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4vi4h3 | why is liquid hand soap less viscus at the bottom of the soap container than at the top? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4vi4h3/eli5_why_is_liquid_hand_soap_less_viscus_at_the/ | {
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"Uhm, I dont' think it's any different, but if you're talking about trying to get the last bit of soap out, with a lot of soap, you basically have layer over layer flowing over each other to get out, with each layer (up to a point) reducing friction until it is gone, when you have little fluid, you only have few or no layers to reduce friction so it's harder to pour.\n\nIf you truly meant less viscus, and you're saying the last bit comes out easier, I'm going to say magic or you end up getting some water in the bottle (since liquid soap is usually near a water source)."
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3w02cb | the dramatic significance of the supernatural in shakespeare's hamlet and the tempest | It's been a while since I read it and I can't fully formulate the idea, some quotes or something would be helpful. Thanks | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3w02cb/eli5_the_dramatic_significance_of_the/ | {
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"Well, in both cases, the entire story hinges in the existence of the supernatural.\n\nThe Tempest was a magical storm that strands the sailors on a magical island. Hamlet was only tipped off that his father was murdered by a ghost.\n\nIn Hamlet's case, the supernatural provides him with evidence he can't use and might just be him being crazy, providing the entire driving force for his character's transformation and struggles.\n\nIn the Tempest, a sorcerer has planned the whole thing to make his rival look like a douche, which surprisingly works out perfectly.\n\nIn either case, I suspect your professor wrote out detailed notes on the subject. Check the online portal, get the class notes and lecture slides, and check for the details he or she wants you to include."
]
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[]
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3izrp5 | why do you get a coughing fit when you choked on something, and what happens inside the throat? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3izrp5/eli5_why_do_you_get_a_coughing_fit_when_you/ | {
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"There are two \"pipes\" going from your mouth to your chest, one for breathing and one for eating drinking. The body tries it's best to put the right stuff in the right pipe, but every know and then things go wrong.\n\nIf you get air into your eating pipe, that's no problem at all. It actually happens all the time and you release the air again by burping for instance.\n\nBut the other way around is a whole different situation. Getting food or liquids in your breathing pipe if possibly life threatening and your body \"knows\" that. Food can block the airway, the body gets less and less air and can cause your body to stop functioning. \n\nThe single most effective way to get stuff out of the air pipe is by coughing. You build up air pressure in the lungs by closing your vocal cords tight in your throat and increase pressure on the muscles in your belly. Then suddenly you release the the tension on your vocal cords, creating an opening for the air which gets pushed out under large pressure and hopefully sending back the piece of food to where it came from. \n\nIf you can do this as an organism it helps you to live longer. So organisms with this trait get selected through evolution. It becomes a reflex that helps you survive. \n\nHow important it is to have a clear airway is demonstrated by the sequence that medical personnel follows in an emergency (at least here in the Netherlands): ABC, Airway, Breathing, Circulation. After thorough research it has been shown that the most likely cause of death in an emergency is a (partially) closed airway. After that comes actually being able to breathe and following that comes a beating heart. A doctor always checks if the airway is clear before he checks if the patient is breathing and if it's heart is still beating. That's how important it is for your body to have a clear airway. "
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3p1qds | instagram followers hacks | How do these work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3p1qds/eli5_instagram_followers_hacks/ | {
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"They are only client sided as in you are the only one who can see it. You can buy followers though in which it will have a ton of bots follow you for a set price."
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3c55ad | how do laws and/or acts get changed? | Lets say One wants a provision added to a law or an act that Congress passed? How does one go about getting that done? Whom has to be contacted? A senator? A congressman? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3c55ad/eli5_how_do_laws_andor_acts_get_changed/ | {
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"text": [
"Both senators and congress members can start a bill through the process. A bill must pass both houses and not be vetoed by the president, and then it becomes law."
]
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2skzez | why can people go off ski jumps and land without hurting themselves, but if you fell from that height you would get hurt? | My first instinct is distribution of weight | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2skzez/eli5why_can_people_go_off_ski_jumps_and_land/ | {
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"Disclaimer: can't ski.\n\nHave a look at the angle of the landing site - ski jumpers aren't landing on flat ground, they're effectively landing on a ramp.\n\nWhat this means is that they're not experiencing the huge forces like someone would if falling from height then having a sudden stop on impact.",
"Because they conserve much of their kinetic (movement-) energy. As you fall from a 20 feet building, you get stopped instantly by the ground, the energy has no where to go and pushes the rest of your body downwards, crushing bones.\n\nJumping from a ski jump, you are mostly moving forward and as the landing area is sloped, you conserve most of your forward, and some of your downward momentum as you ski down the hill.",
"the speed you carry through the air and the angle of the landing helps tremendously. \n\nThe correct jump and landing area will not even make you have to bend your knees to absorb the impact. \n\nit's funny, the bigger the jump, the easier the landing. ",
"[Here's a good read.](_URL_0_)\n\nTo say shortly, it's because you aren't stopping suddenly, you're just moving forward at a slightly different angle.\n\nIt's similar to jumping off of a moving object and continuing to run. However, here you're on relatively low friction skis so nothing halts you quite quickly. \n\nYou might've heard the expression \"It's not the fall that kills you; it's the sudden stop.\" Basically that. You don't have many things slowing you down when you land. "
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23q3w8 | why do q-tips cause us to have an eargasm when removing ear wax? | I'm aware it's not a recommended method of removing ear wax, but you cannot tell me that it doesn't feel good. What causes our receptors to give off a good feeling, and why in our Ear? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23q3w8/eli5why_do_qtips_cause_us_to_have_an_eargasm_when/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Just read the top post about ear lobes sensitivity and masturbation, words of advice.. Once you go black, you will go deaf. "
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2v9rsi | why do they tell you to unplug your charger? | Why is it still drawing power if nothing is charging? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v9rsi/eli5_why_do_they_tell_you_to_unplug_your_charger/ | {
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"text": [
"In the charger there is usually a transformer coil (an iron box with 2 coils of wire wrapped around it). The primary coil still draws power even when the charger is unplugged (the primary and secondary coils are on different circuits)"
]
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xieao | how can we be sure that irrational numbers never end? | Just because we could never calculate an infinite number of digits (although we have managed trillions), how can we be so sure that π or √2 never end? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/xieao/how_can_we_be_sure_that_irrational_numbers_never/ | {
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"For the square root of 2, there's a proof that it's irrational. \n\nIf √2 were rational, it could be expressed as a fraction of two integers (that's the definition of a rational number), so let's assume that's true. √2 = a/b. Let's also assume a/b is reduced as far as possible, so that there are no common factors between a and b.\n\nSquare both sides, and you get 2 = a^2 / b^2.\n\nMultiply both sides by b^2 to get a^2 = 2 * b^2.\n\nSo now we know a^2 has to be even, since 2 * b^2 will make an even number. Then we also know that a is even, because you can't get an even number by squaring an odd number.\n\nSince we know a is even, we can replace it with 2k, where 2k = a and k is an integer. Plug that into an earlier step, and we get 2 = (2k)^2 / b^2.\n\nCarry out the squared in the numerator on the right side to get 2 = 4k^2 / b^2.\n\nMove over the b^2 again to get 2 * b^2 = 4k^2.\n\nDivide both sides by 2 to get b^2 = 2k^2.\n\nSo, we know that b^2 is even for the same reason we said a^2 was even, and that also means b itself is even.\n\nBut that means both a and b are even, even though we said that a/b was a reduced fraction, where a and b had no common factors! Since assuming that √2 is rational leads to a logical contradiction, we know that it's irrational.",
"What does \"end\" even mean? If it means \"have a decimal representation with finite number of non-zero digits\" than it's easy: if they would end in this sense, they would be rational. And we know they are not, because we can prove it.",
"Suppose there's an irrational number with a finite number of digits. Call that number n. \n\nNow multiply the number by 10^n (a 1 with n 0's after it). This shifts the decimal, and now you have an integer. Call this integer m.\n\nYour irrational number can now be written as m / 10^n, where m and 10^n are both integers. In a proof by contradiction, there are no irrational numbers that have finite decimal expansions."
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8dzy9k | do shows like american idol have to pay an absurd amount in royalties? is there some loophole to avoid paying for every single song people cover? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8dzy9k/eli5_do_shows_like_american_idol_have_to_pay_an/ | {
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"I think you're vastly underestimating the amount TV shows spend on royalties. Every single time any song plays on any TV show, royalties have to be paid to the artist.\n\nOne example of how crazy this can be is any time someone says \"LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE\" on TV, Michael Buffer (who trademarked the phrase) gets an estimated $5 million in royalties.",
"They aren’t playing the original recording, but instead are creating and performing their own versions, which are called covers. The agreements are different, and generally less expensive for covers than original recordings.\n\nIn general, if you’re compensating for covering music correctly, there’s usually a reasonable fee paid up front, and then a minuscule fee paid for each air play or download. This is like a dime on the radio or on-line service. It’s probably more for television.\n\nOf course, you’re also probably underestimating the costs paid by television shows, and the amounts they generate. Shows like American Idol not only generate the typical television revenues from ads and syndication, but also from the releases of the songs, and the eventual take of their share of the royalties of the artists when they move to their hopefully successful careers.\n\nI’m speaking from pedestrian knowledge, and the discoveries I’ve learned by having friends in bands try to do the right things when they release covers. I’m sure the real answer is not far off, though.",
"Even if it an astronomical cost, its a small percentage of how much those shows make. \n\nThey're cheap to produce by comparison of regular sitcoms and their ad revenue is insane. A quick Google search shows they make $7 million for every 30 minutes of air time. ",
"Music shows negotiate licensing deals for certain songs with song publishers in advance to keep costs down. Contestants can only sing the licensed songs. In 2008 American Idol contestant David Archuleta’s father convinced him to throw in a verse from an song not part of a licensing deal and it cost the show extra, so the father was banned from rehearsals."
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83hiu1 | how do mountains affect the weather? | I live along the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. Our weather seems to be so unpredictable. When reading forecasts, especially with winter weather, very rarely are the forecasts accurate. Just curious. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/83hiu1/eli5how_do_mountains_affect_the_weather/ | {
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"Mountains are tall. Tall enough to move clouds around then what is “natural” in weather patterns in other places like the Midwest (flat). Moving clouds create unnatural weather phenomenons. Cloud density and previous weather can alter how those clouds interact with the mountains and other natural structures in your area. \n\nHope that helps a bit. ",
"Air that used to be at sea level changes its thermodynamic properties at the top of the mountain.\n\nThis changes, pressure, temperature and its speed. All have a factor on how much water the air contains or can hold.\n\nThat is why it snows on top of mountains, because the water in the air comes out of solution and remains cold all year at high mountains because the air is colder intrinsically because of its elevation rise due to lower pressure. The pressure is lower because there is less weight of air pushing down above the air on the top of the mountain.",
"Look at the tallest mountain range in the world: \"Himalayan mountain range\" that separates India and China (Mt. Everest is there)\n\nOn Indian side, the warm air from the ocean releases water as current hits the southern side of Himalyans, releasing water, so Indian side is very lush and fertile.\n\nOn the Chinese side, there is no water. There is one of the biggest deserts on the opposite side of Himalayan mountains in China (Gobi and Takalamakan desert).\n\nPictures 1: [Rain Shadow](_URL_0_)\n"
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11hpg9 | who actually "owns" hospitals | are they owned by the government or do corporations own them. could Disney buy a hospital and run it like they want? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11hpg9/who_actually_owns_hospitals/ | {
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"Depends on the country. \n\nIn the US, it could be the gov't, non profit organizations, or for profit companies. I know no reason why Disney couldn't own a hospital, and I would bet they have several clinics and other medical centers on their properties and cruise ships. \n\nHow about others:\n\n- Government: the Federal US gov't owns some threw the military (the VA), some are state / local gov's owned through either though state universities or outright.\n\n- Non Profits: the catholic church owns hospitals in nearly every state. Other religious groups run some. Then there are Universities that run them and associate them with their medical schools, and some our just independent foundations. \n\n- For profit: HCA is the largest for private hospital operator running over 150 hospitals and surgery centers in the US and UK. It's a public company traded on the NYSE. \n\n*edit - didn't see this part:\n > run it like they want?\n\nWithin reason and certain rules. If Disney wanted to run it as a theme park, charge 10x the normal cost, have doctors wear mouse ears, and include rides in the lobby, there's no reason why not. \n\n- On the price side, as I understand it, if they take medicare, get gov't funds, or for certain other reasons, the gov't can cap the cost of certain procedures. \n\n- There are other requirements for sanitation, employee certification, privacy, procedural methods, etc... that a organization has to follow. Kinda like running a restaurant, if you run it, you have to follow these rules and we'll come in all the time to check. One of the most well know, is that they can't turn someone away who's in an emergency situation due to cost. If you're in labor when you get to a hospital in the US, they have to deliver your baby. They can transfer you after you deliver, but they have to let you in. Likewise, if you've been shot, they can't legally send you back on the streets w/o stabilizing you and ensuring you have adequate care. Adequate care doesn't mean the back ally either. ",
"Corporations. Incredibly wealthy corporations.\n\n[This one company owns 2/3 of the hospitals in my area.](_URL_0_)"
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325j42 | why air prices going to canadian destinations are so much higher than going to american destinations a few hundred km south. | Looking at air rates going Ottawa- Vancouver with one stop each way (Calgary). Round trip is $915. While going Ottawa- Seattle with two stops in Vancouver/Calgary is $572 round trip. The only difference is an extra flight Seattle-Vancouver | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/325j42/eli5why_air_prices_going_to_canadian_destinations/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"\\#1 Supply & demand\n\n\\#2 Canadian airfare taxes are extremely high. More than half of your airfare is taxes in many cases."
]
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3p7lvj | is the sound of wind caused by the wind hitting things? or the wind hitting its own particles? or something else entirely? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3p7lvj/eli5_is_the_sound_of_wind_caused_by_the_wind/ | {
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"It's a combination of things. Those two you mentioned for a start. Also the wind makes things vibrate, which causes a noise, the friction of the wind itself against things makes noise, the wind swirling around your ear makes noise. Also, as I'm sure you're already aware, sound is just your brain's interpretation of vibration in the air and wind itself is a movement of the air that your brain ukulele interprets as sound. One other thing to take into account is that the air moving brings sounds to you. Noises are literally moved along by the wind and carried to you.",
"When air moves past something, it creates eddies, which are unstable areas of disturbed, rotating air that form behind corners and obstacles. These eddies grow and shrink, move back and forth, and change direction randomly, and, in so doing, push the air around. This 'buffeting' is the cause of most 'wind noise'.",
"It is friction my friend. Air is very good at making sounds through friction, take your mouth for example: most of the sounds you make when you speak are through friction between air and a part of your mouth. \n\nThe sound 'th' as in 'thought' is called a voiceless dental fricative as it is made because of the friction between your tongue and your front teeth. \n\nSo on a larger scale with fast winds the friction is inevitable."
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2mmvc9 | why would anyone need a shingles vaccine? | I keep seeing commercials about the shingles vaccine. In the commercial it states that if you had chicken pox, then the shingles virus is already inside you. My understanding of a vaccine is that it introduces a small amount of the virus into your immune system so your body knows how to fight it off. So, if the shingles virus is already inside of you, why would you need the vaccine? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mmvc9/eli5_why_would_anyone_need_a_shingles_vaccine/ | {
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"The shingles virus IS the chicken pox virus. If you've had chicken pox, it's already inside you, HIDING and taking a nap. It could wake up some other time. Soon after exposure your immune system will knock it back out before it causes trouble. But after a while, your immune system forgets about it. The virus is hiding in your nerves where your immune system can't see. So when the virus wakes back up, it can cause trouble before your immune system remembers how to knock it out.\n\nThe vaccine helps your immune system remember. The same way you need booster shots for many vaccines, you can think of the shingles vaccine as a booster shot for your original vaccination (which was actually getting chicken pox).\n\nUsed to be most people would get exposed to the virus out in the wild often enough that you would only hear about shingles in groups who had limited interaction with children or had bad immune systems. Since the chicken pox vaccine came out, children don't get chicken pox. It's become rather rare to encounter the virus and perfectly healthy people in their 30's who work with children can get shingles.\n\nShingles sucks. It's kinda like having one giant chicken pock over the entire part of your body serviced by a nerve AND it often hurts. Since it's so big, it can cause scars even if you don't scratch it and that nerve can get damaged as well. That's why you need the vaccine."
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6hompt | the difference between dna and genome? | I know DNA can identify me as a person at a crime scene, but what does my Genome tell you? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6hompt/eli5_the_difference_between_dna_and_genome/ | {
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"DNA is a long sequence of letters, but within the body they have a deeper meaning. When reading your DNA your body can figure out places to start and end (like words and sentences from a book, which are separated by spaces). Each of these sentences is called a **gene**. Your **genome** is simply all your genes (the entire book). \n\nEdit: In addition, the genome is the same across all people and identifies us as a species, as in, all people share the same genes, but there are variations within the genes that give us different traits (hair color, skin color, etc)."
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92p38c | why getting into a hot bath is so pleasurable, despite the body having to work harder to maintain a safe body temperature. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/92p38c/eli5_why_getting_into_a_hot_bath_is_so/ | {
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"A hot bath is much closer to body temp than a room temperature bath. Your premise is wrong.",
"Warm water causes your blood vessels to open up to compensate for the higher temperature, and will also support some of your weight, which helps to immediately reduce all the effort your muscles have been making all day. Your body can only tolerate certain ranges of temperature, too hot and your nerves will definitely fire off in order to warn you, otherwise your skin will provide some degree of insulation against the heat. \n\nAdditionally, I’d take an educated guess and say that hot baths replicate the feeling of being inside the womb, which is a pretty warm, floaty place to be in. Hot baths are like a throwback to that. "
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cju6x6 | how does someone being intoxicated on things like pcp or spice make them resistant to tasers sending electricity through their body? |
watching live pd with my dad and i don’t get why the tasers aren’t taking these people down | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cju6x6/eli5_how_does_someone_being_intoxicated_on_things/ | {
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"A taser will cause localized muscle contractions while actively shocking, but relies on pain and shock (the medical kind, not electrical) to 'drop' people. Someone who is riding on the right chemicals (even just adrenaline, potentially) can have a great ability to ignore or not feel pain. Thus, being tazed will stop them *while they're being shocked* but they won't suffer the 'aftereffects' that *keep* them stunned.",
"Being drunk makes lots of things, like even punches, hurt less. It dulls your brain in general, pain sensitivity is just part of the package.",
"People go down (and stay down) after being tased because of the pain. When you’re under the influence, you don’t feel the pain as much, so you don’t go down."
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1mdp0v | why are some people tone deaf or incapable of getting the rhythm of music? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mdp0v/why_are_some_people_tone_deaf_or_incapable_of/ | {
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"depending on the degree you're talking about, it's actually a literal brain defect called amusia. one of Oliver Sacks's books (\"Musicophilia\") is all about the brain and music, and he talks about tone-deafness. basically, the part of your brain that recognizes pitch (or tempo, rhythm, etc.) is missing or damaged. there are even people who can recognize pitch but not timbre, so things as gentle as a piano or oboe can seem harsh and stabbing to them.",
"Fun fact:\nTone deafness is not quite as common as people believe. Someone who's truly tone deaf would not only be incapable of enjoying music, but would also be unable to tell the difference between a question and a statement; as they are inversions of the same tone change. \nIt's the \"I'm big boned\" excuse of the music world.\n\n\n\n"
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69v5iv | junk dna | Why does our body have junk DNA if there's no point of it and it doesn't help? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/69v5iv/eli5_junk_dna/ | {
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"Few reasons. \n\n-First, \"Junk\" DNA can be structural. For example, the DNA near the center of the point where a chromosome is bound together tends to be random because that part of the DNA is physically difficult to access. It's just there to provide a backbone for the chromosome so to speak. The ends of your chromosomes also have long strings of sequences called telomeres that slowly get eaten away as the cell divides due to a quirk in the replication process. Telomeres code for nothing but shield the important stuff, stopping major genes from getting damaged. \n\n-Another reason is that a fair amount of your DNA acts as docking sites for proteins to bind to. DNA undergoes complex regulation, and different pieces of the helix curve to meet each other. When that happens, the proteins migrate to the different portions of DNA and form protein complexes by binding to specific noncoding sequences. These complexes can perform various functions like repressing or activating genes as the cell needs. \n\n-Some of it is accidental. For example, as repeating sequences are copied (like ACGACGACG, for example) sometimes the protein that copies the DNA \"slips\" and adds another repeat of that sequence (so now it's ACGACGACGACG). \n\n-Some of it is foreign DNA. Viruses screw with our DNA, adding their own to our genetic material for selfish reasons. Sometimes, the virus never reaches the point of making new viruses for whatever reason and just incorporates itself in our DNA. Even more rarely, these incorporated elements find their way into sperm or egg cells and become permanent additions to the human genome if they're lucky. This is probably where we get things called transposons, which are pieces of our DNA that randomly copy themselves and shove the copy into another piece of our genome, seemingly for the hell of it. They can actually do a lot of damage that way, occasionally destroying the cell or leading to cancer-causing mutations.",
"My genetics professor always insisted that the notion of junk DNA is bogus because we don't know enough about our genome to determine if it truly is junk or not. We are just now learning of epigentics and it's role in how our DNA is read and how it influences inherited traits. But that was 2 or 3 years ago and I could be way out of the loop... my professor could have been in the minority of academia with her view. "
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836evk | how did guitar become the instrument? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/836evk/eli5_how_did_guitar_become_the_instrument/ | {
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"Guitars are extremely versatile for one; there are electric and acoustic guitars, and nowadays there are thousands of effects you can put on them (when played through an amp) that makes them even more versatile. You can play a huge range of genres with a guitar. \n\nOn top of that, it's an easy instrument to learn with a teacher or by yourself and is more widely available (and therefore affordable). ",
"In [art music](_URL_0_) the piano is THE instrument. I would argue that only in popular music is the guitar THE instrument, and even then that's only in popular western music.\n\nThis is coming from a guy who's been playing the guitar for over a decade. Love the instrument, but certainly in art music it's the piano"
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ypkoq | dimensional analysis | I am taking concurrent Physics and Chemistry and I'm starting school next week. Because of this, I have not yet learned dimensional analysis. Could somebody explain this? What are "sig figs" and what is the basic concept of dimensional analysis?
EDIT:: Thank you all so much! It really means a lot, I really appreciate it. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ypkoq/dimensional_analysis/ | {
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"I got you here, bro.\n\n**Sig Figs:** The reason we use sig figs is to account for false precision in calculating numerical data. When applying the measurements and values that you've taken from your problem and using them in math formulas, you'll sometimes get an answer that is more precise than the instrumentation you used to measure it. \n\nFor example, say you have a scale that's only accurate to one thousandth of a gram, or .001g. You put something on the scale, and suppose we find its mass to be 21.235g. You plug this value into the equations and formulas you are given, and perhaps find a result that's say, half of that mass, or 10.6175g. See how this new value has a value in the ten-thousandths place? Our instrumentation isn't accurate enough to account for values any more specific than 3 decimal places, so we can't use any of the data beyond that. As a result, we truncate (shorten) the new value according to the rules of sig figs, returning us a value that is *as accurate, but no more so* than the data we were first given. **10.617g.**\n\nWith sig figs, you truncate your final answer value to the degree of least accurate measures in your whole set of data. For example, if you're given masses of 2g, 5.5g, and 7.00123541g - whatever your final answer is can only be reported within an accuracy of 1g, because that's the least sensitive of your instruments.\n\n**Dimensional Analysis:** One of the reasons math is so well revered is how well it can be applied to real world situations. Dimensional analysis is a means to use the units of a measurement to A) Change between units of measurement, B) Find relations between measurements and C) Double-check accuracy in your answers.\n\nTake some random measurement of velocity. Miles per hour, meters per second, whichever you prefer. Velocity units *all* take the form of **DISTANCE** over **TIME**. Like a fraction, you have one value over another. One meter divided by one second. Because fractions can be multiplied by one another, we can use this principal to convert between units.\nStart with your measurement, written as a fraction. Say you need to convert 35mph to m/s. Start by writing **35 Miles** over **1 Hour**. First, we need to convert *miles* to *meters*, and then *hours* to *seconds*. We do this by using *conversion factors*.\n\nA conversion factor is a fraction, equal to 1, that relates two different measurements that measure the same thing, i.e. miles and meters, seconds and hours, degrees F and degrees C. It’s equal to 1 because we want to preserve the value of the measurement we are converting. By multiplying 35mph by a conversion factor, we can see 35mph expressed in new units while remaining the same equivalent velocity.\nThe first conversion factor we use will convert miles to meters. Writing the relation between the two as a fraction, we find that there are 1609.34 meters **PER** mile, or 1609.34 m / 1 mile. As a regular fraction, this wouldn’t equal 1, but because the units are there, this fraction actually equals 1, thereby preserving the measurement. Miles are on the bottom because we want to cancel them from the original fraction, and miles are in the numerator of the first fraction. By dividing miles/miles, they cancel each other out. So, now we have 35 miles / 1 hour x 1609.34 meters / 1 mile. Multiplying across, we find that 35mph is equal to 56326.9 meters / 1 hour.\n\nNext, we need to convert hours to seconds. We use the same process as above – find a conversion factor appropriate for the two units, but this time reverse the numerator and denominator. Because in the original measurement, hours is in the denominator, we put them in the numerator this time so that they may cancel out, just as miles did in the first step. We know that there are 3600 seconds in 1 hour, so we write this factor as 1 hour / 3600 seconds. Again, this fraction normally would not equal 1, but because the units are present, its overall value is 1.\n\nNow we multiply our first result with this new conversion factor. 56326.9 meters / 1 hour x 1 hour / 3600 seconds. This simplifies to 56326.9 meters / 3600 seconds, or 15.64 meters/ 1 second. You’re done!\n\nA popular method is to chain up your conversion factors and multiply the numerators and denominators across at the very end. One of the common first exercises in dimensional analysis is converting meters per second into furlongs per fortnight. Try converting 15.64 m/s to furlongs/fortnight, using conversion factors in this manner.\nWe can use a similar method of analysis to deal with nonstandard fractions or units. Say you have knowledge that it took 100 minutes to travel 95 miles, or 95 miles/100 minutes. Using dimensional analysis, you can find their speed in a more standard unit – 57mph, in this case. Know the time it takes to get there as well as your speed? Start with your speed in fraction form (ex. 60 miles / 1 hour), and multiply by the time it took (ex. 2.5 hours), and you’ll find the total distance traveled (150 miles).\n\nA final note, dimensional analysis is good way to check your final answer in homework problems. If you’re looking for an answer that’s supposed to be a velocity, but your final units are only expressing a value in distance, chances are you skipped a step somewhere.",
"Dimensional analysis is when you break down an equation to its physical dimension (length, time, etc). \n\n\nOne use is to derive equations. For example, suppose you don't remember the equation for calculating velocity, but you do know velocity is in units of meters/second. \n\nMeters is a unit of length. Seconds is a unit of time. It's m/s, so you're dividing. Therefore\n\nvelocity = length/time.\n\nThat's a simple case, but you can figure out a lot of equations that way as long as you know what units the answer should have.\n\nYou can also use dimensional analysis to check whether an equation or answer makes sense. Using the same example, if you're doing a velocity calculation, but your units are something other than \"length/time\", then you've made a mistake. If you derive an equation, and the units on the left don't match the units on the right, you've made a mistake. \n"
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4hf1bc | what actually happens in the body when you change your diet from an unhealthy one to a healthy one? | I would like to know what processes occur in the body during this change. Also, what are the contrasts between a body on a unhealthy diet full of fast food etc. and one that is natural, balanced and healthy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4hf1bc/eli5_what_actually_happens_in_the_body_when_you/ | {
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"I would say you have more energy and you feel better. \n\nLiver and kidneys do not have to work overtime as you are not eating as lot of salt and other stuff like before on fast food. Brain can get a better supply of glucose needed to work. Since your blood goes through everything in your body and blood is affected by Salt and electrolytes having a healthy diet means everything in your body will be healthier. \n\nAlso some hormones can now be reduced in production as they are not needed in the healthy diet. Also eating fish and getting their Omega 3 acids is super healthy for your brain as some say they help battle depression. \n\nI think thats about it on what i can figure out the healthy diet does to our body. I could go more in detail but im supposed to eli5. "
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9nx3xh | how are optical illusions discovered and how are the example images of them made? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9nx3xh/eli5_how_are_optical_illusions_discovered_and_how/ | {
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"A lot of them are designed thanks to knowledge of the human visual system: small color patterns that move, blind spot, dark spot in corners, stereoscopic illusions.\n\nSome of them are random occurrences: the blue gold dress.\n\nAnd some of them are unavoidable in the sense that it is not possible to design a visual system that don't have them: rotating dancer, two face/one vase, objects seems bigger depending on context.\n\nThey are made like most images, by applying color to a surface... Some require a computer (stereoscopic vision), but most are quite easy to build, even in Microsoft Paint, once you know what is source of the effect."
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33z92v | how does the pressing on the chest cause blood to flow through a persons body in the correct manner during cpr? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33z92v/eli5_how_does_the_pressing_on_the_chest_cause/ | {
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"The heart is being squished between the two walls of the chest. When you're giving compressions, you're actually squishing the blood out of the heart, and then allowing it to refill. This is also why you're aiming for compressions of at least 2 inches in depth, and why it's pretty common to break ribs.",
"Generally CPR works by compressing the chest, which in turn squeezes the blood out of the heart. And since the heart is not completely without structure like a ballon, it will return to its \"normal form\" again and draw blood into the chambers even when it's not functioning correctly. \n\nIf by \"correct manner\" you mean why the blood flows in the right direction - veins have valves in them that only allow for blood to flow in one direction. So the blood has no choice but to be pushed into the artery. "
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2cnady | why is lieutenant pronounced "leftenant" by british people? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2cnady/eli5why_is_lieutenant_pronounced_leftenant_by/ | {
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"Because on does does not refer to ones superior as a toilet dweller (Loo-tenant}.",
"It seems like a french word, but the conventions of british speech alone don't seem to explain the pronunciation.",
"(Some British people, and also all other Commonwealth armed forces, to be clear)\n\nThere is fair evidence (in terms of how the word was spelled in middle english) that both \"lef\" and \"lieu\" pronunciations have coexisted for some time. The French word \"lieu\" (place) on which the word is based, is occasionally seen spelt in old French as \"luef\".\n\nCodified spellings and pronunciations of words is a distinctly modern invention - for most of the time before, things were a lot more vague.",
"why do English people pronounce all French-based words differently than Americans?\n\nFillet, Garage... What else?",
"I was told as an air cadet that the Brits would call the washroom the \"loo\"\n and if they had Lieutenant rather than leftennant the person would be the tenant of the loo.\n\nCrap, someone already said something similar.",
"FTFY: ELI5: Why do Americans pronounce 'lieutenant' as 'loo-tenant'?",
"My understanding is that the American armed forces take the literal meaning of lieutenant and the English armed forces take the conveyed meaning of the word, along with it's origins. \n\nA lieutenant, is someone who in lieu of the commanding officer, (be it captain, major or colonel) conveys orders (hence tenant). Usually this person would be found in older methods of warfare standing slightly behind and to the left of their commanding officer if not on the battlefield in action when awaiting orders, or even at formal engagements; this can be better visualised when you imagine a Napoleonic-era battalion having 1 colonel, 2 to 4 majors, 2 to 6 captains and upwards of a dozen lieutenants. \n\nIt has been said elsewheres in this thread that the original spelling from old french is luef instead of lieu; this is based off of the fact that when formalized standing armies became a commonplace occurrence around the 17th century, french was the language of civilized society and therefore the officer class of most continental armies, meaning that the English translation was pronounced Left-tenant. \n\nAmerican armies became a much more standardised thing during the revolutionary war and were allied to an extent with the french at the time; the spellings had changed, so their pronunciation of the word did too, IIRC several french \"observers' were at the time training the American continental army, so this may have had something to do with the conveyance of pronunciation. \n\nThey mean exactly the same thing and neither is wrong, but anyone from Britain or the commonwealth should bloody well know better. ",
"You mean \"Why do Americans pronounce lieutenant wrong?\" ;)",
"To avoid confusion with the Rightenant.",
"The Oxford Dictionary suggests that it might be because at some point, the \"u\" in the French word \"lieu\" was pronounced as a \"v\" (which was not uncommon in French given the derivation from the Latin \"v\" for many \"u\"s). \"Leftenant\" would then be easier to pronounce than \"levtenant.\"",
"in Australia we say loo-tenant, same as Americans do, and we speak British English, never heard of 'leftenant'"
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1oz9z7 | why don't all cars have gas doors on the same side? | I came up with a second question - thanks! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1oz9z7/eli5_why_dont_all_cars_have_gas_doors_on_the_same/ | {
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"I don't know why they're not all on the same side, but I do know that there's usually a little arrow on the gas guage pointing to the side of the car where the gas tank is.\n",
"Well no idea why not but I think it pretty practical because if every car would have it on the same side you couldnt use 50% of a gas station. Right?",
"It's based on the engineering of the car, and since gas pumps can pump easily to either side it's not really a problem that car manufacturers need to engineer around so they don't."
