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7w8qas | if they have single stream recycling. why can they not do that with all garbage? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7w8qas/eli5_if_they_have_single_stream_recycling_why_can/ | {
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"In a sense, they can. There are plenty of areas which don't collect recyclables separately, but try to recover them from the garbage before it goes to the landfill. The yield from this is much lower than single stream, though--just like single stream is not as efficient as separated collection. On the other hand, the operating costs are lower, as well. The decision on what system to use depends on local operators, people's willingness to separate, the cost of separate collection, etc."
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9ghb5r | what happens if the market crashes on 2020? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ghb5r/eli5_what_happens_if_the_market_crashes_on_2020/ | {
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"Boy, if anyone had a way to accurately tell you that, then that person would probably not be on Reddit.",
"Having gone through it myself, I can tell you that a lack of preparation and liquidity made it a million times harder. Right now I am prepping for it by hoarding as much cash as possible. Where most people would say, pay off your debt right away, I take a little slower approach and set aside 2 times as much cash as I put into debt reduction and living expenses. \n\nBut it really depends what industry you are in and your talents there. Look out for things that might come up that could derail your industry: commodity prices, over leveraging, local market industry saturation (cities dependent on any one type of business - like oil). It’s worth asking the question to someone your work with that might have survived through the last downturn. Ask them what happened during all of it. \n\nHoard cash, don’t over extend, and then once it crashes again, find some solid investments and go all in and ride that bitch to early retirement. ",
"Bosses become ruthless....Not playing ball, not a longtime employee, or are redundant? Cya! No raises and possibly a couple pay cuts. Expect to work longer for less pay. \n\n\nMeanwhile retirement savings collapse so all the older people put it off. Which further puts pressure for everyone else to perform more and do more. \n\n\nJust sucks all around. "
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7sfjil | if muscles are built by repairing damaged muscle tissue, could we surgically, or in some way other than a workout damage them and let them recover , leaving us with more muscle mass? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7sfjil/eli5_if_muscles_are_built_by_repairing_damaged/ | {
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"Well, when you involve nanobots and hypothetical technology, all bets are off.\n\n*Currently*, the most cost-effective way to build muscle mass is to hit the gym. Muscles get micro-tears by fully engaging, and they won't fully engage unless there's resistance to work against, like lifting something heavy off the floor. \n\nYou can get muscles to tense up by stimulating them with an electrode, but 1) that's a lot of time, machinery and probably doctor supervision for safety 2) not every muscle is easily reached, other muscles or organs can be in the way.\n\n"
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5wrsrk | why does aluminum foil spark in the microwave, but doesn't when its used as the container for, say a chicken pot pie? | When I put aluminum foil in the microwave by itself it sparks and makes pretty colors.
On the other hand, when I put a potpie in the microwave and its container is made of aluminum foil it never sparks.
Why does this occur?
Edit2: follow up question- Why does a CD in the microwave react the way it does? Here is a source to a [video](_URL_0_)
Edit: Decided to flair it as physics, could be chemistry.
maybe someone could shed light on where it fits best.
Thank you.
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wrsrk/eli5_why_does_aluminum_foil_spark_in_the/ | {
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"Rounded vs. pointy sections. Crumpled foil has pointy sections. Same reason lightning rods are sharp. \n\nYou can leave a spoon in the microwave in your tea or food, and probably a fork IF the tines are submerged. Don't try to to use a fork in your food with the tines exposed. ",
"Basically, microwaves work by generating low-frequency radio waves that excite the molecules in food. This excitation generates heat, and the conductive properties of the food or liquid carries that heat to the center of the item. \n\nMetal will reflect these radio/microwaves. This is why a microwave is basically a big, secure, metal box--so you don't cook everything in the room around you. If you put a thick piece of metal in the microwave (say, like a pot pie pan) then the microwaves are simply reflected back and forth between the pan and the walls of the microwave.\n\nHowever, a thin sheet of metal like a strip of aluminum foil can't withstand the energy provided by the microwaves and will rapidly heat up and ignite. The electromagnetic field in the microwave will cause a current to run through the foil, and if the foil is crinkled into sharp edges, the current will discharge as bright sparks."
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9chjgl | when frying chicken why is it important to dip it in flour before the batter and breading? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9chjgl/eli5_when_frying_chicken_why_is_it_important_to/ | {
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"Batter and breading don’t stick very well to raw chicken. Flour sticks to both so you use it as a in-between layer.",
"I read once that protein sticks to gluten. So chicken (protein), then flour(gluten), then egg(protein). Another flour and egg cycle after that give you a thicker coating. Not sure if thats scientific but it seems to work well"
]
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mfyjo | what would happen if a person drank 100 cups of coffee in one day, ala futurama? | If you haven't seen the episode, everyone in the country gets a $300 tax rebate. Fry decides to spend his on 100 cups of coffee. By day's end, he basically reaches a sort of enlightenment, everything around him slows down (to him), while he's actually moving faster than the speed of light.
I know that ending wouldn't really happen, but what would? Stroke? Heart attack? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mfyjo/what_would_happen_if_a_person_drank_100_cups_of/ | {
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"I remember an article with a reader asking if it was possible to ingest a lethal dose of caffeine, and the \"expert columnist\" said that you'd need to drink about 100 cups of coffee in a day for that to happen.",
"Since caffeine is an upper, you'd more than likely have a heart attack, or suffer another problem that results from massive over-stress of the body's systems. More than likely, you'd die with that kind of overdose.",
"You die. And are apparently miserable and in pain until you do.\n\n_URL_0_",
"I witnessed a coffee drinking contest in college. I friend of mine won by drinking 17 cups in 30 minutes. Then she had to go to the hospital to get her stomach pumped due to caffeine poisoning. The ER docs were particularly unimpressed, as I recall.",
"I remember an article with a reader asking if it was possible to ingest a lethal dose of caffeine, and the \"expert columnist\" said that you'd need to drink about 100 cups of coffee in a day for that to happen.",
"Since caffeine is an upper, you'd more than likely have a heart attack, or suffer another problem that results from massive over-stress of the body's systems. More than likely, you'd die with that kind of overdose.",
"You die. And are apparently miserable and in pain until you do.\n\n_URL_0_",
"I witnessed a coffee drinking contest in college. I friend of mine won by drinking 17 cups in 30 minutes. Then she had to go to the hospital to get her stomach pumped due to caffeine poisoning. The ER docs were particularly unimpressed, as I recall."
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755m4f | why are audio jacks round while charging and other ports are rectangular? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/755m4f/eli5_why_are_audio_jacks_round_while_charging_and/ | {
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"Audio jacks and *some* charging ports use so few wires that they were able to use a \"coaxial\" round design. This enables them to be connected in any orientation, and to rotate freely in the socket, both of which are advantages.\n\nThese connectors don't work well for digital data (the rotation can screw up the connection momentarily) or for cables requiring more than about 4 wires to be connected.",
"With an audio jack the contacts are arrayed down the length of the plug, meaning the first contact could connect with every other contact along the way in or out. Pumping charging voltage down a data line is a bad idea. ",
"It's largely a result of how many connections there are. Headphones originally had 2 connections, signal and ground. They've expanded to 3 (stereo and ground) or 4 (plus mic) while keeping the historical form factor. Lots of power connections are round as well (barrel plugs) as are old video connections (coax and RCA plugs) \n\nThe trouble is when you get lots of connections to be made in a plug, you need to line up the wires right. That's easiest to do if there's only a single way the plug goes in. Hence rectangular, non-rotatable plugs. ",
"Because they always have been, really. The phono connector has been around for at least 130 years, to the point where I don't believe anyone knows who made it first. It's really cheap and easy to manufacture, and always has been. It's literally a tube of brass or gold, the tip can be made by pinching another tube. The jack itself is a flimsy piece of metal spring from bent/stamped sheet metal. You can make a jack in your garage with a few metalworking tools that have been around for centuries, it's not rocket science. \n\nIt does have few distinct disadvantages that have rendered it obsolete for other tasks. But keep in mind there are many other round connectors out there like DIN and XLR. Rectangular plugs have only become popular with the advent of cheap and tiny flat copper strips, which are necessary for low profile connections. "
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1t8b6q | how come when i smoke a cigarette it calms me down even though my heart rate is higher? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1t8b6q/eli5_how_come_when_i_smoke_a_cigarette_it_calms/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\nA bit more detail than that article. Higher concentrations cause calming effects. Lower concentrations tend to cause a stimulating effect.\n\nThe calming effect is due to it's heightening effect on serotonin and opiate pathways.",
"the process of inhalation and exhalation of smoking is at a much deeper rate than normal breathing, taking slower, deeper breaths relaxes the body, as it \"slows your body down\""
]
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2y4o1i | how can scientists use galaxies and other systems as lenses to see further in the universe? | Question following this [NYT article] (_URL_0_). | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2y4o1i/eli5how_can_scientists_use_galaxies_and_other/ | {
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"It's a process called gravitational lensing. When an object has mass it warps spacetime. How does it do that? Well pretend the universe is like a 2D bedsheet. If you suspend that bedsheet over a hole in the ground and put a small weight in the middle the sheet would sag down, creating an indent in the fabric. \n\nThis is essentially what objects with mass do to spacetime. The exact process behind this is pretty complex particle physics and isn't hugely relevant or necessary so just accept that it happens, like with our bedsheet.\n\nIf you were to roll a ping pong ball from one edge of the fabric along to the other end of the fabric in a straight line it would bend its path as it passed around the indent. If you were to repeat this at the same speed at the other side of the same edge of the sheet (this is hard to describe without images but I hope you get what I'm saying) it will bend the other way. If you were to plot the balls path they would cross at a certain point behind the central mass.\n\nThis is essentially what a gravitational lens is. The sheet is spacetime, the mass is a large cluster or galaxy, something with a lot of mass, the balls are photons of light and the meeting point of the lines is where we are looking from. \n\nSee the following image, it will work hand in hand with my description to explain it\n\n_URL_0_"
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"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/06/science/astronomers-observe-supernova-and-find-theyre-watching-reruns.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=fb-nytimes&bicmst=1409232722000&bicmet=1419773522000&smtyp=aut&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id"
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71qupu | how do power wires stay the same voltage when so many different homes and companies are drawing power from them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/71qupu/eli5_how_do_power_wires_stay_the_same_voltage/ | {
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"they don't stay same voltage. if you measure it, you'll see the voltage go up and down at a fixed position. if you move you'll also see it varies with wire distance to the distribution node. power companies are always monitoring the voltage levels and adjusting the power generators to match the expected demand. ",
"Voltage doesn't drop much because all devices are hooked up in parallel. Regardless of the number of devices in a circuit, the voltage will remain the same across the devices if hooked in parallel. Its the current, measured in amps, that will keep adding as more devices are added on in a parallel circuit. "
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ss3il | +r vs -r, when it comes to cds and dvds. | I will give you karma. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ss3il/eli5_r_vs_r_when_it_comes_to_cds_and_dvds/ | {
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"DVD-R was created by the DVD Forum, the official group behind the DVD standard, in 1997. The hyphen is just a hyphen, not a minus sign, similarly to CD-R.\n\nIn 2002, a group of companies led by Sony decided they could do a better job, and so made DVD+R. The main difference is that DVD+R is better at avoiding and correcting errors, both during reading and burning. \n\nNowadays most DVD players/burners can handle both, so it doesn't really matter. But if you have to give a disc to someone with an old DVD player, -R will have a better chance of working.",
"Pity the fool who bought DVD-RAM"
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84vo4h | what are the concepts of intrinsic value and instrumental value in philosophy? | I've been reading about the dichotomy of the two, and it's been difficult to make sense of it in rather simple terms. What defines and separates the two? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/84vo4h/eli5_what_are_the_concepts_of_intrinsic_value_and/ | {
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"Intrinsic value is when I value something for itself. Instrumental value is the \"I can use this!\" sort of value. This is a tool that lets me better get what I want, so it's valuable to me.\n\nI value the well-being of those I care about, for instance. Is this so I can get something else? No, I just want them healthy. I might admire an art and want it around because I like it, and not because I can use it to get or do something else.\n\nI value having shoes because they help me get to work -- shoes are a tool that gets me to work better. I value work because it's a tool that gets me money that's a tool that I can use to get shelter and food and healthcare and stuff.\n\nIt gets a bit fuzzy between \"I want this because it will have a mental effect on me\" and \"I want this for itself\". I tend to be a bit generous here -- for instance, I have a cute hair clip, and I value it because it helps me look cute. That's pretty close to the outside world / internal mind divide, so I'd say that I intrinsically value that hair clip. But another person might say that my intrinsic value is on being cute, or feeling like I'm cute, and the hair clip is a tool that helps me achieve that goal. Except it was also a gift from my spouse, so I value it for that reason too. Things are complicated.",
"Say the only thing want in the world right now is some chocolate.\n\nThat has intrinsic value, it's all you currently value. But there's a second class of things you value, things that allow you to get chocolate.\n\nSo in this situation money would have instrumental value, because it allows you to buy chocolate.\n\nSo you want money, _but_ you only want money to get chocolate. That's the difference.\n\n\n"
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3unisx | why did africa's/australia animals evolve to be so deadly compared to other animals around the world? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3unisx/eli5_why_did_africasaustralia_animals_evolve_to/ | {
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"In Africa animals had a lot more time to adjust to humans than in other places. They learned eventually to avoid humans.\n\nAustralia used to be full of weird giant animals, but by the time humans made it to Australia they were already master hunters. Humans wiped out most of Australia's big animals in a very short amount of time. The only ones that survived were either too fast or too mean to eat."
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3rz7h9 | why are people upset over red starbucks cup? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3rz7h9/eli5_why_are_people_upset_over_red_starbucks_cup/ | {
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"It's part of a larger \"War on Christmas\" argument that get's brought up every year. Over the last several years, companies have done different things to make the holiday season more inclusive for everyone. The big one was getting workers to say \"Happy Holidays\" to customers instead of \"Merry Christmas\" since not everyone celebrates Christmas. This pissed a lot of people off who viewed this change as trying to get rid of Christmas. The red Starbucks cup is seen as another example of that. Usually, Starbucks changes their white cups to red around this time of year and it usually has some sort of wintery or Christmasy design on it. This year, it's just solid red and Starbucks has been accused of taking Christmas off of their cups. "
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24eki9 | why do software companies have a day one patch for downloadable software? | Why don't they just update the installer? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24eki9/eli5_why_do_software_companies_have_a_day_one/ | {
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"Because the discs were pressed weeks before the software release date, so it would have time to go out to retailers. That means that any disc-based version of the software is necessarily several weeks out of date by the time it gets to you. And they don't typically update the installer because it's easier to test things when you only have one configuration (the original installer + patches) rather than two (original installer + patches and updated installer). "
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2fq71f | why exactly is benghazi such a big deal? | I understand what happened to the embassy over there and the folks in it and that sucks, what is with all the constant finger pointing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fq71f/eli5_why_exactly_is_benghazi_such_a_big_deal/ | {
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"Because an ambassador (i.e the human representation of America oversees) was killed and that makes it a big deal no matter who was responsible. ",
"There were warnings from Ambassador Stevens sent to the State Dept. about an increase in threats. More security was requested and denied by Hillary Clinton, although she denies that she personally was responsible. The anniversary of 9/11 should have been an obvious reason for heightened security. The following cover story about an internet video was embarrassing to say the least, and now soldiers are claiming they were instructed to stand down in an attempt to help. This claim has also been denied by the administration. It is important to know what exactly happened in order to learn how to avoid it in the future, but the current administration simply wants it to disappear.",
"Certain elements of the American public believe that higher ups in the government are directly to blame for the deaths that occurred, and that it needs to be pursued no matter what various reports say, how long it takes, and how much money is spent. \n\nAlso, it's beneficial to some, to keep the controversy alive due to all of the political maneuvering over this, because of how strongly people believe, and how people will vote depending on where you stand on the issue.",
"Because mid term elections are coming up. 28 Americans were killed in embassy attacks during the Bush II administration but no one gave two fucks. ",
"Because Republicans can use it as a cudgel against Clinton and Obama at the same time. Two for one bullshit \"scandal\"!",
"Its important to learn from our mistakes aw we don't want the same thing to happen again. To do that, we need to understand what happened. \n\nThe State Dept. and others have been difficult with providing information to congressional investigations.",
"The Republicans had a huge incentive to blow it out of proportion because, if it were true that facts were manipulated, it would not only make Obama look bad, but it would also hurt the likely Democratic presidential nominee for 2016, Hillary Clinton. \n \nUnfortunately for the Republicans, [many investigations](_URL_0_) have shown that nearly all of their allegations they have been throwing around have been more-or-less false. The only thing they've really got right is that the embassy wasn't properly prepared to deal with an attack.",
"This happened during the presidential campaign where Obama had been bragging that al Qaeda had been decimated. And to throw blame somewhere besides al Qaeda the administration tried to blame it on an obscure video to protect his presidential run. And also to protect a potential run by Hillary Clinton. The ambassador had requested more security and it was refused. So the Obama administration lied for political purposes. The administration were told very early that it was an orchestrated terrorist attack and not a spontaneous demonstration. It has been argued that if the people had known that was not just a demonstration gone bad but an orchestrated attack, Romney would have won the election. \n\nAnd to cover it up even more, the survivors of the attack have been prohibited from testifying. ",
"For a week following the event, administration officials had categorically insisted that the prime, if not only, cause of the attack was spontaneous anger over the anti-Muhammad film, The Innocence of Muslims. White House spokesman Jay Carney insisted that \"these protests, were in reaction to a video that had spread to the region.\". UN ambassador Susan Rice, when asked about the impetus for the attack, said that \"this began as, it was a spontaneous – not a premeditated – response to what had transpired in Cairo,\" and added: \"In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated.\" In other interviews, she insisted that the Benghazi violence was a \"spontaneous\" reaction to the film.\n\nPredictably, and by design, most media accounts from the day after the Benghazi attack repeated the White House line as though it were fact, just as they did for the Bin Laden killing. Said NPR on 12 September: \"The US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi by protesters angry over a film that ridiculed Islam's Prophet Muhammad.\" The Daily Beast reported that the ambassador \"died in a rocket attack on the embassy amid violent protests over a US-produced film deemed insulting to Islam.\" For many weeks after, numerous people believed – as though there were no dispute about it – that Muslims attacked the consulate and killed the US ambassador \"because they were angry about a film\".\n\nIt is always more enjoyable to scorn the acts of the Other Side than it is to acknowledge the bad acts of one's own. That's the self-loving mindset that enables the New York Times to write entire editorials purporting to analyze Muslim rage without once mentioning the numerous acts of American violence aimed at them (much of which the Times editorial page supports). Falsely claiming that the Benghazi attacks were about this film perfectly flattered those jingoistic prejudices.\n\nThen, there are the implications for the intervention in Libya, which Obama's defenders relentlessly tout as one of his great victories. But the fact that the Benghazi attack was likely premeditated and carried out by anti-American factions vindicates many of the criticisms of that intervention. Critics of the war in Libya warned that the US was siding with (and arming and empowering) violent extremists, including al-Qaida elements, that would eventually cause the US to claim it had to return to Libya to fight against them – just as its funding and arming of Saddam in Iraq and the mujahideen in Afghanistan subsequently justified new wars against those one-time allies. \n\nIf the killing of the ambassador were premeditated and unrelated to the film, then it vests credibility in the criticism that the consulate should have been much better-protected, particularly on 9/11. And in general, the last thing a president running for re-election wants is an appearance that he is unable to protect America's diplomats from a terrorist group his supporters love to claim that he has heroically vanquished.\n\nThe falsehood told by the White House – this was just a spontaneous attack prompted by this video that we could not have anticipated and had nothing to do with – fixed all of those problems. Critical attention was thus directed to Muslims (what kind of people kill an ambassador over a film?) and away from the White House and its policies. \n\n"
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72144o | why are there so few female geniuses? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/72144o/eli5why_are_there_so_few_female_geniuses/ | {
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"I think there are two big factors that contribute to this apparent imbalance:\n\n1. It takes a relatively long time for a scholar to be recognized as a genius - usually in regard to his/hers extraordinary work achievements, so the work has to be done first and so on.\n\n2. For a long time, women were not encouraged (or even were prohibited) to do research or other than simple work.\n\nIf you combine these two factors, it may explain why most of geniuses you know of (so historical and relatively recent) are male.\n\nThere might be other reasons, but I think these two are significant.",
"IQ tests are not a good way to determine genius. They are biased and ineffective when you test the extreme ends of the scale. There are many female geniuses.",
"Several studies have shown that although male and female IQs are equal in their statistical average, there is a wider standard deviation among males. Thus, men dominate both the top and the bottom of the intelligence spectrum, while women cluster close to the mean. So Einstein-level geniuses will be male, but, for example, so are all the dumbasses who post YouTube videos of themselves skateboarding off a roof."
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4zjlds | why does it take forever to become 20 and only a short time to be 40? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zjlds/eli5_why_does_it_take_forever_to_become_20_and/ | {
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"time perception. At five years old, 1 year is a huge chunk of time (1/5th).Compared to life at 40 one year is 1/40th. A 5th of your life to date is now 8years. As you age, time seems to move faster because you have a larger pool of time to compare it to...."
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a7eu8v | why did we agree on rounding up if a value is 5 instead of rounding down? | PS: I would have loved to Name it „Eli10“ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a7eu8v/eli5_why_did_we_agree_on_rounding_up_if_a_value/ | {
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"Because it splits the gap exactly in half:\n\n & #x200B;\n\n0,1,2,3,4 = Round Down (5 digits)\n\n5,6,7,8,9 = Round Up (5 digits)",
"I think it has something to do with how we count. \n\n0 1 2 3 4 | 5 6 7 8 9\n\nIts symetrical 5 on each side so 0 - 4 is round down, 5-9 is round up.\n\n",
"This isn’t exactly true. In food packaging if there is .5 grams they can round down. Lots of “fat free” and “sugar free” does this. ",
"We don't really agree on it. There are different ways of rounding something that ends in exactly 5. \"Bankers rounding\", for example, rounds exactly 5 in whichever direction make the digit before it come out to be even.\n\nThe common grade school way makes sense in that 0.50000000000001 needs to round up, so by having 0.50000000000000 also round up means that you only have to look at the first digit being rounded away, rather than all of the digits.\n\nBut technically this means you are rounding \"away from zero\", rather than \"up\", because -2.5 would go to -3 not to -2."
