foods, such as infant formula we are required to state the chloride content too.\n\nSodium is calculated from all sources and not just Sodium chloride. We even calculate the sodium content of sodium citrate, sodium ascorbate or even the absolutely miniscule amount of sodium provided from sodium selenite (a selenium source).\n\nSource. I develop infant formula and other nutritional foods for a living.",
"That is because of two reasons:\n\n 1. That most anions come with cations (in the form of salts) in food (the most common being table salt, or sodium chloride)\n\n and that\n\n3. That generally cations are a more critical body necessity rather than anions (ex: chlorine is used to activate mucus, but sodium is used to generate artificial electronegativity gradients in nerve cells and is a primary element in regulating blood pressure).\n \nGenerally a human can live with some anion defficieny for a little while (possible at the very least a few days), but without critical cations such as sodium your nervous system literally shuts down (brain-dead), you have little to no blood pressure (heart failure), and if you somehow survive all of this, then you can't move or think. You'd be declared medically dead.",
"I won't argue the validity of the answers above but as an analytical chemist who performs some of these tests, the reason i would say salt is listed as sodium content is because if you are analyzing food either by atomic absorbance (AA) or inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (icp-oes) when you digest a sample you can lose chlorine from heating and also sodium has a much easier to measure emission and absorbance spectra where as chlorine is difficult to measure as it can react with the glass and steel and doesn't have a very pretty spectra"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
9hicq1
|
how does the iss, satellites and probes and spacecrafts like the voyager deal with debris in space?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9hicq1/eli5_how_does_the_iss_satellites_and_probes_and/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e6c5090",
"e6c53kt"
],
"score": [
8,
2
],
"text": [
"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nFor something like Voyager, there's really no chance it will ever hit debris of any sort. Film Theory was going over the statement in the first Star Wars movie about how the Millenium Falcon in hyperspace could bounce too close to a supernova, and he calculated that would happen after travelling for several trillion years first (because Space is so empty).\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSatellites that are in low earth orbit do have to be careful. NASA tracks all of the satellite locations. The ISS and GPS satellites are at a different orbit and will likely never hit anything like that, unless one of the satellites explodes, sending debris out. As far as getting satellites into space, it's like merging onto the freeway. If you're standing still and looking at freeway traffic move past you, it looks fast and daunting. But if you're moving at orbital speed, it's like merging onto the freeway when you're already moving at freeway speed.",
"Most of the time, they just smack into it.\n\nThe ISS has a \"pizza box\" of space around it where it actively avoids debris inside that's > 2cm or so. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
6m5bi8
|
who/what makes the machines that make machines? for instance, the machines that are used in the process of assembling a car. are there machines out there with the sole purpose of making machines that are designed to make other machines? is it an endless cycle? how does this work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6m5bi8/eli5_whowhat_makes_the_machines_that_make/
|
{
"a_id": [
"djz0qp1",
"djz2jgn"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Cars are made by a combination of standardized machines with custom dies and custom machines. Standardized machines, like the ones that mold plastic into parts, are used in many industries and there are companies that make plastic injection molding machines for all industries. Car companies simply buy their product from the catalog.\n\nCustom machines are sometimes made by the car company, but usually made by custom machine making companies. These companies bid to a specification written by the car company describing the process they want the machine to perform.\n\nThere is a third kind of machine, not used much to make cars, called computer driven machines. The 3D printer is a crude example. Many companies sell these computer controlled machines, that can perform many exotic operations with CAD data. Each part is individually cut from a block of metal. These machines are used a lot by the companies that make the other two kinds of machines to make parts for their machines.",
"You sir have uncovered the reason why machines will never take over the world. At the start, humans have to make them. Most robots are still extremely customized to fit very specific applications, and programmers do a large chunk of work to get them to fit those applications."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
1seo01
|
where does the stuff go that goes through the wrong pipe?
|
You know when you are eating/drinking something, and you have the sensation of it going through the wrong pipe. Does it actually end up in your lungs and does it stay there forever? Where does it go?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1seo01/eli5_where_does_the_stuff_go_that_goes_through/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdwu4sd"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"It sticks to the mucus and is wiggled to the proper pipe by tiny hairs.\n\nBig enough objects are just coughed away."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2y2iyr
|
why can people sue for injuring themselves (e.g simply tripping) on private property when it's really no ones fault?
|
I was reading a thread about personal injury lawsuits and I starting thinking about how ridicules it is that someone accidentally hurting themselves can somehow become the fault of the property owner. It's one thing when negligence and unsafe conditions lead to the injury, but when it's just a random accident that could have occurred anywhere how do the courts justify fault of the owner? My understanding is that many of these lawsuits are settled out of court to just get it over with and avoid court costs. When actually brought before a judge do the cases often go in favor of the plaintiff or are they thrown out resulting in court costs for everyone?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2y2iyr/eli5_why_can_people_sue_for_injuring_themselves/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cp5m3o7",
"cp5mpru"
],
"score": [
3,
5
],
"text": [
" > It's one thing when negligence and unsafe conditions lead to the injury, but when it's just a random accident that could have occurred anywhere how do the courts justify fault of the owner\n\nBut where the line is drawn can be a point of contention. For instance, should someone who owns a section of sidewalk be culpable if someone slips on the ice there; should they have kept it ice-free? Of course, some people do just want money they didn't work for.",
"Technically, you can file a lawsuit against anybody for any reason. I could file a lawsuit against the president for being black, for example.\n\nThe problem is, of course, it will get thrown out in a hurry. The majority of baseless lawsuits like this are thrown out, but there are cases where it is cheaper for the company to settle than to fight in court to have it thrown out, and that is where you see settlements reached. Businesses will do whatever is most cost-effective."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
41mhkt
|
why the ratings on netflix are so different from imbd or rotten tomatoes.
|
A movie or show will get 5 stars on Netflix, but only a 20% on RT!? Or it will get one star on Netflix and a 90% on RT 😠
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41mhkt/eli5why_the_ratings_on_netflix_are_so_different/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cz3hhxo"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"As I understand it, the ratings on Netflix aren't so much ratings as a guess of how much you would like it based on your viewing history."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
5b3v9w
|
why are so many of samsung's seemingly unrelated (washing machines and tablets) catching fire or exploding?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5b3v9w/eli5_why_are_so_many_of_samsungs_seemingly/
|
{
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"d9ltkqq",
"d9ltwlb"
],
"score": [
14,
111,
10,
7,
23,
2,
19,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"The tablets/phones were a result of the company switching to a cheaper manufacturer for their lithium ion batteries, which is the same reason hover boards explode. If they're overcharged or poorly made, the batteries overheat and the components are incredibly flammable. \n\nThe washing machines are unrelated to the lithium batteries. Instead, to save on costs, Samsung scrimped on securing the tops of the washing machines appropriately and they are causing the machines to explode.\n\nPut simply: stuff is exploding because Samsung is trying to save costs on manufacturing.",
"Samsung's smart phones catching fire isn't something that never happens with other types of phones, but it was happening more frequently with their phones due to a faulty battery design. This prompted a recall and a huge media focus on the company for allowing such a thing to be released.\n\nWashing machines also sometimes break or even catch fire from any manufacturer. But due to the media focus on Samsung anything that goes wrong with their company name attached is worthy of a story. So even if their washers didn't catch fire any more than other manufactureres and the incident wasn't due to design defect, they would still get it reported far more than other manufacturers would.\n\nProbably Samsung has lax quality control for quite a while now and the phone incident is just increasing the awareness, meaning media has reason to hang onto all the other things which were happening before but were beneath their notice.",
"Contrary to popular belief, the quality of manufactured products in Korea are quite bad. If you spend any time there on a product line you will be asking yourself \"why arent more of these exploding\" \n\nSource: best friend spent 2 years in Korea building the largest oil platform in the world, after it was finished and shipped to Singapore the client made them re-do almost everything because the quality was not up to par (ex. Turbines meant to move and keep the platform afloat were not water tight.... And yeah they are suppose to be in the water foreved). And just FYI they are still repairing. \n\nTL;DR: Korea's quality standards arent what you think. ",
"Usually situations like this are precipitated by competitive forces causing manufacturers to rush new products to market without adequate testing, in order to gain/regain market share.",
"the washing machines are not exploding, that's just a clickbait headline.\n\nthe washing machine spins at high speed and if the drum is unbalanced the vibrations can cause the washing machine to break apart physically. it can tip over, flood etc.",
"Im one of the people having problems with my Samsung Washer. When it goes into spin cycle it gets off balance or something and slams around and the machine shuts it off with a DC warning error. The dampening springs or whatever holds it all in place is broken and poorly made. I have a company coming out to my house in a week to fix my washer. It has been broken for over six months and I have been trying to get Samsung to come fix the damn thing for 6 months and just yesterday they finally caved because of the recall. Im never buying a Samsung product again. They make things poorly and dodge bullets for as long as they can when they break. ",
"Don't quote me on this but my business professor brought up how out of all the companies that send batteries out to be tested by external professionals Samsung tests power sources on their own",
"The media loves these stories and keeps on milking it. Then people fall for the media scare. For years, electronic appliances and cell phones have been failing and in extreme cases catching on fire. It's just that there's increased exposure to these stories this year because the Note 7 had a fatal design flaw.\n\nI also agree that a extremely competitive technology cycle causes devices to be rushed and poorly tested.",
"me: Remember that time in school when little Suzy copied your math homework and got an A for it?\n\nJohnny: Yeah...\n\nme: Well, who was the real student?\n\nJohnny: I was!\n\nme: So did Suzy really know anything about the math?\n\nJohnny: No...\n\nme: Did Suzy carefully check the work to make sure nothing was wrong with it before giving it to the teacher?\n\nJohnny: No...\n\nMe: Well... Its like that with appliances. Someone is copying the work of others to get it to the shops as quickly as possible, without really understanding whats happening or checking the quality of the work.\n\nJohnny: But why are Samsung copying others?\n\nMe: Ahhh, you're talking about the cultural aspects of innovation and intellectual property. That's an ELI5 for another day Johhny. Clever boy.\n\nedit:line breaks"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
4y7mhk
|
how is every pixel on a monitor controlled individually?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4y7mhk/eli5how_is_every_pixel_on_a_monitor_controlled/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d6lmgd7",
"d6lnu4s",
"d6m2xad"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
6
],
"text": [
"I think your question relates to how can we reference so many pixels with so few data lines.\n\nThe answer is simply that the monitor updates one pixel at a time (starting from the top left corner). \n\nThis is actually why VSync is so important in video games. VSync means that the reference image that is being sent to the monitor only gets changed when the update process reaches the bottom of the screen. Otherwise, you end up with two different pictures for the top and bottom of the screen (which creates a visual artifact known as \"banding\").",
"There are really two questions here. First is how can the computer change the pixels that fast, then the second is how does the display actually change the pixel.\n\nThe first is rather easy, the computer is simply able to calculate things really fast. If I gave you 1,000 simple math problems of something like 1+2 or 5-3, it probably wouldn't take you that long to do each one, but when you have thousands or even millions or billions of those to do, it would take you a very long time. The computer is able to do it many many many times faster in the blink of an eye. So really its able to calculate a value that represents a color for a single pixel in an amount of time that is so short, you probably couldn't even comprehend.\n\nThe second part really depends on the display technology. The pixel colors are changed typically by adjusting voltages to the individual pixels. In the old CRT days, electrons were shot at the front screen to represent on or off. Today something like a LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) works by filtering out different light sources kind of how your polarized glasses work. So if i send the pixel a signal to filter out red, the blue and yellow still get through and you get a green pixel.\n\nThats about the best I can ELI5 it, [this](_URL_0_) explains it a bit more.",
"ACTUAL ANSWER: most screens are subdivided into squares or columns of pixels. The actual pixels are made up of 3 subpixels. Yes, each subpixel has two wires going to it, usually one wire above going up and down and another line under the going sideways, like a grid with subpixels located at the intersections. Inside the screen there are \"column driver\" chips that take binary address along with color and intensity and convert it to a signal to drive the subpixels. If your monitor is say 1920x1080, you can have twenty 192x540 blocks each driven by their own driver. All these chips are then connected to the master chip that takes input from your videocard, does address conversion from x,y,intensity to column,x,y,intensity. This master chip has very few data lines coming from the videocard. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"http://www.explainthatstuff.com/lcdtv.html"
],
[]
] |
||
69f1cz
|
what makes prince charles so unpopular?
