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5flu2a | can someone please explain why formaldehyde is in most manufactured products? is it dangerous to human health? | I read that formaldehyde is in most manufactured products - clothes, flooring, shampoo, soap, frozen food, mattresses, sofas, etc. I also read that formaldehyde levels in clothing are not regulated in the United States, and that clothing companies aren't required to let consumers know how much formaldehyde is in their products. In terms of mattresses, there is an organization called CertiPUR-US that supposedly gives mattress companies certifications if they make their products without formaldehyde, toxic flame retardants, etc. The only thing with that, is the organization is funded by companies like the Polyurethane Foam Association... So yeah, I have no idea what to believe. I've also been reading that synthetic materials in general (such as polyester and rayon) are harmful to your health, and that any mattresses with VOCs are dangerous. On the other hand, I've read that things like VOCs are fine in very small quantities... However, if things like formaldehyde are supposedly in everything, aren't we being exposed to huge amounts of it on a daily basis? I would really appreciate any objective explanations. Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5flu2a/eli5can_someone_please_explain_why_formaldehyde/ | {
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"Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring chemical that is produced by our bodies and many living things. This includes trees - and levels of formaldehyde similar to those found in shampoos and soap are also found naturally in wood, apples, and oranges. \n\nThe fear of formaldehyde is based on a misunderstanding of chemicals or toxicology. \"The dose makes the poison\". The levels found in these products bear no risk to human health, as they are extremely trace amounts. Whether or not your shampoo has formaldehyde, you are surrounded by trace amounts of formaldehyde (and other chemicals that are deadly or carcinogenic at certain doses) all day, every day, everywhere. \n\nFormaldehyde is not \"added\". It naturally occurs in the ingredients to make these things. Trace amounts of it can be removed through painstaking industrial processes, but this is done largely due to unfounded consumer backlash and fear of \"chemicals\" rather than any actual health risk. The amount of formaldehyde you might ingest from these products pales in comparison to the amount *your own body produces*.\n\nThis misunderstanding is one of the main points of anti-vaxxers, as the levels of formaldehyde in infant vaccines are high compared to those found in every day products, but still far too low to represent any risk to humans, even infants. "
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1bsn8a | blood pressure. | I don't understand what the measurements mean. What happens of its too high? Or too low?
How does it affect the heart?
How is it measured (I know using the medical device, but how does the pressure inflating relay the measurement?
What exactly is does blood pressure tell us? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bsn8a/eli5_blood_pressure/ | {
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"Blood pressure tells you how hard the heart is working at any given time. \n\nWhen it's high, your body pumps blood REALLY FAST though your body. Which isn't bad in the moment necessarily. Like when you run or do sports. But if your heart is like that all the time, it's going to get very tired years down the road and maybe give up.\n\nWhen your blood pressure is low, oxygen and nutrients don't get to the muscles like it should. Or to your brain. You can get feint or dizzy and your ability to do hard labor with your muscles goes down the tubes.\n\nThe measurement is simple. They inflate a bag around your arm and measure the pressure in the bag. They use a stethoscope to listen to your heart beat farther down your arm. They take 2 measurements. 1 when the pressure in the bag cuts off blood flow to your arm (stop hearing the beat). And then you take the second measurement when you stop hearing the beat again. (more info here _URL_0_)\n\n\nBasically, higher the numbers, the harder your heart is working ALL THE TIME. Your body will stress out and die earlier.",
"Your blood pressure is how much pressure there is in your arteries. The high number (or \"Systolic\" pressure) is the amount of pressure in your arteries as the heart is contracting. The lower number (or \"Diastolic pressure) is the pressure in your arteries when the heart is at rest. A high blood pressure forces the heart to push harder against the back pressure in the arteries (\"afterload\") causing it to work harder. Also higher arteriole pressure throughout the body slowly damages blood vessels and organs.",
"You have to think about the heart and your arteries/veins kind of like a plumbing system. The heart beats and forces blood out into your arteries under pressure for the same reason that a building might have a pump in the basement to get water up to an apartment on the 10th floor. It's not going to just get there by itself.\n\nThe two numbers of your blood pressure indicate how much pressure there is in your arteries when the heart is pumping, and when it is at rest. The top number is always going to be higher than the lower number because obviously there's always going to be more pressure in the system when the heart is working.\n\nTo simplify it, blood pressure generally tells us how hard the heart has to work in order to pump blood to the rest of the body. Hypertension is bad because that means the heart has to pump harder (for a variety of reasons) to achieve the same effect. Over many years this extra work puts extra strain on the heart and can lead to changes in the heart as it deals with this. It also puts strain on your blood vessels and is why hypertension increases the risk of stroke or heart attack.\n\nIn an emergent setting (like someone who has been shot, or in a car accident, or is having a heart attack) blood pressure is an indication of whether or not someone has lost a lot of blood, or is having a problem with their heart where it can't beat effectively. The concern then is usually about keeping your blood pressure from dipping too low, because after a certain point it becomes hard for the blood to actually reach all of your vital organs.",
"It's kind of hard to explain this without getting a bit technical:\n\nSay for example, your blood pressure is 120/70. When blood pressure is taken, usually the left arm is used, because the arteries there is closer to the heart, as opposed to the right arm. They inflate a bag around your arm until its tight enough for prevent blood flow, then use a stethoscope located at your left elbow to \"spot\" a sound. As the air is slowly released, they listen for a first sound, the systolic pressure. When you hear the first sound, this indicates that the blood has succesfully overcome the pressure by the inflated bag and blood is now hitting against the walls of the arteries. This first sound is usually very loud and very clear, as you hear this, you'd have to look at the readings on your stethoscope: at the 1st sound, it should read 120 mm Hg( this is the pressure the blood is exerting on the arteries wall). Then as more air is release the sound will get fainter and fainter, as blood is now flowing more easily in the arteries. The last sound you can possibly hear before complete silence is the diastolic pressure, which is 70mm Hg. \nIf it's too high, there is a greater strain on the heart, which means the heart has to pump blood against greater resistance. This wears out the heart and increases the chance of burst blood vessels. \nIf it's too low, the heart is not pumping blood effectively throughout the body, you'd feel fatigued easily. \nHope this helps. \n. "
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j2tsk | could someone explain buddhism to me li5? | I've always been curious as to what it is and what the beliefs are. I am an atheist so I don't plan on converting, but it seemed like the culture was nice and I wanted to learn more. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j2tsk/could_someone_explain_buddhism_to_me_li5/ | {
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"Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama around 500 B.C. It is an offshoot of Hinduism. There are \"four noble truths\", summed up as:\n\n1. Life sucks.\n\n2. It sucks because of worldly things.\n\n3. You can become detached to worldly things.\n\n4. If you become detached you become enlightened (equivalent to Judeo-Christian heaven).\n\nIf you aren't enlightened by the time you die you are reincarnated on Earth. If you were good in past life you go up the ladder, if bad you go down. The way this is determined is by karma. Karma is determined by how much people like your posts on reddit[sic]. Really though, karma is do good things, good things will happen to you.\n\n\nEDIT: I was just giving basics. Commentors below have more depth.",
"By the way, atheism doesn't preclude Buddhism. Buddha didn't care for figuring out if there were any gods that existed, he just focused on living the good life and escaping from suffering. So really, you can be an atheist and be Buddhist. Maybe you don't agree with karma or reincarnation (I have me reservations about what reincarnation entails as well), but those fall out of the scope of believing or not believing in a god (at least in the Buddhist tradition it does).",
"Myth and history are hard to separate when it comes to Buddhism, but here's the essential story.\n\nSiddhartha Gautama was the son of a rich man. His father sheltered him from the world and it was not until he was a young man that Siddhartha walked the streets to discover sickness, old age, and death for the first time. \n\nHorrified, he dedicated his life to finding a solution to the endless cycle of suffering and reincarnation. When he found it, it was while he sat undo a tree, meditating. He overcame temptations and his own ego, discovered pure empathy for all life, and reached enlightenment. He found Nirvana, a state of being (or non-being depending on your viewpoint) that is totally outside the corporeal world we live in, outside the otherwise eternal cycle of birth/ego/suffering/death/rebirth...\n\nThe amazing thing is that he didn't pass through. He did not transcend into Nirvana when he found it. Instead he turned away so he could remain with humanity, because part of his revelation was ultimate compassion/empathy, he could not abandon the world in it's suffering. He had discovered the path and his sole purpose from then on was to help others follow in his footsteps.\n\n\nNow, SuperBlooper057 sums it nicely, but to give a slightly more concrete and certainly expanded answer on Buddhist beliefs:\n\nDuring our lives we aquire karma, this comes from bad deeds, bad thoughts, anything that harms or neglects the well being of other living things. If we still have karma when we die then we are reborn. Think of yourself as the flame of an oil lantern that never goes out as long as you keep filling it with fuel. To put out that flame we must minimize our karma. \n\nHow much karma we have at death determines the circumstance of our reincarnation. If he have a great deal of karma then we sink into a lower plane, from human to animal. Below animals there are two or more planes of being, each thicker with suffering than the last. Above humans are the gods. There are many of them but they live in a sort of paradise, too distracted by pleasures to realize that they are just as trapped in suffering as any other souls, even if that suffering is less it's still never ending. Above the gods, however, are Buddhas. Buddhas are men, but they live at the edge of reality. They have seen Nirvana, and they want to show others how see it for themselves.\n\nSome describe Nirvana as ecstasy. In the Tantric tradition, they take this to mean sexual ecstasy, like a constant and eternal orgasm.\n\nSome describe nirvana nihilistically as pure nothingness. Others describe it as total oneness with the universe, knowing everything all at once. Pure consciousness. It gets harder to pin down with every explanation.\n\nIn practice, almost nobody is capable of reaching Nirvana, or becoming Buddhas. Despite humans being the best equipped to do it, it takes many many lifetimes to accomplish. So Buddhists take what measure they can in their short lives to minimize karma and spread compassion. It's all about breaking down the ego. It separate us, clouds our minds, and leads to all our suffering. As the ego fades we learn empathy, and from that comes humility and compassion, and that is the path to enlightenment. \n\nEdit: structural revisions, clarifications.",
"Buddhism as I understand it (and would explain to a five year old) is fairly simple on the surface.\n\n* People are unhappy because they want things. They want stereo's, and playstations, and pretty clothes.\n\n\n* To stop unhappiness, Budhha believed that you must first stop wanting those things. To stop wanting all those things you must practice meditation, or sit quietly with no noise or distraction and try to stop your mind from thinking about the future, the past, the present, and all those things you used to want.\n\n\n* If you do a good job and truly stop wanting all those worldly things then you would reach a state of nirvana, or perfect peace. At that point you could leave the cycle of life like a candle being blown out. If you don't quite manage to stop wanting all those things you get to try again in another life like one candle lighting another before it goes out.\n",
"I think it stands to mention that Zen Buddhism is different than the more mainstream Mahayana Buddhism that most people refer to when referencing reincarnation and samsara and so on.\n\nZen Buddhism is the philosophy that there is no life other than this life and that absolutely any and all \"truths\" that you encounter in your life must be held up to questioning. It is aggressive agnosticism focusing heavily on meditation (particularly the \"just sitting\" method where you don't count, chant, any of that) to discover the very root of your individualism and see that there is nothing there that isn't anywhere.\n\nZen Buddhism tells you that if you have a moment of heavy realisation and you feel one with the universe, ignore it. Forget that feeling because it's a bunch of bull. If you believe in enlightenment or some magical point where you'll just KNOW, then Zen Buddhism is the wrong Buddhism for you.\n\nI think the only way to sum up Zen Buddhism is so:\n\n\"Question everything so you can find out nothing.\"",
"I've genuinely considered myself to be an \"Atheistic Buddhist\" for a while now. \nBuddhism is about finding one's own \"salvation\" (achieving Nirvana) by living a life free from temptation, hatred, and most importantly, suffering. \n\nThere are 3 noble truths in Buddhism; \n\n1. There is suffering in the world.\n\n2. There will always be suffering in the world, and you alone cannot change that.\n\n3. The only way for you to \"escape\" from this suffering is by following the Eightfold Path.\n\nNow, the Eightfold path essentially lays out a plan of action for a person to progress towards Nirvana through their lifetime. It starts with resisting temptations, controlling anger, refraining from over-indulgence, and eventually leads to a \"pure existence\" where a person feels virtually no sorrow or pain for themselves, and can be a mentor for teaching others how to achieve this same happiness, purity, and enlightenment.\n\nIt goes far back to stories of a prince, Siddhartha Gautama, being plagued with guilt and shame of his lavish lifestyle, after seeing the impoverished, gruesome, brutal way of life of the common folk. He abandons his current lifestyle and goes on a \"quest\" for the true meaning of life and salvation. He fasts for a long time, meditating, and eventually finds the answer he was looking for. That \"answer\" was later passed on to all who cared to listen and was peacefully spread throughout the world. \n\nTo this day, it remains to be one of the only \"peace-based\" religions that has kept its pacifistic ideals, and hadn't used the religion in warfare. \n"
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6ohjdy | how ants can build complex structures without any centralized coordination. | Seen here: _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ohjdy/eli5_how_ants_can_build_complex_structures/ | {
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"'Twas oft asked here. Ye may enjoy these:\n\n\n1. [ELI5: How do ants and termites design such complex and sophisticated large-scale structures? ](_URL_2_)\n1. [ELI5: How are ants able to build colonies/civilizations with such a tiny brain? ](_URL_6_)\n1. [ELI5: How do ants manage to organise their activity to build colonies or carry stuff? ](_URL_3_)\n1. [ELI5: How do ants decide the physical structure of their colonies? ](_URL_4_)\n1. [ELI5: How can ants be so \"Intelligent\"? ](_URL_0_)\n1. [ELI5: How intelligent is an ant colony as a whole? ](_URL_5_)\n1. [ELI5: How does a complex system like an ant colony govern and regulate itself without an 'intelligent' leader? ](_URL_1_)\n"
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"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ls4vp/eli5_how_does_a_complex_system_like_an_ant_colony/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6jiycy/eli5_how_do_ants_and_termites_design_such_complex/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fede4/eli5_how_do_ants_manage_to_organise_their/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5i290y/eli5_how_do_ants_decide_the_physical_structure_of/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ea59w/eli5_how_intelligent_is_an_ant_colony_as_a_whole/",
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2vqzwp | why do most anime characters exhibit "western" physical traits rather than japanese? especially when many of them take place in japan and the characters are "japanese". | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vqzwp/eli5_why_do_most_anime_characters_exhibit_western/ | {
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"What you are seeing in Anime is how the Japanese persons view themselves, what they think they look like. What you are thinking of is how the west views the Japanese, what the west thinks the Japanese people look like.\n\nThe difference is quite instructive. The main thing it teaches you is how similar people of different races are, and how much of race is just in people's heads.",
"Honestly, they're stylized enough that they don't look very white or very Japanese. So which one they look like depends on the viewer. I'm sure they look Japanese to the Japanese, but perhaps an actual Japanese person could chime in?"
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dcwbq9 | how does taking the 2's compliment of a binary number and adding it to another binary number give you the same answer as if you were to subtract the same numbers in decimal notation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dcwbq9/eli5_how_does_taking_the_2s_compliment_of_a/ | {
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"Okay, the two's complement is taking a binary number and inverting it in a way to create an even multiple of two.\n\nIf you start with 5 (101), you flip all the bits (010) and add 1 to make 3 (011)\n\nNow, let's say you're only working with 3 bit numbers. 000-111, and anything starting with a 1 is negative.\n\nSo, instead of 101 being 5, it's now -3\n\nWhen you add 101 (-3) to 010 (2), you get 111 (-1)\n\nWhen you add 111 (-1) to 011 (3), you end up with:\n\n 111 \n 011 \n ------\n 1010\n\nAnd you drop the leading 1, because it you are only dealing with 3 digits, making 010 (2)\n\nIt works because the negative numbers are essentially flipped backward, with the leading digit being an indicator of a positive or negative number.\n\nNaturally, this breaks down if you don't use a long enough binary number for your purposes.\n\n 011 (3) \n 011 (3) \n ------\n 110 (-2)\n\nBut:\n\n 0011 (3) \n 0011 (3) \n --------\n 0110 (6)\n\nGoing back to the initial example 101 is no longer 5, it's -3, plus the complement of 011 equals 000 or zero.",
"This works mostly because we're using fixed lengths of binary digits and discard carry digits that take us higher than what size we're working with. Or in other words \"the same reason why when you get to 999,999.9 miles on your odometer and go another 10th of a mile, you suddenly have a brand new car\"; you don't really, you have a car with a million miles, but it can't count as high as a million.\n\nSo let's say I want to use an 8 bit integer to work with, and I want to subtract 32 from 97.\n\nEncoding those into binary, I'd get...\n\n01100001 \n00100000\n\nFrom here, you flip every bit in the smaller number and add 1 to the total. This gives us:\n\n01100001 \n11011111 \n00000001+\n\nAdding these together and carrying as necessary we get:\n\n101000001\n\nThis is 9 bits, so that first 1 gets chopped off:\n\n01000001\n\nLooking at this, that gives us 2^6 + 2^0 = 64 + 1 = 65\n\nWhereas if we'd kept the leading 1 we would have had 2^8 + 2^6 + 2^0 = 256+64+1 = 321 which is definitely not 97-32.\n\nThis works because what we're essentially doing is taking the original number and subtracting it from 256 (the highest number we can get plus one) to get the 2's compliment. But since we discard any digits that go above 256, adding 256 to the answer just brings us back to where we started, so ultimately the fact that we add in 256 doesn't do anything to the equation since as far as the machine is concerned, that digit doesn't exist.\n\nIn other words, in pure mathematics, this doesn't actually work, it's more of an exploit of the limitations of the system we're working within to use less steps in an algorithm to get the information we need.\n\nThis also used to work with decimal digit in old mechanical computational machines, and examples of that algorithm are found [in this wiki article, along with an explanation of how it works in decimal](_URL_0_)"
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3c7dfp | if someone were to say, for example, that "the pizza industry is worth $5 billion", where does that number come from and what goes into it? | The pizza industry may or may not be worth 5 billion dollars, I completely made that up. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3c7dfp/eli5_if_someone_were_to_say_for_example_that_the/ | {
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"It's a measure of the revenue of the industry as a whole, so how much money people spend on pizza every year. "
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1pxu3c | why are there poker championships? isn't it just a game of luck? how can you be a champion of luck? | yeah. Card game, cards are dealt by a non-player dealer, all you need to do is know when to fold. How can you be a champion at that? Isn't it all just pure luck? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pxu3c/eli5_why_are_there_poker_championships_isnt_it/ | {
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"There's bluffing, reading other players so you know how much you can afford to bet without them folding (or to force them to fold). If it was deal out the cards, everyone puts money in before looking, then turns them up to see who won, it would be luck, but poker is about using skill to exploit your luck.\n\nSure, if you have horrible luck for a tournament, you'll lose or if you have amazing luck, you'll win, but a skilled player will win more often than they'll lose.",
"Professional poker these days is actually very far removed from the \"skill\" of poker bluffing and reads etc.\nWatch a game of professional poker on the TV, they barely look at each other. Professional poker players are now essentially math gurus who play the numbers.\nIt's about knowing the %'s of what can beat your hand based on what's on the table and what % that your opponent's have that hand.\n\nSource: Used to follow pro poker players stories a bit.",
"There are a lot of skills involved in poker.\n\nYou need to know the math of how likely your hand will win.\n\nYou need to know the math on whether it's worth taking a risk or not based on risk/reward.\n\nYou need to be able to have some ability to read players and get an idea of what they could have.\n\nYou need to be able to control your emotions and giveaways to avoid being taken advantage of.\n\nYou need to do all of this quickly and correct over a long period of time.\n\n____\n\nAlso, poker tournaments play an extremely large amount of games. In 10 hands you will win or lose based on luck alone. The difference between 6 lucky games and 5 lucky games is huge. Over the hundreds or thousands of games played in a tournament luck is much less important. The difference between 5,000 lucky games and 5,250 lucky games is rather small.\n\nSo a player who is better will win almost all of the time. As long as they continually make the correct play they will eventually tend to win. It won't be 100%, but it can get very close. Even if they lose on individual hands they will win much more often.\n",
"At the very least, poker is far less luck than roulette.",
"There is some misleading information here the biggest of which is the idea that winning poker boils down to better grasp of math and statistics. Not true. There is still a massive psychological game going on, but not the way mainstream media portrays it. \n\nIt's not about finding someone's nervous tick as a tell, it's about knowing the range of hole cards (the two hidden dealt cards) your opponent posesses. And their range can evolve based on the four rounds of betting. Preflop, it's all about positioning in relation to the button, how many people are playing etc. For example, if there is a full table, and you raise when you are first to act, I'm already putting you on a range of hands - pocket J's or higher. But you can raise the same exact amount when you are the button after everyone has folded, and now your range has expanded greatly. \n\nJust fyi, real poker playing, except for a series called Poker After Dark, has never been portrayed. It's a much more methodical grind with lots of folding. What ESPN does when they televis the WSOP is simply show the highlights - and it's not their fault - watching a real poker game playout is boring as hell. "
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64n06c | why can't we see stars from our homes while others have amazing views? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64n06c/eli5_why_cant_we_see_stars_from_our_homes_while/ | {
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"If you live near a big city, the sky glow caused by the city's own lights is brighter than many of the smaller stars so you don't see them.\n\nIf you get far from any city, there's no such glow, and you can see them.\n\n_URL_0_"
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2cudb8 | can russian sanctions benefit everyday canadians/other countries? | [I was reading today](_URL_0_) that Russia has put sanctions on Canada that mainly block some agricultural sales of pork to the country.
Could this ban result in a surplus of pork in Canada, thus lower prices Canadians would see at the supermarket? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cudb8/eli5_can_russian_sanctions_benefit_everyday/ | {
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"Typically sanctions don't help anyone. They are meant as a \"slap on the wrist\" essentially, from one country to another. Initially you might see local markets reducing their meat prices, but in the long term the meat companies might have to layoff workers in order to fit the relevant market. So in short, yes and no. Russia doesn't really have any particular strong sanction power, though. It would be probably the same effectiveness as if a group of African countries decided to sanction Canada."
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23k3j4 | why doesn't glass decompose? | Everything decomposes, even metals and radioactive materials. So why is glass different? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23k3j4/eli5_why_doesnt_glass_decompose/ | {
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"Metals eventually rust away or get eroded from wind and whatnot. Same with glass or rocks - they don't rot, but eventually wither away. \n\nThere is a place called 'Glass beach' where people used to throw out their garbage. It took about hundred years, but the glass got eventually turned into colourful sand - [link](_URL_0_)",
"Actually glass does \"decompose\" chemically, just much more slowly than other materials. Silicate glass such as window glass or bottle glass will react with humidity or moisture at the surface, creating a gel layer that is only about two atoms thick, but it wipes away easily. Introduction of acid or base will generally accelerate this process. Source: I was a materials engineer. My specialty was surface chemistry of inorganic glasses."