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1vs2et | why are foreign words in japanese written in odd letters? | Inside a string of Japanese letters, every now and then an English word, for example, pops up and is written in this oddly thin and disproportionate font in pretty much every font. Why is this a thing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vs2et/eli5_why_are_foreign_words_in_japanese_written_in/ | {
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"it's to make it more obvious that it's a word of foreign origin, so people dont get confused as easily. in some english books where there's occasional usage of other languages, those words are in *italics* instead. ",
"Japanese fonts are traditionally monospaced; that is, each character takes up the same space on the screen. Now, of course, `we have monospacing in English too`. But in the Latin alphabet, individual characters fit best in skinny rectangular boxes, while Japanese characters fit best in square boxes. So if you're using a Japanese font, you have to make Latin alphabet characters fill square boxes; that's going to look weird no matter how you do it.",
"Japanese has three scripts: 1. Kanji are ideographs, meaning you get a picture which represents an idea, like a picture of a tree to mean a tree.\n2. Hiragana are syllabic phonographs, meaning each character represents a syllable (ka, ki, ku etc). Hiragana are used for words which don't have kanji (or because you don't know the kanji) and or the grammatical bits of the language. So if you wrote \"I saw a tree\" the bit of the word which marks \"saw\" as past tense would be in hiragana.\n3. Katakana are similar in use to hiragana, but are used for foreign words and onomatopoeia. They're also sometimes used to write Japanese words but in a \"cool\" way, for example Honda is a Japanese word, but to show they're talking about the brand and not the name, which honda technically is, it's written in a way normally used to emphasise sounds.\nI hope I understood your question and that helps.\n\nEdit: I think you're asking about katakana.",
"Modern Japanese uses phonetic symols (hiragana) and a somewhat stylized set of chinese characters (kanji) for writing native Japanese words. While reading and writing in kanji is considered better by Japanese culture, the amount of memorization required means that children generally use hiragana at first and then transition to kanji as they grow, eventually only using hiragana for various Japanese particles. If you ever watch anime, you can sometimes tell if it is aimed at a younger audience by if you see tiny little symbols (hiragana pronounciation) written next to the more complicated ones (kanji) in song lyrics or on signs and books.\n\nKatakana was developed as a faster-to-write version of hiragana, but in more modern times it has been used to represent foreign words. If a Japanese person sees katakana, they know that it isn't just a written-out kanji, but is a word on its own. This helps prevent confusion as Japanese has very few sound combinations and therefore a lot of words with different meanings look alike when written phonetically. It also warns the Japanese speaker that it may contain some sound combinations which are a bit unusual, even in Japanese. If you hear a Japanese speaker read a passage which contains katakana, it's fairly easy to notice when they get to a katakana section because the words tend to not have the same rhythm as the native Japanese."
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jrbde | universal healthcare? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jrbde/eli5_universal_healthcare/ | {
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"In the UK we have Universal Healthcare. This means that if you get sick, or are in an accident, you are taken to hospital, given all the care you need for as long as you need it, and are let go when you are fit to leave.\n\nYou do not pay for this service. The only thing I have ever paid for on the NHS are prescriptions (Flat fee of something like £7), and orthodontics (cosmetic dentistry).\n\nThis is paid for my National Insurance contributions which are deducted automatically from your paycheck.\n\nEverybody is entitled to the same level of care. It does not matter how rich you are, when you're in an NHS hospital you are treated the same as everyone else.",
"In the UK we have Universal Healthcare. This means that if you get sick, or are in an accident, you are taken to hospital, given all the care you need for as long as you need it, and are let go when you are fit to leave.\n\nYou do not pay for this service. The only thing I have ever paid for on the NHS are prescriptions (Flat fee of something like £7), and orthodontics (cosmetic dentistry).\n\nThis is paid for my National Insurance contributions which are deducted automatically from your paycheck.\n\nEverybody is entitled to the same level of care. It does not matter how rich you are, when you're in an NHS hospital you are treated the same as everyone else."
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198tgz | why do download speeds waver so much in the beginning, and then stabilize after a while? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/198tgz/why_do_download_speeds_waver_so_much_in_the/ | {
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"It's called \"Windowing\" and load balancing it works like this.\n\nWhen data is transmitted over a network as massive as the Internet it could be passing through a dozen or so different routers with different capabilities about them. There are many different paths these routers may choose to route your data and it's quite possible that the complete path taken will vary as the file downloads. In the beginning a small chunk of the file is sent from the server to your computer, and your computer yells back to the server \"I got all of that first batch, send the next batch please!\" And the server sends another batch but perhaps twice as much data bundled together at once. The computer yells back, \"Got it, next batch please!\" This continues until at some point not quite all of the intended batch gets there and the computer yells back, \"I'm missing the last little bit, can you resend that?\" The server then says to itself, \"Hmmm, I guess somewhere along the way there's a router that can't handle batches any larger than X, so I'm going to reduce the size of the batches to a smaller number and continue gradually experimenting with the size until I find an optimal size.\" This is called windowing.\n\nNow lets say along the way one of the routers between you and the server goes offline. A few things will happen. Nearby routers that were connected to the dead router will notice it's silent and will then communicate with each other to confirm that others all see that the router is silent and then update their routing tables to create a work around path. This work around path might consist of slower equipment that's secondary or a few hops out of the way, which might result in a smaller \"window\" for which the server has to adapt for when sending batches of packets. The router wouldn't necessarily need to go down either, it could also become overloaded with high traffic that results in noticible delays or a reduction in the number of packets per batch in an effort to keep everything moving, albeit a little more slowly, and the routers automatically determine a work around path that, for that busy period of time, is used alternatively. This is called load balancing."
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ypp8p | why do i sometimes get that it feels like its itching inside my hand, foot etc.. | Sometimes its starts to itch on my hand for example, and start to itch on the spot but it doesnt work, I itch over the whole hand, but i doesnt help, Its like **inside** the hand. Happens sometimes to the foot, face, and legs.
EDIT: Sorry for my grammar, im.. 5
EDIT: Scratching. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ypp8p/why_do_i_sometimes_get_that_it_feels_like_its/ | {
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"Don't worry. There are probably just some insects inside you.",
"An itch is actually similar to pain. It's simply nerve endings reacting to some stimulus. When it itches inside, that just means the nerve endings that are reacting to the itch is beneath the skin.",
"It's possibly related to complex motor tics. These are issues when your brain needs or feels a want for a certain or strange stimulation. Try to ignore it and when you can't, just do what you can to stimulate it, like stretching lightly.",
"I get this feeling inside my chest as well sometimes. Still don't know why.",
"I have chronic bronchitis, asthma and allergies. My lungs itch so much it freaks me out when they don't. It just the inflammation activating the nerves. It's not really an itch like on your skin, but your brain interprets it that way.",
"WebMD says you have cancer.",
"Instead of itching it, you should scratch it.",
"I have a liver diease that makes me super itchy... Liver ooze gets into my blood stream and pokes my vessels... Making me itchy everywhere, below the skin... Now go to bed its past your bed time little one",
"Reading this post made me itchy. Thank you. :-/\n",
"This used to happen to me often as a kid",
"In my culture it means you need to take your ass to the casino because you're about to make some money",
"Wash your hands after you go number 3.",
"I get this in the palm of my hand all the time!",
"Google sensory processing disorder or sensory integration dysfunction. I've been dealing with it my whole life and just started therapy a few years ago which makes a world of difference. ",
"I get this feeling a few times a month, same places too: face, legs, feet and especially hands (and very occasionally a few centimeters into the abdomen). It's always about a half a centimeter under the skin (other than the abdomen ones). I have no idea what causes it, I think it's just like a really small twitch that my brain interprets as an itch. They only go away by either pushing my thumbnail or teeth into it.",
"Sometimes our nerves are not precise. For example, if you have sore hands or fingers, rub your forearms. \n\nSo try rubbing further up the limb that is itching. It might work. \n\nI have a spot on my ribs where if I rub it, I can feel it on the inside of my arm, between the elbow and elbow-pit. If I put my arm against my side, the two spots touch. However, If I rub that spot on my arm, I cannot feel it on my ribs. ",
"Probably just your Anterior cingulate cortex acting up.",
"my gramama says whenever the right hand itches, means i'm gonna get money soon..!"
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crlyqp | what is the determining factor between assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/crlyqp/eli5_what_is_the_determining_factor_between/ | {
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"No, the difference is intent. If you intended to kill them then its attempted murder. If you didnt want to kill them but just hurt or scare them, but you used a weapon that is deadly to do that, then its assault with a deadly weapon."
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1yjvlf | what is a meshnet? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yjvlf/eli5_what_is_a_meshnet/ | {
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"Meshnet is a peer to peer internet system. It makes each internet device that is able to transmit and receive data a mini internet server. and by mini internet server I specifically mean setting aside part of its available usage to transmit and pass along data. This works because each router in the network is connected to each other network capable device.\n\nSo instead of your internet working like this\n\nYour computer > ISP > \"Local network\" > \"High level network\"\n\n\nWith meshnet made of routers would look like this\n\nYour computer > your wifi router > Next door neighbor's wifi router > Guy's down the street wifi router > person's half way across town wifi router > Server where data is located\n\n\nBut meshnet doesn't have to only be made of routers. It can be made with ANY device that is capable of transmitting and receiving data."
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2lckqh | why isn't washington d.c. a state? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lckqh/eli5_why_isnt_washington_dc_a_state/ | {
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"DC is not constitutionally permitted to be a state. The whole point of cutting off an area 10 miles square for the capital was so it would not reside within the boundaries of any state.",
"It is not allowed to become one. It is specifically set aside to be the capitol city so that no State can have more power by housing the capital. "
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2i79gv | what powers pump-jack oil wells? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2i79gv/eli5_what_powers_pumpjack_oil_wells/ | {
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"Most of the ones I've seen use an electric motor, but any type of engine would work.",
"1) Electricity (sometimes derived from solar panels)\n2) Natural gas (Methane is the big one)\n3) Propane\n4) Diesel (not very common)\n5) The tears of environmentalists"
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34m92s | why tesla's new power wall a big deal. | How is Tesla's new battery pack much different from what I can get today? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34m92s/eli5_why_teslas_new_power_wall_a_big_deal/ | {
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"It is mass produced and much more effective than current battery options, which usually rely on lead acid. Tesla has made a massive lithium battery factory.",
"it's a big deal because of mass production of lithium ion packs directed at consumer. \n\nresidential battery packs is not a new thing. (although mainly backyard tinkerers)\ncommercial battery power installation is not a new thing. (although using lead acids for cost)\nlithium ion battery packs is not new thing. (that's what powers your cell phone and laptop)\n\n\ncombining all 3 and scaling for mass production is a new thing.\n",
"For people with solar panels, it lets them store the excess energy and use it themselves rather than selling it back to the grid for pennies.\n\nFor everyone with variable usage costs, it lets you take power from the grid when it is cheapest (nightime) and then store it to use at any time you want basically meaning you always pay the minimum rate for your power.\n\nFor everyone long term, if these gets widely adopted, power companies can completely change the way they create power, and there will never be variable rates. And \"theoretically/optimistically\" power would get cheaper because power plants would be running constantly rather than stopping and starting.\n\nTelsas power banks are better than what you can get today simply because they are for the most part a lot cheaper than current methods, and have programming built in so anybody can use them efficiently.",
"Not an answer, but honest question regarding Elon. I feel at times I'm not really comprehending all that he is doing or is trying to do for this world. I feel I should look at him as a great inventor, entrepreneur, but I don't know how he stacks up historically. \n\nAnyone have a good explanation on this at all? I'm impressed by him either way. ",
"Someone compared this to the iPhone. When it came out (~~2005~~ 2007), all the tech in it was nothing new, but it was packaged in an elegant way that just worked. However, mass production of lithium in this scale is new.",
"Solar panels are useless anyway. There's always a dense sheet of grey clouds blocking out the sun.\n\n... You guys have that outside of Britain as well, right?",
"Something that hasn't really been elaborated on, but is the \"main\" reason that the Power Wall is a big deal imo, is that it really is the missing link that will enable your average consumer to produce, store, and use power for their home. Once this technology is up and running, in theory, all manner of home-generated power, whether it be from a wind turbine, a solar array, or hell a mini hydro plant in your back yard, will suddenly become much more useful and will make going \"off grid\" a breeze, if you've got the ... well ... breeze to pull it off.\n\nI believe easily being able to store your own home-produced energy will lead to a flood of innovation and interest in creating green, renewable energy at home, because that energy suddenly becomes tangible and real, not just a way to reduce your power bill. Power you can USE, in your home, without having to be an electrician. ",
"**To answer the question:** It isn't different at all from what you can get today. \n\nHere's a database with existing energy storage systems in german including various LiB systems. As you can see there are already dozens of existing systems from different companies. [Link in German](_URL_0_)\n\nVarious research companies predict that the gigafactory will see a lot of overcapacity. So how does Tesla solve this problem? They advertise their batteries for the homestorage market that will become very important in the next years. [Link to report](_URL_1_)\n\nTesla made a huge gamble with the Gigafactory (The planned production exceeds the global production of lithium cells in 2013). In order to succeed they now have to find enough buyers for their cells. Whether these cells are used in cars or storage systems doesn't matter.",
"One of the big features for remote areas of developing countries is it can eliminate the necessity of the grid. Generate (renewable sources) and store power where it is needed rather than in a fossil fuel plant miles away and transported across expensive power lines.",
"It is also useful to have such a battery pack in the case of brownouts or powershedding. It helps even out demand on the system.\n\nThe reason Tesla's battery pack is a big deal is, unlike current lead-acid UPSes, these are compact and designed in such a way as to not cause too much hassle with them being in a home environment.",
"Solar installations are usually grid tied, but this isn't a big deal to allow someone to be \"off-grid\". We already had crappy batteries for that, but it worked. It has little to do with reselling the electrons your panels generated.\n\n**It's an adoption solution that fixes another major issue, allowing near-100% solar.**\n\nElectric substations are generally one-way. It converts the high voltage to 220 for the neighborhood to use, but cannot backfeed excess 220 to the high voltage lines. That means if everyone in the neighborhood had solar, the grid would be saturated and the voltage would go way too high on a sunny day. Good batteries allow you to store the excess to be used later at night, without having to upgrade the grid unless there was a ton of excess panels. Without a storage solution, if too many people have solar near you, you will not be allowed to install it to prevent destabilizing the voltage \n\nThis is a big deal because it's provides much better batteries, which last much longer, don't potentially leak flammable gasses and acids, and look sexy. By being more accessible it handles an adoption problem, and people will be more likely to use them. People don't want their houses to look like the back of a hippie's school bus. It's the difference between an iPhone and an old brick cellphone.",
"Something missing from these comments is that on the grid, the power that is generated for your light bulb is created right that instant. So power companies have to guess what the max output of, say, any city and make sure they're well above, so that there won't be an outage. On a large scale, these batteries are a good way way to store excess energy, therefore creating a more efficient system where excess energy isn't wasted.",
"It's the missing link. We have solar panels that produce more power than you need during the day so there's power going to waste. Then no power during the night (if you'd be relying 100% on solar that is). Now you can store that extra energy harnessed during the day and use it during the night.",
"A lot of people are making excellent point. But I'm not sure I've seen it mentioned, a lot of renewable energy doesn't have a consistent output. Solar is strong during the day, less so at night. Wind is great but depends on, well, the wind. The power grid is extremely fragile, and can't really deal well with a variable source of energy as well as variable usage of it. And the largest issue with it has been how to store the power it makes to be used when and how it's needed. What Tesla is doing is great for a couple reasons. It's good for the consumer that has a small renewable source, so they can use more of what they create when it's needed. But it's even better for business. Businesses use much more power than homes, and are in a position to make more efficient use of the batteries. Also, it's possible that with more efficient solar (for example) and more efficient batteries, that we could get to a place where each small community is providing its own power needs with small solar farms, in much the way that some areas have an electric co-op now.",
"Imagine every citizen is streaming youtube online, only no one is allowed to buffer their feed. Either the infrastructure has to be beefy as fuck to prevent video from constantly stopping and starting due to the variable usage of all citizens OR you create a way to buffer the video so that the system has a way to cope with variable demand. The Tesla wall batteries are the buffering mechanism for power.",
"Ok I think I got this - a lot of commenters are glossing over the 'why' and jumping into how - yes they're big batteries. yes they hold juice so your home can use it. Tesla's proposal is a big deal because of the problem exhibited in this chart: _URL_0_ - those peak times cause power companies to run generators in overdrive, buy power from other companies and have brown-outs. If the peak load can be shifted away from the power companies and onto individual homes the grid's requirements for output become much more normalized. Reducing peak load events will drive down costs and potentially emissions on the current setup. Adding solar, wind and hydro resources will further drive down emissions, those models do NOT do well in peak scenarios.\n\ntl;dr (of an eli5 heh) stabilize the demand put on the traditional power grid - > open opportunities for more eco-friendly power.",
"Will these be able to connect easily into a grid-tied solar system? See what I mean below: \n\nRight now my utility makes you choose one or the other if you go solar:\n\n* A grid-tied system with no batteries, or\n* A solar system with batteries completely disconnected from the grid.\n\nThe reason for this is that they don't want the batteries feeding back into the grid. Imagine if a service worker from the utility turn off the power to work on it, but gets zapped because a house had batteries that were energizing the line from the other end.\n\nFor a client's project we managed to get a combo system approved, but only by essentially breaking it into 2 pieces to keep the batteries isolated. Then we had a very expensive piece of equipment to get them to work together.\n\nThis would be a big deal if the safety was built into these Teslas so that they isolate the power from the grid if the grid goes down.",
"We have basically this exact thing at work and have done for ages. It isn't a big deal because it is a product that has been available for ages. ",
"You know when you switch on your light? Or any time you use electrcity? It's all being created, essentially real time. Moving more of the power grid to a system that can store energy rather than one that has to create it on demand makes the system capable of being run more efficiently.\n\nAs a side benefit, it means people with these batteries have a backup solution in case power goes out for an extended time, which is more likely in an environment of global warming. But, the more practical day-to-day application is that it means you pull power off the grid when its cheaper and store it for when you want to use it, rather than be one of those people paying top rate when everyone is running their A/C when it's a 100 degrees F outside.",
"One of the bigger implications, yet sort of unlikely in my opinion, is that it can be easily installed in third world countries and power places that have little to no power infrastructure, similar to jumping the landline technology with cell phones as Elon stated. The problem is that solar panels are very expensive, so the governments of these countries would have to pay for installation and maintenance of solar panels and the Powerwalls. Unlikely any time soon, but the technology will be readily available, which is something new.\n\nI guess a good way to explain it is imagine if you could get internet as fast as Google Fiber with no wires/cords/infrastructure. It would change the market completely. However, Powerwall still has a few downsides.",
"Ive seen several accounts of the \"savings\", it seems pretty thin. Some states (such as california) apparently have ungodly high electric rates, and they have huge variances for peak vs off-peak. This can help reduce that spike load on the utilities, and help the homeowner save money by avoiding the expensive part of the day.\n\nIn the end, it is \"wasting\" energy, in that your probably losing 20% to waste, but thats an acceptible loss for the benefit. If you live in the right place.\n\nPersonally, my power is the same price 24hrs a day. so it would do nothing for me. (my provider might appreciate it, but not enough to compensate me)",
"What if i charged the battery during off peak hours through the grid and used it during the day when rates were higher? Doesn't this become applicable even without solar panels?",
"answer:\nhe talked about how cell phones leap-frogged land lines in some developing countries. there is no need to build land line infrastructure because cell phones are cheaper and better. \nsame with this battery pack. homes that are not on a power grid/ unreliable power grid can leap-frog infrastructure and have their own reliable power source.",
"It's a very low price point for the tech, lithium batteries are much higher energy density than the still widely used lead acid packs for the same job. The price point is still very high on lithium cells and Tesla at least halved what a good estimate of cost should be. Nobody knows their exact reasoning but it would be a defensible opinion to say that these are sold at a loss. \n\nThis has to come about if home solar is going to do actually make a difference in our total power usage. Currently most home solar users don't store, they pump power back into the grid and their meter spins backwards. This is not something a power company wants to happen on a large scale because they needs your fees to maintain the lines, it's foreseeable that in the near future if solar is popular this practice will not be allowed and users should be storing their power and using it when they need it to get any benefit. ",
"God so much hype around that announcement. The very cynical side of me is wondering how many of these requests, news stories, etc are astroturfing and shilling by marketing companies. \n\nSay that you have a solar home. During the day you will often get enough energy to power your house with some left over. What do you do with the excess? If you're still on the grid you might feed it back into the mains which is effectively turning your meter back or selling your excess to the power grid. \n\nBut maybe you're not on the grid, or if you are maybe you don't want to put it into the grid, maybe you want to store it for use overnight instead of switching to grid after dark. How do you store that energy? \n\n\nPrior to Musk's announcement you did it in one of 2 ways. \n\n1. You bought a bunch of deep cycle or marine batteries, got a bunch of jumper bars and connected them all together along with an inverter, battery charge controller, safety fuses, and you left it in a big ugly lump of batteries somewhere in your house or garage. \n\n2. You got out a soldering iron and your visa card and bought hundreds of hobby grade Lipo/LiFe/LiIon battery packs and soldered them together in blocks of series, and blocks of parallel until you arrived at the operating voltage of your solar panels minus several volts for charging current. You also had to add a charging controller, safety fuses, etc. If you wanted to do it right you built a large jig and an enclosure to hold the hundreds of small batteries all wired together, and it was still an eyesore. \n\n\nAfter Musk's announcement. \n\nYou shell out 3,000 bucks, grab a screwdriver and attach the shiny white obelisk to your wall and run the cabling up to your panels. Then you sip on coffee while enjoying being green. \n\nThe charging controller, all safety equipment etc are all built into the battery. It's also much more compact and the battery controller is kind of good because it can isolate bad cells without taking the entire system offline. Dead batteries become more like dead pixels in a monitor, than a show stopper. Any fires are safely contained in it's compartmentalized interior. Bad cells can be replaced easily and safely. \n\n\nThis is strictly a DC device, it will not power your house without the additional purchase of a DC to AC inverter, which get very expensive the more watts they are to supply. And if you want to charge the battery pack without solar panels you would also need to purchase an AC to DC converter, which is much cheaper than the DC to AC one. ",
"Economy of scale once his battery plant comes online and hanging this on the wall is *much, much* less complicated than getting permitted for a large bank of lead acid batteries in some (most? all?) urban areas. When I looked into solar a few years ago in Las Vegas, your only real option was a grid inter-tie system. That's great because you get to use the grid as a free, 100% efficient virtual battery, but it still cuts your power when the power goes out.\n\nBuilding codes required a traditional battery enclosure required an external building that was vented properly for the explosive gasses that are generated during charging. A bunch of expensive batteries in a building in the heat of Las Vegas equals a huge decrease in their lifespan.\n\nThe labor involved in hooking this into your system is much less than assembling a large pack. The Powerwall still requires an inverter and such, but you can buy a bank of them with a ten year warranty for much less than what lead acid would have cost when I last checked.\n\nAlso, if you're on a Time of Use Plan, these could charge at night when it's cheaper, then supply during the peak times instead of drawing from the grid. Once again, depending on your inverter.\n\nIt should be noted that the largest electricity users in houses is air conditioning and that is not listed on the Powerwall webpage. It would take quite a few of these to power an AC unit (220VAC, ~15A).\n",
"It isn't. What they don't tell you is the $4,000+ install fee and using it can end up costing as much as $0.30kwh which is as much as three times as just purchasing power. The facts about converting US to non-fossil fuels maybe true but their battery isn't the answer. \n\nSource: _URL_0_",