|
Was it a certain event or many events that make the general populace want to bypass him straight to William? As a child growing up I remember unpopularity due to his infidelity to Diana, but was that the only reason?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69f1cz/eli5_what_makes_prince_charles_so_unpopular/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dh61awq",
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],
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11,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Oh it's a lot... for a lot of people he's just seen as a moron, he believes in homeopathy... that kind of thing. \n\nIt's not that he's seen as a bad person, just... a complete tool. There's an excellent answer by one David Stewart over on Quora:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n > He's never really been a man of the people. He has a very posh voice, a very aloof demeanour and his attempts to connect with average people often comes across looking like someone desperately trying to conceal their true feelings, which appear to be a sort of baffled contempt.\n\n > While Britain is trying to modernise he still comes across as a guy who hasn't found anything funny since the Goon Show stopped broadcasting and only likes music if it's older than he is.\n\n > It doesn't help that the issues he seems to really care about don't connect with the people at all. While many of his subjects are struggling to make ends meet and concerned about big issues of the day, Prince Charles is really, really concerned about modern architecture which he loathes and despises. Instead of getting passionate about the state of public schooling or the something that affects people's day to day lives, he gets worked up because someone is designing a building he doesn't like. He's also concerned about the fact that scientific based medicine that has been tested and found effective takes precedence over homeopathy in the NHS. Something that hasn't endeared him to the medical profession and a lot of other people.\n\n > Of course what really drove the last nail in the coffin of his public perception was the fact that he was cheating on his beloved and adored and attractive young wife Diana with the unpopular, hated, older and unattractive Camilla. It was seen as a betrayal of the People's Princess (whose infidelity was forgiven for some reason).\n",
"The extreme popularity of Diana coupled with his perceived ill-treatment of her is a factor. He has always been the epitome of unearned privilege in contrast to her common touch, and aside from choosing the right parents, he is pretty unremarkable. Yet he feels completely entitled to his station and seems to have little concern for everyday people. He seems more concerned about architecture and peddling homeopathy than the concerns of his country.\n\nThe fact that his mother has been such a strong and long-lived figure has also made it hard to for him get out from under her shadow. Next to her he appears weak as a person and as a man.\n\n",
"It will be different things for different people.\n\nHere's my view - not a definitive view, just my view.\n\nI'm a huge fan of the Queen. I think she does her job brilliantly. And one of the main reasons for that is because I have absolutely no idea how she feels about anything. I don't know which way she leans politically, what her views are on Europe, how she feels about climate change... and those are just the big issues. I also have no idea how she feels about little issues.\n\nThe Queen is a perfect figurehead, but is completely, totally impartial as far as I can tell.\n\nAs for Charles - well, I know far too much about how he feels on a range of subjects. Just look at some of the other responses here, which describe what he likes, how he feels about things, what his opinions are on certain subjects. For me, I couldn't really care about any of those things *so long as he keeps them to himself*. It's the fact that he apparently *can't* keep them to himself, unlike his mother, that makes me feel he won't be a great monarch."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Prince-Charles-unpopular"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
w0dko
|
what's with the sudden increase of children being born with downs syndrome?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/w0dko/eli5_whats_with_the_sudden_increase_of_children/
|
{
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"c595jcd",
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],
"score": [
18,
18,
12
],
"text": [
"Is there a sudden increase of children being born with Downs Syndrome? Do you have evidence of this?",
"As a whole, Women are giving birth later in life than in previous decades. That increases the odds of a child being born with DS exponentially.",
"When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much and decide they want to have a baby, they have sex. When this happens, a sperm from daddy fertilizes an egg from mommy and this makes a baby. The sperm and the egg both have a special thing in them called DNA that makes you who you are. So the sperm has half of daddy's DNA, and the egg has half of mommy's. That's why you look like a combination of daddy and mommy.\n\nNow, the reason that the sperm and egg both have only have half the DNA is because they are made by a process called meiosis. Your DNA isn't in your cells randomly, it's found in these big chunks called \"chromosomes.\" In meiosis, there are little structures in the cell called centrioles that puuuulllllllll the chromosomes apart. In Down Syndrome, the centrioles just aren't working too well and they don't pull the chromosomes apart well enough, and the egg has an extra chromosome, so the baby gets a little too much DNA.\n\nNow, the other things that happen when a daddy and a mommy love each other very much is that a daddy respects the fact that mommy wants to go to work and have a job. This means that mommy and daddy may wait a few more years before deciding they want to have a baby. Daddy and mommy also make less money at work today than grandpa did when he was young, so mommy might not even want a job, but she has to get one because otherwise mommy and daddy might end up living in a cardboard box. So today, there are a lot more mommies in the workplace than there were in the 70s, and those mommies are choosing to have babies later than they used to.\n\nThe problem is, the older a mommy is when she makes an egg, the more likely those centrioles in her cells won't work right, and the more likely they won't pull apart those chromosomes. Which means that there's a bigger chance that they'll have babies with Down Syndrome."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
fdr7z8
|
how are the photos from the rover so clear?
