q_id
stringlengths 5
6
| title
stringlengths 3
296
| selftext
stringlengths 0
34k
| document
stringclasses 1
value | subreddit
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 4
110
| answers
dict | title_urls
sequence | selftext_urls
sequence | answers_urls
sequence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
7g9zxm | why does us restrain from shooting down n.korean missiles? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7g9zxm/eli5_why_does_us_restrain_from_shooting_down/ | {
"a_id": [
"dqhluul",
"dqhlv76",
"dqhlz7c",
"dqhm0up",
"dqhm906"
],
"score": [
4,
5,
4,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"because theyre never endangering the US and that would be an active act of war, which we're trying to avoid. Starting a war over a missile test is a bad idea",
"You can calculate the trajectory of a ballistic missile shortly after launch, and it's clear that the trajectories for these are not aimed at land.\n\nLaunching a costly intercept system (and showing our exact intercept capabilities and locations) to pick off an annoying but harmless test launch isn't worth the trouble.",
"There are a couple different reasons.\n\nFirst, missiles are expensive. We can calculate the trajectory of the NK launch quite quickly and why waste $100,000 shooting it down if it will just go into the ocean.\n\nSecondly, secrecy. NK has terrible spy networks and likely doesn't know the precise locations of our missile defense sites. Shooting down their rocket would expose those locations to the whole world.\n\nThree, provocation. Any step we take will be seen as hostile and we are trying to avoid a war with NK. We would certainly win, but hundreds of thousands of South Koreans would die in the process thanks to conventional artillery pointed at the capital there.",
"Sounds like a great plan, put NK in their place and keep them from harrassing Japan and show off our great systems\n\nBut what if they miss?\n\nWhoopsie! Now they know that awesome missile defense system isn't so awesome, and the US has shown its hand and NK is free to do as they wish. No, its much better to keep the true capabilities secret unless they're needed, but if they're needed we're all screwed anyway\n\nYou also have the problem of shooting down someone else's piece of equipment as it is flying over international waters is a clear act of aggression. If NK sailed a cruiser out to the Pacific and shot down a Trident missile test we'd be furious and shouting at them that its an act of war, its a two way street. Remember that the Koreas aren't at peace, they just have an extended cease fire, it just takes one shot to start up the Korean war again.",
"It's both provocative and hardly a sure thing. The US and Japan know where a DPRK missile is going within moments of launch. If it isn't threatening anything there's no reason to shoot at it. There's also no guarantee a shootdown attempt would be successful."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2mro4l | how do i account for bias in this survey? | We survey leads after three months to determine the final outcome (became a sale, lost to a competing brand, lost to a competing technology, still considering, etc.). The results seem overly positive with hardly any losses to competition and many still considering our product. I believe we're getting too many responses from those who have an affinity to our product and too few from people we lost. How do I account for this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mro4l/eli5_how_do_i_account_for_bias_in_this_survey/ | {
"a_id": [
"cm6zypk",
"cm72ps6"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Does your CRM not include a \"Converted\" or \"Lost\" field in the lead profile? ",
"This is a classic example of selection bias. If you have external data on what the probability of getting a response from positive subjects is and what the probability of getting a response from negative subjects is, you could weigh the responses by the inverse of their probabilities in order to get an unbiased estimate."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
2nfzn6 | touch screens like on iphones, specifically why i can use odd objects to activate it, like the blunt of a pencil? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nfzn6/eli5_touch_screens_like_on_iphones_specifically/ | {
"a_id": [
"cmd9y4a"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Most smartphones these days use capacitive touch screens. Since your skin is an electrical conductor, when you touch the screen, charge builds up in that area. The screen detects that build up and reports a touch. Anything that causes that electrical build up will register."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1vz7py | - why is the company herbalife ltd (hlf) always under investigation for being some type of a pyramid scheme | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vz7py/eli5_why_is_the_company_herbalife_ltd_hlf_always/ | {
"a_id": [
"cex6dui",
"cex6nfj",
"cexale2"
],
"score": [
25,
4,
5
],
"text": [
"Probably on account of being some type of pyramid scheme.",
"The distinction between a 'pyramid scheme' and a 'multi-level marketing' (MLM) sales program is a murkey one. MLM companies tend to feel rather shady as they are generally structured to shift as much risk as they can to people on lower levels while keeping as much of the profits as they can manage. A scheme where those in higher levels make their money off of tricking people in lower levels to buy product which they can't sell profitably has been defined as illegal fraud. The problem comes in actually forming a case where the higher level people had knowledge of or should have been expected to have knowledge of the fraud. By structuring things as an MLM sales program, many of these companies have been somewhat successful in limiting their liability for the activities of those on lower levels, but the result is seemingly never-ending litigation.",
"Herbalife is a multi level marketing business, which is absolutely a pyramid scam. They use the fact that an actual product is being \"sold\" to mask the fact that it is in fact a scam. New recruits are promised financial freedom and the ability to set their own hours, as long as they pay a huge startup cost, usually around 500 dollars, and then are required to pay a monthly fee to take care of their \"over head\". Whether or not these new recruits are actually effective sales people is entirely inconsequential to the people running the con, as they have already profited from the new \"employee\". The darkest part about MLMs is the way they force you to leverage personal relationships as business prospectsand use many cult like strategies to keep people involved and losing money as long as possible. There are a lot of people who are naive enough to believe that MLMs are viable money making strategies, but the fact remains that it is an ultimately unsustainable and entirely fraudulent business model. There isnt a single MLM in the country where there is a real chance to make money. 80% of people who get involved never see a cent of profit, and the ones that do get it by sociopathically recruiting new members with false promises of financial freedom. Im really excited that someone is finally investigating herbalife and I hope Vemma is next."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2pul82 | what happens to the weapons and gear of fallen soldiers? | From my inferences in modern conflict you can't just leave AK's in a foreign country because civilians can acquire them. Please explain to to me what happens to all this excess military equipment. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pul82/eli5_what_happens_to_the_weapons_and_gear_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"cn05r4f",
"cn07eoq",
"cn07uhx",
"cn0bugn"
],
"score": [
14,
6,
2,
75
],
"text": [
"The US military makes a reasonable effort to recover bodies and recover or destroy abandoned equipment.\n\nThe firearm of a single soldier isn't a high priority item (what's an assault rifle in a nation filled with them?) but vehicles and heavy equipment may be bombed to avoid capture.",
"Enemy weapons: Usually destroyed on-site. Usually by piling it up and throwing a thermite grenade. It melts through them and renders them useless.\n\nFriendly weapons: stays with the unit. Every attempt to recover a friendly weapon is made.",
"If it's not risky to get it, then you get it and destroy it. If its risky, you just leave it. And yea let some civilian pick it up.",
"Hey, US Army Infantryman who is actually in Afghanistan right now here. \n\nIn an Infantry platoon it is the Platoon Sergeant's job to maintain accountability of all men, weapons, and equipment. He does this by maintaining a MAL (master authorization list) given to him by the Company's Armorer when weapons are signed out from the arms room.\n\nWhen a Soldier is injured or killed during combat operations he/she is put onto a MEDEVAC (medical evacuation) vehicle, whether it be a helicopter or some form of ground transportation. Prior to the Soldier being loaded all of his equipment is stripped off of him/her and retained by the unit. If the Soldier carried a crucial casualty producing weapon, like a machine gun with a higher rate of fire than the standard M4, it will be given to the next most qualified person along with all the ammo. This is to try and maintain the combat effectiveness, AKA how many bullets you can throw at people, despite having less people.\n\nAs for the gear, after it is recovered back to a FOB (Forward Operating Base) all gear that was worn by a casualty is inspected by people certified to determine whether it is serviceable. If an item is not serviceable and the casualty is still alive the inspectors will make an effort to send the item to the casualty's home. It is not uncommon for Soldiers who received gunshots to their helmets to get to keep those for life. \n\nEnemy equipment is another story. In a perfect scenario where we eliminate the threat and have time to investigate any enemy equipment is gathered by a TSE team (Tactical Site Exploitation) on the spot and processed similar to a crime scene. Bagged, tagged, photographed, and turned into Military Intelligence for processing so they can determine ways to fight better against the enemy's weapons and equipment. \n\nIn other situations enemy equipment is destroyed on the spot to permanently prevent the enemy from using that against us. \n\nTL;DR Platoon Sergeant is responsible for recovering friendly equipment to the best of his abilities and repaired as quickly as possible. Enemy equipment is analyzed by Military intelligence or destroyed on the spot.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
azog5u | what is polymorphism, abstraction, inheritance and encapsulation | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/azog5u/eli5_what_is_polymorphism_abstraction_inheritance/ | {
"a_id": [
"ei9asu5"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"This is my first attempt to ELI5 anything so bear with me:\n\n##Polymorphism\n\nThink supersets and subsets or generic to specific. Contrived examples are things like a Person is generic, but Employee and Manager are specific kinds of people. Or Savings, Checking and Retirement are all specific kinds of Bank Accounts.\n\n##Inheritance\n\nYou can kind of the think about inheritance in the same way you would describe certain aspects of yourself, ie, “I have my mom’s eyes” or “I laugh like my dad.” You inherited those attributes, or at least some version of them, from those members of your family trees. \n\nUsing the Bank Account example again, all of them inherit the ability to deposit, withdraw and accrue interest from the “generic bank account” but they all do it slightly differently.\n\n##Encapsulation\n\nLet’s say you have a box and you put a sandwich, a soda and a bag of chips inside and someone asked you “what’s the box?” you’d likely respond, “it’s my lunch.” You just encapsulated a set of food items into something concise and easy to describe and understand. \n\nThis is no different than taking the afore mentioned behaviors like “deposit”, “withdraw” and “accrue” into a well understood construct like a “bank account.”\n\n##Abstraction\n\nThis one I’m struggling to ELI5.\n\nContinuing with the bank account examples, what does it mean to “withdraw”. The easy answer is “take money out of my account.”\n\nBut, before that can be done, the bank needs to know the following:\n\n1 is this really your account? Prove it. \n2 is there enough money in your account?\n3 are you allowed to withdraw the desired amount? Is there a daily limit and will this exceed it?\n\nYou can see that “withdraw” is actually an abstraction of many things happening behind the scenes. \n\nHope this helped and I’ll clarify anything if needed. \n\n\n\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
1bklwt | what life on europa would be like if it exists? what would conditions would need to be like for it evolve to the level of life on earth? | Yes. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bklwt/eli5_what_life_on_europa_would_be_like_if_it/ | {
"a_id": [
"c97jiv7"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"From what we know about organic chemistry life needs to be Carbon based to have any sort of complexity. Sorry the idea of Silicon life doesn't really work. Life as we understand it needs liquid water, though presumably another molecule could work. and needs oxygen via some molecule (O2, CO2..) There needs to be an external energy source (Solar and hydrothermal vents are used on earth.) I am trying to go through the more basic ones first. There needs to be and abiogenesis event(s), which basically means organic molecules are created from inorganic ones. Earth uses DNA/RNA, presumably something else could take its place, but the building blocks still need to be there."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
159w9q | ipv6 | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/159w9q/eli5_ipv6/ | {
"a_id": [
"c7kjexz",
"c7kjzyc"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"So you know how your phone number (in the US) is something like \"(555) 555-1000\"?\n\nWell, computers are given numbers like that by the people who provide them internet so when they talk to other computers, the other computers have a way to address the responses. It's like calling someone and leaving them a message: without a telephone number to give, there's no way for them to call you back, with their reply.\n\nBut there are a lot of computers - way more than people were expecting when they first set up the system. It's been 30 or so years since IPv4 was published.\n\nSo they did what they'd do if they ran out of telephone numbers: add more digits.\n\n(Also, just because it had been a while since the last time they agreed about how the internet system worked, they're updating lots of details about how to write the messages and how to send and deliver them. The 30 years it's been is a long time not to update agreements like that.)",
"We are running out of version 4 address ( 4.29 billion ) every device that wants / needs to speak on the Internet needs a public unique IPv4 address. Phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, servers.... In the last 20 years we have come up with two methods to save millions of address. Classless inter domain routing and NAT. CIDR saves wasting IPv4 address by subnetting an IP address to amount of address you actually need. So if a company needs X number of Public IP address for web servers they would get only X. Where before CIDR they would of got more. ( look into subnetting ) \n\nNAT / PAT - your home router will have one Public IP address going to the Internet. But behind your router you will have you laptop, phone, desktop and tablet all using that one Public IP. NAT basically shares one public IP with multiple devices. You can have 65,535 host behind a NAT but i wouldn't recommend it.\n\nAnyway, its too late. We have wasted millions of address when we didn't have CIDR and the world is using the internet more and more every day. we had to make a new version. IPv6 will give us 340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Address. This is more that giving 5000 unique address to every human on earth. We won't run out for a long long time. \n\nHope that helps.\n\nEdit - more information\n\nYour home router will probably need replacing when the Internet makes the big change. But you will probably still use IPv4 on your devices at home. IPv6 will be used between your router and ISP & between ISP & ISP. Another benefit to v6 is that routers will be doing less work, so the Internet infrastructure will be more robust. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
15krqq | why did vladimir putin block us adoptions of russian children? | Is this benign or is this one of the early problems we're going to have with Russia. What are the possibilities of another "Cold War"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/15krqq/why_did_vladimir_putin_block_us_adoptions_of/ | {
"a_id": [
"c7nbxqd"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text": [
"Cold War? No, not really. There are two main reasons for this:\n\n+ There have been a few incidents in the past few years where adopted children have died in the US (well, one), and one where a child was put on a plane (alone) and sent back to Russia\n\n+ The US just passed a new law banning entry (i.e. no travel visas) to Russians who have been accused of human rights violations. The US did this because of the case against sergei magnitsky (google it)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
6tnie4 | what is the slow motion effect we experience during car accidents or other traumatic events? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6tnie4/eli5_what_is_the_slow_motion_effect_we_experience/ | {
"a_id": [
"dlm0n9c",
"dlm1s90",
"dlm6n26",
"dlmkpzq",
"dlmpauz"
],
"score": [
16,
60,
13,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Adrenaline released during stressful events heightens all your senses and increases blood flow to the brain. This allows your brain to process more stimuli in a given amount of time. Since you're processing so much more than you're used to, it creates the effect of slowing time.",
"I've read that it's not really about increased perception, it's about increased memory formation. While adrenaline does create a heightenbed state of awareness and alertness, time really only seems to slow down in your *remembering* of the event, since your body created detailed memories of every instant of it (a snapshot every quarter second, as opposed to one every second, for example) to help you learn from it and increase future survival chances. thus the density of memories you have of the event makes it seem in retrospect like time was moving slowly.",
"You don't perceive time slower, you just remember them slower. In a time of stress, your brain is on high alert and keep track of more information. When you remember them, this feel like a slow motion effect. ",
"EDIT: Apparently the two paragraphs below this are inaccurate.\n\nScientists once did an experiment on this where they had people stand on a high platform and then jump off onto an air bag. Between their feet on the platform was a digital display showing numbers. It was cycling through them too quickly to actually read them but when people jumped off, which put them under high stress, they were able to accurately tell the researchers a string of the numbers.\n\nI suppose it's impossible to say completely for sure whether they actually experienced it in slow motion at the time or the memory is just slow motion but either way their brains were definitely processing in some manner faster than normal.\n\nEDIT: Okay so I was basing this on a show I watched a while back where they described this and on the show they definitely said the volunteers could read the numbers. I tried to track it down but I don't remember the title and I didn't have much luck. However looking around Google it looks like this is incorrect. I did find one Times article that used some weasel language that sort of implied they could see the numbers but other than that, including quotes from the guys who did the experiment, every article I could find says clearly that they could not read the numbers. So I chalk the Times one up to shitty reporting. Also for the record I did find this on YouTube: _URL_0_ It's not the show I saw originally but it does also claim that the volunteer's perception is actually slowed. Again, looks more like shitty reporting again but just so you guys know I wasn't making this up on my own.",
"Malcolm Gladwells book \"Blink\" covers this in some detail. IIRC -- At any given time a huge percentage of the processing power of your brain is running \"autopilot\" tasks and your consciousness is left out of it. During a crisis other things are set aside and all your brains attention and processing is focused on one task -- hence you are processing a very thin slice of time much more powerfully, and therefore you can gather a huge amount of information in that short period--making you feel as though time slowed down. It didn't...but the quantity of info received per second was just much higher than you are used to. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/RjlpamhrId8"
],
[]
] |
||
7ekdgl | we do we feel tired after thinking/focusing for a while? are we expending energy in our brain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ekdgl/eli5_we_do_we_feel_tired_after_thinkingfocusing/ | {
"a_id": [
"dq5k3m9"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"Yes. \n\nYour brain and the cells inside it are little factories. They make and sell goods, as well as talk to other factories to make sure everyone is on task. A byproduct of factories is waste, and all of our cells produce it, including our brain. When the cells are asked to work harder, they take in more energy from your diet (sugars/carbs/proteins/fats, etc), use it to do work, then a bit is left over which - to most cells - is toxic or unwanted. A lot of toxic waste can be dealt with (such as hydrogen peroxide formation and degradation), but there will always be stuff left over to get rid of. The brains \"city sweapers\" and \"road cleaners\" can only work so fast, and can't keep up with the waste from these factories who were told to work overtime. The result is that your brain tells your body, when too much waste exists, \"ok, stop, i need to be cleaned and to recover\". You expend energy when you're focusing, and your creating problems which take time to fix, no two ways around it."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4nk9t6 | how the thyroid works. what makes it so important? and what role did it have in me becoming so sick at birth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4nk9t6/eli5_how_the_thyroid_works_what_makes_it_so/ | {
"a_id": [
"d44mze7"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Damn, a Human Physiologist would eat this question right up. \nI'm a nursing student and I can try to answer your questions, but no guarantees it'll be ELI5 material. \n\nI'll see first if anyone else answers. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1blgyt | how is saving to the cloud different from saving to servers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1blgyt/eli5_how_is_saving_to_the_cloud_different_from/ | {
"a_id": [
"c97qe2p",
"c97rkf3",
"c97uz29",
"c97yxrg"
],
"score": [
5,
46,
2,
4
],
"text": [
"Essentially it's the same thing.\n\nHowever, the Cloud *will* be available on the Internet. A server *may* be on the Internet, or it may only be available on a local network.\n\nAnd a Cloud service may offer other features, such as document editing or viewing in your browser, which you wouldn't get with a server.",
"The 'Cloud' is just a fancy way of saying 'multiple servers'\n\nThis means your data is protected through redundancy, meaning if one server goes down you still have your data saved to other servers.",
"Thought this was a really weird post until I remembered I had this enabled.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Mostly it's just marketing. \"Save to the cloud!\" sounds more impressive and futuristic than \"Save to a server via the internet!\""
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"https://github.com/panicsteve/cloud-to-butt"
],
[]
] |
||
6269fv | vpns | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6269fv/eli5_vpns/ | {
"a_id": [
"dfk2xs0",
"dfk2yva",
"dfk45rf",
"dfk4ma9",
"dfk6hz4",
"dfkf3cm",
"dfkvdgc",
"dfl53eq",
"dfl9x7e"
],
"score": [
17,
4,
13,
7,
2,
4,
2,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Virtual Private Network\n\nA system whereby you can connect to another computer over the internet via a secured 'tunnel'. This is different to connecting to a website or other computer via a simple SSL link as it creates a virtual network adapter on your PC and IP addresses are privately assigned to those adapters, thus making it a private network.\n\nWhen you connect this way, you could use a PC in Korea to connect to the internet, which in effect makes your PC in the UK or US look as though it is in Korea, since the Korean host is acting as a gateway to the internet for you.\n\nSo your PC could be seen as creating a tunnel from the UK to Korea and emerging on the other side and accessing the internet or other resources there.\n\nUses:\n\n- Being part of a big private corporate network\n- Pretending you are in another country when you want to access geo restricted resources\n- Totally secure file transfer between peers",
"First and foremost: Explaining VPNs in general is quite a difficult task, if my answer does not satisfy you, please clarify what you want explained about VPNs.\n\nGeneral explanation: VPN means Virtual Private Network. What this means is that a VPN connection (whichever kind is used) will connect 2 seperate networks over a public medium (usually, the internet) so that it seems as if the networks were directly connected via a direct wire connection. There's a number of uses for technology like this, for example to link home office workers to the main office or to connect 2 different offices (Company HQ in City X with Remote Office in City Y). VPNs are necessary because these networks usually transmit sensitive information (client data, company secrets, ...) which should not be send via the public internet.\n\nThere are different technologies to implement VPNs (IpSec and SSL) but explaining these and the differences between them would probably go beyond the scope of ELI5 and this question.",
"So, when you send data it goes to your ISP, who read the instructions that come with the data and pass your data on to whoever you want to send it to. \n\nA VPN is a middle man. When using a VPN you lock your data in an encrypted bag with instructions on the outside saying 'send everything to my VPN server'. \nYour VPN server is the only one with the encryption key to read your data. Your VPN server will now unlock your encryption bag, take the data out, and send it to a different ISP along with the original instructions of where it should go. Good VPNs won't read your data when they do this. \n\nThe key thing is that none of these bags are marked, and lots of other people are using your VPN server. That way as soon as your encryption bag enters the VPN server it gets mixed up with all the others and nobody knows where it came from, so nobody can trace the data back to you. \nUnless of course you leave some identifiable information inside the bag with the data, something that plugins like Java tend to do a lot.\n\nOne thing to remember is that expert intelligence services will find ways to trace everything back to you if they have an interest in doing so. VPNs are not protection for doing wildly illegal stuff. \nBut they will work against automated systems that log data traffic, public routers that are tracking what you are doing, and ISPs that want to sell your data off to advertisers.",
"Open internet: you and neighbor pal, Jimmie, each yell out from your respective bedroom windows to talk to each other. \n\nVPN: you and Jimmie run a single, physical, powered telephone system between your bedrooms. \n\nObviously it's much more complicated but that's the ELI5 version. ",