"It's really not, but it's from the Apple design book: It's pretty, and it's easy. You can run a deep cycle lead cell battery system of the same kWh for a third the price, but you have to do it yourself and it takes up a lot more room, and doesn't look nearly as nice. \n\nThe Tesla system is consumer friendly, and that's important when trying to get people to switch to a new tech.",
"I work in the solar industry and install systems.\n\n\nFirst solar costs are coming down for a bunch of different reasons. More people are going solar cause they can lease a system and pay for power at a co constant rate and that price won't ever go up (unlike utilities which charge more for lower each year).\n\n\nSo because leasing panels is so cheap and install, set up and interconnection is covered by most full service solar companies you get a good deal, except you're still tied to a power grid and your solar system is worthless at night. But now that we have a new battery that is easy to install, set up, and place anywhere in your home that works better then any battery system that only costs 3 grand is a big deal because it's accessible to current/new solar users and tesla isn't preventing people who use other systems outside of his parent company to use this battery. If you can make solar energy useable all hours of the day, simple, cost effective then that is something to celebrate.\n\n\nIf you look up battery systems they are complex and fucking ugly",
"It's mostly for the utility market. However, homeowners and business are encouraged to purchase as well to take advantage of battery scalability. Elon Musk is working towards a renewable energy cycle and transitioning to massive energy storage is part of it. \n\nThe battery wall is different in that it is intended to be unobtrusive similar to a sculpture or piece of art. At least that is the intent. This way people are more inclined to have a battery hanging in their garage, or on the outside of their walls.",
"Quoting from future comments: \n\n\"Baww too expensive, too heavy, too much heat, too much environmental damage, why can't I get a girlfriend, not enough power, not enough sex, not enough money for me, it will never work, why do I yankee my wankee about science yet hate every science story, only internal combustion produces enough energy to haul my hairy fat **ASS** out of my feces-encrusted basement, solar sucks, renewable power sucks, everything except my personal opinion violates thermodynamics, my diaper is full.\" \n\nThat about cover it? \n",
"Most replies are from a US homeowner perspective. As someone who grew up in India, this is what I thought:\n\nIn countries like India, very few cities ever get 24x7 electricity. You can be a millionaire, but still you can not have 24x7 electricity unless you install some sort of an expensive backup system. Almost every middle class and richer family owns a battery or fossil fuel based backup unit for their house and from the smallest business to the largest industry, uninterrupted power supply is always a huge issue.\n\nThe existing battery based solutions have many of the issues that Elon Musk pointed out in his announcement. They use old-school batteries (no thermal management, nasty leaky chemicals and toxic fumes). They also need special storage areas and most don't \"just work\". At $3500 for a 10kWh storage, it is a little more expensive than some existing good quality devices, but it really isn't that much more expensive! Reliability and easy of use are very important and if Tesla can make a reliable and high-quality product which is also scalable enough that even businesses can own, then it will be a huge deal in many parts of the world.\n\nAlso if you tie it to other sources like solar, then many remote locations that were never connected can also have some power! (Think of hospitals, internet access stations etc.). \n\nIf Tesla can deliver all that they have promised, it can make a huge economic (and environmental) impact across the world.",
"The new power pack is cheaper, cleaner, and easier to install in your house. It will be the iphone of home storage. I.E. the tech had been there before, but this solution is so elegant and makes so much sense that it will have widespread use. \n\nIt should be said that He's done something similiar with solar city and has made a killing off of it. \n\nBtw, more efficient energy use means cheaper energy for the rest of us if deployed on a wide scale. ",
"It's like the iPhone. It's not really anything new, but it's very nicely packaged, it's more available to the average consumer, and it's actually got some marketing behind it.",
"Power is difficult/expensive to store. Nuclear stays on 24/7 and provides constant power. Solar and Wind are not constant sources of power. This makes Nuclear more useful thanks to it's consistency. If we could store the energy from renewable sources, they become more feasible. The Tesla battery tries to fix this problem.",
"It's not until its affordable enough that you can get 75% or more of the general populace to buy into it.",
"This solution is only feasible is we had the rare earth metals to make these boxes in huge quantities. The reality is that we couldn't make every sedan in the US a hybrid, let alone fully electric because of the resource constraint.\n\nThis box simply can't exist in the quantities Tesla is promising. Lack of supply will kick in and the price for the raw materials and the batteries themselves will explode during adoption. It changes nothing except getting people to talk about Tesla.",
"You can store cheaper electricity to use during times when the cost of power from the grid is more expensive. You're not going to get an immediate ROI, this will take a few years. Also, people take electricity for granted. In countries like Lebanon for example, electricity is not distributed 24/7. In Lebanon, they literally divide the grid in sectors, they supply 6 hours to one sector while the others are off, then they switch that one off and supply for 6 hours to another one, then after that they go off and you're back on. Basically you only get 12hrs of supply per day. You could charge the batteries while the electricity is on, so when it's off you won't be without power. And just in case you're curious, hospitals and other essential buildings use petrol generators. The batteries are silent and compact whereas a generator is noisy and bulky.",
"This will be a hit in europe. The difference between day and night rates are outrageous. They use heaters that store thermal energy during the night and release it during the day. By adding storage capacity to a house and to the grid as a whole it eases the burden on power companies",
"In the long term this will move us towards distributed power supply and production. Which means we may be able to make electricity no longer a utility, but a rather a distributed form of collaborative infrastructure. Long distance power providers would essentially become arbitrage companies.\n\nIn addition individuals and businesses would become more self sufficient. A terrorist attack on power plants would no longer a national emergency crippling a fourth of the country, but also this provides immunity from rolling blackouts.\n\nIn the short term, this simply makes it easier to use personal solar panels, which is really starting to take off.",
"Technically its not. Other companies already have this, and have for a while. But people like Tesla cause they are good at PR.",
"Before, the best you could hope for solar power to achieve (if you had solar panels on your house) would be to reduce your drain on the grid. You would use less electricity but you would still need to be hooked up to a grid because you need electricity at night when the solar panels are not working. People who have solar panels could have always used batteries of course, but there's a heap of problems attached to that, which the Powerwall basically solved and it's no small technical achievement. \n\nI used to live in a farming community that used wind power in remote locations because they had no choice. They were way too far away to hook up to the electrical grid. So it was wind power or use a diesel generator which sucks up money. There was this one farmer I knew who lived next to a wrecker and he used to take dozens of car batteries and he hooked them up together to a windmill. It was unbelievably nasty. If you neglect something like that in the open there is corrosion, and leaking noxious chemicals that are dangerous. You have to be super careful where you place batteries like that. He stored the batteries on top of gravel because nothing will ever grow there ever again. It smells bad. It's seriously something you don't want in your house. \n\nAnd there's another problem. Let's say you decide to hook solar panels and use batteries to power your house at night. There are no batteries you can buy that have a built in industry standard that allows you to conveniently hook them up to power your house. You're going to have to hire an electrician, possibly an electrical engineer, to build something for you. That would be pretty damn expensive. Most houses I ever saw that have it were specially built for that purpose. They had a storage place specifically for those batteries that is dry, ventilates out of the house, and is safely built to electrical code to supply power. Not easy.\n\nNow it's easy. The Powerwall is a battery that has basically created an industry standard that has never existed before. A battery that is not adopted or modified, but is purpose built to work to power your house. Yes, it will still have to be installed by an electrician, but they won't have to build anything, they just have to install it. \n\nWhat this does is instead of just reducing your drain on the grid, you can go off it altogether. Depending on what your electrical needs are. Remember the name of the house battery? 10KWH? That's ten kilowatt hours. The significance of that is the average daily use of electricity in an American home is 11 kilowatt hours. That's the equivalent of using 1 kilowatt of electricity for 11 straight hours. So 10 is pretty damn close and you can expect to get your house to under ten by simply switching to energy efficient appliances. (Don't worry about your computer, TV, gaming consoles, their electricity use is bugger all.) It's your washing machine, dryer, and refrigerator is your biggest drain. And if you are using old-fashioned light bulbs, get rid of all of them and switch to energy efficient, that's a big difference right there. \n\nThat means for an entire day the Powerwall battery can power your house on a single charge. Which means it should be good enough to last at night when your solar panels are not working. So during the day your solar panels power your house and charge up the Powerwall, and at night you get power from the Powerwall . That's the point of the whole thing. \n",
"If everyone is charging during non-peak hours...are they still non-peak hours?"
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afy7hn | how did old ships pull up their sails without bunching or tangling? | When sailing ships (1400's to 1800's-ish) needed to go faster, they would open or 'drop' their sails to take more wind.
How did they pull them back up when they needed to slow down? What kept the sail itself from just flopping back out or sagging down when they were being pulled back up? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/afy7hn/eli5_how_did_old_ships_pull_up_their_sails/ | {
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"Pirate here.\n\nOne part is stowing the sails properly. When you lower a large sail, you fold it back and forth (accordion fold) so that when you haul up the top, it naturally just unfolds in steps without tangling.",
"For square sails they sent men up onto the beam to grab the sail by hand and to secure it. Men below, played out rope attached to the bootom of the sail as they did this so the sail wouldnt flap around too much.\n\nWhen increasing sail, they did this in reverse.\n\nFor triangular sail, the rope they pull is attached to the top.\n\nFor some types of ship, like viking longships, they would raise or lower the whole beam. And then do all the work at deck level.",
"If you look at a photo of a square-rigged sailing ship, you can see a bunch of short strips of canvas hanging in rows on the front of the sail. These are “reefing points”, and they are tied to shorten the sail. "
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3p4b10 | why aren't bananas juicy like other fruits? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3p4b10/eli5_why_arent_bananas_juicy_like_other_fruits/ | {
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"Bell peppers aren't juicy fruits. Bananas are extremely juicy. My grandmother's recipe for old bananas with spots was the best way to get the juice out.\n\n1. Put old bananas into a pot.\n\n2. Pour ONLY 1 tablespoon of water for every banana.\n\n3. Seal the pot with a lid.\n\n4. Alow to cook on 1/4 heat.\n\n5. After 10-15 minutes remove and you'll find out just how juicy bananas are. ",
"seriously though, what did she do with the bananas/liquid after?"
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2z0jx6 | money in politics | I hear a lot a lot of talk about money in politics, but what does it actually do? The only thing I can see is it buys marketing.
Take medical marijuana. "Big pharma" (pardon the cliche) spends massive amounts of money fighting this but what does it matter? I'm still going to vote how I do no matter how much they spend. Neither me nor my demographic say "Well looks like I'm gonna vote against this because big pharma said so". In the end of the day votes get you in office and short of fraud you can't buy votes.
Maybe I'm not totally immune to marketing but I think I can say I never voted based on a TV ad. Everyone, even the uninformed, knows the ads are BS.
So how does money in US politics work and how does it guarantee you a win? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2z0jx6/eli5_money_in_politics/ | {
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"There's a very slim slice of people who haven't already been influenced by what they've heard and could still be influenced by more messaging. However, in a very close race a very thin slice of voters make a very big difference in outcomes.",
"You're right, 40% of voters feel a certain way about a candidate, 40% feel the opposite, and no amount of money is going to change their vote. But often elections are decided by that indifferent, unengaged 20% in the middle. You need to reach them and somehow drive them to the polling place to vote for you. That takes money."
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6gz4hd | maslow (1943) hierarchy of needs, specifically aesthetic needs? | Apologies if the flair is wrong. I'm doing a leadership course and the above came up. All the other points made sense. Any explanation online is just waffle. Thanks | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gz4hd/eli5_maslow_1943_hierarchy_of_needs_specifically/ | {
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"What about them? People get pleasure from apprehending beautiful things. (We know now it's because the brain releases endorphins.) But under Maslow's theory this isn't something you can spend the energy to appreciate when you're starving or anxious about whether you'll have a place to sleep. ",
"The question here can also be pointed out as \"what is aesthetic and why does it feel good\". Our evolutionary upbringing is coded in a way to see and label symmetrical, bright or colourful things as \"beautiful\" because for example, a symmetrical face in a human means that person has a strong immune system and was not effected by any antigens or parasites, thus was able to stay symmetrical. Same thing goes for shiny hair, or non-yellow, whitish eyes. \n\nThose give us signals of health, trustworthiness (it makes your amygdala stop blinking, which means you feel safer) and can even be seen as sexual need-satisfying. The interconnection between sex and aesthetic is making them feed each other. Thus, it is probably a side-effect that is being caused by our sexual interests and mating choices. ",
"if your asking why they exist, it could be said that aesthetic needs are present in the human psyche to prevent depression and suicide, which are obviously not benificial to species survival. Humans always \"want more\". So when basic needs are met, we tend to start asking existential questions. That can quickly lead to depression and lack of motivation The ability to appreciate aesthetics creates a positive emotional state that provides a psychological protective factor, thus promoting species survival. "
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66x0i9 | why does china value a land barrier between itself and south korea so highly? | They can't be concerned about something like an invasion, or even it being used as a staging area for such at this point, can they? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/66x0i9/eli5_why_does_china_value_a_land_barrier_between/ | {
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"The two (edit: 3) key points I've seen in answer to this question, which I assume is related to why does China not want North Korea to fall: \n \n- China does not want millions of NK immigrants pushing over its borders. It would be a bureaucratic and humanitarian nightmare. \n\n- China does not enjoy having US bases right next to it, especially since our countries constantly argue about things like Taiwan & the other islands in the seas off the coast of china. \n\n- Having a military base next to a country is the definition of having a stage area for a potential war/invasion in the future. So, they'd have every right to raise their eyebrows. ",
"The US has a ton of military presence in South Korea, so the North is basically a buffer zone between China and the US, symbolically and strategically. \n\nThey also basically let North Korea keep on with its bad self because if the North shits the bed, you'll have millions of refugees with pretty inadequate education, health issues (there was a really horrific famine in recent memory), a completely different culture/mindset, and likely physical and mental trauma from whatever violence ensues in the national bed-shitting. China doesn't want to deal with that, and honestly, I don't think South Korea does either. "
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bi78l9 | why do people cringe from scraping sounds? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bi78l9/eli5_why_do_people_cringe_from_scraping_sounds/ | {
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"One theory is that it’s a survival instinct. Big predator with big claws scraping on stone? Cringe....."
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60gvd0 | if judges are just supposed to interpret and uphold the law, how can there be some judges that are 'friendlier' to left or right politically? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/60gvd0/eli5_if_judges_are_just_supposed_to_interpret_and/ | {
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"You've said it yourself - their job is to *interpret* the law. As such, there is some room for subjectivity and for a judge's particular opinions to influence their judgement.\n\nFurthermore, many laws are inherently subjective - for example any law which mentions what a \"reasonable\" person would have done.",
"So the thing is, when it comes to interpreting the law, there are different ways that reasonable people would interpret the same laws. These aren't as simple as \"left-wing or right-wing\" interpretations but often come down to some degree of legal positivism vs. natural law.\n\nLet's take the classic case of Roe v. Wade for example. You're a judge and a plaintiff is arguing that she has a fundamental right to have an abortion. How do you interpret the law?\n\nJudge #1 says that our constitution was clearly intended to establish a limited government and the Bill of Rights establishes that. Even if the Constitution doesn't explicitly say so, there's an inherent recognition that humans have bodily dignity that the government cannot violate. As such, the woman has the right to decide what to do with her body and the government cannot stop that.\n\nJudge #2 says that in a democratic society, the people make the laws. The Constitution says nothing about abortion or bodily dignity so we shouldn't assume that it applies unless the people make a law saying so. Instead, the people made a law saying abortion should be illegal and we should respect that until the people change their minds and repeal that law.\n\nBoth of these are reasonable interpretation of the law and come down to how that judge interprets our legal system. The by-product of this is that one judge's interpretation favors traditionally liberal policies while the other judge's interpretation favors conservative policies.",
"Because the interpretation can vary. Let's take a very recent real-world example.\n\nYou're a judge. Let's say you are given two key facts:\n\n1. The president has the authority to restrict entry into the US for people from specific countries.\n1. Some people have already been given the right to enter the country by being granted a visa.\n\nSo, a case comes before you on behalf of a visa holder whose passport is from one of those countries. What do you do? The law says that the president can prevent them from entering the country. The law also says that they are allowed to enter the country.\n\nConflicting laws. They can't *both* be right in this situation. So as a judge, you have to look at the laws, the Constitution, precedent, and so on to decide what to do.",
"Judges who interpret the constitution \"strictly\" tend to have views that align with the right and judges who have more 'loose' interpretation of the constitution tend to have view that align with the left. Its not that the judges favor left or right, it's that the left or right favors just one method of constitutional interpretation each. \n\nNote that the left prefer a loose interpretation because it allows for making more changes; ie 'liberal' where the right prefer strict interpretation as it allows for less change/status quo, aka \"conservative\""
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65lw2a | why did people take photos of wwi and such and how did they do it without killing themselves? were they even real? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65lw2a/eli5_why_did_people_take_photos_of_wwi_and_such/ | {
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"People took photos of WW1 for the same reason people take photos of the War in Afghanistan today, to chronicle it for news distribution and historical purposes. They were in great danger, and many were likely killed doing it. Yes they were real.",
"Some early films of war is likely in som part staged/faked.\nThere is a article [here](_URL_1_) about it.\n\nSom scenes from a famous documentary about the [Somme offensive](_URL_0_) are likely staged. Primary the scene when the troops goes over the top. The documentary had the British audience record for 60 years until broken by Star Wars\n\nBut I would not say that all/a huge part of all images and films was staged during WWI like i would not say that all photos/films today are true. \n\n"
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"http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29724852",
"http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-early-history-of-faking-war-on-film-133838317/"
]
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||
9lsgmn | why have no deer species been successfully domesticated? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9lsgmn/eli5_why_have_no_deer_species_been_successfully/ | {
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"They have been. They just aren’t as useful as other animals so it’s usually done for niche things. \n\nFarming or raising cattle /animals of any sort is usually not a high margin business and therefore raising such an inefficient animal (no wool/hair, no milk, low weight/feed, etc etc) means you need some other economic reason or are doing it just because. \n\nEdit: by “no wool,milk, etc” I mean commercially viable. ",
"Deer are big, fast, mean, scared of everything, and just not generally very useful. Those are all strikes against them for domestication.\n\nThat said, reindeer are domesticated in a few parts of the world."
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bskdqq | why does inhaling more smoke over time allow you to inhale smoke without coughing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bskdqq/eli5_why_does_inhaling_more_smoke_over_time_allow/ | {
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"The smoke eventually burns away the cilia, small hairs in the throat and bronchial tubes, that help your body know when something isn't supposed to be there. Like smoke."
]
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||
ar7m2p | what determines if something is soluble in fat or water? | Im reading an introduction to chemistry and I just can't wrap my head around what makes an atom get stored in fatcells or not.
Sorry for poor English. It's not my first language. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ar7m2p/eli5_what_determines_if_something_is_soluble_in/ | {
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"It's depends on polarity. The polarity depends on the charges in the molecule and bounds between each atom of the molecule. A solute that is very polar will be hydrophilic (it likes water). A solute that is not polar will be liphophilic (it likes fat). Water is polar. Fat is not polar. \n\n\nI think you need way more than an introduction to chemistry to truly understand the concept of polarity. \n\nOf course, you have to take into account other elements such as temperature and pressure because they affect the solubility of a solute.\n\nEdit: second attempt at eli5. Molecules like water or fat depending on how the atoms are bound together.",
"There is an intuitive example. Think about water as magnetic marbles, while fats are regular glass marbles. Mix only regular marbles, and they mix fine. Same for magnetic marbles, although stirring might be a bit harder, depending on the strength of the magnets. But mix them together, and the magnets will form clumbs since they attract each other while the glass marbles will fill the holes inbetween the clumbs. The same happens with water and fat. The water attracts other droplets much more than fat does."
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32mbsv | does my cat get frustrated when he is unable to catch the red laser light? | I play with my cat using a laser pointer all the time, but sometimes I feel like he gets frustrated, like a pie in the sky or a hard video game. What does he feel? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32mbsv/eli5_does_my_cat_get_frustrated_when_he_is_unable/ | {
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"Yes, he is frustrated. Laser pointers really aren't good toys for cats. Cats are hunters, and it's very unsatisfying and frustrating for them to \"hunt\" something they can never catch. ",
"I went to school for veterinary technology and this came up in class one day. The teacher said cats get very frustrated with the laser since they can't catch it. The teacher suggested that you should throw a treat in the laser's path every now and then, so that the cat can catch something."
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dlgir9 | how do anesthetics knock you out within 10 seconds of being injected? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dlgir9/eli5_how_do_anesthetics_knock_you_out_within_10/ | {
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"I can be wrong, but i read somewhere that nobody knows. We know it is safe, how long it works, how strong it is etc. But we don't know how it works",
"The biochemical mechanism of action of general anaesthetics is not well understood.\n\nWhat we know about general anesthetic is that it interrupts normal function of your central nervous system.",
"It depends on the anaesthetic. There are a few kinds, and sometimes it's just a lucky accident that it does what it does. One low tech way of describing it is to say that the anaesthetic gets between your brain and the environment - like putting your hand over a socket so someone can't plug a device in.",
"Nobody is actually answering the question: which is how do they **knock you out in 10 seconds** not just “how do they knock you out” which is much less clear.\n\nThe answer as to why does it work so fast is that anesthetics are extremely fat soluble, which means they enter the brain extremely quickly. Anything which can enter the brain extremely quickly will have a fast onset and thus works very quickly.",
"I guess I’m pretty qualified to answer this as an anesthesiologist. The length of time it takes for a drug to take action on the body depends on a few things. Since this is ELI 5 I’ll do my best to keep it simple. The two most common ways to receive a drug are by mouth (swallowing a pill or a liquid), or by having them injected into your vein (IV medications). If you take a drug by mouth, it will take longer to get into your blood stream than if you have a drug given through an IV. Giving medications through an IV will skip the stomach absorption, and will go directly through your veins, go to your heart, and then be pumped to your brain. If you have a very strong medication, like propofol, which is used to put patients to sleep, it will take 1 arm-brain circulation time to take effect, which is generally 10-15 seconds.",
"1)- Fat soluble drugs, small molecular size (inhaled volatile anesthetics) easily pass through the blood brain barrier\n\n2) IV administration. Immediate entry of the drug into the blood stream... takes second for it to circulate through the body then see point 1\n\n3) Some drugs when given for conscious sedation ( small dose of fentanyl and midazolam) patients think they are knocked out, in reality there is a amensic effect and patients don't remember. In reality, they are awake, moving and often talking but remember absolutely nothing....\" They got me on the table and WHAM lights out\". when actually patients may be slightly squirming around (notably with colonoscopies!) which then you receive extra dose of sedatives and that relaxes people more so in turn they don't move.",
"I’m a doctor, but not an anaesthetist, so my info may be incorrect.\n\nThe mechanism of action is that for some drugs, we don’t know how it works, but for others, like rocuronium, we do.\n\nIt works quickly but instant access via IV injection into the blood stream. This molecule then blocks post synaptic acetylcholine receptions and when stronger doses used, indirectly blocks presynaptic release of said receptors. \n\nThat’s why, when waking a person up, with say sugammadex, it is an competitive anticholingeric agent to reactivate the receptors so they can start receiving stimulation again. This means your body resumes function as neurones are fired.\n\nEdit: also for actual anaesthetics (local) unsure if its hypothesised or proven, but it indirectly stops potassium being released intracellularly."