|
The new pictures from the mars rover are incredible, but I would think the camera lenses would be filthy due to the wind and dirt. Obviously, there’s no one there to wipe the stuff away, so how are the photos so clear?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fdr7z8/eli5_how_are_the_photos_from_the_rover_so_clear/
|
{
"a_id": [
"fjjgs0y"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"The atmosphere on Mars is less than 1% as thick as Earth's, so yes, there's wind, but even a 60mph wind on Mars has the same amount of force as a gentle breeze. The wind can only pick up the tiniest particles. It's just as likely to clean the camera than to deposit dust on it. There's also no grease or moisture or macroscopic dirt that can make the camera dirty, just extremely fine dust that gets blown off very easily. Almost all of the cameras are either pointed slightly downward or are steerable so they can point in any direction to avoid dust accumulation."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
4w43y6
|
why your signature is as valid a form of verification as your fingerprints?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4w43y6/eli5_why_your_signature_is_as_valid_a_form_of/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d63sb9r"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Your question is worded incorrectly. It isn't valid verification. It's an acknowledgement. It's basically the company saying we obtained an acknowledgement from the person claiming to be said person. You can dispute nearly anything, especially in America. But you would have to claim that you were being impersonated or that your card was stolen. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
5s765c
|
why didn't any other species make as many advancements as humans?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5s765c/eli5_why_didnt_any_other_species_make_as_many/
|
{
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"text": [
"It's because we have incredible curiosity and a high ability to adapt to new environments and situations.",
"A couple things really. First of all, when pre-man descended from the trees they relied more heavily on the use of their hands to manipulate the environment through foraging techniques. It is theorized that this is what led to the increased frontal lobe size on humans, which in turn leads to better cognitive ability.",
"There's this book called *Sapiens* that argues that it is the human ability to communally believe in the imaginary which largely allowed us to develop to this point. \n\nOther social animals have to spend a significant amount of time developing their social structures and relationships. They have to spend time with others to learn to trust them and work together. There is a limit to how many other individuals you can keep track of socially. For homo sapiens this limit is claimed to be ~150.\n\nBecause of this we have (almost) no evidence of primates or other human species such as the Neanderthal living or cooperating in groups that exceed some limit. Humans are different because we make up and tell stories about imaginary things such as a national or religious identity that large groups of people can subscribe to. This gives them something in common and a basis for mutual trust between strangers.\n\nBy imaginary I don't mean that something is a lie or fake, just that it is not a real world object. Since humans who have never met can identify with each other due to this shared imaginary thing they are more willing to trust and work in a group with large amounts of strangers. Scientific and social progress is often the result of such collaborations. It also allows for increasingly large groups to concentrate their resources/capital. This is also why homo sapiens were able to easily outcompete, or perhaps directly eliminate, the other species of humans. Hundreds of homo sapiens can easily defeat a few dozen Neanderthals despite being inferior in strength and brain size.\n\nI don't know how extensive the evidence is for this theory. But on its surface it seams reasonable. ",
"My personal theory is, because we have language that allows us to describe abstract scenarios, our understanding of each other allowed us to communicate and live communally in a way no other species has. Some animals communicate, we know that, but they don't use language like we do. We can say \"remember what happened yesterday?\" Or \"if only we had a tool to perform this task\". Animals might be able to make a sound to say \"watch out for that hawk\" but they can't say \"hey remember that hawk from yesterday?\" (Look up Prairie Dog Yips if you want to know more about animal \"language\"). ",
"A key factor in human development has been *language*. Once one human comes up with a cool idea, they can share it with another human, who in turn can turn it into a cooler language. Without language, we would literally have to reinvent the wheel every generation.\n\nSo it isn't so much that humans are a whole lot smarter than other animals. It is that we were the first to get smart enough to invent language, and language allows us to transmit and save (with writing) our knowledge to each generation can know a little bit more than the one before."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1myb7c
|
why do we find things like a emergency warning to be creepy or eerie?
|
I have seen a few answers for this, and watched the vsauce video about why things are creepy. But why are emergency warnings so creepy sounding? There was a nuclear warning I saw (that was real but never used) that just have me the shivers. I don't understand why this is, an all the reasons I saw I don't really understand.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1myb7c/eli5_why_do_we_find_things_like_a_emergency/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ccdqzbt"
],
"score": [
4
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"text": [
"It's more the association of a warning with something bad. For example, if the first time you met a puppy, it bit you really bad, the next time somebody said lets go get a puppy, you would probably be nervous. The same thing applies when hearing a tornado siren, when in previous times you heard it, there was a tornado in the area.\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
24wa8i
|
why are some people more affected by seeing something traumatic than others
|
Why do NSFL videos not affect me in any way but to some people they are traumatizing? Does it have to do with what kind of environment they grew up in or how much violence they had seen before?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24wa8i/eli5why_are_some_people_more_affected_by_seeing/
|
{
"a_id": [
"chbazsa",
"chbgbpg"
],
"score": [
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2
],
"text": [
"Some people have way more empathy than others. ",
"A combination of nature vs nurture. Some people can be desensitized, others might have never seen anything worse than a simple cut. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2slg7z
|
this feeling like everything is loud and intense and urgent, hands feel enormous
|
Ive had these experiences since i was pretty young and it usually happens when im in nearly complete silence. Sometimes i get this overwhelming feeling of urgency and everything i hear or say is super intense. For example ill have one of these "attacks" and to try to surpress it ill turn on some cartoons(spongebob usually). Even if its a rerun that ive nearly memorized, everything that comes out of the characters mouth seems sped up and has this "urgent" vibe to it. I have not been able to reproduce these feeelings and ive always wondered why this happens.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2slg7z/eli5_this_feeling_like_everything_is_loud_and/
|
{
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"text": [
"My hands looked huge when I was trippin balls on acid",
"I used to have this same exact feeling when I was little. Usually when I was laying in bed about to fall asleep. It's weird thinking about it now, but interesting that other people experience the same thing! It's very difficult to describe to someone who doesn't know what it feels like.",
"I think I know what you're talking about. I used to get a feeling as a kid a lot, and still get it time to time. I always called it the \"I am\" feeling, because it felt like for a second I was completely aware of how weird it was to be a consciousness inside a body, and how weird this body was, and wow, look at my hands, they look so weird! It would happen when I was looking in a mirror, a lot, too, and I'd always want to go distract myself because it was really overwhelming.\n\nBasically feels like uber self-awareness to me. And like a reminder of my mortality, too. Kind of scary but also kind of cool, a feeling like deja vu or something."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1n2uen
|
alaska is known for its prolonged days and nights, what makes this happen?
|
I understand the basics of the day and night cycle, but how can one part of the earth seemingly have its own cycle?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1n2uen/eli5_alaska_is_known_for_its_prolonged_days_and/
|
{
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"cceweh9",
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"text": [
"The latitude of the area causes that to happen. Because it is located closer to the North Pole, it gets more prolonged amounts of day and night during the winter and summer.\n\nIt's not LY5, but this explains it better than I can.\n_URL_0_",
"The earth is tilted on it's axis (when compared to the axis of rotation around the sun). Because of this tilt, the further north you are, you are exposed to more sunlight as it gets closer to the summer solstice and less when are closer to the winter solstice. It's hard to explain without pictures.",
"It's just that the USA seems to pretend that Alaska is the only inhabited land at that latitude - there's a lot of other land similarly North with their own communities and they are all subject to the same thing. (So is the South Pole too.)\n\nAs /u/schrutebucks says it's the latitude causing the difference in day/night due to the tilt of the Earth giving the polar regions an exaggerated form of the same thing that causes longer days and nights throughout the year on the whole of the globe. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"http://www.alaska.com/2008/10/16/1920/daylight-and-darkness.html"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
d3zdmv
|
how did pacific islanders carry enough water with them for long sea voyages?
|
Their boats don't seem like they were very big. The Pacific is freaking enormous. At least for the discovery/ exploration phase, they didn't know where they were going. How did they manage to carry enough food and water (but especially water) to make those crossings?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d3zdmv/eli5_how_did_pacific_islanders_carry_enough_water/
|
{
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"text": [
"They had some versions of their boats that were enormous. These could carry a lot. They commonly kept chickens on-board for eggs, and kept water in jars and other containers. They also did a lot of their early colonizing when sea levels were lower and there were more islands to go to.",
"Bags of water, coconuts, and rain collection, mostly. Probably some hydration from food. Bring as much as you can when you don’t know where you’re going.\n\nI suspect if they ran out long enough, they perished.\n\nWasn’t just Pacific Islanders with that problem, though. I’m sure early Europeans or Africans didn’t know how wide the Mediterranean or Atlantic are. Asians and Africans with the Indian Ocean, too. Surely the other seafarers from Asia into the Pacific, but not the islanders, ran into the same problems.",
"It rains a lot over the ocean. It's easy to replenish your water barrels if you sail during the rainy months.",
"You want to read The Kon Tiki Expedition by Thor Heyerdahl. \n\n\nKon-Tiki carried 1,040 litres (275 US gal) of drinking water in 56 water cans, as well as a number of sealed bamboo rods. The purpose stated by Heyerdahl for carrying modern and ancient containers was to test the effectiveness of ancient water storage. For food Kon-Tiki carried 200 coconuts, sweet potatoes, bottle gourds and other assorted fruit and roots. \n\n\nAnd the answer in the book - the traditional containers and coconuts preserved liquid better than modern tins. The rafts themselves were plenty big enough to carry large quantities of food and water.",
"They were a bit bigger than you might think, often 50-60 feet and consisting of two hulls with a platform across the middle.\n\n_URL_2_\n\nFor reference, this is comparable or slightly longer than the Nina and Pinta. \n\nPolynesians stored water in gourds and bamboo segments, drank from coconuts, and captured rainwater. In a pinch, fish and sea turtle blood is also drinkable. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nIn fact, though, their voyages were actually more impressive because colonization voyages brought not only people and the food they needed, but also an entire agricultural suite, including a wide array of domesticated plants as well as pigs, dogs, and chickens.\n\n_URL_1_",
"More importantly, they apparently navigated with their testicles [_URL_1_](_URL_0_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/canoe_living/holmes_provisioning.html",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_plants_and_animals_of_Austronesia",
"http://archive.hokulea.com/ike/kalai_waa/kane_search_voyaging_canoe.html"
],
[
"http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/friends/Technology_of_Oceania.pdf",
"http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/friends/Technology\\_of\\_Oceania.pdf"
]
] |
|
5v49di
|
why are hostage takers not considered terrorists and negotiable?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5v49di/eli5_why_are_hostage_takers_not_considered/
|
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"text": [
"Terrorism is as much defined by the goals as by the acts. If you go blow up a plane because you're angry at your ex who is on the flight crew, that's not really terrorism. Terrorism requires a political motive and the desire to put fear into the population.\n\nSomebody with a hostage may or may not have a political motive.\n\nBeyond that, \"don't negotiate with terrorists\" doesn't mean you won't talk to them, simply that their political demands will never be granted. Trying to talk them into giving up peacefully because their situation is hopeless is a different sense of the word.\n\nNo hostage take will ever get a million dollars and safe passage to Mexico but still want to resolve the situation without the loss of life so we try to talk them down.",
"If we negotiate with people who take hostages and give them what they want, then they win. Now more people will know that hostages are useful for getting what they want. If you have a flat always followed rule that says you will never negotiate and you stick to it, then people planning large hostage acts will know that it won't get them anything. ",
"One of them makes impossible demands and is willing to risk his own life, while the other one (probably) wants to get out alive with a demand that can be fulfilled.",
"Because contrary to popular belief, \"terrorism\" has a meaning beyond \"bad people who do bad things we don't like\".\n\nTerrorism is about acts of violence directed against civilian targets with the goal of political change.\n\nAlso, hostage \"negotiators\" rarely negotiate in any meaningful way. They are really hostage manipulators, who are there to wear the hostage taker down and try to maneuver them into a position where the standoff can be ended.",
"Terrorism is by definition an action taken to instill terror in the general public for political motives. People taking hostages rarely do so to instill terror in the public, and even more rarely do so for political purposes. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
by1lc5
|
when people talk about nuclear waste, what are they really talking about? whats in those scary barrels buried deep in a bunker if it isn't "glowing green goo?"
