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3kezmh | how do wells work? | I have drank well water pretty much my whole life so far and I understand that they drill a pipe into the ground and it hits water. Now my question about that is. The us has a huge water shelf and this is what we are tapping into. Now, is this one huge fucking hole with water in it or are they mass network of water caves and open spots in the ground? Now if the country starts running low on water and drains this cave. Would mine be empty as well? Even though I have not used it all? Or am i putting way to much thought into this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kezmh/eli5_how_do_wells_work/ | {
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"Well water comes from what are called aquifers. These are underground structures that contain water. There is not just one big aquifer all over. There are many scattered about. If someone lives in New Jersey and an aquifer in say, Colorado is drained it will not affect the first person's well.",
"It's much closer to\n\n > mass network of water caves and open spots in the ground\n\nThan\n\n > one huge fucking hole with water in it\n\nFor example the [Ogallala auqifer](_URL_0_) is a big connected series of connected underwater lakes that spans most of the central US.\n\nHowever, for your second question, could other people's water use effect the availability of your well water, it really doesn't matter which one of those two it is. the fact is that these underground water systems *are* connected.\n\nIf people in North Texas use way more of the water from the aquifer that does, necessarily, mean less for others.\n\nIn fact, the Ogallala aquifer has been tapped faster than it has been refilling for decades because of a lack of collective management. It's a very typical example of the tragedy of the commons.",
"Some rock is like wax: it doesn't hold water or let water through it.\n\nSome rock is like wood. It can get sodden, but it doesn't let water through very easily.\n\nSome rock is like a sponge. It can get wet, soak up water and.let it flow through.\n\nA well (a deep well) goes down to a sponge like layer of rock where water exists. As soon as you dig down to it, the hole is full of water to that level. As you pump or lift water out, it refits from the surrounding rock. Hopefully, water trickling through the ground, or from underground rivers, refills the rock faster than you can empty it. So you have unlimited water. If you drain too much, you might end up with a dry well that you have to dig deeper."
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5nitsw | how a bank becomes a bank | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nitsw/eli5_how_a_bank_becomes_a_bank/ | {
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"Pretty much the same way any other business begins: raise some money, form a company, apply for whatever licensing is required in your industry (if any), and start trying to pick up customers. In form, a bank isn't significantly different from any other kind of company except that it's subject to banking regulations."
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[]
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z0mgf | the basic values and framework of capitalism as outlined by adam smith. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/z0mgf/eli5_the_basic_values_and_framework_of_capitalism/ | {
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"This is an extreme oversimplification, but it should do for a 5 year old.\n\nImagine a world where there's an omnipotent being running everything: dictating perfectly who should make what and when, like telling the baker to make bread for you before you know you want it. Coordinating production so that people who've never seen each other still act in a way which benefits each other.\n\nAdam Smith articulated the idea that it's possible to set up an economic system -- a set of rules -- under which you can approximate the same sort of outcome without the need for the omnipotent overseer. That it's possible to harness people's self-interest such that they coordinate their own actions in a way that benefits everyone. \"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.\""
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232ge1 | polymers | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/232ge1/eli5_polymers/ | {
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"Polymer is a group term for any kind of substance made up of lots and lots of smaller components. Think of a metal chain made up of lots of links. Similarly, polymers are made up of similar molecules that keep attaching to one another. "
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3x0jfr | the term "fixed income" to mean "low income." | Many of us are on a fixed income--I know I don't just have the option to pick up more hours or get a second job (I work full time). But I often hear it applied to seniors on pension. Why is it only applied to this group? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3x0jfr/eli5_the_term_fixed_income_to_mean_low_income/ | {
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"You could change jobs and get a higher salary.\n\nYou could get promoted and get a higher salary.\n\nYou could get a raise and get a higher salary.\n\nYou could do exceptional work and get a bonus.\n\nElderly people living on a fixed income don't have any of those options. They get X amount of money per year and that is it. ",
"\"Fixed income\" specifically means people who are surviving off of some kind of standard payout, typical examples being those with disabilities or who are retired. It actually doesn't normally include people who have some kind of fixed payment but get substantial additional income from work.",
"Fixed income refers especially to people who get a fixed *nominal* income. For example, a pension that pays 70% of your salary in the last year you worked, or something like that. You may work 40 hours a week, but because you could work more, or work less, or quit and find a new job, or work harder or slack off, you have bargaining power. The most important consequence of this, for economic policy, is that inflation hurts people on fixed incomes, on average, because their income declines by the full value of inflation, but it does not hurt people living on earned incomes. All else equal, they can expect raises equal to the value of inflation; but all else in not equal, because typically inflation is caused by strong labor demand, so people with earned incomes will see their incomes rise in real terms. If economic policymakers try to scale back labor demand to prevent inflation, you that helps people on fixed incomes and hurts people on earned incomes.\n\nTypically you *assume* that people on fixed incomes are poor because most people earn far less in retirement than they did when they were working, and far less when they worked that workers do today if they retired a long time ago. There are certainly people with high fixed incomes, but it's not really a social problem if they have a little bit less because of inflation."
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1h6gh7 | the pros and cons of aca state medicaid expansion | I'm having a hard time understanding the debate. To me, it seems that states that opt in will pay marginally higher taxes, but the burden of covering the costs of the uninsured that is currently placed on those that pay for insurance through rising premiums will be lifted (better for everyone, right?). I feel like I must be missing something. I know better than to assume those in opposition to the Medicaid expansion are just big meanies who hate poor people and would argue against higher taxes even if it resulted in an unsustainable system that eventually leaves no one able to afford insurance. The information I'm finding, though, all seems skewed to that bias (meaning all the literature I am reading is very left-leaning). I'd like to have a more balanced understanding of the issue. Can anyone explain very simply what the pros and cons of each position are? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1h6gh7/eli5_the_pros_and_cons_of_aca_state_medicaid/ | {
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"What the pro's/con's are would be extremely subjective so i'll just tell you what it does and why I oppose it instead;\n\n* Medicaid was not available to the entire population previously (covered groups were children, pregnant, parents, blind/disabled, and the elderly) and under the expansion is, you don't need to be in a particular group to qualify.\n* To financially qualify previously you had to earn between 60% and 130% of poverty (depending on state and the group you were in), now everyone under 138% ($15,414 individual or $31,809 family) poverty qualifies.\n* Provides financial incentives to states to provide for preventative services as well as changes to reproductive health services.\n* Federal government will long term provide 90% of the additional cost resulting from the expansion and initially 100%.\n\nIn terms of the argument against this its a very complicated issue but the highlights are;\n\n* Medicaid massively underpays providers and facilities for services (varies state by state but averages 11% below cost, not price but actual cost to provide a service) and the only reason they continue to accept Medicaid patients is because EMTALA combines all HHS payments such that if you accept any money from the federal government (such as uninsured part compensation, Medicare etc) you are required to accept Medicaid patients. There is very little price elasticity in the current medical system (very few hospitals are for profit precisely because its incredibly difficult to actually make money running a hospital and flat out impossible if you run an ER) so an increase in Medicaid usage will either reduce services provided (EG, fewer OR's etc) or they will increase prices for private patients to compensate.\n* Wealthier states (notably NH) financially benefit from the current Medicaid system as they have a relatively low number of people to cover compared to other states so use Medicaid funds for other purposes (in NH the Medicaid funds left over pay for the [high risk pool](_URL_0_)).\n* The way the federal & state governments fund healthcare is one of the big drivers for price inflation in the health market, there are rampant over-consumption problems in both Medicaid and Medicare that help drive prices up, and an expansion of Medicaid will drive this further.\n* The cost estimates provided for both Medicaid and Medicare are likely vast underestimates. The agency responsible for administering both programs (CMS) has been noting the underestimate and providing a more reasonable fiscal scenario since ACA was first proposed in their [Trustees report](_URL_3_) (page 273+).\n* ACA is not real healthcare reform. Its corporate welfare for the health insurance industry and was written by executives from the insurance industry (the principal author was a VC at Wellpoint and now lobbies the federal government for Johnson & Johnson), while well intentioned when proposed it does nothing at all to address the systematic problems in healthcare delivery and will actually increase healthcare costs for low-income individuals above the Medicaid threshold not decrease them. While the administrative/profit limits were certainly popular they are very indicative of the fundamental problem with ACA, it was populist [not factual](_URL_2_). The problem is that healthcare plans exist at all not that they make profit. Even if Medicaid expansion didn't have other problems I would still oppose it on the basis the larger program its part of is awful.\n* Its a waste of a legislative push. We already have models for healthcare systems that work and some of them would probably enjoy bipartisan support (like [this](_URL_1_)) and this is not one of them, expanding all this effort on something that wont work will make it all the harder to get something through that will work later.\n* Once you opt in you can't opt out again. States have significant leeway to abandon the current model of healthcare delivery and do their own thing (such as Vermont with single-payer insurance) but if they have opted in to Medicaid expansion its extraordinarily hard to eliminate it even if you are replacing it with something better."
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Singapore",
"http://biz.yahoo.com/p/522qpmd.html",
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36p3sl | pricing of tires. | With all the used and junk tires on this planet, why is a set for my truck $1400? Why isn't there a better method of recycling?
Edit: thanks for the responses, had a killer migraine and fell asleep early. Sorry I didn't reply. Not sure why y'all got the downvotes, but thanks for the replies. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36p3sl/eli5_pricing_of_tires/ | {
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"Semi trucks use recaps, that's a form of recycling tires where you just get new thread on your current set.\nBut as far as pricing, go to places like tire rack or discount tire direct to see different prices than your local tire dealers. \nWalmart can mount and balance for about $40 pet set"
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23pwfh | why does the death of an artist increase the value of his art? | Edit: It seems to be that if people didn't value the art while the artist was alive why should they value after he's dead? Just because he can't make any more? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23pwfh/eli5_why_does_the_death_of_an_artist_increase_the/ | {
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"Because there won't be any more pieces from that artist.\n\nMany people don't care about the art itself; it's just the status of owning a piece by a particular artist.",
"Because there will be no more of his or her work, so the art that is out there is all there will ever be.",
"Basic law of Supply & Demand in economics. As said before, once they are dead, there will be no further art produced by that artist -- ever.\n\nThe supply of art (number of pieces) in existence is all there is. Economics works with the principal of supply and demand.\n\nWhen there is enough supply of something to easily meet demand, but there is no \"oversupply\" this is called [equilibrium](_URL_0_)\n\nWhen the supply is low, the price will increase some. When demand is high and the supply is low, the price will increase significantly.\n\nAlternatively -- if the artist is still alive, and there is high supply, and very little demand (new artist), then the price will be low.\n\n"
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6bmt55 | is it better to leave a car running while idling or to turn it off and on when you need to move? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bmt55/eli5_is_it_better_to_leave_a_car_running_while/ | {
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"It depends on the engine and the time. Starting the engine uses more fuel for a short time than to keep it running for the same time, especially with older engines. \n\nBut this is for something like 5 to 10 seconds. If you know you'll be waiting longer, turn it off.",
"It depends. Each time you start a vehicle you increase wear on the starter motor, which is a heavy-duty motor near the back of the engine that is powerful enough to spin the engine without using any petrol. This wear and tear isn't all that important, but the starter motor uses a lot of electricity to work and will therefore drain the car's battery very quickly. The battery gets charged when you drive around, but this takes quite a long time, so if you keep turning the engine off and on, eventually it'll go flat and won't be strong enough to start the car.\n\nTo reduce pollution and save fuel, lots of modern cars have something called stop-start technology. This means that the engine will stop in the best position to restart, using the least amount of fuel and electricity in the battery. And the car is clever, so it knows if the battery is almost flat and will keep the engine running to charge it back up.\n\nThe short answer is, if you don't need any heat or aircon and you know you're going to be idling for more than a few minutes, turn the engine off. If you're waiting at traffic lights, or in light congestion, keep the engine on.",
"There are now quite a few cars that turn off your engine while stopped and then restart it when you press on the pedal. This can increase fuel economy in the city by about 1-2 mpg. Of course those cars are designed to do that so I would not recommend doing it with a car not designed for it.\n\nOverall idling is better for the engine but you do waste fuel, and only turning it off for a little bit and then starting back up while everything is still warm and lubricated won't hurt the engine much if at all. Yet it is not something you should continually do since your car is not designed for that kind of use (specifically your starter motor and possibly battery usage)."
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628517 | why wasn't martin shkreli punished? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/628517/eli5why_wasnt_martin_shkreli_punished/ | {
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"He did something immoral, but not illegal (unfortunately). There are not related ethics laws that prevent price hikes of drugs like he did."
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5wibd7 | how do oil companies know how much oil is left in their reserves? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wibd7/eli5_how_do_oil_companies_know_how_much_oil_is/ | {
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"They have devices with send acoustic signals into the ground. The acoustic waves then travel with different speed through certain materials like solid ground, oil or air. Based on the result of the speed of the waves, the device can now calculate a rough image of how big the reservoir is and how much oil's left in there."
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2ow02q | why are republicans against abortion, but for the death penalty? regardless of what the person did, isn't it still murder? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ow02q/eli5_why_are_republicans_against_abortion_but_for/ | {
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"Innocence is generally held as a requirement for murder. So, the idea for people who hold this view is that those on death row have forfeited their right to life, just like prisoners have forfeited all sorts of rights.\n\nTo reverse your question. Republicans are against locking up innocent people in prison, but are ok with doing that to rapists. Regardless of what the person did, isn't it still kidnapping?",
"Lots of people, including some Republicans, believe killing is okay in some circumstances. War and self-defense are some examples. The moral question of killing someone who you think deserves it is way different from killing (what they perceive as) someone who has never done anything and is completely defenseless.",
"It's not murder, murder is defined as unlawful killing.\n\nBy definition state-enforced execution after a trial by a jury of your peers can't be murder. It is killing, both are killing. Most people don't object to all killing (see: self defense, war, physician assisted suicide), they oppose murder.\n\nThose who oppose abortion and support the death penalty generally consider the fact that a fetus is obviously innocent, while someone sentenced to death is, at the very least, guilty according to our justice system. Obviously not everyone thinks that's good enough of a difference to treat them differently, but it's pretty clear it is an important difference.",
"Even most pro-life advocates aren't \"against abortion.\" They just think there should be a limited set of circumstances under which a person should be allowed to have an abortion. Most pro-choice people believe the same thing, it's just that the circumstances are broader. \n\n[See here.](_URL_0_) \n\n69% of pro-choice people believe that abortion should be legal if the mother's life is in danger, 59% believe it should be legal in the case of rape or incest. Meanwhile, 63% of pro-choice people are against partial-birth abortions and 52% believe abortion should be illegal in the second trimester.",
"Because the Republicans are a hodgepodge of many different advocacy groups all allied to form one national political movement. Same case, really, for the Democrats as well. This is a natural effect of having the winner-take-all voting system.\n\nYour question assumes that all Republicans agree on all aspects of policy, but this is simply not the case. "
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2s4ges | who took down the pirate bay and what allowed them to do it? | Like what exactly did the pirate bay do to get taken down? I realize a lot of shady shit went down on that site, but none of it was directly propagated by the site and site admins. So I'm a little confused. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2s4ges/eli5_who_took_down_the_pirate_bay_and_what/ | {
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"pirate bay was hosted on servers run by a company in Sweden. the Swedish police got a court order to stop service and seize the machines. \n\nnothing shady goes on on the site. people upload a torrent file which is nothing more than a list of addresses tied to a string of text. whether that leads to a crime, or just a legal file share is completely unknown to piratebay servers"
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16ej8g | what happens at the border between countries that drive on opposite sides of the road? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16ej8g/what_happens_at_the_border_between_countries_that/ | {
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"They cross over, and post big signs up saying 'Norway drives on the left'.\n\nUntil 1965, when everybody in the country changes to the other side of the road at once.",
"_URL_0_\n\nIntersections like this. You start on one side of the road, and after the border, end up on the other.",
"From what I've seen, just drive on the other side after crossing the border.\n\nWhat makes me feel most unsettled, though, is seeing opposite-side steering columns. It's sensible to see these in opposite-side countries with land borders (Thailand/Cambodia, for example), but in eastern Russia... yikes.",
"These will answer your question:\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\n_URL_1_\n\n\n_URL_2_",
"This is the border of Macau and China.\n\n_URL_0_",
"These cool side-switching bridges are the exception to the norm. Normally you have to stop at immigration and there's a big lot, then you exit the lot on the other side. It's pretty anti-climactic.",
"I asked this same question about a year ago. I just got one reply, \"They deal with it\". I'm upset that you got better replies than me, but at the same time, my question has finally been answered, so I'm happy.",
"Well if the rest of the world is anything like the Thailand/Burma border there is one skinny 2 lane bridge with no policing or any signs so all the drivers are forced to fend for them selves. Also the people walking across the border have to switch sides too, so your left with 100 meters of bridge where every car and person has to change sides. Total chaos. ",
"Sometimes they just put a large body of water between them.",
"A lot of them look [something like this](_URL_0_). It's one I drive over somewhat often. The odd thing about it is that it's not at any sort of border; it's Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles, CA, and it's built like that so that it's not as steep for either direction of the freeway to go up and down the mountains. It crosses back over itself near the top. Please forgive the bug splats and fuzzy phone shots. > . > ",
"I live in England and have driven abroad often (mainly Europe), however, driving on the other side of the road actually isn't that difficult as the majority of it is acclimatising to road signs etc. and accepting that you are (as a British person) on the 'wrong' side of the road. To honest it's not that daunting, you just have to remember to turn the right way or shit happens whichever side of the road you are on. \n\nTL;DR Dont turn left over a tram track in downtown Munich.",
"A lot of accidents",
"Thanks for asking this, it's one of those awesome questions I never thought about before. My mind totally got blown.",
"I have never wondered this till this exact moment. ",
"Well, whatever happens at the border between countries that drive on opposite sides of the road, stays at the border between countries that drive on opposite sides of the road.",
"Most of these are on relatively little-traveled roads, and so they just have a sign:\n_URL_0_",
"The white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers; there is no parking in the white zone.",
"lot's of head on collisions."
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7jajs1 | why are some songs called bonus tracks, when they appear on every album release anyway? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7jajs1/eli5_why_are_some_songs_called_bonus_tracks_when/ | {
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"Perhaps because the artist liked the song, but it doesn't really fit in the narrative of the album, so they put it at the end and say it's a bonus track.",
"There was usually an earlier release of the album that did not contain the song.\n\nThat's the case with 60s & 70s rock. The LP vinyl record was limited to only 45-50 minutes. But CDs could hold 75-80 minutes. So re-releases often contain extra tracks (non-album singles from the same time period, B-sides, etc). But CDs have been around for 30+ years now so these 'bonus tracks' have been standard for decades.",
"Typically, they don't appear on every album release. Even for new releases, sometimes bands release a different version for different countries or even different stores (e.g., some of Taylor Swift's albums have additional tracks if you buy it at Target)"
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2246oy | how exactly does a car engine stop the combustion process when you turn the key to off? | I know the basics of how a combustion engine works, but I haven't found a solution online to my question. Does it simply cut off the fuel flow and starve the engine? I imagine that can have undesired effects.