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b40rgq | how do city buses get their route numbers? | This seems to be the question keeping me up tonight. Rather than trying to find it on google - I’m asking here. Is there any method to the madness of bus route numbering? Assuming each city has their own system? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b40rgq/eli5_how_do_city_buses_get_their_route_numbers/ | {
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"It's largely arbitrary. Sometimes if a route travels along a numbered road, it might be given that route number. Sometimes a route number may be assigned as a tribute to a similar route on a previous bus/streetcar system, or sometimes it's just assigned with little reasoning.",
"Since I don't know for which country you're asking, I'll answer it for the systems I've seen in Germany. If a city has busses and a tram, the trams usually get single digit numbers, the busses that only drive inside the city's perimeters get two digit numbers and the busses that drive to other city's get three digit numbers. Which number they get is arbitrary, though usually the lines that historically where there first have lower numbers than lines that were added later. "
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4w6her | how accurate are calories per serving on packaged food? how would you test it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4w6her/eli5_how_accurate_are_calories_per_serving_on/ | {
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"You test it by burning the food/ingredients, which tells you how much \"energy\" (aka calories) is in it. \n \nAs for accuracy, that really depends. For labeling purposes, they round down to the nearest 5 or 10 calories.",
"The accuracy really depends on why you want to know the number of Calories. For general diet, the numbers are good enough, but not perfect. I will start with a way you can calculate them yourself, then I will explain how Calories are measured in a lab.\nWhen talking about Calories in food, you are really looking at what many call \"Macro's\" (short for macromolecules, or molecules we need a lot, macro amounts, of). There are four macro's: Fats (lipids), carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids (DNA). When looking at foods, we ignore the nucleic acids because there are just not enough to contribute.\nKnowing the three important parts to the foods (the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins), we can find the amounts of each on the \"Nutrition Facts\" label on all food products. The amounts of each macro are given in grams. In order to calculate the total number of Calories, you have to know how many Calories are in 1 gram of each macro. \n\n* 1 gram fats = 9 Calories\n* 1 gram carbohydrates = 4 Calories\n* 1 gram proteins = 4 Calories \n\nNow we can dust off the old calculator, and figure out the total number of Calories in food. I will use the example of delicious Thin Mint cookies. The serving size written on the box (which is not standardized in the US and can be whatever the producer wants it to be) is 4 cookies. First off, who the Fu... heck only eats just 4 thin mints (whew, almost forgot I was explaining to 5 year olds). According to the Nutrition facts, there are **8 grams of fats**, **22 grams of carbs** and **1 gram of protein**. To calculate, you just multiply the number of grams for each macro by the number of Calories per gram.\n\n* 8 grams of fats x 9 Calories per gram = 72 Calories\n* 22 grams of carbohydrates x 4 Calories per gram = 88 Calories\n* 1 gram of protein x 4 Calories per gram = 4 Calories\n\nLastly, we just add up the numbers we just got and there is the number of Calories in the serving of food. In this case, our calculated number of calories is 164 Calories (72 Calories + 88 Calories + 4 Calories). The printed number of Calories on the box for one serving is 160 Calories. \n\nNow you might ask me why the numbers are different, well that needs a little more explaination, but the very short version is many people deduct the amount of fiber from the carbohydrates (since fiber never becomes energy, we just poop it out in the same form we ate it). To be honest, I personally never deduct the fiber unless there is a lot of it in the food (more than half the number of carbohydrates come from fiber). \n\nThe information above is what you can do at home. If you would like to read on, I will explain how a lab tests the number of Calories (this is the only way I know of to accurately test the true number of Calories). \n\nA calorie (lowercase \"c\") is a unit of energy, the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of pure water up 1^o Celsius. This might sound confusing, but the definition of a calorie is exactly how they test for the number of calories. Using one of the coolest named devices, a bomb calorimeter [video](_URL_0_), a scientist will put the food (let's say a Hostess cupcake, with the white swirlies) into a small metal container (the bomb). Surrounding the bomb is a pool of water. The whole thing is closed off with a lid and the cupcake is burned. Anyone who has been near anything on fire knows it gets hot, so the amount of energy (now in the form of heat) goes to the water and the water gets warmer. You measure how much the water temperature has gone up, do a little math magic, and you have you number of calories. \n\nIf you have any other questions regarding Macros, Nutrition Facts, or burning cupcakes for science, feel free to ask. \n\nSource: Microbiologist who has taken plenty of biochemistry. ",
"It's pretty accurate. What they tend to do is burn the food, then count how much heat is released (maybe by boiling water and seeing how the temperature rises).\n\nUltimately burning something turns it into water and carbon dioxide. And when your body uses food, it turns it into glucose then other stuff, then other stuff... then water and carbon dioxide. With chemicals, the total energy that is released is the same regardless of how many interim stages. So if you discount what comes out. It is pretty accurate.",
"Talked to a guy at a party once who made BOMBS for a living...\n\n**Calorie bombs**. Literally a sphere casing where you burn everything inside and see how much heat you get out. \n\nThat's how they test/measure calories. \n\nGuy said the packaging material lied all the time with ~20% swings either way. \n\n"
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79wcvd | - how do baggage scanners at the airport work? what do the different colors on the x-ray mean? | The x-ray I get from my doctor is only black and white whereas the x-ray scanners at the airport show different colors. Also, what do the colors mean? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/79wcvd/eli5_how_do_baggage_scanners_at_the_airport_work/ | {
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"The x-ray devices in luggage scanners are a bit more complicated than the x-ray medical imaging devices. In particular, they're set up to identify and distinguish between different *kinds* of objects, whereas medical x-rays are pretty much only interested in one: bones.\n\nThe trick is that not all x-rays are created equal. The x-ray source will send out x-rays in a *range* of energy levels. Organic objects block low-energy x-rays some, but not higher-energy x-rays. Plastics block low-energy x-rays better than organic objects, but not as effectively as metal objects, which pretty much block everything. \n\nThe device is set up so that the x-rays pass through your luggage and then hit the first detector, which sends an image to the computer. But the x-rays then pass through a filter that blocks out all low-energy x-rays before hitting a *second* detector. That sends another image to the computer, this time only showing those objects that block high-energy x-rays. By combining these two images, the software can distinguish between organics, inorganics (e.g., plastics), and metals. It then assigns different colors to each. \n\nI think most manufacturers use black for metal and orange for organics, but I'm not sure about that. Could vary from machine to machine. ",
"The main idea behind baggage x-rays is that a bag has to be scanned thoroughly in a short period of time, and that different items are to be scanned. To help with that, they use colours since we are more prone to notice colour difference.\n\nThe colours vary with density- increasing tends to blue so the dense metals and alloys are shades of blue (think laptops, guns, mallets).\n\nDecreasing density tends to red, so the redder it is means the item is lighter like a thin fabric or just a linen sheet. \n\nGreen is always plastic, so they tend to look for laptops and parts with the green colour.\n\nA particular example is green rectangle with blue screws, that'd be a laptop. Hope this helps!"
]
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37vmik | homeless & unemployed people in first world countries? | My "attitude" may be stupid or ignorant but that's a thing I was always wondering about.
Is it really that hard to find a job as an uneducated person? I was taught that there are more than enough jobs out there that require almost no education/career and that if your willing enough, you will find at least a minimum wage job. I mean isn't a "bad" job better than none? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37vmik/eli5_homeless_unemployed_people_in_first_world/ | {
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"There are more people than jobs. Americans tend to blame the victim, so we effectively punish the poor and refuse to hire them for anything.",
"The person who told you there are enough jobs wasn't telling the whole truth. For one, minimum wage in the US is actually less money than panhandling some places, and homeless people don't have a good way to get to and from a job while being presentable because they are, well, homeless. Buses get expensive after a while. In addition, those jobs have very high turnover and will often stop giving you shifts after a few months to prevent you from getting benefits. If you don't have access to education, you can't pay for more education, and so you are just trapped. The idea that \"anyone can make it in America\" is mostly a myth these days, as the US has the lowest socioeconomic mobility of any developed country, meaning poor people are more likely to stay poor here than anywhere else.",
"It's hard to get a job if you don't have a home (and clean clothes, a place to shower, etc). It's hard to rent a home if you don't have a job. So once you start down the path of homelessness, it's very difficult to recover.\n\nFurther, unless you are single, healthy, and have zero debt and zero kids, you can't actually survive on minimum wage, particularly in a city, unless you work 80 hours/week. And it's extremely hard to work that many hours at minimum wage, because the employers want to cut you off at 30 hours so they don't have to pay you benefits.",
"As others are pointing out, there are many other factors than this, but I just want to show that there are in fact not as many jobs in existence as there are people looking for jobs.\n\nThere are about 8.5 million people unemployed in the USA right now^[\\[1\\]](_URL_0_) . There are 5 million job openings in the USA right now^[\\[2\\]](_URL_1_) . So right away we can see that if every job opening were filled right now there would still be 3.5 million people who want a job and would be completely unable to get one."
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72pyim | when looking for specific street signs, why do we turn down the music to see better? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/72pyim/eli5_when_looking_for_specific_street_signs_why/ | {
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"text": [
"“Directing attention to listening effectively ‘turns down the volume’ on input to the visual parts of the brain. The evidence we have right now strongly suggests that attention is strictly limited — a zero-sum game. When attention is deployed to one modality (say, talking on a cell phone) it necessarily extracts a cost on another modality (say, the visual task of driving).”\n\nSource: _URL_0_"
]
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[
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||
2natj5 | why is baseball considered "the american pastime"? | As a person that isn't American, I'm just curious really. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2natj5/eli5_why_is_baseball_considered_the_american/ | {
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"Because for a long time, it was America's most popular sport. Baseball as a sport developed in the mid-1800's and it wasn't until the late 1950's that football overtook it as America's most popular sport. (the 1958 NFL Championship game is thought of as the seminal moment of the NFL). So for like 100 years, baseball was the sport. And it was a sport playable for a lot of kids growing up. You just needed a ball and a stick and a yard. I mean, now that I think about it, football and soccer are even less equipment intensive (just need a ball and a yard) But, still, it was pretty easy for all kids, from the one growing up in the urban tenements in NYC to the ones playing out in the farmlands of Kansas to play the game and develop.\n\nOne other thing I would say is because of its vast independent and minor league systems, baseball is almost ubiquitous, even today. In America, there is a Major League of 30 teams. But each team also fields 6 or 7 additional minor teams across the country. No other professional sport has that kind of coverage.\n\nI guess lastly, I'll say there is a sort of nostalgic quality of baseball. First off, more than other sports in America, baseball's rules have stayed the same, which lends comparison between generations easier. And because baseball has been around so long, it really drapes itself in its history. I mean, baseball has over 150 years of stories and players to pull from. And its the only league that plays in the summer, when sitting out and enjoying a game with a beer is enjoyable, as opposed to being shivering cold at a football game, or stuffed in a basketball or hockey arena.\n\nFuck man, if you come to the Philly area, I'll take you to a game. "
]
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3xy81l | how does one become a musical conductor? at the job interview do they just say "here, wave this stick to the tune of this music, that the band already thoroughly know"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3xy81l/eli5_how_does_one_become_a_musical_conductor_at/ | {
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"Speaking as a lifetime musician who's been playing in brass bands, wind bands and orchestras since I was ten years old, if that's all you think a conductor does, then you're spectacularly unqualified for the position.\n\nA conductor's role is threefold:\n\n* 1: direct the music. Just like a movie director will guide and direct actors who already thoroughly know their parts, so too does the conductor direct the orchestra to get the best effect for the audience. Among other things, the players in the chairs can't actually hear what the finished product sounds like. They can hear their own instrument very well, those of their neighbors quite clearly, and any prominent instruments just fine, but they aren't in the right place to hear what the band as a whole sounds like. As such they might play too loudly or quietly not because they don't know what volume the music directs them to play, but because they can't properly hear how that volume sounds relative to everybody else.\n\n* 2: Keep time. This is actually remarkably difficult. Each individual musician might keep time perfectly well, but for twenty, thirty or even more than a hundred people to remain synchronized with one another? That requires a neutral guide, or an agreed arbiter of the time. The conductor isn't waving that stick in time to the beat - they're using the stick to tell the band where the beat *is*. This can get especially tricky in some of the more technical pieces where the time signature can change five times in seven bars, between odd signatures like 13/8 and 7/4. (*I'm thinking of you, Land of the Long White Cloud. You bastard.*)\n\n* 3: Guide the musicians. Even professionals sometimes have lapses of concentration, or are distracted by something, or screw up. By making eye contact, a conductor can let a section know when they're supposed to begin playing a certain bit, help them re-find where they are in the score should they come adrift. Obviously this is less of a problem with professional orchestras, but it's still a necessary role. \n\nBeing a conductor is an involved and demanding role requiring sustained concentration, a clear vision of what the music should sound like, excellent timing, a musical ear to spot when people are making mistakes - and who made it - leadership skills to keep people who might not always get along working together as a team, not to mention organising the concert schedule, the timetable, tour dates...\n\nIt is emphatically ***not*** just \"waving a stick\"."
]
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||
z2ib5 | what sort of chance does gary johnson really have of winning the presidential election? | I haven't seen an ad for him or any media coverage or even a discussion here, on reddit. It seems to even know he exists I had to look for him. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/z2ib5/eli5_what_sort_of_chance_does_gary_johnson_really/ | {
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"None. Realistically the American political system will only sustain two parties. Historically very few third party candidates (i.e. not a Democrat or Republican) have ever had any real success in elections. Most of the time, when a third party candidate does get a good portion of the vote, they're splitting the votes of one of the two major parties. \n\nAn example of this is when Teddy Roosevelt decided that Taft wasn't progressive enough for his tastes and created a third party called the Bull Moose Party. Republicans ended up splitting their votes between Taft and Roosevelt and Wilson ended up winning the election. By the next election cycle the Bull Moose Party was basically non-existent.\n\nEdit: There is a notable exception in that the Republican Party was at one point a third party, but they ended up replacing the Whig Party in pretty short order.",
"He isn't running to win, he is running to get a message out and allow people to case a protest vote.\n\nPractically speaking, he has zero chance. Maybe if Obama and Romney simultaneously withdrew at midnight the day before the election, he'd have a chance, but even then it would be unlikely."
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2im8r6 | why do the fog lights on my car turn off when i turn on my highbeams? why can they not be on at the same time? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2im8r6/eli5_why_do_the_fog_lights_on_my_car_turn_off/ | {
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"text": [
"The for lights try to shine underneath the fog. If you turn on your highways, the light reflects off of the for or snow back to your face, blinding you. \n\n\nDisclaimer, apologies if I don't make sense, I'm baked. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
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||
2aowdm | where did the phrase "used to" come from? | Example: *I used to be a pilot.* | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2aowdm/eli5_where_did_the_phrase_used_to_come_from/ | {
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"Obviously not my own words but I found this \n & gt;According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest text using \"used to\" in the context you ask about is Robert Mannyngs \"Handlyng Synne 1303.\" The quote cited is \"For ryche men vse comunly Sweryn grete othys grysly.\" Translated: \"For rich men used to commonly swear great, grisley oaths.\"\n\n & gt; It was in \"very common use\" from around 1400 onward, but today only appears in the past form of \"used to.\" \"wont to do\" is another archaic expression that carried the meaning of \"used to\" in reference to habitual activity in the past. \n \nSo apparently it just has been around for quite some time, and is nothing new.",
"Found it!\n\nTo be used to \"accustomed, familiar\" is recorded by late 14c. Verbal phrase used to \"formerly did or was\" (as in I used to love her) represents a construction attested from c.1300, and common from c.1400, from use (intransitive) \"be accustomed, practice customarily,\" but now surviving only in past tense form. The pronunciation is affected by the t- of to. Used-to-be (n.) \"one who has outlived his fame\" is from 1853.\n\n[Source here](_URL_0_)"
]
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[],
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5znavs | why do we shed tears because of certain emotions? why not other body fluids, or sort. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5znavs/eli5eli5_why_do_we_shed_tears_because_of_certain/ | {
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5e35hy | why raising ones arms behind the head is a sign of relaxation? | I was wondering as I was [sitting 'kicking back' on my chair I raised my arms behind my head](_URL_0_). Doesn't this actually use extra power to lift the arms rather than putting them on the sides or the lap? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5e35hy/eli5_why_raising_ones_arms_behind_the_head_is_a/ | {
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"To my understanding, crossed arms means insecure or defensive. So open raised/arms kinda shows that someone's comfortable with being somewhat vulnerable.",
"Well, first things first, try it yourself, it doesn't actually require much energy.\n\nBut why it is a sign of relaxation? Because it is a very vulnerable position, implying you have nothing to fear or worry about.",
"Well first off that picture is a really forced and poor example of \"relaxed\".\n\nBut go find a nice reclining couch or leather chair or whatever, large enough that you aren't supporting your arms like that but rather resting them on the back of said chair. \n\nNot only is it comfy, but you get a nice subtle stretch that you don't normally get.\n\nAside from the actual experience, a position like that clearly shows you don't need to be using your hands at that point. Basically not working, so relaxing.",
"Putting your arms behind your head allows for deeper breaths. It's the same reason that you will see runners cooling down with their hands on the back of their heads. "
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mx2sv | what is creativity? | Why do humans have it? What part of the brain is responsible for it?
edit: Too broad originally | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mx2sv/eli5_what_is_creativity/ | {
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"A bold turnip, his red scarf flapping in the wind, barely maintains control of an ever accelerating sportscar while we reflect on the events that made him the man he is today, accompanied by a musical score that is at once intense and delicate.",
"Creativity is the ability to come up with new ideas that have some value.\n\nIt's how we solve engineering problems or create revolutionary art. The medial prefrontal cortex is used for self-expression. Typically, most abstract thinking is done in the right hemisphere, but there are other parts of the brain that play into creativity as well.",
"A bold turnip, his red scarf flapping in the wind, barely maintains control of an ever accelerating sportscar while we reflect on the events that made him the man he is today, accompanied by a musical score that is at once intense and delicate.",
"Creativity is the ability to come up with new ideas that have some value.\n\nIt's how we solve engineering problems or create revolutionary art. The medial prefrontal cortex is used for self-expression. Typically, most abstract thinking is done in the right hemisphere, but there are other parts of the brain that play into creativity as well."
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2dn4kg | which part of the brain helps us focus? | I have wondered if focusing is something that overlaps the 'thinking' part of the brain. Since even during the times when the brain is hyper-activated and trying to think about a a lot of things at the same time (like when on strong medication and under the influence of drugs), one needs to focus to follow and stay on a certain train of thought. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dn4kg/eli5which_part_of_the_brain_helps_us_focus/ | {
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"Your brain is broken down into different parts:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe cortex (all the colored parts that can be seen on the surface of the brain) is made up of the frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital lobe. Each of these lobes is thought to be associated more with a certain function.\n\nThe frontal lobe of the cortex is associated with problem solving skills and concentration, although the ENTIRE brain is involved in those processes. The frontal lobe just happens to be one of the first distinct parts of the brain that was discovered that is associated with it.\n\nThis is the answer you will get from basic textbooks. \n\nThe deeper you go into neuroscience, the more complicated things get, so the real answer from LabKitty is correct - \"we don't know\" because concentration involves WAY too many different pathways that we don't fully understand.\n\nI'd also like to add that when people go into a coma, it's often the cortex that no longer functions, but I wouldn't feel comfortable saying that consciousness comes from the cortex."
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1uwicx | why does orange juice with pulp have the same fiber content as pulp-free? | Comparing two MinuteMaid bottles yesterday. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1uwicx/eli5_why_does_orange_juice_with_pulp_have_the/ | {
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"Fiber is soluble in water (try it with some Metamucil!) and the actual pulp adds an insignificant amount of fiber to that already in the OJ."
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2q9b8b | why does the vending machine not take my dollar until it feels like it? | Every time I try inserting a dollar bill into a vending machine, the damn machine just spits it out until it finally decides its done having me as its bitch and accepts it like nothing happened. Why does this happen?? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2q9b8b/eli5_why_does_the_vending_machine_not_take_my/ | {
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"Well, the machine checks the dollar for being genuine. Being it a machine and not a human there are multiple kinds of tests. Magnetic, optical and some others I do not know about. Based on an algorithm and looking at the defects, it determined that the dollar is genuine or not. \n\nThe point of the test is 100% rejection of a fake note. However less than 100% acceptance is OK from a federal reserve point of view."
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6bs7i7 | why do people want to live on mars? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6bs7i7/eli5_why_do_people_want_to_live_on_mars/ | {
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"To prove it can be done. To make history. To be one of the chosen. To build something new. To go boldly.",
"Its more like your Lamborghini is reaching 300k miles and you need to prove that you know how to buy a car so you stop by a used car dealer real quick before you order your new Lamborghini. Humanity will not be able to live on earth for ever. Global warming, Resource depletion, Overpopulation are all happening its just a matter of which one hits first. At some point we have to find a new long term solution and mars is a perfect temporary solution to prove that our methods will work for more distant planets. "
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2rlv8v | ounces; measuring liquids and measuring weight? | I am confused about this. So apparently ounces can be used as two different measurements just as metres and litres? Why? How did this come about? Murica pls | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rlv8v/eli5_ounces_measuring_liquids_and_measuring_weight/ | {
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"There are two unrelated units:\n\nOunces are a measure of mass.\n\n[Fluid ounces](_URL_0_) are a measure of volume. They are not the same thing as ounces, although sometimes when the context makes it clear that it's talking about volume, it's common to see \"fluid ounce\" abbreviated to \"ounce\"."
