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4hmmmv | why can't newer software run on a slightly older version of the os? and vice versa? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hmmmv/eli5_why_cant_newer_software_run_on_a_slightly/ | {
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"Certain system level functionality is introduced with OS updates and the newer software relies on that.\n\nAlso frequently old ways of doing things are removed or changed which frequently means software designed for older OS's are no longer compatible.\n\nFor example, the file system might change the way files are stored on a given OS. This would dramatically break any compatibility between the OS's.",
"**TL;DR: because stuff it needs ain't there.**\n\nMyOS version 2.1 adds a new function called \"make_screen_wiggle(X)\" that MyOS version 2.0 didn't have. This new function makes the screen wiggle for X-100^ths of a second. This replaces the older function \"make_screen_bump(X)\".\n\nKing, the company that specializes in polluting Facebook with annoying \"I got this score in a game! Come play with me!\" messages, sees this and says \"Holy cow, we really need this for Candy Crush Mobile when you pop an explosive candy! Write that sucker in! Devs, get rid of the old stupid screen bump and make that puppy twerk like Miley Cyrus after ten cups of coffee!\" \n\nSo the new release of Candy Crush calls that function when the explosive candy is clicked and the screen wiggles.\n\nSomeone on MyOS version 2.0 downloads new-version Candy Crush, and it tries to run. They see an explosive candy and click it. It tries to call function make_screen_wiggle(50)... but the function isn't present in that older version of the OS, so Candy Crush Crashes.\n\nMeanwhile someone on MyOS version 2.1 downloads an older version of Candy Crush from a buffered website somewhere that still references the removed make_screen_bump(X) function. It tries to run. They see that explosive candy and click it... and it tries to call the obsolete function make_screen_bump(X). This crashes the app and causes their mobile phone to burst into flames. They drop it in surprise, it falls down into a sewer grate where there is a mild propane leak and the whole city block goes up in a massive explosion, taking out the convenience store's entire candy section and earning a massively high score.\n\n-- > edit: added context for \"vice versa\""
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1pdnz4 | how are companies valued at ipo? | Facebook was valued at something like $85bn at IPO, how exactly was this figure calculated?
Thanks to /u/tides8730 for his/her answer, I also have some follow up questions: So for an IPO does the company say "I want to issue 10,000 shares"? How is the number of shares they issue calculated?
Then, to maximize revenue, why do they not tell people to bid for the shares, then simply sell the 10,000 shares to the highest bidders? Or is this what happens? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pdnz4/eli5_how_are_companies_valued_at_ipo/ | {
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"Former investment banking analyst here\nThere are SO MANY WAYS a company can be valued for an IPO and some of it is so incredibly complicated that I wont go into the full details here but the jist of it is this:\n\nA financial model is constructed for the company. Usually this model will try to encapsulate many aspects of the company's business and the 'uniqueness' of it. They can take account of future cashflows (DCF model), what a similar company is valued at (comps/prior transaction model/multiples method), what a company's assets are worth (liquidation model) or whatever else model that works.\n\nNow unlike most companies, tech companies are very very difficult to \"value\" as many tech companies are making losses when they go to IPO which would be unthinkable in some other companies. I didn't see how facebook was modeled but I can confidently say there was a LOT of guesswork and LOTS of optimistic projections. \n\nA more \"traditional\" company (read non-tech) is much easier to model and value using the methods I described above.\n\nThe biggest thing with a valuation is what investors are willing to pay for it. The valuation must try to contain all the little various factors including the company's future possible earnings. \n\nAlso it is worth nothing that an IPO valuation is a little more stringent than a M & A or unlisted valuation. Less guesswork. You would be surprised how much guessing and hoping-and-praying there is in a financial model.\n\nRead about company valuation on investopedia or let me know if you want to know more"
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3ff8kb | how does the body repair itself? | As in with scraps, scabs, and cuts, how does the body actually place new skin or reattach separated skin? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ff8kb/eli5_how_does_the_body_repair_itself/ | {
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"A scab itself is just a big mass of (dead) cells that stop the bleeding (platelets) mixed with some protein. Underneath, nearby cells can communicate the fact that you've been damaged. This stimulates the cells to grow and replace the damaged, dead, and now-gone cells. Each cell near the wound basically copies itself (DNA, proteins, everything) and pops out a replica of itself. It does this over and over until the wound is fixed. Blood vessels and other damaged tissue also fixes itself similarly along with skin.\n\nScars form because the protein in skin doesn't align the same way as undamaged skin, which is why scars look different. This process also occurs in damaged organs as well, such as damaged heart muscle after a heart attack. Scar tissue/replacement cells also usually do not function as well as undamaged cells (in humans), which can cause problems later.\n\nTo wrap it all up, new skin cells break down the connection of the scab to the body, shed scab, and reveal the newly patched skin."
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ebiiu0 | in the usa government, how is it decided whether issues get decided via ballot measure rather than legislative action? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ebiiu0/eli5_in_the_usa_government_how_is_it_decided/ | {
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"Depending on the jurisdiction, ballot measures can either come from petitions or because the legislature decides to put it up for a vote. It's often done on divisive issues that the voters care about"
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2kecob | how did escalators become so popular? aren't they a very expensive means of overcoming a simple problem? | In the shopping centres around where I live we have some that elevate people as little as 5'. I would have thought that escalators are expensive to build and maintain whereas staircases achieve the same thing and are much cheaper. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2kecob/eli5_how_did_escalators_become_so_popular_arent/ | {
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"Escalators bring old people and less-abled to malls. In case you haven't noticed, old people have all of the money.",
"For areas with large volumes of people, one slow person can stop the whole flow of traffic. These avoid that issue.",
"People already brought up accessibility issues with elderly/disabled people. On top of that, the reason people go to malls is to buy things, and its easier to ride an escalator when your hands are full of bags (or children for mothers/fathers with younguns in tow). There are also probably very significant reasons relating to the flow of foot traffic and congestion. Escalators keep traffic moving and prevent human traffic jams; if an elderly person creates a long line of people stuck behind them as they slowly walk down stairs, the shopping center is losing money, and when large crowds build up and everyone has somewhere to be, there are very real safety concerns. "
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1ku0wz | why are so many bodily fluids sticky? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ku0wz/why_are_so_many_bodily_fluids_sticky/ | {
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"What does it really mean to \"be sticky\"?"
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at1xki | what is https and what data can our ips theoretically see and realistically see? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/at1xki/eli5_what_is_https_and_what_data_can_our_ips/ | {
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"It is a secure protocol that encrypts data before sending or receiving it. This means that the ISP can see which requests you make, so which sites you visit for example, but not the content of the site (unless they access the website themselves as well). If you are accessing a private website, they can see that you are on that website, but they can't see what you are doing on there, as long as the data is sent via HTTPS.",
"HTTPS is essentially TLS, which is a way of your device communicating with another device (typically a server) in a secure manner. The way they do this is complex, but boiling it down to its essentials, the device and server each exchange their own Public Keys, and each have their own Private Keys. These are clever, because you cannot use the public key to decrypt something encrypted with the public key - you have to use the matching private key. It works something like this (Key: **S**erver, **C**lient)\n\nC > Gives server its public key \\[CPUB\\], matching private key \\[CPRIV\\].\n\nS > Gives client its public key \\[SPUB\\], matching private key \\[SPRIV\\].\n\nC > Encrypts request data with \\[SPUB\\] and sends it to the server.\n\nS > Decrypts request data with \\[SPRIV\\], and processes it in order to get response data.\n\nS > Encrypts response data with \\[CPUB\\], and send it to the client.\n\nC > Decrypts response data with \\[CPRIV\\] and displays the web page.\n\nYour ISP needs to know at a minimum what the server IP address is, so they know who to send the data to, so from that they can make an educated guess as to which website you are going to (especially if you use your router's default DNS server - if you don't know what DNS is, you probably are). However, theoretically, they cannot see the raw data you are transferring - they will just see a load of seemingly random characters instead of, say, your banking details.\n\n**Protips: If you are expecting HTTPS, look for the green padlock in the address bar. Many places, especially banks, will also have their company name next to the padlock, so you know who they are.** ***And for crying out loud, DON'T IGNORE THE WARNINGS YOUR BROWSER SCREECHES AT YOU IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!***",
"The ISP will see you are visiting _URL_0_, but HTTPS will hide the fact that you are searching for hardcore midget porn.\n\nEdit: On the other hand, if you were to use HTTP (with no S) your ISP will be able to map your dirty mind.",
"As others have already stated HTTPS is just HTTP which is used to interact with servers world wide to retrieve information and webpages but instead all the data which is sent and received is either being encrypted or decrypted from your local modem/router. \n\nISP's will have access to information related to when you are sending/receiving data and to where your connection session is issued. For example.. Your ISP will know you logged into reddit at 9:00 from your local network to the reddit servers, they will not however know the user and password which you issued to login. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nFor some heavy users sometimes ISP's although this is not acknowledged they can use tools to inspect traffic and throttle the network, this is normally done in cases such as downloading/uploading torrents or heavy use of IPTV. In that case the use of a premium reliable VPN which would encrypt the data from your local network to the ISP's network would be beneficial as the ISP would not be able to inspect your traffic and throttle streaming services in your network. In the case of the above question this would remove the ISP's ability to decrypt the location where your traffic is headed and even if this was HTTP traffic they would not be able to read the data, instead all this information will be routed through the VPN network where the VPN company will be able to identify the same information as your ISP prior to using a VPN service."
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9itzro | i always thought free healthcare was unrealistic to implement here in america due to how much it would raise taxes. then, i saw canada’s tax rates. where does that money come from and how could it be implemented in the states? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9itzro/eli5_i_always_thought_free_healthcare_was/ | {
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"Some numbers for you. (As of 2016) The U.S. spends almost $10,000 per person on health care, presumably much of that comes straight from individuals. Canada specifically spent almost $5,000 per person on health care. On the assumption that we could copy the Canadian model on a per cost basis, we would simply increase taxes to meet the $5k and let people pocket the rest that they would have spent themselves.\n\n\nIt's basically changing the source of the money from individuals and Medicare/Medicaid and moving it into a tax. So the money is easily found because it's not an added expense, it's actually a reduction in overall expenses. ",
"Dont forget we dont have \"universal\" healthcare up here.\n\nI pay a good deal each month. Which does NOT cover a crapload of stuff (which my employer picks up)\n\nI can see a doctor and be treated by a hospital. Labwork, xrays, all that is covered.\n Prescriptions, after care, etc, none of that is covered. Something most Americans aren't aware of.",
"The USA spends as much on healthcare per capita as other nations with universal healthcare, so all we would need to do is some restructuring to cut out a bunch of the inefficiencies (ie single payer healthcare)",
"It's because the issue isn't the amount of money. the US pays more per person for healthcare than any other country on earth. It's not a matter of shovelling more money onto the dumpster fire that is American healthcare",
"The biggest problem with healthcare in the USA : Individuals cannot properly negotiate for their own life saving care. If I tell you this life-saving drug costs 7 dollars a month, you're going to pay 7 dollars a month. If I tell you the same drug costs 124 dollars a month, you will find a way to pay 124 dollars a month. [John Green has a really good video about it.](_URL_0_)",
"Most universal healthcare system are cheaper in total than the US system. Meaning that overall, Canada spend less per capita on healthcare than the US. On average the US spend twice the amount of money per capita than most other developped country. In term of % of GDP the US spend about 55% more. I think that the GDP number if more pertinent because the US have an higher GDP per capita than most developed countries (with some exception) so it seem normal that they spend more in that situation.\n\nSo the question is why the US spend about 55% more than they should, while still having so much people struggling to have an insurance? There is several reasons.\n\nSome medical specialist in the US are paid 50 to 100% more than other countries. In 2016 a physicians in the US make 218k$, compare to 86k$ in Sweden and 154k$ in Germany.\n\nThe Administrative costs is about 8% in the US, compare to 1 to 3% for most other developped countries. Personnal opinion warning for the following. ''My guest is that universal system are bigger system, so you have less entity that each require their own administrative staff so you can save there.''\n\nDrugs are famously more expansive in the US. This is simply negotiation power. A universal healthcare representing millions of people have a lot more power against pharmaceutical company when it's time to negotiate price. The US spend 1443$ per capita on drugs, compare to 749$ per capita for the average of other developped countries.\n\nEach specific services also cost more in the US. 75k$ vs 15-36k$ for a coronary artery bypass. 896$ per tomography scan in the US vs 97-500$ in other developed countries.\n\nNot everything the US does in spending is bad. For example, good salaries will attract better candidate and some countries might be not paying their professionals enough. High spending in pharmaceutics give the US 57% of glogal production of new chemical product. So it can also be view as investment in an important industry for R & D.\n\nBut no matter what are the arguments, it's difficult to justify the amount of spending by the US healthcare system. There is clearly some inefficient spending there that doesn't exist as much in other system.\n\nThere is also the problem is distribution of that spending. Basically, in Universal system, everybody receive average service. In the US the rich receive excellent service and poor people don't. Neither system is perfect, it depend on what is the priority for each country.",
"Elect politicians that are willing to budget for healthcare instead of defense. \n\nThat would almost cover it.",
"We in NZ, Australia, Canada, UK etc pay LESS in % of GDP to have full healthcare. You are being raped by predatory insurance companies and lobbyists "
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3bijw5 | how does retirement work? | Who pays your for all the years worked if you work multiple jobs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bijw5/eli5_how_does_retirement_work/ | {
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"Nobody. Well, they used to, but nowadays finding employment with a guaranteed pension plan (what you are referring to) is not that easy.\n\nIf you have a job with a pension plan, it will have a formula that calculates how much you'll get paid once you reach retirement age. That formula is heavily dependent on your years of service with the company, and is typically back end loaded, meaning that most of the value of your pension is gained during the last few years of service.\n\nIf you keep switching jobs, and if each job actually comes with a pension (hint: most don't), you won't accumulate a lot of pension from each job, but you'll still get several smaller amounts when you reach retirement age.\n\nOn top of all that you have your savings (many countries offer some form of retirement investment plan) and any government pension plans you may be entitled to.",
"In the USA each paycheck you receive has money for social security deducted from it. The records for all this are maintained by the Social Security Administration, not by the individual jobs. When you retire you receive monthly payments from social security, the amount being determined by how much you put in each year of employment.",
"It depends on what type of pay you're talking about. Social Security is established by the government and they keep track of that information through your tax forms every year. You can also establish a retirement savings plan through your company which creates an account at a bank that can transfer over if you switch companies. "
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1bt61e | why staying motivated/disciplined is so difficult? | It seems like ever fiber in my being is screaming at me to not work out and eat right. What gives? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1bt61e/eli5_why_staying_motivateddisciplined_is_so/ | {
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"It's simply easier and more enjoyable not to?",
"Maybe it is low levels of [**dopamine**](_URL_0_ \"Not yet the standard interpretation\")",
"Well for eating right and working out you can think back to cave man days. Back in those days, you had no idea when you would eat next. so you want to get as much as you can now. Also, since you don't know when you are going to eat next, you want to conserve your energy for hunting/gathering. Now, you don't have to work out so your body is continually saving up for something that will never happen. Same thing with food. ",
"Because both motivation and discipline are finite resources, neurologically speaking. It is actually impossible to stay motivated indefinitely. Therefore motivation is reliant on \"getting the ball rolling\" over and over again as you re-motivate yourself for new tasks. You can train yourself to make this easier with cognitive-behavior tricks but it's still not easy.\n\nIn regard to discipline around eating, that's hypothesized to be a behavioral reflex and has been observed in many mammals. Essentially, the hypothesis goes that early hunter-gatherer humans evolved to have an urge to eat as much high calorie food as possible when it was available because it was never known whether you were moving into a region of food scarcity for a few months. We simply inherited this urge. In a sort of similar way, our ancestors never had to \"work out.\" They got physical activity through the labor we needed to survive, so without that survival component we may just not have the evolutionary disposition to \"waste energy\" on tiring non-essential labor (hypothesis and speculation). ",
"I read (from /r/getmotivated IIRC) that motivation and discipline are two different things.\n\nAs an analogy, motivation is the fuel, discipline is the car. You can have tons of fuel, but if your car is broken, you can't go far. If your car is awesome, you can probably go far with little gas.\n\nI know this doesn't answer your question, but hopefully it gives you a better perspective."
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31896p | the conflict between the usa and israel over iran? | Aren't they allies? What is America pushing that Israel fundamentally disagrees with? Does Israel want war or diplomacy, if diplomacy what terms is the USA agreeing to that Israel objects to. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/31896p/eli5_the_conflict_between_the_usa_and_israel_over/ | {
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"Israel is concerned that Iran will attack them with nuclear weapons if they ever attain them (there's much debate about the validity of this concern, but Iran is continuously declaring that this is what they'd do).\n\nLately, the US has been taking a softer approach to Iran, opening dialogue and offering deals where before the approach has been hard-line. \n\nIsrael feels that Iran is just stalling while they continue to develop nukes, and that the US's approach will ultimately end with Iran getting the bomb. ",
"People will say it is all about Iran wanting to nuke Israel, but here is my attempt at a Realist interpretation of the tensions (Realism is a theory within International Relations). \nIsrael is currently the major power in the Middle Eastern region, partially due to strong backing from the US, but also due to their monopoly on nuclear weapons. \n\nIran has also been a major power within the region. Back in the mid-20th century, Iran and Israel were actually de facto allies. This was because Iran is actually Persian (not Arab), and there was a big push by the Arab countries to unify (led by Egypt). Iran and Israel didn't want this to happen because it threatened their dominance in the region.\n\nIran experienced a revolution in the late 70's where they became extremely radicalized and instituted a theocracy. Israel emerged as the dominant power in the region and has maintained it ever since, partially thanks to the US being an unwavering supporter, but also because they (illegally*) developed their own nukes. Many other potential threats to Israel's hegemony have been weakened/hampered by the US's interference in the region (Iraq being the obvious example). \n\nNow, Iran has said some very threatening things towards Israel in the past, and they have backed it up by funding and supporting terrorist groups in the region and by advancing a nuclear *energy* program, which has the potential to \"breakout\" into a nuclear weapons program. Since the 90's, Israel has contended that Iran has either had a secret weapons program, but this has never been proven. \n\nIsrael and the US have always agreed that no one wants Iran to get a nuke, but they usually end up differing on how far to go to stop them. Israel has gone so far as to unilaterally bomb nuclear facilities in Iran, and assassinate Iranian scientists, while the US has opted for economic sanctions and attempted to make deals to get Iran to agree to oversight and inspections. \n\nCurrently, the US and the rest of of the UN Security Council are pushing for a deal with Iran which would provide more oversight and control over Iran's program in exchange for lifting the sanctions put on Iran's economy. The Obama administration is determined to make a lasting \"solution\" to this longstanding issue, and Israel opposes it for both specific and general reasons. \n\n1- Israel is not part of the negotiations. This is pretty straightforward...they want a seat at the table, but they are not part of it. Especially since Israel is (arguably) the most affected by a nuclear Iran, they have a good case for being involved.\n\n2- Israel just had major elections. PM Ben Netanyahu has led Israel for over a decade now, and his Likud party is generally considered far-right. This means that they campaign (and win) on a platform which is centered upon national security and national identity. Whether it is true or not, they consistently portray Iran as an existential threat to Israel, and one that should not be negotiated with. A big part of the tensions between Israel and the US stems from the more extreme, hard-line positions necessary for the Likud party to win the elections. This \"partisan\" contention was on full display last month when Netanyahu came to speak to the US congress a few days prior to his reelection.\n\n3- It's all about power. This goes back to the realist perspective. Lifting the sanctions on Iran will allow them to become an even more significant economic power within the region. Of course, with the economic power comes military power too, so even if this deal prevents The Bomb, it still leads to a stronger foe in Iran, something which is a bad thing for Israel.\n\n4- The deal is seen as giving Iran too much for too little. There are relatively short timelines for the limitations on Iran (10-15 years), and while some reactors and fissile material are surrendered under the deal, Iran gets to keep a lot of it. Many argue that the security council went to the table too soon, and Iran is getting the better end of the bargain. \n\nTL;DR: Israel doesn't want war, but they also don't want diplomacy (at least not THIS deal) because it threatens the current power structure of the status quo and thus threatens Israel. \n\nEDIT: Israel's development of nukes wasn't technically illegal because they are one of a handful of countries who did not sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Iran is a signatory of that treaty, so their potential development of a bomb would be illegal. "
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32sbb8 | why is "white flight" considered an immoral/racist thing? | If the quality of life in your area has noticeably dropped, aren't you well within your legal and moral rights to leave for an area with a higher quality of life?
edit: I also want to add, is it wrong to leave if you feel out of place culturally speaking? This doesn't even have to be about race. I wouldn't want to live in a 90% Russian neighborhood as an American, I'd feel out of place. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32sbb8/eli5_why_is_white_flight_considered_an/ | {
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"Unfortunately, people don't like to acknowledge the truth when it conflicts with their ideologies.",
"According to the people opposed to it, no, you're supposed to embrace the diversity, as your previous quality of life was the result of what they call \"white privilege\".",
"It's not immoral, or necessarily racist, but I'm sure that race was at least a small factor that influenced the \"flight.\" It's easy to make it look like race is the motivating factor because it paints a picture of white people who are too good to live in \"ghettos.\" However, we must keep in mind that the ghettos didn't exist *until* the white families left. Prior to their leaving, inner city neighborhoods were just fine. They didn't leave because the quality of the neighborhood dropped, they left because they could afford to live in suburban neighborhoods, which most people prefer.\n\nThe racist part is that minorities weren't able to get competitive jobs or make as much money as whites, thus they couldn't afford to move out of the inner city neighborhoods.",
"Nothing immoral or racist about it at all. Generally, individuals want to live around similar individuals, not necessarily anything to do with race, but more about socioeconomic status. People of similar socioeconomic status tend to cluster together. \n\nWhite flight wasn't white people leaving because black people were moving in, white flight was white people, generally better off due to various reasons, leaving due to declining property values and higher standards of education and living in the suburbs.",
"White flight ultimately is a racist issue which causes an economic one. For example, you live in a great suburban area that has been all white for years. One black family moves in. No big deal. Then two families move in. Two African American families of the same socioeconomic level as you trying to live in an area with less crime and better schools. Now the racists start to freak out. So they sell their home for less money so they can leave a neighborhood that they think is going down hill. People of a lesser socioeconomic level move in because the homes are more affordable now. People that aren't racist start thinking \"shit, my property value is going down. I've got to sell now\". So they sell to whoever will give them the best price. Eventually the wealthy black families move out too because the neighborhood isn't what it was when they bought it since the homes are now being purchased a lot cheaper by people that are just above the poverty line. Yes, it is basically about racism when you boil it down. If there were no racists freaking out, there would be the same socioeconomic neighborhood that is simply more diversified.",
"TIL that most people have not witnessed a white flight situation in action. It isn't about leaving an area for a quality of life. It is about leaving an area out of economic fear that your new neighbors will bring down the value of your home and your neighborhood quality. That is racism. Your life was fine until you all started to panic and flee."
]
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2gcgiq | particle half life | I see the term a lot in physics stuff I read, but I've never had it dumbed down or explained in a proper manner. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2gcgiq/eli5_particle_half_life/ | {
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"Radioactive decay of an element or substance is often defined in terms of \"half-life.\"\n\nIn the process of giving off radiation, or in any element that is \"unstable,\" eventually the element in question will degrade into another isotope of the same element, or possibly another element altogether.\n\nSince the exact future of any element cannot accurately be predicted, we choose to define the decay of elements in terms of \"half-life.\"\n\nThis \"Half-Life\" is the AVERAGE amount of time it takes for one-half of any given amount of an unstable or radioactive isotope to decay into its next form or isotope, under normal circumstances.",
"Particle half life refers to a probability curve of the chance of each atom in a sample of a radioactive element having decayed into a lighter element and is used in terms of samples of many atoms as the half life is not an absolute timer but a chance for each atom.\n\nIn terms of large samples after one half-life approximately 50% of the atoms will have decayed, after a second half-life approximately half of the remaining atoms will have decayed or 75% of the initial sample."
]
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3ndp9m | why do some toilets flush waste better than others? | Isn't the design basically the same? I have a cheap one from home depot in one bathroom and a drake II in another and the drake is ridiculously more powerful. What's going on? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ndp9m/eli5_why_do_some_toilets_flush_waste_better_than/ | {
"a_id": [
"cvn472g",
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"A regular toilet uses gravity alone to get the bowl to clear. There is a mid-level model that has somewhat of a pressure assist and above that are models that use a jet of forceful water to assist the flush.",
"Also more generally, the plumbing of the building will affect its power. I live in an old Danish house so when I've had a bit too much Rugbrød that son of a bitch doesn't want to go down..."
]
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[],
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|
5off5j | why do trees grow through things such as chain-link fences? | Why do trees grow through things such as chain-link fences, and also, how do they know to retain the shape of a tree trunk instead of the segments that were "cut" growing to different sizes?
Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5off5j/eli5_why_do_trees_grow_through_things_such_as/ | {
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"dcizza7"
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"text": [
"For the same reason seeds can sprout through concrete I imagine. Plants seek light, they'll grow around whatever they need to to get to it easier. "
]
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[]
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|
d7ccxq | what is a whistleblower? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d7ccxq/eli5_what_is_a_whistleblower/ | {
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"text": [
"A whistleblower is someone who reports that they've observed an illegal or unethical act within their organization. In many contexts, whistleblower may also suggest that the person reporting misconduct may have certain legal protections against retaliation or punishment for exposing the misconduct. \n\nELI5-level example: You're in school taking a test and you see that your classmates are passing around notes with answers on them. After class, you talk your teacher and tell her what you saw, allowing her to investigate whether the other students cheated. Since you did the honest thing, your teacher agrees not to tell the other students that you tattled on them."
]
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||
3kulv8 | how much cheaper would cars be if dealership business owners didn't lobby for dealership requirement laws? | What's the cut that the family who owns the dealership gets? I've met some of their kids and they have unbelievable amounts of money. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kulv8/eli5_how_much_cheaper_would_cars_be_if_dealership/ | {
"a_id": [
"cv0nyfx"
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"The entire rationale behind the dealer system is to promote competition among the dealers so that you get the best price. You can argue if it's effective, but there's no one who's going to be able to say that it would reduce price by X% because it's not clear that eliminating dealers would even decrease prices.\n\nAlso, keep in mind that dealers lose money on the average new car sale. They make their profit on used cars and maintenance. Instead of selling you a car, a dealer frequently just passes along the car for free in the hope that you bring it to them to fix and maintain later."
]
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|
1v94pw | why isn't the primary winding on a transformer basically a short circuit? | So there are two wires: the active which has a sine wave going through it, oscillating between positive and negative potential difference with respect to the second wire - the neutral.
Now, a transformer has two windings around some core which helps electromagnetic coupling, and the ratio of windings determines the voltage on the secondary.
This part is all clear.
