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2xmfg6 | why is it that humans have to wear clothing while animals do not? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xmfg6/eli5why_is_it_that_humans_have_to_wear_clothing/ | {
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"Most mammals either have thick fur, thick skin, blubber, or some other way to protect them from various weathers. We don't, sure there are some people more hairy than others, but it doesn't do as well as fur.",
"Humans don't *have* to wear clothes. Nudist colonies don't typically have lots of people keeling over from exposure, and there are a lot of African and South American tribes that wear next to no clothing.\n\nHowever, we have also spread to environments that are very very different than where we originally evolved, and clothing allows us to survive in those environments as well.\n\nThere aren't many species that can survive in the Arctic and at the equator throughout the entire year."
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5zdp1d | why would it be unhealthy to replace all my meals with balanced meal replacements like solyent, huel ect | I've been told that you can't eat only meal replacements by my friends and i'm fairly sure I've seen a disclaimer somewhere that it shouldn't be done but I've never really known why. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5zdp1d/eli5why_would_it_be_unhealthy_to_replace_all_my/ | {
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"In some ways, it's fine and in some ways it's not. Generally it is considered unhealthy to replace *all* meals this way, but there are some benefits to replacing some meals this way. \n\nVitamins in powdered form have low bioavailability, meaning your body doesn't absorb them as easily. Vegetables and fruits are better at this, so if you supplement your powder meals with some fruit and veggies this issue is avoided. \n\nAlso, despite what Soylent claims is \"the point\" of soylent, it is priced high enough (keep in mind you are supposed to drink 5 a day) that it is actually more expensive than many types of inexpensive, nutritious, and easily prepared foods. You are paying for convenience. \n\n",
"I have seen Soylent documentary (a guy drinking only soylent for 30 days, something like that) long time ago and they made some claim about it for example that it would be cheaper than a normal meal, it would be environmentally friendly and it's something easy and kinda \"no-brain\" to prepare: you just don't think about what to eat: you just mix it and drink it.\n\nI would like just to put the limelight on a particular aspect: psychology.\n\nEating is really kinda one of the \"spice of life\". Brain has to \"train\" everyday, to be stimulated, to learn something new every day.\n\nParadoxically our \"modern\" and \"scientific\" society instead is driving ourselves away from the contact of the real world. It really impressed me (in a negative way) that the inventor of soylent is a software engineer. not a dietologist, not a doctor, not a food scientist or food technologist... a software engineer.\n\nand apart from the deep doubt about his nutritional skills what really shocked me was his face, his eyes. it seems that he has problems with life itself!\n\nin the video he claim that it's strange that we eat leaves (he mean lattuce and salad). *It*-*is*-*not*! we really *really* need dietary fiber in order to keep our intestine in a well functioning state.\n\nfinally, people enthusiastic for the fact that you \"don't have to think about what you will be eating\" are one of the crucial part. Eating and preparing food is something that train our brain, that keep it in \"movement\". that let us learn something new every day, new food combinations, new recipes, new ingredients. The world is so big and there is so much to learn... and soylent is just a wasted opportunity. eating the same thing basically every day may not drive you crazy... but I bet it could and I bet also that it's a wasted opportunity for your brain."
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a5bo20 | why getting burned (wounds) doesn't happens instantly ? | for example when move your hand very quickly through fire nothing happens, or when you hold a hot pot if you release quickly almost nothing will happens.
I know the part about fire being hot = energy and that causes the electrons in whatever object close to it to go crazy, but what in that process cause the "burn wound" exactly ?
thanks | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a5bo20/eli5_why_getting_burned_wounds_doesnt_happens/ | {
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"The temperature of the cells need to reach a certain temperature to die, that takes time. If you put a pot of water on a source of fire, it doesn't evaporate instantly."
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f08rsu | why is it weird to hear your own voice on a voice message or sth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f08rsu/eli5_why_is_it_weird_to_hear_your_own_voice_on_a/ | {
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"Your voice will always sound different to yourself than your surrounding since it doesn't travel through air to your ear but also through your head to your ear, making it sound lower and in many cases smoother. That's why many cringe when they hear their own voice in a recording. It sounds normal to everyone else since that's what they are used to, but to one self it will be missing the \"head filter\".",
"TLDR: When you speak you hear yourself resonate through your bones vs hearing it resonate through air.",
"When you are speaking, you are listening to your voice from two media. First the sound coming from the mouth to ears from air. And the second traveling through your vocal chords through your body up the vibrating chain of bones in your ear drum. Majority of what you are listening is the one traveling through your body. When you record your voice you eliminate the components traveling through your body. Thus, your voice sounds very different from the one in your head.",
"Your voice uses your skull as a loudspeaker enclosure. The vibrations resonate through your head and gets amplified in the same way as a guitar’s hollow body amplifies the sound of the strings. \nBecause your eardrums are in the middle of this “boombox”, you hear your voice with a lot more bass than what comes out of your mouth. \nIn addition, if you are listening to your recording on a small speaker, even more bass is lost and the voice sounds even less familiar.",
"What sound travels through makes it sound differently.\n\nYou know how when people blast hip hop in their cars and their windows are rolled up, you just hear the pulse of the bass and not much else of the song? Or how if you're swimming, sounds are different when your head is under water vs when it's above water? It's the same thing with your voice. When you hear your voice on a recording, you're hearing your voice after it has travelled through the air. When you hear your voice when you're speaking, you're hearing your voices after it's travelled through your head."
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3ysejc | if copyright protection ever actually runs out for mickey mouse, how could he be used by non-disney parties without violating trademark law? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ysejc/eli5_if_copyright_protection_ever_actually_runs/ | {
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"Copyright and trademark are two different things.\n\nIf Disney ever fails to have their politicians extend the copyright and Steamboat Willy falls into the public domain, it won't mean that you can freely violate Disney's trademarks.\n\nYou will be able to copy, view and show the animated film without paying Disney and even make derivative works of it.\n\nSomething similar to what would happen to Mickey Mouse is probably the current status of Tarzan. The first few novels featuring Tarzan are out of copyright and you can freely download copies of them, but the authors estates claims a trademark on Tarzan.\n\nPeople who have tried to use the public domain status of Tarzan to make derivative works like comics featuring the character have been sued by the estate for violating the trademark.\n\nSo if Steamboat Willie ever became public domain Disney's lawyers would probably sue the pants of anyone attempting to create their own works featuring Mickey Mouse.",
"In theory, once something enters public domain, you can produce a derivation of the story/characters that is original without permission. That is why you have the tv show Elementary, and the estate of Arthur Conan Doyle gets zero money from the network. In practice Loki-L is correct, you better have a lot of money and better lawyers then the mouse, which is unlikely."
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72oeoo | if the digits of pi are not random, why are all the digits distributed so evenly? | This is a follow up to the graphic that was recently posted showing the distribution percentage of each digit at approximately 10%.
Wouldn’t this indicate that Pi is random? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/72oeoo/eli5_if_the_digits_of_pi_are_not_random_why_are/ | {
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"The digits can't be random, because they're deterministic. There is no chance involved.\n\nJust because the distribution is even doesn't mean anything is random.\n\nThe digits of 1/7 are 142857 repeating. So each of those has a 1/6 chance. Nothing random at all here though.",
"The digits of pi aren't random because they're derived from a formula (such as an infinite series, in the case of pi). However, because the digits of pi never repeat, over a large enough sample size, the number of occurrences of each digit will approach 10%. This is true of any non-repeating irrational number - e, the square root of 2, etc.\n\nEDIT: thanks for the corrections below - turns out it’s only true if *most* real numbers! This is what I get for trying to remember college math trivia!",
"The term you're looking for is a [\"normal number.\"](_URL_0_) It has not been proven that pi is normal, but it's widely believed through observation. What's interesting is that the digits of pi all have even distributions regardless of the number base used. And all two-digit, three-digit, etc. numbers have the same distribution as well. I'm sorry to say that we don't know why this is yet. Some very smart mathematicians are working on it.\n\npi is not random though. There is an equation that can calculate any digit of pi without knowing any previous digits, [unfortunately it only works in hexadecimal.](_URL_1_)"
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8hcszr | when taking an aspirin/ibuprofen for a specific problem when you have a few problems, how does it know which one to treat? or does it treat all? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8hcszr/eli5_when_taking_an_aspirinibuprofen_for_a/ | {
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"Generally, drugs pass from your stomach (or are injected) into your blood, and then your blood distributes them throughout your body. Thus, they \"treat all\", and also have their side-effects and negative effects too.\n\nIt's the job of your liver to \"process\" and decompose food, as well as alcohol, drugs, and other poisons that are in your blood, so your liver works hard and reduces the concentration of aspirin over several hours, which is why you need to take repeated doses of most drugs.\n\nIncidentally, there's actually a [database of effects](_URL_0_) and side-effects of medications on the liver. Google \"livertox drugname.\""
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6gt8ic | why is quick sand so hard to get out of? | When you struggle and flail around too much it drags you down, why is that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gt8ic/eli5_why_is_quick_sand_so_hard_to_get_out_of/ | {
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"In quick sand is a combination of fine sand, clay, and salt water. At rest, quicksand thickens with time, but it remains very sensitive to small variations in stress. quicksand liquefies very quickly, and the higher the stress the more fluid it becomes. This causes a trapped body to sink when it starts to move. But a person moving around in quicksand will never go all the way under. The reason is that humans just aren't dense enough. \n\nhow to get out. \n\"The way to do it is to wriggle your legs around. This creates a space between the legs and the quicksand through which water can flow down to dilate [loosen] the sand,\" he explained. \"You can get out using this technique, if you do it slowly and progressively.\"\n\n_URL_0_ "
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120xau | loans & paying principal vs interest | When I had loans in other countries, all we talked about was the total owed and how the interest would act on it. Now I look at loans/mortgages in the US and people talk about how "You only pay interest for the first x years" or how "You should make an extra payment and mark it 'apply to principal only.'"
I thought it was all just a lump of money I owed...
Edit: Thank you everyone. As far as I can tell, the whole "Apply to Principle only" thing just means they don't hold your check for the next payment or anything like that. Makes sense, I suppose... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/120xau/eli5_loans_paying_principal_vs_interest/ | {
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"people who make loans have many options in how they \"view\" your payback schedule. For the most simple of cases, just assume you borrow $1000 at 10% for 10 years and agree that your total payback will be $2000, the $1000 plus 10% a year for 10 years. \n\nNow when you make payments you might think that since you owe $1000 in principal and $1000 in interest, that your payments will be such that after 5 years, when you have paid $1000, that you will basically owe $500 more dollars, plus $500 more in interest, meaning, that if after 5 years you just paid the lumpsum $500 owed your debt would be square...\n\nWell, not so fast... if the person making the loan says that the first $1000 you pay is only interest, then after 5 years and paying $1000 you still owe the ENTIRE $1000... because that first $1000 was only interest. That means if you want to get out of the loan after five years you need to pay $1000, not merely $500.\n\nThe real examples are much more complicated but that is the basic idea....",
" > I thought it was all just a lump of money I owed...\n\nIt is. The interest vs. principle thing is just the funny way the math of compound interest works out.\n\nLet's say you borrow $100K at 5% for 30 years, and are paying it back with monthly payments. That works out to about $540 a month.\n\nThe first year, you'll make about $6500 in payments, but you still owe a whole lot, so the interest will be about $5000. That means the principle will only be reduced by about $1500, so most of that money goes towards interest.\n\nBut the last year, you start off owing only about $6400. You'll still pay the same $6400, so only about $100 is interest, the rest is principle.\n\nThat's why it helps out to make extra payments early on...they knock down the principle and save a lot of interest in the long run.",
"For most loan payment plans, on a regular interval, a certain percentage of the amount owed (principal) is added to the loan costs. If you have a \n\nWith simple figures, for a $1,000 loan at 10% interest, you now owe $1,100 when your first payment is due. If you pay $200 at the same time, you now owe $900, $100 was used to pay off the interest you owed during that period, and $100 went to paying down the principal.\n\nNext month, $900 principal + $90 interest = $990, you pay $200 again, and now you owe $790. Do you see how your first month, the amount you owed went down by $100, and the next month it went down by $110? As you get closer and closer to the end of your loan, a bigger and bigger part of your payments go to paying down principal instead of paying for interest, just because you owe less and less, but your payments are usually constant.\n\nSaying \"You only pay interest for X years\" is a misnomer, and could mean one of several things. First some people would say that you're paying interest for as long as at least half of your monthly payment goes to paying down interest rather than paying down principal. Probably more commonly, for the standard payment schedule for a loan, there is a total interest amount you will pay, some people will say you \"only paid interest\" once your total payments have exceeded the total interest you'll pay (usually roughly halfway through the repayment schedule). Neither is really true, you're always paying some interest and some principal each month, these are just milestones to make people feel better about big loans.\n\nFinally there *is* a type of loan called an interest-only loan. That means that you borrow $1,000 at 10% interest compounded (calculated) monthly. Each month you pay $100, paying off just the interest portion, and not making any dent on the principal. After ten months you've now paid back $1,000, *but you still owe $1,000*. These are very dangerous loans, and usually should only be used as a \"bridge\" loan - a short term loan meant to cover a gap between other incomes. The most common form of bridge loan is for buying/selling a house. You get the bridge loan for the new house to cover the gap until you sell your old house (then you use the sale money from your old house to pay off your bridge loan).\n\nIt's possible you may have encountered a loan that was set up to be interest-only for a while before monthly payments are increased and you start paying down principal."
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53pxy1 | how life was created, how seemingly inert atoms formed what we are today, these weird organic creatures with sentience | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/53pxy1/eli5how_life_was_created_how_seemingly_inert/ | {
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"Those atoms aren't inert.\n\nThey react with other atoms, attaching and detaching from each other, requiring energy, releasing energy, etc. All life depends on chemical actions to function. Life is a natural extension of a chemically reactive environment.",
"An MIT physicist (Jeremy England) recently launched a new theory of the origin of life that, if it's correct, answers your questions.\n\nIt's called \"dissipation-driven adaptive organization\". So it's sounds a bit obscure. But it's pretty simple to understand.\n\nWhen you place a cup of tea in a cool room, it will eventually become the same temperature as the room. Energy will dissipate in the form of heat until it's spread evenly.\n\nThis simple phenomenon is an example of the process that created life, according to England (the scientist, not the country).\n\nIt's a simple idea: structures that are able to capture energy and dissipate it as heat, and thus preventing itself from falling apart, are statistically inevitable in a system with the necessary requirements (a heat bath, like the ocean, and a source of energy, like the sun).\n\nOver time, more complex structures, capable of dissipating increasingly more energy, will evolve.\n\nThe law behind this, the second law of thermodynamics, is considered to be one of the most basic laws we've discovered. If a scientist makes a discovery that goes against gravity, that's interesting. If he makes a discovery that goes against the second law of thermodynamics, he's wrong. Period. It's a law of laws.\n\nAnd it seems this law explains how life arose."
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3yzise | why are muslims only allowed to have up to four wifes and not more? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3yzise/eli5why_are_muslims_only_allowed_to_have_up_to/ | {
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"Because five would just be greedy, obviously. Who needs five wives? That's ridiculous.\n\nFour is plenty.",
"What if the fifth wife was blind? You're taking her in as charity. That allowed?",
"The short answer, with the caveat that I'm not a Quaranic scholar: that's one interpretation, based off of a passage in scripture. It's by no means universally accepted among all branches of Islam or all Muslims. \n\nLike all theological issues, especially in large, widely-practiced religions, there are centuries of scholar and lay debate about the scripture's meaning and appropriate application on matters of daily life: some branches reject polygyny completely, while others have different conceptions of the rule. The commonly-cited four is the result of a passage which discusses marriage in regards to the obligations a husband has to wives: \n\n\"If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.\" (Surah 4, Ayah 3).\n\nMohammad had thirteen wives, not four. \n\n",
"Because men in pre-Islamic and early society ended up dying way too quickly because of all the tribal raids and skirmishes. As a result, there were a lot of poor or rich widows around who didn't exactly have the means to survive the death of the primary breadwinner. The Prophet (PBUH) made a declaration that polygamy as it was with the pagans was admissible, but only to the extent of up to four wives who must all be treated equally as the others. This was intended to provide for said widows and their children, by providing them a stable household and income and assuring that abuse of the system would be indefensible. \n\nAs for the Prophet (PBUH) himself, yes he did marry thirteen times, but it was ever four at a time. The more egregious examples of polygamy in Islamic history (IIRC) would be during the Ridda Wars (basically: heresy, heresy everywhere) and during the formation of the Third Saudi State (aka modern Saudi Arabia). Ibn Saud married and divorced in rapid succession to cement alliances with various tribes (with at least twenty four wives that we know of), resulting a lot of sons and grandsons that led to the current tense state of affairs in Saudi Arabia's domestic politics. \n\nThere are of course other examples, but these are the ones that come to mind immediately. ",
"Polygamy itself is used often as a means to ensure population stabilization in war torn areas or areas where death is likely. It's likely trying to have a balance of stabilizing population and not being greedy. There isn't a reason this number is more correct or less correct than the number we associate as correct now. It's all a culture based decision."
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3ptiva | what could happen to hillary as a result of the benghazi hearing | What is she actually being accused of and what could the potential consequences be? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ptiva/eli5what_could_happen_to_hillary_as_a_result_of/ | {
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"She is accused of ignoring the call for better security in Benghazi. As a practical matter there is not much that could happen to her via Congress. The stakes are, can she look presidential or not. Any damage to her is in her campaign for president. They cannot put her in jail or anything. ",
"If it turns out she behaved criminally, she could be charged with a crime, but I don't think anyone is suggesting that her actions at the time would have been criminal. The biggest charges she's facing are that the government was to slow to react to the initial uprising and didn't move fast enough to bring in reinforcements to defend the embassy. I think that would have been aa simple lapse in judgement if it turns out to be true. It could have potentially gotten her removed from office if that determination had been made while she was still in office. \n\nThere are also accusations that she lied to the American public about the nature of the attack. It came right after an offensive movie about Islam had been released in the US and initially it looked like the attack was a spontaneous protest against that film. Within a few days it started to look like it had been a planned and coordinated terrorist attack. Because this came a few weeks before the 2012 election, there were accusations that she had lied because if it were a terrorist attack, then that would reflect badly on the Obama administration's ability to protect us from terrorism. If it had been a spontaneous protest, then the administration could blame the filmmakers and not a failure of the intelligence services.\n\nLying to the public isn't necessarily a crime, but if she lied to Congress during their hearings on the subject, she could be facing perjury charges.\n\nI wasn't there, I don't know what happened, and I'm trying to present a balanced answer."
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2ibn8k | what exactly happens to my ice cream when it becomes freezer burned? why is there a distinct flavor? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ibn8k/eli5_what_exactly_happens_to_my_ice_cream_when_it/ | {
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"When something becomes freezer burned, ice crystals form inside it.",
"you open the freezer door, heat goes in melts the ice cream slightly, you close the door, the ice cream freezes but nothing is churning the ice cream so the freezing action forces the water out. rinse and repeat and you get large chunks of ice. ice cream also has lots of fat in it which tends to absorb any free floating smells inside your ice cream."
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1z35uf | what is 'consideration' in terms of law | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z35uf/eli5what_is_consideration_in_terms_of_law/ | {
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"Consideration relates to contract law.\n\nThe basic idea is that a contract is not legal unless both sides get something. This \"something\" is called consideration.\n\nAs an example, say I agree to sell you my car. You give me $15,000 (my consideration) and I give you my car (your consideration). That is a perfectly legal contract.\n\nOn the other hand, I could force you to sign a contract giving me $15,000 and your car. However, if you don't get something of comparable value (for example, the rights to my gold mine) then the contract is invalid because you have no consideration. \n\nThis helps protect people from signing away their lives in a contract that they don't understand. If the court can determine that they did not receive consideration, the contract is invalid.",
"Consideration is the reason that organizations who are asking for donations or pledges will give you \"gifts\" with donations of a certain size: \"Aaaand when you pledge $100 to save the Pandas we will send you this stupid DVD of the Pandas.\" Since they are giving you consideration (crappy DVD) your $100 pledge is a contract and not a gift, and is therefore enforceable. "
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5ka507 | what is the point of a nuclear arms race? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ka507/eli5_what_is_the_point_of_a_nuclear_arms_race/ | {
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"The basic idea is to have both sides obtain so many nuclear weapons that they will never be used.\n\nThe concept is this: I have a nuke and you have a nuke. I can bomb one of your cities, and you can bomb one of mine. But now, I have 50,000 nukes. I can literally wipe you off the face of the planet, but you have the same number, and so you can do the same to me. This is known as Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) \n\nThe entire point of a nuclear arms race is to avoid ever having to use any of them."
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3bzmze | why do some cereals (looking at you, cap'n crunch and apple jacks) feel like they shred the roof of your mouth? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bzmze/eli5_why_do_some_cereals_looking_at_you_capn/ | {
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"text": [
"Because they do? (Shred the roof of your mouth)",
"Because you're chewing wrong. Try using your teeth instead of the roof of your mouth, that's what they are for.",
"IMO, there are three hypothesis that I've concluded:\n\n* You're eating wrong. You're not supposed to squeeze those cereals on your roof of your mouth if it's not smooth enough for your mouth.\n* You're eating too fast. Take your time to let the cereals absorb the milk, will you?\n* Crap manufacturer. Dunno, maybe they used poorly ground nuts(if they were any, not really sure about foreign cereal)?",
"I had Capn Crunch for breakfast this morning for the first time in several years, I was very careful chewing. ",
"Crystallized sugar is abrasive. Gotta let is soak a bit first before subjecting delicate mouth flesh to it.",
"I usually get this with grilled bread . I think it's just because they are hard , when you chew on them they split into lots of little pieces that are hard and by moving your tongue and your mouth or pieces pushing onto others they scratch the most exposed part of the mouth wich is the roof .\n\nSince you chew the cereal don't get between your lips and gums or are just stuck there and don't move too much so it most likely never happens it hurts you .\n\nBut while we are on the subject : Why does Pineapple does that too ? Is it because it's too acidic ?"
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b7g1kq | in the old days when motor cars started to become more affordable in the us,how did people do long drives without the option of many gas stations and their cars going through gas? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b7g1kq/eli5_in_the_old_days_when_motor_cars_started_to/ | {
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"They carried extra gas cans with them. The first cars were also prone to overheating and gas stations actually started out as water stations so car owners could cool down their cars and then the network expanded from there. But it was a while before people used cars for long trips. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
3m2sq4 | how did the public definition of theory come to be so different from the scientific definition of theory? | Eg. the theory of evolution by means of natural selection:
Lay people regard it as a hypothesis
Scientists regard it as a theory
How did this come about ? Just people not wanting to believe that we are descended from apes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3m2sq4/eli5_how_did_the_public_definition_of_theory_come/ | {
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"Minor correction, we did not descend from apes. We descended from a common ancestor as the apes.",
"People want to use scientific terminology to sound smart. It sounds better to say the \"theory\" at this time than the \"idea\" or \"thought\" so that is what they say on news reports. ",
"Well in any field of study there will be exact definitions and terms. These may no be the same in different fields. In common speech, the \"public definitions\", meanings are not universal or constant. Words change.\n\nSo when scientists pick terms and corresponding definitions to describe concepts in their field, they have no power over how the term is used outside of their field. They have no power over how the term might change its popular meaning.\n\n[Here](_URL_0_) is a list someone made of scientific words that have different meanings in more common contexts. As you can see, the idea that \"theory\" has a scientific definition and a different common usage is not unusual or notable.\n\nWhat is notable is how some people have latched on to the difference to try and confuse others about what science actually can say about a topic.",
"Religious right trying to twist the meaning of scientific terms to further their political agenda. Yes, it was all because of the evolution deniers.",
"A theory in science *does* have the same essential meaning in science as anywhere else: an idea, supported by some evidence, which we think explains a situation. In the case of science, any respectable scientist will tell you that pretty-much every piece of knowledge is potentially subject to revision as we learn more. This means that everything in science that is not a reporting of direct observation (those are called Laws, like Newton's Laws of Motion) is considered not 100% proven even if there is monumental evidence for it. Evolution is as confirmed as anything in nature but it is still called a theory because there is still (and always will be) a possibility for another explanation to come along that is better and more accurate. Relativity is supported by all kinds of evidence and there are thousands of experiments which have shown actual matches to its predictions; it is still a theory because it might not explain everything it needs to as accurately as possible, and some other idea might do a better job.\n\nThinking that theories in science are done deals is an error by laymen, and part of the misunderstanding of science by the public that causes them to mistrust what they thought were absolute facts given to them by Science from On High. Anything labelled as a scientific theory is really scientists saying \"this is the best we've got based on our current understanding. When we come up with something more accurate, we'll let you know.\""
]
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[],
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"http://www.southernfriedscience.com/?p=11584"
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5l7rpv | why do we sometimes start thinking about a song, then realize that we are actually hearing it? | Why do we sometimes start thinking about a song, then realize that we are actually hearing it very quietly (from a nearby headset or something)? Sometimes I'll get a song stuck in my head, and sing it in my head, then realize that I'm hearing it from nearby. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5l7rpv/eli5_why_do_we_sometimes_start_thinking_about_a/ | {
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"I've always assumed this was a subconscious thing. Your brain is constantly processing different sounds, sights, thoughts, etc. So it's not uncommon to recognize a song your brain has been processing unconsciously, while you've been going about your business. And once your attention becomes focused on the song, it's no longer in the subconscious and you realize it's been playing the whole time. But I could be wrong.",
"You get more conscious of the song that is being played for real. Whereas your brain makes you feel like it was just in your head, cos you kinda recognised the song. Has happened many times with me and am sure it does with a lot of other people too."
]
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5vaw2a | is there a higher probability of picking something out of a bag if you pick first or last? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5vaw2a/eli5_is_there_a_higher_probability_of_picking/ | {
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"Chance of getting it if you pick first is 1/5 or 0.2- fairly simple, however to get it if you pick last it would require all other people not to get it, meaning the chance would be 4/5 x 3/4 x 2/3 x 1/2 which is 1/5 or 0.2 again- meaning the chances are equal :)"
]
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[]
] |
||
3loba8 | what's the point of suds when i'm washing the dishes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3loba8/eli5_whats_the_point_of_suds_when_im_washing_the/ | {
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"The foam is the result of air getting stuck in between thin layers of soapy water. Because the soap lowers the surface tension of the water, you need less pressure to make a bubble.\n\nWhen you make bubbles, you actually take soap molecules out of the bulk of the liquid, therefore lowering the concentration of your soapy water and making it less effective at cleaning. This is why industrial/commercial cleaners don't foam up so much.\n\nI would assume the point is marketing. If your detergents are soaping up, they look like they are doing something... however its actually worse for cleaning."
]
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[]
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||
1do6n8 | united states-land of the free, home of the brave? | I'm not trying to be provocative here, but as a European (Dutch), I don't understand why a lot of Americans still think they live in a free society and that The US is still the best country in the world. I met a group of Americans in the pub last night and they got quite upset when I raised a few issues like violence, crime, poverty, illiteracy, an undemocratic government and let's just say it; anno 2013 gay marriage and cannabis are still an issue.
Don't get me wrong, I like visiting the US, but it can't be denied that it is a police state and your civil liberties are infringed upon. You must also be getting tired of being at war all the time.
