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5dge1m | how do you get abs? why do you get abs when you do exercises like sit-ups and push-ups? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5dge1m/eli5_how_do_you_get_abs_why_do_you_get_abs_when/ | {
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"Clean, healthy diet. No amount of crunches or situps will get you abs if you dont eat right. ",
"It's more fat loss than anything else. Everyone has abs, they're just usually under a layer of fat. The two most effective exercises for visible abs are fork put-downs and plate push-aways. ",
"If you're already thin start trying levers and L-sits. Also eat your regular 3 meals a day with no snacks in between. It isn't fun getting ripped. ",
"You already have abs, otherwise you would fall over.\n\nYou can get visible abs by doing two things:\n\n1. Train your ab muscles by doing sit-ups, crunches, planks etc. This increases the muscle mass of your abdominal muscles (abs).\n2. This is the more important one: Lower your fat percentage. In men, fat is usually stored in the abdomen, which means you're not able to see your abs if you have too much fat in that area.",
"Everyone has abs. Those pictures that you see on magazine covers and in movies of people with a well-defined six pack are a trick. The actors force their bodies into ketosis by severely limiting or completely limiting carbohydrates before photo shoots or before a scene where they need to remove their shirts. \n\n",
"Everyone has \"abs\" and exercises can be used to create \"bigger\" looking muscles (aka hypertrophy).....\n\nHowever \"Abs are revealed in the kitchen\", which means you won't see them unless you eat right to lose the fat covering them in the first place."
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7a06jv | how do they make the single particle of a particular kind to send around the lhc? and how do they put it in? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7a06jv/eli5_how_do_they_make_the_single_particle_of_a/ | {
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"The LHC doesn't send single particles around, they move clouds of particles in groups around. They source these particles from pure element samples; if you want cesium nuclei to be accelerated then they would get a very pure sample of cesium and heat it to a plasma, then draw the electrons away to leave bare cesium nuclei suspended in a strong magnetic field. That cloud is then accelerated.",
"I watched in on a show, but I don't remember which one now. but it's a little red container, looks very similar to a small kitchen type fire extinguisher. And it contains hydrogen gas. It only takes a small amount. The person said that small bottle was more than enough for the lifetime of the LHC."
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fmb4x5 | when dust is inhaled, it is stopped by nose hairs. if inhaled by mouth, how is the dust stopped from going into the lungs? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fmb4x5/eli5_when_dust_is_inhaled_it_is_stopped_by_nose/ | {
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"The body has many ways of moving dust out of the lung and preventing it from accumulating there. There are natural barriers (ie. nose hairs and sticky surfaces) along the respiratory tract that trap dust before it gets in) Further down there is also the respiratory epithelium (skin of the inside of the lung) which have cilia. Cilia are small hairs that in the lung act as an escalator which brings dusts trapped in mucus sitting on the respiratory epithelium up the respiratory tract. The mucus with the trapped dusts then goes into the throat in the form of “secretions”. This is all ultimately swallowed. The fluid is reabsorbed through the gut and the dusts are broken down by stomach acids, proteins and ultimately absorbed by the gut or pooped out.",
"It’s not. Even the hairs in your nose don’t stop everything. The saliva along the throat helps limit the amount but if you inhale any fine sediment, it’ll get to your lungs",
"There is dust that gets to your lungs, but youhave tiny little hair like structures called villi, and them move in a wave like action to move all the phlegm and dust back out of your lungs. You either swallow this or it comes out your nose"
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1zbful | how does me playing the game "play to cure: genes in space" help cancer research? | [This](_URL_0_) is the game in question. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1zbful/eli5_how_does_me_playing_the_game_play_to_cure/ | {
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"The description for the game does a fair bit, but I'll try to add more.\n\nSo cancer research is all about data crunching. They need to identify small differences in order to find cures.\n\nData crunching is all about raw power. 1 scientist can only punch through so much data. But if you get 1,000,000 gamers, give them a game that uses the identifying process as its gameplay mechanics, and tell them \"try to get the high score\" you can throw millions of man hours at a problem and solve it.\n\nIts called crowd-sourcing and its a pretty cool way to solve problems."
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213ohl | why did apple change their standard charger, to the new ones offered with the iphone 5, and current products? | I just feel as if the new charging adapters are unreliable, and poorly made. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/213ohl/eli5_why_did_apple_change_their_standard_charger/ | {
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"2 reasons.\n\nFirst, the new charger is smaller. This allows the Iphone 5 to be thinner and devote more space to other things.\n\nSecond, money. Forcing you to replace chargers means more money for Apple.",
"People demand thinner and thinner phones. They got as thin as they could with the old connectors. That was the main driver."
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2sqc0w | why do we try to stop coughing by using medicine, isn't our body trying to get rid of the mucus in our lungs by coughing? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2sqc0w/eli5_why_do_we_try_to_stop_coughing_by_using/ | {
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"For many people, the worst parts of being sick are all of the things that your body does to try and fight the infection. Fever, coughing, sneezing, chills; these are all caused by your body trying to fight the infection.\n\nIf you treat the symptoms you are reducing your body's ability to fight off the infection but you do feel better. Most people would prefer to have an infection for an extra day or two but not feel awful during that time.",
"That's why it's good to take something with a suppressant and an expectorant. Like mucinex DM. You will cough less, but when you do cough it will be productive.\n\nWhenever I've taken something like dayquil with just a suppressant, it stops me from coughing, but I end up with all this mucous in my lungs that's hard to get rid of. ",
"If you consult with a pharmacist and relay your symptoms, they will offer a cough-syrup suited to a dry or wet cough. If you have the type of cough which encourages expulsion of mucus they're likely to recommend and expectorant or refer you to a doctor if a possible chest infection is suspected. ",
"The only thing that I empty is my bladder when I cough.",
"There are two types of cough medicine, one is a suppressant which is used for dry, tickly coughs usually caused by irritated throat. They sometimes have things like honey in to help soothe the throat.\n\nThe other is an expectorant, these are used for productive coughs and work by helping to loosen the phlegm so it is easier to cough up. You shouldn't use a suppressant when you have a productive cough because, as you say, you should be trying to get rid of the lung gunk, in fact I got a pretty gnarly chest infection when using a suppressant.",
"Pharmacist here:\n\nFirst thing we were taught about OTC treatments of cough were that you \"never suppress a productive cough.\" If the patient is clearing their mucus with their cough then it is productive and is making them better and we don't need to suppress it. \n\nThat being said, there are many times when a cough suppressant is needed. \n\nFirst: Non-productive cough. Many coughs are not clearing mucus and are caused simply by irritation or inflammation in the airways. This is common in cold/flu illness. If the cough is already non-productive and the patient doesn't have chest congestion (the easiest sign of mucus in the airways). Then there is no reason not to suppress. \n\nSecond: Sleep. Our patients aren't going to get better if they spend their whole night up coughing instead of sleeping. Sometimes it's better to suppress the cough for a few hours and let them get some sleep.\n\nELI5 version: Because some patients just don't want to cough.",
"When the cough is actually doing something, sure. \n\nEvery year around march I get *something* that just tickles my throat and makes me cough all day for like 2 weeks. I have 0 congestion in my chest or nose, just a scratchy throat. Never knew what it was, but coughing fits that are unproductive call for medicines.\n",
"In addition to the many responses here, note that a cough response is beneficial to the infecting agent in that it spreads the agent.\n\nIf you have a non-productive cough from irritation of the airways by the infectious agent, a cough suppressant will not only make you more comfortable, it will reduce the spread of the infectious agent."
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7p87kc | how nurses not get sick, when they're working long hours with sick people. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7p87kc/eli5_how_nurses_not_get_sick_when_theyre_working/ | {
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"They often do get sick, although regular hand washing and simply not touching their faces goes a long way in minimizing the risk. Also, hospitals and clinics are pretty careful about keeping things super clean, so that it's difficult for infections to spread through contaminated surfaces.",
"Wash your hands, keep hydrated and fed, get enough sleep, and quarantine the patients who are actually dangerous.\n\nAlso don't touch your face. Wear gloves and a mask when necessary. Work in a community that understands and recognizes the symptoms of illness, so sick nurses get sent home before they can spread it to patients or other nurses.\n\nEdit: nurses still get sick. They just have the knowledge and skills to mitigate the effects."
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2u59d6 | why aren't there patches or gum to help people with alcohol addictions like there are for those with nicotine addiction? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2u59d6/eli5_why_arent_there_patches_or_gum_to_help/ | {
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"Benzodiazepines are the drug of choice for treating alcohol withdrawal because the act on GABA receptors in your central nervous system; the same receptors that are acted upon by alcohol.\nHealth care providers will prescribe benzos (serax and klonopin are common) to someone detoxing from alcohol, then slowly wean them off the benzos.",
"There are no patches or gum to help with nicotine addiction. There are patches and gum to provide an alternative delivery mechanism for nicotine. The equivalent alcohol patch would literally be an alcohol patch. "
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4r2bf2 | if i saw a cop and ran away from him for no reason, does he have the legal right to arrest me? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4r2bf2/eli5_if_i_saw_a_cop_and_ran_away_from_him_for_no/ | {
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"Not based on just the running. That's not reasonable suspicion on its own.\n\nReasonable suspicion is needed to detain or arrest you. They can indeed hold you for 24 hours while trying to find probable cause of some crime, but without at least reasonable suspicion in the first place, it would be an illegal detainment/arrest.",
"Cop here;\n\nIn general, no.\n\nHowever based on [Illinois vs. Wardlow](_URL_0_) running *may be* considered reasonable suspicion (which is the legal standard for a *detainment*) depending on the circumstances- such as being in a high-drug area, the officer's knowledge of the suspect's past (we know a lot of the shitbags in our area), or other circumstances that would lead an officer to belive a crime occurred.",
"There was an instance in Seattle eight or so years ago. (I tried to Google it, but \"man shot by police seattle jogger\" came up with too many irrelevant results.) There was a robbery in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle one morning and the police were looking for the suspect. A man ran past the officers, and the officers shot and killed him. He had nothing to do with the robbery, but was a jogger at the wrong place at the wrong time. ",
"My best advice, and so many criminals get this wrong; is to skip, not run, away from the police."
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215ip4 | what is that small download you have to do before installing something from the internet. | I'm not quite sure of how to be specific so ill use an example: when downloading github, after clicking the download link a small 700KB download happens then a popup that prompts me to install. What was that thing a downloaded and where's the information being installed from if not the small download? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/215ip4/eli5_what_is_that_small_download_you_have_to_do/ | {
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"The 700 KB file is a little application that then connects to the GitHub servers and downloads the *real* installer.\n\nThe main reason to do this is to prevent outdated installers from floating around. Say that you make version 1.0 of your program, and post a full installer for it online. Dozens of other sites (like _URL_0_, _URL_1_, _URL_2_, etc) will also offer your installer, because users like one site that offers loads of programs in one place. People download the file and it sits in their download folder for a while, people back it up to DVDs, etc etc. Then you release version 2.0. But the old 1.0 versions are still floating around everywhere, people will still be loading them up, filehippo or _URL_0_ might take a while to notice a new version is out and keep providing the old version. \n\nSo instead, you make one \"installer\" app, a little 700 KB file that connects to your central website and downloads the latest, freshest code, every time. You update the code on your site, and instantly, every single installer anyone has is now for that latest version, no old versions are stuck floating around.\n\nThis can be really convenient, and can also save you a ton of time updating your website and all its links every time you release a small update. \n\nThere are other reasons, too. You might have a complex program that actually needs a slightly different version depending on whether the user is using Windows XP SP1, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP SP3, 32-bit Windows, 64-bit Windows, an nVidia card, an ATi card, etc etc. Instead of having a big text-heavy webpage that explains all this techy jargony stuff to the user and asks them to check this and check that and pick the correct installer from a list, you instead send them a little 700 KB program that checks all that stuff and reports back to the server, so that the server can deliver the exact correct install code they'll need. If your program *only* works on programs with some special piece of hardware, you can have that 700 KB program tell the user \"Sorry, my program won't work on this computer!\" now, instead of waiting until they'd already downloaded a 5 GB file and tried to install it.\n\nIf you are trying to avoid piracy, you can also have that 700 KB program check that the user is licensed and legit before they waste all your bandwidth trying to get pirated components.",
"Think of it as grocery list with exact location (aisle number) of each item. "
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20utpx | why don't canada and the us adopt a common currency like much of europe has? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20utpx/eli5_why_dont_canada_and_the_us_adopt_a_common/ | {
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"our economies are not as reliant on commerce between one another like the EU member countries are. also, the Euro is in crisis because the shared currency means that one nation's poor economic decision making has negative effects on the value of the money for everyone. the Euro ties the member countries to a common fate, good or bad.\n\nalso, it is difficult to see what marginal benefit the united states would see from unifying its currency and losing a significant amount of control over its monetary policy in the process."
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22mr1r | what does "after hours" trading mean? how can trades go through if the stock market is closed? | I keep seeing articles that mention stock prices increasing/decreasing due to "after hours" trading. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22mr1r/eli5_what_does_after_hours_trading_mean_how_can/ | {
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"A stock is just a thing, if you want to buy it and I want to sell it to you we don't need a special market to do that. The stock market just makes it easier for you or I to find people who want to buy and sell.",
"Means just what you said. Trades being done after the market has closed for the day. The market never really closes though. Most companies only trade during hours because it has benefits and it's easier. More trades are being done with less fluctuations in pricing and it's more traditional. AHT is risky, less people trade, it costs more to trade for the average investor, and your less likely to get the price you want. Just some examples. There is a lot more to it than that.",
"The stock *market* isn't closed -- only the stock exchange is. If both buyer and seller use the same broker, or the broker uses a third-party network to match trades with other brokers, then a trade can happen any time of day or night. The advantage to trading during the day is that *all* brokerages are active, and you have regulated market-makers and \"circuit breaker\" mechanisms to control price fluctuations. See _URL_0_ even if you're not in the US.",
"The same way we could buy and sell produce between us after the grocery store is closed."
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did0zd | what makes "median" a relevant metric? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/did0zd/eli5what_makes_median_a_relevant_metric/ | {
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"Median is more resistant to outliers than mean, so median is a better metric to use for measurement of a center or “average” value in cases where outliers (extreme values) are likely (such as income, some people make fucking huge amounts of money, which would highly raise the mean but barely move the median)",
"The advantage in median is that it excludes outliers that may otherwise throw off averages. It may give a better indication in a list of values where \"the middle\" lies than a simple average. Or in other words, a median may give a better center point for if you added another value in, where it may lie, and where the middle of all values really is compared to averages\n\nLets take an example with five numbers: 2-6-7-12-88\n\nAverage: 23\n\nMedian: 7\n\nWhich one makes more sense? Lets not even make these real world values, just magic numbers\n\nWith average, we have that 88 throwing it high, not so high, but high, in fact the average is higher than 4 of 5 numbers, and by a lot. Is the average of 22 really a metric that makes sense? When its no where near any number here?\n\nNow median, its right smack in the middle, that 7... but it misses any indication that one of the numbers is huge, so thats a problem too, it also doesn't indicate scale either, maybe the scale goes to 100 and we should care about that. There are flaws here as well",
"My understanding for one use of the median would be in terms of a mean value. \n\nThere may be a median value of x and a higher mean value of y. If y > x, this would infer that a set of data has lots of similar values at one (in this case lower) end and a few much larger numbers. \n\nExample: A mean value could be higher than the median when assessing income if many people have one similar (but relatively low) income and a few people have an extraordinarily large income. \n\nHope this helps",
"There's three common types of averages:\n\nMean: the mathematical average of the sum/count\n\nMedian: the midpoint of the set when ordered top to bottom\n\nMode: the most common value\n\nWe typically use median for economic indicators because it's not impacted by outliers.\n\nLets say there's twenty houses on your block. 19 of them cost $200,000. The one at the end is a $50,000,000 mansion.\n\nThe mean price is 2.7 *million* dollars. The median price is $200,000. Since you're not in the mansion business, the median is a lot more useful when discussing property values.",
"Mean or average can often be hugely affected by an extreme outlier. Like let's say that we're looking at the income of a group of 5 people, and they make $20k, $50k, $60k, $80k, and $500k. The average of that group is $142k, which is greater than 4 of the 5 items in the set. So if I were to say \"The average income in this group is $142k\" you'd say \"Wow, they're doing pretty well for themselves!\" But that number is being driven up significantly by the outlier (or it could be driven down similarly), and it makes it hard to actually make generalizations about the group. \n\nIf you take a median, then unless there are a large number of items at the extreme ends, you're more likely to get a useful number - in this case, $60k. Which is a number that's reasonably close to most of the other data pieces, even the lowest outlier, because it wasn't driven up by the most extreme outlier. It's a closer representation of the income for most of that group than the average number.\n\nDon't get me wrong, averages can be really useful too, but medians can be handy in data sets with serious outliers. A single very wealthy person moving into a middle-class neighborhood and building a super-luxurious home would seriously affect the \"mean home price\" of that neighborhood, but they would only shift the median up one value. Home buyers looking in that neighborhood would have a better idea of what they expect to spend by looking at that median than by looking at the average, because the average will be significantly expected by that McMansion driving up the number. Most of the houses on that block may sit below the average - but no more than half can sit below the median.",
"Median is the value that's exactly in the middle: so, if you have 11 samples, the median is the sample that is larger than 5 other samples, and smaller than 5 other samples. \n\nLet's imagine a classroom of 10 10 year olds. For some reason grandpa Joe is also in this class and is 100 years old. The average age of people in this class is 18 years old. \n\nObviously that's nonsense, Joe is skewing the numbers and making it look like the \"typical\" student in this class can drive a car and is heading off to university. The median is a much better indicator here, as it would still report that this is a class of 10 year olds.",
"Usually it's when you are concerned with distributions. In the case of median income, you'd rank everyone's income, and pick the person exactly halfway down the list from biggest to smallest incomes. Same with houses, if you made a list of houses from most expensive to least expensive, it would be the one halfway down the list.\n\nLet's say you have 2 different 10 person companies, and in one, everyone makes $100K a year. In the other one, the boss makes $910,000 and everyone else makes $10K a year. \n\nIn both cases, the average or mean income is $100K a year, but in the first one, the median income (what the Fifth and 6th highest paid people in a 10 person company makes) is $100K a year, and the second one the median income is $10K a year. \n\nIf there is a big difference between the mean average, and the median it usually means there are a few outliers at the very top or very bottom that are high or low enough compared to the average that it skews the averages.",
"Let's say there's a college club with 8 members. 10 years after graduation we check in on the former members. Five of the people make a salary of $40,000, 2 make $50,000, but the last guy makes $500,000 (let's say he becomes a professional ball player unrelated to the club). \n\nIf I promoted the club by saying club members average $100,000 in annual income by age 30, that's a true statement (the mean club income is slightly above $100,000) but it's not that accurate, the average is mostly the one guy who's making $500,000; everyone else in the club makes $40-50k. A median number gives a better indication of what the typical performance club members actually have. \n\nBecause there are a few incomes or homes that are high enough to move the average for a larger group, median values are often a better representation of what most people in the group would experience as the average of their peers.",
"Median is a measure of central tendency (it tells you what's happening in/near the middle of your data set.) It is not influenced heavily by outliers, which makes it a good measure for data sets that have a wide variety. It is also very stable when changes are made to the data set, such as adding one or one hundred more points of data. \n\nTake a set of house prices in a given city. In my city they range from $75K to a whopping $1M. The median price though is $175K. If one or two more million dollar homes get built, the median price will still be $175K. If one or two more $75K homes get built, the median price will still be $175K.",
"The Denver Post once bewailed the observation that 50% of Denver public school students were below median reading skills..."
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71yeez | for cold prevention, why are disinfectants recommended for cleaning public surfaces but discouraged for washing hands? | From the [Center for Disease Control's page on protecting against common colds](_URL_0_):
> You can help reduce your risk of getting a cold:
>
> Wash your hands often with soap and water
>
> Wash them for 20 seconds, and help young children do the same. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Viruses that cause colds can live on your hands, and regular handwashing can help protect you from getting sick.
And also this:
> If you have a cold, you should follow these tips to prevent spreading it to other people:
>
> [...]
>
> Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, and objects such as toys and doorknobs
If alcholo-based sanitizers are considered worse than soap for washing hands, why aren't we also using soap to wash public surfaces like doorknobs and toys? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/71yeez/eli5_for_cold_prevention_why_are_disinfectants/ | {
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"Because completely disinfecting your skin causes other problems. Your skin is made to have bacteria on it and in it. If you remove them, you start to have problems like eczema. You just need to clean the foreign stuff off, the stuff that is on the surface of the skin. This is best done with soap and water.\n\nIf you really need your hands to be clean, wear sterile gloves.\n\nNo such problems happen with toys and doorknobs - although many sanitizers wreak havock with some surface finishes!",
"Soap doesn't kill microbes, it just makes gunk stuck to your hand come loose, so that it can be washed down the drain. If you use soap but don't rinse afterwards, now your hands are covered with germs AND soap scum.\n\nYou can't put a counter top in the sink to rinse it off, so instead you need something that kills the germs and leaves the tiny dead bodies sitting there (a paper towel will wipe away some, but not all).\n\nDisinfectants strong enough to kill germs tend to be harsh (because those chemicals harm skin cells too). Alcohol gel is a compromise that mostly works but soap and rinsing is probably better.\n\nAnd don't buy anti-microbial soap, because it doesn't stay on your hands long enough to matter. Instead the chemicals go down the drain and contribute to the rise of resistant microbes."
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a1h5dw | how does a dentist fix a hole in your tooth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a1h5dw/eli5_how_does_a_dentist_fix_a_hole_in_your_tooth/ | {
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"Drills all the bad things away then fills the hole with some stuff that hardens and protects that part.",
"First you have to remove all the carious dentin and enamel, after that they apply an etching agent, basically acid, which creates small holes in the tooth surface to help with the adhesion of the filling. They put bond which acts as something of a glue between tooth and the composite filling. Finally the composite photopolymer is applied, which is the actual filling. It hardens under UV light. After that's done they make sure it isn't too high and polish it and it's done."