Thanks! :) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2246oy/eli5_how_exactly_does_a_car_engine_stop_the/ | {
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"cgj5rtu",
"cgj6ei0",
"cgjaeat"
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"score": [
10,
2,
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"text": [
"Pretty sure it just shuts off fuel and air flow and the spark plugs. It's a controlled stall.",
"Turn off the \"ignition\" ie the spark plugs or glow plugs I think in a diesel, you basically turn off the electrics.",
"in everyday speak: the firing stops when the key is turned due to the ignition switch telling the computer to stop sending fuel through to the injectors. Engines are self sufficient - cut the fuel off....the firing will stop/pistons aren't being forced up and down by each others explosions and it'll wind down within seconds. ",
"The fuel injectors open from an electric pulse, and spark plugs get their large energy spark from a coil pack that fires also from a small electric signal pulse. key off = fuel pump off, no electric pulse to the injector to open, and no pulse to power the spark plug coil pack. As for older engines with mechanical fuel system (engine driven fuel pump and carburetor) no power to the distributer = no spark. No fuel/air/ or spark = no combustion = no running engine.",
"It shuts off the fuel flow.\nThe spark plugs and air flow have to continue until the engine is \"empty\".\nIf not empty of fuel, it could damage the engine or frighten you with little booms.\n\nThe electrics keep running until the motor stopped running to ensure a controlled shut off.\n\nThese problems do not occur in a electric car."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1r7ue2 | the stock exchange just hit 16000, why are we still in an "economic recession"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1r7ue2/eli5_the_stock_exchange_just_hit_16000_why_are_we/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdkh0w1"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"In the strictest sense of the term, we're not. A recession is defined in economics as [two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth](_URL_0_). As [you can see here](_URL_1_), the recession has been over since 2010.\n\nThat doesn't mean the economy isn't still bad, though; wages and employment tend to lag behind GDP growth. And of course, a lot of the way we use the word \"recession\" is based on subjective perception. As Ronald Reagan famously quipped, \"Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.\""
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/recession.asp",
"http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth"
]
] |
||
2oovt6 | why is chewing gum satisfying but starbursts make you want to swallow them? | Whenever I eat a starburst, I feel compelled to swallow it. Why is that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2oovt6/eli5_why_is_chewing_gum_satisfying_but_starbursts/ | {
"a_id": [
"cmp64fw"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"I feel compelled to swallow gum, and in fact usually do. Most of my gum disappears in a day, and I don't give away. Anybody else?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
9kl8zn | a paradoxical problem in mathematical sets | Imagine you have two sets. A set of all the integers and a set of all the perfect squares. *Are these sets the same size?* Clearly the squares set is missing numbers (all the negative numbers) yet you can pair every integer with it's respective square. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9kl8zn/eli5_a_paradoxical_problem_in_mathematical_sets/ | {
"a_id": [
"e6zy0ry",
"e7048xm"
],
"score": [
3,
7
],
"text": [
"Yes, these sets are the same size. Here is how to see this:\n\nFor finite sets, you can check if two sets are the same size by counting their elements and seeing if the counts are equal. For example, you can test that {1, 2, 3} and {4, 5, 6} are equal in size, by counting that each has 3 elements.\n\nFor the integers or the perfect squares, these are infinite sets, so we can't do this. But we can show they have the same size by a different method, which is \"mapping\" each integer to a perfect square. We could have shown the two finite sets above were equal in size by saying 1 maps to 4, 2 maps to 5, and 3 maps to 6, so each item in the first has a pair in the second and vice versa.\n\nSimilarly, with your two infinite sets, we can map the first perfect square to 0, the second to 1, the third to -1, the fourth to 2, the fifth to -2, and so on. Therefore, every perfect square has a pair integer and vice versa. So the sets must have equal size!\n\n[edited]: changed from \"uncountable\" to \"infinite\" for sets like the integers.",
"To be precise, neither set is \"larger\" because \"size\" in not defined for infinite sets.\n\nThere is something very much like size called \"cardinality\". Two sets have the same cardinality if you can pair up all the elements in both sets without any left over. {Moe, Larry, Curly} and {red, blue green} have the same cardinality. {war, pestilence, famine, death} has a greater cardinality, becasue when paired with one of the other sets, it has members left over.\n\nAs you observed, the set of integers can be paired with the set of perfect squares. You have to get a little clever because the paring has to work both ways, and 4 = 2^2 = (-2)^(2). But if you order the integers {0, -1, 1, -2, 2...} then after 0 alternate between (2n +1)^2 and (2n)^(2), that should do the trick. In that case, since the sets can be paired, they have the same cardinality."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
b3m34x | would it be beneficial for neighbouring countries to unify, specifically if they are currently not doing so well? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b3m34x/eli5_would_it_be_beneficial_for_neighbouring/ | {
"a_id": [
"ej0knmj"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"It could indeed be beneficial. But people are not that logical and national pride, personal political power and economic interests all play a mayor role in preventing any unification, often even preventing stable governments at all."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1ki9wp | why does compressed air come out ice cold if you tilt the can to (and beyond) a certain threshold? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ki9wp/eli5_why_does_compressed_air_come_out_ice_cold_if/ | {
"a_id": [
"cbp7eu7"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Because of a relationship between pressure and temperature. **PV=NRT** Where P is pressure, and T is temperature. The other 3 variables are constant so we can take them out. So **P=T** You are releasing pressure, so the pressure is going down, therefore the temperature also goes down. This is the same reason if you put a pressurized canister on a fire, it explodes.\n\n**tl:dr: pressure and temperature hold hands, and whatever one does, the other does as well.**"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4i19c2 | there's "rule 34", what's the rest of them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4i19c2/eli5_theres_rule_34_whats_the_rest_of_them/ | {
"a_id": [
"d2u4kr0",
"d2u4nwd"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"The rest of the rules are [here](_URL_0_). It was a joke on 4chan but only 34 is well known.",
"[Here it is](_URL_0_)\n\nIt is an image originated in, as you may guess, 4chan's /b/. Rule 34 became the most famous of those \"rules\" that some random guy made up."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/anonymous-history-uk/images/5/5c/Rules.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131202031803"
],
[
"http://orig03.deviantart.net/accc/f/2008/080/5/d/rules_of_the_internet_by_kdxf2007.jpg"
]
] |
||
4bvheh | why do a lot of republicans hate liberals? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bvheh/eli5_why_do_a_lot_of_republicans_hate_liberals/ | {
"a_id": [
"d1cs97y"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"They're opposite ends of the political spectrum usually and frequently disagree on issues. And both sides tend to get nasty places like online when they disagree."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
23y0ba | what is the difference between web 1.0 and web 2.0? | Title please | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23y0ba/eli5what_is_the_difference_between_web_10_and_web/ | {
"a_id": [
"ch1nio8",
"ch1nkzf"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"In the beginning the web consisted of mostly static non-interactive sites that was put up more or less entirely to share information about something.\n\nBut as the web matured interactive sites where users could actually interact with the site and submit data to them (think social networks, blogs, comments on websites, etc) started appearing, that more mature interactive web is usually referred to as web 2.0",
"Web 1.0 refers to the state of the internet during the time of the first .com boom until the bust (~1994-2001), when the average person was first introduced to the internet. Lots of internet stores, new ideas (many of which were poorly executed), and websites whose interface was designed by programmers.\n\nWeb 2.0 refers to the latest boom (~2007-now) where there has been major emphasis on design / usability, social media, and mobile technologies.\n\nIt's purely a colloquialism. There isn't single official/technological way you can label something as Web 1.0 or 2, though it does kind of refer to a lot of technologies that evolved over that time (mostly JavaScript/CSS, but some of the back-end languages and data stores too)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
22w184 | after popping a spot(zit), what is the clear liquid that comes out after the pus and blood? | Sorry, I know it's a bit of a gross question, but after giving it a google I couldn't find a good explanation, thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22w184/eli5after_popping_a_spotzit_what_is_the_clear/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgqx70f"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"A generic word for this is \"serous\" fluid, which is mostly water from the interstitium (space between cells). If it has some blood in it it's called serosanguinous fluid. The reason it accumulates is inflammation at the site of the pustule / furuncle, which increases the porosity of the nearby tissues and allows fluid to seep into the space where the pus was. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
195w1b | why are so many new cartoons still hand drawn? | It seems inefficient, costly, and stretches production time by ~9 months from what I've heard animators say in interviews. Computer animation or even digital sketching seems much easier and the technology has advanced a great deal in the past 10 years. Aside from shows like the Simpsons which might have tradition/consistency as the rational, why are many newer shows still hand drawn? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/195w1b/why_are_so_many_new_cartoons_still_hand_drawn/ | {
"a_id": [
"c8ocu1p"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Actually, cgi is almost always the same/more expensive and time consuming as traditional animation.\n\nSource: I am a traditional and cgi animator :)\n\nEdit: also, traditional animation is like any other visual art form, and therefore is respected because actual people created the illusion of life. Gotta admit that's cool :P"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
34ghaw | how to find your way (back) once you manage to make interstellar travels through space? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34ghaw/eli5_how_to_find_your_way_back_once_you_manage_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"cquhi60"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"A more likely scenario for early interstellar travel is that it will be a one way trip. If you do plan on returning you could analyze your surroundings to determine your position relative to the solar system. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
39w0ua | will humans lose their body hair? | Basically the only hair we got use of is our head hear. We wear clothes everywhere else. Will this and evolution cause to lose the body hair? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39w0ua/eli5_will_humans_lose_their_body_hair/ | {
"a_id": [
"cs6z6cp"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Probably not, since in modern society people without body hair are not more likely to breed than people with body hair. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
bqhxk2 | whatever happened to those weird noises affecting nearby speakers when we received a call on a cell phone back in the days, as illustrated in the link? | _URL_0_
I was appreciating the nice little attention to that detail in gta4, but it got me wondering how come it's gone nowadays. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bqhxk2/eli5_whatever_happened_to_those_weird_noises/ | {
"a_id": [
"eo4i705",
"eo4sh2e",
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"eo67bm3",
"eo6gvfj"
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"score": [
28,
27,
7,
2,
8,
19
],
"text": [
"Only 00's bois will remember, or however kids are talking these days.",
"The cell phone transmits quite a bit of RF energy when it is talking to the tower. That energy can leak into the amplifiers in a stereo system and disturb their operation, creating the sound you hear.\n\nI don't know exactly what happened, but I would guess they fixed this issue by:\n\n- shielding the stereo amplifiers better (metal box)\n\n- adding RF filters to the amplifier inputs\n\n- making opamps with better RF rejection (basically built-in filters)\n\n\nSomething like the above. I would also hazard a guess that there are probably a lot of stereos floating around where this still isn't fixed.",
"The band of the radio spectrum in use might have changed as we switched from GPRS / 2G to 3G and onwards. Higher frequencies being needed to transmit more packets of information at a faster rate.",
"Commenting to follow, I have a Yamaha music keyboard that's 9 years old that makes sounds if I get a call when it's close. The speaker makes the sound before the ringtone even starts",
"Yea I remember dating my first gf and I'd leave my phone by the speaker so I could tell when she was about to text me. Good old days",
"This is pretty tough to ELI5, but I’mma take a shot:\n\nBack when cell phones first went digital, there were two competing “languages” for the cell phones and towers to use. CDMA and GSM. When wireless things talk to each other digitally, usually only one can talk at a time, otherwise the other stuff gets confused as it can be hard to tell what parts of what it is hearing is from one thing versus another. CDMA uses a system where the wireless radios in the devices are pretty much always on. GSM used a system called TDMA which meant each device gets so much time to send a signal, then other devices get turns.\n\nIn GSM when it isn’t talking it turns off the transmitter on its radio. It then turns it back on when it talks. Have you ever played with a really old amplifier, like one from the 70’s or so? When you turn them on they can make a pop noise as the power is applied to the speakers. The GSM radio is making a pop noise every time it turns on. \n\nThe actual digital signal of the cell phone is so high pitched, that even if your speakers could play it, you wouldn’t hear it. But those pops are timed just right so that they add together to make some awful sounds to our ears. (Non-ELI5, the frequency band of the radio switching is in audible frequencies).\n\nWhile those pops can be picked up in just about any electronics, on their own they are not strong enough to move a speaker, at least not enough to be heard by humans. However, when they get picked up by the electronics that are then amplified, you hear them over the speakers. This is even more likely to happen if there are microphones around, as microphones put out such a low level of power they get amplified twice. Once to a level that regular electronics can work with them (called Line level, usually done by a pre-amp), then again to be enough to move speakers.\n\nWhy don’t we hear it anymore? When GSM moved to 3G, it went to a “language” called UTMS. UTMS uses a new version of CDMA, which wasn’t compatible with the old version of CDMA, called WCDMA. CDMA providers still used regular CDMA for 3G. When all the providers started going to LTE, it was decided to use WCDMA for LTE.\n\nThere are other signals and things on cell phones that can cause noises in audio systems, but the very distinctive and memorable one was the GSM noise.\n\nNote below: \nUS GSM providers: AT & T, T-Mobile (and all the companies that got bought up by them so that we really only have 4 providers today)\nUS CDMA providers: Verizon, Sprint (and all the companies that got bought up by them so that we really only have 4 providers today)\n\nSo if you were in an area with no AT & T or T-Mobile coverage you might not have ran across this."
]
} | [] | [
"https://streamable.com/yerb9"
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
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|
24tcsz | what are 'common carriers', and why should isps be reclassified as common carriers? | I want to be able to make an informed decision about net neutrality, but I don't really understand the issue. I was trying to understand this threat earlier:
_URL_0_
Help me, ELI5, you're my only hope. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24tcsz/eli5_what_are_common_carriers_and_why_should_isps/ | {
"a_id": [
"chahsgw",
"chaomvu"
],
"score": [
11,
14
],
"text": [
"Other utility companies are common carriers. Basically, it allows government regulation of the services, keeping costs down, because it is considered a necessity.\n\nThe idea behind it right now is that the ISPs are being given a green light to artificially degrade service to charge customers and companies like Netflix to stop.\n\nThis is desirable for the telecoms because they get to reap additional profit without needing to invest as heavily in our national internet infrastructure. This is undesirable for consumers since it means paying more for progressively slower speeds.",
"A common carrier is a company that has very high costs for creating the infrastructure to actually be able to sell their product (like electricity or natural gas or cable because they need to dig up the ground to lay pipes or otherwise put in pipes/cables) but they also need to be a \"necessity\". You can't reasonably live without water to your house or electricity. Nowadays, there's so much that requires internet access, it's a necessity. Just think of how many applications you need to submit online or how often you need to check your email at home for a job. It's a necessity for modern life."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/24s5s4/mozilla_tells_the_fcc_to_grow_a_spine_reclassify/"
] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
16vln1 | what does "marked" bills mean? | Watching American Gangster and they mention marked/unmarked bills, my friend asked what it means and we werent sure, but heard it quite alot. (We're all English btw) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/16vln1/what_does_marked_bills_mean/ | {
"a_id": [
"c7zrcrd",
"c7zrtwc",
"c7ztg1s"
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"score": [
10,
3,
4
],
"text": [
"When a note is marked, it has its serial number recorded and is marked with a UV ink, so that it can be used in an attempt to trace it back to its owners (the criminals) at a later date.",
"Marked bills are literally marked. Law enforcement will put a small seemingly unnoticeable mark (with visible or UV ink) before parting with money. If another agency picks up the bill after it's been spent and reports it (because they know what to look for), law enforcement has a better idea of where the bad guy went with it",
"Ever seen Dark Knight? Batman made money slightly irradiated, not enough to be harmful, but enough for detector to pick it up. \n\nIf you are not Batman, then you can simply record serial number of a bill in case of robbery. Then when you find a bill with that number, you'll know it was stolen."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3vn66n | why do coal power stations produce more co2 per unit energy than natural gas? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vn66n/eli5_why_do_coal_power_stations_produce_more_co2/ | {
"a_id": [
"cxp0ow3",
"cxp1k77"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Coal is mostly carbon. When you burn carbon you get CO2. Natural gas is a hydrocarbon— a very light hydrocarbon, it's mostly methane, which has four hydrogens for every carbon. So it produces a mixture of H2O and CO2. As you probably know, H2O condenses out of the atmosphere more readily than CO2.\n\nPeople typically want to generate a certain amount of energy (to heat their house, run their factory, whatever) and they'll burn enough fuel to get that much energy. Because the hydrogen burning contributes to the energy you get from burning a hydrocarbon, this means that less carbon (and therefore less CO2) is needed to generate a certain amount of energy.\n\n",
"There are 2 reasons:\n\n1. Coal is quite pure carbon. So, all the energy comes from burning the carbon in oxygen to produce CO2. Natural gas is quite pure methane which has 4 hydrogen atoms for every 1 carbon. This means that both the carbon and the hydrogen burn giving CO2 and H2O. The hydrogen burn actually produces more energy than the carbon burning. So, for the same amount of energy, burning gas produces only about 45% of the CO2 of coal.\n\n2. Conversion of heat to electricity always loses energy. The amount you lose depends on the temperature of the conversion process. The hotter you get, the more efficient the conversion to electricity. The lower the temperature, the less heat gets converted, and more goes to the cooling towers. Coal plants heat water in large boilers to produce steam for a steam engine. Because of the low temperature of the steam (about 350 C), the conversion efficiency is about 35-40% - so 60-65% of the heat just goes up the cooling towers. State of the art, high temperature \"supercritical\" steam technology (about 500 C) can get up to about 45%.\nWith gas, the conversion process is not a steam engine, but a gas turbine engine - because the turbine is powered by the burning gas directly, it runs at a much, much higher temperature (about 1000 C). This higher temperature system can get conversion efficiency of 45-55%, with the latest technology (1450 C) getting up to 62%. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
6t7zjc | what are the post-workout chills? | I completed a 31km hike which included some challenging terrain in parts, over an 8 hour period today. After completion, I had uncontrollable shivers for the next hour or so, feeling totally chilled to the bone, despite it being hot and sunny (and me putting on a jacket). I also felt a bit delirious. I have a reasonable level of fitness, stayed well-hydrated, and ate a decent amount of food. Can anyone please ELI5? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6t7zjc/eli5_what_are_the_postworkout_chills/ | {
"a_id": [
"dlilj2s",
"dlilp8o"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Sounds like textbook heat exhaustion. I'm in FL and I've experienced similar feelings after a long day on my kayak. ",
"There are two types of heat exhaustion:\n\nWater depletion. Signs include excessive thirst, weakness, headache, and loss of consciousness.\n\nSalt depletion. Signs include nausea and vomiting, muscle cramps, and dizziness.\n\nAlthough heat exhaustion isn't as serious as heat stroke, it isn't something to be taken lightly. Without proper intervention, heat exhaustion can progress to heat stroke, which can damage the brain and other vital organs, and even cause death.\n\nThat's from web MD"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
42f9ri | what's that weird, high-pitched noise you can sometimes hear when in a pool/lake/etc? | The one that sounds like it's *in* your head. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/42f9ri/eli5_whats_that_weird_highpitched_noise_you_can/ | {
"a_id": [
"cz9v7pc",
"cza0dwo"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"It it you, screaming quietly because you're scared of water?",
"What you might be hearing is boat propellers from across the lake. Probably not in a pool, though."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
2mmg80 | why is the ferguson protest suddenly back? | i didnt know whether to put this here or in /r/outoftheloop, so i decided to try it here first:
Did something happen that they start to protest again? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mmg80/eli5_why_is_the_ferguson_protest_suddenly_back/ | {
"a_id": [
"cm5l5ki",
"cm5lhek"
],
"score": [
5,
3
],
"text": [
"The grand jury has been in session to determine to indict the officer or not. Basicly the grand jury gets to decide if there is enough evidence to go to a trial with a trial jury. \n\nThe reason you are hearing about this again today, the grand jury is supposed to decide soon, they however have until early january. ",
"I don't think they've stopped protesting. Businesses are boarding up their stores just in case."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
2sro3w | how can a bird flying over a big city notice a few tiny pieces of bread scattered on my lawn? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2sro3w/eli5how_can_a_bird_flying_over_a_big_city_notice/ | {
"a_id": [
"cns99o0"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Some birds have way better adapted eyes than humans to spot stuff in great distance. It depends on what kind of bird you mean. Birds of prey (eagles, hawks...) have an incredibly clear [vision](_URL_1_) and can spot small mammals courtesy of the fluorescent mammal urine. [A bird does not \"see\" like a human.](_URL_0_)\n\nIf the bird you are talking about is attracted to bread, it is probably some sort of sparrow, pigeon or other common \"city bird\". They don't see the bread on the lawn. They are attracted by other birds that are feeding there and/or because they know you scatter bread there and remember it."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG2y8dG2QIM",
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_vision"
]
] |
||
y76cb | how do telescopes stay still enough to see deep space objects? | Home sick from work, reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything" and wondering this. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/y76cb/eli5_how_do_telescopes_stay_still_enough_to_see/ | {
"a_id": [
"c5sxgx5"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Terrestrial based telescopes \"track\" the sky through the night, moving very very slowly along a very precise track."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3noibe | where does the 20 billion dollars that bp has to pay go to? does a government body get it? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3noibe/eli5_where_does_the_20_billion_dollars_that_bp/ | {
"a_id": [
"cvpvy3z"
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"score": [
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"From [this comment](_URL_1_) by /u/rkiga\n\n > [The statement released by the Attorney General](_URL_0_) is pretty easy to understand. But the fine details of exactly how everything will be divided and distributed is not set. This is the broad structure:\n > \n > \n > $8.1 billion in natural resources damages claims, under the Oil Pollution Act, will be (or already has been) spent on oil cleanup.\n > \n > $4.9 billion goes to the five Gulf states for economic damage\n > \n > up to $1 billion goes to local governments for economic damage\n > \n > The $5.5 billion civil penalty will fund the RESTORE Act:\n > \n > * $1.1 B will be managed by the U.S. Coast Guard and available primarily for oil spill related emergency response efforts.\n > \n > * $4.4 B will go to the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund in the U.S. Treasury Department and split as follows:\n > * 35% will go to the \"Direct Component\", and will be divided equally among the five gulf states for ecological restoration, economic development, and tourism promotion\n > * 30% will go to the \"Comprehensive Plan Component\" and will be spent by a council with members from six Federal agencies / departments and the five Gulf Coast States to restore and protect natural resources.\n > * 30% will go to the \"Spill Impact Component\" and will be given to the 5 gulf states according to how severely they were affected by the spill. This will be spent for restoration activities in their state budgets.\n > * 5% will be equally divided between the NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program and the Centers of Excellence Research Grants Program, which will each focus on science, technology, and monitoring related to Gulf restoration, including things such as planning for sustainable fishing, etc.\n > \n > That totals $19.5 billion. I don't know what happens or happened to the other $1.3 B.\n > \n > Also:\n > \n > & gt;\"Apart from this settlement, BP has [already] spent a reported $28 billion on cleanup and compensation.\"\n > "
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8yq2zv | why do some countries use 220v outlets and what are their pros? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8yq2zv/eli5_why_do_some_countries_use_220v_outlets_and/ | {
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"Power = Voltage * Current.\n\nSo 220V can deliver more power (for ovens, space heaters) without more current (current heats up wires). So that's the pro.\n\nThe con is that 220V can be lethal, whereas 120V hurts a lot but usually isn't.\n\nIn any case, if even more power is needed, typically what you see is multiple phases being used, compounding 2 x 120 into a 240, or 2 x 220 into a 480.",
"The higher voltage means smaller wires can be used which is cheaper. It is cheaper for everyone in the country. This saves a lot of money. The higher voltage requires tougher safety rules, more ground fault outlets, smaller permitted extension cords, thicker insulation, whatever it take to reduce injuries."
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3jobu4 | where does the term 8-bit come from? | I know what it looks like, but I never really knew what the "bit" part is and why there's 8 of them. This also sort of applies to all the related terms, ie 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, etc. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jobu4/eli5_where_does_the_term_8bit_come_from/ | {
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"A bit means a zero or a one. If something is 8-bit, which is the same as one byte, it means the information stored will be something like this: 11001010.",
"A bit is a single piece of binary information. Either a 0 or a 1. All computing is based on binary data storage. 0 means the wire has no current, 1 means the wire has current flowing through it, same principle as Morse Code.\n\nYou build numerical information with bits by assigning each bit a power of 2. So, 0 is zero, 1 is one, 10 is two, 11 is three (1*2^1 + 1*2^0), and so on. With 8 bits you can store numbers up to 2^8=256. If you apply each of those numbers a character of the alphabet, or a color, or an instruction for a processor to perform, you can make things happen on a screen.\n\nSome of the earliest processors were limited to crunching only 8 bits at a time. These were called 8-bit machines. As manufacturing techniques improved, you could feed more wires into and out of a processor, and so crunch bigger numbers. They increase by powers of two, since each bit is a power of two, so you want to be able to describe how many bits you have with an even number in binary. (eight is 1000, sixteen is 10000, thirty-two is 100000, sixty-four is 1000000)",
"A bit is the smallest amount of information a computer recognizes- either a 0 or a 1, a high voltage or a low voltage, a magnetic + or a mangentic -. \n\nA byte is the smallest useful chunk of information a computer can deal with. On modern computers (pretty much all computers made in the last 30 years or so), it consists of 8 bits- some older computers used 6 bits. A single byte can hold a number from 0-255, or hold a single English character (letter, number, or basic punctuation). \n\nA word is the amount of data that the computer manipulates at once. Early computers only manipulated 1 byte (8 bits) at a time. Newer computers deal with 4 bytes (32 bits) or 8 bytes (64 bits) at a time. This lets them use more memory (because they have to assign a number to each chunk of RAM) and do faster math calculations on larger numbers.",
"Computers store data as numbers. For example, [colors are stored as a set of three numbers in hexadecimal](_URL_0_).\n\nIt takes more digits to write down a larger number. So, if you're limited to, say, 8 digits, you can only write 100,000,000 different numbers (0 to 99999999).\n\nComputers store number in binary, which only has two bits (binary digits): 0 and 1. You count in binary as 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, etc. This is still zero, one, two, three, four, five: we just write them differently.\n\nIf you have 8 bits you can store a number between 0 and 255. So, if your color is stored as an 8-bit value, your system can only have 256 possible colors.\n\nIn general with n bits you can store 2^n different numbers (colors, in that analogy). With 16 bits you can store 65536, with 32 you can have a little over 4 billion, and with 64 bits you can store around 20 million trillion.",
"It's a reference to the number of bits a CPU can process in a single cycle. Older consoles like NES had 8 bit processors so the animations and graphics it was able to produce are now referred to as 8 bit graphics.\n\nSimilarly the SNES was a 16 bit process and as a result of that and it's other improved hardware components was able to produce more colorful and greater detailed graphics.",
"When people refer to art or music as \"8-bit\", they're saying that it mimics the style of early 8-bit video game systems, mostly the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Characters are blocky & have limited colors. Music has a limited number of voices, simple sounds & a lack of complex dynamics.\n\n16-bit is similar but offers higher resolution, more colors & more musical range."
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3uwt2a | with respect to machines and brains, what is singularity? | I heard some people talking about singularity and becoming a machine and how long it will take. What do they mean and how long will it take? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3uwt2a/eli5_with_respect_to_machines_and_brains_what_is/ | {
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"A singularity is an AI (artificial intellegence) capable of improving itself repeatedly (increasing its own intellegence). Or designing other computers/AI smarter than itself. Thus creating a \"snowball effect\" where the computers get smarter and smarter eventually far exceeding the human intellegence. Such an AI has not yet been created, but some people fear the possibility of it happening accidentally."
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3ifnph | why do pets sometimes beg to come inside only to immediately want to go back out again? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ifnph/eli5_why_do_pets_sometimes_beg_to_come_inside/ | {
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"I believe they are playing \"how long can I make the human stand here opening and closing the door.\"\n\nCats are especially entertained by it.",
"Twas brillig, and the slithy toves\n Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:\nAll mimsy were the borogoves,\n And the mome raths outgrabe.",
"Maybe they want you to come with them.. Or maybe they're checking up on the place to make sure everything is alright... Or maybe they just feel like it. "
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balx5h | an encryption key in cryptography. what it is and how it's used in relation to something like aes | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/balx5h/eli5_an_encryption_key_in_cryptography_what_it_is/ | {
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"TLDR: Think of the algorithm AES like a lock, and the encryption key like the key.\n\nAES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is a method of encrypting data. Essentially it is a set of reversible mathematical formulas that you apply to your data.\n\nEssentially AES and other encryption methods scramble data to the point where anyone looking at it would assume it's a bunch of gobbledygook. This protects your data by preventing people who access it from being able to read it. But it has to be reversible, in other words you need to be able to get the original data back otherwise it would be pointless.\n\nNow here's the problem. Imagine you create an encryption algorithm from scratch. Let's assume for the sake of simplicity that it performs a simple substitution. A > G, B > R, etc based on a pre-generated table. When you apply this to a message, the data is scrambled and becomes unreadable. But so long as you know the method used to encrypt the data, and you have the substitution table, you can decrypt the message.\n\nNow you want this method to become a standard so that anyone in the industry can use it, which means you need to publish how it works. The problem then is since anyone can look up how the encryption method works it's relatively easy to decrypt any message using that technique.\n\nTo solve this you need to incorporate a 'Seed value' something that's unique to that particular encryption session. This is the Encryption key.\n\nAgain just for example, the key would be used to generate the substitution table. A > C, B > G, etc. You then design the algorithm that generates the substitution table so that whenever you use that password it always generates the same substitution table, but using a different password (even by one character) makes the table wildly different. This way even though the method used to encrypt the data and create the table is well-known, you can't re-create the exact table used to encrypt/decrypt the data unless you have the correct encryption key.\n\nIn this way you can create a standard method for encrypting data that you can publish, while allowing each encryption event to be unique.",
"Imagine I had a secret and I wanted to hide it.\n\nSo I put my secret down and I walk a loooooong distance away. Someone looking for the secret is going to have a hard time finding it.\n\nThat's doing cryptography using complex math (\"walking\" = doing calculations). The disadvantage is that its a simple straight line that's easy to reverse.\n\nSo what if instead, you hop sometimes, skip sometimes, jump sometimes, walk sometimes, and run sometimes. That makes it more complicated to trace your steps back to the origin, especially if each of those moves is in a different direction.\n\nThe key is telling you which way to skip, walk, and run (different for each). It makes it much much harder to find out where you came from."