To be honest, I wouldn't want to raise my children in the US, but I might be wrong. If so, please explain. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1do6n8/eli5united_statesland_of_the_free_home_of_the/ | {
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"Gay marriage and cannabis are an issue in *most* countries, and even most developed countries.\n\nThe US has an equal literacy rate to many developed countries; it's *higher* than that of Italy, Taiwan, South Korea, and Spain.\n\nThe US does not have significantly more violent crime than European countries.\n\n\"An undemocratic government\" is a horribly vague complaint, as is saying that the US is \"a police state\". If you had a more specific complaint, it's very likely that many European countries would show the same problems.\n\n----------\n\nThere *are* things that America is legitimately worse on. Poverty, sure. Healthcare, of course. Criminal rights, definitely. But most of the things that make people go GRR AMERICA are pretty common; it's just that most countries aren't as powerful and aren't proud of doing shitty things.",
"Nationalism is silly and ass backwards no matter what country it is. But nationalism in America is some kinda crazy. ",
"The reason they probably got upset was they were on vacation enjoying a beer and you started asking \"hey, why is your country fucked up?\" Whether or not your arguments held any merit or not isn't the issue. They probably were just trying to have a good time. ",
"It's from the, \"Star-Spangled Banner,\" which is what Americans play before any major sporting event. _URL_0_\n\nLife isn't bad here. Despite all the controversy in politics, life has pretty much stayed the same over the past few decades; it's only the major organizations that change and a lot of Americans deal with private businesses more than Government organizations. Also, most Americans don't care about other countries so they really have no frame of reference. \n\nEdit: Also, I think the misconception that it's a police state comes from visiting high tourists spots. I went to D.C. one summer and it was cop city. I couldn't walk in to any public building without getting my bag checked and going through metal detectors. ",
"This subreddit is dying faster and faster every day."
]
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[],
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69g5vl | what really happens after i call or write to my representative and senators about a bill? | Everyone says to get involved and do this, but no one seems to know how it impacts the process. Especially interested in answers from Congressional aides or anyone with experience. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69g5vl/eli5_what_really_happens_after_i_call_or_write_to/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"The communications department at your senator/congressman's office tabulates your opinion. The politician sees statistics describing the opinion flow from constituents. Sometimes staff pulls out a couple of representative sample letters on each side for the boss to read."
]
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[]
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|
2ylhze | capitalism | I understand it's society driven by money - but can someone give me a more comprehensive answer? A brave friend admitted that she didn't understand some concepts that everyone just assumed everyone else understood and she wants to get caught up. I understand capitalism generally but not well enough to articulate it to an adult... I suggested this subreddit and am now trying it out.
Edited for more explanation. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ylhze/eli5_capitalism/ | {
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"Capital refers to the machines, tools & factories of the world.\n\nCapitalism is an economic system where private individuals are free to own and use capital to produce goods which can then be sold on the market.",
"It's easiest to understand by comparing it to other models, so lets compare feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. (Note, countries referred to as communist are in fact socialist)\n\nIn Feudalism, \"royalty\" control the means of production. In history it meant that all the land of a kingdom belonged to the king and he decided who would work and farm it. He collected food and soldiers from the people under him, who did the same, who did the same, down to the serfs who worked the land but didn't own any of it. If all the people of the land wanted to wear leather shoes, but the king wanted them to wear wooden shoes, they wore wooden shoes as this is all he would allow to be produced.\n\nIn Capitalism, individuals control the means of production. This is our modern era, where individuals own businesses and corporations. The \"market,\" the actual interchange of goods and services between people, determines what is produced. If all the people of the land want to wear leather shoes, but the government wants them to wear wooden ones, then people will wear leather shoes b/c they will buy leather and so leather will be supplied. (The complaint is that, as in the previous case, money and power is concentrated in the hands of the few, and most of us are not much different from serfs, simply working to produce for others in exchange for a wage)\n\nIn Socialism, the government controls the means of production. This is essentially China and the USSR. Although a market exists, the government regulates everything: what is made, how much is made, what it costs. If all the people of the land want to wear leather shoes, but the government wants them to wear wooden ones, it'll mandate the production of a gazillion wooden shoes. In the socialist ideal the government was right, the wooden shoes were better, and everyone is happy.\n\nFor completeness, Communism is what these countries aspired to. In communism there is no government, people produce as they can and take only what they need. My personal view is that it requires a level of human development that we haven't reached yet. It's the Star Trek future where there is no money, and no one is hungry and everybody works to improve themselves and the world around them.\n\nLast point: There are no pure systems. The U.S. is capitalist, but we have government regulation of many things. We have a minimum wage and safety laws and regulated industries like power. Likewise the socialist countries have had an element of the capitalist free market functioning."
]
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3d2yhv | why do we tend to set the volume of the tv in multiples of five? what's with multiples of five? | Is this some sort of psychological bias? I always see people tuning their volumes in multiples of five as if the universe were to explode. Similarly, I see people celebrating 15th/20th/35th anniversaries more than, say, 14th/21st/34th anniversaries. What's with this bias towards multiples of five? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d2yhv/eli5_why_do_we_tend_to_set_the_volume_of_the_tv/ | {
"a_id": [
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"For anniversaries, our calendar has decades, and since decades are relatively long, half-decades (5 years) is a good time frame. \n \nFor volume/temperature, I rarely see only multiples of 5, as that is very limiting and drastic changes, what I mainly see are even numbers and also 5, so like 40, 42, 45, 46, 48, 50, 52, etc. \n \nThat is how many people, including myself do it. In my mind, even numbers are cleaner, and I rationalize using 5 because it's 1/2 of 10, 2x less.",
"Our brains like to recognize patterns and give order to things and 5 is a good number that is exactly half of 10. ",
"How many fingers do you have on a hand? See how easy it is to count in hands of fingers?\n\nYou have ten fingers total, which is why our numbers are expressed in tens. Fives are the next most reasonable thing to use when tens just aren't specific enough."
]
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28g6lj | the evolution of the beard | What evolutionary advantage is there for men growing facial hair? Why do not all men have the ability to grow facial hair and why don't women (in general) have any? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28g6lj/eli5_the_evolution_of_the_beard/ | {
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"text": [
"Men didn't evolve to have beards. Our ancient ancestors were a lot hairier than us to keep them warm. Now that we have better clothes and shelter, being hairy isn't as necessary. This means that males who don't grow as much hair can survive and pass on their genes just as easily as hairy men.\n\nHair growth is linked to testosterone which is a male hormone. ",
"It's a secondary sex characteristic and has been shown to be related to perceived sexual attractiveness, so in that case it's evolutionarily advantageous."
]
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|
as3xwg | why can't a phone connect to multiple speakers via bluetooth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/as3xwg/eli5_why_cant_a_phone_connect_to_multiple/ | {
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"It has to do with the frequency range of Bluetooth, and the fact that your devices don't have two transmitters. ",
"It can--there are some new technologies out now that allow it, but only with certain hardware, and the new Bluetooth 5 spec appears to allow streaming to at least two devices at once. We're getting there!",
"My Pixel 2 XL can connect to up to 5, though you have to enable the option manually and though it will connect to multiple simultaneously, I don't think it will play audio simultaneously."
]
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||
6snkrf | how is it determined when documents from american presidents become declassified? | Here are letters from President Reagan to Soviet Union Leaders. Is it able to be declassified relatively soon because the USSR no longer exists or because the president chose to declassify them?
_URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6snkrf/eli5_how_is_it_determined_when_documents_from/ | {
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"text": [
"A president can choose to declassify anything at any time they choose. There is a standing Executive Order that states that all classified material is to be declassified 25 years after creation unless it meets certain criteria. However, executive orders are simply directives from the President and can be changed in the future."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.thereaganfiles.com/letters-between-president.html"
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[]
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|
1wsx96 | what does the westboro baptist church actually believe in? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wsx96/eli5_what_does_the_westboro_baptist_church/ | {
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"text": [
"They exist to piss people off. Pissed off people might assault them or do other stupid things. The WBC can then sue for lots of money.\n\nIt's not a 'real' church - it's one family that's made up of lawyers.",
"They're essentially more cult than church. Fred Phelps is the leader although I understand the role has passed down the heirachy a little due to his fading health.\n\nThey believe that the world outside their church and narrow definition of the bible is damned and is destined to go to hell. Not just non-christians, EVERYONE.\n\nThere was a Louie Theroux documentary on them a few years back that featured one of the daughters of the church explaining that if she was hit by a car or something and died there would be no sympathy for her, since she had obviously displeased god for such a thing to happen.\n",
"Hatred. I drive past their compound when visiting my parents. They hate everyone. Right now, the sign on the compound is about how the super bowl is evil. Whatever is going on in the news/pop culture, they will find a way to hate on it. They just want attention.",
"I'm an avid researcher of the Westboro Baptist Church, so I can tell you what they believe in.\n\n1. They believe that God puts people in two categories. The people who go to heaven (the elect) and people who go to hell (the reprobate). You have no say in terms of your salvation; it is all up to God. This doctrine is called Calvinism.\n\n2. They believe that because the Bible promises blessings for those who obey God and curses for those who do not, that and the world, is being punished for its disobedience against its creator. You are to be thankful for all calamities for they are God's will, and you are to thank Him for all that He does. The United States, for example, in having legalized abortions, but the ultimate sin is homosexuality, for it is the sin that caused God to destroy nations. Read: Sodom and Gomorrah.\n\n3. They believe that it is their duty to the world to preach the gospel and raise awareness that the tragedies are caused by God for revenge for the nation's sin. They believe that if they just sit back idly and not preach, then the sins of the nations will be on their hands. Leviticus 19 makes it clear that in order to love your neighbor, you are to rebuke them for their sin. They do not care whether or not you repent and change, it's solely they're goal to raise awareness. Similar to Noah, who, according to the Bible, preached for over 100 years, started with eight people, ended with eight people, informed the world, and then, the flood happened. "
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302ypd | is it possible to harvest the energy from atomic bombs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/302ypd/eli5_is_it_possible_to_harvest_the_energy_from/ | {
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"Yes.\n\nYou make them explode very, very slowly, and use the heat they produce to boil water to drive a steam turbine.\n\nThe device that does this is called a nuclear power plant."
]
} | [] | [] | [
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||
9zq92w | why can’t a country depend wholly on renewable energy at this time? | We have the solar, wind and water technologies to create electricity, are there any reasons why countries haven’t converted 100%? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9zq92w/eli5_why_cant_a_country_depend_wholly_on/ | {
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"Some have. Iceland, Albania, and I think Brasil are examples. \n\nThese countries use geothermal and hydroelectric—which give power 24/7. \n\nOther countries don't have those options and must use wind or solar which don't work when it isn't windy or sunny. You would need a way to store power efficiently, which we don't have right now. ",
"Some have, albania, iceland, and paraguay so far.\n\nSo they can, for many nations fossil fuel is just cheaper",
"A big issues with some renewable energy is when they produce energy during the day.\n\nHydroelectricity and geothermal can produce a varying amount of energy on demand. While other technology like solar and wind you don't have control over their peak production.\n\nEach region is different, but in general you always have a similar consumption of electricity during the day. You have the morning ramp, when people start to wake up and business open. Then the demand stability for the day. Around 18-20hours there is a peak of demand. People go home, they start the heaters, turn on the lights, tv, dishwasher, dryer, etc. Some studies also show a morning peak and they call the period between the two the Valley.\n\nThe point is that you need more electricity early in the morning and evening and solar peak production is at mid day. So if you want solar to produce enough for the peaks, you gonna over produce at mid day, which mean you gonna waste energy and you gonna need to construct more solar panel to sell the electricity, which gonna increase the cost. That's one of the reason why Solar isn't economically viable without government subsidy, except in some specific region with high amount of solar energy (but those region, usually have less dense population and consume less energy).\n\nFor wind, the problem is less present, because if the peak production of Solar is always at the bad time, the peak production of wind isn't always at the bad time. So that's why on average wind is more economically viable. That said, it's impossible to rely on on wind, because you don't control that peak production. On day, it could be alright, but the day after you gonna need another energy source because the wind isn't strong enough during peak demand.\n\nYou don't have those problems with hydroelectricity and geothermal, but those energy sources can only be use at very specific places. You need the right body of water or the right geothermal energy underground to use those source of energy. If you don't have them in large enough quantity on your territory, too bad for you country. It's sad, because hydro and geothermal are some of the most economically viable source of energy.\n\nThere is ways to fix the issues with solar and wind, but we need infrastructure and technology that we don't have right now. Things like super grip to transfer electricity from place with high wind/solar/geothermal/hydro energy to place that doesn't have access to those kind of energy is high enough quantity. Or large efficient battery to store energy at peak production and use it at peak demand."
]
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2k0vta | how come sometimes when i'd like to think of a correct an answer or response, i can't? yet, when i'm doing or thinking about something entirely different, my brain is able to find the answer after the fact. | Example: Your friend asks you the name of that absolutely hilarious movie that has Val Kilmer in it and is like Airplane.
After thinking for 5 minutes, you can't come up with the name. You'll get back to him.
You go start cooking dinner and, an hour since the question, as you're cutting up potatoes, it hits you. The hilarious and must-see movie your friend asked you about is called Top Secret!
"Why couldn't I think of that before," you ask yourself. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2k0vta/eli5_how_come_sometimes_when_id_like_to_think_of/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Our memories work in sort of a web, where things that are associated with one another are lumped together. For example, I hand you a red hat. You may look at it and remember that your parents bought you a red hat when you were a child. Where did this memory come from? You haven't thought of that in years! \n\nWell, your mind saw the red hat and it activated that portion of the \"web\". You can really follow this web of memories anywhere. Your dad bought you the red hat from Old Navy. You also got a green jacket from old Navy. Where did that jacket go? Oh yeah, I let my ex borrow that jacket. God, she was a bitch.\n\nThis is why when we forget what we were doing or saying, we will often look around the room hoping something jogs our memory. Occasionally we will think back to what we were doing prior to coming into the room to hope something sparks it. \n\nSo what is happening with you, is you gave up thinking about what the movie was that your friend mentioned. You go about your day, but the memory of you thinking \"what movie is it?\" is still fresh. \n\nIn the background, your brain is subconsciously still trying to figure out what it could be. It may come to you on its own, or you may look out the window and see an airplane and have the answer come to you. Or you may see an old friend, have a random memory of the time you went and visited him in Arizona. You think about getting ready, going to the airport, getting on the plane, then boom. Your mind has remembered that the movie you were thinking about earlier was Airplane."
]
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|
3pvx4k | why was/is the us invasion of iraq seen as such a blunder in modern politics? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3pvx4k/eli5why_wasis_the_us_invasion_of_iraq_seen_as/ | {
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"Saddam Hussein was the brutal dictator of Iraq. He was not a good or humanitarian ruler. The US and UK invaded Iraq in 2003 on the basis that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction - chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. The US and UK easily took control of Iraq from the Hussein government after a short conflict. It quickly became apparent that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and had not had them for decades. This meant that the given reason for the invasion was incorrect.\n\nThe aftermath of the invasion was where the real problems happened, though. While Hussein was not a nice ruler, he was a competent one and kept Iraq stable. With him gone, the Iraqi state dismantled and no clear plan from the UK or US, chaos ruled. What amounted to a civil war broke out. This lead to the deaths of over 200,000 Iraqis, not just 'some'. The US and UK were unable to leave because the Iraqi government was not capable of controlling the situation. This inevitably led to rising deaths with no clear end in sight. \n\nSeveral years later, the situation had stabilised and the US and UK pulled out most of their troops. Things were relatively fine for a couple of years, until ISIS moved into northern Iraq from Syria. They quickly took control of a great deal of Iraq and the Iraqi army was not capable of stopping them. They are still in control of a lot of Iraq. The Iraqi government is still too weak to deal with them. \n\nSo ultimately, hundreds of thousands are dead, Iraq is in many places far worse-off than before and the original reason for invasion wasn't true. "
]
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[]
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||
3d7tu1 | why is the dialogue in movies and tv so ridiculously unrealistic? | You would never ever be fooled into thinking movie dialogue is real. There's almost never an 'umm', or a pause, or forgetting what you're saying, or grasping for a word, or coughing or burping, etc.. stuff that is magnificently present in real dialogue. And when someone is talking in a crowd, you can't hear any other voices! Doesn't all this 'perfection' make the movie less believable (and therefore less enjoyable)? I know it does for me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d7tu1/eli5why_is_the_dialogue_in_movies_and_tv_so/ | {
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"If you watch a movie with dialogue that's too realistic, it becomes uncomfortable. Then we blame it on bad acting. ",
"Because real dialogue is *incredibly tedious and boring*. For most people, they're willing (and in fact, probably do it without thinking) to suspend whatever disbelief they have over unrealistic dialogue in order to have a more entertaining movie.\n\nIt's the same reason we don't mind that there are lots of noises and explosions in the space battles in Star Wars. Yeah, we know there's no sound in space, but could you imagine how boring those scenes would be?\n\nIn the same way that [this is not a pipe](_URL_0_) because it is a picture of a pipe, movie dialogue is not really dialogue, it's a \"picture\" of dialogue, if that makes sense.",
"I mean, if you think about it, um. . . like the thing you gotta keep in mind. . . The way I look at it, like, um, man, movies are, y'know, supposed to like be. . . what's the word? a *representative*. . . No that's not it. You know what i'm trying to say, don't you? What was that sound? Oh, nevermind, just the cat next door. So anyways, like, real life and movies. . . Ok, so picture this: You're talking to someone, right? Like a friend, your friend Jenny. How's she doing? Pregnant?! No way! That's awesome. So you're talking to Jenny, uh-huh? No, Jenny is a bad example. Okay, let's go with Mark. Mark Rothberg. Rutherberg. Whatever his name is. The one you met skydiving last year. Oh, Dirk is his name? Who is Mark then? Alright, you're talking to Dirk, and he's like listening, and he says things like \"Yeah\" and \"uh-huh\" and stuff while you're like talking and stuff. Anyways, he's a big movie buff. I think he even went to film school for a while, right? In San Francisco? No? That must be someone else I'm thinking of. I mean, my point still stands. Dirk is like listening to you talk and yadda yadda, picking up on verbal and facial clues. Er, CUES I meant. Queues? Cues. That helps him figure out what you're saying even when you like keep stumbling or whatever, and you share a history of like past conversations and similar experiences and stuff so like. . . Where was I going? I dunno man. ",
"I call this the \"Balto Effect,\" myself. Named after the singularity of a movie in which not one single line of dialogue is credible as coming from inside the character. It's a masterful feat.\n\nBut as a writer, I'll also tell you - natural human speech is uncomfortable. The human brain picks and chooses what to latch onto during conversations, and it comes out in your memory the way movie dialogue comes directly into your brain.\n\nWe're comfortable with this, since when you're watching someone talk instead of talking to them you lack the interpersonal cues that neurotypicals often use to pare and filter dialogue. The writer has to pare the dialogue down to the essentials before it reaches your brain. So it often functions like a memory. But realistic dialogue becomes a hoetsput in your ear canal if you put it into a film, so it's a happy medium to strike.\n\nFunnily enough, books don't have this problem, since the one-on-one experience mimics the way our brains converse."
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dg89as | why are drivers on the left/right of a car, when having the driver dead set in the middle would grant better vision on both sides? | I’m sure it has to do something with direction of traffic and what not, but I think it’s just more natural that way no? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dg89as/eli5_why_are_drivers_on_the_leftright_of_a_car/ | {
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"Sitting on one side allows for more passengers in the front seats. Some early automobiles and trucks did use a center-driver layout, but it isn't an efficient use of space within the cabin if you want more people than just the driver to fit in there. You still occasionally see it on special use vehicles and exotic sports cars.",
"When driving on the right side of the road, turning left is the most dangerous turn. So having the driver's seat on the left gives the driver the best visibility on that side to see into the lanes they need to cross through on their left turn.",
"The driveshaft went down the middle of rear wheel cars which used to be more common, so it was easier to sit on the side of it.",
"Sitting in the middle would not give better vision when you are overtaking another vehicle. That is the situation in my experience when there is a significant difference between the driver and passenger position.\n\nTo have center driver in a regular car the width of the car would need to be increased for 3 person in the fromt or the same width and persons in the from. \nFor racing all trave in the same direction, only the driver is in the car and have a equal center of mass is relevans so then a driver in the center is a good idea. But for regular driving it is not."
]
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[],
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2ohmb2 | how does the president of the us get enough sleep to run the country by managing issues that literally manifest every second? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ohmb2/eli5_how_does_the_president_of_the_us_get_enough/ | {
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"The president doesn't manage every single issue, only the big ones. Kinda like how the Supreme Court doesn't review every case.",
"1. he delegates. probably every person that works for the president is the hardest working and smartest person we'd ever meet. its good to the president...you have team of people working directly for you who are damn committed and have demonstrated so over years and years.\n\n2. those people employe the largest number of people of any institution in the world. They throw in a hand here and there so that the prez can sleep a little.",
"He doesn't do everything himself. He had tons of staff that handle basically all of the real work. They do the research and bring him all the information. He makes a decision and then they go and do the work for that.\n\nShows like The West Wing, Madam Secretary etc might be wrong in the details but they have the basic idea correct",
"I know most of the other answers are more serious. \r\rDid you see how fast Obama went grey? You are right, he probably doesn't get enough sleep. ",
"\nMost high-level politicians don't get enough sleep (if 8 hours is the benchmark for \"enough\"). One federal cabinet minister I gopher'd for at conferences would get back to his room around 12:30am and be at his desk for 5:30 every single day. "
]
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4vg9pv | what was "black monday" in 1987 and how did it affect the economy? | I read the Wikipedia article but I'm at a loss as to what happened and why and how. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4vg9pv/eli5_what_was_black_monday_in_1987_and_how_did_it/ | {
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"Black Monday was a major fall in stock market prices around the world, resulting in hundreds of billions of dollars being wiped off companies' worth.\n\nThere was no single cause, rather it was the result of various different things all coming together at the same time:\n\n* global stock markets had been in a bull market for some time leading up to this event, resulting in many analysts believing that the market was due for a correction\n* a US-owned supertanker in the Persian Gulf was hit by a missile fired by Iran, bringing the possibility of a war much closer\n* in London (one of the three major stock markets in the world) a severe storm had knocked out power and other infrastructure on the previous Friday, meaning that the London stock market had been closed that day, so no trades were able to take place\n* many major brokers had moved towards automated trade processing, using computers with algorithms designed to initiate trades when shares fell below a certain level, or fell faster than a certain rate. Being relatively new concepts, some of these computer programs had no fail-safes or kill switches, meaning that in a rapidly-falling market they would go into a \"death spiral\" of continually trying to sell shares, depressing the price even further, and so on.\n\nA combination of all these events meant that when a sell-off began, it rapidly snowballed and the world's major stock markets fell by almost 10% in a day.\n\nBlack Monday kicked off a serious global bear market which lasted for the next few months and ultimately wiped off almost half the value of most stock markets compared to where they had been at the beginning of 1987."
]
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2dr3g2 | what is a netflix original series? | Who produces them? What benefit is there to put them only on Netflix? I'm really looking for an all-sides description. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dr3g2/eli5_what_is_a_netflix_original_series/ | {
"a_id": [
"cjs74ts"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Netflix will bankroll a production company to go and make a show in much the same way as any other station bankrolling a studio to make a show. The process is identical to normal TV.... the only difference is that rather than the show screening on HBO or whatever, it only screens on Netflix.\n\nWhy do they do this.... for the same reason that HBO puts millions into their line-up, they want to keep subscribers. If something comes out that everyone is talking about and the only place to view it is on Netflix, then more people will subscribe and existing subscribers will be more likley to keep paying."
]
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[]
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|
4vr8ef | - why do so many women named 'margaret' have 'peggy' as a nickname? | I have known at least 4 in person and several dozen more via friends of friends and online. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4vr8ef/eli5_why_do_so_many_women_named_margaret_have/ | {
"a_id": [
"d60r4l8"
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"text": [
"[Peg is the traditional short form of Margaret in the same way Richard becomes Dick, Robert becomes Bob and so on.](_URL_0_) \nNames and language don't really have to make sense in order to convey meaning, they just need to be used consistently. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/764/why-is-peggy-the-nickname-for-margaret"
]
] |
|
akwi68 | how did we determine that two people cannot have the same dna or fingerprints? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/akwi68/eli5_how_did_we_determine_that_two_people_cannot/ | {
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"It's a blanket guess for fingerprints. Fingerprints can be the same, it's rare but can happen. \n\nDNA has been different everytime it has been viewed and going by the possiblity of your parents genetic material creating you there is over a one in one trillion chance they could make another exactly like you, genetically speaking. For there to be a copy of you with the exact same DNA, it must have the same origin point. Different parents have a near impossible chance of lining up more than a few base pairs.",
"Okay, i got here first but, got delayed with my text wall. \n\nFirst you need to understand what fingerprints and DNA are. \n\nFINGERPRINTS : \n\nFingerprints don't change as you age. When you touch something, they last forever (until cleaned of course). Those prints are mainly created from oil and sweat from your hands. \n\nNow the interesting part, why are they unique. \n\nThey are created in the womb by a random combination of stem cells, ridged type cells and random typed cells. The randomness of heat and diffusion creates a pattern before you are even born. So even if you cut off your fingertips, they don't go anywhere, they grow back in the same way like your skin. Now the fingerprint tech has evolved so much that its way too easier to match them to the person. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nDNA: \n\nDNA is basically an instruction manual on how to build life of the life itself from animals to plants to humans, all share it uniquely, it is what defines us all. Information is stored in DNA with four types of molecules (Adenine < Thymine, Cytosine < Guanine) . You see the \" < \" mark? coz they always come in pairs. And guess what, we have billions and billions of these pairs. DNA folds itself in paired packages called as Chromosomes which are stored in the Nucleus of cells. Each species, yes, each species in general has different number of chromosomes. Humans have 46 chromosomes which contain our genes. Genes then act as instructions for molecules called proteins. Genes vary in size on the molecular level and the bases are around 20 to 25k which are passed during reproduction. Each person has two copies of each gene, i.e., set of 20-25k each, inherited from each parent. Most genes are same but small number of genes are different. These differences contribute to different characteristics i.e., Hair color, eye color, height, personality traits etc. Some of them are dominant and some are not. Dominant ones are most observable like i mentioned earlier, eye color, hair color, skin tone etc. We share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees but that 2 percent equals thousands and thousands of different genes. While, all humans share 99% of genes, that 1 % makes us super unique to each other. \n\n & #x200B;"
]
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5whifh | how can heart failure suddenly kill someone who's seemingly healthy, like alan thicke, neil fingleton, ron brace, and kimbo slice? | It seems that even athletes and seemingly healthy people could fall victim to sudden death, how can that happen so frequently? It's quite terrifying. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5whifh/eli5_how_can_heart_failure_suddenly_kill_someone/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"If you're running low on existential dread - look up what an aneurysm is and how quickly those can kill you.\n\nThere really isn't much to explain here beyond - the human body is a complex machine that has several vital parts. If the heart fails... you die. There is very little that can be done if you aren't already in a hospital. "
]
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|
4dpnce | since everyone needs car insurance to legally drive why is car insurance not nationalized like some people want with medical insurance? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4dpnce/eli5_since_everyone_needs_car_insurance_to/ | {
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"Not everyone owns a car or drives. We're already pissed off about paying for health insurance that *everyone* needs, can you imagine the response if it was mandated that you pay for something that someone else needs but you don't?",
"I have not owned a car in over a decade. Why should I pay for your choice to have a car? \n\nEveryone needs healthcare.",
"Actuary here. There are actually some state-run pools that cover people who get rejected in the private market, although you typically either have to be very poor or a very bad driver to qualify.\n\nThe reason why car insurance isn't 100% operated by the government is because running such an operation is very costly and the general consensus is that the private sector (albeit heavily regulated) can more efficiently price the product and handle the claims (Do you want to stand in line like you do at the DMV every time you get a claim?).\n\nOther types of insurance are nationalized, such as flood insurance provided by the NFIP and terrorism insurance by TRIA (although the real story is more complicated than that as these partner with private insurers). This is done because catastrophic losses tend to be highly correlated, and insurance companies, even really big ones, find it hard to diversify their business (similar to diversifying a stock portfolio).",
"It kinda sorta is in British Columbia, where a Crown Corporation (provincially owned/controlled private company), ICBC, is the government endorsed monopoly for basic car insurance coverage.\n\nOverall, it's a disaster with high and ever increasing rates, scandals with the government siphoning off profit from the corp to balance the budget without raising taxes, and about a thousand other negatives with little to no positives (coverage is relatively fair, though this is usually somewhat regulated in all justifications).",
"In both Manitoba and Saskatchewan car insurance is a crown corporation ( government ) business.",
"Everyone needs healthcare even if you're very poor or in very bad health.\n\nNot everyone needs a car, if you can't afford one it isn't the end. Or if you're a very bad driver it's probably very well if you can't afford the insurance on the car.",
"Of interest... In the state of New Hampshire it is NOT required to have auto insurance. If there is a lien holder listed on you title, they will require that you have insurance, however the state doesn't care."