"A way to connect two devices through the internet that *virtually* doesn't actually go through the internet. It makes it seem as they are on the same network (like plugged into the same router).\n\nClient connects to peer which connects to the other side peer which connects to the server. Everything is encrypted with a PSK (preshare key) that is usually exchanged over the phone so it can be decrypted on the other side.",
"There are, however, some alternatives to VPNs, which can require fees to set up.\n\nThere are the freely available Tor \"onion\" protocol and the Invisible Internet Protocol, or i2p, also known as the \"garlic\" protocol.\n\ni2p is easier to understand. All hosts connected to the garlic router network act as anonymous nodes. Your connection is doubly encrypted and your initial access point could be any garlic router in the network, and makes it appear that all of your packets originate from that IP address. Packets take random paths through the network to obscure their origin and destination. It is incredibly secure.\n\nTor operates in a similar, but more complicated, manner. P2P sharing of network resources for the purpose of obscuring identifying information. I2p is more versatile as it supports all types of protocols including anonymous torrenting. Tor is strictly a hypertext system. \n\nBoth protocols can be used to access the \"Dark Web\", which is not accessible by normal http/https methods. This region of the web contains everything from benign freedom of information and political interest sites, to more nefarious things like drug trafficking, arms dealing, even hitmen...contrary to popular belief though, most people simply want to browse anonymously an avoid the illegal sectors of the darknet.\n\n\n",
"Can a VPN protect you from your workplace monitoring your internet activity?",
"Imagine two semi trucks driving down a highway\n\nOne of them is an open, flat bed trailer hauling a farm tractor. The other truck is a walmart box trailer. Your internet connection with a vpn would be like the walmart box truck. You can see it moving (your internet traffic) but you don't know what's inside. iPhones? Clothes? Food? Who knows, only you do. Your internet connection with no vpn would be like the flat bed; anyone that looks at it can easily see what you're trafficking from where it started, to where it ends.\n\nBut there's a little more. With a vpn it would be like If you wanted to move the truck from NY to FL...but the truck stops in Toronto first, switches contents to a completely different trailer, then heads off to fl. While you can still track where it came from, it will be much more difficult than a one way trip. \n\n",
"Data packets are moved in networks, we can put data packets inside data packets i bit like the Russian Matryoshka dolls so a carrier will lay a wire and have a network between two points the logically split the bandwidth so the can sell the connection with customers not seeing each other's data. When you send data over the internet it's like a post card vs a wrapped package, in the wrapped package could be a slightly smaller wrapped package going on to another location, and this can be repeated - we use the term tunnel to mean hidden pathway between either two points (pc and a server) this is your domestic understanding of a VPN or (network to network VPN ) that corporates may use thus allowing them to use the internet and reduce their WAN links telecommunication costs; VPNs are less secure than a private connection (leased line). \n\nLastly corporates don't want their users tunnelling out of the corporate network as this is an exfiltration method that (virus bots uses to connect back to their command and control, also it's a data leak point ) these exfiltration tunnels can be very complex and hide in plane sight (e.g. Lie with DNS traffic) Good Firewalls have deep packet inspection rules to be able to block most types of tunnels (outbound). "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
1rxd77 | why are cars not insulated to capture heat in the winter and keep the car cool in the summer. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rxd77/eli5_why_are_cars_not_insulated_to_capture_heat/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdruj21"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Cars *are* insulated, but it works both ways. If you have it trying to keep heat out in the summer then it also tries to keep heat out in the winter. Simultaneously it is trying to keep heat in during the summer and heat in during the winter. Insulation inhibits heat transfer in either direction."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
d0w6xc | when describing computer components, i've heard the term architecture referenced several times before. what does it mean? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d0w6xc/eli5_when_describing_computer_components_ive/ | {
"a_id": [
"ezej454",
"ezejuw1"
],
"score": [
5,
6
],
"text": [
"It means how different blocks interact, how they fit together and how they exchange data or such. How the '' layers'' of your system are built.",
"Architecture refers to the structural design.\n\nEvery couple years a CPU/GPU manufacturer will release a new chip that has it's internal layout and configuration changed significantly, this is a new \"microarchitecture\"\n\nSometimes they just shrink a process or optimize how they build the chips. Since the internal layout is fundamentally the same this isn't considered a new \"microarchitecture\"\n\nIntel's 6xxx processors are the Skylake microarchitecture, as are the 7xxx and 8xxx (codenames Kaby Lake and Coffee Lake). They only differ slightly in design and performance, the biggest gains generally come from a new microarchitecture"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
ee8yck | how do game developers determine if difficult game content is "balanced" | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ee8yck/eli5_how_do_game_developers_determine_if/ | {
"a_id": [
"fbrm58n"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Good game developers have a QA department and conduct regular user testing to identify and analyze issues and aspects of their games, such as difficulty. That should help roughly estimate how difficult aspects of the game is. For certain types of games they run public betas that gather thousands of players. When you have a thousand players testing your game you will generate a lot of information about all sorts of things regarding your game: players are quick to collectively break and exploit your game. There are also sometimes automatic tests that can run trough potential combinations of gears and strategy and see if a certain combination spikes or is unbalanced, but that's more rare.\n\nBeyond that game developers generally have quite a bit of experience and while they can not be unbiased they can often roughly estimate how difficult something is."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1n33wk | common core state standards initiative | What is it? How is it different from when I went to school and why do conservatives think it's evil? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1n33wk/eli5_common_core_state_standards_initiative/ | {
"a_id": [
"ccez392"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"It's a set of standards that is being attempted to be passed/adopted so that ALL schools across the land are taught the same subjects at the same time and at the same level. So if you're taught in LA or NY or Dallas or wherever, at the same time, all the kids are on the same page, if you will.\n\nThe old systems each had their own pace and their own standards. Texas has it's version, California has it's, and so on. This can produce disparity of student's learning level, and that can be a potential problem when they have to move from state to state. \"Oh we haven't got there yet...\"\n\nAlso, one state's version of \"awesome\" is another state's version of \"fail.\" And there's books and curriculum and railing for tests to be good at the expense of acutal learning, etc, ad nauseum... So no schools teach the same way, except the assesments tests. As long as those are 'working' everything is good, right?\n\nWell, not so much. So the CCSSI is born.\n\nThe reason it's being decried by all (not just conservatives, it must be noted) is many. Here is something to read about it:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe main points... no public input on it, different areas learn differently, no taking into account cultural issues in the diversity of America, rail roading, states rights to determine educational needs... a laundry list. \n\nThe last one is especally important. The reason it exists is because the US is not exactly exemplary in education compared to a great many nations. The thought is that by standardizing the entire US education system, the US can bring it's education level up. \n\nBut is it right that the federal government meddle with what has been traditionally a state's affair?\n\nStates rights is always ALWAYS a contentious issue. Some states aren't as vehement about this sort of thing, but others would rather not be a part of the US than give up their state's rights to self rule. \n\nSame as the argument over the NSA, really... what right does the USGovernment have that they can tell us what to do/watch what we do? You lose those two, what's next?\n\nAll political. I'm not sayin' they're right or wrong, I myself am a little apathetic about this, as there's so many different skills assesments for all the schools in the various states, I'm not sure this homogenized standard isn't a bad thing... or is."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Core_State_Standards_Initiative#Criticism"
]
] |
|
3grqdl | ; the berlin wall - how did the eastern bloc prevent people from just crossing at a different point along the border? there wasn't a wall the entire length of the border surely? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3grqdl/eli5_the_berlin_wall_how_did_the_eastern_bloc/ | {
"a_id": [
"cu0ud3e",
"cu0ud5c",
"cu0uixy",
"cu0zoyc",
"cu161pz"
],
"score": [
4,
4,
2,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"The city of West Berlin was completely surrounded by communist East Germany, and, being only half of a city, it was a pretty easy border to secure. There were many other countermeasures besides the wall (dogs, guards, etc.) in place.",
"Yes it was the length of the border - but not quite in the way you'd imagine.\n\nBerlin as a whole was physically in East Germany, although the city was split into two. West Berlin was - politically - part of West Germany, and was entirely circled by the wall.\n\nIf a West German citizen from, say, Düsseldorf wanted to travel to West Germany, they'd have to cross the border into East Germany, and then cross the border at the wall to reenter West German territory into West Berlin.",
"Berlin is in the eastern half of germany and the berlin wall surrounded only west berlin. Hence the name Berlin Wall.\n\nThe other german-german border was a normal border. And no, it wasn't really possible to cross the border, as parts of the borders were secured with mines. And even if there were no mines, there was a real danger of getting shot for leaving eastern germany.\n",
"When Germany was divided after WWII it was split down the middle except for Berlin which was split separately from the regular border. This means that West Berlin was a small island of West Germany deep inside East Germany. The Soviets wanted all of Berlin but couldn't go back on the WWII agreement so they just isolated West Berlin assuming that the logistical nightmare of an island city would be too much of a burden and the allies would abandon it altogether. When this failed they did their best to keep western influence out of their eastern capital city by building a wall around the tiny portion of West Germany in their East German capital (condensed timeline, there was a lot more at play in all parts of this but it is a general idea of what happened).\n\nTL;DR:\nThere wasn't another point along that specific border, Berlin was deep in East Germany and had a tiny island of West Germany surrounded on all sides.\n\n_URL_0_",
"As many people have said, the Berlin Wall was just around Berlin.\n\nThere was also the Inner German Border that was 1993 km long:\n_URL_0_\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/historyatlas/images/3/3c/East-West-Germany-October_1949-July_1952.svg/revision/latest?cb=20110218053656"
],
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_German_border"
]
] |
||
bed3ht | how many times would i have to perform an action to guarantee 1 success? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bed3ht/eli5_how_many_times_would_i_have_to_perform_an/ | {
"a_id": [
"el4wl9i",
"el4wxky",
"el4wygd",
"el4xehc"
],
"score": [
7,
5,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"You can never guarantee success of any action that does not have 100% probability. If it is *possible* to fail something once, it's *possible* to fail again. If you can fail the first time you can still fail the 1,000,000th time. This is also known as the gamblers fallacy if you want to look that up",
"The chance of two independent trials both occurring is simply the product of their chances.\n\nSo if you've got a 0.9994 chance of failure, two tries would yield 0.9994^2 = 0.9988 chance of failure. You can replace that '2' with an 'x' to represent an arbitrarily large number of trials.\n\nSo to calculate the number of trials, you'd just need to solve 0.9994^x = 0.\n\nTaking the logarithm of both sides of that equation you'd get (with some rearrangement), the conclusion that you need an infinite number of trials (log 0 = infinite). However, the more useful conclusion is that the function you're examining is asymptotic to zero - after some very large number of trials, you're so close to zero that you'd never notice the difference.",
"It would never truly be guaranteed.\n\nIf your chance of success is 99.4%, your chance of failure is 0.6%, which is to say your _probability_ of failure is 0.006. Your probability of failing twice is 0.006 times 0.006, or 0.000036, which is 0.0036%. Your probability of failing three times is 0.006 x 0.006 x 0.006, which is 0.000000216, or 0.0000216%.\n\nYour chance of failing gets smaller as you increase the number of repeats, but never completely disappears.\n\nEdit: I missed a decimal place in your example of 99.94, but the point still holds.",
"assuming each action is independent (the previous attempt doesn't affect the next, like throwing a dice) you can statistically never be 100% sure that it will happen. You can approximate it to 100% but it can never truly be = to 100%. \n\nLet's assume you do the action 100.000 times. There is still < 0,000001 chance that it will fail of all of the tries."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
28t44y | why do people on reddit answer questions with the same answers people have already posted? | I don't mean people who post within a few minutes of each other who obviously haven't refreshed the page before posting. I'm talking about people who post literally the same information hours or sometimes days after someone has already posted it. Why bother? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/28t44y/eli5_why_do_people_on_reddit_answer_questions/ | {
"a_id": [
"cie6qdp",
"cie6syi",
"cie70cf",
"cie776j"
],
"score": [
9,
4,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Everyone wants to throw in their opinion even if its just copy and paste. maybe just for the votes. ",
"Not everybody reads all the previous comments before adding their own. ",
"Everyone wants to throw in their opinion even if its just copy and paste. maybe just for the votes.",
"Not everybody reads all the previous comments before adding their own. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
btrd9w | how does the herrman grid illusion work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/btrd9w/eli5_how_does_the_herrman_grid_illusion_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"ep1ne6o"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Nobody knows for sure.\n\nOne theory is [lateral inhibition](_URL_1_) where some receptors in the eye may suppress other receptors, creating a perceived area of darkness. This has been roundly challenged however.\n\nAnother theory is the presence of S1 simple cells, that are part of how we in perceive 3D images out of what are essentially 2D patterns. In this case, the flat grid may 'trick' them into perceiving an illusory image. But there are problems there as well.\n\nAnyway, I dug this all out of the Wikipedia page for [Grid Illusion](_URL_0_)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_illusion",
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateral_inhibition"
]
] |
||
9v7iyz | why does applying more heat help with inflammation? (eg heat packs, hot water bottles) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9v7iyz/eli5_why_does_applying_more_heat_help_with/ | {
"a_id": [
"e9a0ehr",
"e9lcxdx"
],
"score": [
30,
2
],
"text": [
"Inflammation is characterised by 5 signs - redness, swelling, pain, high local temperature and dysfunction. Big part responsible for these is the \"pooling\" of blood at the inflamatory site. Because of the high pressure of the blood inside capillaries it is forced outside their walls and into the surrounding tissue. \n Now, for the first 24 hours it is wrong apllying heat, you should instead apply cold compresses, because heat expands the capillaries and makes it easier for thinga to get out. If 24 hours have passed, and enough outside liquid is pooled, it exercises pressure on the blood vessels and shrinks them, that's when heat can help get them expanded, so they can start collecting that external liquid.",
"What gives heat pads and heat therapy their effectiveness in inflammation reduction is twofold: the relaxation of inflamed tissues, and the increased flow of blood to the heated area, expediting the body’s natural healing process. Heat therapy relaxes inflamed tissues by increasing their extensibility – that is, how easy it is for them to extend and contract. The easier it is for your tissues to stretch and extend, the less likely they are to stay bunched together in a damaged, inflamed state."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
2vphd3 | why doesn't vicks medicine make nyquil, dayquil and zquil in the form of a pill? | I'm curious as to why their medicine is still in syrup form. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vphd3/eli5_why_doesnt_vicks_medicine_make_nyquil/ | {
"a_id": [
"cojr6dr"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"They do, actually:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nI usually buy the store brand, but it's the same stuff."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.vicks.com/en-us/browse-products/nyquil/cold-flu-liquicaps"
]
] |
|
24facr | how do diseases like the bubonic plague and spanish plague suddenly die out? | My younger sister brought up this topic and I found it very interesting. It had to be more complicated than people having a mutation that resulted in immunity and reduction of means in which the disease could spread
Edit: Spanish flu, not plague. Thanks mate! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24facr/eli5how_do_diseases_like_the_bubonic_plague_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"ch6l50j"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"I'm not sure what \"Spanish plague\" is. Do you mean Spanish flu?\n\nAnyway, bubonic plague is alive and well. It is present in many areas of the world, including the U.S. We get a handful of cases every year. The Spanish flu is a little different. Influenza mutates every year in a variety of ways (a little beyond ELI5). So, there really is no Spanish flu anymore that is quite the same as the old one.\n\nBut, the reason that we don't see as much bubonic plague anymore is because it's not 100% fatal. The survivors will have immunity and make it more difficult for the bacterium to spread among the population. Couple that with the advent of antibiotics and improved sanitation (removal of rats and their accompanying fleas), and the incidence dropped."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3of47w | whenever i pause a video, why does it never stop between frames? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3of47w/eli5_whenever_i_pause_a_video_why_does_it_never/ | {
"a_id": [
"cvwofqf"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Are you expecting a black frame? What is your expectation of what between frames is? There is never going to be a frame between frames because they are sequential. So there is always a frame on the screen. \n\nThere are certain types of playback that show two frames on the screen at the same time, but they are interlaced. So one row of pixels will be the next, the other row of pixels will be the last frame. There is also progressive where the whole frame is shown one at a time."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
39gszv | how does brainstorming / mind mapping technique help? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39gszv/eli5_how_does_brainstorming_mind_mapping/ | {
"a_id": [
"cs38h4i",
"cs38rx0"
],
"score": [
13,
4
],
"text": [
"Brainstorming is a technique where multiple people can come up with some crazy and not so crazy ideas to solve a problem. If done correctly no idea is judged or rejected at the brainstorming stage. The idea is that brainstorming will provide a bunch of approaches to solve the problem and therefore the chances that a clever \"outside-the-box\" idea will be thought up is higher.\n\nMind mapping is a graphical technique that allows one to relate ideas or other information hierarchically. Mind mapping in my experience works better individually and it works well because as you are taking notes or doing an individual brainstorming session you can focus one one area or another without worrying about other areas but if you think of something outside your current area you have a place to put it. Mind mapping is really hard to [describe without a demonstration](_URL_0_). ",
"These techniques are basically designed to allow your ideas to flow in an uninterrupted manner, oftentimes leading you down paths you would have never thought to go down.\n\nIn group situations, it allows everyone to think freely and bounce ideas off each other. Think of it this way – a group of people will come up with better ideas than a single, isolated person. When you're by yourself, you judge your ideas harshly and may pigeonhole yourself.\n\nBrainstorming/mind mapping are just exercises, and sometimes nothing comes out of these types of sessions, but they definitely help get the juices flowing."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Y4pIsXTV0"
],
[]
] |
||
6r7tfp | why does persevering food via airtight seal work? | It's not like we vacuum-seal it. Why does simply placing something like cookies in a plastic bag help preserve it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6r7tfp/eli5_why_does_persevering_food_via_airtight_seal/ | {
"a_id": [
"dl2zxo4"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Regular old \"put in a plastic bag\" delays spoilage, but does not prevent it.\n\nIt limits exposure to new bacteria and fungi which means that they can only multiply from what is there, not add new ones (which would then also multiply). But it also helps regulate moisture which can keep something from going stale quickly. Or it can prevent dry things (like crackers or cookies) from getting soggy in humid air.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
43i9wd | why does the dominant sex differ between animals? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43i9wd/eli5_why_does_the_dominant_sex_differ_between/ | {
"a_id": [
"czinktt",
"czinti5"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"I assume you mean physically or in size - Sexual selection has caused the sexes of some animal species to become quite different in body size, shape, and form. When the sexes differ in appearance we call this [sexual dimorphism](_URL_0_). There are thought to be two main mechanism which drive sexual dimorphism: female choice and male-male competition. \n\n**Female Choice**: Females select for males with the most desirable traits. Overtime and over many generations these traits become exaggerated. The males tend to have bright elaborate plumage, intricate mating songs, elaborate facial structures, or might even display complex behaviours. The main idea is that it is very costly for the male to produce this trait - it takes a lot of time, energy, and resources - in that way he must be very fit if he can produce such an elaborate trait. By fit I don't mean physically fit, I mean it in the Darwinian sense of word - a fit animal is one that is able to survive and reproduce because it has traits which give it an advantage in its environment as compared to other individuals of the same species which might lack those traits. So for example, the female peacock has over time selected for male peacocks with bright colourful and elaborate plumage. Males who are inferior and who can't access resource won't be able to make that elaborate plumage. It will come out dull and worn. They won't be picked by a female and they won't get to mate. Its worth noting that there are many examples where the sexes roles have been reversed, in that the males choose the female with the desirable trait.\n\n**Male-Male Competition:** Males compete with each other over access to females. In this way males with the biggest ornaments (e.g. antlers) or biggest size (e.g. gorillas) will be able to defend their territory or females. Males with the best traits to accomplish this will be more likely to mate and pass on their successful genes to their offspring. Over time and over many generations we would expect those traits to become more exaggerated (e.g. the average horn size gets bigger and bigger) until external limiting factors take hold (e.g. the species is physiologically incapable of making a bigger horn, there aren't enough resources in the environment to make a bigger horn). Its worth noting that there are many examples where the sexes roles have been reversed, where females compete with female over access to males.\n\nFinally, both mechanisms can be working on the same species at the same time. ",
"It depends on the environment that the animal has evolved in. The vast majority of animals that have to raise young have males as the dominant sex in terms of strength, size etc. There are many theories as to why this occurs, but the general idea seems to be that the female has invested energy in raising the child whereas the male has only had to contribute sperm. This biases the female into caring for the child and the male into attempting to have sex with as many females as possible. Males will therefore compete far more with other males, whilst females pick the male most likely to contribute to their child surviving, typically by detectable signs of being the superior male (larger, faster, pack alpha etc.). A male that is stronger than other males will therefore benefit, whereas there is no benefit to a female to be faster and stronger in this situation. \n\nOf course, this is hugely generalised. There is a huge amount of variation on this subject, but it ultimately comes down to how the animals evolved in the environments the species lived in. A counter to this typical setup for instance are spiders; females are typically much larger and the males often don't survive mating. This is possibly due to their method of reproduction, where many young are produced with a high mortality rate. The females need to be better predators in order to fuel this production of young."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_dimorphism"
],
[]
] |
||
2l2kxu | how someone can be "muscley" but not strong. | I've heard that people looking for larger muscles and those looking for more strenght do different excercises; is this true or is it just another /r/fitness myth?