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1n0eip | why is is that my computer can get a virus but my iphone can't? | I browse the Internet with my phone more than I do with my laptop, and yet it's my laptop that has problems. Why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1n0eip/eli5why_is_is_that_my_computer_can_get_a_virus/ | {
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"There are several iOS viruses out there, but they are extremely hard to get because of the controls iTunes and Apple puts on distribution of apps, any apps which pose a weakness hazard to iOS gets removed almost immediately, if they ever make it into the shop at all. Your computer on the other hand doesn't have the protection of only being able to get apps and software from a certain shop, so therefore it is more vulnerable to viruses coming from websites, emails, and downloads, get an anti-virus and that should solve most of the problems you are having as long as it is not related to torrent and file share sites, those are rampant with viruses which are very resilient against anti-viruses. All computers should have an anti-virus and a firewall, no matter the OS.",
"Your iPhone absolutely **can** get a virus. Several strains already exist, and have been out for a number of years.\n\nHowever, as you would know, Apple imposes a very strict *method* for installing stuff on your iPhone. Unless it is jailbroken, the only way is to go through the official Apple store. These apps get curated by Apple prior to being published, and this is where they usually identify harmful code.\n\nOn a normal computer, however, you can download pretty much *anything* from *anywhere* you want. This is **great** news normally, because it gives you so much more freedom and flexibility than Apple gives you; it's particularly great for businesses who have their own private software, and don't want Apple to see or sell it. But it also means - if you're not paying attention - you might accidentally download something you don't mean to. Because it could be coming from any source in the world, there's no gateway for it to be checked first. You're just placing your trust in it.\n\nTL;DR: In terms of technology, your iPhone is *just* as capable of getting a virus as your PC. But Apple creates a 'walled garden' with strict rules, which limits the probability.",
"There is a healthy amount of sandboxing in iOS (the operating system on your phone). This means that apps don't really have access to administrative areas of the phone. Think of it like a walled garden. The only processes that can make system changes are the ones built into the phone or distributed by apple. A windows computer is not like this, at all.",
"1. iOS is a proprietary off-shot of unix. It maintains all the security standards set by unix which prevent the vast majority of entry methods for viruses. Microsoft tried to do something similar with their user access control (UAC), but it was poorly implemented and just served to be an annoyance to experienced users and confusing to inexperienced users (you wouldn't believe how freaked out some people get when UAC pops up for a java update or because they want to delete a shortcut from their desktop).\n\n2. Apple regulates what can have access very strictly. The primary methods of infecting an iOS system is through iTunes or apple store. All software/media uploaded through those mediums are verified before being published so it's an extra line of defense against infection.\n\n3. Probably the biggest factor is that shear market dominance for windows based viruses and malware. The majority of hackers do not create viruses for fun, they create them to make money, and in relative terms, there is no money in the apple market. Home users, by a vast majority, use windows based systems. Large businesses and corporations also, for the most part, don't use apple products. If apple products became the dominant force in corporate and personal computing you would find your apple products suddenly becoming far more susceptible to viral infection because there would be more money in it for those that create the viruses.",
"This is just like the \"why can windows get a virus and macs cant?\" Question. Your question should be changed to \"why are viruses more popular on PCs than on the iphone?\". The other day i got a virus on my android and it was a bugger. It removed system settings such as uninstall options and access to certain files and it felt like i was running on the worlds first cpu when i have an s4 with a quad core cpu. \n\nViruses are more popular for PCs as people can still do more on a pc also there is normally a lot more data on PCs than there is on phones so a virus would normally cause a lot more damage on a PC. And the reason why viruses are more common on Windows PCs than macs (and linux) is because Windows is still most popular.",
"Simple .. Its iOS apps are protected due to \"whitelisting\" (itunes store) only certain apps can be installed. But with a computer the user is free to do whatever he wants and hence is not protected.\n\nIt is possible to create a real virus for iOS which bypasses all these checks (I am sure that certain people already have one) but it would take tremendous amount of money and resources to make and hence you won't see an attacker using it \"in the wild\" on normal users but rather for specific \"targeted\" attacks which are done silently. \n\nSource- I am a security researcher. ",
"Give it time.",
"Er, I hate to break this to you, but it surely can.",
"There are some really bad responses in here that really don't give you a good understanding. They are more of a rant, or half the story. \n\nOn a basic level - Your PC runs Windows OS, and your iPhone runs Unix. These operating work in different ways.\n\nWindows has been built like a hotel with all the doors unlocked. iOS (based from Unix) has been built like a hotel with all the doors locked. Unix is the base for both iOS and OS X, so in essence you are talking about these operating systems having much in common, just a different UI (keeping it basic, laymen). It is a double edge sword no matter how you slice it, so the compromise you make is up to you. \n\niOS/OS X only run what they allow. iOS on the iPhone can only run what you can get from the approved app store. OS X can run whatever software is designed to be run, but requires a password before any real action takes place (system files changed, access to said software granted etc etc). Windows allows whatever to be run and installed with access to pretty much everything straight out of the box. They have tried to deal with this via UAC (User Account Control) but it seems to do little good/not catch the stuff you need it to. Android is the same, open source and allows access to everything (after granting access when installing the app from the store). Because Android is the way it is, and allows pretty much whatever on the Play Store there has been quite a few malicious apps popping up.\n\nApple run a much more secure operating system environment from a Unix base, with many more intentional controls and restrictions. However, anything with a chip can be hacked and changed. Nothing is free from malicious software/activity/viruses etc etc\n\nIt also has a fair bit to do with the market share being much in the favour of Windows. 90% or something in that region? Much more cost and time effective to write a small bit of software, that can bypass UAC and self install with a target audience as massive as Windows.\n\nI really don't know a hell of a lot about this. Its very complicated after saying \"Because apple don't allow self executing files to run, where as windows does\"...\n\nEDIT: Also (and lets just face the music here) Windows is built like shit when compared to OS X in the long run. Windows does a terrible job at optimisation as more and more software is loaded. OS X seems to do a much much better job. These problems over time can appear as if you have a virus/malware, but really its just \"bloating\", as they say.\n\nEDIT EDIT: Much of this is very \"loose\" terminology as I'm simply trying to make it more... understandable? Without being overly complicated. \n\nEDIT EDIT EDIT: The word \"Virus\" is very loaded. ",
"A virus is a simple computer program. A computer program (not a script, but a program), has to be compiled. When it's compiled, it is turned into machine language spcifically for the type of machine and operating system it will be run on.\n\nSo, since 90% of the computers using the Internet are X86 chip sets running Windows, 90% of the viruses are compiled for x86 and Windows.\n\nSo, the bottom line is that you iPhone can get a virus, there just aren't that many out there.",
"1. It on different processor, x86/64 and ARM processor have different instruction code. That is why we can't install Windows apps on Windows RT or Mac apps to iOS. \n2. It on different OS/Kernel, Again, Kernel has different way to handle executable. Windows are NT Kernel and Mac/iOS/Linux are unix-like kernel so it can't run the same way you run on Windows. \n3. Sandbox, Like many people say, Apple has create a \"walled garden\" to make sure that there is nothing bad happen in their ecosystem. That is why jailbreak existed.",
"I haven't seen a very good explanation yet of what I think the core of the issue is, and I'm not an expert, but I can pretend to be one if it'll make people feel better.\n\nOn a Windows PC, the person using the computer is able to change or edit every area of the system. Depending on how the system is set up and which version of Windows you're running, this can either be done directly, or by gaining administrator privileges (which you can do just by pressing one button - via a mechanism called UAC). If you go to install something, and your machine goes BOOP, presents you with a darkened screen with one big box in the middle with a button in it, this is UAC. By clicking that button you are allowing a program to access system files. This means that any program the user downloads and runs can also do this. This is the most frequently used method by which malware gets installed - the user downloads something malicious accidentally, and runs it. The malicious program then changes areas of the system to install itself and do whatever malicious thing it was intended to do.\n\niOS, the operating system (program code that helps the phone run - I am ELI5ing here) does something different. The user of the phone is only given access to change certain areas of the system, and each application that is installed is given its own area of the system to save its files and not allowed to access anywhere else. This is called sandboxing. By using this method, it reduces massively the potential for someone downloading and running something malicious by accident.\n\nThe only way to get malware onto an iPhone is by you, or the person creating the malware, finding a bug in the system software that allows code to be run outside of the limited area normally allowed (the sandbox).\n\nThe second aspect to this is the closed app store - that is you can only get programs for iOS from Apple's store, and if Apple find a program that has malicious code in it, they remove it from the store.\n\nThese two mechanisms drastically reduce the ability for malware to get onto the phone. That's not to say that an iPhone can't get a virus, it's just dramatically less likely than it is for a PC running Windows.",
"It's because the demand for creating viruses that would infect Mac OS and iOS is very small. The viruses exists but are very low in numbers, while there may be trillions(exaggerating) of viruses for Windows. Most, if not all, companies use Windows to run their servers that hold databases with customer and company information. There isn't that great of a demand to steal the pictures of flowers that Nana took with her iPhone.",
"Short answer: Your phone can get hit with malware. It’s just a small computer. However, due to a few factors, you’re certainly less like to experience malware on your phone compared to your PC. \n\nThere are two sides to computer security to consider: vulnerabilities and threats. While both exist on just about any computing platform, some have more than others. It just so happens that PCs have far more of both relative to phones.\n\nLet’s start with vulnerabilities. A vulnerability is like a cracked window or a door left unlocked. A burglar may come by and open the door or he might not, but the key is that the risk of a burglary is much greater if you have unlocked doors and open windows. So why does a PC have more of them than a smart phone? Simple: There are lot more doors and windows and some of them are almost always unlocked. There are several factors as to why this is. First, PCs are expected to do more. Or more accurately, they are expected to be CAPABLE of doing more. While you may only pop open your laptop to check your email and browse reddit, the guy next door is drafting architecture designs and someone down the street is compiling code.. and all three of you are probably doing it on Windows 7. You phone is more restrictive (although less so every day). The operating systems are scaled down to only support the bare necessities. This keeps cost down by requiring cheaper hardware and also keeps battery life at a reasonable level. Just to get an idea of what your PC is doing in the background, right click on your task bar and open the task manager. Now go to the Processes and Services tabs and notice all the stuff running. To put it simply, that’s your PC being prepared for whatever you might throw at it. A website needs to run a Java applet? Your PC is ready. Opening a PDF? It’ll only take a second. Your phone generally isn’t prepared to do things like that instantly. Why does this matter? Because the fact that your PC is ready and waiting to be quick and helpful to you means that it’s also vulnerable to attackers. Think of it like leaving a key under your doormat so that your brother can get into your house while you’re at work to pick something up. Sure, it’s convenient, and it might even be necessary.. but it’s certainly a vulnerability no matter how you slice it. Phone operating systems are, by nature, less prone to these vulnerabilities because there are fewer doors and windows to be concerned with because the phone isn’t expected to be able to handle so many different roles.\n\nThe other side of the coin is threats. This point of view considers why someone would want to attack your machine. Most viruses of any consequence are trying to accomplish one of two things: 1) Establish remote control for bot-net purposes or 2) Sell you something (scareware). Of course there are many other flavors, but those are the two that I see the most on the average person’s PC that present some real danger. So why are there more threats to PCs than phones? The first one is easy. Your PC is likely connected to the internet all the time, has plenty of processing power, and has no problem with hidden processes running in the background. This makes it a perfect zombie computer in a bot-net. Just a quick explanation: A bot-net is a bunch of PCs being used for nefarious purposes, unknown to the owners. Think of a guy controlling 5000 phones and using them to call your local pizza place over and over again. The pizza place’s phone system would be jammed up and no orders could come in. The same thing can be done to websites and other targets on the net. A phone lacks the processing power and general ability to run background processes to be a good candidate for a bot-net. Not saying it can’t happen, phones are just not the likely targets. The second one is more difficult to address, and I have been seeing it pop up more and more lately on phones. The general idea is that phones are a bit more restrictive on installing software, so it’s harder for the scareware to sneak onto your system in the first place. However, some of the more open platforms (android) and jailbreaking/rooting can disable this protection. \n\nTo summarize, think of your computing platform like a house. Your PC is a big house with many doors and windows and unless you know what you’re doing, some of them are going to be unlocked or there will be a key under the mat. Your phone is like a small apartment with a good doorman at the front door of the building. The house is simply an easier target to break into, and there is a greater incentive to do so. Malware coders don’t have the resources to write code to attack every platform, so they generally pick the one that will be able to hit the largest audience and produce the biggest results. It’s the same reason Internet Explorer is thought to be more dangerous to use than other browsers (that and IE users tend to be less tech-savvy and therefore more susceptible.) \n\nAlso, you probably watch more porn on your PC because the screen is larger and your hands are free. In fact, that’s probably the #1 reason why PCs get more malware than phones. \n\nSource: I'm a CISSP.\nEdit: Formatting",
"because your laptop has lots of unprotected promiscuous sex",
"This isn't the end all be all solution to your question, but it plays a part in it. \n\nYou know how you have a documents, pictures, music, etc folder on your computer? Where you keep all your data? To some people this is known as a home folder. \n\nApps have their own internal version of this, called a sandbox and each app gets their own. An app can say, I want to save a document in the documents folder. It doesn't actually go to your home folder, it goes to the internal documents folder. Apps don't have the ability to see nor interact with what is in your home folder, nor the home folder of other apps.\n\nLet's say you download a word processing app that on January 1st, 2014, deletes all of your data. You go ahead and use it, create a ton of documents and when that day comes, the app sends the command to delete everything, and it does, but because of the restrictions on the app, it only deletes what is in the sandbox. The app doesn't know or have the ability to know that files and folders don't exist outside of that sandbox. Even if you were to get malware, it's effect would be limited to the app itself. \n\nApps that communicate with other apps go through a TSA like process where only approved items can travel between sandboxes. A command like, delete everything is not approved but a PNG file would be.",
"Question might as well be why is porn ok on my iphone but not my laptop"
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1vd7yd | how do 'pausable' downloads work? | When a file is downloading, how does it know where to stop and start again? Why is there no lost information because of mistakes that occur when downloads are stopped or started?
I understand the basics of programming (I took a few courses on C), and searched the net, but still don't /quite/ get it. Thanks Reddit! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vd7yd/eli5_how_do_pausable_downloads_work/ | {
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"Using the \"Range\" header in HTTP.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nHTTP is the protocol that is used to communicate between the browser and the server. When requesting a file, the browser can add something like this to the request:\n\n Range: bytes=1000-\n\nwhich tells the server to send only the part of the file that starts in position 1000.",
"By splitting up how much of the file get set at once. Say the movie you are downloading is marked into 3 different parts and you stop the download half way through the second part then, when you resume the download, a request is sent to the server to start the download from the start of part 2."
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HTTP_header_fields#range-request-header"
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3ehj5k | why do people throw coins into ponds and fountains and then make wishes? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ehj5k/eli5_why_do_people_throw_coins_into_ponds_and/ | {
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"\"The idea that a wish would be granted came from the idea that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and often a scarce commodity.\"\n\nSource: [Wikipedia](_URL_0_)\n"
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wishing_well"
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||
1kuhqq | why do some television shows get cancelled when they are still extremely popular? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kuhqq/eli5_why_do_some_television_shows_get_cancelled/ | {
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"Because the people responsible for making it no longer want to do it and want to move on to something else, or because the show is so expensive it can't be profitable, or else because regardless of whether it could be popular, the production company that has to pay for it can't afford it."
]
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o5ogz | bush-era tax cuts, why they are good/bad, and the pros and cons of extending them | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o5ogz/eli5_bushera_tax_cuts_why_they_are_goodbad_and/ | {
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"The Bush tax cuts lowered the federal tax rate for income for all income ranges. People that earned more (and therefore had a higher tax rate) had a bigger cut to their taxes percentage wise. Politicians generally don't like to do things permanently (in case there are unforeseen circumstances, or so they can use the same issue to score points with the voters), so they were set to expire after Bush would leave office.\n\nThe good part was that people had lower taxes. \n\nThe bad part was we didn't cut our spending when we cut the taxes, so the government borrowed a ton of money to cover that spending. \n\nThe pro of extending them is that people will keep more of their paycheck, and politicians will get to say \"we didn't raise your taxes\".\n\nThe con is we will either continue borrowing money or have to cut some services from the government. Cutting government services almost always means some government workers lose their jobs and people that depend on those services have a harder time of it.\n\nThere's a controversial idea that, depending on who you believe, is either a pro or con. There's something called the Laffer Curve, which basically says \"If tax rate is 0%, tax revenue will be zero, but if tax rate is 100%, tax revenue will still be zero because nobody will work if they just lose all their money to taxes. Somewhere between these is a percentage that give you maximum tax revenue\". \n\nA simple idea, but with two issues. One, some people argue that a tax rate of 100% just means the government provides you everything you need, so people would still work (this is called communism - hasn't worked out so well in practice). The other issue is that nobody knows for sure what percentage that maximum point is.\n\nConservatives think we are to the right of the peak, so lowering taxes means more people will work/invest, and income will go up. So extending the tax break means people keep investing/working. Liberals think we are to the left of the curve, where raising the tax rate just means we get more tax revenue to pay for things, and people will keep working/investing at nearly the same rate. History seems to indicate the Liberals are right about the curve (some economists think the peak is at 65%), but nobody knows for sure and it's hard to test."
]
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9r30dp | what is the upcoming us election for? what are the possible outcomes and how would this effect the next presidential election? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9r30dp/eli5_what_is_the_upcoming_us_election_for_what/ | {
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"The entire US house of Representatives and 1/3 of the Senate (the two federal legislative Chambers).\n\nMany state/local legislature and executive positions, and some referendum questions.\n\nBasically, at the federal level, if the voters install a primarily Democratic legislature, it could make it harder for the Republican party to pass any legislation they want. (Assuming a bill is sharply divided along party lines)",
"these are the mid term elections. \n\nIn the US congress, they have the senate filled with state senators, as well as the house of representatives filled with, you guessed it, representatives.\n\nmost government type things go through congress, they are on 6 year terms so every 2 years 1/3 of senators and reps are up for election.\n\n",
"Congress is separated into the House of Representatives and the Senate. They are elected at different intervals. State representatives are re-elected every two years. Senators are re-elected every 6 years, but it's staggered so about 1/3 of the Senators are up for election every 2 years.\n\nThis election is called a mid-term election because it doesn't align with the presidential election every 4 years.\n\nEdit: This won't directly effect the next presidential election except that if the majority changes hands, it could affect the effectiveness of the President's policies. Since the President doesn't have the ability to write laws (He can veto bills or sign/approve bills), he's dependent on Congress to send him bills that fit with his agenda. When the opposition is in control of Congress, that may not happen. That may reflect poorly on him in the public's eyes in 2 years",
"The 2018 election is for members of congress.\n\nMembers of the House of Representatives are up for election every 2 years, so they are all up for reelection this year.\n\nMembers of the Senate are up for election every 6 years, but its membership is staggered such that about 1/3 of the senate is up for reelection every 2 years.\n\nThe potential outcomes of this election are mainly the possibility of either or both houses becoming controlled by the Democratic Party (they are both currently held by the Republican Party) or the republicans maintaining increasing their hold on the houses of congress.",
"At the federal level, the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms so they're up for election every two years. Senators are elected to six-year term, staggered 1/3 of the seats are up for election every two years. If Democrats take control of their the House or the Senate they can finally hold hearings into abuses by the president, which will obviously have an effect on the next elections.\n\nIn the name of efficiency, we like to combine things into big annual \"general elections\" so a ton of other things are up. It varies by location but depending on where you live, you could be voting on your mayor, school district, state legislators, governor, or any of numerous other offices. This election is extremely important because we do a census every 10 years to redraw congressional districts and we're coming up on a new census. Federal districts are drawn by state governments. States also are responsible for actually holding elections and control over state governments means a huge degree of influence over all elections. A decade ago Republicans were able to take control of most state governments and have engaged in a concerted effort of voter suppression and egregious gerrymandering ever since. If they didn't win those state-level positions a decade ago, they would almost certainly have far, far fewer people in federal office today. There's a pretty good chance we'd have a different president. \n\nIn short, this is a very, very important election.",
"Because of Trump’s abuse of power, voters are angry. They’re finally aware at how important the other branches of government are since POTUS has also tried to take over the judiciary as well as holding congress. When Dems have the house back, they will restart investigations into Trump corruption the GOP stalled or ended before being complete. ",
"Questions like this are better in r/askanamerican."
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4ykcjh | days of the week | Where'd they get their names and why are they capitalized? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ykcjh/eli5_days_of_the_week/ | {
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"A lot of them are named in honour of Norse mythology gods (Tuesday = Tyr's Day, Wednesda is Wodan/Odin, Thursday is Thor, Friday is Frigg). Saturday is named after Saturn, Sunday and Monday are based on old Anglo-Saxon words. \n\nThey're capitalised because they're proper nouns. ",
"* Sun Day\n* Moon Day\n* Woden's Day\n* Thor's Day\n* Freyja's Day\n* Saturn's Day\n\n",
"Monday: from Old English *mondæg*, literally 'Moon Day'.\n\nTuesday: from Old English *tiwesdæg*, named after Tiu (Norse God Tyr).\n\nWednesday: from Old English *wodnesdæg*, named after Germanic God Woden.\n\nThursday: from Old English *þurresdæg*, meaning Thor's Day.\n\nFriday: from Old English *frigedæg* which means Frigga's Day (wife of Odin in Germanic mythology).\n\nSaturday: from Old English *sæterdæg*, literally 'Saturn Day' \n\nSunday: from Old English *sunnandæg*, literally... Sun Day\n\n",
"And in the Latin languages (French, Italian and the likes) it represents the planets of our solar system: \nlundi - day of Moon\nmardi - day of Mars\nmercredi - day of Mercury\njeudi - day of Jupiter\nvendredi - day of Venus\nsamedi - day of Saturn\n(dimanche - day of the Lord)"
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64266f | how is distilled water produced ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64266f/eli5_how_is_distilled_water_produced/ | {
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"Distilled water is heated into vapor and then condensed in a condensation chamber back into water. This removes all particles that cannot evaporate with the water and other liquids who's vapor point is at a much higher point than water.\n\nA solar still uses this method to remove salt from salt water for consumotion"
]
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5jrsoc | why do dictators call for vote if people only can vote for them. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jrsoc/eli5_why_do_dictators_call_for_vote_if_people/ | {
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"So that they can claim they were \"democratically\" elected, which provides the perception of legitimacy. \n\nThat perception, however much bullshit it actually is, is useful for preventing challenges to the state.",
"Even a dictator needs a way to make themselves appear \"legit\", so they need to put on the appearance, one way or another, that the people love them.\n\nNow, even if they are the only *real* option, dictatorships often have some \"straw\" candidates. They might allow some unpopular opposition figurhead to run for election, but not allow them to do any campaigning. That way, it appears on paper that there were choices for the voters, but that's not really the case.",
"As stated by the other answers: For the appearance of legitimacy.\n\nIn the old Soviet Union, for instance, only the Communist Party was allowed to put up candidates for office. Theoretically, that was supposed to result in a narrowly defined range of acceptable opinions that people could choose between. In reality, the party bosses just picked the person they wanted for each elected position and then told each elected person what to do once they were in their position.\n\nAs Henry Ford once supposedly said about the Model T: \"You can have it in any color you want, as long as it's black.\""
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1b1155 | if you tried to breathe in space what would your lungs do exactly? | Not talking about how you would freeze to death or how your blood would boil, just the lungs aspect. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1b1155/if_you_tried_to_breathe_in_space_what_would_your/ | {
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"Did you know that lungs are not a muscle? You can actually not inflate your lungs. What you can do is inflate your torso by using your rib cage muscles and your diaphragm, and since your lungs are in your torso, they will inflate too, because they are \"sucked\" in.\n\n[Here's a nice video](_URL_0_) that explains how this works using a bottle and balloons. Notice how it's suction from the inside of the bottle (torso) that inflates the balloon (lungs).\n\nBut this suction trick only works when there's air around you. The pressure inside your torso is lower than the air around you, so it sucks air in the lungs. If there's no air around, the pressure inside will never be lower than the pressure around, so the lungs will never be sucked in.\n\nSo, in space (or any vacuum) the balloon will instantly deflate, no matter how you try to breathe in. You can use your muscles to enlarge your ribcage or lower your diaphragm, but the lungs inside will stay deflated."
]
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4zjcwa | how can ants be so "intelligent"? | Idea came from the post about what ants do in rain.
Is their "intelligence" just a byproduct of having many built in functions based on stimuli, and it's not really "intelligence" as we know it?
Are they analyzing information, weighing options, checking with other ants,etc? Or, is it as basic as -- "If rain, do this instinctual process," The reactions are in their DNA (or whatever) and it's not "thinking", it is more like a computer program?
