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7yxr42 | how is putting the thermometer in your armpit accurate? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7yxr42/eli5_how_is_putting_the_thermometer_in_your/ | {
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"that's the point. when you check your temperature, you are going to be accurate when you measure it in spots more \"internal\" possible, since your skin temperature is not representative of your actual temperature. You need to do that in your mouth, anus or armpit. the armpit in fact get sweaty exactly because it has a higher temperature than the rest of the skin."
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5hi84k | what was the advantage of a musket compared to a bow & arrow or crossbows? | Obviously modern firearms are superior to crossbows/bows but when guns were first invented why did armies start using them as opposed to sticking with traditional firearms of crossbows/bows? Were they longer range, more accurate, more portable, cheaper to make, better at armor piercing, etc? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5hi84k/eli5_what_was_the_advantage_of_a_musket_compared/ | {
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"I think it had something to do with the length of time it took to train an individual to be proficient in it's use. To achieve the skill needed to drop a fool from range with a bow and arrow could take years of hardcore practice, but much less time when it came to muskets. \n\nSomeone said something along those lines in an old manual, but I forget who. :(",
"Ease of use. Becoming proficient with a bow could take years and requires a certain amount of strength.\n\nYou could teach someone to use a musket in a fraction of the time.",
"Early muskets were inferior to longbows in just about every way except for one...easy of use.\n\nA longbow require years of training to develop the skill and musculature to be effective. A musket required a few weeks, making it far easier to raise and replace soldiers.",
"Pretty much every answer here is wrong.\n\nThe MAIN thing muskets had that bows did not was the logistic advantages they offered. It is muuch more easy to mass produce rifles and ammunition for them. Both the production, and gathering of recourses. So you could arm an army much easier for a better result. \n\nMuskets also had a thing arrows did not have, which was insane power to them. Their penetration and devastation to armored opponents were amazing. \n\nThey also inflicted a great damage on moral. They look and sound scarry. That knight next to you in shiny super expensive armor? Bam. Dead from one shot. How do you feel now? Maybe better run the fuck away with you buddies than take one of those. Not even armor stops it..\n\nA musket wound is much harder to treat than a arrow wound, especially if you are only trained to treat series. "
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4psnz5 | what are cooperatives? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4psnz5/eli5_what_are_cooperatives/ | {
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"Typically co-ops are either worker owned (collectives) or community owned (grocery co-ops, for example). Hybrids like you are talking are less common. If you aren't familiar with co-ops, I'd advise staying away. Decision making, typically through consensus, can be very awkward for noobs and the learning curve is steep. Read up on Mondragon for info on large scale worker co-ops and ask around at the local grocery co-op for info on consumer co-ops. Producer co-ops also exist (Ocean Spray), but they are just regular businesses with voting rights for members. The way you described it, I imagine your friends are aiming toward something more with social and economic conscience. I'm reading an interesting book on the possible effects technology will have on economic organization in the future called *PostCapitalism* by Paul Mason that has some interesting ideas. Most people go into these things with the best intentions and become disillusioned. That said, when they work they work.",
"So a lot of the specifics will depend on the legal jurisdiction(s) the company is involved in, as well as how the coop specifically is organized. Generally, coops are a special kind of corporation. As such, they're limited liability entities and usually have legal \"personhood\" (this is just what a corporation is, I won't go into details on what this really means).\n\nWhile corporations are usually owned by \"shareholders\", this group is usually called \"members\" in a coop (membership means ownership, and sometimes members are called owners, or owner-members). The most significant difference is that in standard corporations, you get one vote per share you own, whereas in coops every member gets one and only one vote. In corporations, a single person can own 51% of outstanding shares and essentially control the company. Coops are protected from this, and thus are generally run a lot more cooperatively.\n\nSo who are members? It depends on the type of coop. Here's a broad overview:\n\n**Workers' coop:** the members are workers in the corporation. If the corporation is a manufacturer, then the people running the machines & c are the members. While the membership is made up of workers, some kinds of workers are not members (similar to a union/non-union divide in workers you see in a lot corporations).\n\n**Consumer coop:** Are basically retail or wholesale stores, but you have to buy a coop membership to shop there.\n\n**Credit unions/caisses populaires:** Are basically banks. Everyone with an account is a member.\n\n**Marketing coops:** This is kind of an oddity because this happens largely behind the scenes, and more often than anywhere else in agriculture. The membership of the coop is made up of different people producing the same product, for example wheat. The coop buys the product from all these different producers and then sells them back to different people. This allows a lot of small producers to more effectively compete with the free market (ie. huge industrial farms)\n\n---\n\nIn the course of business, corporations make a surplus value. That is, they start with some money, do something with it, and end up with more. Even after paying for everything they need to do, taking into account infinite growth forever, there is still often a lot of money left over called a \"pofit\".\n\nIn a coop, the profit becomes a patronage return. Coops accept that profit is what is left over after all expenses are looked after; it just kinda comes out of nowhere. This is given out to all members in proportion to how much business they conducted with the coop over the payout period. In a way, coops are run without generating profit. This is essentially impossible to do without the risk of running huge deficits. Coops get around this by first generating profit, and then returning it (roughly) to the person who contributed that profit.\n\n(or at least, they way the coop understands the profit being generated. The same grocery store could be organized as a workers' coop or a consumer coop. In one case, the workers' are recognized as having generated the profit, in the other the consumer is. And this can get messy because absolutely everyone in society is responsible for the surplus that society generates)\n\nRather than paying patronage returns, coops can pay dividends on membership shares. The difference is mostly in legal subtleties.\n\nFor example, (IANAL, do not quote me on this!) in Ontario, money paid in patronage returns is not taxed to the corporation. However, in worker's cooperatives patronage returns are taxed like normal income for the person who got them. Dividends are paid out after corporate taxes have been paid, and are taxed on the individual as a capital gain. These huge differences represent subtleties in what patronage returns are and what dividends are that I am far from qualified to talk about. From this description it seems like you would always want to pay patronage returns and not dividends, but whether you have a choice is largely up to legislation and not you. If you do happen to be incorporating in Ontario, this is legislated under the *Ontario Cooperatives Act* as well as the *Credit Union and Caisses Populaires Act* (if you are financial).\n\n---\n\nMembership often involves buying shares or making a loan (at very low to no interest) to the coop. However, if agreed upon, the coop can pay workers in membership shares or membership loans, and this is very common for new coops who don't have a lot of money.\n\nOn the outside, it looks like you're doing unpaid (or volunteer) work for the coop, however from an accounting perspective you were paid in money that was then reinvested into the company. It's important to keep in mind here that this means that the money does actually have to exist in the company.",
"You want to make cookies for the end of the year school party, you need to gather money and workers. \n\n- You have Paul and Jeanne who give you money in exchange of a part of the benefit and you pay Mary and Peter to cook the cake, that's a regular company \n\n- You have Bill and Monica who unite their money and their effort to do the cake and share the benefits that's a cooperative. \n\nIn real life that's more complex, usually things like the fact that worker/user need to own a part of the company and/or the fact everybody get one voice (even if they own half of the company) are characteristic of cooperative. Were I live I saw 3 types of cooperative company : Several companies need the same service and create an extra company as a cooperative ( it's usually easier/better suited than non profit when you need to charge your services), People in the *alternative* lifestyle who don't want to work for capitalist stocks owner, When companies bankrupt and a part of it is bought back by the worker as a cooperative. \n"
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6wz2ut | how did lani sarem and handbook for mortals "game" the nyt bestseller list? | I understand the story behind this and the players involved and the fine journalistic work by Phil Stamper and Jeremy West. (_URL_0_)
But I don't understand the mechanics of the scame. How did it "fool" the NYT? How did it "buy its way" onto the list. You can't *make* "Barnes & Noble" and "Amazon" buy copies of a book (or can you?). | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wz2ut/eli5_how_did_lani_sarem_and_handbook_for_mortals/ | {
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"Usually the author or publisher buys the copies. The trick used to be that the NYTimes (or other list makers) don't record every sale to create the best seller lists, rather they sampled certain bookstores and it wasn't too hard to figure out which ones were the sampled ones and then buy lots of copies of a certain book at just the sampled bookstores. \n\nToday, there are services that do a better job (and book sales are much lower) so a reasonable marketing budget is enough to buy enough books to make a best seller, especially in a less popular catagory. \n\nThink of it this way, if a publisher or author wanted to spend $100,000 on marketing, would they be better off spending all $100,000 on ads for a new book, or spend $50,000 buying the book (then give the copies to the fan club in a few years) and $50,000 on ads for the now NY Times best seller? "
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5ae5lo | what does the "read more" button gain a website? it doesn't seem to be clicks. | When reading an article, I get the websites that make you click through multiple pages to generate clicks for the website. But I am seeing more and more of the "Read More" buttons which just expose the text on the same page. It doesn't seem to generate a click and is mildly annoying, doesn't create a pop-up or ad, or anything. What gives? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ae5lo/eli5_what_does_the_read_more_button_gain_a/ | {
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"The read more button is designed so it mostly fits on 1 screen. That way the ads at the bottom of the article or links to other articles are visible. That way people who only read the headline or the first two paragraphs will see more ads or more links to other articles.\n\nPeople who want to read the whole thing have to click read more. ",
"It helps them measure engagement with the site. If you pop in from an ad or something, they don't know if you're actually reading the article unless you do *something* to interact with the site. Having a \"read more\" button is something they can look at and track.\n\nKnowing what users do & what they like is very useful information for anyone running a website. They can use it to judge the effectiveness of marketing, figure out what types of content to produce in the future & help them sell advertising space."
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35bpo9 | why are are some medicines given in suppository form and not in pill form? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35bpo9/eli5_why_are_are_some_medicines_given_in/ | {
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"Because your butt absorbs things much quicker and more completely than your stomach. It's the same mechanism behind snorting an illegal substance of your choice instead of eating it.",
"Some medicines, such as hemorrhoidal medicine, are inserted into the rectum in order to directly effect the problem area. Others, such as antiemetics, are used rectally because you're already nauseous and unable to hold anything down so the only way to deliver the medication is in the rectum or with a needle. Same goes for rectal depressants like Valium. If a person is actively seizing, swallowing a pill isn't an option and injections risk breaking a needle or harming the care provider. Rectal administration then becomes the best option. ",
"PLEASE nobody read these comments and decide butt-chugging booze or any other drug is the way to go. It is incredibly easy to get alcohol poisoning/OD this way. \n\nAs a gay man, I can assure you: nothing takes it better than the butt. ",
"Hi! There are 2 main reasons:\n1. Speed of absorption: think about the long way the pill has to go to get to the stomach and the gut where it will be absorbed vs fast absorption in the highly vascularised rectum.\n2. No upper digestive tract problems: people who have severe nausea, cannot swallow, are very young or have stomach problems (ex: ulcer) can still use medication by suppository form.\nIf the doctor recommended this form, please trust him/her and follow his/her advice. Hope this helped!"
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3mhc2e | why is being "overqualified" for a job a bad thing? | My partner was recently rejected for a teaching job for being overqualified. Why would that be a bad thing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mhc2e/eli5_why_is_being_overqualified_for_a_job_a_bad/ | {
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"If you're overqualified, it means that you can get a better job. Thus, the fear is that you will abandon your current job for such a better job, if it is offered.",
"Well, if a better job opportunity comes across for you, which if you are over qualified it likely will, you will probably take that job. This would mean wasting all of the training that the employer puts you through.",
"One concern is if they would get bored with the job quickly. \n\nIf the person has all the company's time and money spent being trained, and then decides that the job really is bellow them and quits after a few months or even a year, the company never saw a return on their investment, and now has to start all over again and reinvest in a new candidate. ",
"Bad for him because he probably wanted the job?\n\nBad for the employer to have over qualified employees because you may need to pay them more and there's a fair chance they may leave to find a job that their skills are better suited to. ",
"In addition with everything that's been said, with different levels of qualifications come different expectations for salary, it's possible that the employer thought your partner would want more than they could afford to give them. ",
"When you were in school, did you ever have to do a group project with that one kid who never paid attention? He was a smart enough kid, sure, but he'd never stay focused on the work that you had to do. Then one day, you show up after school to work on the project, and he tells you that the subject you guys were working on is boring, so he switched groups to work with some friends of his, because they're making a paper mache volcano and that's cooler than your diorama of the solar system. You can get a new partner for the project, sure, and he's a smart kid too, but now you're mostly done with the project, and you have to get him up to speed about what you'll say during the presentation and it all feels like you're starting over.\n\nThat's basically it. Companies want to hire for the long term, and someone with a lot more qualifications probably won't be interested staying in a minimum wage job for long. Then they have to rehire all over again, and wasn't that the point of hiring that guy in the first place?",
"As some additional advice, as people have said when you apply for a job that you are overqualified for people are worried that you may either become bored, perform poorly, or leave as soon as something better comes along. A few years ago I took a job that didn't require even a High School diploma despite the fact that I have progressed beyond college.\n\nIf you're able to get an interview or otherwise speak to the person in charge of hiring, address the issues. Let them know why you're looking at this job rather than something that matches up with your credentials. Maybe you want a part time job just for extra money, or maybe you worked in the advanced fields and the stress was too much. If your partner applied for the job they had good reasons for it, you just need to be able to communicate those reasons and avoid the \"Well you're only going to stay until you find something better\" view people may have.",
"I think your question has been answered already but I wanted to add that from an HR perspective, I will always ask the candidate why they are interested in the position when they are clearly overqualified. If they can answer reasonably then I don't hold it against them. \n\nI think there are plenty of good reasons as to why someone would want a position that they are overqualified for, but on the flip side if I get the impression that they are just looking for a job ASAP and will probably continue looking if I hire them, then I would pass. ",
"Usually that means they want someone they can pay less, meaning if the over qualified person took the job they would be dissatisfied with the salary and likely to leave sooner.",
"They know you could quite easily get a much better job with your qualifications. They think you'll find something better and leave them. Just ask them where they think you should be to get an idea. If they wont tell you what position because youre likely a threat to their job security.",
"Recruiting and on-boarding cost a LOT of money. Also, it's really hard to be passionate about a job that's \"beneath\" you. The assumption is that the job might be easy for you, but you are likely to leave within a year. \n \nThey'd be better off giving someone a challenge with the hopes they will stay longer with the company. ",
"I work in HR for an IT company and find that a lot of the people I shortlist for roles end up either under or overqualified. The reason I can't consider overqualified people for a particular role is partly due to pay expectations based on their level of skill & experience and also because they would probably end up finding the role unfulfilling, like they would be taking a step back in their careers, and they would probably either want to progress quickly (which the company may not be able to accommodate) or they'd end up leaving. ",
"One word; MONEY. If you are overqualified, they would have to pay you more, and if you aren't making enough, they run the risk of losing you to a better, higher paying position. ",
"There are a few reasons: 1) You might leave the job soon after starting it, which means the company wasted a lot of time getting you set up as a new employee. 2) You are most likely qualified for someone else's job at the company, which means that you're immediately a problem in terms of succession planning. If some young person has been working hard for 5 years to get a promotion, and you come along, it screws things up for the hiring manager. 3) You'll likely be bored with work that's \"beneath you\". 4) You may be a threat to the hiring manager if he has reason to believe his boss is unhappy with his work. 5) You probably have salary expectations that exceed what they can find in less qualified people.",
"If it was for a public school district, it was likely due to financial limitations. Public school districts have salary schedules and are required to pay teachers set salaries based on their experience and education. Some school districts will not hire new teachers who will cost more than a certain amount because they have very limited funding. They cannot offer a lower salary so they have to turn down well qualified applicants in favor of new, inexperienced teachers. ",
"Honestly alot of the time the place is wishing that it is a good a match for you as you are for it. If you have just the right experience and nothing more, then it's a safe bet you'll fit in and be around a while.\n No one wants to be with someone who thinks they can do better.\n\nJust like a personal relationship ",
"You're likely to leave as soon as you find something better.\n\nIf you're there for any length of time, you're likely to get bored (and your productivity may sink).\n\nThere's some vague sense of \"Why *haven't* you found anything better? What's wrong with you?\"\n\nDepending on the salary/pay scale, they may *have* to pay you more than they would otherwise.",
"I recently referred a friend to my boss to work as an office assistance, but he turned her down. His reasoning is she is overqualified, mainly because she used to work for a much bigger company. He's afraid that she will find the job boring, also the salary is not good enough to keep her stay. I think it depends on what kind of job there is, the employer's budget, demand and supply also. If too many people can do the same thing as you do, then they will rather pick someone else for less. But if there isn't many, they might have to pay you top dollar if needed to."
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6dvgy7 | lost city of atlantis | Is there any possibility of it being real? How did the myth originate and what was its purpose? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6dvgy7/eli5_lost_city_of_atlantis/ | {
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"It was made up by the Greek philosopher Plato and served as an allegory in two of his writings. It is fictional, no more real than Narnia or Hogwarts. ",
"Atlantis is mentioned in two of Plato's works, Timaeus and Critias, and serves as a hubristic enemy to Plato's ideal of a perfect state. Plato's perfect state defeats Atlantis, thus proving its superiority and soon after, the gods submerge Atlantis in the sea as punishment.\n\nMost historians and scholars dismiss Atlantis as pure fiction, entirely made up by Plato, however others have searched for possible kingdoms that Plato might have drawn inspiration from. One of the most convincing locations is Santorini, which was almost entirely sunk by a volcanic eruption."