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/by1lc5/eli5_when_people_talk_about_nuclear_waste_what/
|
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"text": [
"Any kind of byproduct that is radioactive. The main one is spent fuel. Nuclear power plants take a fuel (typically enriched uranium). When this fuel us used (fission) other radioactive elements are produced until what you have is a mixture that can no longer undergo fission anymore, but is still radioactive.\n\nThis waste is either recycled, or if that's deemed to expensive, put in a barrel, allowed to cool off in a vat of water, then stuck somewhere relatively safe for the next thousand years (e.g. concrete bunker underground).",
"It’s not just the spent fuel. It’s all sorts. Gloves that workers used. Paint scrapings from the last time the teacher hall was refurbished. Pipes from the coolant system. They might be low-level but they’re still radioactive and into the figurative barrel they go.",
"There are different classes of nuclear waste. Low level radioactive (rad) waste is broken down into different classifications. It can be anything from gloves and paper suits worn in containment or resin beds or filters. It’s disposed in special facilities based on its classification. \n\nHigh level waste includes spent fuel. Nuclear fuel is uranium pellets (sort of the size of an eraser on top of a pencil) that are assembled into rods and then the rods make up a bundle. Once the fuel is removed from the core, it goes into spent fuel pools, which are literally just pools of water. The spent fuel will hang out there for a while, just chilling (literally and figuratively). Eventually, the rods will be moved into longer-term storage. This was originally supposed to be Yucca Mountain (in the US at least). That facility was paid for by operating nuclear plants, but was never opened. Instead, nuclear plants usually move their spent fuel into dry cask storage. This is a big coke can looking thing that just holds the fuel. The fuel is, remember, still in rods. So you just plop it in the giant coke can and seal it up. They hang around outside the nuclear plant. Not in a deep bunker, just like chilling outside. \n\nAlthough it sounds like there’s just nuclear waste everywhere, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not a sludge (if you’re talking about fuel). It’s a stable solid rod. And the amount of rods we’re talking here is not a lot. In fact, it’s really not an issue at all for plants to continue to store spent fuel on site, it’s just kind of a paperwork pain. \n\nAt this time, there’s no way to recycle spent fuel in the US (I don’t think).",
"Mt grandfather briefly hauled low grade waste from the Pickering nuclear facility in Ontario. What he hauled were booties, masks, coveralls and such, any low grade contamination. That all got put into barrels, which was then sealed in over-barrels and hauled away somewhere. No body worries too much about that stuff though.\n\nThe dangerous stuff is the spent fuel from the reactor. Calling it spent though is very misleading. It is still quite radioactive and will be for a very VERY long time. It's just that the active isotopes in it have decayed to the point where it just doesn't get hot enough for efficient operation of the reactor. In addition, depending on the exact fuel in question, the products made by nuclear decay can themselves inhibit nuclear reactions. So not only does it not get \"hot\" enough any more, it will actively absorb \"hot\" from the neighbouring rods. This stuff amounts to **small rods of black ceramic material** that would feel quite hot to the touch. They could be hot enough to burn you from thermal energy alone, in addition to the radiation burns you'd receive. So at most generation facilities, they have cooling ponds full of water. Water is a decent moderator of radiation. Depending on how deep the top layer of barrels are, you could survive swimming across the pool. But diving down to touch them would kill you. \n\nThe big problem with these cooling ponds is that they are only so big. They were designed to be \\_temporary\\_ holding pens until they were safe enough to shop to a central facility for disposal or re-processing. But, for a variety of reasons, fear of nuclear power being high on the list, the central facility never got built and power companies haven't been able to get permission to build bigger pools. (many of American reactors are still inn use decades after their design life and keep getting recertified because they don't have a good way to get rid of the waste, they can't get permission to build new reactors and we need the power too much to shut them down.) As a result, we have quite elderly reactor designs chugging away producing power and cooling ponds that are over capacity. \n\nAnd, as others have said, having a facility to reprocess that fuel into new fuel comes up hard against fears of nuclear proliferation. The reason we have spent fuel that can be turned into weapons is because of a political choice made in the US during the Cold War. Thorium cycle reactors could produce just as much power or more from an even more abundant fuel than uranium. The down side was that it doesn't produce Uranium-238 or Plutonium-239 which are needed for nuclear weapons. So the gov't supported the development of Uranium-235 reactors. \n\nThe total amount of \"spent fuel\" amounts to a football field sized stack of ceramic slugs six and a half stories high. But, for a number of reasons, it can't be stored that compactly."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
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] |
||
7z6dto
|
what's a pki
|
I'd like to know what is the meaning of PKI and what does it has to do with certificates in the most simple way
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7z6dto/eli5_whats_a_pki/
|
{
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"text": [
"Public Key Infrastructure is any infrastructure for distributing public encryption or signing keys. In public key cryptography you create a private key that can be used for either decrypt or signing documents. The other end needs a matching public key to be able to encrypt or verify the signature. So the problem is how to get a verified copy of the public key. If you just get sent a public key though the same channels as you send the messages you can not make sure who you are communicating with. There are a few approaches for how to fix this. SSL and TLS solves this by requiring that a private key is sent with a certificate which is signed by a trusted third party. That certificate can again have a certificate for its authenticity so you may end up with a chain of certificates. In the end you have to have a certificate from someone the other party have already approved, a root certificate. Most browsers come with a number of different root certificates. There are also other PKI out there that may contact trusted third party to verify the private key or looking up in a database for a chain of certificates between the two parties."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1usszs
|
when a freight train passes by, why do some of the waggons make much more noise than others?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1usszs/eli5_when_a_freight_train_passes_by_why_do_some/
|
{
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"text": [
"They are empty. Hollow is louder than filled.",
"waggons? how old are the trains you are looking at?",
"Flat spots on the wheels develop over time as a result of the braking action, especially on cars that get switched more often (for example a box car which goes to several different customers will be more likely to develop flat spots than a coal car that goes between Point A and Point B.) This is the source of the thunk-thunk-thunk you'll hear as certain cars go by."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
4ytge1
|
long term damage of watching r rated movies at a young age.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ytge1/eli5long_term_damage_of_watching_r_rated_movies/
|
{
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"It really depends. Honestly I don't think we know enough about the human brain, emotional trauma, the effects of media, what stages the brain starts to understand the difference between make believe and real life, etc. Personally I was scarred a lot more by watching Arachnophobia, which is not rated R, than I ever have by any R rated movie. And consider that human beings, including children, have been dealing with real life trauma for millennia. Only in the past 100 years or so, and even then only in some places, have we eliminated most external real life traumatizing events. Children in western nations don't have to deal with plagues or wars destroying villages and wiping out family members left and right. And even then, children who grew up in WWII Europe did have to deal with that. That's a hell of a lot more traumatic than a movie. Imagine what it must have been like to be a child in the Middle Ages, or to be a child taken by the Roman army and sold into slavery. A movie doesn't really compare to that. \n\nPsychologists are still debating nature vs. nurture, the effects of media, etc on human mental development. Some children can grow up in a war torn African nation and become Nobel Prize winners, other children can grow up in comfortable middle class America and become serial killers. We don't really know enough about all of the factors that go into this to really say at this point why and how this happens. ",
"1. IT was a made for TV movie, not an R rated film. Just needed to get that out of the way.\n\n2. Seeing images that you don't understand can lead your brain to fill in the gaps in ways that could potentially be dangerous, or cause you problems later in life. \n\nI haven't seen Deadpool, so let's use a made up R rated film. Our fake movie contains a scene with a vicious rape. A child is shown the film without any context from their parents to help them understand what they are seeing.\n\nThey may end with fear surrounding sexual feelings during puberty because of the \"scary\" scene in the movie."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
cp3d0b
|
how / when did having a first and last name become global commonplace?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cp3d0b/eli5_how_when_did_having_a_first_and_last_name/
|
{
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"The second name was usually used as a job description, rather than an actual name, but you’d still have differentiate between them, thus first names. Over the time those jobs formed the last names. \nI.e.: “John the Smith” became “John Smith”\n\nEdit: Spelling, cause me dumb dumb",
"Another variation is that the last name was usually where a person was from. Like Catherine de Sevilla. Drop the “de” and Sevilla just becomes a last name. Although I do know some who still keep “de” as apart of their last name.",
"It isn’t a universal thing, first off. Icelandic, Burmese, Javanese, and many East Africans still don’t use them. In some cultures, like Japan, their use is also a relatively new thing.",
"Just look at Leonardo Di Vinci. He was born as a child out of wedlock. Hence, he was known as Leonardo of Vinci, where he was born. No last name, per se.",
"Two separate orgins: The Chinese started it many millennia ago for their census needs , the Europeans started it (inspired by the Chinese, maybe or maybe not) many hundreds of years ago.\n\nNow, the Europeans IMPOSED this on all the societies they colonized - often times, AGAINST the will of the people. Some cultures were matriarchal and disagreed with this patriarchal system, some didn't understand why it was necessary, one name is enough. Even today, there are cultures that find this weird and are trying to get the system rolled back (good luck with that!).",
"Isn’t that how last names like miller, baker, fletcher came about? In a smallish village, Adam was the one of the only smiths so Adam Smith. \n\nI like how in Scandinavia, you get a lot of -son names. Erikson, Henderson. Robertson.\nBasically, a long time ago, a guy named Robert.... had a son.",
"I don’t think anyone really answered your question. I know that surnames became common in Europe for census purposes, in the 1500s. There is a good description of this in the book “From Dawn to Decadence”.",
"We only have them because of colonization. They were pretty much forced on us. \nPrior to that, our last names were the name of our people. That or if you became well known there was usually a description of your personality in there. So I would be Tane O Porou if I didn't do anything of significance, and probably Tane, Smartass of Porou if I became known.",
"My family comes from Norway. About 9 generations back the father/son names go Sven Ralphson, Ralph Svenson, Sven Ralphson, Ralph Svenson. (It's not Ralph, but I can't remember the name). \n\nBasically, it depends on ehat naming pattern they follow. Is your last name your trade, your father's or mother's first name with a suffix of son or daughter, or your parents' surname?\n\nHunter can be a first or last name and is common in both instances. Names like Jackson are common, Anderson less so. If your family's surname is Douglas you'll all likely have two first names.",
"Though not an immediately obvious answer, the Parish Registers of the late 1500’s are where many current surnames came from. As both a form of census and religious delineation in England it was important to have an accurate record and knowledge of the parishioners and their relationships to one another. “Can’t just be writing “John” down, now can we? Tell me something about yourself. You run a smithy? John Smith it is then.” More here on how it became a common European convention: _URL_0_",