Have any studies shown "ant empathy?" I.e. they are following their "program", see another ant (of lesser importance, thousands to replace it), in peril, so they go stop and assist that ant? Or no, not unless it's the queen or a more important ant?
TL;DR: Are the complex ant processes merely a set of "if/when, then" in their DNA, or is it true "intelligence" as we know it?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zjcwa/eli5_how_can_ants_be_so_intelligent/ | {
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"The term is [Emergent behavior](_URL_0_) or intelligence. The idea is that when you have a small set of simple rules repeated in large numbers you get impressive displays of 'intelligence'.\n\nAnts are simple. They do not weigh options, even as a colony. They have a series of \"if this, do that\" rules hard wired. \n\nIf food, bring home and release a chemical trail that says 'food this way'. \n\nIf I come across a trail that says food this way, follow it until food is found.\n\nand so on. Repeat this kind of thing millions of times over and you get an emergent intelligence that can do some really impressive stuff. \n\nThere's a branch of AI that uses [Swarm Intelligence](_URL_1_), the idea being \"If I make a set of simple rules for a computer, and then create millions of agents all following those rules, I'll get a form of intelligence the same way ants do.",
"Ants and their actions are driven by smells. They have several pheromones that direct their actions. And you can pretty much drive their actions by directing the pheromones. So....a lot of it is instinct driven by their genes....not intelligence.\n"
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_intelligence"
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3g6e27 | with all the advancements in technology, why does the dentist need a metal pick to clean my teeth still? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3g6e27/eli5_with_all_the_advancements_in_technology_why/ | {
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"What do you expect them to do? We aren't as advanced as you'd think, we haven't gotten past the simple answer to removing gunk is something to scrape the surface. There are sonic devices some dentists use but the old tools work fine. Why fix what isn't broken?",
"Because it's cheap, easy to use, and gets results. We totally are able to have all of that fancy equipment. But it's just more logical to go the cheaper route if it works well.",
"Dentists mostly use an ultrasonic scaler to clean your teeth actually. You want something more advanced than a freaking ULTRASONIC scaler? "
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3ee26d | why does a company's value not reflect their stock price? i.e. apple being the first $700 billion company, but shares are only $125 | Pretty self explanatory, I'm assuming it has something to do with shares issued? But I don't know, I'm sure there is a lot.
Edit: Just using Apple as an example everyone could understand. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ee26d/eli5_why_does_a_companys_value_not_reflect_their/ | {
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"[A few months ago Apple had a stock split](_URL_0_) where each share you owned became 7 shares. At the time Apple's stock price was hovering just under $700. If the split hadn't happened the stock would be worth around $900 per share today.\n\nedit: holy crap that split was already over a year ago. Damn.",
"The value of the company is considered to be the total value of all the shares outstanding.",
"That's $125 per share. There can be an unlimited number of shares issued and in the case of apple it's around 5.7 billion shares. So $125 * 5,700,000,000,000 = $712,500,000,000,000",
"Company valuation is based on the share price multiplied by the number of shares the company has issued.\n\nEach share of Apple stock is worth $125 right now. [Google Finance](_URL_0_) gives an approximation of 5.7 billion shares of Apple stock outstanding.\n\n5 700 000 00 * $125 = $712 billion valuation.",
"The valuation of a company is (to use a simplified model) = # of shares x $share price, where share price roughly equals the (investor's preceived) ability of the company to either appreciate in value or return an investor money in the form of dividends.\n\nIn the case of Apple, if its maket capitalization (estimated \"worth\") is $700B, and shares are $125, you can estimate that there must be ~5.6 billion shares owned by investors.",
"Stocks are likes slices of pizza.\n\nYou can cut a big pizza into a bunch of tiny slices, or a small pizza into a few large slices. Bigger slice does not mean bigger pizza.",
"Is apple a good buy today?"
]
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"https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ:AAPL"
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f83uvv | can we transfer animal organs into humans? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f83uvv/eli5_can_we_transfer_animal_organs_into_humans/ | {
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"One of the primary problems with organ transplantation is [transplant\\_rejection](_URL_1_). That is the immune system identifies the transplanted organ as not a part of the body and attack and tries to destroy it as it does with a bacterial or viral infection. So you match organs by the way the body identifies tissue to reduce the risk even in transplantation between humans. You also use immunosuppressant drugs to reduce the risk.\n\nThe results are that taking organs from another animal then the human is a lot harder than human tissue but the experiment is done primarily with pigs because they are quite similar in size and biology. Ther are articles of possible [Pig to human heart transplants 'possible within three years](_URL_0_). So it might work but it has not been done yet.\n\nYou can transparent some parts from animals like heart valves. They are if I understand correctly more of connective tissue a bit like tendons and not regular cells so they are simple to transplant.\n\nI also suspect a heart is the simplest organ to transparent because it is quite independent and just need to attach the blood vessels and it will pump blood by itself. A lung would need to fit inside the cavity so the shape is more relevant is a cheetah lung is likey a lot harder than a heart. Even organs like livers that have complex biochemical functions would be harder as the need to match the human requirement.\n\nA heart just needs to pump blood and absorb nutrients and oxygen from the blood. It interacts with the surroundings is quite simple."
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"https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/aug/19/pig-to-human-heart-transplants-possible-within-three-years-terence-english",
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cucfee | why is hiv more prevalent in the american south than anywhere else in the country? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cucfee/eli5_why_is_hiv_more_prevalent_in_the_american/ | {
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"Poverty and lack of education. I live in South Carolina: #48 in education, #1 in mobile home sales. Mississippi still thinks that only gays get HIV.",
"I’d wager it’s because the south’s sexual education has been severely lacking for years. Many schools aren’t obligated to teach a sexual education course and many of those that are teach abstinence-only education. \n\nSo when the youth inevitably ignore the only thing they were taught about sex, they don’t know how to perform the act responsibly. This leads to more unprotected sex which brings about unwanted pregnancies and higher transmission rates of STDs.",
"Mobile user, sorry for formatting.\nI live in Alabama and actually worked in this field for a while. There's a few factors.\n1. Religion. Because most of the South is conservative Christian, there's a huge stigma regarding sex before marriage. You shouldn't do it, and if you do, you don't talk about it, and if you catch an STD, it's what you deserve for your sin of extramarital sex. The religious atmosphere also creates an even bigger stigma around being LGBT. So if you're a sinner for having extramarital sex, you're an even bigger sinner for having gay sex, and you definitely deserve whatever you contract.\n2. Sex Education. Sex Ed in Alabama is a joke. It's abstinence-only education. Homosexuality is presented as a dangerous lifestyle. Discussion of contraception or STD preventatives is discouraged. I myself was told that I didn't need the HPV vaccine because I \"was a good girl.\"\n3. Economic issues. Eight Alabama counties don't have hospitals at all. Rural health providers tend to be very conservative, and they don't always ask the right questions of their patients to ensure they have good sexual health. Lots of people lack health insurance, and the religious stigma keeps them from talking to their providers about sexual health as well. Imagine living in a small town, where the one doctor treats everyone- you don't want them knowing your sex life.\n4. Incarceration. The prison systems in the South are an absolute disgrace. They test inmates for HIV upon entry, but not on release. They do this so they don't have to acknowledge that sex and drug activity are happening. If there's no data, it's not happening. Overcrowding, understaffing, and limited healthcare also contribute. Furthermore, upon release, if inmates are unaware of their status, they won't take the necessary precautions to keep from spreading disease.\n5. HIV healthcare, or the lack thereof. There are very few healthcare providers who know what HIV looks like, much less how to treat it. Telemedicine is helping with that, but it's still a problem.\n6. Intravenous drug use. States without needle exchange programs see higher rates of HIV.\n7. Poverty. Example: You're a black man from a small town. Your family gets by doing lawn care, running a small hair salon, and slinging a little weed on the side. You get caught and end up in prison. You get jumped and raped, and you unknowingly contact HIV. You do your time, get out, and the first thing you wanna do is go hook up with your girl who's been waiting for you. You pass HIV to her, and later, to your unborn child. You two split up because prison was hard on you, and as a felon, you're having a hard time finding a job. You hook up with a few girls on the side, passing HIV to them, too. When your ex finally goes to the obstetrician for her pregnancy, they do a state mandated HIV test, revealing that both she and the fetus are HIV positive. She confronts you with this. The closest HIV healthcare provider is two hours away. You manage to get both of you into care, but it's hard to stay in care, and you don't want the only pharmacy in town to know you've got HIV, so you only fill your prescriptions when you go to your HIV doctor. This means your viral load fluctuates, and you have a higher chance of spreading HIV to others and of suffering more from the disease. \n\nLike I said, there's a lot going on, but this was the best response I could muster early on my day off. Hope it helps. You can check out _URL_0_ for more specific stats and info.",
"All of the explanations given so far no doubt fit into people's prejudices - and are incorrect.\n\nThe primary reason is *demographics*: the South has more black people.\n\nFor whatever reason, blacks are far more susceptible to HIV than whites. As a result, areas with a large number of black people also tend to have high HIV rates. The reverse is true as well - if you don't have many black people, you don't generally have much HIV.\n\nOther demographic factors include where gay men and sex workers cluster - again, the rate of HIV is primarily linked to risk categories, not any features of the governance of the area."
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2k1o7g | why don't news networks like cnn, abc, cbs, or nbc claim to be "fair and balanced" like fox news does? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2k1o7g/eli5_why_dont_news_networks_like_cnn_abc_cbs_or/ | {
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"The narrative at Fox is that all other news stations are biased (and of course, Fox isn't...), so they use that slogan so that their viewers think that they need to only watch Fox if they want \"real\" news.",
"It's like when someone says \"Honestly...\" and you know they are lying immediately. ",
"Because... \" If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.\"\n -Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf",
"A news provider that has to call itself \"fair and balanced\" is like a used car salesman who has to call himself \"Honest Bob\".\n\nNo one who doesn't already drink the Fox News kool-aid takes that slogan seriously, and would be scornful of another network that tried something similar.",
"Likewise, how democratic is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? If you include Democratic in your name, you probably aren't. If you include \"fair and balanced\" in your advertising . . .\n",
"Because most networks assume that they are viewed as sources of news and are therefore credible. FOX news is aware that it is highly suspected of being intensely biased and partisan, so they try and remind viewers that they are NOT those things. In other words, they are defensive.",
"Because \"Fair & Balanced\" is a [registered trademark of Fox News](_URL_0_).\n\nOther networks can't use that phrase to describe themselves."
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2c6gyq | professional wrestling. is it all fixed? why? | I was massively out of the loop until just barely when I read that almost every competitive wrestling match is NOT actually competitive, they're fixed entertainment. Since When? Are there any REAL competitions anymore, was there ever? Or is it all fake? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2c6gyq/eli5_professional_wrestling_is_it_all_fixed_why/ | {
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"Olympic/amateur wrestling is real.\n\nProfessional wrestling, as in WWF/WWE and its variants and offshoots, is and always has been scripted. It's entertainment, not an actual sporting event. They are acting and following predetermined storylines.",
"I was in the business for over 4 years. Yes, the business is and *almost* always has been fixed. It's entertainment along the lines of a very physical stunt show. Some utilize more soap opera and theatrics than others, but the aim is always to tell a story via a staged (yet very physical) fight scene.\n\nPro Wrestling is rooted in the traveling circus. It began as a type of strongman contest, with a challenger in the crowd agreeing to go up against a strongman or wrestler in either a direct competition or to last so many minutes. This always drew a solid crowd, but they quickly realized that they could simply stage these competitions and avoid most, if not all the potential pain and injuries.\n\nThis rigged show eventually evolved into something that looked a lot more like a modern day wrestling show, with a ring and all. And you can even see early depictions of this in some films from the first half of the 20th century (the 3 stooges did it a time or two in their shorts). And with time, the show split off from the circus entirely.\n\nBut like the circus, carny speak and practices are used by the performers and promoters. This originally was done to protect the business from scrutiny that might cause people to stop buying tickets. But since the 80s when Vince McMahon coined the term sports-entertainment and admitted to it being physical theatrics, kayfabe (the carny code) is now used to maintain suspension of disbelief during performances--no different than efforts put into performances on TV, film, and theater to keep the audience engaged during even the most odd moments.\n\nIt's incredibly physical, but ultimately the shows are scripted. Workers know who is going over and usually how. Most workers call matches on the fly with only a few key spots planned ahead (bigger moments like the finish, riskier moves, and anything else they want to be sure to work into the performance). But some prefer to (or absolutely must) plan everything as much as possible.\n\nSome of the moves don't hurt at all. Some are incredibly risky and dangerous. Most punches and kicks are pulled, though some guys can't throw a punch for shit. This means they either look bad and real fake with no contact...or they just throw legit punches in the hope that it looks a lot better than the alternative. The key is to make it look as good and real as possible for the audience while protecting each other.\n\nThere have been some attempts over the years to present a more legitimate product, but people still prefer (overall) the theatrical BS than some MMA-lite product. Why? Because it's entertaining. And unlike a real fight, you know you're in for a real show with as much physical effort but a lot more flash and drama. It's Shakespeare in the Park with bodyslams and chair shots.",
"\"Pro\" wrestling like the WWE is scripted and fake. It's entertainment, not a sports competition. It's all about personalities, storylines, and faked combat (many of the moves would seriously hurt people if they were real). It dates back to at least the 1950's if not before - there were traveling shows with different cartoonish wrestlers. Other countries have their own versions of it, like Mexico's \"Lucha Libre\".\n\nThere is amateur wrestling in high schools, colleges, and the Olympics, and it's 100% real. There is also practically zero spectator interest in it - even with all of the different Olympic sports that make it onto prime time TV, you will never see wrestling. It's pretty boring to watch."
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48q6wy | how does a two headed reptile/siamese twins work? how do they move their bodies assuming there are two brains? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/48q6wy/eli5_how_does_a_two_headed_reptilesiamese_twins/ | {
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"Typically each twin controls a different part of the body. Like the twin girls Brittany and Abigail Hensel. They give the appearance of being one body with two heads, though they have two of each organ above the waist. They have two arms, each controlling one. And from the waist down, they have one body, with each controlling one half. So each controls a leg, for example. There doesn't appear to be any part that both of their brains controls. So they coordinate with each other so that they can walk, but they each have their own body parts they use. In some cases of animals with two heads, only one head \"works\". The other head doesn't seem to have any reactions to stimuli so it's vestigial."
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41lf14 | why is turning a wheel the most common way to generate electricity? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41lf14/eli5_why_is_turning_a_wheel_the_most_common_way/ | {
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"Because we only know a few ways of actually creating an electric current.\n\n1. Chemical reactions. This is how batteries work.\n2. The Photo-electric effect. This is how solar panels work.\n3. Spinning a magnet inside a coil of wire. This is how every other form of power generation works. The spinning magnet causes charge to move through the coil, creating electricity. It's the primary method because it's much easier to scale up and generate city-scale levels of power than the other methods. You can't really create a city-sized battery, for example.",
"Machines that go round and round are just easier to build. \n\nWhile you *could* make a reciprocating generator, and they have been made from time to time for specialist uses, it'd be a right pain in the arse for every day use. The effort required to slow the mass down at the end of each stroke, then speed it up again for the return is wasteful and requires things to be stronger and heavier and more bulky than would be needed for a rotating machine.\n\nEngineers like things that rotate. It's easy to make, it's easy to control, and it's compact."
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5yiwsz | einstein field equations | Rμν−[1/2(gμνR)]+Λgμν=(8πG/c^4)Tμν
basically i need explained what the equation means, the symbols and what they all mean, and the important of it all | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5yiwsz/eli5einstein_field_equations/ | {
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"Start with the simplest form of it. [here](_URL_0_).\n\nT*_ab_* is the stress-energy tensor. It contains things like energy, momentum, and pressure.\n\nG*_ab_* is the Einstein tensor. It's related to the curvature of spacetime.\n\n8piG/c^(4) is just a unit conversion factor; you can choose to use units where this constant is equal to 1 if you wish (or just G = c = 1, so that this constant becomes 8pi).\n\nTo put this equation into words, it says \"mass and energy tell spacetime how to curve\".\n\nNow you can go to [this](_URL_1_) form of the equation, where G*_ab_* is written out more explicitly in terms of a tensor R*_ab_* and a scalar R. This is just a notational change, really.\n\nNow the final term to add is the Λg*_ab_*. Λ is the \"cosmological constant\". This takes into account the fact that space is expanding."
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3120z6 | why do some dog breeds' noses start off black and turn pink as they grow up? | Mostly I see this with yellow Labs and Golden Retrievers. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3120z6/eli5_why_do_some_dog_breeds_noses_start_off_black/ | {
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"Oh yay! A question I know the answer too because I read it in a book!\n\nSo, most mammals produce a pigment known as \"melanin\", which is a dark brown-blackish molecule that protects exposed skin from the harmful effects of UV light. It's the reason black people are black. Without it, skin is pink (think of the colour of the inside of your mouth)\n\nSo it just so happens that the genes that make dogs display aggressive behavior are generally \"linked\" to the genes that produce dark-colored melanin (also they're linked to the genes that make ears pointy)\n\nSo, as a side effect of us breeding the aggression out of dogs to make them lovable pets, we've also bred them to have pink noses and floppy ears.\n\nThe reason it takes a couple years to kick in is that dogs are kind of \"in-between\" right now. It's for the same reason that lots of people can drink milk when they're babies but not when they're adults without an upset stomach. Certain \"weak\" genes stop asserting themselves early into adulthood.",
"I believe you're talking about \"snow nose\" - the lightening of the nose pigment, mostly on the top, of some dogs as they age. It is due to color genetics and found only in \"recessive red\" dogs. \n\nThere are many alleles governing dog coat color. The E Allele (E is for extension) helps determine how eumelanin (black pigment) /phaeomelanin (red pigment) is expressed. There's a lot more going on but let's just talk about the recessive \"e\". \n\n Homozygous (two copies) of \"e\" results in a dog colored from a deep red (Irish Setter), gold (Golden Retrievers & Labs) to near white. One of the traits of a \"recessive red\" dog is that the nose pigment tends to fade as they get older. No one knows why. \n\n Recessive red looks a lot like clear sables which is on the A allele, however, clear sables's noses stay black. \n\nIf you go to this web page and go to the end of the \"recessive red\" section, you'll see examples of recessive red dogs with faded noses. _URL_0_ "
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5r2wmr | how do security forces prevent crowd-rushing of vips during protests? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5r2wmr/eli5_how_do_security_forces_prevent_crowdrushing/ | {
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"put up deterrant barriers and hire people with guns, with the threat of force, even deadly force.\n\nnot even the secret service can do anything if a crowd of 1,000,000 decided to zerg rush the white house.",
"Most measures of security can only buy time, in the case of a physical threat (like the crowd here, or an ambush) you buy time to escape the threat.\n\nIn the case of a VIP with a crowd, a means of escape like a limo should be waiting nearby and security should have an appropriate perimeter based on the crowd and threat. So, if the crowd starts pushing the fence down/climbing onto the stage/throwing tomatoes, the VIP has time to get to the car and drive off.\n\nHow they slow crowds down depends on the level of unrest and the threat, but fencing, distance, tear gas, threat of violence, actual violence, arrest, etc are all effective at slowing crowds."
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3vx9rj | why are vehicles still so unsafe? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3vx9rj/eli5_why_are_vehicles_still_so_unsafe/ | {
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"Crushing is absorbing impact. If they were made of material that did not crush it would transfer all force to the people inside and kill far more people. ",
"You're mistaking \"unsafe\" with... well... something, I'm not sure what. Not only is \"crushing\" a form of absorbing impact, it is also a very, very important safety feature in a car. That crushing absorbs the impact that might be transferred to you. \n\nCars, and most vehicles, are a *lot* safer that they used to be, but there's a limit as to how \"safe\" you can make a giant chunk of metal that hurtles at 100km/h or more. ",
"Cars are intentionally designed to crush on impact. The energy of an impact is converted into heat energy by bending the metal, sound energy. Plus it spreads the energy of the impact over a greater time period.\n\nEven bumper cars at fairs have springs behind the bumpers and rubber guards to help absorb the impact. Plus a bumper car is only going at 10-15 mph. A car has to be designed to protect the occupants in a head on crash, where both cars are going 70 mph. \n\nSee also _URL_0_",
"Cars are designed to crush on purpose. This makes them way way way safer than a car that doesnt. If you had a \"bumper car\" type crash at 60 mph you would die. The car would look fine but everyone inside would have had their organs shook so hard theyd be dead.",
"\"Maybe manufacturers could take a lesson from bumper cars at the fair.\"\n\nHAHA do you really think that manufacturers haven't been testing and improving cars with crash tests since they have been in existence?",
"Vehicles have what are called crumple zones there specific sections of the car that are designed to crush like a soda can and redirect the energy from the impacts around the driver and cab of the vehicle.",
"What you're asking for there is how cars were a hundred years ago. They used to test them for safety by rolling them sideways down hills and assessing the damage at the bottom. The more pristine the car looked, the \"safer\" it was. \n\nUnfortunately in reality all that meant was the less damage the car showed, the less energy it was absorbing, so the more it was transferring to you, the hapless driver. \n\nSo after a crash, while the car comes out looking brand new, meanwhile you've been turned into person pureé inside. \n\nThis is why modern cars crumple like paper cups. That crumpling is absorbing the energy. Think falling onto a big bean bag, versus a concrete floor. One's gonna hurt way more than the other. ",
"Punch a wall with your bare fist as hard as you can...go. Now put on a boxing glove and do it again. See!\n\nThe foam insulates and cushions your hand against the blunt force. The energy is absorbed into the glove and not your hand. Same principle with a car that crushes. It absorbs the energy preventing you being even more badly hurt."