]
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_Beach_%28Fort_Bragg,_California%29"
],
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a4adn9 | how did everything come to be in existence? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a4adn9/eli5_how_did_everything_come_to_be_in_existence/ | {
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"We don’t yet have the information or science to know with any amount of certainty what happened before the Big Bang. We only know (to a reasonable degree) what happened a fraction of a second after it (Planck Time). \n\n\nString theory, Brane theory, Quantum Theory, etc. Do seem to indicate there are other universes; however, the number is disputed IIRC.",
"The answer is unfortunately unsatisfying at this time. We don't know what happened before around 10^-37 seconds after the Big Bang. Our current theory of cosmology, which is based on General Relativity, breaks down in the regime for smaller times because it is where quantum effects become important. There is currently no theory that can make General Relativity and quantum mechanics compatible, and the search for such theory is one of the most important investigations in physics at the moment.",
"Nobody knows, hence you have debates about evolution, religion, and all of the other theories out there about the origin of mankind and the universe.",
"The short answer is we don't know. \n\nFor a more detailed explanation, imagine the entire universe stuffed into an infinitely tiny briefcase. At the moment we like to call \"The Big Bang\" all of that universe came spewing out. We know this because we can see it. Time and space are connected together, I'm sure you've heard of \"spacetime\". Additionally, light must travel great distances to reach our eyes. The farther out we look into space, the farther back in time we see. \n\nWhat was outside of the briefcase? We don't know. \n\n > How did the universe come into existence? \n\nWe don't know, although the idea of something coming from nothing is becoming more clear to us. \n\nHiggs Field Theory seems to be pointing us in the right direction. The Higgs field is a field of energy that is thought to exist in every region of the universe. The field is accompanied by a fundamental particle known as the Higgs boson, which is used by the field to continuously interact with other particles, such as the electron. Particles that interact with the field are \"given\" mass. From our perspective, the particles appear to pop into existence. The existence of the Higgs Boson was relatively recently confirmed at CERN. \n\n > Would it be possible for other universes to exist?\n\nYes! In fact that is one of the more prevailing theories in cosmology, that we are in just one of an infinite number of universes. It's known as the multi-verse. \n\nSo again, tldr: we don't know, but we're getting there. "
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67nnt1 | why or how is it possible that dying people are able to 'withhold' their death until a wish is granted? | I bet this need clarification.
We've all read stories like [this one](_URL_0_): a person is putting death 'on hold' until they get to see a person, or hear some news, or do something and then when they rest peacefully about it, *then* they die.
Is there something going on in these cases, as if their will to live kept them alive for a bit longer and when they rest, they just pass away? Or is it just confirmation bias? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/67nnt1/eli5why_or_how_is_it_possible_that_dying_people/ | {
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"It's a reporting bias. For every story like that there are many more which don't get reported where the person dies before the thing happens. Lots of people have rushed to a dying relative or friends bed to find them dead on arrival etc etc.",
"Extreme survivorship bias with a great understimation of just how many people die.\n\nLet's say you personally witness 100 of these types of stories, *every day.* That's a lot. After hearing 100 stories every day, at the end of the year you'd might thing there is something going on here.\n\nUntil you learn that 151,600 people die every day and your stories account for only 0.07% of all cases of death.\n\nWhen you have such a large pool of events, you should expect stuff like this to happen. It'd actually be weirder if stuff like this never happened."
]
} | []
| [
"http://www.kentonline.co.uk/gravesend/news/couple-married-for-77-years-124562/"
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| [
[],
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fbp1a3 | what happens to detergent when you run water over it? | Dish soap bubbles up when you blast it with water, so are the cleaning properties stuck in the bubbles? Is the clear-looking water underneath the bubbles just as potent when it comes to disinfecting, or is it actually just water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fbp1a3/eli5_what_happens_to_detergent_when_you_run_water/ | {
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"Yes, the water is just as potent, and detergents made for washing machines, dishwashers, and similar equipment is formulated to not make too many bubbles since otherwise the machine would just get filled with suds. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nBasically, soap/detergent allows grease, oil, and fat to be dissolved into water. You cannot see it in the water, but it is there.",
"The bubbles and the water have the same chemical composition, and it's useful to know that if your water is not producing bubbles when you disturb (put air into it), the water/detergent mix has been saturated with oils and you should add more detergent or replace the water. The bubbles form with detergent due to different surface tension properties.\n\nAlso, detergents aren't disinfectants; their role is to dissolve oils and other food waste. Food waste is a rich food source for bacteria and fungi, whereas clean plates are not. Detergents get rid of the food waste so it goes down the drain in the dishwater, leaving you with a clean plate with minimal ability to carry microbes.",
"Some body soaps and shampoos have additives to make them bubble, but it is not necesscary. It is a marketing trick, we have been conditioned to think \"scrubbing bubbles\" etc are better."
]
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6mbxc5 | why do songs stop giving you goosebumps after listening to it several times? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6mbxc5/eli5_why_do_songs_stop_giving_you_goosebumps/ | {
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"The more you're exposed to a stimuli, the less effect it has in your body. For example, if you eat a sweet it will taste very sugary. Keep eating the sweet and you will feel the sugary stimuli less and less.\n\nThe same goes for experiencing a song, the first time you don't know what is going to happen, you might have your expectations due past experiences but the song is basically new to you. Every time you repeat it, you're just reaffirming a past experience, the stimuli is no longer new.\n\nYou can go back to the basal state if you stop being stimulated by the song for a while, for example, relistening a song you really like after 3 years of not listening to it.\n\nThat happens because the brain is set to focus on new and relevant information, while only perceiving on the side a frequent stimuli. For example, if you've ever been somewhere with a bad smell, at the beginning you'll notice it but after a while it just becomes part of the environment, your brain isn't focusing in that anymore."
]
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| [
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|
||
ntb2e | states with no income tax vs. states with income tax | Never really understood how this works, I'm moving near the border of Oregon and Washington. Washington has no income tax, all I have to do is move across the river. It sounds too good to be true to me. Can someone please explain. Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ntb2e/states_with_no_income_tax_vs_states_with_income/ | {
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"Income taxes aren't the only kind of taxes. For instance, Washington doesn't have an income tax, but it *does* have a sales tax.",
"Governments need money to pay for services. This money mostly comes from taxes. You can tax money when people make it (income tax) or when they spend it (sales tax) - along with other things such as licensing fees and property taxes too. There's complex arguments over which is better - it centers on whether people believe that the rich should pay more or less taxes but I won't go into progressive/regressive taxation here.\n\nKeep in mind, however, that if you work in OR, you're paying OR income tax, regardless of which side of the bridge you live on. The 'source' of your income is your time in OR so that's where you pay your income taxes.",
"In new Hampshire there is no income tax or sales tax. They do have enormous property taxes tho. For my family to move to NH from Mass we would do worse. Especially to try to get into a town with a really good school system like the one I live in in Mass.\n",
"Be wary of working in a state with an income tax while living in a state without income tax. In many cases, the state where the work is performed will tax you anyways, regardless of your residency.",
"Income taxes aren't the only kind of taxes. For instance, Washington doesn't have an income tax, but it *does* have a sales tax.",
"Governments need money to pay for services. This money mostly comes from taxes. You can tax money when people make it (income tax) or when they spend it (sales tax) - along with other things such as licensing fees and property taxes too. There's complex arguments over which is better - it centers on whether people believe that the rich should pay more or less taxes but I won't go into progressive/regressive taxation here.\n\nKeep in mind, however, that if you work in OR, you're paying OR income tax, regardless of which side of the bridge you live on. The 'source' of your income is your time in OR so that's where you pay your income taxes.",
"In new Hampshire there is no income tax or sales tax. They do have enormous property taxes tho. For my family to move to NH from Mass we would do worse. Especially to try to get into a town with a really good school system like the one I live in in Mass.\n",
"Be wary of working in a state with an income tax while living in a state without income tax. In many cases, the state where the work is performed will tax you anyways, regardless of your residency."
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mk34a | the turing test | I know it can be used to determine whether something is a computer or not (or something like that), but how does it do that, can it be fooled, and what would the implications be if a computer passed (or failed - whichever means the test says it's human) the test? Wikipedia just makes my head spin when I try to understand the page! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mk34a/eli5_the_turing_test/ | {
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"The premise behind the Turing Test is best explained this way:\n\nHow do you know **that** I think? You know that you think... you're thinking right now and you intuitively know that. But what about me? What does thinking look like from the outside?\n\nTake away the fact that I look like a human being. Take away my voice... so that I no longer have to sound like a human being. \n\nWe will communicate using only text and you will attempt to work out if your chat partner is really thinking or if it's just a bunch of circuits and chips that's pretending to think.\n\nThat's a Turing test. \n\nThe mind-blowing part is this: if something can \"pretend\" to think well enough, what's to say it isn't ACTUALLY thinking at that point? \n\nThere are basically two schools of thought on this. Either \"intelligence\" is something that you **are** or it is something that you **do**.\n\nConsider the birds. Some folks will point to birds and say \"men can't be birds and kids who pretend to be birds are just pretending and will always be pretending.\"\n\nSome other folks will point to birds and say \"well the really important part about being a bird is that you can fly. Little kids running around the yard flapping tennis rackets are pretending at flying but eventually those kids grow up and build helicopters and airplanes and then they CAN fly and when that happens we have to acknowledge that one need not be a bird in order to fly.\"\n\nOne need not be a bird in order to fly and, some folks will argue, one need not be a human in order to think.\n\nNow, human flight is fundamentally different than bird flight but we fly nonetheless. Likewise, machine thought might be fundamentally different than human thought but the best test we have been able to come up with is participation in unscripted conversation.\n\nIf a machine can do that then, while it's mode of thought might not be quite the same as ours, we can no longer say with certainty that it **ISN'T** thinking and thus, ethically at least, we need to treat it as if it does.",
"The premise behind the Turing Test is best explained this way:\n\nHow do you know **that** I think? You know that you think... you're thinking right now and you intuitively know that. But what about me? What does thinking look like from the outside?\n\nTake away the fact that I look like a human being. Take away my voice... so that I no longer have to sound like a human being. \n\nWe will communicate using only text and you will attempt to work out if your chat partner is really thinking or if it's just a bunch of circuits and chips that's pretending to think.\n\nThat's a Turing test. \n\nThe mind-blowing part is this: if something can \"pretend\" to think well enough, what's to say it isn't ACTUALLY thinking at that point? \n\nThere are basically two schools of thought on this. Either \"intelligence\" is something that you **are** or it is something that you **do**.\n\nConsider the birds. Some folks will point to birds and say \"men can't be birds and kids who pretend to be birds are just pretending and will always be pretending.\"\n\nSome other folks will point to birds and say \"well the really important part about being a bird is that you can fly. Little kids running around the yard flapping tennis rackets are pretending at flying but eventually those kids grow up and build helicopters and airplanes and then they CAN fly and when that happens we have to acknowledge that one need not be a bird in order to fly.\"\n\nOne need not be a bird in order to fly and, some folks will argue, one need not be a human in order to think.\n\nNow, human flight is fundamentally different than bird flight but we fly nonetheless. Likewise, machine thought might be fundamentally different than human thought but the best test we have been able to come up with is participation in unscripted conversation.\n\nIf a machine can do that then, while it's mode of thought might not be quite the same as ours, we can no longer say with certainty that it **ISN'T** thinking and thus, ethically at least, we need to treat it as if it does."
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1qj3i9 | why does google allow apple to use their apps on iphones, yet androids don't have apple-developed apps? | Yeah, so why can I get apps such as youtube/google dictionary on my iPhonne, but if I had an Android I can't get any Apple-deved such as iTunes. I don't understand the business behind such a one-sided relationship, I thought it would've been more of a 2 way street. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qj3i9/eli5_why_does_google_allow_apple_to_use_their/ | {
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"Google makes it's money from advertisements. The more people using their software and services, the more they can track and display ads to you.\n\nApple makes money from selling devices. The software they develop is made to that end: to sell more devices. If you could get all the apple apps on another device, you lose a lot of incentive to buy an apple product.",
"Google makes more money off software and advertising than hardware, Apple the opposite. If people could get all the Apple-specific software on their Android phone, they'd be more likely to buy an Android, so Apple would lose money. Google can make money off both, so for them it's a good business move to make their software cross-compatible.",
"Google is a software company and apple is a hardware company. "
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56u19s | considering the consequences of inaction, why is the environment's trajectory not at the forefront of today's politics? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56u19s/eli5_considering_the_consequences_of_inaction_why/ | {
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"Because, due to our evolution from primates, we humans are very bad at assessing and managing long term risk. We're also very tribal (with only [about 150 people as 'fellow humans'](_URL_0_) and everyone else as Non-Player Characters.). \n\nEdit: The fact that we're creatures of convenience also should be factored in. If it's not a major issue now, then we're prone to kicking the can down the road rather than solving the big problems right off the bat. Reference: Your life. ;)\n\n\nWe created the [constantly evolving scientific methodologies](_URL_1_) to get around this, however this requires people making important decisions to respect and defer to the people who use those methodologies when in their area of expertise (thinking responsibly can be hard, and not fun). \n\n\nUnfortunately, our governmental system doesn't put the decision making in the hands of the people who are trying to overcome the fact that their brains are good at betraying them, and instead puts the decision making in the hands of people who are very bad at science but really good at appealing to more primal parts of our monkey brains (Beware the scary things! I will speak loudly and firmly and save you from them!)\n\nHence: The mess we're in, and the greater mess that's passed down to future generations. ",
"It's always cheaper for an individual to ignore a problem that affects the group--we as a species will benefit if we all act; I as an individual will benefit if I leave the action up to the rest of you."
]
} | []
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"http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere_p1.html",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYPapE-3FRw"
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||
1g97m7 | why do some ice trays work better than others? (same brand) | One of my ice trays pops out smooth cubes easily, the other fractures the cubes into jagged shards and clings to half. Happens every time. Visual inspection shown no apparent differences.
Same manufacturer, bought at same time.
I've noticed similar things in other times and places.
What is this dark majik? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1g97m7/eli5_why_do_some_ice_trays_work_better_than/ | {
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"text": [
"I noticed the same thing in mine. I forget which was which but it mattered which one was on top. "
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[]
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|
|
1m3es2 | why modern classical composers are seen as being inferior to those of the past? | Surely we have geniuses in any era? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1m3es2/eli5_why_modern_classical_composers_are_seen_as/ | {
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"They're not. I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to composers but I know that Philip Glass ([example](_URL_0_)), or Simeon ten Holt ([example](_URL_0_)) are both very respected composers. The problem is simply that people who aren't very interested in classical music only know a couple of composers (like mozart), and so it seems that those are the only ones who get respect.\n\n",
"Like most forms of culture, it takes time--usually a long time--for the noise to get weeded out and the \"great\" writers/composers/artists to emerge. Right now there are thousands of modern composers all competing for what history will determine to be the \"great\" composer of our time. Only about a dozen will become household names, but we just don't know which ones they are yet. A truly \"great\" composer will generally be one that can stand the test of time, and that requires, well, time.",
"Snobbery. My father is like that. Nothing written after 1900 is any good, according to him.",
"The groundwork of music theory was laid down back then and can't be done again. Mozart, Beethoven and the other guys had music down to a science. How to jump from one scale to another, how to make a piece seem to hover between two tonalities and other things. Look at it, it's near mathematical in nature. Much in the same way as Einstein, I'm sure there are people today that are just as smart as him, but E=MC2 is already figured out and you can't re-discover E=MC2. Modern day composers are just late to the game."
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2pgaad | how do journalists get the story/interview of criminals? | Okay this question lurks in my head since i was a child. Its time to ask for some answers.
Watching VICE news and they are documenting ISIS. HOW? Do they seek permission, undercover, maybe connections? or is it just pure balls? It also got me wondering how do other journalists explore and document underground activities and actually have a person willing to talk and entertain them.
In addition to that, war journalists wear some kind of indicator that 'I AM A MEDIA, DONT SHOOT' jacket or vest. If i am the enemy, what would stop me from killing a person wearing that vest? and if i am an enemy, I can easily use that media vest in order to get close.
Can someone please enlighten me? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pgaad/eli5how_do_journalists_get_the_storyinterview_of/ | {
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"21 journalists were killed in crossfire/combat this year, according to CPJ. Important noting that isn't the only way they die, 23 were murdered and 10 killed on \"dangerous assignment.\" _URL_1_. So no, wearing a vest really doesn't do anything.\n\nJournalists get access to dangerous people abroad usually through the use of fixers. _URL_0_. These may be local journalists or just guys 'in the know' that can make money from foreign journalists by helping them with stories. Think of it like Bubbles on The Wire. \n\nI'm a foreign correspondent, although I have not covered conflict. NGOs, academics, local journalists, other foreign correspondents, are among resources I could use to find sources. "
]
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f6m4o6 | why aren't sperm considered as "alive" like we do bacteria and other single celled organisms? | im probably wording this wrong....English is my native language...i has a case of the dumb | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f6m4o6/eli5_why_arent_sperm_considered_as_alive_like_we/ | {
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"They don’t breath, take in nutrients, expel waste or reproduce on their own. Therefore not alive",
"They don't pass any of the various rules of what constitutes \"life\" - don't metabolize, don't reproduce.",
"I'm not sure why so many people have stated cells aren't alive. All living cells are alive....",
"They’re not independent but part of a multicellular organism. They can’t reproduce and make other sperm cells on their own, they’re part of a system.",
"Biology teacher for freshmen checking in. Let's break this down into a description.\n\nSperm are considered \"alive\" as they are a cell, though specialized since they are part of multicellular organisms, just like your liver cells are alive, a women's egg cell is alive, a skin cell is alive, or even a red blood cell (red blood cells are very neat and they lack all cell parts except a cell membrane and a cytoplasm because they are filled to the brim with hemoglobin).\n\nBut when talking about a sperm cell by itself when removed from it's multicellular structure it's hard to identify it as alive since it cannot \"reproduce\", or go through mitosis to make more of itself. \n\nAnother thing that makes sperm different in a way that you would classify is not \"alive\" sense you are taking about is the organelles that the sperm has. The only cell organelles the sperm cell has is a flagellum, a cell membrane, cytoplasm, mitochondria, and a nucleous to contain the cell. A prokyrote cell, or bacteria cell, has 2-3 of the cell parts listed above, such as a flagellum if it needs to move, a cell membrane and a cytoplasm. Bacteria cells are classified as a prokyrote cell because they lack membrane bound organelles (or cell parts) which basically means they do not have a nucleous, a mitochondron. They still have DNA (or RNA if very underdeveloped). They also contain one thing all functioning cells need to survive- a ribosome. \n\nA ribosome is a cell part that produces proteins, which is what actually controls a cell and makes the cell do specific things. Sperm cells lack this organelle so when away from it's multicellular unit it cannot produce anything it would need for life, or to make the cell divide since the cell needs to code for proteins to make the cell split.\n\nA sperm cell is different from a virus in that a virus does not have the ability to live outside the host body, it's more of a machine. I compare them to little thrives that hijack your equipment to make more of itself. They are little DNA or RNA buddles inside a membrane structure that it also steals from the cell.\n\nI hope this answers your question but it is not nearly as cut and dry. Personally I classify sperm as alive as long as they are fulfilling their needed function and since they do have specific parts that make them classified as a cell. A cell is the smallest unit capable of life. I in turn do not classify a virus as alive as it really is just a \"nucleous\" if you will of a membrane and DNA. It cannot survive outside its preferred zones, it completely lacks the ability to preform any form of homeostasis, and it does not have to preform any metabolic processes. With that, I know a biologist who study viruses and they would classify viruses as alive, so it does boil down to how you would seperates and segment them.\n\nPlease feel free to ask me any questions and excuse my spelling errors, my phone sucks and I am a dyslexic individual.\n\nEdit: thanks fiance for the gold, since I know you gave it to me..."
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12a2fu | is there any truth to "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"? | How about any other little sayings and famous quick tips? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/12a2fu/eli5_is_there_any_truth_to_an_apple_a_day_keeps/ | {
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"Let me put it this way, it couldn't hurt. "
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37xroq | how does something like this (see link) become a computer or calculator? | _URL_0_
From this reddit post: _URL_1_
People are saying that the next step is for someone to turn this into a calculator... Please explain.
Apparently computers have also been built in games like minecraft. How is this possible? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37xroq/eli5_how_does_something_like_this_see_link_become/ | {
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"Computers are built from logic gates. These are pretty much the only logic gates that exist: AND, OR, NOT, XOR, NAND, NOR, XNOR.\n\nIt's not important what they do, just that you can make all computing electronics from just those logic gates. Interestingly enough, though, you can make all other logic gates from just NAND gates, or alternatively from just NOR gates although NAND gates are more commonly used.\n\nNAND gates are made from an AND gate and a NOT gate. If you can make these 2 gates then you can make a NAND gate, and thus a computer. In minecraft they actually provided some simple circuitry mechanics that people turned into gates and then built computers from. That gif looks like they figured out how to make a NOT gate. Now they just need to make an AND gate or an OR gate and they can make a computer by chaining those together in the right way."
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3qf5tm | why do some american citizens not care about tax dollars being spent on the war on drugs and war in the middle east but freak out at the idea of tax dollars being spent on healthcare and education and call it socialism? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3qf5tm/eli5_why_do_some_american_citizens_not_care_about/ | {
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"I suspect you know the answer already. Political and social conditioning by those who stand to gain from taking such positions.",
"It depends on what you view the function of government is. Conservatives tend to believe the role of government is merely security. If you are a neo-conservative, you believe that the best defense for security is a good offense. Therefore, the purpose of a good government, according to this type of conservative is to provide a robust sense of law and order. Thus, fighting drugs and \"enemies of america\" is precisely the right operation of government.\nOn the other hand, \"social engineering\" like healthcare and education should be best left to private enterprise and not the government. By nationalizing it and leaving it to the government you are creating sclerotic bureaucracy and going to make it less good/efficient than it would be in the private market, so definitionally it is socialism. \n \nPersonally, I'm all for the socialism and very much against the money spent on war on drugs/middle east, but hopefully that was a good non-partisan explanation. \n",
"From a philosophical standpoint, the defense of the nation is a fundamental responsibility of government. The creation of social programs is not.\n\nFrom a practical standpoint, domestic social programs have a tendency to destroy private sector alternatives. So while simply tossing money in a pile and burning it might be a bad way to spend government dollars, the downside is limited. In contrast, social programs can have an almost unlimited downside.\n\nConsider the two types of programs you mentioned.\n\nMost people agree that education is vital for the modern world. However, once government pays for education, it also decides what *is* education. This can manifest as forbidding school prayer, requiring sex education courses or even disallowing rapid advancement for exceptional students. Imagine you're the parent of a student and you're informed that unless you're wealthy enough to send your child to a tony private school, they'll be forced to attend a high school where the teen pregnancy and incarceration rates are catching up to the graduation rate - and there's nothing you can do to change that situation. Whether or not the school is failing has very little to do with national educational policy. But your ability to fix the situation for your child is sharply limited by the fact that all the decisions are being made nationwide by distant bureaucrats who have no use for you.\n\nLikewise, consider Medicare. The benefits and drawbacks of the program can be debated endlessly. What can't be disputed is that Medicare utterly destroyed the private sector health care market for 65+ year old people. If you don't like Medicare, tough. That's your only option unless you're a multimillionaire. And, similar to the above, your ability to influence how your health care is managed is negligible because it's centrally controlled by distant government bureaucrats whose interests don't align with yours.",
"Because defense and social welfare follow different economic and political rules.\n\nDefense, by necessity, has to be done by the government--and the federal government, no less. And everyone understands that defense is inherently wasteful--you can't just hire a security guard for the nights you know you are getting broken into, because you never know what nights or how you are going to be broken into. And defense isn't really something you \"use\", it's almost always a default situation. \n\nNow. That isn't to say that there aren't specific principles and missions that people disagree with--in fact, plenty of people \"freak out\" about our military spending. However, defense in principle very few people disagree with--the disagreements are generally about allocation of resources, not whether it should exist.\n\nWhile there are downsides to defense spending, most people accept it because there is literally no other way to do it. (Just FYI, this more or less applies to all \"common goods\" problems, like roads, cops, fire protection, etc.)\n\nSocial programs are different. The line between who needs social programs and who doesn't is blurry. Moral hazard means that unless spending and criteria are kept in a tight leash it can get out of hand. Social programs don't expand economic activity in any meaningful sense despite claims to the contrary. Health care, for example, was handled pretty well for decades by the private sector, and changing that wholescale seems silly to most people. For most people, social programs should be temporary and only given to those who most need it, since spending on social programs is by definition taking money away from taxpayers and giving it to someone else. \n\nThink of it this way: my defense, roads, cops, is better because my taxes went to it, and I \"use\" it because it's a common good. My health care or education isn't any better because my money is paying for someone else's, so I see no direct benefit; those aren't common goods. People will claim that living in a better-educated society makes us better off--well, that is debatable (oh, and ask all the people whose college degrees are becoming more worthless because of oversupply)."