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6wwbt5 | how did early man come across advanced food recipes, like for example bread, when it seems too complicated to guess or figure out on your own? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6wwbt5/eli5_how_did_early_man_come_across_advanced_food/ | {
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"It's the cumulation of knowledge. One guy tried just flour and water, but his buddy told him that it tastes much better with salt. So he thinks why not add it to the dough so it's salty throughout. This is more or less how I do most of my cooking. ",
"Every food has a proto version. Bread used to be just flower and water baked over an open fire. Innovation and creativity drive more complex ingredients and recipes. We try something new, if it tastes good we tell our friends, they do it, someone else adds something, tastes better, sooner or later you're gonna have 20+ ingredients and a 20 step recipe on how to prepare it.",
"Well. Unleavened bread is ground wheat (flour) and water. So not that complicated. \n\nYeast grows naturally and can be in flour or just collected on stored flour. \n\nAdd salt when you have it cause it tastes good. \n\nThen later some kind of fat (oil or butter). \n\nProbably evolved over time like that. ",
"Most if it was accidents. Oh no I left this grain out to long in the sun and it dried. Let me get mad and beat at it and now it's dust. Get mad again and repeat in the same area. Look at that a rain drop better go hid. Well it didn't rain that much what is this pile of dough? I want to move it closer to the fire so I can see it better it's Getting dark. Oh no it got to hot. And we have bread. Or they were smarter than we give them credit for. And we r the stupid ones. ",
"Also: Bacteria, yeast and mold invented a lot of foods and beverages for us. Just add Time. The history of fermented foods is very illuminating."
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44clqt | why isn't time measured in metric scale past at a macro scale in science? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44clqt/eli5_why_isnt_time_measured_in_metric_scale_past/ | {
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"People are familiar with Earth/Sun units for time (hour, day, year) and there are clocks that display these units. While there are other units, like Sidereal Time, too many events depend on the daily cycle to make megaseconds a useful unit.",
"Which conveys more information to you? Dinosaurs went extinct 66 million years ago, or 2.1 petaseconds ago?\n\nPart of the use of units is conveying information. On a larger scale our non-metric units convey a better sense of time to us."
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5v7uy2 | what happens to all the insects and small lifeforms during a flood or high rain? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5v7uy2/eli5_what_happens_to_all_the_insects_and_small/ | {
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"Insects don't need as much oxygen as mammals, experiments have shown ants to live for weeks in sealed water-filled test tubes. Some ants can also form large floating rafts and simply float on top of the flood. Some will head to trees and high ground, and many will simply drown."
]
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cu7ip8 | what causes saliva to thicken when you use mouthwash? | Is it simply a bodily reaction or is there a chemical component in the mouthwash which causes the saliva to react in such a way? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cu7ip8/eli5_what_causes_saliva_to_thicken_when_you_use/ | {
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"Oh weird. That's never happened to me before. Wonder if your chemistry is just really different from mine?"
]
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2c2osh | why do our noses clog up with snot/bogies when they are an essential airway? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2c2osh/eli5_why_do_our_noses_clog_up_with_snotbogies/ | {
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"It's our immune response. Our nose is also a big open hole for outside things (germs) to get in. So when there's something dangerous perceived by the immune system, the body makes more snot to trap the bad things before they can get inside and kill you ",
"The aren't an essential airway, they are one of two in a wonderfully redundant system.\n\nThey clog up because they aren't a perfect design (damn you, designer!). They are an intake mechanism that is _way better_ to get infected than your lungs. Don't think of it as the blocking of a key airway, think of it as the clogging of your filter that protects all your REALLY key systems.",
"I work in a very dusty/ dirty environment... I often get snot and boogers that are blackened with the dust. I'm sure glad that stuff gets caught more in my nose rather than in my lungs.",
"One of the ENT surgeons I worked with told me our sinuses produce three-quarters to one liter of mucus a day. More if there's an infection. Our noses get clogged when, as mentioned, our immune system is triggered. Also it can happen when the mucosal lining that produces the mucous gets inflamed making the passages narrower. Another factor is dryness, whether it is the air that is dry, or because we are dehydrated; both these factors make the mucous thick and clogs up the works."
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7r1l00 | why do certain colors of lights have a second, differently colored ring around the source? | Orange street lights will have a ring of purple around them. White headlights will have a ring of blue around them. My 3DS's orange friend notification light has a ring of green around it, etc. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7r1l00/eli5why_do_certain_colors_of_lights_have_a_second/ | {
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"text": [
"If your seeing colorful halos around light sources then it's probably time to have your eyes checked.",
"Go get your eyes checked. You seem to be seeing refraction happening within your eyes. It could be from some minor deformity in the eye like the ones that cause near sightedness and far sightedness, to pressure in the optical nerve.\n\nSo basically **please go to a doctor as soon as possible.**\n\nSource: had something similar once due to a medicine increasing optical nerve pressure and I have a 3DS and there's no halo around the notification lights."
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d4z7j6 | how do popups/redirects keep you from using the back button and why do browser developers still allow it to happen? | feels like for the better part of two decades the back button has become more of a suggestion. yes; i pirate. yes; i understand adblocker helps on some devices. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d4z7j6/eli5_how_do_popupsredirects_keep_you_from_using/ | {
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"Simply pressing the back button moves you back one step in your current browsing history. The redirects of these ads utilize multiple steps, meaning the one step back just takes you to the previous redirect and it just ends up coming back to the same site at the end. \n\nBrowser developers don’t fix it because it’s exploiting the way the back button works on every other site. You’d be breaking the entire functionality of the back button just to try and fix this one thing that’s at worst a minor annoyance for most people",
"If you hold down the back button (at least on Chrome) a small history pops up, and you can select the page you were on before you clicked the link",
"There’s multiple tricks you are mentioning there, all of which have their own legitimate uses.\n\nMaking big changes to stop those redirects would also break large parts of the internet"
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3mo6zs | why do people have to send a message saying that they are going in war instead of just directly attacking? | Like the title suggest, why would a county declare an attack on a enemy instead of just going directly for an attack without letting the enemy know?
Wouldn't it give them more chance to win the war? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3mo6zs/eli5_why_do_people_have_to_send_a_message_saying/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\nImagine a world where only two countries existed. If one attacked the other without notice, gained the advantage of surprise, and conquered them, then who cares? They write the laws for everyone now.\n\nBut in a world where multiple factions composed of many countries exist with more powerful countries leading (think US/UN), it's a different game. If a small country like Iran goes ballistic, they get severe economic and political sanctions...and as a last resort, obviously we could attack them and put an end to it.\n\nHope that helps.",
"This might not directly answer what you are asking, but countries simply don't declare war anymore. There are definitely still many conflicts, but most involve \"unofficial\" organizations such as terrorist groups that don't require a formal declaration of war to attack. It is rare now to have one country directly invade another country, and if it does, there are usually loopholes that are exploited to \"declare war\" without actually declaring war. There's no real easily accessible \"list\" of declarations of war that I've found, but IIRC no war has been officially declared since the Six-Day War.",
"Wars are rarely won by a single surprise attack. Both sides typically know a war is coming, and are already prepared for it.\n\nThey are more often won by rallying the support of allies, and discouraging neutral countries form helping your enemies. Not being the sort of country that attacks without warning is a good start down that road.",
"It might give you more chance to win that war, but unless you're attacking completely without reason the chances are your enemies are at least somewhat prepared for hostilities to break out.\n\nPlus, now that every other country in the world knows you will attack without warning, you can't really play that card again. Every half-minded neighbouring country that isn't 100% certain they're on good terms with you will beef up their defences in case you try the same thing on them. In diplomatic relations, you will for decades be known as a hostile country that attacks without warning, which will not be good for you politically. "
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"http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/D/DeclarationofWar.aspx"
],
[],
[],
[]
]
|
|
3bh0pa | what is the purpose of daylight headlight sections on certain roads? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bh0pa/eli5_what_is_the_purpose_of_daylight_headlight/ | {
"a_id": [
"csm26v9",
"csm273v"
],
"score": [
6,
4
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"text": [
"To make your vehicle more visible to oncoming traffic. Usually found on two lane roads (one lane going each way). In the event that somebody wants to pass the vehicle in front of them, they will see any oncoming vehicles easier and sooner, to be able to determine if they actually have the space and time needed to successfully make the pass. These sections of roads are usually areas that have had horrible head on accidents in the past.",
"Bright headlights are very visible, better than the colors folks tend to pick for cars. Increased visibility reduces accidents."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[]
]
|
||
1qu4j9 | how do posts become "controversial"? | I have seen a few formulas and calculations, I just can't wrap my head around the category Controversial. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1qu4j9/eli5_how_do_posts_become_controversial/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdghpfj"
],
"score": [
14
],
"text": [
"A post would be considered controversial if it had lots of upvotes *and* downvotes. "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
|
z15ac | how to play league of legends | I'm not much of a gamer, but I find it interesting and I'd like to get into it. A lot of my friends play LoL and so I thought I'd give it a shot. The game is fun, but it seems pretty intricate and I'm not sure if I follow.
I tried looking up guides, r/leagueoflegends, etc. but everything is catered towards a crowd of people who have been gaming for a long time and pick up pretty quickly with these things. For someone who never games and is kind of jumping in blind, it's very confusing :( | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/z15ac/eli5_how_to_play_league_of_legends/ | {
"a_id": [
"c60lepi",
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"Welcome to the AOS genre. It's very confusing. I can write out a simple guide if you'd like, that may help you get started, but there's no substitute for experience.\n\nThe basic premise is that there are two teams, each with a base containing a structure called an ancient. The object is to destroy the other team's ancient. There are five human players on each team, and one computer controlled 'player' that owns all of the structures in the base itself.\n\n\nEssentially, you've got the two bases at opposite corners of the map, connected by three distinct lanes. Each lane automatically spawns computer controlled creeps - stupid, fairly weak enemies - every minute or so in waves of about 5, and sends them at the other team. Each lane also contains defensive structures, called towers. There's three in each lane, the last of which is at the edge of the base itself. There's also two adjacent to the ancient at the center of the base.\n\nYou control a single powerful unit, called a hero. You have four skills, one of which is more powerful and is called your ultimate. As you kill creeps, towers, and other human players, you gain gold and experience. Experience allows you to level up, which makes your hero have more health and do more damage, and gives you a skill point to distribute into one of your skills to make it stronger. \n\nIn the initial phase of the game, you will spread out into each lane, and try to get gold and experience from the creeps. Eventually, you want to attack and destroy the towers, then the ancient. There's three important things that happen - pushing, farming, and ganking. Pushing is when you are aggressively attacking the enemy creeps and trying to destroy towers. Farming is when you are trying to kill enemy creeps for gold and experience. Ganking is when you are working as a team to kill enemy heroes.\n\nWhat makes it difficult is balancing all three. Experienced players know when to do which. If you're farming or pushing alone, you're an easy target for the enemy to gank you. If you're running around ganking, you are allowing your enemy to farm or push unopposed. When your enemies kill you, you lose gold and take a minute or so to respawn, and they gain lots of gold and experience. Getting the most kills doesn't win the game, but it gives you an advantage at pushing, which is what wins it. If you are getting lots of kills, your team is stronger, and you can attack the enemy base better. A common occurance late in the game will be a big gank where you kill 2-3 members of the other team, then push their base and destroy the ancient while they are waiting to respawn.\n",
"I will assume you know the basic layout of everything. In my opinion the number one best thing you can possibly learn is avoiding turret fire, I have taught a lot of people how to play and the most common thing I see is people attacking an enemy under their turret and then continue to stand there as they get pummeled by the enemy turret. As a beginner never \"dive\" the turret.\n\nDiscover the difference between AP (Ability Power) and AD (Attack damage) early on, new player always struggle with these terms. Some champions have no need for AP and some have no need for AD, some of them may not require either of those. Ability power (AP) is always cyan in tool tips (the information displayed when you hover over a skill) and Attack damage (AD) is always orange.\n\nDon't purchase the \"OP\" characters first, purchase the characters you think look fun or seem interesting, you will be A LOT more motivated to play and play well if you like the character you're playing as.\n\nExperiment with your builds, recommended builds are fine, but they're not excellent. Play with it and find out what works for you.\n\nTry out all three game modes, Dominion is a refreshing change of pace from 5v5!\n\nMost of all; Play for fun.\n\nLet me know if you have any more advice or add Sejuhasz if you'd like to play a game any time!",
"(prepare yourself for a very long post)\n\nLets begin with what category of video game League of Legends (I will call it LoL for times sake) is in. It is a multiplayer player versus player game, which takes place in an arena. There are two main arenas, one which is where 5 people face 5 people, and another which is 3 versus 3. The most commonly played one is 5 versus 5, which is what I will explain. To win the game, you and your teammates have to destroy the enemy Nexus, which is located at either the top-left or bottom-right of the map. However, there are many structures that are protecting the nexus. In each lane, there are 2 turrets, which are structures with a short range that shoot magical bullets at you that hurt quite a lot, if you are at a low level. Once you get past these two turrets, you will end up in the enemy's base. Inside their base, there is a third turret for each lane, and behind this turret is an inhibitor, a circular, low-life structure that does no damage. If you destroy this, you will start to spawn super minions (this will all be explained later), who have more life and are stronger than normal minions. Past these inhibitors you will (finally) find the enemy nexus, which is protected by two turrets. Destroy this, and you win. Each game is around 30-40 minutes in 5v5.\n\nNow onto in-game mechanics. You control a champion, with four usable skills. Every level you gain will grant you a skill point, which can be used to strengthen an already learnt ability, or learn a new one. Your fourth skill is what is called your \"ultimate\". It is a very strong skill that should be used only in important fights. You also have 6 item slots, which hold items (duh) which is bought with gold, which you earn in-game. You get gold by killing minions, which begin spawning 1 and a half minutes into the game, and will spawn a wave every 30 seconds. To get gold you have to KILL the minion, not just damage it. You also passively gain gold every second. Super minions begin spawning when you destroy a inhibitor for that specific lane. Ex: you destroy an inhibitor top lane, super minions will spawn in top lane only. \n\nNow onto in-game strategy. Usually you will have a champion who can damage more with their abilities in middle lane, a champion with large health and can deal damage up top (beginners usually just have 2 people go top), a Jungler, who kills monsters in the jungle, which is located in between the lanes, and attacks other lanes, which is called ganking. Finally in bottom lane, there is a champ which does attack damage, by using basic attacks, and a support champ which can heal, shield, and help out their partner and team (again, beginners just have 2 random people bottom)\n\nRegardless if you win or lose a game, you will gain Influence Points, which can be used to buy champions new champions or runes, which can be put into a rune page, which can give your champion buffs in-game. However, don't buy runes at a low level, as they are not worth the IP. Your summoner level is different than your in-game level. Your summoner level determines how many runes in your rune page you can buy, and summoner spells (which are usable in-game). Examples of these spells include: Heal, and Teleport. Good luck, and have fun!\n"
]
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[],
[],
[]
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|
3ez37v | why does "pressing charges" seem optional for some crimes, but not others? can you sign a contract before being murdered to not "press charges" on the murderer? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ez37v/eli5_why_does_pressing_charges_seem_optional_for/ | {
"a_id": [
"ctjqyae"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"This is a misconception that comes up on /r/legaladvice on a daily basis. \n\nThe victim does not choose whether or not to press charges; the district attorney does. The victim can choose whether or not to cooperate with the police investigation. Often times, especially for minor crimes, if the victim chooses not to \"press charges\" (e.g, to cooperate with the investigation) then it'll be dropped by the prosecutor for lack of evidence. "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
]
|
||
14ue87 | how are video game consoles (xbox 360 and ps3) still relevant today when pcs "age" so fast? | Today I was wondering about how the Xbox 360 and PS3 still sell and can still play games that are released today. Specifically if gaming computers struggle to play games like Crysis 2 and the upcoming Crysis 3 how can these old systems even stand ground?
Is it a combination between superior hardware and coding that makes this possible? If so, why are PCs not doing the same thing? Are these consoles holding back the true coding potential and a new console would be needed?
Thank you for any light you can shine on this. I had a hard time trying to find something creditable Googling. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/14ue87/eli5_how_are_video_game_consoles_xbox_360_and_ps3/ | {
"a_id": [
"c7ghvht",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"The quality of games on consoles tends to improve with the consoles age as people get a better feel for how to get the most out of the hardware. \n\nBecause all PS3s are the same,a game released for it will have a single graphics level which the developers think it will run best at. As PCs vary lots you get games where you can set the graphics and other settings from very low so it is easy to run, to so high that it would require a very expensive computer to handle it.\n\nBut while it may play the same games as a PC they might be toned down so the graphics are lower or there are less enemies on screen at a time so that the work that the console has to do is made easier.\n\nAs for why consoles sell it is because they make life easy, no need to worry about operating system, graphics card or any other requirements. You put the disk in and play.",
"A couple of things:\n\nConsoles remain relevant because a lot of people prefer the experience of sitting in front of the TV, holding a controller, and playing a game, even knowing that the graphics will be behind the times.\n\nConsoles tend to be more efficient than their PC counterparts (when hardware is matched as closely as possible), because consoles are only doing one thing, so they can do it well, and because developers know every single person who plays their game will have exactly the same hardware, so they can optimize for that. Developers for PC games have to write games that are optimized for a general set of different hardwares, and will hopefully work pretty well on all of them.\n\nConsole gamers and PC gamers are largely separate markets, thus console gamers often only compare their games to other consoles. When all the consoles out there stay the same for 5 years or more, and you aren't really looking at what PC games are doing, you don't have anything better to compare to, so the outdatedness of your console doesn't bother you.",
"For several reasons. Over time, as developers get used to a piece of hardware that hasn't changed, they conjure up new tricks and methods to get the most out of it.\n\nThe industry also naturally develops more advanced techniques outside of the hardware itself. Someone comes up with a new breakthrough that renders more static objects to the game world, using less processing time and memory, then both PC and Console developers can use that technique to improve the capabilities of the device.\n\nPC developers are also hindered by a ridiculous smorgasbord of different hardware configurations. They can't spend as much development time on the same kinds of optimizations as the Console developers HAVE to because they have to cater to so many more device types (they'd like to, but time is the enemy). So, PC games often don't run as fast as they could if they had the same level of optimization and scrutiny applied to them as Console games tend to (this is a generalization - it doesn't always work this way).\n\nConsole developers also cheat; lowering the field of view, lowering the resolution, or just rendering more and more to the screen so it lowers the framerate, but still stays within an acceptable limit. For instance, early console games might have had a field of view of 90 degrees, full HD resolution (1080 pixels tall) and ran at 60fps. Console games that come out later in the same generation, might run at a lower field of view (Skyrim is only 60 degrees default!), a lower resolution (Black Ops 2 only runs at 880x720!), or runs at 30fps.\n\nOnce this 'cheating' becomes too common place, you've pretty much exhausted all of your options and it's time for a new generation of hardware to come along."
]
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[],
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8zvb6w | why do pharmacies always ask if you want generic brand of a prescription? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8zvb6w/eli5_why_do_pharmacies_always_ask_if_you_want/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"The name brand version is typically that did all the research, development, testing, and patenting. The extra costs of that drug are associated with the cost of development of said product. Once a patent expires, the generics come out that typically use the same active ingredient. The inactive ingredients though can vary. These inactive ingredients can affect people differently. Because of that, some people can only use the name brand of a specific drug and some people can only use the generic of specific drugs. For most of us, it doesn’t really matter. "
]
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| []
| [
[]
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|
||
8c5m3x | how is it possible for there to be underwater lake beds, underwater? | Occasionally I’ll see pictures of visible puddles or small bodies of water, under the ocean. Never understood how this is actually possible. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8c5m3x/eli5_how_is_it_possible_for_there_to_be/ | {
"a_id": [
"dxcbncp",
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Mineral content as well as salt content can change water density. Denser water can pool at the bottom if a lake and be visually distinct from the water above it.",
"Usually something known as Brine which is basically minerals and high amounts of salt can sink to the bottom of water because it is much denser than the actual water. "
]
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| [
[],
[]
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1j5cef | what happens if you don't take a shower after swimming? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1j5cef/eli5what_happens_if_you_dont_take_a_shower_after/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Depends on where you're swimming. If you're in the ocean, you're just leaving salt and sand on your body. Not a huge deal, but gritty and uncomfortable.\n\nA swimming pool is a whole other story. Chlorine is not good for you, and it can irritate your skin and eyes, and dry out your skin and hair. You will be itchy and irritated until you wash it off. And you'll smell like chlorine, as well.",
"The stuff (chlorine, salt, dirt, body fluids) that was in the water stays on you after the H2O evaporates off. Being caked in a thin layer of chemicals, salt, and poop can irritate your skin. "
]
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[],
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||
1c91ar | how do two-way mirrors work? how can i see someone but they see their own reflection? (or vice versa) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1c91ar/eli5_how_do_twoway_mirrors_work_how_can_i_see/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9e7hcm"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"More-or-less answered [here](_URL_0_)"
]
} | []
| []
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[
"http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kyrx4/eli5_why_is_it_called_a_twoway_mirror_when_you/"
]
]
|
||
fd754c | why is it that on different phone's, some emojis do not show? shouldn't it just register as text? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fd754c/eli5_why_is_it_that_on_different_phones_some/ | {
"a_id": [
"fjfny5w",
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"text": [
"Emoji are part of the Unicode system. In the actual message your phone sends, they're represented by a number along with a prefix that says \"this is Unicode.\" When the receiving phone gets a number that starts with this prefix, it knows to go to a library and look up a symbol using that number. Then it displays that symbol. If the phone's library is missing or incomplete (Unicode is biiig, and it would take a lot of space to store all those pictures), then it shows a blank character, or possibly just the Unicode number it got.",
"Emoji is basically a font\n\nSome devices either don’t have that font or do not have the most updated version of the font.",
"Emojis aren't the same thing as emoticons like this -- > :-)\n\nTo a computer, an emoji isn't a collection of repurposed characters, but rather a single character in its own right (meaning it gets its own number on the unicode table and everything). \n\nIf a computer (or phone, whatever) doesn't have a graphic related to that specific emoji's unicode number, then it's not going to be able to display it. Depending on the software it may have a placeholder graphic like a square or a stylized \"?\" or something, or it may just not show anything at all."
]
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[],
[],
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30t64u | what is "mustard gas"? and what is it made out of? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30t64u/eli5_what_is_mustard_gas_and_what_is_it_made_out/ | {
"a_id": [
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"score": [
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"text": [
"* It's a chemical typically used in war.\n* It's made of Chlorine and Sulfur.\n* It's called \"Mustard Gas\" because it smells vaguely like mustard.\n* It kills you by creating blisters in your lungs and airway, which can cause other major problems."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
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|
||
54e7yn | why do major space photography instruments like the one on hubble produce black and white images, which have to be coloured afterwards? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/54e7yn/eli5_why_do_major_space_photography_instruments/ | {
"a_id": [
"d813wmv"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"All camera sensors are monochrome, but typical off-the-shelf cameras have a built in bayer-matrix in front of them:\n\n < _URL_1_;\n\nThe Hubble approach is more flexible and efficient. It uses RGB filters to produce approximately true-colour images, and narrowband filters to detect particular elements. For example, placing an OIII filter in front of its sensor allows ionised oxygen to be detected. This famous picture of the Eagle Nebula is a false-colour image, where silicon has been mapped to red, hydrogen to green and oxygen to blue:\n\n < _URL_0_;\n\nIt's a beautiful image but also a revealing one. Mapping out the different elements gives astronomers a better understanding of what is going on in the nebula.\n\nHubble uses other filters to take ultraviolet and near-infrared observations. The latter allows it, for example, to peer inside dust clouds and see stars in the process of formation."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[
"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Pillars_of_creation_2014_HST_WFC3-UVIS_full-res_denoised.jpg/982px-Pillars_of_creation_2014_HST_WFC3-UVIS_full-res_denoised.jpg>",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer_filter>"
]
]
|
||
qvttt | who controls the cia? | And how do we really know if their acting in the best interests of the united states? What if a branch of the CIA was working with a 3rd party nation or a big corporation against our benefit? I've read stories, heard podcasts that accuse them of bringing in drugs to the US to raise untraceable cash, for example. Also: Would it even be possible at this point to clean up any corruption? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qvttt/elif_who_controls_the_cia/ | {
"a_id": [
"c40x9v4"
],
"score": [
4
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"text": [
"Leon Panetta is the most recent former head of the CIA. He was the Chief of Staff for Bill Clinton and is currently the Secretary of Defense. \n\nDavid Petraeus is the current head of the CIA. Prior to that, he was a 4-star US Army general and head of forces in Afghanistan. \n\nThe director of the CIA reports directly to the President and Congress.\n\nHistorically, the CIA has gotten involved in all sorts of illicit or quasi-legal shenanigans, but that's sort of their job. "
]
} | []
| []
| [
[]
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|
|
3jbu8y | how does the white ball pass through the chute during a game of paid pool on a scratch, but the other balls won't? | I've never understood how a white ball is able to pass through, yet when a solid or striped ball is hit into the pocket, it cannot pass through. Is there a weight difference? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jbu8y/eli5_how_does_the_white_ball_pass_through_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"cunxi4r"
],
"score": [
5
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"text": [
"The cue ball is slightly smaller diameter. There for its the only one that can make it through the passage. \n\n\nEdit: clarity. "
]
} | []
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1nufj1 | the terms for male and female animals | OK, I live and work with Cattle, and I understand the difference between a bull, a cow, a steer, etc.
And I hunt, so I know that these terms apply to moose as well. But not deer, which use Buck, Doe, Fawn, etc.
Why? It would seem that moose and deer are more closely related and therefore would share terms instead of moose and cattle. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1nufj1/eli5_the_terms_for_male_and_female_animals/ | {
"a_id": [
"ccm55tj"
],
"score": [
4
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"text": [
"The terms were not developed by people familiar with the evolutionary descent of the animals. It is just a colloquial method of referring to them, it doesn't have to make sense."