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9nv4om | sound barrier | Why is it there is a "sonic boom" when some one breaks the sound barrier? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9nv4om/eli5_sound_barrier/ | {
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"If you make ripples in a pond in two places and look where the ripples overlap, you'll notice the little wave is twice as high as either of the ripples alone. **ripples and waves can be added together**.\n\nRipples and waves move at a certain speed depending on the fluid they're in. **There is a specific speed to ripples/waves**.\n\nIf you move your hand through the water faster than the ripples can move, you create a V-shaped wake behind your hand. **The V-Shaped wake is built by overlapping ripples created by your hand moving faster than the ripples**.\n\nThe wake behind your hand is A LOT more powerful than a ripple.\n\nSound is ripples in three dimensions. A sonic boom is getting hit by the wake of an object moving faster than the ripples can.\n\nThe sound barrier is the barrier between wake formation and no wake formation.",
"Sound travels at a certain speed. We call it the speed of sound.\n\nObjects in motion can travel at speeds too. Like planes going very fast.\n\nThe speed of sound does not depend on how fast the object making the sound is going.\n\nIt depends on the air (or water or whatever medium you are in) is going.\n\nSound coming at you from an object that is going half the speed of sound arrives at you at the speed of sound. It will sound a bit different, but it won't get to you any faster just because the object making the sound is moving fast.\n\nIf an object is moving towards you at the speed of sound, that means that it will arrive at your place together with all the sound it has made as it was flying towards you.\n\nThe sound it has made as it was 2 miles away arrives at your place at the same time as the sound it made when it was 1 miles away and when it was 3 miles away and any point in between.\n\nQuite a lot of sound arrives at your position at once. This can result in a very, very loud noise.\n\nThat loud noise of all the sounds the plane made over time compressed to just a single moment is a very loud boom that can shatter glass and similar stuff. It is what we call the sonic boom.\n\nBasically when a plane goes really really fast it can end up with situations where the sound it makes over quite a bit of time ends up arriving at some point at the same time and that is very very loud.",
"In simple terms sound is air squeezing together and then stretching out really quickly. These stretched and squeezed regions of air are sound waves and they travel at the speed of sound (hence the name). \n\nWhen you travel faster than the speed of sound that soundwave is basically squeezed together. You're creating new sound waves faster than the old soundwaves can travel. So they all sort of crash together and make a Sonic boom."
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2imam5 | why are deleted scenes from movies actually released | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2imam5/eli5_why_are_deleted_scenes_from_movies_actually/ | {
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"\"Oh look, that movie's out on DVD. I saw it in theaters...don't really want to see it again.\"\n\n\"Oh look, that movie's out on DVD. I saw it in theaters...wait, but the DVD has deleted scenes? Ooooo, here's my money.\""
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36g7hb | what are the differences between white, red, and blue collar workers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36g7hb/eli5_what_are_the_differences_between_white_red/ | {
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"I've never heard of red collar workers, but white and blue collars refer to the stereotypical uniform of the job.\n\nWhite collars are people who do business style desk jobs, their stereotypical uniform of a white dress shirt, tie and slacks.\n\nBlue collar jobs are usually manual labor jobs, and when compared to white collar, it typically is considered the lesser of the jobs. Think of a janitor or a gardener, chances are in your mind they are wearing a blue jumpsuit or something similar.\n\nEdit: Looked it up and red collar seems to refer to farmers. Also, Wikipedia has an article on [\"Collar Workers\"](_URL_0_) that lists many different colors and their meaning."
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10722i | the statute of westminster | What does it mean for Canada? How does it affect the modern day? Why do we care? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10722i/eli5_the_statute_of_westminster/ | {
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"It essentially severed the legal ties between Canada and the UK. Basically, from that point on, a law passed in the UK had no effect on laws in Canada.\n\nIt's a common misconception that Canada gained independence from the UK in 1867. We did get significant autonomy over a considerable number of things, but we were still somewhat influenced by the parliament of the UK.\n\nFor example, you could still appeal court cases to the Joint Committee of the Privy Council in England all the way up to 1949... and by that I mean appeal Supreme Court cases!\n\nCanada got absolute independence only in 1982 when the Constitution Act was passed. But it should really be noted that it wasn't like we were a puppet state for all the time before that. "
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cxhf1w | why do greasy foods turn paper clear? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cxhf1w/eli5_why_do_greasy_foods_turn_paper_clear/ | {
"a_id": [
"eyl65u7"
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"text": [
"I'm pretty sure it's just the mere saturation of the paper because of the grease. Usually it's a wax paper for food and warm and wet wax paper appears translucent. I think wax is an oil base if I remember and so is grease so that has something to do with it"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
6ai1s1 | why do video games use less data than social media apps? | I would expect video games to use more since they take up a lot of storage and have so much going on in them... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ai1s1/eli5why_do_video_games_use_less_data_than_social/ | {
"a_id": [
"dheq9t2",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"After you download the game, not much else has to be downloaded. \n\nOn the other hand, social media has to download every single picture and video that you see. ",
"Data usage is only the amount of information that is sent and received on your phone. The complexity of the app or the amount of storage it takes up on your device has no influence.\n\nA multiplayer game sends data in small text packets so it's data usage is extremely minimal. A social media app needs to load a large amount of text, along with hundreds to thousands of photos and even videos. A single photo or video will usually take up more data than playing an online mobile app for 5-10 minutes.\n\nTl;dr: Media uses much more data than small game packets."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
auivg9 | if you wash and dry clothes repeatedly, is there a point at which you would no longer get lint as a dryer byproduct? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/auivg9/eli5_if_you_wash_and_dry_clothes_repeatedly_is/ | {
"a_id": [
"eh8exy9",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"So long as there is still clothing to be washed, small fibers will come off of it. As the material degrades with time and usage you will see more lint, not less.",
"It's actually the other way around, the older a fabric becomes, the more likely it is small fibers will break off and become lint. Of course new textiles will also have lint but for different reasons.. \n\nFor example, surgical huck towels are used for something in operating rooms. To be FDA certified they have to be low-lint or lint free for a certain number of wash cycles. Once those cycles are reached, the towels are either disposed of, or washed/sterilized and resold. Often janitorial companies will buy used & sterilized surgical towels as their inexpensive cleaning towels, particularly for dusting and cleaning windows. ",
"As someone who used 100% cotton flannel sheets for diapers on their kids, and then used them for rags for years afterwards, the amount of lint decreaes dramatically with every wash/dryer cycle. After 25 years, we recently used the last ones as they transitioned from dusting to house cleaning to cleaning oily mechanical parts."
]
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[],
[],
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||
2q0yxh | what happens if a prosecutor learns the defendant is innocent? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2q0yxh/eli5what_happens_if_a_prosecutor_learns_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cn1u646",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Hopefully they aren't up for election soon. Chances are better that they will choose to do the right thing, turn over the exonerating evidence and drop the charges, if they aren't about to launch an election based on their record of being tough on crime. ",
"prosecutor: new evidence has been uncovered that the state will be dropping all charges. \n\njudge: very well. the defendant is free to go. ",
"The thing is, a prosecutor can't \"learn\" that someone is innocent. They can never really know, unless they were there. What might happen is very strong evidence is brought to their attention that would suggest the defendant's innocence. The same evidence that is available to the defendant. So if the prosecutor no longer believes they have enough evidence to convict, they'll drop the charges. If they do believe they have a strong case, it's not up to the prosecutor to declare someone innocent, it's up to the jury.\n\nSo the short answer is, it's not up to a prosecutor to decide someone's innocence, it's up to a jury.\n\nEdit: Jesus christ I hate reddit sometimes."
]
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[],
[],
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||
4xqqt5 | why does rain look stationary from a distance? | When looking at a thunderstorm from far away you can see the rain coming down to the ground but it just looks as if the cloud is extended in sheets towards the earth. Why isn't there any downward motion visible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4xqqt5/eli5_why_does_rain_look_stationary_from_a_distance/ | {
"a_id": [
"d6hp2u5"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"Your eye simply lacks the visual acuity to distinguish individual raindrops and movement at a large distance. They blur together into a sheet of water.\n\nIt is effectively the same as not being able to observe clearly the flow of a river from an airplane or atop a canyon."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
6iywjc | how come there were record breaking hot temperatures in the early 20th century even though the global warming issue started later in the century? | First of, I'm not on the other side of the fence that criticizes this phenomena. I just need to know what to tell the "non-believers" in my workplace the next time they ask me "oh yeah? so how come the wetherman said it was 40 degrees some time in 1920"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6iywjc/eli5_how_come_there_were_record_breaking_hot/ | {
"a_id": [
"dja7lnz",
"djaeera"
],
"score": [
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2
],
"text": [
"Records are remarkable specifically *because of* their irregularity.\n\nThe overall trend of temperatures is increasing, as can be easily plotted through global temperature averages. There will always be outliers in such a complex system as weather, but the curve generally travels upward.\n\nUsing a record high from years ago as \"proof\" that global warming is not new is like pointing at a plane crash and concluding that all planes are dangerous and prone to crashing. Now, in this analogy, if you could point at 50 plane crashes that happened around the world within the same week of one another, you might have something there.",
"Many record high temperatures occurring recently is **not** evidence of global warming, and similarly many record highs in the past are **not** proof that global warming *isn't* occurring. It is entirely possible for global warming to occur and for fewer records to be set than in the past, and it is entirely possible for global warming to be false and for lots of records to be currently set.\n\nJust think about the basic arithmetic here. There are two interesting quantities: the average and the typical difference from average. Everything is characterized in terms of them.\n\nLet's look at the following cases:\n\n**Baseline**\n\naverage temperature today: 60 degrees\n\ntypical difference: 10 degrees\n\nrecord temperature: 75 degrees ( = 1.5 x the typical difference)\n\n**Global warming with small typical difference**\n\nWe could imagine global warming increases the average to 65, but *decreases* the typical difference to 5. Then a hot day is not likely to be much over 70 degrees--lower than the previous record despite global warming!\n\n**Global cooling, but larger typical difference**\n\nIf the average is reduced to 55, but the typical difference is now 15 degrees, it wouldn't be unusual to see record highs of nearly 80 degrees!\n\n**No global warming, no change in typical difference**\n\nBecause the typical difference is only a kind of \"average of differences,\" it's not unreasonable for a hot day to, by chance, be several times this number, so we could easily see a day with a temperature of 60 + 2*10 = 80 degrees.\n\nSo the conclusion is clearly: **differences in record temperatures do not generally provide positive or negative evidence of global warming.**\n\nReal scientific analyses of global temperature changes do not, and cannot, simply look at averages. They must use much more complicated statistical methods that look at changes in the shape of the whole distribution of temperature, and temperature changes, as functions of lots of complicated variables (e.g., height above ground, time of year, etc.).\n\nA particular model of global warming makes specific and characteristic predictions about how these shapes change, and these are the things that have to be experimentally verified against in order to know if a particular model or class of models is correct. \n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
2qmt4z | why is the average woman's body considered beautiful but not the average man's? | I wanna be sexy too damn it! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qmt4z/eli5_why_is_the_average_womans_body_considered/ | {
"a_id": [
"cn7j8mk",
"cn7knz7"
],
"score": [
9,
2
],
"text": [
"Evolutionally, women have to be more picky than men.\n\nA woman sleeping with a man has a chance of 9 months (most likely way more) of lost productivity, less survivability, so on.\n\nA man has a few hours of fun to gain.\n\nHence the man can afford to \"shoot with buckshots\" whereas the woman has to invest a lot more in a potential child, and hence needs to pick her partners more carfully.\n\nTL:DR Men are shotguns, women are sniper rifles. - /u/Sillywickedwitch",
"You've seen women right ?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
31jp3q | why is mocking (in terms of having someone repeat exactly what you say) found to be so annoying where as an echo isn't so annoying | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31jp3q/eli5why_is_mocking_in_terms_of_having_someone/ | {
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"text": [
"One is a person taking the piss. And the other isn't.",
"An echo is caused by environment. Mocking is used when someone is discontent with what you said, why you said it, or for other reasons like to intentionally annoy you. THAT'S what is aggravating, not the repetition of the words itself.",
"\"Why is mocking (in terms of having someone repeat exactly what you say) found to be so annoying where as an echo isn't so annoying\" blah blah blah. Shut up STEVE, nobody cares!",
"Echoes aren't annoying? Try going into a Skype call with someone that has an area Mic and no headphones lol. But really, echoes are annoying when they interrupt you, which is essentially what someone copying you does. It can also be the tone of voice that someone uses when doing the copying, as opposed to just the sound of it. \n\nIn all reality though, annoying is a personal opinion, and can have different reasons from different people."
]
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[],
[],
[],
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||
yh0ir | seventh world problems. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/yh0ir/eli5_seventh_world_problems/ | {
"a_id": [
"c5vhd4v"
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"text": [
"The terms First, Second and Third World were coined during the Cold War. The First World was the US and its allies, the Second World was the Soviets and their allies, and the Third World was neutral countries (Africa, South America, India, SE Asia, etc).\n\nNowadays, the term First World refers to developed countries (US, Europe, Australia, etc) and the Third World is developing countries with weaker economies (particularly Africa).\n\nThe meme /r/firstworldproblems refers to issues that are trivial or that result from being wealthy or living in a wealthy country.\n\n/r/thirdworldproblems refers to actual issues in Third World countries, such as poverty, famine, or political instability.\n\n/r/fifthworldproblems contains problems that could be faced by time travellers, gods, demons, or other crazy situations.\n\n/r/sixthworldproblems is just gibberish.\n\n/r/seventhworldproblems is an abstract, dark mythos that resembles a dystopian future. An example post is \"My feet tricked me. I struck the ground, and my arm burst open. There was color. It was not Blue. It was not Green. Color was everywhere, color shot up my arm. I want more color.\"\n\ntl;dr - it's a joke, expanding on the \"first world problems\" meme."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
950uzw | where does all the world's biomass come from? | This applies to all the organisms on Earth, but I'll use humans as the basis of my question.
A four year old kid would weigh around 40 lbs. Does that mean the child consumed 40 lbs.' worth of protein and calcium during those four years?
Let's take it further: there are over 7 billion people on the planet. Where did the material to create all these people come from? Did nature simply reconfigure and reallocate existing material to build them?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/950uzw/eli5_where_does_all_the_worlds_biomass_come_from/ | {
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"text": [
" < < Did nature simply reconfigure and reallocate existing material > > \n\nYes! Photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation are exactly this, and are two of the driving forces behind what you’re describing. ",
" > Did nature simply reconfigure and reallocate existing material to build them?\n\nEssentially, yes. Nearly all of biomass is simply nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and hydrogen, all available in abundance in the universe.\n\nThe mechanisms are pretty well understood (someone else mentioned photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation as examples), though the exact _origin_ of the first processes (essentially the 'beginning of life' question) are unclear.",
" > A four year old kid would weigh around 40 lbs. Does that mean the child consumed 40 lbs.' worth of protein and calcium during those four years?\n\nWell, yeah. Actually quite a bit more, considering waste. 40 pounds might sound like a lot, but averaged out over 4 years, that's less than .03 pounds per day. For comparison, a typical slice of bread weighs about .05 pounds."
]
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[],
[],
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|
5l1gwa | what is the actual difference between canadian bacon and ham? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5l1gwa/eli5_what_is_the_actual_difference_between/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbs8gf2"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Canadian bacon is cut from the pork loin which is the lower back of the pig. Ham is the hip and thigh of the pig so it is a part of the rear leg. The muscles work a different amount and have a different fat content so have a different flavor and texture than each other. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4fvyat | why is there such a large group of people who decend from spanish and native american, but english-native american groups are seemingly minimal? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fvyat/eli5_why_is_there_such_a_large_group_of_people/ | {
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"text": [
"America engaged in an active program to kill most of the native people here. Either through forced relocation, wars and intentional distribution of blankets, linens and other textiles that had been previously used by people infected with small pox.\n\nBut this is really a good question for r/askhistorians",
"There is a fairly large population of European + Native American descendants in Canada and they represent about 1.5% of our population. These people collectively call themselves [Métis](_URL_0_). Métis have distinct culture, distinct regional dialects, distinct traditions, and a very interesting history within Canada (and to a smaller extent, America as well). [Louis Riel](_URL_1_) is arguably our most famous Métis person. Most Métis would probably identify under a French + Native American (as opposed to British + Native American). \n\nDon't be confused however, just because you marry a person of european ancestry (if you are native american) or just because you marry a native american person (if you are european ancestry) does not make you Métis. Métis people are descendant from Métis people - again having their own distinct culture, languages, and traditions. In a modern scenario, you can't just become \"Métis\" if your mom was european and your dad was native american (or vice versa). Beyond that however, the definition of Métis in a legal sense is non-existent, although they are formally recognized by the government of Canada.",
"The populations of Natives south of the US were much more dense. Also, the Spanish didn't send as many common people over. They sent mostly single men to extract wealth and maybe have their way with native women why they were there. Central America including Mexico, and Peru had larger centralized civilizations so more mixing than decimation occurred. If you look at those populations compared to Caribbean Latin countries you'll see stark differences."
]
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[],
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Métis_people_(Canada\\)",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel"
],
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||
6f9ecy | how do famous people and businesses get their specific usernames on social media? | For example, on Instagram, Reddit's official account is @reddit. I assume someone else had that username before them though? As in, before Instagram was popular enough for businesses to use someone probably saw @reddit was free and chose it.
How do these businesses/people get these usernames? Do they either pay the person who owns the account enough to give it to them, submit a request to the social network claiming that they are infringing their trademark etc, or something else?
Examples include:
@snoopdogg
@mileycyrus
@nickiminaj
@therock
@arianagrande
I hope my question is clear enough. Thanks :) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6f9ecy/eli5_how_do_famous_people_and_businesses_get/ | {
"a_id": [
"digfkzh"
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"text": [
"They have social media teams that are on that quite fanatically. Whenever a new platform opens up they will register the name. This doesn't always work though. In that case they will often try to buy the account. My brother's instagram account is a play on his name that matches a popular fashion designer. He was contacted a while back by them to ask if he was interested in selling the account to them. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
79hn6d | why is the dark side of the moon and craters always the same colour as the sky? | [](_URL_0_)
Like in the [picture](_URL_0_) the bottom half of the moon is the same colour as the sky. Why does this happen? Why can't we see the rest of it in a darker shade?
Apologies if this has been posted before. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/79hn6d/eli5_why_is_the_dark_side_of_the_moon_and_craters/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"The daytime sky is quite bright due to light from the Sun that is scattered from dust, water etc in the atmosphere. The part of the moon in sunlight is brighter than the sky so it shows up. The part that's in shadow (moon nighttime) isn't reflecting any sunlight, so the Earth's sky is brighter and that's what you see.\n\nWhat is usually refered to as the \"dark side of the moon\" isn't dark at all. It's the face that's always turned away from us due to the tidal locking of the moon's spin to the orbital period. It goes through the same cycle of day/night (equivalent to our view of full to new) every 28 days as the side facing us."