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ant8f6 | why is spicy food still spicy when it exits the body's digestive tract? | I'm sure most people have experienced this... unpleasant side effects of eating spicy food. Does the body not break down the capsaicin or other components that make the food spicy? Why or why not? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ant8f6/eli5_why_is_spicy_food_still_spicy_when_it_exits/ | {
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"This happens when the body doesn’t break down all the capsaicin and it irritates the membranes in the anus, causing that ‘Taco Bell burn’ "
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25bt6a | why do people in rural areas like country music more than anywhere else? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/25bt6a/eli5_why_do_people_in_rural_areas_like_country/ | {
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"Living in the country and traveling to cities often for business, the biggest differences I notice are the pace of life and the lack of dependence on cars in cities. \n\nCountry music - contemporarily, anyway - is largely about hanging around outside drinking beer, cruising around in pickup trucks, and having sex with pretty girls. \n\nThe former two things just don't happen very often in cities. Unless by \"outside\" you mean on a patio outside of a bar. \n\nAnd the pace of life in cities just doesn't lend itself to the kind of nostalgic historical remembrances that fill country music. Urban music is so much more about the now, just like city culture seems to constantly be moving forward."
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8czd0g | would it kill/hurt me if i only ate cereal for the rest of my life? if so, how and why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8czd0g/eli5_would_it_killhurt_me_if_i_only_ate_cereal/ | {
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"Even if the cereal is nutritious, eating only one thing indefinitely tends to make you deficient in something or other. It might take years for a problem to develop, but you're unlikely to stay healthy in the long term if you only eat one food.",
"Cereals supply differing amounts of nutrition, but I don't know if any provide *complete* nutrition. So you would likely eventually exhaust your supply of some essential nutrient. Without these, your body will suffer a variety of negative effects (depending on the nutrient in question) up to and including death. ",
"When you say \"cereal\" do you mean mass produced corn syrup filled breakfast cereal in a box, or do you mean cereals like rice, wheat, oats and barley?\n\nIf the first, you'd probably become diabetic or at least die from heart disease as a result.\n\nIf the second, people all over the world do it all the time. It does limit growth and shorten lifespan a bit, but it's totally viable.",
"Not a nutritionist by any means, so this is probably wrong, but, cereal might be a reasonably good choice if you were to do this. While packaged cereals have too much sugar, which wouldn't be good, they are made with fortified flour, which has vitamins and shit like that. The milk could give you some fat and aminos, you might be ok.",
"Of course you can, but just know you likely will develop onset Type-2 diabetes. Sure, that might not kill you right away but you could lose limbs/sight and have a high risk of heart disease, pancreatic disease/failure, etc. 0/10 do not recommend. ",
"If your 'cereal' was varied enough to have nuts and raisins and oats (etc.) in it on a regular basis, and you used whole milk, you'd likely be fine for a good long while. ",
"Ok. I am European so this might be biased.\nAssuming you eat a mix of cooked oatmeal with yogurt and berries as a cereal, you will probably be healthier than most Keyboard-nutritionist on Reddit with a „balanced DIEt“.\nAdd some nuts and change the kind of additions every so often and you’ll be just fine. \nThe only problem is boredom and social pressure. ",
"Yes, Hurley from LOST Survived off cereal and ranch dressing. He never LOST weight or hope while on the island. Don’t give up the fight!",
"You would need to eat Total. Because if you didn't you would have to eat a mountain of other cereals to equal the same nutrition in one bowl of Total.",
"One of my best friends basically tried this. She was a very picky child and went through a phase where she refused to eat anything other than cereal. After several weeks of a cereal-only diet, she started to suffer from heart palpitations and flushed skin. Her doctors determined that she was suffering from a niacin overdose! It's not just the vitamin deficiencies you have to consider - it's the vitamin surpluses too.",
"That probably depends 100% on the cereal. If you specifically engineer a cereal to provide everything you need then I don't see why not.\n\nIf you're just talking about Fruit Loops then probably not.",
"source: am almost MD.\n\nDepends on a few things, but if you're eating that cereal with milk you'll largely do just fine for a long long time, if you keep the calorie intake reasonable and don't gain weight as a result.\n\nThe biggest deficiency would be protein if you're on a cereal-only diet, but with milk it wouldn't be that bad. Cereals are made of grains (and sometimes some nuts), and you can get a variety of grains (rice, corn, barley, wheat, oats) with different cereals (or all of them with something like Kashi). Most/all cereals are fortified with a wide range of vitamins. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would be so lacking as to cause a major malnutrition.\n\nIt would be super boring, and if you were to develop metabolic syndrome or diabetes you would really need to change your diet. But, in the end, fortified grains and milk as your entire diet would get you pretty far.",
"Commercial boxed cereal? You'll die, too much refined sugar and not a lot of nutrients.\n\nBut whole grain is actually a rich source of vitamins, carbohydrates, oils, fats, minerals, and even proteins."
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223jl8 | why dairy products create greater amounts of mucus | So yeah, my parents keep telling me ice cream, milk, etc. are all bad when you have a cold because it makes you have more flem.
Is that true and if so why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/223jl8/eli5_why_dairy_products_create_greater_amounts_of/ | {
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"This is an urban legend. They don't increase mucus anymore then any other fluid.\n\n\"In a study of 330 patients, nearly two out of three believed milk increases phlegm production. But it’s not true. In one experiment, volunteers were infected with the cold virus, and some of them drank a lot of milk as well. The weight of the nasal secretions did not increase in those who drank more milk, nor was it associated with cough or congestion.\" NY Times"
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6gh1dr | how do people have a contagious smile? why do you feel the need to smile back at those people? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gh1dr/eli5_how_do_people_have_a_contagious_smile_why_do/ | {
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"Sometimes people can just sense a fake smile and a real one. When someone with a great personality with a warm vibe smiles it gets you to open up with them."
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apu9gw | why do batteries leak that white powdery stuff and how can it be prevented? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/apu9gw/eli5_why_do_batteries_leak_that_white_powdery/ | {
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"Batteries leak when they are over discharged.\n\nYou can prevent this by changing them when they are below their listed minimum voltage, when they stop working.\n\nIf you continue to drain them, the electrolyte can expand and force itself past the seal. When it dries, you see that white residue. It's quite corrosive before it drys, and it can damage your gadget. Whenever you store a gadget, you should take out the batteries."
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2ik0zp | if the cost of hospital care is so high, why do doctors and nurses work crazy long shifts, which directly impacts the quality of care they provide? why don't hospitals just hire more doctors and nurses? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ik0zp/eli5_if_the_cost_of_hospital_care_is_so_high_why/ | {
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"There isn't a reserve of doctors and nurses just sitting around somewhere.",
"One of the biggest problems in healthcare is a lack of healthcare professionals. In many countries there are simply not enough skilled workers. Another reason as to why they work so hard and so long is to make a profit, as well as many just want to help people. It takes a decade or more to become a doctor and just not enough people are not willing to make such a commitment.",
"My wife has been a Nurse in hospitals for 12 years. She doesn't work \"crazy long shifts\". It is a standard 12 hour shift - 2 on - 2 0ff - 1 on - 3 off. She basically works 36 hours a week and gets paid for 40. She only has to work one weekend every 3 weeks. It is a pretty good job with plenty of time off.",
"I don't know if there is much correlation between cost and hours works but hospitals don't hire more doctors because they basically can't. The amount of doctors in the country is basically regulated by the AMA. They keep the number artificially low. ",
"Another point that hasnt been mentioned is that it's much cheaper for a company to pay an experienced RN or doctor double time than it is to hire another equally experienced employee.\n\nYou might double their pay for an extra 40 hours that week but you only pay for their healthcare, retirement, continuing education, etc benefits once.\n\nAlso for some places keeping the same person on shift can actually reduce errors that would occour from information loss during shift change.",
"They work long shifts also because every time there's a shift switch it's a huge window of opportunity for things to go wrong, so they want to minimize it. ",
"Anesthesiologist here. I'm not a hospital employee; my group contracts with the hospital to provide anesthesia services. I am not salaried, the amount of money I make depends on the amount I work.\n\nIt's up to us and not the hospital to decide how we're going to staff ourselves to provide coverage. Until recently we used to be on one type of call or another for an entire weekend, so if you had a bad night it was possible to get stuck working 36 hours or more straight. We did it this way to get all of our call for the month over with at once and free up our other weekends. \n\nHowever, we have changed our system so that now nobody ever works more than 24 hours. There's no law requiring this, we did it partly because it sucks to work 36 or more hours straight, and partly because our malpractice carrier felt that they couldn't necessarily defend us if there was a bad patient outcome after, say, 30 hours of work -- even if we did nothing wrong. It does mean that I am now on call two, sometimes three weekends a month, but I think it's worth it.\n\nWe are also looking into the possibility of only doing 12-hour call shifts. But that would mean extra hiring, and dilution of our overall workload. It's been estimated that it would cost each of us at least 15% of our income.",
"I'm an ER PA, and there are several factors at play in a question like this. Nurses and doctors (midlevels usually work for the docs) have very different work structures based on differing needs. Nurses are hired by the hospital typically, and 12 hour shifts work well for the nurse and the hospital, with 2 shifts per day for the hospital making patient turnover easier, and for the nurses it shortens your work to three long days as opposed to 5 shorter long days.\n\nAs far as docs and us midlevels, we vary much more depending on the schedule. But remember, doctors don't typically work for a hospital, they're contract workers. As such, they and their groups need to cover all the patients all the time, which is variable and it's hard to hire for the busy times and stay afloat when the patient volumes drop. This leaves us generally overworked.\n\nI am currently considering leaving medicine after only 7-8 years for these reasons. The ER world is evolving into the fast-food industry, with hospitals wanting us to see patients within 10-30 minutes. In my ER, they literally said to me, \"hey, we know you're super busy every night seeing dozens of patients, but we need you to see everyone that walks in the door in triage and then finalize the care of the ones the docs dont see as well.\" I'm like, um, that's two jobs, hire another person, and they're like, oh, yeah...no.\n\nEveryone in healthcare works pretty hard, and to me it's not worth it. Going to PA school was literally the worst decision of my life, but most people don't hate it as much as me.\n\n",
"medical workers are expensive.\n\nDoctors make well over 6 figures easily.\n\nNurses, I feel like they should hire more. They aren't payed nearly enough to deal with the shit they have to.",
"My brother, dad and mom are all MDs in fields involving a lot of inpatient care, and i actually discussed this exact question with all of them as part of a research project in college. The thing they stressed the most was that the impacts that the long hours have on patient care are not necessarily always negative (obviously, this is only true to an extent - 12 hour periods at work may be reasonable while 18 may not, eventually everyone runs out of steam) Instead, it helps patients enormously when doctors are able to ensure continuity of care. If one physician is with the patient from the start to the finish of their care, they know the patients history, course of treatment, and maybe even personality, and an in depth knowledge all of these things can help inform the best possible decisions for care. If there are additional providers caring for the same patient during their stay, then communicating all of this information becomes absolutely essential to continue providing the same high level of care, or patients could suffer as a result. However, that level of communication only gets more complicated and fragmented as more care providers enter the mix, so it's likely to fall apart exactly when it's needed most. Basically, it seemed to be a common opinion that medical judgement benefited more from a comprehensive understanding of the patient developed from extensive interactons than it was hindered by exhaustion, and that the long hours were just inherent to the job. Just another way to look at the question.",
"Hi nurse here and had to do a whole presentation on how to move from 8 to 12. We tend to use things now called evidence based practice an the reality is that the mistakes people make tend to be ones made in both types of shifts. \nAs a nurse who did eights an now doing twelves and moving into becoming a nurse practitioner in the next year I can say this. 8 are great if your older and doing floor nursing, 12 gives nurse less burn out with three dAy off and if you think docs work 12's no they work 60-80's. \n\nAnd if your really concerned fight for patient ratios. I serve as one nurse medications on an acute mental Heath unit for anywhere from 10-22 patients. Most people make mistakes because of the loads of Pt care we are stuck with. ",
"You need to specify which country you're talking about. Healthcare systems differ hugely across countries, so there will be different answers for different countries. \n\n\n",
"My wife is an RN for a very busy neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There are some factors at work here that are not just profit motive as others have pointed out. One of the most problematic times is shift change when her 2-3 patients get handed off to another RN. They have to be clear about what they've done, problems that surfaced, things to watch out for, etc. Messing up this part could mean missing a feeding or not giving enough/giving too much medicine or a host of other issues. Having fewer handoffs means fewer opportunities for a mistake to occur.",
"7% of healthcare costs is doctor pay. Hospitals, like any other business, try to maximize profits; limiting labor costs is a common strategy."
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45om7h | i've heard that leaving wall/phone chargers pluged in when not charging wastes power. what prevents them from shutting off automatically when not charging a device? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45om7h/eli5_ive_heard_that_leaving_wallphone_chargers/ | {
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"When it comes to vampire power drains, phone chargers are a ridiculously small part of the puzzle. There are plenty of appliances that do much more damage to your wallet. Big electronics that enter a 'standby' mode are a huge draw.... TV, cable boxes, dvd player, computers, microwaves. The thing about wall charger in particular is the AC- > DC circuitry is always creating a complete circuit, whether you have something plugged into it or not, so, they're always drawing power.\n\nThere's a wide swing in terms of claims of how much unplugging the wall wart entirely will save, some say its negligible, some say its upwards of $50/yr. Its worse to actually leave your phone plugged in all day, especially if its on. If the phone is off its not as bad, and if nothing is connected its typically negligible...but, then people couldn't write click-bait articles about it!",
"The phone charger would then need to have some way of determining when the phone is plugged in, to turn itself on. Currently, they keep on providing 5V on the output and the phone starts drawing current. Keeping this 5V output present requires a very small amount of power, and I imagine the drive electronics go into a special low-power mode when they don't detect an output.\n\nYou could do it mechanically, but then you need to switch 230V based on whether something is plugged in or not (or have a physical switch... but then you might as well just unplug it). That's expensive, and possibly dangerous. Plus, leaving the cord attached to the charger would still leave it on.\n\nYou could get the phone to provide power to wake up the electronics in the charger. But then you can't charge a dead phone.\n\nFrom [here](_URL_0_), it looks like 80mW is a fairly average idle power draw for a typical phone charger. That works out to be [0.7 kWh per year](_URL_1_) - about 7 cents at average electricity prices. Look at the rest of your electricity bill - that's nothing.\n\nEven the worst tested were only ~5x that. And something dissipating 400mW is going to be warm to the touch. If it doesn't feel warm to the touch, its power draw is utterly negligible.",
"Great article here exploring the power use of chargers: _URL_0_\n\nFTA: *The power strip itself — despite its red LED light — registered 0.0 watts when we plugged it in. We started plugging in chargers and watched the meter continue reading 0.0, even after several chargers were plugged in.\n\nEventually — with six separate chargers plugged in, filling up the power strip’s electrical outlets — we had a solid, measurable reading.\n\nThe combined total vampire power draw of this power bar, an iPhone 6 charger, an iPad Air charger, a MacBook Air (2013) charger, a Surface Pro 2 charger, a Samsung Chromebook charger, and a Nexus 7 charger read 0.3 watts.\nWe’ll assume these are all plugged in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over an entire year. There are 8760 hours in a year. That equates to 2.628 kilowatt hours (kWh)*",
"Phone chargers produce the voltage required by phones to charge using a certain technique that makes it hard to not use a bit of electricity even when there's nothing connected to the chargers - the charger has to be ready 24/7 for the phone.\n\nThink of the charger as a water faucet that tries to keep a bucket of water left in the sun filled to a certain threshold - as the bucket sits in the sun, a tiny amount water evaporates so every few minutes the faucet has to open up a bit to bring the level of water in the bucket to the wanted threshold (basically the threshold is the 5v expected by phones) and then go back and wait for someone to drink water from the bucket.\n\nThe charger also has to be ready to open up really fast and pour large amounts of water in the bucket when someone (the phone) suddenly starts to take big gulps of water from the bucket - if the water level drops too low, that someone can no longer reach the water and stops drinking until the faucet fills the bucket again, and that's bad. \n\nSo the charger needs to have something inside monitoring the output cable and always staying prepared for a device to be connected at the end of the cable. To do this, the charger uses a tiny amount of energy from the mains, and this is usually under 0.1 watts every hour. \n\nIf the charger uses 0.1 watts of power every hour, this means just leaving the charger plugged in the mains socket will waste about 2.5 watts in a day, or about 78 watts in a month or about 950 watts . If you check your electricity bill, you'll probably find that you're paying about 40-60 US cents for 1kWh (1000 watts), so leaving the charger plugged it and never unplugging it will cost you less than a dollar in a year.\n\nIt's not a lot of power wasted, but if you have several such chargers or power adapters powering various devices around the house, and then you have hundreds of thousands of houses, you can see how the waste can add up. ",
"Nothing is preventing it. \n_URL_0_\nIt just requires a more intelligent charger. ",
"Induced voltage from one coil to the other. The device is built to induce a lower voltage to the out put regardless of if there is something plugged in. It can't tell if a phone is plugged in or not it's just constantly inducing voltage.",
"Basically the monitoring circuitry you're describing that would automatically turn charges on and off would *itself* be a vampire load that wasted power. There's really no getting around it.\n\nThat said, this is much ado about nothing: Chargers and clocks and LED indicators represent a tiny fraction of the energy inefficiencies in the average home.\n\nIn a large home having motion controls and non-incandescent lighting can be a big savings, but the main culprits are always going to be any heating/cooling appliances. Do you have:\n\n* A well insulated attic?\n\n* Good weather stripping on windows/doors?\n\n* Double paned or sealed glass?\n\n* A new, high efficiency furnace?\n\n* Insulating blanket for water heater tank?\n\n* High efficiency fridge/horizontal freezer?\n\n* Zone control for AC and heat?\n\n* Programmable timer thermostats?\n\nSteps like those will save *vastly* more energy and money than worrying about phone chargers.",
"Basically, it would make the bases even more expensive to make. They already cost a pretty penny and the makers want to make as much profit as possible.\n\nBut don't worry. It barely saps anything. Your TVs and other entertainment stuff is much worse. Also heating and cooling (cover the bottom of your doors!)",
"Only if you live in America and your wall sockets don't have an on off switch built into the socket itself.",
"Everyone here is basically just telling you that for a phone charger the amount is negligible, which is true. However, there is a reason that the amount is non-zero: induction. One of Maxwell's Equations describes how a change in an electric field creates a magnetic field, and vice versa. This is the phenomenon that allows step-down transformers to work: the constantly changing AC current, when passed through the many wraps of a transformer, induces a magnetic field, and that magnetic field induces a current in another coil. But even when there is no load on that other coil, the amount of energy that is dissipated by the magnetic field is non-zero.\n\nFor an example of somewhere this is not negligible, high-voltage transmission lines in our power grid typically only operate at about 60% efficiency, and a good amount of that power loss is attributable to electromagnetic induction."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[
"http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html",
"https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=80+milliWatt+year+to+kilowatt+hour"
],
[
"http://www.howtogeek.com/231886/tested-should-you-unplug-chargers-when-youre-not-using-them/"
],
[],
[
"http://www.asmocharger.com"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
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|
||
4kezkp | why does our skin absorb poison but not water? | I read [here](_URL_0_) that your skin does not absorb water but I've also read that your skin can absorb poison.
Why is this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4kezkp/eli5why_does_our_skin_absorb_poison_but_not_water/ | {
"a_id": [
"d3eg05p"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Below comment is not true, pruning isn't caused by your skin absorbing water.\n\nNot all poison can pass through your skin. It's just a matter of the chemical in question and how it interacts with the outer layer of skin. Water can't pass through that layer, but other chemicals might.\n\nIf you could absorb water one way then it could go out the same way. Sweat is through special glands and pores, but water passing straight through your skin would be very bad. Salt water would burn you."
]
} | []
| [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/35sjmv/would_a_person_submerged_in_a_tub_of_water_unable/"
]
| [
[]
]
|
|
4gkvbj | the united states of europe | The British tabloids have dredged up the idea of the 'United States of Europe' and building a similar political style to the USA. Why and what is it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gkvbj/eli5_the_united_states_of_europe/ | {
"a_id": [
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" > tabloids\n\nNot a reliable news source.\n\nStill, there is an argument that the European Union will eventually become a much more tightly knit \"federalized\" Union, just like the USA, where individual states have some freedom but all important calls are made by the federal authority in Washington D.C. In a USE, we would see more big decisions made in Brussels than in London, Athens, Lisbon, Prague, etc. Items such as trade deals, military spending, or budgeting would happen on a continent-wide level than a country-level as it happens now. Of course that takes a lot of power out of national governments, just like the State Government of Alabama or California does not influence (much) the workings of the Federal Government of the USA. UK euroskeptics see this as a threat to the power of London making its own decisions for the UK, just like French euroskeptics see this as a threat to the power of Paris and so on. Euroskepticism sells right now all across the continent, so tabloids are going to put it on the front page.\n\nAt this point Europe is very, very far away from even considering this. The monetary union is still working its kinks out, and we are very far from realistically implementing a fiscal, judicial, and finally political and military union. In my opinion, after the mess with the Euro (monetary union), EU and country leaders have learned that integration needs to be done much more carefully and slowly to ensure that everyone is on board and everyone is doing what they are supposed to d.",
"Well, you know how the USA is 50 states with their own government, but there's one federal government ruling over them all? \n\nIn Europe, there are a bunch of governments loosely collaborating together. Imagine if New York told Missouri they ought to let black kids into their school system, but had no authority to make them do it other than through whatever trade deals both Missouri and New York agreed to. \n\nSome people want European governments to work together better, and to that extent be less independent. The tabloid is derisively comparing that plan to the USA. (which doesn't work out so well, as We're Number One Baby!) Some people also want more states rights in the USA. \n\nPersonally, I see a fundamental difference in urban living vs rural living (with a sliding scale as you go up from wilderness to small town to big town). Dense states simple need different rules. And I'd like to see more experimentation at the state level so we don't run into federal political gridlock. RomneyCare was a good test run for ObamaCare because they're the same damn thing. And let California experiment with universal basic income. Or let Texas experiment with arming teachers. And let Chicago/Illinois experiment with crazy-ass wiretapping rules. Or Alabama outlawing gay people. Let's see how that turns out. (And then hopefully learn from the experiments). "
]
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| []
| [
[],
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|
261fi3 | when mixing colours, why is it much easier to make light colours darker than it is to make dark colours lighter? | I was just reminiscing on my artistic days as an amateur painter, when this thought suddenly hit me. Any replies appreciated and thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/261fi3/eli5_when_mixing_colours_why_is_it_much_easier_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"chmplul"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"Because all of the mediums we have are generally used to add pigments versus remove it. Darker is a property of pigment density. Removing pigment is not a process of addition and sometimes the medium absorbs into the canvas. \n\nSource: Current artist for several trading card companies "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
|
twpks | why do some albino animals have pink skin tones while others have white and some have blonde hair while others have white hair/fur? | [albino dolphin](_URL_2_)
[albino african american](_URL_6_)
[albino asian](_URL_5_)
[albino alligator](_URL_3_)
[albino lion](_URL_0_)
[albino squirrel](_URL_4_)
[albino peacock](_URL_1_) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/twpks/eli5_why_do_some_albino_animals_have_pink_skin/ | {
"a_id": [
"c4qcyxf"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"The pink vs. white issue is a matter of how close the blood vessels are to the skin. The pink color comes from blood vessels showing through. I'm betting that the two people you picked would have a fairly close skin tone if you put them both in the same light. I suspect that the Asian woman was made to look whiter than she actually is.\n\nBlonde vs. white hair I'm less sure about. I can only assume that the blonde color of the hair is caused by something other than pigment."