]
} | []
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| [
[]
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|
971z8z | how rare steak doesn't make you sick | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/971z8z/eli5_how_rare_steak_doesnt_make_you_sick/ | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Theres more bacteria in a rare steak than a well done one. However even well done will still not be sterile. A healthy human can typically cope with the level of bacteria in a rare steak. This is why the elderly and those with compromised immune systems are advised not to eat rare food. Eating rare meat has a higher chance of making you sick but to the average person the risk is minimal",
"It depends on the quality of the meat. It's not that raw meat is inherently bad for us, it comes to cross contamination. Unless you've got some serious parasites, we don't carry around bacteria in our muscles. So if you find a nice healthy cow out in a field, kill it, and hack out a big chunk of flesh, you can down that straight up raw without any concerns. \n\nThe problem arises in meat processing. You start with a big, nasty, often shit covered cow. You start taking it apart, and its almost a given that some of the dirty skin you've just peeled off might come near the meat. \n\nA good butcher or meat processing plant takes great care to be sanitary, and at most you might get a little surface bacteria on the outermost part of the team. This is why hamburger processed in a factory is so much more dangerous. It takes all sorts of cuts and grinds it together, so you're getting all sort of previous \"barely on the surface\" meat that got exposed, and grinding it together. \n\nYou can also mitigate what little concerns might exist for good whole meat via natural anti-microbial agents. Steak tartar for instance takes these relatively safe whole beef pieces, grinds it in the restaurant (safer/cleaner than the meat processing factory), and adds in plenty of garlic which can help kill bacteria. \n\nSo ultimately, but quality beef from a quality supplier and you can go straight up raw if that makes you happy (very small risk at best). The lower quality you go, the more dangerous it becomes. "
]
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64vtp9 | why do video games have leftover or unused content in the data? is there a purpose in leaving it in? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/64vtp9/eli5_why_do_video_games_have_leftover_or_unused/ | {
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"text": [
"A big reason to not delete content you aren't using is to avoid breaking your game. A lot of games use assets in multiple places, and as the game gets bigger the interconnection can get very complicated. If you aren't completely certain taking something out won't effect something else, it makes sense to just leave it. ",
"There might be a forgotten piece of code somewhere in your game that calls the unused content. If you remove it and it does that your entire game will crash. So to remove unused stuff you need to go through your entire game and check to make sure nothing calls the unused thing before you can remove it. Or you can leave it in. Way easier and way safer.",
"Towards the end of a development cycle, caution is the name of the game.\n\nVideo games are really complex (and often somewhat haphazardly put together), so *any* change risks breaking something. If you're two weeks away from launch, the last thing you want to do is break stuff, so you play it safe, you don't make *any* change unless you are absolutely certain that it is (1) safe, and (2) necessary. So assets that turned out to be unused? Eh, leave them in, they do no harm that way.\n\nThis is also why games sometimes ship with entire levels removed, or with very obvious bugs left in. You're near the launch date, and yes, you know this is a bug, and yes, you're 90% sure fixing it is safe and will break nothing else. But... what if it does? You don't have time to re-test everything else, so you have to ask whether leaving in a known bug is better than fixing it and risking breaking something much more important *that you won't even have time to discover before release*. Or you found a single tricky bug in this map and you just don't have time to fix it so.... just disable that map entirely.",
"I can answer this in the context of Age of Empires by Ensemble Studios between version 1 (AoE original) to version 2 (AoK/C) alpha, beta, release, and AoE2HD.\n\nAoE (version 1) was heavily polished with little to no leftover assets within the data or code structure. This cannot be said the same about AoK (version 2). This really came down to how rushed AoK was compared to AoE. Given the day and age of the 2 games, there wasn't really a proper way to clean up assets or remove them. Nothing was brought to 'modern' standards when the format got upgraded from AoE1 to AoE2. Storage space was no longer a big concern, yet the spaghetti ('stuff everywhere') conventions were kept.\n\nThe amount of AoE2 alpha and beta assets left in is perhaps 1/6th of the entire dataset. Much of them only show up in a re-polish for AoC (the expansion), or are little easter eggs for us dataminers to find. Some don't have proper animations, bad transparent backgrounds, or come from the immediate AoE1 dataset just for testing. \n\nSkyBox labs (AoE2HD devs) have done a decent job trudging through the original source code. Including working with reversed-engineered tools to the point where the entire asset blob database (where assets are actually stored) has been exploded (extracted) and used on the fly. Some of the graphics (mostly background images) have finally been updated to modern conventions, yet the engine palette is still low-res color, because all sprite assets use a single palette*. *There's multiple palettes for game objects, each share their own global palette, but really there's only 1 important one.\n\nAlso there's a engine code fork, recoding of the original, that Lucas Arts got back in the day, a little more polished than what AoE2 (AoK/C) is capable of. But the spaghetti conventions still reside within.\n\ntl;dr Don't look into the asset database of AoE, there's a generational programming gap of etiquettes on display.",
"Removing the data is extra work. If it does not do harm the game itself, the best bet is to leave it there.\n\nThese days game sizes mean almost nothing, big or small. With big games, proportionally the unused content takes up a small space. With small games, even with extra content, the storage usage will take up small space anyway.",
"Fear of breaking the entire game mostly. Imagine if some low level artist removed the 3D model of the Blargg from Super Mario 64 and it broke the whole game, and they had to push the release date. That dude is fired for sure and the game might make less money. Better safe than sorry and leave it in. ",
"i read thru the comments and still don't understand what is meant by unused content? can someone ELI5 what an example of that content is, and how a regular gamer would even know how to find it? ",
"Its everywhere in programming like this. You build a database with lots of things programmers call \"resources\". It contains pictures, strings, music. All kinds of stuff that is no code. \n\nDepending on the programming environment, the age of the project and also the management this database grows like weed and most of the time nobody cares about cleaning it up. \n\nThe reason why is easy explained by an example: You have 5000 pictures, but you only use effectively 1000. So who wants to check 5000 pictures - often even manually - which pictures are used and which are not?\n\nSo most teams think \"there may be 200mb unused data on a 5 gigabyte installer. So what? Why should we invest even a hour of work to clean that up? Nobody would care anyway.\"",
"Most software has lot of interconnectivity. This is especially true for video games, which can reuse many assets. That fog could could be a repurposed gas grenade. The sound of that monster might be an audio clip played in reverse and sped up. That texture for the tree trunk might be recolored to be the armor for those bad guys. Many assets are reused in this way, not just art assets. \n\nThis is less true for more recent games where tremendous amounts of storage space alleviates the need to reuse assets.\n\nThis creates something of a spider web of resources in the game. You could remove an item that nothing depends on and that's all well and good, but if there's a connection you didn't see or predict, you might find your web unraveling. Because video games cost a ton of money to make, and a serious problem at launch could be disastrous for return on investment, it is often wiser to simply leave the cut content in.",
"I'm nearing the end of a development cycle on a game that I'm making, and this is happening everywhere.\n\nThe biggest reason is that keeping something in the game is generally easier then removing it. Especially if it's just in the files and maybe it'll be needed later. Also, removing it might just not really matter. What's a couple hundred lines of code out of tens of thousands(or, on larger games, tens of thousands out of millions), especially after the compiler does its magic? Maybe deleting maps, textures, etc. might save some file size, but whatever, storage space is cheap.\n\nAn example from my game is that there was an entire mechanic that I developed, refined a bit, and then as I played and tested, decided to go in a different direction. The mechanic was stored in things called \"coroutines\" which are basically bits of code that conditionally run alongside the main code. \nWhen I first took out the mechanic, I wasn't 100% certain that I wouldn't return to it, I just started playtesting and iterating on the design without the mechanic. So rather than remove the coroutines entirely, I just stopped them from running. This was just a change in two lines(in fact, just adding \"//\" in front of them), and if I ever wanted to change it back, I just delete those //'s, and bam, the mechanic is back. \n\nSo, sure, there's some left-over unused content... an entirely unused core mechanic of the game, that's technically in the source code. I probably could, if I wanted to, completely remove that code. But why would I? It doesn't have any negative impact on the game in any way, it doesn't break anything else, and I have bigger fish to fry.\n\nNot to mention, in this case the game is pretty small and I'm the only developer... imagine this happening on a scale hundreds of times bigger with even more involved and codependent things.",
"This comment is in response to those who say \"JUST FIX EVERYTHING\". \n\nKinda just pasting my comment from another thread lower down. Spent too much time typing this. \n\nIt's all in the severity of the issues and for the higher ups to perceive said issues as \"bad enough\". Producers don't usually understand the severity of things unless they're extremely obvious. Thankfully, even though I'm only a QA Lead, I'm in a position where I can actually voice my concerns for the bugs on the more minor-but-annoying side. We call this kind of stuff \"User Pain\". As in, a typo isn't that bad or annoying. No one would just drop the game and stop playing, send us hate mail, etc, because of a typo. But a looping sound bug, although not game-breaking, could be annoying as hell for players.\n\nEvery single game ever released (save for maybe, Pong) has had bugs. It's just some are a lot worse than others. \n\nHypothetical Situation Time: Let's say it's the last day of work on your game before it's \"Too Late\". \n\nYou find a typo in a side mission. Do you delay the game a month or two for that? That means paying whoever is left on the project for another month AS WELL as the PR shitstorm for the pushback and blablabla. \n\nThat's a lot of time and money. But I used a small issue on purpose. Another small issue that no one gives a shit about would be like assets clipping into each other on a small scale. Could happen throughout the whole game, as long as it's not jarringly obvious it's really not that bad. I'm talking about stuff like you look at the table and it clearly combines into the floor instead of being on-top of it. Stuff like that.\n\nNext is a medium tier. \n\nSo let's say you have the same amount of time left before it's \"Too Late\", except instead of a Typo, it's... \n\nWhen you're on the last level, if you happen to close the game while in the middle of a cutscene, when you reboot your game, the cutscene is skipped and you can't watch it again. Kinda sucks. Kinda. This is worse than a typo, but still, it's very specific (For this example, let's just say it ONLY happens on the final level, during that specific cutscene). Delay the game? Probably not. This is something that can go in the Day 1 Patch or Day 15/30 or whatever. \n\nLast example. Last day before \"Too Late\". You're on the last level about to beat the game and 100% of the time, when killing the final boss, the game crashes. So you do it again just to be sure and yes, 100% of the time, no matter what, the game crashes. This is out of the ordinary since QA would've caught it (or people are about to get fired), but for the sake of the story let's just say they didn't. This is delay-worthy. \n\nAnother major must-fix would be legal issues, but those do not cause User Pain (generally), but producers are 100% going to fix. \n\n**Extra Tidbit:** Bugs usually have classifications such a S-Bug, A, B, C-Class. S is must fix. C is Typos, clipping art, stuff like that. User Pain is something we started a few years ago, which is a 2nd classification we use in tandem. \n\nSo we could say \"The game has 0 S-Bugs! We're pretty good to go...But it has 3000 C-Class still.\" The producers don't exactly care about the C-Class. But now that we've opened them up to hearing what User Pain actually means, we have formulas for bug types like Audio Looping and stuff like that where we say (paraphrasing) \"Yeah, but this B-Class bug has 90/100 User Pain. Literally everyone who buys the game is going to hear it\" and they can rethink their position on the bug. \n\nGames nowadays and always, to be honest, but now more than ever, tend to be super complicated in so many aspects that it's impossible to even *FIND* all the issues, let alone fix them. \n\nThink of this: A game is tested by a team of 40 testers for 40 hours a week (lol) for let's say 2ish years. \n\nIf it's a big game (AAA, million copies sold, etc), within the first 2 hours that it has been released, it has been played by the public for more hours than it was tested throughout it's whole testing cycle. There are things that you guys do that we didn't think of. There are so many possibilities. It's mind blowing. ",
"Oh I know this one. I work for a game company and it sorta really easy to explain. and it only comes down to a few reasons.\n\n1 \"We don't have time to put this in! Just leave it!\" If the deadline of an area or however you choose to develop is due the idea or the item is left in there scraped. It is quicker and you do always have the chance to patch it back in.\n\n2 \"This thing is gonna break the game or the flow. Leave it there until we know what to do with it.\" Some items or weapons or location what have you could break the game's flow or narrative so they are left out to be either replaced or reworked.\n\n3\"We worked on this area for way too long and it finally all worked out. Don't touch anything! Don't even breathe on it!\" When you build an area kinda like connecting a big box of jumbled wires. and when you have finally made the area work you don't want to touch it again. even if it meant there are leftovers in there. \n\n4 \"The game is gonna luanch! We don't have time to sweep for things! Just leave it in! There is no way to access it normally anyway.\" This happens when your ambition for the game does not meet up with the time frame. Sometimes things are just sealed off instead of being removed. since its easier and quicker to just seal it off.\n\n5 \"We want to delete an earlier area but we already made things after it and we are not sure if we just delete it might break the code.\" \n\n6\"Hey this would be an cheeky easter egg only the hardcore will find.\" There are devs who write things in the codes as a gag or a rant. less common nowadays but still.\n\n\n\n"
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37t1ha | after drawing over pencil lines with pen or permanent marker - how can the pencil underneath still be erased? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37t1ha/eli5_after_drawing_over_pencil_lines_with_pen_or/ | {
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"I'm not a clever man but i'll take a stab at it.\n\nPaper is porous. It is made up of lots of little fibres. Despite looking flat and smooth, this is what paper looks like under a microscope:\n\n* _URL_3_\n\nThe drawing end of a pencil is made up of graphite. Graphite is not a liquid nor is it absorbed by paper. The process of drawing on paper is the result of friction. The graphite is dragged across the paper and fragments of that graphite are embedded into the fibres of the sheet of paper.\n\nHere's what graphite looks like on paper. The black line is graphite adhering to the cellulose fibres of paper.\n\n* _URL_0_\n\nNow here's what ink looks like on paper:\n\n* _URL_4_\n* _URL_1_\n* _URL_2_\n\nInk is a liquid. It is absorbed into the fibres of the paper and in a sense the paper is now \"stained\" by the ink.\n\nWhereas graphite simply embeds itself into the surface of the fibres of the paper, ink stains it permanently.\n\nThe process of erasing essentially forces the graphite (which is sitting on the surface of the paper), to be agitated and to then stick to the eraser.\n\nThis is why you can rub your finger over an ink drawing and nothing happens, however if you rub your finger over a pencil drawing, it will begin to smudge.\n\nHope that makes sense."
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"http://i.imgur.com/S9Tl99w.jpg",
"http://i.imgur.com/zb4ffTr.jpg",
"http://i.imgur.com/03b6JHw.jpg",
"http://i.imgur.com/j6wXay6.png",
"http://i.imgur.com/f5mFBDI.jpg"
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3y7s7j | how do writers, directors, game companies, etc... keep their projects and progress secret for so long? | Who knows how long the Star Wars movie was in the making. Many games take 3-4 years to see the light of day, and maybe some books too.
You'f think that if anything gets stored in a PC it could get hacked by some avid fan, or someone working inside could be bribed. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3y7s7j/eli5_how_do_writers_directors_game_companies_etc/ | {
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"They employ people who know how to keep their mouth shut. \n\nThose who do need to talk keep the discussion to a minimum. Everything is done on a need-to-know basis, and people are careful to protect their jobs.\n\nFinally, there are consequences for those who break their agreements. Non-disclosure agreements have teeth, and even if the company doesn't sue there are serious consequences for individuals who get caught. In games, if you want to work on pre-release hardware or certain secret things you need to get approved (as an individual and a company) by the big three Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to work work with their equipment. Get blackballed from any of them and you will struggle to work in the industry in the future. I assume the same is true for movie studios. ",
"Besides the obvious negatives of breaking an NDA there's the other side: people are generally proud of what they are making in these places and are invested in their success. Whether financially or personally there's a strong incentive for keeping quiet, which is reinforced and explained. \"If this leaks it hurts us this way, so please do not put your job title on social media.\"\n\nAdditionally, it's fun to keep a secret, especially for something that is widely followed or known. Knowing you know, and having incentives to stay quiet and disincentives to speak out are powerful psychological forces that make people feel like they belong to a special club.\n\nWhen these things do leak, it's often from a source not so invested: a contract hire, a low level unincentivized employee, or a source external to the team.\n\nFinally, many leaks are accidents. People say someone they think is safe and it adds up to a leak. Companies like this also have leak plans, so when a small leak happens they can turn it into part of their marketing plan, which it is now that the cat is out of the bag.",
"Well it depends. For something high profile and high budget like Star Wars you hire an actual security firm, and everyone signs non disclosure agreements and follows all sorts of security protocols... Wanna be a part of other Star Wars films and big time Hollywood blockbusters? Not gonna happen lest ye keep your trap shut. \n\nBut for some low budget thing that isn't already popular to begin with, these people actually have the opposite problem. They are facing such an uphill battle with getting the word out about their project that they're not really too concerned with keeping secrets. \n\nIf you try to keep too much close to your chest, no project will ever get done and you won't survive as an artist anyway, even though there is always a chance of someone stealing your stuff. \n\nStand up comics have a shittier time than most artists with this actually. "
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9pxlcm | why has non lte service slowed down over the years? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9pxlcm/eli5_why_has_non_lte_service_slowed_down_over_the/ | {
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"Re-allocation of frequencies. Each provider has a certain amount of spectrum at any given location, and it gets split up to be used by various technologies. LTE is both faster in general and more efficient, so as we reach a point where most people have LTE-capable phones, they take spectrum that was allocated to 3G/4G and move it over to add more capacity to LTE."
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3bp1lu | why does it seem like products made from recycled materials are more expensive? shouldn't they be cheaper since companies don't have to create things from "raw" materials? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3bp1lu/eli5_why_does_it_seem_like_products_made_from/ | {
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"The process of reclaiming the material for use can be time consuming and complex, and often costs more than working from new materials."
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6dus5z | how is this kung fu master using chi/qi to generate power? | I'm curious how Chu Shong Tin, the third student of Yip Man, is able to use his chi to generate power.
Here's a few videos of him:
[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)
[_URL_1_!](_URL_1_)
[_URL_3_](_URL_3_)
[_URL_2_ ](_URL_2_ ) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6dus5z/eli5_how_is_this_kung_fu_master_using_chiqi_to/ | {
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" > I'm curious how Chu Shong Tin, the third student of Yip Man, is able to use his chi to generate power.\n\nHe's not. There's no such thing as chi.\n\nThere are all kinds of tricks you can do with leverage, though. For instance, in the second video you linked, you can see that he angles his forearm differently when he pulls the students forward with his arm. Instead of going straight forward, he goes *up* and forward, which pulls the person slightly off balance, and makes them easier to move. Just plain old physics. No chi required.",
"This kind of thing isn't real. Several things are happening here. Part of it is staged with a plant (a fake person whose in on the lie pretending that he or she isn't).\n\nThen you have a sort of faith healing thing... Where people are expecting to be knocked out and they sort of go along with it in stride.\n\nThen you have careful editing to highlight the best parts."
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"https://youtu.be/jxWti1xHqAk?t=19m43s",
"https://youtu.be/5uIQ46ow7Nk?t=3m12s",
"https://youtu.be/mV5WyURiwdQ?t=22m12s",
"https://youtu.be/ZjN4MX1sf8Y?t=2m51s"
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8n2nnm | why is it my phone is cold while my laptop have to use all its fans cooling while doing the same simple tasks, browsing reddit, streaming music etc.? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8n2nnm/eli5why_is_it_my_phone_is_cold_while_my_laptop/ | {
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"Phones use less powerful components that are significantly smaller, generating less heat. Phones will also get hot overtime though just like computers, you just can’t hear the cooling systems in the phone like you can with the computer.",
"It's usually the realistic graphics that require cooling on a computer, and when it comes to graphics there are a couple issues:\n\n- The size of a computer screen is 20x - 30x the size of a phone screen, requiring that much more \"graphics processing power.\" The graphics card in a computer or laptop is almost a computer in itself - has memory and heavy duty processors in it that require cooling.\n\n- Phones are typically used for games with static or 2D graphics, and video playback. By comparison, computer games create the entire environment and avatars in 3D, and have you move through it in real time, and that requires a lot of processing power.\n\nSo, much bigger video to \"process\" for computers / laptops, and much more complicated 3D games with full realism to play on computers / laptops vs. 2D games on phones."
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2q12hb | how do remote car unlocks only unlock one car in the entire world? | Wouldn't there eventually be a remote that happens to unlock a random other car? How can each remote specifically target a single car? It seems like there would have to be some crossing of signals. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2q12hb/eli5_how_do_remote_car_unlocks_only_unlock_one/ | {
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"It is not the spectrum of the signal that opens the car. It is presumably a large encrypted string that is exchanged with the computer in your car. As long as you use a big enough string there is no reason to ever repeat.",
"The car and the key contain a pseudo random number generator. The are synchronised when the car is built. When you press the button they key sends out the next number in a \"random\" sequence. The car knows which number the key will send next.\n\nAn eavesdropper can't resend an old code because the car isn't expecting it. And an eavesdropper can't predict the next number in the sequence.",
"The key fob sends a code, 40 bits was once common, but I wouldn't be surprised if some use longer codes. \n \nThese are what is known as rolling codes. The car and key fob are synchronised so the key fob sends a signal, the car receives it, and the key fob and car both generate the same new code. \n \nIn reality that doesn't quite work, or else if you clicked the fob away from the car, then the codes wouldn't match. In reality the car is looking at the next few hundred codes, so even if you've clicked it a lot, once you open the car, they can re-synchronise. It is possible with some models of car though, to keep clicking the key fob away from your car, and eventually it won't open the car any more. Car owners with kids often find this out the hard way when they start playing with the key fob. \n \n40 bits is enough for a trillion different codes, so you're never going to confuse two different signals. It's more than enough for all the cars in the world that choose that particular frequency for their key fobs. ",
"Not all keyless entry systems are the same, and some will unlock other vehicles. Newer versions fix older flaws in security. It's not that it can't happen. It just doesn't happen often. ",
"Oddly enough I designed the code for one of them. \n\nWhen you strip away the encryption it is easy to see how.\n\nEvery pair of receiver and remote shares a big number. I spec'd 48 bit numbers because it fit the packaging. This number is unique in the world. 48 bit numbers are big enough that there are no concerns of running out. Also both sides keep track of a counter of the number of valid instructions issued.\n\nSo the protocol translates roughly to:\n\nHey 8457285958, 478th instruction, button 1.\n\nObviously this is encrypted using a key that is shared by only those two. We used 128 bit keys, 40, 64, and 80 were common at the time.\n\nAvoiding the collision of ID numbers (8457285958 above) is easy. The instruction number avoids someone reusing a signal. Any signal that was further than 5 from the shared count required 5 consecutive signals to reset the counter. There were some other measures.\n\nI seem to remember that after my job was done the management screwed up the verification and if two devices with the same ECC* codes were within range of each other, using one remote would disable the other vehicle's remote for a few minutes.\n\n* ECC or error checking and correcting codes are necessary in any reliable system to prevent transmission errors. This is different from the encryption key."
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djo3iw | why media system in cars is like 10 years behind the rest of software world, even in a completely new cars with new media systems. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/djo3iw/eli5why_media_system_in_cars_is_like_10_years/ | {
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"You gotta remember that the car is mostly about the driver and not the passengers. There are a lot of safety and laws around distracted driving. Car manufacturers are slow to make a change that will make then look careless and create an unsafe vehicle.",
"Well, for one, your vectors for software update are limited. Not a lot of head units allow software updates and those that do usually you can't just slap a USB stick in.... wait, theres no USB slot.... and press a button to update. Usually its restricted to update by dealers and so on. \n\nSo, like games for older console units, waaay more testing before release because you can't push out an update later to fix bugs like you can with connected devices. Further, to reduce the scope of testing you want to strip out or eliminate as much extraneous functionality, chrome and bells and whistles as you can. \n\nSecondly there are tons of UX rules for how small text can be. If Im not mistaken there are federal automotive guidelines on how bright the text has to be, how readable, font sizes etc. etc. So you can just slap windows on a Surface tablet and be done with it.\n\nAnd as above, since you are now governed by federal automative laws (and there are more than you'd think), you have to get certification etc. and that means testing. \n\nI worked at a Bluetooth device manufacturer and we had to test interoperability with some car head unit software makers. While Bluetooth standards are... well... standards, it doesn't mean there aren't tons of areas where bugs and quirks shake out. I remember we found a bug with one of our devices that ONLY appeared on particular versions of the head unit OS ONLY on certain vehicle models (aka the head unit model)... and only if the car had a certain luxury feature. Think like your Bluetooth call dropped if the sat nav kicked in AND you had cruise control on. I know, weird shit. \n\nSo testing, testing, testing. \n\nPlus, the whole head unit OS has to be realtime. Yes, under normal circumstances your phone or tablet is real-time-ISH, but its not. If some bad application takes 100% of your CPU it can brick your device until you reboot. Can't have that happen on your car. So testing testing testing.\n\nLastly, once you have a platform that is tried and true, you don't want to mess with it save for required OEM customizations. Thats why there's relatively few players in the head unit OS market. QNX (now part of Blackberry) for one and Microsoft... and Microsoft (imho) sucks. Adding new features to a tried and true foundation that is used across a lot of brands is a rather serious endeavour. Same kind of reason why you don't have a lot of variance on avionics packages; if it works, don't dick with it. Especially when its mission critical and you can't update it easily."
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3sjcwy | why is there a guinness world record for the longest time spent in an anechoic chamber? wouldn't a deaf person be able to stay there indefinitely? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3sjcwy/eli5_why_is_there_a_guinness_world_record_for_the/ | {
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"A normal person can stay in there indefinitely. Veritasium did this on his youtube channel. He said its weird but it definitely didnt cause him to freak out or anything. He stated he could have easily stayed much longer but hed already broken the time someone said was the longest that had been done."
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70al9d | if sharks have to keep moving to breathe, what happens when they get tired? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/70al9d/eli5_if_sharks_have_to_keep_moving_to_breathe/ | {
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"Similar ELI5:\n\n* _URL_1_\n\npunkinholler posted:\n\nFor one thing, not all sharks have to keep swimming to continue \"breathing\". Nurse sharks, for example, can and do sit on the bottom all day with no trouble. As for the sharks that do swim all the time, a quick Google search suggests that there's no clear answer on whether or not they sleep at all or how to even define \"sleep\" for them.\n\nHowever, dolphins have similar breathing troubles as sharks because breathing is always under conscious control for them (i.e. they only breathe when they think about it) so they'd drown if they fell asleep like humans do. Since dolphins are so much easier to study than sharks (sharks can't be trained to cooperate with researchers), we know that dolphins get around that problem by only sleeping with half of their brain at a time. At such times they have only one eye open, they tend to hang out at the surface, and they can and do move around sluggishly. I know you didn't ask about dolphins, but since there's no answer for the shark question, I figured I'd throw it in as lagniappe.\n\nSource: _URL_0_",
"Sharks have a unique swimming pattern. Imagine them as a plane. \n\nThey burn energy taking off, get to top speed and altitude, then cut the engines, gliding down under minimal power, only kicking the on engines just before they hit the ground and starting the cycle over again. \n\nSharks swim hard to surface, and can rest as they glide down to depth. This keeps them moving with minimal energy, so they have plenty in reserve when it comes to murdering time. \n\nIf they run out of energy to burn to the surface, they die, because nature is metal. ",
"Similar ELI5:\n\n* _URL_1_\n\npunkinholler posted:\n\nFor one thing, not all sharks have to keep swimming to continue \"breathing\". Nurse sharks, for example, can and do sit on the bottom all day with no trouble. As for the sharks that do swim all the time, a quick Google search suggests that there's no clear answer on whether or not they sleep at all or how to even define \"sleep\" for them.\n\nHowever, dolphins have similar breathing troubles as sharks because breathing is always under conscious control for them (i.e. they only breathe when they think about it) so they'd drown if they fell asleep like humans do. Since dolphins are so much easier to study than sharks (sharks can't be trained to cooperate with researchers), we know that dolphins get around that problem by only sleeping with half of their brain at a time. At such times they have only one eye open, they tend to hang out at the surface, and they can and do move around sluggishly. I know you didn't ask about dolphins, but since there's no answer for the shark question, I figured I'd throw it in as lagniappe.\n\nSource: _URL_0_",
"Sharks have a unique swimming pattern. Imagine them as a plane. \n\nThey burn energy taking off, get to top speed and altitude, then cut the engines, gliding down under minimal power, only kicking the on engines just before they hit the ground and starting the cycle over again. \n\nSharks swim hard to surface, and can rest as they glide down to depth. This keeps them moving with minimal energy, so they have plenty in reserve when it comes to murdering time. \n\nIf they run out of energy to burn to the surface, they die, because nature is metal. "
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24py4s | what happened to paralyzed people in the days when there was no practical care or facilities? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24py4s/eli5_what_happened_to_paralyzed_people_in_the/ | {
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"Sometimes family members were able to care for them. There were also churches that could assist. If they were wealthy, then they could hire people. If they were not, then they would most likely die from disease, starvation, etc."
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1sjby3 | why isn't google+ really popular? | It seems like Google+ has really ever "caught-on" | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1sjby3/eli5_why_isnt_google_really_popular/ | {
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"For me personally, it's because they are attempting to force me into using it by taking services away and introducing them as Google+ only. ",
"I think they kept it too long in invite only, but other reasons might contribute to why it hasn't caught on. \n\nI do think that the more Google pushes it as a platform to access or use their other products, its popularity will increase. Some people say that's unfair or shady, but it's actually good business.",
"when i try to use it, it doesn't seem very intuitive to me. it doesn't feel personal. it just seems... impersonal to me for some reason. ",
"The differences between G+ and Facebook aren't immediately obvious. G+ seems to offer similar functions to FB, but the motivation to learn how to use it hasn't been established. It's a bit like how there's not really any new cola's on the market - Cokes established, coke does what we want it to do, so why bother trying this other brand.",
"G+ is actually an okay social site. It takes some time to tailor it to be good. Think of when you first logged in to reddit, you unsubscribed from a bunch of generic subreddits and selected ones you are actually interested in. In G+ you do this with individuals. So it takes some time to make it work well. Not everyone wants to spend time on this kind of customization. Most people just want something to work out of the box, so to speak.\n\nI think it's unpopular because google borked it's rollout. Instead of letting it grow organically, drawing people in as more and more interesting people generate content, google tried to push people in, which has caused some backlash.",
"Another aspect on top of what's been said is, people stay on Facebook because that's where all their friends are. And all their friends are doing that, too. If entire graphs of friends could unanimously agree to move to G+, I expect it would be a lot more popular. ",
"I installed it on my phone just to have it, and I found out a month later that it had been uploading all the photos I took with my phone. Thank goodness I didnt bother making friends on it.",
"Because I don't want to use my real name on Youtube to make comments.",
"The Network effect. \n\n\nAny sort of network is only as useful as the other people it links you to. \n\nFor example: A Phone is a great tool, but only because they are so common. If Only 100 people in your town had a phone, then it would be much less useful. For every extra person who has a phone, it makes every other phone more useful.\n\nFacebook is not useful because of the platform itself. - It is useful because the number of people on the platform. Google+ isn't as useful because it lacks the contacts - Nobody will join because everyone else hasn't already joined.\n\n_URL_0_",
"I tried Goog+ and even though I am pretty good with software, I had no idea what was going on. FB was much simpler. Of course now I am unconnected to most everything. Goog has gotten to \"up in my face\" so I have removed myself as much as possible. Plus they don't have anything I need to use. I really am turning into a curmudgeon. It isn't even so much the NSA. I understand why the NSA is the NSA in this day and age. But Goog and FB and the like are just into harvesting my organs with little return. There was a certain level of harvesting that I was comfortable with and they have crossed my line. I have terminated contact. They have nothing I need. ",
"Hello,\n\nThere isn't a factual answer to this question, and everyone's replies here are good food for thought. Trying to take my own myopic considerations out of the formula, I'm comparing the way the G+ and other services work.\n\nThe primary difference is circles. The big thing that was supposed to differentiate Google+ is the thing that hurts it. Circles sound great on paper, sure. But in reality they create walls and barriers to interaction. Circles limit exchanges between people, they reduce the number of worlds colliding, they hinder open communication in every way. \n\nYou might create a circle \"coworkers\" and one \"motorcycling\" but because your coworkers and motorcycle friends are in their own sandboxes, never the two shall meet. You'll never know that your coworker Mike is also a motorcycle guy because you've prevented him from seeing that part of you. \n\nSo, problem #1 is that conversation is limited rather than encouraged.\n\nBut there's something even more fundamentally wrong with G+ ... we call it the \"Field of Dreams\" problem. It's quite common, and very interesting that Google would suffer from it. Successful companies, projects, websites, products, and inventions all have one thing in common. There is an *actual need* for them. They solve a problem or provide something people want. \n\nGoogle+ simply doesn't do that. Or, another way to say it is, Facebook already solved that problem. It's true that there are people who reject Facebook or would be willing to move away, but they constitute a tiny (tiny!) minority in comparison to Facebook's near total dominance of the social media landscape. And where facebook falls short, nice-focus social services fill the gaps. Instagram, Pinterest, etc.\n\nProblem #2: Nobody *needs* Google+\n\nAdditionally ... \n\nIn my field of work, the opinion is hardly unanimous, but the sentiment is generally that \"If the Google product is about data, it's great. If the Google product is about people and interaction, it's terrible.\" ... this is a nebulous and intangible statement, but the gratuitous animations and other facets of the G+ UI get in the way of information and communication.\n\nSource:\n15 year ad industry web geek, publisher of mobile apps and enterprise level web systems, social media strategist and user experience designerd. ",
"Facebook is fluid, isnt missing anything, and free. No reason to change."
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3ft9cb | why do sunglasses signify looking cool? | I mean, it works all the time, but how? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ft9cb/eli5_why_do_sunglasses_signify_looking_cool/ | {
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"Seeming mysterious is a timeless method of being cool. Sunglasses, which hide one of the most expressive parts of your face, are an easy way to accomplish that.",
"Three main reasons:\n1. As has been mentioned, obscuring the eyes (or any expressive part of the face) \"breaks\" the way we read a person, making them appear detached or even alien. It's the same reason ninja masks look cool.\n2. Sunglasses are associated with leisure time and holidaymaking, therefore with wealth.\n3. In addition (and probably because of) 1 and 2, sunglasses have historically been worn by \"cool\" icons such as James Dean and John Lennon and rebellious subcultures like beatniks and greasers."
