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53eeaf | how can jupiter protects earth from asteriods and comets when its orbit is 12 years long? is earth vulnerable when jupiter is on the opposite side of the sun? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/53eeaf/eli5_how_can_jupiter_protects_earth_from/ | {
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"Jupiter gets some of the asteroids. The other giants get some more. Finally our moon gets the rest except for the few that hit us. \n\nJupiter is just one stage in our natural asteroid defense system. ",
"Keep in mind that because or orbital trajectories, it is almost statistically impossible for a direct collision path in objects in space. Instead what is far more likely to happen is that gravity will \"bend\" orbits and eventually collide in hundreds/thousands/millions of years. Therefore the objects in the solar system with the largesr gravity compared to the sun are most likely to capture these \"rogue\" items. Jupiter is heaviest (and closest of the giants) so it is believed it captures the most objects that might have collided with inner system planets like earth.\n\n\nThis is not proven to my knowledge, the idea of Jupiter as a protector is debated, as it is equally likely that Jupiter could alter an asteroid into a collission course with earth just as likely as it is to capture it.",
"It has to do with orbital mechanics. Some asteroids orbit the Sun in orbits very similar to Earth's. That means they have a similar speed relative to the Earth, so if they did collide there would be a smaller change in momentum (and thus less damage).\n\nOther asteroids, and nearly all comets, have a very oblong orbit that circles down very close to the Sun at its nearest point and circles way back out into the depths of the solar system. This highly elliptical orbit means that these objects can be moving very rapidly relative to the Earth and a much smaller mass can do much more damage. However, these objects have very long orbits because they go out so far (Halley's Comet has a 75 year orbit, for example). Because they spend a good chunk of time out in the distant side of their orbit (far longer than they spend around Earth's orbit) they're more likely to be deflected by Jupiter's gravity and be sent into some other orbit that doesn't interfere with Earth at all, or even just collide into Jupiter or one of its many moons.\n\nFor all intents and purposes, everything in the solar system is in some orbit around the Sun. The high-speed asteroids that could damage Earth are in very elliptical orbits that Jupiter can affect. And remember above all else: space is huge. Absurdly huge, far beyond the scope of what the human mind can readily comprehend. A large asteroid hitting the Earth is a one-in-a-billion shot, and the only reason it ever happens is because asteroid orbits allow them to keep coming back around until they hit something.",
"I don't think people are going ELI5 enough with this one, so here's the simplified version: \n\nImagine you have a pool table with a bunch of balls glued to it\n\nThen imagine you saw a leg off the pool table, and then drop a bunch of marbles onto it. \n\nIt doesn't matter what leg you saw off, the end result is the same: You shift all the marbles towards a particular direction. \n\nJupiter is the sawed off table leg: It's ***such a massive object*** that even if it's at the other side of the sun, it still shifts every small object in the solar system towards it. "
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e8ncdw | what's the difference between minerals and metals and ores? | My understanding was that metals are just that, elements fron group 1 2 3 of the periodic table. And Minerals are Non-Metals that are solid in the earth. And Ore was a piece of rock containing unrefined metal with minerals surrounding it.
But lately i was confused with what is considered minerals in earth as in if you pick up a rock right now what the hell is that? To me what i understand from research is that different rocks are literally a complex and random combination of many minerals?
Is that true? if not please do correct me | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e8ncdw/eli5_whats_the_difference_between_minerals_and/ | {
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"A metal are just metals on the periodic table; zinc, iron, tin...etc. A mineral is a broad, catch-all term for an inorganic solid with some sort of crystalline structure, so anything from quartz to talc to diamonds to calcite. Ore is another nonspecific term that just means rock that contains some substance, usually a metal or mineral, which is useful and we can extract and use. A pile of rocks containing coal is ore, as is a pile of rocks containing gold or iron.",
"Aha! This is a question of terminology.\n\n\"Mineral\" does not generally refer to elements from groups 1, 2, and 3. It more commonly is used to just refer to any solid thing in nature, and if you get a little more technical, it refers to anything with additionally a specific chemical composition and crystal structure.\n\nFor example, quartz is a mineral. It's silicon dioxide, SiO2, and has a hexagonal crystal structure.\n\nObsidian isn't a mineral though. While it has a relatively consistent chemical composition, it doesn't have a crystalline structure, instead being a glass. Colloquially we might call it a mineral, but the boffins call it a mineral**oid**.\n\n\"Metal\" is also rather complicated. We commonly use it to refer to anything shiny and a good conductor of electricity and heat. Different scientific disciplines have different accepted definitions for what a metal is! And the definitions change as we learn more about them as well.\n\nArsenic, an element that physicists would consider a metal, isn't treated as such by chemists because it generally doesn't behave like one.\n\nAnd hydrogen, an element we don't normally consider a metal, starts to behave like one under immense pressure.\n\nFunnily enough, metals are often considered minerals! Many of them are found in nature, have a consistent chemical composition, and have a crystal structure.\n\n\"Ore\" is, thankfully, quite a bit simpler! It generally just refers to any solid stuff you can dig or scoop up, that contains valuable minerals and/or metals. So we mine iron ore in the form of hematite and magnetite, but also mine for beryl and diamond ores.",
"You mine ores to extract minerals which are generally composed of a mix of one or more metals and non-metals"
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6qxjbo | how electroless plating works | Just as the title describes.
| explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6qxjbo/eli5_how_electroless_plating_works/ | {
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"I assume you know how typical electroplating works as a precursor.\n\nThe very simple explanation is they use a catalyst (reducing agent) in place of an electric current to cause the metal ions to deposit out of solution onto the workpiece.\n\nThis is done as the catalyst modifies the electrochemical properties of the electroplating solution to the point where reduction can occur on the workpiece without the presence of an applied external current. The reducing agent added to the solution acts in place of an anode and is oxidized while the workpiece is reduced and coated with metal ions.\n\nEssentially, it is a catalyst doing what it does best - reduce the energy required for a reaction. In this case, it does so enough to allow the reaction to effectively take place in reverse (albeit there is tricky chemistry involved too).\n\nIf you want it more simplified, id be happy to do a followup. "
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7s8u2w | what makes solar light more different and important than light from other sources? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7s8u2w/eli5what_makes_solar_light_more_different_and/ | {
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"A couple million years worth of evolution to specifically adapt to solar radiation. Nothing else magical besides the fact that we are biologically used to it, and so are all the plants we eat.",
"The sun is essentially a resource that cannot be depleted, unlike coal or gas.\n\nAlso, many scientists have come to the consensus that the use of many nonrenewable resources, such as the aforementioned fossil fuels, cause undesirable side effects like climate change, which is where certain gases reflect infrared radiation, warming the Earth's climate.",
"Sunlight has it's energy spread over a wide range of frequencies. Most light sources we've made don't do the same\n\nIncandescents are cooler so they make warm light with a lot in infrared but very little in the upper frequencies\n\n\"White\" LEDs and fluorescent lamps use phosphors that emit specific colors of light. Those colors are balanced so they appear white but the spectrum is far spikier than the smooth one from sunlight\n\nSunlight is also wayyyy more powerful than most other light sources. A sunny day will be illuminated at over 1000W/m^2. That's a crazy amount of light"
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2fttqv | how accurate is the population count considering tribes and other individuals not necessarily known? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2fttqv/eli5_how_accurate_is_the_population_count/ | {
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"In most cases, large-scale population counts are more concerned with order of magnitude. The first few digits contain the most data, and the latter ones are most certainly off. But it's close enough to use the data. Tribes and uncounted individuals make very little difference in the large picture."
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23ayxi | why do so many people grow hungry if we have vegetables that we can continue to grow forever? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/23ayxi/eli5_why_do_so_many_people_grow_hungry_if_we_have/ | {
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"Because there are limits to how many vegetables can be grown at once given the conditions of the land and technology. Making matters more difficult, technology is not necessarily available in certain places. In places such as Africa, much of the same seed technology used elsewhere cannot be used due to climatic conditions and pests that do not exist on other continents where those crops and technologies were developed. (see the book or documentary film Guns, Germs and Steel for ideas related to temperate climates having better access to food)\n\nTL DR; technology and crops were designed for temperate climates so food is mostly grown there because of harsher climates. "
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6cimaz | the difference between a contract and closing in real estate and why there is a gap between them | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6cimaz/eli5_the_difference_between_a_contract_and/ | {
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"Due diligence, and the fact that things take time.\n\nIf I walked up to buy a house, and said, I'll offer you x dollars in cash, and I want to close today, and move in today.\n\nIt at least in theory could happen. I could write a check, and we could possibly find a title office or lawyer to handle the paperwork. In reality, it wouldn't happen today, but it would happen very very quickly.\n\nIn real life, most people don't have the cash to buy a house. They need a loan. They will make an offer, conditional upon an inspection, and appraisal.\n\nThe inspector comes through, and he will almost certainly find something wrong, even if its minor. Then both sides have to agree on who pays to fix them. Then an appraisal has to be done, as the bank requires it. It takes time to schedule that. He will take a few days to get back with the appraisal. Assuming that is more than the purchase price, the deal can go forward. If it is less, the homeowner would need to put some cash as a downpayment. Banks usually won't lend more than the appraised value of a house.\n\nThen if that is ok, the bank needs to do its due diligence. This takes the longest. They need to gather more information on the buyer, check up on documents, send the loan to underwriting, do a title search, all of which takes time.\n\nAnd of course, the seller often wants there to be a gap. They may still be living in the house. They need time to pack up and move. Even if it could be done next day, they often want 30 days to get out of the house.",
"The contract is an agreement to buy a house at a certain price.\n\nThe closing is where money and titles change hands.\n\nA big reason there is a gap is because most people have to borrow money to buy a house, and use the house as the collateral on the loan. \n\nThe bank isn't just going to say, \"Here $200K, let us know how things work out.\" Things have to be arranged in just the right way, with escrow and title verification and inspections, to make sure the loan and the purchase are made simultaneously.",
"Real estate is expensive. And therefore there's expensive due diligence that's required. Usually there's a mortgage involved, which means the mortgage lender has their own due diligence to perform. But nobody wants to pay for the due diligence unless there's a reasonable chance that you'll actually go through with the deal. \n\nSo what happens is that you begin ny haggling over price, assuming everything is as the seller says. Then you sign a contract with a bunch of contingencies. The buyer will often hire an expert home inspector to make sure the house is up to snuff, and maybe pay to test the air for radon and (if it's private well water) the water for contamination. If it's an old house, they may test for lead paint. All these things take time, and if bad things show up, they need to renegotiate the price. \n\nIn the meantime, the lender is hiring an expert appraiser to make sure the house is worth what they say. They'll also hire a civil engineer for a plot plan; it's not a full survey, but will at least give a rough idea of the property layout and make sure there are no obvious incursions over property lines. They'll also hire a lawyer or expert deed researcher to do a title search, and make sure there are no unexpected liens or other problems with the property. And, of course, they'll do a credit report and possibly confirm the buyer's finances and job situation. \n\nSo you see there's a lot of stuff to do, and it's not worth doing without a contract (except, maybe, for pre-qualification on the mortgage, since the buyers know they're going to buy something eventually). \n\nOnce everything is confirmed, all the changes made and inspected, is when they'll have the closing. At this point the closing agent (either an escrow agent or real estate lawyer, depending on location) actually manages the signing of all the paperwork, the most important of which are the deed, the mortgage note, and in some states, the mortgage lien. It's this session, when all the final paperwork is signed, that's called the closing. "
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tendq | why are emotions/feelings separate from senses (touch, taste, hearing, etc)? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/tendq/why_are_emotionsfeelings_separate_from_senses/ | {
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"Could you expand on this a bit? I'm not really sure what you're asking."
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8yy7vf | what are electrolytes? and where can you get them? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8yy7vf/eli5_what_are_electrolytes_and_where_can_you_get/ | {
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"Electrolytes are a fancy way of saying salt. They are called electrolytes because they help conduct electricity when dissolved in a liquid, but when a drink like Gatorade advertises \"electrolytes,\" that just means it has various kinds of salt in it. ",
"They’re basically just different types of salts that more or less act like charges in a battery. Only instead of a small metal tube, they go into your body. ",
"It's not just about salts. Electrolytes used by the human body are mineral ions that are required not only for the nervous system, but also for vital organ function. A good example is calcium ions: think of ion channels as biological power cables that need to be periodically replenished as the conductive medium is depleted. I have Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, and I take calcium channel blockers for it. The mechanism of this drug involves partially restricting the concentration of ions within the cardiac calcium ion channel, limiting the heart's power supply so it won't beat too fast. In other words, my heart is being purposely starved of electrolytes to keep it functioning properly. \n\n\nThe electrolytes one finds in sports drinks are formulated with the musculoskeletal system in mind: sweating not only robs you of water, but also some of the ionic salts that your muscles require to function. Ever had muscle cramps due to lack of salt? That's sodium/potassium ion deficiency keeping your muscles from functioning properly.",
"An electolyte is a substance that which contains ions capable of moving around.\n\nIons are atoms with a charge, and are thus susceptible to electromagnetism - meaning like charges repel, opposites attract.\n\nA grain of table salt is NOT an electrolyte. While it IS made of ions, those ions are in a locked crystalline structure, and thus are incapable of conducting electricity.\n\nA vat of chemically pure water is also NOT an electrolyte. While its constituent particles MAY move around, they lack the electric charge to conduct electricity. However, this is a simplification as water, even chemically pure water, contains ions. At 22 centigrade, it contains a mole of hydrogen ion/hydroxide ion for every ten million molecules of water.\n\nWhat happens if you throw the two together?\n\nYour grain of salt will have its crystal structure cleft in two by the water molecules. These ions, sodium and chlorine, will move around freely and are susceptible to electricity. \n\nTo avoid going into detail and remain layman friendly, all living beings operate by conducting electricity in their cells for various purposes. We thus need a means for this electric process to occur, and that means is done through electrolytes.\n\nYou acquire them by consuming them. Due to the complexity of the electrochemical system that are our bodies, it's not enough for the electrolyte to be any random composition. Thus, we can't just eat infinite piles of table salt.\n\nEat a diet rich in minerals and your electrolyte balance will be happy."
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59i6jj | why do hot things make the air around them "wavey"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/59i6jj/eli5_why_do_hot_things_make_the_air_around_them/ | {
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"Varying temperature changes the refractive index of air. This means as light passes through different temperature air, the angle at which it is passing changes. Thus, the light passing through that region is coming at altered angles from the surrounding light, and appears distorted.",
"You know when you stick a branch in a stream or lake the stick look bent? This is caused by the refraction. The light crosses materials with different densities (water and air) and this causes the light to refract. \n\nThe \"wavy\" air you see is the same thing. Heat lowers the density of the air but it's not uniform. You get different density air both hot and cold and the light refracts through this and it looks wavy due to convection. "
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11g1px | . how is it possible to blow out a flame with a gust of air when oxygen / air actually boosts fire? | See title. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/11g1px/eli5_how_is_it_possible_to_blow_out_a_flame_with/ | {
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"You can only blow out a small fire and you do so by cooling the reaction below the combustion point and by making the fuel air mixture too lean. When you blow on a larger flame you will boost the fire. "
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538ed8 | what is an ethernet cable and how does it work? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/538ed8/eli5_what_is_an_ethernet_cable_and_how_does_it/ | {
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"Usually when people say \"Ethernet cable\" they mean a kind of *twisted pair* cable, which is used for wired networks. Ethernet is actually the \"language\" that computers use over the cable; it can be used over cables, fiber optics, or wireless.\n\nA twisted pair cable is made of several pairs of wires. Each pair of wires is twisted together very evenly (a certain number of twists per meter). The reason for this is because fast electrical signals can echo from one wire to another, and the even twisting makes it possible to cancel out the echos.\n\nThe cables for wired Ethernet have four pairs of wires. Most wired Ethernet you'll see today is Gigabit Ethernet (GigE), which uses all four pairs. Earlier, slower Ethernet only used two pairs. A computer's GigE port can send eight bits at a time, 125 million times per second — for a total of 1 billion bits (one gigabit) per second."