]
} | []
| [
"http://cdn.animaltalk.us/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/image0029.jpg",
"http://www.dumpaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/albino-2.jpg",
"http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01358/pink_dolphin_1358282c.jpg",
"http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_A2nc9OQAQn8/SAh4HPas21I/AAAAAAAAC4o/NVnKE-4lG-8/s400/ist2_2671171_albino_alligator_in_st_augustine.jpg",
"http://www.lifeinthefastlane.ca/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/albino_squirrel_1sfw.jpg",
"http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire2/cf43ef158fd87713c6773cad6c269a421279355622_full.jpg",
"http://www.marieclaire.com/cm/marieclaire/images/44/mcx0707BESkin004-new-md.jpg"
]
| [
[]
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|
|
5gpnq0 | what the heck is pizza gate? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5gpnq0/eli5_what_the_heck_is_pizza_gate/ | {
"a_id": [
"dau3d4w"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"It is the notion that there is a pedophile ring operating out of a pizza place whose owner was a Clinton fan. Therefore, Clinton sponsors pedophilia/is a pedophile. It's a nutty conspiracy theory and completely baseless. \n\nIt started on reddit and was spread as either fake news or funny news but some folks believed it. \n\n\"Evidence\":\n\n* The owner's name, James Alefantis, is a bastardization of the French \"J'aime les enfants\" which means I love children.\n* There is graffiti related to sex in the bathrooms."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
||
2djzez | why lately the chinese are exhibiting really appalling bathroom habits. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2djzez/eli5why_lately_the_chinese_are_exhibiting_really/ | {
"a_id": [
"cjq6ln2"
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"text": [
"Its not new, its just hitting the front pages lately. People everywhere have shitty bathroom habits. "
]
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| []
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[]
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|
||
extzat | how was the first clock programmed? | I can understand the logic behind a mechanic clock, but I mean like in a computer. How was someone able to tell a computer how long a second was so that it could be constantly changing in an accurate way every second? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/extzat/eli5_how_was_the_first_clock_programmed/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"pretty much everything these days uses a crystal oscillator, such as quartz, which you can manufacture at difference frequencies. these oscillators \"vibrate\" or modify an electrical field at a precise frequency which you can then use to generate clocks for digital circuits or keep track of time for watches. there are other types of oscillators which vibrate at different frequencies depending on what your use is.",
" > I can understand the logic behind a mechanic clock\n\nThen you understand the logic of a digital clock.\n\nFind something that oscillates regularly over time (such as the vibrations of a quartz crystal or the swinging of a pendulum). Create a machine/circuit that activates on each oscillation (such as a rod on the crystal that makes and breaks a circuit as the crystal vibrates, or an escapement that allows a gear to rotate only at the bottom of the pendulum's swing). Count the oscillations and send a pulse once one second's worth of them occur (the more regular and precise the oscillations are, the more accurate the clock will be). Create another machine/circuit that ticks up by 1 whenever it receives one of those pulses. You now have a clock."
]
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| []
| [
[],
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|
5qosap | why are my taxes so high, even with a high withholding amount? | My income taxes are about 35-40% and I am at a fed & state withholding of 10. When my withholding was a 1, I was being taxed about 45%. My coworker made more money than me last month, and was only taxed about 20% with a withholding of 1. Is this an accounting error or is it something more? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5qosap/eli5_why_are_my_taxes_so_high_even_with_a_high/ | {
"a_id": [
"dd0vmjk",
"dd0zilu"
],
"score": [
2,
3
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"text": [
"The top tax rate for 2016 is 39.6% and only applies to money over $415,000. 35% is for $413,000-$415,000. \n\nSo the reason for your tax rate is you are extremely wealthy. As your accountant for details. ",
"Commissons are withheld at a much higher rate than wages, asthe IRS considers them \"supplemental\" income. This should even out when you actually file though. "
]
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| []
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[],
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|
f2xv6o | why do ballpoint pens stop working after writing over pencil lead? | For example, if you sketch something out in pencil and then try to trace over it with a ballpoint pen, then the pen skips over the sketch or on the plain paper. Thank you! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f2xv6o/eli5_why_do_ballpoint_pens_stop_working_after/ | {
"a_id": [
"fhfelq8"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Graphite is an extremely slippery substance and will coat or paint a thin layer onto many other surfaces, the ball of a ballpoint pen needs to rotate to bring a new inked surface to the paper, the graphite will either stop the ball from rotating or cover the surface of the ball in graphite."
]
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| []
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[]
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|
3vqko6 | why does shutting your computer off every once in a while, make it perform better? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vqko6/eli5_why_does_shutting_your_computer_off_every/ | {
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"Programs can be thought of as very, very specific directions, which computers blindly follow. For the most part these instructions are exactly accurate, so the computer winds up where it needs to be.\n\nSometimes, though, the directions aren't quite perfect, often because the computer is in some situation that the programmers didn't foresee, or the directions that one programmer wrote happen to conflict in some way with the directions that another programmer was giving. This leads to the computer showing up at the wrong location. If it's really, really wrong then a program can crash or even the entire computer can be taken down, but usually these problems get fixed before programs get released to the public, so you're left with only the more minor bugs in the code.\n\nWhen you shut down the computer you stop everything, then when the computer starts up again it starts following directions from a known starting point, which is the starting point that the programmers used when they were programming and testing it in the first place. ",
"1. **Updates.** A lot of software updates are installed when you turn a computer off then back on, rather than when it goes to sleep. This is because it's very hard to update something while it's running, so they can only get access to it while it turns on. A lot of software updates improve performance, stability, and so on. So you get those when you reboot.\n\n2. **Leaks.** There might be a mistake and some software keeps getting larger and larger behind the scenes (they add four buttons but only remove three, each time it gets opened and closed). There might be a chance they persist through sleep (usually not, but maybe), but a full restart would clear it.\n\n3. **Temperature.** A computer is still hardware and letting it cooldown to room temperature (rather than 90C) can improve performance.",
"Although there are several reasons, the most likely and effective reason would be that restart will clear the RAM.\n\nA computer is made up from many parts. The CPU is the Central Processing Unit, which does calculations according to your input, the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) does the same thing but slightly differently (A CPU is good at doing single large computations fast, a GPU is better at doing multiple weaker computations. Then there is the RAM. RAM stands for Random Access Memory, but is often just called Memory. Often, running programs need places to store their information for a little while, and hard drives tend to be too slow to do this, but are used because they can store so much. So much of the computations from the CPU and GPU (well most modern GPUs have special RAM built in with them called VRAM or Video RAM) need to go into storage temporarily to be used later, so RAM is used for these running programs, because it is fast.\n\nProblem is, often programs are inefficient, and they use RAM when it isn't needed and may forget to delete what was on the RAM when they finished using it (**stares at the Chrome icon on my pc**). This uses some of a limited amount, and this slows down the computer.\n\nRAM is called volitile memory, meaning that it requires electricity (volitile = voltage) to work. If electricity is cut it looses its contents. This is dangerous when using a program like Word, since it stores the document on RAM until you tell it to save, or you tell the computer to shut down through the OS, which tells the program to do what it needs to do before shutting down, like saving a document. However, if you do a hard shut down by holding the power button, it does not do this last bit, and your document may be lost.\n\n\n\nSleep is a state where the computer cuts power to the CPU and GPU, but keeps the RAM on and whatever is needed to rewake the computer (mouse and keyboard ports for example). This allows the computer to preserve energy and stop producing heat (the main culprits of producing heat are the CPU, GPU, and PSU (Power Supply Unit), the CPU and GPU are off, and the PSU is under almost no load, so it produces very little heat), thus all the fans turn off.\n\nSo turning off the computer clears the RAM, while sleep does not. This makes all the difference.\n\nAlthough, another thing is that clearing the RAM allows for whatever programs were in there working to be restarted. If they updated, like Windows, then the programs may be more efficient with the RAM when they are restarted, so this also contributes. You cant clear the program while it is running, because that would shut it down since the commands for the program originate in the RAM (well when the program is started, the program's memory is put into RAM). This is why a Windows update restarts the computer."
]
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44oj1h | why are flags not thrown when nfl players gloat/dance or yell at refs | Why can NFL players allowed to dance and show off when they do something and not get flagged? And they can yell and listen to refs all they want? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44oj1h/eli5_why_are_flags_not_thrown_when_nfl_players/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Well, they can get flagged if it is too excessive or egregious. But most of the refs get that the players are just competitive and fired up, and don't penalize it ",
"NFL players can't excessively gloat or dance or yell at refs like you are assuming. There are specific penalties for those things, and they are used.\n\nIf a player just does a fist pump, no one is going to call that, that's allowed, it's a competitive game where people get pumped up and hyped and emotions run high."
]
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18vn1s | what is svchost.exe in my task manager and where are there 11 running? | What does it do and why is it whenever I end the task it just starts up again? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/18vn1s/what_is_svchostexe_in_my_task_manager_and_where/ | {
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"In Windows, programs that can be run have file names that end with \".EXE\"\n\nBut there are other types of file that can also contain programs or bits of programs, although they can't be run directly. The most common type of file ends with \".DLL\", and the most common reason for using this type of file is if there is some functionality which is shared between two or more programs - each program can call on the shared bits when they need to.\n\nA \"service\" is a special type of program. It is usually designed to be running all the time your computer is turned on. But while it's working away in the background, it's not designed to be seen - it doesn't display anything on the screen, and it doesn't take input from your keyboard or mouse. It can be used for lots of useful things like looking after your printer queue, indexing files on your hard drive so you can search faster, or looking after a piece of hardware.\n\nServices are kept in .DLL files, not .EXEs. (The reason for this isn't particularly important, but if you're interested, it's because services need to be able to be told to do things by Windows, such as start, stop, pause, or resume after a pause. .EXE files don't have any way to do this.)\n\nBut Windows can't run a .DLL file. The only programs it knows how to run are .EXE files.\n\nBecause of this, Microsoft created a program call SVCHOST.EXE. When Windows wants to start a service, it starts this program instead, and gets this program to do the work of starting, and \"hosting\", the service from the relevant .DLL file.\n\n[Lots more information here](_URL_0_), including how to find out which services are running, and how to stop them."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[
"http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-svchostexe-and-why-is-it-running/"
]
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|
25dpku | how do they forge the material that has the highest melting point, since you need something of a higher melting point for a mould? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/25dpku/eli5_how_do_they_forge_the_material_that_has_the/ | {
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"Usually by cold forging or drop forging. Grinding is another option for shaping metal down.",
"You don't actually need something with a higher melting point for a mold if you actively cool the mold. Think of how you can boil water in a leaf that would burn if there weren't any water in it.",
"I think you are actually thinking of the process called casting, not forging. In casting, the molds that molten metal are poured into are often not metal, but ceramic, or even sand. Only metals with relatively low melting points are cast in molds made of other metals.\n\nFor example, check out the Wikipedia article on sand casting.\n_URL_0_",
"Airplane jet engines often operate above the temperatures that would actually melt the turbine blades. \n\nThey do it by film cooling, and I doubt that would work in a mold situation, but basically, you create a film of cool air that coats all the parts, and acts as a barrier between the superheated air, and the blades. ",
"they use ceramics. it's a finicky, pain in the ass process to cast things like tungsten alloys using permanent molds so they instead generally use things like sand casting. ",
"They don't heat up the mold...only the stuff they pour INTO the mold. The molten goo in the mold loses its heat and solidifies WAY faster than the mold can gain enough heat from its contents to melt.",
"To create high melting temperature materials, such as metals like tungsten or most ceramics, they usually use a process called sintering. That process generally allows materials to be formed at a much lower temperature due to different forces at work. The process is essentially taking powder, compressing it into your desired shape, and then heating at approximately half the melting temperature over an hour or so. Though the exact temperature and time depends on material, how thick your shape is, and the properties your looking for. \n\nSource I'm getting my undergraduate in Material Engineering.",
"On phone so sorry if the formatting sucks::\nWell the best way to break it down is\nAll materials have a \"heat capacity\" Which is how much heat a material can hold per mass amount, metals having a very low one. \nThen in general all materials in nature attempt to reach an equilibrium(balance) with their surroundings. \nSo one way they can do it(it being casting the metal) is by using sand or ceramics as a container as others have pointed out which have a fairly high heat capacity (in comparison to metals at least) to pour the metal into, because of their significantly higher heat capacity, while the temperature of the metal may be over a 1000 degrees hotter, the container may only heat up 250 degrees while the metal will cool the remaining 750 degrees to reach equilibrium. \nIf you want to see it your self in real life, grab a (thin) plastic cup (like a solo cup), fill it with water, and then hold a lighter to the outside of the cup below the water line, and you'll notice it takes minutes for it to melt rather than seconds like it would in an empty cup\nSource : Chemical engineering major \n",
"You don't have to melt metal unless you're pouring liquid metal into a mold/cast. \n\nA blacksmith just needs to get metal hot enough to make it soft to work with it. ",
"Crucibles for melting anything from steel to tungsten (highest melting point of any metal) are not cast. They are carved out of graphite. The same material as pencil lead.\n\nIt does not have a melting point at normal atmospheric pressures though it will begin to vaporize around 4000K (6740F, 3727C). This is higher than the melting point of tungsten 3695K (6191F, 3422C), and a lot higher than that of steel, at 1811K (2800F, 1538C).\n\nEdit: Also, [they're cheap](_URL_0_)."
]
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jd9dz | how to make money when the stock market goes down like it did today? | Show me the money $$$$. Is it even possible? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jd9dz/eli5_how_to_make_money_when_the_stock_market_goes/ | {
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"I'm not an expert, but I believe that people get jobs.",
"I'm not sure what you're asking. Are you asking how to make money from a falling stock market?\n\nYou can invest in something that swims against the tide, like gold, or repo companies. You can \"short\" the market.\n\nYou could borrow someone's stock, sell it at the high price, watch the market fall, buy it back at the low price just in time to give it back, and keep the difference for your profit. ",
"The extreme high volume was absolutely ripe for high frequency trading.\n\nTake Apple (AAPL). It closed with 40 million shares traded, which is unheard of for a stock worth $360! If you watched the stock in your with your broker closely, it went up and down by 80 cents a dozen times a second. \n\nPut a limit order in at the bottom of that up-and-down for like 200 shares, with an immediate sell order for 20 cents higher. You'll hold the stock for less than a second. Don't forget a stop limit.\n\nUsually it'll take forever for someone to grab 200 shares, but in that high volatility, those 200 share lots were going immediately",
"I'm not an expert, but I believe that people get jobs.",
"I'm not sure what you're asking. Are you asking how to make money from a falling stock market?\n\nYou can invest in something that swims against the tide, like gold, or repo companies. You can \"short\" the market.\n\nYou could borrow someone's stock, sell it at the high price, watch the market fall, buy it back at the low price just in time to give it back, and keep the difference for your profit. ",
"The extreme high volume was absolutely ripe for high frequency trading.\n\nTake Apple (AAPL). It closed with 40 million shares traded, which is unheard of for a stock worth $360! If you watched the stock in your with your broker closely, it went up and down by 80 cents a dozen times a second. \n\nPut a limit order in at the bottom of that up-and-down for like 200 shares, with an immediate sell order for 20 cents higher. You'll hold the stock for less than a second. Don't forget a stop limit.\n\nUsually it'll take forever for someone to grab 200 shares, but in that high volatility, those 200 share lots were going immediately"
]
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7edwn3 | what shows up on a background check if you have no job or credit? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7edwn3/eli5_what_shows_up_on_a_background_check_if_you/ | {
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"text": [
"The background check basically checks your criminal record, credit score, and other character information vital to a job. Jobs don't show up on background checks (which is why you are asked to provide references on the application) and if you don't have credit it will reflect that. "
]
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| []
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[]
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b8r6vi | why/how does china make their currency cheap? wouldn't everyone else just catch on and give it a real value? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b8r6vi/eli5_whyhow_does_china_make_their_currency_cheap/ | {
"a_id": [
"ejzor7r",
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"text": [
"Right, lots of misinformation here. Listen up, here’s the truth.\n\nThe valuation of a currency depends on its demand and supply. China has a closed monetary system which prevents cash from easily entering or leaving the system. They have significant control over RMB supply in the global forex market. The supply is completely fixed at whatever price level the Chinese government says is ok (ie a horizontal supply curve, for those who studied economics)\n\nIf you wanted to “catch on” and buy tons of RMB at a “discount”, the Chinese government would just put more RMB into the market, nullifying the price rise. \n\nThe amazing thing is because they have such strong monetary control, the negative drawbacks from currency devaluation (mainly inflation) have no effect domestically. The domestic and global market are totally separated.",
"Typically when a currency goes overseas its owned by private individuals in other country. So for example, when Americans buy products from Germany, they pay private German citizens US dollars in exchange for those products. Those private German citizens then take the dollars they've earned and buy US made goods. This creates a situation in which the total number of dollars flowing out of the country is equal to the number of dollars flowing in.\n\nIn China's case, its illegal for Chinese citizens to own anything other than Yuan, which are China's official currency. Any dollars that Chinese companies make by selling goods to the US have to be deposited with the government owned People's Bank of China, which converts those dollars into Yuan at a fixed rate.\n\nThe People's Bank of China only spends a fraction of the dollars it takes in. This creates a situation in which there are a lot more dollars flowing into China than out. This artificially reduces the supply of dollars relative to the supply of Yuan, causing dollars to be more expensive and Yuan to be cheaper.\n\nIn other words, in a normal economy people are free to spend the money they earn overseas. The Chinese government heavily restricts how many dollars Chinese citizens are allowed to spend. This makes the Yuan cheaper and directly creates a situation in which there is no choice but for there to be a trade imbalance between the US and China.\n\n"
]
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[],
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dk52s3 | why are things cheaper in poor countries? isn't products being cheap a sign of economic prosperity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dk52s3/eli5_why_are_things_cheaper_in_poor_countries/ | {
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"I believe it's because everything in the country is cheaper to account for the fact that there is less money, it doesn't mean it's prospering, it's essentially just getting by.",
"Just being cheaper doesn't determine how the economy is doing. If people are poor, they have less money to use. If products were expensive, people would have to save for long amounts of time to afford them. If they have to save, money isn't moving and economy suffers. The pricing of supply has to aim to increase or at least not decrease the demand. We can't compare the prices in different countries from a tourist perspective, it distorts reality.",
"I don't know every factor here, but: 1. stuff tends to be made in 'poor' countries, so it doesn't have to be shipped. 2. Price is not dictated by how much an item costs to make - it is dictated by how much people are willing to pay. 3. Regulation. Many things are cheaper to make and sell because they are unregulated. Pharma in 'poor' countries is often less regulated, which means that it is cheaper but also less assuredly safe.",
"When you by a candy bar in a convenience store, you aren't just paying for chocolate. You are paying for the upkeep of the store, the property tax it must pay, the people who work there, the utilities, the guy who drove the truck that brought it there, upkeep on the truck, etc., etc.\n\nAll of those things are less expensive in less developed countries. The building is constructed more cheaply, don't have the same safety codes, lacks amenities, and doesn't run the AC 24/7. But the biggest factor is going to be labor being much, much cheaper.\n\nAlso, there is some selection bias. That store sells to locals and sells what locals can afford. You might notice candy bars are cheaper, you might be missing how they are all off brands with lower quality ingredients.",
"Goods are not sold for how valuable they are on a global market. They are sold for whatever price people are willing to pay locally.\n\nPeople won't pay $2 per 500 mL for water, if they're trying to fill their bathtub for a bath. But they will pay it at a gas station for a beverage. So that's what the gas station can charge and still make money.\n\nPeople won't pay $700,000 for a two bedroom house in rural Kansas. But you can sell a home for that price San Francisco. Because people can and are willing to pay that price there.\n\nYou can't sell items for more expensive prices in poor countries and expect people to buy them.",
"Things are cheaper for you if you're visiting with your valuable currency.\n\nFor the locals, relative to how much they make a candy bar is a similar cost or probably much more than one would be to you at home as a percentage of your income."
]
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6l7nol | why is weight loss a symptom of many deadly illnesses? | Things like HIV and Cancer often have extreme weight loss as a symptom, but what about these illnesses make your body actively lose weight so quickly? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6l7nol/eli5_why_is_weight_loss_a_symptom_of_many_deadly/ | {
"a_id": [
"djroril",
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"text": [
"For cancer at least, the \"cancer\" are essentially the robbers. They rob your body of nutrients, especially carbohydrates such as glucose. Normal cells can utilize glucose efficiently, compared to cancer cells. Cancer cells can only utilize glucose by glycolysis, which is far more inefficient than aerobic metabolism by healthy cells, therefore requiring more glucose to make the same energy to sustain itself. As a result, a cancer patients body will have less glucose, thus pulling resources like your fat. (Fats can be converted into energy to use for cancer cells).",
"Unexpected weight loss, not just weight loss. In both of these scenarios, nutrients are being used at accelerated rates. Cancer cells multiply quick and HIV infections destroy white cells, creating a great environment for opportunistic infections "
]
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[],
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j4aph | why can big pharma still produce pseudoephedrine that people make meth from? | It just seems so odd. I know there are many pills with opium in them, but it seems like an easy way to kill the meth problem by not producing pseudoephedrine.
I do not watch breaking bad, but I guess he is making his own pseudoephedrine and then meth from it.
I just feel if big pharma stopped making pseudoephedrine it would hurt the ability of folks to make meth. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j4aph/why_can_big_pharma_still_produce_pseudoephedrine/ | {
"a_id": [
"c290ojm",
"c290owg"
],
"score": [
7,
5
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"text": [
"Simply: sudafed (pseudophedrine) has medical purposes and it works REALLY well for it. It's a nasal decongestant. ",
"There is a huge market for pseudophedrine to be used in legal ways. It's a very effective nasal and sinus decongestant.\n\nBecause some people choose use it illegally doesn't mean that we should make it illegal.\n\nAn analogy would be guns: just because some people commit crimes with guns, doesn't mean we have to stop selling guns.\n\nEDIT: Just for some more information, there are tough laws in place limiting the amount of pseudo that you can daily/weekly/monthly."