However, if you trace the wire on the primary winding, it comes in from the active, loops around the core a bunch of times, and then goes out the neutral. With the exception of some resistance due to the long wire, isn't this essentially a short circuit? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v94pw/eli5_why_isnt_the_primary_winding_on_a/ | {
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"The rising and falling magnetic field created by the alternating current creates a form of resistance sometimes refered to as magnetic reluctance. See: _URL_0_",
"Short answer: the primary winding is an inductor (that's basically what a transformer is - two paired inductors, the primary and secondary). Inductors resist changes in current - meaning in AC circuits, they behave similarly to resistors. So a transformer has a short-circuit for DC, but not AC.\n\nLong answer: **Electric current generates a magnetic field**. This was experimentally demonstrated centuries ago; if you doubt, go get some iron filings, a sheet of paper, a battery, a resistor, and some wire. By piercing the wire directly through the sheet of paper, hooking up the battery and resistor, then sprinkling the iron filings on the paper, you can see this for yourself. Or you can look at [this picture](_URL_0_). Note how all the filings turned to point circularly around the wire - thus indicating the magnetic field there.\n\nSecond point: **changing magnetic fields generate electric fields**. You can, again, either accept this as an experimental result, or you can study special relativity and see why.\n\nSo when you change the current in a wire, it changes the magnetic field generated by that wire. If it is a coil of wire, electric field created by this changing magnetic field pushes on the electrons in the wire minimizing the change in current. So currents increase more slowly and decrease more slowly; the coil of wire has a resistance to AC voltage but not DC voltage. That's an inductor."
]
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_reluctance"
],
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"http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/images/magnetic_field_moving_charges__filings.gif"
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4jtias | how do charities generally work? | I trying to learn more about how humanitarian efforts work. One thing I've noticed is many focus on saving lives while I feel like the focus should be more on improving quality of living. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4jtias/eli5how_do_charities_generally_work/ | {
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"This is way too broad of a question to answer in any helpful manner. At the most basic level, a charity works by providing goods or services to those in need. There are nearly limitless goods or services a charity can provide, though, and nearly limitless ways to define populations in need.\n\nA lot of charities do work that both save lives and improve the quality of living. However, they tend to get more donations by emphasizing the saving lives part because it sounds better to say \"$10 a month can save a child's life\" than \"$10 can power this generator, which provides electricity to a child's village, for a day.\"",
"Charity have a purpose. It could be saving lives or improving quality of life. \nUsually a charity works by taking donations ( either money, food, building material or simply time ) by people who are interested in helping others. \nSometimes , those charity are so large , they need full time employees to coordinate all the effort, then part of the donations are directed to the organization itself. This explain why only a percentage of the donations actually goes to the \"end-user\".\n\nThere are many charities , some are famous like the red cross or Doctors without borders, but there a lot more local charities that have a very small exposure and are not really well known by the public. The media is kind of guilty of this wide exposure range. They prefer the sensational to the less interesting act of smaller charities. \n\nSo the big charities can have large public campaigns while the smaller one cannot really afford to advertise on TV form their lack of financial or media support.\n"
]
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[],
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70408a | why is a black background and white text still not a norm in websites, apps?! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70408a/eli5_why_is_a_black_background_and_white_text/ | {
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"It's because white background and black text has been the norm and is what everyone is used to. It was this way because digital displays replaced paper and ink and had to be similar to get people to adopt it.",
"It resembles black ink on paper, following an old tradition.\n\nWe use black ink on paper because it's fairly easy to make light colored paper (papyrus, vellum, rag paper, wood pulp paper), and\ndark ink (oak gall). Reverse printing would require an expensive quantity of ink.\n\nEarly computer displays used light characters on a dark background since it was relatively easy to add phosphers while glowed when hit by an electron beam - I remembers monocolor displays in white, green, and orange, with light characters and dark backgrounds.\n\nThe Macintosh, in 1984, was the first to reverse this, and light up the 'blank' areas instead of the characters. This was a huge hit with people who weren't already into computers, since it resembled their familiar paper and ink, and made desktop publishing look more like the printed page while it was still on the screen.\n\nSo, the main reason is 'it looks more like a printed page'\n\nI actually like light characters on a dark background.\n\n\n",
"Because you have to be concerned about accessibility. \n\nNot everyone can read dark mode well, that is why its an option. black background with white text is one step away from black background with matrix green text. It hurts the eyes of those with contacts/elderly and people with contrast issues.\n\nLook up WAVE.",
"I mean.. how else would you have it? It's easy to read, professional and looks good ",
"Most people don't want a dark website. It's kind of like asking why doesn't everyone where black clothes.\n\nEdit: also it's harder to use some colors with a black background. Generally you can use most colors with white backgrounds and it's still readable. Put a black background on it and you start limiting what colors you can use. For example you can use both light blue and dark blue with white background and it's still pretty visible. Put light blue and dark blue on a black background and the dark blue is far less visible.",
"Everyone's saying because it's the norm but nobody is mentioning how it's painful to read after 5 minutes...",
"It's because white background and black text has been the norm and is what everyone is used to. It was this way because digital displays replaced paper and ink and had to be similar to get people to adopt it.",
"Because you have to be concerned about accessibility. \n\nNot everyone can read dark mode well, that is why its an option. black background with white text is one step away from black background with matrix green text. It hurts the eyes of those with contacts/elderly and people with contrast issues.\n\nLook up WAVE.",
"I mean.. how else would you have it? It's easy to read, professional and looks good ",
"Most people don't want a dark website. It's kind of like asking why doesn't everyone where black clothes.\n\nEdit: also it's harder to use some colors with a black background. Generally you can use most colors with white backgrounds and it's still readable. Put a black background on it and you start limiting what colors you can use. For example you can use both light blue and dark blue with white background and it's still pretty visible. Put light blue and dark blue on a black background and the dark blue is far less visible.",
"Everyone's saying because it's the norm but nobody is mentioning how it's painful to read after 5 minutes..."
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23xs5u | why do some law enforcement entities turn off the surveillance camera during interrogations. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23xs5u/eli5_why_do_some_law_enforcement_entities_turn/ | {
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"text": [
"They usually don't. They will, however, tell you that they do in order to get you to give up self incriminating information.\n\nSource:[link](_URL_0_)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://boingboing.net/2008/07/28/law-prof-and-cop-agr.html"
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||
35ytxu | why don't we sue cops personally instead of suing the department? if scientology members were able to sue irs employees why aren't we doing the same with police?? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/35ytxu/eli5_why_dont_we_sue_cops_personally_instead_of/ | {
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"Officers who act within the boundaries of policy, training, and law are immune from civil lawsuits. If the officer is found to be acting illegally then they can be sued. It's called Qualified Immunity and it applies to a lot of people, not just cops.",
"Also, Scientologists are rich nutbags. They could probably find a lawyer who could sue you for the color of your shirt."
]
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[],
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||
621b0q | why is anti-immigrant sentiment so high in countries that have practiced colonialism? | It is like wanting to go to the Moon and then after you get there, complaining about having gone to the Moon. How does this make sense from a cultural perspective? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/621b0q/eli5_why_is_antiimmigrant_sentiment_so_high_in/ | {
"a_id": [
"dfiwett"
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"text": [
"Two reasons:\n\n1. The nations you're thinking of are the type of economically successful places people want to immigrate.\n\n2. Such nations typically have open immigration policies compared to the rest of the world.\n\nSo on the one hand, you've got a lot more people wanting to immigrate. On the other hand, it's possible to have a debate over immigration because immigration is actually possible rather than being mostly forbidden."
]
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|
1gkoi0 | what happens to the average middle to lower class person who is ordered to play millions of dollars in a court settlement? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1gkoi0/eli5_what_happens_to_the_average_middle_to_lower/ | {
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"They don't pay it.\n\nSomeone in that situation will probably go bankrupt and still have to make payments on it, but will be able to keep a lot of his income for necessary expenses.\n\nHowever, because of this, people usually don't go after poor people for civil damages. The expression \"trying to get blood from a stone\" is often used. This can be unfortunate because if you are harmed by a rich person or company you will be taken care of if you win the case (although they will have better lawyers), but if you are attacked by some thug you're pretty much on your own."
]
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||
4rrx5a | oil weights | I know that the higher the number the thicker the oil. My transmission's 75w-90 is much thicker than my engine's 0w-20. I was told the the "W" denotes the viscosity of the oil at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. So by that logic a 5w-30 gets thicker as it gets warmer but I know that isn't true. Someone explain this to me. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4rrx5a/eli5_oil_weights/ | {
"a_id": [
"d53nt9o"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Let's see:\n\nIf you have a multi-grade oil like 10W-40, it behaves at 0 degrees Fahrenheit like a SAE grade 10 oil would. At 210 degrees Fahrenheit it behaves like a SAE grade 40 oil would behave *at that temperature*. \nSo, the multi-grade oil does not get thicker (as in lower viscosity) on an absolute scale, it still has a lower viscosity at the high temperature. The difference is that the viscosity does not drop as much as it would in a single grade oil, giving you a wider temperature range with acceptable viscosity.\n\nI think a graph [like this](_URL_0_) explains it better than I could. A multi-grade oil has a flatter cruve for viscosity across the temperature range than a single grade oil, you stay between the 'too thin' and 'too thick' lines longer."
]
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[
"http://www.kewengineering.co.uk/Auto_oils/images/graph_3_viscosity_multigrade.jpg"
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5upi9u | why have canada & usa been more successful at integrating muslims than europe? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5upi9u/eli5_why_have_canada_usa_been_more_successful_at/ | {
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"Muslim immigrants to Europe were primarily unskilled labor, while Muslim immigrants to the U.S. were primarily professionals. So what happened is that Europe developed large, lower class Muslim communities while the U.S. tended to have scattered families of Muslims with a few middle-to-upper class Muslim communities.",
"I think the biggest reason is that we have so few Muslims to begin with. Muslims make up approximately 1% of the US (*far* less, incidentally, than most Americans think). It varies by country, naturally, but Muslims make up around 6% of Europe. It's easier to not integrate as much when you have such a large community already there.",
"You can also ask the question of why do Muslims integrate better in the US than Europe. It's not a one way street. Most successful American integration has occurred when the culture has adapted to the current styles and mannerisms. "
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43p90e | how do popular highways get backed up even though everyone is going in the same direction? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43p90e/eli5_how_do_popular_highways_get_backed_up_even/ | {
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"Just like a water pipe, a highway has a limited flow capacity. The usual constraint is places like exits, mergers and entrances. Each of these cause slowdowns of some sort - e.g. they contain capacity and upstream cars must wait.",
"The volume of vehicles is the biggest issue. Only so many cars can travel on a given lane in a given time period before the car spacing is too close for the perceived comfort of the drivers. That gets compounded by lane merges, exits and entrances. ",
"The problem isn't the traffic on the highway, it's the traffic entering and leaving the highway. If more traffic is entering than the road can handle, everyone behind the inlet will back up as the forward traffic has to accommodate for the incoming vehicle. If you're near a large city with a major thoroughfare, then you have to consider that the surface roads probably don't have the capacity to handle the exiting traffic. The city is congested with people trying to get to their destinations, and so traffic backs up the exit ramps.\n\nThe ways we know to deal with congestion is to carpool, live closer to work to minimize your road use, use the zipper method when merging, and self driving cars are more efficient than manually piloted vehicles. But the inherent problems remain, given enough traffic."
]
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jluwo | why can't we have living heads in jars? | Or any other body part for that matter. Fluids go in, fluids come out; ought one not explain why not? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jluwo/eli5_why_cant_we_have_living_heads_in_jars/ | {
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"text": [
"We actually already have this technology; it's how heart transplants are done. The blood flow is rerouted through a machine that pumps blood in the same fashion as a heart, the defective organ is cut out, the new one put in, and then the blood flow returned to normal.\n\nThere's two factors stopping Futurama-style head-in-a-jar types or the more traditional brain-in-a-pan sort of artificial replacements of organs to sustain vital functions. The first is economics. The money required to build such devices is astronomical, along with the cost of maintaining and repairing them if they failed. The aforementioned blood-pumping machine is cost-effective because it can be used in multiple surgeries, while the next guy getting the Donovan's Brain Special needs a whole new set. The second part is ethics. Transhumanism, while gaining acceptance on the internet, is nowhere near mainstream. Your average Jim-Joe-Bob on the street is probably rather fond of the organs that he came with, and would probably see such technologies as science infringing on the territory of God.\n\nTL;DR: It's scientifically feasible, but uneconomical and unethical to implement.",
"For long term use, the machine would need to provide dialysis, and I think at least a piece of liver and some bone marrow would need to be included since there really isn't an artificial replacement for either.\n\nThere are [neurological problems](_URL_0_) associated with bypass machines. Without a solution, using one for long term life support is problematic.\n\nI think a machine could probably be built, but due to the above problems plus infection and other factors, I doubt it could extend anyone's life for very long, at least not with the technology available today.",
"We actually already have this technology; it's how heart transplants are done. The blood flow is rerouted through a machine that pumps blood in the same fashion as a heart, the defective organ is cut out, the new one put in, and then the blood flow returned to normal.\n\nThere's two factors stopping Futurama-style head-in-a-jar types or the more traditional brain-in-a-pan sort of artificial replacements of organs to sustain vital functions. The first is economics. The money required to build such devices is astronomical, along with the cost of maintaining and repairing them if they failed. The aforementioned blood-pumping machine is cost-effective because it can be used in multiple surgeries, while the next guy getting the Donovan's Brain Special needs a whole new set. The second part is ethics. Transhumanism, while gaining acceptance on the internet, is nowhere near mainstream. Your average Jim-Joe-Bob on the street is probably rather fond of the organs that he came with, and would probably see such technologies as science infringing on the territory of God.\n\nTL;DR: It's scientifically feasible, but uneconomical and unethical to implement.",
"For long term use, the machine would need to provide dialysis, and I think at least a piece of liver and some bone marrow would need to be included since there really isn't an artificial replacement for either.\n\nThere are [neurological problems](_URL_0_) associated with bypass machines. Without a solution, using one for long term life support is problematic.\n\nI think a machine could probably be built, but due to the above problems plus infection and other factors, I doubt it could extend anyone's life for very long, at least not with the technology available today."
]
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1c14ve | vinegar; who, what, where, when, how!.... do they make it? | I can build a gaming computer from components, understand global diplomacy and sovereignty, bake a mean Cheesy-bubble loaf from scratch, well educated in musical theory and development.
But, Can Not Fathom how this excellent elixir is made.
...please help me. ELI5!
But Vinegar.....
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?
how? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1c14ve/vinegar_who_what_where_when_how_do_they_make_it/ | {
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"Vinegar is made when bacteria convert alcohol to acetic acid. This is usually done after using yeast to ferment sugar into alcohol. One common form is apple juice - > apple cider - > apple cider vinegar. \n\nThere are [many different kinds.] (_URL_0_) ",
"Vinegar is basically fermented drinking alcohol; a special type of bacteria converts the ethanol into acetic acid, i.e. vinegar.",
"Normally when you ferment something, like wine or sake, you don't want to have any air in the barrel so the yeast eat the sugar in a way that makes alcohol. The thing about alcohol is that it doesn't squeeze all of the energy out of the sugar. If you take the wine and add air and a special type of bacteria, they will then eat the alcohol (squeezing some more energy out of it) and turn it into acetic acid. This is now vinegar. The vinegar is sour because of the acetic acid."
]
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80t6lv | how does wicking and preassure help a cut stop bleeding? | So, I get a small cut, I take a clean tissue and press into it for a few minutes. At first it's bleeding fast, but it slows down until it stops bleeding.
I would think that pulling blood out of a wound would increase the bleeding, since putting a towel around a cut hose will do nothing to get it to stop leaking.
How does pulling blood out of a cut help it stop bleeding, and how does preassure help as well. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/80t6lv/eli5_how_does_wicking_and_preassure_help_a_cut/ | {
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"You're compressing vessels and capillaries allowing platelets to begin blocking damaged areas, stopping blood from escaping vascular walls. \n\nEdit: ELI5 You are pinching the tubes that carry blood. This causes blood to patch the damaged areas so blood cannot escape.\n\nEdit: ELI2 boo boo ouch",
"Pressure: You're squeezing the blood vessels so that less blood flows out of the wound.\n\nWicking / tissue: The fibers in the tissue have A LOT of surface area, this gets the blood to spread out into the tissue and increases the blood's surface area. Blood has \"clotting factors\" (organic chemicals) in it that cause it to coagulate (harden) in contact with oxygen in the air, and larger surface area makes it coagulate faster.\n\nThe basic idea is to slow down the flow of blood out of the wound so that you have a film of blood covering the wound and staying in place for long enough to harden and, basically, form a plug."
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3sd1um | how do rovers on mars transmit information, such as pictures and video, back to earth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sd1um/eli5_how_do_rovers_on_mars_transmit_information/ | {
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"They send it to an orbiting relay satellite. Today it's the [Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter](_URL_0_).",
"NASA operates a array of high gain satellites called The Deep Space Network. The Mars Rovers will communicate to an orbiter satellite, which will then re-transmit that information to Earth to be received by the Deep Space Network. This allows them to achieve a relatively high throughput considering the distance. NASA can communicate directly to the rovers through a lower frequency, but the throughput using this is very small, like around the 300 bits per second range, which is enough for emergency recovery."
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5vf9fg | what is the difference between the observer effect and the uncertainty principal? is it possible to measure the position of electrons in a double slit experiment without forcing them to interact with a measurement particle? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5vf9fg/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_the_observer/ | {
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"The uncertainty principle is far more fundamental. In fact, the observer effect is not even unique to quantum mechanics. It's technically true in classical mechanics as well. \n\nThe observer effect just says that in practice, introducing some measurement device to your system generally changes things inside the system. There is nothing about that that is unique to quantum mechanics.\n\nThe uncertainty principle says that certain physical observables in quantum mechanics (and *only* in quantum mechanics) are fundamentally incompatible with each other."
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1v44s5 | why is there a focus to raise min wage instead of creating more working class jobs? | The complaint seems to be that no one can live on min wage, isn't the root cause the lack of middle class living wage jobs?
How does raising min wage not hurt everyone else that is currently making more than min wage due to inflation? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1v44s5/eli5why_is_there_a_focus_to_raise_min_wage/ | {
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"It's much easier to pass a law that states that the minimum wage is now higher. Companies can pay more to their employees and be in compliance with the law.\n\nIt's much more difficult to pass a law that will create new middle class jobs. You can't just have a law like, \"Every company with more than 100 employees must hire 1% more people who each make at least $X per year.\"\n\nIdeally, you'd make more jobs, but it's very difficult to legislate it.",
"Inflation is related to how much people are getting paid, but it has more to do with the actual volume of dollars in existence. Imagine I have 100 dollars, and five employees, and I pay them each 10 bucks. I am left with 50 and they each have ten. Now imagine I double the number of employees I have. I still have to pay them each 10 bucks, but I still want my 50 from the profits. Instead of paying them all less, or something, I can just create more money. I now pay each of them 10 bucks, I still keep my 50, but because there is more physical money out there, everyone's money is worth a little less. That's an extremely simplified version of how inflation works. \n\nThere absolutely is a way to pay people more without increasing the rate of inflation, and that is for business folk at the upper levels to get paid less, so as to funnel more money to their employees.",
"Because minimum wages are determined by the government and most jobs are provided by private companies. While the government does have a lot of employees (6% of all employed Americans, in fact), they cannot force companies to hire more people.",
"Because creating or cutting jobs is the biggest steaming pile in politics. It's used to leverage huge amounts of wasted money and votes. \nThe fact of the matter is that the economy makes jobs. If you focus legislation on prosperity and opportunity (preventing monopolies and hegemonies, encouraging small business and innovation, etc.) and keeping the economy healthy, jobs will come naturally. If more people have more buying power (as opposed to fewer wealthy individuals saving, offshoring and investing) the economy will grow. So it's a much more effective boost to the economy to increase the opportunity and buying power of the people by large (who will spend more money and effectively create more jobs) then to employ a limited number of individuals doing something that the market doesn't necessarily demand. ",
" > How does raising min wage not hurt everyone else that is currently making more than min wage due to inflation?\n\nNo, not at all. At the moment, greedy CEOs are making obscene salaries. The USA has the highest CEO to worker wage ratio in the world (it's 415 to one). While in countries like Japan and Germany, it's only 14 to one.\n\nIn the meantime, the USA minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1950. The USA minimum wage is basically a starvation wage, one cannot live off it. \n\nIf we raise the minimum wage to a livable wage, this will mean that millions of people will not need food stamps anymore. This will help the economy since more and more people can afford to buy things. \n\nWhen economic wealth is too concentrated in the hands of the rich, the economy cannot work. Proof of this is in very poor countries, where the 1 percent of the rich control 98 percent of the wealth. The result is economic poverty and stagnation for the people. ",
"Well the government can and should be directly creating jobs - basically hire people to repair infrastructure that is long past due for upgrades. But that would require more government spending, (which would be good) but guess who objects to that? Republicans, and anyone who is confused as to the actual economic situation. \n\nAnd even then, it doesn't really make sense for the government to be hiring people to do a lot of things. Yes, sure, the government could and probably should hire more teachers, more construction workers, more bank regulators and some things like that. But the government probably shouldn't decide it wants to build a semiconductor foundry or an operating system company or an aircraft maker. Other countries have done that, and done so successfully, but they've usually done so when the private sector wasn't getting its act together, not in competition with their own businesses. \n\nWith middle class unemployment you really need to ask why there aren't jobs? Well, largely it's because there aren't jobs. Wait, what? It's a feedback loop. Without demand for services no one is hiring, and since no one is hiring there's no one with the money to demand services. Seems problematic. Eventually (and the US is starting to enter this now) enough stuff gets old/damaged/ etc that people who have money need to spend it, and the economy slowly recovers. \n\nMinimum wage is more of a coping strategy for everything else, and it doesn't come off the US government balance sheet so it's something people think they can get political traction on. \n\n\n > How does raising min wage not hurt everyone else that is currently making more than min wage due to inflation?\n\nThe US minimum wage is what, 7.25 an hour or something. A bottom tier delivery driver makes about 20k a year (which is basically no skill other than being able to drive). So as long as the minimum wage doesn't exceed 20k a year there need not be upward pressure on any other wages. Basically pushing up the minimum wage squishes jobs together. If you make the minimum wage 12 or 15 dollars an hour well then fast food, delivery driver, construction work etc would all end up at roughly the same price band. But the guy making 40 or 50 dollars an hour isn't going to care. \n\nRaising the minimum wage can actually create employment because the people who make that money have more to spend, and will spend it, thereby employing more people. As much as people complain about 'everything' being made in china, the vast majority of ones expenses end up being local, House, car, food, point of sale costs on all the other stuff, most spending is actually within ones own country (at least if you're in the US or Europe or Japan). \n\n > The complaint seems to be that no one can live on min wage, isn't the root cause the lack of middle class living wage jobs?\n\nRelated but separate issues. If you think people working minimum wage jobs should be independent (which for a long time was not the case, minimum wage was more aimed at students and part time workers) then the minimum wage needs to support that. \n\nThe lack of middle class jobs, yes, it's pushing some people who should be independent down into the minimum wage bracket, but there are also now, particularly in the US, a large collection of people who have essentially no skills and have 'finished' all of their education who need to live on whatever minimum wage will pay, likely for their entire lives. \n\n"
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4pza4f | why can the sqrt of 1/-1 not be rewritten as the sqrt of 1/sqrt of -1? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4pza4f/eli5why_can_the_sqrt_of_11_not_be_rewritten_as/ | {
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"You might want to use some parentheses to make in clear what two expressions you're trying to compare?",
"If sqrt(1/(-1)) = sqrt(1)/sqrt(-1) then since 1/(-1) = -1 and sqrt(1) = 1 therefore the sqrt(-1) = 1/ sqrt(-1) \n\nSo (sqrt(-1))^2 =1 therfore -1=1. Which cant be right...so one of our assumptions is incorrect. The first is the only one that is suspect. "
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6fg8e6 | why do we peel potatoes before turning them into mashed potatoes? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6fg8e6/eli5_why_do_we_peel_potatoes_before_turning_them/ | {
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"The potato skins don't mash well, leading to them interfering with the creamy texture that most people expect out of mashed potatoes. Of course, it is perfectly possible to mash in the skins as well and some people even prefer it this way (I like a chunkier mashed potato)",
"That's not always done. It's usually done by people who don't like the skin, but there are many recipes, especially at higher-end restaurants that uses the skin. All in all, its just what you prefer ",
"Mashed potatoes are usually intended to be a consistent, creamy white mush. The skins don't mash so if you leave the skins on, there's a bunch of skin chunks in the mash which most people consider less beautiful or a poor texture. However, there are many who disagree and leave the skins on because they like the texture or the look, or are just lazy. ",
"Mashed potatoes made with the skin is often referred to as country style mashed potatoes, and is fairly popular down south. I'm not a fan, but my SO loves them that way. \n\nThe major difference is just texture. The skin stays together through the mashing process, so you get little flakes of skin in the dish.",
"1) Not everyone peels potatoes before mashing. I've had them both ways.\n\n2) The potato skin will produce an uneven texture in mashed potatoes. Some people are ok with this, some don't like it.",
"While texture is definitely a factor, remember there are many varieties of potatoes. Some have skins which are bitter and would not taste pleasent in mashed potatoes.",
"Most of the nutrients in the potato are just below the skin and lost when peeled. Irish person here, you can eat them every which way you want and they will be amazing. Your imagination is the limit! "
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2sliiw | why do computers get slower and unresponsive the longer they are left on/over general time? | My computer which I built a few years ago isn't old enough or obsolete enough yet to tell me it can't reach any options on ctrl-alt-del. So why did I just essentially get forced to restart my computer? Why do I have to deal with perpetual slowness and waiting for the computer to "catch up"?