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6weahy | why do east asian languages such as chinese and japanese use latin symbols and numbers in normal writing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6weahy/eli5_why_do_east_asian_languages_such_as_chinese/ | {
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"They don't use Latin letters or Arabic Numbers (Latin Numbers are Roman Numerals) in their normal writing. Their normal writing is the Kanji, what you see using Latin Letters is a transliteration of the Kanji into Latin Letters so that Westerners can say the Chinese or Japanese Word. "
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3d8w8y | why does a gas pump "catch" rather than let me pump at the fastest rate? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d8w8y/eli5_why_does_a_gas_pump_catch_rather_than_let_me/ | {
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"Not sure what you mean by \"catch\", but gas pumps are set up to prevent splash-back, which could cause fires, injuries, property damage, and environmental damage\n\nSafety trumps you being in a hurry when it comes time to pump gas"
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246snx | if an ambulance ride is so expensive, and emts generally make little money, where does all of the money go? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/246snx/eli5_if_an_ambulance_ride_is_so_expensive_and/ | {
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"The money more than likely goes to the hospital for the maintenance of the ambulance itself, diesel fuel is not cheap nor are the parts and labor to keep it maintained, also they are charging for a service.",
"1) They have to cover the initial cost of the very expensive specialty vehicle.\n\n2) They have to cover maintenance and insurance on a specialty vehicle.\n\n3) They have to accumulate funds to replace/update equipment.\n\n4) There are some operating costs on top of the EMT overhead.\n\n5) The hospital wants to make a profit.\n\nNumber 5 is probably one of the biggest contributors if I had to guess. My local ambulance corps is about half as expensive as the hospital for what appears to be just as fancy of a vehicle.\n\nEdit: I found out that my local ambulance corps is volunteer, which is probably a better explanation for the price disparity than profit. Apparently profit isn't that big of a contributer.\n\nAlso, stop clogging my damn inbox. I don't want to sift through tons of replies just to see what people think about my other super important comments on cat pictures.",
"In Blacksburg VA the ambulance is run by a nonprofit and volunteers. \nAll services are free due to big donations",
"Equipment, upkeep, and insurance cost a ton. \n\nAlso they are subject to the same forces that make many other things in healthcare expensive. The people with insurance get charged more so that they can cover the losses incurred when they transport people with no insurance or medicare/medicaid (which only pay a small fixed amount). ",
"You're not paying the salaries of only the crew in the ambulance that's giving you a ride. The hospital/service needs to have several ambulances and crews on hand just in case. It's not likely they'll all be utilized at the same time. If they were, the hospital/service would find it in their best interest to get another.",
"EMT here. Ambulance services can be private companies or they can be run by local governments or hospitals, it just depends on where you are. The agency that I work for is on an Indian Reservation, so we actually operate under the umbrella of IHS (Indian Health Services) and we're based out of an IHS hospital.\n\nThere seems to be discussion about the cost of the vehicles being a significant factor. Yes, ambulances are expensive but they last a while, I don't think that the cost of a vehicle is a huge factor. I can't speak for everyone but the ambulances we use are actually not owned by us and are instead leased from the Government Services Administration and they get traded back in once they get over 100,000 miles. As for other equipment, buying or replacing gear is something that can add up fast, you'd be absolutely amazed by how much some of our gear costs.\n\nAs for where the money really does go I can't tell you with any degree of certainty. We're not a for-profit company, we are a government agency so it's not like profits get pocketed by owners or shareholders or something like that. I suspect it just gets spent on various little things here and there to keep the agency going. Everything in the medical field costs a disproportionate amount of money.\n\nAs far as the pay thing goes, I don't make much. For many agencies the hourly pay is very low because they work a lot of overtime. One of the agencies in my area works employees on 72 hour shifts. That's a hell of a lot of overtime per week and it helps. The way we schedule things where I work I end up with about 4 hours of OT per week. The nice thing is that I get 5 days off per week. It allows me to work full time while going to college which is really nice. Even though the pay isn't great it is adequate and I absolutely love my job. Eventually I will go to Paramedic school and hopefully become a flight medic or a paramedic with a fire department because there's more opportunities there and the money is better but for now I'm quite happy where I'm at. If there's any more questions you have just ask.",
"None of you are even close to correct.\n\nMedical billing works the they it works ($50 advils) because there are lots of times where the hosp/ambulance service doesn't get paid. \n\nSo when someone with a fat insurance policy gets an x-ray or ambulance ride, that person is paying for their own and for serveral others that cannot pay for it.",
"One main component is that after non-payment (usu. persons with no insurance defaulting), Medicare discounts, etc, the ambulance purveyors (often city governments) get less than 1/4 of their billings actually paid.\n\n/My wife is a senior finance analyst for a major city government",
"One question, how much does an ambulance ride cost in the US? \n\nIIRC where I live (Mexico) they cost the equivalent of 50 USD. It doesn't seem that expensive. There are some that can cost 400 USD, those are mostly for people with insurance.\n\nMaybe I haven't had that much experience with ambulances.",
"The bills are crazy inflated so that when they include insurance company discounts they still make out ok. I think you can negotiate a better price if you don't have insurance. ",
"I love Europe.",
"Insurance executive bonuses",
"In addition to all of the other things mentioned here, from what I've heard from my friends that are EMTs, they end up having to help a lot of people who can't afford to pay them and don't have health care. One of my friends loved to tell a story of guy called 911 saying he had chest pains, asked to be taken to a specific hospital on the other side of town, and just got up and ran off when he got there. Literally just using an ambulance like a taxi. As you might imaginez these things eat into costs.",
"Our local EMTs are called out for everything but only bill if they transport someone. Most people here are smart enough to refuse transport and catch a ride to the ER.\n\nApparently, they are frequently called to help an old/obese person to stand back up after a fall or other such B.S.",
"I want to reply w/ a snarky response but that wouldn't be nice to those EMTs who are true professionals",
"tl;dr nobody knows.\n\nmy guess, it goes to cover all the people who don't pay.",
"Also, don't forget, many people never pay their bill... And never intended to. They know they cannot be turned down, and use the ambulance exclusively to go to the er (which they never pay for either), to bypass the wait in triage. The rest of us must pay more for their abuse. ",
"In Argentina we have 2 different ambulance services, one private and one public.\n\nPublic ambulances are organized within the public healthcare system and respond to 911 calls as well as provide transportation for the hospitals from which they operate. These are the ones that respond to the large abundance of emergency calls. No costs from the ambulance ride are transferred to the poor bastard that needs to get to the hospital not to die. That's what taxes are for.\n\nPrivate ambulance services are usually owned by private hospitals and most often respond to emergency calls made directly to the hospital of through the private medicare system, although they may be requisitioned by the public emergency service. Most private medicare systems (not a medical insurance) will cover all or most of the cost of the transport.\n\nRegarding the taxi rides...you don't get to ask the ambulance where to go. Depending on your emergency and location they will take you to the closest hospital",
"Since ambulance services are essential, paramedics can't pick and choose who to pick up. This sets up situations where paramedics have to pick up people who have no ability to pay for the ride. The cost of that ride is then spread to those who can afford to pay for the service.",
"In America, $1000 ambulance rides and $700 IV's pay for the people who can't afford to pay for themselves. You can't not treat someone in an emergency, and insurance companies negotiate their prices down while government programs pay less than health care services actually cost. Individuals who pay out of pocket make up the difference so hospitals don't go bankrupt.",
"Ambulance companies also have to have their rigs accredited in any county they want to run in. So now think of this.... 50 rigs, accredited in 10 counties each @ $400 per year per county per rig. So there is a solid $200,000-500,000 per year just to keep your ambulances on the road.",
"California ambulance provider here. The majority of ambulance calls in this state -- and probably most others -- come from two groups. Those with Medicare (over 60) and those on Medicaid (the poor). \n\nMedicare pays a little less than the cost of each call. Medicaid (it's called Medi-Cal in California) pays about about one-fifth the cost of each call. In other words, we generally lose money on each Medicare and especially each Medi-Cal call.\n\nSo, in order to stay in business, ambulance companies must charge high rates to those who either have group health insurance, as well as those who have no insurance. Is that fair? That is up to others to decide. It is just the way it is. \n\nAnd, like a hospital emergency room, an ambulance company cannot pick and choose its patients. If somebody calls 9-1-1, we go, and the question of the pay source is not something the ambulance crew even considers. \n\nDoctors in private practice often refuse to see Medi-Cal patients. That forces many of these patients to use the E.R. as a primary care physician. And, they often use the local ambulance service as a \"cabulance\" to the hospital, knowing that the ambulance is required to take them, and they won't have to pay for the transport. ",
"Paramedic here, I don't see a lot of informed realistic responses in this thread. I'll attempt to correct a few and give what I believe to be the answer.\n\n1) Notice i called myself a Paramedic, not an EMT. There are different skill levels within EMS, from a 2 day driving course (ambulance driver, yes, the person driving you may have only had two days of training and a few supervised transports), to a 3 month EMT course (they can take you to the hospital without making you any worse, but can't do much in the way of making you better), to a 2 year college program with hundreds of clinical hours and patient contacts (Paramedic). Obviously the pay differs, in my area the first makes around $8/hr, the third around $40-50k a year.\n\n2) It's very hard to win a court judgement against an EMS provider. Unless it has to do with improperly/recklessly driving the ambulance you don't stand much of a chance. Also, most Paramedics carry their own malpractice insurance to cover things like this. I've been in for 10 years and never been to court once.\n\n3) There are different ways that EMS gets provided, be it municipality, private contract, or hospital extension, and this will affect pricing. Mainly the pricing is dictated by what insurance companies are willing to pay though. Things like medicare, medicaid, logisticare, etc. have maximum amounts they will pay for certain services.\n\n4) Misuse. EMS used to be fully state funded in my area until the economic downturn made it harder to meet the minimum acceptable staffing requirements. We still struggle with layoffs and salary freezes. The main drain on the system is abuse, without which, EMS here would most likely still be free. A staggering amount of my calls (~90%) are people who just want to get seen sooner by coming in with us and not waiting in the waiting area, people who are gaming the system because they don't want to pay for a ride (had a guy call 911 because he had a doctors apt next to the hospital once), aren't sick enough for our service, or are lonely and just need someone to talk to.\n\n5) Overhead. The typical advanced life support truck consists of one Paramedic and one EMT, with a combined salary of ~$80k a year, driving a $100k truck burning expensive diesel and toting god knows how much dollar value in supplies and equipment. They have a station building they stay in, the truck has insurance, the truck has a license from the department of health, and the providers typically have various certifications that require constant training and renewal.",
"We have free ambulance rides here, comrade.",
"I would guess that at least part of where the money goes is toward covering other patients who received rides, but don't pay the bill.",
"I think part of the issue is the cost vs charge. The charge is much higher than the actual cost I think partly because not every bill is collected. I work as a physician in the ED and I see a lot of people call an ambulance because they don't have a car or a friend to drive them. Those people also tend to not be able to afford to pay the bill when it arrives so the hospital has to recoup that loss from everyone who can pay / has insurance. Also, EMS tends to transport the majority of traumas which I believe the hospital typically takes a loss on due to the demographic. ",
"I have worked for a couple private for-profit services, and I can honestly tell you that the majority of the reimbursement that was received from insurance/ billing went right into the owner(s) pockets. I made just enough to pay my bills and be broke every paycheck, while the owner(s) were driving brand new cars, living in brand new, custom built homes, and if there was a toy or tech to be had, you better believe they had it. The one owner had 3 houses, 2 boats, an RV, 3 trucks/SUVs, a brand new Porsche, and barn full of classic cars. He was cheap as hell with his employees, though. We went from having 16 hours of OT per pay ( 2x24 hour shifts per week) to everyone being part time at 36 hours per week. He dropped all health insurance for employees, and made staff supervisors salary at just over 20k per year. He cut our annual Christmas party, and even fired an employee for asking him to contribute to the staff toys for tots drive. \n\nSure, medical equipment is expensive, and each ambulance cost about 125,000, but we we had over 450,000 miles on some of our front line trucks. He replaced the ambulances only after they were deemed to be total losses by the insurance company, or the mechanics couldn't Frankenstein any more solutions to keep them running. ( one was replaced after a vehicle fire that caused the main O2 cylinder to explode.) we had one truck that we had to use flexible dryer ducting to get A/C to the patient care compartment. We also had a couple stair chairs that were held together by duct tape and a prayer.",
"Paramedic here. I've been a volunteer firefighter, volunteer EMT, 3rd service paramedic and private ambulance paramedic. The general sentiment is there may always be money in the banana stand but there's no honest money in private ambulance.\n\nTruthfully, however, a major component is the cost of insurance, fuel, personnel (including the overhead back at the office) and stocking a near-endless list of supplies many of which will expire before they ever actually get used. \n\nThe point that many miss is that very very few people will ever actually pay the retail price for an ambulance. I'll wager that 99% of transports involve either someone on government insurance (rates are set and the patient can't be balance billed), private insurance (rates are negotiated, the patient may be billed a portion of which they may or may not remit) and indigent (we can bill all we want but won't see a red cent). The \"costs\" (and occasional bills) that you see around the internets are really just EMS managers shooting high when they go to negotiate rates. Very few are expected to actually pay them",
"Ultimately it ends up in investment banks in New York and London.\n\nYour payment (or your insurance company's payment) goes to a hospital, municipality or private ambulance company. The hospital or municipality are usually contracting out to a private ambulance company, so first they take a cut, then they pay out the private contractor. The private contractor is usually part of a large conglomerate that is publicly traded. It's profits end up as dividends or an increased share price somewhere.\n\nThe rates are so high because you cannot comparison shop. When you need an ambulance you just need the quickest/closest one available or whoever 911 is willing to dispatch to you. There is no competition. So even though it might cost them a couple hundred bucks, they can bill you a couple thousand and there is nothing you can do about it.\n\nIt is yet another \"fuck you\" to the American consumer - another financial vacuum sucking up money away from your local economy to an international bank account somewhere.",
"Here's a 2010 list of America's most profitable hospitals:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nI'm a personal injury defense lawyer so I see a lot of medical bills. Only a hospital CFO could really answer this question, and it probably varies hospital to hospital, but here are some factors I think are in play:\n\n(1) Profit motive; where hospitals can turn a profit, they generally will turn a huge one. No one is budget-conscious when their own health is on the line, unless they have no other choice.\n\n(2) Conversely, loss-avoidance. Big inner-city hospitals like Grady in Atlanta tend to specialize in offering care to indigents who can't pay out of pocket and who don't have private health insurance. Their charges are rarely paid at full freight; rather, those hospitals are in an arms race with Medicare/Medicaid administrators and low-cost health insurers over costs. Medicare only pays like 15% on some claims, so hospitals keep jacking their prices higher and higher so that 15% represents a bigger number. Then Medicare/Medicaid cuts what it will pay to 14% and the cycle continues (that's how we got to such low percentages getting paid in the first place). But at the end of the day, hospitals serving indigents are huge money-losers even when the government picks up the discounted bill and the rest of the system tends to take up slack by charging more to those who can pay. Indigents (and especially homeless) are hard to care for; they get shot or stabbed at high rates, they do harder drugs on average than the rest of the populace; they have terrible preventative health-care because they can't afford any; they often aren't compliant with what procedures or drugs are offered; and of course they move around a lot so they are always starting over somewhere new with some new provider who doesn't know their history.\n\n(3) Lawsuits. A very big chunk of the health care bills in this country gets incurred by people who have a lawsuit. Maybe they were hit in a car wreck and they've sued the person who hit them. While they are waiting for their case to go to mediation or trial, they typically run up as much medical treatment as possible (some necessary, some not so necessary) in order to present the biggest possible medical bill by the time of that mediation or trial. Generally speaking the bigger the bill, the worse the injuries must have been and the bigger the recovery--or at least that is the thought process. Lots of medical professionals will simply take a lien out on the suit and let the patient run up the bill; if the patient wins his case, the medical provider gets repaid out of the winnings. A very high proportion of the chiropractic industry runs on this model. This transfers healthcare costs into the liability insurance sector in a very inefficient way and thus increases all costs.\n\n(4) Fear of lawsuits, this time medical malpractice suits. You get in a car wreck like above, but this time you ran into a tree and thus you can't sue anyone. If you don't have insurance, no one is going to pay your bills, and you're probably not enrolled in Medicaid and you're probably not old enough for Medicare; these \"self pay\" individuals typically just never pay and the bill winds up being written off. But guess what? The hospital is still required to give you a non-negligent level of care. So if you say you hit your head, you're gonna get a CT scan regardless of whether you have any clinical indicia of head trauma (mis-dilated pupils, etc.), because even an indigent can sue a doctor for malpractice if he turns out to be the 1 in 10,000 guy who needed a CT and the doc didn't give him one. Fear of lawsuits thus drives up costs even higher, and that's compounded when no one is paying.\n\n***** \n\nEconomically, the theoretical solution to this problem is a well-administered blanket health care program in which every citizen \"buys insurance\" (i.e. is taxed) and the \"group plan\" thus covers 350 million Americans. That plan could bargain with health care providers and the prescription drug industry to get the best possible prices on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. This would drive down the costs of health care but severely eat into the profits of a very powerful industry, at the heart of which are doctors who everyone agrees should be paid the highest salaries of any professionals in our society. And to pull it off, you've got to nail that \"well-administered\" caveat, which no one in the world has ever done. (See Britain and Canada). And that is why health care is hard and why it is such a huge topic in politics right now.\n\n*****\n\nTl;dr: profit, loss-avoidance, lawsuits, and fear of lawsuits.",
"It's a combination of a lot of things. Like people have already pointed out, medical supplies that must be routinely restocked and maintained cost a lot of money. A decent ALS bus will have a cardiac monitor (nice lifepaks go for 15k a pop), stryker stretchers, narcotics, saline bags, IV starter kits, general meds, ET tube kits etc. on top of bls supplies that have to be replaced when expired/used. Trucks must be maintained, routinely inserviced and regularly replaced once they rack up the miles. Some trucks must be plugged into a shoreline if they have fridges/special equipment that they need to keep constantly charged. \n\nBut honestly? \n\nBiggest problem is the lack of insurance. Once an ambulance is called, a technician cannot refuse care and transport to a patient even if they cannot pay (or if their complaint is literally the dumbest thing in the world, but that's another issue). In big cities, ems transports a lot of people without insurance who do not have the ability to pay for medical services out of pocket, so a good 10-20% of the calls are essentially a loss that the company has to compensate for by outrageously overcharging everyone else. \n\nDoes it suck? Yeah. The healthcare industry is incredibly fucked up and the insanely high price tag is just another symptom of a broken system. ",
"Think about the medical system. Remember that large portions of any of it is paid for by insurance companies.\n\nWhen you do this you remove certain decision makers. When things are largely being paid by insurance the \"customer\" doesn't care how much something costs. They will let their insurance cover it.\n\nSo what would happen to medical prices compared to other consumer prices if companies were insulated from peoples frugality and haggling? If you guessed that they would begin charging more for equipment and services you are right.\n\nIf you chalk up patents, copyright, software development and a few other areas of absolute money sinks then the medical system makes sense.\n\nI worked with an ultrasound machine once. I needed to have a 4 axis robotic stage hold an ultrasound transducer over a phantom of a carotid artery.\n\nThe equipment was advanced but none of it was a half million dollars advanced. But sure as shit this everyday ultrasound machine cost $500,000 for them to acquire for the experiment. ( way less then everything else combined). The robotics were only $6000\n\nMedical ... stuff is grossly inflated because of systemic reasons. This means you pay out the ass for ambulance trips because they have super high costs too.",
"You don't think a toilet cost $250 do you?",
"To the pockets of the elitist oligarchy that rules America.",
"This is the capitalist system run amuck. We sold the American Dream so hard that everyone thinks they have to squeeze the maximum possible profit out of every transaction.\n\nDoesn't matter whether it's a public corporation, where the law pretty clearly states that the directors are liable if they give up one cent of potential profit, or a non-profit, where the directors are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for sitting on their ass. Everything is embedded in capitalism-gone-crazy at this point, and it is warping our entire society.\n\nIt only costs a lot of money to give you a ride to the hospital if they are trying to make a mansion from every customer. That's the short, correct answer.",
"Let me preface this preface by saying that different states, counties, and cities implement EMT's / rigs very differently, so an ambulance company's business model may vary greatly from locale to locale. During college, I was an EMT-B for a few years as a first responder, then a few years in an ED. I've worked with a large publicly owned EMS provider and also a few small companies, all in a large metropolitan area.\n\nLong story short, the ambulance companies I've worked with made jack squat. In the county I worked in, if you called 911, the fire department would respond alongside the large contracted company I worked for. The firefighters would be responsible for patient treatment while EMTs like me would drive the company owned rig. **Just because our company would send patients huge bills didn't mean it would ever collect.** In fact, it was almost always uninsured patients (make health insurance a #1 priority and get preventative care - I'm talking to YOU). This issue even shut down EDs in the area. Within a year of my joining this large company, it was clear that it wanted out of the 911 contract. The management started cutting shifts and laying off EMTs, effectively cutting down response time. In a matter of months, the company lost the contract and passed the hot potato to another provider. I made less than 10 bucks an hour. \n\nAfter that, I got offers from lots of little companies. One in particular offered me a whole $13.50! This company did not do 911 response. The majority of its calls were IFTs (inter-facility transport), e.g., convalescent home to ED, dialysis, wherever. All of the patients I saw with this company had insurance, but it was usually MediCare or, more commonly, the state run version, MediWorse. MediWorse would only pay a small fraction of the huge bill that a company would stick on an uninsured patient. So how did this little company pay us more, yet operate off of so little? Simple - [organized crime](_URL_0_). If you read the above link, Medicare fraud ~~kept~~ keeps lots of shady ambulance companies, shady doctors, and their affiliated shady hospitals wealthy. We drove comatose patients back and forth from facility to facility. \n\nI also got to learned a bit about the pawnshop business. If you own a pawnshop, it's just a matter of time before you get some poor dude that really needs money badly. You should not only do the guy a favor and give him a few hundred bucks for his Rolex, but you should do him a solid and give him a few thousand bucks to give to his landlord / drug dealer / collector. Of course, be reasonable and give him a few weeks to pay you back. However, if he doesn't, break his teeth off; he'll need his knees to get you the money back.\n\nThe aforementioned business model is as old as time. Unfortunately, in modern times, it causes a major problem for the purveyor. Demanding double your money back within a weeks time is illegal. The maximum a lender can charge on interest in the US is about 30% per year (I think). So, our hard working pawnshop owner ends up with lots of money he can't declare as income. But he wants to spend it on cars and real estate. What is he to do? The solution is just as old as loansharking - money laundering! A small ambulance company is ideal for money laundering. Remember those comatose patients that can't testify against you? Well, even though MediWorse paid a few hundred bucks off of their $2000 ride, how are they supposed to claim that they didn't pay the rest in cash? Brilliant, right? \n\nDuring my time with the small company, there were dozens of others just like it within gunshot range. All of them were operated by Niko Bellic sounding folks who lived the American Dream, replete with brand new Bentley Continental GTs, and, unsurprisingly, complimentary pawnshops. Within a few months of my arrival, our station got raided by a bunch of tinted-out Ford Crown Vics. I got my last check and peaced out. \n\n**tl;dr** Former inner-city EMT. EMS providers I worked with make jack squat. Some were busted for fraud / criminal activities.",
"ITT horrified Brits and Europeans. ",
"When my wife died they sent a bill to her about a month later for $1,300. She was dead at the scene,they just showed up tried a few chest compressions and left.... so obviously they had to have known that they didn't do anything and that she probably could not pay it being dead and all... ",
"Insurance mostly. It's very expensive to run an ambulance...municipal or private. privatized generally costs more because...well...profit\n\nSource: Former EMT",
"Insurance company executives. Look up their pay rates.",
"ambulance rides are $60 here in ontario...",
"Hopefully my comment doesn't get buried but there are a number of reasons services may seem to be so expensive.\n\n1. Equipment is incredibly expensive. A powered gurney usually runs about 25,000 dollars (If I remember right) and our lifepaks run about 35,000 dollars depending on add ons. That's just two pieces of equipment. Once you add everything up including drugs, vehicle, medical equipment you are looking at a fully equipped ambulance costing in the range of at least 300,000 (rough estimate)\n\n2. The main reason bills are so expensive is the fact that a large majority of patients never even pay their ambulance bill (think at least 60-70 percent or more.) Homeless people and old people without insurance make up a large majority of our clientele. Since they can't pay, the only way to recoup the costs is to charge a higher price. Of course, prices can always be negotiated as they would be happier with some money rather than none.\n\n3. Where does the money go? Not into the EMTs and paramedics pockets! Most EMTs start out between 9-13 dollars an hour depending on where you live. Paramedics are typically 15-18 an hour also depending on where you live. In order to make up for the crappy pay most paramedics and EMTs accumulate overtime. I have worked 80 hours in a week before and yes I had no life. It is completely unsafe but it will persist in the medical industry forever unless it is properly addressed.\n\nThese are the three main reasons that I can think of. I know there is a lot more that goes on with insurance and payments but I don't have the knowledge to explain it. All in all being an EMT is very stressful work for low pay and lots of hour with a lot of BS.",
"There are a number of factors in any operation of services that, while the amounts vary from operation to operation, are consistent in kind.\n\nFor ambulances:\n\nLabour costs. Fleet Costs. Accident costs. Training costs.\n\nFleet costs: which would include the capital cost of the vehicle, maintenance and repairs, and the useable life of the vehicle (which means while operating a vehicle you must save some from each dollar to replace it in the future)\n\nAccident costs: yes, even Ambulances get into accidents.\n\nDriver training: High speed ambulance defensive driving is not like other driving and operators must be trained.\n\nTypically, vehicle maintenance runs between 5-8% of an annual operating budget. Most ambulances run about 180,000 miles before they are replaced (depending on ambulance type) at a cost of about $250,000 for maintenance etc. \n\nThe Transportation Research Board estimates that per 1 million miles driven, ambulances in the US have about 25-30 accidents, depending on the year. Of these, the average claim is about $18,000 and at least half the time, the injured are the EMTs, resulting in lost work claims as well.\n\nThat means there are about 5000 ambulance accidents per year in the USA. \n\nAdd to these costs the salary/wages and payroll burden as well as medical supplies and other operating costs like office supplies, dispatch supplies and so on.\n\nSo that dollar spent is eaten up by labor, fleet costs (don't forget the high price of gasoline), operating costs like supplies, insurances, administration costs, overheads (like the buildings the ambulances are parked in).\n\nAnd finally, many ambulance services do not actually get paid 100% of what they bill. For various reasons, they often have to write off some trips (for example, someone has no insurance and they are transported to emerg but they do not survive. Who pays the bill? Sometimes, no one.)\n\nSo people who own an ambulance company will tell you they are not getting rich...but they can make a living if they watch their costs.\n\nTL:DR Ambulances have many costs which are not seen by the patient who gets a bill for transportation.\n\n\n\n",