]
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[],
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3pfg0o | why are there so many weird/oddly specific old laws in the us? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3pfg0o/eli5_why_are_there_so_many_weirdoddly_specific/ | {
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"text": [
"To combat the weird, odd cases that occurred. \n\nLet's say some state has a \"don't spin pigs on their backs in traffic in the rain on sundays\" law.... That's probably because someone was doing that, and the person said, \"I can spin a pig on its back in the rain on Sundays if I want because there is no law against it\"...... So they went and made that law. ",
"Most of the \"dumb laws\" you hear about are fake. As in, they never existed, but were just made up for comedy purposes. This is especially true of the ones you see in lists and the like.\n\nThere are certainly strange old laws in the statute books of some places, but they're usually a little more grounded in reality. For example, in Pennsylvania it used to be illegal *not* to have an American flag at a public assembly. (The law has been declared unconstitutional.) That's odd, but not exactly \"don't ride a horse on Sunday going backwards\" stupid.\n\nAsk yourself this: have you ever seen one of those \"dumb laws\" with a citation to a codified statute or an act of the state legislature/city council? The law I mentioned above can be found at 18 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes Section 2101.",
"In some cases, the law is being reported with a phony specificity. So, a law which prohibits the keeping of wild animals in your back yard is reported as \"prohibits the keeping of Bengal tigers in your back yard.\" It's true that that **is** prohibited, but that's not quite what the law says.",
"For the ones that are actually real, it means there was a need for them at some point in time, but aren't relevant anymore, and it's expensive to change the law to remove them.\n\nFor example, in Kentucky it is illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket. This is because another law basically stated that if s horse followed you home it was legally yours, and people would steal horses by coaxing them with ice cream carried in their back pockets. "
]
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4s9fwh | why are some people ambidextrous while others can barely make a legible smiley face with their non-dominant hand? | Is it something that you learn or is it something that you're born with? I'm ambidextrous but I don't have any recollection of ever being taught how to write with both hands or use them, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. My friends all supposedly had similar upbringings and they can barely make a straight line with their non-dominant hand.
Edit: If it helps I also have synesthesia which is where your senses are all messed up (I see smells in my head and I can smell sounds, also numbers and letters are colors in my head amongst other things) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4s9fwh/eli5_why_are_some_people_ambidextrous_while/ | {
"a_id": [
"d57qc0b"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"I don't know about you, but I know people who learned how to write with both hands after arm injuries and such, so it can be something you learn.\n\nThat being said, according to Wikipedia there are people who are ambidextrous from birth (at least in the soccer world), so it's also possible that you are in fact one among them."
]
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[]
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|
3rekk1 | h.p. lovecraft universe | What are the different deities and worlds? What are the dreamlands? Where are these stories found? What is the "cthulhu mythos" about? Is it kinda like "Revelations" in the Bible?
I know this question has been posted before but I didn't find any good answers. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3rekk1/eli5_hp_lovecraft_universe/ | {
"a_id": [
"cwnd419"
],
"score": [
3
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"text": [
"Cthulhu was mentioned in one of his stories and became a popular subject in later stories, often written by other authors. That's often what a mythos is, a series of stories in a shared fictional world with multiple people contributing.\n\nThe deities are split into the Great Old Ones (powerful but not all-powerful), the Outer Gods (mostly all-powerful), and the Elder Gods (hate the former two groups).\n\nMost of these deities, while first mentioned in various Lovecraft short stories, where later fleshed out by his friend August Derleth, who was really the driving force behind the mythos after Lovecraft's death.\n\nA few examples of deities mentioned:\n\nCthulhu -- first appeared in the short story \"The Call of Cthulhu\" (1928).\n\nAzathoth -- first mentioned in a 1919 note, later in the novella \"The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath\" (1927).\n\nYog-Sothoth -- first appeared in the novella \"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward\" (1927).\n\nShub-Niggurath -- first mentioned in short story \"The Dunwich Horror\" (1928).\n\nNyarlathotep -- First appeared in the poem \"Nyarlathotep\" (1920).\n\nSome of the worlds in the mythos are real planets like Yuggoth, mostly likely Pluto.\n"
]
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f67vaw | how can one explain the pigeonhole principle? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f67vaw/eli5_how_can_one_explain_the_pigeonhole_principle/ | {
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"text": [
"If you have 10 hat boxes and 11 hats, and you MUST store the hats in the boxes, there is a 100% chance that one box will contain two hats.\n\nSame goes for hairs on your head. In a city of a million people ther will be people with the exact same number of hairs on their head. \nExplanation: humans have approximately 100,000 to 250,000 hairs on their head, some might have more or less, but no one has more than a million for sure. Thus even if distributed evenly over every possible number of hairs, in a city of 1,000,001 people there will be at least two people having the same number of hairs on their head.",
"replace the pigeons with people and holes with apartment \n\nIf you have more people then apartments there have to be at least one apartment with two people living there.\n\n3 apartments and 4 people result in there are at least two in one apartment.\n\nIt might be the case that lost an apartment is empty and there live many humans in a few apartments. It could be the case that everyone lived in a single apartment and all the other is empty. How the people live in an unknown escape that there is at least one with two or more people.\n\nThis is the whole idea. If there is more object then container you need to put at least two in a single container.\n\nIf you have 367 people at least two have to have the birthday on the same day because there is 366 days in a leap year. That is the type of conclusion you can draw from it.",
"The pigeonhole principle is simply that if you have more of a thing than places to put them, at least one place will have more than one thing put in it.\n\nThe simplest version is this - You have one bucket and two rocks. Put all the rocks into buckets. When you do this, your bucket must have more than one rock in it.\n\nNow take 5 buckets and more than 5 rocks. If you put all the rocks into buckets, at least one bucket must have more than one rock in it. Some buckets may have no rocks, but there's no way to put all the rocks into buckets without at least one bucket having multiple rocks.\n\nNow this seems simple and obvious, and it is. But it's really important in mathematics when you're proving things about large numbers of objects and ways to divy them up.\n\nIt's called the pigeonhole principle because one way of stating it is that if you have a bunch of pigeons and a bunch of pigeonholes, and there are more pigeons than holes, then at least one of them must wind up in a hole with another pigeon."
]
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1okazy | how many different scaling tricks and cognitive systems are involved in making a game feel 'massive'? | That is to say, how can games like Skyrim or GTAV scale over so many hundreds of square kilometres, but feel so short when you travel from one side to the other? Why do other games, which span over smaller sizes feel take just as long / longer to traverse?
Other than scaling down the distance between features, what else is going on here? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1okazy/eli5_how_many_different_scaling_tricks_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cct0asp"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Usually the only tricks in the game world itself is decreased level of detail (LOD) for distant objects. This is purely technical, to ensure the system can handle it/run smoothly while still showing distant objects. The normal LOD for rendering an object close up is not needed when rendering it in the distance.\n\nAs mentioned elsewhere, the maps in skyrim and gtaV are not hundreds of square km -- _URL_1_ illustrates some (JC2/Arma have actual 200+ km² maps). Aside from the obvious travelling speed (you don't go as fast in skyrim as GTA), most of it is just the density of the world. A world can feel bigger when theres a lot more stuff in it, and convenient terrain to hide the next distinct area.\n\nOften, games will play tricks with distant, unplayable parts of the world. Things such as clouds or distant scenery is really just a big hemisphere or box, with textures being projected onto them to provide the illusion of a vast space. HL2/Source engine has a particular trick where it sets aside one part of the actual map, normally unplayable, and then uses that as as the [3D Skybox](_URL_0_) -- It would be comparable to filming an actor in front of a green screen, then displaying a miniature set behind them, giving the illusion of it being full-sized."
]
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| []
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[
"https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/3D_Skybox",
"http://25.media.tumblr.com/8ec6778326ac832da7c6ead55402ac9a/tumblr_msyezr4JoD1rdy5joo1_1280.png"
]
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5wlv1z | why do moon's orbit not decay like artificial satellite's do? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wlv1z/eli5_why_do_moons_orbit_not_decay_like_artificial/ | {
"a_id": [
"deb3zub"
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"score": [
4
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"text": [
"The moon is far enough away from the earth that the atmospheric friction doesn't affect it the way it does small satellites in the atmosphere."
]
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[]
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|
||
6xumjt | why is the molecule of h2o not linear? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6xumjt/eli5why_is_the_molecule_of_h2o_not_linear/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Oxygen has 4 electron pairs. Just like magnets, electron pairs like to be away from each other as far as possible.\n\nIn 3d the optimal shape for this is a tetrahedron. Hydrogen bonds to two of those pairs and what you get is a non linear molecule."
]
} | []
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[]
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j2svc | why is it bad to have a gold backed currency? why won't we ever switch? like i'm five | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j2svc/why_is_it_bad_to_have_a_gold_backed_currency_why/ | {
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"text": [
"Fiat currency gives the federal reserve bank control as to how much money there is, allowing the use of monetary policy to affect things like inflation and interest rates. \n\nThe gold standard makes the availability of currency dependent upon the amount of gold available, and nothing else. We lose the ability to control it, which makes inflation harder to deal with. ",
"Simple: Gold-backed currency takes monetary policy out of the hands of everyone. No one can influence the economy as directly or as swiftly with a gold-backed currency. This is why it was ditched in 1971 and partly so earlier.",
"In our economy, 'wealth' is created via work. If you make something or provide a service, you've created wealth. In order to exchange that wealth for something else, we use a common medium to enable exchanges between everyone. And that common medium is money.\n\nMoney can be anything. Gold is just something that has been used by many cultures historically. Other cultures have used sea shells. Ours currently uses paper (and coins, to a lesser extent). The money itself does not need to have any inherent value. It only needs to act as a means of exchanging wealth for work.\n\nMany people believe that money should be backed by something, meaning that one unit of money is worth X amount of gold. The idea is that your money will always be worth something, regardless of what happens to the exchange rate of wealth for work. But gold, like dollars, is worth what people are willing to pay for it. Outside of its aesthetic qualities, it's only worth something based on it's elemental qualities. In that way, any element could be used to back currency, like copper, tin, silver, or iron.\n\nThe problem with having money based on a physically limited resource is that if more people work more, more wealth is introduced into the economy, but there isn't more money to go around. So the value of gold must go up to compensate for the increase in overall wealth. If you were using gold as money directly (like as coins), then you'd have to start cutting your coins up to make smaller and smaller denominations that are now worth more. If you use an intermediary medium, like paper dollars, you'd have to make smaller and smaller denominations (cents, fractions of cents, etc). And whoever holds the most gold gains the most power, even if they don't contribute any work.\n\nIf instead the money is just backed on the nation's economy itself, then the amount of money in the economy can vary without the inherent inflation value that would come with a gold-as-currency system. If more work (and thus wealth) is introduced into the system, more money can be printed that will cover it. Likewise, if wealth is somehow reduced, money can be removed from the system (rarely happens). People who generate the wealth can earn it, while the people who just sit on what they previously had and don't generate more, the money they're holding on to loses value. This encourages wealth generation (work) and investing.\n\nAs long as the amount of money in the system matches the amount of wealth, the value of that money remains the same. If more dollars are printed than wealth generated, the value of the dollar drops. If more wealth is generated but equivalent dollars aren't created to match, then the value of the dollar rises. This is a tricky balancing act to manage, which is why we have issues with inflation and deflation. But those issues would be more exaggerated if our money was based on a limited resource."
]
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5hhmtc | pilot wave theory and why so many people dismiss it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5hhmtc/eli5_pilot_wave_theory_and_why_so_many_people/ | {
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"text": [
"Here's a good [demonstration of pilot wave theory from Veritasium](_URL_0_); and then here's a good [follow-up video from PBS' SpaceTime](_URL_1_) which covers (towards the end) why Pilot Wave Theory isn't as popular as it might be.\n\nEach one's about ten minutes long, and they explain it better than I could."
]
} | []
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIyTZDHuarQ",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlXdsyctD50"
]
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|
||
3q9ynd | can someone explain the significance of the iarc's findings on the relationship between processed meat / red meat and cancer? | Specifically, what is the significance of classing processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen and red meat as Group 2(a)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q9ynd/eli5_can_someone_explain_the_significance_of_the/ | {
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"text": [
"None. This is just another study that was published by a group supporting an activist cause that in 6 weeks we will have a counter study saying that Red Meat is great for your health and recommend you eat 2-4 oz a day of.\n\nThere is no significance."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
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|
1vwnaj | how can documentaries on dinosaurs be sure on things like social habits, hunting behaviors, skin color and things like grooves and ridges on skin? is it just speculation? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vwnaj/eli5_how_can_documentaries_on_dinosaurs_be_sure/ | {
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"text": [
"A lot of it is just guesswork. \n\nFossilized skin imprints have been found, so we do know a tiny bit about dinosaur skin textures. This is far from foolproof because it has now been found that a lot of dinosaurs had feathers. ",
"Short answer: Yes. \nLong answer: Yes. But profound speculation. \nSkin is actually usually the least speculative point. Fossilized imprints of skin have been found. Also, assumptions about color and texture of skin can often be drawn from living animals. Hunters will have camouflage patterns, like tigers or leopards etc. \nHunting behaviour is a bit more tricky. You have to reconstruct the appearance and characteristics of the living animal from the sceleton. You can, for example, estimate how big the muscles were and that gives you a clue about whether the hunter was a sprinter like a lion or a more sustaining hunter, like a wolf. Then you have bite- or scratchmarks on prey animals, footprints, battle injuries etc. It would be a bit complicated to explain it all in detail. Basically, it's like a crime scene. You don't know what happened. But the clues and traces left behind give you an idea. \nSocial habits is really difficult, as far as I know. The best hint is the behaviour of modern animals that live in similar environements and at a similar spot in the food chain. Gnus, for example, can be a model for the social behaviour of Iguanodons, Dromeosauria possibly behaved similar to lions or wolves. Then you have fossils that give you an idea about whether the animal lived in herds or alone, if the parents tended to their offspring and so on. \nIt's all speculation. But based on evidence. \nAlso, documentaries have to be entertaining as well, so they'll sometimes take...artistic freedom (they make stuff up)."
]
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f8l3of | ; when you close your eyes at night you see all these colours, and when you press your eyes they become more and more vilbrant the harder you push. what are those and where do they come from? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f8l3of/eli5_when_you_close_your_eyes_at_night_you_see/ | {
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"Your eyes are sensors that receive light and send that signal to the brain to be interpreted as what you see. Applying pressure as you describe activates the sensors in your eyes and sends signals to your brain, and what you see is your brains interpretation of the signals caused by the applied pressure.",
" Within your eye you have cells that are light-sensitive that send signals to your brain in order to create a picture. These cells are also sensitive to other stimuli (pressure), but do not know the differences between stimuli. \n\nWhen you rub your eye, you activate these cells and they send information to your brain thinking that they have received light. Your brain interprets the data as if it were light, and it is because of this that you might see stars, auras, and shapes even though your eyes are closed. \n\nThese are called phosphenes.",
".... i dont usually see different colours when I close my eyes when I sleep... should I be concerned",
"I was never sure if this was just me or not. Happy to know.\n\nI can also get a similar effect by closing my eyes harder. If that makes sense.",
"I don't think the question of when there is no pressure has been answered.\n\nThey think it's because the cells in our eyes including the retina ( like all cells) emit a very small number of photons. In the light we don't notice them as the receptors in the retina are being bombarded with so many photons. But in the dark the retina can actually detect these and interprets them as colours and patterns.",
"I get this thing called visual snow where there's a constant overlay of static like dots over your vision.\n\nI only really notice it when I think about it but it's much more distracting at night and when I close my eyes I never really see blackness. \n\nIt's apparently possibly some sort of visual tinnitus.\n\n_URL_0_",
"It's all of the left over light still journeying it's way through the little black tunnel highways of your eyes and up to your brain.",
"I'm middle aged, and I don't really see those anymore like I did when I was young. Anyone know why?",
"I believe you're talking about closed-eye hallucinations. All the other answers I see here aren't mentioning this and I believe that's because most people don't get them. I'm 41 and I just learned this. I thought everyone had this. I have level 3.\n\n_URL_0_",
"When I close my eyes and press down, I usually see neon orange. Sometimes it’s bright purple and very rarely it’s a chartreuse green. It’s never a primary color, though. \n\nAfter reading through these replies, I realize I don’t see “normally” either. The closest thing that I see would be Visual Snow, but that still doesn’t really cover it either. It’s like I see things (it’s particularly more noticeable in dimly lit areas such as a dark room with just a TV on) as cartoonish confetti. It’s like combining Visual Snow with Floaters, but it’s not overwhelming at all - it’s my “normal”. I can manipulate the cartoonish confetti to move around, too, to an extent. I usually ignore it, though. \n\nI definitely don’t have 20/20 vision (I haven’t had my eyes checked in a long time), but I don’t wear glasses. The way I see things used to amuse me (I guess it still does sometimes) because the cartoonish confetti looked fun.",
"Stop it. The harder you press the worse and higher your risk of permantly damaging your eyes.\n\nWe all have very sensitive retinal sensors that are activated by both light and pressure. \n\nGental slight pressure on your eyes is harmless, but hard or sudden pressure can be harmful. Banging your head also can be handful to your vision.",
"Imagine the sensors in your eyes are like a giant keyboard and when you open your eyes and let the light in its like a master composer playing the keys by pressing the right one for just about right time and pressure.\n\nWhen you close your eyes and rub them you see a toddler jumping over the keyboard you can still here all the notes (colors) but the composition does not make sense.",
"I’m sure someone in this thread already said this but please don’t put pressure on your eyes. The first thing I was asked when getting lasik was “do you rub your eyes?” And I had never given it any thought before and then I started to do research and it’s actually pretty bad to do it. Here’s an [article](_URL_0_) explaining why."
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bt7vzy | what makes a voice sound pleasant/unpleasant? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bt7vzy/eli5_what_makes_a_voice_sound_pleasantunpleasant/ | {
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"I think it's personal preference of the listener. Some people are really into the high pitched type thing that k pop does, but others find really gravelly low metal singing awesome. \n\nIf you're asking how you can sound like a kpop singer, it's possible it just might take a lot of practice especially if you're a dude because your voice will already be lower.",
"To the strict technical point of view: high pitched and nasal voices are annoying, low pitched voices are pleasant.",
"The singers are generally good in their own right, but anytime you listen to a studio recorded song you can guarantee that the voice has been enhanced in some way shape or form, and that its been cut together to get the absolute best takes possible.\n\nWhat do I mean by enhanced? Well there's many different ways to improve vocal quality from an audio engineers end. We use a technique called compression which basically smooths out the differences between the louder and softer singing to give a more consistent level through the whole track, or there are many sorts of effects that can be used to enhance vocals such as harmonizers and chorus effects as well the one that you would more commonly have heard of; 'Auto-Tune'. Effects like reverb and delay are used to try and emulate a room such as a large hall or stadium.\n\nThe singers do multiple takes of the same songs and the audio engineer in consultation with the producer cuts the best takes together to give the best version of the song.\n\nAll in all, the music has been enhanced to provide the best aural experience possible, and the Koreans and Japanese seem to have the formula right for producing music that is pleasant to listen to, even if the listener can't understand the song. \n\n\nEDIT: So I noticed a few people pointing out that they've heard live performances that are just as good or better than any studio album, and I have experienced this to. This very much comes down to the style of music, the talent of the singer, and the creative decisions that wrap it together. Country music for example tends to sound very similar live and in the studio.",
"I can't tell whether it's true for music but generally, I enjoy very calm and rather deep voices as I find them soothing and they sound understanding.",
"It seems like you're confusing two different things here, so I'll try to clarify each of them:\n\nSinging is something you can learn and practice. Like playing an instrument. The whole idea that you're just born with a good singing voice is a complete myth.\n\nThe \"pleasantness\" of a voice can't be changed however. Regardless of whether you are speaking or singing. Some people just have voices that sound more pleasant to listen to, though this also depends on your taste and what kind of sounds you find pleasing. Some people like smoother voices, while others prefer more rough and raspy voices.\nSome people can make their voices sound different. Voice actors, for example, often change their voice when playing a character. For example [Billy West](_URL_0_), who played several characters on Futurama. But this still doesn't affect their natural voice that they use when speaking normally.",
"Hearing your own voice.\n\nThat’s generally considered unpleasant unless your ego is particularly large.",
"Ok, I teach music at a high school for a living and one of the ensembles I teach is a choir. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this so let me clarify a couple of points. Everyone can be a pleasing singer. The first challenge is having a solid sense of pitch. [_URL_0_](_URL_1_) has a bunch of really excellent explanations of music theory and then a great ear training segment that can help a person develop an idea of pitch. So anyone can learn this and be able to sing in their own voice if they are willing to experiment. THAT BEING SAID, some people have much more resonant voices than others and there is fuck all we can do about that. It's really all about being as relaxed as possible when one sings. Some people happen to have a very relaxed neck setup and sound amazing with little effort. I used to think it had something to do with having a bigger build with a resonant chamber but I've seen small framed people have amazing sounds as well. I've had the pleasure of working with some singers who were had more notes then other people and there isn't anything we can do about it. It's like working out, you might not be able to have the exact body you want but if you exercise and lift some weights, you can still be attractive in your own way. Even the best of voices doesn't function without a sense of pitch. The best singers I had weren't the ones with the most notes, but the ones who could hear pitches, sing expressively, and remember their music.",
"Your natural physiology plays a lot into it. I will never sing like Freddy Mercury but I've been told I have a nice voice.\n\nSinging, in particular, takes a lot of practice and you're not going to have a \"good voice\" right away even if you have a naturally pleasant voice. When you sing, you're making a musical instrument of your body, and it takes as much patience and practice as any other musical instrument.",
"It's definitely something you can practice. As someone who has studied voice and taken a lot of voice lessons, I've been taught that a key to sounding good (both when speaking and singing) is \\*keeping it in the mask\\*. This is a pretty ambiguous phrase, but what it basically means is that when singing, the sound should be allowed to resonate around in your sinuses and the cavities in your face. This allows the voice to have rich overtones, regardless of whether or not you have a low or high voice, are male or female. Without it, the voice will sound dull. With it, there is a distinctive \\*ping\\* to the voice, a nice brassy quality that is somehow both warm and cutting at the same time.\n\nA side effect of this that I've personally experienced is that my speaking voice has become louder and much more clear. I used to constantly have people asking me to speak up, but since learning how to allow my voice to resonate, I can speak without feeling as though I am shouting.",
"Out of curiosity, whose voice was it? I've always really liked Rose's voice even though she doesn't have the best technique. She just has a nice tone.",
"There's different factors that go into the answer. For example, someone who can sing every note in the right key will probably be more pleasant sounding. This is something you can work on. \n\nThere's also the timbre of a person's voice. Some voices resonate very well in the person's body, and that can make the singing sound very pleasant. Most people will have a particular range of notes where their voice sounds very good resonating in their own chest and head. This is genetic, but by learning the range where your voice resonates well with your own body, you can improve this. \n\nSimilarly, your voice will resonate differently in different places, and you can improve this by picking a good place to sing. You'll notice a lot of singers record home demos in echoing places like bathrooms and kitchens. \n\nFinally, everyone has their own unique voice, and some people will just subjectively like the sound of certain voices. Some people love Bob Dylan's voice, for example. Others hate it. This is hard to change, although you can adjust your own voice to some extent, or sometimes to a great extent. It just depends on the person.",
"It can be learned. Anybody can sing well with enough dedication. I'm a voice teacher, and I couldn't even sing Mary Had a little lamb until I was almost 18 years old. But I wanted to sing so I started taking lessons, now ten years later I am a professional singer and voice teacher.\n\nThe biggest difference between what makes a voice sound pleasant or unpleasant is \"resonance\". When we sing parts of our bodies and skulls act as resonators for the sound being produced from our vocal folds. Specifically the pharynx and nasopharynx. Those are our \"primary resonators\" for singing. There are other factors involved in pleasant sounding singing vs unpleasant such as intonation, emotion, musicality etc. Classical Italian style singing is called \"Bel Canto\" singing which literally means \"beautiful sound\" and is completely based around the concept of beautiful resonance.\n\nThere's a lot more that goes into it but that's the closest I can get to explaining like your 5. (though I definitely failed at hitting that mark too lol)",
"To directly answer the question, what makes a voice sound pleasant is the range and number of different frequencies produced when singing. (If we only produced the exact pitch of a note, we'd sound like old-school synthesizers- harsh and robotic.) Every singer produces additional frequencies that blend together to produce the timbre or tone color of their voice. This is easy to demonstrate by singing into an oscilloscope, which visually displays the frequencies. Two different voices will have very different imprints, so to speak.\n\nThis is absolutely something that can be changed, to a degree. That is why we have voice teachers, who lead students through ranges of exercises over time to hone their sound.\n\nIn addition to the sound of the voice itself, the other things that matter are singing in tune, diction and vowel shaping, dynamics, expression, etc. \n\nWhile it's pretty unlikely that you could take any random person and turn them into an opera singer, every single person can improve their singing voice with proper training and practice!",
"Maybe I missed it but I'm surprised no one has given a technical answer -- what about a sound (not just a voice) -- makes it pleasant or unpleasant. I won't say I'm an expert on acoustics, but much of any pleasant sound comes from the mix of primary and harmonic tones. (The mix of frequencies basically, with certain ratios complementing each other...this is what another commenter referred to as timbre and is also much of what gives an instrument its distinctive sound.)\n\nSo that's one part of a voice. Another part is that our vocal chords make our voice a mix of wind instrument and percussion, but I'm not sure how to describe that succinctly. That doesn't even get into the role your teeth and tongue play into cleanly, precisely letting air pass over and through them.\n\nAnother \"why\" question is, why do we prefer certain vocal qualities over others? My assumption for all this stuff is evolution. A smooth, resonant voice in a male would be a proxy for health and strength. A smooth, sweet voice in a female would be a proxy for health and ability to comfort a child (though that's a chicken and egg thing I guess). In contrast, a rough voice would be a proxy for everything from susceptibility to illness to bad oral/dental health, availability of sleep, and genetic disorders.",
"Ignoring pitch and studio fx, I think the main thing that determines if the raw timbre of the voice is \"good\" or \"bad\" has to do with frequency resonances in the voice, if somebody has a naturally open sounding voice with no weird frequency buildups across the spectrum it will sound much better than somebody who for whatever reason does not\n\n & #x200B;\n\nFor example, fran drescher's \"the nanny\", she very extremely exaggerates the upper midrange of her voice to be especially piercing, which makes it unpleasant. good singers just know how to/are naturally capable of producing flat sounding timbre's which sound good because nothing sticks out like a sore thumb",
"not related, but what song/singer?"