]
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5ixmyk | why, when looking at the reflection of my monitor in a glass of orange juice, do i see rainbows across the reflection? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ixmyk/eli5_why_when_looking_at_the_reflection_of_my/ | {
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"text": [
"Because your glass is curved. So it's going to curve the light passing through it and reflecting off of it ever so slightly. \n\nBending light in such a manner produces a rainbow effect because the medium does not bend all the frequencies of light the by same amount."
]
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[]
] |
||
1orpul | is fresh water a finite source or is more created everyday somehow? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1orpul/is_fresh_water_a_finite_source_or_is_more_created/ | {
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"It depends what you mean, there is definitely a finite supply of water full stop, whether it is fresh or not is a different matter as it can be contaminated and purified many times over by processes like evaporation. \n\nThe water you're drinking might have been peed out by a dinosaur once!"
]
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||
19lx69 | in dog/cock/etc fight scenes there is always a guy who begins to gamble with the audience. how does that work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/19lx69/eli5_in_dogcocketc_fight_scenes_there_is_always_a/ | {
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"text": [
"He's the oddsmaker. He'll take bets and pay out to winners. Depending on how much action there is one way or another, he'll change the odds accordingly. It's the same concept as football betting in Vegas except in this case \"Vegas\" is just one guy (or an emissary or \"bookie\" for someone else who is backing the payouts)."
]
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[]
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||
1fis3w | why don't two different velocities add together? | If I were on a train moving 5 miles per hour, and then I walked forward at a pace of 5 miles per hour, why is it that my velocity will not add together? (Why is it I would be moving just under 10 mph?). | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fis3w/eli5why_dont_two_different_velocities_add_together/ | {
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"Well in general that's how it works, or at least that's a useful simplification for how it works at at speeds you are used to.\n\nThe reason it doesn't ACTUALLY work like that is because light is the ultimate speed limit. The actual formula for adding velocities is more complicated then should be posted here but it can't give a result over the speed of light.\n\nThe reason this is the formula is because as you travel faster you actually move slower through time (very slightly at low speeds), so even though you're moving faster, time passes more slowly for you so the total velocity (which takes into account time) isn't quite the same as adding it together.\n\nYou might want to start by searching ELI5 for \"special relativity\", that might help some.",
"the speed of light is constant. The math has to agree with that fact. That means if you are traveling at *v* and you try to measure the speed of like *u*, you have to get *u* back every time, no matter what *v* is. The equation for \"adding\" to velocities *u* and *v* is something like\n\n(*u* + *v*)/(1 + *uv*)\n\nwhere the velocities are expressed as a fraction of the speed of light. That means if you measure the speed of light (*u* = 1) while you are traveling at speed of *v* you should get\n\n(1 + *v*)/(1 + 1*v*) = 1\n\nin other words, adding your speed *v* to the speed of light still keeps the speed of light constant no matter what your speed *v* is. It was 1 before and it is 1 after.\n\nNote: The denominator is a little bigger than 1 when *u* and *v* are both not zero, so that means the combination of the speeds will always be less than just their sum, in fact, the sum will ways be less than 1 if both the speeds are less than 1, that is if you combine .9 and .9 you are not only less than 1.8, but in fact less than 1 (you get 1.8/1.81)"
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6usjrt | how does the whole putting your phone in rice thing work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6usjrt/eli5_how_does_the_whole_putting_your_phone_in/ | {
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"The idea is that rice is supposed to absorb water and moisture like a sponge. Fill a little water in a plate and place a sponge in the water after a few seconds lift the sponge out and the water (or part of it) will be gone.",
"It doesn't really work with anything more than a few drops. Basically water only evaporates when the air isn't already full of water, and it evaporates the fastest when there's no water vapour in the air. The idea is that in a closed container or bag, all the water vapour will be absorbed by the rice,allowing water from the phone to evaporate quicker "
]
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2giw5z | why decaffeinated coffee is so popular in us while zero alcohol beer is not? | I have this doubt. Considering both are considered drugs, why people prefer to avoid caffeine than alcohol? Price?
I also noticed that few countries have a high quantity of decaffeined coffee sold. Mostly Norway, Spain and USA. Why this culture? In the rest of the world, less than 5% of coffee sold is decaffeinated, and in the listed countries is from 15 to 20%! Does US/norway/spain media has something to do with the assumption caffeine is a bad drug?
(BTW, I live in Brazil, the biggest producer of coffee in the world, and here we don't even know about decaffeinated coffee, as we don't treat caffeine as the bad drug other countries do) That's why I question... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2giw5z/eli5_why_decaffeinated_coffee_is_so_popular_in_us/ | {
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"text": [
"Decaf coffee is still pretty good tasting coffee and costs about the same as the 'real' thing.\n\nNonalcoholic beer isn't very good & costs more money than the 'real' thing. For example, at a local bar, you can get a pint of domestic beer for $3 but the nonalcoholic beer is $4.50 - if you just want to hang out, spending $3 for a soda & getting free refills.",
"Some people don't like the crash caffeine gives but enjoy the taste of coffee. Non alcoholic beer on the other hand usually doesn't taste as good and costs more. ",
"Alcohol has a flavor and \"dry-ness\" that is a very important aspect to beer. It balances the sweetness of unfermented sugars in the beer. Non-alcoholic beer is essentially a low-sugar Malt Soda Pop. Kinda gross if you aren't expecting it.\n\nCoffee is an incredible staple to American life. Nearly every workplace has free or very, very cheap coffee option available. But caffeine can be a little overstimulating. It is easy to drink a full pot of coffee at work, but not very healthy. Since it tastes the same, decaf is generally an option. \n\nI really don't think it is a health thing. I am ignorant of Brazilian culture, how is coffee consumption treated there?\n\n",
"People drink decaf coffee because in many cases, the caffeine makes them sick. It causes gastric symptoms. Decaf and regular are essentially indistinguishable by taste.\n\nAlcohol is actually a component of the flavour of alcoholic beverages and it improves the flavours of the foods it is consumed with, as it increases the solubility of key flavour components. Nonalcoholic beer is high carbohydrate and low flavour."
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3ey5gy | what is going on when 2 edm artists collaborate? | I understand musical collaborations when it's like artist A and artist B are singing on the same song(ex: Amy Winehouse and Tony Bennett), or if artist A did the instrumentals and artist B sang on it (ex: Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson). But what is going on in the studio/live/etc when 2 EDM artists (ex: Skrillex and Diplo) collaborate? I'm sure they can both play keyboards and use ableton, and justin bieber is singing the whole time on that one song, so what's the work being done as a collaboration here? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ey5gy/eli5_what_is_going_on_when_2_edm_artists/ | {
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"Usually it just means sending different stems of the song. For example, one makes the drum pattern and bass line and the other makes the synths and other sounds. A good example of this is Flosstradamus. They literally started their act over the internet, without even meeting each other beforehand."
]
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5v72wh | when accelerating a car, the sound made by the engine is a typical one (constant working of pistons) . but why does the car make more of a mechanical toy like sound while reversing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5v72wh/eli5_when_accelerating_a_car_the_sound_made_by/ | {
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"The reverse gear in the gearbox is cut as a straight or spur gear instead of a helical gear. This is cheaper than helical cut. And it's noisier. ",
"When helical gears mesh, there are multiple teeth in contact regardless of the angular position. Straight gears only have continuous contact in theory, but when worn even only a little it becomes an intermittent contact which is more audible. Straight gears can transmit higher torque though.",
"The basic principal of a car is to move rotational energy from an engine to the wheels. To control this we can control the speed of the engine of the ratio of how fast the wheels turn to the engine speed using a gearbox. This is also used to reverse the rotation of the wheels in relation to the engine output. \n\nIf you imagine a two wheels pushed together, when one spins it will have friction against the other one causing the second wheel to turn. If one wheel is bigger it will turn slower than the other. Obviously if this is not kept tight together to maintain friction the second wheel won't turn. The other issue is that one wheel can turn past the other.\n\nTo stop this from happening we force the wheels to mesh, creating gears by cutting identical patterns across each face which interlock. This is more robust than the wheel system as there can be no slip, which is why we use gears in a gear box.\n\nThe easiest gears to make are straight gears, which means the cuts of material are taken across the face of the wheel, from one side to the other. This makes the teeth interlock squarely when presented to each other, and only at one small point with 1 tooth of overlap. The contact between teeth will rub, eventually making the gear teeth smaller than the opposite detent. This means when the face wears, there will be a very small gap and therefore impact as the next tooth meshes against the other gear. This creates a whirring noise, like reverse gear and some older first gears. The gears are straight cut to reduce cost as they are easy to make. \n\nOther gears do not make this noise as they are cut on a diagonal, creating longer gear teeth with multiple teeth meshing at the same time/position on the gear. This allows for less wear to occur on the gears, which lets the gears mesh quietly. The helical cuts also make the gears more durable as the multiple teeth prevent wear and promote good meshing of gears. \n\nThis is why the second gear and above in most cars are helical: You spend most time in them going forwards, so they need to last longer and wear less. The noise reduction is another benefit added in.\n\nThis is why older cars are noisier to drive, as the gear faces are more worn in the straight cut gears allowing for more play and hence more noise.\n\nTl;dr: reverse is a cheaper noisier gear because you don't spend enough time in it to warrant the manufacturer doing the work to improve the gear ",
"Several things are occurring, which causes the \"whining\" sound in reverse. The automatic transmission usually has two pair of gear sets, with each gear set containing a \"sun gear\" (located in the center), a number of \"planet\" gears (on the outside, and mated to the sun gear), and an outer gear (with internal teeth that mate to the planet gears) that is typically referred to as the \"ring gear\".\n\n The teeth on all of these gears are typically helical on automotive applications. Helical gears are used because they produce less noise than straight cut gears, EXCEPT when the helical gears are turning in the opposite direction from the design/forward direction. That is just the nature of the design.\n\nIn all of the forward gears, the combination of gears are spinning in the design/forward direction and operate quietly. In the reverse gear, the gears in the gear set rotate in the opposite direction and can't operate as quietly.\n\nThe same is true for the rear axle gear set (rear wheel drive), which is a hypoid type gear set (pinion gear & ring gear). In reverse they can't operate as quietly as in the forward direction.\n\nDo an internet search for transmission planetary gear set and you will get a better idea of what I described.\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n",
"Just for reference, if forward gears were made the same as reverse it would sound like this.[YouTube video](_URL_0_)\n\nAlthough the gearbox would stronger and cheaper, they'd probably not sell many cars for the road."
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"http://www.mekanizmalar.com/transmission.html",
"http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/0706or-automatic-transmission-tech/photo-20.html"
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1nq5hm | the rushing sound behind my ears when i close my eyes and squeeze with my throat. | When I close my eyes and sort of apply pressure in the back of my throat like when you swallow, I hear a rushing sound. Is this just blood or other fluid rushing through cavities? I cant do it for ever, it feels like the reservoir is empty after a couple of seconds, then I can do it again after relaxing.
I cant really explain it any better, I hope you guys understand. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nq5hm/eli5_the_rushing_sound_behind_my_ears_when_i/ | {
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"That grey noise is the sound of your blood being pushed at a fast rate I think and by squeezing you are depriving the area of blood, which is probably a unique area in your body which is why it sounds like it empties.",
"It's the same thing that happens when you yawn, the tensor tympani muscles is contracting causing vibration in your ears, and as you (should) know sound is just vibration, with the muscle being so close to the eardrum you just hear it."
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b49j7j | how do offshore companies and bank accounts help save taxes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b49j7j/eli5_how_do_offshore_companies_and_bank_accounts/ | {
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"It's....complicated.\n\nThe short story is yes, you have to pay tax on all of your profits as a business in the US, but a company can be a subsidiary of an international firm. If that is the case, you can set up your HQ in another country while the US branch exists in the US.\n\nNow, if the US company just makes profits and sends it back, that will get taxed, but there is a way around that - transfer pricing. Basically, the parent company in another country owns some critical piece of IP or branding, or sells the US company some inputs for its products, and the US company pays them a fee to use that IP, branding or input. That fee is recorded as an expense, and is thus not taxed. The parent company can get the revenue and, if they are in a lower tax country, they net out ahead.\n\nAt what level transfer prices are set is a big deal with the IRS - they can't be set up in such a way as it is clear you are trying to avoid taxes.",
"The way the tax code is supposed to work is US Citizens and US Companies owe US Tax, in additional foreign companies operating in the US owe US Tax on US operations. Companies that never set foot in the US and don't do anything in the US owe no US tax. In addition to this, businesses are only taxed on profit. That is if they buy $1 million in things and spend $1 million on labor, and see their stuff for $2 million, they owe no tax because they had no money leftover at the end of the year.\n\nThe offshore tax evasion is mostly a legal loophole. Instead of buying product for $1 million, they could buy it from a foreign sister company (and that company buys the thing for $1 million) for $5 million, if they they sell it for $5 million then the US company made no money, the foreign company made all the money. The US tax law would say the US company made no money and thus owes no tax, and the foreign company made lots of money and that's subject to whatever tax law where that company is. The trick here is that the foreign company might be buying product from the same company, and selling it at a markup and having it delivered direct from manufacturer to the dealer, both in the US (so just because the paperwork says the item is bough from a foreign company, it might actually be nothing but paperwork and nothing is being shipped anywhere).\n\nTheoretically, the foreign company just causes the \"profit\" to move offshore, so if a company like Ford tried doing this by opening a German office, they'd just end up paying German tax instead and not saving any money. But there are countries, like Bermuda, which have no corporate tax at all. Bermuda does this because if a huge company just hires a dozen people to sign some business paperwork in Bermuda, their entire worldwide profits are untaxed. By getting every company to hire a few people it's good for their economy and they get a big banking industry to move the money around.\n\nThese offshore businesses end up operating as huge slush funds for many of the owners. US tax law is pretty strict, and taxes every dollar going into the US, but they could do things like buy a yacht and pay all it's expenses and it just happens to be used to give one guy free use of it. Because of this, US tax law (and most other countries to) is filled with lists of things you can't do, in it is much of what I mentioned, but accountants and tax professionals go through it all the time trying to find ways that the US gov didn't see."
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78nlst | why do farts smell differently from time to time, if all of them is just methane? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/78nlst/eli5_why_do_farts_smell_differently_from_time_to/ | {
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"It isn't just methane. It is also the decomposition of what you were eating. Some foods notoriously have bad breakdowns (veggies especially) and others have very stable and \"smell-less\" byproducts (I think potatoes and other starchy foods are in this category).\n\nEssentially it depends on what you eat.",
"Methane is an odorless gas.\n\nWhat you smell are impurities, which are often sulfur compounds, which can vary with what you eat.",
"tl;dr hydrogen sulfide gas plus some other stuff\n\nFarts are made up of several types of gases. By far the most prevalent are carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and methane. Nitrogen likely is not a large component of farts because there is no bacterial fermentation source in your gut for this gas. \n\nHowever, these three gases don't smell like anything. Carbon dioxide maybe does, but only in high concentrations. Having tasted pure Carbon Dioxide from a gas canister it basically is a similar feeling to sticking your nose into a soda bottle.\n\nSo where does the smell come from? Most likely culprit is sulfurous compounds and some fermentation acids. The smelly ones usually come from protein. \nTwo amino acids have sulfur can be broken down into hydrogen sulfide, which is so smelly that you can smell amounts even as little as .00056 parts per MILLION. \nIn addition, some of the bigger amino are broken down into unusual fermentation acids like isovaleric and hexanoic acid. These compounds are typically found in cheeses and so can contribute a somewhat cheesy smell to farts. "
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55g630 | if lighting strikes the ocean, shouldn't all people in that same body of water get shocked? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/55g630/eli5_if_lighting_strikes_the_ocean_shouldnt_all/ | {
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"Lightning might be scary and powerful, but it's not infinite. It has a finite amount of power. We might not be able to determine it right away or to an exact amount every single time, but it *is* limited.\n\nWhen a lightning bolt hits the ocean, the energy transfers to molecules. The ocean has a lot! More than the air, but not as much as the solid ground. It keeps going until it's dissipated.\n\nThe energy, on a calm, flat ocean surface, would move out in a circle. Well, every time you go 1 inch out from the center, it increases in *every* direction. It gets bigger and bigger. Eventually that power divided by the amount of surface area it can reach hits a point where the energy can't be transferred further along anymore.",
"Electrical shock is caused by electrical current passing through the body. A lighting strike might carry up to 100,000 Amps of current over an area of, say, 10 mm^2 , i.e. current flux density is 1GA/m^2 . When it strikes the water, the current spreads out evenly throughout the water, like an expanding hemisphere, i.e. current density drops dramatically with distance. At 50 metres from the point of strike on the water surface, the current density is reduced to around 6A/m^2 . A swimmer might present an cross-sectional area to this current flux of, say, 0.6 m^2 , so it is possible that 3 to 4 Amps could pass through the swimmer. However, the human body has a higher resistance than sea water, so the majority of current will pass around the swimmer, but it is still feasible that 1A could pass through the body. It is known that only 10mA can produce electrical shock (e.g. muscle contraction), but this assumes a continuous flow of current. Since the duration of the lighting strike is only around 30 microseconds, the current simply does not have time to cause muscle contraction or any significant adverse longer-term physiological effect and the swimmer may just feel a sharp brief tingling sensation, perhaps due to interference with nerve signals. The duration is also too short to induce depolarization and paralysis of heart muscle tissue. The energy dissipated in the body due to this current would also a negligible amount ( < 10 J).\n\nWorth noting that if you are directly struck by lightning, you don't die from electrical shock, you die from the massive discharge of energy (~ 1 GJ) through your body, i.e. you are instantly cooked. You'd have to be pretty close to the strike in sea water to die this way (or have your head above water, to be the point of strike). "
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4gf595 | why do most phone company's release a new phone every year when the contract binds you for an average of two? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gf595/eli5_why_do_most_phone_companys_release_a_new/ | {
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"Not everyone is on the same schedule of payments. Two years doesn't mean everyone's contract starts and ends on the same day.",
"So they can keep selling new phones.\n\nIn related news, car companies come out with new models every year, even though your car loan is for five years.",
"Phone manufactures sell phones in bulk to phone carriers. This means savings for the phone carriers who are going to subsidize the phone to customers and make their money back plus some in the 2 year contract. Now it's the phone manufacturer's turn. If they can hype a new phone the following year enough to make it interesting enough for customers to sell their old phones used and pay out the nose for the latest and greatest, they win again. Keeps the money flowing.",
"Phone companies dont release new phones, the Manufacturers Do.\n\nVerizon for instance, Doesnt manufacture phones, they provide the service in which you can put a phone on. \n\nMotorola on the other hand, makes and manufactures phones.\n\nNow, they are continuously developing and releasing new phones because you are not their only customer. Just because you bought last years model, does not mean that someone else wants this years model. They have to keep competitive and build newer devices or else they will lose sales to other developers like LG or HTC.\n\nI bought a Droid Turbo last year (Exactly 1 year ago today actually), and it is still a great phone and I am not even considering at the moment trading it in because it is still comparable to even the newest models on the shelves right now. But when I bought this one, I was tired of my old Droid Razr Maxx HD which at that point was 2 years old and I had bought in 2013.\n\nIf they dont keep making new models, maybe I would have bought an HTC model instead, or even a Samsung.\n\nIts about keeping the best, greatest and newest models on the shelves to keep them in peoples minds and such."
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382rdv | why does it feel easier to run on a treadmill as opposed to actually running? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/382rdv/eli5_why_does_it_feel_easier_to_run_on_a/ | {
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"There are a lot of factors when you're running outdoors, road unevenness, weather conditions, gentle slopes. Even if you are running in perfect conditions on perfectly flat ground, the simple fact that you're moving forward means that you also have to overcome air-resistance. \n\nAdditional note: It is not because you \"have to push yourself forward\" instead of \"the treadmill doing the work for you\", laws of relative motion in physics means that it's equivalent.\n\n\nEdit: I don't mean that running on a treadmill is equivalent to running outside, just saying that any differences are not a result of not having to propel yourself forward.",
"With a treadmill, the belt is moving under you and there is no wind resistance for your body to counter. So it should feel easier to run than outside where you have to propel yourself forward and encounter wind resistance. \n\nHowever, you can adjust your treadmill's grade to 1-2% to more accurately account for the resistance you feel when running outside. ",
"The other comments about air resistance are correct, but they all miss the main difference. \n\nA big thing that nobody has addressed yet is that the treadmill sets a constant pace for you. When running at a constant pace you can naturally run for greater distances. The most substantial difference between outdoor running and treadmill running is the mental aspect. ",
"One factor, I did not see mentioned yet, is that there is some \"give\" built into the surface of the treadmill, unlike running on solid roadways, which leads to less impact stress on your joints as you run.",
"Huh. I've always thought the exact opposite... so much easier to run out in the real world with the wind blowing my hair vs. on a tredmill going nowhere and it feels like I'm going nowhere and my legs just get heavier and heavier.",
"because when you hop up the track passes under you so you gain distance without actually moving forward. When youre running you have to propel yourself forward and you have to deal with inconsistencies in the trail,rocks and shit.",
"I'm an old cross country/track runner. I ran in Florida year round, always outdoors. I'd often rack up 70-100 mile weeks on asphalt, pavement, shell trails, gravel trails, grass fields, both packed and loose sand. At times I'd be barefoot, but I'd usually be running in Brooks.\n\nThe few times I did get on a treadmill it was unbearable for me. I couldn't stand to do it for more than a few miles at a whack.\n\nPerhaps I can reverse engineer some insight as to why you find treadmills preferable.\n\nWhen I run, I enjoy doing it on my own (or with my old teammates), it's a solitary kind of thing. It's me and nature. The birds chirping, the buzz of cars in the background, the hot, oppressive humidity of coastal Florida. I enjoyed the occasional breeze, passing other runners/outdoors folk on trails and just nature in general even if I was on the sidewalk.\n\nBut when I ran on a treadmill it was in an air-conditioned gym. It was loud music, lots of people and a rigidly maintained almost chilly temperature. It was the opposite of what I was used to, atmospherically.\n\nThe actual aesthetics of running a, say, 20 mile trail are great. You can go to lots of places and do lots of things and experience lots of textures. Various climbs and descents, bridges in my case. Run through a park, then along the road, over a bridge to the beach, into another park and back over another bridge to home.\n\nIn the gym it was one stationary view out the front window watching inverted pyramids of muscle congregate outside and compare... Something. Sets? Routines? Muscles? Playlists? It was just dull for me.\n\nI also enjoyed coming home from a long run with a rime of dried sweat, a ring of dirt or sand above my sockline and spending a good few minutes in a cold shower scrubbing down.\n\nWhen I came home from the gym I usually didn't experience any of that. I didn't seem to sweat as much, or get as dirty.\n\nI'm not saying any of these are particularly good or bad, just differences. Whatever tickles your pickle, it takes all kinds, so on and so forth.",
"It's harder for me to run on a treadmill because I get too hot. No airflow makes a cloud of heat around me.\n\nI far prefer actually running.",
"I actually find it easier to run outdoors, especially somewhere pleasant like a park...\n\nAlso, I find treadmills really boring..."
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7b7osa | why do stovetops measure temps from lo-hi (with numbers) instead of temps? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7b7osa/eli5_why_do_stovetops_measure_temps_from_lohi/ | {
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"The temperature of your cooking element doesn't really give you an indication of your food's temperature. Just because I set my stove to 200 degrees doesn't mean that the food is 200 degrees.\n\nWhy not just use a food thermometer like everyone?"
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1qdych | what exactly is happening when you're tripping on mushrooms? | As in, what causes the hallucinations and other intoxicating effects? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qdych/what_exactly_is_happening_when_youre_tripping_on/ | {
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"Psilocybin is the compound in zoomers that's gonna be giving you all the good stuff. You have receptors in your brain that tell you how to feel depending on what chemical reacts with them, when Psilocybin gets in there the reaction is a mimic of Serotonin (the feel \"good\" chemical). I don't know the exact process of a hallucination but while the Serotonin floodgates are opening up in your brain throwing you into megahappyfunland your perception is altering to a pretty high degree, like you're not properly analyzing inbound info, and since your pupils open up like frisbees there's a lot more light shooting into your eye to be processed and incorrectly translated. Hopefully this sheds some light on the process, I tried to dummy it up as best as I could.",
"This is the most definite, and clear description of how mushrooms work.\n\nPSILOCYBIN = what makes you trip in magic mushrooms.\nPSILOCIN = Metabolised (broken down) psilocybin. \n\n(we will refer to both as just 'psilocybin' for this ELI5) \n\nWhen a psilocybin or psilocin mushroom is ingested, it makes its way to the small intestine found in the abdomen where small villi in the lumen of the small intestine absorb the undissolved psilocybin through blood vessels into the bloodstream. The blood is then carries through the body until it reaches the brain. \nAt this point, the psilocybin has reached the blood brain barrier (BBB) which is a separation between blood and the brains EXTRACELLULAR FLUID (BECF) . It occurs along all capillaries and consists of tight junctions around the capillaries that do not exist in normal circulation. This stop big things like bacteria but allow the DIFFUSION (spread) of small metabolic products such as glucose and, you guessed it, psilocybin.\n\n\nPsilocybin / (C12-H17-N2-O4-P) / (Dimethylaminoethy) [die-methila-mynoethy] \n\nis A LOT like the chemical structure of the NEUROTRANSMITTER (neurotransmitters are responsible for everything you feel) SEROTONIN ('the happy hormone') which is found throughout most of the brain. But you're only interested in its use in the PREFRONTAL CORTEX (dorsolateral and orbitofrontal cortex). \n\nThis is where things like vision and all round perception of senses is registered. So when the psilocybin STIMULATES the RECEPTORS (tiny holes) on the ends of the SENSORY NEURONES which carry signals from receptors to the rest of the brain. When this COMMUNICATION is intensified by psilocybin, things like PERCEPTUAL DISTORTIONS (seeing or feeling a normal thing differently) can occur. Which is why, WHEN YOU'RE TRIPPING you see thing abnormally or feel something strange. Most commonly, people report feeling heavily connected to nature, other humans, and sometimes there own inner-psyche (inner self). Which would explain its psychological purposes. Reports like this are linked to things such as THE ULTIMATE CONSCIOUSNESS and THE PINEAL GLAND/ THIRD EYE (found behind the frontal cortex and is FULL of D.M.T. This also connected to vision, which is why we hallucinate in our dreams). I'd recommend researching 'Terence McKenna' for further stuff like this. \n\nAs for the intoxicating effects, things like touch,taste,smell,hear are all also very heavily affected as well as sight. \n\nHowever, a come down is common due to the excessive (heavy) use of the SEROTONIN in the brain. \n\nTo some up: Magic Mushrooms mimic the effects of serotonin in parts of the brain responsible for mood and experience making you see and feel things differently. Low doses of psilocybin/psilocin are pretty much harmless for the mentally stable. \n\nHope this helped."
