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7xhff8 | how can scientist determine things like top speeds of dinosaurs if all they have to go off of is bones? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7xhff8/eli5_how_can_scientist_determine_things_like_top/ | {
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"The bones are pretty informative really.\n\n\nWhen put together into a skeleton the same way you can roughly imagine the way the original dinosaur looked scientists have developed methods to very accurately figure out how the thing looked as well. Muscles are attached directly to bones (hence the name 'skeletal muscles'). The way they are attached to the bone allows scientists to understand how big the muscle is, what it is shaped like and where it's positioned. \n\n\nYou would also need the size, approximate weight and air resistance of the dinosaur which is all very conveniently presented by the skeleton. By measuring the skeleton you can easily get all this.\n\n\nWith that information along with a lot of trial and error they can slowly understand what is the most comfortable way for the dinosaur to run. This is done in the same way an physiotherapist discerns something about their patients. (I don't really know how its done. I'm not a physiotherapist. Maybe they bring a physiotherapist with them while figuring this out.) \n\n\nThe last thing they need something that you can also tell from just the bones. Or more specifically the DNA. The DNA basically tells the body how it should grow and function. From the DNA scientists can decode 2 different things: 1. how enduring the muscles are and 2. How fast the muscles are. Every muscle is a certain amount enduring and certain amount fast because of what kind of DNA the animal has inherited. Its the same for humans, mammals and pretty much all animals so it's only slightly harder to figure out the same for dinosaurs. \n\nWith all this information; muscle size, muscle position, muscle speed, muscle endurance, optimal sprint patterns, and size, using simulation programs or very complicated math/physics you can calculate the max speed.\n\n\nThe physics is very complicated but I know it's possible. The simulations are really cool. I've seen some myself. The simulations in Jurassic park are pretty accurate as well or so I've heard.",
"Most of the speed information comes from footprints. There are a lot of dinosaur track fossils preserved in muds and fine-grained sandstones. Measure the depth and angles of the tracks, the distance between the tracks, and use analogous information from modern animals to identify relative speeds and weights.\n\n[Here's a reference on how it's done](_URL_0_) and [a course worksheet to calculate it for yourself](_URL_1_), and [another one](_URL_2_).\n\nYou don't need DNA for this, or even bones--just the tracks. It does help to be able to identify the species of dinosaur--that gives you a starting place for size and weight.\n\nSource: geologist"
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3h02w3 | why are there so many firefighter death with the explosion in tianjin,china | I recall the feed saying 120 rescue personnel died. My understanding is that the blasts were close together and that firefighters and police where dying as they were trying to get it under control. Given modern firefighting techniques why are so many dying? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3h02w3/eli5why_are_there_so_many_firefighter_death_with/ | {
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"The second explosion was huge. First responders went to the scene of the first explosion and were caught by the second one.",
"I heard there was a fire 3 hours before the first explosion. Many firefighter tried to kill the flames before everything went worse. There was a chemical fire. And a lot of cars and tanks filled with high explosive stuff like gas. And if it starts to burn and one thing is gonna start to explode there will be a chain reaction. If you take a closer look to the posted images there are a lot of cars, container and a huge flat area. It's not easy to hide. Especially if it starts to explode. It's a thing of seconds. The best equiment in the world can't save you against a huge explosion. And because you can't see a explosion befor it happens there was no chance to hide. "
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1lrbq5 | weather maps and how to read them. | I cannot seem grasp this! I'm more interested in Wave Forecast maps, not sure if these are different. Any explanations welcome. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1lrbq5/eli5_weather_maps_and_how_to_read_them/ | {
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"If you're talking about regular maps. [This looks like a nice key to everything.](_URL_1_) Wave maps [like this](_URL_0_) show how tall the waves are and in what direction they're going in."
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"http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/viewer/index.shtml?type=windWave&tz=AEDT&area=Au&model=CG&chartSubmit=Refresh+View",
"http://i.imgur.com/6GFDP1i.jpg?1"
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1ukfln | why do credit cards have those extra 3 numbers on the back? | I figured it would have something to do with online card number theft (since if someone steals the card they have access to both the 16-digit number and the additional numbers). How do they, and why do they, provide additional security? Just curious. Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ukfln/eli5why_do_credit_cards_have_those_extra_3/ | {
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"It's called the CSC and stands for Card Security Code. It's simply an extra verification to up the security.\n\nYes, your credit card is usable when stolen. \n\nAlthough in Europe we also use pincodes as an added security measure. Not sure what the situation in the US is at the moment.",
"The CV number is used in online purchases to prevent fraud. The user needs to have access to both sides of the card to use it and not just a photograph of one side which once was a common way to steel CC info.",
"One of the main security benefits not mentioned so far is that retailers (in particular for \"cardholder not present\" transactions like internet/over the phone sales) are not allowed to store the CV2 code after the transaction has been completed.\n\nThis means that if their database of card details is compromised, the details are a lot less useful.\n\n(Also, the CV2 is not included on the magnetic stripe which makes it more difficult for unscrupulous retailers to quickly swipe the card through a 2nd machine and use the details later - they would have to note down the CV2 code as well.)"
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1ne7qw | what would hallucinogens be like for blind people? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ne7qw/eli5_what_would_hallucinogens_be_like_for_blind/ | {
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"I have nothing to back this up but, since this is the internet, here we go...\n\n\nThere would still be auditory hallucinations of course, and probably what would be the equivalent of closed-eye hallucinations in us sighted folks. So kinda vague shapes and lights just behind the darkness (or whatever) they see (or whatever). Not to mention the hysteria that can come along with various mushrooms or LSD. Confusion and laughter and all that would still occur.\n\n\nIf anyone can confirm or counter anything I said that'd be awesome, as I said those were just educated guesses.",
"Excellent question, thank you for asking it... ",
"Not really a five-year old answer, but here's an [old study](_URL_0_) that talks about just that.\n\nIf you have memory of what visual things are then you will experience visual hallucinations, otherwise there isn't any visual. Since hallucinations can be totally auditory then I would expect that they play a major role. Also, synesthesia would probably have a more significant effect ",
"I don't know but I grow shrooms and I have a blind neighbor done the hall... I call him Ray charles bc he also plays the piano or keyboard a lot.",
"I'm blind in one eye so I can provide some insight but I'd imagine things would be different for a person who is completely blind and has been for life. When my blind eye is open and I look through that with my seeing eye closed, it's a bit of a clusterfuck. The patterns are kind of everywhere, for lack of a better term, as in when I see things through my good eye the patterns are more structured and layered on top of things. With my bad eye they're much more disorganized and scattered all over my vision. Most people that are considered blind actually have some eye sight, I fall into that category as well with my one fucked up eye. A lot of what I normally see through it is those light rays, like if you squint your eye looking at a street light at night. So when I'm on mushrooms or acid the waves that I would normally see on the ground are moving around the light rays. It's kind of hard to describe. If you want me to define things a little better just ask me a question and I'll do what I can to answer it.\n\nAlso, from what I've heard, people who've been completely blind from birth have an almost entirely different experience from what we have. They've never seen colours before and have no reference to go back to either if they do see them with their hallucinations. Their closed eye visuals are another experience as well because, as it was put to me before, someone who's blind doesn't see darkness, black or white, they see nothing. I can't really describe what I haven't experienced though so I'll leave more details for someone else to try and describe.",
"[A blind man did an AMA on this a while back](_URL_0_)\n\n\"I have tried many diferent types of halucinigens. I can tell you first hand, that visuals are possible even for the totally blind. Well, I can se light and darkness, and if something blocks the light, I can se a blurry shape, but nothing that I can make out clearly. Under the influence of various antheogins, I have experienced sights such as various lights, which would change shapes and then melt in front of me. Once durring an experience with Salvia extract, I nearly became my rockingchair! I don't mean that I \"melted in to it\", I mean that if I hadn't jumpped out of it, I'd have turned in to the actual chair. I know that sounds crazy, but that's what happened. Naturally, sounds are a big part of my trip experiences, but I have seen somethings as well. I had a buddy that had his own light show setup, and we used to trip out on really good acid, (this was back in the early 80's when they still made it), and he'd shine these high powered lights through prisoms, and I saw all kinds of wild stuff. I believe I have seen color because of these experiences.\"",
"Blind people? What makes YOU think you can SEE?",
"And can schizophrenic deaf people hear voices??? Can they be schizophrenic??",
"I'm a blind guy who's done mushrooms. I've been 100% blind since birth. I didn't see anything. I hallucinated sounds and feelings, like the whole house seemed to come alive. The walls felt like flesh I could hear it breathing, etc. I think I had some other hallucinations I don't really remember now like people's voices were altered somehow.",
"One thing to understand is that visuals are only a small part of a hallucinogenic experience. The way your mind warps reality is the heart of the experience, and even if you're completely blind, that will find a way to manifest itself. If your visual cortex doesn't work in any way, the drugs will still affect what you *can* perceive. Auditory hallucinations will be very prominent because sound becomes a primary sense for the blind. ",
"It'll depend on when they became blind. If you got your eyes gouged out right now, you'd still be able to hallucinate, because your brain already understands the concept of vision.\n\nIf you were blind from birth, that's a different story. The connections between your optic nerve and your optic tectum and occipital lobe in your brain aren't fully complete right at birth. The two form complete connections further along during infancy with repeated visual stimulation. This is why cataracts are so dangerous for newborns. They need to be taken care of immediately, or else you won't get the visual stimulation required to stimulate connections between your eyes and your brain. You could also theoretically blindfold a newborn for a couple months and get the same result.\n\nThey also found that your brain sees things \"in lines.\" If you only blind-folded a baby with parallel horizontal slits, it would grow up not able to see horizontal lines. If you did parallel vertical lines instead, the baby wouldn't be able to process vertical lines. Same thing goes for any angle, whether 30 degrees, 45 degrees, etc.\n\nSo if you were blind from birth, your brain doesn't understand the concept of sight. Think of it like trying to see behind you. You can't. There isn't a visual field behind you... now imagine if that lack of a visual field applied to everything in front of you too. That's what it's like to be blind from birth. You wouldn't be able to hallucinate, because there's no field of vision to hallucinate from.\n\nFYI: Bane should be blind from birth... if he was born in darkness and wasn't exposed to light until he was a man, he wouldn't have had the proper visual stimulation to make proper connections between his eyes and brain.",
"I'd say psychedelics are about 75% mental and 25% visual. While some blind people have been know to see some visuals while tripping, I'd imagine the mental aspect and and other senses are going bonkers. ",
"They'd taste colours.",
"_URL_0_\n\nIf a damaged visual cortex weren't the cause of their blindness, some hallucinogens could possibly allow them to see sounds, tastes, smells, or touch :)",
"If a person is blind from anything other than brain damage the visual cortex is still perfectly able perceive light and color.",
"Scary as fuck.",
"My phones almost dead but hallucinogens activate your pineal gland in your brain, which is known as the third eye, you see closed eye visuals, its kaleidoscopic and bright in your brain as you trip. Similar to a dream ",
"Reading through these comments, I kept thinking, \"I wanna hear from a blind guy. Where are all the blind redditors' comments?\"\n\nMaybe I *am* actually 5.\n\n"
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4c9zyg | how are newer lights produced to generate more light and less heat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4c9zyg/eli5_how_are_newer_lights_produced_to_generate/ | {
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"The basic mechanism behind incandescent bulbs is \"get the filament hot enough to glow white\". Getting hot is necessary for them to function.\n\nModern bulbs are typically fluorescent or LEDs which function by a different mechanism. This means getting hot isn't necessary (and is generally undesirable), so it's possible to engineer them to be more efficient and produce less heat.",
"First you need to understand what light and heat radiation is. They are both part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Visible light is the part of the spectrum we can see, infrared radiation is just outside of what we can see and is heat.\n\nFor example, if we could see infrared your body would be glowing, as you are radiating heat. But if you heat something up enough, it also starts glowing in the visible spectrum. Like heating up iron enough it start to glow red (as red it closest to infrared), and heating it up even more it glows orange (even further in to the visible) and then it glows white (all of the visible spectrum).\n\nThis is pretty much how an old fashion light bulb works, it sends electricity though a small piece metal, heating it up to glowing white. But most of the energy will not be visible light, it will be infrared light, which is kind of useless as we can't see it.\n\nModern light bulbs, especially LED, are much better at only producing visible light. So rather than wasting energy producing infrared heat radiation, it only makes light in the visible spectrum. Which obviously uses much less energy."
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6g93k6 | the usa military ranking system. | I just finished watching band of brothers and I'm curious what ranks there are and how long it would take to reach them. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6g93k6/eli5_the_usa_military_ranking_system/ | {
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"in the US (i'm in Canada) it's pretty much a linear curve, but I think this article does a much better job ELI5 than I could _URL_0_",
"There is a huge difference between rank progression in wartime, vs promotions in peacetime.\n\nFor instance, a \"bird colonel\" in the Army during peacetime, might have 25 to 30 years service and probably be in his 50's. \n\nDuring WW2 there were \"bird colonels\" who were in their late 20's and had less than 6-8 years of service. \n\nThe war caused a tremendous expansion in the military, in 1939 the army had 139k soldiers, in 1945, 8.2 million. That's 43 times larger in war than in peace. \n\nSo there was no way to really let officers advance through normal channels, you really had to just promote and hope for the best.\n\nEnlisted ranks were similar. ",
"It's important to start out with the point that there are 3 separate categories of military rank:\n\nEnlisted (E1 thru E9)\n\nWarrant (CWO1 thru CWO5)\n\nCommissioned (O1 thru O10)\n\nEnlisted is the \"grunt\" category of the people sent to directly do things.\n\nEnlisted can be broken into 9 pay grades. These pay grades categorized into into 3 sub-Categories. \n\nSimple seamen, soldiers, and marines are pay grades E1 thru E3.\n\nStarting at E4, the ranks become Non-commisioned officers (with some oddness with the army making some E4s \"specialists\", which get the pay w/o the non-com status). These are Corporals and Sergents in the Army/Marines, and Petty Officers in the Navy. These ranks are given limited authority over a few soliders/marines/sailors in order to assist and organize them in carrying out their orders. In the context of Band of Brothers, these ranks would be in charge of leading a fireteam (3-4 soldiers) or squad (two fireteams).\n\nStarting at E7, these ranks are considered \"Senior Non-commisioned Officers\". They are going to be incharge of coordinating and training the non-coms under their authority and advising the officers. These are Sergents First Class, First/Master Sergents, and Sergent Majors in the army, and Chief Petty Officers (including Senior Chief and Master Cheif) in the Navy.\n\nI'm going to skip CWOs because i really never had much exposure to them, and they are a special case that doesn't usually fit into the typical command structure.\n\nCommissioned officers are a bit complicated because there are to types that are independent of rank: Line and Staff. Line officers are the command officers, so i'll focus on them. Commisioned officers are the administrative and tactical leaders of their units, and junior officers (ensigns [navy only] and leutenants) generally have authority over a Platoon (2 or more squads), along with a senior NCO as an advisor. Higher ranking Officers typically have authority over larger units. The ranking nomenclature between the services is pottentially confusing at this point (Army Captain = O3, Navy Captian = ~~O5~~ O6 **OR** commanding officer of a ship), so I suggest simply looking up the officer's pay-grades for that.\n\nEdit: Also, an additional, important point is the distinction between Rank and Authority. Authority trumps Rank, which means a junior enlisted that is given authority to control access to a location can safely block an O10 that is not authorized to access that location, with force if necessary. ",
"for the enlisted ranks part of your question was how long does it take to advance in rank.\nE1-e3 = right out of boot camp a guy will usually be e1or e2\nThey advance 1 pay grade usually every 9-12 month until e3.\n\nAfter e3 - for each subsequent advancement they compete with their peers.....through a combination of a board or a written test and review of the points achieved from awards and periodic evaluations.\nE4 = 2-4 years in military\nE5 = 3-9 years in the military\nE6 = 7-16 years in the military\nE7 = 8-19 years in the military\nE8 = 15-23 years in the military\nE9 = 18-25 years in the military\n\nThese are all rough estimates because it really depends on the persons performance and how their peer group is manned. So for example if the guy comes in as a medic and we have lots of medics - it may take him a while to get advanced because he is competing with alot of guys for the same spots.\nOn the other hand if he comes in and goes to nuclear power school - he is highly likely to get advanced first or second time he is eligible for every advancement because nuclear techs are in high demand and the military rewards them with quick advancement to try to keep them in the military instead of taking those skills to the civilian world where they can make more money.\n\nFor officers its much harder to describe a time period....but they get near automatic advancement from O1 to O2 and then to O3.....and after that they compete with their peers for advancement each year. They must be selected for advancement within a certain time period or they will be released and not allowed to stay in the military anymore. ",
"So Band of Brothers was set in WW2, where the ranks for the military were a bit different than today (where they have been standardized).\n\nPromotions back then, due to the massive expansion of the military, happened a lot quicker: it was possible for people to reach Colonel (O-6) in their late 20's, simply because there was space in front of them/they needed one/the guy in front of him got killed.\n\nAn example in Band of Brothers is Major Winters: he went from 2nd Lieutenant in 1942 after commissioning from OCS, was a 1st Lieutenant on D-Day, got promoted to Captain on July 1st, 1944, then was a Major.\n\nIn today's military, you have two years as a 2nd Lieutenant, followed by 2 years as a 1st Lieutenant, followed by 4-6 years as a Captain. Those ranks are mostly automatic - starting with Major, however, you face a promotion board, and if you are passed over for promotion twice from here on out, you essentially are out (you can't be promoted essentially - if you make O-4 though, you are eligible for retirement and can stay in to hit 20 years).\n\nAs far as the ranks go:\n\n**Enlisted**\n\nPay Grade | Army | Marine Corps | Air Force | Navy/Coast Guard\n-- | -- | -- | -- | --\nE-1 | Private | Private | Recruit | Seaman Recruit\nE-2 | Private | Private First Class | Airman | Seaman Apprentice\nE-3 | Private First Class | Lance Corporal | Airman First Class | Seaman\nE-4 | Corporal/Specialist | Corporal | Senior Airman | Petty Officer, 3rd Class\nE-5 | Sergeant | Sergeant | Staff Sergeant | Petty Officer, 2nd Class\nE-6| Staff Sergeant | Staff Sergeant | Technical Sergeant | Petty Officer, 1st Class\nE-7 | Sergeant First Class | Gunnery Sergeant | Master Sergeant | Chief Petty Officer\nE-8 | First Sergeant / Master Sergeant | First Sergeant / Master Sergeant | Senior Master Sergeant | Senior Chief Petty Officer\nE-9 | Sergeant Major | Sergeant Major / Master Gunnery Sergeant | Chief Master Sergeant | Master Chief Petty Officer\n\nAs you can see, the Navy/Coast Guard are identical, the Army/Marines are pretty similar, and the Air Force... who knows why the Air Force feels the need to be different but you do you I guess\n\n**Warrant Officers**\n\nPay Grade | Rank\n-- | --\nW-1 | Warrant Officer (Army/Marines only)\nW-2 | Chief Warrant Officer 2\nW-3 | Chief Warrant Officer 3\nW-4 | Chief Warrant Officer 4\nW-5 | Chief Warrant Officer 5\n\nNote that the Air Force has NO warrant officers, while the Navy/Coast Guard do not have a W-1 rank.\n\n**Officers**\n\nOfficers are easy:\n\nPay Grade | Army/Marines/Air Force | Navy/Coast Guard\n-- | -- | --\nO-1 | Second Lieutenant | Ensign\nO-2 | First Lieutenant | Lieutenant Junior Grade\nO-3 | Captain | Lieutenant\nO-4 | Major | Lieutenant Commander\nO-5 | Lieutenant Colonel | Commander\nO-6 | Colonel | Captain\nO-7 | Brigadier General | Rear Admiral (Lower Half)\nO-8 | Major General | Rear Admiral (Upper Half)\nO-9 | Lieutenant General | Vice Admiral\nO-10 | General | Admiral\n\nThere is an O-11 rank (5-star), for General of the Army or General of the Air Force or Fleet Admiral, but those have only ever been issued for wartime commanders during WW2, and are not in use at this time\n\nedit: fixed formatting"
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bmobed | what is the purpose of fainting? what are the benefits of this mechanism? in extreme situations (e.g. being under attack) humans and animals sometimes faint but i see this as counterproductive and it would probability be better to become more alert in these situations, right? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bmobed/eli5_what_is_the_purpose_of_fainting_what_are_the/ | {
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"Our brains need a *lot* of blood to stay alive. Normally, our bodies work just fine pumping blood against gravity and up to our noggins, but sometimes things go wrong. If for any reason there's a drop in blood pressure or heart rate or reduced level of oxygen to your brain, your brain is going to make you faint. Why? Because it will make you horizontal very quickly, and that will help restore blood flow to your brain since your body is no longer working against gravity. So fainting (technically called syncope) is about preserving bloodflow to the brain, which will prevent brain damage. Preserving your brain is the paramount consideration. If your brain thinks it's not getting enough oxygen, it doesn't care about anything else in that moment. Anything that causes a sudden drop in blood pressure, or heart rate, or blood oxygenation can trigger fainting. Some of these things are physical, and some are psychological.",
"When I was younger, I would always faint when I got hurt. I came to realize that I would either hold my breath or hyperventilate when I was hurting, making myself pass out. So fainting wasn't the response to the situation itself, but to me not handling the situation well."
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5z1lzg | if wifi is an electromagnetic wave travelling at the speed of light, and it's digital, why does it slow down at distances from the router? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5z1lzg/eli5_if_wifi_is_an_electromagnetic_wave/ | {
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"It doesn't. The radio waves are getting to you at the same speed they always are. However, they might not *all* be reaching you because there are obstacles in the way. Furthermore, the *protocol* that is transmitted over those radio waves is limited by many factors, including computation speed of the devices dealing with it. "
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57cl5r | how is the environment affected if we draw enough energy from the sun through solar power for the entire planet? | I assume, the law of conservation of energy dictates that this energy is being taken from somewhere, therefore does this mean we would be effectively cooling the planet by not allowing energy to reflect back into the atmosphere? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/57cl5r/eli5_how_is_the_environment_affected_if_we_draw/ | {
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"Energy used by humans is so much smaller than the total energy hitting the Earth that it's completely negligible",
"Assuming that panels are 100% efficient, yes! But that isn't the case, panels does reflect light and get hot from the sun rays",
"Probably positive. The amount of energy absorbed and converted for human use will be only a tiny fraction of the total power that the earth receives.\n\nThe biggest impact is in far lower CO2, NO, O3, and micro dust emissions, thus limitting the greenhouse effect and the smog that occurs on too many places (e.g. LA & Beijing). The global warming will continue for a while because of the momentum builded up, but much shorter than if we continue as with fossile fuel and much safer than nuclear.",
"So we draw some small percentage of the light hitting a solar panel and turn it into electricity. \n\nThat electricity is then converted back into light, heat, or sound when it's used by appliances, electronics, A/C systems, etc...\n\nThe net effect is essentially zero because it all winds up as energy in the atmosphere when we use it.",
"You'd need to literally cover the Earth with perfectly efficient solar panels, as opposed to a tiny fraction of the Earth's surface (the vast majority of which is ocean remember...).",
"All the energy that gets absorbed by the solar panels and turned into electricity eventually becomes heat (much of it within a second or two), so it wouldn't meaningfully change the heating effect of the sun.",
"Actually no, because all the energy that gets turned into electricity eventually is converted back into heat as we run our lights and machines. Energy is conserved: what goes into human society must eventually come back out.\n\nThe net effect is probably a slight warming, because solar panels are darker in color than most land surfaces. So adding panels darkens the Earth: they'll absorb sunlight that otherwise would have been reflected away from the planet.\n\nHowever, this effect would be unmeasurably small, and far *far* less than the greenhouse effect caused by fossil fuels."