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51tial | why do people not like being stared at? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/51tial/eli5_why_do_people_not_like_being_stared_at/ | {
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"eye contact among primates is a challenge, either physical or sexual. it may have something to do with the fact that we were prey for much or our evolution, as well. this tends to make people uncomfortable. ",
"TL;DR ELI5 version: You don't like being stared at by people you don't *know* because you *don't know what they want* but can't help but to try to figure out what they *do* want; but there are times (among friends, among people you find sexually attractive) that you *do not* mind being stared at, because the motivations behind why they are staring at you is clear or at least seems to be clear (they are sexually attracted to you, they are interested in what you have to stay, they are glad to see you).\n\n\n\n\nELI-a-relatively-bright-15-year-old: True that evolutionarily speaking it indicates a challenge, true that the predatory gaze something we instinctually fear. \n\n\n\nBut more simply, psychologically we dislike it because it means we are \"the focus\" of someone else. Think about it - there are times when you *want* to be stared at - when telling a story among friends or associates, when giving a presentation (that is important to you, provided you don't suffer from stage fright). There are plenty of times when you *want* people's focus; it feels satisfying that they are staring at you. But this is because in your own mind, you know why they're staring at you. Sometimes, you know why people are staring at you but it makes you uncomfortable - like when you drop your tray in a crowded place. In that case, you *know why* people are staring at you, but it still makes you very uncomfortable, because they're staring at you *because you did something embarrassing and now people are judging you*. \n\n\n\n\nBut when, for example, you're on the subway, and an unkempt man is staring straight at you, this makes you uncomfortable because *you are his focus and you don't know why*. That sense of *not knowing* makes you uncomfortable - your brain cannot come up with many scenarios in which his staring at you is good; *you do not want his attention*, and so you are uncomfortable with him staring at you because there's a psychological pressure both to determine why he is focused on you, and also to *act*, either to run away, if he means you harm, greet him, if he is trying to signal your attention, or attack him, if his attack on you is imminent, but without knowing *why* he is focused on you, your brain can't formulate a proper plan, but neither can it ignore him, because it wants clues so it can determine a plan. \n\n\n\nWhen we are stared at in public, there are both *social* and *biological* underpinnings, and that makes it doubly confusing. We want to remain safe, biologically, but we also don't want to break social norms but standing up and running like a maniac in public. \n\n\n\nSociopaths often will stare because they have trouble understanding why this makes people uncomfortable. When we are trying to determine the motivations of others, we use ourselves as a primary point of reference. If someone is staring at you, you immediately file through reasons *why you would be staring at someone*. Since you are most likely a socially conscious, norm-abiding person, there aren't many good reasons why you'd be staring at someone, or many reasons at all, so this makes you afraid - afraid that the person staring at you *is not fundamentally like you*, and we fear what we do not know because we cannot predict it. \n\n\n\nSexual norms also come into play - if you are a man, and another man is staring at you, you will probably interpret this as agressive or threatening. If a woman is staring at you, especially one you find attractive, you will probably interpret her staring as *seductive*, because inwardly you know that *you are inclined to stare at people who capture your sexual interest*. Some (creepy, granted) so called \"schools of seduction\" teach men to stare at women they are interested in pursuing. For a woman, a man staring at her can be perceived as aggressive, but in the right environment (a club or a place where there is a high expectation of \"hooking up\"), it can also appear bold and confident - the stare can be perceived as a confident signal by the man that he finds the woman attractive and wants to pursue her, and isn't dissuaded by her discovering him staring (as by social norms, men who stare at women they find attractive often try to quickly look away to avoid embarrassment if they are discovered). \n\n\n\n\nAs with most things, staring is about context, context, context; in our culture there are appropriate times and appropriate relationship dynamics for staring at someone, and innapropriate ones. For the most part, it boils down to - *if you have no god damn clue why someone would be staring at you in the first place, its going to make you uncomfortable because your brain believes they want something from you / are planning to do something to you, and because it can't predict what, it will not allow you to relax until it finds out what that something is*"
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e02283 | . how does turning traction control off and stability control in a car actually affect its handling. | I've never driven just curious | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/e02283/eli5_how_does_turning_traction_control_off_and/ | {
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"You've never driven at all or you've never driven with these settings off? If you can find a safe parking lot it'd be cool to explore. Turning these settings off will affect the handling in dynamic situations differently for different vehicles. A simple statement would be that it allows the vehicle to slide more easily. How that slide occurs is what determines the outcome. For example on an empty mountain road it can feel more fluid and smooth at speed to kick your rear out while powering through. Turns become one singular sweeping motion rather than an aggressive stop, adjust, accelerate. However if I'm on a bumpy road sometimes tcs off makes it feel twitchy at speed.",
"The very short, simple explanation: TCS and ESC are both systems that use the onboard computer to either reduce the amount of energy delivered to the axle of the wheels (TCS) or to apply the brakes individually to each wheel to prevent it from slipping (ESC). Either way, the idea is to reduce or compensate for excess energy being transferred from the engine to the wheels, in aid of traction and smoothness of handling.\n\nTurning them off removes this compensation, so there is nothing preventing you from giving too much power to your wheels for your current speed and the traction between the wheels and the surface you're driving on, whether it be overall or on a per-wheel basis. Without this compensation, the wheels could \"break free\" and spin faster than the vehicle is moving, i.e. skidding/sliding.",
"Traction control monitors the driven wheel speeds, and if it detects either of them slipping, it reduces the torque applied to the slipping wheels to allow the tyres to regain traction. This is most useful in situations like pulling out of a junction in wet or slippery conditions. Traction control will allow you to accelerate more quickly than you would if you kept them spinning.\n\n\nStability control is a more complex system looks at all four wheels, the steering wheel angle and has a sensor that measures the yaw of the vehicle (yaw is rotation around the vertical axis). The system calculates the expected yaw rate that should be observed for the current steering angle and vehicle speed. If the yaw rate is too high, the vehicle is overstating (the back end is sliding too far out). If the yaw rate is too low, the vehicle is understeering (the front is not turning into the turn enough). Stability control will make its assessment, and apply braking to the individual wheel necessary to help correct where the vehicle is pointing.\n\nIn normal driving, stability control should never have to do anything. If you do get it wrong, stability control can make the difference between ending up in a ditch and staying on the road. The best policy is to drive as if stability control isn’t there.",
"Traction control is the older technology. All it does is if the car detects a wheel is losing grip and spinning up, (i.e, going significantly faster than any of the others) it restricts engine power to allow that wheel to regain grip. The nature of the mechanical differential is that the wheel that has the least traction gets the most power, which isn't good. As soon as a wheel loses grip, everything will just go to making that wheel spin like a demon. Traction Control basically means you can potentially keep your uncoordinated leaden foot planted to the floor, and the engine will only give out enough go to ensure all wheels grip and no more. More advanced systems will brake the offending wheel as well. \n\nStability control is a fair bit more clever. \n\nIt has a sensor to detect which angle the steering is at, it has a sensor to detect which direction the car is moving in, it has a sensor to detect if the car is turning, and sensors to detect how fast each wheel is spinning. \n\nAll of that works in concert with a system physically much like a traction control system to try and make sure the car goes where you want it to. \n\nIf for example you turn too harshly, and the car starts understeering (continuing to go forward if you want to turn left, for example) the system will detect that the car is moving in a different direction than you'll want it to (based on the steering angle sensor), and will apply braking to the left rear wheel to try and pull the car in that direction. To just give a simple example. It's got way more nuance than basic traction control.\n\nIf you turn all that off, you're doing all that with your right foot. \n\nObviously you haven't got control over the braking of individual wheels with your foot, so you haven't got the same nuanced control as Stability Control system will do particularly to keep control of a car. \n\nBut, on the other hand, you don't have systems like Traction Control hampering the power output if you want to do something a bit more silly. Like, you can't powerslide if you've got an TC or SC system enabled because those systems exist to specifically prevent those situations. \n\nOn the whole, you want to keep them on, they're there to help you. On the other hand, if you're in a situation where you know they'll just get in the way (racing, perhaps, or other niche uses like that) then it's up to you. \n\nBut on the whole, unless you're a top end pro driver, you'll not be able to do a better job than those driver assist features. They can monitor everything and react a lot faster than you can."
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6csgdc | why is our own blood an irritant to our stomach? | Sorry to get a little graphic but I just had a bloody nose and someone advised me to put my head back (bad idea) tl:dr I swallowed a lot of blood and vomiting and diarrhea ensued. My nurse friend said that blood is simply and irritant to our GI tract so I started wondering why? Does it have to do with the PH or.. saltiness? Any reply is appreciated | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6csgdc/eli5_why_is_our_own_blood_an_irritant_to_our/ | {
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"I'm not sure, but white blood cells and antibodies in your plasma might attack the natural flora/bacteria, causing your gastric system to get irritated. ",
"Our digestive system doesn't have enzymes that can digest our own blood. Or in evolutionary perspective, we just don't used to eating our own species so our body didn't *'create'* digestive enzymes for that. \n\nAnother idea to note is that every cell in our body is particular to where it is used, meaning if it doesn't need to be there it does need to be removed.",
"There's also the fact that if you have blood in your stomach, then in most cases you probably didn't just drink it, but you're bleeding internally. In that case it's a good idea for the body to get rid of the blood and other contents of your gastric system.",
"I could see this being a way for your body to tell itself something is up, since your blood shouldn't be in the stomach unless there is a problem. A not so practical natural defense against internal bleeding maybe?"
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46z2r6 | what makes gordon ramsay regarded as one of the best chefs in the world? | Heyo.
Just wondering what makes Gordon or some other chef regarded as as elite. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/46z2r6/eli5_what_makes_gordon_ramsay_regarded_as_one_of/ | {
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"His restaurants have won 16 Michelin stars. This is like an actor winning 16 Oscars. It means that experts in his field consider his work among the best. There are only two chefs whose restaurants have earned more than 16.",
"He trained under Marco Pierre White, one of the greatest modern chefs. And as others have said he has numerous michelins. "
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7zidgh | the connection between humans, neanderthals, and any other similar species. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7zidgh/eli5_the_connection_between_humans_neanderthals/ | {
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"If you want a book that ELI5s this topic in a very clear way, strongly recommend Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.",
"Current thinking is that Neanderthals were humans. Either they were the same species of humans as us and just a different subspecies or they were a very closely related species.\n\nIt is difficult to define that sort of thing exactly because populations interbred with each other after first diverging. It all gets mixed up. There is a lot of Neanderthal ancestry in current humans.\n\nThe ELI5 version might be that they were a different branch of humanity that died out, but that while 'our' branch and theirs existed in the same time and place there was a bit of intertwining going on.",
"OK, so here's a quick rundown of how this works.\n\nFirst, definitions\n\nHominoids are greater apes and lesser apes. These are basically gorillas, humans, bonobos, gibbons, siamangs, orangutans, and and chimpanzees\n\nHominids are just the greater apes. These are everything I just listed except for gibbons and siamangs.\n\nHominins are living humans and extinct ancestors. These are probably what you're asking about. The core distinguishing feature of a hominin from non-hominins are that hominins are bipedal; they walk on two legs\n\nThe first maybe bipedal species was Sahelanthropus tchandensis. This species eventually gave rise to Orrorin tugenensis. I'm not going to talk much about these guys, since it's still under debate whether or not they were truly bipedal.\n\nOrrorin tugenensis gave rise to Ardipithecus ramidus, which was the first undisputed biped. Ardipithecus ramidus was definitely bipedal, but it had a really small brain (about the size of a chimpanzees, ours are about 3-4 times larger). They also had a grasping big toe, suggesting that they were arboreal (lived in trees)\n\nArdipithecus ramidus eventually became Australopithecus afarensis, which eventually spread to become four separate genus. Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus anamensis are called \"Gracile\". They were thinner, had smaller jaws, and were probably closer to humans. Australopithecus boisei and Australopithecus boisei were \"robust\", and they had large jaws and were bigger and broader. Lucy, a really famous fossil, was a Australopithecus afarensis. It is thought that Australopithecus afarensis eventually gave rise to the genus Homo.\n\nIt's important to quickly note here that Australopithecines are basically upright walking apes. They had chimp sized brains, were partly arboreal, and were not very smart. This however, all changed when Homo came into existence. The Homo genus showed a tripling of brain size in just 2 million years, and had a general shrinking of the face and jaws. The general trend of the Homo genus is that as one species gave rise to another, a increase in brain size happened.\n\nThe first Homo species was likely Homo habilus. These guys came around 2 million years ago, and are the earliest known example of the Homo genus. They were slightly bigger than the australopithecines that preceded them, and they were the first species to use stone tools. Their technology, called Oldowan technology, is very primitive; it basically amounts to chipping flakes off of rocks, and they were probably used to scrape meat off of animal bones. Homo habilus is also the first species on the list who began having meat be a significant part of their diet. They eventually gave rise to Homo erector.\n\nHomo erector had bigger brains than Homo habilus, and they were really tall-- taller than modern humans in fact. Again, they show a decrease in the size of the jaws and teeth; they had the low brow ridge that you think of when you think about a typical \"caveman\". Most importantly, their tools-- Acheulean technology-- were considerably more advanced. While Oldowan technology were little more than stone flakes, Acheulean technology was well designed hand axes and stone tools Homo erector were clearly smarter than Homo habilus.\n\nHomo erector were also the first Homo species to migrate out of Africa to Europe and Asia. However, those that left Africa all went extinct, but those that remained in Africa gave rise to Homo heidelbergensis. \n\nHomo heidelbergensis also migrated out of Africa, to Europe and Asia. Those who migrated to Europe eventually became Neanderthals, and those that migrated to Asia became Denisovans, a subspecies of Homo sapien. However, those that remained in Africa gave rise to Homo sapiens, who eventually took over the world.\n\n",
"In addition to /u/ohitspreston ‘s answer: so archaic *Homo sapiens* migrates out of Africa starting around 90,000 years ago. They ended up in Europe where they encountered Neanderthals and Denisovans. While they were from an earlier migration and quite different from *H. sapiens*, they interbred. They were not the same species, but close enough to allow *some* interbreeding. It’s thought that human males and female Neanderthals could have offspring together, but human females and male Neanderthals could _URL_0_ a result of this interbreeding, a small percentage of human DNA comes from Neanderthals and Denisovans — depending on the person, perhaps 2-4% Neanderthal DNA. Not sure yet how much Denisovan DNA—more study needed. They used to think all humans except sub-Saharan Africans had this DNA. But further study is finding some Neanderthal DNA in sub-Saharan Africans, indicating that some human populations migrated to Europe and Asia and then migrated back to Africa.\nBut probably less Neanderthal and Denisovam DNA in sin-Saharan Africans."
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1y2wq9 | how does a 1099-g work? | Someone told me yesterday that they received a 1099-G, meaning it's this new thing where the government can tax our tax return. How is this even legal? I'm assuming I don't have the details correct. So could someone explain like I'm 5, how does a 1099-G work?? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1y2wq9/eli5_how_does_a_1099g_work/ | {
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"A 1099 is a form that a company sends you (and a copy to the IRS) reporting money they paid you during the year. For instance your bank sends a 1099 for any interest they paid you on a savings account. A 1099G is just a version of that form that you receive from a government agency. If you receive state unemployment benefits the state will send you a 1099G so you can report the earnings on your tax return."
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btoinu | how does rain make sand dunes fall down when just a bit of water makes sand harder? | explainlikeimfive | /r/explainlikeimfive/comments/btoinu/eli5_how_does_rain_make_sand_dunes_fall_down_when/ | {
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"The sand on the outside of the dune gets heavy with water, then the dry crumbly sand in the middle can't support the weight so it falls down"
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45gusf | why does the wrapping of a candybar stick to skin after you open it? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/45gusf/eli5_why_does_the_wrapping_of_a_candybar_stick_to/ | {
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"Ripping the glued sections of a candy wrapper apart has an effect similar to shuffling across carpet in wool socks. It rips electrons off the surface, creating an unbalanced charge. This static charge makes the wrapper want to cling to things with more electrons, like yourself."
]
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1xhsv2 | what happens if i donate one of my kidney's and my other kidney fails. | Would you die fast? Secondly if you have two kidney's but only need one how come people need a transplant, wouldn't they have another kidney? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xhsv2/what_happens_if_i_donate_one_of_my_kidneys_and_my/ | {
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"Whatever killed one of your kidneys likely killed both of your kidneys.\n\nYou would die just as fast or slowly as someone else who's kidneys failed -- again, dependent on what's killing them.",
"You won't die any faster than anyone else who needs a kidney. You would need to go on dialysis and be placed on a transplant list.",
"Renal failure (failure of the kidneys) can kill you, but you should be able to get to a hospital in time to live. The kidney's don't just \"shut down\" out of the blue, you'll be peeing blood and have other issues well before total failure. \n\nAs to your second question, if one of your kidneys is failing its probably being killed by something that will kill the other kidney too."
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572of2 | how does earth's magnetic field modulates cosmic ray? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/572of2/eli5how_does_earths_magnetic_field_modulates/ | {
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"High-energy cosmic rays are charged particles so their path is bent by magnetic fields. Since the earth's magnetic field is so large and relatively strong it deflects many particles away so that they don't reach the surface."
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fre13j | with the increasing usage rate of ear/headphones among younger generation nowadays, how badly would it impact to hearing loss compared to current older generation? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fre13j/eli5_with_the_increasing_usage_rate_of/ | {
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"I am one year away from graduating with a doctorate in audiology. Any studies looking at hearing loss from iPods, walkmans, etc haven’t found a clinically significant increase in hearing loss. But that’s not to say that the people who listen to their music loud enough for long enough won’t experience hearing loss. In fact, there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that hearing loss from “old age” is just 60+ years of noise exposure.",
"TLDR: Both generations will suffer hearing loss, but for different reasons.\n\nShamelessly Googling some statistics here:\n\nThe average volume for portable devices is 94 decibels.\n\nNoise above 70 dB over a prolonged period of time may start to damage your hearing. Loud noise above 120 dB can cause immediate harm to your ears.\n\nComparatively a rock concert is between 120-130 dB\n\nDriving a motorcycle is around 95-100 dB\n\nWhile industrial noise and tools is anywhere from 100 to 130 dB.\n\nProlonged use of high volume from headphones will cause hearing damage, but to be fair kids have been using Walkways and CD players for decades, so I don't really see a significant increase in overall damage. Just the source is different.\n\nOur parents generation meanwhile started working in industry at a time wearing PPE use was not nearly as wide spread as it is now. A lot of the hearing damage our parents suffered from was from unsafe work conditions and many of the same things that kids today are exposed too. Loud vehicles, tools, concerts, etc."
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4srh8j | how does google maps 3d view display what's under bridges? | Example: _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4srh8j/eli5_how_does_google_maps_3d_view_display_whats/ | {
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"They combine multiple pictures from multiple locations of the satellite. To try this out, go find a table and position yourself right next to it, and look directly down. You can see a bit under the table, right? Take a step away, and tilt your head a bit. You can see a bit more under there. Continue doing this around the table and you are pretty sure what's under the table without ever going under it."
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1seppx | why people still maintain that obama is a muslim, terrorist, not born in america, etc. | Regardless of how you feel about Obama, you have to admit that there are some really charged things being thrown away that (to me) seem to have no basis in fact.
Does this boil down to fear-mongering or misinformation? Or is there any small kernel of truth that has just been blown out of proportion? And in either case, why do these still persist to the point that they have become somewhat commonplace things to say about our President? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1seppx/eli5_why_people_still_maintain_that_obama_is_a/ | {
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"Since Obama started out people have just thrown random shot at him to see what would stick, and then constantly pressed the things that have, if you Google \"Obama conspiracies\" I'm sure you'll get hundreds of other stupid ones that people take seriously. I have a bigger problem with so many American's caring whether or not he's Muslim, why does it matter?",
"There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there. This one is pretty creative.\n\n_URL_0_",
"They're idiots. \n\nIt's the same as any conspiracy theory, though: people will believe what they want to believe and no amount of evidence, no matter how ironclad, will convince them otherwise. There are people who seriously believe that NASA faked the moon landings, that the WTC was brought down in a controlled demolition, and that the earth is flat. ",
"I think it's just everyone's increasing boldness in making political claims nowadays. Saying something and risking sounding absurd is no longer risking social isolation the way it once was.\n\nOr maybe not. :/",
"I think that has to do with the sole fact that he is black (although only half) and the only people who maintain this absurd view, are racist. Hussein is also a common Arab name which those people most likely associate with Islamic extremists (terrorists). They are doing anything they can to discredit him. In short, people are still racist assholes.",
"bigotry + cognitive dissonance have allowed for absurd views to flourish within American society. Today, more than every, people with closed minded views can insulate their knowledge (or lack there of) with little to no effort. Just flip on an overly biased news cast and soak in your ignorance. ",
"The very idea of a black President is intolerable to them so any excuse to discredit him is grasped at.",
"Some of them are big fat racists. There's the assumption that because he has roots in Kenya he must be a Muslim, and who would want to have one of *those people* running this country?\n\nOthers really just don't like him politically and want to find a way to get rid of him or, at the very least, delegitimize him. They say he's not an American because he has roots in Kenya - but their primary motivator is politics, not race.",
"Former Obama voter voter here. There's no evidence the president was born outside the US but he is so out of touch with his people that the rumors stick.\n\nIf he is a muslim I'm not sure why he'd need to hide it, most of the people who wouldn't vote for a muslim weren't going to vote for Obama anyway.",
"So you mean those articles/YouTube videos stating he is the test tube baby of satan and is the antichrist are not true?\n\nMind=blown.",
"It's because they want to believe it. The dislike him so much, they don't care how far-fetched the statement is and don't care to fact to check.",
"Because they haven't been convinced otherwise. Religion is a personal matter. If they think he is lying, nothing can convince them. Terrorist is an accusation. Not born in america, the controversy over that was handled dubiously at best, and a lot of crazy people rolled with it. If they weren't convinced then, then it simply never shifted over time."
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1eplo9 | how does serial key activation in pc video games and key generators that easily counter this mechanism work? | Every Video game I have ever played on the PC asks for Serial Key Provided with the product.
I know this mechanism is used for the prevention of piracy, but I'm curious HOW they work?
- Like How does the Software know the entered serial key is correct?
- Why do any Serial Key you find on the internet work with software?
- Does the software consist of a library of all the Serial keys that were released and cross checks it in real time with the serial key entered by the user?
- How pirates easily create Key generators which always produce a random but correct Serial Key?
I hope the question is detailed enough. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1eplo9/eli5_how_does_serial_key_activation_in_pc_video/ | {
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"I can't answer for ALL serial keys, but most are based on an algorithm. It could be as simple as \"all numbers must add up to 42, where each letter resembles it's numerical counterpart\". \n\nI've seen a lot of keygens that are just programs with 5 or 6 serial keys programmed in. You'll see them all cycle. The rest are perhaps legitimate generators that know the algorithm.",
"Crackers step through the program itself to see how it checks the serial number. \nThen they copy that code into another program that spits out numbers instead of rejecting those that don't."