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7chi2a | why do home dishwashers need to take 3 hours? i know it’s for energy star requirements, but commercial machines get the job done in 90 seconds. why the massive difference? wouldn’t even a more powerful motor take less electricity for such a big time difference? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7chi2a/eli5_why_do_home_dishwashers_need_to_take_3_hours/ | {
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"More complex chemicals, which are surprisingly expensive. Significantly higher temperatures and pressures. Higher voltage.\n\nThey basically turn your dishtank into a loud sauna too, you probably wouldn't want your kitchen like that.",
"They run on very hot water, use dangerous chemicals, and are far too forceful for normal dishes. That's part of why restaurant dishes and mugs are so thick. ",
"Along with everything else is dry time. Commercial dishwashers you a drying chemical and air drip dry. Your dishwasher turns into an oven and baked the moisture away. It needs to do this because your not there to open the door and create air flow as soon as it finishes. If you didn't open your dishwasher for a day or two those dishes would not be clean any more, mold would have started to form",
"Commercial dishwashers take 45 mins to heat up when you turn them on, then keep the water hot all day, which saves a massive amount of time in the wash cycle but uses a lot of power. domestic dishwashers heat the water every time.",
"also, it's important to note commercial restaurant washers don't have to deal with stuck-on, dried food. The plate comes back from the table, gets pre-scrapped, then rinsed with a high-pressure manual spray, with hot water. The plate is essentially clean now, save for a few random bits. Food never had a chance to dry, thus it is very easy to wash quickly. Silverware soaks in hot water up until the dishwasher has enough to do a full load, so they don't dry out either. The same plate might serve ten people in one weekend dinner service, it comes down to just how FAST plates move through a busy restaurant.\n\nHomes don't work like this. People let food dry out on the counter, or in the machine itself waiting on a full load. A longer cycle is necessary to re-hydrate the stuck-on food before it can be carried away.\n\nTake an average load of dried dishes from home, I guarantee most of them would not come out clean in a commercial dishwasher, and would require many, many cycles. The restaurant machine exists only to finish plates that are basically 99% clean already. The detergent just takes away remaining oil/butter, and the rinse cycle gets the plates to a high enough temperature to sanitize, with the help of a little bleach. Rinse aide makes them dry quickly. Within ten minutes it's heading back to a table. An average \"round trip\" is under an hour. Any plates or equipment with real stuck-on bits must be manually scrubbed.\n\nIt's comparing apples to oranges.",
"The commercial dishwasher has a tank with pre-heated water, i.e. in the very moment you close the cover, a wet hot hell with chemicals goes down on the dishes, and everything is done when your dishwasher at home is still thinking how much water to take in and heat.",
"The dish machines in kitchens are SUPPOSED to be sanitizers, not dish washers. The poor sucker getting paid barely enough money to survive is the dishwasher. All the machine is for is removing whatever small bits are left over after the dishwasher has already mostly cleaned them off. Long story short: If you want clean dishes quickly, you're gonna have to get your hands dirty.\n\nSource: Am Chef",
"Additional Eli5: why does my household dishwasher from '05 take 88 minutes per load and my girlfriend's 2017 washer take 180 minutes?",
"Oh, finally... My time to shine! I didn't read through all the comments so others may have mentioned all of this already.\n\nI work for a major appliance manufacturer and this comes up quite often. One main reason is the fact that they are using so much less water - we're talking just a few gallons. That water is run through the wash arms at different times, so not all of the dishes are being sprayed and cleaned at once.\n\nAnother reason is due to the sensors inside that tell the dishwasher how dirty the water is. So many people think they are supposed to essentially wash the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher - STOP THIS! It needs to sense the food/drink particles in order to clean properly.\n\nAnd as mentioned in other comments, heated dry. While it adds to the time, heated dry, along with rinse aid, is essential to getting your dishes (and the inside tub) dry. If you don't do these things and your dishes aren't dry, don't call the manufacturer. Read the manual that gives with it. Any other fancy options you may add on, say sanitize, are going to add to the time as well.\n\nMind you all of this applies to the brands I work with, but I'm sure there is some crossover to others as well.\n\nEdit: my first ever gold! Thanks, my fellow Redditor! I'm so glad this random knowledge has finally paid off.",
"You do not have the pressure and the temperatures that a commercial system has. Those things are monsters and the water is at boiling temperature. \n\nHere is a video.\n\n_URL_0_",
"So many comments from people who have never used a commercial washer or were terribly misinformed\n\nThere is no preheated water tank. We turned it on and ran a couple empty cycles to get it up to temp which usually took < 10 minutes\n\nThe \"chemicals\" are not super deadly and powerful. They're basic sanitizers. We got ours in a box of little packets that you just rip open and sprinkle all over the dishes. I wouldn't eat them like pixie sticks but they were fine on your skin\n\nThe high temps make a difference but honestly, it's not that much higher and only runs for a fraction of the time. What's 150 for 3 hours vs 180 for 2 minutes going to do?\n\nThe biggest factor is, like others have said, that the dishes are already cleaned, by hand, before they go in the machine. The machine then sanitizes them with a blast of hot water and sanitizers. \n\nIf you don't clean a dish that's been sitting out for any reasonable amount of time before you put it in an industrial washer it's just going to be gross when you take it out.",
"Commercial dishwashers have a plug at the bottom, like a sink. At the start of the day/night you run a 'fill' cycle to fill the basin of the dishwasher with water. The is also a ring (or the like) element in the basin that keeps the water super hot for as long as necessary. This water is then used over and over through the spray things to rinse the plates, etc. This is why it's so important to wash the dishes so thoroughly before loading them into the machine. A commercial machine does not pump in new, fresh water each cycle, like a home machine. My guess is that it takes a lot longer with home machines because they need to gather and heat new water each time. \n\nSource: I wash dishes in a commercial kitchen while I'm at uni. People shit me to tears, so this job is heaven for me. Also, I nearly blew up the dishwasher on my first day because I didn't understand any of the plug/ fill/ scalding hot element stuff.",
"You hit it on the head. Residential dishwashers are bound by EPA regulations. Lower water/electric consumption. Commercial dishwashers do not follow these. \n\nSinners circle explains how proper balance of chemicals, mechanical power, time and temperature need to be balanced for cleaning. \n\n_URL_0_\n\nIf you reduce temperature/mechanical power (to save energy) you must increase time to balance sinners circle. This is where commercial dishwashers can clean in 15 minutes or less. Extremely high water temperature and pressure = low time. ",
"Rest assured, most dishwashers pay the same amount of attention to the dirty cookie sheets as they do to each spoon and fork. All the silverware is tossed onto the rack, it all gets washed and sanitized at once, and it's all put back out at once. Plus, in most kitchens they ask you to wash all the silverware twice, once on the rack and once in designated cups. Most restaurants go out of their way to make sure they don't touch your silverware from the second it leaves the dish machine to the second you use it.",
"I used to be a dishwasher. The plates we used were heavy, tough and expensive. We would scrub the plates with steel pads. Then we would spray them with a high powered hose. Finally, they would be put into a hot and high pressured dishwasher. The dishwashers used a lot of water and generated a lot of heat. The machines also did not fit very many dishes in at one time. Dish washing at a restaurant is quick and produces clean dishes, but also creates a lot of noise, heat, and mess that most people wouldn't want in their homes. ",
"Since no one seems to answer the obvious answer, I'll say it. Commercial dishwasher **are not** energy efficient. You can either have quiet and energy efficient, or loud and quick. Commercial dishwashers take the latter and residential dishwashers take the former. ",
"Several reasons: commercial machines are not dish washer. Some are, but then they take more time, use very high pressure, steam, make lots of noise and cost a fortune, and may still not clean the dried up food. It may require an high amperage circuit breaker (read: more than your stove). It will also use strong chemicals that may stinks and be an health issue if not proprelly vented. It may also require a hot water tank with a dangerously high temperature that would give you a second degree burn instantly.\n\nHome dishwasher are make to clean even the dried food, be inexpensive, work with plain hot water, and work on 120V, safe to use and use inexpensive and relativelly safe soap. And also relativelly silent.",
"I didn't see anyone else mentioning efficiencies of scale, so I figured I would throw two cents out.\n\n\nIndustrial scale dishwashers are purpose built for extreme washing (high pressures, high temperatures, high chemicals) and they cost a lot more than consumer level ones because of this. So one of the ways to keep costs lower in consumer level washers is to have lower pressure, heat, and chemicals which allows for cheaper materials but ends up taking longer.\n\n\nThe other important thing to note, which has been mentioned, is energy efficiency and water efficiency. These are things that consumers want, so companies have sacrificed time to make the equipment more efficient. This is especially true for households which run the machine < = 1 time a day.",
"It may be the case that the home dishwasher was improperly installed. If so, it will waste a ton of time and electricity. \n\nDishwashers must be installed and connected to the *hot* water service under the kitchen sink. If they are improperly installed and connected to the *cold* water service every cycle will take much longer. This is because the dishwasher must heat up the water coming in to a certain temperature before it will proceed with each cycle.\n\nIt's usually very easy to check this. The next time you run your dishwasher just find the water line going into the dishwasher and touch it to see if the water running through is warm or cold.",
"Residential dishwashers don't need to take 3 hrs, as many have \"quick\" or 1hr cycles. But if you want to use less water(and electricity to meet Energuide or energy star guidelines) a residential dishwasher will utilize sensors to measure the turbididy of the water(which can eat up a portion of the cycle time and uses a fraction of a penny for each use and some dishwashers will reactivate the sensor portion up to 3 times per load at anywhere from 5-10 mins approx per sense).\n\nThe filling process will also take time and others have pointed out that heating water through an element will also add time(if you have a 'high heat' option it will add more time as to heat the water up even further, in most cases surpassing what your hot water tank heats to).\n\n Then filtering the water. Most \"newer\" dishwashers can filter and reuse up to 75% of the water, some like KitchenAid, in some models, after filtering and reusing water only use about 2.25 gal per load(compared to the average 5-7 gal per load of most other models).The filtering process can also eat up some of the overall cycle time. \n\nAlso drying. Condensation drying, which is used by most brands can take a long time. Having heated dry option uses more electricity but has a shorter run time(and \"newer\" options like adding fan assisted heated dry help reduce overall times as well).\n\nAlso unlike commercial applications where you can have a person target a powerful sprayer at baked on foods, at home the machine will operate the bottom sprayer for a time then utilize the middle and top sprayer and cycle back and forth(some machines like Maytag use all the arms at once as the motors on those machines are more powerful but won't reduce cycle times by doing this) hoping to get all the food off(as some have mentioned the need to \"rehydrate\" soils to help get them off is factored in the programming/cycle choices which also plays a part in the overall timing).\n\n\nSource: I work for an appliance manufacturer and spend time with the engineers who build/design/program them. \n\n\nTL; DR: residential dishwashers don't need to take so long but to enjoy resource efficiency(and get dishes clean without you assisting them)they need to do stuff that adds more time. \n\nEdit: formatting",
"Like so much of modern life, the reason home dishwashers take so long is... Government regulation. \n\nBefore the government thought we needed their meddling with our dishwashers, they used about 6.5 gallons of water. Is that a lot? Consider that the government itself estimates that most people use almost 40 gallons of water to wash dishes by hand.\n\nThen the Eco-warriors got involved and tried to squeeze even more water from the already efficient rock and lowered the standard to 5 gallons in 2012 and 3.1 gallons in 2015. \n\nThe result? More expensive dishwashers and poor cleaning of dishes that takes 3 - 4 times as long. \n\nBut it saves money from increased efficiency! *Does it?* It only takes 20 years to re-coup the savings (small print: that is twice the estimated life of new dishwashers)! Progress!\n\n[Dishwashers Soak Consumers] (_URL_0_ )\n\n[DOE’s Dishwasher Regulations Mandate Dishwashers that Don’t Wash Well](_URL_1_)\n",
"Temperature, chemicals and manual labor is the difference. \n\nFor the commercial dishwashers: You need to scrub debris off the items you want to wash as much as you can (someone said something about sanitizing plates... this is what is happening.. just at a faster rate of speed due to the temperature and chemicals)\n\nTemperature: wash temperature is about 160F(very hot) in most commercial dishwashers. Home dishwashers could get there but only if your water heater is up to it... most water heaters at home do not have a booster heater like the commercial dishwashers (they are powerful) and they are installed in the machine IN the water tank.\n\nThe rinse cycle comes right about the end of the trip and the temperature of the water gets to about 180-190F(Extremely hot1!)... the chemical evaporates over 200 degrees and it is worthless then. Most newer machines have a computer that monitors the temperature and keep it at that level. they also let you know when the chemicals are low or at zero level. \nChemicals: soap is present at wash cycle. most machines have nozzles that spray the plates/hardware you are washing. All this is pressurized but it wont take all the heavy debris (hence the manual step) then the rinse chemical allows for a faster drying time. Usually all the items that go thru the cycle come out clean, sanitized and dry after the cycle(about 2 min tops). Rinse chemicals allows for a faster dry time. \nThe home dishwasher does not have the chemicals, temperature of the commercial machine. Which translates in longer time to clean the dishes. \n\nSo, the difference is the temperature and the chemicals. \n\nIf restaurants do not follow these procedures or skip part of it... they will go the way of the Dodo. Washing dishes one of the most important part of the restaurant business. \n\nSource: I have been in the restaurant business for about 30 years. I started as a dishwasher. Yes, I still help wash dishes and check they are being washed properly. Clean plates saves the business. I check daily that my machine has proper temperatures, chemicals and the water gets changed at least every two hours(that also affects how clean the plates come out)\n",
"When I was younger and worked in commercial kitchens the dishwasher wasn't s washer at all.\n\nIt was just a hood you pulled down that sprayed boiling hot water and rinse aid on the contents to sanitize the dishes and make them sparkle!",
"Professional dishwashers only have to remove \"fresh\" remains that are still moist and relatively easy to wash off. They use pretty aggressive detergents that should only be handled by professionals. They are great for greasy stuff but are not that great washing off starch and proteins (eggs in particular).\n\nYour dishwasher at home on the other hand may have to wash of dried stuff from two days ago and uses milder detergents that are safe for home use. Also, they have different components that are good at decomposing starch and proteins that may take a little longer to be effective.\n\nA good part of the home dishwasher cycle is soaking/rinsing. Most modern dishwashers have a quick cycle that skips this step mostly and only takes about 30 minutes and it's useful if you have to wash a full load right after a meal.\n\nThe professional dishwasher skips it completely and just goes at it with high water pressure and agressive detergent.",
"Also commercial dishwashers are like having a kettle on constantly...it about £1 an hour to have them on",
"Your kitchen dishwasher machine takes 3 hours?! I'd buy a new one. Ours is less than 4 years old and the longest program we use (70 degree C for cutting boards, knives etc) takes 170 minutes.",
"What home dishwasher do you use that takes longer than an hour?",
"I run my dishwasher on \"express 60\" all the time. Occasionally, I'll add an extra hour of drying cycle if I have a lot of plastic containers on the top rack. No issues. ",
"Did dishes in a big old age home when I was a teenager. The dishwashers operate at such high temps that even if you end up with something left on the dish, it's sterile.\n\nRecently helped at a soup kitchen.... naturally, with my experience from many years ago I helped with the dishes. They had a small unit that washed the dishes after initial hand rinse and it worked really well. Guy who did it all the time said he wished he had that unit at home. But I imagine it would be quite expensive. Plus it was designed for a single rack of dishes at one time. Home units are designed with practicality in mind. You load it up over a few hours then run it. Not very convenient if you have to fill a single rack then run it, then dry your stuff by hand. \n\nThe old Hobart unit we used at the old ago home was a beast. Dishes came out so hot you'd practically burn your hands when taking them out of the racks. \n\nEverybody slags dishwashing as a job but I didn't mind it. We had union pay and it was OK. Certainly had a lot worse jobs that that when I was young. Washing dishes we just worked fast and you're like on an assembly line. It's mindless work but you still have to do it right and you have to do it fast. Besides, most work becomes brain stem function after a while. People just don't like to admit this about their work so they say things like, \"Yeah, every day is different\". Honestly....if every day was so different you wouldn't be happy because you wouldn't become any good at your job. \n\n\n\n",
"Commercial grade machines get the job done quicker due to a few factors - chemical, agitation and temperature. CG machines use a detergent (solid or liquid) which is highly alkali, breaks through fats and soils. As others have mentioned - a good 60% of the work is pre-scraping - Detergent will do the rest.\n\nRinse aids increase surface tension to help water sheet off quicker. Sanitizers are either chlorine, quat or iodine based - these kill germs. If the machine is 180f or hotter, sanitizer isn't needed. \n\nTo answer your question briefly if you haven't fallen asleep - commercial machines have powerful chemicals and heat compressed into 90 seconds to do a short, sharp job but cost significantly more.\n\nSource : i sell, calibrate, install and train hotels/restaurants here in Bermuda on dish machines and laundry washers ",
"Restaurant machines cost anywhere from $5k-25k. The one in your home is significantly cheaper.",
"From all of the answers i'm seeing about the dishwasher, this raises a new ELI5: \n\n**Why am I pre-washing all of my household dishes?**\n\nAfter meeting/moving-in-with/marrying my wife, she has insisted (and I've covertly tested and confirmed that she's not wrong) that dishes need to be cleaned before going in the dishwasher. I remember as a kid, dishes going into the diswasher covered in gross food bits and the dishwasher doing all of the work. Today's home diswashers don't seem to do the job. What am I doing wrong?",
"I worked for a small restaurant, sometimes did dishes as we never had a dedicated dish person. Most of the time I was put back there because I requested it (didn't want to be up front) or people weren't doing a good job so I got pulled back. Everything was cleaned by hand, the machine was used for sanitizing and getting any small spots that could have been missed. It did not clean them very well if there was stuck on food.\n\n(Breakfast dishes and lipstick stained coffee mugs were the worst.)"
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"http://canadafreepress.com/article/does-dishwasher-regulations-mandate-dishwashers-that-dont-wash-well"
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d5wii4 | light is a form of energy, where does the energy go when it's absorbed into blackness? | The colour black barely reflects light, if light is a form of energy where does this energy go and what does it convert to? I know black things get hot, is this it transferring into heat energy? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d5wii4/eli5_light_is_a_form_of_energy_where_does_the/ | {
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"Photons get absorbed by electrons which in term transfer photons to the nucleus. Essentially a photons energy gets converted into kinetic energy of electrons and nucleons. It’s not really heat energy because heat doesn’t make sense in the quantum scale where this is happening.",
"Black doesn't reflect *visible* light. The energy is converted into light of lower energy levels outside the visible spectrum (such as infrared).",
"Essentially, yes.\n\nBlack, gray and white things have those colors because they reflect all wavelengths of visible light equally. White things reflect a lot of light, gray things less, and black things the least. A \"truly\" black surface would reflect 0 visible light. However, our eyes only have a limited range of sensitivity. They adjust to the light conditions around them to give you the best possible vision, but some light hitting your retina might still be too bright and some too dark. Anything that is darker than the range your eyes are adjusted too, you will see as black.\n\nThis is why when you watch an image projected on a white screen, you can still see colors on that screen that are (nearly) black. Even though the screen looks white in normal room lighting, and the projector can only add light, not subtract it. The black pixels look black not because the projector can make the white screen darker, but because it makes the other pixels bright enough that, to your adjusted eyes, the darkest color on the screen looks (nearly) black.\n\nThis is all just to point out that brightness is relative. Basically nothing in the world is \"truly\" black, in the sense that it reflects no visible light at all. But some things reflect relatively little light. The photons they don't reflect are absorbed and this makes the atoms in the dark thing jiggle faster. This jiggling is what we call heat.",
"To add on to other explanations, when it gets absorbed by a material, the excited electron states can be converted into other forms of energy, like molecular vibrations and motions. As more of the material’s molecules are in motion, the temperature of the material increases."
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51nvxk | why did most ancient cultures associate their gods with animals? | I may be mistaken, but it would appear that all polytheistic cultures had specific animals associated with specific deities. Is this mostly a coincidence, or is there a reason that this convention was so consistent? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/51nvxk/eli5_why_did_most_ancient_cultures_associate/ | {
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"What else is there? People, animals, natural forces... and most cultures associated gods with all of those at once.",
"Most ancient cultures had gods that related to elements of nature or of society - animals are a natural part of that. Praying to a god of cats when your cat was sick made as much sense as praying to the god of the sea for a safe voyage, or to the god of harvest for a fruitful crop.\n\nAnd of course, those animals could also be tied in to other natural forces. Bastet was a cat goddess in Ancient Egypt, and that tied into her nature as a war goddess and protection goddess, due to the fierce and protective nature of cats.",
"Animals are the only visible objects that behave with human-like traits (seeing, learning, moving around, mating, being born, dying, ...) so if you're looking for something to symbolize a non-human creature, they're the obvious go-to choice.",
"Because animals were a vital component of their life. They provided food, money(exchange), services(pack animals). We now are more distanced from these processes. \n\nIt depends how far you go back. The neolithic revolution and the domestication of livestock.... or ... nomadic hunter gatherers following animal migration. Also, climate/country in asia, for example the calendar based on certain animals. "
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1vu6g7 | shell (computing) | Also, how could knowing shell commands be useful for someone. What would it be practical for exactly?? examples would be appreciated. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vu6g7/eli5_shell_computing/ | {
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"A shell or command shell is a program which has a special purpose: it reads keystrokes from the keyboard and interprets the \"commands\" that it receives in this way. The general idea is to have a human user interact with the command shell in order to accomplish system or computer maintenance related tasks, such as manipulating files or altering the configuration settings for various subsystems.\n\nOne particular task of a command shell is to locate and start up other applications which have a specific task. For instance, you can start a web browser or a word processor program by typing in the appropriate name.\n\nShells also typically are able to execute \"batch files\" or \"shell scripts\" which are text files that contain a series of commands that you would otherwise type in one after another. In this way you can automate repetitive tasks such as making a backup of a particular directory, or checking that the amount of disk space left is adequate.\n\nKnowing shell commands (both the built in commands and the utility programs) comes in handy when you are a system administrator. In my own experience (I have been my own linux system administrator for almost fifteen years) I can accomplish certain tasks way more efficiently using the keyboard issuing commands than firing up an application and shoving the mouse around.\n\nLinux in particular has several sophisticated command shell programs, of which my personal preference is *bash*. Windows traditionally has not given much attention to being able to perform tasks using a command shell. An MS-DOS like solution has always been the default. OS/2 had a pretty nifty command shell, but no one is using that anymore (where is the other half? - guffaw). But these last few years I hear Windows has a command shell solution that aims to be at least as good at what linux has to offer. I have never worked with it, so I have no opinion to offer.",
"Minor addition to what /u/diMario wrote: \"Shell\" is the software that provides an interface between the user and the operating system. The shell can be either textual (like the command line interface) or graphical (like the Windows UI)."