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6px3og | if windows 10 is the final version of the os with updates being free, doesn't that mean microsoft would lose a lot of money? | There will be people who haven't bought a PC yet and need to get a new computer and OS - fair enough. But how about millions like me who already have Windows 10? We likely won't be upgrading for a long time. Isn't Microsoft just losing a lot of money here? But they're a massive company and are much smarter than that so is there some way they're still able to make money with this free upgrade scheme? (aside from things like Xbox of course that isn't related to Windows)
Edit: Thanks for all the answers! :) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6px3og/eli5_if_windows_10_is_the_final_version_of_the_os/ | {
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"People will always buy new PCs, and hence new Windows licenses. Sure they lose out on money from people upgrading their existing PCs to new versions of Windows, but in the grand scheme of things, how many people do that? Looking back, PC hardware has gone out of date much faster than versions of Windows.\n\nAlso Microsoft make money from providing services. Services that they can push via Windows 10. As well as other advertising pushed out to users. There's also the Windows store where they get a cut of all sales.",
"Most PC's are throwaway technology. When you get a new one, you have purchased another Windows license.\n\nYes, you can transfer licenses, and you'd do that if you are building your own PC to replace an old one, but that's the minority.\n\nAnyone who is buying a built PC (or if you get a new motherboard... Windows requires a re-buy on a new motherboard) is going to get a new copy of windows that MS gets paid for.",
"Microsoft (unofficially) welcomes you to pirate their OS if it would mean that you're running Windows instead of other Open Sources or Mac. \n\nWith the majority of users being tied to Windows, they have a monopoly over the PC market and therefore generate income from businesses, schools and other establishments by selling licence and subscriptions to programs such as Office, Excel and the likes. \n\n\n\n",
"They make more money on usage and data mining - the OS mandates the use of Bing and Edge and Cortana, all which track your habits which Microsoft uses to sell to advertises. The OS also serves ads directly. It is more beneficial for them to give it out for free so that more people are using it.",
"Adding on to what everyone else said, Microsoft is moving to a software as a service model. The most profitable games in the App Store are \"free\" to play, but come with microtransactions. \n\nThe latest version of Windows is littered with ads and software that used to be free, such as Solitaire, now costs a monthly fee.",
"You assume just \"buying\" the OS is the way to make money. Look at the Windows Store and other things involved. The real money in software now is subscriptions and \"__ as a service\". More and more software now can't be outright bought for X amount of money. A lot of software is now highly tied to cloud services too. Installing the OS (buying the initial part/piece/service) is just the foot in the door. ",
"Profits from desktop sales aren't really a priority for MS, the real cash comes from long term corporate and government contracts - software, custom updates, tech support, etc, etc. "
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66xw8t | how do people with metal body parts go through metal detectors at airports? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66xw8t/eli5_how_do_people_with_metal_body_parts_go/ | {
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"They don't. \n\nThese days they are directed through the millimeter wave detectors. Or they can opt for a hand screening. ",
"My father has 2 fake knees. He carries a note saying that. He also gets screened and gets a pat down.",
"Depends on the material, how thick it is, how deep it's in your body. I have a stainless steel rod in my ankle about 8 inches long, and that's never set off any metal detectors in airports or anything.\n\nHowever, my dad has a titanium hip replacement that sets off pretty much every metal detector ever. \n\nWe both have a little card in our wallets that have the type of implant, where it is, and the doctors contact information if anything should pop up. ",
"A Turkish-American friend of mine looks very Middle-Eastern, speaks with a heavy accent, and has a metal pin in her leg. She goes through airport security *very* slowly, with pat-downs, handheld detector wands, and lots of questions. She has learned to show up early to allow time for the extra scrutiny she always draws."
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71g914 | why is jewelry and antiques placed on velvet and not other fabrics? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/71g914/eli5_why_is_jewelry_and_antiques_placed_on_velvet/ | {
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"Velvet photographs better when trying to capture something that sparkles. Most other fabrics will seem faded when you use a flash. Velvet stays as black as you see it with the naked eye. On or off film it makes things pop more.\n\nVelvet is actually really bad to have around antiques that can scratch."
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6kx54n | if a magnet is 'hovering' by being repelled by another magnet, is it's weight placed on the bottom magnet? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6kx54n/eli5_if_a_magnet_is_hovering_by_being_repelled_by/ | {
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"Yup. They will follow Newton's Third Law, for equal and opposite forces.\n\nAlthough I'd be careful about saying \"weight placed\"- the force applied is via the magnetic force interacting between the two, it just happens to be equal to the weight in this particular set up.",
"Think about a truck full of these magnets as you described. If that truck drove through a weigh station the weight of the magnets would certainly add up on the scale. ",
"Consider the atomic level: nothing is actually \"touching\" there either. Particles get close but are not in actual contact due to repulsive forces, similar to the magnet situation.\n\nIn both situations, the \"weight\" force is considered the sum of weights of all components.",
"Gravity is pulling both magnets down towards the center of the earth. The electromagnetic force is then pushing as well - each magnet pushes on the other. The force is strong enough at close distances (as they follow the inverse square law) to push stronger than gravity. But just as the bottom magnet pushes up, the top, hovering magnet is pushing down with the magnetic force. \n\nSo the bottom magnet has both gravity pulling it into the ground and the magnetic force pushing it into the ground. ",
"Yes and no:\n\nYes, there would be more force pushing the bottom magnet down.\n\nNo, the extra force is not called weight. Weight is a special name for the force caused by gravity on an object.",
"The question has already been answered but I'd like to try a simpler explanation\n\nLet's list down the forces involved \n\nThe **top magnet** is affected by gravity so it has a force going **down**. But it's also affected by the magnetic force of the bottom magnet so that's a force going **up**. Together they cancel each other out so the top magnet floats.\n\nThe **bottom magnet** is affected by gravity so it has a force going **down**. *And* it's also affected by the magnetic force from the top magnet, so that's another force going **down**. Together it totals the weight of both magnets!\n\n\nI tried my best to explain it without difficult words or needing prerequisite knowledge but I couldn't find a simpler word for force. Any suggestions are welcome",
"When in doubt, draw a free body diagram. In case you are unfamiliar, this where you draw arrows for all the known forces on \"body\" or object. We do this because of Newton's Law, and use it to help us better understand motions or stress on objects. We also take advantage of the fact that F(orce)=M(ass) x A(cceleration)\n\nOn the hovering magnet, it is motionless, so we know A = 0. Same for the magnet resting on the surface. On both magnets, we have multiple forces acting, but they all must cancel out, because no objects are accelerating. Since the directions exactly oppose each other the forces exactly cancel out, and there is no acceleration. \n\nFor the hovering magnet, we know the force of gravity is equal to the mass of the magnet times the acceleration of gravity. Since it is stationary, the magnetic force is exactly canceling out the force due to gravity.\n\nFor the magnet resting on a surface, we know the force of gravity is also the mass of the second magnet times the acceleration of gravity. We also know, since every action has an equal and opposite reaction (think of it as the hovering magnet pushing back on the resting magnet), that this magnetic force is equal to the gravitational force in the hovering magnet. But, since the stationary magnet is also not moving, we know there is a force opposite in direction that exactly matches the sum of the gravitational force and the magnet force on the resting magnet. The \"normal force\" of the surface pushing back against the magnet is equal to the sum of the force of gravity on the resting magnet, plus the force of gravity on the hovering magnet. Normal force is the \"effective weight\", as that is what you would see read out on a scale. But, normal force is not the weight. \n\nThought experiment: imagine both magnets lose their magnetism, and now are just resting on top of each other. What are the forces acting on each body now? What is different and the same between this scenario and the scenario you bring up?\n\nEdit: So to explicitly answer your question, the resting magnet does not \"gain weight\" by repelling a hovering magnet. If you put it on a scale, this would appear to be the case, but in fact, but that is because scales actually measure the normal force they exert, not the weight of the object on them. The term \"weight\" is reserved for the force of gravity on an object due to *its own mass*. Consider when you measure yourself on a scale, and a friend pushes down on your shoulders. Do you weigh more because a friend is pushing you harder into the scale? Do you weigh less if your friend is slightly lifting you upwards? The answer is no, the scale is simply reading out the normal force it is exerting, which is simply your weight plus any outside forces it must counteract to stop your acceleration.\n\nEdit 2: Link to diagram\n\n_URL_0_"
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5lwfev | why do all old movie trailers have narration in them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lwfev/eli5_why_do_all_old_movie_trailers_have_narration/ | {
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"Because people generally want to know what a movie is about before they go see it and in the ~2 minutes a trailer lasts voiceover narration is the best way to communicate to the viewers what the movie is about."
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70dip2 | why is the internet polluted with political extremism? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70dip2/eli5why_is_the_internet_polluted_with_political/ | {
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"It is because of anonymity and abstraction. People say things on the internet that they would never say to each other in person. The first reason is because their comments are anonymous. They perceive that there will be no repercussions for what they say, so they can say whatever they want and no one will find out that it comes from them. The second is because of abstraction, which means that the people that they are attacking are not really people, they are just an abstract entity on the internet whom they will never meet and to them are not a real person.\n\nI believe the internet is the reason behind the rise of the Tea Party and now the white supremacists. Online they could talk all of the shit they wanted and they got each other all revved up. But if you look at the Charlottesville protests, you could see how quickly they tried to backtrack their stances once they realized that their identities were now known and being publicized. That's why the KKK wears hoods. The internet has been their modern hoods and they made the mistake to take them off and March in person in the daylight."
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4uhslp | when coming to a stop in a car, why do the brakes suddenly grab at the end? | Specifically speaking, if one was to hold the brakes at a constant pressure during deceleration, when the car comes to a rest, why do the brakes suddenly grab and make the car lurch at the final moment rather than easing to a stop? (Making people have to lift pressure at the end of a stop) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4uhslp/eli5_when_coming_to_a_stop_in_a_car_why_do_the/ | {
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"Basically, when applying the brakes at a constant pressure, you apply constant torque to the wheels which will give you constant deceleration of your car i.e. you lose X amount of speed for every second. \n\nAll of that applies as long as your car moves, so you feel a deceleration until the car stops and suddenly you don't feel it anymore - that's the jerk you feel when the car gets to a sudden stop. \n\nTo prevent that, when your speed is really low your ease down on the breaking to bring the car to that halt more slowly than with a constant breaking applied. ",
"Coulumbs law of friction states that the kinetic friction is independent of velocity. I don't think it is an increase in friction during the end of retardation. Rather a negative acceleration you feel when the suspension, rubber in the tires and your body goes back to a relaxed state just after the car comes to a halt."
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cbqssa | we do we sometimes not crave specific foods, but at other times we crave that same food? | Like if right now I want some Taco Bell, but on a different day Taco Bell’s sounds disgusting. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbqssa/eli5_we_do_we_sometimes_not_crave_specific_foods/ | {
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"It all comes down to what nutrients your body needs. Take an orange, for instance (not the best stand-in for a taco, but it'll work.) Oranges are high in Vitamin C, so if your body starts running low on Vitamin C, that orange you pass in the grocery store is suddenly going to look *really* good. If your body really needs fat and salt, you're going to be rushing for whatever's the closest source of fat and salt, even if you don't feel that hungry. The same goes for protein, sugars, any vitamin or mineral, antioxidants, folate, or anything else your body needs. It's even true with water; if you're slightly dehydrated but you don't feel thirsty (like an astonishing number of people in the US today,) and someone sets down a glass of water and you take even one sip, that water will be gone before you have any idea what just happened, because your body knows that it needs it.\n\nThat's also why pregnant women have such bizarre cravings; they're building a human, and as soon as they need some different building blocks to work with, their bodies start screaming for something that has that thing in it (like pickles and milk duds, which is one that I heard that might be apocryphal.)\n\nThat's the normal way that cravings work, and it's the way yours likely works assuming that Taco Bell doesn't put anything in their food to increase the addictive appeal of it. But, nah, all fast-food places are upstanding and honest, right? No one puts crave-inducing agents in anything they're trying to sell a lot of.... Nope, not ever."
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93mdy9 | how are vines for seedless grapes planted if there are no seeds to plant them from? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/93mdy9/eli5_how_are_vines_for_seedless_grapes_planted_if/ | {
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"Most likely grafting and cloning. Taking a green cutting from a plant, you can root it and grow another identical plant. That's how a lot of commercially grown fruits are made. Apples come to mind."
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6q38m7 | why are macs always used in adverts, instead of anything else? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6q38m7/eli5_why_are_macs_always_used_in_adverts_instead/ | {
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"Apple probably pays them to use Macs as it a form of advertisement for them. So when they are getting paid for it , the and companies are only too happy to use Macs on their ads. Also it might be because a Mac is widely used in the country where the ad is airing and if it is a software ad they need to show that their software is compatible with a Mac. Hope this helps",
"I always assumed it was the large role the Mac has traditionally played in advertising and design. For the people who came up with the ad, it's probably the only computer they really are familiar with.\n\nAnd in cases of print ads or the like, the designer can literally design the \"on screen view\" using their actual computer or perhaps their own laptop in a photo shoot. When I worked in advertising, we would occasionally get calls asking if we had a spare Mac in inventory that could be borrowed as a prop for a shoot.\n\nAt some point demographics may play into it, and they want their ad to subtly appeal to people who either own Macs or see Macs as an aspirational product and they want to associate their product with an Apple product. Wintel PCs were occasionally used as well, but usually deliberately when they wanted to create a \"boring\" business environment.\n\nSource: I worked in advertising for 13 years."
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87wmyg | why do children like stories that rhyme? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/87wmyg/eli5_why_do_children_like_stories_that_rhyme/ | {
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"Why do children like stories that rhyme?\n\nI'll tell you about it, I've got lots of time.\n\nPatterns are recognized even in utero.\n\nSlant rhyme counts too, until your funeral.\n\nGames and stories are tools for the mind.\n\nA way to advance and not fall behind. \n\nAll life is in patterns,the stars and the seasons.\n\nTrolls will be trolls, \n\ntriggering internet vegans.\n\nThe greedy will hoard the poor kids will suffer.\n\nSomeones out there is banging OPs mother.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n",
"People like all sorts of patterns. \n\nPoetry used to be the dominant form of literary art in Western cultures for hundreds of years, and back then poetry had all kinds of other structural constraints that defined its quality in addition to rhyming.\n\nBefore the French (simplification) took over English culture, English poetry was mostly alliterative, and rhyming of the first syllables in words.\n\nPatterns are what define visual aesthetic too, even if that aesthetic is culturally defined. \n\nEven art that betrays those patterns works because people have a sense of patterns in the first place. \n\nStructure of any kind is just interesting to us. It’s true of primarily functional design too, from drywall to software.\n\nIt is part of why we’re such a successful animal in the first place. "
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7v0hgp | why does chocolate milk last longer than regular milk? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7v0hgp/eli5_why_does_chocolate_milk_last_longer_than/ | {
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"If you take a look at the ingredient label on chocolate milk, you'll not that it's nit just \"Milk\" and \"Cocoa\". There's a whole bunch of other things in there. This changes the environment in which bacteria could develop, which is what makes milk go bad. \n\nThere's also so much sugar in there that, frankly, you might not *notice* if it goes bad. "
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838pbl | how do soda machines at fastfood restaurants keep soda from going flat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/838pbl/eli5_how_do_soda_machines_at_fastfood_restaurants/ | {
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"Restaurants don't serve pre-mixed soda like you buy at the store unless it's in a can or bottle. Due to quantity they go through it's cheaper to order it in concentrated syrup form.\n\nA keg/box of concentrated Coke syrup represents hundreds of servings.\n\nSoda fountains mix soda water + syrup on demand at the tap.\n\nEDIT: Soda machines have a keg of pressurized soda water feeding them so the CO2 can't escape.",
"In most commercial operations, the soda is actually stored in two parts - the flavoring syrup and the carbonated water. When it is dispensed from the fountain, the two are mixed together in the right proportions to make your drink.\n\nThe carbonated water is stored in pressurized tanks, so it doesn't go flat while it is being stored - the CO2 can't escape from the liquid until it is dispensed at the fountain.",
"This is close, but a little off. I work in large scale sports stadiums doing food and beverage. There are actually three parts. The soda syrup or BIB (bag-in-box—industry lingo) a water line (un-carbonated) and a line of C02 gas. The CO2 mixes with the tap water first and then is transferred to the fountain unit where the soda actually dispenses. There an “ionizer” (its a little cap on the nozzle) spreads the now carbonated water and syrup evenly for dispensing. I’ve never come across a unit that has a carbonated water keg and a syrup dispenser. I’ve only ever bought the syrup and the CO2 gas in a cylinder. "
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l84rh | linux/unix | I have used Windows all my life and have no idea what Linux/Unix is and what it's good for or how it's different.... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l84rh/eli5_linuxunix/ | {
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"[Here is a great introduction.](_URL_0_)",
"Unix is an operating system for computers that started it's life back in 1969 at Bell Labs. It was designed to allow multiple users to share a computer at the same time. \n\nIn about 1991 a guy named Linus Torvalds took a version of the Unix operating system and modified it so that it could be used for commercial purposes too (It was called Minix and was for research only). Thus began Linux.\n\nLinux is great for many things, and also has some disadvantages. For the average user, a Linux experience using a distribution like Ubuntu wouldn't be too different to using Windows or OSX. \n\nA great strength of Linux is that if you have the skill and desire to change something, you can. Some people place a very high value on this ability.\n\nAnother strength is that there is a lot of free software available on Linux (although much of it is also available on Windows). Certain setups that could be quite costly to run on a Windows machine can be run for free on a Linux machine.\n\nOne of the major disadvantages is compatibility. You standard Windows programs won't run. You may encounter trouble if you use unusual hardware. Drivers for Linux that allow the computer to make full use of things like video cards sometimes lag behind their Windows counter parts. Although you can often work around these issues to get said piece of hardware working, the solution is often quite technical. ",
"[Here is a great introduction.](_URL_0_)",
"Unix is an operating system for computers that started it's life back in 1969 at Bell Labs. It was designed to allow multiple users to share a computer at the same time. \n\nIn about 1991 a guy named Linus Torvalds took a version of the Unix operating system and modified it so that it could be used for commercial purposes too (It was called Minix and was for research only). Thus began Linux.\n\nLinux is great for many things, and also has some disadvantages. For the average user, a Linux experience using a distribution like Ubuntu wouldn't be too different to using Windows or OSX. \n\nA great strength of Linux is that if you have the skill and desire to change something, you can. Some people place a very high value on this ability.\n\nAnother strength is that there is a lot of free software available on Linux (although much of it is also available on Windows). Certain setups that could be quite costly to run on a Windows machine can be run for free on a Linux machine.\n\nOne of the major disadvantages is compatibility. You standard Windows programs won't run. You may encounter trouble if you use unusual hardware. Drivers for Linux that allow the computer to make full use of things like video cards sometimes lag behind their Windows counter parts. Although you can often work around these issues to get said piece of hardware working, the solution is often quite technical. "
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7wax6l | when did big dicks become “a thing”. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7wax6l/eli5_when_did_big_dicks_become_a_thing/ | {
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"I'm pretty sure small dicks meant you were smart and stuff in older times. That's why a lot of nude paintings and statues depict famous men with small penises. ",
"Don’t know when it became a thing, but I know that the Greeks didn’t consider it a desired trait. Hence, the reason for the more modest packages of various statues and works of art. "
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5u0wa4 | what exactly are we smelling when we breathe in a nice or unpleasant fragrance? is it the actual bacteria that comes when someone passes gas, or just air particles filled with chemicals that pass through our nostrils? | Sorry if this is worded weirdly. Someone farted on the train today and I wanted to know what foul part of them was forcing its way up my nostrils, particularly since we can't "unsmell" things once we detect them. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5u0wa4/eli5_what_exactly_are_we_smelling_when_we_breathe/ | {
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"Your nose in an incredible machine. Smells come in a variety of chemicals, but the most common are ethers (usually nice smells) and carboxylic acids (nasty smells). Sometimes bacteria will make your nose itch and you'll sneeze, but for the most part you are smelling the chemical excrement of bacteria or dead bacteria, not so much the bacteria itself. Your nose will pick these chemicals up with receptors called the 'olfactory system' and, in physiology (for the most part), once a receptor has been activated you're brain will 'filter out the noise' the receptor is making which basically means your brain knows the smell is there and it slowly deactivates the receptor because your nose does not have the ability to break down these chemicals/bacteria, only catch them in the mucus and boogers your nose makes.",
"Smelling and tasting are more or less chemical senses - in the sense that they react in a chemical way to a chemical compound.\n\nYou don't usually smell or taste bacteria, but the toxins or other waste they produce.\n\nFarts can have a lot of different things in them that smell bad. Smell could be caused by bacteria or fermentation. In farts we usually smell the sulphur compounds which are likely caused by fermentation in the gut or later in digestive system.\n",
"One thing that needs to be added. Just because you are smelling the by products of the bacteria and not the bacteria itself doesn't mean that the bacteria isn't there. You could still have that in the mix, your just not detecting it directly. You can argue that part of the reason why the smell is unpleasant is because it suggests the presence of bacteria and therefore the risk of getting sick. We developed the defense mechanisms of smelling the bad smell and being repulsed by it to protect us against bacterial overload. \nSo you could still be getting some of that butt bacteria in your nostrils. The bad smell that your nose is reporting is your body telling you: \"Stop breathing, high risk of bacteria\"\nLuckily for you there were some clever fellows with petri dishes and they tested this exact thing. Turns out that clothing filters out the bacteria from your farts and what you are smelling is in fact only chemical in nature. Whew!\n\n_URL_0_\n\n\n"
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dsjncr | why are we evolving technologies at such a fast pace now a days, when contrasted to the thousands and thousands of years it took humans to move on from stone tools? | Is it just like a big domino effect? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dsjncr/eli5_why_are_we_evolving_technologies_at_such_a/ | {
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"It's basically an exponential process. That is, earlier gains make future gains easier.\n\nFiguring out how to do more things make it easier to gather enough food for folks, makes it easier for them to communicate, etc.\n\nThis frees up more time for people to come up with new ideas and makes it easier for them to collaborate, etc.",
"Technology is exponential. The more new technologies that are invented, the more tools you have to create never ones. \n\nEverything we have now relies on several inventions, cultural changes and scientific discoveries, but you can't start at the wrong end. You have more avenues to explore, more options, more ideas that can be made reality when you have industrial society than when you had barely figured out metalworking.",
"1.\tDomino effect as you say - some inventions are needed to enable others\n2.\tEducation and social attitudes - far more people can read/write, there's a huge amount of knowledge available, superstitions and attitudes like \"you'll work the field like your elders did or you'll get the cane\" are dying\n3.\tWealth and demand - I know that if I build that cool product there will be millions of people willing and able to buy it. 1000 years ago I could only reach the next village and people could only pay me in turnips - there's no way to accept turnips on Shopify",
"It's worth noting that there are many more people alive and inventing now than at any point in the past.",
"A lot of answers missing the point here. Technological advancement isn't magic, where the more that has been invented, the more will be invented. The driving force is the availability and spread of information. Thousands and thousands of years ago, hardly anyone could read and even fewer people could devote their time to writing, and if you were a professional scribe, the only people willing to pay you to write were merchants needing receipts, clergy needing holy texts, and nobility who needed to send messages. \n\nWith the introduction of printing technologies and recently things like the internet, along with the explosion in literacy rates over the past couple centuries, the flow of information has allowed so many more people to learn, experiment, and innovate than was even imaginable ten generations ago.",
"Technology is slowing down in many regards. What many people view as \"technology\" is actually just globalisation. For example, in the 1960s we landed on the moon. Everyone thought we'd have flying cars by the year 2000. Instead, we have Twitter. Computers arent new technology, they're just getting smaller, faster, and more powerful. But it's just improvement...not new.\n\nI know this is a contrarian view, but I find it to be worth noting."