"When: depends on where\n\nHow: They first started out as nicknames. Let's say you had two guys named James in a village. And to distinguish between them you'd describe them, like \"James the smith\" or \"James, the son of George\" or \"James, not that one, the funny one\"",
"So almost everyone here sucks at answering your question.\n\nFor general populace It generally started with censuses that required more precise population tallies. Nobles would usually have a second name or title attached to their name. China and Rome started super early with censuses but Rome fell. European countries started censuses, and last names, in the 1500s but even Western Europe only wrapped up the practice with the Napoleonic conquest as at least the Netherlands were forced to pick names. From European Colonial powers everywhere else followed suit because Europe conquered everywhere with the posted exceptions.\n\nedit woke up, did some fixes.",
"I am from India. We had first and last names since the start of the Indian civilization. The purpose of the last name was 1) to tell others which tribe/family/village you belonged to so that it is easy to identify you and 2) genetic diversity: we have a system of gotra. Gotra defined the genetic circle you belonged to so that you do not end up marrying your distant cousins etc. and result in genetic problems. point 1 and 2 were used as last names.\n\nFirst name was just to give us a unique identity. With common first names and no last name, it would be difficult to figure out which guy/girl we are referring to. Middle name was used to further narrow down. Middle name was mostly father's name.\n\nNote: I am not an expert.",
"In a word: Napoleon, when he conquered most of Europe he force the the newly incorporated countries to conform to the new French laws and customs now called the Napoleonic code and is the basis for most European law (im not sure if it still is youll need to check that) but amongst the reforms was to force the citizens to have legal last/family names. Im not sure how widely spread the use of legal family names was before the Revolution but i do knwo that in The Netherlands most people thought it would only last a few years so loads of people choose very silly names, my Grandmother's maiden name translate to Fish Hook and ive heard that one family took the name Poope (i cant validate that)\n\nTLDR: There is probably a lot that im missing from this but what i learnt was the Napoleon force much of Europe to conform with French law which included having a LEGAL last name (probably for taxation purposes)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parish_register"
],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1recgd
|
how does google calculate the usage of words?
|
I don't know how many of you use Google to define words, but if you click the arrow to expand after defining a word you can see it's usage. Does anyone know how Google calculates this?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1recgd/eli5how_does_google_calculate_the_usage_of_words/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdmen2i"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Basically, they have a database, known as a \"corpus,\" that consists of the text of a whole bunch of books, periodicals, and such from 1850 to the present, so they can figure out how often any given word appears in that database for any given period of time.\n\nYou can play around with the data using the [Google Ngram Viewer](_URL_0_). If you click on the graph they give you for usage, it'll also take you to the Ngram Viewer."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[
"https://books.google.com/ngrams"
]
] |
|
6z3tmp
|
why are class action lawsuits settled for such low amounts that are usually less than actual damages, especially when there is a high chance of winning in court?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6z3tmp/eli5_why_are_class_action_lawsuits_settled_for/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dmsa4lq"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Long trials are very expensive, and the lawyers for the class representatives normally get the costs from the amount they win. There is also an element of unpredictability--you can never be quite sure what a jury will decide and, if you win, how much you will be awarded. This means it can be in their clients' best interest to take an early settlement."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
9744if
|
how do "active"/powered styluses work?
|
Adonit Dash works with no Bluetooth even??
And how are some device specific, like Adonit Pixel/Apple pencil?
I'm so confused by these powered styluses
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9744if/eli5_how_do_activepowered_styluses_work/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e45s2vm"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"For things that work* before you touch the screen (like the pen for my surface pro 3) it uses a type of NFC tech (Near Feild Connection(?)) that communicates with sensors in the screen to tell the computer the approximate X and Y axis location of the pen so it can put a virtual cursor on the screen. \n\nWhen the pen touches the screen it either uses capacitive touch-mimicking tech like those found on those cheapo phone styluses or a pressure sensor in either the pen or the screen. Typically the capacitive styluses are quicker to respond but the pressure sensor ones are a bit more accurate. I may be flipped around on that last statement though \n\n*work as in: show a cursor before you touch the screen"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
5458ig
|
why do we feel the movement of a car, such as turning and slowing down, more than we feel the movements and changes of speed in an airplane?
|
You know how you lurch forward or lean to a side when the car slows down or makes a relatively fast turn. Why is it not the same when an airplane banks or slows down?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5458ig/eli5_why_do_we_feel_the_movement_of_a_car_such_as/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d7zdtjq",
"d7zj5jv"
],
"score": [
6,
5
],
"text": [
"It is the same. Commercial airliners just don't make relatively hard maneuvers in most cases, so it's like someone making gentle turns or more slowly changing speed. Fighter jets, on the other hand, can produce a *lot* more g-forces than cars do.",
"The standard turn rate for an airplane is 3degrees/sec, which is a full 360-degree turn in 2 minutes -- _URL_0_\n\nCompare this to when you make a 90-degree turn in a car -- you do that turn in a lot less than 30 seconds!"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_rate_turn"
]
] |
|
2p4ao3
|
some bodybuilders build muscle for looks, not strength. how does that work? how do they not get super strong at the same time?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2p4ao3/eli5_some_bodybuilders_build_muscle_for_looks_not/
|
{
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"cmt89l9",
"cmt8fte",
"cmtbq2a"
],
"score": [
2,
8,
2
],
"text": [
"They do get super-strong. Just not as strong as the powerlifting/truck-toting types, because they try to maintain minimal body fat at the same time. ",
"Most bodybuilders, actually, are really strong. One goes to my gym, he squats 550lbs and incline benches 450lbs for reps. It's not that bodybuilders aren't strong, it's just that they aren't as strong as a comparably trained strongman or powerlifter.\n\nSo, there are a couple reasons for this. One, different training styles. Training for low reps with heavier weights tends to build stronger, more compact muscle, whereas lifting with lighter weights for more reps tends to build bulkier muscle. Powerlifters rely primarily on compound movements with free weights. While bodybuilders use these, they're more dependent on accessory motions. So, think of it this way. Barbell squat is primarily an exercise for your quadriceps. However, they also involve your calves, glutes, and hamstrings, plus your core and lower back to stabilize the weight. That's what a powerlifter does competitively. Leg extension, on the other hand, pretty much only works the quad, so if you're focused on getting big quads, that's something you'll probably do, and pay less attention to the muscles that keep your spine from crumpling under 800lbs of iron.\n\nThere's also fat. Fat is energy, and energy is needed to build strength. Whereas a powerlifter or strongman isn't super concerned about his body fat levels, it's critical for bodybuilders. They typically go through what's called bulk and cut cycles. Bulking is where you eat a lot, gain most of your muscle, but also gain fat. Then cutting is where they cut their bodyfat down to extremely low levels. And then, in the days leading up to a show, they'll usually dehydrate themselves to make themselves appear even leaner. So, on show day is typically when a bodybuilder is at his weakest.",
"In a nutshell, bodybuilders aren't as strong as more strength oriented athletes (powerlifters etc) because that's not what they train for. Their sport doesn't demand above average strength, just greater amounts of muscle mass. While that may seem to go hand in hand, and it sometimes can, it doesn't always. It all comes back to specificity. A track athlete that competes in the 40 or 100 meter race will almost always beat a marathon runner in a short distance speed oriented race because their body is specifically adapted to be fast through their training. A marathon runner will almost always beat the sprinter in distance races for the same reason. As some others said, higher reps (with heavy enough weight) produce adaptations more geared towards hypertrophy, while lower rep ranges with heavy heavy weight produce adaptations more geared towards strength."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1zmora
|
what would happen if an emp hit america?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zmora/eli5_what_would_happen_if_an_emp_hit_america/
|
{
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"cfuzgyh",
"cfuzvui",
"cfv0s0d",
"cfv5iix",
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2,
2,
4,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"ggs would be called",
"milk and bread would disappear in a second :)",
"Millions of people would die in the first days alone due to failure of autos and planes alone. Nothing in the civilian world is really protected against one and the military barely is. Millions more would die due to starvation and dehydration and lack of medicine. Food would no longer be produced in factories and the only way to obtain it would be from growing it or scavenging what has already been produced or hunting or gathering edible plants. If you want a good look at a possibility of it and have some time as well as like to read I recommend one second after. Don't watch the TV shows or movies about it because most of them are utterly wrong.",
"This is more appropriate for /r/futurewhatif or /r/historicalwhatif, as ELI5 is for conceptual explanations to complex topics, not hypotheticals (and so this has been removed).\n\nGood luck with it in one of those subreddits!",
"The report given to the House Armed Services Committee by William Graham contains a detailed analysis of the effects( link below ). Some important parts from the report.\n* Depending on the specific characteristics of the EMP attacks, unprecedented cascading failures of major infrastructures could result.\n* Some critical electric power components are no longer manufactured in the United States, and their acquisition ordinarily requires up to a year of lead-time in routine circumstances. Damage to or loss of these components could leave significant parts of the electric power grid out of service for months to a year or more.\n* Functional collapse of the power system is almost definite over the entire affected region, and may cascade into adjacent geographic areas.\n* Net result is recovery times of months to years, instead of days to weeks. ( In reference to restoration of the electrical grid )\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.empcommission.org/docs/GRAHAMtestimony10JULY2008.pdf",
"http://www.empcommission.org/docs/empc_exec_rpt.pdf"
]
] |
||
9iz7zj
|
how the hell does this mentalist do this trick? o_o
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9iz7zj/eli5_how_the_hell_does_this_mentalist_do_this/
|
{
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"e6njzag",
"e6nk04q",
"e6nszew"
],
"score": [
8,
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6,
6
],
"text": [
"You've linked to a 10 minute video. Can you describe the trick briefly?",
"There are two basic methods used in such tricks. \n\n1. A *force,* which means the person who thinks he/she is choosing at random is actually made to choose an item selected by the performer.\n2. A *plant,* which is a person pretending to be innocent but actually working for the performer.",
"The most obvious answer is that all four persons chosen were plants in the audience by the performer, and they all played their part in the routine. \nNow I can’t say for sure, but it seems the most likely as all the performer had to do was pick the first person. \n\nAlternatively, if the men picked weren’t plants, the notes that each person read could have had instructions on them like “say your name, what table you’re at” and then have the appropriate food already filled out. Unless there was some editing that cut it out, as far as I saw Penn and Teller didn’t actually see the cards that each person read. \n\nHe mentioned that during his pre-show run that something went very wrong; it’s possible the planted persons either forgot or weren’t cooperative. ",
"[Reddit post with explanation, found by searching the magician's name.](_URL_0_)"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/4oryha/magician_completely_baffles_penn_and_teller_ill/"
]
] |
||
ckhtnj
|
how do seagulls detect that a field is being plowed far of the coast?