]
} | [] | [
"https://i.imgur.com/rMUFYQT.jpg"
] | [
[]
] |
|
34llts | why are computer error messages a mixture of numbers and letters instead of an actual useful and understandable message? | Why can't it say, "This part is faulty" or "This program crashed for this reason"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34llts/eli5_why_are_computer_error_messages_a_mixture_of/ | {
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"text": [
"the OS doesn't know why the program _URL_0_ only knows that it has crashed.\n\nAnd anyway even if it did know why the program crashed it would be impossible to have an error message for every possible reason that a progran crashes",
"That mixture of numbers and letters **is** a useful and understandable message. It's just not intended to be useful or understandable to *you*. The programmers who wrote the code can use that information to help debug the root cause of the crash.\n\nThere's no way to make an error message for every possible contingency that is understandable to the end user. The user usually doesn't understand programming in general, let alone the details of this *specific* program. And even if they *did*, there's nothing that they could do with the information, since they (usually) don't have access to the source code.",
"Numbers are great. What's wrong with numbers?\n\nFirst, numbers are easily referenced. This helps users and developers. Users now have something to google, and they'll likely find a full article on their issue rather than random crap. Users can tell developers 'I had an error 404' rather than vaguely describing their problem and what was written on the screen, 'it said something about not found, and it was a blank screen'. Server not found? Page not found? DNS lookup not found? Numbers solve this ambiguity. \n\nDevelopers like numbers because automated tests can very easily parse numbers. Running a program 10000 times to search for errors is a lot easier when the output is just a simple number, rather than a sentence. \n\nNumbers are also cool in that they can describe multiple error states at once. Say you have a microwave that can have three types of error (with numbers specifically chosen in advance): error 2, it's overheating, error 4, the motor's not turning, and error 8, someone typed in the wrong sequence of numbers. Note that none of these are mutually exclusive. In the case of an error, you can just add these numbers together and report that sum, rather than writing a whole paragraph about why your microwave is broken. Say someone reports error 10. That's 8+2, which means the wrong number was entered AND the microwave overheated. That's so much more info than you would have had before (could you really tell the tech support guy all the technical jargon for a bunch of errors all at once?) \n\nFinally, numbers are the best at talking about specific locations. This is why people use GPS coordinates to find things. 'Error with memory object 38472, on line 448 in the code' is really easy to generate, when a sentence like 'this part is faulty' takes a lot of advanced thinking. (how does the computer know what this means, and if it did know, couldn't it fix it right then?) It's up to programmers to determine stuff like that after the fact, based on the raw output of an error message. So much more exact than some general area or function name. \n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
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"crashed.It"
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[],
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|
dpu1d0 | how does this whole donating trees thing actually work? who plants them? how long does it take? are they planted in a specific place? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dpu1d0/eli5_how_does_this_whole_donating_trees_thing/ | {
"a_id": [
"f5yhxfo"
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"text": [
"It goes to a tree planting organization that is pretty reputable, they get planted in places that can sustain them and there is a pretty good rate of success for the trees. Will it fix global warming no but it can start a trend of people being more conscious about the environment every bit helps."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1n5cqn | why are there so many claims of paranormal activities by people yet there had never been any evidence to support their claims ever in history. | Do these people make stories up just for the attention? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1n5cqn/eli5why_are_there_so_many_claims_of_paranormal/ | {
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"text": [
"Sort of actually yes. Many people like to store faith in other things that may or may not actually be true. I like to compare this to religion, there is no proof that god exists, and there's no proof that he dosen't. It's similar because you dont know if paranormal activity is actually a thing until after you bite the dust, when you cant share your findings.",
"1. Because they're nice ideas. We die but we become ghosts, so it's a little like not dying at all, which terrifies us.\n\n2. Because there are things we can't explain - like why do we sometimes get the chills ([Cracked did a great job](_URL_0_) explaining things that until very recently were inexplicable). Because we're inquisitive and intelligent creatures, we can't handle not knowing something, so we make something up.\n\n3. Related to number 1, we just *want* to believe because wouldn't telepathy and aliens be cool and less boring than life?",
"Because our brains and senses actually perceive things that don't exist. There are many conditions, most of them temporary, that can cause sensations that could be interpreted as paranormal.",
"Ummm... Because it's all bullshit is why.\n\nLets put paranormal in the same basket with:\n\nReligion, Astrology, Psychics and any other mumbo jumbo you care to mention.",
"Most people don't have scientific standards for evidence.\n\n\"I heard it from 3 different people\" = \"it's true\" (really)"
]
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[],
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"http://www.cracked.com/article_18828_the-creepy-scientific-explanation-behind-ghost-sightings.html"
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[],
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|
92ubyo | what are the differences between ego and self respect? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/92ubyo/elif_what_are_the_differences_between_ego_and/ | {
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"text": [
"Lemme take a swing at this. First, I'm an addict in recovery. I don't use drugs because I have self respect; i love myself today. Ego tells me that because I don't use drugs I'm better than those that do use; even though the reality is I'm not any better or worse than anybody, we're all human. There's a line between confidence and ego and I'm constantly having to make adjustments to keep out of ego. ",
"Well, they are both related to how we view ourselves but I would say the difference is self-respect is healthy, and ego isn't.\n\nEgo leads to thinking someone is superior to others, prevents one from admitting mistakes, or leads to not taking the experiences and feelings of others into account and only considering one's own feelings and experiences.\n\nSelf-respect is more about one's relationship with themselves. It leads to treating one's self well, not accepting poor treatment from other people, and having confidence.\n\nIt's also worth mentioning that ego is a term used in many different contexts in psychology and philosophy and doesn't always mean something bad. In general it's just describing someone's sense of self or individualism. That might be causing you some confusion as well.\n\nFor example, the Egocentric Predicament is a concept in philosophy that states one can only.ever experience the world from.their own point of view. In that sense, we are all egocentric, but that's not necessarily a failing."
]
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[],
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] |
||
4jj8um | the strategies involved in hockey | I like the sport and watch it casually, especially in the playoffs. I know the rules of the game and the positions etc. Curious what strategies there are? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4jj8um/eli5_the_strategies_involved_in_hockey/ | {
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"text": [
"There are tons of strategies based on the coaches style and the team's strengths and weaknesses. Playoff hockey tends to be a lot more defensive and risk-averse then regular season hockey. \n\nOne tactic used in the playoffs by a team trying to protect a lead is the neutral zone trap. As the attacking team is carrying the puck through the neutral zone (the middle 1/3 of the ice) the defending team swarms the player with the puck, leaving him with no option but to dump the puck into the offensive zone. The attacking team has to chase after the puck and the defending team has time to get the puck and set up an attack of their own. Lesser skilled teams will use this tactic a lot as well since it makes it easy to limit scoring chances but it's also harder to create quality chances of your own.\n\nLess skilled teams may also play a \"dump and chase\" style, if you don't have the speed and passing skill to carry the puck into the attacking zone, you just dump the puck in, make the defending team go and get it and try to regain possession before they can get the puck out of their end.\n\nThere's way more to know, those are just two common tactics that came to my head first. If you ever get a chance to see a game live, it's much easier to see what's happening on the whole ice surface."
]
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[]
] |
|
4np5w8 | the usage and exact meaning of the term 'science' in the us. | I'm not a native english speaker and always wondered what exactly is meant by people when they use the term science. What is taught in science class? Math? Physics? Chemistry? I mean even Linguistics is part of science, isn't? If people say they don't believe in science, they probably don't mean they don't believe that 1 plus 1 equals 2. Which part of science is meant? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4np5w8/eli5_the_usage_and_exact_meaning_of_the_term/ | {
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"When people say they don’t believe in science, they typically mean they do not give as much weight to evidence-based or empiricist modes of arriving at their rendition of reality as they give to other, alternate modes.\n\nMany people (especially on Reddit) mistakenly assume that those who say they “do not believe in science” do not agree with the *results* of science. Some anti-empiricists have a philosophical or moral or ethical or psychological or religious reason they disagree with the methodology behind modern science. This does **not** mean that they reject all or any scientific findings.",
"Physics, chemistry, and biology are the main subjects people think of when they think about science.\n\nWhen people are skeptical about science in this country, usually it's for a handful of reasons. \n\n1. They reject evolution.\n\n2. They reject the Big Bang.\n\n3. The medical community changes their minds about how healthy some food or activity is, and that's seen as evidence that scientists \"don't know anything.\"\n\n4. The person objects to the scientists' refusal to consider supernatural explanations.\n\nI'm sure there are more, but I those are some of the big ones.",
"Oftentimes, when someone in America refuses to accept the convoluted interpretation that casual media outlets try to place on scientific research, people who support the media's uneducated narrative will accuse that first person of not accepting science itself. ",
"\"science\" in English is essentially the pursuit of knowledge based on observation of reality. In particular, schools teach the \"scientific method\". This boils down to:\n\n * See something in reality\n * Develop a hypothesis about why it is that way or how it works\n * Perform an experiment to verify that hypothesis\n * Analyze the results of the experiment to verify/disprove the hypothesis\n * Provide your results to the community so that they may independently verify them\n\nThere are generally two broad groups of sciences, \"hard science\" and \"soft science\".\n\n\"Hard science\" is generally what people mean when they say \"science\". Physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy are examples of hard sciences. Generally, these are subjects that are focused on tangible, physical objects.\n\n\"Soft sciences\" are things like psychology and sociology, where you can't directly test a hypothesis, but instead depend on gathering large amounts of data and analyzing the trends in it.",
"See people have different cultural definition for the same term. \nA scientist will tell you it's a way to look at the world and find things out. \nJoe Six Pack will talk about science by the end product, not the method. They think that papers being written and things being made or found out is \"science.\" So when they say \"they don't believe in science\" it's because they don't believe most of the research conclusions that have been made. Like evolution for example.",
"5_5_5 nailed it. I would only add that science is now used to loosely describe the theory of evolution and how it discredits creationism. A lot of people will simply say they don't believe in \"science\" because they are creationists and reject the theory of evolution. I suppose this can also be said for everything else the scientific method has marginalized. \n\nIt has also been recently adopted as a trendy word to say when you are about to do something stupid, or when you are trying to get the nomination for best comedy in a rather dramatic film. All socially acceptable uses of the word."
]
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a5uku0 | why do some cars have a wider or small turning circle? | I would have thought that having a smaller turning circle is better than a wider one. Why then do some cars have a wider turning circle than others? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a5uku0/eli5_why_do_some_cars_have_a_wider_or_small/ | {
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"In general a smaller turning circle is better as it gives you more maneuverability, but it comes with trade offs.\n\nThe turning circle is related to the wheelbase of the car(distance between front and rear wheels) with a smaller wheelbase giving a tighter turning circle but a pickup truck with the wheelbase of a smart car would run into an assortment of other issues with max loading, stability, and max slope it can tackle\n\nWhile a smaller turning circle is nice, it's really a second or third level priority for a vehicle design as it must first achieve it's primary goals",
"Wheelbase (distance from front to back tires) and how far your front tires can turn affects the turning radius. \n\nLets say we live in a world where all front tires turn the same amount - now vehicles with longer wheelbases will have bigger turning radius.\n\nThe amount that the front tires can turn will depend on mechanical \"stuff\" behind the tire. This will vary from car design to car design leading to differing turning radii. \n\nTurning radius is not a major impact on most people's car choices so many manufacturers likely dont actively try to get it super low.",
"Aside from the wheelbase length others mentioned, cars with driven front wheels (FWD, AWD) will usually have a larger turning radius than RWD cars. The Constant Velocity (CV) joint in the half-shaft limits the turning angle of the wheel."
]
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[],
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|
z7vww | drafting (like in nascar) | How exactly does driving close behind another car, then pulling out ahead of them work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/z7vww/eli5_drafting_like_in_nascar/ | {
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"If you are driving you have 2 forces at work, air resistance in the front and drag in the back. Both of these are slowing you down. So you get up really close to your buddy and now he is dealing with the air resistance and you are dealing with the drag. As a result you both go faster because you dont have to deal with resistance and he does not have to deal with drag. ",
"I guess I'll try my hand at this:\n\nThe car in front acts like a wedge, causing the air to go around it, behind it, there is less air, meaning less resistance. The 2nd car gets into this pocket behind the first, and since the engine will still be running just as hard (or maybe harder), plus the lowered resistance, allows you go speed up. \n\nWhen you pull around the front car, you're going faster allowing you speed ahead. You enter more resistance again, so its only a short burst.\n\nI'd hope a five year old would get this, otherwise my future kids are screwed."
]
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[],
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2mdl50 | why are apple products so overpriced? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mdl50/eli5_why_are_apple_products_so_overpriced/ | {
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"Apple is a very fashionable brand that everyone will pay a lot of money to have, so Apple takes advantage of this.",
"Same reason beats headphones are: because they can be. A lot of people will buy Mac computers and the like because they're stylish and functional. It's all about that brand.",
"Same reason a Ferrari cost more than a Ford. Its not just a car. Its a fashion statement. But that doesnt mean the Ferrari is a better car...",
"Because the consumer is willing to pay for that price"
]
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[],
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||
dcqyye | why do they lay down grooved pavement when working on roads? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dcqyye/eli5_why_do_they_lay_down_grooved_pavement_when/ | {
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"This is to promote adhesion between the layers and also to stop sliding of the asphalt off a concrete or hard base.",
"Flat surfaces do not bond well. Adding texture to the underlayment gives something for the surface material to grip.\n\nWhere the surface itself is grooved, it's to help reduce the amount of water or ice that sits on the surface making it easier for tires to get traction",
"Same reason you sand before you paint. So the new layer has something to \"grab on\" to. Otherwise it would risk flaking."
]
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[],
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||
3suvbz | why does everyone look better on a picture in black and white? i've been modeling for a while, and seen a lot of pictures, both in colour and b/w, and people in the pictures always look better in b/w .. why is that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3suvbz/eli5_why_does_everyone_look_better_on_a_picture/ | {
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"text": [
"With color you have the full spectrum to cover every detail in a photo. With black and white you have just a lighter and darker shade to work with. Similar colors will fall to close shades effectively masking most minor blemishes, uneven shadows, skin discoloration, etc. "
]
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[]
] |
||
3hofl4 | how the hell did people survive before mosquito spray? i am getting eaten alive right now. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hofl4/eli5how_the_hell_did_people_survive_before/ | {
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"I assume you mean how did they not go crazy, rather than how did they not get diseases, because they did get diseases. \n\nI've heard a few theories:\n\nUse smoke to keep the bugs away. When fire is how you cook, harden wood for spears, and keep large animals away, you always have smoke.\n\nThere may be some plants that help. Mint, garlic, lemongrass, and pine are all supposed to repel mosquitoes if rubbed on the skin.\n\nThe may be some foods that help. In particular garlic, onions, and vitamin B are all supposed to help.\n\nFewer perfumes. You can still wash with water, but scented soaps really seem to attract bugs.\n\nWear thicker clothing, such as leather. Or put mud on exposed skin.\n\nFind areas with a breeze.\n\nAs someone who camps in the woods a lot, I generally find that after about a week I stop reacting as much to the bites so I barely notice the mosquitoes. (The blackflies are still painful though.)"
