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1ows0g | why do asian products sometimes have weird captions? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ows0g/eli5_why_do_asian_products_sometimes_have_weird/ | {
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"Could you expand on what you mean by 'weird captions' or give an example of one?",
"I assume you're talking about \"Engrish\" translations.\n\nIt's because they use software or dictionaries to translate the Asian names/slogans word-for-word, but Asian languages are very different to English structurally, so just replacing word-for-word doesn't work well. And lots of words can have multiple or *many* meanings.\n\nImagine you're translating the English word 'set' to Mandarin using a dictionary. But 'set' has many meanings. A set of DVDs, a set of tennis, set the book on the table, set the volume to 30, turn off the TV set, explain the math set, visit the studio's set, hear the DJ's set, which one is it? Each of those 'sets' might be a totally different word in Mandarin, and the dictionary doesn't know which one you want, and will translate that word randomly to any one of them. What you get might be \"Buy this DVD putthingdownontable!\" It's very common for words where the second meaning actually comes from the first, like with 'sweet'. You get things like \"My grandmother is so delicious!\" because of that.\n\nPlus the Asian language might put the verb *after* the noun it's tied to, where a proper English translation would do the opposite. So even if you translate each word accurately, you get things like \"This DVD buy!\"\n\nYou see it most often with Asian languages because they're very very different from English, and automatic translations never come close. There are other languages, like French and German, which are much closer to English, where using Google Translate does a better job and gets you something coherent if imperfect.",
"Its the same as a company in the states asking you to write a famous chinese saying on some products they are sending there... "
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1qpqb9 | why do i sometimes get the urge to yawn while i'm singing? | It doesn't happen super often, but it's really irritating. How can I prevent/stop it before it happens? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qpqb9/why_do_i_sometimes_get_the_urge_to_yawn_while_im/ | {
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"When you sing, over a short period of time you breath in more oxygen, which (and I forget exactly why this is), causes you to feel more tired.\n\nSource: 10-yr member of a professional symphony chorus.\n\nPS: Surely someone will provide a more detailed explaination than this -- but there's a start."
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32qwam | who passes more genes to offspring, males or females? | With the whole xx, xy, dominant, recessive gene setup, which gender passes more traits to their offspring the male or female human? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32qwam/eli5_who_passes_more_genes_to_offspring_males_or/ | {
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"Most genes are inherited equally from male and female, except mitochondrial dna, which has 16~ thousand base pairs (out of 3.2 billion) and is passed exclusively from the mother",
"It's close to 50-50, but women contribute mitochondrial DNA to their offspring while men do not, so that means women contribute slightly more than 50% of their offspring's genetic information. In the case of male offspring, women also contribute more because the X chromosome is a lot larger than the Y chromosome. Regarding dominant or recessive, whether you contribute a dominant or recessive gene, each parent is still contributing an equal amount. It's just that a dominant gene will be expressed and a recessive gene will not be expressed. "
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6otjb0 | how could babies develop only drinking milk, and no water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6otjb0/eli5_how_could_babies_develop_only_drinking_milk/ | {
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"I'm a breastfeeding mom so I find the milk part of it interesting. There is actually 2 kinds of milk in breastmilk, fore and hind. The fat content of breastmilk, as I understand, kind of sticks to the walls of the milk ducts. Fore milk is mostly water and runs really quick through the duct, so it doesn't pick up as much as the hind milk, which travels more slowly and is more filling. In theory, if my baby is more thirsty than hungry she will get the fore milk flowing, drink, and stop once she gets to the hind because she's not looking as much for the calories."
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fusbzi | when talking about engine sizes in a car, what is "litres" refering to? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fusbzi/eli5_when_talking_about_engine_sizes_in_a_car/ | {
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"It's the volume of the cylinders of the car. for example, most cars in the EU are 4 cylinders. a 4 cylinder 1.6L has 4 cylinders, each one is 400cc big (0.4L). more cylinder space tends to equal more power and torque, since more fuel can go in to power the car.",
"Car engines have spaces inside them, called cylinders, which are used to burn fuel and provide power. The total volume of those cylinders is what gives an engine its size.",
"It's the *displacement*, which is the *change* in the volume of the cylinders as the pistons go up and down. If the volume of a cylinder varies between 2 and 3 liters in that process, the displacement of *that cylinder* is 1 liter. The displacement of the *engine* is that, multiplied by the number of cylinders.\n\nDisplacement is the most meaningful measure of *engine size*.",
"An engine is like our heart. Bigger hearts pump more blood, smaller hearts pump less blood.\n\nSmaller engines pump fewer litres, larger engines pump more litres.",
"Gas enters your engine, goes BOOM.\nThis explosion moves the 'piston', how much this moves is measured in litres, and is known as 'displacement'.\nThe more litres your engine can move per boom, the more power it has available.",
"The volume of the cylinder that houses the pistons in the engine. Or the size of the containers in which the gasoline explodes, making the car go. The bigger the volume of the cylinder, the bigger the explosion and the more power the car has.",
"Finally one I can answer!\n\nA size of Litres is the measurement of the total volume of all cylinders in the engine.\n\nThe formula (a bit more than ELI5) is:\n\nNoC * 0.7854 * Bore^2 * Stroke\n\n* NoC = number of cylinders\n* Bore = cylinder size (usually a tiny bit larger than piston)\n* Stroke = how far the piston travels\n\nAlso, litres (L) can be referred to as engine displacement, often measured in cubic-centermeters (cc) and cubic-inches (c.i.) in the states.\n\nSource: me, an Ford Asset graduate and ASE certified technician.",
"So let's say my engine is a 5.0L coyote V8, does that mean I have the best American muscle car engine ever, or am I running people over quicker? 👀",
"So what drives such a variance in horse power in the same/similar sized engine? My truck has a 5.7 liter V8 and it makes 383hp. How can something like an upper end BMW with the same size engine create a ton more horsepower?",
"It's the volume of air that the engine displaces, calculated by: area of the bore hole × crankshaft stroke length x number of cylinders.",
"Displacement! \n\n1 litre = 1000 Cubic Centimeters.\n\n1000 Cubic Centimeters = 61 Cubic Inches.\n\nExample: 302 Cubic Inches. 302 ÷ 61 = 4.950 Litres or 4950 Cubic Centimeters or 5.0 Litres rounded off.\n\n4950 ÷ 8 = 619 Cubic Centimeters per cylinder!",
"The amount of air your engine displaces with each cycle of the engine so maybe 2.0 litres of air goes into your engine is mixed with fuel ignited and then exhausted with each rotation if i remember the first few days of auto tech correctly",
"On this same note you’ll also see engine capacity referred to in CC’s (cubic centimeters). 1000 CC is the same capacity as 1 L",
"A engine cylinder has a specific area. Then each engine has a specific stroke length. The amount the piston travel in the cylinder. The liter or cubic inches is that volume (Height X area). \n\nIf you ever hear the term \"stroker\" when referring to an engine, it means they kept the cylinder the same size, but increased the stroke length and therefor the displacement of the engine. For instance the Chevy 383 Cubic inch motor is a 350 CI engine block with the crankshaft of a 400 CI. A stock 350 has a piston stroke length of 3.48 inches. The 400 crank changes the 383 to a total stroke of 3.75 inches. And changes the displacement from 350 to 383 cubic inches. \n\nIt is a relative measure of the size of the engine since it relates to the amount of fuel you can burn. A larger displacement generally means more fuel/air mixture burnt each cycle and therefor more energy produced. \n\nSo, in general, a 5.0 liter engine has more power than a 2.2 liter engine. Once you add turbo chargers or other things it can make the smaller engine produce more power, but it does that by increasing the amount of fuel air in each cylinder. \n\nSo a 2.0 liter, 4 cylinder engine will displace 500 ML of air volume per cylinder, per stroke (or revolution of the engine)",
"Engine’s Cylinders (bores) have a certain diameter (a) and height (b), and also have pistons inside.\nPistons go up and down.\nIf you measure From the top of a piston, in its lowest position, to the top of the piston in its highest position, it gives you a certain height (c)\nSo, to answer the question, a * c * the number of cylinders, gives you volume. This volume is called the engine’s displacement.",
"Hey, if y'all don't mind me piggybacking off this question, what's up with the naming of those old muscle car engines? Like the 392 and 429? Is there a rhyme or reason to it or is it just a name like 2JZ or LS1?",
"Think of it as how much coffee you can hold in your cup. (It's early in the morning for me as I write this.) The bigger the number the bigger the cup.\n\nMore coffee (usually) gives you power to do more work.\n\nYou'll find that there's a balancing point between just right and \"that's darn expensive\". Like making a cup of coffee at home, buying one at the gas station, or buying one at the franchise which only sells coffee. Different options, and different price points, as well as different tastes and performance.",
"To those wondering why I didn't just Google this: I already did... and the answers I got were a lot more complicated. I don't know much about cars, so I didn't understand what people meant",
"If you take a bathtub that is full and put only the engine block into the tub, “litres” refers to how much water spills out.",
"Same sort of stuff for motorcycles...\nYou know how motorcycle engines sizes are sometimes claimed as 250cc, 500cc, 750cc?\nCC stands for cubic centimetres - the volume of combustion inside the cylinders.\n250cc=0.25L\n750cc=0.75L\n\n1.75L=1750cc\n2.5L=2500cc\n\nIf your car has a 4 cylinder with a 2L engine, each cylinder is about 500cc/0.5L",
"In the engine are one or more 'pistons'. A piston is a cylindrical block, that moves up and down within a hollowed out hole. The hole and the piston fit together nearly perfectly, with no real gap between the inside of the hole, and the sides of the piston.\n\nAn explosion above the piston forces that piston down. The piston goes back up because of some other stuff attaching to the bottom of it, that's perfectly analogous to pedals on a bicycle, and how the bike pedals push your knees straight back up via your lower legs.\n\nThe volume given in liters is the total volume defined by the top surface of all the pistons. That is, from the lowest level the pistons go, to the highest level they go, if you could color in all the 'area' in between, that's the volume of the engine.\n\nThe volume is *not* given by the total volume of the holes the pistons are in. There's often extra free space above the topmost the piston goes, allowing for some valve travel, and around the spark plug if the engine has spark plugs.\n\nSometimes the engine is at an angle so the pistons don't actually go up and down, but we always talk about them as going up and down.",
"Car engines, or any combustion engine for that matter are pumps. Air goes in and comes out. There is fuel added to that air but for displacement that is mostly irrelevant. \n\n\nThe displacement number you are hearing is the volume the cylinders can hold and the swept volume. The swept volume is simply a formula of cylinder diameter and stroke length. It can vary from whatever engine you are talking about as it can have more than one cylinder but it is quite literally what the engine \"displaces\" in volume times the number of cylinders. This volume can be described in CC, CI or Liter commonly. The bigger the displacement the more potential for energy you can have.",
"If I'm not mistaken, it refers to the internal volume of your cylinders--basically, how much fuel-air mix you can blast in one full cycle of the engine.\n\nIt's not a perfect metric but it strongly correlates to the kinda torque output you can expect from a given engine.\n\nI'm actually kind of curious myself how engine layout affects its output metrics. I have a '09 Honda Fit that someone at some point (probably whenever it got rebuilt after being flooded) swapped the stock Inline 4 for a V4 and, uh.\n\nLong story short I have a go-cart with the anger issues of a sports car.\n\nMy guess is that it's a volume difference but I'm really not certain how that works. (I got my degree in civil engineering--my big complex systems don't (usually) move, lol.)",
"Car engines have cylinders where the combustion takes place. \n\nThe total volume of the cylinders is usually represented in litres(mainly in cars, trucks,etc) and cc or cubic centimetres in motorcycles.\n1litre= 1000cc\n\nGenerally more the volume of the cylinder more is the power produced by the engine. But it may not be the case always",
"1 liter = 1000 cc (cubic centimetre aka cubic capacity) \n2 liter = 2000 cc\n4 liter = 4000cc\nNow there are cylinders in an engine that hold the pistons .\nCC/liter ,normally means the amount of space a piston has for a rotational (from top to bottom dead centre) movement that takes place after an internal combustion from the mixture of air , gas and electric spark.\n\n\n[working of an engine]\n\n(_URL_0_)"
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44wod7 | when singing national anthems at sports events, why is the crowd almost always out of sync? | Almost everytime the pre-game national anthems are played in international sport games, the crowd sings completely out of sync.
Is this to do with the sound travelling in a huge stadium, or are we as a crowd just bad at timing our songs?
Example: _URL_0_
(If the timed link does not work, skip to 4:45) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44wod7/eli5_when_singing_national_anthems_at_sports/ | {
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"It's most likely due to the distance between the band and the audience. The people who are furthest away will be 1 - 2 seconds late from your perspective, but to them they are singing on time.",
"Yes, it's because of the speed of sound in an enormous stadium. You'll notice that some of the singers are behind the music just a split second, like the duration of an echo. Actually, exactly the duration of an echo -- the time it takes for the music to reach the crowd, for them to sing the song, and then for their singing to reach back to the microphone."
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dfbmyf | how did square-rigged sailing ships of the age of discovery sail and navigate in different directions, when their sails were primarily designed to catch the wind? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dfbmyf/eli5_how_did_squarerigged_sailing_ships_of_the/ | {
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"They could still sail about 50 degrees away from the wind direction, which was close enough that through a tedious process of zig-zagging they could move upwind.",
"You obviously can't sail directly into the wind on *any* sailing ship regardless of the rigging, but you don't have to sail with the wind directly behind you either. Ships can sail at angles and still achieve forward motion. Modern ships or ships with non-square rigging can typically sail much closer into the wind than square-rigged ships, but it still works.\n\nThis allows the ship to sail in a [zigzag pattern](_URL_0_), altering which side of the ship is windward, while achieving forward motion against the wind. Tacking and jibing (called wearing on a square-rigged vessels) are the maneuvers the ship makes to change direction with respect to the wind. Most people call the course of beating into the wind tacking, which is the maneuver the ship makes to beat, and although this is not *technically* correct, everyone knows what you mean."
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11odmf | seasons, equinoxes, and celestial spheres. | If you know either one of the above, please explain it to me. If you have links to videos which can help me better understand these concepts and why they occur, please post it. Seasons, equinoxes, and Celestial Spheres. Either one. Or two. Or all.
Thank You | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11odmf/eli5_seasons_equinoxes_and_celestial_spheres/ | {
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"Seasons are the cause of the angle of the sun's rays as they hit the earth, NOT a result of how close the earth is to the sun, as is commonly believed. (The earth is actually slightly further from the sun during the summer).. So, on the equinoxes imagine that earth is not tilted at all. The North Pole points directly upward, the South Pole directly downward, therefore, all points on the earth get exactly 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of dark. Equinox: think \"equal\" .. \n\nThe solstices happen when the earth is tilted the most, about 23.5 degrees either direction. 23.5 degrees north is known as the Tropic of Cancer, and 23.5 degrees south is known as the Tropic of Capricorn. For the northern hemisphere, summer happens when the earth is tilted most south, so the sun hits more directly on the northern hemisphere than the south. Winter obviously happens when it's tilted most to the north. The seasons are opposite for the southern hemisphere. i.e. winter in the USA is summer in Australia \n\nThe solstices are either the longest and hottest day of the year, or the shortest and coldest. Obviously, for the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice is hottest/longest, and the winter solstice is shortest/coldest.\n\nThe solstices happen around the 21st or 23rd of their month:\n\nSummer solstice- June 21\n\nAutumnal equinox- September 23\n\nWinter solstice- December 21\n\nSpring/vernal equinox- march 21\n\nThe celestial sphere is just an imaginary sphere that astronomers use to think about the angles I \ndescribed. \n\nEdit: to help you understand the fact of sunlight hitting with greater intensity, think about the curvature of the earth. If the earth is not tilted at all, the equator gets direct rays of sunlight (that's why it is so hot there) and then as you go north or south, the rays are not hitting at such direct angles anymore, until finally, they are least effective at the poles, (that's why it's so cold there)\n\nEdit 2: JUNE NOT JULY!",
"1. The earth spins around an axis that goes through the poles. One turn per day, That's what makes day and night.\n\n2. The earth also spins around the sun. It takes one year to make a full turn. We'll see how it makes seasons.\n\n3. The axis of rotation of the earth (see point 1) is tilted compared to the rotation around the sun. [Like this](_URL_2_). See how the top of the axis (really the north, as there's no up and down in space) is tilting towards the sun on the left of the picture, and tilting away from the sun on the right, and tilting parallel to the sun on the front and back.\n\nThat's why we have seasons. If the axis was not tilted, the sun would appear at the same height in the sky all year long. But because of the tilt, the sun doesn't go as high up in the winter. If you're in America, when the top of the axis is tilted away from the sun, so is your country. That makes it winter for you. When the axis is tilted towards the sun, you are facing the sun more directly. That's summer.\n\nIf you wonder why it's colder when the sun is low and warmer when it's up, look at [this picture](_URL_0_). You see that when the sun is low, the same amount of rays are dispersed on a bigger area, so it gets less heat.\n\nNote that this is only valid for America and all other places between the tropic of Cancer and the arctic circle. It's different in the southern hemisphere (the seasons are inverted) or near the poles (you get \"days\" that last for months) or between both tropics (because the sun is always very high).\n\nNow for a few definitions. Let's go back to [the first picture](_URL_2_). The points on the left and right, where the earth is tilted at its maximum away or towards the sun, are called solstices. So you have a winter solstice and a summer solstice. The points on the front and back, where the earth is tilted exactly parallel to the sun, are called equinoxes. There's a vernal equinox (spring) and an autumnal equinox (fall).\n\nThe celestial sphere is not directly connected to the concept of seasons. It's an imaginary spere around the earth that represents all the stars and celestial bodies we can see. Because stars are so far away, it looks like they're not moving relatively to each other. It's a bit as if they were painted on a sphere around us. [Like this](_URL_1_)\n",
"There's a very good demonstration of all these [here](_URL_0_). I suggest you explore this on your own but a few things to get you started. First notice that the rotational axis of Earth does not rotate while Earth orbits around the Sun. When you go to mid June (drag the red arrow at the bottom or Earth on its orbit), the north side of the axis is pointing as much towards the Sun as it ever will, this is the summer solstice (summer for Northern hemisphere anyway). Opposite happens at mid December, that's the winter solstice. Between these, in September and March you have the equinoxes. The axis is neither pointing towards or away from the Sun. See how the direction of sunlight and the position of Sun changes between all these and how it relates to the tropical and arctic circles (the top right image, click the checkbox to add labels). "
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4f5olx | why aren't all the pictures i take with my camera the same file size? isn't it always the same pixel density, and each one has to be represented? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f5olx/eli5_why_arent_all_the_pictures_i_take_with_my/ | {
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"Every digital picture is processed before it is stored. Programmers worked hard to make it work well. What algorithms they chose and how the image was processed is eventually camera specific.\n\nMy camera has menu options which let me pick picture quality. I can even save pictures in the RAW format which is a large file.",
"1) If the image is using a lossy compression mechanism (like jpeg), each pixel is *not* represented. The algorithm may throw out data by combining patterns or groups of pixels that are \"close enough\" (depending on the quality setting).\n\n2) Even if every pixel were stored faithfully (like RAW or TIFF), this can be done using a lossless compression scheme. Not every photo is identical, so they will still end up different sizes depending on how well the compression works on the specific photo. eg. An image where every pixel is a different random color may not compress at all, whereas an image where every pixel is the exact same shade of blue will compress very very well.",
"This is down to compression.\n\nLet's say you take a picture of a plain, flawless, white surface. The camera, if it was writing the file uncompressed would say:\n\n Line 1, pixel 1: White\n Line 1, pixel 2: White\n ...\n Line 2448, pixel 3264: White\n\nSo, it would record every single pixel in full detail.\n\nIf, however, it compresses it, it could say:\n\n Line 1, pixel 1 through Line 2448, pixel 3264: White\n\nThat's an incredible over-simplification of the way this works, but effectively what it does is look for regions of the image that can be recorded in some sort of shorthand to reduce the file size.\n\nEdit: Typo",
"It depends on the file format used. Many (most?) consumer cameras (at least the ones I have used) use JPEG, which is a compressed, lossy format. That means that it tries to make the file smaller by approximating and storing the image data differently. You can test this yourself with a camera (or paint.exe.) by taking a complicated picture with lots of detail, and then taking a picture of darkness (like covering the lens). The dark image will be much smaller because there is more compressible data. Because each picture you take has different data compositions, the size changes based on how well it can be compressed.\n\nLossless and uncompressed formats, like TIFF and RAW are as you describe above- all other parameters being equal, a complicated image and a flat single color image will come out to be the same filesize.\n\nI just did the above test and here are the results\n\nJPG of my laptop: 209kb\nJPG of a black box: 13.8kb\n\nTIFF of my laptop: 2.14mb\nTIFF of a black box: 2.14mb",
"Here's how compression works.\n\nThe sequence \"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBB\"\n\nCan be written more concisely as \"A17B5\"\n\nThat's compression, so the file size differs depending on content.",
"As a really amateur photo-guy, I'll try to answer as I can. \nI think, from your question, you might either use your smartphone to snap photos, or use a camera with a format like jpeg. \n\nGenerally, unless you're shooting at a lossless format, like RAW, you're going to lose some kind of detail in your photo. \n For most people that's not a problem, and most don't even notice the difference, so a lot of phones and cheap cameras use some kind of algorithm to minimize the file size. Usually the algorithms save the most space by looking at similar pixels and putting them together in a clever way. "
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53j2le | how does a phone company track how much data i've used? | I rarely use the internet on my phone unless I'm at home on wi-fi, yet my phone company without fail sends me the same "low data" warning a few days before data resets. Likewise, I get an extra charge one day before the reset. This is really annoying, and I want to know how to limit my data use in that critical span. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/53j2le/eli5_how_does_a_phone_company_track_how_much_data/ | {
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"text": [
"Because every single byte you send is tracked and recorded. Simple as that. If in a month , you get to use 1,000,000,000 bytes. Every byte used is deducted from that allocation."
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[]
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|
4i9w31 | why states so tightly control the hours and number of liquor stores? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4i9w31/eli5_why_states_so_tightly_control_the_hours_and/ | {
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"It is an attempt to limit drunk driving combined with hold overs from the prohibition era and attempting to legislate morality. There are still dry counties in the US where purchasing alcohol is still illegal. ",
"Alcohol has many negative externalities (costs to people outside of the original transaction ). For every bottle of liquor sold there is a cost to society incurred by likes of drunk drivers and such. Because such a cost isn't accounted for in the transaction (you £17 for a bottle of Smirnoff doesn't cover the cost of rehab for someone else) more alcohol is demanded that is socially beneficial . the end result is the marginal private cost of alcohol is less than the marginal social cost. The government's aim is to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed . there are many ways it could do this . it could introduce a tax to increase the price to bring it in line with the MSC or limit supply by imposing strict regulations on the sale"
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mn4fq | ear itch. | What causes it? Why does the inside of my throat feel itchy as well? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mn4fq/eli5_ear_itch/ | {
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"your ear hole is connected to your throat and share nerve paths. the itch could be caused by a number of things, but depending on what and where in your ear, could be felt in the the throat and the other way around.\n\nThis is also why a toothache can be felt as an earache. ",
"I know for me and many other people, it can be caused by a mild allergic reaction to something. Peanuts, bananas and peas do it for me",
"your ear hole is connected to your throat and share nerve paths. the itch could be caused by a number of things, but depending on what and where in your ear, could be felt in the the throat and the other way around.\n\nThis is also why a toothache can be felt as an earache. ",
"I know for me and many other people, it can be caused by a mild allergic reaction to something. Peanuts, bananas and peas do it for me"
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84i5ng | how can a chemical agent be traced back to a specific country and how hard would it be to fake the traces of said chemical compound? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/84i5ng/eli5_how_can_a_chemical_agent_be_traced_back_to_a/ | {
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"I'm going to assume you're referring to the attempted poisoning of a Russian who spied for the British intelligence that happened in the UK some time ago.\n\nThe nerve agent used in that case was identified to be a highly advanced neurotoxin that was developed in the Soviet Union. That, plus the assumption (whether this is true or not isn't easy to find out) that the only current chemical weapons plants capable of manufacturing it, along with the history Russia has of poisoning traitors, has been enough to point the blame at Russia, even though the official investigation is still underway. At the moment, though, Russia is the most potential perpetrator.\n\nAs to how hard it would be to fake traces, well, you'd have to spread some of that stuff around to leave traces. Bigger question is, how would you NOT leave traces of another compound if you wanted to do the actual killing with another agent but leave traces of the first one only.",
"It can't with most agents, but in the Salisbury poisoning Theresa claimed [novichok agent](_URL_0_) was used, which was developed by the Soviet Union and thus only Russia is believed to have stockpiles of it. It's very difficult to synthesize, and since no instructions (or scientific papers) exist to help make it (for obvious reasons), it's a pretty clear indicator that it's from Russia. The whole case pretty much hinges on how reliably they were able to detect it as I see it."