"I once passed out because of an allergic reaction to a shot I had gotten while I was walking out of the doctors office and I fell and knocked myself out cold. They had to call the ambulance to come get me, drive me around the block, and dump me off at the emergency side of the hospital. Keep in mind I was already IN THE HOSPITAL. I wish they would have just rolled me to the E.R.",
"This concept is just so foreign to me.\n\nI pay taxes which the state pays for all emergency services. ",
"this is like asking 'if Wal-Mart makes so much money, and pays its employees so little, where does the rest go?'",
"Worked for an ambulance company for a year in VA. As an EMT-B, made less than $10 an hour in 2012. I wasn't employed to look at the finances, but most of our patients did not have insurance. If you had insurance, we charged about 800 for the pickup, lord know how much if we actually provided real patient care.\n\nRunning 10-16 calls in 12 hours, that sounds pretty lucrative. Problem is most dont have insurance, and the company settles for pennies on the dollar or gets reimbursed by medicaid/medicare/etc for dimes on the dollar. Basically you are paying for everyone else, which particularly sucks because a small minority of the population accounts for the majority of ambulance rides (aka frequent fliers). \n\nI figure there was two solutions: 1 was to drop off in someone else's city, 2- actually treat their physical (or more likely physchological problem) so hopefully the stop calling the 3 digit taxi\n",
"Liability insurance. That's pretty much it. It is very easy for a lawyer to find minor fault with emergency response personnel. There are 3 dying people you can see, a car wreck to assess, and traffic still going by. \n\nThen understand that the families of anyone who is severely hurt or dies will more than likely know every motion you make until you part from the victims. \n\nMaybe someone's dad, the money maker for the household, was in the wreck. Suddenly the family has hundreds of thousands of reasons to be critical of you. ",
"A trip to the hospital with an ambulance costs $450 where I live. Calling paramedics and having them treat you is completely free, but getting that ride to the hospital isn't. A taxi ride is something like $15-20 including tip for me to get there from where I live.\n\nAs long as I'm not dying, I'm calling a taxi right after calling the ambulance. Hell, I might even call Domino's and pay the delivery driver $20-40 to drive me there. By the time the paramedics are done looking at me, the pizza guy would be here and then I would have a ride to the hospital and a pizza for an 1/8 of the cost of the ambulance ride.\n\nThis would make an interesting pic if I ever follow through with this.",
"This applies to virtually all medical products, services and drugs. Where does all that money go? Why does it cost $1000 to treat an infected fingernail in the emergency room? That's what Medicare was billed for my mother in 1995.",
"A friend of mine works at the hospital and says a hospital's profit margins are 1%-2%, so I'd imagine the cost of an ambulance ride is more for covering overhead expenses. ",
"My agency doesn't charge. Everyone is a volunteer. An agency our size is supposed to run on like 500k per year and we somehow run on like 120k. As a memeber of our agency NYS pays for us to get our emts, but getting your paramedic costs around 10k per person plus a year of school for it",
"recently there was a house fire in my neighborhood. Nobody was home, however, the pet dog had been trapped for a minute in one room and suffered some minor discomfort from smoke inhalation.... so three ambulances were sent to help him out ....",
"Something to keep in mind is ambulance transport for people who need it cannot be declined by the ambulance (at least in America), regardless of the patient's ability to pay. I work for a county fire and ems dept. My captain and I were discussing this topic for a project I had for school. Out of 10,000- 911 transports, probably only 7,000 of them have insurance and pay. The pay won't be great if an organization only gets paid for 70% of the work they do, especially when all the cost factors mentioned by the other posts are taken into consideration.",
"It's hospital billing. An ambulance took me 2.7 miles to a hospital but charged me for 27.0 miles. They gotta justify that $1800 somewhere. \nVery similar to how they can charge $118 for a small vial of insulin. Fuck you in the hospitals. \n\nI don't care for ambulances or EMTs. I'd rather get myself there or die. ",
"Ambulance paramedic here (in a US metropolitan 911 service).\n\nAs has been stated in other replies, there are a lot of peripheral costs involved with operating an ambulance company and a 911 contract. As an example, the local 911 ambulance service, for which I work, covers almost the entire county. The county agencies that oversee the operation have created a fine structure as part of the contracted standards and expectations that my employer needs to meet. There is a substantial amount of money going to the county based on responses that may be a few minutes later than the agreed upon standard or because too many ambulances are out of service due to maintenance and repairs or because some other contracted fine stipulation. Furthermore, the local system includes paramedics on municipal fire engines responding to medical calls. Those fire departments that are subcontracted by the private ambulance company. They subcontract to allow for a higher coverage area and to allow them to staff fewer ambulances while still making contracted time requirements for paramedic on scene from time of 911 call. Another huge loss of money, or at least the reason for significant cost increases for privately insured patients, comes from Medicare/Medicaid patients and the uninsured. Medicare and Medicaid pay fractions of what normal private insurances pay (say roughly $100 of a $1000 bill), and uninsured patients can end up being charity cases for the company, especially in the case of the homeless. These are only a piece of the pie. Throw in liability insurance, government regulatory fees, the massive cost of supplies (including replacing medications every few years, whether used or not, due to expiration), etc. The costs can stack up quick.\n\nTL;DR Privatized healthcare working as a public service sucks.",
"Just a small reminder to all the posters who contend that in their area or country that the ambulance service is free.\n\nYou may not be billed but nothing is free. Somewhere, somehow your taxes are paying for that service.",
"TIL: Ambulance rides cost money in America.\n\nAlso wtf there are \"Ambulance Companies\"? Aren't ambulances just part of the hospital. ",
"I worked for a private ambulance company for several years. Some of the money goes to employees, some to vehicle maintenance, a good amount for insurance, but the majority went to the owners, specifically up their noses. They would always give us reasons why they couldn't give us raises as they took huge bonuses every year. Fuck private scambulance companies",
"EMT here... The money goes to recoup the costs of all the deadbeat, uneducated people who use the ambulance and the ER as a primary care physician with no intention of paying the bill. Also, people seem to think that they are seen faster if they are brought in by ambulance? **FALSE**... Unless you are *dying*, you are triaged just like anyone who walked in the front door.\n",
"Someone at my school stole an ambulance while drunk and took it for a joy ride. The paramedics had left it unlocked and running while they were responding to a call. They were probably a little negligent in leaving it unattended and running (unless that was standard practice to save time) so I'm sure their insurance rates skyrocketed. \n\nLuckily the patient was okay -- it could have been bad if they had really needed to get to a hospital quickly and the patient had died. \n\nThe girl who stole the ambulance landed in even more hot water. There was some talk of expelling her since it happened on campus, but she got to stay -- still had to answer to the law though. I was actually pretty surprised they let her stay, but she was only about a week or two from graduation so I guess she had completed her coursework. ",
"Once again, hate to be the bringer of bad news, but if you can't afford the medical care, maybe you should just stop being poor... Oh wait right... nvm... \n _URL_0_\n",
"USA is bizarre, in civilised countries ambulances are free. If you need immediate emergency support, you get it, those who abuse the system get punished.\n\nReally, in countries that have been civilised since before the 17th century, the benefits to society of looking after those people who find themselves *in extremis* seem obvious - people with broken limbs do not have to beg on the streets, they get fixed. Some people call this 'socialism' but if that is what socialism is [to each according to their needs, from each according to their means], what the hell is wrong with that?",
"because almost EVERYTHING is the health care industry is a SCAM!\n\nsave employee pay (which they deserve) the owners that have spoken have not pointed out anything any other business does not have. Business is expensive...\n\nanything medical you just pay more:\n\n2 weeks ago, friend had a heart-attack, with 1.5 hours he had 2 stents installed and was \"cured.\" \n\nambulance ride was 3000$\n\n68 hour hospital stay was $74,000.00 again all procedu0ers were done in the first hour, the rest of the time was monitoring...\n",
"YES! Thank you!! \n\nI still don't understand why it cost me $770 to travel FIVE miles in the ambulance. FIVE fucking miles. \n\nI understand costs add up.... but come the fuck on. ",
"Every time I see a thread like this with people talking about ambulance \"companies\" and hospitals being run as a business, it spins me the fuck out. Makes me really glad I live in a country where these things are considered public services, not a company out to make a profit. ",
"I was told by one ambulance company that they do not collect on half of their runs.\nI worked as volunteer EMT with a VFD and we would get guys on one side of the county call for an ambulance. Come up with some B.S. and ride to the hospital and then refuse care.\nWhole thing was to just get across half the county without buying a bus ticket or thumbing a ride.",
"Most of the rides are not paid for.",
"The healthcare system is such that it needs to charge these extraordinarily high rates for certain services due to the very low reimbursement rate. You may think you're getting the shaft on an ambulance ride and you are, but its because you need to make up for money lost in other parts of the business. The reimbursement rate (don't quote me on this) is somewhere around 30%, meaning that only 30% of the services billed by the hospital are actually paid for by the patients and insurers. As a result, hospitals add exorbitant premiums on top of basic services to cover 1) patients who are unable to pay for the bill (who declare bankruptcy) 2) Insurers who have a lot of bargaining power and are able to reduce the bills considerably 3) Other circumstances (patient dies, unable to collect from estate) etcetera etcetera etcetera. \n\nTL:DR It's a vicious cycle, people don't pay their hospital bills = hospital charging the next guy more to cover the uncollectible accounts. \n\nEdit: Addressing the overhead expenses theory: I don't think this is a significant contributor to the cost of an ambulance ride. Paramedics aren't paid very much (50-75K) the ambulances are around 100K, other overhead would probably be quite minimal.",
"Because our medical system is one of the worst in the world. Having people make a profit off the sickness of others is quite disgusting. Just think about how much money goes into insurance companies. They are all middle men. That is all inflated costs to everyone for their medical services. Even \"3rd\" world countries have better care and systems than America does.",
"Payroll is about the most expensive cost an ambulance company has. However... \nThe simple way to put it is the ones who can pay, either by health insurance or incredible wealth, end up paying more so those that cant or wont pay, dont. Medicare also isnt doing the system any favors. They reimburse the ambulance companies however much they choose, when they choose to do so. More often than not, its only cents on the dollar though. Municipalities, by law, are required to have a fire department and law enforcement agency, but no regulations exist for ambulance services. In rural areas, the town can sometimes work out an agreement with a neighboring town, either by contracting out the transport portion or by arranging some sort of mutual aid agreement. Larger, more metro areas have a lot more private agencies which provide services under contract. The difference is, the municipally-based ones can cry to the town to float them financially until the reimbursement money comes in, while the private companies have to fend for themselves. With careful planning and diligent business strategies, this is not always a problem. In either case, what money the company does get in-hand goes to payroll, equipment and supplies, various insurances, and general facility costs. \n\nEdit: I missed an important part the first time around. ",
"Depending on the area, ambulances are either run by private EMS working on contract for local 911, government owned 911, or hospital run EMS. \n\nCost factors:\nMotor vehicle insurance on an emergency vehicle due to the high risk of severe accidents is quite high.\n\nFuel is expensive and systems where trucks are posted in strategic locations instead of in stations, the trucks run all day in order to keep drugs and fluids both warm and cool for different medical needs.\n\nThe amount of supplies carried on the truck is more than your typical first aid cabinet. The drugs and equipment such as cardiac monitors/defibrillators, ventilators, CPAP, and trauma equipment are all very expensive. Not all drugs get used. Many expire but you have to keep enough stocked for the potential need. Unused drugs are thus not billed for and the money is essentially down the drain. \n\nWith the high incidence of non-paying patients due to not being insured or deductibles not being paid, and also abuse of ambulance service when not needed (insurance won't pay for a ride unless it is medically necessary) the costs have to be made up by increasing charges.\n\nEach vehicle also has to be inspected and relicensed every year by the state EMS agency. \n\nMost departments also offer continuing education to their employees (another cost) so the employee doesn't have to pay out of pocket. It comes out much cheaper when the department has it's own training officers that can conduct classes vs the employees going out and paying a couple hundred dollars per specialty class. EMTs and Paramedics are required to have a certain amount of continuing education hours as well as refresher courses to maintain their individual medical license. \n\nMaintenance costs are high on large fleets due to the high miles driven and number of vehicles. At my specific company, oil is changed every 3,000 miles which in our case is about every 2-3 weeks. Ambulances are also run much harder putting more strain on all the working components requiring more prevention and often replacement parts, more tires. \n\nMaintenance on equipment: Cardiac monitors, ventilators, CPAP, stretchers, IV pumps all have to be inspected, maintained and repaired\n\nTechnology: Dispatch center has to be maintained which includes their computer systems and radios. Mobile technology has to be maintained which includes, radios, cell phones (and monthly services charges), mobile internet in every truck (and monthly service charges), and the mobile computers in every truck. \n\nMalpractice/Liability insurance has to be carried on the company and most services carry it on every employee.\n\nEdit: \n\nThe vehicles themselves cost anywhere from $150,000-400,000 and up depending on the vehicle types run by the service. Most of ours are close to the $200,000 range due to the type of transports we do where we often have multiple medics and nurses in the back with the patient. \n\nThere are other things I know I am missing, but my knowledge comes from working in this field.",
"TO THE MAN",
"Now you understand modern medicine.",
"I remember I got hit by a car (which resulted in a sprained ankle and a couple or bruises and cuts). After I received the bill for the ambulance ride I thought if I'd known it was gonna be well over 100 dollars (it was 650 dollars), I should've just called a cab to the emergency room. Ever since that they my family members have made an example out of me. Now everyone in my family who needs to go to the emergency room just drives there themselves or calls a cab. If they can wait, they just take public transportation. (I live in NYC)",
"To people like by buddy's gf who's ghetto trash on welfare.\n\nShe dropped some weights on her foot and broke 2 toes. Instead of waiting for him to get home to take her to the hospital she called 911. She'll never pay a dime. He got there before the ambulance did, but she still took it in.\n\nSo $15 cab, wait on bf, or 5-10k ambulance ride. She doesn't give a fuck, not her money. Now multiply this out across an entire area full of poor ghetto fucks. They get a free ride and those of us that pay try to avoid the services we pay for at all costs (because that's what it will be, all costs to us).\n\nThis is why I'm for single payer healthcare, at least I could use it without the fear of going broke.",
"Ambulance rides aren't expensive because they're free and covered by taxes and EMTs are decently paid. What kind of barbaric, third world shithole are you from?",
"Private \"EMS\" is nothing more then glorified taxi service.\n\nEMTs and Paramedics there make like 10$ an hour with shit benefits. The owners of these companies set the pay so low.\n\nMunicipal EMTs and Paramedics in the Chicago area make 70-90k, with pension and other benefits.\n\nPrivate EMS is 95% bullshit and a scam. I worked a private ambulance for 2 months when I first got out of school. I just walked home in the middle of a shift, it wasn't worth anymore of my time.",
"I'm Canadian, an ambulance ride is inexpensive or free, EMT starting salary is in the 60k range, goes to the mid 100K range.\n\nEverybody is happy.",
"Former EMT here. I once drove 600 miles during a 12 hour shift; without leaving the city I worked in. Diesel is fucking expensive. ",
"I live in Pakistan, and ambulances are FREE. Yes, even in the third world, ambulance services are FREE!",
"Any medical service is expensive to run because the cost of medical equipment is so high. I'm a volunteer for my college's Ambulance service. We're completely volunteer, and run an ambulance and a Chevy Tahoe suv. We also don't charge for transports. Even though we're volunteer, our operating costs get close to $150,000-200,000 a year depending on what big equipment purchases need to be made. It's the nature of the beast.",
"Insurance. That's right, the same people that insure your health, insure the doctors and hospitals for malpractice, also insure the ambulance companies. This is why we in America pay $5000 for an MRI and in France you can get an MRI for as little as $500. ",
"I work for a municipal/township 911/BLS ambulance and rescue squad. The squad breaks even with the help of taxpayers and patient billing. We average 9-10K calls/year and thus need a lot of ambulances, a lot of staff (even though the nights are staffed by volunteers), building maintenance, and a constant flow of supplies. Any \"profit\" goes to other expenses. ",
"The hospital they run out of is where the money goes. The Emt/ medics aren't here for a 6 figure salary. The opportunity to save a life keeps them around. \nSource: I'm an EMT/firefighter ",
"In Canada.. there is no \"overhead\" charge.",
"Gas prices are that ridiculous",
"It pays for the machine that goes PING!",
"I live in the UK and the thought of paying for having to need an ambulance scares the shit out of me. ",
"Having lived in a city with a free ambulance service, it never occurred to me that people elsewhere pay for the privilege of having their life saved. ",
"In Australia reading these replies... I'm fucking amazed that ambulance's are privately run... Why can't the USA hurry up and have universal health care for everyone lel",
"Never had an ambulance ride, I normally take the bus and sometimes when I want to show off I take a taxi, but mostly I just walk",
"Ems here! Want to know why health care costs so much? I'll tell you why an ambulance ride costs so much and you can decide if you think the rest of health care does the same. \n\nOk first let's clear something up, running an ambulance service is EXPENSIVE. Not just the $250,000 vehicle (for a top of the line one), but simply paying your insurance is $10,000 a year. That's a very high over head. \n\nNow let's discus something that most people don't think about when it comes to health care costs: health insurance. As a health care provider if I am going to accept insurance, I must agree to accept their payment, and not charge a patient other than their copay. This called [adjustment](_URL_0_), and while in theory sounds great, if I just gave you a $25 dollar med (plus labor costs, that should be included), and the insurance says they will pay me $5, where do I get the rest from? I have to take a loss.\n\nHMOs take it one step farther and have decided how many days something should take to recover, say like a knee surgery. If they say it should take 3 days to recover then you best hope you have that patient out in 3 days or you eat the cost of the rest!\n\nWhy does this make everything so expensive? Well this is what most health care providers do, they inflate the prices to try and get the insurance to pay as much as possible. \n\nNow the good side! If you happen to go to a *non-profit* or volunteer service, then likely they will do what they can to lower your portion. Being non-profit hospitals are able to take the tax right off as long they stay out of the red. This is also why you see volunteer based ems services doing fundraisers and selling [subscription](_URL_1_) programs (which btw well worth the cost)."
]
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"http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/30/profitable-hospitals-hca-healthcare-business-mayo-clinic_slide.html"
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[],
[],
[],
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"http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2013/October/13-crm-1148.html"
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"http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/if_youre_poor_stop_being_poor_says_fox_commentator_to_daily_show_20140308"
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"https://www.arnothealth.org/patient-billing-glossary",
"http://fire.longviewtexas.gov/ambulance-subscription-program"
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||
31g6v9 | why do some animals play dead? wouldn't a predator just eat them anyway? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31g6v9/eli5_why_do_some_animals_play_dead_wouldnt_a/ | {
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"If the predator thinks they're dead, they won't be observant and careful. If they don't eat the animal immediately, this might give the prey an opportunity to escape while the predator's guard is down.",
"Sometimes you're not being attacked by a predator. A Moose, for example, is only really going to attack if they're feeling threatened or otherwise put upon by your continued existence. Playing dead with a moose can make him think the danger is passed and they'll go away.\n\nIf you're being hunted by a lion for food of course playing dead is just making it easy for them. If they're after food your best bet is becoming inaccessible by climbing a tree or something, killing them first, or convincing them you're more dangerous than the meal you'd make is worth. That's where suggestions like trying to appear bigger, making growls and assuming an aggressive stance come from.\n\nYou might also just hope to get the drop on something that now thinks you're dead.\n\n",
"I think it's instinct not eat a dead animal. Disease, rot, etc... suppose a follow up question is why are animal attention spans so short?\n"
]
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36ve7k | if there is a u.s. law that prevents people from suing grocery stores after getting sick from donated food, why do most grocery stores insist on throwing the food away (sometimes in locked dumpsters)? | Here is the law I'm referring to:
_URL_0_
I understand why they overstock-- to make displays look nice.
I understand why alot get's thrown away-- americans prefer "perfect" looking produce instead of the one with a slight bruise or odd shape.
But why don't they donate? Corporate policy at most places is to throw it out, instead of donate. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/36ve7k/eli5_if_there_is_a_us_law_that_prevents_people/ | {
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"Couple of reasons:\n\n1) The demand for donated food is not quite as high as everyone thinks it is. Most Americans, partially thanks to food stamps, are at no real risk of not getting enough to eat. As such, the demand for expired or damaged food isn't terribly large.\n\n2) Even if they couldn't be sued, it would be a public relations catastrophe for any grocery company who's food made a lot of poor people sick. That's a big risk for little gain. \n\n3) I know that many places do still donate quite a lot. A grocery store I worked at donated extra meat and cheese to the SPCA (to turn into animal food). \n\n4) Transport needs to be considered. If there are no donation distribution centers nearby, it may not be worth the cost for non-profits to send trucks out to distant grocery stores to collect expired goods. "
]
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"https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1791"
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[]
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k3p4k | the elder scrolls story. | Searched for it here and was surprised it wasn't asked already. I'm thinking about buying Skyrim and would like to have a general idea of the story beforehand.
Thanks. :) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/k3p4k/eli5_the_elder_scrolls_story/ | {
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"It's not strictly neccesary to know the story lines from the previous ones, and Bethesda are usually pretty good about filling people in on the lore.\n\nBut everything you'd probably need to know could be found on the [Elder Scrolls Wiki.](_URL_0_)",
"It's not strictly neccesary to know the story lines from the previous ones, and Bethesda are usually pretty good about filling people in on the lore.\n\nBut everything you'd probably need to know could be found on the [Elder Scrolls Wiki.](_URL_0_)"
]
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"http://www.uesp.net/"
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"http://www.uesp.net/"
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1zk37k | what does it mean for the user that windows xp is not going to be supported anymore? | I'm just confused. A friend mentioned security issues, but wouldn't an antivirus cover that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zk37k/eli5_what_does_it_mean_for_the_user_that_windows/ | {
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" > wouldn't an antivirus cover that?\n\nNo. The security issues are holes in the system that let viruses and such elevate their privileges in part to bypass AV software and other such limitations.\n\nIf you're still on XP, you are asking for trouble and need to update."
]
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[]
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9lybm9 | for an actual 5 year old: what is sarcasm? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9lybm9/eli5_for_an_actual_5_year_old_what_is_sarcasm/ | {
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"Saying the opposite of what you mean or what is true to be funny or sometimes to be mean. Or sometimes pointing out that someone else said something obvious where it didn't need to be said (could say \"easily understood or easily noticed instead of the word obvious).\n\n For actual 5 year olds examples help, for funny- if it is rainy and gloomy out saying \"wow what great weather!” \n\nFor mean \"what great service we're getting!\" When the service is really bad. \n\nFor the pointing out the obvious. Someone says \"wow it's cold out\" the sarcastic answer- \"oh is it\" or \"you don't say!\" \n\nI guess the last might be a combo of the first two...",
"You can communicate with words, and also with the expression on your face, with your body or hand gestures, and with the tone of your voice. And because you can communicate with all of these at the same time, your words could say one thing, and your face, hands, or tone of voice could change the meaning to the opposite of what your words say.\n\nFor example, the words \"Have a nice day\" mean well. But if your face is angry when you say them, the other person will know that you actually hate them, and you don't really want them to actually have a nice day.\n\nAnother example: \"You are so smart\" but then you roll your eyes. The eye roll changes the meaning of the words to the opposite.\n\nThat's sarcasm. You say the words, but in such a way that the other person understands that you mean the opposite of what the words say.\n\nMost of the time sarcasm is being mean; you're insulting the other person. The words are not mean, but the meaning is mean / not nice."
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56xrws | how do they film continuous shots of actors being thrown from buildings? | I've seen this done before, there was an early episode of the Sopranos where a two-bit drug dealer was hoisted over a bridge railing and thrown to his death and the camera never changed angles until he landed with a sudden thud on the rocky shoreline.
It happened again in one of the episodes of Luke Cage, where someone is thrown from a rooftop and the camera stays on this individual until impact.
Is it just really good CGI? I mean, the Sopranos was shot over 10 years ago and the scene takes place during the day into shallow moving water. The scene in Luke Cage causes the car to deform and for glass to be scattered on the ground. Is CGI that believable? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/56xrws/eli5how_do_they_film_continuous_shots_of_actors/ | {
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"Yup, CGI is that believable, especially in a scene like that, ostensibly in darkness.\n\nBut it's also possible to use a crane to point the camera downwards and have it zoom along with the object. It's also possible to film a clothed dummy falling on an actual car. And with digital tools, splice the shots together pixel-perfect, so that you never know it was filmed separately.",
"It is not very complicated CGI. The actors will throw someone off a railing on a green screen stage. The fall is lengthened by inserting the best matching images from another take where the actor is flailing around. The image is shrunk so it looks like the actor is falling further away. Then the background with the bridge and waves is added.",
"Do you mean [this scene](_URL_0_) where they throw what is obviously a dummy off a bridge?\n\nIt cuts from the medium shot of them hoisting the actor onto the railing, to the alternate angle of them throwing the 'man' off the bridge, to the reverse shot of them watching him fall, to the long shot of the dummy falling. It was just good editing that made it seem like (in your mind) it was one continuous shot when in fact it was lots of quick cuts.",
"[Stunt Men/Women](_URL_1_) are also in use for impressive shots. While they're falling a bit out of use with the uprise of CGI, they're still used for many impressive shots. \n[Stuntpeople are an insurance liability](_URL_0_), but it's far less expensive to insure them than it is to risk a famous actor/actress getting hurt, or adding on weeks and weeks of time to the project by adding a 10-second CGI integration. \n\nPlus, depending on how high the bridge is, being thrown into a pool of water [isn't that big a deal.](_URL_2_) \n"
]
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdZm2yfyN5g"
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFOwkhKEiwI",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4WQsXjdmu4",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaDZvw9ot3E"
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cmx8el | why metals are hotter in the sun than the ambient air temperature. | Also, what equation do you use if you want to calculate, for example, the temperature an aluminum patio table can get to if left out in the sun on a summer day. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cmx8el/eli5why_metals_are_hotter_in_the_sun_than_the/ | {
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"Heat in conveyed by radiation (mostly meaning infrared light) as well as directly from the air. And metal is good at hanging on to heat once heated.",
"So there are three ways heat is transfered: \n\n* conduction = by touching something hot/cold\n* convection = by flowing cold/hot fluids like air or water\n* radiation = ... by radiation. \n\nThe first two are most common, but here it's a case of pure radiation. Every body emits radiation dependent on its temperature, surface area and \"emissivity\". \n\nCalculating the equilibrium temperature is not easy, but it should go as follows: \n\n* Calculate how much energy the patio is absorbing from the sun \n* Calculate how much energy the patio is giving away, by radiation but also convection and conduction to the ambient air. \n\nThe formulas for the radiation can be found on [wikipedia](_URL_0_). If you want to make it easier you assume that there is no convection and conduction to the ambient air, and you assume both the patio and sun are black bodies (meaning they don't reflect, and have emissivity of 1). \n\nThen the final important variable is the \"view factor\", which describes the geometry and orientation of the sun compared to the patio. Calculating this view factor is also pretty tricky, and you probably will have to make some assumptions about it again. \n\n**TL;DR:** It's radiation energy from the sun. The final temperature depends on a too much factors (geometry, reflection, ambient air, ...) to put into a simple formula."