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20nvm3 | why do (did?) a lot of cultures have man superiority instead of woman superiority? | Whether it's the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, why does it seem like a majority of cultures have man superiority instead of gender equality or woman superiority? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20nvm3/eli5why_do_did_a_lot_of_cultures_have_man/ | {
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"Men are stronger, so they could tell women what to do.",
"Men are physically larger and stronger. That goes a long way in the animal world.",
"Physically, men are stronger than women, and in older societies where physical strength and stamina were required to keep the community safe, men were placed on a pedestal. \n\nBut things are different now. Even in war, where you rarely have hand-to-hand combat, a good aim and good strategy is more important than bicep girth, which evens the playing field.",
"Because women give birth. So the birth giver usually stays with the child or has children while the man does things like hunting. So when we became modern with jobs the women were still at home having babies and the men were out making money for food.\nWhich is also why women who don't want children are considered weird/different. "
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4u74uu | if i am on top of something (e.g. a plane) that is falling from a 'certain-death' height, is it possible to survive by jumping upwards just before hitting the ground? | *Bonus if the answer to the above question is no* -
ELI25: What height would this be considered possible from?
Edit - formatting | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4u74uu/eli5_if_i_am_on_top_of_something_eg_a_plane_that/ | {
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"No. Because you are falling down at some X speed (~54 m/s or 122 mph for a free falling human) and can only jump up at the much smaller Y speed (~1.5 m/s or 3.3 mph), you hit the ground at X-Y speed (in this case, ~52 m/s or 119 mph) which is still very much lethal. The survivable height wouldn't be much higher than is survivable without jumping.",
"Law of the conservation of energy. In order to jump in the first place you would have to put a force in the upwards vector (greater than the downward force aka:gravity) after buckling your knees and forcing/shifting your weight up.\n\nAlso, you cant stop such a force with your feet as it's almost guaranteed you will break your legs before you could jump.\n\nBut. You could pull a mars rover and decelerate by applying an downwards force ex:Rocket to do so or parachute to decelerate via air resistance.\n\nTL:DR Jumping would be impossible, possible to decelerate by other means.\n\nedit: forgot crucial element on how parachutes work... and some spelling",
"You would survive some additional milliseconds, but it would make no difference because you would just fall again whatever distance you jumped.\n\nI.E if you jumped from 85 feet (100% fatality height), you would be traveling 50mph when you hit the ground.\n\nIf you jumped, you would add additional time to your journey, but then would continue to be accelerated by gravity and still hit the ground going the exact same 50 mph.\n\nYou would have to reduce the distance you were being accelerated by gravity at in order to survive, by for instance jumping horizontally onto a ledge.\n\nSay you did so at 80 feet, then you would impact while moving at a lower speed, and have some very very small marginal success at surviving.\n\n\n",
"Yes, surviving is possible. The trick is to exert enough force on your 'something' to reduce your speed to non-lethal speed at the correct moment. If one is falling, immediately before impact, at a speed that is 1 mph above certain death, then exerting a force that reduces your speed by more than 1 mph would achieve your ends (which is apparently to break as many bones as possible without dying). \n\nYou will need a certain acceleration to change your velocity by enough to get you below the certain death limit. You will also need to apply that acceleration over a relatively short period of time. If the 'something' is essentially rigid, this might be a bit easier to figure and pull off. If the 'something' is a bit flexible, then it is going to be a bit like trying to jump up off of a trampoline and you'll need a higher acceleration.\n\nAssuming the velocities you need to achieve are doable (just a few mph), the limiting factor will be your legs. Do you got the hops? You can be very strong and be able exert great force with your legs, i.e. lift a lot, but not be able to jump very high (high acceleration). You are looking to be able to exert a lot of force over a short period of time to maximize your velocity change. Before you get yourself into this situation, be certain to maximize your vertical jump. \n \nSo could one conceive of a situation in which you were a bed-ridden cripple as opposed to dead and buried? The answer is yes. Is it likely that this could happen outside of a physics exam? No. You will be dead."
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3xj24q | how come clothing stores are never infested with bedbugs if thousands of people visit every day and bedbugs spread so ridiculously easily? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xj24q/eli5_how_come_clothing_stores_are_never_infested/ | {
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"Short answer: Stores DO get bedbugs but are better equipped to deal with them.\n\nLong answer: Most places where people work can/do get infestations of some kind or other. Depending on the place is, the infestation can vary among many types. Many infestations that would be intolerable in a home, are actually tolerated in a business because they don't actively interfere with the operation of the business or are out of the way enough that they are dealt with only when a large problem arises.\n\nWith bedbugs, the environment that they thrive best in can be fairly easily eliminated in a place like a store. Most have hard, unforgiving floors. Most have concrete or similar walls. They lack the kind of concentrated human gunk that bedbugs love so much. And, when a problem arises, it is MUCH easier to deal with it. You can remove all the employees, and use really harsh chemicals that you wouldn't necessarily want in your home. Telling someone \"Stay out of your house for four days\" is not really somehting you can do. Telling employees \"Stay out of this sealed area for four days and work over here\" is a lot eaiser.",
"Bedbugs feed at night. Guess where people AREN'T at night? Without a food source, the best they can do is drop off one person and ride another person home without multiplying at the store.",
"There were several stores in NY that were closed last year due to bedbugs. It's actually pretty common. The Nike Store on 5th Ave. was closed for an infestation, and many movie theaters as well."
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mfteg | web servers and how they are used | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mfteg/eli5_web_servers_and_how_they_are_used/ | {
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"A server is a lot like a bank. It doesn't make anything and doesn't do anything other than hold stuff and do a few specific things with that stuff. A webserver is basically a computer, but one that is always on and one that has the sole purpose of 'serving'.\n\nWhen you get on your computer and go to a website, reddit for instance, the URL (_URL_0_) is registered with an IP address. This is a series of numbers, and everything attached to the internet has one. This series of numbers shows where on a network that you are trying to access.\n\nOnce you are redirected to the site, the server finds the page you were looking for and sends it back to your computer using your IP address.",
"Web servers are a counterpart of web clients. As the names imply, a client is wanting to have something. It turns to a server in order to obtain it.\n\nYou can compare this to you visiting your local library. You have a school assignment to read a certain book, let us say \"green ham and eggs\" by dr. Seuss. You have no clue as to where it is located, so you (client) step up to the librarians desk (server) and issue a request: \"please direct me to this book\". The librarian is kind enough to honour your request and responds \"gangway 13, shelve B, in the middle\".\n\nWhat you have experienced is a client-server interaction, sometimes also known as a \"service\". The key points are:\n\n* A server sits idle, listening for requests.\n\n* A client is active and sends a request to the server.\n\n* The server responds to the clients' request upon receiving it.\n\nComputer servers are more or less an automated form of the librarian in the above story. They are computers that are idly listening for requests for information from other computers, and when such a request reaches them, they try to understand what is asked from them and respond accordingly.\n\nWeb servers are a special kind of computer servers. They are special (or a subset of servers) because they listen on the Internet for requests to respond to.\n\nA good example of a web server is the computer that sends this text that you are now reading to your web browser. In your browser, you clicked on a link. This caused your browser to issue a request for the content for that link to Reddits' web server over the Internet. Reddits web server responded by providing the content that you are now reading.\n\nOn a more detailed level, things get complicated fast. Suppose you and I were to engage in a conversation, and the first thing I ask of you is \"Hoe laat heb jij het\" (this is Dutch). Obviously, if you are not able to understand Dutch and formulate an answer in Dutch, you as a time server will not be able to successfully interact with me as a client asking what time it is.\n\nTo make sure that a computer client and a computer server are able to understand each other, they need to speak the same \"language\". For this purpose, a language needs to be agreed to by the programmer that creates the client computer program and the programmer that creates the server computer program. In computer argot, such agreements between the client program and the server program are called a \"communication protocol\", or protocol for short.\n\nNote that this is very very different from a diplomatic protocol, or a medical protocol. A computer protocol is an agreement by human programmers on how two computer programs will be able to understand each other.\n\nThese agreements come in two flavours: Internet Standard and Propriety. Internet Standard protocols are largely developed and maintained by computer scientists working a universities all over the world. They may be used without paying for a license. Examples are FTP and HTTP. \n\nPropriety protocols are developed and maintained by corporations, who generally make you pay for the use of their protocols. Examples are NET8 (licensed by Oracle) and SMB (licensed by Microsoft).\n\nTL;DR: A web server is actually a program running on a computer connected to the Internet that sits listening all day long until a request is received by it. The request is sent by a client program, usually triggered by a human person clicking links or buttons or generally interacting with a user interface.\n\nThe web server will respond to the request by sending back information. There needs to be some form of agreement between the web server and the client program so that they are able to understand each other. This agreement stems from several programmers having agreed beforehand on what the protocol is.",
"A server is a lot like a bank. It doesn't make anything and doesn't do anything other than hold stuff and do a few specific things with that stuff. A webserver is basically a computer, but one that is always on and one that has the sole purpose of 'serving'.\n\nWhen you get on your computer and go to a website, reddit for instance, the URL (_URL_0_) is registered with an IP address. This is a series of numbers, and everything attached to the internet has one. This series of numbers shows where on a network that you are trying to access.\n\nOnce you are redirected to the site, the server finds the page you were looking for and sends it back to your computer using your IP address.",
"Web servers are a counterpart of web clients. As the names imply, a client is wanting to have something. It turns to a server in order to obtain it.\n\nYou can compare this to you visiting your local library. You have a school assignment to read a certain book, let us say \"green ham and eggs\" by dr. Seuss. You have no clue as to where it is located, so you (client) step up to the librarians desk (server) and issue a request: \"please direct me to this book\". The librarian is kind enough to honour your request and responds \"gangway 13, shelve B, in the middle\".\n\nWhat you have experienced is a client-server interaction, sometimes also known as a \"service\". The key points are:\n\n* A server sits idle, listening for requests.\n\n* A client is active and sends a request to the server.\n\n* The server responds to the clients' request upon receiving it.\n\nComputer servers are more or less an automated form of the librarian in the above story. They are computers that are idly listening for requests for information from other computers, and when such a request reaches them, they try to understand what is asked from them and respond accordingly.\n\nWeb servers are a special kind of computer servers. They are special (or a subset of servers) because they listen on the Internet for requests to respond to.\n\nA good example of a web server is the computer that sends this text that you are now reading to your web browser. In your browser, you clicked on a link. This caused your browser to issue a request for the content for that link to Reddits' web server over the Internet. Reddits web server responded by providing the content that you are now reading.\n\nOn a more detailed level, things get complicated fast. Suppose you and I were to engage in a conversation, and the first thing I ask of you is \"Hoe laat heb jij het\" (this is Dutch). Obviously, if you are not able to understand Dutch and formulate an answer in Dutch, you as a time server will not be able to successfully interact with me as a client asking what time it is.\n\nTo make sure that a computer client and a computer server are able to understand each other, they need to speak the same \"language\". For this purpose, a language needs to be agreed to by the programmer that creates the client computer program and the programmer that creates the server computer program. In computer argot, such agreements between the client program and the server program are called a \"communication protocol\", or protocol for short.\n\nNote that this is very very different from a diplomatic protocol, or a medical protocol. A computer protocol is an agreement by human programmers on how two computer programs will be able to understand each other.\n\nThese agreements come in two flavours: Internet Standard and Propriety. Internet Standard protocols are largely developed and maintained by computer scientists working a universities all over the world. They may be used without paying for a license. Examples are FTP and HTTP. \n\nPropriety protocols are developed and maintained by corporations, who generally make you pay for the use of their protocols. Examples are NET8 (licensed by Oracle) and SMB (licensed by Microsoft).\n\nTL;DR: A web server is actually a program running on a computer connected to the Internet that sits listening all day long until a request is received by it. The request is sent by a client program, usually triggered by a human person clicking links or buttons or generally interacting with a user interface.\n\nThe web server will respond to the request by sending back information. There needs to be some form of agreement between the web server and the client program so that they are able to understand each other. This agreement stems from several programmers having agreed beforehand on what the protocol is."
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1umgmm | why is it so hard to open my eyes when i'm dreaming? | I always find I'm having a hard time looking around And that my eyes feel like they are sealed shut. Any idea why this might be? This is of course a problem I'm having within the dream. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1umgmm/eli5_why_is_it_so_hard_to_open_my_eyes_when_im/ | {
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"Sleep paralysis, as arrowshaft suggested, could explain it. In that case you are likely to be experiencing either a hypnagogic (while falling asleep) or hypnopompic (while waking up) hallucination. It's quite like dreaming.\n\nAlternatively, you might just be experiencing an extreme fear of blindness within the dream."
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2k2ir6 | how does euler's identity really work? i have trouble understanding how trig functions can be related to imaginary numbers so elegantly. | I'm a math major in multivariate calculus and this whole Euler's identity thing just blows my mind. I don't get why that works. Relatedly, how does e^(i*pi) = 1? e^pi isn't even close, how does tossing in an i change anything and why so elegantly? It's like seeing the Mona Lisa through a fun house mirror and none of the Wikipedia pages make sense to me on this. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2k2ir6/eli5_how_does_eulers_identity_really_work_i_have/ | {
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"Find the Taylor expansion for e^x and then plug in iω for x. Then you'll notice it is the sum of the Taylor series for cosω and i multiplied by the Taylor series for sinω. Then you can see Euler's identity e^iω = cosω +isinω. Plug in π for ω and you get that neat little identity "
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30bwi8 | how do lawyers find old precedents related to the new case they're defending? | Mainly, how did they found them PRE-Internet. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30bwi8/eli5_how_do_lawyers_find_old_precedents_related/ | {
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"Research. Hours and hours and hours of research. There are VOLUMES of books on case law, court decisions, transcripts, etc. Anything a lawyer could want. It just needs to be found.\n\n\neta: and more hours",
"Pre-internet:\n\nThere are a group of reporters tasked (at state and federal levels) with publishing opinions. Not all opinions are published (the more important the court, the more opinions published). These books are still published today.",
"Pre-Internet but still in the last quarter of the 20th century, there were online legal research services. You would have had to dial in direct from a terminal, and they were (still are) expensive. Larger law firms would also have their own library (and librarian) and there would be larger law school etc. libraries to use. But basically the online services would have bought or licensed the content of many legal publishers' case law volumes, so the books came first (i.e. before the 1970s, many titles have been around a very long time), and the online services aggregated them and made them searchable by machine. The content could go online faster than to print, as well. There were also CD-ROM products pre-Internet, although I am unsure to what extent these included case law--these would have had the same searchability as online but a similar delay as print. Also note that when I say books and print products, many of these are subscription and/or can come as looseleaf so they are being regularly updated as soon as possible--timeliness is very important to legal researchers.\n\nSource: i work for a legal publisher/information service."
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3y6zvb | vitamins: their bio-availability in the body. | How does the whole thing work? Does the weight/age of the person have anything to do with it?
(edit: grammar) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3y6zvb/eli5_vitamins_their_bioavailability_in_the_body/ | {
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"Basically vitamins and certain minerals are needed to carry out certain functions or pathways. Im not very familiar with vitamins but minerals such as potassium (K) or iron (Fe) are used for important functions K is used to balance charge and ion pumps. Also helps create a charge gradient the helps with the electrical firing of the neurons and Fe is the main element in hemoglobin ( a major component of blood) that allows oxygen to bind to the hemoglobin with our iron oxygen couldn't bind to hemoglobin. Pretty much vitamins work in the same way the help with different functions, pathways, or help support structures. There are two main types of vitamins also fat soluble and water soluble. And weight and age don't really have much to do with concentration just most vitamins can't be made in our body we have to eat them and when we age vitamin deficiencies show up more and are more noticeable "
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1v280d | why is the 4.0 gpa scale used? | It seems like the 4.0 GPA scale isn't exactly reflective of a students academic ability.
For example, let's say 90-100 = A+ = 4.0 and 85-89 = A = 3.9.
Student A gets 100 in 4 courses and 89 in 1 course, resulting in a GPA of 3.98.
Student B gets 90 in 5 courses, and ends up with a GPA of 4.0.
I don't know about you, but to me Student A has a better academic achievement than Student B, but their GPAs say otherwise. So why is this scale used? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v280d/eli5why_is_the_40_gpa_scale_used/ | {
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"Not everything is graded on a 100 point scale. Essays, lab reports, etc., basically anything that isn't math problems or multiple choice questions, has to be graded somewhat subjectively, so they're just assigned A, B, C, D, or F. It's natural then to assign 4 points to A, 3 to B, 2 to C, 1 to D, and 0 to F.",
" > For example, let's say 90-100 = A+ = 4.0 and 85-89 = A = 3.9.\n\nI've never seen that scale before. I've always seen something more like:\n\n97-100 = A+ = 4.33 \n94-96 = A = 4.0 \n90-93 = A- = 3.67 \n87-89 = B+ = 3.33 \netc. \n\nThus Student A has a GPA of 4.08, and Student B has a GPA of 3.67.\n",
"Once you get outside of school, nobody gives two shits about your GPA. You're not going to be 40 and miss a promotion because you had a 3.98 instead of a 4.0\n\nThere's no reason to come up with a better system for ranking people because it doesn't matter, grades are not a competetive system & anyone that *really* cares about your academic performance will actually look at your transcript rather than a single number.",
"1) Not all schools use a 4.0 scale, so somebody from a 4.5 scale school can appear better than somebody from a 4.0 scale school.\n\n2) Many older scoring schemes were cooked up before the advent of computers so they used simpler systems. An example of this is the Dow Jones Industrial Average which was an early 'stock index' which used stock price of a small group of stocks as a metric because it was easy to calculate. Unfortunately, this also made the DJIA meaningless, but that is another issue."
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731vvm | what is the jones act and how does repealing it help puerto rico | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/731vvm/eli5_what_is_the_jones_act_and_how_does_repealing/ | {
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"The Jones act prohibits foreign flagged cargo ships from directly serving some island cargo terminals. As a result, goods go to a mainland cargo terminal and then are loaded on US flagged (and regulated) ships to go to the island. PR isn't the only such island, there are others off the coast of Florida and Texas.\n\nIt's often waived by a Presidential declaration in emergencies, to speed the flow of cargo. It was waived in Texas after Harvey, though the benefit was minimal and the action is a little controversial.\n\nPR is a different case, the harbor is shut down due to lack of infrastructure. It's not clear what benefit a waiver would do in this case. An overall repeal would weaken the \"ship American\" movement, and the US shipping unions wouldn't like that.",
"Jones Act, a very old law (1920), requires that all goods carried between US ports (docks/airports) be shipped by US-built vehicles and by the US owned companies. This was done back in the day to encourage US businesses. \n\nRight now Puerto Rico needs external aids and supplies. Faster the aids get there better it will be for the public. Unfortunately, due to its location, it is expensive to ship stuff to Puerto Rico from US mainland and takes relatively longer. This cost could be brought down if ships/planes from other countries is used. Thus repealing this act, would bring down the cost and speed up the process of sending aids to Puerto Rico.",
"It’s a law to promote American shipping/maritime industry that says transport between American ports must be done via American-built, American-flagged ships. So a container ship carrying supplies from China couldn’t stop at Miami and then hit San Juan — goods would have to be unloaded in Miami and loaded onto an American ship to take to San Juan. In a situation like now, that’s obviously something that slows down supplies getting to Puerto Rico if stuff has to be unloaded and re-loaded rather than simply making two stops.",
"Just heard an excellent breakdown on the radio. The Jones Act requires any ship going between two American ports to: \n\n1. Be flagged in the USA\n\n2. Be crewed by Americans \n\n3. Be built in an American Shipyard\n\nThe first two apparently aren't that expensive, it's the third criteria that makes shipping goods between US ports expensive."
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3v4uxu | why jurors aren't told about jury nullification prior to trials? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3v4uxu/eli5_why_jurors_arent_told_about_jury/ | {
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"Because the justice system doesn't want people to use it.\n\nThere are some legitimately good reasons for nullification, but it can also be used for some pretty horrible things.\n\nFor example, a jury could find a person \"not guilty\" when facing 20 years for the possession of a drug even though there is incontrovertible proof that he had it; and this might be seen as a good thing. But, using nullification, a jury could find a white man \"not guilty\" of murdering a black man even if there is incontrovertible proof, and that would be a very bad thing, and it has actually happened.\n\nThe best case is not allowing someone who knows about nullification to be in the jury - that way the justice system can work the way it is supposed to.",
"Because Jury Nullification is basically ignoring all of the work each of the sides are doing to prove their case. It is saying the Jury can ignore the arguments and evidence and just judge however they want.\n\nIt should go without saying that lawyers *don't* want juries to do that. Firstly, it's unpredictable since it is at the whim of the composition of the jury. Second, it basically makes all their work for nothing.",
"Jury nullification seems like it would be a good thing. Think the law is unjust? Don't convict, no one can punish you for it. But, when push comes to shove when juries know about jury nullification they tend to ignore the evidence if the defendant seems, \"sympathetic.\" In other words, if they're likable or don't fit the jurors idea of what a criminal would act like. This is something we most definitely want to avoid. \n\nAnd just on a more general note, the concept of jury nullification is extremely removed from the concept of justice, because you're circumventing the law for reasons of personal opinion rather than hard evidence.",
"Jury Nullification is illegal. It is not a constitutional doctrine, it is a logical following from other laws. Nullification is illegal, but Juries cannot be punished for an incorrect verdict, and juries' verdicts are the final say (unless there is an appeal), and drawing from those two, one could conclude that jury nullification exists. It is a crime, but no one can be punished for it.",
"everyone has been providing pretty great answers, but i'm surprised no one has referenced this yet, so i'm just gonna leave this here\n\n[CGP Grey](_URL_0_)",
"Jury nullification isn't a constitutional doctrine at all, and you need to be very suspicious of most information you find about it online. Most of it is written by people with an agenda, and little formal legal education.\n\nJury nullification exists as a byproduct of how the system works. In order to protect the public from malicious prosecution, a jury verdict for not-guilty is pretty much iron-clad. We don't want the state to just keep re-trying to same person over and over again in order to get a conviction. \n\nSo if we were capable of questioning a jury's verdict, that opens the door to constant retrials. If we question why a juror feels the way they do, we can always find reasons to redo the entire case because we didn't like why juror #8 voted not guilty no matter how based in fact it is.\n\nSo jury nullification exists because of the protections we put around jury verdicts. It's illegal, because the role of the jury is to determine facts, not law. It's the same reason it's illegal to bribe a jury or slip them information, or anything like that. Their role is strictly defined, and jury nullification isn't in their power. We can't do much to prevent it from happening at all, but we can make it so it's not a viable tactic from the start.",
"To borrow someone else's expression, its a bug, not a feature. The instructions only require explanations for features, not bugs",
"Follow up question: is everyone reading this thread now prohibited from being in a jury? ",
"It's not an explicit right. It's a de facto right.\n\nThat is, juries can acquit for any reason at all. They don't even need to give a reason. So if a juror tossed a coin that's as good a reason as any other. Of course we should really not encourage this.\n\nWhile it's fairly obvious that jurors shouldn't be making decisions on a coin toss, and should be making decisions on absolute facts and the law, the situation with Jury nullification is a lot less clear.\n\nOn one hand, the elected lawmakers are the people who should be making the law. Jurors should just be interpreting it. On the other hand, they clearly can't foresee every possible case that may happen. Should a law be applied if the penalty is totally disproportionate?\n\nSo it's not unanimously agreed that this is their right, so we don't tell them about it. It's not possible to withdraw this right without potentially causing more problems than we solve."
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6czvgz | why are some cable tv networks (tnt, tbs, espn, etc.) subject to fcc censorship for indecency but others (hbo, showtime, etc.) exempt from censorship? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6czvgz/eli5_why_are_some_cable_tv_networks_tnt_tbs_espn/ | {
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"They are all exempt from FCC decency regulations, as those rules only apply to broadcast channels. \n\nWhat's happened is that the networks like TNT have chosen to not air suck material because it's a good business decision. Their advertisers are looking for specific audiences and if the more mature content drives those customers away, they won't advertise. \n",
"FCC Decency regulations only apply to broadcast network televisions that are public access stations.\n\nFOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CW, UPN, METV, etc... These stations fall under federal jurisdicition as far as making sure they must meet certain inaliable guidelines.\n\nCable services, or \"Pay-TV\" are exempt from this rule and can do more blatant or obscene things. Generally however, these networks will stick to loose interpriations of the FCCs decency guidelines because of Advertisers. They still want to sell advertising space and certain advertisers will not market to certain clientel.\n\nHBO/Showtime are what are known as \"Premium Services\". Premium services do not rely on Advertiser revenue in the same way the other two catagories do. They collect subscriber fees much higher, and provide content that is much more explicit/unfiltered because they are not worrying about pissing off the advertising agencies.",
"None of the stations you name are subject to FCC regulations. FCC regulations only apply to networks that are broadcast over airwaves and picked up via antenna. Those are FOX, ABC, NBC, PBS, UPN, CW, etc. If the channel can only be obtained via cable they are not subject to the FCC, though many still comply to their guidelines because of their target audiences and being viewed as \"family friendly\". "
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43mei3 | how was music theory developed? | I'm just now learning some basics in music theory as a self-taught student, using books and online lectures, so bare with me if the question is actually a trivial one.
What boggles me is that music theory isn't at its very core an axiomatic system, where new knowledge can be derived from previous knowledge. Yes, once you know a progression, you can play it in different keys, but I'm talking about the more basic concepts of music theory.
Pretty much everything I am studying is now taught to me as straightforward definitions and directives: This is a scale. This is a chord. This is a progression. They just work.