]
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5w7wxc | can anyone explain how debeers monopolized the diamond industry for so long? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5w7wxc/eli5_can_anyone_explain_how_debeers_monopolized/ | {
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"text": [
"They either own or have exclusivity contracts with most of the diamond mines in the world. "
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226lp4 | what are the risks of mould in a bedroom? | I understand that it is bad for your health. There is some in my rented room and I'm wondering what are the diseases I might catch etc.
Obviously I keep killing it and cleaning it away but it keeps coming back | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/226lp4/eli5_what_are_the_risks_of_mould_in_a_bedroom/ | {
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"Mold and funghi come in many many forms, some harmless, some not. But you won't necessarily be able to tell the difference until many years later.\n\nAir out. Make sure to have fresh, dry air in the room at all times. Open the windows and doors for 10 minutes, 3-4 times a day, every day, and make sure the mold is in free air, and not covered behind something.",
"Molds produce, as do many fungi, a series of chemical byproducts known as mycotoxins. These can trigger flu-like symptoms, inhibit your autoimmune system, and can damage your lymph nodes (which are mainly taxed with clearing your body of stuff you don't want in it). They can also effect your lung's ability to clean itself, causing irritants to collect. \n\nAnd, depending on the mold, you may need professionals to come kill it. "
]
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ca8g1q | why are there “liquid” measuring cups and “solid” measuring cups (in american cooking, at least)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ca8g1q/eli5_why_are_there_liquid_measuring_cups_and/ | {
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"When measuring dry ingredients, you use the flat top measuring cup that is level across the top. When scraped, it is exactly the amount needed, and can be transferred safely unlike liquid in the same container.\n\nLiquid is measured from the bottom of the [meniscus](_URL_0_) which is also why you need taller sides and transparency.",
"The liquid measuring cups typically have a spout to pour where dry (solid) measuring cups do not.",
"Anecdotal personal experience, the liquid cups are designed to pour easier and make it easier to measure the liquid within. The set that I have for liquid has groove that leads to the pour point.",
"Questions about the US are generally better in r/askanamerican.\n\nTL;DR We don't usually use metric for cooking, and it's slightly different between liquid and solid measurements."
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4f094y | why do you feel drowsy if you lie in bed during the day, but you don't get that same feeling at night? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4f094y/eli5_why_do_you_feel_drowsy_if_you_lie_in_bed/ | {
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"Let me preface this by saying I'm by no means an expert, or educated in the subject matter. However in my experience it's a unregulated sleep pattern - ie; stay up until 4am on the weekend and then hope to be asleep by 10pm on Sunday night...and your body doesn't catch up until halfway through the week. ",
"Your body has rhythms according to a 25 hour cycle. This describes not only a sleep-wake cycle, but also the periodic rise and fall of hormone levels. Cortisol is one of the most important hormones during this cycle. It is released by the adrenal glands and typically spikes in the early morning around or slightly before waking. Cortisol increases the ability of nearly all cells to use energy to function, as well encouraging the immune system. This is why when you are sick you might feel really lousy when you wake up (also because your body was dormant for many hours and the lymphatic fluids were not flowing) but after getting up and walking around you start to feel better: the cortisol is kicking in.\n\nSleeping and resting at night is more congruent with this system of cellular activation compared to doing the opposite: sleeping in, taking long extended daytime naps, delaying the onset of sleep, waking during sleep, etc. It feels better to work with your body's natural rhythms. This is also why it's easier to delay sleep than go to bed early or the same time--25 hour rhythm.",
"I'll add to the other replies that there's probably a little bit of sample bias going on here. If you've decided to lie in your bed during the day, you're probably already tired. ",
"I actually have a circadian rhythm disorder, and I don't feel that it's the reason for this occurrence. I like to relate it to the \"a body at rest stays at rest, a body in motion stays in motion\" line... Given that you just woke from the slumber of the night before and it's daytime now, it's easier to stay in that resting mode if you don't escape it with sufficient activity. On the contrary, laying down at night is coming from a time of activity, making you have to calm down to get to a resting point, something that can be difficult without routine and good relaxation techniques.",
"Because apparently you already slept during the day?",
"And not one mentions classical conditioning. \n\n\nThere was a sleep expert on here a few months ago who basically said that if you take care only to go to bed when you're going to sleep or have sex, you'll condition your body correctly and will have an easier time falling asleep.\n\n\nBut like Pavlov's dogs, you don't react to the need, you react to the stimulus/li.\n\n\nMeaning that if you lie down in bed, even if you keep a good sleep schedule, you'll start to feel drowsy because your body tells itself that \"Oh, bed, well, let's try to sleep.\"\n\n\nAlso, ever noticed how much easier it gets to fall asleep mid-day when under your covers rather than on top of them? Clearer signals that bedtime is happening.\n\n\nAlso, on a completely different note, you may be allergic to dust mites and should launder your pillows and their cases, since an allergic response can be sleepiness.",
"I have a Ph.D. In sleep studies, it's mostly because your body is out of sync.\nwe have a metabolic clock. Ever notice you sometimes wake up before the alarm clock?\nYour body knows. \n\n",
"I guarantee you do sometimes get that drowsy feeling at night, but you're only remembering the times you don't because that's the anomaly and you are conscious and annoyed that you're not getting any sleep. Also like another poster said if you get into bed in the day you're likely to be tired, but you go to bed at night because you have to to get up in the morning",
"It's a mixture of disrupting your sleep cycle and lack of physical activity. If you wake up during the REM phase of your sleep (the wrong time to do so) then you end up feeling tired no matter how much you've slept. Ever woken up at 7 am and felt awake enough to get up but go back to sleep only to wake up groggy and annoyed at 10am? It's kinda like that. There's science out there on it but I'm on my phone and lazy. Waking up and going to sleep at the same time everyday gives you a pattern to sleep around and tends to fix a lot of sleep issues. Humans are typically creatures of habit (even the spontaneous ones) and tend to thrive from having a routine. At least when it comes to health. \n\nAlso lying around and not using any energy can be tiring. Sitting there with all those unused calories from whatever you've munched in front of the TV isn't going to make you feel chipper and awake. Getting up and using your muscles is what gives you that get up and go feeling. Exercise releases endorphins, endorphins make you happy. Happy people tend to be active people. \n\nAgain this is a super short explanation so I hope it's come across clear enough! "
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2sd6be | how do compression sleeves or shorts help you and your joints? | Like the copper wear sleeves or Nike compression attire. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2sd6be/eli5_how_do_compression_sleeves_or_shorts_help/ | {
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"Imagine taking a bunch of pencils and dropping it on the floor. Now imagine tying a rubber band around the bunch of pencils and drop the bundle. The bundle will fall as a single unit, but the pencils without the rubber band will fall in different directions. There's a chance that while running, jumping, dodging, throwing etc. that you could land wrong or lose your form, resulting in an unwanted sprain or stretched tendons. The compression attire helps keep your joints closer together, so that if you do fall or over-rotate your joint, there's less damage. The compression attire can also help you maintain your form by restricting your range of movement. "
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2ggp35 | why do people still hate microsoft? | I've searched but either a fair bit of comments are deleted or deal with the fairly distant past or just flat out don't make sense to me. And most are at least kinda old so views or arguments might be different now.
On a related note, what causes people to flip out when Xbox One was announced? I don't really follow consoles much at all.
Is it just "hip" to hate Microsoft?
Ty in advance! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ggp35/eli5_why_do_people_still_hate_microsoft/ | {
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"Personally, I... dislike Microsoft because they impose features/functionality (or lack thereof), when options could easily be provided. For instance, in Windows 8, they removed the Start Bar, only to add it back in when people complained; they could have left it in to begin with. (There are many many other examples of this.) They Microsoft has a tendency to not be detail oriented, such that products often contain minor irritating issues that could easily have been avoided. For instance, the Control Panel is still a jumbled mess, despite having been around since Windows 95. I equate these two things with having little respect or concern for their users, and instead focus on providing \"good enough\".",
"As a developer, I dislike MS due to vendor lock in. Microsoft wants everything on their platform. They Wang you to use their development tools while writing their languages on their operating system so you can help drive their sales and ensure they continue to have market dominance.\n\nI like options. I want to write software in open tools that I can contribute to. I want to choose my languages and development environment. I want to develop on whatever operating system I want and be able to target any other operating system. Microsoft restricts my freedom as a developer.",
"For me, a lot of it has to do with their marketing and culture. Historically they have been rather heavy handed with their actions, everything from how they advertise (FUD is their specialty), to the vendor lock in, to their PR (anyone remember that trainwreck of an AMA by the Hotmail team?), to the way they handle software bugs. It just screams of an organization that is completely out of touch. It seems like they might be getting better, but it's going to take a lot of time before I feel I can really trust them.",
"The Xbox One is the only one I can speak to. There were legitimate privacy concerns with always online and the Kinect on the Xbox 360 had some weird features that made people freak out (like randomly turning on). But the DRM on games was what made a lot of people mad at Microsoft AND Sony. Basically it would have killed the used game market and killed our ability to loan games to friends, or rent games from gamefly and other businesses.",
"Initially, the Xbox One had very restrictive DRM, requiring a constant internet connection and it would have made it impossible to resell or share games. Also, the webcam was always active, which had some privacy concerns.\n\nIn general, MS is disliked by a lot of IT professionals be their try to lock you into their product line. They want you using a MS browser on a MS OS to connect to a MS web server running code developed by MS tools that connect to an MS database. They regularly introduce \"innovations\" that just happen to make it harder to connect to non-MS tools. "
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9a9pvw | when swimming, how does water not enter your body through your ass? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9a9pvw/eli5_when_swimming_how_does_water_not_enter_your/ | {
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"Your ass has two sphincters. Imagine a bag held closed with a rubber band. You can push something into or out of the bag because the rubber band stretches, but it keeps things from passing through accidentally. A rubber banded bag will still let water in, but your skin is waterproof, your sphincter muscles are more effective than a rubber band, and you have two sphincters in your rectum, one right after the other, so that adds up to a waterproof ass. "
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||
2wlked | if a rar or zip file just make another file/group of file smaller, then why could we just keep compressing those rar/zip files to make any file we want extremely small? | Is there any reason we cant do this?
EDIT: Title was supposed to say "Couldn't"
Sorry about that. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wlked/eli5if_a_rar_or_zip_file_just_make_another/ | {
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"It won't work. \n\n 100100100100100100100\n\ncan easily be compressed by just saying\n\n 7*100\n\nbecause that's all it is. \n\nHow can you compress that, though? You can't, it's already specifying the least amount of information needed to recreate the original data. ",
"It only makes things smaller by removing certain types of redundancy. Once those redundancies are removed, they're removed, and trying to find and remove them again will get a 0 result.\n\nHere's a simple example of compression to help you visualise it. Imagine that we have a novel that reads like this:\n\n > Jennifer collects videotapes of aeroplanes. Jennifer's always liked videotapes and she's always liked aeroplanes. Once Jennifer took a videotape of an aeroplane while she was inside the aeroplane and Jennifer sold the videotape to the videotape aeroplane society. Jennifer has four hundred videotapes of aeroplanes and stores them in a videotape bookshelf shaped like an aeroplane itself. Jennifer is clinically insane.\n\nWe run a compression program on it that notices redundant words and replaces them with something shorter, along with a key to restoring the original text.\n\n > Jennifer=X,videotape=Y,aeroplane=Z \nX collects Ys of Zs. X's always liked Ys and she's always liked Zs. Once X took a Y of an Z while she was inside the Z and X sold the Y to the Y Z society. X has four hundred Ys of Zs and stores them in a Y bookshelf shaped like an Z itself. X is clinically insane.\n\nOur 419 characters of text becomes 265, a compression of 37%. If our novel was 100 MB it would now be 63.2, and we could un-compress the file by simply checking the legend and replacing the letter tokens with the original words.\n\nBut we can't really compress the compressed file *again*, because there are no longer many redundant words in it to replace. We've abbreviated as much as we really can -- it already found all the compression opportunities on the first pass. So if you compress the compressed file you'll get no improvement."
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8nzlf8 | how does spotify generate dynamic playlists ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8nzlf8/eli5_how_does_spotify_generate_dynamic_playlists/ | {
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"IDK how specifically dynamic playlist work in spotify, but I assume that you give a specific song or artist and spotify generates a playlist from that information. \n\nGenerally such systems work by first figuring out what songs belong together. You can use the usual meta data like artist (all song from an artist belong together), genre, maybe tempo/bpm and group the songs that way. But you can also look at the question \"what songs did people like that also listened to song X?\" or \"what other songs are put in a playlist with song X by our users\" and group the songs that way.\n\nOnce you have grouped the songs you can start generating playlist of similar songs; usually you would give the user a feedback button that you can use to improve your data further.\n\nThose systems are called \"[recommender systems](_URL_0_)\"."
]
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3k0phx | why is out-of-state tuition so much more expensive than if you go to a college in your home state? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3k0phx/eli5_why_is_outofstate_tuition_so_much_more/ | {
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"This occurs because your State subsidizes the cost of college by giving tax money to the universities within its borders. If you are from a different State you and your family do not pay those taxes and so are not entitled to the benefits of those taxes. You are not given the discount that in-State students get and instead pay the full price.",
"If a school is a public or state school, then they get money from the state. As part of getting state tax payer dollars to help run the school, the school agrees to have preferential tuition and admission for students who are or parents are in-state tax payers.\n\nIts an social agreement. I will pay for part of public colleges with my tax dollars, and when its time for my kids to go to college, you'll charge me less and are more likely to admit my kid.\n\nPrivate schools that get no government $$$ usually do not make an instate/out of state designation. Everyone is charged a lot of money. "
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aj0zmt | by what magic is it possible to color any graph with only 4 colors? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aj0zmt/eli5_by_what_magic_is_it_possible_to_color_any/ | {
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"You need to explain your situation a bit further. What graphs? Are they from a program?",
"The four-color map problem was controversial in mathematics because it was proven by exhaustion. That is, they used a computer to simulate all possible maps and show that you don't need more than four colors. At the time this was the first mathematical proof by exhaustion and many mathematicians didn't like it. They wanted a more elegant proof but they eventually admitted that the proof was correct.\n\nFor a better explanation, simply try drawing a map that requires more than four colors. You can't do it. They way they proved it was by drawing every map."
]
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979j9q | what are the physics involved in a crash of two identical cars moving with identical force towards each other? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/979j9q/eli5_what_are_the_physics_involved_in_a_crash_of/ | {
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"Cars don't move with force. Cars move with speed. If two cars are moving towards each other with speedometers reading 30, they are closing at 60 because both see signposts go past at 30 (the speedometer reads speed relative to the road, not relative to other cars).\n\nWhen those two cars meet they exert a twice the force on the lucky atom that happens to be the meeting point than they would apply to that atom if they hit a wall.\n\nTo stop that atom in no time takes infinite force, so force isn't the way to look at this. That atom is bound to the atom next to it according to the strength of the material, and once you reach that force, the metal bends. That's why when you hit a wall or a car, your car crumples up (becoming a shorter car) so that a force about equal to the metals bending limit can be applied over enough distance and time to absorb the energy in the car.\n\nWhen you pick physics, the units matter.",
"They wouldn't receive the force of 60mph. They would receive a force similar to if they had crashed into a solid wall at 30mph. \n\nThe impact energy is double what you would experience hitting a wall, but it is spread over two cars instead of, in the case of our sturdy wall, being spread over one. "
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lj5bt | why the united states presidency is still only one job. | As far as I know, when the idea of a president was thought up they had George Washington in mind, who was a sort of jack-of-all-trades politically.
Is there a reason? Surely a professional politician isn't expected to be a good military commander?
Also, related, why do other countries have separate jobs for foreign and domestic rulers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/lj5bt/eli5_why_the_united_states_presidency_is_still/ | {
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"Put simply, the US government is divided up into 3 branches - Legislative, Executive, Judicial. The legislative and judicial branches are deliberative bodies - a bunch of people who have to come to agreement about something. Specifically, the legislature, our congress, decides what we do, by coming up with, writing, and passing our laws. The judicial branch sorts out how those laws apply to us when confusion arises (confusion being a nice way of referring to lawsuits), and they also determine if the laws congress made are in conflict with the supreme law of the land - the Constitution. \n\nThe executive branch, conversely, does not (technically) have to make any decisions. Like the name implies, they exist to execute the plans that congress comes up with. For that reason, it makes sense to have what is called a unitary(singular) executive. One guy at the top makes all the decisions regarding the technical details, since congress has already made the big decisions, like whether or not to go to war, or how a certain industry should be regulated. In this way, the executive branch is the implementation arm of the Congress. That's why it's only 1 job - it's not supposed to be that hard.\n\nIf this sounds weird or wrong, it's because A. it's an extreme simplification for ELI5 purposes, and B. this is how the system was designed to work when our founding fathers planned it all out. Things have changed a lot since then. Whether it's power hungry presidents and staff, or just more overall voter interest in the Presidential election vs. Congressional elections, over the course of our 200+ year history, power has slowly concentrated around the executive branch. The federal government is a lot bigger now than it was then, and looking at it from the current perspective, it might seem like this is way too much work for one person. That's what the cabinet and individual departments are for though - the President gets a lot of help and advice.\n\nA lot of the way our government was set up was based around the circumstances of our nation's birth and how the founding fathers wanted to avoid creating another England. The history of it all is fascinating and provides a lot of perspective into how the American system was designed to work, even if it doesn't always play out that way in 2011. I would encourage you and anyone else to, if you will, 'check that shit out.'",
"Put simply, the US government is divided up into 3 branches - Legislative, Executive, Judicial. The legislative and judicial branches are deliberative bodies - a bunch of people who have to come to agreement about something. Specifically, the legislature, our congress, decides what we do, by coming up with, writing, and passing our laws. The judicial branch sorts out how those laws apply to us when confusion arises (confusion being a nice way of referring to lawsuits), and they also determine if the laws congress made are in conflict with the supreme law of the land - the Constitution. \n\nThe executive branch, conversely, does not (technically) have to make any decisions. Like the name implies, they exist to execute the plans that congress comes up with. For that reason, it makes sense to have what is called a unitary(singular) executive. One guy at the top makes all the decisions regarding the technical details, since congress has already made the big decisions, like whether or not to go to war, or how a certain industry should be regulated. In this way, the executive branch is the implementation arm of the Congress. That's why it's only 1 job - it's not supposed to be that hard.\n\nIf this sounds weird or wrong, it's because A. it's an extreme simplification for ELI5 purposes, and B. this is how the system was designed to work when our founding fathers planned it all out. Things have changed a lot since then. Whether it's power hungry presidents and staff, or just more overall voter interest in the Presidential election vs. Congressional elections, over the course of our 200+ year history, power has slowly concentrated around the executive branch. The federal government is a lot bigger now than it was then, and looking at it from the current perspective, it might seem like this is way too much work for one person. That's what the cabinet and individual departments are for though - the President gets a lot of help and advice.\n\nA lot of the way our government was set up was based around the circumstances of our nation's birth and how the founding fathers wanted to avoid creating another England. The history of it all is fascinating and provides a lot of perspective into how the American system was designed to work, even if it doesn't always play out that way in 2011. I would encourage you and anyone else to, if you will, 'check that shit out.'"