I run a very tight ship so if it is a problem on my end it isn't because there were hot singles in my area. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2sliiw/eli5_why_do_computers_get_slower_and_unresponsive/ | {
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"There's a number of factors in play, that tend to all add together and compound the issue.\n\nThe biggest one is everything you install. Many programs like to hide their own bloated startup time by doing it all up front, when you turn on the computer. This means part of that program is always running. This makes both the startup slow, and the computer in general slower... but that program sure starts up quick.\n\nOther factors include:\n\n- hard-drive fragmentation (although significantly less of a problem on modern OS's than older stuff)\n- automatic updates going on in the background\n- Other background processes like indexers and servers.\n- Most virus checking software, since a lot of it actively checks what you do, meaning every operation needs to be checked by it. In my opinion many virus checkers are worse than the viruses they try to prevent.\n- Programs based on some technology (COM being a big one) require looking up things in a database of all components registered. More components registered means each lookup takes longer.\n- Just actively running more software simultaneously, this uses up resources, and while no one program seems like it's doing much, it adds up.\n- Hardware faults. Fans frequently wear out, and work worse, heat sinks get loose, chips degrade. If your CPU overheats, modern computers slow them down to compensate, same with GPU's.\n- Viruses... likely not a problem in your case, but it's hard to be sure. Being smart about what you download helps (a lot), but Zero Day exploits are sometimes used... so even if you're careful and vigilant with updates you're not totally immune.",
"Programs and drivers can \"leak\". This means a program asks for a little memory to use and doesn't give it all back when it's done. If there's a section in the program that's called over and over, it will slowly use up all your available memory. When your computer runs low on memory (because it's all allocated to this wacko program) it starts using disk as memory which is really really slow, making things worse. \n\nRebooting causes the computer to clear the memory and start fresh where the whole thing can happen again over time.\n\nIt's incredibly difficult to track down leaks as the OS will not report what's using the memory accurately. Newer versions of windows are better about dealing with this than versions from a few years ago and horrible design choices aside, this is the kind of stability they're working toward. \n",
"True \"LI5\" (confirmed, I know five year olds)\n\nWhen your computer is on, it keeps taking things in, just like you eat things... You might poop a little, but if you keep eating (the computer keeps running programs) it's just going to keep filling up. Little poos here and there help a little, but you're still eating more nachos and getting backed up.\n\nWhen you restart your computer, it's like taking a really, really big poo. Afterwards you're like \"Holy crap, i can run like a million miles an hour.\"\n\n",
"In addition to /u/doormouse76: the \"catch-up\" you experience is due to processes (a specific execution sequence of a program) making requests to the OS, which are kept in a queue in RAM until serviced by the OS. Eventually, the number of pending requests out strips the available space in RAM and everything must start shipping off to disk page by page (a page is a chunk of memory according to the OS). And in the worst case, a single request (kiloBITS at most) occupies an entire page (megabytes on average) as it is migrated from RAM to disk in order to make more space in RAM.",
"Memory leaks, as in doormouse76's explanation. But it isn't likely unless you're having zombie processes or memory leaks in background processes which would be easily noted from the \"task manager\" - they would consume a disproportionate amount of memory, or there would be 200 processes with the same name.\n\nThe second thing that I haven't seen anyone here mention, assuming you're using windows, is that windows is designed to use a lot of swap. Unlike, say, Linux. This means that you need to keep your system disk from becoming completely full.\n\nBut windows just seems to slow down with a lot of applications installed, even if we discount background applications such as Steam. I have no explanation for this phenomenon. The only operations that would scale linearly or logarithmically in time complexity with the number of applications configured would be operations indexing the registry or similar but it makes no sense that any such operations would be performed every time you e.g. load a program or open a folder. But windows is a rather complex beast.\n\nIn my experience, Linux doesn't get slower at all regardless of time or circumstances. You load a program from disk and then it runs, and most background programs spend their time sleep()ing when they aren't doing anything. The only problem is that the scheduler isn't very good for desktop use due to a long-standing problem with overprioritizing I/O, leading to slowdowns when doing things like copying files.\n\nFinally, frankly, you \"running a tight ship\" doesn't really matter much, you probably have a lot of malware anyway. Zero-day bugs are much more widespread than people think and most security precautions other than stack/heap smashing protection is just cargo-cult voodoo, including anti-virus programs.",
"I'm going to go with the very simple ELI5 since /u/doormouse76 has the full answer. The primary memory used on your computer is RAM (we'll ignore cache) and this is what we call volatile memory. This means it only stores its data while the power is on. If we turn the power off, this memory is wiped and gives you that, \"speed up\" you notice when you restart your PC.",
"And i'm just sitting here with my MacBook, with an uptime of 63 days.",
"Funny thing: It takes the same amount of time to start a wordprosessing application to day as 15 years ago.",
"In all honesty if you install your OS on a SSD you'll probably never experience noticeable slowdowns again. You can have the fastest cpu and memory available but if you're still running everything off of a mechanical disk that is a seriously huge limiting factor. \n\nI got a super cheap 120gb SSD and put windows and all my drivers on it (if you get a bigger one like 256+gb feel free to throw all your frequently used applications on it as well!) and my boot-fully loaded times are like under 30 seconds. By doing this you are freeing up your HDD to 100% do whatever else you're doing so it isn't fighting for read/write time with your OS.\n\n\nAnd the reason I say not to throw a bunch of applications on a smaller drive is because of updates and things that don't actually allow you to choose where they're installed to and therefore will just default to your boot drive. These things add up very quickly and a smaller SSD might not be enough for all users. ",
"One thing that no one seems to have mentioned is [feature creep](_URL_0_). Your OS and applications have had features added through updates since you installed it, and this can lead to lower performance over time.",
"**tl;dr** Programs eat memory, cpu power and other resources over time since they are not perfect.\n\nA few reasons are:\n\n1) Programs that run on your computer (including the operating system, OS) require memory to run. \n\nOn your computer there are 2 types or memory: RAM memory and your hard drive. \n\nWhen programs run, they take up a space in the RAM memory, a little at the time. They generally should not take over space they don't need, but since computer programs are not perfect they tend to claim unnecessary space effectively stealing space from other programs.\n\nWhen you open a new program, the operating system tries to make space for it in the RAM memory by writing portions of memory to disk that other programs are not using at the moment. When these portions are needed they have to be loaded back again by the operating system into RAM memory. This process in continuous and very time/computation power consuming.\n\n2) Programs share the power from your computer's processor to run, and even if you are thinking they might be doing nothing at the moment this might not be true. They might be performing to background task or \"awakening\" at regular intervals to check if they have to do anything.\n"
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3mo9sw | how does safety glass work? | How do they get it to crumble into small pieces instead of the big sharp chunks you get from breaking normal glass? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mo9sw/eli5_how_does_safety_glass_work/ | {
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"The glass is chilled suddenly from molten. That makes the outside freeze solid before the inside. As the inside cools it contracts, pulling the outer layer into considerable compression.\n\nThis has two advantages. Firstly it makes it harder, to scratch because the surface is so tightly compressed. Secondly, it means the inside is in tension, and has a lot of stored energy.\n\nWhen you finally manage to break it, this tension is released suddenly, spreading throughout the entire sheet, shattering it into tiny bits.\n\nThe technique was developed from a party trick called [Price Rupert's Drops](_URL_0_)"
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2skxu1 | why do people say today's education system is suited well for girls over boys? | Iv heard multiple times (no particular sources just general talk from online articles and in person) that today's educational system favors girls. What is the basis for this and is there truth behind it? I know that in my highschool there were more girls than guys on honor roll, and when I went to college there was a higher percentage of females as opposed to males. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2skxu1/eli5_why_do_people_say_todays_education_system_is/ | {
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"When women were still the underdogs, the government had huge incentive to cater the school system to them, to make sure that more went to university.\n\nBoys were always going to university, since they were always allowed to.\n\nThe trend has just not evened itself out, therefore skewing the system to them.\n\nIn my experience, girls are better at sitting still and boys are better at hands on learning. \n\n",
"Girls generally mature faster neurologically (the female brain is more or less developed by 19-21 while the male brain may be as late as late 20's), girls are generally also more compliant and follow orders better (whether that's due to biology or social conditioning or some of both is up for debate). Generally boys may tend to learn better through \"active\" learning techniques and competition than the current passive learning techniques used in institutions currently. ",
"In addition to other answers here, I think it's important to remember that people will generally bow to societal pressures and expectations of them. \n\nIf a boy is given the general impression by societal by society that he should be more interested in sports, that reading is for losers, etc., then he'll lean that way more than someone socialised to highly value learning (see the 'Asian parent/student' stereotype).\n\nLikewise, when girls are expected to behave themselves and do well in class, they'll feel pressured to meet that expectation or else not fit in properly.\n\nAs far as college goes, nowadays that going to college is often expected for both men and women of middle-class and above, you'll find that there are more women not just because of general diversity, but also because men are more frequently involved in crime, especially the sorts of crime that end up in a prison sentence. There's a gif somewhere of Manhattan/NYC by age and gender which is really interesting. Everywhere's mostly equal with some notable exceptions, such as the financial district being male-heavy after the age of 21... but between roughly 17 and 25, suddenly boom, suddenly the college is full of women, and the prison gets its new inmates. \n\ntotally opinion of mine, not actual fact: I don't think it's the schools that are wrong in how they're educating children. I think it's parents and media that are failing boys during the schooling years. The different expectations put on women mean that it fails them too, but it doesn't kick in until adulthood, because they're not seen as negative during childhood (keep quiet, do as you're told, play with your dolls, grow up and find a nice husband, be polite, etc.).",
"I'm curious if the gender disparities hold true in non-western countries like Japan, India or China. ",
"There are also studies that show teachers over discipline male students and grade them more harshly. In addition, certain teaching techniques are now catered towards girls. Add on to that the scarcity of male teachers, fact that it is uncool for boys to do well academically, and most programs being for girls only like the stem things and you begin to see the disparity. Of course, boys still seem to do better on standardized tests. It is funny that that is due to unfair objective testing but girls excelling in grades is because girls are smarter and made of sugar and spice and everything nice.\n\nThe disparity widens when it comes to minorities as well. But with common core and some of these other programs, neither girls or boys are getting a very good education."
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1kq1ko | why doesn't the mlb drug test every player monthly/weekly for steroids? | It seems to me like one way to solve the PED problem in baseball would be to just test every single player in the league on a regular basis. Is it that MLB doesn't really want to catch everyone? Do they think the game would get boring without players cranking HR's all day? Is it too expensive? I know its not too expensive in the sense they can't afford it, but too expensive in the sense that its not worth the trouble to them. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kq1ko/eli5_why_doesnt_the_mlb_drug_test_every_player/ | {
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"My own personal theory is that they really don't want to catch players and only drug test and punish PED users to make the game more family friendly.",
"Because anything like that would need to be included in the collective bargaining agreement with the players' union. The players are, naturally, opposed to having to give a urine sample every week of every season. In order to get something like that included in the CBA, baseball would have to give up some pretty major concessions.",
"You have to realize what has happened in baseball in the last 15 years. We went from a culture where everyone ignored the problem to where the players would say that steroids did not help you to being dragged by Congress to implement a joke of a policy. But finally, things have changed. Some players are now calling out for harsher punishments. A-Rod got thrown at by another player because his relation to steroids. \n\nHR's have been down the past several years to levels in the early 90s which would make you believe that steroids have been removed from the game for the most part. \n\nIn MLB and the Olympics you are not going to catch everyone but that is not what I see as the problem since these are the only two sports that actually attempt to remove steroids from the sports.\n\nOne of the people that released the information about this current steroid scandal has said that he has names from other sports not limited to the NBA, NCAA, high schoolers and the Olympics and yet not a one of them have called him except for MLB. The NFL stated that they would start doing HGH testing but its been 2-3 years and that has not happened.\n\nBasically, MLB is never going to be 100% clean again but unlike many other sports at least they can look in the mirror and say that they are trying.",
"Player union would never stand for it. The more steroid usage the players get away with the longer their careers and the more money they're likely to make. "
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2vlqrz | when did rc toys start being called drones? | Is there an actual differentiation? I've heard the explanation that one has a camera, but then its just an RC Helicopter with a camera on it. I feel like its a media buzzword that has turning into common language. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vlqrz/eli5_when_did_rc_toys_start_being_called_drones/ | {
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"The FAA says a drone is an unmanned air vehicle that can be flown beyond line of sight. Other uses are buzzwords.",
"Drone: \n-A radio-controlled pilotless aircraft or missile\n-Unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV\n-Unmanned combat aerial vehicle, or UCAV, a UAV for combat\n-Quadcopter or quadrotor helicopter\n-Robot vehicle, in general\n\nPs: nowadays they (companies) decided to rename RC helicopters and related products because DRONES are a hot topic in the society right now, so, something with that name on it, will sell quite well... Of course they will claim that it is indeed a drone, with the excuse that they added a camera into the RC helicopter and therefore now you can see what the equipment \"sees\" and in a more advance level you could add for example a gun and \"fire\" something with precision - drone!",
"When it became convenient click-bait for the ignorant masses.",
"When they can fly themselves without an operator controlling them.\nI have built 5 autonomous aircraft, and dozens of RC craft. I only call them a drone when they are capable of taking off, flying a route, and landing without an operator touching the sticks.",
"When they stopped being toys and started being tools. Quad copter isn't catchy enough anyway",
"Can we stop calling them drones. It gives them a negative connotation. They're toys. Radio controlled toys.",
"The meanings of words change over time. Additionally, words mean different things in different contexts. So while \"drone\" might mean something more specific in a technical or industry context, it can mean something else in a common usage context.",
"When it became cool to be a \"Drone Operator\" rather than \"RC Toy Enthusiast.\"",
"When the media decided to leverage the negative connotations associated with 'drone' to sensationalise things.",
"My understand is that a we fly model aircraft. some airplanes gliders jets helicopters multi rotors (quad copter is a 4 motor multi rotor)\n\netc.. etc..\n\n\"technically\" all model aircraft are UAV (even paper airplanes) but in reality when we say UAV what we really mean is FPV.\n\nRemotely piloting from onboard but not inside (so with a camera typical or a GPS interface)\n\na DRONE today means anything the media wants it to be typically quad copters.\n\nbut in reality a drone would for example NOT be a phantom. that is a quad copter or fpv UAV quad copter.\n\na bebop on the other hand would be a drone.\n\nto me (and the military) a drone is a UAV that does not REQUIRE a pilot. it can and does fly itself.\n\nto explain the difference. Think of a car. you drive the car. now think of a car where you don't drive but instead give instruction to another driver. you tell him what you want and he figures out how to do it.\n\nnow replace him with a machine. a computer. that is a drone.\n\nwhen you fly a quad copter you have to command up and control how much up and left and right etc..\n\nwhen I fly my bebop I do not take off. I instruct the drone. \"take of\" and it \"does it\" with no involvement from me besides initiating the command to \"take off\"\n\nI flipped it over once because I tried to land it. it is not designed for me to land it. I get low and I press the \"land\" button and IT lands.\n\nit will hold position and altitude. I tell it I want to go \"that way\" and it goes that way figuring out how to do it adjusting to maintain altitude unless I also commanded it to change that.\n\nit could be argued that is a drone. with an update I will actually be able to give it a mission.\n\nPhantoms CAN be drones. example you can command a phantom to \"return home\" and it will try and fly back from where it took off from and land. it does this with no input from you.\n\nthat makes it a drone.\n\nso a drone would be a flying machine that can fly itself including a \"mission\" start to finish with no instructions from you except to \"do it\"\n\na really good example of this would be the IRIS+ that \"IS\" a drone.\n\nwith a drone you are \"less\" a pilot and more a coordinator/operator.\n\nwe don't have many TRUE drones more hybrids like the bebop phantom and iris+ with the iris+ being the closest to a true drone that I am aware of.\n\nhope that helps.",
"When they stopped being toys basically. RC toys were for entertaining primarily, whereas drones as used commercially as actual tools.\n\nSame reason you wouldn't call an actual digger a toy, but you would call a small plastic one a toy. Its all about purpose and what it is used for.",
"When idiots started flying them near airports.",
"If it has GPS and can be programmed to fly autonomously by giving it a set of waypoints, it can be referred to as a drone. If it needs a human operator with a remote control unit to guide it at all times, it's an RC aircraft.\n\nThat's my informal definition but I think it's a good guide. The DJI Phantoms are definitely drones as their flight path is programmable. I'm not so sure about the Parrot ARs as it seems to imply you must guide it at all times, even if it has a computer system to stabilise its flight.",
"I thought the idea of drones is that they require no control from the human e.g. you plot out a course before hand and the drone flies the route.",
"When the military started putting bombs on them.",
"RC toys become drones with the addition of one of two technologies; cameras and autopilots. ",
"As a member of the hobby, I have thought about this. \n\nIt is largely a buzzword I think, but I think it stems from the origins. These multirotors (quadcopters, octocopters, etc) have been around for a while as experimental aircraft. But they didn't become a mainstream trend until autonomous flight systems started to be developed. \n\nA lot of robotics labs adopted these quads as a platform for autonomous flying machines. Then that technology started to seep out into the public market. \n\nTake the best selling \"drone\" for instance. The DJI Phantom. It will fly *for you*. There are so many little digital nannies on it that it takes absolutely zero skill or practice to fly one. You could literally teach a monkey to fly it. Which is why it's so widely adopted. (as opposed to traditional helicopters that take quite a bit of skill and practice). \n\nThese new quads have GPS hold to keep it from moving outside of a column of airspace, altitude lock that keeps it at a certain height, bubbles around the pilot to keep the quad from hitting them, limits on how hard it can bank (so it won't stall and crash).... They even have a \"return to home\" feature where the drone will automatically fly itself back to where it took off from. \n\nPiloting one of these things has more in common with operating a computer mouse than it does with actually Piloting an aircraft. So with that said... The machine is making a lot of decisions for itself. \nThis isn't like an airplane that you take out and fly around. It's more like a machine that you direct it where to go and it flies itself. So I think the reason these call called drones and helicopters and airplanes aren't... Is because they have increasing abilities to make their own decisions. \n\nLook at the Amazon delivery drones. Really, the only difference between those and most other quads is that they are taking their orders from a computer system instead of from a human. ",
"[I think they are called like this since 1946](_URL_0_)\n\nSo, there's that\n\nEdit: although, this seems to be only for flying devices",
"More on the use of the word \"drone\" in an article I wrote last year: _URL_0_\n\n\nMost people in the hobby are cool with the term at the moment. There's drone user groups and people don't see \"drone\" as a bad thing anymore. It's time to just embrace it and move on. ",
"sUAS tech here. In the industry we despise the title \"drone\", due to its relation with systems like the Predator, which has built up a hefty kill count for the military and the CIA. \nHowever, our products are not for hobby enthusiasts either. The cheapest unit we sell with video transmission is the DJI Phantom (fully loaded its a bit over a grand). The most expensive unit we sell is $300k and is used by the military. \n\nMost of our customers are aerial photographers, who use the multi-rotor platforms for building inspections and documentary film making. Others are getting units outfitted for search and rescue and fire fighting purposes. The last group are farmers, using our fixed wing platform with specially designed cameras to map farms in several light spectrums to determine the health of the crop. \n\n",
"RC you control on the fly at all times. Drones are programmable for precision. You change their pattern via programming and not by direct control. ",
"When did eli5 become Google?",
"When I went to MakerFair this year, nearly every exhibit was 3D printers or Drones. My favorite was the RC tank called a \"***Ground Drone***.\" ",
"It's marketing flavor of the month. Just like 'cloud' being used where 'internet' or 'online' use to be.",
"Its the media associating radio control aircraft with actual miltary drones in a fear mongering campaign, as the media says \"if it bleeds it leads\". The weird part is that they have only associated the word \"drone\" to multirotor aircraft (three or more blades, tricopter, quadrocopter, pentacopter, ect) as if they are the only radio control aircraft that could be used with a camera, however I personaly fly FPV (first person view) with a plane and a helicopter because I prefer the speed and agility of these types of aircraft over multirotors, and the plane can fly a bloody lone way on a single charge. Unfrortunatley I work in a hobby shop were we sell radio control aircraft and I have to listen to people come in all day asking for \"drones\" to which i reply \"you mean multirotors right?\" leaving them looking confused. What is probably the most annoying part of all this \"drone\" buisness is the idea that being able to fly them is A. Easy. and B. That building/installing a system that would give any decent range (over 300m) is easy to do, yet laws are made up against them for the fear of people making them.",
"They are still RC toys, drone is just the latest marketing term glued to it. ",
"RC aircraft require line of sight to fly. Drones can fly remotely without having to stay in range of sight. ",
"Drones are somewhat or fully autonomous. Old school RC toys only took inputs from user. Drone \"toys\" can do programmed tricks or even have sensors to self-navigate. I don't see a problem putting a new name to such things.",
"Meanwhile, when did Dress Up become Cosplay?",
"There is a Wall Street Journal article that addressed some of the struggles companies in the industry are having with classifying machines under the word 'Drone'. It also talked about some of the historical origins of the word 'drone' which I found particularly interesting. \n\nFound it!\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\"However, it was the military that originally nicknamed the devices “drones,” said Ben Zimmer, a lexicographer who has researched the history of the term. In 1935, the U.S. Navy began using unmanned aircraft as aerial targets for shooting practice. The British Royal Navy had named its unmanned target aircraft the Queen Bee, Mr. Zimmer said, so in homage, the Navy called its targets “drones,” which means male bee.\"\n",
"About when computer programs started being called \"apps.\"",
"A drone has to have some sort of autonomous flight capability. Some of the models of quadcopter that have become popular such as the Dji Phantom do have autonomous flight capability such as following gps waypoints and return to home when signal is lost and so are actually drones. The media and people are stupid though so now anything that flies is called a drone.",
"When we started building quadcopters that fly themselves. The name fits, just unfortunately carries multiple meanings, some with negative sentiment attached. ",
"When the Government and the News Media colluded together to drive fear and disinformation about these toys, and decided to regulate them and arrest people for flying them.",
"I was listening to NPR a few days ago and they had a segment on this exact subject. I cannot remember which program it was, but I will look. \n\nFrom what I remember the term drone has been around since the 1930's and was used to describe anything that was remotely controlled. During the 50's to current Hollywood did an incredible job at demonizing the term drone. \n\nThere is a key difference between a toy RC device{car, boat, quad, plane, chopper, submarine, etc.} and a drone, and that is that the drone has a live action camera that allows the operator to see from the device in real time. ",
"I believe it is called a quadcopter in the rc world.",
"A drone used to be only termed for military UAVs (remotely piloted). These UAVs can be the size of a small passenger aircraft, armed with weapons, or just purely for scouting / reconnaissance. These UAVs are generally piloted by military drone pilots from far away to provide support toward ground troops stationed in other countries (e.g. middle east for USA) \n\nThe term \"drone\" was coined from the general public is synonymous to quadcopters. To understand where the phrase \"drone \" = \"quadcopter\", you need to understand how quadcopters became popular in the first place.\n\nBefore quadcopters, small RC based flying toys were essentially miniature scaled versions of helicopters. These toys had limitations in stability when it came to external forces such as wind, and do not stabilize nearly as well for camera feed. Plus cameras back in the day used to be seriously bulky, poor resolution, and there were no smartphones to catch remote feed/control. People only saw the use of RC copters as merely just as a fun toy for kids to play with. \n\nWith the progress of technology and ability for microcomputing, improvements in manufacturing (i.e. 3d Printing for example), understanding the algorithms (ease of access on programming modules as well), mechanical engineering, etc are making quadcopters very affordable. You can buy a quadcopter or even build your own for ~$500 to ~$1000 and there's lots of media press following behind it\n\nThe main professional application of quadchopters is with remote camera feeds, as the quadcopter can support a payload the size of a camera (i.e. GoPro and other cameras). Professional SFX, movie makers, real estate agents (not legal in most cases), photographers, etc. rely on aerial based feed and views to entertain an audience or achieve a marketing based objective that was not possible in the past. Not only that, there is also potential for quadcopters to carry higher payloads to deliver packages in dense locations (i.e. Amazon had a marketing fun day with this, quadcopters are not actually used to deliver packages on a wide scale application yet) \n\nBecause of all the buzz and usefulness of quadchopters in the professional world, the media has picked up on it. Media sources such as SFX based youtube videos like freddiew, GoPro videos, Amazon's quadcopter marketing last year?, TV media outlets, combined with the affordability and ease of access to buy one has made it popular.\n\nBecause the media generally oversimplifies things (i.e. dumbs down things, as people of all intelligence need to understand them), and the word \"quadcopter\" is too long for people to remember (3syllables). Therefore the word \"drone\" is used instead as there are technically both UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles). Drone is just 1 syllable, and catches easier with the general public, and therefore a catchier marketing term. \n\nNow that the word drone is mixed up with quadcopter, news outlets tend to confuse military based drones with civilian based helicopters. It is very well possible to equip a modern day quadcopter with a payload large enough to handle a gun though, as seen on FPSrussia on youtube. Because the general public doesn't understand how quadcopters work, and the mysterious nature of drones, there is fear when it comes to these.\n\nNot only fear in weaponizing quadcopters, but more generally speaking invasion of privacy. Those quadcopters can be seriously loud, and draws lots of attentions. Who wants a quadcopter with a GoPro sneaking up from their privacy of their own house window, etc? With the avenues of easily uploading and permanently putting things up in the internet for the world to see, there's obviously fear of being recorded of you doing stupid things, which is a legitimate concern.\n\nTL;DR drones used to be for military applications (UAVs). Quadcopters and the progression of technology has made it affordable to anyone, and quadcopters have some possible implications that people do not like. The media has a fun day with quadcopters and calls them drones because its shorter and easier to memorize, plus has all the potential buzz of military drones. General public starts using the word \"drones\" more so than quadcopters now. \n",
"When they put cameras and microphones on them.",
"I had asked this in a local subreddit discussion and I think there are some pretty valid points for certain RC toys/quadcopters.\n\nSome quadcopters (like the one that crashed on the White House lawn) have the capability to fly beyond visual line-of-sight using on-board cameras connected to transmitters (for first-person-view (FPV) flight). I have a toy RC quadcopter that has an on-board camera, but I cannot fly it (safely) beyond visual line of sight because there is no transmitter (with an associated pilot's display) to allow that.\n\nFurthermore, some quadcopters can also be programmed for autonomous flight using pre-programmed GPS waypoints. Even without FPV capability, having it completely autonomous from launch to landing is not what you typically see in RC toys.",
"When the toys became autonomous via autopilot. ",
"When marketing teams wanted kids to feel more excited about their cheap pieces of plastic.",
"It's not a drone unless it has some form of autonomous flight. So like DJI phantoms are drones because they come back to you automatically, where as Parrots (even though they are marketed as drones) as just shitty pieces of crap that no one should buy. ",
"its not a drone... its a quadcopter. if it flies it's self it is a drone, if not its just a quadcopter",
"When the public narrative suddenly became that they were scary privacy-invading devices of evil.\n\nWhat's worse is that *people who own them* have started calling them drones themselves.\n\n",
"When those quadcopters became popular. People started calling them drones but by definition any rc toy is a drone. ",
"Drones are a more serious name for the same thing. Nobody working in the newspaper industry would print \"25 People Killed In RC Toy Attack!\" with a serious story.",
"To me an RC toy is an externally controlled craft which is intended to imitate a larger craft. It is built and used with the intention of being used recreationally. They don't have any purpose beyond that and therefore dont require innovation.\n\nA drone would be an externally controlled craft which is built and used for a job, or used as a utility. Therefore they don't have to be modelled after a larger craft, as they can be simplified or more complex depending on what it needs to do. \n\nJust as a note, when I say that an RC toy imitates a larger design, I mean that it imitates a whole model. Like an apache. Obviously drones need to use technology such as a compustion engine which is used in previous designs, but that (for the purpose of defining here) would not be considered imitating a previous design.\n\nI think this seperates it well. If there was a team continuously developing a quad rotor as a better alternative to some other design, then I would consider it a drone. However if they complete the design and someone buys one to use at home, I would consider it an RC toy.\n\nI think this separation works well. There is obviously a bit if grey area in which it becomes a but messy but that is the nature if some definitions. ",
"The use of the word drone predates the military drone program.\n\nRC flying toys have always technically been drones, we just started using drone more in our modern vocabulary due to the military ones being in the news. So now that we are used to saying the word, we use it for more things that it has always applied to."
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32rbr3 | the different kinds of military aircraft; their roles and "generations" | What's the different between 4, 4.5 and 5th generation?
What do multirole and air superiority aircraft actually do?