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45wynx | if the universe is infinite, does that mean that all permutations of matter exist within our universe? | So is everything that I, or anyone else, has observed occurring infinitely many times in infinitely many ways across the universe? And if not, how can the universe be infinite? Like, if we know that the world as is has a nonzero chance of existing, and it is given infinite space and potentially time to exist, then it must exist infinitely many times.. right? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45wynx/eli5_if_the_universe_is_infinite_does_that_mean/ | {
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"Not really. Infinite does not mean all-encompassing. You could count in twos infinitely and there would never be an odd number. ",
"I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but it seems you may have two concepts confused.\n\n As far as we know there is infinite space, but there is a definite boundary to how much matter there is, so this is the \"edge\"of space.\n\nIt seems you are thinking if the multi-verse theory. Which days there are an infinite number of universes, in which case yes, there are infinite earths, us, laws of physics, types of matter. Basically if there are infinite dimensions and reach has their own set of rules and differences there is one that is perfect in every way, and one that is completely imperfect.\n\nDoes that answer your question at all?",
"That would necessitate an infinite amount of matter/energy in the universe, which is different from having infinite volume, and I don't think is the case (but I'm not certain).",
"Just as an example I once read that explained this to me: Take the number 0.1001000100001000001...\nIt goes on forever without repeating but never contains a 2. Just because something is infinite doesn't mean that it contains every permutation possible.",
"This is a good question, and it brings up two ideas: infinite vs random. Really this will all be about energy, but we start by thinking about comics for an example:\n\nFirst, maybe the Universe does go on forever, but picture it as empty. Like a blank page that doesn't have edges. Just because there is a lot of paper, doesn't mean it all has drawings. Now, maybe there are already some awesome drawings already there. Picture your favorite comic, all spread out in nice dark black lines at your feet.\n\nSecond, imagine that most of what is drawn on it happened before you got there. All you know is that you see drawings. But looking around, imagine you don't see anyone making the drawings right now. So, just because we have all this paper, doesn't mean we have infinite comic books. We need artists and ink, right?\n\nThird, imagine that slowly all the drawings are fading. Right now you have these big complicated pictures, but it's pretty obvious that eventually it will all be white again. So, even if there were suddenly some random comic pages that showed up far away, they would fade away over time, too. So either someone has to draw a whole comic before it fades, or find one that is already part done.\n\nFourth, imagine there is someone with a faint gray pencil, who starts making new drawings. That's cool, but there is no guarantee they can produce anything as big as your favorite comics. Plus, they can never draw in the nice, dark black lines your favorites started with. So maybe the comics you have are unique, even if other gray comics get made.\n\nFifth, imagine the artist is wandering around at random, but all those random pages that showed up, they are moving around too. They have to find each other. So really, it's hard to imagine anyone getting lucky and finding a partial comic to complete. Plus, anything that is drawn might get lost before it is finished by the artist. Plus, with the fading ink, it won't be all even like your comic. The comic you have right here might be the only one to ever get finished.\n\nNow, to put that together a little, it takes energy to get things like matter that we can build things out of. We don't know that the infinite universe has any matter - it might be blank. \n\nEven if has enough energy for matter, the energy is spreading out all the time due to inflation. That is like fading ink.\n\nSome random bursts of energy happen, and then are cancelled. This is called quantum foam. It is the only source of random stuff to happen, once the universe has spread out to a near empty state, or if it starts empty elsewhere. This is like our gray pencil; it is weak and can't stay around for long like the nice solid matter we already have.\n\nGravity is like our artist. Gravity gathers any matter that gets made together. But it is weak. The early clumps of matter stayed together, but are drifting apart from each other. Any new matter would need to be gathered together by gravity, but it won't. It takes too long, and is too weak. Remember, everything is spreading out, faster and faster, due to cosmic inflation.\n\nYour question leads to two ideas - can random complex things pop into existence? The answer is pretty much no.\n\nThe second is, could starting stuff in two areas randomly make identical things? The answer is also no, but for complicated reasons about how quantum entanglement works. To a point, each of the things would be differently entangled with stuff around them, because they are in different places. That means, basically, that randomness in each place would be differently random. That means they would drift apart instantly; it would be more like two ships that passed each other briefly, rather than two of the same ships sailing the same route.\n\nHope that helps?",
"Yes and No.\n\nThe problem with this is that science is currently on a kick that they believe we'll actually see \"the edge of the universe\" based on some belief that there was nothing outside of an infinitely tiny little pinpoint with no measurable space-time that went KABOOM for no apparent reason and was both completely uniform in expansion AND caused non-uniform condensation of matter from pure energy into transphotometric masses without any time passing. \n\nBasically the word universe is infinite. What we can see now is not, what we can detect is not and when the Webb telescope goes online in 2018 we may well see farther back than the beginning of time and discover that, *once again*, astrophysics origin theories are full of shit.\n\nIts a tough lesson, one of the hardest. Cosmology has had its head up its own ass for so long that some of the biggest visionaries of the field _URL_0_ are still turning up to be right even today.\n\nEinstein is attributed with commenting that science in general and astrophysics in specific is a progressive quest to create ever more accurate rulers to measure things we don't yet know about in incorrect units.\n\nCosmology has brought us some of the most elaborate and complicated practical (only if you've got a 135IQ and eat differential equations before you've had coffee) jokes and one-liners (one-equationers) you will ever hear of. Things like String Theory, M theory, the belief that we'll find the smallest particle or the furthest trans-galactic object and that we'll finally understand everything.\n\nIts my firm belief that Einstein had figured out a lot more than what he left us. The man probably figured out things so mind blowing that we'd have killed a billion people trying to make them work if not destroyed our own planet in the process... and decided to take the rest of his life off.\n\nIf you want a real giggle... ask the scientists who just detected compressions in TIME (gravity waves) if it wasn't one of the universal constants momentarily shifting instead and whether they used the normal \"robust\" scientific practice of verifying what they think they discovered using a different detection apparatus or even just a third sensor unit. \n\n*Einstein: Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.*\n\nI'd like to ask him if \"dark matter\" is just God dragging his feet; I believe he'd get a chuckle out of the question.\n\nNot long enough and haven't read enough? \"nle;hre\"...\n\nBasically the total of our existence is defined by not only the mechanical tendencies of the building blocks but also by temperature and pressure. Some molecules of precisely the same chemical makeup can be folded around and twisted up in surprisingly different ways. Imagine if you had a chainsaw and a woodpecker. How are these different?\n_URL_1_ is doing science specifically related to the fact that molecules twist up in all sorts of different ways in different variations of magnetism, energy, pressure, temperature and ambient surrounding chemistry. So within those variations you can have a nearly infinite subset of angles and curves and twists of just a \"simple\" 200 atom molecule. Some of the folding modules are run for months at a time on tens of thousands of computers just to try to find a point at which a change occurs that turns a \"chainsaw\" into a \"woodpecker\". In bio-molecular chemistry the differences can be as extreme mechanically between two folding patterns as the example above appears to be different in the macro (large world) except that a chainsaw and a woodpecker can both do many of the same things - just like many folded molecules. Given the thermodynamic environment of the biological processing systems necessary to create these molecules, they will not however exist in an infinite variety of contortions.. they quickly pop one way or the other.\n\nThere's no need to go to cosmology to try to figure out if there is a true infinite variety. Infinite variety is going on in the room you're sitting in right now. \n\nIf you look at the LHC (large hadron collider), you will see a machine that was publicly announced to exist for one purpose: to discover the Higgs Boson. Well, you'd think that doing all sorts of math and science and billions and billions of dollars of research and time and study and modeling would result in a \"slam dunk\"... **NOPE**\n\nThe particle as prior-described doesn't exist. Its actually a conglomerate of further smaller particles.\n\nThey've produced excited states of the Xi Baryon and discovered pentaquarks come out of bottom lambda baryons tho, so they've got that going for them, which is nice.\n\nGo get a box full of styrofoam packing peanuts, reach deep into it and grab one out, yell EUREKA and crush that pellet into bits. Keep doing it until you have nothing but Carbon and Hydrogen atoms (and you just know you're not gonna be able to grab a-hold of the hydrogen atoms) and you'll understand just how far fetched the information we're trying to put all together is.\n\nBut the universe isn't infinite in absolute. I can guarantee you that it consists 100% of nothing to the best of our scientific ability to calculate what it actually is made of.\n\n**OH GOD NO HE'S NOT DONE**\n\nWell now, I popped back through the \"gravity waves\" AMA and saw an answer about the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey concept of a minimum resolution of TIME ITSELF.... what?\n\nDo we only exist because something resets the forces that are trying to tear us apart five hundred and fifty seven blogzilion times per nanu-second? What happens if all our atoms accidentally spin in precisely the same direction and orientation all at once and what's the chance of that happening? \n\nEinstein enjoyed wind powered sailing, eating pasta and hated socks. Go do something you like to do, get the fuck off the internet for twenty minutes and see what's behind the sofa or something.\n",
"No, there is no version of Earth in which she loves you back. Certain constants are truly universal.",
"Google Tegmark's hierarchy of multiverses. This is one of them. Note that his conception of this hierarchy is only hypothetical.",
"No.\n\nAs an analogy, consider the numbers made by an infinitely long sequence of digits:\n\n0.33333...\n\ngoes on forever, but every digit is a three. (This number is the familiar 1/3, of course.) Although it is infinite, you will never come across the digit 5.\n\nNow consider the number:\n\n0.012345678910111213141516...\n\nwhich is made up by joining together the numbers 0, 1, 2, ... 15, 16, 17, ... and so forth. Obviously if you go forward far enough, you will find every single combination of digits *somewhere* in that infinite sequence.\n\nThen there's this one:\n\n0.101001000100001000001...\n\nformed by joining 1, 01, 001, 0001, etc. Clearly unlike the 0.333... example this one never repeats, but it doesn't come include every possible pattern either. For example, you'll never find 11 in the sequence, no matter how far you go.\n\nSo merely being infinite doesn't tell us whether there is a pattern or not, whether it repeats, or whether every single possible permutation must exist. But, out of all the possible sequences of numbers, *most* of them do *not* contain every single permutation. Such numbers are rather rare, in some sense.\n\nLikewise for the universe. Infinite or not, it would be extremely surprising to find floating in space an exact copy of the Empire State Building except that all the bricks are made from strawberry pudding and the windows are etched with the complete text of The Lord Of The Rings written in Klingon. We can be pretty sure that, in the absence of some sort of force of nature or process that would lead to creating such a thing (such as a super-powerful space alien with a weird sense of humor) it won't come into existence through random chance, no matter how big the universe is. It *could*, in principle, but it won't."
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ar9f09 | why do some us news websites block their content so it is only available in us ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ar9f09/eli5_why_do_some_us_news_websites_block_their/ | {
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"I've only really seen that happening in the EU, and that's because the EU has some privacy related laws (GDPR) that many US companies does not want to follow, so they just make their content unavailable in the EU.",
"Mainly because they don't want to have to bother dealing with pesky little things like protecting your privacy due to foreign laws like GDPR. They think that by putting up a GeoIP barrier it protects them (spoiler: It doesn't).\n\nIt can also be part of licensing restrictions on some of the content they use, especially if they're syndicated, it may only be licensed for US viewers.",
"Is it really for not comply with other countries? Because if the company is is based and theirs server in the us then I thought they were safe to comply with us only law?\n\nAlso is it for the same thing as for video/music? (I think it is for right protection)",
"Happens all the time in Canada. Usually anything from a traditional TV station is blocked. ",
"IANATVND\n\nSpecifically for WGN, they are a TV station and that's their news arm. So it might be GPDR, or limiting bandwidth to other people (perhaps a video story went viral, and bogged down their network), or it might just be that as a TV station they do some things that are only licensed for distribution in the US and don't want to deal with what's what. ",
"It could be they want to license that content to local outlets in other counties. If the readers of those outlets could just go to the source, there is no reason to license it. ",
"Same reason we never really notice other countries propaganda its pushing to ITS citizens. ",
"GDRP. News sites can’t be profitable if they follow that law, their income depends more on trackers than ads. It would also be expensive and impractical to develop two versions of the site. So they block the EU. Technically this doesn’t protect them, but in practice it probably minimizes the risk at the very least.\n\nI should mention that GDRP covers much more than trackers and some of the laws are considered by much of the web dev community to be not helpful and difficult to implement to the letter of the law without a lawyer who specializes in it, and a lot of dev time\n\nI should also mention that while in theory anybody anywhere could get fined for any minor infraction, so dar the EU is only using the law in the most extreme and major violations, so far at least\n\nIf any of this is incorrect please correct me\n\nSource: Web Dev",
"So there are a few main reasons that you may be encountering this issue, most of which have already been addressed on here.\n\nThe most common reason you can encounter blocked content, including when you're in the US, is that many local media stations are only licensed for local distribution. This is particularly common in the world of live sports coverage--while I can watch a Boston Bruins game on local TV in Portland, ME, I can't do the same in Portland, OR as the local network only has the distribution rights in the Bruins' own media market. If I want to see a Bruins game in Portland, OR or the Isle of Portland in Dorset, UK, I would need to subscribe to the NHL's service to view out-of-area games. \n\nA newer issue specific to European countries is the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, which came into effect in 2016. This law greatly expanded the privacy rights of EU internet users, including the ability to refuse website tracking and the \"right to be forgotten\"--that you can request all of your information gathered by a website be deleted. All EU-based websites now comply with this law, but some US websites, instead of updating their systems to comply with GDPR (which is significantly stronger than any US data protection laws), chose to block access in European countries. This is the case for a lot of smaller regional/local news sources as it's just not worth their while to comply. Major international news sites like the New York Times, CNN, NPR, etc did this very quickly as they have significant European traffic.\n\nA third possibility is that the news site may be voluntarily blocking content to your location at the request of your government. Not all news sites do this, but for example many sites, in order to operate in countries like China with stricter censorship laws, will agree to restrict the content that they make available to users in these places. I'm guessing that WGN is small enough that this is not the reason in your particular case, but it's the third major example that jumps to mind for me.",
"It’s drives me crazy when I go to a website like Hulu or CBS, or wherever that has tv shows streaming online, and it says “this content is not available in your country”. Then I look up at my big flatscreen TV and I’m literally watching the exact show.\nHow is the it not available? \nRealistically, the biggest reason, is most of the big media companies are run by old men stuck in the 70’s and 80’s. They haven’t evolvled to the current market.",
"EU has now quite restrictive laws about use and protection of personal information by companies. Some websites decided that ability to sell all your info and not having to bother too much with data security outweighs any income derived from European visitors. \n\n & #x200B;",
"CBS radio stations like others, prevent their output reaching the UK because UK royalty collection agencies demanded money from them for royalties because UK people could listen to the stream.\n\nNow any established artist will already be registered with ascap et al so this appears to be more about claiming commission than protecting artists rights "
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3aoldo | why don't republicans like donald trump? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3aoldo/eli5_why_dont_republicans_like_donald_trump/ | {
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"I'm no expert, but he seems a bit nutty and self-aggrandizing. Conservative politicians do best when they are steady, relatable, and common-sense folks.",
"Because he's batshit insane?\n\nThink of it like this, I say to you \"Hey, you see that guy over there, he's kind of a dick.\" You would normally go \"I know right, what an asshole.\" Then we'd be friends and get along. But, if your response was to go and bludgeon the man to death with a tire iron I would think you were fucking insane and never associate with you again. \n\nThey share, in a way, *some* principles/ideals, but trump is so far right those ideals are deemed unreasonable even by other republicans.",
"As a Republican*:\n\n* He's only known for his business acumen, which he doesn't have. He inherited almost his entire fortune, which he has only managed to lose, and has declared bankruptcy to protect the part of his wealth he hasn't blown on shitty business deals\n\n* He's an enormous asshole. He has sued, more than one person, for estimating his net wealth, to say nothing of his other frivolous lawsuits.\n\n* He's a glory hound above all else that doesn't particularly interested in actually helping... anyone. \n\n* Birthers are all horrible people, and I want them out of my Republican Party\n\n* [Look at all of these controversies. Notice how many of them are about his racism? Yeah, fuck that guy](_URL_0_)\n\n* Elsewhere in the wiki article is a source for him being an anti-vaxxer\n\n* It also mentions his relations to the Tea Party, a fucking blight on the party of Teddy Roosevelt.\n\n\\* RINO, but whatever, leave me alone."
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35lt93 | why are there plus sized models? is it purely out of political correctness? could anybody ever want to look like that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35lt93/eli5_why_are_there_plus_sized_models_is_it_purely/ | {
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"As opposed to political correctness, \"plus sized\" models are simply businesses stepping forward in their advertising game by using demonstrations of their products by models much closer in size to their target demographic.\n\nTheir are FAR more people that match (or exceed) those models' sizes than there are size zero consumers."