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3c5t2p | how did factory workers in the 19th century work 12 hour shifts 6 days a week. | For me and I'm sure for most people even just 40 hours 5 days a week is very tiring and 72 hours would be almost impossible especially considering how much more manual the labor was back then. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3c5t2p/eli5how_did_factory_workers_in_the_19th_century/ | {
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"In order to keep their jobs and not starve they did it. Often they got very ill or died from exhaustion. ",
"It was very tiring for them too. but if they wanted to take a break someone else was always waiting in line to take their job around so they basically just had to do it till they couldn't anymore then hope their family didn't starve to death too too fast. \n\nAt the same time LOTs of people in the US do it right now, they just work 2 or 3 jobs instead of working one job for 12 hours. ",
"Your body adapts. People still do work those kinds of hours and even more. At one point a couple years ago I was working 12-15 hour days (and the rare 24 hour day) for several weeks at a time without a day off. "
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4hhcca | how does light pollution prevent us from seeing stars? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hhcca/eli5how_does_light_pollution_prevent_us_from/ | {
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"The light from the stars is very faint. The light from cities, streetlamps, and so on, washes it out. While you may not be looking directly at the light source, it is scattered in the atmosphere. This means that, similar to the blue sky during the day time, wherever you look light is coming at your eyes and fainter stars are hidden.",
"A simple analogy: when you are in a car in the night with the lights on and someone is approaching you directly with a flashlight in their hands you See their light but it's very dimmed. \nNow if you switch on highbeam you won't See the light at all. Because your local light source from the car is more powerful than their tiny flashlight. \nWith out the lights off on your car you get a can See the flashlight perfectly. \nWith light pollution the area around you has a stronger lightsource than the Star, which is a few million lightyears away, causing the local light source to overpower the more distant one. This is also the reason why more recent telescopes are built around areas where there is not so much Population. ",
"Air is full of things like dust and water droplets.\n\nLight from terrestrial sources illuminate those things floating in the air, give the sky its own brightness that washes out faint objects like stars."
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6j4rw7 | if photons are much smaller than electrons, why can we see better small things with electrons than with photons? [physics] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6j4rw7/eli5_if_photons_are_much_smaller_than_electrons/ | {
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"Photons and electrons are both elementary particles, so they don't really have a size. They couple to other particles as if they were single points.\n\nTo determine what you can \"see\" with a given particle as a probe, the relevant length scale is the de Broglie wavelength of the particle. This is not intrinsic to the particular type of particle, it depends on the momentum of the particle.\n\nThe de Broglie wavelength of any particle is given by h/p, where h is Planck's constant and p is the momentum of the particle.\n\nSo an electron and a photon with the same momentum have the same wavelength.\n\nIf you replace the momentum with the energy of the particle, for a photon the de Broglie wavelength becomes hc/E. For a nonrelativistic electron, it becomes h/sqrt(2mE).\n\nThe ratio of these quantities for a photon and electron at a given energy is c\\*sqrt(2m/E).\n\nAt low energies, this quantity is large. That means that the de Broglie wavelength of a photon is larger than that of an electron with the same energy. A smaller wavelength means a better probe, so electrons tend to have smaller de Broglie wavelengths than photons at reasonable energies.\n\nSo electrons of these energies make better probes than photons if you want to see very small things."
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3eq31n | why do people write graffiti on other people's property instead of their own property? | Answer: it's "fun".
[No wonder I don't understand it. Get off my lawn!] | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3eq31n/eli5_why_do_people_write_graffiti_on_other/ | {
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"Because this\n\n_URL_0_\n\nis more fun to tag than this\n\n_URL_1_\n\nEdit: Graffiti is a sort of counter culture. It goes against this corporate white washed world we all find ourselves sitting pretty in. But truth be told, it's any number of reasons from desire to create, peer pressure, boredom etc. At the end of the day, other people's stuff is usually bigger, and easier to colour than your own.",
"Heh? Because people are c*nts. Why do people do anything? ",
"Most graffiti \"artists\" do not own any property. They tend to be young males with little money (although there are, of course, exceptions). \n \nSo if they want to make graffiti, they must do it on other people's property. \n \nAnd if they did own the property, it wouldn't be graffiti. It would be \"art\". ",
"To be seen by other taggers. They appreciate other work by taggers as well. They call it \"getting up\". The better the placement of the tag, the more they can get \"fame\". Some are in some very dangerous places like billboards or highway bridges. "
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aqwskl | why is crying physically exhausting? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aqwskl/eli5_why_is_crying_physically_exhausting/ | {
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"I’d say it’s not physically exhausting but instead it is mentally exhausting.\n\nYour brain secrets a lot of chemicals when you are very emotional. When you are upset and crying you brain runs low and needs to replenish. You brain makes you feel tired so it can rest."
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a1lu23 | what's the pourpose of kilowatt-hours and ampere-hours measurement units? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a1lu23/eli5_whats_the_pourpose_of_kilowatthours_and/ | {
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"Regurgitating [a comment I made in /r/electricians a while ago](_URL_0_):\n\nKilowatt-hour (kWh) is a unit of energy. The SI unit of energy is indeed a joule (J); 1 kWh = 3,600,000 J (or 3.6 MJ). kWh is used especially by electrical utility companies for billing purposes because at that scale and as a unit of energy related to hours it's much easier to relate to home electrical consumption. If you leave a 60 W lightbulb on for eight hours overnight it's 1,728,000 J of energy being consumed (60 W x 8 h x 60 min/h x 60 s/min); that's far more cumbersome math than 0.060 kW x 8 h = 0.48 kWh. As such, for the sizes of electrical loads one deals with in a home, it's much easier to relate how much a monthly energy bill of (e.g.) 300 kWh is, rather than 1,080,000,000 J (1.08 GJ).\n\nAmpère-hour (Ah) is a unit of *charge*; the proper SI unit for this is actually coulombs (C; 1 A = 1 C/s; 1 Ah = 3,600 C). Battery charge capacities are often expressed in Ah or mAh because a unit expressed relative to hours rather than seconds is more useful when one is using a device for hours. Even so it's often just to make it easier to market too; a cordless drill with a 5 Ah battery is much easier to express to a consumer than 18,000 coulombs, because a consumer has likely never even heard of the unit 'coulomb', or might confuse \"18,000 C\" for \"18,000 **°C**\"."
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7u4svx | why is it impossible to increase the volume as far as the speakers allow it on youtube, smartphones etc? | As in, why do volume adjusting bars have a maximum even though different files will still not be equally loud at it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7u4svx/eli5_why_is_it_impossible_to_increase_the_volume/ | {
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"Because the volume slider goes up to a maximum decibel level, but the videos themselves have different recorded volume levels that the youtube player isn't going to adjust. It's the same principle as if you had someone sit at a table with a microphone recording at the table, and then a person standing at the opposite end of the room speaking towards the microphone at the same volume. When you play it back, regardless of the device, the person standing at the opposite end of the room is going to be quieter.",
"The volume of the sound at each point in a digital audio track is a number in a fixed range (0 to 65,535 for 16bit audio) with the middle value being “silence” since a sound wave swings in both positive and negative direction.\n\nMany audio tracks are not properly “normalized”, meaning that their loudest points are not at the extreme ends of that range, making the entire track less loud than it could be. Many videos you’ll see these days, especially amateur recordings, did not go through audio normalization.\n\nEdit; sometimes, not normalizing audio can also be a deliberate choice. You wouldn’t want the quiet intro of an album to be at max volume relative to the other songs for example."
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8a3c1f | the logic of beer calories | So I've been counting calories for a while now, and the one thing that continues to baffle me is how inconsistent and confusing the calorie count of beer can be.
Normally I assume if a beer is heavy, full\-bodied, and sweet \(the kind I typically like\) that it will be much higher in calories than something more crisp and mild. Yet time and again I'm left completely confused when I realize that sweet bourbon barrel ale \(with 190 calories per 12 oz\) has far fewer calories than a basic blue moon \(171 calories per 12 oz\).
And that's just a mild example. There's a beer I tend to drink called Golden Monkey. It's a bit on the sweet side, but far less so than the bourbon barrel I listed above. It's also much lighter on the palette. So imagine my surprise when I find out it has 274 calories per 12 oz bottle.
So what's the logic behind this? What sort of weird chemistry goes into the nutritional value of beer? How can I get a rough idea of how many calories I'm taking in at the bar? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8a3c1f/eli5_the_logic_of_beer_calories/ | {
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"Alcohol itself has calories, so higher ABV beers will almost always have more calories than lower ABV beers. Golden Monkey, at 9.5%abv, has a lot of calories.\n\nBourbon barrel stouts, being both fuller-bodied and higher abv than most beers, generally have 300+ calories per 12oz. I don't know which brand of stout you're looking at specifically, but it's possible that either your calorie information on it is wrong, or that it's some sort of light stout.",
"Alcohol contains a lot of calories, so the biggest indicator of how many calories will be in a beer is the alcohol by volume (ABV). 3.2% beer is going to have much fewer calories than some 10% bottle.\n\nBesides the alcohol content, various carbohydrates contribute calories. This is much more complex - the original grain used, the brewing process, and whether anything is added or removed. Lite beers have had many of the carbs removed, which reduces caloric content while maintaining ABV.\n\nChemicals which make a beer dark or rich-tasting generally contribute a negligable amount of calories, so how dark or \"heavy\" a beer is isn't really correlated to calories. Sweetness is (usually) derived from sugar content, which is of course calorific... but less-sweet beers may have simply had their sugar converted into alcohol, which has more calories.\n\ntl;dr: Check ABV first, but beyond that it's impossible to tell because the chemistry is too weird. Do research on your phone prior to ordering if calories are a concern!"
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19a0e9 | what is understeer and oversteer? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/19a0e9/eli5_what_is_understeer_and_oversteer/ | {
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"Understeer is when your car isn't turning enough, relative to how far your steering wheel is turned. This happens when your front wheels slip.\n\nOversteer is when your car turns too much, compared to how far your steering wheel is turned. This happens when your back wheels slip. ",
"* Understeer is where your car doesn't turn as much as you would expect by looking at the angle of the wheels. You have insufficient grip *at the front wheels* so you essentially skid forwards a little bit, instead of simply turning.\n* Oversteer is where the back end of your car slips out a little when you turn. You have insufficient grip *at the back wheels* so the back carries on going forward while the front of the car turns properly.",
"**Understeer:** You are driving down the road, turn the wheel but the car goes straight on, off the road, crashes into a tree and you die\n\n**Oversteer:** You are driving down the road, turn the wheel but the back of the car spins round, you go off the road backwards, crash into a tree and you die.\n\nOversteer is obviously best because you don't see the tree that kills you. *Source: TopGear*",
"While turning:\n\n- oversteer: your car rotates more than you tell it.\n- understeer: your car rotates less than you tell it.",
"_URL_0_\n\nmost helpful ",
"Best way I heard it:\nUndersteer is where you hit the tree with the front of the car, oversteer is when you hit the tree with the back of the car, horsepower is how hard you hit the tree and torque is how far you drag it. "
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1kcg47 | how can people without insurance who are taken to the er after having a heart, stroke, car accident etc be required to pay their hospital bill when they're unable to consent to any of the services being performed? | I recall going to the ER in college and signeing a form consenting to paying my bill for any services performed. How can people who are unconscious be forced to pay for something they never agreed to. Can't they just say after the fact that they never agreed to anything and would have been happy to have been left dying on the side of the road.
Edit: A lot of answers seem focused on the obligations of doctors and hospitals. What I'm asking about is what are the obligations of the patient. If emergency rooms have to take everyone regardless of ability to pay, why would anyone ever pay for treatment they never consented to? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kcg47/eli5how_can_people_without_insurance_who_are/ | {
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"Because in the absence of contrary information (a medic alert bracelet saying \"let me die\"), society (and the law) has decided that basic, minimum care to preserve life is the default standard. So you are therefore liable to pay for the service.\nThe opposite would to be require consent at all times from injured before doing anything. Considering that the more serious the injury, the higher the likelihood of not being coherent or awake, a ton of people who would otherwise be save would instead, die.",
"Five year old, I am not a lawyer. \n\nA federal law called the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (aka EMTALA) created in 1986 and revised in 2003 basically requires a hospital to treat you once you've arrived, and restricts the hospital's ability to discuss payment before services are rendered. Most state or local laws govern the practice of Emergency Medical Services, and legally require the ambulance people to treat and then transport you to a hospital if you're injured and unconscious. \n\nSo, let's say you've been hit by a car and you're lying unconscious by the side of the road, and someone dials 9-1-1 and the fire department arrives on scene. One law probably mandates that the EMS crews transport you to a hospital. Another law requires that the hospital treat you once you're 250 yards from the building. And that same law makes it illegal for the hospital to delay your treatment while determining if you consent to pay. Several court cases have decided that hospitals (e.g. for-profit) must treat you and not dump you off at another hospital (e.g. charity) that might be less concerned about your ability to pay. \n\nAlso, if you have a pre-determined legal \"Do Not Resuscitate\" order -- different hospitals might have different policies about how they honor that. To avoid lawsuits and comply with state or federal law, hospitals might have to treat you against your pre-decided consent until a family or friend brings a copy of that document. \n\nThe laws mandate that the treatment providers treat you without your consent regardless of your ability to pay. The laws also let them, later, seek payment for those services rendered regardless of your ability to pay.\n\nTL;DR: Because, it's the law. \n\n",
" > Can't they just say after the fact that they never agreed to anything and would have been happy to have been left dying on the side of the road.\n\nAnd, say, one of your loved ones was unconscious because of anaphylaxis, and every single medical personnel next to her just stood around and did nothing because no one was there to give consent for her - even though all one needs to pay for is an epi-pen and the time of the emergency worker (which you can easily afford).\n\nIs that system better?",
"Among some of the other comments that mention the laws that apply here. I believe that the Hippocratic oath taken by Dr's obliges them to save a persons life. Medical aid cost's money, so someone has to pay for it. And, Unless one has a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) I'd think one would be rather grateful that their life was saved regardless of the cost. ",
"I work ems and its legally called \"implied consent\". Basically we are allowed to provide any treatments that a completely rational adult would want. Same goes for treating a minor when there parent isnt present. Its Implied Consent.",
"I need you to clarify what country you're asking about, because if I were a Canadian I'd be sitting here thinking \"this question makes no sense.\"\n\nSadly, I'm from the US, and I know exactly what you're asking. Yes, they would have to pay. Basic care will be provided without consent.",
"Here's a tangential question: What happens if you just don't pay?",
"This is especially difficult for mental patients, who can be \"required\" to pay tens of thousands of dollars for involuntary hospital stays.",
"Because if I'm a doctor and you come into the hospital in cardiac arrest and I say \"I'm not touching him until I see insurance paperwork, or get consent from a living relative\", and you die....then I look like a shitty person.",
"The question itself is a philosophical failing and trick. It's very premise is absurd: that one would not want life saving treatments in order to save some amount of money. \n\nThink about what you're really asking for a second, to be left to die so that you don't have to pay for a bag of blood, a thread and needle, an electric jolt or some chest staples. \n\nThe reason you consent to the treatment is because we all consent to it, as a society, as a culture we've decided that we would rather be rescued and pay the appropriate associated bill rather than die at every life threatening injury or trauma. ",
"This is most definitely a loaded question and no amount of answers will justify your 'query'. It can be answered simply enough, **you have to pay for the services rendered.** \n \n But then your rebuttal contains, \"well they could have left me for dead, I didn't want to be rescued anyway\" BULLSHIT! Ask me that question again when you or your loved one is the one dying! That sounds like what someone would say to avoid payment! Whoever that unconscious person is, that's someone's father, mother, wife, husband, or child. The ethical thing to do is to cure them, regardless of the situation. ",
"Why not just do a quick credit check on everyone rushed to the emergency room and if they don't pass then put em back where you found em.",
"The theory is that a person in that situation would want their life saved so the law presumes that you consent to the treatment.",
"A lot of soapbox stuff here....the legal answer in the US is called \"implied consent\". It's the law that states any reasonable person would consent to life saving treatment if they are not alert and oriented and able to communicate their need. It's the law that allowed EMS/ERs to treat these types of situations. It's also covers treatment for minors when a guardian isn't around to agree to treatment. \n\nIn the US a law was passed in 1986 that requires ERs to treat all life threatening conditions and active labor regardless of ability to pay\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"In an emergency situation, consent is implied and is not required by law. That's why when someone is choking at a restaurant and they don't consent to you doing abdominal thrusts on them you should wait for them to pass out and then proceed to do CPR.\nSource: I'm a nurse."
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6zpj7z | why do washing machines have concave glass doors instead of flat glass doors? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6zpj7z/eli5_why_do_washing_machines_have_concave_glass/ | {
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"Two reasons, assuming a front loading washing machine:\n\nFirst, the concave glass window pushes inwards on the rubber water seal. This makes it so that clothes that hit it push the seal further into the glass rather than have the possibility with a flat window that the clothes peel the seal from the flat surface of the glass (causing a water leak).\n\nSecondly, the concave glass helps push the clothes in the washer around as it's spinning to help agitate the clothes (clothes will bounce off it and be pushed further back). With a flat window, there's a possibility the clothes end up stuck spinning next to the window, never moving away from it. Because the clothes are not moving, they do not get a good wash!"
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4406td | did people of all nations involved in the cold war call it "the cold war"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4406td/eli5_did_people_of_all_nations_involved_in_the/ | {
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"The USSR and it's satellites most definitely viewed themselves as a bloc of nations opposed to a US led bloc and in a state of subdued conflict with one another. People in non-aligned countries definitely felt pressure to pick a side and became the most frequent places where the cold war opened into actual conflict. I don't know whether or not the term \"cold war\" was used elsewhere, but the conflict was viewed as a conflict and in much the same way.\n\n > Also, I do have one more question, are we really that close to a Second Cold War and if so, do you think that will be its name?\n\nRussia isn't the USSR+Warsaw Pact+pre-1969 China. Also, relations with Russia are bad, but not that bad compared to where they were during the cold war. Russia doesn't promulgate an ideology that views itself in conflict with Western Democracy and Capitalism. \n\nThe above also applies to China except that relations with China are better and China has a greater interest in good relations with the US and the rest of the world than Russia, so it makes even less sense as a \"cold war opponent.\"",
"If you go to the Wikipedia article on the Cold War, it links you to the Cold War article in other languages. Just browsing through, I see the Germans call it \"Kalter Krieg\" (Kalter = Cold Wind, Krieg = War), in Spanish it's \"Guerra Fría\" (Cold War), Italian is \"Guerra Fredda\" (Cold War). And according to online translation, the Russian \"Холодная война\" translates as Cold (Холодная) War (война). \n\nWhether or not these names were contemporaneous with the Cold War itself, I cannot tell you. ",
" > Did people of all nations involved in the Cold War call it \"The Cold War\"?\n\nYes, in Russian it's also called Холодная война, which means exactly the same.\n\n > did people actually know it was a Cold War and call it that? Or did it receive it's name after the fact? \n\nThe term \"Cold War\" appeared as early as 1945, and became widely spread in the next several years.\n\n > are we really that close to a Second Cold War \n\nNot really. There's not so much tension between countries and they don't have rival ideologies."
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4d0hdf | how is the power of an irrational number calculated? | I was always taught that if a exponent is a fraction, then it becomes a square root (for example: 2 to the power of 3/7 equals the seventh root of 2 to the power of 3). So what about decimal numbers that cannot be made to fractions? For example, how is a number to the power of pi calculated? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4d0hdf/eli5_how_is_the_power_of_an_irrational_number/ | {
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"With a Taylor series. There's a method using calculus where, for most functions, including, say, f(x) = 2^x , you can find an infinite series, like\n\na_0 + a_1 x + a_2 x^2 + a_3 x^3 + ...\n\nthat's equivalent to the original function. And that series is (for our familiar kinds of functions, like exponentiations) easy enough to compute.\n\nWell, it's not always easy to do the arithmetic and work out the answer to twelve decimal places, but you get enough mathematical information that you can, at least in principle, nail it down to a specific number.",
"Here is an idea: \n\nAny irrational number can be arbitrarily well approximated by a rational number. \n\nSo to calculate 2^pi you take a sequence of rational approximation to pi and calculate the successive value of 2^rational number for all of them. \n\n\n\n*continuity * guarantees this will converge to 2^pi. \n\nThe implementation strategy is clear except for the fact different sequences will be useful for different degrees of precision...."
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2y7z9n | why do we still not have a cure for headaches and migraines? | Headaches and migraines are suffered by (likely) billions of people with varying frequency. Obviously we have pain killers, but I mean that we still have trouble explaining exactly what causes (triggers) headaches and migraines. We can only give people vague advice like "drink less coffee and you'll likely get fewer of them". | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2y7z9n/eli5_why_do_we_still_not_have_a_cure_for/ | {
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"From my understanding the large majority of headaches are stress related so I guess the cure for those could be Prozac or something similar. Other types of headaches have a long list of causes so if you wanted a cure it would be like curing the common cold",
"One reason is that we are finding it very hard to create safe and effective analgesics (pain killers) . Most of the stuff you get without a prescription sucks and still has side effects. The good stuff however is basically a close relative of heroin(they are opiates) , and are very very addictive. The holy grail of pain meds is a non addictive, effective and low side effect drug. It is very hard to do because if the brain chemistry involved, where the brains natural form of pain reduction is to flood itself with feel good drugs. This is why effective pain killers are so addictive, they mimic this process. \n\nAs to headaches specifically, they are caused by so many different things that effectively treating them is difficult. Is it dehydration? Stress? Depression? Tight muscles in the neck and back? Brain swelling? Withdrawal from drugs? Cancer? Reaction to a substance? Heat stroke? A migraine? Being a very common symptom means there cannot be a simple treatment, and anything pretending to be one is only addressing the symptoms. "
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3ly08u | is there any benefit to trying to go back to sleep when you wake up 15 minutes before your alarm is going to go off? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ly08u/eli5_is_there_any_benefit_to_trying_to_go_back_to/ | {
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"Most people will be better off just getting out of bed if they naturally wake shortly before their alarm goes off. Going back to sleep may start another sleep cycle, which when interrupted would leave you feeling more tired. The time between falling asleep and starting a sleep cycle varies by person, so this isn't the same for everyone."
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20dqzi | how do nuts raise my hdl cholesterol when the package says it has 0mg of cholesterol? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20dqzi/eli5_how_do_nuts_raise_my_hdl_cholesterol_when/ | {
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"2/3 of the cholesterol floating in your blood is made by your liver. The nuts stimulates your liver to make more HDL and less LDL."
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cthkfc | how does steam not condense on the inside of our lungs in a place like a sauna? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cthkfc/eli5_how_does_steam_not_condense_on_the_inside_of/ | {
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"For steam to condense you need the right temperature and pressure. \n\nNeither are right inside your lungs or sauna",
"The dew point of sauna air is still below 98.6F - you need to be colder than lung temperature to generate significant condensation.\n\nIt is possible for a dew point to exceed lung temp so that the air is so hot and so saturated that it would theoretically condense on you. This means that your sweat also cannot evaporate, and you'd rapidly overheat in this 100+F saturated air.\n\nYou probably *could* design a sauna to get that oppressively humid, but it would be extremely unpleasant and very dangerous."
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4687tb | my left palm has a straight line instead of two lines. i have not come across any one with this so far. why it is like this? | I have it only on my [left palm](_URL_0_) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4687tb/eli5my_left_palm_has_a_straight_line_instead_of/ | {
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"I have it that way too. Haven't ever met anyone other than me who does, although another post says it occurs in 10% of the population."