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2m59z8 | when _url_0_ reports that my internet speed is 900 mb/s and the test runs for several seconds, is it downloading several gigs worth of stuff? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2m59z8/eli5_when_speedtestnet_reports_that_my_internet/ | {
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"Speedtest measures in Megabits per second or kilobytes per second depending on the display setting. Megabits are not the same thing as megabytes. Thats about 112 megabytes, not a few gigs. Your computer downloads some small temporary files that are deleted after the test is done. The speed is calculated based on the average speed they download at."
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cbw8v7 | why are hairs over old wounds thicker and darker? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbw8v7/eli5_why_are_hairs_over_old_wounds_thicker_and/ | {
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"I'm guessing that they grow thicker because it's a targeted area of your body where copious about of healing resources (blood, nutrients, etc) were sent and thus the hair there is overdeveloped and beefier. My guess for deeper color would be since the hair is thicker it doesn't let light through as well so the genetically determined color deepens. Kind of like when cellophane. You can't see through the whole roll very well but if you pull a sheet the image clears up."
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2de948 | why do websites more frequently have you scroll through multiple pages for the rest of the article or to see the subsequent photo in a long list? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2de948/eli5_why_do_websites_more_frequently_have_you/ | {
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"More pages = more ads = more revenue"
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8ig12g | why does xbox and ps4 charge for multiplayer but pc does not? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8ig12g/eli5_why_does_xbox_and_ps4_charge_for_multiplayer/ | {
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"Xbox and Playstation are closed ecosystems -- the manufacturers control what can and can't connect to it, so they are in a position to charge for multiplayer access.\n\nA PC is an open system -- there's no one company that controls your access to other systems. So, while you may pay for multiplayer games, you'd be paying the company that makes the software and maintains the servers and not a single company that controls access to everything.",
"Several reasons,\nFirst off its because they can. Where theres money to make they will be raking it.\nSecondly, any time that you have several clients together playing a game or doing an online activity, a server is required. Depending on the game it could be small or large, but servers cost money.\nThird, pcs run on a 3rd party platform, anyone can make a game and create a cheap server. With most pc games the servers are 3rd party and free, while other large ones (ie. WoW) have large servers that you subscribe to. \n\nHaving a singular large server that everyone connects on is expensive, with all the voice, text, and games... They would lose a large chunk of change without chaeging you a subscription."
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1uwedd | how do you clean up the water in a situation like west virginia? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1uwedd/eli5_how_do_you_clean_up_the_water_in_a_situation/ | {
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"Clean up the spill.\n\nLet the river clean itself for a while, or dredge the muck that is contaminated off the bottom and dump it in a chemical landfill.\n\nClean the water treatment plants if needed, or run water through them until no more hazardous level of contaminant remains. \n\nRun the taps, the fire hydrants, the hoses, etc. until the water lines are purged of chemical contaminant. Run a cleaning fluid through them if necessary to remove the contaminant. Rinse, repeat.\n\nGood to use water is now coming out of the taps, OK to drink.\n\nTest over the next (long time period) to make sure the cleanup actually removed the contaminant."
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23ibi5 | i like very spicy food, but how come sometimes my sissy friends can easily eat food i would consider "quite spicy"? | It seems to happene every so often; I'll be like "This is quite spicy!" and people who have no tolerance for spice will comment "Really? I don't think it's very spicy at all..." which is backed up by the fact they are able to eat it comfortably | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23ibi5/eli5_i_like_very_spicy_food_but_how_come/ | {
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"The feeling of heat you experience when you consume spicy food is probably Capsaicin, the chemical found in chilli peppers that stimulates the same receptors used to detect actual heat. It doesn't actually damage your cells at all it just makes you feel like it is.\n\nAnyway, while cells in your mouth are all pretty much identical I would posit a guess that the reason you are more sensitive to spicy food at times is reliant on a number of different factors - have you recently eaten actually hot food? This could have damaged a portion of the cells lining your mouth/throat and result in less reaction to the content of the food you're eating. \n\nIf you have a blocked nose, even if only partially and you don't notice it, this could interfere with the number of cells reacting to the spicy food so the overall magnitude of the \"this burns!\" sensation is much less. \n\nIt's also possible that the cells lining your mouth and throat are more resistant this time around to stimulation as not every cell is identical - we tend to only notice when cell division is detrimental when things like cancers arise, but other things within the cell could have broken too such as capsaicin receptors. This change would likely only be temporary as you'd grow new cells eventually that might be more sensitive.\n\nWithout detailed knowledge of the receptor types this is the best I could explain to you! If this doesn't satisfy your curiosity, I would recommend askscience. "
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2lmlid | when commercials say "call within the next 5 minutes" do they really mean it? | You know when you're watching commercials and they tell you to call within a certain time allotment to get the best deal, or say the next 20 callers get a certain deal, etc. Are they being serious? Do they actually have a way to track every time the commercial airs on a specific network and from there are able to track the time someone took to call in and order the product? Or is it just another marketing ploy to make you think you're getting the best deal?? I'm gonna jump out on a limb and say it's the latter. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2lmlid/eli5_when_commercials_say_call_within_the_next_5/ | {
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"No, I'm pretty sure it's to get a person to make a snap decision, as a technique to lure more buyers. That's my understanding of it ",
"Never. It's just a technique to motivate you to act.",
"it's just a ploy to get you to call without taking the time to think it through. even if you called an hour later and asked for the same offer you would still get it. also, they will use the value of the free gifts to overcome any objections to price you may have.",
"Think about it logically for a second. \n\nHow would they know you called within 5 minutes? The commercial is on a bunch of channels at a bunch of random times. \n\nIt's a ploy. They are playing on the fact that people make decisions when pushed. \"Oh crap, this is a limited time offer! I better hurry up and order!\"",
"In the world of sales this is referred to as a 'call to action'. The central notion being that you will never sell anything if you don't ask a customer for the sale. This is paired with a sense of urgency. If I feel like I may miss out on something by not acting, chances are I will make a decision to act."
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470j02 | what is it that can make us so indecisive about which way to move when someone walks towards us? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/470j02/eli5_what_is_it_that_can_make_us_so_indecisive/ | {
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"Without established system for which way to move, which has been agreed upon earlier, this problem doesn't have a definite answer. You might never get past the other person. For computers this types of problems are more severe, actually leading to eternal deadlocks. Humans can act in a way to make prolonged clash pretty unlikely by various heuristics and communication.\n\nLike, you approach person. You try to go by them from right, they try to dodge same direction. You stop, they happen to also stop. You try to go the same way, and they do the same. You're about to say \"i'll just go here\", but they begin talking the same moment as you, etc. Without prior agreement, there is no guarantee this clashing ever stops.\n\nHumans coordinate this by doing plenty of hints towards various directions, estimate where other guy signals they are walking towards, what social status they signal(submissive, dominant), and hoping there will be some pretty obvious path choice that doesn't lead to clash. However, as stated earlier, there is no guarantee this works, but more effort you put on this, more likely you can find free path.",
"Indifference. It's hard to make decisions when faced with two arbitrary equally attractive options?"
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57ep0q | how the great barrier reef is now considered "dead" and what factors lead to it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/57ep0q/eli5_how_the_great_barrier_reef_is_now_considered/ | {
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"It's not dead. That's click bait. The great barrier reef is absolutely massive. A significant portion of it is in serious decline, but other parts of it are doing just fine. \n\n\nSo far. ",
"With unusually warm water, corals expel their zooxanthellae, the symbiotic algae that provide the plant with food. If the water stays too hot for too long, the algae die, and the coral will starve. When this happens, you're just left with the dead coral which is mostly built from calcium and looks bone white. Essentially this is why it's called coral bleaching, the vibrant colourful coral is gone and all that's left is the skeleton so to speak. \n\nBecause of the sensitivity of coral to changes in climate, it's usually seen as a precursor to the effects of climate change. El Nino events are usually the cause of mass coral bleaching but these weather events occur infrequently and the coral often recovers. This time, with climate change, the changes we are seeing will be permanent and as such, the Great Barrier Reef as we know it will possibly never be the same. ",
"The news about it is claiming a portion of portions (the middle and north) are dead. This due to bleaching. The coral in many areas will recover slowly, others it may not. many fish still remain, some however have left.",
"I just saw this [YouTube clip of coral \"belching\"](_URL_1_) and it explains it very simply. \nThis [article which also has another video of the event](_URL_0_) will help too, but to spit out some of the key points:\nCoral relies on a type of algae to convert sunlight into a sugar that is the energy (photosynthesis) for the coral and this also gives it the vibrant colour.\nWhen the water temperature rises above 30 degrees Celsius the algae cannot convert the energy and instead the energy becomes a reactive form of oxygen, the article describes it as like peroxide in bleach.\nThe coral then rejects the algae as the friend it depended on for food is now poisoning it. No longer receiving this sugar the coral bleaches, weakens and is now open to be infected by external bacteria and microbes that can cause infections. \n\nCoral can recover but it is not an easy task for it, particularly if the temperature of the surrounding waters stays that high.",
"Everyone we have a huge problem. This article was shared on facebook.\nThe issue is everyone is BUYING IT. Its fucked. \n\nI looked into it for 5 minutes and found out the \"scientists\" who declared its death is a reporter named Rowan Jacobsen, who writes culinary articles and sometimes environmental articles. He is not a scientist and in no way has the authority to declare something dead.\n\nEdit: Sorry for being dumb, shouldn't have posted the clickbait \n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_...\n\n_URL_2_\n\n\n\n",
"sounds like clickbait. a bit dramatic claiming that it's \"dead\"\n\nthis says something different only a few weeks ago.\n_URL_0_",
"what needs to be better explained is if coral is dying due to temperature or water level change, new coral has the ability to survive in a different location that was similar to what the depth/temp was. \n",
"The Ocean is absorbing the massive amounts of CO2 we put in the air, which changes the pH to be more acidic. Acidic oceans mean coral cannot create there shells. Ending CO2 production will not reverse this in our lifetimes. \n\nBleaching is caused by some kind of stress on the coral. It was hypothesized to be temperature, acidity is now becoming the favored stressor. It does not matter what causes bleaching, acidity is approaching a level that all calcium-carbonate shell creatures will die, coral included.",
"Don't any of you people watch the magic schoolbus? Ms Frizzle explains all this stuff so well, give her a chance.",
"Why is there suddenly a lot of stuff going around about coral bleaching? I live right next to the GBR and while this has been an issue for years, I don't get what would suddenly cause everyone to pay attention to it now.",
"Conventional agriculture methods including plowing, fertilizers, and biocides are the most destructive actions. These can be reversed by installing gabions and on contour swales. ",
"Users here are suggesting the coral bleaching isn't really *that* big a problem. i heard it could result in the death of 25% (i'm probably under-representing that figure) of our aquatic life in a dangerously short period of time if it goes unchecked. \n\ni'm guessing the truth is somewhere in the middle?",
"Ocean acidification is a huge problem. Corals (and other marine life) are very sensitive to change, especially to heat and pH level change. Basically there was a huge increase in carbon dioxide usage causing the ocean to absorb more carbon than it can handle (22million tons a day). When carbon mixes with water it creates carbonic acid which is not so acidic compared to your stomach acid (hydrochloric acid) or car battery acid (sulfuric acid) but is still damaging. When carbonic acid forms, it releases a hydrogen atom which gets combined with carbonate that is naturally found in the ocean. Carbonate is extremely useful because it can also bind with calcium and forms calcium carbonate which is a building block for shells in shellfish and corals However, carbonate has a more natural attraction to the hydrogen released by carbonic acid than calcium causing less calcium carbonate to form and less shells and corals to form. ",
"Meat demand caused farmers to raise enormous numbers of cattle. That movement created a huge shortage of greenery. Cattle produce vast amounts of methane, that would be converted, biologically, to oxygen if the greenery were not displaced by cattle farms. The excess methane raises the acidity of rain. That rain bleaches the reefs.\n\n---\n\nWatch \"Racing Extinction\" if my answer leaves you wondering.",
"[Over 70% of the reef is still healthy](_URL_0_;) but is at risk from bleaching. The damage is significant, but not fatal and likely recoverable.",
"Alot of people here aren't accounting for the massive pesticides being leached into the water. Diurin accounts for 80% of the pesticides found in the great barrier reef and is persistant and toxic. Costa Rica had a huge decline (98% in its Golfo dulce (Sweet gulf) reef on the south pacific coast) in its coral prescense from the pesticides and silt being leaked off primarily the bannana and sugar cane plants.\n\nAlso nitrogen (in the form of nitrification) is affecting these waters. This and the fact that most of the Co2 we produce gets absorbed straight into the ocean is causing deadly algae blooms, which causes for less oxygen in the water. \n\nsources:\nHeres a source from 2012 about pesticides reaching the great barrier reef: _URL_0_\n\n98% gone by the cahuita coast: \n_URL_1_\n",
"Basically, it's made up of thousands of organisms. Each absorb some chemicals and release some others. Pollution has changed the saturation of chemicals, killing some organism and making others thrive waaaay to much. Also, global warming makes (in particular) enzymes inside of bacteria not work correctly. Which means, bacteria can't eat properly. Also global warming hasn't lead to more uv radiation, which is bad.\nTl;dr, pollution",
"It's pretty much dead. Although not technically dead, I would argue it's been written off as an inevitability. One would have to rehabilitate the environment and conditions for coral to thrive. Good luck with that. "
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"http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-11/coral-belches-algae-as-water-temperature-rises-bleaching/7917754?pfmredir=sm",
"http://youtu.be/19T8SNZH1lc"
],
[
"www.cnn.com/2016/10/14/us/barrier-reef-obit-trnd/",
"https://thinkprogress.org/great-barrier-reef-closer-to",
"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/03/agencies-say-22-of-barrier-reef-coral-is-dead-correcting-misinterpretation"
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"http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/some-relief-great-barrier-reef"
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"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scientists-take-on-great-barrier-reef-obituary_us_57fff8f1e4b0162c043b068f?section=&"
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"https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/mar/27/great-barrier-reef-australia-pesticides",
"https://books.google.com/books?id=7aiC1k0XubgC&pg=PA541&dq=pesticide+costa+rica+coral+reef+destroyed&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEsovX2trPAhVF0FQKHVYoAPEQ6AEIUDAI#v=onepage&q=pesticide%20costa%20rica%20coral%20reef%20destroyed&f=false"
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jl663 | why does it matter to my bank if i use my bank card as a debit card or a credit card? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jl663/eli5_why_does_it_matter_to_my_bank_if_i_use_my/ | {
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"Your bank makes more money from the merchant if you use your debit card as a credit card. It's all about the money.",
"When you use your bank card as a debit card, you're essentially doing a bank/ATM withdrawl through the merchant for that exact amount. It draws money from your existing funds.\n\nWhen you use it as a credit card, it actually goes through the credit channels, where the bank/credit card company takes a percentage of the sale from the vendor.\n\nAnother side effect is how points/miles are calculated. You don't get points when using your card as debit, since you could get cash back and redeposit it.",
"Your bank makes more money from the merchant if you use your debit card as a credit card. It's all about the money.",
"When you use your bank card as a debit card, you're essentially doing a bank/ATM withdrawl through the merchant for that exact amount. It draws money from your existing funds.\n\nWhen you use it as a credit card, it actually goes through the credit channels, where the bank/credit card company takes a percentage of the sale from the vendor.\n\nAnother side effect is how points/miles are calculated. You don't get points when using your card as debit, since you could get cash back and redeposit it."
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1ixzb7 | who owns ancient roman artifacts? if i privately sponsored an archaeological dig, could i keep any ancient artifacts i found, or do countries have laws against that? if i wanted to purchase an ancient roman artifact, could i do so online? how much would it cost? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ixzb7/eli5_who_owns_ancient_roman_artifacts_if_i/ | {
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"The laws vary from country to country, and the question would need to be more specific."
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6olac4 | why is staring at the sun painful? what happens if you stare too long? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6olac4/eli5_why_is_staring_at_the_sun_painful_what/ | {
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"Your eyes have a focusing lens in front of them somewhat similar to a magnifying glass lens. Just like a magnifying glass, the lens will focus the sunlight tightly and begin to rapidly heat up whatever the light is focused on: in this case, onto the back of your eye, which is a very fragile tissue called the Retina. If you have ever watched someone burn a hole in paper or fry an ant with a magnifying glass, you will see how fast focused sunlight can cause damage.",
"Have you ever been badly sunburned? Well imagine that happening to the back of your eyeball. Your retina is a very sensitive organ that captures light and sends the image to your brain. When you sunburn your retina, you will absolutely damage your vision at best, or go permanently blind at worst.\n\nThere is a lot more energy in sunlight than just what you can see. The most damaging colors of light are actually invisible to us. Ultra-Violet is a name for one of these invisible yet damaging colors.\n\nThese invisible light rays do not reflect well and are usually absorbed by something else such as a tree, ground, or whatever before they reach your eyeball. But if you stare directly at the sun you are catching the full load directly."
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5o2bid | why is taiwan valuable to china under the "one china" policy? they've been ruled separately for so long, what would the real benefit to controlling it again be? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5o2bid/eli5_why_is_taiwan_valuable_to_china_under_the/ | {
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"Taiwan is the legitimate government of China that fled when the communist revolution occurred. Allowing them full autonomy erodes their own legitimacy. ",
"Contrary to the other responses, I think economic reasons are pretty much secondary to geopolitics and nationalism. China already has a massive economy. The addition of Taiwan, particularly after the trauma and disruption of a hostile takeover, would not be a decisive boost to the Chinese economy.\n\nNationalism is really big in China, Chinese leaders and media have long emphasized that Taiwan is a rogue province. They have also tended to emphasize national pride and territorial integrity. So the reclamation of Taiwan would be a major propaganda coup for the CCP.\n\nTaiwan is also important because it lies right off the Chinese mainland, and is a western ally. Consider why the US were so alarmed when Cuba drew closer to the USSR during the Cold War.\n\nBut really nationalist chest-thumping is the bigger reason here. This is also why they are so obsessed with those tiny islands in the South Sea, not physical resources."
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9reg8c | the 'rail-gun' and why it's such a big deal? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9reg8c/eli5_the_railgun_and_why_its_such_a_big_deal/ | {
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"A rail gun uses electromagnetism to accelerate a piece of metal to extremely high speeds. It can make that chunk of metal go much, much faster than any gunpowder-propelled projectile, which means it can shoot farther and potentially do more damage. ",
"Imagine you have a long metal rod. One day you go to a local abandoned train track and decide to perform an experiment. You take the metal rod and lay it across the top of the tracks so that it touches both rails, making a sort of H. Then, you get some car batteries (please don't ever actually try this) and you connect the positive sides of the batteries to one rail, and the negative sides to the other. When you do this you notice that your rod starts moving along the rails. You also notice that the more car batteries you hook up to the rails, the faster the rod moves. Somehow, you manage to get your hands on some huuuuuuuge batteries that run out extremely fast, but have enough energy to power your whole house for a day. When you connect these batteries to the rails (again, don't eeeeever try anything even remotely like this) the rod shoots off very quickly in one direction, but the batteries are pretty much instantly empty, so you can't do it again without recharging them.\n\nThe short description is this: the electricity flowing through the rails generates a magnetic field. Because the rod connects the rails, electricity also flows through it. The interaction between the magnetic field around the rails, and the electric current in the rod, makes the rod feel a force parallel to the rails.\n\nThat is the basic idea behind railguns. It works because of the way that electric currents interact with and generate magnetic fields, which I unfortunately don't know how to compress into an ELI5 type description -- for a full description I recommend [the wikipedia page](_URL_0_). But I will say that the main sort of catch with railguns is the way you use the electricity. Take a house, for example. A house uses approximately 30 kWh per day (what that means isn't important, but it's for comparison). But railguns don't need a lot of time. In fact, they need power for only a few milliseconds at most, but they still need the same amount of power, so extremely roughly we're talking about 30 kWh per millisecond. It's the same amount of power, but discharged at different rates. That's what makes railguns so complicated, because we are good at using electricity slowly over a long time, but we aren't yet very good at using it extremely quickly for a short time.\n\nLast I heard, the US Navy has a prototype railgun that they have successfully tested and might have installed on a prototype nuclear powered ship. At the time I heard about this, the ship had to turn off it's engines every time it wanted to use the railgun, because of the amount of electricity required to charge up the railgun. (It's also possible that this ship wasn't actually built, but a planned next step forward after the successful prototype gun testing, which is real).",
"BAE Systems has made a 32 megajoule rail gun that can launch a 7lb projectile up to about Mach 7, range of about 110 nautical miles. Destroys it's target with pure kinetic energy. No explosives. All by magnetic acceleration. Think of a modern roller coaster launch... But at 7 times the speed of sound.",
"As to why it's such a big deal...\n\nShip ammo is an extremely dangerous thing. If a ship is hit and the magazine is reached, then a very possible result is the entire ship exploding. One hole in the wrong place, and the whole ship goes [kablooey](_URL_0_). You can't armor a ship enough these days to survive hits, so carrying a crapload of explosives around is a very big problem.\n\nA railgun would allow to launch solid chunks of metal. This is both more efficient (no need to store propellant, just the bullet), and much safer for the ship since now it can get hit without exploding."