I understand how an octave spanning from a pitch to its double may make sense "objectively". But how was it ever decided that there were 12 notes in an octave? That only 7 of these are natural notes? How did anyone ever come up with the minor pentatonic scale, if not by just trying out many combinations and keeping track of the "good" ones (whatever that means)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43mei3/eli5_how_was_music_theory_developed/ | {
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"It is axiomatic in a sense. You just haven't gotten there yet.\n\nWhat you're talking about right now isn't really music \"theory.\" It's basic terminology to get to where you can learn about where it comes from. It's like when you learn that the earth is round, there are 9 planets, the sky is blue etc. in grade school science class but learn how those things were discovered in high school and college level science classes. \n\nA better analogy than science would be to think about it like literary theory. You can't talk about why Dickens was a great writer if you don't know grammar. So you learn the basics of the language, some definitions like \"novel\" \"metaphor\" \"imagery\" etc, then talk about how Dickens was great at writing novels through his use of imagery to construct a setting that set up large metaphors. \n\nSimilarly, in music you can't talk about why Beethoven was a great composer if you don't know what a key, cadence, consonance, dissonance, and harmony mean. Then you can talk about how Beethoven mastered harmony by manipulating consonance and dissonance in new ways, through his clever motion through cadences and key.\n\n But to get to that point you need to learn about simple ways we structure notes together. \n\nIn addition music theory is built on simpler ideas. The issue I think you're having is that your sources aren't very good for learning this, theory is usually taught in a classroom or one-on-one setting with a teacher who can answer those questions as you go along. Just to answer a few of them, which should have been covered in your sources\n\n > how was it ever decided that there were 12 notes in an octave?\n\nIt never was! In fact there are other systems that don't use 12 notes. We just have them in our system of notes because it dates back to the Greeks, who were fascinated with numerology. The octave is interesting because it's a perfect doubling. The Greeks investigated things like tripling, then halving. This gets you a fifth. Expand that out to new ways and you end up with 7 notes that follow rational multiples through the octave. \n\n > That only 7 of these are natural notes?\n\nNow that's the interesting part. Like I said, the Greeks really only gave us 7 notes (A-G as we have it now). Back in the day, you would play and sing on those notes and those notes only. These give you the \"modes\" that we hear a lot in medieval and renaissance music. Well they figured out that the tone of each mode isn't dependent on the root note so much as the intervals between the notes. So they added the sharps and flats to give it what we know today. (Now I'm not a historian so this probably isn't totally accurate, but the gist is that the sharps and flats came about in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods). \n\n > How did anyone ever come up with the minor pentatonic scale, if not by just trying out many combinations and keeping track of the \"good\" ones (whatever that means)?\n\nThat's an interesting question with people arguing over how those scales evolved. The theory I like the best is that if you assume a scale of five notes that are separated in frequency according to our tuning system, which combination of 5 notes has the least entropy, or in other words the energy of the scale is spread out evenly throughout the notes? And the answer is the pentatonic scale. In the 7 note system, it's the major scale. The theory is our brains sort of moved to \"like\" those scales more because they have the least entropy, or most even frequency distribution. Another cool thought there is to ask, what combination of any number of notes has the least entropy, and which has the most? The least is the whole tone scale, the most is the chromatic scale. The whole tone scale sounds almost dissonant, but more spooky and uneasy (I like it a lot). But it lacks half steps, so you don't have any harmonic pull (big deal in western music to have half steps). The chromatic scale is very dissonant, and it's used that way by many composers. ",
"Theory is not taught in isolation--normally you would also take acoustics, harmony and music history simultaneously (or very close together). This would fill it out very much for you and it is utterly fascinating, I hope you get to do all the material. Once you realize that an octave has a precise mathematical explanation, and that the prominent intervals in Western music are based on an overtone series that is strongly suggested by the sounds themselves as they developed in the environment of chant, then you have at least the rudiments of an axiomatic system.\n\nTDLR those seven notes because cathedrals sing back.",
"In short: The first primitive music scales, started from mathematicians in ancient times from countries like Greece, Egypt, Rome, India. Music is based on maths after all.",
"**Short answer**: Major chords come from the overtone series, a minor chord is an upside-down major chord. All the scales you mentioned can be created by starting on one note and going up consecutive fifths.\n\n**Major Chords** you've already almost explained in talking about an octave being double the frequency. The octave is the first interval in what's called the Harmonic Series, which is basically just integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. If the fundamental frequency is 100Hz, then its overtones are 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, ad infinitum. If we call 100Hz C (it's not actually), those overtones are each one higher than the last: C; C; G; **C; E; G**; Bb; C. Bolded is the first triad that appears in the C overtone series, non-coincidentally a C major chord.\n\nYou might also notice the Bb following the triad, which would make it a C dominant 7 chord which sounds unresolved. This is a bit funny and I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, but I will say that each of these notes is somewhat out of tune with 12-tone equal temperament, the tuning system western music uses. Up to the Bb the notes are all reasonably in tune (within like a sixth of a semitone), but a Bb is more like a third of a semitone off. Also it makes a tritone with the E, which is... okay, I could go on about this but you have more questions I should answer first and this is more speculation at this point.\n\n**Minor chords** come quite a bit like major chords, but from the enharmonic series, which is just the harmonic series upside-down, so integer divisions of a frequency. If we start with a high A and go down an octave where for the overtone series we went up an octave we obviously get to A again, but if we continue the process, we get the following: A; A; D; **A; F; D**; B; A. Okay, this is pretty obviously just the major chord upside-down, idk, it's not very definitive and awkwardly it's a D minor chord in the A enharmonic series, but it explains why minor is notable among other note combinations.\n\n**Scales**, at least the ones you mentioned above, can all be created with a combination of perfect fifths and octaves. If you start at C and go up a fifth to G, and then another to D, then A and E you've got the C major pentatonic scale, all you have to do is bring them down some octaves so you're not always jumping up a fifth, then they also get put in order (CDEGA).\n\nContinue this a couple times from E to B and F# and you've awkwardly got the G major scale (G,A,B,C,D,E,F#,G) , or C Lydian (C,D,E,F#,G,A,B,C). Idk if you've learned about modes of the major scale yet, but basically Lydian is a mode of the major scale, which means you take the major scale and start on a different note. My only explanation for this awkwardness is again the tritone which for some reason feels unresolved if the tonic is part of the tritone (i.e. it's made of C and F# so C scale sounds unresolved).\n\nIf we keep adding fifths we get the [Pythagorean Tuning](_URL_0_) of the 12-note chromatic scale. Then Bach comes with his well temperament and eventually 12-tone equal temperament follows and now all keys are equally out of tune.\n\n**Further Babbling**: So that's how to base most of western music theory on the overtone series. The importance of the overtone series can be greater appreciated if you also know that in acoustic musical instruments, when you play \"one note\", all of its overtones also sound. That's why if you have a guitar with open E strings and you play or sing an A and then stop, you can hear the guitar's E string(s) vibrate. You can do that with singing any note in E's undertone series. Our brains are so accustomed to hearing a fundamental and all its overtones that you can also edit out the fundamental frequency of a sound and it'll still sound like the same note, except with a different timbre (timbre, in part, is given by the relative volumes of the overtones). So when you play a major chord you imply its fundamental, octaves below.\n\nAs you've probably gathered this is a huge rabbit hole for me. Forgive me for the long response, but you did ask for the origin of music theory.\n\nYou can get pretty far in a scale if you basically just ignore all the non-chord notes as passing tones between scale notes, but making the scale with fifths means that the scales of keys a fifth up or down also work mostly.\n\nTritones are pretty accepted in Blues music or something, idk, maybe that would explain the weirdness.",
"Several of your questions can be answered when you are reminded that you are studying *Western Music* theory. \n\nThere are scales other than the 12 note, chromatic scale. Pentatonic is one example, and there are microtonal scales which are not chromatic. Experimental composers have also worked with music that uses more than 12 notes in a scale. But Western Music is chromatic, and that is what we are used to hearing.\n\nOther have mentioned the math behind chromatic music, but it is important to realize that music theory is the language we use to describe what we hear and catalog it. It came after the music. It is descriptive, not prescriptive. \n\nIt may be that the chromatic scale we have settled on is the \"best\" based on how our brains are hardwired. Or, it could be that it is the \"best\" because we get used to it. Perhaps a 17 note scale would sound best if we grew up hearing music in that style."
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65jjwm | f1 races: rules, teams, brands, cars, important people | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65jjwm/eli5_f1_races_rules_teams_brands_cars_important/ | {
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"There is way too much about F1 to include in an ELI5. Basic rules:\n\n- Cars must use a 1.6L V6 with hybrid power systems (all teams add a turbo for more power but it's not technically required)\n\n- Aerodynamics are regulated, as are most car dimensions and design elements\n\n- Tires are supplied by Pirelli and there are various compounds which provide either more performance or more durability (or a mix of the two).\n\n- There are 10 teams this year, with 2 drivers each. The teams are Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Sahara Force India, Renault, Sauber, Haas F1, McLaren-Honda, and Williams Martini Racing\n\n- Teams can either build their own engines, or use ones supplied by others. The engine manufacturers are Mercedes, Renault, Ferrari, and Honda.\n\n- There are 20 races in a season all over the world\n\nWhy not browse r/formula1 instead?\n\nThere are a lot of online resources from wikipedia to the official Formula1 website."
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228y9g | what are the procedures to follow/avoid when someone gets involved in a traffic accident? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/228y9g/eli5what_are_the_procedures_to_followavoid_when/ | {
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"- If you can, move your vehicle out of traffic.\n- Don't get out of the vehicle if it's not safe.\n- Make sure the other passengers are OK.\n- Don't admit fault to the other driver, even if it's your fault.\n- Don't blame the other driver, even if it's their fault.\n- Call 911 if there's any suspicion of injury or you can't drive away (when you've done the insurance swap)\n- Take pictures of all the damage, as well as DLs, insurance cards, etc.\n\nHmmm, everything else I can think of is case-by-case."
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4rmfvd | what makes the japanese market so different from the western one? why japan has all these special edition albums, games, mangas, electronics, gadgets that are never released elsewhere? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4rmfvd/eli5_what_makes_the_japanese_market_so_different/ | {
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"A few things at play here, but it mostly comes down to Japanese fans having different priorities.\n\nJapanese fans have more of a collector mentality. They're also more likely to be fans of one specific franchise or property instead of an entire genre. That gives them a.much narrower focus. In Japan, if you're a true fan of a series, you try to obtain every single thing related to that series. Every toy, shirt, variant cover DVD, burger prize, dakimakura cover, everything. So no matter what they release, there will be an automatic market for it. That gatcha that was only available i Niigata between February and April will send fans stampeding to Niigata... or immediately to eBay. Obsessive collectors exist in America but the community is much smaller so companies can't sell a ton of merch profitably.\n\nAs for electronics, most Japanese don't have PCs or other big-ticket electronics in their homes. (This is only now changing with tablets.) So there is much more of a demand for portable devices with functions you could otherwise do on computers. This also frees up more income to spend on collectables.\n\nSource: roommate lived in Osaka and studied these things academically. Also have other friends involved in tokusatsu fandom.",
"High import taxes force them to produce their own version for domestic market only. Plus, despite their efforts, they're fairly English illiterate so internationalized marketing doesn't work quite well there and needs to be localized heavily. Being a cultural galapagos also means they have unique tastes and demands unlike the western world which is more or less homogenized either being America-centric or Euro-centric.",
"I know for music at least there is a law that says to be called an \"album\" it has to have a certain number of tracks on it so many bands put b-sides, re-mixes, live versions, ect. to fill the track list. ",
"For cultural and historical reasons, Japanese consumers are used to different kinds of products. For example, Americans prefer an album to have 10-13 tracks and a cost of $10-14. Often you see the band release a couple of additional tracks for the \"deluxe\" version released in Japan. Japanese consumers prefer albums to be longer, even if they are later and cost more.",
"Oddly, everyone wanted to say something about media (music, movies, games, manga, anime), but there's barely a mention of the electronics/gadgets part of your question.\n\nHere's an enlightening example of a cultural difference concerning gadgets: At least as of some years ago, Americans bought a new phone every 3 years on average. Japanese bought a new phone every 1.5 years on average.\n\nAnother example: at least as of some years ago, there was no market in Japan for used appliances (washer/dryer etc.), because there's a cultural stigma -- people look down on you if you don't buy new.\n\nThese two things may not be complete accurate as of today, but still they show that Japanese society has a much stronger emphasis on buying new and buying often than the U.S. or most other countries.\n\nBecause of that, there's a stronger market in Japan for lots of new and different gadgets, and people there are willing to pay more and pay more often.\n\nSome things are exported, but not most things, because they don't expect to be able to sell most of them abroad, so they don't want to take the risk of the expense of trying very often -- with some notable exceptions.\n\nThe biggest Japanese companies obviously do sell certain things in high volume internationally, but I mean, if you go into a big gadget shop in Japan, there will be hundreds of different kinds of things -- some dumb, some super weird, some very interesting that *I* wish would be localized to English and sold in the U.S. -- but at any rate, far far far more than there's a market for outside of Japan."
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11auw4 | why is greece so upset at germany for its own debt problems - despite being bailed out numerous times? (i don't know enough about the financial system) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11auw4/eli5_why_is_greece_so_upset_at_germany_for_its/ | {
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"They're not mad because of their debt problems. They're mad because of the solutions Germany is proposing to their debt problems; specifically, that they should drastically cut social programs as a precondition of getting a loan. Cutting those social programs will hurt people, so many Greeks feel like the cuts shouldn't happen at any cost.",
"There's something that all the countries failing in the Euro zone have in common. Before they joined the Euro they ALL printed lots and lots of money and devlaued their currency in order to support their economy. The problem with being in the Euro is that this behaviour can no longer work, becuse the Euro value is held stable.\n\nGreece did this, and a bunch of other things, but were still allowed into the Euro. The best thing that Greece can do, which they don't want to do, is declare bankruptcy, drop out of the Euro and take 2 years to get their own currency working again. Then they've got a working currency and they can trade with the Euro again, but not join it.",
"Because many in Greece feel they were betrayed by their previous government and by larger countries giving that government such easy money, and have now been bullied into loan deals that leave them no hope of even a medium term recovery.\n\nA few years ago after the troubles started I read an analysis that said Greece's best chance for recovery was to leave the Euro for their own currency that they could devalue to make their economy more competitive, but this would damage Euro countries' economies because if any country could just leave the Euro like that the currency is seen as having less long-term stability.\n\nTL;DR Greeks feel Germany is locking them into a crappy loan repayment deal for debts they didn't run up directly.",
"Your brother in law likes to live large. He has a fancy car, a big house, and parties every weekend.\n\nThe problem is, he can't afford it. He was able to juggle things for a while, but these days his business isn't doing so well, so all of his credit cards are maxed out and he is about to lose is house and car.\n\nYou've given him a few loans so he'll make his next payment, but he hasn't done much to deal with the problem...he parties a little less, but he is still hitting you up for money every month.\n\nSo you lay down the law and tell him he isn't going to get another loan until he sells his house and car and stops partying entirely. He really likes his house and car and parties, and so he gets pissed off at you. Forgetting entirely that he caused the problem, all he sees is that you have the power to let him keep living irresponsibly, and are choosing not to. He is going to feel some pain, and blames you for it.\n\nThat's what's going on. Greece lied about their finances and spend the better part of a decade borrowing money they couldn't afford to pay back. They have been resistant to fixing their underlying problems (to the point of *prosecuting* one of the EU auditors), they just want someone else to foot their bill.",
"Because it's a bit more complicated than simply a debt problem. It was the massive capital influx into the periphery after the Euro was created that caused this. Suddenly, investors had these poor countries with a strong currency, which made them safer to invest. Money flew from the strong economies into the weaker ones.\n\n[As a result the wages in the periphery rose](_URL_1_). The problem with this is that the South has a competitiveness problem and our main strength (up until this point) was that labor costs were relatively cheap. Suddenly, we lost our edge, economies struggled and financial (Ireland) and housing bubbles (Spain) formed because money was easy to come by.\n\nNow, the shit has hit the fan. For one reason or the other, these countries need help because the money well dried up. Instead of making fair proposals to help the recovery, the troika (IMF, European Union and the European Central Bank) are demanding sharp cuts in an almost impossible deadline. And they're demanding these cuts in the face of great suffering and they are unwavering in any plea that the people of Greece have asked for.\n\nThe people of Greece are saying: Please give us more time to get ourselves together. And Germany is saying: No, you created this problem, you have to do it as we say. But the reality is that the situation in Greece is dire. Americans are furious for having a 7% unemployment rate? Greece has 25%. Their pensions are being slashed, their taxes are higher and higher. People have committed suicide because they don't have any more for the most basic things.\n\nGreece has almost no say in what they can do. Everything is imposed on them without much discussion, from countries that benefited greatly from the Euro. Germany is a powerhouse and the Euro is a weaker currency than their own would be, meaning their goods get cheaper to export.\n\nAnd if you know a bit about European History, let's go back a few decades to a Germany that was in crisis, being forced to pay an absurd amount of money for the damages of World War I, and to follow an unjust treaty imposed to them by other countries. They soon gave their support to the politician that spoke out against it: Adolf Hitler.\n\nCurrently, the Greek Parliament has 18 seats occupied by the [Golden Dawn](_URL_0_). A right wing extremist party that opposes any treaty with the EU as well as being anti-immigration and having several ties with anti-semitic vandalism acts and hooliganism.\n\nWorst of all, this crisis revealed the hypocrisy of the european integration project.",
"**TL;DR:** Others have answered very briefly but clearly. This is a long (but hopefully clear) explanation if you want to fully get the main points about the Greek part of the crisis.\n\nGreece is in bucket loads of debt. Normally when a country is in debt, one powerful way it can reduce that debt is by \"devaluing\" its currency. Devaluing means forcing the value of the currency (the Dollar for example) to be lower - so if yesterday $1 = £1, by devaluing we can make $1 = £0.50 tomorrow - everyone still has the same number of Dollars but they are ALL now lower in value. By doing this they also make the value of any debt in Dollars lower too (so a £100 debt becomes worth £50) and therefore much more manageable (so any of the debt in Dollars is the same size in numbers but is now worth much less abroad, and potentially easier to pay off). \n\nAfter devaluing, the country still needs to do other things like cutting spending and borrowing less so that it can manage its debts, but devaluing means it can do much less of this as the debt is much more managable. There are other up and downsides to devaluing, but in this \"too much debt\" situation it can help prevent a country going \"bankrupt\"/Defaulting (i.e. being unable to pay back the debts the county has, which is often punished by markets and will lead to massive problems).\n\nHowever, Greece no longer controls its currency in this way. It is part of the Euro, and shares its currency with the other Eurozone states, including Germany. The other countries do not need to devalue the currency, and would suffer mainly bad effects of this without enough of the benefits. They will not devalue the Euro to help Greece - Germany for example would lose out. Therefore Greece has to manage the debts itself; to do this they have few tools left - basically the option left is to cut spending, raising taxes while also trying to keep the economy growing to get even more money from taxes.\n\nThe big problem Greece has is that not only is it in *debt* (owing billions) it is also in *deficit* - that means that it cannot balance its budget and is having to borrow money every month to afford to pay both the country's day-to-day running costs (healthcare, salaries, pensions etc) AS WELL AS pay the instalments on the debt it already has. So the debt keeps getting bigger and bigger.\n\nTo break this cycle and manage its debts it is being forced to do two things. It has to raise taxes (to make more money) and it has to cut spending (to reduce outgoings). The ideal long term aim is to get the budget into a surplus, where there is more money coming IN than is going OUT on the expenses of running the country and the expense of paying off the old debts. \n\nHowever in the real world this is almost impossible to achieve; what Greece is really aiming to do is convince the \"markets\" that it has a workable plan to get out of this mess. Greece probably won't be able to get to a perfect surplus situation but it might be able to do what all other countries do to stay afloat - they keep borrowing money cheaply over a very long period (say 50 years) and use that borrowed money to help pay for any shortfall in taxes (the monthly deficit) AND pay off older debts as they expire. Most countries get away with this \"borrow money from Peter to pay Paul\" situation because the hope is that over 50+ years the economy is growing (so more money comes in) so that when the debt expires and its time to pay it back they will either be in surplus OR still be able to borrow more money very cheaply and do the whole thing over again. Unfortunately at the moment the \"markets\" think Greece won't be able to achieve this; they see lending money to Greece as \"risky\" and so they charge high interest rates to them. So borrowing money is too expensive for Greece, and the debt keeps getting bigger - they have to cut more and more spending and raise more and more taxes to try and get back to a balance.\n\nThe other Eurozone countries (including Germany, one of the biggest and most powerful members of the club) are offering to lend Greece money cheaply to help it out of this mess. BUT to get that money, they are insisting that Greece still fixes the core problem by cutting spending ALOT and raising taxes ALOT so that Greece can afford to manage its massive debts itself in the future and thus convince the \"markets\" to lend them money cheaply again. But this is very painful for ordinary Greeks (cutting spending means cutting government salaries, cutting pensions and raising taxes, and this has also caused a massive recession). \n\nSome of the Greek people (rightly or wrongly) blame Germany for this. The other Eurozone countries want to fix Greece's problems because if Greece can't pay it's debts (\"defaults\" on its debts, or basically goes bankrupt) it could have disastrous effects on the Euro which would hurt all the other countries who use it as their currency, as well as potentially have massive global effects (including recession or even depression). But the Eurozone countries will only LEND money to Greece at present in exchange for all these spending cut and tax rise conditions, because if they GIVE money it will anger tax-payers in donor countries (especially Germany, which is one of the few Eurozone countries not in crisis) and could end up scaring the markets (and still even cause the global recession or depression everyone wants to avoid).\n\nSo Greece is stuck. They can't cut spending and raise taxes enough on their own to convince the world markets that they can afford their debts. They MUST take money from their neighbours but to do this they still have to cut spending and raise taxes. The Greek people are suffering, and for some Greeks they see Germany as the cause of their pain."
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1xan8t | how do shows feature 'live tweets' on-screen when they broadcast? | I've looked around online but can't seem to find an answer to how a show can pop up a "live tweet" (or have a tweet ticker) during a broadcast. I was watching a show where people were tweeting comments as it aired, and the comments that were tweeted were appearing on-screen within a few seconds of what happened on the show.
Example: "Jenny" on the show says "Grape Nuts", and a tweet appears on-screen within a couple seconds saying "I can't believe Jenny just said Grape Nuts!"
Is there a special program or plug-in the broadcaster uses to "send" a tweet to the screen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xan8t/eli5_how_do_shows_feature_live_tweets_onscreen/ | {
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"The control room most likely has a person at a computer that has a program connected to the current shows twitter account. The person would then sit there and read tweets as they come in, looks for ones that are relevant/appropriate to show, then clicks a button that accepts them and puts it in a queue to display onscreen."
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x10wm | why there is traffic. | I understand there's occasionally accidents and lanes funneling into one for construction, and things like that, but why do more cars on the road = cars moving slowly? It's like that Jerry Seinfeld joke, "somewhere way up front, there's just one guy going 25 miles an hour with miles of open road ahead of him." | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/x10wm/eli5_why_there_is_traffic/ | {
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"When the traffic gets dense enough, one minor fluctuation can cause a [shockwave](_URL_0_) that messes everything up.",
"A little amplification of the video brickses linked might help. For example, why did that happen? Why didn't everyone just keep going around the circle since they were all moving at the same speed?\n\nIn that case, everyone might have been trying to drive at the same speed, but they were people, so there was naturally some variation.\n\nIf you are going even slightly faster than the 30 kph, you're going to close up on the car in front of you, and then you're going to slow down so you don't hit him. Meanwhile, the guy behind you realizes there's a gap opening up between him and you, so he speeds up to close it, and then has to brake because you slowed down to not hit the car in front of you. *That's* the effect that ends up propagating backward through the lines. \n\nIn this case, the jam ends because, since it's a circle, eventually the guy in front of you is the guy who sees the car in front of him pulling away and speeds up, thus creating room for you to speed up.\n\nIn more realistic situations, the way volume eventually leads to traffic jams has to do with human reactions. Assume everyone really can drive down the highway at a steady 60 mph. As you add more 60 mph cars to the road, those cars must necessarily be closer together. There's a limit to how many cars you can do that with. Eventually, you'd have the road being a steady stream of cars moving bumper to bumper, like a train, at 60 mph. \n\nBut people aren't going to do that. As the cars get closer together, people start to slow down because, if the car in front of them should brake suddenly, they don't think they're going to have the reaction time to slow before rear-ending it. So once traffic volume hits a certain density, people start slowing down. Which increases the density of cars on the road, which leads to more slowing down, and bang, traffic jam, even though there is no actual obstruction and, if the cars were being driven by robots that didn't panic when the cars in front of them got too close, they'd be perfectly able to maintain regular speed.",
"i dont understand traffic either. couldnt everyone involved in a traffic jam just go X speed to solve the problem? if every car did this all the way to the front, you wouldnt hit anybody else and problem solved.\n\nstand still traffic is the worst. is the front car really just parked on the road to troll everyone for miles behind him?"
]
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6xi15n | why do sirens sound so weird when they stop abruptly, or when they only sound for a short blip? | I don't know what's happening to the siren sound when it seems to end suddenly in a blIP! upward-inflection. Is it really just the sound of the siren getting suddenly cut off? Or is there a separate auditory phenomenon in play? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6xi15n/eli5_why_do_sirens_sound_so_weird_when_they_stop/ | {
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"No expert here but I would say it's because you're expecting the whole sound. When you don't get it, the brain notices the pattern disruption and focuses on it.",
"Mechanical sirens use a spinning disk or cylinder to create their sound. When starting, this spinning component would need to spin up, which would cause the sound to be both quieter and lower in frequency at first, but rapidly reach full strength. So it's basically the same as any other spinning object that makes a lower sound as it spins up, but then reaches a steady maximum.\n\nElectronic sirens may emulate this behavior, although they are electronic and it doesn't take them any time to reach full power / the final tone."
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dxrw9w | what are stars? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dxrw9w/eli5_what_are_stars/ | {
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"Giant, dense, very bright radioactive balls of super hot plasma (like melted) matter.\n\nThe Sun is a star.",
"Stars are giant balls of plasma, matter heated to the point that the electrons break free of the nuclei of the atoms and move about at high speed. They get this way because there is nuclear fusion happening in the core of the star, where the heat and pressure is enough to make the nuclei of light atoms stick together to make a bigger nucleus (called \"fusion\").\n\nThis fusion of light elements releases large amounts of energy in the form of heat and light, and it is constantly trying to blast the materials that make the star apart. There is so much material though that its gravity pulls it together, their forces balancing against each other. The more gravity there is the harder it pushes together, causing more fusion that pushes it apart harder.\n\nOur sun is a star like all the others but it is much closer to Earth.",
"Huge balls of hydrogen gas that are so massive, their gravity sets off a nuclear fusion reaction in the core of the star as it converts the hydrogen to helium. Rays of heat, light, and subatomic particles are ejected as a result. The Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere filter out most of the harmful rays and particles from our star, the Sun, leaving us with that sweet sunshine."
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2rzfno | what really kills you in an airplane crash? is it the impact due to speed, loss in pressure, or fire. are majority of people dead before the impact? i have heard of stories where people lived because there was no fuel left in the plane. and how come there is almost never any survivors? | I mean if it is the fire that kills a lot of people, then why can piolets dump the fuel several thousand feet up? And how come there are almost never ANy survivors like seen in train or bus accidents? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rzfno/eli5what_really_kills_you_in_an_airplane_crash_is/ | {
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"It depends on the accident, in some cases it's impact and in some cases its fire following impact. \n\nAnd converse to popular belief the [vast majority of commercial jet accidents don't actually kill anyone](_URL_0_). Even when you consider hull loss accidents (which are the equivalent of totalling your car) the survival rate is still well above 50%.\n\nEven in accidents that kill many people there are quite often survivors - in the Tenerife collision that killed 583 people (and remains the worst aviation disaster in history) 70 people survived.\n\nWe tend to remember the worst disasters (the ones that kill everyone) more than those that are less severe which are more easily forgotten.\n",
" > What really kills you in an airplane crash? Is it the impact due to speed, loss in pressure, or fire.\n\nThat depends entirely on the individual accident. Did the plane disintegrate in the air? Then yes, you die from the high forces that are throwing the plane (and your body) around. Did it crashland? Then you could die from a resulting fire, an explosion, sharp decceleration or from drowning.\n\nLoss of cabin pressure would be the most unlikely thing I guess, since pilots have ample time to react to that and just drop to a lower altitude if the plane is still controllable. And if it isnt, well high g-forces or the ground will get to you before the low pressure has any effect.\n\n > I have heard of stories where people lived because there was no fuel left in the plane.\n\n > why can piolets dump the fuel several thousand feet up?\n\nThey do. If they have time. Generally, if a plane has to attempt a crash landing it's very advisable to not do it with wings filled with kerosene. But releasing all the fuel takes time, very often you have to attempt an emergency landing with a somewhat filled tank; e.g. when something goes wrong during take-off or landing.\nA 747, for example, can carry around 200.000 liters of fuel, but can only dump maybe 2 tons a minute.\n_URL_2_\n\nWhy can't that go faster? Well, ideally you DON'T want your aircraft to accidentally lose all its fuel over the pacific in 30 seconds, and adding some kind of \"quick release\" mechanism adds exactly that danger, + weight, + maintenance, + occupied volume. All for the really remarkably low chance that a plane **has** to dump all its fuel all at once. On the same off chance you could store a parachute for each passenger... noone does that.\n\nAnd even then, an empty tank is no guarantee for survival. Big heavy planes need a proper runway and that good stuff like a working landing gear for a safe landing. Try to land on the belly in some field and it's quite likely that the plane doesn't just glide along happily, but starts tumbling.\n\n > And how come there is almost never ANY survivors?\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\nEven if you only count plane accidents with at least 10 fatalities, about 30% of all the passengers survive such accidents. If you count ALL the accidents, as /u/lindypenguin pointed out, over 95% survive.\n\ntl;dr\nMost people in airplane accidents survive, every accident is different."