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lsj5p | corporate & top 5% tax loopholes. | Loopholes in the tax code seems to be a hot topic. Can someone break down what one of these loopholes looks like and how it works? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/lsj5p/eli5_corporate_top_5_tax_loopholes/ | {
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"Here's a simple one. I'm no expert and could be wrong but here's how I understand it. \n\nIf you sell a stock within a year of its initial purchase then you are taxed at your normal income tax bracket.\n\nIf you sell a stock after a year of its initial purchase you get taxed 15% for long term capital gains. ",
"They're not loopholes. That's just a propaganda word people use to confuse things.\n\nThere are basically two different things that people sometimes erroneously call loopholes: There are tax deductions, and then there are standard accounting practices.\n\nA tax deduction is anything that you can *spend* money on that *reduces* your taxable income. So say you're an individual — this applies equally well to corporations; we're just keeping it simple — who earns $100,000 in a year. You spend a quarter of that, let's say, on *stuff*, stuff like your mortgage and food and whatever. That leaves you with $75,000 at the end of the year.\n\nLet's *pretend* — this is not how it works, but this is just an example — that your tax rate is a flat 10% of your taxable income, and your taxable income is everything you make in a year. That means in this year, your taxable income is $100,000, and ten percent of that is $10,000, meaning at the end of the year you owe the government $10,000, out of the $75,000 you have on hand.\n\nBut the government allows you to *deduct* charitable contributions from your taxable income. Meaning anything you give to charity is *subtracted from* your taxable income for the year. Since you have $75,000 left over at the end of the year, you can write a $50,000 check to your local soup kitchen, let's say. That $50,000 gets *subtracted* from your taxable income, making your taxable income just $50,000, rather than $100,000. Since your tax is 10% of your taxable income, you just reduced your tax bill from $10,000 to $5,000, which is only 5% of your gross income.\n\nSome people just look at the last sentence — you only paid 5% of your gross income in taxes — and think that's unfair, so they call deductions a loophole. In truth, we give tax deductions *hoping people will take advantage of them.* They're *incentives* to get people to do certain things with their money, things like give to charity, or save for their retirement or future health-care needs, or put a kid through college.\n\nThe other thing people sometimes mistakenly call \"loopholes\" are just standard accounting practices. One thing that's been in the news kind of recently is the question of personal income from hedge fund managers. A hedge fund is a type of investment that's managed by a person. That person doesn't get paid a salary; instead, he gets a percentage of the profits the hedge fund makes under his management. Makes sense, right? You're tying the manager's compensation directly to his job performance.\n\nWell, since the hedge fund manager draws no salary and instead takes a percentage from the fund's gain, all his income is taxed at the capital gains tax rate of 15%, not at the income tax rate of (up to) 35%. Some people call this a loophole, but that's just propaganda. Accounting for your income that way is what you're *supposed to do.* It's not a cheat. It's how the system is set up. We can talk about whether the system *should be* set up that way or not, but the fact is that *is* how the system is set up, and the hedge fund manager who reports his income as capital gain is following the rules. If he did it any *other* way he'd be *breaking* the rules, and he'd get in trouble for it.\n\nSo basically, whenever you hear somebody say \"tax loophole\", understand that they're almost certainly talking about things that are built into the system for good reason and which people do because they're supposed to. The phrase does *not* imply that people are cheating the system and getting away with it; it's just supposed make you *think* it implies that, so you can get mad at those dirty cheats … who are in reality just doing exactly and nothing other than what the tax code tells them they're supposed to do.",
"Hapax_Legoman is technically correct, but he is treating the rules as written as if they were passed down the mountain on clay tablets. When companies and hedge-fund managers lobby to change the tax code, it doesn't mean anything to say that they are playing by the rules. \n\nNobody thinks that companies that pay very little income tax found some ingenious hole in the tax code to exploit. That's a bit of a straw-man. We're angry because they aggressively lobbied for the tax code we have now. Most human beings don't have the luxury of spending money on changing the law like that.",
"Here's a simple one. I'm no expert and could be wrong but here's how I understand it. \n\nIf you sell a stock within a year of its initial purchase then you are taxed at your normal income tax bracket.\n\nIf you sell a stock after a year of its initial purchase you get taxed 15% for long term capital gains. ",
"They're not loopholes. That's just a propaganda word people use to confuse things.\n\nThere are basically two different things that people sometimes erroneously call loopholes: There are tax deductions, and then there are standard accounting practices.\n\nA tax deduction is anything that you can *spend* money on that *reduces* your taxable income. So say you're an individual — this applies equally well to corporations; we're just keeping it simple — who earns $100,000 in a year. You spend a quarter of that, let's say, on *stuff*, stuff like your mortgage and food and whatever. That leaves you with $75,000 at the end of the year.\n\nLet's *pretend* — this is not how it works, but this is just an example — that your tax rate is a flat 10% of your taxable income, and your taxable income is everything you make in a year. That means in this year, your taxable income is $100,000, and ten percent of that is $10,000, meaning at the end of the year you owe the government $10,000, out of the $75,000 you have on hand.\n\nBut the government allows you to *deduct* charitable contributions from your taxable income. Meaning anything you give to charity is *subtracted from* your taxable income for the year. Since you have $75,000 left over at the end of the year, you can write a $50,000 check to your local soup kitchen, let's say. That $50,000 gets *subtracted* from your taxable income, making your taxable income just $50,000, rather than $100,000. Since your tax is 10% of your taxable income, you just reduced your tax bill from $10,000 to $5,000, which is only 5% of your gross income.\n\nSome people just look at the last sentence — you only paid 5% of your gross income in taxes — and think that's unfair, so they call deductions a loophole. In truth, we give tax deductions *hoping people will take advantage of them.* They're *incentives* to get people to do certain things with their money, things like give to charity, or save for their retirement or future health-care needs, or put a kid through college.\n\nThe other thing people sometimes mistakenly call \"loopholes\" are just standard accounting practices. One thing that's been in the news kind of recently is the question of personal income from hedge fund managers. A hedge fund is a type of investment that's managed by a person. That person doesn't get paid a salary; instead, he gets a percentage of the profits the hedge fund makes under his management. Makes sense, right? You're tying the manager's compensation directly to his job performance.\n\nWell, since the hedge fund manager draws no salary and instead takes a percentage from the fund's gain, all his income is taxed at the capital gains tax rate of 15%, not at the income tax rate of (up to) 35%. Some people call this a loophole, but that's just propaganda. Accounting for your income that way is what you're *supposed to do.* It's not a cheat. It's how the system is set up. We can talk about whether the system *should be* set up that way or not, but the fact is that *is* how the system is set up, and the hedge fund manager who reports his income as capital gain is following the rules. If he did it any *other* way he'd be *breaking* the rules, and he'd get in trouble for it.\n\nSo basically, whenever you hear somebody say \"tax loophole\", understand that they're almost certainly talking about things that are built into the system for good reason and which people do because they're supposed to. The phrase does *not* imply that people are cheating the system and getting away with it; it's just supposed make you *think* it implies that, so you can get mad at those dirty cheats … who are in reality just doing exactly and nothing other than what the tax code tells them they're supposed to do.",
"Hapax_Legoman is technically correct, but he is treating the rules as written as if they were passed down the mountain on clay tablets. When companies and hedge-fund managers lobby to change the tax code, it doesn't mean anything to say that they are playing by the rules. \n\nNobody thinks that companies that pay very little income tax found some ingenious hole in the tax code to exploit. That's a bit of a straw-man. We're angry because they aggressively lobbied for the tax code we have now. Most human beings don't have the luxury of spending money on changing the law like that."
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6c2w2b | how far is: 'as far as the eye can see'? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6c2w2b/eli5_how_far_is_as_far_as_the_eye_can_see/ | {
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"Rather depends on how high are you standing isn't it? Generally the limit to how far we can see is the curvature of the earth, not the limits of the eye itself.\n\nSo standing on a grassy field, that stretches as far as the eye can see, then the grassy field will be at least 5km from your position in every direction.\n\nIf you stand on the Eifel tower, and paris \"stretches as far as the eye can see\" then it would be about 65KM",
"You can see the Andromeda galaxy with the unaided human eye, which is 2.5 million light years away.\n\nStanding on the planet Earth, the horizon is about 4.7 kilometers away, depending on elevation or obstruction, but you can also see clouds or mountains that are past the horizon.",
"I would not answer this with a distance, because as has been noted, there are things that are really far away (galaxies, etc) that can be seen unaided simply because they are huge and bright.\n\nI'd take \"as far as the eye can see\" a little less literally to mean what is apparent without digging too much or without much outside assistance. Using a microscope you can see your skin cells, but \"as far as the eye can see\" you just see skin. Using a telescope you can see the rings of Saturn and some of the moons of Jupiter, but for the most part, \"as far as the eye can see\" they're relatively small dots of light.",
"Fun fact: the human eye is capable of detecting a single candle flame up to around 2.76km. The more you know! ",
"Angular resolution of the human eye is what matters. Big things far or small things close look the same. Angular resolution: about 1 arcminute, approximately 0.02° or 0.0003 radians,[1] which corresponds to 0.3 m at a 1 km distance.\n\n_URL_0_",
"\"As far as the eye can see\" is a saying that basically means \"all the way to the horizon\". It comes from the notion that we see by sending out a beam from our eyes. You can see this by the way they depict X-ray vision in comic books, as cones coming out of the super-hero's eyes, or in old cartoons where they have a dashed line coming out of the character's eyes and connecting to the object that they are seeing. \n\nOf course, eyes don't really work like this and there is no technical limit imposed by the eye that determines how far we can see. As others have pointed out, stars are billions of kilometres away.",
"The answer has more to do with the visual acuity of the viewer. Average viewers can see detail up to 1/60th of a degree of your field of view (20/20 vision). So you could see object millions of light years away if they were big enough (and bright enough). It's a pretty simple tangential relationship between size an distance."
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8xo2pr | why do countries have large amounts of foreign currency on hand? | Why have oranges when you already have many apples? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8xo2pr/eli5_why_do_countries_have_large_amounts_of/ | {
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"Because some people only want oranges. If you are buying something from china you need to pay in yuan, just as you need to use USD for the US. Having a stockpile of foreign currency allows nations to ensure their companies (and themselves) arent screwed over by third party money changers.\n\nYou keep apples to trade with people who like apples, and oranges for those who like oranges."
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1wkucc | why is the snow burning? | If any of you have seen videos like this: _URL_0_
Why is the snow not melting and instead 'burning' and smelling like chemicals? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1wkucc/eli5_why_is_the_snow_burning/ | {
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"It isn't. Those people are mentally ill, and water is surprisingly difficult to melt and will trap soot from incomplete combustion from a lighter. Try running a spoon through a candle flame and you will see how black it gets even though the spoon obviously isn't burning.",
"Is that the same chick that was claiming the rainbow in spraying water is a government conspiracy?\n\n_URL_0_\n\n*Edit: Also snow isn't just a solid chunk of water, lots of air too",
"There are a number of videos right now related to this.\n\nFirst off, the snow is melting. There's lots of empty space in the middle of the snow, and it readily absorbs any water that's produced as the snow melts.\n\nSecond, it actually takes a lot of energy to melt ice. You need to first get the ice down to zero degrees celsius, and then you *begin* converting it from a solid to a liquid.\n\nThird, she's using a butane lighter. They're not very clean and anything you smell is from the lighter.\n\nFinally, for the other videos that show how the snow is \"charred\" to prove that it's burning instead of melting, that's residual unburnt fuel. You'll leave soot on just about anything this way. Hold a candle sideways and take a lighter to the wax (not the wick). Put it directly into the flame and it'll blacken. Does this mean it's \"burning rather than melting\"? Nope. Take a spoon and hold a lighter to it. It'll blacken with soot. Does that mean you just burned the metal on the spoon? Nope.",
"10/10, would lol at that lady again"
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7ckom4 | how come multiple wireless providers can all claim they have the best speeds? isn’t wireless connectivity and accessibility something that can be objectively measured and ranked? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ckom4/eli5_how_come_multiple_wireless_providers_can_all/ | {
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"They use different metrics to determine what is \"best\", because \"best\" is a subjective term in marketing. They could be referring to \"the best wireless speed compared to two other local service providers that haven't upgraded their equipment in twenty years\", or \"the best wireless speed available in Sedona, Arizona.\" \n\nYou have to read the fine print to determine what their metric is. When it's all big-brand companies, they often use metrics gathered from different sources. For example, Verizon might use _URL_0_ to determine \"best speed\", but they also might throttle their speeds outside of the _URL_0_ domain; whereas Comcast might use average speed for the top 10 most popular websites. ",
"Technically, not to get afoul of the FCC, all they need is to be the best in one small area to be able to make the claim. So, if they are the fastest wireless provider in Podunk, USA where they are the only one, then they can make the claim. It is the same as all the truck companies saying they are #1 selling truck in the US. It is all in the fine print, which no one likes to read.",
"You would think that but not really since there are a lot of metrics out there as to what they mean. Those claims are very broad and can refer to any number of metrics.\n\nNot to mention that advertising has a lot of wiggle room for things like puffery.",
"Speeds vary based on location and congestion so where, when, and how it is measured makes a big difference. They only need one test basically to point at to show they are fastest. One method providers will use is they will perform their tests immediate after launching an upgrade to their system... but before most of their userbase gets the update to actually utilize it. That way, they can get \"optimal\" speeds that are crazy fast, but once a million people are using it, it slows down a lot.",
"If you're the fastest company in Chicago and I'm the fastest company in Atlanta, then we can both say we're the fastest.",
"Let's say three cars are being tested to see which one is the fastest by their manufacturers.\n\nManufacturer A tests all 3 cars and uses the speed displayed on the speedometer, this result lets them say their car is the fastest.\n\nManufacturer B tests all 3 cars and uses GPS data to compute the speed, this result can let them say their car is the fastest.\n\nManufacturer C tests all 3 cars and uses a speed-trap setup to compute the speed, this result can let them say their car is the fastest.\n\nBy choosing the way they collect data, or the location they collect data, companies can manipulate the results of a 'see who's fastest' test to ensure they win.",
"One trick you see with a lot of ISPs is they claim best in home wireless speed. That just means they give you an AC router as all AC run at the sameish speed. What matters is the speed going from the wider world to your house not the speed bouncing around your house."
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1j8r0l | why are some muscles incapable of healing completely? | Sorry guys for it being so long.
The reason I asked is because, as an avid participant in my school's athletic program and being a sprinter, I've had many injuries. A broken wrist, strained Achilles tendon, sprained ankle, hyperextended knee, shin splints, and Osgood Schlatter's have all plagued me at least once. I recovered from all of them in the recommended amount of time (Osgood ends when I stop growing, broken wrist perfectly healed after 6 weeks in a cast, etc.), but one injury just WILL NOT go away, and I've been told that it might never will!
I pulled my hamstring back in February during a 200m relay in track. I felt it at around the 75m mark but because of my ridiculously competitive nature I finished the rest of the 125m. The first thing I did after I git home was RICE and since then I've lifted, done squats with weight, had a personal trainor help with the healing process by massaging it and giving me specific work outs, and jogging. Six months later I can still feel it slightly when I'm laying down sometimes or I can feel the pain where my back thigh/butt cheek meet while I'm sitting down. Oddly, it doesn't hurt much when I'm doing squats while working out, but when I try to sprint, as I reach top speed, I have to stop because it begins to hurt too much.
This is a HUGE burden on me since I'm a sprinter and hurdler for our school's track team. Can someone explain why it isn't healing completely? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1j8r0l/eli5why_are_some_muscles_incapable_of_healing/ | {
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"dunno man but I hear ya. I pulled mine too during a Kung fu class a few years back. it hurt in the same spot, where the bottom thigh and ass cheek meet. it took about 12 months before I couldn't feel it anymore, although it sounds like yours hurts more than mine did. very slow healing process and I definitely laid off hamstring strenuous activities. ",
"Tendons and ligaments take much longer to grow and heal due to relatively poor blood supply and perhaps a sort of lack of interest on the part of your body. IMO heat therapy increases blood flow and facilitates healing. I am a skateboarder. I have had ankle and foot injuries that seem to heal poorly but once reinjured, heal correctly."
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8kxy9f | when a lawyer "objects" to another lawyers statement, how is it handled. | Like if the objection is sustained, how can the judge be sure that the jury didn't take the objected statement into account when delivering a verdict? Do juries have to give supporting evidence as to why they find a defendant guilty or innocent?
If they don't have to give evidence, why are objections useful? Even if you object there's nothing stopping people from considering the evidence given in an objected statement if they don't have to give reasoning behind their verdict. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8kxy9f/eli5_when_a_lawyer_objects_to_another_lawyers/ | {
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"Discussing things in the jury room that you have been instructed not to discuss is a good way to find yourself in contempt of court.\n\nIf something is brought up in front of the jury that the judge feels is inadmissible but would be impossible for the jury to ignore he can declare a mistrial.\n\nGenerally though there are no surprises in court. Both sets of attorneys have lists of the witnesses and evidence the other side intends to present, and have opportunities to challenge them in pre-trial motions. ",
"I think the key here is to remember what is being objected to, and when. Usually when a lawyer objects to something in front of a jury, they're objecting to a question by the other lawyer - what you're trying to prevent the jury from hearing is the witness's answer, not the question that would raise that answer. \n\nWhen there's a dispute as to whether a statement or piece of information should be put to the jury at all, the jury usually isn't present for that - a lawyer is only allowed to question witnesses on evidence which has been offered in to the court, and the judge will determine whether any piece of evidence has a prejudicial value (i.e. is so charged that the jury can't consider it objectively and fairly) which outweighs its probative value (i.e. its tendency to prove or disprove a relevant fact). \n\nOn some level it is expected that the jury listens to the direction of a judge who tells them to ignore a particular piece of information - but anything inflammatory or prejudicial enough to really cause a problem is usually (and is supposed to be) weeded out by then!"
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22ls51 | why do the best college football players often stay in school, while the best college basketball players are 'one and done'? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22ls51/eli5_why_do_the_best_college_football_players/ | {
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"The rules are different for one, you have to be a junior before you can leave school for the draft versus basketball which is just 1 year.\n\nAlso, football players benefit a lot more from extra years in college. They get bigger, get stronger, and they learn the game better. Basketball players can often transition more quickly.",
"As a UK resident please could you clear something up for me. Do young sports players have to go to college before they can play in a profession sports league?",
"Most of these answers are semi-correct, however you do not need to play in college to be eligible for the NBA or NFL. You must be 3 years out of high school for the NFL and 1 year out of high school for the NBA.",
"The technical part of it is the legal aspect that others have already mentioned--basketball players can come out after only 1 year, football players have to stay for at least 3--but even if freshmen could go pro in football, extremely few would, if any.\n\nBasketball is a sport that kids can play every day, from a very young age, with the full rulebook. You only need 10 total players for both teams, and a very small court, with not much equipment. And even if you can't get all of that together, you can still practice fundamentals in smaller groups or individually, and those skills will directly help their play in the real game.\n\nPlaying football to the full rules requires a huge field, tons of equipment, many more players, and you can't play it every day without destroying your body. There are fewer fundamentals that can be practiced individually--sure, a QB can practice accurate throwing on his own, but a lineman can't practice blocking schemes on his own, and nobody can practice the full \"game sense\" stuff without playing real games.\n\nIn short, the one-and-dones in basketball were practicing dribbling in their driveways every day since age 5, but the football players only get ~10 games per year to play.",
"Rules exist preventing one-and-dones in football. That said the reasons for these rules are based in physiology. Basketball is MUCH less of a contact sport and basketball players have skills that can translate without as much raw strength and size. On the other young males tend to put on a fair amount of muscle and overall mass from 18-22, not only from growing naturally but also from the 4 years of weight-training at an elite program. \n\nTL;DR \n\nSize and speed/physical maturity are more important in footballs, especially when it comes to safety."
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3jpcxy | what is the real difference food wise between a 5 star restaurant and an average one? | I like to go to an Italian restaurant near my house. Its better than say, Olive Garden, but by no means fancy. This being said, I really like this place. The food is good, the place is nice, and everyone is really friendly. After going there tonight, I started to wonder how the same dish I ordered (Chicken Parmesan) would be different at a 5 star Italian place. I mean, isn't chicken...chicken, and Parmesan cheese...Parmesan cheese. And one salad can't be too different from another.
So what goes into a 5 star restaurant food wise besides maybe a well known chef? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3jpcxy/eli5what_is_the_real_difference_food_wise_between/ | {
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"Well generally when you think of 5 star high-end places you wouldn't be getting chicken parmesan you'd be getting a far more intricate mix of flavours. Recently, for example, I saw a dish that included charred leeks and eggplant. Specifically *charred* leeks because, in the chef's opinion, the difference in taste and texture of a charred leek complimented the dish.\n\nSmall but notable distinctions like that are another thing you're generally expecting you're paying for: attention to detail and a very carefully crafted dish.\n\nPlenty of really high-end restaurants also do courses or a tasting menu that's much more than just ordering your appetizer, meal and leaving. The Ritz-Carlton has been doing 'afternoon tea' as a very successful offering for a long time. ",
"Usually it has to do with the chef preparing it and the quality of ingredients they use. Next it's mostly them being unique in the preparation.\n\nBasically, quality and art.",
"Chain restaurant: most food arrives frozen, seasoned and cut in corporate approved ways. Few things are prepared fresh, and the things that are, are relatively simple- skin and dice 8lb eggplant, slice 6 cartons of tomato, portion 200 lasagna, etc. The food is cooked for a specific amount of time, every time. A dish in New York should taste like the same dish in LA. Servers are more likely to be new/young/possibly intoxicated. The bar serves beer, liquor, and some corporate suggested cocktails. \nMom and pop/ family owned: most food comes from a major restaurant supplier like Sysco. When you think \"chicken is chicken\", you're thinking of Sysco and similar companies. They're not bad, not great, just a strong building block for the chef's menu. At these restaurants, the chefs have say on the menu items/ specials/seasonal dishes, and the complexity of the dishes increase. Better quality ingredients, prepared fresh in house, with much less frozen foods and very few completely prepared foods. The servers are usually allowed a little more freedom, and the bar is the same as chain restaurants. \nFine dining: absolutely everything is prepared fresh. The chef has been trained at a highly lauded culinary school, and the chef also has highly trained assistant chefs, called sous chefs. Rule number 1: don't piss off Chef. Cooks here are highly trained and focus on consistency of excellence over speed. Each dish has a variety of ingredients that are unique to that one dish on the menu. The quality of the meats and cheeses are impeccable. Ingredients are imported from around the world. The condiments and vegetables are likely the same quality as other restaurants. The table settings are incredibly expensive, and probably namebrand. A five star restaurant would also have lead servers and back waits instead of a traditional single-server. There would be a cocktail *program* that is hand selected by a skilled mixologist or someone trained in craft cocktails. The bartenders know even the most obscure drinks, and can likely introduce you to your new favorite cocktail, it's probably made with freshly squeezed fruit juices. They may also employ a sommelier/ wine expert to help guide guests to the best wine pairing for their meal. \nTL:DR, it's a whole different ballgame."