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ap4bwz | what drug do doctors use for anesthesia during surgery? and why do people act like high after the surgery | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ap4bwz/eli5_what_drug_do_doctors_use_for_anesthesia/ | {
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"General anesthesia is a medically induced coma by using anesthetic agents.\n\nMost of the time, coma is induced by a short term anesthetic -like Propofol- but since its action is quite short the coma is maintained with other drugs so you dont wake up screaming in the middle of the surgery.\n\nOnce surgery is over, the « emergence » state begins and drug effects disappear. You are put in post-operative care were you might be administered other drugs to recover wich could lead to dizziness and feeling like shit overall. This is made worse depending on the anesthetic agents used during surgery. \n\nFor local anesthesia there can be some consequences depending on people but it is generally not as bad as far as I know.\n\n"
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29qo9q | how a ant queen can reproduce other ant queens if they normally makes only ant workers | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29qo9q/eli5how_a_ant_queen_can_reproduce_other_ant/ | {
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"Ant queens produce both male and female ants. A queen ant is just a female ant that leaves its nest, reproduces with a male and begins its own colony - becoming the queen of that colony.",
"Many (but not all ) ant reproduce like honey bees. Queens lay 2 types of eggs fertilized and unfertilized. The unfertilized are all male. The fertilized are female and develop differently depending on how they are fed as a larva. If fed very well it develops fully into a potential queen, if only fed adequately it develops into a worker. Generally workers can not lay eggs only queens can (this does vary in some species). A lot of the development that occurs with better feeding is the development of the reproductive organs.\n\nAfter pupation ant potential queens leave the nest mate and found a new colony. ",
"The type of ant (queen or worker) is determined by how much food the ant larva consumes before developing into an adult ant. In times of low food, only workers are produced. When food is plentiful, some larva get more food than others so that they can develop into queens. This is similar to bees where bee larva are fed a special excretion called royal jelly which makes them develop into queen bees instead of workers.\n\nFemale ants come from fertilized eggs with a full amount of chromosomes (diploid) while male ants come from unfertilized eggs with half the amount of chromosomes (haploid)."
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27tbt9 | how medicare/medicade is not the same a socialized or government funded healthcare? (i am not american) | I frequent the different subreddits sites here a lot and someone asked how low income people can have so many children if the cost of delivery and hospital stays were so expensive and many people said that if you are low-income it;s all covered by the government.
A poster in personal finance wrote about how his parents both had cancer and had tremendous bills and the most popular suggestions were to get the parents onto Medicade, as it would cover all their costs.
I understand for the wealthy they need to cover their own bills, but is it true that if you are low-income your medical stuff is covered by the government? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27tbt9/eli5_how_medicaremedicade_is_not_the_same_a/ | {
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"Yes, to a degree. Medicare is for the elderly, Medicaid is for the poor. Both are essentially government-funded single-payer systems. "
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4ccddh | do elderly women lose height when they grow older and if so, why? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ccddh/eli5_do_elderly_women_lose_height_when_they_grow/ | {
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"Not just women. The last time I looked it was reckoned both sexes start to lose about 12mm per year after the age of 40.\n\nChanges in muscles, joints and posture account for it.\n\nThere is a particular problem in elderly women with osteoporosis which is a weakening of the bones due, IIRC, to decalcification. The best way to prevent it seems to be ensuring you have plenty of bone density to spare before it starts.\n\nEDIT - **per decade!**",
"Not only women, men too. Most of the height loss is due to wear on the intervertebral discs. In some cases of old people the discs aren't even present anymore. The discs are mostly made of cartilage which heals very slowly. When you get older the healing process itself becomes slower and at a certain point the discs will decrease in size due to wear. ",
"Everyone looses height as we age due to the compression of the disks in our backs, and the arching of our back. \n\n.\n\nYou are actually shorter at the end of the day, than when you woke, due to gravity compressing your spine. (It is why astronauts are taller after missions)\n\n.\n\nThis is exemplary in aging women because of a greater risk of osteoporosis (a loss of calcium in the bones) increasing both compression and arching. \n\nHave a great day! :-) ",
"I'm 55 years old, and I was 6'0\" for most of my adult life. In 2014, they measured me before surgery, and I was 5'10\".\n\nGo figure. "
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1u3u5f | if ginger hair started as a mutation, couldn't we purposefully 'mutate' genes to give 'natural' blue hair? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1u3u5f/eli5_if_ginger_hair_started_as_a_mutation_couldnt/ | {
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"Probably not. Reds and browns are already produced by our body, mostly in the form of melanin (the same pigment that colors skin). So far as I know, humans don't have any blue pigments.",
"The mutations that led to red and blond hair had to do with production of different types of melanin, which are very similar to the melanin that determines skin colour. [From wikipedia](_URL_0_):\n\n > There are three basic types of melanin: eumelanin, pheomelanin, and neuromelanin. The most common type is eumelanin, and is produced in 'black' and 'brown' subtypes. Pheomelanin is a cysteine-containing red-brown polymer of benzothiazine units largely responsible for red hair and freckles. Neuromelanin is found in the brain, though its function remains obscure.\n\nSo unless you can engineer a genetic alteration that causes a fundamental change in the structure of the melanin molecule, or somehow get the body to produce a completely different substance, then you're never going to be able to introduce new 'natural' hair colours. You're only going to be able to change the relative proportions of black, brown, and red pigments.",
"It might be possible. There are lots of animals with blue pigments in their skin and feathers so that suggests that there's some genes out there that could turn hair blue. We could try splicing one of those genes from an animal that carries it into a human and see what happens! It might just work or it might be incompatible with our other genes. Genes are so complexly interrelated that trying it out is the only way to be sure.\n\nMutating our genes step-by-step to produce blue might be more difficult. It depends on whether there's a sequence of mutations that lead from our brownish pigments to blue without passing through mutations that are bad in some way and cause the cells to die, for example. Think of it like one of those puzzles where you're given the start word and the end word and you have to change one letter at a time to get from start to end but each intermediate step has to be a word too. There might be a path or there might not."
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1nfu9k | why don't armored transport companies such as g4s and brinks use unmarked vehicles? | Just seems to me like they would get robbed less frequently. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nfu9k/eli5_why_dont_armored_transport_companies_such_as/ | {
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"An armoured car is an armoured car, they don't pull them out for nothing so it's already obvious you're doing some valuable cargo anyway... or maybe just moving it to pick up some valuable cargo.\n\nSo you're already advertizing it, may as well advertize your company while you're at it. It's not like they're robbed much anyway. ",
"How frequently are they robbed? Even if there is an epidemic of armored truck heists they're not really crimes of opportunity (meaning that no one robs an armored truck just because they happen to easily identify one parked on the side of the road). There's at least a little bit of planning that probably goes into robbing an armored truck so I doubt adding an \"identify an armored truck\" item to the to-do list isn't going to add a while lot of work for the robbers since the trucks stand out so much anyway.\n\nI highly doubt removing the logo would make any difference to the rates that they're robbed.",
"I think the question is why not just grab it in your Sedan instead of an armored truck. And the answer is because it would be easy to figure out which car is carrying the money. Scope out the bank for a bit and when you see the guy obviously transporting millions you just shoot up his car and take the money."
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akxkgl | what is it called when you want something you cannot get, but if you end up having it, you no longer want it? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/akxkgl/eli5_what_is_it_called_when_you_want_something/ | {
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"Be careful what you wish for\n\n(or to address the other post, the grass is always greener on the other side \\[of the fence\\])",
"I don't believe there is a term, if anything it's just a part of life moreso than a specific feeling. But psychologically it's based on our brain's tendency to use rewards. When we accomplish something we get a rush of neurotransmitters such as serotonin to tell us we've done a good job. Similarly when you buy the new phone you've been saving up for, you feel a rush of joy but eventually the phone will become mundane and the joy will have gone. ",
"The word \"surfeit\" comes to mind but is not exactly it. \n\nFrom Merriam-Webster: _URL_0_\n\nEdit to add: Verb\n\nSatiate, sate, surfeit, cloy, pall, glut, gorge mean to fill to repletion. Satiate and sate may sometimes imply only complete satisfaction but more often suggest repletion that has destroyed interest or desire: \"Years of globe-trotting had satiated their interest in travel; readers were sated with sensationalistic stories.\" Surfeit implies a nauseating repletion:\"Surfeited themselves with junk food.\" Cloy stresses the disgust or boredom resulting from such surfeiting. \"Sentimental pictures that cloy after a while.\" Pall emphasizes the loss of ability to stimulate interest or appetite: \"A life of leisure eventually begins to pall.\" Glut implies excess in feeding or supplying: \"A market glutted with diet books.\" Gorge suggests glutting to the point of bursting or choking: \"Gorged themselves with chocolate\"."
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7ry92i | in music what is the overtone series, how does it work, and why is it important. | I'm a percussionist that had to learn a few brass instruments for a class and they talked about the overtone series and I had no idea what they were talking about. Please ELI5. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ry92i/eli5_in_music_what_is_the_overtone_series_how/ | {
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"The overtone series, or harmonic series is the series of tones that resonate with the base tone. They do that when their frequency is a whole multiple of the base tone’s frequency because then every time the base tone’s wave swing in one direction all the harmonic tones do so too.\n\nNot all instruments generate all harmonics, though. A sine wave contains no harmonics while a synthesizer’s sawtooth wave contains all of them. A square wave only has the even ones. Other physical instruments only have certain harmonics which gives them their characteristic sound.\n\nEdit: this is only true for a single oscillator, like one string on a violin, a single flute, or one electronic oscillator. Instruments with multiple oscillators can produce multiple base tones that shape their sounds further, even if just one „note“ is played. E.g. a Piano has Multiple Strings per key and some of them may be slightly detuned on purpose to give it a certain character without only relying on harmonics.",
"There are some examples on the physics theory of this phnomenon, I'll expand on the musical side.\n\nThe interval ('distance' ) between every 2 notes can be defined in several different ways:\n\n1. Tonal: tones and semitones define step sizes between notes, with tones as whole steps, and semitones as half steps. Each interval of notes (in western music) has a unique definition in these terms. \n\n2. By number and quality: unison, second, etc, all the way to octave. Unison means the 2 notes are the same note, a (major) second means there is one whole step between the 2 (like do and re, or fa and sol). Quality includes qualifiers such as minor, major, augmented, diminished and perfect. The difference between them boils down to additions or removals of a semitone or a tone. These \n\n3. Frequency ratio: as a result of the way musical instruments are built, intervals are defined as a ratio between frequency, with the main notes in each scale (the white keys on a piano, for example) being in relatively simpler fractions (with smaller numerators and denominators). So octaves are doubled in frequency, fifths (perfect) are 3/2, thirds (major) are 5/4,and so on. \n\nCombine this with the physical understanding of overtones, where strings, for example, vibrate at whole multiples of their natural frequency (all of them, at the same time) when strummed, and you get a whole lot of notes every time you play one, all at the same time. \n\nThe notes are, according to the whole multiples of the base frequency:\n2 - one octave above the original note. \n\n3 - one octave and perfect fifth (multiple by 2 and then by 3/2). \n\n4 - 2 octaves (multiple by 2 twice). \n\n5 - 2 octaves and a third (multiple by 2 twice, then by 5/4).\n\nAnd so on (these are the main ones you can actually hear, if barely by the last one). \n\n(source - I took music theory lessons in high school, and I might gave forgot a bit) ",
"So all of the previous answers have a lot of good information but in terms of building one, we'll start with our handy French horn. The standard double horn starts on Bb and F (depending on the side that is triggered by the thumb) and it goes in the same pattern as mentioned before Bb1, Bb2, F2, Bb3, F3, Bb4, D4 (slightly out of tune), F4, etc. This is important because then it's just using valves like on a horn, trumpet, etc or adding more tubing like a trombone to tune the pitch. It's also important as a scale, if you take all the notes you get what's referred to as Flat Lydian which contains a b7 and a #4. Bartok liked it and used it in his piece 'Contrasts' for piano trio. Building on the example of bb, the scale is Bb C D En F G Ab Bb. It's a fun scale and is used in jazz often due to it working beautifully over a Bb#11 (implied dominant seven with a sharp four). \nSo we have established that it's important for brass instruments and its composition but it also affects your voice, and your percussion instruments. \n\nThe sounds of each instrument (timbre) is different because it brings out certain parts of the harmonic series called overtones. That's why singers are so focused on resonance where they try to highlight the overtones in their voices. Some instruments have super simple sounds (like a clarinet which is fairly close to a sine wave) or some are really complex (like a violin, which is super fucky). This gets a little more technical but if you're synthesizing sounds using Max/MSP or Supercollider or any electro-acoustic piece, you want to help the two overtones blend—not clash. This becomes really hard with instruments like saxophones or double reeds. It's a super useful tool and helps explain a lot of orchestration technique. \n\nSource: composer in university, focuses on jazz and electronics "
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2fsffs | why do some tv remotes work when you point it in any direction, yet others only work when you're pointing it directly at the tv? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fsffs/eli5_why_do_some_tv_remotes_work_when_you_point/ | {
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"Radio frequencies (RF) versus infrared signals (IR). IR requires line of sight (LOS), whereas RF just needs to be within a certain distance in order for the signal to be passed."
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bvhboj | how do landmines work and how much damage can they do? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bvhboj/eli5_how_do_landmines_work_and_how_much_damage/ | {
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"Bury a bomb and put the detonator button on top. Boom!\n\nDamage depends on bomb design and the size of the bomb. Fragmentation and high explosive are common.",
"They're basically bombs that you plant in the ground. They can either be triggered remotely, through a trip wire connected to the mine, or with a pressure sensor directly on the top of the mine.\n\nDamage? Depends on the mine type. Anything from blow your legs off to blow up a truck and everyone in it.",
"On top of the mine is a easily breakable cork that holds a \"detonator\", a small metal tube that falls down inside the mine if the cork is broken. When the tube hits the bottom it releases a spark which triggers which then triggers the explosion. The cork is usually carried separately from the mine and placed in place only when the mine is half buried in the ground. \nWell at least this is how anti vehicle landmines work."
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5p4ii2 | where do they get the vitamins and minerals to make multivitamins? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5p4ii2/eli5_where_do_they_get_the_vitamins_and_minerals/ | {
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"The cheapest way possible. They are capitalists. Every few years a new important nutrient is discovered. Guess What? It was not in the packaging of the multivitamin. It might not make it for years.\n\nBut if you eat a variety of fruits and vegetables you will survive as our ancestors did for millions of years before vitamin pills were invented.\n\nJust because a vitamin pill has something in it does not mean you absorb it.\n\nTo get to your question, Each one of these vitamins or minerals can be found in some highly concentrated form. They can be extracted from natural sources or synthesized. I could lead you down the path of chirality but let me make a simple point. Just because a complex molecule such as a vitamin exists, is synthesized to have exactly the same elements attached in the same order, does not mean that the synthetic version has the same shape as what we have been absorbing. It may not work in your body even if absorbed.\n\nOnce all this has been located, extracted, synthesized, and concentrated it must be put in close proximity with the others. Chemicals react. The manufacturer is looking for nonreactive versions. In your body you want them to react. That is why you took the vitamin pill.\n\nVitamin pills are a good alternative if you are gong to be in a very restricted environment with no source of fruits and vegetables. The vegetables do not even have to be fresh. They can be canned or frozen.",
"The vitamins are organic chemicals and are synthesized in laboratories. \n\nMinerals are mined from the earth's crust . "
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eg9bww | what causes that mental notification we get when someone calls our name? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eg9bww/eli5_what_causes_that_mental_notification_we_get/ | {
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"That feeling comes from the medial prefrontal cortex— a section of your brain that often runs on a sort of dormant autopilot until stimulated by things that you associate with yourself.\n\nThe same part of your brain lights up when you use pronouns to refer to yourself, when you call yourself by your own name, and when you see your reflection."
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1keiqg | if it's bad for the battery for a computer to be plugged in while at 100% charge, why can't the charger detect a full charge and disconnect the power? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1keiqg/eli5_if_its_bad_for_the_battery_for_a_computer_to/ | {
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"It can and does.\n\n(Speaking for Lithium-Ion batteries)\n\nIf it didn't, the battery would overcharge, which would result in the battery failing (possibly catastrophically, read: explosively).\n\nWhat's bad for the battery is remaining at 100% battery for extended periods of time. It can result in the chemicals in the battery becoming crystalized, and unable to discharge. \n\nImagine if you had a bottle of water and ice formed if you left it filled for too long, and that ice never melted. The total drinkable capacity of the water bottle would be reduced by the ice. ",
"My Asus does. I noticed about a week after I bought it that it would sometimes stop charging at 98% and say it's full. I Googled it, and found out it's a safety measure.",
"That's exactly what they do!! \nLong before lithium-ion batteries, when lead-acid storage batteries were not just limited to the transportation industry, as they pretty much arer today, chargers were designed to stop charging at a certain level of electrical resistance. Problem was that the safe level for that was not the same for ALL batteries. ",
"I have a laptop that's usually just plugged in and almost always on 100%. \nSometimes I'll take it into the garden or the forest when I decide to work outside, usually lasts me 2 hours at least. \nSo I'd think there's a safety feature built in to save the battery. \n\nEdit: Utterly confused about why I'm getting downvoted here. Did I break some rule?",
"Newer computers do this, but start to charge the battery again after it falls below some (configurable) value. My guess would be that setting that threshold as low as possible would give the best lifetime to your battery.\n\nWhat I don't understand is, shouldn't there be a setting to disconnect *the battery* and only use the AC power to save the battery cycles, running the computer off AC. This would be the same as running the computer with the battery out and the AC connected. I guess that would suck if you bump the cord or something.",
" A < - B < - > C - > D\n\nSlightly simplified, a battery consists of some stuff in state B. When you charge it you transform it to state C. Discharging will transform state C stuff back to state B. Applying an overvoltage while it's in state C will slowly convert it to state D, which is pretty much unusable stuff. Draining the battery while in state B will convert it to state A, which is also unusable stuff. These two reactions happen least when the battery is halfway between state B and C (ie, halfway-ish charged) because C is easier to discharge than B and B is easier to charge than C, so the \"happy\" reactions are most likely to happen. \n\nThe stuff in state A and D is just taking up space and was usable as capacity. These two cannot be converted back. You don't see much of this at all in the charge; at most as a tiny bit of resistance.\n\nFor the rest, the battery doesn't really have a \"100%\" value for itself. The 0% to 100% scale is a simplified version of the charging graph that gives more usable information for users. Actually, it's a graph that starts at around 2.5V or so, rises really quickly to around 3.3V, goes up at a fair pace to 3.7V, then sloooooowly rises to 4.1V and then shoots up to 4.4V. Below 2.5V everything goes to state A really quickly, above 4.4V everything goes to D really quickly - either reaction will destroy your battery functionally. Overcharging it will also induce an electrical charge that can ignite the D state stuff, making it blow up. To prevent this, most devices only tell you about the 3.3V to 4.1V part of the range and call that 0% to 100%. Your battery can be at (or actually below) 0% for a while after you've left it out in the open drained for a while, after you connected a charger. It's actually below the 0% level so the device says 0% to not confuse you.\n\nNow, when your battery is at 100% the C- > D conversion happens most easily. To prevent destructive overcharging your charger will disable charging until it's discharged to 95% (about) and then charge up again (to 100% ish). The reasoning is that since you put a charger on it, you want it to be at 100% when it's disconnected so you get a long battery life out of this charge. \n\nAlternatively, your battery could be charged to 70% ish (or 3.9V) and then only discharged to 30% ish (3.5V). This would save your battery much more (as you get much less of the C- > D and B- > A conversions) but also eats 60% of your battery charge time. In longer usage-life products this is probably a good tradeoff, but in 2-year (or 1-year) replacement cycle products it's a bad idea as your device won't be sold. \n\n***TL;DR: Your device already does. It doesn't fix that problem. Less charging does, but reduces your battery life by a ton. Your choice.***",
"o GEEZ I really didn't know this.... I ALWAYS keep my laptop battery plugged in. 0.0 that thing never gets below 100% lol..... Been a good 3 years though havn't had to replace it yet.",
"Your laptop DOES detect when the battery is full and it stops charging, in other words you can leave it plugged in all the time no problem"
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5m7agk | why didn't we make seconds slightly slower so that we could have seconds, minutes, and hours in base 10? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5m7agk/eli5_why_didnt_we_make_seconds_slightly_slower_so/ | {
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"\nThe French tried this but it didn't catch on. They tried to use \"decimal time\" (dividing the day into 10 hours with 100 minutes in each hour and 100 seconds in each minute) a couple years before their revolution occurred and people didn't like it. The rest of the metric system stayed and was implemented shortly after the French Revolution. You can still see some influence from metric time, though, in units like milliseconds and nanoseconds. However, the metric system doesn't include standard minutes or hours.\n\nPutting 24 hours in a day came from the ancient Egyptians who split things up into 12, so they made a 12 hour day and 12 hour night. They likely picked 12 because it factors easily (you can divide it evenly by 2, 3, 4, and 6). The 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute comes from the ancient Babylonians who liked to split things in base 60. They had a thing for the number 360 because they thought that's how many days there were in year. They also like 60 because, like 12, it can easily be divided into several other whole numbers. People have been keeping time in these increments since ancient history and it's stuck around since then."
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1syajk | how do dog food makers know if their food tastes good or not? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1syajk/eli5_how_do_dog_food_makers_know_if_their_food/ | {
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"Actually, there are people that do taste dog food. I've seen an episode of dirty jobs. [Here's a women that does it for a living](_URL_0_)",
"They get a dog to taste it. The dog who works for pedigree barks once for good and twice for bad. Three barks means it needs more salt."
]
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"http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/meet-woman-eats-dog-food-living-article-1.1445406"
],
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||
6ac8eo | why is the integral sign on violins? | What is the shared history that makes the integral sign appear on musical instruments and in mathematics? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ac8eo/eli5why_is_the_integral_sign_on_violins/ | {
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"It's a [sound hole](_URL_0_), specifically one shaped like the letter f. It's meant to help the instrument project its sound.\n\nThe integral symbol comes from the [long S](_URL_1_) which is similar to the letter f, but unrelated. The s here stands for \"sum\", since the integral is a form of summation.",
"Actually, no relationship. I'm sorry.\n\nThe sound hole in the violin, called an [F-hole](_URL_0_) is f shaped, but sometimes they don't carve the -. And the integral sign is the old form of a long s character, frequently used in the time of Leibniz (the guy that invented that notation, he chose s for integral because it's a sum).",
"The \"f\" hole isn't a cultural artifact. It's an amplifier.\n\nThe sound we hear is air that is compressed. A vibrating violin string compresses the air around it in a pattern our ears interpret as a musical tone.\n\nBut that string, by itself, doesn't vibrate a LOT of air. It's pretty skinny. And it doesn't give much ENERGY to the air it compresses, either. So the sound won't travel far. If you bowed a violin string alone (or plucked a bare guitar string), nobody in a packed theater would hear your performance.\n\nAdd a wooden board just behind the string, however, and it will also vibrate with the sound. Depending on how big the board is, it will push more air harder, making a louder sound that carries farther.\n\nMake that wooden board an open box, and now there's a lot more volume of air that gets pushed. The sound is even easier to hear.\n\nA rectangular box isn't great, though. Some tones will sound fine, but higher and lower ones will be too thin or quiet. That's because the box is a simple shape that resonates (vibrates along with) a narrow band of frequencies. Give that box a more complex shape, so bits of it can resonate with the high notes as well as the low notes, and you've got a pretty good instrument. Centuries of trial and error led to the violin shape we all recognize as being fantastic for this. (And they found that different woods resonate better, different densities, different internal structures, etc.)\n\nWhy an open box, though? Why not cover it up, and have even MORE resonance and amplification? Like shouting \"echo!\" in a tunnel.\n\nThe problem is, the air INSIDE the box has to get out, to send the sound to the listener.\n\nDifferently-shaped holes are better or worse at doing the job. If the hole is too big, you might as well get rid of the top of the box entirely. If it is too small, you're muffling your sound.\n\nIf you start with a simple circular hole, like a guitar, that's not bad. But over the centuries people figured out that you can get an even better result if you close up the center of the circle. If you just cut out the perimeter of the circle, you preserve more of the echo energy, and still get that air pumping out to the audience.\n\nIf you split the circle into two \"C\" shapes, you can put one on either side of the strings, so the input isn't interfering with the output.\n\nRemember how we reshaped the box to resonate better with different tones? How about we fiddle (ha) with that C. Instead of a constant curve, let's have part be tight and part be long, to maximize the wavelengths we can project.\n\nAnd that's how you get an \"f\" curve.\n\nAnd now even the people in the cheap seats far far away can hear the music of that tiny thin string vibrating next to a tiny wooden box.\n\nThe fact that math came up with a similar-looking long \"S\" symbol for the integral \"sum\" is pure coincidence."