]
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_accidents_and_incidents#Statistics",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_dumping"
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a8vdby | what makes some geographic locations better for launching into space than others? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a8vdby/eli5_what_makes_some_geographic_locations_better/ | {
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"The entire Earth spins around its axis once every 24 hours.\n\nIf you were standing twenty feet from the South Pole, the circle you'd make around the axis in a day would be so small that you'd only be turning at about 1/1000th of a mile per hour to make a full circle in a day.\n\nIf you were standing at the equator, 6800 miles from the pole, the circle you're making around the axis is so *big* that you'd need to go over 1000 miles per hour to make it around in one day.\n\nSo the speed things are moving at the equator is way way faster than the speed things are moving closer to the poles.\n\nWe build our spaceports as close to the equator as we can so that we can take advantage of that speed. We try to point our launches east, in the direction the earth is spinning, to add the planet's rotational speed to the speed of the rocket as it blasts away from the surface. The US put its spaceport in Florida, which is the southernmost spot that was convenient; the Soviets put theirs in Kazakhstan, also the most convenient southerly location; and the Europeans put theirs in Guiana which is an equatorial South American territory ruled by France.",
"The earth is spinning west to east, so if you launch eastward, you get a speed boost from earth itself and being closer to the equator is better for most launches. Also, space launches sometimes fail, and when they do, the rocket becomes basically a giant bomb. You don’t want to send the rocket over populated areas due to that danger, so Florida (Atlantic Ocean), and Kazakhstan (desolate steppe) both work quite well. ",
"So, orbiting is just moving so fast that when you fall toward earth, you fall *around* it. When rockets launch, they have to reach this orbital speed. They usually travel east since the earth turns that direction anyway; it's like a free speed boost. Being near the equator means they get the most out of this effect, and also launch directly into an easy-to-track \"equatorial\" orbit (one that lines up with the earth's equator) that doesn't need to be corrected by burning fuel.",
"Just getting into space is easy. Amateur rocket builders can do it. Nazi V-2 ballistic missiles did it in 1944. \n\nThe trick is staying there. Gravity doesn't magically go away when you leave the atmosphere. What you have to do is balance your sideways speed with the pull of gravity. Get the speed right, and even though you're constantly falling, you're moving sideways fast enough that you miss the ground.\n\nFor low orbits, like where the ISS hangs out, that speed is around 17,500 miles per hour. It takes a *lot* of fuel to get something moving that fast.\n\nNow, the Earth is rotating, at a rate of one rotation per day. In a neat coincidence, the Earth\"s circumference at the equator is approximately 24,000 miles. There are 24 hours in a day, so any point on the equator is moving eastward at about 1000 miles per hour.\n\nWhere I'm sitting at 42.3° North, my rotational speed is a bit more than 500 mph. If I were standing on either the North Pole or the South Pole, I would no longer be moving east. Instead, I would be turning around my own centerline at a rate of one revolution per day.\n\nWell, when you launch a rocket, that sideways speed doesn't just go away. The rocket is still moving sideways at the same speed the ground it was sitting on was.\n\nThe closer to the equator we put our launch pad, the faster its sideways momentum will be when it leaves the ground. We can take advantage of that free momentum to reduce the amount of fuel we need to get into orbit. \n",
"The main thing is to launch in a way that nothing gets hit by falling debris. In most cases, the first stage falls to earth a few hundred kilometers downrange even if everything goes perfectly. If it doesn't, pieces of the rocket could impact anywhere from right at the launch pad to 1000 km downrange.\n\nThe USA uses two main ranges. The range at Cape Canaveral faces east and is used for launches that will take an equatorial orbit. This includes ISS resupply, all geosynchronous launches and all launches to other bodies in the solar system. The range at Vandenberg faces south and is used for launches that will take a polar orbit. This includes most Earth observation satellites.\n\nNote that a satellite or spacecraft can change orbit after launch but large changes are very expensive in fuel so launching directly into the best transfer orbit allows more payload to be launched cheaper. "
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5633ji | why are chinese products stereotypically depicted to be of an inferior quality? | Perhaps this question varies from one culture to another. I have always imagined ANYTHING from China to be of rather amazing craftsmanship. Their dedication to detail is arguably what put the Han Dynasty on the map; especially their knack in the art of porcelain making. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5633ji/eli5_why_are_chinese_products_stereotypically/ | {
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"Its more of a historical thing, from back when the US still made things. Or gained a rival in Japanese consumer products back in the 70s. In the 80s china was massively far behind the rest of the world in manufacturing electronics, a far cry from what it is now as the home of every smartphone and nearly everything else. China gave favorable exchange rates to foreign business to invest in china, essentially giving them more buying power for their dollars. China was an attractive place to get unskilled labor and less regulation due to the government's desire to industrialize further. But business looking for penny pinching solutions to build in an area with low high tech infrastructure and unskilled labor aren't going to produce amazing quality goods. Now of course that near everything is made in China, there's hardly anything to compare the quality to. ",
"I'm an old guy. Back in my day, things were made to last. \n\nFor instance, toys like cars and trucks were made of solid metal, with rubber wheels. And they were big, too. They had to be, to fit a platoon of 12\" G.I. Joes with Kung Fu Grip! Tonka made awesome bulldozers and loaders for the sand box. You could pretty much stand on those things and it wouldn't hurt them. It's almost like all those things were designed by people who understood how rough children can be with things, and built toys based on that knowledge... \nSure, they probably cost a fair amount for back then, but they would last forever. Not only could you get your use out of them, but so could your kid brother(s). Throw 'em in the attic when you grow up and *your* children could play with them.\n \nNowadays, any toys you buy are made of plastic parts that have to be snapped together, and they seem to snap apart just as easily. On Christmas morning when your kid drops his brand new toy truck on the kitchen floor something is almost certain to break off / stop functioning. Everybody within earshot cringes and goes, \"Oooh :/\", your kid starts wailing, and you're like, \"Fuck! I spent twenty bucks on that!\" and your dad says, \"Back in my day I had a toy truck that cost my dad twenty dollars... It's in the attic now, remember? You should have just given him that one like I told you to. You never listen to me, dumbass\" and your wife is like, \"Shut up, old man before I give you a fat lip...\" and your mom is like, \"These shitty products from China are tearing us apart!\"\n\nAnd she's not wrong. None of you are. Except Uncle Louie. Is he drunk already? ಠ_ಠ\n\nThings today are built with economy of resource and maximization of profit the only factors guiding product design. Why build a child's toy out of expensive steel when it can be produced at lower cost with plastic? And why use plastic that is overly thick? If you use thinner plastic you get more units out of each batch of raw plastic. Make the toys smaller and you stretch the raw materials even further...\n\nAs long as the toy isn't defective (doesn't fall apart under its' own weight)- as long as it stands up to adult handling as it's passed around the board room- it's good enough to sell to you. So what if your clumsy kid drops it and breaks it minutes after taking it out of the box? That's *your* problem. What are you gonna do? Never buy your kid another toy truck? < pfffft > \n\nNow, apply this line of thought not just to toys, but almost any [\"durable good\"](_URL_0_) the average American might find in their home. \n\nTake it one step further and recognize the reality that demand for profit has driven manufacturing into countries like China (for a myriad of reasons), and we come to the conclusion that China is simply a random variable in the equation- it doesn't matter *where* stuff today is manufactured for mass consumption- it's going to be of lesser quality that anything made back in the before times"
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1dk8uk | what is the purpose of giving celebrities honorary degrees? | I don't want to know a world with Dr. Lindsay Lohan. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1dk8uk/what_is_the_purpose_of_giving_celebrities/ | {
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"\"Attracting alumni donations.\"",
"It's an analogy to state awards, appreciation of the person's contribution to the society. I don't know about any actor or similar celebrity getting a honorary degree, the universities would just damage their reputation by doing that.",
"Makes the school seem more prestigious to be associated with big name celebrities. I'm sure there are kids out there who see a celeb getting an honorary degree from some school and subconsciously associating that school with their fondness for that particular celebrity. It's a cynical form of marketing."
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1jqlew | why would the fbi take down tor if they knew how to track people through it? | Anyone doing anything illegal will now migrate elsewhere anyways, why not use it to catch them instead? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jqlew/eli5_why_would_the_fbi_take_down_tor_if_they_knew/ | {
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"Firstly, the FBI didn't take down Tor. Nobody can take down Tor.\n\nThey simply took down a single web-hosting provider that offers hidden onion hosting services (i.e a provider which allowed you to host websites that are only accessible through Tor). The feds shutdown this particular web-host because it became apparent that they were knowingly helping to host illegal content (including child pornography).\n\nThere still exists many other web-hosting services for Tor, and anyone is capable of hosting their own .onion website on Tor if they want to.\n\nAlso, the FBI did install an exploit on some of the servers they managed to compromise/take-over when they shut-down the web host in question. This exploit (to my understanding) injected JavaScript code in user's browsers that would reveal to the FBI the IP addresses of visitors to the illegal sites in question (so this could possibly be used to track down and arrest those engaging in illegal activity in the future).\n\nAnyway, the Tor network itself is not compromised and there is a simple solution for users of Tor to avoid this problem in the future (simply disable JavaScript in the browser). So this doesn't mean now criminals will migrate elsewhere, it just means they'll be more careful not to expose themselves to such vulnerabilities through JavaScript."
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23ych7 | what effect has globalisation and trade liberalisation had on global inequality? | What are the arguments for and against it increasing and decreasing income inequality? I know extreme poverty has decreased but I'm more curious about issues of global equality. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23ych7/eli5_what_effect_has_globalisation_and_trade/ | {
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"Short answer is yes, but its far far more complicated then that.\n\nFirst some definitions as \"poverty\" actually means different things depending on the context it is used in.\n\n* When discussing poverty in advanced economies it is a measure of inequality (sometimes called relative poverty) and is usually used in reference to a portion of the low-income population who are stuck in a mobility trap (IE they have poor economic outcomes and lack the ability to move out of poverty). This form of poverty is \"cured\" with problems that resolve mobility issues.\n* When discussing poverty in developing economies it is actually a measure of destitution (sometimes called absolute poverty), effectively people who lack the basic resources in order to survive. This form of poverty is \"cured\" by providing resources such that individuals who are destitute now have the resources to survive. Destitution in advanced economies is generally considered to be a non-economic problem, that is the policy set to resolve it is not one of cash or resource transfers but other policy solutions (mental health etc).\n\nHow inequality behaves in both these systems is also radically different. In developing economies inequality has numerous poor outcomes as it creates capital silo's, average people don't have access to capital and as such various individual & economy wide issues occur.\n\nIn advanced economies inequality is only causal with a single poor social outcome and that is it makes people angry, there is a common misconception that there is a causal relationship between inequality and various other metrics (health, education etc) when in reality these are causal with poverty but as inequality is correlative with poverty (common causal ancestor) people fall in to the correlation==causation trap. \n\nInequality inhabits a fairly common space where how politicians, media & the public discuss it is entirely incorrect from the point of view of economics. Inequality is a natural consequence of economic growth (IE if I build a factory I will generally benefit from that growth more then someone else) and itself doesn't tell you anything particularly useful about the economic conditions of the actors involved. As a good example of this imagine John had $15 and Jane had $30, a year later John has $30 and Jane has $100; inequality has grown but both actors have gained on the previous period. In isolation its impossible to draw conclusions from inequality itself, you need to look at the wider economic picture to understand if there was a global benefit or not.\n\nIts certainly an important metric and one that is often used in conjunction with others to gain an understanding of a particular system though. Economists very much support policies that as a secondary effect reduce inequality, we just oppose those that attempt to act on inequality directly because they will universally have adverse economic consequences elsewhere (in my John/Jane example above imagine the scenario reversed, inequality has shrunk but both are worse off so while a policy has helped inequality everyone has lost as a result). Policies we look at which have the secondary effect of reducing inequality are mainly concerned with economic mobility, we seek to increase mobility which has the effect of reducing inequality. Education is a very good example of something that does this.\n\nIts also worth mentioning that the programs we created in advanced economies to prevent destitution from occurring often result in increased levels of poverty as they are poorly designed and reduce mobility as a result. A good example of this is SNAP in the US, once income rises $1 above 100% FPL you loose 40% of your income which means many people simply don't have the ability to move beyond that threshold, the jump is simply too large to be manageable. This is one of the reasons why we near universally support replacing SNAP (as well as other forms of cash-transfer and the minimum wage) with the conditional basic income, simply providing people with an income subsidy which tapers such there is no effective income drops vastly improves mobility to the extent we would effectively eliminate poverty in its entirety.\n\nAs for trade itself there is very little else that could be considered a universal good. Both countries benefit hugely both in economic terms and social terms, it also makes it extremely difficult for war to take place as the economic cost of that war now includes the value the trade taking place. We would like to see fewer tariffs (easily the most damaging form of revenue collection that exists) and industry wide subsidies that reduce trade, if you want to see foreign aid on crack then get the US & EU to eliminate the agricultural trade restrictions, subsidies and tariffs and watch the economies of the African continent explode. Trade protectionism does not benefit anyone (including the population it aims to protect), it reduces growth, earnings and mobility on both sides.\n\nA previous poster refereed to outsourcing as a bad thing, outsourcing results in higher wages globally (wages in the US climb when a job is outsourced) as it reduces prices and puts upwards pressure on labor skills. Its only bad if you have an ideological problem with trade and exercise selection bias to ignore economics.\n\nCurrent trends in destitution suggest it will effectively cease to exist at any meaningful level (not including acute destitution, that caused by natural disasters etc) within the next 30-40 years worldwide.\n\nAs a small aside anyone who uses \"neoliberal\" when referring to economics its trying to deceive you, all mainstream economics in the last century is \"neoliberal\" but not because its ideological but because its empirical; the liberalization of commerce empirically benefits all. "
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5j7nlj | if the fitness-test of the police is so hard, why are so many policemen so 'fluffy'? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5j7nlj/eli5_if_the_fitnesstest_of_the_police_is_so_hard/ | {
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"text": [
"Many police departments have fitness tests to enter the police academy (and tests while in the academy), but none once you actually make it on the force.",
"It is REALLY not difficult. The federal minimum requirements are: 18 pushups in 2 minutes, 21 situps in 2 minutes, 1.5 mile run in 14:26, and 75 yard run (with obstacles) in 19.5 seconds. This is easily achievable by the average person, and many non-average folks as well. When I was at my worst (260lbs, 6'5\", hadn't exercised in over 3 years), I could pass that test.\n\nOf course, to enter into the police force, they absolutely want you to score higher than the minimum (not necessary, though). A maximum score is 47+ pushups in 2 minutes (easy for any athletic person), 49+ situps in two minutes (also very easy for any athletic person), 1.5 miles in 11:31- (hilariously easy... that's not even an 8 minute mile), and the 75 yard obstacle run in 17.3- seconds. Someone who exercises somewhat regularly can pack away the pounds and still pass with a mediocre score. \n\nEach individual city can impose their own requirements, but none lower than the federal minimum. ",
"The tests are typically when entering the police academy or joining the force... then 20 years of sitting in a car, stopping for doughnuts and fast food lunches -- plus the off the job drinking that seems common with officers to deal with the stressful aspects of job -- catches up with them.",
"The test really isn't that hard. I've been in the Marine Corps for 4.5 years granted... but when I was thinking about joining the local sheriff's dept. I laughed when the interviewer was telling me about their obstacle course. ",
"Fitness tests are not challenging enough. Unlike the military, where branches have maximum weights for given heights, police just have to fit in the cruiser. ",
"NY/NJ Port Authority, the NJ State Police and any local NJ police force candidates all/each have to go through a very grueling 6 month boot camp. My nephew went through it. He had just come out of the Air Farce stationed in Afghanistan and went in to a NJ local police department. He said it was not as hard as Air Force boot camp, but still very hard. ",
"For one the fitness test is not difficult. There's a few different standards for tests out there but none of them are so difficult that anyone who's reasonably healthy shouldn't be able to complete it. I think the only difficult one I've ever done was the FLFWC fitness test.. but they even changed that in the past couple years.\n\nSecond is that once you're in, you're in. Almost no agency, sheriff's office, or police department conducts regular fitness tests. If I remember the paper I wrote on it back in college correctly it's because fitness tests could have a negative impact on the retention of older officers, especially those near retirement age.",
"Many cities don't require a fitness regime after getting hired. So yes, some tend to \"settle down\" after getting hired.",
"They eat a lot of fast food because they don't really get lunch breaks and spend a large portion of their shift sitting in a car.",
"In Canada recruits to the RCMP and some local police (my local one uses it) have to pass the PARE (physical ability requirement evaluation). There are 3 sections: obstacle course, push/pull station, and torso bag carry. \n\nThe first two stations (Obstacle Course and Push/Pull) are timed and must be completed in less than/equal to 4 minutes 45 seconds for applicants, and less than/equal to 4 minutes for members applying for specialized duties and cadets before graduating from Depot. The last section, the torso bag carry, is a pass or fail activity and is not timed.\n\nI worked as a civilian employee at my local police department and from what I heard it can be a tough test. They have to do it to get into training, at the end of their training year, and again at the end of their first year on the street. Unless they apply for a specialized duty (like the tactical response unit) they may never have to do it again after that. Probably why some policemen get \"fluffy\" after awhile (although tbh I never saw a fluffy policeman when I worked at the department).",
"The \"fluffy\" ones are normally older because once your in the police you don't need to keep doing the test every year ",
"It all varies state to state. Within those states some have PT tests per year others dont. I know for a fact NJ State Police does one annually to keep their troopers in top condition. ",
"Many local police departments don't have annual fitness tests AFTER their academy. Whereas State Police does (depending on your state).\n\nEdit: Grammer",
"The fitness test is to become a police office, not to stay a police officer. Also some have requirements that change with age and job duty.",
"Do police officers in the US have to pass fitness tests every year? I feel like that would drastically cut down on the fluffiness",
"I have HEARD in Canada it is a tough test (physical part), but I don't know about in Germany where you live. I have quite a few of my graduating class who became cops, and they all were very fit when they became cops. Most still are, but from what I see of cops in my city all the young ones are in very good shape, but the older ones are the \"fluffy\" ones. Although, my city has a very low amount of \"fluffy\" cops. Majority are rather buff. The only ones that don't look buff are the females- mainly because muscle just doesn't show on them as well as males- though their posture and seriousness in their face makes up for that, or the tall ass slim jim ones. My city has a large amount of cops that look like you'd break your fist on their face.",
"They're hard tests to everyday middle aged joes, I would check out officer401's videos, training is pretty easy if you're somewhat fit, but can be a challenge for some people",
"Once you get in...it takes a while to kick you out if the only thing you're doing wrong is being \"Fluffy\".",
"It depends on what department you go to work for. In the academy, the physical stuff you have to pass, so the recruits go in ready for that (like they do for military boot camp) or they are well run in the academy. \n\nAfter that, a lot of departments do not re-test potential officers. Some only look at their required licensing, background, and work history. There are many departments which have their own academy, so even after you've gone through the initial training to be a certified peace officer, you must go through a county or city program as well. It's hit or miss who requires what.",
"I'm from Edmonton, Canada, my dad had to vigourisly train for the police test for six months. Before he trained he was already in great shape. Granted at the time the Edmonton police test was the hardest in Canada or the US, I don't know where your from, but here the police are always in amazing shape.",
"Police officers will look 20 pounds heavier then they really are due to the bullet resistant vest they wear. \n\nBut yes, some do seem to be a little bit over the weight limit. ",
"Depending on how fluffy the cop is, sometimes its the bulletproof vest they wear.\n\nOr maybe, Dunkin' Donuts.",
"The test isn't hard at all. I went to FLETC in New Mexico and our fitness test consisted of running 1.5 miles in a certain time, bench pressing a certain weight (depending on your weight and gender), running an agility course through cones in a certain time and basically being able to touch your toes. \n\nThat being said, we did go through some pretty tough training. This included a lot of weights, push-ups, running and other different drills. I believe the most we ran was 10 miles in a pace set by the sergeant with the faster runners being able to run ahead then coming back and picking the rest up. We would pretty much run every other day and hit the gym the other days. Wasn't really hard if you were in shape, but for those who weren't it had to be hell. Most of the people who got kicked out for us were from academics. We had very few who failed due to the fitness part. ",
"Because once you become a cop, it's pretty much impossible to fire you for being out of shape.",
"Wait...why is this tagged Physics?",
"I once applied to be a special constable here in the UK. For those who don't know it's basically a volunteer position among the police force and you have all the powers of a regular police officer. \n\nAnyway when it came to the fitness test there were only 3 requirements. You had to achieve above a certain score on the infamous bleep test. I can't remember what the pass mark was but it wasn't massively high and everyone who was in my group completed it with ease. \n\nAnd you also had to be able to push and pull either 25/35kgs which is between 55 and 75 pounds. Again not hard to achieve and again I think everyone within our group passed. ",
"The fitness tests are during the application and academy phase, once you become a cop there are no other tests. It is up to the officer to keep in shape, as we know some do and some don't. \n\nBut I think the real reason American cops get \"fluffy\" is the work environment. Shift work, long hours, dealing with all kinds of extreme weather all take a toll on a person. Then you add in the fact that most cops don't really have the time to sit and prepare a good meal, which means that they eat crap food all the time. \n\nAnd don't for get the alcohol, most cops I know are borderline alcoholics (I guess it is a way to self medicate). ",
"Former LEO here. One of the biggest focuses of the academy is PT. LEOs are (typically) in the best shapes of their lives in the academy and are therefore (even if very overweight) still capable of completing the required tests. After graduating, many feel that they get enough of their exercise while on the job, but when their metabolisms slow down as they get older, they start to put on huge amounts of weight. This is probably why heart attacks on the job are pretty big cop killers.",
"well...from what i see, you got legit cops and you got go guys who got the job cuz of who they are related to or whatever. the guy that want to be cops keep up with the training. the guys that got the job from a favor, they just collect the big fat checks.",
"You do the physical fitness test while in the Academy. When you graduate, you do not have to take it again.",
"I'm not sure about everywhere else, but I remember having the Toronto Police recruitment team come in for my high school job fair. I haven't stepped foot in a high school for a long time so this may not even be relevant anymore. \n\nThe initial recruitment and interview does not require any extreme physical fitness test. Once you're on the force for a longer period of time, you have the option to join other departments for a bigger pay or for your true calling. This is usually for first response or swat,... Now those require on going physical tests and to my understanding, it is very demanding. \n\nNow as I'm writing this, I seem to not remember seeing a \"fluffy\" cop in Toronto for a very long time. So I'm pretty sure the program has changed. ",
"Speaking from here in Ontario (Its in Canada, people) the test really isnt all that hard. The test was recently made harder but still is relatively easy. The test is designed to deem a police officer \"more fit than the average citizen\", not to be superhuman. Ive graduated our college course for policing and ran both versions of our P.R.E.P. test, and both are almost embarassingly easy. Im a little biased because of my age (21) and level of fitness, but even for the \" bigger\" people in my program, the test was very easily achievable ",
"It's not that hard of a test and it gets easier as you get older, like the military requirements. My dad always got top scores on his tests but wasn't in any spectacular shape (didn't get fat until after he retired) \n\nI found the military requirements to be quite easy, if you don't over eat and are not lethargic you're gonna have to try to fail. ",
"Because it's not that hard, I'm a big guy, 300lbs, barely work out but as long as you can do the required obstacles you pass like I did. Police academy is where it gets tough though. ",
"In California most police departments adhere to the WSTB guidelines which are 1.5 mile within 14:00, 6ft chain link fence in under 12s, 6ft solid wall in under 14s, 165lb Dummy drag (32ft) in under 10 seconds, 99 yard obstacle course under 23s, and a 500 yard run in under 2 minutes. All in sequence with only several minutes of rest. \n\nAfter individuals go through the Academy and are full time officers, there is little to no incentive for officers to stay in shape. They don't really go through periodical physical testing to see where they're at so I'm sure the mindset is: \"why do all this extra exercise for no compensation?\", especially when they're routinely doing 12hr shifts ",
"Everyone here is ignoring the fact that the initial \"fitness test\" isn't the test that determines whether you're fit enough to be a police officer. That test, usually given at job fairs or during hiring events that anybody can attend, usually consists of a mile run, some pushups and situps, and maybe an obstacle course. It is given alongside the written test and oral interviews. It is the BARE MINIMUM to show that you are fit enough to enter the POLICE ACADEMY, not work as a police officer.\n\nOnce you enter the police academy, that is where the real fitness tests come into play. Runs of up to 10 miles a day, intense physically demanding physical-training sessions, followed by paramilitary style marching drills, hour long inspections, etc. You have to be in tip-top shape to graduate the police academy in most states. I attended an academy with former marines who said the Marine Corps basic training was fairly easy compared to what we went through at our sheriffs academy.\n\nThe problem you are seeing is that most of those \"fluffy\"officers don't continue with healthy eating and exercise habits once they are on the job. But I GUARANTEE you that they were slim and fit when they graduated the academy.\n\nAll these other people here talking about the \"easy\" physical agility tests have no idea what they're talking about. Those are just meant to make sure you can run a considerable distance without dropping dead from exhaustion. The real physical training comes in the academy, it just doesn't stick for some officers.",
"They don't pass the test when they are fluffy. \n\nTheir job is primarily sitting in a vehicle and driving around. If anyone has ever worked in jobs where they are driving 80% of their shift. You'd have noticed that you get hungry way too quickly as there is literally nothing else you can do while driving. \n\noh also they can spend some time in the gym and they'll be getting paid for it. I'm not entirely sure if the gym time is part of their shift or after their shift ends.",
"I want to add that this isn't limited to physical fitness, it also extends to shooting accuracy, and I assume other skills. At the local county sheriffs office (which services over a million people), there's a yearly shooting qualification where you get 50 bullets and have to make a certain score. This qualification test is also your yearly practice allotment. As in, the sheriffs office won't train you to shoot outside of this qualification. Many officers either train with other officers outside of work or just don't practice. ",
"My father was a police office and he is \"fluffy\". He recently retired so Ill tell you what I observed as his son.\nLike everyone has said you don't have to do any more tests after the academy. So here is why they are \"fluffy\". Sorry this will contain some ranting.\n\nMy father told me that he got ALOT of free food from restaurants,usually fast food since they don't really get breaks. (and no not doughnuts.....ok sometimes doughnuts) my pops ending up eating out all the time. And if you ask anyone on r/fitness they will tell you thats not good. Next, is high stress. Now I want you to imagine waking up at 3 AM ever day to go to a job for 12+ hours where almost everybody you encounter hates your fucking guts . Its extremely stressful on the body and the mind. So heres the situation, you are hated by everyone around you, and you are eating a lot of free fast food, that is probably the best part of your day, because it tastes good. Since it was free, it makes you feel appreciated. Your brain then associates food with pleasure. With this my father has developed a eating disorder (that we are working on) and a large amount of paranoia.\n\nSo thats why my father is fluffy. if you want to show officers you care don't buy them food maybe just free coffee or something like that. if you really want to give them something buy them gift card for a hardware or electronic store. If you get pulled over tell them you are sorry and thank them for their work. I know it seems ridiculous, but even that little amount of appreciation can go a loooooong way. \n\nThanks for reading and remember to respect cops work they just want to keep everyone safe.\n\nEdit: changed was fluffy to is fluffy. I saw him use his belly as a table just now.\n\nedit 2: I suck at english.\n\nEdit3: Some back story: We live in a pretty rough city and it can nerve racing knowing that you can be targeted at any moment. This didn't make the news, but my dad was talking to some officer buddies and one of the new guys was geting out of his van and was almost hit by another guy while parked in front of a gas station. Luckily he saw at the last second and jumped pack in and didn't get hurt. Targeted for no fucking reason. ",
"Fitness test for the met (London) is 5.4 on the bleep test and that's it. Easy peasy. They have recently introduced annual testing up to this level also. ",
"\"if the fitness test of the police is so hard\" well that's false, so the rest of your question is irrelevant",
"The Australian test is just simple push ups, *one* pull up, 50m swimming and a simple obstacle course. ",