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2edxny | why do crowds of people being led to mass executions seem to cooperate with their killers? | With the Bodo League massacres on the front page and the ISIS footage coming out of the middle east as well as some holocaust footage I've seen, it always seems like people cooperate with their soon-to-be killers. They line up and march in nice lines. They stand neatly at attention in front of their ditch/graves.
I can't pretend to understand what must be going through their minds, but I have to assume someone has investigated the psychology of this.
I'm not even necessarily saying that even a group of 100 people can overpower ten guys with guns (although, maybe they could?). But at the very least, they can make it harder for them to do their jobs and maybe even take a few of them down with you.
Most fundamentally, if you're going to die anyway, why not fight back? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2edxny/eli5_why_do_crowds_of_people_being_led_to_mass/ | {
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"because if you run or fight back you are likely to be tortured before they ultimately decide to kill you anyways. ",
"The people that have the will to run/fight back have already ran for it/fought back. The ones left have accepted their fate/hoping a miracle occurs ",
"Whoever acts first gets shot instantly, everyone is hoping that something changes last minute, that they'll be spared, that the 'killers' are just looking to terrify them rather than kill them today.\n\nPossibly though they are resigned to their fate at that point and just want it over with :(\n\nI suppose United 93 would be an example of the 'crowds fighting back'...",
"With the holocaust anyway, in the beginning many people didn't know they were being lead to their deaths. They had just survived a city-wide raid where people were shot and killed for the sake of it, after which the survivors were split up between men and women, and put onto trains, some going on to labour camps and some eventually to gas chambers which were disguised as shower rooms. \nSo for that situation anyway it was probably a mix of fear and not knowing. There were probably loads of people who fought back along the way, some successful some not, not likely a huge mass of people i don't think.",
"It may take a good amount of coordination, too. If one guy decides to fight and gets shot dead on the spot, then everyone else will feel hesitant and say \"why bother?\" \n\nA mass, collective mindset needs to be present. That everyone there believes they can overwhelm the minority with sheer numbers, at the same time accepting the fact that some of them would be dead within a few seconds. The lack of which is pretty much the reason, I think, as to why this doesn't happen.\n\nA few seconds of lingering hesitation would defeat the purpose and essentially screw up the effort. If three guys were brave enough to attack first, but the other 97 or so are hesitant, then there's no use.",
"The nail that sticks up the highest gets pounded down first",
"One thing with beheading victims, is that they will bring them out as if they are going to do it several times and NOT. In this way when it actually happens they are surprised.\n\nThe purpose for doing this is essentially to intimidate them to read some statement for a camera.\n\nIn the mind of the victim, as long as they behave, maybe this time will be another false alarm too, and a rescue will come soon.\n\nOn the other hand, wether it was the real deal or not, trying to fight back would result in certain death and probably horrible torture first.",
"I believe that built-in, we have a belief that all people are inherently good. In these moments prior to mass execution, it is still believed that not standing out and following will keep you safe, and that this will lead to your freedom because these people are not intending to hurt you.\n\nI'd say its a battle of sanity vs. insanity. Your question is an excellent one! It would only take but one person to persuade the group that some will die or ALL will die, but unfortunately this mentality is rare.",
"Another factor is that, by this point, these prisoners were in a weakened enough state to not be able to fight. Malnutrition, beat downs, hopelessness, etc.",
"Because being killed isn't the worst thing that can happen to them",
"IIRC the Chinese communist security services had a procedure for mass executions after a few went awry with military units that had committed mutiny.\n\nThe technique was that they would be separated into small, manageable groups and taken to the grave area one group at a time, they would be told that out of each group there would be a number of pardons awarded to whoever had displayed the best behaviour. As a result the victims would be trying to outdo each other in digging their own graves, moving fast when ordered and general grovelling to the guards.\n\nEventually at the end after each group had been processed there would be a last group made up of these pardons but of course they would then discover that this was a ruse, but by then they would just be the last group left in a size easily dealt with by the security troops and thus there would be no hope."
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tz9mz | how prices work in the stock market -- latest price. | So, I understand how valuation is done -- a company has $100 and 100 shares, each share should be worth $1. Then we can factor in earnings, potential growth and all that. I am fine with that.
But getting back to the company with 100 shares. If someone says, "Hey, I'll give you $2 for your 1 share" is the company now worth $200, because every share is worth $2.
So today, for fun, if I buy a share of FB for $100 would the ticker price jump to $100, if only for a second? Would it screw up the high of the day and such? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tz9mz/how_prices_work_in_the_stock_market_latest_price/ | {
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"The short answer is that yes, it would raise the whole valuation of the company, if only briefly. But, I'm going to bet that the stock markets have some kind of mechanism to filter out really weird bids like that and not let it affect the averages very much.",
"The practical answer is that it wouldn't matter. With any liquid stock that is traded on an exchange, there are enough market participants to keep the value steady even in the face of an outrageous bid. Likewise, whenever you go to buy a stock, your brokerage firm isn't going to let you pay $2 for a $1 stock. They will get you the best price available. On the NYSE, each stock has a market making firm which will list the bid and ask price for that stock. I suppose that a NYSE broker *could* go up to the market maker and pay more than the listed price, after which that broker would be promptly fired. The general market reaction would be \"wow, some dimwit is buying at an inflated price -- SELL TO HIM.\" There are stock exchange mechanics to prevent wild price fluctuations, but they are mainly targeted toward preventing large price drops rather than large price gains.\n\nAs a side note, your description of a valuation is a tad misleading. The stock market valuation of a company already takes into account earnings, potential growth, risk, etc. Even something like the book value of a company takes into account the future earnings, etc. of the individual company assets. "
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cbpftp | why do some drugs come in pill form and not liquid? why must in be ingested in this form and not broken down/dissolved? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cbpftp/eli5_why_do_some_drugs_come_in_pill_form_and_not/ | {
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"There can be a few reasons. Some drugs taste very bad so are much more pleasant to take as a pill. Some drugs are more stable and last longer if they're in pill form because reactions that degrade them happen more rapidly in solution. Some pills are designed to release the drug in a specific part of the digestive tract to optimise drug delivery/prevent damage to the drug or the stomach. Sometimes pills can be designed to release the drug over an extended length of time. People are also much more likely to mis-dose liquid drugs than they are with pills.\n\nOn the other hand, you may want a liquid drug if you want something that's very easy to take (this can be very important if patients may have difficulty or find it painful to swallow). You may also want a liquid if your drug is targeting the oesophagus and stomach linings, as it will coat them when swallowed. Some drugs are also just much faster acting in liquid form as they may be hard to dissolve, so pre-dissolving them means they are more easily available to the body.\n\nPrice can also be a factor, as manufacturing/transport/storage costs vary significantly between pills and liquids. A lot of the time having a drug be 1/8 of the price is more important than having it be \"perfect\" in how it's delivered.",
"Ignoring the effects the different forms have on the body, you might just want it to be a pill for practical reasons.\n\n- A liquid requires a sealed bottle to contain it, so the complexity and amount of the packaging goes up compared to a pill. \n \n- You can fairly easily measure dosage with a pill, take two of them, as opposed to take 75ml which you have to measure yourself unless you use yet more packaging to create individual liquid doses. \n\n- Being a liquid as opposed to a dry condensed powder means its a far better environment for bacteria, so there is potential for spoilage, which has implications for shelf life and potentially necessitates refrigeration and/or additional agents to inhibit bacteria growth.\n\n- You waste less of the medicine, particularly for syrupy liquids as just moving it from container to container is going to leave some behind in the same way a glass is not bone dry after you pour the water from it."
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1xkx5i | why is it that lyrics are never included on a song's wikipedia page? | So if the song has its own Wikipedia page, then would it be beneficial to include the lyrics to give the reader a more objective experience. Thus, I will use my usual assumption that it has to do with money. Enlighten me so I can evolve to level 6. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xkx5i/eli5_why_is_it_that_lyrics_are_never_included_on/ | {
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"The lyrics are copyrighted material."
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330mzn | what factors determine the order of posts on the reddit frontpage? | I know upvotes play a crucial factor. But how is it decided which posts come on top on which below them? Is there any time factor? Can there be only a certain number of top posts from a particular subreddit on it or is there no limit? Do the number of comments matter? Which factor is the most important or how do they play a role in determining the order of posts? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/330mzn/eli5_what_factors_determine_the_order_of_posts_on/ | {
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"It's how many people like it ratio to how old the post is.",
"Well, you didn't ask *how* the system works, so I'll just post you a link to answer your question: [How Reddit ranking algorithms work](_URL_0_)"
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9lflzi | how do the continents "break apart" after they've been pushed together to form a supercontinent like pangea? | When I think about how all the continents would have come together, I'm envisioning an example like India's landmass crashing into Asia and forming the Himalayas - when all the continents get pushed together to form a supercontinent like Pangea, wouldn't they keep crashing into each other to form larger mountains? It seems like the movement would have to "change direction" in order for a supercontinent to break-up again after initially coming together - how exactly does that happen? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9lflzi/eli5_how_do_the_continents_break_apart_after/ | {
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"The Earth has a solid crust floating on top of liquid mantle (melted rock). Imagine Cheerios floating on milk in your cereal bowl. Only the milk isn't cold like in your cereal bowl. It's boiling, like you've got it in a pot on your stove. So little temperature variations are causing currents through the milk, which push the Cheerios around the surface. Sometimes those Cheerios get pushed together, sometimes they get pushed apart.\n\nThis is by no means a perfect analogy and I'm not a geologist, but I'm reasonably certain that the mantle currents would have changed over time.",
"It's happening now in Africa, the Rift Valley is essentially where east Africa is splitting off from the rest of the continent. Continents may smash together in one area (eg. India) but then separate in another region due to currents in the mantle."
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1q63zb | if the speed of light is a universal constant (~300,000 kms/s) then how did the universe expand so quickly after the big bang?" does this imply that "out there" there is "something" faster than the speed of light? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1q63zb/eli5if_the_speed_of_light_is_a_universal_constant/ | {
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"Matter can't move faster than or even equal to the speed of light **but** the expansion can be *effectively* faster than c (vacuum lightspeed). \n\nIf you're driving on a street with a 50km/h limit and pass a car going the opposite direction at the same speed you would experience it as distancing itself from you at 100km/h, yet it had never broken the street's speed limit.",
"No, the speed of light is a maximum speed for any propagation of information, be it a wave, particle, energy distribution, gravity. However space, or the fabric of space can expand and contract, stretch or thin at any rate as this does not transmit information. It is space which is expanding when we say the universe is expanding and everything else is just along for the ride. So some galaxys are expanding faster away from us now than the speed of light because the space between us is expanding faster than light."
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1kh7wt | what's the deal with intel 6-core and amd 8-core cpus? | I don't understand why are there AMD CPUs with more cores than Intel ones for the fraction of the price. A few examples from a local shop's prices:
> 6-core AMD CPU for ~ $115
> 8-core AMD CPU for ~ $170
> 6-core Intel CPU for ~ $670
Are the AMD ones some kind of a rip-off? They seem to have at least Intel's clock speeds, so what's the deal with these? What's the difference in the performance of a $115 and a $670 CPU? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1kh7wt/eli5_whats_the_deal_with_intel_6core_and_amd/ | {
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"AMD processors in general aren't nearly as fast. Don't compare clock speeds or cores, look at benchmarks. I will look and find you some. \n \nEdit: Some benchmarks may not be the most recent processors, but they will give you an idea because things haven't changed much when looking at AMD vs Intel \n\n_URL_2_ \n_URL_1_ \n_URL_0_ \n \n\n",
"more expensive CPUs are generally faster, but it's diminishing returns, an extra $100 ( 130% more expensive) gets you 30% faster.\n\nThe AMD is in the sweet spot for price/performance, I wouldn't say it's a ripoff, what do you expect for $100?\n\nThe Intel Core i7-3930K is twice as fast but five times the price.",
"Simply put AMD and Intel design differently, and clockspeeds aren't directly comparable.\n\nAMD is generally a lot more crafty at making multi-core CPUs and offers them for cheaper with many more cores than Intel does, but Intel is generally better at making each core do a lot of stuff with every cycle.\n\nHaving 16+ cores that are all alright is better than 4 awesome cores in some applications, but not always. They each have their target markets.",
"Check out a benchmarking site like _URL_0_ and compare them in performance. The $100 AMD just doesn't compare to the $600 Intel, but it is probably much better than Intel's $100 CPU. \n\nAlso keep in mind with today's CPUs you usually have a GPU built in, and generally the AMD one is better. "
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kky8y | if the universe is expanding, how has the solar system remained stable for 4+ billion years? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kky8y/eli5_if_the_universe_is_expanding_how_has_the/ | {
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"It has continually expanded for 4+ billion years. What do you mean by stable? \n\nIt is not known the final fate of the universe (3 possibilities: it will collapse on itself eventually; expansion will slow down and it will reach a constant size; expansion continues to speed up and will expand forever). But regardless of the final outcome, it will continue to exist until that point arrives. ",
"It has continually expanded for 4+ billion years. What do you mean by stable? \n\nIt is not known the final fate of the universe (3 possibilities: it will collapse on itself eventually; expansion will slow down and it will reach a constant size; expansion continues to speed up and will expand forever). But regardless of the final outcome, it will continue to exist until that point arrives. "
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8fo1n4 | why are rubber ducks such a staple in our culture? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8fo1n4/eli5_why_are_rubber_ducks_such_a_staple_in_our/ | {
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"I think it's from like last century or whatever, I'm thinking during WWII or the 50's or something and it's just become a trope since. ",
"While the origin of the iconic rubber ducky is not entirely [clear](_URL_1_), I would say that in the United States, at least, they gained popularity since 1970 because of Sesame Street and Ernie's [Rubber Ducky Song](_URL_0_). The song became extremely popular and rose in the Billboard charts.",
"1) Kids love animals.\n2) Kids need toys in the bath to help them feel like it's a fun play place and not a dunk tank.\n3) Ducks are a natural toy for the bath.\n4) We spend our early years in the bath with rubber ducks.\n5) Nostalgia\n6) We give our kids the same toys that we barely remember but know made us happy in a simpler time.\n7) Rinse/repeat"
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2q6g6z | why do pirated games and most other software not just install the crack for you? | Is it some stupid legal loophole that the cracker/distributor think they have, "oh if I don't distribute it with the crack automatically installed, I can't get arrested", or is there some other reason? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2q6g6z/eli5_why_do_pirated_games_and_most_other_software/ | {
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"If cracker team distributes only the \"crack\" or \"patch\" by itself, then it's not illegal. Since they wrote it, they own rights to it, and may distribute it all they want. Information itself is just 0 and 1, and the fact that it's meant to be used for something illegal, doesn't make it illegal by itself. So yes, they actually drop responsibility on distributor of illegal copies of games and users who do the cracking/patching."
