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9cedw3 | why handguns, the cause of most firearms deaths, aren't controlled to the extent that other firearms are such as assault rifles? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9cedw3/eli5_why_handguns_the_cause_of_most_firearms/ | {
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"Actually in some places a semi auto ar 15 is easier to buy than a handgun, but full auto m16 is considered a military weapon so it it very limited even though handguns are deadly at short range so pretty just because of legal b.s",
" > Why handguns, the cause of most firearms deaths, aren't controlled to the extent that other firearms are such as assault rifles?\n\nWhat makes you believe that they aren't?\n\nIn many areas, getting a permit to carry a pistol is significantly more rigorous than getting a permit for a rifle. Some states don't even require a permit for a rifle or shotgun",
"because every control placed upon firearms is contingent upon sensationalism and fear mongering. \"assault rifles\" look scarier to ignorant people, so its easier to sneak legislation",
"There are multiple theories on why this is the case. There is no conclusive answer.\n\n1) Politically, rifles patterned after military rifles are easier to associate with wanton killing. Most people aren't familiar enough with the technology to know the difference, so they represent an easier target, so to speak, on the road to complete disarmament.\n\n2) The powerful only care about the violence that affects or could affect them. Their children are most vulnerable to freak accidents/mass shootings, and even if 95% of all gun homicides are handguns, there are a lot more rifles represented in mass shootings.\n\n3) Our history of righteous cowboys and other American archetypes hyped up by Hollywood have ingrained the handgun as deep into our culture as a gun can go. The associations with heroic protagonists mean that there just isn't anywhere near enough popular support to target them.\n\nThere are other reasons, but I think they'll fall generally into those categories: public ignorance, the powerful don't care about poor people violence, and handguns are a cultural icon of America in a way that modern rifles aren't.",
"In many countries they are, and many states or municipalities have tried to control them in similar ways. \n\nThe thing that stops those regulations from getting through is the fact that handguns have the best potential for self defense. It is unreasonable to carry an AR 15 on your person going through day to day activities or even to walk around with one slung over your shoulder in your own home. A holstered handgun is much less obtrusive and can be carried without freaking out the majority of people you come in contact with. If you live in a shall issue locale, I can guarantee you've come in contact with someone carrying concealed and had absolutely no clue.\n\nUnfortunately, the things that make handguns so useful for self defense also contribute to their larger share of gun deaths: criminals like the concealability and general portability; they're more likely to be kept and regularly handled when loaded outside of a specific shooting activity, which contributes to accidents; and their small size makes them much less unwieldy for suicides. ",
"Suicides are included in most statistics involving firearm deaths. Most firearm suicides are caused by handguns rather than rifles. If suicides are removed, it looks more reasonable.\n\nDisclaimer, I have no perseverance to the firearm debate - I just like stats."
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2069ly | why do all visas start with 4, all mastercards start with 55, all amex's start with 37, and all discovers start with 6011? | I take phone orders all day and I noticed this after reading like 1000 credit card numbers. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2069ly/eli5_why_do_all_visas_start_with_4_all/ | {
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"They start like that so the card can be easily tracked to the issuer. I own a shop, at the end of the day I need to tally up the sales by card issuer to know who to send the bill to. By looking at the first few numbers associated with each sale, I can quickly tally up totals.",
"the first digit is the credit company designation. there is a photo explanation of each block of numbers some where online. and its just 5 on master card not 55.",
"Basically, so that you can identify which provider issued the card (and the CC processer can tell who verify the number with). \n\n1. The first digit identifies the provider (AMEX (3)/Visa (4)/MC (5)/Discover (6)) \n2. The next six digits ID the issuing bank (Chase/BofA/Capitol One). It usually identify what \"brand\" of card you're using (all Target CCs will have similar ID numbers, Chase Platnum cards will have similar IDs, etc)\n3. The next 7-8 digits will usually be your individual account number.\n4. The last digit is usually a random number. \n\nThe syntax might be slighty off, since I haven't processed CC payments in a while... but that gives you an idea of the \"meaning\" of your card number. "
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e6iiug | how do wood-burning stoves heat an entire house? | When I have my oven on all day baking Christmas cookies, the upstairs is noticeably colder than downstairs (despite turning on the fan in our furnace to try to move the hot air around). How did old wood-burning stoves heat an entire house with no extra device to move the air? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e6iiug/eli5_how_do_woodburning_stoves_heat_an_entire/ | {
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"They didn't. They really only heated the room they were in. The same with any kind of stove that just makes heat in one place. I stayed with grandmother often enough to know that the bedrooms there were always really chilly in winter and the only warm rooms in the house were the living room and the kitchen.",
"I grew up in a house heated with coal burning stoves (hotter than wood)... One in the living room, one in the dining room.\n\nCan confirm the other rooms were never warm. At best the room directly above the heated room had it's chill broken a bit but not enough to be comfortable. We put heavy extra blankets on the beds in winter.\n\nDamn I miss sleeping like that under all that cozy weight. 😁",
"A wood stove have (one or more) chimneys that run through rooms and radiant heat comes from them - my grandmothers house had a wood stove with 4 chimneys - basically they would open or close a chimney flute depending on where they wanted heat directed - it was pretty neat and worked to heat up the bedrooms nicely. In modern times some wood stoves have fans that move heat through a ducting system similar to what a regular furnace uses. We have a fan for our fireplace which uses the heat from the back of the fireplace box and circulates it though open grills - it's pretty impressive how much heat comes out of these grills.",
"They do a great job of heating up the air and structure immediately vicinity, so they're perfect for a place with a small footprint and simple layout, like a cabin with one or two rooms. This is because the natural movement of air does a decent job of moving the hot air around. \n\nOnce you're in a larger or more complex structure like a house, with more walls and doors, not enough of the physical structure of the hosue can be heated and the air can't move well naturally. Because of this, you need a system that uses forced heated air (most homes use a fan and nat. gas or oil burner), or hot water pumped to radiators.",
"They didn't. The rooms near the stove were warm, sometimes too warm, and those far away were cold, but still warmer than the outside. \n\nPeople would use devices, like hot water bottles and trays full of embers, to keep their beds warm. Plus lots of blankets.",
"They don't much, without extra work to distribute the heat. Of all the woodstove heated houses I've stayed in, the only one that did a really good job of distributing the heat from the stove had the woodstove in the basement. Get it going nice and hot and the heat filtered up from the basement into the rest of the house, getting reasonably well distributed. \n\nNow, even a woodstove that doesn't do a great job heating the far rooms of the house will still keep them well above freezing. They just will be much colder than the directly heated rooms."
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765qqg | why are some of us not hungry when we're heartbroken? what exactly causes this? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/765qqg/eli5_why_are_some_of_us_not_hungry_when_were/ | {
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"Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained:\n\n1. [ELI5: Why do some people binge eat when they're stressed, while others lose their appetite entirely? ](_URL_1_)\n1. [ELI5: Why do some people lose their appetite when they're upset or depressed, while others consume more food?? ](_URL_0_)\n1. [ELI5: Why do you lose your appetite after a breakup? What actually happens in your body to suppress hunger? ](_URL_4_)\n1. [ELI5: why does hunger go away when we feel sad? ](_URL_5_)\n1. [ELI5: why do some people with depression lose their appetite and not eat much, while others eat more than usual? ](_URL_2_)\n1. [ELI5: Why do I lose my appetite when i become stressed or depressed? ](_URL_3_)\n",
"I'm not a scientist, but what I personally think that it is, is that your brain thinks that you're really injured and it makes you not hungry so the body doesn't have to use so much energy. That is just what I think, I don't know if I'm right or not.",
"Grief (what you're experiencing) is often interpreted as a stressful event. For example, when grieving, individuals may eat more than usual or, alternatively, lose their appetites. During an acute stressor, it’s quite common to lose one’s appetite.\n\n(Props to Dr Wendie Trubow, she wrote about this on huffpost. I researched the same thing when you dog of 11 years died two weeks ago, and I couldn't eat for over 48 hours.)\n\nThe full article's here. _URL_0_"
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2qgfyt | what is better for a desktop pc, to leave it on at all times, to leave it in sleep mode when its not being used, or to shut it down completely between use, and why? | I built a gaming PC about a year ago and have heard several rumors (from friends, from the net, etc.) about this aspect of computer maintenance, but they all conflict with one another. I understand the answer may not be particularly clear as it depends on how the PC is used on a daily basis. Mine is used mainly for games, and of course, browsing Reddit. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qgfyt/eli5_what_is_better_for_a_desktop_pc_to_leave_it/ | {
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"This is assuming that your PC is properly maintained and cooled.\n\nLeaving it on at all times will wear out some parts faster, but in most PC's it's not fast enough to really matter. You'll probably end up upgrading parts or buying a new PC before it really matters.\n\nSome people leave their computers on all the time and a part wears out. Once they reboot it the computer won't come on because of the worn out part and they assume that shutting it down did damage. This happens a lot with servers."
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9ubp75 | how are tv shows and movies broadcast on tv | Something I have wondered for awhile. What is the actual process of getting a movie or show on tv? I mean the mechanical process. How do tv stations physically get the show on a television? How does your tv know what channel is which? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9ubp75/eli5_how_are_tv_shows_and_movies_broadcast_on_tv/ | {
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"Picture and sound gets turned into electrical signal, electrical signal gets turned into radio waves, radio waves get broadcast, radio waves get received by decoder, radio waves get decoded into electrical signal, electrical signal gets decoded back in to picture and sound. \n\nRadio waves have different frequencies. Different frequency bands are used for each channel. "
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3txsd0 | when i'm playing video games, why does leaning forward make me concentrate more? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3txsd0/eli5_when_im_playing_video_games_why_does_leaning/ | {
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"There is a complex answer based on psyco-aggression tendencies, like how the military trains shooters to lean on their front foot while kneeling and shooting or exciting movie make you want to sit kn the edge.\n\nBut theres more to it, the closer you are the less you see on the sides. You also are subconsciously telling your brain \"i want to know more about this\"\n\nELI5 - Getting closer makes your brain do more about a thing. ",
"If you're reclined in your chair leaning back chances are you're not looking dead on at the screen. When you lean forwards you're looking straight at the TV.",
"Redacted my last post since you proved me wrong. \n\nHave you ever seen a horse race or horse drawn carriage? Ever notice how horses have blinders on? They have those to keep from getting distracted. \n\nEver notice when driving or reading a book you suddenly missed an exit or paragraph?\n\nWhen you're playing and leaning back, you're playing more on autopilot and aren't as engaged. You're cruising just like when reading a long book or driving a standard route. When you lean forward you're telling your body to block everything out and focus all of its attention on your current activity. You shift focus from everything in front and around to what you're currently doing. \n\nBy being closer to the TV, you're essentially wearing horse blinders. You're reducing your peripheral and by doing this together with leaning forward and concentrating more, you're able to focus and play better. ",
"My boyfriend is a gamer and when he's sitting on the couch playing, he leans forward. He says his concentration is better in that position. Unfortunately this is a position he is in a lot and with wearing jeans, he caused himself to have a pinched femoral nerve. (Nerve by hip/groin area) It has caused him ridiculous pain and numbness so make sure if you're sitting like that, wear loose enough pants that they won't dig into that nerve.",
"I've got to concentrate ...concentrate ...concentrate. \n\nHello. Hello. Hello. \n\nECHO. ECHO. ECHO.\n\n-Ted Stryker ",
"When trying to focus on some fraction of your field of view, you will naturally want to enlarge the ratio of the subject you are trying to focus on relative to your peripheral view. I imagine it is akin to watching a youtube vid windowed vs fullscreen. Or squinting your eyes to better discern details when focusing on a small subject.\n\nPlus, games and media often have small symbols and characters, fine details that quickly lose fidelity when further and further away.\n\nAs an aside, if you are ever sat at a poker table watch for a player leaning forward. Someone \"sitting on the edge of their seat\" is a pretty basic tell to be on the look out for.",
"I'd be curious what the real answer is, rather than reading a bunch of \"Yahoo Answers\" responses. You should post this to /r/askscience instead.",
"You're misinterpreting. Concentrating more makes you lean forward, not the other way around.\n\nIt's not just video games. It's not even just things on screens. Even when reading a book that you're holding in your lap, the same thing occurs, even though leaning forward doesn't get you a single inch closer to the book. All it does is change your stance.\n\nWhat's happening is that your body is going into anticipation mode. It's getting a little bit of adrenaline going, and its blood is starting to flow, so it's getting ready to dive forward or stand up or take whatever action the situation demands. That relaxed couch-potato stance you were in wasn't appropriate for this level of excitement - with this level of excitement, your body thinks there must be something happening that will require a physical response.",
"It has to do with how the brain works. You are more likely to lean toward something that interests you and are more likely to lean away from something you are not interested in. Example: Having a conversation with someone you are interested in, or something you are interested in, you will lean towards the person. While if someone you are not interested in or a conversation you are not interested in, you will generally lean back or away from that person or because of the content of the conversation.",
"All this time I thought I was the only one. \n\nWhen I'm playing HALO multiplayer my friends call it \"serious mode\" \n\n\"oh shit look out, ianyboo just leaned forward!\" ",
"ELI5: Why does moving my hands and my controller closer to my chest make me a better player.",
"Nothing sciency but isn't leaning forward brings you to a closer vision thus providing you better focus to what you are playing? This is just like viewing an art work. Viewing closer lets you focus on the details more rather than the whole picture itself.\n\nOr more over, it's like you, zooming to fit your vision to what needs attention more. Giving you more focus and less eye movement.",
"Related: why do I turn the music down in my car when I'm trying to spot an address?"
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8urqdx | how do countries communicate with each other to talk about things such as trade deals or meetings | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8urqdx/eli5eli5how_do_countries_communicate_with_each/ | {
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"They have an army of staffers who talk to each other and mostly decide everything and then tell the important people when it’s happening ",
"A important part is embassies. So the ambassador and other stan know who they should contact in the state department of the host country.\n\nIf a county does not have a embassy in another county it is quite common to cooperate with another country firendly country that have a embassy to function as a middleman."
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1o43dt | how the daily show correspondents can conduct interviews where they can basically make fun and destroy their interviewee without any problems. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1o43dt/eli5_how_the_daily_show_correspondents_can/ | {
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"I'm sure the interviewee has agreed to some sort of agreement beforehand. These interviews are made to be laughed at and as humans, we are enthralled by this kind of stuff. ",
"I don't know what you mean, \"without any problems.\" The Daily Show has some trouble getting savvy politicians and businessmen to be interviewed, for exactly this reason. Steven Colbert throws softballs to Congressmen in *Better Know a District.*\n\nThe people they do interview- as I've seen it- are one of three things:\n\n* Loons who can't imagine that the interviewer wouldn't be on their side (who *wouldn't* be in favor of keeping barrels of bald-eagle fodder in their backyard?);\n* Fringe leaders who want their supporters to get indignant about how they're treated;\n* Desperate publicists who've decided they have nothing to lose.\n\nAnd, of course, people who know their situation is ridiculous, and figure they might as well be on tv, like the DNR people in Louisiana who want people to shoot nutrias."
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38mar9 | why do the girls processing drugs always wear nothing but bra and panties? | In all the shows and movies the girls that are tasked with processing all the heroine, coke etc. don't wear clothes, just underwear. Why is that? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/38mar9/eli5_why_do_the_girls_processing_drugs_always/ | {
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"Fanservice. In small scale production it's also to keep the girls from pocketing some of the drugs. In large production realistically they will all wear lab coat and mask both to protect themselves from the drug and retain the quality of the drug from dead skin, hair, and sweat.",
"less places for them to hide the drugs if they tired to steal. most are also literal sweat shops so less you have on the cooler. "
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2e45zy | how comes whenever i buy something, including water, it has a best before or expiry date, however there's none on any alcoholic beverage i get? | I found an old rev in the back of my fridge and it got me thinking... | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2e45zy/eli5_how_comes_whenever_i_buy_something_including/ | {
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"Water and the like are regulated by the FDA, while alcohol is regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The FDA requires expiration dates, while the ATTTB does not.",
"They either have a best buy or made on date for beer(on bottle/can or box) and pasteurized beer is good for about a year and non pasteurized for 6 months.",
"Water is a food, and is regulated by the FDA.\n\nAlcohol is regulated by the BATFE, which has different rules. Actually, a lot of alcohol, particularly beer, does have date codes on it. Some are easy to read and others are not, but Budweiser even makes a big deal about their dates.",
"As an important note: most food items **are not** bad after that date. It's a *recommended by* kinda thing. If you aren't willing to eat it, donate it.",
"Hard liquor doesn't spoil - it's too alcoholic for bacteria to survive in it."
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5qfya9 | why does the speed of sound increase again after a certain altitude? | I've been looking at some tables online of the speed of sound at different altitudes. A lot of the tables I'm seeing show that the speed of sound increases again after about 25,000 m or so. I thought air got less dense and the temperature got colder the higher in the atmosphere you are? What am I missing? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5qfya9/eli5_why_does_the_speed_of_sound_increase_again/ | {
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"At ~18km up you leave the Troposphere, and enter the Stratosphere.\n\nUp there instead of it getting colder with increasing height, it gets warmer again. This is due to heating from the sun due to Ozone absorbing UV light. This means the top layer heats up more than the bottom layer, as less UV light gets down to the bottom layer.\n\nThe speed of sound depends on the temperature (which is a measure of how fast the air molecules are moving.) So higher temperature = faster speed.\n\n[Pressure has no direct effect on the speed of sound](_URL_0_) as the speed depends on the pressure / density, and as you increase the pressure, you also increase the density, cancelling out the effect. If you chance the humidity, you change the density without changing the pressure, which will affect the speed."
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29wmkp | why do fat people tend to breathe louder than slim people? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29wmkp/eli5_why_do_fat_people_tend_to_breathe_louder/ | {
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"2 reasons:\n\n-They have so much fat their airway is restricted, even slightly.\n\n-Fat is living tissue, and needs food and oxygen like any other. So, because of all the extra fat, they have to move more blood to feed and oxygenate that fat. To oxygenate the extra blood flow, they have to breathe deeper and more often. ",
"Just have to clarify this first. Not all fat people breath louder than slim people. It is normally only the people that are obese not simply fat. There are two reasons however, obstruction of the airways and they often are so big that their hearts have to work so hard to simply circulate the blood that they are nearly constantly out of breath. Think of it as a slim person running, once your heart starts working harder you breath faster and usually louder. ",
"It's kind of dependent on where obese people carry their fat tissue. Louder breathing is much more likely when the fat is localized to the neck and throat. This fat causes a narrowing of the airway diameter. A small narrowing of the airway has a huge impact on the resistance of air to travel to your lungs when you breathe. When resistance is high enough, the airflow becomes turbulent (i.e. it doesn't flow in a parabolic path) and creates a lot of noise as a result of air moving in different directions and vibrating tissue, creating noise. If you're more interested, the math is based on the Hagen-Poiseuille Equation and the Reynolds Number. \n\nAlso, the extra body mass requires more oxygen to keep the tissue alive and undergoing metabolic processes. This increased oxygen demand of the body means that obese people in general have to breathe more to keep their tissue alive. Faster velocity of air in the pharynx due to more airflow demand causes turbulent flow as well. A mathematical explanation can be found in an increase in Reynolds number from the Reynolds equation. When the Reynolds number from the equation increases to a slightly arbitrary number around 2000-2500, airflow becomes turbulent, resulting in an increased work of breathing and noise when the person breathes."
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1uq3mi | why do dogs wink. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1uq3mi/eli5_why_do_dogs_wink/ | {
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"I don't really know, but I always thought it was my dog trying to say to me: \"I know I can't talk, but I'm way smarter than you think I am\"",
"When one of our eyes are itchy, we scratch it with our fingers. Dogs can't so they wink to remove any bits that are bothering them.",
"'Cause they're up to something, and they know that *you* know."
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5t69op | when do babies gain awarness of themselves? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5t69op/eli5_when_do_babies_gain_awarness_of_themselves/ | {
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"Sometime between 15-24 months. Babies/children will take a step in self-awareness. If you would place a child in front of a mirror before their 15th month, and they have for example a postit stuck on their forehead, they will not realise that it's on their own head. When the children are between 15-24 months, they begin to realise that the reflection is their own. They will not only begin to understand that it's a familiar sight, but also that they are seeing themselves in the mirror. "
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k87t7 | how do tv writers/producers etc get the right amount of time for each episode? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/k87t7/eli5_how_do_tv_writersproducers_etc_get_the_right/ | {
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"When TV writers and producers are writing the scripts for the show, if they have written a lot of episodes before, they know about how many pages they have to write.\n\nThen, when they take parts of the show out, to make it go faster, or be funnier, they aim to make the show the right length.\n\nThey also know how long the opening and ending of the show is, so they make sure to add that to the amount of time that it is taking.\n\nThere are special cases, like with a show called The Simpsons, where if the show is too short, they can make the opening extra long with a opening couch joke. If the show is too long, they can use a shorter opening to help it out.\n\nSometimes, if a show is the right amount of time, but something bad happens (like someone dies) they will ask the company that puts the show on your tv (which is called a network) if they can have extra time to put up a screen that has the person's name on it, to honor their memory. The network can let them have extra time, and is in charge of making sure all the shows fit with the commercials on each day and night.",
"As LasertagSP mentioned, these writers have a general idea for how long their script will shoot for.\n\nWhen they have a script ready for development, it goes through many revisions and many eyes take a look at this script. It is edited/re-edited constantly. Scripts go through table-readings to ensure it's approximately the right length.\n\nWhen filming, directors ensure they have about 40 hours of recorded film per 1 hour of final product. A lot of these are redundant but can help the editor/director flesh out the show if need be.",
"When TV writers and producers are writing the scripts for the show, if they have written a lot of episodes before, they know about how many pages they have to write.\n\nThen, when they take parts of the show out, to make it go faster, or be funnier, they aim to make the show the right length.\n\nThey also know how long the opening and ending of the show is, so they make sure to add that to the amount of time that it is taking.\n\nThere are special cases, like with a show called The Simpsons, where if the show is too short, they can make the opening extra long with a opening couch joke. If the show is too long, they can use a shorter opening to help it out.\n\nSometimes, if a show is the right amount of time, but something bad happens (like someone dies) they will ask the company that puts the show on your tv (which is called a network) if they can have extra time to put up a screen that has the person's name on it, to honor their memory. The network can let them have extra time, and is in charge of making sure all the shows fit with the commercials on each day and night.",
"As LasertagSP mentioned, these writers have a general idea for how long their script will shoot for.\n\nWhen they have a script ready for development, it goes through many revisions and many eyes take a look at this script. It is edited/re-edited constantly. Scripts go through table-readings to ensure it's approximately the right length.\n\nWhen filming, directors ensure they have about 40 hours of recorded film per 1 hour of final product. A lot of these are redundant but can help the editor/director flesh out the show if need be."