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8oovvg | how can scientists give an estimate on when they will develop a cure? | I’ve seen, on occasion, phrases like “Biochemists are 5 years away from curing ...” or “The cure for ... is near”. Is this just pseudoscience clickbait or is there a way of accurately predicting when a cure will be found? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8oovvg/eli5_how_can_scientists_give_an_estimate_on_when/ | {
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"It really depends. If it's a brand new thing, they could be extrapolating based on current progress, which isn't a perfect estimate.\n\nIn other cases, they might have the \"hard\" part down (the active ingredient), but simply need to nail down details like how to deliver the drug (which they may be able to copy from a previous drug, say)/clinical trials etc.\n\nUsually it's the extrapolating. Whether it's complete guesswork, or reasonably educated will depend on who is making the claim.",
"5 years could mean they have a working cure under laboratory conditions and are going through the necessary testing to clear the red tape and be allowed to use it on humans. \n\nOr it could be clickbait and speculation. \n\nAnything much further in the future is always clickbait or speculation as publishing information about an actual product before patenting it would be problematic and medical patents don't last as long as, say, the Disney copyright of Mickey Mouse. "
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1wvq66 | how does mathematical induction work? | I have to write an essay in math about it and don't really understand it. Could someone explain it for a dummy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wvq66/eli5_how_does_mathematical_induction_work/ | {
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"Induction uses two steps. The first is to prove some base case, and the second is to prove that if some statement holds true for some value then it also holds true for another. For example, if I wanted to prove that 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + n = n\\*(n+1)/2 by induction then I have to prove two things: that the equality holds true for n = 0 and that if it holds true for n = k then it also holds true for n = k + 1.\n\nThe first step of that is easy. We plug in 0 and evaluate the expression. The sum on the left is trivial--it's just '0'. The expression on the right becomes 0\\*(0+1)/2 , which is also just 0. 0 = 0 so we're all good for this base case.\n\nAs to the second step, we have to show that *if* 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + k = k\\*(k+1)/2 *then* 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + k + (k+1) = (k+1)\\*((k+1)+1)/2. To do this, we notice that for the k+1 form of the expression the left side is almost the same as the left side of the k expression, which we have assumed equals the right side. Thus, we replace 0 + 1 + 2 + ... + k with k\\*(k+1)/2. Our expression becomes k\\*(k+1)/2 + (k+1) = (k+1)\\*((k+1)+1)/2. We can simplify this by carrying out the math--k^2 /2 + 3k / 2 + 1 = k^2 + 3k/2 + 1 (you can trust my math or do it yourself).\n\nThus, we've proven that the expression holds true for all numbers--it holds true for 0, and if it holds true for 0 then it holds true for 1. If it holds true for 1 then it holds true for 2. If it holds true for 2 then it holds true for 3, and so on.",
"It works like this: First, you start with a starter premise and you prove that its true. How you do that depends on the problem and where you're starting. After this, you assume it works for some arbitrary case, then show it works for the rest. Why? Because if you show that the starter premise works and that any arbitrary case implies the next one works, you can just go \"Okay, then just start with the first case, so it works for the second, then the third, then the fourth..\" etc. Its a domino effect, which is why you'll hear this domino analogy a lot with respect to mathematical induction.",
"My teacher always used the idea of a stairway or a ladder. First you start at the base or bottom step. Then if the base case works then you try taking another step, and then another so on and forth. This is usually abbreviated by assuming you can take any n steps past the base case. Then you need to show that it works for n+1. Since n can be anything could be the base case plus one or 10^10^10 if you can always make the next step then it goes on to infinity.",
"LY5: Imagine an infinite row of dominoes. If you can show that, when any domino falls, it will knock the next one over, and you know that the first one will fall over, then induction tells you they will *all* fall over (given infinite time, of course).\n\nIn mathematical induction, you want to show a statement is true for all integer values of *n* from some number, typically 0 or 1, to infinity. You do this by showing your statement is true for the first value of *n* (this is called the base case) and then assume it is true for some value of *n* and use this to prove the statement is also true for *n* + 1 (this is called the inductive step). This tells us that the statement is true for all the relevant integer values of *n*: if the base case says it's true for 1, then the inductive step tells us it is true for 2, and hence for 3, for 4, and so on.\n\nThe inductive step corresponds to one domino pushing over the next, and the base case corresponds to the first domino falling over.\n\nEDIT: more explanation"
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1l76o5 | what do animals hear when music is playing? | A similar question was asked a few months ago, but the answers were sparse and unhelpful. Do they distinguish human voices if the song has vocals? Do they feel the bass the way we do? Do they notice the tone and mood of the song at all, the way some animals can sense emotion in the tone of your voice? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1l76o5/eli5_what_do_animals_hear_when_music_is_playing/ | {
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"We like the music we like because it falls into our acoustic and vocal range, runs at a tempo similar to that of our heartbeats (which we enjoy hearing). Now if you use too high or low a pitch it bothers us, same with music that is too fast or slow.\n\nFor **most** animals **our** music probably isn't enjoyable although some birds and some dogs do like it.\n\nScience backs this up...\n\n[Parrots have different tastes in music - and like some of ours](_URL_1_)\n\n[Music created for Tamarins](_URL_0_)\n\n[Whales have 'hit' songs](_URL_2_)",
"It would really depend on what animal you are talking about. Some animals, like dogs or bats, can hear sounds at a higher frequency than we can (think of how dog whistles drive dogs crazy, but the same noise is silent to us), meaning that they will hear notes in some songs that we do not. This is called a hearing threshold, and different animals have different thresholds. Some are narrower than ours, and some are wider. Either way, animals will hear any event slightly differently than we do, including music.\n\nNow for the vocals. Think about what you would hear if you listened to a song recorded in a language you don't know, like some regional dialect of Chinese or a language spoken only in remote African jungles. You would still hear all of the sounds, but have no way of making sense of it. How much sense an animal would make out of a song would depend on the animal. Animals that have co-evolved with humans (like dogs), or animals that are physiologically similar to humans (like apes) would be able to notice the tone or mood of a song, or at the very least be able to understand the rough emotion the singer is trying to convey (happiness, despair, desperation, joy, etc.)\n\nNow lets try it the other way around. If you own a dog, I'm sure you can tell when the dog looks happy to see you, or if it starts sounding stressed when it sees something outside, or if it [misbehaved while you were gone and looks guilty.](_URL_0_) Humans and dogs have co-existed for thousands of years, and as a result, some of our expressions have [converged.](_URL_1_)\n\nOn the other end, lizards have not co-evolved with humans as closely has dogs have and therefore, would not be able to pick up on the subtle differences in voice tone and inflection that would indicate different emotions. Much like how we cannot listen to lizards and be able to tell if it is hungry, happy or scared; they cannot listen to a song and understand a song to the same degree a dog could.\n\nSo, overall, what an animal will hear and interpret depends on how similar an animal's auditory range is to humans, and their ability to understand and pick up on human emotion in the first place. An animal will hear anything that it's ears are capable of hearing. In this respect most animals, to a certain extent, pretty similar. The main difference comes with how the animal interprets these sounds.\n\nEDIT: Replaced the bit about the professional sound studios.",
"Dogs can comprehend some of the words. In 1992, a group called Smart-E's remixed the Sesame Street theme song called \"Sesame's Treet\". My yorkie knew the word \"treat\" and would get excited if I said it. \n\nIf you're familiar with the Sesame Street theme song, the end of the hook is \"... how to get to Sesame Street\". My dog picked up on the word \"treat\" in \"street\" and would get excited the same way if I said the word \"treat\".",
"Disclaimer: Although I have a BS in Physics and Music and was very interested in sound design and theory, I haven’t read any material on this subject in almost 2 years \n\nAs I see it there are two possible ‘answers’ to your question, what the animal perceives objectively and subjectively. Things also change depending on the source of the music whether it be acoustic or electronically synthesized.\n\nSubjectively I can’t really speculate, but some aspects of the objective perception are more concrete. First, and probably the easiest to wrap your head around, is that the structure of the ear is extremely important in determining an animal’s range of hearing. While I imagine there are many structural factors that play a role in determining the functional range of an ear, the structure who’s role I’m most familiar with is the [cochlea](_URL_0_) which is a fluid filled spiral(looks a lot like a snail shell) which transfers any sound vibrations into electrical signals for the brain to process. As I understand the size and dimensions of the cochlea limit which wavelength\\frequency of sound waves can exist inside the cochlea. Bigger ears/animals hear longer(lower) frequencies while smaller ears (like your cat’s) are more sensitive to higher frequencies(this is my guess as to why mine hates my vacuum).\n\nBUT THAT’S NOT ALL! If we play some electronic music, say some dub step for Mr. Kitty, even it we magically adjust it so that the music is in at higher frequency, Mr. Kitty might not hear anything even remotely similar to what we hear. The reason lies in the way many electronic sounds are synthesized. Often the synthesis of a sound, say the WUB WUBs, in Mr. Kitty’s song, involves changing(modulating) the [frequencies](_URL_1_) at a rate higher than what our ears can hear(think trying to film a bullet without a high speed camera). When this happens sidebands are produced. Sidebands are additional frequencies we perceive in addition to the original signal being modulated at a high rate. The sidebands and original signal in total is what produces the WUB WUBs. I’d imagine these sidebands would manifest completely differently across different ear structures. So while you hear a WUB, Mr. Kitty might hear some screamy kitten death metal.\n\nThis isn’t even beginning to consider the fact that sound and sound perception is an incredibly important biological and evolutionary tool used by most animals, and thus each species could have incredibly unique mechanisms for hearing and interpreting sound beyond those inherent in the structure of the ear.\n\n \n",
"I've read about some research in which monkeys or chimps could choose between a room with nice music and a room with dissonant chords. It didn't matter to them. ",
"It always surprised me that I could play really loud heavy metal and my dog seemed totally oblivious, he would just go about his normal routine. But the same dog was terrified of thunderstorms or fireworks.",
"Some people believe that having ultrasonic content *does* change what you can hear...and that's true but not because our ears actually perceive the ultrasonic information. Your dog or cat may of course pick up these sounds but we can't. \n\nIt can actually *degrade* a recording to have ultrasonics....\n\nFor compressed files, the encoder has to throw away more audible content to retain the ultrasonics for the same bit rate. You need a bigger file or you'll lose fidelity in the audible range.\n\nFor non lossy codecs like FLAC and uncompressed sampled formats (PCM, etc), we have to go beyond the usual 44.1 or 48kHz output to play this stuff back. Again, bigger files.\n\nI can already hear the cries from audiophiles: But wait...I CAN hear it. MadscientistEE is full of shit!\n\nFor A-D conversion in the recording process we can have *aliasing*...a horrible sound that happens when frequencies above the Nyquist frequency (sampling rate / 2) aren't adequately filtered out and are then converted to digital. (or vice versa) This is the primary reason people associate high sampling rate with better sound. It has *nothing* to do with the actual high frequency response of the recording; it's the lack of aliasing artifacts that makes these digital recordings sound \"sweeter\". Most converters do something called *oversampling* internally to avoid aliasing....better CD players have done it for over 20 years. You might find an old CD player that boasts just how much it oversamples...they were proud of this advancement for good reason! \n\nA double blind study using down conversion was done and nobody could reliably pick out the 16 bit 44.1kHz down converted music over the high sampling rate stuff. Yes folks....CD really is as good as it gets unless you're a dog.\n\nFor speakers and amplifiers we have intermodulation distortion to worry about. You know you have this when you play an ultrasonic tone and you hear other, quite audible tones. This happens mainly on lesser gear but you'd need *damn fancy, possibly custom built* gear to eliminate its effect entirely. It's of course more cost effective to just not need to deal with this inaudible junk in the first place. \n\nThe intermodulation distortion often adds extra high frequency sounds which the listener may interpret as \"more detail\" or \"more air\". If the real ultrasonics are also reproduced, they may or may not be *very loud*...and this could seriously piss off fluffy.\n\nreference: _URL_0_",
" Some parrots do respond to music and can keep the beat...You Tube has some vids showing this if you want to watch.",
"You might find this article interesting:\n\n_URL_0_",
"A similar question: what do you hear when you hear dogs barking? You hear some noise, but you don't have the appropriate dog context to get all the meaning out of those sounds. \n\n",
"Theres is actually a section of brain whos job it is to inter prate rythmic sounds into music so animals who lack this part should just hear noise. However scientists have concluded termites work faster when exposed to fast metal style music so idk.",
"Like it has been said before they will hear different frequencies than us so they experience it differently, now this being said it doesn't mean they don't like it. I know my dog loved listening to me play the piano and never missed me play it. So it's possible that it does amuse them and they hear it in a pleasant manner. ",
"My sister's old dog, Obie, would howl like my mad at any melancholy blues songs ([Bill withers, say](_URL_2_); he really felt the blues), and woof along in passionate agreement at more powerful and upbeat blues music, ([Like this sort of thing from Muddy Waters](_URL_1_)) \n\nHe would also get freaky wild for [Seamus the Dog](_URL_0_), unsurprisingly.\n\nFor the record he was a black dog, and an all-round dude.\n\n"
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"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9762709/Parrots-have-personal-musical-tastes-and-even-like-to-sing-a-long-scientists-find.html",
"http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110414131444.htm"
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_evolution"
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_modulation_synthesis"
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"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5IOou6qN1o",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIdIqbv7SPo"
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2g8jmp | why do moving characters and objects in animated cartoons often look so different from the non moving objects and backgrounds. | [Example here: Ariel, Flounder and the book are the moving entities.](_URL_0_)
It seems like the backgrounds often have more details and shadows to them and look more three-dimensional. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g8jmp/eli5_why_do_moving_characters_and_objects_in/ | {
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"Because typically they're painted as two completely separate styles of art.\n\nThis doesn't happen in cases of a show, like, [The Simpsons](_URL_0_) or [Family Guy](_URL_1_) where you can see the background and animations are drawn in the same style.\n\nIn Disney's case, that is their style. It's just a different method where the backgrounds are painted as cartoonish yet still sort of reallistic pictures so they contrast with the standard outline and shaded art style of the characters.",
"Because the backgrounds are static, they can be drawn (or painted) in much higher quality than the characters, who are moving and must be drawn 24 times per second.",
"Items that move are kept to a simpler art style to save time because they get redrawn many many times.\n\nThe artists will have to draw that book 30 times for every second of film that it is on-screen and moving, so it is drawn more simply than the books in the background which don't move and therefore only have to be drawn once."
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1pluos | how do brains gather information from your eyes and how are they able to put it together to a full image? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pluos/eli5_how_do_brains_gather_information_from_your/ | {
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"Your eyes contain photoreceptor cells (_URL_0_) called rods and cones which are activated by light (they actually send off decreased signals of neurotransmitters when exposed to light but your brain recognizes this as representing an increase in activity). Different cone cells respond to different colors of light (red, blue, and green) while rod cells are extremely sensitive to even small amounts of light. Your brain essentially decodes the signals from all of the photoreceptor cells in your eyes and uses that to make a composite image of what each individual cell is responding to."
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7mnnkk | why is there a fair usage policy? | As far as I know the internet is a net and what we pay for is ISP services. Then why is there a limitation if it isn't something runs out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7mnnkk/eli5why_is_there_a_fair_usage_policy/ | {
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" > Then why is there a limitation if it isn't something runs out? \n\nYour ISP has a limited amount of bandwidth (amount of data per second) that they can supply without spending lots of money to upgrade their infrastructure. Thus they need to provide some sort of limits to their customers' data usage to prevent a few \"greedy\" customers from using up all of their bandwidth and not leaving enough for the other customers.",
"It **is** something that runs out.\n\nThe internet is connected together by copper wire, fiber optics, and over the air broadcasts. There is only so much data those media can transmit, and if too many people are downloading too much data, it starts getting slow for everyone."
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21yhcq | high frequency trading (hft), what it is, and why has it become such a scandal? | 1. Is there a price discrepancy between the prices I see at home versus the prices traders on the floor get?
2. What exactly is HFT?
3. Why is HFT being investigated by the FBI and why is it a scandal? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21yhcq/eli5_high_frequency_trading_hft_what_it_is_and/ | {
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"Basically, it's insanely quick automated purchases/sales that can process faster than you can. They can detect your purchase order, buy that stock (raising the price slightly, as demand is now up), then sell it to you as your initial purchase. \n\nSuper simplified, and I really hope someone qualified comes in here. If not, that's how I have had it explained. ",
"I'm a bit surprised that there have been no responses yet. Disclaimer: I was involved in the tech side of it, not the trading side, so I'm sure there will be traders able to explain it far better than I can. That said:\n\n1. There shouldn't be. However, by the time the price has gone from the floor, through whatever trading system you subscribe to, through the internet to your computer, the market will have moved on and the guys \"on the floor\" (or rather, at the various trading companies, as there isn't all that much physical floor trading anymore) will be seeing the new prices while you're still looking at prices from as much as several seconds ago. Which is an eternity in HFT. \n\n2. HFT is exactly what it says on the box: High Frequency Trading. You know how you put in an order, and it may be a second or more before it gets executed? Or maybe you're putting in limit orders and wait for them to execute or (get) canceled as the market moves away? HFT works on the millisecond scale, and puts in thousands of very similar orders, and either modifies, cancels, or in a minority of cases has them executed as the market moves. Behind these orders are very clever algorithms that try to essentially predict the market and create/modify orders to be advantageous if the market does what it predicts. The faster you can do that, the more chance you have of having the most advantageous order in before the next guy. If you can shave, say, half a millisecond off the transaction time you're a hero. If you're doing it across multiple markets you're also creating arbitrage opportunities by buying in one place and selling in another in the milliseconds before the price has been updated in both places. \n\nThe obvious downsides are that it creates a very volatile market, with these autotraders (computerized trading algorithms) potentially going wild and creating a feedback loop. That it partly what happened in recent market meltdowns, and why regulators are looking whether we should limit these systems to create more stable markets. It also creates a very uneven playing field with a few players on one side who have the resources to play this game, and everyone else who can pick up the scraps. If you're a home daytrader trading through whatever intermediary you will always be behind the guys who are directly connected to the exchanges on whatever is the fastest route. Putting systems in the same datacenters as the exchange because that pesky light speed is way too slow across town, and putting in [semi-private transatlantic cables](_URL_0_) to shave a few milliseconds off the transit time suddenly starts making sense.\n\n3. I've been out of this business too long to have all the juicy details, but as far as I understand HFT as such isn't being investigated. Regulation and investigation of HFT as such would be the domain of the SEC more than the FBI. What is being investigated are allegations that exchanges give market information to some HFT firms before other market parties (which would obviously benefit them greatly), and of market manipulation and insider trading using HFT. \n\nI'm pretty sure I'll be corrected on some points by people closer to this fire, but that should pretty much cover it for now",
"Let's say you owned a hamburger shop. And you had a partner, and he was standing right next to your cash register.\n\nThe price on the menu says $1 for a hamburger.\n\nSo, someone comes in and looks at the menu, and orders a hamburger. So then you start cooking the hamburger. (The important point here is that the transaction is not complete until you fill the order by completing the hamburger cooking process, but the transaction has begun because the order has been placed and you have begun to fill the order. There will be a significant time lag between the time the transaction has begun, and the time the transaction ends - and it is this time lag where shenanigans can occur. More on that later.)\n\nYour partner next to the register knows that someone just ordered a hamburger, and that someone is cooking a hamburger, and he offers to buy the hamburger from you for $1 before you can hand it to the customer. What do you care? You made a hamburger, and agreed to make it for $1. So, you give the hamburger to the first guy who gives you the dollar (who, just so happens to be your partner.)\n\nExcept that your customer is standing there waiting for their hamburger. And if people come in and can't get hamburgers, they'll stop coming.\n\nSo your partner offers to sell the hamburger he just bought for $1 from you to your customer ... for one dollar and once cent. The customer can, of course, refuse ... since the price you offered was $1 for a hamburger. And now he has to pay $1.01 from your partner.\n\nBut you're all out of hamburgers at the moment. It will take you some time to make another hamburger. Which you're only too happy to do, because ... hey ... more sales.\n\nSo your customer decides to instead buy the hamburger from your partner at the cash register. What does he care? It's now one dollar and one cent. No biggie. His alternative is waiting until you make another hamburger and his time is money. To the customer, a one dollar and one cent hamburger is still cheaper than the time he has to wait for you to make another $1 hamburger (which your partner is just going to buy up first anyway).\n\nThat's high speed trading: The exchange (restaurant) makes hamburgers (sells stock) and they partner with someone who stands in front of the cash register (high-speed trader). The high speed trader knows about the order for the hamburger (stock) and knows how long it takes you to make a hamburger (fill the order) and he buys the hamburger before your customer can because he has computers that sit IN the restaurant. Your customer doesn't have computers that sit in the restaurant, because they're not paying you a a half-a-cent per burger to put computers in your restaurant (which your partner did.)\n\nYou make an extra half-cent per burger, so you're happy with this arrangement. Your partner makes a half-cent per burger, so he's happy with this arrangement.. And your customer is screwed out 1 penny per burger, but it's a bargain to him because his time is valuable, and he has no computers, or access to your restaurant (exchange). So he's not happy about it, but he's not going to fucking shoot you over a penny. He's going to pay the going rate ... $1.01 for your hamburger.\n\nThis is high speed trading.\n\nStock exchanges sell space to high-speed traders to put computers very close to the exchange (the cash register). In return, the exchange gets a kickback of every order the high-speed trader submits. The high-speed trader makes money. The exchange makes money. The customer is screwed, but he's screwed less than having to wait for you to make another hamburger.\n\nHave you figured out who the customer is yet? It's YOU. When your 401k places an order for a hamburger (stock). The stock exchange and the high-speed traders have partnered to pick your pocket. They're both thieves.\n\nMcDonald's sells 75 hamburgers per second, by the way. You do the math.\n\nOh, and also by the way ... this is all legal, because when you were offered the hamburger at $1.01 ... you were free to say no. Because the price on the board was $1. But you didn't. Because you came to get a hamburger. You're free to leave the restaurant at that point with nothing. \n\n**TL;dr The stock market is rigged. You are being robbed, by the exchange and the high-speed traders, who are partners in this crime. It's legal because the rich bribe politicians with \"campaign donations\" to keep this legal. There is nothing you can do about it. And if you don't like it, you can find another stock market. Oh wait ... there isn't another stock market. I'm sorry (rubs nipples.)**\n",
"Here is my view of the HFT scandal.\nThe trades posted on the exchange are not real trade. The posted trader is using the system to insert himself in between two legitimate traders. This creates a small and persistent tax that the real customer wind up paying. One HFT trading company, VIRTU boasted it only lost money one day in 1238 days. At that point the market is rigged by the computers and becomes unfair to the real participants.",
"High frequency trading (HFT) uses algorithms or scripts in specialised trading software to trade automatically within the time frame of a few milliseconds.\n\n\nHFT choose a physical location as close to the exchange as possible. As a hypothetical example, if prices take on average 100ms to get to the majority of traders, the HFT might receive those prices within 10ms. Equally they will be able to execute a trade within 100ms, and 10ms respectively. 200ms round trip vs. 20ms round trip = 180ms advantage.\n\n\nThe way they make a profit is through arbitrage- usually referred to as 'triangular arbitrage' (i.e. involving 3 different currency pairs), but there are other types of arbitrage.\n\n\nA simple example of triangular arbitrage:\n\nNZD/USD = $0.8 [buy 1000 NZD units for US$800]\n\nAUD/NZD = $1 [buy 1000 AUD units with NZ$1000]\n\nAUD/USD = $1.2 [sell 1000 AUD units and receive US$1200]\n\n\nThe trader started with US$800 and ended with US$1200, making an arbitrage profit of US$400.\n\n\nThis is an unrealistic example. In the real world, the difference between the currency pairs might be only a tiny fraction of 1 cent. But if HFT make a large enough trade and do it regularly it can lead to large profits.\n\n\nThe opportunity exists because of the discrepancy between currencies- the market is not in equilibrium for a very small amount of time. \n\n\nArbitrage profits are theoretically available to all traders in a market. The reason why HFT have faced criticism is because it appears as if they are exploiting the market; they have a greater opportunity to take these near* risk-free profits.\n\n\n*Arbitrage is not completely risk-free. There is the risk that the quoted prices change between trades, bid/ask spreads (basically transaction fees to broker) and other costs/factors. "
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aglpgx | why do people appear more skinny in the morning, even if they haven’t used the bathroom since they’ve went to bed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aglpgx/eli5_why_do_people_appear_more_skinny_in_the/ | {
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"You've lost water through sweat and respiration, which can lead to a trimmer appearance even without urinating. You also lose some weight via exhaling carbon dioxide, although I imagine in the span of one night the temporary water loss is a more significant factor (that you'll quickly replace). Your skeleton is compressed throughout the day, so in your sleep it will have potentially elongated slightly, making you a bit taller. You've also likely broken down the foods you ate from the previous day, whereas they might contribute to bloating during the digestive process."
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20pen4 | why can't we calculate the size of the universe? | Whenever scientists talk about the size of the universe the qualify it as 'known universe'. Given that we can calculate distances and speeds of astrological bodies and we think we know how old the universe is, shouldn't it be simple to calculate the overall size, even if we don't have the technology to observe it yet? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20pen4/eli5_why_cant_we_calculate_the_size_of_the/ | {
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"No credible scientist makes conjectures based on anything other than the evidence. We only have enough evidence to estimate what we can observe, beyond that, there's no way to make even an educated guess -- it's just a stab in the dark -- the opposite of science.\n\nThe actual size of the universe could be a foot or two larger than what we can observe, or it might be infinitely larger than we can observe, but since we can't observe it, we can't make a reasonable guess.",
" > Given that we can calculate distances and speeds of astrological bodies and we think we know how old the universe is, shouldn't it be simple to calculate\n\nThis assumption is based on the common misconception that the Big Bang occurred in one location. Instead it was an event that happened everywhere at once. We have seen light which has been traveling ever since the very beginning of the universe, and there is no indication that there isn't just more universe beyond what we can see, so the universe is likely infinite in extent."
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2zswe9 | why are hot things red and cold things blue? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zswe9/eli5_why_are_hot_things_red_and_cold_things_blue/ | {
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"Cold things don't actually turn blue. That's just in cartoons. Things do turn red when they burn however because the vibrations of their atoms are giving off higher frequency electromagnetic waves.",
"If you mean shower taps and things like that, its just a simplistic representation of temperature. Fire and the sun are \"red\", ice and water are \"blue\". If they make them red and blue they only have to make one kind of tap where as if they actually said \"hot\" and \"cold\", they would have to make taps for every different language."
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8lpwvy | testifying before congress... | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8lpwvy/eli5testifying_before_congress/ | {
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" > Isn't congress a legislative body?\n\nThat is correct.\n\n > What gives congress the authority to act as some kind of court?\n\nWho said that is what they are doing?\n\n > I would think they are in the business of making laws, and nothing more.\n\nYou are correct.\n\nBut they are in the business of calling people to come and explain to them \"what the fuck happened\" *so that they can make new laws*. That's what is going on when someone is called before Congress. They are being asked to explain what happened, why it happened, and if applicable how it can be fixed. I would hope that Congress asks experts in areas that are complex to help make laws that are functional.\n",
"_URL_0_\n\nCongress has had a detailed power to issue subpoenas for testimony since 1961, but has had some general power to do so since 1790. Although the Constitution does not spell out such a power, the courts have agreed that the power is implied in the very nature of the Congress."