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9c1uek | what happens to your brain/body while put on anesthesia? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9c1uek/eli5_what_happens_to_your_brainbody_while_put_on/ | {
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"The short answer is, we don’t know. \n\nThere are 3 main types of medication we use. Paralytic, to prevent you from moving, opioids to prevent pain, and hypnotics to keep you “asleep”. This accomplished the 3 A’s of anesthesia (akinesis, analgesia, and amnesia).\n\nWe know how the paralytics and narcotics work, and we know how the intravenous hypnotics work (propofol). We don’t know how the inhalation anesthetics work. We have a pretty good idea, but no theory has yet explained everything we observe with the volatile anesthetics.\n\nFor the injectable anesthetics, they all (except for ketamine) work by stimulating or enhancing your bodies GABA receptors, central nervous systems opposite side of “fight or flight” response. It’s you “calm and rest” side.\n\nReference: I put people to sleep for a living.",
"Just to add to this, when you're anaesthetised you're not actually asleep. Your conscious brain is essentially turned off. When the drugs wears off, your brain just starts working again. We know this from EEG studies but also that fatal familial insomnia (_URL_0_) is resistant to even barbiturates. \n\nAn example: I anaesthetised a 10 year old, and as the propofol worked its magic, I asked him what he thought the score between his favourite football (soccer) team and a rival team would be. The first thing he said when he came round was 'two nil'.\n\nWhat is interesting is why induction is quicker than recovery. The loss of consciousness with anaesthetic drugs is very quick, but recovery is much slower, even allowing for drug levels. The answer isn't clear, although I tend to think of it as turning a computer on and off again. Perhaps a neuroscientist can explain stochastic models better than me!\n\nPS I also put people to sleep for a living sometimes, although most of my working life is spent keeping people just out of Death's clutches. "
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85c2jn | what exactly is a tesseract? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/85c2jn/eli5_what_exactly_is_a_tesseract/ | {
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"OK, so a cube is a 3D shape where every face is a square. The short answer is that a tesseract is a 4D shape where every face is a cube. Take a regular cube and make each face -- currently a square -- into a cube, and boom! A tesseract. (It's important that that's not the same as just sticking a cube onto each flat face; that will still give you a 3D shape.) When you see the point on a cube, it has three angles going off it at ninety degrees: one up and down, one left and right, one forward and back. A tesseract would have four, the last one going into the fourth dimension, all at ninety degrees to each other.\n\nI know. I know. It's an odd one, because we're not used to thinking in four dimensions, and it's difficult to visualise... but mathematically, it checks out. There's nothing stopping such a thing from being conceptualised. Mathematical rules apply to tesseracts (and beyond; you can have [hypercubes](_URL_3_) in any number of dimensions) just as they apply to squares and cubes.\n\nThe problem is, you can't accurately show a tesseract in 3D. [Here's](_URL_0_) an approximation, but it's not right. You see how every point has four lines coming off it? Well, those four lines -- in 4D space, at least -- are at exactly ninety degrees to each other, but we have no way of showing that in the constraints of 2D or 3D. The gaps that you'd think of as cubes aren't cube-shaped, in this representation. They're all wonky. That's what happens when you put a 4D shape into a 3D wire frame (or a 2D representation); they get all skewed. It's like when you look at [a cube drawn in 2D](_URL_1_). I mean, look at those shapes. We understand them as representating squares... but they're not. The only way to perfectly represent a cube in 3D is to build it in 3D, and then you can see that all of the faces are perfect squares.\n\nA tesseract has the same problem. Gaps between the outer 'cube' and the inner 'cube' should each be perfect cubes... but they're not, because we can't represent them that way in anything lower than four dimensions -- which, sadly, we don't have access to in any meaningful, useful sense for this particular problem.\n\nEDIT: If you're struggling with the concept of dimensions in general, you might find [this](_URL_2_) useful.",
"A Tesseract is a hypothetical 4 dimensional object.\n\nTake a point and connect it to another, and that makes a line.\n\nTake another line 90 degrees from that first line, the same length, and connect all the new points the same way, and you have a square.\n\nNow make more squares, 90 degrees from the plane, and you get a cube.\n\nIf you had a 4th dimensional space, you could make more cubes, with each cube 90 degrees from the first, and you would have a Tesseract.\n\nIf you found yourself inside a Tesseract, you could travel outside of your home plane and into another by using shortcuts between the coordinates, allowing two disparate locations to appear, to you, to be right next to each other.",
"I always think that if a drawing of a cube is a 2D representation of a 3D object, a model of tesseract is a 3D representation of a 4D object. \n\nIs that right? ",
"Slightly off topic but related, and might help picture the idea of a 4D object, or maybe just a dumb question... I realize that we can't properly represent a 4D object with 3D, but the \"model\" kind of seems to be similar to how I would imagine a 3D model of bending space would look. Would bending space require a 4D model as well, and is it a similar concept?",
"It’s the 4 dimensional (4D) equivalent of a 3D Cube. Just as the cube is the 3D equivalent of the 2D Square. It’s impossible to visualize so don’t try. ",
"Imagine a 2-D land where all the inhabitants are flat, like Post-It notes. They recognize a square as a simple 1-D line extended into 2-D. Likewise, they imagine a cube being a 2-D square extended into 3-D.\n\nThe tesseract, likewise, is a 3-D cube extended into 4-D.\n\nThe Flatland books are a must-read if you're interested in this stuff... [here you go](_URL_0_).",
"If we could in theory create a tesseract\nWhat would be the implications of that?",
"Pretty much every mathematical concept is a generalization of a simple concept that anyone can understand. This is no exception for \"tesseracts\". Here, a 2-dimensional square is a square, a 3-dimensional square is a cube, and a 4-dimensional square is a tesseract. As a mathematical object, squares, cubes, and tesseracts defined below \"do not exist in the real world\". Some of them may resemble certain real world objects, but in no way should they be thought of as the same.\n\nA square (a 2-dimensional square) is the set of pairs (x,y) where |x|, |y| are both at most 1, and at least one of |x|,|y| is equal to 1. To be precise, this is a definition of a square of side lengths 2, centered at the origin (0,0). You should convince yourself that this indeed defines a square.\n\nA cube (a 3-dimensional square) is the set of triples (x,y,z) where |x|, |y|, |z| are all at most 1, and at least one of |x|, |y|, |z| is equal to 1. This is a cube of side lengths 2 centered at the origin.\n\nA tesseract (a 4-dimensional square) is the set of quadruples (x,y,z,w) where |x|, |y|, |z|, |w| are all at most 1, and at least one of |x|, |y|, |z|, |w| is equal to 1. This is a tesseract of side lengths 2 centered at the origin.\n\nMore generally, you can follow the above pattern to define n-dimensional square, and some of the rules for working with 3-dimensional squares extend to the n-dimensional case. For example, you could define a \"face\" of an n-dimensional square to be the set of n-tuples where a particular coordinate is equal to 1 or -1. E.g., a square has four faces: The face consisting of (x,y) with x = 1, the face where x = -1, the face where y = 1, and the face where y = -1. Similarly, a cube has 6 faces. One could also ask - how many faces does a tesseract have?\n\nThese sorts of high-dimensional generalizations are useful mathematically for talking about high-dimensional geometry. Though, in practice, it is better to work with n-dimensional triangles instead of n-dimensional squares. This leads to the definition of a simplex, which in the field of algebraic topology, form the building blocks of almost any reasonable nice shape. See, for example:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nTalking about high dimensional objects which we cannot \"see\" also has many applications. For example, in the above definition of 2,3,4-dimensional squares, the way they were defined as sets of \"coordinates\" means that whenever we are given a set of data (say, a list of countries, together with GDP's, populations, size in terms of area, ...etc), we can now talk about geometric aspects of this data set. This leads to the field of \"topological data analysis\"\n\n_URL_1_\n\nSource: I am a professional mathematician.",
"If a 3D shape gives a shadow that is 2D, wouldn't a 3D shape such as a cube be a shadow of a tesseract? ",
"Given a cube in N dimensions (let's call this an N-cube), you can create the N+1 dimensional cube by extruding the one you have in an orthogonal direction.\n\n-\n\nA 0-cube is just a point, with no particular position.\n\nA 1-cube is created by copying the point you have and putting it some distance d away. So a 1-dimensional cube is just a line segment. The \"faces\" of a 1-cube are points.\n\nA 2-cube (AKA \"square\") is obtained by duplicating the line you have, and extruding it a distance d in a new direction. You can create a square on a damp window by dragging a squeegee over it a small distance. In this analogy the rubber strip on the squeegee is a 1-cube, and the dry square on the window is a 2-cube.\n\nA 3-cube (AKA \"cube\") is obtained by extruding a square in a new direction. If you've ever seen a stack of post-its that resembles a cube, you know what I mean. Each post-it is a 2-cube, and the block is a 3-cube.\n\nA 4-cube (AKA \"tesseract\") is created in the same way as all the previous ones. Because we don't live in four-dimensional space, there's no nice analogy. You have to imagine a regular cube being extruded in a new direction that's perpendicular to the three we live in. The result is a tesseract.\n\nA 5-cube is a tesseract extruded into a new direction by a distance d.\n\nAnd so on.",
"A **point** is a 0D object made of a single point\n\nA **line** is a 1D object made of two points\n\nA **square** is a 2D object made of four lines\n\nA **cube** is a 3D object made of six squares\n\nA **tesseract** is a 4D object made of eight cubes",
"Not an answer, but another question.\n\nIf each side of a tesseract is a cube, would that just work off itself, to the point where all space is just infinitely large and small cubes intersecting each other?\n\nSorry if the question is worded weird. My brain hates analytical things.",
"Weird question but....Is a cube the shadow of a tesseract?",
"Imagine a cube moving through space.\n\nIf you had a video of the movement, and could rewind / forward, you'd see the whole of its path. Now instead of frame-at-a-time, try to visualize all of the frames superimposed at once. This is the construct for visualizing a teaseract.\n\nA teaseract is a theoretical 4-dimensional shape projected into 3 dimensions. Oftentimes this is drawn as wireframe to help with visualizing the 3D shape as it moves, or in many drawing cases, changes size.\n\nThis exercise helps us grasp concepts dealing with the interconnectedness of space and time.\n\n_URL_0_",
"It's a cube, but in 4 dimensions.\n\nA 'dimension' is basically a direction you can go. For instance, if you're drawing lines on a sheet of paper, you can draw along the up/down direction or along the left/right direction, but not along the in/out direction. So the paper (in the sense of being a 'place' where you can draw lines) is effectively 2-dimensional. Out in the real world, you can go along the forwards/backwards direction, the left/right direction, *or* the up/down direction. So real life is 3-dimensional. A 1-dimensional space is just a line, where there is only one direction you can go in (for instance, left/right only). And a 0-dimensional space is just a single dot, with no directions to move in.\n\nNow consider a shape defined the following way: Start with a single point in some location in space, and a 'distance' denoted N. Then construct the shape by extending the point by a distance N along one dimension (including all the points between the starting position and the ending position), then extending the *resulting* shape along the next dimension also by distance N, and so on for all the dimensions of that space.\n\nIn 0 dimensions, this procedure just gives you the original dot. There are no directions to extend the shape into. (This shape has a single 'corner', the original point.)\n\nIn 1 dimension, you start with a dot and extend it by a distance N, creating a line segment of length N. (This shape has 2 'corners' at its ends, and 1 'edge' between those corners, whose length is N.)\n\nIn 2 dimensions, you create the line segment as described above, and then extend it 'sideways' along the second dimension, also by distance N. The entire line sweeps out its own length across that distance, covering a *square* within that 2-dimensional space. So a square is the 2-dimensional version of this kind of shape. (This shape has 4 'corners' as well as 4 N-length 'edges' between those corners, and a single flat 'face' between those edges, whose area is N\\*N.)\n\nIn 3 dimensions, you create the square as described above, and then extend it 'sideways' along the third dimension, also by distance N. The entire square sweeps out its own area across that distance, covering a solid *cube* within that 3-dimensional space. So a cube is the 3-dimensional version of this kind of shape. (This shape has 8 'corners' as well as 12 N-length 'edges' between those corners, 6 flat 'faces' between those edges of area N\\*N each, and a single 'bulk' between those faces, whose volume is N\\*N\\*N.)\n\nNow, upon hitting 4 dimensions it becomes difficult to visualize because our brains evolved for thinking and perceiving in just 3 dimensions. But the math works out just fine. In 4 dimensions, you create the cube as described above, and then extend it 'sideways' (in a direction that we can't point, being limited as we are to a 3-dimensional universe) along the fourth dimension, also by distance N. The entire cube sweeps out its own volume across that distance, covering a region of 4-dimensional space. The resulting shape is called a **'tesseract'.** It has 16 'corners', 32 'edges' between those corners, 24 flat 'faces' between those edges of area N\\*N each, 8 cubical 'cells' between those faces of volume N\\*N\\*N each, and a single 4-dimensional region between those cubes, whose interior size is N\\*N\\*N\\*N. (There's no official word for what to call this kind of size, but it's the 4-dimensional equivalent of length, area and volume; some people call it '4-volume'.)\n\nYou can keep doing this up to any number of dimensions. Notice the pattern of how the number of 'pieces' of the object goes up: An M-dimensional 'hypercube' has exactly 2^M 'corners'; it has exactly 1 M-dimensional interior region; and for each piece of dimensions strictly between 0 and M, it has twice the previous number of pieces of that dimension plus the previous number of pieces of the next dimension below that. In particular, in the case of M-1 the number of pieces is equal to exactly 2\\*M, because it always doubling 1 and then adding the previous number. Wikipedia gives a [table](_URL_0_) of these 'piece' counts for the first 10 hypercubes.",
"Ok, it's the Space stone, one of the 6 infinity stones. The Tesseract first appears in Captain Ameria: The first Avenger. Where the villain Red Skull found it, and try to create weapons using it. ( Im not quite sure) but later on it was dropped at the bottom of the ocean. Then Howard Stark found the Tesseract as well as Cap. After that it seen at the avengers movie where Loki used to teleport the Chitauri to invade New York, which they failed to do so. Then after that the Tesseract goes into Odin's Vault in Asgard. It has another appearance in Thor: Ragnarok where Loki happens to found it in Odin's vault and obviously took it. And the last it was seen is at the Avengers Infinity War trailer 2 where Loki gave the Tesseract to Thanos and crushed it because the Space stone is in the Tesseract.",
"I think all of you don't understand the question. Clearly, LifeWithEloise is referring to tesseracts and tessering from A Wrinkle In Time. (#I'mabooknerd) The example that they give in the book is great, so I'll just use that. You know the dimensions. The 1st is a line, the 2nd a square, the 3rd a cube, (There can be other shapes in each dimension, but let it go for the sake of simplicity.) So what's the 4th dimension? Imagine you're holding a piece of string with an ant on one end and some honey on the other. The ant wants the honey, so the fastest way to get to it is to walk across the string, right? In the universe of A Wrinkle In Time, wrong. If you were to move your hands together and put the ends right next to each other, the ant wouldn't need to move at all to get the honey. So when someone tessers, they are wrinkling space and using the 4th dimension, the tesseract, to get from one place, (or time) to another. That's probably really confusing, and I know that's not what you were really asking about, but I had fun writing that so oh well.",
"Physics teacher explained it like a 3D shadow of a 4D object, the same way a 2D image is the shadow of a 3D object.",
"I have a big problem with the tesseract explination.\n\n If the 4th dimension is time, and the hypercube is a 3D representation of a 4D object, then how is the hypercube a 4th dimensional object? \n\nThe idea is that the tesseract contains another cube within itself, but all sides are the still the same size, how is that other dimension time? To me it feels like these two things cannot be true at the same time, either \n\nA. Tesseract is a 4D shape\n\nOr\n\nB. The 4th dimension is time.\n\nWhen you talk about the tesseract, it seems like it just extends in a direction we cannot see, but i have not seen it described anywhere as an object that exists just throughout eternity.",
"Okay here’s a helpful “construction” of a tesseract.\n\nTake a point, this is 0 dimensional. \n\nIf we stretch this point in one direction, we then get a line. We can call this direction “left” and “right.” This is one dimensional.\n\nIf we stretch this line further left or right, we just get a bigger line, but if we introduce a new direction and stretch the line that way, we’ll get a square. We can call this new direction “forward” and “backward.” This is two dimensional.\n\nIf we then stretch this square forward or backward or left or right, we’ll just get a larger square. If we however stretch this square in a new direction “up” and “down” then we can create a cube. This is three dimensional.\n\nSimilarly, if we take a cube and stretch it in any of our previous directions, we just get a bigger cube. However if we then stretch it in a new direction, then we obtain a tesseract. This is then four dimensional. ",
"A line has a shadow of a point.\n\nA square has a shadow of a line.\n\nA cube has a shadow of a square.\n\nA tesseract has a shadow of a cube.",
"The top comment here is as close to a full explanation as I could hope to give you. But with one interesting omission. You can kind of represent a 4D shape via the use of shadows. The greatest and simplest of these explanations I have ever seen was Carl Sagan on his[Cosmos](_URL_0_) series. It’s well worth ten minutes of anyone’s time. Five years old or not. \n\nI hope I managed to add something for you to the already excellent top comment. \nHave a great day. \n\nEdit: better link. "
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"https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ce05fbae394e9b6dbd639e4352e261ba",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/85e0ou/eli5_the_fourth_dimension_4d/dvwtoiz/",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercube"
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5llu3a | church-turing thesis and tests | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5llu3a/eli5_churchturing_thesis_and_tests/ | {
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"The Church-Turing thesis is a proof of what computability is. It basically says that if you can write a program to do something, that program can be written as a Turing Machine and as the 'Lamda-Calculus'. Both the Turing Machine and the lamda-calculus are not particularly useful for actually computing stuff because they are sort of just mathematical constructs, but it is important to be able to ground computability in math. It also says that there are certain tasks that computers are incapable of solving, but that's a bit more minor. The Turing test is a completely different thing that deals with knowing whether or not an AI is actually intelligent, or, at least how good it is at pretending to be a human. I'm happy to go into more detail about either of those things if you would like.",
"There were once some smart guys that realized that math problems that can be solved by humans can also be solved by machines if we can come up with some kind of sequence of steps to tell the machine what to do to carry out the computation. This set of instructions is called an algorithm. Church-Turing relates computability (i.e. the potential for a problem to be solved by a machine) to the properties of the machine and the underlying algorithms that the computer is operating on. \n\nSpecifically the machine must satisfy these conditions: a) it must support abstract assignment of numbers and b) it must support bounded AND potentially unbounded iteration. Basically this means that you can tell the computer what symbols represent what (like saying \"x = 3\") and you can tell it to do something over and over until some condition is met (like saying \"while x is TRUE: do y\"). If a machine supports these physical functions it is called a Turing machine. If a programming language supports programming this kind of behavior, it is called Turing complete. Today, we take it for granted that all computers are basically Turing machines and all languages are Turing complete. I say basically a Turing machine because a Turing machine is a math model for a real computer. A Turing machine is not constrained by run time or memory bounds (which real computers are).\n\nNow the deeper, philosophical implications of Church-Turing is that it goes both ways, meaning that not only can any algorithm on the natural numbers be programmed for execution on a Turing machine, but humans *can only discover algorithms that could be executed by a Turing machine*. It makes a lot of sense, because you basically can't describe an algorithm to another person, or even yourself, without assuming some basic formalities on how the steps will be executed. Church-Turing outlines these basic formalities and relates it to the physical properties of a machine that is designed to solve any math problem. \n\nHope this answer is good. My understanding of this thesis comes from my CS minor and the book Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglass Hofstadter. I highly recommend that book if you're interested in computation and its relation to human activities and philosophy. It really is a gem of non-fiction.\n\nedit: Forgot to mention the Turing test. The test is supposed to be the benchmark for a computer being indistinguishable from a human. However, we have built machines that pass the Turing test (at least on some samples) that are most certainly not intelligent. You can look up the rules for The Turing test, but modern computer scientists don't really take it seriously anymore because we've realized that the rules for the test are much too lenient to really serve as an identifier of an intelligent machine. ",
"For the [Turing Test](_URL_2_) and what it's point is:\n\nAt one point, some people said that you could make a computer intelligent.\n\nSome other people said that a computer couldn't really be intelligent, because there was something special about humans that let them be intelligent but wouldn't let computers be intelligent.\n\nThe argument got bogged down in philosophical questions over what really counted as \"being intelligent\". Some people thought that this wasn't really important. One man, Mr. Dijkstra, summed this up as \"The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim.\" People were simply arguing over what the definition of intelligence should *be*, instead of what we could actually make computers do.\n\nMr. Turing wanted to break this argument, because he didn't think that it was very important. What Mr. Turing proposed was the idea that if a computer acted in a way that externally, we couldn't tell it apart from a human, then we should not get hung up on what's happening internally in the computer, and just say that the computer was intelligent. That is, we should *define* \"intelligence\" by what we can see externally and not by trying to analyze the way the artificial intelligence works.\n\nI like to compare this to the [behaviorism](_URL_1_) movement in psychology. Psychology used to have all sorts of mystic and dubious ideas attached to it, and had people not really doing a good job of measuring things. Part of the effort to make it more of a real science was the introduction of behaviorism, where we stopped asking people to try to describe what was happening inside their head and simply started measuring how people actually acted, since this could be externally-measured.\n\nAnyway, there is a famous counterargument against using Mr. Turing's test as a definition for intelligence from a philosopher named John Searle called the [Chinese room argument](_URL_0_). Mr. Searle proposed an example that most people would agree does not intuitively \"feel\" like intelligence to us. However, it could pass the Turing test, and so it could be an argument against using Mr. Turing's test to treat something as intelligent, since it would include some things that don't \"feel\" intelligent to us.\n\nThere are also some contests that computer scientists have for fun where people try to make computer \"pass the Turing Test\", and fool someone into thinking that they are human, but that's not really the point of Mr. Turing's proposal. He wasn't trying to really have computers pass or not pass -- he just wanted to say that whether they're intelligent or not should be judged based on how they act, not how they work internally.",
"The Church-Turing thesis says that if a computer has certain basic properties (defined as Turing machine), it is capable of computing anything that can be computed. Given sufficient time and resources, your phone can do anything a network of supercomputers can.\n\nThe Turing Test is something completely different. Turing posited that if a computer's responses were indistinguishable from a human's, that could be taken as sign of innate intelligence.\n\nNote that the Turing Test is **extremely** misunderstood. It is not some sort of threshold to intelligence. When computers first started to be useful, there was a philosophical question whether or not machines could think. People offered all sort of objections to the notion, computers were not conscious, computers had no souls, computers could not be creative, computers cold not learn, etc. In his landmark 1950 paper, *Computing Machinery and Intelligence*, Turing used the Turing Test as sort of a thought experiment to help dismantle these objections. He never intended it to be any sort of rigorous test of a computers capabilities. In fact, today the test is less about a computer's ability, and more about human psychology."
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5jabt2 | how can any country realistically support universal basic income for everyone? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5jabt2/eli5how_can_any_country_realistically_support/ | {
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"You restructure the tax system. \n\nRemember that UBI is set to pay the minimum of survival. Just enough to keep you fed and housed comfortably. People will still want money to spend on things they want, higher quality foods and goods, etc. So people will still work. You can now tax every job because they are no longer needed for survival so the \"I do not make enough exemptions\" that get all your tax money returned no longer exists. In fact most tax exemptions no longer need to exist. So that makes up a lot of tax income. \n\nYou also increase taxes on the wealthy if necessary. That is always the case when you need more taxes. \n\nYou can also set a corporate tax on automated units. Thus keeping tax income from the lost jobs. \n\nAnd you get all the money from current welfare, and social security going into the BMI system. ",
"Is there a reason you went with 2k as a number?\n\nMy math may suck, but that's more than a fulltime federal minimum wage person would make a month.\n\nA significant portion of the UBI debate is not just if and how, but how much. ",
"If we went back to the tax structure we had when Eisenhower was president and cut out all the tax breaks for corporations making record earnings we'd have more that enough for free college, universal basic income, universal health care and be able to deal with our crumbling infrastructure. ",
"If you have some patience, there's an interesting analysis of the Canadian case here: _URL_0_\n\nThe abstract, the original tl;dr:\nAmong the most common objections to providing everyone with an unconditional basic income is the cost objection. It states that the cost of providing everyone with a decent income floor, beneath which no one would fall, is out of reach for governments and public finance. Income taxes would have to be raised to unacceptable levels to accomplish this, the objection claims. This paper addresses the objection by demonstrating its weaknesses and showing that a universal basic income is affordable. It is in fact more affordable than the current wasteful array of often counter-productive, bureaucratic income security programs. Better results can be achieved with lower costs by implementing basic income, or a guaranteed livable income. This study does not seek any cuts to vital public programs such as universal health care or education to attain the result of a basic income sufficient to cover one’s needs for food, modest shelter etc. at all times. Personal income taxes are not raised in this proposal and they could even be cut, while improving health outcomes for individuals and reducing health burdens upon the current system resulting from a presently dysfunctional, outdated income security model.\n\n**the real tl;dr: Canadian UBI of 15k/yr would cost $280-380B. Redundant programs bring it to $76B. Closing tax loopholes generates $80B. No new taxes. This is without the value of externalities (lost income to reduced productivity, child care, etc).**",
"2k per month is more than my current take-home at 33k per year salary. That's not \"basic\" by a long stretch. \n\nUBI would cover a bare bones life with roommates in an undesirable part of town. Not luxury or frills. ",
"7 trillion seems high.\n\nA lot of responses already address some parts of your question. Another thing to consider is, you no longer need to spend on most other welfare programs. That goes to the living wage. \n\nAlso let's say everyone qualifies for some universal healthcare, that is a huge chunk in savings. Basically it won't cost as much as it may seem because many items are offset. ",
"You don't need to focus on tax structure to understand it, although a very progressive structure would be needed, perhaps including higher taxes on corporations, which have usually fought tax law.\n\nThe idea of universal basic income as a solution to continued industrialization can reached thus:\n\nThere is an income level a person can be earning at, below which, all of that person's earnings are spent directly. They can save literally nothing from each paycheck, it all goes back straight back into the economy. The unemployed are definitely below this level. A great many workers are also at this level.\n\nFor anybody above this level, money can be, and generally is, saved up. Perhaps 'hoarded' is more appropriate for the supremely wealthy.\n\nBut there are definitely enough resources in the countries proposing it, and in many others, for everybody to be housed and fed. Opposition would say, the people at the top earned all they have and should be able to get more, given the money they have, and that the wealth redistribution is unfair. The idea of universal income would not change the wealth ranking of anyone, however. It would merely permit the very poor to have something to pay for what any middle classed person would consider an absolute bare nessecity. Since it wouldn't push many, if any, people above the aforementioned income level, the very rich would still be very rich. All this money would still consistently flow in their direction. ",
"It would cost even more than 7 trillion.\n\nThink of all those people who won't work if the incentive is neutral between staying home or getting a career started. A lot less would be produced if fewer people were working.",
"The [FAQ](_URL_0_) at /r/basicincome has this to say:\n\nHow would you pay for it?\nFirst and foremost, the basic income is paid for by direct savings of eliminating the waste, fraud, and abuse of the Welfare State. Charles Murray writes, \"After a process that has taken decades, the welfare state has severely degraded the traditions of work, thrift, and neighborliness which enabled the system to work at the outset. It is now spawning social and economic problems that it is powerless to solve.\"\n\nBy completely ending welfare as we know it, \"In the United States, a GI (guaranteed income) for all adults aged twenty-one years and older will cost no more than the projected cost of the current system as of 2011. By 2028, [the guaranteed income] will cost a trillion dollars less per year than the projected costs of the current system.\" Not all would like to go so far as Charles Murray however, and instead believe it would make more sense to keep certain universal government services, like healthcare and education for example.\n\nSecondly, the complete elimination of the Minimum Wage and all associated payroll overheard for businesses. The reason for a basic income that is a fully guaranteed, realistic, living income (see 'How much would the basic income be?') indexed to the real economy is so that these cost savings can all be fully realized and redeployed toward empowering innovation (Christensen).\n\nOf course, taxes on high-end consumption and financial transactions are currently two of the leading methods proposed to make up any gap between the savings gained in completely dismantling the current means-tested welfare state, and a sustainable basic income. Means-testing is a breeding ground for fraud and abuse in any program, and welfare is not immune. Some argue that waste, fraud, and abuse is so understated and invisible, that the gap between savings in total welfare elimination and basic income could be much smaller than presently calculated.\n\nThe general idea of fundraising is via taxation. Just as current welfare systems use tax revenue to fund subsidies, the basic income would as well. A simple setup is just a flat tax on income, and/or a flat sales tax. There are a variety of other taxes that could help to fund basic income, depending on the desired secondary effects of the tax. Many European countries use a value added tax (VAT) to positive effect without materially harming consumption. A carbon tax would help to combat global warming as well as providing a new revenue source for basic income. A tax on High Frequency Traders (\"Robin Hood tax\") would reduce market \"flash crashes\" without materially harming market efficiency, and a transaction tax on all electronic transactions (APT tax) would tiny per transaction but massive in aggregate. A wealth tax could be more effective in reducing inequality than a traditional income tax. A land value tax (LVT) - taxing the owners of land for its value, excluding any man-made developments on it - would cause very little economic distortion while raising revenue. Many wealthy people earn more from capital gains than income, so raising the level of capital gains tax is likely to produce a lot of revenue. Inheritance tax helps to fight the unfairness of people born to rich parents having a head start in life. And of course, simply raising income tax is always an option.\n\nRecognizing the existence of our common wealth - the property that no one ever made or we all make together - and charging for its use is another method. This is what's known as the \"Alaska Model\", because it would be similar to how Alaska funds its dividends for all residents, but it would be extended to all the many other common resources like water, air, the electromagnetic spectrum, Big Data, etc. It has been estimated by Peter Barnes that this method can alone provide everyone in the US $5,000 per year.\n\nOne other possibility is to include the funding of basic income with citizen centered monetary policy. In a recession, if interest rates are very low and inflation is not too high, but the economy is not growing, the central bank will essentially print money to help increase demand. This has happened in the current crisis; the US Federal Reserve between 2009 and 2014 added $5 trillion to the money supply in quantitative easing (QE). So in certain circumstances, the central bank could print money and cover some of the cost of the basic income for the government, meaning that the government will be free to either cut taxes or increase spending to stimulate the economy without adding to its deficit.\n\nBasically, there are all sorts of underused ways to raise revenue for basic income. No one tax would be able to completely pay for it, but a combination of the different taxes discussed above, as well as the savings from dismantling the current welfare bureaucracy, make it more affordable than it appears. There are a number of studies which have proposed more detailed costed proposals for basic income: United States, UK, Ireland...\n\nNo matter how the revenue is raised however, the origins of its surplus ultimately comes from one place, and that place is the same reason the majority of our efforts no longer goes into food production, but into the 98% of our economic activity that now involves everything else. And that is the machine. The machine pays for it.",
"First off, 2k per month? What? I make $11/hr ($4 over the current minimum wage, mind you) and still don't get 2k per month. It's called *basic* income because it's for basic aspects of survival. Also, this does mean that other welfare programs would no longer be needed, thus saving money. \n\nThe other cost savings are less directly tangible. Crime would likely plummet as the people that had to steal to feed themselves would no longer need to. Obviously crime wouldn't just go away, but there's no way in hell UBI would make it worse than it currently is. Not to mention that homeless people have a hard time finding work because they don't have these basic things, which just further continues the cycle. These people don't just go away, you know. They are Americans too, and their homelessness weighs on the economy.\n\nCompanies like Walmart that pay their employees shit would lose workers by the thousands if UBI existed, as what's the point of working for shitty job if you can make it by without one? Employers across the country would actually have to make it attractive to work there, which would be better for everyone except that top 1%, as they would finally be forced to not make 480 times that of their employees. No longer could a company like Walmart rely on government programs to pick up their slack in treating their employees fairly, which us taxpayers foot the bill for."