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34y4qv | what is clock cycle in cpu? | I googled it but I am very confused. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/34y4qv/eli5_what_is_clock_cycle_in_cpu/ | {
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"Most modern CPUs perform operations based on the cycling of the internal clock. When you see a rating for speed such as 3.4 ghz that is how many times per second the clock cycles. Each time the clock 'ticks' a certain amount of work is performed by the CPU. In some cases an operation can take many cycles, in other cases very few. A lot of that depends on the particular CPU architecture and how much 'work' it can do within each cycle.",
"A CPU is a massive logic circuit working in sync with a clock. The reason you need a clock is because the CPU needs to follow a sequential list of instructions. One of the basic circuits inside a CPU is a counter, when the clock ticks the counter will increment. This counter is wired to lookup the numbered instruction that corresponds to the \"program counter\" as it is called. It basically goes Tick- > Increment, Load Instruction- > Tick- > Load data based on instruction - > Tick - > perform operation on data based on instruction - > Tick - > write data\n\nSo to improve the number of instructions the CPU can perform in a given amount of time, you decrease the clock cycle time (make it tick faster). However, the minimum cycle time depends on the hardware. These things are switches that take time to turn on and off, so your clock cycle can only be as short as the slowest switch. The race became centered on who could make the fastest clock and hardware, thereby having the fastest processor, which is a hardware design problem. \n\nThe issue was that eventually we reached a point where clock times couldn't practically get faster. To go faster, you need more power, with more power the hardware gets hotter, when it gets hotter it needs more power and the circuitry performs worse so you need better cooling... all the while computers were expected to get smaller and more efficient, laptops for example are limited in battery power so you can't spend hundreds of watts just for a fast clock. \n\nWhat's cool is that while the hardware that loads the instruction may only load a single instruction at a time, it doesn't necessarily need to wait for the instruction to be performed several clock ticks later by other hardware. This is the basis for \"pipelining\" and all modern processors use it in some way. When the clock tick forces the other hardware to perform an instruction, the program counter can still increment and load the next instruction. Then on the subsequent tick it can begin to perform the instruction while the hardware down the line is working on a previous instruction.\n\nIt gets complicated when you consider the fact that one instruction may depend on a previous one. For example, say you want to add two numbers then print half their sum. The hardware that does division needs to wait until the addition is finished before it can work. This is where the difference in instruction sets comes into play. More clever engineers find better ways to pipeline these basic instructions to make the CPU do more work out of fewer cycles. Now this is a software problem, how do you figure out the most efficient means of pipelining your instructions to use the fewest clock cycles? \n\nThis is where the race is now. Right now, Intel's instruction set is the best. They found the best ways to use each clock cycle the most efficiently, thereby making their processors perform more instructions in less time without increasing the clock time. They were then able to turn the clock down to use less power and operate more efficiently while still increasing performance. \n\nThis is why you can't use clock rate as a performance benchmark any more. A 4GHz AMD will be crushed by a 3 GHz Intel even though it has a billion more clock ticks per second. Sorry for the novel, I just think this stuff is cool. "
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1luky1 | why do printers do "something" for 1-2 minutes each time i want to print a paper that prints in 5 seconds? | My printer will just spin the parts for a minute before printing a paper each time, I spend 95% of the time just waiting and listening to the sounds the printer makes when printing a document.
I understand there are more expensive models that are faster, and that it cleans or unclogs the nozzles, but surely you don't have to clean for ages before each document, since when I print multiple pages, the following pages are just as good as the first one. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1luky1/eli5_why_do_printers_do_something_for_12_minutes/ | {
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"A lot of printers have a self-diagnostics check and cleaning they perform after they have been turned off or not used for a while. If you turn off your printer between uses, it will almost always run this check before you print the first page after being off.",
"It sounds like you've got an inkjet printer, in which case the other responses are likely correct. \n\nThese extended pre-print cycles are more common in laser printers because they have to heat up the fuser. The final step in the laser-printing process is to fuse the toner to the paper with heat. Basically, there's a curling iron inside your laser printer. It's not energy-efficient to keep this thing at temperature if it isn't needed so if you haven't printed in a while it will usually have cooled down and the printer needs time to heat it back up.",
"When you let an inkjet printer sit idle for a day or more, the ink that is on the ends of the ink jets tends to dry out and get gunky. When the printer turns back on, it rubs the ink jets against a small sponge to get the gunk off.\n\nAlso: sometimes, the print head contains a little sensor that says \"I've bumped into the left end of the printer.\" This is called a \"limit switch.\" Sometimes, this little sensor is the *only* way for the printer to know where the print head is. So it *deliberately* bumps the print head into the left end of the machine so that it can be sure of where the print head is.\n",
"Laser printers are cheap and don't have this problem, if you can live with black and white. For example, _URL_0_",
"One thing I haven't seen covered yet here is if you're using a laser printer, a similar wait period is experienced if it has not been used for a while and is set to a power-save mode.\n\nLaser printers use what's called a Fuser to (you guessed it) fuse the toner to the paper as it rolls through. The fuser can take several seconds to a minute to heat up, generally the printer will indicate it's \"Initializing\" during this stage. Once the fuser is hot the printer can print all day without delay, but if it cools down there is a delay as it heats back up.",
"I have been working for three years as a technician, repairing and maintaining Konica Minolta, HP, and Kyocera office machines. Each one of these when starting initially, or warming up from power save mode, will go into a self diagnostics program. During this it will check all paper passage, clutch, motor, laser, and optical sensors; as well as checking the external/internal temperature, and humidity. It does all of this to make sure that nothing is blocking the paper path, that the motors are running at the appropriate speeds, that the internal computer components are able to read and write data. There is alot more detail that I could go into if I wanted everyone to fall asleep, but the TLDR version of the answer is that just because the part of the operation that is important to you is the moment that ink/toner puts the image you want on paper, there is alot of behind the scenes work involved to ensure that it will be done properly every time.",
"It's a scam by the printer companies to sell more ink. Unclogging the nozzles by using more ink, depleting it so you have to buy more.",
"I work with a Samsung CLP670 laser color. I didn't even have to send a printing, it starts to do things by itself randomly. Spins, make noises, blink lights, it's a Christmas tree...",
"because they're pieces of shit from the depths of hell ",
"let me take a minute to transfer your question into my my cache, so I may prepare an answer."
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"http://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL2230-Monochrome-Laser-Printer/dp/B004H1PB9I/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1378482406&sr=1-1&keywords=brother+hl"
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3ebhww | what makes the age of 18 so special? | In other words, why is it at 18 that many previously restricted activities/things are now legally available? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ebhww/eli5_what_makes_the_age_of_18_so_special/ | {
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"Well, that also depends where it is you are from.\n\nWhere I am from, in the province of Ontario in Canada, the legal drinking and cigarette purchase age is 19. We are allowed to vote and buy lottery at 18.\n\nThe province next to me, Quebec has a blanket age of 18 for all things. Because my city is on the river that divides the two provinces, when people turn 18, we go over the border to drink.\n\n\nIf you are asking what it is socially or biologically about an 18 year old that is so special, that is a little bit more difficult to answer. It could be because our mandatory education is complete by the time we hit around 18. University/college education is optional, and not completely necessary to be a contributing member of society. Because of this, we should know right from wrong by the time we are 18.\n\nBiologically, not much separates a 17 year old from an 18 year old...so it is arbitrary in that sense.",
"It's arbitrary but the basis is that there has to be a dividing line between teenager (child) and adult. 21 is generally considered too old to be granted those previously restricted things, same with 20 or 19.\n\nAlso it happens to be the age when you graduate grade 12 high school, which is the last level of manditory education. After that you are free to pursue whatever you want, college, career, etc. By that logic if the government no longer mandates schooling for you or anything else for that matter, they shouldn't restrict the other things as well, since you are otherwise free to go about life as an independant adult. That is a good basis from when you are no longer a child but an adult.\n\nI suspect that when the drinking age is 19, it's so that college freshmen can't get access to a ton of booze and OD on it. For a lot of them it's their first time away from home and away from controlling parents so naturally they want to do everything they couldn't get away with all at once. Even if they get their liquor illegally chances are it won't be as much as if they could go to the store and buy up entire shelves. \n\nThe real question is why is the driving age 16?"
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4z50m6 | how does the vacuum in deep space differ from that made in a vacuum chamber on earth? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4z50m6/eli5_how_does_the_vacuum_in_deep_space_differ/ | {
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"It doesn't. A vacuum is a space devoid of matter. Emptiness. Nothing. Strictly speaking space is not a perfect vacuum and I doubt there is a perfect vacuum achievable on earth. There are some few particles left but not many.\n\nPerhaps you could distinguish them based on things like gravity fields and light being different between the two (which are not \"nothing\") but that then depends on where you are (e.g. deep space vs. near earth orbit).\n",
"Our best vacuum chambers still do not provide the same level of vacuum (i.e. such low pressure) as that of Earth orbit, which is still within Earth's outermost atmosphere and is polluted with things like paint particles. Deep space interplanetary vacuum is a step further than even that.",
"A vacuum chamber would normally be at atmospheric pressure, but is evacuated to remove most gas molecules within it. I say most because total evacuation is impossible.\n\nIn space, there is...well...space for things like gas molecules to spread out. Sources of gravity such as planets attract even the smallest particles, although some things are so small that the solar wind as well as magnetic fields are sufficient to prevent them from being collected by gravity wells. While space is not empty, due to things like interstellar dust and random molecules, the density is extremely low as there is nothing to attract and pressurise things. As far as pressure goes, radiation from stars does exert a certain degree of pressure on objects."
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6n21yz | why when an airplane closes its doors it can't open them again? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6n21yz/eli5_why_when_an_airplane_closes_its_doors_it/ | {
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"They Could Technically reopen them. they could Disarm the door, reopen and let you on.\n\nBut when the plane closes it doors there is a decent amount of paperwork that has happen, passenger lists submitted, Gates moved back, connections outside might have already be replaced. Its just like when the door is closed they have completed a long check list of items and letting you on would make them run through the whole thing again.",
"Nothing physically. It's just policy. And it would make the plane late to depart. And possibly miss it's schedule. And its timeslots at destination. And crew's working schedule."
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44mirn | why do we often catch ourselves staring at other people when we zone out? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/44mirn/eli5_why_do_we_often_catch_ourselves_staring_at/ | {
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"It's not that you happen to stare at people. In fact, it's the opposite - that you're not staring at anything. Normally, you tend not to focus on people due to social inhibitions and etiquette. But if your mind is elsewhere, your (lack of) focus will drift off to anywhere, including people. "
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bkcfae | how are cars protected from theft at dealerships? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bkcfae/eli5_how_are_cars_protected_from_theft_at/ | {
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"The actual theft is not normally prevented, however the dealers often place trackers in the cars that are likely to be of interest to thieves.",
"you mean, how do they avoid that you just drive off with their car and never come back?\n\nWell, for one, they probably want to see your drivers license. Even make an electronically copy of it. (in some places, the software that snaps the photo also automatically checks if it's valid, so that you can't just give them any piece of plastic that *looks* legit but aint.)\n\nAdded to that, there small convenient-sized GPS trackers that you can hide in demo cars. If you decide to drive off with the car, you also have to find the damn tracker before they call a repossession team and law enforcement to go after you.\n\nThat's the two basic things. Know who you let drive away with a car. And have means to find it if it's not coming back.",
"Even before GPS trackers, there are usually overnight security guards if that’s what you’re thinking.\n\nYou little devil you.🤨",
"First of all there are usually physical barriers to driving off of the lot like fences, doors, shutters on a workshop, or metal railing with a gate. Proper lighting for night time, use of security cameras, intruder alarms, bolas, and physical guards are also used to deter intruders.\n\n & #x200B;\n\nOn the cars themselves generally the doors are locked, the emergency break is engaged, there are sometimes wheel locks on the car that must be removed, and GPS devices are installed to track cars if they are stolen. Also sometimes the lot itself is positioned in a way to make getting a towing vehicle in proper position to tow vehicles away difficult or \"gridlocking\" vehicles by blocking certain vehicles with other ones. Service vehicles are also at risk of being stolen and are either kept inside of the shop or outside in the secure lot. High value wholesale and trade in vehicles are at the back of the lot, usually secured behind a security fence, and low value vehicles are at the front of the lot. \n\n & #x200B;\n\nOn the policy side often keys and fobs are locked in a secured cabinet, lockbox, or other security device that requires access to a key, a code, or something else to unlock. Additionally they also have log books to sign when an employee, trusted contractor, or customer takes a car off of or brings a car into the lot supplemented by an ID like a drivers license or employee number. This also helps with efficient inventory management. They also enforce a strict end of day-opening of day accounting policy for money, assets, parts, and vehicle inventory that should notice if anything is missing from the lot and cut down on employee theft."
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41796i | why are grey hairs more crinkle-ey | Im a young guy with salt and pepper hair, and i noticed that my grey hairs are a different texture than my brown hair. they are more wire-like (almost pube-ish) Why is that? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/41796i/eli5_why_are_grey_hairs_more_crinkleey/ | {
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"text": [
"Because grey hair has almost no melanin (what makes up the color), gray hair is thinner and more fragile than pigmented hair; it also has a thinner cuticle, so its outer layer is more easily damaged and dehydrated."
]
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371f6c | why is alcohol proof not double the % in some countries? | In the US, it is taught that proof is supposed to be double the percentage e.g. 40% (80 proof). But I noticed in India that a bottle of Smirnoff for instance would be 43.5% but it would be 75 proof. Why would it not be 87 proof then? Is proof being double the percentage a misnomer that has been taken as fact after all of these years or is there a scientific reason for the difference? I have done quite a bit of research online and on reddit and can't seem to find an answer to this. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/371f6c/eli5_why_is_alcohol_proof_not_double_the_in_some/ | {
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"I would make an educated guess that it is something to do with the American 'Imperial' measurement system. Some American measurements differ slightly from the original British Imperial system (since superceded by the metric system). For example your Gallon is about 10-15% less. As India probably uses the original British Imperial system, it is likely the US version has had the definition of \"proof\" decreased to work more easily with the more common % system.\n\nTL;DR American measurements have reduced values compared the the original British Imperial system they're based on."
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2txnxb | why is there such a huge debate about the drugs used for capital punishment but seemingly no problems with drugs used for death with dignity? | It seems like people are constantly trying to stay executions by claiming the drugs aren't humane, but people regularly die peacefully with drugs given to them at a pharmacy for death with dignity. Why can't they use the same drugs? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2txnxb/eli5_why_is_there_such_a_huge_debate_about_the/ | {
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"text": [
"There isn't much debate over the drugs. There is a huge debate over capital punishment, the drugs are just a pawn in that battle."
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99q344 | why do almost all foods have so much added salt? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/99q344/eli5_why_do_almost_all_foods_have_so_much_added/ | {
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"Why do almost all PREPACKAGED foods have so much added salt?\n\nIt's a useful natural preservative which increases shelf life, it often tastes good by itself and is also a flavor enhancer.",
"Salt has been used as a food preservative for hundreds of years. The preservation aspect is that it pulls water out of many things we eat, so that bacteria that spoil food would then be less likely to grow. Equally, salt also pulls water out of the bacteria themselves, making it even less likely that food so treated would spoil.",
"Salt is a food preservative, flavor enhancer, and the cheapest seasoning out there. \n\nWhat's not cheap is herbs and spices, and meat that has actual flavor before you drown what little it does have out with thickeners and preservatives. \n\nSalt will maximize the flavors of the food so you forget that it's 60% filler. "
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2qcg1r | why don't smartphones have moving screen-savers like desktop and laptop computers/ how do screen-savers work and when are they necessary? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2qcg1r/eli5_why_dont_smartphones_have_moving/ | {
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"LCD screens, unlike plamsa and CRT, don't need screen savers, and it would kill your battery life",
"In truth, screensavers are no longer needed for modern monitors and is pretty much a relic of the past. In the past screensavers were necessary because if you were working on one of those CRT monitors, and left your computer idle for hours on say, a PornHub video, a few hours later when you return to your computer, you'll find that the image of the video you were looking at is now \"burned in\" into the monitor like a ghost image; it's burned into the piece of glass that you can't rid by surfing another website or doing another thing on your screen or whatever; that's due to inefficiencies in the monitor circuitry design in the past. Screensavers by varying the image they show would avoid this problem.\n\nOn phones, when they designed the OS, they probably threw out the feature because no phone is ever running on CRT anyway, and besides when you're not using it it'll likely be in your pocket, so what's there to see anyway? Along with considerations about battery life, smartphones don't have screensavers thus unlike computers.",
"Some do, if not by default then through an app on the app store. Generally phones don't have screen savers for 2 reasons: battery life & modern screen tech. No screen saver = less screen \"on\" time = less battery drain. \n\nScreen savers were originally introduced to prevent \"screen burn\" - essentially if the same image was left on-screen for too long it would permanently \"burn\" a feint \"ghost\" image of itself in the screen. Modern screen tech, for the most part, avoids this problem (see AMOLED screen burn for a modern example of this problem) thus the screensaver has become largely irrelevant. "
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2fvf5y | a movie bad guy gets his neck snapped in the movies by good guy and dies instantly. yet people like christopher reeves break their neck and live for years. how do some people survive broken necks and others don't? | I appreciate there's a difference between a broken neck and a severed spine, but Reeves severed his spine and lived, while I think others can die instantly from a broken neck. This I don't understand. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fvf5y/eli5a_movie_bad_guy_gets_his_neck_snapped_in_the/ | {
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"Reeves didn't completely sever his spine, it was only severely damaged.\n\nTypically when you break a neck and kill someone, it completely severs it.\n\nNot to mention, he needed a breathing apparatus in order to breathe.",
"A broken neck in and of itself is a totally survivable injury.\n\nBroken bones in the neck, however, can put abnormal pressure on the spinal cord, causing damage leading to anything from numbness to paralysis to death. It's all about the extent of the damage to the spinal cord, not the bones themselves.\n\nIncidentally, breaking the neck and severing the spinal cord is how execution by hanging works.",
"In the movies it happens because that's how they wrote it. But as to why Christopher Reeves was able to live for years while other people die very quickly with a neck injury, it all depends on where the break is. \n\nThere are a [bunch of neves](_URL_1_) branching off your spine in your neck. Unlike our hearts, you can assume control of your breathing, which means there's a nerve that runs from your brain to your diaphragm in your chest. It's between [C3 and C4](_URL_2_) in this case. If the break affects that nerve, you [suffocate within minutes](_URL_0_) without immediate (and life-long) treatment. \n\nAssuming control of your breathing is very useful, whether your hiding or aiming a weapon or for a myriad other reasons. But it does create a certain vulnerability in rare instances.\n\nedit: Fixed the link."
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"http://neckpainsupport.typepad.com/.a/6a010534db265a970c01156f5172a5970b-320wi",
"http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/cervical-nerves"
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dcvrjs | looked at the clouds yesterday, they were going to my left, today looking the same way they are going to my right, what gives? | Probably a dumb question, but yeah. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dcvrjs/eli5_looked_at_the_clouds_yesterday_they_were/ | {
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"It's certainly not a dumb question. The wind changes patterns at several places in altitude. Knowing wind patterns is a necessary thing for hot air balloon operators, it is the only thing they have to steer with. Changing the altitude of the balloon will change its course through the journey.",
"A change in wind direction which blows the clouds, winds vary in strength and direction due to local circumstances and especially changes in pressure."
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cdbbap | why is it that when you jerk off with a headache your fine during but it immediately gets worse than before when you stop? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/cdbbap/eli5_why_is_it_that_when_you_jerk_off_with_a/ | {
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"Because when you are sexually aroused your body releases endorphins which are the body's natural painkiller / opioids.",
"There’s a lot of “feel good” chemicals running around your body when you’re beating the meat or flicking the bean. Most of these chemicals have effects similar to pain-killers. \n\nAfter you’re done you’re more than likely exhausted explaining the amplified headache",
"Endorphins are released making you feel better during something that gives you pleasure. Once the endorphins leave your body you feel what was still there .",
"I'm sure endorphins, like everyone says.\n\nBut also, blood goes back from your pelvic region to your brain, putting more pressure in your head?"