How does a country's military decide what it needs and what kind of aircraft they should get? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32rbr3/eli5_the_different_kinds_of_military_aircraft/ | {
"a_id": [
"cqe3tw1"
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"score": [
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" > How does a country's military decide what it needs and what kind of aircraft they should get?\n\nThe military decides what equipment it needs to fulfill the goals its countries leadership wants it to do. For most nations, this may mean having fighter aircraft that can defend its airspace and perhaps participate in limited engagements worldwide - in which case, a military will decide which aircraft best fits that bill.\n\n > What's the different between 4, 4.5 and 5th generation?\n\nTo explain what a fighter jet generation is, let's look back from the first:\n\n* The first generation jet fighter is that built during WW2 through the Korean War. This includes the range from the German Me 262 through to the F-86 Sabre and MiG-15. These are primarily WW2-type fighters with the first jet engines and so they use guns and fly in similar styles to that of WW2 fighter planes.\n* The second generation fighter jet incorporated much more powerful afterburning engines along with advances in aerodynamics (such as swept and delta wings) that permitted fighter jets to reach supersonic speeds. In addition, the first infrared and radar guided missiles became the primary armament of many of these 2nd gen fighters, who were also much larger and could carry more fuel and even the first radars. Analog avionics started appearing as well. These fighters were focused primarily on being fast at high altitudes because the thought was that the next war would be based on a nuclear war.\n* Third generation aircraft further refined second generation aircraft, but with more advanced avionics and a heavier reliance on missile technology that had grown to allow longer ranges than before. Radars were more powerful now and this increase in versatility allowed fighter jets to start taking on ground attack roles. \n* Fourth generation aircraft took the lessons learned from third generation aircraft and put a renewed emphasis on maneuverability. Indeed, fourth generation aircraft pushed aircraft designs to the limits of human tolerance of high-G maneuvering as well as the limits of aircraft in general. More powerful engines, and advanced avionics entered at this time. The first digital cockpits as well as digital fly-by-wire designs were introduced in this generation as well. Ironically, while the fourth generation designs renewed the idea of aircraft focused solely on single missions (e.g. F-14s were interceptors, F-15s air superiority fighters, F-16s light fighters), their designs were so flexible and digital avionics so powerful that all these aircraft started adopting multi-role capabilities again.... which leads to Gen 4.5 aircraft.\n* Gen 4.5 aircraft are primarily Gen 4 designs built with the latest advancements in avionics and digital flight controls in mind. Aircraft like the Eurofighter Typhoon and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fit this model: they were all designed in the 80s and 90s for the digital age. Advanced powerful radars, digital/glass cockpits, and advanced flight computers have pushed these aircraft to do aerodynamically impressive maneuvers while affording single pilots the ability to execute air-to-air and air-to-ground missions all in one trip.\n* Generation 5 aircraft are primarily considered to be aircraft designed from the ground up to be stealth fighters. They not only have the shape of stealth aircraft, but they have classified techniques to mask their compressor blades, have classified radar absorbent materials, etc. In addition, these aircraft are built from the ground-up with digital cockpits and digital flight controls in mind, so they aren't designed with very much consideration on traditional aerodynamic stability in mind. Couple this with advanced engines capable of supercruise or thrust vectoring, and the most powerful avionics in the world (including the ability to share data with other aircraft), and they are thus a step above what Gen 4/4.5 aircraft are capable of."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3nxho8 | what is the difference between a language and a dialect? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nxho8/eli5_what_is_the_difference_between_a_language/ | {
"a_id": [
"cvs5lxo",
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"Both refer to a particular form of communication; they're the same general sort of thing. The actual line is **incredibly** fuzzy; Chinese is considered a language, but \"dialects\" of Chinese have more differences than the various Romance languages. There's a saying that \"a language is a dialect with an army and a navy;\" having something be a *language* is often of cultural importance.",
"[/r/linguistics has had various posts about this topic.](_URL_0_)\n\nThere is no absolutely iron-clad method deciding whether two things or \"[varieties](_URL_3_)\" are dialects of the same language or two separate languages.\n\n Why people decide two varieties are the same language or not can become a political question: in Yugoslavia there was an official \"[Serbo-Croatian](_URL_5_)\" language though after the breakup of Yugoslavia involving separate years of ethnic conflict and war, [there is now a \"Serbian\" language in Serbia distinct from a \"Croatian\" language in Croatia](_URL_1_). How people speak in former Yugoslavia hasn't changed radically, but whether or not people say they speak the same language has changed due to politics.\n\nUsing [whether or not people understand each other](_URL_2_) as a criteria for where or not people speak the same language can be tricky if [understanding is asymmetric](_URL_2_) or if there is a [dialect continuum](_URL_4_), where how people speak changes gradually as you travel through a region and people on opposite sides of the region might not understand each other, but there is no obvious place to draw a \"border\" between two languages.\n"
]
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[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/linguistics/comments/16ydns/at_what_point_does_a_dialect_become_a_different/c80ijl9",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian#Contemporary_names",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_intelligibility",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variety_\\(linguistics\\)",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect_continuum",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serbo-Croatian#Present_sociolinguistic_situation"
]
] |
||
3a0npn | why are some letters in the old latin script revsersed to the modern latin script? what happened in the evolution of the old script for some of the letters to be turned around? | I'm researching the Duenos Inscription, and one of the things I've noticed is that a lot of the Old Latin letters are very similar to Modern Latin script, just turned around.
For example _URL_0_
Letters like L, K, F, E ect are just turned. Is there a reason for this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3a0npn/eli5_why_are_some_letters_in_the_old_latin_script/ | {
"a_id": [
"cs86om9"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Originally, it was written from right to left. The script descended from Semitic scripts like Canaanite and Hebrew, which is still written right to left to this day.\n\nThe problem is that most scribes were right-handed, and this makes writing right to left difficult: scribes would have to be careful not to drag their hand across what they had just written, smudging it (I am left-handed, and find it nearly impossible to use a fountain pen). So they switched to writing left to right, and during that process, as well as switching the direction of writing, they also reversed the letters."
]
} | [] | [
"http://www.omniglot.com/writing/latin.htm"
] | [
[]
] |
|
3h4p0f | why does a vacuum 'suck'? | An empty space, not the machine. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3h4p0f/eli5_why_does_a_vacuum_suck/ | {
"a_id": [
"cu46qf2",
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"It's not actually that a vacuum sucks, but that any gas will spreed out as there is nothing to contain it. It's just something of higher pressure will move towards lower pressure to even it out.",
"It's not really a \"suck,\" it's a push. But, first, some background. \n\nWe tend to think of most of the world as \"empty.\" Think of the air around you. It seems almost non-existent, right?\n\nBut, it turns out that there are trillions upon trillions upon trillions of molecules in a given volume of air. [There are only about a thousand times as many molecules in the same volume of diamond.](_URL_1_) \n\nAnd, those particles are MOVING. Here's a simple calculation putting their speed at about [1100 mph](_URL_0_). \n\nSo, when you have a vacuum---a space where there really are virtually no particles, it's no surprise that whatever is around them would try to fill the space very quickly. And that's what happens, creating the \"suck.\"\n"
]
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4dck0w | why are lights yellow? | Asking for a friend. All the houses on my street look yellow on the inside at night. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4dck0w/eli5_why_are_lights_yellow/ | {
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"Conventional Light bulbs work by running electricity through a filament made of metal (there's also fluorescent and LED bulbs, but they're not in wide home use). Different metals produce slightly different colors. In lighting, when you're talking about the tint of \"white\" lights, this is referred to as the 'color temperature'. Light bulbs are available in a wide range of color temperatures, generally ranging from yellow-orange to blue. Blue lights can feel kind of 'harsh' when inside at night because it looks a lot like noon sunlight, which is also strongly on the blue side. Yellow lights tend to make the interior feel softer and more homey, so most people opt for that color when lighting their homes.",
"The standard for streetlights for at least the last 50 years (probably longer) is *low pressure sodium lamps*. This bulb design emits light in the yellowish end of the spectrum and the human eye us very sensitive in that area. On the downside, they render colour poorly. They are/were used because they are rather efficient. \n\n\n There is a huge push to move to LED lights, which are more closely full spectrum (i.e. whiter).\n\nEdit: Low pressure, not high pressure!",
"Indoor lights are often a warmer color temperature of 3200-3400k. Streetlights are often even more red. Outdoor lights are usually daylight-tuned at 5600k. \n"
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5nubfw | why does the saturn v rocket engine's flame appear to come out "unlit"? | I've noticed in videos ([like this one](_URL_0_)) that the F-1's flame doesn't glow coming right out of the engine. It's only a few feet later that it begins to "light". What's going on here? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nubfw/eli5_why_does_the_saturn_v_rocket_engines_flame/ | {
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"The video explains it. The F-1 engine dumps the fuel into the cone from the walls of the nozzle, that allows the hydrogen and oxygen liquid to keep the temps of the titanium down so it doesn't melt. That is what makes the exhaust look like it isn't actually lit when it really is, but on the inside of the flame its much hotter, not near the edges."
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3dux4n | what is the job hunt, résumé, and interview process like at the ceo level like? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dux4n/eli5_what_is_the_job_hunt_résumé_and_interview/ | {
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"A lot of C-level execs (particularly CMOs and CIOs or their equivalents) have profiles up on linkedin you can check out to get an idea of what their resume's look like. Generally, they'll have started in some technical role in their industry and moved on to leadership roles at lower levels before being promoted/hired by another firm over time. I can't give too much insight into what the recruitment/interview process would be like, but I can say it would be way different for some small company vs. someone like GE.",
"Small companies will most likely go through the same process as other candidates (looking through resume, skill, experience, industries worked). Larger companies base it on the candidates portfolio; for instance Barclays may see that the CEO for Legal and General has done amazing things so approach the CEO with a better offer. Usually for larger companies; CEO's are headhunted with better offers.",
"At that level its also about exposure to good connections. You could be the smartest person in the world, but without somebody validating and introducing you to the right people, you will never get a high level job. Many high level executives come from other companies in the industry (even client companies), government agencies, military personal because the know the right people and can \"seal the deal\", in many cases they are using personal contacts to sign final contracts.",
"Hopefully not too late here, but I have recently left an Executive Search firm that placed a lot of Director and CEO level positions across industries. The process (if they hire) usually goes,\n1) layout all the details of the job\n2) we would then look at all relevant companies and industries and 'map' out these companies \n3) We would bring the 'best' of these companies' people to the top of the list.\n4) Then the client chooses who they want us to approach, we would approach and interview those interested.\n5) From there, a report would be generated on the candidate with our recommendation of whether the candidate is of a high calibre or not. Internal candidates are usually interviewed at this point as well (either for retention or they might be right for the role)\n6)The client then decides on who they want to interview, this could be more then one interview and this is also when the candidate might have to do competency tests. \n7) If all of this goes well then it's background checks and negotiating salaries. \n\nLast steps would be press announcements"
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3wnzjj | why the main holidays of many religions mostly focused around the end of the year(i.e. christmas on dec. 25)? | . | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3wnzjj/eli5_why_the_main_holidays_of_many_religions/ | {
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"Because they revolve around the shortest day of the year (Dec 22). People like having something to lift their spirits up at that time if year, and they get to celebrate light/warmth coming back into the world as the days get longer. ",
"Easter is arguably a much more signicant holiday than Christmas. Ramadan takes place mid-year. And I don't think that Hannakuh is really considered a major spiritual holiday.",
"It's all based off of pagan festivals that revolved around the solstice with a little bit of Roman politics. According to evidence found in the bible, Jesus was probably born in the springtime. However, after the Romans declared their official religion to be Christianity, they probably declared that Christ's birth was to be celebrated on December 25th, much like how they had a fixed date for celebrating the emperor's birthday (it didn't matter what the emperor's actual birthday was or the fact that emperors changed, they picked one day out of the year and every year on that date, they celebrated his birthday)."
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bip3gl | why do the majority of plastic containers/tubs/bottles have a small ‘ramp’ going downwards in the bottom of them. | It’s like an inlet into the plastic in a ramp/slant shape.
Praying someone knows what I’m talking about
Edit: [this is what I’m talking about](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bip3gl/eli5_why_do_the_majority_of_plastic/ | {
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"Can you take a picture of a plastic bottle and highlight what you're referencing?",
"Pretty sure its to keep it moving along the production line and to keep it still at the appropriate time it gets filled up and the cap screwed on.",
"That's for the production line equipment to grab and twist the bottle for labeling and/or attaching the cap.",
"A search resulted in this patent [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) called \"Container having bottom lug for radial positioning and bottom mold therefor\" The pattern have FIG. 7 as a example of prior art fot a similar system where you rotate something with a spring loaded pin and then rotate the bottle to a fixed direction\n\nThe bottles are made by blow molding and you have a seam between the mold that can see along the side of the bottle. So the indexing make it possible to put in the sticker on the bottle on the orientation you what or just to put more then one label on it that have a fix position compared to the first. You could even put them all in a box with the labels in one orientation in a automatic way\n\nIt might not be the case that most companies use it but as long as the patent is to old as it would be when it is a prior art back in 2000 there is almost no extra cost to attach to the mold. I suspect that there is a lot of standard bottle shape like the one in your post where you just purchase a standard mold from the manufacturer that have the ramps on all molds."
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vgc8g | relativity (also difference between general and special) as well as string theory | I've heard explanations of both but they're either to simple (5 year old) our too in depth. I just finished taking high school chemistry if that gives you any idea of what level. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vgc8g/relativity_also_difference_between_general_and/ | {
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"Special relativity: The speed of light is the same in all reference frames. You can't accelerate to the speed of light. You can't travel at the speed of light unless you're massless, in which case you must travel at the speed of light. Time passes differently in different rest frames.\n\nGeneral relativity: As above, plus gravity is the effect of curvature of spacetime around massive objects. This is why it affects massless things like light.\n\nString theory: Trying to describe reality in terms of tiny vibrating strings. If successful, would overcome existing problems in relativity and quantum mechanics where these two fields are not compatible. Would be a leap ahead in our understanding of reality. But currently makes no testable predictions.\n\nIf you want to know more, search. These things are asked all the time. If you want a more helpful response than that, ask a specific question; we have no way to know what your problem with the existing explanations is."
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o6cnp | why i can only stomach the idea of certain foods at breakfast? | I'm aware that your typical breakfast cuisine varies from culture-to-culture (I'm an Australian), but above all of that, why is it that there are certain foods I'd quite happily eat for lunch or dinner that I could not even stomach the idea of for breakfast? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o6cnp/eli5_why_i_can_only_stomach_the_idea_of_certain/ | {
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"In the morning your body usually craves sugar and carbs/fats. You've been hungry for 7-8 hours and need immediate energy.\n\nSome people also don't like salty foods because the body is already dehydrated.\n\nPersonally, I'll eat anything from cold pizza to fish curry. Then again, I' not a picky eater at all.",
"I'm wondering how much of it is cultural conditioning. And by that, I mean that you've grown up with foods that are 'normal' breakfast foods for your culture, so eating anything else seems weird. What's acceptable for breakfast does seem to vary across different cultures.\n\n(I should add that this is speculation and not necessarily based on any facts I know of.)",
"I cant stomach anything but coffee and water in the morning, and juice."
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1zav6w | how does my game cube know exactly what time it is 7 years later? | 7 years ago I moved and during packaging I unplugged my game cube and have kept it in storage for 7 years. Just a little bit ago I plugged it in. When I started a new save file I noticed the time on the game was exactly the time of month/day/year, on the dot. 3/1/2014 2:50. I have kept it unplugged for 7 years, no power, no internet, nothing. Just kept in the dark storage for a very long time. How does that work? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zav6w/eli5_how_does_my_game_cube_know_exactly_what_time/ | {
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"It'll have a watch battery on its motherboard. They can last aaaaaages without forgetting the time. "
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ak6al6 | why do our bodies not ache after sleeping for several hours vs. when awake in a stilled position for several hours? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ak6al6/eli5_why_do_our_bodies_not_ache_after_sleeping/ | {
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"When you sleep, all your muscles are in their relaxed state, and not under any stress. When seated, you aren't fully relaxed. Your back muscles are tensed as well as others like your butt. So that's the difference.",
"Because when you sleep your body completely shuts down all muscles except for eye muscles and a few others needed for survival. When sitting a few muscles are perpetually tensed to keep you from falling over like a heart attack victim, leading to the ache. That and you really can't feel much when you get up, so any small aches are gone by the time you're fully awake.",
"As others have noted, your muscles are not relaxed while sitting or standing but they are (mostly) while sleeping.\n\nHowever, I don't see others mentioning that you aren't lying still all night. If you were to lay still for several hours, you would almost certainly wake up sore and may even develop a DVT blood clot.",
"You move when sleeping. That's why people who are quadriplegic or in coma have to be moved every couple of hours to avoid bed sores or pressure ulcers",
"Cuz your under 40 right? Just wait kid. ",
"Hmmm. I am never as sore as when I wake up. The first hour is the worst. So, so sore and aching. ",
"It does when you’re over 40! There are so many great things about your 40s, but this was the biggest shock. It’s a big motivator to be fit when you’re older. ",
"OP must not be over ~30 yet because that's about the age I started waking up sore most days. ",
"When you stand you have all the weight on you feet and legs. When you sleep your bed is holding you. And you are relying on anything on your body to keep you up",
"Ok ELI5 why my body DOES get sore when I wake up?",
"The opposite... I can lay awake in an awful contorted position for as long as possible. No problem. Fall asleep 20 minutes on my back? It’s like I was in a midgets coffin for 34,000 years",
"Personally, if I sleep for more than 5 hours straight I wake up aching all over, especially my back. ",
"My shoulders, ribs, hips and jaws hurt when I lay in bed on the same side for several hours. Especially if I'm sleeping on a hard mattress or pillow. This is why I got a sleep number bed. My husband's back will completely give out if he sleeps on a soft mattress. \n\nI've had this experience since childhood but my husband claims he didn't have this issue until his early 30s. Probably from all the wear and tear his body endured from the 14 years in the Army infantry. ",
"I’m horrible sleeper and I always have been. Lie awake at night unable to fall asleep, and when I do, I toss and turn a lot and wake up a lot. I was blown away when I started sleeping in the same bed as my girlfriend and found out that there are some people who just fall asleep normally and lie there all night without writhing around tossing and turning and changing position a lot.",
"Speak for yourself. I usually wake up in pain, and have to do some stretching and shaking before I feel ready to face the world.\n\nIt’s just arthritis, no big deal.",
"How do I relax muscles while awake?"
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6dtt99 | how does wearing more clothes that cover more areas of skin keep you cooler when outside in the sun? | I work outside all day so I wear a long sleeve turtle neck Under Armor under my work clothes. Many people I work with who work in the offices inside ask we why I wear my attire but all I can tell them is it keeps the sun off my skin. Preventing skin cancer and keeping me cooler, but idk how to explain HOW its keeping me cooler. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6dtt99/eli5how_does_wearing_more_clothes_that_cover_more/ | {
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"Because the clothing you have on is blocking the suns rays from directly affecting you and putting a barrier up that blocks them.\n\nClothing on your skin blocks up to 95% of the UVA/UVB radiation that the sun puts off into our atmosphere. That high intensity radiation, along with the visible and infrared radiation are all forms of energy that are easily stopped by layers of clothing.\n\nWhen you wear long sleeve clothing across your body, the cloth heats up and disperses that energy before its absorbed by your skin and body, so you pick up less heat over time.",
"There were studies on middle eastern women some years ago that looked at why wearing a black robe was tolerable in some of the hottest places on Earth.\n\nThe answer was that the black robes heated the air just under them moreso than the air next to your skin creating an upward breeze inside the robe, which kept the women cool.\n\nProbably the same thing going on with your turtle neck. Or it could be that it's some super-material that lets sweat pass through and evaporate on a larger surface, cooling you down more effectivly than skin sweat. Or you may just not be particularly sensitive to heat (I'm the same way)."
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abt80h | why are cruise ships not registered out of the port they leave from? why are most the north american ships registered to nassau, the bahamas? | (If I flair this wrong please correct me) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/abt80h/eli5_why_are_cruise_ships_not_registered_out_of/ | {
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"Because when ships are at sea they follow the laws of the country of registration, so most cruise ships will register in countries with lax workers right laws to save money",
"Most ships are registered under \"Flags of Convenience\". Because they travel internationally, they are free to register in any country that will take them. They operate under the laws of that country and they usually register in one that has little regulation and low fees. They may rarely if ever visit their home port.\n\n_URL_0_",
"Most countries allow foreign ships access to their ports. For example a Norwegian ship is allowed to ferry cargo between China and the US. And this have created a market for countries to make registering ships with them cheapest. If it costs $10M to register a ship in the US and Panama offers to register the ship with them for $5M then the owners would much rather register the ship in Panama. They still have access to the same ports at the same rates no matter where they are registered."
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1ypu8h | what does it mean when the news says" left the work force" or "stopped looking for work" in regards to unemployment numbers? | Did those people start a business? Go on welfare or disability? Are they just out of benefits? Im confused | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ypu8h/eli5_what_does_it_mean_when_the_news_says_left/ | {
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"they may have retired, perhaps they are living on savings, or they could be from a dual income household, so they decided they'd rather stay home and take care of the house/children. all of the above are possible explanations",
"Basically it means the person is no longer looking for work. Be it they started their own business, went back to school, or just became a stay at home parent.",
"The workforce is the whole pie that includes everyone who is working or looking for work. Unemployment is the slice of pie that represents the work that the people looking for work *could be doing*. [See note below on underemployment.]\n\n\"Leaving the work force\" includes retiring - going from employed to not employed and not looking - and also encompasses \"stopped looking for work\".\n\n\"Stopped looking for work\" is going from unemployed to still unemployed but not looking any more. This would NOT include starting a business, because a business owner is employed. Not collecting unemployment benefits any more does NOT mean you are no longer unemployed (or counted as such). It could include deciding to rely solely on welfare or disability. It could include a case where a dual-income household decides that rather than continuing to try to restore the second income, they will remain a single-income household. It could include someone who was looking for work, but gives up and lives in their parents' basement. Essentially it means giving up on finding work - there are any number of reasons for it, but if you are not *looking* for work, you are not counted as \"unemployed\".\n\n**Note on underemployment:** I distinguished between *work* and *worker* because if you're working 20 hours a week and still looking for more work, you are both employed and unemployed. Put a different way, you are contributing to both the unemployment slice of the pie and the employed slice of the pie. However, in the case where someone is not earning their potential - because they are in a job they are overqualified for or in a job that they don't get enough hours at, but not currently looking for work, they are not captured in unemployment statistics. This is a situation that has economic consequences for them and their dependents as well as society, but is not indicated by unemployment statistics - this is why they do sometimes talk about underemployment on the news. It's important, but not as easy to measure as unemployment.",
"Most likely they retired. Especially around these times. Many of the baby boomers are beginning to retire. Fox News is a big culprit of saying that the only reason the unemployment numbers are going down is because people are leaving the work force. However, to make progress, these people have to retire.",
"It's called a discouraged worker. Looked for work for a while, but simply gave up for one reason or another.\n\nUnemployment is calculated by random surveys by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which asks a series of questions to eliminate those that are not part of the labor force and at the end ask if they are working or looking for work. Institutionalized, under 16, and person that is not working and not looking for work is not part of the labor force. Unemployed worker is someone looking for work but is not working in terms of calculating unemployment \n\nUnemployed is calculated with the following formula: Unemployed worker / Labor force * 100%\n\nLets say that a country has 100 people in the work force and 5 are not working but are looking for work. With the above calculations 5/100 * 100% Thats an unemployment rate of 5%. Now lets say that 1 person out of the 5 people that were looking for work gives up. Now the labor force has gone down along with the number of unemployed. Now the unemployment rate is 4/99 * 100% or 4.04%. Even though the unemployment rate has gone down by nearly a 1%, it does not mean that more people are working.\n\nThe above example is a simplified version of what we fear is happening with the current unemployment rate. People that should be working are simply giving up all together.\n\nOther reasons of \"left the work force\" are retirement, going back to school, joining the military, going to prison/mental institution, caring for a child.",
"Certain \"Unemployment\" statistics assume that people who have been out of work for a certain amount of time to be \"No longer looking\" -- even if they are -- which causes the numbers to appear artificially low. this number can be as low as 6 months. Also, someone who is unemployed, but no longer eligible for benefits, doesn't count as \"unemployed,\" either; this often includes people who are homeless. Generally speaking, the number you hear in the media (or from anyone who wants the numbers to skew lower, such as a politician) will include people within the limit who are getting benefits, and nobody else. A person who is old enough to have a job, but has never gotten one, doesn't count, either."
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k4spk | alan turing, turing complete, turing machine, lambda calculus, etc. | Ie the roots of computer science? I went down a wikipedia path and came across these key terms, but am having a hard time understanding how they all fit together.
Also, any good books that explain this?
Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/k4spk/alan_turing_turing_complete_turing_machine_lambda/ | {
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"Okay, for a discussion of who Alan Turing is and a part of why he's important, see [here](_URL_1_). As is the case with ELI5 posts, errors will arise from simplification. \n\nBut the man was not just a guy that designed and built machines. He was a theorist. But first, we need to back up and explain what that theory is. This is where Lambda Calculus comes in.\n\nLambda Calculus is a system of writing math processes that chains those math operations (things with you're familiar, like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in addition to more advanced operations like powers, logarithms, integrals and derivatives) together into functions. This chaining can either be iterative (meaning that we do things over and over a set number of times) or recursive (meaning that we have a function that calls itself). \n\nGoing back to my history of computing, Charles Babbage and Ada, Countess of Lovelace theorized about machines that could do math. Alan Turing had studied Babbage and Ada, and conceived of their class of machine as just something that could read and change symbols on a tape--and act based on the symbols it read and manipulated. It could, for example, see if there was a 1 on the tape, go back two spaces and change that symbole to a 0. That's a fairly basic description of a Turing machine.\n\nTuring also theorized about a way to represent these machines as the kind of tape data that they accepted. This is very much possible, it turns out--after all, a Turing machine *acts upon the data it reads*. Thus, one could build a Turing machine that reads instructions from a tape that then manipulate instructions either on another tape or that same tape. Any Turing machine capable of reading any representation of any other Turing machine and acting as the represented Turing machine is called a universal Turing machine.\n\nLost yet?\n\nTuring then sat down and figured out that what a universal Turing machine was capable of doing and the things that could be expressed by lambda calculus were the same. Another guy whose name escapes me at the moment (hopefully a helpful Redditor will chime in) came up with another proof around the same time as Turing, and both proofs were correct.\n\nEssentially, the entire field of computer science is based on this proof and the ensuing question: what questions *can* we answer with a universal Turing machine? Relatedly, what is the best way to answer these questions? Can all questions answered by a Turing machine be answered efficiently? We know that not all such questions are answerable (the proof is at least high-school level). We're only now getting an idea of how to best answer a number of questions a Turing machine can answer (this is the study of algorithms). The last question is fully open and is the subject of [its own ELI5 post](_URL_0_).",
"Okay, for a discussion of who Alan Turing is and a part of why he's important, see [here](_URL_1_). As is the case with ELI5 posts, errors will arise from simplification. \n\nBut the man was not just a guy that designed and built machines. He was a theorist. But first, we need to back up and explain what that theory is. This is where Lambda Calculus comes in.\n\nLambda Calculus is a system of writing math processes that chains those math operations (things with you're familiar, like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in addition to more advanced operations like powers, logarithms, integrals and derivatives) together into functions. This chaining can either be iterative (meaning that we do things over and over a set number of times) or recursive (meaning that we have a function that calls itself). \n\nGoing back to my history of computing, Charles Babbage and Ada, Countess of Lovelace theorized about machines that could do math. Alan Turing had studied Babbage and Ada, and conceived of their class of machine as just something that could read and change symbols on a tape--and act based on the symbols it read and manipulated. It could, for example, see if there was a 1 on the tape, go back two spaces and change that symbole to a 0. That's a fairly basic description of a Turing machine.\n\nTuring also theorized about a way to represent these machines as the kind of tape data that they accepted. This is very much possible, it turns out--after all, a Turing machine *acts upon the data it reads*. Thus, one could build a Turing machine that reads instructions from a tape that then manipulate instructions either on another tape or that same tape. Any Turing machine capable of reading any representation of any other Turing machine and acting as the represented Turing machine is called a universal Turing machine.\n\nLost yet?\n\nTuring then sat down and figured out that what a universal Turing machine was capable of doing and the things that could be expressed by lambda calculus were the same. Another guy whose name escapes me at the moment (hopefully a helpful Redditor will chime in) came up with another proof around the same time as Turing, and both proofs were correct.\n\nEssentially, the entire field of computer science is based on this proof and the ensuing question: what questions *can* we answer with a universal Turing machine? Relatedly, what is the best way to answer these questions? Can all questions answered by a Turing machine be answered efficiently? We know that not all such questions are answerable (the proof is at least high-school level). We're only now getting an idea of how to best answer a number of questions a Turing machine can answer (this is the study of algorithms). The last question is fully open and is the subject of [its own ELI5 post](_URL_0_)."