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5kjey7 | why do squeamish people get sick when seeing something gory? | Like when on the news if they show a picture of something gory they have a disclaimer. Is there a genetic part of it and what happens in your brain?
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kjey7/eli5_why_do_squeamish_people_get_sick_when_seeing/ | {
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"If I'm not mistaken it's a life preservation reaction from your body. If say you get your leg cut off and see the blood gushing out your body will pretty much shut down except for the completely necessary functions. This will slow heart rate and blood flow along with that so you don't bleed out so fast.",
"I can only speak from my own experience on this.\n\nI have a relatively weak stomach. I'm not sure when this developed, because I was raised on violent video games (I played MK1 in the arcade when I was under 10 and was pretty good at it...) and action movies. I am no stranger to seeing gore, but over the years I have developed an aversion to it (I am now 32).\n\nFor me, the issue is that I have a vivid imagination and can almost \"feel\" the sensations that the victim must be going through (or at least, my mind's interpretation of the sensations occurring) minus the actual pain. \n\nEmpathy - mixed with an overactive imagination and a healthy concept of mortality is the only thing I can think of that causes this for me.\n\nLike I said, I can only speak to my own experience on the matter. \n\nFor context, I have also had multiple abdominal surgeries due to a hereditary anemia. I had to have my spleen removed due to inflammation while in middle school, and had to have 2 other surgeries to remove bowel-obstructing adhesions from scar tissue due to the original splenectomy (one occurred during the same visit, had to reopen my 5\" incision, the other occurred 3 years later leaving a vertical 6\" on my stomach)."
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5pfvas | why do people who hate the west blame white people for slavery while forgetting conveniently that, while the whole world engaged therein, it was the west which abolished slavery? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5pfvas/eli5_why_do_people_who_hate_the_west_blame_white/ | {
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"Well, an important part of it is that history, and modern understanding of it, tends to be western-centric. \n\nFor example, almost everyone knows that the US once had slaves, and that they had a civil war related to it. But how many people do you think know about the Barbary States. Could you, without using wikipedia, point them out on a map? Would you, or another average person, even know when they existed?\n\nThe other part is that the Atlantic Slave Trade was rather large in scale. The total amount of slaves traded by other systems may be higher, but the Atlantic Slave Trade did not last as long, so it was more intensive.\n\nThe third thing is that the American enslavement was not too lethal. As a result, those slaves did not die, but instead lived on, and their offspring as well. And enslavement has become part of their cultural identity."
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7s5hbp | do donated organs age according to the donor´s age or do they adapt to the age of the new body? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7s5hbp/eli5do_donated_organs_age_according_to_the_donors/ | {
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"They age according to the age of the donor. There's a lot of factors in what causes aging, but the upshot is that the organ will have experienced all of those withing the donor's body first - the cell damage due to alcohol, crap food, lack of exercise, age - and the donated part will continue to age *from the time of donation*.\n\nHowever, other than normal cell aging caused by, well, age, the new body will determine how fast the new part ages. So if well taken care of once implanted in the new host, it will basically age at the rate of the recipient.\n\nSo, for example: a thirty year-old alcoholic is killed by a freak accident involving projectile waffles. How it happened doesn't matter, know only that it was batter up and the only salvagable part is the liver. Now, that liver had been soaked in alcohol, dude lived on fried bread, so it was aging fast: 1 year of age per year + 1/2 year of age to abuse, so from an aging standpoint, it was 30-years old + 15 years of abuse and damage = functionally 45 year old liver.\n\nNow the new body it finds itself in is 25-years old, loves and cherishes that liver. It takes that liver and coddles it with clean water, veg, and a two kilometer walk every day with a dog that loves them and the world it lives in. Like, seriously, that dog is *awesome* and *great* for mental health. So the new liver continues to live one year of age per year, and no added stress and abuse, so it ages normally. The 25-year old body has a 45-year old liver, but it will continue to age normally and now that it's being treated better, might even last a little longer than expected.\n\n**Edit:** Thank you for the gold. Like the gold of fresh waffles, they made my day.\n\n**Edit 2:** I should clarify that one should take the advice of a doctor over mine any day when it comes to organ transplantation, my ELI5 was incomplete as a total explanation of transplantation and post-care - the question asked about aging only, so that's what I kept to - and *never* use the liver of a chronic alcoholic for transplantation, even if a recovery dog and replacement waffles *are* available afterwards. My examples were meant to be light and accessible, not medical advice, honestly.",
"Age is very relevant in organ transplant. You wouldn't want to put a grown man's kidneys inside of a child or vice versa. However once the candidate and donor are fully grown, age is much less of a factor in terms of compatibility. ",
"In your dna there are thing called telomeres. They reproduce and every time they do they get shorter. Once they get too short they cannot reproduce properly hence old people getting sick and dying. This is also a major reason cloning is so bad, if you clone an old person the baby is going to have problems with old people diseases and will die young.",
"Just wondering, is it possible then to receive and 80 year old liver/heart into a 20 year old and then when they are 80 pass it on indefinitely? ",
"Many organs have low amounts of damage that they accumulate over time, so the age of the donor matters more than the age of the recipient.\n\nIts important to know that the organs 'age' faster after transplant. You were meant to keep your own organs, not have someone else's stuck in you. So your immune system is always trying to reject that foreign tissue. And you're stuck taking medications to suppress that immune response, and those immune suppressive drugs are a toxic mess that damages organs. And your immune suppression makes you more likely to have infections, which damage your organs.\n\nSo between the immune system's graft versus host disease, the immune suppressive drugs, and infections, transplanted organs age faster than a native organ would",
"Cells speak to each other by a kind of language, but chemicals are used as words. This leanguage doesn't change with age. Older kidney releases the same chemicals and accepts the same chemicals from outside as control signals.\n\nBut younger organs work better and have better regeneration capability. So, overall the body benefits more from younger organs. And the work the organ does affect the whole body.\n\nSo, organs affect recipient's age. If the organ is younger, recipient's overall body parameters may be slightly pushed to the younger range.\n\nBut it's not all. There's a hypothesis of aging being preprogrammed by nature. Because if a species do not age and live long, evolution gets slower. So, the faster an organism of the species age, the faster the species evolve. But this hypothesis requires some evidence, we need to know how it works, how organism controls its aging.\n\nAnd one of the ideas is that each organism has inner chemical clock, that tells it what age it is. We know, there's telomere length parameter on the cell level, which tells how old a cell. But there might be a group of chemicals in the body, that define body's age. And all cells might release some chemicals to maintain that body inner age parameter. It might be that younger organ affects this parameter, making the whole body think it's younger than it is in fact.\n\nSo, it's not just the younger organ works better and this makes the body work like a bit younger body. It also might be releasing some hormone-alike signal, that tells other organs to work better.",
"They age according to donor, but really they have a shortish shelf life regardless. \nSource: my Fiancee got a kidney transplant from her father (he was 62, she was 25), and since he is old it died after just a couple years, then she got another kidney and pancreas from a young donor (he was 18, she was 28) and has been good for much longer, but thise organs are still sliding down in health this past year :/ (she's 33 now)\n\nEdit: just to give insight. She has had diabetes since she was 5, she's lost a few toes, lost both kidneys, lost the pancreas. Then, from all the abdominal surgery, she's had adhesions kill off part of her intestines (which lead to a bout with sepsis.) Doesn't help that I had a fall last year and have been on disability, unable to return to work (lineman). Anyone that wants to help out, feel free to donate. \n\nBtc- 1KpyjhwrLC5a3CU62HQdu9gsUVcNx72q4r\nBch- 1MhX5ct9tuN8Tkr1WA5hweRXSqReKTK539\nEth- 0xef1cC3A537f06246C12438859991b666d8d150b5\n",
"I haven’t seen anyone mention the fact that once inside the recipient the donated organ will be under constant attack from the recipients immune system, which will prematurely age the organ. Because of this transplant recipients take immunosuppressive drugs to reduce the amount of damage their own immune system will do to the new organ. It’s a balancing act between suppressing the immune system enough to stave off rejection of the new organ (which is almost always inevitable) and having enough of an immune system to fight off basic infections. This is why it can be difficult to find a match when looking for an organ. The closer the new organ is to the recipients own genetic markers the better. \n\nSource : I used to be an RN on an transplant unit. ",
"No.\n\nSo there's this thing called the Hayflick Limit, and its important. Every time (most of) your cells divide they lose a little bit of DNA. At first the DNA being lost is useless stuff off the end, but eventually they will start losing useful DNA. The number of times they can divide without losing real DNA is the Hayflick limit, and for a human the number is 50ish. Cells can divide about 50 times before they start losing DNA that is valuable (and thereby rapidly declining).\n\nSo let's say you are getting a new kidney from someone who was 70 years old. Just by being that old, they've probably burned through a lot of those cellular divisions over the years. We can put that kidney in a 25 year old, but that won't add any DNA back to the kidney cells that it lost through normal division.\n\nAnd so when people talk about being hard on your body, it usually boils down to killing off cells and forcing them to divide to replace themselves - effectively accelerating their aging. Do you box and take a lot of punches to the kidneys? That's going to force those kidneys to repair the damage via cellular division, and those are a finite resource. When people start breaking down of old age what basically happens is the number of cells that are able to have continued healthy divisions is starting to become scarce, so the organs are having a hard time maintaining themselves.\n\nAnd all of this Hayflick limit stuff may sound bad, but it basically makes you immune to cancer while it is working (for cancer to develop a mutation to remove this natural limitation must occur). So it guarantees you will die some day due to aging, but it makes it much less likely to be from cancer at an extremely early age.",
"Hypothetical: if frozen people in Mt. Everest were to ever be found, would their organs still be useful? Could be a dumb question but go ahead and shame me. ",
"It’s complicated. Each year that you live your entire body is aging and suffers some damage/deterioration. At the time an organ is donated, whatever damage has been sustained is there. That damage is a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. Once a donated organ has been transplanted into a recipient, the genetics remain the same but the environment is now different depending on the lifestyle of the patient. But it’s even more complicated than nature vs nurture here. Organ recipients immune systems are constantly launching an attack on the foreign donor organ (immunosuppressant drug regimens help minimize this). But invariably transplanted organs take a lot of damage in a relatively short amount of time and never last a whole lifetime. They scar and fibrose (become rubbery) and eventually stop working too. Average lung transplants for example last an average of 5 years. But this can be miraculous when you’re expected to live less than a year without transplant ",
"I’m a Certified Histocompatibility Technologist. I have an educational background in Molecular Biology and Chemistry and currently work in a High Complexity Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory. I work specifically in the relative risk assessment of organ pairing between donor and patient as well as post transplant rejection monitoring. I primarily work on DNA Typings, Flow Cytometric Crossmatches and Antibody Screenings (among other tests) and analyze all the data together to complete my assessment. From my professional background, I can attest that the organ size mismatch from a child’s kidney graft donated to an adult recipient will grow quicker to accommodate the recipient. It has to do with certain gene expression increases post transplant. ",
"Aging as a process - the thing that makes your body change from the age of 30 to the age of 80 - is very different to the process of maturation. This is one thing we must clear up first.\n\nMaturation is a (probably irreversable) process of organ growth and development, while aging is the (probably reversible) accumulation of 9 types of damage, which we call the Hallmarks of Aging. \n\nOther posters have stated that maturation will change; aging is a different matter entirely. You see, various systems within the body attempt to repair the damages of aging - this has some success in your youth, but fails as you get older. The result of this is that aging is exponential - and any young organ transplanted into an old body will likely age somewhat faster, due to these systemic effects. Repair of the repair systems should stop this, in theory.\n\nHowever, aging is not just one process - it's the combined effects of 9 different processes. While some of the damages causing aging (extracellular aggregates, crosslinking for instance) will probably be reversed to some extent if you transplant the organ into a healthy body, some will not (intracellular aggregates - proteins trapped within the cells).\n\nTL;DR - yes and no. It may be possible to repair the damages of aging, but all of that stuff's experimental phase right now.\n\n",
"This might be way off and even in the realm of Science Fiction, but would it be possible to take a recipient's stem cells and cells from their failing organ and clone a healthy new one? Then since it's the recipient's own organ, when it's implanted their immune system wouldn't attack it.",
"2 years post kidney transplant. 30 years old with a 55 year old kidney. Thanks Aunty.\n\nHere are some links for those who wish to know about Organ donation and those who wish to register as a donor.\n\n[United States](_URL_1_)\n\n[United Kingdom](_URL_4_)\n\n[Australia](_URL_0_)\n\n[New Zealand](_URL_2_)\n\n[Canada](_URL_3_)\n\nBefore you do register to donate please talk to your friends and family as this can be as much of a life altering situation for them as it is for you.\n\n",
"I was 23 when I had my liver transplant, the donor was 74. I've been assured that my cells will help de-age the liver a bit, maybe a few years and that's mostly liver specific as it regenerates itself. 3 years on and it's working better than my 23 year old liver had ever worked, the drug side effects aren't fun but the liver itself is outstanding for something antique. \n\nSource: My liver remembers the second world war. ",
"I didn’t see any mention of younger donations. I work in transplant and donor surgery. I can’t speculate on organs that are older than the patients but a transplant from younger donors will grow right along with the patient. For example if a two year old receives a liver from a younger child, the liver will catch up and continue to grow with the recipient. By adulthood the liver will be the same as any adult liver. \n\nGenerally speaking, most older organs go to people around the same age unless they are in beautiful condition. The exception being they will use a smaller young adult organ on just about anyone. If the situation is critical and the organ is less than stellar because of age or any other reason, they will give the option to the recipient. The surgeon can also decline any organ at anytime for any reason. The organ then gets offered to other doctors for patients that may be worse off and desperate. \n\nI have heard of smokers lungs going to desperate patients and hepatitis C livers going to non hep c people. They figure a working hep c liver is better than death. Hep c can be treated later. \n\nThe network is very streamlined and awesome to watch in action. ",
"Who said anything about harvesting children's organs!?",
"When I was four years old my heart valve was replaced with a 16 year old girl. I am 18 and the valve currently functions correctly but only needs to be replaced because it is now to small to fit my heart. The organs will work for you but if you got it when you were younger you might have to get it replaced again. The tissues wont grow correctly since they are different than your tissues."
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"https://organdonor.gov/index.html",
"https://www.donor.co.nz/",
"https://www.canadiantransplant.com/donate",
"https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/"
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9zia9o | why can you see through 100% humidity air but you can't see through fog? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9zia9o/eli5_why_can_you_see_through_100_humidity_air_but/ | {
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"Fog is large water droplets suspended in air, which disperse light. Humidity is water vapor, which has very little impact on light. ",
"Water vaporous is transparent but small liquid water droplets are not.\n\nFog, mist and could is water droplets in the air. The small droplets will reflect light in a random direction and the result is white and not transparent.\n\nA large amount of liquid water it transparent but a lot of small droplets are not. The explanation is that light is reflected and bend when it move from water to the air. It is only on the surface and on the edge of a large amount of water but in the side for each small droplet in the are.\n\nYou can compare it to clear glass but if you shatter it it look white and block the light. Ice is clear but if you smash it it start to look white. Snow is a slot of small ice crystals and look white for the same reason that small liquid droplets look white."
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1mew04 | epilepsy and seizures | My younger brother (15 years old) had a seizure tonight and I want to understand how Epilepsy works. We don't know for sure if he has epilepsy or if his seizure is due to something else. The paramedics said he is fine and a follow-up would a good idea. If he does have Epilepsy, I want to know how to help him adjust. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1mew04/eli5_epilepsy_and_seizures/ | {
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"Generalized seizures affect both cerebral hemispheres (sides of the brain) from the beginning of the seizure. They produce loss of consciousness, either briefly or for a longer period of time, and are sub-categorized into several major types: generalized tonic clonic; myoclonic; absence; and atonic.\n\nGeneralized tonic clonic seizures (grand mal seizures) are the most common and best known type of generalized seizure. They begin with stiffening of the limbs (the tonic phase), followed by jerking of the limbs and face (the clonic phase).\n\nMyoclonic seizures are rapid, brief contractions of bodily muscles, which usually occur at the same time on both sides of the body. Occasionally, they involve one arm or a foot. People usually think of them as sudden jerks or clumsiness. A variant of the experience, common to many people who do not have epilepsy, is the sudden jerk of a foot during sleep. First aid is usually not needed, however, a person having a myoclonic seizure for the first time should receive a thorough medical evaluation.\n\nAtonic seizures produce an abrupt loss of muscle tone. Other names for this type of seizure include drop attacks, astatic or akinetic seizures. They produce head drops, loss of posture, or sudden collapse. Because they are so abrupt, without any warning, and because the people who experience them fall with force, atonic seizures can result in injuries to the head and face. Protective headgear is sometimes used by children and adults; the seizures tend to be resistant to drug therapy. No first aid is needed (unless there is injury from the fall), but if this is a first atonic seizure, the child should be given a thorough medical evaluation.\n\nAbsence seizures (also called petit mal seizures) are lapses of awareness, sometimes with staring, that begin and end abruptly, lasting only a few seconds. There is no warning and no after-effect. More common in children than in adults, absence seizures are frequently so brief that they escape detection, even if the child is experiencing 50 to 100 attacks daily. They may occur for several months before a child is sent for a medical evaluation.\n\nInfantile Spasms are clusters of quick, sudden movements that start between 3 months and two years. If a child is sitting up, the head will fall forward, and the arms will flex forward. If lying down, the knees will be drawn up, with arms and head flexed forward as if the baby is reaching for support. What to Do: No first aid, but doctor should be consulted.\n\n"
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4y8lsw | what happens when a program freezes? why can't the program just stop what it's doing immediately and need to wait for several seconds(minutes) before something happens? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4y8lsw/eli5_what_happens_when_a_program_freezes_why_cant/ | {
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"This can happen for multiple reasons, mostly some part of the program is waiting for something (a file/webservice) to get read information out or respond somehow but the file is not readable or the server is not reachable because of Internet conection problems.\n\n It might be caused by a bug too. If some function enters an infinite loop or bad error handling.\nAnother thing could be just your OS (seen mostly on windows) not realizing your program is just loading something that can normaly take some time. \n"
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514yeo | why does jupiter appear to be 'layered'? | [Like this](_URL_0_)
It looks like its made of many flat layers
why reddit, why!?
Edit: What causes this banding, if anyone knows? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/514yeo/eli5_why_does_jupiter_appear_to_be_layered/ | {
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"I assume you mean why does it have horizontal stripes in latitude: it does also have layers as you down inside it, but those aren't obvious in this picture.\n\nIt's a consequence of \"conservation of angular momentum.\" This is the effect that causes an ice skater to spin faster when she pulls her arms toward her body: if part of a spinning object moves closer to the axis of rotation, the object will start spinning much faster. Jupiter as a whole spins very fast (once every 11 hours), so this rule matters.\n\nHot air rising up from deep inside Jupiter creates small storms: the small swirling motions you see in the photo. These storms merge and combine to form bigger storms (the big red and white ovals), but conservation of angular momentum puts a limit on how big they can get *in the north-south direction*. Parts of each storm will be moving air north-south, which brings the air closer or farther from the axis of rotation: this means the air starts moving around the planet's axis faster or slower than the rest of the planet, which means north-south winds are converted into east-west winds.\n\nThat means that the north-south size of atmospheric structures is limited, but the east-west size is not. As a result, as storms continue to merge, they form long skinny east-west bands that stretch around the whole planet.\n\nYou see this in every planet's atmosphere, but because the planets have different sizes and rotation rates, the limiting length scale (called the Rhines scale) is different. [Saturn has bands like Jupiter](_URL_1_), but because they're covered in a layer of high haze, they're harder to see. On Earth, the Rhines scale is about a quarter the size of the planet, so we see a sort of [\"four-banded\" atmosphere](_URL_0_) with a tropical and mid-latitude circulation cell in each hemisphere. Venus, on the other hand, rotates very slowly, so its Rhines scale is bigger than the planet, so the atmosphere is just [one big band.](_URL_3_). \n\n_URL_2_"
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"http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/62278main_pia05416-516-426.jpg",
"https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-fluid-mechanics/article/waves-and-turbulence-on-a-beta-plane/888854B51E3622BBF8D0AFC6367037D8",
"http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/613aa18fa64b9b1843bc58348105932f.jpg"
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2idncp | why is it that when i don't exercise i feel tired and depressed while many people never exercise and seem fine? | I think the title says it all. I can provide more info if needed. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2idncp/eli5_why_is_it_that_when_i_dont_exercise_i_feel/ | {
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"They're not as fine as they appear. I've learned a lot more people are depressed and don't realize it. They think that's the way life is supposed to be and that you're supposed to just \"deal with it\". It's kind of dodging your question but most people aren't fine and won't wear their heart on their sleeve, they can be hiding a lot of shitty emotions."
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877fot | why aren't we able to stream content anywhere in the world? is there an actual technical reason for it or is it just discrimination? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/877fot/eli5why_arent_we_able_to_stream_content_anywhere/ | {
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"It's most commonly a legal rather than technical issue.\n\nIn the early days of media, it was really expensive and complicated to do anything internationally. If an American company wanted to show an American movie in Japan, they had to either print a bunch of reels of film in the United States and then ship them to people in Japan and have them somehow get to various theaters, or they had to ship a set of master reels to Japan and have a local film duplication company duplicate them and then send those reels to theaters. All of that had to be done when nobody in the company had ever been to Japan, almost nobody spoke Japanese, nobody knew what kinds of movies the local market wanted, nobody knew the local media and censorship laws, etc. And then that process had to be repeated for every country they wanted to distribute their media in.\n\nThe result of that was that instead of having the company that created the media try to figure all that out, what they'd do is sell an exclusive license to a distributor in those countries, and then it was up to the distributor to figure out what the right way to deal with everything was. Sometimes those agreements were one-offs, but sometimes relationships were built up with distributors and they'd just routinely sell them licenses for everything they made, maybe for a share of the profits or maybe for a fixed rate, whatever deal they hammered out.\n\nThis worked out really well then, but nowadays these agreements end up making things complicated. If American Movies Corp. has an agreement with Japanese Movies Ltd. to be their exclusive distributor in Japan, then they can't distribute their own movies to Japanese people. And Japanese Movies Ltd is going to sue American Movies Corp. if they sell a license to Netflix that makes those movies available in Japan. So now, when American Movies Corp. is talking to Netflix about distributing their movies on the Internet, they have to tell them that the license they're giving them doesn't apply to Japan, or the UK, or France, or 17 other countries where they sold off their rights to a local distributor. That means when you ask Netflix to play an American Movies Corp. movie while in Japan, it won't come up, because they don't have a license to play it there.\n\nThis is partly why it's so much easier for companies like Netflix or Amazon creating original content. They don't have these existing distribution arrangements, they still have global rights to everything they make, so they can just distribute it globally and everyone is happy."
]
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4y97n5 | what causes people's personal preferences for what races they find attractive? | There are people who find all races attractive but there are many who prefer certain race's faces and find certain race's features unnattractive. What causes this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4y97n5/eli5_what_causes_peoples_personal_preferences_for/ | {
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"This is nearly entirely nurture rather than nature. I.e. you are not born that way but your own experiences and society starts moulding you from day 1.",
"We are meant to find a mate who's aesthetic traits are close to our own. Hence the fact that people tend to gravitate to those in their same race. In our culture this is becoming less of a factor though. It usually is much more pronounced in animal mating. The reasoning comes down to seeing ones own traits as beneficial for survival. And therefor choosing similar traits that would be more of a guarantee to work well when combined in the offspring. As well as being more likely to avoid genetic mutations and or two traits having an opposing effect. ",
"Brain likes familiar things and dislikes unfamiliar things. Why do you peek from behind my leg when you see me talking to a stranger ? That's because strangers cause stress in the brain, and the brain doesn't like stress, it drains energy. \n\nSo people tend to stick with things that don't cause stress, and sticking to people that look like them is one of those things that creates comfort. Who would you rather play with ? Your friends' mommy ? or your own mommy ?\n",
"This is one of those areas that's going to be clouded by bias and ideology, so keep that in mind when reviewing answers.\n\nNow, as far as mate selection goes, the instinct to mate with similar individuals is logical from a basic biological perspective; members of the same species tend to resemble each other in ways that members of other species do not, and only mating attempts within the same species will be successful, so those organisms with this instinct will pass it on to their offspring, and it will be reinforced in subsequent generations.\n\nTaken to its extreme, however, this attraction to similar organisms will result in inbreeding, and any genetic defects will be magnified until the species good extinct. Obviously, extinct species do not reproduce, but those individuals with a preference for novelty, within certain constraints, will produce more viable offspring, and the interplay between these two instincts will tune mating behaviour to fairly optimal levels, all things being equal.\n\nNow, when we discuss humans, it gets much more complicated, because instinct is no longer entirely in control; vast volumes of information are exchanged between individuals and groups that has goals other than mating, but also has an influence on mate selection.\n\nSo for humans, the short version is that instinct is less important, but it's still a factor. When mating opportunities are few, and resources are scarce, instinct will draw an individual toward more similar mates, in order to maximise the probability of reproductive success, at the expense of less genetic robustness. When mating opportunities are abundant, and resources are not constrained, instinct will favour novelty, to maximise the overall health of an individual's offspring.\n\nOr maybe, on a particularly good day during your childhood, the young woman at the ice cream stand, who gave you extra rainbow sprinkles and smiled when you said thank you, maybe she had curly hair and brown eyes, so you associate curly hair and brown eyes with happiness, and you look for those traits in a partner without ever knowing exactly why.\n\nHumans are complicated, and frequently dumb. They're also endlessly fascinating, and totally worth more than the colour of their skin or the shape of their eyes. I hope that helps."
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5gz7gr | the butcher told me to defrost meat in cold tap water, replacing the water several times during the process ... why not warm tap water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5gz7gr/eli5_the_butcher_told_me_to_defrost_meat_in_cold/ | {
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"text": [
"Warm water leads to an faster proliferation of bacteria. The lower the temperature is, the harder for the bacteria to reproduce."
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yvxs0 | how are drugs like cocaine addictive? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/yvxs0/eli5_how_are_drugs_like_cocaine_addictive/ | {
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"There are two types of addiction: physical and psychological.\n\nPhysical addiction happens when your body gets used to taking a drug. Some drugs cause chemical changes in the body that the body gets used to having happen after a while. If the user stops taking the drug then those chemical changes don't happen anymore and the body misses them. Sometimes the body can get very sick when it misses the drug and the drug user experiences something called *withdrawal*. Withdrawal can interfere with sleeping, eating, breathing, or other body functions and sometimes it takes a long time for the user to get used to not taking that drug anymore. Some drugs that are addictive are heroin or alcohol.\n\nPsychological addiction can happen when a drug user takes a drug and likes it enough that they think their life is worse without it. Their body doesn't get used to the drug but the drug user likes the feeling of taking the drug, and without it the user feels less happy or less satisfied. A drug like ecstasy is an example of a drug without real physical addiction but some people get psychologically addicted to."
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3hplaq | what does a dj at a club really do besides make a list and push play? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hplaq/eli5_what_does_a_dj_at_a_club_really_do_besides/ | {
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"He DJ's! ie he plays around with the pitch, filters and all sorts, and he also layers and mixes the tracks.. or to put it simply he plays with a bunch of knobs and buttons to make the music sound as good as possible, all while doing some shitty dancing and hand movements. \nThis video might help to understand a bit better:\n_URL_0_",
"My cousin is a DJ and from what I can tell, he does his best to actually get the cround into a more fun state of mind and keep people excited and on the dance floor. If you simply made a playlist and pushed play any event could look like those awkward middle school dances. ",
"ha my boyfriend would go crazy of he saw this - he's a DJ. They have a bank of songs but they don't just play them in a list, its about reading the crowds mood and figuring out what songs go with the mood, plus there's the mixing. If you're at a club you don't hear songs stop and a new one start, they have to be mixed together which means you can hear the start of one song at the end of the other - this involves having to change the speed of the songs and making sure the beats in both songs match, its really technical shit "
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2fjra7 | why does traveling by train cost more than other transport? | In Ireland and Britain the cost of traveling by train can be 4 to 5 times as much as it would cost by bus/coach , even flying can be cheaper than the train if booked in advance.
I of course understand that the train companies exist to make a profit, but that's true of the bus companies and airlines also.
So before profit, what is it about trains that make them more expensive to run? (If it is at all?)
How much does the cost of fuel, for example, compare for a 400 km journey for a train, plane and bus?