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30o9lt | why do cross-country semi trucks constantly leapfrog / drive alongside each other on the highway thus impeding flow of traffic? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/30o9lt/eli5_why_do_crosscountry_semi_trucks_constantly/ | {
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"Well first off your comment is a bit of an over generalization considering the tens or hundreds of thousands of trucks and MILLIONS of cars on the roadways every day. Some trucks have limiters controlling their maximum speed, others don't, and not all limiters are set to the same speed, so some trucks go faster than others. Every truck driver I know has been a damned good and conscientious driver (and I know quite a few between friends and family) but drivers in cars are some of the most ignorant and oblivious assholes I've ever seen. Dodging ad weaving in and out of traffic, cutting off larger vehicles and trucks, acting like they own the road. The average compact car weighs somewhere around 800lbs give or take. The average (empty) 18 wheeler weighs 55,000 lbs. It's a little harder to stop one on a dime. So next time you blame trucks for impeding traffic, check out your fellow car drivers first. "
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184jmt | why is it always so awkward to throw something with your 'other' hand? can i learn to do it? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/184jmt/eli5_why_is_it_always_so_awkward_to_throw/ | {
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"Your body has a system known as [muscle memory](_URL_2_) that enables you to get very good at certain tasks you do all the time. You know how toddlers have to concentrate on walking but older kids can do it without even thinking? That's because when you practice walking you build muscle memory of how to do it. \nWhen you throw a ball with your dominant hand, you're making a motion that you've done a lot before. Since you already have muscle memory of how to do it, you don't need to think much about it. When you throw with the other hand, you don't have all that practice to draw on. Even though your brain knows the sort of thing that has to happen, there's a lot of tiny adjustments in effort and timing that add up to make a big difference. \nIf you spend some time throwing with your off-hand, you'll eventually build up enough muscle memory to make it just as easy and comfortable as throwing with your dominant hand. \n\nFurther information: [Ambidexterity](_URL_0_) and [Handedness](_URL_1_)"
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||
2v8ixw | why aren't books published in a single, standard set of dimensions like dvds, blu rays, cds, or lps are? | I'm currently in the process of procrastinating over a paper and amidst my toiling over of books, I became rather curious as to why books don't all share the same dimensions. The DVD industry has settled on a standard for package dimensions, same with Blu Ray. Vinyls all have the same dimension (except for LP v. SP, etc.). So why is that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2v8ixw/eli5why_arent_books_published_in_a_single/ | {
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"[Relevant xkcd](_URL_0_)\n\nDVDs and Blu Rays come in Keep Cases originally created by Amaray. I imagine their popularity is due to particular companies favoring them for strength and cost and those companies being quite proliferate eventually leading to a standard.\n\nBooks were initially a work of art in their own right, even before the words written in them were ever read. Binding was a skill and more expensive books were often richly decorated. Each binder will have had their own opinion on size and shape and thickness of paper etc. To this day different printers will have different presses and various book styles they produce. Because books don't all contain the same number of words in the same way that a DVD can store something like 4 GB of data then you need different layouts and different shapes. A book like GRRM's Dance With Dragons is vastly different to a chemistry high school textbook. You also need to account for images, layout and quality of printing and paper. \n\nYou might find that some book types will have very similar dimensions, but still, there's not much call for standardising. ",
"For the rest of mediums, it needs to be standardized size for technical reasons. For books there is no such a need. Book contains real physical data that are not interpreted by machines so you don't have to standardize them, but you may benefit from different size for book. Child book, pocket novel, dictionary, encyclopaedia each may require different size to perfectly do its job."
]
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2ppud7 | what causes the ring in my coffee cup and why does it not color the whole cup? | The longer it takes me to drink my coffee the darker each of the rings get. Why does the coffee not stain everything up to the level of coffee, and only stain a thin line where the top of my coffee sits?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ppud7/eli5what_causes_the_ring_in_my_coffee_cup_and_why/ | {
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"The water in your cup evaporates and residue from the coffee is left behind forming the rings. As time goes on more and more water evaporates and the ratio of residue is the coffee gets higher, making a darker ring.",
"It happens as the water in the coffee (or tea!) evaporates from the surface and leaves the coffee/tea particles in place. When the water's gone, they only have the sides of your mug to cling on to, thus a ring right where the surface evaporation was happening.\n\n_URL_0_"
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3d617d | how are drugs and other illegal things gotten into prisons? is the security that bad? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3d617d/eli5_how_are_drugs_and_other_illegal_things/ | {
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"Security isn't that bad, criminals are that good.\n\nThese aren't kindergarten teachers, these are criminals, many of whom were involved with illegal transportation, smuggling, etc.\n\nWhether it's spotting a hole in security checks, creating situations where protocols are violated, bribing/corrupting guards, or even just outwitting those in charge, inmates have nothing better to do all day than figure out how to beat the system.\n\nKeep in mind, much of the time, it's crooked guards, threats, and bribes that get a procedure to be violated. Security is only as strong as the weakest part.",
"Most likely an employee of the prison is sneaking things in. So, yes, security is that bad. Sometimes a prisoner might be able to sneak drugs in on there person if they are not searched thoroughly enough. That would be more likely at a jail than a prison.",
"One of my bosses also works as an administration for my local prison (houses ~3,000 inmates at minimum-to-medium security). He was saying that their latest big bust happened by coming across tennis balls filled with tobacco, drugs and small electronics that were lobbed over the fence into the yard. They found around 50 of those balls.\n\nAlso, he said they just got rid of a couple crooked guards who would walk stuff in for cash. This is the most common way that stuff enters, but the inmates and their outside cohorts can be pretty inventive about getting it.",
"As someone that's been to prison. Most that stuff comes out someone's butt. Yes including cellphones and needles. You haven't lived till you've snorted ass heroin and packed a fat lip of ass chew. ",
"When I took a tour of a prison, the assistant warden was telling us about contraband. A lot of it comes in with visitors. You'd be surprised how people can smuggle substances inside. Other times, she said they have caught guards or other employees bringing contraband in, because it's such easy money for them.\n\nShe said that they monitor how much illegal contraband is currently circulating in the prison by keeping track of the price. Figuring demand stays about the same, they can judge the supply by the going rates. If shit's getting really cheap, they know they've got a security problem. "
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6a9mmn | how do ups and fedex delivery people get paid? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6a9mmn/eli5_how_do_ups_and_fedex_delivery_people_get_paid/ | {
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"UPS drivers are hourly employees.\n\nFedEx uses a combination of hourly employees and private contractors."
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9pmqzf | why do people tell me that lemonade, coffee, soft drinks, alcohol, etc. dehydrate me when those beverages are a very high percentage water? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9pmqzf/eli5_why_do_people_tell_me_that_lemonade_coffee/ | {
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"Because tour body spends more energy and hydration filtering out the salts and sugars then it gets from the water in them.",
"Alcohol dehydrates you because it is a diuretic - it makes you pee.\n\nThe rest don't dehydrate you, you're just better off drinking water because it doesn't contain all that sugar. "
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7w1m68 | is there a difference in the signal my cable box receives vs. my cable modem receives? is watching cable tv essentially the same as watching netflix? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7w1m68/eli5_is_there_a_difference_in_the_signal_my_cable/ | {
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"I think it’s the same “type” of signal as in digital, 0s and 1s, but they are broadcast, received, and decoded differently. \n\nI may be incorrect but someone correct me if I’m wrong but I think this is how it works...For now let’s ignore VOD and talk about regular hi def. cable with a qam tuner. Basically the cable company sends out the “broadcast”...every live channel, and your cable box receives every channel. The cable company doesn’t discriminate and send you only what you want, it sends everything hence the term broadcast. However the channels you get to watch are based on what your cable box is allowed to “decode”. This is programmed by the cable company so that you only get what you pay for. Basically the channels and programs you watch on cable are a one way steeet with your box deciding what streets you get to receive. The only signal from your cable box back to the company is to verify what channels your allowed to watch to make sure you didn’t hack your cable box to let you watch everything they broadcast without paying for it. \n\nVOD and streaming live tv like Hulu or psvue or slingtv is different. Here it’s a 2 way street...your “cable box” or app connects to a server on the internet via your cable modem to tell it to send you a video feed of something (live channel or movie on demand). It sends only the stream you want. It is not “broadcasting” indescriminately like regular cable. \n\nI think bandwidth wise the latter is more intense because it needs constant communication both ways (as it transmits packages to your device your device transmit packages confirming receipt back to the server), while regular broadcast cable only needs to send data out one way and depend on the cable box to “allow” you to watch only what you paid for. \n\nTLDR: regular broadcast cable tv is like standing in front of a crowd with a megaphone and reading a speech...but only people who paid to listen get to be on the crowd. \n\nInternet streaming tv is like you calling someone and asking them to read the speech to you over the phone. "
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42t3k5 | if bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics then why are rubbing alcohol and hydrogen peroxide still the go to for cleaning wounds? is there something about these chemicals that prevents bacteria from developing resistance to them? | I cut my finger the other day and got to thinking. So like the title says, do germs gain resistance to these chemicals or is there something else going on? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/42t3k5/eli5_if_bacteria_develop_resistance_to/ | {
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"You actually are not supposed to use either alcohol or peroxide on wounds. They kill the tissue around the wound and stunt the healing process. ",
"Because alcohol and antibiotics kill bacteria in two very different ways. Alcohol kills bacteria immediately then evaporates off. The alcohol doesn't stick around long enough for the bacteria to adapt to. Also, alcohol kills bacteria by destroying the whole bacterial cell. It's like a bomb; bacterium can't adapt to pure mechanical destruction. Antibiotics are like a lock and key sort of mechanism; after a while the bacteria realise that a certain key keeps unlocking them, so they change the shape of their lock. \n\nEdit: you don't really use alcohol or peroxide on wounds, it's way too harsh and corrosive. ",
"Antibiotics are designed to go inside your body and target bacteria. Since bacteria are cells, and your body is also cells, that means the antibiotics has to be designed to specifically target the bacteria, such as disrupting some metabolic pathway that works differently in humans. The bacteria can slightly change the way that pathway works which stops the drug from working.\n\nAlcohol dissolves cell membranes, both in our cells and bacteria. But we can regrow our cells, bacteria are just a single cell so they're dead. There's not much that can be evolved to prevent that.",
"The thing about antibiotics is they're specific tools designed to harm bacteria without harming our own cells. Things like hydrogen peroxide and rubbing alcohol make the area so inhospitable to life that it harms any cells, yours as well.\n\nAn antibiotic may target a very specific protein a bacteria uses to do something necessary to its survival. If it changes that one protein and manages to still get the job done, it will live and the antibiotic stops working. Hydrogen peroxide works because it's extremely reactive and basically tears apart many of the structures of the cell indiscriminately.",
"You have a huge range of bacteria everywhere in your body, lets compare them with a random army shall we? Lets say you have an assortment of 20 different kinds of infantry, a few different tanks, and some airforce. Now lets say you want to give the order to disable only the airforce. You need anti air weaponry for that, normal infantry wont do, you can compare that with antibiotics, most of them are designed to kill of a certain type of bacteria in a certain area. Now lets say you dont care and you want everything obliterated, you use a nuke right? You can compare alcohol or hydrogen peroxide with a nuke. What both of those substances do is destroy the wall around the bacteria, but they are not picky, they destroy everything, even the friendly troops.\n\nYou can take measures against anti air (most of the antibiotics shut a certain process in a bacteria off, bacteria can \"learn\" to work around that). You can't take measures against a nuke (much like there's nothing that can help you if you fall in a pit of acid). ",
"Let's say you have a really annoying friend who keeps eating all your food. If you dealt with the problem like an antibiotic, you'd either break his arm so he can't get the food, or jam a tennis ball in his mouth and block his food-stealing receptor. If you dealt with it like alcohol you'd peel his skin off.\n\nAntibiotic-style thief can adapt to the situation- he could grab the food with his foot instead, start using a straw so the tennis ball can't block his mouth, or just whack you with a baseball bat whenever you try to stop him.\n\nAlcohol style thief is dead because he needs skin to keep his guts inside. There is no way for him to continue without skin."
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6obwle | why do most personality disorders develop when individuals finished puberty and not sooner? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6obwle/eli5_why_do_most_personality_disorders_develop/ | {
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"Certain disorders ARE diagnosed prior to puberty (Conduct disorder, ODD, Separation Anxiety, Tourette for example). \n\nHowever, diagnosing a personality disorder is something you want to wait until after puberty for 2 different reasons. The first is that this is a permanent label. You would never want to diagnose a child with Antisocial Personality, only to later find out it was \"phase,\" because that is now always in their medical file.\n\nThe other is that puberty often changes the way that kids see the world. Waiting gives you the chance to weed out the kids who were acting out for other reasons. However, certain personality disorders (such as Antisocial) requires proof of an earlier diagnosis (Conduct Disorder) prior to the age of 15."
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7a9vlh | how did we arrive at a 40 hour work week? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7a9vlh/eli5_how_did_we_arrive_at_a_40_hour_work_week/ | {
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"Not sure if this is allowed, but this link I found explains how auto workers first went on strike to demand a work week that wasn't as harsh for the workers, attempting to scale back from a 48 hour week to a 40 hour week, several other strikes followed, along with a terrible fire at a shirt factory that led to the Fair Labor Standards Act that established the 40 work week as the standard. Let try that link: _URL_0_",
"The short answer is: Blood, violence and death. \n\nIn the fully developed industrialsation, around the end of the 19th century up until the early 20th, workers had very little rights. You worked 12 or more hour shifts, you got paid by results (kg of coal found - you only struck rock today? Well, bad luck for you!). They were basically (ELI5) modern slaves, the employer could set rules, remove pay, they had no insurance for illness or retirement. They lived in very small flats, and beds (!) often were rented out to strangers - you do do not need a bed when you are working, right?\n\nIf you annoyed your employer, you lost a job in a time without any social welfare and no way to safe up money. If you had an accident at work, you might have been brought to the hospital ward, which was conveniently outside of the factory area which means that if you die after your (work) accident it happens outside of the factory/mine and this means your family cannot get pay. After all, you did not die at work, right? (The list goes on and on)\n\nThen people got fed up with it and went on strike. Often that was to the dislike of the state which send the police and the factory owners who sent strike breakers (workers and muscle for punching).\n\nThis went on and on, workers formed Unions to fight back and over time the violence led to peaceful strikes which leads to the systems, workers' rights, social security and welfare you have today. Even the whole environment-debate is part of this, as by now we decided that the health of a countryside is more important than the profit of the factory-owners. In some countries all that is better developed than in others. \n\n---\n\nNow, why we do have to work more than in past times (40 hours a week) is a whole different matter. I doubt Neanderthals worked more than some 30 (or something rather low) hours *per month* for getting food and firewood. The pay and recreation options were probably just cheaper. ;)\n\n[And since so many \"nice\" people asked so \"nicely\", here is some link [Wikipedia](_URL_0_) but because they were such \"nice\" people I am not willing to do more research for such \"nice\" people.",
"Through constant struggles between workers (through unions) and employers, which currently sets it at a compromise at 40 hours. There is a pretty strong movement to reduce it further, usually 30, 32 or 35 hours, but we are not there quite yet.\n\nI suspect it will happen. Increasing automation means that we will have to decide between:\n\n* less time worked per person;\n\n* mass unemployment;\n\n* people doing \"fake\" or \"constructed\" jobs of little real value.\n\nOf those alternatives, less time seems the best.",
"Here's something I remember from my grandparents, who were involved with the unions in the 1930s - my grandmother was involved in the Textile Strike of 1934 and my grandfather was a member of the IWW and their attempts to organize railroad workers (he worked for the Southern Railway at the time).\n\nThey both had a saying: \"Eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, and eight hours of what we will.\" So five days of work at eight hours equals 40 hours. That was their goal. I believe this saying originated in England and was brought home by American soldiers who had served overseas alongside British troops.\n\nSo that's my understanding of the \"40-hour\" week.",
"8 hours to sleep, 8 hours for yourself, 8 hours to work. 5 days a week. Weekends cuz God.\n40 hours",
"Interesting read. In my country, Denmark, it's 37 hours a week. Some political parties are fighting to lower it because of stress and family life and because we get paid enough to lower it, it's not unrealistic.",
"A lot of things went into it. workers were pushing for better conditions, unions started forming, people died from shitty work conditions, and then [Henry Ford set the 40 hr work week in place](_URL_0_). Ford was one of the biggest companies then so that was a big deal. Then in the 30s, the fair labor standards act was passed and I think thats what standardized the 40 hr work week ",
"Rich people like more money?",
"Try working in a deep red state, most entry level jobs will expect more than 40 and you will start to understand why nobody wants to work that hard if they can avoid it.",
"There was a standard a while ago that there was \"8 hours for work, 8 hours for sleep, and 8 hours for play\"\n\nIn a M-F work week that comes up to 40 hours. The real question is where we got our 2 day weekend"
]
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2tvlu2 | how is it that the top post in /r/funny has almost 40 thousand link karma, but the guy who posted it has under 5 thousand? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2tvlu2/eli5_how_is_it_that_the_top_post_in_rfunny_has/ | {
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"_URL_0_\n\n > Karma also does not share a 1:1 ratio with upvotes. It is common for link karma to be lower than the total number of upvotes you receive on your links. This also applies to comment karma.\n",
"In addition to /u/Schutzel's answer, that particular user has many posts below 50% upvotes, so he has a lot of negative points."
]
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"http://www.reddit.com/r/help/wiki/faq#wiki_my_karma_is_not_going_up_.2F_my_link_karma_is_stuck"
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2ux82l | what does being awarded "new-york times best seller" mean and why does every book have it? | Seriously, every other book I see has this boasted somewhere on the sleeve... Why is that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ux82l/eli5_what_does_being_awarded_newyork_times_best/ | {
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"There is one chosen each week, so there are 52 Best Seller's a year.",
"New York Times has a way of measuring how many copies of a book are sold each week, when a book is the highest selling in a week it becomes a New York Times Bestseller."
]
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3oph1l | why does spring water taste so bad from a gallon bottle rather than a smaller one? | I bought a gallon of Zephyrhills Spring Water and shit tastes like straight ass. However their smaller portions taste like water. What gives? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3oph1l/eli5_why_does_spring_water_taste_so_bad_from_a/ | {
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"what does it taste if you pour it in a glass? is there still a difference? ",
"Maybe it's an older bottle?\n\nThe reason people say to not reuse plastic water bottles is that over time the plastic starts to erode into the water. Maybe the bigger bottles have worse plastic quality and the plastic is making it taste like butt."