]
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j4ohk/explain_the_pnp_problem_li5/",
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jvrlu/eli5_how_computers_were_invented/c2fieum"
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2rgx2i | gas is dropping in price significantly, but airline ticket prices aren't changing.. why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rgx2i/eli5_gas_is_dropping_in_price_significantly_but/ | {
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"Several reasons:\n\n1) They will always charge what the market will bear.\n\n2) Many times they have long-term fuel contracts as a hedge against rising fuel prices - which is not such a good thing when prices are falling.\n\n3) Fuel is only one of the expenses involved in flying airplanes. Airplanes themselves ain't cheap, and they require professionals to operate them. Even if there were a drop in ticket prices, it could not be at the same rate as the decrease in fuel costs, because these fixed costs would remain.\n",
"Because they'd lose money and they like to make money.\n\nThey much prefer to keep prices high and pocket the savings from low fuel costs. "
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6wz2lm | how and why does glass explode when placed in the freezer for an extended time? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wz2lm/eli5_how_and_why_does_glass_explode_when_placed/ | {
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"Water is unusual in that it actually expands when it freezes, because on a molecular level water molecules form a sort of honeycomb lattice when frozen due to strong intramolecular forces (electromagnetic repulsion in this case). If you put a glass of water or another liquid that contains a lot of water (milk, orange juice, etc.) when the water freezes it will expand, pushing against the walls of the glass container. If the container is sealed, or if it's simply too full, the increased pressure from the expanding water causes the glass to crack and eventually shatter.",
"It's not the glass that explodes, it is the fact that glas is pretty rigid and the stuff inside the glass can expand when you freeze it. so if there isn't enough compressible stuff (usually: air) inside the glass, then the expansion of the freezing stuff (usually: water) will put pressure on the glass....and eventually it can/will succumb to that pressure."
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cfwkdi | how did super mario bros on the nes look blocky, have no detail, and lack a bunch of features; yet super mario bros 3, also on the nes, with the same hardware, have a fully fledged world map, siginificantly higher quality sprites, and more content? while on the same cartridge? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cfwkdi/eli5_how_did_super_mario_bros_on_the_nes_look/ | {
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"Memory hardware inside of cartridges advanced precipitously in the five years between the release of Super Mario Bros. & Super Mario Bros. 3. The limitations on the quality of graphics were almost entirely based on the amount of available storage in the carts.",
"The NES cartridge connector connects several NES buses to the cartridge.\n\nOne bus connects the PRG ROM. This ROM contains the program and game data. It has 15 address pins so it can address up to 32KiB.\n\nAnother bus connects the CHR ROM. This ROM contains tile data: 8x8 squares of 4 colours. There are 4 palettes for backgrounds, and another 4 palettes for sprites (0 is always the transparent colour). One byte is used to select which tile is displayed so there are 256 tiles available for backgrounds, and another 256 tiles for sprites. You need 8KiB to store all this data (2 bits per pixel \\* 64 pixels \\* 512 tiles).\n\n & #x200B;\n\nSMB uses the CHR rom at it's maximum capacity. Some sprites like the goombas are in fact the same half twice with one half flipped to save space.\n\nSome NES games uses extra hardware called \"mappers\" to circumvent it's limitations. It allows mapping a subset of a bigger ROM into the address space. SMB3 uses the MMC3, uses a 128 KiB CHR ROM a 256 KiB PRG ROM and 8KiB of RAM (used for level data).\n\nWith all this extra memory available, you can have all the animations, world map and stuff you don't have in SMB1. \n\n\nEDIT: typo",
"Also games almost always look better mid to late gen of a console. Compare heavenly sword to uncharted 2/3, last of us or gran turismo. The developers learn tricks over the years even if the hardware didn't change to push a better looking scene.",
"To add to this, Super Mario Bros was originally on a floppy disk in japan, before capcom discovered how to increase the storage of a cartridge with Makaimura(Ghosts n Goblins)which effectively killed off the Disk System in Japan(The western NES has a serial port on the bottom of the system for the planned western release of the disk system)\n\n & #x200B;\n\niirc the floppy disks could only hold a max of 144kb whereas the largest licensed NES game kirby's adventure was 512kb for the program rom and 256 kb for the ram",
"How do you become better at maths over time, despite the rules of math remaining the same, and you being the same person? You learn more. You work out faster ways to do the same thing. Programming is the same way.\n\nAlso; the cartridges are unlikely to have been the same; as time moved on memory became cheaper and its much more likely that SMB3 had significantly more available memory than SMB1. Not to mention things like co-processors such as the later SuperFX chip for the SNES cartridges.",
"To add to what others have said, It takes awhile to really figure out how to utilize consoles to there full potential. Look at some of the first PS2 games and then look at some just 2-3 years later. It is hard to believe they are on the same system."
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2i0r9f | how do multiple pulleys work to distribute the weight and allow someone to lift amounts much higher than they ordinarily would? | I didn't take any physics classes, so please simplify the math as much as possible, if you must use it at all in the explanation.
What's going on that, using a setup like [this](_URL_0_), I conceivably could lift much more than my own bodyweight? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2i0r9f/eli5_how_do_multiple_pulleys_work_to_distribute/ | {
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"_URL_0_ \n\n^ there ya go. Explains how a block-and-tackle setup works, which gets into how pulleys act as a force-multiplier (reducing the initial required effort). \n\nThe super-short version is \"less force, longer distance of pulling required\". "
]
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7mnkig | in what ways are doctors and nurse practitioners similar and in what ways are they different? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7mnkig/eli5_in_what_ways_are_doctors_and_nurse/ | {
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"My wife is a doctor so maybe I have a bias here. She went through 4 years of medical school. The last 2 years of med school are performed in the field. She is in the first year of a 4 year residency program for ob-gyn. Residents are expected to work 80 hour weeks in what amounts to an apprenticeship. When she finishes residency she will have 20,000 hours of experience beyond classroom.\n\nA nurse practitioner has a masters degree that can be done in 2 semesters. Then they need 6 months of apprenticeship. They end training with about 1,000 hours of experience. \n\nNP is cheaper but you get what you pay for.\n\nEdit: formatting",
"Nurse practitioners often have years of nursing experience and then return to get their masters degree and become a medical provider. Some work under a Physician guidance but some can work on their own. Physician assistants are similar to nurse practitioners in that they have clinic experience, get their masters and become a provider. Currently, however, physician assistants must work under a physician’s guidance. \nBoth nurse practitioners and physician assistants are called mid-level providers that can diagnose, treat, prescribe, order imaging, office procedures, and surgeries. All things a doctor can do but under the supervision of the doctor who has more education. \nMid-level providers were created to help with the lack of medical care available. The population is growing rapidly and there aren’t enough doctors to care for everyone. Mid levels can see patients and then consult with the doctor if needed or treatment doctor just looks at the notes at the end of the day. "
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vzahd | how christians believing in evolution is not a contradiction? | I am Christian, I'm just trying to understand if I'm not lying to myself here. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vzahd/eli5_how_christians_believing_in_evolution_is_not/ | {
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"Some Christians think that Genesis is metaphorical, and that God used evolution to create humans.",
"Evolution is not something you believe in. It's something you accept or deny. ",
"Not all Christians believe the Bible is to be taken 100% literally.",
" > I'm just trying to understand if I'm not lying to myself here.\n\nI'd be careful with that statement on Reddit.",
"As a Christian turned agnostic, i was in your shoes. I have to ask you to take a hard look at your views. You believe in evolution and rights for gays, but why call yourself a Christian then? I am not saying you have to do anything, but I realized that my views were contradictions to a faith that is based on a book not written by the person I was worshipping. Jesus didn't write the bible and the people who did are not the ones i worship. But I only worship Jesus because of what it says in the new testament. So I came to the conclusion that if whoever wrote the bible was full of shit on a lot of topics, then they could easily be full of shit on everything. There is no shame in denouncing your faith when you faith is qualified by others who don't share your views. "
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4h0yih | why does it matter what order a player is picked in the draft as long as they are picked? | Is it strictly for salary purposes and just overall respect? the higher in the draft you get picked the more you are in control of your own destiny once on the team? I see news reports of a certain player not being picked in the first round against projections and I wonder why this matters? If I'm trying to get in the NFL you can pick me dead last and as long as I'm on a team and getting paid... I feel like I've "made it". Someone please explain the intricacies of draft positions and rounds. I'll take my answer off the air, thank you. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4h0yih/eli5_why_does_it_matter_what_order_a_player_is/ | {
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"Rookie salaries and contracts are structured based on when you are picked. So someone going in the first round may get a guaranteed $10 million salary and a 4 year contract, while someone picked in the 5th may have a $1 million salary and 3 year contract. This is set based on when you are picked. ",
"To add on to other people's answers, the higher you are picked, the better job security you have. \n\nLet's say the first overall pick in the draft and the last pick both perform extremely poorly in their first year...the first overall pick would be given many more opportunities and years to succeed and grow into a better player while the last pick would most likely be cut and replaced."
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29soir | why do things look black and white for a while after you've been sunbathing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29soir/eli5_why_do_things_look_black_and_white_for_a/ | {
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"You do know that you don't need to stare at the sun to absorb its rays, right?"
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39ek4a | if the eardrum detects vibrations, why can't we hear certain vibrations like moving your head or being punched as loud noises? | I've been wondering, since the amplitude of sound heard should depend on the amplitude of vibration of the eardrum, why can't we "hear" big vibrations such as being punched and shaking your head? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39ek4a/eli5_if_the_eardrum_detects_vibrations_why_cant/ | {
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"The brain. It does a remarkable job filtering our noise. Without it we'd be overwhelmed by the sound of our heartbeat and flowing blood and creaking parts. So...the ear as a sensor does not discern, but the brain as an interpreter certain does!",
"Constant exposure to a sound will lead to adaptation to that sound, meaning you don't hear it like you did at first. Our brains are also hardwired–to an extent–to filter out our bodies' constant, benign noises. \n\nYou can find accounts of people who were born blind and then had hearing implants installed who were amazed at how loud the blood rushing through their ears, the movement of their hair, the breeze around their heads, and the rustling of their clothes were."
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ds3s52 | why is formic acid ( oxidized methanol) toxic? what causes blindness? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ds3s52/eli5_why_is_formic_acid_oxidized_methanol_toxic/ | {
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"Methanol is a member of a class of chemicals called \"alcohols,\" along with ethanol, the kind that you drink.\n\nAlcohols are broken down twice in the body -- once, from an alcohol to something called an *aldehyde,* and then again to a type of acid. In methanol's case, the first step is quick and produces *formaldehyde* -- literally, embalming fluid.\n\nThen, it slowly breaks down again into something called *methanoic acid*, and that's where the trouble starts.\n\nIn the mitochondria in your cells, a chemical called *cytochrome oxidase* is largely responsible for energy production. Methanoic acid attaches to this chemical and forces it to work without oxygen, or *anaerobically.*\n\nFrom biology class, you might remember that a major problem there is the buildup of lactic acid due to the oxygen-free environment. The major muscles of your body are built to tolerate this to an extent...but your brain and eyes are decidedly not. Starved of oxygen and flooded with lactic acid, your brain and eyes start to die, causing seizures and blindness."
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cbx7yf | how do organs know at which part of the body they should develop (left or right)? are there people with 'flipped' organ arrangements? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbx7yf/eli5_how_do_organs_know_at_which_part_of_the_body/ | {
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"In the uterus, when you're basically a featureless ball of cells, there are tiny hairlike structures on the cells called cilia, and the ones on your right and left move in different directions. At that point, you gain a left and right side to your body.\n\nThere are people who have flipped organ arrangements. When it occurs in one of a set of dentical twins, it's called being mirror twins.",
"There are certaian genes called hox genes that control where everything goes. All living things have the same ones just with slight variations of what is going where",
"A lot of folks here have mentioned situs inversus, but I thought I'd chime in to cite dextrocardia - literally \"right heart\". Dextrocardia situs inversus is particularly interesting because the heart is \"chiral,\" just like the human hand. You can flip a right hand over, but that doesn't make it a left hand.\n\nIf you get a transplant from a donor without dextrocardia (which is quite likely because the condition is rare), the surgeons have to rearrange your bits so the blood vessels will attach properly.",
"There are several factors involved, but essentially beginning from conception there are cellular cascades and signals that drive your dividing cells to end up in certain orientations. It’s mostly predetermined by the genes in each cell. The genes responsible for making a set of cells into one region of the body are turned on while the other genes would be turned off, and vice versa for the cells (which later develop into organs) destined to be on the other side of the body. There can be mutations in these genes that cause irregular development (e.g. flipped organs, and other things like spina bifida etc). \n\nThere are also chemoattraction and chemorepulsion mechanisms that could be at play, where cells are signalled to grow towards or away from certain chemicals being released from other cells. This helps guide them to the right developmental location. For example, our nerves are signalled to crossover in the spine (decussation) and branch out to certain areas in part by these mechanisms.",
"There’s basically a ton of different genes that dictate the polarity or direction of segments of the body. In flies for example, they have hox genes that dictate which side of the organism has eyes and which side has a bootyhole. Then, the segments of the organism are split up and those smaller pieces are polarized to dictate the direction of organism, limbs, etc.",
"People with flipped organs are born with a condition called “Situs Inversus”. One of my friends has it. Doesn’t really affect him except when he’s at the doctor and they check for his heartbeat they freak out for a second and he informs them about the condition. Also when he stands for the pledge he doesn’t know what hand to use to cover his heart cause it’s all flipped.",
"I finally can explain something here and I'm late to the party. My son has situs inversus totalis. So everything on the inside is flipped to the opposite side. When the Drs were describing it to us I asked him for an ELI5. He said that when the baby is first forming there is basically what looks like a small piece of string on it with a loop on it about three quarters of the way up. That loop is typically on the right side and is the heart or at least where the heart forms. The rest of the organs form based off that loop. In rare cases (1 in 10,000) the loop forms to the left and the organs typically follow suit. The complications come in when they don't follow and form in their normal position and things get crowded. Many people with situs live their entire lives without knowing. Now that technology and imaging has come so far it's being caught more often. They caught my son's while still in the womb with an ultrasound.",
"So human development is well controlled machine. When an egg is fertilized by a sperm, it becomes a zygotes. A zygote then devides forming two cells or blastomeres. These blastomeres are considered totipotent (meaning they can become any cell). These blastomeres continue to divide from the 2 cell state to the 4, 8, 16, 32 cell stage etc. At the 16 cell phase, polarity is determined. For humans, one end of the ball of cells becomes the embryo and the other becomes cells needed to implant for pregnancy (not getting into that). \n\nThe embryo side further polarizes to make the cranial and caudal ends (aka head and butt). Beyond this, it becomes a bit tricky to explain without getting into details, but basically one cell tells the adjacent cell how to divide and develop. \n\nSo hypothetically speaking, let's call the head and butt cells A and B respectively. A (head) splits to become A1 and C on one end. Cell B (butt cell) gets signals from A1 and C telling it to split into B1 and D. Each one of these cells is expressing DNA differently to develop into their future tissues and to send the correct signal to the adjacent cells so they split and develop correctly.\n\nAt the start, the cells do not have their fates determined, so if you split the blastomeres of the 2 cell stage zygote, you essentially get two identical clones. This experiment has been done in more simple organisms and probably won't work on mammals (since someone is bound to ask). Later on, after fate determination, if a blastomere is removed, it's future tissue will not develop. If this is done earlier on, it is more catastrophic whereas later on, the future offspring might just be missing a small part of it's anatomy.\n\nAs for the question on flipped organs, it's usually just a mutation (or group of mutations) that causes it. You can have dextrocardia (heart is pointing right), situs inversus (all your organs are basically flipped), vessels can go into the wrong chambers of your heart, etc. \n\nNot sure if this covers what you're asking, but that's about all I'm willing to type out right now. Sorry for any potential typos/if I don't explain things super well; my developmental biology is a bit rusty haha.",
"Pretty sure there's instructions in your DNA that dictates that your right arm is grown on your right shoulder etc. Theoretically, you should be able the change/modify the instructions by attaching the gene responsible for said body part to set body location. In short, one would be able to grow more than one set of breasts on various locations on the human body. Not ethical ofc or viable but most definitely possible. One just need to identify the genes responsible for determining the body part, arrangement and location.",
"My uncle has flipped organs. So yes, it happens. I do not know what causes this nor do I know how organs know where to form. Just confirming it does happen to people.",
"Laterality is set in early embryo development. There are factors that trigger development that are secreted during the 2nd week of life, and cilia, which are tebtile like hair smaller the width of a hair, shift them to the opposite side from where they are formed. This determines which side structures will for. Once that is established, then organogenesis can begin.\n\nDuring this time, cells will start secreting factors across the embryo. As they diffuse, the concentration of the factors decrease the further they go out. Even though all the cells in the embryo are bathed in these factors, the difference in concentration, or the gradient, of these factors will cause the cells they come in contact with to transform. What they transform in to, the cell type, is determined by the factor that it comes in contact with and the concentration at that particular time.\n\nAs the cells further develop, they will start to register the kinds of cell that surround it. Remember that the type and concentration determines what kind of cell the stem cell develops in to, well when 2 different cells come in to contact, this further direct development of the cell towards a particular tissue type or subtype. The contact with the different cell types also causes the cells to travel and take particular shapes and orientations. For example, look at the layers of tissue of a blood vessel from the endothelium to the connective tissue.\n\nThis is a very difficult and complex process that is normally taught over the course of a semester, so sorry if my summary feels like a trainwrek. \n\nSource:biochemist and doctor",
"Your organs are a fractal replica of the cells they are made up off. Just as city's are replicas of our body's.",
"Read about Hox genes and ciliary dyskinesia. I’d explain in detail if I could, but a quick YouTube video would probably be more succinct and useful for you! I’ll look and see if I can find anything for ya!",
"Kartagener syndrome! Primary ciliary dyskinesia, resulting in complete situs inversus. Everything’s flipped!",
"Can confirm, I have a flipped liver. It's called \"Situs Inversus\". It's more common than you think.",
"My son has a condition called situs inversus. All his organs are a complete mirror image of what a normal persons are.",
"I was not born this way, but my organs are not arranged the same way as most people. Not necessarily moved left and right or flipped, but rather moved up and down. I had surgery when I was an infant due to being born premature at 25 weeks gestation and many systems did not develop properly.\n\nMy liver and uterus and 8 inches higher than normal, my stomach is divided in half and one part is 4 inches higher, my lungs are moved forward by 1 inch and my kidneys are forward by 2 inches. My large intestines are moved down by 4-5 inches. My esophagus is tied around one part of my stomach to keep me from vomiting when I was young and is still that way.",
"My mom’s third or something cousin had this.\n\nHis mother kept having miscarriages, and he was their fifth try at a baby. Almost died at birth so they knew about his condition immediately.\n\nYears/decades later they were working on dna testing to figure out if its genetic (he wanted kids) and got quite a surprise.\n\nTurns out his grandfather was a neighborhood Romeo. His parents are half siblings, and that’s why she kept miscarrying. \n\nNow he has to wear a bracelet, and carry the knowledge that his parents are also his aunt and uncle.\n\nMoral is the story: don’t cheat, or your grandchildren will literally be backwards.",
"My wife's heart is on the wrong side. Freaks doctors out when they stick the stethoscope on her chest.",
"As someone with Situs Inversus Totalis it’s kinda fun going to a new doctor and not saying anything when they go to use the stethoscope. Usually I’ll give them a warning like “Let me know if something doesn’t seem right”, and wait for their puzzled face when they put the instrument on the left side of my chest. \n\nFriends also like to introduce me with my condition by saying something along the lines of, “This is my friend. His organs are upside down.” And yes my friends understand my organs are mirrored, not upside down.",
"I had appendicitis.. nobody could figure it out until my appendix burst.. my appendix was on the left when they typically are on the right",
"I'm sure it's been mentioned before, but yes organs can be mirrored. I actually had a great uncle that died a few years back that donated his body to science because he lived to almost 90 with a flipped heart.",
"I’m not quite sure how it happened, but the aortic arch in my heart goes the opposite way over my heart than it should. (I really don’t know the specifics, this was told to me when I was like 14 and they for the most part told me not to worry about it). I imagine there are a lot of people who have flip flopped organs that just never get discovered simply because there’s no reason to check. The only reason they checked my heart out is because the blood pressure in my left arm is significantly lower than my right. I realize this isn’t much of an explanation but more just my personal experience with having things not be exactly how they should.",
"Can’t comment on how cells know what or where to become, but there is a condition known as *situs inversus* as described by the Wikipedia article of the selfsame title;\n\n > \tSitus inversus (also called situs transversus or oppositus) is a congenital condition in which the major visceral organs are reversed or mirrored from their normal positions. The normal arrangement of internal organs is known as situs solitus while situs inversus is generally the mirror image of situs solitus.\n\n > Although cardiac problems are more common than in the general population, most people with situs inversus have no medical symptoms or complications resulting from the condition, and until the advent of modern medicine it was usually undiagnosed.\n\nFrom further down on the same page:\n\n > \tSitus inversus is found in about 0.01% of the population, or about 1 person in 10,000. In the most common situation, situs inversus totalis, it involves complete transposition (right to left reversal) of all of the abdominal organs. The heart is not in its usual position in the left chest, but is on the right, a condition known as dextrocardia (literally, “right-hearted”). Because the relationship between the organs is not changed, most people with situs inversus have no medical symptoms or complications.",
"It’s called situs inversus if I remember correctly. If you’re lucky, all of your organs are flipped. If you’re not, only some organs are flipped which can cause major issues with overcrowding/ how things are connected. I know one girl who loves to fuck with her doctors by not telling them in advance and then the doctor panics when they can’t hear her heart in the “right” (left) place.",
"I have what’s called heterotaxia which means my organs are in all sorts of different places! My liver is in the middle of my torso instead of off to the side, my heart is in the middle of my chest instead of off to the left, my lungs are bi-lobed, and I have nearly 12 mini-spleens. It has affected literally nothing in my life and actually found out by accident during an MRI for something unrelated. \n\nEdit: Its very rare, caused by mothers with diabetes (which my mom had), and also cocaine use during pregnancy, among other things",
"My sister's aorta is on the opposite side than most people... It's called a [right-sided aortic arch](_URL_0_) She has no health issues from it - her body just decided it wanted to keep the right one!",
"A friend of mine has her heart on the right side. \n\nShe's perfectly healthy, served in the army and everything.",
"Situs inversus is a condition where the cilia (small hair-like projections from cells that move and allow cellular movement) are absent or nonfunctional, which leads to the body being “flipped”. It can be completely asymptomatic for many people, and is discovered when searching for the cause of a problem later in life. \n\nLeads to interesting approaches for surgery, since the side you’re used to operating on is switched, and the muscle memory movements mess with your head.",
"My brother actually has flipped organs ! It’s called situs inversus :) Can’t tell u much more than that, though.",
"My sister was born with her liver and stomach switched. And her veins and arteries were flipped as well, had open heart surgery soon after she was born. Has a pacemaker now but other than that she’s fine",
"Old.but my kid was born with gastrocshesis, so basically her guts were hanging out of what should be her bellybutton.",
"An x-ray tech let me see the x-ray of a lady whose heart was on the opposite side. It was pretty cool to see.",
"My uncle and his daughter have their non paired organs flipped, with the exception of the heart. Very weird, obviously hereditary. They both function like normal though.",
"To answer your second question, it's completely possible for someone to have their organs and insides mirrored. my grandfather and his grandfather and I have a condition called Situs inversus. I have a couple of complications because of it but generally everything functions normally. It's also possible to have things like dextrocardia which is where your heart's on the opposite side. And to be fair, not everyone's organ is exactly in the same spot. Some people have livers and kidneys and spleens that are a little higher than anothers. Hearts that are rotated slightly differently sometimes, and even intestines that are folded indifferent patterns then everyone else's.",
"In school I studied the cadaver of a man whose entire body was flipped. Because his entire system was flipped he died of old age, no one the wiser of his condition until he passed away. His condition and life expectancy would have been completely different if just one or a few of his organs had been flipped. It was one of the most interesting cadavers I was able to learn on.",