|
Heya,
Been thinking about this for a while. While I was living in the country side here in Sweden I noticed that every time a field was plowed it didn't take more than a few minutes before seagulls were swarming the area. I get that it wouldn't be much to think about if it was close to the coast, but it was 60km (37.2 miles) or even further from the sea.
Do they actually learn which time of the year people plow the fields and simply hover over the areas until they see something? Or do they just happen to notice it randomly when migrating from coast to coast? I assume they are very hard for us to see because of their color and thus making us think they come out of nowhere. But still, there are A LOT of them, appearing very quickly, from a place I wouldn't think is the daily route for a seagull.
Thankful for any good reply :)
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ckhtnj/eli5_how_do_seagulls_detect_that_a_field_is_being/
|
{
"a_id": [
"evngze5"
],
"score": [
10
],
"text": [
"Seagulls don't only live at the sea. They live pretty much everywhere. The seagulls that show up when a field is being plowed, live nearby. The name is a misnomer, and they are more generally called just gulls."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
2jjbsi
|
when someone sues the government and wins, do tax payer dollars go towards the settlement? do we pay for the actions of idiotic federal employees?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2jjbsi/eli5_when_someone_sues_the_government_and_wins_do/
|
{
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"clcpi7w"
],
"score": [
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5,
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"text": [
"Yes. But it's directly paid by insurance. Which the premiums are paid by taxpayers",
"Yes. Why *shouldn't* taxpayers have to cover it? They voted for the government officials whose job it was to keep the government from doing things it could get sued over.",
"If you are owed money from [the state of whatever] then you are owed money from [the state of whatever]. That applies whether it's North Dakota or Florida or the federal government. \n\nA government only has a few ways of generating revenue; taxes are a convenient way of doing so. \n\nSo, yes. Sometimes government employees do really stupid stuff. And the government (read: the taxpayer) takes the blame. \n\n",
"Short answer: of course we pay for idiotic actions. ",
"Police Officer here:\n\nAs long as I follow my training, agency policy, and the law, I have immunity against lawsuits. That's why you usually see \"John Smith vs The City of Los Angeles\" instead of \"John Smith vs Officer Kelv37\". If it is determined that I acted outside of training or policy, I can be individually sued. \n\nAnyone can sue anyone at any time for almost any reasons. Often times cities will settle the lawsuit for less money than their projected cost of trial.",
"Yes, taxpayers foot the bill for the actions of idiotic federal employees. \n\nIf there is insurance, the path is indirect: the insurance company pays for a specific idiotic act, but could also raise future premiums based on a increased projected level of idiocy. \n\nIt occurs to me that this market is, in essence, an 'idiocy exchange', with insurance companies agreeing to buy and sell idiocy contracts, and hoping that the actual future idiocy that they have sold (by writing an insurance policy) is less than the idiocy implied by the premiums paid (the 'price' of the implied idiocy).",
"It's not only federal employees. I've seen agenda items for city councils and county commissions regarding authorizing payment to settle cases. If the payments come from insurance, you can bet that the rates will go up in the future. Otherwise the money is coming out of the jurisdiction's general fund.\n\n(For those wondering: many cities and counties have requirements that the elected council/commission must authorize any monies over a certain amount.)",
"You watching south park today?",
"We must be really stupid to question this process"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
972f97
|
if 1/6 people have genital herpes, how can the rate of transmission be so low?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/972f97/eli5_if_16_people_have_genital_herpes_how_can_the/
|
{
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"e450035",
"e451lu2",
"e45lsle"
],
"score": [
7,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Its not low, its highly contagious--The amount of people with Genital Herpes is 20 times higher today than it was in 1967 by one measure(doctor visits), increasing every year",
"Because once you have it, you have it for life. \n\nCompared to something like the common cold which everyone will get at one point in their life, only 11% worldwide (12% in the US) of people ever get genital HSV 2.",
"When the virus is dormant, it has an extremely low transmission rate.\n\nHowever, everyone with the virus occasionally \"sheds\" the virus from their skin every once in a while (I believe every few months for most). This is one period when you can catch it.\n\nIn addition, if someone is experiencing a full on outbreak, it becomes highly contagious.\n\nI believe the statistic is that 70% of people who got it said there were no signs on their partner that they were having an outbreak, leading me to believe that most people catch from long term relationships, when the other person is \"shedding\""
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2m2h37
|
how do coroners determine what order wounds were inflicted?
|
I used to watch a lot of Law & Order and CSI, and in those shows, the coroner was able to determine that "the head trauma came before the knife wound", etc. Is this based in reality? If so, how, especially since in most murders, those wounds are usually within seconds of each other?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2m2h37/eli5how_do_coroners_determine_what_order_wounds/
|
{
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"cm0biu8",
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],
"score": [
12,
5
],
"text": [
"They cant really. As you say, those injuries would be seconds or minutes apart. I'm studying medicine right now, and I've had to observe a few autopsies last year. They cant tell which came first or what.\n\nI mean sure they can differentiate between fresh wounds, earlier wounds, wounds from struggle, previous unrelated injuries etc but they cant determine the exact order in which the death blows were struck. \n\nCSI etc tends to add a lot of bullshit.",
"Wounds age in a predictable way, and if someone dies, they stop aging, or age in a different way.\n\nA skilled coroner might be able to say \"the knife wound shows very little bruising around it, so it was probably the fatal wound, inflicted right before death...the head trauma shows lots of bruising and external bleeding, so it was there for a while...and the broken ribs, almost no bruising or internal bleeding, that was post mortem.\""
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
2gmf5l
|
what does colorado amendment 68 entail?