EDIT: a lot of people commenting on the merits of rail travel etc, what I really want to know is the actual running cost of rail ie how much does it cost to fuel a train , and how much is maintenance etc etc to compare to air and bus travel | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fjra7/eli5_why_does_traveling_by_train_cost_more_than/ | {
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"Trains have a novelty factor because it is a more \"old-fashioned\" form of transportation. This means that tourists with money to spend would be more willing to pay the extra fee to go by train.\n\nIn addition, train travel doesn't have much competition. Air and bus/coach is quite competitive. For trains, it's not like someone will set up a new set of tracks next to an existing line just to provide competition.\n\nLastly, train transports have to maintain all the railway between destinations. Traveling through air within a country is generally free (there may be charges going through different nation's airspaces). Roads are maintained by the government. For trains, this can be hundreds/thousands of km of railroads to maintain by one company.",
"Not the case here, a bus from where I live to where I work costs £4.60 return, a train from where I live to where I work costs £4.50 for a peak time return\n\nEdit: \n\nBus travel time - 45 minutes\n\nTrain travel time - 8 minutes\n",
"I'd say maintenance has a big part to play. Large parts of railroad which are scarcely used still need to be checked regularly. \nHere, in the Netherlands, we've got a lot of railroad covering a very small amount of land, all of which is used very intensely. This means a maintenance can be done in a relatively short amount of time, meaning there's a lower cost. Thus taking a train is quite a bit cheaper than taking a car. \nI would argue it does depend on the quality of roads and other infrastructure though. ",
"Trains have to pay for their own right of way, and maintain it. Coach bus companies get to freeload off the public highway system, saving a ton of costs. Airlines don't have a right of way at all, but they do need to lease space at airports. I don't know actual numbers, but I'd imagine that leasing a terminal bay for 10 years is way cheaper than maintaining 400km of right of way for 10 years. \n\nIn terms of fuel, rail is one of the most efficient modes. They can also use really dirty fuel like bunker fuel (same as big ships), which is way cheaper than jet fuel. ",
"I went to Germany (and a few of the surrounding areas) this summer and we went by train just because it seemed to be the most convenient for a group like ours. No leaving early and waiting in airports, easy for the 8-10 of us to sit relatively close, can get up and move around easily, relatively few delays.\n\nI honestly don't know if it was cheaper - we got the Eurail pass and used it pretty consistently for a month (and in Germany, I think it was good for the S-Bahn, so we had that added benefit). Flying may have been cheaper and quicker, but I liked the trains better. ",
"In the UK most trains are used by commuters. The sensible ones will pay for their tickets way in advance and save quite a lot of money. As the departure date gets nearer, the demand for the train will increase as more people try and get on, so the price goes up. Planes are exactly the opposite, they are mainly used by tourists to destinations served by multiple modes of transport. As the departure date gets nearer, there is unlikely to be an increase in demand. The plane owners will now be very keen to sell tickets, they will use a vast amount of fuel, pay the same landing costs and the same staff costs, regardless if there is 1 passenger or 100. Because of this they will sell tickets cheaply to fill the seats.\nTl:Dr empty seats on planes cost almost the same as full ones. Empty seats on trains don't exist.",
"First to answer the main question. Rail is capital intensive and typically government-managed which means \"expensive and inefficient\". Airlines operate in a niche where they have little competition. Bus transport is a cheaper alternative because they are mostly run by private companies and have low barrier to entry - requiring only a bus, the roads (which railways need to build and maintain themselves) are there and funded through taxes.\n\nNow Britain is a great example of why rail can get so expensive. I also can explain why Britain in particular has such an awful rail system. I never looked into the Irish rail system but I am assuming it would be quite similar since both countries took a similar approach mid-20th century. There was a map on reddit recently which pictured what the railways in Ireland looked like from 1925 to 1975. ... [here it is](_URL_0_) Notice how starting from 1950 many of the smaller lines start to disappear. It will be important later on.\n\nA bit of history first. Britain had a very extensive network of railways up to the nationalization in 1948. After that the railways were running not according to local markets but according to government plans and with government efficiency. That caused the railways to become underfunded and mismanaged so much that the government supported the infamous \"Beeching Axe\" which aimed to get rid of \"unprofitable\" lines and focus on select few \"main\" lines. However the underfunding continued through the 70s and in the 80s when Thatcher government decided that railways are a thing of the past and focused even more on individual transportation. As a result the relative unreliability of the railways caused all new settlement, road planning and journey habits to focus on cars and buses and later - airlines. That also means that all closed lines - many of which could serve as alternative routes - were not only underfunded but *not maintained at all* since the reform.\nThis meant that when the Major government privatized BR in 1993 they effectively returned to the market a network which was both in much worse technical condition than when it was first nationalized nationalized but also one that was much smaller. As a result they were privatizing only a couple of main routes.\n\nThe privatization was also a planning failure. They got *everything* wrong. First they separated tracks and carriers creating Railtrack which was in charge of *all* railways. Considering the condition of the network...the famous Hatfield crash was just the icing on the cake. All of the railways were taken into new government company Network Rail and to this day are constantly subsidized. Secondly they created the framework for local monopolies. Instead of allowing for competition and markets to work the government all but decided how many trains, how often, what stock etc and then in public tenders with very high barrier to entry they selected a carrier for a period of 5 years IIRC. This sets all the incentives backwards. Not only the carriers have to deal with a number of arbitrary, politically motivated requirements but they have no effective long-term to consider because in a five years time they might be out of the job. This makes every tender a hit-and-run which results in companies preparing offers for the bureaucrats and then trying to milk the commission as much as possible.\n\nIn reality both railways and rolling stock should be in charge of the same company (as it is done in Japan) and the timetables, number of carriers and services should be established through the market process. \n\nTo add insult to injury because of the Beeching axe there are only a couple of main lines which really emphasizes the monopoly position of the franchise. The road network is congested as it is which limits individual transportation (the least efficient mode of transport) and buses (dependent on traffic). Airlines became very uncompetitive since 9/11. In such market conditions railways would be a perfect solution **if they were competitive**. Now even with a single carrier per line **if there were alternative lines** it could be possible. It's not thanks to Beeching and this means that massive amounts of passengers are ferried by monopolies with all that it entails. Remember that England has a very high population density - over 400 people per 1 sq. km with North West having 500/sqkm and South East 450/sqkm. That's more than the Netherlands and close to Nordrhein-Westfalen region of Germany (come to Rhine-Ruhr to witness a majestic clusterfuck). I won't mention Greater London for obvious reasons (5 times as dense).\nThis suggest that there is a very high premium on efficient transportation between those regions which affects the price.\nEspecially to and from London which is one of the most expensive regions in Europe.\n\nThat might be remedied by building new lines...even in the place of the old ones... but that can be done only by the government - the owner of permanently strapped for cash Network Rail\n\nNow you might say \"but the prices are set by the government\"....\nBut who do you think has more influence on the government? The company which bids and the bank which underwrites it (most of carriers only **lease** their stock which is owned by different banks)? Or the passengers? And there is very little subsidy to rail fares the last time I checked\n\n\nSo in the end the cause for the high prices of British railways are the result of a quasi-monopolistic \"private\" network dependent on government planning, with little effective competition and no long-term outlook for rational expansion. A company's most important prerogative is maximization of profit. It *should* do it by providing the most satisfying service to the customers but why bother if all you need is make a couple of bureaucrats happy? All that largely due to political decision to do away with what was once the single most developed railway system in the world. Railways are very capital-intensive investment with a very high barrier to entry. It is however not so difficult once you have some shabby line and stops in place. All you need to do is lease some small motorized carriage and keep running as you get the passengers. Instead all depends now on expensive rolling stock on passenger-dense lines running according to government timetables. \n\nThat's another thing... the railways in Britain are closed between midnight and 6 am. Why? Because the NR people need to check their technical condition. **By hand**. In the middle of the fucking night. In Japan there's a train packed with sensors that checks the condition of the track running at operating speed between commercial services. It works perfectly. I guess there's some truth in the British Space Programme ( a huge ladder to orbit)\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nEDIT: As for other countries railways are always expensive - mostly because all of them are government run (waste, inefficiency, lost of public union jobs) or government regulated (same). There's also very little in terms of competition... however in many countries railways at least respond partly to the needs of passengers. In many countries railways are also heavily subsidized (which in reality makes the cost *higher* not lower) removes the first-hand cost from the passenger and transfers it to general taxes etc. Railways aren't meant to be very cheap - they are meant to be reliable and efficient in terms of moving large amounts of people from A to B. Cheap travel is something a bus should do. Still the outrageous prices which you can see on the British railways are thanks to the very unique mix of complete government incompetence in maintaining the network post-nationalization and the complete government incompetence in running it currently.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nEDIT2: **TL;DR**: \n\n* Britain's rail network is significantly reduced and underfunded following 45 years of nationalization which increases cost and limits potential competition between carriers\n* Easing rail congestion is particularly expensive in Britain - high population density and land prices\n* Carriers do not have to worry about long-term profitability because they are limited to 5-year terms granted through public tender, the nominal rail strategy is hit'n'run.\n* Carriers get temporary monopoly and have to run their services according to government prescriptions - no room for leasing of services\n* There is little subsidy to rail fares compared to other European countries.\n* General inefficiency of planning in government-owned DfT and NR.\n"
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4lua5f | if the light from screens makes us unable to fall asleep at night, why can people take naps during the day? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4lua5f/eli5_if_the_light_from_screens_makes_us_unable_to/ | {
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"\"Unable\" is inaccurate. People *can* fall asleep under nearly any condition. Having extra light just makes it harder. ",
"Naps are probably pretty natural. Our ancestors were likely up well before the sun every day getting a jump on either finding or chasing food. Once the sun peaks past noon you enter the hottest part of the day.\n\nIt would have been the most inefficient time to do anything, so the time was well spent in the shade drinking water, eating some food, and possibly taking a short nap to help re-coup some energy to continue into the evening.\n\nIt's just part of the circadian rhythm, there are waves through the day when it is much easier to dose off because your body is sending you the signals for it. Many people get a post-lunch time drowsiness, probably a remnant of our successful ancestors habits."
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3m5s0l | what is cern and what real problems can it cause? | I tried to do some research on it after seeing the conspiracy theories. That's mostly what's out there. Can someone explain what it really is and why so many seemed concerned? What real threats, if any, does it pose on us? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3m5s0l/eli5_what_is_cern_and_what_real_problems_can_it/ | {
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"CERN is basically trying to find out the origins of our universe and how everything works by using a very large particle accelerator to accelerate particles to 99.99991% the speed of light and have them collide with one another. When these particles collide they break apart and that is when we can see what holds particles together and how things work. Only problem is that there is years of data to go through and experimentally proving everything will take a long time. \n\nThere is no real threat from this, what you see online is just that, \"conspiracy theories.\" People believing that smashing particles will create a black hole and destroy the world. ",
"CERN studies the science of how the universe works at the smallest scale, smaller than an atom. They are trying to prove or disprove our theories about how the universe works at such a small scale. This is important to understanding how our universe came into being.\n\nCERN only makes smaller-than-atom sized things, and only for billionths of a second at a time. It learns what it can by scanning them in that time, they analyzing that scan for months and months. The things they make are new and exciting and sometimes sound scary, but nothing they make is a danger to us - all of it exists all around the universe, just not exactly where and when we need it to scan it."
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61dmxo | why are weapons and strategies in world war 2 so different across countries? | Japan had their cultural heritage that influence their differences but what influenced the difference between western countries? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/61dmxo/eli5_why_are_weapons_and_strategies_in_world_war/ | {
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"What do you mean exactly?\n\nThe weapons used by the major combatants were all broadly similar.\n\nStrategies are always going to be situational. Russian Deep Battle for example would have served very little purpose in the Pacific.",
"Japanese cultural influences on their weapons and tactics were less pronounced than you might think, and most of the more memorable examples of such (banzai charges, kanikazes, etc) did not become commonplace until late in the war. Most of the Japanese \"bushido\" code that their servicemen were indoctrinated with was actually pure propaganda with little basis in actual Japanese history. \n\nThe Soviets were communists and thus had little regard for the burdens placed on individuals when matters of the \"greater good\" were concerned. Thus, Soviet tactics often reflected significant callousness for the safety of their troops. Soviet offensives would often drive straight through minefields rather than bypassing or clearing them because a few dozen or hundred deaths from the mines was entirely acceptable if it meant a successful assault on the Germans. The Soviets also employed special units intended specifically to shoot their own men if they tried to flee. Such tactics were unique amongst the Allies due to the Soviet mindset about the worth of the individual. \n\nCultural influences on warfighting amongst the Western Allies were far more negligible, largely owing to the fact these countries had longstanding democratic traditions that had enabled the development of professional militaries largely divorced from ideology. ",
"Simply put, armed forces go with what works. If it worked in the last war, keep rockin' it. If you picked it up or learned it from the last war, adopt it in this one.\n\nThe French had the Maginot Line, a series of trenches, fortifications, and structures built to defend a border assault from their predicted enemies. Similar tactics (\"make a deadly no-go zone where you predict your enemies will attack you\") worked before. Until they didn't, like when Germany fairly circumnavigated the defended zone, making the tactic worthless.\n\nGermany adopted the *Blitzkrieg* (\"lightning war\") as a way to gobble up expanses of the battlespace, hold them, and extend again, outstripping established \"hey guys, let's march in ranks and divisions, take *this much* ground, encamp, plant a flag, and wait for the other guys here\" type of armies.",
"Very interesting question and I look forward to reading more answers. My opinion is that much of the national variance is down to the simple fact that WW2 was a paradigm shift in warfare. When what used to work no longer works, military doctrine is ripe for change. Each country has their own ideas, and nobody really knows what works until the dust settles."
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2v3pbn | why are there so few male teachers? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v3pbn/eli5why_are_there_so_few_male_teachers/ | {
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"It's the same reason why there are fewer women in STEM subjects - over the course of their life, a young person is exposed to thousands of little nudges towards some careers and away from others, based on their gender. Seeing people like you in a career nudges you towards it; hearing it described in negative terms nudges you away, and so on.\n\nBoys and young men receive subtle but persistent messages that teaching isn't something men get involved in, that it's unmanly, that there are better options for them. Unfortunately, while we're starting to recognise and counter the nudges that turn young women away from some careers, we're not very good at recognising that the same process is happening to young men and also needs work to encourage equality.",
"Historically, teaching was a profession that was open to women. Women began to take it very seriously, as it was a profession that THEY could own. It was viewed, very early on, as an academic and civil career for women.\n\nCurrently; There's a belief that women are more, and the word itself shows the point, maternal and supportive of children. Whereas men are viewed as more domineering and less emotionally supportive of young children. Not that this is even slightly true as a rule, but it is perception.\n\nAdditionally, there is a stigma against men who choose to work with children. Example, when a young woman wants to work with kids the initial thought is supporting and a phrase akin to \"it's so great that she wants to help kids\". \n\nBy intraday when a young male says it, it is often met with confusion and worry. Quite simply the example here would be: \"WHY does HE want to work with kids? Are my children safe?\"\n\nAgain not correct, but perception.\n\nSource: I teach 3rd graders, and I did interviewed based research on the topic for my undergrad.",
"Because\n\n* A teacher is considered a low status occupation, and the pay isn't great compared to other professions. Most people became teachers solely due to their passion in nurturing and taking care of kids, and males have a lower tendency to be inclined to that.\n\n* Teaching is a profession that has a reputation of a female occupation, which further lowers the status of male teachers. \n\n* Male teachers face the threat of being accursed of improper sexual behavior towards female students, and there are many female students who are immoral and won't think twice about inventing stories to punish male teachers they don't like. ",
"Just wanted to say male teacher here!\n\nI think it also depends on the subject. Sciences (minus Biology) and Social Studies tend to have more male teachers teaching them.\n\nEdit: typo"
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e7g2xj | how do biologists discover/study cell functions such as chemical receptors when they can’t directly see the processes? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e7g2xj/eli5_how_do_biologists_discoverstudy_cell/ | {
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"Think of it like a logic puzzle. There are so many ways you could go about it that there are libraries of textbooks available on the subject, plus graduate degrees you can earn.\n\nBut a simple, single scenario. \n\nYou notice a cell surface protein seems to show up in a lot of different species. Must be important for evolution to have conserved it, right? So you figure out the gene responsible for making this protein. Then you use some techniques and alter the gene in some way: maybe you make the cell produce TONS of this protein. Maybe in another sample you remove the gene altogether.. Then you grow the two altered cells side by side and see what happens."
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216645 | as a girl who loses tons of hair in the shower and in brushes, how am i not bald?! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/216645/eli5_as_a_girl_who_loses_tons_of_hair_in_the/ | {
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"You lose around 100 hairs a day naturally, and of course you start growing around 100 hairs a day. If your hair is long, the hair that falls out naturally probably just gets held in by your other hair until you shower or brush it out, so if you don't shower or brush your hair for a day or two, when you finally do it will look like you lost an ungodly amount of hair, but in reality it's just your scalp doing its thing.\n\n_URL_0_",
"All hair has a natural life cycle.\n\n - Growth (2 - 6 years)\n - Transition (follicle shrinks by a factor of six)\n - Resting (does nothing for 5 - 6 weeks)\n\nThen a new growth cycle with a new hair begins in the follicle, pushing the old one out."
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5kail3 | how are urls created for image/video hosting websites like youtube and imgur? | You know how every youtube video url has that "/watch?v=" part followed by a unique combination of letters and numbers. How is that created? Youtube is also a big website so is it possible to run out of combinations? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kail3/eli5_how_are_urls_created_for_imagevideo_hosting/ | {
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"As stated, the alphanumeric string is randomly generated. Youtube uses a string of 11 characters. It is possible to run out of combinations, but the number is so large it is not likely to ever happen. Each character in the string is one of: [A-Z],[a-z],[0-9], _ or - . That's a total of 64 possibilities per character. 64^11 = 73,786,976,294,838,206,464. There are an estimated 1,100,000,000 videos currently on youtube, so there is a long way to go. "
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2umvsw | why are german and japanese products generally more reliable and higher quality? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2umvsw/eli5why_are_german_and_japanese_products/ | {
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"There is a lot of quality control during the manufacturing process, which gets reinforced by high government standards. In Japan in particular, the quality of their products started going up when major industries there started adopting the Deming Cycle / PDCA cycle in the fifties.",
"As a german i would say because of the extensive testing that products have to pass here in germany before beeing thrown on the market and the perfectionism mindset of germans. But it could also be a perceived feeling if you are not living in germany because only the really good products manage to survive on foreign markets. There are also shitty german products but i don't think these would be exported to other countries.",
"One part of the answer is [W. Edwards Deming](_URL_0_). After his theories of management and quality control received a somewhat chilly reception in the USA, he went over to Japan, where he inspired some of the changes that led to the post-World War II \"economic miracle\" of Japan's rise as a manufacturing power.",
"They are touted that way, but I assure they are not always. I work with all makes and model of vehicle, new and old (Mobile electronics technician). German cars reach a point of over-engineered, and they come apart and go back together in less than intuitive manners. This is a passing age. I'd rather work on a new German car than a Ford these days; they're actually easier, more consistent, and everything fits much better. Flimsy, multi-piece contraptions hold American cars together, while German cars that are single pieces, and very strong, but can break when simply removing them. Japanese cars are becoming crap. Every year Toyota's plastic gets flimsier, wires are tiny and very stiff (they break very easily, an issue in the long run), and the product compatibility with their CANbus (the computer system's language) has flaky and inconsistent. GM just stepped their game up, big time. However, the truck interiors are not going to last, if they are messed with. They are precisely built, like a German car, but with cheap ass clips that lock into small plastic tabs that are part of the door panel. One little pull the clip doesn't like, and that corner/edge of the door will never snug up again. Don't even get me started on Kia... \n\nShort answer? None are as good as they tout themselves, but most aren't as bad as others say, either. It's not the brand or country of origin that matters, but the specific car model, for that year model, and sometimes even the trim level makes a difference. ",
" Id say that it comes from a culture, and ways of doings things, that as passed through the ages. The same way any other cultural practice does. It is what is acceptable in the society for that country. Probably in the same way it is grown to be acceptable in parts of china to produce low quality items cheaply. That just wouldn't fly in other parts of the world. ",
"Both places have a cultural respect for craftsmen, people who make things. Thus talented people make things.\n\nThe anglo-sphere has a cultural revulsion for craftsmen. Working with your hands is something someone who failed out of college does. Thus talented people run hedge funds. ",
"In many cases they are not. German stuff tends to be way over engineered. The initial experience is great, but when it does break the nightmare begins. Double the parts, at triple the cost per part, and double the labor hours because of the time it takes to break down, troubleshoot, order, and reassemble. \n\nI think the real answer to your question is anything not made in China is now good. The only brands and items that are from any country not in china are now high end high quality goods. The only way any brand can maintain a market share is by being in a totally different class of good than Chinese stuff. Whether it's American, Swiss, Italian, German, Japanese, doesn't matter. Chances are it's going to be twice as much as the Chinese option but last four times as long. ",
"I would say that isn't necessarily true. I have known lots of people with 3 series BMWs (myself included), and they break expensive stuff all the time. On the other hand, I have two post-2008 Fords now and nothing has ever gone wrong with them.\n\nThe Japanese made garbage in the 70s and then they decided they wanted to differentiate based on quality. Look up Deming if you want to know more. They succeeded, and suddenly in the 80s, their quality was the best. According to recent quality surveys, the American car makers have generally caught up (though with brand loyalty what it is, I expect lots of replies to my comment refuting this). Now, you'd be pretty safe buying a mid level car from any manufacturer.",
"\n\nTake a guess which bearing is made in Germany and which is Chinese.... No subtitles needed\n\n_URL_0_",
"That's because you mostly know the top products from Germany. The high costs of producing make it impossible for German companies to compete on the international market in the low price/quality segment. \n\nOr in other words if a Germany company builds a crappy and cheap car, a Indian company can produce the same crappy car cheaper. Great quality and engineering is the only way to position a car on the international market and be successful.\n\nEdit: \nI'm going to add some things because i wrote this post in a hurry and some things may not be as clear as i wanted them to be. I was talking about products made in germany. And i think most products from german companies made somewhere else don't get recognized as \"german products\", but there are german companies that produce cheap products (and many of them do so in other countries).\n\nThe important point i wanted to make is, that it is hard to compete with low prices when you produce in a country with high wages and taxes and social security. That is why companies that want to compete international, tend to focus on other things. I only mentioned quality in my comment, but to be honest i left out that there are other things like service or design and many other things that a customer is willing to pay for. And usually people don't want to pay more for something that isn't \"better\" in some way. \n\nI hope this made my comment a bit better and thanks for all the up votes!",
"Only the good international products (must be foreign owned) make it to the US market. \n\nEX: Only the good Japanese made cars make it to the US market since there's already so much competition for average quality US made cars. \n\nNote: Some people mentioned Chinese products, but these are mostly American owned and don't have to go through the same shenanigans to be sold in the US",
"For German cars I'm pretty sure a lot of it is perceived quality driven by marketing, consumer surveys don't point to German cars being any better than much cheaper models. BMW and their £4000 fix for their ticking time bomb 2 ltr diesels springs to mind! For Japanese cars it's very different, I've had several and never had a problem, it's all down to their process driven continual improvement philosophy when it comes to manufacturing. They deserve the quality moniker IMO. ",
"They aren't. It really is that simple. You are probably thinking cars, but really only Toyota and Honda have high reliability and quality. The other Japanese makers are mediocre. VW is not that reliable, and for their segments BMW and Mercedes are not that reliable. Other than cars, things are all over the place and many American, Korean, and even Chinese companies make reliable and high quality products.\n\nI have worked for American, German, and Japanese automakers. I could go into a ton about why certain cars are better in certain areas but it would take a really long time. Yet overall don't buy into German or Japanese being automatically great. In today's global world it's mostly about the company structure and philosophy, not some outdated notion of a country making better products.",
"Because the current option is China, which gives zero shits about anything outside of what their clients require them to. ",
"The cars from Germany anyway, is a myth. Volkswagens especially are notorious for being unreliable. Electrical problems being one of many issues. ",
"Because a lot of American companies put profit above quality. From my materials course, for example, I learned that Ford was more than happy with a 40% failure rate in their magnesium Explorer hatch doors, when it could have been as low as 5% with a few extra steps in their assembly line. \n\nSource: my materials instructor contracts out to automobile companies for R & D regarding magnesium. ",
"I would say the Marketing Strategy of the 80's has worked. You bought it hook, line and sinker.",
"Japanese products were actually cheaply made right after WW2 (lack of resources) and was regarded as inferior products until 1980's. Quality got better as the country got richer. ",
"The biggest reason is that an international consumer is only seeing the best products on their market. Poor products from these countries are unable to market and distribute at the rate of the larger ones because they do not make enough money in home markets. ",
"The key here is that Japanese and German consumers have significantly higher standards. In general, their culture would prefer to spend more for a superior products. This drives the manufacturing standards up.",
"Can't speak to the Japanese, but the Germans tend to have a \"long view\" outlook. They don't mind spending money so long as they are spending on something that will be of such high quality that it will last a long time. They aren't nearly into \"good enough\" as Americans can be. They are also nowhere near as much of a \"throw away\" society as America can be. These aspects of their culture carry over into their business dealings too. They take great pride in their craftsmanship. They're also super smart, so they know how to keep improving things over time. World class engineers. That's how you get world class product quality. And they view customers (whether business customers or individual customers) as someone with which they wish to have a business relationship over many years. They don't get as excited about quarterly reports and such like Americans do. They are all about the long game. \n\n(these are gross generalizations of course, but I suspect that you'll find others who back up what I've said)",
"I suspect that customer psychology is part of the explanation. If a car owner fully expects to see their car reach 200 k miles, they'll take excellent care of the vehicle for much longer. On the other hand, an owner of a French car might not expect their vehicle to last very long, and are more lackadaisical about maintenance as a result.",
"I don't know about Japanese products. But German products generally have a higher quality because their standardization norm (DIN) is way higher then the rest of the worlds (ISO). So when a product comes from Germany it has to pass more quality tests than other products have too.",
"Relavent: _URL_0_\n\nSource - movie: crazy people. ",
"If you're referring to cars, german cars are far less reliable over the course of time. Too many electrical gremlins/latest technology that goes sour quickly.",
"Another component to the answer is that these countries were largely destroyed with massive bombing campaigns in WWII. After the war, industrial centers were rebuilt from scratch, using the latest technologies and emphasizing efficiency. Meanwhile, much of American manufacturing was still using decades old machinery/methods, and was unwilling to make the large investments needed to compete. While the slow process of rebuilding took place, America's global exports exploded since 2/3 largest industrial zones were reduced to rubble. While this historical event imprinted upon Germany and Japan the importance of efficiency and implementing the latest technologies, the success of American exports had the opposite effect. ",
"I used to write firmware for specialty ICs used in various electronic products. Worked with customers in many countries. What stands out was the level of testing that Japanese manufacturers do to qualify your product. They would inject noise and errors, test voltage margins, etc. Would find all kinds of issues that we haven't the manpower to even consider. But we learned for them and made our product better in the process.",
"Because that's the power of German engineering",
"You'd actually be surprised. In the 2014 overall dependability chart, the highest scoring brand was Lexus with a 68, while companies like Volkswagon and Volvo came in at around 155. Honda scored above the industry average (133) though. Japanese manufacturing was utterly destroyed after World War 2. A guy named Deming introduced quality management into the Japanese economy and it spread like wildfire, leading to the development of just in time manufacturing and very successful quality control techniques that companies in the US just weren't using. So you'd have companies like Ford who produced cars that would barely last 100,000 miles, compared to a Honda which would last for much longer and not breakdown. It was a paradigm shift from Japanese products being seen as inferior to high quality. The Japanese also introduced Kaizen and many other process improvement methods to their economy which resulted in their leadership in the quality control movement. Furthermore, a number of US companies tried to implement similar programs (TQM, Lean, 6Sigma etc) but failed due to what is postulated to have been poor management just wanting to say \"me too!\". \n\nThat's not to say all US companies are of poorer quality than Japanese corporations. Ford has embraced all of these new ideas very successfully. They have a large property where they assemble all of their vehicles, and most of their suppliers are right next door if not on the property itself for JiT (just in time) delivery of product to the Ford factory. Ford has cut down on the number of models they offer so they don't reconfigure their production lines as often, and they have quality checks throughout the process to detect defects as soon as possible, and correct the cause of said defect. Ford isn't the only company to use quality control programs successfully, but serves as a good example. \n\nSome people also suggest that there are fundamental differences in the Japanese and American workforce due to culture. Whether or not this is true, I can't say. \n\nTL;DR: Japanese started and have led the quality management movement from the start, and wouldn't you know it, people would rather have a quality product than an equally expensive shitty one.",
"It's actually funny. I grew up in Europe, in a country not known for anything, and its funny that if I was asked to write the top 10 rules of life, \"German cars, Japanese electronics and Italian love and passion\" would be one of them. \n\nEdit: I read a bit further into the comments and I don't believe people (read Americans) are putting \"unreliable\" on German cars. If there's something I know for a fact, since I own one, and they've been in my family for quite a while, as well as many of my relatives, what German cars are not is unreliable. My dad's diesel Audi, for instance, has more miles in it than there is from Earth to the moon and, apart from the usual belts and filters, nothing major as gone wrong with it in 17 years. On the other hand, my mom's Peugeot has less than half the miles and half its age and just about every thing's gone wrong with it. ",
"After WWII, Japan had a reputation for shoddy goods and their goods were shunned by the international marketplace. They invited quality experts to their country to lecture and advise including W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. After adopting total quality management the quality of Japanese products rose. The Americans as market leaders in areas such as automobiles were not very concerned with quality until sales started to fall behind the Japanese.",
"None of you have touched on Japanese cultures norms regarding perfection for being the main reason for their great podium reach for lasting products.",
"Both cultures hold doing something properly and not half-assed as important. \n\nIt isn't that Germany and Japan make things so well, it's just that everyone else cuts corners or doesn't take the time to do things properly. ",
"Culture. \n\nThere's plenty that goes into that, and individuals who have spurred concepts onward, but in the end, it all comes down to culture.",
"Because, mate, those countries are top in education...and bottom in confidence!",
"tools...germans make the best tools...good tools make good stuff",
"I don't know about German cars being reliable. Some of the old diesels, maybe, but just about every German car I've ever encountered has been horribly unreliable, as well as difficult and expensive to repair. Many German car brands do sit near the bottom of the reliability ratings. German cars do offer some of the best looks, performance and luxury, though. ",
"Because the other countries only think about profit and have things thought out with planned obsolescence.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nHe explains it pretty well",