Also, if true, what's the difference on a cellular level, what's the *main* difference in the types of excercises, and how does it make sense from an evolutionary standpoint? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2l2kxu/eli5_how_someone_can_be_muscley_but_not_strong/ | {
"a_id": [
"clqwezw"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
" > I've heard that people looking for larger muscles and those looking for more strenght do different excercises; is this true or is it just another /r/fitness myth?\n\nThis is true. Bodybuilders tend to do lower weight at high reps to build large muscles. For strength, what I do is a hypertrophy phase of moderate weight at moderate reps to build muscle mass. Followed by high weight at low reps, which teaches your nervous system how to properly utilize your muscles. Or at least that's how my coach explains it to me."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
8dkh4w | why are squirrels so indecisive? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8dkh4w/eli5_why_are_squirrels_so_indecisive/ | {
"a_id": [
"dxnv9dz"
],
"score": [
14
],
"text": [
"Darting back and forth in random directions is a good way to avoid getting caught by a predator, since they won't be able to predict which way its going."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
50klbg | why do firefighters "make it rain" on a fire instead of pointing the hose at the ground or directly into the fire? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/50klbg/eli5why_do_firefighters_make_it_rain_on_a_fire/ | {
"a_id": [
"d74t5q8",
"d74t6l7",
"d74vilt",
"d751r1b",
"d75205e",
"d753tq0",
"d7558gt",
"d758xfo"
],
"score": [
41,
4,
12,
9,
4,
2,
13,
2
],
"text": [
"What they are trying to do is prevent the area immediately next to where the fire is from catching fire. By doing this (in theory) the fire will have nowhere to go and eventually use up the fuel that is currently on fire and extinguish itself.\n\nThe \"make it rain\" approach is common because it starves the fire of both heat and oxygen (the water vapour displaces the oxygen in the air) ",
"I'm not a firefighter, but vaporized water/mist/steam can absorb more energy (fire=energy for simplicity sake) than liquid water.\n\nThe vaporized water has more free rotation and stretching (chemical bonds can rotate, stretch and bend) so it can take up more energy and potentially quell the fire faster. \n\nThat's me just thinking from a chemistry standpoint.",
"This is a forest fire technique. They are trying to contain it, because it's too powerful to put out. In a small fire that has a reasonable chance of being stopped while the building could still be salvaged, your local fire dept won't do this.",
"A couple of reasons.\n\nThe most important thing when you're fighting a fire is to stop the fire from spreading, or at least help contain it. If there's a fire, that means some *thing* is burning. If you fire a hard liquid stream of water directly at something that is on fire, the most likely outcome is that you move that thing around, rather than stop it from being on fire.\n\nThe other big thing is the need to continue to fight the fire. For extended firefighting efforts (more than about the first few minutes of immediate response), the area will get *very* hot. Firefighters wear highly insulating suits to help combat this, but you can also keep the immediate area cool by spraying a mist above and in front on the team. It helps to push away the hotter air and give an insulating bubble, improving physical conditions as well as thermal visibility.\n\nUsually a steady stream of water isn't used until the fire has visibly stopped. This will break up the charred leftovers and show any hotspots that could possibly reflash into another fire.",
"There are multiple different fire fighting tactics from the use of a stream, or fog pattern, direct and indirect attack, the use of foam, and even the volume and pressure level of the water. It all depends on the type of fire, material on fire and availability of water, equipment and personal, and the fire fighting goal (search & rescue, heat management, extinguish, or contain) \n\nI think this might be a better question for /r/Firefighting/",
"One way to think of it is that the bit that is burning is lost already. What is important is not letting anything else burn. Another reason as described to me by a local fire fighter during fire warden training is that if you have a small burning area and hit it with high pressure water or other extinguisher, unless it can immediately put out that fire, what you end up doing is blowing burning stuff around and potential spreading the fire. ",
"For a fire, you need\n\n* fuel\n* oxygen\n* heat\n\n**To extinguish a fire, you need to take away at least one of these.** With a burning structure like a house, you can't take away the fuel, and taking away the air is even less possible.\n\nThat leaves the heat. That is exactly why you use water to extinguish fires: water is *great* at absorbing heat; in fact, there are very few subtances which can absorb more heat, and turning water into steam absorbes even *more* heat!\n\nBut heat absorption happens only at the surface of the water, so a massive jet of water isn't ideal for the purpose because its surface is relatively small, and the water will just drain away before it has absorbed much heat.\n\nThat's why you ideally spray the water into a fine mist of small droplets: it maximizes the surface so that the water can absorb as much of the fire's heat as possible, cooling it down to the point where the fuel can't ignite.\n\n**Note:** the above is slightly misleading in that the actual fuel of an ongoing house fire is not the solid structure but the combustible fumes emanating from it due to the fire's own heat. The water mist won't cool down the solid structure all that much, but it will cool down the fumes so they can't ignite, which takes away the source of heat and allows the solids to cool down until they don't produce fumes anymore.",
"more water droplets mean more heat removal, more heat removal mean faster extinguishment. Yes, I made a new word."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2auuf3 | how did roman abramovich (russian oligarch, chelsea fc owner, one of the richest men in the world) gain his wealth? | I know he got into the oil industry, but how did his wealth grow from selling toy ducks to that? Is there any truth to the allegations that he was involved with shady business? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2auuf3/eli5_how_did_roman_abramovich_russian_oligarch/ | {
"a_id": [
"ciyzwxh",
"ciz39ba",
"ciz4w1s"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"At the risk of having this comment deleted, this kind of doesn't belong in Explain Like I'm Five. I doubt there's any subject matter experts here that \"know\" anything more than can be easily googled or wiki'ed.",
"After the downfall of the Soviet Union, all of the government property got privatized. This meant that anyone who was involved in the government at the time essentially could lay claim to entire industries, plots of land, etc.\nGo to Russia nowadays and look at anyone who is a multimillionaire - Chances are this is how they gained their wealth.",
"You seriously can't be troubled to look at his Wikipedia page? "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
1v2cf2 | why is it necessary for women to bleed monthly? do men have any sort of monthly cycle? | I don't understand why women have a period monthly and need to bleed. Or the mood swings as and problems like bloating. Seems like it would have been a hassle before civilizations formed. Do men have any reproductive cycles? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v2cf2/eli5_why_is_it_necessary_for_women_to_bleed/ | {
"a_id": [
"ceo0vc0",
"ceo0xnp",
"ceo1g5i",
"ceo2sno"
],
"score": [
3,
7,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Women ovulate (supposedly) every 28 days. Every month they release an egg that can possibly be fertilized. In response to this, the uterus builds up a lining that the fertilized egg can implant into, creating a hospitable environment for maturation of the egg. When the egg is not fertilized and thus does not implant, the uterus sheds the lining, which starts the menstrual period so that the process can start all over again.\n\nAs far as I know, men do not have a reproductive cycle.",
"The reason menstruation developed is because it allows for a prime reproductive environment all-year 'round. The cause of the bleeding is the uterine lining sloughing off and being renewed when there is no child present. The associated problems are caused by the changes in hormonal levels which signal this event. Again, it allows for more a more optimal environment for fetal growth when pregnant, and is a consequence of human females' ability to reproduce at any time of the year rather than waiting for a particular mating season. This trait tends to be associated with more social animals, as women who were affected by this were not required to hunt or forage for themselves, and were therefore capable of surviving and continuing this trait. Isolated animals couldn't afford monthly periods, and so this trait did not evolve or persist in them.\n\nMen may have a monthly cycle, but there is not a whole lot of research into it, so it's unclear. If so, it certainly isn't as pronounced as menstruation for women.",
"We have to ejaculate approximately on every 24 hour cycle. ",
"Men have a monthly hormonal cycle, but men's health issues don't receive the same research funding so there's not a whole lot known about it other than it happens.\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
3jvy2o | food fiber. is it actually fibers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jvy2o/eli5_food_fiber_is_it_actually_fibers/ | {
"a_id": [
"cusqd6s"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Fiber is essentially undigestible sugars. There are 2 types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and is usually metabolized by bacteria in the colon. We often benefit from the byproducts of soluble fiber metabolism but it can also cause gas. Insoluble fiber is fiber that cannot be dissolved in water. It creates a gelatin like substance that aids in the movement of waste through the digestive tract. Fiber is just sugars that we don't posses the enzymes to digest. Some of it is digested by bacteria in the colon and some of it makes us poop better. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
8bzu8l | how is a census of a country taken? | How is it remotely possible to estimate the population of a huge country? And also while doing it, do they include tourists? Do they include the same nationality living in different places? How do they do it? And how do they take the census of the world? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8bzu8l/eli5_how_is_a_census_of_a_country_taken/ | {
"a_id": [
"dxax1ls"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Usually there is a form that needs to be filled out by each household I believe, beyond that I’m not sure what other ways they use to calculate it "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
46qw4o | - what makes humans different from cows in regards to prolonged milk production? | Why do we have to repeatedly impregnate cows when humans keep producing milk as long as it's being consumed (like with wet nurses)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/46qw4o/eli5_what_makes_humans_different_from_cows_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"d07658y"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"IIRC, cows might be able to maintain production of milk certain extent, but milk production does drop off after a while. So it makes more sense to cycle them through so that they can return to maximum production. \n\nThe life history of a dairy cow is going to change slightly from operation to operation and between countries but generally speaking a dairy cow is about two years old when she has her first calf, it is at this point that she produces milk for the first time. Cows will then have a calf every 12 to 14 months. As cows mature they tend to produce more milk each cycle until IIRC the [~6th?] cycle...however in my area cows only have an average of about 2-3 cycles before they are killed for slaughter. Poorly producing cows end up getting pulled from production and slaughtered.\n\nFemale calves will usually be kept and raised to replace older cows. Male calves are usually slaughtered for food, but occasionally one may be kept for future breeding."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
6yur3n | if there are approximately 200 different virus strains that cause the common cold; and children get a cold between 4 and 6 times a year; and adults 2 to 4 times a year; shouldn't one be essentially completely immune to all strains by around 50 years of age? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6yur3n/eli5_if_there_are_approximately_200_different/ | {
"a_id": [
"dmq9fu2",
"dmq9fx2",
"dmq9im8"
],
"score": [
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"New virus strains are constantly appearing. The influenza virus mutates very quickly and every year there are dozens of new strains that could infect you. That's why you have to get a new flu shot every year. When scientists are making each year's flu shot they look at what strains are currently in the wild and make a guess about which ones are likely to be the most problematic that year and include the top 3-5 in that year's flu shot.",
"Immunity to diseases is not always a lifelong thing. This is why you should always get booster shots for things like tetanus.",
"The common cold virus is a rapidly mutating virus. If you became immune to 200 strains there would still be others that you would not be immune to.\n\n\nAlso, if you are getting 2-4 colds/year you should wash your hands more often. I don't mean that as an insult just as friendly advice. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
9yw8a6 | what are atoms, molecules, particles? are they just different names for the same thing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9yw8a6/eli5_what_are_atoms_molecules_particles_are_they/ | {
"a_id": [
"ea4jac6"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"No. Atoms form molecules when they chain together, like how oxygen and hydrogen atoms form a water molecule H20 and they cannot be seen with a naked eye. A particle in common tongue can be anything really tiny, but still visible."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
bw3wh8 | if neutering or spaying an animal is necessary to prevent unwanted babies, why not just give them a hysterectomy or vasectomy instead? do the remaining hormones still have other negative effects? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bw3wh8/eli5_if_neutering_or_spaying_an_animal_is/ | {
"a_id": [
"epuxzjt",
"epuyau3",
"epv3w7m",
"epv54np"
],
"score": [
23,
10,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"Spaying a female animal IS a hysterectomy - the uterus is removed.\n\nYes, the hormones are a reason for neutering male animals. Testosterone can cause aggressive, territorial behaviour such as fighting and spray-marking, or wandering in search of females.",
"Removing testicles is easier/cheaper than a vasectomy, and has the added effect of making males less aggressive and territorial. Steers and geldings are easier to handle than bulls and stallions, neutered dogs and cats get in fewer fights and have less urge to roam.\n\nAs far as females go, removing the ovaries is said to have some reduction in risk of cancer (can't get ovarian cancer if you don't have ovaries), but I've never noticed any positive behavior changes. I've only ever had female cats altered, and I asked for just the hysterectomy.",
"Spaying and neutering have the added benefit of reducing or preventing several kinds of cancers too. If the testicles and ovaries are removed, they can't develop tumors. Unspayed female dogs have a 25% chance to develop mammary tumors, compared to 0.5% rate for spayed dogs and 12% rate of breast cancer for humans.",
"Spaying is a hysterectomy plus some.\n\nNeutering can be notably quicker than a vasectomy. In a vasectomy you cut open the sack, snip the tubes, and tie them off. In neutering you cut it open and rip them out. Significantly faster when doing it on a large scale with things like sheep. The other option is banding but that is quite painful for the animal for a long time.\n\nThere are also significant behavioral differences between a neutered male and an unneutered male. Horses aren't neutered for population control, they're neutered because Stallions are assholes and Geldings(neutered horses) aren't. Same goes for Bulls vs Steer.\n\nThere isn't as much of a behavior difference between spayed and unspayed animals that aren't prone to getting knocked up at random, so spaying is almost never done on large animals where it is a much more extensive procedure like horses"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
8fecw1 | how do pawn shops work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8fecw1/eli5_how_do_pawn_shops_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"dy2t0er",
"dy2t43w"
],
"score": [
6,
2
],
"text": [
"Usually the idea of \"pawning\" something is a way to get a short-term loan. If I need $100 but I have no job (for example) a bank is unlikely to give me that money because they have no way to know I'll pay them back. And if I won't or *can't* pay them back, I may get in trouble but that won't help them get their money back... so it's a big risk. \n\nAt a pawn shop, I would give them an item worth *somewhat more* than $100, and if I don't pay the loan back they can keep the item. They benefit because they either get their money back, or sell the item to recoup their money. I benefit because they're willing to lend me money on this basis, which I need, and couldn't get otherwise.\n\nNot that it's always 100% fair, but that's the basic idea. ",
"You go in with something of value, the person at the counter assesses it and offers to loan you a certain amount of money at a certain interest rate with the object as collateral. If you accept, the person takes and holds it for a while and you borrow the money, and when you pay the balance back in full you get your thing back. If you default on the loan, they sell the thing in the shop.\n\nIt's a low hassle way to borrow more money than you can get from a check cashing place when you don't have access to the banking system for personal loans."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
1k1jkt | what is an "industry lobbyist" and why are they allowed to attend presidential meetings? | [This article](_URL_0_) got me wondering. When the sitting president has meetings with industry officials to discuss matters of national or global importance, why does a lobbyist get to tag along? Isn't the purpose of a lobbyist to try and persuade the president or other elected official one way or the other on their issue? Why do they get to be privy to matters of national security? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1k1jkt/eli5what_is_an_industry_lobbyist_and_why_are_they/ | {
"a_id": [
"cbkeoaz"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Basically, different industry actors get together in groups to hire someone to advocate for that industry. So, let's say that BP, Shell, and Exxon, though competitors, all have a stake in how the oil industry is regulated. They would hire a lobbyist together (though they may have their own separate lobbyists, too) to look out for anything impacting oil companies in total.\n\nA lobbyist is basically just a representative. A representative who is paid to watch out for the industry, not any particular company. So, when he's sitting down with tech industry lobbyists, it's because they are there on behalf of the many companies that have an interest in the issue, instead of the President meeting with 10000 representatives from each individual company with a stake. "
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/09/us-usa-security-obama-tech-idUSBRE9780IC20130809"
] | [
[]
] |
|
aoin47 | why some eu countries still haven’t picked euro as their main currency? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aoin47/eli5_why_some_eu_countries_still_havent_picked/ | {
"a_id": [
"eg12riv",
"eg12xby",
"eg12zvt",
"eg1cra8"
],
"score": [
3,
8,
11,
2
],
"text": [
"Either because they haven’t reached the economical targets required for implementation, or they want to keep their own currency with it’s economical freedoms as long as possible.\n\nI am not surprised though. My country switched to € in 2009 and prices have raised significantly since then. But I like it because I can travel aroud without need to exchange.",
"They don't want the leading banks (in Germany and France) controlling how they can run their economy. Greece joined the euro, and it created a lot of economic catastrophes for them, because they were not allowed to keep operating in their old (admittedly quite corrupt) ways.",
"Because using the Euro is not a no-cost/all-benefit prospect.\n\nIt greatly simplifies cross-border trade and can make borrowing costs much cheaper. \n\nHowever, in the event a country's economic performance, particularly price inflation and its debt load, are out of sync with what's going on in the wider EU, not having the levers of monetary policy at the government's disposal greatly reduces what it can do. Greece can't just devalue its currency to lighten the load of its debt because it doesn't control the value of its currency.\n\nIn other large currency blocs this is an issue, too. Take the US for example, inflation and debt load may be way different in Idaho than in New York. However, it is far easier to use government spending funded by one part of the US to prop up another part than it is for the EU. It was politically crippling for Europe to offer Greece bailouts. Similar payments effectively happen in the US every year with next to no political consequences.",