|
I can't get an unbiased description of it. It either helps schools, or it destroys the Colorado economy while solely benefiting Rhode Island due to a casino that the local area doesn't approve.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gmf5l/eli5_what_does_colorado_amendment_68_entail/
|
{
"a_id": [
"ckkinh4"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"It'll allow for a few horse racing tracks to also open limited gambling facilities. State taxes from this go to schools. Not sure how this would ruin the state economy, but it would increase competition with local casinos.\n\nThe top contributor for the Yes campaign is a subsidiary of Twin River Casino, which is in fact based in Rhode Island. The top No campaign contributor would be the existing casinos who don't want competition."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
56jbrj
|
why is the dirt taken out of the hole rarely enough to fill it back?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56jbrj/eli5_why_is_the_dirt_taken_out_of_the_hole_rarely/
|
{
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"text": [
"Maybe some of it flies away with the wind since its now loose and manueverable. In addition some dirt will just resettle on top of the ground nearby and you don't notice since it evenly displaces itself. No science behind what I'm saying just taking a guess.\n\nSource: I sometimes dig holes in my yard when I need to.",
"When removing the dirt, try putting it on a sheet of plastic. You'd be amazed at the amount that get 'lost' due to the grass and left behind otherwise.",
"It depends how you fill the hole back up.\n\nFor the purposes of this answer we are working with your average dirt/mud, and no other material.\n\nFirstly, when you dig a hole, unless your being particularly precise with containment of what you have dug up, you rarely put the same amount of the contents back into the hole that you dug out of it. There will be some wastage that you cannot scoop up and put back in the hole. This is often enough material to make a difference. Using precise containment tools like buckets would minimise this but it actually does make quite a difference.\n\nWhen you fill the hole up, you tend to add a lot of space and air to the mix versus the compacted earth that you dug out. When you add this earth back, this additional air and volume causes the amount of earth to seem greater than it is, meaning you fill the hole with less earth. As the earth settles and compacts, the volume decreases.\n\nThis either happens naturally or if you do it yourself by tamping the earth down with your foot/shovel or whatever. Sometimes you can compact it too far so it actually takes up less volume than the undug earth around it (So your packing the earth you dug out into a smaller space than from which it came).\n\nAnother way to look at it is from the view as a single object. Imagine a toy building block cube that is made from 4 x 4 of smaller squares that fit perfectly together (So it's total cubed area is 64 squares). Now imagine our 4x4 square of squares fits inside a cardboard box exactly with no space left over in the box.\n\nNow we take our 4x4 square out and break it into its individual 64 building blocks, and then we scatter them inside the box randomly. Sometimes there will be lots of space left over near the top of the box. This is generally the same thing that is happening with the earth. By transforming it from being a near solid into several smaller parts, we are reducing its space in certain areas but not in others, meaning it will never have the same conformity with the lid of the hole you have dug. Add to the fact you generally lose some of the earth you dug out from wastage and that's one less full looking hole."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
651ro8
|
how do the o2 monitors you clip to your finger work?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/651ro8/eli5_how_do_the_o2_monitors_you_clip_to_your/
|
{
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"dg6qo09",
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3,
2
],
"text": [
"The protein in your red blood cells called hemoglobin has a small molecule of iron on it. Hemoglobin carries oxygen in your body, and the oxygen is stuck on that molecule of iron. When the iron has oxygen stuck to it, it's a slightly different color than when it doesn't have oxygen stuck to it. The finger device shines a light through your finger, and the amount of oxygen in your blood determines the color of your blood and thus how the light interacts with it. Sort of.\n\nEdit: thumb -- > finger",
"So those finger clips don't actually measure oxygen saturation. They measure how much infrared light is absorbed by the cells. So let's say you were in a burning building and happen to inhale quite a bit of smoke. The O2 probe would probably read 100% because most of these finger probes cannot tell the difference between oxygen and carbon monoxide.",
"In a nutshell its uses light absorbtion. By comparing the amount of infered and red light that is absorbed by your blood. When ur blood that is traveling with oxegen comes into contact with the light u will see a difference in the light levels on the other side which can then be formulated to find amout of(or percent as ita mesured) oxegen passing through ur body. I do not know the formula tho."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
6t3azv
|
why are we expected to dress formally in certain situations such as court, fancy restaurants, and weddings?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6t3azv/eli5_why_are_we_expected_to_dress_formally_in/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dlhl323",
"dlhle7x"
],
"score": [
9,
27
],
"text": [
"To show respect for the occasion and the people involved in it. I would add to the list live theater and church.",
"These occasions are *rituals,* that is, things we do partly for their symbolic value. Doing them is like sending a message \"we all think this is important.\" Part of the ritual is wearing a special costume."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
2udn5w
|
why do people think public schools are so bad?
|
I see a lot of people on Reddit and in other media claiming that the public school system in the US is horrible, but none of them ever seem to say what in particular is wrong with it. Maybe I'm an outlier, but I went to a public school (graduated last year) and got a great education. What am I missing here?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2udn5w/eli5why_do_people_think_public_schools_are_so_bad/
|
{
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"co7fzlq",
"co7gu29",
"co7ib63",
"co7nobf"
],
"score": [
2,
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"It's definitely hard being an art student in public school. There are always cuts in funding.",
"the big problem in my mind is that it really depends on where the school is located. if its in a poor area they won't get as much money to spend towards education resources or decent teachers inversely school in a much more affluent community has much more funding.\n\nAnother issue is retarded programs by the federal government like \"no child left behind\" which leads to lots of state and federal tests to measure progress. the problem with this is that it leads to schools teaching students to memorize for the test as opposed to learn because its something worthwhile. Something that also come from those tests is federal funding where if you do well you get more as opposed to the people who actually need the money who didn't score as well get funding cut.\n\nAlso teachers unions are fucking horrible they don't care about education just keeping teachers employed even if there fucking horrible people",
"Great in comparison to what? Do you have another frame of reference? Public school is 'bad' because it could be so much better. There are probably a thousand reasons, but I will give you a few examples. \n\n\n-Public school teachers are overworked, underpaid, underfunded, and held to a strict curriculum not of their own creation\n\n-Bureaucracy plays as much a part of school policy as educational endeavor \n\n-Standardized tests are biased and increasingly over-utilized \n\n-All children are taught using the same methodology despite learning style or level\n\n-Large class size are prohibitive to one on one learning\n\n-Public school is preparing children for obedience and compliance, not free thought and individualism\n\n-Schools are funded with property taxes, creating institutionalized inequality of education for low income neighborhoods\n\n\n\n ",
"I think that it depends largely on the socioeconomics of the school district. My kids went to a suburban, well to do, school district and got an excellent education. Our district includes mostly college educated parents who take an interest in their children's education and put an emphasis on education. Our district is consistantly rated high and my experience corroborates that. When I contrast that with the inner-city school districts near us, it is night and day. The inner-city districts have a large portion of their students who are poor. Many come from single-parent households. My sister was a teacher in the inner-city and when they had open house she said that they would have one or two parents show up. My school district's open house is so crowded that you have to park a half mile away. So my opinion is that it depends largely on the socio-economics of the school district."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
4ch3iu
|
why is so much false information - especially history - taught to young school children?
|
For example, Columbus discovering "America" and the tongue-map.
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ch3iu/eli5_why_is_so_much_false_information_especially/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d1i3i2y",
"d1i7g58"
],
"score": [
5,
4
],
"text": [
"on one hand it's easier to teach simpler concepts to kids than the more complicated truth. like the taste map - it's gonna be hard to explain to 7 year olds that tasting actually takes place in their nose and throat.\n\nlike when you learned about the atom, and then in high school they taught you the bohr model of the atom with electron states, and then you get to college and they tell you that it's totally different. they aren't WRONG, it's just that it's easier to teach simplified concepts leading up to the complicated concept\n\nbut when it comes to columbus, i dunno man. im pretty sure there's like a list of stuff that every kindergarden teacher has to go through, like pilgrims, columbus, and george washington carver.",
"American public school teacher here. Public school curricula is determined mainly through politics. There are national and state standards that dictate what is taught and when. Additionally, a local school board can have a big say in what does or does not go into a local curriculum. Because of this, a curriculum tends to reflect the values of the local community within those requirements from the national and state level. This can be both helpful and harmful, depending on what those values are. There was a school system that was famously in the news a few months ago because their textbook discussed slavery as a form of immigration.\n\nA big consideration is the developmental level of the student. A 4 year old's ability to understand physics is mostly limited to \"when I throw the ball into the air, it eventually falls back to the ground.\" An 11 year old is developmentally ready to learn simple physics (push and pull, types of motion, etc.) but would not be ready to process advanced physics. Often, topics are simplified into developmentally-appropriate terms so that the student can start building the necessary knowledge to handle more complex topics later. \n\nIn subjects like history, students get a progressively more complex account of historical events. A primary-aged student is not developmentally ready to understand the complexities of exploration and colonization, so they focus more on famous explorers and the first colonies. As they enter older grades, they learn more about the economics and imperialism driving much of the exploration. Most schools aren't teaching \"Columbus discovered America\" anymore. The materials I use when I teach Columbus are historically accurate, though simplified to be age-appropriate for the grade I teach."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
231v7t
|
how can we put an estimated time until death on our own sun?
|
I mean, scientists always say things like, "Our sun will burn out and implode/explode/whatever in X amount if years."
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/231v7t/eli5_how_can_we_put_an_estimated_time_until_death/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cgskz7i"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"we can estimate/calculate the mass of the sun. we know how gravity and temperature works. we know the rate of consumption of hydrogen. from there, it's just making a model of the sun and running the calculation forward until it starts expanding.\n\nit's not like the Sun in 234224324.34 years will suddenly explod. it'll be an expansion over thousands of years."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
bh56ed
|
what are chromosomes and how exactly do they work? is there a difference between them and dna?