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_s"
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"https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schallloch#/media/File:F-hole.jpg"
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3nrg3o | why are most (if not all) shootings performed by guys? | Like, are us guys really THAT much more violent that girls? Why is that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nrg3o/eli5_why_are_most_if_not_all_shootings_performed/ | {
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"Not going to attempt to answer the question - sorry about that - but there has been at least one instance of a female shooter...[Brenda Ann Spencer](_URL_1_) who famously [didn't like Mondays](_URL_0_).",
"You may want to cross post this to /r/asksocialscience and/or /r/askscience with a tag for psychology to get a more indepth professional type answer instead of the more likely arm chair psychiatrist answer from here."
]
} | [] | [] | [
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don't_Like_Mondays",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_%28San_Diego%29"
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|
5t5byy | the decline of the heavyweight boxer. | Ali. Frazier. Lewis. The heavyweight class was the pinnacle of boxing for a long stretch of the 20th century. What happened? Is there any truth to the idea that this weight class was a peer (in terms of popularity) of the MLB? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5t5byy/eli5_the_decline_of_the_heavyweight_boxer/ | {
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"Certain sports were much more popular in the no mass media and then radio era - horse racing and boxing are perhaps the two most prominent. But there is just a lot more options - NBA, NHL, NFL - the big team sports that more people play are more popular. \n\nWe don't ride horses as much. And we don't box a lot now. Plus there is the cruelty / harm aspects of it. Also, boxing got taken over by certain promoters and developed a very seedy reputation on corrupt arrangements of fights and wiffs of mafia influence, and then the big matches moved to pay-per-view, which, although profitable, limits them. ",
"In the early 20th century, America's Big 4 was MLB, Boxing, horse racing, and College Football. While horse racing declined, and other leagues like the NFL, NBA, and NHL gained prominence, boxing was still able to hold on for a long time. Boxing's ultimate issue was complete dysfunction in its organizational structure. There is no central governing body. There's a bunch of different federations that assign \"world title\" belts who's primary interest is getting a cut from the fight proceeds. You have an increasing inability to get the best fighters in the ring together if their promoters don't have a working relationship. Finally, the knock out punch so to speak was the move to pay-per-view. In the short term, it was a great movement for the individual fighters, as it increased their revenue. In the long term ignore killed the growth of the sport. An Ali-Frazier fight would be on a broadcast network network, get ratings on par with a World Series or NBA Finals, and expose millions of younger people to boxing creating life long fans. A Mayweather fight today can't do that, because pay-per view keeps the audience in the 7 figure range.",
"It is true that in the US, boxing used to be as popular as the NFL or MLB.\n\nThe problem with boxing is that people liked the sport, but they didn't like the process. Baseball has a very set process of determining the championship. Every team follows the same process and has the same shot to win it all. Win a pennant, win the divisional, win the World Series, and your are the champs.\n\nWith boxing, fighters, not a league, choose who they fight. A lot of it comes down to promoters manipulating who fights whom. You take a promising newcomer, line him up against a bunch of tomato cans, then tout his impressive 14-0 records to line him up for a title bout. At the same time, you have champions ducking serious fights an doing the absolute minimum they can get away with and still keep their titles. It is never clear who is the best fighter, and who gamed the system."
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9ni0fy | how do companies that seem to have a monopoly in their space (google, collegeboard, just to name a few) circumvent anti-trust laws? | Does the government just let it slide? Are the companies doing something shady? Does a company being "non-profit" change anything?
EDIT: TIL what antitrust laws really are! Thanks, guys! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ni0fy/eli5_how_do_companies_that_seem_to_have_a/ | {
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"Well, first of all, governments don't let it slide forever. For example: _URL_0_\n\nBut more importantly, just being a monopoly is not inherently illegal. What's illegal is using your position as a monopoly to stop others from competing with you, or making conditions unreasonably bad for customers. For example, in the big anti-trust case against Microsoft back in the day, they weren't prosecuted because Windows didn't have any reasonable competition. They were prosecuted because they forced all Windows users to use Internet Explorer by default (making it hard to switch), so nobody could compete with Internet Explorer.\n\nSo for anti-trust laws to really apply, the government has to prove the company was abusing its monopoly position."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/18/17580694/google-android-eu-fine-antitrust"
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|
3iygra | commercial intelligence vs industrial espionage | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3iygra/eli5_commercial_intelligence_vs_industrial/ | {
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"Commercial intelligence is a process whereby you purchase competitors goods, carefully examine any of their publicly available materials (marketing info, patent applications, sales trends and the like) to try to figure out what your competition is up to. So you can stay one step ahead, or at least not fall behind.\n\nIndustrial espionage is when you get that information illegally. Basically you get confidential information that you should not have access to and use that for a competitive advantage. "
]
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||
3g7oxk | why don't white americans rise up against police brutality like black communities do? | It seems like black communities seem to be able to respond in massive ways to police brutality. And while the majority of black murders at the hand of police go unnoticed, it seems like almost no white murders are noticed. I know the media has a role but the media usually comes up AFTER black folks have taken some sort of action. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3g7oxk/eli5_why_dont_white_americans_rise_up_against/ | {
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"In my community there's been police brutality on every race ever since I can remember. Honestly it seems like it happens so sporadically that we get angry but \"rising up\" doesn't really seem like it has ever solved anything. And in most cases it's their word verses the victim. This isn't an explanation, it is only how it seems to me.",
"It's hard to rise up against when it is so rare. There are perhaps a few dozen incidents per year and 350M people in the US. The chance of knowing the police departments involved is pretty low.",
"My town has not experienced police brutality. We did experience some corruption where the police were skimming from tickets and taking fees to not arrest meth makers. We fired the entire police force and then hired new ones. ",
"I think it's partly because we know that there isn't an onslaught of brutality that the media propagates. To really understand why officers act the way they do you have to understand what they see day in and day out. Recently on coontown a female corrections officer was explaining why she quit, in her post she told of how everyday the black community would masterbate in their cells as she walked past saying what they would do to her ect, she said she understood that the worst of all races were the ones in jail, but the nonblack inmates would never act in such a degradation way. So they have drawn the conclusion you have to be extra cautious around them. And statistically speaking blacks commit crimes more frequently than asians, indians, native Americans, whites, Arabs ect, and being a police officer you have the chance of being killed daily. They know how certain communitit's tend to act and are more cautious and alert, and possibly on edge when they think their life is in danger. To get back on track, the white community doesn't have this stigma, there are about 260,000,000 whites and of that population I think it's about 20% are arrested for violent crimes while blacks are the 12% of almost 400,000,000 and are convicted in somewhere around 52% of the violent crimes. So you are more likely to run into a violent black person than a white black person. Bottom line the black community is feeling the force of the law a drastically higher rates because they tend to have more negative confrontations with authority. White culture tends to look down on criminals and shunned them and feel \"that's what they get\" mentality for breaking the law. Not being black I can't honestly say how they view criminals, but based off the music and culture they propagate for everyone else to view it seems they aren't as harsh on law breakers within their own community. \n\nNot trying to trigger anyone, I understand their are possible billions of different opinions because we are all different, this is just one guys belief",
"It doesn't fit the current narrative of the national media. Popular news subjects are like fads, the news stations cover the current \"fad\" and when something new is trending, they move to cover those stories. Remember when Caylee Anthony was missing, missing children were covered nationally on a daily basis. The narrative is currently white cops/security vs. blacks and that will be covered until there is a new story that gets as much attention as Trayvon Martin's got.",
"Strong majorities of black people distrust the police and consider them to be more like oppressors and less like public servants.\n\nA narrow majority of white people support the police in this country and think they generally do a good job. Sizable portions of whites (not sure if it's a majority or minority) also think racism has been pretty much solved and don't think the police are racist at all. ",
"Simply, lots of tension between blacks and whites in America dating back 300+ years, and appropriately, blacks acknowledge that shit (um, it's a huge part of history and peoples' ancestry) while whites tend to think, \"Oh, it's 2015, there's no more racism because I'm not racist.\" This mentality only adds fuel to the burning fire.",
"They do, you just don't hear about it on the news because it doesn't fit their agenda. I've been to numerous police brutality protests where the majority of the crowd was white. ",
"Because, for the most part, it isn't a huge threat to the majority of the white population? They'd go to civil war if they were the majority targets."
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42pcjo | why do some people find it easier to study and remember things very late at night? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/42pcjo/eli5_why_do_some_people_find_it_easier_to_study/ | {
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"It's mainly to do with stress. The feeling that you've got to work with no time to spare for the next day really drives some people",
"Remembering, no. People find it easier to study because there are fewer distractions and also the deadline they are studying for is getting closer.",
"I am going to explain this as best I can, and someone else can correct me on the specifics if needed.\n\nBasically: Throughout out the day, you take in a huge amount of information. You hear stuff, you read stuff, you see stuff. Some of it you dismiss immediately. The things you want to remember go into short-term memory. Throughout the day you can call upon things that have been put in short-term memory. However, if you \"put something into\" short-term memory on Monday, and take a test on Friday, you can't pull upon the info. It has gone away. It was only stored \"short-term\". You can only remember what has been stored in \"long-term\" memory (and that day's short-term memory).\n\nStuff is put in long term memory during sleep. That's how it works. When you sleep, your brain says, \"Ok, that calculus formula seems important, I'll put that in this area labeled: long-term memory. Hmmm... I don't need to remember what color shirt my teacher was wearing today, that info goes in the trash.\" Next day, you remember the calculus formula, not the color of your teacher's shirt.\n\nNow, at night the brain sorts through the short-term memory and puts what is important in long-term. But it CAN NOT move things around that aren't there. Something put in short-term memory at the beginning of the day might have already left your brain before you go to sleep (because it was in low grade, faulty, temporary, short-term memory). Short-term memory carries info to long-term memory. So the later you take in info, the less time it has to escape before being locked in.\n\nTL:DR Late at night = closer to sleep. Sleep = long-term memory. \n \n\n\n"
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7k5pjk | how are few companies able to own majority of the brands i use? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7k5pjk/eli5_how_are_few_companies_able_to_own_majority/ | {
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"text": [
"this is end game capitalism. lets say you have 100 companies all in one area. some do well, some don't. the ones that do well might buy out the smaller ones or the smaller ones go out of business. eventually once they become big enough, they start buying other smaller companies that retain their brand, since customers have brand loyalty. eventually after a while, you'll get what you described. "
]
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[]
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||
52frb2 | how was the numerical order decided? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/52frb2/eli5_how_was_the_numerical_order_decided/ | {
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"text": [
"Numbers have always existed, even before are species was aware of it. Once humans discovered what 1 of something was, they needed a name for all these numbers. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
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||
l7d8j | near field communication (nfc) | Ok, make this "Explain me like I'm a 9 year old geek that loves to build robots with legos and can dissasemble a clock and hopefully reassemble it back".
So every new android has it, iPhone 4S doesn't and it's supposedly a big thing. NFC or "Near field communication" and supposedly allows you to pay stuff with your phone, like a virtual wallet.
Why is this new and why does it require new hardware? Why can't you do the same with stuff in any smartphone, like wifi, bluetooth, the camera but new software? What's special about this radio chip that can't be done with the many other ways that computers communicate with each other? Bitcoin, paypal or credit cards are used to pay online without any new chip needed. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l7d8j/eli5_near_field_communication_nfc/ | {
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"You know what infrared is? Well basically infrared is just a light which we can't see blinking on and off. There are two real types of modern NFC one which involves radio waves and another which involves magnets. They both work in a similar way. You know what a sine wave is? [The curvy one](_URL_0_). Well, the height of the sine wave is *AMPLITUDE*. Information can also be sent in sine waves and by a process of *MODULATION* you get a new sine wave. Modulation is basically adding one sine wave to another like [this](_URL_1_). This is known as *AMPLUITUDE MODULATION* or *AM* and is how some radios work. \nNow, another way NFC can work (magnetic only) is by simply turning on and off like infrared and is sort of like Morse code. \n \nSimple enough?\n\nReference: Former Electronics Engineering Student.",
"It's a very weak radio signal. So it only works when you are near (hey!) to it.\n\nAnd you need new hardware just in the same way that you need different hardware to hear things (your ears) and see things (your eyes).\n\nYour old phone doesn't have the right eyes to 'see' the NFC information. Just like a bicycle does not have any way to hear what you say. \n\nBitcoin, paypal, the reddit website, etc are more abstract concepts. \nThey are not about communication (like radio, wifi, bluetooth, your voice), but about handling information (like addition and making decisions).\n\nSo in short: NFC is a method of communication, not a computer program.",
"You know what infrared is? Well basically infrared is just a light which we can't see blinking on and off. There are two real types of modern NFC one which involves radio waves and another which involves magnets. They both work in a similar way. You know what a sine wave is? [The curvy one](_URL_0_). Well, the height of the sine wave is *AMPLITUDE*. Information can also be sent in sine waves and by a process of *MODULATION* you get a new sine wave. Modulation is basically adding one sine wave to another like [this](_URL_1_). This is known as *AMPLUITUDE MODULATION* or *AM* and is how some radios work. \nNow, another way NFC can work (magnetic only) is by simply turning on and off like infrared and is sort of like Morse code. \n \nSimple enough?\n\nReference: Former Electronics Engineering Student.",
"It's a very weak radio signal. So it only works when you are near (hey!) to it.\n\nAnd you need new hardware just in the same way that you need different hardware to hear things (your ears) and see things (your eyes).\n\nYour old phone doesn't have the right eyes to 'see' the NFC information. Just like a bicycle does not have any way to hear what you say. \n\nBitcoin, paypal, the reddit website, etc are more abstract concepts. \nThey are not about communication (like radio, wifi, bluetooth, your voice), but about handling information (like addition and making decisions).\n\nSo in short: NFC is a method of communication, not a computer program."
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f2xtx2 | they say my phone has more computing power than the computers that got apollo 11 to the moon. does that mean, theoretically, my iphone could orchestrate a moon landing from take off to touchdown? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f2xtx2/eli5_they_say_my_phone_has_more_computing_power/ | {
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"Yes. You have more number calculating power than there's was on board at the time. They didn't need or able to have that much computer power. They weren't going to a random place that needed real-time calculations. Those were done months ahead of time on Earth and needed to be loaded in and the burn sequences executed by the computer. \n\nYour cell phone has 1000x capabilities of your high school TI-85 calculator. Which is already a complex computer.",
"With the right software that is true. In fact people have made simulators of the actual Apollo Guidance Computer which will allow your iPhone to not only orchestrate a moon landing but doing so by simulating the original computer. The statement is a bit outdated now. The updated statement is that your phone charger have more computing power then the computers that got Apollo 11 to the moon.",
"The computers that were used for the Apollo program had one task and one task only to land on the moon, the Iphone is running lots of things just to keep the phone operating and linked to the network, however given the right programming yes your phone could handle the processing of the information for a moon landing.",
"Yes and No.\n\nYes, your phone has plenty of arithmetic speed. You could definitely do all the multiplies, and then some.\n\nNo, your phone is full of gigantic blobs of code that keep it from performing like an AGC does. For the full story read Don Eyles memoir [Sunburst and Luminary](_URL_0_ ). Each instruction in those AGC programs was individually written by a smart engineer, and many hours were spent making them more compact and efficient. A custom interpreter was used when code didn't have to be perfectly fast. There is no practical way to run your own machine code on a smartphone, all the operating system software is built to prevent the kind of high performance computing done in early computers. Manufacturers care a lot more about enforcing license clauses than getting the right answer in the minimum number of instructions.",
"Yes, computing power of such device would only require few from few hundreds responsible for that landing at that time. Indian and polish universities did things like that (forgive me other countries but did not follow a topic for a while). Basically they connected with sources sending an ancual rocket to space and then separating and completening the landing of stuff like andruino board etc.",
"Theoretically your phone, or possibly [even just its charger](_URL_0_), would in theory be able to land something on the moon - your phone would be able to do it without even noticing the effort.\n\nHOWEVER, there are important differences and caveats;\n\nThe Apollo computers were specialised hardware with real-time operating systems - that means they were designed, built, and programmed in such a way that if you need to fire a rocket for EXACTLY 152 milliseconds, the computer can do that absolutely bang on every time even though it's a million times slower than your iPhone.\n\nYour iPhone, as it is out of the box with its non-realtime operating system, can TRY to do that, but because the OS doesn't guarantee that sort of real-time performance, you might fire the rocket for 152ms or, if at that exact moment an app decides to pop up and use a load of processing power, the rocket might stay on for a whole second... or if the app crashed the phone while the rocket was lit it might stay lit for 5 minutes while a little coloured whirly thing went round and you smashed into the moon at a thousand miles per hour.\n\nThis is the difference between operating systems like you find in your phone or laptop, and embedded systems that have to control real-world things that might hurt people or burn your toast.\n\nNow, *theoretically*, it's possible to create an OS like that for any system, but Apple like to lock their shit down so good luck with that one.\n\nThe various other *smaller* computers inside your phone (most of which are also capable of landing on the moon) which control things like the various sensors, the cellular radio, wifi, bluetooth, battery charging, etc. etc. etc. are more realtime and might be a reasonable prospect but are often somewhat single-purpose, so don't have enough IO (inputs and outputs) to do the job - in short, not enough legs on the chip to wire all the things to.",
"Yes your phone could. Just use google moon map and put in your location and then input where you want to land on the moon. You will be given directions to the moon. Then as you travel you can have your phone play Dark Side Of The Moon by\n Pink Floyd. You can have your phone order \nmoon pies through Amazon. You can google how to make moonshine and make your own moonshine.",
"I don't think there's anything compute heavy about sending something to space, orbit, or even another planet. Once the scientists figure out the maths it doesn't take a lot of computing power to actually solve the math problems and keep yourself going in the right direction. I'm not a rocket scientist but that seems like the simplest part of the equation by a long shot.",
"A modern smartphone can do 10 billion mathematical operations per second. The Apollo guidance computer did something like 32 mathematical operations per second.",
"Not only could your phone guide a rocket to the moon, it could also [simulate the rocket, the moon, and the Earth and draw a real-time 3D view of them](_URL_1_).\n\nIn fact, the math for orbital mechanics is surprisingly simple. Spacecraft basically fly in ovals around planets, and you can use [high-school geometry to chart a pretty accurate course](_URL_0_) that's good enough for most space missions. Space travel takes so long you could probably even do the math by hand.",
"A calculator from the 1980's is more powerful. Your iPhone is orders of magnitude more powerful than anything even conceivable in 1969. Yes, it could handle the moon landing.",
"That depends if it will be going in to space. A consumer device isn’t hardened for EM and other events that it isn’t exposed to at significant levels on earth but would be major risks in space. \n\nPart of the reason why on board computers from that era seem low powered was precisely so they could be hardened. This makes them far less prone to error or failure. Which is critical.",
"Even those electronic birthday cards that play a song when you open them have more processing power than the Apollo 11 ship... so yes",
"Not really. That statement means that in terms of pure computational power - literally how much maths can be done in a certain time, your iPhone can do more and do it faster. But keep in mind that you're asking one computer to do all the work by itself (well, usually 2 to 8, because it actually had multiple computers (processors) running at the same time.\n\nNASA used many many computers simultaneously to do different jobs, and each had its own processor that it didn't have to share. The computers each had a specific function to perform, and didn't have to wait to process the data.\n\nThere's no question your iPhone is more powerful than all those individual computers and even all of them combined. But there is the question is it able to process the data correctly. If your iPhone has a 4 processorvCPU and you need to execute 5 pieces of data simultaneously, you're out of luck. And maybe on your way to Mercury.\n\nThink of it this way: A Bugatti Chiron automobile generates 1,479 horsepower. This is more than 7 school buses combined. Does that mean it can get 400 kids to school every day?",
"Why doesn't every cell phone include [this](_URL_0_) then?",
"13 Minutes to the Moon is worth a listen. Apart from the typical computer stuff I was intrigued by things like how they learned to listen to several voices at once in their headphones.",
"Short answer: Yes. Your iPhone could do all the necessary calculations and could probably do them in a few seconds.\n\nLong answer: Probably not, no. Because this \"amazing fact\" usually relates to the actual Apollo Guidance Computer. You *could* replace the far bigger and faster computers on the ground that did all the mission calculations. Because that's just unspecific maths. As long as you get some numbers out, you're good. \nBut despite it being fairly \"modest\" even for its time, you *couldn't* replace the AGC. Because it's a **guidance** computer. It was built, from the ground up, specifically to control the CM and the LM. It did only that but it did it very, very well and very reliably. \nSo you'd have to find a way to get your phone to talk to all your space ship systems and do it reliably and quickly. I'm no computer engineer but I think the problem would actually be this interface. The necessary calculations would take almost no time at all, but \"translating\" all that input into something the iPhone could work with would either require software or a complex hardware adapter, in both cases, communications would take unacceptable amounts of time and be unreliable. \n\nBtw, a very extensive book about the AGC is available for download. I'm not entirely clear about the legality of the source (even though it's ESA), so I won't share it. But just google for \"apollo guidance computer architecture and operation\".",
"First of all you cannot judge the Apollo computers on a like to like basis. They were not entirely digital. On the Saturn V, there was a digital computer and an electronic [analog computer](_URL_2_) of about the same size. The analog computer did the differential equation calculations for flight control. The digital computer calculated times and values to feed the analog computer. Even Von Bruan's [V2(A4) was controlled](_URL_0_) by an electronic analog computer. (be sure to click on the top link on that page and scroll down to see diagrams of integrators and differentiators.)\n\nSecond, none of those computers has \"pretty pictures\". Meaning no graphical interface. They just input data, did a calculation, and output to a port for use. Graphical interfaces meant to look pretty to humans is the overwhelming calculation task of all modern computers. The GPU's are often far more complex than CPU's.\n\n[Here is a very good Youtube](_URL_1_) on the flight computer of the Saturn V launch vehicle. It is well worth watching all the way through.",
"not exactly, or at least, not precisely.\n\nConsumer grade cpu are not quite like the processors in a rocket. There's so much extra stuff to cheapen the system and speed up consumer applications that there's error in both the results and the timing.\n\nThis is not ideal for the computations done in a rocket, so more reliable systems are used.\n\nBut yes, your phone can technically have more \"computation power\" by the way of doing more things faster.",
"Yes and no. It has the computing power for sure, but it certainly lacks hardware requirements. Some of those are obvious (such as it's missing the Saturn V around it to fly there) while others might not be as obvious, such as having independent systems performing the same task to ensure redundancy. One thing to note about the computers running the Apolo program: They were not the most advanced, fastest or best computers available at the time. They were quite far behind on current tech, but they were known to be reliable, had actually been tested during space flight and were simple enough to be understood completely by a ground crew in case of an emergency, which saved both Apolo 12 and 13. The requirements were not \"get us the most computing power per kilogram\", they were more like \"Get us the most reliable stuff you can find for a voyage into the unknown\".",
"Definitely. Someone would need to wire up the inputs and outputs and either rewrite the Apollo 11 software or program an emulator. The Apollo capsule wasn't built with usb ports and the software wasn't written for iOS. :)\n\nThere could also be an issue with reliability. In space, cosmic rays can occasionally flip bits from '1' to '0' or vice versa. While I'm not sure if the Apollo missions used it, some computers used in space will take extra measures to guard against it that you wouldn't find in a smartphone. Smartphones are seldom subjected to intense radiation and it's unlikely that a glitch will result in a very expensive machine slamming into a planet.\n\nBut yeah, the U.S. and S.U. both would have killed for a smartphone.",
"It’s often forgotten that although computers weren’t as powerful as today, NASA didn’t want the most complex computers/systems aboard their rockets. More complicated computers just increases the risk of system failures, which obviously is not acceptable in a mission like landing humans on the moon.",
"Most of it could be done by hand with the right information and training. An iPhone is way more than capable of running the software as far as raw compute power goes. In fact you may be very well able to run the software in browser in an iPhone. You can do so on a PC.",
"Not just your iPhone.\n\nTo oversimplify things rather severely - to run any computer program successfully one needs a processor, (some) memory and (some) longer-term storage. This makes up the physical computer.\n\nRunning on those one needs an interpreter that tells the external hardware (The rocket itself) what to do with the commands it receives from the computer - for instance to stop the thrusters if the command [CUT ENGINE POWER] is received.\n\nThe 8088 which formed the basis for the IBM PC, released in 1981, just a decade after Apollo 11’s trip to the Moon, had eight times more memory than Apollo’s Guidance Computer (16k, vs the Apollo’s 2k). The IBM PC XT ran at a dizzying clock speed of 4.077MHz. That’s 0.004077 GHz. The Apollo’s Guidance Computer was a snail-like 1.024 MHz in comparison, and it’s external signaling was half that. \n\nTo the best of my knowledge, the guidance computers of the Apollo 11 carried two Kilobytes of RAM (That is half a MILLIONTH of a Gigabyte) and about 32 kilobytes of long-term storage - compare to a hard drive. You can fit that in a Gigabyte, thirty-one thousand, two-hundred and fifty times. \n\nSo - yes. Your iPhone is equipped with so much more processing power, so much more memory and so much more longer-term storage that the perspective is completely lost. \n\n[This watch, which can be bought as cheap as five dollars](_URL_0_) very probably has more raw _processing_ power than the onboard computers of the Apollo 11 mission had. It certainly has the processor speed to pull it off.\n\nThat statement is in itself not _quite_ true, however, in that you couldn't just swap out the mission computers for a modern cheap watch and watch the whole thing go off without a hitch. The watch is not setup by default to handle the 145 thousand lines of code that constituted the _programming_ for the Apollo 11 mission. \n\nIf you could get the watch to run the interpreter and talk to the memory and longer-term storage, _then_ you could probably wire it into the Apollo-11 rocket to replace the mission computers.\n\nYour average modern iPhone probably uses more computational power to display the on-screen clock than would have been required to run the Apollo-11 mission.",
"Lol - your iPhone would probably have enough charge to get to 500ft if my phone is anything to go by.",
"Technically yes, but what is missing from a lot of the responses I've seen on here, is that an iPhone wouldn't be a great choice for spacecraft. Long answer below.\n\n\nPeople underrate the Apollo Guidance Computer(AGC) simply because of raw processing power, it still does things that modern consumer computers do not.\n\nThe AGC was a specialised real-time, priority based computer. This basically means it had a multitude of small, very specific programs it could run, requested sequentially. As these programs could never do more than intended in tightly controlled and practiced scenarios, there was a degree of objective importance in the running of these programs. The AGC could defer less important tasks and most importantly, it could do it quickly and without contention. For it’s task, it was all that was needed and very efficient and incredibly reliable. Reliability is the most important factor in applications like this.\n\nModern Space hardware still use relatively modest computers. Curiosity, which is currently wandering around being brilliant on Mars, has two identical computers with, what most would consider, pretty crappy specs. It’s processors only run at couple of hundred MHz and it was launched in 2011. The processors is question are radiation hardened and there’s two of them to make the system less error-prone. Curiosity also uses a modern descendent (Kinda)of the AGC, a lightweight real-time OS called vxWorks. The specs aren't confirmed, but it’s likely that Mars 2020 won’t be magnitudes more powerful either.\n\nWe now have more computing power than we could ever possibly need for completing basic computing. This means we use computers to do far more nowadays, a side effect of that is inefficiency and more wasteful languages that allow is to achieve complex things quickly. Consumer computers crash, they fail. Not often catastrophically, but subtly far too often for critical applications. There's layers upon layers of processes for myriad things in the system.\n\nBy comparison, the AGC had no operating system. No central processor in the way we understand them, no RAM, no filesystem. It was a very different beast to a modern computer, but for it's application, it was great.\n\nThese systems above all, need to be reliable. Lower level languages that make better use of processing power and operating systems that favour quick decision making will always be preferable to an iPhone that can crunch (relatively) wasteful and imprecisely determined numbers faster. \n\nAll that being said, three iPhones would be great at getting us to the moon. Triply redundant systems can mitigate a lot of error prone nature of modern computing and mess ups caused by cosmic rays.",
"This analogy might help. The comparison that is made is regarding the power of the phone to the Apollo flight computer.\n\nThis is like saying could my Ford Focus car engine really power a Model T?\nSure it could. Could you just put a focus' engine in a model T with no other changes to the engine or model T. No."