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61rdt8 | . why so many african americans refuse to tip their servers at restaurants? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61rdt8/eli5_why_so_many_african_americans_refuse_to_tip/ | {
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"As an Australian, I don't understand why you have to pay 12% of the meal price as tax? Your not earning that so why do you pay?",
"African Americans don't tip because they have been trained from birth that it is an unnecessary expense. Unfortunately for them, it plays into the social stigma that they refuse to abide by social norms of behavior and this causes them to continue to be (in my opinion, rightfully) discriminated against in situations in which social cues are involved. "
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4htyaq | could somebody live healthily on a diet of junk food and candy (supplemented with multivitamins and minerals) as long as they were careful to stay below their recommended calorie intake each day? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4htyaq/eli5_could_somebody_live_healthily_on_a_diet_of/ | {
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"This was basically *just* asked:\n\n_URL_0_"
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26mh8b | how are credit card transactions on airplane processed? | The credit card reader requires a connection to a database through the internet to validate/authenticate the transaction. The airplane communication system is capable of connecting to the internet through a satellite link, however the card reader that flight attendants carry needs to connect to that communication system somehow. That could be accomplished through a WiFi connection but since most commercial airplanes don't have a WiFi connection, how do they do it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26mh8b/eli5_how_are_credit_card_transactions_on_airplane/ | {
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"I have a family member that works for an airline company.\n\nCredit cards are processed post-flight, as in, when you swipe your card, the number and charge is stored until the plane lands and can connect to the card company database.\n\nBecause of this, if you have a card with a magnetic strip, you can theoretically use that to \"pay\" for your food/TV service, and never pay a cent.\n\nI've heard of people using a metro-pass from the train/subway to \"pay\" for the in-flight TV service.",
"Remember the old credit card method of swiping your cards with carbon paper backing using the raised numbers? These are mostly gone, but not all CC transactions were immediate. "
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23jwv5 | why does it hurt so much to bang knees with somebody? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23jwv5/eli5_why_does_it_hurt_so_much_to_bang_knees_with/ | {
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"Unlike pretty much every other part of your body, your knee, or I should say a normal healthy knee, has no fatty tissue or muscles covering it for protection. It is entirely bone, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments which like stated before have pretty much no protection besides your layers of skin. Now it hurts to hit your knee on mostly anything but if you bang knees with someone hit hurts immensely because its two forces moving at each other instead of just you hitting your knee on a table. Sort of like a car driving into a pole will not be the same as two cars hitting each other head on. \n\nTL;DR Your knee has little protection around it and thus experiences the full blow and pain from contact. "
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ag3jhw | does it really matter what i eat if i want to burn fat (and build muscle) and calories in < calories out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ag3jhw/eli5_does_it_really_matter_what_i_eat_if_i_want/ | {
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"If you look at weight loss alone, yes, it is the same thing. One fellow once lost weight in an experiment by eating nothing but Twinkies. Calories in vs. calories out applies to all and any food.\n\nHowever, you have to include the human factor. Eating only 1000 calories of fast food would be very difficult. You would feel like shit and be hungry all day long. Eating 1000 calories of healthy food could be easier. In [this article](_URL_0_), you can see what 200 calories of food looks like. You could either eat several bowls of carrots, or three cheeseburgers. In short, you can plan a diet where you only 1000 calories of fast food, but you will probably fail. Most diets fail not because the math is wrong, but because people don't take cravings and other physiological elements when planning a diet.\n\nAdditionally, if you are trying to eat healthier in general, you should avoid all fast food and junk food in general. These foods have a lot of sodium, sugar, and lack positive nutrients that your body needs.",
"Technically yes. You will still be at a deficit, but you will become what is called “skinny fat.” Eating good foods has more benefits obviously for your overall health. \n\nEx: 500 calories of French fries vs 500 calories of roasted veggies and meat. While eating the FF may taste better and have the same amount of calories, it will increase your cholesterol, increase your sodium levels, and ultimately, leave you feeling hungry again in an hour. The carbs in FF are different, they are a simple carb, so they will burn quicker and less efficiently. The veggies and meats will provide your body more essential nutrients, by being complex carbs and proteins. It will allow your body to work harder, for longer, grow muscle faster and ultimately, be healthier and more toned. \n\nAnother benefit: eating the bad/junk food at 1000 calories, does not give you a ton of food. Maybe a large fry and a small burger and soda. But with good foods, you could eat a steak, some chicken, a metric ton of veggies, etc. so the calories for good food stretches more.\n\nSo, while yes, you can eat junk food and be at a caloric deficit to lose weight, it is not ideal. \n\nThink of it like buying gasoline. When you fill your tank up each car has an ideal gas type for it, you can vary it slightly, but if you put the wrong things in it, ultimately it will run inefficient and ruin the car. Put the right things in, and the car will go for miles longer."
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uv008 | the united kingdom | This is a question that my geography teachers answered with "they're just different parts, like how we have the south, the west coast, etc."
Wales is a country. Yet it's part of the United Kingdom, which is also a country. Same with Scotland. How can a country be part of a country? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/uv008/eli5_the_united_kingdom/ | {
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"[This](_URL_0_) is the best explanation I have ever found on the subject.\n\n > England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are constituent countries of the United Kingdom and are shown in orange. Here, the term \"constituent country\" is not used in the same way that \"country\" is usually used; **England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are political subdivisions of the UK**, and it is the UK which appears in international bodies such as the United Nations and NATO.\n",
"Think of two buildings next to one another. One building is two stories high and the neighbouring building is three stories high. \n \nThe two story building is called Ireland and the three story building has a floor for England, one for Scotland and one for Wales. \n \nAt various times in the past England took over ownership of all the other parts of its own building and of the building called Ireland but recently the ground floor of the Ireland building went back to the original owner. \n \nNow, England is the landlord who controls the three floors of it's own building as well as the top floor of Ireland which is called Northern Ireland. The bottom floor of the two story building is called the Republic of Ireland or \"Éire\" and is independant of England's control. \n \nThe three story building is known as Britain. \nThe lower floor of the three story building is called England.\nThe entire three story building and the upper floor of the two story Ireland building is called The United Kingdom.\nThe lower floor of the two story building is the Republic of Ireland. ",
"Wales is not a country. It's a principality.",
"A *nation* is a group of people with a shared culture, identity, etc. \n\nA *state* is a political entity which holds sovereignty over a defined region of land. When a *nation* has its own state, this is called a *nation-state* \n\n(warning/clarification: Do not confuse 'state' in this usage with 'state' in the American usage. Some countries use 'state' as a subdivision, particularly (con)federations such as the US, or, for example, Germany and its *\"länder.\"* In international relations parlance, a state is a sovereign entity.) \n\nThe term *country* - while often used interchangeably with *state* - can refer to any distinct region of land, be it sovereign, non-sovereign or formerly sovereign (like the constituent parts of the UK). \n\nYou can even go as far as to say that a *state* can hold sovereignty over the *country* (in other words: the distinct region of land) if that simplifies it for you at all.\n \nSo, yes, while they are called constituent countries of the UK, they are not *sovereign states* - the United Kingdom is the *state* in which they fall under for the purposes of defense and international relations. \n\nThey are called *countries* essentially because they are long-historically-defined areas of land that have historically been associated with one or more particular *nations* of people and in some cases, held their own sovereignty. ",
"Here's a bit of a Historical aside that can help to explain some parts of this strange relationship.\n\nDuring the Middle Ages, England and Scotland were separate Kingdoms. With England occasionally occupying the Scottish for extended periods of time. During the late 1500s they were distinct kingdoms, but their Queens were cousins (first cousins once removed to be exact), Elizabeth I of England and Mary Queen of Scots.\n\nNow Mary abdicated and was then executed, leaving her son James VI on the Scottish Throne. Remember this, it'll be important in a minute.\n\nElizabeth then died in 1603, but was unmarried and had no children. Who was next in her line? Why James VI, current King of Scotland.\n\nSo James VI of Scotland went to become James I of England and ruled both separately as King. The two countries had different laws, customs, and parliament. It wasn't until 1706 and 1707 that the English and Scottish Parliaments agreed to a formal Union based in London and the United Kingdom was officially formed. \n\nAs an even more slight aside: when Queen Elizabeth II goes to Scotland her name changes to Queen Elizabeth I, since the other Elizabeth was never Queen of Scotland. A similar thing will happen when William takes over since there were a few Williams to be King of the English, but not Scotland.\n\nWales and Ireland were under English rule at this point by the way. With Ireland having their own Parliament but recognizing the English King as Kind of Ireland since the 1540s.\n\nFast-forward to 1800 when the Irish and English parliaments were merged to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. But by 1920 the Republic of Ireland was formed and so the official title was changed to be the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With all of the power coming out of London.\n\nBut then in the late 1990s a process of devolution started were a Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish parliaments were created. These play similar roles to the States Assemblies in the US, before that all decisions were done by the central government. But now there are separate distinctions to handle smaller affairs, but the foreign policy and other things are still handed by the UK Parliament in Westminster.\n\nTL;DR: Wait, this is a TL;DR of hundreds of years of history, you want more?\n\nTL;DR Pt 2: The United Kingdom was created through incest and backdoor deals. A bunch of countries merged together and are by and large governed by the same Parliament with the same Government. Yet they keep separate teams in soccer, which is all that matters."
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aikdg2 | why does welding work when the welding “liquid” is a different material to the metal being welded? does it work like glue in that it gets into crevices and solidifies or is there a chemical reaction between the 2 different metals? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aikdg2/eli5_why_does_welding_work_when_the_welding/ | {
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"You seem to be referring to \"brazing\" where a melted metal attaches two other metal surfaces together. As you suspect it is weaker than welding. With welding the \"welding liquid\" actually includes melting the two metal surfaces such that they mix and join, something which traditional gluing doesn't involve.",
"Welding is when the two parts melt and join together as one solid. The welding wire is usually used to fill in the little cracks and to make the welding joint more stronger. ",
"Welding is where the materials are all the same. You melt both pieces of metal, and optionally add some identical (or similar enough) metal to make up for the small gap that has to exist between the materials, and to make a 'fillet' in a corner.\n\nWhere the materials are different, you are 'soldering' or 'brazing'. Here you use a filler material that forms an alloy with both base metals. Because mixtures often have very different melting points to either of the pure substances, you can make this alloy at a temperature that does not melt the base metals. Only the filler substance, and an alloy of the parent and filler, melt. You end up with, from one side of the join to the other, Base- > alloy of base and filler- > filler- > base/filler alloy- > base. "
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6jxrz3 | why does grief come in "waves," and why does it cause us to cry? | I'm in the early process of grieving, and keep getting these waves of deep, tearing pain my my heart every so often. It's almost like I'll be totally at peace and not thinking about anything in particular, when suddenly my face will scrunch up and tears will start pouring.
Why is it that grief come in waves, unlike depression? How does it cause us to so extremely quickly switch from emotionally stable to total despair, and then dissipate so fast? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6jxrz3/eli5_why_does_grief_come_in_waves_and_why_does_it/ | {
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"I can't explain why grief is the way it is but I thought this might help you. \n Lost my wonderful wife of 28 years to Ovarian Cancer 3 years ago, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her, if only for a brief moment. I found this quote a few weeks after she passed away, it helped me get through the toughest time of my life, maybe it will help you:\n \" As for grief, you'll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you're drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it's some physical thing. Maybe it's a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it's a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.\n In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don't even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you'll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what's going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything...and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.\n Somewhere down the line, and it's different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O'Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you'll come out.\nTake it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don't really want them to. But you learn that you'll survive them. And other waves will come. And you'll survive them too. If you're lucky, you'll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks.\"\nHope this gives you some comfort as it did me. So sorry for your loss.",
"Usually posts like this are removed; not because they are bad, but because they invite subjective replies which are hard to answer objectively. However, that being said, I know an objective answer to this. \n\nWe can only handle so much grief. If you think about extreme stress and pain, anything that pushes our senses to the limits, that initial shock of experiencing it can only ever be temporary because we don't have the physiology to experience extreme states for very long. \n\nInevitably no matter how much something hurts, we wear ourselves out grieving and we just can't past a certain point. We numb down and withdraw because whatever biological or mental processes responsible for experiencing extreme grief are short lived and eventually grind to a halt once it's run it's course. \n\nHowever eventually a person will recover from this, get some sleep or stop thinking about it awhile just because they are too exhausted to anymore. At some point they have recovered enough to go through it again and they do. Eventually that episode too leads to numbness and withdrawal, and they recover, and it happens again etc. \n\nThis leads to these intense waves of emotion and pain which come and go. \n\nTo make an analogy, if you're screaming in pain, at some point your vocal chords and body can't scream any more. They are too worn out. You may still want to scream more, but you can't. You rest, and after you begin to recover, you can scream some more. "
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41yp8d | do morbidly obese people burn through all that fat before starving? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41yp8d/eli5_do_morbidly_obese_people_burn_through_all/ | {
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"Their liver will metabolize the fat cells releasing ketones and glucose into the blood stream. This will sustain the person until the ketones lower the pH of the blood stream enough to cause most bodily functions to cease. Meanwhile their breath smells increasingly like rotten fruit and their farts like freshly welded mild steel. Point of interest: this is very similar to what happens to people of low-carb diets since ketones are a byproduct of glucose production from non-carbohydrate sources.",
"They'd die with fat on them, but it isn't entirely straightforward. \n\nFat can be burned for energy but some parts of your body (for example, the brain) need sugar (glucose) to work. Fat can be turned into a sort of 'poor man's sugar' called ketone bodies. These allow the brain to carry on running on fat. \n\nBut, you still need to generate some actual sugar for various bits and pieces (such as the chemical backbones which let you burn things for energy in the Kreb's cycle) and this cannot be done from fat. So, if you're starving, your body digests muscle into the building blocks of protein called amino acids. Amino acids are either 'ketogenic' which means they make ketone bodies, like fat does, or 'glucogenic' which means they can make sugar.\n\nBurning fat is no big problem if you're starving. In fact it reduces your metabolic demand. Burning muscle is bad though. Although it reduces metabolic demand a lot more (muscle is a hungry tissue) it prevents you searching for food, rescue, doing proactive things. Loss of muscle mass in people with eating disorders or serious illness like cancer correlates with the impact on their quality of life but also their life expectancy. Ultimately, the thing that kills you in starvation is usually respiratory paralysis (your muscles of breathing get too weak to allow you to inhale properly) which is the worst outcome of burning muscle. \n\nTl;dr - if you're going to starve be muscly and fat, not just fat.\n\nEdit: no idea why this has been down voted to oblivion. This is fairly basic biochemistry. ",
"I asked something similar before in /r/askscience it covers it well \n\n_URL_0_",
"I glanced through, sorry if I missed someone else posting this, but some bariatric surgeries works on a similar concept. My sister had it done 15 years ago. She had gastric bypass and had part of her stomach removed until it was tiny. She started out only drinking a few tablespoons of fluid at a time. Her body mostly lived off its fat stores while she slowly added purees and eventually solid food, but the weight loss was dramatic. I know this method has become less-popular since then; studies of patients over time, post-op haven't been positive enough in the long run for it to be the choice doctors present before diet and exercise.",
"You can be suffering from dangerous levels of malnutrition well before you even look skinny, the stuff in body fat is not enough by itself to keep a person alive. This is counter intuitive to most people's thinking, and medical professionals are now expected to use a malnutrition risk assessment process to help identify risk amongst patients who have experienced weight loss.",
"A lot of the answers here are anecdotal or just completely wrong. The top post about the obese guy who stopped eating for a year failed to mention he was also fed yeast, a source of protein. The real answer is that no, an obese person does not burn through all their fat before dying of starvation.\n\nThere are two basic pools in the body you need to consider during starvation: the fat pool (used for energy) and the protein pool (used for making proteins, essential to every function in the body). During starvation, fat starts being burned for energy and protein in cells eventually starts being broken down to make new proteins and to make new glucose (energy for the brain). \n\nIn an obese person, there is a ton of evidence saying what kills them is the constant breakdown of protein (without any new protein intake) that causes severe organ damage and cardiac arrhythmia. They may have fat stores that could last for months, but protein stores to only last a few weeks. Fat cannot be used to make new proteins. So an obese person will die of starvation from lack of protein before burning up all their fat.\n\nIn a normal weight person, they burn through their fat and protein quicker, but generally still end up dying of protein losses, Once they run out of fat they just burn protein for energy at an accelerated rate.\n\nFrom the starvation wiki page: \"Starvation ensues when the fat reserves are completely exhausted and protein is the only fuel source available to the body. Thus, after periods of starvation, the loss of body protein affects the function of important organs, and death results, even if there are still fat reserves left unused. (In a leaner person, the fat reserves are depleted earlier, the protein depletion occurs sooner, and therefore death occurs sooner.)\nThe ultimate cause of death is, in general, cardiac arrhythmia or cardiac arrest brought on by tissue degradation and electrolyte imbalances. **In very obese persons, it has been shown that proteins can be broken down and death from starvation occur before fat reserves are used up**\"\n\n**TLDR**: A starving obese person dies from lack of protein before using up all their fat. An obese person given water, vitamins, and proteins could lose all their fat over a long period of time (yet be completely miserable the whole time)\n\nEdit: I had never heard of using yeast as a protein source, so here is some info on it from wiki. \"Nutritional values for nutritional yeast vary from one manufacturer to another. On average, two tablespoons provides 60 calories with 5 g of carbohydrates (of which 4 g is fiber). A serving also provides 9 g of protein and is a complete protein, providing all nine amino acids the human body cannot produce. While fortified and unfortified nutritional yeast both provide iron, the fortified yeast provides 20 percent of the recommended daily value, while unfortified yeast provides only 5 percent. Unfortified nutritional yeast provides from 35 to 100 percent of vitamins B1 and B2.\"\n",
"TL;DR - your body needs more than fat reserves, so not really. Add other things in and it becomes more feasible. \n\nA typical well-nourished 70-kg man has fuel reserves totaling about 161,000 kcal. The energy need for a 24-hour period ranges from about 1600 kcal (6700 kJ) to 6000 kcal (25,000 kJ), depending on the extent of activity. Thus, stored fuels suffice to meet caloric needs in starvation for 1 to 3 months. However, the carbohydrate reserves are exhausted in only a day.\n\nEven under starvation conditions, the blood-glucose level must be maintained above 2.2 mM (40 mg/dl). The first priority of metabolism in starvation is to provide sufficient glucose to the brain and other tissues (such as red blood cells) that are absolutely dependent on this fuel. However, precursors of glucose are not abundant. Most energy is stored in the fatty acyl moieties of triacylglycerols. Recall that fatty acids cannot be converted into glucose, because acetyl CoA cannot be transformed into pyruvate. The glycerol moiety of triacylglycerol can be converted into glucose, but only a limited amount is available. The only other potential source of glucose is amino acids derived from the breakdown of proteins. However, proteins are not stored, and so any breakdown will necessitate a loss of function. Thus, the second priority of metabolism in starvation is to preserve protein, which is accomplished by shifting the fuel being used from glucose to fatty acids and ketone bodies.\n\nThe plasma levels of fatty acids and ketone bodies increase in starvation, whereas that of glucose decreases.\nThe metabolic changes on the first day of starvation are like those after an overnight fast. The low blood-sugar level leads to decreased secretion of insulin and increased secretion of glucagon. The dominant metabolic processes are the mobilization of triacylglycerols in adipose tissue and gluconeogenesis by the liver. The liver obtains energy for its own needs by oxidizing fatty acids released from adipose tissue. The concentrations of acetyl CoA and citrate consequently increase, which switches off glycolysis. The uptake of glucose by muscle is markedly diminished because of the low insulin level, whereas fatty acids enter freely. Consequently, muscle shifts almost entirely from glucose to fatty acids for fuel. The β-oxidation of fatty acids by muscle halts the conversion of pyruvate into acetyl CoA, because acetyl CoA stimulates the phosphorylation of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, which renders it inactive. Hence, pyruvate, lactate, and alanine are exported to the liver for conversion into glucose. Glycerol derived from the cleavage of triacylglycerols is another raw material for the synthesis of glucose by the liver.\n\nProteolysis also provides carbon skeletons for gluconeogenesis. During starvation, degraded proteins are not replenished and serve as carbon sources for glucose synthesis. Initial sources of protein are those that turn over rapidly, such as proteins of the intestinal epithelium and the secretions of the pancreas. Proteolysis of muscle protein provides some of three-carbon precursors of glucose. However, survival for most animals depends on being able to move rapidly, which requires a large muscle mass, and so muscle loss must be minimized.\n\nHow is the loss of muscle curtailed? After about 3 days of starvation, the liver forms large amounts of acetoacetate and d-3-hydroxybutyrate (ketone bodies). Their synthesis from acetyl CoA increases markedly because the citric acid cycle is unable to oxidize all the acetyl units generated by the degradation of fatty acids. Gluconeogenesis depletes the supply of oxaloacetate, which is essential for the entry of acetyl CoA into the citric acid cycle. Consequently, the liver produces large quantities of ketone bodies, which are released into the blood. At this time, the brain begins to consume appreciable amounts of acetoacetate in place of glucose. After 3 days of starvation, about a third of the energy needs of the brain are met by ketone bodies. The heart also uses ketone bodies as fuel.\n\nAfter several weeks of starvation, ketone bodies become the major fuel of the brain. Acetoacetate is activated by the transfer of CoA from succinyl CoA to give acetoacetyl CoA. Cleavage by thiolase then yields two molecules of acetyl CoA, which enter the citric acid cycle. In essence, ketone bodies are equivalents of fatty acids that can pass through the blood-brain barrier. Only 40 g of glucose is then needed per day for the brain, compared with about 120 g in the first day of starvation. The effective conversion of fatty acids into ketone bodies by the liver and their use by the brain markedly diminishes the need for glucose. Hence, less muscle is degraded than in the first days of starvation. The breakdown of 20 g of muscle daily compared with 75 g early in starvation is most important for survival. A person's survival time is mainly determined by the size of the triacylglycerol depot.\n\nWhat happens after depletion of the triacylglycerol stores? The only source of fuel that remains is proteins. Protein degradation accelerates, and death inevitably results from a loss of heart, liver, or kidney function.\n\nSource: _URL_0_",
"To actually ELI5:\n\nTimmy, your body needs two main ingredients for energy: fat and protein. A fat person has more fat to use up, and can last longer without eating on their fat, but they will still run out of protein, which is just as important. Your car engine needs gas and oil to work. The oil lasts longer, but you still need the gas.",
"Explain like you are five: Humans, just like everything else alive on the planet need to eat. It is our fuel. Just like foods have different tastes, they also give our body different kinds of fuel. Some of these fuels can be stored in our body for a long time so we can use them in case of an emergency. Fat is our long term storage device. Other types of fuels cannot be stored in the body for long periods of time, these are known as vitamins (not all of them, just certain ones) as well a proteins. So while a 1000 pound man would have a lot one type of fuel, fat, that would allow him to live on it for a long time, his other fuel supplies, like vitamins and proteins, would run out much more quickly. So, the man would die well before his fat ran out. ",
"The body cannot breakdown its own fat at the rate it would require to sustain bodily functions, so they would starve long before their fat had been depleted.\n\nAdd to that a myriad of nutrient and mineral definciancies, many of which are needed to break down fat; further reducing metabolic rate.\n\nIf that didn't kill you ketoacidosis would. When fat is broken down it releases ketones as a readily available source of energy. Ketones are acidic, which makes your blood acidic which will kill you at a sufficiently low ph values.",
"No. For an obese person to not eat for a year(or however long their fat supplies last), they need to take vitamins/mineral, and protein supplements. If they have vitamins, minerals, protein, and water, then they could live on their fat for a while",
"I believe there was a man (Japanese?) who fasted for one year- some years ago. He only drank water and his doctors monitored him and prescribed the micronutrients he needed, other than that, the calories he needed were taken from his fat.\n\nI don't recall how many pounds he lost, but it was significant. \n\nThey said it's extremely dangerous and they had advised him not to go through with it, but the patient was adamant. \n\nI'm on my phone, otherwise I'd search for the article.",
"If provided water, electrolytes, vitamins, and essential amino acids, it is plausible that this could happen. \n\n",
"This can be a confusing and complex subject. I will try to correctly answer your question, as simply as possible, b/c I could probably go on for hours with detail, and no one would read! Let me preface by saying that I have 12+ years of post graduate education, teach and do research at a University, most recently in the Department of Exercise Physiology. At one point, for a 10 credit biochemistry class, I had memorized every metabolic pathway in the human body, however, do not ask me now :).\n\nThe answer is no, it would not be likely that a morbidly obese person would burn through all of their fat before dying of starvation, (assuming they are taking nothing in but water). \n\nIn this scenario, your body's #1 goal is to provide energy to keep the basic organs functioning, especially the brain, heart and liver.\nThe first source it will go to is carbohydrates, either consumed or stored in liver and muscle as glycogen. That will be used up in less than a day, and you are taking nothing in.\nThe next thing your body will do is break down the stored fat to use the energy from it. In absence of carbohydrates, the liver will make molecules called ketones from the breakdown of fat to be used as by the brain and other organs as fuel. \nProtein.. becomes a complicated issue.. however since we are talking about someone who is dying, I will not go into the protein issue of someone who is starving but living... i.e. perhaps eating some... as that gets complicated. , but we are talking starving to death as I understand. \nYour body will be able to make most proteins needed for basic function and survival. The body will only begin to significantly break down it's protein after body fat levels have become extremely low, i.e. it need the little fat it has to survive. There are 9 amino acids which must be ingested.. again to function properly. However, how long will a body be able to cling to life without them.. i don't think the answer is clear, some people will put out numbers, but I don't. .. and we are dying here :) \nSo theoretically, this fat burning could go on a long long time. Theoretically, the more fat you have, the longer you would live. Bears fatten up before hibernation for a reason. However after some time, and it so much depends on the individual, the fat stores will get low, the body will begin to break down lean tissue for protein, need of protein it can't make will have taken it's toll, a metabolic mess will ensue. \nSo some excess fat is good.. however, when you get into obesity, and then morbid obesity, it is more complicated. You are starting out with an already compromised body. Certainly in morbid obesity, there are metabolic, and cardiac issues already in play. The reason you do not see a morbidly obese body 'starve' down to skin and bones is because they do not die from starvation. They die from something else, before they are even able to 'starve'. Starvation is a huge stress on the body, it throws off the acid-base balance (electrolytes), fluid balance, this puts a lot of stress on the heart, lungs, and kidneys. The very overweight and beyond would likely die of kidney failure, heart failure, or some variation of both while the body tries to cope with the lack of incoming fuel. But they would not have depleted their fat stores. Technically, the person who has 'starved to death' has... So, on a death certificate, the cod (cause of death) for the obese person would be one or multiple organ failure, i.e. heart failure, or whatever event was felt to contribute most to their death. \n\nIf one wants to actually die of starvation, best bet is to be of normal weight or slightly overweight, below obese.\n\nHope that helps.",
"I don't know what happens when people simply starve, but I do know that your body does not make a conscious decision to burn excess fat. Your body burns all energy available and that includes muscle. So fat and muscle will will both be eaten, possibly at a ratio proportional to the ratios of fat:muscle. Our body does not distinguish muscle from fat. And our body needs a number of amino acids and vitamins that we do not produce so self sufficiency wouldn't be a real thing.",
"As long as you have water and daily vitamins it appears to be possible. [Here is an article that gives an account of this happening.](_URL_0_)\n \nTL;DR\n \n > In 1965, a severely obese man starved himself and survived off his body fat for 1 year and 17 days. He was continually monitored by University of Dundee medical staff in Scotland who only fed him yeast, multi-vitamins and occasionally potassium for his heart. They kept their eye on his condition and took routine blood tests. After all was said and done, he had dropped from 456 pounds to 180 pounds. He was weighed again 5 years later and had only put on 15 pounds.\n \nI'd say the takeaway is that you can loose **a lot** of fat, but *all* is still questionable.",
"There was an experiment done with an obese man where he was given vitamins and fasted for a year as a weightloss experiment\n\n_URL_0_",
"If you're starving and not eating any food at all, you enter into ketosis, which causes your body to use fat as fuel instead of carbs. If you get no protein then your body eats your muscles. If you get no vitamin C you get scurvy, which is fatal if untreated.",
"Since most people have already answered your question, [here are some slides from the lectures when I did Physiology.](_URL_0_)",
"Nah. Most people know about glycolysis where you turn sugar into energy but not a lot of people know that when you're starving, your body tries to make it's own sugar. It's a process called Gluconeogenesis and you could say it's reverse glycolysis but it's a lot easier to break something down than it is to build it. A starving person ends up with excess acidic byproducts because the reverse process isn't perfect. These acidic 'keytones' normally aren't too bad since your body can buffer itself fairly well (just breathing keeps your PH stable for a healthy person) but after a while it overpowers your body's ability to buffer itself so your blood will literally become acidic.\n\nUnless that person was given a small amount of carbohydrates to get them out of constant gluconeogenesis then their blood would become too acidic and they would fall into a coma before all the fat was burned. If they were given enough carbohydrates to prevent dying from acidic blood (metabolic acidosis) then they would also suffer from every vitamin deficiency at the same time and there are quite a few other nutrients that your body needs (like essential amino acids) but I don't know how long they would take to have severe effects."