"Every country that joined the EU recently is required to adopt the Euro. However some of the older members have opt-outs.\n\nThere are also some minimal requirements for the economy of a country before it can go ahead to join the Eurozone. (Greece famously fudged the numbers quite a bit to get in.) Some would like to join, but aren't there yet. Other really don't want to join and purposefully hold back.\n\nDenmark is ready to join in theory, but the Danes don't want to.\n\nSweden is also holding back.\n\nBulgaria and Croatia may join soon.\n\nHungary, Poland and Romania are unlikely to join any time soon.\n\nThe UK is leaving the EU in 49 days and won't join the Euro (parts that end up breaking of the country in the process might just end up joining the Eurozone though)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5kl5g1 | how a signature is good security for verification | Signatures are used whenever I use a credit card, receive a package, or deposit a check. How is this secure at all? My signature is messy and is not the same thing every time, so how is this suppose to verify who I am? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kl5g1/eli5_how_a_signature_is_good_security_for/ | {
"a_id": [
"dbop22h",
"dbopgfr"
],
"score": [
5,
2
],
"text": [
"The signature is generally only important insofar as it proves that you read the document you signed and, depending on the context, that you approve of what the document says. If you sign a receipt with a picture of a whale, you can't get out of paying it by saying \"I signed a picture of a whale, so I never agreed to pay it.\" If you signed your name as \"I refuse to pay\" or something like that, then that may be another issue.\n\nThe only time signatures really come into play are when someone claims they never saw or agreed to something. The person who says you signed can then show your signature as proof. If you signed it, regardless of how you did it, then that's pretty good proof you had a chance to review the document and agree to it. If you never signed it, then that's pretty good proof that you didn't have a chance to review it. And if there's a signature that you claim isn't yours, you can have a legal battle over whether it was really you who signed or didn't. If it gets that far, you might have to get a bunch of documents you have signed in the past and hire handwriting experts to testify as to whether you actually signed or not.\n\nThe reason it's helpful to have a consistent signature is so that it's easier to prove forgery if the need ever arises.",
"A signature isn't authentication, it's an acknowledgement. At best, you can go back and look at it and say \"hey that's not mine!\""
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
5nfcux | that temporary "watermark" on our vision when we look at something bright then either look away or close our eyes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nfcux/eli5_that_temporary_watermark_on_our_vision_when/ | {
"a_id": [
"dcb3o30",
"dcb3z45"
],
"score": [
3,
17
],
"text": [
"When we see it's because chemicals in the retina of our eyes are broken down by light which triggers a signal to be sent to the brain that the area where the light was detected is light. When something is bright it can break down all of this chemical in an area leaving a dark spot until it can be replenished ",
"The color-sensing cone cells in your eyes need time to \"recharge\". When light hits those cells, special molecules absorb the light and are forced to change shape, which activates the nerves in your retina. When you stare at a bright light, your cone cells are all firing, all of those molecules are getting bent, and when you close your eyes they're stuck bent for just a short while and continue activating your nerves.\n\nThe longer you stare at bright light, the more cones are activated and don't have time to fix themselves."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
1rwk6c | ...how do boogers form? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rwk6c/eli5how_do_boogers_form/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdrmymg",
"cdrn16y"
],
"score": [
2,
6
],
"text": [
"Dust and dirt going in your nose and mixing with snot.",
"Lots of the dirt and dust and junk in the air get filtered through the hairs in our nose when we breath in. Once its trapped in the cilia, the hairs in your nose, your mucus membrane releases a fluid to wash them off that normally runs into your stomach. \n\nLeft over bits dry out before draining into your stomach and those bits left over are boogers. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
4gbees | how does squinting your eyes work? specifically when you are looking at something and without closing your eyelids, blur your vision? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4gbees/eli5_how_does_squinting_your_eyes_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"d2g49cz"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"This question ask been asked and [answered](_URL_0_) many times before. I'm linking to an [askscience](_URL_1_) answer here since it's good and quite simple, but there have been many other answers in eli5 too."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/3a6dqa/why_does_squinting_make_my_vision_clearer/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience"
]
] |
||
1ji0nz | the decline of zimbabwe under mugabe | I have read that Zimbabwe was a country that was doing fairly well before Mugabe came to power, I just want to know what happened that led to such a dramatic decline in standards. How did Mugabe achieve this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ji0nz/eli5_the_decline_of_zimbabwe_under_mugabe/ | {
"a_id": [
"cbeugxh",
"cbex4nn"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"While there are a number of reasons, one of the big ones was that he forcibly took the farmlands that belonged to longstanding white zimbabwe citizens (people who's family may have been in the country for generations. By the 90's, about 70% of the arable land was held by white families) and gave them to his associates. Agriculture was one of the country's biggest exports - it was once deemed 'the bread basket of Africa'.\n\nUnfortunately, a drought hit at about the same time and while I don't want to make generalizations, basically all the people he gave the farmlands to didn't have a goddamn clue how to run a farm. The farmlands suffered, production fell dramatically, and with the crops went most of the country's money.",
"He also turned on the printing presses and never looked back. At its peak in Nov 2008 inflation was at 6.5 sextillion. This is the worst mismanagement of an economy since post WWI Germany and Yugoslavia in Jan 1994 when inflation was at 313,000,000% where prices doubled every 1.4 days."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
8niyyp | how can water be reflective and see through at the same time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8niyyp/eli5_how_can_water_be_reflective_and_see_through/ | {
"a_id": [
"dzxcc30",
"dzvshqh",
"dzvt6k9",
"dzw90hl",
"dzwfndg",
"dzwk3k4"
],
"score": [
2,
40,
14,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Stuff is \"transparent\" when light passes through it. Stuff is \"reflective\" when light bounces off it.\n\nSome materials are indecisive — they'll let some light beams through, but they'll bounce others off. So if something lets some light through, and bounces the rest off, you have a semi-reflective, semi-transparent surface. \n\nThese surfaces also change depending on lighting conditions. A window can be really reflective if it's dark on the other side, compared to where you're standing. Or it can be really transparent, if there's way more light on that other side. Same exact thing goes for water. ",
"Pretty much any object absorbs, reflects, and transmits some amount of light that strikes it. Nothing is perfectly absorptive, transmissive, or reflective. This is also why objects can display colors when you shine white light on them, they're selectively reflecting certain wavelengths and absorbing others. The color you see is the reflected light. So it's not unique to water.\n\nWater, air (usually), glass, are objects that transmit lots of light (it passes through them without getting scattered), and very little reflects off of them. But still some does. ",
"There is a measurement called the critical angle. This property is the angle at which light would be totally internally reflected (in water, for this example). Any angle wider than the critical angle causes a reflection off the water. Any angle sharper simply passes through the water surface. Think of skipping a rock on water, if you hit the angle right, it will bounce across the water (beams of light would bounce off the surface to your eyes and show a reflection) but if you hit the water at too sharp of an angle, the rock just goes right through to the bottom (the light goes through the water surface, making it also see-through). Since natural light from the sun comes from all directions, there is plenty of light to bounce off the surface AND go through.\n\nBonus: this property is also what makes fiber optic cables work. The critical angle for fiber is sharp, so any angle wider keeps the beam of light *inside* the glass cable. This is called total internal reflection.\n\nEDIT: better words",
"Because light is composed of lots of really, really small wavelengths.\n\nSome scatter, some pass through, some reflect. It's not an all-or-nothing scenario.",
"According to me it is because water is not totally transparent and does not reflect 100 & #37; of incident light but it actually depends on the critical angle. Sometimes when you look directly into a smooth and clean water body, your image you see that is reflected, may be repressed by the image from the other side. On the other hand if you look inside a deep or turbid water body, you're likely to see only your reflection, because due to turbidity only little light is able to make it through the layers to the bottom of the water body. So, you know it works both ways. Before reaching your eyes light has to deal with a few basic things: reflection, refraction and absorption of light. You are able to see through the water \\(see the bottom\\) as light penetrates, refracting through the layers reaching the bottom and bouncing off back to the surface penetrating through all the layers again before making up to your eyes. You are able to see your reflection in the water as the incident light reflects from the surface making way back to your eyes. The brightness and visibility of the reflection and the bottom depends on the amount of light that gets absorbed. ",
"some light will pass through the water and some light will bounce off, the light that bounces off will give a reflection while the light that passes through will let you see below the surface. \n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
4515oq | what the fbi is investigating on hillary and why it is so important | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4515oq/eli5_what_the_fbi_is_investigating_on_hillary_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"czugjqu",
"czugmok",
"czugsjk"
],
"score": [
6,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"The FBI believes that Hillary may have kept emails that were intended to be kept secret on an unsecured home server. \n\nIt's like if someone working at Fort Knox took a couple bars of gold home, and kept them in a shoe box. Even if the gold wasn't stolen, it would be criminal to expose the gold to that much risk. ",
"Hillary Clinton had many emails to send as secretary of state. She was supposed to have a work email that sent all of her emails through secure servers. She ran her own server, literally out of her home, with her own private email. No one really knows all of what she sent. She's historically used political office or her charity for personal gain. This causes legitimate concern over why she felt it so necessary to have a private email.\n\nWhen discovered, she \"wiped\" a lot of data. She gave a lot of emails she approved to the public, but again no one really knows what she hid. She's asking us to take her word for it that that's really all she sent.\n\nThe FBI investigation is to determine whether she used her unsecure server to send emails containing classified information, which would be illegal and worthy of conviction. \n\nTo summarize, Hillary is arguably the most corrupt woman in world stage politics.\n",
"When Hillary became Secretary of State she refused to use her government work email account and instead set up an unsecured email server at her home. After some Americans were killed overseas at an embassy Congress conducted an investigation to find out how it happened to prevent if from happening again. When they did so they learned Hillary did not use her work email and instead forced everyone to email her directly to her unsecure servee in her bathroom. Congress asked for her emails and she gave access to her server to a third party to scrub clean and turned over the emails she wanted to turn over rather than turn over the server entirely to ensure the public record was complete.\n\nThere are laws regarding the handling of classified information. It appears Hillary and many of her closest aides violated many laws regarding the handling of classified information. The FBI is investigating the misconduct that occurred regarding classification of emails. For example, the State has a closed secure database of intelligence that is not on the public internet and can never leave this closed internal network. Hillary and/or her aides illegally extractied this data and sent it to (and from?) her unsecured server. Sending the data was wrong, not reporting it was wrong, not deleting if was wrong, and providing access to third party entities (her legal counsel and IT consultants) to this data was also wrong.\n\nThe FBI is apparently investigating all of this to determine the scope of the intelligence breaches and everyone who was involved. If you or I had done this out security clearance would have already been revoked and criminal charges would have already been filed. But, because of her status and the fact that the need the Justice department to move forward with any charges it appears she is getting away with it. Conservatives are pissed off and want charges to be filed and have her defend herself in court. Liberals tend to not care very much, likely because she too is a liberal.\n\nIt is important because it is an example of a political elite being given special treatment. Also, she is running for President and has proven to be unfit to secure our nation's secrets. She puts the protection of her career and preventing transparency/ secure records keeping above the primary responsibilities of her office."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
ms5xx | how can i get a jumpstart on developing stable finances? (more like eli19) | I am a sophomore at a prominent liberal arts university. Seeing all the business and econ students around me, and being a poli sci major, I am extremely nervous about my understanding of the financial system.
It may be a little early to start looking into this, who knows. But how can a 19 year old like me with little to no understanding of loans, credit, taxes, investments etc get a jumpstart on making sold investments for modest long term returns?
I am not looking for a get rich scheme. I just want to know what I can do right now to get started on developing a sense of financial security.
Maybe many others are wondering the same thing, and I tried googling this question already with no good results.
So can somebody explain to me, without all that fancy jargon, if there is anything I can do right now to get started on securing my future financially? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ms5xx/eli5_how_can_i_get_a_jumpstart_on_developing/ | {
"a_id": [
"c33f2wr",
"c33f2z3",
"c33f6s1",
"c33f9yy",
"c33frw4",
"c33gf95",
"c33jj46",
"c33l2p0",
"c33f2wr",
"c33f2z3",
"c33f6s1",
"c33f9yy",
"c33frw4",
"c33gf95",
"c33jj46",
"c33l2p0"
],
"score": [
25,
3,
17,
9,
5,
2,
4,
2,
25,
3,
17,
9,
5,
2,
4,
2
],
"text": [
"1.) Never impulse buy ANYTHING. This goes for candy bars in the check out lane to cars and computers. When you go to make a purchase, make sure you have thought about it and researched the product.\n\n2.) Pay yourself first on any paycheck. Set aside at least $20 to $25 bucks in a savings account that is not tied to your debit card.\n\n3.) When you have enough (usually a $500 minimum) in that savings account, get a Certificate of Deposit using that money. The shortest CD you can get is 6 months.\n\n4.) Any job you get that has a 401k or similar retirement system, get into it at the get go. If you are required to wait something like 90 days or so before you can invest, take what would be the minimum contribution to the fund out of your paycheck every month and stick it in that savings account. Now you won't miss the money come investment time.\n\n5.) Never take out loans or credit cards unless you absolutely need them. Debt is bad if you can't pay. Never pay more than 15% in interest on anything over 48 months. You will pay almost double what then item costs in interest alone.\n\n6.) Live modestly. You do not need the newest everything. If you do not need unlimited minutes and data, don't get that phone plan. You do not need a 1080p 60\" t.v.. You do not need a car that you would find in a hip-hop music video or a mid-life crisis mobile. ",
"I don't think a financial adviser is necessary based on your OP. There is a great set of small articles (written for the layperson) at: _URL_0_\n\nSome basic good habits:\n\n- live beneath your means (not \"within\").\n\n- as a teenager, try not to get sucked into new fads just to keep up with the next guy. Just because there's a hot new doodad on the market, doesn't mean you need it.\n\n- if you follow my first bullet, you should never have to carry a credit card balance and pay credit card interest.\n\n- shop for value rather than low price. E.g., brand \"A\" may cost $100 but may last twice as long as $75 brand \"B\".\n\n- research Roth IRA and contribute to it. You contribute with after tax dollars (out of your pocket) but the interest you earn is tax free when you take it out during retirement.\n\n- review the instructions to file a 1040 EZ income tax form (google for the PDF), it will give you a great understanding of how income taxes, withholding, deductions, refunds, credits, etc. work.",
"Here's what I've done so far, after getting a job with a salary and benefits: \n\n1. Saved up a 6 month emergency fund. If I'm fired tomorrow or decide I need to quit my job for some reason, I'll be able to pay all my bills for 6 months with no outside assistance. \n\n2. Got a credit card. I pay it off every month, use it for just about everything and about every 6 months or it nets me a free $50 amazon gift card with the points. Builds credit too. I've had the card for 2 and a half years now. \n\n3. Got a car note. I'd been driving a beater for awhile, and was able to get a nice 5 year old sedan for about half of what it cost at retail with low mileage. My parents had to co-sign for this, but it too helps build credit. I've had the note for a year now.\n\n4. I save 1/4th of my net income. Right now that money's going towards my expected downpayment on a house. Afterwards it will probably end up in a retirement account, probably something like an index fund (a fund that's meant to rise and fall as the market does.) My plan is to eventually save up enough money that I can retire and live off the interest. I am not factoring Social Security into that; I honestly don't think it'll be around by then. \n\n5. In general, I live pretty well below my means. I only make $37k, but in 2 and a half years of working I've managed to save up close to $24k. \nJust last week I applied for a home loan and they cheerfully approved me for a 30 year fixed because of my existing lines of credit.\n\nI hope some of this has been helpful to you. If I could go back in time, I'd tell my 19 year old self to get a credit card (again, paying it off every month is important) and a car loan (doesn't have to be for a huge amount) and possibly another loan, like for a new computer. Having a few lines of credit that you have a track record of paying off every month will boost your credit score into the 700s and you'll be in a prime position to get a home loan sooner. It galls me that I've been wasting money for two years renting when I could've been building credit sooner. ",
"If you haven't found it yet, /r/personalfinance is a great community for discussing what to do with your money.\n\n/r/frugal is good for finding ways of living within your means.\n\nThe ELI5 version of the standard advice, in your case, would probably be:\n\n* Know how much debt you're getting into (trust me, it helps motivate saving money)\n* Get a part-time job or some source of income\n* Start building an emergency fund (cash you keep liquid, meaning that it is available asap). A savings or interest checking account is good for this.\n* If you're comfortable with your emergency fund, start looking for a better interest rate in a longer term investment, or start paying off your debt.",
"As others have said, live beneath your means. In other words, make sure your expenses are less than your income. There's no way to get what you're looking for without doing this.\n\nLike you, I was never looking for a get rich quick scheme, just looking for a relatively save way to get modest returns over the long term. When I was still in school, I could barely afford enough food, so I wasn't saving anything. But, here's what I did after I got out of school and got a job. It's worked pretty okay for me (I've been out of school and working for 14 years).\n\n* First, I saved up an \"emergency fund\". I started with a simple bank account that had enough money to pay 2 months of expenses. \n\n* As I got more money, I split the emergency fund into two parts. One is a \"Oh shit, I need a new roof/car/furnace RIGHT NOW\" fund, which is just in a regular bank account. The other is the \"Oh, shit, I'm unemployed\" fund. This went into a \"CD ladder\". I decided to do six months of expenses. I had it set up so I had six CDs, each with enough to live off for a month. They each matured after six months, but they were staggered, so that every month, another CD matured.\n\n* After that was all set up, I felt secure in the short term, so I started thinking long-term. I reserved 10% of my income for retirement. My company happens to have a good 401(k) plan, so I used that. I know others who found IRAs to be a better choice for their situation.\n\n* Finally, I started investing in mutual funds. I don't have any set percentage I use for this. Just every so often, if I have any \"extra money\" in my bank account, I put it into mutual funds. I use index funds because I'm willing to forgo \"beating the market\" in exchange for saving money on fees. Others think they can beat the market, and maybe some of them really can, but that wasn't what I was looking for.\n\nAlso, an overall piece of advice that also worked well for me: don't go into debt without a good rationale for why it's \"worth it\". Taking out a loan can sometimes be a good idea, but often it's not. Make sure the numbers work for **you** first.",