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39ie9y | why is there so much hate towards fat people? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/39ie9y/eli5_why_is_there_so_much_hate_towards_fat_people/ | {
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"Probably because the fat people haters have very few spaces where they can express those types of views, so they do it here on reddit.\n\n",
"The enormous size of their bodies produces obscene smells. \n\nThey often take up 2 seats. \n\nGluttony is bad. ",
"Remember its not towards all fat people, but the ones who promote being fat like its no big deal. (it is).\n",
"If I was speaking to a 5-year-old, I'd simply say this:\n\nScientists and doctors have proven that being obese can make you die early and cause living problems. Many people say that being obese is okay, when it's clearly not. The same people who say being fat is okay usually shame people who are fit. It is not fair that people who are obese believe it's okay and 100% healthy to live this way, when other illnesses (like anorexia which is basically the same thing as obesity, in reverse) is not seen this way. \n\nThis makes people mad. Therefore fat people hate. \n\nI'm not apart of this FPH movement, but that's what I've put together?"
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4wwv0t | is inflation necessary? could we have a functional economy without it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4wwv0t/eli5_is_inflation_necessary_could_we_have_a/ | {
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"A small amount of inflation is necessary for a healthy economy because it incentivizes people to invest their money now because to not do so would devalue their money in the future.\n\nExample if inflation is at 1% per year, then if you have $100 at the start of the year it will be worth less than $100 at the end of the year. This encourages you to invest the money and earn at least 1% in growth to outpace inflation.\n\nWhen inflation is *too high* it becomes difficult to receive a return on your investment higher than the inflation, which is not good. When inflation is zero or worse, less than zero, people don't invest because your money is worth more just by doing nothing. That is very bad for the economy when people just hold onto their money and do nothing with it.",
"Theoretically, yes we could have a functioning economy without inflation. People have an incentive to invest because the returns from that investment (i.e. profits) are higher than alternative uses of the money. So, you don't need inflation to encourage people to invest. One thing it *does* help with is set the bar for investments: If the expected return on an investment is lower than inflation, most people won't make the investment because it's unprofitable. This helps creative destruction remove low performing businesses in favor of higher performing businesses. But, again, inflation isn't the only reason for that.\n\nThe reason it zero inflation doesn't work in practice is because it's pretty much impossible to actually hit zero inflation. Inflation (or deflation) is determined by the amount of money available in an economy relative to the amount of goods and services traded in that economy. But, the goods and services are always changing, sometimes growing fast, sometimes growing slowly, and sometimes decreasing. But the amount of money available is more or less controlled by the central bank. So, in order to get 0 inflation, the central bank would need to know how many goods and services were being traded and how much money was being demanded, and be able to increase or decrease the money supply instantaneously. This is impossible. Not \"impossible with current technology,\" but pretty much flat out impossible. So, to prevent deflation (which is *really bad,*) the central bank intentionally overshoots some and creates a little inflation."
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1g7ycb | why do people drown? | I was reading an [article](_URL_0_) about what real drowning looks like, and I started wondering why people drown.
Of course, I can understand that it's possible for someone to faint for whatever reason while they are in the water, and then drown, but if the person is conscious, how does it happen? This is difficult for me to understand, because I've known how to swim from a very young age, so I don't remember what it's like to not instinctively know how to float/keep my head above water. Also, can you be a very good swimmer and drown in a swimming pool while staying conscious?
Edit: Thanks everyone for your answers! (Now I'm afraid to go swimming) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1g7ycb/eli5_why_do_people_drown/ | {
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"If you don't know proper swimming technique, it is actually very difficult to keep yourself afloat. Once your head starts dipping into the water, your reflexes do the wrong things for what you actually need to do. Eventually you exhaust yourself to the point you cannot keep yourself afloat.",
"If I remember correctly, drowning can happen when water gets into the airways and lungs, and the airways close to keep more water out, which of course can lead to death. It's an uncontrollable reflex of the body. And even the strongest and most experienced of swimmers can be sapped of strength when pulled out by an undertow or fast current, or succumb to hypothermia in cold water. ",
"If you know how to swim you're like a bird asking why do humans go splat when they jump off buildings. Although even the most experienced swimmers drown sometimes. They may have taken on a swim that is too challenging, like swimming a couple miles out into the ocean and back. I'll tell you a story that happened to me. I was swimming out in long lake in upstate NY and half way through I was very tired I couldn't move my hands and feet anymore. I knew exactly what I had to do, but it was like my limbs were just tired and wanted to sleep. So I got onto my back and tried to float while moving towards my destination. This worked...for a while but soon no matter what I did I just kept sinking, my lungs were tired too. As I started going under I fought to stay up a dose of adrenaline gave me momentary strength and I began thrashing to stay up, but the energy was fleeting. I began to panic. My breaths became short and rapid. Before I knew it I was inhaling water, but I didn't *want* to I needed **AIR**. Then everything went black. Fortunately for me a near by kayaker saw me as I was thrashing and got there just a couple seconds later. I was in such a panic that I didn't even notice her coming all my focus was on air.",
"Panic can prevent you from doing even the obvious thing to save yourself. The knowledge that water can kill you, coupled with the knowledge that you don't know how to swim, is a perfect recipe for blind panic. This is one way you get stories of people drowning in shallow pools when all they would have had to do is stand up. People who have never learned how to handle themselves in water are prone to flail wildly, which is a fast way to sink.",
"follow-up question. if someone is dragged out to sea, cant they just float on their back indefinitely? I dont find that tires me at all"
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fh292u | why dont limbs grow back? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fh292u/eli5_why_dont_limbs_grow_back/ | {
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"Think of repairing a cut as a result of a function, rather than the body consciously knowing it needs to repair it. When you break the skin barrier and hit blood, the blood is being pumped by the heart and bleeds out of the cut, where it clots and hardens when it is exposed to the air. Then over time your body regenerates skin cells from it’s base layer and that clotted blood falls off. That’s why a scar forms for deep cuts as the base layer that skin grows from becomes deformed due to damage.\n\nHowever, the design and function of entire limbs have many base layers of cells that are removed (like bones, nails, hair, skin, and blood vessel designs and things of that sort). Theoretically, stem cells may give us the ability to regrow limbs, but for now these base layers of cells just have a function and our body has mechanical functions (in a sense) to keep the body alive.\n\nThere’s also the release of hormones that cause our body to have responses (like swelling to stabilize a damaged site, adrenaline to speed up our reflexes and increase our pain tolerance, and other things) which cause different functions to occur that aren’t occurring constantly (like blood pumping and skin growing).\n\nIf we effectively could utilize stem cells to behave similarly to hormones, then this could be a possibility. But for now it just doesn’t happen naturally."
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6ffvtd | why exactly movies are released on br/dvd waaay after the release? | We live in digitized world, why aren't movies digitally available right after the release? AFAIK there's no other industry so withheld by one entity (movie theater). It's like games would not be available AFTER you can play them in arcades for couple of months first.
I apologize if my question is confusing, English is my second language. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ffvtd/eli5_why_exactly_movies_are_released_on_brdvd/ | {
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"It is an agreement so that the movie studios can make more money. By having a tiered release it allows the studios (and industries) to make more money off the release of a movie.\n\nIf a movie was released in theaters, on BR/DVD, on HBO/Showtime, and on Netflix all at once, most everyone would just watch it on the easiest format available to them. Mostly it would be renting the movie and others would use a streaming service.\n\nBy releasing the movie in theaters first, all the people willing an able will pay a lot to see it in theaters. Later the BR/DVD is sold and people who can buy it. Lastly the movie is made available on streaming services. Doing this you even get some people to do all three: see it in theaters, buy the disc, and pay for a streaming service that has the movie.",
"The theater release + disk/digital release essentially lets them \"double dip.\" \n\nMany people will end up paying for this movie twice. First to see it in theaters, then later to own it in another format. \n\n > It's like games would not be available AFTER you can play them in arcades for couple of months first.\n\nThis has happened! And it used to happen a lot more a few decades ago. Pong, Pacman, Street Fighter, Donkey Kong (among many others) got their start in arcades before being ported to home computers and consoles. It's no longer as big a thing, but in Japan (where arcades are doing much better) you still see it, Namco made millions releasing the idolm@ster games in arcades and then getting otakus to re-buy their waifus for consoles.",
"Its not nearly as delayed now as it used to be back in the days of VHS. it's progressively gotten faster, now i'm at the grocery store and i'm like \"logan? didn't i just see that like a month and a half ago?\"",
"Lol, when I was a kid, it seemed like it took 18-24 months for a movie to be released on video. Now it's like 3 months."
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b1bb8t | how do facial oil absorbing sheets work? | They’re so dang satisfying to use but I have no idea how they absorb oil and become transparent. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b1bb8t/eli5_how_do_facial_oil_absorbing_sheets_work/ | {
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"Not sure but - I believe it’s made out of a natural fibre that absorbs oil - much like sponges and water. \n\nI think this because it’s the same reason hair becomes greasy - it’s great at absorbing oils. In fact there was a campaign to donate hair to some charity or something to help mass oil spills in the ocean. It’s pretty interesting but I don’t know the exact reason.\n\nIt might have something to do with that the fibres they are made from grow/synthesised from materials with either high levels of oils or have the tendency to attract oil.\n\nHope it helps? "
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9lifgk | what's the difference between using o negative blood and type-specific blood in emergency medicine? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9lifgk/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_using_o/ | {
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"On the positive: any O- blood, with a few less common exceptions, can be transfused into any patient without issue. In an emergency situation where an immediate transfusion is critical, waiting a few minutes to test a patient's blood may do harm to the patient.\n\nOn the negative: O- blood is rare, as donors of that type reflect only a small percentage of donations. \n\nBasically, unless it's a dire emergency, medical professionals will not use an O- blood unit for a transfusion unless the patient has been found to be the O- blood type.",
"Coming into the ED, often times we are unable to receive sufficient information about a patient’s blood type in such condition. Any patient that we fear may be bleeding heavily will need replacement, and if the situation is in need of blood as soon as possible, we will use type O blood while taking blood from the patient and perform a “type and screen” which will give us information about their blood type. After we receive their blood type, we can use their specific blood type for further transfusion. Large amounts of blood transfusion is very risky and even type O blood has to be carefully observed for rejection.",
"Think of it this way: your body doesn't like having stuff put into it that isn't normally there.\n\nIf you are type A, you have an A thingy in your blood. You can't give that to people who don't normally have it.\n\nIf you are type B, you have a B thingy in your blood. You can't give that to people who don't normally have it.\n\nIf you are type O, you don't have either, so your blood works in anyone.\n\nIf your blood is Rh positive, you have a + thingy that you can't give to people who don't normally have it.\n\nIf your blood is Rh negative, you don't have that.\n\nSo O- blood works for anyone, because it doesn't have the stuff that bodies that don't normally have A or B or Rh+ react to."
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7lu3j5 | why do people’s voices change when they are advertising a product? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7lu3j5/eli5_why_do_peoples_voices_change_when_they_are/ | {
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"You're being paid to present specific information as clearly as possible. \n\nSo, you tend to go out of your way to enunciate everything clearly, and cover up your accent or regional dialect.\n\nYou can get a similar effect yourself. Try reading a news article to a group of people, it's the same thing. You'll find yourself taking on a more neutral tone and projecting your voice differently.",
"I would think they talk different because either \n* scripted\n* trying to be as clear as possible\n* possible new actors who don't have the skills yet\n* actors tried to be more not robotic and the director did not like it\n* the actor has done a lot of takes/different advertisements that day and wants to get it done",
"Two days ago I was listening to a podcast. The host does live reads a couple minutes after starting his program. I started fast forwarding on my phone 15sec’s at a time and winded up stopping just a few seconds before the end of the read. \n\nIt dawned on me that I do this fairly often. I wind up “guessing right” as to the very end of the advertisement reads. \n\nAfter thinking about it I realized that I likely noticed a difference in the speakers voice at the end of the ad. I then replayed the ads and there is a difference in tone and tempo when the host is nearing the end of the ad. It’s fairly clear. \n\nI thought it was fairly interesting that my mind was likely catching something I hadn’t consciously thought about. \n\nMore to your question, I think a lot of voice inflections in certain circumstances has a lot to do with what you’ve seen previously. \n\nPeople speak differently when performing. It seems to me that people’s performance voices evolve at a different rate than normal conversational voices. \n\nIt would be interesting to know how different the first few performance voices were compared to everyday conversation. \n\nI’d assume the ad voices evolve at a slower pace because advertising is largely trying to be comforting, and recognizable. Smaller companies are often trying to imitate the older fore recognizable brands. \n\nFitting in is often blending in, which leads to imitation, which leads to a slower evolution, which leads back to companies telling their actors to sound more like the guy who used to do older ads for that other company. \n\nPeople find comfort in nostalgia. "
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1z7924 | why do so many teachers demonize wikipedia? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1z7924/eli5_why_do_so_many_teachers_demonize_wikipedia/ | {
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"It's not completely reliable because basically anybody can edit it",
"It's because Wikia can be edited by any member. And anyone can become a member. Therefore, there could be false information at the time that you read it. Plus, even if the content is true, it is a secondary source. A research paper requires primary sources. The primary source can be find at the bottom of a Wikia page. There is where you will find where said page got it's information from. ",
"I'm a teacher and I'm actually fine with wiki. As a place to get an overview, as a place to find links to primary or peer reviewed sources, as a great explanation of many topics in language my students can digest.\n\nI just don't want it referenced Ina bibliography- anything worth referencing on wiki came from somewhere else, and the site *hyperlinks* the reference for goodness' sake. I want my kids to check the original source and the context, not just quote second hand info.\n\nAlso, sometimes there is specialist knowledge that wiki doesn't explain, because it's a reference for everyday understanding. If I want my kids to give me an in depth answer, wiki isn't usually detailed enough.",
"It's a tertiary source, like any encyclopedia. Teachers don't accept encyclopedias for the same reason playing the Telephone Game is interesting.",
"It is totally unreliable for use as a source. Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. However if a source is reliable it will have a link which has a page that backs up its reliability. I went to University where they told us go to the links which are footnoted next to Wikipedia sources not to use the Wikipedia page itself.",
"Wikipedia isn't a source, it's a collection of information with sources on the bottom. I don't see anything wrong with it as long as the information is sourced from a credible source.",
"The lack of peer review and the ability for anyone to edit it means that information on wiki pages may be incorrect or outright falsified. If it sounds good and only a handful of people know better, it can pass off false information as authentic.",
"It's not that they dislike wikipedia, it's that Wikipedia (and all encyclopedias) are frequently used improperly by lazy students. Encyclopedias are not primary sources and as such should not be used as references on papers. \n\nA lazy student trick I developed was to cite the encyclopedia's sources rather than the encyclopedia article. ",
"Wikipedia is an amazing source of information. It's the online encyclopedia that we need. 99% of the time, I'm looking up simple facts such as the year a celebrity was born or a band's discography. There's likely no debate to those facts and no reason I should look elsewhere for the information.\n\nHowever, you shouldn't use it as a primary source when writing a paper or making a presentation, etc. If you want to use a piece of information from a WP article, check the source that is cited and use it. If there's no source cited, don't trust the statement. \n\nIt's that simple. ",
"The more informed teachers I had didn't demonized Wikipedia for being unreliable. Rather, they did not approve of it as a source for papers.\n\nThe reasoning behind this is that Wikipedia, like all encyclopedias, is a secondary source that simply compiles information from primary sources. Wikipedia offers no new information that you couldn't get by using the article's sources directly.",
"Most of my teachers tell us to use Wikipedia. But you should never cite it.",
"This is why: _URL_0_\n\n\n",
"Teacher here. I tell my students that Wikipedia is a fine place to start, but it definitely can't be your only source. We also have discussions about finding reliable sources, so hopefully they're not going to site just anything they find on the web."
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a8atzb | how are calories burned while walking? | From my understanding is that heart rate matters for calories burned. They say 10k steps equal around 200-300 calories burned. But if you're walking in a normal slow pace your heart isn't really doing much, am I missing something? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a8atzb/eli5_how_are_calories_burned_while_walking/ | {
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"Calories are burnt to fuel muscle cells to contract in order to move the limbs. The heart is not burning many of the calories itself, but the beat rate is indicative of the amount of energy being expended. The blood carries the oxygen necessary to liberate the energy. More energy requires more oxygen so the heart rate and breathing increases."
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15sz9k | what factors are involved that decide *when* the penis ejaculates | During intercourse or masturbation, the penis will go from flaccid, to erect, to stimulated, ejaculate, then either remain erect or flaccid.
At what point, however, does the penis decide to "finish up" and ejaculate? Why at that specific point? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/15sz9k/eli5_what_factors_are_involved_that_decide_when/ | {
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"I think there's a \"trigger\" when you reach a certain level of penile stimulation. This \"trigger\" helps establish a physical difference between \"I'm having sex and trying to orgasm\" and \"someone accidentally brushed against me on the train\". Life would be a little more difficult if the latter made you orgasm frequently. \n\nI believe the penis is hard coded to respond to the prolonged stimulation that reaches the trigger point.\n",
"The reason that the sex act involves thrusting and delayed ejaculation (that is, the male nervous system is set up so that ejaculation can only occur after a period of thrusting) is that thrusting removes the sperm of other males (i.e., any recent lovers the female has had) that might be in the female's reproductive tract. It is in the male's evolutionary interests that he remove any sperm currently residing in the female's reproductive tract prior to depositing his own, because that increases the probability that his sperm will fertilize the egg. The reason why the thrusting is limited is that thrusting requires energy (calories) to be expended that might evolutionarily be used for other purposes. The amount of thrusting prior to ejaculation thus represents a trade-off between thrusting enough to remove other males' sperm, but not so much that you are uselessly expending energy.",
"A couple of things to think about. Firstly, the penis doesn't ejaculate – ejaculation is the result of a bunch of muscles that force semen from glands behind your bladder (called [seminal vesicles](_URL_0_)) *through* your penis.\n\nSo what makes those muscles do that? It's actually a really complicated set of conditions! When the penis (or other secondary sexual organ) is being stimulated in a sexual way, the nerves in it send signals to your brain. All sorts of things happen: blood gets redirected to your penis (causing an erection), a bunch of pleasure chemicals flood your brain, and so on.\n\nIf the stimulation continues to a point where there are enough of the right chemicals soaking your brain, you have an orgasm -- and *usually* that comes with the muscle spasms that cause ejaculation.\n\nLike most muscular and brain responses, there are ways to train yourself to behave differently - e.g. orgasm without ejaculating (or vice-versa), recover more quickly from orgasm, hold back from orgasm/ejaculation, etc.. But there's going to be a host of individual variation as well that determines what your \"baseline\" is going to be.",
"**You're FIVE!** You don't need to know this. \n\nGo back to playing with your legos."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[
"http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminal_vesicle"
],
[]
] |
|
6b5jy0 | why do birds who are fully capable of flight choose to cross the street on foot? assuming they aren't with their babies. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6b5jy0/eli5_why_do_birds_who_are_fully_capable_of_flight/ | {
"a_id": [
"dhjwso8"
],
"score": [
6
],
"text": [
"No expert here, but flying costs infinitely more energy than walking. What I'm wondering is why when I'm on the bike and a pidgeon is on my left hand side it choses to run from my threat not by walking to the left, but to pass in front of me and go to the right.."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
6gpaqk | why can people walk up stairs without looking at their feet once, but then become alarmed going up stairs with their eyes closed? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6gpaqk/eli5_why_can_people_walk_up_stairs_without/ | {
"a_id": [
"dis0wc3",
"disnadv"
],
"score": [
4,
2
],
"text": [
"Walk up the stairs right now and tell me again that you don't see your feet while looking up the stairs, your peripherals keep you feeling safe, you close your eyes and lose all sense of awareness",
"I walk up the stairs in my house all the time in the dark. I know how many steps there are. As long as you know how many steps there are, you don't need to look at your feet."