|
[deleted]
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bh56ed/eli5_what_are_chromosomes_and_how_exactly_do_they/
|
{
"a_id": [
"elq3vig",
"elq5xuw",
"elq7vaa"
],
"score": [
5,
3,
4
],
"text": [
"Chromosomes are structures composed of DNA. If the chromosome is a book, then DNA is the pages within that book.",
"Chromosomes are organized structures of DNA. Basically it's a structure made up of tiny, repeating coils of DNA wrapped around proteins and wound into larger and larger loops. [Here's an image showing what it looks like](_URL_0_). Think of DNA is the collective words in a book. In this analogy, chromosomes would be chapters in the book. Each chapter (chromosome) contains part of the whole book (your entire genome).",
"The other answers are correct, but it's worth pointing out that DNA only exists in chromosome form on special occasions. DNA can only be \"read\" by a pretty bulky protein apparatus, and therefore DNA can't do its normal jobs when it's coiled up and those proteins can't reach it. So during the normal life of a cell, the DNA exists as a loose jumble called chromatin, but when it's time for the cell to divide, the DNA coils into a chromosome to keep everything organized during the split."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[
"https://sites.google.com/a/gshare.blackgold.ca/nielsen/home/biology-30/cells-chromosomes-dna/chromosomes-genes-nucleotides-dna-base-pairs-and-the-future-of-human-evolution1.png?attredirects=0"
],
[]
] |
|
9u38sj
|
two phones are connected via a call, both have their speakers on and are placed next to each other. cue the deafening echoes and screeching. what is happening?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9u38sj/eli5_two_phones_are_connected_via_a_call_both/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e9155rr"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Phone make voice louder and higher. Sound travel very fast means voice gets higher and louder very fast."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
60wwn8
|
why lullabies really do send babies to sleep
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/60wwn8/eli5why_lullabies_really_do_send_babies_to_sleep/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dfa2q1c",
"dfaxnaf"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Children naturally respond to voices with giggles and laugh but a quiet lullaby can soothe a child into a calm motion.Thats why you whisper when there's a baby sleeping in a room because loud sounds makes the children sad and scared.",
"Because lullabies are cyclical - and any gentle repetitive song and motion (or song that evokes such motion, or is accompanied by such) is predictable and therefore assuring, confirming and calming. And when life is predictable, it is safe - safe to close your eyes and sleep!\n\nAnd *that* works, because the brain is a pattern matcher, it's always identifying patterns, and seeking to confirm ownership/expectation of the patterns it has already acquired. \n\nHarmonious music is rich in patterns, because it is built out of notes (sound vibrations in the air) that vibrate at whole number multiples/ratios of each other! The brain enjoys focusing on these rather than noise, because patterns are understandable with meaning and order compared to noise which is confusing and chaotic.\n\n(Sing twinkle twinkle little star for example - the first twinkle is your bottom note, the second twinkle is your top note - they sound harmonious together because the brain recognizes that the first note has 2 vibrations for every 3 vibrations of the second note).\n\nThe lullaby is a form of music that also has very simple patterns at each level up from the notes, in the repetition of words, phrases and melodic paragraphs.\n\n"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
7keovi
|
how does a big truck steer?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7keovi/eli5how_does_a_big_truck_steer/
|
{
"a_id": [
"drdq02v"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The rear wheels on the trailer are also steerable, usually operated by someone who's sitting in one of those yellow cars behind the truck. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
8otz5z
|
what exactly is a raw image (or video file) and how does it allow extensive digital color processing when it's so grayish?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8otz5z/eli5_what_exactly_is_a_raw_image_or_video_file/
|
{
"a_id": [
"e062nm9",
"e06d8uh"
],
"score": [
9,
3
],
"text": [
"it's the raw data from the image sensor; there's way more data than you'd get with a JPEG or TIFF, but it hasn't been cleaned up for presentation. It has the advantage that all the extra data hasn't been thrown out yet, so you can set your own white balance wherever you want, because all the metering data is still there.\n\nSo basically, it's not grayish; whatever software you're using to display it is just doing a bad job of interpreting it.",
"Photos and videos can get pretty huge, many formats, like JPEG and MPEG, use lossy compression to save space, with a slight but usually unnoticeable loss of quality. A RAW format isn't having any of that, it wants maximum quality, no matter how huge the files get. You can always compress and process later, keeping your RAW file around as a high-quality master.\n\nYour eye has slightly different sensitivities to light and color than a photosensor does, in particular, we are more sensitive to change in color than change in hue. A RAW format stores the image exactly how the photosensor sees it and lets you process to make it nice for humans afterward. Also, every camera has a slightly different photosensor. Good (i.e. not free) photo processing software will often recognize various camera makes and apply the right kind of processing. If your camera is not on the list, or if you are using cheaper software, the generic settings might not be right for your particular camera."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
1sni1f
|
where do i begin to start upgrading my computer's gaming capabilities?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sni1f/eli5where_do_i_begin_to_start_upgrading_my/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cdzbubl"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"You start over in /r/buildapc \n\nThis post is not asking for a layman-friendly explanation to something complicated or technical, so it doesn't belong here and has been removed."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
||
6x4wfj
|
why do some people actually enjoy the smell or certain things, while those same things may make others nauseous?
|
Some people say they actually like the smell of gas, or vinegar or something. But those same things may make others sick. What's the difference between the people?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6x4wfj/eli5_why_do_some_people_actually_enjoy_the_smell/
|
{
"a_id": [
"dmd5vk6"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Usually because they associate those smells with good experiences. Humans associate smells with memories very strongly. Personally, I associate the smell of gasoline and engine exhaust with working on projects with my grandpa, and personal projects later. I love those smells, even though I realize they are objectively pretty bad."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
35pkyd
|
. how can car dealerships be selling 2016 models already when it's only may of 2015?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35pkyd/eli5_how_can_car_dealerships_be_selling_2016/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cr6jssj",
"cr6jvnu"
],
"score": [
2,
11
],
"text": [
"Car models commonly release the summer before the model year. They sell at full price, or sometimes, even a premium if there is demand. When the year switches over, the premium usually disappears, and \"last years model\" usually gets a reduced price.\n\nJust the way it is. ",
"The \"model year\" of a car is mostly a marketing thing, and not an actual description of when the car was made. A \"20XX model\" car is generally used to mean \"the model that will be on sale for the majority of the year 20XX.\" In the US, there is only one regulation surrounding which year number they can use:\n\n > In the United States, for regulation purposes, government authorities allow cars of a given model year to be sold starting on January 2 of the previous calendar year. For example, this means that a 2017 model year vehicle can legally go on sale on January 2, 2016.\n\nSo you can't sell a \"2017 model\" car in 2015."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
||
349i1g
|
what actually is "free space" on an electronic storage device ?
|
Is it just some arbitrary bits that can be overwritten with meaningful data?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/349i1g/eli5_what_actually_is_free_space_on_an_electronic/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cqspp6q"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Here's my try\n\nImagine, a library. There are many bookshelves that are empty. Now, someone comes, and puts a book in a place of a shelve, and there's this big book at the entrance of the library, where its written that \"book 'x' is stored in aisle 'z', shelve 'y', row 'w', position 'w1'\", this big book where we register the 'x' book location is what we call the indexation table, where we store the position of the files written to a disk drive. Now, that's for a single book, lets say that we brought a whole encyclopedia to the library, of about 10 volumes, and they are pretty thick, about 2 'x' book wide, hence this encyclopedia will take 20 'x' book positions, so when the registration of the encyclopedia is done in the indexation table, we write \"encyclopedia 'abc' is in aisle 'b', shelve 'd', row 'e' and goes from position 'e1' up to 'e20'\n\nSo, here you have, book 'x' of 1 bookbyte while encyclopedia 'abc' of 20 bookbytes are stored and when you want to use them, you go to the indexation table to see where they are 'stored' and can be read. The free space are all the bookbytes still not registered in the indexation table, so, whenever you delete a file in the storage, you are only deleting the registry of the file in the indexation table, making some free space on the table as to say \"where can I put book 'cdf'??? hey, there's this empty space on this index\" so, what is done is that whatever is in that position is thrown away and the new data is stored\n\nEdit: I forgot, when we are talking about space, we should always mention about the unit used to measure the space.\n\nComputer think and process bits, which is defined as a binary number, either be 0 (off) or 1 (on). This is the way the computer thinks and communicates. The way the computer speaks to the user, is by arrays of bits, for example, if the computer want to express the number 12, the computer would say 1010, this is stored on a array and outputs a byte, where a byte is an array 8 bits, so a byte 12 would be 00001010.\n\nGiven that it would be troublesome to read everything in bits or bytes, we have scales, just like we have money scales for units and fractions, it goes like this\n\n1 bit\n\n1 byte = 8 bits\n\n1 kylobyte = 1024 bytes\n\n1 megabyte = 1024 kylobytes (kb)\n\n1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes (mb)\n\n1 terabyte = 1024 gigabytes (gb)\n\nAnd so it goes\n\nSo, the next time you see a mp3 file of a size of 7214kb, just think that for the computer, it's an array of 61554688 1 and 0's that are stored from position 'y' to position 'x' where position x = y + 61554688 (starting position plus file size)\n\nEdit 2: formatting\nHope my explanation has been helpfull"
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
|
1jb026
|
how do big tech companies (microsoft, apple, adobe, etc.) justify charging up to 200% more for their products in australia?
|
How and why is this so widespread?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jb026/eli5_how_do_big_tech_companies_microsoft_apple/
|
{
"a_id": [
"cbcuwd3",
"cbcv30a"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"They don't have to justify it, they just do it. Businesses can charge whatever they want (as long as laws aren't being violated). If the price is too high, customers won't buy it and will find an alternative product for cheaper. \n\nUltimately, the Australians put up with these high prices because they still want the name-brand products. It's also worth noting that incomes are higher there, so the high prices aren't *as big* of a deal as they seem. ",
"Pay in Australia is often 150-300% higher for similar work in places like the US. So the average Aussie consumer has more money. Likewise the prices of goods, especially imported goods, will seem significantly more expensive there than in the US, but while the number may be higher, the value of each is about the same. An American or Aussie will each have to work say 40 hours to purchase an iPod (despite the iPod being priced so high in Australia). \n\nActually a variety of studies have shown that Australians actually pay relative value-wise/per work hour-wise less than Americans for these goods since pay is so disproportionately high there. "
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[],
[]
] |
|
563342
|
why do people's asthma flare up when they sneeze?
|
explainlikeimfive
|
https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/563342/eli5_why_do_peoples_asthma_flare_up_when_they/
|
{
"a_id": [
"d8gajst"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The sneezing does not cause the attack. Whatever causes the sneeze also causes the asthma attack. Something the person is allergic to. For me, dust does it every time."
]
}
|
[] |
[] |
[
[]
] |
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