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5k06fu | how precise are the fuel measurements for a shuttle launch into space? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5k06fu/eli5_how_precise_are_the_fuel_measurements_for_a/ | {
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"It's pretty black and white, you either have enough fuel to reach orbit or not. If you're not in orbit, then you're on a suborbital trajectory which will eventually intersect(crash) into the ground. \n\nThe equation to solve this is pretty straight forward once it's been used a bit. Since this is ELI5 I don't know how much of the details you want.\n\nIn orbital mechanics your traditional 'range' is measured not in distance, but in changes in velocity. For example, if I am in Low Earth Orbit(LEO) in a circular orbit, and I want to start on a trajectory towards the moon, I need to change my current velocity by about 3km/s so that the top of my orbit intersects the Moon. \n\nEarth's orbital velocity at LEO is 7.8 km/s. Adding losses from drag and gravity, the amount of deltaV a launch vehicle needs to reach LEO is around 9.5 km/s. From there, we just need to solve for how much payload we can add to the Shuttle until the total deltaV is less than 9.5km/s. \n\nThis is solved using [Tsiolkovsky's rocket equation](_URL_0_).\n\nIt's a bit complicated because there are multiple stages and types of rocket engines being used between the two solid rocket boosters and the space shuttle main engine. If it was a single engine type like Falcon 9 or Atlas V, it's much simpler because you only have to solve it twice, once for each stage. With the Shuttle you have to solve for how much dV the SRBs while also burning as the same time as the space shuttle main engines(SSME). \n\nAt the end of the day I'm too lazy to type out the math and you probably don't want to read it, so you can just check the space shuttle wiki and see the max payload is about 27.5 metric tonnes to LEO. Shove any more than that into its cargo bay and you will not make it to orbit that day. \n\nTo answer your title question, they are sort of precise. You just need to know the mass of the propellant on your spacecraft, the mass of your spacecraft, and the specs of your engines. Knowing that, you can see how much you change your velocity, which tells you which types of orbits you can achieve. Expanding on this, you can check on [this](_URL_1_) link to see what's called a deltaV map. It's not 100% accurate, but add up the numbers on the subway map from 1 destination to another to see how much deltaV is necessary to get there. "
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5bc34m | if you fall in coma at age of 5 and wake up at age of 20 would you still have mind of a 5 year old? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5bc34m/eli5if_you_fall_in_coma_at_age_of_5_and_wake_up/ | {
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"I'd say yes on the basis that you haven't been conscious to learn new things, such as schooling or more complex physical movements etc\n\n",
"You'd miss out on critical interactions as your brain developed. While I am uncertain, I expect you would be effectively handicapped mentally. ",
"The answer is yes, but maybe worse due to brain damage caused by being in a coma for so long.",
"You would definitely not have developed the areas of your brain necessary for social and educational success, as you would not be in any sort of stimulating environment, so you would be very delayed to say the least. \n\nSchool is where the majority of us become secondarily socialized by the public school system and our peer groups so lacking that critical period of development would lead to a very limited understanding of the world and absolutely no education would contribute to that as well\n\nSo TL;DR: Essentially, yes, you would still be 5 from a cognitive, social, and neuro-developmental standpoint.",
"Disclaimer: Not scientific\n\nThere's actually a (shortish) news segment on this for a 18 year old that was then in a coma for 20 years - _URL_0_\n\nIt seems, that she heard some things that happened around her in that time - but it's quite likely that this differs from patient to patient.\n\nI wonder if there are scientifically recorded cases.",
"Yes. And it would probably be something similar to what we see with feral children. The total time you missed out on learning is one way you will be behind but you would also be severely handicapped because the brain goes through a lot of critical periods where it's almost programmed to handle the acquisition of certain abilities/skills (very eli5). It's alot like how people who are bilingual since a young age are much more able to pick up more languages than someone whose second language acquisition occurs when they are 30. ",
"Yes, and worse, you would have a lot of problems learning new things to get to the functioning of a 20 year old. Our brains have certain \"critical\" times when they are very easily molded and learning happens very quickly. If you've ever been around toddlers, there is a language explosion that happens between 1 and 3 years old where the number of spoken words go from a couple to thousands. Learning how to speak a language with a natural accent is also much easier before the age of 10.\n\nOur reasoning skills grow in leaps and bounds throughout childhood and part of this is due to chemical activation of the brain that makes it particularly \"plastic\" (changeable) during certain periods. If you don't have stimulation during those times, it becomes much harder to learn those skills later on.\n\nMore than that, the brain requires input and stimulation in order to maintain the connections that it has. If connections are not used frequently they can begin to decay (\"use it or lose it\" if you will). Without a lot of mental stimulation and the less established nature of a 5 year old brain, you're not guaranteed to wake up with everything that you went into a coma with.\n\nNot to mention, being in a coma for that long probably meant serious brain damage that is difficult to overcome, potentially trapping someone in a brain less functional than a 5 year old.\n\nBut all of this is theoretical as it is extremely rare for anyone to be in a coma for that long and wake up with a high level of functionality, and even rarer for that person to have been a child when entering the coma.",
"I hung out with a guy for a few months who had been in a coma from age 15 to 24. He was 26 at the time. He was fun, but a lot of us agreed that he basically had the mind and mentality of a mid-teenager. It wasn't so much his cognitive ability, just his demeanor, mannerisms, confidence, and humor. He made my most immature friends seem mature beyond their years.",
"A lot of unscientific answers here. The answer is sort of. As others have mentioned your brain will not have had the stimuli to develop things like self control, planning, attention and learning. However the brain will still have physically developed and more importantly you'd have gone through puberty. \n\nSo with all those hormones in your body, but without the years of practice of self control and social interaction you'd be more like the mind of a 13 year old. However, academically you'd probably score closer to an 8 year old. It'd be a very challenging situation. \n\nYou may have brain damage from whatever put you into the coma, however it'd be really hard to tell to what extent any brain damage would be having on your behaviour, given all the other variables. \n\nYour motor control would be reduced. Anyone not moving for 15 years would have some level of motor impairment, however your brain should be ready to learn fine and gross motor skills still pretty effectively at 20. \n\nAlso as others have mentioned there is anecdotal evidence that some coma patients have some level of awareness, so it's possible that your brain would have picked up some new vocabulary and generally had a little stimuli to develop ",
"This might be a better question for /r/askscience. You are more likely to get good answers over there.",
"Everyone here is pretending to be really sure of their answer and I'm kind of irked by that. We don't even really know how receptive the brain is during a coma. You could very possible be developing language & thinking skills during a coma. \nWe don't know because this simply never happened and is unlikely to ever happen. First of all coma's are almost never that long. That's more of a movie trope and news story kind of thing. Especially in children. Second of all when comas that long happen it is very unlikely that you get out being able to communicate verbally. It's really hard to assess intelligence and how old someones mind is after that. For example Martin Pistorius fell into a coma at age 12 and started waking up around 5 years later. He never recovered verbal functioning although he can talk through a speech computer. \n \n \nIn order to at least share some kind of study in this thread about coma in children per se.. A landmark study about child comas evaluated 46 children that had gotten into a coma. The average coma length was only about 2 weeks. 12 of the children died but the ones that survived were doing surprisingly okay. Only 3 children had severe mental issues and 7 children had very mild cognitive impairments which can be attributed to the coma. \n \nSo it's not even that clear-cut that a coma per se is really that detrimental for brain development. We simply don't yet know a lot about the state of coma. \n \nStudy: _URL_0_",
"The real answer is...?????\n\nIt depends on what you mean by \"the mind of a 5 year old\" and it also depends on the extent of the damage or what caused your coma.\n\nYour brain will probably *physically* continue to develop and mature. You will probably go through puberty physically, which leads to mental maturity regardless of whether or not your conscious mind is \"around\" for the changes. You can end up with a [completely different personality](_URL_3_), even after a short time. The point being, the person might have the experiences of a five year old, but that doesn't mean they'll have the personality of a five year old. [This girl](_URL_6_), for example, woke up from a short coma with a craving for cigarettes! Physical maturity can be a big problem, actually, for the developmentally disabled. Just because someone is low-functioning Autistic or has Down's Syndrome doesn't mean their bodies aren't sexually active. It can [lead to abuse](_URL_4_), since many of those people are [arguably] incapable of giving consent, but still have all of the urges and desires that they're biologically programmed to have, and they may not be capable of understanding what sexuality means. The coma patient waking up may be very conflicted and have the sex drive of a 20 year old but the understanding and experience of a five year old.\n\nIt also depends on the coma. It's [not uncommon](_URL_0_) for people to wake up and explain that they've been conscious during their coma, just unable to interact with the world at all. In that case, it's entirely possible the person would have a lot of experiences, just...internal ones. They'd probably have a pretty decent vocabulary, if perhaps the inability to articulate the words properly (because they wouldn't be able to practice with their mouths). They would be developing normally, more or less - as normally as someone that isolated can develop. This is speculation, but going into the coma at such a young age and being incapable of interacting with others meaningfully would probably cause some emotional disorders when they woke up. They would probably struggle to form normal relationships. That's not specifically a symptom of being in a coma for so long and at a young age, but rather a symptom of isolation, regardless of the reason.\n\nAt the very least, people who wake from comas usually have to go through extensive training and rehabilitation to relearn old tasks anyway. But it depends on where the damage is and what caused the coma. Different parts of the brain are responsible for different tasks, and even different kinds of memory. Language is stored in a different part of the brain from episodic memories, so while your memory may not be affected, your language center may not be. Then again, [some people wake from comas speaking entirely different languages for no apparent reason](_URL_2_). A Croatian teen [woke up from a coma speaking fluent German](_URL_1_). So it's possible that even a small child with basic language skills might...wake up speaking fluent English (or their native language) after a coma?\n\nAll of that said, there are some key milestones of learning as children. While controversial, many linguists and neurologists believe that children have, for instance, a special ability to learn language at a young age, and that ability is mostly lost by adolescence. Which is not to say you can't learn a new language after that (obviously), but rather children can learn a language without being formally taught, and more quickly, because their brains and language centers are structured differently and still building connections in ways that adults can't. Likewise, there are plenty of ways children develop mentally that are different from adults. While, as far as I know, [neuroplasticity](_URL_5_) is scientifically accepted, it's *not* known exactly how flexible brains are, especially adults. The consensus, I believe, is that children have much more neuroplasticity, so the theoretical coma patient would probably struggle to learn as an adult. That isn't to say they couldn't, but rather that they would *probably* not be able to learn as quickly as a child, which may cause further developmental delays. But again, none of that is well known, and it's possible that their brain would enter a new stage of development?\n\nComas are weird. Brains are weird. No one even fully understands why comas happen or why people wake from them. Regardless, for all my (twenty minutes) of searching I can't find any instances of children waking from a coma as an adult, at least none that did not also come with severe brain damage that makes the question moot - they have the mind of a child, not because they were stuck in a coma, but because their brain has been damaged beyond the ability to develop beyond that.\n\nTL;DR: It's complicated. They would probably have the experiences of a five year old, but there are a lot of ways the mind develops independently of our experiences."
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"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/croatia/7583971/Croatian-teenager-wakes-from-coma-speaking-fluent-German.html",
"http://time.com/4542967/teen-coma-fluent-spanish-georgia/",
"http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2170755/Girl-6-wakes-coma-different-personality-behavioural-issues.html",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse_and_intellectual_disability",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity",
"http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/3-year-old-chinese-girl-ya-wen-smokes-drinks-beer-therapy-traffic-accident-injuries-article-1.179564"
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66y221 | how does discipline differ from willpower? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66y221/eli5_how_does_discipline_differ_from_willpower/ | {
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"Discipline is a habitual thing you always do. For example, a disciplined person might always wash their dinners immediately after dinner while an undisciplined person would let them pile up. It's valued because there are many tasks that involve not-strictly-necessary-every-time elements that nonetheless are a big deal if you skip them at the wrong time. So the person who never skips the 'silly' parts of a task - the *disciplined* person - will tend to create less unexpected havoc.\n\nWillpower is the ability to resist temptation and delay gratification. A person with little willpower tends to take the immediately easy and gratifying option over the better long-term option while a person with a great deal of willpower will think about the long-term benefit. If you've got a test tomorrow and your friends want to go out drinking, the person without much willpower just goes out drinking while the person with willpower tells their friends they need to get to bed early.\n\nThese are less cut-and-dried than you might imagine because they're based on subjective judgments of the individual. If you're piling up dishes so that you can do a full load in the dishwasher rather than wash them piecemeal, that's not really 'undisciplined' - even though it may seem that way to an observer. Likewise, if you go out drinking with your friends because those friends are Kennedys who can get you a job while your test is in a trivial course where the outcome doesn't matter, you're not lacking in willpower (indeed, it might be the reverse since you're steeling yourself to spend an evening with drunken Kennedys)."
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83ffor | my car suggests using 93 gas, what would happen if i regularly used 87/89? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/83ffor/eli5_my_car_suggests_using_93_gas_what_would/ | {
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"The number is the octane level. This basically tells you how easily the gas can be ignited. The lower the number, the easier it ignites.\n\nNow, your gasoline engine works by compressing gas, and then igniting it with a spark plug. The more the gas compresses, the more efficient/performant your engine.\n\nUnfortunately, if you compress the fuel too much, then it will ignite on it's own. This is called knocking and is bad for your engine, because then the fuel explodes in a way that wasn't intended. Modern engines are usually smart enough to change engine timing to prevent knocking.\n\nAnyway, combining all I said before. Higher octane gas allows more compression, and thus allows greater performance. If you use lower octane gas, then you either risk damaging the engine, or have substandard performance.",
"For many cars, nothing at all, except you saving money. Most newer vehicles have internal sensors that will help make sure you avoid engine knock (which is a bad thing, and something to avoid once you start driving in 11 years :P).\n\nHaving said that, the answer can get a little more complicated based on your car. Here’s a longer (but still pretty readable) explainer: _URL_0_\n\nTL; DR: if your car says it REQUIRES premium, I’d listen to it. My Miata required 93, and ran like crap on 87. My VW is the same way. If your car simply *recommends* the expensive stuff, you can probably get away without it (but you’ll want to do your homework for your specific model/year). "
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72ozmr | how are laws against monopolies actually enforced? is it a company's fault if they just simply have an uncompetable business model? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/72ozmr/eli5_how_are_laws_against_monopolies_actually/ | {
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"It is not unlawful to *have* a monopoly. It is unlawful to *use* your monopoly position to unfairly suppress competitors.",
"The government deals with monopolies either by breaking them up into smaller companies (Verizon and AT & T used to be part of the same company) or they can have additional regulations that a non monopoly wouldn't have (they do this for example with water companies, since it isn't feasible to set up plumbing in such a way that people can choose water companies).",
"Having a monopoly is not illegal. Creating a monopoly on the other hand is illegal and the government will try to prevent them if they think it will cause problems. Thats why you often hear of government needing to confirm large business mergers. ",
"Why isn't a company like Comcast considered a monopoly?",
"In addition to prevent a company from creating a monopoly by buying competitors, they may also prevent the company from acting in a manner that might suppress competition (setting exclusive arrangements or buying the best locations for a business).\nIf the monopoly is to the detriment of society, they might even set limits on how much they can charge people",
"Being in an uncompetitive field is not a monopoly per se.\nOwning all of the competition is. There was a recent one involving BAA and its ownership of gatwick, stanstead and heathrow airports. (This of you who don't know - those are the 3 largest airports serving London). They were forced to sell gatwick and Stansted so that they couldn't control the market and Jack up prices.",
"Laws involving your monopoly pretty much go like this: buy the support of enough legislators and officials, and it's no longer a called a monopoly.",
"Lets use the iPhone as an example: When apple first released the iPhone, the only web browser was Safari.\n\nOver time, as the iPhone becomes more dominant, Apple has to 'open' up the iPhone, or it will face scrutiny from the govt. So first, apple starts to let everyone write apps for the phone. Good, that's good for business, and it makes apple money.\n\nOK, now a few years down the line, there are a lot of web browsers you can choose on your iPhone. But, every time you click a web link in an app, regardless of what web browser you prefer, it opens in Safari.\n\nWell, Apple may not like it, but they've recently given you the ability to chose the default applications to open filetypes. I'd argue this has to do largely with antitrust.\n\nSo, basically, as the iPhone becomes bigger and bigger, it creates monopolies. The monopoly on calendar apps on the iPhone, on flashlight apps, etc. ",
"Jon Oliver did a good explanation on exactly this in his recent show and I'm quite surprised it's not been mentioned. From what I understand the American government is rather remiss in it's dealing with Anti-Trust Laws.",
"In the USA, certain businesses are allowed to be monopolies at times. AT & T used to be but is not now. Formerly, trucking companies had exclusive rights to certain long distance routes. When technology changes, frequently that is when a monopoly business loses its market power. Often monopolies have their prices controlled by government agencies. ..... example, electricity providers. When something altogether new comes along, say Google Search or Microsoft Windows (back in the day), the company grows to be effectively a monopoly. At some point, customers will complain about anti-competitive behavior from the monopoly company. The US Justice Department or the Federal Trade Commission will investigate. The Justice Department successfully argued before a judge that Microsoft was using \"anti-competitive practices\" by forcing PC manufacturers to bundle their browser software with their operating system. As a result, Microsoft was forced to uncouple the two products. Right now, Google Search has monopoly power, but the US government (unlike the Europeans,) will be slow to investigate or penalize them since they created something that is a global smash success. That means it provides employment and tax revenue which delights the government. If another powerful company (like Amazon, for example,) complained that Google was listing search results in a way that favored Google over Amazon, the Justice Department might launch an investigation of Google's business practices. A hundred years ago, monopolies were commonly organized as an entity inside of another legal entity called a \"trust.\" Thus, laws against monopolies are called \"anti-trust\" laws. Two examples of these laws are the Clayton Antitrust ACT and the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Act.",
"In the Australian context, monopolies aren't illegal but if a monopolist does certain things to misuse its market power then that can be illegal (_URL_0_)",
"In reality the only real way to deal with natural monopolies, like utilities or railways, is to bring them under some sort of state/community/non-profit/whatever control. If they remain an independent for-profit business one usually winds up with a lot of shady practices going on.",
"There is no law against monopolies. There are laws against *abusing* a monopoly position.\n\nIf it is impossible to compete with your business model *because you are the best*, that is perfectly legal.\n\nIf it is impossible to compete with your business model *because you actively try to penalize and hinder your competitors*, that is illegal.\n\nFor example, the infamous EU case against Microsoft over bundling Internet Explorer with Windows was not because they had a monopoly on the OS market.\n\nIt was because the used their monopoly on the OS market to push an unrelated product, giving that product an unfair advantage: the created a situation in which people used Internet Explorer not because it was the best browser, but because, they were Windows users, and so IE as practically forced on them.\n\nThe case against Intel was not because Intel dominated the CPU market. It was because they used their dominance to actively keep out competitors like AMD: they created contracts with customers saying things like \"we'll give you a discount, as long as you don't buy *any* AMD products at all*\". For customers who might normally buy 90% Intel anyway, that's a tempting offer. Just switch the last 10% of your purchases over to Intel as well, and you get a fat discount. In other words, they used their monopoly position to create an artificial barrier for AMD. That is illegal.\n\nBut simply having a monopoly because you make the best product at the lowest price is not illegal."
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n6urg | - why i can hear the radio through my guitar amp? | OK maybe not 5...explain like I'm a guitarist (ie. 5 @ [5]) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/n6urg/eli5_why_i_can_hear_the_radio_through_my_guitar/ | {
"a_id": [
"c36qnxp",
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"text": [
"This is caused by a faulty ground. \n\nThe ground is a part of the electrical circuit that takes the voltage to 0 (meaning there is no potential for electricity to \"flow\").\n\nThe faulty ground can be in either the amp or the guitar. First thing, look at the power cord of the guitar amp. Is the grounding prong (the one that is rounded on the end) still there or was it ripped off at some point because there was a two prong outlet? If so, then the next step is to try a different guitar (if possible). It could be a bad ground in the pickups of the guitar. If you need anymore help, pm me!",
"This is caused by a faulty ground. \n\nThe ground is a part of the electrical circuit that takes the voltage to 0 (meaning there is no potential for electricity to \"flow\").\n\nThe faulty ground can be in either the amp or the guitar. First thing, look at the power cord of the guitar amp. Is the grounding prong (the one that is rounded on the end) still there or was it ripped off at some point because there was a two prong outlet? If so, then the next step is to try a different guitar (if possible). It could be a bad ground in the pickups of the guitar. If you need anymore help, pm me!"
]
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[],
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2yqveb | why do employers with online job applications have answers on the assessment that no person would ever choose? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2yqveb/eli5_why_do_employers_with_online_job/ | {
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"No smart person would ever choose them but I'm pretty sure there's some that would. We were interviewing a girl for the hotel I work at (Hampton Inn) and its a brand new hotel and the nicest one in our area. This lady seemed a little... well trashy... and her interview confirmed that. Only person I've ever interviewed that has dropped an F bomb while answering a question for the interview... I asked why she left her previous job - answer was \"They f----ing rude and shit and I don't like it there\" - Thats one way to avoid getting a job I guess..",
"just because no person would ever choose the answer, doesn't mean robots wouldn't. that's why",
"Because people choose them.\n\nMy brother works for a large grocery store chain. He once told me that almost 50% of applicants answering a simple screening surveys would say stealing from a big company isn't really stealing. None of them were ever hired."
]
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[],
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34c8af | if the u.s. sent in a team to north korea and assassinated kim jong-un, what would be the fall out? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34c8af/eli5_if_the_us_sent_in_a_team_to_north_korea_and/ | {
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"cqt9yhc"
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"text": [
"Kim Jong-Un's military advisors launch nukes. They have nothing left to lose at this point.\n\nSouth Korea is gone. "
]
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| []
| [
[]
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|
||
5sx0t2 | why is weight loss such a huge value in our society? why are skinny bodies so idealized? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5sx0t2/eli5_why_is_weight_loss_such_a_huge_value_in_our/ | {
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"ddiie9i"
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"The short answer is that obesity strongly correlates with health problems and that most people find a toned body aesthetically pleasing. The more complicated answer boils down to sex.\n\n*You* may not personally experience health problems due to your weight, and your weight may indeed be natural for you. Many people do find a full figure more aesthetically pleasing. But when it comes to things like studying disease trends and culture, we're operating at the level of populations rather than individuals.\n\nAnd at the level of populations, obesity (or even just being somewhat overweight) is linked with cardiovascular and metabolic disease. Generally speaking, a person that is overweight can expect to have a higher risk of disease than a person that isn't -- particularly so with those who are severely overweight or obese. It isn't a moral judgment, its just reality.\n\nThat aside, you do raise an important topic. Eating disorders and malnutrition are unhealthy. But, in the grand scheme of things, obesity is a more frequent fixation because it is a more frequent problem in America.\n\nI should also point out that most people don't want to look emaciated, and very few people find emaciated people aesthetically pleasing either. The goal of fitness nuts is usually to look \"toned\" rather than skeletal. "
]
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| []
| [
[]
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||
7s4bey | why is there warning texts and images of dying people/organs on cigarette packages but not on items of alcohol? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7s4bey/eli5_why_is_there_warning_texts_and_images_of/ | {
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"Because even smoking cigarettes in \"moderation\" throughout life will give you shitty health problems and make your organs worthless for transplant when you die riding your motorcycle, but alcohol in moderation won't really harm you at all.",
"The tobacco industry had evidence that tobacco causes cancer and deliberately deceived the public by not disclosing that information. \n\nSeveral years ago they were ordered by court to not only admit that they hid the information, but that they must fund anti smoking advertisements and change to much stronger language and imaging on packaging.\n\nMost of the focus against the alcohol industry has been to drink in moderation, to not drink and drive, and to not market to teens and kids. Much of this has been self policing by alcohol companies but there is also significant pressure from consumer and special interest groups. An example of this is the backlash when Four Loko first hit the market. So it's a little bit chicken and the egg.\n\nLike many things... The cover up is worse than the crime and I think that's part of the dynamic with tobacco companies. And even though all these companies are in the business to make money, being good stewards of the public's trust can go a long long way. "
]
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[],
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1y2l75 | what is the process of alcohol fermentation, and why do some alcohols have higher abv? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1y2l75/eli5_what_is_the_process_of_alcohol_fermentation/ | {
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"Alcoholic drinks ferment because there's yeast living in them, for the most part.\n\nCells have to break down sugars to make energy. When there's oxygen around, cells can turn the sugar into water and carbon dioxide. If there isn't oxygen around though, they do a process called fermentation, which basically breaks the sugar \"in half.\" Our cells make lactic acid during fermentation, but many microorganisms make ethanol, aka alcohol.\n\nSo, you put a bunch of wheat and shit in water, dump in some yeast, and seal the barrel. The yeast munches on the sugar in the wheat and poops out alcohol, and then we drink it.",
"I think the comments here so far pretty much capture it, but simply put, yeast (and other microorganisms) eat certain types of sugars and convert them to alcohol, CO2, and energy*. The alcohol content of a fermented beverage is based on A) the initial amount of fermentable sugar and B) the alcohol tolerance of the yeast. Either the yeast eats all the sugars available, or the alcohol levels get too high for that strain of yeast to be active in.\n\nThat's fermented drinks. For your higher proof stuff, you take the fermented drinks, boil off the alcohol, catch it and condense it. Here you can largely control the alcohol level by the temperature, the geometry of the still, and by adding water after the fact. Roughly speaking, beer distills into whiskey, wine distills into brandy, fermented sugar/molasses distills into rum. Pretty much anything can be distilled into vodka.\n\n*edit - yeasts can produce other byproducts as well, which often create flavors. Wit beers, hefeweisen and saison yeasts for instance produce a lot of phenols that have a fruity/banana-y kinda flavor (though I sometimes find they can taste kind of band-aid like as well) "
]
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299qbu | how have north korean leaders managed to brainwash their population? | for example there must have been a moment in history where the population would have been at the very least knowledgeable about the outside world and capable of critical thinking towards it's government?