"I'm afraid I can't answer the first part of your question. Yet. But I do have a friend shoes internal organs are indeed flipped. All of them. All on the opposite side and backward. He's had to be hospitalized many times because of it but otherwise he's a normal guy. And yes it's true. He brought the xrays/scans as proof.",
"Why isn't anybody mentioning Situs Inversus and Kartagener syndrome?",
"As a former nurse I can say 100% there are absolutely people with flipped organs and it’s more common in twins",
"It's established when you are developing in utero.\n\nStem cells get encoded to be set specific things permanently. Birth defects are when this process goes wrong.",
"_URL_0_\n\nThis will answer your questions AND get stuck in your head for several years. \n\nThis guy is great, has a lot of awesome music videos, and his science it's excellent, accurate, well explained AND rhymes!",
"In the female’s ovary, there are molecules called cytoplasmic determinants. Essentially, they tell the unspecific cells in the embryo what they will become (and the what tissues they will form).\n\nThere are also proteins which determines what part of the embryo is developed into what (for example, Cleavage, which divides the mass of cells which is the embryo into two main portions, which determines which sets of tissues goes where).",
"My grandmother was “flipped” on the inside. Her mother had what they thought was a miscarriage early in the pregnancy but the pregnancy continued. The theory is that my grandmother had a twin but it was lost. My grandmother has passed but she was in a medical journal somewhere.",
"Yes, organs can be flipped. Generally, it causes no issues and most people don't know.\n\nI knew a paramedic with a flipped heart (and likely other organs). When he was in paramedic school, they practiced putting EKGs on each other, and his rhythm was backwards. The student thought he put the leads on backwards, but he didn't. That was how he found out about his flipped heart (later confirmed by a doctor).",
"There are cases where your organs can be misarranged. Sam O' Nella did a video about defoemities and he kind of explained it",
"[**Situs inversus**](_URL_6_) (also called **situs transversus** or **oppositus**) is a [congenital condition](_URL_0_) in which the major [visceral](_URL_4_) [organs](_URL_7_) are reversed or [mirrored](_URL_3_) from their normal positions. Several fictional characters have reversed organs.\n\n Situs inversus is found in about 0.01%[\\[1\\]](_URL_5_) of the population, or about 1 person in 10,000. In the most common situation, situs inversus totalis, it involves complete transposition (right to left reversal) of all of the abdominal organs. \n\n* In the [Ian Fleming](_URL_2_) novel *Dr. No*, [Julius No](_URL_1_) explains to James Bond that he once survived a murder attempt because his heart is located on his right side, which his would-be-killers did not know when they stabbed the spot on the left where the heart of a normal human being would be.",
"When our body develops there are certain gradients of chemicals that are released. Imagine you fart and as you walk towards the origin of the fart it smells stronger and when you walk away it's less intense. If you were blind you could establish that there are two directions, one of higher fart intensity and one of less intensity. When your cells begin to replicate certain cells have a higher density of chemicals and therefore differentiate into different types of cells depending upon the \"intensity\" of their chemicals or signals that where initially released. Cells early on called stem cells can become a variety of different cells and chose to grow up or mature into a more specific version depending on the intensity of the chemical signals within them and in the cells around them.",
"I knew a guy that was made the wrong way, his heart was on the wrong side. \n\n\nHe was a bit odd, almost Asperger, almost. He had a lot of health issues but nothing major. In high school he tried smoking but would cough up mucus. oh and he tried o join the army and when it was his physical his doter told him he had no pulse. haha. I haven't herd or seen him in a long time and I don't know if he's still alive. Id like to think he's married with kids today and is living comfortably.",
"Flipped arteries is a thing. A transposition of the great arteries. Pre 1965/66, you died at birth. Open heart surgery started round about the same time. They developed a solution by operating on the heart and creating a three chambered heart. They called the operation after the doctor who pioneered the process, a mustards op. An American. This all hung around till micro surgery came along and now it's an in embryo op, snip n swap back. Go have a happy life. I know all this because my brother lived this life having been born October 1968. He had a kick ass scar from his operation. His heart finally got him 2015.",
"As mentioned above, there a genes that tell the body where things grow. As for people with their organs in the wrong place Enrique Iglesias has his organs in a mirror position, all the way.",
"All of you who knew how to answer this should write books, podcasts or make videos. Collaborate! When I was pregnant I wanted to know these types of things and details at the library for the layperson in the 90s were scarce. Pregnant women really want to know what the heck is going on in there.",
"The clinical condition you describe is called situs inversus and it's a rare condition where your organs are flipped. Dextrocardia being your heart on the right side the most common symptom. After that your doc will study to find out what other organs might be flipped.\n\nOnce when I was a med student had a cholecystitis patient with pain in the upper left quadrant, and the usual symptom is on the other side, my boss ordered an ultrasound and found the situs inversus condition.\n\nThe dangers of not thinking of this condition when evaluating a patient is the obvious misleading diagnosis on organs that are specific to one side.\n\n...\nLike appendicitis.",
"Some of my organs are flipped (my heart isnt) so there are indeed people with this. I only found out after having an op and being told. I have no symptoms and it doesn't cause issues. It's just important to know for things like appendicitis.",
"Yep, my organs are flipped! It’s called complete situs inversus. About 1:10,000 odds of having it. Nothing different in my case because it’s complete. If it’s not complete things can be horrendous.",
"I’ve seen situs inversus plenty. That’s when all the major organs in the thorax/abdomen are reversed. Dextrocardia seems more common anecdotally, not sure the exact statistics of either. But when you’re looking a stomach bubble on X-ray and you’re allllll, “why’s it over there?” and you rethink all you know about where it’s supposed to be because surely you’re just crazy.",
"I don’t know the science behind it but all I know is that my appendix was on the wrong side behind my intestines instead of in front of them, and also I have one pelvic kidney, which means my kidney is in my pelvis",
"There‘s a condition (not really a condition since it doesn’t harm the body) that mirrors your organs",
"Late to the party but made an account just to answer this. I was born with Kartageners Syndrome which is the combination of situs inversus, chronic sinusitis, and bronchiectasis. This means all of my organs are reversed or “flipped” organs and as an extra bonus I have two spleens. I don’t know the intricacies of the science behind it but always happy to answer questions!",
"I actually have a buddy where his brother has every organ on the opposite side of his body, when he was born they gave him only a few days to live and they went to mew Zealand to a world renowned surgeon that preformed the surgery for (iirc) the 1st or 2nd time in history",
"Hi there, you may no see this but I was actually born with such condition. I have Dextrocardia with situs inversus totalis. Basically all of my organs are mirror imaged to what a normal persons should look like! I live a completely normal life minus a few issues!",
"My grandmother told us once, that she had a friend with her heart on her right side, instead of left. She had to wear a tag saying this, because if some kind of accident accured, medics would need to know that her heart is not stopped, just on the other side.",
"There a condition called Situs inversus where your organs develop like a mirror image - > liver is on the left , heart on the right etc",
"My grandmother's intestines are the correct orientation. Her heart and aorta and everything else is a mirror image of what it is supposed to be. all other organs are in the correct location except for her heart and lungs.",
"My child was born with Transposition of the Great Arteries meaning the arteries that feed into the heart were flipped. Open heart surgery is required to disconnect the arteries and put them back on the correct sides. Very frightening",
"Yes. My aunt has her heart on the right side. No pictures, but nothings wrong with her and she has no conditions",
"Kinda related note: when my kitten was spayed, the vet said she only had one ovary, Fallopian tube and kidney, all lined up instead of having 2 on opposing sides. She said it was rare but not unheard of. She’d never seen it, but knew of it. They call those cats unicorns. Random glitch in life.",
"I almost died because my appendix was on my left side..everything else is normal but the hospital thought I was faking it for drugs until I started vomiting blood",
"I feel like I learned in anatomy that certain organs can show up in the opposite side of the body from where they typically are",
"Yes! I work in the ER and recently had a patient with “Sinus Inversus”. Viewing the Chest X-ray and CT abd/pelvis was super interesting. All visceral organs were mirror imaged. It’s crazy how varied humans are.",
"Something I have a bit of experience with! \nSo I'm not sure as to why this is but when I was born my heart was \"the wrong way round\".\n\nThis meant that the smaller side of my heart that sends blood to the lungs was supplying my body and the larger side was supplying my lungs.\n\nWhen I was born it wasn't really an issue and nobody noticed, it wasn't until I started to grow that I started to randomly go blue and blow bubble frequently (I don't know why with the bubbles).\n\nLong story short, after a pretty intensive operation when I was about 2 I'm now in my mid 20s and doing great, no further treatment is required. I really do owe those guys a lot.",
"A friend of mine has got all his internal organs completely ‘flipped’. He even carries an identification that says his organs are flipped so that a emergency paramedic doesn’t flip when he sees his organs",
"My aunt has a heart that’s flipped the wrong way round, it’s both upside down and backwards",
"Yes! A condition I can think off from the top of my head is Dextrocardia. Usually the heart is in the left side of our chest and in this condition, it is on the right side.",
"Situs inversus! I saw my first patient with this the other day (specifically dextrocardia) !. She did not speak english so she wasn't able to tell me, took me 10 minutes to figure out why her EKG looked so funky. I thought I had just reversed the leads.",
"Also, there are people born with literally EVERY part of their bodies flipped. What doctors do then is simply turn them around.",
"When I was 16, we discovered that I have a condition called Situs Inversus. No real idea how it wasn't caught before then. Simply put, I have all of the organs in my chest flipped. For example, my heart is in the middle sticking out to the right instead of the normal way of sticking out to the left. Before it was taken out, my appendix was also in my left instead of my right.\n\nWhen it was discovered, the doctors kinda freaked me out a bit. I was standing in a machine being scanned because my parents thought I had pnemonia. I could see the doctor as he got the first scan and I'll never forget the look of confusion on his face as he immediately called for three other doctors to come into the room. Nothing like a whole bunch of bewildered doctors looking at your internal scan to make you believe that death is imminent. Eventually, they had me scanned again, but with little stickers on me that said \"left\" and \"right\". Apparently, they'd thought their machine needed calibration.\n\nAs for the causes of this, I am mainly told that it is the unfortunate pairing of two rare, recessive genes from my parents. I have three siblings and none of them have it. It is likely that some of them are carriers though, meaning that my sibling's kids might have the condition if my siblings have kids with other carriers or someone who has the condition. As it stands, all of my children will be carriers unless my wife is also a carrier. If she is, half of my kids will have the condition and the other half will be carriers. It's caused no small amount of anxiety for the two of us. Testing can be done to find out if she is a carrier, but we are elementary teachers who get paid like elementary teachers and we need to eat about three times a day. It's also quite unlikely that she is.\n\nFor me, there are no complications. A confusing appendectomy is all I've gotten from it. Others are not as lucky. When I was in the hospital for my appendex, I mentioned my Situs Inversus and was told that, strangely, I was the 2nd person admitted that day with the condition. The doctor working with me said that she'd only seen the two of us in her 30 years of practicing medicine. Technically, I have Situs Inversus Totalis, meaning that I'm completely flipped. However, most people with the condition only get get some things flipped. The other man in the hospital only had his heart flipped, and I'm sure you can imagine the health problems that come with only part of your plumbing being mirrored. I was told that most people like him die early on in life.\n\nI've been told varying statistics for how common the condition is, but one of the most common is that 1 in 10,000 people have Situs Inversus in some form. Totalis is much more rare than that, though I can't ever seem to get a consistent number on that one. Sometimes it's 1 in 100,000, sometimes it's 1 in 1,000,000.\n\nLet me tell you though, what the condition mostly afflicts me with is the same questions over and over. It's always the same two that come first:\n\n\"So when you say the Pledge of Allegiance, do you put your hand on your right?\" I guess I should, but I think the flag catches my drift.\n\n\"So you could be a super soldier. Like, people would aim for your heart and miss.\" Sure, they'd probably only hit something nonessential, like a lung.\n\nIt's been a good icebreaker. And I always get to tell people that my heart is in the right place.",
"My grandma was actually born with her right on the opposite side! Very rare case and yes her heart is very healthy",
"My friend in HS had flipped organs. She had a lot of medical problems and tired easily. She died shortly after graduation. RIP Misha.",
"I think you got the answer of first question from all. It's basically some Gene groups which efect that and it involves mainly the gut rotation and development of heart. \n\nNow as a medical prof, I will answer the second question .\n\nYES, there is a condition known as situs inversus . As the name implies it means reversal of the organ direction in whole body. This is very interesting condition and is associated with some other conditions like Primary ciliary dyskinesia etc.\n\nBasically the entire body organs is rotated in opposite direction and this means that you heart is facing right, your caecum is on left and stomach on right and liver on left etc. \n\nOne of the most interesting things is that most people never realize they have situs inversus and I have seen only 1 case . In fact most situs inversus are identified when patient goes for a scheduled check up or before surgery. The cardiac examination where doctor doesn't feel heartbeat on left is the moment where most suspect situs inversus. It is frankly an amazing scenario.\n\nThere are some other varieties also where only gut is rotated and not other organs etc. But those are different conditions.",
"Just out of curiosity. I have read about organs being flipped in a body, but have there every been any recordings of say hands and feet that have been flipped? Like a left hand on the right arm?",
"From Wikipedia:\n\n\"Situs inversus causes the positions of the heart and lungs to be mirrored. Situs inversus (also called situs transversus or oppositus) is a congenital condition in which the major visceral organs are reversed or mirrored from their normal positions.\"\n\nHere's a link to a woman who lived her entire life without having the slightest clue that she had situs inversus:\n_URL_0_",
"I used to think there were people who were completely the opposite way round, like flipped horizontally. But it turned out they were just facing the other way",
"In the brain specifically, left-handed people often have brain structures that are flip-flopped; language centers which are usually on opposite sides can switch positions or end up on the same side of the brain. Other parts of your brain can do this too but language centers are some of the most common.",
"Actually, in my home town a doctor got stabbed from a dude in the waiting room a few days ago. He survived because his liver is on the \"wrong\" side because of an abnormality. (Vienna Austria in Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital)",
"Yes, my brother in law had his organs on the opposite side to everyone else, dont know much more except he lived his life just as everyone else.. didnt seem to be a problem.",
"My first real Reddit post. My PhD work was the discovery of the first genes that turn on just on one side of the body (in 1995). It's not Hox genes, but other genes that turn each other on and off, differently on the left and right sides of the body, and eventually they make the cells multiply, move, and pull on each other differently resulting in differently-shaped (or differently present) organs on one side vs. the other. The key thing is that genes by themselves can't tell location or direction (it's chemical factors near DNA that determine which genes turn on, and they work the same way where-ever in the body they are), so whichever gene is the first one in the cascade to turn on just on one side, \\*why\\* doesn't the cell on the opposite side turn it on too? Subsequent research by my lab and others showed that there is a bioelectric system (where cells acquiring differential electric potentials on the L and R side and move small molecules like serotonin to once side) which allows the two sides to sort out which is which and eventually turn correct genes on. And upstream of the bioelectric system lies a set of tiny train tracks inside of cells (called the cytoskeleton) along which the bioelectric machinery slides. It slides in one direction, to set up an electric gradient pointing left to right, because each cell has a track organizing center that is shaped like a right hand (but there's not a mirror-image one) which gets oriented with respect to the other two axes of space, and inevitably points rightward. This happens very very early - in the frog for example, within 2 hours of fertilization.\n\nAlso, there are different ways of being \"flipped\". One is called \"situs inversus\", where you are 100% mirror image - that's the best one to be because everything connects up alright and there are few to no problems (in fact I've been contacted by people in their 80's who never knew they were backwards - their doctors used to flip the X-rays and think they were fine). Then there's \"isomerism\", where the asymmetry is lost and you are symmetrical, a double left or a double right - that's not good. And there's \"heterotaxia\", where each organ makes its own independent decision which side it's going to go on - that can be really bad. Interestingly, disorders of laterality often happen in conjoined twins (ask me if you want to know why, we figured it out). Also interesting that the laterality of brain and behavior (handedness etc.) seem to be set by a distinct system; people with situs inversus are still 90% right handed.\n\nThere are many other interesting issues here. Imagine that you made audio contact with some aliens, they're shaped roughly like us. You've learned each other's language pretty well, and it's now time to tell them what our words \"left\" and \"right\" mean. Remember you can't hand them a glove and say that it's a \"right\" one. So you say, \"Lie down so that your belly points to the center of gravity of your planet - that's called \"ventral\". Look forward - the direction in which your visual sense organs point - that's \"anterior\". Now, your left hand is the one that -- ??\" It's a super-tough question. Whatever you say, they can be thinking of the mirror image one. There are very few ways of solving this!",
"I know a guy that has all his organs vice-versa then they should be. His heart is on the right and the lungs on the left and so on. His perfectly healthy just has this condition. I cant remember the name...",
"My now 9 year old was born with a mal-rotated intestine. Basically his intestines didn't develop into the normal coil. His appendix (normally bottom right corner) under his left lung. All the rest of his guts were in there all wonkey. Eventually they would have twisted on themselves and grew would have died. The guy who invented the surgery to fix it did so because he wad sick off seeing some 90% of his pediatric patients ellish this condition dying before 5yo.",
"There are people who have all of their organs flipped. My cousin is one of them. She has to wear a bracelet notifying emergency workers just in case.",
"I knew identical twins that went to my high school. One had her organs all normal while the other one had all of her organs flipped.",
"Firstly, yes. It happens. Called situs inversus if all organs are on the wrong side..\"flipped\" or dexocardia if only your heart is on the right side, but a lot of people said that already.\n\nHow do cells know where in the body they are and therefor what they should become?\n\nYou know when you stir hot tea and the sugar disappears way quicker? That is because there are small particles in the tea that bump into the sugar and help it distribute quicker in the tea. This happens even when you dont stir, only much slower. Even in cold(er) liquids. For example the liquids in your body while you develop.\n\nWhile you develop there are different kinds of cells in your body that produce different kinds of liquids, called hormones. These different kinds of cells are on different spots in your body. For example one kind is in your head, another, that produces a different hormone, is in your stomach and so on.\n\nLike the sugar, without stirring, these hormones are distributed in your body. Which means the further away a cell is from, say, those hormone producing cells in your (not yet) head, the less hormones it gets. By the amount of hormone it gets, it knows how far away it is from your head, your feet, your stomach and so on.\n\nDepending on how much of which hormone the cell gets, it becomes a different kind of cell. Liver, if its far away from your head and your feet but also on the side of the stomach, brain if its really close to the head.\n\nAdditionally, cells want to be the same kind of cell they are surrounded by, so if there is already a lot of liver cells somewhere and a cell in the middle of those had not decided yet, its going to be a liver cell as well.",
"Not quite \"flipped\" organs; but my father has isotopic kidneys meaning both of his kidneys developed on one side of his body.",
"One of the coolest things I have ever learned is that when your fertilized egg was implanted on the walls of your mother’s womb, she deposited a hormone on the surface of you. This drop created a coordinate system for your body (the concentration of the hormone was higher on one side than the other) and from this initial ‘alignment’ everything, your body draws its frame of reference for ‘where things should be.’",
"There is a condition called “situs inversus” where the organs are mirrored (this may have been posted already buried in the comments): \n\n_URL_0_\n\nYou can read from the articles, it is very rare and I’ve heard mixed accounts of whether it’s “bad” or not. Think former NBA player Randy Foye had the condition. I only know this because my son was incorrect diagnosed with this when he was born preemie by 3 weeks and had to be brought to the ER during a rough coughing spell.\n\nEDIT: apologies just dug down not too far and saw it was already posted several times.",
"My neighbor's child was born with all his organs reversed. They called it \"situs inversion\". He had a lot of heart issues as a result though. (I'm guessing that it wasn't a perfect mirror-image.)",
"Wasnt there a kind of disease named Situs Invertus? I remember this one time i was playing Hitman and this mission mentioned the target's heart was flipped.",
"Genes are like an instruction manual for the body. In this situation, imagine it more like a map. There are genes that provide the compass rose on the map, that would tell you which way to hold it so that it’s facing north. If there’s a problem with one of those genes, it’s kind of like having a map without a compass on it at all. So when you pick up the map, you just have to guess which way is up. Similarly, early in development, people who have an abnormality in one of the genes bodies just have to make a guess on which side is left and which side is right. About half the time they get it right, half the time they don’t. So in families that have one of these gene changes not everyone is affected who carries the gene, only about half of them, but anyone who carries the gene can pass it on to their kids, and again at the time of development for those kids, there’s about a 50-50 chance that the standard orientation of organs versus the flipped orientation of organs happens. The technical name for having flipped organs is called situs inversus.",
"There's a very rare congenital defect called Situs Inversus, which means multiple (or all) internal organs are flipped from the regular position. \n \nThere's no health concerns in people who have the condition. The only real problem that can arise is during a medical procedure in undiagnosed people. Many people with Situs Inversus wear or have some form of identification that let's medical personnel know they have the condition.",
"I think the umbrella term is heterotaxy for when your organs are in the wrong place. My son has it, his liver is not in the right place. It's common for people with certain heart defects to have heterotaxy and also common to have no spleen or multiple small spleens if you have heterotaxy.",
"yo, I am someone with flipped organs. My organs are 'misplaced' due to the fact that my cilia didn't develop right and during your development they have apparently a role in placing your organs. I am not good in biology, but I do know a bit over myself. \n\nThere is probably a lot more to it, but that is one of the main reasons.",
"there are folks with flipped organs - Donny Osmond, Enrique Iglesias, and Catherine O'Hara are a few!",
"To answer your second question, there is a condition called Situs Inversus, wherein one or more (sometimes all) of a person's internal organs are are inverted across the sagittal plane. I.e. it appears as a mirror image of the normal arrangement. An example of this is people whose hearts are on the right side of their chest cavity.",
"My middle school music teacher’s son had a condition where all his organs were flipped like that, yeah",
"So I might be way late to the discussion but there are certain things that can be switched. For something like 90% of people, Wernicke’s Area, a section of the brain which controls language (not just speech btw), is on the left hemisphere. However, the other 10% or so have it on their right hemisphere! In other words, language processing can be switched to the other half.",
"I know this is way late, and probably won’t be seen, but oh well. \n\nJust to add to the story, I started having insane stomach pains when I was about 28. It would come and go. I’d also start puking out of nowhere. I’d feel 100% fine, but all of a sudden I’d projectile vomit out of nowhere. \n\nAfter a colonoscopy, endoscopy, tons of lab work, x-rays, etc... I was finally given a CT scan, and they discovered I had intestinal malrotation. My intestines did not fully go into place during gestation, so all of my small intestine was bunched up on the right side of my abdomen, and large intestine was all bunched on the left side. \n\nI had a world renowned surgeon cut me up and reposition everything where it should be. No more issues."
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_No",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_image",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viscera",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus#cite_note-1",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situs_inversus",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_(anatomy)"
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87y81i | what is black matter? is it the stuff that is displaced when regular matter is clumped together? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/87y81i/eli5_what_is_black_matter_is_it_the_stuff_that_is/ | {
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"Are you talking about black holes? Or dark matter? I'm not quite sure what you're asking",
"You mean [Dark Matter](_URL_0_)?\n\nWe don't know. We've never seen it, only observed it's effects.\n\nBasically, our observations of the universe seem to suggest that there's a whole lot more mass out there, hidden, because it has gravitational effects on galaxies and whatnot, but *there's nothing we can see out there*. As best as we can tell, it's some other form of matter that just doesn't react with with light (electromagnetism) in any way, making it nearly impossible to observe.\n\nNow, I know this sounds like hand-waving bullshit (like older theories of the [cosmic aether](_URL_1_)) but all the math & all our theories **really** strongly point to it existing and we can't find any direct evidence (other than needing to say \"there's dark matter out there\") for our theories and math to be wrong.",
"It's called Dark Matter. \nShort answer is we don't know exactly. \nLonger answer is this: \nDark matter is the least dumb, least complicated idea that fits the data we have. \nGood science is often just that. \nPlug the numbers into an equation for gravity and you'd expect things to act in a certain way. \nScientist looked at distant galaxies through telescopes and found the numbers weren't adding up. \nThe things were spinning too fast, almost as if there was more mass they just couldn't see. \nSo they went down the list of things that could do that. \nNormal matter dust all over the place? Nope! Not blocking light. \nA bunch of black holes? Nope! The effect of gravity on light is bending the beams evenly. \nThey continued down the list, getting dumber and more complicated until they reached a point. \nThere is some kind of particle that has gravity, but doesn't interact in any other way. \nAnd for the first time, nobody could come up with a \"Nope\". \nThere's a possibility that we just understood gravity wrong, but the law would be ridiculously complex to explain why everything was acting as if there was a particle that had gravity, but wouldn't interact otherwise. \nNow you know how science is made."