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21slde | what would happen if you were to jump into an inground pool of jello? | Thanks for any and all info :) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/21slde/eli5_what_would_happen_if_you_were_to_jump_into/ | {
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"A belly flop would hurt, and you'd probably not break through.\n\nA dive would probably put well into it, and it would be a lot of work to get out, since you're not naturally buoyant in jello.",
"I saw a tv show once, where they made a giant winegum in a pool, and it was like a waterbed in texture, and they could hop on top of it and not fall through. ",
"You would be very sticky",
"Depends on the jump height.\n\nWith a high enough fall, the jello will probably shear because it is not elastic enough to absorb all the forces. This is similar to pressing down on jello with the back of the spoon until it cleaves into parts.\n\nIn this case, depending on how you fall and distribute your pressure (belly flop? head/feet first?) you might just cleave through the jello and hit the bottom of the pool hard.",
"If they somehow manage to save you, I am assuming you will be seriously diabetic.",
"Pretty much this,\n_URL_0_",
"If you did submerge yourself in a pool of jello, would you be able to swim? ",
"you'd probably die. unless you did something silly like a belly flop, you would punch through the jello and be stuck. you wouldn't float because it's basically a solid, and you couldn't exert enough force to lift or move yourself because the jello would break.",
"I'll let you know when I get back"
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o3e7d | how this fucking wizardry works (link in text) | This: _URL_0_ | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/o3e7d/eli5_how_this_fucking_wizardry_works_link_in_text/ | {
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"I don't pretend to know any of this as a fact, buuuuuuuuut...\n\nIt works in a similar fashion to how your mind works. Think of an entity. Let's say \"Felix the Cat\". You then have a list of all of the possible items (we'll explain this later):\n\n* The Reddit Logo Guy\n* Peter Griffin\n* The Michelin Man\n* Felix the Cat\n* Barbara Streisand\n\nIn reality the list would be MUCH longer, but the same concepts apply to a small list. Let's walk through what Akinator does:\n\n**Is your character real? No**\n\nYou remove Barbara Streisand.\n\n**Is your character an animal? Yes**\n\nYou remove The Reddit Logo Guy, Peter Griffin, The Michelin Man.\n\nIf that was your list you'd have won in two questions. It's all process of elimination. The real magic of Akinator is two things:\n\n* How HUGE the list is\n* The answers are given to Akinator\n\nIf you've ever stumped Akinator he'll ask you what you were thinking of. You'll say (some abstract character name). It stores the character in a database with all your answers and it's added to the item pool. It'll ask questions to the next person and if your answers are common with theirs they'll eventually reach the item you submitted.",
"Very basically, it's like this:\n\nIt has a huge database of people stored, and it knows stuff about them. For example, it has an entry for, say, Michael Jackson, and it knows he's male, he's a real person, he's dead, he lived in the 20th century, he is American, and many other things. \n\nWhen a game starts, it has a full list all people it knows. Then as you answer questions it crosses people off the list. If it's male, there goes half the list. If it's a fictional character, that's a whole set of other characters eliminated. Eventually only very few remain.\n\nOf course it's more complicated than that for the cases where people don't know or lie. But the concept is simple really. A computer is much better than humans at this because it can easily keep track of ALL questions asked and compare to EVERYONE it knows. If I asked you to produce a list of all celebrities or fictional characters you ever heard of, ever, it would take you years and you'd still forget a few.",
"It's something called a [Decision Tree](_URL_0_). The ELI5 version is this: at each step, you ask a question that rules out the most options from your giant list of characters. Because of MATHS! (ELI20: specifically the fact that binary trees grow exponentially by depth), you can ask seemingly very few questions but narrow down a huge number of choices to just one.",
"I'll show you with numbers. Lets say I tell you to guess a number between 1 and 1 million. I can guess your number by asking only a few questions. \n\nLets say you secretly guess 635,883\n\nIs it more than 500,000? < yes > \nis it more than 750,000? < no > \n\nAt this point, I have narrowed your number from 1 million possibilities to only 250,000. With two guesses, I quartered the range of possibilities. \n\nis it more than 600,000? < yes > \nIs it less than 700,000? < yes > \n\nSo now I am down to a range of 100,000 or 10% of the original range. \n\nIs it more than 650,000? < no > \nIs it more than 625,000? < yes > \n\nI must be getting close...\n\nIs it more than 640,000? < no > \nIs it more than 630,000 > < yes > \n\nYou can probably figure out that I am going to guess it pretty soon. \n\nIn fact, I can even take risks and make it go faster. For instance, I could have asked \"Is it more than 750,000 the first time, then asked 600,000. There is a chance I would be way off, but if I wasnt, I have taken a short cut. If I was wrong, I could regain my advantage with an opposite extreme question. \n\nSo the akinator site does that. By asking extreme questions, it can leap frog other possibilities. One example, It asked me if my character ever really existed, (I said no) and it later asked if it appeared in a cartoon (I said yes). If I had said yes to the first question, it might not have asked the cartoon one(also based on other factors).\n\nThis idea is actually used for interviewing people while solving crimes."
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1797rt | why some people sleep better with the tv on, music, talk radio, etc. | Since I was 7 or 8, I've been sleeping with some form of background noise.
In the last few years I've learned that if I need a nap, the best thing to do is turn on loud dubstep or songs like A Perfect Circle's Judith (_URL_0_) I mean very loud. Dubstep turned up to window shaking loud puts me to sleep faster than anything. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1797rt/eli5_why_some_people_sleep_better_with_the_tv_on/ | {
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"because there is a loud noise all the time, you can't hear any other noises. Because you can't hear other outside noises your brain will just ignore the loud noise, since it is there all the time, and can't be the sound of a predator or anything... \n",
"When I was younger, my own thoughts haunted me and kept me awake. Background noise helped me focus on those noises instead of my own fucked up thoughts "
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3dmrt5 | are all gems hoarded by companies like diamonds, or are there some which are genuinely valuable and rare? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3dmrt5/eli5_are_all_gems_hoarded_by_companies_like/ | {
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"Jadeite, red diamond, blue garnets - there are some gemstones so rare that you can count the number that exist on one hand. These are super expensive and definitely not stockpiled.\n\nBut as a general rule, unless you're super rich, if you or anyone you know has ever owned a thing, that thing is incredibly common.",
"Good Russian alexandrite, looks ruby-red or emerald-green in natural and artificial light (can't remember which color in which light). Upwards of 10k/carat for the good stuff that is clear with bright color and sharp color change. Very limited quantities because the Russian source is tapped out and the rest of the stuff on the market is just color-changing chrysoberyl of different lighter shades of yellow/purple/brown, etc. The ruby red/emerald green stuff is the shit.\n\nThat being said, any stones being hoarded are by collectors who are like dragons who refuse to give up any gold. True rarities are curiosities among those \"in the know\" who actually understand why these things are rare.\n\nWe all know about how diamonds are valuable only in the marketing and forced scarcity (which is weird because every meth head crack whore in my town has a diamond ring to sell), but anything else is either rare enough that very few people know what it is, or common enough that most people have heard of it.",
"Here ya go:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nFun \"rare diamond\" fact: when de Beers first moved into the Transvaal, the way they \"mined\" diamonds was to have a bunch of guys with tin cans tied around their necks crawl on their hands and knees and *literally* pick the diamonds up off the ground and drop them in the can. \n\nThe sound was described as being like \"a constant hailstorm on a tin roof.\"\n",
"Emeralds, Sapphire and Ruby are actually rarer than diamonds. Ironically that is a reason they are cheaper. There are not enough of those stones to properly market them by a strong company. You can't spend millions on a marketing campaign if you only have few products to sell. Think DeBeers and their huge marketing campaign stating diamonds should be the wedding stone (there used to not have a specific stone. Lady Di was given a sapphire ring). There is one company, Gemfields, which is aiming to become the De Beers of gemstones. Owned by mining investment group Palinghurst, they bought Fabergé the French jewellery house. They own several mines and are streamlining an otherwise hectic supply chain that is divided between mining, cutting and mounting of the stones which allows them better control. They started a marketing campaign with Mila Kunis as spokesperson. Nowadays diamond demand has greatly dropped and the last De Beers rough diamond auction went really bad for them. \nI personally prefer the other gemstones to diamonds because they offer more variety and are less \"bigger is better\".\n "
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6ser9l | what is the major contributor to us not using green or renewable energy more? | Sorry if this has already been asked, but basically I want to know what the MAJOR reason is behind not using renewable energy on a larger scale. Is it money? Politics? Or are we just not technologically capable yet? Everyone always blames politics when I ask, but these people are not exactly experts in the field. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6ser9l/eli5_what_is_the_major_contributor_to_us_not/ | {
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"Money, which ties into politics. Either consumers need to pay more for the same function they currently have, or the government needs to subsidize things to keep costs comparable, which means they either need to tax people more or cut spending elsewhere.\n\nAs costs continue to drop, acceptance will continue to increase.",
"1. Money is obviously the biggest concern. If you had enough money (trillions of dollars) you could solve most of the problems with renewable energy.\n2. Followup to #1, most renewable energy sources cost more per unit of energy than traditional sources.\n3. Energy storage. Fossil fuels have a really high energy density and so a small amount of fuel can generate a lot of energy. Green energy has the problem of what to do with the energy after you've generated it if you aren't going to use it right away. Possible solutions include storage in lithium batteries or hydrogen but that leads us into the next problem...\n4. Infrastructure. There is a gas station every few miles that you can use to fill up your tank but there aren't yet many places to get a fillup of hydrogen or a replacement battery for your car.",
"COST. Given your choices, the answer is always money.\n\nYes, this is ask often, and Search can get you more detailed answers.\n\nPeople blame politics because they want politicians to add a TAX on non-renewable energy that would make renewable energy CHEAPER. Alas, that's not good tax policy because it hurts people for whom energy cost is a major budget item (== poor people).\n\nIf renewable energy was cheaper, everybody would have switched to it. As long as releasing carbon into the air is free, climate change is an externality that won't get much spent on it. A carbon tax could fix that, but it's not going to happen (see previous paragraph).",
"Thanks for the quick response guys, lol never been more depressed to learn something. Guess, it always comes down to money, huh? But the reasoning behind it was very informative. You guys are awesome",
"Fossil fuels are still, overall, the cheapest source of power. Since most people use cost as the primary motivator in many of their purchasing choices, the cheaper fossil fuels win out. \n\nIf we implemented a carbon tax to increase the price of fossil fuels to match and exceed the price of renewables, you'd likely see a shift to renewables.",
"1. It costs more\n2. It's less reliable/won't work in all areas\n3. Storage is hard\n4. Power delivery at high efficiency is hard",
"While many argue that cost is the main reason. This is actually not necessarily true. \n\nHere (Denmark) we burn all the trash that we are unable to recycle, in huge furnaces. With filters on the exhaust to catch most of the particles. This is instead of having big dumps.\n\nMost of this is actually environmentally \"neutral\" as it is material that was recently harvested and not yet fossilized.\n\nThe heat is then distributed via big underground pipelines to all the buildings in an area. And all the consumers pay for the heat according to a consumption measurement.\n\nAs trash is something that people tend to pay to get disposed, it is a much cheaper fuel than oil or coal as the heating plants are paid to dispose the material. \n\nSimilarly windmills have now gotten so cheap to manufacture, that they can compete with fossils, if the cost is compared over the entire lifespan of the Mills. . Same goes for sun power.\n\nInitial costs are much cheaper with fossils though. .\n",
"Renewables produce very little electricity compared to traditional power sources (Except geothermal but that needs very specific conditions) for the same area/cost etc etc ",
"Money. It's always money. Besides pollutant-free nuclear energy, which for some reason is vehemently fought, there are no large-scale renewable energy projects that make sense at this time. Solar, wind, and hydro-generation companies are almost all in business due to tax breaks and other subsidies, and most still struggle to ever turn a profit.\n\n[Here's a zerohedge article on how corporate subsidies impact Tesla's profit margins, for example.](_URL_0_) As you can see, companies like Tesla rely on corporate subsidies to be profitable.\n\nSolar and wind are way more inefficient. Solar companies make almost all their money through the installation of solar paneling, and wind companies are pretty much all losing money. It's a horrible way to burn through money without getting much in return. So you're not wrong in saying we're not technologically capable yet. There's definitely not a political factor, as almost all the world's governments strongly encourage and subsidize the behavior.\n\nThere's also the issue storage is difficult, (Tesla Powerwall for example was used to combat this and it's still terribly inefficient), and reliability issues. (Wind comes and goes, if you're lucky it'll be sunny for 12 hours of the day. Pretty useless if you can't find a good way to store the energy for intermittent usage throughout the day, and especially at night which is when 90% of us turn on our lights.",
"Logistics\n\nThere is only so fast you can practically manufacture, permit, transport, install, and hook up windmills and solar panels.\n\nYou can't replace 90 years of existing infrastructure in a weekend, or even a decade.\n\nWe have more now than we had a week ago, and will have more next week than we do now. The only thing we have to do to have renewable energy at a larger scale is keep doing what we are doing.",
"It should change shortly. Right now, we're almost exactly at the dividing line of solar energy using panels being cheaper than conventional energy systems. It really is only in the last year or two that this has become the case. Before now it could always be shown that other systems were ultimately cheaper energy. The next few years should see much more expansion of solar.\n\nWe'll still need some conventional system, though, just for nights and cloudy days. "
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bfdudq | if someone with the flu touches something (doorknob), how long does that item stay contagious? also why is there a flu "season"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bfdudq/eli5_if_someone_with_the_flu_touches_something/ | {
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"The flu virus has a \"jacket\" that is made of protein. When it's cold, the jacket keeps the disease inside safe. When it's warm the \"jacket\" melts, and the virus \"dies\" . The season is linked to the temperature which changes throughout the seasons. It's too warm during the late spring, early fall, and all of summer for people to get sick from the flu.\n\n & #x200B;\n\n(Viruses aren't alive and therefore can't die, but when the jacket is gone they can't infect anyone.)"
]
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||
2b4j6g | the laws governing authors publishing under a pseudonym. | So JK Rowling is continuing to publish books under the name 'Robert Galbraith'.
What happens if a genuine Robert Galbraith steps in to the writing scene, will she have to stop?
What damages would I face if I decided to publish a book under the pseudonym 'J K Rowling'? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2b4j6g/eli5_the_laws_governing_authors_publishing_under/ | {
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"Basically when you are filling out the copyright registration you have the choice to put it under your own name or a pen name. When you use your real name you are protected for your life plus 75 years. where as when you use a pen name its 95 years from the publication of the work, or 120 years from the creation of the work, whichever period expires first. You cannot prevent people from using your pen name though. "
]
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29vd5u | the pleasure from getting your penis destroyed. | I just watched parts of **SERIOUSLY NSFL** [^this](_URL_0_) **SERIOUSLY NSFL** and I just can't wrap my mind around this.
**HOVER YOUR MOUSE ON THE LINK BEFORE CLICKING IT TO SEE THE URL**
##*In this clip a woman steps over and hits a man's penis and balls with her heels for around 8 minutes while he's screaming in pain. There's a bit of blood that can be seen from the 2-minute mark because of all the trampling.*##
ELI5: How does one get pleasure from getting his penis dysfunctional and his balls destroyed by means of disgusting torture? WHAT does this pleasure feel like? ^^^^(If ^^^that's ^^^answerable) And most importantly: WHAT IS THIS PLEASURE? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/29vd5u/eli5_the_pleasure_from_getting_your_penis/ | {
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"Best guess, fetish brought on by being wired differently than \"normal\" people. Some people get off on pain. For them pain feels good. There are conditions where people scream in pain if you barely graze their skin but it feels fine if you man handle them. Others, well, why do some people like to have their asses licked and other people think it's fucking gross? People are strange man, beautiful, but fucking strange. ",
"Why the fuck did I click on that?"
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24lgv0 | how do hip-hop artists obtain the instrumentals of other artist's music to do their own remixes? and how do they not get sued for that? | I'm always wondered about this. For example, a lot of other rappers took Beyoncé's Drunk In Love beat and made their own version of it. But does that mean Beyoncé had to give those other artists the rights to use the music? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/24lgv0/eli5_how_do_hiphop_artists_obtain_the/ | {
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"Because many masters are owned by the label and not the band. And since the origional song and the new artist are under the same label, the rapper may say \"Hey I like the country songs beat\" and ask for the rights to use it and it is up to the label. Sometimes a singer or group does have the right to say yes or not. "
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5wmx2m | what does the saying that "nothing ever gets deleted on the internet" mean? | If so, this could actually be a good thing because I made some Piczo sites with photos a long time ago and I'm hoping to retrieve them. Are the photos really lost? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5wmx2m/eli5_what_does_the_saying_that_nothing_ever_gets/ | {
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"Simply put, the saying doesn't mean that everything is kept forever online. What it means is if you post to a forum, post on Instagram, twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc etc etc you'll more than likely forget about it, then one day when you're not drunk, high or have matured you'll go for a respectable job or your new girlfriends parents will google you and find out things that may be long forgotten."
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4k9icl | how is corrosive acid stored? how does it not just eat through the container? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4k9icl/eli5_how_is_corrosive_acid_stored_how_does_it_not/ | {
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"Plastics can be specially formulated to be non reactive with acids, as well as glass containers. With these, you can make storage containers that will \"resist\" the acid, allowing it to be safely stored.",
"corrosive acid isn't one term that means it'll eat/burn through anything. \n\nthere are mainly two types. ones that are corrosive to metals and ones that are corrosive to organic materials. sometimes a particular acid will overlap in metals/organic materials.\n\nso you just use the container that the acid is not corrosive to. ",
"Materials Engineer here, there are hundreds of different acids which come under the umbrella of 'corrosive', but just because something is corrosive doesn't mean it reacts with everything.\n\n Most acids are stored in High Density Polyethylene ([HDPE](_URL_0_)) containers, which is generally a very unreactive material. This is broadly the same as is used for buckets, medical tubing, piping, milk bottles and stuff like that. \n\n 'Acidity' means that there are positive hydrogen ions floating around. The more you have, the stronger the acid. These positive charges will like to attack negative charges on the molecules making up the container. HDPE is a non-polar solid, meaning that it doesn't have any obvious charges on the polymer chain. This means that the acid can't attack it."
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604flu | in videos where the animals go nuts when a family member who was away for a long time comes back; can they actually remember that person? i always thought that they had a very short memory span. | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/604flu/eli5_in_videos_where_the_animals_go_nuts_when_a/ | {
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"Many animals have incredible memories. In fact even goldfish, who were thought to have 3 second memories, have been found to have memories lasting over 3 months and are even able to be trained. Most pet animals have memories extending several years, and may even have facial recognition in some cases (cats maybe, also horses, unsure of dogs)\n\nI know that's a pretty short answer, but really that's all you need.\n\n",
"Dogs are 'imprintable' and are evolved to trust and love humans. The reaction depends as well as the owner-animal relationship. A loving one will be met with excitement because the dog knows his resource-giver/protector has returned.",
"Yes, a lot of animals have very long memories and can recognize other animals and people. Their memories will include visuals, sounds, smells, and feelings.\n\nIt depends from animal to animal, but they wouldn't be able to recognize and remember their young, or what behavior to have vs. other animals (which animals are predators and which are not), without very good memory and recognition.\n\n"
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3kgccw | hashing a password. | I always hear this term and I am fairly tech savvy but have no clue what this means, what its used for, or why I need it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3kgccw/eli5_hashing_a_password/ | {
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"A \"hash\" function is a function that turns something into a number. They're used lots of ways, but with regards to passwords in particular, the best practice is to store a hash instead of storing the password itself. \n\nThe thing about hash functions used for passwords (\"cryptographic hash functions) is that they are one way. it only takes a little time to find the hash of a password, but if you have the hash, it should be nearly impossible to find the password. So even if someone hacks the database and steals all of the information, they still won't actually know anyone's passwords. \n\nThis is important because a lot of people re-use the same password on multiple sites. If you have the password stored in plain text in the database, then your site getting hacked means that every other site where one of your users reused the same username and password is now vulnerable too.",
"Imagine a meat grinder.\n\nIf you put in a specific piece of meat, out comes a specific grind that no other piece of meat will likely duplicate.\n\nBut because it's Math, every time you put in a specific input you get the exact same output.\n\nYou can't turn the finished product back into what you started with, but the finished grind is just as unique and identifiable as the password (piece) you put in.\n\nThis allows you to repeated put in your password, have it \"grinded\" up, and the checked to see if it matches your initial grind. If so, it is assumed you started with the same original password and you are verified without have had to store and compare your actual password.\n\n\nE.g. our super secret hash is (+5)\n\nYour password is 64\n\nYour password is hashed to 69\n\n69 is the saved as your hash.\n\nWhen you return and put in your password again, if the hashed answer is 69 it is considered that you had to have put in the correct starting point (password) or your get a different answer.\n\nA salt is yet another component used to make your password better, imagine adding 50lbs of sausage to your 64lb password.\n\nNow you have 64+50+5 = 119\n\nYour password of course is more complicated, as is the hash and the salt, all of which is used to end up with a complicated but entirely unique end result which can only be re-arrived at by using all the same ingredients in exactly the same proportion and order."