]
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[],
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation#Radiative_heat_transfer"
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f6fg0v | interest rate swaps. i work with commercial real estate loans in a bank and many of them have rate swaps. don’t understand at all. please help! | For example: borrower has a $9MM loan with the bank at a rate of LIBOR + 165. They have a $1,051,000 interest rate swap (sometimes with us, sometimes from another lender) to a fixed rate of 4.48%.
Current PFE is $514,043
MTM is $399,234
I honestly don’t understand any part of it. What’s the $1,051,000? Who is getting and receiving payments at L+165? Same question for the 4.48%. What do the PFE and MTM mean? So lost. Please help. Thank you!! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f6fg0v/eli5_interest_rate_swaps_i_work_with_commercial/ | {
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"Your borrower has a variable rate for $9M of debt. What they are doing here is deciding that they want to remove some of the risk of fluctuations in LIBOR by fixing that rate.\n\nSo they took a piece of their debt (1.051 million) and found somebody who is willing to swap with them.\n\nThat person now has your borrowers LIBOR fluctuation risk, and your borrower took that person's fixed rate.\n\nThey may end up with slightly more interest owing right now, but when LIBOR increases, 11% of the increase will be mitigated by the swap.\n\nJust imagine that they turned their 9 million into two debts of 8M and 1M then found somebody else with 1M in debt who had a fixed rate and traded with them."
]
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9o8iiq | how is a bank pin secure when it only has 4-5 digits with a max of 10^5 possibilities? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9o8iiq/eli5_how_is_a_bank_pin_secure_when_it_only_has_45/ | {
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"text": [
"I've seen a thread about this before!\n\n_URL_0_"
]
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[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ltz9y/eli5_why_is_a_4digit_code_sufficient_for_banking"
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|
ag9vud | how can youtube continue to ignore the problem of copyright claim abuse on its site? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ag9vud/eli5_how_can_youtube_continue_to_ignore_the/ | {
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"I want to take a ride in this and ask why youtube has so many stupid problems that never seem to get solved.\n\nLike the \"autoplay\" is a complete garbage of three videos that keep playing in loop.\n\nOr the problems it has on smart stuff or even the bugs on the apps.\n\nIt's all clearly easy to solve problems!!\n\nIt bothers me a lot the negligence.",
"1. You cannot anonymously file a claim. So you better hope the claim is legitimate or else you get sued.\n\n2. YouTube/Google can't be sued, because they're being compliant with the DMCA. \n\n3. When someone makes a Content ID claim on YouTube, if the original party appeals the claim, then all revenue is held by YouTube/Google until the claim is resolved, and then it is paid out to the appropriate party. So no, you don't get \"free money\" on false claims.\n\n4. A false copyright claim is equivalent to perjury. And since, as stated, you cannot anonymously file a claim, you subject yourself to legal consequences.",
"The movie/music industries have big and powerful lobbies which push for both legislation and direct changes made by companies like Google.\nThey have leverage on Google because Google wants their Content on Google Play.\n\nThe content creators on youtube have no lobby, no fancy lawyers, and no legislation backing them. They are dependent on Google and don't dare bite the hand that feeds them. Their individual leverage on Google is zero.\n\nGoogle itself always does earn their share - no matter whether the ad revenue goes to the content creator, or to some troll firm. It does not really matter to them.\n\nThey invest money in the copyright claim system because they are forced to by legislation and pressure from music/movie industries.\nThey put no money in a \"revert fake claims\" system, because they are not forced to, and there is no ROI in doing so."
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53vafz | how and when did electricity become a utility? what is preventing internet from becoming classified as a utility? what would be the benefit to the public if it was? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/53vafz/eli5_how_and_when_did_electricity_become_a/ | {
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"There are certain countries where the internet access is considered a human right, I don't think it will be long before access to it is considered a utility, I'm not sure how it would effect the publics day to day life considering it's not quite as pivotal as say, having your water, heat and or power cut off in the middle of winter, lack of access won't be detrimental to your way of life but it could impact it in the long run. how exactly I'm unsure. ",
"_URL_0_\n\nIt seems that it is considered a utility currently which is a win for consumers. Providers are looking to tier prices based on usage and speed as well as throttle speeds on services like Netflix and YouTube. Net Neutrality is really what we are talking about here, keeping the internet equally available for anyone and any service. Ya know like this Reddit shitshow that we all love!",
"Many things, including the original phone service, the current train tracks, most roads, and power generation \"become utilities\" because it serves the public good.\n\nBack when phones needed wires, we needed American Telephone and Telegraph to be a monopoly because we couldn't socially or physically afford to have parallel systems. We couldn't handle having two, three, or five sets of telephone polls along each street. We couldn't tollerate only being able to call some people (as if Sprint customers could only call other Sprint customers, ibid for Verizon, T-Mobile, and everybody else). The system would collapse.\n\nSo it's not practical to have two companies running two sets of power wires to your front door. There simply isn't room for the extra power poles nor a safe way to manage the resulting tangles of competing wire. The same goes for phones and data cables.\n\nSo the internet providers, under \"network neutrality\" rules, _is_ _already_ a utility.\n\nBut cable televsion (and cell providers when they put up cell towers etc, et al) companies are rat bastards. They used \"common carrier\" (utility right-of-way) laws to put their cables on the poles and under ground; and to do so with public subsidies...\n\nAnd then they try to claim to be a non-utility service instead of a utility when it comes to billing and screwing you out of bandwidth and minutes.\n\nThe entire question of \"net neutrality\" comes down to this simple question: Are the rat bastards allowed to put in the physical infrastructure under the guise and promise of being a utility, but then separate the data out as if it were incidental to, and separately chargeable from, the physical stuff we paid good tax dollars and eminent domain to underwrite?\n\nIf the power company tried to tell you that the wires and pipes were \"utilities\" but the actual electrical power and gas were a wholly private product that should be unregulated... would you call bullshit?\n\nSo the U.S. Federal Communication Commission has, with its net neutrality rules and common carrier protections, declared internet service to be a utility.\n\nBut the rat bastards want to eat their cake and still have it too, and that's the crux of a long and ongoing fight happening right now.",
" > What would be the benefit to the public if it was?\n\nThere are many benefits which other people in the thread have listed. However, there are also many differences between the traditional utilities (water, electric, etc) and the internet which complicate things.\n\nFirst, deploying internet infrastructure is expensive. In many ways, it is significantly more expensive than water or electricity. Fiber itself is very costly. Interchanges require complicated electronics, all the way up to the internet backbone which requires million-dollar switches and expensive, specialized engineers to maintain them. \n\nSecond, consumer demand for internet bandwidth increases every year, and shows no sign of slowing. This is more a concern with mobile than with landlines, given that a single line of fiber is usually enough to service many homes even well into the future. But it does mean that money has to go into both physical network improvements **and** research into next generation technologies. Water and electric are something of \"solved problems\" (which isn't to say innovation doesn't happen, but not at the same exponential degree internet is evolving at).\n\nThird, the thing flowing through them isn't \"dumb\". Compared to simple water or electricity, there are a massive number of regulations in place governing what you can and can't use the internet for. It isn't just a series of \"dumb pipes\". Enforcing these rules requires even more money.\n\nFourth, there's a lot of existing infrastructure out there; buildings, pipes, roads, wires... all of this was designed for the utilities of the 20th century. Then internet comes along and now we have to also consider where we're going to run thousands of miles of fiber, or how we're going to get a WiFi broadcast to an entire building. Those are expensive problems.\n\nIn essence, every reason comes down to money. \n\nThe primary benefit we'd see governing ISPs as utilities would be the ability to limit the rates they can charge their customers. This could have a disastrous side-effect: limiting investment capital to expand the network. And unlike water or electricity, internet infrastructure still needs exponential expansion. Google [and a few others are investing](_URL_1_) $300M to build a 60Tbps cable between Oregon and Japan. Microsoft [and Facebook](_URL_0_) are planning a 160Tbps connection from Virginia to Spain. These sound expensive, but these are global backbone projects; basically a single cable, and a straight shot between the two endpoints across open ocean. Last-mile is just as expensive, for different reasons.\n\nThere is one thing we have going for us: fiber is the end-all be-all information infrastructure. Nothing can travel faster than light. The interchanges and data centers might need continual upgrades, but once fiber is in the ground it can be used for years. So, there might come a day when there is enough fiber in the ground that it makes sense to start treating it like a public resource. But that day won't be for a long while. "
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151z99 | bitcoin mining. how does one simply generate currency? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/151z99/eli5_bitcoin_mining_how_does_one_simply_generate/ | {
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"Bitcoin is a decentralized currency system, meaning that there is not much dedicated infrastructure to maintaining it. However, anyone can install the Bitcoin sofware on their computer, and let the program handle the calculations necessary to keep the transactions flowing. The more calculations you contribute with your computer (costing you because CPU intensive and electricity), the more you are compensated with the newly \"minted\" Bitcoins. ",
"The mystery of bitcoin (and other digital currencies) is really the mystery of money. If we didn't have money, and then one day someone invented it, it would be just as mind boggling.\n\nWhy does money even have any value? It makes sense that something like wheat could become a currency. Everyone wants wheat because it's useful. Let's say for the time being that money doesn't exist. You need some food, so you trade your computer to someone for wheat. Wheat is useful because you can make it into food. But what if you don't like wheat? You can try trading it for beer to someone who does want wheat. But the wheat is still useful to you the whole time because it can be made into food.\n\nFor some reason, at some point a lot of people decided gold and other metals were kinda cool, so they got traded around a lot. Now these metals could be used for things by virtue of being metals, but their value wasn't in what they could be used for, their value was in people thinking they had value. This is how commodity currency came to be. People would accept commodities (such as gold and silver) because they knew they would be able to trade them rather easily to other people for stuff they wanted.\n\nBut gold and silver are hard to carry around. So some clever guy came up with an idea: he will store your gold for you. You bring gold to him, and he will issue you a certificate. This means you don't have to store your gold yourself. When you want to spend the gold, you can bring your certificate back to him and redeem it (what's in it for him? While he's storing your gold, he invests it and makes money off it). Eventually this even become too cumbersome, and people realized that they could just trade these gold certificates. As long as they trust that whoever issued the certificate will be able to redeem it.\n\nTo step back for a minute, our currency is now a piece of paper that can be traded in for a piece of metal.\n\nNow the clever guy storing the gold realizes something: the paper itself is becoming the currency, and it is very rare for anyone to actually redeem their certificates for gold. So he issues a certificate for himself without adding any new gold to the stores, and puts that certificate into circulation. There is now paper out that represents more than there is actual gold in the stores. This isn't a problem unless everyone tries to clear out all the gold in the stores. The guy running the store realizes the power he has, and issues a lot more certificates. This works out just fine as long as no one really catches on to what he's doing.\n\nThis is what happened in the United States. The American dollar used to be tied to gold, and there were huge gold stores at Fort Knox. However, the government kept printing more money without adding more gold to the stores. The value of the currency remained rather stable because everyone still believed it was tied to gold (it was—you could redeem your American money for gold, but (iirc) only if you were not American). And then one day, the government thought to itself, why do we even have the gold? And so the money was untied from gold and they were free to print as much money as they wanted. This is known as fiat currency, it is currency because someone said so, and everyone else said \"okay\". Fiat money has a little problem though, in general the value of *all* of the currency is pretty stable, that means that printing more money will cause each individual dollar to be worth less. This is inflation. Here's a historical graph of inflation in the US, notice how it skyrocketed after the gold standard was abandoned: _URL_0_ (I believe that every national currency is now fiat)\n\nNow this brings us to bitcoin. Bitcoin is, in a way, a fiat currency. However, it is not decreed by any government. It is, as it were, decreed by the public. Every currency needs to decide how it will be distributed, this is usually the job of the government. Bitcoin being \"a people's currency\" had to be more fair about it, or no one would want to use it. So they decided that the currency would be given out randomly to people who can demonstrate that they are doing work for it. This is done by solving a computationally complicated problem. Everyone using bitcoin agrees that this is a fair way to distribute bitcoin, and when someone solves the problem, all the computers on the bitcoin network say, \"yup, you earned those coins\".\n\nIn reality, your computer is just saying \"I'm going to give myself some money,\" which normally just won't work on bitcoin because all the other computers would say, \"don't listen to that guy, he's making things up.\" But when you can show that you've done the work for it, everyone is cool with you taking the money (this is done in a very specific way though).",
"Yes it generates currency for whatever you use as currency:\n\nWe could still use wheat as currency, or gold, and generate more of that trough labor fairly, and some cultures at one point did. This currency equals wealth for all the potential of the object used as currency. Basic food makes a great currency because it fundamentally equals wealth but it can not be stored for too long. Gold and silver have been used for the longest time as currency because they do not rust and are easy to shape. Gold and wher are always worth as much labout as is needed to generate and transport it. To make exchange easyer, empires mass produced equally heavy quantities of coins. We just recently switched to paper certificates for some ammount of stored wheat/gold and paper that has \"I owe you this ammounf of x\" or written on it with various measures to make it uncopyable. (Some cultures use knots in strings or signs in dry clay for the same conceppt). \"I-owe-you papers\" soon replaced gold and silver and most certificates for it as a more universal currency. Because gold got rare and hard to carry and protect and standardized papers could easily be exchanged and transprted without weighting them. **The concept of people owing something to each other in exchange for a service is fundamental enough to work in large societies.** The tricky part is setting an exchangeable value for very different services.\nWe switched to digital transactions and the use of multiple large prime numbers to secure the transfer of \"i owe yous\" because that made the transfer of wealth for services easyer. In the end the digital transaction and calculation of larger prime numbers itself is a service that can be set equal to a currency, because the required calculations are a service to the currency.\n\n---\n\n**The currency is a payment for a service that you provided** for the currency system by calculating a unique hash that is the basis of the currency and by processing a lot of other peoples transactions of the same currency using other already calculated hashes.\n\nThe problem is that this task grows in complexity the more hashes/primes have been calculated and the more hashes are in use. This ultimatively increases hardware cost and energy cost over time. This umtimatively limits the currency. This ultimatively sets the value of the currency to the needed energy cost and hardware production to calculate and process the next few hashes, on a global average.\n\nIn the future this system either collapses due to the energy cost to calculate the next hashes being not worth it, or by making the currency itself obsolete or valueless by having energy and processing power available extremely cheaply.\n\nThere is no free limitless energy and no unlimited processing power. Therefore it is a pyramid sceme waiting to collapse due to the limits of available processing power."
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5u7v2e | how are subscription boxes feasible? | All the subscription boxes I know always advertise that the stuff in the box is worth way more than the cost of the box (I've seen up to double). How is this feasible from a business standpoint? How do subscription boxes work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5u7v2e/eli5_how_are_subscription_boxes_feasible/ | {
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"I would say because they buy in volume, and therefore getting discounts. \nIf something normally costs $5, but you buy 1000 for $4 and you sell em for $4.5, you still make a profit",
"the company buys the products that go into the box for much less than the products would \"normally\" sell for. \n\nmanufacturers of products sometimes dictate that the product should be sold for at least some amount and this is called MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price) and this is usually what you pay at the store for said product.\n\nessentially if you were to go buy all the items in the box it would cost you $40 due to MSRP or similar retail price setting mechanisms, but since the box company buys all the things in the box in bulk (and at a discount) it only costs them $10 for all of it. they sell it to you for $20 and they still make a profit.\n\n(numbers are examples only)",
"It's volume along with knowing they can sell 100% of what they order.\n\nSo, an item purchased by a retailer might cost that retailer $25, but be sold for $50. That retailer knows that they might sell between 500 and 750 of these things, but the retailer is unsure. So, they order the full 750, but actually only sell 600. So 150, at $25 a peace, are wasted. In addition, a retailer needs to pay for rent, utilities, sales people and storage space for these things while they are selling them. Lets say that \"overhead\" is 10% of the retail price, or about $5 per item. Lastly, retailers might need to keep an item \"in stock\" over a long period of time. So it might be 3 or 4 reorders over the year that the retailer keeps the item in stock. \n\nAll of those costs need to be covered in the retail price of a product. Plus a profit margin for the retailer otherwise why bother doing it at all. There's a good deal of uncertainty in the whole transaction and the retailer is paying for inventory in advance. So the retailer deserves to be compensated for that risk.\n\nThe box company pays none of these costs. In addition they take no risk. They order only the exact amount they need and they know with a 100% certainty that they will sell all that they order. Lastly they can work with suppliers to get deals on items that might be discontinued or otherwise needed to be gotten rid of. While the retailer must have the item on hand when the consumer wants to buy it, the box company sells what they want when they want to a consumer that does not really get to chose what they buy and when. \nPeople order, and pay, in advance through a subscription model. The seller, knows LOTS of information in advance that the average retailer won't and in addition they have the ability to decide for the customer exactly what's going to get sold that month. \n\nAll of this pre-planing ability takes away risk. This allows the seller to operate with a smaller profit margin because there's less risk of a loss that they'll need to cover. While shipping is a cost they have that retailers don't the box company also does not need a retail space.\n\nSo retail price will, by necessary, be higher. So the box company totals up all these high retail prices and says \"we are selling it cheaper!\" and it's true, they are. But they are also forcing you to buy an item you might not otherwise buy, they are forcing you to buy on their schedule and not your own and they are getting rid of all the risk from operating a retail business. ",
"Let's say you buy some stuff for $10 each that you think you can sell for $20 each. But, after a few months you see that demand is slow and this stuff is wasting space in your warehouse. If you sell it for $10 (or even $5) you're getting more than if you throw it away. Toss a bunch of this \"loser stuff\" in a box, advertise that you're selling it for 60% off the retail price, and maybe somebody will buy it.",
"First off, they quote MSRP that things rarely sell for. Secondly, they are buying wholesale, and they only buy what's been ordered/paid for so they don't have any product they have to put on sale or otherwise liquidate. Overhead for a website & space to store limited product and assemble boxes is a lot less than stores, warehouses, etc. for more traditional retail. And manufacturers look at subscription boxes as marketing opportunities to introduce their brand, so they may sell product at discount or give for free (like free samples they'd give out through other channels).",
"All the answers appear to left out one part. The subscription company often sells the idea to the vendor that this is a marketing maneuver for them. They want the manufacture to sell it to them at less then wholesale or even at cost. With the box they include information on the product or store. The manufacture hopes you get their artisan oatmeal and enjoy it and buy more. The manufacture hopes you get their fancy socks and show your friends how cool they are, go to their webpage and buy more, forward a link to your friends, open your mystery box as part of a youtube video.",
"A friend of mine works in the cosmetics industry, the 'double price' you see is the recommended retail price of the products, the actual cost of the subscription box company buying them is usually 50-80% lower than the RRP, this couple with the fact that a lot of the products in these are brand sponsored (brands selling their products even cheaper to the box company as a form of advertising and reaching new consumer groups).\n\nThis means if X's lipstick was $18 they would sell it to the box company for $10 (wholesale price) and then possibly remove another $2 for bulk buying and brand sponsorship meaning it cost the box company $8 to buy but they can tell you that the value is $18.",
"I work in the industry. Very rarely would a subscription box company actually purchase any of the products that are in the boxes. They pitch their boxes to other brands and suppliers and they give them the samples/products for free in order to reach a wider audience who will then go on to seek to purchase more/full size products. It's very clever ;)"
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3buhua | why did many of the older (pre-ps3) games have a lot less bugs than it did now? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3buhua/eli5_why_did_many_of_the_older_preps3_games_have/ | {
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"- The engines and mechanics are more complex with more features; the more features you have, the more likely one of them has a bug. Look at a game like Kirby or Megaman: there's your character, 2 or 3 enemies onscreen, and a couple of platforms. You move from one side to the other while the background scrolls. It's pretty simple. Look at something like Assassin's Creed in comparison: there's a large 3D map, and you might be looking at huge portions of it at any moment. The map is filled with potentially dozens of characters who are all engaging in walking and running animations, colliding with each other, moving on routes around the level. You can throw objects and the engine has to understand its arc and how things move and intersect in 3D space, how 20 of the nearest characters respond to that, how lights and shadows are cast, etc etc. There are far more calculations going on, and so far more chances for something to screw up.\n- The games, too, are larger and more complex logically, which leaves more opportunity for bugs. Games like Skyrim or Fallout let you pick a variety of quests and pursue them in any order, while using a variety of items and having a variety of interaction states with characters. It can be easy for them to accidentally wind up with a bug where you need Item X to complete a quest but you can only get Item X from Character Y, who you pissed off in a previous quest, or to let you do quests in the wrong order and get stuck with serious bugs. You didn't really see that in Ape Escape. You DID see this in old JRPGs like Final Fantasy, but those made up a small fraction of older games -- platformers and linear action games were more common, and simpler. Open-world games like GTA/Skyrim/etc are a lot more common today and they can be difficult to organise.\n- In the past, games could be made by quite small teams, with one person handling programming, one person handling art, one person handling sound, etc. Hell, back in the 70s/early 80s, you saw a lot of games entirely made by *one* person. Today, games are made by much larger teams, because they're so much more complex, the assets are more demanding to make, etc. This can make for more bugs, because no one person understands the entire game the way they could in the 80s/90s. Every person specialises in a particular part of the game, and bugs can arise when Programmer X's code does something Programmer Y's code didn't expect, or when the guy handling AI doesn't understand the subtleties of how the engine handles movement. A lot of work goes into preventing these kinds of problems but it's an inherent weakness that wasn't as big in the days of small teams.\n- Because all modern platforms can accept software patches, there might not be as much emphasis placed on thoroughly testing before release. If a serious bug is reported, they figure they can always fix it in a patch later -- so in a way, they're using early customers as testers. Before ~2005, you couldn't patch a console game, so you had to be really sure nothing was wrong before you put it out there. Even this didn't always happen; one of my favourite 90s games, *Space Station Silicon Valley*, has a bug that makes it impossible to fully complete the game. Not a rare bug that happens if you do a specific thing -- it's just completely impossible to fully complete it, no matter what, for everyone. "
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1ctmln | what is the difference between 'satire' and 'parody'? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ctmln/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_satire_and/ | {
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"Parody imitates something for the purpose of irony or ridicule\n\nSatire while usually funny, the humor isn't the primary purpose, it instead wishes to offer criticism of something.",
"A parody is something that imitates a real life person or a work of art for the purpose of mocking that particular person or work of art. A satire is simply an attempt to use humor and mockery to make some sort of commentary. You will often see parodies inside of a satire.",
"Parody is imitation/mockery, which can exist within the more general concept of satire.\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_",
"A parody is meant to convey entertainment and nothing more. It is \"making fun\" of something. Satire is used for both sending a message and entertainment. It often mocks something to criticize. Parodies only mock something for laughs.",
"Parody is directed at something specific, mimicking to to make fun of it. It might make some point beyond humor, but it doesn't have to. SNL imitating a politician or celebrity is a good example of parody.\n\nSatire is directed at something in general, and mimics it to make a point. *The Onion* is a good example of satire.\n\nNote that something can be both parody and satire at the same time."