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1qpdsv | what are logarithms actually doing? when would we display data using a log scale and why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qpdsv/eli5_what_are_logarithms_actually_doing_when/ | {
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"So logarithmic scales are used to display things where we don't care how much something increased by, we care how much relative to one step back it's increased by. The Richter scale is a great example. A 6.0 quake is 10 times stronger than a 5.0 quake. If we actually used the non-log values, it would be a 1,000,000 power quake vs a 100,000 power quake. Those are not as easily interpretable by humans.",
"When you multiply a number by itself a few times, you can express that number in terms of an \"exponent\" - the exponent is a little number to the upper right of the number that says, \"this is how many times the number has been multiplied by itself\". So,\n\n2 x 2 x 2 = 2^3\n\nHere, we multiplied 2 by itself 3 times, so the number 2 has the exponent 3.\n\nThe \"logarithm\" is the reverse of this operation. When we ask, \"what is log_2(8)\" we are asking, \"what is the base 2 logarithm of the number 8\", or, \"how many times did we multiply 2 (the *base*) to get the number 8\". The answer to this question is the *exponent* from above.\n\nSince 2 x 2 x 2 = 2^3 = 8 (that is, the *base* 2 multiplied by itself 3 times equals *base* 2 to the *exponent* 3 power equals 8), we know that the log_2(8) = 3. How many times did we multiply 2 to get the number 8? 3 times.\n\nWhat this means, is that we can use logarithms to express REALLY BIG NUMBERS relative to each other in a much smaller space.\n\nImagine a graph that graphs data ranging from 2 to the number 1,048,576. That's going to be a graph with an enormous Y-axis scale (1 million is way bigger than 2). \n\nHowever, if we took the base-2 logarithm of every data point, we'd end up with a Y-axis that only goes from 1 to 20 (log_2(2) = 1; log_2(1048576) = 20). Thus, we often display data using a log scale because it allows us to relate REALLY HUGE numbers to each other on a scale that is much easier to understand.\n\nI hope that helps. References: _URL_1_, _URL_0_\n\nEdit: Clarified in the 2^3=8 example that the exponent is 3, not 8 - my initial post could have been read the wrong way.",
"Logarithms are useful in comparing values that vary over a large range. If for instance you are an astronomer and you are interested in the brightness of stars, you'll find once you start measuring that the brightness of stars varies over a very large range.\n\nBright stars are easily ten billion times more bright than average stars, and then there are stars ten billion times *less* bright than the average.\n\nIf you want to compare the brightness of stars by plotting results in an ordinary (linear) graph, only the brightest of the brightest stars will show up away from your axis. All other stars have a brightness value that causes them to be plotted so close to the axis that they might as well not show up.\n\nEnter the logarithmic scale. Instead of plotting the brightness itself, you plot the logarithmic value of the brightness. This reduces the differences greatly. Where previously your largest value was ten billion times larger than average, its logarithm is ten *units* above average. This means that you can plot both the brightest and average stars in the same graph and have all stars show up in the plot.\n\nSo, to answer your question: one would use a logarithmic scale when studying measurements that vary over an immense range. In addition to the brightness of stars, the loudness of sounds is usually measured using a logarithmic scale (the difference between 60 decibel and 70 decibel in sound is exactly one bel (ten deci is one unit), but the 70 decibel sound is *ten times* as loud as the sixty decibel sound.\n\nAnother neat use for logarithms is that you can use them for quickly multiplying numbers. Take the logarithm of both numbers, add these, convert the result back to a number and that is the result of your multiplication. That is how a [slide rule](_URL_0_) works. But I guess that you have probably never been near one of those in real life.",
"1. Explain the Logarithm\n\nThe logarithm is the inverse of the exponential function like y = 2^x. Each time x increases by 1, y doubles. The log (base 2) function is the reverse. so log(8) is the amount of times if have to double the number 1 to get to 8. log(8) = 3. The natural logarithm is in base e (2.71828ish) instead of 2 (like in the example). Oftentimes, you'll see people use base 10.\n\n2. Why use the logarithmic scale for some data?\n\nA good example is earthquakes and the Richtor scale. The richtor scale is logarithmic (base 10). To convert the power of an earthquake to the richtor scale, use the log function on it.\n\nThis means that a quake level 1 is a tenth of a level 2 or a thousandth of a level 4 earthquake. If I wanted to compare the power a bunch of earthquakes on a linear graph, the height of the lvl 1 would be at 1. the height of the level 4 would be at 1000. This may be better for visualization (since it shows how much more immense the 4 is), but it's impractical for accuracy since the lvl 1 would be barely visible.\n\nThe logarithmic scale allows us to show the lvl 1 at 1, the lvl 4 at 4, and the lvl 10 at 10. It makes comparing figures easy when we care about both the tiny and enormous figures. As long as you understand the scale, it becomes very efficient.",
"I'll have a crack at explaining this at ELI5 level. \n\nYou know about powers of ten? Going from 10, to 100, to 1,000? Those represent three powers of ten. You could say that 1,000 could be written as 10^3. You could also say, \"Hey, I'm going to say this number and it means not juust the number, but the power of ten.\" I.e., in our example, 3. Which means 10 to the power of 3, or 1,000.\n\nThis is useful in many contexts. One example is the pH scale. pH is equal to the negative log of Hydrogen ions. Forget the negative for a minute. The actual numbers of H ions might be in hard-to-grasp amounts--like 7.6882x10^-4. I totally made that number up, and it's not important. What is important is that the pH scale allows a quicker understanding and a more visually-appealing way to represent the same data.\n\nLogs are another way to represent powers. Commonly, they represent powers of ten like I wrote, but they can represent other powers as well. ",
"Intuitively logarithm tells you how many times you can divide a number (in half, in thirds, in fourths, etc...). Alternatively, how many times you can merge number of objects into groups (of two, of three, of four, etc...)\n\nFor example. Cell division is process by which a cell replicates by splitting half (simplified). Say you want to know how many divisions it would have taken for a single parent cell to divide into 64 cells.\n\nYou could work it out:\n64 cells, 32 cells, 16 cells, 8 cells, 4 cells, 2, cells, 1 cell (6 divisions)\n\nOr take log(64) = 6 divisions"
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61jn6b | why does sound quality drop when the volume is too high? what causes it to sometimes sound 'grainy'? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61jn6b/eli5_why_does_sound_quality_drop_when_the_volume/ | {
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" This is generally caused by a speaker operating at, near, or beyond its mechanical limitations. Speakers - like other machines - have defined range of where they are most efficient. If you get outside that range, they will lose accuracy and precision. This is what you are hearing when you describe that \"grainy\" sound. It is the speaker cone being asked to do more than it is designed, thus moving in very non-musical ways. This is often referred to as *distortion*. Keep in mind that distortion can also describe a signal (such as an electric guitar with a distortion pedal). These are not quite the same thing, but the sound effect they produce is similar. ",
"A [typical speaker](_URL_0_) is a cone of paper that's attached to a magnetic system, with the magnetic force moving the paper up and down, according to the frequency of the music or sounds that are played. \n\nTo make louder sounds, the speaker cone has to vibrate more vigorously, and as explained above, at some point the physical constraints in the speaker prevent the cone from accurately moving with the music, resulting in distortion.",
"Sound is generated by vibrations in the air. If you hit a drum the surface vibrates and sound is made. Speakers use magnets to transform electric signals to vibrations. A louder volume requires stronger vibrations. Too high a volume can exceed the speakers capability to make those vibrations, so the sound gets all distorted as it still attempts to try",
"First you have to establish analog vs digital, two COMPLETELY different worlds. Analog signals overload and distort, digital signals hard clip and literally lose bits of information. "
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20ppet | if i could travel to the edge of our universe, could i go past the border? what would happen if i tried? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20ppet/eli5_if_i_could_travel_to_the_edge_of_our/ | {
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"I imagine in an ever expanding univers if you got to\"the border\" instrad of crossing it you would actually be just expanding the known universe but as ever im probably wrong. I just thought of it somewhat like the fog of war in video games ",
"Within the universe... is\n\nOutside the universe... is not\n\nCan you be where isn't? Can you describe not? ",
"[There is likely no edge, but there *is* a \"time horizon\" to the observable universe.](_URL_0_)",
"**If we were to get into an idea ship aka a ship of the imagination and not be bound by physical laws then it would appear as this:** \n\nAs you get closer to the edge of the universe time would slow down to a crawl getting slower and slower and slower, as you reach the edge of the universe that is travelling at the speed of light, you would get to the point where time would seem almost un-moving, time would seem stopped. And then because you have stopped in time you could never reach the end of the universe. It would be forever beyond your grasp in time. And if you somehow went beyond it, time would have no meaning, you would not technically exist in either time or space. You are nothing.\n\nThe absolute answer to your question. Is..........We don't know.\n\nThat answer depends on some formed ideas of what IS the universe and how large it is but really we don't know they are just highly educated guesses based on math and still could be wrong.\n\nAs pocket potato says the moment you go beyond the universe, it is your actions that expanded the universe. The universe is expanding at the speed of light, and we cannot go faster than the speed of the light, therefore we can never reach it. \n\n",
"I see some great answers here, but I'm going to drop in a real ELI5 answer here as it was given to me.\n\nSo, we know that nothing can go faster than the speed of light. Unfortunately, parts of our universe are moving away from us at pretty dang close to the speed of light. Let's freeze things so we can catch up to them.\n\n*Snap*\n\nBam. Everything stopped moving and we're able to go to the farthest galaxy away from us. As we get closer and closer to it, we pass hundreds of billions of other galaxies, leaving them behind us. That means there are fewer and fewer galaxies out in front of us until we can only see 1 galaxy surrounded by darkness.\n\nAnd we reach it. And we go to the edge. Then we look back. Well there's our universe. All of the galaxies and stars and star stuff that ever existed. If the lights from everything were bright enough to be observable, I'm sure it'd be one heck of a sight.\n\nThen we turn around. What do we see? Well, more of the same, but without all the star stuff. In other words, it's really, really dark out there. Let's go check it out.\n\nTheoretically, we could go searching out here forever and just not find anything. We could always look back at our home universe and there it would be, frozen right where we left it, but all of it would be in this little bubble of light in the distance.\n\nWe could eventually go so far away that the bubble would become a dot and probably find NOTHING. Maybe there are other bubbles out there. Maybe there's something out there that defies our understanding of things that are and can be. But no one really knows. \n\nWhat we do know, is that if there is anything, it's a really really really long way away.",
"I think the universe is curved back on itself through a higher dimension. You can't find an edge to it anymore than you can find an edge to a sphere."
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3m10q3 | slam poetry | I know literally nothing about it other than it sounds like normal poetry with randomly enunciated syllables. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3m10q3/eli5_slam_poetry/ | {
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"Its just like spoken word in the sense that it *can* rhyme, but it doesn't have to. Also it's just people talking about current issues or issues they've dealt with, in a non violent way. It's rather fun to watch.",
"Slam Poetry is basically a way to articulate a problem that can be difficult to talk about, but in a way that is able to reach more people. Anything that sounds remotely like it has a rhythm is easier to express. For example, with Taylor Mali, we see a teacher who feels like people don't respect his position in society _URL_0_. Or we see one who lost his innocence in Anis Mojgani _URL_1_. Slam Poetry is a way to get social problems out as a performance art that can exemplify and grab a larger audience who might experience the same issues. Shane Koyczan is an example of this as well. But it can also be about love. It is a poetry style that is written for performance, rather than being read off a page as Whitman or Robert Frost.",
"As poetry, it's basically just free verse -- rhythm and sound are emphasized, totally unlike normal prose, but there is no strict meter or rhyme scheme. Topically, it deals with social issues and difficult personal problems -- a personal experience of social injustice or lack of respect for certain roles, or gender and racial issues all make common themes. \n\nWhat really makes slam poetry what it is, though, is that it's focused on the live spoken performance, not the written form. It came from what were (and are) called 'poetry slams,' live events where writers/performers give energetic, impassioned recitations of their work, and the delivery is as important as the writing, or more so, at the competitive judged slams. Looking up Robert Frost or even Billy Collins will get you links to their poems, written. Look up slam poetry, you'll find video links. A successful slammer not only writes well, but practices the delivery endlessly, as opposed to normal poets, who give readings, but the written form is the primary basis of their work -- meant to be read, where slam poetry is meant to be witnessed live.",
"The vikings had a somewhat similar way of fighting each other verbally. It was really a rap-battle called flyting that wasn't about speed (which the art of rapping is about) but about cleverly dissing your opponent with rhymes. ",
"1. Slam poetry is a style of performance poetry. \n2. Performance poets perform poems at an event called a poetry slam.\n3. Judges at the poetry slam listen to the poets' poems and vote for the poem they like best.\n4. The person whose poems are liked best by the judges wins the poetry slam. \n\nThose are the specifics, but it seems like your question isn't so much about the mechanics of slam poetry as it is about the style of performance. The \"randomly enunciated\" syllables as well as the [body language, gestures, and even predetermined choreography](_URL_2_) found in slam poetry...well, I'm not sure you'll find a really clear-cut reason, but I think it has equal roots in both how to present language in a visually appealing and engaging manner as well as the same reason you start to act like the people you spend the most time with. \n\nFirst off, you have to start to think like a poet in that words are less of a tool and more of a landscape in which different treasures of meaning are hidden. In day-to-day life, poetry is utterly and completely useless: any poet who tells you otherwise is a liar and not to be trusted, just as any poet is not to be trusted whatsoever but that's for another time. People generally use language as a utility and nothing more. However, one of the biggest roles in a poets work is considering the different, minute, and often microscopic implications of different words even when it comes to synonyms that supposedly share identical meaning. Look at the difference between marvelous and stunning, both synonyms for each other according to _URL_3_. While they might point toward the same basic concept, the difference between the two can be enormous. Marvelous *(describing that which is superb, excellent, and/or great)* can generally identify that which is stunning *(causing, capable of causing, or liable to cause astonishment, bewilderment, or a loss of consciousness or strength)*, but that which is stunning isn't always marvelous. Now, in considering these layered implications, it might make more sense to use one over the other in description when, at first glance, both might seem to do just fine in any place. **The whole point of this is that poetry aims toward using the best words in the best order, and it seems to me that when this order is (in the opinion of a poet) achieved, there's a pride factor involved: once you feel like you've found the best words, you not only want to shout them from the rooftops, you want to make sure every.single.syllable. is enunciated in undeniable clarity and stretched and pulled to the absolute limit so all the glory can get out.**\n\nPoetry (including slam poetry) is very much a matter of the onion. Once you nail down even a certain layer of understanding, there's just another one to figure out beneath it, and the whole exercise usually leaves somebody in tears. \n\n**For those interested in a little history lesson:** Going a few decades back, we need to understand that the origin of slam poetry is very much reactionary. Any moderately-educated slam poetry enthusiast, as well as this article [here](_URL_1_) courtesy of _URL_0_, will tell you that the current model of slam poetry still very much in use originated in the mid-80's by a construction worker in a Chicago Jazz club. Sure, yes, Allen Ginsburg and other beat poets in the years leading up slam poetry to were doing great work that shifted poetry away from the upper-crust, but their work was still fundamentally academic and intellectual to the point of being still largely inaccessible to the layman. This is where we get the all-too-familiar image of modern poetry so deeply rooted in popular culture that it's very difficult to understand poetry as something approachable by a \"normal\" person. This is where Marc Smith comes into play. He was so fed up with the revolving door of hyper-intellectual, masturbatory, droning hipsters and bongo beats that he aimed to give poetry back to the people, to make it loud and unapologetic and savage, something between the image of a lion devouring an antelope and the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen. \n\nEdit: fucking possessives"
]
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1t6yey | why can a city zoning board tell me what i can do with land that i own? | I built a small chicken coup in my fairly rural back yard and my neighbors called the zoning board who ordered me to take apart the "structure" because it had a cinder block foundation. Why can they do that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1t6yey/eli5_why_can_a_city_zoning_board_tell_me_what_i/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Because they are empowered by the voters (via delgation from the city council/county comissioners) to enforce the rules created to benefit all the voters. ",
"The system is intended to prevent people from (a) building unsafe things that could fall and hurt somebody, and (b) reducing the property value of nearby homes. For example, I shouldn't be allowed to build a factory in my backyard, since that reduces the value of my neighor's homes and therefore in some sense I'm \"stealing\" their money.\n\nIn the case of a chicken coop? Sounds like you annoyed a neighbor who dislikes chickens and found a technicality that you were guilty of."
]
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[],
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7iox9z | why is smoking so common amongst the asian population at my college? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7iox9z/eli5_why_is_smoking_so_common_amongst_the_asian/ | {
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"text": [
"Impossible to know without more details, but if you have a lot of international students then it is possible you are seeing the effects of much higher rates of smoking in many east asian countries, like China.",
"Smoking is socially acceptable in Asia (for men, not women). For example, around 70% of Chinese men are smokers. \n\nFurthermore, cigarettes are cheap. Cigarette companies bank on volume, and rising prices are usually a result of government pressure as a disincentive to smoking."
]
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[],
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||
2vf38e | what does interpol really do? does the organisation actually wield any power? | Despite regularly following world news and reading a good deal on history and current events, I feel almost all the exposure to INTERPOL's existence that I come across is in movies (Lord of War and the Lupin the 3rd franchise, for example). Does INTERPOL actually have any power? And what does it really do in terms of major or minor operations? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2vf38e/eli5_what_does_interpol_really_do_does_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"coh1ghn"
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"text": [
"It's basically an information exchange and allows police forces to quickly exchange intelligence and get warrants to facilitate extradition, etc.\n\nIt is not a Police Force in and on itself. It enables say, the French Police to go and arrest someone in France on behalf of the Spanish authorities based either on a European Arrest Warrant or a French warrant raised at the request of the Spanish (i.e. they did something illegal here - it's illegal in France as well - here's our Spanish warrant but they've crossed the border, so please arrest them and extradite).\n\nAlso for police forces to collaborate if say you have human trafficking, drug smuggling, etc from one country to another - they can share intelligence to try and crack down on both ends of the operation.\n\nIt does not mean you get \"Interpol agents\" jetting round the world with some sort of global jurisdiction."
]
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1b443p | why does my laptop still have a huge box on the power cord? every other part has gotten smaller but i still have to carry around a big chunky box of a power cable. | Laptops are tiny now compared to just a few years ago but the box on the power cord is still about the same size. Is there just no demand or is there something about the power cord that makes it impossible to get any smaller? Why can't it be the size of a quarter? Thanks. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1b443p/eli5_why_does_my_laptop_still_have_a_huge_box_on/ | {
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"This is because it's an adapter that reduces the voltage from the power source to the voltage required by the laptop. To do this, a small transformer is required (the chunky box) and this has to contain two coils of wire of certain sizes to convert the voltage from X to Y. Until transformer technology is re-invented to become more compact, the chunky box on the charger lead will always be present.",
"Just to clarify, you'll notice some appliances, such as TVs or PCs, don't have a 'box' at all. In fact, the transformer is just built into the appliance.",
"As laptops use less power they'll get smaller. The power adapter for my ARM chromebook is pretty tiny, only about 3\"x1\"x1\" or a little less than half the size of an apple power brick. Then chromebook uses little enough power that it doesn't even have any fans though.\n\nHowever most laptops today are still pretty power hungry. The average power adapter has stayed around 95w for years, but they range anywhere from about 45w to 140w+",
"Its also not possible to put the box in the actuall computers as different countries need different size boxes and its easier to just put it in the cord",
"I'd like to ask a followup question on this to the people who know such things:\n\nWhy do some electronics use [these abominations](_URL_0_) instead of the [more convenient type](_URL_1_)? Is there any advantage to using one over the other or are companies just fucking assholes?",
"It's due to two major causes:\n\n1. High power density is expensive! When designing a switch-mode charger (which all modern laptops use) the design/product engineer has to target a certain power density measured in W/in^3 (watts per cube inch.) A good high end server power supply will reach up to 25~30W/in^3 however doing so is very costly so a consumer orientated product may instead target a mere 5~15W/in^3. \n\n2. Your laptop eats a lot of power! Modern GPUs and CPUs may be very energy efficient but a good laptop may still chew 20~30W idle and perhaps 50W~100W while doing intensive processing, plus if the battery is discharged it will need to charge that too (perhaps add 20W or so for that.) Since the design engineer has to ensure the power supply can provide the peak demand continuously, the power supply is sized for peak demand rather than average demand.",
"So why can't you buy a brick that you plug into your wall and it has a dial on it so you can just look at a sticker on your device to see where to put the dial? And the power port on every laptop is the same, so you just need one kind of cord that goes between the power brick and the power port on the laptop? Why not that?",
"Why is a MacBook charger much smaller than some dell chargers such as the brick OP is talking about?"
]
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"http://i.imgur.com/FIPhM9a.jpg",
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1u53gz | how does a hacking group like "derptrolling" ddos huge gaming servers (lol,minecraft, wow) without getting detected... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1u53gz/eli5_how_does_a_hacking_group_like_derptrolling/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"They get access to a giant bot net of hacked regular computers and send out attach commands for those random computers to carry out.\n\n\n\nVery hard to trace unless they screw up the methods of sending the commands",
"That's the beauty of a ddos attack. The server receives millions of requests from thousands of different computers from all over. You have 1000 legitimate users and 100million fakes. You have to respond to everyone"
]
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[],
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2xaghn | why is it so hard to learn what letters come before and after another letter in the alphabet | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xaghn/eli5_why_is_it_so_hard_to_learn_what_letters_come/ | {
"a_id": [
"coyd4hy"
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"text": [
"Because the sequence is arbitrary rather than intuitive or easily predicted. Knowing what comes immediately before or after the number \"31\" is easy because numbers aren't arbitrary in sequence. Most of us learn the alphabet as a memorized sequence and trigger sequential playback starting with the first item. It's similar to remembering other sequences, like \"the Presidents of the US\" or \"the colors of the rainbow\" since, other than the fact that they were sequenced that way, there's little obvious connection between adjacent items."
]
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||
fnvvcn | could self isolation/full lockdowns like we are seeing be a possible way to rid the common cold from being common? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fnvvcn/eli5_could_self_isolationfull_lockdowns_like_we/ | {
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"text": [
"No. Because despite other endemic,pandemic,and plagues we’ve never gotten rid of it. Because it is a huge family of fast mutating, adapting, and hearty viruses. It’s not a singular, like the flu there’s a lot of em.",
"If you could lock every human on earth in their own room for a month with supplies to stay alive, yes. The Rhinovirus cold would die off. It spreads because it mutates rapidly enough that you are no longer immune to it by the time you catch it again after a few months or a year. If we all killed it out of our system, we would stop spreading it. \n\nSome exceptions might mess it up, like people without the ability to fight it out of their system and build an immunity, but we would get pretty close to eradicating it.",
"Sort of by not really. \n\nYou could eliminate some, but not all diseases. \n\nMany diseases have animal or environmental reservoirs. That is, they can live even if they’ve been eliminated from the human population and then get reintroduced. \n\nThere are also diseases which you never completely clear, they just go into remiss, like tuberculosis. \n\nThe common cold isn’t a single pathogen. It’s a whole set of pathogens that all have similar symptoms so we colloquially refer to them by the same name. I’d be shocked if there wasn’t something in that mix that had such a reservoirs."
]
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3fnmx6 | why does notebook power supplies have no vents? would`t it be more efficient if present? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3fnmx6/eli5_why_does_notebook_power_supplies_have_no/ | {
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"text": [
"I mean the \"brick\" itself like this one \n\n_URL_0_\n\n*Sorry english is not my native language",
"Laptops are portable. They're constantly getting stuffed inside bags with other shit.\n\nIf you had vents on the power brick, it would open up opportunities to \"stuff\" to get in there that could be worse for heat transfer than the plastic casing. Even worse, if a paperclip or staple got in there, you'd be looking at an electrical problem involving 110V wall power."
]
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"http://store.storeimages.cdn-apple.com/4683/as-images.apple.com/is/image/AppleInc/aos/published/images/M/C4/MC461/MC461?wid=1200&hei=630&fmt=jpeg&qlt=95&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.5,0.5,0,0&iccEmbed=0&layer=comp&.v=1400692022682"
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13rmod | why do college football teams that are not eligible for bowl games get to be ranked? | I have wondered this all season about USC and OSU. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/13rmod/eli5_why_do_college_football_teams_that_are_not/ | {
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"text": [
"They're ranked in the human polls (e.g., the AP poll), because those aren't the final determiners of bowl game qualification - the purpose is just to rank everyone. They're not given ranks in the BCS standings, though, which does determine bowl placement.\n\nI know ESPN uses the BCS rankings on air - if you look at the [highlights for yesterday's OSU game](_URL_0_), Michigan gets a ranking listed, but OSU doesn't.",
"The Associated Press does not care about sanctions and bowl eligibility, this year though USC- Southern Cal is off of the bowl ban, If you look they started ranked #1 I believe in both, maybe 2 in the coaches but the coaches poll, which as the name implies the coaches vote on does take into effect bowl bans, this is why OSU is not ranked in that poll. If a team is banned from a bowl game they are not eligible for a BCS ranking and these are the official rankings most widely quoted, although there is a slim chance if Notre Dame loses the championship game that OSU could be named the AP national champ since there is the BCS champ and the AP champ. \n\nTLDR: the only poll that doesn't care about bowl bans is the AP"
]
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21bb72 | - salvage law - if i find a ship floating abandoned in the ocean, dibs? if so, why is a sunken ship still considered property of the country of origin? | Based on the Odessy and that Spanish gold find.
If the ship was still floating around aimlessly on the ocean, do the laws change? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21bb72/eli5_salvage_law_if_i_find_a_ship_floating/ | {
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"text": [
"Laws of salvage are actually incredibly complicated, like most international law. As an example, the law draws a distinction between *types* of wreck. You've heard the expression flotsam and jetsam? Those are types of wreckage: flotsam is the floating debris after a wreck, jetsam is jettisoned to lighten the load and is often found floating, lagan is jettisoned (often sunk) and marked with a buoy for recover, and derelict is intentionally abandoned without intent to recover.\n\nMost countries call taking wreckage without authorization or attempting to find the rightful owner plunder, and it is illegal under international law and usually the laws of the flag of the plundered vessel and the flag of the salvor. You may have heard of when the CIA attempted to raise a sunken Soviet submarine back in the 70s? That would legally be considered plunder.\n\nSo basically, no, under international treaty it is NOT finders, keepers. Which is why Spain was able to claim the treasure after the court battle, despite the age of the wreck."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
k6uml | what made mlk a great leader? eli5 | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/k6uml/what_made_mlk_a_great_leader_eli5/ | {
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"In my opinion, MLK (Jr.) was a great leader because he was highly intelligent, he was very well-spoken, he advocated non-violence, he had noble ideals, and was incredibly charismatic. \n\nIf you read some of his letters or listen to some of these speeches, there really is no question that he fit all of the above. People gravitate to someone like that.",
"In my opinion, MLK (Jr.) was a great leader because he was highly intelligent, he was very well-spoken, he advocated non-violence, he had noble ideals, and was incredibly charismatic. \n\nIf you read some of his letters or listen to some of these speeches, there really is no question that he fit all of the above. People gravitate to someone like that."
]
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[],
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||
4tau8s | the debt / currency swap between the u.s. and mexico in the 80s | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4tau8s/eli5_the_debt_currency_swap_between_the_us_and/ | {
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"text": [
"* Currency swap: Mexico couldn't pay its debts so to avoid a default, US first accepted worthless Mexican pesos and gave Mexico dollars with which it can pay its debts. \n\n* Debt swap: Mexico bought about $500 million in US bonds which long time after would be worth several billion. Mexico then used these US bonds to issue its own debt using the US bonds as collateral. This allowed Mexico to swap its old debt which they couldn't pay with new debt backed by US bonds. "
]
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[]
] |
||
4tit3t | why does dropping heavy objects on the floor not kill the bacteria there? | Like if I drop a flat iron weight onto a smooth hard floor, didn't I technically just flatten all the bacteria into basically nothing? Yet this obviously isn't considered a viable way to kill bacteria. Why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4tit3t/eli5why_does_dropping_heavy_objects_on_the_floor/ | {
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"d5hnmmj",
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"text": [
"Neither the floor or the weight are perfectly smooth. Microscopically they are quite jagged. Bacteria slip into all these edges and don't get squished. ",
"I'm sure *some* of the bacteria get squished, but most of them don't, because they are microscopic and fit easily in all the gaps between the 2 objects. There is still lots of space between the \"heavy object\" and \"floor\" If you look at the edge of one under a microscope it definitely will not look like a straight line. \n\nTo imagine this mentally it would be like taking a skycraper and removing all the windows, then dropping it on its side onto a field packed with mice, and counting how many of the mice were killed by the impact. This is a really bad example but gives you a visual at least.\n\n\n"
]
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3hmvps | why/how do some people become sick more than other people? | Some of my friends become ill really easily - in the last year I can recall some of them missing school at least 10 times due to illnesses. It's at the point where I think their immune systems are made from wet paper. I also call some of them 'pathogen' now. Other people I know are usually sick once a year. Why/How is it that, even staying in a similar environment e.g. boarding school, some people fall ill more than others? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hmvps/eli5_whyhow_do_some_people_become_sick_more_than/ | {
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"text": [
"This is a tough one to answer as there are many factors. Look at it as a tank (your immune system). There are several types of defenses and weapons built in and a lot of factors that influence his good your tank is at protecting you and how good it is at killing the enemy. Let's pretend everyone starts with the *same tank* (all healthy immune systems should function the same way). Some people get sick more often because their tanks 'enemy specific auto-target' hasn't seen many enemies (people who aren't exposed to some pathogens will get sick until their body recognizes them). Some tanks don't have enough fuel to operate or have poor fuel (poor sleeping habits, poor diet, etc). Sadly, some people start out with a tank that doesn't work right to begin with or even a tank that attacks itself (immune and auto immune disease). Lastly, some people just think that the war is unwinnable or that their tank sucks (Depression, chronic stress, etc can suppress the immune system). \n\nTldr - almost all tanks start out the same, but how they get used and maintained makes the difference.\n\nSource: am scientist. \n\nHope that helps!",
"The big answer (for viruses) usually lies in your MHC proteins. Major histocompatibility complex proteins (MHC) are proteins on the surface of your cells that, when infected by a virus, \"display\" parts of the virus to the outside, but which other parts of your immune system (CD8 cells specifically, otherwise known as killer T cells) can recognize and trigger killing the infected cells.\n\nEveryone has about 240 genes for this protein, half from mom, half from dad. Each MHC protein made uses some combination of those 240 genes, and what combination it gets determines what piece of virus it presents. So if you have a big variety of genes, you can get more combos. If your parents had similar genes, you get less variety. Theres a bit of research now showing mate selection might be linked to ensuring more MHC variety.\n\nOther parts of your immune system (e.g. antibodies) have a similar process. The more varied set you have, the more parts of virus you can recognize. And natural selection comes in when we talk about common viral challenges: European origins mean your ancestors survived the plague, and had MHC genes that could display more parts of that virus, and were more likely to make it through. Which is why when an isolated population (Native Americans) are exposed to a novel virus (smallpox) they die quickly and almost none fight it off. Their combination of MHC genes can't display many parts of a virus because they haven't seen it and selected for it.\n\nSo basically, you may have a set of MHC genes that can display more of the flu than your friend, so when you are exposed, your system can identify and fight it off better."