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3u9go5 | why does linux not have any equivalent of ".exe"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3u9go5/eli5_why_does_linux_not_have_any_equivalent_of_exe/ | {
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"Any file in linux can be executable; it doesn't require a special extension to tell the computer that is can be executed. It's more flexible, if harder to grasp as a concept.",
"It does. It's the executable bit.\n\nWindows, as a result of its DOS origins, has the convention of using file extensions to denote what kind of file it is -- text, executable, etc.\n\nThe filename is meaningless to the operating systems in Linux. A file is a file, and if there's an extension, it's just because the filename has a dot and some letters after it.\n\nWhat makes it executable in Linux is the execute bit in the file permissions. if it's there, it's a program that can be run. If not, it isn't."
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636g03 | how can someone who comes from nothing attain political power? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/636g03/eli5_how_can_someone_who_comes_from_nothing/ | {
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"Work hard in school, go to an elite university, elite law school, work in an area of law that serves the public, parlay that into local elected office, then higher elected office, rinse and repeat. Read up on both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, who each did what you are asking about. ",
"It would help to have some examples; unfortunately, the likelihood of it happening is very low. Most people who attain political power come from money or status already; others, like President Obama, come from earning many honors through education and hard work -- and hard work in the right area; Obama's expertise was in law and Constitutional understanding, which are important skills for a political career, as opposed to, let's say, a becoming a world-reknown architect.\n\nBut, lots of famous people get political power through the public's affinity for them -- Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, Al Franken, Jesse Ventura, Arnold Schwarzenegger. This has to do with getting the public to like you, along with understanding how laws work.\n\nSo, the short answer is you either start out with it, or you start working very hard, very early, to build the status yourself. "
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5yub71 | how does crying work? can you cry with no eyes? | EDIT:
/u/Muthafuckaaaaa came up with a good follow up question of if you can cry with no eyes, can you cry with no tear ducts? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5yub71/eli5_how_does_crying_work_can_you_cry_with_no_eyes/ | {
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"And if you can cry with no eyes, can you cry with no tear ducts?"
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2h9s86 | every time i am outside i sneeze, why does it seem i am allergic to the sun? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2h9s86/eli5_every_time_i_am_outside_i_sneeze_why_does_it/ | {
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"It's called the [Photic Sneeze Reflex](_URL_0_); basically, nobody knows why bright lights trigger sneezes, but it may be hereditary and it only happens to some people. \n\nI always sneeze twice when I enter bright sun, and looking at a bright light helps me sneeze. ",
"Why do you ignore all those messages telling you to search before posting?\n\n_URL_0_"
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a6ap9l | how do basic christmas lights work with 110v usa ac power without any extra electronics? | ***EDIT: This post has been answered by: /u/earlma1
___
I just accident broke one of the ends of my generic basic Christmas lights. Literally just wires connecting all of these lights together.
How are these rated for 110v?? How do they not get too hot?
Also, why haven't they ran a second wire from each bulb to the next so that you don't have to replace a bulb for the rest of the line to light up?? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/a6ap9l/eli5_how_do_basic_christmas_lights_work_with_110v/ | {
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"The amperage draw on the lights isn't that high which is the important factor. Voltage is just the driving force or the potential from one point to another.",
"On most sets, it’s a bunch of serially connected lights, so if one blows, they all turn off.\n\nThere are better lights that are able to handle the loss of bulbs.\n\nWith the advent of LED, it’s also much less of a problem.\n\nAs for the power, they are small bulbs that don’t draw much. With some, there are resistance elements, usually in the plug."
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3aoc03 | how my dog can be sitting with me on the couch, then somehow sense an animal outside in the yard? | How do dogs sense animals outside, even if it's dark and all the shades are closed? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3aoc03/eli5_how_my_dog_can_be_sitting_with_me_on_the/ | {
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"Dogs have exceptions hearing and smell. Either one of these things, probably hearing, is allowing it to sense the animal outside. ",
"It can hear them, it's generally pretty quiet in my house and if there is something in my yard me and my dog will hear it at the same time."
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mo7az | why i can't eat just multivitamins and something filling like bread and stay healthy? | Thank you for the very informative read, especially to FreakyBloodHound... that's a pretty scary awesome concept that we don't know why but we kinda of know what works.
Thanks ELI5 I think I learned something. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mo7az/eli5_why_i_cant_eat_just_multivitamins_and/ | {
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"There are a couple of reasons:\n\n1) Nutrient bioavailability matters. If your body can't absorb the nutrition in the pill, it doesn't do you any good. In this sense, a lot of multivitamins just give you very expensive pee. \n\n2) You need macronutrients as well as micronutrients. So carbs, fats, and proteins (especially the latter two) are important for a source of energy and for your body to build and repair things. You'd have to swallow a ton of pills to get your 2000 calories a day, defeating the purpose.\n\n3) We still don't really know how nutrition works. You require a fairly delicate synthesis of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and coenzymes. There is a high probability that a multivitamin is missing something essential that hasn't even been discovered yet, or that isn't recognized as essential.",
"Hey can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?",
"Long answer short, you need fats and carbs for energy and muscle growth. Freakybloodhound has a more detailed and better answer. ",
"Because vitamins aren't the only thing you need from food. And scientists still don't understand HOW some vitamins actually help you.\n\nOranges are good for you, a vitamin C pill doesn't have all the things an orange does. It contains things which help your body digest it and put it to good use. ",
"Said it in sub-comments, but basically, human knowledge doesn't know *for sure* that you can't.\n\n[Interesting news article (CNN)](_URL_0_)",
"the body needs fats to absorb vitamins.",
"Loaves of bread don't have phytonutrients. ",
"So... tl;Dr for this whole page is:\n\n1. a multi-vitamin isn't a bad idea, but it needs to be a supplement to a balanced diet, and used to maybe \"fill gaps\" that perhaps your diet didn't cover.\n\n2. Not all vitamins are the same. research and buy good quality ones.\n\n3. Nutrition is not a perfect science. Eat your fruits and veggies.\n\n",
"If I could, I'd just live off prenatal vitamins for awhile....",
"Somewhat related, but I've wondered why there isn't something akin to cat or dog food for humans - a sort of 'eat x amount of this daily and you're done' type thing. Would be boring, but it would have great implications for impoverished, undernourished countries (assuming it would be relatively inexpensive to produce) and would make my life so much easier.",
"I'm going to try to do this like you're 5.\n\nIf you only ate a pill and wonder bread and water to stay healthy, your poo is probably going to be as hard as a rock. Hard enough to throw at people, but imagine trying to poo out a baseball. \n\nTo prevent that, you're probably going to need some kind of super-high-fiber bread (or put veggies in your bread), but the vitamin still isn't going to be enough. Some vitamins are held in water (water-soluble), some vitamins are held in fat. So because you pee so many times a day, you need the vitamins that can melt inside water way more often. The vitamins that dissolve inside fat won't absorb right unless there's some fat to melt it in, so maybe if you ate your vitamin with buttered toast it might help.\n\nYou also need protein for your muscles. It usually comes from meat. Protein, like water-soluble vitamins, gets peed out too, so you need it several times a day. Maybe you can turn your buttered toast into bacon sandwiches. Or if you put the veggies in there from earlier, you can eat a BLT.\n\nAlso, calcium (the thing that keeps your bones from being rubber) dissolves better with some kind of acid like orange juice. So take your pill with OJ. Incidentally, people that take a lot of antacids tend to have lower calcium levels and possibly osteoporosis. But there's so many different minerals with different quirks that it's probably easier to just eat real food than memorize how they all work (which we don't even really know yet).\n\ntl;dr: Instead of bread, eat bacon sandwiches. Wait, wut.",
"There are a couple of reasons:\n\n1) Nutrient bioavailability matters. If your body can't absorb the nutrition in the pill, it doesn't do you any good. In this sense, a lot of multivitamins just give you very expensive pee. \n\n2) You need macronutrients as well as micronutrients. So carbs, fats, and proteins (especially the latter two) are important for a source of energy and for your body to build and repair things. You'd have to swallow a ton of pills to get your 2000 calories a day, defeating the purpose.\n\n3) We still don't really know how nutrition works. You require a fairly delicate synthesis of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and coenzymes. There is a high probability that a multivitamin is missing something essential that hasn't even been discovered yet, or that isn't recognized as essential.",
"Hey can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?",
"Long answer short, you need fats and carbs for energy and muscle growth. Freakybloodhound has a more detailed and better answer. ",
"Because vitamins aren't the only thing you need from food. And scientists still don't understand HOW some vitamins actually help you.\n\nOranges are good for you, a vitamin C pill doesn't have all the things an orange does. It contains things which help your body digest it and put it to good use. ",
"Said it in sub-comments, but basically, human knowledge doesn't know *for sure* that you can't.\n\n[Interesting news article (CNN)](_URL_0_)",
"the body needs fats to absorb vitamins.",
"Loaves of bread don't have phytonutrients. ",
"So... tl;Dr for this whole page is:\n\n1. a multi-vitamin isn't a bad idea, but it needs to be a supplement to a balanced diet, and used to maybe \"fill gaps\" that perhaps your diet didn't cover.\n\n2. Not all vitamins are the same. research and buy good quality ones.\n\n3. Nutrition is not a perfect science. Eat your fruits and veggies.\n\n",
"If I could, I'd just live off prenatal vitamins for awhile....",
"Somewhat related, but I've wondered why there isn't something akin to cat or dog food for humans - a sort of 'eat x amount of this daily and you're done' type thing. Would be boring, but it would have great implications for impoverished, undernourished countries (assuming it would be relatively inexpensive to produce) and would make my life so much easier.",
"I'm going to try to do this like you're 5.\n\nIf you only ate a pill and wonder bread and water to stay healthy, your poo is probably going to be as hard as a rock. Hard enough to throw at people, but imagine trying to poo out a baseball. \n\nTo prevent that, you're probably going to need some kind of super-high-fiber bread (or put veggies in your bread), but the vitamin still isn't going to be enough. Some vitamins are held in water (water-soluble), some vitamins are held in fat. So because you pee so many times a day, you need the vitamins that can melt inside water way more often. The vitamins that dissolve inside fat won't absorb right unless there's some fat to melt it in, so maybe if you ate your vitamin with buttered toast it might help.\n\nYou also need protein for your muscles. It usually comes from meat. Protein, like water-soluble vitamins, gets peed out too, so you need it several times a day. Maybe you can turn your buttered toast into bacon sandwiches. Or if you put the veggies in there from earlier, you can eat a BLT.\n\nAlso, calcium (the thing that keeps your bones from being rubber) dissolves better with some kind of acid like orange juice. So take your pill with OJ. Incidentally, people that take a lot of antacids tend to have lower calcium levels and possibly osteoporosis. But there's so many different minerals with different quirks that it's probably easier to just eat real food than memorize how they all work (which we don't even really know yet).\n\ntl;dr: Instead of bread, eat bacon sandwiches. Wait, wut."
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dia387 | why do airlines have such inconsistent rules on usage of electronic devices? | Some don't mind using phones on flight mode, some want them off completely, some are ok with laptops being stashed on sleep mode, some only care during taxi. etc. it seems that its not country specific too. but rather airline specific and which country they originate from. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/dia387/eli5_why_do_airlines_have_such_inconsistent_rules/ | {
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"It's a trade off between what they feel is a liability and passenger happiness. Do you want your passengers happily using their laptops and phones to entertain themselves during cruise so they'll fly on your airline again or do you not want to risk the 0.000000001% chance that someone's phone will interfere with a flight critical system and cause the plane to fall from the sky in a fireball."
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5cmhjn | why do 15 minutes in a 105° shower feel great, but 15 minutes outside in 105° weather feel terrible? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5cmhjn/eli5_why_do_15_minutes_in_a_105_shower_feel_great/ | {
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"To help illustrate the point, consider 15 minutes in a 105° shower and 15 minute in 105° pool.\n\nIn the pool the water totally surrounds you. Any heat trying to escape your body has to get through water that is at a much higher temperature.\n\nIt's not quite as bad in 105° air, but the concept is similar.\n\nIn the shower, however, the water might be 105° when it leaves the nozzle. But your skin can still release heat out to the air around you in the shower.",
"It also has a lot to do with the sun. The hottest I've been outside after dark was 103° here in Tucson in June, with a light breeze and no humidity it's actually kind of pleasant ",
"The reason you feel gross in 105°F air is that your clothes get gross and sweaty, not. Really a problem in the shower.",
"I'm certain most people have tried being in the 105° shower without clothing, but I bet most haven't experienced the 105° outside without clothing ",
"Something called specific heat capacity. Its the property of something's ability to transfer heat, water and air have different specific heat capacities. Basically water has a much higher specific heat capacity so it is able to absorb more heat without heating up itself, air on the other hand heats up very quickly in comparison and pulls heat from you much less efficiently. You perceive this transfer of heat as water feeling cooler at the same temperature. \n\n\n**Edit** Specific heat capacity is much more complex than \"ability to transfer heat\". This is a gross simplification of what it actually is but intended to fit in with \"ELI5\".\n\n\n\n**Edit** People with a much stronger understanding of the science behind this stuff have pointed out I am mostly incorrect here in regards to the OPs question. The property im explaining would apply if the temperature was below body temp. I'll allow /u/GUMPisforCHUMPS to explain \n\n > As someone else mentioned, it's actually the heat transfer coefficient, not the specific heat capacity. Also, this means that water will feel colder than air at the same temperature, only if it is cooler than your body temperature. If it's warmer, than the water will feel hotter than the air will - this is why you can briefly put your hand in a 212˚oven, but not in boiling water.\nI think it has much more to do with the fact that there is so much evaporation going on at the surface of you skin in a shower, you're able to cool yourself very quickly, while warming yourself up from the water. This contrast feels nice, and doesn't overheat you too quickly.",
"For only 15 minutes? Mostly expectations. For example, if you go into a sauna, the air will be much hotter and probably more humid than outside and yet it will feel somewhat pleasant to you because you expected it to be hot and humid.\n\nThe other aspect is your core temperature and the temperature of your surroundings. On a 105 degree day, even if you crank your AC, the exterior walls will be radiating heat. A part of you will still probably be feeling hot or at least be aware of that radiative heat. If you spent 15 minutes in a refrigeration unit and lowered your core body temperature enough that your teeth began to chatter, stepping outside would then feel wonderful for a short while.",
"It basically boild down to insulation and the willingness to transfer/get rid of heat.\n\nLike /u/Dodgeballrocks says, part of it as he wrote: insulation. Wenn everything around you is the same material at 105° (air or water), the heat from you has nowhere to go. \nWith mixes of different materials, i.e. a middle layer between you and the destination where the heat has to go, you can have a great effect on the effectiveness of this machanism and this has mostly to do with the willingness of a material to transfer heat as well as at which temperature this material is the most stable (we will come back to this part soon enough). \n\nAir transfers heat badly. This is the reason why air is common insulator for many applications from insulating a building, to thermos flasks up to wearing multiple layers of clothing during cold weather. \nWater on the other hand is great for transfering heat. That's why we see it so many cooling applications. \n\nNow in 105° air you are basically insulated. The heat has nowhere to go, even from your transpiration. When the air isn't moving and being mixed up/pushed away to give different layers of warmth you realy are insulated. \n\nNow, in a 105° shower it get's a little bit more complicated. \nFirst off, you aren't insulated anymore. As I said, water is great at transfering heat. And now you have the layers of you, the water and the air in the shower. \nNow the water is also falling and due to complicated physics (the bernoulli effect - also why your shower curtain closes in upon you when you start up a hot shower) the water gets mixed up with the air which leads to a better transfer of heat from the water to the air. \n\nNow we also come to the point of a material being stable. Hot water is quite unstable at higher termperatures and is the most stable at 4°C. Anything above or below that and water wants to either get rid of excess energy or accumulate more. \nThis is true for most materials in the world as that they have a preferred level of energy - with water it's easily transferable to direct temperature. Your might also have heard that proteins/enzymes in your body work best in specific ranges of temperatures. It's the same principle. \n\nNow, with hot water, it realy wants to do away with all the nergy. It has a realy high desire to get rid of it and get cooler. This occures naturally and faster the higher the temperature of water is. \nFor this reason one can create snow with a cup of hot water in realy cold air as seen in this [video](_URL_0_). Doesn't work with cold water as it's already quite stable and has a low desire to get rid of excess energy. \nNow when the water gets rid of energy (and this can be quite quick in hot water) it also gets colder. And in the video this results in snow. \n \nSo while the water in the shower may tranfer a bit of heat to your body, but as it's warm and wants to get rid of energy that's not always the preferred way. It's too slow for the water. \nNow with the mixture of air from above while you shower, it's much easier to tranfer heat to the air than to your body. So the excess energy tends to go there and so away from your body. \nIn this process the water also cools down and due to it's great capabilities to transfer heat, it now begins to transfer heat from your body through itself into the air. \nSo basically, a warm shower actually cools you down on the surface. That is why they are so nice even on a hot day.",
"Having lived in Florida and Arizona, I can say I don't mind the humidity too much. When it's that hot it's always 100% humidity in my pants ",
"Sorry, no answer from me, just a question: is this Celsius or Fahrenheit?",
"Are you naked outside in 105 degree weather? Because I'm naked in the shower and it's just great. If I wore all my cloths into the shower, not sure it was be as awesome.",
"Would you enjoy the 105 degree shower if the temperature in your bathroom was also 105 degrees? Probably not. ",
"When you go outside, you're wearing clothes and standing in the sun. Also, if it's 105F outside, you're probably already warm when you go out.",
"Meanwhile I can't even shower at 40C, the maximum I resist is 36C. The lowest is 29. I can't even understand how people agree that burning water :/",
"105°??? WTF? You would boil!",
"Heat transfer.\n\nThe water transfer more heat both in and out of your body than air does. In general water transfers heat faster so you equilibrate faster.\n\n105ºF air with low humidity actually doesn't feel so bad compared to 105ºF at 90% humidity. The former transfer heat well but the latter does not.",
"Shouldn't this be in r/showerthoughts?!",
"For a second I thought 105 Celsius? Then i realised OP is American. ",
"As a person who uses Celsius, I was very confused as to why anyone would shower above boiling point 😂",
"It's different sensations for one. The heat that you get from sunlight is from frictional reaction from photons vibrating your atoms when they slam into them (that's how our eyes work too). Hot water is thermal transfer of heat via osmosis (basically). So the sunlight creates \"hotpoints\" due to the thickness of clothes and skin. This heat can get absorbed quicker and deeper because of the vibrational nature of UV frequencies. But the hot water dissipates heat into the air due to the surface are of the running water so you receive less heat overall, and it's transfer is only on the surface. I bet you could make a shower head with a strong UV or possibly IR light that would make a cooler shower feel hot and save you some utility costs, especially if it was run by the force of the water."