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5ebkg1 | why does being lazy feel so good? shouldn't we naturally feel better working? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ebkg1/eli5_why_does_being_lazy_feel_so_good_shouldnt_we/ | {
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"Being lazy means we're spending fewer calories. Which is good for an animal which may not get to eat. If you were that hungry, you naturally wouldn't be lazy. ",
"Your brain likes being rewarded and there is some instant gratification for doing something right now.\n\nI could do yard work, then relax with a cold beer. That will feel fantastic as I accomplished a task I don't have to worry about.\n\nVs the Immediate but lesser reward of, I can just relax now and have a beer rewarding, but I still have the lawn weighing over me.",
"Until very recently food was very hard to come by and hoarding as much of that energy as you could might mean the difference between life and death. Since most of us spend the majority of our time being not hungry or not really needing anything the best thing for us to do to conserve energy is to do nothing.",
"The current human actually works far, FAR more than our evolutionary ancestors. While hunting and gathering were difficult, they were not something you performed for 15+ hours of the day as most people do now.",
"Animals have 4 goals in life: eat, have sex, don't get hurt, and expend as little effort as possible. These 4 goals were hardwired into us genetically because it's the ones who do these things that end up reproducing the most and have a good life.",
"What part of working is natural?",
"Working actually does feel better, only that the hormones are released with a delay. Physical lazyness mostly depends on sugar levels and calories. But if you ever did sports without a lack of bloodsugar and without stopping before finishing you'll see that physical activity actually feels better. Sure, it comes with tiredness but success and happiness hormones play a big role. Compare Depression levels between sporty persons and couch potatoes.",
"Only feels good sometimes, usually when the weather is terrible. I feel much better when I put in a hard day of work, then a beer. :)",
"It's not a change in available calories. It's how your 'reward center' in your brain is programmed. \n\nIf the only thing you know has been laziness then working for something will feel terrible. But, if you have gone through the process of accomplishing a meaningful long term goal, you would come to know that those random moments of instant gratification are fleeting and never touch those bigger moments.\n\nNaturally, I believe we do feel better working. At least whatever working means to you. Accomplishing a goal or task, let's say. Then again, most of you are just going to read this, disagree, and proceed to masturbate.",
"try being lazy for like a whole year.. doing stuff feels pretty good. \n\nthing is lazy feels good NOW, doing stuff feels rewarding once you've done it (like, work wise anyway) and we're creatures who want instant gratification. ",
"Until humans started farming, there was no incentive to work the more than [roughly 20 hours per week that hunter gatherers worked](_URL_0_); additional work would deplete the abundance of natural resources by destroying plant and animal populations. Being lazy is in our nature. \n\nSource: Sociology class I took in college slash this decent-ish-looking website I googled really quickly.",
"I'd say it's a bit of a bell curve?\n\nLately, technology and society has advanced much quicker than our bodies have, and instant gratification has become all the rage at a psychosocial level.\n\nWhen it comes to consumption of food and conversion to energy, we are storing energy in the form of fat much faster and more often than we are using energy for tasks like walking/running, using physical force to craft tools and fight off predators, and generally just being more active. I mean average weight of Americans has been increasing every decade, that is pretty indicative of something. \n\nThere is a punishment reward complexity that exists in the brain that feels rewarded for eating food (American food these days are loaded with sugar), but simulate happiness by hijacking your reward pathways and releasing lots of feel good hormones like dopamine to your system. Feels good being lazy in the short term, but it makes you suffer later.\n\nWhen we are lazy, start to psychologically become affected. Back when we didn't have civilization and were hunter gatherers, our fight or flight responses were more in tune, we did feel more \"natural\" in working. Now, we are protected, and have a life of ease compared to the hunter gatherer life we originally came from. Because of short term rewards in being lazy, storing excess energy and eating sugary foods that make you feel good temporarily, we build up tolerances to sugar, eat more, get fatter, and unhealthier, which then starts to expand your waistline, make you break out, and decrease any physical prowess you may have had.\n\nThis might be anecdotal but I think prolonged states of lethargy and constant consumption make people more prone to psychological issues (depression from weight gain, negative feedback loop of eating/purging/ body image issues, etc). The happiest, most resilient people I've met are those that work out. I've seen more depression in people who are long term lazy people and cases of clinical depression from people who do not engage in physical activity.\n\nMost people I see working out at the gym are actively engaging with their fight or flight responses by exercising. As you put your body through stress, endorphins are released which make you happy. Most people I see who work out or play sports feel good from that reaction and get hooked on working out/being active. Some people never get to that point because the short term reward pathways are easier to access (eating food, laying on couch, doing nothing), whereas the gym and physical work don't immediately seem appealing or give the immediate benefits that a person might be looking for.",
"Laziness is a luxury. You tend not to be lazy when you don't know where you are sleeping that night or you don't know what you will eat next. Having secured your needs, you can grant yourself the right to rest. \n\nHowever higher-order needs require planning and motivation. If you can't make rent next month, you can still be lazy this month - your needs are met right now. But you should probably go to work so that you aren't homeless after the 30th. \n\nWe all struggle with motivation, don't take it personally. The hard part is deciding. Doing is relatively easy. Just ask a morning jogger about putting their jogging shoes on - it's harder than the run that follows!",
"Being lazy doesn't feel good long term. It feels good briefly after you have had stuff to do.",
"I only like being lazy after a long period of getting things accomplished...like I earned it. I love working and getting things done. Being too lazy makes me feel depressed and worthless. ",
"Working is not necessarily always going to be more \"beneficial\" to us than being lazy. Working generally implies putting off immediate gratification in favor of fulfilling longer-term goals. Rather than think of how much doing work benefits us, most people think about it in terms of the consequences we would face if we do not perform all the work we need to get done.\n\nYou go to work because you need to pay your rent, buy food, etc., and you clean your house once in a while because you don't like living in filth. When you wake up on a Sunday morning and consider what to do today while you make a pot of coffee, you are not actually deciding whether to clean your bathroom or vegetate in front of the TV all day long. You are weighing the disgust of having to use a nasty bathroom versus getting 6 hours of couch-potato time instead of only 5. And most people will think it fair to choose to make a small sacrifice to their free time in order to not live in filth.\n\nHaving a certain amount of free time to do you want is definitely worthwhile and is not \"being lazy\". One is really only \"lazy\" when you are someone who unreasonably sacrifices ALL your longer-term goals for the sake of immediate gratification and enjoyment. Parents generally don't accuse their children of being lazy because they don't want to have to do all the chores themselves. Being capable of choosing bigger long-term gains over smaller short-term gains is a sign of maturity, and teaching the value of personal responsibility is really hard.",
"If you do a job you love you'll feel better than you would being lazy. Nothing feels better than self fulfilment from work.",
"Completely not biological here, but just anecdotal. I've always felt being lazy is good when it's deserved. Once I give myself some grueling work session, I feel the happiness flush my brain from good work. Maybe it was even a week's worth of work, but once I know that need is met, I feel that when I decide to lie down, I'm soaking in those happiness chemicals and letting my body flow with ecstasy upon completion of the task. Rest happiness has always been \"afterwork happiness absorbing\".\n\nLikewise, when I haven't done shit, and have been purposely missing work or living without purpose, the laziness feels wrong and lethargic. My body feels depressed almost, as if I'm missing some essence. It's when I reassure myself, that this laziness is appropriate or without consequence, that I can continue enjoying what I'm doing.\n\nTo conclude, IME, the human body definitely feels the need for work, but also the need for rest. Sometimes, I can get too attached to rest though, and maybe you've had good work ethic recently, so when you rest, it feels amazing and well deserved.",
"What we think of as lazy is often not detectable as lazy by our brains. Our brains want us to do productive things, and we've learned ways to relax that feel productive.\n\nSometimes you'll relax, sit in a chair, and stare at the horizon. Or a TV screen. Or you'll play a video game. Or you'll read a web comic. Or you'll browse Reddit.\n\nIf I sit and relax and do NOTHING, that's what our brains think of as lazy, and it's possible you need some alcohol or something to really enjoy doing absolutely nothing. Otherwise, maybe you'll start a conversation, pick up a book, browse the internet, watch some TV, or open a video game app.\n\nWhen we consume art or social media our brain thinks we're learning and solving social puzzles. When the art we consume is interactive (as in video games) it feels even more like we're doing something worthwhile.\n\nOur brain gives us a burst of happy every time we finish a chapter, open a new link, or make a new level in our video game. These burst of happy are the chemical \"dopamine\", and dopamine is such pleasant stuff it's the agent that makes some illegal drugs work so well.\n\nOur actual job? Many of us are lucky enough to have jobs that give us job satisfaction as well, but those moments are rarer, often pretty hard to accomplish, and mitigated by the fact that we're so familiar with them we don't feel like they're as special. And, sometimes the job is unpleasant.\n\nIt's not that our jobs are bad, though, it's that we've learned through centuries of practice how to make entertainments for ourselves that hit the same buttons as actual mental accomplishments, but far more effectively and swiftly. This is why people fail college because they're playing video games; real accomplishments are harder and don't feel as good.\n\ntl;dr: Our methods of goofing off are both pleasant because they're rest and also pleasant because we feel a bit like we're doing the fun part of working. They're the [refined sugar](_URL_0_) of effort.",
"Why should we feel better working?",
"because we culturally stigmatize it. So like drugs, when you do it there's a sense of true freedom ",
"The problem is our concept of 'work' being eight hours of singe-task focus on something. Regardless of what it is, nothing should be done for eight hours straight. Not even sleep. \n\nIn fact, the things we consider recreation are, in a pre-agricultural prehistorical sense, work. Things like collecting stuff. In the prehistorical era that meant gathering flint for making into tools, gathering resins and saps to make glue, gathering pretty shells to sew into clothing. Nowadays we collect sports memorabilia and fucking snow globes for some damn reason. The impulse to collect used to be survival, now it's recreation. \n\nWork, in the prehistorical era, consisted of the predictable hunting and gathering but also crafting things like tools and clothing as well as traveling and maintaining human relationships. In other words, people lived all the time the way we spend our off hours playing. That's why 'lazy' feels good. ",
"I think lazy only feels good because it feels better than the work your not enjoying. Re lack of stimulation; lack of renumeration and/or both. But then it is perspective! Are you lazy only because you are taking time to think. Or even developing language or social skills online. The only lazy, that is validly lazy in this day and age is computer or video games. And then sometimes they are just relax lazy! So don't be hazy in your lazy.\n\nSome people will give you a biological explanation. But lazy isn't bliss! So thus understanding the biological requirements of lazy supersedes the higher acquirement of bliss. And thus a different biological requirement. And thus a different construct! So unless lazy, is your highest goal in life, i would work towards the construct of bliss (enlightenment!).",
"I personally don't agree that this is a fact. Production is the basis of morale. Ever talk to someone on welfare? Miserable. Hard working individuals that are succeeding are much happier in life. I feel this way from personal experience and observation :) a day off after a long work week DOES feel good though!",
"Your mind likes to think of optional efforts as a waste of food energy. \nIt wants to conserve your energy for when you really need it like chasing down a gazelle, running away from a gazelle or intercourse (gazelle is optional).",
"Modern convenience and efficiency prevents us from ending up in situations where we feel threatened enough to \"do work.\"\n\nThink about it this way: Energy is precious in nature and animals have to conserve it so that they can spend it doing things that are absolutely necessary, like finding food and shelter. If they spent energy randomly and indiscriminately, they wouldn't have enough left over to do what they need in order to survive.\n\nApply that to modern humans and you end up with laziness. We've got modern convenience all around us, but as far as instincts go, we're still animals in nature who feel like we need to conserve our energy and save it for when it really matters.",
"Being lazy only feels good short term. Being active feels good long term. Gratification is an important motivator.",
" > shouldn't we naturally feel better working?\n\nour neurological motivational mechanisms evolved and developed in environments where the the rewards for our actions were always pretty immediate\n\nfor example, you chase and kill the deer, you immediately get to eat it. you finish building a shelter, you immediately get to chill in it. you work hard on making a spear, you can now immediately stab something with it if you wanted to. you are immediately empowered and rewarded the instant you complete your task.\n\nbut modern society has introduced a lot of work that doesn't manifest its benefit for a long time, and our subconcious can't really comprehend that.\n\nfor example, you spend all this time on math homework, but when you finish, there's no food or warms or sex or spear there for you now, so why the hell did you even do it?\n\nif instead of receiving your paycheck as a lump sum at the end of the week, people would probably feel a closer connection with their work/reward if a tiny bit of money came out of a slot every time they completed a task. right now the work and rewards are way too far disconnected and abstracted. by the time we receive the reward, we've completed the actual work so long ago that we can't subconsciously feel the connection.\n\n > Why does being lazy feel so good?\n\nagain, this is the work/reward connection. clicking a cat picture and laughing is immediate reward for your action. killing a skyrim dude and taking his coins is immediate reward for your action. but the only thing that finishing a day in the office and driving back home does is makes you feel tired and shitty, with nothing to immediately show for it. your subconcious thinks you got duped, and makes you feel like a loser. to regain a sense of accomplishment and achievement, what do you do when you get home from work? look at cat pictures and play video games.\n\na compromise would be paying everyone at the end of their work day. this would create a lot more paperwork, but with computers and direct-deposit, it could be automated.",
"It actually doesn't feel good to me anymore. \n\nMaybe that's oversimplifying it. \n\nI feel good when I'm at rest, \"being lazy\", but only if my body is completely exhausted from a workout. \n\nI don't feel good just laying around in front of the tv with a bag of cheetos and a beer. Not when I know I should be sore and tired from putting in work. \n\nRest only feels good to me if I've earned it. If I haven't, I feel restless and cranky. ",
"_URL_0_ I know I am late to the game in this thread, but this hour long session for TAs for undergraduates on Procrastination really does get to the heart of it. The \"feeling good\" part of laziness is of course temporary, because you really are procrastinating and will carry forward with you a piece of stress on the as yet uncompleted work.\n\nA great way to define procrastination is the gap between Intention and action. Being lazy and putting off a task that SEEMS to be an IMMEDIATE negative experience is using REAL negative reinforcement(removal of a negative stimulus) thus granting a sense of relief and positive feelings...at the expense of your future self! ",
"We are genetically programmed to preserve calories. This is from our earliest ancestors for whom calories were difficult to come by. \n\nThere is a great book called \"Mean Genes\" that describe the relationship between many of our behaviors and their origin in evolution.",
"We spend more time working then relaxing, so we see relaxing as more of a reward. If we only worked two days a week, we would probably make it a very productive two days.",
"I always wondered this question as well. \nI took a circuitry class last year and learned all about the way that energy travels between electronics. As it turns out electricity takes the shortest route possible to travel from point A to B, basically no matter how you wire something up it finds a way to use the shorter route. \nSo understanding that, I then realized that if energy itself is lazy, then no wonder I'm fine with sitting around all day \"doing nothing\" or spending very little energy doing whatever I'm doing. "
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psjid | how does the reddit enhancement suite (res) work? | I understand how APIs work. But every other third party clients I've seen work on a different URL (Eg: Hootsuite for twitter,etc.). But in this case, RES seems to do all its magic on the _URL_0_ domain itself. How does that happen? Are the reddit admins part of the project as well? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/psjid/eli5_how_does_the_reddit_enhancement_suite_res/ | {
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3erl23 | if water boils/vaporates at 100 degrees celsius /212 degrees fahrenheit, why is the sun's radiation/heat enough to 'vaporize' water to form clouds? | I know basic science but this really wonders me.. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3erl23/eli5_if_water_boilsvaporates_at_100_degrees/ | {
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"Water *boils* at 100 C, but individual water molecules can have enough energy to evaporate at temperatures lower than this. ",
"Water can evaporate at much lower than 100 Celsius. Boiling is the temperature at which *all* of the water has been raised to the temperature necessary to vaporize. But temperature is an *average* measure of the energy of the molecules in the water. Even below boiling, some molecules are more energetic and others are less energetic. Some of the more energetic molecules are energetic enough to escape from the surface of the water into the air. This cools the remaining liquid slightly, but it would be in turn warmed back towards equilibrium with its surroundings."
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79rxoc | how're elevators replaced? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/79rxoc/eli5howre_elevators_replaced/ | {
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"Removing a old one can be done by taking it apart at the bottom level. Either disassembly the parts or just cutting it apart.\n\nThe new elevators are build from parts that fit trough the door on the lowest level. The harder part to install is likely guide rails etc in the shaft\n\nHere is a video of presentation of how a large manufacturer replace a old elevator with a new\n_URL_0_",
"It depends on the type of modernized the customer payed for. The majority of time they go the cheep route and just re do the cab interiors. Kinda like re skinning your kitchen cabinets. Makes it look nice but the underling hard ware is still old and warn out.\n\nYou can have just the controller changed.\n\nJust the doors and or door oporater.\n\nReplacing what ever means of moving the cab. Hydrolic plungers or hoist machines. ( Roped \"traction\")\n\nOr all of the above.\n\nIt is vary rare that the guide rails, car slings (main frame of the car) , or counter weights (for traction cars) get replaced.\n\nBut all came to the job in pieces get removed in pieces and can be replaced in pieces like Lego, k'nex, or erector.\n\nTldr.\nElevators get put installed with little pieces and get modernized by replacing the pieces with newer ones.\n"
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3q78ds | psychologists, especially, why do the super wealthy still want more? | Ok, some of them are still working and creating and adding value. But there are so many who could be enjoying life and their ample money more, in place of working to game the system, change laws and regulations in their favor, get the better of others, make money illegally. Take the drug lords for example, or even Silvio Berlusconi and his ilk. Has gaining wealth become a habit, a compulsion, a sickness, even when it is to the overall detriment of the individual?
Extra credit question: Can anything be done to enlighten these people? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3q78ds/eli5_psychologists_especially_why_do_the_super/ | {
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"I believe Andrew Carnegie once answered the question in this way:\n\n\"How much is enough?\"\n\nAC: \"Just a little bit more.\""
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1ypyrb | why does sprite loose carbonation faster than coke? | I've noticed this many times. I can open a coke and it will stay carbonated for days and still fizz when I put it in a glass; Sprite looses that ability after about a day, even if the lid is shut tight. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ypyrb/eli5_why_does_sprite_loose_carbonation_faster/ | {
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78gus7 | why do our mouths get dry after eating salty food like pretzels? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/78gus7/eli5why_do_our_mouths_get_dry_after_eating_salty/ | {
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"Salt causes dehydration.its just a property of the substance. This is why you can use it to preserve foods (microorganisms have trouble surviving in environments that are heavily salted, because salt literlaly forces water out of living cells) and why you arent supposed to drink sea water.",
"Salt causes water to \"leave\" a substance trough a process called osmosis. When you eat salty food, osmosis happens in your mouth, gathering saliva from your mucous membrane.\nEdit: spelling"
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a6fknp | what happens when you get up after lying down for a period of time and you feel light-headed? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a6fknp/eli5_what_happens_when_you_get_up_after_lying/ | {
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"Your blood pressure isn't high enough to get all the oxygen to your brain. The signal that says \"oh, do that work\" to maintain it doesn't turn on faster than you get up. ",
"**Please read this entire message**\n\n---\n\nYour submission has been removed for the following reason(s):\n\n* ELI5 requires that you search before posting.\n\nThere are absolutely no exceptions to this rule. Please see this [wiki entry](_URL_0_) for more details (Rule 7).\n\n\n\n---\nIf you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](_URL_2_) first. If you still feel the removal should be reviewed, please [message the moderators.](_URL_1_?)"
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516arc | why do communists and fascists both oppose liberalism despite being polar opposites? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/516arc/eli5_why_do_communists_and_fascists_both_oppose/ | {
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"Can you clarify what you mean by liberalism? ",
"As a Slavic Nationalist and National Syndicalist which is technically a form of fascism, I would love to answer this question. In order to fully comprehend why communists and fascists both equally oppose liberalism despite being polar opposites, we must first define what is communism, what is fascism and finally what is liberalism. Many people, especially on Western countries like the US, Canada or the UK assume that the left-right political spectrum works like this: Liberals are left, Conservatives are right and libertarians are either in the middle or just beyond the left and right dichotomy. This is simply incorrect and not how politics or social-economics work at all. First of all you don't have to be a literal Nazi or KKK member to be right-wing and the left has nothing to do with American liberal's obsession with identity politics. You can be black, Latino, gay, bisexual, female, transgender, Jewish, etc. and still be a right-winger and you can be a white straight male and be a left-winger. The left-right political compass is about socioeconomics (Economic Left vs. Economic Right) and how much governmental influence you want (Authoritarian/Totalitarian vs. Libertarian/Anarchism), not identity politics. \nCommunism is a specific stage of socioeconomic development predicated upon a superabundance of material wealth, which is postulated to arise from advances in production technology and corresponding changes in the social relations of production. This would allow for distribution based on need and social relations based on freely-associated individuals. To achieve communism, there must be a revolution done by class conscious workers that are ready to put their differences aside in order to mobilize and dismantle capitalism. The first stage is called the dictatorship of the proletariat, the second stage is the lowest stage of of communism known by some as socialism and the final stage is full communism or just communism. A communist economic system would be characterized by advanced productive technology that enables material abundance, which in turn would enable the free distribution of most or all economic output and the holding of the means of producing this output in common. In this respect communism is differentiated from socialism, which, out of economic necessity, restricts access to articles of consumption and services based on one's contribution. None of this can be achieved with liberalism which enables people to only care about themselves and their own middle class bubble. To put it simply, liberals are idealists in the minds of communists. They divorce ideas from their contexts and judge actions based on preconceived notions of \"pure\" ideas. This is incompatible with the Marxist practice of historical materialism, looking at all ideas in their historical context and judging actions by their effects on the class struggle. The liberal does not see this greater violence as class violence, however, because liberalism divorces all ideas from their contexts and looks for superficial causes of events. Fascism is a mode of production within capitalism. They don't oppose capitalism, they just want to reform it into something that empowers their nation. They generally support corporatism and forms of class collaboration. Fascists oppose the free market too. \"Free market\" means letting the free forces run amok, even when it goes against the nation. Fascism had a capitalistic system in which common sense aka the nation's health and well being, was applied whenever \"smart economists\" ideology was going awry. The free market promotes individuality and individuality is, in their minds, toxic and damaging to the nation. \n\nFascism and communism both require rejecting self-centeredness and hyper-individuality which are two things rooted in liberal ideology. Fascism rejects it because liberal economics and hyper-individuality promoted by liberalism will make people not care about building a stronger nation while the communists reject it because it makes people selfish, perpetuates private property and the anarchy of production. Liberalism is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty. Liberalism is not being progressive like many people on Reddit believe, it is merely supporting socialeconomic freedom. Liberals are hyper-individualists which means they mostly or only care about issues that concern themselves and care only about their own wellbeing and economic stability. Virtually everyone on the centre of the political compass is a liberal; From reformists and social democrats -also called 'petty-bourgeoisie by Lenin - to Neoliberals, objectivists and Anarcho-Capitalists. Also neoconservatism, so called cultural libertarianism and even neoreactionary groups like TheRedPill and Alt-Right. They all fall under the vast umbrella of liberalism because they not only support economic freedom but are also hyper-individualists. Many types of behaviours can be considered liberal; From voting for a presidential candidate based on gender or skin color even if that candidate has made many questionable decisions in the past and assume that that will end sexism and racism to more sociopathic things like leaking people's nudes online along with their personal information just for \"fun\". This is why I find edgelords from the \"Alt-Right\" and so called \"cultural libertarians\" like the ones from Gamergate movement so hypocritical and pathetic; Sharing Pepe memes and voting for Donald Trump is not fascism in anyway neither is thinking eugenics is a good idea. Most of the people that fall under this demographic are fat neckbeards, skinny wimpy teens with no social life that spend all day playing video games or just a bunch of degenerates that support weird stuff like pedophilia or incest, etc. Most of these people would, ironically, get executed under a true fascists state. And Donald Trump is just a classical liberal and populist. Fascists want a strong and imposing leader, not a clown. \n\nTL;DR: Communists oppose liberals because they are too invested on themselves to care about oppressed groups and support capitalism while fascists oppose liberals because they wouldn't want to build a strong unite nation and support the free market and globalism. "
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49omv4 | why can the us have thousands of nuclear warheads but simultaneously coerce other nations into denuclearization? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/49omv4/eli5_why_can_the_us_have_thousands_of_nuclear/ | {
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"Most nations on the planet have signed the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. The NPT says that those non nuclear states will not pursue a nuclear weapons program. In exchange, they get access to nuclear power generation technology -- and (more importantly), they know that their rivals/neighbors who have signed the NPT won't develop nukes either.\n\nThat last part is key. The main reason any country ever had a nuclear program is because a rival or enemy had nukes or were developing nukes.\n\nAs part of the treaty, the nuclear power signatories to the treaty (like the US, UK, Russia, etc) are required to take action to prevent a country from developing nuclear weapons in violation of the treaty.",
"Because it's not just the US but the vast majority of the world that is against other nations gaining nukes. The world tolerates that it can't fully put the genie back into the bottle, but it's not supporting further proliferation.",
"Please search before posting "
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2prg5l | why is it that it seems many people of foreign countries know how to speak english but we in the u.s. generally don't know any other language but our own? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2prg5l/eli5why_is_it_that_it_seems_many_people_of/ | {
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"English is an important language for everyone to speak. The world's most popular music and movies are in English, a lot of important political and scientific publications are in English, and many companies will hire people who know English so they can deal with clients or deal directly with information available in English. \n\nBecause so many people know English, tourist areas will usually have at least English language signs so people know what's going on. \n\nBecause Americans already know English, they don't have to learn any other languages; they already know the most important international language.",
"Simply put, there's no money in it. \n\nStudies have been done that show the return on investment for learning a second (non english) language is 4-8%.\n\nWhile learning english as a second language can increase your lifetime by as much as 30%.\n\nBecause the entire world speaks english. It's a self fulfilling prophecy: English is the language of the world, so more people learn it, which makes it more so the language of the world.",
"The US is the largest global economy, and a physically large nation. \n\nThere is a lot of incentive for other nations to learn English in order to do business with us. Since they are learning English we have little incentive to learn their native languages. So it is unlikely that people will need a foreign language at work save for specific circumstances. \n\nAs for tourists, only 35% of the US population has passports and the bulk of those are held by people working in international business. So there it is very unlikely for the average person to need a foreign language on vacation. This is reinforced by the fact that most tourist sites will also have English speakers. "
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apt0lj | how do insurance companies justify charging more for living in a riskier area then increase your premium when that risk is realized? | I pay more every year to live in a higher crime area, got mirrors stolen from car and now paying even more. Is the risk of having the car damaged/stolen at my home without me being there not already calculated into the home address part of the premium? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/apt0lj/eli5_how_do_insurance_companies_justify_charging/ | {
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"Two statistical reasons and one that has little to do with probabilities.\n\nIf I smoke, I am at higher risk for a costly heart attack. If I actually have the heart attack, I'm at even higher risk for all manner of other costs. \n\nYou're paying more in the first place to account for the expected value of a crime (the probability of it happening x the value of the claim). Once the crime is realized, the cost goes up because the probability goes to one.\n\nHowever, there is also this to consider: Insurance companies can charge you more for (very nearly) any reason. Insurance doesn't have to be actuarially fair (i.e. you're charged in line with the risk you carry). Once you have filed a claim your willingness to pay for insurance likely goes up. The insurer knows this and charges you more. ",
"Short answer - because they can. Longer answer - because their actuaries (who are very, very, very smart and very good at what they do) have determined that experiencing a loss is an independent factor when determining future risk. For whatever reason, statistically speaking there is a difference between two identical cars parked in front of two identical houses in the same neighborhood owned by nearly identical owners where one of the cars has suffered a loss and one hasn't. Might not make intuitive sense, but you can bet there's data to back it up. Insurance companies don't guess at these things (at least the ones that want to stay in business), they measure, collect data, calculate and refine constantly.",
"Well there's two questions here. \n\nThe first is *how* they can get away with it. The answer there is that you probably can't find another insurance company that's willing to charge you less. If you can, then go for it! If you can't, it's probably because insurance companies are in agreement that you're actually being charged a fair price. \n\nEither that, or there is collusion in the car insurance industry where they all agree to set prices that they know are unfair while simultaneously blocking anyone else from entering the market and undercutting them. Judging by how many car insurance companies they are and how desperate they all seem for your business, I'd guess that's not the case. \n\nSo then the question that's been more thoroughly answered is *why* insurance companies think you're being charged a fair price. The only part of those answers I would want to push back on is the idea that insurance companies raise your rates after a claim because \"the probability of that claim happening is now 1\". That's 100% not how a (competitive) insurance market should work. Having a policy with an insurance company that recoups all its payouts with higher rates down the line is just being uninsured but with extra steps. \n\nIt's better to think about insurance not over time as a series of risks the insurance company takes on you personally, but instead all at once as a pool of risks the insurance company takes on *many* people. The insurance company doesn't HAVE to break even on you. Over your lifetime, it may end up giving a lot more to you than you ever paid in premiums. The key thing is there needs to be some other guy who pays a bunch of premiums but never uses the insurance. So long as the insurance company breaks even overall, everything is fine. In that framework, the insurance company may still raise your rates after a claim, but only if it thinks the chance of you having *another* claim is higher now it that it knows you've already had one. "
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5ue17f | for how much longer will we able to see the light from the first stars? | Maybe I am all wrong, but if the first light from the stars was emitted around 13 billions years ago, it means it has been travelling this entire time through the expanding universe while being redshiffted. This light is still reaching it since we can see it with HST and JWST in the future. My question is: will this infrared light from that age ever stop reaching us? Shouldn't we get "younger" light with each new second? Or does the expanding universe cancels out that effect?
Example: We see the light from a Galaxy who is 13Gy old. The same light we see next year (or even of a second later)should be slightly younger, right?