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1pq0n3 | how long will the human race survive after a spontaneous death of all other species? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pq0n3/how_long_will_the_human_race_survive_after_a/ | {
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"Not long.\n\nAll other species includes plants you eat and bacteria that aid in digestion, so you're doomed."
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39rwsu | why websites don't auto switch to the "main site" when opening a mobile link on a computer? | More and more when opening a link on your mobile device, you are redirected to the mobile site or the "mobile friendly" version of the website. Why is it that the reverse does not happen. When browsing on my laptop and I click on a _URL_0_ link it just opens the mobile version. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39rwsu/eli5_why_websites_dont_auto_switch_to_the_main/ | {
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"sometimes they do. it's easily possible. it's completely up to designers of the website if they bother including a script that redirects you back to the main website if you're not on a phone"
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5fftj5 | why do other planets look like stars when you view them without a telescope? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5fftj5/why_do_other_planets_look_like_stars_when_you/ | {
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"It's because they are so far away. Without a telescope, they look so small that you can't more than a point of light, which is what you see when you look at a star, also. They are bright because they are close enough to reflect a lot of light from the sun.\n\nHave you noticed their different colors? Mars looks orange and Venus looks white/blue! Stars have different colors too. Hot ones are white or blue and cool ones are orange or reddish. None are green, unfortunately :("
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c2m8w4 | i understand how neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine affect mood, but how do hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone affect our moods? | I have anxiety, OCD, and major depressive disorder. I take medication for it, and it works great. SNRIs have the best results; however, 1-2 weeks prior to starting my period, it’s like I’m not on my meds, and I have also been diagnosed with PMDD. I know that hormones can affect our moods, but I don’t understand how they work with the neurotransmitters. Do the hormones increase/decrease neurotransmitters? Or can their levels alone make me feel agitated and irritable? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/c2m8w4/eli5_i_understand_how_neurotransmitters_like/ | {
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"This is a complicated issue and it differs for each person, but yes, these hormones affect neurotransmitter levels and act as neurotransmitters themselves. Estrogen is generally a mood elevator at best, but at worst makes you agitated. It’s a stimulant. Progesterone has a neuroprotective effect and at best makes you feel calm and relaxed, but at worst can cause deep depression. Testosterone is a mood elevator so can make you feel happy, confident, and energized, but at worst aggressive and angry. It also makes you horny.\n\nA drop in estrogen or low estrogen can make you feel depressed and gray. High estrogen can make you feel emotional and agitated. Low progesterone can make you feel agitated and restless and give you insomnia. Low testosterone can make you have no sex drive and feel down."
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54tsap | why is it that high speed, high volume equities trading can happen in a split second, but my online fund transfer takes at least 3 days? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54tsap/eli5why_is_it_that_high_speed_high_volume/ | {
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"I would also like to know. It's like, oh look /u/_p00f_ wants to make a trade, let's use his money first and position ourselves in the market so we can make even more money while the market continues to fall.... thanks Fidelity... ",
"Brokerages and hedge funds literally purchase servers that are within blocks of the exchanges to shorten the distance their electrons have to travel to the exchanges. This will make their trades happen in smaller portions of seconds and allow trades to happen rapidly. The difference between that and your banking fund transfer is due to the regulations to keep your funds safe. Since your funds are insured, all banking transfers have to switch between the one bank to a clearing house and to the next bank. There is a break down in the steps for ACH transfer in [this ELI5](_URL_0_) post.",
"There is also a clearing period for most stock trades as well. You don't see this because the price of the trade is set at the time of the trade, not of the clearing. The clearing period for most houses is 5 days.\n\n",
"Although both are types of financial transactions, they occur through very different systems.\n\nBank-to-bank transfers usually occur through Automated Clearing House or ACH transfers. The time it takes to complete an ACH transfer is set by the NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association). According to NACHA, ACH credits must settle in one or two business days; ACH debits settle on the next business day; and it is possible to enable same-day settlement for virtually all ACH transactions. Some banks may take longer to process transactions. Presumably, NACHA and all the participant banks don't see the need for rapid, instantaneous transfers for most retail clients given security and operational risks, as well the hit to profits if the banks are deprived of the privilege of holding onto their clients' money for a couple more days.\n\nStocks are traded through the National Market System or NMS. The NMS includes all the major exchanges and broker-dealers and other entities involved in the clearing and settlement of options, futures, etc. When a stock is traded through the NMS, ownership doesn't officially change hands until the trade is settled, usually three days after the trade date (T+3). In fact, if you sell shares, buy new shares and sell those before the original transaction has settled, you can get into trouble (what's called a \"good faith violation\") because you're making trades with money you don't really have. In order to avoid these violations in the course of rapid trading, you have to borrow money through a margin account.\n\nIn short, bank-to-bank transfers and stock trades are run through very different trading and settlement systems. Stocks can be traded very quickly, but the official changeover in ownership takes up to three days to settle after the transaction date."
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al90wr | how do pilots write text in the sky? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/al90wr/eli5_how_do_pilots_write_text_in_the_sky/ | {
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"An on off switch controls the \"ink\" and I wager pilots are familiar enough with flying and navigating that it's not an issue.\n\nLike writing letters in freshly fallen snow using your car, any seasoned driver could manage that without additional tools."
]
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[]
] |
||
bg7wgp | how is an desert oasis possible if there's no natural underground water | I saw this post and wondered...
_URL_0_
How does this work? Do you have to water the trees for years before the sand turns to soil? I'm just lost on how you can get so much water in the desert if there's not a natural Oasis underground. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bg7wgp/eli5_how_is_an_desert_oasis_possible_if_theres_no/ | {
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"That place was not a desert, it was deserted. Granted it looks pretty arid but you can see in the before photo trees and grass and such so it must have adequate enough rainfall to support that. Once you start bringing back the trees this will hold even more of the water in that local environment as well. Oases are often centred around underground aquifers which will be the primary water source."
]
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"https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/bg0ebn/a_couple_decided_to_rebuild_their_deserted_piece/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share"
] | [
[]
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|
3yy2db | if they can make vitamins that taste like candy, why do they still make vitamins that taste like vitamins? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3yy2db/eli5_if_they_can_make_vitamins_that_taste_like/ | {
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"Vitamins that taste like candy have sugar/sweeteners added that many people don't want in their health supplement. There is also the issue of not making adult vitamins taste like candy so kids don't mistake them for candy and overdose because they taste good. ",
"First off, it has to be something where you don't need much of the vitamin. Fish oil pills are going to taste like oil, no matter how much sugar you add. As opposed to something like B12, where you're adding a tiny amount of it to something, so it will end up tasting like that. Second, many vitamins are dangerous if you take too many, so they don't want kids to eat them like candy."
]
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[],
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||
d4rlvi | hydrogen peroxide turns to water when exposed to air. how/why, how quickly, and is it really drinkable at that point? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d4rlvi/eli5_hydrogen_peroxide_turns_to_water_when/ | {
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"Hydrogen peroxide slowly splits into water and oxygen gas when exposed to anything that can start the reaction. Even an imperfection in the bottle can speed up the reaction. Bottles of peroxide usually have a small hole at the cap to allow oxygen gas to escape. It is a slow process (45-60) days once the reaction starts. The product is pure or distilled water (unless something was added to the hydrogen peroxide). It's drinkable but it won't contain any ions or salts that your body needs.",
"If doomsday prepping is your thing then you are better off “bunkering” down. Get a distiller with water minerals to mix in. Get a sophisticated filtration system.",
"Pure hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposes into water (H2O) and oxygen gas (O2). The reaction isn't caused by air, it actually happens in the presence of light (hence why it's sold in dark bottles). Since it's just pure water and oxygen, it would theoretically be safe to drink.\n\nHowever there are a few problems with your plan. First, hydrogen peroxide is not stable even when stored in ideal conditions, and the kind you buy at the drugstore is strongly diluted with water. Hydrogen peroxide is commercially available in concentrations up to around 70% (if you managed to find a chemical lab or something in the post-apocalypse) but this presents a problem: when pure, this solution is relatively stable (but still produces enough O2 gas that it can't be stored in a sealed container) but if it becomes contaminated with certain salts or organic materials, it will decompose very quickly in an exothermic reaction, and can reach over 200 degrees C. Once upon a time, high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide were used to fuel rockets.\n\nAlso, most commercial hydrogen peroxide is cut with other chemicals to stabilize it and slow its rate of decomposition. There seems to be quite a few chemicals to choose from, and not all of them are safe. One common stabilizer is acetanilide. In the human body, this is metabolized into paracetamol AKA acetaminophen AKA Tylenol, which is toxic in large enough quantities."
]
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a1eolm | is it just me, but do sounds like airplanes flying overhead seem louder when it’s cloudy and rainy? | I always seem to hear planes overhead very distinctly when I’m in my house and it’s raining outside. Wondering if the atmosphere conducts sound better in rainy whether, if planes are flying lower, or something else. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a1eolm/eli5_is_it_just_me_but_do_sounds_like_airplanes/ | {
"a_id": [
"eapay0p"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Sound waves can bounce of clouds, so some of the sound that would have gone up into the sky gets reflected back to you."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3dsupe | what's the difference between differing 'key' versus 'pitch' in music? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dsupe/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_differing_key/ | {
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"pitch is the literal frequency of a sound. Key is the \"center\" of a piece of music; ie the notes that are used in a song. ",
"A key is a collection of pitches used together in context to create a center or \"home base\" for the melody and harmony. ",
"Pitch is a property of a single note. The scientific term is frequency and it's measured in Hertz which is a count of the number of vibrations per second. For example, the note A in the fourth octave has a pitch of 440 & thinsp;Hz.\n\nKey is a property of a musical composition (or a part of one; often the key will change within a song). It defines the set of seven notes that are used out of the twelve available. For example, tunes in C major use the notes C, D, E, F, G, A and B; all the white notes if you like. For any major scale, the notes can be found by starting at the base note (the one that gives the scale its name) and then going up in steps of 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2 notes (including the black notes in the count."
]
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[],
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||
8r6nma | why does chicken change it’s texture and consistency when it’s heated up? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8r6nma/eli5_why_does_chicken_change_its_texture_and/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Cooking is a chemical change. When you heat up raw chicken enough (or very many other food items), the proteins in it get shaken up until they break into their component parts. That, and the fact that the water and some of the fats drain out of it, account for the change in its taste, texture, etc."
]
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[]
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||
3amu21 | if 90% of an iceberg is below the water why do they not flip over due to the ice's buoyancy | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3amu21/eli5_if_90_of_an_iceberg_is_below_the_water_why/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"[Sometimes they do](_URL_0_). It all depends on where the center of mass is in relation to the centre of pressure. If the centre of mass is below the center of pressure, the iceberg is stable and won't flip. As the ice on the surface melts, the centre of mass rises, and eventually it becomes unstable and flips over."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh271FAVZ0o"
]
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||
14zmzu | prejudice | How come "older" types of prejudice against people are called "-isms" where as all the newer types get called a "-phobia" ?
Eg...
Prejudice against Sex = Sexism ;
Prejudice against Race = Racism ;
Prejudice against Jews = Anti-semitism ;
Prejudice against Gays = Homophobia ;
Prejudice against Muslims = Islamaphobia ;
Prejudice against Transgender = Transphobia ;
Why the change from one term/suffix to the other ? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14zmzu/prejudice/ | {
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"My best educated guess on this - and I hope you'll accept best guesses - is that our culture now is permeated with fear. Back when things like \"sexism\" and \"racism\" became more prominent (1950's-60's) battling them was more about transcending the values that had been in place for several decades. (Even though I would hate to say that \"racism\" is a value, it is a way of valuing one group of people over another.) The new generations were breaking free of values that they saw as limiting or binding for large groups of people, and gave rise to values that were more inclusive.\n\nIn present day we have a culture that survives and thrives on fear; for examples of this you can look at any media source, commercial on TV, or look at how many people become consumers to the detriment of their own bank accounts. We are now taught to be afraid of things and people that are different, or to be afraid of our bodies and how they age, or that we are not good enough - and therefore will not survive - if we don't have the best car, gadget, clothes, etc. Add these lessons in fear with the advent of modern-day psychiatry (\"phobias\") and you have a culture that lives by its fears rather than by its values.",
"Back in the day, you had little contact with the other groups and there were noticeable differences in the class and treatment different people received (races, for example). Then, you would have a controlled and decided hatred or dislike for another group- you would decide that this group is a problem and should be treated differently for whatever reason. So then they would use the words ending in \"-ism\" (meaning: class-names or descriptive terms for doctrines or principles in general) to describe their doctrine of hared.\n\nNowadays, we are confronted by these other groups as a part of our daily lives as our culture (American/Western) is a melting pot of all of these different people. And, due to that, we are often less likely to hate and develop doctrines of hate as was done in the past. So nowadays, we consider it a form of irrational fear, or a phobia. \n\nMy $0.02",
"Good question. Back in the day \"-isms\" were very big. Socialism, Communism, Marxism, racism, sexism. They were all bad things. The term homosexual doesn't lend itself to an -ism. Where ever the term \"homophobia\" came from, the others certainly glommed on to that.",
"Because in modern day people are essentially trying to use psychology as a basis to add more weight to their points. If they turn anyone being against something they don't like into an official phobia then it becomes easier to call out people who are that way."
]
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37vz4o | why is "argument from authority" considered a logical fallacy, but is used frequently by credible sources to argue for a point? | You know, some guy will argue for something and they'll say "So and so established well-respected organization agrees with my viewpoint" This should be a logical fallacy right? But it seems like people have no problem with it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37vz4o/eli5_why_is_argument_from_authority_considered_a/ | {
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"Argument from authority only applies when the authority isn't actually qualified in the field. For example:\n\nNeuroscientist A says Tuna helps prevent neuro-degeneration. This is NOT an argument from authority as Mr.A is actually qualified to make claims about the brain.\n\nCongressman B said that chicken causes cancer. This IS an argument from authority, I'm taking an authority figure from one field and acting as though they're qualified to make claims in a different field.",
"Argument from authority is a logical fallacy, in that it should not be used in logical reasoning. When constructing a logical proof, or analyzing an argument rigorously, one should not simply take the word of someone else at face value.\n\nColloquially, the fallacy should be read as \"don't trust authority blindly\". Obviously, some people are experts and things, and should generally be trusted on topics in their expertise. That doesn't mean they are infallible; a fallacious argument to authority would be to take their statements as gospel, even in the face of other evidence. ",
"Logical fallacies are something where the conclusion isn't absolutely certain to be true based on the premises. Realistically, you'll never be completely certain, and you have to deal with evidence. Most logical fallacies are actually perfectly valid evidence.\n\nIt's generally difficult to become an established well-respected organization if your beliefs are not correlated with reality. As such, an established well-respected organization believing something is evidence of its truthfulness. It's just that it's possible for them to be wrong, so accepting it is considered a logical fallacy."
]
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2duym1 | why don't more vehicles use compressed natural gas (cng)? | Why don't more cars use CNG? Isn't it cleaner and cheaper? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2duym1/eli5_why_dont_more_vehicles_use_compressed/ | {
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"Is there a CNG station near your house? Where do you fill up? What if you run out of gas on the highway? Does your local mechanic know how to service a CNG engine?\n\nThere is billions of dollars of infrastructure built around gasoline powered cars. That is not easy to displace or replicate with another technology.",
"There aren't CNG-capable fueling stations on every block.\n\nThere aren't very many CNG-capable cars available to the typical consumer (I can think of one).\n\nCNG-fueled cars have less trunk space than other cars due to the CNG tank.\n\nCNG-fueled cars have shorter ranges than gasoline cars. Coupled with the comparative dearth of CNG fueling stations, this makes longer trips less feasible.\n\nCNG-fueled cars have less power than their gasoline counterparts, and thus feel different to drive.\n\nCNG-fueled cars are more expensive than gas cars, by thousands of dollars."
]
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[],
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|
3yhi1f | what properties in sand make it better to melt icy roads than salt? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3yhi1f/eli5_what_properties_in_sand_make_it_better_to/ | {
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"It's more about traction from what I understand. It doesn't melt the ice so much as give your tires something on top of the ice that isn't as slick as...well, ice.",
"The sand provides traction, most of the time it is used when the township wants to dump less salt. Salt is bad for the infrastructure and is not good for runoff into streams and rivers."
]
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[],
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|
folh8s | why do people speak louder when they have earphones or headphones on? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/folh8s/eli5_why_do_people_speak_louder_when_they_have/ | {
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"text": [
"They’re not hearing themselves talk in the usual volume, it’s muffled, so they think they need to talk louder.",
"ELI5: Your brain is used to hearing yourself speak, and when we have headphones in our speech seems softer and dominated by the music, so we instinctively speak louder to give our brains a relatively consistent feedback. \n\nI'll also add that speech recognition software is more accurate when people are speaking louder than normal to compensate for a relative decrease in one's ability to hear himself speaking, meaning that this talking louder actually does improve our communicative ability. \n\nIf you're interested, there is the related, and intuitively understandable phenomenon known as Lombard Speech. This is the effect one experiences when in a loud environment, and you speak louder to compensate. The [Lombard effect](_URL_0_)is the basis for common modern audiology/hearing tests.\n\n[Here is a link to the original paper](_URL_1_). \n\nThis same phenomenon has been shown in many animals such as bats and fish. Perhaps more easily explained is the case in birds in loud, urban areas and cities, who will actually sing louder because of the noise."
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_effect",
"http://paul.sobriquet.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/lombard-1911-p-h-mason-2006.pdf"
]
] |
||
188qz4 | what does a haircut in finance world means? | The definition of a haircut is:
> The difference between the prices at which a market maker can buy and sell a security.