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6v17ei | why does it take more time to release a game on multiple platforms? why can't people make a game and then immediately release it to multiple different platforms? | The only two things I can think of are changing the controls between platforms and maybe a difficult time getting a contract with Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, etc. It just seems like if those were the only two problems, nearly every decently popular pc game would also be released on popular gaming consoles very quickly. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/6v17ei/eli5_why_does_it_take_more_time_to_release_a_game/ | {
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"When you write a program, you write it for a specific platform. Windows, for example. Windows and Macintosh run on different systems, they're completely incompatible. A program designed to work for one will not work for the other. \n\nThe same goes for Xbox, Wii, and Playstation. They're completely different systems, and code designed for one will not work on the other. So in order to make a game compatible for all systems, you have to code multiple different iterations of the game. \n\nImagine writing an 800 page book in English, then re-writing it in French so meaning isn't lost and the grammar is correct. You can't just run it through an automatic translation program or meaning is lost and grammar isn't fixed. You have to re-write the whole thing. And be fluent in both French and English.",
"Because the platforms literally speak different languages. A made up example might help. To add 2+2 and store that answer as X can happen many different ways. (none of these are real code, it's just an example)\n\nX=2+2 \n2+2=X \nSum(2,2)=x \nSet X sum(2, 2) \nx=Add(2,2) \n\nAnd that's just a simple 2+2 operation. Actual games are WAY more complicated and contain millions and millions of lines of code. So changing a game from one platform to another is not a simple feat. \n\nThat can be mitigated if the game is originally programmed with the intention of being multi-platform. But that restricts some of the more advanced tricks a developer can do, so the game becomes a kind of lowest common denominator. In addition coding, this way takes longer and is somewhat more expensive. So the dev will often pick 1 platform for cost considerations and perform the more expensive conversion after the sales money starts coming in. \n\nThe last reason is that the platform owners actually pay developers for exclusivity. So Sony might approach a dev and offer some cash in exchange for making something a PlayStation only title. "
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1osrns | why do we feel pain when trying to help the healing process? | I've heard that pain is your body's way of telling you that you shouldn't do something and if you persist in doing it, the situation could get worse. So, why is it that we feel pain when we, for example, put cold water over a cut? Surely if it's helping the healing process, our body wouldn't tell us to stop. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1osrns/eli5_why_do_we_feel_pain_when_trying_to_help_the/ | {
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"The body is imperfect and so too is the sense of pain. It's an evolved trait, not a designed one."
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65sjgr | offshore tax shelters | How exactly do they work? How do wealthy people move their money overseas without getting taxed on it? Are there restrictions on using the money? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/65sjgr/eli5_offshore_tax_shelters/ | {
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"There are some counties that, to try and encourage companies to move there and boost the economy, set the corporate tax to zero and let it run. Unfortunately this results in many people making shell companies, buying a building or office they will never use, and funnel all their money there where it won't be taxed.",
"Let's say you own a company called Globocorp. You're doing pretty well, making $100m a year in profit, but you're paying a lot of taxes. So you start another company, Globocorp Land Holdings Ltd, and you base it in the Cayman Islands. Globocorp transfers the ownership of its real estate to GLH Ltd, and GLH Ltd rents the buildings back to Globocorp for $100m a year.\n\nNow Globocorp is making no money at all! For tax purposes it makes $0 a year because after paying the rent there's nothing left. Globocorp Land Holdings Ltd however is making serious bank, and doing it in a country with almost no corporate taxes.",
"One of the main ones is transfer pricing. Caterpiller, in 1999, reduced US taxes on its profits by creating a corporation in Switzerland, to which it sold goods very cheaply, and then, when anyone tried to purchase anything, it would then buy from the Swiss corporation for the actual price, reducing US profits and increasing profits elsewhere. In 2004, the US tax service fined Glaxo-SmithKline for these practices, as it shifted its profits from the US to the UK by overpaying for its UK subsidiary's drug development services.\n\nCompanies can do this because they are given leeway in evaluating the price of transferred goods. There is a rule requiring that transfer prices be set as if separate firms had negotiated the price, but that is extremely hard to enforce.\n\nSimilarly, Apple has been able to dodge corporate income taxes by creating a company called Apple Operations International, which does not claim residency in any country, meaning that nobody has the legal authority to tax it."
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7u4kwg | why is it possible to "sleep off" a cold? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7u4kwg/eli5_why_is_it_possible_to_sleep_off_a_cold/ | {
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"When you sleep your body is able to fight the cold harder then when you are awake. This is why you try to sleep as much as possible. You get better faster."
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mj7n8 | how can an hd television signal be beamed into my home and received with nothing more than an antenna, but internet video requires a high-speed connection for even moderate quality? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/mj7n8/eli5_how_can_an_hd_television_signal_be_beamed/ | {
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"Television frequencies are actually very high speed connections. In internet connection terms each DVB-T Terrestrial HD channel can be between 5 and 30 MB/s\n\n",
"And because you don't have the need to send any information back to the server in television.\n\n\nOn the other hand, for internet video you need to confirm that you have recieved each packet",
"The internet isn't designed for streaming content. It's designed from the ground up to send things called \"packets\", which are very small pieces of information. \"Packets\" can be sent incredibly quickly. A computer that uses the Internet (either the server or the end-user) is sending out thousands of packets at a time.\n\nPut simply, the Internet is built to accomodate \"bursty asynchronous demands\", which means:\n\n- You cannot predict exactly *when* the user will demand access\n\n- You cannot predict *how much* they will demand\n\n- Most of the time they *do not need* access\n\n- When they ask for it, they want *immediate* access\n\nSo now we know why the internet is built on this idea of \"packets.\" Let's consider the alternative, which is \"circuit switching\". Circuit switching is, for all intents and purposes, a continuous connection between 1 server and 1 end-user. The idea behind circuit switching is essentially the idea behind cable television: \n\n- We know the nature of the content that the user will be demanding (in this case, video content)\n\n- All users are demanding the same type of content\n\nSolution: Send out all of the channels, all the time, all at once. This actually increases efficiency when the number of end-users increases, because the number of channels the content provider is sending out is constant.\n\nBecause of intuition and various mathematical reasons I won't get into, it turns out that the Internet is good for some things, but bad for others. Go figure.",
"Ooh I got this one. \nLY5: If you are sitting in your house and you want to tell you friend next door something all you need to know is if he is listening and you can yell whatever you want to him. So all he needs is his ears. If you want to have a conversation with him, not only do you need to know that he was listening, who's turn it is to talk and if you are understanding each other correctly. \n\nLY20: If you have a 1 way circuit like a TV feed (say from a satellite) you only need half the equipment of a network connection. It's called half-duplex (tv) versus full duplex( internet or other such connection). You can in fact and many people do, run internet through a Satty connection. The issue being the need for the transmit (TX) equipment being more bulky than the receive (RX) equipment. There is not real difference in the signal once it reaches the distant end whether or not you use a Satellite based signal or a cable as the Loss and latency is already factored into the equation when the link is set up and tested.",
"Correct me if i'm wrong, but I believe that a (very) simple explanation is that one is a signal, and one is data being downloaded. So, you are receiving a signal of a video being broadcast when you watch TV - not streaming the content to your TV as such. When you are on the internet you are downloading the video as data, in packets. I hope that makes sense!",
"Say you want to give the same message to 100 of your classmates. All you would have to do is ask for the person to read it, and pass it on. Super easy! That's sort of how cable works. They beam the same message through the cable and all you are doing is passively reading what it's doing.\n\nMeanwhile, if you wanted to send a unique different message to each student, you'd have to write each one differently. That takes time and energy. Sort of like the internet. The wires aren't just sending through information and you are passively reading it as it passes by, instead you are getting a custom message just for you on it's own special wire. \n\nAs you can see, having every one have their own special wire would require a whole lot of wires that simply aren't set up yet. ",
"Basically, because with TV, the same channels are being sent to everybody, but with the internet, everyone requires their own channel. ",
"Television frequencies are actually very high speed connections. In internet connection terms each DVB-T Terrestrial HD channel can be between 5 and 30 MB/s\n\n",
"And because you don't have the need to send any information back to the server in television.\n\n\nOn the other hand, for internet video you need to confirm that you have recieved each packet",
"The internet isn't designed for streaming content. It's designed from the ground up to send things called \"packets\", which are very small pieces of information. \"Packets\" can be sent incredibly quickly. A computer that uses the Internet (either the server or the end-user) is sending out thousands of packets at a time.\n\nPut simply, the Internet is built to accomodate \"bursty asynchronous demands\", which means:\n\n- You cannot predict exactly *when* the user will demand access\n\n- You cannot predict *how much* they will demand\n\n- Most of the time they *do not need* access\n\n- When they ask for it, they want *immediate* access\n\nSo now we know why the internet is built on this idea of \"packets.\" Let's consider the alternative, which is \"circuit switching\". Circuit switching is, for all intents and purposes, a continuous connection between 1 server and 1 end-user. The idea behind circuit switching is essentially the idea behind cable television: \n\n- We know the nature of the content that the user will be demanding (in this case, video content)\n\n- All users are demanding the same type of content\n\nSolution: Send out all of the channels, all the time, all at once. This actually increases efficiency when the number of end-users increases, because the number of channels the content provider is sending out is constant.\n\nBecause of intuition and various mathematical reasons I won't get into, it turns out that the Internet is good for some things, but bad for others. Go figure.",
"Ooh I got this one. \nLY5: If you are sitting in your house and you want to tell you friend next door something all you need to know is if he is listening and you can yell whatever you want to him. So all he needs is his ears. If you want to have a conversation with him, not only do you need to know that he was listening, who's turn it is to talk and if you are understanding each other correctly. \n\nLY20: If you have a 1 way circuit like a TV feed (say from a satellite) you only need half the equipment of a network connection. It's called half-duplex (tv) versus full duplex( internet or other such connection). You can in fact and many people do, run internet through a Satty connection. The issue being the need for the transmit (TX) equipment being more bulky than the receive (RX) equipment. There is not real difference in the signal once it reaches the distant end whether or not you use a Satellite based signal or a cable as the Loss and latency is already factored into the equation when the link is set up and tested.",
"Correct me if i'm wrong, but I believe that a (very) simple explanation is that one is a signal, and one is data being downloaded. So, you are receiving a signal of a video being broadcast when you watch TV - not streaming the content to your TV as such. When you are on the internet you are downloading the video as data, in packets. I hope that makes sense!",
"Say you want to give the same message to 100 of your classmates. All you would have to do is ask for the person to read it, and pass it on. Super easy! That's sort of how cable works. They beam the same message through the cable and all you are doing is passively reading what it's doing.\n\nMeanwhile, if you wanted to send a unique different message to each student, you'd have to write each one differently. That takes time and energy. Sort of like the internet. The wires aren't just sending through information and you are passively reading it as it passes by, instead you are getting a custom message just for you on it's own special wire. \n\nAs you can see, having every one have their own special wire would require a whole lot of wires that simply aren't set up yet. ",
"Basically, because with TV, the same channels are being sent to everybody, but with the internet, everyone requires their own channel. "
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2c718i | why would a ceo get fired other than incompetence? | Referring to the whole Market Basket fiasco.
They're losing millions of money as each day passes by, do the Board of Directors not think this through? Fire a well-known and beloved CEO, and they expect everything will go well? I find that hard to believe.
If anyone can please tell me why Arthur T got fired, that would be great. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2c718i/eli5_why_would_a_ceo_get_fired_other_than/ | {
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"So, I don't know anything about Market Basket, other than what I was just able to read in news reports in about 2 minutes. But, I am a lawyer who deals with corporate issues exactly like this all the time, so I can give you my best guess based on the news reports.\n\nVery often when you have \"family\" businesses like Market Basket, they are beloved by customers and employees because the charge customers less than they could and they pay employees more than they need to, because the people who run the company want to be perceived as generous or community-spirited. \n\nAdditionally, managers of family-controlled companies often tend to treat the company like a personal piggy bank, by giving friends and relations jobs, by paying family members more than they are worth, by spending company money on perks like company cars or jets or lavish offices or suites at sports venues.\n\nThis is all well and good if the family in charge owns the whole business. But with Market Basket, the family doesn't own the whole company. There are bunch of outside investors who own the company. When you have outside investors, sometimes they get pissed off because it's the investors' money that the family is using to furnish lavish offices and overpay employees and whatnot. In other words, the family isn't just being generous, they are playing Robin Hood and giving away someone else's money to customers and employees (and taking some for themselves in the process).\n\nIt sounds like the Board felt like Arthur Demoulas was doing exactly this sort of thing. They say he was responsible for some improper contracts, and they didn't like that he was offering discounts that cut into profits, so they fired him."
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kzyv1 | how can water stay in liquid form even below 0c/32f? | I tried a few searches for this answer, but no luck. Feel free to just post a link to another ELI5 explanation. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/kzyv1/eli5_how_can_water_stay_in_liquid_form_even_below/ | {
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"Temperature isn't the only variable that determines the state (solid/liquid/gas) of some substance. Pressure also plays a vital role. However, in our day to day life the ambient pressure won't vary by very much. At our normal pressure, water *always* freezes at 0C.\n\nSo how do we get water to stay liquid below 0 degrees? We have to mess with the pressure. Take a look at [this](_URL_0_) absurdly complicated chart. The red horizontal line indicated 1 atmosphere of pressure (\"normal\" pressure), and if you draw a vertical line up from 0C, you can see that the intersection of those 2 lines sits right on the border of the \"solid\" section and \"liquid\" section.\n\nIs there any liquid section (green) that exists in some negative temperature? It turns out there is. From about 10 mPa to 620 mPa, liquid water can exist at a negative temperature. \n\nThe pressure exerted by 10 mPa (millipascals) is much less than our standard atmosphere. [Wolfram Alpha](_URL_1_) gives us some helpful insight. It turns out 10 mPa is about 1/50th of the atmospheric pressure on Pluto. Ok maybe that's not a super helpful insight. At any rate, at very low pressures, water can exist as a liquid. ",
"Water, not like other liquids, wants to expand in order to freeze. If you prevent it from expanding, it will stay liquid...\nMy favorite experiment for this is with soda-water. Water crystals need to form in order to turn solid from liquid, so if you were to physically block these crystal bonds from forming with say carbon-dioxide you could go below 0C and still have liquid. Armed with this knowledge, I put my soda in the freezer so I may enjoy literally ICE COLD soda! Be careful and set a timer depending on how good your freezer is. I inevitably run the risk of it getting too cold, and exploding from the outward pressure forming those crystal bonds. So you don't forget its in there...",
"Temperature isn't the only variable that determines the state (solid/liquid/gas) of some substance. Pressure also plays a vital role. However, in our day to day life the ambient pressure won't vary by very much. At our normal pressure, water *always* freezes at 0C.\n\nSo how do we get water to stay liquid below 0 degrees? We have to mess with the pressure. Take a look at [this](_URL_0_) absurdly complicated chart. The red horizontal line indicated 1 atmosphere of pressure (\"normal\" pressure), and if you draw a vertical line up from 0C, you can see that the intersection of those 2 lines sits right on the border of the \"solid\" section and \"liquid\" section.\n\nIs there any liquid section (green) that exists in some negative temperature? It turns out there is. From about 10 mPa to 620 mPa, liquid water can exist at a negative temperature. \n\nThe pressure exerted by 10 mPa (millipascals) is much less than our standard atmosphere. [Wolfram Alpha](_URL_1_) gives us some helpful insight. It turns out 10 mPa is about 1/50th of the atmospheric pressure on Pluto. Ok maybe that's not a super helpful insight. At any rate, at very low pressures, water can exist as a liquid. ",
"Water, not like other liquids, wants to expand in order to freeze. If you prevent it from expanding, it will stay liquid...\nMy favorite experiment for this is with soda-water. Water crystals need to form in order to turn solid from liquid, so if you were to physically block these crystal bonds from forming with say carbon-dioxide you could go below 0C and still have liquid. Armed with this knowledge, I put my soda in the freezer so I may enjoy literally ICE COLD soda! Be careful and set a timer depending on how good your freezer is. I inevitably run the risk of it getting too cold, and exploding from the outward pressure forming those crystal bonds. So you don't forget its in there..."
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1js3hw | why is the united states al qaeda's sworn enemy? what have we done to them or their faith? | I'm referring to the beginning of our fight against al Qaeda. Why did al Qaeda attack us in the first place? (Needless to say they can now hold against us that we've taken out several of their leaders.) | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1js3hw/eli5_why_is_the_united_states_al_qaedas_sworn/ | {
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"The leaders of Al Qaeda have stated they are against us because of our actions in the middle east. They feel like our actions overthrowing democratically elected government in the middle east and having military bases in land they think they own is unacceptable. They think the only way they can get back at us or stop us is from those actions.",
"Al Qaeda had/has some specific concerns with American foreign policy beyond the silly hype of \"they hate freedom.\" Issues include the Western support of Israel, which it regards as a Western colonial entity that seized Arabic/Palestinian land and has treated Palestinians the way South African colonials treated the indigenous population (complete with the perceived-equivalent Apartheid); non-Islamic troops on the Arabic peninsula (which is regarded as holy land), initially because of the first Iraq War; a colonial relationship with Arab oil, which through what is perceived as Western puppets (including the Saudi royal family) has kept the price of oil at lower prices than Al Qaida feels could be charged; the general importation of non-Islamic values into Arabic culture.\n\nAl Qaida has generally asserted that if the West would abandon its interests in the Middle East (allow for the free sale of oil, cease supporting Israel, remove all troops from Arabic soil, and cease selling its products in Arabic countries), it would cease hostilities. "
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b172cr | the overall plot/backstory of the avengers in general. as in, who they are, what the war(s) is about, etc. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b172cr/eli5_the_overall_plotbackstory_of_the_avengers_in/ | {
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"Are you interested in watching them.? Cause you can watch them in order\n\nEdit: if you are not, here is a great [video](_URL_0_) ",
"If you do plan on watching the other movies make sure to watch them in the order in which they took place in the MCU (marvel cinematic universe) and not in the order in which they were released. This will make things a bit easier to understand \n\nP.S. you can find them in order by just searching MCU timeline and it should pop up starting with iron man"
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1xie5w | what would happen to the economy if everyone magically acquired lots of money? | for arguments sake, let's say everyone in the country just got $10 000, but it wasn't "officially" registered in the economy (not sure of the actual terms), as in didn't reduce the currency's worth. the way I see it, if everyone just happened to get more money, they would be able to spend it on things they need/want, which would provide more income for people and cycle round, boosting the economy. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1xie5w/eli5_what_would_happen_to_the_economy_if_everyone/ | {
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"The market would peak in transactions for about an hour until everyone realises that everyone else has $10,000 and proceed to drive the prices up on all commodities until the ability for people to purchase everyday goods is no longer plausible. At this point everyone who had money before is now broke and when the market eventually normalises the gap between rich and poor is far greater than before.\n\nThe problem is not that there isn't enough money for everyone in the world, it's just the current flow of money doesn't distribute it evenly.",
"This has actually been one of the biggest disagreements in economics over the course of the 20th century, so it's a great question.\n\nFor a long time, everybody thought that \"wealth is made of money\", so a lot of effort was put into building national piles of gold and ensuring money was backed by piles of gold.\n\nOn that theory, if you gave everybody piles of money, everybody could buy more stuff!\n\nBut then when our global wealth outstripped all the gold in the world, some problems became clear. We were richer than our money would allow! Limiting the money caused economic stagnation and depression.\n\nSo then we realised that \"money doesn't matter\". It's the real assets and our productivity that make our wealth and income, and all the money just helps it flow around and get stored more easily. So sophisticated!\n\nIn this new world, if you give everybody money it doesn't change the real assets or how we work, so our wealth and income just gets split among more dollars - inflation.\n\nNow, in the actual real world, people are a bit complicated, and when you drop ten thousand dollars in their bank account, they do different things than they would have. They might buy a tv or pay down their mortgage or go to a bar. \n\nThis means that in the long term, people wouldn't get richer if everybody got $10k. Our total money can't be worth more than our real world wealth - assets, knowledge, productive potential. But in the short term, it can really change our behaviour and do things like bring consumption temporarily forward in time for a short term \"boost\"."