"If you can't afford two, don't buy one.\n\nEDIT: this applies to MOST things, probably not houses or cars. but if you can't afford two of the tv you're about to get, don't spend all your money on it.",
"I'm older than the OP, and have NO CLUE what to do with my money. However, most of the advice seems to be \"Don't spend money you don't have\". It's good advice, but common sense.\n\nI have a decent job. I'm paying into a pension, and putting an additional 15% of my salary into a TDA. I'm living in a 3br apartment with craigslist people I'm not a huge fan of because it's pretty damn cheap. I have no student loans (though I have to stay at my job for another few years because they paid for it), and one credit card that I always pay on time. \n\nBut I have my liquid assets just sitting around. My paycheck is directly deposited into my checking account. I have some cash (small 5 digit number) that has been sitting in a savings account that I opened when I was a teenager and I'm not quite sure where the money came from. It earns like 0.15%. I don't pay attention to my money, and I'm not even sure how much I'm banking each month. \n\nTL;DR: I'm not sure how to make my money work for me. Any more specific advice?\n\nMy paycheck is directly deposited into a checking account where it just sits there",
"I don't have any advice for you, because I'm in a similar boat, but I would like to thank you for encouraging me to finally start putting effort into managing my money. It doesn't sound like much, but I've been telling myself I need to do this for over a year now.",
"1.) Never impulse buy ANYTHING. This goes for candy bars in the check out lane to cars and computers. When you go to make a purchase, make sure you have thought about it and researched the product.\n\n2.) Pay yourself first on any paycheck. Set aside at least $20 to $25 bucks in a savings account that is not tied to your debit card.\n\n3.) When you have enough (usually a $500 minimum) in that savings account, get a Certificate of Deposit using that money. The shortest CD you can get is 6 months.\n\n4.) Any job you get that has a 401k or similar retirement system, get into it at the get go. If you are required to wait something like 90 days or so before you can invest, take what would be the minimum contribution to the fund out of your paycheck every month and stick it in that savings account. Now you won't miss the money come investment time.\n\n5.) Never take out loans or credit cards unless you absolutely need them. Debt is bad if you can't pay. Never pay more than 15% in interest on anything over 48 months. You will pay almost double what then item costs in interest alone.\n\n6.) Live modestly. You do not need the newest everything. If you do not need unlimited minutes and data, don't get that phone plan. You do not need a 1080p 60\" t.v.. You do not need a car that you would find in a hip-hop music video or a mid-life crisis mobile. ",
"I don't think a financial adviser is necessary based on your OP. There is a great set of small articles (written for the layperson) at: _URL_0_\n\nSome basic good habits:\n\n- live beneath your means (not \"within\").\n\n- as a teenager, try not to get sucked into new fads just to keep up with the next guy. Just because there's a hot new doodad on the market, doesn't mean you need it.\n\n- if you follow my first bullet, you should never have to carry a credit card balance and pay credit card interest.\n\n- shop for value rather than low price. E.g., brand \"A\" may cost $100 but may last twice as long as $75 brand \"B\".\n\n- research Roth IRA and contribute to it. You contribute with after tax dollars (out of your pocket) but the interest you earn is tax free when you take it out during retirement.\n\n- review the instructions to file a 1040 EZ income tax form (google for the PDF), it will give you a great understanding of how income taxes, withholding, deductions, refunds, credits, etc. work.",
"Here's what I've done so far, after getting a job with a salary and benefits: \n\n1. Saved up a 6 month emergency fund. If I'm fired tomorrow or decide I need to quit my job for some reason, I'll be able to pay all my bills for 6 months with no outside assistance. \n\n2. Got a credit card. I pay it off every month, use it for just about everything and about every 6 months or it nets me a free $50 amazon gift card with the points. Builds credit too. I've had the card for 2 and a half years now. \n\n3. Got a car note. I'd been driving a beater for awhile, and was able to get a nice 5 year old sedan for about half of what it cost at retail with low mileage. My parents had to co-sign for this, but it too helps build credit. I've had the note for a year now.\n\n4. I save 1/4th of my net income. Right now that money's going towards my expected downpayment on a house. Afterwards it will probably end up in a retirement account, probably something like an index fund (a fund that's meant to rise and fall as the market does.) My plan is to eventually save up enough money that I can retire and live off the interest. I am not factoring Social Security into that; I honestly don't think it'll be around by then. \n\n5. In general, I live pretty well below my means. I only make $37k, but in 2 and a half years of working I've managed to save up close to $24k. \nJust last week I applied for a home loan and they cheerfully approved me for a 30 year fixed because of my existing lines of credit.\n\nI hope some of this has been helpful to you. If I could go back in time, I'd tell my 19 year old self to get a credit card (again, paying it off every month is important) and a car loan (doesn't have to be for a huge amount) and possibly another loan, like for a new computer. Having a few lines of credit that you have a track record of paying off every month will boost your credit score into the 700s and you'll be in a prime position to get a home loan sooner. It galls me that I've been wasting money for two years renting when I could've been building credit sooner. ",
"If you haven't found it yet, /r/personalfinance is a great community for discussing what to do with your money.\n\n/r/frugal is good for finding ways of living within your means.\n\nThe ELI5 version of the standard advice, in your case, would probably be:\n\n* Know how much debt you're getting into (trust me, it helps motivate saving money)\n* Get a part-time job or some source of income\n* Start building an emergency fund (cash you keep liquid, meaning that it is available asap). A savings or interest checking account is good for this.\n* If you're comfortable with your emergency fund, start looking for a better interest rate in a longer term investment, or start paying off your debt.",
"As others have said, live beneath your means. In other words, make sure your expenses are less than your income. There's no way to get what you're looking for without doing this.\n\nLike you, I was never looking for a get rich quick scheme, just looking for a relatively save way to get modest returns over the long term. When I was still in school, I could barely afford enough food, so I wasn't saving anything. But, here's what I did after I got out of school and got a job. It's worked pretty okay for me (I've been out of school and working for 14 years).\n\n* First, I saved up an \"emergency fund\". I started with a simple bank account that had enough money to pay 2 months of expenses. \n\n* As I got more money, I split the emergency fund into two parts. One is a \"Oh shit, I need a new roof/car/furnace RIGHT NOW\" fund, which is just in a regular bank account. The other is the \"Oh, shit, I'm unemployed\" fund. This went into a \"CD ladder\". I decided to do six months of expenses. I had it set up so I had six CDs, each with enough to live off for a month. They each matured after six months, but they were staggered, so that every month, another CD matured.\n\n* After that was all set up, I felt secure in the short term, so I started thinking long-term. I reserved 10% of my income for retirement. My company happens to have a good 401(k) plan, so I used that. I know others who found IRAs to be a better choice for their situation.\n\n* Finally, I started investing in mutual funds. I don't have any set percentage I use for this. Just every so often, if I have any \"extra money\" in my bank account, I put it into mutual funds. I use index funds because I'm willing to forgo \"beating the market\" in exchange for saving money on fees. Others think they can beat the market, and maybe some of them really can, but that wasn't what I was looking for.\n\nAlso, an overall piece of advice that also worked well for me: don't go into debt without a good rationale for why it's \"worth it\". Taking out a loan can sometimes be a good idea, but often it's not. Make sure the numbers work for **you** first.",
"If you can't afford two, don't buy one.\n\nEDIT: this applies to MOST things, probably not houses or cars. but if you can't afford two of the tv you're about to get, don't spend all your money on it.",
"I'm older than the OP, and have NO CLUE what to do with my money. However, most of the advice seems to be \"Don't spend money you don't have\". It's good advice, but common sense.\n\nI have a decent job. I'm paying into a pension, and putting an additional 15% of my salary into a TDA. I'm living in a 3br apartment with craigslist people I'm not a huge fan of because it's pretty damn cheap. I have no student loans (though I have to stay at my job for another few years because they paid for it), and one credit card that I always pay on time. \n\nBut I have my liquid assets just sitting around. My paycheck is directly deposited into my checking account. I have some cash (small 5 digit number) that has been sitting in a savings account that I opened when I was a teenager and I'm not quite sure where the money came from. It earns like 0.15%. I don't pay attention to my money, and I'm not even sure how much I'm banking each month. \n\nTL;DR: I'm not sure how to make my money work for me. Any more specific advice?\n\nMy paycheck is directly deposited into a checking account where it just sits there",
"I don't have any advice for you, because I'm in a similar boat, but I would like to thank you for encouraging me to finally start putting effort into managing my money. It doesn't sound like much, but I've been telling myself I need to do this for over a year now."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/personal-finance/index.aspx"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/personal-finance/index.aspx"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
4v3zgm | why does the military do those fancy rifle drills? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4v3zgm/eli5why_does_the_military_do_those_fancy_rifle/ | {
"a_id": [
"d5v9dzj"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Originally they did only ordinary drills, where the soldiers were just practicing the methods to stay organized in large groups, such as when marching or when getting ready for a fight.\n\nOver time some groups became proud of their precision skills, and enjoyed showing them off in parades. Gradually they started adding more and more complex moves in order to show off to the crowd, and to challenge themselves to stay sharp."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
38d2gt | how are babies' cells created? | What matter is used to synthesise the foetus's cells? Do we come from the molecules in the food our mother's consume and if so are we, in a sense, the food we eat? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38d2gt/eli5_how_are_babies_cells_created/ | {
"a_id": [
"cru2v6l",
"cru2v81"
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text": [
"In a sense, yes. The cells are made from protein and fats supplied to the fetus from the mother (via the umbilical cord). The mother gets these substances from the food she eats. ",
"The fertilized egg is your first cell, the rest comes from mitosis (one cell splitting into two) the energy and matter for that comes from the food you eat, water you drink and air you breath. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
79p1ja | why does emf/induced current occur when flux and therefore magnetic fields change? | We learn in physics 112 /102 that emf is the opposite of the change in flux and represents induced current. This is to produce a compensation field and therefore flux change to balance out net flux. But why does this happen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/79p1ja/eli5_why_does_emfinduced_current_occur_when_flux/ | {
"a_id": [
"dp3s2sv"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"Here's the argument: it's not ELI5 but it's as close as I can get.\n\n1) Magnetic forces from motion.\n\nAccording to the Lorenz force law, charges in a segment of wire will experience a force proportional to the magnetic field strength, and to their velocity. We'll take this as a given for this explanation.\n\n2) EMF from a loop moving in a stationary field.\n\nImagine a square loop of wire moving to the right into a magnetic field perpendicular to the loop. Suppose the magnetic field gets stronger as you move to the right. Charges in the \"leading edge\" of the loop will be pushed around the loop by the magnetic force. Charges on the trailing edge will be pushed the other direction, but since the magnetic field is weaker there, the push will be weaker: thus, charges will be pushed one direction more than the other, so there will be a net voltage around the loop. One can show that the voltage produced by this force depends on the rate of change of flux through the loop.\n\n3) Switch reference frames.\n\nAs far as we know, the laws of physics work just as well from the perspective of anyone moving at constant speed. So let's imagine \"riding along\" with the square loop. In this reference frame, the wire is not moving, so there are no magnetic forces at all. But if there was a voltage on the loop in step 2), it can't go away just because we changed our point of view. So the rule that voltage depends on rate of change of flux must still be true.\n\nAnd this is confirmed experimentally: if you hook a coil of wire up to a magnet and move the coil toward the magnet, you see a voltage. If you move the magnet toward the coil, you see the same voltage."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
38k8l6 | how does ´´having a bunch of attorneys/lawyers´´ change the outcome of a court case? | Let´s take the example that popped up on r/todayilearned today, a post with a link to an article about Disney using a song produced by deadmau5 without the artists permission.
Someone made the argument that they could do it because ´´they have tons of attorneys and more money than God´´.
How could having a bunch of attorneys change the outcome of a hypothetical court case about this violation, when it is so plainly obvious that what they did was wrong. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38k8l6/eli5how_does_having_a_bunch_of_attorneyslawyers/ | {
"a_id": [
"crvnje3",
"crvtk1k"
],
"score": [
10,
3
],
"text": [
"More lawyers means more eyes looking at the case. More research being done. More chances at finding a loophole or previous example of law that puts disney in the right.\n\nThe money side means that disney can afford to pitch a protracted battle. Their lawyers can request all sorts of things that keep the case going. This means that Deadmaus will need to pay his lawyers for a long period of time if he wants to keep them on the case. This costs him money. With a large enough team disney can simply outspend him, forcing him into the options of settling now, or going bankrupt to pay his lawyers to keep the case going and maybe even lose. ",
"A court case has very similarities as actual war and the most important thing in winning a war is technology(tanks, ships, guns) and soldiers. In a court case, lawyers are the soldiers and witnesses/evidence is the technology.\n\nA good lawyer can change the outcome of the case simply because all it requires is to convince either one person (judge) or several (jury) to believe in you. So if you are convincing enough, then you have higher chances of winning at the trial/hearing.\n\nNow what you have to remember is typically less than 5% of lawsuits end up actually in court. The rest get settled or dropped out of court. The *real battle* is almost never in the courtroom but outside of it.\n\nAnd when the battle is outside of the courtroom, the side with more money (which means more lawyer time) will almost always win. Lets imagine a team of 10 lawyers against a team of 1. The team of ten lawyers will bombard the lonesome opposing counsel with lots and lots of paperwork - emails, motions - things in which the team of 1 has to read, analyse and respond to. This takes time and what is lawyer time? Money. The team of 10 will force the team of 1 to spend all their legal fee budget on useless paperwork at the beginning of the trial and any lawyer worth their sale can drag out a case if they wanted to and make it wayyy more complicated than it is. Within a few months, team 1 will run out legal fees even before the main hearing date is set.\n\nNo legal fees? You've just lost the case."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
6j76cr | why do we still talk about the 90's, 80's, 70's, etc as their own era yet we tend to lump 00's - now together? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6j76cr/eli5_why_do_we_still_talk_about_the_90s_80s_70s/ | {
"a_id": [
"djc2q1k"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Maybe because the birth of the internet and social media sharing has made it difficult to pin down what is the \"2000's\" ?\n\n\nI always feel its easier to kinda say what music was most popular for any of the pre 2000 decades. Maybe its because we can look back on the completed decades and decide what was popular. Compared to today maybe peoples tastes in things have expanded recently, or its hard to realize what ere you are in while you are living in it. I think the 2000's can be labeled the decade of terrorism, lost freedoms and when country music turned pop. \n2010's marks the beggining of the end of the EU, and the rise of exteme opposites ive seen Folk Music and Dubstep rise and fall in the last few years. \nOr maybe we can classify the last 17 years and the next 3 as \"the 20 years when heat records were broken consistently every year. \n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
1iu2w2 | why do nurses ask for the woman to push and then stop during childbirth ? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1iu2w2/eli5_why_do_nurses_ask_for_the_woman_to_push_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cb81c7p",
"cb82n0t",
"cb8437i",
"cb856ph"
],
"score": [
3,
6,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"The uterus contracts at regular intervals (contractions), so they time pushing to coincide with those. Women giving birth, however, don't really need anyone to tell them to push; when it's time, (according to my wife) they become overwhelmed by a virtually uncontrollable urge to push, so I think the nurses are there just for the same of encouragement. My wife delivered naturally both times though, so it might be different for someone with an epidural, but I don't know.",
"Also, a nurse/doctor/paramedic/midwife/etc, may tell a woman to stop pushing if a problem is discovered, like when the umbilical cord presents first, before the body. They'll need her to stop pushing until they can intervene, as it may cause more problems. ",
"They tell you to stop pushing so you dont tear when the baby crowns. Crowning is when the babys head can be seen at the vagina entrance. If you were to give a massive push before the skin had stretched there is a good chance you would tear, leading to scaring. If the skin really isnt stretching enough, they will cut you with a scalpel or sometimes snip with scissors..this is called an episiotomy. A surgical cut is much tidier than a rip/tear, easier to stitch and repair and less likely to leave scar tissue",
"Unless the mother has an epidural and can't feel enough sensation to know what to do, it's better if they don't direct pushing. Generally speaking, the whole experience will be faster and less painful if you just follow your body's natural cues and push when you have the urge."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