]
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||
4fcpdj | the "double irish" tax strategy used by many large tech companies (apple, google, facebook, etc.) to pay less tax. | How does it work, and why is it mostly tech companies that use it? Why Ireland? I've tried reading the wiki page (_URL_0_), but it's super dense. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4fcpdj/eli5_the_double_irish_tax_strategy_used_by_many/ | {
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"A simple Irish strategy is set up a company in Ireland and give it a brand or some intellectual property. Then your US firm pays the Irish firm fees for the use of the brand. The fees account for most of the income the US firm would have earned, and Ireland's corporate tax rates are very low. Here's an example (positive numbers are revenue, numbers in parenthesis are expenses): \n\nTransaction|US Firm|Irish Firm|Tax savings\n:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|\nPurchase of iphone|$600|$0|--\nCost to produce and sell iphone|($300)|$0|--\nNet margin|$300|$0|--\niphone brand fee|($300)|$300|--\nPre-tax income|$0|$300|--\nTax rate|32%|12.5%|--\nTax due|$0|$37.50|$60 (presuming $97.50 would have otherwise been due\n\nKeep in mind that the US firm owns both companies, but as long as it keeps reinvesting the Irish firm's profits outside the US it doesn't have to pay income taxes on the foreign income. \n\nA double Irish strategy adds a second Irish firm that has management in a lower tax location setting the two firms up in Ireland allows the US firm to report paying Irish firms, while the Irish firm can have it's assets located in a tax haven nation (and Ireland allows paying taxes to the nation where firm's management is located. This allows essentially all of the $37.50 in the above example to also be saved. "
]
} | [] | [
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement"
] | [
[]
] |
|
3biz3f | what existed in the infinitely dense point where the big bang started? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3biz3f/eli5what_existed_in_the_infinitely_dense_point/ | {
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"The actual 'start' of the universe isn't something current physics can describe. Our models fall apart before we can get there.\n\nHowever, very shortly after this unknown, we had the [electroweak epoch](_URL_0_) creating W, Z, and Higgs bosons, followed by a ['quark-gluon plasma'](_URL_1_), elementary particles where the temperature was still too hot for quarks to combine and form hadrons. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroweak_epoch",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark%E2%80%93gluon_plasma"
]
] |
||
1l1ptg | what exactly does a business analyst do? | I've tried searching on google but I keep getting complicated definitions of a Business Analyst. Can anyone please take some time to explain like I'm 5 lol? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1l1ptg/eli5_what_exactly_does_a_business_analyst_do/ | {
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"Writing as an IT analyst: \n\n*Keep* *asking* *the* *questions* that Kipling wrote about in Six [Honest Serving Men](_URL_0_)\n\n\"What and Why and When\nAnd How and Where and Who\"\n\nA business user might make an apparently trivial request for an new field in a system, to store another phone number. So I ask:\n\n\"What length of number do you need to store? Is it an internal extension number? Is it an international number? Have you considered whether you need to store the country code separately? Why do you want the number? Who's going to read the number? Does it need to restricted to a certain subset of computer users by some set of security rules? Who is going to enter the number manually? Could you get the number more reliably from another existing IT system?\n\nOnce it's absolutely clear what the user wants, review this with the developers to see if it's possible, how difficult it will be, how much it will cost.\n\nBecause our company uses [Agile](_URL_1_) development, I write it all up as a [User Story](_URL_3_) with a set of [Acceptance Criteria](_URL_2_) e.g.:\n\nUser Story:\n\"As a Sales Representative, I can find my customers Fax Numbers, so that I can send them quotations\"\n\nAcceptance Criteria:\nGiven that I am authorised to use the system as a Sales Representative\nWhen I browse to a customer record\nThen I see the customer's Fax Number displayed\n\n(The above is of course an example only, and is shortened summary)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_serving.htm",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance_testing",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_story"
]
] |
|
65hcmf | if cranes are needed to build skyscrapers, who builds the cranes? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65hcmf/eli5_if_cranes_are_needed_to_build_skyscrapers/ | {
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"text": [
"They are built in sections... By crane companies? ",
"If you ask how the crane get higher and higher the answer is that is that you have a larger frame that is outside the mast that you can use to lift the crane with hydraulic jacks and insert another mast segment\n\nSee _URL_1_ how it is done on a real crane or _URL_0_ for a more detailed animation"
]
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[],
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y39152VWCPk",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX-ZdPPUuhM"
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|
3i0541 | why does every smartphone's battery percentage go down much faster when it is below 15-20%? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3i0541/eli5_why_does_every_smartphones_battery/ | {
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"Also a follow up question- why does it seem to hang on to 1% longer than any other given battery percentage?",
"Let's say your phone needs 9 volts to work. It is more of a range like 7-11 volts, but let's use 9. As the battery is being used, the voltage starts to drop. As the voltage drops, the amps increase. A smaller voltage needs more amps to produce the same amount of power that a larger voltage produces. More amps creates heat and combined with the lower voltage is now less efficient. The discharge curve gives you some idea of that drastic drop off.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Mine can hold between 0 and 5 for about as long as it takes to go from 100 to 85, but its faster than average between 15 and 5 which sorta balances it. ",
"What's ideal for today's typical battery is to partially discharge it and then top it back off, and that happens naturally as most people wear their battery down during the day then charge it back up at night, or top it off before going out, etc. There are no battery memory issues like older rechargeable batteries. However, batteries do lose capacity over time, and eventually they simply wear out and don't hold any charge. The battery meter won't know how much capacity it has lost if it never sees empty and full, so the readings become inaccurate. You can recalibrate this by fully discharging the battery and then recharging it back to full without interruption. Doing this every 3-6 months will make the meter on your screen much more accurate.",
"Imagine your phone as something that constantly needs fuel, like a fire. You have a pile of logs, which represents your battery. You feed the fire with biggest logs first, and smallest logs last. The size of the log represents the operating voltage of the battery. You don't need many big logs to keep your fire burning at high temperature, but it takes lots of small logs to achieve the same effect. The temperature of the fire is your device's power requirement. You will consume more small logs in a shorter amount of time to feed your fire, and so you will be using a higher percentage of your total number of logs towards the end. The rate of logs used is the amperage.\n\nIt's not a perfect analogy - 'log size' isn't quite the right way of thinking about voltage - but it gives you an idea of what your battery is doing as it discharges.",
"[Because this is the voltage over time of a discharging lithium battery](_URL_0_). Note that the software in your phone does algorothmically account for this and converts that curve into a linear \"percentage/time charge left\" but it depends on how good the algorithm is, and how old/decent your battery is.",
"Probably because of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. You're paying closer attention to the battery percentage when it's close to dying. ",
"In your car you check how much gas you have remaining by looking at your gas gauge, which directly measures how much fuel is still in the tank. But imagine if that gauge broke. How could you tell when it was time to get gas? You could have some idea of how many miles you get out of a tank and keep an eye on your odometer to know when you've gone that many miles.\n\nA store-bought disposable Alkaline battery can be measured like a gas gauge. Its voltage goes down smoothly over its life. A modern rechargeable battery is more like the car with the broken gas gauge. If you measure its voltage, you get about the same result throughout its life. So instead, modern electronics keep track of how much power you've used (using a coulomb counter) and an estimate of how much power the battery can store.\n\nBut your phone has the same problem you would trying to estimate when you're out of gas by watching mileage. Your battery doesn't always deliver exactly the same amount of power. It comes with some estimate from the manufacturer, and it learns over time. When it's about to die, the voltage finally starts dropping, and if the phone was too optimistic before that point, it might have shown you more time remaining than you really had."
]
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34gz55 | what's martial law? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34gz55/eli5_whats_martial_law/ | {
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"Basically it's when the military takes over the governing authority of an area. When martial law is declared, it usually means that the military have been called in to restore order, because they are well trained, numerous, have good equipment, and are organized. What's supposed to happen is that once order has been stably restored, the military stops controlling the area and leaves. In some countries, however, the military instead establishes a permanent rule in what is called a military coup.",
"martial law is when military is granted overwatching power by the government. people's rights are suspended. anyone suspected of violating the law or ordinance can be arrested and tried without due process of civil court. ",
"No they're not going to shoot on site, I mean unless the rioters want to shoot at the soldiers. The military is called in and they guard important buildings, patrol the streets, they have ALOT more manpower and firepower than the police"
]
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[],
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1nhe8t | what is actually happening when you scratch your eyes too hard and you get a sort of lightshow behind your eyelids? what causes it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nhe8t/eli5_what_is_actually_happening_when_you_scratch/ | {
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"text": [
"Not a doc, but was told by mine that eyes register pain as light. Means damage inside eye (or just pressure).",
"Pressure on your eyes puts pressure on your optic nerve. Putting pressure on nerves makes them send signals that aren't really there. The occipital lobe of the brain (the part of the brain that controls vision) gets this signal and says the equivalent of (In an Italian accent) \"Woah, woah, eh, c'mon!\" to the rest of the supratentorium and this is perceived as light.\n\nnote: the brain doesn't actually talk in an italian accent.",
"Time for everyone to scratch their eyes to see the lightshow.",
"But why do I see different patterns and different colors each time?"
]
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||
qnuck | icloud | no matter how much i read about it I do not understand it. Also syncing the iphone It often says my music will be deleted. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qnuck/eli5_icloud/ | {
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"text": [
"Let's say you have a toy truck in your play room. Your parents make you keep the truck in your play room so it doesn't get lost. But You love playing with that truck so much so that you want to bring it around to your friends house or school. So you ask your parents to keep the toy in your car rather than in your room at all times. They'll know where the truck is and will let you play with it at other places as long as its kept in the car at the end of the day.\n\niCloud is the car, and the toy truck is you music. Apple keeps a copy of your account on their drives which are accessible over the Internet.",
"I drew [something](_URL_0_) on MS Paint to answer your question\n\nBasically your data is stored in \"the cloud\" which all of your other devices can access in order to keep the data synchronized all the time"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://i.imgur.com/3HJ4r.jpg"
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3hwmj6 | how does calorie counting make you lose weight if you eat the extra calories gained by exercising? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hwmj6/eli5_how_does_calorie_counting_make_you_lose/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Wow - you seem confused.\n\nFirst of all: Check out _URL_1_\n\nSecond: Work out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) here: _URL_0_\n\nIf you want to lose weight, then eat 500kcal below this value CONSISTENTLY.\n\nNote that the TDEE calculation takes exercise into account.\n\nYou can absolutely lose weight without exercising, I will just not be very healthy. Then you'll just be a thinner person, not necessarily a healthier person."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_fixing_your_diet"
]
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||
1n3imq | un says that israel undermines palestinian rights, but why doesn't un do anything? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1n3imq/eli5_un_says_that_israel_undermines_palestinian/ | {
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"text": [
"Because the security council is required in order to do anything, and Israel has a close ally who is a permanent member holding the power of veto. Exactly the same reason why the security council can't do anything about Syria without Russia agreeing to it. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2vvaj3 | if, for some reason, apple went out of business, what would happen to all of our songs, pictures, etc? | I hope the answer is something more interesting than "nothing" | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vvaj3/eli5_if_for_some_reason_apple_went_out_of/ | {
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"When you purchase a song. From iTunes, your basically. Renting it for the lifetime of either you, or Apple. If apple were to go bankrupt, I believe you would no longer have access to any music you have purchased through iTunes. Not sure about photos or anything else. ",
"If Apple were to ever go out of business that is not going to be a sudden thing. Very few companies ever go suddenly out of business. If Apple were to ever go out of business, we'd probably be bombarded with a lot of 'omg apple, are they going to make it' news reports over a period of at least a week, probably longer. In which case, that gives people enough time to download their photos from the cloud and download all the songs they ever bought.",
"This reminds me of Rapidshare declaring they're shutting down. What happens with those who paid for a lifetime subscription? Owing something physically is not the same as owing a virtual thing, regardless of what they say. \n\nIf you have a book in your kindle, amazon shuts down and your kindle breaks, you can't read your book anymore, you have to buy a new copy. Your book will always have the print on it even if the publishing house goes out of business. I will always be able to play DVDs and CDs I purchased physically (unless there's no physical players but that's highly, highly, highly unlikely!)",
"Apple wouldn't just go under, they would be purchased by another company. Let's say it was Google, Google wouldn't want to piss off it's millions of new customers by not giving them access to things they \"purchased\" (average user doesn't understand that you're buying the rights to the song through iTunes, not the actual song). \n\nSo sorry, but the answer probably is that boring \"nothing\" "
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c8nblu | if you jump inside a moving airplane you will continue to move with the airplane and won’t fall a few rows behind...? how come the same can’t be said for a car | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c8nblu/eli5_if_you_jump_inside_a_moving_airplane_you/ | {
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"The same can be said for a car. But you can't jump inside a car. What knocks you down is the wind the car is creating around it. If you jumped in the back of a truck with no air resistance, it would be the same as a plane.",
"The same can be said, you're describing two different examples.\n\nIf you jump while inside a moving vehicle, be it an airplane or a car, you are moving forward at the same speed as the vehicle because you were inside the vehicle as it accelerated to whatever speed it is moving at. So even if you jump straight up, to the side, or left or right, you begin your jump with the same forward movement as the rest of the vehicle. That's why you land safely.\n\nYour convertible example is different. In that case, you are effectively moving from the interior of the vehicle to the exterior. By jumping upwards in a convertible, you hit the air outside and the drag slows you down. By the time you fall back down after your jump, your speed and the car's speed are now different and there's the chance that you won't land in the car. All this is due to the fact that your jump carried you outside the vehicle into the air around the car. Jumping inside a sealed vehicle won't have this problem.",
"It is true for a car as well. You’re moving at the same speed as the car. Now, this may not work in a convertible because then you have to account for the outside air resistance, but if you do it in a bus or a van you will land in the same spot assuming the vehicle doesn’t change speeds while you’re jumping.",
"A plane is, for most intents and purposes, a closed system. You're moving. The plane is moving. The air is moving.\n\nA convertible, on the other hand, is not. The air is not playing along with the game. So when you jump, you encounter turbulence and drag, which slows you down. It doesn't drop your horizontal speed to zero, but it's disruptive enough to push you backwards.\n\nFor a comfortable middle ground, consider a bus. That'll be capable of similar speeds to the convertible, but being mostly enclosed like the plane, if you jump while the bus is holding a steady speed, you'll land roughly on the same spot, because the air that would cause drag is moving with you."
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eaj2vj | if exercising is good for your heart, why is being overweight bad for your heart even though it works your heart out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eaj2vj/eli5_if_exercising_is_good_for_your_heart_why_is/ | {
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"The fat cells reduce the area the heart has to move. Putting unneed pressure on the heart. So it needs to work harder in a more confined space.",
"Copy paste of an old response of mine about high blood pressure : \n\n\"Oh you are right, it gives your heart a workout, but not a good one.\n\nHigh blood pressure means that your heart will need to work harder to pump blood, which makes your muscle heart, specially the left ventricule ones, get bigger and bigger. Problem is that, the more this muscle will get bigger, the more it will take space within the ventricular cavity. Therefore you'll have less space for blood. And in order to not get less blood sent to your organs, your heart will beat faster.\n\nAnd the faster the blood will get pumped, and because of the high blood pressure, the more blood will get to your right ventricule. And at one point, the volume in right ventricule would be so big that it will deforme the ventricular muscle : your ventricule will be dilated and won't be able to effectively pump.\n\nIn the end, you'll end up with a very low functioning heart.\"",
"The most important part of exercise is the recovery. In overweight people, that recovery doesnt occur.",
"Technically being overweight is not always bad for your heart. Studies have shown that activity level and quality of food matters more than BMI. There are plenty of overweight and even obese people who are active and healthier than less active, poorly eating skinny people (in multiple ways, heart issues included).\n\nThe generalization comes from perceptions of obesity. People assume that when someone is overweight they are inactive and eat poorly. But there are plenty of people who are overweight that are active and eat well and in very good health. By contrast plenty of skinny who yoyo diet, skip meals or eat super restrictive diets technically do more damage to their body than someone who may be overweight but eat a balanced diet and consistently exercises.\n\nSource: Multiple studies including ones by the CDC and National Cancer Institute. \n\nHere is an article: _URL_0_",
"Exercising is not good for your heart. Exercising *and resting* is good for your heart.\n\nA person who is sufficiently overweight is constantly overworking their cardiac system and there is never any rest from this overwork. Thus, the cardiac system is gradually damaged, and they risk serious heart problems if they can't find a way to lose weight.\n\nIn addition, large amounts of fat gradually add pressure to blood vessels, constricting them and increasing the chance of interrupting blood flow to the heart (heart attack). This is compounded if the overweight person suffers from high cholesterol which causes blockages to grow within the blood vessels themselves. This is why overweight people, especially men, frequently get \"coronary bypass\" surgery - it's creating a new channel to bypass a blocked blood vessel.\n\nPlease note that no reputable doctor will ever consider a person unhealthy solely because they are technically \"overweight\". Most fit, healthy, well-muscled people are \"overweight\". It's only when someone is *vastly* overweight (\"obese\") that high weight alone can be taken as a red flag of health."
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3zm15j | why are deer so hard to hunt yet they are so easy to get killed on the road. | Title. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3zm15j/eli5_why_are_deer_so_hard_to_hunt_yet_they_are_so/ | {
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"There are lots of deer, and there are lots of cars. These intersect unfortunately often, in fact I believe deer is the main animal killer of people in North America (albeit somewhat unintentionally). \n\nSo if you just look at 'how many deer are hit by cars' it seems pretty huge, even though \"How many times have I hit a deer\" can be pretty small.\n\nSimilarly, \"how many times have I hunted a deer successfully\" is a lot smaller than \"how many times have deer been killed by hunters.\"\n\nThat is to say, both happen a lot, but in one case you're looking at the general and in the other focusing on the specific. ",
"If people were constantly driving through the woods there would be a bunch of dead deer in the woods also.\n\nOr a bunch of cars crashing into trees.",
"Deer have a long evolutionary history of being hunted by predators such as wolves or cougars, so they have an evolved response to being hunted. And even though human hunters use some very different methods than wolves do, deer can still understand the process. However nothing in their evolutionary history prepares deer to deal with cars. They do not understand what cars are doing, how fast they are going, or how to avoid being hit by them. "
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3dr0gz | why are pirate swords curved? | A lot of pirate portrayals include a very curved cutlass. Why are they so curved and what's the purpose of it?
Edit- had the wrong sword, but it's fixed now. Thank you to all who answered, I know now why the sword is curved :) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dr0gz/eli5_why_are_pirate_swords_curved/ | {
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"It's a type of sword known as a [cutlass](_URL_0_). It was popular not only among pirates but among sailors in general:\n\n > Although also used on land, the cutlass is best known as the sailor's weapon of choice. A naval side-arm, its popularity was likely because it was not only robust enough to hack through heavy ropes, canvas, and wood, but short enough to use in relatively close quarters, such as during boarding actions, in the rigging, or below decks. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use. Employing it effectively required less training than that required to master a rapier or small sword, and it was more effective as a close-combat weapon than a full-sized sword would be on a cramped ship.\n",
"With a straight blade, the point of maximum force changes based on the angle of the blade's motion relative to the point of contact with the target. \n\nWith a curved blade, the force is focused at the point of contact. This makes curved blades, such as cutlasses and scimitars, extremely good at slashing and hacking. As you might imagine, slashing and hacking are very good motions for severing ropes and limbs. A curved blade was almost perfect as a multitool on the high seas during the days of piracy.",
"Curved swords are better at cutting than straight swords. Straight swords just end up chopping instead of slicing.\n\nAlso, curved swords are harder to get stuck in things like wood or flesh.\n\nYou might ask, \"then why didn't everyone always use curved swords?\"\n\nWell, cutting is useless against armored opponents. You need piercing and/or bludgeoning for them.\n\nPirates fought against sailors and rope, neither of which are known for their heavy armor, and both of which are highly vulnerable to cutting.",
"ya hear about those redgaurds? YEA i hear they got curved swords, CURVED SWORDS!"
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31fcdg | does revving an engine when jump starting a car actually do anything? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31fcdg/eli5_does_revving_an_engine_when_jump_starting_a/ | {
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"Yes if you Rev it at 2000 rpm the output of the alternator on the vehicle that's charging the other dead battery will be increased, therefore charging significantly faster",
"It does make a difference in terms of electrical load. A common automotive alternator will output about 13 to 14 volts before the regulator at idle. Enough to keep the battery from discharging and enough to keep the electrical systems functional. Add a second battery and a entire system, suddenly those 12 or 13 volts drop to 10 or 11, not enough to charge 2 batteries at the same time and maintain 2 entire system functional.\n\nRaise the RPMS a bit and the alternator begins to generate 16 to 18 volts. Enough to be safely regulated to 13.5 and enough to charge both batteries. Also, keep in mind that the dead battery requires much more voltage to be of any use. Both batteries have a source of charge and after a few brief moments, enough stored potential energy to start the car with the dead battery.\n\nIdle before regulator: 12 to 13 volts/ 10 to 11 with dead battery \nIdle after regulator: 12 to 13 volts/ 10 to 11 with dead battery\n\n2000rpm before regulator: 16 to 18 volts/ 13 to 15 with dead battery attached \n2000rpm after regulator: 13.5 to 14 / 13 to 14 with dead battery attached.\n\nIn short, a single 12 Volt battery will charge well with 12.8 volts, common voltage at idle. Add a second battery, that dead battery will draw more electrical charge than the alternator can produce at idle."