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7jy7au | truffles, what they are, and why they cost so much? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7jy7au/eli5_truffles_what_they_are_and_why_they_cost_so/ | {
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"Truffles are a type of mushroom that have a very distinct flavor that is highly sought after by chefs\n\nThe reason they are so expensive is that they are very difficult to find. They cannot be farmed (at any large scale rate, anyways), and the only way to find them is with pigs in certain swampy wooded areas. ",
"i hate to bust balls, but all of the current answers are incorrect. truffles are not a mushroom. they can be farmed. dogs are better than pigs for locating truffles. \ntruffles are a fungus that grow on the roots of trees where the fungus is in a symbiotic relationship with the tree (think bird cleaning a crocodile's teeth). the fungus helps the tree find water in soil that is difficult to grow in, and the tree gives some of its sap to the fungus. there are broadly two types of truffles eaten by humans, white and black. white are usually found in the balkans and italy, black usually in the southern half of france (this is very broad btw). \npeople inoculate tree roots of oak (where they naturally grow) as well as hazelnut (filbert) trees to try to start them growing. in my amateur opinion, the trees are not struggling for water, so the symbiotic relationship does not need to form, and that is why they have difficulty growing them. the soils they naturally form in are usually drier and sandier, but in old growth forests. \npigs were originally used to find them because they used to dig them up as people let their pigs roam in the forest. the scent is similar to male boars, so female pigs in heat would go crazy for them. as you can imagine, having a horny female pig digging up something that smells like male pig balls is difficult to control. dogs have a much better sense of smell, and are easier to train, so they are used. \nthey're so expensive because they're rare, they take a lot of labor to gather, spoil quickly, and a little goes a long way. \n*i've been researching truffles for years, i'd like to have a truffle farm when i retire, so i've been researching them for years. if you have any other questions, let me know. "
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9h2n5e | if 2 rivers meet, who decides which one is the main river and which one a tributary, on what basis? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9h2n5e/eli5_if_2_rivers_meet_who_decides_which_one_is/ | {
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"The \"official\" rule is that the main course of the river is the one that travels the longest path from source to sea. But if you look at actual rivers in, say the United States, you'll find that that's a custom honored in the breach. The branches of a river often got named before their upper reaches are mapped, and sometimes the question of which of them is the main channel got leaned on for political or financial reasons.\n\nConsider the Potomac river; at a place called Harper's Ferry (famous for John Brown's insurrection), it splits in two. Which side was the main river, and which was the tributary? After all, the two branches were about the same size when they met. Well, the surveyor who was drawing the maps was being paid by the Virginia colony, and their charter said that all the land south of the Potomac belonged to their colony. The surveyor, knowing which side his bread was buttered on, just *decided* that the north branch of the river was the main one, and the south branch (now called the Shenandoah) was the tributary. That meant that all the land in between them belonged to Virginia, instead of Maryland. By the time the rivers were more fully mapped, and it was clear that the Shenandoah actually flowed along a much longer course than the (upper) Potomac, the question was moot, and the Virginia colony was firmly in control of the land in question. (Well, compared to Maryland, anyway. The Indians were still putting up a fight.)",
"There are many ways to decide which is the main stem and which is the tributary - compare the flow rate at confluence, compare the length from source at confluence, or compare the angle of the river to the resulting compound river (so the one with the least deviation would be the main stem).\n\nUnfortunately, due to cultural/historic reasons, these aren't definitive rules. The Missouri e.g., is longer than the Mississippi from its source. The Ohio has a larger flow rate than the Mississippi at their confluence. ",
"When Lewis and Clark were navigating their way west, their technique when arriving at a confluence was typically to send a team up each branch and a team would setup camp near the confluence.\n\nThe separate teams would proceed upriver a number of miles, taking measurements of average streambed width, depth and estimations of discharge along the way. Then the teams would reconvene at the downstream confluence and a decision would be made as to which direction to proceed.\n\nLewis and Clark followed the convention of contuining the named waterway along the wider path (remember they're walking/traveling/rowing upstream). They would then give the thinner branch a new name.\n\nFor example, if you're traveling upstream along the Missouri river, near Sioux City, between present day Nebraska/Iowa/SD and came to the confluence in that city- you'd notice the river continuing westward is much wider than the river continuing northward. Proceeding westward (up the larger channel) the name Missouri River held and the smaller was named 'Big Sioux River.'",
"I thought it had to do with stream order, with the larger of the two being the main. \n\nBasically, a headwater is first order, and then add up the orders whenever two waterways join. \n\nThis this the [Shreve method described here,](_URL_0_) though there are other ways of doing it. "
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q45sn | programming | I just don't understand it but want to learn ;_;. I feel I need to know what it is before I can learn it. Also, how does one language differ from another? How do computers recognize these different languages?
Also #2, please suggest a good starting language. Thank you! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/q45sn/elif_programming/ | {
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"All computer languages are ways of turning a \"Sort of human readable language\" into machine code. Machine code is the language that the computer uses to run the program. A language like C or Java or Lua are turned into Machine code by a program usually called a compiler. \n\nA good language for people to start with is Python. You play with is here. (_URL_0_) Python is a good language because it does a lot of the hard work for you. Python is used for Web Development and can even be used to make games.\n\nCommon computer languages are \n\nC (This is the most common language that people use when they really want to control every part of the program. It's often used for embedded circuits. This is usually a good language to learn AFTER you get your feet wet with another language)\n\nC++ (This is the C plus some extra stuff (Most noticeably Classes) it's used for practically everything (But it rarely used for websites))\n\nC# (C++ Plus even more stuff, Microsoft made this language, they really like it and use it for tons of things, especially Microsoft web servers.)\n\nObjective C (This is what Apple likes using, you practically need to use it for the iPhone.)\n\nJava (Useful if your doing stuff on Android but also if your building website or want your program to run on different systems.)\n\nJavascript (This is what makes webpages run in your browser)\n\nActionscript (This is use for Flash and is used to make Flash Games.)\n\nRuby (Mostly for website.)\n\nPython (A fun scripting language that is used for Website and lots of scripting.)\n\n\n\n",
"As you know, a computer deals only with numbers. People say \"ones and zeros\" a lot, but the actual representation of the numbers is not that important.\nThe numbers can be compared and manipulated in all sorts of ways, but still they're just numbers. Anything these numbers might represent exists only in the mind of the programmer; the computer doesn't know or care about their \"meaning\" at all. Computers might be very capable of dealing with numbers, but humans, not so much. We're much better with words and ideas.\n\nA programming language makes it easier for a human to conceptualize what they're dealing with. It provides a language with readable words and familiar constructs to make the computer solve their problem. This required the program they made to be translated back into numbers (ones and zeros, if you will) first, so the computer can work with the instructions. this translation is done by a program called a compiler, which compiles the program into the equivalent numerical instructions. Different languages have different compilers, but in the end, they all produce the numbers the computer can work with.\n\nA nice language to start with is Python, there are plenty of tutorials on the web, just pick whatever comes up in Google and go.",
"In addition to what others have said, it's sort of like a set of pre-defined instructions for the computer, with a lot of simple small steps bundled together so that when you say \"x + y = z\" the computer knows what you mean, because someone already defined \"+\" and \"=\".\n\nLet's say you want to teach someone to walk, but they know absolutely nothing about anything, except just enough English to understand you. Before you can tell them to take a step, you have to explain what's inolved in that. So you say \"lift up your left foot. Bring your left foot forward a bit. Now bring your left foot back down.\" You don't want to explain that each time, so after you explain it you tell them \"What you just did is called taking a step.\"\n\nAfter you explain how to take left and right steps, you might have them take many steps at once, and then say \"What you just did is called walking forward.\" After that you can use that as a basis for explaining running, jogging, walking backwards or sideways.\n\nProgramming languages are kind of like that. Someone has already \"taught\" the computer how to do the basic things like walking forward, so you as a programmer have the ability to skip straight to more advanced things, by building upon the existing instructions in the language.\n\n",
"You may find the [\"Hello World\" project](_URL_0_) interesting. A common practice when learning a new language is to create a simple program that outputs some variation of \"Hello, world!\". Don't get overwhelmed at the number of different languages on the page, as many of them aren't very popular, but to see how the same task is done by lots of different languages can help. \n\nHave fun!",
"Hmm there are good answers in this thread but let's see if I can do something more \"ELI5\" than that.\n\nThe processor speaks a very primitive language that tells it what to do with numbers. This can be adding, multiplying, swapping them around in different places, etc. It has the ability to talk to the other hardware inside your computer and send them instructions.\n\nAssembly language is a language that is understandable by humans but has a 1:1 correlation with 'processor language'. These are the same incredibly simple instructions for moving numbers around. It is very tedious to write a program that does much in this language because the instructions are so basic.\n\nOther higher-level programming languages decide whatever syntax they want to have. They have more complex commands that can do things that every programmer needs. These complex commands get 'compiled' down into multiple assembly language instructions. The idea here is taking common tasks (loops with counters for example) and generating all of the simplistic assembly language commands needed to complete the task so that the programmer doesn't have to write assembly code. This is what a 'compiler' does - takes your human-readable code (Java, C, C++, etc) and generates a ton of code which gets written out into 'processor language'. Java has an intermediate step that lets it run on multiple operating systems but that's beyond the scope really.\n\nAs for #2 I'd recommend Java or C# since they are the most prevalent today and are basically the modern iteration of original C/C++ style syntax. If you want to write games you might have to learn something more complicated but ultimately that will have it's own library of code you can use to make complicated things easier.",
"ELIF: I see what you did there. (elif means \"else if\" in python logic)\n\nHmm... you might not have seen what you did there."
]
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|
jq597 | what is pottermore and why do so many care? | Seriously, why? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/jq597/what_is_pottermore_and_why_do_so_many_care/ | {
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"From the Pottermore website\n\n > Pottermore is an exciting new website from J.K. Rowling that can be enjoyed alongside the Harry Potter books. You can explore the stories like never before and discover exclusive new writing from the author. It is FREE to join and use, and is designed to be safe for people of all ages.\n\nSo, nobody really knows, but it's going to be some sort of literature-based media experience. People are excited about it (like I am) 1) because of the massive hype put on it (7-day contest for people to get in! I got mine) and 2) because we're Potterheads, and we thought the series would be over (as in finished, finished) after the last movie came out. When Rowling released news of Pottermore, it was a big surprise but a happy one to those of us who need MOAR Harry Potter.\n",
"From the Pottermore website\n\n > Pottermore is an exciting new website from J.K. Rowling that can be enjoyed alongside the Harry Potter books. You can explore the stories like never before and discover exclusive new writing from the author. It is FREE to join and use, and is designed to be safe for people of all ages.\n\nSo, nobody really knows, but it's going to be some sort of literature-based media experience. People are excited about it (like I am) 1) because of the massive hype put on it (7-day contest for people to get in! I got mine) and 2) because we're Potterheads, and we thought the series would be over (as in finished, finished) after the last movie came out. When Rowling released news of Pottermore, it was a big surprise but a happy one to those of us who need MOAR Harry Potter.\n"
]
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[],
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|
7ypb6c | what causes fingers to readily leave fingerprints? how are they so easily found/recorded by police? | Like the title says, why is it that humans leave fingerprints on essentially every surface that touch? And how do police distinguish and record these so easily? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7ypb6c/eli5_what_causes_fingers_to_readily_leave/ | {
"a_id": [
"dui66wc"
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"text": [
"The body oils in your hands leave the prints. The police put powder on things and dust it off, the oils will keep the powder in the same spot. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
3hsfov | if sand is created by water erosion how was the sahara desert formed so far from any source of water. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3hsfov/eli5_if_sand_is_created_by_water_erosion_how_was/ | {
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"Sand is created by all forms of erosion. In the case of a region like the Sahara, most of the sand present would come from wind erosion breaking down rocks.\n\nA few other important clarifications: The Sahara officially borders on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean as well as the Red Sea and the Niger River; most of the desert does not actually consist of sand but barren rock (which wind gradually breaks down)"
]
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[]
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||
694qmt | are we able to kill bacteria and viruses by force? (e.g. if i slap my leg, have i killed the microbes there?) why or why not? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/694qmt/eli5_are_we_able_to_kill_bacteria_and_viruses_by/ | {
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"You can kill them by crushing but think about how hard that is and how flat they already are. Like if you slap a piece of paper it doesn't get crushed down any noticeable amount, right? Think of slapping something a thousand times thinner than that. You would need to crush them very carefully between two really smooth totally inflexible things "
]
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[]
] |
||
9eg5uc | why do bad actors like nicholas cage and tommy wiseau still get cast in movies? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/9eg5uc/eli5_why_do_bad_actors_like_nicholas_cage_and/ | {
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"Tommy Wiseau doesn't get cast in movies except in cameos where his being a horrible actor is the point. \n\nAs for Nicholas Cage... there are three things that actors are judged on. Talent. Professionalism. Personality. You can have two out of three and get jobs. You can be professional, have a great personality, but no talent and still get work. You can be talented and professional but have a terrible personality and still get work. The idea here is that very few people are all three, and a professional actor who is easy to work with will get jobs over a talented actor who is a giant diva and difficult to work with. ",
"They still make money for their films, that's all that matters. Cage is a good actor when directed well (he has an Oscar for *Leaving Las Vegas*). Name recognition is like free marketing, and if you can get a known name for your movie (say they are desperate for money to pay upkeep on their castles) that goes a long way to sell it. Plus a lot of people tune in to Cage movies to see him flip out on the screen, as is his wont."
]
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[],
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5z7vye | carats in gold vs. carats in diamond | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5z7vye/eli5_carats_in_gold_vs_carats_in_diamond/ | {
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"A Karat (with a K) is a measurement of purity of gold, on a scale of 24. 24K gold is totally pure - basically every atom in that piece is gold. 18K (very nice jewelry) is 3/4ths gold, and the other 4th is another metal or metals. 12K is 1/2 gold, and so on.\n\nA carat (with a C) is a measurement of weight used for precious stones - it's equal to 200mg. So a 1ct. diamond is a diamond with a mass of 200 mg, no matter the shape cut, clarity, etc. "
]
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2rf1fk | why has it taken 9 months for dzhokhar tsarnaev (one of the boston bombers) to go to trial even though he was identified and captured just 4 days after the bombings? | Edit: 1 year 9 mo...first date screw up of the year.
It seems inefficient and somewhat unfair for taxpayers to be financially responsible for this duration of pretrial detention even though there exist solid video evidence against him.
| explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rf1fk/eli5why_has_it_taken_9_months_for_dzhokhar/ | {
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"Because this is a high profile trial. If the prosecution chooses the wrong charges, or charges which are easily beaten, then people will be very angry \"they let Tsarnaev go.\"\n\nIt's one thing to decide to make an arrest, and another to build a case and prove a charge. There's all kinds of procedural things that need to be done.\n\nLook at what happens when they over-reach. In Florida there was that woman whose baby disappeared and was later found dead, and she didn't seem to care too much - they charged her with first degree murder which required them to prove she PLANNED and EXECUTED A PLAN to kill the child, which they couldn't. Merely her indifference at the kid being gone and the kid turning up dead doesn't prove the charge they went for.\n\nTL:DR selecting the right charge and making sure they can prove all the elements.\n",
"There are lots of hoops to jump through for any trial and especially for one of this magnitude where there are so many charges against the defendant and there is such a serious potential penalty (death sentence). All of the parties involved need to make sure they cross their T's and dot their I's so that they have the best possible case to present in court. It can take months to gather all of the evidence, interview witnesses, conduct testing, combat appeals or motions from both sides, etc.",
"Procedure must be followed regardless of perception of guilt. We are theoretically a country governed by laws, not rules by men. This means that guilt must be proven properly so that the innocent are protected from the mob (as in mob mentality, not mafia).\n\nThough it is not my state, this sort of thing is proper use of tax money to ensure that justice to at least some extent, even though I know it's not perfect.",
"Why trials take so long in a nutshell:\n\nProsecution wants to make sure all the letters of the law are met so there is a conviction. Defense wants to make sure all advantages possible are taken.\n\nAdd a dash of bureaucracy and court congestion, viola.",
"Sometimes I think the legal system in Canada doesn't deal with terrorist type crimes very well. For example the [Air India bombing](_URL_0_). The trial took *twenty years* to complete, and no one was convicted although they surely were guilty. (one guy was convicted of manslaughter and got 15 years but he is out now). This was the worse mass murder in Canadian history, with 329 people killed. The man believed to be the leader in the Air India bombing plot, Talwinder Singh Parmar, was not found guilty of any crime in Canada. He went back to India , was arrested and died in police custody. In my opinion the Indian police did a good day's work when they killed him. The Canadian legal system took twenty years and spent millions of dollars but couldn't make any charge stick. If he hadn't gone back to India he would still be a free man in Canada (as his co-conspirators are to this day) \n\n",
"Because he is entitled to a fair trial and the defense and prosecution needs time to prepare their case so that there are no mistakes that will result in a mistrial. It takes time to select a jury as well. Also, the death penalty is an issue here. With the death penalty on the table, there was no plea bargain. \n \nTL:DR Trials take a long time ",
"There are pre-trial hearings that they have to go through. For instance, the defense team moved to suppress the evidence that Tsarnaev gave by responding to questioning while in the hospital. According to [the exclusionary rule](_URL_0_), if that interrogation is deemed illegal, the prosecution couldn't present any evidence from it to the jury.\n\n==================================\n\nFolk interested in the rules regarding criminal procedure should read more of [The Illustrated Guide to the Law](_URL_5_) a webcomic drawn by a practicing defense attorney from NYC. It also has sections on:\n\n* [traffic stops, searches, and consent](_URL_8_)\n\n* [self-defense](_URL_1_)\n \n* [entrapment](_URL_4_)\n\n* [memory and eyewitness identification](_URL_3_)\n\n* [the history of interrogation in Common Law](_URL_6_)\n\nAnd flowcharts for [the 4th amendment](_URL_2_) and [the 5th amendment](_URL_7_)\n"
]
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[],
[],
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"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182"
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[],
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"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=1585",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=864",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=2256",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=3044",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=633",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=1704",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=2314",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=2897",
"http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=1859"
]
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ejdj38 | why did the usa air strike an airport which killed an iranian military general? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ejdj38/eli5_why_did_the_usa_air_strike_an_airport_which/ | {
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"The target is was the head of a terrorist group (as designated by NATO). He was involved in the latest US Embassy attack, literally standing in the street talking with \"protestors\" ( FYI, you're not a protestor when you're destroying property, you're a rioter) and was directly responsible for leading the Iranian backed militia group in Iraq that killed over 600 Americans during the Iraq War."
]
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[]
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||
5lo76w | where do the children of the potus go to school? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5lo76w/eli5_where_do_the_children_of_the_potus_go_to/ | {
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"Usually to a private school in the area that has experience with the children of important political figures. [Sidwell Friends](_URL_0_) is a common choice, though certainly not the only option.",
"They go to a private Quaker school. This school is well acquainted with security procedures having hosted the children of past presidents.",
"The Clinton and Obama kids went to Sidwell Friends school in DC. Which is a private school. There is no requirement or provision for the president's children for schooling. They can go wherever. "
]
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nt529 | why we count years in terms of c.e. and b.c.e. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/nt529/eli5_why_we_count_years_in_terms_of_ce_and_bce/ | {
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"The Roman Catholic Church, which controlled a major portion of the civilized world for over a thousand years, adopted the Julian Calendar, which is similar to the calendar that we have today. They started counting from the supposed birth of Jesus, calling the new period AD and the period before his birth as BC. \n\nThe calendar was later changed a little, and is now called the Gregorian Calendar. The reason the terms BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) are used is because BC and AD sound religious.",
"I wish we would develop a system that uses ages, just so that i could say that the year is 300-something of the Third Age.",
"Do you want to write 7/15/13,701,235,436 on all your homework assignments?",
"So it used to be that records were like \"the fifth year of the reign of king blah blah which was the seventeenth year after whatever\" and so you could figure out a chronology from crossreferencing all the records together, but that was a pain in the ass.\n\nThen there was once this guy named Bede. _URL_0_ He was a monk with a personal library of over 200 books. For the time, this was probably the largest collection of books in Europe. He then wrote books himself, using the terms \"Before Christ\" and \"Anno Domini\" (although both in Latin) to date things. His books were a hit in Europe (or as much of a hit as you could have at the time) and the system stuck.\n\nThen, in the modern era, people decided that \"Common Era\" and \"Before Common Era\" were more appropriate terms, so they are used now.",
"You know your civilization kicks ass when thousands of years after it collapses the world is still using your calender.",
"The Roman Catholic Church, which controlled a major portion of the civilized world for over a thousand years, adopted the Julian Calendar, which is similar to the calendar that we have today. They started counting from the supposed birth of Jesus, calling the new period AD and the period before his birth as BC. \n\nThe calendar was later changed a little, and is now called the Gregorian Calendar. The reason the terms BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) are used is because BC and AD sound religious.",
"I wish we would develop a system that uses ages, just so that i could say that the year is 300-something of the Third Age.",
"Do you want to write 7/15/13,701,235,436 on all your homework assignments?",
"So it used to be that records were like \"the fifth year of the reign of king blah blah which was the seventeenth year after whatever\" and so you could figure out a chronology from crossreferencing all the records together, but that was a pain in the ass.\n\nThen there was once this guy named Bede. _URL_0_ He was a monk with a personal library of over 200 books. For the time, this was probably the largest collection of books in Europe. He then wrote books himself, using the terms \"Before Christ\" and \"Anno Domini\" (although both in Latin) to date things. His books were a hit in Europe (or as much of a hit as you could have at the time) and the system stuck.\n\nThen, in the modern era, people decided that \"Common Era\" and \"Before Common Era\" were more appropriate terms, so they are used now.",
"You know your civilization kicks ass when thousands of years after it collapses the world is still using your calender."