[Article for reference](_URL_0_). If Greece gets a haircut, is this considered a good or a bad thing? So they get a difference? This does not make any sense to me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/188qz4/eli5_what_does_a_haircut_in_finance_world_means/ | {
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"[Wikipedia article](_URL_0_)\n\nSay someone owes you $100. In other words, you own a loan worth $100. There are 2 scenarios:\n\n--------------------------------\n\n**Scenario 1**\n\nSay you own a $100 loan that Bill owes you. He is basically guaranteed to pay his loan. Everyone thinks he will, everyone expects him to, he's rich, he owns a lot of stuff, it's really likely he'll pay you back totally and on time. This means he has a small haircut: 10%.\n\nYou want to borrow $90 from Rich. You need collateral, you don't have a lot of money, you don't have a lot of stuff, but you do have Bill's $100 loan. So you offer Rich Bill's loan as collateral: a promise that Rich can have Bill's loan if you don't pay back the $90 loan. Rich looks at the haircut - $100 minus 10% of $100 = $90 - and says that he will accept Bill's loan as collateral. Rich does this because he's really sure that Bill will pay back his loan, which means that the $100 collateral is worth close to $100 (in this case $90 because the haircut is 10%).\n\n------------------\n\n**Scenario 2**\n\nYou own a loan worth the same amount: $100. But this time you loaned the money to Deadbeat Don. Deadbeat Don has no job, no stuff, he probably won't pay you back. This means he has a big haircut: 70%.\n\nYou want to borrow $90 from Rich. Again, you need collateral, you don't have a lot of money, you don't have a lot of stuff, but you do have Deadbeat Don's $100 loan. So you offer Rich Deadbeat Don's loan in exchange for a $90 loan. Rich looks at the haircut - $100 minus 70% of $100 = $30 - and tells you to fuck off, he won't accept Deadbeat Don's loan as collateral for a $90 loan.\n\nRich does this because he doubts that Deadbeat Don will pay his loan back. Rich thinks that Deadbeat Don's loan of $100 is really only worth $30 (because of the 70% haircut).\n\n------------------------------------------------\n\nThink of it like anything else that's collateral. How much is it worth?\n\nA loan to a trustworthy person is worth more than a loan to an untrustworthy person.",
"In this context, a \"haircut\" is the amount by which the debt is reduced. If you had a Greek bond which promised to pay you €100m, and Greece got a 5% haircut, then your bond would only be worth €95m.",
"A haircut just means you aren't getting 100% of the price of something.\n \nSo, if you own a bond, and you take a haircut on it, you are being paid less than 100% of the face value of the bond. In the context of the article you linked, Merkel is saying that there is a possibility that in the future, people who own Greek bonds might be forced to accept less than they are worth (or \"take a haircut\") in order to make it easier for Greece to get out of debt."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9717121/Debt-crisis-Angela-Merkel-does-not-rule-out-Greek-haircut-in-the-future.html"
] | [
[
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a4jjmt | why are there different types of power points around the world? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a4jjmt/eli5_why_are_there_different_types_of_power/ | {
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"text": [
"Because various countries developed their electricity networks independently with different standards and now they're all stuck with what they did because nobody can agree what the standard should be (or wants to pay to change their system)\n\n\n_URL_0_\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://xkcd.com/927/"
]
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|
zrpxk | the differences between the different cooking oils. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/zrpxk/eli5_the_differences_between_the_different/ | {
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"text": [
"The differences boil down to the flavor, the kinds of fats, and the smoke point (the point at which it starts to separate and start smoking, producing bad flavors).\n\nOlive oil has a high amount of monounsaturated fats, and a low smoke point, making it quite healthy, but less suitable for frying at hot temperatures, or for baking.\n\nSoybean oil has a high amount of polyunsaturated fats, and a high smoke point, making it similarly healthy, but better for frying and baking. \n\n"
]
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||
5vyo9v | what legislation currently prohibits a (former) felon from voting? what would it take to have that law overturned? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5vyo9v/eli5_what_legislation_currently_prohibits_a/ | {
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"Each state has their own laws on who is eligible to vote. For example, Maine and Vermont allow all felons to vote, even while in prison. Florida, on the other hand, has very strict rules. All felons lose their right to vote and can only have it restored after a five-year waiting period and with permission from a state clemency board.\n\nTo overturn the laws, you would need to advocate for legislative changes in the 48 states that have laws that restrict felon voting. You could also try to change the Constitution to prohibit disenfranchising felons, but that would probably be more difficult.",
"In the US the Constitution makes it the states job to run elections, and the 14th amendment allows them to remove the right to vote \"for participation in rebellion, or other crime\". As a result each state has it's own set of laws about if/when a felon can vote. Are you interested in one state in particular? \n \nIn general depending on the state you're either going to need to pass a new law at the state level, or get the Governor to issue an executive order. You could also somehow get a constitutional amendment passed, but that's probably far more difficult. ",
"In the US, the 14th Amendments says the right to vote shall not be abridged, \"except for participation in rebellion, or other crime\".\n\nThis grants the states the right to disenfranchise those convicted of a crime, and most states have passed legislation to do so.\n\nIn addition, a majority of states have a means to restore voting rights to felons after their sentences have been completely serviced, parole and probation included.\n\n",
"In only 10 states do certain felons lose their right to vote permanently and it is generally for convicted murders, rapists, etc. And of those 10 states some allow felons to regain their right to vote if they apply and/or pay a fine.\n\nThe majority of states allow a felon to vote either at the end of their incarceration, or at the end of their total sentencing including parole/probation."
]
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64qyaw | if bees communicate by dancing. is this "dance language" universe or unique among different hives and species. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64qyaw/eli5_if_bees_communicate_by_dancing_is_this_dance/ | {
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"The dance language is universal but there are regional dialects. While the specific parts of the dance language are the same, such as the waggling of the abdomen to represent distance and the the angle of rotation to represent direction, the exact translation between waggles and angles to specific distances and directions depends on where the honeybee lives. \n\nSource: I studied honeybees for my PhD (actually, I'm the wife of this Reddit user - he suggested that I answer)."
]
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[]
] |
||
3gisgs | how can a viral infection like the common cold or the flu be transmitted through saliva and/or mucus while hiv/aids cannot? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3gisgs/eli5_how_can_a_viral_infection_like_the_common/ | {
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"text": [
"Life makes trade-offs: being good at anything has a cost, usually in energy, but sometimes in other things. In general, you can only be good at a couple of things.\n\nInfluenza is really good at being durable. Influenza spreads quickly between humans because it can last anywhere: in the air, in the cold, etc. It keeps spreading because it can pass from person to person to person, and as long as it can keep moving, it can keep infecting people; and if it can't infect people, it will try in a lot of other animals: swine flu and bird flu both came from other animals.\n\nHIV is really good at mutating. The reason that we can't create a vaccine for HIV is because it's like trying to hit a fly with a sniper rifle: the target is moving so fast that you can't aim at it in the first place; and even if you could, it would move by the time you pulled the trigger. However, to be that good at mutating, it's fragile: any hostile environment (which includes any place with a decent amount of O2), and it breaks apart."
]
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||
1yq8ez | how does cola remove stains? | Ever since I was a kid, I was told to use CocaCola or a similiar cola to remove ketchup/mustard/juice stains from carpets and clothes. How does it work? To me, the sugars *should* cause a stickier mess, but I know from experience it doesn't. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yq8ez/eli5_how_does_cola_remove_stains/ | {
"a_id": [
"cfmrke5"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Cola is mildly corrosive. It eats away the stain."
]
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|
8w70pi | why is the temperature in outer space not 0 kelvin? | I am looking at the Gas law, PV=nRT; Since the temperature is directly proportional to pressure, any region of space that is sufficiently far away from any interstellar mass should have 0 pressure and therefore 0 K temperature, right?
For example the space between planets should be at Absolute Zero temperature.
ELI5 please. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8w70pi/eli5_why_is_the_temperature_in_outer_space_not_0/ | {
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"Space isn't empty of matter. It just has a lot less. Also, 0K means no motion, which has never been observed. It's a (currently) theoretical minimum temperature. ",
" > any region of space that is sufficiently far away from any interstellar mass should have 0 pressure and therefore 0 K temperature, right?\n\nYup\n\n > For example the space between planets should be at Absolute Zero temperature.\n\nNope, they're not sufficiently far from any interstellar mass.\n\nTurns out that while there isn't much stuff in space, there is some. Just enough to give a resulting temperature of 2.7K which really isn't much at all. Some particles in space are extremely high energy which helps make up for there not being many of them\n\nIn a completely pure vacuum the temperature would be zero, but that doesn't exist anywhere in the universe",
"There are places far away from stars, and even galaxies, where temperature would approach absolute zero. But it will never reach absolute zero because cosmic microwave background radiation keeps it at 2.7 K. ",
"That assumes an ideal gas, and you should have been taught that these assumptions are much worse for gases under low temperature and/or high pressure.\n\nAlso, the second law of thermodynamics means that if any part of space was at 0K, the temperature would flow into that area.",
" > Since the temperature is directly proportional to pressure\n\nFirst, that isn't how it works. Things which are extremely low pressure can still have extremely high temperatures, and things which are at very high pressure can have very low temperatures. Just because space is very low pressure doesn't mean it must necessarily be cold, although of course it is.\n\nSecond, space isn't *completely* empty so even by that rule it shouldn't have absolutely zero temperature. It also has enormously powerful nuclear furnaces dotted all over the place blasting out enormous amounts of energy which brings things up a degree or two.",
"Temperature is a measure in *things*. Space isn't a *thing* so temperature is not applicable to it.\n\nIn many regions of space, a measure of things would have thousands of kelvin, because the few atoms have high velocities. However, the environment is so rarified that temperature as we think of it (what you'd feel from the environment) isn't really meaningful. \n",
"Do realise that plenty of equations in physics work only under certain criteria, and *ideal* gas law is hardly applicable to such extreme conditions like the interstellar vacuum. Everything that exists, emits thermal radiation, and in doing so, they cool down. But things exposed to thermal radiation also heat up, this includes the cosmic microwave background radiation. Therefore stuff in far away space will eventually reach that 2.7K temperature, where the incoming and outgoing radiation balances out. That's what we mean when we say the temperature of space is, even though space itself isn't stuff. Space isn't cold, but you will be if you go there. Note that the temperature will be much higher in interplanetary space, where the effect of the parent star will be significant."
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1j3m7p | why an email takes "within 24 hours" and a chat message is instant? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1j3m7p/eli5why_an_email_takes_within_24_hours_and_a_chat/ | {
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"I'm talking about automatic emails. Like if I place an order or register an account. I guess they just say it to cover themselves",
"email is asynchronous. chat is synchronous.\n\nasynchronous means \"not necessarily at the same time\". each leg of the communication is handled separately. the message can be sent, and then sit around in a queue on an email server for an indeterminate amount of time before the email server gets around to forwarding the message to the intended recipient. \n\nsynchronous means \"at the same time\". each message exchange must be synced and acknowledged in real time as it is occurring. if you send a chat message, your own system will wait for the recipient to acknowledge that the connection was made successfully before your own system considers the message sent."
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6lharw | - when a physical improvement is explained by the placebo effect, are we admitting that the body healed itself? | And is this something that is being studied so that we could eventually 'placebo effect' ourselves to heal ourselves? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6lharw/eli5_when_a_physical_improvement_is_explained_by/ | {
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"The placebo effect causes you to *feel* better, not to actually *get* better. The distinction is important. While whatever symptoms, headaches, pain, dizziness, etc. might temporarily go away if the underlying cause of the symptoms isn't dealt with they haven't actually improved. For example if you feed a placebo to a cancer patient they might temporarily report reduced pain or nausea, but their tumors won't shrink or die and they'll continue to have cancer. So to answer your question, physical improvements with placebos don't really happen, the effect is mental and to a certain extent temporary.",
"Yes, the body absolutely can heal itself in some cases. Doctors and scientists have always known this; there is nothing to \"admit.\"\n\nWe have an immune system and tissue regrowth and a whole range of built-in healing mechanisms. In limited cases the placebo effect can lead to hormonal changes which actually encourage your body to do a better job healing itself.",
"The placebo effect is mostly a bias in self-reporting. If I use a magnet for your knee pain, you are going to report less pain than if I do nothing, even though every objective measure shows your knee is exactly the same in both cases. So the answer to your question is a provisional yes, but only because our bodies usually also heal themselves if we do nothing.\n\nThe one exception is when your perception of the problem has a physical effect on the problem, as is the case in a lot of stress-related maladies. If you believe rubbing a crystal reduces your high blood pressure, it might actually go down, because you are not stressing about your high blood pressure.\n\nThere are also cases when the placebo effect can make things worse. In the first example, if your believe your knee is going better makes you go jogging, it can actually make it feel worse in the long run."
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3darr1 | why doesn't the court make mothers receiving child support present the receipts to show what the child support is being spent on? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3darr1/eli5_why_doesnt_the_court_make_mothers_receiving/ | {
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"Because that would cost money to have someone review their expenses. It's not worth the hassle in most cases to say \"yes, she is spending money on the kid.\" ",
"It wouldn't help catch most people who were using money on themselves instead of their children. The sketchy mom would just still produce the receipts for rent, groceries, utilities, etc. paid out of child support funds. They would all show reasonable expenditures for taking care of a child. It wouldn't matter if every other dime she got her hands on she spent on luxuries for herself, the receipts would still all be for valid looking stuff. It's the kind of idea that seems kind of nice on the surface, but would be impractical to get any real results out of, most especially on the cases where those results are most needed. The ones who you most want to show a receipt are the ones who are wildly misusing the money and they know it. They will get around the system. ",
"Most states fix the amount of child support on the \"income shares\" model, meaning that children are entitled to a fixed share of the parents' total income to be dedicated to their support.\n\nFor example let's say that Mary and Joe each earn $30K per year. The have a child, Charles. Mary and Joe divorce and Mary has primary custody of Charles. The child support guidelines assume that 30% of the parents' income is devoted to Charles' support so Charles is \"entitled\" to $18000 per year. Joe has to pay Mary $750 per month. The formula assumes that Mary spends $750 from her pocket on Charles and uses the $750 from Joe pay for food, clothing, shelter etc. for Charles.\n\nIt is not a perfect system. Mary will complain that $750 per month does not cover the true cost of Charles needs. Joe will complain that Mary spends the child support payments on herself. However $1500/month is not an extravagant amount to devote to the housing, food, clothes etc. for a child.\n\nIt would not be practical for the courts to audit how the funds are spent.",
"If you're paying support and you think it's not going where it should, you can make a complaint. \nI know of a case where part of the payment was to go towards after school care. The mother unenrolled the kid from the program and pocketed the money. Father complained and she had to either enroll him and pay for care or take a reduced payment. \n"
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q8bky | the leaked e-mails from stratfor | What is Stratfor? What do these E-Mails mean? What is so "extraordinary" about them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/q8bky/eli5_the_leaked_emails_from_stratfor/ | {
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"I would also like this explained to me like I'm a 5 year old Canadian artist.",
"[Gizmodo](_URL_0_) does a pretty good job at explaining it simply.",
"I've never been good at explaining things to 5-year-olds but, seeing as no one has posted a reply to this yet, I'll chime in with a link to an AP article posted about 15 minutes ago that covers the topic pretty well. This is definitely 8th grade reading level and above.\n\nMaybe someone else can TL;DR for a 5-year-old.\n\n[AP article, definitely not for 5-year-olds, about the leaked emails from Stratfor.](_URL_0_)\n\n[Response from Stratfor regarding these allegations posted to their website.](_URL_1_)\n\nEDIT: For additional link",
"I'm no expert but I have happened to personally been a subscriber to Stratfor for the better part of the past year so I'll try to shed some light onto the situation. Also the elementary school-level answer is going to be difficult so I will probably reserve that for a TL;DR\n\nStratfor is essentially a privatized intelligence gathering source with a specialty in international security issues. This means that they care less about Polio in India or Poverty in Venezuela unless they can explain how it would effect politics in such a way as to interest people involved in security issues. As an example of this, this morning they sent me an email on crackdowns on gang violence in Nigeria, Mexican drug cartel violence escalating in Guanajuato and the current positions and movements of the U.S. Navy.\n\nFrom a personal standpoint, I love the service as it provides a very concise and no nonsense take on events involving lots of complexity. It doesn't show much room for bias in most issues and correctly separates analysis and events.\n\nThe leaked emails from Stratfor appear to show the ugly side of how the company accomplishes its tasks including the pressuring of employees to use sex in order to convince intelligence targets. This specific case involves a Stratfor employee being expected to use her sexuality in order to convince an Israeli spy to reveal secret information involving the personal health status of Hugo Chavez.The emails also show collusion with many corporations in order to do contracting intelligence work on their detractors. The big accusations are funneling money to informants through offshore tax havens, monitoring activist groups on behalf of big corporations and making investments based on its secret intelligence.\n\nThis information seems extraordinary for a variety of reasons, the strongest of which being how far reaching the influence of Stratfor. Congressmen who receive daily intelligence briefs from the CIA usually also have a Stratfor daily brief as well. Most International Newspapers and Corporations which do business overseas use them very often as well.\n\nIt is important to remember however that the majority of the emails released so far have been for the most part innocuous and dismissible but Julian Assange has promised that there are far reaching and strong implications of the emails yet to come.\n\nTL;DR (for a 5yo): Stratfor is a company of spies which do their job for clients and money. Emails were released showing that they were being naughty sometimes when they probably didn't need to. The emails haven't told us very much yet but Wikileaks promises its going to be big when they release more later.",
"From what I can glean, nothing of significance has come to light *yet*.\n\nImagine a little boy, Stratfor, who kids pay to get information on other kids in the classroom. Stratfor makes notes about what he finds, has records of who has hired him for what, and writes down a lot of what he does. Now another boy, Anonymous, has stolen a lot of Stratfor's notes and gave them to a kid named Wikileaks who will show the notes to the entire school. Wikileaks has read these notes and says that Stratfor has been doing some bad things that we should know about.\n\nRight now, Wikileaks hasn't shown us anything particularly devastating yet, but that will probably change in the future as more information is released. \n\n*Based on ev3rclear's AP article link",
"Quickly, Stratfor is an Texas-based \"intelligence company,\" who dealt with individuals abroad in various countries and situations. These people included military personnel, journalists, and members of foreign governments. Stratfor is close to our federal government, as well as some media outlets.\n\nThe emails show that Stratfor was using skeezy methods of paying these informants, and was in fact targeting particular groups or individuals for gathering politically-charged information (or misinformation) at the behest of big financial companies. Information-for-purchase.\n\nBut most damning of all, the emails show evidence that Stratfor was planning with Goldmann Sachs to start an insider trading gig, in which preliminary intelligence (of variable political slants) gathered by Stratfor would be used in order to make money on various markets.\n\nIt's dishonest, illegal, scummy... you pick.",
"**For the 5 year olds:**\n\nSo theres a kid at school who will help you stay safe from bullies on the playground if you give him $5 a month. You never see him do anything, but sure if enough if you give him money, you're safe. \n\nWell today you found out that if you don't give him money, he pays other people to beat you up. Also he gives the teachers money to get better grades. And you also got a list of everyone he helps and it turns out he helps some kids more than others. \n\nTurns out hes actually a pretty bad person.\n\n\n**For the 8 year olds:**\n\nStratfor is a company that specializes in helping other companies become more secure. There are two types of security: offensive and defensive. If you beat your enemies, you don't have to worry about them attacking you. They help with both. Among their customers are the US government and several major Banks. They keep their clients secret in general.\n\nFirst its a big deal that a SECURITY company had really lax security including plain text passwords. Plain text passwords are a big no-no in the computer world to everyone. It is considered such a big risk that its usually considered incompetent (PSN anyone?).\n\nSecond, the emails are expected to contain a lot of information about other company's security, make them easier to compromise.\n\nFinally, these include conversations between bosses at multiple companies. There is a lot of immoral conversations or \"dirt\" involved. A lot of illegal/unethical ways to attain information and to get money.\n\n\nEdit: decided my original explanation wasn't basic enough. Split into two explanations. ",
"OKay. So there's a company that makes its money by getting information about what people do- like if someone paid a kid in your class to tell them what you do. And that way when there's going to be a foodfight, they go to the principal and tell him that if they get money, they'll tell the principal when the foodfight will be. Or one in another class, even. \n\n\nSo this group of kids who go to the school but aren't really in the classes that get spied on most of the time (those are in other countries), got mad about a whole bunch of stuff (but mostly about the spying and these people being creeps) and went in and took all their notes to each other about it. \n\nThen they put them up on a big bulletin board where everyone could see what they'd been saying to each other. \n\nThe company then said, \"Oh, we won't say whether those are the REAL notes we've been passing,\" but everyone's pretty sure that they are. \n\nAnd now stratfor, the group doing all the creepy spying, and paying people and sometimes threatening people to make them tell them stuff, are looking like REALLY bad bullies who shouldn't be doing these things in school. So they might get in trouble if those notes were real. \n\n/not an expert\n\n//based on my own limited understanding and appreciation of foodfights. \n",
"There are people here saying nothing significant has been revealed, but here's one thing that's pretty big: [Osama bin Laden 'was in routine contact with Pakistan's spy agency'](_URL_0_)"
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53pl6g | why do pebbles tend to ovoid, rather than spherical? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/53pl6g/eli5_why_do_pebbles_tend_to_ovoid_rather_than/ | {
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"Because they are formed in water, and water generally flows from one direction to the other cause the sides of the stone pointing horizontally compared to the flow of the water to grind down faster than the sides pointing towards/with the flow of the water. "
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2z2c0g | why is it that seemingly in every photo that has kim jong il in it with his citizens, they always appear to be crying? i get that they are probably scared, but surely they would fake being happy? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2z2c0g/eli5_why_is_it_that_seemingly_in_every_photo_that/ | {
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"I imagine it is similar to all the cases when an average person meets a super celebrity and are just shocked speechless and in tears. So it is more than just happy, it is like a feeling of reverence."
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365pe7 | why is "punk" used to describe things like steampunk and cyberpunk? in what way are they similar? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/365pe7/eli5_why_is_punk_used_to_describe_things_like/ | {
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"Cyberpunk had a lot of punk elements to it. \"High tech and low life\" describes cyberpunk settings. A lot of \"punk\" and \"hard street life\" tropes combined with sci fi.\n\nSteampunk was then later simply named in a similar way even though it lacked any \"punk\" themes. Adding \"-punk\" and a suffix became a shorthand for specific scifi subgenres. see also: dieselpunk",
"Punk refers to a worthless or perhaps a common person, and in genres it is often used to describe the juxtaposition of uncommon technology with common or low-life people.\n\nBoth cyberpunk and steampunk describe genres in which some technology - widely-considered amazing at the time it came into common use - is instead imagined to be so common as to be ubiquitous. Some consider biopunk to its own genre, though there is some debate whether cyberpunk encompasses mainly computer technologies or all futuristic tech.\n\nOne could imagine new genres in the same way. \"Sailpunk\" might imagine that the technology of boats and gliders was available to everyone in the 16th century. \"Glasspunk\" could suppose that optical technologies like glasses, prisms, and telescopes peaked in the Middle Ages. \n\n\"Wheelpunk\" would basically be the Flintstones.",
"I always thought that these terms had something to do with the \"DIY\" aspect of the punk lifestyle, adapted to a certain time era. A lot of the genres, like steampunk, cyberpunk and, to a an extent, dieselpunk, have to do with characters making fantastic contraptions using the techno industrial processes available in their era. So the DIY kicks in in a similar fashion that it would for Doc Brown's DeLorean time machine (of which, I guess would be described as \"atompunk\" or \"nuclearpunk\" or maybe even \"coldwarpunk\"; as Bob Gale or Robert Zemeckis said, the time machine was supposed to look like something dangerous that was made from someone's garage with the parts lying around in the garage. You can apply this to all of the different eras of punk, and when I do I especially think of Dr. Loveless' development of a steampunk atom bomb; it certainly wasn't made in a labortory in a safe process, and the technology available in the late 19th century would make it a very volatile weapon.",
"The concept of \"punk\" as a base means you are turn norms on end. In the London Punk scene, you had anarchy as a strong political view. Women shaved their heads. Men wore skirts. Lots of anti-establishment for a purpose. The current treands of punk are the same. Even Steampunk, contrary to some comments. What you have is two things 1) alternative history tracks and 2) Anti-establishment. Some could argue that the techs, cyber, desiel, and steam keep the genres from becoming generic dystopia. Cyberpunk tends to deal with dealing with staying human while deciding on what that even means. Good steampunk does the same, often with alchemy. The genders tend to be very fluid and maybe androgynous in cyberpunk. A tip of the hat to evolution moving beyond male and female. Steampunk, based in an era of hyper-prude sexuality, has women wearing corsets on the outside and in engineering levis. ",
"\"Cyberpunk\" was the original term. \n\nIt originated with a short story of that title by science fiction writer Bruce Bethke, published in 1983. The story was about \"[a gang of teenaged hackers](_URL_2_).\" It comes from combining the word \"[punk](_URL_0_)\" (a term for gang members, but also a sub-genre of rock music characterized by fast, hard-edged songs with a DIY aesthetic) with the term \"[cybernetics](_URL_3_)\" (the study of systems). \n\nIt's generally accepted that the term was [popularized as a name for a sub-genre of science fiction](_URL_4_) by Gardner Dozois, editor of *Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine* in the 1980's. \n\nAll of the other terms -- steampunk, dieselpunk, splatterpunk, etc. -- are [derivatives of cyberpunk](_URL_1_), much in the same way any scandal gets named with the suffix \"-gate\" as a derivative of the Watergate scandal of the seventies. \n\n\n"
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dec32d | why do opposing teams decline penalties during football? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dec32d/eli5_why_do_opposing_teams_decline_penalties/ | {
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"Because if the team gained more yards then accepting the penalty would give them, then they’d rather the play stands rather than accepting the penalty. For example if the defense jumps offsides but the offense then throws a touchdown. The offense would rather keep the touchdown then accept the offsides penalty and have to replay the down.",
"A penalty is a loss of yardage but the down stays the same. When you decline, the ball stays where it was but the team looses a down. For example, a team might decline a 3rd down penalty to make it 4th down so they can get the ball back.",
"Some penalties result in erasing the results of the play, and repeating the down. If you just got a really good play off, you don't want that. Likewise if the opposing team just shot themselves in the foot during their play, you want to keep that result.\n\nSo sometimes gaining a few yards from the penalty is worth less to you than letting the results of the play stand.",
"For minor defensive penalties that happen during the play, its deemed kildare like interfering with the play. Normally, they'll replay the down with the penalty assessed. Alternatively, they can decline the penalty and keep wherever the play stopped.\n\nExample: on a first down & 10 play, the defense did some minor dirty trick for a 5 yard penalty, but the offense managed to get 8 yards anyway. If the offense accepts the penalty, they'll replay first down, but it'll be first down and 5 yards. -OR- If they decline the penalty, it will be second down & 2. The wronged team always gets to choose. Depending on the situation, the extra down or the yardage they gained in spite of the infraction is more important and will change whether they accept or decline the penalty. \n\nBut usually, the yardage awarded by the penalty is more than the play itself got, so declining the penalty doesn't even get suggested."