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8umdml | how is that people can survive skydiving accidents, when people have died jumping from less high distances? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8umdml/eli5_how_is_that_people_can_survive_skydiving/ | {
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"one persone once jump from a plane and the parachute did noy open and that person fell inba muddy wet field where the shock was absorb my the wet ground and that person survive got every bone in yhe body broken but still survive lol"
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kdzhp | what is bricking, flashing and rooting a mobile device? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kdzhp/what_is_bricking_flashing_and_rooting_a_mobile/ | {
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"*Flashing* is updating the \"firmware\", which is like software except it's supposed to stay more or less permanently (except for updates like this, of course). It runs the phone's most basic functionality. So called because this sort of thing tends to live in something called flash memory.\n\n*Rooting* is gaining all access to everything the phone can do, even if the phone maker or service provider doesn't want you to. So called because the super-ultra-mega-user in most kinds of systems is called the root user.\n\n*Bricking* is screwing up in such a way that the thing no longer works. So called because now you can only use it as a brick.",
"**Flashing:** Imagine you have a phone. This phone is offered on two different carriers, but one is locked down because of the carrier. Back in the day, this was a huge issue with the Motorola Razr. The two main markets for CDMA were Verizon Wireless and Alltel. Alltel's firmware was less restrictive and was pretty much stock Motorola firmware. Verizon, on the other hand, locked the phone down with a version of their own firmware that made it hard to add MP3s, ringtones, tether, and more. So, if a user had a Verizon Razr and wanted the features of the Alltel Razr, one would need to flash using the .SBF file using a computer with tools from Google.\n\n\nAnother example includes the Android based phones. Since the OS is open source, many modders like CyanogenMod and Lithium release their own ROMs that can be flashed to the phone as well. Flashing, in essence, is changing the OS or version of the phone.\n\n\n**Bricking:** This is usually when a flash goes wrong. If a flash fails, the device will be referred to as a brick. This is mostly because it is referred to a heavy paperweight -- i.e., a brick. Many bricks are reversible, but then again, some are not.\n\n\n**Rooting:** Rooting, in my experience, is more related to the Android based phones. When you root a device, you are granted more access to the operating system, allowing you to call on resources outside of the APK. You're allowed to run and install .APKs that would normally not run. This includes Wireless Tethering, Emulators, Rom Manager, and more.\n\n\n**Jailbreaking:** Jailbreaking is more specific to the iOS devices, like the iPhone and iPad. When one jailbreaks their device, they are generally used to change carriers on GSM phones. (AT & T, T-Mobile, etc.) However, there are other things that can be done with jail breaking, including adding wireless tethering, mods to the OS, installing .IPA files that haven't been legitimately purchased, and more.",
"Let's say you have a castle that your sister owns and it is set up for a princess - the inside is pretty and pink, full of frilly stuff.\n\nBut you don't like pink and frilly stuff.\n\n**Flashing** is where you go into the castle, pull out all of the girly furniture, and put in your own furniture to make the castle into an awesome fortress. It looks the same on the outside, but the inside is now what you want.\n\n**Bricking** is when you go into the castle, re-arrange the furniture, but you accidentally push the couch in front of the door and somehow get out. Now you can't even get into the castle! And what's more, you can't even move furniture around!\n\n**Rooting** - is when the castle is magically enchanted so that only the King can make any changes to it - you can't bring over any friends unless the King says so, and you can't sit in the chairs because you are not the King. Rooting is when you dress up like a King and now you can bring over anyone you want, and sit in all the chairs just like the King does!\n\n**Jailbreaking** is similar to rooting, except you are now a princess.\n\nReplace castle with phone, furniture with firmware, king with admin. Also rooting is for androids, and jailbreaking is for iOS.\n",
"*Flashing* is updating the \"firmware\", which is like software except it's supposed to stay more or less permanently (except for updates like this, of course). It runs the phone's most basic functionality. So called because this sort of thing tends to live in something called flash memory.\n\n*Rooting* is gaining all access to everything the phone can do, even if the phone maker or service provider doesn't want you to. So called because the super-ultra-mega-user in most kinds of systems is called the root user.\n\n*Bricking* is screwing up in such a way that the thing no longer works. So called because now you can only use it as a brick.",
"**Flashing:** Imagine you have a phone. This phone is offered on two different carriers, but one is locked down because of the carrier. Back in the day, this was a huge issue with the Motorola Razr. The two main markets for CDMA were Verizon Wireless and Alltel. Alltel's firmware was less restrictive and was pretty much stock Motorola firmware. Verizon, on the other hand, locked the phone down with a version of their own firmware that made it hard to add MP3s, ringtones, tether, and more. So, if a user had a Verizon Razr and wanted the features of the Alltel Razr, one would need to flash using the .SBF file using a computer with tools from Google.\n\n\nAnother example includes the Android based phones. Since the OS is open source, many modders like CyanogenMod and Lithium release their own ROMs that can be flashed to the phone as well. Flashing, in essence, is changing the OS or version of the phone.\n\n\n**Bricking:** This is usually when a flash goes wrong. If a flash fails, the device will be referred to as a brick. This is mostly because it is referred to a heavy paperweight -- i.e., a brick. Many bricks are reversible, but then again, some are not.\n\n\n**Rooting:** Rooting, in my experience, is more related to the Android based phones. When you root a device, you are granted more access to the operating system, allowing you to call on resources outside of the APK. You're allowed to run and install .APKs that would normally not run. This includes Wireless Tethering, Emulators, Rom Manager, and more.\n\n\n**Jailbreaking:** Jailbreaking is more specific to the iOS devices, like the iPhone and iPad. When one jailbreaks their device, they are generally used to change carriers on GSM phones. (AT & T, T-Mobile, etc.) However, there are other things that can be done with jail breaking, including adding wireless tethering, mods to the OS, installing .IPA files that haven't been legitimately purchased, and more.",
"Let's say you have a castle that your sister owns and it is set up for a princess - the inside is pretty and pink, full of frilly stuff.\n\nBut you don't like pink and frilly stuff.\n\n**Flashing** is where you go into the castle, pull out all of the girly furniture, and put in your own furniture to make the castle into an awesome fortress. It looks the same on the outside, but the inside is now what you want.\n\n**Bricking** is when you go into the castle, re-arrange the furniture, but you accidentally push the couch in front of the door and somehow get out. Now you can't even get into the castle! And what's more, you can't even move furniture around!\n\n**Rooting** - is when the castle is magically enchanted so that only the King can make any changes to it - you can't bring over any friends unless the King says so, and you can't sit in the chairs because you are not the King. Rooting is when you dress up like a King and now you can bring over anyone you want, and sit in all the chairs just like the King does!\n\n**Jailbreaking** is similar to rooting, except you are now a princess.\n\nReplace castle with phone, furniture with firmware, king with admin. Also rooting is for androids, and jailbreaking is for iOS.\n"
]
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8sqh0a | why are the score difference in soccer so low compared to basketball? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8sqh0a/eli5_why_are_the_score_difference_in_soccer_so/ | {
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"Soccer you only get 1 point per goal and its a lot harder to score than in basketball.\nWhile basketball you have points of 2 and 3 depending on distance scored from the hoop.",
"Smaller court allows more shots on the basket.\n\nPlus I would argue using your hands make you more accurate.\n\nThe distance in soccer plus the add number of players make it a rather low scoring game compared to most sports.\n\nTennis just cheats and make one score 15points."
]
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[],
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1041ji | how can atoms have different isotopes? for example, how can helium exist in three different forms? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1041ji/how_can_atoms_have_different_isotopes_for_example/ | {
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"Atoms are made of protons, neutrons and electrons. In the nucleus, the number of protons determines which element it is (so for helium, two protons), and so determines the number of electrons the atom needs to be neutral in charge, and also what physical properties it has.\n\nNeutrons in the nucleus don't affect the properties of the atom, only it's mass. However, only certain combinations of protons and neutrons are stable. If protons and neutrons are jammed together in an unstable combination, the nucleus will break down (radioactive decay). Helium with 1 neutron (He-3) and 2 neutrons (He-4) are very stable, so they are found naturally on Earth. In fact, He-4 is produced when certain types of bigger nuclei go through radioactive decay (specifically, alpha decay), so the helium on Earth is almost exclusively Helium-4.\n\nAs you go down the periodic table (i.e., bigger and bigger nuclei) it takes more and more neutrons to keep the nucleus stable. So while hydrogen is present as mostly Hydrogen-1, with no neutrons at all, oxygen mostly has 8 neutrons for its 8 protons (MW=16), bromine has 45 neutrons for 35 protons (MW=80), and cesium has 78 neutrons for its 55 protons (MW=133).\n\nEdit: It occurs to me that I didn't really answer the question that thoroughly. As I mentioned, certain combinations of neutrons and protons are stable, so if you took a bunch of random nuclei with random numbers of protons and neutrons (as in, nuclear fusion in the heart of the sun), the unstable ones would decay away pretty fast, leaving just the stable ones. Plenty of elements have a few combinations that are stable, so those elements have several observable isotopes. Usually one isotope is predominant, though. Chlorine for example has two major isotopes, Cl-35 (~75% abundance) and Cl-37 (~25% abundance). There is also Cl-36, but it's only present in trace amounts.",
"Don't think of the periodic table or even the names of the elements. That is merely an abstraction which is useful in chemistry, but we can think beyond that.\n\nFundamentally, protons and neutrons can come together in many different stable and unstable configurations. There are two major forces at work in the nucleus. The nuclear force and the electromagnetic force. The protons want to fly away from each other due to their charge, but they also want to stick together thanks to their nuclear force. And in the case of small distances, the nuclear force is stronger than the electromagnetic force.\n\nBut things get complicated, as the distance between protons increases the electromagnetic force becomes stronger than the nuclear one. That means that if your atom is larger, and the protons are more separated, they will try to fly away from each other.\n\nThis is why you also need neutrons. Neutrons are like filler. They don't contribute to the electromagnetic force in the nucleus but they *do* contribute to the nuclear force.\n\nAfter a certain point, even more neutrons won't do the trick, and that's why all of the largest nuclei are unstable.\n\nBut in any case, this explains two things: \n\n1. Since neutrons are filler and mostly contribute to stability, they do not change the atom's chemical properties (well, it doesn't change the element, anyways)\n\n2. Since they are filler, larger atoms have more possible isotopes (though not necessarily stable).\n\nFeel free to ask me any more questions.\n\nEdit: [Bonus graph](_URL_0_) you'll see in nuclear physics departments. Instead of the periodic table this just graphs protons versus neutrons with known isotopes color coded by how they decay."
]
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"http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Table_isotopes_en.svg"
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ej4fhr | why does a clutch have to come up slowly in a car? | As the title says, why can't cars be made to cope with a clutch coming up fast - What happens? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ej4fhr/eli5_why_does_a_clutch_have_to_come_up_slowly_in/ | {
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"In simple terms, (please elaborate if you can).\n\nImagine someone running up behind you, and you start to run just as they meet you. You can't immediately get to top speed to match them, you have to speed up to catch their speed. A clutch is similar but instead or linear motion it is rotating. The same rule applies though, you can't take a stationary object and make it move at the same speed, rotation, etc., instantly. It has to catch up.\n\nAn automatic transmission takes advantage of fluid dynamics to make it so that when you simply press the gas the car goes. This is due to a viscous fluid that spins freely at low rotations but creates drag at higher rotational speeds.\n\nCan anyone elaborate?",
"Think of it this way. Releasing the clutch is a lot like slapping someone. If you slap them slow enough it doesn't hurt, thus making the release of the clutch a smooth action. But if you dump the clutch (releasing it as fast as you can) you basically slap the car at full speed.\n\nReleasing it slowly also is easier on the equipment (transmissions, drivesafts, tires, etc.). And its also a smoother ride for passengers.",
"Well, a car with enough engine torque can do this, but the result is undesirable. \n\nI had a V8 Ford Mustang, back in the day, and you could rev it up and release the clutch (what was called \"popping the clutch\"). All that engine power was applied directly to the tires, vastly exceeding their coefficient of friction, producing a huge cloud of tire smoke and squealing, much to the enjoyment of the car's passengers. We were idiots.\n\nThe tire rotation is 0 when the car is stopped. The engine rotation isn't, because the engine has a minimum idle speed. You have one part spinning at speed X and another spinning at speed 0, if you snap them together you get a huge jerk. The point of the clutch is to allow controlled friction between the two parts to gradually move them from different speeds to the same speed.\n\nCould the car do this automatically? Yes, it's called a torque converter and cars with automatic transmissions use them. They do consume energy, so you'd get better fuel economy for less cost and weight with a clutch.",
"For the \"Starting from a stop\" scenario: As you release the clutch the heavy weight of a car not moving is introduced onto the engine which is moving. The car speeds up, but the engine slows down which is why you give it gas when starting. When the clutch is fully released[1] the clutch and engine will be speed synchronized, with the clutch effectively representing the entire weight of the car (divided by the current gear ratio). Releasing the clutch quickly forces this speed synchronization process to happen quickly.\n\nIf the engine slows down too much, it might slow down too slow for it to operate and stall. Even if it doesn't stop it will result in the engine's natural vibrations becoming very strong causing the whole car to shake as it struggles to keep running. This is partially from the engine shaking, and partially from the wheels turning in the same way the engine is shaking.\n\nEven if the car is actually moving and releasing the clutch quickly won't stall it, you still have the weight of the car being dropped onto the engine forcing it to suddenly speed up/down (select appropriate) to match the car speed. At the same time the car will lurch as the wheel speed is forced to speed down/up to meet the engine speed. This is a sudden shock to the system which you really shouldn't do.\n\nIn theory, if the clutch and engine are at exactly the same speed and maintaining that speed, then coming up quickly with the clutch pedal is totally fine. Ideally you should aim for this when changing gears. But in practice it's never exactly right so for the longevity of the car, the engine and its mounts be smooth and gentle.\n\n--\n[1] Generally the clutch and engine are speed synchronized before the pedal is all the way up, but by the time it's all the way up it's definitely synchronized. Unless you're doing bad things like flooring the gas and other abusive stuff."
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2vrj3a | are neutrinos affected by black holes, if so how? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vrj3a/eli5are_neutrinos_affected_by_black_holes_if_so/ | {
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"[I've answered this before](_URL_0_)\n\nYes, via gravity. I'm curious as to why you ask."
]
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1rnq5s/are_nuetrinos_subject_to_gravity_and_if_so_to/cdp2sst"
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||
4mgrkg | why did we choose percent (_/100), why isn't the universal ratio _/10 or _/1000? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4mgrkg/eli5_why_did_we_choose_percent_100_why_isnt_the/ | {
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"Percent, comes from french, per cent. cent is french for 100.\npercent literately means per one hundred.\n\nUsing a scale of 100 is generally useful for most things. Interest rates to test scores gives enough detail without being excessively precise.\n\nWhen the scale is not useful, you are free to pick any scale you want like rating movies, 8 out of 10, or baseball batting averages. Casey Jones is batting .307",
"It's not universal ratio. It's just one way to express some small'ish numbers. For some applications where thousandths are important, you use per mille instead, which is 1/1000. For some chemistry applications, you could end up using PPM, or particles per million.\n\nIt's literally just per cent, with \"cent\" meaning hundred. People use it pretty often so it has its own symbol, but there's nothing more to it than that."
]
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ym3lu | how does the voice directions on programs like google maps work? | Did someone have to record every street name, or is the voice entirely computer generated? I have noticed that sometimes the voice changes from one street to another, then just a few blocks later goes back to the "original" voice. Would it do this if it were computer generated?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ym3lu/eli5_how_does_the_voice_directions_on_programs/ | {
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"It's entirely computer generated voice (traditionally this is done by people recording 'samples' of their voice making common sounds/phrases that can be 'chopped together' to from words... newer ones are much more complex involving synthesis, realtime processing on the samples, and morphing sounds)\n\nIf you have an android phone (especially running a newer version of android) it can change because Google uses some server-side text-to-speech engine that's much more processor and data intensive than can be done on a simple phone processor. When the connectivity is limited or slow it falls back to the text-to-speech engine that's on the phone itself."
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|
6bvrda | why do we dress the way we dress? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bvrda/eli5_why_do_we_dress_the_way_we_dress/ | {
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"dhpujnv"
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"text": [
"Culturally relative aesthetics combined with personal preference. People tend to dress in a way that they feel makes them look good or attractive or simply dress for physical comfort."
]
} | [] | [] | [
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||
8vue32 | why is it not efficient to build mechanical batteries for grid-scale storage ? | I see tech posts about development of all kind of batteries, but not mechanical ones.
It would seem that you could build a dam with 2 reservoirs where you pump up the water to store and you use it as a normal dam when the grid needs it.
Or I've seen a light for places where there's no electricity, where you fill a bag with heavy stuff and lift it up to power it. On a very large scale with a lot of bags and very, very heavy objects, why would that not be a good way to store the solar and wind power and make it more consistent ?
Edit: It exists ! This is awesome ! While checking all you guy's links, I also learned about the [flywheel](_URL_0_), wich seems to be a more efficient, but shorter term energy storage solution. This makes me hope we don't end up in 50 years with the oceans full of lithium batteries, wondering ''How could we possibly guess that would be a problem ? ''
Edit 2: I'm learning to compared these storage solutions between themselves in terms of :
-The amount of energy they need to build the mechanical battery VS the amount of energy it will store in it's expected lifetime.
-How little energy they lose while storing and releasing it. It's expressed as a %. The best flywheels claimed to be 90% efficient for example. ( It's justified by the impredictibility of solar and wind power, and the peaks of demand on the grid. )
Those are the main ones you will want in every system. Other factors, like maximum storage and how fast it can go from storing to releasing will depend on the needs of the grid. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8vue32/eli5why_is_it_not_efficient_to_build_mechanical/ | {
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"It is, you just need hills. China does, it, anywhere that has a lot of hills does it. It just is not usually worth building a hill to put a reservoir on top of.\n\nThe weight based one doesn't scale properly, and is a lot less safe, also the masses required are enormous, you might as well just build a hill for the reservoir.",
"I remember [seeing this video a few years ago](_URL_0_), and it fascinated me.\n\nThey basically fill some train cars with heavy things, and set them atop a hill. When they need power, they let the train cars go down the hill, and generators in the cars are then powered by gravity.\n\nHow do they get up the hill again? Via electric motors, powered by the excess generating capacity of a wind farm.\n\nAnyway, I've always remembered that video and wondered why we don't see things like this in large scale today.",
" > It would seem that you could build a dam with 2 reservoirs where you pump up the water to store and you use it as a normal dam when the grid needs it.\n\nIt's called [pumped water storage](_URL_0_) and we're already doing it."
]
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"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHrlnnbJuDg"
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272vfp | why do nascar cars look like a normal car and not something more aerodynamic like super cars? | Are there rules to prevent this? and if so why were the implemented? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/272vfp/eli5why_do_nascar_cars_look_like_a_normal_car_and/ | {
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"Nascar has its roots in the prohibition era, when boozer smugglers would hold impromptu races in their suped up street cars. So they still use a stock-ish body.",
"There are a ton of rules governing what the car must look like. This is to guarantee a safe and fair race. In general, they must all match a set template that looks similar to a normal car.\n\nI'm not sure what you mean by a \"super car\". You may be referring to [this](_URL_0_) - these are called Indy cars, and are part of a separate class of auto racing. Asking why NASCAR vehicles don't look like this is basically like asking why the football players aren't dribbling the ball.",
"The reason is mainly based on the manufacturers - win on Sunday, sell on Monday, or something along the lines of that. The manufacturers (Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota) want their cars to be represented in a way that they look like on the roads. Not to mention that the cars look badass, but that's just my opinion.\n\nAlso, NASCAR started by having regular Joes show up with a car and race. A lot of the 1950s. Those weren't race cars, they were stock cars. NASCAR has long moved from that, so they're more like race cars now. They have a specific rules and guidelines go follow. However, they still try to maintain some tradition, and thus the cars.",
"I think it's because nascar isnt about being the best. Indycar and F1 already have the efficiency and performance thing going. Le Mans has the reliability and efficiency thing going on. \n\nNascar isnt trying to be either of these. They are about the drama of the race. This is why Nascar has Danica patrick and the ability to 'trade paint'. The want drivers trying to mess with each other safely. \n\nYou cant do that with open wheel or aerodynamic designs that just throw each other around with ease.",
"NASCAR stands for National Association of *STOCK CAR* Auto Racing.\n\nThis means that cars are allowed to only race if they are \"Stock.\" NASCAR's origins start with rum runners, who used cars bought from vendors and suped them up to get away from the police during prohibition. Eventually car owners started having competitive races to see who had the best cars.\n\nThis eventually developed into the NASCAR we know today. Car bodies match cars you and I drive and, as someone stated below, there are VERY strict rules governing the cars Judges use templates to determine if a car is too low, too long, etc. Under the hood, the car is definitely NOT stock with powerful engines, safety equipment, and so on, but that harkens back to the earliest days when people modified their cars under the hood.\n\nA great movie on the history of NASCAR is \"NASCAR: The IMAX Experience.\" It goes into the history of the sport, and there are some great behind-the-scenes footage showing the garages and race officials checking the cars."
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8n6oze | mma fighters cutting massive weight prior to fights | I understand that a fighters have a fighting weight where they are in top condition prior to a fight and then they also have their normal weight that they walk around between fights.
Here's the thing I am not understanding. I keep hearing these stories about guys doing a massive weight cut for weigh-ins the day before the fight just to make weight in the division in which they are fighting. Then, these guys are re-hydrating over the next day before the fight. At times, they are reportedly gaining back 10-15 pounds.
Considering that they gain back so much after the weigh-in and before the fight, it seems like a complete mockery of the weight classes which has narrow bands of weight allowances each. Why can't they have "real" fighting weights as the weight classes and have weigh-ins in the hours just before a fight? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8n6oze/eli5_mma_fighters_cutting_massive_weight_prior_to/ | {
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"Water weighs about 8pounds per gallon so what they do is sweat a lot without drinking and you can “lose” a significant amount of weight in a short time. The loss as you said is temporary and gained back once water is drank.\n\nThey do this to get an advantage, someone that is 190 is inherently stronger than a 170lbs person so 190 walking around weight dehydrated to 170 for the weigh in didn’t lose any strength but qualifies to fight the lighter weight opponents.\n\n"
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|
5yebz2 | why should we invest in a pension scheme? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5yebz2/eli5_why_should_we_invest_in_a_pension_scheme/ | {
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"They are normally tax advantaged since governments want to encourage retirement planning. This means that a $1 put into retirement savings is worth more to you in the future than a $1 spent now.\n\nThey also often get other protections. Depending on your jurisdiction they may be protected from certain types of legal action as well.\n\nPlus when you retire you're going to want money so you have to start saving at some point."
]
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||
2butg5 | why is it that its delicious to have a steak, mash and steamed vegetables dinner on a plate but probably disgusting to have the same ingredients blended and "eaten" out of a cup? | Aren't we still eating everything altogether both ways?
Edit: thanks for all the answers! :) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2butg5/eli5_why_is_it_that_its_delicious_to_have_a_steak/ | {
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"The bits of food being so close together completely defeats observable contrast, which you would have had if the meal was non blended.",
"Texture is a big thing for me.",
"It's partially a mental thing. I asked a similar question and as given this as an example:\n\nSpit into your mouth (Gather saliva?) \nSwallow it.\n\nNow, spit into a cup. \nDrink it. What? You don't want to?\n\nEven though we know exactly what it is, where it's from and it's essentially the same thing - it's 'delivered' differently. I wish I could remember it fully. Perhaps a google would pull something up?"
]
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b0lcr8 | how can there be thousands of satellites around earth, if there are only a handful of rocket launches every year? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b0lcr8/eli5_how_can_there_be_thousands_of_satellites/ | {
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"Well there's been almost 100 for last few years. And some launches end up with multiple satellite deployments in single launch. A launch by India 2 years ago launched 100 satellites on a single rocket",
"a.) You can launch more than one satellite on a single rocket, but also \n\nb.) There are a lot more than a handful of rocket launches each year: there are between 75 and 150 orbital launches most of the time, and have been over the past 50 years. We're at 13 so far in 2019, carrying 24 different satellites. "
]
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||
2bt4am | taxes, and why people after a certain threshold don't have to pay them | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2bt4am/eli5_taxes_and_why_people_after_a_certain/ | {
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"Taxes are fees levied by the government to pay for operations of the government and services like the military, infrastructure, social services, etc. The constitution gives congress the power to collect taxes. \n\nThere are different kinds of tax. There's sales tax, income tax, capital gains tax, etc. These things have specific legal definitions which is how the IRS differentiates between getting money in the form of a pay check and getting money as a return on an investment. \n\nIncome tax in the US is progressive. However that's just income. If you don't receive income, you don't pay income tax. So if you make a living off investments alone, and you're not part of a firm or something where you get a salary, you don't pay income tax. You pay capital gains tax instead. Capital gains tax is lower than income tax because of the risk involved in investing. \n\nOf course there are all sorts of loop holes and exceptions to tax laws. Knowing how they work can help you pay less taxes. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
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