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2rx1y3 | why do we experience a movie's plot as exciting when we know the good guys will win? | Take the James Bond movies for example. We know from the beginning that he's gonna be successful in his mission, so why is it still interesting to watch? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rx1y3/eli5_why_do_we_experience_a_movies_plot_as/ | {
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"It's the journey not the destination. Plus we may still want to know how the plot will resolve itself, or the fate of secondary characters we may care about, both of which are independent to whether the main character dies or not. \n\nOr we may just enjoy the style of storytelling or watch for the fancy effects. Or we just like the ride. \n\nEdit: typo",
"They may lose and completely take everyone by surprise its rare but happens. "
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2mo13p | if it is a myth that skinny people have higher metabolism, how is it that we all have a non-active friend who can eat truckloads of junk yet be skinny or, more alarmingly, fit? | Everyone always talks to these people about how "jealous of your metabolism" when in fact differing metabolisms are apparently a myth. So how is it we all know someone who can eat 1000000g of carbohydrates per day and yet stays skinny, or more alarmingly, fit without any regular or intense exercise? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2mo13p/eli5if_it_is_a_myth_that_skinny_people_have/ | {
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"Sometimes their day is more active then yours. \n\nFor example, I walk to the grocery store every 2 days. Its part of my routine to pick up small filler groceries between larger box store trips. I don't consider it exercise but its actually a 2 mile walk in total.",
"Metabolism can account for swings of roughly 300 kcal/day, in most of the population. That's really not a lot of food, all told. [This is what 300 kcal of French fries looks like](_URL_0_).\n\nWhat you are seeing when one guy eats \"truckloads of junk\" is a snapshot. You are not seeing their tiny breakfast, or nonexistent dinner, their lack of liquid calories throughout the day, etc. Metabolism is a marginal effect. Somebody who stays super skinny while \"eating whatever they want\" likely just wants to eat way less than other people, on average.",
"I can't explain you like you're five because many factor come in.\n\nFact is, not all carbs are equal in quality, non-refined sugars are best. Because the more they are refined, the more you digest it quickly, your sugar level rise more quickly, then more insulin, and ultimately you starve because your body secreted so much insulin that you are very low in blood sugar and begin to eat again and again.\n\nInsulin turn sugar in fat, the more insulin, the more fat. Avoid refined sugar like plague (as well as \"diet\" products because they contain sweetener and even if they are not technically carbs, you still secrete insulin)\n\nNot all peoples burn the same amount of kcal. And not all people secrete the same amount of insulin and other hormones. (this is what metabolism is)\n\nBe aware that 100g of sugar will make you more fat than 100g of fat.\n\nThere is also intestinal microflora and so on...\n\nBut in the end, if they continue to eat truckload of junk, they will have as many problems as others (like diabetus)\n"
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ehxgkl | how come so many canned goods like soups and vegetables have really high sodium content but do not taste that salty. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ehxgkl/eli5_how_come_so_many_canned_goods_like_soups_and/ | {
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"Because soups have alot of water. Water makes it not taste salty even if there is alot of salt in it. It's same with home made soup too. You have to put alot of salt in soup to be able to taste it.",
"Because the sodium content is often in the form of monosodium glutamate which doesn't actually taste particularly salty. It just enhances the taste - particularly the umami (savouriness) taste.",
"Lots of things have a high sodium content but don't taste salty because of the presence of other chemicals that overwhelm the salt. Also, it's pretty critical to consider what a serving size is when you evaluate the overall sodium concentration. \n\nFor example, I just went to my pantry and looked at a few food items. One serving of Miss Vickie's salt and vinegar chips has 170 mg of sodium for every 28 grams of chips. No one in their right mind would argue salt and vinegar chips aren't salty, but the only real flavor the salt has to compete with is the vinegar and whatever subtle flavors a potato might have. \n\nA can of Del Monte green beans however has 380 mg of sodium, which sure sounds like twice the amount of salt, but that's per 121 grams of green beans. \n\nInterestingly, 17 grams of Whataburger ketchup will net you 240 mg of sodium, which sounds like it should be too salty to eat with a straight face, but that salt is competing with primary ingredients like tomato concentrate and high fructose corn syrup, which are sweet enough to mask the saltiness.",
"Sodium =/= table salt, which is sodium chloride. There are several other sources of sodium in foods. There are also quite a few nutrients that are added to foods as sodium salts instead of just the straight nutrient to improve solubility or to not throw the acidity of a product out of balance."
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7zq0y8 | why is being flat-footed a hindrance? | As a child, I was flat-footed - my father insisted I needed orthopedic insoles at a young age, so as to be able to serve in the armed forces if my grades didn't come good. Lo and behold, I shit-talked my way into a decent paying desk job as a young adult that did not require a protractor to get me hired. So, what advantage does an arched foot have? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7zq0y8/eli5_why_is_being_flatfooted_a_hindrance/ | {
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"Zombie apocalypse?\n\nBut in all seriousness there are situations in life where you may need to run/move quickly, and being flat footed can be a major problem during those crisis. ",
"You run better because of force placement. Faster, longer, with more control and less pain.",
"The problems and issues with flat feet have generally been overstated there is possibly a slight risk of over stressing other parts of the leg, but it isn't normally an issue. ",
"Feet are supposed to have an arch, and the bones/muscle in them require it for proper function.\n\nIt's a bit like a bridge. If you look at large bridges that support a lot of weight, you see those giant cables that 'curve' up and to a point in the middle. So when you put a lot of weight on the bridge, it's not just the actual bridge, road, and columns underneath that support that weight. It's all anchored to a particularly strong 'tower' and then redistributed across the weight of the whole bridge. This allows the bridge to sustain itself, and significant weight, without fear of collapse in any one part. \n\nThe arch of your foot is basically like that. The bones in the middle connect all the muscles to an anchor point. So when you walk, and you roll your foot, the muscles have an anchor point that they can pull on. That anchor point then redistributes the force across the entire bone structure of the foot. It means that any individual spot on the foot can share the load of walking on other parts. \n\nWhen the arch collapses, there's less work-sharing going on, it means each piece has to work harder, and it can't 'flex' as well with other pieces. As a result, flat feet tend to get sore faster, have a varying limit to their range of 'motion', and are prone to pain under high workload, such as marathon running (or sprinting from zombies). \n\nIt's notable, as well, that arched feet typically have a 'resting' position where the feet are not strictly pointing forward, but not pointing 'too out' either. This causes the foot to rest, or work, at a certain angle. The legs, hips, and back, all work together to keep you upright. When the feet are overpronation (tilted 'inwards') or supination (tilted 'outwards'), it forces the leg muscles and bones off kilter. This forces the hips out of alignment, and can even throw the back muscles off to some extent. \n\nIt can cause various alignment issues all the way from the feet, up to the shoulders, in severe cases! This can be very uncomfortable. \n\n***The benefit of the arch, then, is that it helps the foot to spread the workload across a wider area. This, in turn, supports healthy muscle tissue, and reduces inflammation and stress on individual muscles. So an arched foot works less to do more, while keeping your body properly aligned!***\n",
"I’m very flat footed. The bottoms of my feet and front of my shins hurt when I run fast for a lengthy amount of time, I still did track when I was a kid, but those insoles helped. \n\nNow I swim instead. Flat feet help when swimming :)",
"Flat feet can mess with the structure of your body leading to bad posture, and in the long term, aches in your joints. \n\nAn arched foot forms the foundation in keeping knees, hips, spine, and neck in ideal positions. It lets the body absorb the shock of stepping into the ground throughout the body with minimal damage. \nA flat foot usually throws a wrench in the alignment of all the joints. It caves the foot in, leading to the knees or hips twisting inward to compensate for the inward shift of the ankle. That places more pressure on these joints in all activities, usually leading to faster deterioration of cartilage. It doesn’t stop there, since changes in the hips affect the spine, then the neck. So flat feet can potentially lead to problems up there as well. \n\nOverall a condition that can lead to pain in the long run.",
"I am a flat-footer. My mom used to work for prosthetic legs and stuff and someone from her workplace me me some shoe soles that had built in elevated stuffs to force arch on my feet but shit was painful to wear and they made me do some exercise to improve it but I didn't do it either. Haven't ran any marathon or played intense sports in year except online :p But yeah it does hurt if I had to stand or sprint for a long period of time. I don't think I am being drafted into nfl or there is a possibility of a zombie apocalypse so I am good. But hey, thanks for the info Altyrmadiken.",
"people with flat feet (particularly overweight people) often wind up with knock knees and lower back problems because of the chain reaction of poor arch muscle support in your feet leading to overstretching of inner knee ligaments and collapsing of outter ones, causing lower back muscles to do work the hips are supposed to be responsible for. eventually, your gait suffers due to poor alignment and flexibility of muscles and ligaments in your hips, knees, and hamstrings, and you wind up shambling around like an obese mongoloid, even though these problems can occur entirely without being overweight in certain cases.\n\nwear your insoles, dude."
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6i309o | how are tv commercials played with correct timing during live television events? | I was just wondering how commercials were played at the correct time during a sporting event, and how everything is coordinated, like the length of the commercials, and also how nothing in the live show gets cut off. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6i309o/eli5_how_are_tv_commercials_played_with_correct/ | {
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"Producers/directors in the control room have everything timed out. They know exactly when to cut for commercials. It may be live but everything is planned ahead. Also, some live programs usually have a bit of a delay. I used to do graphics for a 24/7 news channel-type, and there were screens in the CR showing a timer, like for example 23 seconds to commercial, or 30 seconds to be back on air, etc.",
"The commercials are inserted during pauses in game play. The length is predetermined by agreement with the league. There is a network coordinator who signals the game officials when the break is over. A friend who did it said it was the best day's work he ever had. Paid to stand on the sidelines at the Super Bowl and do very little.\n\nEdit: _URL_0_"
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g34bug | when the tide is high and the water is pushed to the edges, does the middle of the ocean become shallower to some degree? | So obviously water isn't added to the ocean during every tide and water isn't taken out every low tide, so the tides must be from displacement of water. When the water is pushed to the edges, does the middle of the ocean become less deep? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/g34bug/eli5_when_the_tide_is_high_and_the_water_is/ | {
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"So a good way to think of this, I think, is if you fill a deep square pan (maybe a roasting pan) with a little bit of water, and slide it steadily back and fourth on the counter top to get a steady waving - that’s pretty much how tides work, but instead of the earth (pan) getting slid around, it’s the moon pulling the water. \n\nSo while the water in the middle clearly will change level, it isn’t by too much - the volume of water is shifting from the low tide area to the high tide area, and the middle would be a relatively constant level. \n\nTo note, though, this two-dimensional model makes sense for a snapshot type of look, but I don’t think it would really apply to the earth because what is the “middle” at one point will be both the “high” and “low” ends at other times, as well as everywhere in between.",
"There is a bulge of water on each side of the earth that rotates around the earth under the influence of the sun and moon, predominantly the moon. If the earth was only water you could think of it as two big waves with troughs between them moving around the planet. \n\n\nhowever the land masses get in the way water piles up against them. East to west structures like the Bay of Fundy near Nova Scotia CA actually amplfy the effect significantly. Water can flow out of the Bay as the bulge moves past at the normal rate but at the east end of the bay the next bulge is blocked by the land so the water keeps flowing out to the west until the bulge has moved far enough west to pass all of nova scotia. This results in tides in the eastern bay of fundy that are 25X normal, up to 53 foot change. \n\n\n[_URL_0_](_URL_0_)"
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7xldvd | since aids is no longer considered a “homosexual disease” why do blood banks still ask if a man has had sexual contact with another man, on the questionnaire? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7xldvd/eli5_since_aids_is_no_longer_considered_a/ | {
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"It's not disease found exclusively found in homosexuals, but homosexual behavior is an indication of a much greater chance of having contracted the disease, which is why there is often a restriction. \n\nIn addition, tests for the HIV virus are not perfect at detecting the virus in small numbers, such as if it was recently acquired. As such, any behavior that is associated with a high risk warrants a temporary defferal.",
"If someone has recently seroconverted, it will not show up in their tests for HIV. It restricts gay men because they will have a higher risk but it doesn’t restrict gay women to give blood. ",
"They ask if you've had sexual contact with a man for the same reason they ask if you've used IV drugs which weren't prescribed by a doctor or if you've been exposed to someone else's blood. Those activities put you at a higher risk of contracting multiple diseases including HIV, and it's safer to make those people wait before donating. ",
"The reason anal sex increases risk is because there's increased risk of tearing and fluid exchange in that way. So a much much higher chance of transmission.",
"Homosexuals have a much higher rate of having the disease. \n\nBeing from Denmark doesn't mean you have mad cow disease. But it means you have a higher risk for having mad cow disease. Which is why it's another red flag on those forms. ",
"It's not exclusively a \"homosexual disease\", but certain activity puts someone at a much higher risk of contracting the disease -- and male/male anal sex is the riskiest type of behavior. Without getting too graphic, the nature of the activity can lead to small ruptures in the skin that can allow the disease to flow from one person to another.\n\nAs a result, men that have engaged in anal sex with other men have, as a group, higher rates of infection than other groups.\n\nSince a blood donation from someone who falls in this group is much more likely to be unusable than other groups, it's more cost-effective for blood banks to just reject those donors and spend their limited collection cost budgets on groups that have a lower risk of infection.",
"Just because it’s not exclusive to homosexuals doesn’t mean it’s not extremely common among homosexuals, far more so than amongst heterosexuals.",
"Doctor here\nIt’s a standard procedure question because historically the homosexual community has a higher prevalence of having the disease. Specially when you have unprotected sex, whether you’re homosexual or not. \nFun fact: In Mexico, the transgender community has the highest prevalence of an HIV infection \n*flies away*",
"its the \"even once?\" at the end of the question that makes me chuckle every time I give blood.",
"All of the statistics I'm about to cite are specific to the USA.\n\nGay and bisexual men make up, very roughly, [2% of the whole population](_URL_3_) but accounted for [67% of new HIV infections](_URL_2_) in 2016. About 0.3% of the general population has HIV but [10%](_URL_4_) of men who have sex with men (MSM) do.\n\nIn 2015, [the FDA revised its guidelines](_URL_1_) so that MSM could donate blood as long as they had not had any homosexual contact within the past year; previously, MSM were deferred permanently. Is this softened policy still homophobic? Yeah, I think so. That being said, it's arguable that the social damage of homophobic policy—*in this specific case*—is less than the social damage of increased HIV transmission risk. Further, I feel the HIV epidemic continues to do more harm to the gay and bisexual male community than this policy does. We have a social responsibility to reduce HIV's impact. Improved sex education in schools could help, but we should also push for increased testing among at-risk groups. The majority of people who know they have HIV take steps to protect their partners but it's estimated that [44% of HIV carriers](_URL_0_) aged 13-24 don't even know they have it.",
"I'm not sure why you say \"AIDS is no longer considered a homosexual disease\". In its purest definition you are correct (in the sense there are more ways to transmit it), but homosexual male-to-male contact is still by far has the highest risk for transmitting it [according to the CDC](_URL_0_)\n\nThere are plenty of occasions a male donor who might be involved in homosexual activities is unaware of his HIV status, and since HIV can also be transmitted by blood transfusions, the banks really want to eliminate all potential chances of \"accidentally\" infecting a blood recipient with HIV",
"While it's not still considered a \"homosexual disease\" HIV/AIDS is still very prevalent in the homosexual community. Gay and bisexual men make up 70% of all new cases of HIV, despite them being less than 1.7% of the population (assuming 50% of homosexuals and bisexuals are male). \n\nThis is partly because of behavioral tendencies of gay/bisexual men who tend to have more anonymous partners and have unprotected sex. Also, anal sex is more traumatic to tissues than vaginal sex. The rectum is not built to accommodate sexual intercourse like the vagina is, so there is a higher chance of the HIV virus entering the bloodstream via anal sex than vaginal sex.\n\nSo the question for blood donation is, \"Are you a male who has had anal sex, even once, with another man?\" Saying yes may disqualify your donation as this behavior has a significantly higher chance of having HIV than other donor types. Yes, they do test blood for HIV and Hepatitis, but these tests are reliant on antibodies. If you were infected within the previous month, you could still be infected but it wouldn't show up on a test.",
"Because homosexual and bisexual males *still* lead new HIV infections by a huge margin (in the Western world). It's like they haven't learned anything since the early 80s. Why take the blood of highly suspect individuals, when you don't have to?"
]
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"https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/ataglance.html",
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"https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_demographics_of_the_United_States",
"https://www.cdc.gov/nchhstp/newsroom/docs/factsheets/cdc-msm-508.pdf"
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ai82qs | from how far away could an extraterrestrial alien observe us? | Prompted by [a recent post](_URL_0_) of a comic strip where ETs are observing our planet from 65million light years away, and see dinosaurs through their telescope: How many [photons](_URL_1_) would one need to be able to make out a dinosaur. Given that the photons bouncing off the dinosaur will spread by the [inverse-square law](_URL_2_), how far away *could* a dinosaur be meaningfully distinguishable? How big a telescope would the alien need? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ai82qs/eli5_from_how_far_away_could_an_extraterrestrial/ | {
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"Diffraction's your biggest enemy here. Literally. Light spreads out, so you need a massively wide telescope to differentiate between two nearby points. If your telescope is any smaller, those two points will blur into one, and it becomes physically impossible to tell them apart. \n\nLord Rayleigh proved that the diameter of a telescope limited solely by diffraction is roughly the distance to the object, multiplied by the wavelength of light, divided by the radius of the object. \n \nLet's plug in some numbers, and give a rough idea. Visible light has a wavelength of 400 to 700 nanometers, so let's call it 500 nanometers. The largest dinosaur is roughly 40m wide, but Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to Earth, is 4.25 light years away. \n\nAnd so, our hypothetically perfect telescope needs to be more than 610,000km in diameter to pick out the rough outline of a dinosaur. That's bigger than the distance between Earth and the Moon. ",
"One of the concepts to understand here is that of [angular resolution](_URL_0_) and the Rayleigh limit of diffraction. When light passes through any aperture, such as a lens, it undergoes diffraction, which means it spreads out a bit. (The reasons why it does this are a bit beyond ELI5 level, but it's because light isn't really a bunch of straight lines pointing from an object to the observer.)\n\nThis isn't something that technology can overcome. It's a fundamental property of all waves, including light. We can imagine aliens with perfectly curved, smooth telescope lenses, but if they want to view things a very long way away with very good resolution, the lenses don't just have to be perfect, they have to be *big*.\n\nHow big? Well, the formula is roughly: Resolution x Lens Diameter = Distance x Wavelength of light. Let's say that the alien wants to see dinosaurs with a resolution of half a metre, plenty for the big ones, and they want to use visible light with a wavelength of about half a micrometre. Then we get Diameter = Distance / 1 million.\n\nTo look at the dinosaurs that were on Earth 65 million years ago, the aliens would need to be 65 million light years away from Earth. So the telescope would need to be 65 light years across. That's... um. I don't want to say \"impossible\", but we're talking about a solid lens that would stretch from Earth to Aldebaran, which is by no means one of the closest stars to us. It's difficult to imagine such a thing existing without collapsing under its own gravity and becoming a star or a black hole, and I don't know if there's enough sand in the universe to make that much glass!\n\nLet's be more reasonable, and say that the aliens have a telescope the size of the Earth itself, about 13,000 km across. That would let them sit 13 billion km away, which is about 12 light hours. The best they could do is sit out past Pluto and watch last night's football game.",
"I know OP mentioned inverse-square law, but bigger factors would be the atmosphere, clouds, and rotation and orbit of the Earth. And noise of other light from the Sun. The aliens would be trying to observe a moving object (essentially) obscured by intervening atmosphere, clouds, rain, and through lots of noise from the Sun.",
"What if they use something other than light to observe us?"
]
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law"
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q0p4h | the difference between the processor and memory of a computer? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/q0p4h/eli5_the_difference_between_the_processor_and/ | {
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"The processor is basically a very powerful calculator. It takes data out of the computer's memory (the RAM), does a bunch of math to it, an then writes the data back to the computer's memory. \n\nOne easy way to think about this is \"the processor calculates, the memory stores\". ",
"**Like you're 5**:\n\nProcessor - does the sums.\n\nMemory - is the paper on which the sums are written.",
"there are two types of memory. the first is long term memory called a hard drive. this stores information for a very long time and you can always save information to look it up later. the second type of memory is short term memory, or RAM (random access memory). it is temporary memory and will be erased shortly after it is used.\n\nfor example, you probably have your telephone number memorized. that is saved on your hard drive. but if somebody told you a telephone number you didn't know, and had to repeat it back in 30 seconds, that would be RAM, or temporary memory. 30 seconds isn't long enough to remember all 7 digits, but you can remember it long enough to repeat it back and you probably have no reason or desire to want to remember it.\n\n both memory are important. hard drives allow you to save a lot of information, but the bad side is it is slow to retrieve, or get back. RAM allows you to copy important parts of information from the hard drive for fast use so you aren't waiting super long for the processor to ask the hard drive for the info. \n\nthe processor is the brain of the computer. it is very smart, very fast, and the actual size of the chip is small compared to the rest of the computer (just like your brain is to your body). it 'talks' (not with words, but a language called \"binary\" which is a bunch of 0's meaning off and 1's meaning on, all acting like a switch) to all the other parts of the computer, asking for and sending information. It's like the crossing guard at your school, directing traffic everywhere, but at the same time its also in charge of all the bus routes, knows every kid on the bus and knows what every kid on the bus is thinking.\n\nI don't know if I could have ELI5'd that any more.",
"The processor processes data, the memory memorizes data.\n\nRonald is the RAM. He can't calculate to save his life but he's got an amazing memory. We can tell him stuff, like numbers, and he'll keep them in mind. Later when we ask him what the numbers are, he'll be able to tell us.\n\nCharlotte is the CPU. She can do calculations. She can also ask Ronald for numbers to do the calculations.\n\nFor example, if we want to add 25 and 10, the first thing to do is to ask Ronald to remember the two numbers. Then we ask Charlotte to make an addition with the two numbers. She will ask Ronald for the numbers, perform the calculation, and tell Ronald to remember the answer.\n\nWhy don't we directly tell Charlotte the numbers to add? Because Charlotte's memory is not as good as Ronald's. She can't remember a lot of numbers. She will only remembers the ones she's currently using. If we ask another calculation with other numbers, she'll forget the first numbers. Also, she can only do calculations based on a couple of numbers. If you want to add 20 different numbers, she can't remember them all. so what we do is tell Ronald all the numbers, and Charlotte will get them from Ronald one at a time and do the addition.\n",
"If you were a computer...\n\nProcessor - thinking ability. Figures out math problems, things like that.\n\n\nMemory (RAM) - Short term memory. All the pieces of information you are keeping track of right now. If you fall asleep (turn the computer off) this is wiped clean and starts getting used again when you wake up.\n\n\nStorage (Hard Drive) - Long term memory. This is permanent and semi-permanent storage of information. Things you aren't actively thinking of at this moment, but you will still remember if you try. Being asked to recall this information is like opening a document/file on your computer... a copy is put into RAM temporarily so you can read it or make changes... when it is saved, it's saved back to the hard drive.",
"When a person does mathematics he needs two things: his/her brain to solve equations and a piece of paper to remember them.\n\nComputer does a lot of calculations with its processor and writes it down in its memory for later use. \nHow these calculations turn into Reddit and Call of Duty is another story."
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9yvfg6 | why did north america never “settle” like europe? | Peoples lived in North America for tens of thousand of years, but North America - specifically southern Canada, coastal and Great Plains United States - never had cities like Europe did.
Why did Europe “settle” by c. 1000BCE while North America, didn’t “settle” until c. 1500CE when Europeans arrived?