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1yn09v | how do protesters push police out of an area? | Sorry if posted before, but I can't find a good explanation anywhere:
How do protesters push police out of an area? If it's like the London riots, where 3 policemen face down a mob of chavs, I get it.
If it's like Ukraine, with tons of riot police, why don't they just arrest the protesters? Especially when thy hurl bricks and petrol bombs. It seems like it would be easy to just round up a few hundred of them at a time. And if the police told them to disperse, or they set up barricades, then, that's an easy way to justify arresting them, no?
I just get confused when I read reports that protesters push police out of an area, thinking... "Why don't they just arrest them?" | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yn09v/eli5_how_do_protesters_push_police_out_of_an_area/ | {
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"Because they're resisting arrest. ",
"Because \n > when [they] hurl bricks and petrol bombs.\n\nThe police officers don't want to get a brick or a Molotov cocktail to the face, so they will approach the situation very cautiously. Could they charge in and beat down the protesters? Sure, but they are risking a lot of injuries both to themselves and the protesters, as well as bad press.",
"In Ukraine, there are literally hundreds of thousands of protesters. Yes, there are tons of riot police, but they're not equipped to arrest that many protesters. There aren't enough cells, not enough *Govnovoz* wagons (the police minibuses), and simply no real desire to cope with thousands of aggressive protesters. It's easier for the riot police to retreat than to try to arrest. That's also why you see violence towards protesters frequently: it's a scare tactic, but also it's easier to beat the shit out of someone than it is to arrest them.\n\nYou can't round them up in groups either, really, because they're all part of the same group, and you risk huge levels of retaliation if you do that.\n\nThe bad press is another factor."
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cuuuin | what is it about people's voice "back in the day" that give it that distinct sound? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cuuuin/eli5_what_is_it_about_peoples_voice_back_in_the/ | {
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"Back then, broadcasters were more stringent with their requirements for people whose voices they chose to put on the air. In the UK especially, any accent other than standard, plain English - Received Pronunciation, as it's known, the type of English the queen uses - was considered a sign of unintelligence. The reason everyone sounded the same is that they were hand-picked specifically for their voice type.",
"Aside from accent, it probably also depends on recording medium, songs got recorded on vinyl, which allows great quality and fidelity, but other means didn't.",
"Follow up question, but while people have been focusing on broadcasts I notice the accent or dialect change even in home videos and personal recordings from the past. Or shots of regular people. Even if from the same location you can almost tell the decade by the way they sound, word choice aside.",
"On top of voice training that i'm seeing a lot of here, the radio itself was limited to a specific frequency. Where a voice ventured from this wave length it was cut off. As well as picking people well within this frequency to let them best articulate themselves, most people who didn't sound like sounded like they sounded like that in the broadcast.(Same reason most people sound different on telephones phone) \nEdit: /u/platitood is correct. A single frequency as in the radio frequency, not a single pointed frequency.",
"I worked on the radio for a long time (not in the US) and can provide you with some insight.\n\nRadio and TV had a very careful and serious selection for anchors and newsreaders, and it became even more serious when choosing the voices for documentaries, commercials and so on. Voice tone, pronunciation, diction, many parameters played a role here. Serious media companies had even speech and language therapists (logopedic), phoneticians and so on - involved in productions.\n\nIt is strange today when you have YouTube channels that feature people that need even urgent medical help or surgery so that we can understand what the heck they're saying. In reality, maybe one in a thousand persons can be suitable for professional audio. And that production had its price.\n\nWhat you are talking about is even more noticeable in the '40s and '50s. Those guys seem like shouting when reading some text. Especially if it was a commercial feature. Or sports. But all of that makes you think that the language had changed. It did, but not in the sense that old footage can make you think.\n\nThere is another - social change, that concerns this matter. In ancient times, any form of media talk was considered important and participants were considered celebrities, professionals of high dignity. It was simply said - a social position. They had fame of being the chosen ones. Their voices were remembered, compared to other, commented and rated. So, in return, they behaved like actors, more pompous. Today nobody gives a shit, more or less.\n\nAnother thing I forgot: in those times 99% of the material was read from the carefully prepared scripts. Since the eighties, another approach prevailed - that the best professional is the one that is spontaneous, does not read and resembles everyday talk.",
"I had voice training back in the day. People were taught to enunciate very clearly because audio equipment wasn't that great or was simply unavailable. Think about how Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi says, \"Never will you find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.\" Every letter of every syllable is distinctly audible, and the cadence helps make it easy to understand as well. This technique can allow a performer to be heard from the stage all the way to the back row without a microphone.",
"They actually still teach this style of speaking in some colleges for oration and communication classes. It’s also taught in certain call centers for “non-regional” dialect so that people can curb poor English habits. They show videos of old programs from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s as examples.",
"Everyone here is talking about English but there's also the same thing in French at least French from Québec. Even further then regional accent (there's a bunch of different accent in the Québec province) I always thought it was some kind of generational \"trend\" for exemple a lot of people in old records from France and Québec emphasis a lot there \"r\".",
"I wanna know what the hell with the 1930s. Everyone seemingly had a very distinctly different way of talking.\n\nMaybe it's just that accents sort of evolve. Since America is a relatively new country and has been populated by so many different waves of immigrants, the accent was and is still solidifying.",
"What everyone is saying about accents and dialects is correct\n\n\nThere's also the fact that recording equipment of the time would favor different frequencies and changed the way people sound.",
"Its an accent everyone did. I wanna say theres deleted scenes/gag reels from old b & w films where they \"break character\" and speak like regular people",
"Not sure why nobody is talking about the [mid Atlantic accent](_URL_0_) which people literally trained their voices for. People didn’t just sound like that back in the day it was something of a status, a way of speaking that was important in the entertainment industry and took practice.",
"The midatlantic/transatlantic accent has been discussed to death, but every day people also had a distinct way of talking that had nothing to do with the transatlantic accent.\n\nPart of it was that pop culture from the 80s on created voices, with the “valley girl” probably being the most distinct, which was emulated and adopted by young impressionable kids and we’ve lived through different permutations of that.\n\nThis video of [Sandy Meisner teaching an acting class](_URL_0_) is a pretty good example. I feel like everyone just talked softer. They go up at the end of their phrases a lot. It almost sounds flirtatious. I’ve always wondered about it too.",
"I fee like men’s voices were way deeper, and I don’t think that’s just the sound of aged tape. Watch some vintage news from the 50s-70s.",
"A lot of it has to do with what was considered the \"correct\" way to speak back then. I don't know if that's what you mean. But that's not why everyone seems like they're talking in a high-pitched nasally voice, really quickly, when we're talking about old newscasts and stuff like that.\n\nThe real reason is that what you think of as the \"old-timey\" voice was recorded at a slower frame-rate. When that's played at modern speeds on your modern television, the voice is ever so slightly sped up, making it sound like everyone is on really good cocaine.\n\nSource: Was the producer for a line of pre-1960 history-DVDs using footage shot by the public.",
"I will give an example that could fit your question.\nHere in Brazil we have literally hundreds of accents. Back when I was a kid the cartoons (mainly Japanese animes) were dubbed with \"plain Portuguese\". Nowadays, however, the cartoons (Brazilians cartoons in general) are dubbed with São Paulo accent. This leads us to the following: all the kids here in my region, which have a completely different accent from são Paulo, now speaks with a São Paulo accent.\nI think that is the reason people speak different for you nowadays",
"Three reasons:\n\n1. Broadcasters were picked for and/or expected to develop a \"non regional dialect\", i.e. an accent understood and empathetic to everyone. It was supposed to seem down to earth yet official, clear but not representative of one group. So it became it's own dialect.\n2. Mics were different, they removed a lot of the bass in voice and made them much more tonal/nasal sounding although this style was later reported to have adapted into the non regional dialects probably because they were mimicking existing recordings\n3. Audio recording technology was different, speed wasn't as tightly controlled which led -usually- to slightly fast, high pitched voices.",
"In Latin America there's something called \"Neutral Spanish\". International TV shows, Dubbed movies/cartoons/anime, International news, telenovelas etc... Use a fictional accent, so that the show can be broadcasted everywhere from Mexico, the Caribbean to Argentina.",
"It’s mostly due to the ‘transatlantic accent’ - a specialised accent used by actors and broadcasters of the time that sat somewhere between an upper-class American accent and British accent.\n\nUseful video explaining it here:\n_URL_0_",
"Most of it can be attributed to a handful of things:\nRadio quality was much worse so words had to be spoken and enunciated particularly clearly.\nThe \"Mid-Atlantic\" accent was very popular (Cary Grant is the best example of this), a sort of compromise between American and British English.\nAnd obviously because the medium was so poor, there was often distortion, both adding static and pitch shifting.\n\nThere are a few other factors that are worth mentioning as well: a different vocabulary, a culture where radio and television hadn't lost all novelty, and a more disconnected world where charm was easy to imitate, because so much was new (topics, news, food, words etc.). This veers more into content than sound quality, but there is overlap.",
"Everyone is talking about transatlantic accents and RP but i think it’s much simpler than that because even with the normal folk they had a much different way of talking. Accents and dialects were more pronounced compared to the global world we live in. \nIt’s very noticeable when you watch a documentary with an old person and they footage from their younger days. Everyone spoke different. There are some recordings in ken burns civil war and people spoke very different then.",
"You mean when they say groovy?",
"Women on the radio? Like on NPR? That talk like this? Where everything is a question? Even if it's a statement? I think they learn to do this? In a special radio school? For women? It drives me up the wall? Why.",
"Everyone talking about accents but a huge part of it was the microphones and recording equipment and the frequency response and EQ of that. It definitely has a big part in shaping the sound.",
"Seth McFarlene actually explains it here: _URL_0_ \nHas to do with the responsiveness of old microphones to the human voice. They chose people with voices that the microphone tech at the time picked up well.",
"Apart from the intelligent answers people are giving let's not forget that everyone smoked like they were being paid back then",
"I feel like this thread has been taken over by talking about news reporters and 1930’s accents. What about movies from the 1970’s where kids and teens speak with this weird accent? Or the kids in leave it to beaver? It starts to fade by the 80’s, but you can even still hear it a bit with some of the kids in ET.",
"The funny thing is that right now, American network news use a very distinct way of speaking (tone and especially cadence) that, to our grandchildren's ears, will sound old-fashioned in exactly the same way that \"Mid-Atlantic accent\" sounds to us.\n\nYou know what I'm talking about, that [over-exaggerated sing-songy voice](_URL_0_) that accentuates words and adds pauses at random.\n\nI'm 2059FF, and THIS, is Reddit."
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675yfd | if zero calorie sweeteners exist, and foods like gummy bears are mostly sugar, why are there no zero calorie foods? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/675yfd/eli5_if_zero_calorie_sweeteners_exist_and_foods/ | {
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"sweetener /= sugar\n\nIt adds sweetness, but does not otherwise have the same cooking properties as sugar. For instance, you cant melt it into caramel. Likewise, it would not behave properly for a gummy bear.\n\nbeverages can do it though, so there are plenty of zero calorie sodas.\n",
"I will assume you are talking about the food calories and not the other one ([for a quick look at what calories really are](_URL_0_)).\n\nFirst, know that the calories written on food are a difference between what the body needs (depending on age, size, gender etc...) and the energy the food can provide.\n\nThus the same food will not provide as much energy for you and me. As we are different our bodies will not need the same amount of energy to process the food.\n\nZero-calories food does actually exists: the most common one is water. (And technically cold water would be a negative-calorie food because you need to spend energy to compensate for the heat loss while it's not offering any energy).\n\nThe zero-calories sweeteners does not exists, it's just that the Food & Drug Administration does permit any food or drink with fewer than 5 calories per serving to be labeled as containing 0 calories. [source](_URL_1_)\n\nBasically zero-calorie food does exist (water, some infusion, ...) but because your body is efficient almost everything you'll **eat** will provide at least a bit of calories (and if it's < 5 calories it can be labeled as 0 calories).\n\n_URL_2_\n\n",
"You lost me at \"foods like gummy bears.\" \n\nThere are zero calorie foods, like coffee and some lettuces. You might be thinking of a better-than-sugar (or more likely high fructose corn syrup) snack, and there you're pretty close to out of luck. Try snacking better, like raisins or nuts--still full of calories, and portion sizes probably smaller than snack appetites, but better than gummy bears"
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3pe562 | how are there roman ruins in major cities? | I can understand there being ruins where a disaster occurred and wiped everyone out, or where a city was simply abandoned for one reason or another... but how are there ruins in major cities like Rome? Wouldn't people have carted off the stones to use elsewhere; or decided to build on such prime real estate? In other words, how did these ruins survive human ambition? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3pe562/eli5_how_are_there_roman_ruins_in_major_cities/ | {
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"Most roman buildings were in fact dismantled for building materials; Circus Maximus is an excellent example of this. Buildings like the Pantheon and the Coliseum remain because a deliberate effort was made to keep them around. ",
"Just to note people *did* (and still do) steal stone/materials etc. from ruins - you [and by this I just mean a general person] will probably not be able to tell the difference between ruins that have been sat untouched for 100s of years and ruins that have had parts stolen over the years.\n\n\nBeyond that ruins survive for a variety of reasons:\n\n\n* Nobody bothered knocking them down to build on top of them and just left them there - it's easier to build out rather than remove huge heavy materials to build in an existing location\n\n\n* People actively tried to keep them there - civilisation has had art/historic artefacts etc. for thousands of years so plenty will have wanted to preserve previous ruins\n\n\n* They still served a purpose - many ruined sites previously had wooden roofs etc. it's amazing how much more functional some ruins can be with just the addition of roofs and windows\n\n\nI'll pop back with some examples of each of the above.",
"In the case of Rome, it's counterintuitive (high population then and now) the but the city basically *was* abandoned. After the decline of the Western Roman Empire, there wasn't the money or the food production and distribution necessary to support a population in the millions, and most of the people left. Rome was a post-apocalyptic ghost town for several hundred years, with only a few thousand people living in the ruins of a great capital - it wouldn't return to imperial population levels until the 1930s! So there actually wasn't quite as much demand for new building as you might assume, especially compared to other, more active, capital cities elsewhere in the world, for much of the intervening time.",
"Think of it like this: there are probably under 100 Roman ruins in Rome. And yet, ancient Rome was (by those standards) a metropolis. The vast majority of the buildings *were* actually demolished over time to make way for development. \n\nThe ones that stuck around - buildings like the Coliseum - remained because people wanted them to. And even then, the Coliseum of Roman times was very different. A shit-ton of material was stripped from it to build other monuments, including almost all of its marble facade and most of its supporting metal innards."
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94fecu | how do insects like ants engage in incredibly complex instinctive behavior, ie systems of mutualism? | Ants do stuff like harvest and raise the young of others, farm things for mold, build bridges, care for their injured or abandoned them if too wounded to survive, etc, yet they don't have any real intelligence. How does something engage in such complex and specific behavior with an insect brain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/94fecu/eli5how_do_insects_like_ants_engage_in_incredibly/ | {
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"Ants are often born to particular castes, which predetermines in a general way, where their duties will lie. Also, worker ants change their jobs as they age, with the oldest ants performing the most dangerous worker duties. Here's a good article:\n\n_URL_0_"
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9gkpmi | why is eye witness testimony is the highest form of evidence in law but not in science? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9gkpmi/eli5_why_is_eye_witness_testimony_is_the_highest/ | {
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"1) Eye witness testimony is not the highest form of evidence in law. Actual documents, video evidence, fingerprints, or photos would all be more valid than just a testimony. For example a video of someone committing murder would be a lot more useful than a person simply saying they saw a murder happen. (Now if what their testimony said, happened to also fit the finger print or photo evidence, then it would be even better.)\n\n2) With science, science is just a field of study that describes the way the world works. We can see and prove things by doing experiments and seeing if the results hold up to what we would expect. We're not trying to put someone in jail. We're trying to figure out the natural laws of the universe. It wouldn't help at all for someone to say \"Oh well I saw a unicorn, therefore unicorns are real.\"",
"Because memory is changeable. Eye witness testimony is the least reliable form of evidence but jurors are dumb and trust their own memory\n\nIf you show a video to groups of people of a blue car contacting the back of a red car and then ask one group \"how fast was the blue car going when it bumped the red car?\" they'll give you a slower speed than the other group which you ask \"how fast was the blue car going when it slammed into the red car?\"\n\nBoth groups saw the same video. Both give very different answers that they're absolutely sure of. Both are wrong\n\nEvery time you summon a memory your brain tries to fill in the framework with details. The details can be permanently changed after the fact and the witness will believe they've always remembered it that way",
"Eyewitness testimony might be compelling to a jury, but it certainly isn't the most compelling evidence. A video of a crime is much more convincing than someone talking about it. \n\nHowever, it is taken more seriously than it should be. People don't fully understand all was our senses and memory can fool us, and take it very personally when someone suggests they might be wrong. If I compute a tip wrong and you correct me, that is no big deal, I just made a mistake. But if I say I saw George Clooney at the gas station and you doubt me, you are calling me stupid or a liar. People apply the same standard to other's eyewitness accounts.\n\nScience avoids this by taking the human factor out of the equation. If an observation can't be repeated or simulated, then it might as well didn't happen. It is only ghost hunters and psychic researchers and other pseudoscientists who put stock in anecdotal evidence. ",
"Both of your assumptions are fundamentally flawed. Eyewitness testimony is NOT the highest form of evidence. In fact, the legal system (at least in the United States, which is the only country I can speak to), does not \"rank\" different types of evidence. Evidence is either admissible or it's not. Unofficially, eyewitness testimony is widely regarded to be one of the least reliable forms of evidence. People get confused, memories are subjective, they can change, and are subject to interpretation and people's preconceptions. Hard evidence like documents, photos, audio/video recordings, physical objects, fingerprints, and data such as ballistics or medical analysis (blood, DNA...etc) are much more reliable and objective.\n\nI'm not even really sure what you mean when you apply eyewitness testimony to science, since that concept is specific to law. I think you mean observation? In science, observation doesn't literally mean \"I saw a thing with my eyes\", it means you recorded data of some kind. Looking at cells through a microscope is an observation, but so is measuring the pH of a substance or detecting gravity waves with laser interferometry. Scientific observation can be direct or indirect, but it's not just about your observation. If you say you discovered a magnetic monopole, no one is going to believe you just on you word. You have to provide hard data, and others have to replicate your experiment or observation to get the same result. If you come up with a new formula, others have to test your formula in different scenarios to see of it holds up to scrutiny. "
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4k1sku | why is the michelin tyre company so revered by chefs across the word? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4k1sku/eli5_why_is_the_michelin_tyre_company_so_revered/ | {
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"The first Michelin guide came out in 1900 for the French universal exposition. It was actually an avertissement for automobilist (French automobolist were only 2400 at the time. The idea was to show that you could travel somewhere and you would find hotels, garages and things to see) It was for cyclists and travelers who owned a car or a bike, it was a very useful book to have. \n\nIn 1920 due to the book's sucess, they decided to sell the book instead of giving it as an ad, stars only appear around 1930.\n\nMichelin's guide is parralel to the pneumatic constructor, it was born at a time when they wanted to encourage people travelling the country, aka buying a car and the guide grew in influence as nobody did something similar. ",
"Apparently the tire company founded a travel guide company as a marketing strategy. The thought was that people would travel more if they where guided properly and thus use more tires. Pretty genius actually. So the travel guide company started reviewing restaurants as possible travel destinations and rated them. The rest is history. \nI can't provide a source right now as I'm on mobile, so you just got to believe me. ",
"Because the general public takes them so seriously. Trying to get a reservation at a 3-star restaurant is like trying to win one of those radio contests where you have to be the 10th caller. They sell out a month or more in advance, pretty much immediately after they open up a new date. \n\nMichelin is basically the only organization that reviews restaurants globally. And there are only a handful of 3-starred restaurants around the world. So getting a great review from them is a way bigger deal than a great review from the local newspaper. Because you're not just being compared to other restaurants nearby, you're being compared to the best restaurants in Paris and Hong Kong. \n\nThe reviewers are all full-time reviewers. They try to stay anonymous, so we don't really know that much about them."
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5ay1lt | if the africa land bridge theory is true and we all originated from africa why are our phenotypes so different? | Can certain things like skin pigmentation and other traits change that quickly? For example when human started in Africa how did skin types change? From my thinking skin pigments adapt based on proximity to the equator. Shouldn't all our skins be of darker pigments, or did skin get lighter as some of civilization moved north. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ay1lt/eli5_if_the_africa_land_bridge_theory_is_true_and/ | {
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"At least one theory on lighter skin types further from the equator has to do with vitamin D. Because light comes at a more oblique angle the further you are from the equator, you absorb less energy. \n\nLighter skin evolving, therefore, was not as dangerous as it would be equatorially (risk of infections from sunburns, ultraviolet damage, skin cancer), and presented a benefit (more absorption for vitamin D production).\n\nDiffering phenotypes among populations stem from a history where various major terrain features blocked the majority of human movement, such as oceans or significant mountain ranges, allowing for the separating of populations. \n\n\n",
"In the 19th century, scientists noticed that there were certain geological and zoological similarities between widely separated areas. They came to the conclusion that since flora and fauna aren't especially known for making transoceanic voyages, these distant landmasses must have been at one point connected by land bridges. The following are a list of land bridges that were hypothesized to connect Africa to other continents. \n\n* Archatlantis from the West Indies to North Africa \n* Archhelenis from Brazil to South Africa\n\nThe theory that these land bridges existed diminished after discoveries were made concerning continental drift and plate tectonics. \n\nI have no idea what time scale you're looking at when you ask if skin pigmentation can change \"that quickly\", but [Wikipedia](_URL_0_) provides sources that state the following:\n\n > Researchers suggest that human populations over the past 50,000 years have changed from dark-skinned to light-skinned and vice versa as they migrated to different UV zones,[5] and that such major changes in pigmentation may have happened in as little as 100 generations (≈2,500 years) through selective sweeps.[5][6][7]\n\nSo if you consider some time between 2,500 and 50,000 years to be \"that quick\", then yes, skin pigmentation can happen that quick.",
"Evolution. As people traveled and moved away from each other, they adapted to their surroundings. Physical changes may have been due to social preferences like what people found attractive, or it could have been due to their surroundings.",
"Just look at dogs to see how quickly phenotypes can change. Compare a Pomeranian to a Grey Wolf. The differences in humans are relatively small by comparison."