]
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5nxymx | how do we figure out the exact weight of protons, neutrons, and electron? | How did we figure out that a(n):
Electron weighs 9.1 x 10^-31 kg
Proton weights 1.6726 x 10^-27 kg
Neutron weighs 1.6749 x 10^-27 kg
Considering the size of those imperceptible numbers, how far off are our best estimates?
How did we calculate these numbers? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5nxymx/eli5_how_do_we_figure_out_the_exact_weight_of/ | {
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"First of all, these are not weights, they are masses. Weight refers to the force of attraction that objects with mass exert on each other. Mass measures \"how much stuff\" there is, how much force is needed to accelerate something (inertia) remember F=ma, and also has to do with energy. What I mean by the last one is that increasing the energy of something increases the mass. In fact the mass increase m is given by m = E/c^2 or as most people know it E=mc^2. If it's a subatomic particle the total energy is E and the total mass is m. If a particle is moving the equation is E^2 = m^2 c ^4 + p^2 c ^2 where p is momentum. Anyway, the amount of \"stuff\" there is, the inertia, and the m in that big equation are the same thing and they all mean mass. We can measure an objects mass by F=ma or by measuring the energy and momentum. The energy and momentum way is more common. One more way (the most common) is a mass spectrometer. By accelerating a particle in a known and measured field, we can measure its kinetic energy in proportion to its charge. You can also use this to move a particle in a circular path, measuring the momentum. Both of these can be used to solve for mass.\n\ntl;dr using E^2 = m^2 c ^4 + p^2 c ^2 which is E=mc^2 for a moving particle (p is momentum) we can solve for m by knowing the other variables. You could also use F=ma or a tool called a mass spectrometer."
]
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|
bvv0tf | how can the official motto of usa be "in god we trust", while 1st amendment states "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bvv0tf/eli5_how_can_the_official_motto_of_usa_be_in_god/ | {
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"Its not the official motto. It was written on to the money in the 50's in order to differentiate from the godless Soviet communist, not making that up at all, please fact check me.",
"Because it's not a law.......A motto is that, a motto. What started a lot of this is the forcing of children to stand for prayer in schools in the eighties. However, unlike school, you can just not accept money :)",
"The official justification is that it is just an appeal to any sort of higher power, it does not mention a particular kind of god. Proponents call it \"ceremonial deism\". And as mentioned before, it became widespread during the red scare."
]
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26zrjb | daily routine of the very first human beings? | What happened in the first minutes of first human beings? First days? Who fed them? How did they find out they need food to have energy? How did they learn they use mouth to eat? What was it like? How was their first process?
Please help me to comprehend. Really apreciate! | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/26zrjb/eli5_daily_routine_of_the_very_first_human_beings/ | {
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" > What happened in the first minutes of first human beings?\n\nProbably came out crying and covered in blood.\n\n > First days? \n\nCleaned, fed, and slept\n\n > Who fed them? \n\nThe luckiest pre-human ape parents in the world\n\n > How did they find out they need food to have energy? How did they learn they use mouth to eat? What was it like? How was their first process? \n\nFrom experience. The human baby would cry and the ape parent would shove food in the baby's mouth. The baby would eat it and not feel hungry, the baby then realize when they get hungry, just swallow some food.\n\n"
]
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[]
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4ffzn6 | how does depression cause nausea? | I've always suffered from morning nausea during periods of depression. Just curious about what happens within the body that causes the feeling of nausea, and how depression initiates this process. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4ffzn6/eli5_how_does_depression_cause_nausea/ | {
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"The gastrointestinal system is very responsive to emotions. I don't know why, but if I had to guess it's probably sensitive to the chemical inbalances that cause depression ",
"Not a doctor but someone with anxiety and depression for 13 years.\n\nHonestly our brain and our stomach are synced up. Way more than I think we even give it credit for. You can Google \"brain gut\" I think it's called. But there is a lot of research on this.\n\nBasically your stomach keeps you alive and so does your brain. They are like a team. So when one is broken the other breaks also.\n\nYou can take probiotics (or just eat yogurt) to help strengthen the good bacteria in your stomach. And should exercise, eat well and avoid drugs and alcohol to strengthen your brain. If that doesn't work, therapy and meds will."
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4zv7yg | the issue(s) with no mans sky. i'm not a gamer so i don't know what's going on. i'm just aware it's a contentious subject. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4zv7yg/eli5_the_issues_with_no_mans_sky_im_not_a_gamer/ | {
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"text": [
"As with many games, features were promised, hype was built and not all of it was delivered."
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d1h14u | how do large commercial construction projects like stadiums actually make money? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/d1h14u/eli5_how_do_large_commercial_construction/ | {
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"from people attending events after its built, and from the city its built in paying for a lot of it with taxpayer money",
"Football ticket prices can be more than $100 per person. A stadium can have 65,000 seats or more, so that would be $6.5 million potentially every game not counting concessions, broadcasting rights, memorabilia sales... it all adds up.\n\nOf course not every stadium is completely filled every game and not all of the ticket price is directed toward the entity that built the stadium. But you get the idea that it is big business and there is a lot of money at play.",
"Many American stadiums are built at great cost to the taxpayers. On top of that, the owners of the stadiums are usually able to negotiate extremely low taxes for their shiny buildings. If they're met with resistance, they appeal to the loyalty of sports fans and threaten to move cities if they don't get their way. Considering most franchise owners are billionaires, and can easily absorb the cost of stadiums and their overhead costs, it's no wonder that more attention is finally being paid to this issue.",
"They don't have to. Cities bid on them because they want the prestige of getting a popular sports team so they get a contract with the team for a few years. When the stadium loses it's new stadium smell after a few years the teams whine and threaten to leave so the cities build them a new one."
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5kt5qc | what is a dhcp lease and why does it expire ? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/5kt5qc/eli5_what_is_a_dhcp_lease_and_why_does_it_expire/ | {
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"text": [
"You won't necessarily get another ip after the lease expires. If the old ip is still available (something else didn't grab the expired ip while your laptop was off etc) routers will generally just renew the old lease. "
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2w0jjv | when we send a rocket to some planet, does the rocket take into account asteroids in its route to avoid? or do we just hope it won't hit anything? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2w0jjv/eli5_when_we_send_a_rocket_to_some_planet_does/ | {
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"Yes, it takes that into account, but you have to realize that asteroids aren't like what you see in the movies, with Han Solo flying around them. Space is really, really empty, and pretty much the only way to hit an asteroid (or anything else, really) is to work very very hard to try to hit it.",
"The average distance between objects in the main part of the asteroid belt is about 600,000 miles. There isn't much need to worry about dodging.",
"The chance of something actually being in the way is astronomically tiny. space is really, really, really big and stuff is actually really, really, really small."
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ldvjq | arthralgia and lupus. | Hey, reddit. So just a little bit of background: I'm a 16-year old girl who was diagnosed with RND (Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy) four years ago. It started out in my left leg. I was in the hospital and long story short, I got better, then a few months later I got worse. Ever since then, I've had the chronic pain in my knees and a little below them, my fingers/wrists, hips, and occasionally ribs. It's constant and it's worst in the morning and after lunch. On a scale of 1-10, I say about a 6-7. I'm just so used to it and terrified of being immobilized again that I force myself to live a slightly normal life.
A couple days ago, I went to see a new rheumatologist who wants to be thorough and decided to do some blood tests and get x-rays of my hips and knees (no fingers or wrists). She was wanting to see if I possibly may have lupus. Can anybody give me some general information about lupus, please? And she gave me diagnoses of RND as well as something called arthralgia. Explain that, also, if you can. I know a bit about both but I'd like to hear an in-depth description that isn't wikipedia-esque.
Thanks in advance! :) - Ounkea. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/ldvjq/eli5_arthralgia_and_lupus/ | {
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"I'll give it a try, but I would urge you to ask your doctor the clinical questions as their experience with such conditions will give you a picture that's clearer than the crapload of information on the intertubes.\n\n \nArthralgia is just the medical term for painful joints, it's not a diagnosis at all. So, your arthralgia can be a result of a myriad of things, lupus being one, CRPS being the other. An injury to the joint, ligaments, fractures all of those can cause \"arthralgia\". Arthralgia is different from arthritis, which is inflammation in the joint. \n \nChronic regional pain syndrome(aka RND) usually follows an injury(major or minor) to a limb, that results in nerve damage or damage to the vessel supplying the nerve. The nerves tell our brain about sensation, temperature, pain and therefore either or all of those sensations may become dysfunctional. \nLupus is essentially a condition where your bodies defence systems start reacting to its own DNA. Therefore as you can imagine, the symptoms could be very vague - not mild but non-specific. And when the reaction of this sort occurs in your joints, you get joint pain...arthralgia. \n\nMy post was probably much less informative than Wikipedia, but it's ELI5 and I would only be re-stating things you already read. If you want more details, try looking at better sources - UpToDate is a good one. \nKudos to trying your best to live as normal a life as possible :)\n\n",
"I'll give it a try, but I would urge you to ask your doctor the clinical questions as their experience with such conditions will give you a picture that's clearer than the crapload of information on the intertubes.\n\n \nArthralgia is just the medical term for painful joints, it's not a diagnosis at all. So, your arthralgia can be a result of a myriad of things, lupus being one, CRPS being the other. An injury to the joint, ligaments, fractures all of those can cause \"arthralgia\". Arthralgia is different from arthritis, which is inflammation in the joint. \n \nChronic regional pain syndrome(aka RND) usually follows an injury(major or minor) to a limb, that results in nerve damage or damage to the vessel supplying the nerve. The nerves tell our brain about sensation, temperature, pain and therefore either or all of those sensations may become dysfunctional. \nLupus is essentially a condition where your bodies defence systems start reacting to its own DNA. Therefore as you can imagine, the symptoms could be very vague - not mild but non-specific. And when the reaction of this sort occurs in your joints, you get joint pain...arthralgia. \n\nMy post was probably much less informative than Wikipedia, but it's ELI5 and I would only be re-stating things you already read. If you want more details, try looking at better sources - UpToDate is a good one. \nKudos to trying your best to live as normal a life as possible :)\n\n"
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2h68qs | the obsession some people/cultures have with mutilating female genitalia? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2h68qs/eli5_the_obsession_some_peoplecultures_have_with/ | {
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"Some cultures are more controlling of women and believe that ruining their vaginas' ability to feel pleasure will make those women easier to control sexually. There are many people who believe that this will keep women from lusting after men, which in their particular culture might be seen as a plus.",
"Same reason for male genital mutilation; desensitize to discourage sexual pleasure and or masturbation. \n\nApparently God is perfect, all knowing, and all loving but dropped the ball and made us too horny, and hates us for it and demands people mutilate children's genitals to fix it.",
"Bullshit religious reasons, which is why males have theirs cut in the west.",
"Don't forget about unnecessarily circumcising men. ",
"as an American male, you're probably familiar with male circumcision. If you think about any of the reasons that's a good thing, you pretty much understand the reasoning behind female genital mutilation as well. Often the reasons parents and loved ones give are identical to those westerners use to support male circumcision (it's \"cleaner\", potential mates will prefer it, it was done to me and i'm fine, etc.) Even though the roots of both procedures are largely about controlling sexuality. When something indefensible is supported by a large segment of the population, people find ways to justify it. Additionally it can be uncomfortable for people who have had this done to them to face the idea that their parents sanctioned harm against them, it's too much cognitive dissonance. So they convince themselves of the merits of the procedure instead, then go on to perpetuate the cycle with their own kids.\n\n(Note - i'm not equating the procedures *exactly* - in terms of raw total damage some fgm procedures are much more horrific than male circ is. But ultimately the roots of the justification for both are very similar)\n",
"If a woman can't feel sexual pleasure, why would she desire sex? Combine that with a culture who values a woman's chastity more than her health or dignity, and whammy. Female Genital Mutilation. All done in the name of making these girls \"good women\"."
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b3bqac | in what circumstances is the real feel temperature higher than the actual temperature? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/b3bqac/eli5_in_what_circumstances_is_the_real_feel/ | {
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"High humidity can cause temperatures to feel higher than they are, because humidity prevents effective heat transfer away from the body.",
"Your personal perception of temperature depends on 2 things. Wind and Humidity.\n\nWhat people mean when they say 100% air humidity is you sweat almost can't evaporate so your main cooling method is broken. This is when you will feel higher real feel temperature.\n\nThe same works for high humidity no wind in cold temperatures. If it's 80% humidity in -11 you will actually feel warmer because the warmth trapped in your clothes has no way to escape. Humans primary way to getting rid of heat is sweat even in cold temperatures.\n\nAnother is a non cloudy day in an area with little shade. \n\nSay you're in a desert, your reel feel temperature will be higher than the air temperature because you're getting directly hit by the sun.\n",
"[Accuweather doesn't list specifics](_URL_0_) that I can see, but they take into account the air temperature as well as humidity and cloud cover. So under high humidity your sweat won't evaporate, so heat won't leave your body as quickly, and under low cloud cover you'll be directly heated by the sun. Also, if the air is hotter than the surface of your skin and it's windy, it'll feel even hotter than it really is.",
"Standing in direct sunlight. \n\nI grew up in Mesa, AZ, and when I learned that meteorologists collect temperature in the shade, I lost my faith in everything. People who say “oh but it’s a dry heat” have never tried to play soccer outdoors in the “120°” air under a sun so bright you can barely keep your eyes open. \n\nEdit: I can’t spell in the morning. "
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2twzwk | why do i have to pay taxes on money i inherited? | I'm talking about less than $50,000, not millions. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2twzwk/eli5why_do_i_have_to_pay_taxes_on_money_i/ | {
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"The tax is for the \"privilege of transferring wealth upon death.\" However, in the USA you don't have to pay federal taxes on the first $5.4 million or $10.8 million for inheritance from married people. There is a generation skipping tax that could be applicable if grandparents leave money to their grandkids.",
"America isn't meant to be a country of old money, where people linger on ancient family fortunes, controlling the wealth of the nation in ever-expanding empires until only one great wealthy family is left, a King of America.\n\nInheritance taxes exist on purpose to ensure that a family must produce something of value for society to maintain wealth, even if they only do so through the stock market.",
"If that money was in an IRA or another tax deferred account, your parents never paid taxes on it in the first place. They would be required to pay taxes on it as it is withdrawn, and so are you.\n\nThe deceased's IRA rolls over into what is called a beneficiary IRA. You have to make required withdrawals from it when the deceased turns 70, just as they would...but the withdrawal amount is based on your life expectancy, so if you are young, the amount would be very small, and it would continue to grow tax free, likely in excess of the withdrawal amount.\n\nOr you could liquidate it immediately, and pay about half of it to taxes and penalties.\n\nOption #1 is better for most people, I recommend consulting with a financial planner."
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27jv88 | how large companies and organisations can get the correct twitter username | The CIA have just launched a Twitter account with the Twitter username @CIA.
I would have thought someone would have taken that that account by now. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/27jv88/eli5_how_large_companies_and_organisations_can/ | {
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"Most of the time someone has, a company will often contact the owner of the account and pay them for it. ",
"If the account is in disuse and you can prove you have a company or organization that shares the twitter handle name then twitter will award it. I think the time period of disuse is one or two years.",
"The CIA actually had to kick the Cleveland Institute of Art. I'm not sure exactly how that was done, but I like to imagine three men in black suits and sunglasses (in no way connected to the CIA) went to the president of the Cleveland Institute of Art, showed him some pictures, and he decided to change their twitter handle out of his sense of civic responsibility. "
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bg6i6q | how does planting trees in the desert create an oasis? | I've seen a few post on the internet about people planting a whole bunch of trees in the desert and creating a beautiful green patch of Oasis. How does it work? Would you have to constantly water them until they can sustain themselves? The desert doesn't have dirt. I don't get it. | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/bg6i6q/eli5_how_does_planting_trees_in_the_desert_create/ | {
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"Over a few years, the plants deposit organic matter onto the sand, creating a new area of soil, which can hold water over time instead of letting it all soak down away from the surface.",
"Oases tend to grow trees **because** there is a source of underground water within range of their roots. The mere presence of trees does not make the oasis. Although it just might be possible to artificially sustain a group of trees for long enough to affect the nearby environment.",
"Plants need water. Epiphytes get water from the air and can only live in very humid places like tropical rain forests. On the other end are types of trees that grow very long roots, called a taproot, that lets them get water from deep underground. \n\nIf you plant a tree with a tap root in the desert and water it until it is established, it can survive on water from deep underground even though the surface is dry."
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1yd3s8 | what are fingernails and why do they sometimes get brown or black striations? | Why are there different layers in fingernails? How do they grow? It seems they grow from the cuticle, but also various levels form from the entire fingertip. | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yd3s8/eli5_what_are_fingernails_and_why_do_they/ | {
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"The nail plate itself consists of many layers of keratinized cells. Under the nail plate you have your nail bed which has alot of nerves, lymph and blood vessels(that's why your nails look pink). Nail bed provides nutrients to the nail matrix- the place where the nail plate cells originate from. The root of the nail and the beggining point of the matrix can't be seen because it lies under a little fold of skin. (Note:Cuticle originates from this fold but is not reponsible for the development of the nail plate!) The rest of the matrix can be seen on the nail as the little white area (lunula). From here the new nail plate cells are produced and the old cells are pushed forward. Hope this answered your question :) "
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aen9k2 | do internal combustion engines use more fuel at more rpms? or they use more fuel when the throttle is more wide open? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/aen9k2/eli5_do_internal_combustion_engines_use_more_fuel/ | {
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"text": [
"14.7 air to 1 part fuel. The more you press on the accelerator the more your throttle bottle opens to allow more air in, thus more fuel. The more air and fuel the stronger the combustion this faster the RPM. "
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||
68xe9d | if reproduction is one of the most important traits for a species to survive, why is it still super common for people to get nervous and scared when talking to someone they're attracted to? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/68xe9d/eli5_if_reproduction_is_one_of_the_most_important/ | {
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"Well, because reproduction is so important, of course.\n\nIt takes a big investment for a biologically female human to grow, supply and birth a baby, not counting investments from both parents over the course of the child's upbringing.\n\nThis means that (as an evolutionary \"strategy\") the female should be as picky as possible about the mate she chooses. She wants the best possible genes for her baby, and the highest possible contributions from her partner in terms of resources, effort and time. \n\nFiguring out who the best match is, and trying to weed out candidates who won't \"pull their weight\" as it were, is probably the reason we have social mating procedures and rituals in the first place.\n\nBut in short, you're nervous because we fear rejection, and rejection is a natural consequence of having to select mates with the utmost care."
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2izsr7 | why when i slap my finger on wood it makes a sound and on mayerials auch as cement/concrete it doesn't? | Not trying to look dumb, sorry | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2izsr7/eli5_why_when_i_slap_my_finger_on_wood_it_makes_a/ | {
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"Probably has to do with a few factors. The density of the material. Concrete is more dense and has less free space in it than wood does. \n\nThe shape and material also makes a difference. Metal is dense, so why does it make a noise? It also resonates when you strike it disrupting the air around it and creating a sound. \n\nConcrete absorbs the energy of you hitting it and doesn't really flex or resonate, so sound isn't created."