"Why are you using the word fluffy? Also you just really need to pass the test until you get in. My friend is a cop and told me once they get enough seniority a lot of cops let themselves go. \n\nWhy are you using the word fluffy?",
"From what my friend who is in the academy said, is that you have on moderately difficult test to get into the police force, than you pretty much are in the clear to let your body go to shit after you have been hired. But in some departments like my sheriff's who are really good and have the best benefits and pay, you have to have to be in top notch condition. \n",
"I haven't seen many overweight police officers in my life, but I'm guessing tenured officers have more experience they can bring. Not everything good the police does requires physical force.\n\nOne of the last times this was posted, someone talked about an overweight police officer in his town that would regularly work with poor neighbourhoods. He tried hard to build a community feel and trust from the police and would regularly patrol a bridge that was a suicide spot and was amazing at connecting with people and talking them out of jumping.",
"I just recently took the physical exam for a police department. It's not hard at all. Running, jumping, push ups, and sit-ups.\n\nEdit: the minimum requirement for push ups and sit-ups is laughable. The time limit for the running can be done at a walking pace.\n\nEdit 2: you are scored of course, so that must be taken into consideration when talking about how easy it is.",
"Because many departments don't ever do another fitness test after you are out of the academy. Departments that don't run their own academies don't do any fitness tests beyond the ones taken during the hiring process. ",
"Why are we saying fluffy instead of fat?",
"Well its two parts, one is the standards are constantly lowered because most agencies are scared of people suing discriminating. (Has happened quite often in NYC) secondly, some agencies have a far easier follow-up exam.\nWhen my friend was becoming a Florida state trooper, he lost 20+ lbs and was in best shape of his life, after he was on the job for 3 years he got into his worst shape of his life. Sitting in a car and eating fast food doesn't help either. ",
"Police work involves mostly driving a car, sitting on your keister. Most people add weight over the years.\n\nPut those two together.",
"It's the work conditions. It is hard to stay in shape when you are doing 12 hours shifts at different hours of the day. If you get an arrest at the 11th hour then guess what? You're stuck for about 4 more hours doing paperwork. Welcome to a 17 hour day. Also, lunches aren't always at the same time. Halfway through your shift when it's lunch time you get a call and you're not eating lunch for a while now. Also if you're working the late night shift you're stuck with limited and unhealthy eating options. It is a very tough and stressful life and it can be very challenge to exercise and stay healthy when you don't have time to eat or take care of yourself after an exhausting shift. \n\nWith that being said I agree that cops should be in good shape. My brother is a cop and I'm in the military and I had to encourage him to get back in shape since your health and fitness can lead to your safety on the job (ability to fight , run, handle an aggressive criminal, etc). I wish there were more standards or fitness requirements for them or SCHEDULED time for physical fitness , like the military. But I understand why they get fluffy at times. ",
"I don't have experience with police specifically, but I've worked as an exercise physiologist for firefighters mainly but also other industries like logging to develop appropriate fitness tests. One of the main issues with testing is that if some logging company wants me to develop a fitness test protocol (maybe they're losing money due to employees getting injured, or not being able to perform the job at a satisfactory level) and I show up with a test battery that I think will accurately represent the challenges of the job, the employee's union will be up in arms immediately. Maybe there's a few older guys who have been working there for decades; now I come in and tell them they can't do their job anymore, because they can't pass a physical test? Maybe this job is all they know, its wither this or becoming a grocery store clerk. You can bet they're gonna fight like hell to abolish/revise the tests. What about female employees; should they be held to the same standards? If not, at what point does lower standards limit the usefulness of the test? Its all about finding a legal middle ground, which can be very difficult when it involves things like gender equality or \"ageism\".",
"Our isn't what one would call hard, but your ass can't be out of shape (you need excellent cardio at the very least). \nThe thing with it is, once you finish the police academy, that's the last physical test you have to pass (with the exception of you fuck up super hard because of your physical condition).\n\nThe scores from their physicals still get used in grading for promotions (time as a sworn officer, physical fitness levels, tests, any awards and some other crap). So if they want to get promoted, they need to be in shape, but beside that? They can walk the course and it won't go against them",
"Because after they pass there's nothing forcing them to stay in shape. They can begin coasting.\n\nAdd in graveyard shifts, sitting in a car/at a desk for the majority of the day, and a stressful job with a poor diet. . . And there's your answer.\n\nAn officer's dicipline is super important. Unfortunately very few take it serious after they've secured their spot (with fitness, weapons training, driving, etc.).\n\nIt's just like any job. Once they're in, you just coast 'til retirement (unless you get reprimanded).",
"I wouldn't consider the police test very difficult. It was in 2010 that I took it, granted, but I got through it without even breaking a sweat. It was nothing compared to some other agency tests. ",
"In nz and AU's, the cops have biyearly fitness tests, so less fluffy cops here. Still slightly fluffy as easyish test, just not as many.",
"You are thinking of this the wrong way, as if we get to set standards based on what a good candidate for the job should be able to do. In actuality we set the standards such that an adequate number of applicants for jobs can end up filling our open positions. This is effected by supply and demand. \n\nE.g. In my field, education, I'd love it if we could require all job applicants to demonstrate a basic aptitude level in behavior analysis. That would be nice. Even nicer though, would be if I didnt have multiple open positions at all times that we can't fill at all. We have to take who we can get, within the current reality of supply (# of applicants) and demand (unfilled positions). People aren't exactly clamoring to get into this field. \n\nE.g. Medical school. Standards are waaay higher than necessary to produce a good doctor, because the applicant supply is so massive and the # of slots is so restricted, they end up having crazy high applicant standards as a result of these same market forces. Not a coincidence that doctoring pays so much more than teaching, even factoring in years of required education.",
"From my experience police in the UK (with the exception of some Met) are in pretty poor shape. Not like crazy fat, more like the kind of guys who use those shitty telesale ab workout things. \n\nWomen usually look in better shape, except one in my home town who is a standard beat cop who must weight about 20 stone. Cracks me up imagining her chasing someone. ",
"The test may be hard relative to your personal standards but for the most part, it is not hard at all. From what I understand, those who fail usualy fail the run portion of the test. I guess it's important to understand that the police are not the same as the military in regards to physical standards. Once you are in, you are pretty much set. You don't really have to do much after you pass the test, you can even be overweight or obese. This is not to say that many officers take their job and appearance lightly, in fact quite the opposite. I was in the Army for 6 years and when I heard the typical fitness test for a police officer, I thought I was being messed with. We must be able to pass a PT test at any hour of any day if requested (Diagnostic) and we are subject to multiple height and weight measurements throughout the year. If you fail to meet either, you can be chaptered (kicked) out of the service (six months at the earliest). \n\n*edits: spelling",
"The Problem is, the only Tests policemen have to do, are before they become policemen. And when they are policemen they could gain 500 pounds and nobody could do anything about it...",
"I can't speak for other departments, but the sergeant at the one I supported told me that as officers get older, the physical requirements of their tests go down. ",
"It's hard depending on if you've let yourself go inbetween graduating and taking the job.\nThey usually get fat because they sit in squad cars much of the day and snack out of boredom and anxiety.\nIt's very common and unfortunate. \nSame reason people with desk jobs get unhealthy.\n",
"As an officer in the UK, our test is woefeul. It's 5.6 on the bleep test and thats it.\n\nTo some extent it annoys me, because my backup to a cagefighting cocaine addicted lunatic could be some fat biff who only just made it to 5.6 on the 3rd attempt.\n\nOut of a team of 25 officers I work with, I can only name 4 or 5 that are strong enough that i'd trust them with my life in a fight.\n\nConsidering we don't use any guns here, it's all the more reason to be physically fit, because everything is more hands on, but we're not.",
"The standards are low. A lot of agencies require a varying number of push-ups/sit-ups to be completed by time (usually one minute), a sit & reach, and a timed 1.5 mile run. If you were to look at the requirements for the armed services versus law enforcement agencies, you'd probably have yourself a good laugh.",
"The fat comes after they graduate and sit in a car and eat fast food a lot. Some departments have annual physical fitness standards but not many. The annual ones generally don't have fat cops. Lots of overtime and stuff generally isn't conducive to exercising on your off time when nursing an injured back from lugging a duty belt around all day. ",
"It's typically exceptionally easy, if you're in relatively decent shape.\n\nThey often don't start out fluffy---they get that way over time. The vast majority of police departments don't have annual fitness tests. Once you get in, you're free to get as fat as you want. For some departments, the lack of tests is due to $$$, and for others it is because the unions fight tooth and nail against them.",
" If I had to guess, it's because they spend a majority of their shift in squad cars. Diet is also a big factor. They don't really get breaks, so they have to eat their lunch in their cars, which means they often get takeout. Vests aren't really flattering on the figure either, so a lot of officers look bigger than they actually are. \n\nSource: come from a family of police. ",
"I'm about to get on a flight so I won't be able to respond to any comments for a while, but I work in law enforcement. More specifically, I work in the training and standards department for my entire state.\n\nHere's what I've learned over my years: many young people enter the training academy in decent shape and (unfortunately) usually in the best shape they'll be in for the rest of their career. Physical fitness is stressed during academy training hours although nearly every department does NOT have fitness maintenance standards. \n\nLaw enforcement is an extremely stressful job and taxing both emotionally and physically. Officers work long shifts and odd hours. This does not foster a healthy work environment nor do officers want to do much besides put their feet up after work. There is also a very high rate of heart disease and alcoholism in the profession. In fact, heart disease is one of the top killers of law enforcement officers (not sure where it sits currently, but I think it's in the top 3). There's also a high rate of divorce in the profession. \n\nSo the next time you see a \"fluffy\" cop, just remember they might not have always been that way and they're doing work in an environment which inherently does not foster good emotional and physical health. ",
"Police Departments are, of course, run by local governments -- so the required qualifications to become an officer tend to vary wildly.",
"They only have to pass it to get in, after that they only ever need to requalify with firearms. So they start out in shape and get fluffy over time.",
"I've been in law enforcement for 12 years. I am not \"fluffy\" myself but I do my best to maintain a level of fitness. It was easier when I was single. Now married and with a family it is fairly difficult to fit in workout time on shift work, but I do my best.\n\nAlmost everything I have seen here is correct. Shift work, overtime, long hours, all make it difficult to find time to work out and eat a healthy meal. Plus sitting and irregular sleep. And yes, alcohol, but for every cop who pounds the booze to feel better there are one or two others addicted to crossfit (who may also pound the booze).\n\nThe test to get in is, as what has been said here, the minimum fitness requirement. Most people with a basic level of health who are fairly active can pass. Once in the academy you train and run regularly. Fitness is encouraged. Once you are out, there is no fitness requirement.\n\nHowever, my department (and many others) have fitness incentives. We conduct a yearly fitness test and the better you do on it, the more time off you receive as a bonus. There are no penalties for showing up and walking your mile and a half or just refusing to participate.\n\nA test required to keep your job would be difficult (and in many cases unfair) to scale for older officers, smaller officers, female officers, bodybuilders who can lift a car but can't run for shit, etc. And to be honest you want older, experienced officers in the field. They may know how to the job far better than the gym monster who just got out of the academy.\n\nIt's also why proper techniques for gaining control of a combative subject are not *supposed* to rely on strength. Doesn't mean some bruisers don't rely on that, but I'm getting off topic.",
"The test is not that hard. I completed it as a 'fluffy' 15 year old and did better than half of the attendees there. My dad was in charge of it that year.",
"At least in the US, once they're hired having passed the fitness test, it's significantly harder to impose the same expectation of fitness. In a lot of places, political pressure makes it impossible to enforce fitness standards.",
"I'm a training director for a local LE agency. The problem we face is a multifaceted one. Most agencies in our area(SE US) have an initial physical fitness test for hiring but a substantial amount is spent on personnel to hire and train them. So once they spend that, they don't want to lose them for physical standards. Most agencies, even our state ones, do not require an annual Physical Fitness test. Agencies cannot afford to lose employees because they cannot pass a test once they've paid all that to hire and train them. I have worked hard to change this at our agency. Our leadership is leading the way in our area. We have a pre employment test and a bi-annual test to maintain your employment. If you fail one, you have a short period of time to pass or your suspended without pay. Much more of that and you're without a job. \nLE is a very stressful job and shift work along with eating fast food on a regular basis makes it hard to stay thin. \nTraining budgets are the first to get cut when funding gets thin. We have relied heavily on federal grants to support our physical and mental fitness standards. This attitude is definitely the future of LE but it is hard to get it to catch on. \n\nEdit: we also have provided a fully equipped gym for our employees to work on their physical fitness. We do everything we can to promote a healthy lifestyle. It's better for us and better for our community. \n\nThis ha been a long time in the making and we are now one of the highest paid departments in our state. We have created a place where our community loves us and does a lot to support us. In turn, we have a lot of qualified motivated people who want to work here. \n\nEdit 2: and I cannot bring myself to eat a donut. Haven't had one in 10 years cause I don't want someone to see a cop eat a donut. ",
"From watching an episode of cops I can tell you they don't eat well. They need something they can eat in their car, quick and available at any time. Fast food works well for that.",
"It may depend on if they are wearing body armor, that may give them that fluffy appearance. ",
"There's little maintenance. My dad is one of the best cops in his department but he isn't remotely healthy. More than fluffy. He was in good condition in the academy and then let it go. Academy isn't too hard really, but he certainly didn't do his body any favors since. ",
"Because once you are on the job you aren't required to exercise... that's on you. Most police officers are in shape it's only the big guys that stick out ",
"I see this in the teaching profession.\nFresh teachers have the latest methodology in their brains, but once you leave uni you fall behind on current practise. Life gets busy and you get lazy, both professionally and physically.\n\nThis is the same for a lot of professions. You complete your training, and pass the test. Reach the standard. Then it's a downward slope from there.",
"I'm a cop. The basic PT test to get into the academy generally isn't all that tough. The academy itself is the hard part. Several people from my session washed out because of the PT. Most people are in at least decent shape by the time they graduate the academy. \n\nOnce you get out of the academy, though, there's usually not much incentive from the department to stay in shape. Nobody from the department is forcing us to work out or eat right, so some guys let themselves go. On top of that, the job is mostly sedentary. We definitely have short bursts of activity, but what a lot of people don't realize is that the majority of a patrol officer's day is spent sitting on his butt. Either sitting in the car patrolling, or sitting at the station doing paperwork. And even though it's a sedentary job, it's mentally draining. I come home from work exhausted most days. Then add in overtime, court, extra jobs, etc. A lot of guys can't find the time or the motivation to work out.\n\nAnother factor is shift work. We work odd hours, and that can make it tough to eat well. On busy days, we may only have a few minutes to grab a bite to eat between calls, which makes fast food the easy option. I work night shift, so if I don't make myself a lunch, fast food is pretty much the only option I have. \n\nI will say that most of the guys I work with are in good shape. Most of us realize how important fitness is to our job performance and safety, so we keep ourselves healthy. We put a lot of emphasis on fitness at my department, and there's definitely a stigma against being a fat cop. Personally, if I'm getting my ass handed to me in a fight, I don't want some out of shape slob showing up to back me up. But there will always be people who either don't care, or aren't willing to put in the effort to get themselves in shape. ",
"Some of the [fitness tests](_URL_0_) demonstrated for POLAMK (or police academy for bachelor and masters degrees in law enforcement).\n\nTranslations \n\n- Leuanveto literally jaw press\n\n- penkkipunnerrus bench press \n\n- nuken kanto carrying a doll\n\n- ketteryys dexterity\n\nAlso I've never seen a fat Finnish police officer, investigators and other fancy 3 piece suit clothed higher ups however ...",
"who said it was so hard? ",
"It's not. \n\nEven the military PFTs are not that difficult. You can be a Marine if you run 3 miles in under 28 minutes. Do three pullups and have a friend who will lie and say you can do 100 crunches in 2 minutes. \n\nMy police academy experience was run a mile and a half in under 16 minutes. Bench a body weight %.\n\nThe bench was absurd. Women were being asked to bench 45lbs or something like 40% body weight. Men were getting 102% body weight. That's since changed but those women are still grand mothered in. \n\nPolice and other institutions of violence usually rely more on your perception of their level of force than is actually true.\n\nJust learning a few of your rights is enough to dumbfound most officers. E.g. \"You can stop me and ask for ID but anything more you need a reason. Are you detaining me?\" \n\nIf they don't give a reason just leave. Ignore them and leave.",
"As I understand it, in Japan, quite a few of the police officers are judo black belts (and in shape.)\n\n ",
"in the UK the police fitness tests are also pretty easy for anyone who does at least some exercise, all they do is weed out people who are clearly unfit",
"The thing is that there is no universal police fitness test. Every department is different. Departments that have difficulty filling their ranks, like NYPD, have an obstacle course because if they used a standard Pushup-situp-run, they'd have to fail a large number of their recruits which they can't afford to do. Meanwhile NY State Police gets to be a bit pickier and has far more difficult standards.\n\nAs for why many cops are fat, their job has long hours of sitting, and often eating unhealthy food on the road, if they don't have a workout plan incorporated into their schedule, it just kinda happens.",
"If it was anything like my time in the AF, alot of senior ranking people that got fat or were just clearly unable to pass our already pretty easy PT test would partner up with younger airmen and use them to fudge their numbers knowing the young guy will probably comply and for the most part the people running the PT tests are close to those who cant pass and just brush it under the rug.",
"Ok, guys, here we go. \n\nFor the Americans providing (or looking for) definitive answers on physical fitness policies at police departments in the US, here are some numbers you need to know.\n\nAll of this is taken from the [PDF -Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2008](_URL_0_).\n\nYou can bet these numbers have increased in the eight years since this census was done. \n\nAgain, this is all from 2008. \n\n17,985 state and local agencies\n - 12,501 local police departments\n - 3,063 sheriffs’ offices\n - 50 primary state law enforcement agencies\n - 1,733 special jurisdiction agencies\n - 683 other agencies, primarily county constable offices in Texas. \n\nYes, Texas is special - the constables here mostly handle civil service like divorce papers, evictions and such. They are full peace officer and have the right of arrest. Many of the bigger departments like in the Austin and Houston areas do traffic enforcement. They will all back up another department if there isn't anyone else to call on, like in tiny counties, or way out in the boondocks. Source - my dad retired as a sergeant from one of Travis County's constable departments.\n\nI know a lot about three Texas city police departments and one Texas Constable's office. I know quite a bit about one Indiana city PD (even if it was less than 20 sworn officers), two other Texas city PDs and even less about two Texas Sheriff departments. I'd say I have a pretty good range of departmental knowledge for Texas, especially since the three main city departments I am very familiar with have between 6 and 5000 officers. \n\nI know nothing useful about how federal agencies operate (there are 73 as of 2008 including 33 Inspector Generals\n\nI can't tell you that American law enforcement agencies require yearly physical fitness tests. I can tell you that the cities of Houston, Pflugerville and Rollingwood do not require yearly physical fitness tests. Neither does Pct. 5 Constables in Travis County. \n\nThose three city departments varied wildly in their training. [Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE)](_URL_1_) sets the required minimums for training and the departments go from there. Large departments usually have their own academies that tend to go well beyond the minimums. Small departments don't usually do their own training and hire out of one of the accredited agencies that runs academies. You can attend an academy before being hired (as opposed to what big cities tend to do - hire you and run you through their own academy). The one I'm the most familiar with (not very) is in the Austin area - Capitol Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG). Bonus: the independent academies may not all have the same curriculum. \n\nMy point? There is no one answer for America when it comes to questions about how law enforcement agencies do .\n\nI would be happy to answer any questions that I can and research those that I can't answer. I am just sick of seeing people state something for the entire US when you honestly can't even state that every agency within a single county has the same requirements/policy/procedure. \n\nTL;DR: The US has so many law enforcement agencies that NO ONE can tell you that they ALL do something the same way.\n\nYes, this is a gigantic pet peeve of mine. ",
"FWIW, there are about 18,000 different police agencies in the US: cities, colleges, ports, counties, states, military, and various federal agencies. They all have different standards for every damn thing, including physical fitness.",
"Source: just graduated from BLET (Basic Law Enforcement Training)\nI just finished and I was pretty in shape when I started the academy and had a passing score for our fitness from the beginning so it's not that hard as long as your decently in shape but what the major issue is like in NC where I work is you have to do a yearly \"Fitness\" test but that test is nowhere near what you do in the academy once you have a job your department will basically hook you up to a heart monitor and make you walk (pretty slowly at that) for about 30 mins and as long as it doesn't look like your heart is gonna explode then your good and you pass and can keep your job basically there's no real incentives to stay healthy or in shape.\n",
"Speaking as an ex Marine and current police candidate, the police fitness test its not hard at all. It's rather laughable.",
"In Scotland its just a bleep test. Used to be a rather lenient timed 1.5 mile run, and the bleep test is easier than that. ",
"Police physical fitness testing and driver's license testing should be performed annually, not once. ",
"Lots of good answers here, but the \"why\" part of it is missing. The \"why\" is because of unions. My fire department has tried to implement annual fitness tests many times, and the unions always oppose it. They've even tried offering cash incentives to stay in shape, with limited success. ",
"In America, police have incredible support from both Republicans, who believe police can do no wrong, and from Democrats, who believe any person that's a union member can do no wrong. \n\nSo while there is a physical fitness requirement to get the job, there isn't one to keep the job, because increasing the standards our police must live by is out of the question politically. ",
"Sometimes the extra fluff is body armor. The police around here in Columbus wear it. Makes them look fluffy. ",
"You try sitting in a car for 5 hours at a time, 12 hour shifts, for years on end. See how your aging metabolism handles that.",
"My dad is a officer in WA. Part of the appearance of \"fluffy\" is also all the equipment and body armor that adds to the bulk shape of the body.",
"A lot of the same posted reasons for Police being \"portly\" apply to the fire department. You get in shape to get on and try to stay fit. Sometimes you don't eat because your so busy. When you do eat it might be interrupted, many a meal has been left behind to be eaten hours later. If you do get back to it it's cold or ruined. Sometimes you're out and you just grab something just to get it in you. Factor in sleep disruptions and eating at a fire scene at some odd hour too. No, my station has no fitness equipment either. It's a small station built in 1895, there's no space for anything and the city doesn't buy us anything. ",
"A lot of times the test is only given at the entry exam and during the police academy. It also isn't very difficult. I took it hung over with a belly full of country-fried steak and eggs and ended up with the second highest score and got the job. The requirements are easy enough for someone in their early 20s to get done even in questionable shape.\n\nFor departments that DO test regularly, as you spend time in a department you earn your place in the \"good ol' boys\" club and your buddies will \"pencil whip\" your scores to make sure you slide by if needed as long as you're a solid officer.",
"My dad is an officer and basically once you pass the test you don't have to do anything again unless your department makes you. My dad is a fitness buff and 47 so he makes sure all on duty officers out in the field can at least keep up with him. For the 20 year olds he expects them to beat him:p",
"Alright, so, I have tested for multiple offices in Illinois, including the Illinois State Police. You must pass the physical for the Illinois State Police every year. Each age bracket has its own set of guidelines. I can only attest to the 21-29 years of age. The requirements to pass the physical exam are:\n\nBench press 99% of your body weight.\n \nFor the state police they use a cabled smith machine, but for local cities and counties they use a real bench press\n\nPerform 38 situps in a minute:\n\nShoulder blades must touch the floor and elbows must touch the knees. If your fingers become unlocked behind your head, the test is over\n\nSit and reach 16 inches:\n\nSit down, feet against a box then reach 16 inches past your feet\n\n1.5 mile run in 13:30 min:\n\nJust start running\n\n\nOnly one time has this been different is one particular city where you run an obstacle course and then fire a gun at the end.",
"It's because their standards aren't very high. As a Marine, I can tell you most fighting organizations that require physical tests, to include the Marines, don't make their standards high enough. Running three miles does not even remotely compare to a 15 hour urban battle, nor demonstrate how one would handle such a situation. But I guess they all need recruits, so they can't make them too hard. ",
"I've never heard anyone descorbe it as hard. More like possible to fail if you really try to ",
"My uncle joined the force fit and got fat while in it. In Australia, when you have a government type job it's hard to lose it.",
"It's not hard. At least when I gave it a shot in 2001. And even if you failed it, there were was around it. We had a very large and tall man in our class that could not pass any running test or get over a chain link fence as required. He still graduated. I did not because I missed one shot with my left hand. True story. ",
"I wonder of my local PD has annual testing. I'll have to look into it.\nWe do at the fire dept. It's a combo physical agility with our health physicals every year. If you can't do the x number of sit ups, push ups, and a few others and pass the running stress test your done... Worst part is its in January, right after all the holiday chow down. ",
"IIRC, there was an answer last time this was posted that basically explained how having fat police is a sign of safety and security. Think about it, you only really see large cops during the day, when you feel most secure. This is because (mostly) that the average day is going to be pretty mundane. Just driving around and, as another poster pointed out, free food. Now think back to the last time you were pulled over at night. Not any fat cops? That's because all the newbies and very fit cops do the night activities which would probably require more physical activities. ",
"Why are they so *fat?* It's by default, since those that apply for the job are almost always the type with a strong aversion to hard physical work and the possibility of having to exert themselves. Their grand ambition is to have spent as much of their career as possible doing as little as possible.",
"In my region in northern california most the policemen are in very good shape. It varies from department to department ",
"In Australia, at least from what I've heard, they only have to pass it upon any promotion. So you can get fat if you don't intend to move up in the world.",
"The problem being there is a fairly decent physical test to finish police academy , but following that most departments never test again. So combine that with a job that is largely sedentary and they mostly eat fast food for convenience and you have a recipe for poor health. ",
"What PD has tough physical standards? I've always been in decent shape, but nothing spectacular, and I achieved top tier stats without even preparing. It's more of a test to make sure you don't have a physical disability. ",
"What police lack in physical fitness, they makeup in community relations tactics and decision making abilities.",
"What I want to know is what are the physical tests that criminals have to do? They seem to be as fast as the police.",
"Sitting in a car for half a shift, not getting a chance to eat a healthy meal, usually fast food or shoveling leftovers on the go makes it hard to stay healthy. Also, being mentally drained at the end of the shift makes exercise incredibly hard.\n\nThat said, I see more and more cops staying fit these days than when I was working.",
"The test is for Academy. After that, it's up to you to keep up fitness. Most departments don't implement any fitness regulations unless you're in a specialty unit (like SWAT). 10-16 hour days can cut into that too. It's worse for graveyard shift too because restaurants that are open at 2am usually aren't healthy ones. \n\nSource: I'm a cop trying to keep my fitness up. ",
"In the police academy IRC you only need to take a fitness test to pass the physical part. However once you get to your police unit they usually do not have any physical fitness tests beyond that. In the military they have a test when you pass basic training and a test every 6 months, meaning you always have to be in top shape or you will get into a lot of trouble. In the Air Force, if you made a 90% of above on your test you could take it in a years time instead of 6 months. Most police departments do not have this so over time with all the free food and charity officers get, they put on some weight.",
"Police officer here.\n\nNot every department has a PT test and the ones that do the test will vary widely by department. With my department we had rigorous physical training throughout our para-military academy and we had to pass a PT test in order to graduate. After the academy the regular patrol officers don't have any regular fitness tests that they have to pass and some let themselves go.",
"being a kid in my hometown was great, all the cops were horribly out of shape and had no chance of catching you on foot.",
"Most **entrance** physical fitness tests for police forces aren't that hard.\n\nThe real question you need to ask is: why the hell is the American public so physically unfit?"
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3yrgp4 | what is the actual difference between name brand and off brand foods? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3yrgp4/eli5_what_is_the_actual_difference_between_name/ | {
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"text": [
"Most of the time very little. One brand invests in advertising and generally is the earlier to market.\n\n\"Off brands\" are usually very close imitations that are cheaper, and typically don't advertise"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
3l9me5 | why don't bands tour and have 3+ hour shows where they play all their music? | Obviously the ticket should cost more, and there would be intermissions, but is there a reason bands don't do this? Is it not feasible physically, mentally, and economically?