I know I haven't been really clear but I hope you understand what I am asking! Thanks! | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5ue17f/eli5_for_how_much_longer_will_we_able_to_see_the/ | {
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"The universe is believed to be infinite in all directions. We reside within an observable universe, which is the spherical region around us that has had time for its light to reach us. This is expanding and it is called the particle horizon. As time passes, further regions have had time for their young light to reach us.\n\nSo you'd think over time we'd see more and more new light.\n\n*But* there is another sphere, the Hubble Volume. This relates to the expansion of the universe. Objects beyond this range are actually receding from us at greater than the speed of light due to the expansion of space.\n\nIn an accelerating universe, which we believe ours to be, this volume will lag behind the particle horizon. What this means is that in actuality, the universe we can see is shrinking, at least in 'contents' as objects near the edge over take the Hubble Boundary. At that point, the light they emit at that time will (once it travels all the way back to earth) be the last we ever see of it. They will essentially disappear from our universe. \n\nI believe this is already happening with the most distant possibly visible objects, although I am not certain we are actually able to see them with our technology. \n\n\n"
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46z4d2 | why do dishwasher detergents recommend not pre-washing? | I would assuming cleaner dishes in would mean cleaner dishes out, however all of the dishwasher detergents I have used always recommend NOT pre-washing the dishes. Is there any advantage to this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/46z4d2/eli5why_do_dishwasher_detergents_recommend_not/ | {
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"text": [
"The chemicals in the detergent need something to attach to on the dishes or they'll simply drip off. Leaving some food particles on the plate lets them stick around to work."
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6geh83 | bedouins cover their whole body with loose clothing to protect from the heat. why dоn't tribes from sub-saharan africa, australia and other hot places do the same? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6geh83/eli5_bedouins_cover_their_whole_body_with_loose/ | {
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"Well, in Australia, our tribes tend to wear flannel and small shorts with symbols and colors displaying the geographical location that the wearer belongs to. \n\nThe flannel is able to be worn half buttoned or completely open, offering protection from the sun on their arms and shoulders, and leaving an area of exposed body in which the wind can cool. At night, the flannel is exceptional for holding and maintaining body heat throughout the evening. ",
" Because it doesn't protect you from the heat, it protects you from the heat that the sun would give you. Sub Saharan Africa is not actually that hot in most places, and it's not nearly as sunny. Full body covering wouldn't help so much there, but it would get quite miserable and sticky real quick.",
"I live in Southern Arizona so I know about living in a desert. I would never wear shorts. Loose, light clothes protect the skin. Think sunscreen you wear instead of apply. If the fabric is light and loose, it doesn't stick to the skin or make you that much warmer. This works in hot but arid areas. Humidity is a completely different issue from heat. I would never be able to use this tactic if we have humidity."
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1hfy5i | what was obama's recent announcement regarding climate change, and how will it affect the average american? | I'm surprised I wasn't able to find an ELI5 about this when I searched, please let me know if I might have missed a thread about it.
I've been hearing about the president making a crucial plan for climate change, but news sources haven't really been breaking it down for me - what the plan actually is, and how it might affect a 5 year old like me. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1hfy5i/eli5_what_was_obamas_recent_announcement/ | {
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"The gist of it is that he basically said he is sick of the debate about whether climate change exists, and that it is no longer a debatable issue. His administration is moving forward with a number of initiatives and will no longer entertain debate about the issue.",
"He basically read out a wish list of what he would like to do. Since we live in a democracy HE cannot do much or anything about it without the people in congress saying yes or no to his wishes.\n\nObama is very frustrated because people in the senate and house of representatives say that climate change either does not exist or is not man made, BUT 98% of all scientific studies published in LEGITIMATE scientific journals say that it is very real and Humans look like the cause. so the people who do not believe in climate change will say no to everything that is on his wish list. Now, they arn't just saying no to be mean or because they are stupid. A lot of these wishes would cost a lot of money to start. The government has very little money and is trying to figure out how to spend it and this issue is not a cheap one to fix. Many corporations would also have to spend more money as well.\n\nSo, since these wishes would be so hard to get these people to say yes to, Obama came out and made a speech to try and rally his friends to help him make his wishes happen. He hopes that if he lists some specific wishes that maybe something can be done for one or two of them. Who knows he could get lucky and all of them would get granted."
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ch8a5g | where does money from ftc fines go? how is it used? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ch8a5g/eli5_where_does_money_from_ftc_fines_go_how_is_it/ | {
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"Federal fines are paid to the US treasury, where it's used for general government spending. Most agencies don't get to add the money they collect as fines to their budget. \n\nKeep in mind that most settlements report a number that's called a fine in media reports, but may include actual fines paid to the treasury, payments to make those harmed whole (most of the billion dollar settlements with banks went to mortgage bondholders and various foreclosure mitigation programs, for example), or donations to various non-profits who work in the field."
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20rwwr | how and why did humans evolve to find sex pleasurable? | ? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/20rwwr/eli5_how_and_why_did_humans_evolve_to_find_sex/ | {
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"Any human that didn't bother to have any isn't going to be passing its genes on.",
"That really isn't an evolutionary trait exclusive to humans. Sex is absolutely essential for a species to continue, so it either has to be an irresistible urge or extremely pleasurable. "
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1znxyw | what is the purpose of the images stored on the voyager? | _URL_0_
Explain any or all of them. I am particularly interested in the ones that appear to try and explain something. Like the math/physics ones. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1znxyw/eli5_what_is_the_purpose_of_the_images_stored_on/ | {
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"Well, basically they exist as a demonstration of our basic intelligence if an alien race were to stumble upon the probe. \n\nIt's generally agreed upon that however different aliens might be from us, mathematics are a universal truth in our universe, at least as far as we know. 1+1 = 2. \n\nSo some of those number images are trying to explain our numbering system, and then show that we have a comprehension of basic mathematics. \n\nThen you've got a bunch of information about our solar system. There's a couple of images that show the planets and list their basic statistics (using the numbers we hopefully explained earlier), and then some photos of them.\n\nThen there's some pictures showing some of our basic understanding of chemistry, then a bunch of pictures showing human biology (to make the aliens hungry for our flesh, no doubt), then fun pictures of our world and its wildlife, a few photos of humans doing various things, some of our cool buildings and inventions, and some feel good boilerplate about how awesome the USA is and how cool it would be to hang out with friendly aliens. "
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4bwtkf | how were anti-psychosis medications discovered? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4bwtkf/eli5how_were_antipsychosis_medications_discovered/ | {
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"Just a student so take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. Chlorpromazine was used as an antihistamine is the late 1940s. It was observed that preoperative clients would become calm if they were given the drug before surgery. Chlorpromazine was then used to treat schizophrenia starting in 1952. The symptoms of psychosis are brought about by inappropriately high levels of specific neurotransmitters (dopamine, 5-ht, and glutamate to name a few) in pathways that arise from the mesencephalon and connect to the limbic system and prefrontal cortex. First generation antipsychotics (like chlorpromazine) block the action of dopamine on postsynaptic neurons, reducing the depressive and psychotic symptoms associated with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Unfortunately, this blockage also acts in the nigrostriatal pathway that connects the substantia nigra to the basal ganglia. This results in drooling and motor dysfunction (dystonia, akinesia, and akithesia). The dopamine receptors eventually become hypersensitive, which causes a side effect called tardive dyskinesia. At this point, reducing the level of dopamine blocking drugs can actually make the symptoms worse, and the preferred method of treatment becomes benzodiazepines and switching to a second generation antipsychotic med. the second generation antipsychotics act less on dopamine receptors and more on serotonin receptors. They have their own host of nasty side effects (weight gain, diabetes, heart failure) so they aren't necessarily better, just more expensive. \n",
"I remember one story, but many details escape me.\n\nSome patients (schizophrenia, if I remember correctly) got better when moved to a new place, because that place had well water that was naturally high in lithium.\n\nWhen not drinking that water, their symptoms reverted.\n\nSadly, the lithium infused water was only a temporary fix, as their bodies got resistant to the effects of the lithium, and they eventually reverted even when drinking that water."
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bl0if3 | why does a man's penis hurt if he continues masturbsting/having sex after orgasm. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bl0if3/eli5_why_does_a_mans_penis_hurt_if_he_continues/ | {
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"One theory is that the head of the penis evolved it's shape to \"scoop\" out sperm. That way while attempting to procreate we remove the sperm of our competitors while depositing our own. Following ejaculation we become sensitive to stop us from continuing to thrust and scooping our own sperm out.",
"Is this not the same in girls? After my girlfriend comes her clit is extremely sensitive and sore. Even if she has a vaginal orgasm instead of a one from her clit, not like I’m rubbing it like a scratch and sniff.\n\n\nEdit: My top comment is about getting my girlfriend off. Niiiicccceeee.",
"From an evolutionary perspective, the head of the penis is actually shaped to scoop out semen. This is in an attempt to remove semen that already might be there from another man. So, for this same reason, it becomes extremely sensitive to avoid scooping out your own semen to ensure conception.",
"I've noticed that the refractory period is different depending on multiple factors, amount of lubrication, days since last event, age also plays a large role.\nIt's usually only a minute for me and then I'm good to go again but it might still feel very sensitive even if its erect, better lubrication helps with that. In fact, not lubricating properly can result in a burning sensation and hypersensitivity of the head. Point being, if you want to do some really long sessions, lube really helps, and no girls, that's not an insult, you feel very nice, just mah dick is too sensitive without some aid after a long rut. I guess spit helps as well. Whatever you can use the to elevate the experience do it, that goes for anything in life. Savour it.",
"Sexual arousal is primarily mediated by neurotransmitters in the brain, and orgasm dramatically alters the levels of these. Specifically, when aroused, dopamine is released in large amounts, increasing as one gets closer to orgasm. When orgasm is reached, the brain releases a flood of prolactin, which is essentially the anti-dopamine - its role is to block and reverse dopamine's effects and levels in the brain.\n\nHow the brain perceives physical sensations is of course dependent on which neurotransmitters are active in that area. The prolactin surge tells the brain to \"switch off the dick\" and indeed discourage the man from doing anything with it until prolactin levels have sufficiently fallen to allow dopamine to build again.\n\nGuys who are taking dopamine agonists, which block prolactin release from the pituitary gland, can have multiple consecutive orgasms without any breaks and without any unpleasantness normally associated with sexual stimulation immediately after orgasm.\n\n**EDIT: So clearly I screwed up on the ELI5 aspect of this 😂 Apologies, I've been posting a lot on subreddits geared towards discussing these issues recently and was probably still too much in that mindset. Here's a better explanation for this particular sub:**\n\nA simpler and more appropriate explanation is, everything related to how your body feels physically is dependent on how your brain *reacts* to being touched. When you have an orgasm, a switch gets flipped in your brain - before an orgasm, your brain is saying \"encourage him to keep doing this\", whereas once you've had your orgasm, your brain switches to \"tell him *not* to do this anymore\". And it accomplished this by either making it feel enjoyable (pre-orgasm) or unpleasant (post-orgasm) to touch that area.\n\nThe purpose of this whole mechanism is to make sure people don't get caught in an infinite feedback loop where they do nothing but touch themselves or ride eachother. In evolution's terms, this would be quite bad for business as far as survival goes - rather like how people who are addicted to drugs will sometimes forgo eating, drinking and sleeping - all things necessary for survival - if taking more of their drug of choice is an alternative option at the time. Your brain switches your sexual status from \"absolutely want it more\" to \"not interested and it actually hurts to try\" in order to force you to at least spend a little bit of time doing something else, which in evolutionary terms would presumably have meant hunting, sleeping, etc.\n\nSorry the original reply was overly verbose!",
"The penis is shaped in such a way that it would scoop sperm back out, which isn't ideal for procreation. The refractory period after sex is to improve the chance of impregnating a mate.",
"Skin- can be damaged by friction.\n\nErectile tissue- inflated with blood; blood vessels can be damaged by operating at high pressure for long periods of time.\n\nSperm production and ducts- take time to produce lubricating fluid that comes with sperm.\n\nThe penis isn't designed to operate for long periods of use.",
"Med Student here. \n\nSo what it essentially comes down to is overstimulation. When one is caressing your arm on a small spot it initially feels great, right? If the same spot is caressed for a longer time it suddenly starts to hurt. \n\nThat’s basically the same for the penis. \n\nSome more than ELI5: Stimulation is done by proprioceptors activating nerve fibers. You have different nerves for touch, pain, movement etc, but the type of signal is basically the same. \nSo while initially only the correct type of fiber is activated, in overstimulation also the other type of fiber is activated. \n\nHope I could help.",
"Assuming most 5 year olds shouldn't know what an orgasm or masturbating is: \"Well you see, your special parts are sensitive with nerve endings. And you can stimulate these special parts like your fingers, by touching things. If you stimulate long enough, most people have a \"climax\". Now trying to climax again immediately after a climax is like riding a bike up a slowly steep hill to the climax but riding down a very steep hill going down, then immediately turning around to try to get back to the summit. Most people don't have the energy to pedal back to the top, but for those who try, it is very hard at first, and can even hurt at first, but after about a minute of discomfort, the pain will subside, and they will be capable of reaching that climax again.\"",
"Kind of the same reason you can get hurt for working out too much or too fast. Sexual organs are organs and have muscles around them. Stimulating them works those muscles and uses energy and stimulates the nerve endings. \n\nWe have a sense of touch to feel all kinds of sensations. Light touches of skin usually feels nice, soft clothing is pleasant, but sharp things cut and hurt because it damages the skin. Same thing if you rub your skin your knee on the ground. It hurts because the body is saying the skin and underlying tissues have been damaged. If you burn your hand your body tells you it is being damaged so you get away from the heat and gives it time to heal. \n\nOur sexual organs are sensitive to touch to encourage reproduction. It necessarily requires many more nerve endings per volume of tissue than in your shoulder. These nerve endings get excited and give us pleasure, but they also tell us when there's been too much stimulation. Too much stimulation wears down the tissue and muscles of our sexual organs as well. After an orgasm most people need *some* rest. A male orgasm usually has strong contractions and extracts a fluid. If there isn't any more fluid to extract, re-triggering the same muscle contractions can be uncomfortable, and the exterior of the skin has already undergone quite a but of friction, even if it was with adequate lubrication. \n\nThere is some variation just as some people are a little taller, or a little faster, than others. But they still need to rest and let their body recover after performing strenuous functions, and for the sexual organs, sex and an orgasm is a strenuous function! You can, with proper care, slowly push your body to recover more quickly and do more, just as you can exercise more and increase your stamina, but there are different kinds of limits, since the area we're dealing with is relatively much smaller than one's entire cardiovascular system and leg muscles, like we use when we run.\n\nEdit: It's also important to point out the blood flow and chambers within a penis. An erect penis takes a lot of energy to maintain. It's a soft tissue that is filled so full of blood it becomes as stiff as our fingers and toes. That takes a lot of blood, but blood still needs to flow so it can keep getting new oxygen. The erection itself puts a lot of strain on the body, so maintaining it is possibly more difficult on the cardiovascular system than the maintenance a women needs to stay aroused. This whole mechanism cannot be ignored!",
"I have a degree in Anthropology, and I took multiple bioanthropology courses:\n\nI believe I was told that the penis is shaped in such a way where the head of the penis is able to \"scoop\" out or draw out semen from the vagina if there is some ejaculate already present while intercourse is occurring. This is for the man who last had sex with the woman to have the highest likelyhood of successfully impregnating the woman. \n\nFurthermore, the \"sensitivity\" , or refractory period is so that the man does not ejaculate in the woman, and proceed to \"plunge the semen out\" for lack of a better term.",
"The head of a penis is designed to pull other male's semen out before introducing his own. Once a man has had an orgasm, his penis becomes hyper sensitive so he doesn't pull his own semen out.",
"It depends on how hard it was done and also depends at the time of ejaculation, how hard was the pressure on the penis, like the woman's grip or tightness of the vagina. If you're constricting the tube where the sperm travels, it applies pressure and requires more strength to bust a nut, and as a result, probably damage a few tissue here and there. It's like working out, you will get sore if you're pushing yourself over the limit.\n\nFrom personal experience, if a woman is gripping very hard and stroking while I'm ejaculating, I get very sore after. If the grip is light, then I can go for a second round.",
"There are a lot of neural changes that happen during sex. During sex, there is a flood of neurotransmitters that blunt pain and heighten pleasure (enkephalins, enandamide, endorphins). Immediately afterwards, they stop. \n\nThe actual explanation is more complex, but this is ELI5.",
"What I haven't seen mentioned here is the purpose of the shape of the phallus and how that relates to sense of discomfort in continuing after ejaculating. The reason our dick heads are shaped the way they are is to remove sperm from near the cervix that may have been put there by another Male, our dickheads are really good at doing that and the foreskin helps prevent what we are scraping out from being lost until we thrust back in. This helps make the sperm of the last Male to mate be successful in impregnating the egg. Obviously we dont want to remove our own sperm, if we continued to thrust after orgasm we would reduce the chances of our mating being successful and really the only way to stop a guy from thrusting is to make it uncomfortable. Different levels of discomfort for different guys depending on genetics, circumcision, penis length and whether they wear a condom.\n\nBasically we don't want to scrape out our own sperm and the only way to prevent that is to make it feel horrible.",
"because whoever/whatever created us knew that if we didn't get immediately neutralized...we would quite literally never stop.\n\nthe end.",
"I actually don’t have this problem, I can go again right after but usually the first one is real quick.",
"I came here to say \"it doesn't\" and instead learned I have some rare godcock disorder. .....Thanks?",
"We evolved so that the head of the penis was used to scoop out the sperm of competing males from a females vagina. So after completion your body halts pleasure response and makes it painful to continue so that you don't end up scooping out your own sperm."
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3x2hap | why are bank accounts seemingly free? where is the profit for the bank if i don't have a lot of money? | Most of the question is in the title. As a college student my account fluctuates from about $300 to $0 regularly, and I'm using my card all over the place. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3x2hap/eli5_why_are_bank_accounts_seemingly_free_where/ | {
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"Banks make money off of having your money. The federal reserve requires that banks can only make loans if they have X% of the loans they make in solid cash backed reserves known as \"required reserves\". The percentage is usually between 10% and 15% so your money may be worth a couple grand in money the bank is now allowed to loan out. Obviously this means they can make bank (pun intended) off of the interest rate of the loan they make to somebody and they have much more money to loan thanks to you even though you didn't put much money in.",
"Surprised no one mentioned fees, the big three made over a billion dollars in over draft fees in just 3 months. Yeah, they hold your money for free, but they suddenly feel like it was their money to begin with a bleed every dollar they can get in the process. _URL_0_",
"In addition to the other comments, banks tend to be willing to give college students a better deal than they'd offer most people without much money. Your $0-300 may not be worth much to them now, but they hope that you'll become a loyal customer and they'll make more profit from you once you graduate and have more money.",
"In addition to lending it out, they also make money from charging merchants \"swipe fees\" when you use your debit card. And if your account is dropping to $0, you have to be careful, or they'll make money from overdraft fees. If you use your card at an ATM not owned by your bank, they'll probably charge a fee for that too. And fewer banks are offering totally free checking accounts anymore. Many now have minimum balances required to avoid monthly fees. ",
"Banker dude here. \n\nBank accounts *do* cost banks money. On average, it costs a bank around $200-$250 per year to maintain a checking account (due to overhead, staffing costs at branches and back offices, etc.) \n \nSo then, as you asked, why would a bank or credit union hand out so many free checking accounts? Well, ten to twenty years ago, few banks were doing that - most banks and most accounts had some some sort of monthly service fee. But one major bank offered up free checking as an incentive to sign up new accounts, and in short order other banks followed, and pretty soon free checking accounts became the norm. \n \nIn more recent years, most banks and credit unions are now scaling back. In an effort to cut costs, some banks have done away with free checking and/or added various requirements to waive the service charges. While still out there, free checking accounts are becoming less common. \n \nMost of the time, banks make money off your checking account by turning around and using it to loan out lots of money to other people at a higher interest rate. That's by banks are usually willing to waive charges if you maintain high balances in your accounts. \n \nBut if you only keep a few hundred bucks in your account, the bank can't really do that. So they turn to another revenue source: fees. As in overdraft fees, or fees for assorted services. While not a majority of their income, it's still a significant source of revenue. \n \nThat being said, \"frequent overdrafters\" only make a small percentage of account holders. So then, why would a bank want to offer you, someone with a small amount of money and doesn't accrue overdraft fees, an account?\n \nBecause they are expecting that as you grow older, so will your relationship with the bank. You may only have a student checking account now, but what about after you graduate? Suddenly lots more money coming in, bigger account balances. You'll need a bank to offer you a car loan. You'll need a bank to offer you a mortgage. You'll need to set up a retirement fund. And most people will go with who they are familiar with - as in the bank they are already using. Because they have that existing relationship and it's easy. \n \nSo, short answer is: They are betting that in the future you'll want to do a whole lot more with them."
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4ljwdu | how do museums get items for exhibits? | I was recently at the Imperial war museum in London and saw a window frame from the twin towers. It was heartbreaking to see it and i was wondering how the museum got it, do they ask? is it offered? is it paid for? (Thanks for any help you can give and sorry if I sound like a idiot.) Sorry if this in the wrong Flair I am not really sure which to choose. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ljwdu/eli5_how_do_museums_get_items_for_exhibits/ | {
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"Most of them are loaned to them by private collectors. Many people buy art as an investment (or because they are passionate for it) and then loan it to museums for exhibitions. \n\nAs in the window frame I guess that pieces of the twin towers were auctioned for a good cause after the incident. The museum probably bought it at an auction. ",
"Usually, exhibits like that are donated either by private persons or institutions free of charge, or loaned from other museums.\n\nAs it happens, I've recently been to the IWM in London and still have the guidebook. Unfortunately, it doesn't mention where they got window frame as far as I can see"
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1baa89 | why does hot meat/food taste better than raw? | I saw a thing about how cooking our meat releases nutrients that we can't normally get from raw meat. This had a great impact on the evolution of our brains. History Channel... but just wondering how credible that theory is. The title is possibly related to this. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1baa89/eli5why_does_hot_meatfood_taste_better_than_raw/ | {
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"The act of \"cooking\" can have wildly varied effects, and so there's not just one answer. In some foods, such as carrots, it's been shown that cooking them releases more antioxidants. But in other foods, such as some meat products, it can *reduce* the availability of vitamin B12. The upside, however, is that it *softens* tough meat very easily (so we can get more food from a single carcass) and it kills all the nasty bacteria that would otherwise try to kill us, so it's still a positive thing.\n\nAs to *why* cooked food smells better. Well, cooking usually allows more chemicals to be released, which float up to our nose (think of baking bread vs the raw dough mixture). And as scientists have found, our sense of smell plays a *huge* role in our sense of taste."
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6oi8pm | when passing a person in a narrow hallway, why is it that sometimes you pass with no trouble, and other times, you have to stop and do a little dance since you keep trying to pass the same way? | The thought occurred to me as I was passing a guy in the hall today. Literally took a whole 5 seconds before I had to physically grab his shoulders and move him out of the way. Most awkward 5 seconds of my life. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6oi8pm/eli5_when_passing_a_person_in_a_narrow_hallway/ | {
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"Once someone realizes that they are in the way their usual reaction is to move the other way to get out of the way. Problem is if both people do this you are just moving into each others way.\n\n\nWhen you meet someone in the hall if both people decide to move each person has two ways they can move. \n\n\nBoth move to their own left -pass no problem\n\nBoth move to their own right - pass no problem\n\nPerson 1 moves to their own right and 2 moves to their own left - moved the same way dance ensues.\n\nPerson 1 moves to their own left and 2 to their own right - moved the same way dance ensues.\n\n\nSo if the way people move is random, there is a 50% chance of getting a dance.\n\n\nI think there is a good chance that left handed people are more prone to initially move left. But I don't know, it would be an interesting study to see which way people are prone to move.\n\nTo limit the dance, always move to the right to move out of someones way. If you can't move right, or you've already moved as far right as you can, wait for them to move. Don't move back to the left."