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2ey8ht | why is the scrotum sometimes dangling and sometimes contracted? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ey8ht/eli5_why_is_the_scrotum_sometimes_dangling_and/ | {
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"Sperm can only survive at certain temperatures. When they are too cold they retract and warm up inside you. When things get too hot they dangle to cool down a bit."
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axcay7 | why is it so important to wear shower shoes in shared showers? | Ive always had my own shower, but I’m going off to college next year and everyone tells me it’s necessary. Nobody has ever given me a reason why! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/axcay7/eli5_why_is_it_so_important_to_wear_shower_shoes/ | {
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"Some people have foot fungus that you don't want to get. Better to be safe and wear shoes in the shared showers!",
"Foot fungus can spread around dark wet places where people frequently go barefoot. I'm sure no one wants the constant itching that comes with Athelete's Foot.",
"Foot fungus and viruses. If you don’t mind athletes foot or warts, bu all means, go barefoot. Ya filthy animal.",
"In case no one has warned you, also don't touch the shower walls. 2 girls in my hall got ring worm from the shower walls. 🤢",
"Fungus can spread pretty easily in damp environments, so if one person has a fungal infection on his feet, and you step where he stepped, you might pick up the same fungus.\n\nThat's why the most common type of foot fungus is generally called athlete's foot. Because it is spread commonly by communal gym showers",
"Verrucas. Warm wet shared showers are a haven for bacteria and fungus. You still need to clean your feet even if you are wearing shower shoes. ",
"Because the bathroom floors are disgusting. My college's biology department collects culture samples from the freshman men's bathroom floors every year."
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1nb0qg | what happens if a severely handicapped child is put up for adoption but never is? | If the child comes to adulthood waiting for adoption while suffering from severe mental or physical disability and can not take care of themselves what programs/actions are taken to ensure they are still able to live a normal life? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nb0qg/eli5_what_happens_if_a_severely_handicapped_child/ | {
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"The state will step in (if you are in America) and the now young adult will be put on disability.\n\nor if the disabled person is not able to partially care for his/her self\n\nthey will most likely be sent to a special needs nursing home."
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3j8acc | after a catastrophic incident what happens to victims cars? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3j8acc/eli5_after_a_catastrophic_incident_what_happens/ | {
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"Family members will locate and retrieve cars and other high value objects left behind at terminals and will go through the probate process to have the title of those things handed back over to family ownership. The cars of people who do not have families will eventually be identified as being abandoned, will then be towed to a storage facility where it will either be identified though investigation for attempting to contact next of kin/will provisions or it will be sold to pay off the towing/storage fees through a sheriff sale.",
" > What is the process for identifying the impacted victims vehicles and other property that may be present at the point of origin?\n\nLicense plates are unique to each car, and can be traced to the registration.\n\nThe cars will likely be towed from wherever they are - whether it's at the scene or private parking lots - and the relatives of the injured or dead person would be contacted to pick them up.",
"I'm no expert but I believe the car becomes property of the estate of the deceased and the estate is distributed to the beneficiaries via a will or through an executor.\n\nELI5 version: The car is given to a loved one decided by the will or sold along with the rest of the estate and the money is distributed to the beneficiaries, who are usually spouses/next of kin. ",
"Well, as an example, after Hurricane Katrina, NOLA was littered with thousands of ruined cars. Numerous salvers and junkers throughout the Midwest tried to put in bids to remove said cars and turn them into scrap for recycling. Some offered to pay the government $100 per car, $200 per car, even $300 or $400 per car for the rights to come in and haul them away.\n\nAfter a few months of fielding such bids, the NOLA government paid a contractor about $1500 per car to take them away.",
"Post Hurricane Sandy in New York, this is just some of the many many cars that were destroyed: _URL_0_"
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1vuiel | what's the difference between carbs and complex carbs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vuiel/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_carbs_and/ | {
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"Carbohydrates are, loosely put, chains of sugars bonded together. The more sugars, and the more tightly connected, the harder it is for your body to break down and the slower the sugars enter your system. Complex carbs are the long, tightly-bound carbs, as opposed to simple sugars like sucrose or fructose.",
"In simple terms, sugars are simple carbohydrates and starches are complex carbohydrates. Starch molecules are made of groups of glucose (a sugar) which can make long chains and branch out in interesting ways, thus why they are called 'complex'. Both are almost always very quickly digestable into glucose which is the sugar which goes through our bloodstream to feed all of our cells. The different structures of complex carbohydrates usually makes them taste much less sweet.\n\nSome sources of complex carbs digest more slowly than others, meaning they are filling for longer and they release their sugar into your system for a longer period. Consuming easy-to-digest carbohydrates results in a very fast peak of sugar digestion and thus blood-sugar levels, which is believed to e related to a variety of problems from obesity to diabetes.\n\nThe distinction between 'simple' and 'complex' isn't terribly useful from a nutritional point of view, so people have come up with a 'glycemic index' which is intended to better communicate the digestive and thus blood-sugar properties of a food."
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bzhuoa | how can choreography channels use popular music without copyright strikes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bzhuoa/eli5_how_can_choreography_channels_use_popular/ | {
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"Because in those cases, the rights holders opted to have the monetization from the video redirected to them.",
"This is better in r/answers."
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ei41qs | what is fwar in baseball? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ei41qs/eli5_what_is_fwar_in_baseball/ | {
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"It's Fangraphs wins above replacement. Essentially WAR takes a look at all of the stats of a player (advanced and basic) and tries to formulate how many wins a player was worth. A zero WAR in theory would be something like a AAAA player. Someone that doesn't help the team or really hurt them. A WAR of 0-2 may be an average player, 2-4 a good player, 4-5 an allstar, and anything over 5 or 6 a superstar. There are different formulas that may give certain stats a higher or lower affect on WAR (such as defensive stats), but the 2 most most popular are fWAR and b(aseballreference)WAR."
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l6t9x | how harddrives can access different files at the same time | With just one point of contact, shouldn't the "head" (don't know what else to call it) only be able to read one file at a time? Or does it quickly switch between all the needed parts every few bytes thus making everything slower when multiple actions are to be done. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l6t9x/eli5_how_harddrives_can_access_different_files_at/ | {
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"The same whey you'd access two different pages in a book \"at the same time\". You don't. You read one real fast then skip to the next and read that real fast. If you're trying to access something big, like a large file, you just read a few pages at a time to buffer up some info into RAM and as that drains back down the HD is free to do other stuff.",
"There are often multiple heads in your average drive, as there are often multiple platters, and data will be stored on both the top and bottom of each (really depends on the drive, some will use a single platter and only one side at that).\n\nHowever, the drive will only ever access one file at a time. If you're taxing the drive with multiple requests to different files, the operating system, storage controller and the drive's onboard electronics all have a part to play in how the drive will service those requests.\n\nThis can involve, as you suggested, servicing multiple jobs in small segments to minimise the distance the heads must travel along the platter surface (this decreases the net time it takes for all jobs to complete).\n\nDrives also include an onboard buffer which can store a number of megabytes of information. Bits of completed jobs will be read in and out of the buffer before making it back to the OS in a more complete fashion (often, anyway). \n\nIt only gives the illusion of accessing different files at the same time, because the process is so fast.\n\nHaving said that, when performing file operations, it is best to stick to a single queue of items at a time (don't select one large folder to copy somewhere, then immediately select another to move there too) because this prevents the drive from having to scrub the platters and hop jobs to maintain that illusion of multi-file access. In short, your jobs will complete faster done one at a time.",
"The same whey you'd access two different pages in a book \"at the same time\". You don't. You read one real fast then skip to the next and read that real fast. If you're trying to access something big, like a large file, you just read a few pages at a time to buffer up some info into RAM and as that drains back down the HD is free to do other stuff.",
"There are often multiple heads in your average drive, as there are often multiple platters, and data will be stored on both the top and bottom of each (really depends on the drive, some will use a single platter and only one side at that).\n\nHowever, the drive will only ever access one file at a time. If you're taxing the drive with multiple requests to different files, the operating system, storage controller and the drive's onboard electronics all have a part to play in how the drive will service those requests.\n\nThis can involve, as you suggested, servicing multiple jobs in small segments to minimise the distance the heads must travel along the platter surface (this decreases the net time it takes for all jobs to complete).\n\nDrives also include an onboard buffer which can store a number of megabytes of information. Bits of completed jobs will be read in and out of the buffer before making it back to the OS in a more complete fashion (often, anyway). \n\nIt only gives the illusion of accessing different files at the same time, because the process is so fast.\n\nHaving said that, when performing file operations, it is best to stick to a single queue of items at a time (don't select one large folder to copy somewhere, then immediately select another to move there too) because this prevents the drive from having to scrub the platters and hop jobs to maintain that illusion of multi-file access. In short, your jobs will complete faster done one at a time."
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1wo7i2 | if i say "you are now consciously breathing, blinking and thinking", why are we immediately aware of such subconscious things? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wo7i2/eli5_if_i_say_you_are_now_consciously_breathing/ | {
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"For the most part, breaking, blinking and thinking are controlled automatically by your brain. Yes, you can commandeer these functions and start breathing fast, hold your breath or start whistling Dixie. In fact, if you are rendered unconscious, you will start breathing again. \n\nBlinking happens because you need to moisten your eyes. Wet eyes = good. Dry eyes = bad. Yes, you can blink your eyelids really fast until you get dizzy or hold them open until your eyes hurt, but they will return to an automatic function.\n\nThinking happens whether you'd like it to or not. I have a serious case of ADD, so I never get to control my thoughts, unless I focus on something. E.G. A song, movie, or color.\n\nTL:DR Hearing the phrase \"You are now aware of (this, that, or the other)\" makes you consciously aware of these automated functions and gives you temporary manual control over them until you get distracted by something shiny and forget about it."
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2izae6 | why does hollywood produce these straight to video movies which are clearly terrible and how do they manage to get good actors in them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2izae6/eli5_why_does_hollywood_produce_these_straight_to/ | {
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"Straight to video happens if the film is not good enough, for whatever reason, to be shown in cinemas. It might be that they are about some kind of trend which died out before the film was finished, or production problems made it worse than it should have been, or it's just a generally shitty product.\n\nStudios are pretty limited on how many films they can show in cinemas in a year. If they don't think they'll make money off something then they aren't going to go through the expense of marketing it for a cinema release. But, if the film's already done, then it's worth their while to quietly release it on DVD to recoup as much as possible of the cost of making it.\n\n",
"Another often overseen aspect of this is to keep the \"side-industries\" busy and flourishing, because the studios depend on them so badly for their major blockbusters. And this could include everything from hair stylists, to on-set catering services, animation artists, CGI modelers, camera and gear lenders etc.\n\nFor the studios producing such a direct-to-video movie sometimes is a sheer zero-sum-game, if you take a look just at the balance between expenditures and revenue. But the indirect impact, which you can't account to directly related revenue might be important.\n\nFor example they might fulfill contracts like \"we will produce 60 films in 2014 with equipment rented from you\" or might be able to license more content to all those different content providers (cable networks, netflix, itunes, etc.), we sell you the licenses for this package of \"100 movies and includes those 20 blockbusters\".\n\nAnd sometimes — especially in the case of movies targeted towards children — it is to give a decaying trend another little upward marketing spike. Young children are less aware of the concept of \"contemporariness\", so if \"Pixar's Cars (1)\" is shown to them today maybe via cable, parents might feel the urge to show them the other parts as well. For the parents it's an easy way to keep their kids busy. Or maybe it's due to sheer pressure by their kids, when they see the other ones in store or in the digital library. Another important aspect is that the kids might respond strongly to otherwise old merchandising or licensed products that are still in stock and that otherwise needed to be recycled, if they don't get sold..\n\nEspecially in retail those type of agreements actually are common.\nThe retailers that sacrifice valuable shelf-space for a merchandising article (let's say character figures of Disney movies) want some guarantee that those will be demanded by their customers. Those deals are closed way ahead of the actual release (sometimes even completion of the creation) of the movie, as the items need to be manufactured (mostly) overseas and distributed world-wide in advance. So no one knows for sure how huge of a success a movie will be. Those are all bets...some are safer (next Pixar block-buster), some are more risky.\n\nSometimes you'll see agreements in the manner of being very cross-promotional. \nDeal with cable companies might include that the movie should be aired at specific times of the year or on very specific days, like around christmas or thanksgiving etc. and at the same time you might notice that a certain fastfood chain \"recycles\" those figurines once again as a gimmick in their kid's meals, while there occurs to be a printed ad in a kid's magazine or comic simultaneously.\n\nThis is all planned months/years ahead and a pretty complex field to work in.\nThe trickiest part is that you can't directly measure your marketing success, because there are so many influencing factors that the data is kind of corrupted by it being so scattered. But as we all can clearly see...it's possible :)",
"I believe its because the movie is already made before its decided it will be direct to distribution. The movie gets rated and people feel its not worth putting into theaters but could maybe recoup their money over time on the store shelves. ",
"No one sets out to make a bad movie on purpose. There are many, many pitfalls between script and screen. Actors are generally paid up front, so for Joey Pants, his wallet isn't impacted if the movie turns out to be a turd. Some huge actors can demand percentages on the movie's profit, but most of their salaries aren't contingent on that. As for the filmmakers, they may not make any money on it. It's a huge gamble.",
"I believe there is also a subset of movies not intended to be released stateside and are shipped to foreign markets...they usually have a marquee name at the time that sells them. Cuba Gooding Jr did a handful after Jerry McGuire. I've also seen several other second tier names on movies I had never heard of until I saw it overseas...think of it the same way some actors do commercials for foreign markets for good money knowing it will unlikely be seen by the most Americans. \n \nEvery one can still make good money on these releases.",
"There are intentional \"B\" movies. As nezia said there are also films that are sort of forcibly produced do to the nature of the hollywood machine that were almost guaranteed to be a crapfest and strait to dvd is the most efficient way to recoup some of the loss.\n\nFinally, why good actors/directors/producers end up with bad movies is because making a film is a surprisingly complex endeavor. \n\nThere is lots of improvisation across all boards and sometimes things don't match up. \n\nSometimes an actor will take a script that they love and a director they adore. After they sign the contract the director drops out and the new one wants a script change. This can lead to more problems like going over budget and cutting of scenes or affects. \n\nThis leads to a \"bad\" movie. Now instead of printing a bunch of film and losing more movies in the theaters, just release it and hope to recruit some money. ",
"Much of direct-to-video releases are independent productions by small companies that are simply picked up by larger studios for distribution. These movies can be sold cheap on dvd, blu-ray, and VOD (along with deals through outlets like Netflix) because the studios didn't have to finance the films themselves, nor do they have to provide any real marketing budget. In the end, it is a low-risk investment that can quickly prove fruitful for both parties."
]
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||
bi657a | how is a long simple suspension bridge made? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bi657a/eli5_how_is_a_long_simple_suspension_bridge_made/ | {
"a_id": [
"elydb27"
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"Exactly how they are build depend on the bridge but the general idea is to get a thin rope/wire across to the other side and then us it pull a lager and larger rope/wire over the river.\n\nIt an be a relative thick rope like in this Incan bridge [_URL_1_](_URL_1_) or a lot of thin wire in a automatic way like on the golden gate bridge [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) that have 27 572 wires per cable\n\n & #x200B;\n\nBut the main principle that as long as you have something across that can hold a bit more then it own weight you can get thicker and thicker wires across the gorge. You can use a boat to cross the water of fire a thin line over with a bow and arrows or fire with a gun. Today a helicopter or a drone is likely a good option in rough terrain."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://youtu.be/FKU1PTyHtbM?t=910",
"https://youtu.be/dql-D6JQ1Bc?t=87"
]
] |
|
4h8d79 | the affordable care act; specifically how it affected the middle class who already paid for insurance. | I'm the only Democrat in my family. My SO is also Republican. Normally it doesn't matter too much because I vote and exercise my constitutional right and none of them do because they claim "the system is broken".
Recently when we were doing taxes my parents and my SO were really upset and both referenced several times that their insurance has gone up and now they're being forced to pay taxes on the money their companies pay towards their insurance.
They always look at me and sneer about "your precious president ruined our health care so the poor people can have it too." I have tried researching it and I just don't understand it. I want to stand up for myself and my beliefs but I don't know if I'm wrong, they're wrong, and how to explain it easily so they understand it.
When I ask them to explain it they just say "well Obama ruined it all!" and don't elaborate further. What does all this mean?! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4h8d79/eli5_the_affordable_care_act_specifically_how_it/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"First of all, your relatives are misinformed.\n\nPart of the Affordable Care Act required companies that provide health insurance to their employees disclose the cost of that insurance. They do this by including the cost on the employee's W-2.\n\nYour W-2 is an important tax document that is used when filling out your tax return. It includes information such as wages, salary, and tips. This is where the confusion lies. *Just because your insurance cost is included on your W-2 does not mean that it is included as part of your taxable income.* You do NOT pay taxes on the insurance policy.\n\nThis is a common misconception. One that has been repeated often times by conservative media outlets.\n\nDirectly from the [IRS Website](_URL_0_):\n\n > \"The amount reported does not affect tax liability, as the value of the employer contribution continues to be excludible from an employee’s income, and is not taxable. This reporting is for informational purposes only, to show employees the value of their health care benefits.\""
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.irs.gov/uac/Reporting-Employer-Provided-Health-Coverage-on-Form-W-2"
]
] |
|
3awysn | how can zoos provide animals happiness? | I just feel like animal happiness and human happiness is a lot different. Animals don't think to themselves "I am happy" or "I am sad". They are very primitive in a lot of ways compared to humans. Their drive in life is to hunt/forage for food, survive against predation and to reproduce. If they don't have any three of those things, they are just shells of animals. I feel like that's the only way one could truly view real animals in captivity or gain any kind of education from a zoo aside from reading about what they would be doing in the wild on a bulletin board beside the exhibit. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3awysn/eli5_how_can_zoos_provide_animals_happiness/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Today, they try to give animals a more interesting environment and seek to enrich their experience. More plants and structures in their enclosure to climb on, hide in, etc. Toys. New things for hem to experience. Putting food inside puzzles or hidden in the enclosure so they need to work a little harder to find their lunch. Companions, animals in zooz today are rarely alone."