2cic2n | what determines the path that veins and arteries take through the body | Also do everyones follow the same path | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cic2n/eli5what_determines_the_path_that_veins_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cjfuv58"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The veins and arteries do follow a similar path in every body - at least the main arteries and veins do -, they teach that in med school and med students are supposed to identify them by location. You can find blood vessel maps online.\n\nThe path that they take is determined by the placement of the organs in your body. Blood follows a path from your lungs - where it \"fills up\" with oxygen - and is pumped by your heart to the rest of your body. Main arteries guide large ammounts of blood to main organs - the brain, the digestive tract, etc - and veins guide it back to the lungs / heart. The vessels are set in a grid in order to cover the most of your body so everything is continuously supplied in oxygen. \n\nThat being said, blood vessels are fleshy and they adapt to the shape and size of your muscles and organs, so anyone as a \"unique\" pathing, so to speak. This is determined, again, by your muscles and organs, since if the blood was not flowing in they would die."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3lhdr8 | what is fm synthesis and what are the difference between fm, subtractive, and additive synthesis? | Thank you! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3lhdr8/eli5what_is_fm_synthesis_and_what_are_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cv6cqah"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"FM stands for \"frequency modulation.\" In general it refers to any sort of time that we're changing the frequency of a signal. FM radio, for example, sends a signal by modulating (changing) the carrier frequency very slightly. When you tune into a radio station, the channel number is the carrier frequency at which they broadcast. The channel 100.7 WZLX Boston broadcasts at 100.7 MHz, which is a frequency. They send information by changing the carrier frequency ever so slightly: your receiver notices the slight changes and interprets that as a signal.\n\nFM synthesis is when you make an entirely new sound by taking some original sound and modifying its frequency. A great example is a device called an \"octaver,\" which is used by many guitarists. What the octaver does is copy the note the guitarist is playing, and then spit it out an octave higher. The first few notes of [Purple Haze](_URL_2_) is one of the earliest examples of octaver usage. You can hear how the note is sort of \"doubled\" both low and high: that's the octaver. A more modern example of an octaver - which is much more sophisticated than the one Hendrix was using - comes from [Cemetery Gates](_URL_1_) by Pantera. It basically SCREAMS the higher notes in that one, it's pretty easy to tell when he's turning it on and off. [Here](_URL_3_) is another example where the lead guitarist pretty much leaves the octaver on, which might be easier to hear.\n\nThe point here is that the way that an octaver works is to double the frequency of the original sound. That's FM synthesis: we're taking a sound and changing its frequency to get a new sound. It isn't just octavers: we can also make harmonizers, which do stuff like [this](_URL_0_): that's one guitar, even though it sounds like three. The harmonizer is a machine which is doing FM synthesis on his input, which allows him to sound like three guitarists playing in harmony. The frequency modulation on his input changes the note, which lets him play \"with himself.\" It sounds like there's a bit of delay and chorus on it too (maybe some flange?), but those are other effects which are only partially related (technically chorus is FM synth too).\n\nSo far this is all *harmonic* FM synthesis. Essentially, we're doing FM synthesis which makes things fit together well musically. In general \"harmonic\" FM synthesis is when the output frequency is multiple of the input frequency. In the octaver, the output frequency was doubled (multiple of 2): in the harmonizer it's going to be some other multiple depending on what type of harmony we want. In the harmonizer example I gave you he's using 5x and 27x the input frequency, and then octaving them back down. If you're a musician, when he plays a C the harmonizer will put out an E and A as well (it's a weird chord).\n\nIn general we needn't use harmonic FM synthesis: there's no reason why I can't make a synth which multiples the input signal by π or *e* or 1.2043652046 or whatever the hell I want. It'll sound like shit in musical applications, but in general signal processing it'll be useful.\n\nAdditive and subtractive gets really complicated. I can go into it, but it's one of those questions where I have to check if you know calculus or not first: otherwise it makes no sense and you probably shouldn't care. It's not \"additive\" or \"subtractive\" in the way you would think, it has to do with integral transforms and abstract vector spaces and shit."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://youtu.be/kOuLJvk7Y34?t=73",
"https://youtu.be/1OYw7FPB7CE?t=100",
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUoqdgEYev8",
"https://youtu.be/GEo8IrU5MQk?t=177"
]
] |
|
792qqr | it seems clear that subatomic particles aren't solid little spheres, what are they? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/792qqr/eli5_it_seems_clear_that_subatomic_particles/ | {
"a_id": [
"doyms9p",
"doynwxe",
"doyxqlm",
"doz72z8",
"doz7kpu"
],
"score": [
15,
84,
2,
5,
3
],
"text": [
"The current physical model treats elementary particles as 0-dimensional points. We do not know if this is what they truly are, but the math works out.\n\nString Theory is a hypothesis that suggests they may be dimensional strings instead of points, but we lack the ability to test this experimentally.",
"Bear with me, physicists, this is super ELI5...\n\nSubatomic particles are both an infinitely-small dot, and a spread-out fuzzy cloud representing the chances that this dot will be seen at any given location. But that gives the wrong idea that the dot is the real particle, and the cloud is just a description of it. But in every sense that matters, the \"cloud of maybe\" *is* the particle.\n\nYes this is deeply weird.",
"What they really are doesn’t matter\n\nWhat matters is what model are we creating. And if that model fits our use to answer a specific set of questions\n\nHarder questions need better models\n\nBut the real thing is left for philosophers",
"To add to what others have said here, They’re not really anything. They’re points on their corresponding field. The particles themselves aren’t a thing. One way a professor explained it to me is that saying you have the same electron in your body that Einstein had in his brain when he discovered relativity is like saying you sign your name with the same J John Hancock used to sign the Declaration of Independence ",
"Pilot wave mechanics (De Broglie-Bohm) is probably the best intuitive model of subatomic particles. \n\nA particle is a pair of things. It is a 3D wave in the electromagnetic-weak field and a little solid sphere (but like infinitely small) that bounces up and down in that wave getting led around by the wavefront. Here is a video that should make everything more intuitive:\n\n_URL_0_\n🎥 Is This What Quantum Mechanics Looks Like? - YouTube"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://youtu.be/WIyTZDHuarQ"
]
] |
||
2exr5t | why do american semi trailers have a long hood and european trailers don't? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2exr5t/eli5_why_do_american_semi_trailers_have_a_long/ | {
"a_id": [
"ck3xp69"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"My understanding is that in Europe (and elsewhere in the world) there are limits on how long the total length of the truck + trailer can be, so not having a long hood allows for a longer trailer length. In the US there is no length restrictions, and the long hood actually provides better aerodynamics and is easier to service.\n\n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cab_over"
]
] |
||
18s28j | why is it that humans have a strong hand and a weak hand? | And are any other animals like this too? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/18s28j/why_is_it_that_humans_have_a_strong_hand_and_a/ | {
"a_id": [
"c8hgp7h"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"There's no *definitive* answer, but there are many theories.\n\nI'm not a specialist in this area, but the theory that appeals to *me* is that it is related to hormones in the womb.\n\nThe vast majority of people are right-handed, so it is thought that slight *changes* in hormone levels is what causes some people (such as myself) to become lefties.\n\n'Handedness' has been anecdotally observed inside the womb which would support this theory, although it's fairly controversial because many infants don't display signs until around 4 - 6 months of age; well after they've *left* the womb and have been exposed to other factors.\n\nChimpanzees/apes, etc also display 'handedness'. More generally, there is a term called 'laterality' (which describes dominance in other ways, not just in your hands) which even applies to plants!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
57jh1u | why is it that we readily accept exaggerated features and facial distortions in animated films, but would find those same features to be repulsive in real humans? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/57jh1u/eli5_why_is_it_that_we_readily_accept_exaggerated/ | {
"a_id": [
"d8sh43m"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"It depends on how exaggerated you are talking about.\n\nThere's a concept called the uncanny valley. Imagine there is a graph where the base is that something doesn't appear to be human-like at all, and the top of the graph is \"exactly human\"\n\nThen you see something like a Teddy Bear. Teddy Bears don't look like bears. They look anthropomorphized. So they have a human element to them. People like those because it has human qualities, so it would be higher up on the graph.\n\nAs you move up the graph with non-human things that have human qualities, people respond to them favorably. Take something like C3P0 from Star Wars. It's clearly not human but VERY human-like.\n\nThen something happens. Just before you get to \"exactly human\" (which people like), there's a big drop. It looks like a U where C3P0 is the left side of the U and Normal Humans are the right side of the U. The \"valley\" of the U is full of things that are very close to being human, but not quite. We have bad responses to them. These are things like Clowns, Zombies, and [robots that are almost human-looking but are \"missing something\"](_URL_0_).\n\nBack to your original question, it's possible the exaggerations you're talking about fall into that Uncanny Valley. It's thought that it's an instinctual response to someone who is ill, or dangerous. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://i.imgur.com/mKpuvvx.gif"
]
] |
||
6wit1y | how can stuff be "rediscovered" in museum collections? don't museums keep a detailed list of everything they have? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wit1y/eli5_how_can_stuff_be_rediscovered_in_museum/ | {
"a_id": [
"dm8bb2i",
"dm8bfdi",
"dm8bmmg",
"dm8c113",
"dm8cq54",
"dm8e8td"
],
"score": [
3,
24,
13,
5,
3,
3
],
"text": [
"Ideally, yeah they do have a detailed list. But with these earlier collections this was paper documents. Now there are computer systems to manage this. But with either system you can lose a record, or lose a page from a record.\n\nAlso, sometimes a person can not properly document something, listing that it's in one place but it wasn't there. Years later when it's looked for it's not found where it's supposed to be and maybe it's written off as lost or possibly even stolen, only to be rediscovered later.",
"Not all museum records are as good as you might hope. Detailing everything in a museum collection can be quite hard. And then keeping the records and catalogs up to date is a continuous effort. Things get mislabled or misplaced all the time. If you have a giant collection you might only look at an artifact once every century. So it can take quite some time before an error is discovered. Museums are getting better at cataloging things as digital catalogs can store more information and it is easier to identify artifacts as you have much easier access to information. So museum curators are getting more time to go though their artifacts to make a more detailed catalog and find errors in previous catalogs. So you are getting more and more stories about museum curators finding things in their collections that for some reason did not have a catalog entry.",
"In addition to errors carried over from original filing systems, sometimes museums don't know what they have. E.g. They may have a case containing the personal papers of a noble person that they assume is mostly letters and inventory notes from their business. However, tucked into that mass there may be a sheet that contains a draft of a constitutional amendment or a firsthand record of some event. These types of things are only discovered the hard way - by someone (probably a grad student) deciding to have s closer look at the documents and realizing their importance. ",
"Have you ever lost anything in your house room, even thought your tidy and put stuff in its place? Now have a few hundred peeps working in your house and have visitors come every day, things still in the same place as they should be? Now add your garage / loft space you keep your not being used right now stuff but times that's by oh 100, could you go up in the loft and pick up that plate your aunt gave you for Xmas four years ago, she coming to visit next week! As good as a index or database is its only as good as the person keeping it upto date.",
"Sure, but they're not perfect. Sometimes the person who makes the list doesn't know exactly what they have. Sometimes they mis-identify stuff when they do intake. Sometimes they acquire an entire collection from someone and never catalog it themselves.\n\nOn top of this, the lists themselves are *massive*...Even when they're digitized, there is often no easy way to sort through them and find things that are actually important, which may be labeled in the blandest possible way.",
"In the early days of museum collections, they would often receive hundreds of items at a time and would hastily sort them or display them. In their haste, they often didn't take detailed reports of what they had or may have overlooked an item. Then 50-70-100 years later, some new guy is going through the inventory while changing out items and come across a tag or unmarked item. Or it has been sitting in storage because when it originally arrived in say 1877; no one wanted to deal with it, didn't have time, or it simply didn't get properly inspected. So someone finally takes a look at that old piece of pottery and discovers a pre-Minoan art work depicting the Maze and the Bull, but the bull is a man in a helmet. \n\nAnd sometimes, it takes years to go through all the boxes and items a museum receives. Some curators and researchers could spend a lifetime on a dozen artifacts and their meaning and origins. A collection could also be passed from one location to another without ever fully being looked into, so when someone finally comes across something it is rediscovered. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
5fj8w3 | how come some of our blood vessels aren't crushed under our own weight when we sit down? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5fj8w3/eli5_how_come_some_of_our_blood_vessels_arent/ | {
"a_id": [
"dakm4s6",
"daknpik"
],
"score": [
3,
5
],
"text": [
"Blood vessels are elastic. They are not like PVC tubes that stay in that shape all the time. Blood vessels collapse (a bit ) when there is no blood passing through them.\n\nAlso the blood flow is not like a river: it comes with each heartbeat. The blood is pushed.\n\nAnd Veins are surrounded by muscle tissue (since the blood pumped from the heart runs mainly in the arteries). And those muscles contract and push the blood back to your heart, at the same time that dont allow your weight to crush them",
"They do! At least the ones at the surface do (let's say your rear end sitting down). Normally you move around enough so that it doesn't actually do any damage, combined with the fact that those tissues can survive awhile without much blood flow, collateral circulation, etc.\n\nThis is a problem in patients who are not very mobile or have nerve problems as they don't move around enough to allow blood flow to return or may not feel the discomfort signalling they need to. The skin can break down under these conditions creating \"pressure ulcers.\" It's a big problem in many hospital/nursing home patients, so nursing has to move them around periodically to prevent this. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
ac3mlb | what does all of the engine oil characteristics mean? | Hello, i was browsing for a new car engine oil and started to compare different brands, and they have their own characteristics, but i don't know which is better. For example oil (Kinematic Viscosity @ 100C) or density @15C, is more better or less is better? I would like to know, which stats should be higher or lower. I will provide links, to oils i compared.
Castrol Edge 5w30 : [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) 2. page has specs.
BMW 5w30: [_URL_1_](_URL_1_) 6. page has specs. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ac3mlb/eli5_what_does_all_of_the_engine_oil/ | {
"a_id": [
"ed5044b",
"ed645d8"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"This isn’t going to be too helpful, but I’ll give it a go. \n\nThe specs are a bunch of different numbers show the overall “weight” of the oil. The mix of synthetic and organic compounds in the oil. Your manufacturer will tell you what to buy. (5W/40 for example). But they can make 5W40 in lots of ways, so the other numbers show it’s actual viscosity at temperature, how runny it gets as it gets hot. And it’s density, which usually is it’s thickness when it’s cold. \n\nAs for what’s better, every engine prefers something a little bit different. \n\nGenerally, if it asks for a certain type. (5W/40) if you put that in, it’ll be okay. \n\nOn more expensive cars, the tuning is more specific, and it’s worth buying more expensive oil. \n\nHere in the UK, we have shops like EuroCarParts. (I think Halfords do it too). Where we can go in, tell them our registration number and they just tell you what oil is okay, and what oil is best. \n\n Hope that helped. \n",
"Oils come in different viscosities (thickness, how runny it is.) Use whatever your owner's manual says.\n\nInstead of all that other stuff, just look at the API rating. It is a 2 letter code starting with S. The current highest grade is SN (though there is an SN+ now, too.) The owner's manual for your car will tell you what minimum rating to use and you can use a higher one if you want to, but never a lower grade. Both of those oils are the highest grade, SN+. The rest of that data may be of interest to oil engineers but it really doesn't mean much to a car owner."
]
} | [] | [
"https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51wtrAjXIfS.pdf",
"https://www.scfuels.com/sds/BMW/bmw-twinpower-turbo-ll04-5w-30.pdf"
] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
6pm4zk | what is modernism? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6pm4zk/eli5_what_is_modernism/ | {
"a_id": [
"dkqemra"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained:\n\n1. [ELI5: what is Modernism and what is Postmodernism ](_URL_1_)\n1. [ELI5: Modern vs. Post-modern ](_URL_3_)\n1. [ELI5:What is the difference between modernism and postmodernism? ](_URL_5_)\n1. [ELI5: What is Modernism and Post-Modernism? What is the difference between the two? ](_URL_0_)\n1. [ELI5 what modernism and postmodernism are. ](_URL_2_)\n1. [ELI5: What is modernism and postmodernism? ](_URL_4_)\n\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22qhli/eli5_what_is_modernism_and_postmodernism_what_is/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/63dk4i/eli5_what_is_modernism_and_what_is_postmodernism/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cexah/eli5_what_modernism_and_postmodernism_are/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/s05j1/eli5_modern_vs_postmodern/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5115js/eli5_what_is_modernism_and_postmodernism/",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/53lxr5/eli5what_is_the_difference_between_modernism_and/"
]
] |
||
ypgo1 | what is formal logic and how is it useful? | EDIT: How is it useful in math? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ypgo1/eli5_what_is_formal_logic_and_how_is_it_useful/ | {
"a_id": [
"c5xome0"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Formal logic is a way of drawing conclusions that you can trust based on known facts. The important thing is that formal logic can work on any abstract axiomatic system. In ELI5 terms, that means that the system of formal logic can work any time you know that certain things are true for sure, regardless of what those specific things are.\n\n* Example of lazy (and faulty) logic: We know that drinking acid makes you die, therefore not drinking acid makes you live forever.\n* Example of formal logic: If you drink acid you will die. Therefore, using the rules of formal logic, if you see someone who is alive, you can be certain that they did not drink acid. More specifically, \"A implies B\", therefore \"not B implies not A\".\n\nHow is it useful? Well, it is incredibly useful for mathematics, because without it we wouldn't have the ability to prove anything. It is very useful for everyday life, too. With good knowledge of logic you can draw accurate conclusions based on information that you know."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2wkq15 | what does it mean when cash is referred to as "unmarked"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2wkq15/eli5what_does_it_mean_when_cash_is_referred_to_as/ | {
"a_id": [
"corqydq"
],
"score": [
4
],
"text": [
"Bills have numbers on them that are unique like a serial number. \"Marked\" bills would be a certain set of numbers that were recorded so they could be kept track of. This way if someone ends up with a bill number in that range, you can figure out where they got it because those bills were not in circulation. For example if someone robbed a bank, they could be incriminated by the bill numbers if they match the bill numbers that went missing. Bill numbers that aren't marked are random and not kept track of. This also ties into the concept of money \"laundering\". If you have a bunch of money that is marked, and you exchange it for non-marked bills, you can't be linked to criminal activity by it anymore."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2308oe | how can my eyes focus on the moon 240k miles away but my camera (phone) can't | Really this is two questions. First, how is it my eyes can focus and see the details, pretty clearly, of the moon almost 240 thousand miles away?