I'm extremely passionate about The Front Bottoms, and with their new album out it's depressing knowing I probably won't be able to hear even an honest fraction of their current discography. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3l9me5/eli5_why_dont_bands_tour_and_have_3_hour_shows/ | {
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"Because that would be absolutely exhausting and some of these bands are playing almost nightly during their tours.",
"It's fucking exhausting to play any instrument for that length of time, even for professionals. And the biggest limiting factor is the vocalist, that kind of strain is asking for them to blow out their voice, especially considering many haven't been classically trained to care for it. \n\nThat's how guitarists get carpal tunnel, drummers get arthritis and bassists get to work hard for once. \n\nEven in school and practicing, playing for that length of time is usually never a good idea. It's past the point where you can build up endurance and to the level where you're injuring yourself. I can't think of any instrument where seriously playing for more than an hour and a half is ever a decent idea. It's actually a big problem with performance majors in music school who spend all day practicing and then blown out their voice/chops/hands/wrists/feet. You wouldn't consider somebody doing deadlifts for 3 hours non stop to be safely exercising, would you?",
"In addition to what others are saying, some bands just have too many songs that it'd be impossible. A lot of older rock and metal bands have multiple hour long albums, making a whole tracklist last the better part of a day. Rush, for example, has something like 19 hours of songs."
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7btkuw | psuedo forces (especially centrifugal force) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7btkuw/eli5_psuedo_forces_especially_centrifugal_force/ | {
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"dpkrgdp"
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"text": [
"A pseudo force or \"fictitious force\" is something that is observed when the frame of reference that you are in is *accelerating*. What you are feeling is not a real force but a reaction (in the opposite direction) to how your frame of reference is accelerating.\n\nElevators are good examples of pseudo/fictitious forces because you can't see outside your frame of reference. When the elevator is moving at a constant speed, it feels the same as if it is not moving. When it is accelerating up from a stop, then you feel an extra force pushing down on you. This is a reaction to the acceleration of the car. The opposite happens you are accelerating down -- you'll feel lighter (almost weightless if the acceleration is fast enough).\n\nFor a turning car, the acceleration is not changing the speed, but the direction. A car turning to the left has an accelerating vector pointing left. You in the car will feel a reaction force pushing you right as the car turns left. Since the windows are transparent you can also perceive this as you wanting to continue forward while the car is accelerating left. Relative to the trees outside the car you don't feel a force but relative to the turning car it feels like you are being pulled to the right inside the car."
]
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4t0u8e | how does this clock work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4t0u8e/eli5_how_does_this_clock_work/ | {
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"d5dozbm"
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"It looks to me like it has a bunch of magnets behind it, and they activate in different orders to move the magnetic liquid around. Someone would then have taken the time to program the different timing and order the magnets need to activate in to create the shapes corresponding with its internal clock.\n\nIt's a really cool idea"
]
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[]
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||
f69vhr | what do you do when someone passed away at home? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f69vhr/eli5_what_do_you_do_when_someone_passed_away_at/ | {
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"fi3eir9"
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"text": [
"This is better in r/answers."
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||
567owl | how do small island nations like in the caribbean prepare for a severe hurricane? | They can't "evacuate" so to speak because they don't have nearly as much room to move as, say, the United States. What happens if a category 5 is going to hit it dead on, what do they do? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/567owl/eli5_how_do_small_island_nations_like_in_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"d8h4qbo"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"In general the following:\n* Ensure drains are clear of debris that could contribute to flooding\n* Move homeless or those living in unsafe areas (e.g. flood prone areas) to temporary \"safehouses\"\n* Have emergency services/ the army on alert\n* cross fingers\n\nIn short not much."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
301dn7 | musical time signature. i get 4/4 time, but i've never understood the others. how does 3/4, 2/4, 6/8, etc. differ? | I was in band in school for 6+ years (elementary to high school) and I STILL don't get different time signatures (I wasn't a great student). To me, every other meter simply sounds like 4/4 at a different pace. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/301dn7/eli5_musical_time_signature_i_get_44_time_but_ive/ | {
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"The first number is the number of beats in a measure. The second number is which note gets the beat. \n\nExamples: \n3/4- 3 Beats in a Measure, Quarter Note represents one Beat\n6/8- Six beats in a measure, Eigth Note is a single beat, and a quarter note acts like a half note from 4/4\n4/2- 4 Beats in a measure, Half note gets a beat so a quarter note acts like an eigth note in 4/4",
"It's about the \"flow\" of the meter; where the accented beats tend to fall.\n\n4/4 is the standard - there's a firm beat on 1 and a smaller beat on 3 (DUM da DA da).\n\n3/4 has an emphasized first beat - like a waltz. DUM da da DUM da da. If you tried to write a melody that flowed like that in 4/4, every measure would look weird - it's just easier to organize this way.\n\n2/4 only has the strong beat on 1. A lot of marches come in 2/4, with the strong beat being the left foot (DUM da DUM da DUM da).\n\n6/8 is a triplet meter that feels a bit like 2/4 - except with a focus on triplet instead of duplet notes (DAH da da DA da da). This always makes me thing of sea shanties or pirate-y songs.\n\nWhat's important to remember is that it's possible to write any music in any time signature. Composers just pick the signature that fits best with their work because it leads to simpler notes (nobody wants to see a dotted sixteenth note) and cleaner measures that make it easier to read for the musicians and give a natural feel to the music before its ever played. I could write a John Phillip Sousa march in 12/8 or a waltz in 7/2, it would just be a mess on paper.",
"In simplest terms, there are up beats, and down beats. the 1st beat is up, and the others are down (extremely simplified ELI5 here). you put more emphasis on the upbeat, and the rest just carry it along.\n\nSo 4/4 is\n\nDA da da da\n\nDA da da da\n\nin 3/4, you have 3 beats per measure, this is probably the easiest to get a gut feeling for, [in a waltz](_URL_0_)\n\nDA da da\n\nDA da da\n\n2/4 is very square, very binary, since you get one up and one down beat\n\nDA da\n\nDA da\n\n6/8 is a bit like 2/4 is slightly different in the way that each beat is divided into thirds, not halves, which can give it more of a \"dancy\" feeling.\n\n5/4 is a funny beast, it feels pretty unnatural, like [the Isengard theme in LOTR](_URL_1_). It's like having one too many downbeats, like a clunky machine.\n\nThis is about as much I can do in a simple text format, I recommend you check some stuff you youtube, see where you can hear it.",
"They sound different based on where the emphasis is placed (on which beat), and how the beats are grouped. Listen to an average pop or rock song, probably in 4/4 then listen to a waltz (3/4) and a jig which is in some /8 signature (depends on what kind of jig, might be 6/8 9/8 12/8)\n\nThe top number is the number of beats per measure. And the bottom number tells what note is equal to 1 beat. So in 4/4 the quater note gets the beat, and there are 4 beats to a measure. So if you were counting the beats/tapping your foot, it would go **1** 2 **3** 4 | **1** 2 **3** 4. (bold are the emphasized beats, the stronger ones)\n\nIn 3/4 the quarter note still gets the beat, but there are only 3 beats to a measure. So if you were tapping your foot to the music, and counting it would go **1** 2 3 | **1** 2 3. This what you commonly hear in a waltz.\n\nSo 2/4 is the same with only 2 beats per measure (**1** 2 **1** 2)\n\n6/8, means there are 6 beats per measure and the eighth note gets the beat. But it can be a little complicated because you can group the beats in groups of 2 or 3 (123 456) or (12 34 56)",
"Top number is how many beats per measure.\n\nBottom number is what note gets 1 beat.\n\nYou can usually tell meter by the downbeat. Most \"rock & roll\" is in 4/4 time, meaning there are 4 beats per measure and the quarter note gets one beat. Other styles such as waltzes are done in 3/4 time. These are called \"simple\" time signatures because they're...well..simple. \n\n6/8 is a complex time signature. But since we know what the top and bottom numbers do, there would be 6 beats per measure, and the EIGHTH note would get one beat in 6/8 time. \n\nSo why are they called \"simple\" and \"complex\"? It has to do with beat emphasis and counting.\n\n4/4 meter is counted like this: ONE two three four, ONE two three four. The first note is emphasized. Think about different rock songs not made by Led Zeppelin (heh), just your straight forward rock and roll sound.. Notice something? Maybe with the drums or the bass? Always seems that there's a \"hit\" on the first beat, doesn't it.\n\n3/4 time is similar to rock, except the \"waltz\" meter is counted like this: ONE two three, ONE two three.. So like rock the first beat gets emphasis but there's only three beats in a measure.\n\nComplex meter is called that because its...complex. 6/8 time is counted like this: ONE two three FOUR five six. as you can see there's TWO emphasis beats in the measure. So it's not much different than 3/4 time. \n\nThere's a bunch of other different time signatures I've encountered in my musical career. Jazz, especially, tends to want to use crazy time signatures (5/4, 11/4, 3/2, etc). But the principle is all the same: top number is how many beats in a measure, bottom number is what note gets 1 beat.",
"Thank you all very much!\n\nWhile some of the answers were as confusing as it was when I was in school, a few of them with examples really helped (one two three four Vs. one-and-uh two-and-uh...)\n\nIt seems to me (probably wrongly) that the main reason for all the various time signatures is organization. The way I understand it, any piece of music could be written in 4/4 and sound the same as the original time signature, but the sheet music for it would look like unorganized garbage."
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145627 | what is the difference between web design and web development? | I read the wiki articles, but I am still unclear. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/145627/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_web_design/ | {
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"Lets pretend that a website is a car!\n\nDeveloper builds the engine and other parts that make the car go! It's all \"under the hood\" and \"makes things work\".\n\nDesigner makes the shape and look of the car, and creates the style. It's all \"what you see\" and \"what you touch\".",
"Designer: How it looks\n\nDeveloper: How it functions (almost always behind the scenes stuff you don't see.)"
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3xnwrm | why there aren't in ear bluetooth headsets without wires. | Like one where you just put a single piece into each ear. Does the technology just not exist, or what? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xnwrm/eli5_why_there_arent_in_ear_bluetooth_headsets/ | {
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"Batteries.\n\nThey have a similar gadget, the hearing aide, and if you know someone who has them you know they go through a lot of batteries. Bigger Bluetooth headsets have more space for the rechargeable battery, so they only have to be charged a couple times a week. If you make the battery tiny, you either recharge all the time or you go through lots of expendable batteries.",
"Cost, complexity, marketability. Trying to create a product that sounds decent, has a usable battery life and charging ports, but without being appreciably larger than normal earbuds, and coming in at profitable but sell-able pricepoint isn't easy.\n\nThat said, they actually DO exist:\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_3_"
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"http://www.bragi.com/",
"https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1629248706/earin-the-worlds-smallest-wireless-earbuds"
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5yc9fi | what was the first "worm" on the internet? how did it happen and what did it do? | My systems programming professor mentioned today that the first worm on the internet was an accident but I had no idea what it was or what it did it? Was it made by a user or a developer? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5yc9fi/eli5_what_was_the_first_worm_on_the_internet_how/ | {
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"The first 'worm' on the web, well the first one to get media attention was the 'Morris Worm'.\nIt was written by a MIT student and it was created to guage how big the internet actually is.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Back in the late 80s, nobody was really all that concerned about Internet security. Pretty much everyone online was college engineering student or worked at a research lab & only a few of their computers were directly connected. There were a few fairly well-known security holes in the Unix systems that ran most of the machines on the 'net at the time.\n\nThe worm was a program that used one of these holes to attack another host on the network & install itself there. Once installed on the other computer, it would find another host to infect. It was intended to be a harmless proof of concept but, unfortunately, there was one major bug in it...\n\nIf the worm attacked a system that was already infected, it didn't care and *reinfected* the machine with another copy of the worm. Machines would have so many copies of the worm that they were basically unusable. If you took the machine down to fix them & reconnected them to the network, they'd instantly get reinfected.\n\nThis was pretty bad.\n\nThe solution was to shut down everything, take all the infected machines online & not reconnect them until the worm had been purged and the security hole cleared."
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p1p92 | hydraulic fracking | And why is it good/bad? Is there good non-biased research available on it?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/p1p92/eli5_hydraulic_fracking/ | {
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"Hydraulic fracturing is a process where an engineered fluid with a variety of chemicals is pumped downhole to induce a fracture in a rock formation. The fluid is injected carrying a proppant sand that is designed to prop open the fractures in the rock. The reason it is so popular is that it has made drilling large horizontal wells in shale layers. Shale is a rock that can hold quite a large volume of hydrocarbons inside but does not allow them to flow through easily. \n\nThe benefit of fracturing is that it opens up large gas reservoirs that would otherwise not be commercially viable. It has jumped production in the US massively and has opened up a lot of new areas for drilling.\n\nThe drawback is that some studies have shown that areas that have been hydraulically fractured have seemed to indicate that natural gas had entered the drinking water supply. So far there has not been any evidence of chemicals from the fracturing fluid entering fresh water reserves **EDIT**:The article independent has linked to below cites a failure on the part of the wastewater treatment plant to adequately treat water used in the fracturing process. This is a major concern, and one of the reasons I conclude by stating that additional effects do need to be studied. Regulations do need to be more strongly enforced. Another major drawback is the large amount of water required to perform a frack job. This water is obviously no longer drinkable. \n\nI am on my phone at present and therefore cannot provide websites for further reading but I am a petroleum engineer and this is obviously a massive debate in the industry right now. \n\nIs it safe? I can't say. I think both sides are unwilling to compromise and I think there is room to do so. I don't believe it's 2012 end of the world, but the effects definitely need to be studied more for how prominent fracturing has become. ",
"Petroleum engineer here. I'm going to keep it simple and try to avoid the political stuff. \n\nFracking is usually done into a shale formation. These shale formations contain oil and/or gas in their pores but it is trapped (high porosity, low permeability). When you frac, you pump in a whole bunch of water with chemicals and tiny solids in it at extremely high pressures to form cracks through the shale formation. The chemicals and solids serve to better open and keep the cracks open. This is usually done in the horizontal part of a well drilled into and parallel to the shale formation so that the area of drainage is increased. Good video here: _URL_0_\n\nPlease don't blanketly say that fracking is always dangerous. It can be done safely or improperly like many things in our industry.",
"johnnybg00de did great job of explaining the process of Hydraulic Fracking, just want to help on the second part of your question a little. With a few things to keep in mind when reading the research on Fracking so far.\n\n\n\nNatural gas, is well, natural. As in, it already occurs in the ground, and at many different depths, both shallow and deep. Methane is one of the most abundant compounds on Earth. It has already been a problem, per se, when digging water wells, and ore mines for thousands of years. Methane is colorless and odorless (the smell is added so people can detect leaks), and is considered non toxic and biologically inert. Methane is only detected if tested for.\n\n\n\nMany water wells are already abandoned because of contaminants (not just methane), either they were not built correctly or where damaged and not repaired. Water wells are a little more complicated than simply digging a hole.\n\n\n\n\nNow of course, Hydraulic Frackings purpose is to extract natural gas from the ground. It's an expensive and committed project, and you don't just drill anywhere. You locate where there is a lot of natural gas, and drill there.\n\n\n\n\nNow still being completely unbiased, there does appear to be quite a number of reports, linking methane in drinking water (well water), with areas where Fracking is going on. However, so far these appear to be cases of correlation, not causation. Simply, where there is a lot of natural gas, there will be wells with gas in them, and Fracking sites wanting to extract the gas.\n\n\n\nSo far, there has been no cases of Fracking chemicals in peoples drinking water, meaning the gas has most likely come from another source. I am unaware of any reports measuring methane levels in drinking water both before and after Fracking happens. Which is understandable; why test for methane if you haven't thought to before.\n\n\n\nIt's definitely a good thing to be concerned with any mining/drilling operations close to peoples homes, but there is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding."
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5j2imn | how can a hacker be tracked after he's hacked a system? | Edit: Thank you everyone, it's all very clear to me now! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5j2imn/eli5_how_can_a_hacker_be_tracked_after_hes_hacked/ | {
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"When you connect to a system, the system logs the connecting parties information. As well, the ISP will have logs showing where incoming and outgoing connections originated.",
"You can look at styles and methods of one hack and associate it with the same methods being used in other hacks with known attackers. For example, certain malware programs are known to be Russian others are known to be American. Once you know the attack methods, you can often know the attacker. \n\nThe hacker could of made a mistake and left traced that they were there. Those logs might be viable to trace the hacker's origin. \n\nYou can trace the released information backwards. Find out who has the information now, then find out where they got it from and so on until you arrive at the hacker. \n\nIf you have access to the routing infrastructure of the internet (like the US government does) then you might have the ability to track historic traffic. Giving you the ability to tell who was sending packets to where at what times. \n\nOr it could be ways that we simply aernt aware of.",
"Everything that happens on the internet gets logged. So much happens at once, that it can be almost impossible to keep up with events in real time, but once something has happened and you know where to look, you can go back and look at the logs of the servers involved and piece together what happened.",
"In a bigger company, there's more security appliances and more systems in general to get from outside - > inside.\n\nLet's say I'm the yahoo hacker, and I know they keep the data in a database. Now, supposedly the hackers had proprietary code, so they knew exactly what server the database with the passwords were kept.\n\nIn order to connect to that Server, I'd have to first log into the network. The firewall is the first 'stop' my connection makes. It logs my IP address, a few other bits of info, and then let's me continue into the network.\n\nEach network wire that connects me like tree vines through a jungle makes note of where I'm from and where I'm going. At this point, it's dots on a treasure map. \n\nI then have to go from the \"DMZ\" network to their \"Production\" network. As much as we try to keep the networks separate, there's ALWAYS a link. The server I authenticate with in the DMZ network logs the credentials I used, time & date, etc. \n\nSame thing happens when I log into the Production network. Then, once I'm in there, I log into the Database server and run a script to export a bunch of files that contain the passwords.\n\nNow I'm ready to leave. I run a script that has a 30 second (or whatever) timer. I disconnect from each system and use that script. This 'clears' the logs from MOST devices. But it's not a golden ticket. It doesn't work on everything because the company has a 3rd party app that is creating a map of my connection -and every connection- that I couldn't have predicted existed. \n\nEither way, no one is dumb enough to hack it from their house so it looks like I came from ____. \n\nSo the security guys say \"ok, he used JDoe's account to login. Obviously JDoe's credentials were stolen. Let's see if he was phished\" (most common way)\n\nThey get their email engineers to begin searching JDoe's email. They have a 3rd party application that will grab every link, attachment, and file that was sent to and from him, and then automatically start crossing off the ones that are save. Then they notice, like the Podestra emails, links that are uncommon. Links I've either never received before, or are flagged by the 3rd party as suspicious. \n\nNow they see that {email address}, someone I've communicated in the past with, sent me a phishy email and I thought it was legit. \n\nNow they trace the network at Bob's company, and so on. \n\n**Source:**\n\n**15 yrs in IT infrastructure.**\n ",
"A lot of hackers use pre-designed systems which follow certain patterns of attacks (of which there are a lot of different ones, some to gain access, some to confuse the other system, some to make the other system fail, etc.). Moving data over a network requires addresses. Where the data is going to as well as coming from. There are ways to obscure the actual addresses, but not all systems are fooled all the times. Most systems that may be targeted have many layers of defenses, some allow penetration into a false area of the target system while alerting the system to the attack, almost like a honey-pot. Since a lot of the attacks and defenses are automated, and not occurring while a guy with busted glasses sits in a former Russian missile bunker while twirling a pen and typing with one hand (Thanks, GoldenEye for that image) they are extremely quick and it will require the study of network records to figure out not only if there was an attack (or hack) but from where.\n\nu/miliean2 does a pretty good job of breaking down styles and footprints. There is a lot of fascinating techniques if you are into cryptology or tech in general. If OP isn't too busy being Pres Elect.",
"Throw away, because.\n\nThis is quite a complex topic so ill try my best at the ELI5. I had something written about 5 times but deleted it because it was too detailed and complex.\n\nEverything you do on a system leaves evidence. Using digital forensics you can find that evidence. Computer systems and networks are pretty complex but the reality is that it is really hard to hide everything on a system. Even if you think you have cleared everything something is usually left behind. Using appropriate evidence collection you can gather all sorts of good info. Looking into the tools used (are they custom or widely available), information targeted, vulnerabilities used, connection information, and other evidence you can paint a pretty decent picture. The tools or vectors that are used are often repeated , somewhat of a script and once they have been identified can act like a fingerprint. If you know doing x y and z with tools a and b (on a very simple level); and it works and is effective, it will likely be repeated. No one wants to reinvent the wheel every attack, especially because many attacks will fail so the attacker needs to be persistent. If you can identify what attacker repeatedly takes those steps and no one else does, you can with a degree of certainty stipulate who is behind the actions.\n\nYou gather evidence from the system regarding tools, files, connections. You gather packet captures if they are available of network data, you work with ISPs and hosting providers. You gather all of this data to paint the picture. This helps with attribution of the attacker. Information is shared between companies, governments, etc. to gather this information and evidence. Once you have the bigger picture you can plug smaller pieces in to figure out which picture it belongs to.",
"I'll try and list off several methods of tracking a hacker. I apologize if this gets too complex. As a person in the comment has previously stated, it is very hard to simplify this kind of topic:\n\n1. Most businesses, schools, etc. have a server that logs information about accounts that were accessed (if there is network-based computer OS logging), messages about the actual network (if some syslog server is in place; this value can be changed based on severity on devices from most higher-tier companies), etc. These messages should always be timestamped if there is an option. If some guy at a business just got laid off, and takes his anger out on the network or system in general (but unintelligibly uses his own Windows account), the account log is timestamped, and is very easy to figure out who did it. If the account used is not the account of the person that hacked it, the second point can be used to track them.\n\n2. If someone else hacked another person's account for some malicious reason (delete all files and such), they can be tracked through a combination of an IP address, the address used when data is travelling over a device such as a router, or another device that has the ability to connect 2+ distinct networks of hosts (called LANs), and the MAC address, the \"permanent\" address of a device that is used to uniquely identify it. If a static IP system is being used (IP addresses on each system will remain the same unless changed), then logs can be used to simply map the IP address to the corresponding computer or device. If a dynamic system is being used (IP addresses are \"leased\" and can change), you can find the MAC address of the device that is being used by looking up the IP address of the traffic, and seeing what MAC address that IP address is leased to. Another way of doing this is simply using a packet sniffing tool such as Wireshark to look at the source MAC (if the user decides to do something involving the network).\n\n3. If the hacker has administrative control, they could change their IP address and spoof their MAC address (change it to make it look like a different device). This is when you may have to investigate the system that was hacked up-close rather than remotely to check for any evidence of who did it (known as \"digital forensics\"). In order to cover their tracks, the hacker may completely erase all contents on the hard drive of the device. Even a formatted drive may still have traces of data, which can be recovered using certain tools and analyzed; the only true method to prevent recovery is by physically shattering the disk platters inside the hard drive. \n\n4. The biggest misconception I hear when it comes to Internet anonymity is that VPNs completely hides the identity of the source. This is simply NOT TRUE. Although decent VPNs can tunnel traffic to mask the source's identity, a tunnel still has a beginning and an end. By analyzing traffic at one end of a tunnel, the source interface of the tunnel (the port on something like a router that is mapped to the start of the VPN) can be found through extensive tracking of sequence numbers and the IP addresses combined with them after the data is unencrypted. The source IP address is a big indicator of whether the VPN is site-to-site (a dedicated one between two branches of a company), or remote-access (where one of the two sides remotely connects to the VPN via the Internet). If it is the first choice, one of the company branches can contact the other for help identifying the hacker. If it the second choice, the IP address can be looked up and given to the appropriate authorities to carry out legal processes.\n\nDidn't mean to make it this long, but I kind of got into it a bit too much. Hope this helps!"
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8gryzh | how does swarm intelligence work? how are ants or bees smarter as a group than an individual? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8gryzh/eli5_how_does_swarm_intelligence_work_how_are/ | {
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"Imagine that you have a number of (bees/participants/sources), each of which has 1% accurate, useful information and 99% random noise. Individually, the noise drowns out the information.\n\nHowever, if you add together all of your (bees/participants/sources) in the right way, the information accumulates while the noise simply cancels out. The result is a collective body of data where the information content is very prominent while the noise content is no greater than it was for a single (bee/participant/source).\n\nThe classic experiment to demonstrate this principle is the jar-of-pennies experiment. You put a jar of pennies on the desk and ask a class of students to guess how many pennies are in the jar. Presuming your class is of sufficient size, the average of their guesses will almost inevitably be closer to the true count than any individual guess.",
"Each individual has a very short list of rules. For an ant, it might read something like, “When outside, look for food. When you have food, release scent. If you have no food, follow the scent.” For any individual, these instinctive behaviors don’t appear very intelligent. The average ant wanders around at random until he finds food and begins laying a scent trail. But when you have a thousand of them, those individual behaviors add up so that you have a network of ants running back and forth along scent trails. At the micro level it is chaos, but at the macro level it looks almost planned. \n\nThere is no single individual responsible for making plans or coordinating the activity. They have just learned or inherited a set of behaviors that resemble “If/Then/Else” statements. They are like tiny robots, and each one only makes a very simple decision. Each individual probably has no idea what the overall goal is. They just repeat their programmed behavior and the next generation inherits it. If the behavior was ineffective, they die and that failed strategy does not get passed to the next generation."
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97d8pd | how do 3d holographic projectors work and what exactly are the holograms projected onto since there is no screen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/97d8pd/eli5_how_do_3d_holographic_projectors_work_and/ | {
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"Most *don’t*, or at least not the way you are thinking. By far the vast majority of 3D “holograms” you see out there are actually projected onto a transparent screen in such a way that it just looks like there is actually a 3D thing behind the (see through so you don’t see it) screen.\n\nThat said there *are* a variety of things in the research phase right now that work as actual 3D holograms, generally through use of invisible lasers to either ionize the air itself (think making hundreds of tiny explosions), lighting up a tiny particle that gets moved around with magnetic fields, or by using some sort of containing fluid/gas. Since the research is all really new right now there isn’t exactly a single method that everyone has figured out to be best yet.",
"There's no such thing as a holographic projector. There are projectors that create the illusion of 3D, however they are not holographic. They are just normal 2D images in a context that fools your mind.\n\nThe most common of these illusion ones uses the [Pepper's ghost effect](_URL_0_). The viewer looks at a background scene that is behind an angled pane of glass. The angle of the glass is chosen so that a projection screen is reflected to the viewer. So, the viewer sees both the background scene and the projection screen at the same time. As a result, any image appearing on the screen seems to float within the background scene. This is how the Tupac \"hologram\" and the Hatsune Miku \"hologram\"s work.\n\n\nSometimes, they will use multiple glass planes so that the reflection can appear at different distances from the viewer.\n\nThis is also the same way the transparent pyramid \"holograms\" that you can get for your cell phone work. You're not looking at an object floating in the middle of the pyramid. You're just looking at a 2D reflection.\n\nThere are other types of pseudo-holograms that work by presenting a different image to the left eye and to the right eye, kind of like 3D movies do it, but without the glasses. Frequently, they use a rotating mirror that is reflecting different images based on how far the mirror has rotated. As the mirror pivots, your left eye sees a different image than your right eye and your brain combines them into a \"3D\" image. Despite the name, even multiplex stereographic holograms like the ones used in [*Logan's Run*](_URL_1_) are only generating 3D using 2D images.\n\nAs visually stunning as these pseudo-holograms may be, they all lack motion parallax, because all they are is 2D images. True holograms have motion parallax. If there is an object in the hologram that is blocking your view of another object in the hologram, you can move your head to the side and look behind the blocking object. I once saw a true hologram called *Pipe Dreams*. It had various objects, like a doll, that you could look at, and it had a few short tubes in the image. You could move your head and look at the doll through the tube. It was amazing. You can't do that with any other system.\n\n"
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