]
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[]
] |
|
1d9aoe | why isn't humanity freaking out about the fate of the ocean moreso than it already is? | Someone told me a couple days ago that algae and shit in the ocean makes more oxygen than trees on land (if you could explain that to me as well that'd be awesome) and that the ocean is going to become dead or unlivable in the next like 100 years
why aren't we all freaking the fuck out
why does this exist: _URL_0_
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1d9aoe/eli5_why_isnt_humanity_freaking_out_about_the/ | {
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"text": [
"It's a problem that occurs on a larger scale than a human lifetime...and we're tragically short sighted.",
"Where did you see that info about the ocean dying off in a 100 years? Sounds highly improbable."
]
} | [] | [
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch"
] | [
[],
[]
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|
1rjh4o | how do videogame developers determine the difficulty of ai? | I was playing a game and was wondering how AI difficulty is determined. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rjh4o/eli5_how_do_videogame_developers_determine_the/ | {
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"I suspect they just play the game and tune it to preference. AI difficulty often is something relatively simple like health pool, accuracy, or speed of reaction.",
"AI engine has a lot of numbers to tune. Developers make play tests and determine how players play game and then tune numbers.\n\nPlay one of Valve game including or after HL2EP1 with dev comments. You'll get insight into game development process."
]
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[],
[]
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|
2fs044 | why isn't spyware/adware illegal? | I mean most of those companies that run them have some American/Western interest that should be persecuted for abusing consumer resources for profit. Till when should this ignorance stay? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fs044/eli5_why_isnt_spywareadware_illegal/ | {
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"text": [
"Because you agreed to the terms of the software when you installed it. \n\nWait, you mean you clicked \"Accept\" without actually reading what you were agreeing to?",
" > abusing consumer resources for profit\n\nEven in a plain old TV, arguably they are using your electricity to spread their message to you and people around you. Same goes with standard ads in website which take a piece of bandwidth to download, CPU time and screen space to display. As long as they state it in the EULA and you clicked Accept, they're free to do it."
]
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8ydd3j | why are we taught christopher columbus discovered america when the vikings discovered america 400 years prior? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ydd3j/eli5_why_are_we_taught_christopher_columbus/ | {
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"The point is that Columbus discovered and opened the Americas to colonization by we formerly English Europeans. Technically the native Americans discovered the area first before even the Vikings but you understood how that wasn't relevant.",
"Charles Darwin is credited with discovering natural selection only because he published first. The only reason he published first was because Wallace (the other guy who came up with natural selection) was about to publish and be considered the discoverer. If you keep your discovery a secret it doesn’t count. ",
"Washington Iriving wrote the first English language biography of Columbus in 1828, [and made up the lie that Columbus discovered America](_URL_1_). Then newly immigrated Italians latched onto the idea and promoted it like crazy in order to try and [prove Italians had a place in American history and reduce persecution.](_URL_0_)",
"Because history isn't so much about the bare facts, it's about the impact. Sure, Leif Erikson was in what's now Greenland and Canada around 500 years before Columbus. But the Vikings kept only a couple of smallish settlements in Greenland and didn't share the information with Western Europeans (it's not like they were all friends!), and so their impact on the continent was fairly minimal and wasn't confirmed by historians for hundreds of years after the fact.\n\nCompare that to Columbus, who not only reached the New World (what's now Hispaniola and the Bahamas), but told his benefactors back home about it, opening up the doors to large-scale exploration, settlement, and conquest, and all the good and bad that comes out of that. Within a short timeframe, all of Western Europe was involved in the New World and history for Europe and the Americas changed in a very large way. This is the fact that was remembered in history, and even now that we have a very good idea of Norse exploration, this is the fact that remains, because Columbus's discovery had the far larger historical impact.",
"Because it was only up in Newfoundland and it was only a short expedition that lasted for no more than two years, and the purpose of the expedition was to gather resources for their Christian mission in Greenland. It was never planned to remain in Vinland to form a colony, nor was it particularly explored other than around the immediate area of their camp or outpost. They hardly even recorded anything about their trip other than a few names and records, but not at all as much as you would expect from an explorer or cartographer.\n\nTherefore the very brief and decisive footprint they left on the north american continent, and the actual amount of exploration or discovering they did, is an absolute drop in the bucket in comparison to later european discovery and colonisation.\n\nThat's probably why people usually count Columbus as the one who properly discovered America, and not Leif, because it's the first expedition or whatever that actually made a difference.",
"First of all, I want to contest your point: I was certainly taught about the Norse discovery of North America multiple times in school. I don't think it's the case that it isn't taught.\n\nThat said: native Americans discovered America (possibly more than once), the Norse discovered America, the Polynesians _might_ have discovered America, and Columbus discovered America. You can discover something as long as you don't know about it already, even if somebody else has already discovered it. \n\nThe Norse discovered a part of America, but that knowledge didn't really go on to have a big impact on the rest of the world, while Columbus's discovery is the one that went on to lead directly to sustained and world-changing levels of contact between the two continents. It's the relevant discovery when talking about things like European colonization, so it gets more press.\n\n",
"Mainly the education system is poor. However as many have stated Columbus set up trade routes, started colonization etc...\n\nThe Norse did land and set camps well before Columbus who in his first landing of 1492 was in the Caribbean and not the North American main land. Giovanni Cabato in 1497 is accredited with the first North American costal expedition. \n\nThere is also Amerigo Vespucci who is purported to have visited the new world in 1497 as well, however this is disputed, plus most of his work is in regards to South America. \n\nTo go way back there is lore of St. Brendan an Irish monk 484-577AD who is said to have found an island called Paradise which is thought to possibly be North America. Christopher Columbus knew of this story, the Norse did as well. \n\nThe Vikings referred to the lands south of their settlement in Vinland as “Irland it Mikla,” or “Greater Ireland.\"\n\nIn 1976 an adventurer Tim Severin sailed from the same place as St. Brendan did in an identical craft and succefully sailed to New Foundland showing it may very well have been possible that this voyage happened almost 500 years before the Norse did. \n\n"
]
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[],
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"https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/14/232120128/how-columbus-sailed-into-u-s-history-thanks-to-italians",
"https://www.backstoryradio.org/shows/1492-3/"
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2ig76l | why can the president send troops abroad without the direct consent of congress? | The US just sent helicopters over to Iraq again. Does Congress need to approve this or can Obama pretty much do whatever until he needs to declare war? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ig76l/eli5why_can_the_president_send_troops_abroad/ | {
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"The president is the commander and chief of the military. Basically the highest ranking officer of every branch. He can tell the military to do whatever he wants. This is for a variety of reasons but most importantly it is because the president might need the military to do something and not have time to get congressional approval - say in the event the US was invaded or one of our allies in NATO suddenly needed support. He does have to let congress know within 48 hours that he told the military to do something.\n\nThe check and balance on this is that the president needs congressional approval for any military action that lasts longer than 60 days. So the president could send troops anywhere in the world for 60 days but, after that time, unless congress says it is okay the troops can't stay anywhere.\n\nFor further reading check out the war powers act: _URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution"
]
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|
a1c1qw | they say diesel burns cleaner than gasoline, but has a higher level of particulates. what does this mean as far as environmental impact is concerned? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a1c1qw/eli5_they_say_diesel_burns_cleaner_than_gasoline/ | {
"a_id": [
"eaold93"
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"text": [
"Particulates tend to be non-toxic materials, but end up toxic due to size. The vast majority of the particulates in diesel exhaust is small balls of carbon. When floating around in the air they are a hazard because you can breathe them in and they'll get stuck in your lungs, small things in your lungs tends to cause lung cancer and other medical issues.\n\nBut it's not really toxic beyond that, it doesn't form acid rain, it doesn't deplete the ozone, and it doesn't really react, it slowly falls to the ground and once it's in the dirt it's no more toxic than charcoal and it's quickly used up by plants and such. It's worth noting that it wasn't necessarily always like this, diesel use to have a lot of Sulfur in it, and sulfur in the particulate matter reacts with water to form sulfuric acid which can mess with the ph of rain/rivers/lakes/the ground. Today, at least in the US, it's almost all low sulfur fuel so there is very little acid causing things in the exhaust."
]
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||
aru139 | why is there a double standard between use and impairment in drug testing (for employment for example), between alcohol and other drugs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aru139/eli5_why_is_there_a_double_standard_between_use/ | {
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"text": [
"Because one is LEGAL and one is NOT. \nMarijuana is still very much illegal on the federal level. So contrary to OPs thought about it being legal. It is not. Federal law superceeds state law. \nNow. You can also test for impairment on marijuana too. (Standardized field sobriety tests for alcohol work on marijuana too)\nBut they are having a hard time coming up with a level in the blood which is determined to be what they call illegal per se. Which is a level that the determined at this amount you are impaired wether or not u show any signs. \nNeed more testing of “high” individuals i guess. ",
"Reasons... I know such breif and vauge answers get removed from this sub. But for mostly all double standards, their reasonings are arbitrary at best.\n\nPerhaps it's because of the many attempts to ban Alchohol use failing hard. Stoners just have to proove they can function with occasional use.\n\nI think the perception of pot is that it's a losers drug, then again... alchohol has produced many a loser.\n\nIt's all arbitrary man, the admin just decided pots evil and left it at that."
]
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[],
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||
8ldpyw | scars are side effect of healing, right? in what circumstances can they appear without wound? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ldpyw/eli5_scars_are_side_effect_of_healing_right_in/ | {
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"text": [
"Stretch marks from weight gain or loss could be considered scars. Weight loss or gain wouldn’t be considered an injury, per se.\n\nIf that is satisfactory."
]
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||
l13ok | how do barcodes work in relation to coupons? | For example what responsibilities would be assigned to _URL_0_ (coupon catalog) , Lays (brand), and WalMart (retailer). Who creates the coupon and coupon barcode? How do Walmart's computers know to assign a "buy one get one free" deal on the Lays chips. How does Lays reimburse WalMart for giving the discount? Or does WalMart reimburse Lays? Is there a neutral 3rd party that determines the compensation to be awarded to the retailer?
EDIT: Sorry i forgot to use the ELI5 identifier in the title. That's not good reddiquette and I apologize. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l13ok/how_do_barcodes_work_in_relation_to_coupons/ | {
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"Hrm, this is a pretty complicated question, and I'm no expert, but I'll see what I can do.\n\nBasically when a new product arrives, it's barcode is scanned into a big database (Walmart's system).\n\nWhen a company (Coupon Website) creates a coupon, it has an agreement with everyone involved (Lays, Walmart). Their deal says something like \"we can get people to buy more lays chips at walmart if they have a coupon for 2-for-1 at walmart only for lays only\".\n\nWalmart gets more Lays sales, Lays gets more Walmart sales, Coupon Website gets a cut of the action or advertisement revenue or something.\n\nWhen the coupons are printed, that barcode is put into the system and automatically adds 2 bags of chips at half price to the register, rather than 1 at full price. (Or something similar). \n\nLays may reimburse Walmart by giving them a discount on the next shipment or something, if it was Lays idea. If it was Walmart's idea, they don't have to reimburse anyone (I think) cause they're the ones \"losing\" money. If it was a coupon website's idea, they must have convinced lays or walmart that it was a good idea.\n\nThe reality is even if you get 2-for-1 on Lays Chips, Walmart probably still got them cheaper. Lays still makes their money too.\n\nKinda clumsy explanation but hopefully that helps.",
"There are a lot of sub questions here. But let's try and i'll simplify. Pretend your 10, not 5, thanks. Your question involves:\n* a unique item (bag of Lay's brand chips from Frito-Lay), \n* a \"coupon\" which is like a ticket, \n* a place that distributes tickets (_URL_0_), \n* and a place that sells things (and also takes tickets) (Walmart). \n\nFrito-Lay makes chips and sells them to Walmart, who then sells them to you. There are lots of kinds of chips and Walmart sells a lot of different kinds. The bag of chips has a price printed on it, say $4.00. \n\nSo, in order to get you to buy the Lay's chips instead of another kind, Frito-Lay decides that they want to sell the chips for a lower price. Here's where the coupon comes in. The coupon has a unique number (displayed in the form of a barcode). Let's say the coupon is for $1.00 off a bag. \n\nWhere do you get the coupon? Well, in the olden days, your parents would get the newspaper at home, or maybe a printed magazine. Frito-Lay would pay the newspaper or magazine a some money to print the coupon and deliver it to your home (advertising). But today, people also get coupons (and other deals) through _URL_0_ (Frito-Lay pays them to list the coupon on their web site).\n\nNow back to Walmart. Walmart is willing to accept the coupon from a person, and deduct $1.00 from the total. If the coupon comes from Frito-Lay, they don't do this to be nice. Frito-Lay has to pay them back. Let's say once a month Walmart goes to Frito-Lay and says \"hey I collected 5,000 coupons, and now you owe me $5,000.\"\n\nNow to the barcode again. The barcode on the coupon is just the unique number that helps Walmart, and _URL_0_ and Frito-Lay keep track of things. For simplicity, Frito-Lay makes the coupon, and adds some special unique numbers to the beginning that only they can use (pretend every maker came to agreement and somebody is keeping track). That means the number is unique, and they don't have to talk to anybody each time they make a coupon. \n\nOK, so Walmart has to learn about the coupon and have a person put the rules and information about it in their big computer that runs everything. Once they do this, anyone who gets the coupon can take it to Walmart (or anywhere), and Walmart's cash register knows to take $1.00 off. It also counts how many times it was used. Maybe the coupon says \"buy one get one free\", which means as they scan the first bag it says $4.00 and when they scan the second bag it says $0.00. This is just typical computer stuff.\n\nThat's basically it. There are many, many variations to types of offers, discounts and deals, and Walmart can also change prices too in many cases. But all coupons and deals have some unique identifier so that computers can keep track of what to do, and how often it happens, and how much to get paid back later.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n",
"Hrm, this is a pretty complicated question, and I'm no expert, but I'll see what I can do.\n\nBasically when a new product arrives, it's barcode is scanned into a big database (Walmart's system).\n\nWhen a company (Coupon Website) creates a coupon, it has an agreement with everyone involved (Lays, Walmart). Their deal says something like \"we can get people to buy more lays chips at walmart if they have a coupon for 2-for-1 at walmart only for lays only\".\n\nWalmart gets more Lays sales, Lays gets more Walmart sales, Coupon Website gets a cut of the action or advertisement revenue or something.\n\nWhen the coupons are printed, that barcode is put into the system and automatically adds 2 bags of chips at half price to the register, rather than 1 at full price. (Or something similar). \n\nLays may reimburse Walmart by giving them a discount on the next shipment or something, if it was Lays idea. If it was Walmart's idea, they don't have to reimburse anyone (I think) cause they're the ones \"losing\" money. If it was a coupon website's idea, they must have convinced lays or walmart that it was a good idea.\n\nThe reality is even if you get 2-for-1 on Lays Chips, Walmart probably still got them cheaper. Lays still makes their money too.\n\nKinda clumsy explanation but hopefully that helps.",
"There are a lot of sub questions here. But let's try and i'll simplify. Pretend your 10, not 5, thanks. Your question involves:\n* a unique item (bag of Lay's brand chips from Frito-Lay), \n* a \"coupon\" which is like a ticket, \n* a place that distributes tickets (_URL_0_), \n* and a place that sells things (and also takes tickets) (Walmart). \n\nFrito-Lay makes chips and sells them to Walmart, who then sells them to you. There are lots of kinds of chips and Walmart sells a lot of different kinds. The bag of chips has a price printed on it, say $4.00. \n\nSo, in order to get you to buy the Lay's chips instead of another kind, Frito-Lay decides that they want to sell the chips for a lower price. Here's where the coupon comes in. The coupon has a unique number (displayed in the form of a barcode). Let's say the coupon is for $1.00 off a bag. \n\nWhere do you get the coupon? Well, in the olden days, your parents would get the newspaper at home, or maybe a printed magazine. Frito-Lay would pay the newspaper or magazine a some money to print the coupon and deliver it to your home (advertising). But today, people also get coupons (and other deals) through _URL_0_ (Frito-Lay pays them to list the coupon on their web site).\n\nNow back to Walmart. Walmart is willing to accept the coupon from a person, and deduct $1.00 from the total. If the coupon comes from Frito-Lay, they don't do this to be nice. Frito-Lay has to pay them back. Let's say once a month Walmart goes to Frito-Lay and says \"hey I collected 5,000 coupons, and now you owe me $5,000.\"\n\nNow to the barcode again. The barcode on the coupon is just the unique number that helps Walmart, and _URL_0_ and Frito-Lay keep track of things. For simplicity, Frito-Lay makes the coupon, and adds some special unique numbers to the beginning that only they can use (pretend every maker came to agreement and somebody is keeping track). That means the number is unique, and they don't have to talk to anybody each time they make a coupon. \n\nOK, so Walmart has to learn about the coupon and have a person put the rules and information about it in their big computer that runs everything. Once they do this, anyone who gets the coupon can take it to Walmart (or anywhere), and Walmart's cash register knows to take $1.00 off. It also counts how many times it was used. Maybe the coupon says \"buy one get one free\", which means as they scan the first bag it says $4.00 and when they scan the second bag it says $0.00. This is just typical computer stuff.\n\nThat's basically it. There are many, many variations to types of offers, discounts and deals, and Walmart can also change prices too in many cases. But all coupons and deals have some unique identifier so that computers can keep track of what to do, and how often it happens, and how much to get paid back later.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"
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nzw13 | the purpose of the "indefinite detention" aspect of the national defense authorization act? | I've read about the act itself, as well as about the AUMF which gave the president similar rights after 9/11. Honestly, it sounds like it sounds really dangerous. What are the purported benefits of indefinite detention? What would a supporter say makes it necessary for our defense? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/nzw13/eli5_the_purpose_of_the_indefinite_detention/ | {
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"The biggest reason that I hear cited is that terrorism is very difficult to fight. A lot of times, the government has to act based on hearsay in order to prevent terrorism, and it's difficult because all the cards are stacked on the terrorists' side; Before NDAA the government couldn't detain potential terrorists, it couldn't legally search their property or (until after 911) wiretap them... someone could be getting all of the materials together for a roadside bomb or something, and we'd be powerless to do anything about it until after a lengthy court case, which requires a ton of evidence and time to get a conviction for, and still leaves the person out in society and free if they can afford bail. As a result, the government seeks new ways to fight what they see as a more difficult battle than one outside our borders. \n\nI don't agree with the NDAA at all, but that's the argument that i've heard, and i don't think it's necessarily a stupid argument either.",
"Isn't the language of NDAA such that the government has to be able to claim someone is specifically associated with al Qaeda or another known terrorist group to detain them? Yes, there's no trial or anything, but they have to at least assert a connection.",
"I'm necessarily abandoning the pretext that you're 5 for this post.\n\nIn [Hamdi v. Rumsfeld](_URL_0_)(2004) and writing for the plurality, Justice O'Connor addressed the first question of that case, namely:\n > whether the Executive has the authority to detain citizens who qualify as \"enemy combatants.\" [p. 516.]\n\nJustice O'Connor summarizes the answer the Court gives for that question as follows:\n > The AUMF authorizes the President to use \"all necessary and appropriate force\" against \"nations, organizations, or persons\" associated with the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 115 Stat. 224. There can be no doubt that individuals who fought against the United States in Afghanistan as part of the Taliban, an organization known to have supported the al Qaeda terrorist network responsible for those attacks, are individuals Congress sought to target in passing the AUMF. We conclude that detention of individuals falling into the limited category we are considering, for the duration of the particular conflict in which they were captured, is so fundamental and accepted an incident to war as to be an exercise of the \"necessary and appropriate force\" Congress has authorized the President to use. (p. 518.)\n\nIn other words, indefinite detention under the AUMF is authorized as a necessary consequence of Congress authorizing the President to use force to defeat Al Qaeda. The purpose of indefinite detention is not punitive, but to \"to prevent captured individuals from returning to the field of battle and taking up arms once again.\" (Quotations and citations omitted, p. 518.) \n\nNoting that during World War II the Court took a similar position, the Justice goes on to explain that \"[a] citizen, no less than an alien, can be part of or supporting forces hostile to the United States or coalition partners and engaged in an armed conflict against the United States; such a citizen, if released, would pose the same threat of returning to the front during the ongoing conflict. (p. 519.)\n\n**Tl;dr: The purpose of indefinite detention is to prevent individuals detained as part of a conflict from returning to the battle. It's not about punishing people, it's about preventing them from being able to undermine the US's efforts to fight Al Qaeda and its associates.**"
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"http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6173897153146757813&q=Hamdi+v.+Rumsfeld&hl=en&as_sdt=2,5"
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2gs1yl | if a spaceship travels at near-lightspeed, the people on the ship would experience time at a much slower rate. would radio comms from earth sound really really slowed down to them? | Also, would comms FROM the ship to earth sounds like chipmunks/sped up?