]
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[],
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] |
|
8o5wdu | how do lint filters work/trap lint? | How do they trap lint in the little basket? The holes seem to big to trap tiny particles and googling it didn't solve my answer. Please ELI5! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8o5wdu/eli5_how_do_lint_filters_worktrap_lint/ | {
"a_id": [
"e00xw8b",
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],
"score": [
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"text": [
"You don't need holes that are the same size as the particles you're collecting, in order to collect those particles (in this case, lint fibers). Look at any dusty oscillating fan.\n\nHot air and plastic create static electricity. Those fibers, floating around on hot wind, get attracted to the plastic of the filter and hang on. Eventually enough has built up that you don't even need the static electricity anymore.\n\nAs an aside: if you take off the bottom cover of your dryer, underneath the drum is FILLED with clothes lint. Clean it yearly and your dryer will last nearly forever",
"Funny, this same subject comes up in fabric filters (environmental quality) and similar.\n\nIf something hits a solid thing (part of the filter) it sticks. Then the next thing runs into that thing and sticks. After a brief time they build up and build up until only air goes through. \n\nImagine you and 100 friends try to run though a door together. Door is plenty wide, but as your friends jam up more and more people get stuck."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
3rl1m5 | what would happen if a person tried to live in pripyat or any irradiated area ? | I guess it would be bad, but what would happen to a human? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3rl1m5/eli5_what_would_happen_if_a_person_tried_to_live/ | {
"a_id": [
"cwp15jv"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"Radiation causes DNA to mutate. If DNA mutates in certain ways, this can develop into cancers. Living in these areas increases likelihood of developing cancer. \n\nEDIT: this is assuming there's only minor radiation in the area. With high levels of radiation, cells begin to die, leading to organ failure."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
4y4yiy | what is happening inside our body when we feel different emotions? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4y4yiy/eli5_what_is_happening_inside_our_body_when_we/ | {
"a_id": [
"d6l8nxh"
],
"score": [
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],
"text": [
"A lot of chemicals. Your brain makes certain chemicals depending on how you feel. How you feel is depending on what's going on in your brain. So sad memories or seeing someone you love causes the brain to make sad or happy chemicals. These change how other parts of your brain will react. They affect the connections between brain cells. Some making them connect more or less strongly and some making them send more or fewer signals. This all swirls around and you experience an emotion. \n\n\nSome parts of your brain affected will cause the release of hormones into your blood to make your body do things. Things like crying, soothing pain and making your muscles get ready to fight or run from something scary. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
4ipin0 | do the different types of shampoos actually have any difference? i see 'anti-hairfall', 'strengthening' and a whole other bunch of flavours. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ipin0/eli5_do_the_different_types_of_shampoos_actually/ | {
"a_id": [
"d2zza60"
],
"score": [
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"text": [
"They do in many cases. But the effect that you get out of those shampoos can vary quite a bit from what you see on the advertisements with the gorgeous models flipping their massive long hair all over the place and blinding the cameramen and stuff.\n\nSome are legitimate. Anti-dandruff shampoos usually contain chemicals that actually do reduce future flaking for a while. And those containing rogaine actually can help some people's hair grow a little thicker. \n\nSome are a little less legitimate but really do have an effect. Oils or waxes can make hair look shinier or help it stay in control. And there are all of these oils like argan and jojoba and coconut that, well, are largely just oils as far as your hair is concerned. If applied correctly, you could put lard in your hair and get largely the same results... or just not wash it AT ALL (something called the \"no poo\" movement sprung up to advocate this approach) and let your normal scalp oil secretions go back to balancing themselves over time.\n\nBut like a great many products in the beauty industry, many misrepresent themselves or use advertising to completely exaggerate their effect. A shampoo doesn't make hair \"four times stronger\" unless it has glue in it - and what the hell does \"four times stronger\" mean anyway? Stronger than what? Tissue paper? \n\nSo they use gorgeous models and mush words to make their product stand out and create demand for it, and then they add pleasing perfumes and highly specialized packaging to help it appeal and sell more. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
2ekhe4 | how can rockstars like keith richards and ozzy osbourne do so many hard drugs and consume so much alcohol over their lifetimes, yet still live into old age? | As the title says. How can these famous rockstars consume so many hard drugs and alcohol, yet still somehow live well into old age and function some what normally? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ekhe4/eli5_how_can_rockstars_like_keith_richards_and/ | {
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"You have picked two people who are MASSIVE statistical outliers. Even science is fairly confused by their survival. I believe they were studying Mr. Richards to understand how he's still breathing.",
"While he has relapsed, Ozzy has been mostly clean for quite a while. And he clearly has some brain damage. Lemmy from Motorhead is another famous old rocker who did tons of drugs, and he had to cut back on a lot of his vices due to diabetes.",
"Your genes play a huge role in things that you might not think it does. \n\nIt's the same reason why someone can smoke for 2 years and develop lung cancer, whereas you can have a 98 year old man who has been smoking since he was 12 and not have cancer. \n\nThe two examples that you have given are outliers. If you gave 100 people the same treatment as those guys they would be the data points that you would say are so far out of your data set that you can't really count them more than a fluke.",
"Scientists have sequenced Ozzy's genes, and it turns out that he's liver produces radically more of an enzyme called cytochrome P450 than regular people. Cytochrome P450 are a class of enzymes that break down drugs like cocaine, so his body is able to rapidly detoxify the drugs he takes, before they can kill him.",
"Ozzy has said in interviews that he is NOT fine as a result of the drugs and drinking, and he's annoyed that people seem to think that the abuse has had no effect on him.",
"It also helps to keep someone around to turn you on your side when you pass out. Lots of drug related deaths are from choking on your own vomit. ",
"Basically, everyone is wired differently. On one hand, you have someone like Keith Richards who has destroyed his body over the last five decades but keeps chugging along (albeit not exactly as a pillar of health, but he's still alive). Then, you have someone like Len Bias (#1 pick in the 1986 NBA Draft) who was a 6'8\" physical specimen, who died of a cocaine overdose at age 22 (and didn't have a history of heavy drug use).",
"They're not fat, and they can afford excellent medical care.",
"They're the lucky ones. They're the few hard-partiers who survived to old age. You hear about all the other ones who died in their 20s, 30s, and 40s from alcohol and drugs, and you say \"well yeah, that's what happens when you drink, smoke, and shoot up.\" and then we get to marvel at the small handful who were lucky and didn't die from it all. Heavy drinking and drug use isn't guaranteed to kill you, it's just likely to kill you. ",
"They're rich, they have access to the best doctors and can buy as much medicine as they want. They can also buy trips to rehab, nutritionists, health instructors etc. They can buy whatever drugs or alcohol they want then buy the means to repair whatever damage was done. \n\nOzzy can barely function though.",
"Luck, and probably also probably exaggeration to a certain extent. If a rock star goes on a few crazy benders a year, people will see them on said benders and assume they do it every night. Also, they want to project their \"rock star\" image of living that kind of reckless lifestyle, so people assume they took pounds upon pounds of hard drugs in their lives. They're often selling an image or acting a character that isn't them, like pro-wrestlers who act all mean in the ring and on tv, but are your average nice guys in real life.",
"Some people are anomalies or are just lucky. Take the example of William Burroughs, a lifelong habitual heroin user who lived to 83. ",
"Ozzy Osbourne got tested and was confirmed to have a genetic mutation that makes him insanely resistant to drugs. Neanderthal lineage, apparently. At least that's what he said in his autobiography."
]
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1tpb2s | all the stages of starvation up to death. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1tpb2s/eli5_all_the_stages_of_starvation_up_to_death/ | {
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"text": [
"Read this: \n\n_URL_0_\n",
"The first stage would be the conversion of any stored glycogen (form of stored excess glucose) into glucose. The second stage would be the breaking down of any stored fats in your body to provide for energy. The third and final stage would be the rapid muscle wasting once you do not have any fats left for breaking down. By this point of time, you may undergo cardiac arrest or simply die from diseases due to a weakened immune system. You're pretty much screwed at this point.",
" > Fascinatingly, humans may be the only species who have brains that don't require the ongoing ingestion of glucose to function. Most animals are forced to break down skeletal muscles at a higher rate. The going theory is that, because we humans are so greatly dependent on our intelligence to survive, we have evolved the capacity to stay cognitively sharp while in the midst of prolonged starvation, thus allowing us to search for food.\n\n\nWe evolved to suffer longer than other animals?\n",
"This five minute video gives a fair amount of detail on the subject.\n\n_URL_0_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://io9.com/5941883/how-your-body-fights-to-keep-you-alive-when-youre-starving"
],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RehCW0KM8RM"
]
] |
||
3g6fig | when rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide are applied to an open wound; what is it in the liquids that makes/creates a burning sensation? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3g6fig/eli5_when_rubbing_alcohol_or_hydrogen_peroxide/ | {
"a_id": [
"ctvaibl"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"The alcohol and hydrogen peroxide, that's what burns, the only other thing in those solutions is water. They burn because they cause cells to die and trigger your nerves."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
41tcgh | why babies don't even have a bad breath even not using a mouthwash or something? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41tcgh/eli5_why_babies_dont_even_have_a_bad_breath_even/ | {
"a_id": [
"cz56bjt"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"_URL_0_\nI guess most people have completely normal breath.\n\nEdit: There are studies who say up to 60% of the population has bad breath. Mostly (90%) because of bad teeth - babies don't have teeth. \n_URL_1_"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YdvFBxBD5g",
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12143181"
]
] |
||
1rimfr | what do cooking show hosts do with the food they prepare once the recording is finished, if they're not cooking for a live audience (giada at home, for example)? | Do they throw the food away? Do they feed the food to the production crew? Do they freeze the food? What happens? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1rimfr/eli5_what_do_cooking_show_hosts_do_with_the_food/ | {
"a_id": [
"cdnmuub"
],
"score": [
2
],
"text": [
"it usually goes to the crew for lunch"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
czd7h4 | what is a high deductible health insurance plan, and is it good or bad to have one? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/czd7h4/eli5_what_is_a_high_deductible_health_insurance/ | {
"a_id": [
"eyxl8y1",
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"text": [
"Basically the deductible is the amount for healthcare expenses you are expected to pay out of pocket in any given year before insurance will pay anything.. \n\n(Of course, insurance negotiated rates will still be provided and some services may be covered regardless of the deductible status ).\n\nA high deductible plan is often cheaper on the monthly billing statement, but if you have a lot of expenses in a given year you will be expected to pay a bit more out of pocket initially.",
"If you are healthy and rarely go to the doctor, a high deductible plan means you don’t pay a lot out of your paycheck, but likely will pay for doctor visits unless it is a large expense like surgery or broken leg. \nIf you don’t have a high deductible, you usually pay more each week from your paycheck, but more will be covered in doctor appointments. This is usually a better option if you have to go to the doctor on a regular basis with ongoing health issues (like allergy shots or diabetes or anything that means you see the doctor often.)",
"This is better in r/personalfinance."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
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] |
||
6sxunb | why do musicians/djs wear headphones on one ear? does it actually do anything to help them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6sxunb/eli5_why_do_musiciansdjs_wear_headphones_on_one/ | {
"a_id": [
"dlgdjrm",
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"text": [
"The headphone is going to be playing them an immediate feed of what they're doing with their equipment, and the free ear so that they can compare that to what the audience is hearing as it's coming out of the speakers. It lets them adjust anything they need to as they play so that the audience can get the best sound and experience they can deliver.",
"The headphones play music from a track that the audience can't hear and is about to be mixed in, so the DJ is able to listen to both the next track and the track currently being played so they can beat match better.\n\nOr they just think they look cool I guess.",
"To hear booth speakers. \n \nIt is easier (and tighter) to mix fully in headphones in larger clubs due to the delay on larger Soundsystem's in nightclubs."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[],
[]
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||
1cat5t | the tiger woods thing that happened today? | Explain the rule, what Tiger did, how they dealt with it, and why it is so controversial.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1cat5t/eli5_the_tiger_woods_thing_that_happened_today/ | {
"a_id": [
"c9epa9x"
],
"score": [
13
],
"text": [
"Tiger hit his ball into a water hazard. When this happens you take a one stroke penalty and you can either drop a ball where you originally played the shot or any distance behind the point where the ball entered the hazard (in line with the angle it entered). In some cases there may also be a designated 'drop zone' where the ball may be dropped.\n\nTiger chose to drop the ball where he originally played it. However, video evidence showed that he was actually about two yards further back, giving him a slight advantage. The committee questioned him on this after his round and he admitted to stepping back from where the original shot was to drop the ball. So he was given a two stroke penalty meaning the 6 he scored on the hole became an 8.\n\nThe controversy is basically because signing and handing in an incorrect scorecard usually results in the player being disqualified. Many people believe that had it been anyone else they would have been disqualified and he only got away with a two stroke penalty because he's Tiger Woods."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
1vbs3n | why are green grapes and apples more tart than their red counterparts? | Is it just a coincidence? Or is there an actual causation relationship between the characteristics of the fruit that cause its color and taste? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vbs3n/eli5_why_are_green_grapes_and_apples_more_tart/ | {
"a_id": [
"ceqqlle",
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"score": [
10,
3
],
"text": [
"As certain fruits get ripe, the malic acid in them decreases, causing unripe (green) fruits such as apples and grapes to be high on malic acid, making them more sour.",
"This is basically coincidental. Certain foods, especially among closely related foods, do have differences of flavor with color variations but across species it tells you very little. Certain-colored fruits contain the same chemicals - but this isn't the case with grapes and apples.\n\nAnd for those who are talking about ripening - an immature granny smith is yellow not green.\n\nAnd as a final point find and eat a Liberty Apple - they are often very red and can be far more tart than a Granny Smith."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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] |
|
3laisc | why don't people punch with both hands at once? | Presumably it would deliver double the blow, and in my experience punching with both hands at once is significantly more fun. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3laisc/eli5_why_dont_people_punch_with_both_hands_at_once/ | {
"a_id": [
"cv4kqpx"
],
"score": [
5
],
"text": [
"A lot of the power of a properly thrown punch comes from the hips and legs as you turn your body into the punch. By throwing both fists at once you only get the power of the arms in the punch."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
6apz52 | how can pulling the plug on a computer potentially corrupt software/files in the computer? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6apz52/eli5_how_can_pulling_the_plug_on_a_computer/ | {
"a_id": [
"dhghs64"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"It's not pulling the plug that corrupts a computer, it's the fact the computer might be in the middle of reading a file then writing over it. \n\nIf a power source is removed whilst the writing is going ahead, the sudden stop would cause the writing to be incomplete and the computer wouldn't know where to begin once power is restored. This is what gives you a corrupted file. \n\nELI5: An easier way to see. Got a laptop? It says you need to plug in your laptop whilst running a windows update, as a dead battery whilst updating windows could have disastrous results and could possibly corrupt some important windows files. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
411z4m | what is the evolutionary reason behind getting endorphin after excercise? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/411z4m/eli5what_is_the_evolutionary_reason_behind/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyyz3yj"
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"text": [
"The same system that trips endorphins when you're injured- strenuous exercise is acutely damaging and painful to boot. Pain serves a purpose, but can be a hindrance beyond initial notification of injury, so your body has a way of turning it down. \n\nLong tattoo sessions start to feel like long runs, for the same reason. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
8rvtm1 | does food sit normally in your stomach in space? | I continually see videos of astronauts eating different foods in space like pudding and obviously due to it being space it is in an interesting form. Does it return to a normal state in their stomach? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8rvtm1/eli5_does_food_sit_normally_in_your_stomach_in/ | {
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"text": [
"So, the problem is, if everything is falling together, how can food 'fall' through the digestive system?\n\nThe simple answer is that it dosen't! It dosen't in space and it dosen't on earth either. The food in your mouth is pushed to the stomach by muscles in the lining of the tube between mouth and your stomach. Then, in your stomach the digested food is pushed again into your intestines. While in the intestines it is pushed all the way to the, well, to the end.\n\nAs a simple experiment, try drinking water while standing on your head. You will be amazed that you can indeed swallow the water. You could even eat a full meal on your head and you would have no problem getting your food where it belongs. You might want to get on your feet, though, before it all gets to. . . . the end! \n\n",
"Stomach got valves on the input and the output, so the valves trap the food in the stomach to be digested. \n\nAlso gotta remember, stomach is full of chewed up food and liquids - if it had gas, a person would burp it back out. So it's kind of like how astronauts train in swimming pools because it's kind of like space - the environment of the stomach is already not so different on earth than it is in space. ",
"I actually asked an astronaut this question at a meet and greet in 2009 and his answer was: in space, your stomach and digestion system don’t always know which way it should be pushing food. He complained of this as an early and ongoing issue for his trip to the ISS. So it would seem that at least some of the digestion processes are aided by gravity.",
"The simplest way to think of this is on earth you stomach will act like a water bag, the pressure in the bag acting down due to gravity. In space your stomach would act more like a balloon, the pressure pushing outward in every direction. That is why most people feel sick when they experience 0g."
]
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[],
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l0puj | how do people afford to survive once they're unemployed? | I've seen posts about people who have been unemployed for a year or more, and my question is how are these people surviving? How can they afford a house to live in? How can they afford food to eat? How can they afford a computer to surf Reddit on! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/l0puj/eli5_how_do_people_afford_to_survive_once_theyre/ | {
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"text": [
"Savings, unemployment benefits, helps from friends and family, selling stuff, borrowing and credit cards, and finally, just not paying bills until stuff gets shut off and you get evicted.",
"That's when the government offers assistance, like unemployment pay, subsidized housing, food stamps, things like that. But many people don't qualify for those things.\n\nThese people often rely on friends or family to get by. There are a lot of things we take for granted in our daily lives that an unemployed buddy could really appreciate, like leftover food we'd otherwise throw away, a couch to sleep on, and sometimes even an old laptop!\n\nThose without anyone to rely on often end up wandering around, trying to fend for themselves. After a while, these people could draw you a map of the best public bathrooms in town, the best libraries to kill time in, and which food places will let you sneak something. And some of them end up like the homeless people you see in the streets.\n\nBut without government assistance, it's very difficult to continue having your own place after you lose your job. These people go through a lot of major lifestyle changes to find a new way to survive.",
"Employment isn't the only form of income. Have you ever filled out a credit application and looked at all the options on the form? Usually there is an option for employment and then an area to list other sources of income. \n\nPeople can make money by having investments that pay dividends/interest, owning rental property, selling things they own, etc. Sometimes people just have enough money to survive for a while without working, if you own a house you can get money out of that through special types of loans. There's also unemployment benefits and other aid. Also many people who belong to churches or other similar organizations can get aid from them or from their friends/family. \n\nSome people are lucky enough to have these options to help them survive without a job, but some people don't have these and some people do really struggle to survive when they aren't employed. ",
"You can survive by living on less than you make before you're unemployed. If you have some savings, and live on less than you make, then when your income is cut drastically you can cut back on your budget and still make ends meet. \n\nOnce unemployment runs out, however, it becomes hard. Very hard.",
"Cup a noodles!",
"Housing: Usually it's living with friends or family. If you're really struggling you sleep out of your car. Most times friends and family won't charge much if anything. I used to sleep in my car while I went to college and showered in the gym. \n\nFood: 99 cent stores, Wal-marts, damaged/expiring items on sale, or working for food. Working on home projects, cleaning the house, yard work, etc. It's like when you help a friend move and he repays you by buying pizza and beer. Also, fast food dollar menus. \n\nComputer: It's not a monthly expense. Once it's paid for, it's paid for. Plenty of places have free wi-fi including public libraries or a local coffee shop. ",
"when I was unemployed, my weekly checks were just barely enough to cover rent and bills (I live in a shit hole). I'm a student too so I started taking out higher loans (which are probably gonna screw me pretty hard in a year or two). beyond that, I'd do odd gigs I found on craigslist, sold my belongings, stole, and sold things that I stole.",
"As I saw in another thread:\n\nHold on, my mom needs to use the computer.",
"I'm currently unemployed and i can just say living of the parents. I'm not happy about it but that and the small amount I get from benefits are basically how I survive. ",
"I just went through 10 months of unemployment, and I did it a bit like this:\n\n1) Living cheaply to begin with. Internet is the only luxury I ever allowed myself. I used it as my main form of entertainment. I kept it because it was much easier to job hunt from home than having to find a cafe with internet (if you bought something). My city is not known for good infrastructure in the free wifi department.\n\n2) Parents. Thank dog for parents. I was about to move back in with them, after holding out as long as possible in my apartment. If I hadn't gotten a job when I did, I would be in the process right now of moving back in with them an hour away from my life. They have also paid my cell phone bill, even when I was working, because family plans are MUCH cheaper, and in the past I got reimbursed partially for work and would just send the money to them.\n\n3) Unemployment benefits for a few months.\n\n4) Pick up work. I picked up a gig two nights a week doing security at a bar, which eventually turned into being a back up bartender 2-3 shifts a week. It also allowed me to drink for free...which was good.\n\n5) Free meals. I'd search out any free meals being offered at bars or student events (I live near 2 universities). Also, boyfriend took much pity on me and would take me out to dinner. The last two months have been the hardest food wise, because every dime was going towards rent and utilities and to feed my dog and cat. I can't do ramen much because it literally makes me sick from so much sodium, so there was a lot of spaghetti and getting vegetables from friends' gardens. \n\n6) Computer, I've had since 2006 and have been praying to FSM it didn't die, since it was my outlet to the world of job hunting.\n\n7) I stopped paying my student loans and credit cards. This is going to lead to problems in the future, but I had no other option. I managed to get my student loans into deferment, but there's no help offered with credit cards. I am now working to retain the account from being sent to their recovery department, as I have been a long term account holder and would really like to maintain it, even with 7 months of not paying it. It's worth more in the long term even with this bad mark on it, due to the high credit limit and long account history. I just had to ignore a LOT of phone calls...\n\nI don't know how others do it...but that's how I did.",
"man i need to start have a saving accnt",
"Savings, unemployment benefits, helps from friends and family, selling stuff, borrowing and credit cards, and finally, just not paying bills until stuff gets shut off and you get evicted.",
"That's when the government offers assistance, like unemployment pay, subsidized housing, food stamps, things like that. But many people don't qualify for those things.\n\nThese people often rely on friends or family to get by. There are a lot of things we take for granted in our daily lives that an unemployed buddy could really appreciate, like leftover food we'd otherwise throw away, a couch to sleep on, and sometimes even an old laptop!\n\nThose without anyone to rely on often end up wandering around, trying to fend for themselves. After a while, these people could draw you a map of the best public bathrooms in town, the best libraries to kill time in, and which food places will let you sneak something. And some of them end up like the homeless people you see in the streets.\n\nBut without government assistance, it's very difficult to continue having your own place after you lose your job. These people go through a lot of major lifestyle changes to find a new way to survive.",
"Employment isn't the only form of income. Have you ever filled out a credit application and looked at all the options on the form? Usually there is an option for employment and then an area to list other sources of income. \n\nPeople can make money by having investments that pay dividends/interest, owning rental property, selling things they own, etc. Sometimes people just have enough money to survive for a while without working, if you own a house you can get money out of that through special types of loans. There's also unemployment benefits and other aid. Also many people who belong to churches or other similar organizations can get aid from them or from their friends/family. \n\nSome people are lucky enough to have these options to help them survive without a job, but some people don't have these and some people do really struggle to survive when they aren't employed. ",