]
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|
43etrm | why are the lungs so sensitive to water? | Even a tiny bit of water, even if the water itself doesn't restrict breathing significantly. In my town, this man stood out in a drizzle during a funeral for two and a half hours. Perhaps he was extra sensitive but the moisture got to his lungs, and his lungs became inflamed. He died two days later. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43etrm/eli5_why_are_the_lungs_so_sensitive_to_water/ | {
"a_id": [
"czhw1ng"
],
"score": [
8
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"text": [
"ELI5: Within the lungs, the surfaces where our breath meets the blood stream have to be at a near-perfect moisture balance in order for the oxygen and other gases/chemicals to be exchanged from air to blood efficiently. \n\nWhen they get too wet, they lose efficiency and cannot take in as much air, and when they get too dry, they can't exchange as much gases/chemicals as they need to. Too wet is like slowly drowning, and too dry is like getting the air you need, but unfiltered, so you take in more junk and give up more good stuff.\n\nHope this helps! Peace!"
]
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[]
] |
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46lly6 | why did they close so many insane asylums and what did they do with the people who were institutionalized there? | I never quite understood this. I read it was due to state budget cuts and that people were just tossed on the street, but I don't know. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/46lly6/eli5_why_did_they_close_so_many_insane_asylums/ | {
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"Another thing that was common place was the poor treatment of the people there. There was a really intense documentary about it: \n\n_URL_0_\n\nAs for the people, I was under the assumption they were released to the care of their family.\n",
"Because they were often horrible places where conditions and treatment of patients was inhumane. Many people were supported to live out in the community, with the money that would have been spent keeping them in an asylum spent on secure, assisted housing and appropriate care instead. Source (used to work for a mental health charity)Edit: this info is based on what happened here in the UK, I'm not sure what it looked like in the states.",
"A lot of people in asylums aren't necessarily dangerous to others. If you have severe depression, you're pretty \"sane\", and you're not going to hurt anyone...except for yourself. You also have people who have checked themselves into the asylum for drug addiction or something like that. Again, not very dangerous to anyone except themselves. Many of those people are just fine to go back out onto the street, especially since many of them are there voluntarily in the first place.\n\nCase in point, I worked with a girl once who got put into an asylum because she shoved her boyfriend down some stairs (trying to kill him). From what I gathered, he was abusive, they were both on drugs... Whatever. Point is, she went to the mental hospital and got kicked out when her insurance ran out and she couldn't afford to pay for it.\n\nThe stereotype of the asylum as a place where people believe they're Napoleon isn't very accurate.",
"Cut backs. And if they didn't have a family willing to take them in they became homeless until they died. "
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eh3xdq | how do we know that statistics works? | I'm taking statistics this year, and one thing is we learn is determining if a hypothesis is significant or not. There are various methods on doing that, but the process seems rather artificial. Feels as though we're just plugging and chugging. How do we know that it makes sense to do these operations and how do we know what we infer is correct? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eh3xdq/eli5_how_do_we_know_that_statistics_works/ | {
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"The point about statistics is to figure out how likely we are to be wrong if our underlying assumptions are true.\n\nWe know it works from the myriad of ways statistics is used to predict real events, from gambling to meteorology, from epidemiology to particle physics.",
"Two levels.\n\nOn a high level, it works because a ton of people have tested it prospectively, i.e. developed the theory, did the calculations, and did some super boring stuff that is foundational to every field. Stuff like flipping a (virtual) coin 500,000 times, tallying the results. Counting pea colors, tallying the results. Dropping a pin onto a piece of paper, tallying the results to calculate pi, etc. If its something someone counted at some time after 1800, its been tested with the standard four or five models that you are probably learning.\n\nOn a retrospective level, i.e. using it to predict future actions, you don't know. It relies on your assumptions of your modeling being correct, which is almost always the hardest problem. The great thing about statistics though is that, for the vast majority of cases normal people encounter, the strong and weak central limit theorems together with the law of big numbers take care of almost everything. Formally, there are a ton of bounds you can derive based on various conditions, and a ton of different estimators you can use to do various things. Unless you are doing some advanced statistical stuff (and you will know if you do), those three things take care of almost all the machinery behind the scenes.\n\nFinally, a lot of statistics is meta-statistics, which is to say \"prove your assumptions make sense\". This addresses the retrospective part, and is a large proportion of the standard undergraduate/high school statistics class. These are things like Chi-Square, R\\^2, Z-score, P-Score, etc etc etc. All of these statistics are used to analyze your own statistics to make sure they make sense with the underlying assumption.\n\nAnd lastly, a word of warning. Statistics is super super easy to manipulate, and its an incredibly fragile tool. Everything from basic tests like Chi-Square or p-scores or level sets are extremely easy to manipulate, and not even in a malicious way, but from the way you design experiments. Even relatively sophisticated tools like Bayesian Machine Learning or Mean-Field Monte Carlo simulations or Robust Statistics can quickly become meaningless if people misuse them. Always ask for the underlying data and procedure if you are looking over some stats.",
"I think what you're missing is the proofs to the statistical concepts.\n\nI'm willing to guess your teacher is skipping proofs and teaching you just the full principles. Z-scores work because of the Central Limit Theorem and the Central Limit Theorem is proven mathematically.\n\np-values are arbitrary, but using the proven math behind them, a p-score of below 0.05 indicates there is less than a 1/20 chance that your results came from randomness, and instead are due to systemic differences.\n\nStatistical proofs are very complicated. They account for randomness, data sets that could be infinitely large, and difficult upper-level mathematical concepts simplified for your understanding ni the final proof. Many textsbooks show proofs, and many proofs can be found on wikipedia although they may still be hard to understand."
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1xnoku | why are there side effects from taking antibiotics? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xnoku/why_are_there_side_effects_from_taking_antibiotics/ | {
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"The simplest explanation is: antibiotics kill all bacteria. Antibiotics are used when your disease is caused by bacteria, but your body also has lots of beneficial bacteria, especially in your digestive system. Killing all of the \"good\" bacteria can cause side effects - but they're eventually replaced.\n"
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40mrwu | what determines a helicopters top speed? | I know that certain helicopters are a lot faster than others, but I wanted to know how and why this is the case.
Is it just down to the size of the engine? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40mrwu/eli5_what_determines_a_helicopters_top_speed/ | {
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"the blades cant move forward faster than speed of sound. or can but the energy required for more speed is so huge its not worth it. (simplified, there is also some aerodynamic properties of flapping the blades that does not work with that speed)\n\nmost of the time you just change the angle of attack, and not the rotation speed, why you have the videos with rotation matching the framerate of camera.\n\nthe angle of attack also has a maximum usefull angle so you get the normal maximum speed.",
"The top speed of your everyday Helicopter is proportional to its rotor blade design, weight and rotor speed, pretty much everything you would assume.\n\nHowever, there are physical limits to just how fast you can go with your helicopter, even if your engine would provide power to go even faster.\n\nOne of these things is called retreating blade stall. The faster you go forwards (trough air) with your helicopter, the slower the rotor going opposite of your traveling direction will cut trough the air.\n\nEventually, if you go fast enough, your retreating rotor will go trough the air so slow that it won't create any lift anymore, leaving you with an unevenly distributed amount of lift on your rotors, which makes your costs you a lof of stability in the air."
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3mz5tk | what is happening between russia and the us with syria and isis? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mz5tk/eli5_what_is_happening_between_russia_and_the_us/ | {
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"so Syria's government has been fighting in a brutal civil war with many different factions composed of the 70% of Syrians who are Sunni Muslims. \n\nRussia is allied with Syria's government and has been supporting them with supplies and arms since the beginning of the civil war. Russia argues that other countries should support the Syrian government in its efforts to fight ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria. The Syrian government has been consistently losing territory and support so now Russia is actively supporting them with military force (in particular air strikes). \n\nAmerica's stance is that the Sunni majority of Syria's population will never again live under the Syrian government after 5 years of such brutal war. The Sunnis will continue to support groups like ISIS so long as the alternative is to live under the subjugation of a government that has always disenfranchised them and has been brutalizing them for 5 years. The Western argument is that Assad, Syria's leader, must step down and a government which gives Sunnis a seat at the table must be formed if there is ever going to be peace in Syria.\n\n",
"The Kurds are in the right. They're fighting for a stateless Kurdistan. They're anarchists who follow Murray Bookchin's social ecology model. It's pretty inspiring stuff considering ISIL is attacking them with suicidal IED trucks.\n\nThe Kurds are getting bombed by Turkey meanwhile who's open border is allowing ISIL to trade oil for weapons. Israel is bombing Assad while Turkey is maintaining a shoot-down aerial space near their border which prevents airstrikes against ISIL targets.\n\nSyrian president Assad is being falsely accused of using chemical weapons on his own people while UN chemical weapons experts were in his country. Really it was ISIL using the chemical weapons because they're mostly paid mercenaries who don't give two shits about the locals.\n\nThe US is supporting ISIL because Assad wouldn't be a puppet and dance for them. Meanwhile Iran and Russia are supporting Assad because they'd really like the area to stabilize.\n\nTldr, neocolonialism."
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pjnh2 | ayn rand's objectivist philosophy | I'm trying to read up on it, but it's going WAY over my head. It seems like most people either love it or hate it. Can someone give me the run-down? All I know is that it's an extremely individualist (and materialistic?) philosophy. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/pjnh2/eli5_ayn_rands_objectivist_philosophy/ | {
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"Ayn Rand's theory of morality is primarily based on what's known as *egoism*. This means that your *moral values*, the standards you use to determine right and wrong, are based solely on what is good for you. This doesn't mean you can't help other people, but you have to either directly benefit or get satisfaction from it; if you help others when something else would have served your interests better, you're acting imorally.\n\nNow, this by itself isn't a problem. It's weird, and seems kinda offensive, but a lot of philosophy is like that. The problem is that Rand also believed her theory was *objective*. That is, rational argument from facts that every sane human knows to be true forces you to accept her philosophy. If you don't accept the philosophy, in her view, either you're so stupid you can't reason or you secretly know she's right. *That's* why philosophers are so bothered by it.",
"Poor people are poor becuase they are some combination of stupid, gullible, or lazy.\n\nRich people are rich because they are smart, harder working, and contribute more to society.\n\nRich people shouldn't have to help poor people, in fact helping poor people only hurts them, by making them into lazy leaches. Government only exists to rob rich people and give to the poor.\n\nIf you are poor the best thing you can do is don't hold back rich people from being more successful. If you are rich the best thing you can do is keep doing what ever made you rich, as compassion and charity are only hurting the betterment of society.\n\nEdit: Grammar",
"I'm interested in Ayn Rand also, but I'd like to add, can someone answer: What role does her philosophy now have in our politics? Is it true that many people in power are very interested in her sort of philosophy and does it seem like they're interested because it gives an ideology to justify ruthlessness?",
"Don't help others for their own sake--pursue only your own ends, but do it honestly without stealing anything. Also, fuck religion. Objectivism!",
"Explaining like you're five: \"Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me! Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!\" (Pause. Breathe. Repeat over and over.)",
"Good explanations of the economic side here, and for a while that's all I thought Objectivism was. If you want a more complete description, I highly recommend \"Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand\" by Leonard Peikoff. \n\nPersonally I think Objectivism is a great philosophy for most people if you take the broad view instead of getting bogged down in specifics. The \"gist\" of Objectivism (as I see it) is: \n\n * Reason is the best tool for understanding the world. This is why Objectivism rejects religion and other forms of \"mysticism.\"\n\n * People should have self esteem; they should be proud of what they've accomplished and look forward to the next challenge. So Objectivists believe that it's immoral to \"leech\" off other people's work for your own benefit. This is why they are opposed to things like welfare and social security (and most taxation).\n\n * It's immoral to force someone to do *anything*. So violence, coercion, shouting \"fire\" in a crowded theater, etc. are wrong. However, Objectivism holds that it's okay to use violence in retaliation. Therefore, a country needs to have a police force and an army to defend it's citizens (plus a court system to handle non-violent offenses such as breaking a contract). This argument is used against people who support anarchism (i.e. no government).\n\nSo an even shorter summary: use your brain, hold your head high, don't initiate the use of force. Most people would agree that this is a good code to live by, but Objectivism comes under a lot of fire because people disagree with the economic side (lassiez-faire capitalism).\n\nLook up some Ayn Rand quotes, and if you like what you see, pick up Anthem, The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged.",
"[this is exactly what you need and its free](_URL_0_)",
"[From the horse's mouth:](_URL_0_)\n\n > At a sales conference at Random House, preceding the publication of Atlas Shrugged, one of the book salesmen asked me whether I could present the essence of my philosophy while standing on one foot. I did as follows:\n\n > * Metaphysics - Objective Reality\n* Epistemology - Reason\n* Ethics - Self-interest\n* Politics - Capitalism\n\n > If you want this translated into simple language, it would read: 1. “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed” or “Wishing won’t make it so.” 2. “You can’t eat your cake and have it, too.” 3. “Man is an end in himself.” 4. “Give me liberty or give me death.”\n\n > If you held these concepts with total consistency, as the base of your convictions, you would have a full philosophical system to guide the course of your life. But to hold them with total consistency—to understand, to define, to prove and to apply them—requires volumes of thought. Which is why philosophy cannot be discussed while standing on one foot—nor while standing on two feet on both sides of every fence. This last is the predominant philosophical position today, particularly in the field of politics.\n\n > My philosophy, Objectivism, holds that:\n\n > 1. Reality exists as an objective absolute—facts are facts, independent of man’s feelings, wishes, hopes or fears.\n2. Reason (the faculty which identifies and integrates the material provided by man’s senses) is man’s only means of perceiving reality, his only source of knowledge, his only guide to action, and his basic means of survival.\n3. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.\n4. The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism. It is a system where men deal with one another, not as victims and executioners, nor as masters and slaves, but as traders, by free, voluntary exchange to mutual benefit. It is a system where no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force, and no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. The government acts only as a policeman that protects man’s rights; it uses physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use, such as criminals or foreign invaders. In a system of full capitalism, there should be (but, historically, has not yet been) a complete separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.\n",
"First thing you should know is that most people really, really dislike Rand herself. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has to do with sexism, or the entitlement complex in today's society? No idea why. You're going to get a lot of the \"I don't like Rand either, high five!\" circlejerk stuff around here, so be objective when reading this (no pun intended).\n\nAnyway, if you really want to know the long and short of it, go to _URL_0_ and buy The Virtue of Selfishness for 6$. But you don't want to do that, because it's a long read.\n\nThe main principle of Objectivism, summed up in my own words, is the philosophy that every man (and woman) has a right to their life and all that entails, and that nobody may initiate the use of force on another. Rand (and Peikoff, but he's a jackass) took this and applied this to various aspects of human life. Communism was viewed, rightfully, as a system in which a majority vote overruled morality, morality being a system of behavior that is universally conducive to human existence (this is where the 'objective' in Objectivism comes from).\n\nIf you have any specific questions, or would like a common misconception dispelled, /r/Objectivism would be a good place to look, and I think I'm also qualified to answer some as well.",
"Well, we do have a [subreddit](/r/Objectivism) where a lot of us talk about it",
"I've challenged a good dozen different Rand lovers to a fight for their belongings, none of them agreed to it. \n\nThey always insist that they earned the stuff themselves, and they say me beating them up and taking their things is crime, not rugged individualism. \n\nYou can only identify with the philosophy if you already have some level of affluence. ",
"Ayn Rand respects honest people.\n",
"To put it succinctly:\n\n\"I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.\""
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11cxkb | why is it so hard for our body to handle a cold? | Ever when I get a cold, it takes at least one week to deal with it, sometimes even two. Taking medicaments doesn't push on the healing, just makes it more bearable. Why does it takes us so long? Why don't we develope something to immune ourselves?
Thanks :) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11cxkb/why_is_it_so_hard_for_our_body_to_handle_a_cold/ | {
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"The way I understand it, kiddo, is that 'the cold' is just a name for a seemingly endless array of different but very very similar viruses. Our body suffers from one, recovers, learns from the blow, but then contracts a slightly different cold the next season and can't use what it learned previously to fight it off.\n\nThat's why a lot of people use the term 'a cure for the common cold' to describe something that would be really ideal for humanity to invent, but really hard and near-impossible.",
"To add onto what JeremyJustin said,\n\n > Taking medicaments doesn't push on the healing, just makes it more bearable.\n\nThere is very little medicine that can treat a viral infection by actually fighting the virus itself. Colds are caused by viruses. Antibiotics do not treat viral infections. Cold medicine only treats the symptoms (runny or stuffy nose, cough, sore throat, etc).",
"In the vast majority of common colds, the reason you feel so rubbish is your body entering into 'riot mode'.\n\nYour white blood cells overreact as a precaution, giving you the headache, blocked sinuses, sniffle, cough and so on. (which I am currently suffering from)\n\nIf your immune system did nothing, the virus wouldn't do you any great harm and you wouldn't feel particularly bad at all. ",
"Haha, I know this is unrelated to the question's content, but where you from cowpoke? ",
"What you feel during a cold is not the actual \"cold\". It's your immune system response to fight the cold.\n\nIf your immune system did not respond you would not feel sick, but you would probably also eventually die as the disease takes over your body.\n\nI know that a fever is your body heating itself up to weaken the invading virus. Cough and sneezing are reactions designed to expel diseases. Achy-ness is a reaction to what your body is doing.\n\nOddly enough, the best way to avoid the cold is to expose yourself to colds more often. A flu shot is actually giving you a weakened form of the flu virus so that your body can learn how to fight it properly. This is why, generally, teachers have great immune systems - they're constantly exposed to cold viruses and their body learns how to fight the various mutations quickly."
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3i001d | where did the stereotype of the stupid/gun toting american come from? | America is great at exporting its culture, so how did the stereotypical southerner become the stereotype for all of America across the world? Usually stereotypes form from some sort of hate groups but how could one be powerful enough to stereotype a country? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3i001d/eli5_where_did_the_stereotype_of_the_stupidgun/ | {
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"TLDR: People remember things that they see or hear and are too quick to take it as fact, then they act on the information by stereotyping.\n\nELI5: Some think all US people are [Yosemite Sam](_URL_0_)\n\n\nPeople tend to put complex issues into a box that is smaller and easy to quickly understand, in doing this they unintentionally stereotype people and situations and in your question countries. Lots of counties have stereotypes (depending who you ask) and some of those have been distilled from the actions of small group of people, being used to identify the whole group. In your question you mention Intelligence and Firearms, so, I will focus on those. \n\nI personally feel that in the USA our entertainment industry and news tends to use humor a lot and its easy to use it in a rudimentary manor. Americas funniest home videos, South Park (THEY TOOK ER' JOBS!), Family guy, The Simpsons, are some examples of recent american entertainment about (usually) unintelligent people in funny situations because of their ignorance. Swamp people, moonshiners, and other reality tv shows depict a small group of people on such a grand scale that it often make a very profound impact that people remember, especially if they have no other background knowledge with the southern US. So this may be what people around the world unintentionally summarize all Americans as a reflection of these acts of comedy or reality tv. Additionally some of our politics can look pretty dumb sometimes. Lots of other examples exist for the ELI5 Ill keep it short. \n\nThe United States has historically had firearms (and in some cases currently) as an intrinsic part of our identity; out of necessity for personal and political security. Since the early 1950s a lot of the developed European countries have shifted away from firearms as their society and culture has healed from the lasting effects of prolonged warfare. The US has had conflicts with firearms violence since then and has often been criticized for this. Additionally the export of culture through movies and music that perpetuates the violent and negative aspects of firearms (let alone the often functionally incorrect portrayal) to get sensationalized reactions and sell more tickets or CDs. Violent action movies may depict an entertaining and dramatic (however unrealistic) picture of firearms use in any number of situations that may unintentionally be used to generalize the people of this country. Because international viewers may not have background understanding of firearms they are influenced by what the see the most and go on to make assumptions based on they saw. \n\n",
"Besides political stuff, people outside America only hear about the worst or weirdest stuff that happens in America. If all you hear about is school shootings met with a muh rights! or a more guns! response, you're gonna form a negative impression. Especially if your own country handled a school shooting very differently."
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39s65v | what is a real feminist? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39s65v/eli5_what_is_a_real_feminist/ | {
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"I met a real feminist once. Real feminism is about equality and moving and advancing women in modern society so that they can have equal opportunities in life and so that they can support themselves and gain confidence. What you encountered seems like the radical type of feminism known only as being bitchy. Man hating is pretty much the downfall of feminism and is the biggest perceived problem with it in my opinion.",
"What is a 'real' Libertarian?\n\n'Feminist' is a title that applies to dozens of political philosophies that are mutually conflicting. If you were genuinely trying to understand and made to feel like a fool, those women were jerks - regardless of their political ideology.",
"Technically, what you are encountering are individuals practicing misandry under the guise of feminism. Feminism itself is supposed to seek equality for all genders, but in particular for women. \n\nI tend to prefer the term humanist, as it holds no perceived gender bias, and also covers a more broad movement for equality amongst all people. ",
"A feminist is a person who thinks that women should have equal rights and opportunities as men, and that they should not endure unfair social or other burdens just because they are women.\n\nAnyone who tells you that is means something different has an agenda, and is likely someone to avoid. Anyone who tells you it has a different meaning is not to be trusted. That includes people who \"amend\" this definition in either direction.\n\nThese terms mansplain and ableist ... they seem like they could be used in reaction to some action you performed. On the other hand they could be inappropriately used too. Either way, neither is relevant to the real issue of feminism. Using someone's sex to denigrate someone in discourse, is little different than using the words \"slut\". This has to do with how one conducts oneself and is technically not at issue with respect to feminism."
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4t9r9p | what is a concept album? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4t9r9p/eli5_what_is_a_concept_album/ | {
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"A concept album tells a story throughout all of the songs, and usually is represented in the album's artwork and publicity as well. As opposed to a non-concept album which has songs that are self-contained. Concept albums also usually have repeated melodies in several songs or a turn of phrase that's important to the story, to really weave it all together.\n\n\nProbably the best known example is Pink Floyd's The Wall.",
"An album where all the songs follow a storyline or a general theme throughout, for example Rush - 2112 follows a world without music, Marilyn Mansons - Mechanical Animals is about the life of a successful music star whereas like Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf was inspired by Josh Homme driving through the California desert with only Mexican radio to listen to iirc. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs are both other good examples. ",
"An album with a theme or story told throughout the songs. One example is the Space Cadet LP by Nigel Good.",
"An album with a continuous story or theme throughout the album. A perfect example is imo Good Kid MAAD city by Kendrick Lamar. The album follows a teenage Kendrick. Kendrick being a good kid surrounded by bad influences in Compton whilst chasing a girl called Sherane. The entire album is tied together with lyrics and skits. The album becomes a movie if you sit back and listen to the whole album with your eyes closed.",
"A normal album is a collection of unrelated songs - each intended as a standalone piece.\n\nA concept album is one where a concept or story is shared throughout the album, with each song building on the concept and storyline told in the previous song - generally meant to be listened to as a whole piece, not only as individual songs.\n\nConsider listening to a good concept album as reading a good novel, while a typical album will be more akin to a collection of unconnected short stories.\n\nIt is worth noting that not all concept albums will go into the same depth - some will be a very obvious story from beginning to end, while many are very loose concepts to connect together songs.",
"My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade is another one. It follows the story of a guy who dies in the first song and goes through his journey in the afterlife."
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9vq8vu | why does our tongue get stuck to a pole when it’s cold? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9vq8vu/eli5_why_does_our_tongue_get_stuck_to_a_pole_when/ | {
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"When the tongue contacts the pole heat flows out of the tongue and into the pole. Since the metal pole can conduct heat well this can cool the surface of the tongue dramatically, freezing the saliva on the surface and grabbing onto the surface of the tongue. Left in place longer it will start to freeze the tissue as well.",
"Your saliva freezes, so there's a layer of ice both on your tongue and on the pole that holds them together. ",
"The metal is so cold that your saliva will freeze... Not only that but there is water in your tongue that will freeze...\n\n\nSo you know, when water gets cold it freezes. ",
"Great comments so far about water getting hard when it gets cold, but I think the key to OP's question is that the ice holds on the tongue. That can be confusing because an ice cube held in your hand is not sticky.\n\nThere is just a thin layer of saliva on your tongue, so it can freeze very quickly. When it does freeze, there is no layer of water left between your tongue and the ice, like there usually is when you hold it in your hand. There also aren't a lot of air gaps. So that ice grips your tongue in a way you're not used to (and also to the pole). It takes a while for the blood in you tongue and your other, still warm saliva to melt it, freeing you."
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3na8w2 | why do snipers open their mouth when shooting? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3na8w2/eli5_why_do_snipers_open_their_mouth_when_shooting/ | {
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"IIRC it has to do with snipers having to time their breathing with their heartbeat. Supposedly you should pull the trigger when your body moves the least and this occurs at the bottom of your breath in between heartbeats. ",
"It might or might not help to shoot. They try to time their shot in between heart beats so they are controlling their breathing and also, paying close attention to their target. It's a coordinated effort designed to minimize any additional motion. Basically, mouth open might = exhalation, since holding your breath can increase your heart rate. Normally when you shoot just about anything, they say hold your breath. Really, hold it or exhale first but don't be breathing *when* you shoot. Idk if that makes sense, but it's plausible. Thing is, although there's a definite \"method,\" every good shooter shoots in a consistent way and sometimes their ritual is a little different. ",
"It may be nothing more than myth, but keeping your mouth open supposedly prevents a pressure differential from forming when you fire the weapon, thus you will ensure the pressure wave of the rifle firing does not hurt your ear drums.",
"They don't. Precision rifle shooters pull the trigger during their natural respiratory pause. Some people breathe through their mouths while shooting, some through their noses, but they don't 'open their mouths' while shooting.",
"As someone who shoots, alot, and is very decent at it (1/2 MOA at 200 all damn day if the rifle will do it), I don't know any sniper quality shooters that fully open their mouth when they shoot. My lips are parted because I need to breathe naturally, but my jaw is firmly shut to provide a better cheek weld on the rifle (most of it is on the cheek bone, but it makes it easier)\n\nYou want to breathe naturally, with only a slight pause for your trigger squeeze. When I'm shooting for an exceptionally tight group or at longer range, I'll jam my ear bud in to an uncomfortable level so that I can feel my heart beat. \n\nThe key to all precision shooting is doing every single little thing the exact same thing. If you open your mouth, do it the same every time. If you wiggle your nose, do it every time. If you chew tobacco, do it every time so the lack thereof doesn't screw with your cheek weld. (Chris Kyle had this going on). \n\nPrecision shooting is both harder and easier than you think. When I shoulder one of my rifles, I'm about 85% autopilot. My body knows what to do, my mind is too cluttered to control everything."
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Subsets and Splits