I (kind of) get the concept that near-lightspeed travel distorts time and would allow living beings aboard to live much longer because time aboard the ship passes at a much slower rate. How would this affect the sound of a human voice from earth calling into the ship? Would it be warped? Would the humans on board perceive a several second long message from earth as taking days to listen to? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gs1yl/eli5eli5_if_a_spaceship_travels_at_nearlightspeed/ | {
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"It should be the other way round, since outside time is running faster, any radio signals will be too. Meanwhile since time on the craft is slower, their messages will be received, and a simple message may take years to fully come and be decoded.",
"Assuming you could find a way to get around the difficulty of sending radio waves, which propagate at light speed, to a ship traveling at nearly light speed, it would be the other way 'round. Let's say the ship is traveling fast enough that relativistic effects cause a 10:1 time-rate difference - that is, for each 10 seconds that pass on Earth, 1 second appears to pass on the ship.\n\nThe Earth station would transmit a message lasting, say, 10 seconds - when received at the ship, it might have an apparent duration of only 1 second, and thus would sound overcranked 10:1. Conversely, a 10 second message transmitted by the ship would sound 1:10 undercranked at Earth, and would take 100 seconds to play.\n\nIt's hardly a textbook, but the Heinlein novel *Time for the Stars* gets into this. It's not terrible for a juvenile Sci-Fi novel."
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6ngs1c | why have jet engines seemingly gotten wider and wider over the years? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ngs1c/eli5_why_have_jet_engines_seemingly_gotten_wider/ | {
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"The jet engine compresses the air, inject fuels, compresses mixture, ignites it and exhausts the gas at an accelerated speed through an exit nozzle. \nA wider jet engine can have a larger air intake and larger forces can be exerted by the engine to accelerate the plane at a faster rate. It's owing largely to improved materials and manufacturing as these can survive much higher forces and temperatures.",
"A modern jet engine is what is known as a turbofan.\n\nThere is a gas generator core (what you would think as a \"jet engine\" - suck air, compress, burn fuel in it, use it to spin a turbine and use the remaining exhaust as reactive propulsion) that drives a large fan on the front, and most of the thrust is produced by the fan.\n\nThe larger the fan, the higher the thrust at the same RPM (rotation speed). The slower the fan spins, the quieter it is. So a larger fan that spins slower would produce the same power as a smaller one that spins faster.\n\nEfficiency of the engine also depends on the size of the fan compared to the size of the core (known as bypass ratio), since the fan is more efficient as a propulsion at airliner cruise speed that the jet exhaust. "
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aqg6wi | what is the difference between amnesia and alzheimer's? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aqg6wi/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_amnesia_and/ | {
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"Amnesia is usually a symptom of a bigger disorder or injury.\n\nAlzheimers patients suffer a form of amnesia called anterograde amnesia, the inability to form new memories after the onset of the disorder, the disorder itself causes the degradation of brain tissue. As the brain begins to slowly die it loses the pathway connections that form memories, control motor functions, and eventually, cognitive thought\n\nRetrograde amnesia is when an injury or sudden onset complication causes the loss of all memory from before the amnesia\n\nEdit: spelling"
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4gef5z | why is it so much easier to bend. a flat opbject than to pull it apart? | As the username implies, im celebrating passover and eating only matzoh, which if you dont know is like a giant cracker. I was wondering, why can I easily crack off a peice by bending it but pulling it parallel does nothing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gef5z/eli5_why_is_it_so_much_easier_to_bend_a_flat/ | {
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"Its the difference between torsional strength (resistance against bending) and tensile strength (resistance to being pulled apart). The structure of the cracker is stiff which makes it strong against being pulled apart, but it doesn't have the flexibility required to bend. Bread on the other hand (I did just eat a sandwich) is very soft and a slice can flex back and forth with ease, but it also pulls apart very without much effort. ",
"The cracker obviously has some structural strength because it doesn't fall apart when you blow on it. Matzah is brittle which means it shatters when you overcome it's ability to stay together. Let's think about a more elastic thing: a sheet of paper.\n\nIf you have a friend pull on the other side of a sheet of paper, one of you will end up with a small chunk from where you are grasping the paper and the other will have the sheet. If you did that with the Matzah something similar would happen but it someone would probably end up with crumbs rather than a chunk.\n\nWhen you break the Matzah, think about how you hold your hands. You're essentially making a lever with your thumbs to apply force to the middle. When you do this to paper it bends because it is more elastic, but since Matzah is brittle if shatters where you apply force."
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4btc2x | how do we walk, and how does one become more graceful at it? | The question is pretty simple. I have my mothers wedding coming up in September, and as both of her parents have passed, I am the one that will need to walk her down the aisle. All of our family will be there and I want her to be as happy as possible. I, as my dad and granddad do, have short hamstrings, meaning the way I walk is kind of slacky. My feet land more beneath me rather than in front of me and I walk like an emo teenager. I'd like to be more graceful at walking so the main part of the wedding doesn't look so trashy. Thank in advance for all replies! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4btc2x/eli5_how_do_we_walk_and_how_does_one_become_more/ | {
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"Hi,\n\nHere's a couple of tips that will help. You're going to want to rehearse these (privately:) so that they can be locked into your neurology by the time the wedding comes around:\n\n1. Imagine someone that you find REALLY sexy is waiting for you at the end of your walk. Really see them, hear, smell them, etc. Make this image real and imagine them down there waiting for you.\n\n2. Alternately, you can imagine your husband ( present or future) waiting down there and you're walking toward him.\n\n3. Do bodyweight squats. They'll help strenthen your quads and help you move smoother.\n\n4. Before you go to bed at night, imagine yourself walking as sexy as you want to, moving smoothly as you walk.\n\n5. Find someone that you know that has a really sexy walk and model them, meaning you model their posture as you walk, model their eyes and where they're looking, etc. Become that person for the duration of your walk.\n\nHope this helps!\n\nAmir Campbell"
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etocn7 | stamina vs endurance | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/etocn7/eli5_stamina_vs_endurance/ | {
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"Stamina is defined as the amount of time that a given group of muscles can perform at or near maximum capacity, endurance is defined as the maximum amount of time that a given group of muscles can perform a certain action. Therefore, the difference between stamina and endurance is one of focus."
]
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mkcul | the difference / relationship between genes and alleles | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mkcul/eli5_the_difference_relationship_between_genes/ | {
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"A gene is a stretch of DNA that codes for a particular protein.\n\nAlleles are variations of that gene that code for slightly different proteins.\n\nThe \"wild-type\" allele is the normal version that most of the population has. Changes from that are mutant alleles.\n\nDifferent alleles don't have to be bad, for example there are alleles of blood markers: A, B, and O that can be combined to give the A, B, O, and AB blood types. On the other hand, people that have two mutant alleles of the CFTR gene have the disease cystic fibrosis.",
"A gene is a stretch of DNA that codes for a particular protein.\n\nAlleles are variations of that gene that code for slightly different proteins.\n\nThe \"wild-type\" allele is the normal version that most of the population has. Changes from that are mutant alleles.\n\nDifferent alleles don't have to be bad, for example there are alleles of blood markers: A, B, and O that can be combined to give the A, B, O, and AB blood types. On the other hand, people that have two mutant alleles of the CFTR gene have the disease cystic fibrosis."
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1sxa0b | why are external network hard drives so expensive and why is icloud so much more popular? | My initial question is why external network hard drives are so expensive? I understand that the network hard drives are essentially a personal "iCloud" in your home, but with ALOT more memory than the limited amount that Apple provides.
This leads me to my next question. Why is iCloud so popular when the amount of space given for free is so little, and they charge a ridiculous amount of money? Is this a lack of consumer awareness of the capabilities of iCloud? Is this Apple "throttling back" on their role out of innovation as to command a strong supply and demand?
I know there are so many variables, but any assistance would be greatly appreciated. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sxa0b/eli5_why_are_external_network_hard_drives_so/ | {
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"Cloud storage (Google or drop box is better than Apple here) has a smaller initial cost (a few dollars a month). It scales easily - you can store 10 gb or 10 terrabytes without going back to the store or managing a lot of hard drives. You can access your cloud data anywhere. It is backed up, if you lose your external, you are out of luck. The cloud backup system will keep multiple copies of your data stored in different geographic locations to make data loss almost unthinkable.",
"Just a comment for those worried about catastrophic loss of data- burglary, fire, tornado. What you can do is buy a external hard drive and keep if off site except when you're actually updating it. Put it in your desk drawer at work, or a friend's house, or it doesn't cost a lot to rent a safe deposit box. Almost zero chance of anything happening to your data. My own solution is a D-Link dual drive NAS in RAID 1 and an external hard drive normally kept at my parent's house. \n\nBut this is less convenient than iCloud so people pay the extra cost to use it. "
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78jgwi | if water can be made via exothermic reactions, why are we so diligent in finding water on mars. why not just make our own when we get there | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/78jgwi/eli5if_water_can_be_made_via_exothermic_reactions/ | {
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"Bringing things to Mars is very expensive. Somewhere around $45,000 per kilogram. Bringing a whole lot of water, or ingredients to make water, would be incredibly expensive.",
" > if water can be made via exothermic reactions, why are we so diligent in finding water on Mars. Why not just make our own when we get there\n\nIf you had a bunch of hydrogen and oxygen just sitting around then you could burn them to make water and energy. That would be an extremely effective way of both powering a base and supplying it with a source of fresh water.\n\nThe problem with that plan is of course that hydrogen and oxygen aren't just laying around on Mars. We might carry it with us but the amount of water we would get out of the reaction would be precisely the same as the total mass of hydrogen and oxygen we brought, so the same problems of \"Why don't we just bring it with us?\" apply. Moving any amount of material to Mars is very difficult so if we can use things already on Mars that is much more efficient and practical."
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2qnjqm | how would i have been treated in the 1940s under segregation as a light skinned puerto rican? | I am the first generation of my family to be born in the US. My family is very light skinned and if it were not for my last name I could easily pass for a non-hispanic. I speak English and Spanish with no accent and have brown hair and green eyes. I am married to a "white girl" (Irish and German). Seeing as no one from my family was here when segregation was the norm I am wondering how we (or I) would have been treated back in the 40s? When you see pictures of signs that say "Whites Only", was that more referring to skin color, or origin? Would my marriage have been frowned upon? Ive searched this subject to no avail, and as I said, no one from my family was here at that time so I cant ask, so I am hoping the reddit community can help me find out a bit what that time might have been like for someone like me? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qnjqm/eli5_how_would_i_have_been_treated_in_the_1940s/ | {
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"text": [
"You'd likely tell everyone you are white and live like a white man.",
"Hispanics were counted as white until the late 1960s or so. This is how *I Love Lucy* got away with pairing Lucille Ball with Cuban-born Desi Arnaz. Back then, you couldn't depict interracial relationships in movies and TV, but *I Love Lucy* got away with it because Cubans were considered white at the time.",
"If you looked white, you'd be treated as white. Nobody would care about your name, just how you looked. The darker you were, the more likely you'd be treated as \"colored.\" But it would be very inconsistant, especially for someone who was a race other than white or black.\n\nAlso, as Bob said, legally, Hispanics were white. Not that a dark-skinned Hispanic still wouldn't be discriminated against, especially in areas with lots of recent Mexican immigrants. If you were light-skinned and spoke English with no accent you'd almost certainly be considered white."
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1qdeza | how does calling an african-american "black" make you a racist? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qdeza/eli5_how_does_calling_an_africanamerican_black/ | {
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"I don't think it does at all. People call me 'white' and not an American. So why would it be racist to call someone 'black' instead of African American?",
"I think the opposite is true in a way.\n\nPeople call blacks \"african-american\" just to AVOID using the word \"black\".\n\nMost of the time they're just... \"American\", not \"African-American\".\n\nSometimes it's just completely wrong such as with my Jamaican friends! They aren't African-American :(\n\nAlso, for some reason the rules say you can't identify as \"african-american\" is you're white which is weird... It's as if white people don't exist in Africa...",
"It doesn't... black is the preferred nomenclature. ",
"You have to understand what the culture of the whole society of the USA was like in the 1850s, the 1930s, the 1950s and the 1970s to understand why such a useful and descriptive word as \"black\" to refer to someone with dark complexioned skin used to be such a term of distaste, dislike and oppression.\n\nBlacks don't use the front door, they go around the servant's entrance, even if they are not a servant. Blacks don't sit down and take a meal or a cup of tea in a room with you. Blacks aren't given a bank loan for anything, EVER. Blacks who marry your daughter get killed. Literally killed with no legal repercussions. \"Black\" is a word with lots of historical baggage in the USA."
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62ikfv | why do we remember insults more than compliments? | For instance: if my boyfriend tells me I'm beautiful, the compliment only makes me feel good for a short time. If he criticizes me or tells me I'm bad in some way, this instills in me for a long time. I've heard this is common in most people (i.e. a musician can hear they make amazing music but they only can hear the one person who says they are crap) -- why are people wired this way? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/62ikfv/eli5_why_do_we_remember_insults_more_than/ | {
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"text": [
"It's a *negativity bias*. The brain is wired to remember negative experiences more strongly than positive, in order to avoid danger in the future. Unfortunately, evolution hasn't caught up to society."