"You can survive by living on less than you make before you're unemployed. If you have some savings, and live on less than you make, then when your income is cut drastically you can cut back on your budget and still make ends meet. \n\nOnce unemployment runs out, however, it becomes hard. Very hard.",
"Cup a noodles!",
"Housing: Usually it's living with friends or family. If you're really struggling you sleep out of your car. Most times friends and family won't charge much if anything. I used to sleep in my car while I went to college and showered in the gym. \n\nFood: 99 cent stores, Wal-marts, damaged/expiring items on sale, or working for food. Working on home projects, cleaning the house, yard work, etc. It's like when you help a friend move and he repays you by buying pizza and beer. Also, fast food dollar menus. \n\nComputer: It's not a monthly expense. Once it's paid for, it's paid for. Plenty of places have free wi-fi including public libraries or a local coffee shop. ",
"when I was unemployed, my weekly checks were just barely enough to cover rent and bills (I live in a shit hole). I'm a student too so I started taking out higher loans (which are probably gonna screw me pretty hard in a year or two). beyond that, I'd do odd gigs I found on craigslist, sold my belongings, stole, and sold things that I stole.",
"As I saw in another thread:\n\nHold on, my mom needs to use the computer.",
"I'm currently unemployed and i can just say living of the parents. I'm not happy about it but that and the small amount I get from benefits are basically how I survive. ",
"I just went through 10 months of unemployment, and I did it a bit like this:\n\n1) Living cheaply to begin with. Internet is the only luxury I ever allowed myself. I used it as my main form of entertainment. I kept it because it was much easier to job hunt from home than having to find a cafe with internet (if you bought something). My city is not known for good infrastructure in the free wifi department.\n\n2) Parents. Thank dog for parents. I was about to move back in with them, after holding out as long as possible in my apartment. If I hadn't gotten a job when I did, I would be in the process right now of moving back in with them an hour away from my life. They have also paid my cell phone bill, even when I was working, because family plans are MUCH cheaper, and in the past I got reimbursed partially for work and would just send the money to them.\n\n3) Unemployment benefits for a few months.\n\n4) Pick up work. I picked up a gig two nights a week doing security at a bar, which eventually turned into being a back up bartender 2-3 shifts a week. It also allowed me to drink for free...which was good.\n\n5) Free meals. I'd search out any free meals being offered at bars or student events (I live near 2 universities). Also, boyfriend took much pity on me and would take me out to dinner. The last two months have been the hardest food wise, because every dime was going towards rent and utilities and to feed my dog and cat. I can't do ramen much because it literally makes me sick from so much sodium, so there was a lot of spaghetti and getting vegetables from friends' gardens. \n\n6) Computer, I've had since 2006 and have been praying to FSM it didn't die, since it was my outlet to the world of job hunting.\n\n7) I stopped paying my student loans and credit cards. This is going to lead to problems in the future, but I had no other option. I managed to get my student loans into deferment, but there's no help offered with credit cards. I am now working to retain the account from being sent to their recovery department, as I have been a long term account holder and would really like to maintain it, even with 7 months of not paying it. It's worth more in the long term even with this bad mark on it, due to the high credit limit and long account history. I just had to ignore a LOT of phone calls...\n\nI don't know how others do it...but that's how I did.",
"man i need to start have a saving accnt"
]
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j8r5b | what would happen if all the world's economies defaulted/went bankrupt? and/or why can't governments just print more money when they are in massive debt? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/j8r5b/eli5_what_would_happen_if_all_the_worlds/ | {
"a_id": [
"c2a29gz",
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"text": [
" > What would happen if all the world's economies defaulted/went bankrupt?\n\nNo one can really answer this other than total world wide anarchy\n\n > Why can't governments just print more money when they are in massive debt?\n\nThis causes inflation, the currency of that country looses values vs. other currencies. ",
" > What would happen if all the world's economies defaulted/went bankrupt?\n\nNo one can really answer this other than total world wide anarchy\n\n > Why can't governments just print more money when they are in massive debt?\n\nThis causes inflation, the currency of that country looses values vs. other currencies. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
||
33ad18 | does the president or other heads of state have to clear customs the same way normal people do when visiting a country? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33ad18/eli5_does_the_president_or_other_heads_of_state/ | {
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"text": [
"No, as high-ranking officials of another government, they're covered by special diplomatic rules that allow them to dispense with that sort of stuff. ",
"They have a diplomat visa and it is a very powerful visa.",
"nope. they are given diplomatic status and diplomatic bags. neither can be searched outside of their country of origin. "
]
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[],
[],
[]
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||
qozim | - what makes html5 so special ? | What is it that enables all these crazy features in html5 ? I have basic knowledge of programming and html, but maybe someone could elaborate what it is that enables html5 to reshape essentially all of the internet, enabling game engines, programs, nearly everything to run in my browser ? Thanks | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/qozim/eli5_what_makes_html5_so_special/ | {
"a_id": [
"c3zax9p",
"c3zb0fg"
],
"score": [
17,
6
],
"text": [
"Its not so much HTML5 that makes things so special but enhancements to the JavaScript and CSS3 supporting HTML5. \n\nHTML5 adds more tags making things like navigation bars, side links and content much easier to accomplish. Instead of typing < div id=\"nav\" > you can now just type < nav > and control the appearance behavior with the JavaScript + CSS. ",
"Side question, Why can HTML natively support playing video whereas HTML 4 needs a plugin like Flash or Silverlight?"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
[]
] |
|
fmyt1g | why does looking at grotesque images or videos of people’s body detached or missing make me feel extremely uneasy | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fmyt1g/eli5_why_does_looking_at_grotesque_images_or/ | {
"a_id": [
"fl6oyb6"
],
"score": [
7
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"text": [
"It's a normal psychological response, to be disturbed, disgusted, and afraid when you see images of blood and gore.\n\nFor one thing, humans are highly empathetic, so when we such things happening to other people, we can easily imagine what it would be like if they were happening to ourselves, which is terrifying obviously."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
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||
40meek | what's different about usbs and/or os now that makes data corruption from pulling usbs out less likely? | I recall that it used to be a big worry, but nowadays I can pull my USB flash drive out with a file open, and not even worry about data loss. What's changed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/40meek/eli5_whats_different_about_usbs_andor_os_now_that/ | {
"a_id": [
"cyv9ghc"
],
"score": [
2
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"text": [
"Used to the system would wait to write the files, now the computer writes it as soon as it can. Its like if I gave you a series of numbers to remember, and told you you had to wait 5 minutes to write them down versus writing them down right away. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
2y3w28 | why will we have a cure for leukemia available next year but other cancers are years away? | Just watched the Vice special report on youtube and was wondering why trials take so long to do when the research is this promising? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2y3w28/eli5_why_will_we_have_a_cure_for_leukemia/ | {
"a_id": [
"cp600hq"
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"score": [
3
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"text": [
"Because the vast majority of proposed treatments turn out to not work or to have terrible side effects. Scientists and researchers have been known to fake results for profit or other reasons and so the process needs to be rigorous. Otherwise, you can wind up with [worse than what you're treating for...](_URL_0_)"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide"
]
] |
|
163eiv | the trillion dollar coin and what it means. | _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/163eiv/eli5_the_trillion_dollar_coin_and_what_it_means/ | {
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"text": [
"Basically thanks to section k of [this law](_URL_0_) the Secretary of the Treasury can mint a coin in whatever denomination he would like as long as its made of platinum.\n\nThis is relevant because what Tim Geithner (our current Secretary of the Treasury) could do is mint a 1 trillion dollar platinum coin (note this coin **would not** contain 1 trillion dollars worth of platinum) and then deposit it at the Federal Reserve essentially giving the Fed 1 trillion more dollars and preventing us from bumping up against the debt ceiling. Is it completely artificial? Yes. But then so is an imaginary ceiling that says you can borrow this much but no more. Making and depositing the coin would basically be an accounting trick to allow the government to spend 1 trillion more dollars without hitting the debt ceiling.\n\n",
"legally, the government cannot spend money past the debt limit. However, since the government constantly spends more than it takes in, it is always gaining more and more debt, so every so often congress has to raise the debt limit. Because the republicans control the house, they will likely demand spending cuts before allowing the debt limit to be raised.\n\nPresident Obama would like to avoid spending cuts, but legally he needs congress to raise the debt limit, which would involve a large amount of negotiation. Thus, he and the rest of the democrats want a way around this\n\nIf the government were gain money, the debt limit would not need to be raised. Conveniently, due to a loophole, the President technically has the power to mint platinum coins of any value. Thus theoretically, the president could create a 1 trillion dollar coin (without the approval of congress), technically giving the government more money and therefore eliminating the need to raise the debt limit.\n\nBecause the 1 Trillion would never go into circulation, but instead would only be counted as a technical reduction to the US debt, it wouldn't cause inflation. However, seeing as the creation of the coin would be an obvious use of loopholes to give the president power unchecked by congress (which, in a way, goes against the constitution), it would be a very unpopular choice, at least among republicans.",
"Serious curiosity: \n\nSay they mint the coin, and as they are taking it to be secured somewhere... It is stolen, or someone trips and it flies into a sewer opening. \n\nSince its artificial, but legit, how much of an issue is this?"
]
} | [] | [
"http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2073053827001/the-trillion-dollar-coin-solution/"
] | [
[
"http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5112"
],
[],
[]
] |
|
amze6b | why are americans annoyed about the superbowl 1/2 time show? and why is it about spongebob? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/amze6b/eli5_why_are_americans_annoyed_about_the/ | {
"a_id": [
"efpo2pp"
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"score": [
19
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"text": [
"Stephen Hillenberg, the creator of Spongebob, passed away last year. In the show, there’s an episode where they perform the song Sweet Victory at the Super Bowl, and it’s considered one of the best moments of the show. There was a social media movement/meme thingy to have Sweet Victory played during halftime at the 2019 Super Bowl.\n\nFast forward to today, they teased the song by showing a clip from Spongebob but not actually playing any of the song. I think people are upset bc they expected the amazing moment of Sweet Victory played at the Super Bowl, and were sorely disappointed "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
3p41jr | why do snail trails just start in random places? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3p41jr/eli5_why_do_snail_trails_just_start_in_random/ | {
"a_id": [
"cw2xs7g"
],
"score": [
18
],
"text": [
"The trail slowly dries and becomes less viable. Enough time has passed for parts of the trail to disappear, giving the appearance that it just started in a random place"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
22mbkp | how do government/military teams and operations get named? | Like Team Jawbreaker, MKULTRA, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, etc. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/22mbkp/eli5_how_do_governmentmilitary_teams_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"cgo6rao"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text": [
"I believe its just a random named picked by the person in charge. They usually make sense or are some sort of pun on operation.\n\n\"Desert Storm\" was a military operation in a desert releasing a veritable storm of firepower.\n\n\"Desert Shield\" was the deployment of forces to a desert to shield one country from another\n\nand so on"
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
7uxmdy | what stops a jury from thinking "well he is invoking his 5th amendment right, he must be guilty" and then saying he thinks the defendant is guilty? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7uxmdy/eli5_what_stops_a_jury_from_thinking_well_he_is/ | {
"a_id": [
"dtnyl0w",
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5
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"text": [
"If your invoking your 5th amendment right you will never get to that point. The judge will ask you how you plead and you will say not guilty and after that you are done talking. You will never take the stand and they will never ask you any questions.",
"**tl;dr:** A jury will never hear anyone invoke the 5th amendment in relation to a crime that they are currently on trial for.\n\nYour question is based on a (very common) misunderstanding of how invoking your 5th amendment right works. If you're on trial for a crime, you never have to take the stand to testify. Doing so is completely optional, and at your discretion alone. But if you *do* choose to testify, you can **not** invoke your 5th amendment right against self incrimination in the context of the crime that you're currently on trial for. You can only invoke the 5th amendment for other, unrelated crimes that you don't want to be forced under oath to admit to.\n\nIf you're not the accused, you can invoke the 5th amendment for any crime, since you're not on trial for anything, and shouldn't be forced to incriminate yourself.\n\nHowever, you can be granted immunity from being charged with a specific crime as part of the deal to get your cooperation. And if that happens, you can *not* invoke the 5th amendment for the crime that you have immunity for."
]
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[],
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4b7ybc | why do american political parties spread out state primary voting over a 4 month period? doesn't this process create more discord and factionalism within a party as opposed to fitting all the states in one month. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4b7ybc/eli5_why_do_american_political_parties_spread_out/ | {
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"text": [
"That the election process is a marathon and not a sprint is certainly tiresome to most, but the ability of a candidate to maintain and sustain a long political campaign is part of the vetting process. We the electorate see the candidate repeatedly face challenges, defeats have victories. It requires strategy, diplomacy, judgment, tenacity, vigor all important qualities for a commander in chief. Moreover, it keeps the race from becoming the equivalent of a one night stand. He or she seemed like a good idea today, but not so much tomorrow after the the whole thing is over in a single night.",
"Primary dates are set by each state on their own, not the party. The states have a strong incentive to spread themselves out because then the candidate is able to give them more personal attention. If the primary cycle were compressed then some states, especially the small ones, would not receive much attention or even be ignored completely.",
"It also lowers the cost for some candidates to test the water- ie raise money to see if you can make a splash in the early states, then ramp up a national campaign vs. Going from 0-60 and trying to have the capital and infrastructure to run a 50 state campaign. ",
"To add on to what other have said, less well known candidates like Bernie Sanders wouldn't stand a chance in a one month long primary. The long time frame allows every candidate to get their message out and for people to research each candidate. In a one month primary, a fringe candidate could never be a serious contender. ",
"This is going to sound condescending and it isn't just stick with me. A lot of dictatorships, authoritarian governments, communisms, think that discord and factionalism are bad things and national unity brings national strength. Now yes I am saying dictators agree with you, but it needs to be noted if you are smart enough to take over and run a country for decades, you have a lot going for you in terms of political sense and general intelligence. So don't take it as an insult. It is in fact counter-intuitive that this isn't the case.\n\nThe thing is though, that makes a country strong but fragile. America is flexible, and because it can bend it is much more resilient and can take a lot more stress.\n\nTake Hillary and email-gate as an example. Yeah she is eating a lot of shit for this now... but it is either going to kill her or, by the time the general election starts, people are going to be bored of hearing about it: she will have been killed, or inoculated. \n\nLook at abortion. People are PISSED about it on both sides, but protests are generally peaceful, you might have the occasional murder but you don't have hundreds of supporters or opponents being rounded up and killed en masse. We have peaceful, effective, outlets and our debates come down to \"can you convince the majority of people through reasoned argument, that you are right?\"\n\nBy having deep, prolonged, open, public debates sure we divide people, but we also bring them together in a strange way. We show everyone that we are all motivated by similar motivations and that there are reasonable points on both sides.\n\nIf you have a minority opinion and don't even get to be heard out in full, beat your specific hobby horse to death, you are going to fester over it.\n\nAt the same time, dictators probably realize the result of a truly honest public debate would eventually be them with their head on a spike, so maybe it isn't the best analogy. \n\nEdit: en masse vs. on mass. The more you know.",
"It's called the \"campaign trail\" because candidates used to literally go out on horseback and later trains to travel across the country to campaign. This took a lot of time. There was no instantaneous communication like there is now. So time was needed to allow the candidates a chance to cover each state. States would spread out their primaries to allow for this. Many of our political conventions (and my that I mean standards) and holdovers from a bygone era."
]
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8r5m53 | if distant galaxies are moving away faster than those close to us, will we ever reach them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8r5m53/eli5_if_distant_galaxies_are_moving_away_faster/ | {
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"text": [
"The furthest identified galaxy, GN-z11, is ~13.4 billion light years away. Due to the current expansion of the universe, if you left today traveling at the speed of light you would arrive in about 32 billion yers.\n\nIt is very unlikely we will ever reach them barring some presently purely hypothetical method of transportation that exceeds the speed of light by a very large amount.\n\nSomewhat related reading: _URL_0_",
"Any galaxy that starts getting away faster than the speed of light, will be forever unreachable. There is no way to circumvent it. It's like hard limit to how fast we can travel. Since universe is accelerating, sooner or later, only Milky way will remain.\n\nMaybe, somewhere in the future we will figure it out, but right now FTL travel makes as much sense as 2+2=5."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comoving_and_proper_distances"
],
[]
] |
||
37qhnz | what will be the fate of rich arab and gulf countries when their oil reserves will become almost empty? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/37qhnz/eli5_what_will_be_the_fate_of_rich_arab_and_gulf/ | {
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"text": [
"It's hard to know for sure, but a lot of them have thought about this problem. The key is diversification, and you accomplish that by investing in other sectors. Saudi has car manufacturing for example, some of the smaller places are tourist or financial hubs or whatever. The problem with trying to diversify is that it's generally quite expensive to do anything unrelated to oil, all of the educated labour gets sucked into the oil industry and getting them out means you need to pay more, so probably we won't see a whole lot of progress until the oil starts to run out. \n\nThe problem in the middle east, unlike say Russian oil fields or a lot of the Iranian ones, is that it's damn near impossible to do any other industrial work because it's too hot, and massive air conditioned factories are expensive. \n\nObviously the countries will need massive structural reforms too. Women will need to be educated and able to work, and the education system can't be full of useless crap. They are getting there, but reform takes time and as long as there are rich guys paying for bad choices there will be bad choices made. ",
"The oil won't run out - as the supply runs down and the costs of getting oil out of the ground rises, there will be a long period of decline in revenues, but no immediate collapse. \n\nWhat happens in that period of decline will depend on the leadership in those nations. Judging by their lavish spending and lack of reforms, probably things won't go well. "
]
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||
2g1ruo | the difference between a television or a monitor | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2g1ruo/eli5_the_difference_between_a_television_or_a/ | {
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"text": [
"a television is a specialized screen to watching programming delivered through cable or a set top box. a monitor is a specialized screen to deliver content delivered through a computer's video card.\n\nrealistically, the two can be used interchangeably provided the connectors are available. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
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||
68ttwf | british political parties, who are the tories? what do the stand for? are the the same as labour? what do the conservatives want?! | I've been on google for a few hours and have managed to do nothing other than confuse myself. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68ttwf/eli5_british_political_parties_who_are_the_tories/ | {
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"text": [
"'Tory' is a nickname for Conservative. So the Tories are the Conservative party.\n\nThey are a Centre-Right to Right wing party. Possibly a little more right wing than their closest equivalents in Europe, and a little more left wing than their closest equivalents in the US.\n\nTheoretically at least, they stand for the free market. In practice, what they stand for is trying to remain in power, which they are remarkably good at.",
"In the modern day the Tories are the Conservatives. The Conservative & Unionist Party is their full current name and they are the current Government in both the Lords and the Commons, the Government in the Lords isn't important. They are also the Second Party in Y Senedd (Welsh Parliament) and Scots Parlaiment. \n \nThe Conservative Party was formed in 1834, following an awful election ressult for the Tories in 1832. The Tories were the right wing party from 1678-1832. Tory is a term used to describe a Conservative in the UK, it can be both used as an insult and a positive gesture. A specific insult with Tory is Red Tory, in the UK red is the Socialist colour and used by the Labour Party. Red Tory reffers to a Labour member who is to the right of the Labour Party, such as their former leader and Prime Minister Tony Blair, the only living Labour leader to win an election. \n \nThe Conservatives are a large right wing party with many factions it is however right wing. The Tories believe in smaller government and lower taxes, however May (current leader) may try to increase several taxes, she has been iffy on the matter. I assume you are American so to relate it to America the Conservative & Unionist Party is similar to the Democrats (right wing of the party) and Republicans (left wing of the party). \n \nThe Conservatives have since the 70s (Thatcher) have been pro-free trade gloabilists. They are also often viewed as the bussiness party, Id argure they aren't due to their current hard line on Brexit which could cost British Bussiness at least £20 Billion accoriding to most studies. The Conservatives also have liberal factions (similar to the Libertarian Party).\n \n \n**** \n \nLabour is the *Socialist* Party. Labour flirts with socialism and has till recently been more to the right however Corbyn won the Leadership contest in 2015, a big suprise and he nearly didn't get on the ballot. He defended the title following a coup in 2016. Labour currently lead the Most Loyal Opposition (biggest opposition party) in both the Lords and Commons. They control the Government in Y Senedd and 3rd in Soctland, till very recently Scotland was Labour heartland. \n \nLabour believe in high tax high spend policies, Labour have currently suggested borowing £500 Billion to invest in the UK. Labour are too far too the left for a comparison to the US for the most part, the right of the Labour Party is similar to the left of the Democrats. \n \nThe Labour Party is currently in a fairly open civil war. A coup in 2016 showed that 40/229 MPs backed Corbyn. Corbyn has massively increased membership in Labour and has got the Hard Left in control of Labour for the first time in a long time. Often the hard left fringe parties try to take over labour. As a damning fact the Communist Party aren't standing in any seat for the first time and are backing Labour. \n \nLabour have an arangement with the Social Labour Democratic Party meaning Labour doesn't stand in Northern Ireland and the SDLP don't stand in Great Britian. Labour have an arangement with the Co-Op Party meaning a Labour member can stand as Labour or Labour & Co-Op. \n \n**** \n \n \nWe have other parties too; \n \nThe Liberal Democrats. \n \nThe Liberal Democrats are the traditional third party in the UK, used to be the main party or second party till the Lloyd Ministry 1916-1922. The Liberal Democrats formed from The Liberal Party led by Steel and The SDP (a Labour split off) and the gang of four. The Lib Dems were hammered in 2010 for what was seen as a betrayal when in Coalition tuition fees trippled after they promised to end tuition fees, personally I think that was the better outcome at the time but many were angry. \n \nIf you have any questions leave a follow up,",
"Labour are the main left-wing party(Democrats), the Conservatives who are nicknamed \"Tories\" are right-wing(Republican). Tories are the right-wing in Britain but compared to America the major party's are all liberal. They are pro sex education, gay marriage, science (there is no disagreement on climate change!) and largely tolerant of different cultures and faiths. The main difference in Policy is that Labour wants to tax the rich and increase welfare for the poor(socialist capitalism), Tories want to lower taxes and privatise to encourage economic growth(free-market capitalism).\nThere are people in both parties that are pro and anti-brexit, both were anti-brexit before the referendum. Now they are both reluctantly going through with brexit as it is what the population voted for. \n\nThe other lesser partys are: \nthe SNP who want Scottish Independence so they can stay in the EU; \nthe Liberal Democrats, who our the third largest party that are center-left, they want Britain(England, Wales, Scotland and Northen Ireland) to stay in the EU even after the referendum;\nUKIP is the party that wanted to leave the EU because they don't like immigrants(basically Trump but not as aggressive and less bigoted), but there Voters were too spread out so they only got 1 seat (out of 650) in parliament despite 13% of votes! \n\nTo compete with UKIP in the last election, the Tories held a referendum on the EU. all the Major parties wanted to stay in the EU but there were lots of dissidents in each party who wanted to leave and campaigned to leave. When the major party Leavers campaigned they distance themselves from UKIP as most British people think them xenophobic. To the surprise of everyone, Britain voted leave and now the Torie government(who held power since 2010) are leaving the EU and the economy is going to shit and we are all gonna die.\n"
]
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[],
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