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3oc32k | if isil/isis income is from conquered oil fields - why don't nato just bomb the oil terminals? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3oc32k/eli5_if_isilisis_income_is_from_conquered_oil/ | {
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"Not Just that but tankers heading to borders should be pretty obvious and relatively easy targets for drones to both see and eliminate ",
"That probably has to do with the fact that it is not generally acceptable to intentionally kill civilians. The UN would be very unhappy.",
"The petroleum industry isn't a local or regional entity and bombing oil fields will likely cause more geopolitical backlash from others. Plus, I'm sure it's possible to ruin reservoirs and trap hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil in the subsurface and/or cause some kind of environmental issue. Wasting/destroying a valuable natural resource like hydrocarbons isn't a wise decision, regardless of your stance on fossil fuel consumption. ",
"2 reasons:\n\n1) Some of the oil is being sold to big countries with big militaries, and they wouldn't be happy if it stopped. We're already trying to avoid this turning into a proxy war (where big players with deep pockets dump weapons into the region on opposite sides), so that wouldn't help.\n\n2) Part of the money is used for social services. ISIS is a crazy organization, but they win the people over by providing services that the local government doesn't. _URL_0_\n",
"First of all, [the US has been destroying oil fields and refineries to a large extent.](_URL_1_) Simply destroying everything would [harm recovery in a post-ISIS world though.](_URL_2_)\n\nAlso, oil isn't ISIS' only source of income, as they regularly [loot banks in captured areas.](_URL_0_)",
"The foreign policy of countries dealing with ISIS is treating it more like a child having a tantrum, rather than a formidable enemy playing to win. Think of how WW2 was fought versus wars of today. Cities were leveled. Why? Because we were just that close to losing. That we had to win and that means destroying anything the enemy could use.\n\nWe have very pragmatic altruistic foreign policy where we're more concerned with international feelings and our image than actually winning. ISIS could be eliminated in under a week, if we really want to end this. Destroying their means of financing, the electricity they use, the way they fuel their vehicles, the buildings they sleep in (we can just level towns). \n\nThe problem that you notice is that there is no sense of urgency or means to just win (ISIS is playing to win). It's more about measured responses and just slowing ISIS down."
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"http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-10-14/u-dot-s-dot-air-strikes-cut-isis-oil-production-by-70-percent",
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6p247l | how can animals eat other animals and not destroy their insides from the bone shards / teeth? | When I accidentally eat a salmon bone I feel it poking me and spit it out while it is still in my mouth!
I just saw a video of a killer whale eating a great white shark. I've touched a great white shark tooth before and it was incredibly sharp. How does the killer whale eat the shark without those teeth cutting its throat or stomach?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6p247l/eli5_how_can_animals_eat_other_animals_and_not/ | {
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"Some animals have specific enzymes that can break down bones, nails, and such hard materials. I think I remember reading somewhere that crocodiles can actually digest steel"
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4b2l1n | why can the usa interfere with military actions outside of their territory? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4b2l1n/eli5_why_can_the_usa_interfere_with_military/ | {
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"We are a superpower. One of the aspects of being a superpower is that the entire planet is our territory so far as military actions are concerned. ",
"They have the \"right\" to do it. Good reason for using military force and permission from UN etc. \n\nThey can't \"invade\" another country, that has a sway in the UN. Usually eastern countries are not stable and can't say anything about it. You don't see US invading western countries like Russia did with Crimea (Which is kinda eastern too). One reason why Russia was able to do so, Ukraine is not in NATO. All EU and UN can about it is to economically sanction Russia.\n\nAll of this is what I have learned from news and such. Feel free to correct me if Im wrong"
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8i8gru | how does white reflect light and black absorb light? whats the process behind this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8i8gru/eli5_how_does_white_reflect_light_and_black/ | {
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"Our eyes interpret light with frequencies covering all visible colors as white and the absence of light as black. When you shine white light on a white object, it'll reflect all of it, and our eyes will interpret it as such. If you shine light on black object, none of it reflect back to our eyes, so our eyes interpret that absence as black.\n\nIf you are asking why some things reflect light and some things absorb it, it comes down to how the atoms of the material interact with light. When an atom is hit with a photon, depending on the frequency of that photon, the atom will absorb it (transparent materials will not absorb it, allowing it to pass through). This may give the atom enough energy such that it re-emits a photon of its own. Or it doesn't, and the photon is absorbed with no light shining back."
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dumlzw | why can we not feel temperature differences of beverages consume navigating to stomach | Why when we consume a beverage that is extremely cold (e.g. ice water) or extremely hot (e.g. herbal tea) we cannot feel it going down our esophaguous and whilst navigating through our body though it is extremely cold in the mouth and on teeth, or if that liquid was poured on our skin we could feel the extreme cold / hot. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dumlzw/eli5_why_can_we_not_feel_temperature_differences/ | {
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"Because first of all that would be a stupid feature to have in the body because what purpose would it serve, and second of all, receptors for those things don't exist in the digestive system because, like I said, why would we have it",
"This post is confusing to me, because I definitely feel the temp if I drink something very cold or very hot!"
]
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24c5l3 | why is it easier to fall asleep "unintentionally" then when i'm trying? | I fall pretty easily a sleep when I'm laying down on the couch watching a movie, or just "chilling out" on the couch/bed, but when I actually go to sleep at night, I often take half an hour or more to fall asleep? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24c5l3/eli5_why_is_it_easier_to_fall_asleep/ | {
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"When you naturally fall asleep, your brain and your body is probably tired enough to do so.\n\nWhen you're consciously trying to fall asleep, you focus your attention on the act of falling asleep, which makes you more aware that you are awake along with other thoughts that might pop up and get in the way. So you're really just thinking a whole lot. This is why the whole \"counting sheep\" technique exists - you're exerting very little brain power to think about something mundane and boring enough to have you drift off."
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21ustb | how does a mental or personality disorder affect someone's ability to control their behavior? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21ustb/eli5_how_does_a_mental_or_personality_disorder/ | {
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"This is a very broad question with different answers depending on the specific disorder being discussed, but broadly-speaking there are two different answers to your question. Certain disorders can cause certain types of hallucinations which convince sufferers to undertake certain actions or to refrain from certain actions, ultimately because they are under the impression that it is not reasonable to do otherwise. This is called, appropriately enough, a [hallucination](_URL_0_). And certain disorders can cause sufferers to be unaware of how their conditions is affecting them or influencing their behaviour, leading them to embrace reasoning which casts their behaviour/condition in a righteous point-of-view and reject notions of adopting a different behaviour. This is called a lack of [insight](_URL_1_)."
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wgnas | if no companies give out my email address then why do i get spam mail? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/wgnas/eli5_if_no_companies_give_out_my_email_address/ | {
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"When a company goes bankrupt, or is bought by another company, the promises they made to you often are no longer valid or honored. \n\nThis is one of the concerns that people have about Facebook. What happens when something better comes along and Facebook becomes the next MySpace?"
]
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2mjifk | what's actually happening when you miss someone so much you can physically feel it? | Have you ever missed someone so much that it "hurts"? I'd really like to know how the biological aspect of it works.
Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mjifk/eli5_whats_actually_happening_when_you_miss/ | {
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"If you are looking for a biological explanation for emotions I think you need to wait a few more decades. Yeah we know a loss or excess of certain neurotransmitters cause certain effects but we are nowhere near understanding every component of an emotion. It's almost like you are asking for a biochemical breakdown of the soul. - It certainly exists but with our current understanding it's like going back to the ancient Greeks and asking how a cellphone works. ",
"i would also like to know, it's not just about missing someone, but just being extremely sad and lonely, the feeling of emptiness in the chest, causing almost physical pain, accompanied by need to hug, what's physically is happening to my body in such moments?",
"The threshold between mental anguish and physical pain is quite small. That's pretty much what it boils down to. Any emotional turmoil can inflict fairly severe physical effects as well. It's why grief runs rollercoasters over people.",
"Going through break up with long term SO right now.\n\nI know the feeling you are talking about. :(\n\nCurrently feels like I both want to puke, and at the same time want to eat food. Also all my muscles are very tense and are preventing me from comfortable sleep.\n\nPerhaps the brain is so active due to emotional stress that it assumes this level of activity must mean a lot is wrong and assumes the rest of the body must be causing it?",
"It all comes from an evolutionary trait that makes the emotional part of your brain connected with the physical pain part of your brain. Back in prehistoric times it was really important to stay with other people so if they left you, the brain evolved to make it so someone would feel aweful when alone. This is why when a friend moves away or you breakup with someone, you feel very real pain. ",
"Anxiety and stress can be both mental and physical problems. IIRC, severe anxiety or stress triggers the \"fight-or-flight\" response to either a minor or major degree, depending on the severity of the problem.\n\nThe \"hurt\" you might experience is likely either the overstimulation of nerves or the tightening of certain muscles. ",
"The part of your brain that regulates emotional reactions, the anterior cingulate cortex, may respond to stressful experiences (including missing someone) by increasing the activity of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve connects to the neck, chest, and abdomen. It's overstimulation can cause pain and nausea. [Source](_URL_0_)",
"Physical pain is still only felt through the brain, technically. All pain is controlled this way. I can't imagine it's that difficult for emotional pain to translate into physical pain in your brain. ",
"Hey there- not that im super qualified but I had a concentration in clinical neuro as an undergraduate-\n\nSpeaking to the emotional \"hurt\" being perceived as real/physical pain, there actually is some interesting data out there. Without getting heavily into stress hormone/HPA which is definitely a huge component I was taught about the importance of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (dACC) \n\nIt turns out that the same area of the brain that gets activated by physical pain (e.g. burning your hand on the stove) becomes active when people experience emotional pain i.e. social pain \n\n_URL_0_\n\nTaken from the last paragraph:\n\n\"Research even shows that emotional pain can sometimes activate brain regions that normally process only physical hurt. One recent study of people who had just been dumped by a romantic partner found that intense rejection activated somatosensory brain regions once thought to be involved only with physical sensation.\"\n",
"One reason could be they trigger a rush of endorphins and other good-feel stuff. You could be in withdrawal.",
"I've always thought of it as a weak form of phantom limb syndrome.",
"This will end up a long way down and it may have already been said, but you can get addicted to someone. It's even possible to go through withdrawals when you can't be with them. It's called [codependency](_URL_0_), it's the same as being dependent/addicted to drugs or any other substance. "
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2k2fpa | why doesn't amazon always require you to return an item to them when you request a refund for it? | I recently ordered the wrong item from amazon, and somehow I got a refund and don't actually need to return it to them. Why would they do this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2k2fpa/eli5_why_doesnt_amazon_always_require_you_to/ | {
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"They need to pay for the return shipping, the carrier doesn't work for free. If the item doesn't cost them enough to make that worthwhile then they let you keep it for goodwill."
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5fkzic | what is the different in 1-(800) and 1-(888) numbers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5fkzic/eli5what_is_the_different_in_1800_and_1888_numbers/ | {
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"Simplest explanation. \n\n800 is essentially .com\n\n888 is .net\n\n866 and 877 are .info, .biz or country codes. \n\n > They all technically work the same, but from a marketing standpoint 800 is the king. 800, or 1-800 is more than just a toll free area code but it’s a brand name. That’s the real difference between 800 and 888 at this point, just the “brand name” value. It’s the industry default that the one the biggest advertisers use. "
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6c2s2e | how does facebook know what i've googled? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6c2s2e/eli5_how_does_facebook_know_what_ive_googled/ | {
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"Facebook also allows advertisers to place a \"pixel\" on their website to track you and retarget you with ads. So, if you went to the airbnb website, you got retargeted by a pixel. "
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b1i23w | why is the quality of old music videos (usually pre-2010) bad on the internet? | If they were professionally filmed with high quality cameras, then the videos should also be high quality. However, on YouTube for example the quality is very low. How? Does this have to do with compression? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b1i23w/eli5_why_is_the_quality_of_old_music_videos/ | {
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"Most postings to YouTube are not being made by the people who filmed the music video. They are being made by fans, who might only have a VHS recording they captured off their cable TV signal. Nothings every going to make that look good.",
"If they were made to be shown on television, and not on a computer, they were likely made before HD was a thing, so at best they were mastered at 480i resolution. If the videos were made on film, they could be remastered to 4k (most film is incredibly high quality which is why you can take a 1940's film and make it 4K if it's in good shape). If they were shot on digital video or video tape, you're stuck with the original resolution."
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f4np3s | how does a cruise missile know where to go? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f4np3s/eli5_how_does_a_cruise_missile_know_where_to_go/ | {
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"As a point of trivia, the original cruise missile (the V1 \"Flying bomb\") had a little propeller that spun until it reached a pre-set number of spins (like an alarm clock) at which point the whole thing just pitched down.",
"Maps and cameras!\n\nDepends on the particular missile, but it probably has GPS, an inertial guidance system and a terrain matching camera. It has a microprocessor onboard with a flight plan, waypoints and a map of the area and it flies the programmed route.\n\nIt might also have some other back-up systems or be steerable remotely.",
"There are lots of fancy systems as mentioned in other posts... including GPS, but the main component is the same as any other flying odject (include the ones that took us to the moon and back)... IGS or Inertial Guidence System.\n\nBasically it is a bunch of gyroscopes connected to measuring devices and a simple computer. You program in where it is starting from, and where it is going to, and its weight and so on... and then you let it rip. The IGS can tell by the amount force excerted in every direction and for how long, exactly how far the missile has travelled and in what direction. To give you an idea of how accurate it is... back in the 60's when it was developed, the very first test flight went from New York to LA with the windows blacked out and no other method of nav on board, and when they thought they were close they pulled off the curtains and found themselves within a couple of miles of LAX. Obviously it has improved since then.\n\nThe Cruise has another system that uses radar etc for tracking the profile of the ground so that it can fly really low... and a third system using cameras to track the target right at the end which they can use for both stationary and moving targets.",
"The missile knows where it is at all times.\n\nIt knows this because it know where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't, or where it isn't from where it is, whichever is greater, it obtains a difference, or deviation. The guidance subsystem uses deviations to generate corrective commands to drive the missile from a position where it is to a position where it isn't and, arriving at a position where it wasn't, it now is. Consequently, the position where it is, is now the position that it wasn't, and it follows that the position that it was is now the position that it isn't. In the event that the position that it is in is not the position that it wasn't, the system has acquired a variation; the variation being the difference between where the missile is and where it isn't. If variation is considered to be a significant factor, it, too, may be corrected by the GEA. However, the missile must also know where it was. The missile guidance computer scenario works as follows: because a variation has modified some of the information the missile has obtained, it is not sure just where it is, however it is sure where it isn't, within reason, and it knows where it was. It now subtracts where it should be from where it wasn't, or vice versa. And by differentiating this from the algebraic sum of where it shouldn't be and where it was, it is able to obtain the deviation and its variation, which is called error."
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23rnxw | does time stop in absolute zero? | I had this discussion with my coworker the other day. He tried explaining that if Absolute Zero (O Kelvin) is achieved that time would stop since there is no motion from any particle and time is relevant to light and gravity. He tried explaining it to me but I just don't agree with it. So what would really happen if absolute zero is achieved? Would Time stop? Would gravity not work either? Sorry if this confuses you, it confuses me too. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23rnxw/eli5_does_time_stop_in_absolute_zero/ | {
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"Well, the short answer is no depending on how you identify time.\nIn terms of chemical reactions or kinetic movement, yes time has stopped. But that isnt the only thing that happens in line with time passed.\nAbsolute zero is not a lack of any movement, it is when a 'minimum' has been reached. Electrons still work the same and so does radioactive decay. The universal structure that it sits on is still expanding and the atomic structure itself will still decay. So no, time works just fine at 0 kelvin.",
"I don't believe that it would ever be possible for Absolute Zero to be achieved.\nyou can get to o.oooooooo1 Kelvin just fine but never 0 due to that fact any particle at 0 K would have no energy and would be completely still (unlike everything else that is vibrating at molecular level) and that means that we know where the particle is and it's velocity ( 0 due to it having no energy ) and that breaks Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle ( think of it as a law of Quantum mechanics ) \n\n(If i got something wrong please correct me)\n"
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3hgjpt | where do artists get isolated music tracks for remixing? | I've seen a lot of YouTube covers and remixes where the new artists seem to have an isolated music track straight from the source. How do they gain access to these? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hgjpt/eli5where_do_artists_get_isolated_music_tracks/ | {
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"This I have always wanted to know! They get vocals to mess around with, without music, and vise versa. Upvoted you for visibility. Thanks for asking the REAL questions Gen4200.",
"These files, or \"stems\" are definitely online in random locations. Actual big name artists and some of their songs can be found with all of the .wav files. The actual studio files that were used in the commercial release. HOWEVER you will definitely need a program that can open .mogg files. Audacity will do this. PM me and when I get home I can point you in the right place to snag some.",
"Vocals can be isolated from a track fairly easily if you have an instrumental version. Line them both up in your DAW (music program) and invert the phase of the instrumental. The peaks and troughs will cancel each other out, leaving only the vocal. Of course, tho will only work if the instrumental is identical to the original, or you'll get some artifacts left over."