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2nfqmx | why are some cars more efficient? why can't be just make all cars the most efficient? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2nfqmx/eli5why_are_some_cars_more_efficient_why_cant_be/ | {
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"Efficiency usually has large tradeoffs, such as weight, power, top speed, acceleration, etc. These are all things that people want and are willing to forgo efficiency for.",
"In engineering everything is a trade-off. They have to balance a car between passenger/cargo capacity, power/performance, weight, safety, fuel efficiency, luxury, cost and probably a bunch more I can't think of atm. For example to make a car quieter (luxury) you need more sound deadening material and thus weight. Weight decreases fuel economy and power. So no matter what they pick to increase something else will decrease. Since people don't all want the same thing and value some points over others they make a wide variety of cars to fit what the customer wants. Each car is what the engineer deems the most efficient of all the specifications they were given."
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5wg1yg | how do gemologists tell lab-grown gems from natural gems when the crystal structure is the same? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wg1yg/eli5_how_do_gemologists_tell_labgrown_gems_from/ | {
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"Naturally formed gems are not perfect. \n\nThey have atoms of other elements dispersed within their crystal structure. \n\nWhen a gem is grown in the lab, it is usually 100% pure. There are no imperfections, (or nearly none). So when a gemologist observes the crystal structure, and they see no impurities, it is almost certainly lab grown. "
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1pso83 | where does all of the dirt and grime from our clothes go in the washing machine? wouldn't all of it just be redistributed among all of the clothes? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1pso83/eli5_where_does_all_of_the_dirt_and_grime_from/ | {
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"Soap dissolves in both water and oil. It surrounds the dirt particles, even if they are oily, so they don't stick to anything. Then the soap and dirt particles are washed away by water. "
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yx1u8 | quantum physics and semiconductors | I keep on hearing how semiconductors couldn't *be* without quantum physics, but i have no idea how/why! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/yx1u8/quantum_physics_and_semiconductors/ | {
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"The key principle is the \"*band gap*\". According to classical physics, if you have an electron in an atom, you can give it just a bit more energy. And that \"little bit\" can be any value. But that's not how things actually work. Since electrons have to obey the laws of quantum mechanics, the electrons in an atom can only inhabit certain energy states. This can lead to what is called a band gap. \n \nAssuming you know a little more chemistry and physics than your typical 5 year old: \n \nThe outer electrons on an atom are called \"valence electrons\", and their energy level is the \"valence band\". (It's a \"band\" because it is a range of values, not just one number.) Electrons with more energy than the valence electrons are no longer tightly bound to individual atoms, and they can move around fairly freely within the material. They are said to be in the \"conduction band\" of energy. When a substance has a lot of electrons in the conduction band, the electrons can move around quite a bit if given a good reason to, like an electric field (a voltage). We call those materials good conductors of electricity.\n \nIn most metals, the valence band and conduction band actually overlap, so they have plenty of electrons in the conduction band and can conduct electricity well. In insulators, there's a big energy gap between the two bands...you have to provide a lot of energy to get any of the valence electrons to jump up into the conduction band. The energy levels in-between the two bands aren't allowed due to quantum mechanics. So insulators are crappy conductors of electricity. There simply aren't any electrons with the freedom to move around. \n \nSemiconductors have a small band gap. Since there is a gap, they normally don't conduct electricity well, just like insulators. But if you can give the electrons a bit of energy to jump up into the conduction band, they are fairly decent conductors of electricity. This is why they are called *semi*conductors. \n \nIt turns out that it is also possible to \"tune\" the band gap of semiconductors by introducing some atoms of another material (a \"dopant\"). And it is possible to get electrons over the small band gap by supplying a voltage. So by doing some band-gap engineering, it is possible to construct structures that will either conduct or not conduct using very small voltages or currents that control them. We call those structures \"transistors\". "
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3rnsnm | full text of tpp, what it means to the people and countries involved? | The [full text](_URL_1_) of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)
* What countries are involved in the TPP?
* What does it mean for the people in those countries?
* What are the important sections of the TPP and what do they mean?
Also see related threads in other subs:
Political discussion on TPP _URL_0_
News discussion on TPP _URL_2_
Out The Loop _URL_3_
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"it means we can finally stop guessing what did we signed up for, and actually make real comments about real policy.",
"I was hoping NPR or another news station would've given the ELI5 version by now, but I haven't seen anything. Maybe someone who understands the language used in such agreements and has had the patience to have gone through it will respond. Good question, I'll be checking back.",
"Backpedal Edit: Sorry guys, I deleted my response because on closer inspection it turns out I had no idea what I was talking about.\n\nEdit 2: Haha, that's hilarious. This post got 100 more points since I deleted it. ",
"Am I the only one who clicked on this thinking it was a transcript of all the spoken dialogue in The Phantom Pain...?",
"James Suroweicki has a pretty good ELI5:\n\n_URL_0_",
"This is not the type of question with a simple answer, it probably cannot he answered. You might as well ask, what does the Constitution mean. It means many things in many different contexts.\n\nHow it effects things will depend largely on how the language is interpreted. Plenty of people will speculate on how it can be interpreted, but it isn't a simple matter of just reading the text and understanding what it will do. We'll just have to wait and see.",
"millions of people would like an ELI5 version, it is important to the public at large, but a good version will probably not come for a few days at least, and when it does it would be wiser to read it direct from the source instead of on Reddit. ",
"Why is Vietnam written as Viet Nam?",
"A few highlights of the TPP:\n1. Lower tariffs generally (good for consumers and export-oriented producers, bad for industries that compete heavily with imports)\n\n2. Signatories agree to enforce intellectual property restrictions for a longer period of time (good for pharmaceutical industry, bad for consumers of generic drugs. Internet freedom activists have also criticized the TPP for its potential to entrench and expand US copyright law)\n\n3. It weakens protectionism in the auto industry, like the North American content rules (bad for US auto industry, good for Japan)\n\n4. It enhances labor mobility so it is easier to move within TPP countries \n\n5. It includes labor rights clauses, restricting child labor, forced labor, etc. (this will prevent people from challenging labor laws as protectionist measures, and may raise the standards of some developing country signatories slightly)\n\n6. Ends some forms of agricultural protectionism in Japan and Canada (bad for Canadian dairy farmers and some Japanese farmers, good for consumers and producers elsewhere). \n\n7. It also contains an environmental chapter, which has received more criticism than the labor rights chapter as far as I've seen. \n\n8. It will establish an investor-state dispute mechanism (some critics argue this will elevate corporations and enable them to undermine national sovereignty, while defenders point out that most trade agreements have such provisions, and the TPP has included an opt-out for tobacco regulations, after the Australian experience). \n\nThe TPP will likely boost GDP among the 12 prospective signatories (US, Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Chile, Australia and New Zealand). But the gains range widely. Because the US is already a large diversified economy, its projected gains from trade are smaller - only about $78 billion. Vietnam, in contrast, is projected to see an 11% boost to GDP. \n\nOf course, not everybody stands to gain equally. Consumers gain pretty unambiguously from having a greater access to cheaper goods. Workers in some industries stand to lose as they face greater competition abroad, while others stand to gain from access to new markets. \n\nIn some countries, however, there are provisions in place to help those displaced by trade treaties. The US has Trade Adjustment Assistance, for instance. And in the Canadian election, Stephen Harper pledged billions to the auto and dairy industry (though it is up to Trudeau as to whether he follows through). \n\nSome of the other implications of the treaty are harder to sort out in a balance sheet type manner. There may be geopolitical implications, as the US strengthens trade ties with many ASEAN countries, plus Japan. The treaty may pose risks to the environment. And certainly for consumers of generic drugs, this is probably not a good treaty.",
"I think [this thread here](_URL_0_) gives probably the most coherent and relatively unbiased explanation of the whole thing.",
"Nobody who possesses the necessary skill in trade and IP law has had sufficient time to read the text and intelligently answer your questions. Trust none of these responses. ",
"**Countries Involved**\n\n*ASEAN Countries*\n\n* Brunei\n* Malaysia\n* Singapore\n* Vietnam\n\n*North/South American Countries*\n\n* Canada\n* Chile\n* Mexico\n* Peru\n* United States\n\n*Other Countries*\n\n* Japan\n* Australia\n* New Zealand\n\n_____\n\n**What does it mean for the people in those countries?**\n\nThe TPP does very little more than a normal trade deal. The most developed nations above (US, Japan, Chile, Peru, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and Australia) will see little to no change whatsoever. The main difference will come in the governmental approaches to certain parts of the business world, like trademarks, copyrights, patents, and some aspects to the legal world such as increased penalties for piracy.\n\nFor the less developed nations on this list (Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam), you will see the markets flooded with products from the other nine nations, a larger international corporate presence, and an increase in manufacturing factories for hire, as seen in China, by small businesses around the world. This is on top of the changes to the more developed nations above.\n\n_____\n\n**What are the important sections of the TPP and what do they mean?**\n\n**Chapter 9: Investment**\n\nThis section puts forward economic plans to be carries forward by parties of the agreement in other countries of the agreement. This also pushes for more investment agreements in the future. Finally, this section goes to limit the parties of the TPP from playing favorites by treating companies from its own country better than companies from other countries.\n\n**Chapter 12: Temporary Entry for Business Persons**\n\nAlthough seemingly not important, having a requirement for the parties of this agreement to keep borders open to business people from around the world is a small, but great, stepping stone to strengthening border relations between countries. Something so simple can mean so much, diplomatically.\n\n**Chapter 14: Electronic Commerce**\n\nThis is a huge section in this agreement. E-Commerce is rarely addressed in international agreements right now, so this is one of the first. Not much is accomplished in the nine pages of this chapter, but the steps are set up in the future to expand business ties in the E-Commerce sector.\n\n**Chapter 16: Competition Policy**\n\nThis section goes to set up laws outlawing anticompetitive business conduct. The Competition Policy chapter is essentially the US antitrust field's baby due to the smaller size of anticompetitive laws in the section, but similar goal/purpose.\n\n**Chapter 17: State-Owned Enterprises and Designated Monopolies**\n\nChapter 17 forces governments to treat all companies operating within the free market equally. This chapter focuses on making sure governments do not favor businesses of which the government holds a stake in (like Amtrak in the US). This is very big when we are dealing with developing economies, because developing economies often favor state-owned enterprises or companies given monopolies (like power companies in the US).\n\n**Chapter 18: Intellectual Property**\n\nEssentially extends US intellectual properties to other countries. The biggest parts to this chapter are the terms of copyright and the new trade mark rules:\n\n*Copyright*\n\n > (a) on the basis of the life of a natural person, the term shall be not less than the life of the author and 70 years after the author’s death;74 and \n\n > (b) on a basis other than the life of a natural person, the term shall be: \n > > (i) not less than 70 years from the end of the calendar year of the first authorized publication 75 of the work, performance or phonogram; or \n\n > > (ii) failing such authorized publication within 25 years from the creation of the work, performance or phonogram, not less than 70 years from the end of the calendar year of the creation of the work, performance or phonogram.\n\n*Trademark*\n\n > Each Party shall provide that initial registration and each renewal of registration of a trademark is for a term of no less than 10 years.\n\n**Chapter 19: Labo(u)r**\n\nForces countries to allow for the right to collective bargaining, the removal of forced or compulsory labo(u)r, abolition of child labo(u)r, elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, and the requirement of countries to have acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health.\n\n**Chapter 20: Environment**\n\nPushes for member nations to be more environmentally friendly. I'm going to keep this one light because the 25 pages in the TPP have lots of details that I can't really paraphrase easily.\n\n**Chapter 26: Transparency and Anti-Corruption**\n\nPushes to make governmental actions more transparent, and pushes for governments to be anti-corrupt to be in accordance with the trade deal and not face international trade sanctions of any sort.\n\n_____\n\n**Other major parts to the TPP**\n\n**Increase scrutiny on ISDS cases of all sorts**\n\n > RECOGNISE their inherent right to regulate and resolve to preserve the flexibility of the Parties to set legislative and regulatory priorities, safeguard public welfare, and protect legitimate public welfare objectives, such as public health, safety, the environment, the conservation of living or non-living exhaustible natural resources, the integrity and stability of the financial system and public morals\n\n^^^Edit: ^^^Formatting",
"So under the environment section there is a paragraph mentioning that signatories must take action to conserve marine mammals, among others. What does that mean for Japan's whaling operations and dolphin drives?",
"You, and everyone else, should read the text, straight from the source, and make your own judgements. Don't let other people read it and tell you what to think about it. Obviously there are people who are better versed in reading legal documents and you should take their thoughts into account, but you should just read it yourself, too.",
"Folks this new trade deal is massive. There isn't going to be a TL:DR version of it for a couple weeks.",
"It's a lot of text. I'd be surprised if anyone has combed through it in its entirety by now.",
"Reddit is going to say its the Apocalypse and its all doom and gloom, but the reality is that this trade agreement involves about 40% of the world's population. Think about how many consumers that involves. If we didn't get into this, do people here actually think countries like China wouldn't? We'd be locked out of a massive market. Trade, no matter how much it has been demonized by some is a *good* thing. We here in the US live in a very mature economy - most everyone that needs a car, already has a car. Same with computers, phones, clothes and almost any other consumer good. There is growth, but not the kind you'd see in up-and-coming nations. We *need* to be a part of that. No, we'll never been a lowest-cost producer, but we excel at making higher-tech industrial/commercial products and services which is where the profit margins are at.\n\nSo that is one part of the trade agreement. \n\nAnother is it forces certain countries to improve their human rights. One of the reasons that labor in other countries is as cheap as it is, is because they don't have the safety and environmental protections that we do in the 1st world. You start tacking on those costs onto their typically lower productivity and US labor rates start looking far more competitive. [Vietnam already stated that it will agree to US' terms on labor rights because of the TPP](_URL_0_). China is already starting to see its labor costs increase because more and more of its people are finally entering the middle class and now expect more of the rights and protections that other countries have had for decades. We are trying to force a similar type of minor revolution in other nations in this trade pact. \n\nI realize that conspiracy theorists are going to claim that its going to kill all our jobs and then kill the environment, but if managed well, it has the potential to raise a huge percentage of the world's people up out of poverty and closer to the living standards that we enjoy in the US in the long run. With that, our own industries have the potential to be stronger and jobs here in the US could actually improve as the ultra-low wages in those countries become slightly higher low wage jobs and thus less attractive for outsourcing. ",
"What: Ice Wine\n\nWho: US, Canada, and Australia\n\nWhy: Believe it or not this has everything to do with the fact that Ice Wine sells for [$900 a bottle in China](_URL_3_). \n\n[\"For rich Chinese, sipping on Canadian ice wine is a sign of status, so much so, that raising prices actually boosted sales. The middle class is also gravitating to wine, but they’ll buy a few bottles. The upper class buys case loads.\"](_URL_0_)\n\nI started out with Googling the [Vinters Quality Alliance Board of Directors](_URL_4_), the gatekeeper of Canadian Ice Wine, and surprise, surprise...the Treasurer is from Constellation Brands.\n\nConstellation Brands, is one of the largest US multinational corps in the beverage industry, specifically beer and wine. You may know them from some of their small time brands such as Corona, Pacifico, Modelo, Svedka, Ravens Wood, Clos de Bois, Marc West, Cooks Champagne...there's too many to list honestly, so here's a link:\n_URL_2_ \n\nMost importantly, they own Inniskillin the [renowned global leader in Ice Wine](_URL_1_)\n\nFrom 2003 to 2011, they owned many of the largest wine companies in Australia. They sold their interest in those companies to a private equity firm (CHAMP Private Equity) and those companies were combined under Accolade Wine.\n\nWith Constellation divested from Australia they don't stand to gain from the \"fake\" Ice Wines being produced there (by Accolade and/or other smaller competitors). Basically, this provision protects their China Ice Wine profits. Without the provision profits would be diluted by the artificial technique that /u/IamScuzzlebut talked about in his comment on the original thread about this. They also know that it wouldn't take long for the technique to be replicated in other parts of the world.\n\nTL;DR This provision protects Constellation Brands Ice Wine profits in China.",
"If you want in depth analysis, see this article I wrote about the TPP - \"[Despite its best intentions, there are reasons to worry about the TPP](_URL_0_)\".\nThere are 11 countries involved besides the US. Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore signed in 2005. Beginning in 2008, additional countries joined the discussion for a broader agreement: Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the United States, and Vietnam, bringing the total number of participating countries in the negotiations to twelve. Reasons to worry about the TPP:\nReason #1: The TPP undermines signatories’ national sovereignty by allowing multinational corporations to overturn local regulations and impose hefty fines on governments.\nReason #2: Under Article QQ.G.6 the TPP internationalizes the US law extending copyright to 70 years after the creator’s death.\nReason #3: The TPP would limit online free speech.\nReason #4: The TPP would raise drug costs for people in the developing world, potentially obstructing access to life saving medicine that millions depend on.\nReason #5 The history of free trade agreements.",
"Just going to throw this out there. You should be very skeptical of anyones analysis of the TPP deal. There hasn't been enough time for anyone other than those directly involved with the TPP to have read it to the degree that they are capable of making any kind of in-depth analysis of it. Additionally, i'd say its almost impossible to make any kind of eli5 of the tpp, and I'm even more skeptical that someone could do it without heavy bias.",
"Most, if not all, of the rights normal people enjoy are talked about in the treaty, but nobody can really do anything about them, because the rights people have are not enforceable, that is, their aren't any punishments for violating, or ignoring those rights. The whims of nations and corporations have strict, unavoidable, punishments.\n\n > If you dig deeper, you'll notice that all of the provisions that recognize the rights of the public are non-binding, whereas almost everything that benefits rightsholders is binding. That paragraph on the public domain, for example, used to be much stronger in the first leaked draft, with specific obligations to identify, preserve and promote access to public domain material. All of that has now been lost in favor of a feeble, feel-good platitude that imposes no concrete obligations on the TPP parties whatsoever. [1](_URL_0_)\n\nIf a person put a wax lock on a box, nobody would be surprised when someone opened the box by scraping off the lock. When a nation or a corporation puts a wax lock on a box, criminal charges and enormous fines are mandated. Sharing knowledge about how to scrape off a wax lock, even if a person has never scraped off a wax lock, carries additional harsh punishments.\n\n > The odd effect of this is that someone tinkering with a file or device that contains a copyrighted work can be made liable (criminally so, if wilfullness and a commercial motive can be shown), for doing so even when no copyright infringement is committed. Although the TPP text does allow countries to pass exceptions that allow DRM circumvention for non-infringing uses, such exceptions are not mandatory, as they ought to be.\n\nAlso, if you scrape off a wax lock and publish an instructable about it, all computers, tablets, phones, odd bits of wood, decks of cards, musical instruements, and other devices capable of scraping wax off a surface, or publishing the instructions on how to scrape off a wax lock can be taken away from you and destroyed. No good explanation is provided for this.\n\n > One of the scariest parts of the TPP is that not only can you be made liable to fines and criminal penalties, but that any materials and implements used in the creation of infringing copies can also be destroyed (QQ.H.4(12)). The same applies to devices and products used for circumventing DRM or removing rights management information (QQ.H.4(17)). Because multi-use devices such as computers are used for a diverse range of purposes, this is once again a disproportionate penalty. This could lead to a family's home computer becoming seized simply because of its use in sharing files online, or for ripping Blu-Ray movies to a media center.\n\nI could go on, but this is buried.",
"I'd love to claim that I had an explanation ready for this, but of course the document is immense and even a full day of reading it hasn't given me sufficient perspective to reasonably address this in ELI5. Given the potential for updated and more-informed answers to get buried in the shuffle, I'd like to ask whether we'll get a new topic sticky once a reasonable reading period has elapsed?\n\nRegardless, I'll keep on keeping on. If I happen to get done and feel there's anything left to be said, I'll try to follow up on my original post.",
"Not an answer:\n\nAny summary you read will obviously be at least slightly biased. Unfortunately, I think the text is pretty long. Still, it's worth reading the text, maybe along with a summary to help you translate all the legalese.",
"The TL;DR verison\n\nLarger Corporations have an easier time competing and winning in markets that were protected by local (state, federal...) governements. \n\n"
]
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| [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/3rn16m/the_tpp_can_anyone_explain_it_succinctly_for_me/",
"http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Treaties-and-International-Law/01-Treaties-for-which-NZ-is-Depositary/0-Trans-Pacific-Partnership-Text.php",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3rlu3g/full_text_of_the_tpp_has_just_been_released/cwpf4kw",
"https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/3rmbpp/whats_this_whole_tpp_thing_about_should_i_be/"
]
| [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-corporate-friendly-world-of-the-t-p-p"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3nl4sz/z/cvp5gid"
],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[],
[
"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/06/business/international/trans-pacific-trade-deal-tpp-vietnam-labor-rights.html"
],
[
"http://www.hamiltonbusiness.com/dir/2014/10/china-loves-canadian-ice-wine/",
"http://www.cbrands.com/news-media/brand-news/its-time-inniskillin-icewine-harvest",
"http://www.cbrands.com/our-brands?page=6",
"http://globalnews.ca/news/1084460/canadian-icewine-makers-producing-liquid-gold/",
"http://www.vqaontario.ca/AboutVQA/Board"
],
[
"http://tysongibb.net/?p=210"
],
[],
[
"https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/final-leaked-tpp-text-all-we-feared"
],
[],
[],
[]
]
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6422bo | why does almost everyone agree that sweet tastes good? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6422bo/eli5_why_does_almost_everyone_agree_that_sweet/ | {
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"Sugar is a high-energy food. When food was hard to come by, our species learned to seek out the foods that would provide a lot of energy, which meant fruits. ",
"Your body has evolved to love sugars and fats because they're quick, easy energy. If you were starving to death and had the option between a bar of chocolate and a bunch of kale, the chocolate is the thing that would keep you moving, because you'd need those sweet, sweet calories. \n\nSo we've evolved a taste for sweet foods because if we have to choose, those should be the things we're looking to eat. Obviously, in a society where starvation isn't much of a problem, that can lead to problems like obesity, but evolution builds up traits that kept us alive for millennia."
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6g4n5k | why do worms always crawl on the hot sidewalk to die? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6g4n5k/eli5_why_do_worms_always_crawl_on_the_hot/ | {
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"I think you are confusing cause and effect. The worms crawl out of the ground when it rains, so that they don't drown. Some of them get trapped in the concrete and can't find their way back to the dirt before the water dries up... Then they dry out and die",
"Generally they're crawling out because the soil is saturated. When the soil is saturated, they can't get enough oxygen."
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ejd2jf | what is the legal justification for the us killing qassem soleimani? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ejd2jf/eli5_what_is_the_legal_justification_for_the_us/ | {
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"I thought it had something to do with attacking the US embassy in Iraq. But yeah still doesn't make sense, if foreign countries assassinated the vp or some high ranking government official everytime the US attacked a foreign nation, there would be no more US officials. I don't know much about the conflict and I'm not sure you can make logical sense of any US moves during the trump reign of moronicity",
"Self-defense. If US citizens were in clear and imminent danger from actions that this man was about to take, and such danger would be removed by his death, the President of the United States was well within his power to defend us.\n\nThat's an answer to your question about legal justifcation, not an opinion. Certainly not *my* opinion."
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4x347f | the psychology behind waifu-ism | There has to be something driving it, right? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4x347f/eli5_the_psychology_behind_waifuism/ | {
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"Real people are messy, unpredictable and needy. Your digital or imagined waifu is always there, always perfect. \n\n\nWhile you can't touch them, they can fulfill certain other emotional needs. They can be validating, loving, funny, sincere and more importantly, always be that. Digital waifu doesn't have bad days. Doesn't get suspicious of you. Doesn't judge your lifestyle, your job, your house or your hygiene. \n\n\nEven if it's not a perfect simulation of a person, it is all much better than the zero affection these individuals **feel** they'll get in the real world. And that's the important bit. These sorts of people are picking the best option they perceive they can have. Some is better than none and some of it feels better than the real world. "
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32jk67 | why is it that transparent materials adopt reflective qualities in the correct light? for instance, looking through a window at night. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/32jk67/eli5_why_is_it_that_transparent_materials_adopt/ | {
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"The surface of glass always reflects stuff. During the day the light from the outside is so bright that you can't see the dim reflections from the inside.\n\nBut during the night, the inside of your house is much brighter than the outside. So the reflection will be bright while the outside stays dark."
]
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216hns | this may be obvious, but why aren't our educational systems creating more millionaires? | It seems like our educational system is designed to pump out lower and middle class workers like nobody's business. There aren't any real personal finance classes to my knowledge, and risk seems very discouraged. Everything seems to create pretty obedient average people who move on to college and continue this trend onto joblessness.