]
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1ya38b | why languages and number systems are so diverse, but time (ex. seconds, hours) remains universal? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ya38b/eli5_why_languages_and_number_systems_are_so/ | {
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"text": [
"Standardization. Pretty much all nations decided to use the same units. \n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units"
]
] |
||
38pyp7 | the differences between early humans (homo sapiens, homo erectus, homo habits, etc.) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38pyp7/eli5_the_differences_between_early_humans_homo/ | {
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"text": [
"Lets start with the beginning of the genus Homo.\n\n**Homo habilis**:\n\nThis is known as the handy man, because it was found near a bunch of stone tools. It was a very early species, probably the first member of Homo. It ate pretty much anything, hard plants like nuts, or softer plants, and maybe even meat. It was shorter than modern humans, and had long arms and short legs. Its brain was, if I remember correctly, about half the size of ours. It probably wasn't very smart. But it likely made and used stone tools, although the first stone tools are older than the first members of Homo.\n\n_URL_3_\n\nHomo rudolfensis: Not very smart, but had a bigger brain than habilis. Might be the same species as habilis. Otherwise similar to habilis.\n\nHomo Erectus: This species hunted meat, and it did so like [this] (_URL_0_). It figured out that if it kept up the chase long enough, it could get its [prey to suffer from heat stroke and die] (_URL_1_). It had a bunch of [running adaptations] (_URL_2_) which we still have today. These include, long legs, short arms, a lack of body hair, joints that can absorb shock and most importantly, an arched foot and achilles tendon that act like springs and together absorb 52% of the energy from each step and put into the next step. This blows my mind, they chased wild animals until they collapsed from heat stroke. It leaves you mindfucked, doesn't it? Anyway, Homo erectus was larger than its ancestors (it probably was descended from habilis), had a larger brain, shorter arms and longer legs. With Homo erectus, for the first time, if you saw him from 100 feet away, you would have thought he was a human. He was larger than us. He still had a forehead that was sloped backwards and a protruding lower face. It wasn't quite as smart as we were, but it was getting smarter. One thing you should know, some scientists think that Homo erectus was actually more than one species. Some say that the Homo erectus that evolved in Africa was a different species (called homo ergaster) from the ones in asia. Others think that they were one species that just happened to be very diverse and variable. Some say that ergaster evolved in africa, and then some moved into asia, where it became erectus, and the ones who stayed in africa stayed ergaster, others say they were both erects. It may or may not have used fire, we haven't found any actual fireplaces there. But, we know that Erectus had to live on the ground, and it had to sleep on the ground. They needed a way to protect themselves from predators, and fire would have done that for them. Even if they did use fire, they didn't cook their food.\n\nHomo heidelbergensis: Heidelbergensis evolved from ergaster (or erectus) in africa. It was more human like, had a larger brain that was only 10% smaller than that of us. We don't know much about how it lived, but we do know it ate meat from big game, such as elephants and big game. But it isn't clear if it hunted these animals, or stole them from predators that did. Both ways it is impressive. We think they had spears. And I believe they used fire, if my memory serves me well. Heidelbergensis was the first to bury their dead.\n\nNeandertals: neandertals (also spelled with a th, neadnerthals, both spellings are correct, I prefer neandertals because that's how it's pronounced, like a t, not a th) were bad in the best sense of the word. They lived in Europe. They descended from Hedielbergensis. Heidelbergensis moved from Africa, the ones in Europe becamee neandertals, the ones in Asia became desinovans, and the ones who stayed in Africa became us. Neandertals lived in groups of 5- 10. They hunted big game, and they did so with thrusting spears. Not throwing spears, their spears were too big to be thrown. They instead had to get up close and personal with its prey. In Europe at the time, it was too cold to chase prey to heat stroke. Think ice age, there were mammoths, bears, wolves, hyenas, lions, and other predators in Europe at the time. There were also Ibex (is that how you spell it? It's cattle before they were domesticated), wooly rhinoceros, and others I can't remember. Anyway, back to neandertals, they ate a LOT of meat, most of it big game, deer, wooly rhinoceros, elk, so OJ and so forth. In order to hunt, hey had to run up to their prey and stab it with the spear. Once they killed it, hey had to defend their kill from predators. Once again, in order to defend their kill, they had to get up close and personal with the predator in hand to hand combat. Wow. That's mindfucking. They were injured quite often in dough this. We see A LOT of broken bones in neandertal skeletons. We see he same types of injuries that we see in rodeo cowboys, who ride the Bulls while the Bulls try to throw them off. The broken bones almost always had time to heal. Neandertals cared for their sick and wounded. Neandertals were every bit as smart as modern humans, IMHO. Scientists debate that, what we do know is that their brians were larger than ours. We have found shells with holes drilled in them, and traces of red pigment on them, that look suspiciously like beads you would put on a necklace. We found bones with holes in them that may or may not have been musical insturments like flutes. Or may just be bones chewed on by hyenas. Neandertals buried their dead. Their technology was actually better than what ours was at the time. Although their tools looked a lot more primitive at first glance. Most hominids before them made tools by taking a core, and using a hammerstone to take off chips to make a hand axe, and discarded the chips. Neandertals didn't. They made cores in a very specific manner, and then knocked off a single large flake with a precision blow, and then used that flake as the tool, and threw away the core. Neandertals were slightly shorter than we were, and were much stronger and more muscular. They still had large brow ridges, and their foreheads were sloped backwards. \n\nDesinovans: we have no idea who these dudes were, or what they looked like, all we've ever found of the, was a finger bone, a toe bone, and two teeth. They lived in Asia. We only know it was its own species from some DNA from the teeth. We know they were descended from heidelbergensis. \n\nModern humans: Really smart, you're one of them. Ate meat, and plants. Had technology. Taller than a neandertal, but less muscular. Used ranged weapons like throwing spears and atlatls. Could bring down much more prey than neandertals could. \n\nGot to go, my mom is making me go to some stupid place, I'll post this. Then I'll get on my reddit account from my iPad and finish editing it in the car.\n\nEdit: I'll finish this later, maybe tommorow, when I can, my mom is making me go to a stupid place to do some dumb crap. the car ride just ended so it might take some time before I can finish this."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=826HMLoiE_o",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7BfaQ6ZggM",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WuB8BhUJrc",
"http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-habilis"
]
] |
||
73qh13 | how can the car industry be so diverse, and still be so successful? | There are countless car companies, and within each company are car types, sometimes upwards of 25 different types, and new ones are made every year. If cars are durable goods that last 15 years, and there are so many on the market, how do car companies make money? How are there so many major (Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, Audi, Mercedes, Ford, Jeep, Buick, Chevy, Honda, Hyundai, Dodge, Nissan, Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, Kia (there are so many!!!)) companies that are so successful with so much competition? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/73qh13/eli5_how_can_the_car_industry_be_so_diverse_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"dnsc0r2",
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],
"score": [
6,
6
],
"text": [
"For the same reason there can be dozens of fast food companies, dozens of soft drink sellers: there is a huge, huge market with lots of different preferences.",
"The market for cars isn’t that diverse. You have major car brands and then companies that fall under their umbrella. 9 total"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
9o0c2j | what physically dictates our vocal range when singing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9o0c2j/eli5_what_physically_dictates_our_vocal_range/ | {
"a_id": [
"e7qgatl",
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"text": [
"The length of your vocal cords and diaphragm muscle.\n\nHave you ever tried blowing up a balloon and stretched the hole out to [make it squeak](_URL_0_)?\n\nOur vocal cords work in a similar way.\n\nAs far as I understand, the sounds we can make depend on how much air we squeeze out through our cords, and how \"tight\" we flex them. And someone with shorter vocal cords will have a different range from someone with longer ones, and so on. There's probably a lot of other factors in there as well.\n\n\nDisclaimer: Not an expert, supplementary research may be required.",
"Vocal range is determined by the stretching and tightening of vocal cords, using the muscles of the throat and upper body during the exhalation of air. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://youtu.be/D6Fe9Ei47Z4"
],
[]
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||
8j5qo3 | - hydrogen is composed of 1 proton and 1 electron. 2 atoms of hydrogen fused inside a star, makes 1 atom of helium that is composed of 2 protons, 2 neutrons and 2 electrons. where these neutrons come from? how can 2 protons be fused and give birth to 2 protons and 2 neutrons? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8j5qo3/eli5_hydrogen_is_composed_of_1_proton_and_1/ | {
"a_id": [
"dyx4i3p",
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"text": [
"The wikipedia pages explains it but here we go:\n\nIngredients: 4 hydrogen atoms (4 protons, 4 electrons)\n\nInstructions:\n\n1. Mash 2 hydrogen atoms together, this causes one of the protons to turn into a neutron (releasing a neutrino and gamma radiation in the process), you end up with deutereum (1 proton, 1 neutron)\n\n2. Mash the other 2 hydrogen atoms together, so you have another deutereum atom\n\n3. Mash the 2 deutereum atoms together, you get helium (2 protons, 2 neutrons)\n\nI don't mention what happens to the electrons, but they a couple are lost during step 1.\n\nFor the full process check back to the wikipedia page, the above explanation is just for ELI5 purposes.\n\n_URL_0_",
"The first step of the process is for two hydrogen nuclei (protons) to fuse together to make some deuterium. One of the protons decays into a neutron, releasing energy and a positron. These two duterium nuclei can then fuse to become one helium nucleus."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton%E2%80%93proton_chain_reaction#The_proton%E2%80%93proton_chain_reaction"
],
[]
] |
||
3rzodm | why does organic material burn whereas inorganic material will melt or evaporate when heat is applied? | I've always been curious about this. Wood will burnt and disintegrate, flesh will burn and fall off, but water becomes vapor and metal becomes liquid. Why do we not liquify as well? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3rzodm/eli5_why_does_organic_material_burn_whereas/ | {
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"text": [
"Metal can burn actually, it's just in its common form, such as a cooking pan, it disperses heat across the entire surface, preventing it from burning. Things such as steel wool can burn easily, as it cannot disperse heat like a pan can.",
"For something to \"burn\" (react with oxygen and produce heat), two requirements are necessary:\n\n* It must be hot enough that the oxygen can get close enough to stick.\n* The material must be able to stick to oxygen on the molecular level\n\nFor something to melt, two states must be met:\n\n* It has to be hot enough that it stops sticking to itself really, really hard.\n* It has to still be sticky enough in other ways to not fly apart. (If it just flies apart, it turns into a vapor)\n\nThe heat necessary to melt something is usually *much* hotter than the heat necessary to burn it.\n\nSome materials, and why they behave like they do:\n\n* Water - already burnt (Hydrogen burns to water), so only the melting rules apply\n* Wood - burns before it would melt. The resulting carbon can melt at *very* high temperatures.\n* Metal - The way the oxygen sticks to most metals makes it so only a thin outer layer burns easily, and that layer protects the rest. This is commonly described as rust, or oxidation, but it is fundamentally the same thing as burning.\n* Flesh will melt if you get it hot enough and don't have any oxygen in the air around it, just like wood.",
"It is very difficult to volatilise big molecules such as proteins, carbohydrates etc.\n\n\n\nSmall molecules like water become gaseous with not too much energy input.\n\nIf you try and make a carbohydrate gaseous, it will require a lot of energy. Such a large amount of energy is enough to break the chemical bonds and initiate the combustion process. So instead of volatilising, it burns.",
"tl:dr\n\n -complicated stuff like organics will react before they become anything other than solid (the exception here is organic compounds that are not already solids like methane, propane etc)\n\n -inorganics are stable enough that they can exist at a variety of temperatures without decomposing (ie it won't break apart because it is stable enough, and uses different types of bonding)\n\n\n\nNote this is very oversimplified and can have a lot of explanation behind it, it isn't that it's very hard to understand it just would require a decent paragraph to cover all of the reasons, i can give more detail later if you aren't satisfied with this thread (feel free, just ask and give me a few hours to respond, going to bed)"
]
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[],
[],
[],
[]
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|
2crnc2 | why is continuity in comic books so incomprehensibly complicated? | Even if we take a single character say, Batman, there are multiple issues coming out under different names, there's been a reboot but some of the earlier stuff is supposed to have been taken place, there are a whole load of supporting characters that seem to blink in and out of existence depending on the comic...
And add to that the other superheroes of the DC lineup, and I don't see how all of it can make any sense.
And this is a issue I see only in superhero comics - most other media, even the most complicated ones, handle continuity much better.
So why are thing in such a messy state? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2crnc2/eli5why_is_continuity_in_comic_books_so/ | {
"a_id": [
"cjibwy5",
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"text": [
"Because there are different authors.\n\nWith each new author there is a different take on a superhero.\n\nIf Game Of Thrones were open like comic books are, there would be dozens of copies all as legitimate as the next from people who want Rob Stark to live, or Jon Snow to be legitimized, or Tyrion to fuck a dozen triple breasted twi'leks.\n\nIt's the simple fact that no other media has the openness that comics have.",
"A movie is about 2 hours, a TV season is about 24 episodes, a comic story is, well it keeps going as long as comics keep selling. There is no end point or final goal or overall story arch. They do have some set points or universal stories but the different writers will all do their own thing, tell the story they want to tell. There is also so much going on with so many stories in development that different writers can be writing conflicting information at the same time that won't be discovered until after it's published. Ultimately, it doesn't matter that much as long as it doesn't take away too much from the current comic."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
1clcde | why doesn't someone start a blood factory? instead of blood donation, blood jobs! | I was wondering why someone doesn't just go to one of the most populated places on Earth (China) and start a sustainable way of life that revolves around the production of quality blood.
Just build a mini village, grow the right food nearby, and hire people to grow food and live lifestyles that promotes excellent blood quality. This can be a model for other villages to adopt.
Maybe pay them by blood type and specifications (though that might cause class-ism within the blood farm).
Seriously...Then MILK farms. HUMAN milk. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1clcde/eli5_why_doesnt_someone_start_a_blood_factory/ | {
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"I think a lot of people would have issues about the use of humans to be harvested for their blood, and placing it in China would only increase those concerns. And when it comes to blood it is a substance that can save lives, blood farms would need to be able to sell blood at a high price to survive, and that would mean poor people who need transfusions would be rejected in favor of wealthier people in order to cover the cost of the blood.",
"\"Seriously...Then MILK farms. HUMAN milk.\"\n\nI lost it when I read that. This awesome. Please tell me you are high, or this is a stoner thought. Your username tells me yes.",
"1. Because you are basically making them commit to something that's really invasive for life. If you're looking for someone with the perfect blood, you need them to live their entire lives according to rules prescribed by a specialist. You basically tell them to sign away their right to choice for money. That's a terrible thing to do.\n\n2. Because humans have a right to decide what to do with their bodies. You can't contractually obligate someone to give you a part of his body, they can only donate it if they *want* to donate it.\n\n3. Because commercialising blood transfusions creates a *huge* incentive for crime. We already have a horrifying amount of human trafficking in the world, imagine if people's blood became a valuable commodity. The weak and defenseless would be picked right off the street and bled dry, they would literally be worth more dead than alive. And where does it end? Look at animals. A pig is definitely worth more dead than alive, because they are bred exclusively for meat. And look at the lives of pigs today, they spend all of it being prepared for slaughter. Not many people in the world give a shit about pigs' rights, because who cares? They're going to be killed some day anyway. Now imagine if we treated the poorest, least educated human beings that way. We'd be a terrible, terrible society.\n\n4. Because wtf, man, who wants to live their lives like that? That's just terrible. ",
"I didnt think you could donate blood often enough for it to become a 'job'",
"Yes, because Chinese are not humans.",
"Because we can already grow it in labs without humans.\n\n[It's even been tested in a real transfusion (2011)](_URL_0_)",
"Here in Germany it is legal to pay people for donating blood (10-30 Euros pers sitting), if I understand correctly the spirit of the law is to compensate the donating person for their time/inconvenience not as an actual job. This leads to a situation where mostly broke people which are not drug users (those are banned for obvious reasons) use this as an extra income from time to time (the number of donations per year is limited to a few for health reasons).\n\nSo I guess having a \"factory\" does not make much sense: The quality of the blood of an everyday person is good enough, and they can't donate blood that often. The humans of a \"blood factory\" would be quite bored and underpaid.\n\nImporting blood from other countries: Makes more sense, if you can assure the quality."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-11/first-transfusion-lab-grown-blood-success"
],
[]
] |
|
4cyflm | what is currently happening in the oil industry as a result of the recently discovered leaked emails? what was found in them that is so alarming? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4cyflm/eli5_what_is_currently_happening_in_the_oil/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"You should really check out the news, but I'll try to give you a high level summary. They were exposed as trading bribes for favorable contracts to valuable oil fields. The one I heard the most about is one in Kazakhstan, though I'm sure there were others. It is illegal for a US company to pay bribes in a foreign country. The company that is mainly being exposed is Monaco-based Unaoil, which works as a \"middleman\" or \"facilitator\" for U.S. based companies in securing contracts abroad in exchange for a fee of the final contract. The question is whether the U.S. based companies had explicit knowledge of what Unaoil was doing, and whether they should be held responsible too. The oil companies are claiming that they had no idea, but they've been in trouble before for this sort of thing and no one really believes that is true. Unaoil also trades on the NYSE, which could make them liable to U.S. law regardless of the involvement of U.S. oil companies. They also bribed top officials in many Middle Eastern countries, which doesn't look good for those leaders in those countries either.",
"One of the fundamentals of bribing is not to leave a clear paper-trail going back to you, because cross border bribery can be considered both mandatory on one side and illegal on the other, at the same time. \n\nSo best practice if a Company wants to bribe a bunch of locals, is it to hire a Consulting Firm. Give the consultants the bribe money as vague legit expenses. And the consultants find an excuse to do the messy bribing that the Company officially now knows nothing about. \n\nSame for killing. Somali warlords on wheels turned up in expenses as \"Technical Support\" which is how Toyota's with guns became known as \"technical's\". \n\nSo now some do-gooder and or equally evil-rival just dropped a pile of documents linking either side of the bribe chain between various officials and oil companies. \n\nEveryone knew about it, but now it's official and illegal, expect a whole lot of court cases and a changing of the guard of oil companies. \n\nTl:DR \nGiving an official cash for a signature is clear cut bribery. \nGiving a consulting firm cash for \"insight into the local market\", who in turn give that officials family members cash for totally unrelated work, who in turn suggest the official signs the permits, is merely an amazing coincidence unless someone connects the dots. \n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
5zxj17 | why are there no grape flavored yogurts? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5zxj17/elif_why_are_there_no_grape_flavored_yogurts/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Chobani made a grape yogurt, but I don't think it sold very well. Grape and yogurt doesn't really mix in a way that is large scale marketable to consumers. Yogurt can be kind of sour, mixing that with grape is not a flavor many people can get behind.",
"Probably the same reason they don't make grape ice cream; too difficult to make and it doesn't taste good "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
5ktxc3 | why do people who hurt themselves usually cut their wrists and thighs and not other parts of the body? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ktxc3/eli5_why_do_people_who_hurt_themselves_usually/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbqle4l",
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"text": [
"Wrists probably because they are less fatty, and easier to draw blood from. & thighs because they are easily covered so people can't see them ",
"It's easier to get to your arm or your thigh. There's not much satisfaction in twisting your self around to get to your calf or your back",
"I think there's a misconception about people who cut themselves, often they aren't masochists, who actually enjoy pain, but wishing to see some sort of physical release. \n\nThis is purely based on my own experience of course, but i didn't want to feel huge amounts of pain, but i wanted to bleed. Obviously this sounds edgy and silly to most people (and me now) but at the time I just felt like there was so much bottled up and i wanted to kind of have a physical manifestation of letting the emotion/pain out. \n\nWrists bleed a lot and have easily accessible veins/arteries so can create a lot of blood there. However it's also really fucking dangerous to cut there since if you cut an artery you can die fucking quick. However, since thats where people cut to kill themselves, it's the one you hear about the most i guess, so end up replicating it. Wrist cuts are also fairly concealable. Also its a lot easier to hold a wrist in a position to cut, wheras you have to cut at a wierd angle to cut your chest or whatever. \n\nThighs is often where girls cut themselves, but guys do to, for a couple of reasons. Not a lot of people will see your thighs, so it's pretty easy to conceal the habit - and the skin there is fleshy without many big arteries (ok there's the femoral, but unless you're plunging a knife into your leg you're not hitting that) so you can dig deep and bleed a lot without causing major damage. \n\nOh and also don't do it\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
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