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32beai | what does middle finger sign actually mean? how did it originate? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32beai/eli5what_does_middle_finger_sign_actually_mean/ | {
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" > The middle finger gesture was used in Ancient times as a symbol of sexual intercourse, in a manner meant to degrade, intimidate and threaten the individual receiving the gesture.[2] It also represented the phallus, with the fingers next to the middle finger representing testicles;[3]\n\n_URL_0_",
"The gesture dates back from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, as a symbol reminiscent of sexual intercourse, and was often used towards a people as a reference to \"a male who submits to anal penetration.\" It's Latin name, *digitus impudicus* translates to the \"shameless, indecent or offensive finger.\" \n\nIt is said that it came to the United States via Italian immigrants, and was first documented being used in a baseball team photo when Old Hoss Radbourn flipped off the cameraman.\n\nTL;DR: It is used to symbolize anal sex and originated in Ancient Greece. ",
"Not an expert on the subject but I'm about 90% certain that back in the days of archery being used in war, captured archers would have their middle finger chopped off before being traded back to the enemy. This made it much harder to draw a bow. Flipping off the enemy, in short ment that the archers haven't been captured and that they could send their arrows farther and with better accuracy. This probably made the common soldier on the enemies side go *well. We are a bit more fucked then usual today*\n\nOr that could be a myth....",
"_URL_0_\n\nSeveral people are citing the 'Car Talk' segment that the French threatened to cut off the bowstring fingers of every English archer captured at Agincourt. The English surprisingly won, and taunted the defeated French with the English double-finger V-sign gesture and said \"(we can still) pluck yew!\", which evolved into \"fuck you!\"\n\nIt's utterly untrue, historically. The gesture and phrase long predate Agincourt. There is no historical record suggesting the archers did this, IIRC Car Talk was citing an Internet legend that dates around mid-90's or so. It's not impossible that an archer DID find it a clever pun to show the gesture and say \"pluck yew\", but there's no record of it. \n\nThe middle finger itself dates to Roman times at least, referred to as \"*digitus impudicus*\" (for real, the \"finger of indecent offense\"). \n\n\"Fuck you\", fuck originates from Germanic word for \"strike\"/copulate, German, Dutch, Swedish share similar words. It may go back to Latin *futuere*, basically meaning strike/copulate... fuck."
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24d746 | what is happening to my body when i listen to epic music and get the "shivers"? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24d746/eli5_what_is_happening_to_my_body_when_i_listen/ | {
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"That shiver you feel is actually a release of dopamine (the feel good hormone) transferred throughout the body.",
"The shiver sensation one experiences when listening to exciting music or watching a dramatic movie, etc, is the result of what's called the \"sympathetic nervous system\" being activated. It's part of your nervous system (brain, nerve tissue throughout the body) that regulates things you don't have full (or any) conscious control of, such as startle responses (i.e jumping at a sudden loud noise), various basic emotional states, arousal, etc.\n\nOne of it's primary functions is to rapidly prepare your body for activity when you become excited, such as when you're frightened or when you're sexually aroused. This reaction prepares the body in many ways, including: increasing blood flow to muscles, increasing muscle tension, increasing circulating blood sugar (and other metabolic products), etc, etc. It also causes changes in brain activity; if the response is fear then the various neurochemicals involved in the subjective experience of fear are released in their relative areas (i.e the amygdala) to create the feeling. If the response is arousal, then neurochemicals involved in the feeling of pleasure and anticipation are released, mobilizing those respective emotions.\n\nSo returning to your question; in the case of listening to epic music or watching a dramatic scene in a movie, the \"shivers\" are likely the result of a mild arousal response; the subjective feeling most people experience is actually very similar to the feelings induced by sexual arousal, just without the conscious desire for sex, and usually without male/female erection (though not always, some people literally \"pop a boner\" at such things). The shivers are the result of the body increasing muscle tension and muscular sensitivity to movement signals from the brain, causing a brief shiver. People also typically feel a \"tingling\" sensation, which is probably a combination of blood vessels dilating/constricting as well as increased nerve ending sensitivity during this phase of excitement.",
"We have a sub for this /r/frisson :)"
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41tp0u | why do canals not freeze under bridges when they freeze elsewhere? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41tp0u/eli5_why_do_canals_not_freeze_under_bridges_when/ | {
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"Bridges are often pinch points where the water is compressed and the increased current makes it harder to freeze. They're expensive to build so they're often built across narrow points in the water. They often also have supporting posts in the middle.\n\nBoth the increased flow as the banks close in and the deflection in flow caused by the supporting posts cause increased turbulence and motion in the water, and calm water freezes much more easily than water in motion. So as a result the ice in that area takes longer to freeze and less time to melt because it's thinner.",
"No mico-climatologists to comment on this?\n\nI.e. something to do with colder air sinking, therefore the bridge acting as a 'shelter' of comparably warmer air than the exposed canal. \n\nI had an essay question on something similar in uni but can't remember the exact/correct answer. But it was assuming the body of water was still.",
"For the same reasons cars freeze over at night before other stuff does. Infrared radiation.\n\nAll bodies lose energy (get colder) by emitting infrared radiation. Different materials do this at different rates, which is why cars freeze over quickly and why the windows freeze over first, not the side panels or the hood.\n\nThe infrared light from the water is reflected back down from the bridge. Also, the light coming from the material of the bridge warms the water. The effect is not very strong, but coupled with shielding from wind that carries warmth away, it suffices to allow the water under the bridge to take longer to freeze over."
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1umvgu | can someone please help me respond to my boss when he says there is no such thing as global warming because it is cold outside today. | I have tried to research the topic a little, but there is so much information on both sides, I don't know what to believe. He is driving me nuts because he just keeps yammering on and on and I just want to shut him up for a while because, even though he is my boss, he doesn't seem to understand that I have work to do. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1umvgu/eli5_can_someone_please_help_me_respond_to_my/ | {
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"\"Global warming is a hoax because its cold, where you live.....today.\" - John Stewart\n\nGlobal warming is a misnomer, it's global climate change. Some places will become cold, winters will be harsher. Canada won't become Florida.",
"\"The weather is not the same as the climate.\" - My biology professor.",
"Global warming is more about trapping heat on the planet with the help of greenhouse gasses. Thinking of it as heat = hot isn't necessarily a complete picture, really it's more about trapping energy from the sun. That adds energy to our climate's existing energy so that results in hotter summers, colder winters, and more violent storms. Consider a pot of still water versus a pot of water on a flame, even before it starts boiling. The energy increases in the water, and things start moving a bit more than they did before.\n\nI'm no climatologist, but the scale of these effects aren't really appreciable in our lifetimes, but as I understand it that's still in dispute, as is the origins of warming.",
"daily local temperatures do not reflect yearly global averages",
"\"There's no such thing as 'getting hotter in the summer', because it's cold in your refrigerator.\"",
"Go to _URL_0_ and find his arguments among the list of common arguments against climate change. \n\nPrint out the \"basic\"-level rebuttals, read them, then go to his office with them. \n\nOn the way there, go ahead and toss the rebuttals in the nearest trash can and resign yourself to the fact that most climate change skepticism is emotionally driven and completely fact resistant. You aren't going to shift your boss's opinion with facts or argument. \n\nYou should tell him that climate change is kind of a political issue and you aren't comfortable discussing politics at the workplace. If he doesn't catch the red flag that you are putting up, he's an idiot boss. Go to HR if he keeps it up - most companies don't tolerate heated political discussions in the workplace because such discussions can lead to divisions in the workforce. ",
"Just smile and keep your mouth shut. ",
"Say, \"if only everything were that simple...\" Then look off into the distance.",
"It's called GLOBAL WARMING for a reason; it's not REGIONAL WARMING...",
"Is it important for your success that he understands this? I'd probably try not to convince him of stuff that's painfully obvious to anyone with 2 chromosomes",
"It really should be called climate change since some places will get warm some places get cold. The fact is, that in general the warm areas of the planet have been statistically increasing in temperature over the years. When you see a graph of it (you can google Zachos 2008 for a figure to show your boss) you see little wobbles up and down. They are seasonal fluctuations, like winter and summer. But the *general* trend is warming (in our part of the world). \n\nThis arctic blast actually proves global climate change more than anything since the prediction was for greater extremes in weather: so the seasonal fluctuations would be steeper and more extreme. I'd say 60 below is pretty extreme :) thankful I'm over on the west coast!",
"I'm going to quickly follow up with this: \nI am a geologist and we talk about climate a lot. Even after reading many papers and participating in many discussions on the subject, I still don't know if it's human caused or not. And frankly, I don't care. What *is* true is that climate change is happening. I'm not one who blames people about it, I'd rather figure out what we should do to stop or mitigate the problem. \n\nAnd in the big scheme of it, I'm not too worried. My focus is paleontology, so I do try to understand climate over long spans of time. Dinosaur age was much hotter than today (which is why Dino's and plants back then were so big). Ice age happened in the middle of the Quaternary, after the pan-Antarctic current developed. We are just now coming out of the ice age, so really, this global \"warming\" would just be a leveling off of the climate since the last ice age. \n\nThere are many theories as to *why* it is happening. My favorite is the position of our *solar system* (not just earth) in the Milky Way. The movement of our SS mimics a sine curve, so it moves in and out of the galactic arm. When we are out, it is cold, when we are inside of the arm, it is warm. The theory states that we are now moving back into the galactic arm. \nNot saying this is true, just a great way of explaining non-human induced climate change. ",
"Sorry, Zachos 2001, here:\n_URL_0_",
"Global warming refers to the continuing rise in Earth's average climate temperature over time -- not current temperatures. ",
"When the planet warms and ice (fresh water) melts and runs into the ocean, thermohaline circulation (THC) refers to a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes.\nThe Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates at the tip of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The process of western intensification causes the Gulf Stream to be a northward accelerating current off the east coast of North America.\nChanges in the thermohaline circulation are thought to have significant impacts on the Earth's radiation budget. Insofar as the thermohaline circulation governs the rate at which deep waters are exposed to the surface, it may also play an important role in determining the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. While it is often stated that the thermohaline circulation is the primary reason that Western Europe is so temperate, it has been suggested that this is largely incorrect, and that Europe is warm mostly because it lies downwind of an ocean basin, and because of the effect of atmospheric waves bringing warm air north from the subtropics.\nIn 2005, British researchers noticed that the net flow of the northern Gulf Stream had decreased by about 30% since 1957. Coincidentally, scientists at Woods Hole had been measuring the freshening of the North Atlantic as Earth becomes warmer. Their findings suggested that precipitation increases in the high northern latitudes, and polar ice melts as a consequence. By flooding the northern seas with lots of extra fresh water, global warming could, in theory, divert the Gulf Stream waters that usually flow northward past England and Norway, and cause them to instead circulate toward the equator. If this were to happen, Europe's climate would be seriously impacted.\nTL;DR \"Ice caps melt, throw THC into disarray, gulf stream gets fucked causing extreme weather conditions (60 degree Centigrade heat in Australia, and the opposite in North Muricaaa\""
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j3cuc | - class a/b/c networks and how to id them | So I always wanted to know by looking at some IP address how to identify them, and what that all means. Any good explanations would be great. Added bonus question... what is a good practice to set up DHCP scopes with keeping in mind the scopes, and routing and things?
Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j3cuc/elif_class_abc_networks_and_how_to_id_them/ | {
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"Look at the first number of an IP address (for example, 172.16.32.69):\n\n- if the first number is between 1-126, it's Class A\n- if the first number is between 128-191, it's Class B\n- if the first number is between 192-223, it's Class C\n- if the first number is between 224-239, it's Class D (multicast)\n\nWhere are 127 and 240-255? They're reserved, and not used on either public or private networks.\n\nBonus question response: best practice is to set aside 20 addresses from each block of 255 for routers, dedicated servers, etc. It's also a good idea to split up the remaining block (80/20 or so) and have DHCP servers back each other up for a given subnet."
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43fab0 | why aren't oil countries limiting production to counter the crash of oil prices? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/43fab0/eli5_why_arent_oil_countries_limiting_production/ | {
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"I understand the crash is an intentional overproduction to cut oil prices to starve competing start-ups of funding for the future security of their oligopoly. ",
"Because the oil being produced now has already been sold, it was probably sold months ago. That's how futures contracts work. What you're seeing is the spot market, and possibly futures contracts that expire in the next few months. \n\nEven if they wanted to cut production, it couldn't occur for several months from now.",
"It varies from country to country.\n\nFree market economies like Canada and the US are simply unable to limit oil production. Once the permits have been set, those oil sources will pump until they run out. They'll slow down on making new pumps, but every individual pump owner wants to be the one to keep pumping.\n\nPetrostates like Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela where a majority of the government's income comes from holding and owning oil production at a state level cannot afford to lower production. They might make more money per barrel at a higher price, but they have to sell fewer enough barrels that the country that cuts would take in less money than they do now - which isn't enough. All of them are desperate for someone else to cut so that they can get back to business as usual.\n\nThere was a time when petrostates were powerful enough and controlled enough of the oil market to engage in price collusion, setting a high price on gas by limiting pumping. Since the US shale boom, however, that has become impossible - there is now enough free market oil that they would lose money on a price collusion. With Iran entering the market again for the first time really in 40 years, another large supplier is entering the market who does not cooperate with the OPEC cartel. The cartel's power is broken now, and free market economies set the price of oil based on curves of supply and demand, and the wild imaginations of stock traders.",
"Everyone is complicating this too much. The fact is no single country or organization (like OPEC) can vastly change the oil price globally.\n\nShale oil in the US and oilsands in Canada are more expensive to extract, the current prices for oil reflect the \"old standard\" of Big Oil attempting to keep start-ups and companies that extract shale oil and oilsands from becoming competition.",
"Some money is always better than no money for many businesses. Its also important to look and see that even at current prices some companies and countries in the middle east are still making a ton of money. Just because the current price isn't sustainable in our countries, doesn't mean it isn't sustainable in other countries. North American oil is much more complicated and more expensive to produce in contrast to other places around the globe.",
"The price has already fallen. Saudi Arabia pretty much has oceans of oil under it, they are purposefully over-saturating the market in hopes that all different methods of getting oil from the ground (e.g. Between rocks/under the ocean) become unsustainable. This gives them the greatest market share and attracts more business towards them.",
"While there are many good points, market share also has quite a bit to play in this as well. Basically, the last time OPEC intentionally cut back oil production, Saudi Arabia lost quite a bit of market share. When demand revived, they lost out sales to other producers.\n\nSaudi Arabia's declining to reduce production then forced the rest of OPEC to keep producing at the same level in order to keep their market shares consistent. This has pushed the price even lower but assuming oil demand returns to the mean, they will continue to have their current agreements in place and will return to similar bulk sales and profitability.\n\n",
"There are only 20 comments in this thread, and several of them completely contradict each other. Most of them are written by people with absolutely no understanding of economics whatsoever.\n\nOP, you're going to have to research this question for yourself if you want real answers.",
"Although only the members or OPEC who are refusing cutbacks (mainly Saudi) know the real reasons, the theory below makes sense.\n\nBasically Saudi Arabia and Qatar want to export their Natural Gas to Europe, but need to build a pipeline through Syria first. The Syrian Regime (Shia Muslims) is not exactly friendly with Saudi and Qatar (Sunni Muslims) and so Saudi is essentially funding a war to topple them via ISIS. \n\nRussia, who supplies Europe with 40% of its Natural Gas, does not want to see another competitor in their market (Natural gas in Europe is about 2-3x more expensive per MMBTU than it is here in the US), and is backing the Syrian Regime to prevent this from happening.\n\nBecause Russia also produces around 10 Million barrels of oil per day, which accounts for a lot of the government’s revenue, a significant drop in oil prices will make it harder for them to continue to back Syria, thus allowing a Saudi, Qatar pipeline.\n\nThe article below gives a lot more detail.\n_URL_0_"
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d3l2v2 | is there a reason that we are compelled to poke at our wounds or things that hurt on our bodies? | For example, if I have a small cut on my gums, I can’t help but poke at it constantly with my tongue, even though it hurts. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d3l2v2/eli5_is_there_a_reason_that_we_are_compelled_to/ | {
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29bwe4 | it's there really any difference between what company i buy gasoline from? | I understand the difference between the octane of gas, but does it really vary from company to company?
Edit: So far the answer I mainly see is that there really isn't a difference in the gasoline aside from some additives which won't make a world of difference. The biggest difference comes down to how well kept each individual gas station is i.e. how clean the tank is, although the gas is usually filtered anyways.
Edit2: Apparently the gasoline:additives ratio is about 10000:3 gallons (thanks /u/5400ARS). Most of the things you should pay attention to are cleanliness of the store/gasoline, and the ethics of the company (if that concerns you). Mom 'n Pop shops don't have corporations hounding them and may tend to have less clean gasoline/ business practices than bigger companies. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29bwe4/eli5_its_there_really_any_difference_between_what/ | {
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"nope, it all comes from just a few refineries. ",
"Only from a humanitarian point of view. For example, [shell is a totally awful company](_URL_0_) that funds extremist groups in nigeria to keep the population there from throwing them out of the oil rich country. ",
"Here, it's all the same. I've data logged enough different fuel companies to verify.\n\nIn other parts of the world it can make a difference. Where are you? ",
"Haha! Great question.\nNo, it makes no difference. Big oil doesn't make money selling gas to end users (people at pump), refineries create the product then sell it to stations (that is an ELI5 answer). So that gas at the Exxon station...probably came from BP or Shell. And the gas from the Shell station, probably came from ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil sold off almost all of their gas station a while back. Why? Because there is not enough smart-money in that business. \nThis is also why you will find two gas stations almost side by side or right across from each other selling the same 87,89,93 octane gas but one is selling it for more money. Why would they do that? Because when that station purchases that fuel they sell it at THAT current market rate at time of purchase + profit increase, and since there is no alternative for fuel, they know that you MUST/WILL buy that fuel and therefore there is no reason to drop their price to compete with the station across the street. Once the station across the street sells all of their \"cheaper\" gas, they will purchase more, which probably will be slightly higher than what they are now selling it for.\nSource: former XOM (ExxonMobil) employee",
"There most definitely is a difference in what company you buy gasoline from.\n\nWhile it is true that the gasoline companies source their gasoline from the same refineries, it's what the different companies do to the gasoline after they get their hands on it before they distribute it to their gas stations that makes a difference.\n\nAll the good gasoline companies put their own proprietary additives such as Chevron's Techron or Shell's V-Power. \n\nCompanies like Chevron and Shell add MORE additives and detergents to the government mandated minimum amount of additives and detergents that is required of all gasoline sold in the United States. \n\nMost of the major car manufacturers have always suspected that \"Cheap\" gas causes engine failure but have never been able to prove it so a few of the big car manufacturers got together and tested all the gasoline available in the United States and gives a recommendation of where you should buy fuel from. They call fuel from these stations as \"Top Tier\". \n\nThe list can be found here. _URL_0_\n\nThe home page of that link will describe in detail what I am talking about.\n\nA few years ago, the list of gas stations on the Top Tier gas list wasn't as big as it is today which means that places like ARCO and Costco have upped their game and added more robust additives and detergents to their fuel to meet the Top Tier standard.\n\nI bought my car new in Dec 1997 and I still drive it today. It has 246,000 miles on it and it still runs like a champ and it still passes SMOG even though it still has the same old 16 year old Catalytic Converter and O2 sensor. One of the things I attribute to my engine's longevity is the fuel I put into it. ",
"There actually is a difference. Yes the fuel comes from the same refineries, but some companies put detergents and other additives to their fuel to help engine performance. \n\n_URL_0_",
"As a number of folks mentioned, the difference is mainly in the additives. I work at an oil refinery and we put our gasoline in the same lines as our sister refineries so its pretty uniform spec prior to blending which occurs at the terminals. That said, the general consensus at our lab is that additives are mainly a function of marketing and provide very little performance difference.\n\nThe biggest difference is made by the quality of how the distributors and gas stations store and manage their product. Some independent distributors in my area are notorious for delivering fuel that came from dirty tanks and those can fuck up an engine pretty badly. In general I try to buy gas from stations which have gas delivered by the major companies because I know their storage and handling methods are generally top notch.\n\nEdit: I also wanted to say that the best gas you can find is the stuff that doesn't have ethanol blended in, which can potentially damage the engine over a long time period. Usually you can find the non-ethanol blends at stations that sell to agricultural customers (sorry, city slickers!).\n\nEdit 2: Here's a site that has a listing of ethanol free stations in the US and Canada\n_URL_0_",
"I once had lunch with BP's head of Chemical Engineering for NA and asked him the exact same question. The guy said no. The so called additive various companies put in their gas is 90% marketing and 10% maybe it works a little bit. In the tests they ran, they concluded that the additives are slightly beneficial in older engines but had absolutely no effects on modern engines. ",
"Former Gulf Shores Alabama resident and My family WILL NOT buy gas from BP for obvious reasons regardless of additives.",
"Reading this thread, it seems like nobody knows, and I don't think we'll ever find a conclusion..",
"Another thing to note is, it doesn't really matter what the brand is on the station. All those 'Boycott BP, Exxon stations, etc' is pretty moot. Very few branded stations are owned and operated by the parent company. Most are just people licensing the name, branding, marketing stuff. \n\nAlso, the branding really has nothing to do with what refinery the station gets its fuel from. There are no 'Exxon' refineries near me, yet there are still Exxon stations. So they are getting their gas from the local Sunoco refinery or whatever is nearby. ",
"So which gas station is best to get gas from?",
"I work for a company that takes custody of fuel and transport it through our pipeline, then holds it for gas stations to come get. \n\nIt all goes through the same pipe and gets mixed up in our tanks. The difference is what additives the gas station wants in the fuel when the truck picks it up. Also if it's diesel for farms it must have red see in it because it's taxed less than regular diesel. (Big fines if your truck has red diesel on a road) ",
"Yes & No. \nThe base product is the same, most companies get the same gas from the same big tank. However, every company has their own formula, so when they fill their trucks, they get their own set of additives in the proportion they want. \nThe additives have a very limited influence on the performance of your car and it's not worth it to buy premium brands. \nSource : Engineer at Total.",
"I build fueling stations for every major gas company in the US. I have seen some dirty dirty gasoline and diesel from your \"bargain\" stations but have also seen it at your \"5x the additive, will keep your car running forever\" stations. Lots of fueling sites I maintain have a living creature in the fuel called a Hydrocarbon Utilizing Microorganism or HUM bug. These critters live in the tank and poop what looks like sand, except it sticks to everything it possibly can. Metal, plastic, you name it and it will stick to it. BUT: the big kicker here is no matter how shitty the gas in the tank is, there is a final 10 to 30 micron filter in the bottom of the dispenser that will not let any of that shit go in your tank. The filter might clog up in a week instead of a year, but it will still slowly pump clean gas into your vehicle.\n\nTLDR; get a Prius \n",
"You have to boycott the one that is responsible for the most recent environmental disaster that upset you. I've been boycotting Exxon for 28 years now. Got 'em on the ropes!",
"There are fewer refineries than gasoline distributors, so, the vendor doesn't matter that much as far as the base fuel goes. Name brand trucks and generic brand trucks often fill up at the same place.\n\nBut, each vendor, Shell, Exxon, etc., do have different additives, so, the vendor does matter as far as the additives go.\n\nAnd, each station is maintained individually and the storage tanks may or may not be in good condition, so it is possible that the tanks are old and degraded or have a buildup of crap in them at one station and the one across the street has tanks that are solid and clean.\n\nAaaaand, some stations get more business than others and this can affect the rotation of the fuel in the tanks, so a station that has fresh fuel coming in frequently will, generally, have better quality fuel.\n\nAaaaaaaaaaaaand, some stations don't get fuel delivered until the tanks are low, so those that wait until then can have a buildup of condensation (water) in the tanks, plus the alcohol can separate affecting the fuel/additive/alcohol/water mixture. You can put some gas in a glass jar and let it sit for a while to see how this happens.\n\nMy advice: When near home choose a few local stations that you get good results from and support them. When on the road, go with name brands at busy stations.",