"I have a theory that links it to the origins of the difference between rice (eastern) and Wheat (Western) agriculture. Agriculture is where technology started. I was interviewed on my theory by a technology series called Dare to Know. There is a link to it here _URL_0_ . Simply rice farming depends on daily diligent quality control of factors like water levels, materials, and use of a response metric. And Wheat is done in two bursts of effort , planting and harvesting, which benefit from creative methods developed during down time. Even our two school systems reflect this Western is in seasons, summer off, and Eastern is year round. This also directly correlates to why Eastern students are better at math. It has been shown that your likelihood in solving a math problem is directly linked to how diligent and persistent you are in trying to solve it. Give a give a group of students a questionnaire about their life that just goes on and on with more and more tedious questions. Sort the number of questions answered by each student (i.e. how far did they go before giving up on the task even though they know all the answers) you would have an almost exact correlation to how they do on standardized math tests. Erling Boe, University of Pensilvania, is an educational researcher that discovered this, initially by accident, in a study. The agriculture link also had a great influence on management style between the two cultures. Western could have slave or peasant farmers that served a land owner because there was no diligence required for the task. It could be done by standing over them with a whip to make sure the basic steps were accomplished. A management style where only the owner, not the worker cares about the the product. In Eastern the land owners would just set a rent for the land and step back. The more yield from the plot of land the more profit for the farmer. That incentive had to be there for rice farming to work. Sloppy work equaled hungry families. \nTL DR: Rice farming requires daily diligence or you loose the patty (Quality Control). Western wheat farming benefits from creativity (Invention). \nMy credentials: 20 years in the Reliability and Quality Engineering Industry. ",
"I have worked with both German and American companies for parts and manufacturing systems. \n\nThe biggest difference is not the engineering, but the workers. The lower level assembly line workers in Germany require two years of training before they can be hired. This makes an immense difference, especially when there are manufacturing issues. \n\nHowever that being said, for many industrial products (jacks, hoists, etc) a lot of the engineering and quality is built into the part and price (ie you get what you pay for).\n",
"I remember attending a lecture in college where John Dower, a historian who examined Japanese post-WWII reconstruction, spoke about the investment of US capital leading up to the war with Korea.\n\nIf I remember correctly, the Supreme Command Allied Powers was very interested in getting Japanese factories up and running as soon as possible after the surrender. They were even willing to excuse some of the war crimes of certain members of the Japanese Zaibatsu, which was a group of powerful businessmen and entrepreneurs that controlled a majority of Japan's manufacturing industry, to speed up this process.\n\nAs the factories started getting rebuilt and people went back to work, the allies had to deal with a new issue in order to get capital investment from America. \n\nJapan before WWII mass produced textiles and other cheap goods, and the quality wasn't particularly good. It was sort of similar to the way China is now, because Japan had only been a modern nation since 1863, and it hadn't had time to mature its manufacturing industry.\n\nIn order to combat the widespread sentiment that Japanese goods were inferior, the armed forces agreed to only pay for military goods that passed a rigorous inspection. In other words, if the allies ordered 100 tanks, and 99 didn't pass quality inspection, then they would only pay for one tank and the Japanese company that produced it had to eat the cost of the other 99.\n\nIn the years leading up to and during the Korean war, Japanese industry benefited from the massive investment of US capital, but the cost of doing business at all required huge increases in manufacturing quality control. This industrial emphasis on high quality goods impacted other industries as well, and Japanese consumers became accustomed to high quality goods.\n\nIronically, the US's current defense appropriations process isn't as stringent as Japan's was 60 years ago. To use the earlier metaphor, Lockheed Martin gets paid for all 100 F-35 jets even if 99 of them don't work. There isn't a real quality control incentive.\n\nAs far as Germany goes, I imagine something similar happened, but the Germans were already industry leaders in many industrial fields before WWII, so I am not sure how much it mattered. \n\nI distinctly remember John Dower mentioning that Japanese optics companies after WWII were copying German lens designs they got access to during the war.\n\nThere is a cultural element too though. The Japanese have a ceremony where three hours of precise physical action and mental focus will yield a single perfect cup of tea.",
"I've worked in Japan at Matsushita (now Panasonic), and I was blown away by their attention to the smallest detail and how ANAL they were following the most inconsequential procedures. It was extremely annoying, but you can really see how even the smallest mistakes would be caught. ",
"I work for the United States branch of a German pharmaceutical company. Compared to other pharmaceutical industries, I cannot even begin to express the level of quality control our standard operating procedures have. \n\nEverything, everything gets documented. If you didn't document it, then it didn't happen. This is true of the pharmaceutical industry in general, but especially so at the company I work for. All documentation gets checked at least two times, sometimes three. It is then brought to the Quality Assurance team, who checks it several more times! \n\nEvery single product from a batch (some batches can hold as many 10,000 products) gets picked up and visually inspected. Any trace of defective product is destroyed. We have very strict pass/fail levels for all of the utilities we work with. Our water for drug injection has a 0.0005% contamination limit. Equipment is frequently calibrated and checked on a daily basis to ensure it's within working order. \n\nUnused materials, such as growth media, is thrown away at the end of every working day, whereas other jobs I've had let you use it for the rest of the week. \n\nFurther, I've learned a few things about the German people since I started working here. Be punctual, and that your word means everything. If a meeting starts at 09:00, and you walk in at 09:00 or later, you will receive dirty looks, possibly discipline. If you are untruthful about any of the work that you do, an investigation takes place, and you are fired, 99 times out of 100. Our products are expensive, but you are always guaranteed that they contain the figurative blood, sweat, and tears, of every employee in our building, and apparently that's a quality of Germany.\n\n\nTL;DR: Germans check things a lot and work very carefully. They are very precise, and take a lot of pride in their work.",
"Haha German cars are super unreliable. Not sure how this myth got started. Japanese cars on the other hand....",
"It may be helpful to think about this in terms of two products known for being high quality, Mercedes and Toyota. \n\nMercedes Benz cars, after they are made, undergo a thousand checks and if anything is wrong, the car is not released, leaving only high quality cars.\n\nToyota cars, on the other hand, go through processes which themselves have gone through a million checks and optimizations to ensure that any product coming out of it is incredibly high quality.\n\nThe difference is quality control vs. process control. Both require incredible discipline and considerable cost to implement. Many German and Japanese companies have done so, giving them a reputation for high quality products.",
"For Japanese it is a higher standard the Japanese people demand. If you put out a bad product your company people will very quickly quit on your products. The culture is very much based on family owned stores, and there is an implication that the quality of product is a reflection of the quality of your family; and I feel this has also carried over to the corporate age.\n\nLong and short of it, the people of the country are less accepting of cheap ass products. I imagine the same is true for Germany as well but I've studied a whole lot less of German culture.",
"Look at how well German people line up for things, vs how much of the rest of the world mobs about.",
"Having worked on cars and light trucks all my life I can tell you that Japanese vehicles are way better engineered. ",
"I've lived in both countries, and I'd say a large part of it has to do with their cultures. To me, Germany felt like the Japan of Europe, as they share a lot of values in common. Both the Japanese and German have a higher standard of quality and a perfectionist attitude. Tie that with a strong work ethic and high value of craftsmanship, and you have generally higher quality products. \n\nIf the Japanese or the Germans get into anything, they are going to do it right, and they are going to do it thorough. They don't half ass things. \n\nJust for fun, here's a list of other cultural similarities I noticed, mostly unrelated...\n\n* Both countries have a high standard of sanitation\n* People are slow to warm to strangers\n* people really value and respect personal space\n* the people are very efficient\n* Very hard workers\n* emphasis on quality",
"Your imagination. \"Made in\" is an outdated term. \n\nThings are designed in one country, key components come from another country and they're assembled in yet another country. We only count the last one as Made in. iSupply does a good breakdown of this phenomena. It's globalization. ",
"Both countries have different reasons for this and I'd boil it down to this: in Japan, it's social pressure (you have to do a better job than everyone around you or at least maintain the status quo due to social obligation - 義理) and in Germany, they are fond of rules. If some in a position of authority in Germany said \"the German workday now starts at 4am,\" Germans would line up for the 3am bus. \n\nIt's part of the reason why I love visiting both countries but I would never live in either. I loathe laziness but the oppressive power of these forces in palpable in both countries ",
"The German and Japanese cultures heavily reflect their past history of racial supremacy and their belief in purity in all fields of study. ",
"Japan industrialized with alot of Prussian help back in the 1800s.",
"Are they really? What are you conparig them with",
"I don't know about reliable when it comes to German, but quality I suppose. Cars come to mind as the common focus of German quality. If we look at cars we see that the last decade or so German cars have really embraced plastic, including under the hood. Think plastic trains fluid pans that warp, plastic dip stick tubes that crumble into the motor, plastic all the things! BMW had coolant leak related problems across a wide range of their engines. That problem was incredibly expensive to fix, many thousands of dollars, so people came up with bodge job products specifically for those engines to avoid fixing it the factory way which required basically disassembling most of the engine.\n\nNot sure if German quality is anything more than a legend at the moment, at least when it comes to cars. I will never own a second hand German car again, ever ever ever, sell that shit before the warranty runs out.",
"After the war, Germany and Japan were no longer able to develop defense products like they used to (for obvious reasons). Their engineering superiority was now reverted to innovatively restore the country's diminished economy. The refocused intellect and funding led to the well designed products we see today.\n\nSource: my imagination ",
"A culture of perfectionism and attention to detail. ",
"I work in the automotive industry as an engineer for the past 25 yrs. I have worked for the big 3 American auto manufacturers as well as some Japanese companies as I currently do.\n\nFor one, as has been pointed out by many posters here, German quality is a perceived quality. If you look at the numbers, they are not more reliable than any Japanese or American car of today.\n\nSecond, Japan is known for copying and perfecting. They take a known product, reverse engineer it and make it better, but at the same time they lack innovation. They also do not like taking risks. this is why Japanese vehicles are bland and uninspired. And most of the innovations still come out of the US/Europe as far as designs and engineering. We have a saying in the Japanese company I work for now, \"Same As\" which is pretty much the way they do things, same as before. They are very hesitant in changing processes and taking risks on newer procedures and processes. They d eventually change and adapt and in fact make improvements but they are usually followers.\n\nThe US companies are plagued with too much \"I dont give a shit\" and \"not my problem\" attitudes. Its mostly a cultural thing. The problem is that peple in the US rarely have pride in what they do. This is why their quality took a nosedive in the 80s. Couple this with the unions which pretty much decimated the factories with their politics. They were the biggest in the world for a long time which bread this \"I dont give a shit\" attitude that destroyed them in the long run. But today in 2015? I would put their quality against any mass manufactured cars int he world. ",
"The premise of OP's statement is largely wrong. Toyotas and Hondas are reliable. Nissans and Mitsubishis not so much. Some Mercs are reliable, some are shit. Same with BMW and Audi. VWs are basically nice driving piles of crap with below average reliability. Both Lincoln and Buick are amongst the top 8 brands according to Consumer reports. Etc.",
"I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned that, at least for the Germans, their language itself is very well built to minimize incorrect interpretations. I work manufacturing aerospace sheet metal parts in the USA, and simply not understanding what the customer is trying to communicate as a requirement due to multiple possible meanings causes more problems than anything else.",
"Your telling me volkswagen is a high quality car? See more of those piles of shit show up in the repair shop more then anything...",
"One huge factor that I don't see posted in the top comments is the fact that they both lost the Second World War.\n\nThe winning side never learns from it's victory. The US, for the most part, never manufactured the best of anything in that war but they did learn to make lots of it. After the war was over they continued to make lots of usable but mediocre things of the same quality that won them that war.\n\nGermany and Japan not only lost the war but had many of their cities leveled and industries destroyed. They had to re-build everything, often from scratch, and being the bright hard-working folks that they are decided to re-build everything better then it was. (The old way obviously didn't cut it during the war.) Having a good system in place from the beginning makes it easier to be adaptable and produce high-quality stuff.",
"As a German and an Engineering student I can tell you this:\n\nOur universities produce excellent engineers. \n\nIn the so called \"Grundstudium\" ( First part of your course, usually 2-3 semesters) your professors destroy you. The workload is brutal and you feel like an idiot all the time. If you survive this, you start your \"Hauptstudium\", the main part of your studies. You survived the Grundstudium, now you are a human being again and know the people wo aren´t fit to be an engineer aren´t there anymore. \n\nNow you learn the important stuff. I have and had so many courses on engineering and design theory, quality management and FMEA that I suppose building or designing some flawed is just not an option. \n\nAnd I´m just in industrial engineering and business administration. The \"real\" engineers have even more to do on this part. ",
"I would say because planned obsolescence is a key part of the American business model. ",
"Germans and Japanese have powerful unions that see to it that the CEO doesn't make 3 billion times as much as an engineer or factory worker. American workers are underpaid in relation to the profit they pump out. Americans are overworked and have been fooled into blaming unions for everything... and that is in turn the fault of poor education and misdirected anger.",
"I think part of it is perception rather than fact. Down to clever marketing. For example the VW/Audi 1.8 litre 4 cylinder turbocharged engine is well known for it's unreliability. Just Google it if you want proof. Overall though their products have a quality feel. ",
"Short answer for the German part of the question:\n\nIn Germany, CEO's usually have an engineering background. In other countries, most notably US, it's mostly economics/business or law school.\n\nThat alone explains a lot. ",
"Good branding? In all seriousness most \"quality\"products are made in China and merely designed in other countries, unless of course you are solely thinking about cars... come to think of it I can't think of too many German products besides cars, machinery and adidas.",
"For Japanese: Japan has no real natural GDP. they have little land, and no real resources to export, besides their large seafood market. this resulted in a lot of Japanese companies making products the very best, to gain a global market share. Toyota is a great example; America used their factory models after mass production led the U.S. down a path to making shitty products with lots of errors. Toyota 'lean' production focused on correcting errors at the source, instead of the U.S. mentality of never stop production, fix errors later.\n\nthis coupled with the Japanese mentality of picking one trade or profession, and mastering it, have led to Japanese products that sre some of the best in the world.",
"Just my 2 cents: All the bosses I've ever had were German and they were always ultra serious in their work, rigorous, analytical, perfectionist and for them, to provide a result that was substandard or even average was not an option. They were also very goal oriented, so although they were perfectionist, they were not getting lost in the details like I, as a french person, tend to do.\n\nCompared to the American workers: American, in my experience are \"doers\", their work can be very rough, they don't bother with too much thinking sometimes, they prefer \"doing\" instead of spending too much time \"thinking\" but as long as it works and they get the results fast it's ok. What I say is especially true with manual workers. Like I say, for americans, they new how to use a bolt, a nut, so they didn't see a problem building a spaceship to go on the moon (luckily they had germans in their team). For me this way of working is a true inspiration and I admire this constant drive you feel in the US, they don't let bullshit go too much on their way.\n\nComparing to French: we pretty much have all the qualities of German and American but none of their many flaws. Also we smell good and we never complain or grumble. We are also the most humble people, so working with french people is always a delight which make French workers very sough after.",
"I'm starting to doubt my English here.\n\nDoes Product only mean Automobiles? Because from all the replies, it seems to.\n\n",
"As a german (born and raised) / american (father side) I can tell you that we do education much more thoroughly. People can't just start their own business and claim that they are able to build things. People in charge are all \"Meister\" (Masters in english - this is an actual degree you get after initial training (3 years) + work experience (several years) and then an additional time for the Meister-Training) in their craft. \nIt's also a German habit to do things right. We don't deliver half ass products and do things because the idea sounds great. It goes hand in hand with the reason that most germans are very stubborn. If something isn't planned out or well crafted, people will generally not trust you or your idea. And if something doesn't work or would kill people - take a GM car - you'll be pretty much death sentenced in the bizz. I don't know if it's an international saying but something we say here very often translates to: \nIf you do something just roughly right, you'll end up doing it twice anyway - so you might as well do it correctly to start with.",
"I dont know but as a German living in North America I can say that everything seems to be built sooo cheaply. Everything is done with a \"this will do for now\" attitude. Things look pretty, but nothing is expected to last for a really long time. Sometimes it can be very subtle, but its a pervasive feeling everywhere and it also translates to products.",
"Apart from a respect for quality that some other countries have..\nThe United States has a lot of land that can be used for landfills, as does Russia. Many U.S. consumers care about low price before quality, and throwing away something a few years later has no cost. Some companies do care about quality, but for too many, quantity comes first. Shareholders want more profit, and using a cheap plastic in place of metal helps achieve that objective. When the majority of people drifted away from jobs that require manual skills, they were unaccustomed to fixing things. When you don't know how to fix things, you never inspect them for quality. \nBasically, the cultures in Germany and Japan respect things that are well-made, and will pay for it. In the U.S., most people want more things, and do not take too much care for how it is made. ",
"In the most basic terms, Japanese and German companies care more about making a quality product. In America, the less time and money you spend on quality control, the faster you can get a product to market and the more money you can make. Who cares if a GM car doesn't meet the customer's most basic expectations when you're backed by a government that won't let you fail? ",
"My 96 Civic is waaayy more reliable then my 06 BMW",
"I take it you've never owned a German car then",
"This was true in the eighties. Any given Ford is going to blow away most German cars on quality. Don't believe me look it up. There is also the fact that we get the export worthy items and the domestic market goods that can't compete on quality and won't stand up to the scrutiny or competition of our American products don't make it here. The converse is also true. Most quality though now is about price points rather than origin. China can produce great durable goods if you want to spend the money on them. Think Samsung electronics or Hyundai cars, both were considered bargain and disposable. Now they market only their top quality items in the states. ",
"Firstly, because America rebuilt them both after destroying them in war. The QC stuff is part of that rebuilding.\n\nInterestingly, Japan and Germany has some of the coolest porn.",
"Because the grass is always greener on the other side of the border.",
"Japan had a reputation for shoddy merchandise made by very low paid workers.\n\nThen Kaoru Ishikawa pioneered quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards, and in the process became one of the founding fathers of modern management.\n\n\nBorrowing and improving on mass production ideas from the American auto industry he developed the Ishikawa diagram that took complex production methods and broke them down into understandable steps. This was picked up by all of Kawasaki, Honda and Toyota and eventually re-imported to the United States.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_",
"Quite possibly the highest quality anything I have ever owned was a 2-channel audio amplifier designed and manufactured by the Jeff Rowland Design Group in Colorado Springs, Colorado.",
"I'm not sure about the science, but it seems to me that the Germans and Japanese don't fuck around as much as the rest of us.",
"Because they are both highly intelligent and ambitious people.",
"I suggest you read french historian, anthropologist, demographer [Emmanuel Todd](_URL_0_) works on the effect of traditional familial structure on society dynamics. Japanese and German efficiency in industrial products is probably the consequence of the way family were structured.\n\nTo sum up roughly, the ways family behaves (equality or inequality of brothers, men/women, age of children departure, level of authority of the parents, how the inheritance is split) carry values that are translated to political level (belief in equality/inequality of mens/races, freedom/authority, equality/inequality/indifference) and to the organization of the society.\n\nIn Japan and Germany, family structures where quite similar : Ony the oldest brother would inherits (inequality of brother, the inheritance is not spread, the farm/company stays whole, strong importance of the value 'transmission'). Children, even married, would stay at home, under the paternal authority (value of authority, giving advantage in term of organization and order, for economy or for war). It's also easier to build strong sense of community against other communities regarded as different or inferior (brother are inequals - > mens are inequals)\n\nWhile England did abandon his industry for the benefice of financial activity and services (expressing others values inherited from differents family structures), Germany and Japan were interested in the transmission of their massive industrial company and theirs skills. They also have cultural advantages (order, solidarity in the community , protectionism) helping them to be the best in this field.\n\n\ntd;dr: Germans and Japans family used to be inequals and a authoritarian. Society became well organized, ordered and united as well as focused on transmission. Best recipe to have strong and reliable industry with high quality products.",
"I once bought some precision engineered metalwork for use in an oilfield application from a German outfit. When it arrived we inspected it and found some of the tolerances hadn't been maintained. \n\nI called the boy at the supplier and he literally said \"OK - I'm on my way\". \n\n?\n\nHe proceeded to drive from his location in north west Germany to Aberdeen, Scotland. Given the timing, he must've literally set off immediately on ending the call. \n\nOn arrival the next day, he examined the items, concurred with our inspection, apologised and left after approximately forty minutes on site, taking the items away in his car.\n\nHe returned three days later, in his car again, with reworked parts and a detailed explanation as to the source of the failure and corrective action to remove the possibility of future occurrences. He didn't look like he had slept since the night before our initial call.\n\nYou can say that Germans use process-driven manufacturing methods, that they rigorously apply their quality management systems, that adherence to rules and regulations is a German cultural imperative that lends itself towards producing high quality products, you can look at their vocational career selection routes that lends a gravitas and social currency towards being employed in a skilled trade that doesn't exist in other cultures.\n\nBut ultimately, the guy didn't want us thinking he didn't give a fuck.\n\n\n\n",
"Not sure about the German products in terms of reliability, but not all Japanese cars are as reliable as a Honda or Toyota.\n\nMuch of it has to do with pride. Americans and Chinese only care about money. It's sad.",
"Made in Japan was once the same meaning as Made in China means now.\n Reputation is built from high level of quality control, over engineering, and pride in worksmanship. U.S.A once held this title, then as with most things people grow fat and complacent, start worrying more about the bottom line and look for ways to cost cut and modify the fine print for profitability without the hard work. Its a cycle all companies and brands eventually go through. Its not a country thing rather and company level thing. ",
"I take it OP doesn't drive a Toyota?",
"not to be a devil's advocate, but if germany is such an amazing an efficient place, how do you explain the berlin airport fiasco?\n\nas often times corrupt and slow as we are in the US, that kind of shit would not be tolerated. the big dig, perhaps, is a close comparison. but even that eventually got done and served its purpose.",
"Pride. Some cultures stop striving to improve when they've achieved the bare minimum. This to them is the most economically viable. Others realise the cost of poor quality is 'unknown and unknowable' (Edward Deming). They strive for further improvement knowing customers will notice the difference, and sales, market share, and customer loyalty will result.\n\nRice. In the case of Japan, farming was dominated by Rice rather than wheat etc. Cultures based on wheat could afford to pay pittance to unskilled workers to tend to the crops as the land would still produce good yield. Rice is much harder to grow effectively than other 'crops'. Japanese landowners would rent land to people who would have to become skilled in their work to maximise the yield. The Japanese rice farmers consequently took more pride in their work and their profit was directly related to the effort they put in and the quality of their product (Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell)",
"Don't know about Germany but I've been in Japan recently and have my two cents to add. A cheap 7-11 sandwich was amazing; better than gourmet sandwiches I get in Manhattan. Also a saline solution bottle I got in Japan for my contacts was way better than any bottles I get here in the states. The contact case that came with it also, way better designed than the ones I get here.\nService in general was amazing every place I went to. Not to say service in Manhattan is bad, it's quite good compared to countries such as Poland where many store clerks are not as friendly as I'm used to. But service in Japan/Taiwan was better than any place I've visited so far.\nWith that said I still support US made and especially anything local such as breweries.",
"As a Mexican, we do everything half-assed. To the tenth degree. Wish we weren't so okay with \"yea that probably works alright\" for absolutely everything. That's the e tire population, nothing is strict. Very opposite ofJapanese and German ways.",
"Japanese take extreme pride in their craft. I have an ESP Guitar (Made in Japan) and it's equal/better than my American made guitar. It's kind of like how Americans used to really take pride in their products. That's why things that were built in the 50s last decades compared to things built today that are meant to last a couple of years.",
"6 dabs and you're only a 8? I can get to 8 with one.",
"Maybe both of these countries have less of a consume and throw it away culture. ",
"Because in America, we have replaced the term \"quality\" with \"efficiency\" and realized quality stands in the way of the right to profit.",
"The Japanese take a great deal of pride in a job well done, and even the lowest paid workers will do their jobs to the utmost of their abilities(usually) simply because it is the right thing to do. You just don't get that out of walmart wage slaves in the western world. ",
"Those countries focus on exporting high quality products because they cannot compete on the lower end since wages \n are relatively high. You don't see the low end stuff they make because there's no market for them to export it.",
"Japan has had a culture of artisans, craftsman, and so forth for centuries. The level of care and technique are applied across the board in almost every field. Even the guy sweeping the floor does it well and with pride. I think this is a huge factor in Japan's case. ",
"I know a guy who is a vw mechanic. He says that there is no such thing as a poor vw mechanic.",
"There's a simple reason for this. Japanese culture was highly influenced by the Germans in the recent centuries. That is why Japanese grammatical rules are almost identical to German rules, with a highly logical structure to the grammar, with the same grammar patterns. \n\nWhile I can't speak on the Japanese Language, in the German Language there is an abnormally high amount of scientific/technical words describing said things that do not exist in such abundance in other languages. The entire German (and I suppose Japanese) cultural mindset has for a long time been a very logical one, and by extension, high amounts of detail are put into the development of things. \n\n",
"Part of the reason is simply perception: we *perceive* Japanese and German products to be of higher quality, so we are willing to pay more for them - and because we're willing to pay more, they're able (though not necessarily compelled) to put (some of) that price premium towards creating better products.\n\nThink of a country like Bangladesh that's known primarily for low-cost manufacturing. It's not that Bangladeshi people are intrinsically unable to produce high-quality products. Instead, the reality is that few people would ever pay a premium price for a Bangladeshi-manufactured product. So Bangladeshi manufacturers don't even try for the high-end market. \n\nAnother factor is worker wages. German and Japanese workers are well-treated, well-paid, and have labor protections. These things are worthwhile (IMHO) but they do cost money. So a German manufacturer couldn't really compete on price even if they wanted to; it's simply not an option. So they focus on quality.\n\nThese aren't the only factors, of course!\n\nAnd perceptions can obviously change over time. In the decades following WWII, Japanese goods were seen in America as cheap-and-cheerful knockoffs at best and cheap trash at worst. Gradually the quality of Sonys and Hondas won Americans over. But even as late as the 80s, it was seen as daring for Japanese auto makers to introduce \"luxury\" cars in this market.\n\n(We're seeing this happen all over again with Korean cars. In the 1990s, Hyundais were so bad they were nearly banned from selling cars in this country. Now, they're quite nice!)",
"See, you are kind of asking a loaded question there. I would argue american made products can be just as good if not better than their german/japanese counterparts. The problem is, no one in America buys high end products, they buy cheap merchandise made from china/south america.",
"This will get buried, but it's called [the Alchian and Allen effect](_URL_0_). \n\nIt's not the *absolute* price of a product that matters, like $10, $100, or $1000, but it's price *relative* to other goods. For example, if the price of your labor is $10 per hour, and a coke cost $2. One of hour of labor buys you 5 cokes. If both prices double to $20 per hour of work, and $4 per coke, you can still only buy 5 cokes, because the relative price hasn't changed.\n\nWhy does this matter? Consider two substitutable goods, like a high quality car and a low quality car. The demand for each depends on the *relative* price between the two. Alchian and Allen pointed out that if we add the same fee to both goods, like a transportation fee, than the relative price of the higher quality good will fall. For example, imagine that the HQ car cost $10,000, and the LQ car costs $5000. The relative price of a HQ is 2 LQ cars. Let's say we add a $20,000 transportation fee. HQ cars cost $30,000 and LQ cars cost $25,000. The price of a HQ car has *fallen* to 1.2 LQ cars. \n\nThis implies that foreign buyers will tend to buy a higher ratio of HQ cars to LQ cars than back home. Similarly, other countries will tend to buy a higher ratio of HQ to LQ U.S. products than we do. The result is that, all else equal, foreign products sold on the domestic market will tend to be higher than average quality.",
"It's dedication to the process. It's pride in work and craftsmanship. It starts at the top of the company and goes down to the bottom of the ladder. Everyone cares. It's hard to imagine this mindset in an American or Chinese company, but it happens in Germany and Japan more than others. It's the culture they have fostered The good quality companies in America are the ones where everyone cares about what they are doing.",
"What I was taught is that in Japan they are taught to love their job and to always put their best effort forward, so even at McDonalds every burger is the perfect burger",
"Not to take away from the quality of Japanese and German products, but can someone please show me a statistic showing that the generally are more reliable and higher quality? I'm sure a small part of it might be cultural, but it probably more comes from perception and the type of products they make. A marketing guy who decides to use \"A quality german product\" in an ad can have just as much influence on peoples perception as actually having quality products. \n\nAnother factor is probably that both of these countries have quite high wages compared to most other places. So if you are going to produce something low cost or of sub par quality, germany is not the place you start production anyway. If you look at a country like china, which has a reputation for producing bad quality (made in china almost being synonymous with bad.) I used to work in a tech store, and if people saw an item they were considering buying that they did not know anything about was made in china they were less likely to want to buy it. Completely ignoring that there are tons of high quality products coming from there. Apple for example who have some of the higher quality products in their fields (e.g low failure rates etc) does most of their production in China. ",
"Why would someone in the US purchase crappy things from Germany when crappy things from Asia are cheaper. The real reason is simply that these places have higher costs to produce and thus cannot compete for the disposable products.",
"When I was studying overseas in China I asked a fellow German student a similar question. \"Germans take pride in German Engineering, but we (US) rarely take pride in US engineering. Why the difference?\" \n\nHe replied: \n\"Because Americans brag about how they can't do math. A German would never admit they couldn't do math. \"\n",
"At any time any Japanese worker could stop an assembly line if a defect was found. American manufacturing was almost dictatorial as per worker input. It was non existent for a worker to have any input up until the late 1980s.\n Both countries Germany and Japan take pride in their work seriously..\nIn 1988 Motorola required all it employees to become six sigma certified, really pushed quality and was award a Malcolm Baldrige quality award. The Austin Tx semiconductor plant was one of the first awarded for quality.\n_URL_0_\n \n\n(six sigma black belt QA manager here)",
"Because the workers making this stuff are paid more thus they care about their jobs thus they take pride in their work thus ~~shit~~ stuff* (sorry children) are made properly and with high quality ",
"_URL_0_\n\nIt doesn't matter if a car is German or Japanese. Most of the cars are made in Mexico. ",
"I work on Jeeps everyday. There is a new recall for newer Jeep Wrangler's and it states that the label on the engine cooling fan must be inspected. If the label states that it was \"Made in the USA\" then it must be replaced. If it's not made in the USA, it's fine and no action is required. ",
"Because my Mercedes is a handcrafted work of mechanical art. ",
" They generally don't subscribe to \"designed obsolescence\".",
"The annual maintenance cost of my BMW disagrees with your assertion. \n\nMy old Tacoma lasted 300k miles though.\n\nJapan 1 - Germany 0",
"I'm Japanese, and as far as I know, I believe it's the micro-work that goes into each little screw. There's a system where large companies contract small factories to make each individual pieces that go into their car. If there's a factory dedicated to making small screws that is contracted with Toyota, for example, then it means that the factory *only* makes that kind of screw, and if the larger product (car, bulldozer, computer, etc.) contains many of these little parts created by small companies, it means every piece of the product is each created by a single factory that specializes in making that specific piece.\n\n\nOf course, that's only one system. There might be one factory that might make a whole rice cooker from start to finish using only parts from their own factory, for example. But the difference is is that the work ethic and dedication that the Japanese have to their craft is something that's rarely contested.\n\nI'm gonna go on a little tangent, but after World War 2, Japan was looking pretty hopeless in recovering their economy. But the American need for weapons in the Korean War combined with the dedication of the Japanese factory workers is what created the type of perfection you see in most Japanese products nowadays.",
"That was true years ago -- Korean cars kick ass -- but now days products are not made by any particular nation. \"German\" cars are designed by Italians, hired by Ford, owned by Tata (India) made in Mexico and sold in the US. \n\nThere was a time when Japanese products were considered junk. And hell, some were. Japanese WWII guns fired if they were dropped - the Nambu",
"Marketing, perhaps?\n\n[German cars lose out in reliability survey](_URL_0_)",
"When I was kid I was always told to never buy any tools or products made in Japan, it seems things have really changed.\nI'm old",
"I haven't found any of this to be the case. My Mini has 35 K & stuff keeps breeaking. Never buy one of these pieces of crap again. ",
"German cars are not necessarily well-made. Yes new BMWs and Mercedes are great cars when new, but they don't have the reliability that Japanese luxury cars offer. My '08 M45 has the same equipment as a $70k 5 series, it cost 50K new and I got it for 20 2K at 35,000 miles. I've had plenty of people compare their 5 series, Mercedes 350 and they had had mechanical problems by 50,000 miles. Some repairs were covered by warranty is, but when I buy a product I expect to be able to use it. Fixing it for free doesn't mean much if I lose my car for a week or two. I'm at 60k miles in a secondhand car and it's perfect, Infiniti might not get the badge recognition of a BMW I get the same if not better performance and I'm not rushing to sell it before it takes a shit. ",
"Advertising and resulting opinions. Let's not forget Silicon Valley is in America. Google. Microsoft. Valve. Not EVERYTHING is better abroad, people!",
"I think it comes down to simply having higher quality employees. The U.S. has a hiring/recruiting process that typically doesn't prioritize a persons actual skill or ability.",
"A large number of reasons that boil down to ethics and pride. \n\nJapanese and German manufacturers have by and large fostered a culture of pride in ownership of the process by their workers. This leads to a proactive approach to quality where the culture is to control processes rather than react to non-conformances. Basically they expect people to care and support them when they do.\n\nAlso, they tend toward a mindset of long term stable relationships with smaller numbers of suppliers who get paid a fair price for a good part rather than awarding business to the lowest bidder.\n\nI used to be a quality engineer at a jobbing stamper. Stamping is a very competitive low margin industry. If we made 4% margins we did well on that job. Part of the contract from one of our Detroit customers was a 5% price reduction after one year and additional price downs later. We were responsible for finding efficiencies to make up the difference. I'm sure you can guess how that might affect decision making about everything. \n\n",