Also surely when [Kim Jong Il announced they'd won the 2010 world cup](_URL_0_) there must have been at least a handful of the population with this [reaction](_URL_0_) right?! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/299qbu/eli5_how_have_north_korean_leaders_managed_to/ | {
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"Media... it's not only North Korea that gets brainwashed. We also get brainwashed by media wether you believe it or not.\n\nAlso, he controls the influences they get from outside the country.\n\nPeople however believe what they want to believe, not everyone believes every word the North Korean leaders tell them, same like we here believe just what we want to believe from the media.",
"They start \"training\" the population at a very young age [almost from the cradle]. When you are told/taught a set of values from a very young age, and there is no counter, you'll believe your leaders before believing anyone else.\n\nThe government controls almost all aspects of education, media and foreign access to its people.\n\nKim Jong Il announces they won the world cup? Must be true as we don't/can't hear anything different.",
"You have to understand how isolated the North Korean people are from the outside world. There's no Internet, foreign media is banned, and people are taught from birth that the Kims are basically gods. There are some people who come to doubt their government's propaganda, but you have to understand they have to overcome an entire lifetime of hearing only one perspective.",
"I guess you could say they did it by the book ;)\n\n1984 of course",
"In addition to being brainwashed, there are probably a decent number of people who know that something's amiss (or are fully aware of how backwards things are). However, these people are stuck in the middle of a country where, not only is the majority of the population brainwashed, but the majority of the population is brainwashed to believe that anyone who thinks differently than the masses is evil and should and will be punished for these beliefs. Speaking against the government can have serious repercussions (imprisonment, torture, a one-way ticket for you and your family to a forced labor camp, etc.), so, for most people, it's more advantageous to just pretend to go along with everyone else (which, in turn, makes it damn near impossible to identify anyone who shares a similar opinion and, thus, unite against popular opinion). This, mingled with the fact that you can't contact the outside world, helps to ensure that everyone follows suit.",
"Remember when you were taught as a kid that different parts of your tongue taste different tastes and you believed it until your adulthood when you read it somewhere on the internet? What would've happened if you'd never read it on the internet? You'd have thought that it was a 'fact' all your life.\n\nKids believe everything they're told. The North Korean schools do not give the North Koreans real education. They are part of a propaganda campaign and instead make the children recite all the amazing things that their glorious leader has accomplished. Since they got no other source that will discredit these 'facts', they will go on to believe it their entire life.\n\nWhen you're brought up to believe that your glorious leader was born according to a prophecy and a rainbow formed at the place where he was born and such bullshit, and grow up believing it, I guess you'd grow up to be a pretty suggestible individual."
]
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| [
"http://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/jun/16/world-cup-2010-paper-view-barry-glendenning"
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[],
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3q3be5 | why do ants act in groups and how do they communicate to each other what is going on? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q3be5/eli5_why_do_ants_act_in_groups_and_how_do_they/ | {
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"They act collectively as a colony, they communicate via leaving behind a trail of scent, for example if many ants walk in a particular direction and find food their mates will follow that trail to the food as well.",
"They behave a bit like neurons in your brain. Communication is done chemically, and they act as a group because they're effectively screwed individually. If they were to be in competition with one another, they'd be messing up the whole colony, so instead they follow the orders of the queen as a sort of executive faculty, like the frontal lobe of your brain or whatever portion it is that you like to think of as \"you\", which is no more you than the unconscious bits that are responsible for your continued breathing.",
"Watch [this](_URL_0_) , I think you'll love it.\n\nThey have a complex system of roles and duties, all explained in the talk. It is an excellent answer to your question."
]
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[],
[],
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"https://www.ted.com/talks/deborah_gordon_digs_ants#t-617415"
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3ymvjy | why is latin america the only place that seems free of islamic extremism? | Muslim extremists are a problem in Europe, ME, Africa, Australia, America and even China.
Why is it that we never hear of terrorism in South America? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ymvjy/eli5_why_is_latin_america_the_only_place_that/ | {
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"there's plenty of terrorism in south america, Google shining path or farc. hell any cartel violence against civilians is terrorism, ditto right wing death squads.\n\nas far as contemporary Islamist terrorism it is a relatively new phenomenon, middle eastern immigration to SA largely predates this, and SA countries largrly aren't involved in interventions in the Muslim world that invite terrorist blowback\n\nalso it's overly simplistic and stupid to act like there is some overarching relationship between say ISIS in Europe and the uyghurs of China for instance",
"Short answer: because there are very few Muslims living in South America. \n\nThere's a good number in Suriname and a spattering in Argentina... but that's about it for the continent. Also, it helps that S.A. isn't exactly in the international headlines a lot - unlike the US, Britain, France, et al.. So it's not a particularly \"sexy\" target.",
"Islam spread across Asia, Africa, and Europe for 900 years before people of those continents learned of the existence of the Americas. For two hundred years after that, it was Christian Europeans who seized control of the Americas, so it was almost exclusively they who migrated over. By the time these lands broke away from their European governments and any official control by the Catholic church, and by the time society on this contienent could socially integrate immigrants from non-European nations, the US and Canada were the places to be. So now what Muslims we do have in this hemisphere tend to be in the North, which also happen to be the American countries most actively engaged in intervention in the Middle East."
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8aduvl | what is an annuity and how is it different from an ira? | Not that I'm sure that I fully understand an IRA, but an annuity wasn't described much differently than the IRA. Is it similar, but will function more like an allowance as soon as you can use it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8aduvl/eli5_what_is_an_annuity_and_how_is_it_different/ | {
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"text": [
"They're totally different things. It's like asking what's the difference between a bulldozer and a windmill.\n\nAn IRA is a special kind of account you can have with a bank or brokerage, where you don't pay taxes (way oversimplified) on the interest or profit, but you're not allowed to take any money out (exceptions apply) until you retire. Like, you have an IRA with Vanguard, and every year for twenty years you deposit $5,000. You use that money to buy and sell stocks, with all the proceeds from sales staying in the account. At the end of the twenty years, you've deposited $1M, but the account is worth $2M. Then, depending on what kind of IRA you had, you can either take money out without paying taxes at all, or having delayed paying taxes until your retirement (this is a better deal than it sounds like, okay?).\n\ntl;dr: an IRA is a kind of tax shelter that you're allowed to use, as long as you commit to using it to save for retirement.\n\nAn annuity is a contract with an insurance company. You're about to retire, and you want to make sure you have an income for the rest of your life. You have $3M saved up (or, you could sell your various investments for $3M), and you could live anywhere from five to thirty more years. How much money can you take out of your savings and spend, each year, and still be sure you won't run out until you die? What if the stock market tanks? What if you live to be 115?\n\nThe insurance company is willing to handle all that for you. In exchange for the $3M upfront, they'll promise to pay you $15k a month for the rest of your life. They'll take away all the risk, in exchange for you getting less money than you would (probably, but you never know) have been able to earn, managing your investments yourself."
]
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tm64y | for images, why can only gif's be animated? | EDIT: i think nowadays in the computer world, there might actually be a 5 year old that asks this lol | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tm64y/eli5_for_images_why_can_only_gifs_be_animated/ | {
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"As has been said, GIF is not the only one. And GIF wasn't exactly meant to be used for animation. The people at Compuserve, who developed GIF, just thought it would be neat to have an image format that could store multiple images in one file. Then later the people at Netscape (or maybe earlier the mosaic team at NCSA?) thought it would be great to use that feature to allow animation in their web browser. Even later some people at some ad agency thought it would be great, if you could make advertisements that were so visually disturbing, that people just could not look away and used GIF animations to annoy customers with horrible annoying flashing animations.\n\nAnd that's why no one wants animated image formats anymore.\n\nThe people who designed PNG also designed an animation format called MNG--no one used it. Later people (I don't remember who) tried the same thing with something called APNG, almost no one used it (I think Opera supports it).\n"
]
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3tyeku | why are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed of any competition awarded with gold, silver and bronze awards respectively? and why not platinum or anything else? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3tyeku/eli5_why_are_the_1st_2nd_and_3rd_placed_of_any/ | {
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"'Copper is the lightest of the three Olympic medal metals, and so is the most abundant, making up 0.0068% of the earth's crust. Silver is heavier than copper, lies just below it in the periodic table, and makes up 0.000008% of the earth's crust. Gold is the heaviest, lies near the bottom of the periodic table, and makes up only 0.0000004% of the earth's crust. So, the order of awesomeness of the Olympic medals is simply a function of their rarity relative to one another, which is caused by crazy stuff that happened billions of years ago inside a now long-dead star!!!'\n\n_URL_0_",
"The metals for the medals are based on their relative value. Gold is rarer and more valuable than Silver, which is in turn rarer than copper/tin.\n\nPlatinum was largely unknown to the world (or rather, popular culture) in the early 1904, when the first gold medals were awarded at the Olympics. It's existence had been discovered... but it was not considered to be a precious metal in the same sense that gold and silver are.\n\nAnyhow, the idea of Gold/Silver/Bronze as the 1st/2nd/3rd place award became famous with the modern Olympics. ",
"While bertpostlethwaite provides a pretty good account of practically \"why\", the mythological explanation from wikipedia says:\n\n\"These metals designate the first three Ages of Man in Greek mythology: the Golden Age, when men lived among the gods, the Silver Age, where youth lasted a hundred years, and the Bronze Age, the era of heroes.\"\n\nSource: _URL_0_\n\nI'd suspect that platinum isn't one of the metals because it wasn't discovered until the 1700s and thus never became part of the mythology. [Speculation]\n"
]
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[
"http://www.scienceminusdetails.com/2012/08/why-are-olympic-medals-gold-silver-and.html#sthash.CoWP3tnb.dpuf"
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[],
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_medal"
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||
eaynrd | what are razors in philosophy and why are they called that way? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eaynrd/eli5_what_are_razors_in_philosophy_and_why_are/ | {
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"They are called razors because they quickly cut away logical fallacies and arguments, much like a razor\n\nAnd this is to meet character minimums",
"For future reference, r/philosophy is a thing."
]
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8cjbep | where does fat mass go and muscle mass come from? | I’ve lost 75 pounds over the past year and I’m wondering where all the fat mass has gone and all the muscle mass came from | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8cjbep/eli5_where_does_fat_mass_go_and_muscle_mass_come/ | {
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"Food, water, and breath go in, pee, sweat, poop and breath go out. What used to be fat mostly left as breath and pee, but you can't track it in detail.",
"Fat cells are stored energy so when your body runs low on its energy systems it will use the fat as a resource to fuel the body. This is why you should consume less calories to lose weight so your body can expend fat for energy. Muscles, unlike fat, does not come or go. It gets bigger or smaller through swelling of tissue after repairing microtears from lifting weights or putting stress on a muscle.",
"It mostly goes into the CO2 that you exhale into the air. Plants then get most of their mass from that same CO2, not the ground that they’re in."
]
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tb1t5 | what the people of greece want with regards to the austerity measures? | So what I understand is that Greece is basically broke and the government it trying to repay its debts but the people don't want them to do this. What do the people of Greece want? Do they just not want their government to repay the debts? Do they want to get off the Euro? What is the endgame for the people against the governments plan? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tb1t5/eli5_what_the_people_of_greece_want_with_regards/ | {
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],
"text": [
"I cant speak for the people of Greece, but it looks like they've had enough of austerity. I would imagine they are pretty sick of living in a country where they've been in a recession for four years straight. \n\nImagine your mother pays you 10 sweets an hour for doing your chores. Your dad takes 3 sweets from you for living costs. You still have 7 sweets though so its not all bad. But then, your mother says the sweet shop is running out of stock, so she can only pay you 6 sweets per hour. Your dad is still taking 3 sweets from you, meaning you only have 3 left. Even worse, the neighbour kid is coming in to help with the chores, so there is less work for you to do right now, and it looks like there will be less in the future too. Can you survive on 3 sweets per hour? Should you HAVE to live on 3 sweets per hour, when you used to have 7?\n\nIt looks like the people of greece have had enough of slashed wages, just to stay in the euro, when the International Money Bank is making them bend over backwards anyway",
"You know when you are 5, and you believe in magic? Same thing with Greece: they want magic money to appear and stop austerity",
"I've been wondering this as well. How do the people who are against all the austerity measures in Greece suppose that the country pays up the huuge debt it has accumulated so far? Do they actually want Greece to default it's loans? That would probably scare off the investors for decades... "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[],
[]
]
|
|
2fcjtv | why does my tummy rumble? | Surely a rumbling tummy does not help you realize that you are hungry. So why does it happen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fcjtv/eli5_why_does_my_tummy_rumble/ | {
"a_id": [
"ck7x6s2"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Gas is constantly moving about in your stomach. The *rumble* you hear is always happening. It just becomes noticeable and louder when you are hungry because your stomach is empty, which creates an echo for the rumble."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
|
3gdjb4 | reddits voting system algorithm | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gdjb4/eli5_reddits_voting_system_algorithm/ | {
"a_id": [
"ctxc7ds"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Here OP, I think this video by CCPGrey does a good job of explaining reddit and how things work\n_URL_0_\n\nEdit: I suggest watching the whole thing but the part you're looking for begins ~ 1:45"
]
} | []
| []
| [
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlI022aUWQQ"
]
]
|
||
208unq | just like the scientific method, is there a 'historical method'? | I was reading [this article](_URL_0_) and the author mentions something called the 'historical method'.
I was wondering if there was a method of reasoning in studying and deducing history just like there is a method of learning science and deducing phenomena in studying science. How do historians make the deductions and conclusions that we now know today? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/208unq/eli5_just_like_the_scientific_method_is_there_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"cg0x032",
"cg0xfgv"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"There is a way to interpret history, and it is a sub-set of the scientific method. Simply put, scientists test theories by testing hypotheses that relate to those theories. How well those hypotheses *actually* relate to theory is something that reasonable people can disagree about, and is the subject of much (if not all) debate.\n\nAnalogously, studying, researching, and interpreting history is equally controversial. You may have heard that \"history books are written by the winners\". While this is a one-sided simplification, it high-lights that perspective is inevitably that: a simplification. I am just one observer and my perspective is necessarily limited by my vantage point.\n\nIt's a big topic, but yes, there are rights way and wrong ways to study history, just like there are right ways and wrong ways to study science. Worse, there is more than one \"right way\", and they are each a matter of preference.",
"Historians tried to do this from nineteenth to maybe mid-twentieth century. History, like a lot of the other liberal arts, was plagued by a fad to make it \"scientific\" during that time period. \n\nMost of the history written during that time is *exceptionally* regrettable. Contemporary historians tend to view claims about achieving \"scientific\" results via \"deduction\" in the discipline as questionable at best, but more likely either laughable or downright dangerous. \n\nBut there is such a thing as a [historical method](_URL_0_). It just doesn't have anything much to do with the \"scientific method\" other than in the general sense of how practitioners in those disciplines tend to conduct their business. The historical method, as such, has mostly to do with how sources are identified and evaluated. It also involves \"synthesis,\" i.e., historical reasoning, but note that historical reasoning explicitly includes inference, analogy, and a very complicated analysis for determining whether an argument is the best one. \n\nMore broadly speaking, what you're asking about is the discipline of [historiography](_URL_1_), i.e. the study of the historical method and the history of the discipline itself. It's a thing, and an important one. "
]
} | []
| [
"http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/03/10/foreign_policy_history_study_ukraine"
]
| [
[],
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_method",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historiography"
]
]
|
|
3t4bso | in music, what's the difference between a cover, a remix, a bootleg, and an edit? | You often see all four in different versions of the same song, but what defines them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t4bso/eli5_in_music_whats_the_difference_between_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"cx30406"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"A cover is an artist playing a song written by another artist, possibly in another rendition. Like when you hear Demi Lovato sing an Adele song at her concert. \nA remix is when you take parts of someone elses song and add your own things to it to make it different. Like when a rapper or DJ does their stuff on top of another persons track. \nA bootleg is just a free version or free remix of a song from what I know. \nAn edit is the original song with certain parts cut out, for different intended audiences. So you may hear the Hotel California Live Edit which was recorded at their concert or the Thrift Shop Radio Edit which doesn't contain profanity"
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
|
1on3pc | how does a website, specifically the _url_0_ site, end up costing in excess of $500 million to develop? | According to this article found here, _URL_0_, the _URL_1_ site cost more than $500 million to develop (although Google tells me varying amounts from $290 million to $634 million). I don't know enough about large scale website development to understand how this amount of money makes sense. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1on3pc/eli5_how_does_a_website_specifically_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cctjwhj"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
" > The most clear data comes from a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report from June (pdf), which states that the U.S. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) spent “almost $394 million from fiscal year 2010 through March 2013 through contracts” to build the **“federally facilitated exchanges” (FFEs) – the complex system that includes _URL_1_ as well as certain state-based exchanges** – the data hub, and other expenditures related to the Obamacare exchange system. While GAO states that the “highest volume” of that $394 million was related to the development of “information technology systems,” a more detailed look at that cost shows that a portion that $394 million was spent on things like call centers and collection services. Take that out, and you’re left with roughly $363 million spent on technology-related costs to the healthcare exchanges – the bulk of which ($88 million) went to CGI Federal, the company awarded a $93.7 million contract to build _URL_1_ and other technology portions of the FFEs.\n\nUnless I'm reading this wrong, its not 500 million on a website - its 500 million (which is the *authors* estimate) to develop the website and all the other backend systems that keep the Federally Facilitated Exchanges running, including certain state-based exchanges.\n\nSo we are talking datacenters, programming/software talent, licensing costs, maintanence costs, call center costs, so on and so forth. And this system has to be able to support every single american in the U.S.\n\nThe article references [this](_URL_0_) GPO report which states :\n\n > CMS data indicated that the agency spent almost $394 million from fiscal \nyear 2010 through March 31, 2013, through contracts (46) to complete \nactivities to establish the FFEs and the data hub and carry out certain \nother exchange-related activities. (47)\n\nFootnote there states:\n\n > (46) In this report, we use the term \"contract\" to include contracts with private entities to carry out activities to establish the FFEs and the data hub, as well as certain other exchange-related activities, task orders for such activities under contracts with private entities that may encompass a broader range of activities, and interagency agreements for such activities. References to CMS \"spending\" are to the amounts obligated under these contracts, task orders, and interagency agreements. This total also includes amounts obligated by HHS under contracts, task orders, and interagency agreements in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, before the HHS transferred oversight of exchange implementation to CMS. An obligation is a definite legal commitment that will give rise to payment at some point in the future. An agency incurs an obligation, for example, when it awards a contract\n\nand\n\n > (47) CMS indicated that certain of these contracts supported activities, such as state \noversight, financial management, and risk adjustment model and development, in which \nCMS would have engaged even if all states planned to operate their own exchanges in \n2014. \n\n\nThat report also notes this:\n\n > CMS indicated that certain of these contracts supported activities, such as state \noversight, financial management, and risk adjustment model and development, in which \nCMS would have engaged even if all states planned to operate their own exchanges in \n2014. \n\nIn short, the only thing to ELI5 here is that you should read the source documentation that an article references before you take an article to be true - it clearly states that the money spent includes amounts since 2010 to cover costs incurred by the HHS in regards to exchange prep.\n\nSo its not 'just the website.' That's just the authors bias. \n\nEdit: OP, please look at the comments for that article and realise *why* it was written the way it is - none of them read the GPO report and saw those sections that show this is about more than just a website - its also costs over 2 years for the program in general, as related to Exchange Preperation. So its ~400 million over the last 3 years, which is *far* more understandable when it comes to developing something as massive as this. Keep in mind the budget numbers I've seen so far for PPACA implementation are (according to that same GPO report) 1.5 billion, plus an estimated 500 million in fees incurred by users.\n\nIt's written specifically to rile people up - its shoddy journalism at best, and is designed to drive up page views. That's all there is to it."
]
} | [
"healthcare.gov"
]
| [
"http://www.digitaltrends.com/opinion/obamacare-healthcare-gov-website-cost/",
"healthcare.gov"
]
| [
[
"http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/655291.pdf",
"Healthcare.gov"
]
]
|
|
fleg17 | what are all the functions of calcium in the human body? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fleg17/eli5_what_are_all_the_functions_of_calcium_in_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"fky9yqn"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Calcium is used for a fuck ton of stuff, a lot of which I almost certainly don't know, but I can give some things.\n\nCalcium is combined with other atoms to form most of the structural parts of bones and teeth. \n\nCalcium serves a key role in the nervous system - without calcium, every single nerve in your body is incapable of communicating with other nerves, thereby rendering you dead. \n\nCalcium is used in large amounts by muscle cells - every time the muscle wants to contract, it has to release a flood of calcium across every cell in that muscle. This is also true of the heart. \n\nCalcium is vital to many cell signalling pathways - allowing the cell to respond to stimuli like hormones. \n\nCalcium is used in the blood clotting process.\n\nCalcium is required for sperm to fertilise eggs.\n\nTake-away message? Drink yer milk."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
||
218nyk | why don't most earphones limit volume to only safe levels? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/218nyk/eli5_why_dont_most_earphones_limit_volume_to_only/ | {
"a_id": [
"cganj6o"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"This would greatly increase the complexity of earphones. Your basic earphones now are completely unintelligent - the wire carries a signal which vibrates the speaker."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
||
1venaw | why do i hate hearing music/whatever in only one ear? | like when one ear phone breaks. it is beyond abysmal. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1venaw/eli5_why_do_i_hate_hearing_musicwhatever_in_only/ | {
"a_id": [
"cerhhk7"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"1. Music often plays different sounds from the different speakers or headphones. I have heard songs where there are no instruments playing from one headphone. Small changes, though not noticeable on their own, would affect the familiarity and quality of the song.\n\n2. Earbuds also filter some noise out from outside. Remove a bud and you have to increase the volume, which, for small headphones means in increase in treble without much bass. This can also cause the physical displeasure of stronger vibrations and a headache-inducing volume increase."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
|
230fjk | why does my doctor make me turn my head and cough, while checking out my junk | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/230fjk/eli5_why_does_my_doctor_make_me_turn_my_head_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgs5mlc",
"cgs6ctm",
"cgs7480",
"cgs8wxm"
],
"score": [
6,
2,
27,
3
],
"text": [
"Its supposed to be a hernia test, you turn because he doesn't want coughed on. And seriously when was the last time someone had this done? I'm not saying it doesn't happen but I've never had it done. I'ts like [googling](_URL_0_) something is just so hard these days. ",
"They are checking for an inguinal hernia, or hernia of the lower groin.\n\nYour testicles descend through a weakened portion of the intestinal wall, which is prone to heniation...about 1 in 4 mean will experience this kind of hernia in their lifetimes. Your doctor is probing the area above your testicles for pain or weakness.",
"So you don't cough on the doctor ",
"Cause making eye contact would make it akward"
]
} | []
| []
| [
[
"http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/09/why-doctors-have-men-turn-their-heads-and-cough-during-physicals/"
],
[],
[],
[]
]
|
||
4m9bst | how wasps can survive for long underwater? | When I clean my swimming pool I try to keep wasps underwater, but they're always alive after a while, is it possible that they can hold their breath more than a human? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4m9bst/eli5_how_wasps_can_survive_for_long_underwater/ | {
"a_id": [
"d3tn5ga",
"d3tqp0r"
],
"score": [
5,
3
],
"text": [
"I submerged a wasp nest underwater for 48 hrs, trapped in a 5 gallon plastic pail. They took 5 minutes, but they all came alive, I had to step on them 1 at a time to ensure death. Scary little fuckers. ",
"Wasps don't breath, they have a system of tubes and holes called, spiracles, trachea, and tracheoles that supply oxygen to every cell directly. Their blood doesn't carry oxygen just nutrients and waste.\n\nInsects can open and close their spiracles block water/retain moisture/let air in again. If they kept them open all the time they'd dry out.\n\nThey can also have very fine hydrophobic hairs that repel water covering the spiracles.\n\nNot very well familiar with wasp anatomy specifically but when resting insects don't need much oxygen.\n\nI'd imagine they're able to just close their spiracles and hold out without fresh oxygen long enough to survive. So yes they can effectively hold their breath longer than humans because they need less oxygen. "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[]
]
|
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