Second, why when I try to take a picture of the nice detail (in a near full moon) with my camera, does it come out as just a yellow dot? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2308oe/eli5_how_can_my_eyes_focus_on_the_moon_240k_miles/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgs4u82",
"cgs4uxi"
],
"score": [
2,
3
],
"text": [
"This should help:\n\n_URL_0_",
"Once things get far enough away, then the same level of focus works on pretty much everything. It's generally referred to as focusing on \"infinity\". As far as your eyes are concerned, focusing on something 100 miles away and something 240 thousand miles away isn't really any different. \n\nOne big advantage that our eyes have over cameras is that they're much better at adjusting to different light levels, and high contrast situations. When you're looking at a bright moon, it's surrounded by dark skies. A camera has a hard time with this sort of situation. The camera has to decide how long to keep its shutter open when it takes a picture. The dark sky makes it want to use a longer shutter time, because it's trying to pick up details (more light) out of the darker areas. When it does this, then it gets more light than it needs from the brighter area (the moon), and so the image of the moon ends up being washed out.\n\nIf you zoomed in so the moon took up the bulk of the frame, then the camera would likely ignore the darker areas, and instead take a shorter exposure, more in line with the amount of light coming from the moon. \n\nDepending on your type of camera, there might be a way to manually set it to use a specific shutter speed, instead of it taking a guess at what you want. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://photographylife.com/how-to-photograph-moon"
],
[]
] |
|
60e39w | why is the holy grail the center of so many movies (indiana jones, da vinci code, etc.) | What is the significance of the Holy Grail in so many movies? I understand that it is the cup that Jesus drank from, but what about it makes it so valuable/sought after? I do understand how religiously important it is, but it gets a LOT of hype in movies, I just don't understand. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/60e39w/eli5_why_is_the_holy_grail_the_center_of_so_many/ | {
"a_id": [
"df5o9h1",
"df5oi7s"
],
"score": [
6,
11
],
"text": [
"It figures prominently in the King Arthur legends. \n\nIn some stories, it can heal any disease, reverse aging, or even grant immortality. That would be kind of a big deal.",
"It's a McGuffin: it's valuable and used a lot because the plot needs something all the characters want.\n\nThis kind of plot device is used in a lot of other movies where it's *not* the Holy Grail. To list a few:\n\n* The Ark, stones, and crystal skulls in Indiana Jones\n\n* The Maltese Falcon from the book/film of the same name\n\n* The One Ring from LOTR\n\n* The Sorcerer's Stone from Harry Potter\n\n* The briefcase and watch in Pulp Fiction\n\n* The briefcase from Kiss Me Deadly that the PF one is based on\n\nThe Holy Grail is of course going to get a lot of mentions because it's mentioned in the most popular religion in the world, but it's not incredibly overused considering how many stories there are where it *could* be the Holy Grail but isn't."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
jljcm | juggalos, the "religion," and esp. that magnet thing. | I know they have some relation to ICP but I don't really know anything about it. [Inspired by this](_URL_0_)
**EDIT:** Thanks for all your response guys. I am now one step closer to understanding the different kinds of people in the world. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jljcm/eli5_juggalos_the_religion_and_esp_that_magnet/ | {
"a_id": [
"c2d46ej",
"c2d4f2j",
"c2d4q8y",
"c2d4s3e",
"c2d553w",
"c2d5ome",
"c2d64oe",
"c2d46ej",
"c2d4f2j",
"c2d4q8y",
"c2d4s3e",
"c2d553w",
"c2d5ome",
"c2d64oe"
],
"score": [
56,
32,
13,
10,
6,
12,
2,
56,
32,
13,
10,
6,
12,
2
],
"text": [
"A Juggalo is someone who identifies with the culture associated with ICP. Often, they refer to themselves as 'Ninjas' or 'Family.' The 'religion' thing is simple. The 'band' came out in a song, saying in no uncertain terms, that they are religious, and all their ideology and all the messages they had been putting forth in their music was to promote Christianity. The magnet thing is from the song 'Miracles' where the entire song discusses 'miracles' such as magnets, and how such things can't be explained. Hence, the lyric 'Magnets, how the fuck do they work?'\n\nThere you have it, without any opinions added in. Is there anything you'd like explained further?\n\n**Edit:**According to a jiggalo on here, it isn't about Christianity, but promoting a belief in a higher power. ",
"Juggalo : A fan of Insane Clown Posse (ICP)/ the Culture around it. \nLI5 - > It's like their way of saying they are part of the club.\n\nReligion : The original ICP albums were based around an event known as the Dark Carnival, with each album being a 'Jester Card' representing an event or player in that carnival. Eventually ICP revealed that it was an allegory for the judgement of souls and that their music was written from a Christian perspective. This did not go over well with all of their fans since the movement seemed on the face of it to be very anti-Christian.\nLI5 - > ICP made up this big story, and a lot of people liked it, but when they said it was a parable for Christianity, lots of people didn't like it as much.\n\nMagnets : The song Miracles takes a bunch of ordinary things and calls them 'Miraculous' and browbeats science for taking the 'Magic' out of the world. One line in particular is infamous : 'Fucking Magnets, how do they work?' This is due to it seeming particularly ignorant, since magnetism is easily explained and understood.\nLI5 - > They made a song and said some very silly things in it, and people found one very silly thing especially funny because it was the silliest of all. I wish I had a good analogy for this but I can't think of anything that is even simpler for a LI5 perspective.",
"The entire basis for the \"Joker Card\" series of albums was a long concept album based on life and death. Each card is meant to be a reflection of oneself, until you reach the final one \"The Wraith\". At the end of this 2 part CD, Shangri-la and Hell's Pit, the end of their concept album, they say \"Truth is we follow God, we've always been behind him, the Carnival(the jokers cards) is God and may all Juggalos find him.\" This is not saying \"we are Christians\" whatsoever. This is simply stating, we believe in a higher power and the afterlife. They are not Christian, or religious people, nor do they read the Bible. He wrote in his book about how his mother was a religious woman growing up, and how at the end of days you in essence return to innocence (childhood) and the notion of God in this sense is the feeling of being a child again and returning to that time in his life.\nThe song Miracles is just what you think it means. 2 dudes from Detroit, (who are not well educated) living in awe \"miracles\" seen in everyday life. The song is terrible so its real meaning is lost in the laughter, but this is one of many songs on the same topic. All they're doing is stating shit that they don't understand. They aren't saying God did this or Jesus came back and did this. They're saying, all this shit that people take for granted is rad.",
"They also tried to kill tilla tequila. ",
"Explain like I'm 5... hmmm\n\nwhen you get older around 16-18 your gonna feel very out of place in this world. It's a horrible feeling and maybe you'll find punk rock or some other group of people where you feel you fit in. If you were 16 - 18 today and felt religious but didn't understand the church's opposition to sex drugs and rock/rap then an acceptable alternative would be Insane Clown Posse. You'll call yourself a Juggalo and spend a ridiculous amount of money on Insane Clown Posse shirts, action figures, jackets and even a rug. \n\nWhen you turn 25-27 your going to feel very, very stupid. You'll wonder why you ever wanted to fit in with anyone especially losers that weren't going anywhere. You'll realize you should have used the pain of loneliness to build something.\n\nI know your only 5 but you might wanna consider just ending it all now.\n\nedit: oh and the magnet thing, sometimes when you say stupid things people will make fun of you. Insane Clown Posse once said \"bleeping magnets how do they work?\" which is not a stupid thing to say but an acceptable question the stupid ,however, is they didn't seem to want an answer. The follow up verse was \"I don't want to talk to a scientist, yall motherbleepers lying and getting me pissed,\"",
"How would I describe ICP, etc. to a five year old?\n\n\"Well Timmy, some people are just morons. That is why you bathe yourself and stay in school.\"",
"Can someone ELI5 why people listen to such shitty music?",
"A Juggalo is someone who identifies with the culture associated with ICP. Often, they refer to themselves as 'Ninjas' or 'Family.' The 'religion' thing is simple. The 'band' came out in a song, saying in no uncertain terms, that they are religious, and all their ideology and all the messages they had been putting forth in their music was to promote Christianity. The magnet thing is from the song 'Miracles' where the entire song discusses 'miracles' such as magnets, and how such things can't be explained. Hence, the lyric 'Magnets, how the fuck do they work?'\n\nThere you have it, without any opinions added in. Is there anything you'd like explained further?\n\n**Edit:**According to a jiggalo on here, it isn't about Christianity, but promoting a belief in a higher power. ",
"Juggalo : A fan of Insane Clown Posse (ICP)/ the Culture around it. \nLI5 - > It's like their way of saying they are part of the club.\n\nReligion : The original ICP albums were based around an event known as the Dark Carnival, with each album being a 'Jester Card' representing an event or player in that carnival. Eventually ICP revealed that it was an allegory for the judgement of souls and that their music was written from a Christian perspective. This did not go over well with all of their fans since the movement seemed on the face of it to be very anti-Christian.\nLI5 - > ICP made up this big story, and a lot of people liked it, but when they said it was a parable for Christianity, lots of people didn't like it as much.\n\nMagnets : The song Miracles takes a bunch of ordinary things and calls them 'Miraculous' and browbeats science for taking the 'Magic' out of the world. One line in particular is infamous : 'Fucking Magnets, how do they work?' This is due to it seeming particularly ignorant, since magnetism is easily explained and understood.\nLI5 - > They made a song and said some very silly things in it, and people found one very silly thing especially funny because it was the silliest of all. I wish I had a good analogy for this but I can't think of anything that is even simpler for a LI5 perspective.",
"The entire basis for the \"Joker Card\" series of albums was a long concept album based on life and death. Each card is meant to be a reflection of oneself, until you reach the final one \"The Wraith\". At the end of this 2 part CD, Shangri-la and Hell's Pit, the end of their concept album, they say \"Truth is we follow God, we've always been behind him, the Carnival(the jokers cards) is God and may all Juggalos find him.\" This is not saying \"we are Christians\" whatsoever. This is simply stating, we believe in a higher power and the afterlife. They are not Christian, or religious people, nor do they read the Bible. He wrote in his book about how his mother was a religious woman growing up, and how at the end of days you in essence return to innocence (childhood) and the notion of God in this sense is the feeling of being a child again and returning to that time in his life.\nThe song Miracles is just what you think it means. 2 dudes from Detroit, (who are not well educated) living in awe \"miracles\" seen in everyday life. The song is terrible so its real meaning is lost in the laughter, but this is one of many songs on the same topic. All they're doing is stating shit that they don't understand. They aren't saying God did this or Jesus came back and did this. They're saying, all this shit that people take for granted is rad.",
"They also tried to kill tilla tequila. ",
"Explain like I'm 5... hmmm\n\nwhen you get older around 16-18 your gonna feel very out of place in this world. It's a horrible feeling and maybe you'll find punk rock or some other group of people where you feel you fit in. If you were 16 - 18 today and felt religious but didn't understand the church's opposition to sex drugs and rock/rap then an acceptable alternative would be Insane Clown Posse. You'll call yourself a Juggalo and spend a ridiculous amount of money on Insane Clown Posse shirts, action figures, jackets and even a rug. \n\nWhen you turn 25-27 your going to feel very, very stupid. You'll wonder why you ever wanted to fit in with anyone especially losers that weren't going anywhere. You'll realize you should have used the pain of loneliness to build something.\n\nI know your only 5 but you might wanna consider just ending it all now.\n\nedit: oh and the magnet thing, sometimes when you say stupid things people will make fun of you. Insane Clown Posse once said \"bleeping magnets how do they work?\" which is not a stupid thing to say but an acceptable question the stupid ,however, is they didn't seem to want an answer. The follow up verse was \"I don't want to talk to a scientist, yall motherbleepers lying and getting me pissed,\"",
"How would I describe ICP, etc. to a five year old?\n\n\"Well Timmy, some people are just morons. That is why you bathe yourself and stay in school.\"",
"Can someone ELI5 why people listen to such shitty music?"
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/jkzja/iama_man_who_spent_6_months_dating_a_juggalette/"
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
dsf1lm | if the phases of the moon are due to the earths shadow, why is the half moon a straight line/perfect semi circle, instead of a rounded shadow? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dsf1lm/eli5_if_the_phases_of_the_moon_are_due_to_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"f6oxrfd",
"f6oxt6v",
"f6oynu0",
"f6ozpb6"
],
"score": [
15,
4,
3,
8
],
"text": [
"Unless you're looking at a lunar eclipse, the part of the moon that's not lit up is not in the Earth's shadow, it's in the moon's shadow. The bright portion is facing the sun, and is therefore illuminated, and the dark portion is facing away from the sun, and therefore not illuminated.",
"They are not due to Earth's shadow (that's lunar eclipses). The phases of the moon are due to the shadow the moon casts on itself.",
"The phases of the moon are not due to the earths shadow.\n\nThe only time the earths shadow comes into play is during a lunar eclipse.\n\nThe phases of the moon are simply the sun shining only on one side of the moon and the other side being in the moon's own shadow (aka night)\n\nThe Earth can only ever cast a shadow on the moon when the sun is directly on the other side of the earth from the moon. At that time the moon is fully illuminated from the perspective of the earth.\n\nYou only get earth's shadow on the moon during one phase the: full moon. And even for a full moon it is rare to see the earth's shadow and get a lunar eclipse.",
"Ah right so the answer is I'm just an idiot. Got ya!\n\nThanks for the info!"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
50403z | why is it that the department of justice planned to file an antitrust lawsuit if comcast bought time warner cable, but charter was able to buy them just recently without issue? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/50403z/eli5_why_is_it_that_the_department_of_justice/ | {
"a_id": [
"d70zkaw"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Comcast was by far the largest cable provider in the country with about 23 million subscribers. Time Warner was the #2 cable provider with ~11 million. Charter was the #3 provider with ~6 million. \n\nHad Comcast and Time Warner merged it would have created a single company that controlled the overwhelming majority of the cable market. The combined company would have had ~34 million subscribers and the new #2 cable company would have become Charter with 1/7 the subscriber base.\n\nOn the other hand, when Time Warner and Charter merged it created a company that remained in the #2 spot. The new company is also more competitive against Comcast than either Time Warner or Charter could be alone by virtue of the new company's larger subscriber base.\n\nA final factor influencing the decision is there are markets where Comcast and Time Warner compete, but there were virtually no markets in which Time Warner and Charter competed."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2k4s99 | how do twitter bots work? | You know, those fake profiles that post and respond as of there were a real person behind them? Like Stealth Mountain or Yes, You're Racist? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2k4s99/eli5how_do_twitter_bots_work/ | {
"a_id": [
"clhw9sd",
"clhwa23"
],
"score": [
2,
2
],
"text": [
"A program checks Twitter for 'triggers' and responds. The trigger can be a certain sequence of words or, for more advanced bots, they could perform some more intelligent analysis to determine if they're 'needed'. \n\nTwitter provides a public API that make this easy. You can programmatically request tweets to look for your triggers and you can programmatically post tweets in response. The website is just a front-end to this API - it's just a tool that looks nice for humans but ultimately just forwards your data along to the Twitter API which actually commits the tweet to the database, figures out what tweets to show users, etc. ",
"They're pretty much the same thing as Reddit bots:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nTwitter has a web API ( _URL_1_ ) that allows programs to easily read & write messages. A bot is just a program that uses this API to read through messages & makes a response when it detects some pattern in the message."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search?q=eli5+reddit+bots",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/search?q=eli5+api"
]
] |
|
dpl9m2 | if i make a profit is someone making a loss? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dpl9m2/eli5_if_i_make_a_profit_is_someone_making_a_loss/ | {
"a_id": [
"f5w6n8c",
"f5w7nv5"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"No, because your profit is your share of the global growth.\nYes, because your share of the global growth is generated by the exploitation of someone else.",
"Your example doesn't show you making a profit. It simply shows you not spending everything you make. You're income is (presuming you have a traditional employment) an agreed pay rate for goe time/talents. This is not exploitation of anybody and your company did not \"lose\" 100k (actually more if you are insured through them, if they do any retirement plan matching, and the tax they pay on employing you) because you are a part of their team and the company is paying you goe share of their revenue."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
4rz4r7 | if a man is castrated, what comes out of his ejaculate? | Testicles create semen, semen comes out during an orgasm. What happens when there isn't semen being made? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4rz4r7/eli5_if_a_man_is_castrated_what_comes_out_of_his/ | {
"a_id": [
"d55afdl",
"d55aw8g"
],
"score": [
10,
3
],
"text": [
"Testicles create sperm. Semen is a mixture things the whole milky white fluid and the microscopic sperm. The testicles contribute relatively little volume, the seminal vesicles and prostate contribute most of it. Basically there wouldn't be a noticeable difference until its looked at under the microscope. ",
"The testicles don't produce semen, that's done in the prostate.\n\nIf, for instance, a man has had a vasectomy, the testicles are still there but the tubes that plumb them into everything else have been severed. Someone who's had a vasectomy can still produce ejaculate, but with no sperm present.\n\nHowever, a vasectomy isn't castration. If someone has been castrated (as in had their testicles removed, or rendered non-functional in some way) there's another effect beyond the non-production of sperm. The testicles are also responsible for producing testosterone, which is responsible for the male sex drive.\n\nIf someone has been fully castrated and isn't receiving testosterone supplements, they'll have no sex drive and so it's doubtful whether they'll ever achieve a state of arousal where they can actually ejaculate in the first place anyway."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
2swirn | what happens when there is a power outage? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2swirn/eli5_what_happens_when_there_is_a_power_outage/ | {
"a_id": [
"cntj3rj",
"cntma53"
],
"score": [
3,
4
],
"text": [
"A lot of different things can cause a power outage, but it's typically just a power cable getting cut/disconnected somewhere between the building you're in and the power plant.",
"To answer this best, it is a good idea to describe how power is distributed first. The power distribution system (called the \"power grid\") is like a mesh, with various elements capable of redirecting power. For instance, if one power plant needed to take some generators offline for maintenance, another could increase its output to effectively take over. The power grid also has the responsibility at the intermediate levels to divide power up and to reduce it so homes and businesses can make use of it. This is why you see in some neighborhoods buildings with \"DANGER: high voltage\" signs on them with high fences and a lot of equipment, some of those facilities are responsible for making the power more usable and are called transformer stations. There are also other transformers (a device responsible for making power more usable) that are distributed throughout the neighborhood and are seen often in metal cabinets on the street side or on poles near the top.\n\nNow, that technical detail out of the way...\n\nThe power grid at various levels contains safety mechanisms, where if there is too much power bring drawn at a specific moment (\"overload\") that it can safely disconnect power until the condition can be inspected and corrected. This is much like how you have fuses or breakers in your home basement that can blow or trip if there's an too much draw or short-circuit. These safeties exist so the wires among other things don't melt and cause fires.\n\nThe most typical kinds of outages are due to these mechanisms being activated by say, animals (e.g. squirrels) coming in contact with certain points in the neighborhood sections of the power grid and causing an overload. Another reason is due to too much power draw where too many people have too much stuff running at once, common during summers due to air conditioners where again, there is too much strain so the safety trips. These outages are typically localized and do not spread anywhere near the power plant level.\n\nThese \"safe failures\" can also be cascading, meaning multiple safety mechanisms can be tripped during one incident, this is why some outages require so long for the power company to fix, as it isn't just one point, but many in the area they have to fix. Often times these safety mechanisms are one-time use devices that require replacement, an example is fuses — but they're much bigger than the ones your home uses and are more like thick steel bars.\n\nNow, remember the transformer stations and other transformers I mentioned earlier? Sometimes those have problems too where a transformer simply fails due to overheating and explodes. Often times these explosions are violent, and take many, many hours to replace/fix even one unit and often require the fire department to ensure the site is safe from a fire risk perspective before work may begin.\n\nNow, an exotic example of a power outage, was the 2003 Northeast blackout incident where a high-level power facility operator redirected power incorrectly across the power grid, where since it was at a high level facility, there was less defenses available to isolate the overload as a result of it so it kept spreading further and further, damaging equipment and high-voltage power lines as the event continued. The damage remained at the high levels and didn't filter down into the neighborhoods, but power was effectively cut off from between the power plants and neighborhoods. This was a very, very exotic incident however."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
2u0alj | how come people in africa are starving but there are uncontacted tribes in the amazon who are surviving just fine? why cant the starving people in africa do that those tribes are doing? | I know this sounds like a stupid question, but think about it. They're in pretty much the same conditions, ie, mostly lacking modern technology and conveniences, little to no infrastructure for food production...why is one group doing so poorly and the other doing relatively well? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2u0alj/eli5_how_come_people_in_africa_are_starving_but/ | {
"a_id": [
"co3xq29",
"co3xssi",
"co3y6az",
"co3z96x",
"co4044h"
],
"score": [
3,
4,
2,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Well the sheer volume of people needing fed for a start. Also you are comparing a lush green area, rich in clean water, to an often barren and dry land. ",
"I would wager it has to do with location (availability of resources) and population (how many people are competing for said resources) as well as land that others (elites or governments generally) won't allow access to for free.",
"Modern incidents of famine are often linked to politics and war. War disrupts farming and governments or armed groups prevent food imports or aid from reaching hungry people.\n\nThat's what happened in some of the well-known African famines in the 20th century- Biafra/Nigeria in the 70s, Eritrea/Ethiopia in the 80s, and Somalia in the 90s. Sometimes governments or armed groups block normal food imports or food aid to enemy/rebellious regions in order to starve out the enemy. Just like the Irish potato famine in the 19th century.",
"Resources and climate changes.\n\nAny population needs enough food and water (among other things) to support it. Some places have plenty, others have just barely enough to eke out a living on.\n\nSo if a population has very little reserve capacity, a change in the resource supply can be devastating. Many things can affect supply, from social/political conflicts to natural conditions, such as prolonged drought or a change in animal migration habits.\n\nIf they cannot get any assistance from the outside world, they're boned. Of course, there might well be outside political forces that are *working* to make sure they starve.\n\nIt is believed that some pre-Columbian Native American tribes like the Anasazi died out because of drought and famine.\n",
"Because those uncontacted tribes are not surviving \"just fine\". They have abysmal infant and child mortality rates that keep their adult populations low.\n\nPeople in developing countries face starvation because the influx of modern agriculture and medicine has lead to a massive population boom."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
76x0hk | how does a dam decrease water flow downstream if it does not take away any water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/76x0hk/eli5how_does_a_dam_decrease_water_flow_downstream/ | {
"a_id": [
"dohbv6l"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The decrease of water flow isn't the problem.\n\nThe problem is that it's not a consistent flow anymore.[Here](_URL_0_) you can read about it. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/how-dams-affect-water-supply-1727"
]
] |
||
5wnkfu | what happens to an unborn baby that is going to have a nut allergy (or any other type of allergy) when the mother consumes nuts? | Or are allergies only formed after birth? Is there any kind of genetic disposition to them, or anything like that? Does it hurt the child or is there no way for an unborn fetus to have allergies?
Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wnkfu/eli5_what_happens_to_an_unborn_baby_that_is_going/ | {
"a_id": [
"debg64t",
"debib4b",
"debmue3",
"debxp11"
],
"score": [
21,
4,
6,
8
],
"text": [
"It doesn't hurt the child because the mother is processing the food for the child. You mostly want to avoid things that get into the blood or can be passed through the placenta to the baby and have a harmful impact (such as alcohol). Studies have actually shown that mothers who eat nuts during pregnancy have children who are less likely to be allergic to nuts.",
"The metabolism of a fetus is separated from the metabolism of the mother by the placenta, and only a relatively small amount of substances can pass through it - specifically nutrients, but also some drugs (both medical and recreational). Allergens generally can't.\n\nAdditionally, the fetal immune system is [different from the adult one](_URL_0_) and generally very tolerant. It doesn't have to fight infections since the mother will do that.\n\nHowever, we don't actually understand very well what causes allergies. So it's pretty much impossible to say how a mother's diet could increase (or decrease) the risk of the child to develop allergies.",
"Oddly enough, it seems that you **want** to expose children to, say peanut butter (and other allergens). This decreases the odds of developing allergies. We don't understand allergies too well, but it seems then they develop during the life of a person, they are not something you are born with. Or maybe that early expose helps the body learn to deal with the thing they would have had reactions to.\n\n~~_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\nEDIT, linked wrong page.",
"Allergies are environmental. An unborn baby does not have any allergies.\n\nThis answer is probably going to get removed for being too short, but current studies are starting to suggest that nut allergies are caused by parents preventing exposure to nuts at an early age for fear of nut allergy. The 'allergy' is then an overreaction of the immune system to nuts due to it being so foreign to the body."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101216165519.htm"
],
[
"https://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/library/at-a-glance/prevention-of-allergies-and-asthma-in-children~~",
"https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/more-support-for-early-exposure-to-peanuts-to-prevent-allergies/?_r=0"
],
[]
] |
|
7h8eak | how will we classify who owns land in space like the moon and other planets? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7h8eak/eli5_how_will_we_classify_who_owns_land_in_space/ | {
"a_id": [
"dqozjy3"
],
"score": [
7
],
"text": [
"At the moment every nation that is capable of space travel has signed onto [The Outer Space Treaty](_URL_0_) which states that nobody can own any territory in space - it's free to be used by anybody.\n\nBut it's very easy to agree to that when there's nothing to do in space at the moment except explore and study it. Once somebody figures out a way to make money from it than it'll probably go to whoever has the biggest guns at the time. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html"
]
] |
|
4lslfi | why do we see those spikes on the stocks price after hours but the real price never rises when the stock is live? | [I mean this](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4lslfi/eli5why_do_we_see_those_spikes_on_the_stocks/ | {
"a_id": [
"d3pt68v"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Just be cause the exchange is closed doesn't mean people aren't trading. People that know each other directly or thru another exchange can still trade"
]
} | [] | [
"http://imgur.com/ZVVOw37"
] | [
[]
] |
|
4zzj5c | how do space telescopes like new horizons capture images of pluto's surface, being travelling too fast in space? | By the time New Horizons was closest at 12,500 km (7,800 mi) above the surface of Pluto, It was travelling at about 13 km/s (29,000 mph).
How could it even take the images traveling at such high speed and not missing the shots? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zzj5c/eli5_how_do_space_telescopes_like_new_horizons/ | {
"a_id": [
"d6zyzyl",
"d73emfx"
],
"score": [
8,
2
],
"text": [
"Travelling at 13 km/s looking at an object is 12 500 km away is the similar to sitting in a car driving 50 km/h (13 m/s) looking at an object 12.5 km away.\n\nIt's not as hard as it seems.",
"They're not traveling too fast in space. The space in between the vehicle and the planet is so great, that even traveling that fast, the planet will appear to be still."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
5r3m9k | why can't we just put a compressed folder into an another compressed folder, and keep doing that until the size of the file we're compressing becomes extraordinary small? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5r3m9k/eli5why_cant_we_just_put_a_compressed_folder_into/ | {
"a_id": [
"dd45f3b"
],
"score": [
10
],
"text": [
"You can't compress something more than once. It will just make it bigger.\n\nEver seen one of those vacuum bags that you can use to pack clothes more tightly for storage? You put your clothes inside, then vacuum the air out.\n\nWould it make any sense to try to wrap that inside a SECOND vacuum bag and suck the air out? No, you've already sucked the air out, so all that's happened now is that you've added another bag, which makes it bigger, not smaller.\n\nWhen you compress files on a computer, you're \"sucking\" things like empty space and simple patterns out of files. Once you've done that, you can't compress it again.\n\nAlso, some files can't be compressed, either because they're already dense, or often because they're already compressed as part of their file format. For example, most images, audio, and movie files are already compressed so there's no point in compressing them more.\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2023bw | i am told i might have a hernia. no clue what that really means. explain it like i'm five please! :-) | I only saw a doctor who said I might have one and scheduled an appointment with the general surgeon. How does surgery work if I need it? and what is the expected recovery time? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2023bw/eli5_i_am_told_i_might_have_a_hernia_no_clue_what/ | {
"a_id": [
"cfz2r6y"
],
"score": [
9
],
"text": [
"Imagine a football inside your body. There is a split in the leather. The rubber bladder inside, that gets filled with air, is poking through the leather like a bubble. The doctor has to get inside your body, push the bubble back in the football and sew or patch the leather so the bubble no longer pokes through."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3ppvve | why does lighting make such a difference in the way we look? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ppvve/eli5_why_does_lighting_make_such_a_difference_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"cw8fwbq"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Good lighting either creates or eliminates shadows on our bodies and faces that would be visible or invisible in normal lighting. \n\nFor example: bright lights shone on the face from all directions prevents shadows that would be see from the dark circles under our eyes.\n\nOn the flip side, light shone directly above us can create a lot of Shadows on our bodies, depending on our physique. Bodybuilders take advantage of this because the shadows created by their muscles enhance definition. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4vjn5f | credit card signatures | I don't get it, you can obviously sign it whichever way you'd like so clearly it doesn't matter. Are banks really breaking out handwriting experts whenever there's a disputed charge, and how in the world is this the best way to verify the person on the card? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4vjn5f/eli5_credit_card_signatures/ | {
"a_id": [
"d5ywq5z"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Nobody said it was the best way. It's a carry over from when credit cards were processed manually. The card would be put thru the machine to imprint on the receipt and the signature was to provide proof a person was there. If the credit card owner disputed the charge they could compare signatures to the customer's actual signature."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
1wct5j | how come shows that are cancelled on more popular networks (like a cbs show with 9 million viewers) don't get picked up on less popular networks (like nbc) even though their more popular shows only average, say 6 million viewers? | Ex. CBS has a lot of crime shows. Say it throws one away like Person of Interest (12 million viewers) or Hawaii Five-0 (10 million viewers) - why wouldn't Fox just take one of their shows instead of creating Chicago PD (under 7 million viewers)? Are networks super exclusive about letting their shows run under another network? Or is there another reason? Thanks in advance!
EDIT: The numbers in the title are completely hypothetical. I used (_URL_0_) for the numbers in my notes. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wct5j/eli5_how_come_shows_that_are_cancelled_on_more/ | {
"a_id": [
"cf0s1rv",
"cf0s7j3",
"cf0t5z4",
"cf0tmh8"
],
"score": [
9,
3,
2,
2
],
"text": [
"Even though the network has cancelled the show, they still own the rights to it. They might not think it profitable to keep producing it themselves, but they certainly don't want their competitors to profit off of it if they can.",
"Because the show can still own the rights to it.\n\nCW/UPN owns the rights to the show Supernatural. If the show got cancelled, then it gets cancelled and nothing is done if the network keeps the rights. But they could go and sell it to Fox, which means Supernatural would air on that channel, under it's guidelines.",
"The network which produces the show also has an influence on the number of viewers:\n\n* A more popular network has a higher pool of viewers so any show on that network will perform better than the same show on a less popular network.\n* Also, a bigger network will have more money for producing the show (better writers, better stunts/CGI, better cast, etc...), resulting in a higher quality show that more people watch.\n\nEven if they sold the rights to a show to a rival network, the viewership will not be preserved.\n\nAdditionally, they may not want to transfer the IP of the show to another network, as there is always the option of resurrecting it or creating a spin-off",
"You are right, there is a lot of low-hanging fruit being left to rot in the world of TV. Networks must really hate each other."
]
} | [] | [
"http://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/nbc-tv-show-ratings-for-2013-14-season-30264/"
] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
5drwpk | why is the third wheel on an airplane in front when it used to be in the back of the plane? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5drwpk/eli5_why_is_the_third_wheel_on_an_airplane_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"da6tw9o",
"da6uizi"
],
"score": [
3,
2
],
"text": [
"In old planes the wings, and main wheels, were located at the front. So the extra wheel came in the back. Now in modern planes the wings and main wheels are more to the center, a little to the back, and the extra wheel comes in front. ",
"Safety is the main reason, its always better to have a nose wheel than to be a \"tail dragger\". \n\nA nose wheel means the plane will not \"nose over\" when landing (and to a lesser extent when taking off). It also means the pilots can have a better view of the runway when taking off, landing, and see better when taxing. Simply because the whole aircraft stays level with the ground instead of having the nose pointing upwards.\n\nAircraft with a tail wheel are also subject to more handling problems when on the ground, specially just after landing when traveling at a high rate of speed. They can also be harder to land, as you need to keep the plane more level with the ground, when its more \"natural\" to have the nose pointed upwards when landing. EDIT HERE. You will notice the fuselage on modern passenger jets slope upwards at the rear to give the tail clearance when landing, you couldn't design them like that if you needed a tail wheel.\n\nThe main reason today's aircraft are mostly of the type that have nose wheels, is technology. Modern materials, wing design's, engines etc. allow us to build aircraft in this way. \nOlder planes typically had much larger wings (in width) and it simply wasn't possible to build a \"good\" plane in a way that allowed it to have the correct weight distribution for it to have a nose wheel. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
jx8wz | atlas shrugged and it's significance in modern day society, | Seriously, i do not get why a lot of ideology revolves around this book. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jx8wz/eli5_atlas_shrugged_and_its_significance_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"c2fvfba",
"c2fvzwb",
"c2fvfba",
"c2fvzwb"
],
"score": [
5,
4,
5,
4
],
"text": [
"The shortest possible explanation is that it's basically an attempt to justify greed.",
"It's a gigantic Asshole Manifesto.",
"The shortest possible explanation is that it's basically an attempt to justify greed.",
"It's a gigantic Asshole Manifesto."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
f0rwwc | how do you identify the difference between alcohol flush reaction and an allergy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f0rwwc/eli5_how_do_you_identify_the_difference_between/ | {
"a_id": [
"fgxhgt9"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"You don't really get rashes in alcohol flush reaction. You blush, get dizzy and feel unwell but you don't get the typical the typical allergy symptoms as in itchiness or hives. \n\nPlus, alcohol flush reaction mostly concerns some South East Asians populations. \n\nOne way to clearly separate the two thought is to make a blood test after drinking and evaluate the level of acetaldehyde in the blood : Alcohol is turned into Acetaldehyde and then into acetate, but in people suffering from alcohol flush reaction, they lack the enzyme to go from acetaldehyde to acetate, so the levels of acetaldehyde gets super high."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
92jqfb | what is the euler-mascheroni constant? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/92jqfb/eli5_what_is_the_eulermascheroni_constant/ | {
"a_id": [
"e36aoqi"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"Here are two nifty facts about numbers:\n\n* As n goes to infinity, the sum 1/1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + ... + 1/n goes to infinity as well, but slowly. For example, at n = 100 this sum is still only about 5.1774, but it will eventually get larger and larger without bound.\n* As n goes to infinity, the natural logarithm of n goes to infinity as well, but slowly. Because the natural logarithm of n (or ln(n) for short) is defined to be the real number m such that e^m = n, n has to (literally) grow exponentially just to make the natural logarithm grow by some linear amount, but the natural logarithm does grow without bound.\n\nIn fact, these two slow \"goings to infinity\" happen at the same rate. By this we mean that the difference between them, 1/1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + ... + 1/n - ln(n), approaches a fixed constant value as n goes to infinity. This fixed constant value is the Euler-Mascheroni constant, and it happens to be approximately 0.5722. It has a tendency to show up somewhat frequently when the natural logarithm is lurking in the background, so it was given a name for convenience. Interestingly, some basic facts about it (like whether it's an irrational number) are still unknown."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
8kqopi | how is light both a particle and energy? and does light have a quantifiable mass? if so, how? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8kqopi/eli5_how_is_light_both_a_particle_and_energy_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"dz9sgql"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Saying light is a particle just means it's detected in discrete amounts. You'll never detect a single photon spread out. You can't have half a photon. \n\nLight \"is energy\" in the sense you can associate some amount of energy to the particle. The same is true for mass. On a more fundamental level, energy is associated with both the mass and momentum of particles by the momentum-energy relation:\n\n > E² = (mc²) ² + (pc)²\n\nPhotons do not have any mass, so m=0, but they do have momentum which depends on their frequency, or alternatively, their wavelength. (p = mv is not valid for massless particles, and only applies to objects moving much slower than the speed of light). \n\nIn short, light is made of little packets of zero mass that carry momentum, so it carries energy. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
fa48as | what dictates which region of the body becomes paralyzed? | Like when you hear about somebody being paralyzed from the neck/waist down, what's behind that? Also, why is it so commonly those two spots? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fa48as/eli5_what_dictates_which_region_of_the_body/ | {
"a_id": [
"fivvxol"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Nerves are like roadways. Small roads that connect up to big highways. If you sever a highway, you lose all the roads that it connects to. Your nerves bundle together as they grow in number and eventually that bundle links up to the spinal cord. The nerves have a few pathways to follow, but generally they either cross over at the spine or stay on the same side and cross in the base of the brain. This is important for paralysis because if you have a same side tract, then you lose damage to that side. If that bundle crosses at the spine, then you lost damage to the opposite side. The region that becomes paralyzed is not a direct alignment to the region of your spine. For instance, your hand is a good example. Your pinkey and ring finger have sensation provided by a nerve that exits in your neck, not your back. Your entire arm is actually supplied by a nerve bundle that begins almost right under your jaw."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
buw80j | why does the water around the bahamas on satellite maps look discolored or light? | Is the surrounding seabed that shallow? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/buw80j/eli5_why_does_the_water_around_the_bahamas_on/ | {
"a_id": [
"epifwl3",
"epili88",
"epofr96"
],
"score": [
23,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"There are huge areas which are very shallow, 1-3 feet. So you are seeing the white sand under the water.",
"phytoplankton produce about 70% of the earths oxygen. This is the discoloration you see along the coast. If you google phytoplankton, you will see some pretty cool photos.",
"The water is shallow. Light is absorbed by water. How much is absorbed depends on the color and how far it travels through the water. Red light is absorbed faster than blue. When light enters shallow water, it can reflect off sand at the bottom and come back out of the water surface. The shallower the water is, the more light makes it back out. So deep water looks dark because most of the light gets absorbed on the long path from the surface to the bottom and back again, but shallow water is lighter in color because most of the light isn’t absorbed on the shorter path."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
] |
|
6z5tgt | why do some meats tend to taste better when they are not cooked completely? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6z5tgt/eli5_why_do_some_meats_tend_to_taste_better_when/ | {
"a_id": [
"dmszbbh"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"Meat loses a lot of fat and moisture when cooked, both of which are huge contributors to a meats flavor. Less cooked = less of these things lost = more flavor"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
77biy0 | why are tight rings so much harder to take off than they are to put on? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/77biy0/eli5_why_are_tight_rings_so_much_harder_to_take/ | {
"a_id": [
"doklmw6",
"doklput",
"dokso6g",
"dokufg9",
"dokujdy",
"dokuo2s",
"dokvdfg",
"dokysjs",
"dol3mzy"
],
"score": [
1083,
49,
5,
2,
14,
1882,
3,
2,
3
],
"text": [
"When you put a ring on, your joints are braced against all your other bones, giving you something solid to push the ring down against. When you go to take it off, joints have ligaments and such that allow them to stretch a bit, which makes it so that you’re basically pulling your finger off rather than the ring.",
"Two reasons I know of are; when something is tight to your skin, moisture is more likely to accumulate there. Sweat can make you a bit sticky, so a ring might stick down to the skin more easily. Because sweat is water-based, we will often resort to oil-based products such as grease or butter to loosen it up so the ring may slip off.\n\nThe second reason, and more likely to get a ring stuck, is that having the finger even slightly restricted will cause it to swell with blood because the veins are being squished by the ring so the blood has a harder time returning to the heart. The more the finger swells, the more the veins are compressed, and so the more blood gets \"stuck\" in the finger. This increases the size of the finger so the ring is effectively tighter. Many people will use compression techniques in order to force the blood back out of the finger so that it may shrink down enough for the ring to slip off. [Here is an example of such compression.](_URL_0_)\n\n\nedit: I should mention, the reason blood can be forced into the finger but not forced away from it is because the heart cannot suck blood into itself, it can only push blood out. It relies on the veins and arteries to retain clear passageways to allow the blood pressure to force blood to flow back toward the heart, by pushing the old blood out of the way with the new blood. This blood pressure is lost when the veins are squished by a ring so while the heart can pump blood into the finger by pushing it, it can not bring the blood back out of the finger quite as easily. ",
"Slide on a ring, you are pushing excess fluid into your body (lymphatic system). When you try to take that same ring off, the excess fluid is pushed against your finger tips with nowhere to go. All of a sudden that tight ring has to be cut off before you lose blood flow, and you better hope your ring isnt tungsten",
"The skin on your largest knuckle is looser than the skin on the rest of your finger - and there's more of it - so it bunches up in front of the ring as you try to pull it off. You can see the same effect just tugging on the different knuckles in both directions.",
"I always thought it was because when your outing a ring on your skin is more taunt then when you take it off. When you take it off your skin kind of folds over.",
"Lots of wrong answers here. It’s because of your skin and the shape of your joints. Putting on a ring you are basically pulling your skin tight against your fingertip and pushing it up over the cleft of the joint. It can’t go very far so it doesn’t form folds easily. Pulling off a ring your basically pulling on a lot more skin with no hard anchors nearby and it drops off over the cleft of your knuckle so it folds there and jams under the ring.",
"When you put a ring on, your skin is stretching against the tip of the finger. There is only a few inches of skin, so it gets taut. So the ring slides in easily.\n\nWhen you take off the ring, the you are pulling the entire skin of your forehand. The skin doesn't get taut, because you are pulling from a from a big pool of skin. The skin gets bunched up under the ring, making it harder to slide it off.\n\n",
"When you put the ring on, the organ is not filled with blood. Once it is erect, the ring becomes far more difficult to remove. It's difficult for the blood to flow back once it had been trapped on the other side. ",
"Jeweller here, maybe this will help someone: Windex or any similar glass cleaner can remove virtually any undersize ring from any finger."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGGwX2lY4rc"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
||
3jp5xo | how do american football broadcasts have the imaginary first-down line be over the field, but not over the players? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jp5xo/eli5_how_do_american_football_broadcasts_have_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cur5twn"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"They use the field like a big green screen. Anything that isn't the same color as the field doesn't get drawn on."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2d9bpw | . how does a knife cut through stuff | I know sharp things cut through objects, but what is actually happening. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2d9bpw/eli5_how_does_a_knife_cut_through_stuff/ | {
"a_id": [
"cjnbb01",
"cjnbd6u",
"cjnhtoj",
"cjni4zq",
"cjnr6cv"
],
"score": [
22,
4,
3,
15,
2
],
"text": [
"Every material has some amount of stress it can absorb before it gives way. Knives create a lot of stress by taking the force you apply and putting it in a very small surface area.",
"All of the force you're applying is concentrated on the edge of the blade. The larger amount of pressure allows the blade to get into the object. Then the rest of the blade acts like a wedge, driving the two halves apart.",
"it's called contact stress and the narrow edge of a blade exerts a *lot* of it. \n\nat a molecular level, you are physically breaking the bonds between the base unit of the structure. (in the case of metals, you are pulling apart atoms, whereas in most crystals the base unit is a molecule)",
"Imagine sticking your hand in a bag with little stones or beads or dried beans etc. Like Amélie Poulain in that famous movie. Your hand pushes some stones to the side without breaking them, to make room for itself. On a micro-microscopic level this happens if you cut something:\n\nThe force applied by the sharp blade is stronger than the bond between the cut material's molecules, thus overpowers it and separates the molecules from each other. The molecules themselves stay intact. ",
"People here are getting the story half-right.\n\nThe pressure exerted on the edge of the blade is a big part of it.\n\nBut you'll notice that if you just press a knife down, you'll have a harder time cutting than if you make a sawing motion.\n\nThis is because the sawing motion.\n\nThe pressure exerted by the blade creates compression in what's being cut, and generally things are relatively strong to compression.\n\nThe sawing motion actually causes stretching in the material of what's being cut, and generally things are much weaker to stretching than to compression. This stretching allows the knife to cut with much less effort than just the compression of a lot of force in a small area."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.