"In the case of Japanese there was a huge emphasis on quality after world war II. Read some of the books about [W. Edwards Deming](_URL_0_), his methods and ideas can make a huge impact on everything you do.",
"Japan and Germany's economies were destroyed following WW2.\n\nIn order to compete with American quantity they focused on quality. \n\nViola. ",
"It seems to be very simple to me. Germans and Japanese take pride in what they do and have integrity. In 'murica its just about money. Im rich who cares how i got it look at me and my awesome Mercedes. Status is the only thing important to most americants. ",
"I'm going to guess its the work ethic and that people there are more [conscientious.](_URL_0_)",
"I'm not a conspiracy nutter, but some may think I wear a tinfoil hat for holding the opinion that I do on this subject. I believe that American companies are just as capable of producing goods that are as well engineered and made as the Japanese and Germans, but industry leaders choose not to. If the products they sell us wear out quickly, then we have to buy replacements more often. In other words: American industries are more focused on profit than they are on quality.",
"German Engineers spend 6months to 1 year learning how to file, sand, smooth out metal blocks. Perfectly. PERFECTLY.\n\nThe labour is just more skilled. The mindset it is to build it great. Not just build it.\n\nI own an almost 60 year old bus. It's amazing it still survives today. The paint is nice on it. The metal did rust, but if you look at the wheel well... 13 pieces of metal come together at one point. Marvelous. A massive opening ragtop assembly. How did they think of that? Just lots of little genius touches. From almost 6 decades ago! Think about that!",
"As far as Japan goes, this topic is closely related to the research I did for my master's thesis! Granted, it's been a few years and I don't have my thesis handy on my work computer so forgive any mistakes I make...\n\nBasically, after WWII, there was this thing called the \"economic miracle\" where even though Japan was pretty much completely destroyed, they quickly got back on their feet and then started manufacturing extremely high quality goods that weren't very expensive.\n\nPart of my research concerned WHY this was able to happen, and there are a couple of reasons. It's important to note that the United States gave Japan a lot of help rebuilding because they didn't want Japan to become communist, but there were also some unique business practices that arose from Japan's unique collectivist culture.\n\nThe economic situation is obviously very different now, but back in the day, when you joined a company at the entry level in Japan, you were guaranteed a position there for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Companies put a LOT of effort into worker training, because they knew they weren't going to lose that investment. \n\nWith their well trained workers, Japan was able to develop a production system called total quality management (that sentence was a gross oversimplification), which is a system where the quality of products is monitored and tested at every stage of production. The idea is that by reducing the amount of defective products, you actually SAVE money compared to when you put less time/money into making sure you are doing it right. A lot of Japanese manufacturers also encouraged workers to submit suggestions on how they can improve their production practices. While this doesn't sound like a big deal, Toyota saves something like 2 BILLION dollars a year by implementing employee suggestions!\n\nAlso, before WWII, Japan's entire industry was essentially controlled by a couple of different monoply families called Zaibutsu. When the Americans came in, FDR (who hated monopolies) broke up a lot of the Zaibutsu (but not all). While power was taken away from the families, Japanese manufacturing companies still maintained \n close relationships with their suppliers and distributers so that the country's manufacturing industry essentially remained a series of vertical monopolies. To use Toyota as a specific example, you have Toyota, Daihatsu, and Suzuki motors which all make cars, Daido Steel providing the metal, Ricoh and Ushio manufacturing electronics and other machinery, and Tokai Bank / Chuo Trust to provide loans and financial services to all these companies! While the companies were technically separate, they all own shares in each other and it essentially has the same effect as a vertical monopoly (for those who don't know, monopolies = lower manufacturing costs).\n\nI could go on for a while but the last thing I am going to talk about is Japan's famous work culture... In Japanese, there's this principal that translates to \"infinite duty,\" which means going above and beyond the normal parameters of your job. For example, a bank security guard, who also gives directions to passersby, helps customers find the correct desk / forms, and even sweeps the street in front of the bank. In terms of the topic we are discussing now, this would be illustrated by a factory worker who works extra hard to make sure he doesn't miss any defective products, who thinks really hard of great suggestions that can improve manufacturing efficiency, and who is really involved in the company's union. \n\nThere's even more to the story, but like I said I don't have my thesis handy on my work computer.... \n\nTL;DR- monopolies everywhere and Japanese people work too hard ",
"when my parents were young, japan meant junk. Doc Brown: \"No wonder the circuit failed is says Made in Japan.",
"I think a lot of it has to do with the 'quick buck' attitude of American executives. The Germans and the Japanese are much more willing to spend money on quality processes and parts. Profits are made through increased sales due in part to the perceived quality of their product. American companies are more about cutting corners at all costs and making the cheapest item that will still be just good enough to be sellable. Profits are realized from penny pinching and short term goal type strategizing.",
"Just to clarify, are you asking about the German or Japanese: Search Engine? Tablet/PC? SaaS? Online Retailer?Networking Hardware? Security Software? Mobile Phones?\n\nNeed I go on....OH, were you talking about manufactured consumer products or about all products?\n\nUSA, USA, USA!!! AWESOME WHERE THE PROFITS ARE TO BE HAD!! ",
"German cars might be put together better than American cars, but ironically are not necessarily more reliable.\n\nAsk any Audi owner.",
"It's more about brand philosophy. Not all German and Japanese products are that great. Although I like German products I actually find them to be unreliable but mostly due to the complexity. As far as German cars are concern, they use a lot of rubber in places that other manufacturers wouldn't use rubber (like the clutch... talking to you Porsche). Toyota is very reliable because they use higher quality bearings and other parts that you as a buyer are not aware of and were others cheap out. It's not uncommon to have a Toyota alternator last 250K miles or a fuel pump to last 300K miles... but here is the kicker. The most reliable Toyota's and Hondas are actually manufactured in the USA with 75% of the parts coming from the USA (Camry, Accord, Sienna, Odyssey etc). I have had a USA built Camry that had absolutely no issues that I sold with 270K miles on it. I now have a Lexus IS that was made in Japan and have had several issues at only 90K miles. If you look at Consumer Report ratings, German vehicles are not very reliable with the Mini being the most unreliable brand you can buy. Toyota and Honda top the charts yet Nissan ranks with the domestic brands. Marketing may be part of the reason why you believe German cars are good. Mercedes Benz and BMW are the two richest manufactures in the world (Mercedes by a landslide) so they have a lot more money for advertisement and PR but at the same time you are overpaying for those vehicles.",
"Germany has a different form of relationship between workers and management...more of a partnership than in the US. The Chinese and other S.E.Asian countries typically treat their workers like slaves, likewise in much of Latin America. This resentful relationship causes all kinds of problems for the quality of the final product...In the shittier countries they focus on quantity and low value-added; while in countries like Germany they focus on quality and high value added. Germany and Japan also have better designed educational systems...and partnerships between employers and schools. ",
"You guys are missing the key point: the infrastructure was destroyed in WWII.\n\nThey rebuilt from the ground up. They also adopted Quality Management techniques in both countries that we not adopted in the US until the 80's. \n\nThe other benefit was that their skilled labor forces were motivated. Their skilled labor forces were also decimated, so they had to get it right the first time because they could not afford to do it twice. \n\nTheir cultures feed right into this. \n\nAnd Germany always had the best engineers. Give them a clean slate...and they made some great stuff. \n",
"I've heard this on NPR planet money, they have a culture that stops the assembly line if someone does not finish their task in time. This results in people only doing work in their area of expertise. ",
"Germans are perfectionists. My 10 year old BMW still droves like the day I drove it off the lot. Sure, I have to babysit it a little more than I would an American car, but it pays back in dividends. ",
"Germans make the best hand tools. I've yet to break even one and I work them pretty hard...",
"World War II.\n\nAlmost all of Europe and Japan were in ruins after the war. The United States had nobody to compete with, and they built tons and tons of factories and sold their things all over the world. They made lots of money from selling their things, and spent lots and lots of that money on building a huge army.\n\nBy the late 1970s and early 1980s, Japan and Germany got better from after the war and were building lots of new factories. They weren't really allowed to have armies any more, and they were building NEW factories that were faster and better than the American factories. Because they weren't spending so much money on armies, they spent all their new money on better things to make the factories even better. The workers were so proud of the things they were making that they continued to make them better.\n\nAmerican companies got sad that their things weren't as good. Instead of spending more money to make their things good, they decided to try to sell things that weren't as good for much less money so that other people would want to buy their things for much much cheaper than the German and Japanese things. But the only way to sell things that cheap was to pay workers as little as possible. This made the workers very sad and they didn't want to do a good job any more.\n\nFinally, China came and built factories and paid the workers even less money to make even cheaper products. So lots of American factories closed forever.\n\nSome American factories still make cheap things. Lots of Chinese factories make cheap things. But the Japanese and especially the Germans are still making the good things that cost more money. People want good things, so if they can afford it, they buy the German and Japanese things.",
"Japanese products used to be atrocious. We sent over Peter Drucker and a team a long while back which were supply chain management genius's and we changed their entire way of creating products. Efficiency took a role mixed with Japanese culture and the product quality shot up.\n\nAmerican quality used to be atrocious right after that happened when compared to Japanese, before that no one bought Japanese.",
"Germans I think it's due to their culture, they have stringent rules and are quite pragmatic.\n\nJapanese people are great at doing one thing GREAT and focusing on that one thing to a level of obsession. I.e. Sushi chefs would wash dishes for a few years before they can even touch the rice.\n\nI'm Chinese, and while Made in China products are considered good (even great) quality now, I must admit that is largely due to Western influence and the standards these multinationals put in place. For the most part our culture is still very much about just making money and making it quickly. I live in Hong Kong now and for example if one type of restaurant does well you will see 20 spring up with little differentiation or attention to quality. ",
"Germany has great reliability because things are engineered to be reliable. The problem is when something does go wrong. I'm no mechanic but I've worked on a lot of cars, helping out friends and family. Sometimes they germans over engineer something and it is a bitch. Things that usually last the life of the vehicle like radiators, bumpers, heating systems, etc. can be the hardest to replace when they fail. Sometimes they require extensive disassembly just to get to the part. For example radiators. I had a friend that had to remove the hood, front bumper and lots of other stuff just to remove the radiator on a german car. But I also helped my dad replace a radiator and it was just a matter of removing the shroud that protects your hand from the fan blades ( 4 screws). It is hit and miss. A lot of older german cars are super easy to work on. The VW bug only has 4 bolts 2 cables and the gasline holding the engine in. The world record for removing the engine and replacing it is only a couple minutes.",
"Because their companies are run by Engineers and not finance specialists whose job is cost-cutting.\n\nCost-cutting is an euphemism for poor quality and assuming the customer won't notice.",
"Because they don't smoke crack in the parking lot before work.",
"Both economies were entirely ruined during the Second World War. The Bretton Woods conference established the post-war economic system in the west, and both nations received relatively low currency valuations to allow for rebuilding. The upshot was that with a low value currency an export led economy was relatively easy to establish. This led to both nations using the most modern manufacturing technology available, and operating under an advantageous currency system for exportation. The rest of the world was using older technology, and was at a disadvantage on the currency front. The problems with currency valuations under Bretton Woods heavily contributed to the system's collapse in the early 1970's. The technological advantage has a large amount to do with the perception of Japanese and German goods being high quality. ",
"In Germany there is less pressure to move things faster and much more respect for the rules, including rules in regards to quality control. I think this is even more true of Switzerland. You will find however that many German products are often over-engineered and their quality is limited to the domain of fine machine parts and chemicals.\n\nThe US also produces highly reliable and high quality products in certain domains, think of the Apple Iphone, Tesla, and Google's computing infrastructure. However, there is generally less respect in the US for quality control and continuous improvement.",
"Simple. Higher standards for what counts as \"good work\" and a generally larger sense of personal duty to one's job/task that isn't dictated by $$ tradeoffs.",
"Quality in the US was not job 1 (a pun on a Ford ad) because Americans wanted low cost items like cars and appliances. The goal was to produce things that were good enough, then thrown away. GM did a study that showed Americans wanted a new car every 3-5 years. So they produced cars as cheaply ad posdible. Then the economy changed and people wanted to keep cars longer.\nStarting in the late 1980s, American production techniques got much better. By now, the number of defects per vehicle are effectively the same.\nI can also say from experience that German engineers over design their products. I used to work for the American arm of a German manufacturer. We consistently priced ourselves out of the market.",
"I pretty regularly order stationery products from Japan through a site called [JetPens](_URL_0_) that specializes in Japanese stationery—pens, pencils, erasers, ink, etc. At least as far as that field is concerned, Americans are typically satisfied with products that have only mediocre performance but are cheap and easily replaced, like cheap plastic mechanical pencils that even *feel* like they were made in China, or Bic pens. Given the choice between repeatedly replacing a cheap but mediocre product and buying a single more expensive product that works very well, Japanese people tend to buy the more expensive product.\n\nBasically, Japanese people will invest in a nice product rather than buy shit that doesn't work as well, even if it's cheaper. Americans buy the cheap shit, so nobody makes anything better here.",
"The reason why you think this is true is because it is part of the national branding these countries project. It's not guaranteed to be true, think of it as a kind of advertising.\n\nYou might think Chinese product are crap by the same token, this is from anti Chinese propaganda from the 70s. Mainly perpetrated by the steel industry that eventually got murdered by Chinese steel of better value.",
"As someone whos extensively visited and studied both countries, here's how it is:\n\nHISTORY\n\nHistorical, both countries have undergone radical changes due to WW2 and we're able to restructure accordingly, and build a stronger foundation that is today. Radical change means potential radical growth.\n\nCULTURE AND EDUCATION\n\nGermans are very to the point and require a yes or no answer. There is only black and white, no grey. Germans pride themselves on perfectionism and this is seen through their educational programs. Germans have a distinctly different K-12 education. There's 3 types of schooling for Germans. The best way to explain it is this:\n\nSay your talking about food at a restaurant. You need someone with a fairly low knowledge but highly refined skillset for your prep cook. Your prep cook needs to be the best at moving skillets around, preparing food as quickly as possible, and perfect his trade. In germany, this is a tradesman - a tier 3 employee, or your associates degree level candidate.\n\nYou need someone to design the recipe. This is your kitchen manager/Head Chef, who happens to have prep cook experience and can prepare food but does not perform nearly as well as the prep cook. This kitchen manager has a higher knowledge set but less refined skills - he needs to make the recipe by understanding how ingredients are combined, how to run a kitchen, how to buy ingredients, how to do basic accounting, etc to successfully make sure the restaurant stays afloat. This is your tier 2 employee, a bachelors of science candidate \n\nNow you need a food scientist to develop the recipes for the sauces\nThis person has a seriously highly refined knowledge set and low skillset. This person needs to understand how molecules interact with each other in a microscopic scale, how material properties are affected during the cooking process (i.e. crystallization of sugar, carmelization, cooking curves, shelf life preservance, preservatives, additives of benzene aromaticity for enhancing smell of the food, knowledge of organic chemistry, etc.) This person\nis your tier 1 candidate, normally has a PhD or masters degree.\n\nIn Germany, this is very well understood by all people and the government, and this is actually how schooling systems are structured. Tier 1 is not considered better than tier 2 or tier 3, its just looked differently as each tier is needed to better society. Germans understand that a restaurant can't operate without a good tier 3 prep cook, or that yummy processed foods can't make it to Aldi's supermarket without the help of tier 1 food scientists, and low prices and good customer quality can't make it without the management skillsets of tier 2 managers. \n\nSo back to how schooling systems are structured in Germany. Its different than America b/c people take schooling seriously (no offense, K-12 education is America is superrr shitty, but top level colleges in the world). Anyways, people try their best and parents encourage their kids to be tier 1 scientists. However, not everyone is cut out to be tier 1, so they are placed in seperate schools during high school which is actually trade school. You can still opt to go to a tier 1, but it will be like tier 1.5 for the rejects (its called University of Applied Sciences, its also where international students attend college in Germany). see wiki for more info\n_URL_0_ \n\nThose that don't get into tier 1 or go decide to opt into a tier 1.5 school are not considered rejects. They usually are tested in other subjects and specialize in tier 3 (like a carpenter) or tier 2( like an engineer). Again Germans understand the need for skilled trades and everyone tries their best at what there good at, a carpenter is not considered inferior to a particle scientist. \n\nOKAY, that was a long winded argument as to why Germany knows their shit and has it together. You can see these results by PISA international education tests and Germany's growing GDP despite economic downturn in all OTHER european countries and political turnmoil in places like Greece during the housing market crash in America. \n\nOkay now back to Japan. Japan is a little different b/c its in Asia. Back to another long winded lesson about japan now. Japan has always strived towards perfection since the Edo period (1600's), where Japan started to become centralized and samurais were the essentially the classical western knights of Japan. japan has always had a focus on respecting the elderly, doing the right thing with perfection (dishonor is like the worst thing you can do, that's why people committed suicide), and being respectful to one another. You see, the japanese realize that on their small island that fighting amongst each other would get no where. \n\nOne prominent example of how this is seen today is the word \"sorry\". The word \"sorry\" in Japan is the same as \"excuse me\", and its almost said as a formal greeting if you bump into someone. Japanese believe in getting bad things out of the way first in order to improve relationships over time. They are also seriously big on first impressions too, listening to others before talking, among other things.Its just been this way for hundreds of years. Americans are the other hand are just a rowdy bunch of people formed from seperating from Britain. 'murica was basically founded fuck yeah lets become our own country principles and be free where as Japan was formed a result of understanding and joining between different Samurai empires. \n\nOkay now that I've hit on the super long culture aspect of Japan, now you understand why Japanese people strive for perfection b/c its been done for hundreds of years and founded on that principle. After WW2 when Japan was in the shit hole, Japan needed to be rebuilt. We gave Japan a headstart after WW2 with our infrastructure and technology and once we gave them the jump start we left.\n\nThis is now where I'll talk about the Automobile industry. You see, Japan's cars were reallly inferior to those fearsome Fords that America was churning out. Man, America had everything when it came to building cars - The technology and invention of the assembly line by Henry ford, the infrastructure for manufacturing paved through WW2's demands, and a metric load of places to get raw materials from. Japan, on the other hand, well not so much. Not so much raw material, not so much pre-existing infrastructure after WW2. That didn't deter Japan though - they did have one advantage - they strove for excellence during despair b/c failure is not an option. Japanese people are more homogeneous and the culture is the same across the board, so Japanese understand teamwork.\n\nThis is where Toyota comes in. Toyota as stated earlier had nothing compared to Ford, but they did get some of the American technology and did learn a lot from the Americans after WW2. Striving for perfection, Toyota set out to develop a methodology to improve their production line. Today we call this LEAN manufacturing, derivatives include LEAN startup for entreupenurs (i.e. MVP - minimal viable products), book derivatives such as \"7 habits of highly effective people\" are dervied from LEAN. LEAN is a major component of supply chain and operations (and Industrlal Engineering curriculum) and differs from the conventional Ford assembly manufacturing line and summarized by the following philosophical beliefs:\n\n1. Identify the value stream for the customer - Basically identify what people care about. People who buy cars want something that will run 100,000 miles plus \n2. Make process and value flow - Basically, know some manufacturing basics and identify what steps are benefiting the customer and which ones are not. I.E. document every process that goes into manufacturing, eliminate ones that don't benefit customer like moving part A to warehouse B then warehouse C then warehouse D. You could just move part A to warehouse D and be done with it\n3. JIT (Just in time) - Don't overproduce things. More useless inventory means more temptation to use said inventory, build things out as needed as you won't waste materials as well. Also, don't make everything statically like an assembly line, make it dynamic (w/ fancy software). \n4. Eliminate all forms of waste like defects with Six Sigma, storage of data with properly planned cloud based infrastructures, red tape in big corporations, waiting for customers to do things, lack of risk assessments on parts needed right away.\n5. Building lots of contingency plans in the form of asking why 5 times something might break down and how to mitigate it\n6. Continous improvement and teamwork amongst all members in all levels of the organization. This is arguably the hardest step to achieve in any manufacturing setup from a managers standpoint\n7. Lean has sprouted other derivatives such as AGILE methodology for software development\n\nLEAN methodology is one of the main reasons that Japanese products are generally more reliable and higher quality. This philosophy has been passed to many nations, and Germans who strive for excellence are embracing it as well. Because Japan pushed forward innovation towards manufacturing more so than Germany, Japan has generally better automobiles. America on the other hand (GM) did not embrace such methodology for continous improvement, so that's why your Jeep Wrangler suddenly caught on fire for no apparent reason and could've killed you.\n\nTL;DR. WW2 caused drastic changes. Japan has few resources, so they invented LEAN. Plus Japan copied American Technology and improved it. Germany has no bullshit government formed as an antithesis of Hitler's regime and they built it with a strong education system/ infrastructure. Both countries have strong pride and strive for excellence. Both countries are built on strong teamwork foundations (Japan's Samurai empires joining up 400 years ago, Germanys common shared warfare despair) and are fairly culturally homogenous lowering the barrier towards new grounds. ",
"I feel it has to do with how in those countries, business acumen and charisma counts for little, and all that matters is sheer engineering prowess. In other words, in america, you can sorta fake being qualified for your job easier than in other countries.",
"Who said German products are good? Quality....yes.....reliability....oh God no.",
"I kind of don't agree. Mini is owned by BMW and they have one of the worst track records when it comes to reliability. Out of the major car manufacturers they came in dead last if my memory serves. So I believe certain countries put out products that are superior to other countries and vice versa. You just have to be educated on the product.",
"Germans and Japanese folks share a few cultural traits, namely that of perfectionism. Do it right or don't do it at all. Japanese have an almost religious devotion to doing your best, all the time. Of course, this is not alien to most countries or even most people around the world, but Germany and Japan are paragons of this kind of mindset.\n\nSecond, markets. Both countries have strong economies and large populations. Their products are high quality because they've been \"vetted\" in their home countries already. There was a market for a Nintendo video game system in Japan alone before it went global. Their own economies and populations are/were large enough that they could learn from any mistakes and export the perfect products, or at least products that had weathered more scrutiny than the competition's.",
"Well i feel like we only see and use the products that are more reliable or are higher quality. Why would we import something that is trash?",
"And is there any relationship to the fact that Germany and Japan produce the most \"creative\" porn?",
"IDK... ever owned a BMW passed the 50k mile warranty? You could essentially buy a new fucking car with the repairs you will spend fixing it...",
"I think the first comment I very much on the money as far as the history of it. But (having worked for an American/German and then a Japanese automotive company) there is a huge difference in how things work state side and over seas. Many american companies are dedicated towards servicing their customers in what I think of as \"bulk purchasing\" where they are going to crank out as many pieces of product as possible and then the expectation is that a majority of them are fine enough to use or QA (quality assurance) will discover any flaws and determine how to pass them or scrap them. \n\nGermans (German companies state side ran by Germans and German companies in Germany) have a very high standard set to be \"the best.\" Its a cultural thing, and this shows in the craftsmanship and training involved in making their products. So a German company in America tends to have a higher dedication to their training than American companies and German companies in Germany actually have a pool of trade workers to choose from instead of Joe off the street. \n\nTraining is HUGE when it comes to quality, you need not only a dedicated culture to quality but also the training for the employee to get it done right the first time. The Germans are masters of training typically, they have very good programs to assist in learning how to do your job and do it well.\n\nThe Japanese are a whole different ball game, they are methodical, and number crunchers. They will analyze every single point of data to ensure that their processes are within acceptable variation and continue to produce as such. They are the masters of reducing waste and optimization. Many times their processes are so straight forward, that entry level employees essentially have to press a button to do their job. This is clear when you see the robotic influence they have in their work, many processes have been fine tuned and make easy enough so a robot can do it 24/7 365 with no help. Now this has caused a problem as of recently as production goes up their processes stay the same speed due to lack of input from robots on how to improve the process so they are switching back to human personnel. \n\nTLDR: Americans work towards the goal of monetary return and produce as much as possible with little care in the quality aspect. Germans train the hell out of their employees until it becomes second nature and there are little to no mistakes. Japanese study every aspect of data in order to optimize and simplify their processes so its hard to make a mistake. \n\nIf you want to learn more about quality you can look into many things like Toyota 5 whys, 6sigma, and a few other methodologies that escape me right now (I'm sure the wikipedia articles will lead to any further information.)\n\n_URL_0_\n_URL_1_",
"I believe it is cultural. Germanic countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Scandinavian countries have a different work culture than say Anglo-Saxon countries such as the US and UK. You can see the results in manufacturing quality.\n\nAnglo-Saxon culture is a lot more adverserial and that spills over to the workplace. US and UK labour relationships are often quite terrible. Craftsmen have a low status. In Germanic countries and Japan there is much more collaboration between unions and management. Unions have a lot more power, they are represented on the boards and take part in company decisions. They learn to think in the long term. German and Japanese manufacturers do not fire people as soon as there is a little economic slump. They all pull together to keep everybody on board, even if it means cuts in salaries, shorter workdays or some higher expenses for the company. This fosters loyalty. Workers want to give a 110% because they know their company has their back. Companies can also more easily spend money on training, because the turnover is smaller. Being a skilled craftsman also has a lot of status in Germany and Japan. Only college degrees give status in the UK and US.\n\nI am Norwegian but I've worked with companies which have been bought by American ones. A typical development is that many people lose loyalty under American management. Because the company attitude it seems in America is that you should be 100% loyal to them, but they can just discard you at a whim. They can do petty and cheap things which shows that they don't really care about their workers.\n\nYou don't feel they are there for you. They are just there for their share holders. I think both in Germanic countries and Japan companies are seen as part of society and has an obligation to society. In the US and UK they really just have obligations towards their share holders.\n\nI think there are pros and cons to this. The US seems more capable of responding to change quickly. Germany and Japan are more slow moving. The thinking is much more long term. That is what you need for quality.\n\nNow this sounds like a lot of fluff, but how does that play out in practice. How does that make better quality on manufactured goods when you got the same schematics? When you manufacture things there are always small deviations. You might need to tune or clean your machinery. You might discover that part of your manufacturing process isn't optimal and need to change it. Well trained people, proud of their work and company with a focus on detail are likely to see the changes needed and do them or enact them. E.g. in the case of Japan, auto workers were trained to do quality control themselves, whether American auto workers were regarded sort of like dumb monkeys that did only one limitted little task, while others did quality checks. Japanese auto workers were trained to do a much higher variety of jobs and functions.\n\nLastly if you have lived with Germans you realize there is something about the personality and attitude to life in general. They are just the kind of people that never do anything by half measure. Extremely punctual and organized. Similar to the dutch in that they put into their agenda everything they do. When living in the Netherlands that kind of drove me crazy, that nothing could be done at a whim. Everything had to be planned and scheduled. The dutch might to stuff like invite you to a dinner at a particular time and then there is a particular time in the invitation where you are expected to leave. It would not surprise me if Germans were like that too.",
"Funny because until the mid-70s Japanese products were considered shitty and unreliable ",
"Lean manufacturing.\n\nAfter WWII countries like Japan and Germany didn't have a single working factory. When they did become operational again, resources were so scarce that they were forced to come up with more efficient ways to manufacture goods. \nWhereas the manufacturing strategies adopted by American companies like GM were chaotic, inefficient, and produced a lot of waist, Japanese companies like Toyota adopted what is known as lean manufacturing. They would time every single aspect of the production line, statistically analyze the results, and reorganize the line accordingly. This way, they could produce faster without lowering the quality of the product (lean manufacturing actually constantly betters the product)\n\nThe Germans put in place the takt time (I think) to limit useless production and storage space (i.e. it's pointless to produce 50 pen caps per hour if you can only produce 20 pens - it creates a useless surplus)\n\nWith all these things combined, by the 60s American car manufacturers became more expensive and totally unreliable compared to the Japanese.\n\nA story that might be true :\nThere was a GM factory in the usa that was the most inefficient factory the company had. They sold it to Toyota who didn't change a single machine and didn't hire or fire a single employee. They just rearranged the workplace and distributed tasks differently. The factory became more productive than any GM factory in the united states. [citation needed]\n\nTL;DR\nIn short, lean manufacturing is a tool used to organize an efficient production line. As a general rule, factories that adopt lean manufacturing can expect an efficiency boost of about 30%\nIt was first used by Japanese and German car companies which is why we associate quality and efficiency to them. But it's now used everywhere by every big company. It's even used to organize call centers and things like that.\n\nSource: I'm a mechanical engineer specialized in industrialization. ",
"I'm in my fifties... when I was a child in the sixties we used to get small toys from japan. They were made out of painted, crimped together metal and were cheap but shoddy.\n\nMy dad was sure Japanese products were crap and always would be.\n\nFast forward a decade to the seventies and now you could buy tools from Japan - and we did. Very good quality, very good price. \n\nI've heard it said that one thing that came out of the destruction rained down on Japanese cities, was the ability to build totally new, modern factories on bombed out sites. In other places, for example in London, almost every industrial site was already owned. Not only that many old areas that *were* for sale had special laws applying to them; they were \"heritage\" sites and either you could hardly change them at all, or you could change the insides but had to maintain the outer \"facade\". I know this also applied in Australia, and I'm pretty sure most of Europe has heritage laws too.\n\nSo Japanese industry was able to modernise quickly after the war, they had an advantage. And guess which was the other country that was bombed extensively during the war? That's right, Germany.\n\nAdded to that, there's a culture of excellence in both these countries, so there's a cultural element as well as an industrial one.",
"I think the Japanese make the reliable cars now. Germans not so much. Other brands have upped their game and are equal. \nMy stepfather is always banging on about VAG build quality. Its no longer the 1980s and his VW breaksdown more than my ford. \nAs for Japanese electronics; Sony is a prime example of quality getting worse. Look at the reliability of the laser in the ps2 and the YLOD of every fat ps3. \nOr am I wrong? ",
"German here. A lot of good points have been made in this thread but I'm gonna name something that hasn't been brought up yet (as far down as I scrolled at least). Many other posters have mentioned the pride Germans and Japanese take in their work, but that goes two ways: Good work is appreciated by the employer.\nEverybody in Germany wants to work for the car manufacturers. Not only engineers, everybody. If you can get a job at Audi, Mercedes, Porsche... You go get it. That's because even the lowest assembly line worker at VW makes a very solid salary and employees usually get shares from whatever profit the company makes. My cousin is a mechanic for Mercedes and he made a € 2k bonus a couple years back simply because the company performed well and wanted to give back to its employees. \nNow compare that to the stories I hear and read about the US manufacturers where people are encouraged to work as \"efficiently\" as possible (meaning working fast with no time for QA) and are also paid \"efficiently\" (meaning as little as possible with the immediate threat of termination looming constantly), I can see why their cars are generally regarded as inferior. As a worker for a German manufacturer, you take pride in your work and the company takes pride in yours because it all starts and ends with the workers who make the product, not some suits who cut spending some more to squeeze the last cent out of some already underpaid assembly line worker. \nCan't speak for Japan but that's the way it is here. ",
"Personally don't believe this is very true anymore. Also I believe German cars aren't very well made.\n\n\nI have worked for a Japanese car manufacturer, US car manufacturer, and a German car manufacturer.\n\n\nAfter WWII, the Japanese invited American engineers Juran, and Deming to bring quality processes to Japanese manufacturing. The reason they did this is because at the time the Japanese had the reputation of making very poor products.\n\nJuran and Deming were listened to much better in Japan, than they were in the US. This led to the statistical quality processes, and quality management systems such as six sigma, and 5s that everyone tries to emulate today.",
"Because they don't have unions robbing them blind!",
"From what I understand, there's a big cultural difference between the US and some other countries. On the whole, we prefer things on the cheap (hence the tyranny of Wal-mart) but in other countries, they prefer high quality but higher priced items. I've heard part of the reason Wal-mart doesn't do well in some countries is because ones that prefer high quality items are suspicious of the quality of low price items.",
"Heaven:\nthe police are british\nthe engineers are german\nthe lovers are french\nthe chefs are italian \nand it's all organized by the swiss\n\nhell:\nthe police are german\nthe chefs are british\nthe engineers are french\nthe lovers are swiss\nand it's all organized by the italians\n\nboth are financed by the americans......."