"Well.. I work at the gas station at Costco. I would say we do have superior gasoline because we do put in additive into the fuel when its dropped from the trucks. We usually only put in about 3+ gallons of it. Our trucks at my location always at least drop 8500 gallons of fuel. Seems like a drop in the bucket though. ",
"I work for BP (hate me), the only difference I'm aware of is that the large oil company's fuel (shell, BP, Exxon, Texaco etc) has your engine care additives included in the fuel at the pump, injector cleaner, redex etc. whereas the very very cheap supermarket fuel from tescos has none and you have to add it yourself, but alot of people dont, resulting in faster degrading engine components.\n\nThats the only difference I know of at my pay grade, and in the UK, idk about anywhere else.",
"It is what every high ranked comment has said, it makes no difference.\n\nThe only difference, whichever you pick you will hurt someone, so you could find out which company hurts whom. It's going to hurt someone, somewhere on the globe. It's basically shit.",
"I work for one of the major oil corps. and started out in the refinery and have worked my up. I now am in a position in which I mange supply through pipeline, barge, and ships. \n\nI can back up what others have said in that all gas is pretty much the same. In a pipeline their may be 200,000 barrels (1 barrel is 43 gallons) and some of that could be BP's, some Chevron's, and some Shells. It all must be created and blended to a particular spec. What I will say however is not all gas is created equal. Different areas of the country have different gas specs. In California for example ethanol must be blended into the gas. In Portland OR. all DSL must be 5% bio. So the gas you buy in CA can be different then the gas you buy in TX. So if you ever hear someone claiming company X \"waters\" down their fuel or something like that that is just plain false. \n\nThe other major difference is the additives. High tier gas producers like Exxon/Chevron/Shell all have their different kind of additives that they add to the fuel that they claim add value. I have been to our lab and seems some pretty impressive tests and results from my companies additives. So unlike some I do think they make a difference and can be worth paying for.\n\n",
"Piggy-backing with a semi-related question:\n\nIs there any company at all, anywhere, that offsets the gas they sell with meaningful carbon credits so that you're not making things quite so much worse when buying petrol?",
"The short answer is no. The long answer is nooooooooooo.",
"I drive fairly nice cars and have done some research on this topic. Net: Be consistent. Buying your gas from the same place is more important that which one (given they are one of the \"name brands\").",
"Exxon mixes it's gas with the souls of the unborn",
"The additive packages are either different or non-existent depending on whether you buy from a name-brand place or from your local grocery/walmart station. That's actually why grocery/walmart gas is so cheap: they don't have the detergents that the big guys have. HOWEVER, with the amount of ethanol in the gas these days, its not as important as it used to be. ",
"no, I worked at a costco gas station for a while and we got deliveries from 3 different refineries. Most gas stations are the same. They just buy the cheapest gas. You could be buying texaco gas from a shell station (depending who owns it). ",
"Gasoline is \"fungible\". Branded additive packages (BP, Shell etc) are added to the fuel as it is pumped into the tank truck at the tank truck fuel stands (TTFS/gasoline terminals). TTFS are sometimes stand alone or located at refineries. ",
"My uncle works for chevron and he told me the additive tecron is just for marketing and the purpose of it is so chevron can identify if the gas in the tanks at stations is bought from them",
"I have a friend who has a friend, who delivers gas to gas stations for a living.\n\nThe refinery where he gets the gas has many huge tanks owned by 5 different players.\n\neach player charges different prices for their gas.\n\nThe places he told me to fill up my high compression Mitsubishi engine have made many problems disappear to date.\n\n1.\nMy car no longer randomly stalls when idle at red lights.\n2.\nMy car stopped making \"Diesel\" engine noise for the first few min upon startup.\n3.\nWhen I turn my car off and the gas meter is at a certain level, when I start it up the next morning its at the same level, instead of something lower (because the gas is not oxygenated).\n4.\nYES there is a huge difference if you have a high performance engine in your car, VW is a good example, using AUDI engines made for the European or Japanese markets, where in the USA TRUE European/JAP engines will stall on the diluted 15-30% American stuff, what they dilute it with, makes the difference.\n\n\nI also want to make special note, about car OIL, this is the main reason why engines die early.\n\nDont change your oil at a 15-20$ place, for the love of everything that is sacred.\nGo to walmart or one of those large chains and buy a 5 gallon jug of oil guaranteed for 10,000 or more miles (synthetic is best for newer engines). it will cost you 20-30$ for 10-20K GUARANTEED oil.\nBuy a high performance Oil filter, guaranteed to the same mileage for your car, its simple, walk into the store, go to where the filters are look at the brand names and on your smartphone simply google your make/model/year of car and oil filter from the company!.\n\nTake all of this to almost any car repair and ask them if they will change the oil and filter you brought in for that same 15-20$ on the spot.\n\ndecline all offers of \"other\" repairs that their trying to upsell.\n\n--Source:\nMe, iv taken several engines apart, with only help of taking them out and putting them back in, not to bragg, but iv learned a thing or 2 over the years, more then your average newbie car mechanic that's for sure.",
"Nah, doesn't matter. As long as there is an oligopoly, it's all the same. Sadly, scarcity rules. And we must accept. ",
"Nice edit. Stops me having to read through loads of replies for an explanation. ",
"Used to deliver gas to gas stations.\n\n All gas comes from the same place ( Refineries ). Out of the refinery it is called \" clear \" gas. Once it gets to the local distribution point ( Rack ), where it is loaded into the trucks that take it to the gas station, each brand adds its own additive. Shell has one formula, Esso another, etc, etc. Some gas stations sell \"branded\" fuel ( additive of one company or another ) as their own. You might buy gas at mom 'n' pop gas station and get Shell gas, or you might get Arco gas.\n\n The additives have nothing to do with Octane rating. Octane ratings are very important for your car, always use the recommended octane level for your engine.\n\n The additives themselves have different formulations of different chemicals, but something to note is that their are NO major engine manufacturers out there that reccomend one formulation or another. From that I infer that most of these additives are borderline as far as their worth.\n\n The other interesting point is the amount of additive that is added to the clear gas. For a Super-B tanker holding upwards of 10,000 Gallons of fuel, the additive amount is less than 3 Gallons. \n\n \" But, But, But, it is super-concentrated wizard juice! \" you say. \n\n I've watched them handle this stuff manually with a pail and a pair of work gloves, pouring it into the tanker from the top when the injector system breaks down on the loading system. Hardly wizard juice methinks.\n\n I suspect, somewhere along the lines, some corporate lawyers advised the big gas dealers to \"brand\" their fuel so they could make all kinds of claims in their advertising to sway you to buy their product instead of the other guy. Another corporate lawyer advised them on the Minimum Content required so that they could claim their fuel was different from the other fuels. It might be blueberry juice for all we know.\n\n Oh, the only \"brand\" differences I pay attention to is how a gas company maintains their equipment and the cleanliness of the dispensers and facility. A large corporate outfit will actually adhere ( for the most part ) to best practices and spend money to make sure they don't kill your car. A mom'n'pop has no regional corporate auditors to tell them to take better care of their tanks, etc.\n\nTL;DR Buy the right Octane level gas, ignore the additive/advertising claims, judge a gas station on its cleanliness and equipment quality.\n\n ",
"When I was in college studying chemistry, I had an out-there professor who wanted to check his suspicions. A he stated, he had gone to almost every gas station in the area and collected a tiny gasoline sample from the station and left. He conducted NMR and mass spec on all the samples and found that they were identical. By identical i mean there weren't any differences in special additives, they were the exact same thing. He also went as far as following the delivery trucks back to their station, and they were all coming from the same supply depot. \nIf you live in the north east USA, chances are, there's no difference between any of the gasoline at any of the stations.",
"People seem to get all into this. They get vouchers and fuel cards and every company claims there flammable shit is somehow cleaner and better than every other companies flammable shit. I could just be an arsehole (I am), but I literally couldn't give two flying fucks. I just stop at one when my tank is about to run out, and I avoid any kind of voucher bullshit because all I want to do is get where I'm going with the minimum of fuss. \n\nI hate those people in the queue who have like a million cards and have to get receipts or type fucking odometer readings into the keypad, or have to order twelve very specific coffee orders. You are bad people.\n\nJust pay for your shit and leave, and give them the minimum amount of money you have to, but be nice to their staff since they get paid shit. \n\nI used to work in one, so I'm traumatized. ",
"I've always seen gas companies as the same as fat food restaurants. They all use a different recipe, but it's still all the same as the others and it can kill you faster.",
"There's California gasoline, then everything else.\n\nThey're both the same, but California has a bunch of hippie chemical laws so we gotta mix stuff in",
"In Europe there really is no difference as there are strong standards here every refinery has to stick to. Second, not all companies have their own refinery in all areas so that let's say in one area BP sells to Aral, some independent petrol stations, where in other areas independent refineries sell to all petrol stations in that area. \nEverything else is pure voodoo which people like to belive in. ",
"This is kind of unrelated I used to work at a place with a lot of scales and the weights and measures dude would come in once a week to make sure we weren't ripping anyone off. Any way we were talking this one day and he mentions wawa(a convenience store in the Philadelphia area). \n\nHe told me that he personally will never but gas from anyone who isn't wawa. He said that a lot of the privately owned gas stations will change their pumps so they release less fuel i.e. It says 1 gallon but you actually get .80 or something. He told me about this mobile station he caught doing that. He fined them went and got a coffee then went back and they had already changed the pump back to less than a gallon. \n\nI only get gas at wawa now."
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dyn2ur | how come calls to ban smoking are not as widespread as calls to ban vaping? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dyn2ur/elif_how_come_calls_to_ban_smoking_are_not_as/ | {
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"Money. The smoking industry is large and has been around for a long time. They have the money to deflect accusations, pay for studies that benefit them, lobby against smoking regulations and do the exact opposite of those to competitive industries like vaping.",
"Smoking has already been banned in public spaces. The calls to ban vaping are mostly calls to have their use match the restrictions on cigarettes. \n\nThe calls for total bans of vaping are limited and misguided reactions to people getting sick from black market vaping liquid."
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1a16hk | why does everyone hate the new sim city? | I used to play Sim City 3000 back in the day on the PC. Haven't played the new one yet, but it sure is not very popular among gamers right now. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1a16hk/eli5_why_does_everyone_hate_the_new_sim_city/ | {
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"It comes down to Digital Rights Management (DRM), which is essentially pirate protection software.\n\nThe developers decided to use \"always on\" DRM, which means you have to have an internet connection and a server connection to do anything on the game.\n\nFurthermore, the game is stored on the developer's \"cloud\", so you can't save the game on your computer.\n\nThese factors combined essentially mean that you are borrowing the game from the developer, instead of owning it, and no longer will be able to play it once the allocated server space is shut down. \n\nedit: Also, since these servers seem to not be working well, a lot of players have spent more time waiting to play than actually playing.",
"(Sung to the tune of Julie Andrews - `My Favourite Things')\n\nservers are laggy and shit's just all crashing\n\nthey said, \"not our shit man\", \"it must be your systems\"\n\nfinally too many people complained..\n\n*These are a few of my least favorite things!*\n\n\nMy little fake people, they just keep on freezing.\n\nthe lag is increasing, how can we be *the* problem?\n\ndon't those guys know how to cluster their shit?\n\n*These are a few of my least favorite things!*\n\nWhen the game sucks, when EA blows\n\nWhen I'm feeling sad, \n\nI simply remember \n\nmy favorite things (like CoD Black Ops, and Going Outside!)\n\nand then I don't feel so bad!",
"Well, why don't you try playing it? Oh wait, you can't. Just like the people who bought it!",
"To expand on this, I'll create an analogy I hope works.\n\nSay Sim City is actually a shovel. You've been waiting YEARS for this super awesome, advanced shovel, to hit the store shelves. Eventually it comes out and it cost you $80. It's a hike but you manage the coin and you get your new shovel. You can't WAIT to start digging. But there's a catch.\n\nYou've come to realize that you didn't actually purchase a physical shovel that you can use to your hearts content wherever you are. You just purchased the ABILITY to use that shovel, IN A SPECIFICALLY DESIGNATED SANDBOX. Let me explain.\n\nInstead of being able to dig in your backyard, you can only use your shovel in EA's yard. You can come dig whenever you want, but you can ONLY dig in EA's yard. Not a big deal you say? \n\nWell as we saw on release date, EA's yard was awesome for the first few hours, when only a few people were there digging. But the traffic increased. So much to the point where people got stuck in the gates. Now no one can go dig in EA's yard. Did I mention that EA keeps your shovel in their yard too?\n\nSo now you own an AWESOME SPECTACULAR shovel, that you've waited a long time to play with, and you can't use it because you can't get into the only yard you are allowed to play with your shovel in. And one day, EA is no longer going to have that yard. They will shut it down and move on. At that point, your shovel goes with them and you are left with nothing. But you still bought you say! Sorry. Therein lies the rub of \"always-on\" gaming.\n\nThis analogy makes more sense than you realize. Though Sim City IS a game, it's still a physical item. It used to be that, when you purchased a game, the disk included the entire game on it. All the code, all the levels, all the simulation coding, all the pictures and cut-scenes and characters, EVERYTHING. Sim City, on the other hand, contains only a shell. EA has set it up where you have your shell, but you need the guts from EA servers to run. Kinda like buying your shovel, but receiving only the handle. You need EA to lend you the head in order to do ANY digging.\n\nKeep in mind that digging in EA's yard is the coolest thing since sliced bread, and when it works, its magical. So what if it ALWAYS works? There are pitfalls there too. \n\nSay you are digging in EA's yard and you have the most awesome hole you've ever dug, bare none. This is the Sistine Chapel of holes and your blood sweat and tears are evident in each carefully crafted swipe. Suddenly, EA's yard is flooded out because they built their yard next to a river. You get washed out of the yard and sit there stunned. When you finally get back in the yard, you find that your hole is GONE. NOTHING left. Welcome to EA's yard, they say!\n\nSay you are busy crafting the Taj Mahal of holes and man does it rock. But you need more space to REALLY get this baby going. Sorry, you've reached the limits of the space accorded to you in EA's yard. If you want to continue digging, you must fill in portions of your hole to redig them, or you can move to a brand new plot and dig fresh. BUT you can't connect your two holes and make one huge hole, nor does your original hole continue digging while you are at the new hole. Sorry. Rules are rules.\n\nDoes this make sense?"
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1fbb6f | why do almost all life forms have to eat another form of life to survive? why can't we survive off of non-living organisms? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1fbb6f/eli5_why_do_almost_all_life_forms_have_to_eat/ | {
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"I'm not sure I know what a non-living organism is. \n\nBut to answer the question, most life on Earth needs pretty much the same stuff to survive. Certain chemical compounds, namely fats, proteins, and carbs, are used to create the energy we need to power our cells and stay alive.\n\nSo where would one animal find something that it can eat that contains relatively concentrated amounts of everything an animal needs to survive? Another animal would probably work. Plants also contain certain nutrients that animals find useful, so they can eat plants as well.",
"Survival requires a constant energy input, and most non-living things cannot provide that energy input. They just don't have enough accessible stored energy.",
"Plants survive by synthesizing carbon dioxide in the air and energy from the sun into sugars they need. There are other types of organisms that feed themselves, including [chemoautotrophs](_URL_0_) (organisms that make food from chemicals; these guys usually hang out down around thermal vents deep in the ocean).\n\nHeterotrophs (organisms that eat other organisms or organic matter) exist because it's a very effective strategy.\n\nIt's resource intensive to sit around synthesizing food all day, and you're limited because you have to live in conditions favorable to food synthesis. (Plants need sun, for example.)\n\nA heterotroph can live anywhere it can catch food; for omnivores, that means anywhere plants live (for example) AND anywhere other animals live.\n\nPlus, edible organisms have already invested the energy necessary to organize those resources into useful materials; amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids, that can be used as-is or readily broken down into a form that can be exploited for energy.\n\nTL;DR:\n\nWhy would I spend the entire summer and fall walking back and forth into my cellar packing food away (and wasting energy to do it), when I can just find someone else who did that, kill them, and have *their* cellar *plus* ~ 150 + pounds of meat.\n\n(That example sounds sociopathic, but it's a decent analogy for the heterotroph strategy.)",
"\"Life forms\" includes all life, both plant and animal (actually there are even more, but lets just simplify it to these 2).\n\nAccording to wikipedia there is around 1,000x times more plant life (by mass) than animal life, so actually most life forms *don't* eat other life forms to survive.\n\nNow if your question is why do animals need to eat other life forms, it's because moving around and being active requires a lot of energy, more than it's possible to get from the sun alone. [XKCD did an interesting piece on this](_URL_0_), and calculated that if a cow could photosynthesise it would only get 4% of its daily energy from the sun.\n\nIf you think about it, grass spends weeks growing and constantly soaking up the sun, then an animal comes along and eats all that weeks worth of sun energy in one go.\n\nThat's also why plants aren't moving around like animals are, they just don't get enough energy to do anything other than grow.",
"non-living organisms...? dafuq!",
"Ummm you might want to reword your question... there is no such thing as a \"Non-living\" organism. By definition a organism is a living thing.\n\nSee: _URL_0_\n-- An individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.\n",
"Because sunlight doesn't provide enough energy for humans to be powered by sun alone. Plants get by because they don't need huge amounts of energy; with a few rare exceptions, they have no moving parts. They can afford to be patient.\n\nHumans use an average of 2000 kilocalories per day - about 100 watts. Peak sunlight provides 1000 watts per square meter. Humans are nowhere near a square meter, even lying down - rough guesstimate, we're probably about 0.25 square meters lying down, and a fifth of that standing up. Still, if we were solar-powered we'd need \"leaves\" to collect the solar energy, so let's pretend we have those and they bump us up to 1 square meter.\n\n1000 watts is at midday on a cloudless day. In a 24-hour span you'll get on average about a quarter of that, less if it's cloudy. And photosynthesis only converts about 3% of that light into useable energy.\n\nSo, rough guesstimate: you'd get about a tenth of the energy you need to live from sunlight. That's with giant leaves growing out your back - otherwise it drops to 2-3%.\n\n(And sunlight is really the only viable energy source on Earth, barring undersea vents.)"
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6k49l8 | why do commercial airliners seem to "travel faster than sound" when they appear in one spot in the sky but sound like they're in another? | When viewed from the ground, why does a plane sound like its in one area but appear visually in another? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6k49l8/eli5_why_do_commercial_airliners_seem_to_travel/ | {
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"Because the speed of light is about 300000 times faster that the speed of sound. So the image of the airplane reaches you much much faster than the sound of the airplane",
"A typical commercial airplane (let's say a 747) flies about 7 miles high. So if it is straight up above you, that's the closest it will be. If it's off at an angle it can be much further away.\n\nThe speed of sound is about 767mph. That means the fastest the sound could get to you from 7 miles up is 7/767 hours or around **32 seconds**. While you're waiting for that sound to get to you, the plane is still moving at about 570mph. In that 32 seconds it will travel **5.2 miles away from where you are hearing it**."
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70w8uk | why is it that, when taking "magic mushrooms" or lsd type substances that people often report feeling that "everything is connected"? | PS: Ive been thinking about this for a few months now and finally decided to ask the question. A few months ago, I was randomly stopped at a red light and was watching the adjacent traffic move. Then, all of a sudden, and for a fraction of a second, I felt that everything was connect on the planet and that time was rolling along. The feeling quickly subsided and I have not been able to tap into it again. When I concentrate, I can still bring up the feeling, but its not as intense as it was initially. Note: I was not on anything, and have never tried the substances mentioned in my title.
Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70w8uk/eli5_why_is_it_that_when_taking_magic_mushrooms/ | {
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"Give it a try, it helps to understand. It won't always be the case, but when it is, it's amazing and peaceful. Mind you, people can come about this feeling on their own, through meditation, but these naturally growing substances definitely aid in reminding the mind what life's truly about. ",
"Well for starters, everything *is* connected. We are all \"moving along\" in the same set of dimensions, space and time. When high or euphoric, people often make many types of obvious statements, suddenly realizing what has been in front of them all along, but they never stopped to take notice. \n\nThe overproduction or release of seratonin in your brain from using drugs is similar to the release when making social bonds, so one can be misconstrued for the other, e.g. \"being high on love.\"\n\n\"Magic mushrooms\" (psilocybin) and LSD both have strong time perception/dilation effects, and this might be why those drugs, in particular, have a reputation for the connected feeling you are referring to.",
"Hallucinogens make parts of your brain communicate that don't normally communicate. Since your perception of the world is a total manifestation of your brain activity, more connected brain activity feels like a more connected world and environment. Also everything really is connected, it's just one of those things that people tend to really really focus on while tripping.",
"I'm not a neuroscientist but hopefully the following isnt too wildly innaccurate as an ELI5.\n\nBrains work by having 'connections' / pathways between neurons, as you learn and age these become more solidified.\n\nLike maybe there are 30 possible routes you could drive between your home in Springfield and your friend's home in Shelbyville but you only ever take 1 or 2 out of experience and habit.\n\nAlso rather than having all your 'routes' in one giant network, you sort of 'nest' them. So maybe you remember the way from your friend's house to their nearest vendor of beer, the Shelbyville 7-11. And the way from your house to your local vendor of beer, the Springfield Kwik-E-Mart. But your mental map of the area doesn't have a route from the Kwik-E-Mart to the 7-11. Because either you're at their house, and you load your Shelbyville map, or you're at your house, and you use your Springfield map, you never deal with both at the same time. So even if you suddenly had to go between the two stores for some weird reason, you'd probably just go from the Kwik-E-Mart (nearly) to your home to pick up your usual house-to-house route, rather than plan a new more direct route, right? Because you know the way.\n\nAnd let's say you've also got a park in the region where you go for lunch sometimes with your mother, and that's also in a totally different part of your brain, the well-behaving, not drinking part :P\n\nPsychedelics (partly) work by encouraging neural connections outside of the usual routine. So suddenly you find yourself thinking \"what if I wanted to go from Kwik-E-Mart straight to the 7-11.... _by bike_?\", a new route you'd never pondered before, linking two previously 'separate' branches of your knowledge. \n\nAnd you realise actually if you were on a bike you could take a shortcut through that park, and you go, _holy shit dude, everything is so connected, if I went direct from the 7-11 to the Kwik-E-Mart I'd go through that park, wow that's crazy, I never realised that the park I go to with my mother is_ deeply, intrinsically _linked to the places I buy beer with my buddy_.\n\nYou always knew, deep down, the relative locations of the places, but you never \"knew\" they were linked by bike before, because, well, you don't have a bike, so your brain never made those connections. But taking psychedelics made your brain take all these new pathways like, hey, what if I have a bike. And surprised itself at the connections it found. Obviously this is a kinda stupid example because even a sober mind would probably recognise their basic local geography but you get what I mean hopefully. In reality it's more like _holy shit, worms and trains are really the same thing_ or whatever, like your pattern-matching brain is suddenly spotting all these metadata or taxonomical or abstract conceptual similarities between things in previously, notionally separate compartments of your brain. Because it's getting buzzed with literal physical connections, and eagerly pattern-matching is what it does.\n\nFrom an actual scientist -\n\n > Dr Carhart-Harris explained: “Normally our brain consists of independent networks that perform separate specialised functions, such as vision, movement and hearing – as well as more complex things like attention. However, under LSD the separateness of these networks breaks down and instead you see a more integrated or unified brain.\n\n > “Our brains become more constrained and compartmentalised as we develop from infancy into adulthood, and we may become more focused and rigid in our thinking as we mature. In many ways, the brain in the LSD state resembles the state our brains were in when we were infants: free and unconstrained. \n\n_URL_0_\n\ntl;dr you think things are \"connected\" because your brain is literally making connections between different areas that normally don't connect that represent those things",
"Because everything is connected... \n\nthe word \"psychadelic\" literally means bringing out the true mind, which is what these substances do. The revalation that everything is connected is simply a deep truth of the neural net.",
"While not dismissing the other reasons stated, I am always suspicious of any \"feelings\" under drugs. It is human nature to find connections - this is a very useful adaptive trait. e.g. I hit toe on rock, toe hurts, ahhh connection, must avoid hitting rock with toe. However it can easily go too far e.g. Obama has a foreign name, Muslims have foreign names, Obama must be a Muslim.\n\nI suspect the part of the brain that looks for and analyses connections goes haywire under psychedelics and stops working so well. It starts finding connections on weak or non-existent premises. This is a type of creativity and one job of of an artist is to show a connectivity between new things.\n\n"
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Subsets and Splits