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2d5k83 | if there are so many locks in the world isn't it possible that my lock is similar to yours and i can open your house with my key? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2d5k83/eli5_if_there_are_so_many_locks_in_the_world_isnt/ | {
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"not just possible, it's guaranteed that your key opens someone else's door.",
"Yes, it is possible, but unlikely. Assuming a standard 5-pin lock, with each pin having, say, ten depths, the changes are 1 in 10^5, or 1 thousandth of 1 percent. And this goes down even more when you take into account things like varying types of lock and styles of key.",
"Yes. This is why if you look at some keys for newer, more modern locks, they have many more elements to them. \n\nBack in the 60's you could buy a \"master key ring\" with what looked like 100 keys on it cut to work in the doors and ignitions of GM cars. All those millions of cars made by General Motors, and only a few dozen key/cylinder combinations......talk about unsecure.",
"Standard Kwikset locks are 5 pins with only 7 depths. That gives you 7^5, under 17000, possible combinations. While it would be incredibly rare to actually find a house that worked with your key, there's going to be a few out there.\n\nMany older people have stories of older automobiles accidentally being opened and started with somebody else's keys. I'm sure many are urban legends but the truth is that auto manufacturers once used key patterns only numbering in the dozens or hundreds. ",
"In high school I cut class with a buddy to hang out at his house and when when we were heading back to school he ended up locking his keys inside his house. As a joke (we were both pretty baked) I put my house keys into his door and abracadabra that shit opened right up.\n\nLock manufacturers make different quality locks. Cheaper locks have few combinations which raises the likelihood of duplicates where as expensive locks have higher combination possibilities lowering the chances of duplicates",
"My dad's Nissan key would unlock and start my sister's Subaru. Her key could unlock his Nissan truck but not start it. Both were 80's models.",
"I once went to a storage facility to pick up some stuff for a group. I read the number wrong but the lock opened with my key.\n\nImagine my surprise when I opened door and inside was a brand new BMW automobile and an alarm system going bonkers.\n\nI waited for police to come, but they never did. So I closed their door, packed up my stuff and left.",
"I was driving home one night, stopped to get some beer, and on my way out of the store, there was a couple who'd locked their keys in their car. It was the same model as mine, and I was pretty good at breaking into my own car, so I offered to help. On a whim, I tried my key. Boom. Worked.\n",
"My fiancé is from Florida, moved to TN for school where we met. I went to her place with groceries one day and ended up using her house key from FL by mistake and it worked. Maybe it's rare but it can happen. I seent it myself. ",
"This is the perfect story for this thread:\n\nMy family (without me) went to a cabin in British Columbia. The door code they were given was wrong and there was no one around to tell them the proper one. So they got desperate and started checking for unlocked doors or windows. No luck. Then out of sheer desperation they started trying their keys from Ontario in the BC cabin's locks. Eventually they found that their house key unlocked the door on the cabin's balcony (not sure how they got up there).\n\nTL;DR The key to my parents' house in Ontario unlocked a door to a British Columbia cabin of which they were locked out.\n\nEdit: /u/incruente \"...the changes are 1 in 10^5, or 1 thousandth of 1 percent. And this goes down even more when you take into account things like varying types of lock and styles of key.\"",
"Unless you have a new and somewhat expensive lock, it is almost certain that other people have keys that will open your door. Until a few years ago, I worked for a real estate company. We still had a set of \"master keys\" that worked probably 70% of the time when we tried them on foreclosures or rentals where people had changed locks.\n\nMany locks don't need the *exact* key to open. A little jiggling and bumping while wiggling the key and handle would make a \"close enough\" key work fairly often, especially on older locks. Deadbolts were less likely to open, but some would. \n\nOn a side note: if you buy a new house, change the locks. Don't be cheap or lazy. We had master key sets for various purposes: HUD properties, FNMA properties, even subdivisions and condos where the contractor would build them all with a single key to make showings easier. Those were exact-match keys that Realtors everywhere use to enter those properties. \n\nAt closing, we always emphasized the need to change those locks and even asked people to sign a statement that they are aware that a large number of unknown people have keys to the current locks. Still, people would live in a home for a decade, then hand me FNMA key that is also in the hands of thousands of people from agents to contractors to cleanup crews.",
"So, I did the math...\n\nA KW1 key (considered to be the most common) has 5 spaces with 7 depths, so the total number of possible combinations is = 7^5 = 16,807\n\nSo, the odds of having two matching keys is just the standard birthday problem (two matching birthdays, not someone having the same birthday as you). I replaced 365 with 16807 and I found the answer to be....131\n\n\nAt 131 keys, it is more likely than not, that you will have a matching pair.\n\nEDIT: My math was wrong, I had used 5^7 instead of 7^5\n\n",
"When I was 25, I met this guy in a club and we started dating. He gave me a key to his condo a few months later, and for some reason I mistook it with my own house key and strangely, it opened the door to my apartment. I tested it again by using my apartment key on the lock for his condo and lo and behold, it worked. He says it's a sign we were meant to be together. Weird, but not far-fetched, and certainly not common."
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2xk1pi | why do companies like mastercard and visa advertise so much when i have no choice in using their services? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2xk1pi/eli5_why_do_companies_like_mastercard_and_visa/ | {
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"They're mainly advertising to get you to use your card rather than, say, cash. Visa makes no money when you pay in cash, but they make money off the merchant every time you use your card.",
"Debit cards are not their main product. They're advertising for their credit services, in which you have plenty of options to choose from.",
"VISA is in competition with Mastercard and American Express and to a much smaller degree, Discover. Plenty of consumers have the choice of which plastic to carry. Those commercials are intended for them. ",
"They use the term 'Front of the Wallet'. They want you to use the card more than any other Tender method. ...they get money from every transaction.",
"You have a debit card with Visa, but could go out and get a credit card that is a MasterCard. Most people I know have their debt card and a credit card.",
"They want to give banks the perception that they should use a given card."
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2rmu8b | why do muslims move to progressive countries then demand the culture accommodate their extreme conservatism, sometimes to the point of violence? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2rmu8b/eli5_why_do_muslims_move_to_progressive_countries/ | {
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"text": [
"To the extent that your generalization is true, and it's usually not (most Muslims in the western world largely adopt the culture they move to), they probably relocate for the financial opportunities. Your job prospects and standard of living are much better in the US, than, say Afghanistan.\n\nWanting a better job doesn't mean you want to reject your religion.",
"Why do conservatives ever leave Texas? People with extreme views aren't being logical in regards to those views. It's a mental state they're working with, rather than a facet of their personality they've considered and thought about. They may move somewhere for a job, because they like the weather, or whatever other normal reason. The attitude is not, I'm coming to a new society I better learn the rules. It's I'm out for myself, I want to be here, I'm going to be the same person whereever I go.",
"Mostly because people immigrate to other places for economic reasons, not because they don't like the moral ideals of the country they left. For many Muslims, things like dress codes for women are heavily ingrained in their culture, so they don't want to give it up and view governments that try to forbid it as infringing on their religious rights. People tend to get extreme when they feel that their religion is being attacked, and Islam instructs violence when they are being attacked by oppressors.",
"Just throwing this out here:\n\nThere are loads of muslims in this country (the Netherlands), and for the most part everyone gets along just fine. Only a small part of muslims are extremely conservative, and those who do not live in a country where their religion is the dominant one and where the religion encompasses all parts of life, tend to be less conservative. The ones who live here do not make any demands that I'm aware of, and generally everyone is peaceful."
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fon04m | when measuring the blood pressure nurses often say numbers like"120 on 80". what exactly do those numbers mean and why do you die when they coincide? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/fon04m/eli5_when_measuring_the_blood_pressure_nurses/ | {
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"text": [
"The first number is the systolic pressure (when the heart is actively pumping), and the second number is diastolic (when the heart is resting).\n\n120 over 80 is the a borderline healthy measurement on the high side.\n\nHigh blood pressure is bad because it puts an undue strain on your heart, and comparing systolic and diastolic numbers can help determine exactly what the problem is.",
"No one has stated what the numbers actually mean. 120/80 refers to the distance a column of mercury will be pushed up (in millimetres). They used mercury because its denser and you could read the movement easier. They used a tube of it and the high number pushed it up 120mm. Then they allow it to drop to the lower number, which only pushed it up to 80mm.\n\nThat why they initially squeeze the cuff hard (to see how high it reaches) and slowly release the pressure until the lower number is reached.\n\nEdit: the chemical sign for mercury is Hg, so the unit for blood pressure (at least in Canada) is mmHg",
"Systolic pressure (120) must be greater than diastolic pressure (80) in order to move blood through vessels. The closer those numbers become, the less blood flow you're getting. If they're both too high (so, in excess of normal ranges), you've got some stress on your cardiovascular system that could be dangerous if they become too high.",
"OP asked what it means if the BP is the same, not what happens when your BP is the high. In short, if the pressure in your blood vessels is the same when the heart is contracted from when it isn't (basically the pump vs the non pump) then blood isn't moving through the blood vessels.\n\nYou need positive pressure to move any liquid through any tube, if the pressure in the tube is the same when the pump is on from when the pump is off then you can conclude that while the pump is in the \"ON\" position it isn't actually moving any liquid.",
"When you pump up a blood pressure cuff to the degree that it completely cuts off circulation, no blood is moving through the brachial artery. When you listen through your stethoscope, you hear nothing. \n\nAs you let the air out of the cuff, the pressure drops low enough so that the blood being pushed through the brachial artery forces its way through past the cuff, and then once the heart relaxes the blood vessel slams shut again. You suddenly hear a thump in the stethoscope every time the blood forces its way through. The highest number you hear this noise at is called the systolic pressure, which is the maximum force the blood is pushing against the walls of the artery while the heart is beating. \n\nAs you continue to let the pressure drop, the blood vessel will continue to pop open with each heart beat and slam shut as the heart relaxes. Eventually, the cuff pressure drops so low that it can’t squeeze the vessel shut even when it relaxes. At this point, the noise in the stethoscope goes away. This is called the diastolic pressure, which is the resting pressure in the artery when the heart is fully relaxed. \n\nThis is written as “systolic/diastolic” and said as “systolic over diastolic.” For example, 120/80. The values of these numbers over time are used by doctors to predict your likelihood of future cardiovascular diseases like heart attacks, strokes, or heart failure. \n\nThe only ways your systolic and diastolic could become equal are if your heart isn’t beating or if you have a massive bleed in that limb such that no blood is actually coming down your artery. In case of the former, you’d be in cardiac arrest and actively dying, while in the case of the latter you would very obviously have blood squirting everywhere. And in either case, you wouldn’t actually say the systolic and diastolic were equal, you would say that you’re unable to obtain a blood pressure at all as you will not actually be able to detect the blood sound (or the fluid wave for automated cuffs.)"
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2ux5d3 | what is going on when i try to yawn but it fails, leaving me unsettled and dissatisfied? | Once in a while I'll have a day (like today) where I'm constantly yawning, but for some reason none of my yawns feel like they "finish." I'm left with an incomplete yawn, which feels really unsettling and unsatisfying. What is this? Why does this happen? Is there a cure? | explainlikeimfive | http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2ux5d3/eli5_what_is_going_on_when_i_try_to_yawn_but_it/ | {
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"text": [
"Yawning is really not very well understood. I have read articles that say it could have been related to bonding among peers in a village, which is why it is contagious. Last I heard the whole extra oxygen thing wasn't getting too much support anymore. Instead, I have read it has more to do with cooling the brain. By engaging the jaw muscles you increase blood flow to the area and pull some spinal fluid downwards. Then, the deep breath of air cools this blood and fluid in turn cooling the brain. This is supposed to help your brain function better, but who knows. I would have to think that the incomplete feeling you have upon yawn denial is more psychological than physical. A yawn feels damn good sometimes and by not reaching yawn orgasm you have left yourself feeling empty and possibly alone. Good thing I have yawned 5 times since writing this."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
|
4oudu7 | how can youtube find and delete videos so quick, that are against the rules? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/4oudu7/eli5_how_can_youtube_find_and_delete_videos_so/ | {
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"text": [
"In certain cases they have scanning software that searches the pixels and if it finds that it matches something such as a tv show or a soccer match, then it takes it down. This is why people who upload things like sports highlights, often mirror the video, crop the edges and apply some funky colours to the video because it beats YouTubes scanner. ",
"They have process called Content ID which basically contrast a video with a already know copyrighted video or song. If it finds a match is removes the video. You read more about it [here](_URL_0_)."
]
} | [] | [] | [
[],
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"https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797370?hl=en"
]
] |
||
495kjs | what exactly causes certain flavors like peppermint and cucumber to be considered "cooling"? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/495kjs/eli5_what_exactly_causes_certain_flavors_like/ | {
"a_id": [
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"score": [
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"text": [
"Actually, some of these are not only associated with hot or cold, but are genuinely perceived as the same as hot or cold due to temperature receptors. Temperature receptors are how you sense that something is hot or cold.\n\nThe TRPM8 receptor (\"cold sense\") is stimulated by both cold *and* menthol, meaning the code interpreted by your brain is the same for both menthol (peppermint, wintergreen, etc) and cold. \n\nThe TRPV1 receptor (\"hot sense\") is stimulated by both capsacin (and allyl isothyocyanate, found in wasabi, mustard, and horseradish) and hot temperatures, again making capsacin (hot peppers, etc.) perceived as hot. Stimulating this receptor is also perceived as pain.\n\n"
]
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[]
] |
||
7u9v0z | why is it a natural reaction for the body sometimes to sit or lie on the floor/curl into a ball/rock back and forth, after getting hurt badly enough? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/7u9v0z/eli5_why_is_it_a_natural_reaction_for_the_body/ | {
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"text": [
"Curling in a ball is called the fetal position. Pain causes regression to an earlier developmental stage. Rocking back and forth is an unconscious attempt to mitigate pain as well. Like when you burn your finger so you shake your hand trying to relieve the pain.",
"If you are in the floor, you can’t fall minimizing further injury. \n\nImagine getting attacked by a bear. Curling into a ball with your hands on your head maximizes protection of your internal organs. Broken bones and lacerations heal, disembowelment and brain damage, not so much. \n\nRocking back and forth. I’m stretching here. Some autistic (and even some non-autistic) people do this under stress. I’m no expert on this, but here is a theory. Rhythmic patterns reduce stress. Reducing stress minimizes adrenaline. This is an important “flight” response. Adrenaline is a “fight” response important for overcoming dangerous immediate circumstances. Rhythm brings us back down, so the body and mind can regroup and repair. This is why melodic music is so soothing and calming. It is also why floating in the ocean on a boat is so relaxing. Comfort maximizes stability, and long term that is a survival mechanism. Rocking back and forth is an immediate reset, I would argue that allows the brain and body to set in motion physical and mental repair. ",
"I'd suspect it has to do with the deep part of the brain that controls our \"fight or flight\" response. When hurt, many people will actually run, almost as if they could physically escape the pain. Rocking is a similar manifestation. "
]
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[],
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||
blz7rr | how are glasses prescriptions determined and then created so precisely? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/blz7rr/eli5_how_are_glasses_prescriptions_determined_and/ | {
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"text": [
"The lens of your eye focuses an image on the back of your eye where it hits the retina. If it is blurry than it needs to be focused because the point where it's focused is before it hits your eye or it doesn't. That would make you nearsighted or farsighted.\n\nThose massive optometrist glasses where they ask this or this, slowly dials in exact shape of the lens needed to make that image on the back of your eye perfectly in focus.\n\nThen they just choose the exact lens shape from the pile that they have and then shape them to the frames that you chose",
"You know that little machine that your doctor puts in front of your eye, and then says \"iss this better or worse\" and then you \"ummmmmm\" for 30 seconds and answer one or the other? That is them figuring out what your prescription is. Through a process of elimination, they find the lenses that correct your vision(I believe it goes in increments of +/-.25)."
]
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[],
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||
8qed21 | why do birds such as chickens, swans and turkeys follow people even if they get just a little close? | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8qed21/eli5_why_do_birds_such_as_chickens_swans_and/ | {
"a_id": [
"e0ijv27"
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"score": [
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"text": [
"They don't. In fact, catching chicken is very difficult. May be you are only interacting with those are regularly fed by humans. "
]
} | [] | [] | [
[]
] |
||
461m33 | percentages | [deleted] | explainlikeimfive | https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/461m33/eli5percentages/ | {
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"text": [
"Quick lesson - a percentage means \"per every hundred\". You can think of it as breaking your object/problem into a hundred pieces (like a chocolate bar, for example), and then taking the number of pieces that you need for your percent:\n\n- e.g. 14% of a chocolate bar means you'd first break the chocolate bar into a hundred evenly-sized pieces. Each piece is 1%. So then you take your 14 pieces to make your 14% !\n\nWhat this means mathematically is exactly how it sounds. You break your problem/number/whatevs into 100 pieces (by dividing), then you take how ever many pieces you mean - so how many lots of one piece do you need? (Multiplication)\n\ne.g. 40% of $500:\n\n- Break $500 into 100 pieces - that's $5 per piece\n\n- You want 40 pieces (40%), so that's 40 lots of $5; 40 x 5 is $200\n\n- So, 40% of $500 is $200.\n\nEDIT: I see now that you want more mental arithmetic help - not a basic lesson. You can easily work out (or at least estimate) most percentages using the 10% method - 10% is the easiest percentage to find (Other than, say, 50%, which is just half). It's just dividing by 10.\n\ne.g. 10% of \n\n- 40 is 4\n\n- 98 is 9.8\n\n- 14.5 is 1.45\n\n- 2590 is 259\n\nSo, to find 20% of something, you'd double that number. To find 5% you'd halve that number. So to find 25% you'd find 10% of it, double it, then add half of it. Similarly for 45%, etc.\n\nIf you want to get real accurate/tricky and you have time to think, you can also divide the amount by 100 to get 1% as above, then use that as well as the 10% trick... so to find 12% of $56, I know 10% is $5.6 and 1% is 0.56, so 10% plus two lots of 1% is 5.6 + 0.56 + 0.56 = 5.6 + 1.12 = $6.72",
"Everyone has already given good explanations.\n\nTo me the most important thing to keep in mind is that percent is just a different way of writing a decimal number.\n\n 1% = 0.01\n 10% = 0.1 \n 50% = 0.5 \n 100% = 1 \n 200% = 2\n\netc.\n\nIf you want to go from a percentage to a number you just move the decimal point by two place 137% becomes 1.37 and so on.\n\nSo saying 100% just means all of it or simply one.\n\nIf you have something random like $3250 and want to know how much 3% of that is you often can easiest find out by doing two steps:\n\n1. You move the decimal point two place $3250 become $32.50 that would be 1%\n2. You multiply it by how many percentage points you have. 3% are three times 1%. So if 1% is 32.50, then 3% are 3 x$32.50 or $97.50.\n\nThis works for all these cases.\n\nWant to know how much 17% of 200,000 is? First step is to find out how much 1 percent is by moving the decimal point two places: 2,000 and then you multiply it by 17 to get 34,000.\n\nIf you are lucky you can do these calculations is your head.\n\nHowever sometimes there are shortcuts. If you want to know how much 50% of something is you could divide the whole by 100 and then multiply it by 50 again and you would get the correct result. However since 50% happens to be one half you can just as well simply divide by 2.\n\nIt helps to have certain obvious percentages memorizes like knowing that 50% is one half or that 25% is a quarter or that 33.333...% is a third. But even if you don't you don't know that for example 20% is a fifth of the whole you can always do it the hard way of first dividing the whole by 100 (by moving the decimal point two places) and then multiplying the result by 20.\n\nIf you want to go the other way and for example find out how many percent 5 out of 7 is you mostly have to do the normal division you learned in elementary school. This may be hard if you haven't done it in some time, but if you do you will get a result like 0.714285 with the last 6 digits repeating forever. To convert this number into a percentage you simply move the decimal point to places in the other direction and get something close to 71.42%.\n\nThe trick again is to know what certain divisions result in and to be able to approximate things.\n\nIf you are asked how many percent 998 out of 2048 are you could do some math or you could simply say that you now that 1000 out of 2000 is half and therefore 50% so it should be around 50% (The truth is closer to 48.7%).\n\nSo to conclude remember 1% = 0.01 and the rest is simple math."
]
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[],
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