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3njeag | what exactly makes some cuts of beef better than others? | Considering that they come from the same animal essentially. Why are some steaks in the supermarket, from the same part of the animal, of 'lesser' quality than others. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3njeag/eli5what_exactly_makes_some_cuts_of_beef_better/ | {
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"Are you asking why tenderloin is better than chuck roast, or why prime tenderloin is better than choice or standard. \n\nIf you're asking the first, it's because steaks tend to be cut from little used muscles (the tenderloin is the muscle that thrusts the hips forward for reproduction but most beef comes from steers or castrated males). \n\nIf you're asking the second it's because higher grades of steak have more [fat and marbling](_URL_0_), fat is generally delicious (see bacon or butter). Higher grade carcasses also have fewer livery flavors and more buttery/broth flavors.",
"Some cuts of beef from the same animal are qualitatively different from others, and it only stands to reason. Why would you think that, say, shoulder muscle would have the same texture as leg muscle? Or the same amount of fat mixed in? Or the same grain pattern? Or be as well-exercised?\n\nOr do you mean, how can a ribeye from one steer be better than a ribeye cut from the same place on a different steer? Well, for whatever reason, individual cattle aren't identical, for all that breeders are working on it. Some have more intramuscular fat, probably for genetic reasons, some have a different diet, which affects their flavor enormously, some are just inferior specimens of beefhood for reasons that aren't well understood.",
"The different muscles have different textures. Some are tougher than others. It's just a function of use, or physiology, but it's the same on every animal. The loins are tender, the rump is tougher, etc.\n\nApart from the quality of the tissue, fat content and distribution matter, too. But, this is different between two animals, or at different parts of the same animal. Grocery stores don't usually adjust prices for fat content, only what part of the animal it is cut from. So, whatever your cut, buying the cuts with most fat (important: it must be veined or \"marbled\" through the steak, not just a strip to one side) is always the best value in terms of taste and tenderness.",
"\"Better\" is entirely subjective. \nWhy some are valued more than others would be a combination of popular desire and use. \nFor instance, some portions of the animal taste as good as others, but require far more labor in processing. There are others that practically require no processing. Those factor into cost and common use. \nThen there are things like fat content, tenderness, marrow quantity, ligament quantity, cartilage, etc... There are a lot of factors. \nFor every cut, though, there is someone that loves it. For every organ, there is someone that loves liver, or heart, or kidney. \nSome people (monsters) prefer well-cooked meat, and for those people, there are all sorts of shitty cuts that can survive their holocaust. \nFor others, they want their animal raw to rare, and portions from the tenderloin tend to serve them well. This is the most popular cut, in general, from chateaubriand through tenderloin tips (the heart of the tenderloin provides the famous Filet Mignon), and it can often be served raw, in a tar-tar, without even being cooked (granted, I believe the vinegar which is incorporated in most tar-tars serves to kill much of the potential bacteria problems). \nSuffice to say, the cut is less important than the quality of the animal. This is why the USDA has the quality stamps: Prime, Choice, Select, Standard. (_URL_0_) \nSelect is a pretty recent change from a less desirable term, but if you like beef, stick to Choice+ or Prime. Eat less, eat better. It's worth it for both you, and the life of the animals."
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1zfxrd | what makes a thesis strong and how long does it have to be? (for essays) | I've always learned in school that a thesis is one to two sentences that provides an introduction to the essay stating your stance on the issue supported with broad details of what your body paragraphs include.
How do you make a really strong thesis and how long should/can it be?
This is for essays that are 500-3,000 Words. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zfxrd/eli5_what_makes_a_thesis_strong_and_how_long_does/ | {
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"It depends on the essay. Usually a thesis follows the order of: claim, because, therefore.\n\nClaim: This is the argument you're trying to make. Like, \"Pizza is the healthiest food on the planet,...\"\n\nBecause: Here you would list all the supporting information you'll talk about in the body paragraphs: \"...because you can choose your toppings to make it as healthy as you want and it's made with unicorn magic,...\"\n\nTherefore: This is where you bring it all together and relate it to how it effects everywhere and everyone: \"...therefore, pizza should be the national food and be given to third world countries to end world hunger.\"\n\n\"Pizza is the healthiest food on the planet because you can choose your toppings to make it as healthy as you want and it's made with unicorn magic; therefore, pizza should be the national food and be given to third world countries to end world hunger.\"\n\nSome professors want it different ways but they usually express that in class."
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6ygj6o | how do wifi waves travel through walls? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ygj6o/eli5_how_do_wifi_waves_travel_through_walls/ | {
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"Different points on the electromagnetic spectrum all have a range of wavelengths and frequencies that they reside in.\n\nWifi and radio waves are much lower frequency than visible light, and the wavelength is much longer. Every object, no matter how solid, still has empty space in it, due to atomic structuring. Radio waves, with their large, low-frequency waves, are able to slip through this gap.\n\n*Edit:* Sorry was half-awake when I responded, fixed some words.",
"It's sort of the same as asking: how does visible light travel through windows? Every single material has certain wavelengths of light they are allowed to absorb. If this were not true then windows would be completely opaque! So in the same idea, certain materials are unable to absorb radio waves, so these waves can travel right through without much problem since the chemical bonds and atoms don't want to absorb it since they can only allow discrete (specific) values of energy to be absorbed.",
"Quantumphysics teaches us that electromagnetic waves interact with matter. Visible light is an electromagnetic wave. Light interacts with matter in a \"certain\" way. If there is nothing to interact with is passes through. an examples is glass. You can see through glass. but for example if you have hold a piece of Paper in front of your eyes, you can't see through it. But if somebody is pointing a bright flashlight to your face, you can see the light through the paper. \n\nYour WiFi has a certain Wavelength. For this wave length it can interact with matter a completely different way. So for your WiFi-Waves a wall just appears as \"nothing\" as glass does for us. It still interacts and blocks some of the waves but your WiFi is bright enough to still be visible through it. \n",
"The same way radio waves (and just about all other EM Radiation) do. \n\nThere's some amount of reflection that happens against hard-surfaces, but most of the wavelengths will pass right through materials that aren't designed to resist them. \n\nThere's nothing particularly special about Wifi. ",
"Follow up question: how come my wifi sucks two rooms over but I still get great 4G from a cell tower miles away? Why can't my router do that?",
"Imagine WiFi as water. Routers with more antennas have more \"water\" than those that don't. Signal strength~quantity of water.\n\nWalls (mostly drywall) are like taking that water and pouring it through a paper towel. The water is somewhat soaked up by the towel, but it mostly goes through. Put enough paper towels together and it could contain it, but it would take quite a bit.\n\nWhen you put it into a something denser, like steel, it is contained. It wants to spread but it can't since the water can't pass through.",
"ELI5:\n\nImagine you have a big net and you try to throw basketballs through it. The basketballs can't fit through the net's mesh but a baseball probably could and a golf ball definitely could. \n\nThis example is easy to understand, it's a one-way interaction of net and ball. The smaller the ball, the more likely it will pass through it. \n\nRadio waves, Long Wave, Short Waves, VHF, UHF, Microwaves, WiFi, Infra Red Light, Visible Light, Ultra Violet Light, X-Rays, and Gamma Rays are ultimately the same phenomenon (electromagnetic waves) but with a different frequency / wavelength and they all travel at the speed of light. The frequency / wavelength of those waves (size of ball) determines whether or not it can pass through matter (the net) without being absorbed (blocked by the net). \n\nThis infographic from the 1940s may be helpful in visualizing the electromagnetic spectrum \n\n_URL_0_\n\nUnfortunately, like most things in reality, the ball and net analogy is a poor explanation. There's many exceptions where materials will let certain wavelengths through with no problem but impede those with both higher and lower wavelengths. ",
"Like sound waves. The waves are vibrations & can \"pass\" through materials.\nThrough air is very easy. The air in turn vibrates other air in the same rhythm.\nThis can continue to then vibrate walls, although some walls might not vibrate with as much vigour as others so the waves get weaker. As the waves continue passing along, they lose more and more strength.\n",
"WiFi waves are just a form of light, just like X-rays, radio waves, microwaves, visible light, and infrared (heat). WiFi falls in the range of large microwave frequencies (2.4 or 5 GHz). \n\nLet's look at X-rays as an example: they can pass through your skin, muscles, and other soft tissue, but get absorbed by bones or dense metal. That's how we can get images of your bones using x-rays, but not the other tissue. WiFi waves (radio frequency light) don't get absorbed very easily. Like X-rays, dense and metallic materials absorb them best. Since walls are not very dense, and typically aren't made completely out of metal, the WiFi energy can simply go through without being disturbed. \n\nGetting out of ELI5 territory, the ability of a matter to absorb a particular wavelength of light is called \"attenuation\". Attenuation depends on the density of the material, as well as the electronic structure of the material, and varies with changing light frequencies. It also varies depending on the frequency of the light. For examples of WiFi attenuation from common objects, [this table](_URL_1_) highlights the differences between 2.4 and 5 GHz signals. \n\n**Sources:**\n \n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_2_\n\nPhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering",
"All the explanations I see are way above what you would explain to a five year old, so I'll take a crack at it.\n\nStuff, everything from your hand to a chunk of lead is mostly empty space essentially held together by natural forces such as electromagnetism. The particles that make up wifi are very, very tiny and they move in a wave pattern.\n\n Those particles are able to travel in the space between the atoms. Now, some do actually crash into the material itself and those don't get to your device. But, if the wave's frequency is high enough, the material's density is low enough and of the right structure, then it can get through and deliver hours and hours of free porn to your device of choice. That's why wifi sometimes has trouble going through multiple walls, the wave diminishes in intensity each time it goes through an obstacle like a wall because it's losing particles do to them crashing into the material."
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"https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/135033/why-do-2-4ghz-frequencies-offer-greater-range-than-5ghz-routers",
"http://scienceblogs.com/builtonfacts/2009/09/17/wifi-and-radiation/"
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a33zco | brain's "inner music player"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a33zco/eli5_brains_inner_music_player/ | {
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"Music is a very complex subject in the brain. The auditory system is definitely involved, but the various parts of music are a bit harder to place in the brain. Rhythm, pitch, and tone are all generally processed differently from one another, and there are indications that memory and some amount of motor control is also involved. It is known that in your auditory cortex, there are certain groupings of neurons that light up in response to a certain pitch. This is an easier aspect to observe precisely, since we can divide the cochlea of the ear and see that it has a kind of gradient quality to it that picks up a certain frequency of sound, and then (through a long pathway of nerves) can end up stimulating specific cells in the auditory cortex. Tonality and timing are a LOT more difficult to idealize in the brain with our current understanding.\n\nWe don't really know *how* exactly the brain can come up with melodies and tunes *de novo*, though we think that there is some natural predisposition for this. It's pretty apparent that advanced musical training has a huge effect on your ability to think musically as well. How exactly that works is a bit of a mystery, other than guesses that the brain of a musician has simply changed to suit their field of work. We do somewhat understand how a person can replay a tune they've heard in their head/recall how to play a song through memory.\n\nMemory can be divided into many categories, two of them being declarative vs procedural. Declarative memory contains information that is accessed using conscious recall - you have to *actively* remember how a song goes to listen to it in your head. Procedural memory contains information related to a task that may not require active recall, but can be preserved through doing a task. For example, if you've ever played a piece on an instrument and tried to replay it years later, you might find that you can still play a remarkable amount of the song, even if you forget the tune in a few places. That's because how you *play* is preserved through your procedural memory, whereas how it *sounds* is usually declarative.\n\nBasically, we have a very broad understanding of some of the effects music has on your brain, and can try to make some educated guesses on some ways your brain makes music, but it's still a very challenging subject in many ways.",
"Look up “melodic intonation therapy.” It has been used for patients with aphasia, specifically nonfluent (or Brocas) aphasia. This happens when a person is able to understand words but has difficulty speaking them, but the deficit is not due to a motor speech disorder (aka, people can physically speak). This can happen with stroke. People with non fluent aphasia typically are not able to speak words in a fluent way, have a lot of pausing and cannot fully complete their spoken thoughts.\n\nMelodic intonation therapy is when a person with aphasia is taught to say their thoughts by essentially singing the words. If you look up videos it’s pretty incredible ",
"Also check out Gordon's \"Music Learning Theory\". He uses the principle of \"audiation\" (\"Thinking in music\") for early childhood music education. "
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3by3dq | if the body didn't fight, say, a virus, with a fever, runny nose, sneezing etc. what would the symptoms of having that virus be? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3by3dq/eli5_if_the_body_didnt_fight_say_a_virus_with_a/ | {
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"Ebola is a virus much different than the herpes virus or the virus that causes warts. Many viral infections don't cause any of the symptoms you listed. "
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1t5nks | why gaming companies want to remove gameplay videos and "let's-plays" from youtube? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1t5nks/eli5_why_gaming_companies_want_to_remove_gameplay/ | {
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"That's not what the current issue is about, it's about monetizing. People can make money from their videos based on the number of hits. The new content ID system scans whole videos for even a tiny fragment of copyrighted content and tries to give all monetization of the video to the people it thinks own the copyright, as well as allowing nonsense fraudulent claims.\n\nMany game studios have come out and said they're fine with people using their content in stuff like LetsPlay videos or video reviews of their games. The only one who's explicitly said they'll attempt to claim copyright on every video they can is Nintendo.\n\nNo studio actually wants to have the videos taken down, except a couple of very specific instances where a development company has put out an awful game, then tried to copyright-claim bad reviews of it off YouTube whilst letting positive reviews remain.",
"If you mean the current issue the problem is on YouTube's end. There are companies, I know Blizzard for one and Capcom may be another, that were horribly confused when they started getting complaints that they filed claims against games they have given permission for. Some, mostly small indie devs, were getting claims and what not against themselves.\n\nIt's just YouTube's quarterly frack up. ",
"Why would I pay 60 bucks for a story driven game that has little replay value after the plot, when I could just watch somebody else play through it? That way, I still get an experience from a game without playing it."
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1636gl | what do standing committees and select committees do? | and if you could explain, what do joint and conference committees do? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1636gl/what_do_standing_committees_and_select_committees/ | {
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"This is from a US perspective.\n\nStanding committees are where most of the work in Congress gets done. There's 16 in the Senate and 19 in the House, and each deals with a separate policy area. (There are some standing committees that deal with things like allocating money or setting rules on bills, rather than dealing with substantive bills, as well.) When a congressman introduces a bill, it gets sent to one of the committees to be worked on, amended, debated, whatever. These committees are smaller groups than the House or the Senate as a whole, and they have specialized staff, and usually are filled with members who have built up some experience in the area, so it's easier to get work done instead of having all 435 or 100 members working on it. After a committee is done with a bill, its members vote on it. If it doesn't pass out of committee, it's almost always dead. If it does, the entire body gets to vote on it to pass it for real. Standing committees are more or less permanent - a new one might get created now and then, and others merged or removed, but in general, they're around for the long haul.\n\nSelect/special committees usually deal with investigations or oversight, and are usually temporary (but not always). They often don't deal with legislation, although some do. Basically, if there's something that the standing committees don't handle or wouldn't handle well, they create a select committee.\n\nJoint committees have members from both chambers of Congress, and are basically there for issues where the separation of powers between the two chambers isn't important. There are only four standing joint committees at the moment - two are essentially executive branch oversight, and the other two deal with the Library of Congress and the Government Printing Office. There are occasional joint special committees, such as for handling the inauguration of the President.\n\nConference committees are a temporary joint committees. The Constitution says that both chambers of Congress have to pass the same bill for it to get sent to the president to be signed, but often there will be amendments made in either chamber, so that they end up passing different versions (sometimes small, sometimes huge differences). If neither chamber will yield and accept the other's version as-is, then each chamber sends representatives to a conference committee to hammer out a compromise, after which each chamber will pass that version."
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3y7hjq | what makes us have an epiphany or suddenly realize something? have we subconsciously reached a "border" or how could one describe it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3y7hjq/eli5_what_makes_us_have_an_epiphany_or_suddenly/ | {
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"You could say that. The way I view this is that a window exists between your subconscious and conscious brain of which the size depends on your cognitive activity. Your subconscious processes are always hard at work, processing all the stimuli and impressions that your brain gets bombarded with every day. It comes up with new, creative ideas all the time that are waiting to be picked up by your conscious thought. But cognitive strain makes the window smaller, decreasing the chance that an idea pops over from unconscious to conscious thought. When you're relaxed, the windows is bigger and the chance of an epiphany increases. That's exactly why many people experience having great ideas when they're in the shower, queueing at the supermarket or when taking a dump or something. \n\nWhen you're relaxed, an epiphany is more likely to happen. All of a sudden your conscious thought becomes aware of the result of unconscious thought. ",
"Our brains have a lot of information that we're not actively using, or in some cases even aware of. Some people would call this \"subconscious\" but this is an oversimplification to just how jumbled the volume of data streams inside our brain can get. \n\nFor example: at any one moment you have the information for what water is, and the information for what water feels like.\n\nNow lets imagine you spent your whole life understanding the sensation of wetness and the properties of wet things and what water was as two separate bits of data which you never quite sussed together (I know this is a ridiculous example but it applies to more complex epiphanies). \n\nNow, lets say you're drinking water one day while watching old reruns of Nickelodeon and observing that some fortunate (or unfortunate if you're bitter and heartless) child has gotten slimed, and it hits you: water is wet!\n\nWhat's happened is, two previously unconnected bits of information have been linked into a single bit of information. In this moment, the two data points of water and wetness have sparked as a single idea encompassing both of the previous concepts. \n\nWhen were talking brains the information is a *LOT* more complex than computer bits and these so called \"bits\" of data can be abstract concepts ranging from emotions to your collective knowledge of the 100 years war, and as such this type of epiphanic realization can come from anything, simple or complex (or simple and complex) and often times we wont even be aware of what primed the connection. Typically we only think of it as an epiphany when we have some feeling of \"I just got that\" between ideas we've \"known all along.\" In practice, however, this is pretty much just what learning is. When we read/watch media we take in information and write new memories as a constant process, but, as I've touched on, our brains are scattered full of memories and bits of data we aren't even aware of (and to go into how stupid simple and equally mind blowing that is would be an essay in and of itself) so sometimes we hold onto information we don't quite understand, and without seeking the understanding make a connection with a piece of information we forgot we had.\n\nFor another example, let's say you've heard about string theory lots of times and maybe watched a few videos on it but never quite understood it, likewise you might be more math savvy than the average bear and find yourself one day just kind of playing with dimensions in your head. Without trying to, you pull from some of the information and visual metaphors you've seen/read on the subject and realize, seemingly out of nowhere, \"[you] now understand string theory!\" The data was there all along, but it took time, skill and smarts to actually link it together.\n\nOne final note: epiphanies are limited to the information we have. There is no inherent truth to an epiphanic realization and every one is flawed by the heuristics of our own minds. In this way, completely insane ideas can be reached through very \"logical\" connections, when a thinker assumes a validity to their own thoughts. Much like correlation does not equal causation, a life changing epiphany about the dangers of vaccines means little to nothing when vaccines aren't dangerous. Most of us are already aware of this, but it is a relevant thing to mention: our brains our stupid and lazy, and even if we're smart individuals, we're still basing everything from flawed/subjective readings. \n\nTL:DR Our brains are stupid vacuums of information, but every so often we actually do something with the crap floating around in our heads.\n\nEdit: sentence structure and a final note"
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21a9l8 | why will a problematic starter motor start your car when you hit it with something? | So today a girl parked next to me at school couldn't get her car to start. I quickly figured out it was the starter. I had her get in the car and I gave it a whack with a breaker bar as she turned the key. It started right up. How does this get it working for a moment? Is it from electical shorting, or something more "physical" inside the motor? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21a9l8/eli5_why_will_a_problematic_starter_motor_start/ | {
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"This has nothing to do with the solenoid. Starter motors are brushed electric motors. Inside there are copper 'brushes' that are making physical contact with the rotating stator. These brushes are what provides the electricity to the rotating parts of a motor. Just like on battery terminals corrosion forms on these contact points. When you hit the starter it actually moves the brushes allowing current to flow again. A lot of times when you get to this point with a starter, you can replace these brushes (if you can get to them) for under a dollar. \n\nSource: broke college student that has an old vehicle "
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tyc2j | the problem with monsanto and its rise to becoming such a prominent monopoly. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tyc2j/eli5_the_problem_with_monsanto_and_its_rise_to/ | {
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"Monsanto copyrighted certain genetic modifications in seeds.\n\nThis means farmers cannot reuse seeds from last year's harvest as they can be sued.\n\nAs more Monsanto seeds are used. High risk of contamination from winds and animals affect even farmers who do not use Monsanto seeds but has farms next to those who do.\n\nAlso, as more are used. There is a smaller supply of normal seeds. This can mean Monsanto effective control certain vegetables such as corn and soybeans",
"Farmers like to plant crops year after year and like to fight off the insects that attack their crops. Crops normally produce seeds that can be used to grow crops next year. \n\nMonsanto sells special seeds that can be activated to be resistant to insects. All you have to do is buy new seeds every years since these crops do not produce useful seeds. You also have to buy the chemical to activate the seeds. \n\nIt is much more complicated than that, but the idea is that once they have you as a customer you can never leave. Every time you try to leave, they pull you back again. \n",
"Nothing...if you like the vast majority of the world's food supplies to be controlled by one company.\n\nMonopolies are bad, they tend to unleash the worst behaviors in a corporation and the most harm on the public. \n\nEdit:Grammar/Spelling ",
"First off, many people have a general squeamishness toward genetically modified (GM) foods. There are legitimate cases of allergy aggravation and negative health effects from GM foods, though this does get exaggerated by the anti-GM environmentalists. Because of the existing sentiment against GM foods in general, the biggest company the produces them (Monsanto) is an easy target. There is also a flavor of GM producers trying to sneak GM food into the supply without keeping people informed. People don't like that. In particular, this can be dangerous for people with allergies to certain types of GM foods because there is essentially no way to know which products use a GM crop versus a non-GM crop, at least in the US.\n\nSecondly, Monsanto plays very, very hardball from a litigation perspective. They sue everyone and their mom. Probably the biggest example of this is selling their seeds under a license agreement, so farmers can't reuse seeds from year to year, they have to purchase a new stock for each crop. This plays out usually pretty negatively from a PR perspective, even though presumably Monsanto thinks that this is the best way to profit from their innovations.",
"Ok, so no one here is answering the question of *why* Monsanto is a monopoly (well, almost - they don't quite have a literal monopoly). I'm going to try.\n\nThe problem, perhaps ironically, is that genetically modified foods are *over-regulated*. Essentially, the costs associated with all the red tape around GM products, even in the US, are astronomical (from things like product testing and approval, etc.). There are great profits to be had (because GM crops *are* biologically superior in many quantifiable ways), but the costs create *massive* barriers to entry in the industry. Essentially what this means is that, right now, the only viable business model in agricultural GM is to be a giant corporation. What few GM startups there are just can't make inroads to the market because of the prohibitive costs of regulation.\n\nThis problem might go away on it's own, because the individual component parts of the research and engineering that go in to creating GM plants *are* becoming cheaper with time, so it's hopeful that more people will be able get in on it eventually. But the immediately effective way to increase competition would be to deregulate somewhat.\n\nTLDR: Very strict regulation prevents smaller companies from competing with the likes of Monsanto.\n\n(sources: my (layman's) knowledge of this subject comes mostly from a close family member who is a molecular biologist working in agriculture, and I remember the same sentiments being expressed in [this AMA by a UF Horticultural science professor](_URL_0_))\n\nActually, for answers to a lot of good questions relating to GMOs and their use in agriculture, check out [this AMA](_URL_0_) from a professor at the University of Florida."
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8eond8 | how come ice, especially on lakes, sometimes makes an almost laser-y noice when cracking? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8eond8/eli5_how_come_ice_especially_on_lakes_sometimes/ | {
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"Wow, I didn't know about this phenomenon until I researched this answer. Now I want to find a frozen lake! Too bad it's currently spring where I live :(\n\nHere's a link that explains it pretty well: _URL_0_\n\nAnd here's my TL;DR version... sound waves traveling through ice separate into waves of different frequencies (this is called \"acoustic dispersion\"). The higher frequency waves travel faster than the lower frequency waves. So you, as the listener, hear the high frequency content first, and then the low frequency content. It sounds like a laser.\n\nI was quite amused by the videos on youtube showing this in action. Thanks for the question that clued me into this!\n\n"
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7u6yl0 | the state of the union address and what it means for the average american. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7u6yl0/eli5_the_state_of_the_union_address_and_what_it/ | {
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"Once a year the President of the US get's up in front of a big crowd and gives a speech discussing the current status of the country. This is a big event that is long on optics and noise and light on actual impact.\n\nIn other words, it is just a big spectacle with a light dash of policy.",
"It's, traditionally, a speech given every year where the president lays out his policy goals and what he wants Congress to work on. It's more of a rallying cry than anything. The opposing side uses it as a great time to voice their own objections to whatever the policies are. It's not much unless you like watching speeches and are curious what Trump wants the republicans to be up to.",
"I am a political junkie, and I can't think of a single reason to care what's in the State of the Union speech. Ever.\n\nIn theory it's supposed to be a report by the President, giving Congress the results of whatever audits, studies, reports and so forth that the executive branch has assembled, a \"how are we doing?\" progress report. Which is meaningless, since those reports now come out every Wednesday, sometimes more often. If you have any reason to care what the executive branch is reporting as the condition of the government and the economy and any wars we're fighting, you can read that in any newspaper or hear it on any TV broadcast when those reports come out.\n\nIn long-time practice, it's the President's annual formal speech as head of his political party: their party's legislative wish-list for the upcoming year and a preview of the political slogans for the next election campaign. There is no reason for you to care about that legislative wish-list because no President has ever gotten the whole wish-list passed, no matter how much of Congress they control, and there is no reason for you to care about the slogans, because once the election season starts, boy howdy are you going to hear them over and over again then.\n\nIt's a meaningless ritual.",
"Think of it as a sort of victory lap for the President. It's not a big deal in itself -- it doesn't set policy, it doesn't have any legislative effect -- but it's a big deal precisely because people think it's a big deal and so they tune in. Because they know that people will be watching, a lot of effort goes into it. (This has traditionally not been viewed as all that important. State of the Union addresses have often been written, historically, although not since [Herbert Hoover in the thirties](_URL_0_) was it regularly written; Carter also delivered a written address one year.) As for why it's important, it's one way of fulfilling one of the President's constitutional duties: to 'give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient'. Many Presidents have also used it as a way of rallying support from their base, which plays into the idea of it being a victory lap. In the days before weekly radio/TV/web addresses, a big speech that you could guarantee would be reported on was always useful to have. Following on from this, the Opposition now tend to give a rebuttal just afterwards, which tends to get almost as much play as the State of the Union (and is considered a chance for rising stars in the party to make a name for themselves. Nikki Haley, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan all gave the Opposition Response during the Obama years.)\n\nThis year is considered a big deal because Trump has a habit of doing things that are... let's be judicious and say 'not entirely consistent with the concept of *typical Presidential behaviour*'. The last time he gave a big speech in front of Congress, it was widely lauded as the first truly Presidential moment of his presidency, and gave him a big boost in the eyes of a lot of the media, albeit briefly. A lot of people are tuning in to see if he's going to match that, or if he's going to go off the rails. Other people are tuning in to see just what he's claiming as his big accomplishments in a year that has, by comparison, been somewhat light on signature legislative achievements."
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9mijty | how is keto-diet an effective one when fats are less satiating and also have the lowest tef? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9mijty/eli5_how_is_ketodiet_an_effective_one_when_fats/ | {
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"Every diet works if you eat at a caloric deficit, meaning that you burn more calories than you eat. No matter if you cut out more carbs or fat, you are going to lose weight if you eat at a caloric deficit.",
"Where does your idea come from the fats are \"less satiating\"? I've always thought that a handful of almonds is far more satiating than a bowl of pasta.",
"The reason keto diet is generally more satiating, is because your body is switching over to a different primary food source. After the *adaptation phase* (from several days to a week or more), you begin to burn *ketones* (stored fat) for energy, instead of glucose (from carbs & sugars). Once you stop having high blood sugar due to carbohydrates, with the resulting low blood sugar that accompanies it (blood sugar swings), you begin to respond to hunger in a less extreme way. You have a more even-keel of blood sugar that stays balanced more often.\n\nThe curious thing about keto diet, however, is *it doesn't burn more calories than a calorie-equated diet that also includes carbohydrates.* That is to say, it's the CALORIC DEFICIT that does the work, and not the ketogenic diet. \"Keto is not magic.\" You would still lose just as much weight on a carb-based diet, if the deficit is the same. But it's also important to note that many people have an easier time with compliance, and can adhere a little better, once adapted. Then again, some people really start to miss the taste and feeling of carbs...\n\nedit: I know there's a step before adipose tissue converts to ketone bodies. Keeping it simple, here.\n\n",
"I think perhaps you are misunderstanding what the cause is. \n\n\nThe entire problem, for the average person, with being satiated is the trigger pulled from sugar spikes. You eat carbs (sugar) and your body can only process so much of it (so the rest mostly gets stored) and then once the part it can process is out, its suddenly looking for more again and this is what causes your stomach to \"hurt\" and give you the feeling of hunger. \n\n\nWhen you eat low/no/slow-release carbs, your blood sugar is regulated and you never trigger this response or if you do its extremely mild. So it is not that fat or protein is more satiating, its that the entire hunger pangs thing is only from eating carbs to being with. Does that make sense? It isn't as if on a level of 1-10 for satiety sugar is 5, protein is 8, and fat is 4, its that what we regard as \"hunger\" is caused by eating excessive carbohydrates. \n\n\nI kind of left out how you sort of transition between burning your body fat and burning what you eat more seamlessly, but I dont think that is as relevant.",
"Fats are not less satiating and have the same TEF as carbohydrates (though both are inferior in this respect to protein). \n\nr/_URL_0_\n\nA keto diet is effective because it forces the body to adapt to burn ketones (from fat) instead of glucose (from carbs) for its primary energy source. Since your body naturally has a lot of fat stores, if put in a deficit the body will start to utilize the stored fat as energy much more efficiently than a traditional diet. Also, the body stores excess glucose as fat, so if you're not giving it a lot of carbs to turn into glucose, it's not going to be storing as much fat.\n\nI've conflated some processes and terms but that's the gist.",
"It was most effective for me because it helped with hunger, like Oatsandwhey points out you're not getting the blood sugar swings. I felt like in general I had more energy and I didn't need food for energy as badly. ",
"Every diet works by making it easier to eat at a caloric deficit (which is the only real way to lose weight naturally)\n\nThe ketogenic diet does it by switching the fuel source of your body from carbohydrates to ketones, which has a few effects on your body, the key one here being a lowered response to hunger"
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