Is this something only private schools encourage or something? It seems as though the middle class is actually growing, not shrinking, there just aren't enough steady jobs created by business owners or risk takers.
TLDR: Being rich seems like the most in-demand "career" (hence the 1%). Why is this niche so hard to fill?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/216hns/eli5_this_may_be_obvious_but_why_arent_our/ | {
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"I guess it's because not everyone can be \"rich\". The school system makes people who can do a job that is specifically explained to them. Maybe they assume that the people who are going to go on to be rich will learn what they need to know on their own and it is easier to teach others to work for the self educated risk taker. School is even set up like a factory or menial job, with specific times set up to do specific things. Plus, the curriculum is usually set up by people who aren't rich and don't know how to get that way. Also, it doesn't stop with high school: Most universities teach students how to go work for a large company and persuade them to do so. I've heard that the Ivy League schools teach students how to get to the top and run the companies but most other colleges just pump out workers.",
"For the most part, the \"1%\" have thousands of people working for them. It's simply impossible for the majority of people to rise to the top.\n\nSchool trains us for the things which most people will need in their life. (Well, that's the theory - we could debate how successfully it does that, but that's a different question.) Most people can't be CEOs or entrepreneurs. I'm not saying that most people are, as individuals, incapable of doing that - I'm saying that if everyone did that to the best of their ability, then by necessity only a small number of them would rise to the top of the pile, and the rest would end up working for the small group of people after their own enterprises failed.\n\n > There aren't any real personal finance classes to my knowledge\n\nThat's an entirely separate matter. Everyone should know how to look after their personal finances. I was lucky to pick up what I needed to know from my parents, but there's a good argument for teaching this in school.",
"Because by raising the bar, you've just redefined what the average is and what the future middle class will be. The market self adjusts. If, tomorrow, we were to retool our educational system so that **everyone** would graduate a multilingual neurosurgeon, what we would see in 10 years is huge surplus of doctors willing to work for minimum wage in a diluted marketplace.",
"I know people who have graduated from Ivy League schools like Harvard and Yale who have devoted their lives to \"not for profit\" endeavors like providing healthcare in developing countries, working with organizations trying to provide people with the basics. Not everyone in the world wants to be a millionaire."
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1x9qjk | why doesn't gravity pull us all into one point in the universe? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1x9qjk/eli5why_doesnt_gravity_pull_us_all_into_one_point/ | {
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"It's a very weak force, and gets markedly weaker with distance. Over large distances gravity is overwhelmed by the expansion of space itself, and just can't overcome that. "
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4n5qon | are marine animals at risk of infection when wounded the same way that land animals are? | After recently seeing a photo of a scarred whale from a boat propeller incident, I wondered whether or not bacteria are capable of infecting marine animals when they are wounded.
I know the salinity in the ocean would be the most important factor but I am curious if its strong enough to prevent infection and if there are other factors present.
I know the wound would attract predators much easier than on land but I am wondering if infection could set in, in the absence of predators. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4n5qon/eli5_are_marine_animals_at_risk_of_infection_when/ | {
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"Not sure if this is 100% right or not but I know fresh water fish have a slime on the outside of there body that keeps them for getting infections/helps heal",
"Yes! Many bacteria, viruses and other micro-organisms live happily in the sea and are adapted to exploit fish and other aquatic animals.\n\nFish themselves actually have quite a complex immune system, similar to mammals, in order to cope with their various pathogens. We actually use zebrafish to study bacteria because the babies are see-through so you can see what's happening during an infection.\n\nBasically you can assume that if it is possible for plants or animals to live somewhere, there are bacteria living there which are specialized in infecting them (and some which just live there peacefully), as they are probably the most adaptable type of organism on the planet.\n\n & nbsp;\n\nAs many aquatic creatures are now farmed by humans, the problem of keeping them disease-free is especially relevant, because the aquatic equivalent of a \"battery farm\" is perfect for spreading disease, just like on the surface. Also, some of the bacteria which live harmlessly in sea-creatures are toxic to humans, which is why it is so important to properly prepare sushi by flash-freezing it! And to cook other seafood properly, especially shellfish!"
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afgwhz | how do public and private ip addresses work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/afgwhz/eli5_how_do_public_and_private_ip_addresses_work/ | {
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"Yes much. Your ISP likely assigns a single IP in address to your modem, which creates a local private network wity any amount of clients ",
"Depends of the setup of your home network. Usually there's a device called \"router\", which has a public IP assigned to it, and which gives private IPs to every other device in the network (or they may have them set up beforehand). It also \"routes\" (hence the name) the network traffic from the inside of home network to the external world, and in the opposite direction (usually according to some predefined rules).",
"In a typical home environment, yes. As others have said, your router has a public IP address facing the world and a private IP block on the side that connects to your home network. Your router does something called \"Network address translation\". It basically takes the traffic that is going in and out of it and replacing the private IPs with the single public IP in the data packets before sending it on its way. When the data packets come back, the router knows what computer on the inside is talking to what computer on the outside and so it can replace the public IP back with the private IP and send it out to the home network side.\n\n & #x200B;",
"Kind of. Routers create a local area network that are for our purposes private from the rest of the world. You communicate to your router who then relays the request from all the devices through the same tunnel (their public address)\n\n\nMost routers have local address IPs in the range \n\n192.68.0.0 to 192.168.1.999\n\n\nLet's say your routers ip to the ISP is 42.532.2.321.\n\nYour phone wouldnt beable to directly send requests to 42.532.2.321. It has to go through 192.168.1.5 which talks to the router. \n\n\nSomeone looking for your phone on 42.532.2.321 wouldn't find it. They would only find your router. \n \n\n",
"There can not be two of the same public IPs, but here are hundreds of millions of 192.168.1.1 networks out there (default home router network). They talk to the outside world though NAT (network address translation). NAT is like a middleman that passes packets to your ISP (internet service provider) through a single public IP while hiding the individual private network address. Each device on your home network (anything with a MAC address) has its own IP address assigned by the router through DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) or you can assign individual \"static\" IPs that don't change. If this interests you, check out the OSI model, the first three layers will explain all this. In more detail.",
"The Public IP will be the address of your house, and the private IP will be the \"addresses\" of each room on your house. People doesn't need to know where is your room to send you a package, they will send it to your public address and the owner of the house, let's say your mum will take the package and take it to your room. (your mum will be the router).",
"Exactly!\n\nYour \"public IP\" could be compared to the physical address of your house (\"123 Example Road, Exampleville, Examplecountry\" for example).\n\nYour \"private IP\" would then be what you call each room in your house (\"James Harden Jr.'s Bedroom\" for example).\n\nThere won't be a duplicate for your house's address, but there could be many duplicates for the name of your room (pretty much everyone has a kitchen).\n\nEvery room in your house \"shared\" your house's address, and so if you want to get a package sent to you that is what you give out.\n\nThe specifics of how your router and modem (the devices that take care of all of this IP business) handle public and private IPs is a much more complicated topic which sort of goes outside of the ELI5 range."
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24rgn7 | do animals perceive us as being smarter than them? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24rgn7/eli5_do_animals_perceive_us_as_being_smarter_than/ | {
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"No. I don't think animals know such concept as smartness. They only perceive you being a friend or foe and bigger/stronger or smaller/weaker.",
"Depends on the animal I guess. Thinking of dogs, it would seem that they perceive their owners as smart, whereas a beetle probably wouldn't.\n\nAlthough as /u/anabis_ said, it may just be that a dog regards it's owner very much as a friend. It would be very hard to test either way",
"No, as dog's lack the level of intelligence and understanding need to comprehend our level of intelligence and thinking. They simply lack the abiity to \"see\" how large the difference between us is.\n\n\n\nHere's my ELI5 metapor: If a dog's mind is a pond, and a person's in an ocean, then when a person see's another person, they can recognize it as an ocean and see a dog's mind as a pond. But to a dog, they see can only comprehend that there is a water body edge and its wet, so it is just another pond to them. They will never see the ocean, they are not capable.",
"No. There is a concept known as \"theory of mind\" which is essentially the understanding that others have a mind of their own and may have some knowledge that you may not. This is usually seen to appear in children at around 5 or 6 years of age but people who are autistic or have other mental disorders usually develop this understanding at a greater age, if they develop it at all. As far as we know animals do not have this understanding. I remember reading somewhere that of all the apes that were taught sign language as a means of communication, none ever asked a human a question in order to obtain knowledge.",
"There's a documentary about dogs that shows an experiment about the connection between dogs and humans. Dogs and wolves were both trained to open a Plexiglas puzzle to retrieve a treat. An examiner was present during these experiments. \n\nAfter a series of puzzles were offered, the subjects were offered an unsolvable puzzle. The wolves kept working at the puzzle. The dogs, after finding the puzzle unsolvable, came to the examiner and pleaded for help. So this dog at least counted on its handler's specific superiority at retrieving the treat. \n\nBut, honestly, stupid people don't realize, for the most part that they are stupid. ",
"the short answer is animals are super-retarded",
"Cats leave dead animals for their owners, not as presents, but as lessons. They're trying to show us how to hunt, because we don't know how to hunt like they do. So cats don't think humans are all-knowing, anyway",
"Intelligence is a human-made concept that we apply to ourselves. So no, an animal would not perceive a human as smart. There's a famous quote, \"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life thinking it is stupid.\" It's entirely possible that objectively speaking, humans aren't that much smarter than other animals. What if the gap between humans and animals isn't as big as we let ourselves believe it to be?",
"I believe animals have no sense of intelligence or ways to grade it. They just measure pheromones, skill, speed and strength. Cats will bring you dead animals they've caught because they think of you as of a very large, ugly, stupid hairless cat and they hope you learn something. We teach dogs tricks and hope they learn something. I think you catch my drift here. We're the dominant species because our intelligence has the option and means to dominate all others, but I wouldn't go so far as defining humans smarter than animals. Humans are advanced, but most of all have a different concept of intelligence. Consider the octopus or the elephant, the dolphins and the whales...all have surprising levels of intelligence once they are observed by human standards because we compare their skill and learning to our own, but were we to be tested by them we'd come out the losers, big, slow, incapable of so many things the animals do without thinking. So I think animals perceive us as being messed up, mostly. We smell unnaturally, we live in strange places where the air isn't clean, we eat food we have know very little about, we despair, kill ourselves and each other, mask ourselves for no other purpose than to lie those around us, we have no pack cohesion and are generally prone to diseases we caused ourselves.\nAll in all, I don't see how can anyone consider themselves \"smart\" compared to a fox or a lion...",
"I'm a little late to this party but I'd like to add that it isn't a matter of consciously perceiving that we are smarter than them. To the best of my knowledge, animals don't think like that. For them, it's a matter of knowing what we are capable of doing for them. \n\nCrows don't think we're smarter than them, yet they see that our garbage and our cities provide them food, so they flock to us.\n\nDogs don't think we're smarter than them, but they know we can do things they don't so they come to us for help (because thumbs; but again, I doubt they realize this.)\n\nAs a child, did you ever get stuck and couldn't do something like a puzzle or a game and so you asked your mom/dad? It wasn't that you thought they were smarter, you just knew they'd be able to do it for you.\n\nHope that helps.",
"Cats think humans are pretty stupid when it comes to catching birds and mice, and knowing what to do with them. "
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304esf | what exactly determines my internet speed? | Even moving from one house to another, my internet is consistently slower than average. Why would that be? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/304esf/eli5_what_exactly_determines_my_internet_speed/ | {
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"How much slower? If you're only getting ~1/8th the speed you were promised as your \"up to\" speed, it's just because you're making the common mistake of directly comparing megabits (what your ISP offers) and megabytes (which is what most people see). A byte is 8 bits, so if your speed is 20 down/3 up, you're getting around 2.5 megabytes/s download speed (as your max).\n\n---------------\n\nAs for other reasons, your ISP oversubscribes. If they have 1 gigabit available on the local loop, they'd be foolish to only sell 1 gigabit's worth of bandwidth, because not everyone is going to be using it at max 100% of the time. But what this means is that when everyone around you *is* using it, it slows down for everyone because the link is saturated. I see this every saturday night starting around 7pm, I assume this is netflix time.\n\nIf you're using wireless, your band may be oversaturated. If everyone around you is using the same channel, it's like trying to be heard in a crowded room. Sure, you can be, but you might have to repeat a few things to be understood. Go into your router settings and change the channel. Odds are you're on the lowest one (that's usually the default), change it to the highest and see what happens.\n\nIt can also be because your modem sucks and needs to be either replaced, or have the firmware updated (if you are renting the modem from your ISP *DO NOT DO THIS YOURSELF*). It could be because your router is dying. If you plug your computer directly into the modem and your speeds don't suck consistently, you need to replace your router (or upgrade the firmware).\n\nIf even plugging directly into the modem doesn't help, all you can really do is keep calling the ISP until they either do something to get you to shut up (be polite, do not yell at them or curse at them), or you move/another ISP moves in.",
"It depends on several factors including the type and quality of the cable, the distance from the central (last loop), whether it is on a main or secondary plug in your house... then there could be several other factors not directly connected to the line (your router, the quality and the strenght of your wifi, your device quality, your router settings... ) ",
"In terms of ADSL and like technology it's your distance from the exchange. \n\nA modem/DSLAM sends it's signal(modulating electricity) down the wirebut the further it goes the more distorted it gets due to the resistance(attenuation) it meets along the way.\n\nSo imagine you were telling at your friend. Up close they can hear you just fine but stretch that out half a football field and suddenly it's not so clear. You might even have to say things a few times to get the full message across. Now I\nImagine if someone was yelling at the same time. Things would get even worse. \n\nSo when you moved house you probably walked away from your friend to the point where things go a little slower. \n\nHope that helps.\n\nEdit: added attenuation"
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3errr4 | what are conductors of symphonies doing? dancing with their hands? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3errr4/eli5_what_are_conductors_of_symphonies_doing/ | {
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"They're doing different things at different times because the players in the band or orchestra are playing differently. When you're playing, you can hear yourself more than anything else, and don't really hear the big picture. The conductor is positioned to hear every section and can tell one section to back off, another section to play louder, etc.\n\nThe musicians are playing their instruments. The conductor's instrument is the musicians though."
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4vld0n | why did audio quality become so much better in the late 90s/early 2000s? | I hear it mostly in soundstage. Everything before then sounded so wide, but with less depth. Now everything is narrower, but crisper. And it all seemed to unfold in a single decade. Who struck gold in the audio engineering industry? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4vld0n/eli5_why_did_audio_quality_become_so_much_better/ | {
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"funny... actually sound quality in general has gone down. \n\nBut reproduction equipment has gone up in quality. \n\nBetter cuality DAC´s from companies like Wolfson, Cirrus Logic and AKM have allowed portable devices like cellphones and DAP´s to have better sound quality, \n\nMass improvent in quality of lower end speakers and headphones, while you needed a 300 buck pair of Grados or Sennheisers for good sound quality, today products in the 30-50 buck range from companies like Vsonic, Zero Audio and Xiaomi can provide very good headphone quality, \n\nUnfortunatly as mentioned before, the general quality of the music has dropped off a cliff since the mid 90´s thanks to the loudness war, where music producers amplify the music while mastering and therefore reducing the dynamic range, the Dynamic range is the difference in volume (mesured in decibels) between the lowest and loudest sounding notes in the music, so compressing the dynamic range by amplifying the music means that the music sounds more flat and with less body.\n\nTL;DR : cheaper and higher quality electronics allow reproduction devices to have more quality, but the general quality of music and sound has actually been decresing since the mid 90´s thanks to a loudness war between music producers. \n\n"
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2hzmqf | when i have a small cut, sore or bruise why do i have the urge to poke at it? | It causes a little pain and seems like it would slow healing but the urge is there. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2hzmqf/eli5_when_i_have_a_small_cut_sore_or_bruise_why/ | {
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"From what I can tell, both are somewhat psychosomatic responses, though one makes more \"scientific\" sense than the other. Bruising, a common affliction, happens when we rupture blood vessels under the skin (usually by whacking a limb on something). This injury results in inflammation, which triggers pain receptors in the muscles and skin. I.e. it hurts. So why would we then poke or rub it while so sensitive? It's actually a way of managing the pain. When we rub a painful area, it triggers other receptors in the skin, such as those that sense pressure, light touch, temperature, etc. By activating these other receptors for a short time, it actually \"drowns out\" the pain being detected by the brain, providing a moment of relief. \n\nPicking scabs is an entirely different issue, but like rubbing a bruise, something we seem to do instinctively. On one hand, it can be a symptom of \"obsessive-compulsive tendencies that often signal an underlying, often as-yet-undiagnosed mood or anxiety disorder.\" On the other, some experts say it's a remnant of the way our ancestors were compelled to groom, lick, and preen themselves. Scabs are like plaster over a healing wound, and they definitely itch, so maybe it's just a response to the fact that we're hyper aware of it."
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1src9a | the holographic principle and string theory | I've always tried to read up about the holographic universe theory, but I always seem to get in over my head and have to read about five other things just to being to understand, as I don't have a strong science background. Can anyone make this a bit more lucid for me? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1src9a/eli5_the_holographic_principle_and_string_theory/ | {
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"I'll link you to a similar concept, and before everyone jumps all over my shit for this... I will make the disclaimer that I am NOT an expert BUT, this is a pretty good explanation of dimensional projections in a general sense of the word and may help OP with tackling the abstractness of string theory and the newest simulated results we've been reading lately.\n\nCarl Sagan - _URL_0_ \n\nEdit: in other words, the new studies have begun to show us that all of the universe that we know and observe is just a projection of the underlying principles at work"
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ng1nk | how can colleges require students to buy new books for hundreds of dollars year after year with books often having little to no changes between each publication? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ng1nk/eli5_how_can_colleges_require_students_to_buy_new/ | {
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"The publishers can add more supplemental material that make the teachers' jobs easier (eg. sample test questions).\n\nAlso, the publishers can force a change to a newer edition: if they stop printing the old one, there may not be enough supply for future students who need it, so out of laziness, the professor requires the newest edition. \n\nGood professors will make their own questions or tell you that you can use any of a few editions of books. If they don't say so in class or on the syllabus, ask them. I usually get older editions on Amazon or similar sites and they're often under $10 shipped.\n\nEdit: [Here](_URL_0_)'s a link that explains some statistics related to your question.",
"Because fuck you, that's why. ",
"Because students have no say in the matter. ",
"Book publishers do this for the same reason video game publishers have started including a one-time-use code with copies of new games that unlock online features: to combat the used market, from which they make no money. (This is extremely similar to how included software or online features with textbooks have a one-time-use code that expires after the term, even though the bulk of courses I had with these sorts of materials outside of foreign language courses never used them).\n\nMany publishers have an agreement with their authors that they will submit revisions or otherwise update their book so a new version can be published after X number of years so that they can curb the used market before there are tons of copies floating around out there. Often the changes are negligible, such as different page numbers, material presented in a slightly different order, corrections to minor errata, etc.\n\nYou may run into an instance in college where your textbook was authored or co-authored by your professor (generally the more specialized courses or obscure areas of study). I had one course where the instructor was the author, but many courses where the instructor simply had an arrangement with a local printer to run off their own \"packets\" of cobbled-together material that wasn't already published in a collected form together; in the first case, I know the professor receives royalties, and I'm assuming in the second case they receive something from the particular publisher/copy house that puts together their packets.",
"Because yay free market. \n\nActually, the professors (assuming they have control over the textbooks) often have control. They can come up with packets of articles/chapters and put them online or have them bound at a copy shop for a lot less than a new textbook (this is common at my university). Some deliberately choose books that aren't official \"textbooks\" and are therefore much cheaper. Some don't care that much about editions if the subject doesn't change rapidly (read: probably okay for a lit class and less so for biochemistry). \n\nAnd technically, nobody puts a gun to your head and forces you to buy the books. It's often possible to get by using other books and materials on a subject and many times, there are copies of the textbooks available in the library.\n\n",
"The publishers can add more supplemental material that make the teachers' jobs easier (eg. sample test questions).\n\nAlso, the publishers can force a change to a newer edition: if they stop printing the old one, there may not be enough supply for future students who need it, so out of laziness, the professor requires the newest edition. \n\nGood professors will make their own questions or tell you that you can use any of a few editions of books. If they don't say so in class or on the syllabus, ask them. I usually get older editions on Amazon or similar sites and they're often under $10 shipped.\n\nEdit: [Here](_URL_0_)'s a link that explains some statistics related to your question.",
"Because fuck you, that's why. ",
"Because students have no say in the matter. ",
"Book publishers do this for the same reason video game publishers have started including a one-time-use code with copies of new games that unlock online features: to combat the used market, from which they make no money. (This is extremely similar to how included software or online features with textbooks have a one-time-use code that expires after the term, even though the bulk of courses I had with these sorts of materials outside of foreign language courses never used them).\n\nMany publishers have an agreement with their authors that they will submit revisions or otherwise update their book so a new version can be published after X number of years so that they can curb the used market before there are tons of copies floating around out there. Often the changes are negligible, such as different page numbers, material presented in a slightly different order, corrections to minor errata, etc.\n\nYou may run into an instance in college where your textbook was authored or co-authored by your professor (generally the more specialized courses or obscure areas of study). I had one course where the instructor was the author, but many courses where the instructor simply had an arrangement with a local printer to run off their own \"packets\" of cobbled-together material that wasn't already published in a collected form together; in the first case, I know the professor receives royalties, and I'm assuming in the second case they receive something from the particular publisher/copy house that puts together their packets.",
"Because yay free market. \n\nActually, the professors (assuming they have control over the textbooks) often have control. They can come up with packets of articles/chapters and put them online or have them bound at a copy shop for a lot less than a new textbook (this is common at my university). Some deliberately choose books that aren't official \"textbooks\" and are therefore much cheaper. Some don't care that much about editions if the subject doesn't change rapidly (read: probably okay for a lit class and less so for biochemistry). \n\nAnd technically, nobody puts a gun to your head and forces you to buy the books. It's often possible to get by using other books and materials on a subject and many times, there are copies of the textbooks available in the library.\n\n"
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7yp586 | why do some floating-point operations result in long decimals? | As an example,
1.2 - 1.0 = 0.199999999999999996 | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7yp586/eli5_why_do_some_floatingpoint_operations_result/ | {
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"Binary conversion to decimal is fairly accurate, but not that precise. It's not easy to store one-fifth in binary. ",
"Floating point in computers does use decimal fraction but use binary fraction. \n\nThe example is in fix point but the format is the same the difference is that fix point 0.005 would be 5^10-3 as floatning point. The primary reason for calculation error is the same\n\nSo you can write 1.2 = 1+ 0.2 =1+2*0.1 in decimal because you have the the fraction 0.1 . Binary fraction are not like that they are 1/2, 1/4,1/8,1/16 ... of in a another way in the format 1/(n^2) where n=1,2,3...infinity The problem is that you can write 0.1 exact with fraction in that format\n\n\nSo 1.2 in binary format binary format is 1.001100110011 \n\ndecimal values for that is 1+1/8+1/16+1/128+1/256+1/2048+1/4096 =1.199951171875\n\nthe result would be 1.2-1=1.199951171875-1=0.199951171875\n\nLook at _URL_0_ for more examples\n\nThe result is there will always be a error in floating-point calculation if the fraction is not a sum of the binary fraction. So in programming you should never check if two floating point values are equal but only if the difference are smaller then som limit.\n\nBecause of how binary numbers works you can represent integers exact in floating point numbers up to a max values depending of the precision of the floating point numbers\n\n\n\n\n",
"Because not all numbers can be represented precisely in binary, just like not every number can be represented precisely in decimal.\n\nFor example, `1 / 3 = 0.333333333333333333`. We can't write \"a third\" in base-10 decimals, we have to approximate it.\n\nAnd the same is true for base 2 numbers. Just like we can't write \"a third\" in base 10, we can't write, for example, \"a fifth\" in base 2.\nSo it has to be approximated, and 0.199999999999999996 is the nearest number that *can* be represented given the number of digits available."
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1ibq8e | what is radiology? | What it says on the tin. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1ibq8e/eli5_what_is_radiology/ | {
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"Radiology is a branch of medicine which uses *images* to detect and monitor disease.\n\nExamples of radiology include:\n\n* X-Rays (and the images they create - radiography)\n* MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)\n* CT (Computerised Tomography) or CAT (Computerised Axial Tomography) and\n* Ultrasound.\n\nMRI and CT/CAT are similar, except that MRI uses radio frequency waves, and CT uses x-rays."