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7oedhc | why do body fluids and other substances glow brightly under a blacklight? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7oedhc/eli5_why_do_body_fluids_and_other_substances_glow/ | {
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"ELI5: They have proteins in them that fluoresce with UV light.\n\nFor more detailed explanation _URL_0_",
"Basically, all bodily fluids have some of the similar chemicals that can absorb ultraviolet light (of a blacklight) and emit it as visible light. ",
"Certain molecules have electron clouds that can trap photons of light, bounce it around internally, and spit it back out with less energy than it had going in. That’s what’s called “Fluorescence”.\n\nIf the light going in is *just* in the ultraviolet range (too much energy to see), then if it hits a fluorescent molecule, the lower-energy light that escapes might be in the visible range.\n\nIn short, a blacklight is just as bright as (brighter than!) the objects that it causes to glow. But you can’t see the light going in; only the light coming back out.",
"I didnt see anyone comment on the use of Luminol to make blood glow under UV light.\nThe chemical reacts with the iron in blood and glows under UV.",
"Each color of light has a different frequency, kind of like high and low pitched notes on a piano. Blacklight is a higher frequency (higher pitch) than we can see. It would be like playing a piano key that we can't hear. \n\nSome materials will absorb this frequency and re-emit it at a lower frequency (fluoresce), like one of those toy [voice distorter microphones](_URL_0_). It comes out lower frequency than what goes in, so now you can see it. \n\nDNA is the part of certain bodily fluids that fluoresce. It is the carbon ring shape in the T and G base pairs that have this \"voice distorter\" quality for light. So only bodily fluids containing DNA will fluoresce. \n\nBlood contains red blood cells and plasma. Plasma has no cells and red blood cells have no nucleus or DNA. They are hollow so that they can carry oxygen to all the parts of your body. \n\nOn a cop show, police will spray an area with a chemical that only distorts the frequency of light when bonded with oxygen. The oxygen concentrated in the red blood cells combines with the *luminol* in the spray and fluoresces only when in contact with blood. \n\n",
"Bodily fluids are rich in biological macromolecules (mostly proteins and amino acids) that contain aromatic rings (e.g. tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine). Aromatic rings contain \"free flowing\" electrons that are easily excited (jump to higher energy level) by high energy light and release visible-spectrum light energy in repeated cycles of excitation-energy release. Amino acids released by your sweat glands will also fluoresce, as will artificial aromatic compounds like sunscreen or pharmaceuticals.\n\nAromatic rings are special cases of conjugated electron systems within molecules. Conjugated electron systems are responsible for the color absorbing properties of colorful compounds like carotene, chlorophyll, and other natural as well as artificial dyes."
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4azscj | what's the deal with anal bleaching? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4azscj/eli5_whats_the_deal_with_anal_bleaching/ | {
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"The area around the butthole is darker than most of your skin. People who show off their butthole a lot, notably female or gay male porn actors, want it to look nice and the dark skin is associated with being dirty, while light skin that matches the rest of your skin is considered attractive."
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3nndii | why are revolver type pistols still popular during our modern time? what advantage do they have over clip based more modern designs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nndii/eli5_why_are_revolver_type_pistols_still_popular/ | {
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"The biggest advantage is they can fire long or very powerful cartridges that would require a massive grip or don't work well in [blowback or short recoil operation](_URL_0_) most semi-automatics use. Gas operation used in rifles and the [Desert Eagle](_URL_1_) (a semi-auto that shoots pretty standard revolver calibers like the .44 magnum) makes for a much larger, heavier pistol than a revolver. Single action revolvers can also have a very crisp trigger pull relative to the common DA/SA semi-auto (these can be very nice but they almost always have the trigger doing more work usually engaging internal safeties). \n\nRevolvers are commonly used for hunting and for self defense when proponents view them as a more elegant weapon for a more civilized age. ",
"Some people simply like the look and feel of a wheel-gun. But if we're talking about practical reasons:\n\n* There is a perception that revolvers are more reliable than semi-automatics. While it may be true that they're less likely to malfunction, if they do malfunction, it's a lot harder to fix than a semi-auto\n\n* They can handle just about any type of ammo. The mechanism that semi-autos use to feed the next round into the chamber won't work with some oddly-shaped rounds like [wadcutters](_URL_0_). Revolvers don't have that problem.\n\n\n* They can fire larger rounds. It's difficult to make a semi-auto pistol action that cycles large rounds like the .44 magnum because of the insane amount of recoil that they generate, meaning it's easier and cheaper to make a revolver action for the same task.\n\nEDIT: Remembered one more\n\n* Ammo versatility. Somewhat related to the previous point, many revolvers can fire multiple calibers without having to change out any parts. A .357 Magnum revolver, for example, can also fire .38 Special.",
"You don't have to police your brass. There's a reason the mob used to use .22 revolvers for executions. The bullet is mangled beyond ballistics when fired into the skull, and you don't leave behind any casings by which to ID the gun.",
"Throwing in another reason that seems to be overlooked. Cost. Revolvers have fewer parts, and fewer moving parts, requiring less precise manufacturing techniques. I'm exaggerating, but it's basically the same reason we still have screw drivers even though power drills are better. ",
"First of all, \"clips\" are not magazines. Clips are used for reloading a magazine typically while it is already loaded in the rifle by means of inserting the \"clip\" into a slot above the magazine and pushing ammunition on said clip into the magazine with your thumb.\n\nSecond, a lot of people buy firearms because of their history. The revolver type action definitely has a long history and certain kind of elegance to it. It's also why people will buy surplus rifles. Why buy an old \"Kar 31\"from WW2 when you can buy a Tikka or Sako? It's because the Kar 31 is an extremely accurate and precisely machined firearm overbuilt to withstand battle, that to this day you can still get ammunition for and hunt with.\n\nDefinitely all the points as rodiraskol stated, as well."
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2mrw14 | [biology / botany] how is it possible that some plant species mimic the visual form of other beings, without being able to 'see'? | Have a look at this link for examples of what I'm referring to:
_URL_0_
(Don't mind the far-reaching Darth Vader instance) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mrw14/eli5_biology_botany_how_is_it_possible_that_some/ | {
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"Random mutation. Sometimes the random mutation results in a look that slightly mimics some other look, which might give an advantage. For instance, something that looks slightly like a predator, might scare away a herbivore intent upon eating the plant. \n\nThus, that plant survives to reproduce. Others that don't have the look, get eaten more regularly. So over time, more of the 'scary looking' plant's progeny survive, relative to the 'tasty looking' plant. \n\nSo, it doesn't \"Try\" to look like something. It just accidentally does, but since it works, it gets reinforced by survival. \n\nHowever, some of the examples from the article you link are simply, as it alludes to, cases of pareidolia. It isn't mimicking something. We simply think it looks like it because our brains like to find patterns, and in some cases there is coincidental similarity. "
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7w82ga | what is the difference between pirate bay and _url_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7w82ga/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_pirate_bay/ | {
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"_URL_0_ actually hosted content on their servers. TPB just supplies an index to torrent files - the actual content is not hosted on their own servers.",
"One hosts .torrent files, which are basically pointers that tell your PC which other PCs on the internet have pieces of the file you want to download, and it is downloaded peer-to-peer.\n\nMega uses their own proprietary app/system to download files from their servers, in full.",
"Mega is a site where you can store your files, and they are encrypted to keep them private. \n\nThe Piratebay is essentially an index that provides links to [torrents](_URL_0_). You then have to use a torrent application to download the files from other people."
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ccadw7 | when and why did humans take up meat in their diet if a plant life is sustainable? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ccadw7/eli5_when_and_why_did_humans_take_up_meat_in/ | {
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"As near as we can tell, human started eating meat regularly long before we became modern humans, and sometime after our ancestors evolved an upright gait. This made us more efficient runners, and allowed us to hunt animals by chasing them until they were exhausted and could no longer run or effectively fight. At that point we would stab them with pointy sticks. \n\nAt the time, sustainability was a complete non-issue for us. We did not yet have the language necessary to form thoughts necessary to understand the concept.",
"Humans cannot make vitamin B12, which is essential for life. Vitamin b12 is not found in plants. The only source of b12 for humans is from animal products such as meat itself, or eggs or milk.\n\nSince domestication of animals (and thus the common acquisition of eggs and milk) is pretty recent, humans have been required to eat meat for probably millions of years.",
"Some animals eat mostly plants, some animals eat mostly meat, and some animals eat whatever they can stuff in their mouths... Humans are the third kind. There we never any vegetarian humans that \"made the switch\" humans most likely have always eaten meat, as has the things we evolved from too\n\nLook at your teeth, theres the flat back bits for grinding up seeds and nuts, and the chisle front ones for biting off pieces of fruit and veggies. Now swipe your tounge along the edge of your teeth, you have sharp pointy teeth called canines that are perfect for tearing up meat. You wont find a human or humanoid skull without the meatteeth, no matter how far you look back, even to cavemen. We've simply evolved to eat both.",
"Because evolution does not care about sustainability.\n\nThe human body cares about surviving long enough to procreate, and have their children go off and procreate. To that end, the ability to eat high-calorie, high-protein foods easily found in the wild such as meat is an evolutionary advantage. The concept of farming much less enough of a variety of foods to sustain all human dietary needs is incredibly recent, and the concept of starvation not being a concern for most people is much, much, much more recent than that.",
"Meat doesn’t just equal large mammals, they would have had easy access to things like oysters, clams, small birds, eggs, insects, all sorts of tasty things to have a try",
"A plant only diet is only sustainable thanks to advances in agriculture and transportation. The fruits and berries that ancient hunter/gatherers would have found were not a substitute for meat. Some vitamins common in meat can only be found in certain plants, so people who lived in a part of the world that didn't have those plants would not have the option of only eating plants."
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21if92 | how does a medical examiner determine time of death from body decomposition? | I'm attempting to write a murder mystery, and I've been trying to figure out how body decomposition works. I'm interested in the whole process, but specifically I'd like to know how ambient temperature effects the decomposition of the human body. Refrigeration slows down the process, so does higher temperature speed up the process? If a billionaire was killed in his private greenhouse and his body was left there for a weekend, and then dragged into his study, would it look like he had been killed a week ago?
Everything I've found on Google describes *what* happens after x number of days, but not really *why* it happens. So now that my search history looks like that of an axe murderer's, I now turn to you, doctors of Reddit. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21if92/eli5_how_does_a_medical_examiner_determine_time/ | {
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"For the most part, it's just comparison. You've heard of body farms? That's part of their purpose - measuring the speed of decomposition under different conditions.\n\nHeat definitely speeds up the process. According to one of my professors back in college, an uncovered body left outside here in Florida can skeletonize in approximately 10 days.\n\nIn the example you give, I imagine there would be other factors that would tip off investigators about decomp time (specifically, moisture). Additionally, certain aspects of the decedent would be relevant (for instance, fat people decompose differently than thin people)",
"You can tell by what state the body is in and the relevant weather records on temp etc.\n\nSo rigor mortis sets in after approx 3-4 hour after death, then reaches \"maximum stiffness\" after 12 hours. So the peripherals go first i.e fingers wrists arms. This then dissipates after 24 hours or longer depending on temp etc. \n\nThere is also a study of the dead called Forensic entomology which basically looks at the insects on a body. Some flies can find a body within hours of it dying so they will be there first say 2-4 hours after dying. Then as the body starts to decompose different species possibly ones that prefer decomposed flesh to fresh move in an start reproducing. so by what species of insect are on they body you can determine the rough time of death. \n\nIts also looking at decomposition rates, the abdomen sets in first because its already filed with bacteria. \n\nif you have a look at Forensic entomological decomposition (_URL_0_) \n\nits got the 5 stages of decomp. \n\nUsing all this data you can pretty acurately work out the time of death :) "
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61fzsw | how do energy drinks affect one in an exam | I always drink a redbull 30 mins before an exam, in order to enhance my performance so I can score the best I can, recently I did bad on a test that requires some imagination and thinking outside the box, the test had a lot of suggest questions and I forgot a lot of very obvious points, so I was wondering of redbull had anything to do with the outcome and how does redbull affect the brain and performance in exams? Should I continue drinking it before exams? Does it lower some abilities of the brain and enhance others? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61fzsw/eli5_how_do_energy_drinks_affect_one_in_an_exam/ | {
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"The only ingredient in red bull that has an effect is caffeine. The taurine and b vitamins don't really do too much. They help metabolism but only make a difference if you have deficiency. The B vitamins sometimes make your skin feel flushed or look red. Some sugar is good for energy but that doesn't really change how your brain works. \n\nCaffeine can help with focus substantially but you probably just had a bad test. Red Bull probably wasn't the cause of your poor score. "
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bj29ty | vengeance, revenge, retribution? | What is the difference in meaning between these words? I tend to use them interchangeably, but do they have more precise meanings for different situations? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bj29ty/eli5_vengeance_revenge_retribution/ | {
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"Retribution has more of an implication of righteousness, while Revenge and Vengeance have more a feeling of dark/violent payback",
"I am pretty sure revenge and vengeance are basically swappable. I always considered retribution to be more closely related to getting what is perceived as justice.\n\nLike if you wrong me and I just want to hurt you back, that's revenge to me. However if I'm going after you because I think you need to be punished and learn your lesson, to me that's retribution.\n\nIn reality though the words are all basically interchangeable and it's more of a personal preference.",
"Vengeance and Revenge both come from the same latin word Vindicare what means \"Assert a claim, Claim as ones own; Avenge, Punish\"\n\nRetribution comes from the Latin word Retributionem what means \"Recompense, Repayment.\"\n\nSo vengeance and revenge have a lot more of a personal vandetta feel where you claim the right to punish them for however they wronged you. \n\nRetribution has a more transactional feel to it. Like society expects you to do it so you have to."
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cd2hsv | how do trains derail? | Recently I saw a video I'm ready. Train conductor texting while training and resulted in the train derailing. How does something like that happen play it's not like you can crash to train with something else like a car, you don't steer it do you?
Edit: video in question: _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cd2hsv/eli5_how_do_trains_derail/ | {
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"It was a tram btw.\n\nAnd simply by going to fast. Their momentum is too high to be guided along the rails, the wheels pop off/out of the tracks and away goes the train/tram",
"The wheels of the train rest on top of the tracks. There is a grove in the wheels to keep them steady, but go fast enough around a bend and the weight of the train will tip to one side. Equally, not all tracks are perfectly aligned, some are seriously old and due care and caution must be taken. If the wheels hit something on the tracks that shouldn't be there, they can jump and next thing you know you've got ten tonnes of screaming metal flying in a direction it wasn't supposed to go."
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pnfuw | why are citizens of greece ripping apart the cities in response to government spending cuts that will keep the country from total financial collapse? | Are they too uneducated to understand? Is there not an open line of communication between the government and the citizens? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/pnfuw/eli5_why_are_citizens_of_greece_ripping_apart_the/ | {
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"I mean, they obviously don't agree with your assessment of the spending cuts. ",
"They feel they have been duped.\n\nGreece was so poorly run for many years there is no way out of this situation without someone getting really hurt and going though a lot of pain for the next decade or so. The only question is at the end of negotiations who will be left holding the idiot ball.\n\nThe 'greek rioters' blame shitty government and large European banking and don't see why their social services and salaries have to be cut. They feel like Greece should default, not pay back their loans or leaving the Euro and regain control of their currency.\n\nThe European banks want to get their money back, but to do that Greece has to remain a fuctioning state, so they can pay their bills. This needs bailouts to keep greece going. The Banks and Eurozone dosen't want to bailout greece if they don't make changes to their government and civil laws to stop the problem from happening again. They would like to avoid Greece leaving the Euro because it would hurt the currency and their economies in the long run.\n\nLooks like the interest of the Eurozone and the banks won and the greek people lost. Lesson to learn : don't elect idiots in the first place. ",
"They are probably not uneducated, at least not as much as you seem to imply.\n\nGreek politicians lied about their debt and mismanaged government funds. A lot of Euro-bankers made questionable loans to Greece. Now that the loans are due and there's not enough money, instead of the politicians that got them into this mess, or the bankers that made bad loans, the people having to foot the bill are the common citizen.\n\nIt's like if you had a playground, and you paid $5 a day to use the playground. The playground owner says he'll use the money he gets for playground equipment. Well, he way overspends on stuff, doesn't collect the $ from his friends, and gets a loan from the guy in an alley instead of at the regular bank. When \"loan shark mcgee\" comes wanting his money, instead of saying \"sorry dude, you knew I was over my head when you loaned me money\" he says \"Sorry everyone that paid to use the playground, you now owe me $10 and can't use the merry-go-round\". Obviously, all the people that paid their $5 are going to be pissed that they are getting soaked for the owner's problems.\n\nThe other issue is that Greece is in 20% unemployment, and the people with money aren't making enough to buy the essentials. The government solution? Cut Job and lower salaries. Yea, that is going to help the unemployment and spur growth in the economy.",
"Salaries were divided by three in the worst case (Especially in the public service). The prices increased drasticly, so fewer and fewer people can feed themself and keep their house. Nobody is certain to keep his/her work. I saw a documentary in which they showed the functioning of a big Greek newspaper. They can't hire freelance journalists anymore, they work at three in a single room and post articles online to avoid printing costs. It is the major crisis which affects every Greek without distinction.\n\nIt is maybe due to the fact that they are in a welfare state and they don't pay their impots... One of the first measures was to couple the energy bill and the local residence tax. If people don't pay, they cut the electric current...\n\n**Why aren't they stupid?**\n\nThey went from the status of a poor country to a pillier of the European Union (of which they are a member since 1981): Their economy was based on tourism and maritime trade in the Mediterranean Sea. It led to the significant improvement of the standard of living and to the illusion that infinite money flows infinitely. Add to it a succession of incompetent governments and you obtain riots near the parliament. Furthermore, even if solutions exist, no European country wants to meet the needs of Greece because it is shitty(1) everywhere in Europe.\n\n(1) Rise of the populism, hidden inflation, massive deindustrialization, less demand in the tertiary sector, impossibility to regulate the value of the currency because of the common euro, ageing of the population in Europe (The pension are financed by solidarity: ie those who work pay for those who don't work any more. It worked when the children, born during the baby boom, paid for their parents but now, [the next generation needs to pay for this huge amount of old people](_URL_0_),...)",
"A lot of them are going to experience serious hardship, cut wages, lost pensions, and lost jobs. And the same factors that allowed the Greek government to borrow money it couldn't pay back let its citizen to do the same. A lot of them are facing foreclosure.\n\nSo they are mad because they are facing real economic pain, and they are mad because they feel the government got them into this trouble and now is just selling them down the river. There are also a number of political parties who are feeding this anger for political gain, promising they if they were in power, this wouldn't happen.\n\nWhat they are not remember is that it is has been obvious for a while that their government was creating false prosperity by spending like a drunken sailor, and the *people* consistently voted out anyone who wanted the party to stop. So they have pretty much made their own beds.",
"The problem is that spending cuts don't always save money.\n\nImagine, for example, that you were in debt. One thing you could do is:\n\n* Turn off your water and stop having a water bill.\n* Sell your car and stop paying for gas.\n\nThat would save money, and you could apply that money toward your debt. But soon, your boss would ask why you're not showing up for work. If he came to your house to see where you disappeared to, he'd wonder why you smelled like you hadn't had a shower in weeks. You'd lose your job.\n\nIn other words: cutting spending saves money in the short run, but sometimes, the spending is on stuff that you *need*. Sometimes it makes sense to keep paying for basic functions - keep the lights on, basically - even though it takes away money from paying your debts.\n\nThat's pretty much what's happening to the Greek economy right now. Foreigners forced Greece to \"save money\" by shutting off essential functions. The result is that Greece is falling apart.\n\nSo, no, spending cuts aren't always helpful.\n\n\n",
"Greece is one of the only countries in the world where 'anarchist' is not a dirty word. They have anarchist unions, labour federations, co-operatives. Teachers, postal workers, factory workers, average people identify as anarchist. Whole sections of Athens are run by anarchists without any interference by the State.\n\nThat being the case, even ignoring the extremely important communist tendency which also exists in Greece, a huge chunk of the population feels that they could run their country just fine without a gang of corrupt neo-conservatives skimming taxes off the top, and enforcing their rule with violent goons (the cops). \n\nSo they occupy, riot, and fight back against the cops. So far it kind of seems like it's working. The police don't venture into Exarcheia (Athens' anarchist neighborhood) anymore, from what I'm told, because random residents throw molotovs at them and shoot at them from rooftops when they do.",
"It was banker fraud and poor leader ship that got them into this mess. Now the government proposes to ride out of the shit storm on the backs of pensioners, public service and education. It's just not fair for the people, when the government asks the country to sacrifice much of their society so a very small number of people can keep their yachts. ",
"They (we) are not uneducated at all. I'm a teenager growing up in Greece and it really hurts to see your future and your dreams being destroyed like this. Unemployment is already at 20%. 5 out of 10 people under the age of 26 (if I remember correctly) are unemployed. Businesses are shutting down every day, everything gets more expensive while the salaries keep on dropping.\n\nNow imagine you've just gotten your university degree in something that interests you. You've never done anything wrong, you probably haven't even voted yet. You already know it will be almost impossible to find a good job. Now somebody comes and tells you that, because of previous mistakes certain politicians made, your country has to pay it's debts. Now you know that if you're ever lucky enough to find work, you'll probably spend the next 10 (at least) years with a salary of maybe 600$/month - or less! Just think of it. Wouldn't you react? What seems like a financial collapse now?\n\n**I'm not saying that this reaction is productive or useful. But is definitely justified.** Our parliament did the right thing yesterday. That doesn't make things any easier, though.\n\nThis situation isn't our fault. Or at least, *it's not MY fault* and still, I have to pay for it. \nSeriously, I'm leaving my country as soon as possible to go study and start my career somewhere else. I'm actually ok with that, but as you can understand, some people aren't."
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381s70 | why does the u.s. navy have fighter jets? | Why doesn't the navy give the jets to the Air Force? Or why does it even buy them in the first place? Wouldn't it make more sense to keep all of the planes under the Air Force's control, and all the boats under the Navy's control, instead of dividing them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/381s70/eli5_why_does_the_us_navy_have_fighter_jets/ | {
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"The pilots who fly in the Air Force are trained to take off and land on land. It takes a completely different set of skills to take off and land on an aircraft carrier. Since and Aircraft carrier is a ship it is most logical to have the things it carries by operated by Naval personnel. \n\nEdit: As to why the Navy has planes to begin with, well when planes were first used as weapons platforms there was not an independent Air Force. The Army had its planes and the Navy had theirs. Since then the Air Force got large enough that it split from the Army, but the nature of Aircraft Carriers has kept the Naval Air wings within the Navy's control. ",
"Naval vessels have aircraft to defend against enemy aircraft primarily. Also, before mid-air refueling was available the aircraft carrier had the ability to launch missions deep into enemy territory without the need for land based airstrips. It gives the military many more strategic capabilities.\n ",
"Being an air force pilot is not the same as being a navy pilot, nor is it the same as being an army or marine pilot. The demand for pilots has such a wide range of differing scenarios and specialties that it makes more sense to keep them in specialties in each branch rather than have one generic force of \"we fly things\".",
"The naval battles of WW2 demonstrated that the future of naval battles was in air power. Battleships became almost useless. A fighter plane can carry bombs and torpedo's far past the range of a battleship's guns and sink it before the battleship can even get near the aircraft carrier.\n\nAside from naval superiority think of a aircraft carrier as a floating air force base. We can sail an aircraft carrier to right out in front of 154 of the 196 countries in the world. \n\nCould we find friendly near by countries that would let us use their air space and runways for our air force planes? Not always.",
"Q: why do the US Navy have fighter jets? \nA: because they can"
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