(I am excluding Mexico from geographic North America for this question; I know/am under the assumption and educated guess that the Mayans, etc. didn’t move north largely because of the vast expanse of desert from Central Mexico, north.) | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9yvfg6/eli5_why_did_north_america_never_settle_like/ | {
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"They did.\n\n1. A native American city Cahokia existed in what is now Illinios, estimates place the population as high as 40,000 people.\n\n2. Pueblo(s), not one but multiple cities scattered throughout the southwest.\n\nThis has been posted before also. And the answers are better here.\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"There is a huge amount of debate about this subject particularly surrounding the works of Jared Diamond (there is even a cautionary bot that pops up when you mention his book). One opinion is that as natural resources (food specifically) were so abundant in north america (buffalo and before that the now extinct megafauna) for example that there wasnt as great a need or motivation to transition out of a hunter gatherer way of life into an agricultural one. Cities and so called \"advanced\" culture are a spinoff of agriculture that you get when a portion of the populations time and effort is freed up from food production. Thats the basic idea I'm going with but I'm more of an amateur anthropologist so there are probably some holes in this theory",
"There were cities and localized civilizations of a rather Western sort in certain parts of the Americas (Incan and Aztec societies, as well as some in what is now southwestern u.s.). There are a couple reasons for civilizations of this sort being less than ubiquitous. Mentioned above are things like high death rates from disease or warfare. But a couple other items played a huge role. \n\n1) there was very little need to develop agriculture. The land was bountiful and the population sparse by comparison. The main reason Europe and the near East developed the way they did was domestication of plants and animals to develop large agricultural societies. This was necessary in that part of the world due to increasingly large groupings of hunter-gatherer societies.\n\n2) very few native animals lend themselves to domestication in the Americas. The alpaca, and dogs are basically all of them I believe (there may be a couple I'm forgetting). Without domestication of animals, agricultural development is highly stunted. Compare this to the aurochs of the Mediterranean (eventually evolved through artificial selection into the cow), the water buffalo of Southeast Asia, horses, goats, sheep, chickens, etc.",
"Add \"1491\" by Charles Mann to that reading list. The sentiment is they did, which is one of the reasons diseases where so successful in spreading across the Americas. If Europeans would have delayed colonization for a couple generations the native populations would have recovered enough and societies would have stabilized enough to expel the Europeans."
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4qmdys | why are cough suppressants added to medications with guaifenesin such as mucinex? | It would seem that the two are working against each other. Guaifenesin helps thin the mucus to make it easier to cough up, but the cough suppressant makes you stop coughing. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4qmdys/eli5_why_are_cough_suppressants_added_to/ | {
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"So guaifensesin, as you said thins your mucus, allowing it to more easily be removed. It is often given with dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant. It does seem counter intuitive to mix expectorants and cough suppressants. But cough suppressants don't stop you from cough per say, so much as they decrease the irritation in the throat that leads to chronic coughing during illness. If phlegm or mucus gets dislodged due to the expectorant, and enters your throat, you will still cough it up when on the cough suppressant. The cough suppressant just makes that 'tickle' in your throat stop making you cough so much."
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7p06sf | why and how do some animals (i.e. birds) move their heads in a quick way, almost as if snapping to an angle? | Edit: Thanks for all the answers! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7p06sf/eli5_why_and_how_do_some_animals_ie_birds_move/ | {
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"Birds can't move their eyes around like other animals, so their head does to make up for it. Birds also have one less bone in the back of their skull that makes it possible for their head to move in greater angles than ours can.",
"So I want you to hold both thumbs out in front of you, holding your hands apart. Look at one thumb, then look at the other. Chances are your eyes snapped from one to the other quickly.\nEyes in general don't focus well when an image is moving too much, so tend to try to keep things stable by \"snapping\" from image to image. Even when you're trying to read or looks slowly across something your eyes are really making lots of small jumps instead of truly moving smoothly most of the time (the only exception is really when your eye is tracking something in motion)\nBirds don't have muscles to move their eyes around, so their whole head snaps around to do the same job as our eye muscles do. They don't always do this, birds will sometimes move their heads slowly, but just like with our eyes and watching something that's moving, they'll move their whole head to follow a moving object they're tracking.",
"Birds have a single occipital condyle. This means they have one less bone in their neck so it’s easier for them to swivel back to almost 180 degrees. It’s like sticking a toothpick into a ball. If you hold it between your fingers you can swivel it back and forth with relative ease. Humans have a dual occipital condyle meaning we have two bones. Like two toothpicks in the ball, the movement is much more limited which is why we can’t swivel our necks to the same degree as birds. (Idk if the toothpick example makes sense but this is the best way i can explain it) ",
"A good rule of thumb is that predators usually have forward facing eyes, and grazing/gatherers have eyes spread further to give them a wider angle of what is going on around them.\n\nWith that physical difference in eye placement, sometimes it's necessary to whip the ole noggin' around to to get a better bead on things...with tiny, beady little eyes.\n\n*Note: Some predators, like dolphins, don't have forward facing eyes. Instead, they developed their brains (by staying in school...or pods...let's stick with school...stay in school, kids!). Little known dolphin fact: When they sleep, they shut off half their brain and literally sleep \"[with one eye open](_URL_0_)\"."
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4102z7 | how does the transmission of electricity work? | Funnily enough the settlement creation in Fallout 4 got me realizing I have no I idea how electricity is transmitted from place to place. So it's created in a generator of some kind, and then some sort of conduit? Why does it travel through wires like it does? When it reaches a power plant does it distribute from there? Are there ways to wirelessly transmit electricity? I have a lot of questions but this has been bugging me and I don't understand a lot of the technical terminology Wikipedia pages yield. Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4102z7/eli5_how_does_the_transmission_of_electricity_work/ | {
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"First thing first, electrons flow through metal wires because metal atoms share electrons with their neighbors, which means they're not really locked on to a particular atom. As long as there are enough electrons around the atom, it doesn't care where they're from or where they're going. That means they can flow, like water in a pipe.\n\nNext, if you push on an electron and force it close to another electron, the other electron will get pushed away. Same thing as pushing the wrong ends of a magnet together. You can push one magnet along with the other magnet. In fact, magnets are literally what generators use to push electrons through wires. You stick a magnet on the shaft of an engine, and run a wire near it. As the magnet whips past the wire, it pushes some electrons down the wire.\n\nNow the tricky bit. To transmit power, you don't need to wait for the electrons from the generator to reach you. The easiest way to explain that is with a stick. Hold the end of a stick. Use the stick to push something. See how fast the force of your hand reaches the thing you're pushing? You push on the end of the stick, and each bit of stick pushes on the next bit of stick until the force gets to the other end. The actual part of the stick you're holding doesn't move very fast, but the force moves *extremely* fast. \n\nFinally, in the same way that running a magnet past a wire will push electrons through it, moving electrons through a wire past a magnet will push on the magnet. So you put some wire near a magnet on the other end and you get? A motor. Now you've got a generator (the first engine + magnet), some wire, and a motor. The generator is running the motor via the wires."
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4401ms | intel cpus | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4401ms/eli5_intel_cpus/ | {
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"Terms like Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge are related to the processor's microarchitecture. This is essentially the unique way a processor is built, but I'll explain it in a bit. To understand this better, you need to know Intel's Tick-Tock model.\n\nIntel switches its focus for a new processor's goals like a grandfather clock swinging back and forth. When Intel is in the Tock-phase, it develops a new microarchitecture, in other words a new, more efficient type of processor. When Intel is in the Tick-phase it makes a type of processor that has the same microarchitecture as before, but does it even faster and more efficiently. Then it switches back to \"Tock\"-phase and begins anew. \n\nFor example, Intel released the Haswell-microarchitecture in 2013, after which it went into a Tick-phase. The next year it released the Broadwell-microarchitecture, which was similar to Haswell, but more efficient. In the next Tock-phase, Intel made Skylake, which is their current microarchitecure. So they're currently working on Cannonlake to improve it again, etc.\n\nNow I wanna explain microarchitecture real quick. As you probably know, a CPU is responsible for calculating everything a computer has to calculate. To do this, it of course needs to know how to do it. For this, every CPU includes an Instruction Set, which is a set of instructions for how to deal with all the information that gets thrown at the CPU. The microarchitecture is simply the way in which this instruction set is implemented in the CPU. \n\nAs for the whole Core, Pentium, etc., I'll explain now. So you have your microarchitecture, but now you gotta put it in a CPU. There's many CPU's that can be made with one microarchitecture, therefore there are many CPU's to choose from. Intel categorize their CPU's according to performance and target demographic. The generations are simply what iteration of the same CPU family it is, so that's easy. Pentiums are an older family of CPU's that are generally weaker than the rest, best suited for less tech savvy people who just need a working computer. Core i3 is also for lower end users, with Core i5 being for casual gamers and slightly more demanding users. Core i7 is for HD gamers and people who use demanding software, such as video editing. Then there's the Atom for portables, Xeon for servers, etc."
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1jxtz9 | stephen colbert's character | Being from Australia, I don't often watch the Colbert Report, only some of the clips that surface on Reddit.
I understand that on the show Colbert performs as his own character, can anyone explain what the character is and how it differs from Colbert's real persona. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1jxtz9/eli5_stephen_colberts_character/ | {
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"Colbert in real life is very liberal/Democratic. He's a comedian playing a part. The part he plays, based on Bill O'Reilly, is an over the top patriot Republican that bleeds red white and blue and worships at the altar of Ronnie Reagan. He's complete satire of Fox News egomaniacs.",
"Stephen Colbert is a political satirist and comedian who plays [Stephen Colbert](_URL_0_), who is a right-wing pundit. He is \"egomaniacal, xenophobic and fiercely anti-intellectual\". He plays your stereotypical Republican idiot. He often asks his guests \"George Bush: Great president, or the greatest president?\".\n\nStephen Colbert (the real person) is a Democrat and a practicing Roman Catholic. His character on the show is a much more devout Roman Catholic (stating that he once went to exorcism camp as a child).\n\nYou may have also seen a TV show called The Daily Show (with Jon Stewart). Stephen Colbert started his political satire career on The Daily Show as a correspondent. TDS is a satire show as well, but Jon Stewart doesn't really play a right-wing character.",
"The Colbert Report is based on Poe's Law. *Any well-executed parody of extremism is indistinguishable from actual extremism.* Stephen Colbert is a liberal who makes fun of conservatives by pretending to be one."
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1909i5 | if jesus's ministry overruled the old testament laws then how do christians use leviticus to demonize homosexuality? | I believe the big anti-gay passage is Leviticus 18:22, but since Christians do not keep Kosher or utilize most of the other Old Testament practices outlined in Leviticus, how do they justify this? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1909i5/eli5_if_jesuss_ministry_overruled_the_old/ | {
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"They cannot in a logical fashion. Most Christians are not biblical scholars and only repeat what they are taught. The bible is so big and contradictory that you can use it to teach anything. So what you are seeing if people teaching their personal beliefs to others, using the Bible as evidence, who in turn use teach their personal beliefs to others using the Bible as evidence. It is a issue of people's perception of what their religion says, shaping their understanding of reality of what their holy book says.\n\nUltimately, living 100% in accordance with the Bible is impossible in the modern world and even Christians have ridiculed people for trying. Two recent and public attempts at this were _URL_0_ a christian woman, and _URL_1_ an agnostic man.\n",
"The Christian reason for ignoring kosher is \"What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’” (Matthew 15:11)\n\nThis is a \"direct\" quote from Jesus, which Christians take as gospel.\n\nHomosexuality is sort of unclear. There are a lot of Christians that are totally okay with homosexuality, but many are opposed to it. Homosexuality is considered \"shameful\" (Romans 1:26) by both the New and Old Testaments, so anyone who tells you \"it's only in the Old Testament\" is wrong.\n\nThe reasons why Christians oppose gay marriage are complicated because there are countless sects that are okay with gay marriage, but the strict Biblical reading is anti-gay, even if you just read the [New Tesetament](_URL_0_).",
"OP, that Jesus came to \"edit\" the Old Testament is debatable in the first place.\n\nMatthew 5:17-20 - \"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.\"\n\nI think it's just a case of people choosing what to follow. Many of the same people who choose to be anti-gay because of Leviticus 18:22 don't have a problem with wearing clothing woven of two kinds of materials, as forbidden a chapter later in Leviticus 19:19.\n\n\n\n"
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|
952o9h | how hookworms can penetrate the skin to infect a human host? | So this particularly nasty parasite can infect a human host by penetrating the skin of the feet and entering the body. I don’t understand how this is possible when skin is reasonably tough, comes in layers and is packed with pain receptors. I would think that the amount of force needed to penetrate it to enter the body would be *painfully* obvious. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/952o9h/eli5_how_hookworms_can_penetrate_the_skin_to/ | {
"a_id": [
"e3pjrco"
],
"score": [
13
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"text": [
"If you're small enough, you can burrow *around* the neurons and get in undetected. Nerve cells are relatively large and have a \"web\" of sensory lobes. If you don't irritate enough of those lobes quickly enough, it won't signal.\n\nHookworm larve are so small that they can usually wriggle past the sensors without tripping them en masse and alerting the brain. Even when they do, it's not like there's much you can do beyond scratch the minor itch on your foot.\n\nRemember that mosquitoes manage to land on you and plunge hypodermic needles into you undetected all the time."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
6y1egw | if there is a correlation between more weight and heart disease why is it, seemingly, only considered detrimental if you increase your weight due to fat but considered healthy if you increase your weight due to muscle? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6y1egw/eli5_if_there_is_a_correlation_between_more/ | {
"a_id": [
"dmjz04w"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"The correlation between heart disease and weight is specific to being fat and therefore weighing more not being very muscular and weighing more due to that. Also, it is relatively easy to gain 100 pound of fat as opposed to 100 pounds of muscles which is nearly impossible.\n\nThe stress on the heart isn't really due to weight but because the resistance of the blood vessels rises as they become clogged with fat (to put it ELI5, not technically). People who are athletic and muscular tend to have healthy blood vessels and the heart actually works less because exercise strengthens the heart. Of course, there are the extreme cases where athletes hearts become abnormally large and they have sudden heart attacks but that is relatively rare and happens with extreme athletes."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2pmv8p | why do drums sound so much louder through cars and walls, even if it is the same volume as the rest of the music? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2pmv8p/eli5_why_do_drums_sound_so_much_louder_through/ | {
"a_id": [
"cmy69mb"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"Low frequency sound (such as drums/bass) is attenuated less by solid structure (or even plain old air) and thus can travel more efficiently (or further), making it sound louder through a barrier/at a distance. \n\nFun fact, elephants communicate over vast distances using very [low frequency sound for just this reason.](_URL_0_)\n"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://www.elephantvoices.org/elephant-communication/acoustic-communication.html"
]
] |
||
1i63am | principal & interest (car loans) | I haven't set anything up so that any portion of my payments goes directly to the principal or anything. I'm just confused as to where the part of my payment that doesn't go towards my principal goes. Does that go towards the interest or is there something else that gets paid with it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1i63am/eli5_principal_interest_car_loans/ | {
"a_id": [
"cb1bux9"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"It all goes toward interest. The only things rolled into most personal loans are principal and interest.\n\nTechnically, the bank applies your payments to the interest first and anything left over is applied toward your principal. This is why paying extra (if you can) is almost always a good idea; every extra dollar you pay will go directly to the principal, so you end up paying less interest."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
eckfyd | how does not washing your hands cause more mold to grow on bread? | There is a viral twitter post from a Minnesota school teacher showing the importance of washing your hands by having students handle bread without washing hands, using hand soap, using alcohol, and some other control groups.
Does the mold grow less on the bread because mold itself is removed or killed by hand sanitizing methods?
Or does the hand sanitizing destroy bacteria that would otherwise create an environment for growing mold? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eckfyd/eli5_how_does_not_washing_your_hands_cause_more/ | {
"a_id": [
"fbc0pd3",
"fbc7n2y",
"fbd3seq"
],
"score": [
5,
3,
2
],
"text": [
"Bread is good food that bad stuff likes. Bad stuff is all over the place, including on your hands. The inside of the bread bag, and the bread, start out clean without any bad stuff. Washing your hands before opening and reaching into the bread bag reduces the amount of bad stuff that you leave behind in the bag. The more bad stuff in the bag, the higher the chance of the bread growing mold.",
"Soap is really cool. It reduces the surface tension of water. Surface tension in water is essentially what makes water molecules stick to other water molecules. When you reduce the surface tension, water becomes \"more fluid\", and can get into tighter areas, smaller cracks, etc. Think high surface tension = cold jiggily jello, low surface tension = warm liquid jello.\n\nWhen you put soap on your hands, then scrub them together, the lowered surface tension of the water makes it easy for the molecules of water to get under dirt, bacteria, fungal spores, dead skin, and any other unwanted particles on your skin while the scrubbing motion knocks those particles loose. Then a rinse washes it all away.\n\nSkin is dirty. All day, bacteria and fungal spores are floating around in the air, landing on you.\n\nWhen you remove them from your skin, there are less left to be deposited on bread, food, kitchen counters, or door handles when you touch them.\n\nBread is very near bacteria and mold spore free when packaged. When you put your hand in the bag, you deposit any of those spores and bacteria that may have been in your skin. Then the spores begin to grow and eat the bread.\n\nWashing your hands helps prevent the spread of those particles in the first place.",
"Bread is good food for lots of greeblies.\n\nEvery square inch of every living thing you can imagine is covered in bajillions of pathogens/spores/bacteria/fungus/greeblies.\n\nHandling bread with those hands transfers bajillions of greeblies onto the bread where they eat and multiply happily.\n\nWashing hands removes/kills a big majority of those greeblies, thus handling bread with 'clean' hands results in less growth.\n\nOur hands (generally) don't grow mold because our immune systems are in a constant battle fighting them off...thus our hands are NOT good food for greeblies.\n\nEdit: Washing your hands most of the time doesn't transfer any pathogen-killing stuff to the hands and then on to the bread. It's been shown in many studies that antibacterial additives in soap are virtually useless in the prevention of disease for the vast majority of people. Yes, I want a surgeon's skin to be scrubbed within an inch of its life with aggressive cleaners because open wounds are very dangerous places to add infection. Everyone else with an immune system: no antibacterial needed."
]
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[],
[],
[]
] |
|
4h17ez | when and why did it become normal for the us to mock the french, considering that france is america's oldest ally? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4h17ez/eli5_when_and_why_did_it_become_normal_for_the_us/ | {
"a_id": [
"d2mi7ce",
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"d2mvqgy"
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"score": [
83,
80,
10,
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2,
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"text": [
"It seems to have come from the fact they got invaded and occupied during WW2. A lot of the French military was out of the country and continued to fight against the Axis but France itself was forced to surrender. \n\nIt's a pretty unfair stereotype as nobody was really prepared for just how dangerous Germany was and the French Resistance were hard bastards. And at least the French turned up on time for WW2. ",
"Americans and Frenchmen have been teasing and mocking each other since the beginning. The British and French have been rivals of varying bitterness for a millenium, and the USA largely adopted British culture, language, and customs, and many of their prejudices.\n\nWhat mostly shaped the current back and forth was the US intervening in three separate French conflicts: WW1, WW2, and in Vietnam. The simpleton view of it is that they surrendered easily and left the Americans to clean up their mess. ",
"They were the first ally, not the oldest. Relations soured considerably during the 19th century due to France's ridiculous military adventures in Mexico.",
"There is a saying, the French copy no one and no one copies the French.\n\nThey have a culture of doing their own thing, sometime just to do their own thing. I think much of this comes form being runner up to the tag team of the UK and US in the war for Western culture.\n\nWhile this can lead to some cultural triumphs, sometimes it causes them to fall flat on their face. It has been link to their dismal performance in the World Wars, leading to a caricature of stubborn arrogance and Independence that leads to their downfall. \n\nAnd it is not just the US, either.\n\nAlso, the US's oldest ally is actually Morocco.",
"I'm American and it pisses me off when some of my countrymen make ignorant \"jokes\" about French military courage or lack of it. In 1914, August to year's end, the French Army suffered casualties of 754,000 _URL_0_ 1915 it was 1,549,000 men. In the first 10 months of 1916 it was 861,000 men. Figures from \"Dare Call it Treason\". In the Iraq War, our media was going crazy with their \"Grim Milestone\" meme with every increase in a 1,000 KIA. I kinda think the US Army of 1940 would been a minor speed bump to the Wehrmacht Blitz. Nobody accuses the British of being cowardly for Dunkirk, nor the Russians for surrendering in their millions in the encirclement battles of 1941, nor should they. All I can conclude is that there are a lot of ignoramuses completely in the dark about the realities of combat.",
"It really began during the de Gaulle era in France. While the rest of Europe (well, England) was charting a very pro-American course, Gaullist France resisted the notion of a unified West. As a result, Americans started mocking the French.\n\nEvery time the French pop up with some new view inconsistent with America's vision, the mocking picks up where it left off.\n\nThere's also the basic proclivity of Americans towards being 'bourgeois' while the French view themselves as more 'cultured'. You can see the same sort of process with how New York/LA tend to mock flyover country and how flyover country mocks New York/LA.",
"Since we were founded. We inherited the animosity from the British, and it was not eliminated by France being an ally. Most of the Modern Jokes are from WW2 though. ",
"There are several incidents in our recent past that have been taken into common culture that makes it cool to bash the French. Primarily it is tied to the French surrender in WWII. When ever we disagree on foreign policy, Americans like to trot out the WWII surrender thing. \n\nIn 1986 the United States bombed Libya from England. This was in retaliation for a terrorist act in Germany, among other things. The French refused to let our bombers use their airspace. This pissed a lot of Americans off. \n\nThen there's Paris. The Parisians are seen to be generally intolerant if not hostile to non-French speaking tourists. But, 'Mericans think that since we rescued Paris in WWII that the Parisians should be a touch more grateful. \n\n. \n\n\n\n"
]
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[],
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clad8z | how codecs interact with video players or other programs | I understand that surface stuff that codecs are the way video/audio are encoded and decoded. What I don't understand is how it works for me as an user. If I install codec pack, does every video player or even eg a game playing a video use that codec? Or does each codec pack always have it's own video player?
MPC-HC comes with codecs for example. Are they only used when using MPC-HC? Or do they work on all stuff I watch that needs codecs? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/clad8z/eli5_how_codecs_interact_with_video_players_or/ | {
"a_id": [
"evu04n3"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Your player only uses the codecs that are needed to decode the audio/video. If your player gets a file and says \"Ah, this file is encoded using H264 video and Mpeg 3 audio, it looks at the codecs registered and checks to see if one of them will handle one or both of those needs. If so, then the player plays using the computer code inside those codec files to play back your audio/video. If not, your player then says, \"Hey, I can't play this file. You need to load some codecs\"."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
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