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3ttbot | why does american thanksgiving land on the last thursday of november instead of a specific day? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ttbot/eli5_why_does_american_thanksgiving_land_on_the/ | {
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"Usually Thanksgiving commemorated end of harvest. In US being south its celebrated later than in Canada when it colder and harvest happens earlier. Why thursday? Most likely because its end of the week. Earlier feast(celebrations) would last 3 days, and then you need to be at church on sunday. ",
"Our current regularly-celebrated federal holiday Thanksgiving originates from the Civil War; someone requested that Lincoln promote it as a federal holiday to solidify the custom present in some states and to regularize the day on which it occurs. Lincoln had Secretary of State William Seward write up a proclamation, which appointed \"the last Thursday of November next\" as a day of Thanksgiving.\n\nWhy the last Thursday, and not the November 26 it fell on that year? I cannot say, except that days of the week used to be more important in reckoning time than they are today, mostly to observe a variety of religious ceremonies.",
"Isn't it the 4th Thursday? There can be 5 Thursdays in November and I think the holiday is set as the 4th not necessarily the last Thursday."
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aata8l | why do humans have the urge to do stupid things that would hurt yourself or other people (i.e. open car doors that are in motion or jump off a high ledge)? | Surely I can’t be the only one to experience this? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aata8l/eli5_why_do_humans_have_the_urge_to_do_stupid/ | {
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"Its called the call of the void and no one is entirely sure why it happens. the best explanation seems to be that it's your brain running a \"bug check\", making sure you don't actually want to jump, or whatever you were tempted to do."
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vmbfu | the answer to the math problem about the game show where there's three doors with either goats or a car behind them. (variable change) | The question goes something like:
You're on a game show where there are 3 doors, and you want to pick the correct one.
Behind one door is a car, and behind the other two are goats.
You select door 1, after which the host opens door 2 to reveal a goat, and says you may change answers now if you wish.
Why is it in your advantage to change? (Like I'm 5 ;) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vmbfu/eli5_the_answer_to_the_math_problem_about_the/ | {
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"Notice first that the host is making a deliberate choice. He's not picking randomly, because he needs to make sure the door he picks has a goat behind it.\n\nNow, his choice doesn't give you any information about the door you picked. But in some cases, it *does* give you information about the door neither of you picked. If you picked the door with the goat, the host is forced to pick the door with the other goat, and the third door must contain the car.\n\nSo since you gain additional information about the door you didn't pick, and *only* the door you didn't pick, it's more likely right to change to that one.",
"For reference, this is known as the [Monty Hall problem](_URL_0_).\n\nTo get the right answer, ignore the door thing and look at your first choice...two goats and a car. What's the chance that you pick the car? 1/3, right?\n\nNow, by removing a door that definitely has a goat, the host is essentially saying that the remaining door definitely contains the opposite to whatever you've currently chosen. If you chose the car, the remaining door has a goat. If you chose a goat, though, the remaining door has a car.\n\nNow, as above, there's only a 1/3 chance that your original door has the car. Therefore there's a 2/3 chance that switching would be beneficial to you. Therefore...switch!",
"This is called the Monty Hall problem, and [it's a favorite of this subreddit](_URL_0_).\n\nA key element to the problem is that Monty (the show host) knows where the car is and deliberately reveals a goat, which he's always able to do no matter which door you chose first. By doing so, he's giving you some information, which changes the odds. There are two doors remaining, but they are not equal: one is a door that you chose out of 3 possible doors, the other is a door that Monty purposedly left closed, possibly because it has the car behind it.\n\nA convenient way to see how the odds change is to imagine that there are 100 doors, you pick one, then Monty opens 98 other doors to reveal goats. Unless you picked the door with the car (one chance out of 100), Monty had to leave that door closed and open all the others. So there's one chance in 100 that it's behind the door you chose, and 99 chances in 100 that it's behind the other door.\n\nIt's the same with three doors. The first door you choose has one chance out of three to hide the car, in which case Monty can open any of the other doors. But in the eventuality that you didn't pick the right door (two chances out of three) then Monty has to leave that door closed and is forced to open the other one. So if you switch, you have two chances out of three to win, rather than one out of three if you don't switch.",
"Think of it this way: \n\nThe ONLY way you're leaving with a car when you're NOT switching is if you pick the right door the first time around. Chance is 1/3. \n\nIf you switch, the ONLY way you're NOT leaving with a car is if you did NOT pick the right door the first time around. Chance is 2/3. \n\nBam. ",
"Let's play different scenarios. Lets make it simple and lets say the grand prize is under 1st door and crappy stuff is under 2nd and 3rd.\n\nYou have chosen the grand prize, but you don't know it. Game host knows it, and he shows you something crappy. You change, you lose. You stay you win.\n\nYou have chosen 2nd door, game host shows you 3rd door (he can't tell you where the grand prize is). You change door and win the grand prize! If you stayed, you would have lost.\n\nYou have chosen 3rd door. Game host shows 2nd door (again, he can't reveal where the prize is and he can't tell you what you have). You change your mind and win the prize! Or you stay and lose.\n\n---\n\nNow lets count!\n\nOut of 3 tries if you were to stay, you would win 1 time out of 3.\n\nOut of 3 tries if you were to change, you would win 2 times out of 3. "
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eep867 | why are some websites/apps/pictures you visit on your phone, not able to be screenshotted? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/eep867/eli5_why_are_some_websitesappspictures_you_visit/ | {
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"There are no hardwired functions in an android phone. All those buttons are just inputs to software. One of those pieces of software, that does the screen shots, checks the FLAG_SECURE layout parameter flag. If this flag is TRUE, then the screenshot doesn't include that window."
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3o68xg | why do people say that cows are "killing the environment"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3o68xg/eli5_why_do_people_say_that_cows_are_killing_the/ | {
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"Two reasons: global warming, and resource consumption.\n\nCows produce lots and lots and lots of methane. They are gigantic highly productive engines of fart. Methane is an intense greenhouse gas, much more effective at retaining atmospheric heat than carbon dioxide. So they're heating up the planet.\n\nThey also drink LOTS of water as they munch away at grasslands that would be much more productive if used instead for farming vegetable crops. A steak has a lot of calories, but if the energy that went into that steak went instead into efficently grown crops you'd have many times the calories to eat. So cows though tasteful, are considered very wasteful."
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65ztab | if sound doesn't have mass, why is it not travelling at the speed of light? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65ztab/eli5_if_sound_doesnt_have_mass_why_is_it_not/ | {
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"Sound itself isn't really a thing. Sound is caused by vibrations of air (or another substance). This means that air particles are bouncing into each other, and this \"wave\" of bouncing particles continues until it reaches your ear and vibrates little pieces of your ear. \n\n\nSince these air particles have to bump into each other to cause sound, they must take time to travel. These particles cannot travel at the speed of light. \n\n\nAir particles are much further apart than, say, steel particles in a steel rod. This allows for the steel particles to more quickly bump into each other, which is why sound travels much faster in a steel rod compared to in air. ",
"Because sound isn't a thing; it's just a phenomenon associated with pressure waves. Pressure waves travel at a set speed through a given material, and that speed is simply called the speed of sound."
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1xrji2 | why does socially conservative japanese culture tolerate weird trends and sexual fetishes? | Generally speaking, Japanese culture seems to operate from a very strict set of social rules and courtesies...so why does it seem to tolerate weird stuff like anime, hentai, and weird fashion trends like Ganguro and Elegant Gothic Lolita? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xrji2/why_does_socially_conservative_japanese_culture/ | {
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"It doesn't have the same Christian puritanism that you find in the US, because Christianity is not pervasive there.",
"It's not tolerated by the mainstream culture, really. The average Japanese person absolutely would think you're a weirdo or pervert if you were into the stuff you mentioned.",
"Part of it is that *because* Japanese culture is so homogenised, these kinds of subculture stick out *more*. Another is that because they're seen as outsiders, they tend to gather together in solidarity, again making them more visible - this occurs both in real life, but also on the internet which is often the refuge of the ostracised. And one more piece of the puzzle is a variation on the old orientalism, in that as Westerners we have a certain \"unusual\" view of the East, and are attracted to stories that confirm that view - it's a lot more interesting to hear about \"those wacky Japanese\" than to hear about \"those Japanese who are just plain old hard-working businessmen doing a boring job in a company somewhere\"."
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1iysdz | what happens to the excess electricity produced by a power plant? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1iysdz/eli5what_happens_to_the_excess_electricity/ | {
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"They normally sell it to other power companies that need it, they can store a small amount of it (with some loss) by pumping water upwards at a hydro dam to let it fall back down later.\n\nMostly though they are really good at knowing how much power people will use, because people as a whole are really predictable, so they tend to be pretty close.",
"Short Answer: There is no excess. Power plants produce the amount of energy used.\n\nLong Answer: Besides the hydro 'battery' described by Mason11987, our grid has absolutely no way to store energy. Instead, power companies have their major plants running all the time and some smaller plants they \"turn on and off\" as demand increases or decreases. These smaller plants usually run off diesel. What happens when they're running full steam but the people demand more power!? Well, those are called brownouts. :) Spring and Fall have the lowest demand so that's when the nuclear plants sometimes go offline for maitenance. ",
"I know in Texas there is a central agency (ERCOT) that regulates the power grid. Coal plants ( which provide ~45% of US power) are easily regulated by adjusting the amount of steam fed to the turbine as well a the output of the generator. Natural gas generators work either on a stream cycle, gas cycle, or both. They are extremely versatile and can be quickly started and stopped based on demand. Also as mentioned people are extremely predictable.. ",
"There is no such thing as excess power really. The electrical grid is a an interconnected system of power generators and power consumers. Basically as the demand varies throughout the day the machines automatically add more or less fuel, and so they make more or less power. Think of it like cruise control on your car, it adapts to road conditions to keep speed steady. "
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2kc5jh | why are cars shaped aerodynamically, but busses just flat without taking the shape into consideration? | Holy shit! This really blew up overnight!
Front page! woo hoo! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2kc5jh/eli5_why_are_cars_shaped_aerodynamically_but/ | {
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"The form and the function compete on this design and a bus is deigned to carry cargo which can be packed at highest volume into a cube. Also keep in mind it must satisfy the criteria of being to stand on so cargo can be boarded and unboarded",
"Buses aren't necessarily designed for efficiency. They're designed to carry as many people as possible, along with their luggage and maybe a washroom. So the square shaped design of the bus is used for maximum interior volume. \n\nAlso you have to keep in mind most buses are older designs and haven't been redesigned in decades. I know here in New Jersey the NJ Transit buses are the same ones that were in service since the 90's. Though I do know there are a few newer buses that run on CNG.\n\nHopefully this explanation was helpful. ",
"A lot of busses are designed for urban environments where they are stopping and starting a bunch and not really reaching the high speeds where aerodynamics becomes more relevant.",
"Busses are as big as they can legally make them, and be as cost effective as possible. They need to fit into wash bays, service bays and loading areas/depots. Mainly, they are a tool to make money. Some busses have rounded corners and stuff, but if it raises construction cost and/or reduces capacity, it would need to have a pretty significant fuel savings. \nPersonal vehicles are a festival of salesmanship. Look! Pretty colors! Toys! Flashy! ooh! aah! Aerodynamic? sure! Whatever sells baby!",
"I'd guess it's largely because of the different speeds at which cars and buses move, and thus, the design criteria for each vehicle are different. \n\nBroadly speaking, cars need at least some measure of aerodynamics because: 1) they're regulated by government for fuel efficiency, 2) all things being equal, most buyers would prefer not to pour their hard-earned money into their gas tank, and 3) they go fast and are therefore heavily affected by wind resistance.\n\nBuses, on the other hand, go pretty slowly and need to: 1) carry a crapload of people, 2) fit on the roads on which they drive, and 3) cost less than the money available to buy them. Nobody chooses to ride on a public bus or not based on it's relative aerodynamic efficiency, and even the people choosing the buses (e.g. public transit department) will only look at aerodynamics/fuel efficiency insofar as it impacts the 'bottom line' of purchasing and then running the bus over its expected lifetime. A cheap square brick of a bus might easily win out over a modern, aerodynamic bus which costs more to purchase and can't carry as many passengers.\n\nSince wind resistance is a function of the speed of the moving object (i.e. \"the faster something goes the more wind resistance it experiences\"), the aerodynamics of a vehicle moving 50-70 kms/hr (30-40 miles/hr), such as a bus, matter much less than a vehicle moving 100-120 kms/hr (60-70 miles/hr), such as a car.\n\nAerodynamic buses are usually only used for long haul, high speed travel. Having said that, there are a few cool lower-speed designs out there : _URL_0_",
"The blocky shape of a typical bus is actually quite efficient when you consider fuel efficiency *per person.*\n\nA standard car is designed to carry 4-5 people, with very few exceptions. In this context, a practical way to make the car more \"efficient\" is to make it more aerodynamic.\n\nWith a bus however, it's much more practical to increase efficiency by adding seats (the more people a bus can carry, the more fuel efficient it is per person); the blocky shape of a bus can accommodate the most seats on board.",
"[Where I live they use these. Are they considered aerodynamic?]( _URL_0_) ",
"The shape is dictated by the fact that people have to walk inside. The have to be very tall to allow for movement inside the bus. The same is not true for cars or most trucks. You get in and you sit down and that's it. There is very little room to move around. \n\nI am sure that if buses were dedicated to high speed freeway travel they could alter the design to make them more aerodynamic, but the costs of doing so would probably exceed the realized benefit unless they did a lot of highway travel. \n\nThe biggest benefit would come from lowering the overall height. Perhaps someone could design a bus with a roof that lowers once everyone is seated thereby increasing efficiency. ",
"This is the same reason motorhomes are just boxes now. It was determined that shape had little to do with fuel efficiency when you only drive up to 70 mph max.",
"It takes an increasingly large amount of power to overcome air resistance at higher speeds (as noted by several already)\n\nIt also takes a large amount of power to get a bus going when umpteen people get packed into it... On a 50 passenger bus, we're talking 3 or 4 tons... So the financial aspects of designing a bus are closer to a dump truck than a car, and fuel economy at high speed just doesn't factor in at a very high priority\n",
"Some of it comes down to safety. Think of how modern school buses are designed without the hood, it helps make sure the driver knows exactly where their vehicle ends and that there's not a massive blind spot shielding their vision from a child directly in front of them.",
"The real answer is, it's cheap. \n\nIt costs a ton of money to research the ideal aerodynamic angles, and actually implement it per vehicle. A boxy bus shape is way cheaper to make.",
"One advantage to the flat, boxy design of a bus: OVERHANG. It's fantastic. When you're driving a bus and need to make tight turns (and almost every turn is tight when you're driving a 40ft long vehicle), you can overhang the front end of your bus over a curb, corner, median, etc. without your wheels hopping the curb. Greatest fucking thing ever. Source: used to be a bus driver in college. What's up Unitrans!!!",
"One thing that has been missed: Regulation. Or badly written regulation. \n\nBuses are generally limited to 40 feet in length. So the goal is to get as many people into 40 feet as possible. Thats a box with a flat front and box.\n\nIf the regulation said 40 feet....plus 10 feet allowable for energy efficient shape, then yes, you would see pointier fronts, like those on trains. \n\nYoull find that shorter buses used on small city routes are of a different shape, because theyre not worried about hitting the 40 foot limit. ",
"Aerodynamics comes into play after 50 km/h below that it's drag is negligible. Buses mainly operate on city streets where speeds tend to be lower than 50 km/h. ",
"Buses tend to be taller than other vehicles. If buses were to have a buldgy (lack of a better word) front, the driver wouldn't be able to see whats directly in front of him/her",
"The interesting thing to me is the lack of seat belts, especially on school buses.\n\n\"But it will be easier to collect the children if they're thrown free of the wreckage!\"",
"I would imagine making a bus more aerodynamic would require one of two things:\n\n1. Make it significantly larger to be aerodynamic while still being able to carry the same amount of people or\n\n2. Make it aerodynamic and a reasonably sized while sacrificing capacity. ",
"Please also don't confuse looking aerodynamic with being aerodynamic. It doesn't always have to be wedge shape, and a lot can be done with details - wheel wells, mirrors, underside etc.",
"For bus, safety is more important. An aerodynamic nose cause a massive view obstruction for the driver, which are then unable to see what is in front of the bus, like someone that cross the street... Old bus used to be more aerodynamic. They had the engine in front. Some started to have curved windshield too. However... The visibility was so awefull that they decided to move the engine to the back and bring the driver closer to the windshield. This reduce the blind view from like 15-25ft down to maybe 5ft. For more info, look up some schoolbus stuff. The info is easier to find than on standard bus...\n\nAlso, there is another thing to consider: the other drags... Since the bus is long, there is more side friction than a car. More tire friction too. And also they usually stay in the city. All that make so the flatness of the nose do not matter that much in the total efficiency. And they can make the sides, top and bottom better and they regain part of that lost efficiency.",
"A brick is more aerodynamic than you think it is. Once the blunt end has punched through the compression wave that builds at the bow, the rest of the object can slip through behind it. That coupled with what a bunch of other people have said about the brick being an efficient use of space for such a large vehicle is why the bus' shape has never evolved.\n\nThere are some semis I've seen that have a special cowl for their trailers that looks like its meant to diffuse turbulence behind the vehicle. I'm curious as to how those things work.",
"There are more [aerodynamic buses](_URL_0_). However, as /u/armorsmith42 mentioned, buses aren't affected by air drag since they don't (generally) reach higher speeds. Once you hit about 75MPH+ drag's affects grow exponentially, which is why sedans and hatchbacks favor roominess over aerodynamics (compared to Lamborghini's and Porsche's).",
"/u/gyroscopesrcool in Los Angeles we have [a aerodynamic-ish bus](_URL_0_) which does go longer distances on the freeway/highway. Notice the sloped and rounded front end and windshield, plus the wheel well covers. ",
"Aeronautical Engineer here; I got the degree but not practicing engineering in this field; take that into consideration.\n\nFirst off: I suspect that turning radius and sight-line during turns is actually the principal factor here for city buses, as pedestrian safety and vehicle safety seem to be paramount in that market, but that still doesn't answer the question of why there are still brand new Semi-Trucks being produced with a flat front on them does it?\n\nI'm going to change your question a bit to say \"Why are cars shaped aerodynamically, but buses AND MANY SEMI-TRUCKS just flat without taking the shape into consideration?\"\n\nSo there are multiple factors here, and you hit upon the principal one when you mentioned aerodynamics. Generally speaking, all vehicles should be as aerodynamic as possible to increase fuel efficiency as speed and drag increases but there is still the question of how much efficiency is gained, and how much cost is added to get that efficiency. I would like to just reinforce at this moment that when there is no/little added cost associated with an increased efficiency then it is extremely rare in a capitalist system for that innovation to NOT be adopted rather quickly across the entire industry. \n\nSo we're left with the real core question: \"Why is it not cheaper to put a nose cone on a truck, given that it's more aerodynamic and thus efficient for a truck to have such a structure?\"\n\nThe answer has two parts: Cost and Benefit\n\nCost: This one is easy and mentioned above. How much does this altered design cost? It's going to be more expensive because there are more panels and more bends and more fastening points etc on the design that is more aerodynamic. \n\nHow much more does this cost?\n\nNow that you know how much it costs, do you think your customers will pay that much more on the promise of more high speed efficiency?\n\nAs other posters have noted, many of these vehicles are used only for low speed and for those vehicles the extra cost may not be justifiable, or may pay for itself over too long a timeline. In these cases it wouldn't make sense for the purchaser to spring for the better design. Note that for something like a bus you've probly got to be assured a 5yr payback on additional investment meant to lower total life cycle costs, where with something like a building you're talking about more like 20yrs. This has to do with asset amortization and we can discuss that more if you'd like. (worked in finance for a while, super familiar)\n\nIn other cases that increased cost may be justifiable, but I would caution you to not make too many assumptions about those cases. The fact is that even at high speeds the benefit of a nose cone or other aerodynamic structures on the front of the vehicle diminish substantially as the vehicle length is increased.....which leads me to....\n\nEfficiency gain: The thing about this is that there are two types (I'm simplifying things) of drag - pressure drag due to pushing air out of the way, and skin drag due to friction with the gasses moving over the surface of the vehicle. \n\nFor a short vehicle like a car skin drag is negligible and pressure drag is dominant. For a long vehicle like a bus pressure drag is still substantial, but skin drag is dominant.\n\nGiven that you understand the previous paragraph consider this: If the ratio of pressure drag to skin drag (Pd/Sd = Total drag (Td)) is higher then you can decrease total drag by a larger amount by adding a nose cone or fairing to increase 'aerodynamics' and get a sizable benefit in the form of reduced total drag. However, if the ratio is low then reducing that pressure drag by the same exact percentage has a smaller effect on the total drag.\n\nWhen you look at it this way it becomes quite clear. The longer the vehicle the less important pressure drag becomes. This is actually dependent on the density of the fluid being traveled through, so you will see this de-emphasis on pressure drag reduction in ships as well as you transition from small fast boat hull designs into large slow ship hull designs.\n\n\nTL;DR; Drag has 2 parts: pressure drag (air being pushed by vehicle) and skin drag (friction of air on surface of vehicle). As a vehicle gets longer the skin drag ends up being most of the drag, so a 10% reduction in pressure drag offered by a better shape will only actually reduce the total drag by 1%, thus making it not cost effective over the service life of the vehicle. \n\nEdit: clarification on language use",
"It amazes me when I see semi's with [these](_URL_0_) additions. It makes me wonder why in the hell it took so long for an idea like this to catch on. I'd say 1/5th of the trailers I see have the back addition, and about 3/5ths have the side-skirts. \n\nSeems like a no-brainier to have them on all trailers. ",
"Aerodynamic effects only come into play above 35 mph. Buses rarely travel at this speed. \n\nOk that isn't complety true. In reality drag is proportional to the square of velocity. So from 35 mph to 70 mph the drag force quadrubles (as the speed triples. From 30 to 90 mph, the drag goes up by 9. There are some other reasons for this as well. This is the basic version. \n\n\n\n\n",
"German automotive engineer here and I thought I'd step in. By german law there is a length limit for buses, so you have to fit seats, the driver, luggage, engine etc. in that given space space. And a rectangle is kindof the best way to do it. There are some other factos but since this is ELI5 i'll leave it at that. \nAnd when you're talking about a shape in aerodynamics you can put that in numbers using a drag coefficient. For sedans the number is around 0.25, SUVs are around 0.35 (a swimming pengiun has something like 0.03 which is considered the best aerodynamic shape). However there is now a Bus (Setra 500) which has a drag coefficient of 0.33 and is better than some mass production SUVs.\n\nTL;DR: Just beacause it looks like a rectangle, doesn't mean it's a bad aerodynamic shape.",
"I would imagine that with city buses anyway, they don't often get up to a speed where a more aerodynamic shape is going to have any kind of meaningful impact on mpg. but- my imagination is often mistaken.",
"I'm not sure why they don't build greyhounds or other high-way speed buses with something [like this](_URL_0_). At sped the bumper traps an air cushion in front of the train, greatly reducing the aerodynamic drag from having a flat front.",
"It's not all about fuel consumption.\n\nBuses need to make money. They'll cram as many paying customers as they can in a given envelope (the footprint of the bus, both ground and vertical), respecting whatever laws you have to respect.\n\nFor instance, if having an aerodynamic design means removing 4 seats at the front, then are these 4 seats bringing in more money than the diesel you can save? Most of the time, no. A typical bus will do 5MPG of diesel and for a 250 mile trip this means 50 gallons, or a cost of $200. Even if (a big if) you could save 1/4 of the diesel, this would save you only $50. It's better to consume a bit more and collect the fare from the 4 passengers.",
"Buses move very slowly, usually within cities, therefore being aerodynamic is not worth the loss of space inside the bus or the loss of space outside the bus. In Japan many cars are also box shaped as the drivers will almost never even go on a highway and so the same principle applies:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nLook at something like the the bullet train as contrast, it'S high speed, large number of passengers and unlimited space front and back make it worth it to carry out extensive efforts at improving aerodynamics, the latest maglev versions have almost comically long pointed noses:\n\n_URL_1_",
"The drag force that we experience due to air is a function of velocity, which means that the faster you go the more drag you experience. Busses are designed to go fairly slow and to stop often, therefore the drag forces will remain fairly small anyway.",
"Capacity and the fact that buses just start and stop, and never really get up to the speeds that are even affected by wind (as much as aerodynamics are to be made an issue)",
"Form follows function. By this i mean that a designer looks at the purpose of the vehicle then decides the shape of it.\nto elaborate a bus' function is to carry passengers, therefor there is less need for the bus to reach high speeds, that aerodynamics wouldn't be needed. As opposed to a f1 racing car, where speed is the top function, therefor every detail that can increase speed would be taken into account.\nedit: spelling\n",
"Think of a bus or a train as an arrow. Since the arrow is very long in comparison to its width, it is aerodynamic whatever the shape of the tip. Some train speed records were established with blunt locomotives in the 50's. The aerodynamic shape of high speed trains is developed in order to minimize the shock wave when entering a tunnel and not making passengers deaf. Look at the shape of a Boeing 747 : it is rather blunt, only supersonic planes need a pointed nose in order to go through the sound barrier, piercing the bow wave they generate. In the same way, only supersonic bullets have a pointed (spitzer) shape ; subsonic bullets can be blunt if they are long, like slugs. Aerodynamic drag mostly comes from energy dissipated in turbulences behind the moving object, not in front of it ; hence, \"Kamm\" tails on cars in order to make them appear longer to the air, or race regulations fixing the maximum length of a race car in order to keep top speed reasonable. Some high performance cars have more than 1 meter of unneeded, empty bodywork in the back. There is a compromise in between pressure drag (for long objects) and friction drag (for small lengths). ",
"xb/toyota bb enthusiast here! most \"aerodynamically designed\" cars rarely if ever take advantage of their design since most people live in cities where you're not gonna be flooring it very often given the amount of other life happening around you. this is why almost all japanese vehicles have a blockier, more roomy design. they understand that it's about efficiency followed by luxury followed by speed. speed belongs on the race track.",
"Three reasons:\n\n**Fuel efficiency/person:** Generally cars are designed to carry around a small amount of people. And in most cases a significant proportion of the seats go to waste. Making it a square shape and reducing the fuel efficiency, but adding an extra seat isn't going to be a selling point for most people. Compare that to a bus, what the operator cares about is running cost per ticket - therefore adding an extra deck might reduce the fuel efficiency by say (random example) 30% but it increases capacity by 100% so the cut of each ticket sale spent on on fuel reduces, even if the total fuel bill is increased.\n\n**Lower maximum speed:** Air resistance is proportional to speed (or the square of your speed if you're going fast enough) - a city bus is unlikely to need to reach the same speeds (or maintain its fuel efficiency at those speeds) that a car on the motorway, so aerodynamics matter less.\n\n**Aesthetics:** You buy a car based on how it looks. Most would agree that the sweeping curves of a sportscar are more appealing, regardless of whether you're going to drive it fast enough for such a level of aerodynamic fine-tuning to bear much impact. The person buying busses isn't going to park it in his drive, or pick his date up with it - what matters is the bottom line, how much it costs, and how much of a return the company will gain on those costs.",
"Newer buses are better, but overall city transit buses were never really designed to go over 35 MPH\n\nGreyhound type buses, tour buses and those used to build into large RVs are, if you really do the math, actually fairly good on aerodynamics. ",
"Cars aren't shaped that aerodynamically. Mythbusters demonstrated that a dimpled (like a golf ball) car drastically improves has mileage... yet has there ever been one made?",
"For busses, space efficiency is more important than speed (where aerodynamic shape comes into play).",
"It's because buses in cities often do not drive more than 80km per hour - the speed at witch air resistance becomes grater than rolling resistance. \nIf you look at inter city busses, they are formed more aerodynamic due to the fact that they travel at 100km per hour (here in Germany)... ",
"About 10 years ago I saw a PBS special about fuels. This one guy re-designed the tractor trailer to save gobs of fuel and obviously cut down on emissions. It looked like this. Obviously this didn't catch on.\n_URL_0_",
"A few reasons:\n\n * Flat front buses are more space efficient for passengers.\n\n * Flat front buses allow the bus to fit into tighter spaces, everything from a smaller bus stop to making it across the intersection without blocking more easily.\n\n * Flat front buses are easier for the driver to avoid a low-speed accident. Buses navigate tight urban spaces, and squeeze by other vehicles with inches to spare.\n\n * Flat front buses have the corners of the bus nearer the front tires, which means less of the bus \"swings\" when the bus turns. Having bus \"swing\" over the curb, for example, makes it harder to make turns.",
"Safety. The front is square to increase driver visibility of the road in front in order to prevent accidentally running someone over.\n\nEdit: with a car if an adult walks in front more likely half their body will be visible above the hood. With buses being much taller, if they had a similar hooded engine compartment many adults might not be visible. Most buses operate in populated areas where pedestrians are more likely to be present. This safety design might also influence rear engine bus designs (one of top of many rear engine design benefits)",
"Also the flat nose allows the driver to see right infront of the bus",
"Vehicles such as buses and modern fire trucks have flat fronts to maximize the usable area in the truck or bus, without having to make the vehicle longer (longer vehicles are harder to turn in tight city corners)",
"One of them needs to be attractive and fuel efficient to sell to customers. \n\nThe other needs to hold as many people as possible to make money. Improved aerodynamics must not equal enough extra profit than making more space for paying customers. ",
"Cause that's the only way you can edge like a mad cunt",
"Well, not exactly: _URL_0_ \n\nIt takes aerodynamics a bit more into account.",
"Side note: this is the most impressive collection of responses I've ever seen on Reddit. In an ELI5, we got an aeronautical engineer, a German automotive engineer, and an automotive journalist giving replies... and that's just the ones I saw before commenting! Impressive!",
"Drag is a function of velocity squared. So drive two times as fast, get 4 times the drag. Drive 3 times as fast get 9 times the drag. A bus is just not driving fast enough for aerodynamic drag to really matter that much. It's cheaper to just make it rectangular. Aerodynamic shapes are generally more expensive to create because of the higher difficulty of getting the materials in the right shape. A bus will likely never return the investment during its lifetime.",
"City owns bus depot. Square is a cheaper shape than round. The city saves money. ",
"Cuz I don't think you could fit a hundred and fifty people in the sports cars design bus",
"the gas bill for private cars is paid by their owners - the gas bill for most busses is paid by cities / tax payers.",
"How much extra length would you have to add to the front of something that tall in order to make it an aerodynamic shape?",
"Because you want cars to go at 200 mph.\n\nA bus shouldn't go that fast, unless you're Sandra Bullock in Speed",
"Because in those cars, the priority is handling, high speed, and lots of grip; but in the bus the only priority is getting in as much people as possible, in the most comfortable position possible; all this while being as cheap as possible. That leaves you with no design at all, and as much seats as the bus can allow.",
"Actually there are new ones in some cities. In California they (newer models) are slightly curved on the edges and they have wheel covers over the wheels. They are doing what they can. ",
"Lots of cars actually aren't really that aerodynamic, they just look like it. \n\nMost high end sports cars are designed for aerodynamics though, with splitters, diffusers, spoilers, etc. but mainly those are used to keep the car going straight and held down. ",
"Most buses never go fast enough for aerodynamics to factor in to fuel economy. And those that do are 'square' because making them into an aerodynamic shape would cut passenger capacity in order to keep them at the maximum vehicle length mandated by Federal highway standards.",
"City buses need to maneuver in relatively tight spaces. Having the driver seated almost against the front of the vehicle makes it easier for the them to see & avoid obstacles easier. ",
"_URL_0_\nAlong with aerodynamics not being relevant in an urban environment where the bus is stopping and not reaching high speeds, it has a larger engine designed to carry more weight from place to place. Having a vehicle that is not aerodynamic is actually incredibly helpful because it increases the engines air intake.",
"Just want to add that buses actually *are* pretty aerodynamic. Actually a rectangular box with rounded edges has a Cx as low as the one of tipycal 1950-1960 car. Consider also that, despite a common misconception, what creates the major part of the aerodynamic resistance is not the front of the vehicle but the wake behind it",
"1. maximise interior space. \nB. Keeping exterior dimensions as small as possible.\n3. Flat ends makes it easier to drive as you can estimate the dimensions of the vehicle better. \nZ. Busses don't usually go at the kind of speed that aerodynamics would be a big issue. \nFin.",
"Usually if I can't scratch an itchy spot I slap it instead...",
"Buses do not need to be shaped aerodynamically because they usually do need to reach high speeds. Also buses are meant to fit a lot of things in them so it makes sense for them to be the shape that they are.",
"If I had to make a guess, I would wager it is due to the fact that busses generally do not exceed 40 mph and don't really need to be as aerodynamic as the standard automobile.\n\nGranted I am most likely full of shit, I just wanted to make a guess before I read any comments.\n",
"The purpose of an aerodynamic shape is to be fuel efficient. \n\nBusses are square so they can fit the absolute maximum passengers and luggage within the legal height, width, and length limit permitted on the highway. \n\nBy maximizing the number of passengers, square busses achieve greater per-passenger fuel efficiency than aerodynamic cars. Consider, which scenario takes more total fuel: 13 separate cars carrying 4 passengers each, or one bus, carrying 52 passengers?",
"I asked this very question of several people years ago, including a bus dispatcher, a bus driver, a bus manager, a transit official, and an environmental expert. All of them seem to agree on the reasons (more than one):\n\n1) Buses don't go fast enough most of the time for it to matter.\n\n2) Even where they do (intercity motorcoaches, mostly), the need to maximise efficient use of internal space trumps the concerns of aerodynamic styling that would improve airflow and increase fuel efficiency. More specifically, operators stand to gain more from the first concern than they stand to lose from the second one.\n\nIt's possible to design them more aerodynamically, but it doesn't make much sense from a cost/benefit perspective. One problem is that it inherently requires a certain amount of interior space to be 'wasted' that could, if shaped differently, be used for people or storage. Limitations on how long a bus can be before it exceeds legal or practical considerations impose limitations on how much internal space you can have, and by extension how you're going to want to shape it for maximum practical use.\n\nA further consideration is cost. Aerodynamic designs are more costly. If your proposal decreases usable internal space while increasing overall cost, it's not going to be very appealing to most operators.\n",
"The main reason why it isn't a concern is because aerodynamic drag increases exponentially with speed (i.e. very little aerodynamic drag at low speeds and then a rapid increase at higher speeds). At low speeds, you're more worried about rolling resistance and other loses than drag.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nAlso, the boxy shape of buses vs. a highly streamlined shape is beneficial in terms of manufacturing costs, maneuverability, occupancy, and parking.",
"Everyone making arguments that busses dont need aerodynamics because they dont go very fast: neither do cars. Road cars dont exceed the speed limit which is in most places 80-120kmh. Aerodynamics might not be insignificant at those speeds but its certainly not VERY significant. The more important factor for designing cars to look sleek and aerodynamic is looks. When youre trying to sell something to a consumer you make it look nice. When youre trying to sell something to a municipal government you make it utiltarian and efficient. Aerodynamics is only a passing concern. "
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bv6n21 | why are planetary rovers built in clean rooms if they're just going to get covered in dust when they arrive at destination planet? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bv6n21/eli5_why_are_planetary_rovers_built_in_clean/ | {
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"part of the idea is that *we really don't want to introduce foreign bacteria to other planets*.\n\nForeign in this case means our own.\n\nIf we are going to another planet to study bacteria, to learn about the evolution of other planets, it's pretty useless as a science experiment if we bring along our own shit too.\n\nAnd it's...unethical. What if what we bring kill something that actually IS alive on that planet?",
"Because getting dust on the surface of the rover once complete is not as bad as getting it in between the subsequent layers of its fabrication. \n\nIt's similar to making transistors. A layer of dust on top of a complete transistor is unlikely to destroy the device, but a single particle of dust between the semiconducting and oxide layers can cause complete failure of the device."
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1vspbe | how animals (birds, squirels ect) dont freeze to death when its negative degrese outaide. | It's below zero here in Ohio today, how do te geese that are all sleeping in a field not become frozen? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1vspbe/eli5_how_animals_birds_squirels_ect_dont_freeze/ | {
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"their feathers insulate them extremely well. and then they all huddle together. ",
"Most of them have enough protective fur/plumage.\n\nLet's take birds for example. Species that live in cold climates have excellent thermallly protective plumage. And this is why we use things like down comforters and down jackets.\n\nBut their legs aren't protected so they have something to deal with this as well. First, the muscles that work their legs are mostly inside their plumage so the legs are mostly sinews, tendons etc. And second, they have a [heat exchanger](_URL_0_) which cools down the outgoing blood by heating the ingoing (so less heat is lost)."
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3hdury | why does the us have middle/junior high schools? | It's something that has always made me wonder. I don't rember hearing about them existing before about the 1960's from things I have read or from older relatives in the past.
Was it something that was started post World War 2 because of Baby Boomers becoming teens made for overcrowded high schools?
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hdury/eli5_why_does_the_us_have_middlejunior_high/ | {
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"The original idea, at least in the US, was introduced to some schools in Columbus, Ohio in 1906. This is also around the time that going to high school started to become much more common, from 7% in 1890 to 32% in 1920. \n\nMiddle schools becoming their own, separate institution probably had a lot to do with this increase. Think about how we think of college today. In 1940, 50% of Americans had highschool diplomas, up from 9% in 1910, and they started to become essential if you wanted a white collar job, or even a better blue collar one. So then having separate facilities and faculty to better prepare your students for that next step became more important.\n\nEdit: Was supposed to be 1940, not 1950"
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3ydwyc | what the big deal is about the hateful 8 being filmed in "70mm." | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3ydwyc/eli5_what_the_big_deal_is_about_the_hateful_8/ | {
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"Short answer: before digital filming, movies were recorded on physical film. Roles of film come in different sizes, 70mm being one of the biggest used by Hollywood studios. Some \"epic\" movies like Laurence of Arabia have been filmed on 70mm. 70mm allows for more detail than smaller film types.\n\nTarantino, being a cineast, filmed The Hateful 8 on 70mm film instead of using modern digital recording techniques. I think it comes down to a mix of aeathetic reasons as well as the wish to emulate the movies his movies reference on a technical level as well as on a stylistic level. Simply \"faking\" the old look via digital means in post-production does not satisfy him.\n\nYou could (very loosely) compare it to a modern day musician recording an album on ~~vinyl~~ magnetic tape using vintage recording equipment, and release it only on vinyl, \"so it sounds as close to the golden days as possible\".\n\n[Related: A good explaination how a film projector works](_URL_0_)\n\nEdit: a couple of typos, and replaced \"vinyl\" with \"magnetic tape\", because, as /u/PurplePeaker and /u/_STONEFISH have rightly pointed out it is the better comparison",
"Regular 35mm is around 4K equivalent. 70mm is at most 2x wider and 1.2x taller, the Hateful Eight is 2.76:1, putting it at around 8200x3000. 70mm IMAX (Interstellar, The Dark Knight, Star Wars Ep VII (though only 1 scene), etc.) is 3x the size of 70mm (and rotated 90°), putting it at around 11800x8200.",
"Shortest answer: 70mm produces a higher quality, higher resolution image than most any of today's digital cameras. The Hateful Eight will have a screen resolution of about 8k, twice that of 4k. ",
"To make it really simple, you can clearly tell the difference between a 700mb dvd movie and a 4gb blu-ray. Let just say 70mm is equivalent to a 1TB movie.\n\nMore space, more data, more information. Especially if you look at the light setup used in the movie, you could clearly tell the difference.\n\nFun Fact: if this same movie was running on your smartphone or tablet it wouldn't make any difference. It has to do with ppi and how much human eye can resolve from a distance and stuff. "
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2d4aaw | what is the reasoning behind the kosher dietary laws? | I'm aware of many of the kosher laws, but I've never really heard the reasoning behind their existence. Could anyone clarify for me? Some of the laws seems so restrictive and unnecessary, I have to wonder what the purpose is. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2d4aaw/eli5_what_is_the_reasoning_behind_the_kosher/ | {
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"Much of it was for hygienic and health reasons back in the day; found some seafood in the middle of the desert? Yeah probably not a good idea to eat it.",
"If you look at them in terms of not killing your entire tribe when you're wandering in the desert with no refrigeration, then they make a lot of sense. \n\nDon't eat pork or shellfish because not preparing them properly can kill you, and there are times of year when shellfish are toxic.\n\nDon't mix meat and dairy and use separate dishes for each -- basic prevention of cross-contamination.\n\nThe same is true for a lot of the other rules... not mixing fabric in clothing -- desert climate, dry air, easy static, and you do not want to accidentally shock a camel by touching it. A lot of the rules around sex and marriage were designed because there were no paternity tests and they had to be sure that the husband actually was the father of the baby.\n\nBut... you don't want to spend all the time to explain *why* to not do these things to the group of people following you, so you wrap it up in \"God said so\" and leave it at that. Aside from that bit, a lot of those laws actually make a hell of a lot of sense... if you're a nomad in a preindustrial society without refrigeration, antibiotics, reliable birth control, etc. Nowadays, not so much."
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1b18kz | what are the advantages of filming tv shows in front of a live studio audience? | mostly for sitcoms, eg. the big bang theory. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1b18kz/eli5_what_are_the_advantages_of_filming_tv_shows/ | {
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"Do you mean a live audience vs a laugh track or a live audience vs no laughter at all?\n\nWith a live audience the actors know if a joke is really funny or only in the mind of the writer. If a joke really does not land they can change it up a bit. You will also have actual laughter that fits with the joke instead of a standard laugh sound from a laugh track. Though with the big bang theory it almost sounds like a laugh track. It worked a lot better with Seinfield. \n\nHaving laughter in a sitcom also simply helps viewers know when something is supposed to be funny. Something that wouldn't even be funny would appear funny only because of the laughter you hear. An unfunny episode of TBBT can still seem funny because of constant laughter. An unfunny episode of Community will seem terrible because no one's laughing."
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adc2v1 | how are daily contact lenses made? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/adc2v1/eli5_how_are_daily_contact_lenses_made/ | {
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"text": [
"Contact lenses are injection molded like any other plastic product. They are made from a highly detailable PDMS material. "
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f8y5qk | why is it called "outer" space? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/f8y5qk/eli5_why_is_it_called_outer_space/ | {
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"Well from a technical standpoint everything around you is space. So when you want to refer to space outside our planet, it's outer space. That being said, I actually never use outer space, I just say space, because outer space sounds a bit childish, like from a cartoon book."
]
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||
6i6hjp | why is reverse engineering sometimes impossible? | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6i6hjp/eli5_why_is_reverse_engineering_sometimes/ | {
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"Likely because the rockets in question are the precise size that we need, and it's cheaper to use theirs than build our own. Alternatively, we can't build enough of our own rockets to put stuff into space, so we use theirs.\n\nBut this has nothing to do with your question; it's not that reverse engineering is impossible, it's that there's nothing to reverse engineer.",
"The US (more precisely, a US aerospace company) actually has an agreement with Russia where they could manufacture those engines themselves, but the cost to set up the production process would be exorbitant.\n\nAs for reverse engineering, rocket engines rely on a great number of technologies from how to make just the right alloys (What component metals should be used and in what grades? What is the process to combine them?) to how to forge (Sintering? Hot forging? At what temperature?) and join (What kind of weld?) components and so on. Each process often requires large custom machines to perform. It's possible those machines only exist in a single factory in Russia, where they were made back in the 1980s. It's not as easy as it sounds.",
"It's all about cost. This isn't a technology question, it's a cost question. Incremental costs to make more engines on an established manufacturing line is less than the cost to set a competing line."
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4lz1vv | how come mobile devices (smartphones, tablets) are developing faster than larger devices (computers, smart tv, some game consoles)? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4lz1vv/eli5_how_come_mobile_devices_smartphones_tablets/ | {
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"They aren't, really. However, people are willing to pay for bells and whistles on their phone that they don't buy for their PC, and people are more inclined to buy new phones--often once a year, especially if it is part of a contract with a carrier. Hence there is more drive to include special features, update frequently and spend a lot on marketing.\n\nIf you look at price, you can generally get much more out of a desktop PC while paying the same as you would for a smartphone. Some smartphone features seem very special when they are introduced, but they have usually been able for a while to desktop computer users if they had wanted them.",
"Because of the size of the market, and the way most people treat phone contracts\n\never since the earliest mobile phones, the way mobile phone contracts work have masterfully sculpted the market to a point where most people update their phone every 12-24 months.\n\nBut you need to have something else to sell them, which means phone developers (apple, Samsung etc) need to have a new and improved product as often as possible to keep the pressure on everyone to feel the need to upgrade as often as possible.\n\nSmartphone contracts and replacement cycles may be one of the greatest triumphs of modern marketing since someone realised that guys will by anything located near some nice boobs",
"I don't know what you are on about. In your understanding how are phones progressing more than these other things? Did you not see the release of the GTX 1080? I think you just don't keep up with the progression of these \"larger\" things.",
"How do you figure? A new phone has barely different specs than one from multiple generations ago. Just because a new phone comes out every year and adds on a heart rate monitor doesn't mean it has developed. Look at the specs and you see 1.8 ghz vs 1.5 in 3 years, not really impressive.\n\nGame consoles get made and are used for years, so they can't get updated constantly. PCs are advancing all the time, though game consoles have seemed to start holding back development some.\n\nmost smart tv development is software, not hardware. Other than being a little thinner my original Ipad isn't much different than a brand new one. If anything the opposite of your question is true, maybe advertising has really tricked you that well.",
"Easiest explanation....almost every human being uses mobile devices (phone and maybe a type of tablet too). Not every person in the world uses computers (pc or laptop of summer kind). "
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brnd5l | if vesicles can fuse to membranes fairly easily, what’s there to stop a whole bunch of cells fusing together? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/brnd5l/eli5_if_vesicles_can_fuse_to_membranes_fairly/ | {
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"score": [
6,
5,
2
],
"text": [
"Cell membranes are different from vesicles. They contain anti-fusing lipids like Lysolipids. Also, they have phospholipids that are negatively charged and repel each other.\n\nBasically, it is energetically unfavourable for cell membrane fusion to occur and will not happen spontaneously. You need deliberate energy expenditure to merge cells, such as monocytes merging into macrophages.",
"Nothing inherently stops it, and in fact there are types of organisms where that happens. For instance, there are two main categories of slime molds. All slime molds go through phases where they are single cells, and then they come together into a large multicellular Mass, but in some slime molds those cells actually lose their cell walls and become in essence a single huge cell.\n\nThe same thing happens in your own body too. Every one of your muscle fibers is a single cell, but they are multinucleated cells because they originated from hundreds or thousands of different cells that fuse together.\n\nThe reason it does not always happen is because there are a lot of disadvantages to becoming all the same cell as well as advantages. The rule of powers means that as a three-dimensional object like a cell gets larger, it has less surface per unit of volume. Since cells have to exchange all of their gases and nutrients across the membrane, once they get too large they can't effectively do that anymore.",
"It can happen. In medicine the abnormal fusion of two internal organs is called a [fistula](_URL_0_), and they are generally caused by injury or disease. As the body tries to heal something it can somehow accidentally stick internal structures together. My wife is a surgical PA and it's not totally unusual for them to find fistulas in people with a history of surgery or other internal complications."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[],
[
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fistula"
]
]
|
||
4tv8js | why do we as a society look at women who have sex with minors in a less serious way than men who have relationship with minors? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4tv8js/eli5_why_do_we_as_a_society_look_at_women_who/ | {
"a_id": [
"d5kkjmy",
"d5kkrqh"
],
"score": [
5,
4
],
"text": [
"Because of the view that women are the 'weaker' sex often means they're viewed more positively, more easily forgiven, and generally more innocent.\n\nMen are seen as the evil predatory monsters. So are treated harsher/",
"I think it's because men are assumed (even among other men) to always want sex, particularly heterosexual sex. So a 15 year old boy who has sex with his teacher is assumed to be lucky, whereas a 15 year old girl in the same situation is assumed to be a victim. \n\nIt's dumb, but I see that assumption all the time here on reddit."
]
} | []
| []
| [
[],
[]
]
|
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